Hey all.
I couldn't sleep last night until about midnight, so today I am tired and grumpy. the missionaries sitting here around me as I type are being loud and getting on my nerves. Mostly tired-ness related. I think.
So this last week was fantastic. Don't know where to start.
Alright, I've seen quite a few people this week. Carter Chung came into the mtc on Wed (friend from Berkeley ward). I got to see him on Thurs. and we have meals at the same time, so I get to see him all the time! It's fun. I also saw Jordan Milot in the Bookstore and called out to him. He wasn't as excited to see me as I was to see him and at first I didn't even think he remembered me. Turns out Kendrick Turner was right behind me in line, so it was all three of us chatting for a couple minutes until E. Milot left. Fun! Also, Sis. Jones is Cammi jones from Grandma Win's ward. More about her later. Also, I forgot to mention that there was a meeting about proper dress and grooming the first sunday we were here, and guess who was one of the good examples? Lindsey Meyers, one of my friends from Sophomore at BYU! That was fun.
So I feel bad for Sis. Jones. Last night when I couldn't sleep I found her out in the hall too. She said that her roommates are really good at gettting the lights off at 10:30, but then they laugh for another hour or so. I'm exhausted with my 7 hours of sleep, so I'm grateful for roommates that want sleep too. It's been hard to sleep in the mornings b/c the other sisters will get up early to get ready or go to gym, and they always slam the door when they come in and out. Yuck! So, I've been falling asleep in class. I fell asleep yesterday when Sis Gotberg and Sumner were teaching us in Swedish. Sis Gotberg saw me and said she almost started laughing.
These elders are driving me crazy!!!! Stop shouting across the laundry room!!!!
Oh, I'm grumpy. :) So, I picked hymns this week like "Rock of Ages" and "Come Ye Disconsolate." All the elders started making fun of me saying that I only picked obscure hymns that no one knows. I argued that they needed a musical education, so we compromised that I could pick every 4th hymn. They like the easy songs so we can sing in four parts and out sing the dutch and norwegians (they aren't very good even with an Osmond) I felt this week like I had no one to talk to. How do you get out your angst when the people that are part of the problem are the only people you can talk to (the other sisters). It was great that Mitch came to lunch. I was able to talk to him about some concerns about things that some speakers had said and just release a little. It was great! Thanks Mitch!
So, we love movie quotes. That's how we get our entertainment. We relive movies every day. We also have started making up our own scenes. We have an MTC musical in the works which may or may not include Donny Osmond, John Stamos with an eye patch and peg leg, and a song about P-day and the TRC. We might just have to perform our p-day song in the laundry room before we leave here.
Well, devotional was fantastic yesterday. We heard from Elder Grow. He inspired all of us to get to work and love it! I get more excited every day. I think this will be better than I imagined :)
Much Love,
Amy
P.S. We always slip when we refer to ourselves in the third person. Still don't think of myself as sister maxwell.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Week 2
2/3/10
Hello all!
It took me a full minute to remember my password, and then I had to read emails, so I'm down to 20 minutes to type my guts out about the exciting happenings of week 2!
In no particular order:
We have had a few run-ins with "famous" people. First of all, the wife of my branch president, Sister Ahlander is Neal A. Maxwell's daughter. She's awesome. Next, there was an elder whose last name was Archuletta at the temple last sunday who acted strangely and asked if he looked familiar. Sis. Page said it didn't look like david archuletta, so I wonder if he's related or just likes to keep people guessing. Last, in the classroom next to ours, the very next door, going to the Netherlands is Elder Osmond, son of Donny. We like to act all giggly and try to get pictures of him on the sly just for fun.
