Si Se Puede

Participate in your own care

2008-09-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

I love my job. I work at the county hospital and I treat everyone who basically gets refused treatment other places. Because of the way the employee health benefits work (completely covered hospitalizations) I also treat nurses and administrators and other employees of the hospital.

Most of my patients are a joy and I gain a lot through my interactions and having opportunites to impact their lives in a positive way through health education and connecting resources for them on top of managing their corporal care.

Recently though, I have run into a few situations that have made me toss and turn at night. I can't get into details because of privacy issues but I will say that the frustration comes from caring for people who don't seem to want to make any initiative to be an active player in their own health. I don't mean because they are lying languid and depressed from pain or a debilitating disease. I understand trying to "check out" in those situations. I'm talking about recovering from a non-life threatening procedure and ignoring advice about mobility and food choices---things that only the patient can control---and expecting their situation to resolve with medication and time alone.

My brief but intimate encounters with my patients can be frustrating when they fit this bill because there is only so much that can be done externally for a person and at some point the outside help has to recognize that my responsibility can only stretch as far as my contributions to the patient. It is frustrating to have to let go of the things only they can control. On one hand I am hoping to get to the point where I am able to let go of that aspect of care so that I won't worry as much, but on the other hand I am afraid to lose that part of my motivation to care.

Trying Camping Again plus cycling

2008-07-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I have decided to experience a little more regular adventure in our lives. While nursing at the county hospital can seem like plenty of adventure most of the time, it is the kind of adventure that requires a lot of attention to detail and ends up being the high stress sort. As for Chris, his daily adventure consists mostly with manipulating very expensive equipment as he searches for clues in the mysterious and powerful kidney. Also sort of high stress.
This weekend we are going to Shipshewana, IN. Not adventuresome you say? Well it is when you plan to stay at a campground owned by "a couple of elderly people" and plan on exploring Amish-land backroads on your bicycle and when you plan on visiting the Gene Stratton-Porter house which amazingly has no website. Actually, none of these places do. The research was done with the good old telephone and live conversation. Well, I did look at a Google map when the gentleman from Riverside campground was telling me how to get there. The idea for the trip even came from a BOOK at the library called "The Best Bike Rides in the Midwest." I am thinking Chris will be less afraid to camp in a place populated more by the Amish than regular-old-heartlanders. We'll see.

Wedding Day!

2008-06-28T07:20:00.000-07:00

Today a friend of mine from nursing school is getting married. She invited us to the rehearsal dinner last night and of course to the wedding today. We decided to stay in Bloomington overnight instead of driving 50 miles to Indy and back and the plan was to camp at a nearby state park to save money. That's right. I figured I could get pretty at a campsite's bathroom as well as anywhere.
Now, on our way to this camping adventure my husband and I were having a conversation about whether we were more afraid of people or animals when camping. I fear animals. Bears and mountain lions etc. I think Chris was shown the film "Deliverance" at too tender an age because he is terrified of country-folk and seems convinced that there are hillbillies waiting to pounce on unsavvy city-dwelling-campers. However, when we pulled up to the park's entrance we noticed that the 2008 Audi in front of us had the bumper stickers "I love the first amendment" and "actually, guns DO kill people." This sort of blew his image of our fellow campers to the side a little. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to experience a night surviving in a southern Indiana state park with Chris because the campsite was full! Thank goodness for friendships in youth because a pal who rents a home in Bloomington allowed us to stay with him. I have to say though, I locked the bedroom door when I heard our friend's roommate come home and pull out one record to play the song, "Hit Me With Your Best Shot."
I don't know if it's possible to let go of all fear of people while you sleep. Also, at a wedding.

