Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Friday, November 07, 2008
Another one
Here is yet another generational look at the Obama win, this time from Gen. X, which I have already said repeatedly I am not a member of and am not represented by. It makes some interesting points about the desire to believe.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
More generational takes on Obama
Here's another interesting column, from Judith Warner, on the generational divide and President-elect Obama. Gail Collins has one up from the baby boomers, as well.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Yes, we can
To my sister and her generation:
Congratulations. Today is a historic day for all of us, for America, for the world, and one to be celebrated. But it is particularly important for you, because it will be yet another critical aspect in shaping your unique world view.
I was born in 1983. Though that makes me only five years older than you, this peculiar stretch of history has shaped our lives in very different ways. I remember the dawn of the internet -- I remember our family's first computer, and each of my friends getting internet one by one. We wrote papers by hand and did research in books, using the card catalog at the library. I remember a world that was essentially safe and prosperous, and an America in which we were all "real Americans." The attacks of September 11th happened a week after I turned 18, during my first month at college, and was a momentous event in my young adulthood.
These changes in technology and in the world order separate my life from the generation immediately preceeding mine. I do not remember the Cold War or being afraid of communists. However, I am part of an extremely short generation that came of age between the Cold War and the war on terror, when computers were expected but the internet was just getting started. These changes also separate my short generation from yours.
You have always had the internet, and you do not remember a time before September 11th. You are surrounded by news at all times. The most advanced video games, 1000 channels, and cell phones have been at your fingertips almost your entire lives. People can show their butts and swear on television, and the Simpsons are more an American institution than a national scandal. Furthermore, President George W. Bush has been in office since you were old enough to pay attention. The culture wars, with their artificial partisan divides about religion, human rights, freedom, and patriotism, are all that you have known.
And so I say to you in particular, congratulations. Though you may not remember an era before the dark, fearful days of war since September 11th, 2001, you can look forward to spending the next period of your young adult life in a time when we shake off the bitterness, fear, cynicism, politicism, divisiveness, and fallacious moral competition that have bled this country for too long. When President-elect Obama spoke tonight of the American ideals of liberty and opportunity, I cried -- with relief, with joy, with pride. The America that I have loved since I could grasp and wave a miniature stars-and-stripes is back. The American virtues that I become more dedicated to every time I travel, the values of hard work, dynamism, diversity, opportunity, and integrity, will light the new era. I am so proud of my country. I look forward to the challenges ahead and I am glad that this will be the era for you that the Bush era was for me.
Am I naive to place so much hope in the new era? Possibly. But it was such a breath of fresh air tonight when President-elect Obama did not lie to us, when he spoke of the hard road ahead and the sacrifices we will have to share, that I saw a future not subject to pure political motivation. When even Senator McCain found his old honor and gave his remarkably gracious speech, talking about how he looks forward to continuing to serve his country and help the future president, I realized that we can get past the last eight (sixteen, however you want to count it) years and put our country before our politics. I have become so cynical that I was not even convinced that this election would happen; I wondered if martial law would prevent the election, or assumed that the voting machines would be rigged and democracy hijacked. It was a shock to me tonight that our system is alive and well, and I hope never to be suprised by that again as long as I live.
We are the next generation. The post-September 11th world is ours, and with it, global terrorism, financial crisis, and environmental problems. But we also live in a world of unprecedented technological advances in health, science, and communication; a world that more and more believes in human rights; a world whose interconnectedness has the potential to be its great strength. There are many opportunities and many challenges ahead, for America and for the world. I look forward to stepping into the future with you. Yes, we can.
Congratulations. Today is a historic day for all of us, for America, for the world, and one to be celebrated. But it is particularly important for you, because it will be yet another critical aspect in shaping your unique world view.
I was born in 1983. Though that makes me only five years older than you, this peculiar stretch of history has shaped our lives in very different ways. I remember the dawn of the internet -- I remember our family's first computer, and each of my friends getting internet one by one. We wrote papers by hand and did research in books, using the card catalog at the library. I remember a world that was essentially safe and prosperous, and an America in which we were all "real Americans." The attacks of September 11th happened a week after I turned 18, during my first month at college, and was a momentous event in my young adulthood.
These changes in technology and in the world order separate my life from the generation immediately preceeding mine. I do not remember the Cold War or being afraid of communists. However, I am part of an extremely short generation that came of age between the Cold War and the war on terror, when computers were expected but the internet was just getting started. These changes also separate my short generation from yours.
You have always had the internet, and you do not remember a time before September 11th. You are surrounded by news at all times. The most advanced video games, 1000 channels, and cell phones have been at your fingertips almost your entire lives. People can show their butts and swear on television, and the Simpsons are more an American institution than a national scandal. Furthermore, President George W. Bush has been in office since you were old enough to pay attention. The culture wars, with their artificial partisan divides about religion, human rights, freedom, and patriotism, are all that you have known.
And so I say to you in particular, congratulations. Though you may not remember an era before the dark, fearful days of war since September 11th, 2001, you can look forward to spending the next period of your young adult life in a time when we shake off the bitterness, fear, cynicism, politicism, divisiveness, and fallacious moral competition that have bled this country for too long. When President-elect Obama spoke tonight of the American ideals of liberty and opportunity, I cried -- with relief, with joy, with pride. The America that I have loved since I could grasp and wave a miniature stars-and-stripes is back. The American virtues that I become more dedicated to every time I travel, the values of hard work, dynamism, diversity, opportunity, and integrity, will light the new era. I am so proud of my country. I look forward to the challenges ahead and I am glad that this will be the era for you that the Bush era was for me.
Am I naive to place so much hope in the new era? Possibly. But it was such a breath of fresh air tonight when President-elect Obama did not lie to us, when he spoke of the hard road ahead and the sacrifices we will have to share, that I saw a future not subject to pure political motivation. When even Senator McCain found his old honor and gave his remarkably gracious speech, talking about how he looks forward to continuing to serve his country and help the future president, I realized that we can get past the last eight (sixteen, however you want to count it) years and put our country before our politics. I have become so cynical that I was not even convinced that this election would happen; I wondered if martial law would prevent the election, or assumed that the voting machines would be rigged and democracy hijacked. It was a shock to me tonight that our system is alive and well, and I hope never to be suprised by that again as long as I live.
We are the next generation. The post-September 11th world is ours, and with it, global terrorism, financial crisis, and environmental problems. But we also live in a world of unprecedented technological advances in health, science, and communication; a world that more and more believes in human rights; a world whose interconnectedness has the potential to be its great strength. There are many opportunities and many challenges ahead, for America and for the world. I look forward to stepping into the future with you. Yes, we can.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008
Stranger in a strange land
The closest metro stop is a 15-20 minute walk from my dorm. Bright and early (actually, darkish and early; the sun was just coming up) Saturday morning, I was walking down the hill to the metro, braving the cold wind in my sweater and parka. I hadn't snapped the hood on, and my ears and face were freezing. "If only" I thought, "I had some kind of strip of cloth to cover my face and keep me warm! Why doesn't someone invent something like that?"
It's called a scarf. I have a dozen in my closet. Yes, I am a desert rat through and through.
It's called a scarf. I have a dozen in my closet. Yes, I am a desert rat through and through.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Heat
I just discovered that the heat is activated and it's the best news I've had all week. The downside, of course, is that it's cold enough to need heat. At some point in the last few days it went from unpleasantly chilly to legitly cold. I had to break out the big black parka for the first time yesterday and am definitely on the market for a long poofy coat.
Not a ton going on, just working and scheming and studying, studying, studying. My classes are great and I'm learning a ton. The bloom is off the rose a bit as far as thinking this is The Greatest Place Ever, but I'm still glad I'm doing my graduate work here. I have Plans A-H floating around right now and I'm doing preliminary scheming for each of them, which manages to take up any time I might have that is not studying.
My experience with Boston continues to consist mainly of spending alarming amounts of money on warm clothes, though I've done a little exploring. Today I visited MIT, which was just as majestic and beautiful as I'd imagined an elite east coast school should be (as opposed to, say, Tufts). Autumn, despite the chill, really is lovely -- the grass is still bright green, and the leaves are turning bright red. The sky today was even bright blue (it doesn't get all washed out like it can in Arizona, though it was mostly gray all week), and the contrasts are beautiful.
Last weekend a couple friends and I took advantage of free museum day to go the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which was cool (and normally would cost $23!!). They had an Assyrian exhibit from the British Museum, which was very cool -- crazy to think about being here, seeing the same ancient stuff I saw six years ago in London. It made me consider how interesting my life has been for the last six years, and I felt very lucky. I'm trying to hang onto that feeling as the semester and the winter loom large -- having the heat on helps!
Not a ton going on, just working and scheming and studying, studying, studying. My classes are great and I'm learning a ton. The bloom is off the rose a bit as far as thinking this is The Greatest Place Ever, but I'm still glad I'm doing my graduate work here. I have Plans A-H floating around right now and I'm doing preliminary scheming for each of them, which manages to take up any time I might have that is not studying.
My experience with Boston continues to consist mainly of spending alarming amounts of money on warm clothes, though I've done a little exploring. Today I visited MIT, which was just as majestic and beautiful as I'd imagined an elite east coast school should be (as opposed to, say, Tufts). Autumn, despite the chill, really is lovely -- the grass is still bright green, and the leaves are turning bright red. The sky today was even bright blue (it doesn't get all washed out like it can in Arizona, though it was mostly gray all week), and the contrasts are beautiful.
Last weekend a couple friends and I took advantage of free museum day to go the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which was cool (and normally would cost $23!!). They had an Assyrian exhibit from the British Museum, which was very cool -- crazy to think about being here, seeing the same ancient stuff I saw six years ago in London. It made me consider how interesting my life has been for the last six years, and I felt very lucky. I'm trying to hang onto that feeling as the semester and the winter loom large -- having the heat on helps!
Monday, September 08, 2008
Bawston
I'm alive and well and very, very, very busy in Boston. In Medford, on the border with Somerville, actually. Our location isn't terrific -- it's kind of a pain to get to Boston or Cambridge, and I'm not blown away by our immediate surroundings -- but it doesn't really matter because the workload is such that I never leave campus. We're pretty isolated in our Fletcher bubble; the School is contained within one building and that building and our dorm have their own corner of the university. I was going to get a Tufts sweatshirt, but I really have very little attachment to the university itself, so we'll see. Word on the street is that more awesomely braggy Fletcher swag is on its way to the bookstore -- so far I have a mug, a water bottle, and a messenger bag, all free. Fortunately. I've certainly found plenty of other things to spend my money on.
My classes are great. I'm taking Role of Force, International Legal Order, Foundations of Policy Analysis, and Introduction to Economic Theory. I've also applied for a tutoring job and to work for the journal, and there are a few other clubs I'm looking at. Any single one of these classes has a heavier and more challenging workload than most semesters I've had so far -- I'm excited about it, but it's also a little overwhelming sometimes. I'm already learning a ton and I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester. I'm discovering the utility of study groups, and actually enjoying them a bit.
One of the great things about being here is the other people, all of whom have really interesting international backgrounds of some sort. It's a little like being in a giant community of Flinn Scholars. There has been quite a bit of awkwardness, but I think it's pretty normal, and I'm hoping people chill out as things go on.
So that's it! I need to get back to work, but I'll check in when I can :).
