An email from Grandma

Dear Andi,

I forgot to tell you the most exciting news this morning.

Daddy came home from his walk with Danny yesterday with a red-eyed tortoise he had found in the middle of the street.

When we got home from 8:30 church, they had already found each other (Myrtle and Yertle, that is).

Anyway, I expect we will be having some very small turtles in the spring.

Danny still tries to steal turtle food, but I try to keep him in the house until they have had time to have some first.

Love, GMa

Some thoughts about school

When I first came to school I tried to do the cool thing and think, "man, I can't believe I'm back in school. It's been so long. Will I be able to handle it?" Maybe that's not the "cool" thing to think, but whatever. Then I really thought about it. I've been a full time student for something like 19 of my 23 years. This isn't a crazy back to scary school feeling, it's more like a back to normal feeling. Sort of.

New city and living alone with no friends aside, I'm enjoying school so far. I like my classes. I like reading. I like the way the content of my classes are all slightly overlapping, so I can say "right, right, I get this," or "so that's why we do things that way." Even in high school and college I loved it when subjects overlapped. All the sudden things made sense and fit together, rather than remaining isolated and theoretical. Maybe that's why I like history- it can fit everything in it.

I haven't written any papers yet, but my first one is due Tuesday. Just a short paper comparing social history methodologies in Europe and Latin America. Ha! That sounds awful. I haven't read the part about Latin America yet. I hope I understand it enough to write something comprehensible down. But other papers are slightly more practical. I get to review a museum exhibit next.

I just wrote "I get to." That's right. I'm going to try to make that my new mind set. Not "I have to," but "I get to." I've chosen to be here, and I can see more clearly how what I'm learning and doing now will relate to my future work. I guess that helps explain why lots of people seem to say they liked grad school more than college.

Team Annales Wins!

I joined the graduate history student intramural soccer team, Team Annales, and today we played our first game. We won by one point in overtime during a penalty kick showdown. I'd like to say I had a lot to do with scoring our 8 points, but I didn't. I mean, I kicked the ball a few times and played some defense, and a few times I got the "good job Andi!" I'll get better. I think I need to be more aggressive. And I need to know what the real soccer people mean when they're yelling at me to do something. I'm not down with the lingo yet.

Junior High nostalgia

I mentioned that I haven't run very far since track in junior high (this was 7th and 8th grade, not to be confused with a "middle school" that might include 6th or even 9th). Then I found out yesterday that my 8th grade Algebra teacher (Ms. Trasp) is now working temporarily for my mom, and that she remembers me (I know, I know, how could she not remember Andi?). Well this brings me to another little memory that I would like to share with you. My 8th grade American History class met in a portable (again, a portable, not a "trailer" as people out here like to call them). For a while there we had a homeless man sleeping in our class at night, and sometimes my teacher (Ms. Robertson, whom we all loved) would be greeted in the morning by a note from him saying how much he enjoyed reading our papers and looking at our projects. Now doesn't that make you feel warm and fuzzy?

I ran over TWO MILES!!!

Today I ran all the way around the lake without stopping. I don't think I've run that far since I was in track in junior high. I usually stick to walking. But not today!

Add a rabbit and ducklings

to the list of animals I saw on my walk around the lake today. A little gray rabbit ran out of the bushes right in front of me, and then I saw twelve little brown and yellow ducklings swimming around.

So many turtles!

My apartment complex is right next to a lake with a walking trail, and every time I go around it it's like going on a nature walk. There are lots of geese and ducks, including these scary ducks that look like a cross between a turkey and a buzzard. There are also squirrels and other little birds. I can't see fish, but I know they are there because there are always people out fishing, including cute old men. And today I discovered there are turtles! I saw dozens of them swimming around or sitting on logs and rocks. One even swam right up under me (I was on a bridge) and acted like it wanted me to throw it food, except I don't think turtles beg like that do they? Maybe they are domesticated by all the walkers throwing bread to the ducks? Anyway, I was excited.

UPS connections

This is a small world. Most people here have never heard of the University of Puget Sound, and they say "Whoah, that must have been a big move for you coming from Washington state." But get this...

First, a guy in my historiography (the history of history) class just moved from Tacoma, where he taught for five years at a school there. He knows about UPS, and has been there, and liked it.

Second, this other guy in my archives class went to grad school (for a different degree) with one of the history professors at UPS. I didn't have him though- he taught the history of science/technology. Too bad I didn't have him, since I'm now a TA for that class.

