Out with the New, In with the Old

I just finished the first half of this semester and although some of my grades have now dropped below 100% I’m still getting by. I have one class in particular this semester that has been pretty grueling but it makes me feel like I’m actually in grad school and I really like it.  Although I did have last week off for spring break and I really liked that too.

The church I’ve been going to owns a campground and last month I went up with them for a work weekend to get ready for the summer camps.  It was great to get to know people on a different level and it was in a part of New Mexico I hadn’t visited, the Gila Wilderness.  One afternoon I went on a little walk though some nearby mountains and was amazed by the awesome rock formations.  I don't think these pictures give justice to the beauty.  

 

 

On the drive down we passed a bunch of huge radio satellite things at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.  The official name for the site is the “Very Large Array,” which totally cracked me up. 

UNM has a pretty good basketball team and I finally got around to going to their last regular season game (they made it top 32 post-season).  I really like live sporting events and went to my share of Davis basketball games but this was totally different because the team is actually competitively good.  Our arena, The Pit, seats like 15,000 and was totally packed out with screaming fans.  It was lots of fun and I’ve resolved to go to all their games next year, especially since they’re free for students and I’m all about that.  

I totally get that New Mexico is beautiful, sometimes when I’m out and about I’m blown away by the mountains and rocks and cacti.  That aside, it is brown.  I mean it’s the desert and I think we average less than 9in of precipitation a year (a fair amount of that is snow) so zero-scape is really popular.  I was walking with a friend a few weeks ago and she pointed out that someone had an actual lawn. I pointed out that it was brown and her response was that not all grass is green.  WHAT? I mean come on, the phrase “the grass is greener” I think is comparing shades of green not other colors altogether.  I mean if you are comparing brown grass and green grass I don’t think anyone would judge you for thinking the green grass is greener.   I was in Concord for a few days last week and walking outside I felt like everything was in technicolor, it’s just so bright! And all that grass (obviously green) and flowers!

I’ve still been blogging about my food mis-adventures and you can read them on my other blog.  I hit the 2 month mark spending less than $70 total so I feel like I have that area of spending under control.  Many people spoil me so it’s not like I never eat.

So that updates you a little on the New, now onto the Old.  Last week I had spring break and went to Old Mexico with my mom to visit our friend Luz.  You may remember some of Luz and her town Mascota from previous posts (I was there once in 2006, once in 2008, and twice in 2009) and you can read lots of posts about previous trips looking through some old posts.  I love Mascota, it has quite a bit of drama for the size of town but still safe.  There were lots of adventures this past week and I’ll share some highlights.

On Sunday nights you can walk around the town square and eat freshly fried churros.  Sunday I was in search of churros and ran into my friend Dalia.  The last time I saw here I was also walking around Mascota’s town square looking for churros.  Her response was that if she’s ever looking for me she will go to the churro stand.  That is mostly accurate although on non-Sunday nights its more likely I’m at the popsicle store by the bus stop.

One day we went to visit Luz’s friend Ofelia, a great lady that I’ve spent time with my last few times there.  When we were walking around her yard picking fruit she asked me if something was there last time I was there.  My Spanish is limited so I had no clue what the “something” was but Luz answered no for me.  Guess what the “something” was.  A COUGAR (a word that had never come up with my vocabulary).  They built a habitat for this wild cougar someone gave them a few years back.  Evidently on their other property they have a jaguar.  Both eat live chickens.  As my mom phrased it, Ofelia is a little eccentric.   It was pretty awesome.  I was really bummed that I didn’t bring my camera.

This trip I also spent a fair amount of time with Luz’s sister/neighbor Lupe.  I never really knew what was going on but one day I did go to her classroom.  She left me in there alone and it brought back nightmares of teaching in Nicaragua. Except these kids mostly stayed in their seats and no one peed on the walls.  We talked about their home lives (fruit trees and chickens and horses and living multi-generationally) and I taught them “head, shoulders, knees and toes.”  Later on we ended up outside with me teaching “duck, duck, goose.”  They really liked to pick me so I did quite a bit of running in circles.  Finally we switched to steal the bacon so I could rest.

