Year 2!

Well, classes start tomorrow for my second (and final) year of grad school. I've been back in Tucson just over a week. In that time,  I've moved into a new apartment, (email me if you'd like the address!)  I've gone to the orientation for the new cohort of Peace Corps Fellows and talked to them about doing class talks in area schools as part of our Fellowship commitment. This year, I'm in charge of organizing the class talks, I'm an officer in the Peace Corps Club on campus.  I have seen lots of friends, which is of course, the best part about coming back to Arizona. Here is my friend Ben and I, taking our picture on our first day of 19th grade! : ) I think I'm ready for this year!

One Down, One to Go!

Wow, my first year of grad school just finished! I turned in my last paper, went to my last class, and said goodbye to friends for the summer. It has really been an adventure this year! Here are some memories from the year:

 My parents came to visit over President's Day weekend, and we saw lots of sights and ate AMAZING crepes.

I went to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum TWICE, and learned to identify a lot of the crazy plants that grow here.

 I interned at Manzo elementary, doing all kinds of projects - this one is doing a big mural with some of the kids and a professional artist.

 I made new friends! And gave them prizes!

 Went on some cool outdoor adventures, like this hike at Tanque Verde falls.

 I bought a car!! I love my car! I also ate a LOT of Froyo! I love froyo!

 Got a free trip to Biosphere2 for me and my friends! We had a fun time.

 I learned a lot in my classes.

 Seriously, though, I did learn a lot.

I did lots of Peace Corps stuff, like doing a table about the Philippines at the Peace Corps Fair.

One year down, one to go!!

Scooter Adventures

Perhaps you recall, or maybe you never knew, that early last summer I bought a little Honda scooter when my Honda Civic that I had owned for 12 years passed away. (I can say a car passed away if I want to.) Here is a picture of me on the day I bought that scooter. 

Then I moved to Tucson, and brought the scoot with me. It was very handy to have. I live far enough from campus that I don't want to bike there. I also have an internship, and like to buy groceries and things like that. So having a scooter was the next best thing to having a car. 

One day, not long after returning from Christmas break, I got hit by a car! It's true! I was on my scooter, stopped at a red light. The light turned green, and I zoomed off. Well, someone ran a red light right into me! Fortunately, the car next to me, waiting to turn left, saw them coming, honked, and gave me enough warning to slam on my brakes. The car nicked the front of my scooter and drove off. My scooter fell over, though I was still standing up, and thankfully, completely okay. 

The insurance company has totaled the scooter, but since it is still driveable, I kept it and took a salvage title on it. But I was pretty freaked out and fed up with driving this tiny thing that nobody can see me on. So my dad helped me buy a car in February. I bought a 2005 Honda CR-V. (Yes, Honda's got my loyalty.) Here is a picture of me with my new car at the Frozen Yogurt place in Tucson owned by the mom of the guy who I bought the car from. (The reason this is picture-worthy is that the guy actually is from Tucson, but now lives in Denver. We bought the car from him in Denver, and I drove it right back to its home in Tucson. Small world, eh?)

So now I have a car, and it is wonderful. I have a lot more freedom. I can eat a lot more frozen yogurt. So I almost never ride my scooter anymore, because I don't really need to. It mostly sits chained up in the carport space that a lady who worked in the apartment complex office when I moved in said I could use. I share the space with another guy's scooter.

It is, however, very convenient to have a scooter when I need to go to campus during a big high-traffic event. Parking that scooter is a breeeeeeze. Way easier (and cheaper - free) than parking a car. Just such an event took place this past Friday. I was meeting one of the teachers and some of the students from my internship at campus, so we could work a booth promoting our school. It was a big carnival and UA expo, and I thought it would make sense to ride the scooter. 

When I got down to where my scooter is parked, there was a huge orange sticker stuck to the handlebars that said something like, "YOU ARE PARKED ILLEGALLY". Well shoot, I thought, I didn't know. That lady who told me I could park here doesn't work here anymore, and I almost never use the scooter, and nobody would have known how to tell me to move it. I realized I would have to find another place to park when I came back, and I geared up, and backed out. As I was checking down the parking lot for cars, a tow truck was driving towards me. He stopped a few spaces away, and I backed out, and he looked at his clipboard and watched me pull away, and I thought, "woah! That tow truck is coming to bolt-cut my chain and tow away my scooter!! What incredibly fortuitous timing!" 

I don't know for a fact that that's what was happening. But I'm the only one who was parked illegally there, and nobody looked like they were waiting for a dead car to be towed. So I zoomed off before he could ask my name or where I lived or anything. Close call!

Publicity at my internship school, Manzo Elementary

Here's an Arizona Public Media video piece (7min) about the school I work at. The Kinder, 3rd, and 5th graders they interview are the kids I'm with every day. And see if you can spot my cameos! 

The video is here, I can't seem to be able to embed it. 

And here's me working with some of the 5th graders in farm club, cause I don't want to give you a blog post with no pictures!

KinderGarden!

