BRB

So Anne picked up a shaky me and all the belongings that had been at my parent’s house because, no, I STILL haven’t unpacked from Argentina. Naturally, by this point, I have already analyzed the situation at least twice, which is enough time for me to mourn the loss of my plans to buy boots for skiing the next day and make some “realistic” diagnoses. I come to the conclusion that I am probably losing my mind and a dormant case of Asperger’s is now wrenching its way up through what used to be the fertile soil of normal social interactions. This conclusion is based on the fact that my mind is routinely racing about, oh, a million miles an hour. In a matter of seconds, it would not be uncommon for me to attempt sweeping, while making a grocery list, planning a reunion, remembering I need to write letters, construct a primitive blueprint for a portable chicken coop, and try to remember the lyrics to the song of an obscure Canadian band. I consistently have to remind myself to be present, to go through those little exchanges make like “how is work” or “how is your family”, that I enjoy the company of the people I’m around, and that I enjoy it more when I’m not wondering if “La Bamba” is played GCF or GFC while standing around a veggie tray. I blame the accident on this spacey-ness. What was wrong with me, after all, that I didn’t see that car in time?

I usually call G Dash (she always blogs about people with their first letter and a dash, so I’m K-, but G dash is infinitely more “gangsta”—a quality I value in a blog) in these scenarios. Our conversations are frequently like “that one bag” that has been around for ages, and keeps reappearing at different relatives’ houses every Christmas. We just recycle the same advice one told the other months ago. Thus after several minutes of me blurting out things like, “I’m pretty sure I’m going crazy” or “What is wrong with me” or “it might be Autism”. We enter Phase I—Let Me Remind You about Yourself. This is the phase where the listener reminds the one melting down about basic pieces of their personality that are glaringly obvious to everyone else. In this case, it is the fact that I always have a rough time transitioning from abroad. I tricked myself. Really well this time. I jumped right into Christmas and parties and visits and…and…and. I thought that since I wasn’t angry like I was after Costa Rica that I must be fine. I even suggested to others that a struggle might happen “eventually”, little realizing that I was/am in the thick of it.

We soon moved on to Phase II—I Offer for Your Consideration…The Obvious! In this case, The Obvious is that I made some major life changes while I was away. I changed all my rhythms—menstrual, eating, sleeping, days off, working, resting, etc. That alone is a big deal. Furthermore, something inside me committed, in a no-turning-back kind of way, to living a more sustainable life. This is a limitless idea. Something I could work on the whole rest of my life and never be satisfied, if I chose not to be. (Damn right I split that infinitive.) I shared every minute of entire days, many, many days with people enormously different from myself and there’s no WAY I was unchanged by that. I made a commitment to live my whole life differently, even if I have no idea, mostly, what that means. I just know it will influence how/where/what I drive, what I eat, where I work, what I throw away, what I wear, what I buy, who I date, what lights I turn on, etc. A reader in Portugal could discern that any kind of major change is bound to incite an uprising of glitches elsewhere.

In Phase IIb we discuss another obvious point—I’m an Introvert. That means that when you could smoke salmon on the fumes coming out of my overworked brain, I’m going to withdraw. When I am thinking about a million things, my brain, out of sheer self-preservation, is going to shut down, often at untimely moments. Like when it could be doing things like, oh, noticing stopped cars in front of me. G Dash pointed out that maybe what my body needs is an amount of introspection that I have currently deemed excessive. I think this is true, as part of the picture. But I know that I need to be around people as much as I need to be alone. Which brings us to…

Phase III—And You Might Also Consider. People change! I changed. People at home changed. And coming back, even if I’ve done it before, means going through that awkward process of reconfiguration. Figuring out which relationships still work. Which ones support the changes I’m attempting to make. Which ones can weather the grey area. Which ones somehow are still the same no matter how many continents I go to. Which ones really care and which ones are just nice to spend an afternoon with. I suppose much of this was obvious to everyone around me even before I left B.A. But I’m putting this out there for several reasons. 1) I don’t want it rattling around in my brain. Per my last metaphor, I am already barbecuing, I don’t need bowling going on, too. 2) To explain that if I’m not talkative, this is not necessarily indicative of discontent. 3) If I don’t call, feel free to call me instead, I’ve probably just forgotten about my phone. 4) And to the people who have those open-ended, toss-ideas-around, listen-to-me-rant, or ask-me-questions-about-xyz…may your blessings multiply sevenfold.

F*ck.

It all started with me smashing the front of my car into the back of another car. Why this didn’t happen when I was 16 and routinely driving 20 miles over the speed limit, I don’t know. I wasn’t texting. I wasn’t on the phone. I just didn’t realize they had stopped very suddenly. I swerved onto the shoulder but not before I nicked their fender with my bumper. So there I am standing on the side of the road, looking at the various pieces of my car littering the side, and somehow, I hear Jenny’s voice (how it wedged in through the “oh fuck.” on repeat is beyond me) telling me to celebrate. That snapped me out of my shock long enough to be grateful that no one got hurt (not even Chris Stanley, my beloved guitar), and that at least their vehicle wasn’t damaged beyond repair. I also probably couldn’t have destroyed the fender of nicer people. How often do people exchange hugs at the scene of an accident? Three surreal things that happened:

1) The elderly lady passenger of the other car offered to help push my car off the road, although she was stopped by her daughter reminding her of her bad back

2) The daughter and some random stranger helped me push it off and the stranger parked behind my car till the police showed up since her mom had been “really messed up” by sitting in her car after an accident

3) As we’re exchanging insurance, phrases like, “Wish we could’ve met under different circumstances” and “Take care and have a happy new year!”

Who has the mental and emotional wherewithal to be so present in such a situation? Maybe you have to lead a pretty centered life to find your bearings so quickly after a stressful situation and be compassionate to someone you have every reason to be livid with. I’m pretty damn lucky they showed me grace and kindness when I mostly hear about rage or icy politeness in these situations. To be continued…

89 Big Ones

My badass grandmother turned 89 a few days ago. I'm pasting below an awesome conversation we had on the phone. I post this conversation because it's pretty much the same thing as posting a conversation with myself from the future--deaf, occasionally cranky, but excited to talk to people. Kate: ...yep, I sure had a good time in Argentina. Grandma: Well that's great, honey. K: [knowing my g-ma used to love skiing] Grandma, guess what I got for Christmas? Skis and ski boots! G: Ha! Well, did you get some medicine for that? K: What? No, Grandma, I said I got SKIS and SKI BOOTS for Christmas. G: OH!!! I thought you said you got bit by MOSQUITOES! I fully intend to take a leaf from her book when "getting old" becomes a reality and not just a concept. I plan on swearing less often and at fewer people, but no one can deny the beauty of a well-executed, "Well, where the hell is my cane?!" But the exploring, the never-ending ravenous quest for learning, and a deep unshakable love of ice cream, these are things I can learn from. Cheers to the first 89, grandma, and rock on.

You’d better make a cup of tea if you intend to read this because I intend to blog about the whirlwind that was my vacation ALL in one blog. I hope you can handle it. Right, so we left off with Grace and I being devastated about not being able to trek on the ice. Well, our hostel offered a tour which we woefully signed up for. In the end it rocked our world. A backroads tour, one-on-one meeting/bottle feeding of a guanaco, hiking, and taking a boat right up to the glacier followed by more hiking. We were lucky and got to see multiple enormous pieces of ice fall off and into the water. We wrapped up there and took a flight the next day to Mendoza.

-Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina, fyi. We got in very late, checked into the hostel and were creeped out by the 3 middle-aged men staying there making gestures about us and the 0 people under 30. So we peaced out of there, stat, and wandered around looking for another hostel. A full hostel hooked us up at this other hostel that was a total refuge for us. And they had a cat. For some reason unbeknownst and incomprehensible to me, Grace named him “Mr. Cuddles.” We got up early the next day, took a bus out to Maipu, rented a bike/map, and headed off. Our first stop was the beer garden which I felt was a nice compromise because I only like wine occasionally but have a deep love for my friend Mr. Beer and Grace is the opposite. (Sidenote, I could have lived at that beer garden, especially since they used earthen building.) Then we headed off to various vineyards and olive/liqueur/chocolate shops. Impressively, we were still able to bike by the end of the day and took the bus back to Mendoza.

