into the real world

New Home

2008-01-28T21:35:00.000-05:00

I decided to move my blog to another site. The link is on my facebook or you can respond to this post and I'll tell you my new address. Thanks for reading.

good days

2008-01-26T11:13:00.001-05:00

Everytime I run across these pictures, it just makes me happy:) They're from some kind of Christmas PJ Party that we had in middle school. I won't even put captions on these pictures to protect the innocent. But to my middle school-and-on friends, I love you and you know who you are!

my most favorite purchase ever (or at least in the recent past)

2008-01-24T21:43:00.000-05:00

I bought this coat at Target for $13 on clearance! And seeing as it was pretty much no degrees today in Indiana, this has really come in handy. The hood is most definitely my favorite part and I'm pretty sure I will never again buy a coat without a hood. With my new coat and my long underwear, the past few days have been almost bearable. I have no idea what I'll be doing in a few months, but Miami is sounding appealing. Although, as much as I hate the cold, when I manage to somewhat outsmart it, I get some sick feeling of midwestern pride:)

the wedding singer

2008-01-24T21:27:00.000-05:00

In keeping with tradition, I am here to report on Josh and my third Broadway Across America date. We saw The Wedding Singer at The Murat. It's a 2006 musical based on the 1998 movie with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. It was probably my least favorite of the ones we've seen so far but it was still fun and enjoyable. Plus Josh and I always have fun dressing up and going out!

newsworthy

2008-01-21T14:08:00.000-05:00

Two of my favorite people in the world, Ted and Paulina, are getting married June 7th in Merida, Mexico. Pau is my friend I stayed with when I was living in Mexico this summer and Ted is the one who introduced me to her. I'm so happy for them and I'm saving my pennies in hopes that I can make the trip out there for the wedding:)

Also- Check out the comments on my post "commonest." I mentioned that I was going to call in to a show on NPR and the next morning, one of the co-hosts of the show had posted on my blog! I couldn't believe it. I emailed him and asked how he found my post- Google newsfeed I guess. Anyway, I just thought that was pretty cool. Maybe I'll call in and be on the show!

i like indy

2008-01-19T09:12:00.001-05:00

It really is a charming midwestern city. Last night, my friend Robert and I headed out to try our hand at Spanish tapas cuisine. There is a charming Spanish restaurant on the corner of Delaware and Ohio in downtown Indy that I had been wanting to try for awhile, Barcelona Tapas. The food was good, but the atmosphere and the sangria were excellent! Definitely worth a try. I'll be going back so if you're looking for someone to go with, give me a call:) Luckily we had a reservation because this tiny little restaurant was packed. Our waitress suggested the pitcher of Sangria which was definitely a good choice because the individual glasses are very small. We loved their famous goat cheese tapa! The way tapas work is that you order several small dishes (tapas) of food and share them. It's kind of like finger-food. A very fun dining experience. If you're lucky enough to live in Indy, you should definitely check out Barcelona Tapas.

the man who saved my life and never knew it

2008-01-17T22:07:00.000-05:00

Because it was debilitating. It affects the way you eat, the way you talk, the way you walk, and the way you live. For years I was haunted by the pain and embarrassment.

Smile.

Mine was inadequate. So I felt.

Overdramatic? Slightly. Overemphasized? Not a chance.

I recently had the chance to revisit the man who saved my life and never knew it. Or perhaps he did. Perhaps he went into orthodontics because he knew how much a smile could change a life. Or it could have been the money, but for the sake of ignorant bliss I’ll go with the former.

My teeth are an immense source of pride and joy to me, and, I expect, to my parents who paid a lot of money to fix them. They were bad. Before I even went to the orthodontist, I had four of my permanent teeth cut out of my too small mouth. Anyone who knows me will see the irony of the previous sentence. I had a device that dental professionals like to call an expander, but that is actually more like a medieval torture device. Suffice it to say that this device involved a key that was inserted into the expander every night and cranked, yes, that is the word they used, to slowly widen your arch. I walked through fire for these pearly whites.

On the day my braces came off (one of the proudest of my life), the doctor fitted me with two permanent retainers- small pieces of wire attached to the back of my top and bottom teeth to keep them from moving back. Last night, as I was flossing my teeth (a challenge with the wires), the bottom one came unglued on the left side. I freaked. I was convinced that I could feel my teeth struggling back to their demented origins the moment the metal lost its grip. I woke up this morning and my bottom teeth ached with the paranoia that I would be returned to my adolescent awkwardness.

As I returned to the site of the pain, I wanted to say to all the people in the waiting room: you’re doing the right thing, push through. As I lay back in the chair, prepubescents on either side, my whole body was tense with anticipation. Logically, I knew that they were not going to hurt me- they were going to glue my retainer back in place. But I had to remind myself to breathe. In. Out.

I am a sucker for make-over shows. And I have a peculiar affection for the ones with the women whose teeth are so bad that they never smile. Imagine consciously suppressing every physical expression of happiness. That’s hard work. When the women see their new smiles for the first time they always start sobbing immediately. And I have to admit, it really gets to me. It’s not open-heart surgery, but in a way, it is saving a life.

They fixed my retainer and I left. I felt I should have expressed my appreciation for my teeth. I suppose that was my inspiration. An ode to my orthodontist, to my broken retainer. An ode to the smile.

commonest

2008-01-16T22:52:00.000-05:00

I have been such a bad writer, but the truth is, nothing has happened lately that I felt like writing about. So rather than talk personal things I thought I would share a word that I recently came across. Commonest. This word was in some material that I was reading for immune dysfunction and I thought to myself, these scientists really need to proofread their stuff. Technically, I was wrong. I did some research (grammatical, not immunolgical) and found out that commonest is actually a word! Actually it's the most correct, but not the commonest. Apparently there is a "rule" that one or two syllable adjectives are -er/-ist as opposed to more/most. But if you notice: two sentences ago I typed most correct. Correct is two syllables but you definitely would not say correctest. Ok, I just checked: correctest is not a word. Because yesterday I would have sworn that commonest wasn't either. According to my research, most common and commonest are both acceptable superlatives, but I happen to think that commonest is just ridiculous. It sounds like Communist. What do you think? Have you ever heard the word commonest? I do get the two syllable rule in most cases: prettiest, ugliest, brightest, stupidest. As in, commonest is the stupidest word I have ever heard. Anyway, wasn't that a great revelation after so many days of no blogging. There's a show on NPR on Saturdays called "A Way With Words" and if I remember, I'm going to call them about this. I'll let you know.

I also thought I'd share some tangible things that make me happy. I saw these tulips at Target yesterday and just had to have them. I love tulips and everytime I walk into my room they make me happy. This second picture is my art project. I hadn't done anything remotely creative in a long time and was in the mood so I painted some flowers to go in the corner above my bed. That's all the exciting news I have to share today. But don't worry, I have a story in the works...

it's a christmas eve miracle

2007-12-24T23:00:00.000-05:00

Jenna is updating her blog. Actually, I just wrote this for my parents for Christmas and I thought I'd share it here. It isn't what I imagined but I think they'll like it anyway. I just wanted to put into words a few of the things that stick out in my mind and let them know what those things mean to me. So here it is:

A valuable lesson to teach a daughter

I don’t know if he ever actually said it, but for some reason I have the picture in my head of the times that he did. Multiple times that I sat on his lap or he on the edge of my bed and told me that I could be anything that I wanted to be. Not to let anyone ever tell me differently.

When so many girls get nothing but criticism or worse from their fathers, for some reason, I got the good one.

My parents gave me the greatest gift that parents can give a child- security. The confidence that comes with knowing that no matter how far you fall, there will always be a safe place to land. My father added to that landing place, a desire to jump. When I was younger, it was a physical jump.

“We’re in a cave, mommy,” I explained as my father patiently videotaped the whole adventure for my mom, home with the baby brother who was the reason for the trip. My father had decided that at the sensitive age of four, his attention hungry daughter needed the spotlight all to herself for a few days. This might have also been a break for my mother now that I think about it.

“It’s so short that Daddy had to crawl. But I was just right.” For some reason, this trip has always stuck in my head as the representation of the relationship between my father and me. It represents all the roller coasters he took me on. All the science projects we did together. All the ways he pushed me to embrace the sense of adventure I now know he always knew I had in me.

My dad and I were the ones on the roller coasters, and my mom was always waiting for us when we got off. She has always been there supporting me at the end of every ride. As a child I was sick a lot, and although I was overly dramatic at times, my mom always gave her attention freely. I remember once when I was very sick complaining to her about how bad I felt, and she said to me, “If I could take it away I would. If I could be sick instead of you, I would do it in a heartbeat.” And I knew she would. And somehow that made it feel better.

“Why are you putting makeup on?” I asked my mother as I sat on her bed watching Oprah after school. I remember being so confused. It was four o’clock. Dinner was in the oven. We weren’t going anywhere. “I just want to look nice for your dad when he gets home.” The thought had never even occurred to me. In a time where it seems to be a battle between empowered-working-mom and the mom who freshens up her makeup as dinner is in the oven, my mom showed me how to be both.

That physical jump that my dad encouraged, the make up tips from my mom, all obviously have come to mean so much more to me as I stand on the cusp of the big-girl world. And while my mother still laments the fact that I don’t know how to make gravy, she and my father have taught me so much more. How to jump. How to land. How to live.

dirty rotten scoundrels

2007-12-12T00:22:00.000-05:00

Just in case you were wondering what had happened to me, I haven't died. I have 5 final exams between tomorrow evening and Monday afternoon so I've been trying to be a good student. I have lots of things to blog about over my Christmas break. But I thought I'd share- if you're looking for something to do this weekend in Indy you should go see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Clowes. It was the second in the Broadway Across America Series that Josh and I have season tickets to. A bit of a slow start, but a funny musical with great voices and a very clever plot. I guess it's based on a 1980's movie by the same title starring Steve Martin. Definitely worth your time. Enjoy your holidays- I'll be doing the same come Monday night!

birthday

2007-12-01T23:03:00.000-05:00

Today I am another year older. When my friend Mark called me tonight he said, "good job staying alive." Yup. But more than that, I felt very blessed today. Birthdays are kind of a selfish day, but my birthday always reminds me of how lucky I am to have so many people in my life that care about me. On Thursday, Kent, Robert, Laurann and I went out to dinner at The Spaghetti Factory to celebrate Laurann and my birthdays. On Friday, Matt took me to see Cinderella at the Wagon Wheel Theater in Warsaw (more to come on this) and out to dinner. On Saturday, Kristin and Lacey put a candle in my blueberry muffin. Jenni gave me the gift of Starbucks. I had Ivanhoes with my college roommates one last time (above). Josh gave me a book that he wanted to share with me. Mark called to catch up. Brit sent me chocolate in the mail. Tiff sent a cute e-card. My mom made me pizza casserole and my dad cried while saying the prayer before dinner (to which I said, "I don't know what you're crying about Dad. I haven't grown up yet- I live right upstairs") Yup, I'm blessed.

career search possiblility #1: master coffee cupper

2007-11-28T08:43:00.000-05:00

Ok, not really. But as you you know, I love to share a good NPR story, and as I was in my car this morning I heard one. It was about Tracy May Adair, master coffee cupper at Folgers. Yes, that's right, master coffee cupper. I had never thought about this before, but apparently, every batch of coffee has to be tasted to make sure that they all have the exact same taste. Which makes sense. If you go to buy Folgers, you want it to taste like the last batch of Folgers you had. As I was drinking my Starbucks (which I brewed, not bought), Morning Edition was bringing me joy once again.

The funniest thing is this: these people do not sip the coffee, they slurp it, creating a "mist" of coffee in their mouths. Adair pointed out that most of your sense of taste involves "smelling from inside of your mouth" anyway. Then they spit the coffee back out, which is a good thing since one person tastes anywhere from 60 to 400 cups a day. Adair does not taste every single cup. She has "calabrated" the palates of the nine other testers who work for Folgers to be exactly like hers. It's kind of funny to think that the taste of every cup of Folgers coffee is based on the palate of one woman- that's power!

Unfortunately, I don't think I have a future as a coffee tester seeing as they probably don't let you put copious amounts of creamer and Splenda in the taste samples:)

Enjoy your coffee, and have a wonderful day!

a fine mantra

2007-11-22T16:39:00.000-05:00

The balance between being real and being negative. It's a hard one to strike. I have found myself in a phase of my life lately that hasn't been my favorite one. When you're in your twenties, people are always asking you what you're doing, what you plans are, who you're dating. And the trouble is, so many times, you don't know. Or at least I don't. My fall-back answer? Thirty is the new twenty. In other words, back off.

So when people ask me how I'm liking grad school, I've taken to answering honestly. I was tired of lying. Of saying that things were fine when I didn't feel like they were. But I think that I've discovered that there are good and bad things about both. It's ok to say that you're not fine. Sometimes voicing it gives you the power you've been needing to do something about it. To realize that it's ok to change paths if you don't like where the one you're on is leading you. But I've also realized that after you've voiced your frustrations, after you've gotten the motivation you need, you can go back to saying you're fine again for awhile. People are going to keep asking you the questions. You're going to have to keep answering again and again. And what you say over and over again becomes your mantra.

