Employment! Sort of...

Exciting news! I was offered and accepted the position of Sierra Water and Climate Change Program Assistant with the Sierra Nevada Alliance in South Lake Tahoe (northern California). The position seems really interesting and will be good experience for me. The position requires a one year commitment and is described as follows: The Program Assistant will do public presentations throughout the Sierra on climate change and voluntary actions individuals, groups and agencies can take to reduce greenhouse gases and protect Sierra natural resources. The Assistant will also help organize and convene Sierra Environmental Water Caucus meetings, assist in organizing a regional conference on integrated regional water management planning, and help prepare and distribute campaign materials. The Program Assistant will also assist in media outreach, educational event organizing, and program material writing and production.

This is a particularly exciting time for the position, with the recent drought problems in Georgia and California, the state is currently working on a new state water policy that will address the issues of climate change, population growth, the need for protecting native habitats and waterways etc. Here is a link to some more information on the program in which I will be working.

The bad news is I will only be making $1200 a month. I will, however, be making $1200 more a month than volunteering in Chile and I will have health and dental insurance. And I will get to live in the Sierras. I will just think of it as a learning experience in budgeting.

So I hope you all will come and visit me in beautiful Lake Tahoe!

Read Me!

Dear Friends, Family and Random Internet Users Who have Mistakenly Found this Blog Looking up Cat Stevens Lyrics,

As some of you may have noticed, the blog has received a serious makeover. Since returning from my volunteer experience in Santiago, Chile with the non-profit VEGlobal, I have endeavored to find jobs with environmental non-profits as well as utilize my experiences and skills to "do good." I know this sounds overly optimistic, idealistic even "cheesy" (cursi in Spanish...one of my favorite words I learned in Chile) but I have found that even the small things, changing to a more energy-efficient light bulb or teaching a young Chilean girl to read, change the world for the better. Furthermore, these small acts of kindness or conscious serve to instill within us a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. At the risk of sounding too preachy/pushy (since no one probably reads this but friends and family, those who are offended or put off...ahem Eamonn...will hopefully forgive my endearing idiosyncrasies), I encourage you to consider this path as well and "be the change you want to see in the world." (Shout out to Adrienne H.- You, your blog and your actions really inspired me in this effort!)

But, Marion, you say. How can I do that? In today's world we are constantly bombarded with information from the TV, Internet, radio, advertisements and even the mail (when is the last time you received a real letter?), making it hard to navigate the myriad issues and problems we face. So many issues, so many problems and just as many potential solutions but so little time! Well, I have added some features as you can see in the sidebar (thanks to my fumbling efforts to learn HTML), including a news feed, interesting blogs, books, organizations and websites to help you! While my selections will tend to focus on environmental issues, they are still a great place to start.

In other news, I continue to intern with Orange County Coastkeeper, a local advocacy, environmental education and monitoring non-profit. Today I finished my final round of interviews for a position with the AmeriCorps in the Sierra Nevadas. I interviewed for 5 different positions with 5 different environmental non-profit organizations: Conservation Associate (Friends of the Inyo), Water and Climate Change Program Asst. (Sierra Nevada Alliance), Asst. Programs Coordinator (Tahoe-Baikal Institute), Education & Outreach Specialist (Eastern Sierra Land Trust) and Sierra Nevada Outreach Coordinator (Planning and Conservation Foundation). I will find out by Nov. 20 if I got one of these positions and the cushy $1200/month living stipend. Unfortunately, doing good apparently doesn't pay that well in terms of career choices, at least not in the beginning. More updates on my search for gainful employment coming soon!

Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you will find it not only a way to stay up to date with my current activities, ideas, thoughts and rambling rants but also as a resource to make a difference in your own special way.

Best of luck!

Wildfires, Riots, Mudslides, Earthquakes...Welcome to the Sunshine State!

Just want to let you all know that although there is a fire near Irvine, my family and I are ok. Many families, unfortunately, are not. If you want to help those families that have lost their homes, visit the Red Cross site. The LA Times and the OC Register also have continual updates if you are want to remain informed.

Since Sunday, there has been a thick, brown blanket of smoke laying above our house and all the surfaces inside and outside are covered with a thin layer of ash. It was a muggy 90 degrees today (why some people were wearing pants and sweatshirts I have no idea) and the heat along with the ash made it hard to breathe. When I got in my car and turned on the air conditioning, ash spewed directly into my face and made me cough for about 5 minutes. The falling ash and the constant news coverage remind me of the Laguna Beach fires in 1993. Voluntary evacuation was recommended for our neighborhood and the scene on my block was like something out of the movies. The ash was falling even thicker than it is now and the fires reached within 1.5 miles of my house. My little brother was riding up and down the street on his tricycle yelling evacuate lending a moment of humor to a very tense situation. Our neighbors camped out in our backyard and we watched the fire inch closer and closer over the distant ridge (back then there was no development on the hills behind our house). Then the fire turned and by morning it was almost completely contained. Air quality was so terrible, though, school was canceled for the day, for the first and only time in my academic career.

The fire are still going full force but the Santa Ana winds are slowing down and hopefully all those thousands of families will be able to return home soon(if they still have one). Even our Governator has been doing a credible job of making sure this does not turn into another Katrina disaster. These fires, however, are a chilling reminder of the fact that fire is a natural part of the local ecosystem, which has been disrupted by the constant development and sprawl in southern California. While a few take the extreme viewpoint to "Let Malibu burn" (Mike Davis, author of Ecology of Fear : Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster), I definitely think it is time for Southern Californians to come to terms with our arid climate AND allow for the inevitability of wildfires in future development schemes. To do otherwise would be a serious disservice to the all families who have lost their homes and to all the firefighters, aid workers and pilots who have worked tirelessly throughout this disaster.

A view of the huge plume of smoke over the Santiago Canyon Fire that eventually drifts the 10/15 miles to my house (Photo by Jeb Harris, The Orange County Register)

There is still time to help VEGlobal win $10,000!

Now that you have all created your Razoo.com accounts (if you have not, follow these instructions anyway) VEGlobal is now one of ONLY 34 eligible groups to win $10,000 ($2500 and $1000 for second and third place). ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS GO ONLINE TO http://beta.razoo.com/acts/vote_for_veglobal AND VOTE FOR VEGLOBAL BEFORE OCT.15! You are only two clicks away from helping VEGlobal win $10,000!

VEGlobal is the organization I worked with in Chile and they do amazing work with underprivileged children in Santiago. But they need more money to improve their programs and spread this amazing organization to other cities and countries. You can help them voting for VEGlobal on Razoo.com and remembering to:

BE THE CHANGE!

Help VEGlobal win $10,000

I am not sure if anyone still reads this blog as I have been a complete slacker and have not been posting anything. But if you are reading this, I need YOUR HELP.

