Awhile back I got an email saying someone from Mutual of Omaha's AHA MOMENT campaign found my blog and thought I might have an "interesting story to tell." So I got invited to come to the trailor when they stopped in Erie to tell my story. Here it is :)
Monday, July 18, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Gypsy Girl
Gypsy Girl
Traveling the World
Pack on her Back
Ignoring the Requests
to Make this Time Her Last.
;)
Traveling the World
Pack on her Back
Ignoring the Requests
to Make this Time Her Last.
;)
Calling all writer friends!
Calling all writer friends!
I have had it in my head that I want to write a children's book...well, not write it, illustrate it. Given my shotty writing capabilities, I just can't seem to write a childrens story. Thats what I was hoping to recruit some help from other writers.
I need some basic stories or outlines just so I can start getting some illustrations down, develop a style and build up a portfolio...
If anyone writes children's books or writes in general and would like to have a go at writing children's books, I could use some help!
OR if you know anyone that writes that might be interested, that would help too.
Thank you!
I have had it in my head that I want to write a children's book...well, not write it, illustrate it. Given my shotty writing capabilities, I just can't seem to write a childrens story. Thats what I was hoping to recruit some help from other writers.
I need some basic stories or outlines just so I can start getting some illustrations down, develop a style and build up a portfolio...
If anyone writes children's books or writes in general and would like to have a go at writing children's books, I could use some help!
OR if you know anyone that writes that might be interested, that would help too.
Thank you!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Getting Back
You may wonder, 'How can I leave it all behind if I am just coming back to it? How can I make a new beginning if I simply return to the old?' The answer lies in the return. You will not come back to the 'same old thing.' What you return to has changed because you have changed. Your perceptions will be altered. You will not incorporate into the same body, status, or world you left behind. The river has been flowing while you were gone. Now it does not look like the same river.
I flew out of Guatemala on May 13th and I feel like I've had little time to regroup since I've been home. I flew straight to DC for a Bachelorette party, spent the following week entertaining a friend who was in town, and then the day he flew out, moved to Pittsburgh. I had no job, just an apartment and a best friend there. It became my mission the first week to find a job to pay the bills...which was hard to do!! Jobs, especially in social services (that pay more than 20000 a year) are hard to come by in this economy. Having been essentially "on vacation" for the better part of a year, this transition into regular, American life has been very stressful.
I worked for 2 years and lived at home to save up for my Guatemala/Honduras trip. I spent literally every penny I had down there. Having to dive full force into worrying about money was a lot to handle.
Not to mention life is completely different here. The things I got used to in honduras/guatemala are not here. Life is just different and without having firsthand experienced it, its hard to explain the difficulty in now coming back to life in America and feeling unsettled.
It seems silly, I know, but I was gone for nearly 9 months...longer than ever before so im feeling all out of sorts and im not sure quite how to get regrounded here. However the question in my mind is do I want to get resettled here?
At this point in my life the only thing I have keeping me in one place is a car. I'm 25 years old and have all the freedom in the world to pick up and go again. Part of me wants to leave again...go back to Central America and finish learning spanish, teach english, and live another good 6 months to a year down there.
But then another part of me wants to set up roots...find a job here in the states that I love and work my way up the ladder...save money, invest, buy a house, get a dog...do all the "adult things" that as a 25 year old, I should be doing.
But then I also know, if I don't take on these adventures now, i'll be knee deep in a job I love and won't want to leave. If I leave then, i'll have to work my way up all over again.
All of this is battling in my head everyday and it makes it hard to know which direction to head in next.
I flew out of Guatemala on May 13th and I feel like I've had little time to regroup since I've been home. I flew straight to DC for a Bachelorette party, spent the following week entertaining a friend who was in town, and then the day he flew out, moved to Pittsburgh. I had no job, just an apartment and a best friend there. It became my mission the first week to find a job to pay the bills...which was hard to do!! Jobs, especially in social services (that pay more than 20000 a year) are hard to come by in this economy. Having been essentially "on vacation" for the better part of a year, this transition into regular, American life has been very stressful.