As someone who has always loved words, I've come to realize that a mantra is a powerful thing. My childhood copy of Charlotte's Web still has an honored place on my bookshelf because it holds a special meaning to me. My second grade teacher read it to us, a chapter at a time, after recess. And truly, I will never forget the way that I felt when, as she read the part of the book where Charlotte dies, she cried. Books are powerful. Words on a page can move people. And so can the words you repeat. Can the key to changing your attitude be as simple as changing your mantra? Kinda, yeah. Because as much as I like and appreciate honestly, saying over and over again that I hate grad school doesn't make me like grad school any more, nor does it make me feel any better. It just makes me dwell on the fact that I hate grad school. So why not try to pick out something good? Why not be thankful for all the incredible things in my life (of course that's where this is going, it's Thanksgiving).

I have an education, one of the most empowering things a person can ever have. I have the most wonderful parents a person could ask for. I have friends who love me for who I am, and who understand the new twenty. So I am fine. Always. In the big picture, I am always fine.

Wicked

2007-11-18T20:19:00.000-05:00

As promised, I now have something to write about! Josh and I had an amazing weekend in Chicago. Here we are in front of Ryan and Betsy's apartment. They're friends of mine from high school who were nice enough to let us stay with them. We love getting all dressed up to go out on the town!After we got downtown, we had some Chicago style hotdogs for dinner. Getting downtown was a feat in and of itself since though I have been to Chicago many times, this was my first time driving into the city. We sat at the window and people-watched while we ate our hotdogs in style! I love hotdogs, especially Chicago style.
We were there when the doors opened we were so excited! Here we are in front of the theater. You can't see but Josh has on a green tie to match my green purse- black and green, get it? For Wicked!
You aren't supposed to take pictures at all but we snuck a couple- how can you resist? As you can tell, we were very high up, but right in the center. The show was soooooo good. If you like musical theater and you haven't seen this show, you just have to.
After the show we walked up Michigan to Cheesecake Factory. Please see picture number one for the shoes I was wearing. Then we took our picture in front of the same Christmas tree as last year. We're very into traditions:) Hard to tell it's a Christmas tree when you take the picture yourself, but trust me.
On Saturday we went shopping and city seeing until the parade. On this weekend, every year, they have a parade to light up the city for Christmas. It was cold and kind of rainy, but we stuck it out like the city-lovers that we are. Afterwards, however, I wasn't loving the city so much when we got stuck in the most annoyed, JAM-PACKED crowd I have ever been in. Thank goodness we had gone to put all of our things in the car before the parade and fireworks.

Such a fun weekend and so nice to get away with a good friend every once in a while.

one of my favorites

2007-11-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

Both the poem and the poet.

Praying

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

- Mary Oliver

boring

2007-11-10T14:02:00.000-05:00

So I haven't really had much to write about lately. I am at the tail end of my last burst of exams before finals. I have two next week and then three whole weeks to prepare for finals. Thank goodness.

My friend Robert and I had sushi last night which is always good, but I tend not to take pictures in restaurants and since a lot of the fun things I do involve restaurants, I never have any pictures to post. But I will have some to post next weekend- because Josh and I are going to Chicago to see WICKED!!!! I am sooo excited. Not only do I love Chicago all the time, but next weekend is the Festival of Lights parade and the beginning of holiday shopping. I have also been wanting to see Wicked for so long now. The wait is almost over.

Ok, I'm going to work on a new venture: making flashcards on the computer. Hopefully it will be successful.

we're all going to die

2007-10-31T16:10:00.000-04:00

So my virology professor is crazy. She is a yellow journalist if even I have met one. Since someone asked me for a definition the other when I was talking about this, I will provide one here. Yellow journalism is sensational journalism, exaggeration for the sake of selling papers. Well my prof is convinced that we're all going to die of the Bird Flu once the virus mutates so that it can be transmitted by human to human contact.

The concept of viruses is interesting. I read a book for that class by Richard Preston, The Hot Zone. Good but scary book. It's about Ebola, but at the end, Preston makes an interesting comparison. Preston says that viruses may be the earth's immune system. Just as our immune systems have mechanisms for fighting off "invaders," Preston says that viruses might be nature's way of fighting off its invaders- us.

My professor might be right. We might all die.

But what I really wanted to say is this: I don't really care. Before you think I'm being morbid, let me explain. The other day in class, I turned to my friend (who is also a Christian), and I asked her if she thought that we didn't care about this is much since we're Christians. We agreed that that was true. Our professor is talking about stockpiling! That's a little extreme for my tastes. But when I turned to my other friend and said, "So I might die tomorrow, so what?" She looked at me like I was a crazy person.

My friend Chase is living in a dangerous neighborhood in Chicago where there was just a gang related shooting. Yeah, this world is dangerous. Yup, sometimes we have to go to dangerous places to do the things we feel called to do. I guess I'm just saying that my faith in God and my assurance in heaven give me the confidence to do what I need to do and go where I need to go despite the dangers always around the corner.

accent with a cherry on top, please

2007-10-28T15:35:00.000-04:00

What girl doesn't love a guy with an accent? British, Brazilian, and even the occasional Birmingham have all been known to perk up my ears.

What got me thinking about this was my study break to Starbucks. I guess I could just call it my Starbucks break. I recently heard a comedian say, "At my house we don't call it Starbucks, we call it four-bucks." Funny, but a topic for another time. Writing this blog is my second break just in case you were wondering.

---

"I'd like a grande caramel light frappuccino, please."
"Nope," the guy behind the counter says jokingly. Because he wants to hear me say:
"Pretty please...with a cherry on top?" So I do.

But the guy making my drink is unfamiliar. Somehow, on Southport Road, not only is the new Starbucks guy British-ish, but so is the lady in front of me. So they have a fairly lengthy conversation about where they're from and how they got here (instead of making my drink), but I don't mind because it is interesting and I am eavesdropping.

The new employee seems about 35 and resembles Russell Crowe (who I am aware is from Australia). He hands me my light frappuccino, which apparently, pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top didn't tell him was supposed to have whipped cream. They assume that people who order light frappuccinos don't want whipped cream. But I do. So I sweetly ask Russell Crowe to add a bit for me. As he hands me back my drink, he says, in the cutest accent, "There ya go, flower." Melting occurs.

If pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top had called me flower, I would have thought he was a weirdo. Russell Crowe, on the other hand, can call me anything he wants.

---

PS: I just found the coolest website that has recordings of people from all over the world saying the same phrase to compare accents. It I wasn't supposed to be studying, I'd still be on there. Check it out. If you're as much of a language nerd as I am, you'll absolutely love it!

PPS: Kent pointed out that Russell Crowe is from New Zealand. And he was born there, but he grew up in Australia. I said, "Whatever. The important thing is that he now works at my Starbucks."

trick or test

2007-10-27T10:59:00.000-04:00

I have been studying all weekend. Because of Halloween. Yes, that's right. Because of Halloween.

I was scheduled to have two exams this coming Tuesday: Plant Molecular Bio and Regenerative Bio. Thanks to the idiots in my class, I am still scheduled to have two exams this coming Tuesday.

Our regenerative prof said, "So I hear that some of you would prefer to have this exam on Thursday." And I was thinking, thank you Jesus. "Let's take a vote," he said. "How many would prefer that the exam still be on Tuesday as scheduled?" And over half the class raised their hands! My jaw dropped. What in the world are they thinking? Most of these people are in my Plant class. Apparently they want to be able to go to drunken Halloween parties on Wednesday night without having to worry about an exam the next day. Let's just say I was slightly pissed.

So for this reason I am spending the whole weekend studying for two exams that are on the same day. Did I mention that these are the two classes in which I did the worst on the first round of exams?

I hate studying. And I hate saying no to fun stuff in order to study. My friends wanted me to go out with them last night, but I knew that I would spend the whole time feeling guilty about not studying. Unfortunately, I am getting old and cannot seem to study past about midnight. My brain just shuts off. So having fun and then coming home to study is not an option. I resent this grad program that I am in not only because I cannot see how it is going to benefit me in the future, but also because it is keeping me from enjoying my life right now. I hate missing out on things. I refuse to listen to my ipod in public places because I might miss something interesting that is going on around me. And I think this is a good thing for the most part. But I also need to remember that life will go on without me. And that I now have a much better understanding of DNA than I did a month ago. That's beneficial, right?

How I got to self-analysis from Halloween I do not know. Actually, I do. Too many flashcards.

no ifs ands or ...

2007-10-24T10:57:00.000-04:00

Butts.

Thank you NPR for a good laugh on the way to work this morning.

They reported a story out of Dallas, Texas where deputy mayor Dwaine Caraway, tried to pass a law banning saggin'. Probably the funniest thing of all was hearing the person on NPR say the word saggin'. Saggin', no sagging. Thanks for getting that right, NPR.

Apparently, for some, the trend has moved from showing your boxers to not wearing any underwear at all?! Thankfully I haven't seen this one.

Obviously they learned that you can't really make a law against saggin' pants. But they can still do something about it. A rapper named Dewayne Brown aka Dooney saw Caraway on tv and had already been working on a song called "Pull Your Pants Up." How perfect.

As they played clips of the song on NPR I was laughing out loud in my car. What a great way to start off the morning.

Here's the actual story that they read if you want to check it out.

You really should go to the website and click on the audio file under the picture above to hear the song. It's hilarious.

a little poetry

2007-10-23T23:05:00.001-04:00

I was thinking about this poem today and so I thought I'd put it up here. It's one that I wrote for my creative writing class my junior year.

scalpels at supper

It seems they’re hardly ever there together,

but still each night she makes a meal for two.

She understands the weight the scalpel bears;

he takes her place when power shifts at five.

They love their work, but hate the separation.

At times it’s hard to love each other quite enough.

He’s always saying they should quit obsessing

about the cuts: incisions, needles, guts.

She says that it’s ok for them to dwell

on things that they both love, that brought them here

to this: it’s five am, she waits for him

to eat the meal she made for them last night.

She just ate breakfast and he’s too tired

to eat. But for now, they just let it go.

computer woes

2007-10-23T23:03:00.000-04:00

You should be able to see the pictures on my last post now. My computer is getting old and sad. I've had to completely rebuild it the past few days. Not take it apart, just wipe it clean and start over. Obviously, like I could take apart a computer.

who says living at home isn't fun?

2007-10-21T23:34:00.001-04:00

Well I never had a problem with moving back in with my parents when I finished undergrad. It represented that I wasn' t exactly where I wanted to be with my life, but the actual living arangement is quite nice. When my brother isn't home for the weekend, it's just me and my parents. We get along well. They don't care where I go or how late I'm out. We go out to eat a lot. My mom and I go shopping. Life here is good. And luckily, I have good friends here. We went miniture golfing last weekend and I thought I'd post a few pictures on here.

This would be me- the second place finisher

Robert- the winner

Notice that he was also the score keeper:)

Kent claims I was trying to take a picture of his butt.

Me and Melanie

After this happened for the second time, Kent and I decided that the pink and orange ball just wanted to be together. The pink one was Kent's of course.

And here's a picture of Josh and I heading off to our first of six shows that we have season tickets for! This was Cirque Dreams and it was really good. Next we'll be seeing Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and, true to form, I think we basically already know what we're going to wear:)

And here are a few more pictures. Since I cleaned my room today I thought I'd take a few pictures of my "new apartment."

This is my bedroom

And my living room

And of course my office.

an ode to public radio

2007-10-20T23:10:00.000-04:00

I'm just gonna throw it out there: I love NPR. I realize that I am only 22. I realize that many of the people who also love NPR are 40 or older. And I do not care. Because I love NPR. Just in case you don't know, NPR is National Public Radio. And National Public Radio is not songs and commercials- it's programming.

Why am I feeling so complelled to write about my love of NPR? Because all week now, they have been doing their fall pledge drive. Since NPR is programming and not songs and commercials, they need a lot of support from their listeners. Up until about a month ago, I was a part time NPR listener. But for the past few weeks, my radio dial has not left 90.1 WFYI. And I think this is for good. And the pledge drive, as annoying as it can be, worked. They finally convinced me to be not only a listener, but a supporter. I am now a member of WFYI Public Radio. At the age of 22.

Why do I love public radio? The number one reason boils down to this: it's hypnotic. I simply cannot turn the dial. There is something compelling about it. I will not turn the dial, despite the fact that they tell me to call in with my support every 10 minutes. I listen to author interviews about books about subjects in which I will never be interested. If you love NPR too, you understand. It's hypnotic.

I am a practical person, and so it only makes sense that I would love a practical radio station. I feel such a sense of accomplishment at the end of every commute. I have heard the day's news. I now know about upcoming community events. I have been transported back to a time when "shows" were on the radio and not the television.