As some of you may remember, I traveled to Chile for 7 months to work for VEGlobal, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending inequality and poverty for the children of Chile. It was an amazing experience and I really miss the Chilean girls I worked with at Residencia EntreTodas. I continue to help the organization by writing the newsletter, recruiting etc. Thanks to Adrienne, I found this amazing opportunity to win $10,000 for a small but great organization.

By simply creating an account with Razoo and joining the VEGlobal group, you can help VEGlobal win $10,000! Razoo is an innovative new web platform that is actively engaging individuals and organizations to mobilize a new generation for social change, a mission similar to that of VEGlobal. To celebrate the initial Launch, Razoo is hosting a $10,000 Change Your World contest for organizations to help build a global community for social change! To win VEGlobal must recruit at least 100 members before Oct. 1st.

So how does one help? Simply go to http://beta.razoo.com/member/signup to create your own personal account and then go to http://beta.razoo.com/groups/VEglobal to join the VEGlobal group. We need at least 100 members to join BEFORE OCT. 1st. Then the Razoo community votes on the eligible organizations. In the spirit of VEGlobal's Come Together 2007 Tour, please join other VEGlobal volunteers, alumni, and supporters alike by taking the 5 minutes to help VEGlobal win $10,000!

Thank you for your help!!! If you have any questions, leave a comment here.

Marion Needs Gainful Employment

Hey all, I know its been awhile and thanks to the persistant urging of Eamonn and Stuart I am finally writing an entry! Por fin! Since I returned from Santiago in April I have been back and forth between Montana and Southern California, helping my parents to move things to their new vacation home in Montana. More recently, for the past three weeks we've been constructing a wrap around deck (about 800 square feet) with just myself, my mom and dad as the construction "crew". Needless to say, it was a very long three weeks. On top of that my dog Eowyn ran away for two days! Thankfully, we saw her about 1/4 mile away from the house the 3rd day and I ran over and grabbed her before she could take off again. Fun times. Pics of the deck coming soon!

Now that I am back in SoCal, I am looking for jobs in earnest! I had a wonderful experience working for VEGlobal in Chile and I really would like to translate that into a research/writing job for a non-profit somewhere (US or abroad). So recently I have applied for jobs like Researcher for the Sierra Club and a Development Assistant for the Rainforest Alliance. I am hoping though that maybe you guys can help too! Do any of you have experience with working for non-profits and have any tips or connections that would be useful in my job hunt? Do you know of any useful online job sites? Do you know anyone that could help me out or point me in the right direction? I would really appreciate any sort of help!!! Send me an email at marionjgee@yahoo.com.

Other than that I am still working for VEGlobal as their newsletter editor and sometimes I write for their website and/or promotional material. Check out this link http://voluntariosesperanza.org/newsletter/july_07/newsjuly07.html to see the most recent newsletter I wrote, edited and assembled. I am also trying to knit scarves (and maybe hats and mittens) for all the girls and tias at the hogar I worked at. So far I have made 3 scarves and Jodi and Tryste have contributed two each. I probably won't be able to get them done for the girls until next winter because I want to send all the scarves at one time. If you would like to make a scarf/hat/mittens for the girls, send me an email! The girls will really appreciate it since the winters in Santiago can get very cold and the shelter has no heating and a pretty open floor plan that doesn't trap the heat very well. Lets call it the Knit Chile Project!

I hope you are well! Sorry for the long lapse in entries and I will promise to try to keep it more up to date!

Photos

Although I will be posting some choice photos on this blog, I has also added links on the sidebar to many more photos of my recent travels for those of you bored at work.

Enjoy!

El Calafate, Argentina Nov. 2006

As you can see this date conflicts with the actual date of the post because I am a lazy procrastinator. But I am sure you would rather read more about my travels!

El Calafate is the wannabe Aspen of Patagonia, except there is nowhere to ski, just an extremely large glacier to see (and rumors of good fishing but I didn’t have the time to verify that). Laurie, Calla and I arrived with 3 days to explore the area when really you only need one day to see the amazing Perito Moreno Glacier. While the town has cute Bavarian-esque shops, art galleries, chocolate shops and cafes, it is not enough of a reason to linger in the seemingly ever present wind and dust.

To get to the glacier you need to hire a car or take a tour. Calla and I opted for the tour, which included a boat ride along the southern face and hike around the northern face, with a final stop along the viewing terraces. We saw some glaciers in Torres del Paine but they did not prepare us for the enormity of the Perito Moreno Glacier. As the tour bus descended toward the dock, the glacier field seemed to go on and on, the peaks of the mountains acting as tiny distance markers. Passing small icebergs, the catamaran made its way so close to the glacier face, that I became highly alarmed when a chunk the size of a 5 bedroom Socal track home fell into the water. The tour guide, upon seeing my face, assured me that we were perfectly safe but it didn’t
stop me from worrying especially after seeing An Inconvenient Truth…it seemed only a matter of time until a truly huge chunk fell in. From the trail and the terraces we could better hear the groaning and cracking of the ice as it moved and small pieces would periodically fall off. But this was apparently not often enough for a group of Japanese tourists, who, either ignoring or unable to read the signs that said no shouting in English and Spanish, began screaming at the top of there lungs thereby breaking the peaceful serenity of the moment. As we were leaving, the persistent wind of Patagonia moved the clouds in such a way that there seemed to be a spotlight shining down on various parts of the glacier, the colors of which alternated between white, blue and lavender.

The next day was spent writing postcards, shopping, and trying mate for the first time (a type of tea very popular in Argentina which is drunk through a straw from a carved out, dried pumpkin), while Laurie headed back to Punta Arenas, Chile to catch an earlier flight back. The next day Calla and I left for Punta Arenas via Puerto Natales where, surprisingly enough we met up with Omar, the friendly owner of Kawashkar hostel hustling up some business with the gringos at the bus stop for his hostel. The people I met on my travels, I think, are one of the most memorable aspects of my time in Chile and Argentina, so many friendly, helpful and interesting people, which brings me to my next encounter in Punta Arenas. By this time, I had a nasty cold and all I wanted to do was sleep, which was very easy to do in the Downtown Hostel, a historic building from the early 1900s that included an awesome cast iron stove. The next day our flight did not leave until 3, but the lady owner was kind enough to let us hang out in the living room. When I told her I had a cold, she immediately began to make me a special honey tea, which was surprisingly good and helped my sore throat. While she made that and continued with the household chores, her husband sat down and chatted with me, telling me about the history of the house, running a B&B, his own travels through the United States and how he was the owner of a sporting goods store that was the first to introduce name brands like North Face to Chile. It was quite a pleasant way to end the journey and as the plane cruised by snow capped volcanoes and over sparkling blue fjords, I felt re-energized and ready to get back to work

One of only THREE Patagonian glaciers that is not retreating.

