22

Okay, I have to admit that I did have a birthday, but this is more to celebrate wonderful people than the birthday.

Saturday before last, some friends surprised me - along with the other friend I thought we were surprising - and Sue Ann gave us roses (my first flowers ever!). Monday was the day, and I came home to find that Aunt Vici was making homemade pizza and Rachel had frosted that cake -- that cake that she was baking the night before and she said that no, it wasn't exactly for work; what was it for? it was for some devotional -- a dark chocolate cake with cut-up dark Dove's and even dark frosting. What a good liar she is! We all devotedly devoured it. They even had presents, many of them to stock up my chocolate stash. Two friends left cards in the mailbox, another friend mailed a package, and then I finally got to open what that Mommy sent out - an Irish Tenors CD and all of Milton's poetry! How lovely!

This afternoon at work in the Language Department, they told me they needed me to take notes for their departmental meeting. When I came in the meeting room, they had a cake and started singing. My four language and culture profs are just wonderful!

The best part of these 22 years has been sharing them with you all.

At the end of the week

Did you know that if you don't put away your pajamas in the morning, you don't have to pull them out of the drawer at night?
Here's the one I really like: coming home to find the bed unmade and all ready to crawl into.

See, the secret of efficiency is doing less by doing less. It's great to find out how working hard and being a lazy slob just melt together.

Next week is spring break at the highschool. YIPPEE!! What luxury to sleep in till 6:30!

This is Friday night. I got home and enjoyed several good and amusing articles from the school newspaper over supper, then found Independence Day playing. I was hoping to see it all through, but somehow, watching TV became too boring after an hour. So maybe it's time for an unorthodox Friday night of going to bed before midnight.

A matter of life and 4

Saturday morning I slept in. While sipping hot chocolate and checking emails, I ran across one from the Registrar's office. Oh boy, I wondered, is this an all-students email or just for a few?

Hi Sharon:

Oh boy! Just for me!

Per my voicemail message, it is imperative that you come to our office to meet

with Mrs. ----- and myself to discuss your graduation credit requirements.

Currently we are showing that the credits you have completed/currently enrolled in

will not meet the 124 total credit hours required to graduate.

Whaaaaaat....

This matter must be attended to immediately, in order to determine if you are to remain a May 2007 graduate.

What!?!

Oh my goodness! What did I miss?

But I have 120 credit hours as of this semester. Do I really need 124?

Goodness, it's Saturday, I can't get back to her till Monday. (What does she mean about my voicemail, anyway - I don't have Grace voicemail... did she call here at home?)

But why didn't we cover this in the Senior Audit?

When am I supposed to go in there and discuss this? Oh, maybe she said in the email...

Please call or email me what time below you can meet:

Monday, March 26^th at 9am, 9:30am, 3pm.

Thank you.

No, thank you! What a great birthday present! March 26th!

The first two minutes were slight shock. Then I thought, "Awww, come on, they have to let me graduate. I didn't know anything about this." The few people I told were instantly concerned. But what was there to worry about? I was graduating. There was either a mistake or something we could easily work out. I had given up worrying about things (well, mostly) somewhere back in Argentina.

This feeling prevailed throughout Saturday, Sunday, and into Monday morning, when, during a few moments' free time, I happened to run across that number 124 on the Grace site under Academic Policy and then in the Student Handbook - which all students are to read, memorize, and quote with loving accent. I began experiencing hallucinations of summer classes, extremely rapid independent studies, and even a 4-credit fall semester.

After 5 minutes in the Registrar's office, after laying the groundwork of my innocence and preparing to do intense battle for my graduation date, we - the Registrar and I - discovered that those last four tricky credits had been found. I just can't tell you where or I'd have to shoot you.

Now how did this happen? Well, my major is pretty small -- only 70 credit hours, plus liberal arts requirements. I skipped a semester back in Spring '05 to be home with my siblings. Then after study abroad, I petitioned and got 9 hours worth of overseas classes counted toward liberal arts. Between this, my ignorance, and several perfectly timed faculty and staff responsibility shifts, nothing showed up till just last weekend.

So a note of warning to all people in college or thinking about it: you may have all your required classes in, but make sure you know if your school has a minimum credit requirement for graduation. And try to beat my time of 6 weeks prior to graduation for finding out about it.

Finally

That was close. Almost two weeks without a post!

Last weekend Daddy and my sister Kendra drove out from Iowa. Daddy went on down to Tennessee to visit Grandpa Hoyt while Kendra stayed to visit Grace (and us too, a little!). She did a really good job of it too - spent two nights in the dorm and ate at least five times in the cafeteria, visited five classes, two chapel sessions, talked to professors, and even went to the weekly Chorus rehearsal. Not to mention put up with her sister's busy work schedule and took care of herself and explored various parts of campus. A lot better than I managed for my college visits! Wednesday evening was so beautiful that Hannah and Kendra and I went out to the lake and swung on the swings and walked around Grace Village and the Island for a while. The next morning Daddy and Kendra took off, but not before stopping by the school and changing my snow tires in the parking lot. Try telling me I don't have a wonderful Daddy! It was very nice to see my family for a little while.

Less than 6 weeks till I see them again and graduate! Yippee!

On Saturday I received a wonderful surprise birthday present, which I'll have to explain to you as soon as seems prudent.

In the meantime, you can all pray for the May 5th graduation. Thank you.

Why?

Anybody know the real reason "they" decided to move DST up four weeks?

Question

Is 6:15 p.m. too early to go to bed?

Spring Break!

Well, I said I'd post, even though I never wrote it into the schedule.

By the way, if Memomail has to keep contributing to my Yahoo inbox, I think it could come up with something more interesting than just "Come see Oprah live for free". Especially since that's all they've had for the last week.

Back to the post. Guess what? Life is busy! That's why Little Miss Language Lover hasn't been around for a while. Here's a typical day, to give you an idea:

5:30 - get up
7:30 - 12:30 - work as ESL assistant at highschool
12:30 - drive over to Grace while eating half a sandwich; Tuesdays and Thursdays only a quarter sandwich, hastily park and change clothes for Aerobics

1:00 - class
2:00 - 5:00 - usually work at the Language Department
6ish - either exercise for Aerobics at the gym or head home and do it; Thursday is class
9ish - fix breakfast and lunch for next day, pack, head toward bed; perhaps study if necessary

Weekend evenings: occasionally babysitting

Fortunately, studying hasn't been much necessary. I did have to write a paper two weeks ago and then had TWO midterms last week. Our Aerobics midterm was to be Thursday. On Tuesday, Coach Butler finished his lecture for the day and said he'd decided to give us 5 minutes to study and then give us the test. This was 10 true-or-false statements, the last of which he couldn't read, so he accepted a student suggestion. That worked out really well. We got out of class early and I didn't have to rush to get to my next class for a presentation.

This next class, by the way, was a great milestone. I had to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for the first time. It was kind of fun, but not so much that I'm regretting not being an Ed major.
Actually, it's too distracting. Not only does it keep the audience eyes off you, but it keeps your eyes and brain off your notes and the main points you want to make.

Today was lovely. After getting home from the early service, I drove up to Goshen to have Sunday dinner with Uncle Doug and Aunt Cindy, Gabe and his fiancée Bethany, Joshua, and Grandma. A nice long two-hour dinner with lots of chatting. The trip was therapeutic too - I got to drive 55 mph for the first time in months! And I found gas 10 cents cheaper than Warsaw but managed to miss getting it 9 cents cheaper yet. Oh well, in about two weeks I think it will be a good time to visit family again.

Yesterday I wrote a check for the first time since last July.

I think that's all the interesting news for now.

Oh, as the title mentioned, this week is Spring Break. Ahhh, how relaxing! Now I can finally work full days at the school - 7:30 - 3:30 - we'll be busy with language level testing. And I may even get in an afternoon or two at the Language Department. That leaves lots of time for recreational activities like taxes.

Isn't life just great?!

(Please take that as I said it, that is, without cynicism)

Wow!

Finally getting as good as Ardith and Jason at not posting!

Sunday afternoon

It's Sunday afternoon. This morning we went to church and worshiped God together with other believers, then afterwards had dinner with a couple who invited us over. After a nice relaxing meal, dessert and coffee, and plenty of chatting, it seems right to come back and write a post!

Mommy requested a job report. So far there is not much to report on. Snow days have not piled up the work for us in the ESL resource room. The three other girls and I work with students in various areas: one with the math students, one with the science, one with the language art courses, and I'm to help with social studies: history, government, geography. At least it has been fun getting to know my ESL colleagues and getting acquainted with some of the students... not to mention starting the assimilation process. Aunt Vici's right - the public school system is a different culture!

Tomorrow is President's Day. From what I hear, this retains its off-school status for Warsaw, since it was not set aside as a possible snow-day-make-up-day. I think I'll get up at 5:30 anyway - to stay in shape, and to work on my first real homework of the semester, a Psalm analysis paper.

Tonight, beginning around 9 p.m., we're having our first Kaffeeklatsch - an informal get-together to chat in German and (hopefully) drink coffee (except people whom caffeine affects and who are smart enough to know it). Since I was the one who volunteered to get the room use approval, guess I'd better show up with the approval slip. At least it won't be punishment to step outside tonight into these balmy 20- and 30-degree temperatures.

It snowed some more yesterday and today
+ rain predicted for this week
= we may be drowning soon!

