Lake Tahoe Day One

It is snowing outside and I would like to say that I am nice and cozy inside but the thermostat in my room is broken so I am freezing. This afternoon I took a nap with my down vest and scarf on. Fortunately I’ve taken to stealing my dad’s wool socks so at least my toes are ok.

Besides the cold here are some points for the day:
1. I like the snow, it makes me happy.


2. I hope the snow doesn’t turn into a blizzard because I had the task of cleaning out grandpa’s fridge of expired food – now we have no food. There was one thing I found that I honestly had no idea how to classify – animal? Vegetable? Mineral? It is in the trash now along with lots of pickles that expired in 06.

3. I also got to clean out some of vernon’s closets. He stood there and decided which of his 200 shirts were keepers as I pulled them out. Pretty much all that were “really something” or “stellar” that he could wear to the art league he kept and all the normal ones he got rid of. I found an old bowling shirt of his with these 250 pins. I told him that I went bowling last week and told him my scores, he quickly changed the subject (I think out of embarrassment).

4. After chores I sat down to watch TV with him. We watched Kull the Conquer with Spanish sub-tittles and no sound. Surprsingly little language is needed to really understand the movie.

5. During a Penny’s commercial he pointed out that Mexican girls always dress up nice, not like the trashy American girls always wearing levi’s and t-shirts. Yes, I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt when he said that.

6. From Thursday to Sunday of last week I dog and fish sat at a really cool place in SF.

Mascota, and surrounding territories

I'm writing this while sitting in my car in my parent's driveway listening to Christmas carols because my niece, Callie, fell asleep and now I don't want to wake her up. This wouldn't have been a problem but I left my sister's house later than intended because Grady stole and hid my keys (we found them in the bathroom trash). So yes, yesterday and today I've been baby-sitting but before that I went to Mexico and that is the purpose of this post.

From January 30th to February 9th I was in Mexico with my mom and family friend, Luz. This was my third trip to visit Luz in Mascota, Jalisco. It was my mom's first time. I love Mascota and when I am there I always think it would be a great place to live, or at least question why I didn't live there instead of Nicaragua for the past two years.

This trip was very different than the last two, partly because I was with my mom and partly because I'm personally in a different place in my life than I was the past two visits. Overall it was extremely relaxing and clarifying. For 11 days I had no internet, phone, watch, TV, newspaper, or radio. So basically I just read and talked to my mom and Luz and went to Bible studies and slept. I also decoupaged a chair and baked bread and made chili relleno.

I think I would be a much better person if I always lived that simple of a life. But that is not the life that God has given me, so I need to learn to apply the same disciplines in my life here. That is not easy for me to do, maybe I should take Luz up on her offer to move there permanently I'm sure that running away is the best way to solve problems. Or maybe not.

One funny story. On Sunday nights the whole town goes to the town square to hang out. Luz asked this girl Deisi to take me so that I could experience it (I had gone once but on my first trip). It is a pretty important event and I had to borrow a sweater since my grubby clothes weren't appropriate. So Deisi and I walked to the square and then for and hour and a half walked around it smiling and nodding at the boys walking around in the opposite direction. Quite the cultural experience and it was great getting to know Deisi better even though I didn't get a husband or anything. Luz thinks I would have had better luck if I went both Sundays not just the second one. Or maybe I would have had better luck if I wore heals instead of flip-flops (heals and cobblestone don't really mix in my mind)

That sums up about none of my trip but oh well. Tomorrow marks me living here for 2 months, I'm still scared of getting a job but it isn't quite March yet.

love, joy

reunions and taxes and more

Reunited
Just about 7 years ago, like many highschool Seniors, I was deciding where to go to college. I very adamantly didn't want to go to UC Davis, however my desire to be a weather girl out-weighed my dislike for Davis so that is where I went (to later graduate as an organizational studies major). Not long into my stint there I fell in love with the town, its people and its sandwiches. A few weekends ago I went back to meet up with some of my favorite people and eat some of my favorite sandwiches. It was fabulous bonding with my college roommates, those are 5 of the people that know me best in the world and I had forgotten how refreshing it is to spend time with them. The weather that weekend was perfect and we got to spend a lot of time outside walking around the town and campus. I was excited to see some changes to the town like 3 frozen yogurt shops and a new Peet's, there were changes to the campus too but who really cares about those. I started writing this a while ago and I think it used to have more of a point, but I've since forgotten what that was. I guess you should just know that I had a great time.