Two Years Later

2008-06-26T09:04:00.001-07:00

While I'm fairly certain that no one reads this blog since it has been neglected for the past two years, I'm going to start posting again as if nothing has happened. Because I have decided to get back into cyberworld I decided that I should probabaly change my profile information, as I have changed considerably in the past few years. When I was sorting through the list of "industries" available for me to chose from, I was disappointed to see that there wasn't the option of Nursing or Healthcare or even (G-d forbid I chose this) Medicine. As I was scrolling through, I thought about all the things that Nursing necessitates: Art, Human Resources, Architecture--(of the human body?) there was even an option of "Chemicals." --Drugs? That probably counts. Fashion?--If you're careful about scrub selection... It sounds cliche and to any nurses or student nurses it is beyond cliche and moves into the obnoxious category, to say "one can do ANYTHING with nursing." Nevertheless, given the inappropriate options presented to me what was my mind supposed to revert to? I decided to choose Chemicals. Nursing almost always involves drugs. At least, it seems that way now that I'm expected to know a lot about them to take the Board exam.

april

2006-04-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

what a whirldwind of a life! i have a moment to sit and reflect because i am stuck without my car and i don't want to go out in the wind and i don't have to babysit or teach or do activist things. hurrah!

anyway, now i am just trying to get through nursing school in one piece. yesterday i had a clinical experience at the nursing home from 11-4:30. they don't play. anyway, here's an example of how unprepared to be a nurse i am: the charge nurse asked me and a friend to take vital signs (heart rate, o2 saturation, blood pressure, pain, respirations) on five people. we had about an hour and a half to get this done. simple, right? no! we only got 2 of the five people and we both forgot to check respirs! now, to be fair to myself, it must be understood that there are about a gazillion factors that interfere with getting this work done. i won't go into them because i REALLY don't want to risk any kind of hippa violations but we sucked. i know that right now it's just a matter of getting oriented and understanding the little things that no one mentions in the classroom but it's really hard. however, it's clear though that soon we will be able to do certain procedures with complete confidence and maybe even grace.

for now i will continue to read and practice and get that muscle memory and hopefully a little general orientation put together so i can actually be helpful!

tag team,back again

2005-11-12T13:28:00.000-08:00

hi hi.

here is a picture of me at a protest of the nomination of samuel alito. it was fun and i love all of my pals who were there. hey hey mister mister, keep your laws off my sister!

Nursing School Rocks/Stinks

2005-10-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of me with some of the Women's Student Association. We were making sushi.

No se preocupan,

Estoy feliz la mayoria del tiempo pero tengo mucho estres. Unas de mis profesores no sabe nada de nada y este hecho me molesta mucho porque ella diga cosas ofensivas a veces durante la clase y usa ejemplos incorrectos para illustrar sus ideas. idiota. hijole. Solo siento tan malo porque creo que todas las enfermeras deben ser muy intelegentes y con un mente muy abre. Lo que sea.

Anyway, besides that I'm great! The Women's Student Association of which I am the treasurer is going very strong. We have quite a few new members who are really excited about the group. Right now we are working on the production of the annual Take Back the Night March which protests violence against women and girls. That takes a lot of umpf. We are also doing general fund raising (pizza sales on campus) and we're meeting at my house tonight to watch Commander in Chief which is a new weekly thing that we do. Last weekend 4 of us went camping and had a great time. It was a small group (because a lot of the girls flat-out said they don't camp) but we roasted marshmallows and sang Ani Difranco songs. Then we found some underwear in the men's bathroom (the girl's was full) and we named them patriarchy and burned them. HA! In a few weekends I will be going to the Planned Parenthood Live Action Camp in Evansville where we will be learning about sex education in public schools and where that's headed. scary. Finally, to wrap up my feminist fall I am going to the Dolly Parton concert in November with my roomate, Jen. I am soooo pumped!

Nursing classes are VERY interesting. I'm finally to the point where I don't ever say "Why am I learning this crap that I will never use?" I am learning how to physically asses someone, the tiny world of microbiology, and nursing theory (where were/are we and where are we going? also, don't cheat.) After the first 4 weeks I don't feel quite so much like I'm a chicken with her head cut off. Also, I'm making some great friends within the program which is one of my biggest concerns as a codependent extrovert. Next semester I would like to take some humanities classes to balance out the nursing stuff because science all the time can make me feel like I'm not quite getting it all.

Anyway, I'm sorry this isn't very commentative or poetic. I have to do a write up of the assessment of the Head, Eyes, Ears, Nose and Throat.

