I found the bed of my dreams

This is the bed that I want:



I'm moving soon. Do you have any boxes?

Snow Day

We got a snow day today. It was the answer to my prayer.



My snowy street.

Something's Coming

Today the sky looks ominous... like something is about to happen. It's kind of cool and spooky at the same time.



Whatever it is, I hope it brings some snow along with it.

Listening to: Madonna's Bedtime Stories
(and no, I didn't put the image in upside down)

What's the difference

Here's a conversation I had with my sister recently:

Kellie: I know you can't eat in the cafeteria because you're anti-social...
Me: I'm not anti-social, I'm xenophobic !

***************************************************

I've been working on a web form for two days straight. I really love a challenge and this really is one. I haven't done .asp code in a year and now I'm having to reach deep into my back pocket for code that has been long forgotten. Working on this project has made me want to take an .asp class. But...

I made this promise...

"No more classes for two years"

*sigh*

Listening to:
Lenny Kravitz - "My Little Girl's Eyes" from his album "5"

Nobody Not Really

I feel myself slipping. I need a spanish class, specifically conversation. And even though I know that signing up for a class would've caused me a mound of stress, I need that interaction. I find myself having conversations with myself in spanish in the car. I feel like the crazy lady down the street.

Me: "Who are you talking to?"
Me: "Nobody, not really."

Today, I had a productive day... sort of...
It was sort of like this...


Look at the comic

No pain, no gain...

I let some of the girls talk me into getting my eyebrows waxed in Cuernavaca. It was a new experience for me. But I trusted my girls...

Well, let's just say that today was painful. But my eyebrows look good...


Check out my eyebrows.

Saturday January 9, 2005 (en espanol)

Ok, time for a spanish journal entry. This is from Sunday January 9, 2005


Hoy fuimos a la Basílica de Guadalupe en la cuidad de México y las pirámides en Teotihuacan. Salimos a las ocho por la mañana y regresamos a las 7 por la noche. Tengo muchas impresiones de los dos lugares.

Primero, la Basílica de Guadelope es muy histórica por que fue construida en el año 1521 más o menos. Mucha gente va a la basílica para pedir milagros a la virgen Maria. Ví a gente que venia de muchas partes del país que espera que la virgen pueda ayudarles. La gente, la mayoría, Católicos, hace todos que ellos creen la virgen quiere para recibir un milagro. Algunas de las cosas que ellos hacen me aparecen muy estrictos a mí por que yo no he visto eso tipo de fe nunca. Yo creo que su fe esta muy fuerte pero esta lo mismo que yo.

Imagino que hay diferencias sobre la fe de católicos americanos y católicos mexicanos. Puede ser fácil para ver la influencia de las religiones indígenas en la cultura mexicana. Es muy difícil para mí separar la cultura y la religión mexicana. Para mí, la religión es muy importante, más importante que la cultura. En mi familia, nuestra cultura no influya nuestra religión. Entonces, hoy, cuando yo vi a la gente, tenia respeto para su fe aunque yo no estoy de acuerdo.

Teotihuacan
Hoy fuimos a Teotihuacan, para mi estaba la tercera vez. La primera vez no entendí nada. El guía hablo solamente en español. Yo pensé que las pirámides eran bonitas, bellas, y muy grandes. La historia de los Teotihuacanos fue extraños para mí. Hoy entendí más. Los Teotihuacanos fueron muy inteligentes. Vivieron por un milenio, del ano 300 BC al 700 AD. Nade sabe la verdad de la gente porque nadie lo se descubrió desde los Aztecas vinieron. Pero los templos y casas, y pinturas y todos indican que los Teotihuacanos fueron muy modernos porque usaban agua eficiente, y construían muchos edificios sin metales.

En este caso, hay cosas culturas que indican la creencia en muchos dioses. Hay dioses por el sol, la luna, el agua, lluvia, etc. Yo creo en un único dios. Entonces, estaba difícil para mí entender algunas partes de la vida de los Teotihuacanos.

Fue un buen día, aunque, me dolían los pulmones y la cabeza. La experiencia estaba interesante. Y cuando llegamos a casa, mi maleta ha llegando. Ahora, necesito a dormir porque mañana es el primer día de las clases.

