Claire - Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from the noble, elusive, and magically festive Muskroot!

Leah

So I'm getting excited for another mini-reunion! As for plans though, I'm writing to get a few things straight and to ask a few questions. I'll update in a few days with more things about me.

Anyways...

I'll be getting in to Penn Station by bus around 6:15pm on Dec 12. Who wants to grab some dinner around 7pm with me somewhere? Cait? Lizzie? Lauren? Gretchen? Em, I know you have the opera to go to that night so we have to hang around until you get out so I'm up to hearing some plans for that in between time too... (I'm even willing to buy tickets to the opera with anyone else if they were interested...Are you seeing Tristan and Isolde, Emily?)

Then I guess the plans are staying at Emily's on Friday night(Dec 12) and Cait's on Saturday(Dec 13) and a big day in Manhattan in between (Christmassy things anyone? Brunch? A museum? any other suggestions?) I have to be back outside of Penn Station on Sunday(Dec 14) at noon to get my bus back to Syracuse hopefully with a stop for Long Island bagels on the way.

Message me here or by email (leahmnettle@gmail.com) with suggestions and plans. I'm willing to plan things (ie make reservations, look up restaurants, etc) if you need me to.

MISS YOU ALL
~Leah

Tony - weddings, parties, and more

Hey everyone,

A fair amount has happened in the last month so I thought I'd give you guys an update. I think I'll start with Halloween.

Halloween was a lot of fun. I dressed up as Indiana Jones again, but since no one knew that I was Indiana previously (except for Leah), I managed to escape shame and ridicule. Unfortunately, I ended up washing both mine and Leah's cell phones while drunk. Although my phone worked after a day, hers did not. I'm still trying to fix it with my knowledge of chemistry and the use of nonpolar solvents, but it doesn't look like its coming back to life. Fortunately, I had a spare cell phone to give her which works just fine.

The week after halloween was Billy's wedding. It was fantastic. Probably my favorite weekend since Skidmore. The only tough part was remembering the names of obscure relatives. I think that I did an admirable job as best man even though I forgot to bring the rings to the chapel. I made up for that lapse with a kickass speech. Some of you guys should have a wedding and invite me and Leah. It'll be a lot of fun.

Research is going fine. The coolest part is that I'm working on curing alzheimer's. Also, I haven't made a mistake yet which is promising. The only problem is that some of our experiments are so complex that I can barely understand them. I also work next to a giant magnet thats kept at -269 degrees celsius (thats 4 degrees above absolute zero). I still can't figure out whether the cold dread I experience when I approach the NMR is because of the temperature or because I know that if I drop something, I'll be ruining a machine worth thousands of dollars. Nevertheless, I like what I'm doing and I've made some progress with the research.

Everything else is going fine. I have three housemates now and all of them are international. Yesterday, they brought home a cook a turkey and I amazed them by my ability to cook it (made it seem more complex then just putting the damn thing in the oven). I like all of them though and don't mind living with them for another 9 months. Also, I played Edwards 40hands last night with my biochemistry friends. Its a game where you duct tape two 40 oz bottles of malt liquor to your hands and can't remove them until you finish. I managed to do it without pissing my pants and even drank another beer afterwords. However, I had a major hangover this morning.

Today I'm waiting for Leah to arrive. We're celebrating our 3rd year anniversary. We can't think of anything fun to do though so we'll probably just eat at a fancy restaurant and resolve to go skiing another weekend. I'm getting her a GPS so she can find me wherever she is (also, GPSs are awesome).

I suppose that was more long winded than I intended. Before I go, I should mention that I'm going to be in new york city from tuesday until friday. I'd love to see you NYC guys if you're gonna be in the city. Let me know what your doing and maybe we can meet up...Wednesday perhaps.

~Tony

Lizzie-adventures in boston

So, last night I went out with my friend Kate, who studied with me in Argentina and is living in Boston too. Her roommate went to Curry College and organized a huge reunion-type thing for them and their friends. They rented a party bus, basically like a shuttle bus with leather couches inside, a bathroom, stereo system, a pole of course haha. There were 35 of us, I only knew Kate and her two roommates at the beginning of the night. We went to one girl's house, like 20minutes outside Boston to hang out/drink and then we got on the party bus. There were tons of jello shots involved and dancing on the bus while it was moving, which was quite challenging. The bus took us to a club in Boston, which had a mechanical bull. I was wearing a dress so I didn't want to risk giving everyone a show, although many of the girls in the group were wearing dresses and still went on the bull. Then, we don't actually know what happened, but apparently a few people in our group got kicked out so they told us all to leave so we were wandering around in the rain waiting for the bus to come. Then the partying continued back at the house where everyone was sprawled out on couches, air mattresses, bathtubs, floors, crowded beds, and some people even slept in cars. It was a crazy night, and even though pretty much everyone had hangovers this morning and nobody slept because people were snoring/being loud, it was still super fun

So, the whole point of me telling that story is, the majority of everyone there went to school together and they were all singing along to one of their songs that defined their college experience. And after "don't stop believin" came on and it made me miss you guys.



So, mark your calendars for the end of May (probably Memorial Day weekend). There will be some sort of goodbye shindig before I go to Kenya for 2 years. I'm thinking about perhaps in Boston, so it's easier for people to get to. I dunno, Katie told me she's already started brainstorming...

Claire - finally.... i know....

So loves!

I'm finally getting around to posting - sorry for the delay! Life has been so hectic around here, so it's been difficult to get to posting. The kids keep me so busy! There is always an outing to plan, a field trip to help Richard organise, a party to quiet down, or one of my ducklings to council with whatever the woe of the week is. That said, they really are quite darling, and I adore them to bits. Of course, they do give me quite the headache sometimes. I had to write them up for the first time just before Halloween because they simply wouldn't listen to me that Wednesday night, having downed two litre bottles of White Lightening (cheap tramp cider) in a 30 minute period. One of them actually got so pissed out of his mind that he pissed on his roommate's clothing and papers at 5 in the morning. Great! So that's been a whole thing. But they're dealing with it, and they've worked passed it, and they're going to be fine for now. I'm just going to guess that they won't apply to room together when they get back to Skidmore... ;)

Lets see, what else. Oooh! I went to Edinburgh, did I tell you that? I can't remember who I've told what, but I'm guessing I didn't update on this front. I went while the kids had their half-term break, and it was a lot of fun. Dave and I went up on the train (in 1st class even!) and spent the weekend. Before we left I looked up to see if there were any knitting stores so I could get some fun Scottish yarn to bring back with me, and what do you know, but there was a cool knitting event going on in the Scotish Royal History Museum - so I convinced Dave to let me go for a while! It was great, and I got to knit a little stuffed gingerbread man that they had people do and then they'll sell them off to raise money for charity - how great is that?! So that was fun, and I got some more yarn to make some little mittens, and some new needles, since all my knitting supplies are at home in the states. The rest of the time we spent wandering, and eating, a bit of shopping, and then having many cups of tea. It was a lot of fun, and a much needed break from the kiddies.

And lets see, what else? Well, I've been missing you all like crazy. I know you may think otherwise by my lack of updating and my inability to keep in touch like I usually do, but you should all know that I miss you all so very much, and I think about you all the time. I have several pictures of the group all around my room, and sometimes it's all I can do to keep from getting misty when I think of you. Yes, I've become a big sap, and it's all your faults. :-) I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing after this position is over, and re-going through all the post-college scariness of finding a job and a life and such, and I wish I could have you all here, or be there with you while I'm sorting it out. I know I'll get there in the end - it's just a bit frightning on the way there, and I'm just not quite as good at it all without having you guys there.

In any case, I have mail for you all, but I am in need of addresses since I left my address book at home, and many of you have moved anyway. Feel free to email or facebook message me, as to prevent creepy stalker men from finding you.

Andddd, what else? Basically I'm busy as all hell organising things for the kids and taking them on all their trips. However, I had an appraisal a couple weeks ago, and they said they absolutely love me! I met standards on a couple points, and exceeded expectations in all the rest! It's great to know that I'm doing well, and that they appreciate all the hard work I'm doing. I know I'm doing far more than people have in the past, but of course that's my slightly obsessive nature coming through, so that I feel I'm just doing barely what needs to be done to do my job, where they see me doing far more - which I'd say is a good way to err in the situation. So, we'll see where this goes from here. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but one of the head honchos from Chicago is around for a few more days, so I'll see what I can do.