Then (+1)

Now (I think we are more happy)

Etcetera

• I am going to Mexico with my mom on Friday for 10 days.
• I filled out my tax returns the other day, hopefully I get my returns before the federal economy crashes more. I'm letting California keep the $4 they took from me this year, it was that or an IOU.
• I put away laundry today and filled papers so there are only 4 boxes I still need to unpack before my bedroom will be settled.
  
• I finished writing my resume. It is good, full of euphemisms. Now I have to decide where to apply, boo.
• I am not ready to be a parent, fortunately I'm not in the position to become one any time soon.
  

in the land of the living

In my mind I am constantly writing but sometimes the sitting down and making my fingers move takes a little too much effort.

I now have been back for almost one month and people keep asking me if I’ve found a job yet, no I haven’t and I’m not looking, remember I have until March. I am taking steps towards the whole job thing, I am about 1/3 of the way through writing a resume and my sister e-mails me about ten job postings a day.

I finally realized this weekend that one of the reasons that I have been so unmotivated to do anything is that it is cold and dark. Every time I walk in my bedroom I get depressed and have to return to the living room where there is light and a fire. Now that I have come to this realization I can modify my behavior some, by taking steps to turn on the heater and open my blinds. The transformation is incredible.

Even though I’m not working I’m still coming up with things to do. I went to Memphis over New Year’s, that was nice. I don’t really have any friends so they don’t take up much of my time. I’ve mostly just been baby-sitting, or hanging out with people that share my last name.

My car is insured now so potentially I can leave the house. Unfortunately the mostly likely thing to do is go shopping and that is highly overwhelming, first of all there are too many options and desirable things, second of all, contrary to popular belief, I don’t actually have money to spend. Even when I attempt to simplify my life people like Danny and the Verizon store are so pushy that I crack under pressure and end up buying things much more deluxe than necessary.

Last week I went to the optometrist to get my eyes checked and get new reading glasses because I lost mine. I don’t like it when people put their perceptions of my generation onto me. After he told me that I’d better not answer my phone and try to set up any hot lunch dates during my appointment he told me that I must have lost my glasses at a drunken party. Really, who loses their reading glasses at a drunken party.

Well, this might sound more depressing than I intended, sorry about that I really do like being back and Trader Joe’s Greek Style Yogurt.

missive of misses

Well, friend, I’m back. Now that I am officially living in California you are no longer obligated to care about my life so I might just have to stop telling you about it in the blog form (I have this thing called a cell phone now). But I’m not ready for that change yet, are you? I think now I will start my series (of at least one) transition updates. This one will focus on things I will miss and things I will not miss about life in Nicaragua.
I will miss December’s warm weather. I will not miss March-June’s miserably humid weather.
I will miss El Coche Café’s cheap lattes. I will not miss the girls who work there and think that is appropriate to pluck their eyebrows while waiting for the milk to steam.
I will miss my Spanish improving. I will not miss sounding like an idiot whenever talking (here that should happen a little less frequently).
I will miss my friends that live there. I will not miss living far away from my family and friends here.
I will miss the cheap restaurants. I will not miss lettuce being a hit or miss item at the grocery stores and cereal never being on sale.
I will miss my job. I will not miss not getting paid for work.
I will miss having a maid. I will not miss not having a dishwasher or trying to dry clothes outside in the 3 solid months of rain.
I will miss walking to work. I will not miss not having a car.
I will miss stoplights being optional. I will not miss potholes that take over the road.
I will miss the excitement of Nicaraguan politics. I will not miss being a communist.
I will miss not being electronically tied to people by having a cell phone. I will not miss cell phone calls costing 10-30 cents a minute.
I will miss the laid back pace of life. I will not miss Nica-Time, everything starting late and ending late.
I will miss living in the land of lakes and volcanoes. I will not miss living in the land of dirty water and burning trash.