My classes are great. I'm taking Role of Force, International Legal Order, Foundations of Policy Analysis, and Introduction to Economic Theory. I've also applied for a tutoring job and to work for the journal, and there are a few other clubs I'm looking at. Any single one of these classes has a heavier and more challenging workload than most semesters I've had so far -- I'm excited about it, but it's also a little overwhelming sometimes. I'm already learning a ton and I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester. I'm discovering the utility of study groups, and actually enjoying them a bit.
One of the great things about being here is the other people, all of whom have really interesting international backgrounds of some sort. It's a little like being in a giant community of Flinn Scholars. There has been quite a bit of awkwardness, but I think it's pretty normal, and I'm hoping people chill out as things go on.
So that's it! I need to get back to work, but I'll check in when I can :).
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
2000 miles, 8 days, 11 questions
The last two weeks have been a blast. I drove up to Flagstaff to hang out with a family friend for a day and had an awesome horse-riding lesson. It was nice to discover that what I learned in Uruguay was solid, and to have the opportunity to clean it up and get some explanations for what I was doing. It was tremendous fun, even though I was super sore for the next few days.
Next was the Flinn retreat near Flagstaff. I hadn't been in years, but this time I was planning to go for one night to see the sophomores' travel presentation from the Central Europe Summer Seminar. BUT. While in Central Europe, I frequently thought about what a tough job chaperoning was, even with the kids being fantastic, and remembered what colossal pains we were on my summer seminar. I had recently reestablished contact with one of the chaperones for my trip, and throughout the trip this summer I though I must find him and buy him a beer. I finally managed to do so, and six hours after starting our beers, we were closing out the bar and I had homework. Next thing I knew, I was scheduled to give a policy presenation on Arizona water and teach a fencing workshop, and had volunteered to help my friend with anything he needed on the four-day retreat. And so I did. In addition to the workshops, I did a high ropes course (watching and doing, not teaching), helped plot an awesomely diabolical scavenger hunt, provided the dialogue for part of the climactic scene of Chinatown, and played the ridiculous Traveler Jane. I loved hanging out with my friend and had the best time I've ever had at the retreat.
I had a day in Phoenix, just enough time for a haircut, a round at Postino's, many hours at Rula Bula, and three hours of sleep.
I flew to Fort Worth to spend a couple of days with Ben and his family. It was delightful. We had barbecue and watched the Olympics. The dogs were sweet. Ben and I went to the Kimbell Art Museum, which had an amazing exhibit on the Impressionists from the Chicago Art Institute (apparently when great museums renovate wings, they send the pieces to Fort Worth. Who knew?). They also had a staggering permanent exhibit, including a fantastic Caravaggio and a really neat Munch.
The drive back (driven entirely by Ben) from Fort Worth to Tempe was lovely. My favorite Texas moment was when I was asked if I wanted gravy with my chicken fingers. We visited the row of half-buried Cadillacs outside of Amarillo, which also provided a good number of cowboy sightings and y'alls. We spent the night in Albuquerque and went to the New Mexico Ice Caves the next morning. The ice caves were cool, literally and figuratively. The crater was impressive and the ice cave was a little creepy, but very neat. In Arizona and New Mexico it is the end of the monsoon, so everything from Amarillo to Flagstaff was gorgeous, lush and green. This is my favorite time of year in Arizona, particularly for driving through the north. The rainstorm and country we saw coming down the 87 was spectacular.
I'm really enjoying watching the Olympics, especially women's gymnastics, but for crying out loud! FOR SHAME, NBC. Get out of the athletes' faces, particularly when they're crying! Horrible!
Next was the Flinn retreat near Flagstaff. I hadn't been in years, but this time I was planning to go for one night to see the sophomores' travel presentation from the Central Europe Summer Seminar. BUT. While in Central Europe, I frequently thought about what a tough job chaperoning was, even with the kids being fantastic, and remembered what colossal pains we were on my summer seminar. I had recently reestablished contact with one of the chaperones for my trip, and throughout the trip this summer I though I must find him and buy him a beer. I finally managed to do so, and six hours after starting our beers, we were closing out the bar and I had homework. Next thing I knew, I was scheduled to give a policy presenation on Arizona water and teach a fencing workshop, and had volunteered to help my friend with anything he needed on the four-day retreat. And so I did. In addition to the workshops, I did a high ropes course (watching and doing, not teaching), helped plot an awesomely diabolical scavenger hunt, provided the dialogue for part of the climactic scene of Chinatown, and played the ridiculous Traveler Jane. I loved hanging out with my friend and had the best time I've ever had at the retreat.
I had a day in Phoenix, just enough time for a haircut, a round at Postino's, many hours at Rula Bula, and three hours of sleep.
I flew to Fort Worth to spend a couple of days with Ben and his family. It was delightful. We had barbecue and watched the Olympics. The dogs were sweet. Ben and I went to the Kimbell Art Museum, which had an amazing exhibit on the Impressionists from the Chicago Art Institute (apparently when great museums renovate wings, they send the pieces to Fort Worth. Who knew?). They also had a staggering permanent exhibit, including a fantastic Caravaggio and a really neat Munch.
The drive back (driven entirely by Ben) from Fort Worth to Tempe was lovely. My favorite Texas moment was when I was asked if I wanted gravy with my chicken fingers. We visited the row of half-buried Cadillacs outside of Amarillo, which also provided a good number of cowboy sightings and y'alls. We spent the night in Albuquerque and went to the New Mexico Ice Caves the next morning. The ice caves were cool, literally and figuratively. The crater was impressive and the ice cave was a little creepy, but very neat. In Arizona and New Mexico it is the end of the monsoon, so everything from Amarillo to Flagstaff was gorgeous, lush and green. This is my favorite time of year in Arizona, particularly for driving through the north. The rainstorm and country we saw coming down the 87 was spectacular.
I'm really enjoying watching the Olympics, especially women's gymnastics, but for crying out loud! FOR SHAME, NBC. Get out of the athletes' faces, particularly when they're crying! Horrible!
Saturday, August 09, 2008
El agua
To paraphrase Mark Twain, Arizona is a place where the whiskey is for drinking and the water is for fighting. I spent July in Phoenix working at my previous boss's water law firm. The work was interesting and fun. I really enjoyed my project on the history of water law in Arizona -- even though reading cases took a while to get used to, I was proud of my finished project. I also enjoyed organizing the file room and just being in the office, which was a super pleasant place to work.
I said goodbye to the couch and the sleeping bag at the end of July and have spent the last week at my family's house, moving furniture and packing. Right now I'm watching some of the Olympics individual women's saber matches online. There was a fantastic bout between a Polish and a Russian fencer, in which I'm pretty sure the Russian got robbed at least once. One more and then off to bed -- I have all kinds of adventures planned for the next ten days!
I said goodbye to the couch and the sleeping bag at the end of July and have spent the last week at my family's house, moving furniture and packing. Right now I'm watching some of the Olympics individual women's saber matches online. There was a fantastic bout between a Polish and a Russian fencer, in which I'm pretty sure the Russian got robbed at least once. One more and then off to bed -- I have all kinds of adventures planned for the next ten days!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Animal Adventures -- Photographic Evidence
Courtesy of Kate...
The Packrat Saga:
Assorted amazing things about AZ:
Our dog, Lady, is also a great thing about AZ:
The Packrat Saga:
Assorted amazing things about AZ:
Our dog, Lady, is also a great thing about AZ:
Monday, July 07, 2008
Lizard brain
Within 12 hours I've had two traumas to the primal, lizard-brain parts of my usually excessively analytical mind: scorpions and dental pain.
I'm ridiculously terrified of spiders and loathe bugs. It is a phobia that has actually gotten worse as I've gotten older, which I thought was the opposite of what was supposed to happen (although I find myself getting more circumspect and cautious, generally -- classic aspect of growing up and realizing what you have to lose?). This has led to several embarassing freak-outs just in the last few months (horse-sized spiders in Prague, spider-infested rooms in Balaton, neither of which I handled well at all). My fear of spiders is clearly neurotic, and I can tell. When I am alone and have to make myself take care of a spider (or, in a related story, decide to flee and let the spider have the cabin), I know that I am trying to talk myself over a problem that I know is irrational and in my head. It's like the same inner pep-talk I give myself before a cerebrally frightening situation like a job interview.
Last night, when I encountered my first scorpion, I experienced a completely different kind of bug-fear. Last night, I had a bad feeling as I was getting ready for bed. It was raining hard, which always seems to bring the bugs into the bathroom, so I had my eyes open. Sure enough, there was a scorpion in the corner. The biggest bark scorpion I have ever seen (for non-Arizonans, bark scorpions are the smallest of the three kinds of scorpions that live in Arizona, but also the only venomous ones). A wave of lizard-brain horror swept through me. Unlike my fear of spiders, however, which prompts me immediately to get away and avoid it until I can get someone to kill it for me, I instinctively knew I needed to kill it to protect my home. I was petrified -- I got the can of bug spray and then hovered near the scorpion nervously. I had the same primal gut-feel of having to do something I was terrified of, that could legitly hurt me, to protect my home, that I had when I had to pull a sparking plug in my sister's and my room in Budapest and was convinced that I was about to die. As I thought about nearly getting electrocuted in Budapest, however, and reflected that I came through because there was no choice, I realized that there was, in fact, another option. So I copped out and woke up my poor mother at 1:30 in the morning.
Normally, I get Kate to kill my bugs for me at home, and I hadn't wanted to bother my mom, but I figured if I somehow managed to get myself stung, I wanted her to be awake and know about it. However, I've also seen her do battle with a monstrous centipede and she takes care of scorpions on a fairly regular basis. When I woke her up, I told myself that I was going to be an adult and kill the scorpion myself, and that I just needed some moral support. When my mom offered to do it for me, though, I hesitated about half a second before wimping out and handing over the bug spray. She took care of it with no problem and only a minimum of giving me a hard time, which I totally deserved. I had terrible nightmares about things crawling all over and stinging me all night...
... which really had me rested and feeling great for my dental procedure this morning. I had been concerned about needing a root canal before leaving for Europe, which was actually a major factor in cancelling my post-Flinn trip. But, the tooth that was in real trouble turned out to be a different tooth altogether! Apparently, one of my front teeth at some point suffered some kind of trauma (orthodontia, probably) that killed it and led my body to start resorbing the root. The canal calcified and filled in and there was an infection at the root. Bizarre!! Because the canal was gone, the endodontist really couldn't do a root canal, so we went straight to a procedure called an apicoectomy, which involves cutting through the gum to go straight to the root, removing the infected tissue, and cutting off and capping the root of the tooth. It sounds horrifying, but I was actually less worried about this than about a root canal, and supposedly it hurts less. I was pretty nervous this morning, though -- I could feel my adrenaline spiking as they started with the novocaine. But, given that I was numb up to my eyeballs and didn't have my poor busted jaw levered open the whole time, it actually turned out to be less unpleasant a procedure than most fillings I've gotten. It's begun to hurt a lot as the novocaine wears off, which leads me to question the endodontist's statement that he doesn't need to give prescriptions pain meds for this procedure, but it's still not as bad as I was originally afraid.
On a positive note, scorpions notwithstanding, I love July in Arizona. I love the monsoons. I love the beautiful lightning storms and the smell of rain, and how the humidity takes the edge off the heat. I like how the rain plumps up the cactus and gives us gorgeous orange and pink sunsets. The lack of traffic and crowds in Tempe and on the I-10 is delightful. I've really been enjoying being able to get a drink with friends on non-packed patios in delightful weather.