My favorite show is "This American Life" with Ira Glass, over which I have connected with several friends. More than any other type of radio, NPR is radio which connects people. I like country music, you like country music, so what. But if you listen to NPR, I automatically like you. In undergrad, my friend Brian and I would often begin conversations with, "Did you hear This American Life last week?" And my friend Amy and I were talking before our class the other day and the following conversation ensued:

Amy: You'll probably think I'm crazy, but have you ever heard of 'This American Life'?
Me: Oh my gosh, I LOVE that show.
Amy: You are the first person who has ever answered yes to that question!

Instant connection.

I was meeting some friends to play mini golf last weekend and I was sitting in the parking lot with my windows down when my friend Kent pulled up next to me with his window down. He looked over and smiled, "We're listening to the same radio station." Connection. We now both know that the appendix might be useful after all.

I could obviously go on and on, but I will end with one of the first moments that got me on the road to being hooked. Several years ago, my friend Shane and I were driving home from a late dinner and listening to NPR. We weren't saying anything, we were hypnotized. Finally one of us said, "Sometimes I can't even tell if this was recorded yesterday or fifty years ago!" And I like that. I don't even know what program it was. But it was NPR.

The Alchemist

2007-10-03T15:54:00.000-04:00

"Making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision."

-The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho-

The Alchemist is a fable about dreams. Not the ones that you have while you're sleeping- the ones you have while you're awake. The ones that drive your decisions and feed both your fear of failure and your desire to have everything that you ever wanted. I read this book awhile ago, before I knew that I wasn't going to medical school this year. At that point, I still wanted to go to medical school. At this point, I don't.

The decision that I made more than four years ago was only the beginning of things. I decided to do the pre-med thing. And I don't regret that decision even for a moment. That path led me to countless mentors. It led me to the three best girlfriends a person could ask for. I know that I made pivotal life relationships in undergrad because of the fact that I was pre-med.

I was pre-med. I hadn't thought about this until about 10 seconds ago. I was pre-med. I wasn't a pre-med major, I was pre-med. The most common response to the question, "What are you studying?" goes something like, "I'm a ______ major." But when you ask a pre-med person this, they usually do not say, "I'm a premed major" or even "I'm a biology major," but they say, "I'm pre-med." More than many other majors, pre-med defines who you are. You are driven. You have what it takes. You live in the library. Most of your friends are pre-med. You love words like phosphorylation and any word that ends in -ase.

But I'm probably biased.

For me, being pre-med definitely infiltrated my personality. Almost everything I did was somehow tied to the fact that I was going to be a doctor. This is why, when I didn't get into medical school this past year, I felt like my world was going to fall apart. Truly. I didn't know who I was anymore. And this wasn't just because I didn't get into medical school. It was because I started thinking that maybe it was a good thing that I didn't get into medical school. I started thinking it even more when I did horribly on my MCAT exam, and even more when I began graduate school. Graduate school that I was doing to improve my chances of getting into medical school which I was no longer sure I wanted to get into. That's where I am right now- graduate school that I don't like and don't have much motivation to do well in anymore.

So what I'm trying to decide right now is who I am. The two things that I think about most often are being an English teacher and being a Physician's Assistant. I could be an English teacher next year through a program that places willing bodies in needy schools. I would have to take another year off before applying to PA school in order to fulfill their prerequisites. There's also the more immediate question of whether or not I will finish the second semester of the grad program that I'm in.

I still have a lot of decisions to make. And I realize that I'll be making important decisions for the rest of my life. I do know one thing though, I am no longer pre-med. I no longer have the desire to spend 8 more years in school.

And it feels good to finally be free of that.

the power of postive thinking

2007-09-10T23:26:00.000-04:00

So normally I talk about how much I hate IUPUI and the grad program I'm in there. But today I thought I would try to be positive and think about all the things I do like. Here they are:

1. Audiobooks: although I don't like driving so much every day, it does give me the chance to listen to lots of audiobooks. Right now I'm listening to "House of Sand and Fog" - National Book Award Finalist and good listen (especially since it's read by the author).
2. Lots of outdoor tables on the campus of IUPUI at which to sit and study.
3. My JagTag: buys me snacks, copies, and gets me discounts at lots of places.
4. The fact that many of my lectures are recorded and avaliable as podcasts (although I still learn better in class). All of my professors also post very good lecture guides/notes online.
5. Being downtown and close to lots of miscellaneous errands.
6. Free copies of The Indianapolis Star, USA Today, and The New York Times every day at the library.

i should be studying but...

2007-08-31T20:07:00.000-04:00

Instead I'm going to write about two things that I've found interesting lately:

IUPUI (where I'm taking grad classes) is a smoke free campus. There are signs everywhere saying this. Yet never in my life have I seen so many people smoking in one place. Maybe I'm just naive after my four years at Indiana Wesleyan, but this is shocking to me. I really think that every other person I walk by on the sidewalk is smoking. Stupid...

One thing that makes me happy is a show I have recently began watching. This show is in its third season on Animal Plant. That's right...Meerkat Manor. I find this show ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING. If you don't know, it's a show about a real group of meerkats. Like the nature shows I grew up watching on PBS, only this is more like a soap opera. Yes, an animal soap opera. You just have to watch it to understand. It comes on Animal Planet on Friday nights (which means that I am admitting that I have such an exciting life that I watch a show about meerkats on Friday nights). I am probably more apt to love this show because I love animals, but really, I am practically hypnotized by it! These animals are so cute.

mcat? what mcat?

2007-08-26T22:36:00.001-04:00

So you may have noticed that I haven't been back since the MCAT as I promised. This was pointed out to me today by my friend Brian Doyle who called to make sure that I hadn't jumped off a cliff. I have to say that I'm proud- it's only been a few months, but so far the communication has been flowing between old college friends. At this time I will give a blog shout-out to Brian Doyle, faithful phone call maker and brilliant blog writer. His blog makes me laugh every time. Maybe it's just because I know him, but maybe not:) Check it out.

So you're wondering why I haven't given you an MCAT update. There could be three reasons. One- I did wonderfully and haven't stopped celebrating long enough to update my blog. Two- I did horribly and I haven't stopped crying long enough to update my blog. Three- I've just been lazy. Unfortunately, number one is not true. Number three is and number two is part true. I did do horribly on the MCAT. We'll just say that I lost my mojo and I knew things weren't going well so I voided my scores at the end. This means that while I paid $200 to take this test, the results will never be known. I was bummed yes, but I know it was the right decision.

That said, I don't know if I'm going to take it again. I'm considering other options that I might not have otherwise such as going to med school in Guadalajara or Tel Aviv. I think these adventures might be right up my alley.

Last Wednesday I begun grad school at IUPUI and it seems like it will be difficult but interesting. All of my professors speak great english (sometimes a gamble in the sciences) and seem like they will be very helpful. The program that I am in is called the PreProfessional, Non-Thesis Master of Science Program. This means that it's a program for people who didn't get into med school. For awhile, I affectionately referred to it as "fake grad school," but I am beginning to see that this is not only real grad school, but also a great support group. Two examples. In one class, the professor asked us to write down on a card something to help her get to know us. I jokingly said to my friend next to me, "How about- I am a med school failure." The guy next to me laughed, sighed, and said, "Aren't we all." In another class, the professor had us go around and say our names, where we went to undergrad, and what our plans were. I felt like I was at a support group meeting. "Hi, I'm Jenna. I graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University and I'm trying to get into med school." "Hi, I'm Bob. I graduated from IU and I'm trying to get into med school." Is this really grad school or just a program to make us feel better knowing that we aren't alone? (In all actuality, I'm happy with the way that things have played out).

Ok, I think this is enough for now. I'll be back when I have something interesting to say.

i promise

2007-08-08T22:31:00.000-04:00

I promise I still love to blog and will return soon (for any of you who may be checking!). I am taking the MCAT again on Thursday the 16th and I'm trying really hard to be a good studier. This test is uber important and I get really nervous so please keep me in your thoughts and prayers next Thursday and this coming week as I try to cram in as much as possible. Thanks.

my sex education

2007-07-25T23:49:00.000-04:00

One of the things that has been the most interesting to me here at Lawndale has been hearing different views on contraception. I came into this very skeptical. I'm very pro-contraception and many doctors at the clinic are not. I'm not quite so sure how I feel about contraception anymore. Here's why.

Many people would say this (like I used to): sure, abstinence is the best thing, but if people are going to have sex anyway, they should at least not be getting pregnant. Or: sure, try to be abstinent, but maybe you should be a birth control anyway just in case you screw up.

Here are some things you should know about the population that the clinic serves. It is probably 95% hispanic and african american and both of these cultures tend to be very religious. If you ask a patient here if they believe in Jesus, almost all will say yes. As my friend Justin said, "It's like: fried chicken, apple pie, and baby Jesus."

We had a conversation about this with Dr. Wayne Detmer whom I very much respect. He used to give out contraception to anyone who wanted it, but for the past year, he's only been giving it to married couples.

Here's why: he says,
"If a patient tells me that they believe in Jesus, I say something along the lines of, 'Well what do you think Jesus would think about you having sex with this person?' (in a non-judgemental, simply curious, tone of voice). And the patients say, 'I know what I'm doing is wrong'.

What Dr. Detmer has struggled with is the question of the fellow Christian. If this patient is saying that they believe in Jesus and that what they're doing is wrong, he's not just dealing with a patient, but with a fellow Christian. And is it wrong for him to endorse the sin of his fellow believer?

Here's the part that really gets me. Many of these girls have never been told that not having sex is an option. You ask them, "Is this the kind of guy you seeing yourself ending up with?" Their reaction is usually a resounding no. And you say, "Is this really what you want to be doing? Is it making you happy?" Not quite so resounding, but also usually a no. And when they hear that they don't have to have sex, the looks on their faces are shocking. Because it seems to plain to me- of course you don't have to have sex. But this is news to them.

Here's the kicker for me. One of the doctors said to us, "If I tell these young girls that they don't have to have sex, that their lives will be less complicated, that they don't want to get STDs, ect, and I say, 'I really think you should try abstinence' and then I give her the birth control anyway, just in case, the message I'm sending is, 'I think you should try to be abstinent, but I don't really believe you can." Wow, I just keep thinking about that. And I'm still not sure what I think.

Many of the patients here need someone to believe in them much more than they need birth control. I just can't get that thought out of my head. If you preach abstinence but continue to give birth control, you're sending the message that you don't believe abstinence is possible. That you don't believe your patients can be abstinent. That's what everyone has always told them. Someone needs to believe in them.

This is probably rambling, but I'm still trying to make sense of it in my head which is why it probably doesn't make sense here. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm open.

i am sooo bad!

2007-07-13T20:37:00.000-04:00

Wow, I am so sorry for how horrible I've been able keeping up with my blog since I've been in Chicago. Let me give you two excuses: 1. Our days are sooo long and exhausting and 2. I have been pretty sick this week which adds to the exhaustion.

I am struggling with sinus problems which are affecting my asthma and all of this is not helped by the poor air quality here in Chicago, the necessity of sleeping with the windows open, and living with cats. I don't really feel like I can skip out on things at the clinic so I just try to get a lot of rest while I'm home.

I didn't let my sickness stop me from going out with some of the group on our Wednesday off. We went downtown and got off the train at Millennium Park. For those of you who know Chicago well, you will realize that what I'm about to say is absolutely crazy. From that point, the group decided that they wanted to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo (which for the record is nicer than the Indy Zoo and free as opposed to $13). And they wanted to walk! I knew it was far but I had no idea how far. It took us over and hour to get there! But we got a great walking tour of the city. After the zoo, half the group went home but three of us stayed around for the free concert. It was excellent! There are free concerts in Millennium Park every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday during the summer. Chicago is so much fun!

The whole team at one of our group dinners (here at Dae and Esther's house)

The night before, on Tuesday, I had promised Shane that I would go to Borders on Michigan Ave to get Floyd Landis' book signed for him. It was definitely worth it because I got to have my picture taken with Floyd. He's a really nice guy. In case you don't know, Landis is the guy who won the Tour de France last year and was accused of doping.

Me and Floyd Landis. On a side note: I did not see him put his arm around any other fans.

The project is going well. Our home visits are going much better- we had zero "no shows" this week and made lots of appointments for patients to see their doctors. We felt like we actually accomplished something this week. At our health fair last Saturday, we did over 150 blood pressure and blood glucose screenings! This is really a great step in encouraging people to seek routine medical care.

Our home visit teams
The Chicas: Linda and Jenna

The Hawks: Gabe and Mahate

The Ninjas: Justin and Ibukun

The Canes: Chase and Jess

Some pictures from our first health fair at a local grocery store

On the non-medical side, we have been having great discussions about racial reconciliation during our conference times and we are all making great bonds with the kids that we're mentoring. Hopefully this Sunday, I'll be going with Mayra to her church and then out for some authentic Mexican food in our neighborhood, Little Village.

We have our second health fair tomorrow and hopefully it will be as successful as the first!

Oh yes, and I registered for my grad school classes at IUPUI. I'm getting a master of science degree there this year.