And on that note, I'm just rambling with nothing in particular to say, and I'm super tired, so I'm going to go to bed. But now I've updated, and although it's nothing too exciting, you all have letters coming to you soon, so there will be more exciting stories to come.

Love you all, so very very much,

xxxx

YES WE DID!!!!!

Oh my goodness, we actually did it. It worked this time! It actually worked!! We voted Barack Obama into the White House!

I did a programme with the Res Hall tonight for the elections, and we've all been up ALL NIGHT watching election coverage all together in the common room lounge, and talking, watching old Colbert Report and Daily Show clips, guessing how the states would fall, and keeping track of the electoral votes as they came in. It was the most amazing experience, to be with all these students who were voting in their first presidential election, and to see them get so excited about what was going on. It reminded me so much of our first election, with the vital difference of having an exclamation of joy at the end of it all. Most of my kids will be up all night, some of them went to take naps after the West Coast was called, but all of them came by to watch and experience the election. I'll be starting coffee for them at 7am, and we have some breakfast snacks to keep them going through the morning on their way to classes. Since we didn't know how long it would take for us to know what the score was, we didn't know how late we'd have to be up. All thigns considered, it wasn't bad. We had it called by 5am - which is certainly on the early side of what I had predicted.

Oh my goodness, I still can't quite believe it. After all the polling, and all the preliminary voting, it boggles my mind that this time we actually voted him into office. He just won the presidency! President Barack Obama. It just feels good.

Yes we can. Yes we can. Yes, we did. And yes, we can.

VOTE

While we are all trying ease our Obama jitters I thought I would post this ultra cute video:

emily (and hobbes!)

Many of you have already heard (or seen on facebook) that there is a new man in my life. His name is Hobbes and he is the love of my life. In fact, he is currently playing with a piece of plastic he managed to get out of the trash can and I must go stop him because mummy doesn't want Hobbesy to choke.

Ok, now he is safe on my lap where he belongs and he will be assisting me with my blog entry- which is looong overdue.

Considering I haven't updated this blog since before I moved to NYC I will not be posting about eeeverything that's happened in the past three months because I frankly can't remember it all/I could go on for days! I will provide some recent life-highlights for you though! First of all, Cait and I went to the opera last weekend! It was very fun and we felt cultured. I also went to see a performance at Juilliard because my friend from Maine works there and can get me free tickets to student shows. It was a very sophisticated weekend until Sunday when I did nothing but eat brunch with Cait and watch Sex and the City while lesson planning.

Speaking of the kiddos. I took my first sick day this week because I have laryngitis! I started losing my voice Sunday and now a week later it still isn't back to normal. Wednesday was the day I had to miss because I literally couldn't speak and my class is not capable of being managed without verbal warnings! I was very nervous about leaving them with a sub for the day because I knew that it was going to be a mess- and it turns out I was very right! The next day when I came to school my vice principal came into my room and said, "Ooooh your kids were baaaad yesterday!" he didn't give me any specific details besides saying the the sub left and vowed never to return at the end of the day. Then my janitor, Dino, stopped by to inform me that the kids had completely trashed the room but that he tried to fix it up for me. And finally, when I opened up my desk drawer I found a note written to me by the three kids I designated as "helpers" to the sub. The note was a play by play of what was going on in the room, and I couldn't help but laugh because they made it sound like a war zone. Here is a funny exerpt: "Destiney is locking kids in the closet and the sub just used the B.S word and threatened to strangle someone. Things are bad in here." Anyway, it's nice to know that they are more under control when I'm in the room!

Even though I had a rough start with the class, we are starting to feel more like a "community" now. The kids are getting more comfortable with me and know my boundaries and I am getting more comfortable with them and with my role in the room. It took many many phone calls home, several parent meetings, and at least a hundred dollars worth of bribes in the form of pizza, M&Ms, dollar store prizes etc but I finally feel like I have some of those tricky kids reigned in! I will probably regret writing this on Monday when it turns out I've jinxed myself and all hell breaks loose but for now I'm feeling ok about things!

This is getting long but I have to mention that I went to see Phantom of the Opera today and during Masquerade the only voice I heard singing was Claire's! I miss you all! Come visit soon!

Hobbesy says goodbye! (meow)

Happy Halloween!

Just thought you might enjoy the annual Halloween picture...

I am super busy with midterm papers, but I promise I will give you all an update on my life soon!

Missing you all,

Lauren

Gretchen-My life since last post

First of all, Happy Belated Halloween!
That's the pumpkin Ben and I carved after dragging it home from our new favorite grocery store a mile a way. Seriously, The Giant is SOOOO much better than Safeway. We are very happy lol.

Anyways, I shall back up. Three weekends ago (if you include this one), my parents came to visit. We did tourist-y things without being too tourist-y. For example, we walked around Georgetown and M Street, which is an area filled with ultra pricey fancy shops (Dior, Armani, etc) and then walked along the waterfront. We also went on a canal boat ride, spur of the moment, and drank some bubble tea.
We saw the Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams exhibit and had a lot of delicious food throughout the weekend. (Overall, my parents ate at the Tastee Diner like 4 times!)

The following week I got to stay in a fancy hotel again (I think this was after that weekend although it might have been right before) for free! When Ben's office puts on conferences we get to stay in the hotels for free, all amenities included. Super nice! Free room service and hot tubs and pools! Yay.

Then, last weekend I went camping. In the rain. In the fog. In the cold. I went with a couple friends from work and one of their friends from college. It was really fun though. Since we live in or around DC it was quite a trek to get there - about 2-2.5 hours away in the Shenandoah National Park (anyone heard of SkyLine Drive?). However, since it was so foggy we couldn't see 2 feet in front of us, and therefore, there was no beautiful scenery to be seen. Anwyays, we set up the tent in the rain and wind, and then tried to build a fire. We succeeded long enough to roast 4 marshmallows (one for each of us) and then we all went to bed in the center of the tent, as not to get dripped on by the pouring rain. However, we all woke up at 7 am and decided we had to go home because we were all freezing and soaked. haha. So we spent a total of like 8 hours at the site. We all went to the mall afterwards looking like complete bums and then Katie (one of the girls from work) made us breakfast at her house. Then I watched Iron Man, which was actualy a pretty good movie.

This past week was Ben and my 3 year anniversary, but we haven't done anything to celebrate it yet. We plan on going out to dinner tonight at a neat fancy-ish place called Zaytinya, which has things like fancy falafels.

We didn't do anything for Halloween really, besides carve the pumpkin. We had candy for trick-or-treaters, but no one came so we ate it all ourselves!! :) It was a good night though.

Now, once Ben wakes up we are off to trek to the amazing Giant, grab some breakfast (perhaps at the Tastee Diner) and then Ben is going off to campaign for Barack Obama with Will Cusey (from Skidmore).

Oh, also good news! I got a two dollar an hour raise! Because apparently, I am a real "Wizbang" lol.



In a recap, recently I've been:
listening to: Ingrid Michaelson
watching: Big Love and Jeopardy every night!
reading: The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
wearing: scrubs every single day! (and warm clothes because it even gets to the low 30s around here!)
missing: EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!!!!

Lizzie- I have a job!

So, I've just had my first full week in Boston. Up to now, I've been home every weekend in October working. I was getting really antsy and grumpy towards the end of this week because I didn't have a job AND my computer had to be completely wiped clean because of corrupted files etc. I went on a job interview for my dream job (at least my dream job right now) as a paralegal in an immigration law firm. But, they asked if I could make a two year commitment. I was honest and told them I wanted to do the Peace Corps in the spring, even though its future might be uncertain given budget cuts/ national economic issues.

As for my apartment, it's great now. There’s a long story with regards to the condition the apartment was left in and the fact that Liz left half a room’s worth of furniture expecting us to store it for her, but I don’t need to get into that now. It’s great now and that’s what counts. I am living with Katie, my best friend from home, and Aaron, who is the cousin of a friend of Katie’s (Liz, perhaps now ex-friend of Katie’s due to the way she treated this apartment). Aaron is super fun and so is his girlfriend. He just comes on weekends to visit his family in Boston.