At my elementary school internship, I've spent some time working with 3 kindergarteners on literacy in the garden. We read 'The Carrot Seed', planted carrots and watched them grow, watered them, and kept journals. So here are some pictures of adorable kindergarteners doing stuff.

I also am sharing a shot of another kindergartener that just wanted me to take her picture, and I accidentally had some vintaging filter on, but it is the PERFECT look for her in this shot. I just love this picture and think it's hilarious, so it's going in too.

Craft Day for Kids!

The Peace Corps Fellows group does a number of service projects throughout the year - the food bank post from earlier in the year was my first one. This Saturday, we did another, which was right up my alley, a craft day for refugee kids!

It was held in an apartment complex where only refugee families live. I've been there a few times, and I knew lots of the kids, because they are clients of the IRC, where I am an intern. So that was fun.  There were lots of crafts; painting, clay, yarn crafts, paper crafts, and glitter, glitter, GLITTER.

Lots of PC Fellows showed up, so there were lots of helping hands. If we can judge by the mess they made, I would say the kids had fun. They made lots of cute crafts to take home.It was also a crazy, exhausting, morning.

Cat Lady!

Yes! I finally have a cat! Since I could write, I've been putting on my Christmas list, "CAT" and never got one. My dad always said I could have a cat when I have my own place. Since 'having my own place' has been a difficult condition for me to meet for the last few decades, I have not gotten a cat. But the stars aligned, and I am now cat-sitting for the next two years!

My great friends the Youngs are living in China for two years, and couldn't bring their cat, Luna Lovegood. Meanwhile, I have my own place for the next two years! Works out perfectly! So yesterday, Brian Young's sister and dad flew the cat down from Seattle and brought her to my apartment. Since then, she's been exploring like crazy, and finding her favorite spots. She's very well-behaved, and very quiet. Last night I was watching a movie, and kept forgetting there was a cat in the apartment, and she would jump on the couch, or just walk across the room, and startle the heck out of me. 

By the way, she is a polydactl cat, like Hemingway had!

A bit of Tucson culture

Today is All Soul's Day, and there is a big Tucson community event that takes place every year, the All Soul's Day Procession. I don't have pictures. I took some, but they are all just blurry night shots of movement. Anyone can walk in the procession, and it's meant to be a remembrance for those who have passed away. Lots of people walk in it, most of them are wearing Dia de los Muertos face paint. Like this for example, which I just found on the internet:
Some people are walking with groups. The groups I actually met people walking with were some teachers from the school I work with, a Japanese drumming group, and the local AIDS awareness organization. Some high school bands were there, as well as other music groups. Some groups carried pictures of loved ones who have died, some carried other types of displays, like paper mache skulls, or bikes adorned with lights, or signs, just all kinds of things.

The teacher I work with at the elementary school invited me to walk with his group, but I just wanted to watch this year, so I went with another Peace Corps fellow and a guy I work with at my other internship and we watched from a really good spot, not too crowded, we could see everything. The teachers were dressed up as the 'Santa Cruz River' which is, sadly, dead. It's now a big sandy ditch that runs around town. They were also dressed as animals that live around the river.

It's a really neat event, and anyone can participate; old folks, babies, any religion, any race. Some parts were somber, but mostly it was pretty fun.

Solar Brownies

One of the internships I'm doing this semester is working at Escuela Manzo, which has this crazy amazing garden and ecology program. I help out a bit with that, but mostly I'm trying to bring gardening lessons into the classroom curriculum. Yesterday I helped a couple 3rd graders bake brownies in the solar oven. It was really fun, the kids had a great time. Lots of teachable moments too, from reading the directions on the box, to talking about fractions (1/4 cup oil!) and temperature.

Food Bank

 A couple Saturdays ago, the Peace Corps fellows did a morning volunteering at a local food bank. This food bank is pretty amazing. One of the things they told us is that a lot of their produce is donated from trucks that are smuggling drugs into the U.S. by hiding it in produce - when the drugs get confiscated, the produce comes to them. It's the largest food bank in Arizona, and it was HUGE. They do all kinds of stuff, like teaching gardening, and handing out snacks to kids to have over the weekends (when they probably won't get meals), and they're hosting a conference this week about closing the Hunger Gap. Here's a link to their site if you're interested.

So for our service project, we helped pack emergency boxes. They are SUPER organized there, and we each got a station, and boxes came down the line, and we put in the same food item for each box. In 4 hours, we packed 2570 boxes of food, which equals 42,000 pounds of food. For the first half, I was at the peanut butter station (weird picture above) with Andrea, another 1st-year fellow. Erin, another girl I'm getting to know here was next to us doing beans. We would toss in two jars of peanut butter in each box. The second half, I switched to Mac n' Cheese, and we would toss in 3 boxes of that. If you ever get those options, I suggest you go with Peanut Butter, the boxes of Mac leave gross blue dust on your hands.

Bus Riding

An international crew of bus riders!

One thing I'm doing in Tucson is interning at International Rescue Committee, which helps refugees settle in the United States. My main task is to teach them how to ride the bus. Here is today's bus riding group (except Mohammad, who is taking the picture.) You'll notice refugees don't tend to smile for pictures, but they are all having a great time. What could be more fun than waiting for a bus in 97 degree heat with a bunch of people you can hardly communicate with?  Seriously, they're loving this.