-Our last big tourist stop was at Iguazu. Item of note – LAN airlines ran over my pack with a moving vehicle (at least, I reasonably assume this was the case due to the tire tread stains running the length of it) and lost Grace’s luggage which was later returned with part of her wine smashed to smithereens inside of it. Eau de Malbec anyone? Anyway, we rested one day and then spent the next day traipsing about the waterfall, taking a boat into it, and then doing a full moon tour that evening. The waterfall was just as breathtaking the second time.

-We then took a bus to Oberá. We evaluated the a.c. situation and realized the purpose of the air conditioner was to blow sortofcool air toward the front of the bus while leaving us hot and with drippings from the a.c. on our heads. That is the first, and hopefully last, bus ride I spent with a folded scarf balanced on top of my head. We had to take this bus because I SWEAR the ticket lady had told us the bus we wanted left half an hour later than it actually did. Then we transferred to another bus, spending all but our last 2 pesos. We arrived in Oberá with 30 minutes to spare (read here: 10 minutes for Kate to fly by taxi to withdraw money from her emergency fund to pay the 7 pesos to get out to Mama Roja). Luckily we were saved by Reneé who showed up with pesos for bus fare and empanadas for Grace who was at that point “where someone is going to die if I don’t get food.” We also got to say hi to Tania and head out to the farm. -It was, of course, lovely. Looking back, I would have planned more time there. But I enjoyed every last second there. Kim made an AMAZING dinner and lunch. We jammed, talked till the wee hours of the night, laughed hysterically, etc. I said a rough goodbye to Spot 2 which is ever-present in my heart *fist pump to Spot 2*, pirated a lot of files, packed an insane amount of stuff into my bag, and headed into town for a rather melancholy ice cream stop. More tearful goodbyes later and we were at the bus station saying goodbye to Tania, one of the sweetest, kindest people I have ever known.

-Another deluxe bus ride (this time in the very front on top looking out the big front window), we arrived in B.A. with enough time for lunch with Tim tron, another difficult goodbye, a nap at Grace’s hostel, and a long flight home. Of course these are only tiny snapshots of the things that made my mind crack and grow bigger and the flooring beauty in so many varied forms and the funny things and the annoying things and the time when people almost died because we were cranky. But it was an epic trip and one I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

Vacation Saga Part I

Let’s BeBop! Well, here it is. Whirlwind blogging. I currently write from the Trelew airport, waiting for my flight back to Buenos Aires where I will pick up GRACE and voyage madly. Here’s what went down so far: -Mama Roja wrap up. I’m not blogging about that because I think it would make trivial something that was incredibly powerful and moving. Let’s just say that I have never cried so much about “heart spiders” or had so many friendship bracelets burned onto my wrist in one day. Maybe as I start to look back at this, I’ll process things I want to share, but for now I need to focus on not going crazy with missing people/this weirdo life I’ve led for 3 months. -Meghan, Danielle, and I head to Buenos Aires on the most deluxe bus ever. Meals, movies, snacks, coffee, dulce de leche, you name it. Plus a pillow, blanket, and personal curtain. Worth it. After booking our hostel via bus wifi, we drop our stuff off and head to Siga la Vaca. Danielle’s system promptly decides she needs to be on her death bed and she spent some quality time with certain trash bins all over Buenos Aires. Meanwhile, I ate about 1,000 pounds of meat and even ate some pork that I liked. Meghan and I drank an interesting quantity of wine and also ate a “chocolate volcano” and “cheesecake” which we referred to as “cheeseflan.” The next day I went to the Recoleta cemetery. Pretty cool and gave me some ideas for my burial (tall pole with a tiny ship on top). Then, I met up with M&D and went to a place I saw called Be Frika where we ate…SALADS. This was pretty shocking. Also, fruit smoothies. Crazy. After that I peaced myself out of there, caught a taxi to the airport with a guy we met from the UK and flew to Trelew.

-By flew to Trelew I mean I sat in the airport for multiple hours during the delay and got in after midnight. There was a shuttle to Puerto Madryn, a few hours of sleep and then up early the next day to see…PENGUINS AND DOLPHINS!!! I went with a couple girls from Holland and a lady from Wales. Here’s the lowdown on the dolphins at Playa Union. Not so big, those ones. They’re black and white Commerson’s dolphins. They liked to swim under the front of the boat like they were racing it. We also saw sea lions and various birds and shrimp boats. Then we headed further south to Punta Tombo which is the largest colony of Magellanic penguins. They’re little guys. Probably came to my knee-ish. No bonding allowed, however, as they a) are probably damn tired of a million tourists tromping through their habitat snapping photos of them and b) they have veeeery sharp beaks. In fact, there is an ambulance permanently stationed at the entrance for those who don’t respect the penguins and learn the hard way. It’s their birthing season so we got to see eggs, babies, and adults. They were everywhere. The surprising thing was the climate…I always thought penguins lived on icebergs and such, but it was hot there. Upper 80’s lower 90’s hot. And it was sandy and scrubby…not unlike parts of Idaho. A 3 hour drive later and we were back in Puerto Madryn and I was packing for my bus.

-I bussed that evening to Trelew and then from their to the Welsh immigrant town of Gaiman. For those of you who don’t know about the Welsh, I’ll explain a little about how they spell things. Basically, centuries ago, people got greedy about vowels. Very greedy. So greedy in fact, that they hoarded almost all of the vowels and smuggled them out to other lands…like Hawaii. The people revolted. There was mass chaos in the streets because there were no vowels anymore, really, and the ones to be had were exorbitantly priced. So the overlords got together to try to figure out how to calm the uprising and they came up with 7-for-1. For every one vowel a person has, they get 7 consonants for free. This served its purpose. The people were satisfied and felt even a little indulgent and so began flinging extra consonants everywhere. It should come as no surprise that the name of the b&b I stayed at was Yr Hen Ffordd. I HIGHLY recommend this place. One of the oldest buildings in town on the oldest street in town. While there I visited some Welsh chapels (closed, therefore boring), visited the first house (coal-powered iron, anyone?), and ate the best pasta of my life. Gnocchi stuffed with plum, pancetta, and walnut in an onion, pancetta, tomato, cheese, cream sauce. I accidentally almost died. I also went to a Welsh tea house and ate way too many tea cakes and black tea. Yikes. All in all, I feel that I honored my Welsh heritage, even in poking fun at it. I rolled onto the plane to head back to B.A.

-In B.A., reunited with Meghan, we went with our new Italian friend to the Sunday San Telmo market. It was pretty cool and I carved my name into the table at Plaza Dorrego Bar. Then I picked up a lost Grace from the bus station and we all took a ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. It’s a small town with cobbled streets and lovely old architecture and a UNESCO world heritage site. We saw the lighthouse, old buildings, went to the beach, and flung ourselves into the laguna off of rope swings. We ate some delicious foods, like a chocolate/dulce de leche cake. Our last night, Grace and I decided to try the typical Uruguayan sandwich called “chivito.” At the restaurant we went to, this “sandwich” is the size of a prairie wagon and consists of steak meat, ham, cheese, and fried eggs on top. We ate about 20% of it and then asked for a box. Somehow, after this, it still seemed like a good idea to go to a tiny wine and cheese bar we had seen earlier. I think it was just to sweet to resist. Tucked in a little wall on “Street of Sighs” (translation) with only about 4 tables, we ordered one of the “smaller” plates and a week later I still haven’t finished digesting it. Which is why the 6:45 a.m. bus to Montevideo the next morning was so awesome, especially on 3 hours of sleep. Yet, somehow we made it to Montevideo without barfing and flew to El Calafate.