Picture of Oregon

2005-08-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of Oregon that I found online so that you could have a taste. I would put one from my camera up but I don't feel like getting the cord out and all that. Anyway, this one's great!

Oregon is so pretty

2005-08-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

I went. I would know.

Chris and I drove for four days to get there but it's worth it! Besides, we had a lot of fun on the journey. We stayed in a family filled campsite in Wisconsin the first night, then we stayed in the middle of nowhere North Dakota where his family has a trailer. We found it in the dark under a giant witch moon. I was totally freaky. Then, we stayed with his wonderful sister and ate vegetarian indian food. YUM! When we finally got there we stayed with an old friend, Genesis who entertained us with her crazy stories and accompanying pictures from a five month odessey to South America.

While in Portland, I bought a dress and drank lime juice with ginger in it. Oh it was sooo good. Chris had watermelon juice. Yum.

This week I have been doing lot of fun stuff like getting my car fixed again. That was super fun. Olivia was a great companion until wednesday when she went off to camp Nene. :)

The last two days of my life have been dedicated to restoring an old table that belonged to my mom's dad's mom. I sanded and puttied and laquered so that now it shines and glows with history and hard work. It was kind of romantic sitting on the porch with the sunshine and the breeze saying hello to the postperson, not to mention the mosquitos who suck my energy and life from me. Sick.

This weekend is moving time though and todavia tengo mucho que hacer. Necessito pack toda mi ropa (en bolsas de plastico--no es muy dificil) y otras cosas que no quiero hablar sobre.

Anyway, I better get on that stuff. Tina, i decided NOT to shout from the rooftops that I'd rather stay here. I'd rather move still. Also, I'm looking forward to your housewarming gift you promised.......hint: dishes, pink, gloves. Love you!

Happy August

Oh America

2005-07-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

I guess I am naive. I forgot that strange men on the street are the same anywhere in the world....Bloomington may be an exception. Today I was walking in downtown Indy thinking how strange yet nice it was that no one was staring, honking or whistling at me when I made eye contact with two strange men. First they just talked about me to one another. Then they told me I looked nice. I said thank you. Then they asked if I wanted some Absolute. I politely declined.

Men are creepy. But funny!

Today I did a LOT of laundry so I have lots of clothes to wear. I also met up with two friends and chatted for awhile. Oh the summer is so interesting. I don't have to do anything else so maybe I will search for job prospects for when school starts or something more exciteng....like practice the salsa in the mirror in my room which was my other activity for the day...for about 2 hours. Yeah, I'm pretty dedicated.

I'm Home...Everyone Relax

2005-07-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I made it!
The last day in Cuernavaca was spent walking around the zocalo (after a VERY long night of partying with my Mexican friend and two other Americanos). At 4:00pm we said goodbye to Amaranta and Adam really captured the moment when he said as we were watching her walk away with her cute little backpack and hat, "There goes the coolest person in Mexico." I wanted to cry.

Amaranta had a big impact on me. There ARE feminists in Mexico and I need not assume things about every person in Mexico and say that stuff is just "cultural."

Anyway, after that Priscilla and I went home and slept. When the dentist came home at 9:00 Pris freaked out (cuz he's scary) and turned off the light, hopped into bed and pretended to be sleeping with her jeans on! Freako...

The next day, July 7th, we began our journey home at 9:30 am when we got a taxi. Ok, I still had trouble with spanish after 6 weeks and it was funny when he asked where we were going and I said "The United States." At which point he laughed and said he didn't have a passport for that and didn't think his car would take us there anyway. You see, I thought he already knew we were going to the bus stop and was just making conversation about our final destination. Oh well. Of course Priscilla laughed like a silly cow like when I yelled "BAJA" on the bus even though we were about to stop anyway.

Then, we got to the bus terminal and one of our members left his passport at home and they sent it IN A TAXI ALONE to the bus terminal. Miraculously, he was able to recieve it and jump on the bus as we were pulling out. That's a milagro.

Everything went great and after they searched through my dirty laundry for bombs and found none I was ready to go!

