Music as the Soundtrack to Life

12 Tuesday Apr 2011

Posted by in entertainment, life, motivation, music, video, work

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I’ve been listening to music before work a lot more in the last few weeks. I usually listen to news radio so I can find out what’s going on, but let’s be honest, that’s a pretty depressing way to start your day.

So lately I’ve been listening to music. And I’ve taken it a step further: I’ve become one of those people with headphones on while I walk into the office…I know…not the most social thing to do, but who needs awkward elevator interaction anyway?
Anyhow, I’ve realized that walking into the office while listening to music I really enjoy is a much better way to get my day started. So I think from now on I’ll go through the routine of opening up the office, and turning on lights and computers, with the accompaniment of good tunes.
Who needs social interaction anyhow.
Just in case you’re curious, my morning routine lately has included this song:
Mostly for the following lyrics:
But I will hold on hope
And I won’t let you choke
On the noose around your neck
And I’ll find strength in pain
and I will change my ways
I’ll know my name as it’s called again
So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence
When you know the maker’s hand
So make your siren’s call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say
Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it’s meant to be
I find it motivational. I really, really like the line “you can understand dependence when you know the maker’s hand.” It strikes a chord, and in a nerdy way, I wanna delve deeper into the meaning of it. Anyone with me?
Happy Tuesday everyone.

Haiti Stories: Trash Burning.

12 Tuesday Apr 2011

Posted by in adventure, Haiti, stories, trash

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Tuesday night Abby and I had to sign up for whatever job we wanted to do on Wednesday, our last full work day in Haiti. I really wanted to go out with a bang and spend the whole day on a rubble site, but the idea of having sufficient time to empty out my home for the last two weeks was nice, I had to take care of a couple things for Haiti Scholarships, plus it was Adri’s birthday and we were determined to find her a cake so we could sing happy birthday that night. We opted to find something we could do for a half day, so we’d bust ass in the morning, and take the afternoon off to get everything else done (we had a mental checklist of everything we needed to do). Turns out the only thing we could do for a half day on Wednesday was housekeeping. Less than ideal.

All Hands is true communal living. So someone has to do these things. Someone has to wash dishes. And someone has to take out the trash. And someone has to scrub the toilets. On Wednesday, that was us. Housekeeping chores actually aren’t too bad, mostly because Abby tackled the toilets. The one thing we didn’t want to do was having to collect all the trash (including bathrooms….), carry it all the way through the field in the back of the base, and set it on fire. It’s just not good times.
But it’s a good story.
We collected all the trash, then carried it out to the back, where we saw what was supposed to be the easier way of carrying the trash cans to the end of the field: a pull cart attached to a bike. Basic, but word on the street was that it was a lifesaver when it came to handling the trash situation, and the fact that you have to carry it all the way to the end of the Joint Logistics Base. Ok. Easy enough, right? Load it up, peddle those happy feet…unload.
Weeeeeeeelllllllllll. The loading part worked out fine. Then Abby got on the bike and sat on the seat. Then the seat fell off. Then she jumped off. The seat had a tendency to flip back when you sat on it, exposing people of both sexes to injury in areas that are crucial if you ever want to have kids. With the seat no longer attached, you ran the danger of injuring yourself on the metal that was sticking out.
Abby graciously allowed me the opportunity to try my luck. I put the seat back on top, knowing there was no way in hell it was going to stay there. I jumped on the bike and tried to sit on it. That didn’t go well. I gave up hope on the seat but thought, hey, remember when you were little and you would ride your bike standing up? Well…that should work. And it did, for about two peddle rotations. At which point the pull cart became unattached to the bike, and I was no longer pulling a cart.
At this point, we’d already attracted a nice crowd of local warehouse workers who were thoroughly enjoying our adventure. Luckily, Abby and I took the higher ground and decided to laugh at our situation, rather than start crying. Ok. We arranged the trash cans on the pull cart so the weight would ensure that it remain attached to the bike (basic physics came into play on this one. Thank you Mr. Dempsey). Reattached pull cart to bike. I decided to give it another go with the stand up method.
Holy ridiculous. I almost wish I could have watched this scene with our spectators, as I’m sure I would have been on the ground laughing. I had some trouble steering the bike without sitting on the bike…which led me to weave back and forth…the whole time trying to remember not to sit on what was sure to rob me of a comfortable trip home the next day. I think these were some of the most frantic and confusing 10 seconds of my trip in Haiti. Pull cart fail.
Since we had condensed the trash to three trash cans, we decided we would each just carry one of the lighter ones to the back, then come back and carry the heavier one together. Which is fine…until you have men propositioning you for $5. Then things get uncomfortable. Mind you, there was absolutely nothing glamorous about us (no offense, Abby). We’d been sweating all morning from cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, and we were carrying trashcans full of a day’s waste of 80+ people. How is that attractive?
As difficult as it was to not reply energetically to kissy noise advances, we made it to the end of the base were we found the three wonderful incinerators where we had to dump our trash and set it on fire. Advice on best ways to start a fire of trash, from a very trustworthy base manager: shit tickets. Yep, toilet paper. Worked like a charm every time. The rest of this story I won’t really bore you with. We burned trash. We watched it. It burned some more. It was quite the experience.
And much more of an adventure than we had signed up for.
Thank you pull cart.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story