Let's see, what else. I'm sure I'll think of something extremely interesting as soon as I publish this. Too bad!

School and Snow

Well, I guess I should finally get this post to the press...

First the news:

They hired me!

Warsaw Community Schools.

Well, here's the story. I took an application home to fill out and worked on that over the weekend. Then the next week came, the Super Bowl, and snow and cold. First the schools put up announcements of two-hour delays, then they canceled school for Monday. Same thing happened Tuesday. Wednesday was just a two-hour delay, so I finally got the application in.

The lady glanced over it and said, "Oh good, you speak Spanish! And French! Wendy was just down here asking if we had anybody..."

I got back home around 6 p.m. to find a note informing me there was a position. It was too late to call, so I called back at 8:11 the next morning (Thursday). Went in for an interview and the next thing I knew, I was signing lots of papers and being handed a tag with my picture and Miss Hoyt.

Miss Hoyt is going to be an ESL Instructional Assistant at the Warsaw Community Highschool!

However, we had to wait till Monday to meet a high school staff person who was out of town. So on Monday I went back to meet her and the ESL team with whom I'll be working. I got a parking sticker that says I'm WCHS staff, and lets me park on the other side of the building, so I shouldn't have to trek through the whole building to find the Resource Room next time. It's important to not get lost on your first day of work, especially in a high school of 2,000.

Today was to be my first day, provided school wasn't canceled. I got up at 5:30. Then school was canceled. The snow wasn't to come till afternoon, but the 40-mph gusts had started in the morning and were already making nice drifts with the snow we had. Of course all the schools canceled classes, and of course Grace didn't (except for night classes, which of course I don't have on Tuesdays).

It wasn't hard to get to school. It was more fun coming back, partially swimming through one intersection and plowing into the driveway. Fortunately, Uncle Rene and Aunt Vici snowblew the driveway once everyone arrived home. It'll probably be ready for more tomorrow.

By that time, school had been well canceled for the next day. Oh good, now at least two of us will be free to clear the driveway tomorrow morning!

Well, till I do get to start work, I can keep practicing the 5:30 wake-up.

In the meantime, we're all surviving the snow fine, getting high and happy on Valentine's Day chocolate.

5 weeks and 5 days later....

Mee-e-e-e-rrry Christmas!!

Weren't you all promised a bunch of presents?

The Argentina photos are now up!

(Actually they've been up for a couple weeks. Someone just forgot about them. Oops and sorry.)

The link below is my entire Photobucket album. The main page has a few pictures, and there should be a list of sub-albums at the top. You'll want to click on the sub-albums with Spanish titles for the Argentina photos. Please note that these albums provide bilingual captions! - you'll need to click on the photo to read the entire caption.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v603/SharonLHoyt/

You can go ahead and look at anything in my album. It's all safe!
I'll link it on the sidebar as well.

Have fun and stay out of trouble this weekend.

Little fun things

Some of the best moments lately?

On Monday I got to take out and HOLD my first piece of computer hardware! - my memory card. Well, maybe I should add that I didn't take it out to hold it... I took it out to erase all the memory with a pencil eraser.

On Monday I also got to park the little blue Toyota in the GARAGE!! And there's even a little remote control garage door opener! Imagine not stepping outside when you go somewhere, or when you come back. That's just about too much luxury to take! Don't worry, it won't make me too Athenian... it's just a temporary graduation till Rachel's car gets fixed.

Yesterday when I went to have supper at the cafeteria with Rachel B. and Sue Ann, my 'old' roomies, there was chocolate cheesecake... just for us.

One afternoon on the treadmill I saw half an original Star Trek episode. The best part was the vibrate-y sound effect for people being zapped to another location (see, I'm not Trekky enough to even remember what it's called... zapping from one place to another... hmmm, what is that called....)

One evening I was babysitting and getting paid to sit in a comfy living room, work on homework and watch TV - and it was then that I finally saw my first ever episode of The Next Generation!

In our latest Aerobics class, our professor - also director of the Rec Center - had to see about fixing a broken basket. So he told us to go exercise for 30 minutes. I got to jog around the track right behind where the men's baseball team was doing pitching practice and then have time to cool down and actually make it to my next class before it started.

Last night Rachel had to run something over to her aunt's, and came back bearing Dove's Darks. :)

Goodness, better stop before this gets overwhelmingly happy!


(P.S. If you analyze this post even more than you're supposed to, you'll easily come up with a list of Sharon's priorities: her computer, 'her' car, chocolate, Star Trek, adrenaline, and chocolate. Too bad that's the wrong list.)

Classes

Here is the Spring '06 schedule:
[Edit: please Change Term to Spring '07]

Global Perspectives -- MW, 13:00 - 13:50
Aerobics -- TR, 13:00 -13:50
Study Abroad Debriefing -- T, 14:00 - 14:50
Poetry & Wisdom Literature -- R, 18:00 - 20:40


Why do we get 10 minutes off our 3-hour Poetry class? Because our professor asked us where and how we wanted our 20-minute break, and some bright person suggested a 10-minute break and getting out 10 minutes early.


Global Perspectives: The idea of this course is to help students develop a biblical lens for living in a multicultural world. It probably sounds like another "diversity appreciation" class. Some people don't appreciate learning to appreciate. However, I think it is good and useful, especially since most of us don't realize how very differently other people think, much less tried thinking that way.

Taking this class seemed kind of redundant after two semesters abroad, but it's a requirement for graduation. However, my advisor, Prof. Schram, encouraged me to take the option of being a TA. So instead of taking quizzes, I grade them. That's a lot more fun, especially with three of us four TAs and Prof. Schram working together and coming across some very interesting answers!

Aerobics: This is a fun class. Coach Butler (the track coach) teaches it. He's a nice down-to-earth guy who's nuts about moving and, as the director of Grace's Gordon Rec Center, says he gets to "play all day". His goal is to teach us the principles of aerobic training so that we can train ourselves for life. Class is about fifteen minutes of relaxed, simply stated "aerobic theory" notes, then about thirty minutes of practicing them out on the track. Basically, he gives us minimum requirements to meet - at least 4 training sessions a week of getting the heartrate over 140 - and then it's up to us to do it, to do more and harder, and to keep incrementing to keep improving. Now, I really dislike being made to exercise, but I like the idea of learning how to aerobically train myself so that I always get to be in charge of my own exercise after this.

Study Abroad Debriefing: This is what study abroad students take the semester after returning. It's just one hour a week with very little homework. True, we do have to give at least half-hour presentations on our experiences to the other two debriefers and the professor. We also each have to teach a class to the whole briefing group (perhaps 10 students). We also have to pick various projects to work on during the semester. Somehow, Amy and Zach and I agreed to plan and set up the Study Abroad Chapel on February 22nd. Some of us may even be getting up there to talk. This is the kind of thing my brain simply didn't consider by default before. Before what? I don't know.

Poetry: This is by far my heaviest class. Requires reading at least 30 pages a week, reviewing for a potential weekly pop quiz, and writing two whole 5ish page papers during the semester; that's not even including the in-class group work and class discussion. We also have to read huge chunks of Scripture, something to the tune of 40+ Psalms per week. One of the poetic terms 'we' learned was hyperbole, which I have made good use of in this paragraph for your especial health benefit (that is, make you laugh and improve your heart).

And that's the whole whopping 7-credit-hour story!

Back to Tuesday night

It was interesting to watch the State of the Union Address. I was expecting President Bush to begin with the State of the Union internationally, i.e. Iraq. Instead he did a sandwich style: first domestic matters (health care, education, etc.), then the war on terror and Iraq, and finally moving back home with immigration policy. Maybe that was to emphasize the importance of these domestic matters (to him as well!) and remind that the war on terror and the war in Iraq relate directly to our domestic well-being. Rachel thought that it may have been a strategy to keep people listening... those who were willing to start watching would keep watching till he brought up the Iraq war, and then afterwards they'd be curious to hear the end topic. Either or both ways, the Middle East situation was nearly the best-detailed of the speech.

I do have a few questions. Is American productivity actually the highest in the world? Who are these civilian who don't have to pass through boot camp?

In any case, there was certainly a theme. There were 2 announcers for the presidential entry. The president made 2 tributes to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, followed (of course) by 2 long applauses. There were lots of hero stories, about 4, I think. Someone could easily find more 2's if they wanted to keep looking.

... and when is the next post? ...

Hang on. I'm getting there. I just haven't gotten there yet.

Not complaining, just wondering

It doesn't seem right that we should have to wait along with the Easterners way up till 9:00 PM to watch the State of the Union Address. Who ever decided to take Indiana out of the Midwest and Central Time, anyway?

Pretend A is upside-down

Q: What do these two have in common?

1) Changing a kicking baby's diaper

2) Typing out a résumé


A: They are both a little fun; they are both somewhat frustrating; they are both pretty tiring; and they both give a happy rush once just accomplished.

Sunday's Adventure, Part II

I guess I should finish telling this before we pass the two-week anniversary!

When we were last in the story, Jason had just disappeared into the terminal with his papers, his two bags, and without his gate number information or his Warcraft CD. First thing on my list was parking the car. This shouldn't have been hard, except I kept passing a million Economy Parking signs, finally caught a glimpse of the words Short-Term Parking, only to realize it applied to that exit I had just passed. However, I'd seen that short-term was in Lot D. So I kept on passing economy lots labeled B and C. But E and F were clearly too far, so I pulled into E and discovered the only turn-around option was a U-turn right in front of the gate. Oops. Oh well, that bus was plenty far behind me.