One hour and fifteen minutes later we were ready to land when the captain came on and said that due to the storm over Houston, we would have to wait around in Corpus Christy for awhile. Oh we waited....awhile...
We waited for five hours on that plane and couldn't get off because we were an international flight. The funny thing is, even though we were all very ready to leave, we stayed calm and generally laughed at the situation----that's what six weeks in a country where there are no cash machines, no one takes credit cards, there is no such thing as change for a 500 peso bill (~$50), women can't walk or ride in a taxi alone and the lights turn off for nearly every thunder storm, will do.

Then, we finally left and went through customs in Houston where I addressed the officer like an idiot, "hola buenas noches." idiota. then, she asked me if I had alcohol and I confessed because she had a gun. However, I worked that out by putting it in a friends bag and did the thing I knew I would do. I left it there and now it's in Fort Wayne. Pat James, that's your gift---a very fine bottle of Mexican Mexcal and by golly I will get it back.

We finally got home at 3:30am where my cutsie mom and boyfriend were waiting. It was great! Gosh he's a looker. Um.. so is she.
.....

3 days later I'm back at IU! woo hoo I love this place. Not only did the construction workers say nothing to me, one of them was a woman! (not that I really minded when they whistled at mein Mexico)Amazing. Also, Chris never locks his door. Amazing! Also, I asked 4 different questions at the grocery store because I could. I can communicate with people in the grocery store. Then, I baked a chicken and listened to Mos Def and John Lee Hooker. yummmy.

Okok, I'm going back to Indy this afternoon and we are going to take old state road 37 which should be beautiful. Tina, I can't post pictures here cuz I'm at school but I will try when I get back home.

I WAS robbed

2005-07-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

OKOK so sorry for the confusion. I am now going to tell the story from beginning to end.

Ok, I was in a bar with three other gals and a guy came up who was ¨friends¨with the girl in the picture if you will scroll down a little to my original entry about how I was robbed (he´s also in the picture). She only knew him from talking to him in another bar on another night so we were a little wary anyway.

Ok, then we went to another bar to dance a little and we put our purses literally two feet away from us on a table underneath my jacket. That guy just sat there the whole time not dancing----this is not a normal mexican man thing to do but he´s Colombian so we didn´t really think so much of it. Then, he left.

Then, we left. Then, I picked up my purse to leave and noticed that it was left unzipped, something I don´t do. So... I searched and searched but couldn´t find my wallet but my camara was still there.

Then, I called my mom (um...it was 3:30 am but I knew I should try to get that card canceled asap and boy is she ever on the ball with stuff!).

Then, we went home. The funny thing is we got a ride with these two guys (and don´t freak out that they´re strangers because it´s the exact same thing as getting in the car with the taxi driver-except the boys we were with were obviously upper class and less likely to kidnapp us--also I told them that if they tried anything malo I would cut their throats.....maybe that´s why they never called us....:) ha ha). Anyway, when we got to the house they told us they were sixteen! Can you believe it! Then I wasn´t afraid at all....I just kept thinking god, they were 13 when I was 17!! ha ha that´s hilarious. Liz Harman would think that was the funnist thing ever...
( I wanted to put a picture up but the computer doesn´t want to)

Then, the next day I told everyone I was robbed and everyone felt sorry for me. Then, I was telling Chris on the phone that I was robbed and someone who worked with the foreign kids (that´s us) passed me and told me that the bar found a wallet in the bathroom. I ws sooo embarrased as you know and I told everyone the ¨truth.¨

THEN, I went to the bar to get it and the owner or waiter or whoever that guy was told me that they found it outside of the men´s bathroom window. And there you have it. That guy went into the bathroom with my wallet, took the cash (about $40) and threw it out of the window. Now I have all my stuff back (including my canceled debit card) but I have almost no money.

It´s okay though because I have experience counting pennies on trips----remember the Grand Canyon anyone????????

Umm... I wasn´t ROBBED or pick pocketed

2005-07-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

Nope no I wasn´t. Turns out in this ¨scary Mexican town¨ I´m in the bar people call your school if you leave your wallet in the bathroom like an idiot. That´s just really embarassing. So sorry to everyone I either blamed or bothered in this incident. Especially you, mom! Now you can relax right?--- because not only did no one steal from me, the bar went way out of their way to make sure I get my stupid wallet back. We´ll see what´s left in it but....hey. Now I don´t have to replace my driver´s liscence hopefully. Gosh I feel really dumb but I knew I had to tell the truth even though it hurts. ouch.

