seriously, why am I bigger than him?

While I'm going photo-happy, this is one of the weirdest pictures ever...





My brother looks like a small girl with thick eyebrows, and I look like a hefty Swedish lady with crazy hair.

And...we also kinda look like twins, if that's possible.

what's wrong with me

I SHOULD BE PACKING

and they have to wait until water levels recede

Someone died while we were at Yosemite. It could have been anyone. The day we were there, a young student slipped on a rock and got sucked into a current. You defy death at the top of a huge mountain, and then slip on a rock while you're trying to cool off afterwards. Wow, we are mist.

please treat us like crap cause we're from other countries

I had the most terrible experience today. It starts with your usual stressful week at work and your everyday being screwed over by the University of Maryland. I needed to get a copy of these forms, but people keep sending me different places, bla bla bla bla. You know. So by today, I thought everything was straightened out, and I had an appointment at 1:40 to get a TB test at (dun dun duuuuunnn)...the Health Center.

There are a few places in which I have chosen to never set foot. The Health Center, Abercrombie and Fitch...you know me, I just love to be anti-stuff. But alas, when you can't take off work to go all the way home, you gotta do what you gotta do. In the midst of training my replacement in this last hectic week, however, I lost track of time. I got to the Health Center 15 minutes late.

I asked the lady at the front desk if I could still get it done, and she said they finish that at 2:00. But she called downstairs to see if they could fit me in with the international students. They said yes, so I went downstairs.

It was ridiculous. Tons of people in really long lines. So I explained my situ at one desk and got sent to wait in a line for another desk, where 2 ladies sat. One of them was pretty nice but still talking all loud and slow to make sure people could understand her. I wanted to hit the other one. She was so rude!!! Helloooooo! Did you fill this form out yet!? Why not!? I told you you had to fill it out or I can't help you. Sit there and wait for your name to be called. No, you can't go there yet! Aaah, I felt like I was in Ellis Island! And all these people were trying to come in and comply with what they're told, but it's so freakin complicated, and even if they speak pretty good English people are still just hostile to them!

There was one girl who turned in some form, and the nicer lady handed it back to her.
lady: This was completed in 94. It needs to be done in the past 12 months.
girl: It was. In Taiwan, the year 94 is 2005.
lady: Well I can give you a new one to be completed for $60 or you need to get this translated by a doctor.

Okay...she's from Taiwan. Where's she gonna find a doctor? You're the Health Center; you are her doctor. Aaaah, it was driving me crazy. They just turned her away and then what?

So then when I was almost at the front of the line, a bunch of us found out we were in the wrong line, and we had to go to an even longer line first. Since my situ was different than everyone else's, I asked the nicer lady if that was still the line I should be in. We can't possibly fit you in. Do you see all these people? This is for international students only.

So I left. I'm not sure why they said they could fit me in since they obviously couldn't. I seriously almost started crying. I was frustrated that things didn't work out for me, but mostly I just felt all gross for stumbling across the Ellis Island of College Park in the basement of the Health Center and terrible for the people stuck down there.

I just wish that for a minute I was a Taiwanese doctor.

except I stole the last one

some of my dad's photoooos:

Änna: So who are we posing with?
Jan: I dunno, probably some jerk who did something terrible and killed lots of people.
Änna: (after getting down and reading the plaque) Ah, of course. This is comemorating when we stole California from Mexico.
Jan: Yep.

So done with wine tastings right now.

This is my pensive shot as I sit amid the sea of memory stones/cairns/hobbit-looking ritual grounds and stare out at the sea of water.

Nerds! Or maybe just nerd.

Yep, I was there.

What an attractive family of incredibly buff, mountain-loving people! Except, where's that other girl?

"Rawr! Gimme some jam and honey!" Since I've never seen a bear, even a little guy is enough to impress me...and make me head back the rental SUV when he starts approaching me.

