a tender tennesee new year's is the only new year's for me

Rumor has it that Christmas is over. You may be wondering what tipped me off. It was KOIT. Tonight it was back to normal light rock less talk, love songs after dark instead of the Christmas carols it has been playing since I've been back. But that's OK I can handle it, I'm just going to a KOITless land, Memphis. My flight leave tomorrow morning at 6am, what did I get myself into? I hate mornings, especially when it is cold and when I am completely unaccustomed to having a normal sleeping schedule. I'll be gone until the third and Amy said she wants to hear about what actually is going on in my life so that should be interesting. Some things are better left unsaid in mass e-mails.
But on things that can be shared,
-Last week I was gently tossing my phone across the room at my mom and it broke. Sadness, I know, but now I got my number transferred to one of my dad's old phones and at least 95% of the keys work.
- The same person won the Christmas Eve poem contest that won the Christmas costume contest last week. I would be bitter but seriously you can't really be bitter at someone who can write the best bad poem. I keep forgetting that to win you need to make fun of everyone in the room and anyone that should have been in the room but bailed. Next year that plaque is mine.
-Last Thursday and Saturday I worked for DMG Engineering. Sounds impressive, yeah? DMG just happens to be my brother-in-law, I am a firm believer in using all family-ties to my monetary advantage. Although I've yet to be paid, any job you can do while wearing your red flannel penguin pajama pants is a good one.
-Last night we played the Family Feud DVD game. Our team definitely should have won but when you are asked "what are the top five human foods that dogs like to eat?" meat, steak, beef, hamburger, and chicken should not all be counted as different answers.
So I hope your Christmas was cheery and bright and that your post-Christmas week is fabulous.
Love, Joy

if you don't think my posts normally contain important information than this one might just prove your point. but who knows, maybe not

Yesterday I didn't get dressed until 3pm, yup and even then what I was wearing looked quite similar to what I normally sleep in. "What caused this lapse in fashion judgment?" you may ask, but I think it was a culmination of many things. Although life here seems so much easier maybe that isn't always a good thing. I think I over compensate and just stress myself out. Just because there are things that I can do here doesn't necessarily mean I should do them. I was telling my dad the other day that I haven't been calling people back because I'm not driving a lot and when I'm at home I don't feel like being on the phone because it is a waste of time. He told me that I need to not worry about multi-tasking. I guess here I just feel my time is limited that I need to get things done, and save money, and hang out with everyone imaginable because when I am in Nicaragua I don't have those options. But honestly by Saturday night I was dead, and then all the family and babies were over.

Sunday night was my sister's 4th annual Christmas costume party. I was a Salvation Army bell ringer. I didn't win any prizes but when you are competing against an entire Christmas tree farm you can't really expect to win. Oh and the fact that I was too lazy to carry around my bucket and bell most people thought I was a Target worker. I also didn't get any monetary donations, but Tinsel Town Barbie did give me a pack of gum and some trash. For your viewing pleasure I've attached a picture.

Monday I spent shopping with my sister, and then we finished it up today. Speaking of today, the sweater I am wearing is shedding everywhere, it is like that prom dress I had with all the glitter. Except instead of leaving a trail of hot pink glitter I am leaving gray wool. Maybe it is not that close of a correlation.

I had not been going to coffee quite so much but today was really cold. I went to Starbucks three times. I think my drinks got progressively worse and the first one wasn't even that great. Oh well, I guess it is time to cut back again. Another problem that I don't deal with in Central America, Sampson's Frozen Cappachinos are always magically delicious.

