once in a [red] moon

Look! My sleep schedule is all messed up and I've been napping and unproductive as a result but I got to see THIS! Jess alerted me to the fact that an astronomical phenomena would be visible to both of us so I gladly set my alarm for 3 hours after my bedtime in order to see it. It was so cool! The moon was pretty small so it was a little hard to see (that might have been the sleepiness though) but it was awesome. I thought it would be bright red sooner but it was cool watching the little strip of white fade away. Eclipses are pretty cool! Did you see it??

PS- This is not my picture, my camera is broken and definitely not awesome enough to take pictures of the moon. Although, I did work really hard to find one that looked just like what I saw, so there's that.

good morning

My alarm clock is set for approximately 9 minutes before I have to walk out the door in the morning. There are four class session times at my language school and I have been plagued with the unfortunate horror of having the earliest class for months. If it were summer I would be so glad to be up and out the door during the cool of the morning, but when my bedroom temperature hasn't yet risen above 45 degrees it's a very pitiful start to my day.
It is all made possible by this section of my wardrobe. I blindly stumble out of bed and put on whatever things are in this pile of stuff and brush my teeth as I walk down the (45) stairs to the front door.


The good news is that when class is over by 10:30am I have my whole day in front of me and I'm already out of bed! My usual routine is to come home and eat breakfast, usually something involving yesterday's bread. Then I go change into my roof outfit (an exposition of the several outfit changes I make during the day is sure to come) and take my current reading assignment(s) up to the sunny wonderland that is my roof and read for several hours. I usually take breaks to bask with my eyes closed or peek over the wall and check out the construction next door (which would wake me up every morning even if I could sleep in) or watch my neighbors hang their laundry. After reading until I can't stand it anymore I descend and find ways to be productive in other areas of life, kinda.

I wish I were one of those people who wakes up at 6am every morning, regardless of the day's obligations. I enjoy being up early I just hate the waking up part. A lot. Ask any of my former or current roommates, they'll tell you. But the thing is, I hate waking up at 9am just as much as I hate waking up at 6am. Why don't I just change my routine? Ah, the mysteries of life.

toddlers make the best valentines

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm babysitting. I'm almost always babysitting on Valentine's Day, which is just fine with me. I'm good at babysitting and I love doing things I'm good at. I'm certainly better at babysitting than I am at dating, that's for sure.

I even got a flower and a wink, I'd say I came out ahead. Oh and I'm having (free) sushi tonight. Way ahead!

Babysitting is a funny thing, especially when you're old enough to be the parent of the kids you're watching. It's a pretty great deal. I just wrote "Scooby Doo" on a Magna-Doodle and my little friend hasn't stopped looking at it for over an hour. It almost sent him over the edge when I asked if he wanted to actually watch Scooby Doo. I am so beloved.

Boys are weird. I never understood the concept of playing with guys and cars. And they're all arranged in important ways but it just looks like a pile of dudes and robots but if someone (me) disturbs the order of the tiny universe it is made clear to the universe destroyer (me) that there is in fact a very delicate and specific arrangement for the guys and cars. Who knew? Good news there's a 3 year-old girl to sit on my lap and talk to about her new pink boots while I braid her hair.

Speaking of hair, my hair is officially long again. The definition of long is when I can reach it behind my back without tilting my head back, just so you know. It's almost at the length where I always want to put it in a ponytail but not quite. I always think I like my hair up and that ponytails are cute but whenever I see myself in the mirror (or worse- a photograph) I realize that I look gross with my hair back. Turns out that face-framing thing is legit. I kind of really love my hair here, which is a big surprise. I use a 2-in-1 shampoo and it is perfect for my hair. The bottle of clarifying super de-greasing shampoo that I used in America is still in the shower almost full. Even my hair loves it here and that means a lot.

mutual understanding and freedom from discord

This little wonder has caused about an hour of self-reflection ending with the inevitable submission to the truth of the matter. Moody and depressed. My roommates (current and former) are reading this and laughing out loud at this very moment, be sure. Accurate emotional assessment in 5 minutes or less via The Color Quiz. Take it. Post it.