-El Calafate ended up being my favorite place. After 3 months of jungle heat, the cool, brisk wind of El Calafate was like electricity. The hostel we had tried to book was full, but they directed us to their sister hostel which was cheaper and just as great. We checked in, cooked some gluten-free spaghetti with veggie sauce, and then discovered the devastating news that the trek-on-the-ice tour was booked for the next day. TO BE CONTINUED

Finishing touches

So, I realize I’ve failed dismally at blogging, apparently since October 21st. I attribute this to my surrender to the internet vacuum that is Oberá. And also, we’ve pretty much just been building non-stop. We had quite a few workshops at the end of things we taught each other. But for the most part, our main focus was on the building. Here are some things I took away from the process (yeah, I’m beyond the technical blogs): -Readjustment of plans and goals is critical. That’s why we added columns, for example. The wall was “wonky” and wobbly, so adding the columns added stability. -Adding glass bottles for beauty. After laying the bricks around them, you carve out space for more light to filter through them. -We finished laying all the bricks, I believe. Line after line after line, we finally made it up to the roof. -Plaster layer one. It’s already cracked nicely and is waiting for the other layers. -“Meatballing” – the process of adding tons of fiber (tensile strength) to the plaster mix and shoving the wads into places that need stability but are too small to put bricks in. -Natural painting. We used lime and iron oxide and painted 2.5 walls of our cabin. -Making shelving and niches. -And much, much more! We didn't finish the house. Not by a long shot. In a way, that was a bummer, but when I look at how much we accomplished and hear about how long a project like this normally takes, I feel just fine. Ultimately K & M will finish all the layers of plaster, add artsy things like tree sculptures/niches/shelving, they'll put in sinks/counters/composting toilets. They'll cover the floor, probably with a tinted cement mix with wax over top. They'll put in doors and windows. And they'll put on the roof. And after breathing for a while, maybe a long while, they'll add two additional rooms on the side. Rock on. Basically, natural building is crazy. In many ways, you can make it simple or complicated and you can do that now or later. But the nice thing is that if you stick to basic stability principles, if you eff up, you can fix it or make adjustments. I learned that my personal style is to do more measuring/leveling now and hopefully have fewer adjustments later, but I also learned ways to build more freely knowing that we could readjust. Hopefully I can rummage around for a project and start melding what I know already with new learning about what works in non-jungle settings.

Ye Olde Smalle Update

We continue forth. Most of our concerted efforts are on the house, with a few forays into the kitchen and garden. We spend most of the days laying layers of baked bricks and mud mortar. The walls are high enough that we can start incorporating bottles as sort of a stained-glass situation. I'm learning about using plumb lines and levels and lining things ups. I could post some technical how-tos on this, but I haven't quite wrapped my brain around it enough to blog coherently. I also spend a good amount of time flinging mud at other people. Word like, "punk", "rude", and "idiot" have been thrown in my direction, but I know it's all in love. I have told everyone that they should worry about when stop flinging mud. If you go to the Mama Roja website, you can see results of this mud-flinging. http://mamaroja.blogspot.com This will be the last post for a while. We're mostly focused on just building the house, anyway. We'll be building on our day off, Tuesday, having an all-day fiesta/birthday party/Halloween party/pizza making party/costume party on Thursday and then heading off to some Jesuit ruins on Friday. Should be good times. Below is the pyramid root cellar at the Chacra Suiza that we visited today.

Oops. Didn't realize it's been 2 weeks since I last posted. We've had a lot of rain lately (think 4.5 inches in one night), so lots of indoor activities. I did a "workshop" on how to make bagels. We've made peanut butter again, peach jam, chipas (Argentinian cheesy bread thing, but didn't quite turn out), and other tasty treats which I cannot remember at this time. Mostly our focus is on building the house. This mostly consists of sifting subsoil and hauling it in buckets up the hill to mix with the sand we hauled in wheelbarrows up the hill to mix with the water and pine needles that are already up there to make the mortar. AND hauling wheelbarrow loads of bricks from the base of the hill to the top of the hill. I am getting stronger. It helps when my hutmate and I sing medleys consisting of 80's jams, Disney songs, and showtunes while huffing and puffing up the hill, one pushing and one pulling the wheelbarrow. I also found an intercambio partner. Basically, I blurted out at the waitress at the store/restaurant where we buy our bulk food that if she wanted to, we could have Spanish/English conversations. It was weird, but it worked. We're visiting a farm on Friday run by Swiss immigrants where we will be eating meat raised right on the property. (Who ever thought I'd be excited to eat meat?!) Next week we don't have Tuesday off, but we do have an all-day fiesta where we will make pizza, probably empanadas, and then take 3 days off after that. I'm planning on heading to some Jesuit ruins nearby. Love to you all.

Update: Fermentation

Update on how our fermented mixes are going can be found here.

Wine & Aperitif

Mulberry Wine: -1 Kilo organic sweet fruit, 4-5 liters water, 1 kilo sugar Bring ingredients to a boil, let it cook together about 10 minutes. It’s okay if you have stems and seeds in your mix. Remove from heat and allow to cool to body temperature. Add about 1.5 tsp yeast. Put in a non-airtight, covered container and store in a cool, dark place. Stir every few days if desired. In 3 weeks-one month the wine will be ready. At this point, you can strain off the wine and drink it while it has a sweeter flavor or you can let it sit longer therefore losing some sweetness and gaining a stronger wine flavor. Hesteridina (Aperitif): -10 whole cloves, the rind of 3 oranges, 250 g of sugar, 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary (10 cm length), ½ liter grain alcohol (or cane alcohol, 96 proof), 2 liters water. Chop rind into small pieces and dry in the oven. Mix all ingredients in a large bottle or carboy. Shake every 2 days and store in a cool, dark place. Ready in 15 days.

Iguazú Falls

Well, we had our first end-of-month break. We all went to Iguazú Falls. Google it. Here are some memorable points: -Sprinting for and missing the 7:45 bus. Walking 45+ min to the next town and doing the SAME thing. Misplacing my beloved slouch hat and handkerchief in the process. Meeting really awesome street vendors and spending time talking with them and hearing about all the stuff they make and places they’ve traveled. A cheap, good hostel. Going to the falls, realizing my stomachache wasn’t going away, and in fact it was getting worse. Looking at the most amazing waterfalls ever for about 6 seconds and then trying to run to the nearest puking spot. Getting stuck behind two old ladies blocking the path who did not seem to grasp that I WAS GOING TO BARF ON THEM. No amount of “excuse me”’s helped. I finally got past them and spent the whole rest of the day on a bench and then creeping down the path with frequent rests on the side of the road. The next day we went back, took the boat tour into the falls and the river float. Amazing. Enough said. Drawing trade night. You basically start drawing and then pass it around the circle trading once you get sick of your drawing. Someone waking up having no idea where their wallet was or why they weren’t wearing pants. Not one, but TWO people finding out that they had burrowing insects in their feet that needed removal. Street surgery. Of course there was more to the trip, but these are some good highlights.

Technical Blog: Natural Building III

Recap: We have filled the retaining walls. We compacted them with walking. We compacted part of the porch completely with the stomping tool. The A-frame is up. Now, we want to section off the porch and kitchen areas so we can build small retaining walls that will provide the support for the walls that will divide inside from outside and kitchen from bathroom. I think the original retaining wall provides support for all the other walls we’ll construct. We measured 125 centimeter from the edge of the original retaining wall to mark where we’ll put the dividing wall for the porch/living area. We drove in a stake at one end of the room. Then we did the same thing at the other end of the room. After that, we used a plumb line hung from the A-frame to make sure the stakes were straight. So, we now have a stake at each end of the line that will eventually be the wall dividing the porch from the living room. We tied a piece of string between the stakes to give us a guide to build a straight wall. We dug a trench deep and wide enough to accommodate a line of bricks – one brick wide, two bricks high. Next, using the string as a guide, we put down a layer of cement (see recipe below), then a row of bricks, then a layer of cement, then a row of bricks. Note – don’t stack the bricks in columns. You gain more stability by shifting the row down a half a brick. (If this doesn’t make sense in writing, just look closely at the bricks in the pictures.) When you’re laying the bricks, you can be really professional about it. You can get out a level and make sure every brick is perfectly aligned. We didn’t do this. The steps we took were enough for K&M to feel satisfied that the structure was stable. Aesthetics aren’t so important with the bricks given that they will soon be covered with a thick layer of mud. Recipe: Cement: 4 parts sand + 1 part cement mix + around 1 part water (give or take) If you don’t have a fancy machine, combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing unit using a hoe. See ours below. Once mixed, make a well in the middle and add a little water. Once combined, repeat until the water and mixture are thoroughly combined. Have someone who knows about cement give you pointers on a good consistency. Wetter is better, but you do hit a point where it’s too watery. Tips: pour the dry cement from a close distance. Dumping it from high up causes it to waft everywhere. Yuck. Letting the first bit of water sit for a while in the well makes later mixing easier.