Which leads me to my next topic: embarrassing situations for the week. First of all, we think Elder Osmond noticed us trying to take pictures with him in the background b/c he hid behind his companion and I accidentally made knowing eye contact with him when Sis Sumner said, "let's take a picture here!" Next, we think our teacher Bro. Killian thinks we like him or something because every time we say anything about him, there he is! I guess you had to be there for that one. The last embarrassing thing was that someone's hand was resting on top of a divider we were sitting by in the Teaching Resource Center (TRC)[and Sis Sumner touched it] with her pen at the goading of Sis. Gotberg. It turned out to be an attractive teacher that teaches on our floor. Bro. Killian said, "Sis Sumner, don't flirt wtih Bro.... He's engaged! And then told him that he had permission to come down on us for flirting with any of the teachers. Sis Sumner was more embarrassed than I was and had a dream the next night she was getting sent home for flirting. We had a good laugh about it :) At devotional yesterday Elder Hinckley came. He gave a great talk and told some fun stories about President Hinckley.
On sundays the missionaries get to walk up to the temple. I saw Cami Jones there. She got here this week. She didn't remember me, but was excited to find out who I was. She didn't like the temple walk b/c it seemed to her like a ward party on temple grounds. Very true, but it's our only chance to be social and take pictures.
I gave a talk on Sunday. It was good. On following the propet. Got to use Prop 8 experience. It's not as overused here :) I also sat by Sis Jones at Choir on Tues. We have choir practice on sunday with a younger guy that sounds like Brian Reagan and on Tues with an older gentleman that sounds like Prof. Harold Hill. The choir is a quarter of the missionaries here I swear. It's fun!
On Monday I was despairing that Mitch hadn't come to eat lunch with me. I figured I just had to stop hoping he'd come and then he would :) Then there he was a lunch! It was so great to see him and get some inside perspective on the teaching at the MTC.
So a little about MTC culture. One thing for this week. We all call each other by our nationalities. Those sisters over there aren't going to Germany, they are the German sisters. Our elders have rivalries with the German and Spanish elders. We were told not to speak to them which we promptly disregarded :) On Sunday Pres. Smith told us it was up to us to keep the Elders in check. They do silly things to impress the sisters most of the time he said. Let them know they are being immature, he said. At lunch that day, Elder Bloomfield was talking to me about a silly thing he had done in high school which is fairly inappropriate in nature, but not unheard of, so I was just treating him like I would when Brian would tell me the silly things he and his friends did. Another sister next to us chided him and told him that wasn't appropriate to talk about on his mission. The spirit is not in the conversation she said. He replied that it was for the sisters in his district to keep him in check, not her. I agreed but didn't say anything. I don't want to be one of those sisters.
Ack! out of time. Thanks aunt lisa for the weather and grandma for your letters and everyone else! You are all wonderful and I love you. I'm doing great and learning tons. My testimony is strengthened every day and I'm coming closer to the Spirit and getting better at teaching every day (and probably swedish too, but that's debatable). Hope this all makes sense. Until next week! Love, love, love!
Syster Maxwell
Hello all!
It took me a full minute to remember my password, and then I had to read emails, so I'm down to 20 minutes to type my guts out about the exciting happenings of week 2!
In no particular order:
We have had a few run-ins with "famous" people. First of all, the wife of my branch president, Sister Ahlander is Neal A. Maxwell's daughter. She's awesome. Next, there was an elder whose last name was Archuletta at the temple last sunday who acted strangely and asked if he looked familiar. Sis. Page said it didn't look like david archuletta, so I wonder if he's related or just likes to keep people guessing. Last, in the classroom next to ours, the very next door, going to the Netherlands is Elder Osmond, son of Donny. We like to act all giggly and try to get pictures of him on the sly just for fun.
Which leads me to my next topic: embarrassing situations for the week. First of all, we think Elder Osmond noticed us trying to take pictures with him in the background b/c he hid behind his companion and I accidentally made knowing eye contact with him when Sis Sumner said, "let's take a picture here!" Next, we think our teacher Bro. Killian thinks we like him or something because every time we say anything about him, there he is! I guess you had to be there for that one. The last embarrassing thing was that someone's hand was resting on top of a divider we were sitting by in the Teaching Resource Center (TRC)[and Sis Sumner touched it] with her pen at the goading of Sis. Gotberg. It turned out to be an attractive teacher that teaches on our floor. Bro. Killian said, "Sis Sumner, don't flirt wtih Bro.... He's engaged! And then told him that he had permission to come down on us for flirting with any of the teachers. Sis Sumner was more embarrassed than I was and had a dream the next night she was getting sent home for flirting. We had a good laugh about it :) At devotional yesterday Elder Hinckley came. He gave a great talk and told some fun stories about President Hinckley.