I got a job finally! I got it through a temp agency so it’s for 3 months but could lead to a longer term position if they like me. I just had my first day today. It’s a financial company that advises people and helps them manage assets with regards to building condos or affordable housing. I’m the office manager (receptionist/secretary/person who greets people at the front desk). It’s a small company (there’s 20 of us in the office) and it seems pretty laid back and everybody was very nice. And, I get $13 an hour, which is pretty good (even if it is less than I got at Beadniks). Oh and I ran into Trevor Marshall from Skidmore on the subway home, he lives 1 stop away from me, crazy! I mean I figured the odds of running into someone I know either from Skidmore or home were pretty good, but it was nice to see someone else who had a hard time finding a job too.

Boston is great, come visit!!!! I have a full size bed and an air mattress and I think we’re gonna get a futon too, so there’s plenty of space. I put some pictures here. I hope to go to NYC whatever weekend Leah and Tony want to go. I can get a Megabus ticket for like $16 round trip if I book it soon, so let’s discuss soon.

Tony - Quick Update

Hey Everyone,

I keep putting off updating this thing because I wanted to wait until big things happened in my life before I posted on the blog. Namely, My brother's wedding in two weeks and the wacky adventures I'm sure to embark upon during halloween. However, I had some free time tonight so I felt like making a quick update. Life is pretty good so far. I just started my first lab rotation. It's in a biochemistry lab that looks at a protein which may provide a cure to Alzheimer's. So far I've mainly been taught how to do things by a student in the lab but I'm having fun. I just came back from my brother's bachelor party which wasn't too wild, but envolved enough fun to warrant a trip back home.

Andy, if you're still reading this, you'll be happy to know that I showed my fellow graduate students Total Recall and they loved it. We actually played a drinking game in which we drank everytime arnold schwarzenegger kills somebody and got hammered. Speaking of my new graduate student friends, they're very similar to me in that they're all nerdy, but like to drink on the weekends and love TV shows like South Park.


Well I should shut up now so that this quick update doesn't turn into a long update. Expect another post from me in 3 weeks after I experience my brother's wedding.


Tony

Tony - The magic of youtube

I thought I'd share with you all a youtube video featuring one of our beloved classmates. See if you can identify him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZCRZqP9ZgA

Also, does anyone have a link to the Project Runway episode with Megan Garfinkle in it?

Kingston, OUT

Gretchen -He nails that beat with the syncopated rhythm/ With the rat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat on the drums, hey

So today I went to a drag show brunch with some of my coworkers (which was really fun, by the way). It really made me miss you guys because it is totally something we would have done!

I hope everyone is doing well!

Leah - week of crazy or well 2 days of crazy

Yesterday there were screaming clients and frustrated doctors and emergency surgeries
Today I backed up in to a fire hydrant (no extensive damage or anything..just some yellow paint on my bumper, but still! how stupid! ugh)

Its also my last day at SU which is sad because I love the people here but good because I wont be incredibly bored and I'll finally have time to do laundry.

Such is my life.

I hope to go to NYC sometime this fall if I can convince Tony to somehow come with me. I'm thinking late October perhaps.

Miss you all,Leah

Lizzie- fat and sassy

Hi everyone,

So, unfortunately my update is quite sad. My grandmother died on Saturday. This was my mom’s mom, or Nanny to me. Like I said before, she had congestive heart failure and ended up not being able to breathe very well. It really ended up being a blessing because she was suffering. My parents were in Toronto for the weekend with friends and called me at work on Saturday morning. They ended up staying in Toronto for the weekend because my uncle told them they could set up stuff by phone and plus the plane ticket was $950 one way to come back early. Which meant, I was home alone because my brother was at school. Saturday night I was a mess and Katie, aka the “love brigade,” came over with Chinese food, an ice cream cake, chick flicks, and she spent the night at my house.

Monday I picked up my parents at the airport and we drove to my nanny’s house. I had been okay up until I was going through pictures of my grandmother’s wedding. I made a slideshow of pictures of her to Irish pub songs to have on my computer at the wake, and the pictures just overwhelmed me. As we were digging through stuff we found her certificate of naturalization when she became a citizen, which was really cool. She had written out a list of everything she wanted at her funeral: who she wanted to be pallbearers, what hymns she wanted sung and asked me to read a poem.

I have never been to a wake or funeral before and the open casket was kind of upsetting. I do have to say, as sad as these three days were, I also laughed a lot and learned a lot about my grandma and my mother. Example: apparently when Nanny was younger and people asked her how she was, she always responded with “fat and sassy.” So, when one of her nephews showed up at the wake, he told my mom that she has to be the new fat and sassy one now.

My mom had been calling her cousin, Maireed, in Ireland trying to get hold of her to tell her about Nanny and also to find out her cousin Danny’s number in NYC so he could come to the funeral. Maireed didn’t have his number, but she did have the number of the pub he frequents. In true Irish style, she left a message with them and sure enough Danny called her last night, haha.

I started drinking at 11AM with everyone after the funeral today. After our reception my family and my uncle and his high school buddies went back to Nanny’s and we cleared out her liquor cabinet. She didn’t drink anything but wine, but kept liquor for company. We decided to do a shot of Jameson’s Irish Whisky for Nanny and it tasted funny. My mom told us when she was 14 she stole liquor and filled the rest up with water. Meaning our Jameson was from 36 years ago and was watered down, haha. Therefore we taste tested the rest of the bottles. I had to embrace my Irish roots….

My grandfather, Nanny’s husband, died when my mom was 4 years old. They are now buried next to each other and together now after 40 something years. I just hope I can someday be as sassy as Nanny was.

Andy....again

Erin, you didn't figure it out. I told you how to blog. Let's give credit where credit is due.

Erin- I figured it out!

So, maybe I'm a little stupider than the rest of you, but I got it now and that's all that matters.
Since Andy just updated, I suppose I don't have so much to say. I am a little shocked that according to him he'd been drinking more than he did at school.....really Andy? That's pretty bad, not gonna lie.
I have my dreaded physical tomorrow with Dana. I'm pretty P- fucking O'ed about it , especially because the master of our China universe, Mr. Li, has punked me yet again and made me cancel half my class tomorrow. He wanted me to cancel the whole class but then I pointed out to him that it wasn't very valid to force me to cancel my class that I'm required to reschedule and I only have so many allowed cancellations and I didn't have my students' schedules and therefore couldn't really reschedule the class promptly.
In other news, I'm testing out the healing powers of green tea. My students tell me it will help me lose weight....which apparently they think I should do. They also tell me it will improve my skin, mood, energy and prevent cancer. Well, no cancer thus far, I've switched from coffee to tea(not the easiest transition but it has finally been completed), my skin, mood and energy are about the same and the only weight I may have lost has been muscle since I have greatly reduced my workout regime. I'm sure I'll find the drive soon now that i have a gym membership, but I'm not gonna lie, that three weeks of laziness felt pretty good.
We get stared at a lot. I asked my students about it today and apparently it's not rude at all to stare. nor is it rude to laugh at someone when they make a mistake. I guess in the US we're so afraid of amitting differences that we don't have a sense of humor about it. In china everyone tries to be the same.....I guess as long as you're not the one who's different it's ok.
I really love my students and chinese people in general. I get really irritated at times with organizational bullshit and sometimes I feel really stupid when people can't understand what I say, but whenever I'm in a bad mood, someone blatently stares at me to the point where I just have to laugh. I just had a great conversation with a girl who was probably 3 years old at dinner. she was amazed that I spoke any chinese and asked me why i was here. Then she asked me why I teach english when I'm american. Shouldn't I teach american? I offered to teach her some but she was too shy and ran back to her parents.
I will leave you with a text message I received from one of my students today, about an hour after my class ended. This kid named himself Harry after Harry Potter and we had a short conversation about the books/movies in class. At the end of class he came to ask me something and stopped and said, "I see now that your eyes are green. Harry Potter's eyes are green." Also during this cass, I explained that the boys shouldn't compliment every american girl they meet before they talk to her because she will think they are just trying to flatter her and wonder what they want.

Hello Erin, I' Harry, the one who like Harry Potter. I wonder if I have troubled your lunch hour or midday rest, but just wanna say that you give us a pretty well spoken English class, thank you Erin! I'm not a flatterer, absolute ly not!Ha ha- Expect your next lessons!!

Andy (for real)

Um, that was not my post on September 8, but I thank Tony for recapping our conversation...

From the depths of the PRC a primal cry rings out after weeks of silence: "PIZZA, WE'VE FOUND IT!" Given, it wasn't the best pizza...it had pears and the faintest hint of BBQ sauce, but anything with cheese is a treat. It was quite refreshing after a day of misery. 