Check back soon for One Day in the Life of a VE Volunteer.

So confused

So my lame excuse for not posting in a coon's age is that I could not figure this new sign in with google accounts dealio they got going on here at e-blogger. But I finally used what little brain cells I had left to get it....ha! I am back from South America and have many tales to tell but at the moment I am searching for jobs (ick), contemplating going back to school (yay the bubble), and trying not to drive my family crazy. The good news is my family has bought a new house in Montana and if I don't have a job by this summer, I would love it you guys would come visit me there! Email me for more details. My brother just got back and will be wanting his computer back to play World of Warcraft. Don't worry more blog entries to come! I have miss all of your comments and emails!!!!
ABRAZOS,
mj

Feliz Navidad! Here's a post...finally!

Yes I know I have been remiss for oh about a month or so. But since it is Christmas and I refuse to do any work this entire weekend, I have time to finally let you all know what I have been up to. So prepare yourself now for an epic entry...sorry no photos cuz my internet is still a slow POS...see sidebar for a link to photos I uploaded while at Starbucks (yes sometimes that evil international corporation can be good for something)!

First was my amazing, spectacular, breathtaking journey through Torres del Paine National Park in Southern Chile (Patagonia) with my fellow volunteers Laurie (Montreal, Canada!) and Calla (Massachusetts). Before I left I couldn't believe I was going and now that I have been it feels like it was all a dream and not real. We left Santiago at 11pm at night and of course I was stopped at the airport because my tripod looks like a gun in a holster...honestly not the best design ever. Arriving in the "madrugada", approximately 3am in the morning was the cheapest option but not necessarily the most comfortable. There were no buses running, we didn't have a hostel to stay in, so we stay in the rock hard chairs of the Punta Arenas airport, eating trail mix, taking silly pictures, and being stared at by the airport staff.

For some reason (ahem, Calla) we decided to take a taxi early to the "bus station", which turned out to be the office for one particular bus company and not open so we huddled outside, putting on all our layers and standing in a circle to warm ourselves from the wind. But by 8am we were finally on our way to Puerto Natales.

A small and uninteresting town, Puerto Natales is made beautiful by the water and snow covered mountains that surround it. After dodging the persistent people in the bus depot, all of whom owned “the best and cheapest” lodging in town, we proceeded to wander around, lost in search of the elusive Kawashkar hostel. The locals were so friendly and helpful in giving directions that as we stopped one old man for directions, another man from across the street ran over to assist us. The only sign marking the building as a potential crash pad (the actual words describing the place on hostelworld.com) for backpackers was the random North Face tent sitting on the sidewalk. Superficially, the hostel was like most hostels throughout the world; however the owner Omar and the awesome people we met there set it apart. Omar showed us to our rooms, provided us with all the info we could possibly want and THEN set up an info meeting for us to learn more about the trail in Torres del Paine. We didn’t fully realize how eager Omar was to help us until we arrived 40 minutes late to the info meeting from walking around town and were thoroughly ashamed that they had waited 30 minutes for us! At the meeting we met Scott, a lanky and blonde fellow Canadian of Laurie’s, who was not only staying our hostel but would end up being one of our trip companions.

Although it was still yet spring, the sun shone down until 10pm as we scurried through town doing some last minute errands for more trail mix, a Nalgene bottle for Calla, and some yummy dinner at a touristy café (the soup was delish!). Another early morning but we were lucky the bus came straight to our door to pick us up (tickets care of the lovely Omar). We had just barely started off when we hit Chilean roadworks that slowed us down at least an hour or more. The scenery, however, more than made up for the delay. Of further interest was the man sitting next to me, who turned out to be a Chilean guide/sherpa. Our conversation covered an interesting mix of subjects and was for the most part in SPANISH. He told me about his job (Americans and young British people are the best tippers), his daughter (studying animal husbandry), life in Southern Chile (how 99% of the people in Puerto Natales have never been to Torres del Paine though it is only 3 hours away because it is too expensive) while pointing out interesting aspects of the scenery (including a little visited valley that has cool fossils) and the animals (guanacos and flamingos!). He also expressed a great admiration for the black men of New York and their street lingo but we won’t go there. All chit chat came to a screeching halt when we arrived at the vista of the Torres.

The rest of the day, besides an uneventful stop to pay the entrance fee, consisted of one amazing vista after another: from the bus, from the catamaran, from the window of our refugio. While most people preferred to stay inside drinking their cups of “hot chocolate,” Calla and I braved the cold and short bursts of rain to stare in awe at the Cuernos and the Paine Massif as we cruised along Lago Pehoe in a catamaran. Laurie had decided to save money by taking the bus further to another ranger station and walking with Scott and Tom, an American who we also met at our hostel. Blisters and spells of driving rain aside, the three of them described their hike as the equivalent of walking in Middle Earth to which the picture below can attest.

Up the trail, Calla and I unloaded our packs at Paine Grande Lodge (we decided not to rough it AND carry our food by staying in refugios but if I were to do it again I would save the money and stay in a tent) and walked toward Lago Grey and Glacier Grey. Just as we were leaving the sun came out, making the hike rather hot and uncomfortable. Two hours later the Glacier came into view….we took plenty of pictures so we can look back fondly when they have all melted. We met up with Laurie and Tom (we passed Scott on his way up Glacier Grey a total of 10 miles walking with full gear and wool pants…crazy Canadian) at the Lodge, had a horrible lasagna dinner, and partook of our free pisco sours (the signature alcoholic beverage of Chile…think you might like it Jules). Lying in bed that night, our two German roomies (I heard more German and English on the trail than Spanish) came in, exclaiming how it always been their dream to sleep with 3 girls. They turned out to be nice but eccentric guys who actually requested we stay with them at the next refugio. The landscape, we would come to find, was not only interesting in its beautiful scenery but the strange and mostly delightful people we met along the way. I don’t think I had talked to so many on any of my other trips, and often in Spanish!

Bright and early, mas o menos, 10:30am, we finally left the lodge. The sun was high, bright, and piercing…Calla and Laurie laughed at my huge sombrero but I didn’t get sunburned. We made lots of stops to drink water, take in the scenery, fix Laurie’s blisters (she was also very glad I brought my First Aid Kit…I felt like a total nerd while packing but as it turns out better prepared then not), and talk to more Germans, this time an old couple who first walked the W trail 40 years ago…they told us it has not changed except for the number of people. The still air and heat of the sun as well as the frequent stops (and a bad rash I had developed) meant it took us about 2 hours longer than it should have to get to Refugio Los Cuernos. The next day was meant to be for a side trip up into the French Valley and a spectacular view but we were so tired and injured and out of shape we decided to take a break. Good thing too because it clouded over and rained but we had clear enough views of the valley to see several avalanches.