I worked for 2 years and lived at home to save up for my Guatemala/Honduras trip. I spent literally every penny I had down there. Having to dive full force into worrying about money was a lot to handle.
Not to mention life is completely different here. The things I got used to in honduras/guatemala are not here. Life is just different and without having firsthand experienced it, its hard to explain the difficulty in now coming back to life in America and feeling unsettled.
It seems silly, I know, but I was gone for nearly 9 months...longer than ever before so im feeling all out of sorts and im not sure quite how to get regrounded here. However the question in my mind is do I want to get resettled here?
At this point in my life the only thing I have keeping me in one place is a car. I'm 25 years old and have all the freedom in the world to pick up and go again. Part of me wants to leave again...go back to Central America and finish learning spanish, teach english, and live another good 6 months to a year down there.
But then another part of me wants to set up roots...find a job here in the states that I love and work my way up the ladder...save money, invest, buy a house, get a dog...do all the "adult things" that as a 25 year old, I should be doing.
But then I also know, if I don't take on these adventures now, i'll be knee deep in a job I love and won't want to leave. If I leave then, i'll have to work my way up all over again.
All of this is battling in my head everyday and it makes it hard to know which direction to head in next.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Gangster Club Takeover
If you are unfamiliar with my blog, or my life, you should know before reading this blog that my landlord in Honduras was a gangster. Not self-proclaimed, however he wasn't fooling anyone.
So the story goes...
The landlord was building a beach-front dance club and invited us to go to the grand opening. My 3 other roommates were out of town so it was just me and Cherry, my 50 something year old fellow volunteer. So we figured what the hell lets check it out.
We rode to the club with Landlord and wife who was dolled like the stereotypical latino trophy wife. We had some drinks, ate some free food, watched some "shows" which consisted of 5 scantily clad El Salvadoran women shaking their bon bons. And they were paid a hefty sum to do so. The locals were lovin it. Let me tell you that Tela is not a big tourist destination but with this club (which upstairs will be a strip club and casino when its finished) is supposed to revolutionize Tela (Or so my landlord hopes).
After a couple hours we find ourselves sitting at a booth with Landlord and his wife watching everyone dance. Landlord makes a joke and sets his best friend, his gun, in Cherry's lap saying "Here, hold this." She of course is like ummmm no thanks...and thank god because not 3 minutes later we realize the place is swarming with police officers. At least 12 of them, blocking the exits and wearing bulletproof vests and ski masks. SKI MASKS. The DJ stopped and the lights went on. They corralled everyone out onto the dance floor and separated the women from men. All I could picture was them shooting up the place and mass assassinating everyone right then and there. I was freakin out.
Knowing what I know about my landlord and Honduran culture, I could only imagine what exactly they were here in search of. They proceed to grope the hell out of everyone, lifting up t-shirts looking for tattoos, and pointing a gun at you all the while. They asked you for your papers and those without ID were sent to the other side of the room to line up. After it was all over they made them stand arms length apart, put their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them, and then they walked them all out into a big van. They all went to the police station...including my landlord for his gun possession apparently.
Cherry and I couldn't WAIT to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately because of all the chaos it was impossible to get a cab so we went back into the club to wait for a short while thinking we'd get out of there in no time. How could we go back to drinking and dancing after all that!? Well we couldn't, but everyone else in the place did. They carried on til about 230am as if nothing was wrong. They even brought out the strippers to do a little pole dance for the brave souls still partying it up inside.
We got in a cab at our first opportunity and hauled ass out of there.
Needless to say, that is the last time I ever said yes when my landlord asked me to go anywhere. (and I didn't even take the garbage out without having my ID on me).
So the story goes...
The landlord was building a beach-front dance club and invited us to go to the grand opening. My 3 other roommates were out of town so it was just me and Cherry, my 50 something year old fellow volunteer. So we figured what the hell lets check it out.
We rode to the club with Landlord and wife who was dolled like the stereotypical latino trophy wife. We had some drinks, ate some free food, watched some "shows" which consisted of 5 scantily clad El Salvadoran women shaking their bon bons. And they were paid a hefty sum to do so. The locals were lovin it. Let me tell you that Tela is not a big tourist destination but with this club (which upstairs will be a strip club and casino when its finished) is supposed to revolutionize Tela (Or so my landlord hopes).