Only thing to try was going back round to the O'Hare entrance and through the terminal drop-offs in the hope of snagging that obscure sign. Since this time I wasn't looking for Terminal 1 and Gate B, the right signs did show up and so did the parking garage. Only had to back up once from starting down a row the wrong way. Got the car parked. Whew. Challenge number 1 was overcome.

Challenge number 2 was finding out if Jason was on his flight, but this was soon moved back to #3 as the problem of finding and getting to his terminal emerged. First I had to take an elevator down to the main floor. Then I took a moving belt and an escalator, only to find that the new floor didn't look right. Went back down and found that the O'Hare airport was sorry for the inconvenience, but the escalator was out of order and the elevator the only means of getting up to Terminal 1, and the elevator took two minutes to get there. And there I was again, back on the floor that didn't look right (what a waste of time). This time I got smart and took the escalator up to Checkin. Jason's flight had already disappeared from the listings. So I had a great time trying to rasp enough voice out to talk to three different people, finally getting to a flight agent, who finally got some help to look up the right page and tell me that YES! Jason was on his flight! and why was I so worried about him?! he was just fine! etc. Well, I was glad to hear that, almost didn't quite believe it.

I called back home to tell Daddy that Jason was on his way and find out what to do with the tire. Somehow I got the address noted despite all the terminal noise, and found the Sears Auto Repair despite somehow numerically skipping some 20 exits. They couldn't fix the first tire. The leak was so big you could hear air hissing out of it from a distance. So we lugged the extra tire out to put on the old rim, once again out of that well-buried under-trunk compartment.

At last I was back on the road, anticipating the exit for I-90/94 only once. The traffic was exciting but not excessive, and the Chicago Skyway was a fun drive. The only problem is that the signmakers keep changing terms on you. First they talk about I-90/94, then about the Expressway, then Local 94, then the Skyway, forgetting to mention what happened to 90. Not that I made any stupid exit calls, but it's nicer to positively know you're on the right interstate before you're halfway to the next one.

I hadn't thought too much about toll money, but came up with enough cash and coins without making anybody wait too long while I dug around for it.

The rest of the trip was just a breeze... 65 South, 30 East, 15 South. When it started misting I discovered I'd forgotten where the windshield wipers were, but it only took me trying the lights, the brights, the cruise control and a couple other things before - bingo! there they were!

By the way, snack mix is a great thing for the driver to have along on car trips. Drains very little brainpower and muscle coordination from the main task to reach into a Ziploc bag for a handful of peanuts, raisins, and chocolate chips (no little seedy bits to decorate the car), not to mention has a good energy yield. That was most of my lunch and supper.

Oh yes, I did spend an extra quarter-hour getting lost within five miles of Tysons' house.

All in all, it was a great trip. I even coasted through two days on the gas left. A day or two after I filled the tank back up, the gas price dropped about twenty cents.


The End


(I love happy endings!)

Lately

"Is there a connection between you talking and his getting confused?"

(From page 36, Culture From the Inside Out, by Alan Cornes)


"Pain is weakness leaving the body."

(Some student in Aerobic Fitness class)


How can you not laugh after reading those?

Warning that isn't on the label

If you get up in the middle of the night to put some cream on cracking hands and reach carefully in the dark to pump the tall bottle of lotion on the dresser, please, please make sure it really is that extra tall one of cream lotion and not just the middlingly tall one of alcohol-containing sanitizer lotion. Because if you don't, this is what you feel:

OWWWWW!!

That really hurts.

But who knows - maybe you'd enjoy laughing over it once the stinging subsides! (especially at an unknown hour of the night)

On third thought, that would be a great way to get your hands up in the morning.

Transcript

If you missed the President's speech last night, the New York Times has it here.

Sunday's Adventure, Part I

[Isn't it odd how blood relatives can have such a different take on events?... you can read Jason's account here.]

Well, we made it! Actually we made it two nights ago... someone just didn't have Internet or get around to posting. Sunday morning at 7 a.m. Jason and I left Iowa, and Sunday night he was safely in Texas and I was safely in Indiana.

This story actually begins Saturday evening, when Jason and Kendra were helping me pack up the trunk and I mentioned - as we stuffed boxes and bags onto the spare tire with wheel, the extra tire, salt bags and shovel - that we'd better not need that stuff the next day.

Sunday we left right on time, only to discover about three minutes down the road that I had forgotten to grab the lunch (after remembering to put in the refrigerated food and the freezer pack just before walking out the door). So we went back and got it. Lucky Jason, with his Iowa-restricted permit, got to drive the first shift into the morning sun. He was a good sport about it and got us to the border in good time.

When I started driving, I thought that Jason had done a pretty good job of making driving with the new snow tires seem easy. Daddy had said it might feel a little loose up around 65 and 70, but I couldn't seem to keep the thing going straight at all; every little correction snowballed into a right-left-right mini rollercoaster. After about fifteen miles I was getting resigned to having the drunk-driving look all the way to Chicago. Jason was starting to look out his window. Then he told me we should probably check on it. "You mean pull over on the highway?" "Yeah." He hit the flashers as I pulled over (what a good brother to not even give me time) and hopped out. It wasn't very comforting half-seeing and half-hearing his reactions and pauses. He came back and told me there were 8 pounds in the right rear tire. That didn't sound too good. I pulled out the cellphone to call Daddy while Jason checked the others. Daddy told me that no, it wasn't too good, not even good enough to get us to the next place. I was just hanging up when Jason informed me that the police had arrived.

Well, the policeman was just there to keep people from hitting us, despite the fact that I had pulled well off the road. Anyway, nothing for it but go dig the spare tire out of the under-trunk compartment. Isn't it funny how the things that shouldn't happen happen?

Jason calmly and capably got the spare on, then the policeman gave us some lefts and rights for an auto service place. The spare was a donut (mini), fifty pounds needing an extra ten, so we went to a gas station first and Jason pumped it up while I got clearer directions from the cashier. Then we went, found the Farm and Fleet, hunted around for mechanics who sent us back to Tire Repair to get a work order, discovered it would be another half-hour, and decided we'd better hit the road.

We kept to the same planned itinerary, 80 East to 55 North to 294 North, and kept the speed up too. Poor Jason was feeling kind of nervous, had been since the very start, just did a good job of not showing it. He did manage to get down a little lunch, even as we approached Chicago. Kind of hate to admit it, but aside from hoping we didn't miss his plane, I was enjoying zipping along in increasingly Chicago-like traffic at Chicago-style speed. Managed to scramble up the change or cash needed for several tolls. There were plenty of signs to get us to the O'Hare exit, plus one or two jets taking off slowly and mightily overhead. "Just think, Jason, pretty soon you'll be on one of those things!" Jason didn't seem quite so enthusaistic about his first plane ride as I was for him.

As we would be arriving about the time Jason's plane was to start boarding, Daddy had suggested in the last phone call that I drop Jason off. So we coasted along and found Terminal 1, arriving at the end of the drop-off area to decide that they didn't have the gates marked and he would just have to find it. First, maybe he should just find his pre-printed boarding pass. We got out and started going through the whole backseat, then Jason stumbled across his papers, grabbed his bags, and headed for the doors. I have to admit I'm impressed with his cool-headedness (even despite stomach turbulence). Let's face it, if that were me plunging into O'Hare for my first plane trip, good chance of a confused and soon-lost little girl.

Apparently he had no trouble. But I didn't know that yet. The rest of the story is coming soon to an Internet-connected computer near you...

[And we'll let you be the judge of who's giving more facts.]

Bye!

We're leaving at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow!

Pray that I wouldn't feel sick (who cares how horribly the virus is ravaging my body as long as I'm not aware of it). Thank the Lord that the second day of the cold feels like the end; and that my brother Jason is along to drive to the Iowa border, to keep me awake through Illinois, and to help me hunt down O'Hare. After that, getting to Warsaw, Indiana will be a piece of cake... that is, a bar of chocolate, provided I remember to buy more when we stop for gas.

Let's keep this short and sweet so the laptop battery can get charged up before bed.

Sending you all love and wishes for a joyful, restful Sunday!

Super Menards

Yes, that's right, sounds like Menards is following the way of WalMart and all good superstores. Friends from church who do general contract work were telling about a current project at one Menards. The store is putting in freezers and hauling in carts of Wrangler's jeans. Now the mom can ask the dad to pick up some milk when he goes to get lumber!

I haven't had time to find a link yet, but someone else can!

The rest of Vacation from vacation [edited]

I never did finish telling about our stay at Ardith's. Jason already posted about that, but of course he left out a few things.

First, you know that the real reason we went down was to help Ardith test out her new TV. Sister #2 just has to show it off, since sister #1 probably won't. It's a nice improvement over what she had, as you can see here. My, that thing is big. Actually, that "old" TV was the best one we had before Daddy found us [a used] widescreen. So guess where the best "old" one went, now that Ardith's done with it? Daddy put it out in the garage. After all, people who work out in garages like to stay informed too.