I'm ridiculously terrified of spiders and loathe bugs. It is a phobia that has actually gotten worse as I've gotten older, which I thought was the opposite of what was supposed to happen (although I find myself getting more circumspect and cautious, generally -- classic aspect of growing up and realizing what you have to lose?). This has led to several embarassing freak-outs just in the last few months (horse-sized spiders in Prague, spider-infested rooms in Balaton, neither of which I handled well at all). My fear of spiders is clearly neurotic, and I can tell. When I am alone and have to make myself take care of a spider (or, in a related story, decide to flee and let the spider have the cabin), I know that I am trying to talk myself over a problem that I know is irrational and in my head. It's like the same inner pep-talk I give myself before a cerebrally frightening situation like a job interview.
Last night, when I encountered my first scorpion, I experienced a completely different kind of bug-fear. Last night, I had a bad feeling as I was getting ready for bed. It was raining hard, which always seems to bring the bugs into the bathroom, so I had my eyes open. Sure enough, there was a scorpion in the corner. The biggest bark scorpion I have ever seen (for non-Arizonans, bark scorpions are the smallest of the three kinds of scorpions that live in Arizona, but also the only venomous ones). A wave of lizard-brain horror swept through me. Unlike my fear of spiders, however, which prompts me immediately to get away and avoid it until I can get someone to kill it for me, I instinctively knew I needed to kill it to protect my home. I was petrified -- I got the can of bug spray and then hovered near the scorpion nervously. I had the same primal gut-feel of having to do something I was terrified of, that could legitly hurt me, to protect my home, that I had when I had to pull a sparking plug in my sister's and my room in Budapest and was convinced that I was about to die. As I thought about nearly getting electrocuted in Budapest, however, and reflected that I came through because there was no choice, I realized that there was, in fact, another option. So I copped out and woke up my poor mother at 1:30 in the morning.
Normally, I get Kate to kill my bugs for me at home, and I hadn't wanted to bother my mom, but I figured if I somehow managed to get myself stung, I wanted her to be awake and know about it. However, I've also seen her do battle with a monstrous centipede and she takes care of scorpions on a fairly regular basis. When I woke her up, I told myself that I was going to be an adult and kill the scorpion myself, and that I just needed some moral support. When my mom offered to do it for me, though, I hesitated about half a second before wimping out and handing over the bug spray. She took care of it with no problem and only a minimum of giving me a hard time, which I totally deserved. I had terrible nightmares about things crawling all over and stinging me all night...
... which really had me rested and feeling great for my dental procedure this morning. I had been concerned about needing a root canal before leaving for Europe, which was actually a major factor in cancelling my post-Flinn trip. But, the tooth that was in real trouble turned out to be a different tooth altogether! Apparently, one of my front teeth at some point suffered some kind of trauma (orthodontia, probably) that killed it and led my body to start resorbing the root. The canal calcified and filled in and there was an infection at the root. Bizarre!! Because the canal was gone, the endodontist really couldn't do a root canal, so we went straight to a procedure called an apicoectomy, which involves cutting through the gum to go straight to the root, removing the infected tissue, and cutting off and capping the root of the tooth. It sounds horrifying, but I was actually less worried about this than about a root canal, and supposedly it hurts less. I was pretty nervous this morning, though -- I could feel my adrenaline spiking as they started with the novocaine. But, given that I was numb up to my eyeballs and didn't have my poor busted jaw levered open the whole time, it actually turned out to be less unpleasant a procedure than most fillings I've gotten. It's begun to hurt a lot as the novocaine wears off, which leads me to question the endodontist's statement that he doesn't need to give prescriptions pain meds for this procedure, but it's still not as bad as I was originally afraid.
On a positive note, scorpions notwithstanding, I love July in Arizona. I love the monsoons. I love the beautiful lightning storms and the smell of rain, and how the humidity takes the edge off the heat. I like how the rain plumps up the cactus and gives us gorgeous orange and pink sunsets. The lack of traffic and crowds in Tempe and on the I-10 is delightful. I've really been enjoying being able to get a drink with friends on non-packed patios in delightful weather.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Happy 4th of July!
Happy 4th of July! This is the first time I've been home for Independence Day in a long, long time. In fact, I've spent the last many summers traveling, which I think has made me appreciate my country even more. We have a lot of problems and things that could be improved (which I'm not going to include on the forthcoming list), but there's no country that doesn't. The U.S. hasn't done a very good job of marketing itself to the rest of the world in the last few years, between questionable policies and horrifying television, but even while it has become hip to be vocally (and frequently ill-informedly) anti-American, studying in or even moving to the United States remains a dream for many people around the world. Stereotypes are relative -- in Europe, Americans are known for being obnoxiously friendly and unsophisticated, while in South Amerca we're mocked for being cold and manipulative. Furthermore, many friends I've made abroad had never personally known an American before and held their negative opinions from television or news; they gave me a chance as an individual and concluded that, on a personal level at least, Americans aren't so bad. This is why programs like those run by IIE, study abroad, Fulbright, NSEP, are so critical -- sending our scholars abroad and inviting other scholars to our complicated, brash, diverse, dynamic land of opportunity is one of the best foreign policies we have.
I have been called "the perfect American" because of my mixed ethnic background, go-getterness, and individualism. I am, without a doubt, a true child of the American Southwest, and I appreciate the things that make my home great more every time I travel. Without further ado, here is a list of some of the things I love about the U.S.A:
1. Can-do, go-getter dynamism and individualistic point of view. Both mocked or criticized and admired around the world. It's my favorite thing about our culture, and I think the basis for innovation and opportunity in the U.S..
2. The Bill of Rights
3. Brownies
4. The right to political dissent (your patriotism might be inappropriately questioned, but you won't be imprisoned, tortured, or executed)
5. The American flag -- aesthetically brash, I think it's appropriate and I love it
6. Our tremendous diversity and immigrant background -- it is frustrating sometimes when people abroad ask what our folk songs, folk dances, and traditional foods are and having to say that our traditions are everyone else's... but really, I LOVE that American culture can embrace everything from tacos to pancit to lasagna to hamburgers to tikka masala. Our Uruguayan friends wanted us to teach American Christmas traditions, but they're different from family to family, with many households blending a variety of traditions or even making up their own.
7. Entrepreneurship and innovation
8. A great cast of characters for the founding fathers. Benjamin Franklin is practically a cast of characters unto himself.
9. The streets may not be paved with gold, and it may not be as "easy" to achieve the American Dream as it was 100 years ago, but this is still a land of opportunity.
10. A secular, Enlighted, rational foundation of our nation.
11. New York City, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Seattle, Tucson (!), San Diego
12. Jerry Lee Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Missy Elliott, Beck, jazz, rap, swing, big band
13. Walt Whitman, Billy Collins, Langston Hughes, Sinclair Lewis, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Frederick Douglass, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ralph Ellison, Tamora Pierce
14. Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Will Smith, Johnny Depp
15. The awesome mishmash that is American English -- it may be easy to learn the basics, but there's an infinite amount of borrowed words, phrasal verbs, and new slang to master and to use to express yourself.
16. We've got a lot further to go, but in global terms, the U.S. is a good place to be a woman.
17. Arizona sunsets. Oregon pinot gris, California Cabs. Vermont maple syrup. SoCal beaches. The Giant Redwoods. The Grand Canyon.
18. The American dream. On my father's side, my great-grandparents came to Brooklyn from Ireland and they and my grandparents worked blue-collar jobs. My parents both went to college and had professional careers. I'm going to grad school in August. (My family is on this list, too).
19. The Marshall Plan
20. The Smithsonian. PBS and the Discovery Channel. Sesame Street, Dirty Jobs, America's Test Kitchen. The Simpsons.
21. Our willingness to move. The economic and cultural ability to leave our parents' homes young to make our own way.
22. We don't kill each other over differences of religion or ethnicity.
23. We are, for the most part, secure in our safety (as far as no car bombs) and even with our economy struggling, we are still the dominant economic force in the world. We don't even have natural disasters in Arizona. It might make us spoiled, but it's still a nice way to live.
24. Freedom. Choice. Opportunity.
Feel free to contribute in the comments :)
I have been called "the perfect American" because of my mixed ethnic background, go-getterness, and individualism. I am, without a doubt, a true child of the American Southwest, and I appreciate the things that make my home great more every time I travel. Without further ado, here is a list of some of the things I love about the U.S.A:
1. Can-do, go-getter dynamism and individualistic point of view. Both mocked or criticized and admired around the world. It's my favorite thing about our culture, and I think the basis for innovation and opportunity in the U.S..
2. The Bill of Rights
3. Brownies
4. The right to political dissent (your patriotism might be inappropriately questioned, but you won't be imprisoned, tortured, or executed)
5. The American flag -- aesthetically brash, I think it's appropriate and I love it
6. Our tremendous diversity and immigrant background -- it is frustrating sometimes when people abroad ask what our folk songs, folk dances, and traditional foods are and having to say that our traditions are everyone else's... but really, I LOVE that American culture can embrace everything from tacos to pancit to lasagna to hamburgers to tikka masala. Our Uruguayan friends wanted us to teach American Christmas traditions, but they're different from family to family, with many households blending a variety of traditions or even making up their own.
7. Entrepreneurship and innovation
8. A great cast of characters for the founding fathers. Benjamin Franklin is practically a cast of characters unto himself.
9. The streets may not be paved with gold, and it may not be as "easy" to achieve the American Dream as it was 100 years ago, but this is still a land of opportunity.
10. A secular, Enlighted, rational foundation of our nation.
11. New York City, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Seattle, Tucson (!), San Diego
12. Jerry Lee Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Missy Elliott, Beck, jazz, rap, swing, big band
13. Walt Whitman, Billy Collins, Langston Hughes, Sinclair Lewis, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Frederick Douglass, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ralph Ellison, Tamora Pierce
14. Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Will Smith, Johnny Depp
15. The awesome mishmash that is American English -- it may be easy to learn the basics, but there's an infinite amount of borrowed words, phrasal verbs, and new slang to master and to use to express yourself.
16. We've got a lot further to go, but in global terms, the U.S. is a good place to be a woman.
17. Arizona sunsets. Oregon pinot gris, California Cabs. Vermont maple syrup. SoCal beaches. The Giant Redwoods. The Grand Canyon.
18. The American dream. On my father's side, my great-grandparents came to Brooklyn from Ireland and they and my grandparents worked blue-collar jobs. My parents both went to college and had professional careers. I'm going to grad school in August. (My family is on this list, too).
19. The Marshall Plan
20. The Smithsonian. PBS and the Discovery Channel. Sesame Street, Dirty Jobs, America's Test Kitchen. The Simpsons.
21. Our willingness to move. The economic and cultural ability to leave our parents' homes young to make our own way.
22. We don't kill each other over differences of religion or ethnicity.
23. We are, for the most part, secure in our safety (as far as no car bombs) and even with our economy struggling, we are still the dominant economic force in the world. We don't even have natural disasters in Arizona. It might make us spoiled, but it's still a nice way to live.
24. Freedom. Choice. Opportunity.
Feel free to contribute in the comments :)
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Animal adventures
So, I'm back in Tucson. I had originally planned to do an epic backpack trip around the Balkans for a month after the Flinn trip, but I decided to cancel due to some tooth issues and finances. It turns out that was a good call, because I've spent this week in Tucson getting ready for a root canal and being glad I wasn't doing it in Bulgaria. Every time I have an appointment it ends up getting more complicated and expensive -- at this point it's a whole different procedure happening in nine days, and all my Mondays in July are taken up with this nonsense.