One day I got my teeth cleaned. I think Dra. Lucy was trying to kill me.  No joke.  I have a pretty high pain tolerance and about 5 minutes in I couldn’t imagine how I could sit through a half an hour of her torture.  Not just the pain but she used this electric pick thing that made the worst sound imaginable and whenever she would pull it out of my mouth water would spray in my eye.  She kept asking, “does it hurt?” over and over but nothing ever changed. Then she would explain that they were getting really clean. I was all excited when she pulled out the rubber twirly brush thing because that would be better.  Her “toothpaste” tasted like cement, and spitting it out of my mouth it looked like cement too.  It was cheap; it might have been worth it.  

Compared to my previous trips this one was pretty laid back, most days only had one Bible study, and the neighbor hood visitations were more limited. To fill up some time Luz had me paint a picture.  It’s mostly house paint, with some acrylic on plywood.  I was going to attach a photo but you can just believe me that it is the most beautiful picture of impressionist cacti ever painted.

One day there was my birthday (some more oldness).  When we were visiting Ofelia she was giving Luz suggestions of nice places to take me. We did have a nice breakfast and then an interesting lunch and some carrot bread for dinner.  Here I am at my birthday lunch. Luz kept laughing because of its extreme ghettoness. The hosts did say next year they would be more prepared with balloons.  Evidently in Mexico the cool thing to give people for their birthdays is a big hug. Yay.  I hadn’t met the lady whose house we had lunch at but as soon as I walked in she gave me a big birthday hug.  Then later on I saw my friend Dalia (not looking for churros) and she apologized for not giving me a hug because she was sick. Really it’s OK.   Back at home my aunt bought me a heated throw blanket and it is my new best friend.  Really it’s amazing. 

Well this is long but I know you’ve been missing me.  I’ll try to work on that.  What adventures have been going on with you?

Happy New Year!

I’m back in Albuquerque but you might have thought I never left.  I was in California for 5 weeks living the high life.  The life where you mention that there are no more English muffins and the next morning the cupboard is full of them.   I got to see lots of cool people and was reminded why certain people are my friends. Or more why I’m friends with people, I’m not quite sure why they’re friends with me.  Other people are much nicer than me.  Besides the time it took to make that discovery I was back at Dowd and Guild being an ambassador of goodwill.  I considered my work schedule “fulltime” but evidently 9ish to 4ish 3-4 days a week isn’t officially fulltime. 

Now that I’m back in New Mexico my life is full of enchantment.  I’m taking 4 classes again and I think this semester will be much more gradschoolish than last semester.  We only have 1 week off and I think in general I’ll need to put in more effort.    Probably the most challenging is “Strategic Leadership and Development,” so far there is a lot of talk of feelings and life goals.  By Tuesday I’m supposed to make a list of 27 things I want to do before I die. I’m confident that if I died tomorrow I’d be totally satisfied so I’m having a hard time thinking of things to write.  So far it is like make cookies and do my laundry.  But I have a feeling I’m supposed to be thinking “bigger.”

I’ve been working here too, still for D&G just with some projects I can do on my computer requiring no brain activity.  What that means practically is I’ve been watching too much daytime TV.  We only get like 12 channels so the variety is seriously limited.  I did learn about trophy husbands that stay at home while their wives have high-powered jobs and, on the other end of the employment spectrum, real people have the 12-month job driving the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile.  Maybe that can be on my bucket list.

I started a new blog http://whatjoyeats.blogspot.com/ chronicling my eating habits. I guess if I keep working regularly I can probably afford more assortment but I like the challenge of thriftiness.

Novembrrrr

You should definitely turn on Christmas music to read this because Christmas is amazing and less than a month away.

I can’t believe how quickly November has flown by. It’s been full for me but you wouldn’t know that because I haven’t written for super long.  I hope my absence hasn’t caused you to fall into depression. 

The first weekend in November I learned how to compost and make Chilean food and got food poisoning.  I hadn’t really eaten out so evidently I poisoned myself, but I learned one of two lessons either that pasta sauce doesn’t keep forever in the fridge or don’t buy meat at WalMart.  It only took me a day and a half to work my way up to saltine crackers and I went on a walk with my friend down by the Rio Grande, I took some pictures because Albuquerque makes a beautiful fall.

The second weekend I got to go on a surprise trip home to meet my newest niece, Stella, and see the rest of my family too.  It was grand.  Because grad school is like a legitimized extended vacation I was able to be home for almost an entire week with no academic repercussions.  

