I'm tired...

so I'm gonna keep this short.

Translating wears my brain out in general, partially for the language, partially b/c there are all these new situations that I have to think through before making decisions, no involuntary or habit based things. I had to be apart of two situations that were a little hard for me, not because I didn't understand what was going on, but the opposite, that I understood too much. I really like helping people, but I'm going to have to be okay with the amount of responsibility that falls on my shoulders.


I have really had to restrain myself recently. It seems every time that I am driving down my street I see a Mexican man walking to work in his restaurant uniform. The other day I was biking past two of them, and it took everything in me to not show them they are aliens here. I wanted to shout "hola" to them. Now I suppose I can sympathize with all those people who stop you in the store in Mexico when they realize you speak English, to show that they too, speak a little bit of English. It's human to want to connect with people. It's beautiful.

Horchata Popsicles.

It’s sooo hot outside. And I love it, but my computer is overheating more than it did in Mexico. In Mexico I generally didn’t feel overhot like here. I’ve eaten a lot of horchata (rice milk) popsicles. Not store bought! I made horchata juice with the powder mix and then froze it in bathroom cups with popsicle sticks. My horchata def. doesn’t taste like the horchata at the Mexican food place, so I must be doing something wrong. Although I’m not sure how you can mess up adding power to water.
I sit in my hammock and catch up on reading, or study Spanish vocab, and twirl around while eating homemade popsicles.

I struggle to remember which flavors were everyone's favorite. J-- Pineapple, definitely. M--- Sangria, or Strawberry....

A guy hugged his daughter in church on Sunday during service. I got all teary eyed, and wanted to hug my girls, but then I thought, am I going to be that Mom who gets teary-eyed about because she’s remembering things no one else can? Yes. Yes I will.

More of what i've been doing. Foodie version.

I’ve been mostly eating straight from the fridge, and only cooked about 3 times, which is total deviation from the past year and a half. I made my sis fried rice, Mexican style, except that my mom only had instant rice in the cupboard. Instant rice doesn’t seem to follow the same rules as normal rice, so that was an adventure…Carrie still ate it, so that was important. She’s a VERY picky eater.
I made chipotle Spaghetti sauce, which people liked, an incredible compliment!!!
I scrambled an egg and mixed in some squash and sharp cheddar but I couldn’t eat it. I haven’t been able to eat many things here. I haven’t wanted to eat. I just want rice and beans and rice and beans and rice and beans and handmade tortillas. But I haven’t made time to cook, so maybe in the up coming week that will change. I’ve made of list of “Mexican” things that I’d like to make and a grocery list of staples that my house needs like onions, or garlic cloves (since I apparently can’t cook with minced Garlic- I burned it instead of sauteing it), and NORMAL rice. Who knew that a house could be full of “food” and I wouldn’t know what the heck to do with it.
Also, when I cooked the Spaghetti, I couldn’t find a frying pan! We have a smaller kitchen than the one in Mexico, less cupboard space, and less people putting things away willy-nilly. After ten minutes of emptying cupboards to see if the big frying pans were being stored (I had found a small one) and lots of frustration I decided I wasn’t even going to cook. Then I found them in one place I hadn’t looked, the frying pans were under the oven. After that I had to find the spatulas, which also weren’t in a place I’d normally look. Maybe I should reorganize my mom’s kitchen ;)
I have been out to eat a LOT. I’ve had Mexican at least 4 times ☺ People say, “you probably don’t want to eat Mexican food, you’re tired of it” and I say, “let’s go!”
I still have not had restaurant Thai, Sushi, Chinese and many other yummy things that I’ve missed (Amanda made a great stir fry, but she’s not Chinese, so that doesn’t count) I had this idea in my head that I’d be eating all this exotic food all the time, that you can’t really buy in Mexico. I have been eating COPIOUS amounts of my favorite yogurt and cereal, both of which you can’t buy in Mexico, so I guess that counts. ☺

What have I been up to? MORE.

