Thankful.

Thanksgiving came and went in one of those "boy, that was fast" ways, didn't it?

It was such a good day, even though we couldn't make it to MN for the holiday. Martin's boss invited us to join her and her family in going to ANOTHER family's Thanksgiving. I guess this family traditionally takes in strangers (me, Martin, and two other international students from Martin's college) for the big meal. They were so welcoming and hospitable to invite us to share their house and holiday for the evening.

Wanting to contribute to the meal, Martin and I dipped a HUGE container of Thanksgiving strawberries in melted, 65% dark chocolate, and carefully balanced each berry on its hat to ensure perfect, smooth, fingerprint-free coating. After only 30 minutes, the chocolate was hard and the dessert was ready to go. It was a lot easier than it sounded before starting, and is a fail-proof way to make people like you! :) They were a tasty edition to the evening.

We didn't leave our host's house until midnight! We had so much fun sitting around the house, sipping wine and cider, eating pies and strawberries, and getting to know one another. The highlight for me was that there were a few girls around my age with whom I had things in common. I also really liked spunky uncle George, who is retired and watches DVDs everyday while he crochets.

To the family who invited us in, fed us really well, and welcomed us back next time, thanks!

Wildfires

Yesterday morning, I geared up for my 6.5 mile jog as the wind whipped around the yard. I got outside and was met with 85+ degree temperatures and strong winds. An hour and a half later, I got home and noticed the sky was kind of gray.

Martin called me and told me about some fires that had started up not too far away from where I live, but I didn't think it was a big deal. After a couple of hours, it turned out to be a VERY big deal! The Santa Ana winds were strong and fueled the fire all day and night. The fire jumped over the highways near where I live, and ash fell from the sky onto Edna's yard like snow (the only kind I predict we will get).

We didn't have to evacuate, but many around us did. Luckily, the winds shifted and headed away from us. Unfortunately, they destroyed many homes. So far, I haven't heard of any fatalities, though. The fires were/are just a few miles from here--it is really eery out.

Update Monday: The skies are blue again and the air is a little cleaner. The fire is still raging out of control, but it has headed in the opposite direction. I am posting some pictures Martin and I took Saturday afternoon.

"You have 'wholesome' written all over your face"

Really? Wholesome? What does that mean, exactly (young, naive, innocent...)?

I went in for an interview yesterday and met with a man and woman about an over-the-internet teaching position. We talked about the job, curriculum and students when the woman interrupted the interview and asked, "you're not from here, are you?" When I said, "no..., why?" she replied, "because you have 'wholesome' written all over your face!"

This isn't the first time someone has pegged me as an out-of-towner based on my appearance. I just assumed it was my down-home fashion ways, but apparently it shows on my face, too! :)

Snow? What's that?

Last week, I did a little more exploring and found an awesome park! Since lakes are limited in quantity, I definitely notice when I pass one. I also want to show my Minnesota readers what the weather is like here: hot, sunny, blue skies... The temperatures this weekend are supposed to be into the 90's. It doesn't feel like fall, but I don't mind the warmth.





Did I mention that I ran a 10K race two weeks ago? I set my personal record at 57 minutes and 55 seconds for the 6.2 mile run! Early in the race, I found a couple of people to pace myself with--a group of three women in some kind of running club, and a small woman running alone with the same shoes as I have. In the fifth mile, I passed every one of them and ran as hard as I could to the finish line. A friend of mine gave me some advice about training for a marathon, she said, "it is tough, but you will feel like you have accomplished something every day!" How true.

Vagabond notes.

I’m in California now. My mom and I drove here over the weekend—the trip was relatively uneventful (except for the hours of rain, a new chip in my windshield, and a few accidents we came upon but were not involved in). We listened to books on CD, which is a great way to pass the hours. We arrived Saturday night, slept, then went to Newport Beach and Santa Monica before dropping Mom off at the airport at 2.

Since then, I have spent the last three days trying to orient myself in this new city. One would think that after all the traveling I have done, this would be an easy task. I have found, however, that the more moving I do, the more numb I become to the whole experience. Do you know what I did yesterday? I bought a map so I could find the beach. Call me lazy, but I was a little overwhelmed with the rest of the city, so I gave up and headed for the shore!