On Friday I might go to work. Really, who would want to waste a day working? But a girls got to do what a girls got to do. And it will get me out of babysitting.
Merry week of Christmas!
Love, Joy
PS Tune in next week for the results of the "2nd Annual Christmas-Eve Poetry Contest"

I wish I was ambidextrous

Hey you, how's it going? Today I started one of my glamorous jobs, it's in the interior design industry. Move over Ty Pennington, I'm stealing your job. OK maybe that isn't going to happen quite yet. It is all in who you know and I know my cousin, and she needed help stripping wall paper in her house. Billy thought it should only take us two days but if we continue at the same pace I think 2 weeks is a more realistic approximation. I just wish my left hand was more useful, because seriously my right side is very very sore. Although I'm sure it's not a problem that Ib Profin can't fix, I mean besides Salvation what problems can't Ib Profin fix? Maybe you shouldn't answer that.
Last week I went to Davis, I love that place, why did I ever leave? I know the whole graduation/I hate school thing but lots of people take more than four years. I guess we're all lucky I didn't take that route because without my departure you wouldn't be getting this e-mail. During my visit, besides hanging out with really cool people, I got to go to Zia's. Oh how I have missed their sandwiches! And I went to Border's twice. Why didn't I go there more often? They don't kick you out for not buying anything and you don't get as many dirty looks for being loud during finals week as you do at coffee shops.
From Friday to Tuesday I was in Pasadena and Huntington Beach with my mom. While I was there I was able to continue putting my major to use. I socialized. That is what you do with Sociology, right? Good thing I went to school for that because some of the people I had to hang out with were pretty lame. Just kidding, I love you all dearly.
Tonight I went over to my sister's to watch Gilmore Girls tapes. It was BYOTV since they just moved and their TV hasn't made it over yet. Some people may not think that watching TV is a good bonding time but I totally disagree. If you're with the right people any activity can be used to make you even closer.
I guess in the States I mostly just hang out with people, which happens to be my favorite thing to do. It also is one the things I do the least of in Nicaragua. Now I have less to write because I communicate verbally with much greater frequency.
It is getting late and I need to get rested for day two of attacking walls with the steamer and scraper, I know you are jealous.
Love, Joy

i heart malt-o-meal

Hello group of faithful followers. Last week I got a phone call from someone claiming that my updates are not filled with anything noteworthy. He, of course, believed that his phone call was worthy of being included in the next update. People, I know it may not seem like it, but I do have standards. When I received the phone call I was at Peet's coffee with madre, I got the peppermint latte, it was a little heavy on the peppermint. I almost died when I was trying to get the last bit of foam and ended up with a shot of pure peppermint, so then I had to pour my mom's tea in the cup to try to wash away the terrible terrible taste left in my mouth. This Monday at Peet's I got the gingerbread latte, my sister thought is was disgusting but after a while it really grew on me.
Yesterday my mother volunteered my dad to help me set up Christmas decorations, if you have ever embarked on a project with my father you may realize the challenge that this presented. But as the Good Book says "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Now we have lights up outside and a nicely decorated tree, and the attic is cleaned. Plus it gave me an excuse to listen to Amy Grant's "A Christmas Album" which is my absolute fav. Now as I was decorating the tree I came across many hand-made decorations, I feel I must take this time to apologize to my parents, grandparents, and whoever else I felt like bestowing my crafts upon. I really did think they were cool at the time. Hopefully, over the years, my craftiness has improved.
As far as artistic talent goes goes, this weekend I went back to my roots. On Saturday night I stayed at my grandpa's in Lake Tahoe, as well as being the coldest house I have ever been in, it also contains the most collector's items. I mean as a self-proclaimed collector, whatever he buys is automatically a collector's item, right? And he is an artist so mixed in with art-work he has purchased over the years there are hundreds of Vern Lee replicates and originals. So really, making crafts is a way to stay connected to my heritage. And also spreading out my stuff in every room of the house is in my blood, therefore maybe I should stop fighting it.
On Sunday I went to the second coldest house ever, in lovely Shingle Springs, Nevada. But after three hours it warmed up from it's original 42 degrees to a nice 65. My last week in Nicaragua was one of the coldest in history and it had a low of 65 in the morning. So needless to say the climate here is a little different than the nearly constant heat and humidity in Managua.
Oh, I've made some discoveries about myself lately, like that I really do like Malt-O-Meal. If you haven't eaten it lately you don't know what you are missing out on. And no you don't have to have it with Ovaltine. This morning, or I guess early afternoon, for breakfast I had corn Chex which happens to be another one of my favorites so next time you are in the cereal aisle you should pick up a box of that too.
Love, Joy
P.S. If you were still wondering and couldn't pick up on my subtlety, no I haven't started working.

