It has been hard to keep up with everything. Indeed, running one's own business and working on my textbook has taken the place of other activities that used to busy my hands, which means some have had to suffer sacrifice while others flourish.
The good news is, I love working for myself, I love the dynamics of being self-employed and the natural transitions that work like this offers me. I have more time now for my children during the day, which is wonderful. And I am in the black having only been in business for a couple of months, which is a plus. Although not earning as much as I did yet at Mason, the quality of life has improved, I am a much happier person and job-satisfaction is high. Come August I will focus more on effectively advertising myself and preparing for more of a set schedule for the school year.
We just finished dying Easter eggs. The kids had a wonderful time. Tomorrow is our annual Easter Egg Hunt, which will be fun--as always. I look forward to sharing in Easter joys with our friends.
Today there was a small layer of snow lacing the cherry blossom buds and the tips of the tulips. I got my camera out and took some pictures. Hopefully they will turn out well.
Happy Easter!
sábado, 7 de abril de 2007
viernes, 5 de enero de 2007
an old friend from far, far away
Okay, I'll start with the good news that the interview went tremendously well and I will be working with them starting Monday for the week. The director and the director of marketing are wonderful people and I look very much forward to getting to know everyone next week.
I just received an e-postcard from an old friend. In fact, we were pen pals from my sophomore year of high school on. I still have all of the letters, the postcards, books, etc., that he sent to me. He is from Novosibirsk, Russia. Geographically we have been so close to each other that it could have been possible to meet face-to-face. From Japan I could have taken a flight easily. Arkadiy was in San Francisco just about at the time I was due to give birth to my daughter five years ago in Portland, OR. So close...and yet, still worlds away.
I often wonder if our life paths are ever destined to cross. He was, and remains, an important part of my life, of my growth as a young person learning about the world, and a symbol of a certain committment to something so simple as a pen pal relationship. We have been in some sort of contact, on and off, since 1987. That is impressive in and of itself, considering I was only 15 or 16 at the time. That is almost 20 years.
And I have not been forgotten. Nor has he. I hope that, one day, we do meet.
I just received an e-postcard from an old friend. In fact, we were pen pals from my sophomore year of high school on. I still have all of the letters, the postcards, books, etc., that he sent to me. He is from Novosibirsk, Russia. Geographically we have been so close to each other that it could have been possible to meet face-to-face. From Japan I could have taken a flight easily. Arkadiy was in San Francisco just about at the time I was due to give birth to my daughter five years ago in Portland, OR. So close...and yet, still worlds away.
I often wonder if our life paths are ever destined to cross. He was, and remains, an important part of my life, of my growth as a young person learning about the world, and a symbol of a certain committment to something so simple as a pen pal relationship. We have been in some sort of contact, on and off, since 1987. That is impressive in and of itself, considering I was only 15 or 16 at the time. That is almost 20 years.
And I have not been forgotten. Nor has he. I hope that, one day, we do meet.
jueves, 4 de enero de 2007
back in Perú
It is so nice to be back in Perú. I love this country. I'm not sure what it is, but it is just warm and the people are so nice and open. Even though the traffic can be a bear--not so much speaking here of the traffic jams but of just the run-of-the-mill frogger games you have to play to cross the streets and the white-knuckle (but dirt cheap) taxi rides, I have found that I can overlook a lot of that. Eating hasn't been too huge of a problem; I get rolls before each meal but I can also ask for a serving of rice with my dinner as opposed to vegetable-oil (read: soy oil)-fried potatoes or anything containing gluten. People here, in my experience thus far, are more than welcome to adjust anything I order to what I need it to be. Service is a beautiful thing--and you don't have to go to the most expensive restaurant in town for it, like in the States. The inexpensive grilled chicken spot around the corner where one person can eat a full lunch, with fresh-squeezed lemonade and everything, for under $5 will give you excellent service.
I found this apartment on CraigsList, had by an Englishman married to a Peruvian lady. They have a few different apartments here, one of which I am in this trip. I am paying $200 for 9 nights, have my own kitchenette, dining area, king bed, cable TV, and WiFi. It's on the 3rd floor of an apartment building here in the heart of Miraflores, three blocks away from a Whole Foods-type market (yet not quite as expensive! YIPPEE!!! and also with excellent service, I might add) and did I mention proximity??? It is one of the safer neighborhoods in Lima, although in the 90s it was huge into the drug scene. The government cleaned this area up and has made it into a great tourist destination--lots of non-Spanish speaking gringos bumbling around. I get some looks of relief when I open my mouth when I enter a restaurant or have a question at a store.
Tomorrow at 4 p.m. I have my interview with the Spanish language school here in Miraflores, not terribly far from here. I admit I'm nervious. I have given formal speeches in Japanese and teach in Spanish all the time...but have never had a job interview depend on it. It would be really nice to establish a relationship with this school in which I can arrange a once a year teaching/study position, with a possiblity of developing a commercial interest with bringing students to their school. I'll keep you posted on how things go. Then I have a ticket tomorrow night to a neat sounding cultural show called "Brisas del Titicaca" (Breezes of Titicaca), which is supposed to be a musical folkloric exploration of the Peruvian Andean highlands. I'm bringing my camera.