We've had a number of desert animal misadventures lately. Today, for example, Kate and I went for a walk to see the gorgeous monsoon sunset. We found a roadkill roadrunner -- I guess it didn't make it all the way across. My mom apparently chased a huge lizard out of the house a couple of weeks ago, though I wouldn't object to lizards in the house.
Most people reading this have probably heard the Hungarian bat vacuum story at some point. My English student in Budapest relayed to me his great idea, upon finding a bat in the house, to catch it with the household vacuum's suction and then release it out the window. However, the poor thing got sucked up the tube immediately and, as Csaba said, "Unfortunately, he did not survive." I realize it doesn't transcribe well, but it was the funniest story I have ever heard. I was on the floor crying, I laughed so hard.
I had always considered the vacuum-a-small-mammal-in-order-to-move-it technique a one-off stroke of genius/idiocy. That is, until my dad managed to hit upon the same plan. We've had a number of pack rats around the house -- they've killed our Spanish dagger and at least one big prickly pear, and there was a monstrous one living in the old shed that was enough to keep me out of there. When my dad and Kate were cleaning up some of the stuff on the back patio, they discovered that another pack rat had been making its home in an old metal desk we inherited from our grandfather. It had made an ingenious home for itself there in pack rat paradise, next to abundant food and water and protected from larger predators by an old deaf dog that didn't care. We found a cushy looking nest that consisted of a solid square foot of dog fur with a hole in it and 10-15 pounds of dog food, some of it at least two years old. We were pretty impressed with our little buddy, which was cowering between two pieces of wood about 2 meters from the desk.
But, little buddy needed to go, and we didn't want to kill it but weren't sure how to coax it into the banker box we had waiting. Somehow, my dad decided the best plan was to use the suction from the shop vac to pick up the rat and deposit it in the box. The pack rat was sizeable, like a small guinea pig, and cute like a giant kangaroo rat. Protesting that this was the worst idea ever, I reluctantly helped with switch duty while my dad manned the tube and Kate held the box. Did you know pack rats can fly? Almost as soon as my dad pushed the vacuum tube toward its hiding place, the pack rat took a flying leap out of it, clearing at least three feet, bounced off Kate, and ran for the desk. We took the desk apart again and found little buddy in the corner, upon which we repeated the whole escapade. The pack rat is apparently trained in parkour, or has been hearing horror stories about Hungarian bats. We tried one more time, even though we were laughing too hard to focus very well. Failure again, and probably just as well -- even if we could have gotten little buddy in the box, it would have jumped right back out. We felt sorry for it ultimately and left it in the desk, planning to figure out another plan later, but it ran off at some point. Granted, this could have been a better story with some carnage, but I'm just as glad to let little buddy go seek another pack rat paradise.
Speaking of bats, for the bat adventure that happened in my absence, I will let my mom and Kate's emails tell the story:
"Did anybody tell you about a bat getting in the house? Right now, I can't remember if it was dad or Katie who got swooped, but pretty quickly we were all involved in looking for it. Dad opened the front door up and thought the bat might have gotten out while we were all looking. Well, we watched a movie in the living room and Katie & I kept saying "did you hear that?" and "what's that sound", then we'd all look at each other and say it was the a/c, the movie, etc. Well, I went to bed and was dozing off when one of the closed the bedroom door and said the bat was in the family room, in the corner over the file cabinet, and they were going to get it out--I barely remember them telling me, and they assured me in the a.m. that it was out. YECH!!!"
"Re: The Bat. I was thinking about the vacuum story the whole time. With the first bat, we actually lost where it went for about an hour or so, so we have no idea where it was or what it was doing...and we haven't found any bat waste yet, so I guess that's a good thing. I found it, finally, in the corner of the family room above the computer...Dad and I got a broom, and opened up the patio door next to it, and tried to nudge it into flying. It wouldn't move! Dad ended up poking it with the broom, but it still wouldn't move! We were a little confused, but it finally roused itself and instead of flying out the door, it started making the circle around the living and family rooms. It missed the front door, where Dad was with the broom, and it missed both the patio doors too. We were smart enough to close all the other doors at least, and the bat finally landed in the kitchen over by the knife block (after almost hitting me in the head!). We had to poke it down with the broom again, and this time, Dad listened to me and nudged it into a cardboard box which he covered with the broom and took it outside. "
Never a dull moment.
We've had a number of desert animal misadventures lately. Today, for example, Kate and I went for a walk to see the gorgeous monsoon sunset. We found a roadkill roadrunner -- I guess it didn't make it all the way across. My mom apparently chased a huge lizard out of the house a couple of weeks ago, though I wouldn't object to lizards in the house.
Most people reading this have probably heard the Hungarian bat vacuum story at some point. My English student in Budapest relayed to me his great idea, upon finding a bat in the house, to catch it with the household vacuum's suction and then release it out the window. However, the poor thing got sucked up the tube immediately and, as Csaba said, "Unfortunately, he did not survive." I realize it doesn't transcribe well, but it was the funniest story I have ever heard. I was on the floor crying, I laughed so hard.
I had always considered the vacuum-a-small-mammal-in-order-to-move-it technique a one-off stroke of genius/idiocy. That is, until my dad managed to hit upon the same plan. We've had a number of pack rats around the house -- they've killed our Spanish dagger and at least one big prickly pear, and there was a monstrous one living in the old shed that was enough to keep me out of there. When my dad and Kate were cleaning up some of the stuff on the back patio, they discovered that another pack rat had been making its home in an old metal desk we inherited from our grandfather. It had made an ingenious home for itself there in pack rat paradise, next to abundant food and water and protected from larger predators by an old deaf dog that didn't care. We found a cushy looking nest that consisted of a solid square foot of dog fur with a hole in it and 10-15 pounds of dog food, some of it at least two years old. We were pretty impressed with our little buddy, which was cowering between two pieces of wood about 2 meters from the desk.
But, little buddy needed to go, and we didn't want to kill it but weren't sure how to coax it into the banker box we had waiting. Somehow, my dad decided the best plan was to use the suction from the shop vac to pick up the rat and deposit it in the box. The pack rat was sizeable, like a small guinea pig, and cute like a giant kangaroo rat. Protesting that this was the worst idea ever, I reluctantly helped with switch duty while my dad manned the tube and Kate held the box. Did you know pack rats can fly? Almost as soon as my dad pushed the vacuum tube toward its hiding place, the pack rat took a flying leap out of it, clearing at least three feet, bounced off Kate, and ran for the desk. We took the desk apart again and found little buddy in the corner, upon which we repeated the whole escapade. The pack rat is apparently trained in parkour, or has been hearing horror stories about Hungarian bats. We tried one more time, even though we were laughing too hard to focus very well. Failure again, and probably just as well -- even if we could have gotten little buddy in the box, it would have jumped right back out. We felt sorry for it ultimately and left it in the desk, planning to figure out another plan later, but it ran off at some point. Granted, this could have been a better story with some carnage, but I'm just as glad to let little buddy go seek another pack rat paradise.
Speaking of bats, for the bat adventure that happened in my absence, I will let my mom and Kate's emails tell the story:
"Did anybody tell you about a bat getting in the house? Right now, I can't remember if it was dad or Katie who got swooped, but pretty quickly we were all involved in looking for it. Dad opened the front door up and thought the bat might have gotten out while we were all looking. Well, we watched a movie in the living room and Katie & I kept saying "did you hear that?" and "what's that sound", then we'd all look at each other and say it was the a/c, the movie, etc. Well, I went to bed and was dozing off when one of the closed the bedroom door and said the bat was in the family room, in the corner over the file cabinet, and they were going to get it out--I barely remember them telling me, and they assured me in the a.m. that it was out. YECH!!!"
"Re: The Bat. I was thinking about the vacuum story the whole time. With the first bat, we actually lost where it went for about an hour or so, so we have no idea where it was or what it was doing...and we haven't found any bat waste yet, so I guess that's a good thing. I found it, finally, in the corner of the family room above the computer...Dad and I got a broom, and opened up the patio door next to it, and tried to nudge it into flying. It wouldn't move! Dad ended up poking it with the broom, but it still wouldn't move! We were a little confused, but it finally roused itself and instead of flying out the door, it started making the circle around the living and family rooms. It missed the front door, where Dad was with the broom, and it missed both the patio doors too. We were smart enough to close all the other doors at least, and the bat finally landed in the kitchen over by the knife block (after almost hitting me in the head!). We had to poke it down with the broom again, and this time, Dad listened to me and nudged it into a cardboard box which he covered with the broom and took it outside. "
Never a dull moment.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Applied Feminist Theorz
For mz second birthdaz, mz alwazs-creative grandparents borrowed a neighborás dog to be the main entertainment at mz birthdaz partz. The dog was dulz plazed with/tormented bz around 20 manic toddlers. Weáre told that it consequentlz spent the next 48 hours somewhere between asleep and comatose. I feel that I have spent the last 48 hours in much the same state.
But, I managed to be up, dressed, and drinking coffee bz 11 am this morning, when into the hostel stormed 10 English football plazers. We could hear the horde roaring up the 4 flights of stairs, itself not boding well, given that the onlz two house rules involve being silent on the stairs so the neighbors donát get the place shut down. It was like a scene out of a mediocre British comedz, particularlz one character who came in wearing onlz swim trunks, a series of lame tattoos including a big football emblam on his chest and ÁEnglandÁ in cursive across his lower back, and an alarminglz dumb and mean expression. His slack-jawed wanderings through the hostel, culminating in plonking down in front of the door with a few incoherent szllables slipping out of his constantlz open mouth, make him a legitlz concerning creep and not a lovablz sillz movie character. Thez immediatelz revealed that thez were onlz in town to Áget pissed and go to strip clubs.Á
Hereás where the applied feminist theorz comes inÉ while I, generallz, do not approve of the stag partz mentalitz of visiting another countrz where the exchange rate makes zou rich and spending a weekend there doing nothing but acting like a drunken thug, what reallz concerns me is this strip club nonsense. The theorz is that going out and objectifzing women as bodz parts to be displazed for a manás pleasure, given his abilitz to paz, is bad for the menás pszche, in that it leads to objectifzing all women in societz. In practice, I am absolutelz horrified that these ten huge thugs are going to get plastered, ogle and completelz dehumaniye local women all night (in addition to this being practicallz free for them, the women are foreign, donát speak their language, are in a foreign countrz where these guzs generallz think the local laws donát applz to them, and are, in the end, just women -- so, objects at best and certainlz not human in the waz our English footballers are human), and THEN return to the hostel, where I am sleeping with no locked doors. Iám not afraid of being assaulted or anzthing, but Iám definitelz deeplz uncomfortable with the whole situation, and feeling verz unarmed. As a women, human, and feminist, Iám completelz disgusted with the whole situation. As a hostel-dweller, Iám mildlz concerned, particularlz given that there are but two coüed showers, one of which I plan to be using sometime before I leave for mz flight at 5É30 am. Zet one more example of how strip clubs are bad for societz. Not to mention that bezond the sexism, these guzs are alreadz loud, obnoxious, and have taken over the hostel. Glad Iám leaving in the morning. Gross, gross, gross (and rossz, rossz, rossz!).