Guess who's back.

I am.
I got back last night around 5 after a full day of flying. I flew back with my brother Joel and for the first leg of the flight we sat together. Lucky Joy got to sit between him and this guy that smelled like smoke and was wearing socks and flip flops . Other than that it was pretty uneventful, Just My Luck was supposed to be on but instead they played Little Man. I didn't put on the headphones and tried my hardest not to look up because I was pretty sure that I would get stupider if I did, and lets face it I don't have IQ points to just throw away. In Houston we were able to get on an earlier flight that made our layover 3 hours shorter, that was nice. So during that flight, with no movie, whenever I started to get bored out of my mind I would just think that my other option was to be still sitting at the airport. That flight I wasn't sitting next to Joel, but in between two older ladies. I wasn't in my assigned seat because I guess people have problems reading the numbers so just sit where ever they feel like, and I am just too kind to ask them to move. The lady on my right was playing the handheld Nintendo thing. It cracked me up because she was old, but I guess still hip, hipper than I am since I don't even know what those things are called.
In San Fransisco got picked up by my whole family, I told Joel that it was expected for the return of the prodigal daughter. My niece Emma came and about 70% of the ride she was showing off that she knows my name. She calls me Doy, I would be offended but she is only 1 1/2 and other relatives, that are much older, still call me Boy.
So far I have done some really exciting things in California. I do like the fall season, and it is cold here, so today I got to wear layers, but not Nica layers like two tank tops, but a tank top and a long sleeved shirt and a jacket. And the coolness made taking a hot shower even more amazing, I really forgot how clean it feels when you can put your whole body under the water instead of just one limb at a time, and wow my hair is completely different. I also got to drive an automatic. And I went to lunch with my sister at the coffee shop formerly known as Tackers. Also I talked on the phone, for all lengths of time and I never had to think about if what I was saying was really worth $.30 a minute (but maybe it is good to think of that).
Today I had to make some photo copies, just 15 and I brought my own paper. Anyways my mom gave me a pre-paid card but when I took it to the counter the lady told me that it would make more sense to just pay the $.75 because the pre-paid card was for the price of the copies if I used their paper. Sadly I had to tell her that I didn't actually have $.75, so I went to see if I had any in my car but there was only 4 dimes. Finally she told me that she would just use half of the card I brought it, over all it was a pretty pathetic experience. Maybe tomorrow my big outing will be to the ATM.
I guess some people think that I should continue these while I am in the states and in theory I agree, we will see if it happens in reality. I mean I don't want to leave you in suspense about whether or not I made it to the ATM. Plus I do have some pretty exciting job prospects that should make for fascinating stories. It is funny what jobs people think of me for, I think it stems from being perpetually poor.
So brief recap I am back in the land of milk and honey and would love to hear from you, so much that I'll probably answer my phone.
Love, Joy

Q: what has four wheels and flies?