Technical Blog: Natural Building II.

Okay, so I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by the thought of blogging about the whole earthen building process. There’s a lot going on and I know I’m forgetting some of the important technical details. But the best way to retain knowledge is to teach it. So, I apologize if I’ve missed any steps, but at the bottom of the post I’ve listed some other resources for further learning (a drop in the ocean of options). Recap: We’re working on 2 projects, a drop-toilet repair and building a house from scratch. The house is what I’ll be covering here and, when our internship is done will include a small kitchen, bathroom, living/sleeping space, and porch on two sides of the house. They plan to expand later. What we’ve done so far. The house is on a slope, so it was constructed in 3 levels (not stories, but heights, like steps.) Each layer had a retaining wall built of multiple layers of baked bricks with cement between. There were also sturdy pillars in each corner and in the center, back wall of the house cemented into the ground. This phase was completed by the neighbor and his crew. Yes, we could have done it ourselves, but K & M wanted to lay a really good foundation. I believe it was the same crew that also put up the A-frame, with help from a few of the interns. Then came the super awesome work of hauling dirt uphill by wheelbarrow load and bucket. Learning lesson: take breaks! Use water, mandarin oranges, and mate tea liberally. Plan a pizza night for the same week to boost group morale. We filled in the retaining wall and stomped it down by walking on it. We also compacted the dirt further using the tool shown below. It might have a name, but you basically just lift it up and let the weight of it slam down. Once the dirt has sunk down, you add more dirt and continue the process until the slamming tool produces no major results. [Why? This means when you put your cement floor on later, you run less risk of it caving in or cracking badly.] Barefoot Architect – Johan Van Lengen, Home Work Handbuilt Shelter – Lloyd Kahn, Building Green – Clarke Snell and Tim Callahan, The Good House Book – Clarke Snell

Does anyone else get this stuck in their head?

Technical Blog - Medicinal Mud

Best taken from subsoil with a high clay content. Take care to use soil from non-polluted sources (i.e. hasn’t had chemicals/pesticides/etc. dumped on it, not near a road, etc.). Dig down at least 30 cm (about a foot), and dig up however much subsoil you feel that you’d like. Lay it out to dry on a tarp or something in a cool, shady spot protected from the elements and animals for at least 10 days. It must be completely dry. Put it through a fine sifter (like the one in your kitchen, or slightly bigger). Bottle and store in a way that moisture can’t leak in. You can bottle it with dried calendula flowers or dried plantain (again, the ground plant, not the banana cousin) for added benefits. Proponents of medicinal mud have claimed many and varied benefits from ulcers, arthritis, thyroid imbalance, phlegm, getting rid of parasites, ovarian cysts, bug bites, facial scrubs, chest cold relief, etc. Internally: Mix about 1 cup water with about 1 tablespoon of the dried mud (use less for kids). You can either mix it up and drink the whole sloshy mixture OR, you can mix it, let the bigger pieces settle, and then drink the cloudy water on the top. Take it on an empty stomach (1/2 hour before food or 2 hours after) i.e. before breakfast and lunch. Take once a day for a general cleanse. Or take 2 times daily, three times a week and then take 15 days off. Externally: Mix with a bit of water, apply in circles. Can apply externally for ovarian cysts, rub on for 40-50 circles. Use once a week as a facial scrub. Apply to chest during colds.

Gardening I

We started our new beds using a double-dig system. You can read more about it in THIS amazing, amazing book, and here’s a picture.

If that doesn’t make sense (it didn’t to me), think about those number games you had as a kid. There was one hole and all the other number squares were jumbled around and you had to rearrange them in the correct order. Well, double-dig is like taking out the whole bottom row of numbers (or soil in this case) and setting it aside. Then you move the second-to-bottom row into the empty space where the bottom row used to be, and so on until the top row is open. Then you take the soil (bottom row of numbers) you set aside earlier and put it into the top row. Why? This aerates the soil without disrupting it too much. If you jumble all the soil around, then you’ll get subsoil on the top and topsoil on the bottom. This means that the anaerobic organisms that don’t like air will be freaking out on top and the aerobic organisms that need air will be suffocating on the bottom. No bueno. After double digging, we covered it with a layer of old, partially disintegrated cardboard that was lying around from last year. We waited a few days. Then we added our Soil Mix (see below) and mulched it. We had some tall grass that had been cut from the orchard so we used that to spread a thin layer over the Soil Mix, and then we watered it. The amount of water you use would depend on your area. Soil Mix. You have to know what kind of soil you have…ask around. This recipe is for the very clay-ey soil that we have here. Why use a soil mix? Especially in clay soils, mixes provide structure so that the dirt doesn’t become so compact that the roots can’t grow, it holds in moisture, and provides lasting nutrients for the plants. We used part sawdust (it was from a mill that doesn’t treat its lumber with nasty chemicals), part topsoil from the large hole we dug to make a pond, part compost, part sand (a bit less of this), and effective microorganism liquid from the bananas we had let ferment. If I remember correctly, we didn’t mulch all of our existing, established beds. We put a layer of compost, a layer of mulch (on the ones that were not already packed with plants), and then watered it. Seriously check out that book if you have an interest in gardening. It teaches you from the get-go beginner level on up to the established, experienced gardener. It talks about when to plant, when to weed, when to move seedlings, etc. It talks about companion planting so you can plant a few plants in the same area that help each other out. A group that work well together is called a guild and the classic example is corn, beans, and squash. You can plant all three seeds in the same hole. We’re giving the corn a head start. The corn provides a stalk for the beans to grow up and the squash provides ground cover to keep nutrients in. And the beans provide the nitrogen that one of the other plants needs. So you end up planting WAY more plants in a smaller area than you were using before. And there’s just a ton of other good info, period. Happy gardening.

See you around, freaks!

That is an actual quote from the guy we went to visit today for our "field trip." Name - Eric Barney. Specialty - alternate energy. Did I understand what was going on - no. Was it still really cool - yes. So basically he showed us around his house with all the alternate energy systems that he's using and explained how they all worked. I had the technical knowledge to understand about 30% of the presentation, but my more technical compañeros were super excited and into it, so I took that as a very good sign. We saw several wind turbines, hydro electric systems, solar energy systems, cooking stoves, steam cleaners, etc. And then we bought organic yerba mate from him. Hopefully I will not drink it all before I come home and share with everyone. Check out the pictures on my facebook. I'd post them here, but I'm running out of time and don't feel like posting twice. :)

Whoops.

Vocab changes from from one Spanish-speaking to another. So apparently, I've been asking where I can fuck the bus.

I FINALLY HAVE WIFI!!!

What a technological miracle. I spent my whole day off last time traipsing around town looking for wifi that actually worked and did the same thing again this morning for an hour. Finally I found this bar with it. Hallelujah. It's a bit slow at the moment, but I am still grateful! New post up about fermentation. Possibly coming up...a post about gardening. I realized that part of the world is well versed in the basics of gardening, but it all feels like rocket science to me right now.