Hahaha. I could have just watched this man all day. If you can read his sign, you'll see it says: "World Famous

23 years
Bush Man"

mad gab

I was gonna write this really inspirational post about climbing a big mountain...but I decided against it, cause I just didn't feel like it. Instead, I will share with you another aspect of my trip: Mad Gab. It's a game where you read words off a card and your teammates have to guess what it sounds like you're saying. Turns out, it's fun to make them up. Say these out loud and see if someone in the room can guess what they are.


ears thus tory hovel hovel elate tea

her date truth a gray bovine

thug races gray neuron theaters eyed

thud half full window into church a

thaw writ hummus gone agate chew



But I just can't resist showing a picture, just to give you an idea of what we did. Those little dots making a line up the rock? Those are people, pretty much walking up a 60 degree incline, just holding onto cables so they don't plummet to their deaths. So much fun! Most terrifying experience of my life. Next time I'm scaling the face!

what ever happened to predictability?

okay stalks (I just abbreved stalkers),

I'ma be gone until the 21st, so you'll hear nothing from me. When I told the mailman at work that I was gonna be gone, and then come back for my last week, he said, "Oh, I'm gonna miss you. You have a very nice personality." Aaah, he's my favorite. Little does he know, I'll be in every Monday afternoon!

So, I am in Redwood City/San Francisco/Yosemite this week. The question is...will I make it all the way up Half Dome or turn around once I've gotten halfway? Which will win out, my stubbornness or my laziness?

Honestly, they're both so strong I can't tell. But I just don't think I have the stamina...even after those oh-so-strenuous hikes near Great Falls.

Wish me luck.

I'm using my telekinesis to kill the girl who dumped pig blood on me at the prom

Yesterday I was having a really good psychic day. I just kept predicting things. For instance, I figured that the one day we were going to rent Danny Deckchair, it wouldn't be there. So of course, it was not on the shelf when we arrived. Who watches random Australian movies that only have one copy on the shelf? On a Wednesday?? What are the odds! Darn you Blockbuster and your cursed no late fee policy!
On our way there, I told Jennifer I had the feeling that I was going to run into someone I knew. This usually happens when I go to Columbia Mall, but we were in Olney last night, so she was skeptical. But looo and behold, we went into CVS on a whim, and there was Taylor! Again, the odds! What a good surprise. Almost made up for missing Danny Deckchair. (I can just tell it was gonna be Oscar quality.) But I did get to see Shawshank, since I never had before.
And then, on the way home, I heard a familiar voice while scanning the radio and stopped it quickly. It was Jason Reynolds. Okay, that's not me being psychic as much as in love. And if anyone reading this right now is friends with him, don't mention this. That would just be awkward. Me and my Diner crushes.
Then today, we got a fax at work, and I thought oh man, I hope it's from [a certain groom] and it waaaas! Yeah, that might also be because he told me he'd fax something a while ago. But I usually know when the phone is for me at home, and often I can tell the gender of the caller, just from the first ring.

Do I have more than 5 senses or is this all just unimpressive coincidence?

traffic mimes and gun spoons

Former mayor of Bogotá, Antanas Mockus, is my new hero.
Today, he has become my role model for teaching.

If you think about it, the best leaders in the world don't use power and threats to control their followers. That's more like cult leaders. Good leaders also don't resort to bribes, at the other extreme, to control their followers. That's more like self-serving politicians. Somehow, though, it is completely accepted for teachers to use only these tactics. The entire school system is pretty much based on these two methods. Why shouldn't we expect teachers to be dynamic leaders, not just behaviorist enforcers?

That's why reality TV shows like SuperNanny and Brat Camp piss me off. They act like the best way to raise children is to break their spirits until they comply. (Sit on the Naughty Chair!) Well this guy proves that fear of punishment is not the best way to teach people, to actually motivate them to change.

It reminds me of the way religious systems often try to control people with threats of punishments or rewards (whether physical or eternal) versus the way Jesus interacted with people and changed them from the inside out with His compassion and intelligence. I could say more about this, but I'll save it for another day.

I'm not saying there's no room for "discipline," or whatever you want to call it, and rewards in schools. But if that's all we're doing, then we're not really helping people change internally, or care about others, but just turning them into self-centered little robots.

True leaders make use of the creativity, compassion, common sense, and honesty they possess. I only hope I can be creative and dedicated enough to teach a group of students like this guy taught a city. Honestly, it will be so much easier to fall into the same way everybody else does things, and the way our current system tells us to do things. But...that is not what I'm called to! What a huge job I have ahead of me.

Mad love for all my teachers out there! Haha.

to do

update: The prairie dogs are back! You don't know how happy this makes me! Also, I found out that the reason the kangaroo always looks like he's about to die is because of his arthritis...I've been worrying about him for a year.