This weekend I think I may head back south toward the desert area where I was this past summer. I would love to do a little more exploring down there, although I know it is really hot there now being that it is summer, and there are a couple of places I wouldn't mind visiting again if I can get there...like that witch colony, Cachiche, in Ica.
So that is my catch-up for now. More later!! Hasta luego. Wish me luck tomorrow!
I found this apartment on CraigsList, had by an Englishman married to a Peruvian lady. They have a few different apartments here, one of which I am in this trip. I am paying $200 for 9 nights, have my own kitchenette, dining area, king bed, cable TV, and WiFi. It's on the 3rd floor of an apartment building here in the heart of Miraflores, three blocks away from a Whole Foods-type market (yet not quite as expensive! YIPPEE!!! and also with excellent service, I might add) and did I mention proximity??? It is one of the safer neighborhoods in Lima, although in the 90s it was huge into the drug scene. The government cleaned this area up and has made it into a great tourist destination--lots of non-Spanish speaking gringos bumbling around. I get some looks of relief when I open my mouth when I enter a restaurant or have a question at a store.
Tomorrow at 4 p.m. I have my interview with the Spanish language school here in Miraflores, not terribly far from here. I admit I'm nervious. I have given formal speeches in Japanese and teach in Spanish all the time...but have never had a job interview depend on it. It would be really nice to establish a relationship with this school in which I can arrange a once a year teaching/study position, with a possiblity of developing a commercial interest with bringing students to their school. I'll keep you posted on how things go. Then I have a ticket tomorrow night to a neat sounding cultural show called "Brisas del Titicaca" (Breezes of Titicaca), which is supposed to be a musical folkloric exploration of the Peruvian Andean highlands. I'm bringing my camera.
This weekend I think I may head back south toward the desert area where I was this past summer. I would love to do a little more exploring down there, although I know it is really hot there now being that it is summer, and there are a couple of places I wouldn't mind visiting again if I can get there...like that witch colony, Cachiche, in Ica.
So that is my catch-up for now. More later!! Hasta luego. Wish me luck tomorrow!
jueves, 28 de diciembre de 2006
Teen bras
I know what you're thinking...
K is only 5. She can't be developing that quickly.
No, it is the opposite issue. Mommy is dis-veloping.
Is that a word? If not, I hereby invent it.
There were Olga 36A (can't believe I found them!) for $28.00 each, and then I found (insert celestial harp music) the Teen Section at Sears.
There I found 4 different colors of 36A bras, all with underwire and change-around straps for $9.00 each!!! And they fit me BETTER than the big-momma bras.
*sigh*
Who said there wasn't any pride in boob jobs? I'm all for it, if it will just boost me up to a full size A cup!
K is only 5. She can't be developing that quickly.
No, it is the opposite issue. Mommy is dis-veloping.
Is that a word? If not, I hereby invent it.
There were Olga 36A (can't believe I found them!) for $28.00 each, and then I found (insert celestial harp music) the Teen Section at Sears.
There I found 4 different colors of 36A bras, all with underwire and change-around straps for $9.00 each!!! And they fit me BETTER than the big-momma bras.
*sigh*
Who said there wasn't any pride in boob jobs? I'm all for it, if it will just boost me up to a full size A cup!
domingo, 24 de diciembre de 2006
my real age?
So I guess I am "really" 28.4 years old...6.3 years less than my biological age...now THAT made my day--Merry Christmas to Me!!! Here's the survey. They email you your results based on a series of health and lifestyle-related questions.
http://www.realage.com/ralong/entry4.aspx?
I guess I was just bored...!
http://www.realage.com/ralong/entry4.aspx?
I guess I was just bored...!
sábado, 23 de diciembre de 2006
Christmas with a twist...
'Twas the eve before Christmas and all through Vienna
Not a creature was stirring
Except Mom with insomnia.
The stockings were hung on the chimney; one, down it fell...
I can't seem to make it stay up--oh, what the hell!
The children, nestled up next to Mommy all snug,
"Enough! Stop kicking!" "But I just want to hug!"
And the whole family trying to get over this cough,
To try to get some sleep around here sure can be tough.
While we waited all evening for the clatter outside
Of Rocking Santa, through the streets, on his firetruck ride
But he never showed up, and the children became quite sad.
And Daddy and I, with two disappointed kids, were quite mad.
We heard him get close, so near that we ran to the street
With the children shouting about how this was so neat!
Yet he turned a corner left, not right, I do fear
And thus, it turned out, he would never appear.
So as we awaited and tried to keep the kids mellow
I made us all hot chocolate topped with marshmallow
Reassuring them, saying, "Santa could not forget us!"
But it appears that this year, it was Orchard Street hiatus.
The question then: tomorrow will Santa have come down our chimney?
Perhaps...but with the flue closed, we should leave out a key.
We are hoping Santa does not follow a diet gluten-free
So he can enjoy at least one homemade Christmas cookie.
Yet my children, so wise in their years, know of Christmas the art...
