Invitation!!!!

At 1:30 in the morning today I got home and found a package in my mailbox. I thought about waiting until morning, but decided that I just couldn't do it. I walked upstairs and opened the envelope.

Albania. March 20th. Community Development.

Albania? Of all of the countries that I could have possibly been assigned to, I honestly have to say that I probably gave the least thought and consideration to Albania. I thought about Ukraine, I dreamed about Georgia, I considered Romania, I pondered Kazakhstan. But Albania didn't enter my brain until I opened the envelope and read the invitation. I won't say that I was disappointed, but taken aback. I don't really know anything about Albania, do you?

Some facts about Albania:
There are about 3.5 million people living there, 70% are Muslim, the rest are Roman Catholic or Orthodox. It is one of the poorest counties in Europe with a GDP per capita of about $4000 . The terrain is mostly mountainous with a 350 mile coast on the Adriatic and Ionian seas.

The Albanian language is an Indo-European language, meaning that it is related in structure and form to a lot of other European languages, including but not limited to: Greek, Italian and Slavic (makes sense since those are the countries around it), but is not actually in a language sub-group with any of these languages and is distinct. It is written in Latin script (you know, the same one we use) with a few extra letters. It is nothing like any of the languages that I have studied. Albanian makes the sixth distinct language that I have or will have studied (not including English, the only one I actually speak) in the past 10 years (Spanish, Russian, Hebrew, Czech, and Arabic). To finish off my language package I need to learn an African language and an Asian language. Maybe I will actually become close to fluent in Albanian. . .


Albania. March 20th. Community Development. I'm excited. I'm nervous. Ok, I'm kinda freaking out. Yeah!

Going it alone

I am not a loner. Like anyone, I sometimes need time to be alone, but given the choice to be alone or be with someone, I will almost always opt for the company. I would rather watch a movie, watch TV, go to a party, go to a concert or go eat with other people. Going alone into social situations honestly scares me to death. I need a safety net of people I know. . . what if I walk in to the party and I don't know anyone? I don't mind being alone in some situations- sleeping, lounging, working out. I just don't want to be alone all the time.

A few weeks ago, I got free pass for two to see a screening of a movie. I got the pass late on the day before the screening and on the day of the screening I started to look for someone to come with me. I couldn't find a single person to come to the FREE movie with me. My friends were busy, working, out of town. I decided to go to the movie on my own. It was a movie that I really wanted to see (Martian Child with John Cusack) and I didn't want to pass up the chance to see a free movie (I really hate paying for movies- five years working in a theater can spoil a person). I loved the movie, but I hated watching it alone.

Tonight I could have gone to a concert in Boulder. A friend of mine was supposed to go with me, but cancelled at the last minute. I thought of a lot of reasons to not go to the concert- I didn't want to drive to Boulder, I have to get up early for work tomorrow, I don't really have the money. The truth is, I don't want to go alone.

In a few months, I will be leaving for the Peace Corps and living- alone- in a strange new country. If I can't even drive to Boulder alone, how am I going to survive being alone for two years?

Random thoughts. . .

I don't think I like daylight savings time. . . while the extra hour last Sunday was appreciated, I don't like having more daylight in the morning and less in the evening. It doesn't really matter if it is light out when I get up in the morning- I still have to get up. But when I get home, if it is already dark, it makes me want to go out less.

I finally got all the paperwork together for my medical screening for the Peace Corps. I finished my doctors visits over a month ago but couldn't send in the stuff because I was waiting on my insurance company to figure out my bill and I needed the bill to get reimbursed by Peace Corps. I put it in the mail this morning. This is the last bit of stuff that PC needs from me, so assuming that I pass the medical screening (which I should, based on my results) I should have an invatation in a month or so.

The Buntport season started again a few weeks ago- two serial live performances. Starship Troy, a live sitcom that spoofs sci-fi and is based on audience sugestions of books, movies, tv shows or songs and Trunks, a live comic book based on audience suggestions of childrens lit. The Troy episode last night was based on Fame and it was awesome. I always look forward to shows at Buntport to laugh a lot and see all my friends. I'm going to have to figure out a way to get them to send me videos of the shows when I leave.

I'm a multitasker. This is the problem that I have with walking (and also driving or riding a bike) I like to be doing more than one thing at a time. Obviously, reading or writing when driving or biking is not recomended. Apparently reading while walking is dangerous too. I have gotten into the habit of reading the paper on my walks to the library, park and store. Yesterday on the way to the park I almost got hit by two different cars in the space of about two minutes. I have also nearly tripped and nearly walked into a few poles. And they say that walking isn't an extreme sport.

When I was driving home last night, I say a women with a large tree branch hanging out of her car window. She did not seem too concerned about it. I thought is was a little bit strange.

I've never dieted before

I never thought I needed to. I was a skinny child and an active teen. I've never really had the body issues that seem to plague our society. Until recently. As I mentioned before, my activity level has gone down in the past few years. This has contributed to the little bit of extra baggage that I've put on recently. I now understand the phenomenon of the American bubble butt. The life of an average American: get up, drink coffee and eat something fatty for breakfast; drive 20-45 min to work; sit at a desk (or in my case occasionally stand in front of a class) for 8 hours; drive back home; sit and watch TV/play video games/surf the net for 4-5 hours.

It's not that I feel "fat" or anything, I just feel myself being less active and not liking it. I also wonder about my eating habits. I like food. I like good food alot.

So here's my plan, laid out for the world to see. First, I'm going to start keeping track of what I eat. I'm just a little curious. So for two weeks, without really changing my habits, I'm going to start keeping a food journal. At the end of two weeks, I'll evaluate and see what I need to change (I imagine I need to eat more vegatables).

Second, in my off time after school, I'm going to start walking to the rec center and working out. I've never been good about keeping to a work out schedule, so we'll see how this goes. I'm going to go this afternoon to check out the gym.

Wish me luck in my effort to avoid the bubble butt.

complete awesomness

Legally Blonde the Musical.

This is what happens when I'm home to watch TV on Saturday afternoon.

not a morning person

and I don't think I ever will be. Just ask my first period calculus teacher from senior year or any of the students in the first period classes I teach now. I've never understood why high schools start so damned early- in Denver it is between 7:15 and 7:45- and I don't think that I ever will. Studies show that teenagers are not alert until about 8:30. Neither am I. The worst part about having to get up early is the feeling that I have to go to bed early. I'm not to good at that. I should go to bed by 9 o'clock to get my required 8 hours. Throughout college, my earliest class was never before 9 AM and every job I've had since then started at 9 or later. So I got used to going to bed late- at the movie theatre I didn't even get off work until 1 AM usually. The problem is that now I have to get up by 6 but I don't really go to bed any earlier. Why does school have to start at 7 AM? Maybe I have to rethink my choice in profession.

why I love my friends or the schizophrenic birthday party

Friday night we celebrated the birth of three fantastic individuals: Jamie, Nick and Gail. This was a party with something for everyone: dancing, games, drinks, ghost stories and playing with a giant frisbee in the street. It was really like three parties in one.

My favorite moments: telling scary stories in the completely dark and damp and creepy basement laundry room, round the block giant frisbee relay in which I did a face plant on the sidewalk and Krista stole a wheelbarrow from a neighbor's front yard to carry me back and Scattegories- nuf said.

The next event: Denver's Next Top Model party hosted by Liz and J. It's gonna be fierce!

God, I love my friends ;).