As I mentioned, we went to see Eragon Thursday night. It was a powerful movie, considering how we reacted to it. That is, Jason was not impressed, Kendra was not thrilled, I never cried, and Ardith got all riled up. To get the real lowdown on how the movie plays copycat with various science fiction and fantasy works, you will have to ask Ardith... but even those of us with limited experience - that is, LOTR, Narnia, and Star Trek - could pick out clear rips: a spoken intro, sweeping-vista shots, an Aragorn figure, a group of slightly dangerous Ranger-types, etc. etc. Not to mention the poorish acting and the pathetic plot (and by pathetic, I don't mean a plot that makes your heart wring in anguish, unless maybe because it's just that bad). All that could be overlooked more easily if it weren't for stealing other people's ideas.

Oh yes, Jason convinced Ardith to put on Hellboy on Friday (not linking it for the sake of younger siblings). I don't know what it's supposed to be... superhero or horror or comedy or fantasy or just a very confusing mix of all of those.

For Friday night supper we had a good conversation topic - since we ate in the living room, and Ardith's living room has a lot of outlets, and this means plenty of laptops plugged in at once and plenty of newssurfers going at once. All that to say that we learned that Saddam Hussein was to be executed Saturday morning... that is, about an hour later that night our time. Then followed a discussion of why the process had been speeded up, who might have ulterior motives, and more generally, whether questions had one, two, or three-plus sides. Seeing as the trial wasn't (supposed) to be broadcast live, we went to see Night at the Museum, which movie we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Saturday we all managed to get up at a decent hour and get spiffed up for a nice lunch of deli food (fifth heaven for some in our family!) with the rest of the family. Eventually we all ended up in the basement, mostly so the little boys could try out all Ardith's TV seating (beanbag, beanbag footrest, weird rockerless rocker).

That's plenty of "we"'s for one post!, plenty of movies for one vacation, and plenty of posting for today.

Happy New Year's!

Is there such a thing as New Year's Day presents? Well, either way, you might enjoy something I ran across on a friend's blog.

A Lego Bible

[Later: Except I took the link out and changed the name (after Thainamu's caution) to protect people like my younger brothers and sisters.]

Goodbye 2006

Every once in a while, check sidebar links in order to ditch all the ones that no longer lead to their original destination. Speaking of which, it appears that while the Beginning of the Internet has stuck around, its End has disappeared.

It was kind of hard to adjust the new profile picture without ending up like Violet Beauregard going off to the juicer. Mommy's camera and mine both exhibit some kind of Blue Shift phenomenon. If someday gets up the initiative to fight it out with the IrfanView color enhancer, that little cropped piece from the family Christmas picture may get modified. Of course, the ideal would be to find some way to get the whole family picture on, permanently.

Happy New Year's Eve for one more hour!

Vacation from vacation

Here we (Ardith, Jason, Kendra and I) are at Ardith's celebrating the post-Christmas festivities, or warding off post-Christmas depression, or being lazy bums during holidy vacation, depending on which extreme you like. Actually, I think I prefer this one: enjoying half a week with Ardith at her house.

We're making good use of the time, particularly those of us who don't get in as much city experience. Last night we tested out Pizza Hut's stuffed crust supreme pizza while Ardith introduced us to MacGuyver and his creative ways of using matches and maps. Today Ardith and Jason managed a laudable amount of video gaming while Kendra and I finished whole chapters of books... still leaving time for the girls to run a successful shopping trip in which they all walked away with at least one clothing item. This evening Ardith made us a very delicious supper, no leftovers. Then tonight we're off to see Eragon... depending on the person, to see it, to laugh at it, to take in the special effects, to critique it, to compare it to other fantasy films, and then maybe one or two of us are just going to enjoy it and enjoy sharing the seeing with great siblings.

For Derek, Melinda, Carolyn, Ethan, Nolan, Trevor: Hi guys! Are you getting all the Christmas cookies and fudge eaten up? Don't forget to come down on Saturday! :)

Merry Christmas Eve

As you've all been such good little children (especially the regular non-commenters), you will all be getting somewhere between one and four hundred twenty-two presents.

Oklahoma trip

Last weekend we went down to Oklahoma for our cousin David's wedding. There, that's about all you'll hear about the wedding. Don't go to weddings to visit with the bride and groom, or the bridesmaids or groomsmen. If you're one of them you'll get to see a lot of each other; if you aren't, don't go unless you know plenty of people. Fortunately for us, we went as a family, then met up with at least half the extended Hoyt family.

On the way down: Mommy drove; Daddy kept track of our progress on the GPS and every turn and interstate lane necessary; Ardith played computer games on her laptop; I wrote pages of Spanish diary; and the kids watched DVDs on the special Long-Trip Entertainment Center (which has a fascinating history of its own).

Friday night we arrived at the Hampton Inn with a good hour and a half before the rehearsal dinner to exult in its luxuries and start running into various Hoyts and Baneks around its corners, in its halls, and entering its elevators. That is, David's relations pretty much took over the hotel over the weekend... at least its lobby and pool.

(By the way, why do some people get to go to the rehearsal dinner without doing any work for it? at least suffering through the rehearsal?)

The rehearsal dinner was very delicious, and our table's party especially fine company: not just Ardith and Jason and Kendra, but also our cousins Ryan, Beth, and Chris, and Greg.

The wedding was lovely. Kendra, Carolyn and I got front-row seats, because there wasn't enough room in the row for our family and Kendra and I showed up late. Fortunately this meant being dismissed almost first, which gave me time to go find my station as punch server. It was a very fun job, greeting and serving some hundred people, seeing how many cups of punch several fathers and mothers could manage. It was kind of cold though, handling ice, punch, and ice water in a practically air-conditioned room... by the time I was off-duty I was shattering and chaking. I mean I was shaking and chattering.

Friday and Saturday night we older cousins took over the lobbies for some great games. Apples to Apples, Liverpool Rummy (left to right: Derek, Beth, Kendra, Erin, Erica), Settlers of Catan... and more Settlers of Catan (Catan fanatics, left to right of second photo: Chris, Greg, Ardith, Ryan, Jason, Taylor).

Sunday was skipping church and traveling back. Repeat paragraph #2 of this post, except include Jason among "the kids" (= everyone sitting behind the front row; does not refer in any way to maturity levels, we think).

(Intermission: waiting for video to upload, visiting Jason, Kendra and Derek in living room to see what's happening in Jurassic Park II, just to say I saw it.)

Here's a little video clip to give you an idea of what it's like to watch Jonah in the van.

Hope that let you experience the trip a little!

(P.S. I hope you have "Flash 8 or newer" so you can view the video. Guess who doesn't.)

Just Sharon the technological wizard

This was so funny I just had to share it! Well, tonight I decided to try making my computer's sound function for the second time. Tonight was a good time because Daddy and Jason were both in the room to bail me out if I couldn't find the problem. First I checked all the connections and again turned on the speaker, with no success - no little green light or accompanying depth-click. So I stared over towards Jason and Derek, laughing over something in their corner, and waited till they noticed.

"So why doesn't my sound work?"
"News to me. You must have done something to it," Jason informed me.
"Did you turn it on?" Derek asked.
"Yes, it doesn't come on."
"Did you turn on the monitor base?"
"Yes, it's plugged in," I told him, referring to the speaker into the monitor base... when it suddenly dawned on me that having it plugged into the base doesn't mean anything unless the accompanying AUX 1 switch on the front is on as well.

Jason and Derek snorted and shook their heads. "That's embarrassing," Jason told me.

What, for him or me? I thought it was great fun!

(Oh boy, another one... spelled it 'embarassing' before checking with Dictionary.com.)

That is, tomorrow

Did I say tomorrow? I meant within the next couple days. Call it the Argentina Effect. We just decided to induct Kendra and Derek into the horrors of Jurassic Park.

Vacation is busy

Did you know that?

This morning was occupied with sleeping in late, putting in a treadmill stint, and deciding it was too late to eat breakfast.

After lunch Jason and I drove in to Hampton to get jabbed in the upper left arm with a needle and injected with this year's flu virus, ensuring that if we can keep from catching it for two weeks, we may just not get it at all. The nurse told us about the year she got to give the flu shot to nearly everyone in our family, all at once.

The afternoon's activities were insulation work and breadmaking. After supper came top-secret business, which won't be described, and birthday business, which was helping Ethan prepare the Chocolate Truffle Tart for his birthday tomorrow.

Tonight is a movie with Mommy and the older kids.

So because of this busy day, as of yet I have only been able to download to my computer and then upload to the Internet a few of the trip pictures. Tomorrow I will have time to link them and write a little about the trip.

Big weekend trip!

Trevor: "Sharon, are you coming with us on the trip?"
Sharon: "Yes. You mean to the wedding?"
Trevor: "No, to the hotel."

Tomorrow at 7 a.m. we leave, to go to either to the hotel with a swimming pool or to David's wedding, depending on which child you ask. David is the oldest of our three Oklahoma cousins, and what do you know, Amy the bride is too - so everyone will be converging on Tulsa this weekend. It is lovely to be back in the U.S. and meet up with family, little by little... most of our family last Tuesday, Ardith tonight, Jason and a whole lot of the extended Hoyt clan tomorrow!

Despite the trip, don't expect Hoyts to be absent from the blog scene all weekend. The hotel has wireless and we have a Daddy who fixes us up with laptops and wireless cards.

a little Christmas vacation

Wasn't that a nice break?

