Funny picture

Sorry, Nate, but your truck pics are movin' on down... :(



Time to fess up...how many times has this happened to you?

Ok, I know this pic is a little late for Turkey Day, but oh well, it's still funny.

Sideview of Nate's badass truck

There's no mistaken this truck for an "estrogen wagon"!

Nate's badass truck

Ok, here are the pics of Nate and Dr. Who's new truck as promised. Yeah, I provided the "Confederate Naval Jack" plate, aka stretched out battle flag. :)

I love my sister!!

I just have to take a moment to brag on my sister, number 3. I received in the mail today a care package from home. It was so special. She sent me some lion houseslippers, random fun toys, and some stickers for my students' classwork. There was also a card where she said she misses me lots and lots and lots and lots and lots...hehe. (she'll understand that) It only took 11 days to get here. I would have expected longer.

Well, sister no. 3, I just wanted to say thanks and brag on ya bit. I love you lots and lots and lots and lots and lots...hehe.

Did you see that cow today at school?

That was the most often asked question among all students and teachers today. Yes, there was a COW at school today. The Transition classes, AKA Kindergarten, is doing a project about dairy products. So today when we arrived at school, there was a cow standing in our playground tied to the flagpole. Apparently the teachers wanted the students to have first hand experience seeing a cow being milked. Most even got to go up and give it a whirl themselves. My students got a chance, too. It was fun to watch them pull and sqeeze and spray anyone within reach. It was funny watchin' the way these cityfolk behaved around her.

Well, I got a chance to milk that cow. It was cool. I grew up around farms. My parents never had one, but many extended family did. (I even got to visit a relatives big dairy farm and see the cows being milked mechanically. It was a Weaver farm, if you've ever seen the rigs drivin' down the interstate.) I had been told how to milk a cow, but never actually had had the chance to do so. And if I do say so myself, I was quite good at it.

DOH!!

OK, something really funny happened at work, one of those "Doh!" moments.

In class we are coloring turkeys with drawings of things or people we're thankful for. I was going around writing at the top of the paper "I am thankful for (what they drew)." This one girl is really shy and doesn't like to talk sometimes. She had drawn a girl. I asked her who this girl was...mom, sister, aunt, doll? She wouldn't say. Finally her classmate sitting next to her said that it was her mom and that she didn't want to say because "le da pena" which means 'it gives her shame'.

Sidenote: My Spanish is not perfect in any sense of the word. I often put the wrong ending without thinking, correct it, and keep going...usually not even noticing the mistake. For instance, I might say "banca" = bench, when I meant "banco" = bank. Well this happened to me in this instance...

I asked, "¿Por qué le da pene, pena?" (See? I made that correction.) I get a really weird look from the little girl that told me she drew her mom. I take a second to think about the question I had just asked. "Why did it give you shame?" Then I remember that I had made a mistake. I try to recall the word I had accidentally said. And it hits me! What I had actually asked this timid little girl was...."Why does it give you penis, shame?"...DOH!

december 16th, baby, here i come!

one month from today and i will be on homeland soil! i'm so excited, you truly can have no idea! first things i want to do, as of yet...

put on a coat! it's been high of 85 here, low of 65. i'm ready for some cooler weather.

drive! i've not driven in over 3 months. going cold turkey with something that is such a part of your daily life is really frustrating. and i gotta check to make sure my Rodeo is back the way it was after the...um...mishap.

go to walmart and bow down at the door and just revel in the presence of selection and american products that i'm used to. i don't care if i buy anything, i just want to see it with my own eyes again.

go to a restaurant...any restaurant. maybe chili's or applebee's or cracker barrel or a taco stand or wherever. the point is to get some food i love.

wash all my clothes in a washing machine with SOFTENER...then dry them in a dryer with a SOFTENER sheet.

find out where my dad lives...he and my stepmom have moved since i've been gone. i haven't a clue how to get to the new house.

call all my friends and family and talk for however long i choose. none of these 2 minute conversations b/c the phone bills are too high.

go to family Christmas get-together in Oak Ridge, TN. the drive there alone makes the trip worth it. but getting fed all that good country home cookin' is just icing on the cake. i miss my family so much, i'm so ready to be able to see them all in person again. i've gained a new appreciation for my family after having them in an absence for so long.

watch a fire burn in a fire place or bonfire, either or, both are fine by me. i just love fire so much, it's terrible to be too hot to have a fire and hot chocolate year round.

ok, that's the list for now...all tenative, but still important.

earthquakes suck...