On sundays the missionaries get to walk up to the temple. I saw Cami Jones there. She got here this week. She didn't remember me, but was excited to find out who I was. She didn't like the temple walk b/c it seemed to her like a ward party on temple grounds. Very true, but it's our only chance to be social and take pictures.
I gave a talk on Sunday. It was good. On following the propet. Got to use Prop 8 experience. It's not as overused here :) I also sat by Sis Jones at Choir on Tues. We have choir practice on sunday with a younger guy that sounds like Brian Reagan and on Tues with an older gentleman that sounds like Prof. Harold Hill. The choir is a quarter of the missionaries here I swear. It's fun!
On Monday I was despairing that Mitch hadn't come to eat lunch with me. I figured I just had to stop hoping he'd come and then he would :) Then there he was a lunch! It was so great to see him and get some inside perspective on the teaching at the MTC.
So a little about MTC culture. One thing for this week. We all call each other by our nationalities. Those sisters over there aren't going to Germany, they are the German sisters. Our elders have rivalries with the German and Spanish elders. We were told not to speak to them which we promptly disregarded :) On Sunday Pres. Smith told us it was up to us to keep the Elders in check. They do silly things to impress the sisters most of the time he said. Let them know they are being immature, he said. At lunch that day, Elder Bloomfield was talking to me about a silly thing he had done in high school which is fairly inappropriate in nature, but not unheard of, so I was just treating him like I would when Brian would tell me the silly things he and his friends did. Another sister next to us chided him and told him that wasn't appropriate to talk about on his mission. The spirit is not in the conversation she said. He replied that it was for the sisters in his district to keep him in check, not her. I agreed but didn't say anything. I don't want to be one of those sisters.
Ack! out of time. Thanks aunt lisa for the weather and grandma for your letters and everyone else! You are all wonderful and I love you. I'm doing great and learning tons. My testimony is strengthened every day and I'm coming closer to the Spirit and getting better at teaching every day (and probably swedish too, but that's debatable). Hope this all makes sense. Until next week! Love, love, love!
Syster Maxwell
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
1st Week
27 January 2010
Heysan, min familj!
So, it's been a week. This computer keyboard is no good. I'll do my best to type like a maniac. I'm in the laundry room. Turns out the guys always wrote from down here because they tell you to stay with your laundry.
It's been an interesting week. I don't actually feel like a missionary yet and have called myself Amy out loud twice this week. It's also strange to be surrounded by Elders when talking to them very much has always been taboo. My district is great. There are 7 elders and 4 sisters (including myself) going to sweden in this group. The group before us had only 3 elders. They were studs apparently. Everytime anyone sees us, they say, "Wow! 4 Sisters! You guys are so lucky!" I suppose we are. Except that we do a lot of things as a possey, and it's hard to convince 3 instead of just 1. We also hear all the time about how talented the sisters that are already in Sweden are. The branch president asked me if I could play hymns in church on Sunday and then proceeded to tell me how good one of the elders that had just left had been. He could play anything! Imagine my chagrin when I messed up throughout all three hymns on Sunday.
