Do I dare?

four months later

2008-01-09T00:14:00.000-06:00

I'm not quite sure what to write here anymore. It's not as if interesting, note-worthy things haven't happened; I just get to wrapped up in all the little things to write on this. Maybe I can get into the habit of writing again. I don't really want to say that's my new year's resolution, because those seem too easily broken. But the beginning of the new year is as good a time as any to try to reinstate good habits. So here goes.

The holidays were fabulous. Truly. I learned to snowboard (more or less), dug my old ice skates out of my parents basement and spent an hour or so one day remembering how much I loved to ice skate, had a great Christmas with my family, my little brother proposed to his girlfriend (excuse me, fiancee) -- who is wonderful and perfect for him so I'm excited for them and their winter wedding to be held next year, I spent a crazy week (including new year's eve) in Chicago with my best friends from DePauw, and made it back to Dallas after the 20 hour car ride, just as I was starting to miss my friends here.

Work continues to both challenge and fulfill me. I'm considering spending another year at Wesley-Rankin, but have not made that decision final yet. A couple months ago I was trying to get a scholarship to study in Ireland for a year, but since that didn't go through, I had/have to rethink my gradschool plans. It most certainly will happen before too long. But I think I might be able to tie up a few more loose ends if I stay a bit longer here. But I (should) will delve more into that later. For now, I'll just be satisfied with this first step back into keeping up with this thing. Although now I doubt anyone bothers checking it anymore! (Sorry guys!!)

back in the states.

2007-09-18T11:19:00.000-05:00

So here I am, back in Dallas. The last week week, or rather the last 10 days, have been interesting readjusting to my "normal" life. Making it even harder to re-adjust was the fact that the after school program kicked off again last Wednesday, so it was a crazy past week here at work. But things are basically settling down now, and I'm doing fine.

This past weekend I went to Austin for the Austin City Limits music festival. I had tickets for the Saturday (final day) concerts. The music was great, but it was HOT.

I'm also working on finishing up my scholarship application for grad school starting next fall. I'm hoping to get a scholarship to study in Ireland for a year. Wouldn't that be fantastic?

Well, this was just a short post to let those of you who were checking up on me know that I made it back. I'll try to get in the habit of writing once a week, as well. But until then, Adios!

One week left...

2007-09-01T12:20:00.000-05:00

I originally thought I'd be traveling again, on my final weekend hear in Guatemala. I had a long week, though, for various reasons, and thus I'm staying in Antigua. At least for now. Maybe I'll go somewhere tonorrow, but if I do, I'll just be winging it.

Last weekend was amazing. No, that's an understatement. The school curriculum came with package deals for different trips throughout Guatemala and even into other countries like El Salvador or Honduras. But these trips can cost up to $300, whereas you can arrange trips yourself, making your own bus and hotel reservations through one of the probably almost 100 little travel agency shops in the city. I went the cheap route, and left a week ago Friday night at 6:30 pm on a bus to Guatemala City. From there, I caught the 10pm bus to Flores, Guatemala, about an hour from the site of what is claimed to have been the culutral epicenter of the Ancient Mayan world, Tikal. After sleeping (more or less) for about 8 hours on the bus, I arrived in Flores at 7 am, and by 10 I made it (on my own!) to Tikal. Yes, I traveled solo. But no worries (Mom, Grandma...) -- I recieved conformation from various people before I left it would be a safe trip to make on my own.

The National Park of Tikal is roughly 6 or 7 square miles large, so in my 2 or 3 hour visit, I only saw a very small section of it. I saw the main section, though -- basically the main square of the old city. Pictures to follow:

While there was much more to see, by 1/1:30 it was crazy hot in Flores, and while I had slept at least 8 hours on the bus, it wasn't what I would call a great night's sleep, so the combination of those two factors meant that I was ready to leave by mid afternoon. Back at the bus station in Tikal, I bought another bus ticket for the supposed 3.5 hour bus ride to Rio Dulce. Ha! 3.5 hours turned into about 5.5 hours, and I would have been extremely ticked off, as I was already tired, had I not made a new friend on the bus, also headed to Rio Dulce/Livingston, and together we laughed at the absurdity of the multi hour+ stops our bus made before getting the first 60 miles out of Flores. My new friend, Henry, was from Mexico City. When we finally made it Rio Dulce, it was probably about 11:00, and I was so tired I was starting to doubt my decision to leave Flores/Tikal. I thought perhaps it would have been better to spend the whole weekend there, get a hotel room at that place in the park, and spend more time the next day seeing more of the park. However, after a good night's sleep in an actual bed (even though it only had one sheet and a questionable pillow -- I'm so glad I bought that litte fleece sleeping bag) and waking up to a beautiful Sunday morning, I began to think the bus ride had been worth it. On the beautiful 2 hour boat ride down the Rio Dulce (rio = river) to the Caribean port town of Livingston, I was absolutely convinced I had made the right decision.

In Livingston, Henry and I met up with a "rasta man" who said for 40 quetzales (a little more than 5 dollars) would take us to this waterfall where we could go swimming. Even though Livingston is on the Caribbean, the beach close to the town is pretty disgusting, full of garbage. But the hour hike down the beach brought us out of the dirty part of the beach, to the beautiful part, and then up a little bit into the mountain/forest to the waterfall. It was a small waterful, with only perhaps twice the force of a bathroom shower, the water ran off rock cliff about 12 feet up -- the perfect height to jump from into the deep pool of fresh water below, as was demonstrated by a few other hikers already at the falls. It was a fabulous place to spend a few hours in the afternoon, and there Henry and I also met another friend, Manuel, from Argentina. The three of us had dinner that night at a little cafe place, and the two guys (who both spoke English as well as Spanish) decided to "help" me learn spanish by switching the language of the conversation back and forth. At times I was getting frustrated by how little I could understand -- I thought my Spanish had gotten better thant that -- until Manuel pointed out that I was listening to two people talk with completely different accents, which could only add to the difficulty. All of a sudden I realized this was true: I could more or less understand Henry, from Mexico City, but it was Manuel's Argentinian accent that was confusing me. After dinner the three of us went to this restaraunt/club where a group of Livingstonians were playing drums in the local style of mixed African/Carribean/Latin rythems, called Garifuna. All of a sudden the power went out, and the restaraunt was pitch black. Soon enough the staff brought out some candels to provide a little light, but until they did, people were flipping open cell phones and Manuel had a bright flashlight in his backpack that he used as a spotlight for the group! The power outtage was caused by a storm, which only got worse as the night went on, and so there was no power all night long. It was a hot, fanless night in my hotel room.

My original plan was only to spend the day in Livingston, and leave on the last boat that evening to catch a bus back to Guatemala City/Antingua. But, in part, I think, because of the storm, and also in part, I think, because things like boat schedules are not always (ok, hardly ever!) foolproof in such laidback places as Livingston, the 6:00 boat that I thought I could take out of the town back to either of the two towns with bus stations, Rio Dulce or Puerto Barrios, didn't run. Thus I had to change my plans and leave on the first boat out the next morning, making it to Puerto Barrios by 7:30 and caught the 8:00 luxery class double decker bus to Guatemala City. I made it back to the capital about 1:00, meaning I missed the first half of classes that day, but was convinced I could make it to Antigua by the start of the afternoon classes at 2:00. That would mean, however, that the "chicken bus" -- what they call the public buses (in Engligh -- I hear the tourists started it, but now that's just what they're called) were out as it would take more than an hour. So, I forked over $20 for a cab ride straight to the doors of the school, and made it sweaty, probably a little stinky, and tired but content to the school by 2:00.

The funny thing is, even though $20 was the bargained-down price of the cab ride (I told the driver, who originally wanted almost $30 that $20 was all I had left, which was basically true), the ride from Guatemala City to Antigua -- probably about 40 miles -- was nearly the most expensive part of the trip. The original, 9 hour bus ride was $25. All the other bus rides, lasting 5 hours our more, were the equivelent of $11-15 dollars, the hotel rooms were about $7 a night.
And even though I missed a couple hours of school, I figure the fact that I navigated my way, solo, from nearly the southernmost to the northenmost corners of a foreign country count as a learning experience as well!

This past week has flown by. Days spent studying in school, evenings doing homework and occaisonally going out with a new friend or to I've made in the city. Two more day trips were made: one this past week to a Macadamia (nut)farm and a weaver's coopertive, and one last week to lake Ataitlan and a few of its surrounding towns. The day at the lake was nice, but not of the nicest weather, so I wasn't as impressed by that trip as I hear most people usually are. There was another run in with Maximon there: we visited a small little "shrine," really just kind of a room in a random building near the market, that was much more Catholic this time -- while the figure of Maximon did have the main spot in the center of the room, he was just chilling on the floor this time -- no alter -- and meanwhile a huge crucifix and also a figure of Mary were in the corner of the room, behind this glass coffin -- Sleeping Beauty style -- with a figurine in it which I think was also supposed to be of either Mary or Jesus, but I really wasn't sure. You had to pass by all these relics before you got to Maximon. So again, there was this mix of different religions and cultures, but in this place I had the sense that the dominant one was Catholocism.

