Hi all,
So, yesterday I welcomed summer by getting my first sunburn in a swimsuit. It may be the first summer in 2 years, but I did it. Monday afternoon Hum asked if I would take a group, including the new villager, to the neighboring community for a waterpark outing. Sam can't drive, so I felt semi-obligated to say yes. It was pretty much what I expected. Except for someone having to go to the hospital (one young person's father after a rollercoaster ride...hopefully ok...) as a precaution.
It was pretty disorganized, but I only really had to keep tabs on Maria and Connie, as the new villager was assimilated back into his old friend group. We first went on a kiddie train and then on a "gondola". Which was pretty much a ski lift. I sucked it up and sat next to Maria, who after a first 15 seconds of nonstop questions decided to really just go with it. I was just happy she didn't wet her pants and me by default. This thing moved SO SLOWLY, about 1/5 as fast as your typical lift. However, when she started bouncing around to YMCA, I told her no bouncing. Then she turned to me and said: "Sissy! Sissy!" while laughing.
This is the same girl who wouldn't go down a waterslide 5 minutes later. Frustrating. So We had to park her at the bottom so I could do rides with Connie. We did something called the "Tornado" which was awesome. Shaped like a large funnel, you get dropped from about 15 feet to build up momentum and then careen back and forth as you go down it. Crazy.
It was a long day though, but we made it through with no major hitches. I went and watched Amelie with Bean and a few other co-workers and enjoyed it. Funny to realize that I'm now supposedly older than Amelie. Sigh.
Today Okiwa came again and as it was raining this morning (and everything was soaked...), neighborhood lunch was canceled. This makes thing easier, not having all the deals to try to manage with just Julia. We were both relieved. So I taught Okiwa how to cook millet and we made a variation of the millet cakes with zucchini. They fell apart and hissed in the oil a bit more, but were really good. Frankin had an appointment this morning, so I watched the oldest child (who ran next door to visit and freaked me out...) and managed the other villager who comes in. She had one of her days where she cries because she says that her house has no food, so I taught Okiwa the trick of pretending to call her house and have her overhear me affirming that they have food.
Neighborhood meeting was fine and pretty short. Connie's still having a really rough time, and everyone has different advice. I know that once the neighbor house parents come back from vacation that things will level out a bit. I hope.
Anyhow, I'm really tired and am going to bed!
Hope all is well,
Steph
Showing posts with label Maria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maria. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Monday Survival Mode
Hi all,
It was a bit of long day, but I made it through! Due to the fact that our new co-worker won't arrive until August 20th, (Sam's replacement) a mere 10 days or so until Sam leaves, it was decided that we would temporarily get another co-worker to come in and learn how to cook. So, we got Okiwa. Okiwa has been here a mere 3 weeks, but is older than a typical co-worker (late twenties) and seems very nice. Her English is better than she thinks it is.
I thoroughly enjoyed the irony of "teaching" her how to cook the tofu recipe I use. There was another older co-worker who visits during the summer (her "vacation" from the village she comes from!) who was going to help her out - apparently they missed the notice that I would still be here until she felt comfortable. We discussed the tofu a little, and she expressed her surprise in finding it in America. Considering the fact that I'd never cooked tofu until just months ago, who exactly is teaching who?
So cooking will not be a problem for her. We worked together and I tried to give her space, I think she was the most anxious about me possibly getting upset with her. Not going to happen! Anyhow, I think the toughest thing is just learning how to run the work crew smoothly and going with the weekly rhythm. So hopefully within 3-4 weeks I can transition over to the co-op. This was good news for my workmaster, and helped to let me ask if I can have tomorrow to take a group from my house to a waterpark with a neighboring community.
We got our newest villager today. I don't have a nickname for him yet. However, he seems very nice, and Hum and Hather know him from living with him before . So that's great. He, Maria, Connie and I will go tomorrow. Connie has been in a real snit lately and terrorizing Maria, who has been working in the mornings with her because her house is gone. The concept of the golden rule of doing unto others is something we're slowly trying to pound into her...
"You have to stop being so mean to Maria"
"Why do you say I was mean? I wasn't mean..."
"You told her to shut up and made her cry. Is making someone cry nice?"
"Uh. No..."
"Is it mean?"
"...Yes..."
"Ok then."
And so on and so forth.
So, the theme of our work is "Soul Growth" and social niceties. Also including that lying in wait for someone outside of a bathroom door for 5-10 minutes is not appropriate. And that knocking is imperative before entering someone's room. And the whole sacredness of Steph's resthour thing too. That's a bonus one.
Anyhow, tired tired tired (detecting a theme here?)
Hope all is well,
Steph
It was a bit of long day, but I made it through! Due to the fact that our new co-worker won't arrive until August 20th, (Sam's replacement) a mere 10 days or so until Sam leaves, it was decided that we would temporarily get another co-worker to come in and learn how to cook. So, we got Okiwa. Okiwa has been here a mere 3 weeks, but is older than a typical co-worker (late twenties) and seems very nice. Her English is better than she thinks it is.