The government officials wouldn't accept our U.S. medical forms so we had to get, and pay for, full physical examinations in order to apply for our residence cards. Let me tell you, a Chinese hospital is an assembly line of awkward interactions. First is the blood-drawing room, then the blood pressure room, then the ear/nose-cleaning room (with unsterilized tools of course), then the EKG room where goo is painted on your chest and you're hooked up to electrodes like a body in the Matrix, and finally the chest x-ray room where you can hear the sub-atomic particles crackling around your head in the vacant white room (no screwing around with lead aprons here). 

When we ask how long it will take to A) get our textbooks for our classes or B) get paid or C) get our passports back so we won't appear to be illegal immigrants when we travel, the most commonly heard responses are "maybe" and "maybe later." Oh, so helpful! That's why I was so surprised to find the students are so helpful. So far, students have helped me buy a guitar, purchase food, showed me around town, and even taught me a little Chinese: "Ni hao, ma?," not to mention the wonderful pizza dinner the other night.

We discovered a foreigner bar, called Casablanca, where we can buy drinks for half-price, listen to music from the early nineties, and play foosball.

I haven't yet gotten sick from the food, though I eat from street carts practically every day. I did however eat what I think was fried pig anus or intestine with Phred. It literally tasted like shit. It was a short lunch. I've done a little shopping so I try to cook for myself, but my main staples are oatmeal, bananas, and PB&J sandwiches on white bread. Not too shabby.

Oh ya, I'm teaching too. Nine classes a week. Oral English and Extensive Reading. Since I haven't had many English classes, and God knows I can't spell, it's been a little rough, but we're getting there. I figure if we play enough games and do enough skits the students will learn by practice and I won't have to work too hard. 

Next week is National Week, so classes are cancelled. I'm headed to Beijing to meet Meredith and do a little sight-seeing. Mer is staying here for three weeks. She ships out for Guinea, Africa for two years of PeaceCorps service in December, so it'll be our last time seeing each other until I visit Guinea.

The running is ok here. The streets are concrete and every day has been humid in the upper 80's so I haven't been doing much - 6 miles was my max (not to brag, but it's not too good for me). We'll see how things go when it starts to cool off. I got a student to go with me one day, but I think that will be his last time...I seem to have that effect on people (except for Tony. Congrats on the running! You make me proud. You'll be pleased to know I've been drinking more).

Sorry this was long, but seeing how I probably won't write for another couple months, I'm sure you can deal.

-Andy 

Caitlin - New York and Mississippi

Sorry guys, I kind of forgot that there was a blog for a while. Then, I saw Holly Fried and Meghan Garfinkel on "Project Runway" and that jogged my memory. I don't know why, it was just one of those moments where you run into something or someone from school and you have that strange feeling of your worlds colliding. "Wait...what? Skidmore? Here?"

I've been a busy beaver lately between work and my Southern adventure. Work has been busy, but it's fun, and social.

But really, I know that what I do in my cube all day is not interesting to anyone. But perhaps I can offer you an interesting tidbit about the state of Mississippi. Like...nothing is open on Sunday? Hmm? Like...there are drive-thru daquiri stands next to gun/pawn shops? Like...you can get free, ice-cold water bottles on a sweltering hot day at a church if you profess your love for Jesus? That every part of a pig that can be, will be, deep-fried and available to you without ever having to leave your car...and they'll fry the pickle that comes with your meal for good measure? Hmmm???

Gretchen

Hello Everyone. Here is a recap of my recent life:

On Labor Day weekend, I went home and hung out with my family. I don't think I did anything too interesting, but it was fun.

The weekend after Adam Altschuh Ben's friend from Skidmore came to visit. However, that Saturday Hurricane Hannah hit so we couldnt really do anything outside so we just hung around and ate at Tastee Diner.

The next weekend Ben and I were going to spend together since it had been awhile, but Eli Turkel showed up for the weekend. He and Ben went campaigning for Obama with Will Cusey and they saw a soccer game. Then, Ben, Eli, and I met Ryan Greer in a bar downtown and hung out for a while. You guys would all love this bar and you should come visit me and we will go. It had literally thousands of beer choices from all over the world and the United States. It's very mellow and has tables to sit and just talk. Very cool. Anyways, that was fun. Never did I think I would hang out with Ryan Greer and Eli Turkel but they are super super nice and I think I would do it again.

Anyways, this past week I didn't really do anything interesting - just worked. Right now I'm trying to think of smething exciting to do this weekend. So Iam doing some googling. It is so nice out right now in DC. It's like mid70s and sunny in the days and cool and fall-like at night. So great!

How's everyone else?

Leah and Tony say:

Yo! People! Update the blog!

Lizzie

Here I am sitting in my living room, watching bad movies... I finished my scrapbook for my first semester in Argentina, so I'm halfway through... As you can see, my life is super exciting here. Erin called me from China last night, so that WAS exciting, Skype is an amazing invention. She says hi to all of you.

I am officially moving to Boston on October 1st. I don't have a job yet, but have a few I am going to apply for. If all else fails I'm gonna go to a temp agency and do whatever.

Unfortunately my grandmother (Nanny, the sassy Irish lady), is not doing so well. She has congestive heart failure and her kidneys are shutting down too. She's in the hospital and I'm gonna go visit her on Monday.

On another note, I hate Sarah Palin, and it makes me super angry when women say she is great. I knew she was a bad egg as soon as she dissed Obama for being a community organizer, in addition to everything else: her book-banning as mayor, pro-life attitude, making women pay for their own rape kits, and abstinence-only education (which seemed to serve her daughter well...) etc.

Well that's about it for me right now. Please come visit me in Boston sometime!

LEAH- same old same old

Hey all,

Nothing too new with me.

I tried to convince my parents to let me get a cat. I didn't succeed. Ironically, on three separate occasions, kittens were abandoned at my work this week. Therefore, I could have had 3 adorable kittens at no cost to me. UGH!

This has lead me to enter a funk again where I feel that I'm cooped up living at home. However, I don't have any other options really and I like my job a lot so I don't want to move. So I think I need a new hobby or something to keep me occupied (either that or one of you needs to move to Syracuse!).

Tonight I am off to watch my coworkers play in their volleyball league championships (which is a feat for them to even make it to the championships because they lose almost every game) and possibly have dinner afterwards (if they lose, which they will).

Speaking of work, Wonder Schmeling came in the other day. The cat was fine. The owner, not so much. haha We did get a very funny letter from a doctor we referred the cat to who was trying hard to be professional and portray the hilarity of the owner at the same time. I just thought you'd enjoy that little tidbit.

Last weekend, I went to Ithaca to see Tony and Cornell. Its so beautiful and European looking! I want to go there!

Also, along the same lines of my cooped-up-ness, I am thinking of taking another long weekend sometime end of Septemeber/early/mid October-ish. Maybe NYC. Hopefully with Tony too if he can manage it.

MISS YOU ALL,
LEAH

Andy - Greeting from China

Hello Comrades! I am having great time in the glorious people's republic of China. They relocated me to Falun Gong reducation camp and all is well. Everyday I work hard for the commonwealth and am happy. I am so happy that I think I will stay forever. You , my friends, should all visit me. There is plenty of work to be done

Love, Andy

Tony - First week at Cornell

Hey Everyone,

I'm about to start my second week at Cornell and things are going pretty smoothly. When I showed up here last week I was pretty lonely. I had pretty much nothing to do and knew no one in town. In those dark times I turned to food for consolation and gained a solid 30 pounds. However, things started turning around on Monday when I received a $11000.00 stipend check to last me until January... its a strange feeling to have your bank account double in a day. On Tuesday I got to meet people in my department and started getting to know the 17 other students in my year. Once I got to know these people, things started getting a lot better. Seven of them are from upstate NY so we've got a lot in common and most everyone seems pretty cool. A group of us even went out to dinner and to a bar on Friday and I had a lot of fun. So all in all, I'm pretty optimistic about Cornell at this point.

I had a few interesting things happen to me over this week that are worth noting. For one, I learned that my 4 person apartment has 2 empty rooms for the time being. Apart from being fucking awesome, I manged to open up the empty rooms with a credit card and now have spare guest bedrooms for any visitors. My only other house-mate is from India and has only been in America for a few weeks. Hes nice enough but we don't have a lot in common so its unlikely that we'll become best buds anytime soon.
Also, I run into Leah Elliot all the time. She's a lot cooler now (she taught me the credit card trick for opening apartment locks) and even gave me some tomatoes from her garden which is incidentally right outside my apartment.
By the way, the bathing suit chain was successfully completed yesterday.