After a couple hours we find ourselves sitting at a booth with Landlord and his wife watching everyone dance. Landlord makes a joke and sets his best friend, his gun, in Cherry's lap saying "Here, hold this." She of course is like ummmm no thanks...and thank god because not 3 minutes later we realize the place is swarming with police officers. At least 12 of them, blocking the exits and wearing bulletproof vests and ski masks. SKI MASKS. The DJ stopped and the lights went on. They corralled everyone out onto the dance floor and separated the women from men. All I could picture was them shooting up the place and mass assassinating everyone right then and there. I was freakin out.
Knowing what I know about my landlord and Honduran culture, I could only imagine what exactly they were here in search of. They proceed to grope the hell out of everyone, lifting up t-shirts looking for tattoos, and pointing a gun at you all the while. They asked you for your papers and those without ID were sent to the other side of the room to line up. After it was all over they made them stand arms length apart, put their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them, and then they walked them all out into a big van. They all went to the police station...including my landlord for his gun possession apparently.
Cherry and I couldn't WAIT to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately because of all the chaos it was impossible to get a cab so we went back into the club to wait for a short while thinking we'd get out of there in no time. How could we go back to drinking and dancing after all that!? Well we couldn't, but everyone else in the place did. They carried on til about 230am as if nothing was wrong. They even brought out the strippers to do a little pole dance for the brave souls still partying it up inside.
We got in a cab at our first opportunity and hauled ass out of there.
Needless to say, that is the last time I ever said yes when my landlord asked me to go anywhere. (and I didn't even take the garbage out without having my ID on me).
Thing I learned in Honduras
1. Baleadas are delicious. (GOOGLE it.)
2. It's ok to drive 100 miles an hour on windy roads without your seat belt and with a load full of people in the bed of the truck...some of them standing up.
3. Hitch hiking is always an option.
4. If you call your fat girlfriend "Gorda", it's a term of endearment.
5. There is no such thing as a "Brewery" and offering a Honduran a flavored beer with likely turn their worlds upside down.
6. You should carry an unregistered gun, in addition to your registered gun, you know, in case you have to kill anyone...
7. Do not go to club openings if you know a gangster owns the place. And if you do go, make sure you have your ID (story to come later).
8. Do not get in the shower without checking for roaches and jumping spiders.
9. When living on the coast, anything you put on no matter how "light" the fabric may seem, is going to make you sweat. Profusely. And its likely, all day long.
10. Don't find it weird when your driver/passenger rolls down the window and nonchalantly tosses out any garbage they might have.
2. It's ok to drive 100 miles an hour on windy roads without your seat belt and with a load full of people in the bed of the truck...some of them standing up.
3. Hitch hiking is always an option.
4. If you call your fat girlfriend "Gorda", it's a term of endearment.
5. There is no such thing as a "Brewery" and offering a Honduran a flavored beer with likely turn their worlds upside down.
6. You should carry an unregistered gun, in addition to your registered gun, you know, in case you have to kill anyone...
7. Do not go to club openings if you know a gangster owns the place. And if you do go, make sure you have your ID (story to come later).
8. Do not get in the shower without checking for roaches and jumping spiders.
9. When living on the coast, anything you put on no matter how "light" the fabric may seem, is going to make you sweat. Profusely. And its likely, all day long.
10. Don't find it weird when your driver/passenger rolls down the window and nonchalantly tosses out any garbage they might have.
Can I buy your baby?
I can't provide the background for this story but I needed to share this...
A man in Honduras offered me twenty thousand dollars to have his baby. I knew him for 2 days and he was completely serious. (I know this because he proceeded to ask me like 5 more times in the week that I spent with him).
What do you think I should name it?
A man in Honduras offered me twenty thousand dollars to have his baby. I knew him for 2 days and he was completely serious. (I know this because he proceeded to ask me like 5 more times in the week that I spent with him).
What do you think I should name it?
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