Happy day before Thanksgiving!!
I was having problems making this update flow so you are getting bullet points instead of paragraphs. Really important things I put in bold. This is all to your benefit because if you are super busy bullets make for a a quick read, but if you have lots of free time you can take this as an outline and rewrite it in letter form.
-Although I'm in Nicaragua we still get to celebrate Thanksgiving. Actually I've already had two Thanksgiving potluck dinners. They were both nice enough although they couldn't really compare to the Thanksgiving potlucks we had in college. The ones here had a better food to person ratio. And a better space to person ratio.
-My brother Joel is in town again so actually that means half of my immediate family is in Nicaragua, but not necessarily the half that is best at cooking. So tomorrow I get to put my skills to the test and try to make a whole Thanksgiving meal, except Cristina is making the potatoes because I don't want to be considered a sell-out.
-On Sunday night my apartment made some really nice hand turkeys to hang on the wall.
-Nicaraguans obviously don't celebrate our Thanksgiving but that means here Christmas is already everywhere.
-I made gallo pinto again today but this time the maid helped me so it is much better, and I guess the beans I used last time were too old so that is why they never got soft.
-I have been driving a lot more lately. On Saturday I drove to the airport and yesterday I drove to the beach to pick up my roommate's family. I still get frustrated by driving on the road with ox-carts but I am learning to adapt.
-Last night I talked, through the computer, to my college roommate that is living in China. Since we both live in developing countries the technology is a little lacking, or maybe we are the ones lacking. There was about a two minute delay so it was impossible to figure out what she was talking about but over all that makes a pretty amusing conversation.
-On Monday morning I got a call saying that the secret friend gift exchange party, that I hadn't bought a gift for, was at 11. So I ran to the store to buy a present then got dropped off at school for the party that ended up starting at 12. We had to play games, I really don't like public speaking in Spanish.
-A: a garbage truck
-Friday there are promotion ceremonies at school so I guess I'll see which students actually passed to the next grade.
-I am coming back next year, I don't know what all that entails but it means that I need to be back here by the last week of January. I also don't know what grades I will be teaching, our school is most likely expanding to include secondary grades. Traditional Nicaraguan schools are open to primary grades in the morning and secondary grades in the afternoons. So if I teach the older grades I will have a longer work day, longer than the 3 hours I was working this year.
Committing to coming back has definitely taken a load off but also it means I have a lot of work to do. I finally bought shelves to store all my school supplies instead of leaving them in my suitcase under the stairs and really feel I can settle down more. On the other hand I now have the task of coming up with an English curriculum for nine months instead of nine weeks. I think that means I will have to teach verbs and sentence structure instead of just nouns and adjectives.
-I'm coming to California in less than a week, well, barely less, thanks to a purely selfless donation from my parents I was able to change my flight to come home November 28th instead of December 18th. I figured if I'm coming back down anyways whats the point of being here now. I can't decided what I'm looking forward to the most (besides seeing you, of course) but I know that taking a hot shower is very high on the list.
Love and Thanksgiving, Joy

Pictures, illness, birthdays, and philosophical thoughts

Hello, don't worry the time has come for y'all to sit back relax and enjoy my weekly update. I actually considered not writing one because I couldn't think of anything to say, but then I remembered this me and, as you probably know, I always have something to say. First topic of discussion (discuss:to consider or examine by argument, comment, etc.):

-I already shared the story behind the first picture, "The volcano of enlightenment." I think that seeing this picture will help redeem myself if you thought I was just a wimp, yes we were supposed to climb up that. And on a less bitter note I am standing with 2 of my roommates, Aimee(the blond one), and Rachel(the one in green), I'm wearing the red hat but if you couldn't figure that out stop reading this.

-This is a picture of two of the boys in my third grade class, Mauricio and Engels. They may look cute but later on Mauricio was in class trying to choke another student with that same balloon as the other teachers stood by and laughed and I tried to keep my hand between the balloon and neck. I haven't seen them in a few weeks but the promotion ceremonies are next Friday, I think.

-These are the girls that I tutor from across the street, Natasha is on the left and Sophie is on the right. Now focus on those lovely pieces of artwork, designed by yours truly. Today we read the book Thank You, Brother Bear, and although the title doesn't mention it, the moose plays a very important roll. Not that Natasha would know, she spends most of the time rolling on the floor and wiping her snotty nose on the throw pillows. Too much information? Sorry I had to witness it.

Now on to illness, I think without being graphic the phrase, "I lost my lunch," could be used if you times it by about eight. But that was all on Sunday night/Monday morning and today I am feeling much better.
Yesterday was my nephew Elijah's first birthday, I made a carrot cake, that I heard was nice (I still wasn't up to food), for the party and I'm sure he'll have fond memories for many years to come, similar to those I have of my first birthday party except he didn't wear a dress.
I am reading a book by George MacDonald right now and today I came across a quote today, "A man ought never to feel rich because of riches, nor poor because of poverty. The perfect man must always feel rich, because of God is rich." I think that is an important realization, if one is perfected in Christ all these worldly standards don't even matter. Even when we have nothing, we have everything. More and more I have to see that living here isn't about giving people material things, teaching them English, or doing whatever other humanitarian work that comes my way. But demonstrating the riches we have because of who our Father is. All of this is quite a load off if you really think about it, I'm poor and suck at teaching English.
Well, as I like to say, nos vemos.
Love, Joy