On a non-technical level, things are going even better. I was frustrated for a while, and all I wanted to do was sleep. But then I had some basic lightbulb moments "Lightbulb!" (10 points to the first person to name that quote) where I realized that eating dairy/gluten while the sun is not shining for several days (thus making everything cold and damp...like in the 30's fahrenheit cold and damp) AND being about to start my period was all a nasty combination. So I've been slipping off during the sunny moments to walk in the "river" and listen to some tunes, etc. And when the Red Plague lifts, hopefully I'll get some running going, too. Wexcellent.

Anyone who sends me mail wins a free postcard complete with a short message AND my world-famous signature. Just sayin'.

Technical Blog: Fermentation (effective microorganisms, kombacha, kefir, yogurt)

So you know those expensive probiotics in the store that cost anywhere from $15-40 per month? No more. Here is a way to reload your system with healthy microorganisms that have been killed off by being sick, taking antibiotics, or by the plethora of germ-killing solutions we use to clean our houses and bodies.
Note – when making anything involving live microorganisms it is important to NOT use metal. Metal utensils, bowls, etc. have a way of killing the organisms.
Yogurt: Boil raw/unpasteurized milk and let cool to [I forget the temperature, just google it. It’s warm enough to foster growth, but cool enough to avoid killing the bacteria] degrees. At this point you’ll need a starter culture. Plain yogurts that specifically say the bacteria they have will work. (Careful, I think Dannon was in a scam not too long ago where they claimed to have live cultures but it was just gelatin or something.) Basically legit yogurt that without flavorings, fruit, etc. Fill a jar about 1/5th full of the starter culture, add your cooled milk. Incubate (i.e. in a cooler, or wrapped up in a blanket, or in a plastic bag surrounded by your jacket, etc.) for about 6 hrs. Too much more than this and it will start to sour. Once this is done, remove from incubation and refrigerate. Be sure to save some of this yogurt to use as your next starter culture
Kefir: Most of you know this in its yogurt form. You can also make it in water, both clear and leftover from boiling vegetables, etc, and there are probably a lot of other ways to make it, too. We focused in milk kefir and water kefir.
Dairy: Take about 1 TBSP Kefir grains, a bit less than a gallon of pasteurized milk, and about a cup of sugar. Mix them all together and wait. When it starts to solidify and look more like yogurt than milk, it’s time to add more milk and a bit more sugar (a few TBSP). Pretty simple. The kefir keeps multiplying as long as you keep adding milk. You can then harvest what you want to eat. If you find that you’re having to add milk every day and it annoys you, you can remove some of the kefir grains which have multiplied by now and start another jar or give them to someone else to start. From start to harvest takes around 2-4 days. Putting the mixture in the fridge slows the process if you’d rather monitor it less.
Water: Same process, but use water instead of milk.
Kombucha Tea: This drink is still effective but gentler than the Effective Microorganism recipe (next), so if you find that the E.M. recipe is so effective at regulating your system that you are spending more time on the toilet than with friends, try Kombucha.
Kombucha is started easiest by getting a mother cell from someone else. Check Craigslist or google your area. Mother cells can multiply easily and people are apparently eager to welcome others into the Fermentation Brotherhood/Sisterhood and will gladly give you one.
Once you have your mother cell, brew some black or green tea (must be caffeinated) w/ 3+ spoonfuls of sugar and cool it. Add the mother cell. Cover the top with cheesecloth and secure with a rubber band. It should be stored in a cool, dark place, so it is helpful to wrap the jar in an old paper bag. Let it sit for 7ish days. You can then harvest some of the liquid. Experiment with how much is helpful to your body. Start with a shot glass sized serving. Take straight, mixed with water, juice, etc. As the liquid gets lower in the jar, add more water and sugar.
If you don’t have a mother cell, you can make your own. Our instructor made hers on accident, so you’ll have to experiment with this suggestion. The main components are fruit, sugar, darkness, and time. When she made the mother cell, it was super hot weather-wise. She mixed some non-citrus fruit, added sugar to the bowl, shoved it under a shelf and forgot about it for a several months. The mother cell formed. It looks like a thick, light brown membrane. You can pick the whole thing up and it shouldn’t tear.
Effective Microorganisms for health:
Start by purchasing non-citrus local fruit. The more local, the better. As in, grown in your backyard, town, or at least for the local farmer’s market. The reasoning—the organisms that grow locally are ones that are suited for fighting off diseases that grow locally. Again you just need ripe fruit and sugar. We used local bananas.
Don’t wash the fruit. Mature, but not rotten to the point of being moldy, fruit is best. Fill a 5 gallon bucket with the fruit. Add about ½ pound sugar on top. Put the lid on, but don’t seal it. You use a lid to keep insects out (instead of a cheesecloth) and keep it dark, but you also want air to be able to circulate. Shove the bucket in a dark corner and let it sit for around 3 weeks.
To harvest, strain off the juice that has formed, bottle it with a narrowed cork (again to let air in and out), and enjoy. Be sure to add more sugar to your existing bucket so that it will continue to create more juice. You can repeat this process until the fruit has entirely dissolved into liquid that you have harvested all along.
E.M. is best drunk right when you wake, about 15 minutes before eating. If the E.M. tastes very strong and makes your stomach burn a bit, like heartburn, drink plenty of water (which you should do anyway). Then next time dilute the E.M. in water when drinking.
Note: mold. During any of these processes, especially for newbies like me, you will see things that look “gross” and smell “gross”. However, as you go along, you’ll learn what is fermentation and what is unhealthy. Mold and large bugs are not okay. In the E.M. process if you should discover those things, use the mixture in your garden instead (more on that when I learn it). In Kombucha, pick a healthy cell without mold on it and start a new culture. In Kefir, find the grains, rinse all the dairy off, and start a new culture. I am not sure about yogurt. Buen provecho!

Update: It’s been a few weeks, so we were able to harvest the juice of the medicinal e.m. mixture. The pictures show us scooping it out, running it through a cheesecloth filter, and bottling it. We then put more sugar on the leftover fruit, covered it with cheesecloth, loosely replaced the lid, and then put it back in its dark corner to await another harvest. Our Kombucha tea isn’t doing so hot. Our mother cell was taken from a mixture that had mold. While we took a healthy-looking cell (one that didn’t have mold), I think it might take a few cycles to produce a tea that doesn’t have any mold on it. The yogurt continues to cycle and we make a new batch about every week with cultures from the previous batch. The kefir is going strong, too. Occasionally you have to replace the kefir grains with fresher ones to keep the fermentation going strong, but so far these grains are doing well.

Technical blog: composting & composting toilet

Mama Roja uses a humanure system. That means everything from tree clippings, grass, weeds, human waste, animal waste, meat, kitchen scraps, etc. can go in the bin. It’s on a year cooking system. So when you fill the bin, you cover it and let it sit for 6 months to a year. City humanure systems go as far as cooking it for 2 years.
To start the bin, you fill it 1/3 to ½ full of dry composting materials. We used dry leaves, broken small branches, torn paper bags from the cement mix, and old grass. The main components of compost are heat, oxygen, nitrogen, and SOMETHING.
Dig a hole in the middle and put brown and green waste. We used our humanure buckets and a bucket of kitchen scraps. As you fill it, it should never stink. If it does, there’s an imbalance somewhere. The compost should stay moist but not wet and out of direct sunlight. Fill it and then cover for a year
Stage 1. In this stage, mezophilic bacteria start to do their thing.
Stage 2. In this stage, thermophilic bacteria do their thing. This is the hottest stage and these are the same bacteria that live at the center of the earth. I don’t remember if the worms come in this stage or the next stage or in the stage before. But California redworms are the way to go, apparently. They stay closer to the surface rather than burrowing deep into the ground where you don’t really need them.
Stage 3. Cooling
Stage 4. Curing
Additional note: The composting toilet here is pretty simple. It’s a 5 gallon bucket housed in a square frame with a toilet seat on top. Every time you make a deposit you cover it with sawdust and close the lid. If it stinks, you’re not putting enough sawdust in. When it’s full, you dump it in the compost and add a layer of dry compost material (we collected bags of leaves). Voilá.