05 Tuesday Apr 2011

Posted by in Guatemala, life, money, movies, updates, zach

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For one, check out that movie. It’s kind of a funny story, really. Plus, you can never really go wrong with Zack Galafianakis.

But getting to my point…I’ve written before how just when Jeff and I think we’re on the brink of something going terribly wrong, something falls out of the sky and saves the day. By “something” I usually mean an unexpected amount of cash, that if something hadn’t gone terribly wrong, would’ve been nice to put into our non-existing savings account, or to be able to spend a little more freely, or cover things we can’t usually cover. But alas, it goes to cover the terribly wrong thing…but at least we’re able to cover it with that unexpected cash rather than being SOL.
Case in point: yesterday.
Jeff called me right after 5pm letting me know his car wouldn’t start, so I called AAA so they could meet him at work while I made my way over there. They got it started, but it seems like it’s going to take some cash investment to get whatever it is that’s wrong with it fixed. Might be the starter. Might be something else. Point is: money we don’t have.
I check the mail before getting into my car to go pick Jeff up, and the only thing in the mail is….our CA tax refund! I had to laugh. To myself.
The funniest thing about this is that we had gotten a letter from the California Franchise Tax Board on Saturday saying we didn’t fill out our bank account completely on our tax return, so instead of a direct deposit we’d be getting a check in 2-4 weeks. I thought, hey that’s pretty cool, Sucks that it’ll take longer…but thanks for letting us know. And yet…what are the odds that instead of taking 2-4 weeks it gets here two days later…on the exact date we find out we’re gonna have to drop some serious cash on one of those “terribly wrong” scenarios? Alas, I should’ve known better than to think we’d get that refund and actually be able to spend it on something we wanted :)
In other updated news: it seems that the Guatemala divorce fiasco is having some trouble getting off the ground.
Have a great day everyone.

Guatemala Updates: Rosenberg Assassination and First Lady Presidential Bid

04 Monday Apr 2011

Posted by in colom, Guatemala, president, rosenberg

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It’s been far too long since I posted crazy updates on what happens in that tiny country below Mexico.
There’s one thing that’s been brewing for a while and I’ve wanted to share, but have honestly been too lazy to research what’s really happening. Let’s see. Alvaro is the president of Guatemala. Sandra is married to Alvaro. Alvaro is finishing up his presidency, which some state was actually run by Sandra. Sandra declared her bid for the presidency. The Constitution of Guatemala clearly states that the spouse of a current president cannot run for a presidential election. Sandra says this is a violation of her right to run for the presidency, and that she will fight it the Constitutional Court of Guatemala. Never mind, they decide to get a divorce instead. Alvaro and Sandra file for divorce. The divorce is still in court proceedings, but I’m assuming that with the right “leverage” the divorce will be finalized in no time, paving the way for Sandra to constitutionally run for president. Good news or bad news? I honestly don’t know. Much of what I hear about Sandra through family and friends is negative and they don’t seem to believe she has the right interests at heart (who ever does in Guatemala, though?), but this is all based on hearsay, so I should do some more research before making any conclusions myself.
But isn’t a picture worth a thousand words?
Ha!
In other news, you may remember several blog posts about the murder of Rodrigo Rosenberg, which was declared to be a [complex] suicide. Found an interesting and detailed article in The New Yorker about the whole situation. It’s fairly long, so I haven’t made it to the conclusion yet and what the author actually things about the “suicide” conclusion, but it still lays out a great detailed narrative of what happened (or allegedly happened?). It reads like a novela almost…
If you have the time, and more importantly: are interested, enjoy.

