I've really been meaning to be better about writing, but my life is honestly pretty boring lately. I'm studying Spanish... full time. However, I am going to be going to Nicaragua soon for an immersion trip. I'm both excited and a little nervous about it. I'm hoping it'll be good.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Update
I have NOT been good at posting lately. But then again, my life has been pretty uninteresting lately, too. I've been studying Spanish (ahora, por supuesto, hablo mejor que antes) now for about 3 months. It's crazy to see how quickly a language can be picked up. Of course, that doesn't mean I understand everything, or even can always get my point across. But it is definitely a different experience then when I studied Russian. By this time in my Russian language study, I had already arrived in Russia.
In other news, I had Lasik surgery today. I'm going to attempt to give you a feel for the process that I experienced. Times are guesstimates.
8:00 am - Gizmo has already woken me up, even though I was planning to sleep until 9:00. I don't want to be too tired, so I don't get up.
9:00 am - I have slept fitfully for the past hour due to Gizmo's restlessness. I get ready, including eating a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cheese over toast.
10:00 am - I head downstairs to wait for my ride. I had received many offers to give me a ride to the surgery, but I ended up getting a ride with friends who live in my apartment complex, to make things hopefully less inconvenient.
10:30 am - I let the front desk know that I am there, and I am asked to sit down and wait. I feel a little nervous, but I'm trying to forget about it. I start working on my Spanish homework to keep my mind off of things.
10:50 am - I have finished my Spanish homework, the only thing I had brought with me to do while I was waiting. Now I have nothing to distract me from my imminent surgery.
11:20 am - I am finally called to the front desk. I sign all the required papers, pay for the procedure, and buy some artificial tears for use after the surgery. Than I am asked to wait some more.
11:40 am - I am called to the back. I am given my post operative instructions and am left in another waiting room.
12:00 pm - I am still waiting, and the longer I wait, the more nervous I become.
12:20 pm - I have been told that there is one person ahead of me still waiting. I'm starting to get a little annoyed because it is obvious they over-extended themselves for the day. To distract myself, I start telling myself stories in Spanish (I need two stories for Monday, so this is an attempt to decide what to tell in class).
12:25 pm - My ride has arrived, but they still haven't done anything. I tell them I should be done in about 45 minutes.
12:30 pm - The person in front of me gets called in.
12:40 pm - I'm very hungry now and still waiting.
12:45 pm - After waiting for over 2 hours, I am finally called in. The lady puts a hairnet on me and puts drops in my eyes. Then she leaves me to wait for the surgeon.
12:55 pm - After 2 1/2 hours of waiting, I finally see the surgeon. He says all the scary stuff that he has to say to protect himself in the event of one of the rare exceptions happening. For example, that there is the chance I will have to come back for another procedure, or that my vision may actually be made worse.
1:00 pm - The surgeon has looked at my eyes, and I am laying back in the chair for my surgery. I start thinking to myself, "This is crazy! Why am I doing this? My eyesight isn't even that bad. I should just get up and leave! But I've already wasted 2 and 1/2 hours here, I might as well go through with it." So I say nothing.
1:01 pm - The surgery has begun. The next ten minutes are spent staring at a blinking red light, which is actually quite difficult to do when your lens has been sliced off.
1:10 pm - The surgery is over. The surgeon looks at my eyes again, helps me get my sunglasses on and leads me out. I feel so tired. My eyes don't necessarily hurt, they just feel heavy and I can barely keep my eyes open. I sit down to wait for my ride. My eyes also begin to water. So much for not being able to properly produce tears.
1:20 pm - My ride arrives and we head home. I keep my eyes closed for most of the ride because it is just too much effort to keep them open. I think to myself, it will be really easy to fall asleep. My eyes water the entire way home.
1:40 pm - I'm home. My place is dark, which is good. I switch my glasses for the protective shield I'm supposed to use while sleeping, and lay down on my bed. Although my eyes make me feel tired, I don't fall asleep.
1:50 pm - I decide to take the Tylenol PM I had been given to help me sleep. I fall asleep shortly after, but it is not a very restful sleep. I wake up several times.
3:45 pm - My phone rings. Who can be calling me? It is one of the nurses from Lasik Plus. They are calling to see if I was able to take a nap. Yet they woke me up from the nap . . . I go back to sleep.
