Me, Saby, Cecy and Evelyn in my car, driving back cruda from a weekend up at the lake, reggaeton, salsa, bachata and everything in between blasting from the speakers as we roll through the heart of Minnesota's farmland, past streets with names like Feldspar Street and towns with names like Hill City.
That's incongruity of the best kind.
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Monday, August 16, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Laughter
Today was Saby's birthday, so we celebrated by having a barbecue out at one of the nearby parks on Bush Lake in Bloomington.
Two moments that I hope I never forget, because they will surely make me smile even in the worst moods:
1. One of the more fun Mexican birthday traditions is shoving the birthday person's face into their cake. Because Saby's cake sported this wonderfully done crest of Club America, the club she supports, she was only going to put her face in one of the corners. Well when Lacy and Sonia went to push her, she resisted, so she barely got any frosting on her face, and the girls insisted that she cut a piece out and redo it. So she did, and the result was much more satisfying. But then she ran after Cecy and literally chased her all over the park to smear cake all over her. They sparred in the parking lot, and then Saby just slapped Cecy in the face with a handful of frosting. It was absolutely hilarious and I thought I was going to keel over laughing.
2. Cecy's sister, Yadi, headed home a bit early, taking her son Dylan and their mother back. She starts to pull out of the parking lot, and as she does, we realize there is a police car a few blocks up the road, probably pulling over a speeder or something. Yadi has Dylan, who is perhaps 5, in the front seat. So Cecy goes running barefoot through the parking lot to try and stop them before they get out of the parking lot. She gets to them just as they're pulling out, and they do a U-turn right back in. Then, after explaining the situation to them and getting things changed around accordingly, she got in the car and made them drive her around the lot back to where we were, so she didn't have to hurt her feet anymore. I almost died laughing a second time.
Two moments that I hope I never forget, because they will surely make me smile even in the worst moods:
1. One of the more fun Mexican birthday traditions is shoving the birthday person's face into their cake. Because Saby's cake sported this wonderfully done crest of Club America, the club she supports, she was only going to put her face in one of the corners. Well when Lacy and Sonia went to push her, she resisted, so she barely got any frosting on her face, and the girls insisted that she cut a piece out and redo it. So she did, and the result was much more satisfying. But then she ran after Cecy and literally chased her all over the park to smear cake all over her. They sparred in the parking lot, and then Saby just slapped Cecy in the face with a handful of frosting. It was absolutely hilarious and I thought I was going to keel over laughing.
2. Cecy's sister, Yadi, headed home a bit early, taking her son Dylan and their mother back. She starts to pull out of the parking lot, and as she does, we realize there is a police car a few blocks up the road, probably pulling over a speeder or something. Yadi has Dylan, who is perhaps 5, in the front seat. So Cecy goes running barefoot through the parking lot to try and stop them before they get out of the parking lot. She gets to them just as they're pulling out, and they do a U-turn right back in. Then, after explaining the situation to them and getting things changed around accordingly, she got in the car and made them drive her around the lot back to where we were, so she didn't have to hurt her feet anymore. I almost died laughing a second time.
Friday, June 19, 2009
A Pleasant Surprise
When I was in junior high, I used to volunteer as a junior counselor for the summer program at the park behind my house. It was basically like mini-summer camp for neighborhood kids and ran most of the summer. There were also senior counselors who were usually high school or college age kids who actually got paid for their work. One year, I worked with a senior counselor named Omar. He was really friendly and easy-going and one time I even ran into him at Southdale Mall. We didn't keep in touch, though.
Yesterday, I went to Children's Home Society and Family Services to do an adopted persons panel for prospective adoptive parents. When I and the other panel members walked into the room, I noticed that there was an African-American man among the prospective parents, which is rare. Adoptive parents tend to be almost exclusively white. In any event, I noticed him, figured "Cool. Good for him," and that was that.
A few minutes later, however, when I introduced myself and said I had grown up in St. Louis Park, the guy lit up with this smile of recognition, and I thought maybe he was from St. Louis Park or something like that. And then, when the questions started, he raised his hand and said, "Julia, I don't know if you remember, but we worked at the park together." And instantly, I recognized him. It was most definitely Omar, from way back when. He joked a little about how it was nice to see me grown up, and I was just kind of speechless with surprise.
Apparently he and his wife are thinking of adopting, and they're considering both Ethiopia and Korea. He asked us if we thought it would be difficult adopting from Korea because of his race. I answered that it wouldn't be so hard here in the States, but if he ever went back to Korea with his child, it would be very hard, because Korean society is so conservative.
After the panel, I went over to talk briefly with him and his wife. He said he's living in Crystal now, and teaching in Richfield. He and his wife already have a 6-year-old daughter, and their daughter wants a little sister, so they are looking into adoption. I wanted to talk more, but there was another panel after ours, and I didn't want to hold things up. But it was just such a wonderful surprise to run into someone from so many years ago and have them remember me and be so friendly, and then even more so to have this new connection over adoption.