The next morning I woke up early and headed down the trail sola, to make sure my rash didn’t slow anyone else down. I had my own Middle Earth moment, looking up the mountain covered with a thin layer of fresh snow, the trail stretching forward without a person in sight. I could have sworn I was walking into Mordor…if New Zealand had not worked out, they could have used Patagonia. The morning was crisp and overcast…perfect for walking. I ended up being an hour and half ahead of Laurie and Calla but waited up them at the crossroads to the Torres and Refugio Chileno with the condors (they were huge!) and Andrew, a nice Australian who we had met at the last refugio. From that point onward, the trail was pretty much straight up and as I reached the pass it started to snow, which didn’t bode well for viewing the Torres the next morning. Met some interesting people including a nice Dutch couple from Utrecht (woot woot Davey!) and a friendly Chilean waitress who practiced her English with us. Arriving sin reservaciones, we had to rent a tent. The Chilean helping us set up the tent assured us that all 3 could fit in a two man tent. I have never been so cold or felt so claustrophobic as I did that night! Needless to say, we did not get up at the planned hour of 4am to hike and see the sunrise over the Torres.

Instead, Laurie and I left the close confines of our tent around 6:30 for the Torres, braving the stiff wind and occasional snow flakes. Passed Tom and Scott on their way down, having already seen the sunrise on the Torres, those lucky so and so’s! As luck would have it, after hiking for 2 hours and then climbing a steep boulder field we arrived at the top in the middle of mini blizzard. Defiantly waiting for all of 10 minutes, we slid back down the boulders, ran back to camp, packed our bags, ran down the rest of the mountain in an hour, and grabbed the 2:30 bus back to Puerto Natales.

Ok its 12 am Christmas day and I still have a ton more to write about but I have to get up early and make scones and pie so you will just have to wait for the next installment on El Calafate, Argentina. Happy Holidays to everyone and if you do feel inclined to write me (or send me anything…I would love some books in ENGLISH) my new address is

Del Huerto Sur 3561
Sector Parques de la Florida
Santiago, Chile

Abrazo y besos a todos!

Water polo in 3 languages!

Now I can say I have played water polo in 3 different countries in 3 different languages: English, Scottish (if you heard my coach you would swear it was a different language too), and Spanish. Last Thursday I went to my first practice with one of the 6 or 7 club teams in the whole of Chile...with boys around 15 years of age. Wow I felt old. Even though I am slow and out of shape, I can still pass and shoot and I even scored one goal! The boys were friendly and patient with my pathetic Spanish. The coach was really nice and even gave a speech at the end welcoming me to Chile and practice and telling the boys I was also a girl's water polo coach. The boys then clamored for pictures of the girls I coached....ohh teenage boys. Tomorrow night I am practicing with Stadio Italiano in Las Condes (the very rich part of the time) and it will be interesting to see how different that is.

Other important news: I AM GOING TO TORRES DEL PAINE!! I booked my tickets yesterday and I am off to see what could be the most beautiful mountains in the world (decide for yourself
or here) at the end of the world in Patagonia. We are going to trek the "W" trail and stay in bunk beds the whole...how civilized! There will also be a little side trip to El Calfate in Argentina to see some glaciers and get my tourist visa renewed.

Also here is a link to some more pics of Santiago de Chile.
Miss you all! You don't even know how much!

Pictures!

My flatmates: Laurie (Canada!), Naomi (Arkansas), Melissa (NY), Me!, Calla (Mass.), and Pam (Scotland!) laying across.

Pablo Neruda's house/museum in Bellavista.

Ok I was going to load more pics but the internet is being a bitch. More to come!

Bienvenidos a Santiago!

Hola mis amigos! I am Starbucks (you can not escape their evil empire) because they have free wireless and the wireless we scam off on in our apartment is crappy and kicks me off every five minutes. Phew this has been a very busy and draining week! After traveling for 24 hours (LAX to DC to Buenos Aires to Santiago), I was met by the lovely volunteer Annie who immediately started speaking to me in Spanish, which was very overwhelming since I still couldn't believe I was in SOUTH America and in the Southern Hemisphere...craziness! Annie drove me to the hostel, La Case Roja, in Barrio Brasil, where I met most of the other new volunteers (17 in total), most of whom were in the big dorm room I lived in for a week. There was a lot more drama than I expected (ie people missing home, people getting into sticky emotional situations etc.) but all in all we had a good time during the week getting to know the old volunteers, visiting the different institutions, learning the rules and how VE works, getting English teaching training etc. It was a very hectic and draining week with very little down time which is why I have not written earlier. On top of all that I didn't have a place to live after we checked out of the hostel so my new buddy Pam (she's from Scotland! We reminisce constantly) and I were also looking for a place to live. We ended up finding a great apartments, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms in Providencia (the "rich" part of town) which is literally on top of a metro station and grocery store.

Yesterday was my first day working in my hogar (orphanage), Residencia EntreTodas). The girls are around 9 to 21 years old and many of them are in school during the time I am there (2:00-6:30pm). VE wants me to start an English class there so if anyone has any suggestions for games etc for teaching English or just filling up time during the day that would be very much appreciated. The girls so far have been very polite and nice but there is an undercurrent of anger that is palpable and very sad. I felt a bit useless my first day because they literally have nothing to do after they come home from school besides doing homework or watching TV. I racking my brain trying to think of games etc. that we could do to stimulate them and to get them off their butts. I am bringing the game UNO today and I am going to try to teach them the colors and numbers in English. Among my other duties outside of EntreTodas, I will be helping with the VE newsletter and in charge of editing the VE intranet (help Andrew!!!).

There is so much more to describe about this amazing country but time is running short and I have to leave soon for my hogar. I will leave you though with some interesting things I have learned about Chile and Chilean culture so far:
1. Food- They are obessessed with hot dogs (cumpletos) and avocados (palta). There is an enormous section of every grocery store that is filled with all types of hot dogs and sausages. Also they put avocado on everything. Everything. I love avocados but I think I might get tired of them pretty soon. Oh and if you want say some jam or mayo or ketchup good luck because it comes in a bag! and is difficult to store after you use it the first time.
2. Transportation- I am officially in love with the metro here! It is the cleanest, most efficient, prettiest metro system I have ever seen. They have flat screen TVs everywhere showing music videos, news etc. They have artwork of all shapes and sizes decorating the metro. And best of all it is easy to use, on time, and rarely breaks down. The micros (buses) on the other hand, are another story. Usually, they are operated by crazy men that drive and dispense tickets and change at the same time, hit stop signs on sharp turns, ride the horn, and stop so hard and quickly that poor little old men topple over. They also sometimes lie about where they stop in order to get your business. Pretty shady.
3. Spanish errr Castellano- Chilean is pretty much a whole other language. It sounds different and they have complete set of their vocabulary. More to come on this later.