The trip this week, to the nut farm and weaver's cooperative was also interesting. At the farm, they sold all kinds of macadamia nut products. Food products, obviously, but also soaps, cosmetic cremes and oils, and the like. They gave "free" (+ the cost of a tip) facials so you could sample their products. Then we visited the weaver's cooperative, set up by a group of woman trying to preserve some of the traditional customs of their village. They put on a demonstration of the significants of the different patterns and products of their weaving, and explained the significants of the traditional clothing and gifts made and worn during weddings.

One last notable part of the past week or so: there has been a lot of rain. Every day it rains for a little bit, even though it might be perfectly bright with not a cloud in the sky an hour previous, and then after it rains the sky is clear again. So out of nowhere these rain storms appear, and just flood the streets. Thursday, heading back to class after my 12-2 lunch break, one such storm came up, and by the time I got to the street in front of la Merced church around the corner from my school, the street seperating my from the church was one big brown, rapidly flowing river. About 8 people on each side of the street stood there looking across to the other side, trying to figure out the best place to cross, and silently daring each other to be the first to try it! I debated taking of my shoes like one lady did, but decided there really would be no point, as they were already soaked. So after about 5 minutes of my own personal stare-down with the river, I decided just to go for it, and in the middle of the street, the water was only about an inch and a half below my knees! (By the end of the school day at 4:30, it was bright and sunny again, and most of the water had drained from the streets.)

a Tikal yo voy...

2007-08-24T18:52:00.000-05:00

In about 30 minutes I am leaving, via an overnight bus ride, to visit the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal!! Expect to hear more about it when I return, either late Sunday or (very) early Monday! Until then, have a great weekend!!

el fin de semana numero uno en guatemala...

2007-08-19T14:16:00.000-05:00

So much for posting something every other day. It’s not the beginning of my second week here, and I’ve yet to post an update. However, I have been keeping up in my journal, and so I will try to pull some excerpts to catch you all up on my past week, which was chocked full of some pretty amazing experiences.

The adventure began last Saturday, as I flew into Guatemala City around 2 pm. As the plane circled the city, preparing to land, passengers aboard were provided a spectacular view of the city, built (like most cities, town, villages, municipals, etc in Guatemala) on the mountainside. From the air, I could see great houses and buildings on cliff tops, seemingly built right up to the edge of the cliff, which then dropped down to the barrios, full of the one-room brick or shack homes, below. Also visible from the plane window: a river winding through the city, and occasionally tumbling over the cliffs in the form of beautiful waterfalls. One sight in particular that caused a ripple of excitement throughout the plane was a thin stream of water ribboning down the inside center of a half-tube-shaped giant cove in the cliff side.

I found the van driver holding a sign with my name pretty easily. Also taking that particular van into Antigua was a mother and her two middle-school-aged children from DC, also spending (only) the next week at PLFM language school. What a great way to end a summer vacation – if you’re into that kind of thing!

The van ride into Antingua was also an adventure, as in Guatemala City, the lines dividing the lanes on the roads seem to be optional! Once out of the city, drivers aren’t provided that luxury, though, as drifting out of your particular lane might mean you topple over the edge of the cliff. Great vistas all the way into Antigua: mountains, valleys, hills, banks, all covered in brilliant shades of dark green. We also passed a processional of cars and trucks decorated with bright colors and green posters, playing music and projecting an announcement – via a speaker system Blues Brother style! – to vote for their particular candidates on the upcoming presidential election, to take place the day after I leave Guatemala in September.

I am living in the home of Doňa Olga, who boards all sorts of foreign visitors in her cozy home. Her home is part of a gated complex, including a small hotel and restaurant on the corner, and the homes of a few other people. I live in the small private room she rents in the back of the complex. When I first arrived, I made number foreign border number 8 staying with Doňa Dona Olga. Now we’re down to three, as only the two Hollanders remain, but I hear more will be arriving this weekend. (Actually, by the time I post this, they will probably already be here!) The two Hollanders, a guy and a girl, are my age, here with a larger group of Hollanders staying at various places throughout Antigua, as they work on a project, for the past 6 weeks volunteering at a primary school and a hospital with disabled children, and are also taking Spanish lessons at a different language school. (There are upwards of 30 different schools here!). Apparently, when they first got here, neither of them spoke any Spanish, but now – at least Brejia (I know I’m butchering the spelling of her name!) – is doing quite well, and while I wouldn’t call her fluent, she can definitely get by. So I’m excited to see how much progress I can make in my four weeks. At any rate, the two of them, along with their other friends, have been a lot of fun to hang out with during meals, after class, and sometimes in the evenings. I will be sorry to see them go next week.

Antigua is a charming city. I can’t think of a better word to describe it. It was at one point, the capital of Guatemala, during the time of Spanish colonialism. Therefore there are many old buildings, especially large catholic churches, built in such a style, with lots of arches and ... well, I’m not that great at architectural styles, so I’ll try to put up some more photos to speak for me. A lot of these great buildings were partially destroyed in a large earthquake in the 1970s, so there are many interesting ruins that all of the foreign tourists here (there are so many more than I ever would have expected!) like to visit and explore. There’s an old church almost next to my house here, where a wedding party was held yesterday.

Antigua’s charm, I think, comes from the mix of this grand Spanish style mixed with the simple Latin American style of small but brightly painted and inviting buildings: stores, homes, restaurants, all are painted a bright blue or yellow or red. Well, my home, and its entire complex, are white. But it’s only one of just a few white buildings. The streets are cobbled, but not in the way I’d ever imagined a cobblestone street to be: the stones are very irregular, and the streets are in no way smooth. But it’s just as well, as stop signs on the corners also seem to be optional, and with the uneven streets, no vehicles can really go that fast, so I think that prevents a lot of accidents! Antigua is surrounded by three volcanoes, one of which is pretty active – small eruptions (mainly of thick smoke) take place every couple of days.
(the plume of smoke mixing in with the clouds is an erruption of volcan de fuego on sat. morning)

Fundacion Proyecto Linguistico Franciso Marroquin, the school I attend, is the oldest school in the city, and one of the best. The school also offers Mayan language lessons, so a person wanting to learn one of the 32 or so Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala could do so. I’m happy sticking with Spanish. The classes are one on one, and so each day, for about 6 hours, I sit in a cute little maybe 4X4, open door, outside “classroom” and only speak Spanish with my teacher, trying to improve my vocabulary and get down all the rules of grammer. I’m pretty sure I’ve already improved, but I think that’s because in order to carry on any kind of intelligible conversation, I have to start thinking in Spanish, but as soon as I start thinking in the language, picking up on new words or rules becomes so much easier.

The school also offers ½ or full day field trips to learn cultural lessons as well. Wednesday I visited the ruins at the site of the original Guatemalan capital, Iximche. Iximche was the capital city in the early 1500s. Now only ruins remain, but it was so interesting to wander the grounds, and see the remains of what was this great, important city at a time when our great, important country was not even anyone’s idea. It was also interesting to think about how what existed at that time in Guatemala still had cultural relevance to their modern cultural (you could still visit the ancient capital), and how some traditions from that time still remained are still important to many Guatemalans, where as any culture that existed at that time in what is now our country was more or less purposefully eliminated.

We also visited a couple of the neighboring towns and municipals, visited a great, old Catholic cathedral, with some of the most elaborate wood carvings along the walls and at the alter area I’ve ever seen. We also visited a “temple” of another sort: “el templo de San Simon.” At this temple, I witnessed the mixing of two more cultures: Catholic and Mayan. San Simon, or Maximon, is who many indigenous people believe is more or less the protector of the Guatemalan people. When the country became Catholic, Maximon began to be referred to as a saint – by the people, not by the Church. The Catholic church condemns the practice of visiting his shrine or temple, as was made obvious by the postings at the second Catholic church we visited. Still, his temple had many elements of Catholicism, mixed with rituals more pagan in origin, as well. We entered the outside courtyard of the temple, which was bare expect for two or three large bonfires, fed scented candles and thick-smelling incense by a couple people in the bright colored and multi-patterned woven clothing of the indigenous Guatemalans. On the far side of the courtyard were stairs leading up maybe half a floor to the temple itself. There were two doors on the landing, one marked entrance, where a line of people holding mostly flowers and candles, queued. Our group entered through the other door, marked exist, as we were there only to see. Once inside, I realized the line wrapped around the inner wall of the temple, and led up stairs of an alter, where sat a life-size figurine of San Simon, or Maximon. The people in line, once they reached the alter, were “cleansed” by a woman who stayed in front of the alter with a bunch of palm fronds, which she brushed over the hands and face of the person in the front of the line. That person then left his or her gift, and came back down the alter, and either exited, or added another candle to the tables leading from the back the doors to the alter. The many candles on these tables, and the strings of colored party lights around the alter, provided the only source of light in the room. On the walls in the room were plaques thanking San Simon for whatever protection or gift he had bestowed upon a past petitioner. I was fascinated, but honestly, also a bit creeped out.

On Friday, I visited a folk music museum and also took a tour of a coffee plantation. At the folk music museum, there was video of a festival with San Simon in which he seemed more like a revered old friend – a spirit of the past – than the creepy pagan and possibly Satanic figure he did in his temple. So my verdict is still out. I’m not saying I’m much of a fan, personally, but at any rate, it is was it is. The folk music museum was fun and informative, and the grounds between it and the coffee plantation was a beautiful nature preserve full of bright flowers and fruit trees.