4:15 pm - I wake up and can't make myself sleep any longer. I put in my prescription eye drops, then turn on the TV to relax.
8:00 pm - I have to close my eyes periodically to rest them, so I decide to go to bed. I use my drops again, and get ready for bed.
8:10 pm - I am ready for bed. Tomorrow morning I have my first check-up. I guess we'll see how I'm really doing then!
In other news, I had Lasik surgery today. I'm going to attempt to give you a feel for the process that I experienced. Times are guesstimates.
8:00 am - Gizmo has already woken me up, even though I was planning to sleep until 9:00. I don't want to be too tired, so I don't get up.
9:00 am - I have slept fitfully for the past hour due to Gizmo's restlessness. I get ready, including eating a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cheese over toast.
10:00 am - I head downstairs to wait for my ride. I had received many offers to give me a ride to the surgery, but I ended up getting a ride with friends who live in my apartment complex, to make things hopefully less inconvenient.
10:30 am - I let the front desk know that I am there, and I am asked to sit down and wait. I feel a little nervous, but I'm trying to forget about it. I start working on my Spanish homework to keep my mind off of things.
10:50 am - I have finished my Spanish homework, the only thing I had brought with me to do while I was waiting. Now I have nothing to distract me from my imminent surgery.
11:20 am - I am finally called to the front desk. I sign all the required papers, pay for the procedure, and buy some artificial tears for use after the surgery. Than I am asked to wait some more.
11:40 am - I am called to the back. I am given my post operative instructions and am left in another waiting room.
12:00 pm - I am still waiting, and the longer I wait, the more nervous I become.
12:20 pm - I have been told that there is one person ahead of me still waiting. I'm starting to get a little annoyed because it is obvious they over-extended themselves for the day. To distract myself, I start telling myself stories in Spanish (I need two stories for Monday, so this is an attempt to decide what to tell in class).
12:25 pm - My ride has arrived, but they still haven't done anything. I tell them I should be done in about 45 minutes.
12:30 pm - The person in front of me gets called in.
12:40 pm - I'm very hungry now and still waiting.
12:45 pm - After waiting for over 2 hours, I am finally called in. The lady puts a hairnet on me and puts drops in my eyes. Then she leaves me to wait for the surgeon.
12:55 pm - After 2 1/2 hours of waiting, I finally see the surgeon. He says all the scary stuff that he has to say to protect himself in the event of one of the rare exceptions happening. For example, that there is the chance I will have to come back for another procedure, or that my vision may actually be made worse.
1:00 pm - The surgeon has looked at my eyes, and I am laying back in the chair for my surgery. I start thinking to myself, "This is crazy! Why am I doing this? My eyesight isn't even that bad. I should just get up and leave! But I've already wasted 2 and 1/2 hours here, I might as well go through with it." So I say nothing.
1:01 pm - The surgery has begun. The next ten minutes are spent staring at a blinking red light, which is actually quite difficult to do when your lens has been sliced off.
1:10 pm - The surgery is over. The surgeon looks at my eyes again, helps me get my sunglasses on and leads me out. I feel so tired. My eyes don't necessarily hurt, they just feel heavy and I can barely keep my eyes open. I sit down to wait for my ride. My eyes also begin to water. So much for not being able to properly produce tears.
1:20 pm - My ride arrives and we head home. I keep my eyes closed for most of the ride because it is just too much effort to keep them open. I think to myself, it will be really easy to fall asleep. My eyes water the entire way home.
1:40 pm - I'm home. My place is dark, which is good. I switch my glasses for the protective shield I'm supposed to use while sleeping, and lay down on my bed. Although my eyes make me feel tired, I don't fall asleep.
1:50 pm - I decide to take the Tylenol PM I had been given to help me sleep. I fall asleep shortly after, but it is not a very restful sleep. I wake up several times.
3:45 pm - My phone rings. Who can be calling me? It is one of the nurses from Lasik Plus. They are calling to see if I was able to take a nap. Yet they woke me up from the nap . . . I go back to sleep.
4:15 pm - I wake up and can't make myself sleep any longer. I put in my prescription eye drops, then turn on the TV to relax.
8:00 pm - I have to close my eyes periodically to rest them, so I decide to go to bed. I use my drops again, and get ready for bed.