Hopefully it won't be so long before I write again! Thanks for not loosing faith!

a few observations

2007-07-04T20:37:00.000-04:00

There were a few things from my day that I wanted to write down:

1. I find it interesting that in the neighborhood where I'm living, the only regular kind of store is Target- the most expensive store of its kind. And it has a Starbucks. Not complaining, just observing.

2. I'm sitting in the kitchen with the balcony door open because it's hot and there is very loud music in Spanish. But it's kind of summery and festive:) I think I like it.

3. What goes around comes around: As I was wheeling my cart of groceries out to my car today a girl probably about my age said, "Excuse me, can I ask you a favor?" I said sure and she told me that her car was sitting at the gas station of the store (Food-for-Less) completely out of gas and her debit card wasn't working. She asked if I would give her 2 or 3 dollars to put a little gas in her car to get back home, adding that she was so embarrassed. I had some cash on me that I gave to her, she thanked me and we parted ways. After I loaded my groceries, I also needed gas so I pulled into the station. As I was filling my tank, the lady at the pump next to me said, "Would you like one of these coupons for 10 cents off per gallon? I have several of them." I couldn't believe it. I had just helped someone pay for their gas and now someone was helping me pay for mine. I say this because I think this is one of the most important lessons that Lawndale has to offer. The people at the clinic may be giving up things to work there, but when you give of yourself in faith (no matter how big or small), you will never be empty. Your cup will overflow.

where has all my time gone?!

2007-07-04T13:55:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post! Time is really flying here in Chicago. We've been busy with work and a little bit of fun as well:)

This past weekend we went to Taste of Chicago which was fun, but don't worry, the Indiana State Fair is better! Taste of Chicago works like this: a bunch of local restaurants set up booths along Columbus and there are booths where you buy tickets. Then at each food booth, you can buy normal portions for so many tickets, or each booth has a "taste" portion for fewer tickets. We all got a bunch of different things are shared them. Of course I had to get a Chicago style hotdog even though I've tasted them before. I LOVE hotdogs! After the Taste, we went to see Ratatouille. Very cute. I recommend it.

While I'm talking about fun things, we also went to Chicago's big fireworks last night. They do theirs on the 3rd for some reason. The fireworks were amazing, although I've never been in such a huge crowd before. We took public transportation and while it was crowded and a bit uncomfortable, it was very easy- I love a good public transportation system. We have the day off every Wednesday and even though we've only been officially working for 2 days I was definitely ready for a lazy day.

Every morning we have a conference on something. On Mondays we have an hour of time with the highschool kids that we're mentoring. This past Monday was our first chance to really get to talk to them and it went very well. They're excited about spending time with us and although we feel inadequate to be mentors, I think that a lot of positive things will come out of this part of the project. The girl that I'm mentoring is Mayra. She is a great girl with a very positive outlook on life, but her life isn't easy. I would really appreciate your specific prayers for the time that Mayra and I spend together, and that in some way, I would be able to give her what she needs right now.

We also had another conference on Monday where we talked about the pros and cons of being a doctor in the inner city. The guy who led the conference has published a paper about a study that he did on this topic. It was a great conference.

Also on Mondays and Thursdays in the afternoons we shadow different providers at the clinic. This past Monday I was with a male nurse practitioner seeing Family Medicine patients. It wasn't anything terribly exciting, except that it's exciting to see that people are getting their basic health needs met in an affordable and caring setting as opposed to going to the ER. I did get to speak to one patient in Spanish and it was a great encouragement to keep practicing because people really appreciate a kind word in their own language.

Mondays and Thursdays are also the days that we get to have dinner at the home of someone who works in the clinic. This Monday it was the CFO/COO of the clinic. He lives in the neighborhood in a beautifully remodeled house. That's one of my favorite parts about the clinic at Lawndale- so many of the providers live right in the neighborhood and when their patients know that, it really deepens that relationship. I think this has been one of the most important parts of Lawndale's success. This guy's kids go to magnet schools with kids from the neighborhood and play on the same baseball teams. Children are often one of the biggest reasons that people don't live in the neighborhood, but this family really has a great faith that this is where they're supposed to be and that they will be taken care of. I asked them if they had ever had any scary experiences and the father said that while they were remodeling the house was broken into almost every night but that once they moved in 2 years ago, that hadn't happened. "I'm sure we'll get broken into someday," he said calmly, "It's just the reality of the situation." But the people on the block know and trust this family, and that goes a long way.

We had our first home visits yesterday and my team had kind of a frustrating day. But since this post is already long and since it was only the first day I'm going to wait until Friday after our second home visits to write about that.

More soon (and pictures!)

welcome to the windy city

2007-06-27T21:32:00.000-04:00

So I'm getting settled in to my July home. And I already LOVE it here at Lawndale. I love the mission, the people, the clinic. This is definitely the type of place that I can see myself working someday. And we haven't even started working yet! Today was our first day of orientation and while it was boring sitting in basically the same room all day it was necessary I suppose. Tomorrow we start learning about how to do home visits!

Yesterday I got here pretty early but it turned out to be a good thing because I just sat around and talked to the other people who got here early. There are 8 of us and we all get along great. It's a really diverse group of people and I think we're going to work very well together.

Our team (minus one)

l to r: Mahate, Ibukun, Linda, me, Justin, Gabe, Chase, and Jess was at a bridal shower

We've already started planning for our first health fair which will take place a week from this Saturday. Once everyone was here we went across the street to Lou Malnotis for dinner. This is a chain of Chicago pizza restaurants owned by Christian brothers. As they were getting ready to open their tenth restaurant, the pastor of the Lawndale Community Church convinced them to do it here in Lawndale- and to give all the profits back to the community! They consider it their tithe (giving 10% back to God). And the people who work at the restaurant are people going through the final steps of a program at the Hope House, a place that helps men with substance abuse issues.

I am staying with another girl from the program, Linda, at Alissa's apartment. Alissa is a pharmacist at the clinic. She just graduated 2 years ago so she's not too much older than us. Lawndale encourages its employees to live in the community (which I think is an important part of its success) so Alissa lives about 0.5 miles from the clinic in a two bedroom apartment.

The family that lives downstairs is very nice. The neighborhood where we live is predominantly Hispanic. It is a bit of a rough place but I feel safe here. Alissa has two cats which, luckily, have not been a problem with my allergies. I try not to touch them much and wash my hands a lot. But it's hard because they're really really cute! Linda and I share a bedroom which we keep off limits to the cats:)

Shadow (the big one) and Jula (the little one)- they own this place!

Today was the company picnic- there are over 300 employees at the clinics three locations! Chase participated in the hula hoop contest at the picnic!

He had quite an audience

This place is growing like crazy. There has been an 80% increase in the number of visits since 2001. The clinic gets a lot of money from Medicaid patients and also just from people who pay cash. If you are uninsured, it costs $15 to see a doctor and have any labs or x-rays that you might need. The pharmacy also provides medications at a very low cost. Much of their funding also comes from government grants. This place is pretty much the mothership of Christian clinics of this magnitude and I feel so lucky to be learning and serving here.

Thanks so much for your support and prayers as I begin this month!

tying up loose ends

2007-06-22T23:25:00.000-04:00

My Mexican Parents: Jose Louis and Rosi

Look how tall I am in Mexico!

The Whole Gang

Trent, Diego, Cait, Me, Nelson, Ted and Pau

After being so faithful to my blog for all this time I've been feeling guilty for just leaving things hanging. So here's how my trip ended. My last day in Merida, Diego and I were supposed to go to the zoo so I met him at his school at 10:15 like he told me to. He thought he didn't have classes but he did so during his 20 minute break we just went to the zoo and sat on the bench in front of the giraffes.

Friday was a day of "it's a small world after all." After saying goodbye to Diego at his school I looked across the street and saw Juan, I guy I had just met a couple days before. And before that too. Juan grew up in Xochempich and was at the clinic talking with Dr. Federico the first day that I got there. Then the night we went dancing in Merida, Diego and I went to this restaurant because he wanted to talk to this guy that he knew would be there. It was Juan and we realized that we had seen each other before. And then the day on the street. Is this guy supposed to teach me something? He is an incredible guy. He's an anthopologist with a doctorate who speaks perfect English and recently taught at Indiana University. In January, he'll be teaching at UC Berkley. And before that he has an interview with Mel Gibson to talk about his recent movie, Apocalypto. The movie is about the Mayans and Juan is Mayan. I'm interested to hear about it (we traded emails) and to read his masters thesis about Xochempich. After Juan and I parted ways, I decided I was going to walk home from the zoo (about an hour or so) because I had the time and I wanted to talk a few last pictures. I was about half way there when a van pulled up beside me and someone shouted my name. It was Alicia, a girl I had met when I went to Diego's church with him. She asked me if I wanted a ride but I told her I was enjoying walking and promised that I could ride the bus if I changed my mind. That night when we went for a later dinner at Chilis, she was there! How weird! On that last night Paulina and I went out for iced coffee and then met up with Diego and Nelson for dinner. We drove around in circles for almost an hour before deciding where to go (this is normal for them but it drives me crazy!!!). Ted was in Cancun for work so I had said goodbye to him the night before.

Pau and Diego at Chilis

At 4am on Thursday we woke up and called the boys to make sure they were awake and coming to take us to the airport. When they showed up, Ted got out! He had come back from Cancun. It was sooo nice to have all of my friends at the airport to send me off. I miss them all soooo much already!

Here are the pictures of Pau and I at the airport on the day that I arrived and the day that I left.

above: when I arrived, below: when I left. Yes, I wore the same outfit:)

On the plane from Houston to Merida I was sitting next to an older lady who I could tell was rich and probably divorced. I sneezed and she said, "Salud" which is like "bless you." I said "gracias" and she got so excited and asked me if I spoke Spanish and instead of saying "a little bit" like I usually do, I said yes:) Before the plane had even taken off I knew all about her. She has a huge house in Merida with air conditioning and a pool and she made me promise that I would come stay with her someday. She was serious. We had a great time talking and she said that my Spanish was great (which it's not but it's very much improved). This took my mind off the fact that I only had an hour to get through all the lines in Houston. That's right, in one hour I got off the plane, went through immigrations, collected my bags off the carousel (three suitcases and a backpack...), went through customs, put my two checked backs back on another carousel, went through security where they found a bottle of hot sause in my carryon suitcase that I had forgotten about and aparently had been missed in Merida, and barely made it on to my plane! Whew! For your reference, one hour is the absolute minimum layover time needed when reentering the country!

It's so nice to be back home and spend time with my family and friends. And to eat American food again! And to sleep in my bed! I will be leaving again soon though. I have to be in Chicago by 5pm on Tuesday to start my internship at the clinic there. It's a crazy summer but I'm having a great time and learning sooo much. It's great because many of the clients at the clinic speak Spanish so I'll get to keep practicing! When I get home I'm going to have to find a way to keep speaking- maybe a Spanish-speaking church?

I'll be back soon with stories of Chicago: in the US, but in a world that many people have never experienced. I know it will be a journey.

the countdown: 3 days

2007-06-18T10:16:00.000-04:00

Counting today, I only have three more days here in Merida because I fly out on Thursday morning at 7am! I am going to miss my friends here so much but I am excited to sleep in my own bed and enjoy my mom´s cooking for a few days. For those of you who are sad because you´re thinking that I won´t have anything to blog about anymore, do not despair. I still have another adventure this summer! On June 26th I leave for Chicago to be a part of a ministry called Lawndale Summer Health Project. I will be working at Lawndale Christian Health Center which serves a low-income population in Chicago. Check out http://www.lawndale.org/ to find out more about the clinic. Training is the last part of June and the project is during the month of July. I´m very excited about this because I think that this clinic is the type of place that I see myself working someday (like in 9 or ten years...wow...let´s not think about that).

Here is the main body of my support letter which explains a little more about the program. I have been very blessed and have all the financial support I need for the project but I would love to have you support me by reading my blog while I´m in Chicago and keeping me in your prayers.

During the month of July, I will be working at Lawndale Christian Health Center on Chicago’s west-side and I need your support. LCHC is an amazing organization which provides holistic healthcare to members of this impoverished community, regardless of their ability to pay. This is especially exciting to me because this is the kind of place I see myself working when I complete my medical education.

Twice a week I will be shadowing the physicians there – learning from their interactions with patients and watching them share the love of Christ through healthcare. The remaining days, my fellow team-members and I will be out in the Lawndale community, checking up on patients and ensuring that they are following their care regimens for chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes. We will plan, organize, and staff health fairs in the community each Saturday.

One of the most important aspects of this project is mentoring. Not only will I be mentored by the staff at the clinic, but I will be mentoring high school students from the community who are interested in medical careers. They will go with us into the community as our guides to their neighborhoods.

Because Lawndale is committed to holistic, relationship-based care, most members of the staff live in the nearby community. By living with a member of the staff, I hope to better understand the importance of these relationships. There are still costs for the LCHC to sponsor this Summer Medical Project. I need to raise $700 which will cover my housing and food costs as well as training expenses. This is roughly $20 for each of the 33 days that I will be at Lawndale. I would greatly appreciate your support. All donations are tax deductible.