Parties and Plumbing and Purisima and Preparation

Parties.

This weekend we had a Christmas party at my house it was fine and dandy. We decided to wrap up presents and put them under the tree so that everyone could get a really cool gift. The gifts in themselves were quite fantastic but then their fantasticness grew when they were taped to firecrackers and lit on fire. I think that also improved our relationship with our neighbors and the digestive track of our dogs. Boxers don’t really know what to do when they find themselves chewing on silly putty.We had some swell decorations

Plumbing.
While my dear brother Jeremy was here our house started to have some plumbing problems. I would go into details but the details are disgusting so I’ll let you use your imagination (or not). The end result is that they are replacing all of our sewage lines, I guess they were concrete cylinders and now they are putting in PVC. This is not an easy process and involves ripping up the floor in 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and hallway and a lot of dust. So during the day we are isolated into my bedroom, bathroom, and the kitchen. My bathroom doesn’t drain properly either (like we’re pretty sure nothing makes it to the septic tank) but it is considered less urgent than the other half of the house. Supposedly they are finishing up soon but last I checked there is a pile of dirt in the hallway so I think it is safe to say there is a fair amount left to be done.

And this was just the beginning

Purisima.
Bonus points if you remember what Purisima is. It is when Mary, mother of Jesus, was immaculately conceived, A.K.A. Dec 8th. It is celebrated by a whole bunch of firecrackers and alcohol, which I’m sure Mary appreciates. Purisma is officially just the 8th but it is celebrated beforehand and really the firecrackers are around all month. I like firecrackers as much as the next person but really enough is enough. And enough was when I was walking across the street on the night of Dec. 1st and one hit me in the leg. It hurt but didn’t leave a hole, which was fortunate since I was on the way to a Church service and didn’t have a change of pants on me.
Preparation.
I am leaving Managua a week from tomorrow morning so I am trying to prepare for that. I sent some stuff home with my recent houseguests and now am bequeathing things to my friends here. I mean most things I’ll just leave to the maid or my roommates or the trash but some things really need to be passed on to specific people so I am trying to make those tough decisions. I am also still working in the biblioteca. Things are progressing well with my replacement Rosmery but obviously we still have some things work out. Today I am going to a baby shower so she is completely on her own. It will be interesting to discuss that with her tomorrow. I still think life would be easier if everyone thought like I did, but I realize that isn’t a realistic solution. My other step in preparing to leave is meeting with people to say one final adios. The good thing with this is people are guilted into taking me to nice restaurants the bad thing is it is depressing. Half the things people say make me think I’m at my own memorial service, but at least I know I’ll be appreciated after my passing.

not much longer now

I haven’t written in a while mostly because I am going crazy but right now I am at the coffee shop relaxing with an iced latte and things are looking up.
From last Sunday until this morning my brother Jeremy, his wife Cristina and their two kids, Elijah and Arielle, were visiting. Two of my roommates were in the states so the whole family got to stay with me very comfortably. It was tons of fun and very exhausting. I am very blessed to not have biological children coming into my life any time soon.
Since I have less than three weeks left here I figured I can get by with fewer than twenty pairs of shoes and I was able to send home two bags worth of stuff with them. That means I should have more space to buy you gifts.
In order to keep the excitement going for my last 18 days here, tonight two of my college friends, Keiz and Salena, are coming. They will be here until next Monday and Keiz made an itinerary so I’m sure it will be an adventure.
Last week I hired my replacement for the library, her name is Rosemery and her training officially started last Thursday. She is very nice and very talkative, lots of her talking is unrelated to the task on hand so I think I need to work on channeling her enthusiasm into more relevant topics. Today we are going to buy books together.
I think things are more stable here politically now. And by that I mean that democracy is losing so the socialists stopped burning tires in the streets.
I hope you are all enjoying listening to Christmas carols, I am.
Love, Joy