I was robbed, but everything´s fine

2005-07-04T11:35:00.000-07:00

I swear I´m careful, but I was robbed. Here´s the email I wrote to my lovely mom who helped me at 3:30 am when I called and asked her to cancel my debit card.

I´m definitely not letting this ruin my trip because it´s real hard to feel sorry for yourself when you see children desperately trying to sell a rose at 1:30am. I just hope that in fact it was someone like that who robbed me and not the able-bodied Colombian man but who knows, right? Also, although this has been an interesting practice in problem-solving I don´t blame myself at all because I know I was the victim here and to blame myself is wrong. I did (almost) everything in my power, short of turning super-paranoid, to keep my belongings safe and I refuse to feel down on myself for something someone else chose to do to me. I know that I need to be safe and I was in my mind so now I´m just thanking God that I wasn´t hurt and my camara wasn´t stolen. It´s funny, when soemthing bad happens like this for some reason I just think about the good in it even though I´m not by nature a super-dee-duper positive person. Remeber when my car stereo was stolen? At first I just felt violated that that could happen on my own street but then I just kept thinking how glad I was that the window wasn´t broken!
Anyway, the only thing I´m actually worried about now is you being worried about me. PLEASE DON´T. I´m very safe and I have lots of friends and a caring teacher so sleep and eat and be merry.

And here´s the guy we´re pretty sure robbed me.

One of the most beautiful saturday´s ever!

2005-07-04T11:10:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to a park called Las Estacas and it is one of the most beautiful places I´ve ever been. It´s central theme is a spring-fed river--so it´s really really cold. First we jumped in where the spring comes out of this cave looking thing from underwater (by the way, the water´s so clear you can see EVERYTHING including all the fish swimming around which kind of freaked me out but i think ultimately helped my semi-phobia).

Then we swam a long distance and played on a giant water trampoline.
Then we had lunch.
Then we floated down the river for awhile on inner tubes-Lori, you would have LOVED it.
Then we went home.
the first picture is of a bunch of friends from left to right:
Marcos, Adam, me, Louis, Charee, Scott and Sean. The person taking the picture is another Amy and she was there too but obviously we don´t get to see her.
The second picture is just a little creek with some beautiful water lilies. Pretty, eh?

Another DAY

2005-06-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to Amaranta´s and it was awesome! We ate so much great food I almost burst and I learned how to make tortillas and carne asada (that´s easy!). I have to add two more things to my buying list-a tortilla press and some clay pots for cooking. I love them. Anyway, I´m just posting so that you can see this picture of me and my friends in Taxco. Taxco is a town in the hills where they mine silver so it´s really cheap there. Lot´s of fun buying stuff.

How do I feel?

2005-06-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

hmm... I don´t know.

I feel homesick in the mornings and when I talk to Chris but other than that I´m mostly fine.

Yesterday afternoon, Priscilla and I were walking home from school when a car honked (so of course we didn´t look) and then it pulled over by us and so we looked and I was a little concerned. When no one yelled : ¡preciosas!: out of the window of the station wagon I relaxed a little. Then, we saw that it was two friends and their host mother so we hopped in for a ride and ended up going to dinner at a really nice (caro) italian restaurant and I ate spaghetti with calamarie in it. oh yeah. yeah i did.

Anyway, I did fine on that test that I took the day after Mambo Café. I mean, my standards are different, so an 81% floats my boat just fine.

Ha ha also, the sobrino (nephew) of my host mother is so cute! He´s five but he´s decided he wants to marry me. I told him he´s too young but he said in six days he will be bigger and big enough to marry. Then, he asked how many children I wanted and suggested 15. I don´t think México is the place for me. My guts would fall out of me if I did that. Anyway, hope to see some more comments soon!

2005-06-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

oh my god it worked. i posted a picture! this is a guy who makes pottery on that little wheel like lla gente antigua.