8:10 pm - I am ready for bed. Tomorrow morning I have my first check-up. I guess we'll see how I'm really doing then!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Spanish, Bollywood, and Valentine Cookies
 |
| Baking the cookies! |
Then last night I went Bollywood dancing with a friend of mine. It was so much fun! My hips have been sore all day as a result. Maybe I'll take some classes or something soon. It's great exercise, but FUN exercise, too!
 |
| Decorating the cookies |
So far my weekend has started great. I'm still waiting for my license plates, though. I'm really annoyed by that. Oh well, there isn't anything I can do about it. And there's no point in stressing about things I can't change.
By the way, did I mention that I've been exercising lately? It's a great feeling to be doing something I've felt like I should be doing for a while now. It makes me feel healthier, though I'm not sure if it has actually made me healthier or not.
Lots of short blurbs this time, just to keep you updated!
 |
| My favorite that I designed |
 | ||
| All the cookies. We didn't decorate them all because we ran out of frosting and didn't want to make another batch for just a few cookies. Delicioso! |
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Happy Chinese New Year!
Today was NOT Chinese New Year, but I celebrated it (for the first time) with some friends. We had hot pot, which is a communal soup that is cooked while you eat. So the base is set up on the table with the veggie and meat on the side. You add what you want to eat and take it out when it's done cooking. It was really good. There was also some Chinese alcoholic drink that is made of sorghum. It smelled disgusting. I have to wonder how people can claim that your taste buds are connected to your sense of smell when there are so many foods that smell disgusting that people enjoy. As for parts of the soup, they included veggies like bok choy (green and white), mushrooms (portobello and some mushrooms with really long stems, large and tiny, that I don't know what they are called), potatoes, bean sprouts, seaweed, tree ears (a fungus that grows on trees, not sure what the name is in English but the Chinese name translates to tree ears) and other similar things. We had lamb and beef in thinly sliced pieces, shrimp and fish balls, tripe, chicken hearts, and tofu. There was a lot of things to try. I did not like the tripe (the taste was fine, it was just way to chewy for me) and I did not like the chicken heart (it was a weird feeling. It felt like I was chewing a heart, but that may be because I knew what it was). There was also pork slices, but everyone was kind enough to agree not to use it since I am really don't like pork. There were some dumplings with pork (I tried it, just to make sure, but I didn't really like it) and we put some really long/thick noodles in at the end, too. Those were really good, though hard to get OUT of the pot.
While we ate, we watched the Chinese New Year TV program from 2009, which included a musical performance by Jackie Chan. Although I like Jackie Chan, he was definitely off-key.
The show had some other cultural performances, dances, singing, and some comedy skits. I didn't understand a word. Well, that's not exactly true. There were some parts where English was spoken (one skit included an American tourist asking for directions at the Beijing Games), and I also learned the word for thank you, which I later recognized on the show. It was fun.
We concluded the night with dessert while watching some SNL skits. It was fun.
In other news of the weekend, I found out where my second post is going to be! After Mexico, I am headed to Kiev, Ukraine! The more I think about it, the more excited I become. It's going to be a great post.
Last night I went to a party with a friend. The party was of some people that we work with, but were ones that I didn't really know. It was interesting, but I don't do real when I don't know anyone and there is so much noise that you can't hear. I have a heard enough time hearing people as it is without having to filter out loud music and loud talking. After the party (we were only there for maybe an hour and a half) we went to some clubs. I had no idea what I was getting myself into . . . which can mean trouble. I don't generally consider myself to be a hick, but if I wasn't, I think I wouldn't have been caught off guard.
We went to this one club in DC, and there was a huge line of people. They were making people wait until others came out to let people in. I was with my friend, my friend's friend and my friend's friend's friend (that means there were four of us total). The last of the four listed above was male, the rest of us were female.
Anyway, I should have realized that a club that literally had to wait for people to come out to let others leave would probably be too crowded. I felt like I was dancing on a crowded Russian bus! No matter where you moved, you were getting bumped into and you were bumping into others. I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that you just had to decide which people you wanted to be dancing up against: those people that you know, or those that you don't. I kept having these guys try to dance with me, which basically means putting their hands on you. I think that type of dancing is really just an excuse for guys to be able to grope girls, but then again, you tend to get groped (though generally not intentionally) on crowded buses, too. There wasn't anything too bad. One guy grabbed my hand and tried to pull me away from my group. Luckily, the guy we were with was pretty good at protecting us. He kept telling me to let him know if any guys were bothering me. The worst that happened was probably the guy that came up to me and put his hands on my waist. That, and the fact that my body was pressed up against somebody the entire time we were in there.