Your Existing Situation

Works well in cooperation with others. Needs a personal life of mutual understanding and freedom from discord.

Your Stress Sources

Unfulfilled hopes have led to uncertainty and apprehension. Needs to feel secure and to avoid any further disappointment, and fears being passed over or losing standings and prestige. Doubts that things will be any better in the future and this negative attitude leads her to make exaggerated demands and to refuse to make reasonable compromises.

Your Restrained Characteristics

Able to achieve satisfaction through sexual activity but is inclined to be emotionally withdrawn, which prevents her from becoming deeply involved.

Egocentric and therefore quick to take offense. Sensitive and sentimental, but conceals this from all except those very close to him.

Feels that things stand in her way, that circumstances are forcing her to compromise and forgo some pleasures for the time being.

Your Desired Objective

Feels the existing circumstances are hostile and is exhausted by conflict and quarreling. Wishes to protect herself and hides her intentions to avoid exposing them to attack, so that they will be safer and easier to achieve. Careful to avoid stirring up any opposition which might endanger her plans.

Your Actual Problem

Disappointment at the non-fulfillment of her hopes and the fear that to formulate fresh goals will only lead to further setbacks have resulted in considerable anxiety. She tries to escape from this by withdrawing and protecting herself with an attitude of cautious reserve. Moody and depressed.

apparently i'm a crier

I cry every single time I watch this movie.

Every time! I NEVER cry during movies but this one makes me cry every time. The funny thing is that I don't watch it that often so I always forget and then inevitably I start weeping. I think I cry for a different reason every time too, sometimes because of the mom parts, sometimes the dying parts and sometimes the kid parts. Oh man and then when he says, "I'm staying. For good." It's pathetic.


I've been crying a lot in the last year or so. I started crying at the airport when I said goodbye and I haven't really stopped. I've cried more in the last year than probably the last 15 years of my life. I'm making up for lost time, I guess. It's good though, I feel normal. Except for the time I cried during an episode of 24. Only a little.

surprisingly delicious

I would like everyone to know that French's Alfredo Sauce mix is by far superior to any other Alfredo Sauce mix I've tried while living overseas. It definitely beats out Knorr and McCormick. In fact, it definitely beats out several restaurant Alfredo disasters I've experienced in the past. I'm thinking about starting a specific website devoted to things like food substitution product reviews, bootleg movie tips and websites with cheap overseas shipping. I'll keep you posted.

Christmas in Germany

Choosing a blogable number of pictures from my trip to Germany was the hardest thing I've done in a long time. I had such a blast! It was so providential that I was able to get out of Africa for Christmas and I'm so thankful. First, we got Ryanair tickets for super cheap, then the director of our school said we could stay with her family, then she decided to come with us and give us a (free!) 3-day guided tour of Bavaria. Merry Christmas Angie! These pictures are totally out of order, but here was our itinerary:

7pm- Depart
12am- Arrive in Frankfurt
5am- Arrive in Schienfeld

Day 2
Sleep In, Breakfast
Train to Nurnburg
Castle, Christmas Market, Dinner, Starbucks

Day 3
Rotenburg
Ludwig's Castles
Dinner in Austria

Day 4
Drive to Salzburg, Christmas Market, that famous street, lots of coffee
Drive to Munich, Christmas Market, Starbucks

Day 5
Christmas Eve!
Eat
Church
Eat
Presents

Day 6
Christmas!
Eat
Church
Eat
Family Reunion!