Two weeks later....

2005-06-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

ok, first I´d like to apoligize for taking sooo long to post! Don´t think it means that nothing has been going on. It´s been quite the opposite, in fact. First of all, we went to Oaxaca, the cutest little town ever and we saw some ruins there (very cool) and Friday night I went to the gay bar with Priscilla, Amaranta (oh yeah, she´s my new Mexican friend who is totally sweet and funny), Adam from Ball State U, Cheree, and John. We danced until we could dance no more then we ate tostadas from a street vender even though we´re not supposed to do that and it was super super fun! I have diarheah (sp?) so matter what precautions I take so I have chosen to just live and eat.

Anyway, after Oaxaca the fun didn´t stop. I got sick. REALLY REALLY sick. I had a fever and the chills and of course diahreah and I was so weak I coudn´t do hardly anything. So... I got on the Ruta (the bus) and I dragged my butt to the doctor here and she gave me some antibiotics and told me she though i had salmonilla (sp?) poisioning and that i needed to drag my butt to the lab to get some blood drawn. So I went and I had nothing so I stopped the antibiotics. My friend john ended up having a lot of the same symptoms so I figure we had the same thing. We ate sprouts like idiots when we were in this town called Puebla. We were sitting in a big beautiful mall and it was hard to remember not to eat sprouts when there are no limping dogs at your feet or venders coming to the tables trying to sell stuff. I swear it was like being in Castleton. Oh well, I´ve paid.

Anyway, a few days later we (Amaranta, Priscilla, Jennifer and Amaranta´s friend Roman and another friend Justin) all went to a ¨disco¨called Mambo Café. Oh it was sooo much fun! I am not the best at Salsa but we went and danced to a LIVE salsa band from Colombia until 5:00AM! I have never ever done that before. That night we stayed at Amaranta´s and slept pretty late then I went to my test. HA HA eat that! I stayed out til 5 on test day. I´m crazy. Actually I think I did ok though.

So now, we only have two weeks left and we are hustling with school and trying to fit in everything that we wanted to do. So far this is what I have left:
*buy a cookbook
*buy some pirated music
*figure out a way to get all my pottery home without breaking it
*visit el palacio de Hernan Cortés
*go to Amaranta´s house to cook a big meal (that´s this wednesday)
*buy some more earrings

I think that´s it but among there I guess I should include the fact that I have finals and stuff. Lo que sea. okok, so that´s a pretty good wrap up of what I´ve been up to. POST TO ME. I´m coming home soon. Chris hang in there corazón. Te amo.

I helped with homework! math homework!

2005-06-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

You would never believe it, but it´s true. I helped my little sister with studying for her math final and it was algebra and geometry. Now, we know that I didn´t just totally screw her up because she got an A+ on her final exam today. Woo hoo! Lori, you were right, I CAN do math- that third grade teacher really screwed me up eh? Glad I know now...

Anyway, México D.F. and Teotihuacan were super super fun! What history and excitement. We learned so much I don´t have time to write it all out but Iwill continue working on those pictures (don´t kid yourself, it´s not going to happen, but I will continue saying that I will try) .

Anyway, for those of you I have access to, you will get the slide show when I get home and I will also be able to publish the ones I want online when I have some help. Espera, I can do math homework...which means I could probably figure out how to post pictures.

Anyway, right now I have mucha tarea. I have my exams once a week and tomorrow´s the day. I also have a hoework assignment that I forgot to do for today that I must make up and I also have a worksheet. A ver, i better walk home before it get´s dark. Post to me.

2005-06-13T17:46:00.002-07:00

2005-06-13T17:46:00.001-07:00

2005-06-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

Mexico D.F. scary

2005-06-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

México city is scary I guess. That´s what everyone says. But anyway, we´re going tomorrow and it´s suppoesd to be a safe district but we can´t get in cabs or the bus or wander too far, or carry money in purses and it´s probably not a good idea to get trashed. I won´t.