I would love to have a sponsor for each day so that I can personally let you know what I did that day. I will also be writing an online blog (journal) while I am there to keep you all updated on our progress and prayer requests. Whether or not you are able to sponsor me financially, I would appreciate your prayers during this unique chance that I have to serve right here in the US.

Some Statistics about the Lawndale Neighborhood:

North Lawndale
- 93.8% African American
- $18,000 median income
- 59% of children live below the poverty line
- 25.8% unemployed
South Lawndale
- 83% Hispanic
- $32,320 median income
- 32% of children live below the poverty line
- 11.7% unemployed

In recent Merida news:
-Friday night we hung out with Trent and Cait who are here for the rest of my trip and I went with Diego to the young adult program at his church
- Trent, Cait and I watched The Offfice...ahh, American humor:)
- Pau and I spent a nice relaxing Saturday morning at her house
- Saturday afternoon we all went to the beach (minus Ted who was working).
- On the way home we ate ceviche which is cold seafood with chopped up veggies. You get a HUGE plate of fresh seafood for $10!
- Saturday night, Trent, Cait, Diego and I went downtown to go dancing. It was a good time even though I was starting to get a migraine.
- It´s getting hotter here, I´ve been having trouble sleeping :(
- Sunday after church I went with Pau´s parents to visit her mother´s parents and then they dropped me off so I could do some shopping downtown. On Sundays they close off the streets in the middle of downtown and have music and vendors. It´s like a street fair every Sunday- one of my favorites about Merida.

I do have a couple of recent pics but they´re on Ted´s camera so I´ll have to add them later. Sorry.

I can´t believe how fast my time has gone! But I´m so excited to go home with all of my memories already captured. It´s kind of hard to have the "so how was your trip" conversation about a 6 week trip so I´m glad that so many people have been keeping up all along. Thanks so much. I love writing down my memories to share with you.

i hate people who talk in libraries

2007-06-15T14:45:00.000-04:00

This is probably one of my biggest pet peeves- people who talk in libraries. Classes are out at the medical school where I use the library here so when I got there today there were a ton of people. Which was fine, I went to my cubicle and started working on GRE which was frustrating me anyway and add to that that there was no place in the library where people weren´t talking. So, doubly frustrated, I left and came back to my house where I finished my GRE practice test in silence. The GRE part is still frustrating.

Yesterday, after doing GRE at the library I decided to check out the zoo which is right down the street. It´s free so I figured why not. It was actually a pretty nice little zoo with a good selection of animals. The funniest thing was when I was standing with a few other people in front of the tigers and one man started to walk away. One of the tigers ran from the other side of its cage and lunged at the man and growled. Luckily there was a fence there but we were all shocked to say the least. Just goes to shows that even animals in zoos are wild animals. Here are some of my favorite pics from the zoo:

As you can see, I really like the birds. Especially the flamingos- they are so fascinating to me. I was wondering, why do flamingos stand on one leg? So being the good scientist that I am, I went to Wikipedia (that´s a joke- both parts) and it said that the reason is not exactly known but that one common suggestion is to conserve body heat. This does not seem necessary to me here in Mexico. It´s also funny because they bend their necks all the way around and rest their heads on their backs. How convenient.

On the way home I snapped a couple more pictures to show you what my everyday surroundings look like:

Coca-Cola EVERYWHERE! This is also the most common form of advertisement, painting on the walls of buildings.

The little grocery store that is close to Pau´s house

My street

Last night, Me, Pau, Nelson and Diego went to hang out at the mall. Pau and I took a moto-taxi. Not living in Mexico, this will not make sense to you but it is literally a taxi pulled by a motorcycle. A little cart with a bench is hooked to the back of a motorcycle. It´s hilarious. Pau, always looking out for you, my blogging audience, insisted on taking pictures.
Finally, this is me before the mall and after Pau asked me if I was going to take a shower. They take so many showers here it´s ridiculous. The look on my face can be translated as, "Another shower?? I´d really rather just lay here in my hammock until we´re ready to go."

Good Things Happen in the Dark

2007-06-14T10:36:00.000-04:00

This is a rough draft about my time in Xochempich. Once I finish writing something I have to put it down and come abck to it later. But I didn´t want to keep you waiting too long so I´ll let you see it in its first stages. If you have any criticisms, large or small, please let me know. Enjoy.

Good Things Happen in the Dark

That was the name of a song on my childhood favorite, Muppet Babies. I don´t even remember who it was, but one of them was afraid of the dark, and so the others sang this song, "Good Things Happen in the Dark." They explained that without the dark there would be no drive-in movies, moonlit serenades or fireflies. And it seems to me that here in Mexico the same is true.

I could tell that she was going to say something about my legs.

Femia and I had come to the family´s palapa to check on the feverish Diego and his dying mother. On the less than a minute walk there, Femia said to me, or maybe to no one in particular, "She was one of my best friends here." And then matter of factly, "She is one of my best friends here." It was painful. The hug for Diego warmed my body with infectious heat. The sounds of his mother´s labored breathing chilled my core. She lay in her hammock, surrounded by a slight stench of the cancer that was eating her body alive. Though unconscious, Femia spoke to her, "Margot." Louder, "Margot." Her breathing changed, quickened. "She can hear you," Diego assured us. There was fluid in her lungs, that was obvious from the rattle. I cannot imagine sleeping in the same room with my dying mother, with an audible reminder that she was in pain, that she was dying.

It was one of the aunts, and she had actually gotten up from her chair and was coming over to where I was sitting, legs crossed. I could tell by her gaze that this had something to do with my legs. Great, I thought. She is going to ask me about the excema on my ankles just like everyone else. And since there is no word for excema in Spanish (that I know of), I will explain once again that it is like an allergy on my skin. Instead, she cradled my calf between her dark, calloused hands and her face lit up when she said, "Que bonita." How beautiful. "Son grandes. Y blancas," she said, drawing out each word for emphasis. She liked my "large, white" legs. All I could do was laugh. Only in Mexico would that be a complement.

The lights had been out since three in the afternoon and Femia was getting worried about the meat in her freezer. Sitting out on the porch we gleaned the last of the light, she for her knitting, I for my lesson plan. I was teaching a class on first aid to the nursing students, in spanish. Talk about in the dark. When our eyes couldn´t stand the strain anymore we went inside to look for candles (which we obviously should have done earlier). With one in hand, we went once more to visit Margot, stepping carefully over the stones that lead the way to the palapa. There, candles were wedged in the rafters. It was hard to see her face but hard to ignore the breathing. Silently, we were all wishing that tonight would be her last.

Federico didn´t have a match nor did his candle have much of a wick. He´s a wonderful and caring doctor- the kind I hope to be if I ever get into medical school. But I was not shocked at his lack of preparation. While I did surgery on his candle, he sat down on the porch and began talking with Femia and I. It was one of those times where my Spanish just clicked. I wasn´t thinking, I was just talking. "What made you choose your university?" he asked me. "I wanted a small school," I told him. He laughed when he found out that small meant 2,500. "Why did you go to medical school in Puebla and not in Merida?" I asked when it was my turn. "I wanted a big school," he said, and they laughed. "Actually it was because I flunked out of school here." Good things.

At three in the morning, I lay in my hammock. I could not sleep for the dog which had decided to start barking incessantly. After a minute of so, I thought, Doña Margot has died. "Do you believe that dogs can sense when a person´s spirit leaves their body?" one of the nurses asked me next day after I told her this.

The funeral was one of those things that you wish despirately to capture in pictures but know that only words are appropriate. Around seventy people, virtually all of Xochempich, formed a mass of flowers and silence that moved slowly down the road to the cemetary. No one was wearing black. Or church clothes. There was no slideshow of pictures. Only a few simple words from the pastor, some song and some prayer. The friends of Doña Maria Clara "Margot" Chan Mis filed by to throw flowers into the still-open casket. Diego had none. Just as the last of the flowers were being tossed, someone handed him one, and as he reluctantly let it fall to his mother´s body, I saw him cry for the first time.

Walking back the mood was lifted. Later Diego came over and we ate empanadas and watched soccer on tv. Somehow, as we were sitting around talking after the game, Ted snuck away and found a water gun. We found the other two and were soon engaged in a no holds barred watergun fight which took place in and around the house. By the time we were mopping up the kitchen floor we were laughing so hard that I couldn´t tell if my face was wet from the water or the tears.

take a deep breath and...

2007-06-11T19:22:00.000-04:00

type!

Wow, do I have a lot to say. I´ve been out of touch for almost a week now and a lot has happened. I did end up going to Xochempich on Tuesday to stay with Ted and Nelson´s mom, Femia, for a week. I knew her from when I visited last year so it was really nice to spend time with her. I also went to see the nurses that I knew from last year.

First thing when we got to Xochempich we went to the clinic to see the nurses. The three that I knew from last year were so excited to see me- they had no idea I was coming. They jumped and started screaming my name- that´s gotta make you feel loved. Then I went to help Femia with a phone call. She´s going to the US in August to have eye surgery and Nelson is coming with her! So exciting! Even though she speaks perfect English she wanted me to talk to the doctor on the phone to make sure she understood everything.

Then she pulled out a book...and ask me to teach a class to the nurses. In Spanish, of course! Using the Red Cross book, I taught I three day course in first aid, wrote my own exam and gave it on the fourth day. My students got 72, 88,88,92,96. Pretty good curve. I spent a lot of time teaching and preparing but it was a great experience and a great way to get to know the first year nurses. I love those girls so much and I really enjoyed teaching.

Under my "list-journal" for Tuesday I also wrote that there were three huge cockroaches in my bathroom that I couldn´t bring myself to kill after reading Kafka´s "Metamorphosis." Silly me.

This is Femia´s house where I stayed

This is the clinic

Wednesday
At the nursing school the girls don´t get to go anywhere. They live at the school and aren´t free to just walk around town. They are literally there most all the time. So I asked Femia if I could take them to the cenote and she said yes! When I told them they were sooo excited. I ate lunch with the nurses every day that I was there. After lunch I took a three hour nap (it was soo hard to get out of my hammock) and prepared my lesson. Then I went to visit with the nurses and spent a nice evening with Femia who told me all kinds of fun stories about Ted and Nelson when they were little. That evening we also went to Diego´s house to see his mother. I am purposefully leaving things out because I am going to write something more creative tomorrow but wanted to get the rest of the details written down now:) So stay tuned.

Thursday
The girls and I went to the cenote after class. Enjoy the pictures. To learn more about cenotes, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenote. The power went out around 3pm and didn´t come back on until 12am. Just like in Merida, we had a good time without electricity. This will be part of my creative piece.

Friday
Diego´s mother died during the night and Friday was her funeral. It was a sad time but I´m very glad I was able to be there. It was one of those times where you wish you could take pictures but you know it would be inappropriate. So I´ll try to paint one (stay tuned for creative piece 2)- they´re coming- I promise. Ted, Nelson, Pau and their friend Angel came to Xochempich for the funeral. Angel was so fun and he speaks English so we had a great time talking with and teaching each other. He cannot say the word "girl" and it was so funny trying to teach him! He reminds me a lot of my friend Josh (hi Josh!) so with the English and everything it was like a nice little taste of home. We sat around and ate empanadas and watched a soccer game. You´ll never believe what happened after that (especially you, Mom)- we had a water gun fight- in the house! It was soo much fun and we were all laughing so hard we were crying. Only in Mexico:)

Me and Angel

Me and Diego

Saturday
I gave my exam and my students did very well: 72, 88, 88, 92, 96. After lunch we went to the cenote again (it´s about a 2.5 mi hike in the hot Mexican sun- great exercise). Early afternoon Ted came to pick us up and take us back to Merida.

My students, studying for my exam!

A picture with the nurses before I left

Sunday
After church on Sunday, we did something that I´ve been wanting to do this whole trip. We went to Celestun. Celestun is home to a wildlife preserve with flocks and flocks of flamingos! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestun You have to rent a boat to go out and see the birds, so I rented a boat for us and we went on an hour tour of the reserve. It was absolutely amazing- you could see the pink far off in the distance. According to Wikipedia: Celestun's ecosystem is unique because of a combination of fresh water from Celestun "river" and salt water from Gulf of Mexico. Celestun's flamingos are the pinkest in the world due to high concentration of carotene in the water. And I believe it- they were really pink. You can´t get too close to them in the boats, so the pictures just don´t do it justice.

There was also a mangrove forest that we went through in the boat- so cool.

Best friends: Nelson and Diego (this picture captures them perfectly!)

After our boat tour we went to the beach and made sandwiches with the stuff we had brought. Good sandwiches. I´m talking lettuce, tomato, onion, bacon, ham, cheese. The works. Then we played in the ocean all afternoon and sat on the beach and watched the sunset. It was a really nice day. Back at home I made us grilled cheese sandwiches with our leftover cheese and bread. They really liked it.