Off to work! Miss you all!

Volunteering in Chile

As some of you may know, I am off on an exciting adventure in 4 weeks to Santigo, Chile to work for a very cool organization called Voluntarios de la Esperanza (VE), a non-profit, non-religious charity that assists 14 independent orphanages, community centers and schools in Santiago in bringing equality of opportunity to Chilean children and ending cycles of poverty and child abuse. I am very excited to work with the kids, learn Spanish, help this organization grow, meet volunteers from around the world, and travel throughout South America. I will keep you all posted on my escapades here on my blog so check it out for updates, pictures and even video (sadly no more than 20 secs because my digital camera can't handle any more). Also if you have had a hankering to explore Chile, you are welcome to visit me...I will be there until April 1 (I get 2 summers this year!).

Part of going to work for this charity involves fundraising. I feel a tad guilty asking you all for help (monetary and otherwise) but it is for a very good cause and there is no pressure to read this section if you don't want to! A lot of the projects run by VE that I am looking forward to helping with, like their photography project, their reading program, and their football (aka soccer to my fellow Americans) league are run on money donated by cool and generous folks like yourselves. I know a lot of you are still in school or just started working so please don't feel guilty if you can't help out monetarily (if you still want to help, see below for other ways to aid our cause). I completely understand and I would be very happy to just receive an email wishing me luck and telling me of your own current adventures. If you would like to donate money, here's my secure fundraising site for their Vamos a Leer reading program (you all know how much I love to read so I thought it particularly fitting that I raise money for this program). VE is a registered non-profit in the U.S. (tax ID # 25-1923506) so your donation is tax deductible....yay!

If you are as inspired as I am to help out, there are other methods of aiding VE's cause! Here's a short list:
1. Email this to friends, family, neighbors etc. who might want to help our cause.
2. Recycle for charity- My family and neighbors are saving all their cans, plastic and glass, which I collect every week, turn in for money at a local recycling center, and will donate to VE online before I leave Sept. 1.
3. Donate Goods- Here is a link to a list of goods that the orphanages and community centers lack. Keep in mind, however, that shipping goods to Chile is not cheap. If you are in Southern California and have a used/spare digital camera or newish clothes or a functioning laptop or Spanish/English books for kids you would like to donate, let me know by leaving a comment and I will pick it up and take it to Chile myself . They just received 5 cameras from Pentax and they are especially hoping to expand on their digital camera collection for the kids.

Thank you for reading this rather long appeal! I am both excited to take on this challenge (probably my craziest endeavor thus far) and scared that I might fail in some way but I am comforted knowing that I have your support!

Leave a comment!

The GRE Sucks!

First, I want to thank my friend Adam for taking me on quite an interesting excursion the other day. I have not seen Adam for a few months since he goes to school in Utah so I was looking forward to seeing him two weekends ago. He was going to pick me up and he promised me an "adventure". Adam sure knows how to surprise a girl... he took me to Bruce's Salvage Yard. While Bruce remained elusive, we did see lots of cans, several airplane parts, a pile of bright copper pieces and a BBQ made from what looked like a metal oil drum.

Apparently Adam's folks helped to save a lot of money for the kid's tuition by taking their cans to Bruce. Brilliant idea! I think I will implement such a plan to help raise money for the charity organization I will be working for in Chile (you will be getting an email about that soon). Moving on...

According to my Kaplan GRE test book those who whinge and complain about the GRE tend to do poorly. It says I should look on it as a challenge to my intelligence...its turning out to be more of a challenge to my willpower and time management to actually study for this test. It is even more frustrating because I am not even 100% sure I want to go back to grad school. I made flashcards but I don't think they are helping that much since the words/roots I don't know, I still don't know after looking through them 15 times or so. I even tried studying with my brothers to see if it might help. They helped me to remember a few words. One was "enervate", which kept tricking me...I kept thinking it meant to energize (hey they look kind of similar!). When I asked my brothers if they knew that word, I was surprised when Andrew immediately responded, saying that "enervate means to weaken". "How did you know that?" I asked to which Andrew said: "DAOC (Dark Ages of Camelot, a computer game, for you normal people), duh! My Shadow Blade character "Aslan" uses a lesser enervating spell (or poison if you will) to weaken my enemies." My brothers then went on to use this to repudiate (oooh a GRE word I know) my constant claim that their computer games don't teach them anything. Another gem was when I asked them the definition of "dilettante". Andrew's definition was short and alliterative: a dilettante is a "d-bag".

So then I decided maybe I should list some words (from the top 100 GRE words list) I have had trouble with/gotten wrong on practice tests and see if you guys can come up with any memorable sentences/examples that could help me on the test. Unfortunately d-bag has such a myriad of different definitions and connotations I don't think I can memorize it as being synonymous with dilettante. But I won't be forgetting enervate! I look forward to your creativity! Any other advice regarding the GRE would be welcome!

Donnybrook- This was a word on the practice test and obviously skewed to test takers of Irish descent. And I didn't even know it.
Peregrination
Propitiate
Puissant
Ineffable
Imprecation
Opprobrium
Noisome (apparently not noisy!)
Aggrandize
Chicanery
Dissemble
Inchoate
Intransigent
Soporific

Germany lost and Andrew's gained 500 pounds

As we speak my brother is stuffing his face with cheese and triscuits at 3 in the afternoon. His rationalization, "Germany's lost and I will gain 500 pounds". My other brother, Tim, rather than eating, has taken a more angry tact: "Marion! Why did you have to root for Italy? Your negative vibes cost Germany the game." I never would have thought that when I started watching the World Cup a few weeks ago that my brothers would become so involved. They've even showed interest in seeing FC Barcelona play Chivas in Los Angeles in August. Wow! The funniest moment though was when we were watching the Germany v. Argentina game (of course my brothers wanted to Germany to win and I wanted Argentina to win) and the commentator noted that the goalie Lehman played for "powerhouse Arsenal" and my brother immediately said, thinking this was the entire name for the team, that's a bit of overkill for a team name. Despite his mistake, my brothers would shout "powerhouse Arsenal" anytime the ball got anywhere near the German net. Too funny.

Above: Vindication! Or Andrew crying like a little girl.

Since water polo hardly never gets picked up on TV and is such a small sport in comparison, I think I am just going to have to become a football fan (I keep finding similarities between football and water polo which makes it even more interesting to watch), especially now that I have lived in the UK and will be living in Chile soon. Cricket was completely out the question as a viable option (who gets that game?), baseball is still too boring to watch and despite Stuart's best efforts, rugby still lies just beyond my comprehension.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! (or Thanksgiving if you are Stuart! This time leave a comment! OH and Julie I think we need to make Stuart an "oficious seeing eye bitch" t-shirt now too!)