The third weekend I pretended to do homework.  Which means I did anything I could think of other than homework.  I did get a free meal at Sizzler on Sunday after church, O the memories. 

The fourth weekend started early in honor of Thanksgiving.  My roommate’s family was staying with us so we were fed constantly and it really did feel like a holiday.  One day we took the longest aerial tram ride in the world to the top of Albuquerque’s Sandia Mountains.  It rises almost 4,000 feet but we didn’t die.  I got invited to like six Thanksgiving dinners and I opted for one Thanksgiving breakfast with the group I usually have a Thursday night Bible study with and a dinner cooked by my roommate’s mom at our house.  

That covers the weekends but there has been all sorts of other excitement too:

• I’m really New Mexican now, I got one of their really cool turquoise license plates for my car. It is strange to no longer be a Californian but the plate was voted best in America by “The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association (we take what we can get).
• My friend Morgan discovered this super cheap Goodwill reject store.  We went last week and I got books, clothes, a board game and a cool wall hanging for $3.60.  You fight through mobs of people and fill your cart and then they weigh your stuff and you pay $.40/pound.  Except for heavy stuff they price cheaper. 
• Along those lines of me being super cheap I’ve decided to stop grocery shopping.  This actually doesn’t have to do as much with being poor as me trying to be less wasteful.  Since I’m leaving for Christmas on the 9^th I figured I could probably get by with just what is in my cupboards.  It’s been excellent.  Last week I got like 11 free meals and mostly from legitimate sources.   This week has been progressing nicely as well, tonight I’m going to eat free salmon and mystery squash (thank you Morgan).  I have some things lined up for next week too.  I volunteered to wrap presents for the Rescue Mission’s Christmas party three days next week and they’ll feed me lunch.  Some people might think it’s weird I eat lunch at the homeless shelter but I did it once before and it was pretty good.   The only problem that has arisen is I’m out of eggs and I’m supposed to bring cookies to a thing on Saturday night, maybe I’ll meet someone with chickens.
• I have my first final tomorrow and I think I’m getting more or less into the swing of school.  Evidently I’m not all the way accustomed, last night I didn’t have a pen and had to take notes with a blue highlighter.  I borrowed a pen before the quiz portion of the night; I thought the professor might appreciate it.  I should be all the way done with finals by next Thursday!  And am flying back to California next Friday for five weeks.
• I got a job.  Evidently Dowd and Guild has really been lacking in the ambassador of goodwill department so they hired me back.  I don’t know what that actually means, but I figured since I am an expert procrastinator already I might as well get paid for it.
• It might SNOW this weekend.

Happy Fall

Wow it’s been a while since I’ve written and I’ve been getting more and more immersed in New Mexican life.  I’ve been making friends and really enjoying fellowship with a few groups of believers here.   Here is a list of some of the things I’ve done since my last update.

