Small Town Wren

Okay, okay. I’ve run out excuses. I’ve been back in the country for a week and still have yet to post about my adventures. I’ve had a heck of a time recovering from all that travel and all the horrible things that happened. Namely, my passport disappearing, and then my camera getting stolen. Luckily I had most of my pictures off, but I still lost a bunch.

The picture of of my Spanish tutor, Herberth, me, and my sister’s instructor, Wilberth. I had such an amazing time in Spanish school, even if I technically only had three days of school. And I made a bunch of friends, including Herberth and Wilberth! And also Mikelle and Nikolaj, friends from Iowa and Denmark respectively. Sadly, their pictures were among those jacked with my camera.

The good news is that I have all of my pictures from the Aurora Zoo, the zoo in Guatemala City. My sister and I got to go with our hostel owner and his two-year-old son. This is good news because now you get to see the most excellent David Bowie impersonating rooster ever.

Need I say more?

I made it home late Monday night. It was a heck of a journey that culminated in landing at O’Hare about 2 seconds before the airport shut down. We got stuck on the tarmac at our destination. Too much lightning apparently; they wouldn’t let the plane get to the gate. The wind was so strong our plane started to lift up again and countermeasures had to be taken. It was ridiculous.

It was a very philosophical trip. I have lots of thoughts on lots of things, and I’m too tired to get them out at present. Pictures and words will follow soon. I promise.

I finished packing the backpack today. I was very surprised how not heavy it was when I hoisted it up on my shoulders and strapped it to my hips. It was pleasantly surprising, for sure. I also fit all the things I’m dropping off for my sister in, too, without a problem.

This is it. I’m finally leaving the country. I will finally get a stamp in the passport I received four years ago. The thing I’m most happy about is how affordable this trip has become. I’m going to be there and back on less than $1500. I’ll be there 10 days, so less than $150/day to cover all travel expenses, lodging, food, purchases, classes, etc. Who knew it could be so reasonable.

I’m starting to see my mother’s slight agoraphobia as what it is: completely ridiculous. Even money can’t be claimed as a reason not to go. It just makes me sad. I’ve wanted to roam the world since I was a little girl, and I’ve never been able to until, well, tomorrow.

What a remarkable thing that happened today. I know I previously remarked about how the bill should be scrapped because it didn’t do enough, but I spoke too soon. We got a good foundation today. Am I 100% happy? No. But I’m incredibly pleased that we as a country have finally taken a step towards what is right.

What I’m really sick of is people going around saying the American people don’t want this. Bullshit. We’ve wanted this, and deserved this, for a century. Everyone who voted against this bill and is mad that it passed should really reconsider their morals. Be opposed to health care reform is literally advocating for the death and illness of a huge swath of our population. That’s gross. Really gross.

So after being sick and then having Spring Break #1, and then the weather becoming pleasant for a turn….I stopped doing my homework. I just didn’t get to it. I needed some real time off, and then I just couldn’t get back in the swing of things. And now I have found myself in full out meltdown mode. I did 11 hours straight of homework today, about 13 hours of work total.

That is far too much, and I’m really kicking myself for letting me do this to myself. Really, Miss Wren, you should have been doing work for the past two weeks. I shouldn’t have let it get pushed back so far. Now I have three projects due this week and I’ve only just started on them. Ah crud.

And I got all my travel vaccines today (and I didn’t have to get my tetanus after all!). But three vaccines in both arms plus lots of heavy books put my arms completely out of commission after I got home from the library. It was really quite pathetic. I had to ask my father to pull my bag and books out of the car because it felt like my muscles were going to tear themselves to shreds if I even moved my arms. It’ll be totally worth it when I’m in Xela though. I’ve got another 12 hours or so of work lined up for tomorrow, too. At least I got my girl Aurora on my back. We’re library hopping tomorrow.

I just have to make it through Wednesday. Wednesdays are my new night off, so I just need to finish my Thursday project on Wednesday and I’m golden. Never mind the huge Tuesday Project and huge Monday project and presentation. I might actually cry.

I’m going to Guatemala.

Yes, you read that right. I’m going to Guatemala. I bought the plane tickets earlier today, which is incredibly exciting. I’m going to do a week of Spanish immersion with my sister in Xela. This is the first time I’ll be leaving the United States for any appreciable amount of time and to any place that isn’t, like, Canada. I’m psyched! I don’t even know what else to say beyond “EEEEEE!”