...especially at 4:05 in the morning! i wake up to my bed being violently shaken. i set my feet on the floor, which is swaying. it seems my eyes are playing tricks on me because the walls are moving. i made my way to my roommate's room, who had just woken up, then we hear the voices of people outside from where they had run out. an hour later things are settled back down, and i've calmed down a bit after experiencing my first earthquake. things are better now.

after doing some research online, i find out that it was 7.2 on the Richter Scale. it was centered on the coast on the other side of the mountain range from where i'm living. it was felt over the entire country. here's the damage report:

Two people injured, two houses destroyed and eight damaged at Pizarro; one
person injured and four houses destroyed at Usaraga; about twelve houses
destroyed in the Buenaventura area. Slight damage and power and telephone
service interrupted at Cali. Felt at Armenia, Bogota, Pereira, Quibdo and in
much of western Colombia.

i didn't know this, but i do now: Colombia is located in the northwestern corner of the South American plate, where it meets the Nazca and Caribbean plates. if you want more info or a map, go to these websites: http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_qwat.html and http://www.rms.com/Catastrophe/Models/Colombia.asp

i'm comin' home!!

well, at least for christmas break. yesterday i bought my plane tickets to come home for winter. i arrive at 2:25pm on thursday, december 16th. on december 17th i'll be in oak ridge, tn, visiting my family. after that i'm not sure where i'll be when but the places i want to hit are west virginia, chattanooga, atlanta and clayton. i might have to go to north carolina to visit my dog, if he doesn't make it to chattanooga with his owners. when i return, i won't have driven in 4 months! i'm SO lookin' forward to getting my isuzu Rodeo back! i've not decided where to spend christmas or new years. something funny is that all my parents have moved since i've been here. at least i got to see my mom's new place before she moved in (she tried to bribe me with it) but i don't even know how to get to my dad and stepmom's place any longer. well, i don't leave until friday, january 14th. ALMOST A WHOLE MONTH! now that i have the tickets in my possession i feel like i can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

and yet, one more pic from colombia

this one is just to envoke pure jealousy. this pic was taken at a restaurant called "Crepes & Waffles". most excellent. twelve of us met up there for my birthday celebration while my mom was here visiting. these are some of the desserts we ordered after a magnificant meal. the one in the very front left corner was mine...'amaretto fantasy'

pic from colombia

this is my classroom. remember how i keep commenting on how it is open air?...here's the proof.

that was freaky

ok, this is really weird. i'm sitting at my computer, and this soap bubble (about 3/4 inch diameter) comes out from behind my laptop screen. it then proceeds to float around my bedroom for a few moments until it lands on the base of my floor fan. it's still there. what's really strange is that my room is not likely to see soap bubbles. sure my shower is here, but i've not used it since yesterday. just plain strange.

TITAN!!! i miss you!

This is my *grumble* former *grumble* doggy. His name is Titan, named after the Tennessee Titans, at Nate's mom's suggestion. He's a weimaraner, for those not familiar with his breed. This is a picture of him while we were camping in north Alabama near Rock City. I gave him away before moving to South America to a lovely couple, who have done a good job keeping up his training and loving him. Whenever I get sad about not having him any longer, I repeat to myself several times, "He peed on my bed. He peed on my bed." Anyhow, when I get back...I'm getting a dog, though I've not decided if I want another Weim or a German Shorthaired Pointer.

caution! about to get personal...

I'm having problems in just about every situation there is in my life. And being in another country just seems to magnify everything. Or maybe it just needed time to show up. About a year ago, I started questioning just about everything that I've ever known about God, being that I’m mainly from the charismatic background with knowledge of how the Church of Christ felt about things as well, but I thought they were crazy. I had this fear of not being in "God's will" as the charismatics stress in their religion. When it finally dawned on me that even after 24 years, I was still unable to decipher God's will for me; I decided that I had to question all the charismatic stuff. I've been 'stung' by church leaders (both CofC and charismatic), time after time, and we're talking serious stuff here (especially with the charismatic). So, I've officially stepped into a crisis of faith by way of beliefs.

