orientation

I’m here. Waiting for things to start, sitting with another girl who also feels uncomfortable with the level of simultaneous schmoozing and social discomfort in the room. It’s good people-watching, but it’s bizarre to think I will spend the next 3 years with these people. Gah!!?

Monday came so quickly

Well, my time off is officially over. I’m off to Madison today to get organized in my apartment before orientation starts tomorrow.

Last night I lay awake wondering how I was going to live off this loan check for the next four months. That is probably the scariest part of this whole thing for me. Those of you who know me in real life probably realize I am not naturally thrifty. I’ve been trying to prepare myself for the adjustment to not spending money but it’s really hard for me. I just have to do it. No shopping, no eating out, no lattes, etc.

Once I get in the swing of classes I’ll likely be too overwhelmed with reading to even consider spending money.

On that depressing note, off to get ready to leave!

hump day of week off

Weeks off are a thing of beauty. Monday morning I biked to the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum downtown to meet my friends Sara & Matt, Adrianne, Adrianne’s mom Patty and her sister Suzanne and their respective children, Avi, Aaron and Montana. I considered bringing my precocious nephew Carlos but thought I might be too out of breath from chasing him around for three hours to actually talk to my old friends. It was really fun to watch the kids interact though. Great museum too….

Monday afternoon I ran some errands and went to the beach. I don’t think I have ever been to Bradford Beach, or any Milwaukee beach for that matter. Lake Michigan is still polluted, and the water didn’t look (or smell) too appealing, but they’ve cleaned up the beach and it was quite pleasant to hang out there reading “A Civil Action” and banishing a tiny bit of the whiteness from my legs.

I’ve spent many hours reading “A Civil Action” which is required for my Civil Procedure class. It’s actually quite an interesting book, and I’m rather enjoying all this reading. It’s been a while since I had hours and hours to devote to a book. Usually I read my books slowly unless I am on vacation, when I will tear through several novels in a week.

Yesterday I started sanding those pesky stairs, which really didn’t take so long with my trusty sanding mouse.

Then I went to get primer for the stairs. Painting the front of the stairs is way more annoying than sanding. I estimate I will finish this job a day or two before classes start. Not so fun.I also played around in my garden. I have a lot of spotted leaves on two of my tomato plants, which makes me very sad, but I don’t have time to worry about it besides trying to remove all the spotted parts.

Today I slept too late, read some more of my book, signed up for university health insurance (shockingly quick and easy) went to get my hair cut and made chicken nachos for dinner. Today I was pretty lazy actually.

Tomorrow Fermin is taking off from work. Besides the day he threw out his back earlier this summer, he has not called in or missed a day. He just told me that he told his supervisor, “I have stuff to do tomorrow.” Hmm… normally, this might make me nervous, but I’ve heard that at least two other employees there have repeatedly no-call, no-showed for days at a time and still kept their jobs. At least he was honest and gave a day’s notice?

The whole idea of him taking a day off happened when we ate at our favorite Thai restaurant the other week and heard our favorite waitress mention their lunch buffet to someone. Our ears perked up, then we realized we have jobs and lives and can’t lunch together on the south side. Then I realized it was almost my week off, so I could indeed lunch. Then he decided he would take a day off during my off week. All in the name of lunch. The buffet at the Thai restaurant better be good. Well, it will be good to spend the day together too.

So, just wanted to check in. More news later this week.

countdown

Well, this is a pretty lame countdown because tomorrow is already my last day of work. It’s exciting and a little scary, mostly because I have worked, with a few traveling breaks, since I was 15. I am required to take 17 credits first semester, so no working.

In any case, I am really looking forward to next week off. I’ve already planned a day in Madison with my sister on Sunday, a trip to the museum with old friends and their kids Monday, salon and possibly beach day Wednesday (I’ve got to go see the renovation of Milwaukee’s Bradford Beach at least once this summer) and another day in Madison with my dear friend Sara on Friday.

In between, I’ll be packing, cleaning, sanding those pesky steps shown a few posts ago, and doing other annoying administrative tasks like signing up for classes, health insurance, law school deferment and maybe 401K transfers… super fun! I’ll also be attempting to sell more books on half.com, get my 1L books as cheaply as possible and purchase a whole new set of personal items (make-up, shampoo, etc) for my apartment life in Madison. That will require a trip to Target, which will actually be fun.