Haiti Stories: Deforestation

03 Sunday Apr 2011

Posted by in Haiti, mountains, stories, travel, trees, video

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So until I figure out exactly what I want to say about my trip to Haiti, I’m just gonna share some random short stories on here.

One work site I got to work on was school 9, where I got to observe while they finished rendering, then went in the next day with Abby and a small group, and we did a deep clean of the school so we could start painting the following work day. Getting to this site requires a little bit further of a drive than most other work sites, which allows for a nice view of fields and mountains. Although it was nice to get out of Leogane and enjoy a longer-than-usual drive every morning through some rural country side, the view of the mountains always made me sad.
I can’t remember where I read it, but I do remember reading that back in the day Haiti was one of the richest countries in the Caribbean, as far as natural resources and what not. If you can believe it, Haiti was actually called “the Pearl of the Caribbean.” It was difficult to keep that in mind when I looked at the bare and brown mountains on our way to and from the school or beach. How did they get so bare and brown? I’m sure there are many reasons, but a big one is the reliance on charcoal as the main fuel source in Haiti. I could go on at this point…but realized I started with a description of this as a “short” story…so I won’t digress…
But I will share the following video from a former All Hands volunteer that might give a little hope:

Trees For Life from Keely Kernan on Vimeo.

Alive and Well in Haiti

20 Sunday Mar 2011

Posted by in food, Haiti, life, updates

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I told myself I wouldn’t spend as much time blogging while I’m here as I did last time. I want to spend more time being effective and doing what I need to do while I’m here…but considering we’re on lockdown due to today’s elections, I figured I would at least give a quick update :)

So far things are very mellow today, as far as I’m aware from people around here and what I can gleam off Twitter and the internet. The polls opened late and have bee missing documents and people haven’t been able to find their name on voting registries, so the outcome should be interesting. I am pretty sure Abby, Adri and I will be long gone before any semblance of results come about, which is when I expect protests of any kind will take place. We are hoping that we can get to work tomorrow. Since I did some rubbling last time I was here, I’m excited to work on a couple other projects that were not here last year, particularly working on school builds and the bio sand water filters. I also want to get my fill of rubbling one of these days!
It’s been such a blessing to have Christa here…Abby and I met her on our last trip, and she’s been here for most of the time we’ve been gone. In that year she’s got a great understanding of the Creole language, and seeing her interact with all of the members and children of the community is extremely amazing and inspiring. You can simply tell the pleasure that people get when they see Christa: there’s so much love in their eyes, and they are genuinely excited to see her. Christa was our fearless leader at the local market yesterday (since it’s Sunday, we have no cook, and since we’re in lockdown, we can’t go eat anywhere, which means we had to load up on food to cook today, yesterday). It was Abby, Adri, myself, and two of the other people that were on our shuttle into Leogane on Thursday: Diego from Mexico and Kisa from….I think Washington state? Basically we told Christa what our menu for today was…and she led us through all the market stalls and translated at each of these until we had purchased our pasta, garlic, carrots, mini-lettuce, tomatoes, mangos, and bananas. Our hope is to use basil grown here and have a nice pesto sauce pasta with a light salad. Sharing the kitchen with 70 other hungry people, however, should be interesting. Anyhow, Christa is awesome, and I’m so glad she’s still here!
The last few days have been really interesting…talking a lot about everything going on. Hopefully I’ll know how to share my thoughts on all of this once I’m done processing all of it internally.
Until then: I’m a live and well, and happy to be back :)

Can you just google your brain?

