Monday, May 30, 2005

Crawfish Fest


Today we ate a Louisiana favorite, boiled crawfish, and we enjoyed every one, fully aware that it was the last time for a long time we would be around the little mudbugs. Posted by Hello
B- For those of you familiar to crawfish, notice that that is a tail in my hand. Those suckers were huge!

Beach and Bums


We're trying to enjoy ourselves by going on vacation as much as possible before our Peace Corps service. We spent a few days last week in Destin, Florida. Posted by Hello

If that's movin' up...


This is what our apartment looked like three days ago as we were moving out. Today our stuff is in my parent's garage, sun room and our new room. We 're trying to pack it all up nice and neat but as of now we are neither nice nor neat. Posted by Hello

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Meet the Parents

We have moved in with the parents. Hey, it's a great way to avoid paying rent. We're going to be spending most of June in other states on vacation, so we decided to spend our here-days with family, yes, rent-free. Bekah and I went out to eat last night as a sort of last-night alone celebration and we cooked tonight for my parents - breaded chicken with mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes and Bekah's favorite, squash and zucchini.
Our PC twins in Botswana were just sworn in, so they are now officially PC Volunteers. Check out their blog to see what we're going to have to go through. Scott, another PCV there, has it even harder, check out what he has to say. He has not posted too recently, probably because he is now at his site, in his village, far from computers. Our PC twins are still in a large city with computer access.
Yes, we have to be sworn in as volunteers. After the 3-day staging in L.A., all of the people going to East Timor fly together to Dili, the capital, via Australia. We all train for 8-12 weeks in language, culture and other things. During that time we have to prove ourselves capable. One volunteer said it's like a long job interview. We then have to prove that we have a good grasp of the language. The ones that are good enough get sworn in as volunteers. Typically, a few people do not make it to the swearing in. They either decide it's not for them or are not PC material.
In other news, we went shopping for a dress for the swearing in and other nice occasions - weddings, parties - but found none. We did find some underpants for me, though, made of polyester, which I hope will last longer through East Timorese hand-washings.

Friday, May 27, 2005

No hurricane wishes for LA

B-In my last post, I wished that Florida wouldn't have hurricane troubles this year. That does not mean I want the storms to come here! Nor do I want them to hit the Netherlands Antilles. It'd be great if there weren't any hurricanes at all this year.
We should have a few pictures up from our beach trip soon. The trip home seemed very long yesterday, but we made it. I finished reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, and it was good. It's a quick read. Right now I am reading Mountains Beyond Mountains, which is a biography of Dr. Paul Farmer by Tracy Kidder. If you're interested in public health or infectious diseases, read this book. I have only started it and I am amazed. He's also a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, so it's obviously written well. It was recommended by my friend who is studying public health at Tulane. Thanks!
So today we begin the big move back into the parent's house. It seems like only yesterday we moved into our apartment, and now we're moving out. It was a great first apartment. Here's to living with a family for at least the next year or so!
I purchased two linen shirts for the trip. I really feel like I am packing light, but I know it can be lighter. My sister should be excited...more clothes are coming her way. The last thing I want to do is make a first impression on our Timorese family as a spoiled rich American, so I need to cut back even more. I'm working on it...

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Sunshine State

B- Greetings from Florida. Our mini-vacation has been quite nice indeed! The weather has been great and we found a nice beach. The water is a bit cool upon entering but after a while of frisbee throwing & diving to catch it, it warms up quite nicely.
Last night we had dinner with a good friend and her husband. They have a beautiful house here and are doing well. Unfortunately the night was interrupted by a migraine, category: severe. But we still enjoyed ourselves!
Today we hit the outlet mall, still searching for a few items for East Timor, and then back to LC, LA.
On the way in we passed over the bridge in Pensacola that got washed out by Hurricane Ivan last year. It's amazing what a hurricane can do. They had metal grating in place of concrete so that people could still use the bridge. Here's hoping Florida makes it better this year than last year during hurricane season.
Well, Travis is standing here but says he doesn't have anything to add. Well, he changed his mind...heeeeeeeeeeeere's Travis!
Right. Thank you, thank you. Bekah and I have cut down our wardrobe to little more than what we're bringing to East Timor and we've been "testing our equipment," so to speak. We used my backpack for this trip, I've been wearing my eyeglasses much more than usual, and our Chacos sandals are almost always on our feet. So far, so good.
Monday, we did our first test-pack where we put everything we were going to bring to East Timor on our bed and we then made a list, to see if we had too much, or too little.