I have done some searching for jobs, but it is difficult to find something that pays enough for me to even go. Yesterday, I was offered a babysitting job, but the lady wanted to pay me $85 for 20 hours to watch her 9-month-old son. I know money is money, but it is a hard pill for me to swallow when someone wants to give me $4.25 an hour for my weekend. I told her I couldn’t do it. I am going to keep searching the papers and online and see what I can do. I hope to have something lined up in the next couple of weeks.

Today, I am going to meet the lady I am probably going to live with! We made plans for this afternoon—I am excited to get moved into a place. That will make me feel a little more like a permanent resident, rather than a vagabond.

Update: I med Edna and move in this weekend! She has a small house in the city of Fullerton. She is 94, sweet, talkative and spunky. She seems like a much younger person trapped in an old lady's body--she still has dreams, goals and ambitions. I hope I am like that when I am that old!

Concerts and Operas

This past week, I have been busy. I have been packing and organizing, planning and researching, and traveling and saying good-bye to people.

There has been a twist in my plans to drive to California. I thought I would have a friend to help me drive there, but apparently people have jobs and other fun plans (like camping trips). My mother has offered to drive to California with me as long as we drive straight through and leave right after work today! While I am really relieved to not be making this cross-country trip on my own (thanks, Mom!), I am sad that I won't be able to stop in and see a few people along the way (especially R and D). So, woo-hoo! to the fact that I will be settling into my new home as early as Sunday--I'm sad to leave MN, but the cool temps this week are telling me it's time to go.

Let me tell you two cool things I did this week:

Cool thing #1, Sunday
I saw my first opera! It was Il Travatore. It was really wonderful--I enjoyed the opera from a first mezzanine box seat with my friend. Excellent. Here is a famous clip from the show that everyone should recognize:



Cool thing #2, Wednesday
I went to see Liam Finn in concert at First Avenue, Seventh Street Entry with three friends! Liam Finn's music was introduced to me by Kara in Korea last February, and since then, I have had his music in every playlist mix I have made. He is kind of a hippie and is from New Zealand. Here is a clip of him on the David Letterman show:



Before the show, two friends and I were walking down the street in the wrong direction (we got turned around) and who do you think we bumped into? Yes, Liam Finn himself! We didn't speak, but I can say that the three of us girls made eye contact with Liam Finn and his two friends right before they ducked into a coffee shop for some pre-show mo-jo. It was an excellent concert!

Hafta, Gonna, Wanna...Youbetcha.

I was watching the vice-presidential debate last night--before you stop reading, I want to clarify that this post is NOT political--and was distracted by something. I'm sure you caught it if you have heard Sarah Palin speak much. She has more of a "Fargo" accent than many Minnesotans I know! I couldn't get past it! I tried to listen to her policies and ideas, but kept getting blocked by her down-home speak.

I shouldn't be the one to talk about this, though. Since I have returned from Korea, I have noticed some strange things in my own speech patterns. My friends have been nice to point out that I am a little slow lately and that my words are extra-enunciated. A little slow? I hope it was only my speaking they were talking about! Yes, I have learned to be extremely careful about how I speak--when working with non-native speaking individuals, this is necessary. When speaking to American, English-speaking peers and teenage sisters, it is not.

To remedy my speech problem, I have intentionally started to add some of the rushed words that make it difficult for non-English speakers to understand, like, gonna, hafta, wanna, and shoulda. I don't like using these words, but I decided to add them into my vocabulary for a few months to jump start my normal, non-English-teacher language.

One problem, though: while my speech has sped up, I have started to hear something coming out of my mouth that I thought was gone for good: an up-north, Minnesota accent. No way! I worked hard in college to remove any traces of an accent that would mark me as a midwesterner--not because I dislike midwesterners, but because I teach English and don't want my students to sound like they stepped off the set of Fargo.

So, in light of last night's debate, and Sarah Palin's blaring accent, I have to admit that the reason it bothered me so much is that I have heard some of the same things in my own speech. I have decided to work on this in the dark recesses of my home (or, in the back room of my spunky, 94-year-old roommate, Edna) and not to speak in California until it is fixed! :)

What keeps me awake at night.