Day 7
Drive to Frankfurt
Leave!

town hall and christmas market in munich

singing "silent night" around the town christmas tree by candlelight

christmas tree with real candles

family music time. this was before my cello lesson.

view from the castle

so beautiful

horse wash in austria

the worst christmas light display ever

woo!

sausage by the meter

seriously. so exciting. almost cried.

this is what christmas is supposed to look like

Best Albums of 2007

I'm seriously going to do a better job of posting on both blogs. Hopefully you use RSS so you don't even really notice that I don't post that often. Anyway. I am babysitting for the whole entire weekend for Mr. Doesn'tknowhispossessivepronouns (ex. "Me ride me bike?") and Mr. Anotomicallycuriousdinosaur (read: playing T-Rex with squeezing claws that gravitate toward my butt), but (pun!) the good news is that there is a rocket-fast wifi connection so I'm downloading like crazy. Remember Limewire?! I'm so entranced. It's just like college. I feel a little (a lot) out of the loop and out of touch with my home culture so I decided to download a few of Time Magazine's Top 10 Albums of 2007 and Top 10 Songs of 2007. I haven't really listened to a lot of it yet but I'm excited to see what the big deal with Amy Winehouse is and obviously I can't wait to dive into the new Radiohead.

I've got a busy week ahead of me. Three days of doing everything Christmasy I've been planning before leaving for Germany on Thursday and then off to the land of snow and Starbucks (I hope I hope!). Tonight is baking, tomorrow is the gingerbread house party, Tuesday is watching The Nativity with some friends, Wednesday is the (inevitable) Secret Santa party with the group and Thursday morning is Christmas breakfast with my roommates. How's that for cramming an entire holiday season into 5 days!?

happy weekend

These two websites have consumed all of my free time. I thought I should share, just in case you had some free time laying around getting moldy.

Slate Magazine's "The Complete Bushisms"
My favorites are when he makes fun of the blind guy and the most interesting thing about George Washington

The Daily Show Video Library
Every Daily Show since Jon Stewart took over in 1996, sorted by date and segment, searchable by names, subjects and keywords. I'm working my way backwards from today. I'm at October 16, 2007.

Enjoy.

Warning: Graphic Content

Seriously. It's going to be gross, people.

So I stubbed my toe a while back and I looked down and this is what I saw, except with LOTS more blood.

I looked down and realized what had happened and thought, "Whoa...the boys are going to think this is so cool." Then I really realized what had happened and started to panic and yelled, "Hey somebody, my toenail fell off!"

This is about a week later after many soakings and things calmed down a bit. The nail was still connected under there somewhere. I waited for a long time for it to fall off on it's own but eventually I just hacked it off with scissors stolen from the BFD.

much better...kinda

stacy was right!

4 things about me.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. vegetable chopper
2. child watcher
3. desk sitter
4. coffee maker

Four places I have lived:
1. with my mom
2. with my dad
3. with my friends
4. north africa

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. the sahara
2. spain
3. nairobi
4. schaumburg, illinois

Four of my favorite foods:
1. popcorn with m&m's
2. things you wrap up
3. cheesy things you eat with a fork
4. sushi

Four friends that I think will respond first:
1. cate?
2. holly?
3. joanna?
4. someone?

well hello, new favorite

paper cloud

finally luggage tags get witty

I saw a picture of these luggage tags (which are clearly from knockknock.biz) on boingboing the other day and can't stop laughing about them. I'm thinking about printing them out and making them for myself.

Flowchart: Medieval sexual desicionmaking

Okay I'm sure this is borderline inappropriate but I thought it was awesome. Are there flowcharts for deciding what movie to watch?

Rock the Vote

First of all, I'm pretty sure I've used that title before. Anyway. I saw these links on BoingBoing today and thought it was really interesting. First, this site has a chart of the presidential canidates (who knew there were so many?!) and their stance on some hot issues.


This site has used the previous chart to build an online quiz to help you determine which candidate best lines up with your opinions. It's pretty interesting and fairly accurate. The problem is that the chart doesn't account for nuances in strategy and opinion which come into play in the quiz. Nonetheless, really interesting.

