Transitions - round 832

July was a busy month. I entertained the fabulous Michael D, cheered on roommate at finish of San Francisco Marathon (she ran 2nd half) and cooked pancake breakfast for 6 afterwards, went to an oceanside cabin on Bodega Bay, swore I would freeze to death in San Francisco's chill... and lost my job.

So now I'm yet another statistic. Luckily I was already one week into teaching European teens English at a language school (run by Canadians!), a course that lasted 2 weeks total. Being back in the classroom was challenging, but using my gray matter to bend teens to my will was entertaining at times, rewarding (yeah, it's hokey) at others. I learned they ride penguins in Spain. And the koala mafia fights with the butterfly mafia in Italy. When a kid said "2 butterflies came to my grandparents house..." then trailed off and looked at the ground in obvious sadness, reliving the painful memory it was amazingly hilarious. They were a creative class, that's for sure. I've also been teaching more French privately and finding that while French grammar trounces English in terms of complexity, I can still make people understand it. Mostly.

Job hunting isn't my favorite activity. But one gig I'm starting on is working with ConferenceHound.com; I have my first blog post with them up now. Their aim is to be something between kayak and yelp for conferences, a pretty cool idea. I'm working on other writing projects, trying to keep the resume factory productive, and learned the basics of driving stick shift so I could commute to another short-term gig last week. Joblessness finds me with so many things to do I wonder how I spent 40 hours a week working in the shop.

I also got my hands on The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. And read it all in less than a day - fabulous ending to a great, thrill-packed trilogy. I love it when the operations kick in and they outline all the clever steps involved so that justice can be served. He was a huge women's rights guy it seems as well from looking at his characters and plots.

Also discovered Porchlight, a local storytelling group here in SF and am looking forward to going to more of their events, maybe trying to tell a story or two of my own. My sister Cassie comes tomorrow morning for fun and fabulous times before she starts college - glad I have time to spend with her!

Internet! Roommate! Chicken Feet!

Ummm, we moved. You knew that, right? Basically successfully though there are still boxes lingering. Need to figure out more heating a place where the heater is in a silly place, doesn't move air, and the power surges if you use space heaters. Though we now have a key to get into the fuse box, that's yet another thrill.

Also exciting was that we finally found a roommate - Nic (for Nicole) is hilarious, lived in London and loves tea, bakes yummy things and works at a design firm with an incredible job title I can't remember off the top of my head. We like her; she came over to meet the landlady and everyone ended up hanging out, eating nachos and telling stories. Definitely a good start.

Barb told me to post this last bit - we've been experimenting with soups and slow cooked food since Mike got a crock pot. At the market yesterday found free-range organic stew chickens for $5, thought we'd make stock. Picked one up and some other yummy things, went to look at incredible Asian art, and then came home. Mike took a nap and I started onions, opened the plastic bag with the chicken (can you feel the tension build?) so I could chop it up for the stew pot.

And there, naked and floppy, were chicken feet! YIKES! I just couldn't deal with their paleness, so I closed up the bag, put it in the fridge and made a cup of tea. Mike had no interest in dealing with it so I sent Sarah a text saying we'd, ummm, need her help majorly. When she came home, tired and worn from work, she laughed at us and then proceeded to pull out the bird only to discover it still had its head attached too! It was a mini horror movie as she deconstructed the bird, and now we have stock.

I did read a lot in the River Cottage Meat Book and learned why buying industrial chicken is pretty gross. As well as how to make stock, his take on pot-au-feu, and some delicious sounding lamb dishes.... Good things to do as the rain begins to actually fall (finally). And it keeps us warm, yes? Huzzah for gas stoves!

Social experiment time

WOOOOOOOO inauguration. A little girl kept saying Obama was a present, not the president. Perhaps a bit of both.

In the spirit of "yes. we. can." the roommate/housing saga has progressed to a whole new level. Apparently when someone says "I'm committed 110%" it actually means that they can then tell you the day before you're supposed to sign your lease that, well, ummm, he's backing out because there's something he likes better that's possible. On Friday (and it's Tuesday evening). And he wants the biggest room (though the two that share one are paying equal rent to all other house members).

Today I told customers I was full of ire. They seemed taken aback.

But, wait, you say. It's the time of CHANGE. Of NEW direction. So Mike, Sarah, and I did what anyone sane would do - we signed a lease tonight and have started looking for a roommate. It's cheap, centrally located in Hayes Valley. Our landlady is wonderful already - she said she was hoping that we'd come back after Sarah and Mike had looked at the house weeks ago. She even spontaneously hugged Sarah when she found out her job as a chef. And our idea of having a rack of ribs bbq once the back yard renovations are done. (Yes, we have a yard. In the middle of the city).