Monday
I went to the library to study in the morning and met Diego at his school when it got out so he could introduce his "American girlfriend" to all of his friends. Don´t worry, I don´t really have a boyfriend here:) We walked downtown with his friend Mauricio and got my favorite- Jugos California- orange and pineapple. Then they wanted me to try some kind of fruit with chili on it and it was actually good because it tasted more like a vegetable than a fruit. We had a good time just sitting in the park and talking. That night Ted, Pau and I went to Costco to print out some pictures. I wanted to print out the ones for the nurses to give to them before I leave. We then had some kind of sandwich called chicken bake which was really good. If you go to Costco you should check this out.

Tuesday
I went to preschool with Pau in the morning- her kids were horrible this day! They all remembered me though and weren´t quite as freaked out this time. They are working on a "Lion King" show for the end of their school year and I got to watch them practice. It is adorable. For the Circle of Life, all the kids come out acting like animals and then at the end, one of the teachers who just had a baby comes out and holds her baby up in the air just like they hold Simba up in the movie. It was hilarious! I wish I was gonna be around to see the finished product. Pau and I went downtown to run a couple of errands and had lunch at Burger King. It was so nice because we are finally getting to the point where we can have meaningful conversations because my Spanish is finally good enough. But of course, I´m leaving soon. But we´ll be able to talk on Skype so hopefully I won´t loose what I´ve learned. If you don´t know about Skype you should check it out. It´s been so great for me. http://www.skype.com/ Tuesday night is ladies prayer night at church and we went around in a circle and shared recent blessings in our lives. Then we read a passage from Exodus where the Israelites are complaining that there isn´t any water to drink. We talked about how, just like the Israelites, we tend for forget our blessings and ask, "Is God going to take care of us or not?" And if we just think about our lives we can see that God is always taking care of us. It was encouraging. And when I shared, they all said my Spanish has gotten a lot better. Yay!

Wednesday
As you can see, I´m catching up on my blog today, and I´m also catching up on my laundry which is an all morning process. You can´t just throw it in an leave, you have to be here to fill up the washer with the hose when it´s time for the rinse cycle and to hang the clothes on the line when they´re done. At least there is a washing machine! When I´m through catching up on here I´ll do some GRE- hard to believe that´s coming up so soon! Other exciting news: Trent and his girlfriend Caitlin are coming tomorrow and leave on the same day that I do. With new people here these last days will fly! I´m sad to leave but am missing everyone at home and looking forward to seeing you all soon.

For those of you still reading, a treat. I´ve been working on this poem for awhile and I´m still not completely happy with it but I´m going to post this rough draft. Enjoy. And look for more to come.

What the White Girl Knows

That I am different
is an understatement.
That this is not
like stereotypes in America.

I don´t know
Black in Macon
Latina in Chicago
in la Villita or on Michigan Ave.

I don´t know prejudice
because I know
a gringa
a white girl in Mexico
is a pearl.

My sand:
They don´t talk to me.
Maybe I don´t speak Spanish (I do)
Maybe they want my shoes ($2.50 at Old Navy)

I don´t want to say it
but it´s there
polishing me.

I am strange
rich
pale, plump calves with foreign freckles.
They think I think I´m better?
They want to live in America too?

I don´t know different in Macon or Chicago
but in Mexico I do
And it´s not cruel
it´s not intentional
just uncomfortable

for whom?

according to plans

2007-06-05T13:33:00.000-04:00

Things don´t always go according to plans no matter where you are in the world- but in Mexico- things almost never go according to plans! Let me catch you up:

Friday:
There was a three day bike race that started in downtown Merida that I wanted to see and take pictures of the start. The website where I learned about the race said that it started at 8:30 so being a good, punctual American, I got up early to make it downtown by 8:15. Well I couldn´t believe my eyes. The race had started on time, and the time was 8:00, not 8:30. I was so bummed. So I went to Jugos California, an amazing juice place, and got a very large glass of fresh squeezed OJ for $1.50. You couldn´t even come close to buying the 8 oranges I watched them squeeze to make my juice for $1.50 in the US. What a deal. I walked around a lot looking in stores for things to bring back but I don´t really like most of the stuff they sell here. I went to another market. I love just walking around the market- so much to see and smell. I want to take more pictures but I´m not sure how people would react- I´ll have to ask Ted. After all my walking I was getting tired so I stopped in one of my favorite parks to rest. This guy came up and sat by me and asked if I spoke Spanish. Well I do so we started talking. His name was Ricardo. He kept asking me if I had a boyfriend in the US. I think he wanted me to hang out with him but I´m such a stickler for safety and I didn´t need a tour guide (I have my friends who live here). After we talked for about 40 minutes and he figured out that I wasn´t going to go anywhere with him he said he had to go to work and left. But not without kissing my cheek (don´t get excited- this is normal in Mexico) and asking when I would be downtown again. I should have gotten a picture of him but I´m forgetful about pictures. After he left I headed back toward the buses and bought some cheap shirts at a clothing store before going to my new favorite- Michoacana! It´s an icecream place that has anything you could ever want. I had a "small" dish of lime sherbet which was actually very large for $1. How exciting. I shared my table there with a lady and her little boy while we make small talk. Back at home I took a looooong (3.5 hr) nap and later that night found out about Diego´s mom (see last post).

Saturday
We had left-over pizza casserole and sausage (which is actually hotdogs!) for breakfast. On Thursday night they wanted me to cook dinner for them but I was limited because they don´t have a functioning oven. So I made them pizza casserole (my favorite) without the pepperonis (no where to be found in merida). They said they liked it but I wasn´t totally convinced.

Here I am making Pizza Casserole

Sometimes I say I like food that I don´t actually like! Back to Saturday- Diego´s mom came to Merida to have surgery but when she got here the doctors decided that there was nothing they could do. So she´s back in Xochempich, hopefully on a lot of pain meds, and will probably die within a couple of weeks. So sad. Please keep praying for Diego- this is obviously very hard for him and he has to keep going back and forth because it is exam time at his school. I can´t imagine.

Four hours after leaving for Cancun we arrived at a friend´s apartment (small and dirty). What I discovered from spending three days in Cancun is that the only nice part is where the resorts are- the rest is very dirty and poor. It´s actually interesting though how you adjust to your surroundings (at least I do). After spending a couple hours in Meme´s apartment it felt like I was at a friend´s back in the US. At 12:30 we left to go to the salsa club where Meme´s fiance, Oscar, plays in the band. It was free to get in, food and drinks were cheap, and the music and dancing were great. Ted, Nelson and Pau don´t dance but Meme and Pau´s sister Rosanna do! So I danced with them and they taught me salsa (kinda). I danced with several guys including an older Puerto Rican guy from Brooklyn who spoke English and taught me some more salsa moves. At about 3:30, I was ready to go home. T, P and N had left to go visit a friend so I was stuck with Meme (who, it turns out, was waiting for Oscar). I was sooo tired that I turned down probably 8 offers to dance between 3:30 (when I wanted to go home) and 5:30 (when the cub closed and we actually did!). We ended up sleeping at Rosanna´s tiny apartment until about 1 when we got up to explore Cancun.

Posing for the camera at the Salsa club

Our sleeping arrangements at Rosanna´s: How many hammocks can you fit in one room?

Sunday
We went to the area of Cancun where all the hotels are and went to Hard Rock Cafe where their friend Samantha works at the gift shop. I bought a t-shirt because she gave me her %50 discount! She also gave us free hard rock pins and bandannas! Nice to have connections.

We then ate at Burger King, over looking the beach:)

Some Burger King, huh?

Pau loves this picture. She says the caption is "Now, where is my Mexican boyfriend?"

After meeting up with the boys we enjoyed my favorite part of Cancun- STARBUCKS!!! I got a Starbucks Cancun mug for my collection and a much needed caramel frappachino. Nothing says home like starbucks. I bought Pau a Frappachino too (her first) and she looooved it! We went to the beach for awhile around 6:30 which was nice because the sun wasn´t as strong. We only stuck our feet in because we were going to dinner.

I love this picture of Ted and Nelson

Now I thought maybe we´d go to HardRock or Planet Hollywood or Bubba Gump. But obviously those places are for Americans. We at somewhere much more Mexican...Sirloin Stockade. That´s right. Sirloin Stockade. I HATE buffets but they were all really excited about it so I wasn´t going to say anything. I ate a normal amount of food (plate of salad and plate of other food) and they thought I was crazy! They kept asking me why I wasn´t eating more. Oh Mexico...

My favorite part about Cancun was meeting Meme, Rosanna and Samantha. Other than that I don´t think I need to go back. Monday we did nothing all day (don´t ask) and came back late at night. I was supposed to get dropped off in Xochempich on the way home but Ted´s mom is actually here in Merida and I think I´m going back with her sometime today. Repeat after me: "Don´t ask questions, just be flexible. Don´t ask questions, just be flexible..." Once I get there I´ll be out of touch until Saturday and Sunday we´re taking a day trip to Celestun to see the flamingos. Until then.

This is from when the group was here but I liked it so I thought I´d put it up here.

More Cancun pics to come (from Ted´s camera)

please pray

2007-06-02T02:10:00.001-04:00

There was a change of plans. We didn´t leave for Cancun today because Ted needed to get something fixed on his car. But it turned out to be a blessing because Ted´s mom called from Xochempich and said that Diego´s mom is very sick and he needs to go home tonight. If we had gone to Cancun he would have been here all alone without a reliable way to get to Xochempich. So gracias a Dios (thanks be to God), they are on their way right now (in a car that was just fixed today!). Diego´s mom has uterine cancer and will have an operation tomorrow in Xochempich. Please pray for her (her name is Margot) and the doctor (Dr Federico) and obviously for Diego and his siblings. His father died when he was a baby and he is the youngest of 6 so he is very close to his mom. Diego and I met last year and he is so close to my heart- it hurts me to see him in so much pain.

Diego and I last year

don´t think i´ve died

2007-05-31T14:45:00.000-04:00

For my faithful blog-checkers, I wanted to let you know that I will be out a touch for awhile. Tomorrow afternoon we´re leaving to spend the weekend in Cancun and then I´ll be traveling to Xochempich to spend a week there. It´s the little town that Ted and Nelson are from (I´ll be staying with their mom) and where I spent most of my time when I was in Mexico last year. I became good friends with some of the nurses who work at the clinic there so I´m looking forward to spending time with them and being at a clinic a lot. Xochempich is the complete opposite of Merida- nothing to do! But it´s nice, it´s peaceful, and there´s a cenote (swimming hole). So I´ll take lots of pictures and write down everything so I can share my adventures when I return! Have a good week everyone!

2007-05-30T15:25:00.000-04:00

I don´t feel like elaborating right now but I figured it was time to jot some things down before I forget. This is what I´ve been up to. Fill in the rest with studying at the library, eating, sleeping 8 hours every night and usually taking a nap, watching tv, reading. I know, I´m lucky. I´m working on writing something more creative about what it´s like to be the only white person (almost!) in Merida. But this will have to do for now. Sorry it´s boring, I just don´t want to forget anything! A side note- if ever you go on a trip like this, you must write a blog. It makes me so happy to know that when I get home I´ll have an electronic scrapbook of my time here!

Monday night we went to go see Pirates3- I loved it! I´ve seen more movies here than I´ve seen in a long time! Probably because they´re $3. And we ate tacos at a rodeside stand. My friends said I´m officially a Mexican now!

Tuesday night we went to the women´s prayer meeting at the church- so hard to understand because when they pray one person is saying the main prayer but everyone else is praying too!

Today I registered to take the MCAT again in August...which makes me want to vomit.

Tonight we´re going to see a free show called "Passion Tango"! Super exciting. And I smell some really good food cooking right now!

This weekend we´re going to Cancun!

simplicity

2007-05-28T12:27:00.000-04:00

I´m sitting here in the Science Library in Merida, up to my ears in square roots and exponents, and it reminds me too much of my American life. So I´m taking a break and taking advantage of the slow (but free) internet here. And I´m writing about my simpler, Mexican life.

Chicharrones

In my American house, we have flashlights. In my Mexican house, we don´t.

After enjoying a cool, trickling shower, I rested in my hammock to let my dripping hair dry to a slightly damp frizz which I could straighten. I pulled the flat-iron through my hair, steam rising to heat my face. Halfway done, I stepped back and tilted my head to the ceiling, letting each oscillation of the fan dry the beads of sweat on my face.

When the sky let loose with my first Mexican rain, I thought, so much for straight hair. I shut the window so the computer wouldn´t get wet and pointlessly began on the other half of my head. A few tugs of the flat iron. Dark. The rain had overpowered the electricity in Merida.

Left with nothing else to do, I went and sat on the living room couch with my Mexican mother, Rosi. We reveled in the of coolness of the rain, windows open, protected by the overhang of the patio. We sat in silence, and I was struck with a feeling of de ja vu. Five minutes passed. Summer Camp. This was like those afternoons at my childhood summer camp where, left with no other options, we lay on our beds and heard nothing but the rain in the trees.