Thats about all for now. Its a bit difficult adjusting to Cornell. Everything computer-associated is unnecessarily complicated and it feels like the university tries to squeeze a lot of money out of you for nothing (for example, printing costs $0.09 a sheet). Every other student has a difficult-to-understand accent and I never catch the faint aroma of weed. Most of these instances make me sigh and say "I miss Skidmore." This of course makes the international studient I am talking to look at my quizzically. Nevertheless, I think I'll get use to it all and am now looking at this year with cautious optimism instead of impending doom.

Tony out.

Lizzie

So I talked to the Peace Corps yesterday and they told me that I won't be able to go until next spring. I would be going to an African country still but this time it won't be a country where they speak a romance language, I'll be learning a local language. I'm kind of intrigued.

I'm actually not as frustrated as I thought I would be. I'll be going sometime between April-June and I am officially placed in a program so I don't have to worry about being bumped out again. So, the plan right now is to move to Boston on October 1st and find a job. I also sent an email to that friend of my mom's friend who is building a resort in Patagonia in Chile, so maybe I'll spend a couple of months in Chile this winter too...

So, hopefully Obama wins in November and the Peace Corps will still exist next spring because who knows what McCain will do to it.

Last weekend was fun! I'll come visit sometime again. After you all left Erin, Diddy, and I saw Mr. Big from Sex and the City walking around 10th Ave. We walked about 50 blocks, I bought beads at an amazing bead store, and then little Shakespeare accompanied us to a Japanese restaurant in the village and we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset.

Caitlin - This Weekend

Hello Guys,

Much to sort out before Friday.

Erin called me a few days ago and said she would be coming down to join us. She's driving down with her parents on Saturday but doesn't know when she'll be getting in. I thought about saying we'd just stay in the city that day so she could find us, but she's still going to have a years worth of suitcases with her, so that's not really going to be a solution. We haven't quite figured this out.

Erin also needs a place to stay. She leaves for China at 6 AM on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, I really can't leave work on Monday, wait for Andy to get in to Grand Central Station at 8, to take her back to my home to pick up her stuff and then drive back to the Queens to the airport. Is there space at your house Em? It might make more sense because she could walk across to the subway and take the E to Jamaica. If it's too cramped, someone at your house can stay at mine.

Any ideas?

Can't wait to see you all!

Phred

Hi Everyone!!! :-)

I finally decided to log onto the blog and read everything and actually make a post. It seems like my life has been recapped by other people so I don't have much to add! Kathy Griffin live in Canandaigua New York was one of the funniest moments of my life. Lets see... what else happened? I hung out with Erin and played Risk most of the summer. I also became friends with this guy Nick -- not posting the details of that on the internet ;-) Mmmmmm.... I got home yesterday from Skidmore. Go to China in 6 days. I miss all of you a lot :-( It sounds like you're all having a fun time in NYC!!!

Ooooh and uuuh... my cat just puked (again).

<3
Phred

Tony - Skidmore Visit

Hey guys,

I just wanted to write and say that my visit to Skidmore was awesome. It was great seeing Andy, Matt, and other college friends. We found a pool in spa state part that had an awesome water slide and we also went out on saratoga late in Ryan's party boat (Ryan is Dave Steinberger's friend from home). I also had a few wonderful gin and tonics with erin and phred.

I know you guys are gonna have an awesome time next week in NYC. I wish I could come, but grad school orientation starts that week. Make sure that you all take lots of pictures and post them on facebook so I can look through them while I'm all alone in Ithaca. In a week or two, I'll tell you guys all about Cornell and the wild adventures I have there.


Tony


PS: I left my bathing suit in Saratoga springs by accident. Andy picked it up for me and decided to give it to Lizzie when he visits Martha's vineyard this weekend. Then Lizzie can give it to Leah next weekend who can give it back to me the weekend after next. I'm mainly writing this to ensure that the bathing suit delivery chain isn't broken, but I also though that it was a funny story.

Leah

I am so super excited to see a bunch of you next weekend! I left a comment under Lizzie's last post just so you all know whats up with me for that weekend. If you could all (well those of you who are going) could read that, that would be great.

Anyone have ideas on what to do on Friday afternoon? Where to eat? etc?
I assume Cait knows the low-down for Saturday?
Sunday?

Nothing else too new with me. I'm just looking forward to seeing you all. Tony has made me ansty because he's at Skidmore seeing Erin, Phred, Andy and Dave. I just really need some time with non-pet, non-coworker, non-family type people. :)

love,
Leah

the social events coordinator has a plan:

Dear Friends,

Here’s a possible itinerary:

Friday: I arrive at noon and Claire arrives at 1PM both at JFK. So, Diddy said she’d come to the airport to find me, then we can go find Claire and the three of us will take the AirTrain to the city and then find Cait somewhere at a subways stop of her choice. Then, Leah and Lauren will come from NJ and find us somewhere and Gretchen will find us in this mystery location whenever she gets in.

Saturday: This is the best day to go to Long Island (see Gretch’s comment on Cait’s post for why). Yay for wine and goats!

Sunday: we will probably meet back in the city (if everyone wants to), brunch with mimosas anyone???? We can wander about while Lauren has her interview and everybody can leave when they need to. I leave Monday morning at 8:40AM from JFK.

Do we like this plan? Everyone please reply with when and where she will be arriving on Friday and when and where she will be leaving from on Sunday.

Love,

Your social events coordinator

Reunion

Hey guys,

Lizzie came up with the bright idea (as I was also contemplating) of spending one of the days of our reunion exploring the Long Island vineyards, visiting a goat farm, and and just generally relaxing by the sea. Is anyone else up for a day away from the city and closer to the ocean?

Claire

OMG. Okay, I'll write a real post here in a couple days when I finish the projects I'm working on, but I was just told something I must share:

Sheldon Solomon's son is one of my London kids.

....... ?!?!?!!!?!??!?!? ...........

I can't wait for this, and yet I'm terrified of the possibilities.

Gretchen

So, I don't really remember when I last updated but I thought that I should say something.

Work is going well. I am drawing blood, giving shots, assisting with colposcopies, pap smears, vaginal infection tests, etc. etc. Work is fun and good, although sometimes stressful.

It was super awesome to see Leah and Lauren and Tony and Mark the other weekend. It felt like old times. lol

I can't really think of anything else to say. I got new glasses after spending 5 hours in the eye doctors. It turns out my optic nerves are two different sizes, which probably doesn't mean anything. I got to have pictures of my retinas taken though -- how exciting!

Last weekend, Ben and I went to a Jim Henson exhibit at one of the Smithsonian Galleries. I got to see the real Ernie and Bert, Kermit, Rowlf, and Fraggle Muppets. That was the highlight of my weekend. Next weekend, we will probably go out to dinner and go swimming at the neighboring apartment pool.

I really can't think of anything else to say, so I will post this and then if I think of anything, I will update!

MISS everyone! See you all in NYC!

Lizzie-nothing of huge importance has happened to me yet i still insist on writing a detailed account of my life thus far.....

Hello Friends,

First, to answer the question I’m sure you all have: No, I still have no news from the Peace Corps. I wrote a long, thorough email to the placement woman who had me rewrite my essay asking her what my next step is, if I’m still be considered for programs in September, or if I wouldn’t be leaving until later. I received a response that said “Your Placement Officer is reviewing your application and trying to locate a match between your skills and the needs of our host countries.” So, I learned nothing new, poo.

I just want to know if I’ll be leaving in the near future or not until next spring or something. Because, if I’m not leaving until later I’m gonna get off this rock. My best friend Katie is moving back into her apartment in Boston with Aaron (Leah, remember him?) and they asked me to live with them which I would love love love to do if I won’t be in some corner of the world. My friend who I studied with in Argentina got her invitation to the Peace Corps she’ll be going to Mozambique on September 29^th, it would be so amazing if I get invited to that program too!!