14 Monday Mar 2011

Posted by in Uncategorized

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I’m a big gmail fan. Google in general, but I love my gmail account. I can organize my emails in folders. I can archive stuff so it’s not filling up my “inbox.” I can use search terms to find emails that have been lost in my cyber mailbox. I can search by a contact, and see every single email I’ve shared with that one person. It groups my email and subsequent responses in one “email.” I mean…things weren’t always this amazing! Remember hotmail? Yeah…

My favorite feature is definitely the search capability. All I need to remember are a couple key search words, and I can find the EXACT email I need, even if I don’t remember who it was to or from. So I guess it shouldn’t really be a big surprise that lately I expected my brain to do the same. I was trying to remember something, not sure if it was a memory, some sort of information or whatever, and in my mind I started thinking of the search times I was going to use to “gmail search” my brain. Once I realized what I was trying to do, I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. But how awesome would it be if you could gmail search your BRAIN?! You’d never “forget” anything (not sure how the brain actually works when it comes to remembering and forgetting…but assuming it all stays stored in your brain somewhere)…you’d just have to remember the right search terms and you’d be set.
I shared this recently with Jeff, and he shared a similar story he had . He was smelling something at his parent’s house, he wanted to share the scent with me, and wanted to email it to me so I could smell it. Ha!
This sounds crazy now…but it’s only a matter of time…right?

Blast from the Past

12 Saturday Mar 2011

Posted by in concert, culture, enrique, life, Spanish, stories

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A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to go back in time. Yep, time travel. It was circa 1999, I was sixteen, and I was speechless. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I got to relive my infatuation with Enrique Iglesias! Am I a little embarrassed? Not really. We’ve all had embarrassing infatuations, right? Anyhow, my friend Ana generously
bought me a ticket for his recent show at the Gibson as my birthday present. Yes, she is pretty awesome.

Before we went and grabbed our seats, I waited outside the restrooms for Ana and her sister, at which time I was able to witness the following interaction:


Another girl, maybe of the more appropriate age of sixteen, was standing next to me, presumably also waiting for her friends. As most people, um…women, in attendance, she looked very much Hispanic: dark hair, brown eyes, darker skin. I, on the other hand, was part of the white girl minority in attendance.


Because of the obvious disparity in the male-female attendance ratio, the Gibson had changed the signs of a few of the mens restroom to better serve the female population. One older event staff member, let’s call her Maria, was trying to make us women aware of this, since the women’s restroom had a huge line, and the restroom next door, which was also marked “women’s”, was almost entirely empty. Maria kept pointing to women in the line, and telling them to go to the other restroom. After
a few minutes of continuously telling new arrivals to keep walking to the next restroom, she turns to my Waiting Buddy and starts talking to her in Spanish, “these women! I’m trying to tell them the next one is completely empty! Ay ay ay, I’m gonna have to stand here all night!” The way she said this reminded me of my grandmother: super sweet and joking older lady, just trying to get a laugh out of her job.


Throughout this conversation, Waiting Buddy was just starring back at her like she was crazy, while I tried to contain my smile at Maria’s funny outburst, since she wasn’t talking to me and I’m sure she didn’t think I understood a word (I’m always afraid people are going to think I’m crazy when I react to things I overhear…when they don’t think I understand…they probably think I’m crazy, right?).


It occurred to me that Waiting Buddy had no idea what Maria had just said. I felt sad for multiple reasons. For one, that Maria didn’t want to joke with ME because I looked like a white girl who couldn’t understand her…even though I totally got her jokes! And two, I felt bad for Waiting Buddy, who didn’t know what she was missing out on. Like so many second or third generation children, they come from Hispanic families but are never taught, or maybe don’t want to be taught, the language of their heritage.

Waiting Buddy’s buddies walked out of the restroom, and as they were walking away, Waiting Buddy was telling her friends how the cleaning lady had started talking to her because the cleaning lady thought she spoke Spanish…and she hadn’t understood a word. I had to smile to myself.

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