Anyway, I got a 92% on my test. I love this school. Everything is taught like liquid-not in the states where it´s more like rocks. I am thriving but i think some of the kids in my class are having a harder time adjusting to the differences. We´re all getting good grades, it´s just that some people get frustrated that our professor changes our plans a lot. I love it. I need constant change in the classroom or else I get bored, and in the heat here it´s easy to fall asleep. It´s so hot. oh gosh. it´s hot.

Today I went to the Jardines Bordas downtown- for you indy people it´s like the concept of the lily grounds by the art museum. It´s a nice little spot to rest from the noise of the city. Fun way to spend the morning. I wasn´t doing homework but I was learning! One girl in my class already finished the 30 page we have until two weeks to finish oh but not me- i was downtown at 10:00 and before that I was watching my ¨sister¨do her presentation on Princess Diana. Cute! okok I have a meeting with the ingenero for café ahora and so that should be fun.

hasta luego. Leave me a post-it can be about anything-post about YOUR life please!

love amy

Si se puede

2005-06-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

The title says it all, right? I´m having a great time here but there are a few barbs under my skin right now that i need to shake off. Like...last night when my two page essay (in spanish) was finished, the computer decided to lose it for me and I sat with the computer guy speaking in spanish for quite awhile until I was the last person in the lab. Hijole..

Anyway, I´m just going to type it again-it´s ok because they are always better the second time around right? Right.

I made a new friend! He´s a professor of engenering here and he likes to practice his english and I my spanish! He´s a really interesting person and we´re gonna go to coffee tomorrow at a place down the street from my house if his meeting is cancled (which is a somewhat regular occurance here). Tonight I am going to th cine (movies) with my new friend John- different friend. He´s the greatest and for anyone who´s concerned about my loyalties to my boo, John likes boys. Yeah! I can be ¨safe¨walking around with him and he doesn´t think I owe him anything. Nice.

Right now I must be off to a photo op with my group. Ha ha y después, tarea. mucha tarea. okok bye!

Acapulco

2005-06-06T17:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, I´ve been trying to figure out how to post pictures to this blog for about half an hour and i´m getting sad at my stupidity. Anyway, TINA, help me please. I have downloaded Hello and it says it will automatically be on my friends list. ummm.. what do they mean by that?I guess that´s what happens when I have you do everything for me- I have no idea what´s going on.

Anyway, Acapulco was fun and hot but nice and wendy so i didnt notice that i was getting burned on the beach. oh well. i went parasailing (i have a picture for when i figure it out) and it was magical! it was so beautiful i couldn´t believe it.

We tried to go to an ¨exclusive¨ club but we stood there for like twenty minutes and they wouldn´t let us in and we started to notice that the sea of people waiting to get in was getting more and more concentrated with darker skinned Mexicans. Then we thought about the fact that Priscilla is Mexican and after a day at the beach a little darker than normal too. We stood in the front of the crowd right next to the rope for 20 minutes and when a group of 7 gorgeous white guys were let in 2 seconds after they arrived we decided that was our cue to leave. Our new Mexican friends Eric and Tonyo told us it was racist but we didn´t really think we´d have a problem until we got there. It was crazy. So... we went to a local club that Mexicans go to and some nice ladies taught me some dance moves. It was great! Anyway, I must be off!

Neighbors and Grumbles

2005-06-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first day of school and how fun! I have three classes, one from 11am-12pm and one from 3-7 which has a ten minute break in between to switch up the teachers. All my teachers are great and for the long class there are only 5 students! I think I´m going to learn a lot.

So... the day went fine but I started to get e little restless and feel a little groady (gross) during my long class and attributed it to the hard chairs and relentless heat of the afternoon.

Ok, so on the way home from school my roomate and I passed by a neighbors house (in the ¨gated¨community that we live in) and they were having a party. They waved to us so we (mostly I) waved back and kept walking. Normal, right? Then, two guys came out of the yard and asked us to come in and talk for awhile. Not normal for u.s. girls. We decided it couldn´t be that bad, so we went in. It felt like everyone was staring at us! All the guys wanted to talk to us even though we were so nervous we could barely speak spanish. The funny thing is, Priscilla is Mexican so everyone thinks I´m just her little white friend- but we´re both just dumb. Anyway, Priscilla does know more about the culture than me-the music, food and stuff so I feel a little better in her company. Anyway, after they started joking about throwing us in the pool and the guy who was talking to me said he sold car radios, cd players,t.v.s and other easily transportable things we decided it was time to leave.