The Elders in my district are a lot of fun, love to laugh, and are all so sincere. They seem to really want to be here and improve in their Swedish. Their testimonies are a great strength to mine and they make class time fun. The sisters in my district are all so funny! I'm like the old, crochety one compared to them :) It's been a challenge because I get really into my studying when it's important to me or I feel like I'm falling behind, and it takes 10 minutes to get everyone quiet. My companion and I have different learning methods, so we are still working that out. I struggle speaking languages, so I'm the worst in my group. Give me a grammar test, and I'd be just fine, but that's not the method emphasized for learning here. So I go on struggling. We learned how to pray and bear testimony in Swedish this week. The first time we went to the Teaching Resource Center was on Monday and I forgot everything I had practiced! All I could think of was a weird mix of Swedish, Spanish and K'iche'. Surprisingly, I think of a k'iche' word instead of the Swedish all the time. My teacher encouraged me to keep up with my Spanish while I'm here because there are so many immigrants that need to be taught in Spanish in Sweden, which I knew, but it made me feel justified and hopeful.
The food here is killer. I'm still adjusting to it. Everything for lunch and dinner is so heavy unless you just get a salad. It's going to get old. I also need to learn to slow down when eating again because I keep eating when the Elders are eating. it reminds me of being 12 again when I'd take multiple portions of spaghetti, but I don't have Ted here to tell me to stop because I'm getting fat :) Having gym every day is helpful, and they have a half hour class at 6 am for the sisters every day but sunday. Sadly, I need the sleep. I fell asleep in devotional yesterday.
I'm surprisingly pleased with being a missionary. The regime here takes some adjusting to, but I feel like I was able to step back into being perfectly obedient easier than I expected. I've already learned (or relearned, rather) so much about my own faith and testimony. It's been refreshing to get back to basics.
I've only cried twice; which is good. Turns out I'm the weepy sister in the group, dang it! Not surprising to the Boys, I'm sure :) I'm not homesick though, and am very happy.
Thanks everybody for all your letters. Turns out that dear elder sends a letter for each page, so when you sent all those missionary letters, mom, I got like 5 letters! It made everybody so jealous. Thanks everybody for the support. It's nice to know my friends haven't forgotten me :) I'll write to whom I can. I love you all! The Church really is true, turns out.
Love,
Syster Maxwell
P.S. Excuse the spelling. No time to proofread.
Heysan, min familj!
So, it's been a week. This computer keyboard is no good. I'll do my best to type like a maniac. I'm in the laundry room. Turns out the guys always wrote from down here because they tell you to stay with your laundry.
It's been an interesting week. I don't actually feel like a missionary yet and have called myself Amy out loud twice this week. It's also strange to be surrounded by Elders when talking to them very much has always been taboo. My district is great. There are 7 elders and 4 sisters (including myself) going to sweden in this group. The group before us had only 3 elders. They were studs apparently. Everytime anyone sees us, they say, "Wow! 4 Sisters! You guys are so lucky!" I suppose we are. Except that we do a lot of things as a possey, and it's hard to convince 3 instead of just 1. We also hear all the time about how talented the sisters that are already in Sweden are. The branch president asked me if I could play hymns in church on Sunday and then proceeded to tell me how good one of the elders that had just left had been. He could play anything! Imagine my chagrin when I messed up throughout all three hymns on Sunday.
The Elders in my district are a lot of fun, love to laugh, and are all so sincere. They seem to really want to be here and improve in their Swedish. Their testimonies are a great strength to mine and they make class time fun. The sisters in my district are all so funny! I'm like the old, crochety one compared to them :) It's been a challenge because I get really into my studying when it's important to me or I feel like I'm falling behind, and it takes 10 minutes to get everyone quiet. My companion and I have different learning methods, so we are still working that out. I struggle speaking languages, so I'm the worst in my group. Give me a grammar test, and I'd be just fine, but that's not the method emphasized for learning here. So I go on struggling. We learned how to pray and bear testimony in Swedish this week. The first time we went to the Teaching Resource Center was on Monday and I forgot everything I had practiced! All I could think of was a weird mix of Swedish, Spanish and K'iche'. Surprisingly, I think of a k'iche' word instead of the Swedish all the time. My teacher encouraged me to keep up with my Spanish while I'm here because there are so many immigrants that need to be taught in Spanish in Sweden, which I knew, but it made me feel justified and hopeful.