I guess one way that Nate describes it is that some try to manipulate God to get what they want. That seems to define how I've always been. I've had more than that kind of a relationship with God, but that has been a part of it for so long. For instance, I really want to get married. And I wasn't even that much into dating, least of all marriage, more than the average female fantasy of having a home, until I started to seek the Lord on what kind of a wife and mother I should be. Well, I read many books for young singles. I've tried every method there is for making God realize that I'm ready to get married. I tried looking, tried not looking, tried patience, tried praying, and the list goes on. Apparently God can't be manipulated like that, 'cause I'm still single. I got mad because I felt it was God's fault that I wanted to be married, I felt like it had been a passion ignited by Him...but then He wasn't fulfilling that desire.

Well, a while back all hell broke loose in my life, and I started drowning. I finally came to the realization that I needed to take responsibility for my own life and to stop passing off everything to God to take care of. (This is how I ended up in Colombia...long story, but basically, yeah). It hit me that nothing was ever even attempted in my life until I took control. And now I'm starting to second guess all the decisions I've made since then because I still have a conscience, dang it! As you can tell just a bit from my blog that I'm not happy here, in fact, I'm quite miserable. There have been some good things that have come of my taking control of my life, but then some bad have happened, too. For instance, I came to Colombia to prove to myself and others that I could fulfill my "calling" when in fact, I no longer really want this calling. It's a bad thing that I'm now stuck here for the year, but a good thing that I discovered on my own that this is not what I want to do, as so many had "prophesized" I would for the rest of my life. That also solidifies the disbelief of the charismatic religion. Or maybe I’m just “running from God”.

Well, since I've had the rug yanked out from under me...I'm left kinda wishing I had taken the blue pill. I can only handle introspectiveness for so long, and then I get tired of it. So I'm gonna quit typing now.

God's involvement

just a quick survey...how involved to you think that God is in our lives? Is it the kind of life where you can ask Him where you should eat for dinner, or where He just drops hints occasionally to guide us? where in between could He be?

election day

can anyone tell me how the votes are going? the one and only English speaking news channel, world version of CNN, has chosen TODAY of all days to go off air. i have no clue what's going on. someone, please...help!

my Beretta

ok, this is my Beretta. it's a 9000s type D, .40, of course. my dad gave it to me for christmas right after i turned 21. he also supported my getting the carry permit. i enjoy going to the range and practicing with it, and i even enjoy getting to clean it afterwards.

being that i'm in an extremely liberal country, i'm not allowed to have a gun here. my sister is currently keeping it for me. it's funny how in the countries where you most need a gun, you can't have one. it's crazy. no citizen is allowed to have a gun here unless they need it for work, being military or security (personal or business). oh, and criminals get to have guns, too! how dandy is that! if i mention i have a gun back home, people look at me like i'm crazy. they've been so conditioned here to think that only bad guys and military are supposed to have guns here. they have no concept of self-protection. they expect someone else to do it for them (liberal mentality). being the current situation in colombia, the government has proven to be futile. they truly are at a place where voting does no good. i don't even see how it can make anyone even feel like they "did their part" in the process.

i even have a friend that was mugged on a public bus at the beginning of september at gunpoint. he just handed over what he had and was grateful at not having been hurt. these people have lowered their standard so much, that they have lost respect for themselves and their property. it's a shame.

anyway...all this to say...I MISS MY GUN! i need it here more than at home!

Something positive

well, after reviewing the general attitude that i had brought forth to this blog, i figure i should counter it with something i like about latino culture.

i love that here you, as a teacher, are allowed to be affectionate with your students. you're allowed, and even expected, to make it personal. i have one student named Leandro that every day comes up and gives me a kiss on the cheek. many other students come up and hug me and greet me with a kiss. i get to offer hugs or an affectionate touch on the shoulder to let them know that i care about each of them personally. these kids are so special, even the ones that are royal pains. even the twins get excited when they are getting off the bus and see me. they run up and grab my hands and drag me to class telling me all about something that happened the night before.

i know that as a teacher in the States, i was sometimes afraid of getting too close because many people are skeptical of motives. as an ESL teacher there, i became familiar with the parents and they grew to trust me and i felt at ease to hug my students. it's part of the latino culture, and i don't like that our culture has had enough rotten apples to ruin the whole basket, be it perpetrators or lawmakers.

anyhow...there's a good side to the experience, too.