Forward thinking

If I could write the forward to my friend's book, it would go something like this...


Traveling is something that I aspire to do when I’m older and have no need for a 9 to 5 job. To experience a new land, its tastes, smells, people, culture, terrain is a lesson that can’t be taught in a classroom.

I have had the privilege to travel a few times and I’m always amazed at the questions people ask about the places I’ve visited. Did you go here? Did you go there? Did you take in the beaches? Did you do a lot of shopping? But there’s so much more to traveling. There’s the culture shock, change in time, the change in foods, the change in language. You soon realize that the natives don’t need to learn English. You need to learn their language. These kinds of stories can be just as colorful and sometimes more interesting than the view at the popular tourist traps that you inevitably end up visiting.

It is that experience, the everyday getting around town that fascinates me. I want to know about buying a loaf of bread, getting a taxi, the lodging, day-to-day activities that make or break a trip. I am so fortunate to have a friend who is ultra observant and who has the ability to see things in the most ordinary situations that others don’t see. She also has the inability to go without getting on the computer for more than a day at a time. So when she goes away, she sends me email updates telling me about her observations. That’s what this book is; her observations in email form. This book is divided into four sections, each corresponding to a different trip that she took in 2004.

Now, let’s get one thing straight right in the beginning. She didn’t give me permission to compile this book. In fact, when I told her that I wanted to put all her emails in a book form, she told me not to do it. But I love reading these stories because they make me feel like I was right there with her smelling the different aromas, meeting the people, living the life of a world traveler.

Do I think she’ll be mad? Maybe she will; but only for about an hour. She can’t stay mad at me for too. But just in case she kills me, someone will have to call my job to tell them I won’t be in for a while.

Enjoy these stories. I sure did!

Julie
a.k.a. Shirley
(I don't know why her husband thinks that's my name.)

En Espanol

I've decided to post my spanish journal entries from Mexico. I mean after all, if I don't use some spanish, there are those who might doubt that I really went to school. I don't want to be the center of controversy, so here's the first entry:

Sábado el 8 de enero

Tomamos dos exámenes a la escuela, uno fue oral y el otro fue escrito. Hice bien y pienso que la clase vaya ser buena para mí. Espero que Jami sea en clase conmigo por caso voy a tener alguien para estudiar conmigo.

Después de los exámenes, caminamos a Superama. Compre jabón y pilas. Caminamos mucho y hacia mucho calor. Cuando regresamos a casa, cambia la ropa. Mama cocinó comida para nosotros y luego nosotros dormimos.

A las cinco y media fuimos al Zocalo. Es lo mismo que yo recuerdo. La misma gente, huelas, tiendas, todo. Para mí, era como sea en casa. Me encanta Cuernavaca y su gente. Todo el mundo es familiar pero nuevo en el mismo tiempo. Esta familiar porque conozco algunos caminos y lugares. Pero esta nuevo porque hay diferentes personas en nuestro grupo y una mamá. Y en este año, quiero hablar mucho más que los años pasados. Tengo muchas palabras y quiero usarlas.

Mañana, vamos a la cuidad de México y Teotihuacan. Quiero montar las dos pirámides. Voy a tomar fotos y voy a escuchar al guía de la historia de Teotihuacan. Pienso que este año puedo entenderlo. Vamos a ver.

A week later...

I have been home for a week from Mexico and I've had some time to reflect on my trip. On the way down to Mexico, one song stayed in my mind:

"Well He put me smack dab in the middle of paradise
In the heart of the city where my dreams come alive
and everything I have and everything I see
Is just another reminder that God's been good to me."

-Keith Urban -"God's been good to me"

I feel like this trip was a blessing from God. I learned so much; much more than I planned to learn. I learned the language, of course, but I learned patience and humility, and that I have so much more to do with my life.

As I boarded the plane on January 7th, I read a card given to me by a friend. I was afraid to read the card because I didn't want to get emotional if the card was sappy. In part the card said, "Let yourself develop language attennae and steep like a teabag in the language and culture. Enjoy this time out of time above all."