The food here is killer. I'm still adjusting to it. Everything for lunch and dinner is so heavy unless you just get a salad. It's going to get old. I also need to learn to slow down when eating again because I keep eating when the Elders are eating. it reminds me of being 12 again when I'd take multiple portions of spaghetti, but I don't have Ted here to tell me to stop because I'm getting fat :) Having gym every day is helpful, and they have a half hour class at 6 am for the sisters every day but sunday. Sadly, I need the sleep. I fell asleep in devotional yesterday.
I'm surprisingly pleased with being a missionary. The regime here takes some adjusting to, but I feel like I was able to step back into being perfectly obedient easier than I expected. I've already learned (or relearned, rather) so much about my own faith and testimony. It's been refreshing to get back to basics.
I've only cried twice; which is good. Turns out I'm the weepy sister in the group, dang it! Not surprising to the Boys, I'm sure :) I'm not homesick though, and am very happy.
Thanks everybody for all your letters. Turns out that dear elder sends a letter for each page, so when you sent all those missionary letters, mom, I got like 5 letters! It made everybody so jealous. Thanks everybody for the support. It's nice to know my friends haven't forgotten me :) I'll write to whom I can. I love you all! The Church really is true, turns out.
Love,
Syster Maxwell
P.S. Excuse the spelling. No time to proofread.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
My Hand at Vagrancy
Last week I set a record. I slept in a different place every night for 6 nights in a row. I was going for a whole week, but I did a repeat on Tuesday. So why the vagrancy, you may ask? It all started last June when I got it in my head that I was completely disatisfied with my current situation and that chasing after a boy I hardly knew would be much more fulfilling. My lease ran out at the end of June, or rather, my period as a rent-paying squatter since I never signed a lease and wasn't legally supposed to live there (the apartment was capped at 2 by the City of Berkeley, and I made 3). I then moved back to Danville to my Uncle Mike and Aunt Shelley's house. I prepared to leave first by the end of June, then changed my date to the end of July, and then the middle of July, and then the end of September, and then indefinitely. In the midst of all the plan changing, I packed up all my things, sent half of my clothing home, and sold my car because I was "moving home". I came to the realization that I needed a change and that my current job wasn't cutting it as far as making me feel like I was accomplishing anything. I decided not to take the promotion they were offering me and find another job in the area. It was then that I was finally in the position to heed the prompting to go on a mission. It took quite a lot to humble me, but I was finally ready to listen. I already had my doctor's appointments set up, so I thought it would be a breeze to get my papers in quickly. They are in now, but it took a little longer than expected and since I put my availability date as essentially immediately, I am stuck in limbo, not knowing how much time I have left here. That leaves me in a weird situation. The bulk of my stuff is in Danville. I work in Pleasant Hill. The majority of my friends are in Berkeley. And I have no car to get between the three.
Therefore, I've become a vagrant, a mooch, and an avid public-transportation user. I've become fairly adjusted to this type of life-style. When I started, I often went hungry or made other people feed me. I grew weary of always packing an overnight bag, but I've become accustomed to always having a change of clothes on my back. Biking in the street no longer causes me anxiety, though biking up large hills still does. I have claimed one of my uncle's bikes as my own, nabbed a sleeping bag to cart around, and even taken all my clothes to stash in the basement of the Berkeley Institute building. I keep food at work for breakfast and lunch, so I'm fairly set. I used to have stuff across the US (CA, UT, and NC), but now I mostly just have stuff strewn across the Bay Area. It reminds me of my dad complaining about how my socks and snot rags were everywhere in the house. I just want everyone to be reminded of me always :) I try to rotate through my friends, so they don't get tired of me. I always find a place to sleep and have yet to sleep at the institute itself or in People's Park in Berkeley, but it's just a matter of time...
Next time...Life lessons learned as a vagrant...