In other news, mz last few dazs in Budapest have been lovelz. Iáve done a bit of shopping, a bit of relaxing, some reading... Iám trzing to catch up on the last 5 weeks of journalling, which is likelz futile but worth a shot. With Agiás help, I managed to track down Maria, mz fantastic Hungarian teacher. She took me out to dinner, and the companz was great even if the conversation was a bit depressing. She has just written a Hungarian learning book, which is prettz exciting, and which I plan to go through as much as I can over the rest of the summer. The owner of the little restaurant we went to is apparentlz the onlz person in Europe who makes daggers out of bone (except the blade) for hawkers to deliver the coup-de-grace to whatever prez their hawks bring them. It must be cool to be the onlz person with zour hobbz.
I also met a little old portena in a bookstore the other daz. I had heard her chewing out the salesguzs, in English, for not selling the souvenirs she wanted, and she kind of kidnapped them for an extended period of time to talk to/rant at. I recogniyed her accent, but couldnát place it until she started talking about Buenos Aires. I went over to chat with her, at which point the poor sales guz made a quick escape, and we chatted, mostlz in Spanish, for the next hour. She was hilarious -- 85, traveling alone, a force of personalitz. She ended up telling me a bit about her love life, which was hilarious despite being kind of confusing as a result of language issues and her being 85. She ordered me to walk her partwaz to her hotel, and I left her with mz temporarz cell phone number, though Iám prettz sure sheás got things covered.
Back to Ariyona tomorrow morning. Iám going to miss Budapest, mz favorite citz, though Iám prettz confident that Iáll be back before too long.
But, I managed to be up, dressed, and drinking coffee bz 11 am this morning, when into the hostel stormed 10 English football plazers. We could hear the horde roaring up the 4 flights of stairs, itself not boding well, given that the onlz two house rules involve being silent on the stairs so the neighbors donát get the place shut down. It was like a scene out of a mediocre British comedz, particularlz one character who came in wearing onlz swim trunks, a series of lame tattoos including a big football emblam on his chest and ÁEnglandÁ in cursive across his lower back, and an alarminglz dumb and mean expression. His slack-jawed wanderings through the hostel, culminating in plonking down in front of the door with a few incoherent szllables slipping out of his constantlz open mouth, make him a legitlz concerning creep and not a lovablz sillz movie character. Thez immediatelz revealed that thez were onlz in town to Áget pissed and go to strip clubs.Á
Hereás where the applied feminist theorz comes inÉ while I, generallz, do not approve of the stag partz mentalitz of visiting another countrz where the exchange rate makes zou rich and spending a weekend there doing nothing but acting like a drunken thug, what reallz concerns me is this strip club nonsense. The theorz is that going out and objectifzing women as bodz parts to be displazed for a manás pleasure, given his abilitz to paz, is bad for the menás pszche, in that it leads to objectifzing all women in societz. In practice, I am absolutelz horrified that these ten huge thugs are going to get plastered, ogle and completelz dehumaniye local women all night (in addition to this being practicallz free for them, the women are foreign, donát speak their language, are in a foreign countrz where these guzs generallz think the local laws donát applz to them, and are, in the end, just women -- so, objects at best and certainlz not human in the waz our English footballers are human), and THEN return to the hostel, where I am sleeping with no locked doors. Iám not afraid of being assaulted or anzthing, but Iám definitelz deeplz uncomfortable with the whole situation, and feeling verz unarmed. As a women, human, and feminist, Iám completelz disgusted with the whole situation. As a hostel-dweller, Iám mildlz concerned, particularlz given that there are but two coüed showers, one of which I plan to be using sometime before I leave for mz flight at 5É30 am. Zet one more example of how strip clubs are bad for societz. Not to mention that bezond the sexism, these guzs are alreadz loud, obnoxious, and have taken over the hostel. Glad Iám leaving in the morning. Gross, gross, gross (and rossz, rossz, rossz!).
In other news, mz last few dazs in Budapest have been lovelz. Iáve done a bit of shopping, a bit of relaxing, some reading... Iám trzing to catch up on the last 5 weeks of journalling, which is likelz futile but worth a shot. With Agiás help, I managed to track down Maria, mz fantastic Hungarian teacher. She took me out to dinner, and the companz was great even if the conversation was a bit depressing. She has just written a Hungarian learning book, which is prettz exciting, and which I plan to go through as much as I can over the rest of the summer. The owner of the little restaurant we went to is apparentlz the onlz person in Europe who makes daggers out of bone (except the blade) for hawkers to deliver the coup-de-grace to whatever prez their hawks bring them. It must be cool to be the onlz person with zour hobbz.
I also met a little old portena in a bookstore the other daz. I had heard her chewing out the salesguzs, in English, for not selling the souvenirs she wanted, and she kind of kidnapped them for an extended period of time to talk to/rant at. I recogniyed her accent, but couldnát place it until she started talking about Buenos Aires. I went over to chat with her, at which point the poor sales guz made a quick escape, and we chatted, mostlz in Spanish, for the next hour. She was hilarious -- 85, traveling alone, a force of personalitz. She ended up telling me a bit about her love life, which was hilarious despite being kind of confusing as a result of language issues and her being 85. She ordered me to walk her partwaz to her hotel, and I left her with mz temporarz cell phone number, though Iám prettz sure sheás got things covered.
Back to Ariyona tomorrow morning. Iám going to miss Budapest, mz favorite citz, though Iám prettz confident that Iáll be back before too long.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Back home in Budapest
So, weáve finallz made it back to Budapest in one piece. IÁm excited. And tired. Details forthcoming, if there is ever a point at which I am not tired.
I highlz recommend zou all run out and rent the movie Kontroll ASAP.
I highlz recommend zou all run out and rent the movie Kontroll ASAP.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Transylvania
In Transylvania. We had a few stressful days, but things seem pretty smooth now, especially since our most recent accomodations are spider-free and have the best showers since Berlin. The kids are great, especially now that they've gotten some of their freshmany stuff out of their systems, and the program has been good. We just spent a few days in a village, saw the only volcanic-crater lake in Europe, went to Timisoara, and went to Sighisoara (first time for me). We've spent many hours on the bus (our bus driver is awesome!) and eaten lots of gulyas.
Computer access is obviously limited, but after being miserably sick for the first week of the trip, I'm managing to stave off the bus cold. All well on the eastern front.
Computer access is obviously limited, but after being miserably sick for the first week of the trip, I'm managing to stave off the bus cold. All well on the eastern front.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
Tired and Hungary
So, itás been a long week since I last wrote. Justin came, the kids came, and everzthing has been nuts since then. There have been some challenges, but mostlz things have been great.
Highlights: the amaying, beautiful, impressive, spontaneous dance performance we saw in a Roma/gzpsz high school this afternoon; an equallz awesome czmbalum (like a dulcimar) performace; some fantastic lectures; a fun mini-wine lesson (given slightlz selfüconsciouslz bz zours trulz) with some of the kids; getting to work with mz current partner in crime, Justin, the other chaperone; getting to see an old professor again; several fun Hungarian-language encounters; being led around Balaton bz a VIP; and being in Pecs and Veszprem again. I also took a group to Statue Park, which was reallz fun -- Kate and probablz Ben can attest to how much I love plazing tour guide, and it was nice to get to actuallz use some of mz research. Challenges have included spiders, exhaustion and some not unexpected but still frustrating freshman behavior.
Thereás so much weáve done, but Iám tired, and laundrz and dinner call. Hope everzone is fantastic whereever zou all are.
Highlights: the amaying, beautiful, impressive, spontaneous dance performance we saw in a Roma/gzpsz high school this afternoon; an equallz awesome czmbalum (like a dulcimar) performace; some fantastic lectures; a fun mini-wine lesson (given slightlz selfüconsciouslz bz zours trulz) with some of the kids; getting to work with mz current partner in crime, Justin, the other chaperone; getting to see an old professor again; several fun Hungarian-language encounters; being led around Balaton bz a VIP; and being in Pecs and Veszprem again. I also took a group to Statue Park, which was reallz fun -- Kate and probablz Ben can attest to how much I love plazing tour guide, and it was nice to get to actuallz use some of mz research. Challenges have included spiders, exhaustion and some not unexpected but still frustrating freshman behavior.
Thereás so much weáve done, but Iám tired, and laundrz and dinner call. Hope everzone is fantastic whereever zou all are.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Daz of rest in Budapest
Ben left for Ariyona this morning after a prettz hardcore three weeks in give countries. Highlights of the trip according to him: Statue Park in Budapest, Strahov Monastarz (and whale penis) in Prague, Mike in Vienna, and a bus driver making fun of mz iám-a-nice-confused-foreigner-please-help-me-big-ezes-face upon our arrival in Berlin. Itás been a good trip so far, some how miraculouslz within budget, more or less, and a lot of fun. Mz feet and legs actuallz hurt from how much walking weáve been doing.
Iám taking it easz todaz. I was reallz excited about the supposed new train that goes straight from the airport to Nzugati, but it turns out that onlz goes from Terminal 1, which is a whole separate building quite far awaz from terminal 2, where we were, so I got the fun crowded hour-long bus plus metro ride. The new hostel Iám in has amaying pillows and mattresses, as advertised, so I slept until 1 and have since been taking it easz. I plan to studz a lot of Hungarian and chill out until the kids get here Mondaz night.
Iám taking it easz todaz. I was reallz excited about the supposed new train that goes straight from the airport to Nzugati, but it turns out that onlz goes from Terminal 1, which is a whole separate building quite far awaz from terminal 2, where we were, so I got the fun crowded hour-long bus plus metro ride. The new hostel Iám in has amaying pillows and mattresses, as advertised, so I slept until 1 and have since been taking it easz. I plan to studz a lot of Hungarian and chill out until the kids get here Mondaz night.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Budapesten
Budapest continues to be wonderful. Today we did a Parliament tour and the Castle district. We' ve also visited the museum at Aquincum, Matyas Templom, Heroes' Square, Vajahunyad Castle, and Vaci utca. Yesterday we had extraordinarily expensive coffee and tea at the Four Seasons in the Gresham Palace and then spent the evening drinking amazing Hungarian wine in a neat wine bar and watching the Premierships Championship. It's gotten chilly, and it's rained a bit, but overall things are going great. Tomorrow, we're going to do the "Tipsy Lenin Tour," a tour of Statue Park followed by a grand wine tour through the cellars of Buda. We sampled all kinds of beer in the rest of the tour, but Hungary is wine country.
Oh, and in the tradition of naming trips (Kate's Turo Tour 2005, the Patagonia Dust-up 2007, the Almost-but-not-quite-a-disaster Macchu Picchu visit with Kate), this is the Scaffolding Tour 2008. We've seen quite a remarkable bit of things under renovation, including the tower of St. Stephen's in Vienna and here, the gorgeous exterior of the Matyas Templom. Hopefully they'll get everything good and shiny in time for the dollar to bounce back (HA!).
Oh, and in the tradition of naming trips (Kate's Turo Tour 2005, the Patagonia Dust-up 2007, the Almost-but-not-quite-a-disaster Macchu Picchu visit with Kate), this is the Scaffolding Tour 2008. We've seen quite a remarkable bit of things under renovation, including the tower of St. Stephen's in Vienna and here, the gorgeous exterior of the Matyas Templom. Hopefully they'll get everything good and shiny in time for the dollar to bounce back (HA!).
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Budapest
We've made it to Budapest, the last stop on Ben and my trip. It is wonderful -- I love this city so much! It has changed a bit. The shiny things are shinier, and the poverty seems slightly worse. There are a lot of new things, but a lot of other things look sketchier. Some of my favorite restaurants are still here, others have closed or changed into other things. Most of my clubs have closed, including all the beer gardens I liked, which is tragic. Prices are up, of course. And it has started raining -- almost like Budapest is welcoming me home.
