New inspiration

Blogging for me doesn't happen. It's like writing in my journal or calling my friends back in a timely manner. The days and then the weeks go by. It's always in my mind, but it just never gets done. For a person who likes to spill the inner contents of her being to almost anyone who cares to listen, it surprises me that blogging wouldn't be more of a draw. So I've decided to try again.
I was inspired this morning by all the facebook invitations telling me to vote no on SB81 and to tell the Utah Legislature of my dissapproval. Not living in Utah and generally being unaware of such things unless someone tells me, I really have no idea what this bill is all about. I will research it, but the main thing is that I felt rallied to the cause. I feel an overwhelming desire to protest something. Something that is fundamentally wrong, something that I have no doubt is a bad move for society. I guess I'm just feeling feisty, but if anyone knows of something that is perfectly evil and that many people will be holding signs up over in the area, do let me know.
Hopefully I will continue writing my thoughts as well as the events of my life. I lost my job two weeks ago and found a new one a week ago. I only have a week and a half left in this one. I feel like good times are ahead and a new beginning is just around the corner. Who knows, could be... There's something just out of reach, down the street, on the beach... OK, enough of West Side Story, I don't remember the words. I commiserated with a girl who used to work here who is in the Berkeley ward. She just kept saying over and over, "I'm so happy that you are getting out! You won't miss it." Something's coming, something good. Yay!

Fall is here...

The leaves are turning and it's starting to get colder. Ok, not really. This is California. It's still in the 70's every day. I think of You've Got Mail around this time because of the opening scene where they discuss how the fall inspires a desire to buy school supplies. Tom Hanks says that he would send Meg Ryan a bouquet of sharpened pencils if he knew where she lived.
Anyway, I bring this up because I recently found a rubber band on my desk that smells just like those rubber playground ball we used to play four square and Greek dodge ball with in elementary school. I always loved the way those smelled. This little strip of stretchiness took me back to the times when I'd open up the coat closet and the dense aroma of rubber and fun would envelop me. Anyway, I guess I could finish up about nostalgia for a simpler time when my only worries were catty girls on the playground. But really, I just like the smell...

Wernicke's Disease

So I've started my job as a receptionist as I've mentioned before. I always considered myself good receptionist material. Warm, friendly, nice smile, etc, but I never realized that something lurked within that would destroy my hopes of reaching the pinnacle of receptionist-ness.
I always knew I had a problem. My friends knew it. My parents knew it because my mother suffers from it. There's nothing wrong with my hearing, but I'm pretty sure there's something not quite right in my Wernicke's Area. Slight brain damage? Maybe. Judge for yourself. Not uncommon are comments such as this:
Me: Did you say you are in love with Michael Buble?
Whomever: No! I said I want to make a cheese souffle!
Oops. So yesterday a man by the name of Wif called. I had no idea that anyone in the world is named Wif, so I told me boss, Bob, that Wes was calling. He later corrected me, saying that his name was indeed strange. Near the end of the day, a man who I swear said his name was Brian King calls up Bob, and I transfer him.
Me: (Sweetly) Bob, Brian King is on the line for you.
Bob: (Gruffly and obviously annoyed) Ming! His name is Ming! He's Chinese!
Sorry Bob that my disability has come between us. I'll never get promoted to favorite receptionist now.

Who knew telephones were quite so complex?

I have a new job. I answer the phone and read people's resumes at a job recruiter. The first day was almost a disaster. I sat there learning how to answer the phones for the first two hours. The only problem was that the phone only rang a few times. When Carol (the other receptionist) left, I still had no idea how to get phone calls successfully across to my ornery bosses. The first time I tried to transfer a call to the head boss-man, I put him on what I thought was hold, then proceeded to hang up on him after telling my boss that he was on the phone. Pandemonium erupted. Everyone became very stern very quickly and my boss said loudly, "He's not on the phone. He's not on the phone!" The girl who had been talking to me when I answered the phone tried to recover the phone call. Who knows where I'd pigeon-holed the fellow, but his call was out there somewhere in oblivion, waiting to be picked up. When all the hubbub died down, he called back. Crisis averted. Since then it's been almost fine. I'm still on the job hunt though. Being a receptionist is definitely not my cup of tea.
The other part of my job is searching for resumes that match available positions on CareerBuilder. I'll learn something at least. The first thing I've learned is that Hogi Yogi really is a blight on my cv, just like I thought it always would be. Nuts!