The fly-fishing will continue until morale improves

I have the weirdest tan right now. Zig zags across the tops of my feet from my Chaco sandals. Raccoon eyes and stripes across the side of my face from my sunglasses. Dark hands from holding a fly-rod. White arms from wearing long-sleeve shirts. Besides increasing my skin cancer risk ten fold through prolonged exposure to the sun,I had a great time fly-fishing in Jones' Hole (its a stream you dirty people) and along the Green River. As much as I complain about my dad's obsession with fly-fishing and is unrelenting hope that my brothers and I will take up the sport with as much fervor, these trips have allowed me to see beautiful places like Alaska, Canada, Montana, Wyoming, and Scotland. I have also found that I as grow older and perhaps a tiny more patient, fly-fishing is rather relaxing and lets you take your mind off everything besides your beautiful surroundings and your floating fly.

We (my brother Andrew and my dad's ex-grad student/postdoc, Tim) left for Vernal and Jones' Hole via Las Vegas that sweltering den of inequity. Dining at the BK Lounge in Cedar City (home to a Shakespeare festival no less) we were entertained by a mother and her son who apparently visit there daughter at her place of business every day to take advantage of her employee perks (make that a larger whopper combo!). The Foundry Grill in Sundance could not have been more different. All the waiters are struggling actors and for the most part very attractive. No Robert Redford sightings unfortunately. I did find a t-shirt for 58 dollars. Tempting but it didn't say "I went to Sundance and I all I got was this dumb t-shirt". After hitting a bird (I had to clean bird remains off the windshield) and driving about 50 miles per hour, my brother finally got us to Vernal, essentially nullifying the good time I made between Las Vegas and Sundance. A poor German tourist was unable to get a room because all the hotels in Vernal were booked. First, I wondered why he wasn't in Germany watching the World Cup, then I wondered how could all the rooms in VERNAL be full? Oil boom!

The next two days were spent fishing Jones Hole, a spring fed creek that lies below a fish hatchery and flows into the Green River. If you avoid the obnoxious rafters who occassionally climb up from the Green River, it is a very picturesque canyon. Deep red and orange walls enclose stands of fragrant junipers, sagebrush and dusty cacti while along the river stands of cottonwoods shade the stream and stinging nettles catch those unfortunate enough to wear shorts (not me this time!!!). There are a few pictographs to check out as well as an ancient deluge shelter for those who are more inclined toward the cultural than the natural. It is, the fishing, however, that has drawn my dad and brother and subsequently me to this cold, clear stream. Andrew calls it the happiest place on earth. Probably because he is able to catch fish on the first cast and not get his fly caught in every tree, bush, rock, [insert obstacle here]...

Left: Looking up at the canyon walls. Above: Andrew blocks the trail down to Jones Hole

That was the case the first time I came here two years ago, causing such frustration that the next day my friend Kelly and I decided to see the highlights of Vernal and the surrounding area. Armed with 5 1-day tour brochures from the Best Western "Antlers", we packed them all into 4 hours. We saw some pictographs covered with grafitti with offerings of soda cans and cigarette butts strewn along the ground. A large American flag painted on a canyon wall by some crazy patriots of the "Great War" was another highlight. Then there was Dinosaur National Monument, which is sadly in need of funding. It is a dual time capsule: pressed into the wall are remains of many different dinosaurs while the building and explanatory signs are dull reminders that the 1970s was not a great decade for architecture and interior decor (orange....shiver). Our final stop in the tour was the Walmart superstore, where it was possible for me to have my tires changed, my hair cut, my banking needs met...you get the picture. This time we did try to find a good restuarant in town. I even talked to the lady (calling her the concierge would be a bit of stretch) in the lobby who gave me another brochure (they sure do have a lot of brochures for a lot of nothing in Vernal) for the local restaurants. I asked her which was her favorite and we ended up dining at the 7-11 Ranch Cafe. I knew we were in for a treat when I spotted the cow skin table cloths. I made the mistake of ordering a BLT which arrived drowned in mayonnaise. Tim's pork ribs were accompanied by overcooked beans and "scones". Praise the lord Clare was not with us. She would have had a fit if she saw these so-called "scones" which ended up being little more than fried bread. None of the food looked as though it had escaped the lard can, prompting Tim to comment, "no wonder people in the Mid-West are so corpulent".

Having sucked the place dry (in the immortal words of our neighbor Matthew after walking around Rome for 1 day) the first time, I decided to try my luck fishing for two days. I caught 4 nice rainbow trout the first day and managed not to lose an flies to the incoveniently placed trees and bushes. Using the same fly minus one of its "wings" which had come off the day before (its called Dave's Hopper if you were wondering which I am sure you were), I decided to tackle this deep pool of water underneath the small wooden bridge that spans the stream on one section of the trail. Now this pool is fished by everyone so no one really catches anything there because the fish are really spooky. But I had blisters from my sandals and I didn't feel like walking farther down the trail that day so I gave it a shot. After catching everything in and outside the river besides a fish, I was about to give up when I thought I caught hung up on a big rock. But then it started to move! I fought that baby for 5 minutes trying to keep it from going over a waterfall and I in the end I won. Of course I didn't have a camera and no one was with me to verify this but I swear it was a good 20 inches which is BIG for Jones Hole. Of course my dad, my brother, and all our fishing guides on the Green didn't believe me but it doesn't matter because I KNOW I caught that fish all by myself.

Left: Melissa and I in front of Red Creek Rapids, laughing as I almost fall on my ass in the river.

The afternoon of my big fish we left for Dutch John near the Flaming Gorge dam (better known as Butch John and Flaming George to my family) to meet up with my dad, my brother Tim, and Andrew's girlfriend Melissa for 3 days of floating down and fishing the Green River. I laughed for about 10 minutes when Big Tim (as we like to call him to distinguish him from my brother Tim), walked into the room Andrew, Melissa, and I were sharing in the middle of night, in the dark and said "oops I thought this was the bathroom". I tried to get Andrew to go out to the living room later and lay down on the bed with Big Tim and say "oops I thought this was the bathroom" but he was a big pussy. Further hilarity ensued when the next night Andrew made the mistake of putting dish washing liquid into the dishwasher. I had opened the dishwasher right after he started the wash to add another dish when I noticed the yellow liquid. I told Andrew he put the wrong liquid in there but he didn't believe me until he grabbed the bottle of dish soap and read the label out loud: "Not suitable for dishwasher use". Melissa and I mopped up as much as possible and ran the washer. 10 minutes later Andrew goes into the kitchen and starts screaming "Bring towels". We thought he was joking but then we saw the floor covered in bubbles and instead of getting towels we started laughing hysterically, prompting Andrew to scream even more shrilly for more towels. After an hour or so of running and re-running the dishwasher and constant mopping using the hotel towels, we finally got rid of the bubbles.