After a while, we left and went to a different club that was a lot better. There was more room to dance, which I liked better.
Let's just say that I've had a really interesting weekend!
 | ||||||
| Chinese Hot Pot To the left you'll see some of those mushrooms with a long stem in a mug. |
The show had some other cultural performances, dances, singing, and some comedy skits. I didn't understand a word. Well, that's not exactly true. There were some parts where English was spoken (one skit included an American tourist asking for directions at the Beijing Games), and I also learned the word for thank you, which I later recognized on the show. It was fun.
We concluded the night with dessert while watching some SNL skits. It was fun.
In other news of the weekend, I found out where my second post is going to be! After Mexico, I am headed to Kiev, Ukraine! The more I think about it, the more excited I become. It's going to be a great post.
Last night I went to a party with a friend. The party was of some people that we work with, but were ones that I didn't really know. It was interesting, but I don't do real when I don't know anyone and there is so much noise that you can't hear. I have a heard enough time hearing people as it is without having to filter out loud music and loud talking. After the party (we were only there for maybe an hour and a half) we went to some clubs. I had no idea what I was getting myself into . . . which can mean trouble. I don't generally consider myself to be a hick, but if I wasn't, I think I wouldn't have been caught off guard.
We went to this one club in DC, and there was a huge line of people. They were making people wait until others came out to let people in. I was with my friend, my friend's friend and my friend's friend's friend (that means there were four of us total). The last of the four listed above was male, the rest of us were female.
Anyway, I should have realized that a club that literally had to wait for people to come out to let others leave would probably be too crowded. I felt like I was dancing on a crowded Russian bus! No matter where you moved, you were getting bumped into and you were bumping into others. I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that you just had to decide which people you wanted to be dancing up against: those people that you know, or those that you don't. I kept having these guys try to dance with me, which basically means putting their hands on you. I think that type of dancing is really just an excuse for guys to be able to grope girls, but then again, you tend to get groped (though generally not intentionally) on crowded buses, too. There wasn't anything too bad. One guy grabbed my hand and tried to pull me away from my group. Luckily, the guy we were with was pretty good at protecting us. He kept telling me to let him know if any guys were bothering me. The worst that happened was probably the guy that came up to me and put his hands on my waist. That, and the fact that my body was pressed up against somebody the entire time we were in there.
After a while, we left and went to a different club that was a lot better. There was more room to dance, which I liked better.
Let's just say that I've had a really interesting weekend!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
La comida de latinoamérica
 |
| Enchiladas y frijoles para mañana |
Tomorrow is the last day of my fourth week learning Spanish. It is hard to believe that I have been studying Spanish for nearly a month! We will be getting a new teacher soon, and so tomorrow we are having a banquet of food from our destination countries. Luckily, Mexican food is easy to find around here, so I made enchiladas and frijoles. I've never made this recipe before, so I'm not sure how tasty they'll be, but oh well.
I had to go shopping today because I hadn't been grocery shopping in a long time. It's been about 3 weeks since I ran out of milk . . . Anyway, I needed to get some things to be able to make the food for tomorrow. When I got back, I was carrying everything up all at one time, like usual. Somehow, I lost my keys. I could not find them. I looked around outside near my car, double and triple checked my pockets, and even flagged down a friend to help me look. Nothing. Finally I thought, it's possible that they fell into one of my grocery bags (though I had checked prior to going outside to look). Imagine my surprise to check again and find the keys right there where I had looked previously! Although I felt a little stupid, I'm glad that I found my keys, and in such a safe place, too!
Now here's a little of what I've learned in Spanish. I'm not promising that all of my grammar and everything will be correct, so if you speak Spanish, I apologize. But try not to let my horrible Spanish bother you too much. And try to remember that I've only been studying it for 4 weeks.
¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás? Estoy bién. Ahora estudio español. No hablo mucho español, pero estudio. Mi gato está enojado. No le gusta cuando yo limpio sus orejas, pero estuvieron muy sucias. Estoy cansada. Necessito dormir. ¡Hasta luego!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)