So, besides waiting and waiting, I’ve been reading books and blogs by Peace Corps volunteers, going to the beach (I’ve got some sweet tan lines haha), getting my butt kicked in some awesome yoga classes, working, and I started knotting pearl strands for a jeweler for some extra money on the side. Last weekend my parents were away so my brother and I wanted to have a little party with all our friends. He cooked his famous ribs with garlic mashed potatoes. We seriously called EVERYONE in our phones inviting people but everyone was either away, busy, not answering their phones, or vegetarians. So, just us two ate. Then, Kylie and Sean came over and we ate fondue out of the fondue holder my brother bought me for my birthday. We played a drinking game to Superbad, every time someone referenced a certain male organ we drank. And that was our rockin party.

I don’t know if I told you yet, but Sean and Kylie are moving to New Zealand in September, meaning I will have friends in all corners of the world: Argentina of course, New Zealand, China, England, Spain, Mozambique, Honduras, NYC, DC, etc… Andy’s coming the weekend before NYC weekend and I think he’s bringing Meredith with him too, so that’ll be fun. Sadly, I couldn’t get Erin and Phred to come visit. Erin didn’t want to take off another Friday to come because she’s going to her friend’s baby shower next weekend. Phred’s going to see Kathy Griffin next weekend, haha how great is that?

Yesterday, I got yelled at by the rudest woman ever at my bead store. She was angry that she found a bead kit we sell at another store for cheaper and wanted to return it. We only return for store credit and we have signs explaining this and it says it on the receipt. But, she gave me attitude and was just not nice. For some reason, August people here are mean, it happens every summer. After work though, I went to my godmother’s 50^th birthday party with my parents and all their buddies. It just made me think of how in a few years I am going to be/want to be just like them. All the ladies (who are all in a book club together and go away on girls weekends) were drinking champagne and playing musical chairs, while the guys were doing shots and talking about the Red Sox.

On a sadder note, my grandmother is in the hospital again and tells us she doesn't want to get better this time. She has congestive heart failure. My mom told her she has to stay alive long enough for my brother and I to go visit her. This is my nanny, the spunky irish lady who's been telling us she's gonna die for the past ten years. I was planning on visiting her once I knew when I would be going to the Peace Corps, but I may have to move up that trip.

Sorry, that was a long update, but you should know by now that I like to describe every detail of my life to others… I’m sure you’ve seen my pictures on Facebook.

I can’t wait until our reunion! Like I said earlier, I arrive Friday at noon will hang out in JFK until Claire arrives, at which point I guess we will try and find Dodd/Cait. A note to Diddy: I don’t think I’ll be able to bring a sleeping bag because I am flying on itty bitty planes (eek scary!) that won’t let me check luggage so will you have a blanket or something? I will, however, be able to fit my hypoallergenic travel pillow in Surrey Cruise. Let me know if that’s a problem.

LOVE,

Lizzie

Lauren--new life plan

Hello peers,

I don't have too much to update you on, but I am alone in Durham for the week (Mark had to drive to FL for a family emergency) and since my only friend here is a 2 year old, I am quite bored.  In somewhat big news, my life plan has changed.  I am still hoping to get married in the next few years, but I am no longer having children anytime soon, as a result of spending 40 hours a week with a toddler.  I love the little guy, but I realize I should wait until I am at least 27 or 28!  Additionally, I have decided that after I live in NYC, I am going to move to North Carolina.  Although a month ago I would have said that I hated NC, I now love it.  Not so much Durham...but the areas around Raleigh are great.  Things are so much cheaper here, the weather is fantastic despite the heat, AND Locopops can cater my wedding (which is clearly the most important reason!)  Oh yes, and how can I forget...there is a SUSHI THAI.  Same name, same hosomaki combo, but better sushi!  I never knew the JB roll is really called a Japanese Bagel roll.  The salad dressing is lacking, I must admit, buttttt they have a bar that is shaped like a giant sushi boat.  It is amazing!

Other than that, not too much is new.  DC was very fun last weekend and I LOVE their metro system.  It makes me sort of sad that I must go on the subways of NYC now, but hopefully I will learn to love them too (doubtful!).      

Anyway, I love you all and cannot wait to see a lot of you in late August.  I can't believe it's only a few weeks away! 

Peabs

LEAH

Hey all,

Time for my weekly update about nothing. Well actually this past weekend exciting and leads to more interesting things to say. Tony and I made a late night trek to Washington DC last Thursday night. As usual, once 11 o'clock hit, I became incredibly grumpy/sleepy, but we survived the ride (or well Tony survived me haha). Friday morning, Gretch and Ben were nice enough to give us a key and well written directions on how to get to the metro. We explored "The Mall"/monuments, ate a street vendor hotdog for lunch and went to the natural history museum. Who doesn't love dinosaur bones and incredibly expensive jewelry right?
However! This was not the most exciting part of the day, because after Gretch and Ben got home from work, we went to Ikea! I had some meatballs for dinner (tastes like better tasting meatloaf) and bought a bed (this weekend's adventure is putting it together). It was awesome. I wish I had more time to explore it though. Ikea is very overwhelming when you rush through it. I guess I'll just have to go back!
Saturday we met Mark and Lauren at the Air and Space museum which was very cool but stuck in an early 90s time warp. When examples of computers in the exhibit show mickey mouse calculators, you know its time for an update. Next we enjoyed the amazingness that is the National American Indian Museum's food court, the melting heat of the south and the National Zoo. Sunday started out wonderful with Tastee Diner, but ended up with construction and a 9.5 hr car ride that was supposed to be 6 hrs long.
I am writing this from "work" again, but I'll get pictures up as soon I can.

It was awesome to see some of you guys again! I still cant comprehend that I wont be seeing you all in the fall though I'm super excited for August 22nd. I will probably be driving to Lauren's house and staying there and riding the train in to the city to meet up with whoever will be there on Saturday (or Friday if anyone will be there). I will probably drive up Friday morning to arrive at Lauren's early afternoonish. Driving to Lauren's seemed the most efficient ... its a closer drive from my house, figuring out planes/trains was annoying and I don't want Caitlin to have to run an Inn over the weekend. Plus, Cait you probably work on Friday right?

In other news, much to Lauren's dismay, I really want a cat. You think I can convince my dad to let me have one? Got any heartwrenching or extremely logical reasons why he should let me when I ask him?

Hope everythings going well with you all.

Miss you,
Leah

Claire - Tea and Champagne

So, I'm finally in London! Well, I've been here a week now, but that's almost the same.

I just finished up training so I actually know what I'm going now, which is nice. For this month I'm just an RA at the Res Hall, so my responsibilities are pretty small. RAs here don't do as much as they do in the US; all we have to do is make sure the building stays in decent order, sort the mail, and help people if they have key troubles. Of course if someone needs something more, we're here, but most of the people here are in their later 20s, and thus self-sufficient by now. At the moment the building is mostly full of language students and interns, so it's pretty chill. And a lot of Spanish students, so I'm going to have to brush up on how to admonish them in their native tongue when they act up.

When the Skidmore kids get here I'll have more to do because then I'll technically be employed by the IES Centre, which is where they have their classes, and where all their student service resources are. I also did my training there this week, so we went over my responsibilities when the kids are here, and what I'll be doing throughout the day. I met nearly everyone (they have another Claire (!!) but she was out on holiday) and they're all absolutely delightful. I had several little meetings with each of the people there, just to get to know them, and at the start of each I was offered a cuppa tea or coffee - I had 3 cups of tea made for me before I got out of there on Friday! Hence this is going to be a fabulous place to be.

But the best part has to have been Wednesday, when I went in along with one of the Res Hall guys to sit in on a Health & Safety meeting he was giving. And yes, it was just like the corresponding episode of original The Office; oh how I've come to appreciate it even more now. However, after we got through that and our crisis management seminar, they had scheduled as a pre-holiday treat (all but two of them will be out this week) a company called Urban Chill to come and give everyone 15 minute back massages. Oh yes, they did. Additionally, they had some goodies left over from their 4th of July celebration, so as people were rotating in for the massage, the rest of us sat in the library and drank champagne while snacking on cupcakes. Best first day of work ever! And I think it rightly deserves that title. I don't think any first day can beat that. Massages, cupcakes, and champagne. I must say, I partook in all three parts, and all quite wonderful.

Anywho, I could ramble on for ages, but I won't. Pictures of my tiny tiny room and my gorgeous neighbourhood (Chelsea is lovely, but super expensive) will come soon.

Missing you all
xx

Turtle Attack!

I was mauled by a turtle at camp yesterday.