Sometimes my thoughts trail to some random memory, and then suddenly I think, “Wow, I get to go to law school in Madison in a few weeks.” It’s so exciting and I still feel somewhat inadequate and unprepared. At the same time, I am confident that I am mature and determined enough to handle it all well. Once I start, I know I will figure out how to proceed with all the reading, note-taking, briefing and outlining. I hope the lack of brainpower utilized in my last few jobs have left plenty extra to manage law school.

So here I am. Halfway through my second last day. It will be sad to take down my Lonely Planet Adventures calendar, pack up my breakfast cereals and say my last goodbyes to the sales reps and customers I have met here during the last two+ years. But much sadder is knowing I will miss the fun banter among my department-mates, and the random antics of other people that work at this little company. I will miss our conversations and chats, but I also know we will keep in touch. I occasionally complain about this job, but overall it’s really been great. The actual work came somewhat naturally, and that has allowed me to think about what would really be a more suitable and challenging career.

2008 came so quickly…

I get that this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing are controversial. I get why, and I don’t disagree. So with a strange mix of delight and apprehension and excitement and nostalgia, I am watching the Opening Ceremonies tonight. I’m not much of a sports fan, but the Games in Beijing — they hold a lot of meaning for me, and I’ll be watching as much as I can.

In 2001, I left Beijing after a year of living, working and studying at the city’s teacher’s university. The day I left the International Olympic Committee announced that Beijing had won the right to host the 2008 games. And oh how far away 2008 seemed. Like a century away. I left the city so torn — vowing, knowing even, that I’d be back before the Games. I was, but only for two weeks, and that was six years ago.

It had been a dream of a year. I had learned so much about culture, relationships, communication, language, faith and myself. I was comfortable conversing in Chinese, but more than fluent in chopstick. I could read characters and made it a goal to learn new ones every day. I had found the places I loved most for walking and biking. I knew where to get the best gong bao ji ding (Kung-pao chicken – not to be compared with the spiceless goop served in most American Chinese restuarants) and fried apples and dumplings. I had great, dear Chinese friends who I had shared my culture with, and they had shared theirs with me. I had led my father and brother through the sights of Beijing. I had biked to Tiananmen with friends late at night, after the city was cool and silent. I can still hear the intonation of the subway lady’s voice: “Jiushuitan daole,” at the stop closest to my university. I had crushed on a boy and bonded with roommates. I eventually went my separate way from just about all these people, as my faith morphed into something as foreign as China, but I treasure those days with them. I hope they know that.

The last few weeks I had finished classes and was simply milking my last few days as a Beijinger. That summer Beijing had been in rare form. The Olympic hosting “competition” was in full swing. Dilapidated structures were covered and Olympic posters were everywhere. The central government had been doing everything possible to avoid the hot, muggy, smog of Beijing summer. They played God – seeding the clouds so that it would rain and clear away the matter that turned the skies a dusty, tannish grey. It was working then, apparently better than it is now.

I can’t imagine what the places I knew so well in Beijing look like today. I wonder if a visit would be emotionally overwhelming. Places get to me, more than people sometimes. If I went to my old apartments and found them torn down, the vendors gone, the little cafes long closed, I would mourn them. It’s almost ridiculous to think things hadn’t changed in that neighborhood. The Beijing skyline is a matter of cranes rising behind cranes rising in front of cranes. Everywhere you look, construction is a given.

But tonight, it’s Beijing’s turn to shine, and I can’t help feel proud, watching this ridiculous and amazing show of talent and culture and dance and beauty and technology. 2008 man-children doing tai-chi in formation, in unison, with beautiful and culturally stunning results. The drum opening… The directing by one of China’s great film-gods Zhang Yimou. What is not to love? I’m sure some Americans are afraid of China’s emerging prowess, but I am amazed and wonder at it. In a way I love it. I hate the human rights problems and the support of Sudan’s genocide, but I also hate the war in Iraq and any number of things I could mention that the Bush administration has done, so…. I don’t know.

I recently emptied a chest of memorabilia from my parents’ basement and found some of the promotional posters I had gotten my hands on that summer. There were bent and torn, but a flood of memories came back. I couldn’t believe they were in there… seven years….