Therefore, I've become a vagrant, a mooch, and an avid public-transportation user. I've become fairly adjusted to this type of life-style. When I started, I often went hungry or made other people feed me. I grew weary of always packing an overnight bag, but I've become accustomed to always having a change of clothes on my back. Biking in the street no longer causes me anxiety, though biking up large hills still does. I have claimed one of my uncle's bikes as my own, nabbed a sleeping bag to cart around, and even taken all my clothes to stash in the basement of the Berkeley Institute building. I keep food at work for breakfast and lunch, so I'm fairly set. I used to have stuff across the US (CA, UT, and NC), but now I mostly just have stuff strewn across the Bay Area. It reminds me of my dad complaining about how my socks and snot rags were everywhere in the house. I just want everyone to be reminded of me always :) I try to rotate through my friends, so they don't get tired of me. I always find a place to sleep and have yet to sleep at the institute itself or in People's Park in Berkeley, but it's just a matter of time...
Next time...Life lessons learned as a vagrant...
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Some thoughts on the deteriorating state of the world
Not really. Just one thought.
I went to the Pleasant Hill Library today to get my Contra Costa County Library Card! I got really excited about it as I was leaving work because it brought back happy memories of all the time spent at the library growing up whether checking out books or looking at romance novels with my Cross Country friends instead of running. Imagine my horror when I saw the sign that said I must provide proof of my current residence. I left the building dejected, but after some quick remembered a recent paycheck that I had stashed in a book in my car that had my Danville address printed on it. Thanks Lincoln Law!
I quickly filled out the online registration and hurried over to the accounts desk where the man issued me my brand new library card! As he was finishing everything, I pondered on how wonderful it is that we have a place where we can check out books and movies for free. Education for the masses. Thanks Benjamin Franklin! You're the man!
I hurried off to find my book, and there the fact that indeed things are going downhill in CA became real to me. I couldn't find the book I wanted (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon) with the other books by the same author. I went to go ask the volunteer nearby that looked nigh unto death, she was so frail. She flashed me a big smile and informed me that she was deaf. I somewhat communicated my problem and she told me that since they no longer have funding, they can't afford to have "the kids come in," and the number of volunteers has been seriously reduced. She herself was a volunteer and could only come in a few hours every week. So, I had to look on the carts for my book since none had been shelved. I knew that California was going to cut Insurance for children and state parks, but I didn't know about the public libraries. Goodbye health, recreation, and education. I got my book and walked out, saddened by the deteriorating state of things.
On a lighter note, I flirted with some tattooed, muscular men in white vans on the way home from work today. I caught one guy's eye completely innocently, I swear. But we exchanged amused glances as we passed each other back and forth in traffic. I didn't mean to flirt; it just happened. They all waved at me as I was exiting. I think they were prisoners. It makes it all the more exciting.
Also, I got a voicemail at work from Jane who sells crocheted hats in San Francisco. She never showed up to her appointment yesterday, and I had so wanted to meet her. Sadly, she had been at the BART station waiting for the bus which must never have come! She always called by pay phone, so we can't reach her. Our phone system is stupid. We can't get our clients calls because they are all routed through Utah. I hope Jane tries again.
That's it. Maybe I will actually blog in the future.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Day Tripper
I am super excited because I'm going to LA next week to go check out UCLA and see grandma maxwell and all the extended family down there. I called my Uncle Raymond up and said essentially, "hi. I'm your great-niece. Can I stay at your house?" He was very welcoming and said there were a number of pull out couches, so plenty of room for both me and my grandma. He's going to have a big dinner at his house on Friday night with my Dad's cousin Deena and the other cousins, so that will be fun. Anyway, the question is, what is a good gift for an extended family host who you have never met? Bread? Pie? Any suggestions?
I also am a bit nervous about checking out UCLA. It's so hard to grow up and decide what to do with one's life. It's the normal thing where I've let it go so long without dealing with it (talking to the admissions people I mean), that I'm afraid I've missed some deadline and people will think I'm flaky, so I end up being so. It's a terrible cycle.