So, here's my story:

I was bringing a turtle we keep in a tank at the Maine Audubon HQ building where we have camp out to show to the kids. I've done this many times before and never had a problem but today it was getting ready to storm and as I was walking with her (the turtle's name is Justine!) there was a huge clap of thunder and Justine latched her jaws right on to my forearm! She is a pretty big turtle and once she closed her jaws there was no way to get them open so I kind of had to yank my arm out slowly. It was not a pretty sight but I was so surprised by the whole thing I was just laughing! I ended up having to go to the doctors to get a tetanus shot and I have to be on antibiotics so I don't get any turtle diseases. The nurse at the doctors office told me this was the first turtle bite she ever treated, and when I first called and told them the problem I'm pretty sure they thought I was a prank call because they were very reluctant to schedule an appointment for me! My arm looked pretty bad yesterday but now it looks much better! My Mom and I also went to the opera last night and I showed off my wound to everyone around us! haha

Caitlin - IKEA Brooklyn or Bust

I'm sitting at work patiently waiting until the day I get to experience IKEA's brooklyn store with Dodd. This is the shining star that pushes me to keep going.

My job is pretty fun, but just like rhinoplasty patients, authors are crazy people. Like, really, crazy. I would say 85% of people who sit in their home offices tapping at keyboards with their index fingers until the printer throws out 600 pages become crazy. Let me recap a phone conversation with a published author.

Him: Is my book crap?
Me: Did your editor tell you it was crap?
Him: No, but my friends tell me its crap and it won't sell a single copy.
Me: Seriously, do you think you were just paid $75,000 for 300 pages of crap? You're not Britney Spears, you don't get paid to produce crap.
Him: I'm just very concerned that everyone in your office is lying to me.
Me: Your book is fine, great even. You, and your book will be fine.


Two Hours Later

Him: I just got a letter saying my book was crap.
Me: Who sent you a letter saying your book is crap? Was it one of your friends playing a joke on you?
Him: No it was a letter to myself. I composed it in my head.
::Silence::

Lizzie-I miss you all

So yesterday was "dia del amigo," or friend's day, in Argentina. It made me miss you guys. I'm excited about the weekend in August in NYC! I hope lots of you guys can come.

My island hasn't been that exciting. I did see Joey Fatone. There were lots of people on the island this weekend because of the Shark Tournament (which they actually have every year, it's just kinda funny that this year sharks were spotted around the island one week beforehand). And some 50something year-old guy was hitting on me at a club, asking me to introduce him to the band because he supposedly works for Saturday Night Live and was looking for a band (why he was interested in a local band that only does covers of 80s songs, i don't know...). I'm pretty sure he was just a shark fisherman.

So, I'm pretty sure Erin and Phred don't read this, but , I really enjoyed the drunk dial last night and I'm holding you to your drunken promise that you'll come visit me in two weeks!

I still haven't heard anything more from the Peace Corps. Love and miss you all!

Andy to NYC

I will be in NYC the weekend of the 25th-27th of July renting an apartment at 2nd and 13th. Let me know if you're around.

Emily

Just got back from a very busy/fun weekend in NYC and this is my new apartment!!


http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/abo/753120268.html


Right near a great park and some cute restaurants plus the subway stops across the street- yaaaay I'll post more about my (mis)adventures later- now I must sleep!

Miss you all!

Hey all!

Not much new in the world of Leah. Work is still the same...nothing of note really, but I'm still very much enjoying so thats good.

As Tony mentioned, Tony and I went to his Dad's cottage in Canada last weekend. It was amazing as usual. Quite a long drive, but worth it. It also reminds me that I can drive places a lot closer than 7.5 hours from Syracuse in one weekend (hint hint...though I did have four days off). Over the weekend, I honed my waterskiing skills (which were practically non-existent last year) and was able to get up on the skis and stay up. If you ever need to work out every single muscle in your body, learn to waterski. I'm still sore haha The weekend also included hiking, swimming, smores and other water activities for people who are more skilled than I am. His step-family is very nice and I'm glad they'll be there (and not in the humungous wedding party) for Bill/Brie's wedding in November so I wont be stranded alone.

Tony and I are now defintely going to DC on the 25th, 26th and 27th and I think I'm gonna make it down to NYC on that weekend on August if someone will house me. Tony probably wont go bc of starting at Cornell so I may take the train rather than driving alone, but I'll keep you posted.

Hows the job going Cait? And the apartment search Em? Fill us in people!

MISS YOU ALL! I hope this august thing works out or I may start showing some withdrawl symptoms

<3Leah

Lizzie-GREAT NEWS!

1) I bought my plane ticket so I will be arriving at JFK on Friday Aug 22 at 11:59AM Delta #5119 and leaving on Monday the 25th at 8:40AM. I'm so excited to see you new yorkers plus the transnational girl

and....

2) I got medically cleared for the Peace Corps. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! So I'll be going to a country where "asthmatic care is more readily available" so who knows what that means. but it doesn't matter! i will be doing the Peace Corps someday and somewhere to be named at a later date. the nice lady i talked to says i'm a few weeks ahead of schedule for the timeline for leaving in september. so, i may actually be able to go in september, who knows.... i'll keep you updated.

Lizzie-I have a plan...

I have a plan.

Well, not for life, still waiting for the Peace Corps… BUT, I have decided I don’t care what I have to do, I will somehow get myself to NY for the August 22^nd weekend when Claire is there. After weighing all the possibilities: boat plus bus then cheap bus which takes basically a day to get there and a day to get back, a flight from logan which also includes a bus and a boat, driving which includes $88just to get off this rock plus gas (eek) and possibility of getting lost. I’m just gonna suck it up and fly from Martha’s Vineyard to JFK which takes 2 hours. Then there will be no boat/bus delays or anything.

So, as long as I can finagle my boss into giving me time off, (which I should be able to do) and as long as I can stay at the L'hotel Fitz or with Dodd if she has an apartment by then, I’ll buy this ticket ASAP. I would be arriving on Friday around noon so I can hang out and greet Claire when she gets in at 1PM. Then I can either fly out of JFK at 8:40AM on Sunday or on Monday, hopefully I can work out something at work so I could come back Monday, it’s the same price.

Island life is not very exciting, I’ve gone out a few times with my friend from Spain and her Spanish boyfriend. There are WAY too many people here on this island this weekend, I went dancing on Thursday and had to leave because I couldn’t move because there were so many people. So last night Sean, Kylie, another friend of ours and I avoided town and had a bbq at his house with red, white, and blue jello shots. Yes, Sean made “white” ones with unflavored jello and coconut rum.

Oh yeah, I chopped off my hair. And colored it. The new color is called Sangria, how fitting… haha. Here’s a picture, you can’t really see the color, but in the sun it’s more visible.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Claire - Upcoming Plans

Well, I leave for London in 18 days and I can hardly believe it. 18 days! Thus, I'm trying to hurriedly get in all the things I need to do before I leave the country (which reminds me, I need to make an appointment at the dentist while I have insurance). I didn't realize just how long a list that was, but with appointments, and paper work, and trying to figure out what's important to take with me, what I can get sent over later, and then just the things I want to do for the summer, it's a bit overwhelming.

I had jury duty today! I must say I was a little nervous, but I got there early, filled out my questionnaire, and waited. And then we watched a little movie about the importance of being a juror and how a court room works. And then a judge came and said some 'inspirational' words about how important jurors are. And then we waited. Then the lady in charge came out and read the randomly selected 72 of all 120 of us that were called for the first round of inspection, and thankfully the computer missed me. So yay! They didn't even pick up my survey or anything, just dismissed me for the day right away. I must say I was thankful - I've had a very productive day instead, which is good. Being a juror wouldn't have actually been that bad, but I was slightly wary of having to make a big decision in someone's life. It was just a bit much for me. But in any case, I came home and organized a few bits of my life instead, so that was good.

Also, as part of my getting everything together before I go away, I have my flight details finally! Ceri, who will be my boss over in London, booked my tickets, so I now know what's going on in my life. I'll be leaving Denver on July 18th, and then flying back into New York City on Friday August 22. Then I have to be up at Skidmore on Monday August 25th for their orientation, so I'll be taking the train up on Sunday. Then it's back to London on the group flight, and theoretically back into the US December 6th.

Sooooo, who is going to be in New York that weekend?? My flight info getting in is :

Flight number: BA0175

From: Heathrow (London) Terminal 5

To: John F Kennedy (New York)

Depart: 22 Aug 2008 10:25

Arrive: 22 Aug 2008 12:55

Anyone going to be around that afternoon? Or over the weekend? Hopefully I'll get to see a couple of you guys while I'm on your side of the country!