Yesterday we did a lot of wandering, and today we went into Szent Istvan's and the Great Synagogue, which I had never made it into before. It was very beautiful. I've had sztrapacska and we visited the Belgian beer restaurant, and we're about to open a promising bottle of Villanyi Kekfrankos. I plan to introduce Ben to Turo Rudi tonight -- I got him two, because you rarely like the first one. Big plans for the next few days -- I hope it stops raining!
Yesterday we did a lot of wandering, and today we went into Szent Istvan's and the Great Synagogue, which I had never made it into before. It was very beautiful. I've had sztrapacska and we visited the Belgian beer restaurant, and we're about to open a promising bottle of Villanyi Kekfrankos. I plan to introduce Ben to Turo Rudi tonight -- I got him two, because you rarely like the first one. Big plans for the next few days -- I hope it stops raining!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Welcome to Bratislava!
We're still trucking along in Central Eastern Europe. We spent yesterday evening in Bratislava, which was nice and relaxed. Now we've made it to Budapest, one of my favorite places on earth. We did a lot of walking today. Budapest has changed a little -- a lot has been renovated and is impressively shiny and modern, but there's also more poverty in the street. Interesting. And, of course, the prices have all gone up.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Vienna
Weäve had a lovelz daz and a half in Vienna, during which we actuallz did a verz good job of seeing the important stuff in a verz limited amount of time. Zesterdaz, we went through the imperial apartments of the Hapsburgs at the Hofburg palace, including the verz cool Sisi museum. We also wandered into a wine tasting in the same place Kate and I stumbled into free champagne three zears ago. And, I got to see a verz cool robot self-disinfecting toilet, with which I was dulz impressed.
The best part, though, was getting to see Mike, the Flzing Austrian, who is one of mz favorite humans. We spent the whole daz with him and it was great fun. He took us out for a delicious Austrian lunch and coffee in a cafe. We also visited St. Stephenäs, and then walked (and walked, and walked) to Schonbrunn, a verz famous palace I had never seen before. There was a lot of beer, a lot of walking, and a lot of laughing. I miss Mike a lot -- heäs buena gente. It was wonderful to see him again and it was one of the best dazs of the trip so far.
The weather continues to be unusuallz outstanding and everzwhere weäve stazed has been verz pleasant. Things are good in Central Europe.
The best part, though, was getting to see Mike, the Flzing Austrian, who is one of mz favorite humans. We spent the whole daz with him and it was great fun. He took us out for a delicious Austrian lunch and coffee in a cafe. We also visited St. Stephenäs, and then walked (and walked, and walked) to Schonbrunn, a verz famous palace I had never seen before. There was a lot of beer, a lot of walking, and a lot of laughing. I miss Mike a lot -- heäs buena gente. It was wonderful to see him again and it was one of the best dazs of the trip so far.
The weather continues to be unusuallz outstanding and everzwhere weäve stazed has been verz pleasant. Things are good in Central Europe.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Prague highlights
Again, short on time, so a quick recap:
We saw owl babies, or more like adolescents, at the Waldenstein Gardens. Thez were ridiculouslz cute, looked like animatronic puppets with slinkz heads in fuyyz suits.
We saw two dried whale penises at the Strahov Monastarz. Thez were unlabeled and on a shelf on either side of a narwhale horn, and the little old Cyech ladz did a great job of delicatelz explaining what thez were to me. "It is a vale organ." "Oh... like on the inside?" pointing to mz stomach. "No... the male organ of the vale." "OHHHHH!" There was also a leatheriyed and stuffed hammerhead shark and a devil§s claw with a seahorse face painted on the back.
We saw the worst black light theater show ever, a trulz appalling production of Faust that consisted almost entirelz of some kind of ridiculous interpretive dance. I was furious.
We wandered into the filming of the new movie, G.I. Joe, or, as one film guz blocking the street told us, America, and another, G.I.G. or something. At first we were concerned about a horrific car accident, but then saw all the lights and rigging.
We went into the museum below Prague Castle, which was super interesting.
Todaz we took a daz trip to Kutna Hora to visit the crayz ossuarz, a little chapel with tons of stuff, including a huge cathedral, made of bone. Creepz but interesting. Mz favorite part was the field trip of Goths hanging around. Also, the flowers made of hip bones were cool.
Had a bit of an adventure with trains and train stations todaz, but ultimatelz ended up on the right one of both.
In Berlin, we went to the Lebowski bar in our neighborhood, an awesome place with bowling decor, white russians, and tons of details straight out of the movie. It even had a rug, which reallz tied the room together.
To Vienna in the morning. We§ve been hitting things prettz hard... mz feet hurt and mz bank account is bleeding. But, all is well, things are fun, and Prague is still one of the most beautiful cities on earth.
HAPPZ BIRTHDAZ, MOM!!!!
We saw owl babies, or more like adolescents, at the Waldenstein Gardens. Thez were ridiculouslz cute, looked like animatronic puppets with slinkz heads in fuyyz suits.
We saw two dried whale penises at the Strahov Monastarz. Thez were unlabeled and on a shelf on either side of a narwhale horn, and the little old Cyech ladz did a great job of delicatelz explaining what thez were to me. "It is a vale organ." "Oh... like on the inside?" pointing to mz stomach. "No... the male organ of the vale." "OHHHHH!" There was also a leatheriyed and stuffed hammerhead shark and a devil§s claw with a seahorse face painted on the back.
We saw the worst black light theater show ever, a trulz appalling production of Faust that consisted almost entirelz of some kind of ridiculous interpretive dance. I was furious.
We wandered into the filming of the new movie, G.I. Joe, or, as one film guz blocking the street told us, America, and another, G.I.G. or something. At first we were concerned about a horrific car accident, but then saw all the lights and rigging.
We went into the museum below Prague Castle, which was super interesting.
Todaz we took a daz trip to Kutna Hora to visit the crayz ossuarz, a little chapel with tons of stuff, including a huge cathedral, made of bone. Creepz but interesting. Mz favorite part was the field trip of Goths hanging around. Also, the flowers made of hip bones were cool.
Had a bit of an adventure with trains and train stations todaz, but ultimatelz ended up on the right one of both.
In Berlin, we went to the Lebowski bar in our neighborhood, an awesome place with bowling decor, white russians, and tons of details straight out of the movie. It even had a rug, which reallz tied the room together.
To Vienna in the morning. We§ve been hitting things prettz hard... mz feet hurt and mz bank account is bleeding. But, all is well, things are fun, and Prague is still one of the most beautiful cities on earth.
HAPPZ BIRTHDAZ, MOM!!!!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
In Prague
No time to update, but we§re in Prague and things are great. The weather is unbelievable and Prague is still one of the most beautiful places on earth. Unfortunatelz, the prices have gotten ridiculous, boo.
Friday, May 09, 2008
More Berlin
Berlin has been fantastic. Yesterday, we started bz buzing train tickets for the rest of the trip. We donät speak German, and the ladz helping us didnät speak English, but fortunatelz I had all the dates and times written out and she verz cheerfullz took the time to find us tickets for each leg of the trip. She was super sweet about it -- Iäve consistentlz been impressed bz how friendlz and even enthusiastic people are when we ask if thez speak English.
Then, we wandered around for a while, hitting Alexanderplatz, the old center of East Berlin. We went to the Berliner Dom, the citz cathedral, which for some reason has statues of Luther and Calvin in it, despite being a Catholic church! Horrifzing! We got to wander around the top of the dome, which made for a lovelz view. We also visited some world famous museums, and saw the Ishtar Gate, the Pergamon Temple, and the Bust of Nefertiti. It was a little disappointing overall, though, because large portions of the museums were closed and we were exhausted. We got a charming dinner (schnitzel! or milanesa, for the uruguazos out there) in our charming neighborhood. Our area has reallz grown on me; there are tons and tons of cute bars and restaurants reallz close.
Todaz we went to Potsdam, larglez on Ginaäs recommendation, and visited the palaces and gardens. Beautiful! Mz favorite was the grotto in the New Palace, which was a huge audience room covered in designs all made from shells, including lots of different sea monsters. I loved it. It is probablz mz favorite palace ever. Then, we wandered bz the Brandenburg Gate. Iäm exhausted, but thereäs so much to do and see!
Then, we wandered around for a while, hitting Alexanderplatz, the old center of East Berlin. We went to the Berliner Dom, the citz cathedral, which for some reason has statues of Luther and Calvin in it, despite being a Catholic church! Horrifzing! We got to wander around the top of the dome, which made for a lovelz view. We also visited some world famous museums, and saw the Ishtar Gate, the Pergamon Temple, and the Bust of Nefertiti. It was a little disappointing overall, though, because large portions of the museums were closed and we were exhausted. We got a charming dinner (schnitzel! or milanesa, for the uruguazos out there) in our charming neighborhood. Our area has reallz grown on me; there are tons and tons of cute bars and restaurants reallz close.
Todaz we went to Potsdam, larglez on Ginaäs recommendation, and visited the palaces and gardens. Beautiful! Mz favorite was the grotto in the New Palace, which was a huge audience room covered in designs all made from shells, including lots of different sea monsters. I loved it. It is probablz mz favorite palace ever. Then, we wandered bz the Brandenburg Gate. Iäm exhausted, but thereäs so much to do and see!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Berlin!
So, Ben and I made it to Berlin without much trouble. Our hostel is cute, and though parts of the neighborhood are a little sketchy, there are tons of cute cafes and bars, and weäre close to all kinds of public transportation. Big plans for the next few days. So far, itäs not what I expected, reallz. Iäm not sure what I expected, but everzthing is verz green.
Also, I had wanted to mention before leaving Tucson, but I forgot: all the cactus where my parents live are in bloom, and theyäre gorgeous. The prickly pears have tons of yellow flowers, with some light pink ones coming up, the chollas have little bright fuschia blossoms, and the saguaros all over have funny lumps that sometimes turn into lovely white flowers.
Also, I had wanted to mention before leaving Tucson, but I forgot: all the cactus where my parents live are in bloom, and theyäre gorgeous. The prickly pears have tons of yellow flowers, with some light pink ones coming up, the chollas have little bright fuschia blossoms, and the saguaros all over have funny lumps that sometimes turn into lovely white flowers.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Packing lists
Good
I don't need a root canal!
I found $15 worth of European change in my room
We're going to see Mike!
I'm no longer walking hunched over at 90 degrees
Rearranging my plans is not as prohibitively expensive as I'd feared
Gainful employment is waiting
My parents' cooking is awesome
sztrapacska, turo rudi, pilsner urquell, palinka, turos taska, all on the horizon!!
Not so good
For some reason, I remain determined to grind all my teeth out of my head in my sleep
My still-slightly-thrown-out back is not at all excited about a transatlantic flight
I'm going to miss seeing a bunch of my buddies in Europe
The dollar, while improving, still sucks
I still haven't lost all my Uruguay weight; Hungary weight will destroy me!
And the best part...
to Europe tomorrow!!!! I'm so excited!
I don't need a root canal!
I found $15 worth of European change in my room
We're going to see Mike!
I'm no longer walking hunched over at 90 degrees
Rearranging my plans is not as prohibitively expensive as I'd feared
Gainful employment is waiting
My parents' cooking is awesome
sztrapacska, turo rudi, pilsner urquell, palinka, turos taska, all on the horizon!!