That the Santa spirit is the giving that comes from the heart.
It is a spirit that long lives within and surfaces each year
Yet should not be limited to only when Christmas is near.
Yet it is only at Christmastime that such spirit is referred
to as Santa, to maintain the young wonder and mystery preferred.
So yes, on Christmas Day our children's eyes will shine bright
As they see gifts that appear with the morning's first light.
And perhaps there will be a little something in the tree...lo!
For Mommy and Daddy too...what a surprise! Ho Ho Ho!
Now here I am, wishing all of you *other* insomniacs so dear
A wonder-filled Christmas and a joyful New Year!
Not a creature was stirring
Except Mom with insomnia.
The stockings were hung on the chimney; one, down it fell...
I can't seem to make it stay up--oh, what the hell!
The children, nestled up next to Mommy all snug,
"Enough! Stop kicking!" "But I just want to hug!"
And the whole family trying to get over this cough,
To try to get some sleep around here sure can be tough.
While we waited all evening for the clatter outside
Of Rocking Santa, through the streets, on his firetruck ride
But he never showed up, and the children became quite sad.
And Daddy and I, with two disappointed kids, were quite mad.
We heard him get close, so near that we ran to the street
With the children shouting about how this was so neat!
Yet he turned a corner left, not right, I do fear
And thus, it turned out, he would never appear.
So as we awaited and tried to keep the kids mellow
I made us all hot chocolate topped with marshmallow
Reassuring them, saying, "Santa could not forget us!"
But it appears that this year, it was Orchard Street hiatus.
The question then: tomorrow will Santa have come down our chimney?
Perhaps...but with the flue closed, we should leave out a key.
We are hoping Santa does not follow a diet gluten-free
So he can enjoy at least one homemade Christmas cookie.
Yet my children, so wise in their years, know of Christmas the art...
That the Santa spirit is the giving that comes from the heart.
It is a spirit that long lives within and surfaces each year
Yet should not be limited to only when Christmas is near.
Yet it is only at Christmastime that such spirit is referred
to as Santa, to maintain the young wonder and mystery preferred.
So yes, on Christmas Day our children's eyes will shine bright
As they see gifts that appear with the morning's first light.
And perhaps there will be a little something in the tree...lo!
For Mommy and Daddy too...what a surprise! Ho Ho Ho!
Now here I am, wishing all of you *other* insomniacs so dear
A wonder-filled Christmas and a joyful New Year!
viernes, 22 de diciembre de 2006
Feliz Navidad
The year has flown by, and here we are again, Christmas right around the corner. My daughter is now officially on Winter Break for the next week, Christmas cookies are being gobbled up left and right, and we are jolly and happy.
We have been successful in avoiding a great deal of the Holiday Hubbub this year, which has made this season all the more enjoyable. It has been refreshing to focus in more on family, friends and the New Year rather than what is next on the sometimes seemingly interminable List of Things To Do.
Professionally, I have my new in-home classroom all set-up and ready to go, with a little straightening up of Play-Dough, paper scraps and coloring books, with a couple of well-placed pieces of cloth to cover all those trite details. I am preparing for my next Perú trip in 11 days (who's counting????) and hopefully there will be a good fit with the school down in Lima. I am officially done at George Mason...and that does feel good, although I know that I will miss the students.
Personally, I am on the mend after my emotional breakdown of last month. I have the official word on my allergy to soy, plus I am to avoid gluten. I am now on a thyroid complex that hopefully will even out my slightly hypothyroid, and am treating my adrenal stress with a sunbox, a withania complex and a vitamin coctail taken with a glass of sea salt water--which tastes, suprisingly, really really good (if it does not sound good to you, that means you are not in adrenal fatigue!). Last night I slept through the night for the first time in weeks, and it felt really good. Today I feel like A New Woman. Just in time for Christmas.
Watch out, world. This desperate housewife will soon be desperate no more!
We have been successful in avoiding a great deal of the Holiday Hubbub this year, which has made this season all the more enjoyable. It has been refreshing to focus in more on family, friends and the New Year rather than what is next on the sometimes seemingly interminable List of Things To Do.
Professionally, I have my new in-home classroom all set-up and ready to go, with a little straightening up of Play-Dough, paper scraps and coloring books, with a couple of well-placed pieces of cloth to cover all those trite details. I am preparing for my next Perú trip in 11 days (who's counting????) and hopefully there will be a good fit with the school down in Lima. I am officially done at George Mason...and that does feel good, although I know that I will miss the students.
Personally, I am on the mend after my emotional breakdown of last month. I have the official word on my allergy to soy, plus I am to avoid gluten. I am now on a thyroid complex that hopefully will even out my slightly hypothyroid, and am treating my adrenal stress with a sunbox, a withania complex and a vitamin coctail taken with a glass of sea salt water--which tastes, suprisingly, really really good (if it does not sound good to you, that means you are not in adrenal fatigue!). Last night I slept through the night for the first time in weeks, and it felt really good. Today I feel like A New Woman. Just in time for Christmas.
Watch out, world. This desperate housewife will soon be desperate no more!
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