My top picks (not surprisingly) were Obama and Kucinich and it's pretty clear that I will NOT be voting for Tancredo.

stacey lens is my hero

she never lets me down

Confessions...A fun questionnaire

1. The phone rings. Who do you want it to be? my mom. well, anyone from home actually. i just got a vonage phone so it will be fun receiving calls from home for a change.
2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart? always
3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener? i mostly like to ask questions
4. Do you take compliments well? No. I hate being complimented.
5. Do you play Sudoku? NO! I hate it! I'm so bad at it. I've never even completed a square.
6. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive? Depends on the wilderness. I would probably be okay for a while.
7. Do you like to ride horses? I don't really know. Probably.
8. Did you ever go to camp as a kid? Yes...and I don't really like talking about it.
9. What was your favorite game as a kid? Life and then Labyrinth
10. If a sexy person was pursuing you, but you knew he/she was married, what would you do? Be really annoyed and then hit him.
12. Could you date someone with different religious beliefs than you? He would probably be creeped out by me and we would probably have different goals.
13. Do you like to pursue or be pursued? Be pursued. Totally.
14. Use three words to describe yourself? fan of fans
15. Do any songs make you cry? A couple.
16. Are you continuing your education? Why yes, yes I am.
17. Do you know how to shoot a gun? if by gun you mean super soaker, then yes, but not with much confidence.
18. If your house was on fire, what would be the first thing you grabbed? my computer
19. How often do you read books? daily
20. Do you think more about the past, present or future? mostly future...too much probably.
21. What is your favorite children’s book? Where The Wild Things Are and Next Place
22. What color are your eyes? Hazel
23. How tall are you? 5′9ish
24. Where is your dream house located? Good question. Probably Portland.
27. Have you ever taken pictures in a photo booth? Yes of course.
28. When was the last time you were at Olive Garden? Like, 7 months ago.
30. Where was the furthest place you traveled today? in 24 hours i've flown for 14 hours and been on a train for 5. I was far away yesterday.
32. Do you like mustard? Only on onion rings
34. Do you look like your mom and dad? Mostly like my dad
35. How long does it take you in the shower? like, 6 minutes.
37. What movie do you want to see right now? Ratatouille
39. What did you do for New Year’s? Um, I don't remember. Probably nothing. I hate New Year's.
40. Do you think The Grudge was scary? I didn't see it.
42. Do you own a camera phone? No.
44. Was your mom a cheerleader? No
45. What’s the last letter of your middle name? o
47. How many hours of sleep do you get a night? usually 7. I really can't sleep more than 8.
48. Do you like care bears? I used to a whole lot.
49. What do you buy at the movies? Cherry Coke and Junior Mints. Most recently it was a Black Currant Fanta. Highly recommended.
50. Do you know how to play poker? A little.
51. Do you wear your seatbelt? Not in taxis.
52. What do you wear to sleep? plaid pajama pants or Iowa basketball shorts and my Antique Acres shirt or the shirt I was wearing that day that I forgot to change out of.
53. Anything big ever happen in your hometown? Nope.
54. How many meals do you eat in a day? Usually 3 but it's too hot to eat now.
55. Is your tongue pierced? Nope.
56. Do you always read MySpace bulletins? No. I hate them so much I deleted my MySpace.
58. Do you like funny or serious people better? Funny.
59. Ever been to L.A.? No. I probably never will unless it's to visit someone. No desire.
60. Did you eat a cookie today? Um, no. I did eat a digestive biscuit though.
61. Do you use cuss words in other languages? Yes but not on purpose. Pronunciation is tricky.
62. Do you steal or pay for your music downloads? I just make requests to Alex and she sends them on over. It's the best system I've ever had.
63. Do you hate chocolate? No. I eat a lot more chocolate here than I ever have before. I'm okay with it.
64. What do you and your parents fight about the most? Not a lot. Money probably.
65. Are you a gullible person? No. But I'm trickable.
66. Do you need a boyfriend/girlfriend to be happy? Definitely not.
67. If you could have any job (assuming you have the skills) what would it be? I pretty much have it. Or taking pictures.
68. Are you easy to get along with? When I want to be.
69. What is your favorite time of day? Late afternoon.