Not so good
For some reason, I remain determined to grind all my teeth out of my head in my sleep
My still-slightly-thrown-out back is not at all excited about a transatlantic flight
I'm going to miss seeing a bunch of my buddies in Europe
The dollar, while improving, still sucks
I still haven't lost all my Uruguay weight; Hungary weight will destroy me!
And the best part...
to Europe tomorrow!!!! I'm so excited!
Friday, May 02, 2008
Last day at work
It's my last day at NACTS and it's been a good ride. This was a great gig for my time here -- flexible, interesting, convenient, there was plenty to do, I learned a lot, and I got to meet lots of cool people.
As you can see, I've done a major blog redesign. Huge thanks to Kate for help, especially with the cool new header.
I've been having some dramatic jaw problems that appear to be spawning dramatic new tooth problems, which I'm pretty freaked out about. The last month of my trip has been in flux for a while now, but currently it's in jeopardy. I've had to clear my calendar for Monday and Tuesday to try to run down to Tucson and get it taken care of... here's hoping everything is okay or can stay okay for just a little longer...
As you can see, I've done a major blog redesign. Huge thanks to Kate for help, especially with the cool new header.
I've been having some dramatic jaw problems that appear to be spawning dramatic new tooth problems, which I'm pretty freaked out about. The last month of my trip has been in flux for a while now, but currently it's in jeopardy. I've had to clear my calendar for Monday and Tuesday to try to run down to Tucson and get it taken care of... here's hoping everything is okay or can stay okay for just a little longer...
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Credit where credit is due
I've got tons of stuff to rant about, but first I want to send some shout-outs (can that be phrasal verbalized?) to friends and professionals who have been awesome and made my life easier and less painful in the last few months.
Lloyd, one of our saber fencers, has once again managed to fix me. Lloyd is an acupuncture professional, one of the partners at AomA (Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Associates) in Scottsdale. He has been doing this forever and is on lots of oriental medicine boards and such -- he definitely knows what he's doing. I have no idea what he's doing; as far as I'm concerned, it's magic, but it's magic that works. A year or two ago, he did an amazing job mending my hand and arm, and over the last couple of months he has taken my ankle from cripplingly painful and worse, unfenceable, to occassionally stiff. He has also worked on my poor busted hands, my poor wrecked jaw, and my angry angry tummy (two out of three of these I blame on the patriarchy, but that's a different post). Lloyd has been incredibly generous and patient and I thank him profusely. Also, his wife, Kathy, is awesome. So, if you have any aches or pains or allergies or cramps, give Lloyd Wright a call at 480-423-3525 and get yourself fixed. You can also check them out at www.aomacupuncture.com.
She won't see this, but there is a Nurse Practitioner at ASU Student Health who has been the first outstanding health professional I have had at ASU. She, too, has fixed me, and has been full of useful and friendly information. Her first name is Mary Ana; email me if you want to see her and want her full name (I try not to use last names on this without permission). If you must go to ASU Student Health, go to her.
Things have been great at fencing. Almost everyone, from the newbies to the coaches, has been helpful and cooperative almost all the time. The newbies have great attitudes and tremendous potential, and I have really enjoyed my "coaching" stint with the salle. I have to admit, I was really nervous about it, and predicted 80% chance of disaster, but it's been wonderful.
Out of time; that's it for now. Can you believe there are no hostels in Thessaloniki or Skopje? I'm going to have to look into this further. I'm also trying to reformat/color the blog, so don't freak out if you come back and it looks different.
Lloyd, one of our saber fencers, has once again managed to fix me. Lloyd is an acupuncture professional, one of the partners at AomA (Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Associates) in Scottsdale. He has been doing this forever and is on lots of oriental medicine boards and such -- he definitely knows what he's doing. I have no idea what he's doing; as far as I'm concerned, it's magic, but it's magic that works. A year or two ago, he did an amazing job mending my hand and arm, and over the last couple of months he has taken my ankle from cripplingly painful and worse, unfenceable, to occassionally stiff. He has also worked on my poor busted hands, my poor wrecked jaw, and my angry angry tummy (two out of three of these I blame on the patriarchy, but that's a different post). Lloyd has been incredibly generous and patient and I thank him profusely. Also, his wife, Kathy, is awesome. So, if you have any aches or pains or allergies or cramps, give Lloyd Wright a call at 480-423-3525 and get yourself fixed. You can also check them out at www.aomacupuncture.com.
She won't see this, but there is a Nurse Practitioner at ASU Student Health who has been the first outstanding health professional I have had at ASU. She, too, has fixed me, and has been full of useful and friendly information. Her first name is Mary Ana; email me if you want to see her and want her full name (I try not to use last names on this without permission). If you must go to ASU Student Health, go to her.
Things have been great at fencing. Almost everyone, from the newbies to the coaches, has been helpful and cooperative almost all the time. The newbies have great attitudes and tremendous potential, and I have really enjoyed my "coaching" stint with the salle. I have to admit, I was really nervous about it, and predicted 80% chance of disaster, but it's been wonderful.
Out of time; that's it for now. Can you believe there are no hostels in Thessaloniki or Skopje? I'm going to have to look into this further. I'm also trying to reformat/color the blog, so don't freak out if you come back and it looks different.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Language Geekery and too much YouTube
This is an interesting little article about irregular verbs: http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2000_03_landfall.html
So, this morning, I was minding my own business, waiting for the Tempe shuttle, when this psycho guy comes down the sidewalk, screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs. This is but one example of the violent, creepy lunatics coming out of the woodwork recently (yesterday I was told, by someone who always harps sincerely on how I am the reincarnation of Joan of Arc, in what I think was supposed to be the complimentary part of a staggeringly insulting and incoherent rant, that I "have a man's brain in a woman's body." You can probably guess how much I appreciated that.)
Anyway, I can deal with just keeping an eye on the guy while he's on the other side of the street, swearing and screaming, but when he started screeching racial epithets and extremely violent and specific threats ("I'm going to slit that *** ***'s *** throat! Tonight! No, today! *** *** *** ***!!!"), I decided to get the hell out of there. Or, as I thought about it at the moment, it was time to peace out. Here's where today's language geekery comes into it. "Peace out," like "jet" and "bounce," are current slang words for "leave" that I rarely use but which occassionally seem appropriate (why "peace out" would seem most appropriate to me in this context is probably a whole different piece of geekery). "Peace out" is particularly interesting because, thanks to my term paper for the teaching English grammar grad class I took, I'm obsessed with phrasal verbs. The derivation of "peace out" is, "Peace, I'm out of here," which presumably turned into "Peace, I'm out" --> "Peace, out" --> "Peace out."
So, when we conjugate it, we treat it as a phrasal verb, like "zone out," "pass out," or even "take off" (which means the same thing), particularly in the past tense: "When he started screaming, I peaced out." I think this is largely due to "peace outed" being largely unpronounceable, plus the "out" sounding just like the particle of a true phrasal verb and lending itself to that parallelism. BUT, which sounds more correct in the present tense, which you might use in telling a story: "so, she peaces out" or "so, she peace outs"? Kate thinks "peaces out;" I think "peace outs" because I've obviously put way too much thought into this. Has "peace out" turned into a phrasal verb yet, syntactically or semantically? Will it go extinct before it really gets there? Does it matter, since it's easy to avoid? "It was time to peace out" and "I decided to peace out" are at least as common, and I've rarely heard the third person present tense.
Thoughts? Parallel examples?
In other news...
This is awesome. I love the Squirrel Nut Zippers.
Also, I know this is a commercial, but it kind of choked me up. As much as I bitch all the time, I criticize because I love. If I didn't care, I wouldn't be angry.
(last two videos found at and poached from popvulture)
So, this morning, I was minding my own business, waiting for the Tempe shuttle, when this psycho guy comes down the sidewalk, screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs. This is but one example of the violent, creepy lunatics coming out of the woodwork recently (yesterday I was told, by someone who always harps sincerely on how I am the reincarnation of Joan of Arc, in what I think was supposed to be the complimentary part of a staggeringly insulting and incoherent rant, that I "have a man's brain in a woman's body." You can probably guess how much I appreciated that.)
Anyway, I can deal with just keeping an eye on the guy while he's on the other side of the street, swearing and screaming, but when he started screeching racial epithets and extremely violent and specific threats ("I'm going to slit that *** ***'s *** throat! Tonight! No, today! *** *** *** ***!!!"), I decided to get the hell out of there. Or, as I thought about it at the moment, it was time to peace out. Here's where today's language geekery comes into it. "Peace out," like "jet" and "bounce," are current slang words for "leave" that I rarely use but which occassionally seem appropriate (why "peace out" would seem most appropriate to me in this context is probably a whole different piece of geekery). "Peace out" is particularly interesting because, thanks to my term paper for the teaching English grammar grad class I took, I'm obsessed with phrasal verbs. The derivation of "peace out" is, "Peace, I'm out of here," which presumably turned into "Peace, I'm out" --> "Peace, out" --> "Peace out."
So, when we conjugate it, we treat it as a phrasal verb, like "zone out," "pass out," or even "take off" (which means the same thing), particularly in the past tense: "When he started screaming, I peaced out." I think this is largely due to "peace outed" being largely unpronounceable, plus the "out" sounding just like the particle of a true phrasal verb and lending itself to that parallelism. BUT, which sounds more correct in the present tense, which you might use in telling a story: "so, she peaces out" or "so, she peace outs"? Kate thinks "peaces out;" I think "peace outs" because I've obviously put way too much thought into this. Has "peace out" turned into a phrasal verb yet, syntactically or semantically? Will it go extinct before it really gets there? Does it matter, since it's easy to avoid? "It was time to peace out" and "I decided to peace out" are at least as common, and I've rarely heard the third person present tense.
Thoughts? Parallel examples?
In other news...
This is awesome. I love the Squirrel Nut Zippers.
Also, I know this is a commercial, but it kind of choked me up. As much as I bitch all the time, I criticize because I love. If I didn't care, I wouldn't be angry.
(last two videos found at and poached from popvulture)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
What?!?
Quote from Bush to his papalness Benny Ratz: “Here in America, you’ll find a nation that welcomes the role of faith in the public square.”
Oh, really? I want faith to GET THE HELL OUT of the public square. I want to know what the candidates are going to do with foreign policy, healthcare, the war, gender equality, the deficit, education, the national dialogue, trade, human rights, Iran, China, India, the EU, the euro, the economy, terrorism, immigration, and national security. I'm interested in their character -- I want them to be reasonable, reasonably honest, intelligent, loyal to their spouses, rational, professional, educated, intellectually curious, ethical, not egomaniacal, strong-willed, patriotic and confident. But I DON'T want to hear about their faith. I despise how we've forced the candidates to prattle on about the strength of their religious convictions. Unless it becomes an obstacle to doing your job, in which case you should be fired (anti-choice pharamacists, I'm talking to you), your religion, like your sex life and the kind of underwear you prefer, is none of my business and I don't want to hear it.
Let's get faith out of the public sphere and bring policy in.
Oh, really? I want faith to GET THE HELL OUT of the public square. I want to know what the candidates are going to do with foreign policy, healthcare, the war, gender equality, the deficit, education, the national dialogue, trade, human rights, Iran, China, India, the EU, the euro, the economy, terrorism, immigration, and national security. I'm interested in their character -- I want them to be reasonable, reasonably honest, intelligent, loyal to their spouses, rational, professional, educated, intellectually curious, ethical, not egomaniacal, strong-willed, patriotic and confident. But I DON'T want to hear about their faith. I despise how we've forced the candidates to prattle on about the strength of their religious convictions. Unless it becomes an obstacle to doing your job, in which case you should be fired (anti-choice pharamacists, I'm talking to you), your religion, like your sex life and the kind of underwear you prefer, is none of my business and I don't want to hear it.