Monday, May 23, 2005

A big weekend

B-Just a quick post today. We had a busy weekend with two graduations and a wedding. Congrats to all who passed a milestone this weekend!
We are going to Florida tomorrow for a quick vacation. Trav's parents are attending a time share meeting in exchange for two free nights. We are going along for the ride and hopefully to see a friend who lives there.
And we have received an email from another invitee for East Timor. We look forward to getting to know her and to meet the whole group in 45 days!
Congrats to my aunt who just got her 2nd masters!
Going to Gatti's!

Over the past few days we've seen almost all of my side of the family. We were asked hundreds of times when and where we were leaving. One of my uncles is particularly excited for us and has been reading up on East Timor.
Bekah had the bright idea of making little cards with our weblog and email addresses so they could keep in touch. We'll post that soon, for your viewing pleasure.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

East Timor 5-0!

B-I'm sorry for anyone who is sad that we're leaving, but since I am extremely excited, I am glad to say that we have only 50 days until our departure for Los Angeles!!!! We got an email stating that we will be in LA from July 7-9 and then depart for East Timor. It's getting closer and closer...boy I can't wait.
Last night we discovered what I think is the best food in Lake Charles at a restaurant called Luna (Sorry Mr. Gatti's!!!) They have the Luna Tuna and it is the best stuff I have tasted! (Sorry to my sis who recently cooked some amazing tuna as well.) We got invited to a Centenary alumni dinner b/c 2 faculty members were in town for a high school awards banquet. Coincidentally one of the other alums there is nominated for PC Africa for September. It was really fun to talk about it and we exchanged contact info. We wish her luck!
Centenary has quite a number of students who have joined PC. Each year PC ranks the # of volunteers a college/university sends to PC based on the size of the school. I wouldn't be surprised if Centenary is soon in the ranks in the small school division. Go Gents!
In other good news, I acquired my immunization record from our old family doctor in Baton Rouge. Part of me was scared that they wouldn't have my record anymore (it's been a while since I've been there) and I would have to get all those shots again. Thanks Mom and Dad for keeping me up on my shots and thanks Dr. J for keeping my record!
And finally, to the anonymous commenter...show yourself! We would like to know who you are...

Thursday, May 12, 2005

The days of summer

B- As South Louisianians know, once it gets hot, there's no hope. There's no chance that we'll have one more "cool" front and enjoy the weather again. Nope. It's the season for sweating. I thought there might be some relief being on a bike compared to a non-AC car, but I was wrong. It's just as bad. True, there is a nice breeze, but there is no escape from the sun. And you can't really wear a sun-hat with a bike helmet. Sunscreen is a must.
I take this opportunity to address the weather in Dili, East Timor. According to CNN.com's international weather report, the forecast for today is a high of 87F, low of 69F. That's 31C and 21C for those who know the other system, as I am sure we will know soon. It is partly cloudy and the humidity is 70% (at least it's not 100%!!!). Winds are SSE at 5 mph, and this is the neat part...the sunrise is at 4:48 a.m. and the sunset is at 4:37 p.m. That's going to make for a weird day!
So the temperature's not too bad...but wait...isn't it winter in the southern hemisphere right now? Ohhh...maybe that is bad. Anyway, that link is here for anyone interested in checking the weather down under.
And speaking of all this hot weather, I am lucky to be spending the afternoon poolside, thanks to a friend who is housesitting at a house with a pool! Anyone who knows me knows I love to swim!

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Recent Glamour Shots

Below are some pretty pictures of us. You will see us opening our invitation. You will see Bekah and our new two-wheeled modes of transportation. You will see for the first time Stanley, our duffle bag who we just dyed from Army Green to black. And you will see a very recent picture of a very hairy-faced Travis playing a very old game - Mancala!


No one was injured in the opening of this invitation. Posted by Hello

And the father said to the young boy, "These, my son, are Madwagons!" Posted by Hello

Stanley and Bekah. Posted by Hello

Our traveling buddy, Stanley, is sunning. Posted by Hello

I am putting the man in mancala with my PCB (Peace Corps Beard). Posted by Hello

Monday, May 09, 2005

One more day has passed...



B- ...and one more car has been sold! WOOHOO! We are excited to post that we have sold the Civic. What a weight off of our shoulders and pocketbooks. Travis has been successful as a used car salesman, at least I think he has. Some may say that he should have bargained more, that he is a "softie"...but I feel those people don't understand us. 1. We're not about money. 2. We just wanted to get rid of these cars. 3. We wanted to give two lucky people "the deal of their life" on a car!

The cars are gone
The cars are gone
We sold them both
We sold them both
I won't be sad
I'll be quite glad!
I won't think "yikes!"
'Cause we've got bikes :)



Sunday, May 08, 2005

Sold! To the Man in the Funny Hat!

T - As happens, the post I originally wrote dissappeared as I was posting it, so I'll rewrite what I had using fewer words, as I am too creatively drained to do it again and my time is running out on the internet meter here in the library.