I also am a bit nervous about checking out UCLA. It's so hard to grow up and decide what to do with one's life. It's the normal thing where I've let it go so long without dealing with it (talking to the admissions people I mean), that I'm afraid I've missed some deadline and people will think I'm flaky, so I end up being so. It's a terrible cycle.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Speaking of whatever...
Speaking of illegal immigration (see Ted's comment on my last post), we had two people come into our office today that we were unable to help because they had received all their credit with false Social Security numbers. Sad for us because we could have gotten more money. Tragic for them because one of them has a number of houses and the other a large amount of credit card debt.
Speaking of tragedy, one of the most educational parts of this job are the interactions with people and their varying situations. There are the young couples steeped in credit card debt and the divorcees that have been cheated and abandoned to deal with their financial ruin by their former spouses. I'm interacting with people trying to keep their businesses from going under and others that are struggling to get by on food stamps and social security while the child they care for is in juvenile detention. Some are more tragic than others. Even in the short time I've been there, I've seen a few that look broken under the stress of their failing health and growing financial burden. I am grateful for the situation I have since the news continues to be bleak. The radio is full of the same news and the same songs recycled over and over.
Speaking of recycling, I got to send out a letter demanding money from a creditor that violated the automatic stay that our clients get when they file for bankruptcy. Just because they sent them a letter asking for money, we get to demand a large fine. Also, my roommate, Maria, is a recycling fanatic and even recycles the wrapper from the Costco toilet paper. I completely approve of this since ever coming back from Guatemala, where the wrapper was also quite useful, I have felt it a waste to throw it away. She's been researching on the internet for at least half an hour how to dispose of water filters, if anyone knows. She would prefer something green.
Speaking of waste, it smelled like sewage at work today.
Speaking of smells, when I came into my building it smelled like cat urine and tortillas. When I got into my apartment it smelled like stir fry and perfume. Outside in the hallway it usually smells like smoke. I would say it was marijuana, if I knew what marijuana smelled like.
Speaking of marijuana, I passed by the famous hippie craft market on Saturday. I need to actually go in person next week. There were real hippies! Not, the neo-hippies with dreads and cut-offs, but real 60s hippies, still wearing their tie-dye. A piece of living history right near my home!
Speaking of home, I like it here. Maybe I'll stay.
Speaking of tragedy, one of the most educational parts of this job are the interactions with people and their varying situations. There are the young couples steeped in credit card debt and the divorcees that have been cheated and abandoned to deal with their financial ruin by their former spouses. I'm interacting with people trying to keep their businesses from going under and others that are struggling to get by on food stamps and social security while the child they care for is in juvenile detention. Some are more tragic than others. Even in the short time I've been there, I've seen a few that look broken under the stress of their failing health and growing financial burden. I am grateful for the situation I have since the news continues to be bleak. The radio is full of the same news and the same songs recycled over and over.
Speaking of recycling, I got to send out a letter demanding money from a creditor that violated the automatic stay that our clients get when they file for bankruptcy. Just because they sent them a letter asking for money, we get to demand a large fine. Also, my roommate, Maria, is a recycling fanatic and even recycles the wrapper from the Costco toilet paper. I completely approve of this since ever coming back from Guatemala, where the wrapper was also quite useful, I have felt it a waste to throw it away. She's been researching on the internet for at least half an hour how to dispose of water filters, if anyone knows. She would prefer something green.
Speaking of waste, it smelled like sewage at work today.
Speaking of smells, when I came into my building it smelled like cat urine and tortillas. When I got into my apartment it smelled like stir fry and perfume. Outside in the hallway it usually smells like smoke. I would say it was marijuana, if I knew what marijuana smelled like.
Speaking of marijuana, I passed by the famous hippie craft market on Saturday. I need to actually go in person next week. There were real hippies! Not, the neo-hippies with dreads and cut-offs, but real 60s hippies, still wearing their tie-dye. A piece of living history right near my home!
Speaking of home, I like it here. Maybe I'll stay.
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