Saturday, I joined a guided hike up the volcano Pacayu, one of three active volcanoes in Guatemala. It was quite a hike – I was almost tempted to “rent” a ride on one of the horses peddled as “taxis” up the mountain. Well, not really. I had fun hiking. But it was tough work! The hike up was so worth it, though, when we reached the lava field! We walked out on top of the hardened lava, spilt from the mountain in the last major eruption (of more than smoke and small rocks), in April or May 2006. As we got further from the edge of the lava field, the hardened, hollow lava rocks got warmer and warmer, until in some places I could only stand to stand on them for so long, as it was too warm for comfort. I felt as though I was walking on charcoal, left over from some giant bon fire, and the smell of roasting marshmallows (probably actually just sulfur) further impressed the idea. The bottoms of my tennis shoes are now slightly warped because they melted a little.

Now it’s Sunday morning, and I am off to church with Doňa Olga. The plan is to find a WiFi zone after church, and post this. But now, I need to shower. Hasta Lluego…

I´M IN GUATEMALA!

2007-08-12T18:19:00.000-05:00

TODAY IS DAY ONE OF A MONTH OF STUDYING SPANISH IN ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA. ACTUALLY, THE STUDYING STARTS TOMORROW. TODAY WAS TRAVELING. TRAVELING AND NOT SLEEPING. I´VE BEEN UP SINCE 4AM, AND SO I´M OFF TO DO THE LATTER. MY GOAL IS TO POST SOMETHING AT LEAST ONCE EVERY COUPLE DAYS WHILE I´M HERE THOUGH, SO MORE TO COME SOON! -- AND HOPEFULLY BY THEN I´LL BE ABLE TO FIGURE OUT WHICH OF THESE KEYS TURNS OFF CAPSLOCK...

Catching up Part 2

2007-02-11T23:49:00.000-06:00

Last week (Monday-Wednesday) I went to a training conference near Los Angeles. The conference was barely three days long, and they crammed a lot of information and speakers and food into a very short period of time. They crammed so much in there, they didn't sent out a conclusive schedule of conference until after everyone arrived, probably so no one decided it looked like too much and decided not to come! A slight exaggeration, perhaps -- but the point is I had hoped I'd be able to do a little bit more in CA while I was there than just the conference stuff. (Like visit people!) Fortunately my aunt and uncle did drive over from Burbank and were able to help me escape for an hour or two. We went to dinner down the road from the hotel, had a nice but short visit (it was great to see you!!) and then back to work for me!

This past weekend I ventured north (practically to OK -- but not quite!) to visit friends of my aunt and uncle from Burbank. They live in a really beautiful rural area about an hour's drive north of Dallas. Their family lives down the road in another big, beautiful house with plenty of animals as well (4 cats and 3 horses). Escaping the city for a bit was great, everyone was so nice and acted like I was part of the family, not some stranger, and invited me back some time soon -- any time I'd like to come and try horseback riding. Here was the Texas as I imagined it before moving to Dallas: wide open fields, horses roaming about, big ranch style homes, people waving to each other as they drove by...

Well, maybe I didn't necessarily expect all of that. But here's something I definitely never even dreamed I'd see:

Saturday evening, our party-of-eleven (the grandparents, daughter and son-in-law, the three grandkids, the three grandkids' three friends, and myself) went out to dinner at this restaurant that was about as stereotypical Texas as you could get: the outside looked like a big log cabin, the inside had wooden walls and big heavy-duty wooden benches in the waiting area and the same heavy-duty chairs and tables in the dining area, walls covered with cowboy memorabilia, random knickknacks, and dead animals, complementary jalapeno cornbread came before the food, the menu featured mainly steak or other meat hickory-seasoned, and the mashed potatoes came with white gravy. MMM I hadn't had white gravy in ages, and was pretty excited to order those mashed potatoes, but almost, ALMOST passed them up for another delicious potato option: the sweet potato fries. So yes, this restaurant was about at Texas as they come. So what, you may well be asking, was so shocking?

Blue tooth phones are so annoying. I mean, yeah, they can do all this cool stuff, blah blah blah and probably won't give you brain cancer. But they look ridiculous. Well, they're ok when the wearer is in an office, or driving a car, or someplace else where it's necessary or convenient to be so attached to a phone. But anyplace else -- ridiculous. I half laughed, half rolled my eyes at the guys at the conference who had them attached the their ears all weekend, sitting in the speaker sessions, or at dinner. Guys with shaved or nearly-shaved heads who wear them especially made me giggle a little inside when I saw them at the conference, because their ill-manners were so made so obvious by the fact that they had no hair whatsoever to hide the obnoxious little clip attached to their ear as they sat eating a formal dinner. But those well dressed, nearly bald men were nothing compared to the two men I saw in that Texas restaurant, sitting there at their table with (presumably) their family, dressed in the big flannel overcoats (it was cold that evening), old dirty jeans and boots, disheveled hair, and their stinkin BLUE TOOTHs. Honestly! What self-respecting cowboy eats his chickenfried steak and whitesauced potatos, or his 14 oz hickory smoked slab of steak and homemade cornbread while remaining constantly wired to the network through his bluetooth? Definitely not something I thought I'd ever see...

Catching up Part 1

2007-02-05T19:43:00.000-06:00

My life since January:

Learning how to be a case manager. I really can't write about this because it's still a work in process. But suffice it to say my job is completely different now. No longer do I work with the little kids; I'm now working with thirty-one 14-21-year-old "adjudicated and at-risk" youth. I'm learning case management, and time management, because these students are never in the same place at the same time. Some of them rarely (all right, let's be honest: even never) show up at the center. At this point, I've talked to most of them at least on the phone. But some of them I'm still trying to track down and meet for the first time. The fact that I still haven't been able to get a hold of a few of them, don't know them and can't find them, is only a minor challenge of this job, in comparison to other things. The challenges some of these youth face overwhelm me at times. Literally. I heard a song on the radio the other day that just hit a little too close to home ... well, these are personal details that I really don't feel comfortable typing online. I ache for some of them, at times.

Don't get my wrong, the works challenging, but I came prepared for a challenge. No, that's not true. I wasn't prepared, by myself. But I came expecting a challenge, and came prepared to be built up and hold my ground in the midst of a challenge. I hope I'm doing things right. Just those of you who do, pray for my kids. Pray that they realize there are people out there who care about them, want to see them succeed, and expect that they can succeed. And not just people. People come and go, despite all best intentions. People fail. Pray that they believe, and learn to trust, that there is more than just "people" out there, caring for and looking out for them.

And not to worry, my job isn't just one big challenge. Some of the kids have been doing amazing things lately, and that's exciting! For example, on of the girls who rarely made it to school last semester has been regularly attending, and bringing papers marked "100" to show us at the center. She tries to act like she's not proud of herself, but haha! It doesn't work. And we're all so proud of her. Actually, all the kids who regularly attend programing at the center have been improving in all sorts of different areas, so the plan is to throw this surprise Valentine's Day Party for them on Wednesday. Hopefully it goes well!

Snow!!

2007-01-17T09:22:00.000-06:00

I thought I wasn't going to get to see snow this winter ... but I was wrong!!

I woke up this morning, and as I was getting ready for work, peeked outside my window to see a light dusting of snow covering the grass outside the apartment. The past weekend, Dallas had been under a "winter storm watch," with the main concern being the ice storm messing up the roads. And as I usually have a bone to pick with the crazy Dallas drivers in good weather, I spent most of the past weekend in my apartment as to avoid any problems. But yesterday (Tuesday) the weather had been nice, if not a little chilly, and the "winter storm advisory" icon had disappeared from the bottom of the TV screen. So when I saw that 1/16 of an inch barely covering the grass, I thought nothing of it and continued to get ready for work. As I was about to walk out the front door, though, I realized that my work phone had been off all night since I had gone into the gym with it, and I turned it back on to find a new message for me.

"Hey Christina, it's Maria. Stacy just called and wanted me to let you know, the center's closed today; programming's cancelled. Enjoy the day off!"

Oh yes. The center, along with pretty much everyother center and service and what-have-you in the Dallas area was closed for a "snow day." For 1/16 of an inch!! Seriously people. That's not even enough snow worth playing in! (Although the kids from upstairs were outside earlier, chunking off the nasty snow from the cars in the parking lot and throwing it at each other, so good for them!)

Two wierd animal stories, and a prayer request...

2007-01-08T12:44:00.000-06:00

Wierd animal story 1):
Friday evening, I was sitting at the kitchen table in the guy's appartment, talking to Mike, commenting on the down-right deplorable condition of their kitchen. (Supposedly it had been cleaned by one of the roommates over the break -- didn't look like it to me!!) We were joking -- sort of -- about the possibility of some kind of cockroach take-over of the place, and the need for the Orin guy to show up ASAP, when out of the corner of my eye I caught a flurry of movement on the wall near my head. I turned and came face-to-body with quite possibly the world's largest cockroach scurrying along the wall, right towards me! I scream and jump, Mike screams and jumps, then grabs some kind of hitting device (I don't remember what it was, I just remember it seemed grossly inadequate) and tries to hunt the litter bugger down and kill it. The roach escapes. I leave the apartment, and tell Mike I'm not coming back until they do something about the roach-friendliness of the kitchen. Bleh!!