The end.

PS - I decided to keep posting on this blog with random not North Africa stuff. I hope that's okay with you.

Long Time No See

Hello.

First of all, if you're reading this, I'm really surprised at your diligence. I've started a new blog to share my African adventures with everyone and I would love for you to see it. For security reasons, this blog will only be open to invited readers. If you would like to read this blog, send me an email or comment on this blog and I'll add you to the list!

See you soon!

you are invited!

Hello dear blogging friends. For those of you who aren't on Facebook (why would you not be on Facebook?!), just wanted to let you know that I'll be in Iowa City for one last time this Thursday and some friends and I will be grabbing dinner at The Vine (Coralville) at 6:30 so I'd love it if you could join us! Bring anyone you would like, the more the merrier. I'd love to see as many people as possible before I leave!

See you at the Vine!

PS- let me know if you're planning on coming so I can warn The Vine!

christmas and such

Remember how all I really wanted for Christmas was you...wait...I mean peace? I totally got it. I had a really nice holiday season. I felt completely okay taking a break from the craziness of leaving to just be with my family. There was no drama or stress, things just went along as they always do. It was great. Here are some pictures from my holiday season. Notice the lack of group pictures of us doing the normal Christmas things...I forgot to take pictures during the actual celebrating. Oops.

Luke got to put the angel on the tree. We got a new tree this year and it's pretty big so that will be Luke's job from now on because he's decidedly taller than the rest of us...which is still weird.

I was excited to make Christmas cookies which meant going through all of my mom and grandma's recipes to find the right Christmas ones. It was fun to see my grandma's handwriting again. It's been a long time. I found this recipe for "Angie's Dad's Favorite Brownies" which was cute. My grandma really loved my dad (and he loved her too!) which was always really nice.
I made this scarf for the Secret Santa thing at work. We had a $5 limit which is just not enough to have fun with but yarn is cheap so I made a scarf. It was for Tiffany, hence the "T". She liked it. What did I get from my Secret Santa you ask? NOTHING!! My Secret Santa sucked! I have filed a formal complaint with Starbucks, don't worry.
On Christmas Eve we go to Grandma B's (my step-dad's mom) for a Norwegian food. She makes lutefisk, which couldn't be more disgusting, but there are meatballs and lefse, which are amazing. On the wall by the door is Luke's growth chart. Other people started adding themselves, which is really rude. All of the blank ones are Luke, there are lots.

Grandma hard at work in the kitchen while we do nothing.

My aunt kept commenting on how Luke blended right into the painting he was sitting in front of. She was right.

I taught my niece how to lay under the tree to look at the lights. She thought it was a pretty fun trick. I love how she scrunches up her whole face when she smiles.

It was hard getting a picture of Carter without the Spiderman costume I let him wear all night...by all night I mean including to the movie theater and to the Burger King playland where he introduced himself to the other children as Spiderman. "Hi, my name is Spiderman"

The best part of my Christmas vacation was getting to spend tons of time with Crissa. I love that she has a job that lets her have Christmas break. She really wanted to meet Isaiah so we went over to Alisha's to see him. I had just found one of the old versions of Labyrinth at Barnes and Noble so we played it. We played this game THOUSANDS of times in junior high and high school. It was really really fun to play with the true Labyrinth masters again (No offense, Eli). Alisha won but only because she tricked us...typical. Cady (Crissa's sister) was there too but apparently not allowed to be in this picture.
We got this hat for Isaiah. We also got him a shirt that says "brrr" on it. He was really fun and completely cooperative when we needed to pretend we were 14 years old and just play Labyrinth and pretend we weren't growing up at all.

So that was basically my Christmas break. I'm glad that my memories of this time include so many good things and not things like airline luggage regulations, running out of sprinkles for the peppermint mochas or the fact that global warming killed all of the snow. I hope your Christmas included peace and joy too...oh and the Sufjan Stevens cd's...I definitely hope it included those!