This friend had told me a year ago "Go to Paris". She didn't mean it in the literal sense. But what I took it to mean was that I needed to do something for me. I needed to take some time for myself and leave the stress and problems behind if only for one moment in time. Going to another country is rare experience for me and I really wanted this time to have meaning and to serve a purpose. Of course, I wanted to learn spanish, but for what reason? I want to use it for something good. After all, if you have knowledge but don't apply it, you'd might as well not have it all.

So I decided that I would learn spanish for the ministry. I want to increase my share in the ministry, so why not take it a step further. Last year, at our district convention, we kept hearing about the need for people to learn another language in order to widen out in the ministry. So I decided that I would continue my spanish with that goal. It has been much harder than I thought, but that's ok. I have to be patient. I learned that in Mexico. I had to be patient with other people, but also myself. I went to the spanish speaking congregation and I really had to be patient with myself in trying to understand the things I was being taught. I couldn't communicate at the rate that I am accustommed to speaking. That took patience and humility. But I got through and now, I feel more prepared to obtain my goal. I don't think I'll move to the spanish congregation this year. But one day I will.

I'm home

So, I'm home. I'm really happy to be home. I missed my family, my bed, my car...

Want to see my photo album?

More reflection tomorrow... too tired now

My new congregation

Last night was the last meeting at the Kingdom Hall for me. It was nice to see everyone and to associate with everyone. After the meeting, I gave out some thank you cards to the families who had me over for dinner and took a couple of pictures.

It's so nice to know that you can go anywhere around the world and the Witnesses you meet are like family. During my stay, they took me in and I really felt like I was a part of the congregation, even though sometimes, I didn't know what they were saying. I learned a lot from them about Jehovah and about how we really need to stick close to him and each other now more than ever before.

This experience of going to a spanish speaking congregation was hard because of the language difference, but I still want to go to one when I get home.

Here's a picture of some of the people in my new congregation... Las Palmas.

Ballet Folklorico in Mexico City

Busy week

On Wednesday we went to the Ballet Folklorico in Mexico City. It was really interesting. It wasn’t like the ballet in the US. It was traditional folk dancing from the different regions and peoples of Mexico. Some of the dances reminded me of Stomp and some reminded me of Riverdance. Some parts even reminded me of certain scenes of West Side Story. It was great and well worth the $50 ticket. I’d definitely like to get the DVD of the performance.

On Thursday, I went to dinner at one of the house of one of the couples from the Kingdom Hall. The husband is the presiding overseer in the congregation. They have been married for eight years and they are so cute. The husband, Alejandro, is in a wheelchair. He was in car accident some years ago. Their car is equipped so he can accelerate and stop with a clutch-like thing on the left side of the car. It was interesting to see him drive because I’ve never been in a car with a person who could drive a car, yet couldn’t walk.

We had a good time talking and he helped me with my grammar. We had enchiladas for dinner. His wife, Rosa, is a great cook, but I think there’s a conspiracy to fatten me up in Mexico. Everyone keeps fixing me these plates fit for two people. There were at least six enchiladas on the plate and even though I loved them to absolute death, I couldn’t eat them all. Alex said to me, “If you can’t eat it all, you don’t have to. Give me your plate.” Then he ate my food. It was very funny because I can’t picture anyone I know in the US doing that. I really my time with them, even though they were trying to marry me off to a Mexican husband. They were joking of course, but all in all, I had a great time.

On Friday, we got a new roommate, Stacy from Alabama. She is here independently and very eager to soak up a ton of Spanish. I took her around town on Saturday and we ate at two different restaurants. Most of our group is in Acapulco and since I didn’t go, it was perfect that Stacy showed up. I may have spent the day all alone, as Rosa, our Mexican mama and Jami, both had plans.

Sunday, it finally happened. I got homesick. I talked to my family on Saturday and was fine the rest of the day. But on Sunday, I missed them a lot, especially because it’s snowing. I love the snow. Sure it makes life a little less than easy, but it’s so beautiful when it’s freshly fallen. I love to take pictures of it and I was looking forward to taking pictures of the first snow with my digital camera. I’ve always wanted to send in my snow picture to Don and Marty on the morning news. Maybe it’ll snow again after I get home.

My new boyfriend

My new boyfriend is the pharmacy man. Don't be jealous!

Stay back ladies... he's mine!