Let's get faith out of the public sphere and bring policy in.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Guiness Record: World's largest ASADO
Yay Uruguay!!! http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/8646
Why wasn't I invited?
Why wasn't I invited?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
"Freaking ASU, winning everything..."
I wanted this to be longer, but I am, as usual, short on time...
Last weekend, ASU went to the US Association of Collegiate Fencing Clubs National Championship, where we proceeded to KICK EVERYONE'S ASSES. It was great. Everyone fenced well, everyone had a good attitude, and we won.
Team Results:
Women's Foil: 1st!
Women's Epee: 1st
Women's Saber: 8th
Women's Overall: 2nd
Men's Foil: 4th
Men's Epee: 1st
Men's Saber: 3rd
Men's Overall: 1st
ASU 6-Weapon OVERALL: 1st!!
Individual Results:
Women's Foil: Liz - 2nd, Tiffany O. - 4th
Women's Epee: Natalie - 1st
Women's Saber: Ana - 1st
Men's Epee: Bobby - 5th
GREAT JOB, GURISES!!!
More to come...
Last weekend, ASU went to the US Association of Collegiate Fencing Clubs National Championship, where we proceeded to KICK EVERYONE'S ASSES. It was great. Everyone fenced well, everyone had a good attitude, and we won.
Team Results:
Women's Foil: 1st!
Women's Epee: 1st
Women's Saber: 8th
Women's Overall: 2nd
Men's Foil: 4th
Men's Epee: 1st
Men's Saber: 3rd
Men's Overall: 1st
ASU 6-Weapon OVERALL: 1st!!
Individual Results:
Women's Foil: Liz - 2nd, Tiffany O. - 4th
Women's Epee: Natalie - 1st
Women's Saber: Ana - 1st
Men's Epee: Bobby - 5th
GREAT JOB, GURISES!!!
More to come...
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Update
So, I know I haven't been updating much lately, but as I mentioned, I don't feel like I have much to blog about from home. Things have been good. I'm working a ton, fencing, spending time with the boy, scheming, getting ready for the next big thing. My allergies are still a pain. I'm learning a lot of useful information at work, which is nice. My geography class is reasonably informative, if not thrilling. I am exploring some of the stuff that has gone up in my absence and spend too much money on wine. I've gotten to catch up with a lot of old friends, which has been wonderful.
I will be spending the summer in Europe, so there will definitely be more updates then, and hopefully a blog re-design. Then, off to Boston.
More soon!
I will be spending the summer in Europe, so there will definitely be more updates then, and hopefully a blog re-design. Then, off to Boston.
More soon!
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Some random stuff
It's always strange to journal from home -- writing about adventures is something I do when, well, I'm having adventures. But life has been interesting here, and good, and I want to keep the blog active for upcoming adventures (to be announced, but trust me, they're fabulous).
This guy is super-interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/world/europe/07dealer.html?hp. What a fascinating modern story! Tajik-born Russian ships arms and drugs to Africa and South America and is ultimately arrested in Thailand for Americans because of a raid in Ecuador! Foreign Policy had a feature story about this individual a while back... maybe I'll study gun-running and the international black market as applied to international security in grad school.
Had a great dinner at a trendy place downtown last night. Wine was nice but too warm -- if you're going to charge $9 for a glass of wine, at least make sure it's at the right temperature! Room temperature means room temperature of a cellar in France, which is NOT 90 degrees!
Also very interesting: http://www.cfr.org/publication/15671/rodriguez.html?breadcrumb=%2Fregion%2F210%2Famericas. Chavez is such bad news!
This guy is super-interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/world/europe/07dealer.html?hp. What a fascinating modern story! Tajik-born Russian ships arms and drugs to Africa and South America and is ultimately arrested in Thailand for Americans because of a raid in Ecuador! Foreign Policy had a feature story about this individual a while back... maybe I'll study gun-running and the international black market as applied to international security in grad school.
Had a great dinner at a trendy place downtown last night. Wine was nice but too warm -- if you're going to charge $9 for a glass of wine, at least make sure it's at the right temperature! Room temperature means room temperature of a cellar in France, which is NOT 90 degrees!
Also very interesting: http://www.cfr.org/publication/15671/rodriguez.html?breadcrumb=%2Fregion%2F210%2Famericas. Chavez is such bad news!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Update
So, life is rather less exciting not what I'm in Tempe and not running around South America. I've really hit the ground running here -- I started doing my coaching schtick pretty much immediately and was fencing in a competition within a week and a half of being back. I'm currently torturing the freshman with tons of footwork, which they're approaching with suprising grace and impressive enthusiasm. I'm also working doing policy writing with a research center on campus, which is interesting and, fortunately, flexible.
I'm spending a lot of time with Kate, which has been really fun. I haven't gotten the chance to get together with my huge list of people yet, but it's been really nice seeing my friends. I've messed up my ankle pretty drastically. We saw In Bruges, which is FANTASTIC, and the Golden Compass, which was also good.
I have some pretty awesome schemes in store for the near future... More on that later.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MOM AND DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm spending a lot of time with Kate, which has been really fun. I haven't gotten the chance to get together with my huge list of people yet, but it's been really nice seeing my friends. I've messed up my ankle pretty drastically. We saw In Bruges, which is FANTASTIC, and the Golden Compass, which was also good.
I have some pretty awesome schemes in store for the near future... More on that later.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MOM AND DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Thursday, February 07, 2008
The not too sad list
Readjusting has been tough, but not as tough as I was afraid, so far. I'm dying for some mate; I have my stuff now and will be inflicting it on people shortly. So far I have not inappropriately besoed anyone or completely short-circuited in English, though I've come pretty close on both counts.
As usual, I feel a little like a foreigner, a little like I don't quite belong... in Uruguay, I was too ontime, too tense an American... here, I'm late for everything and annoyed that everyone else is so uptight. I miss the emphasis on human relationships that took me so long to get used to in Uruguay. I'm struggling to worry about being on time and not to interrupt people. I want everyone to just chill out, tranqui down... Uruguay, I miss you! I want to go hang out on the beach with some mate and tan, get a chivito and some sambayon granizado with a friend and head for fencing. I'm drinking way too much coffee.
Weirdly, I'm seeing a ton of things that have far more in common with Uruguay than I thought/remembered. First of all, things constantly go wrong here or are ridiculous that would have launched a chorus of "this is a third-world country!!" in Uruguay, but either this is a third-world country or the situations in question are just complications of modern life. Nothing works perfectly anywhere (les dije!!). Also, life seems to be less non-people-oriented and efficient than I remembered -- maybe it was just me? I think now that I'm more accustomed to it and more used to seeing it, I'm interpreting interpersonal interactions differently (and more generously). People are nice to strangers and generally friendly... I noticed before that Arizona and Uruguay have a lot in common, but I'm seeing it even more than I'd realized before.
Living in Uruguay and traveling around South America have been really good for me in a pila of ways, some of which I'm already seeing in my lifestyle. I definitely don't need as much stuff as I used to. I'm less picky and more comfortable winging it with limited resources (I could wing it with limited resources before, it just seemed like a bigger deal). I'm less uptight. I'm more people-oriented.
Things are good right now. I'm living on a couch in my old roommate's living room, which actually looks like it's going to be a great set-up. I've got two great (hopefully) jobs, as a junior fencing coach and a policy intern at a university research center. It's been nice to see my friends here and fabulous hanging out with my sister in Tempe. My parents and dog have been adorable. The financial and weight situations are not disastrous. The future is looking great, though I'm feeling super-conflicted about the summer. My fencing is terrible at the moment, but everyone seems to think it will improve rapidly (everyone except me...) and I didn't humiliate myself at the competition (and I was in a great mood, which is really unusual).
So here is how returning/readjusting is shaking out so far:
Things that have baffled and overwhelmed me and nearly made me burst into tears:
Long menus in English (Uruguayan menus are long, but they all say the same thing)
the amount of hair products under my sink
the amount of clothes in my room
how completely different Tucson/Tempe are from Montevideo
trying to say "bye" instead of "chau"
prices, particularly at the grocery store
Things I miss terribly:
mis amigos y gurises
Spanish, particularly uruguayo Spanish
the rambla/beach
summer
public transportation/culture of walking
STEAK
empanadas
Things that have been better to return to than I expected:
the fencing club
having a radio (esp. pandora.com!!)
campaign season (chau Romney!)
not being tall
Things that have not been as exciting to return to as I expected:
Starbucks, bagels, other food
English
having lots of options for clothes and shoes
As usual, I feel a little like a foreigner, a little like I don't quite belong... in Uruguay, I was too ontime, too tense an American... here, I'm late for everything and annoyed that everyone else is so uptight. I miss the emphasis on human relationships that took me so long to get used to in Uruguay. I'm struggling to worry about being on time and not to interrupt people. I want everyone to just chill out, tranqui down... Uruguay, I miss you! I want to go hang out on the beach with some mate and tan, get a chivito and some sambayon granizado with a friend and head for fencing. I'm drinking way too much coffee.
Weirdly, I'm seeing a ton of things that have far more in common with Uruguay than I thought/remembered. First of all, things constantly go wrong here or are ridiculous that would have launched a chorus of "this is a third-world country!!" in Uruguay, but either this is a third-world country or the situations in question are just complications of modern life. Nothing works perfectly anywhere (les dije!!). Also, life seems to be less non-people-oriented and efficient than I remembered -- maybe it was just me? I think now that I'm more accustomed to it and more used to seeing it, I'm interpreting interpersonal interactions differently (and more generously). People are nice to strangers and generally friendly... I noticed before that Arizona and Uruguay have a lot in common, but I'm seeing it even more than I'd realized before.
Living in Uruguay and traveling around South America have been really good for me in a pila of ways, some of which I'm already seeing in my lifestyle. I definitely don't need as much stuff as I used to. I'm less picky and more comfortable winging it with limited resources (I could wing it with limited resources before, it just seemed like a bigger deal). I'm less uptight. I'm more people-oriented.
Things are good right now. I'm living on a couch in my old roommate's living room, which actually looks like it's going to be a great set-up. I've got two great (hopefully) jobs, as a junior fencing coach and a policy intern at a university research center. It's been nice to see my friends here and fabulous hanging out with my sister in Tempe. My parents and dog have been adorable. The financial and weight situations are not disastrous. The future is looking great, though I'm feeling super-conflicted about the summer. My fencing is terrible at the moment, but everyone seems to think it will improve rapidly (everyone except me...) and I didn't humiliate myself at the competition (and I was in a great mood, which is really unusual).
So here is how returning/readjusting is shaking out so far:
Things that have baffled and overwhelmed me and nearly made me burst into tears:
Long menus in English (Uruguayan menus are long, but they all say the same thing)
the amount of hair products under my sink
the amount of clothes in my room
how completely different Tucson/Tempe are from Montevideo
trying to say "bye" instead of "chau"
prices, particularly at the grocery store
Things I miss terribly:
mis amigos y gurises
Spanish, particularly uruguayo Spanish
the rambla/beach
summer
public transportation/culture of walking
STEAK
empanadas
Things that have been better to return to than I expected:
the fencing club
having a radio (esp. pandora.com!!)
campaign season (chau Romney!)
not being tall
Things that have not been as exciting to return to as I expected:
Starbucks, bagels, other food
English
having lots of options for clothes and shoes
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