First, we got a scare when my parents told us we got a letter from PC. It was nothing but a request for media info. See you in the funny papers.

We sold the Stanza and should have the Civic sold tomorrow. We also "sold" my computer to Bekah's sister. You may be asking, "Why are these guying selling all their stuff?" Good question. It's because (1) we don't need them and (2) we can use the extra money as I am unemployed (such a politically correct way of saying, "I ain't got no job") and Bekah works part time now.



I was reading Ray Jardine's Beyond Backpacking and got off track. I was only trying to figure out how to pack lighter, which I did, when I starting getting into the stuff about the backpacker's life. So now I'm moving on to the history of the East Timorese people.

Also, I was moved by a PCV's words concerning packing too much: "It's not about the things, it's about the people."

Thursday, May 05, 2005

DMB, Packing, & Have We Sold the Stanza???

B - For those that care...there's a new DMB album out this coming Tuesday. It's called "Stand Up". Here is a link for a sneak preview. There is even a song called "Louisiana Bayou" presumably written when Dave was in Thibodaux filming Because of Winn Dixie, which is a great kids' movie. I did miss the Jazz Fest this past weekend, where the band played. My friend who went said it was way too crowded, but that the show was good. No regrets, I was with my favorite aunt and cousin in Arkansas.
Well, since afternoons are free now, I have been trying to pack stuff away so that I don't have to look at it anymore. Yesterday, I pulled four garbage bags (13 gal.) of clothes out of the closet. I am pretty much down to the bare minimum now. I have almost narrowed it down to what I will bring to East Timor. I get a very good feeling when I cleanse my closet. It makes me realize that I keep way too much crap, way too many clothes, and most of it I don't wear. So, sisters of mine, I hope you have fun looking through my clothes.
We may have sold the Stanza! On the first day we put the cars out for display and listed them in the paper, we got several calls. One of them was a guy standing out by the car so we went out to meet him. He and Travis settled on a price, and we are supposed to conduct the official business tomorrow morning. After they settled, the guy said, "I'm gonna buy this car on Friday, you can take the For Sale sign off of it." So we removed the sign and put the car back by our apartment. Then after an hour or so, Travis decided he wanted to take a picture of both cars together for this site. So we drove it back out there by the Civic and put the sign back in it, and guess what? The guy who wants to buy it drives back up! He says, "Oh, I see you're putting the sign back in, I told you I was gonna buy it." What a coincidence. Well, we explained that we were taking pictures for our website and he seemed to believe us, which is good cause that was the truth!
We have gotten some calls about the Civic, too. Thank goodness! Hopefully they'll both be sold by the week's end.

Posted by Hello

Monday, May 02, 2005

Counting to 10 in Tetun

B-Back from Arkansas, now. Right now we're at Travis' parent's house doing laundry and preparing our cars for their selling day. We had vacuumed and armor-alled the insides a couple of weeks ago, but today we washed the outside. I try to be positive, but I really don't think mine is going to sell. If anyone wants a 1990 Nissan Stanza, let me know. If it doesn't sell by the end of the month, I'm donating it to the Women's Shelter or the Veterans or something. I gotta get rid of it. Past mid-May, it won't even be insured. Travis' is slightly better, a 1993 Honda Civic, but it has an outrageous amount of miles on it, like 260,000 or something. The previous owner said it had been dragged behind a motorhome and that's why the mileage is so high. Still, with that many miles it'll be hard to find a buyer.
We learned today how to count from one to ten in Tetun (Tet-oon), the language we will be learning (and hopefully speaking) in East Timor. I say hopefully because there are 30-something dialects on the island so there is a chance we'd learn Tetun in training and then have to learn something totally different at our site. Wouldn't that be nice? Anyway, here goes nothing:
Ida
Rua
Tolu
Hat
Lima
Nen
Hitu
Ualu
Sia
Sanulu
Impressive, huh? I did it without looking in the book, too. We are going to spend an hour or so each day learning the language from our Tetun phrasebook. It's fun.
So, it's May now and in two short months and 5 days we will be heading to East Timor. We have decided that since June is going to be largely a vacation month, we will be wrapping up all loose ties by June 10. We leave for Oklahoma and Lake Teniller on June 11. Things to do this month include getting power of attorney established, writing a living will (?), packing packing packing, investing some money, selling cars, and selling computers. Thankfully we have very little obligation to do other things right now. I am working a few hours a day, and Travis is not working at all.
Since June will be a vacation month, we plan to move back into the Leger house at the end of May. It will be a change, since we're married now, but we did it for over a year before so what the hell. It'll save us a lot of money. I hope they let us.
I need to fold laundry. How about some comments, people??