Wierd animal story 2):
With all of the craziness of the previous weekend (it having been the New Year/New York extravaganza...), I decided this weekend should be a low key, sanity-regaining, weekend-at-home with Blockbuster movies. So Saturday early-evening, the sky newly dark, I hop in the white mini, crank up my tunes, and head the mile or two down the road to the blockbuster. As I pull into the parking lot, I half-notice a strange din over the chorus of the Fall Out Boy song I was listening to, but I only half-notice it because my music is pretty loud. I also notice a dark mass covering the tops of the trees and powerlines, and as I turn off my music and the din I barely noticed over my loud music becomes a complete cacophony of continous, high-pitched screeching noises, and I realize the dark mass is -- I kid you not -- hundreds of black birds covering the treetops, treebottoms, powerlines -- everything. When I opened the van door, the screeching became even louder. A family walking out of Blockbuster was shouting to each other to be heard as they headed back to their car. It was crazy! Part of me wondered what the Blockbuster people would say if I went in and asked them in what section might I find a copy of "The Birds," but then the thought of them locating it for me, and then having to walk back out, past the troops, with the video under my arm, returning home to watch it -- alone -- made me change my mind. I half-imagined the whole swarm following my little white van home, and perching on the tree outside, making all that noise outside my window as I watched the family farm torn to pieces by their kin (or whatever happens in that movie ... I'm not sure if I've ever seen the whole thing...) so I went the comedy route for the weekend (Little Miss Sunshine = Greatness!!). As fun as I have with my overactive imagination at times, that really wasn't the night to get carried away like that. Because instead of worring about getting chased by a swarm of blackbirds, I really should have been worried about parking my car so close to one of their trees ... which I immediately realized when I returned to my car about 5 minutes later, and then had some cleaning to do...

And now, on a more serious note, my prayer request:
I just found out last night that the pastor at the church I've been attentending has recently been diagnosed with a pretty serious form of cancer. The diagnosis was all of a sudden, and it's been quite a shock for everyone -- especially her family, including her three-year-old son. She is an amazing woman, her church family loves her and will be giving her lots of support and prayers. She has really been a blessing to me, personally, as well; we met for lunch once and talked about plans for my future and other things that had been eating at my heart. She has been an inspiration and guidance to me in just the few short months I've been here, and I'm sure she's affected many more people in equally great, if not greater, ways. So please, pray for her and her family. Thank you!

...Bringing Slacking Back

2006-12-14T18:45:00.000-06:00

In the blogging world, that is. Not in real life. In real life, I've been working my tail off for the past ... oh, month or so. 'Tis the season, and whatnot.

Actually, it's been so long since my last post, I had to stop for a second and think about my blogger password. True story.

Today was the Wesley-Rankin Christmas staff lunch at P.F. Chang's. One of the PT interns (Tre') works there on the weekends as a host, so he worked us a deal with the management, and thus the appetizers and desserts were complimentary. MMMMMMM lettuce wraps and banana springrolls -- I've been waiting for those for ages.

Last weekend was the Care for Kids Christmas event. Families who had completed their volunteer service hours came to the WR gymnasium to do their Christmas shopping. I knew there were going to be a lot of nice items set out for the families, because I'd helped unload many of the vehicles that came bearing the gifts, and I saw how full that little storage shed had become. However, I was still unprepared to walk into the gym Friday after programming to see it all set up, looking like I had just walked into a Walmart store. There were piles and piles, tables and tables, bins and bins of brand new board games, dolls, electronics, stuffed animals, books, coats, underwear, sheets, rugs -- it was amazing. Saturday became a 10 hour work day, as all of the WR staff -- plus at least 50 or 60 different volunteers from all over the Dallas area -- spent the day acting as "personal shoppers," helping the families shop and pick out everything on their lists, wrapping presents, providing "entertainment" to others with performances of badly lip-synced or sung christmas carols, and much more. But when 5 o'clock rolled around, it didn't feel to me like I had spent the past 10 hours working. Now, Mike would probably say that's because I "have no sense of time." (Whatever!! He lies.) Really, I think I was just having so much fun with my box full of gift cards and lotion bottle to "sing" into, and everyone who was there -- from the families to the staff and volunteers -- was in such a great and gracious mood, full of Christmas spirit and all that jazz, time just flew!

And finally, the latest of experiences I never thought I'd have: playing busdriver. Or, I guess there more accurate description would be vandriver -- vandriver of the 15 passanger Great White Boat, loaded down with senior citizens. Due to some unforseen circumstances, I ended up having to help pick up and take home some of the participants in the seniors program a couple of times in the last week and a half. Anyone familiar with my ... um ... absolute lack of any sense of direction will probably find this pretty entertaining. But yes, I've been driving the huge van, having to pretend I know where I'm going, occaisonally having to rely on my limited (but increasing!) spanish skills to get help (aka directions), and also learning how to deftly pull both three-point- and u- turns in that great boat of a vehicle, using only my large-and-in-charge mirrors. Pretty Sweet. Plus, driving the seniors has also helped me make a few new friends; there's a handful of them who always say hi to me now when I'm over at the church in the middle of the day, trying to sneak a snack, or other ... business ... related excersions!

And that about wraps things up here. Can't wait to be home for Christmas ... and in New York for New Years! But more on all that later (haha, hopefully!!)

It's official:

2006-11-17T14:38:00.000-06:00

My liscense came in the mail today. it's official, i'm a Texas resident. Wierd.

Things that have recently made me quite happy...

2006-11-10T00:51:00.000-06:00

1) Election day -- or, more specifically, the day after election day. I knew I was ready to see a change in out country's current government, and I'm happy to know that the majority of Americans agreed with me. I sincerely hope that this shift in power will take our country in a positive direction, and I'm fairly certain it will. I guess I'm just praying that all our elected leaders - both new and old - do their jobs well, act responsibily, and work towards the betterment of everyone, and not just themselves. All the negative campaigning leading up to the elections made me sick, but now I'm just hopeful and excited to see where our new leaders will take us. And here's, especially, to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker-of-the-House-to-be, and the first woman in that position to lead Congress! I actually just found out about her today, and I've been trying to make up for that fact by reading as much as I can about her. I love this quote of her's from a USA Today article I found online: "It's tough. You talk about the glass ceiling. This is the marble ceiling," Pelosi said. Her ascendance, she said, tells women "they can handle power at any level, that we can breathe air at this altitude." Damn straight.

I had some of the kids at the afterschool program doing an election activity on Wednesday. They had a color-coded map of the election results for the Senate races, and a deck of cards that had one state on each card. I had them sort the cards into the states where the Republicans won, the states where the Democrats won, and the states that didn't have an election this year. It worked out even better than I thought! The kids I had doing it went from not even knowing what the election was, to learning the names of the two parties, and figuring out on their own which party basically won the election. I had to laugh though, when Leonardo cracked up any time I said "Democrats," because, as he said, "I keep thinking you say Democraps." Hey, if it helps him remember... I figure he'll figure out the truth eventually! :D

...I always get sidetracked when I try to make these lists... I'll keep the rest of the "things that have recently made me quite happy" shorter!! Here goes...

2) Last Saturday I went to the North Texas Conference UMW annual meeting. It started pretty early in the morning, it was an hour's drive from my apartment, and I had to set up and stand next to a display table for Wesley-Rankin, so I honestly hadn't really been looking forward to going. But when I got there, I found out that the guest speaker was non other than (bom bom BOM) Barbara Wheeler, of GBGM, and the US-2 program, in New York. That is, she is someone I met at training this summer, and it was great seeing her. And she gave a little shoutout to me in her address, haha!

3) I made it to the gym at the YMCA three days this week -- much better than my slacking 0 times the week before...

4) Ugly Betty. It's a great show, watch it.

5) The benefit is Saturday. It's been talked up so long, I'm glad I'll finally get to experience it...

6) Mixed CDs (and ITunes!) I just burned two great "Driving Tunes" CDs. And guess what? Making these mixed CDs taught me something about myself: that I really must have multiple personalities. That's pretty much the only thing that could explain my absolutely random taste in music. I mean, on one CD, I start out with a little Ben Folds, then go to a couple of Raggaeton numbers, hit on some Elton John and some Joanie Mitchell, there's a little Kelly Clarkson in there too, and then I end with Fall Out Boy and Flogging Molly. Um, wierd combination ... yes, I know. But it definately makes me happy. Sweetness.

7) I have pictures to post on here. They're coming soon...

8) Staying up til 2 am. Actually, that doesn't make me happy, it makes me tired. And incoherent. So with that, goodnight!!

an addendum...

2006-10-31T11:29:00.000-06:00

So let me just continue the story of Sunday's post...

I'm at work on Monday, it's a little after three, and the kids are trickling in as their different schools get out, showing up for the afterschool program. Mike and I are greeting them all, asking how school went, how much homework they have, blah blah blah. Mike begins the following conversation with first-grader J:

Mike: So J, how was your weekend?

J: Awesome! I got to go to the place with the skateborders and bikes and motorcycles and they flipped and stuff!!

Mike: You did?! ... Hey Christina, so J made it to go to XGames thing ... how come you didn't again?