Technical post: House phase 1, picture soon

So here is Kimberly and Marcelo’s future house. The plan is to build this one and then convert their old one into a cabin for interns. It’s a win win. We build the house they’ll live in, and we get to learn how to build a house from the ground up.
You’ll see three sections. The lowest, smallest section is the porch. The upper are the house. The retaining wall is built out of baked brick purchased locally and mortar. They didn’t like the idea of building with cement, but it was the least of all evils in this climate. So far we have accidentally knocked out three bricks with our wheelbarrows full of dirt.
The “frame” consists of posts surrounded by large rocks and cement. The diagonal beams support the corner posts to keep them stable while the concrete dries.
Our first phase has been moving dirt by the barrow-full from the bottom of the hill up to the top. We then level it, and stomp it out. After observing our exhaustion, K&M decided that since mules and oxen weren’t a viable option in this instance, they would hire someone with a little CAT to bring the dirt from the bottom to the top. They didn’t want to use a machine, but they made the evaluation that our current method was too much and changed the plan. More in Phase 2.

“Technical blog:” Living in Community Part I

(some of my views may change as time goes by)
There are 8 interns. 3 of us live in the 2 cabins and everyone else lives in tents. Our ages range from around 20 to around 30. Here’s what’s working for us (this is my opinion). Respect. We come from pretty different backgrounds but it’s working so far. Willingness to work hard and willingness to do whatever work is at hand. Teachability. We learn from our materials from K&M, from each other, and from observation. Breaks. We have our most labor intensive session in the morning when it’s coolest, then lunch/siesta and another shorter session. Shared spaces and private spaces. If you want to be with people, you come to the dining area. If you don’t, you go for a walk in the millions of places to explore or you chill in your living area. Structure with flexibility within the structure. Yeah we have a schedule, but sometimes that doesn’t work out. Like with moving heavy wheelbarrows uphill. The plan was then changes. Sense of humor. We laugh throughout the whole day. Shared, rotating duties. We have group tasks and individual tasks, including bread maker, breakfast maker, lunch helpers, garden tender, cleaners, and dinner maker. We sign up for a different chore on a different day so we all learn each task and then teach the next person the task and move on to the next thing. There are a lot more things that are working, but those are just some basic observations from the beginning stages.

“Technical blog” – eating ideas

Every breakfast we eat is cereal (made of oats, puffed rice, puffed wheat, corn flakes, raisins, coconut, and maybe some other ingredients that escape me, like flax), homemade whole grain bread (sometimes with butter, jam, peanut butter depending), homemade yogurt, bananas, and we usually all drink tea.
Lunch is the big meal of the day. We often have something more flavorful accompanied by a green salad and rice, pasta, or today we did boiled mandioca (yucca…it’s similar to a potato but a but chewier and sweeter). Every meal is vegetarian and includes varieties of vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, beets, celery, swiss chard, leeks, onions, carrots, etc, etc. Ingredients I’m not used to are stinging nettle, plantain, etc. Since we only light the wood stove once a day, we cook the vegetables for our dinner so that all we do is reheat it. We usually have bread with this meal, too.
Dinner is soup. We reheat the giant pot of soup and have it with bread and usually butter.
So far we haven’t eaten snacks, except for leftover salad from lunch and our never-ending supply of mandarins. No one in this group is overweight at all…I’m the plumpest one. But, at least for me, I can feel my digestive system going a little crazy as it goes through withdrawals from sugar, easy carbs, and other fats. I am also used to more protein. I think we’ll get that more adjusted as the internship progresses, however.

Technical blog: balms and liniments, phase 1

We started phase one of balms. We used plantain which has antiseptic properties and is good for bug bites (1,000 and counting on my right shoulder blade alone). The plantain was harvested during a waxing moon. When the moon is waxing, it is pulling the nutrients up into the leaves (along the same lines as the tide following the moon, too). We didn’t harvest any plants that had started to flower since this means that the plant is devoting its resources to flowering and less in the leaves.
We cleaned it by wiping off excess dirt. We didn’t wash it because that removes surface organisms that are helpful and opens the door for mold even wider. Then we chopped it into little pieces, roots and all, crammed it into a bottle, and covered it with oil (we used sunflower, but you can use other pure vegetable oils). We’re letting it sit for 7-14 days. Probably closer to 7 since we all have a million bites.
Liniments are even easier. Same process, but we only used the leaves. We crammed a jar full and then covered it with rubbing alcohol. We shook it for 2 minutes. After that, you shake it for a minute a few times a day for 7-14 days and it’s ready to go.

And here we are.

So here we are. It’s been a whirlwind, to say the least. After Houston, I safely made it to Buenos Aires and stumbled out to the cross-city bus I’d need to get to the bus that would take me out to Oberá. I definitely almost knocked a trash can over onto an old man who was saved by the person pushing his wheelchair. When I was in a remis from the last bus stop to the next big bus stop, I met some people who were there for the immigrant festival, also in Oberá…small world. I bought my ticket and then proceeded to wait for 6 hours for my bus and met Meghan and Skyler along the way. I then promptly missed my bus because the ticket didn’t match the sign.
One of the station employees was also licensed through the company to drive a remis (taxi-ish) and rushed me and all my luggage out to his car. There was a moment where I considered that he could shove me in the trunk, especially when he told me we’d have to catch the bus at the next station 45 minutes away. I went with my gut instinct which said I’d be safe and hopped in the car. The driver used the shoulder, drove in two lanes simultaneously, and was not aware he owned a turn signal, but we got there just in time, I paid him all my money and sprinted for the bus. It was an overnight bus and I could have slept quite soundly except I realized that the bus driver wasn’t announcing the stops and I was paranoid I’d miss it. Luckily this nice older couple helped me and it turns out that Neil and Tim were on the bus the whole time anyway. We got off, met up with most of the rest of the interns from the other bus, bussed into town and met up with Marcelo. We bought boots, withdrew cash, and used the internet which is in a gas station café. We then crammed 9 people into the car and headed out to the farm.
After lunch, we set about putting our things together in our tents and cabins. I love our group. We get along respectfully, humorously, and everyone has a huge appetite for learning. Well, we actually have huge appetites in general. I´m living in the Cosmic Cabin and my roommate is a Canadian named Renee.
My cabin:
The garden:

Some generalities: we have breakfast at 7:30, start work at 8:30, lunch at 12, siesta till 3, work until 5ish, dinner at 7. We have Tuesdays and Fridays off. Sunday evenings we watch documentaries, and Saturday evenings we have our meetings. We talk about things we appreciate, things we’re frustrated about, anything we want to share, show gratitude, bring up for discussion, etc. etc. etc.
I thought about reporting on my bicep size, but as of yet, there are no changes noted.
Overall, I just love it. I get cold (30 degrees the first night), hot (85+ today), tired, and reclusive, but those are a very small slice in a pie I am very grateful to have. I’m learning lots from our sessions, from the people around me, and from myself. For the first time, I’ve allowed myself an adjustment period to work through the exhaustion, culture shock, and living in a community.
And damn it feels good.

So far...

I would like to use the 45 minutes of free internet that the Houston Airport has provided me with to let you all know that I have made it through most of U.S. part of the voyage. I still have 4 hours of layover yet, which, of course I am looking forward to, and then I'll bebop on down to classic Buenos Aires. Claaaasic Buenos Aires.

Chapter the First – In Which We Find Our Protagonist Arrived at the Airport Two Hours Early.
Because mathematics, like walking, is also an apparently difficult subject.