Stopped on the side of the road

I forgot to mention this yesterday. On Saturday while we were on the road back to Cuernavaca, we were stopped by the military. They searched the bus and had us get off. We had to stand on the side of the highway for about 10 minutes before they let us go. It was a weird experience. I wasn’t afraid, but at the same time, I was nervous.

Today I got my eyebrows done. It was a strange feeling. I like the way they look now. I need to take a picture of myself so you can see the before and after.

On Wednesday, we are going to Mexico City for the Ballet Folkloriko. I’ve heard that it’s really interesting. We have to dress up. Good thing I brought skirts, otherwise, I’d be in jeans or sweats. Definitely not appropriate for the Ballet.

What a weekend !

January 17, 2005
Today was the first day of the second week of classes; a new schedule and new teachers. This week I have conservation from 8 am to 10 am, outside on the patio. Ok, Cuernavaca is the “city of eternal spring” but this morning it felt like winter. It was extremely cold.

My conversation class consists of three other ladies from our group and Garrison from Seattle, Washington. Garrison came by himself and is staying until April. There are lots of independent students on campus. They come and stay a long time to become completely immersed in Spanish. I wish I had the circumstances to do that.

For a few days, I’ve had some concerns about this trip and today I decided to talk to Cheryl about them. She and I talked through some things and I feel a lot better. In the past week, a lot of things have happened to me (losing my suitcase, I’ve fallen into a hole almost every single day, I lost my cell phone and got locked out of the house, and other things) and I just needed to get some things off my chest. Cheryl is very good at putting us at ease about our concerns. But she’s also good at making executive decisions about things that we may not necessarily want to hear. There are things that people want to do that are just not in their best interest. She can make a command decision, provide valid reasons for her decision, and then stick to her decision.

Ok, time for pictures. We went to Taxco, a silver mining town this past Saturday. Some of these pictures are of Taxco, some are of our neighborhood.

Week Two

My bed

Jami's bed

To the right of our house (heading downtown)

To the left of our house

William Lowe playing guitar at Brownies

Some of the gang at Los Arcos (favorite hangout spot of HCC)

Charlie's Angels (Eva and Ashley)

On the bus to Taxco (Robert, Wendy, Sajel, and Maurita)

At the first Plateria in Taxco. Real Silver has .925 or higher inscribed on
it.

The whole town is on series of hills.

Need a potty break or money?

A typical balcony in Taxco

The town center (Zocalo) #1

The town center (Zocalo) #2

Another Plateria (silver shop)

An old carriage

The famous Santa Prisca Cathedral

Overlooking the city

Watch your step. There are no sidewalks and the streets are narrow.

The center of town #3

I rode the bus by myself today

I went to the Theocratic Ministry School today at the Kingdom Hall. I was interesting because when the entire congregation (about 80 people) sang, it sounded like 150. The friends there were so nice to me. They go around and greet every single person in the congregation with Buenos tardes, a handshake and or hug. I wish we did more of that in the US. Of course everyone is 20-30 minutes for the meeting, so they have time to greet everyone.

The kingdom hall is about the size of the hall in Clarksville except there isn’t a separate part of the literature counter. The literature counter is a 5’ X 3’ table with, I think, one literature servant. Now here’s an interesting thing to note. The campaign we had with the “Keep on the Watch” Brochure starts for them on January 17 until February 13. So the Kingdom Ministry for Mexico is slightly different than the one for the US.

This hall is really far away from our house and so I’m only going to go on Sunday and next Tuesday. Then I’m going to go to the hall near the school.

As for school, everything was cool today. I learned a few more idiomatic expressions, but am too tired to tell you about them. I’ll do it tomorrow.

Wanna see some pictures? The first few are at our house and the rest are of the Bascilica in Mexico City and the pyramids at Teotihucan. Enjoy!