• make a MD T-shirt blanket (put on hold due to not enough T-shirts...donations welcomed)
  
• take a trip to Great Falls
• watch an outdoor movie somewhere
• go to the zoo
• have a crab feast on the deck
• eat at the top of the Hotel Washington at sunset
• go to the American Indian Museum
• go to free outdoor concerts

ps: We also hiked another trail to the Potomac. The cave beneath a waterfall wasn't as amazing as the bike guy made them sound, but still a successful trip!

nerds are trendsetters

Between myself, Sara, Bert, Julia, Steph, and Elizabeth...I think I have created a blogosphere.
I don't know whether to be honored or ashamed.

I have seen the future, and the future is Swedish

You know how it is in movies when someone travels forward in time, and they're in awe of what they see? When I was little, I used to pretend that Laura Ingalls Wilder was with me, and I had to explain to her what everything was. This is called a car. It goes really fast, and it doesn't even need horses. Everybody has one. I could never explain to her why there were stores that carried 5 different brands of toilet paper, though. That, she just had to experience.

Today, I understood how Laura must have felt all those times that she came to visit me. My boss had to run some errands to get stuff for the Bridal Suite and told me I should come. Close the office for awhile, return calls when we get back.

me: Should we eat our cake now or save it for after we get back?
her: How about...before and after?
That's right, we were living on the edge.

So, we decided to go to a little place called the College Park IKEA. I had never been before, believe it or not, except for one time when I was little, at Potomac Mills, and I played in the play room with my cousin while our moms shopped. But like my boss said, that doesn't count.

Now, I always knew that the store was big, but what I didn't realize is that it's basically an airport. There are certain places you have to enter and exit, and it's huge, and there's even a restaurant and a bakery inside! I actually felt like I was at BWI, except without that fear that I always have that I'm going to accidentally do something stupid like say "bomb" or walk through a metal detector with a knife in my pocket...for example. But back to the restaurant part. We split a lunch for $6.00. It had Swedish meatballs and gravy, red potatoes, lingonberries, chicken and rice soup, a roll, and lingonberry juice, and I was FULL, and it was very good!

After lunch, we followed the arrows through the whole store, and I kept grabbing really cheap things for the apartment. Seriously, everything you could imagine is in that store. I really didn't know what to look at, so I just followed my boss round and blurted out things I needed to buy. In a daze, I asked my boss, "Why are we here again? Is it work-related?" Turns out it was, but I also bought: a trash can for the Terp bathroom, a wire whisk and egg whipper, 2 curtains for the family room, 4 knives in a block, a plastic colander, and a cute tablecloth, for LESS than $21.00! Then we went back to work, and I had some more cake. (Cake Day was a total hit.)

Anyways, I'm going back as soon as humanly possible. Those Scandinavians sure do know how to treat a girl.

Cake Day!

Today is Cake Day.My boss was really upset about the ghost, although she does not necessarily say that's what it was. Her computer's been all screwed up and she's always busy and lately pretty stressed. And there's absolutely nothing I can do about it, so I've just been getting bad vibes now. And bad vibes in the office are noooo good. After accidentally deleting twelve emails at once, she blurted out, "let's decorate!" So we decorated. And rearranged, and moved a gazillion pounds of books, and a bookcase, and a crappy old table. And I built a new table. (built, assembled, whatever...I barely used the instructions. I've been feeling very handy lately. Yesterday I removed ugly yellow and green 70's wallpaper remains from the townhouse kitchen.) And this is after moving 24 flags into new flag stands and moving the old ones, and after the sand fiasco. So the Chapel is all kinds of redecorated now. And the office is a little spruced up, too. My boss bought me flowers today. She said I'm stuck inside all day every day, and the office could use a little cheer. She's had a rough week, and then she buys me flowers. I figure the least I can do is throw in a cake and make it a party.

So that's why today is Cake Day.

oh, BTW

We ARE hiring someone at the Chapel! Let me know if you want to share in my often glamorous, sometimes ridiculous, always new and different job!

whoooooo whooooOOOoooo

I think there's a ghost in the Chapel.

a very tech-savvy ghost

who breaks into the office when no one is around, installs Windows XP, and screws up Outlook

whooooOOOOOOoooooOOOOOooooooooo