I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
Oh, I do still have one of these.
I'm forcing myself to crawl out of my hole to write at least a little about ...the past month or so. For those of you who weren't loyal readers of my Guatemala blog (http://olivetasting.blogspot.com), I guess we have a lot of work to do.
I've been living in Austin, Texas for a little over a month now. I followed the boy again as he's starting grad school at UT this fall.. but really there are worse places to move than Austin I'm thinking. I always wanted to visit here, just didn't realize it'd be so soon and so long-term.
I feel the need to finally plant some roots in a place, as this past year has had more than a slight resembalance to a child with ADD. (Bloomington-New Orleans-Xela-Austin).
I'm tired. and ready to have a home and a job and make new friends and keep it all for a while. (at least a few years.. heh)
I'm sure the travelling spirit will grab ahold of me before I know it, but for now I am content having a new city to explore. The experience in Guatemala, as usually is the case, has taken on a new light since I've returned. I miss Xela more than I think I thought I would. I miss the women at Trama and buying cheap fresh vegetables any day of the week from any number of markets. I miss hot pupusas at night and fairs that would appear and linger with no need for an excuse. I miss volcanoes in the distance, street dogs, looking at women's huipiles and realizing what highland village they were from. I miss market days, the kooks at Best English, microbuses, and the chapin breakfast of black refried beans, eggs, fried plantains, mosh, and queso fresco. I miss the goddamn rooster crowing in the morning.
Argh.
Ok, on the other side of things, I don't miss always being sick and wondering, "Can I eat this?" I'm glad to be away from our crazy house where the Mayan reverend's girls would sit and stare at the tv all day like zombies. I don't miss the constant stares for being white, or the "encapuchados" who roamed the streets in spring making me nervous.
That's the way it goes. It's always strange when you realize a chapter of your life has closed .. which I've done to myself several times this year--first when I left Bloomington and said goodbye to my friends, then in New Orleans, which I didn't think I would miss, but now realize that of course I do, and lastly with Xela. It was time to leave, because my body and spirits couldn't take much more, but now, of course, I miss it.
The trip back home was exhausting.. through Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico. I saw some great places and met some really cool folks who were nice enough to let us stay with them, but the parasites, bacterias, AND amoebas had left me pretty weak, and I could not take any more travelling.
Anyway, here I am. currently working a soul-sucking data entry temp job to pay the bills while i await news about another position I'm hoping to get.
Ryan's working at a Japanese restaurant, right now actually, so I'm sittin' all alone on this Friday night. I hope I can make some friends here. I really miss having a group of friends. I should meet people though if I get the Americorps position, and I'm thinking of taking a fun art class this fall too. Also, I MIGHT go to grad school in a year. I'm thinking about it quite seriously.
Austin's fun so far though. Lots of good food! lots of good music, movies, parks, etc. It's a bit overwhelming, really. Earlier this week we saw Blitzen Trapper and David Vandervelde play at emo's which was a really good show. oh and the decemberists played a free show, and I tried to get there as soon as I could, but of course that wasn't soon enough as they were only letting the first 200 people in!! bleh. so annoying. so crazy how big they've gotten.
This entry is so scatter-brained because I haven't written ANYTHING in over a month so it's just pouring out. I apologize.
I should mention that we're currently subletting a room in a duplex and I like to walk around the little neighborhood. We're living with this Peruvian gal named Tania who is a biology grad student and pretty nice/funny. She likes to watch tv and talk to it when no one is around. Oh also the house is falling apart currently. There is some water leak below the house, and the water is currently shut off and I don't know how to turn it back on so I have to wait til ryan gets back.. wah. also there is a huge crack in the ceiling of our closet. It's been raining a lot lately in these parts.
umm.. but we will be moving in austin to a house we just signed a lease for. very exciting. It's a tiny two-bedroom house just east of UT's campus. So it's an amazing location and I'm excited to have a little house to decorate that will be just ours.
Oh also when I was walking around the neighborhood last week, I think I saw a turkey vulture in someone's front yard picking at something but I didn't realize it was a vulture 'til later. I'd only seen them in cartoons before I think! wow.
Another hobby of mine lately is signing up for contests with the free paper here to try and get passes to free movie screenings. We've already scored two! Yeah!
What else? There are lots of crickets here, and they creep me out. also too many mosquitoes. I'm going to Atlanta for Labor Day weekend to visit Hannah which is very exciting. (It's absolutely depressing, though, to come to terms with the fact of how infrequently I'll be able to see my best friends now. Growing up really does suck.) And Sarah's coming to visit Austin in September!
I'm reallllly glad it's the weekend. Oh, and on my last two Saturdays I was handing out yogurt samples for the Mexican dairy company LALA at supermarkets, which wasn't horrible, but we quit, and I'm glad, because I need a whole weekend to unwind. And Ryan has Sunday off so we can actually do something this weekend.
I'm hungry.
Do people still read this?
More soon, with more structure and focus next time, I swear.
