Traveling, history and friendship
So it's really happening. I'm going to Dallas, TX next week to give training to a big customer of ours. I'm excited and at the same time nervous. Excited because this is the first time I'll be traveling for this company and excited to finally get to see a little bit of Texas, a state I've been a little curious about. Nervous because I am training on one of the biggest systems we have installed and I only had two days of training to reciprocate the training to a group of 135.
I arrive Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday are the days for training. I'll have 14- 30 minute training classes within those two days. Thursday is cutover and Friday is post cut and my last day in Texas.
I have to make sure my training is on-point, that people are following my directions and all questions get answered, because the week I get back from Texas, the president of the company will be flying there to see how everything went and if there are any complaints, he will be the first one to hear them.
I welcome any challenge, it keeps me motivated. I hate stagnation. I think my boss has a lot of faith in me and they want to start moving me away from these smaller systems and work on the bigger systems side-by-side with her. So this will either make me or break me.
Today my mom invited me over for dinner and to spend the last day with my great uncle and aunt that came to visit from Puerto Rico. I love spending time with my older relatives, they always have the most interesting stories about how life used to be like in Puerto Rico in their days and the days of my great-grandmother.
Some things I learned about them today:
My uncle used to be in the military and walk all the way from the army base he was stationed at to the other side of town to visit my aunt. My mom joked, "eso si que eran amores." That must've really been love, because that was a serious hike on foot. She explained to me where he was stationed and where my grandmother lived and I envisioned that whole path in my mind from when I was living there and that is a good 30 minute drive. Not only that but it is up steep, curving hills, mountains and woods.
My great-grandmother had 16 children. Only 15 survived. She got married at the age of 14 and lived out in "el campo", in the fields. Her nearest relative was an hour drive away and in those days they didn't have cars. They either traveled by foot or on a horse. They cultivated all their own food, nothing was store bought. So they spent all their time growing and fucking. No, seriously, that's how they put it, but not in those words. At the age of 14 she had her first child, but she didn't know how to take care of him, so he got worms. They said it got so bad that the worms were coming out of his mouth and nose and he got asphixiated and died. True story. Well, according to how it was passed down from my great-grandmother, which by the way EVERYONE in the family called "mama." Wether you were her son, great-cousin, or great-great-great-grandkid. So by the time she was 40 her husband passed away at 52 and she raised 15 kids in a one bedroom house.
I just wanted to add that to my journal because I always find those stories fascinating. When I visit Puerto Rico in June I'm going to try and visit as many relatives as possible I really want to get back in touch with my family and have Tatiana share in that as well.
There is someone really close to me that just never ceases to amaze me. She is the smartest, strongest willed woman I've ever met. She can be in a room full of the most opinionated, educated men with Phd's and Masters and still hold a debate with all of them, not feel intimidated, prove her point, see everyone elses, and keep her cool. I could never have an educated argument with someone and at one point not lose my cool. I don't think a lot of people can. Actually, I hate debating about anything, I'm just not good at it AT ALL. Me and her, we are opposite in some ways and the same in sooo many others. She brings the creativity out of me and I think (or I'd like to think) I bring the wildness out of her. I hope she reads this and I hope I get to see her next month when she comes down to visit. But I'm mad she didn't CALL ME TO SEE HOW I WAS DOING AFTER I GOT MY WISDOM TEETH TAKEN OUT. J/k. ;p
I arrive Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday are the days for training. I'll have 14- 30 minute training classes within those two days. Thursday is cutover and Friday is post cut and my last day in Texas.
I have to make sure my training is on-point, that people are following my directions and all questions get answered, because the week I get back from Texas, the president of the company will be flying there to see how everything went and if there are any complaints, he will be the first one to hear them.
I welcome any challenge, it keeps me motivated. I hate stagnation. I think my boss has a lot of faith in me and they want to start moving me away from these smaller systems and work on the bigger systems side-by-side with her. So this will either make me or break me.
Today my mom invited me over for dinner and to spend the last day with my great uncle and aunt that came to visit from Puerto Rico. I love spending time with my older relatives, they always have the most interesting stories about how life used to be like in Puerto Rico in their days and the days of my great-grandmother.
Some things I learned about them today:
My uncle used to be in the military and walk all the way from the army base he was stationed at to the other side of town to visit my aunt. My mom joked, "eso si que eran amores." That must've really been love, because that was a serious hike on foot. She explained to me where he was stationed and where my grandmother lived and I envisioned that whole path in my mind from when I was living there and that is a good 30 minute drive. Not only that but it is up steep, curving hills, mountains and woods.
My great-grandmother had 16 children. Only 15 survived. She got married at the age of 14 and lived out in "el campo", in the fields. Her nearest relative was an hour drive away and in those days they didn't have cars. They either traveled by foot or on a horse. They cultivated all their own food, nothing was store bought. So they spent all their time growing and fucking. No, seriously, that's how they put it, but not in those words. At the age of 14 she had her first child, but she didn't know how to take care of him, so he got worms. They said it got so bad that the worms were coming out of his mouth and nose and he got asphixiated and died. True story. Well, according to how it was passed down from my great-grandmother, which by the way EVERYONE in the family called "mama." Wether you were her son, great-cousin, or great-great-great-grandkid. So by the time she was 40 her husband passed away at 52 and she raised 15 kids in a one bedroom house.
I just wanted to add that to my journal because I always find those stories fascinating. When I visit Puerto Rico in June I'm going to try and visit as many relatives as possible I really want to get back in touch with my family and have Tatiana share in that as well.
There is someone really close to me that just never ceases to amaze me. She is the smartest, strongest willed woman I've ever met. She can be in a room full of the most opinionated, educated men with Phd's and Masters and still hold a debate with all of them, not feel intimidated, prove her point, see everyone elses, and keep her cool. I could never have an educated argument with someone and at one point not lose my cool. I don't think a lot of people can. Actually, I hate debating about anything, I'm just not good at it AT ALL. Me and her, we are opposite in some ways and the same in sooo many others. She brings the creativity out of me and I think (or I'd like to think) I bring the wildness out of her. I hope she reads this and I hope I get to see her next month when she comes down to visit. But I'm mad she didn't CALL ME TO SEE HOW I WAS DOING AFTER I GOT MY WISDOM TEETH TAKEN OUT. J/k. ;p