I posted not even a half hour ago, already two responses from responsible sounding grad students. Woot! Feel free to guess how many I get in one day - I'll post the answer soon!

Take that to people who aren't honest. And taking destiny into own hands... Now to start making our home. It's heady stuff - the day has gotten much much better.

But ask me about describing tea tastes. I may or may not have said to the trainer that since I don't eat leather (or hay or other fodder) that I can't quite get to saying the brew tastes like that. It was silly, especially since another attendee and I discovered that if you squint right you can make anything sound serious when it comes to descriptions. "Composty" "Wet" "Woodsy" "Complex"

Just try it. Think "blue steel" and run with it.

Delicious.

And one more thing

I'm more than my credit score. Or my bank account balance.

Why can't we find people who happen to be renting a place we want to live in who agree? Is that really too much to ask?

Happy, um, mid-January?

We threw a party Thursday night because, well, we live in a dance studio. It was surprisingly good times, though not everyone came that said they would we had some new guests and a whole lot of yum chili and snacks. Mike, Sally, and I also rigged up the projector to hit the disco ball and then thought one better - put movies on it! So the original Batman with Adam West provided ceiling entertainment. It was a good party and I'm glad my strategy in Belgrade - invite everyone you know and then see what fun ensues - carried across the ocean.

Housing hunt is demoralizing. But we've found another roommate that allows us to look for bigger places, which has been a success so far. He's a graphic designer, been in the city awhile, and appears to be entertained by our antics. Whew.

I've now gone to a coffee training for work - we tasted SO many and talked about body, if it was dry and lingering or a clean finish, origins and why they make a difference. After that I BARTed over to Berkeley and met Sally and Sarah, ran off to help Cole move a couch. And yes, that's more excellent news - Cole, my old college roommate, has moved to the Bay! His partner, Al, will be going to law school at Berkeley come the fall and currently is working for a non-profit that assists those on death row. Cole's way into bikes and we have plans for riding, gallivanting and general chilling.

Which will be infinitely easier once we have a new house. Lease ends 31st so time is counting down... Unfortunately I've become a bit one track about it. So hopefully this week we'll get things wrapped up.

Craigslist

I have a problem when people don't use apostrophes for things like "I'm" - im is not a word. (You can read it out loud as "em" which is amusing when entertaining the lovely Sarah though).

And yet there are those that post ads like this on Craigslist trying to find housing. Incredible. Here's the title, just to get an idea. It's good for a laugh I suppose.

$800 im funny AND good looking. also im really modest.

Uh-huh.

The hunt for apartments is on.... Happy New Year to all!

you've been out of the country too much when...

I just got an alert from the US embassy in Serbia about Georgia having a runoff election and my first thought was that it was Georgia the country, confusing me as to why US citizens in Serbia would need to know about such an event.

Also, today I entertained (at least I hope so) a colleague at work with my exclamations over the "new" nickels and George Washington dollar coins - there are vikings thinly disguised as Lewis and Clark on our money. Curious. Her "where have you been?" was abruptly stifled when she realized that, in fact, I've not been here.

Oh, and it's been in the 70's this weekend.

Other exciting news has me hanging out with a Serb (from Belgrade) I met at the coffee shop a few weeks ago, he's working in catering so we munched on leftovers from his most recent job as I tried to put the past few years into a succinct chronology without too many digressions. I'm excited to have someone to chat about Beograd with, he's not been back for awhile so hungry for news. Plus he knows about a big gathering that happens monthly with trumpet music, the whole party atmosphere. Woohoo ex-pat communities!

And Mike is here this week - what joy, what bliss.

Election euphoria

I'm so excited and giddy, what an incredible time. I'm glad I could be in the US for the election - walking around with my dad last night in the Mission was crazy in terms of people's excitement levels. I stayed up late to see that INDIANA IS BLUE for the first time in my life.

Apparently that absentee vote counted.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It's madness to see so many smiling, happy people in the streets. I've never seen anything like this; makes me proud. Incredible.

Coffee and 60s...

I am now one of the gainfully employed. Got hired last week and started today slinging coffee at Peet's, a venerable coffee chain that has been around forever and sparked such things as Starbucks. Soon I will wow crowds with my espresso machine skills, but today I focused on dealing out beans (ground right then and there or whole) to the masses. And filling out paperwork.

Pretty awesome. I'm still hunting more work, but I'm excited about learning to barista.

And just in case you were wondering, it's in the 60s F here. Low in the 50s. Ahhhh, glorious.