After finished her shower by memory, Paulina joined us. We sat in the semi-darkness, discussing the differences between American and Yucatecan cuisine, the slowing rain providing our soundtrack.

You know, cottage cheese. It´s white, half liquid, half solid. It comes in a plastic container. Yeah, like little balls. Oh, you mean cottage cheese. Yeah, cottage cheese.

Pau wanted popcorn. I reminded her that the microwave would not be working. The rain had all but stopped but there was no sign of power returning and the sun had been driven from the sky. I could no longer make out the expressions on their faces. Rosi lit candles, and Pau had an idea.

Chicharrones. What? Come on, I´ll show you. Small pasta like O´s became crispy, greasy snacks after a few seconds in crackling hot oil. And like everything else, we topped them with hot sauce.

When Rosi and Jose Louis left for the Super, it was just us and the chicharrones. Teach me English, she said.

My name is Paulina. I am 24 years old. I have two sisters. I am a pre-school teacher. My friend Jenna lives at my house. She teaches my English. She teaches me English. I teach her Spanish. We are waiting for Ted and Nelson.

When the rain slowed, they were coming to pick us up. With a mischievous glint in my eye, I said, Pau, this is a secret conversation, just between you and me. And then we saw the headlights of their little, red, rusty car. All we could do was look at each other and laugh. It was the hardest we had laughed in the two weeks since I´d come. Still laughing when they came in the door, Nelson asked, what´s up?

Nada, we said. Nothing. Everything.

As you can probably tell, this would be me attempting to be more creative in my writing style. Please feel free to leave suggestions. Especially if there are parts that don´t make sense.

In my normal style: The Latin Jazz concert on Saturday night was great. None of them like to dance so that will have to wait. Sunday after church, we stopped at Ted and Nelson´s apartment where I later learned that we were picking up our lunch, a HUGE, gross looking fish. Back and Pau´s, Ted sliced it open, smothered it with butter and red sauce, and sliced tomatoes, onion, and green pepper over it. Then it was wrapped in banana leaves and aluminum foil and put on the grill for about a hour. It was delicious. And when I said huge, I meant huge. Four of us ate our fill and there were leftovers.

It looks gross but it´s just sauce!

Nelson, the grill master

Jenna, the eater!
Ted and Pau, singing in the dark

I guess I should get back to the square roots. Thanks for reading:)

PS: Something I appreciate about the United States:

If I were a Mexican sitting in the library at IU Med School ( or even at IWU for that matter), no one would know that I wasn´t a student there. But I definitely stick out here:) Most days, the only time I see a non-Mexican is when I look in the mirror!

2007-05-26T13:59:00.000-04:00

Friday

I slept in a bit and met Ted at the hotel where he was working at a conference which focused mostly on AIDS and related diseases. The hotel is called Fiesta Americana and is VERY nice. It´s across the street from the Hyatt. So with Paulina´s hand-drawn map I was able to learn another bus route!

It was almost comical how similar this conference was to the ones I´ve been to in the states. At a very nice hotel. The set up. The Powerpoint. The people who get up and walk out. The water table in the back. For Dr Webb and my lab friends: just think Autumn Immuno Conference and you´re there! I listened to two, one hour talks and understood about %30! About the same as at a conference in Chicago! It was an interesting experience. Then I just sat in the lobby of the hotel with Ted and we talked for a couple of hours. It was so nice to speak English and to have a conversation where I was able to go a little deeper than my spanish allows. It was good for Ted because he was getting bored. He works for a travel agency and he was just there if anyone needed anything but they didn´t. So he was just sitting all day. It´s funny though because he said that the doctors need everything spelled out for them. He said one has asked him a question which was clearly explained in the registration packet. He laughed when I told him that doctors were the same all over the world. More on this later.

Ted and I ate at Burger King and then I went home where later Pau and I met the boys and went to hang out. We went to a Pastor place. This refers to the method of cooking the meat, which is usually pork. So good! We ate some great food and watched a soccer game on tv. Many restaurants here are open on three sides- it´s a great atmosphere.

Saturday

So Pau went with me to the hospital where we were supposed to meet her prof, the doctor, at 9am. Let´s just say that at 10 we were still waiting. Pau asked someone (probably for the 4th time) if he was coming, and finally at 10 they said probably not. Pau said: welcome to Mexico. And I said: no, welcome to medicine- doctors are doctors all over the world! Oh well. We still had a productive time because Pau took me down the street to the new medical library- open to the public. Full of scientific journals in english. Full of new computers which are supposed to be only for research but which are obviously used for the internet as we saw many people doing so. Sweet. I thought free internet would be available at the other library but you have to have a password. At this library, it´s really true. And there´s very cold air conditioning. I´ll probably actually take a jacket! But i´m not complaining.

On the way home I took some pictures of the beautiful trees which are in bloom right now. Ahh Mexico. And tonight, we´re going to a Latin Jazz concert downtown for $1.50 and afterwards there´s music and dancing in the "town square" until 2am! This is the life!

no food today

2007-05-24T23:32:00.000-04:00

Don´t worry, I did eat today, but my parents told me that my blogs are always about food so today I´m not going to tell you about what I ate. Sorry.

Not a whole lot new today. I went downtown again to study at the air-conditioned library. On my way there, I stopped off in a market and was stopped by some old men. Now if you´ve seen the movie "Return to Me" just think of the old men in that movie. Just some funny old men who wanted to talk politics and American culture with the girl from Indiana. They were so hilarious. Like old men all over the world, they love to philosophize. They wanted to talk about George Bush and we got into pacifism...whoa... they really wanted to win me over to their side but with my limited spanish all I could say was that I´m a pacifist at heart and it´s complicated:) While we were on the topic of Democrats, they wanted to know who I thought killed JFK. Seriously. I said that it was probably Oswald but that no one really knows. Wrong answer. Because they think that it was Johnson. My brother would like them- he´s into conspiracy theories. They also said, "Nobody knows, or nobody wants to know?" Oh my. Finally we started talking about more benign things like what Americans eat for Thanksgiving and is it really a possibility that we´ll have a woman president in the US. At any rate, it was entertaining, and good practice for my spanish. Before I pried myself away I got some pictures with them. This blog is great because it motivates me to take pictures that I might otherwise be too lazy to take!

After some very productive hours at the library with my GRE math, I decided to walk around for awhile before I headed home. There´s a free contemporary art museum in Merida that I´ve been wanting to go to so I stopped in. It was very nice for a free museum. I didn´t take as many pictures as I would have liked because I wasn´t really sure when I was or wasn´t allowed to.

Here are a couple of random shots

I really liked this (below). It´s called En Busca de Un Ideal (In search of an ideal). If you can´t tell, the two concrete pillars don´t quite match up.

And these are from my favorite exhibit. I´d love to have these paintings in my house someday! I can´t remember the artist´s name but it was a woman. The painting below was my favorite. It´s called Puerta Circular (Circular Door). I think it goes without saying, but pictures just cannot do justice.

I didn´t get to everything before it was time to get back for lunch at 4. But since it´s free I´m sure I´ll go again! I can´t believe that tomorrow is Friday! My time here is flying by!

Preview: tomorrow I´m going to a medical conference that Ted is working at. They´re talking about AIDS and he talked to the doctor in charge who said I could come for awhile without paying! I actually understand more of that kind of stuff because a lot of the scientific terms are very similar to the english. We´ll see! Also on a medical note, on Saturday I´m going to one of the hospitals here. Pau has a prof who´s an emergency room physician and he said I could come hang out with him. Luckily I remembered to pack scrubs!

juice

2007-05-23T17:36:00.000-04:00

As you can probably tell, i´ve had a lot of free time today. We just finished lunch and I wanted to tell you about the drinks here. They drink a ton of Coke- I mean the nasty, gross, full of sugar kind. But every day for lunch, when Pau´s dad, Jose Luis, gets home we have fresh juice with our food. Pineapple, limonade... it´s great.

As far as alcohol goes, none of my friends here drink. Alcoholism is a HUGE problem here- many say it goes back to the Mayan roots which still have such a hold on this area. So they don´t drink. Because they´ve seen it destroy so many lives. Neighbors. Strangers. Their own families.

pollo pibil

2007-05-23T13:26:00.000-04:00

Ok, don´t try this at home. I´m just writing it down to remember. Rosi just taught me how to make what we´re having for dinner tonight- pollo pibil. I guess if you have a Mexican grocery nearby and you´re adventurous you can try to make it:) But I won´t promise anything.

- Line a big pot with hojas de platano (banana leaves)
- cut up a whole chicken, normal size?, I don´t know...
- In a small bowl mix juice of one naranja agrea (sour orange- I don´t think we have these in the US but Rosi says they sell it in bottles) with 2 of these little blocks of seasoning called achiote (they´re like bullion cubes only bigger and they´re red), and salt and pepper and 3 cloves of garlic.
- pour this over the chicken and let it sit while you cut the veggies
- cut up 3 small tomatoes, half a big onion, half a green pepper
- in the pot, layer chicken, veggies, chicken, veggies and on top place an uncut chile ixcatic (it´s a hot yellow-ish pepper)
- pour a little oil on top and cover with more banana leaves
- simmer? on the stove for an hour or so (I guess until the chicken is done)

I´m sure that if I knew how to cook in the US this would make more sense, right mom? :)

More recipes to come!

empañadas...hushpuppies...yum

2007-05-23T12:37:00.000-04:00

The last two days have been pretty low key which is nice after running around for a week. Yesterday, I decided to stay at home by myself and just rest and study. I went to the store to buy some Trix for breakfast- it´s nice because there are so many little stores and restaurants within walking distance. When I got home, for some reason I couldn´t remember the trick to opening the door and I had to call Pau on my Mexican cell phone- thank goodness for that.

I finally was able to download and watch the greys season finale...wow...talk about leaving me hanging. But it was good to have a taste of home. Same with movies. There´s a channel here that shows movies in English with subtitles. Sometimes I watch a movie that I normally wouldn´t just because it´s in english!

Pau came home for lunch between work and school and we walked to a little restaurant that just serves lunch- comida light- light food. It reminded me of Panera because you get soup and bread and an entre. But unlike the $7 you would pay at Panera it was less than $7 for both of us!
This little lunch place was so cute!

I studied quite a bit yesterday- both spanish and gre stuff. When Pau got home I was doing my spanish flashcards and we had a little informal english-spanish lesson before we left for women´s prayer meeting at the church.

I really like going to church here. Sometimes, when I´m at my church at home, I have a tendency to be thinking about other things and not paying attention. But here, if I want to understand what´s going on I have to pay close attention. And when I understand something, it really sticks with me. So I feel like I´m seeing things in a new light.

After that, Nelson, Ted, and Diego met us at the church to take us home where we spent an hour deciding what to eat for dinner...wow. Finally we ordered pizza from Dominos which I don´t think my stomach liked because I felt a little sick this morning.

Rosie, Pau´s mom, wanted me to go with her to el centro this morning. She needed to buy fabric for some clothes she´s making and chicken for our "lunch." So I guess you would call what we ate at 10:30 a morning snack:) For breakfast we had oatmeal smoothie things (her favorite) and when we got back we stopped at a little "store" where Rosie and her friends hang out and the lady whose house it is makes empañadas. My parents will appreciate this: they reminded me of Judy and Lona and Mona! Just having lunch together and talking.

This is Santa, the lady who makes the empañadas. She reminded me of Judy so much- always entertaining and telling jokes. They are half circle shaped things filled with ground beef. The outside part tasted so familiar to me but it took me so long to figure it out- they taste like hushpuppies from Long John Silvers! Only better of course.

This afternoon, Rosie and I are going to wash clothes. They have a washing machine and then they just hang the clothes out to dry.

Two things I feel bad about:

- Paulina has the big, final exam of her college program on Friday and I want to make sure she knows that she can study if she wants. She doesn´t have to entertain me all the time.

- People never let me pay. Well, sometimes, but only if I´m really annoying about it. I´m going to have to find a way around that because I don´t want them to pay all the time.

Something I´m thankful for:

- Someone, actually. Ted. His english is great and sometimes I need him to explain complicated situations to me. And I feel comfortable talking to him about things like why no one ever lets me pay and how I can change that:)

all by myself...almost

2007-05-21T18:08:00.000-04:00

Today was my first day in the city by myself.

But I´ll start with yesterday morning. Pau and I met Nelson at their church because he played the drums yesterday. Their church is very small, about 20 people, but I really liked it. It lasted about 2 hours. But we were about 20 minutes late. Which leads me to an important point: every type A person should come to Mexico. It will make you a little uncomfortable at first, but once you get used to it, it is soo freeing! If you haven´t guessed, that´s how I feel. Schedules and plans are impossible here, you really have to live in the moment. And if, like me, you´re used to living by a schedule, you need to come and live here. We were late because we needed to take the taxi-van to church and three passed by us because they were full. We finally walked back home and woke up Pau´s dad to drive us. Oh well.