Christmas vacation is like always, just how it should be. Stage I - the tree and decorations - went up a little late but very lovely. Every year there's something new, it seems, especially for the kitchen! Stage II will be Christmas cookies next week. Too bad that we didn't make them before Jason got home! (... waiting for reaction...) Stage III, Christmas photo-taking, letter-writing and mass-mailing will be accomplished at a yet-undetermined date, but of course Mommy's Christmas letter is always worth waiting for.

Vacation also means a few little work projects. The breezeway is getting insulated, slowly but surely. Ethan was helping me fill some of the smaller spaces, but now it's just big two-foot-wide fiberglass rows across the ceiling. An interesting job that requires at least three ladders and a plank, a slightly sore neck

(intermission #1: first I typed 'kneck'!)

and lots of white fairy fiberglass dust. Oh dear! Why didn't I think to wish for something?

By the way, an inconvenient place to cut yourself is on top of the thumb. I don't advise it, even with a blunt knife that just breaks the skin. Even two well-applied bandaids only survive two handwashings.

Most college students catch up on sleep during vacation. I just can't seem to get around to it. In fact, it's hard to think of the last week that had all the sleep time desirable. Life is just too interesting to sleep through.

(intermission #2: Joe or one of his friends must be messing with Ethan's computer. Some body's scratching around down there and I don't think it's Santa Claus.)

Normally we should have the climax now, but that intermission happened to show that it's after 11 p.m. More thrilling Hoyt Christmas news items to come as they decide to pop up!

Occasionally Includes Blogging

Vacation.

Good to be home

Do you know that nobody dusted off my computer in five months?!

But there are lots of good surprises. Daddy is back to working on the house, despite still-healing ribs, and has fixed up a walkman as a kitchen radio for Mommy. No matter what she says on her blog, Mommy has a very successful diet. Ardith is riding down to Oklahoma for our cousin's wedding with us in the 15-passenger. On opening my long-unused Intergate mail account, I discovered an email from Jason. Kendra found a brownie recipe that is similar to the cheap off-brand mix and that we all like. Derek is nearly as tall as Jason. Kendra and Melinda have taken over the breadmaking. Carolyn and Ethan helped clean out the breezeway, upgrading it to 'walkable' status. Ethan has a very handsome non-flattop haircut. Nolan can pick out Christmas tunes on the piano and recite word-for-word whole strips of Peanuts comics.
Trevor has outgrown naps but not cuteness.

Is that everyone?...

Tonight on the way to prayermeeting we counted farms and houses with Christmas tree lights: Melinda, Nolan and Trevor on the left, and Carolyn, Ethan and I on the right. On the way home we played a game that Carolyn thought up. Each person had to think of a word that probably no one else would know, and everyone else had to guess the meaning. Carolyn's word was rax. None of us could guess it, though Trevor made a valiant effort, once we knew that hands, arms, and stretching were likely involved (after multiple hints): "When you stretch out two hands and do a backflip."

...Oh, I forgot me. Yesterday I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. and tonight 10:30 already feels very late.

So goodnight, everyone... here's how we say goodnight in our house:

Goodnight,
Sleep tight,
Pleasant dreams,
I love you!

Arrived

It's lovely to be home! Thank God for safe travels.

I just can't keep awake to type more.

Last Friday

Dooesn't my ingenuity with post titles just make you want to cry?

Once again uploading pictures. I found the multiple upload option but that doesn't make the connection faster. So I may stop at 150 soon as it's already after 1 p.m. and other business awaits.

Yesterday was an all-day trip to Colonia, an old and picturesque city in Uruguay. Three hours of boat ride to arrive was lovely and great for getting burned. Colonia is pretty, as you'll see from a few pictures later on. The best part is crossing the main street, Flores, where the vehicles stop for pedestrians! Even around 6 p.m. there wasn't much traffic. Of course, this was in the old center of town, not the modern.

Today is a little rest before the last big rush. Saturday is all-day decorating for a wedding and the ceremony and party at 8 p.m. Sunday will doubtless be sleeping and a little packing. Monday will be last packing, changing pesos to dollars - at least enough to have the $20 required to leave let me leave the country. There's something about these Latin American countries wanting to hang on to everybody, or at least hang on to their money. Leaving Uruguay cost 5 pesos and I believe some missionary friends had to pay each time they left Haiti.

Then at 4:30 p.m. (1:30 Central, I think) we leave for the airport!

That's all for now. Looking at a screen is getting a little tiring after an hour and a half!

The last Wednesday

I was going to post yesterday, but the 20 locutorio minutes were almost up; and then it was time to go shopping.

Yesterday I cooked dinner for my friends. I started around 5 p.m. with the dessert, then around 7 p.m. with the main courses. The meatloaf turned out great, in spite of the fact that most of my brain was occupied in carrying on a conversation with a dinner guest who arrived early. So did the baked potatoes, though I almost thought they would never make it. So did the French vinaigrette for the lettuce salad. I didn't manage to get around to making the chunky applesauce. We started eating around 9:30 or 10:00 with the guests still arriving, the last one coming a little after serving the chocolate cream pie and meringues. What fun the evening was! All except two made it, which still made for around 10 people in total. We five youngest goofiest ones between the ages of 16 and 22 stayed up till 3 p.m., partly to take crazy pictures....

... which you may just get to see by the weekend. This is partly because I'm such a nice person and mostly because I want to clear up memory space before going to Uruguay tomorrow. This way we'll see if the 256 mg limit is really 350-some pictures. I already have nearly 300 on one card. Normally I would have been downloading them onto my laptop, but it's refusing to work. So I'm sitting here in the locutorio spending the horrendous amount of 2 pesos (= some 60 cents) to upload them one by one into Photobucket - one by one, because for some reason Photobucket isn't giving me the multiple upload option today. I must have made it mad. Oh, shoot. (Excuse the poor language today.) That's only the fourth or fifth time that I switched back to the Photobucket page only to find I'd selected the file without clicking 'Upload'.

Oh, you thought I was posting to post? No, I'm just posting to kill time.

Just kidding. Partly.

It's funny how little one can sleep during vacation. Saturday I went to bed at 4 a.m. Sunday was 1 a.m., but that's normal now. Monday was 1 or 2 a.m., and yesterday was 3 a.m. This plus never sleeping in till noon. What can I say... it's impossible to sleep that late, and five or six hours felt sufficient this morning. Must be the low-stress non-semester lifestyle.

Well, we're getting there, only about 15 more photos to go. I wonder how long the post will be for the 275-some on the other card.

In other news, the heat here is nice but it's almost making me look forward to winter in our hemisphere. Some days are so hot or humid (or both) that you just don't feel like doing anything, can't walk at a decent rate, and need three times the willpower to do the next thing--

(I started to say 'the force of the will', then some English succintness knocked on the door)

--This explains the siesta tradition and a lot of other things that can be exasperating for North Americans and Northern Europeans... at least for this one.

Well, that's all for now. It's 8 p.m. Maybe I will get to bed early, like midnight, since I have to get up around 5 or 6 a.m. tomorrow to get to the dock for the boat to Uruguay.

1

That's how many weeks are left between hearing planes leaving Buenos Aires and being in one.

A week

It seems odd to round off a semester of studies in sociology, history and economy with a couple weeks of fun and sight-seeing.

Saturday I went with Mayra ("My-ruh") to spend the night at Mayte's ("My-tay") house. We're a diverse bunch: Mayra came from Bolivia five years ago and is finishing massage studies, Mayte arrived from Peru early this year to study gastronomy, and I came from the States to learn how to speak like them (except Mayte still has her "tu" and "y"'s - which probably doesn't mean anything to you). We spent the evening chatting a lot and eating dessert first, then watched a slightly oldish but interesting movie on the Tribulation, ordered pizza and empanadas and the boys (Mayte's brother Juan and friend Pablo) joined us to watch The Longest Yard. It made us laugh enough that the Main House requested us to pipe down a little. The others started another movie but I had already seen it and went to sleep.

Sunday we all slept in late, ate, and watched another movie on TV (the 'nun' one with Whoopie Goldberg). Juan taught me some chords on the guitar. We girls managed to arrive at the church about an hour late.

Monday... I really don't remember what happened Monday.

Tuesday... Tuesday night Felipe came over to visit. Silvina and Emi lent us their roller blades. It was fun to skate after about a decade; but only a little on the sidewalk, as I didn't feel like trying the street and watching out for traffic. Maybe a good thing, since we had to quit rather soon when Felipe managed to lose some of the screws in his skates.

Wednesday afternoon I went to visit the Chacarita cementary, quite close, only twenty blocks or so away. It is enormous. I only visited a small part of it but took over fifty pictures. One part is a little city of tombs, like houses with narrow alleys between them... and you can see inside some of them. Will be linking pictures when I get back.

Thursday afternoon I went to visit the Museum of Oriental Art, only to discover it was being moved to another location. So I was stuck with the Museum of Decorative Art, which fortunately didn't turn out to be the semi-modern stuff we studied in Argentine Art. Rather, it was a house in a baroque French style, two floors, no photos allowed. Sorry. Afterwards I had time to go back and visit just about all of the Museo de Bellas Artes in a more relaxed manner, instead of hunting up subjects for Art homework. After that it was time to come back for our small group in the evening.