I'm forcing myself to crawl out of my hole to write at least a little about ...the past month or so. For those of you who weren't loyal readers of my Guatemala blog (http://olivetasting.blogspot.com), I guess we have a lot of work to do.
I've been living in Austin, Texas for a little over a month now. I followed the boy again as he's starting grad school at UT this fall.. but really there are worse places to move than Austin I'm thinking. I always wanted to visit here, just didn't realize it'd be so soon and so long-term.
I feel the need to finally plant some roots in a place, as this past year has had more than a slight resembalance to a child with ADD. (Bloomington-New Orleans-Xela-Austin).
I'm tired. and ready to have a home and a job and make new friends and keep it all for a while. (at least a few years.. heh)
I'm sure the travelling spirit will grab ahold of me before I know it, but for now I am content having a new city to explore. The experience in Guatemala, as usually is the case, has taken on a new light since I've returned. I miss Xela more than I think I thought I would. I miss the women at Trama and buying cheap fresh vegetables any day of the week from any number of markets. I miss hot pupusas at night and fairs that would appear and linger with no need for an excuse. I miss volcanoes in the distance, street dogs, looking at women's huipiles and realizing what highland village they were from. I miss market days, the kooks at Best English, microbuses, and the chapin breakfast of black refried beans, eggs, fried plantains, mosh, and queso fresco. I miss the goddamn rooster crowing in the morning.
Argh.
Ok, on the other side of things, I don't miss always being sick and wondering, "Can I eat this?" I'm glad to be away from our crazy house where the Mayan reverend's girls would sit and stare at the tv all day like zombies. I don't miss the constant stares for being white, or the "encapuchados" who roamed the streets in spring making me nervous.
That's the way it goes. It's always strange when you realize a chapter of your life has closed .. which I've done to myself several times this year--first when I left Bloomington and said goodbye to my friends, then in New Orleans, which I didn't think I would miss, but now realize that of course I do, and lastly with Xela. It was time to leave, because my body and spirits couldn't take much more, but now, of course, I miss it.
The trip back home was exhausting.. through Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico. I saw some great places and met some really cool folks who were nice enough to let us stay with them, but the parasites, bacterias, AND amoebas had left me pretty weak, and I could not take any more travelling.
Anyway, here I am. currently working a soul-sucking data entry temp job to pay the bills while i await news about another position I'm hoping to get.
Ryan's working at a Japanese restaurant, right now actually, so I'm sittin' all alone on this Friday night. I hope I can make some friends here. I really miss having a group of friends. I should meet people though if I get the Americorps position, and I'm thinking of taking a fun art class this fall too. Also, I MIGHT go to grad school in a year. I'm thinking about it quite seriously.
Austin's fun so far though. Lots of good food! lots of good music, movies, parks, etc. It's a bit overwhelming, really. Earlier this week we saw Blitzen Trapper and David Vandervelde play at emo's which was a really good show. oh and the decemberists played a free show, and I tried to get there as soon as I could, but of course that wasn't soon enough as they were only letting the first 200 people in!! bleh. so annoying. so crazy how big they've gotten.
This entry is so scatter-brained because I haven't written ANYTHING in over a month so it's just pouring out. I apologize.
I should mention that we're currently subletting a room in a duplex and I like to walk around the little neighborhood. We're living with this Peruvian gal named Tania who is a biology grad student and pretty nice/funny. She likes to watch tv and talk to it when no one is around. Oh also the house is falling apart currently. There is some water leak below the house, and the water is currently shut off and I don't know how to turn it back on so I have to wait til ryan gets back.. wah. also there is a huge crack in the ceiling of our closet. It's been raining a lot lately in these parts.
umm.. but we will be moving in austin to a house we just signed a lease for. very exciting. It's a tiny two-bedroom house just east of UT's campus. So it's an amazing location and I'm excited to have a little house to decorate that will be just ours.
Oh also when I was walking around the neighborhood last week, I think I saw a turkey vulture in someone's front yard picking at something but I didn't realize it was a vulture 'til later. I'd only seen them in cartoons before I think! wow.
Another hobby of mine lately is signing up for contests with the free paper here to try and get passes to free movie screenings. We've already scored two! Yeah!
What else? There are lots of crickets here, and they creep me out. also too many mosquitoes. I'm going to Atlanta for Labor Day weekend to visit Hannah which is very exciting. (It's absolutely depressing, though, to come to terms with the fact of how infrequently I'll be able to see my best friends now. Growing up really does suck.) And Sarah's coming to visit Austin in September!
I'm reallllly glad it's the weekend. Oh, and on my last two Saturdays I was handing out yogurt samples for the Mexican dairy company LALA at supermarkets, which wasn't horrible, but we quit, and I'm glad, because I need a whole weekend to unwind. And Ryan has Sunday off so we can actually do something this weekend.
I'm hungry.
Do people still read this?
More soon, with more structure and focus next time, I swear.