Me: What?! Where did you go, J?

J: To the place with the bikes and the skateboards and the motorcycles and they flipped!

Me: OOOhh!! I'm jealous. Who did you see?

J: Everybody.

Me: Everybody? Like Tony Hawk? Was he there?

J: Yes

D (third-grader, overhearing the conversation): I know what you're going to say next, you're going to say "why didn't you get Tony Hawk's autograph for me?"

Me: Hey J, why didn't you get Tony Hawk's autograph for me?

D: See! I'm psychic.

J: I don't know. (he goes back to his math homework)

End Scene

Of course, I learned two things from this experience:

1) Ironic Humor doesn't meet with much success on 1st and 3rd graders...

2) Apparently I should be checking with these kids before I make my weekend plans...

no!!!

2006-10-29T19:52:00.000-06:00

So today, after church, Priscilla and I stopped by Chipotle, since I was craving a veggie fajita burrito. Mmmmmm, tasty. At Chipotle, I picked up a copy of the Dallas Observer -- a weekly publication with a section telling all of the entertainment events (concerts, plays, movies, etc) going on in the city. Unfortunately, I didn't bother to open in until about 6 or 7 this evening. I spent the afternoon grocery shopping, trying to figure out how to get a replacement cell phone, washing the minivan, sorting papers and dusting in my room, doing the dishes -- stuff like that (crazy, I know!!) When I finally remembered I had picked up the Observer, and started flipping through it, I made a terrible discovery. Apparently the LG Action Sports World Championship was this weekend in Dallas, a matter of miles from my house. And the final session was tonight (Sunday), starting at 5 ... about an hour after I discovered it was happening. No!!! I'm still trying to recover from my shock and disappointment -- by watching Home Makeover ... you know, those uplifting human compassion stories can really pull you outta a funk (hopefully). If not, maybe laughing at the desperate housewives will help. Anyway, for those of you who don't realize just how big a deal it is for me to be this close to the Action Sports World Championship, and yet MISS IT ... go back to my August post after watching the X Games. I'm obsessed.

I love southwest!!

2006-10-18T22:58:00.000-05:00

...the airline, not the geographical region!! Well, maybe I could love the geographical region also, but I can't say for certain, because I've never really been there. But that may very well be all about to change. Why, you ask? Because southwestern airline just expanded all of their services (in particular, there are now many more flights to many new destinations out of Love Field airport, roughly 15 minutes from where I'm living), and all their flights are offered at incredibly affordable -- no, downright CHEAP prices. Well, the CHEAP is probably just because of this 2 day sale I happened to notice right in the nick of time, which means .... drumroll ... I'LL BE IN NYC FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!! That's right, it's official. There had been some discussion amongst my old roommates and other close friends and I as to where we might possibly be able to get together for the holidays. We had it narrowed down to Chicago or New York. Since Chicago would have been closer for most people, and therefore perhaps a bit more affordable, New York was, sadly, was starting to look like merely a pipe dream. Until I discovered Southwest's sale, and the $36 plane tickets from Chicago to Long Island!! (I'm taking the $1 MegaBus from Detroit to Chicago to fly out with Anne and Baby). New York for less than $100!!! I still can't believe it!! So my holiday plans are (almost) set. But suffice it to say, come January 1st, 2007 ... I'll be in Times Square, someplace I've always wanted to spend New Year's, along with some of my best friends, and thousands of others!!

In other news, the San Antonio/Trinity college trip was a blast! I have some pictures on my camera, and Sheenna has some great pictures on hers, and eventually they will end up here, as will more details of the day. But for now, the gritty details: we had 8 highschool students who went, they were given lots of information and a great tour at Trinity, I saw a (dead) armadillo, the Alamo, and the RiverWalk (a full load of all-that-is-Texan), and we even stopped an Southwestern on the way home because Sheenna's old volleyball team from Hendrix University was playing in a tournament there, and she wanted to see her coach. Turns out DePauw was playing in that tournament as well, so I think I sufficiently shocked the ...poo outta a friend from AXO by randomly showing up at the end of her volleyball match all the way in Texas. It was great to see her, though, if even for all of a 95 seconds (Christina Dickerson).

And oh yes, one other noteworthy happening since my last post. It's been a couple of weeks ago now, but I met up with a couple, friends of our family, originally from Michigan, who moved to Dallas about 3 years ago. Actually, Rev. Gordon Nusz was the pastor who officiated(right word?) at my parents wedding, and who baptised me. He and his wife took me out for dinner, the Thursday before the San Antonio trip. When they picked me up, they didn't tell me where we were going. Halfway to downtown Dallas, they asked me if I was afraid of heights... Of course, after that, I knew immediately where we were going -- Reunion Tower. If anyone has ever seen a picture of the Dallas skyline, it's this great big ball. Yes, you heard (read) me. A ball on the skyline, all lit up, bright and glowing at night. In the ball there is a restaraunt. The floor layout is set up in a giant circle, with tables all along the circumfrence of the outter walls, which are all glass -- so I guess they're not walls at all, but windows. The floor rotates, so in the course of an hour, as you're eating, you can lookout over the city in every direction. First time I drove through Dallas with Priscilla, she pointed it out to me (well, the ball's a little hard to miss) and told me it was a restaraunt. From then on, I thought it would be cool to see it and eat there, but never actually though I'd get to -- or at least not so soon. But it was really nice. And not just the restaraunt, but reconnecting with the Nuszs as well. They invited me to come spend a weekend with them whenever I'd like, and asked if I would ever want to speak to the youth at their church about the US-2 program. So hopefully all of that will be able to happen before too long...

So that's about it for now.

sorry, stole this pic from the web. in the interest of not getting sued or whatever, it's from http://users2.ev1.net/~egrayfox/cyber/cyberlinks.html

Oops!!

2006-10-02T10:07:00.000-05:00

So this past weekend I was fully prepared to post a blog with pictures of my apartment, along with some pictures and from the Plano balloon festival that I went to last Sunday (or rather, two Sundays ago, now that it's Monday). But sadly, on Sunday, when I logged onto my blog site, grabbed my digital camera, and then attempted to find the cord to attatch my camera to my computer and upload the pictures ... the cord was nowhere to be found!! Sad, sad day. I guess I left in Michigan, so pictures will have to wait until a) someone at home finds my cord and mails it to me, or 2) (and let's be honest -- this is the more likely option!) I go home next month for Thanksgiving and find the cord myself.

So pictures are going to have to wait even longer!!

Speaking of going home for Thanksgiving, I have my travel plans all worked out, tickets purchased, the whole nine yards!! Very excited about that, but of course I couldn't do it the easy way. Oh no, it's me -- so that means I managed to plan for myself some kind of adventure. In looking up plane tickets online (haha, one of my favorite pasttimes -- even if I have nowhere to go, or no money to buy the tickets, I like to look for good prices and pretend ... :D) I discovered that it was nearly $150 cheaper for me to fly into Chicago rather than Detroit. And, as I learned last summer, Amtrak has some fairly inexpensive train tickets to get me from Chicago to Ann Arbor. So here is the adventure I have planned: on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I'm planning for a funfilled (ha!) day of traveling ... flying from Dallas to Chicago, rushing to the bus station, hopping on a Metra bus to take me from the airport to Union Station, then catching a 5 hour train ride back to Ann Arbor -- which is now so convieniently close to my family's new home! After Thansgiving, I'm being a bit smarter, and spreading my travel time out. I'm taking the train back to Chicago Saturday evening, meeting up with Anne Forde, one of my best friends and roommates from college, spending Sunday with her in Chicago, and flying back to Dallas early Monday morning. Yeehaw!! (to quote the Texans -- and yes, I actually did hear someone do that, although it was at a comedy show, and he was just trying to be funny... who does that?!!) So there you have it. Me and another one of my adventures. And again, it's happening around Thanksgiving. That's apparently a good holiday for me. Three years ago I went to St. Louis, 2 years ago I split the holiday between NYC and LA(Burbank), last year I actually made it home... and I think that's when the massive pumpkin-pie-baking-extravaganza was taking place, organized by my little brother Joel, the future restraunteer ... Ah, such good memories all around!! Allright, enough of that. So here's to another good week, and the weekend roadtrip to San Antonio fast approaching!!

A day in the life of an Educational Coordinator

2006-09-25T18:47:00.000-05:00

So here it is -- the long-overdue post, explaining exactly what I've been doing at work. Hey, what can I say, I've been buuuuuusy.

Some general background of the center first -- as I think a good explanation of it is past due as well. Wesley-Rankin Community Center (aka WR, WRCC, or to quote Tre' -- "the Rank") has been around in some form or another for the past century, running all sorts of amazing programs in the West Dallas ... which isn't what you might call the nicest area of town. The community of West Dallas is almost completely Hispanic, and a lot of the families are also newly immegrated from Mexico. WRCC is very devoted to their community, and multi-generations of many families have gone to, worked at, volunteered at, (or all of the above) these programs all their lives. The center, and really much of the community, is very family oriented. There are programs for all members of the families, from a headstart program for the youngest kiddies, up to an extremely active senior citizens group. Other benefits the center offers include the afterschool programs (where I've been spending so much time at lately) for the kids (grades 1-5) and youth (grades 6-12), a teen parenting program, GED and ESL classes, this awesome computer lab open to the public, and computer classes ... and more.