1) Arriving early gave me some quality time to write the track names for the music I had burned onto iTunes. Really, what's better than editing titles at 4:30 in the morning? Sleeping, mainly, comes to mind, but who needs sleep?
2) They couldn't check me past Denver, so I visited with the rep in Denver who bore a striking resemblance to that guy in the Apple Dumpling Gang...Don Knotts, I think? Except not funny. Another rather uneventful flight.
3) I arrived in Houston. The United lady in Boise said I'd have to get my bags here because they couldn't check them to B.A. So I got a little panicked when it didn't come down the claim. Another bonding moment with Continental staff and the woman I only know as "M." (because why put your whole first name on your name tag?) told me that, via the interwebs, she was able to determine that my bags had been checked to B.A. after all. She printed me off a slip that said that and it apparently also works as a "you still have to go through security haha" pass. There was a little holdup due to some "suspicious activity" on my chin, but after doing a visual check, they were able to determine that my chin was probably not a dangerous weapon.

Items of note. I was a little nostalgic about traveling alone, as I usually have my misfortunes/adventures like these with Astin. But then I realized I'm not alone. I have Nilbert. Nilbert is the name of the growing/changing enormous swollen mass on the back of my leg that I got from an experience in my last post. I named it Nilbert because Nilbert is a rather awkward, unfortunate name, and Nilbert's existence is a rather awkward, unfortunate thing. So, we travel together as he routinely reminds me of his presence.
Also. Security is pretty interested in my fake tattoo/band-aid. I also appreciate the people who are really confused about it, but are trying to be polite and not stare. I still catch them. Off to find some dinner. Hopefully I will post an "I'm alive" post from B.A., but we'll see!

Title: Things You Should Not Do to Your Shin Two Days Before Leaving for Another Continent [Some Graphic Images]

Alternate title considered: Why the f*** is this a part of our driveway?!?!


Also considered: Well, if you hadn't waited to take the trash out till 11:30 pm, you wouldn't be in this predicament, now would you?

So, Anne heard voices outside and was kind enough to watch me out to the garage as I took out the trash. Well, I rammed the trash can right into whatever the hell that metal bar is, so I should have known where it was when I turned back around to get the recycling. As many of you know, however, it is actually pretty dark at 1130pm when you don't have a garage light. That is how I rammed my bare shin at full force into The Post of Damnation. Naturally, this caused within me great pain and consternation which my body decided to take care of by crumpling to the ground, where I believe the plan was to lie, whimpering. Again, due to the whole it's-dark-at-1130pm thing, on my way to the crumpling/whimpering stage, I somehow lost track of The Post of Damnation and landed on it with the back of my thigh before successfully achieving the crumpling/whimpering goal which, at this point, had reached a new urgency. I also believe I was surrounded by the recycling I had strewn about my in my fall, but the crumpling/whimpering had become my only concern in life. Anne began tiptoeing around, picking up the recycling, while I collected what was left of my life, my shin, and later the rest of the millions of paper slips on the sidewalk. I limped inside to survey the damage and found this. Bitches.




I proceeded to administer first aid to myself, and, in the process, discovered that the only large band-aids I had were the fake tattoo ones Grace gave me as a gag gift. And the large ones say "MOM" inside a heart. Super classy.

In closing, I would like to say "Rest in Peace" to my dreams of riding more comfortably on the plane ride (nothing like a goose egg on the back of your thigh for airline comfort), looking cute in my leggings (nothing like confusing bystanders as to whether I am waiting to board or looking for triage), or to meeting all the other interns without a large "MOM" bandage covering my shin (this was not a dream I was aware of having, yet, here I am at such a young age finding it snatched from my grasp). Yet, I remain hopeful for a good trip, having learned to watch out for The Posts of Damnation that may lie in wait.

BOOM!

And that is how you pack 3.5 months worth of stuff (for 2 seasons) into a pack, a carry-on shoulder bag, and a purse. (And you should know that that includes 5 bottles of biodegradable bugspray, ALL the shampoo, deodorant, lotion, sunscreen, blah blah blah, that I will need for the ENTIRE time, whereas normally I would just buy it there. PLUS a yoga mat (barf), hiking books, and an entire set of clothes devoted to working in a muddy garden. And maybe a stuffed animal.)

I have a few last-minute things to add that I really hope will fit, but other than that, I'm pretty much ready. I dyed my first article of clothing (unless you count tie-dye with a squirt gun in the 5th grade, woot to Heidi and Amy). I bought this lovely Columbia fleece from Goodwill for 3.99 but it was cream-colored and we all know my disastrous eating habits despite best efforts. So I dyed it. The intention was eggplant. The result was "royal purple" I believe my mom calls it. One of my less-favorite colors, but better than cream.

Now to cover some recent events. This past weekend I went with Anne, Steve, and Kyla to SLC to attempt to see Adele in concert. This time with great success. But before we did that, we all went to Lagoon. Twice. We rode all the scariest roller coasters and did all the water rides, too. Highlights: the drop-slide in the water park. I just felt really confused as to what was going on, but Anne says this is because I came out sideways, apparently. Listening to what came out of Anne's mouth when we did the "skycoaster" as I usually get punched for saying that. Steve trying to show off on a ride that shoots you up and then slams you down a pillar. It said don't look down, but he did it anyway and hurt his neck so that he had to swivel his entire self when turning to look at something. That was just unfortunate, not a highlight. The funny part came on the next ride. Similar to the Matterhorn at Disneyland, I believe. Where you and another person have to sit in the same car practically in each other's laps. Well, it's a rather violent ride and as you're whizzing around the corner, you're wondering why on earth there's no padding on the metal bars stabbing into your knees. And then coming around one particular corner, my neck was bent sideways, but then I was forced back onto Anne, and Anne popped my neck with her face as she shoved it sideways even more. This was all happening as I could hear Steve howling in pain behind us as his neck already hurt and then Kyla slammed his sunglasses onto his face with the back of her head coming around the same corner. We didn't actually ride that one ever again.

Then Anne and I went to Adele and I could gush for about a thousand million years about how amazing the concert was and how wonderful she was, but I won't. I will say that if you ever have a chance to see her live, TAKE IT.

All in all, an extremely lovely weekend.

Optimism flagging, but holding steady

Maybe?

A brief writing--

--in which the author mentions the following:

-She is now vaccinated for Typhoid, Yellow Fever, and HPV.
-Appreciates the nurse with the UK accent at the local clinic who said, "Awesome! You're going to love it there!" in response to my travel plans as opposed to the travel clinic PA who said fearfully, "Well. *breath* my kids have done some pretty unusual stuff *looks to the side* but nothing like this. Good luck." Wtf?
-Still thinks that diva cups are excellent.
-Washed the dishes today.
-Went rafting yesterday with her "nieces" and their parents, all of whom are super-smart. She set up ground rules for 20 questions that included, "Nothing mythical, super weird/unique, or something that you learned about at science camp" and still this was a response to a question, "Well, it's an idea that comes from a noun, and, yes, parts of it are cold." Love them. Love rafting.
-Made a new resolution to stop being afraid of swimming and learn how to swim better.
-Had a very successful headband-themed birthday party and appreciated her friends' evaluations of headbands that were "not weird enough."
-Is very excited to go see Adele and have wild fun at Lagoon this weekend.
-Is slowly but surely getting things in order for her trip. And still can't believe she's crazy enough to do it.
-Is becoming more tech-savvy and can post videos and recently learned about the lovely world of Pinterest.
-Is choosing to share the following silly song with you because it's on "Play Often" on iTunes.

Allergies of an unusual sort

So "Tristan" was being difficult during kitchen duty and was asked to leave the area, so I let him know we'd be outside on a work crew. Then this happened.

"Tristan": Fine. But I'm NOT going to the sunflowers. [looks away] I had a bad experience with the sunflowers.
Me: Um, okay. Soo...[proceed to tell him what had just popped into my mind...an image of a possessed sunflower actively trying to strangulate him.]
Tristan: [Look of "oh-my-god-and-I-thought-I-was-a-weird-kid"] Uh, no.
Me: So what happened then?
Tristan: Well, Mr. "Bill" made me go out there even though I hate the sunflowers and so I threw a rock at his head because I am deathly afraid of bees and they ALL live in the sunflowers.
Me: Oh. Okay. So you're allergic to bees then?
Tristan: [pauses] Mentally? Yes.