1. New Mexico State Fair – The fairgrounds are about a 10 minute walk from my house and the night we went I saw a New Mexican band (very similar to Mexican music) and a Navajo comedy act.  So very cultural of me.
2. Greek Festival – I think New Mexican’s should stick to New Mexican cultural events.  I’m just a little spoiled because the last one I went to at home was super fancy and pricy, this one was just pricy
3. Replaced My Ashtray Recliner - With a free one I found on the road, it is WAY better
4. Balloon Fiesta – The balloon fiesta is a huge deal here. Ten’s of thousands of people come just for it.  It was pretty inspirational.  Next year I’m hoping to go to more of the events there. 
5. Philadelphia – I got to go visit one of my college roommates, Katharine, and her husband and see a real city with trees and tall buildings.
6. Lancaster County – One day Katharine and I went to Amish country.  It’s so cool. She’s been a lot so knew the good places for fresh baked pretzels with crusty butter shells and ice cream.  I’m considering converting.
7. New York – After Philly I went to New York and stayed with some friends Joe and Carrie and their 2 girls.  I do love that city but it’s expensive, theoretically, Joe and Carrie paid for everything so I don’t really know.  I had some good food and a great time with them. 
8. Midterms – Yup, I’m in school so I have midterms.  I got A’s on those I got back. I did write a paper but the professor is overcommitted this semester so he said we’ll get it back by Thanksgiving.
9. New Mexican Food – Like New Mexican music, NM food is very similar to Mexican food, except EVERYTHING has red and green chilies.  When people from church take me out to lunch they take me to New Mexican food so I’ve had some good stuff (and on my own some not so good stuff).  They also serve sopapillas for free with the meals. Sopapillas are fried poofy breads that you eat with honey.  Highly recommended.  
10. Roller Derby – Last weekend I went to the roller derby finals.  I haven’t processed that yet, but it was great to get to know some girls from a small group Bible study I’ve been going to.
11. Ladies Barbershop Quartet Costume Party – I’m not sure how this one happened on Friday.  I was invited and I try to say yes to new things to gain exposure.  It was fun.  My dollar tree tiara and wand didn’t win me any prizes.
12. No on Genetically Modified Seeds Lecture – The ungraded paper I wrote was on this topic and yesterday I went to a lecture on campus.  It is an interesting environment when the least hippy person there is from Berkeley.
13. Pie Making Contest – Tonight I went to a pie-making contest at the little brethren church I’ve been going to.  There were 17 entries and now I feel a little sick (but my typing is a little faster).
14. Got Shoes – There is a church by my house that has a rummage sale every weekend and I stop in there every few weeks.  Last weekend I saw this older gentleman (80ish) I know there so now every Sunday he wants to talk to me about the rummage sale.  This morning we were taking about prices and I told him I bought a pair of shoes (cowboy boots, to be exact) for $1.  He took that as me saying I’m poor and in need of shoes so he asked me the very personal question of what size my feet are and got really excited because they are the same size as his deceased wife.  So tonight he brought me a huge box of his wife’s shoes for me to look thorough.  I now own 5 pairs of pumps.  I don’t know when she passed but he is still very emotional about it and has all of her stuff. Evidently we are a similar size so he said he’ll start bringing me her clothes because she would be happy that it is going to a good home.

My new Mexican life

I’ve been in New Mexico just over a month now and you may be wondering if I’m alive, I am.  

I’m a fairly adaptable person and tend to forget that my life wasn’t always what it is now.   But, on analysis, I can see some differences and will share them with you.

In my past life I had a job, that job required me to get up daily, get dressed and commute.  Now I am a full time student.   Once a week I have to get to campus by 12:30, and that is my early day.  Wednesdays and Fridays I have absolutely no agenda. To combat this I try to make plans to force myself out of the house.  Today I am at a coffee shop.  I would have gotten a fancy coffee drink but they have a minimum price to use a debt card and I only had $2 cash.  I settled for an iced tea.  Within this outing my goals are to write this email and read though a packet on how to preserve my 401K.  Usually on Wednesdays I do my laundry.  One load with all the colors together, maybe I’ll do that later.

 Also in my past life I ate more normal meals, either at my parents’ house or my sister’s house.  Sometimes I would cook, using groceries that someone else purchased.  When I talk to my sister on the phone she usually asks me what I am planning on eating for the week.  Cereal was on sale so yesterday I bought 8 boxes.  Does that count?  It’s not that I don’t know how to cook, I just can’t stay motivated.   I’m really welcome to your suggestions. 

I used to only socialize with my family, now I have friends.  The problem with making friends is usually some level of small talk is involved.  I don’t do well with small talk. I am so miserable answering the questions about myself that I really don’t think it is fair to turn them around onto the other person.  Unfortunately, this makes me seem uninterested and one-sided.  But don’t worry I have a trick.  Say someone asks me what my hobbies are, I respond that I don’t have any with a sarcastic tone.  See I honestly don’t have any but if I said that normally people would find out right away that I am a dork.  But when the sarcasm is added they assume I am kidding and there is really something mysteriously cool about me.  I know this sounds ridiculous but it totally works. I have the social life to prove it.   

Last weekend I went with my roommate, April, to the town of Las Cruces in southern New Mexico.  She’s from there and one of her nieces was having a 5^th birthday party.  I keep forgetting New Mexico is legitimately part of the US and that staying at someone’s house is not going to be like the crazy chicken house Luz and I visited in Mexico.  I honestly considered bringing my own toilet paper, I’m glad I didn’t because that probably would have been offensive.  Well the house was totally normal and the drive down and back was really pretty.  New Mexico has tons of amazing rock formations and I took a picture.  