As the new Educational Coordinator at WRCC, I have been working hard along side the center's program director, Kysheenna (Sheenna), and the two Project Transformation interns, Mike and Tre', to plan for and implement different educational programs and curriculums for the kids/youth. I better explain Project Transformation (PT) here, as well. PT is another Americorp/church related program that employs college students and (somewhat) recent college grads to work with different kinds of at-risk kids and youth. PT's biggest program is run during the summer, when apparently there's about 80+ of these interns that run a huge day camp at a number of sites around the Dallas area (and word has it there are other PT programs across the country, although PT was started here in Dallas -- at Wesley Rankin, nonetheless). But during the schoolyear, PT operates on a much smaller scale. There are only about 6 or 7 interns (most of whom live in the apartments here in the building where I'm living) who run the afterschool programs at only about 5 sites. WR is the only site that has the youth program -- the rest of the PT sites just have the younger kids. So Mike and Tre', as the PT interns, are the ones ultimately responsible for the smooth running of the Project Transformation afterschool program -- but these programs clearly take many more people to make them successful. It's my responsibility (among other things) to make sure the kids are learning to WR's standards as well. There's this neat little dynamic between WR, as the host site, and PT as the manpower source -- the two programs have the same goals, but are held to different standards dictated by different grant sources and such. So I am, in a lot of way -- as a kind of nuetral third party -- sort of a bridge between the two programs. A liason, if you will. Not that there's any real strife or even a bad relationship between the two programs whatsover. But there is a certain dynamic that I, being aware of, at least like to think, help balance.

I have been spending the most time so far with the younger kids' afterschool program. This is mostly because this program is a little short on staff, and the youth program now has about 4 regular helpers and only about 10 regular attendees. There are more than 20 kids running around at the elementary afterschool program site, and without me, there are only 2 other regular staff people most days. I've gotten to know these kids pretty well in the last couple of weeks, and they are great kids. Yes, they're a little crazy at time. Yes, many have their issues. But I love them. I will use two or three kids as an example of what goes on in a typical day.

One boy, the first day I met him, showed up for the program only to be asked by a returning work study from the year before what he was still doing here in the kids program. The boy had already been in 5th grade for the second time last year. This is year number three for him. He doesn't go to the same school as his little sister; she goes to a charter school that he basically got expelled from for acting up too much (nothing crazy or dangerous, he's just a handful). But he's not a bad kid. I wouldn't exactly call him a good kid -- or at least not an angel. But I would not call him a bad kid. Unfortunately, apparently I'm an exception. I can't tell you how many times out of how many different mouths I have heard called just that, "a bad kid," or "He is such a problem." I get angry when I hear it, too ... especially from some of the older women working at the center. If they treat this kid in that way, tell him he's a bad kid, of course he's going to act to fit their expectations, why shouldn't he? Or at least that's what I think. So from the first day he got there, I've let him know what I expect from him -- despite what other may expect of him -- and it's for him to act like the responsible, decent young man I know he is. And he's responded to that, too. He showed me his grade card and we talked about what he needs to do and what we can work with him to help bring up his math grades. Granted, he's not a pefect angel every time, every day -- but he's not a bad kid, nor has he acted like one. And I make a point to say so, and speak on his behalf, when I hear otherwise from other people.

There's another little girl who barely speaks any English at all. She brings a book to the program every day that she is expected to be able to read as part of her homework ... when in actuality, she struggles even to understand what someone else reads to her. But she's a smart little kid -- which is pretty obvious if you watch her work. She works hard. She has these worksheets she works on every day where she has to copy sentences in English about these pictures. She's very precise, diligent, and intent with her work, and her older brother and cousin look out for her and help translate her questions to us and our answers in Spanish. Actually, as she is getting more comfortable with us (the staff members) and I'm getting more comfortable with my Spanish (my Wed. night classes are helping a little, already!) I've been able to talk and work with her more and more even when her brother and cousin aren't around to help. But it just seems crazy to me that she's obviously so behind her class/grade level in many ways -- she struggles to reconize letter names and sounds, mixes up vowel names, not to mention words in stories have yet to have a lot of meaning for her -- but in many other ways, here's a six year old whose well on her way to being billingual. Because, let's be honest, she's in an english speaking school and she's a smart kid, so she's going to learn english. So as long as she's not written-off for being slow or is allowed to slip between the cracks now, while she is a little behind, she is sooner of later going to fly far in front of many kids her age, and is going to be that much better-off.

Other things I've learned working with these kids: it's hard to do homework assignments about idioms and english expressions with ESL kids. It's hard to do homework that involved them proofreading paragraphs for mistakes they've yet to learn to recognize in english. It's hard for a kid who is good at math to do homework with word problems when reading english words is a struggle for that kid. These are all problems I've watched kids at a variety of age levels struggle with, and I'm sure they are thought be some to be slow or stupid because they are having these problems ... when really it's just a language issue, and really these kids have more going for them than the average, monolingual (is that really a word?) student.

As for the youth ... I haven't worked with them as extensively yet. But I am looking forward to next Friday, because Sheenna and I have been planning a college visit trip for a group of students -- some juniors and seniors -- as part of the college readiness course we're going to be doing over the next couple of months. We're taking about 6-15 kids to San Antonio (a good 5 hour roadtrip) to visit a couple of colleges in that area (Trinity and St. Mary's) ... and to see the Alamo and the River Walk. I don't know what the River Walk is exactly, yet ... but I keep hearing about it! And I finally get to see the Alamo!!! I don't know exactly why, but I've always wanted to see it... ever since I was little. And I'm even more excited about making sure these kids see they have options, can set high goals, and there are ways to achieve those goals, and people willing to help them.

I think my typing is starting to lose coherency. This is quite a long post -- I commend anyone who actually reads to the end of it. And here it is. And hopefully the next update will be a bit more timely, but I make no more promises!!

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

2006-09-16T20:20:00.000-05:00

I cried when I looked at the site today. I won't tell you at which one(s) ... I don't want to ruin the experience for anyonelse...

For anyone who hasn't seen the postsecret website before, check it now. Immediately. Open a new browser window this second. It's is so raw and beautiful and moving; I want to share it with everyone.

More about other stuff later.... probably tomorrow

Who knew?!!

2006-09-14T09:48:00.000-05:00

I poured myself a bowl of cereal this morning, before I went to work ... it was one of those mornings where I just didn't want to get out of bed. I was still basically sleepwalking when I poured that bowl of cereal, and therefore completely forgot I had finished off my milk last night. I really wanted the bowl of cereal, though -- special K with strawberries, best ever!! So I used orange juice. And who knew?!! It wasn't too bad...

I'm a slacker

2006-09-11T20:45:00.000-05:00

Since I haven't posted anything in about 2 weeks now, which is sad considering that now I'm even hooked back up with internet in my own place and really have no excuse, I'll try to do a quick recap. Sad, considering the things that happened in these past two weeks are deserving of so much more, but I'm tired of rehashing these events, and so a quick recap will have to do.

Labor Day Weekend -- Road trip and (mini) DePauw/AXO reunion. Okay, so I only met up with one person, Cristin Neil, who's working for AmeriCorps in Austin -- but that counts. From Austin we drove down to McAllen and then South Padre Island for the most amazing day at the beach -- we were there all day on Sunday -- and other exciting happenings throughout the long weekend. Thinking about our roadtrip, I'm still laughing/scratching my head/trying to figure out how all that happened in just one weekend. For all the juicy details (if you haven't already heard them) -- if you're that curious -- call. I've written about them/talked about them/etc. too many times to really want to do it all again here, so I'm moving on... OK fine, there's one little thing too crazy to pass on writing about here, as well. So in this tiny little town near the southernmost tip of Texas, so close to Mexico we could practically see it, hanging out in a place I don't even know how we ended up there ... I happen to meet the older brother of these twins I used to know back when I was in elementary school, living in the UP of Michigan, pretty darn close to Canada. Yeah, just wierd. And that was pretty much par for the weekend...

Meeting my roommate -- her name is Marsharie. She's from Austin, and also has family near Arlington, which is pretty convenient for her. She usually goes to see her Arlington family members on weekends, and thus can procure from them such neccesary household items as Drain-0, for us to use on our slow-draining and nicely stained bathtub. Did I say slow-draining? Ha. I met backwards spewing, gurgeling, barely-draining-at- all, disgustingly stained bathtub (really I think the water evaporates from the tub faster than it drains) -- but of course, that's all about to change, thanks to the Drain-O (everyone keep your fingers crossed for us, say a prayer, etc.) With the exception of the gross tub, however, everything else: my apartment, my roommate, and the other PT (project transformation -- probably more about this later) interns, everything else about living on Tyler St is great and I am complaint free.