This morning I had planned to go to the city center and take photos of important things like the Casa Rosada (the Argentine White House), Plaza de Mayo, the obelisk, and the world's largest McDonald's. But yesterday we stayed up late to talk about something and then had to clean up the dishes to avoid more cucarachas. So let's hope it doesn't rain this afternoon, despite all the oppressive humidity. But then again, better if it rains today and doesn't rain tomorrow, since Silvina and I are going to a nearby city to visit the Museum of Natural Science (lots of dead animals) and walk around to see the city.

Happy Thanksgiving

¡Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias!

(Happy Day of Action of Thanks)

Temporary-hometown news

Yes, that's right, we are hitting the season of cucarachas. I'll let you look that one up. It is not advisable to leave food out in the open or go around the house barefoot in the evening. Besides, if you're barefoot you can't smash 'em when they pop out of nowhere. There does seem to be some odd tradition of leaving stomped cucarachas lying where they were stomped, so I have discreetly undertaken the job of giving them a decent garbage burial.

That delightful intolerable heat of a Buenos Aires summer is finally arriving. Taking the colectivo + finding a seat = time for a nap. Before the close of classes, our Spanish professor briefly described the January joys we'll be missing: stepping out of a store and getting punched by a fist of humid heat, or taking the subway sauna - especially developed for businessmen in suits (I was about to say 'tailored' and decided against it, knowing how people refuse to believe puns are unconscious).

No, playing the guitar is not so easy. It really hurts your fingertips to press down the strings for various chords, especially the lowest ones near the left end (nice exact description, huh?).

Christmas season is approaching. Housemate and artist Emi was getting ready yesterday by painting several small decorative boxes (to sell) with snowmen and holly. Though they don't have snow here, our version of Christmas is popular, what with all the foreign films and publicity.


In news outside of Buenos Aires, did anyone else enjoy finding out that NASDAQ wants to buy its London counterpart? Showed up in the daily newspaper El País yesterday.


And that's all we have time for today, folks. On the way home for lunch, I want to stop by a bookstore that has tablefuls of books on sale (5 pesos, or around $1.64), and this afternoon is a visit to the Chacarita cementary - only 20 or so blocks away, walking distance, and with plenty of statues, famous personages, and a big park.

Comics from Argentina

True, they're a lot less interesting without the illustrations. But a book of a '70s or '80s strip called Mafalda makes me laugh a lot and I wanted to share a couple with you.

#1

Felipe is reading the comics and Mafalda is in a chair near him.

1- Mafalda: Listening to the readio has cleared up something in the Vietnam mess for me.
Felipe: Oh, really?
2- Mafalda. Yes! It seems that on one side are the "North Americans", right? and on the other side are the "North Vietnamese". Then there are the "South Vietnamese", that...
(Felipe listens)
3- Mafalda: ... firght agains the "Vietcong", which fights against the "Americans", which in their turn are against the "Communists". There's also "the Union", and then "the Reds", that...
(Felipe listens with widened eyes)
4- Final scene: Felipe running off yelling "Help!", leaving his chair overturned and comic lying on the floor. Mafalda watches him with a ?.

#2

1- Mafalda and Philip playing chess on the floor.
2- Mafalda's dad walks by and says, "Ahhh, chess! When I used to play it nobody could beat me."
3- Same scene as 1.
4- Same, except Mafalda remarks, "Do parents say those things so we'll admire them retroactively?"

Painful

You can think of and pray for Daddy right now. He broke a rib or two. It's not comfortable or fun.

More vacation

Excuse me for not posting more. I tried Tuesday but it didn't work, and Wednesday I wasn't around, since I went to a friend's house to eat lunch and talk and watch a movie.

While there I tried to talk to someone else in French. She studied French several years and knows less than me. Guess what. She can almost talk more than I can. I can hardly put five words together. Spanish keeps coming out and interrupting. Probably that's a good thing, for now. Later we'll try to get the two to function simultaneously.

Monday I received my last grade of the semester.

Literature: 8
Art: 9
Spanish: 10
Argentine Society: 8
Traditions: 10
Political Economy: 9

8 comes out to an A-. At least I didn't pull any Bs, although it's been three years since getting as low as an A-.

Well folks, that's all the time left, as the ticking clock on this computer informs me I have 2 minutes to get this published and get off before the price rises to the incredible height of 1 peso.

Vacation

For lack of any better ideas, the last 24 hours of freedom.

After finishing my exam and getting in my Internet time, I arrived back at the house around 5:30 p.m. and then proceeded to celebrate the end of the semester in all the best ways: washed the dishes, enjoyed two sections of a bar of dark chocolate, took a walk, ate a quick supper with Silvina before we left for our small group. Normally the group meets Friday nights, but for the moment it's been changed over to Thursday since everyone suddenly realized last Thursday that they were less tired and sharper for a Bible study. Last night we had 'guests', that is the youth group leader and his wife, Frede and Ale(jandra). Frede had been in San Salvador for the last month visiting his family for the first time in some 25 years. He had some good stories to tell, like how much worse the colectivos are and how strong the heat is, how he couldn't bring back hardly any food through customs, and how some people say that the U.S. is to blame for the country's current situation because it helped out both sides in the civil war.

He gave a short study in Nehemiah, and of course we spent time chatting and eating... for those who hadn't had supper, pizza. Plus there was something called gancha, from Peru; it is a little like popcorn - inflated corn well roasted in oil and salted. But it retains the shape of the corn, doesn't look 'exploded' like popcorn. You're welcome for that scientific explanation. Then there was a strawberry torta (normally translated 'cake', 'pie' in this case) that Ale had made.

Since Ale(jandro, fiancé of Emi - how confusing are these names and shorter versions?) had brought the car, we got to ride back home in luxury instead of taking a colectivo. Went to bed around 1 a.m.

This morning after managing to sleep in till 8 a.m., I got up and didn't sit down once except for breakfast. How lovely is that? (someone's tired of sitting and studying) Cleaned my poor neglected room and washed the dishes and cleaned the front of the oven and swept the floor and organized the semester's papers and notes to put away and drank maté, of course. Silvina arrived home from work and we had lunch.

If that was very boring, don't worry. Now I'm off to hunt up the travel agency that is supposed to be hiding in a shopping center some few blocks from here, in order to get some info for making travel plans. For one thing, finding out if it's cheaper to take the train or the micro (a bus like the colectivo, but for longer distances).

Till the next time! Everyone enjoy your weekend!

Today's good news

Today Melinda celebrates her 14th birthday! Happy birthday, Melinda!

(Doubtless there will be photos going up at Ma Hoyt's site in the next 24 hours.)

Yesterday marked the 2-year anniversary of Daddy's heart transplant. I don't think Mommy will mind if I link to her reminiscing.

Today at exactly 16:00 I walked out of the classroom 10.5 a free girl! The last exam is turned in and the semester is over! - except for receiving this last grade, Monday.

Thanks to God for all of His goodness!


Now that I have all this free time I should write a really long post. But I'm sure you'll agree with my eyes that they need a break, after spending all of yesterday (only a repeat of the past week-and-a-half) typing and revising a 4-page single-spaced paper and studying copious notes.

Sending you all love and besos!

...

Postponing posting till tomorrow afternoon, when two joyful announcements can go up at once (and who knows, maybe some more will arrive in the next 24 hours!). In the meantime, prayers for mental sharpness and timely accomplishment are appreciated.

(it's always fun to write without using the first person singular)

Feliz cumple!

Happy 12th birthday to my dear sister Carolyn!

You can view the celebration here.

Coming soon

Guess what? French 24 or "CNN á la française" is due to arrive at the end of this month, bringing that long-awaited French perspective to "counter the Anglosaxon sphere of influence with the BBC, CNN, ..." etc. That's from this article in Wikipedia. Scroll to the bottom for some news links. (I'm sure this is old news to some, but it was a delightful surprise for me yesterday.)

Some fresh air

Ahhhhhhh....

Oh, excuse me. That was just me breathing.

Ten pages single-spaced ready to turn in today; three down, six to go. (You're not supposed to add because I don't feel like changing it.) We'll just skip the part about how and when those were finished since such evidence might cause someone to lose her good name.

If I can just survive the next semester, there are two possible reactions: leave the educational world forever or stick around to reform it.

Professors in Argentina

Once the Literature II professor was thirsty in class and requested that the girl in the front row lend her the girl's water bottle. After about ten minutes and repeated sips in between lecturing, she returned it.

Today the Political Economy professor mentioned (for the first time, to my knowledge) at the beginning of the class that we would need a second mini syllabus, the #5, which logically follows the #4 (just as logically we had had no need of #1, 2, or 3), suggested to the two girls sitting next to me that they run down (to the bookstore in the basement) and buy it, and while they were at it they could buy him one too... either he hadn't brought it with him or he didn't have it (and did not clarify that point).

(Please excuse the frequent parentheses in that paragraph.)

During the break a girl from China was asking him questions and we learned that many professors here teach in several universities... three or four, at least (I know for a fact that at least three of my five professors do this). In order to teach, they don't need to complete any studies of pedagogy, only studies in their field of specialty.

Discúlpenme

Excuse me for not posting. Life continues. Tonight is the last midterm (!) and the next two weeks come due exams and papers for other classes.

Down here we are enjoying the 90s for temperature, accompanied by a good crushing humidity.
One of our professors informed us that this is December weather, not typical of October. But we should be getting rain and the mere 80s soon.