 I’m also adding a picture of my bedroom. It is huge and white.  I made some flags to add some color and bought the chair.  The chair was only $15 because it is peppered with burn holes and mystery animal hair and smells like an ashtray.  Boy do I know how to barging hunt.

Now onto what you really care about…the weather.  It’s really nice.    The days are sunny and warm (between 80 and 90) and every night it cools off an average of 20 degrees.   Last night I rode my bike home from class at 9:30 and it was perfect out.  When I first moved here it was pretty humid out, you could tell because the doors in the house wouldn’t shut.  Now it is dry out, I can tell because a) the doors in my house shut and b) my lips are constantly peeling. 

That’s it for me.

Love, Joy

Life Thus Far

I am now a New Mexican.  Once I get my drivers license in the mail I can prove it to you.  Everything is just great here.   And I’m not really joking.  Here are some ABC’s on my new life

A – So when I visited in April I thought ALBUQUERQUE consisted of Central Avenue, and that’s all.  When Julie and I went to every thrift store and garage sale in the city we learned that it is much bigger, but for the most part everything I need is very close to where I live.  This week I only drove 50 miles total, that is about what I was driving every day in my other life.

B – To get to school I’ve been taking the public BUS.  It is free for students and I’ve gotten to talk to all sorts of people.   Usually the seats next to the more questionable characters are empty so I sit there and have had some great conversations/counseling sessions.   On Monday I thought I would try my luck on the #5 bus and see if it took me close to where I live.  It didn’t take me very close at all but an hour and a half later I made it home.

C – I’ve gone running with my roommate twice and only ran into a CACTUS once.  She pulled out the spike for me but it still itches some.

D – At one of those Albuquerque garage sales I got a really nice DRESSER, and the old owners were from Concord, small world.  I have most of my furniture now and my house in general is very homey.

E – Since I’m here for an EDUCATION I guess I should mention that.  I started school last Monday and now have had all four of my classes.  We have to do a lot of group projects so that should be interesting.  So far school is way less time consuming than working full time but that might change eventually, as of now I feel like I’m on vacation.

F – I should probably make some FRIENDS. I know a few people and my roommates are great but probably riding the bus isn’t the best way to fulfill my need for social interaction.

G – This morning I went to church at a place called GARFIELD GOSPEL HALL (can you guess the denomination?)  Anyways it was nice and I met lots of old men.  My favorite was George, he gave me his information on a paper from his nursing home that also lists his allergies.  I’m a little confused because under likes it says “lemons and tangerines” but he is allergic to citrus.  Rough life.  I also met Robert(?) and his niece Daisy, she’s 65 so he’s no young chicken.

H- HOW are you?

here comes adventure

I’m moving on Wednesday.  I have today and tomorrow to pack and am not thrilled about the prospect.  Additionally I have a cold, I took Nyquil last night at 6:50 and slept for over 12 hours.  Since I am currently avoiding packing I will tell you what other stuff I have been doing.

2 weekends ago I went to a Giants game with Jenn.  They won so that was exciting.   

This weekend was Katie Rystom’s wedding extravaganza.  I should attach a picture from that but I didn’t take any and am relying on others to send them out eventually. It was great getting to see my college roommates, I don’t remember the last time I’ve laughed that consistently.  There aren’t too many people who think it is a great idea to make nun habits out of plastic garbage bags and wear them in public while singing personalized renditions of Sound of Music songs.

Last Wednesday I finished my career as Dowd and Guild’s ambassador of goodwill.  So far I’ve decided retired life is quite lovely.  Except for the paycheck factor.  Once I get settled in Albuquerque I’ll be looking for a job.

Here are some fun facts about my upcoming move:

I’m moving to Albuquerque to get my MBA at UNM.

It is a 2 year program and I start next Monday.

I’m going to live in a 3 bedroom duplex with 2 other girls, I’ll meet them on Thursday.

I got a bed on Craigslist, $50 including delivery.  Some might think that is sketchy but I think it is a provision from God.  Everything else either is fitting in my car or I’ll be buying it when I get there.

I’m leaving bright and early Wednesday with my loaded up Honda and my sister Julie (sans children).

I have a new address let me know if you want it and then you can mail me something. Maybe you’ll get some New Mexican artwork in return.