I heart Smetana

So September is turning out to be a stressful month, and I'm guessing October will be the same way. I'm attempting to study for the GRE which I recently found out has changed in the past months, so the prep materials I have are partially obsolete. Oh well. I'll do my best, and I can always retake it. I also am trying to get my paper prepared for publication (I need to have a draft done by the beginning of October), and upon reading over my paper from last year, realized I have some major revisions that may amount to rewriting half the paper. More work than I expected, but I'm excited about writing it, which I guess is a good thing.
Oh, I'm also trying to find a job. A full-time one that gives me lots of money or at least more that $11/hour. Uncle Mike introduced me to a guy who's job is finding people jobs, and he said he had a position for me answering phones and helping him with internet research part-time until I find another job. Of course I lept at the chance. Then I realized that I've got a lot to do in the next few weeks on top of trying to be social and make friends. Bleah. It'll all work out and come out fine in the end. It always does.
I also would like to apply for grad schools this year. Hmmm... Maybe I can squeeze that in somewhere.
Other than that, I'm really enjoying myself, making new friends and getting to know the area. I walked on the Golden Gate Bridge, rode a trolley car (singing that song from 'Meet Me in St. Louis' while swinging off the side), spent way too much money making public transportation mistakes, ate at a restaurant in China town, went to Fisherman's Wharf and the Embarcadero, and drove through Castro. Still much more to see, and I'd post pictures, but I currently have no camera since it got stolen in Copan. *Shakes left fist*
So last Monday I saw this guy on BART who seemed really nice and even said something to me, but I just responded and didn't strike up conversation. I was kicking myself days later. So then we go to the visitor's center by the Oakland temple to see an art exhibit that's up there. We're taking the tour and the sister missionary opens the door and... there he is! Amazing! He recognized me, but couldn't place me. He remembered once I told him. He was going to the same regional young single adult fireside that we were going to, so that's why he was there. Anyway, we are going to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the SF museum of modern art on Thursday. He seems nice, so hopefully he's not a creep. In other news, Spencer (my cousin who's room I have temporarily occupied) left his mate bombillas and stuff here. Yay! There's a guy in my ward who said he'd drink it with me. No one here will touch the stuff. Sad day for them.
The moral of the story is that 'The Moldau' is like a bubble bath for the soul. Thanks Aaron for making this possible!

When it rains, it pours (from June 4th)

This week…It's hard to remember. I've been working at Copikaj, the basket cooperative. Mostly it's been office assistant work. The first day was fun. We went and helped a family of weavers finish off their products to turn in that afternoon. They let me work with them and talked to me a lot in K'iche'. I was trying really hard to understand, but really I only got about half of it. It was really fun. They asked a lot about life in the United States. For some reason people have this idea that it is common for people to sign contracts upon getting married that say they are only going to be married for 5 years or whatever. I know that there were those who would get married to get a green card then get a divorce later and maybe they are thinking of pre-nups or the high divorce rate. I don't know, but it's one of the common questions I get all the time. If anyone has experience with that, do let me know.
Anyway, the second day, I helped Julio (the guy in charge of basket production and commercialization) organize the warehouse which was full of rat droppings and dust. The baskets were in fairly good shape for the most part, but it turned out that it was pretty disorganized. I tried to help by sorting the baskets according to type while he was out talking to a woman about buying land. When he came back in, he basically said, I was planning on putting something else in those spots. Then he threw all the piles I had made on the floor and did it his way, throwing baskets in whatever container. Oh well. Because of what I had done, he did keep most of the different kinds together, though, so that's something.