This is the church

After church, Nelson and Pau always have brochetas (shishkabobs) for lunch. You get two huge brochetas and a bag of spaghetti for $3! After buying them, I rode home with Nelson on the moto in my dress! Haha.

Then, Nelson and I went with Pau and her dad to vote. It was a lot like in the US only they do the whole stamping your thumb thing which was cool. I´ll try to put up more pics before they take things down because the propaganda here is in credible. It´s EVERYWHERE! Pictures would hardly do justice. Ivonne, the PRI candidate for governor of Yucatan won which was what all my friends here wanted.

After that, we watched the movies that Nelson and I had rented the night before. It´s great because the movies here are usually in english with spanish subtitles. We watched Matrix2 and The Illusionist. It was soo relaxing.

Today, I got up, ate some cereal and left to catch the bus all by myself. No problems. When I got downtown, I stopped off in a park to read for awhile and then went on to the library to study GRE. Wow, I have a lot of math to practice.

The view from the park where I read

Then, Diego got done with school early so he met up with me and when I was done with GRE we walked to the big park in the middle of the city and sat and talked for awhile. Then I asked if he´d show me the market. On the way, we stopped at the bread store (heaven!) to pick from one of the amazing variety of cheap bread treats. We choose one with ham and cheese inside. Then on to the market which I love! You have to see it, pictures just can´t do justice. The colors and smells, it´s crazy.

I can´t wait to buy my lunch here!

Chicken, anyone?

We were getting hot so we walked back to the centro and bought some cokes and ate our bread thing in the Oxxo (like Handy Andy!) in the air conditioning. Then, back to Pau´s house for our afternoon siesta. Diego had never taken the bus before so I taught him how! Back here, we turned on the tv and it was You´ve Got Mail in Spanish so I made Diego watch the last 15 minutes with me. It´s my favorite so that made me so happy. Right now he´s watching Mr Deeds. That´s about it for now. Enjoy the photos.

a day of many firsts

2007-05-19T18:56:00.000-04:00

Wow! Can I just say that I love love love Merida!!! And my amazing friends here- though of course I miss all of you at home:) Ok, so even though no one has commented on what I wrote last night I´ll write again. I´m writing this as much for myself as I am for anyone else! So today, Pau and I set out for El Centro (downtown) so that she could teach me to navigate the city by myself! At the end of her block, we caught the cambi Lindavista which is the name of a taxi-bus that goes to el centro. It costs 50 cents.

This is an example of what you see in el centro. Not to sound like a commercial, but it is literally a bustling center of commerce and culture. Neta. I love it! The buildings are all so old and beautiful. And there are parks everywhere.

There are tons of theaters here and most shows are either free or less than $3. Merida really is the center of Yucatecan culture. There is something to do every night- dancing, folklore, bands...did I mention that I love it here?!

This is an example of the beautiful churches here

One of the theaters that we went in to check out the events had this art display. It was so beautiful and they let me take pictures. The painter is German but he lives in Merida now.

This was my favorite- it´s called The Parade

After this, we were on our way to the biblioteca (library) where I will study when Pau is at work and school. I am soooo excited about hanging out downtown, studying, eating, doing my thing!

This is the courtyard of the library which also has free internet!

Next stop was to eat some icecream! Mine was watermelon. Then Ted and Nelson met up with us.

On our way to our next stop, we saw this thing outside of the museum of contemporary art. What did I tell you? Culture abounds.

And what, you ask, was our next stop? I decided it would be fun to get my nose pierced! It only costs $12 and it was clean. I watched him open the needle, Mom:) Then, Pau decided to get hers done too!!! Wow, what a bad influence I am :) It only hurt at the moment. As soon as it was in it didn´t hurt at all.

Final stop, Burger King. Here, pronounced like Booger King!

Ted and Pau

And me and Nelson

Even in Mexico, you can have it your way! The big print says: Proclamation of the king, What you want.

Last, but certainly not least, I learned how to get back home to my neighborhood, "Pensiones." Don´t worry, I still have my shirt on.

I think tonight we´re just chillin here at the casa. Tomorrow is church which I´m excited about. Nelson is playing the drums! If you´re reading, leave me a comment:) I know this was long so I hope you enjoy the pictures!

neta

2007-05-19T02:01:00.000-04:00

Let me introduce you to my new favorite word- neta! As you might know, greys anatomy is my favorite show. On greys, they often say "Seriously? Seriously." Well tonight I learned some spanish slang that is the equivalent. "Neta? Si, la neta." I love it! I learned neta tonight when we were hanging out (rollando) in the Parque de las Americanas.

We traveled in style on Nelson´s moto! My first time on a motorcycle- I love it!

There are vendors there at night selling food. First I tried this thing, I don´t remember what it was called but it was like a thin pancake filled with cheese. Que Rico (delicious) !

Then we ate perros calientes (hot dogs- my favorite!) with bacon and onions and mayo. Again- que rico.

Ted took this picture- flattering, I know. Ted is Paulina´s boyfriend and Nelson is Teds brother. I love them all so much!

As you can see, my hair pretty much does whatever it wants here. Which brings me to the mexican "schedule". There isn´t one. But we do shower a lot and rarely use a hairdryer. We also eat lunch at 3-5 and dinner at 8-11 !

Today I went to work and school with Pau. She began teaching me about public transportation and tomorrow we are having an extended session! She works in a preschool which is very similar to preschool here. Her school, however, is not. Today, some students gave a presentation and the others were talking in full voice and the prof left in the middle! I´m excited about my big today tomorrow learning how to navigate the city soltara (by myself!) Don´t worry- it´s very safe:) And I now have a Mexican cell phone! Neta. Off to my hammock!

oye!

2007-05-17T16:18:00.000-04:00

Oye means ¨hey¨in spanish! Wow, already I am learning so much. The group from IWU went home today so I´m the only American left! But I´m doing great- everyone is so nice and helpful. There is so much I could write!

The Beach

We´ve been at the beach for the past two days- it´s about 30 minutes from Merida! Even though I slathered myself with sunscreen I still got a little pink but I´m feeling better already.

This is the beach! Nice and private.

This is the beach house where we stayed for 2 nights. It´s huge!

When Angela and I were walking along the beach we ran into some fisherman who had crates full of these things we had seen washed up on the beach the day before. So we stopped to ask what they were - pepinos del mar- sea cucumbers! They told us that they export them to Japan where people eat them! They thought it was hilarious that we wanted pictures with the pepinos!

The Prison
Going back a few days, Monday and Tuesday morning we visited a women´s prison in Merida. We visited the same prison when I was here last year with World Impact and the women remembered those of us who were there before! They appreciated our visit so much. There are amazing things going on there- a young woman named Ingrid who works for Atheletes in Action went to the prison two years ago to have a basketball camp. There she met Bette- the sports director for the prison. She began telling Bette about Christ and Bette accepted Him as her Savior. This is incredible because not just anyone can go to the prison so the fact that Bette, who works there every day, can share Jesus with the women is soo cool. The women all call her maestra and wanted to share with us their testamonies of how Bette had lead them to Christ. They are of course sad to be in prison but all say that they know God brought them there so that they could meet Bette and Christ!

The Food
On a different note- the food here is sooo incredible. Paulina´s mom (my mexican mom!) is such a good cook. The other day she made us Chicken Mole which is a chocolate-chile sauce. It sounds weird but is delicious. This morning, I slept late because we had to take the IWU team to the airport very early. Paulina was at work and when I woke up, as soon as I got out of the shower her mom had breakfast for me! It was ham and cheese quesadillas, an omlet thing with chives and corn meal and this amazing banana-milk with oatmeal mixed in (because it´s good for your stomach and your cholesterol!) Her mom is so great because she speaks slowly and explains things when I don´t understand. Here are some pictures of my mexican house (Paulina and I are going to have a key made for me today! I´m also getting a cell phone!)

This is the front of the house- it has a great porch!

The dining room

My and Pau´s cuarto (room)

I guess that´s about it for now. Pau is resting and I´ll probably go read for awhile (my spanish book). I´m posting a bunch of pictures on flickr (the link is to the right). Leave me a comment and let me know you´re reading! Hasta luego (see you later)!

merida day 1

2007-05-14T15:29:00.000-04:00

Here´s the proof- me and Paulina at the airport last night!

So here´s what happened on my way to mexico yesterday. My brother took me to the airport and helped me carry in my suitcaises. I flew Continental and they allow 50lbs per bag. I had two huge black suitcases that weighed exactly 50 lbs each! One for me and one with gifts. I also carried on a smaller suitcase and a backpack. I started getting nervous when I was waiting to leave Houston for Mexico but I called Brit and she calmed my nerves:) There was also a nice man on the plane who was born in Merida but lives in LA. He also calmed my nerves and helped to pass the time. When I got to Mexico, I had to carry all my luggage through customs- oh my goodness. It was humorous because my friends were standing on the other side watching me struggle with three heavy suitcases and they couldn´t help me! Then, at customs in Merida they have a funny little stoplight machine and you have to press a button and it randomly gives some people a red light and they look through your luggage. Well guess who got a red light. My friends were laughing so hard and I think the customs lady was equally annoyed that she had to look through my three bags.

Today I wen with the group from IWU to the womens prison in Merida- some of the ladies who were there last year remembered us! They were so grateful to have us visiting. We shared testamonies and they made lunch for us. None of us liked the food very much (one thing was a hot dog salad!) but they had sacrificed a lot to make it for us so we ate it gratefully:) There are no cameras allowed inside but maybe tomorrow when we go back I´ll ask nicely- they´re really pretty laid back there. If not, I´ll definitely say a lot more about what goes on there- God is moving in incredible ways inside those walls.

This afternoon we are resting after being up late and getting up early to go to the prison. It is sooo nice to sleep in a hammock again! Tonight, we´re going to see Spiderman 3 in English with Spanish subtitles. That´s how most movies are here.

More later and pictures soon!

Estoy Aqui

2007-05-14T01:58:00.000-04:00

In english - I´m here! Everything went smoothly and I´m getting ready to go to bed. Tomorrow I´m going with the group from IWU to share testamonies at the women´s prison in Merida! More then- for now- I´m safe and tired:)

minor panick attack

2007-05-13T11:34:00.000-04:00

In about an hour I'll be leaving for the airport! I had a little scare this morning when I couldn't find my passport- actually I was on the verge on a panick attack. But after retracing my steps I realized that I had left it in the scanner when I was making copies to leave at home. Wow. And I'm not sure that my suitcases are under 50 pounds but here's hoping. If not, I'll shift things around or leave my shampoo in the airport trashcan:) I'm getting so nervous and excited! I'll let you know when I arrive!

trying to get it together

2007-05-09T14:33:00.000-04:00

As you can see from the title of this post, I'm trying to get it all together. I'm trying to tie up loose ends in the grad school application process. I'm making copies of my passport to leave at home. I'm buying traveler's checks. I'm buying 3 huge bags of clothes and flip flops at Old Navy! Yes, all this in preparation for my six week stay in Mexico. My friends there love Old Navy clothes (especially the flag t-shirts- who knew?) and put in their order of what they wanted me to bring them. I've also been asked to buy Nike basketball shoes, a backpack, an ipod transmitter, a cordless phone, Bath and Body Works...the list goes on. Needless to say, I've been busy shopping and I'm not done yet. I'm taking two gigantic suitcases and only one has my stuff in it! That's the Mexico update.

Trying to fulfill my civic duty, I volunteered to work at the polls for yesterday's primary election. I hope my duty has been fulfilled because I'm not sure I can do it again- it was exhausting! After picking up the supplies the night before I had to be up at 4am in order to start opening the polling place at 5. Then, after a LONG day of sitting in the same room, I had get all the ballots counted and in order and return them. Whew! The people I worked with were great- we had a lot of time to talk seeing as my precinct had 35 voters in 12 hours! Pathetic- it makes me sad to realize just how much Americans take for granted their right to vote.

I'm excited to say that on Saturday I'm a bridesmaid in my friends' wedding. Pictures to follow:) Luckily, my flight the next day isn't until 3pm. Before long, I'll stop talking about preparing for Mexico and actually start talking about what it's like to be there! I'm so afraid I'll forget something but I just keep telling myself that everything I need to live in Mexico I can buy in Mexico!

hello world

2007-05-06T22:30:00.000-04:00

So, this is my blog. The one I’m starting as I phase myself out of college mode and “into the real world.” And when I say world, I mean world. Exactly one week from today I leave to spend 6 weeks living with friends in Merida, Mexico. Up until now I’ve been incredibly excited, but with only a week left I’m actually getting a little bit nervous. I’ve traveling all by myself through customs to a country whose language I speak, but not well. That’s one reason I’m going. Without any other English-speakers to talk to I hope to be closer to fluent by the time I come back.

On the med school front: I still haven’t heard anything yet, but I have a meeting at IU on Monday. I’m meeting with someone in admissions to talk about how to improve my application for next year in case I don’t get in this time around. I hope that this will show them that I’m being proactive.

I hope you’ll be amused with my blogging journey into the "real" world.