And lastly, tonight as I was heading toward my car in the parking garage there was a car with both a UPS sticker on the back window (the same one that used to be on my back window!) and a UPS parking sticker (which I also had on my window).

These little things make me happy.

p.s. I thought my car was parked in front of the UPS car, but when my key didn't work I discovered I was at the wrong red corolla. I felt sheepish.

Weekend Update

Thursday a hurricane was on its way, so I drove to Richmond after class and ran over many little frogs on the road.

In Richmond, my grandparents changed a few things in my room, but mostly it was the same. Except that I kept reaching for things, or looking for my clock, or wanting to throw clothes in the closet. It was kind of sad.

Uncle Richard was there, too, and we talked about NASA and astronauts, since I have to lead a discussion tomorrow about the Apollo mission and Man.Moon.Decade. Uncle Richard worked for NASA on simulators and helped train all the astronauts, which makes him pretty darn cool.

Saturday Grandpa fried a turkey. Some of us were worried it would be a disaster and we'd have to call 911, but it went just fine. We all sat around outside and watched it (or stared at the pot, rather), and it felt like sitting around a camp fire, especially since it was cool and I was wearing a sweatshirt.

Sunday I went to church, which was nice because I don't have one down here yet and I miss it. I also went to Franklin Street, this other church service at 4, and it was nice but made me a little jealous because I want it to be in Raleigh and not in Richmond. But I will find something here. I must be patient.

Today was Mexican Lunch Day. Usually Mexican Lunch Day is on Saturday, but we made an exception for the holiday.

Now I'm back in Raleigh, and it's raining.

a sign in the hall at school:

"Please don't spit your tobacco into the recycling bins. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated."

My current best friend

seems to be National Public Radio. Since I live alone and don't have much work to do yet, or a TV, or social interaction, I have a lot of empty lonely space to fill. NPR rides with me in the car, greets me when I come into my apartment, and keeps me company while I'm here. News, Car Talk, A Prairie Home Companion, a conference on the Vietnam War, Celtic music, stories from Katrina victims. I'm even hearing repeats of everything.

Feeling Old

Last night I went to a Goo Goo Dolls and Counting Crows concert. We sat on the grass in back and were surrounded by a sea of teenagers. I often go around still feeling like a teenager myself, until I actually mingle with them. Jumping up and down, screaming into cell phones, and flirting like there was no tomorrow, it was more than I could handle.

Then I go to school, which is swarmed with thousands of undergrands, and I again feel out of place. I often complain that my apartment is too far from school, but after a day on campus I'm more than happy to drive very far away.

Try to be like the camel

Several years ago my dad and I went to an art show in downtown Santa Fe of works by John Lennon. The piece I liked the best was a colored drawing of a camel walking past a pyramid in the desert. The handwritten caption below it read "The camel dances and having danced moves on." I cut out a black and white copy of it from the newspaper and it has hung on my bulletin board ever since, in several different places. Tonight I was hanging up a few pictures around my apartment and once again posted this in my room. Not only do I like the little camel, but I love the lesson that goes with it. He dances, lives life to its fullest, and then he's not afraid to move on. This is always hard for me. Each time I hang it on a wall I've just finished or left a great time in my life. When I hung it my senior year in Tacoma I had just come back from studying abroad in London, and that was an experience I didn't want to let go of. Then I hung it in Richmond when I had just moved away from my best friends in my beloved Tacoma and had no idea what joys or perils awaited me in Virginia. Now it is happening again. I had an amazing year in Richmond, where I spent a lot of time hanging out with my grandparents, made some great friends, and explored a fun new city. I danced in Richmond. But now it's time to move on, and discover a new dance in Raleigh.

some things

I'm in Raleigh. That's right, I live here now. I know I mention that a lot, but sometimes it blows my mind. How did Andi from New Mexico (via Tacoma and Richmond) end up down here? Anyway, I'm mostly settled in my apartment, except that the phone lines don't work and I have no food. I have milk though, and that's pretty much the most important thing so I can still drink my chocolate milk in the mornings.

Today was orientation for us history grad students. I don't really feel intellectual enough for this, since everyone's talking about how they want to study ancient Greece or Japanese fascism or US environmentalism. But not all of the public history students are like that, so that's reassuring. We all had lunch together, and then after the TA meeting some of us went out for drinks. They seem fun, and it's a pretty social program. This is good because I have zero social interaction outside of it so far.