We fished for 3 days on the Green River with our guides Doug, "Boomer" (who is proud of his loud and copious farts) and Gordon, whose caustic wit and humorous stories have made this and past fishing trips all the more enjoyable. I caught tons of fish and Gordon even commented that my casting was significantly improved although I have not fished for two years since he went rafting with us. The time passed too quickly and soon we were packing up for the long drive home.

Left: Gordon tries to make me kiss the fish. Poor fish.

We left early hoping that we could avoid the Sunday Las Vegas traffic but I have decided that all of Southern Nevada is cursed. When I was 8 years old my Grandpa ran out of gas just 20 miles outside of Vegas. Two years ago my old car broke down twice near Las Vegas. And last year Andrew saw a dead body along side the I-15 just outside Vegas. This year they closed the ENTIRE southbound freeway outside of North Las Vegas. It took us on hour and a half to go 2 miles in 119 F heat. Tim took us on a roundabout way through the Mojave, Joshua Tree and 29 Palms to get back to southern CA, which took us another 4-5 hours. Cursed.

Now its back to work until our next fishing trip in Montana in August to make some more money for my journey to Chile for 7 months. Remember to keep checking my blog for updates on my Chilean adventure starting in September!!! "Inconceivable!!" I love The Princess Bride and my brother just got the Dead Pirate Edition so I have to check it out. Leave us comments, precious!

Hapa

Remember that story in my last blog about how my cousin Jenny and I couldn't be cousins because I am "white"? Well the LA Times just published an interesting article about people who are half Asian, half white/black etc. (hapas). While references to hapas being more attractive and more genetically "fit" are somewhat disturbing reversals of valuing racial purity, it is interesting to hear the stories about how hapas craft their own identity as well as how much more difficult it is for other people to distingush "what they are" based on how they look. Anyway I am pasting the article below if you are interested.

Mixed-Race Asians Find Pride as Hapas

A new book and an art exhibit in L.A. reflect an evolution in perceptions of a multiracial group historically made to feel like outsiders.

By Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer
June 11, 2006

In Chinese restaurants, he was the kid who was always given the fork. In his largely white Covina public schools, he was the one beaten up and taunted as a "Chinaman" and "burnt potato chip."

Kip Fulbeck, a Santa Barbara artist, filmmaker, athlete and art professor who is of Chinese, Irish, Welsh and English descent, was born at a time when several states still banned mixed-race marriages and the children of such unions were routinely stigmatized.

But 41 years later, as interracial marriages have exponentially increased, Fulbeck is now celebrated as one of the nation's leading artists focused on work about mixed-race Asians, known as "hapas." He recently published a book on hapa identity, "Part Asian 100% Hapa," and this weekend opened a related photographic exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo.

The exhibit reflects an evolution in the perception of multiracial people from the bizarre freaks and "tortured mulattoes" popularized in film and literature a century ago to simply normal. Hapa — originally a derogatory Hawaiian word for half-breed — has been embraced as a term of pride.

"Before, people would look at you like you were a science experiment," said Fulbeck, a lanky Fontana native who sports a surfer's tan and a waist-up Japanese tattoo.

"Now, we're everywhere."

Hapas number 1.6 million in the United States, according to the 2000 census, which for the first time allowed people to claim more than one race. Nearly one-third of the nation's hapas live in California, 11% of the state's total Asian American population and the largest concentration of hapas outside Hawaii.

Hapas and other mixed-race groups have their own websites, social clubs, campus groups, films and literature. Their ranks include golfer Tiger Woods, actor Keanu Reeves, supermodel Devon Aoki and musician Sean Lennon. Lennon, son of the Japanese Yoko Ono and the British John Lennon, wrote the forward to Fulbeck's book.

One international newsmagazine proclaimed Eurasians "the poster children for 21st century globalization" a few years ago, touting their ability to bridge cultures in marketing, advertising and entertainment.

And, turning racist ideas of "hybrid degeneracy" on their head, Psychology Today magazine earlier this year featured studies finding that Eurasians were regarded as more attractive than whites or Asians and healthier because of their genetic diversity, associated with a lower incidence of some diseases.

All of which makes Fulbeck squirm just a bit.

It's bad enough that hapas share the common stereotypes of Asian Americans as "model minorities" who are expected to be smart, diligent and well-behaved, he said. "Now we're expected to be superior genetically too?" asks Fulbeck, chairman of UC Santa Barbara's art department.

Although most hapas tell him they're proud of their mixed-race heritage, Fulbeck said, he still gets e-mails from those who write despairingly of rejection and angst.

One parent, for instance, recently wrote for advice about his Korean Mexican child, who had suffered so much social rejection at school that he joined a Cambodian gang.

Paul Spickard, a UC Santa Barbara history professor, said three major factors during the 1960s laid the groundwork for today's multiracial baby boom. In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the anti-miscegenation laws that remained in 16 states (California eliminated its law in 1948).

In addition, the civil rights movement and new immigration laws began liberalizing public policies and social attitudes on race.

Fulbeck's exhibit features 80 of more than 1,100 photos he shot across the country of hapas of all ages, sizes, occupations and ethnic mixes.

At Fulbeck's request, all of his subjects bared themselves from the shoulders up and wore little or no makeup, glasses or jewelry. The subjects aren't identified by name but by their striking responses to the question: What are you?

It's a question that many hapas constantly confront. Sometimes, other people try to tell them what they are — or aren't.

Victoria Namkung, 29, a Brentwood writer of Korean, Jewish and Irish descent, still recalls a painful moment when she was 5, watching a St. Patrick's Day parade while wearing a button that said, "Kiss Me. I'm Irish." A man bent down and told her: "You're not Irish, honey. You're Oriental."

Meanwhile, some Koreans have told her she's not Korean because she doesn't speak the language or go to a Christian church. And although Jews have assured her she's Jewish, Namkung has figured out her own identity: "100% hapa, my whole mom's side and my whole dad's side."

In his project, Fulbeck asked all of his subjects to define themselves. Their responses roamed from baby scrawl to the succinct ("Queer Eurasian") to existential statements about being "millions of particles fused together." There are confessional writings about discomfort with curly hair and constant internal debates over which heritage is "better." Some defined themselves as what they are not: not exotic, not foreign, not half-and-half but fully whole.

One boy wrote: "I am part Chinese and part Danish. I don't usually tell people I am Danish, though, because they think I'm a pastry."

To the Japanese American National Museum, hapas represent the community's future — a key reason it decided to sponsor Fulbeck's exhibit, according to spokesman Chris Komai. Nearly one-third of Japanese Americans are of mixed heritage, the largest such proportion among all major Asian ethnic groups, according to the 2000 census.