Monday's homework

[This was supposed to go up yesterday, but Blogger couldn't drag itself past 0% publication.]


Contemporary Argentine Art has to be one of the easiest and most fun classes here. Once we had to travel to the center of town to walk along a major street and take pictures of two buildings that reflect a certain movement in architecture. Twice we have been required to go to a museum and take pictures of two works from a particular movement in painting... well, the first time it was paintings, but this one is more open as we have fallen headlong into the bottomless world of modern art, which includes things like oddly-formed mattresses hanging from springs on the wall. Tomorrow I'm off to hunt up such weird things from the '60s and '70s, tomorrow I'll order the photos, and Monday I'll pick them up before leaving for class.

Taking a colectivo (bus) used to be a little scary, but not so much anymore, especially making a particular trip a second time. The most fun is taking a colectivo from somewhere inside the general city center (el Capital) to the surroudning region that tends to be a little more industrial and residential (la Provincia). Why? Because, if you go at the right hour, the colectivo is full and you get to stand up and hold on to a seat back (if you're too short to reach the overhead handholds) and keep your balance while the colectivo zooms along longer stretches and jerks to a stop at the paradas (unless, of course, there is an extra lot of traffic, in which case it's only slugging along and jerks). This is a lot of fun! Of course, if you go at the wrong hour, such as around 11 a.m., you may end up being the only passenger for twenty minutes or more.

How about...

What? You mean I have to keep posting to get comments?

Please, don't take that as a rhetorical question.

Let's make this more interactive. Does anyone have interesting stories from Friday the 13th to pass on? (I'm exempt; it's Tuesdays that fall on the 13th that count here, not Fridays)

Events south of the Equator

One item of interest in the news here has to do with the former president Perón, who died in 1974. Martha Holgado has been claiming for twelve years that she is his daughter, so recently they removed the body from its protection of 12 locks to take genetic material and make a comparison. Apparently this will take around 45 days. Perhaps I will find out and report the results before flying back.

Next Monday is feriado because it is Día de la Raza ("Day of the Race"). This particular Latin American holiday corresponds somewhat to Columbus Day. I believe the date has some connection with the discovery of America, and the 'Race' may refer to those of Spanish background, since this same holiday is known as Fiesta de España or Día de Hispanicidad in Spain. If you want to know more, go look in Wikipedia. Of course, the pertinent point is that we don't have classes. I expect it will be another study day, as there are at least three papers and three exams that will start coming due at the end of the month.

Speaking of exams, this week I received back all the grades for the four midterms. One 7, two 8s, one 10 - on a scale of 1-10. 7 does not sound that great to me, but everyone else informs me it's a good grade. Probably corresponds to a B in our system. Of course, in my opinion, a B is not a good grade, but then the midterm only partly counts toward the final grade. Anyway, grades are mere numbers; the important thing is becoming fluent in Spanish.

This Sunday is el Día de la Madre in Argentina! Silvina and her mother Miriam invited me to eat with their family in Miriam's house on Sunday. That will be a little more like home, but of course I will be thinking of you, mi muy querida mamá. :)

Everyone enjoy your snow up there... down here it's already practically summer!

Saturday

Saturday morning I got up in order to arrive at the post office at 10:00, the hour it opens. This wasn't early enough because there was already a line outside. But fortunately it was only five minutes of waiting.

The next and last errand of the morning was at Coto, a grocery store. All I needed was shampoo and some cereal bars to keep me alive during long days of classes. When it was my turn at the register, I handed the cashier a note of 10 and patiently awaited my five-or-so pesos in change. The lady took the bill, opened it, looked it up and down, this way and that, against the light... I had seen them checking other notes, but never so long, and began to be very nervous that perhaps it was counterfeit. Finally she turned and asked something of another cashier, which I could not make it, then opened the drawer, lifted the tray and put it beneath - hmmm, how odd, I thought, maybe that's for the notes that are halfway suspicious - and started pulling out my change from the slot of 20s! Oh my, I thought, did I somehow hand her a 100-peso note and not see the extra 0? She gave me some 32 pesos. I tried to ask what I had given her, but was so surprised it didn't come out very correctly. She reopened the drawer and showed me the note of 10 Euros I had given her.

Ooops...

I tried to explain that I hadn't realized it and could return another time to buy my things in pesos, but apparently the Euro is plenty stable.

Later I realized what had happened. I had been keeping a 10-Euro note and a 5-Euro note with my checkbook (which I never carry with me), simply as souvenirs for the moment (with, of course, the design of waiting for an exchange rate of something around 100 or above) and when for some reason I had to look at something in the checkbook, happened upon these notes and somehow mistook them for pesos - despite the fact that Euros are made of stiffer paper with glossier embellishments; in other words, I was incredibly not paying attention - and stuck them in my purse ("oh, how lovely, look at these 15 pesos that I was forgetting about...").

Of course, this may not seem very funny to you, but after the first block and first shock, I kept laughing all the rest of the morning!

So much for the grand potential exchange rate. Instead I got rid of my lovely 10-Euro note in a little grocery store in Buenos Aires. When I got back home, my calculator and guesses at the exchange rates informed me that the change was correct.

Well, there's always the 5 Euros, just have to wait for a really good exchange rate...

Tranquil Friday

Laugh of the day: Hearing some guy in the street saying, "Waiyt fo mee, waiyt fo mee..."

Nostalgia of the day: Was walking to the university and passed someone mowing the lawn. That doesn't seem to belong to the world of Buenos Aires!

Qué lástima

Too bad, we don't have our Literature class. This means four hours of being stuck around here with free time, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., at which hour begins Art. Looks like I'll have to study extra or write a blog post - or maybe both.

It has already been a strange sort of day. If it weren't for my alarm clock, I wouldn't have woken up at 8 p.m. because it was raining very hard... and very loud on a tin roof... and we all know how the conscious struggles to take over the mind from the subconscious when it's raining. I didn't know if it was safe to take a shower, considering the lightning and thunder, so I got ready to study, only to discover a mini waterfall in the closet. Ran down to the kitchen and back up twice to get tupperware, which caught most of the dripping.

Silvina got up a little later. Originally she had Monday morning free; then her mother called Sunday night to see if she could work. (!) Emi was supposed to work, then turned out she didn't have to.

It had stopped raining at some point in the morning, but about noon, just when Ramón came to pick up the ladder (that infamous ladder that has been leaning against the wall for all the time I've been here and which I managed to knock over by barely brushing up against it that one time, causing it to bend up the gas heater and nearly knock out a kitchen window, of course while Silvina was gone for the weekend.) But it started pouring again and we had to wait for Silvina to arrive with a lampshade for Ramón to cart off as well....

--Don't worry, you're not expected to understand all the threads of this complicated story - I'm just trying to illustrate how oddly the day is going--

... so Ramón and Emi and I sat around and chatted for fifteen minutes while waiting for Silvina, then fifteen minutes more with Silvina while waiting for the rain.

As for the rest of the day, Silvina is working at the office, Emi is working (painting) at home, and they're both going off to play cards with a friend late in the afternoon. Then perhaps, possibly, Felipe comes over in the evening. But I won't know till I get back around 9:30 p.m., so I don't know if I'll end up making that dessert or not, and so I don't know if I'll have time to study later, and so, in short...

Don't make too many plans for a day because you never know what's going to happen. Just relax and keep working at the next thing, and remember that you have fifteen or twenty or however many minutes to deal with unexpected things, and especially to spend with friends.

late as usual

There, I finally put up a link for you, Jason. (At least you don't know my password.)

Everyone else, you should go visit my brother's site if you haven't yet! (Hint for dumb blondes like me: look under 'Kin' on the sidebar.)

Just a little commentary

When studying overseas, it seems like everything slows down. The class schedule is less hectic, for one thing.

When studying overseas, it seems like everything takes more time. Meals take more time (especially if you're eating with others). Transportation takes more time... Take the bus and you have to go to the correct bus stop, wait for the bus (late in the evening this could be a l-o-n-g wait), and wait for the bus to get through traffic if it's a busy hour; then of course you may have to walk again to reach your destination, or take another bus... Studying takes more time. Obviously because it's in another language, and also because the professor may have a different style, or you don't know exactly what he or she is expecting.

Business takes more time. Go to the bank and you may have to wait at least half an hour... go to the post office and you'll almost certainly wait an hour minimum. In the case of the bank it's mostly just a question of quantity of customers. In the case of the post office... I haven't figured it out yet. Maybe the employees just enjoy taking their time. It was the same over in France. There I would get up to arrive at 8 a.m. sharp and only have to wait behind 3 or 4 people, but the hours aren't as exact here.

In some ways, life is simpler. In both France and Argentina my host families don't have a dishwasher. In France I hung my laundry over a drying rack, here Silvina hangs it on a line. Both Mme. Josianne and Silvina buy groceries during the week as they think of them and need them... of course, for a family who has to drive at least 15 minutes to the nearest grocery store, one that turns out rather expensive, this doesn't work. We almost never used the family's DVD player in France, and here Silvina just bought a DVD player (and I got to help her set up the Spanish subtitles! - because, of course, all the 'good movies' (= ones that she likes) are in English).