I saw Little Miss Sunshine. It is really good, and you all should see it. Part of it takes place in Albuquerque, and there are lots of desert scenes. Ah, New Mexico, my homeland. That reminds me, today I saw a car with a decorative NM license plate in the front, though it had a normal NC plate in the back. I, too, have a NC plate now, which is sad because I loved my yellow NM plate and the way people would peer at it long and hard trying to figure out where the heck I'm from. It was also a good excuse for when I looked lost on the road.

Call me crazy

Seriously, does this not look like a man with a briefcase and a woman with a purse? Some pedestrians walking to work, right? Because that is what I've always thought- that it's a pedestrian crossing sign. Luckily I studied this morning before taking my North Carolina drivers license test and learned it's a school crossing sign. Apparently everyone knew this but me, but I've sure never seen kids who look like that on their way to school.

This is it folks

In the morning I'm moving to North Carolina. How weird is that? I've never moved someplace in a morning. It usually takes three days to get wherever I'm moving. This is new for me. I want to be excited about it, but so far I'm not. I'm sad to leave Richmond. I know it is close by, and I will come back to visit, but still. Anyway, wish me luck.

p.s. The title of this post doesn't mean no more posting. It just means further posting will be from a new North Carolinian, not whatever it is I've been the past year or so. Alas.

How cute is that?

My grandmother (in Santa Fe) recently had some dental surgery, and the first thing she said to the dentist when it was over was "how long before I can kiss my husband?"

Fun Times

I realize that many of my blog posts are about my dates with Justin, but can I help that we do fun cute things? Having said that, today we did fun stuff.

First we visited the Poe Museum. Turns out Edgar wasn't always as crazy and disheveled as is popularly believed. And he seemed to be engaged a lot.

Next we went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. There were lots of pictures of horses. For real. Even though this was sort of weird, I did go ahead and buy a postcard of a painting of a horse race.

Then we went to Ipanema, the vegetarian restaurant. Actually, we got there a little before they opened so we went on a walk first. Justin was very nice and let us walk down my favorite street (West Ave) even though he really wanted to be inside with air conditioning, and he kept being nice when our walk made me super hot and tired and thirsty and silent. Anyway, we ate, and it was really good.

Finally we headed to a cafe (Cafe Nostra I think?) in the fan. It only has one table, which is huge and covered in board games. We played checkers, backgammon, and then rummy.

Some pictures from my trip to Washington state

Here are the cute bride and groom, along with Melissa, Amy and me.

Justin and I are pretty cute, too.


Here we are hiking around Point Defiance, and sitting on the Troll under the Fremont Bridge.




This is what the Space Needle looks like when I'm trying to climb out the back window from the front passenger seat, and this is what Mt. Ranier looks like from an airplane.

I would post more, but I don't think they fit. Shoot.

Back from the Pacific Northwest

Justin and I got back today from our trip to Tacoma and Seattle. If we're lucky some pictures will follow, but for now here are some highlights of the trip:

Katie and Andrew got married! They were very cute. The wedding was laid back and beautiful, and instead of cutting cake they ate banana pudding!

Before the wedding we girls spent a few hours at the women's naked spa. I was pretty skeptical at first, but it was great.

I got to hang out with my friends Amy, Katie, and Melissa. I miss them.

At the Tacoma Art Museum Justin made me a stylish bracelet that I wore the rest of the week, and I painted him a cloud rock.

At Point Defiance I actually found (sort of) the "magic trail" and we hiked down to the water, where Justin taught me to skip rocks.

We visited two wineries up in the Olympic Peninsula and ate seafood right by the water with a view of what we think was Canada.

We also visited a tiny brewery in Port Townsend where lots of local old guys who probably work on boats hang out with their half gallon jugs of beer.

On the ferry ride to Seattle as we enjoyed the amazing night time view we also witnessed a guy propose to a girl, and she said yes.

In Fremont (a neighborhood in Seattle) we toured a new small organic and fair-trade chocolate factory that included lots of delicious samples.

We saw a Mariners game.

After the game we went to the Tractor Tavern for a show by Tom Brosseau, which I really liked.

Except for two cloudy days, the weather was amazing with blue skies and no rain.

It was a pretty good time I would say.