Grocery shopping -- I love grocery shopping, but not at Sam's Club. Sam's Club scares me. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't complain about it, since I've been put on WR's corporate account, or whatever it's called, and therefore can buy a reasonable ammount of grocery's, tax free, and not by my own expense. But I'm sorry, it's just not necessary to buy that much bulk food. Do I really need a milkcarton's worth of Ranch dressing? No I do not. So I can't buy it there. What can I buy there? Lots and lots of vegatables, a 72 pack of cheese, and a big tub of hummous. Because if there are any kinds of foods I can consume, myself, in bulk quantities, they would be veggies, cheese, and hummous. And Sam's Club does have good hummous. I know Michelle has a great recipe to make it homemade, but I don't have a blender yet, and this SC stuff is deeelicious. So I'll return to SC to buy it again -- even if they send me out the door without bags. The rest of my groceries I will, and do, just buy normal size, on my own dollar, at a normal grocery store. And I only buy the salsa I want -- sorry, Adam, couldn't resist. (And fyi -- for me, it's salsa con queso -- tostido brand).

Buying my internet chord -- OK, this doesn't sound that exciting, I realize. And really, the buying part of it wasn't exciting. But trying to find the closest WalMart -- which first of all, I hate WalMart, but I didn't know where else to go, and I didn't have internet to look up another place -- well let's just say it was an adventure. On the bad directions of the library woman who wouldn't let me on the internet there (the OakCliff library is not so cool, I'm gonna have to find a better one, even if it'll be farther away...) to look up where to go, I basically ended up in Fort Worth before I found a WalMart. Then on the way home, I missed my exit, ended up in DownTown Dallas, drove around there for a while, having decided to try to find the YMCA -- but I couldn't get to it, even though I knew the address, because of stupid ONE WAY STREETS -- the bain of my existance. I proceeded to drive around downtown until the gas light came on, decided to give up and just head back home before I ran out of gas and made the day even more of a hassle, had to fight Dallas's ridiculous rushhour traffic to drive the 4 or 5 miles out of town back to OakCliff, but eventually returned home safely with my internet chord. Side note: since I practically drove to Fort Worth, that meant I drove through Arlington ... which meant I passed 6 Flags Over Texas!!! That made the rest of my experience totally worth it, because once I hooked up my computer to the internet in my apartment, I went online to look up admission prices. Aparently I can get a season pass for the price of a daily admission because of some anniversary deal ... $45. And since the park in only about 20 minutes away, I can totally get there multiple times before the season ends... in DECEMBER ... yeah southern states and hot weather year round!! So I'm planning a 6 Flags trip already...

And finally, the 11th, the first day of afterschool programming -- you know, I've already written too much in this post, and the kids, and the rest of the events of today, deserve more than second billing to all that I've written already. So more about today ... some other day.

and now I'm a Soccer Mom...

2006-08-30T14:03:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I brought over the last of my stuff to my new apartment, and spent my first night there. It was great. I spent about three hours setting everything up, working late into the night. My roommates from last year are going to laugh if/when they read this, but I just went to town on the cleaning. The apartment was actually pretty clean to begin with. But, I just have this thing where I wanted to make sure it was cleaned, and cleaned to my standards. Here's where the strasma 3 girls will surely be laughing, because they think (allright, they know) cleaning isn't really my thing -- I know exactly what they're thinking: "what standars?". But actually, while picking up clutter (like clothes and papers and such) is not my thing, I'm actually a stickler when it comes to REAL cleaning -- as in kitchens and bathrooms -- and cleaning up REAL messes. (And a real mess does NOT constitue a couple of dishes left in the sink overnight!! Sorry, again a comment for the strasma folk). When I encounter any anything in those areas that I don't know for an absolute fact has been cleaned and sanitized, I want to rectify the situation. So what I'm really trying to say here is I was in the mood for some all-out cleaning, Bay Shore Style. (Cleaning at a summer camp for 3 summers made me like this, I'm sure.) I took all the dishes out of the cupboards and ran them through the dishwasher, wiped down all the furniture in my room, the insides of the drawers, the walls of the closets, etc... As of last night I hadn't quite made it to super-sanitizing the bathroom, yet but it actually wasn't too bad -- and I'll still hit it tonight! And again, it's not that any of these things or places were even noticably dirty, nor do I have some OCD cleaning thing ... it was just that this was my new place, and I wanted to start out with my best foot forward.

So... that meant I had to go to the grocery store for some cleaning surprise. Enter the soccer mom. While I'm in Dallas, working for WRCC, I have this super-sweet, white minivan to drive. A.k.a., I get to cruise around soccer mom style. Which I am cool with. I'm rocking the soccer mom vehicle, I think it's great! I think it's great mostly because I appreciate irony, and I don't think I'm the soccer mom type -- not that there's anything wrong with soccer moms, or that it's uncool to be a soccer mom, or whatever -- I'm just saying it's not me. Therefore it's ironic, in more of the Alanis Morisette than Webster way, but whatever... BUT when I went to the grocer store last night, well... let me just replicate my reciept for you here:

1 cleaning bucket (blue with a nice handle!)
1 bottle of Lysol all purpose cleaner (nothing beats it!)
1 package of sponges (the cheap, flourescent kind!!)
2 fast drying dishclothes (I went for quality on these suckers!!)
1 bottle of laundry detergent (store brand, making up for the dishcloth luxury)
1 box of bandaids (the nice kind, cuz I hate when cheap bandaids don't stick...)
1 box of Qtips (actually, they were "cotton swabs," forgoing the brandname here, again)
1 bottle of Listerine (accepting no substitutes again here!)

and my personal favorite...
2 bottles of Lorreal-for-Kids no tear shampoo (a 2-for-1 deal!)

the shampoo was my favorite, not because of the deal (which still, was choice!) but because I absolutely love that kids shampoo... the delightful smell (I bought 1 mangotango and 1 honeydew) and the way it leaves my hair feeling super soft, and the bottles are this awesome, funky shape, and so colorful!! I hadn't bought any in a while, but I used to use it all the time...

So walking out to my minivan with my bags full of cleaning supplies and kiddie shampoo, heading home to my 3 hour cleaning extravaganza, I truly felt that I was rocking the soccermom lifestyle. But I did made sure to drive home in my oversized, white, rhinestone-studded, rockstar sunglasses, with the radio blaring the new J.Timberlake song, and singing along (naturally) -- just to assuage the ego of whatever's still left of the college-girl in me...

PS -- at the end of the night, my new apartment looked sweet!! I'll post pictures, eventually ... when i recharge my camera battery...

Where did the week go?!

2006-08-27T22:42:00.000-05:00

That's the question I'm just lying here, asking myself. I have to get better about this whole blogging thing. There were a couple of times during the week I thought I was composing a blog, or a journal entry, or something of the sort in my head, but it never made it to any kind of print. But that figures ... that's just what I do -- I'm always narrating some kind of story in my head, but when I actually try to write it, I lose it.

But here are some of the week's highlights, or more interesting moments (in no particular order):

- recieving my bound copy of my honor's thesis. I read it for the first time since finishing it in April, and probably for the first time ever just straight through. Yes, there were little things wrong with it, still, I thought ... but overwhelmingly, I felt such an intense pride. It just reminded me of how hard I worked on that, how much I learned in one year, and it was so cool to have it in my hands like that, bound and printed like a real book. I couldn't stop smiling the rest of the day, I felt like such a dork...

- seeing my apartment for the first time. Granted, the first time I wasn't so excited about it. (A little worried would be the better way to describe how I felt). But the issues where resolved, and now I'm really excited to finished getting moved into it. More on the apartment later...

- tamale making. This probably deserves its own blog entry as well. I'm sure I'll write one later. I mean, we only made tamales one day this week, only finishing about 88 dozen. There's still another 9,800 dozen or so to go ... haha!! I had to laugh at the fact that there was me, the (mostly) vegitarian having my hands in a big tub of meat for 2 or 3 hours ... but it was fun. Well, more the hanging out with the women and working together and such. My back and legs kind of ached after all that time standing, bent over, spreading the matza (sp?) onto the ojas (sp?) and rolling the meat into tamale after tamale ... who knew making food could take so much out of you?!! But really, I enjoyed myself doing it!!

- getting to know more people in Dallas. Self explanitory

- Pete's piano bar on Friday night with Priscilla. I loved that place!! I mean, it was two large pianos on a stage facing each other, two amazing pianists (well, two at one time, four different people played throughout the course of the night) just going to town on those keys, and everyone there singing all these great songs outloud, all night long -- how could I not love it?!!

- lunch (a couple of different times) with Norma. She's the administrative assistent as the center, and one of the nicest people I have ever met. Now she sometimes even brings me food (like the breakfast tacos!) from home sometimes, just because she knows I'd like them! She's also the one that drove me around and helped me find my bank, and is just always looking out for me.