In France if we wanted bread or dessert or a snack, we bought it, and here it's pretty much the same, though I've tried a few desserts that almost turn out right and that mostly everybody loves (it would help if the stores had things like cocoa or chocolate chips... for the latter, have to guess how much I need, buy the bar(s) and chop 'em up). In both homes we rarely turn on the oven, maybe once a week.

And there's probably a heap more, but as I'd like to pick up my VISA tomorrow and don't know how long that will take, and as Silvina's mother is coming for dinner tonight, better get home and study a little...

Mañana

Just to not go a week without saying anything. Tomorrow sounds like a good day to post, doesn't it? Because I don't have much time this afternoon, and the Internet is really crawling... at least on this computer.

So much for that

Spring decided to leave us the day after it came.

Thursday the government suggested that Friday be a day of not driving autos (and taking public transportation instead, I suppose), since autos are damaging to the environment and congest the traffic. Apparently it didn't work very well, because traffic was horrible last night. When we took a colectivo in Cabildo, it took us as long to get from the street Olleros up to the street Juramento as I could have walked it.

Feliz primavera!

It's - the -- first --- day ---- of ----- spriiiiinnng!!

How's everything up in the Northern Hemisphere?

When walking...

Well, I did promise the post, so even though the university Internet turned very sluggish this afternoon, your BA correspondent is in the locutorio next door to her house in order to fulfill that promise. Besides, Silvina is cleaning and Emi is visiting with Ale. How am I supposed to study?

Speaking of studying, I realized today that there are only three midterms next week, one the week following, and then we just wait for the finals in early November.

The university is only a brisk fifteen-minute walk from our house, but fifteen minutes is nine blocks and plenty of time to see interesting things in Buenos Aires. By the way, whether you are out walking or in a colectivo, remember to keep track of both the name and number of the street. There are so many streets in Buenos Aires and the major ones are so long that they are numbered in hundreds, advancing a hundred with each block. So going from Cabildo 600 to Cabildo 5200 is 46 blocks... a good walk of perhaps an hour, depending on your rate and how many red lights you hit.

In France - at least, in Dijon - it is sometimes possible to walk by eye and not by the light. Don't try that too much here. Drivers are much less thoughtful and will bear down on you honking all the way. Of course, if you happen to be on the right side of the street you can often make it across before the traffic from the other side arrives, especially if you are crossing a street adjoining a larger one where the colectivos and some taxis and a few bold drivers keep heading through the first 15 seconds of red light, considered no man's land.

Streets that are tranquil in the afternoon are a little too tranquil when you are heading home from a class that finishes at 9 p.m., so if alone try to follow busier streets, even if it costs you a few blocks. If you walk with someone and don't like whistles try to make sure that someone isn't a girl who doesn't mind wearing a skirt that you wouldn't.

Despite afternoon and evening classes, if for some reason you leave on an empty stomach, there are plenty of little stands where someone is roasting peanuts and packaging popcorn and candy to sell... averaging about one a block on the major streets. There are also plenty of people hovering around subway exits and newspaper stands waiting to shove flyers and business cards in front of you. May as well take them, you'll feel generous and you'll probably pick up some with a blank back, which will save you from buying post-it notes.

As in France, there are plenty of dogs, and dogs leave gifts. Somehow Buenos Aires seems more dangerous in this aspect than in France. The best time to go walking is around 7 or 7:30 a.m., when the sidewalks have just been hosed off. You will often see dogwalkers with a group of dogs, anywhere from between four and twenty (well, okay, I've never counted...). This is a job invented during the economic crisis of 2002 and it sticks around. However, it sounds like some dogwalkers occasionally beat the dogs and take long smoke breaks in the park.

Consider it a great triumph when you are returning home one night and realize where you are not by street names or numbers but by recognizing the man at the newspaper stand one block from where you turn off. This means you're getting quite comfortable in Buenos Aires... at least in your little part of it.

Short

This is a pretty pathetic blog for an overseas student, isn't it?

As it turns out, next week is midterms week, so I have an excuse this time. Midterms in every class except Spanish, but sounds like they will be pretty short and straightforward.

Tomorrow will be more tranquil with only one class, and I promise that there will be something more interesting to read.

Wonderful day!

Happy 48th birthday to Mommy!

And congratulations to Daddy, who is retiring -- today is his last day at FedEx!!

How much lovelier can this Friday be?

Next vacation

Thursday of next week is another día feriado. This time it's El Día del Estudiante! Clearly a tradition that the U.S. should import.

I would have had Wednesday through Sunday free (just think, a 2-day week), but as one of my two classes that meets Thursday also has a Wednesday section that doesn't get off, it seems better not to miss a chunk of the material, even if I already have some of the notes. A one-class day isn't that bad.

Actually, it isn't a holiday for all students, just for most high school and university students. Sounds like the Argentinian students go party for one day. Me? Midterms are coming, I plan to study! At least un poquito.

Las noticias

Not that there's much news to report.

Let's see... Spring is coming. I haven't worn a coat all weekend.

The student life continues. Studying and homework take quite a long time some days, but drinking maté with salsa music in the background is generally a good combination! For those who don't know, maté taken in the traditional style is like tea leaf pieces (from a plant that isn't tea) in a little wooden vase. Add hot water (not boiling) from a kettle, a little at a time, and sip it with a sort of metal or wooden pipe. At the beginning it's stronger than green tea, at the end pretty bland... needless to say, I prefer the beginning, but as long as there's hot liquid it's quite good. Better than tea but not recommended right before bed, unless you're one of those people who fall asleep on stimulants.

Getting used to the Argentine schedule now... that is, never getting up before the sun, having afternoon and evening classes, eating supper at 9 on average, rarely going to bed before midnight.

Castellano (Spanish is what they speak in Spain) is coming along. However, I was slightly disappointed to wake up from dreaming in English and realize that I can't recollect dreaming in castellano yet. However (only English speakers studying abroad are allowed to use two "however's" so close together) the subjunctive mode is becoming more natural, almost a daily occurrence. The Spanish subjunctive is more fun than the French because there is always a change in the verb structure, not just one that hides in typical endings and unpronounced vowels.

Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow is a day off and I just might be able to give you a quick description of classes... something promised long ago, when the Internet connection was more reliable and private.

Comment in a Post

Since I can't visit the comments, I will just have to imagine them till I get to a locutorio sometime. But I did forget to include something yesterday. Why did the photography line take so long? There was one man sitting behind a desk, arranging numbers for us to hold against our chest, taking pictures, printing them off and then trimming them - by hand - with a scissors. How much it would take to pay an extra person to at least sit there and trim the photos, I don't know.

... Getting the VISA ...

We're on a roll here: second day straight of blog access and this is even a different computer! (#1)

Today is Wednesday, which means no classes (for me) and normally an afternoon visit to the university for Internet. Usually I get here before 5 p.m., at least on days that we (international students) don't have to visit Immigration to obtain student VISAs.

We had to arrive at the university at 8:30 a.m. to take a bus. However, we stood or sat around for probably half an hour before.... either before everything was ready or before the bus arrived.

First stop was a different office in town where we had gone the week before to get our fingers all blacked up. That stuff was hard to get off. They had bottles of lemony-something gel and it took at least three batches to get most of it off. They needed our fingerprints in order to give us today's form announcing that we aren't criminals. So we showed up at this building and formed a line that was constantly being broken by other people trying to pass. It didn't take long to shout out names and hand out the forms, but afterwards some of us stood outside close to an hour while they finished up with a few students. It wasn't really cold, but just enough to be a little uncomfortable.

Then we took the bus to Immigration. This was more interesting. First we had to sit and wait for them to call us up to the desks one by one to fill out a form and cross-check information; then go stand in line at the cashier's to pay the 200 pesos; then return with the receipt to the desk of the same immigrations agent; then go stand in line to have our picture taken; then return to seats and wait till our particular agent was free to finish up with us; ... only to receive a form that we're instructed to keep with our passport till the day we can come back to receive our VISAs. Somehow I thought this was just a two-visit process. Oh well, nothing like the joys of waiting! Those of us who finished first were lucky. We only had to wait about an hour for the bus to arrive to take the first load of students back. Many of the others were still standing in line for photos, some of them at least an hour. One girl hadn't even been called up for the first time when we left!

I just hope the day we go back is another no-class day for me, or I may have to resign myself to actually missing.

Now that's quite enough sitting for today, time to head back home!

Surprise

What a miracle! My blog works. I don't know what happened. Maybe it only works on the fourth and last computer?

Last week we enjoyed much warmer weather, which promptly changed back to nearly frigid cold on Friday. Today is a little better. Just think, spring is coming in less than three weeks!

Here's an event of the week. A good-sized wooden ladder has been sharing the house with Silvina and Emi and I. It has been leaning up against the wall next to the door... the only place for it in this quaint little house... in a relatively stable position. Well, guess what happened Saturday night. I was unlocking for Felipe, a friend who was leaving (both the house door and the gate to our set of houses), and as we went out the door I barely bumped against the ladder. We were just outside when crash the whole thing came down, knocking over a good-sized fan with it. It knocked the gas heater and came within inches of hitting the windows to the kitchen. Of course, nearly everything's funny at such a dark and early hour, so Ale and Emi and Feli and I all had a good laugh over that. Wouldn't you know that this would happen to happen the weekend that Silvina was visiting relatives in Rosario. She is going to have someone look at the heater, but so far it has been working fine.

That's all the time available for today. Tomorrow, who knows... maybe the same computer will be free!