Yeah, so remember how I said I was feeling better? That was totally a lie and I got sick again a few days later. I’m still a little achy, but I’m hoping to be triumphant once and for all. I mean, jeebus, this whole mono thing is incredibly lame. I’m so over it.

But I’m still on spring break, and I have refused to let a stupid thing like being horribly diseased ruin that. If I’m going to be sick, I’m at least going to have fun, dammit! So I bought myself a present: new crochet hooks and a bunch of yarn. I sort of have this thing where I feel a thousand times happier when I’m physically making something, so I crocheted up a storm this week.  Case in point:

Those are going to turn into a blanket at some point. I only need to make, oh, you know, 42 more of them. I also made a delightful hat. I’m wearing it right now. How snazzy is that?

So about that Mono…I’m starting to feel a lot better. I’m still having my sicker-than-anything moments, but I feel okay more often than I don’t. I finally have enough energy to do more than sit on my sofa in a sad, sick, stupor watching Law & Order reruns.

Which is nice, because it’s just in time for my first spring break! One of the perks of being in a teacher-education program and working in a public school is that I get two spring breaks. I’m out of classes this week, and at the end of March I’m out of work for a week, and most of my classes that week have been cancelled. It’s nice to have professors who work in the same sector.

This whole mono thing started several weeks ago when my sister threw her birthday party at Delilah’s that she didn’t attend due to having mono. We still had the party though, and I went, and had my last huzzah before I got mono. Well, since we’re both feeling up to being people again, we went into the city for a makeup party at Tavern. This was the first time out I’ve ever had to buy a drink for myself. I guess one out of four is still okay, but not what I’m used to. For record: at the first party, I paid exactly $0 and got 2 glasses of wine, 4 shots, and a gin & tonic. I don’t really drink a lot, but when I do, I drink whatever is bought.

Also for the record: the drinks at Tavern are awful and overpriced. Regardless, we had a good time. Lots of friends showed up, a game of impromptu charades was played, and there was lots of random fake-dancing. I also got to show off the arrows I’ve been drawing on my fingers of late at work to help redirect my buddy’s focus.  They were definitely used in the night to point out random things to a bunch of drunk 20-somethings. I’m just glad I didn’t get groped by the bros who weren’t in our group. Random gropings from bros is probably the biggest reason why I don’t go out very often.

I have been neglecting my blog for some time now. It turns out I’m pretty diseased. Considering I’m trying to take as few sick days as possible and still get to all of my classes (one of which is in finals right now), it has left me with very little energy to do much else.

You know it is bad when even your mother is concerned by just how much TV you’ve been watching and not much else beyond it. We’ll see when I make a return to regular posting, but as of now, I’m sick with that dreaded disease Mono.

I either got it from or gave it to my sister. She was even more of a mess than I was for awhile. She hibernated for a week while the whole family moved her out of her apartment. Me? I’ve just felt awful for two weeks now and don’t have the ADD energy level to which I usually have access.

I took my first ever paid sick day yesterday. I’ve never had a job before that offers such snazzy benefits, so I’m used to suffering like a dog through work for money I need, or being short on cash later on. I terribly needed the sleep, but it still felt a little naughty to be at home, getting paid, when I should have been at work. I was very sick–it’s still not clear if I have mono or the worst cold of my life–and the 12 solid hours of sleep made me feel a lot better. I would have died and been unable to do my job had I gone in, but it still felt like playing hooky.

This is where my work ethic is in hyper-drive. It’s really hard for me to take day off and not feel guilty about it. I’m really committed to my job. I feel obligated to be there for all the children I serve (well beyond just my super buddy), and I should. They depend on me for a lot of things and I’m in no position to let them down.

I’m supposed to be taking care myself though. I made that commitment, too. And boy, if I can’t put myself to bed when I’m terribly ill, I’m in real trouble on that front. Nobody said I had to like it. But there really is no reason for me to feel guilty for doing what was best for me, and ultimately my co-workers and students. I shouldn’t feel bad for taking the sick pay, because, in reality, I did my job a favor by not coming in sick, right? I need to hold on to that.