The next day I went in and worked in the office and did more organizing and pricing. Today we did inventory. I think they are taking advantage of the fact that I'm there to do the projects they've needed to do. That's what I'm there for, I guess. I'm excited to get to know some of the basket weavers and do interviews with them. My new goal this week is to get a bit of data on the people's concept of their town identity and traditions. I'll let you all know how that goes.
As far as fun and games go, I've been playing a little more with the little girls that are 2 ½ and 4. Ramona's (the older one's) favorite show on Discovery Kids is Lazy Town, so we do exercises in the kitchen after dinner. They are really cute, but really disrespectful to their grandparents and get into everything not to mention that they are constantly at each other's throat and touching each other and rough-housing. Kind of reminds me of me and Brian growing up actually. Sorry if we were annoying guys. :]
Anyway, we also went to San Pedro on Saturday night to see the election of the town queen. It was really stressful because the whole group decided to go because if more than 2 of us are going anywhere, it becomes a group activity. No one wants to be left out. I respect that. It was raining and we missed the first bus. Another bus came almost immediately though, but there were doubts cast by Craig's host mom about whether it was actually San Juan that we were supposed to be going to. The ride made Jessica sick and she threw up in the street when we got there. We had to find a hotel which ended up not being too bad. After dinner (about 8:20) we headed over to the program which was outside without chairs set up, so we had to stand the whole time.
The others weren't enjoying the program or felt gross, so they left after about 45 minutes. Craig and I stuck it out to the end (because it's his project and I'm interested in representations of their own culture). It didn't finish until almost 1 am. I was pretty sore the next day. I'm not used to standing in one place that long.
It was raining when we left that next morning. We had to wait almost an hour in the boat to go to Panajachel for church, so we missed sacrament meeting. Everyone was cranky on the way back because they were hungry (not because it was fast Sunday because they forgot. Craig reminded me luckily. I don't like surprises like that.), tired, sick, and wet. Anyway, we all love each other again and we got home fine.
Oh and it's been raining since Friday. We've had two tropical storms pass (probably depressions by the time they get here actually), Alma and Arthur. There has been flooding across the country and mudslides on the road down to the pacific coast and one by Nahualá (inter-american Highway) that I've heard of. We've been fine here except for the laziness (and depression) that accompanies the rain. Craig had to go to Momostenango on Monday, so I was worried about him ending up dead at the bottom of a muddy gulf, but all that happened was a delay because they had to go through the center of Nahualá to get around the mudslide. They said there is another storm that might be coming through, but I get confused information all the time, so I'm not sure how many more days of this we are going to have. According to the newspaper here, the ground is already to the saturation point of September. Yikes!
Anyway, the rain is driving me nuts and I just want the sun to come out again. The sun came out for about 5 minutes today and I went out and looked at it. It was so warm and happy! It reminded me of the story mom always talks about where they lock that girl in the closet for saying it is going to stop raining and when it actually does stop, they forget about her and she misses it. I'm glad I saw it.
Anyway, I think that's it. Life marches on and takes me with it.

So this is actually from May 26th

last week was slightly unexciting. Finished my basket. Read a lot. Got more behind. Yay! Anyway, I really only have about twenty minutes to write anyway. I'm still alive, still not sick, and still fairly (fat and) happy. I kind of went on an eating binge last week which I'm still recovering from. I love tienda food! (i.e. cheap fatty snacks). On Friday most of us went to Sololá to buy weaving materials. I went to go check out the basketmakers that come from Santa Clara to sell. It was fun. They were all (ok just one) really excited to hear that I am living in Santa Clara and learning to make baskets. That night I was feeling sick from the greasy chicken and snacks we ate on the trip, so I went to Craig's house to watch Shrek II. We were half way done when his computer shut off and wouldn't turn back on, so we just called it a night. My family gave me a stick to beat the dogs off with, but I got home just fine. As he gave it to me, Don Pedro said, 'Now people make fun of you for carrying a stick, but it's worth it.' Not the thing to say to someone who's already self conscious about being who she is where she is anyway. Oh well. I told Chad's family, who I went to visit on the way, that it was for bad children when one of the girls mentioned it (Aracely). Her grandma laughed.
On Saturday, we went to San Marcos again (we promised Juan we would) and jumped off the big rocks. Ok, I'm not as brave as I thought. There's something about throwing yourself off of something into something you can't see. I'm not sure how high it was exactly, but I think it was about 5 meters tops. The shorter one was about three. I'll send pictures next week. We got some cool ones. The lake is pretty deep there. I didn't touch the bottom when I jumped really couldn't see all the way down to the bottom even though the water is pretty clear. I ended up jumping off about three times, and the first time took about 15 minutes for me to finally just go. After, Craig and I swam around to the beach (I don't know how far it was). There were women by the beach washing their clothes and one woman was bathing. It made me wonder how far they had come to wash since a lot of the places that are right around there are pretty touristy and would have water. I didn't really get a chance to look around much of the town though. We went to a restaurant and had huge plates of spaghetti. Yum! We were home by quarter to three. Sad news is I left my umbrella in a tuk tuk. Goodbye trusty friend that been by my side for four years now. It has survived rain, wind, and snow only to go the way of my bag of snickers. No going back now. It's time to move on to a cheap Guatemalan umbrella. Everyone shed a tear for my dearly departed.

Anyway, we also had a fiasco getting to church because no buses passed and Craig was half and hour late. We didn't get up to the highway to catch the 20 minute (25? I can't remember) bus ride to Chirijox until 9, so we decided to go to the 10:00 Nahualá branch instead. We got there half an hour early, so I decided to play the piano a bit. I don't know what I was thinking. Of course I doomed myself to play the hymns. It was fine though. I've gotten better in the last year thanks to the piano in my apartment (or maybe the hymns were just easy). Anyway, it was the most successful sacrament piano playing I think I've done.
So that was good. And life is good. My bath water was actually almost hot on Sunday and I cut a mango successfully this morning, so maybe they will trust me more with things. Anyway, they love me and I love them. I also am going to start working at the basketweaving cooperative this afternoon, so that will be awesome too, hopefully. Well, until next week...when we run to the coast and back (that may only slightly be a joke).