This weekend too was fabulous in that we did everything you can think of that makes up a good weekend: going to the beach, eating out, taking a ferry ride across the bay, more good food and then ice cream, bar-hopping in the Mission with baseball and huge geeks that work for tech companies, dancing to live Brazilian music and then getting invited to a wedding afterparty in Sarah's building when we came home, dancing some more and meeting some neighbors. Exhausting and invigorating. Add to that I got to hang out with Alojzya on Thursday and Friday and actually talk for what seemed like the first time in years; doesn't get much better. I'm excited too because Barb is going to be around Thursday, my dad from Sunday to Weds and Mike moves here 19 Nov!

Now to figure out Halloween plans.

One week in sun-filled splendor

Today marks my being in the Bay Area for a week. It's gorgeous. Completely and totally. Sally's house overlooks the bay from the towering hills of Berkeley (quite the climb on foot, I must say) and all the time it's a distracting sight. Sunset, sunrise, night or day - it's breathtaking. One can't tire of it.

I took the first few days to get over jet lag (I was so keyed up I couldn't sleep really for a few days - trekking around the hills cured that and I slept like a baby Thursday night finally). Met some of Sally's friends on Saturday, reconnected with some people I've not seen in years (with more to come). I now have a cell phone too - excitement - so the job hunting can begin in earnest. Huzzah. People are also very outwardly friendly here, lots of "hello"s as one walks, I've chatted with some dog owners and shopworkers enjoying the fact that it's easy to do linguistically - it's been a long time since that was the case. I'm thrilled because it seems like a bunch of people are coming through in the upcoming months, starting with Alojzya tomorrow. We'll have dinner (knowing chefs I also have an insider's view on eateries in this food-crazed place. It's fantastic.) and catch up, I can't wait.

Enjoy procrastination - back to job apps. Know anyone who needs a clever worker to do something with books?

Remember that time...

Remember when the US economy decided that a nose dive wasn't enough; no, no, it needed to roll down the hill of economic decline at top speed. If I was into theories I'd say it's because I'm moving back to the US. And will be job hunting.... oh glory.

Got my ticket to San Fran - 15 October I'll be there. Was in Novi Pazar last week exploring some of southern Serbia (accompanying Casse on a business trip). Some fortress ruins, old mosques and churches, a grandiose hotel that looked like a honeycomb and a spaceship mushed together - definitely different. And a long car ride through gorgeous mountains. As always, my photos are behind my writings, but I'll get there. Promise.

Now reading a bunch, teaching less. Ran into old friends on the street yesterday - they were having coffee and I joined. I like the small big cityness of Belgrade, something I'll miss. T minus 15 days and counting I suppose. Bizarre.

Back in Belgrade

The hot climes have become a distant memory after less than a week - going from 25-30 Celsius to 12 Celsius and wet, rainy is a huge difference (to put it mildly). I've started working a bit, more focused on seeing lovely people that I've missed over the past few months, and preparing for the next move (more later on that).

The last weeks of excavation/cleaning up paperwork blur together as time did so often there. Mike and I traveled to see Ekin at her excavation (outside a small town on the way to Adana) for a break that turned out to be more harrowing than normal dig life, but it was good to get out of the compound, see Ekin again, and be on another adventure. It involved being dropped off at a highway intersection (the road goes to the town) and waiting by a gas station, fervently hoping that we were in the right place. Ceyhan (the town - pronouned Jay-han) was much greener than Antakya, it's on a river that still flows mightily (unlike the Orontes) with parks and actual cafes. Very exciting. The team was a mix of Germans and Turks, much smaller than Atchana's team, and we made a welcome diversion (at least that was my impression). I was even able to do a proofreading job for a professor I've worked for here in Belgrade. We stayed at the house of the watchman (where Ekin and her little girl Lale were as well since the excavation house was full up). Battles with mosquitoes lead to trying to sleep through the call to prayer (quite loud since it was Ramadan), roosters crowing and Lale practicing to be an opera singer... exhausting stuff. But one survives. And even enjoys.

I have photos up now of time in Turkey - just to put some faces with names and all that I suppose. For some reason I really like being on top of mountains looking down - apparently the ancients (or at least people in the past) had a similar view since so much is high up. There aren't many photos of our site because not allowed to post unpublished material. When I see you in person I can show those, but not publicly.

Good news too is that both Mike and I have been invited back to the dig for next year, it's nice to be loved. And useful - I find that is hugely important to my state of well-being, the feeling of utility. Darn American values. So assuming all goes well we have an idea for next summer already - talk about long-term planning!

Next adventure is moving to San Francisco. I'm excited about it, looking to get my ticket in the next few days to head there mid-October or so. Hopefully I'll find work with books or food (two of my loves), enjoy seeing folks I've not seen in awhile, and travel up to Seattle/Portland in the not too distant future as well. Mike will be there too (how fun!) and applying to grad schools for next year. Good times. Let me know if you're there, plan to be there - once I have an address I'll be sending it out once again. And you'll be welcome to come and visit (naturally).