"Our community is changing and we need to recognize that," Komai said. "The definition of what it means to be Japanese American has to be different than it was 60 years ago, if it wants to perpetuate itself."

Komai said the museum and a growing number of other Japanese American organizations are liberalizing ideas about who belongs to their community.

Japanese American youth basketball leagues, for instance, have shifted their standards on who can participate in order to accommodate the community's rising number of mixed-race children. Over time, the rules have been liberalized from allowing children whose parents were both of Japanese ancestry in the 1950s to those with one such parent in the 1970s to those with at least one such grandparent today, according to Dan Nakauchi, commissioner of the 29-team Pasadena Bruins basketball organization.

In fact, he said, someone with no Japanese ancestry would be eligible if he or she were significantly influenced by the culture — an adopted child, for instance, of a Japanese American parent.

"It's a history and culture we want to perpetuate, not a bunch of people of the same race," said Komai, whose four nieces and nephews are all hapa.

Eric Akira Tate, a 36-year-old Palo Alto attorney, can attest to rapidly changing attitudes among Japanese Americans. The son of a Japanese mother and African American father, Tate said his encounter with UC Berkeley's ethnic politics in 1988 first made him sharply aware of what he was — or wasn't.

Asian American campus groups handing out recruitment fliers would ignore him. A Japanese American woman complimented him on his skilled use of chopsticks. Small things, he said, but "palpable."

With two other students, Tate decided to start the Hapa Issues Forum, a groundbreaking group to raise awareness of mixed-race Asian Americans through conferences, community events and social gatherings.

Today, Tate is president of San Francisco Japantown's largest community group, the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California.

"In 1992, we had to take the initiative to get a place at the table," he said. "Now we've moved to the head of the table."

Fulbeck too found his voice as a hapa activist in college — in his case, as a UC San Diego art major in the late 1980s. Stunned by three traumas during that time — the death of his best friend, a family conflict and his failure to make the Olympic swim trials — he poured all of his angst into a narrated video project for school. It was the first time he had gone public with his hapa identity conflicts. To his shock, the whole class applauded.

Since then, he has written a novel, staged numerous performances and made several films about the hapa experience, including the 1991 "Banana Split," which boosted him into the public eye.

His latest book, aimed at celebrating the diversity of hapa identity, is particularly personal.

"This is a book," Fulbeck said, "I wish I had as a kid.

I'm Lazy

Julie did such an awesome job of summarizing our holiday (with pictures of course!) that there is nothing I can possibly add to it except the two very amusing Adopt a Highway signs we saw...one section of our beautiful Pacific Coast highway has been adopted by "Cambria Republican Woman" (this is a blue state after all) and another by "Tim the Volunteer". I have a picture of Julie w/ the Cambria Republican woman but it has not been developed yet. You know why. Here's Julie's entry if you have not perused it yet. I will also throw a photo in for good measure:

Jellyfish at Monterey Bay Aquarium
I think this photo would make anyone jealous of the jellyfish- just floating along.

Now I am trying to get some actual work done. I realized two nights ago as I lay in bed that I have a ton of research work to do for my job, that I need to fill out all my applications for next year and take the GRE before I go to Chile, that I have a bunch of things to prepare (ie visa and immunizations) before I got to Chile, and I still don't really know what I want to do for a REAL job (and what can I be besides a professor if I get my PhD in history?). I am hoping to get an internship in DC after my sojourn in Chile just to procrastinate a little longer. Ah well...encouraging comments are welcome!

Anyone hear of a band called Devotchka? I heard one of their songs in a movie called "Everything is Illuminated" which is awesome and you should all see it. Julie and I plan to make t-shirts that say "Oficious seeing-eye bitch"---see the movie for an explanation. Anyway the song "How it ends" was in the trailer and part of the movie and I ended up downloading a bunch of their other stuff. This section, besides recommending a good movie and band, was also to prove to Eamonn that I do listen to "new" music and not just "old" music like jazz, swing, and classic rock.

Oh amusing story! My cousin Jenny (well i guess technically she is my 2nd cousin, her grandfather is my grandmother's brother....all part of my complicated and extended Chinese family) is going to study abroad this summer as well as her roommate. Seemingly random but important backstory: First, Jenny is Chinese and looks...well...Chinese. When I studied abroad in Scotland 3 years ago I sent some pictures of my year back to the UC study abroad program and last year Jenny sent me a letter with the latest study abroad brochure and lo and behold there I was with my buddies Shona and Lizzie in front of the stone marking the border of Scotland beside the highway. So Jenny's roommate went to a info meeting about studying abroad with two other friends and they were shown a slideshow of all those cool people who studied abroad including ME! Jenny's roomie says to her friends "Hey that's Jenny's cousin!" And her friends' response: "Do you have your glasses on? That girl can't be Jenny's cousin. She's white!" My white half thought that was hilarious and my Chinese half thought it was a sad commentary of racial stereotypes today. And the other Valley girl half though OMG I am a total study abroad celebrity! You do the math.

Time is money and I just spend like 30 minutes on this dang entry because it took me that long to think of interesting things in my life currently and I could have spent it making a chart of Pacific trading vessels from 1785-1825 for money! So the least you could is leave a comment and let me know that you are alive and that this was time well spent.

What passes for literature

So my friend Kelly and I were perusing the aisles of Barnes and Noble the other day before we went to see Mission Impossible III, when we cam across this "book" entitled "The Notebook Girls". Essentially four high school girls published notebook entries that normally would have been passed in class as notes. It even has a crappy diagram of the social structure of their elite high school (nothing new...your standard jocks, nerds etc.). Awesome. I still have some of my notes somewhere. My chem notes too. Maybe I can get them published. Because everyone will want to read about who has a crush on who and like all the inane feuds that like teenage girls get into with like other teenage girls. Like, who pays for this crap? Just go look through your junior high and high school yearbooks if you want to reminisce about those bygone days.

Which brings me to the other annoying moment of the week: annoying lady in the movie theater. As the green screen appears heralding my favorite part of the movie, the previews, a lady sitting nearby announces for the ENTIRE theater to hear, "Start the movie already!!! We've been sitting here for 45 minutes waiting." No, madam, you are an idiot for coming to the movie theater 45 minutes early, before "The Twenty" even starts. And this was only the beginning. Perhaps she had some sort of disorder but in any case I doubt she has ever had occasion to use her "6 inch" voice. As much as I like to comment on movies as I watch (in this case to say things like Philip Seymour Hoffman is one scary villain, or how Tom's on screen wife looks eerily similar to Katie Holmes), I don't believe anyone else besides my obliging friends (Katie when are you back in the bubble so we can go see some movies?) wants to hear. What would have turned this annoying moment into true entertainment was if someone had confronted her and told her to shut the hell up.