Photo in one of the classrooms
Mini shopping center near the school
Patio view #1
Patio view #2
Patio view #3
Patio door leading to our bedroom
Houses behind our street
Jami on the patio steps
Waiting at McDonald's for the group
Bascilica of Guadaloupe (old)
Bascilica of Guadaloupe (the other old one)
The last mile #1 (crawling to Santa Maria)
The last mile #2
Donkey anyone?
Big huge plant
Painting with insects
Is that blood? eww
Aww, isn't that cute? (Not $5.00 worth of cute!)
One of the first temples at Teotihucan
Excavation behind the temple on the left.
To the left of the excavation
Calle de los muertos
Stairs that were discovered in an underground living space
Fachada Norte del Basamento Pasado
Multifamily home
Drainage system
Abuela
Another walkway at Teotihucan
Me, just a little darker (at Teotihucan)
A Jaguar maybe?
Diego and Ali (Nuestra Amigitos)
David from Westchester

estoy hablando espanol

Today, I finally got use my laptop at school. I decided last night that I would write down my thoughts (listen to me… type out my thoughts) in Microsoft Word the night before and then copy and paste them into my blog in the morning. We don’t have much time to spend in the computer lab and so this is the easiest way to get all my thoughts out in a clear concise way.

My clase de español is going well, although tomorrow Beckie has to leave class for a reception for the directors. So I’ll be by myself for about a half hour. I’ll be fine and I can ask our teacher some questions about some other tenses that I never seemed to learn (future, conditional, potential). I have homework tonight, which I will get to momentarily.

My second conversation class with David was interesting again today. We read a passage about first loves and ended up talking about the hurricanes in Florida this past fall. Our conversations jump all over the place. We talked about where Maryland is in relation to Washington DC and I explained why there are a million traffic circles in DC. Then we talked about Pennsylvania and outlet malls. Then we moved north and talked about New York City and the Broadway shows that are good. David wants to see Wicked. But the funny thing was that he didn’t really understand what the word “wicked” meant. I’m finding that there are words in the English language that we as Americans understand, but can’t really explain to non-native speakers. Wicked was one of those words for me.

Cheryl is feeling better. She has the nastiest cough I’ve ever heard. When she coughed it sounded like one of her lungs was going to fly out of her mouth at any moment. Her mama had her put Vicks vapor rub on her chest. Then she crumbled up newspaper and put that on her chest. Then she put on a tight t-shirt with her pajamas on top. Her mama told her that she had to sleep with her hands folded on her chest. This morning she woke up and sounded a whole lot better. Now I’m sure the antibiotic helped too.

This evening I got to visit one of the congregations here in Cuernavaca. The friends there were extremely nice and the wife of the book study conductor helped me answer a couple of questions. I had the book in English and so earlier in the day, I wrote out my answers in Spanish. I even got to read a scripture. They invited me back next week for their version of goodie night. Even though I’m going to start going to the congregation closer to the school, I still want to go back for goodie night because let’s face it, I can’t turn down food.

All in all it was a good day.

Ok, ready for today’s slang?

Want to go to a party? You would say “Nos vamos de reve?” Now, your probably thinking, I thought the word for party was fiesta. It is but here’s an even cooler word for party – pachanga. If you area a party-person, you are a panchangero.

First day of classes

January 11, 2005
Today was the first day of classes and it was very interesting. My first class was espanol, and yes, I know you’re thinking, “isn’t she taking all Spanish classes?” Our espanol class is the main classes where we learn grammar. There are two students in the class, myself and Becki, one of the directors from our group. We both need help with the subjunctive so we started out at the beginning-intermediate level – week one of level two. We have a very nice teacher who is patient and very good at explaining things so we understand them. I know I’ll enjoy that class.

My second class, mi conferencia, is the class where we learn idiomatic expressions that are used in Mexico. Now some of these expressions don’t make any sense to me because they aren’t expressions that I would use in English. But I’ve taken this class twice and I think I’ll learn some new expressions.

Lastly, I have conversacion with two difference group leaders, Marianna and David. I have Marianna the first hour and David the second hour. This class was interesting because all we did was talk, hence the name of the class. There was no grammar, we just had a conversation. The first hour we talked about being in Mexico and the places we had seen and why we were studying Spanish. The second hour we talked about the problem with children spending too much time watching TV and how there are so many shows that are inappropriate for children. The conversation drifted to reality shows, the pros and cons of cable tv, our mutual musical likes and dislikes and the effects of shows like Dawson’s Creek on teenagers. It was a great conversation and the first time I felt completely comfortable talking to someone about a topic that I had a real opinion about. That hasn’t happened in a long time. In the past, in classes, we were given a topic and we talked about it, sort of going through the motions of using whatever grammar we’d just learned in the conversation – always directed conversation. But this time we started on one topic and the others just naturally flowed, very much the way a conversation flows in real life.