Until 2.30AM to be exact. Here are some of the thoughts and ideas I had before getting out of bed to scribble madly into my notebook:

Central America
South America
running shoes, brand names
Hartnackshule in Berlin, 10 weeks
low GI research, building muscle mass
visas to enter South America
packing lists, moving
organizing my mail from last year, lots of it
green tea's amazing antioxidant qualities
Hal Higdon and his marathon books
nail polish, need to remove it
the Spanish language, how to more effectively learn it

Why is it that I can go through my day in such a mellow manner, but when my head hits my pillow and my lamp is switched off, my brain begins milling at warp-speed? I get really creative and motivated when it is time to turn in, but when I wake up, I'm a little sluggish and unwilling to really take full advantage of my morning hours. Pretty soon, I'm not going to be able to blame it on jet lag! :)

A new domestic godess?

I've watched my mom do her annual canning my whole life. I helped out when I lived at home, but never tried to learn how to do any of it myself. This process takes my mom weeks to complete--tomatoes, pickles, beans, fruits, applesauce, sauerkraut, and so on. Two days ago, I noticed that the grapes hadn't been harvested, so I picked the ripe fruit and imagined all the possible things we could make with them (my vote was wine, but there weren't enough). Mom said jelly, so jelly it is. She guided me through the process of making jelly--boiling the fruit down, stirring in the suregel and sugar, then sealing into jars. I know how to make jelly now!

Also, we picked three large containers of apples off my grandpa's tree on Saturday. While Mom worked on canning tomatoes last night, I made applesauce for the first time! It was pretty simple, but very time consuming! I cut and cleaned almost a whole 5-gallon bucket of apples and turned it into 6 jars of fresh, juicy applesauce! Here it is:

Impressive, huh? My finished product of canning products will hopefully grow a little today as I attempt another batch of applesauce unsupervised. Here is my mom's collection of canned goods for the year:

I know, I know...she beats me in quantity by a long shot!

New Stuff

These past couple of weeks have been both relaxing and a complete whirlwind! I've had long lists of things to do each day, but have allowed myself to take things as they come. I am realizing that I like not working--is it possible to get paid to not work? If so, I want in! In all reality, I would probably enjoy this for another month, but after that, I would be looking for projects to get involved with and places to spend money. For now, I'm enjoying this transition time.

I have been in the market for a car, as you know, and I am happy to say that yesterday I found one! I looked at many cars with different makes, models, colors, sizes and prices, but nothing really felt right until I stopped by a local dealer yesterday. He showed me three cars that were about in the same price range, and here is the one I decided on:



It has relatively low miles and was priced under the low end of my price range! What color would you call it? I am not sure--it isn't gold, but it isn't brown. Tan is not exactly the right description either.

I am really relieved to have a car finally--it puts me one step closer to leaving for California. Just another week or two--I am waiting on a few last things to fall into place, but I hope to get out of here before the snow starts to fall!

One more update: I think I have a place to live all lined up in Anaheim already! I am planning to move into the spare bedroom of a spunky 94-year-old lady. She and I have talked on the phone a couple of times and she is holding the spot open for me--we'll start with a temporary lease, but as long as I'm on my best behavior, maybe she will keep me! :) (The rent is REALLY low and it would be a fantastic way for me to save a little money.)

A few things...

Still no job, still no car, still enjoying life for the most part...

As mentioned in a previous post, I've been filling my days with running, Spanish and lounging during this transition time. I have gotten quite a bit done, but it has been at a VERY relaxed pace. I figure that this is a rare time in my life where it is OK to do nothing. Once I get out to California, things will be different.

I researched new music yesterday, a couple of notable finds include: Laura Marling (Brit-folk), Paramore (Brit-punk), and Vampire Weekend (indie-punk-rock). Check them out if you are looking for new tunes! I think Paramore and Vampire Weekend will make great running companions.


This is such a random post!

Finally, thanks to my aunt, I've found a new time-waster that I've quickly become addicted to: solving jigsaw puzzles on the National Geographic website. It's really fun, but if you plan to only solve one puzzle, think again.