I’ve spent a LOT of time in the car. I didn’t drive too many places in Mexico, just maybe the grocery store, but even my shortest commute here (12 minutes) is 6 times as long as my longer commutes in Mexico. You waste a lot less time when everyone and everything is near you. Although, my grocery store is MUCH closer to me here than the grocery store I went to in Mexico. I’ve enjoyed driving in the car, listening to music, passed people on a MULTI-lane highway. At first I was nervous to drive a car and not a truck/suv/giganto passenger van, but I’m used to it again.
I really enjoy driving with the windows down and not worrying about the dust! I also love going more than 50 miles an hour ☺ I don’t love getting my own gas at the station. It seems so undignified after staying in my car at my leisure simply choosing red or green and telling the attendant how much I wanted in my car. But I do love not worrying about having CASH to make all my purchases.
I always would have a certain amount of money, and if I spent more on groceries than I planned, or on gas than I planned I would be short for the other errands I had to run, until I went back to the house or bank to get money. Let’s clarify that I don’t charge everything now and spend billions of dollars! But that I don’t have to anticipate my expenditures before leaving the house!!!


I’ve made it to IKEA and Jungle Jim’s. I bought some tasty Twinnings Pineapple Green Tea, Rooiboos/Honeybrush Tea, Stroppewaffles, Edamame, Humus…
There are two pieces of furniture I want at IKEA, as my parents got rid of some of my furniture, and now I don’t have places for things. But I need to get rid of more stuff before I’ll have room. When? When I find time.
I’ve decided on two options for grad school. That was tough. It’s more practical to not move far away though. Now I just need to fill out apps, send in transcripts, etc. Maybe if I get a job in a library, and do that for at least a year, I could have a better possibility at an Graduate Assistantship. Actually, just having a job in the field I'm studying would be helpful.
I’ve been going to a class about the History of the Theology of Christianity. SOOO interesting, and I’m glad to be there, as it’s pulling together some of the studying I’ve done on my own over the last year. There is something in me that desires to be in "academia" or around people that discuss things that are challenging. Sunday night there was a LONG discussion about holy relics, worship of relics, worship of icons, church practice/tradition- and I mostly just listened. Maybe I'm learning about rhetoric and logic when I'm not participating. It's moment like those that make me feel at home.

I want to ride my bicycle!

Last week I bought a bike on craigslist and took it to the bike trail! If I just go through some neighborhoods, and then pass the golf course, and then cross the train tracks I can get to the bike trail without endangering my life because I’m scared of riding on country roads. I also am not good at turning, because in Mexico I never really had to turn precisely. There were always these wide boulevards of dirt ready to conform to whatever turning radius I was comfortable with! The bike paths, and paths in the parks are pretty skinny compared to what I’m used to. So far, every time I turn I go in the grass. BUT (and this is a big development) and I can ride without my hands for short stretches, 4 houses in a row! All of this may sound ridiculous, but I’m working towards someday having my own motorcycle. Plus it’s nice exercise, biking relaxes me, and it’s a piece of continuity from Mexico, except I don’t have David telling me my bike tires are too low, and that I need to put air in them, and I doubt I’ll actually USE my bike to get anywhere unlike in Mexico. I’ll always have the same departure and destination, unless I head to the grocery! The biketrail is very serene, and seems like you’re in the middle of nowhere, until you hear the airplanes, and the trains, or come to spots where there are automobiles in the parking lots. One of the bike trails was originally a place in the woods that they’d cut out to place electrical lines on tall metal towers, like a monstrous lawn-mower left it’s mark for miles and miles. I’m glad they’ve found a green way to use that space now. I found a hidden farmer’s field I’d never known about. It has tall trees on every side of it. Next time, I’m taking my camera! I tried to get to a waterfall we used to play at as kids, it was also a significant spot in some of our adolescent moments. But I couldn't figure out how we used to get down there, and after seeing a bad case of poison ivy at the clinic the night before, wasn't very eager to traipse about the woods.