On the left there is mother (Monica) and son (Ata) from Afghanistan. The woman on the bench (Isabel) and the man on the right are from Cuba, and he (Juan) is just great. He asks all the other folks where they're from, if they think it's hot here, where they live, all kind of things, but mostly in Spanish, so the conversations are very short. I also love his hat, sunglasses, and bag, he looks just like a happy fatherly/touristy guy visiting his daughter at college or something. It's been great using my Spanish again with those folks to explain how the bus works. The rest of the guys on the bench are all Sudanese, two are named Mohammad (not including the Mohammad taking the picture) and the other one is Ahmed.

We get a new group every two weeks, so these guys will graduate and be expert bus riders in no time, and I'll be showing a whole new group how to take the bus! 

My address in Tucson

Alright, I finished my first week of classes! Yep, my weekend starts Tuesday night. Hahaha! Except that I have TONS of reading to do, an internship, on-campus events, and am looking for a small part-time job. So it's not QUITE a weekend.

Some of you were asking for my address, so you can send me lovely cards and other snail mail. Here it is:

4900 E. 5th Street #2420
Tucson, AZ 85711

Have a great weekend! 

Meeting the Neighbors

Here's how I met my neighbors.  My parents and my brother Brian were helping me move my stuff into my apartment Saturday. I went to the dumpster to throw some stuff away, and when I came back, mom was standing on the sidewalk, chatting with a guy. She introduces him as my neighbor across the landing, Adrian. Great! My mom is super good at meeting people for me. 

Sunday, Brian and I were in the apartment building an apartment's worth of Ikea furniture, when there is a loud knocking on my door. I open it to find a man in his mid-50's standing at the top of my steps.

"I live downstairs and this pounding going on up here has got to stop!" he grumbled at me. Yikes! I said, "you live downstairs? My name is Laura." I make him shake hands, and he says, "Frank." I say, "Frank, I just moved in, and my brother and I are building a table. Sorry it's loud. We'll be done soon." He looks in, sees Brian building a table, and grumbles, "well, alright." and goes back downstairs. Whew! Already making the neighbors angry! So Brian and I try to be quieter, and we finish the table. About 10 minutes after we finish, another pounding on the door. It's Frank! "You folks don't worry about us, you just do what you gotta do, it's okay," he says. I'm pleased he's not angry anymore. I say, "thanks Frank, we're already done!" and he says, "you just go ahead, do what you gotta do." And turns to go back downstairs.  Okay. 20 minutes later, pounding on the door. It's Frank again. "Listen, if you ever need anything, I'm just right downstairs. If you need help carrying something heavy upstairs, or anything, you just come let me know." Frank! What a change of heart. Brian and I speculate that Frank's wife got mad at him for being grumpy with me and made him come back up. Twice. 

Later that afternoon, another knocking on the door. It's not Frank this time, it's Adrian. "Was Frank bothering you?" he asks. "He is so nosy! He's always in everybody's business. He's always looking out the curtains. If my car ever gets stolen, I'm gonna ask Frank who it was, cause I  know he's watching!" I assure Adrian that Frank and I are okay. 

So it seems that even though Frank and Adrian might not see eye-to-eye, they're both looking out for me. (and both nosy, I'd say.)

A Little Tetris!

We picked up the Uhaul from a Russian guy on Wednesday. He had a good Russian accent, was chatting with his friend in Russian, he was a legit Russian guy. When he showed me the inside of the trailer, I said, "oh my gosh, I'm never going to be able to fit all my stuff in here!" and he said, "ah, you're going to have to do some Tetris, eh?"

So we did some tetris! We fit so much stuff in that trailer!

Here are some pictures of the loading process.  Notice the scooter sitting on the couch. 

 Now you see it, now you don't!

The Next Big Adventure!

Hello, friends and family! Is anyone out there still following this blog? I know, I haven't had any big adventures in a couple years, sorry!

Well, the wait is over, I have another big adventure just around the corner. Not as exotic as some, but still big. I'll be heading to Tucson, AZ in August to start a 2-year master's program at the University of Arizona.

I'll be in the department of Language, Reading, and Culture, learning how to teach second language learners and work with immigrant children and their families.

Wish me luck!

Mexico!

In March, I went to visit my good friends Lindsey and Brian Young, and their kids, Emma and Liam. It was a quick trip, but perfect weather and it was good to see them again. One bit of travel advice, however. If you plan on having just one day in Mexico City, try and plan it to not be on a national holiday, or everything you want to see will be closed. The Turibus will be running, though!

In Mexico City, we got to walk around on the roof of the Metropolitan Cathedral, the one you see in every picture you've ever seen of Mexico City. The roof! Of a 500 year old Cathedral! That was awesome. I visited the school Lindsey and Brian work at in Pachuca, and took a day trip to a small town nearby called Real de Monte, which was just charming. If you visit there, though, don't go on a Tuesday, because everything you want to see will be closed.