- Olga returned from Louisianna tonight and brought Priscilla and I both back a Mardi Gras mask!! awh ... :D

The Perfect Day

2006-08-20T22:41:00.000-05:00

My away message today said this was the perfect day, for the reasons I am about to share:

1) I went to church this morning with the Olga, David, and Priscilla -- and I can actually say I thoroughly enjoyed myself there, which kind of feels wierd for me to think or say. I mean, it's not that I've ever had anything against going to church -- clearly that's not the case, or I wouldn't be where I am today. But for the past number of years, basically since my dad became a pastor, going to church never meant anything special to me. My dad, I'm sure, is a wonderful pastor. But he's not, nor has he ever been, my pastor. He's my dad. And so going to his church, therefore, was nothing special either. Plus those last couple churches he had were so small -- they did nothing for me. The church in Greencastle I think I would have liked more if I spent more time there. I could actually listen to the sermons there, I was just in and out so fast before and afterwards that it never really had a huge effect on me. But today I actually enjoyed myself at church. I liked hearing/reading about all the different mission things the church did, and that 500 of its members are involved in some way in those missions. The church goes to Juarez Mexico a couple times a year to work on and build houses there, has made a number of trips to Louisianna to help out rebuilding after the hurricaine, and they do a plethora of local projects around the Dallas area, like building wheelchair access ramps in homes that need them around the city. I love that kind of stuff, am excited to already have been offered the opportunity to participate. They had a sort of church-activities fair after the service where they had more information about their mission projects, their sunday school classes, music, outreach, and worship opportunities -- some things I was interested in, some things I wasn't, but it was nice to learn about everything they did. The church itself was beautiful, with these amazing modern staind glass windows, good music, and the pastor was really nice when I met her afterwards. She had already heard about me, thanks to the press realease we all had to write, and she told me I had a pastor there, even if I decided to go to church elsewhere when I move into my apartment in West Dallas. The church I went to this morning is in Allen, which would be about a 20 or 30 minute drive from my apartment when I move. But you know what ... Sunday morning drives are relaxing and good times to think, so I think I just might keep going back.

2) Priscilla and I went to the mall after church. I take that back, we went to the mall after the lovely pancake brunch we had back at home ... another reason this day was so good. I found a great wedding gift to mail to Annette and Chris, I found a great pair of shoes for myself (couldn't help it ... they were gold and tied up my ankle, and on SALE), and -- best of all -- discovered that, in Dallas, malls have ICE RINKS!!! Oh wow, amazing!! Today we just watched other people skate, but I can't wait to go back one day when I'm wearing socks (you may think that sounds wierd, but would you want to wear rented ice skates without them?) so I can go iceskating in Dallas, in the middle (or end) or summer, in a mall!!!

3) After the mall, we went to the swimming pool. Ah, perfection. I just stretched out in the sun and read until I couldn't take the sun and the sweat a second longer, then ran to the pool and jumped into the perfectly luke-warm water. I'd swim until I became chilly, then climbed out and returned to the lounge chair on the pool deck (all the while being careful not to stand too long in one place on any part of the concreate, seeing as how that would burn my skin!!) I then would repeat as necessary, until reaching the desired shade of tan. Perfection, perfection, perfection. And no sunburn whatsoever.

4) Tonight we all watched Big Brother again. I'm still trying to figure it all out. Some of those people are just mean ... or tricky ... or strategical geniuses ... or all ... or none ... of the above. Craziness. I'm still not sure if I can say I like the show. But hey, it's fun to watch with the other three. I wonder what kind of Big Brother contestant I'd make...

Deep it the Heart of Texas...

2006-08-17T10:59:00.000-05:00

ghtOkay, so maybe it's more like north texas, and not exactly the deep heart, but here I am in Dallas! For the past month or so, ever time I told someone I would be moving to Texas, the response was the same: "Oh, it's going to be hot!" Well clearly those people knew what they were talking about. But honestly, it's not too bad. Sure the grass is a little brown in places, but whatever.

Just to add spice and flair, I will start my Dallas narrative with this news: in the first 10 hours of being here in Dallas, I saw two places where people got shot! Haha, don't anyone worry ... one was the Grassy Knoll -- of course I had to be brought there, and I saw the 6th story window and the X on the road where Kennedy was shot. The other was -- and this is just crazy!! -- well, apparently Bonnie and Clyde and/or their family(ies) were residents of West Dallas, and either lived at or were staying in the house next door to the Wesley-Rankin main building. Actually, the center even owns that house now! Anyway, their gang was confronted by the police, a shootout ensued, and the sheriff was shot right there on the front porch. You can see the bullet holes over the house number from the road!

So I've sort-of started working already at the Wesley-Rankin Community Center. I mean, I really have nothing to do yet, it's just been coming in and going to lunch (meetings) or hanging out and meeting people there. Everyone I've met and/or will be working with is so nice and I love them already. So that's good.

I actually don't have my own apartment yet. Sad day. I saw my apartment, where I'll be living -- it's just not done getting remodeled or refurnished/furbished ... whatever the appropriate term may be. So in the meantime, I'm staying with Priscilla and her family (mom and stepdad) in Allen, Texas, just north of Dallas. Actually, it's still the Dallas area, and it's not really that far, but rushhour traffic is a bit of a pill. Hey, I don't have to drive it (yet!). Priscilla and her family are amazing, there house is beautiful, I have the fancy guest bedroom, they have two cute and only slightly yappy little white dogs, and a killer flat screen plasma TV that we watch project runway, rockstar, big brother, and other TiVo'd reality TV shows. I must admit, reality TV (other than project runway, naturally) isn't really my bag, but after 2 or 3 nights already, I'm slowly getting sucked into the crazy, mixed up, anything goes world of reality TV. Ok, not really -- big brother still confuses the crap outta me, but it's kind of fun to watch. Priscilla especially is great, which is good, since I spend so much time with her. She graduated the year before I did, and is originally from Boston, so she has the great Bostonian accent with words ending in "ar," and of course is crazy about the red sox!!

That's about it for now. The story is to be continued...

That man is insane......

2006-08-05T14:35:00.000-05:00

It's the first week in August, and as I have done every summer at this time for the last few years, I have been glued to the television every night, watching the XGames with my brothers. (Well, the last few years it has been with my brothers -- this year it's just Joel and I, although I assume Josh is watching as well, in Pigeon.)

Anyway, cray, CRAZY people compete on the XGames, and it is spectacular! haha, I love it!! Well, other than the segments where they show everyone crashing, one after that other. Blah, I cover my eyes when those segments air -- all but a small peekhole through my fingers, and I end up watching anyway. I can't help it. It's like an ambulance parked by the side of a building, or police cars on the side of the road -- you know you're not going to be happy with what you see, but nonetheless you look, and you can't turn away!!

So last night the Moto X best trick competition was on, and the most insane man on the surface of the planet earth was competing -- Travis Pastrana -- and it was rumored this psycho was going to attempt a double back flip, should he need the points to win. He's sitting there in an interview, being questioned about it, and tells the interviewer that she should give his mother a hug, and tell her that should anything happen to him, he's just doing what makes him happy, blah blah blah. I mean, he's sitting right there, readily admitting there's a very good chance his brains are about to be splattered all over the staple center dirt. My heartrate picks up a bit during airplane takeoffs, cuz there's always the thought in the back of my head that maybe, just maybe, although highly unlikely, the plane is going to fall back to earth. It is so much more likely that Travis and his dirt bike were going to fall from the sky as he attempted to flip it twice in the air, so his heart had to be going double time. Well, either that, or he just knows how to make for must-see TV. Really, he probably knew all along that the trick was a cinch, he could nail it perfectly, no matter how utterly insane it sounded, and there was nothing to worry about. I don't know though, he did suit up in the biggest, bulkiest, safety gear I've seen any of these guys wear, before attempting his crazy stunt. He lumbered around after putting it on, kind of like the kid from "Little Giants" whose mom raps him up in foam packing material, cuz the football pads he had "weren't good enough"... but i digress.

Long story short, the crazy, crazy man flips his bike twice, lands it perfectly, makes XGame history again, and wins the gold. Part of my still shudders every time I think about it, the other part of me is in love!! Kidding. Well, maybe not...

the beginning...

2006-08-02T15:43:00.000-05:00

I am not really sure how to start this blog. Not really sure where I'll go with it. I guess that's pretty appropriate, all things considered. I move to Dallas in roughly 2 weeks. I'm pretty excited, and ready to go. But I have no idea what's in store for me when I get there. Oh well, C'est la vie, right?

Actually, I do have somewhat of a better idea of what to expect in Dallas than I did in May or June, after having spent the last month training in New York. Now, should I have started this blog about a month ago, this blogsite would(could?) be full of entry after entry, recounting all the crazy, funny, meaningful, beautiful, random ... you get the idea ... moments from life in New York. But I'd get stuck in the past, trying to play catch up if I attempted to right about all of that now. So I'll leave all of that to history and personal memories. I want this blog to be about what I'm experiencing in the present moment. No recaps.

Once/if I can figure out how, maybe I'll post a link to the press release we (the 8 new US-2!s) all had to write. It does a pretty good job of explaining -- to the extent of knowledge I have right now -- what I'll be doing in Dallas for the next two years. And of course, once I get there, even more will hopefully start to make sense, for myself included! But for now, I'm just hanging out in Canton, Michigan, at my parents' new home (small but cute), trying to get things straightened out ...

Hence the title of my blogsite, a line from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot -- my favorite poem ...

"And indeed there will be time/ To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?” / Time to turn back and descend the stair, / With a bald spot in the middle of my hair— / [They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”] /My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin, /My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin— /[They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”] /Do I dare /Disturb the universe? / In a minute there is time /For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse."

I think I have related more to this poem than any poem I've read before or since. Even though I'm not an aging man, (probably) won't ever go bald, and the like ... But those insecurites ... Am I doing the right thing? What will other people think of me? But I'm not turning back, I'm trying not to care, and maybe, if I'm lucky, I will even "disturb the universe."

So I dare. But those decisions and revisions ... yeah, I can definately still relate...