Anyway, it was fine but we´ve decided to steer clear of #13 from now on.

Also, when we got home our dad asked us if we wanted to watch the training video for his new whitening machine (he´s a dentist). The funny thing was, the whole family watched it and the girls didn´t even complain. I think it´s normal to do everything as a family- even watch videos about work!

Ok though, after the video and tortilla soup for dinner I really started to feel worse than before. I went to bed with a relentless grumble in my tummy and I didn´t sleep very well at all- though I didn´t get up and walk around for fear of the ghost. In the morning after breakfast it hit me full blast. I had the ¨craps¨. I spent the morning in the bathroom and made my roomate go ask for more toilet paper. It was terrible. mom, I know you said to just let the bug pass but I just had to take some medicine after like four hours of that. I feel a little better now and I´m hoping the cramps aren´t too bad during my 4 hour class. speaking of.. I better go to class now. Bye!

Ghost in my house

2005-05-31T10:52:00.000-07:00

did i tell you there{s a ghost in our house? our sisters told us that they have both seen this person dressed in white with long black hair and they are serious as hell! they{ve seen her in the bungalo (the servant house in the back yard) and in the back yard and in the room that i sleep in! somehow they aren{t afraid- i think it{s because ghosts aren{t as big of a deal here, plus they think it{s just their grandma who used to live there until she died. i however sleep next to a window as big as the wall facing said yard, and when i wake up in the night i keep my eyes closed really tightly.ay! i really don{t want to see her! thank goodness i have a roomate who keeps telling me i should be more afraid of the living than the dead. true.....maybe.

First Day of Class

2005-05-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hola hola

Today I ate eggs with banana in it and it was surprisingly delicious...much better than yesterday´s pig skin in salsa. Anyway, last night we talked with our mother for many hours and I am surprised how much more we understand than the first day. I also watched some Mexican t.v. shows-which were hilarious and very dramatic. They play music in the background the whole time. Cute.

In a few minutes I am off to my first day of the class that I didn{t quite test into, but I don{t have to buy any books for this class so I guess it evens out. A mi.

This weekend we are going to Acapulco and it should be really fun! Anyway, sorry my posts aren{t very organized. I am thinking about a lot of things-like my classes. I just need to have fun in them and I´ll be fine. Ok ok me voy.

please make comments

2005-05-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

I would really like it if you (anyone) would respond to my posts!

estoy en Mexico

2005-05-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

Ay perdon, pero no se como hacer los diacriticos en esta computadora. Es diferente que las en los estadosunidos. I am having a great time even though everything right down to the computer keyboards are different! My roomate is a really silly sweet girl from IU named Priscilla. We have a lot of fun messing everything up. I have never felt so stupid in my life. We can barely understand or speak with out mother. She talks really really fast. Our sisters (13 and 14) are really silly and nice too though, and they speak english pretty well and they are patient with our spanish.

I already made my first big American mistake by yelling ¨baja!¨on the bus when the driver was going to stop anyway. Everyone stared at me and they all thought I was super stupid. It didn´t help that Priscilla was laughing so hard she looked boracha. She still laughs about it when she thinks about it. Ah mi.

I just found out that I didn´t test into the class that I need for credit but my teacher is bumping me up because I was very close. I guess with a lot of work I can make some decent grades and hopefully learn a little spanish. I already have learned a lot of new phrases and things:

gatitio-kitty
momentito-one moment (please)
si se puede- ¨it can be done¨ or ¨you can do it!¨
horita-right now
disco-club

Anyway, it´s a start. I really feel like I need to focus more on having fun and learning with my family and new friends than stressing too much about school. It´s kind of a different approach for me but maybe that´s because like pesos seem like pretend money, mexican grades don´t seem real.

I haven´t figured out how to post pictures yet, but I will try to work on that this week. There is a lot to learn in general. ay!

Amy Has a Blog!

2005-05-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

Now all she has to do is post to it. I love Amy.