Yesterday, I went to Children's Home Society and Family Services to do an adopted persons panel for prospective adoptive parents. When I and the other panel members walked into the room, I noticed that there was an African-American man among the prospective parents, which is rare. Adoptive parents tend to be almost exclusively white. In any event, I noticed him, figured "Cool. Good for him," and that was that.
A few minutes later, however, when I introduced myself and said I had grown up in St. Louis Park, the guy lit up with this smile of recognition, and I thought maybe he was from St. Louis Park or something like that. And then, when the questions started, he raised his hand and said, "Julia, I don't know if you remember, but we worked at the park together." And instantly, I recognized him. It was most definitely Omar, from way back when. He joked a little about how it was nice to see me grown up, and I was just kind of speechless with surprise.
Apparently he and his wife are thinking of adopting, and they're considering both Ethiopia and Korea. He asked us if we thought it would be difficult adopting from Korea because of his race. I answered that it wouldn't be so hard here in the States, but if he ever went back to Korea with his child, it would be very hard, because Korean society is so conservative.
After the panel, I went over to talk briefly with him and his wife. He said he's living in Crystal now, and teaching in Richfield. He and his wife already have a 6-year-old daughter, and their daughter wants a little sister, so they are looking into adoption. I wanted to talk more, but there was another panel after ours, and I didn't want to hold things up. But it was just such a wonderful surprise to run into someone from so many years ago and have them remember me and be so friendly, and then even more so to have this new connection over adoption.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Back in the groove
I played my first full weekend of football this past weekend, and I'm a bit rusty, but by the third game (yes, third), I was starting to find my touch again. I'm playing in three separate leagues at the moment, and the teammates of one of my Ecuadorian teams (Virgen de la Nube Juventus) are trying to get me to join a fourth ("Solo cuando descanses, no tienes que jugar todos los partidos!"). Sounds grueling, but to be honest, I live for these kinds of weekends. The girls are a ton of fun to be around on all the teams, I don't feel at all like an outsider, and for a few hours, I can just play football and be myself.
Finn, a Thai classmate of mine from Taiwan, came to visit me last week. She's going to be starting undergrad studies at UC-Berkeley in September, and she's taking an English class there over the summer, but she had a couple weeks between when she arrived in Berkeley and when classes started, so she hopped on a plane and came to visit. We spent a lot of time just hanging out and talking, which is what we so often did in Taiwan, but we also went over to the Mississippi River and took a boat cruise upriver and went to Lake Harriet to have ice cream and see a concert at the bandshell. Finn is from Bangkok, and she spent the past two years in Taipei. She was used to big-city lights and noise, so the suburban Midwest was a big change. I think she really enjoyed it though, and in any event it was just really good to get together again. Hopefully when Anna goes out there to start her graduate studies, she and Finn can share an apartment. Finn's relatives live right near campus and have a two-bedroom apartment that they're willing to rent out for a very reasonable price.
In other news, getting my Spanish visa looks like it's going to be the hardest part of this whole going-to-Spain deal. It's all paperwork and certificates and official seals, and the word is that the consulates are super strict about every little detail, so if you screw one thing up, you're out of luck. I guess after dealing with various other countries' government bureaucracies, though, I'm not overly stressed about whether things will work out. I nearly drove myself insane last summer with getting my Taiwanese visa and other things, but it all came together in the end and I had wasted a lot of energy stressing over nothing.
Finn, a Thai classmate of mine from Taiwan, came to visit me last week. She's going to be starting undergrad studies at UC-Berkeley in September, and she's taking an English class there over the summer, but she had a couple weeks between when she arrived in Berkeley and when classes started, so she hopped on a plane and came to visit. We spent a lot of time just hanging out and talking, which is what we so often did in Taiwan, but we also went over to the Mississippi River and took a boat cruise upriver and went to Lake Harriet to have ice cream and see a concert at the bandshell. Finn is from Bangkok, and she spent the past two years in Taipei. She was used to big-city lights and noise, so the suburban Midwest was a big change. I think she really enjoyed it though, and in any event it was just really good to get together again. Hopefully when Anna goes out there to start her graduate studies, she and Finn can share an apartment. Finn's relatives live right near campus and have a two-bedroom apartment that they're willing to rent out for a very reasonable price.
In other news, getting my Spanish visa looks like it's going to be the hardest part of this whole going-to-Spain deal. It's all paperwork and certificates and official seals, and the word is that the consulates are super strict about every little detail, so if you screw one thing up, you're out of luck. I guess after dealing with various other countries' government bureaucracies, though, I'm not overly stressed about whether things will work out. I nearly drove myself insane last summer with getting my Taiwanese visa and other things, but it all came together in the end and I had wasted a lot of energy stressing over nothing.
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