I really enjoyed my first day of classes. I was apprehensive, most because I didn’t know where I would be placed. But I know that I’m at the right level for me. I also know that I will progress even further. I want to get to the potential and conditional tense. I don’t think I’ll get there while we’re here, but at the very least, I’ll know enough that I’ll be ready to learn it when I get back to Maryland.

Now, for the rest of my day.

Jami and I went downtown to explore the Zocalo, the place that is the equivalent to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, but without the water. It the center of downtown with tons of shops and merchants and vendors ready to sell you any and everything under the sun. We went to an open air market with lots of crafts like hand woven clothes and purses and jewelry. It was really nice to see all that the vendors had to offer. But I have to pace myself with my money right now because I don’t want to run out of money too soon. There is something special that I’m looking for (and no, I’m not saying what it is until I get home), but I didn’t find it today. I do plan on bringing gifts home, but not many. I want just the right items.

We walked around also to find the Kingdom Hall because my letter said that it is located at #36 Vicente Guerrero. We didn’t find it, although we were on the right street. We stopped in a boot shop where two men were playing cards and asked them where #36 was and they found out that it was across town. In Cuernavaca, there are “colonias”, neighborhoods (what we know as villages in Columbia) and we were in Colonia Centro. The Kingdom Hall is in Colonia Granjas, across town. So when we found out that it wasn’t there, I decided that I would just ask Carlos, whose uncle is a Jehovah’s Witness were his congregation is. His congregation is Spanish speaking and the one I was looking for is the English speaking. Jami kept telling me that I should go to the Spanish one anyway, which I planned on doing. I just wasn’t planning to go all the meetings in Spanish.

So as we were walking around looking for a place to a soda, we walked up on some witnesses who were talking to people and giving out tracts. I asked them if they were witnesses, just to make sure because all I could see was tracts, not magazines. They said yes and we introduced ourselves. They told me that the English congregation was really far away and that I should come with them to their congregation. One of the ladies’ daughters speaks English and they said that she could help me with translating at the meeting. They told me that the Book Study is tomorrow (Tuesday) and that the Theocratic Ministry School is on Wednesday. They are going to meet me in front of Los Archos and take me to the meetings. Now, I know that there is a congregation near the school and so next week I will probably go there. The school is closer to our house and so the kingdom hall should be as well. But it was nice to meet those Witnesses and make definite arrangements to go the meetings with them. On Sunday, I’m going to the Watchtower meeting and so I have to study for it in Spanish so that I can answer a question. It will probably take me several hours to prepare. So I’ll study on the bus on the way to Taxco. I’m really excited about going to the meetings in Spanish. I’m nervous, but ready to try out the Spanish that I’m learning at school.

After making arrangements with the friends, we went to a book store and to several other places and finally met up with “Las hermanitas” – three sisters who came together on this trip. We went to Parrillado Restaurante and had a small meal and talked about classes. We also talked about the sad conditions in Mexico. There are thousands of street vendors trying to sell you everything under the sun. Everyone on them is darker skinned and seemingly from one of the various indigenous tribes. People of that background have so few opportunities in life. They are treated a little better than animals, but not by much. You see them shining shoes, sweeping and moping floors, begging for money, selling handmade crafts in the street and doing other forms of work that seem degrading. In a way, you want to help by buying something they have, but at the same time, if you buy from one, ten more come to sell you something. So where do you draw the line.

Already in four days, I’ve said “no gracias” so many times, I can’t even count and part of me feels guilty because there are some things that I want to buy. But I really need to save my money and pace myself. If I have a little extra during the third week, I’ll go back and make some purchases.

Ok, now for the idiomatic expressions that I learned today:
Está como quiere! - She’s a hot mama!
Se cree la muy muy - She thinks she’s the last coke on the beach!
Que padre! - It’s cool
Me cae gordo - I don’t like him
Está como mango – he is handsome, she’s beautiful
And personal favorite – echar la casa por la ventana – (literally: throw the house out of the window) – used when someone spends a lot of money preparing for a party.