New Calculations

The following conversation happened between a student who wanted to go to another building at work, was told no, and then went anyway. We'll call him "Winston"

Me: Winston, what's going on?
Winston: Well, I wanted to come down here but you guys wouldn't let me. It's what I wanted to do all along if you staff would just use your logic. *rolls eyes*
Me: Right, but do you know why I wanted you to stay up there?
Winston: No.
Me: Because with you down here, that leaves this staff with 8 boys and the other with 2. That's not a good ratio.
Winston: So? If you guys would just send the other kids away so I could be down here, none of this would've happened.
Me: [gently] Yes, but Winston, the world does not revolve around you.
Winston: Yes. It does. I've done the math.

Someday, someone, somewhere

Not sure why I feel the desire to post so many songs lately, but I do! Loving the Civil Wars' version of a Cohen classic.

Dance Me to the End of Love:

Changes and gifts, simple and otherwise

As much as I talk about being a free spirit and "bebopping around", really, I much prefer change that I've chosen. So, for example, when I go to my co-workers house to help her pack up 8 years of time here, that won't be my favorite. It's a good reminder about the transient gift of relationships, about not taking for granted the short time you might have with someone and other cliché things of that nature.

I'd like to salute her--one of the main reasons I still work where I do. When I first started as one of 4 females in an almost-entirely male dominated workplace,the boys were shattering my illusions of control, respect, and how I saw myself and she grabbed me by the elbow and said, "Don't you EVER back down, or you'll be backing down the rest of your time here." So I wiped the tears off, tipped my chin up and showed those boys what I was made of, both the ones I worked with and for. She reminded me to work hard, be firm, be fair, and do it with a motive to help these boys succeed and make it in a world that could care less what their reasons for acting out are. I've since learned the difference between backing off and backing down and how to respect myself and the boys I'm helping. Another friend once reflected gratefully on her decision to be friends with people outside her age group. And I'm glad I did the same with my co-worker because I don't think I could've made it without her.

Other changes are not quite so hard to swallow. The new computer arrived, and I said a bittersweet goodbye to El Dinosaurio who started cooperatively at first, but parted bitterly, refusing to receive power and let me transfer the last of my music. I filled out my vaccination form, ordered more biodegradable cosmetics, discovered the glory of Savers when I was shopping for gardening clothes, and had a nice conversation with a Verizon rep on how to stop service on my cell while I'm out of the country. (If you've never chatted with them, they're pretty legit and you actually talk to normal people who are fairly quirky.)

Aaron Copeland, anyone?

6 Tips on Mowing the Lawn

I have decided to share some wisdom on lawnmowing that I have learned in my time.

1) Unless you spend about a million dollars, they're all cursed. And the million dollar ones are probably all cursed, too, I just don't have experiences with mowers of that price range.

2) Don't lie to yourself. You will be thwarted. You will be pwnd before the lawn gets mwnd. <--definitely invented that one.

3) While you are being pwnd, you may find a temporary high in exhibiting displays of rage--kicking the lawnmower, using words that require all symbols to type and that would cause your mother to throw you out of a moving vehicle if you said them in the car, etc. But it's really freaking the neighbors out, and besides, you need all that energy you're devoting to telling your lawn mower exactly where it can go and what painful surgeries you're going to perform on it. Why?

4) Because you need to spend precious moments of your summer not drinking tea, not swimming, not setting off fireworks, but pulling that goddamn starter cord. And that noise? It's not the motor trying to start. It's the mower laughing at your naive optimism in thinking it will fire up in fewer than 16 yanks. It is also making bets, telepathically, with other neighborhood lawnmowers on how long it takes before you are reduced to tears, begging the mower to just, please, just start, lavishing praise on all its lawnmowing glory, attempting to be one with the mower.

5) And stop talking to the mower. A few expletives here and there are understandable. But when you speak directly to your mower, saying, "You know, it is quite possible that I am beginning to hate you even more than the last mower," you will look up to find your neighbor no longer pretending to water his lawn, but staring at you with his mouth open because you are talking to a very inanimate object. It doesn't matter that the only reason you are talking to it is because it is currently inanimate.

6) There is only one option. You must set your jaw, and prepare to spend 2-3 times as long as you think will be necessary, and start and restart that infernal machine as many times as it takes to get the lawn mowed. Only consistent persistence will prevail.

Good luck.

Breathing Now

What a weekend. After working a lot of shifts and sleeping little, I went full force into a Sisterhood Wedding. Coordinating a wedding FOR a sister WITH the sisters is not something to be trifled with. I've never coordinated a wedding before, and it's not that it involved any more work than anybody else had to do, but I knew if something went wrong that if anyone's name was associated with it, it would be mine. Or worse, Ashlee's. But, it all went off beautifully without a hitch and we ended up having a lot of fun, Ashlee was, of course, gorgeous, and we danced like nobody's business when it was all over. Plus, I got to use walkie talkies and that makes most anything worth it.

Add a lot of gatherings, preparations, and one awesome birthday party for Sydney, and I am tired out. Seeing old friends is good for the heart and it was all worth it... I especially enjoyed Modified Kickball. It begins the same as normal kickball. However, as you're running between first and second, one of your teammates at home plate can throw a football to you and if you catch it...bonus points! Additionally, at third base, there is a set of ladderballs. As you are coasting through home plate, without stopping, you have one opportunity to throw the ladderball. If you are successful in landing it...bonus points! Go here to find out what ladderball is if you're unsure.

The 8th Avenue Bibliophages (aka Alli and myself) had their first official meeting tonight complete with secret gavel smash-in. I haven't read anything above Slightly Challenging since college, I'm pretty sure, so I'm tackling Dostoyevsky and she's tackling James Joyce. We are pretty impressed with our ability to instantly create clubs with ease while simultaneously maintaining a high nerdiness level. Expect quotations.

Plans for Argentina continue. This mostly consists of me complaining about how little I have managed to save up. But I took some Spanish classes online via Skype and learned a lot, so I'm feeling more comfortable about that.

I've also realized that my blog has become pretty boring. I'm not really sure why, but I'll be looking into that and seeing what I can do to make some changes. In the meantime, keep it real on the streets. Also, here's a really great shot of how I apparently look playing frisbee.

Something to think about

One of my current favorite songs. This video is SUPER cheesy, but there isn't an official video for this one. Check out these guys, they're pretty fantastic and the lyrics are worth thinking about, too.



Most accurate lyrics found here.

www (not just for the world wide web anymore)

WhirlWind Weekend

So. We moved. Alli, Anne, and I all live a smaller house in downtown. We can walk/bike to the grocery store and coffee shops/restaurants, etc. I did that anyway, but now I don't have to nearly kill myself using 16-lane stops (that one goes out to you, Jenny, "So what".) It's a cute, old house with tons of nooks, crannies, built-in storage, light switches that go to nothing or to something in another room, etc. We started things off right by me locking us out of the garage and Steve having to bust in.

Friday and Saturday where a wild frenzy of packing, cursing, and cleaning. Just a heads up, moving large furniture with sharp corners down the stairs by yourself...not a good idea. Sunday, I got up, loaded the car and drove solo down to Salt Lake to see my beloved ADELE in concert. There are only 2 artists on the planet I would drive 5 hours to another state to see, and she's one of them. You can imagine my devastation when she had to cancel her show due to illness. I have great faith, however, that she will reschedule and I will be seeing her on the 25th. So, I spent the night driving around, looking at cool old buildings, visiting Whole Foods, and watching Animal Planet in the cool hotel I booked on priceline. Check it out. www.peeryhotel.com And then I drove back in time for work today. Yeehaw. The moment I most appreciated tonight was when a boy got angry and decided to argue with me/curse me out while SIMULTANEOUSLY trying to eat snack. The result was a goldfish cracker stuck to his lip and flapping around with every "hell no."

I really should sleep. Keep it real out there, readers.