I think that's about all that I've got going on at the moment. Well, that's already a rather long post, so either way, let's say that's all I've got going on right now.

Miss/love

It's Andy...remember me?

Hi, my name is Andy Bockus, if you don't remember me. I graduated with you in May. 

Since then, I've visited Emily's camp in Maine (it was an excellent time, thank you), chased 3 and 4-year-olds around for 3 weeks at the Skidmore ECC, house-sat for the Freys and polished off Steve's fabled "man-fridge", moved in and out of an apartment in a victorian house on Union Ave across the street from the aunt's old house, visited the Seattle Space Needle, climbed a frozen mountain in the Cascades, ate real Chinese food...(inhale if you're reading this outloud)... spent a night nursing Meredith off a fever in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, got stuck in a shitty part of Atlanta overnight, purchased a Mac, saw Indiana Jones, and ultimately spent more money than I can imagine making in the next five years.

I'm currently in Carlisle, PA, about 20 miles outside of Harrisburg begining my summer job at the Center for Talented Youth (nerd camp). I'm naturally TA-ing for chemistry. The program is six weeks long. I've been here for two days and I'm already not toooooo fond of the place. Alcohol, sarcasm, and...fun, basically, are strictly prohibited. Mer and I are having a difficult time being apart (I don't need to go into this. I'm sure most of you have suffered the same ills). 

Since I probably won't use this blog for another 10 years or so, based on my past record of keeping in touch, I'll spell out the rest of my summer for you. I return to Saratoga Springs on August 10 and will stay there until the 14th. If you'd like to visit and celebrate Meredith's b-day with us, perhaps I can help with sleeping arrangements. On that weekend, Lizzie listen up, my family and I are visiting the Vineyard. Then two weeks of packing and off to China with two people who are intent on making my life a living hell.

Take care,

-Andy 

Leah - Update

So I thought I would update seeing as though I hardly ever do and it seems to be the trend nowadays. Today I'm "working" at SU...getting paid to update the blog (and shred some paper and make some booklets). So far in the minimal assignments I was given, I have killed the booklet making machine and ran out of magenta printer ink and now I have nothing to do. Good thing this doesnt happen at my other job! haha

So speaking of the vet job..things are becoming much less awkward with my coworkers (we are going to eat some pizza tonight) and I'm learning a lot. I even successfully wrangled a mini-lion the other day. We mostly get in dogs and cats but we did get in a pig about a week ago so that was interesting. My days go by quickly and I'm hardly ever bored, so I have nothing to complain about. Next week I get Thursday and Friday off so Tony and I are off to his cottage in Canada on Wednesday after work. I'm very much looking forward to that.

I am also in the process of debating with myself about moving out of my house. Ariel still doesnt have a job (but does have a few prospects!) and she feels that she wont be able to or want to move out until later in the fall (which is totally understandable just a bummer for me). And if my plans of going to grad school go through (I keep telling myself that I AM going so that I don't flake out and never go), I wont be able to start renting a house after August (because of year-long leases and my having to go to grad school potentially next August). Therefore, I either need to find my own apartment or stay home for a year or so longer. I am looking at 2 studios (one today in the SU area and one next week right across the street from my work), but I am also wondering if it is even worth it. Think of all the money I could save! (but then I also think of my boring routine of going home to my bedroom every night feeling like I'm a 10th grader...also, in an apartment, I could have a cat at least...even a dog maybe!) Thoughts anyone?

So I'm glad we have this blog...I miss you all tremendously! Those of you we haven't heard from lately, update us!

Love, Leah

Emily- sorry I forgot to put my name in the heading!

life update...

hi everyone- quick update on my life!

First of all- I'm so excited Cait has a job, and we're going to get to see each other like all the time! I have a feeling I will need someone to get a strong drink with on Friday nights....

I went to NYC last week and made my job official. I got to see my classroom and was given several tote bags full of very heavy books that I have to read this summer so I can plan my year. I sort of feel that I don't know what I'm doing, even though I spent four years preparing for this!

I also found out I have 31 students in my class. ummmm yeahhhh... My favorite name on the class list is Justice Jones.

I am going to be living with Kasey Loeffel in Brooklyn, she is in NY for the summer and is looking at places for us and I'm going down for the 4th of July weekend to look at places with her and hopefully stay at Cait's!

I'm also working at Maine Audubon after all- they convinced me to stay! I don't have as much free time as I would like to work on finding a place to live and preparing to move in August but I do love working there!

Wedding Update: My friend Halley's bachelorette party ended up being at Denny's with two other annoying friends of hers I didn't know. While at this "party" I finally found out where she met her fiance. Myspace. yeahhhh... The whole wedding has turned into a big pain in my ass and I now understand why my parents got married in their living room and were done with the whole thing. I am definitely not a wedding person!

Glad to hear you are all doing well! Keep the updates coming!

Caitlin - The Real World - Starting Monday

So I start work on Monday, and I just got a little surprise about one particular aspect of the job.

I got an email from T. Lewis saying that he wrote a reference letter for me. To which he adds, "how funny, that's my publisher. We should be seeing quite a bit of each other."

So I am, by extension, his publicist.

Graduated, miles away, working, and yet...still doing bitch work for professors.

Lizzie-Argentina #3

So, I was pretty psyched that I didn’t die while doing parapentes, although my friends and family there were trying to convince me to just stay forever and one of them volunteered to call my boss and my family here saying I died doing parapentes and would never be returning. I contemplated it.

During the other days I walked around a lot and went shopping of course. I bought some lovely leather boots, a leather bag and a purple shiny leather wallet. See pictures below. Mainly they are pictures for Claire because I feel she would appreciate them the most, hehe.

So as I told Gretchen, there was a day without water so I went to my friend Paula’s house to take a shower and I bought bottle water so we could drink mate. My last night in Mendoza I went to my friend Celeste’s house in San Martin, which is like 45 minutes outside the city. Anabel went with me so we took a bus in our “going out” clothes. We went to a bar and then went dancing at a not-so-nice, kinda sketchy dance club. It was still really fun because we didn’t have to pay to get in, AND they gave us free jello shots at the door. Although they weren’t really shots because it was in bowls and they gave us spoons, so that was exciting. They played a spice girls song that made me happy.

So, at the beginning of the night I made a goal of making out with someone by the end of the night. I spent a great deal of the night flirting with a guy name Raul, who was short but cute. But, he was a little dense and didn’t get it. So I was dancing with some other guys and another one came up to me. I introduced myself and he said he had already met me and that he was a friend of Raul, haha ooops I didn’t remember. Then I danced with him, he told me “me caso con vos, me caso con vos” (I’m gonna marry you) haha and I told him I’m not getting married for 10 years and he starts telling me that I’m the perfect kind of girl to marry, blah blah blah. So whatever I made out with him and Raul was right next to us. But then this guy kept asking me what his name was, like he was quizzing me or something and I didn’t remember/didn’t care, so I kept changing the subject or kissing him to shut him up, ahahah.

Then I went to Buenos Aires for a few days and hung out with my two friends, who actually both happen to be named Valeria. I went to the birthday party of a friend of a friend’s and met some really really fun people. We went to a really sketch dance club, they patted down the guys when we entered, but we still had a great time. I was teaching them all the classic dance moves, such as the sprinkler, the shopping cart, the lawn mower etc. I met a guy who looks like Jake Gyllenhaal. There was this bald chubby guy named Gabriel who was with us with the birthday party and we had a GREAT time making fools of ourselves and dancing ourselves silly. At one point some guy we didn’t know came up to me and started spinning me around and dancing it was so fun. And, there were many “Lizzie sandwiches” aka two boys surrounding me and dancing. Pictures will go up soon.

And now I am home. I didn’t get as upset this time when I left Argentina. I think it’s because I know I will go back someday. I told all my friends they have to plan out their weddings together and agree to each get married once a year that way I can go back every year (of course this is assuming I will have the money). Otherwise they have to all get married in one weekend.

I miss you all a lot. I think I finally sent in my last medical test results and whatnot to the Peace Corps today. So, I guess it might be a few weeks now for them to look over everything. I’m thinking the program in Africa that leaves in September must be full by now so I’d probably leave later and maybe go somewhere else. Of course I will let you all know the moment I get any news.