I've seen the sadness of a thousand goodbyes...

What have I been doing? -con'td.


I’m using a Dale Chihuly theme for my iGoogle, which is nice.

Well- applying for jobs. Job search takes a fair amount of time! I’m a bit of a perfectionist in some things, and I’ve been known to spend more time on Cover Letters and Resumes than I should, not even letting people help me. AFTER submitting some things yesterday, I finally showed some of my work to a peer, who had a lot of helpful things to say. It will be beneficial for next time I turn paperwork in.

Playing Piano- I need to learn some songs for my brother and his fiancés wedding. Also I’ve been enjoying playing at church. ALSO I got The Trumpet Child songbook from OTR, and it’s FABULOUS. I worked my fingers to the bone getting “The Trumpet Child” down. Now if I just had music for their other songs that are on my to-do list….

I’ve seen some friends, although admittedly not as much as I anticipated, I need to get on the ball with seeing some more of them!

I’ve volunteered at a local clinic. I think it went really well except for when I misinterpreted something. I was having trouble focusing b/c the doctor was talking to a med student while I was trying to talk to the patient. The doc said “until water/tears come out your eyes” and I said “until blood comes out your eyes” but I quickly said, “no, no, no, I meant tears/water” but the patient had been having nose bleeds so that’s probably where my mind had been. I’m thankful for people that can have a good laugh. I can’t wait to go back! I ran into someone I knew there, I didn’t realize she still volunteered there, and I saw a name tag of another translator that I volunteered at an after school program with 5 years ago and later, she was a family advocate at the child care center I worked at. We are a small group, the Gringas that speak Spanish in this area.

4.5 pages...

so apparently, the abridged version of my life is 4.5 pages long, and I haven't added everything. I'm going to cut it all up, and auto-publish these over the next week or so. I really wish I would have blogged everyday, so that I wouldn’t have forgotten the precious details that make all this so glorious to record/read about.

So I’m finally blogging, I’ve had to close the internet, shut my books, and even sit in a part of the house that isn’t mine to be less distracted by my unclean room and my “to-do” piles.
I think this Sunday I’ll have been home a month! Which is a really long time. If I had a time card of clocking in and out of my parents house however, you’d see that I’ve spent more time out of it than in it. A wise friend told me to keep busy, which I suppose was a way of avoiding the obvious, that I was in a different place and having a different lifestyle. Keeping busy helps you avoid whatever emotion would partner with that change. When changes happen in life there is a lack of routine that makes things more stressful. Suddenly you think about every decision b/c you're in all new situations...anyways.
I hope to document all the things that have kept my mind off the obvious, but in documenting, it becomes obvious that we're not in Mexico anymore, Toto.

I’ve been dreaming of Mexico. Two dreams were roadtrips, one was a roadtrip to Mexico with friends from the states, and the other was a roadtrip from Mexico to the states with friends from Mexico. The third dream was complicated. Basically, I’d gotten a head injury, lost all memory, and my parents couldn’t handle it, so they took me to Mexico, and left me there till I got better. The doctor had said I’d regain my memory if another traumatic accident happened to me, and while in Mexico I tripped over a kid or something in the kitchen, bumped my head again and miraculously remembered everything, then I woke up.

I've read 4 things,

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack by M.E. Kerr
Biting the Wax Tadpole: Confesssions of a Language Fanatic by Little
Cold Comfort Farm: A Play
Operating Instructions: A Journal of my Son’s first year by Lamott

mostly sitting outside in my hammock, deliberately killing the crescent shaped patch of grass where my feet most often find themselves after twirling in circles...

I find it incredibly hard to go inside in this weather, to watch movies, to sit in the air conditioning. Although today and yesterday have been more Mexi-esque, high 60's, cloud cover, but no real rain.

more tomorrow...