I thoroughly enjoyed the irony of "teaching" her how to cook the tofu recipe I use. There was another older co-worker who visits during the summer (her "vacation" from the village she comes from!) who was going to help her out - apparently they missed the notice that I would still be here until she felt comfortable. We discussed the tofu a little, and she expressed her surprise in finding it in America. Considering the fact that I'd never cooked tofu until just months ago, who exactly is teaching who?
So cooking will not be a problem for her. We worked together and I tried to give her space, I think she was the most anxious about me possibly getting upset with her. Not going to happen! Anyhow, I think the toughest thing is just learning how to run the work crew smoothly and going with the weekly rhythm. So hopefully within 3-4 weeks I can transition over to the co-op. This was good news for my workmaster, and helped to let me ask if I can have tomorrow to take a group from my house to a waterpark with a neighboring community.
We got our newest villager today. I don't have a nickname for him yet. However, he seems very nice, and Hum and Hather know him from living with him before . So that's great. He, Maria, Connie and I will go tomorrow. Connie has been in a real snit lately and terrorizing Maria, who has been working in the mornings with her because her house is gone. The concept of the golden rule of doing unto others is something we're slowly trying to pound into her...
"You have to stop being so mean to Maria"
"Why do you say I was mean? I wasn't mean..."
"You told her to shut up and made her cry. Is making someone cry nice?"
"Uh. No..."
"Is it mean?"
"...Yes..."
"Ok then."
And so on and so forth.
So, the theme of our work is "Soul Growth" and social niceties. Also including that lying in wait for someone outside of a bathroom door for 5-10 minutes is not appropriate. And that knocking is imperative before entering someone's room. And the whole sacredness of Steph's resthour thing too. That's a bonus one.
Anyhow, tired tired tired (detecting a theme here?)
Hope all is well,
Steph
Monday, April 26, 2010
Hi all,
It was a wet and rainy day today. Rather gloomy, and prone to sudden and sporadic showers that were just light enough to make wearing a raincoat barely worth it. This morning I used the leftovers (frozen) from my mushroom and barley soup to make a mushroom risotto. When Sam came to take a peek, he exclaimed in dismay: "Why is it purple?!?"
Well, from the red wine, of course. Although I was then told that risottos is made only with white wine, this was impossible as we only had red on hand. Not to mention that I'd made the soup with red wine, so it was more practical to continue with it. It turned out ok, a little gummy after setting, but had pretty good flavor. I also had to raid the seed room for cabbage, as the co-op's supplier didn't get their shipment of lettuce, and so neither did we. So, risotto and coleslaw for lunch!
After lunch I trekked over to the woodshop to meet Flo to work on the planters. He'd also made a box planter, although after putting some screws in (which went every which way...not looking too pretty at this point...), it isn't lining up right anymore. The one with the angles is looking pretty good, and hopefully they'll both be "finished" by Wednesday. As long as they hold dirt...
Our orientation outing was canceled due to the rain. We were apparently supposed to be scraping paint off of a building. One co-worker raised the question (finally) of why we were doing all these jobs - what did they have to do with "orientation"? So after a half an hour of some manual labor - we seemed to be getting farmed out for this a lot lately - we sat down and had a discussion over what we thought it should be like. It lacks cohesion and a purpose, and hasn't really helped to "orientate" us to anything. So hopefully this will prompt some changes.
Since housemom changed the seating arrangement, I've noticed how little she noticed how much and even how Maria interacts at the table. At dinner I always did a "1 piece of bread and then more after soup" since housemom is always talking about meeting nutrition requirements. So it was almost funny to see her struggling to get Maria to finish her bowl of soup after she'd let her have 2-3 pieces of bread first. Not to mention she was talking about how we have to maintain her weight, and I don't quite think she believed me when I was telling her how often I have to remind Maria to just eat. Her child-like wonder can get her so revved up on questions that she just doesn't think about it.
I'm a little irked that tomorrow I'm going to have to stay home so housemom can take her youngest into the ER. He's been having a reoccurring problem for the last 2-3 weeks (not life-threatening, but painful) and she should've done it then. It's probably petty to resent being kept from going to something I actually really look forward to (since I'm really starting to get into the real work at the stain glass workshop) and she treats it as though it's not important. Yet she's always going on about the value of work, no matter how small it is. Housedad has an appointment tomorrow himself, so you'd think that would somehow be able to work out. Apparently not. It's just frustrating that I have to keep picking up the pieces. It's clear that her children are her first priority, but that does shift a lot to me. Housedad and Sam share a lot of the work for their care, while I was pretty much taking sole care with Maria. It's true housemom does a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff, but it's sometimes hard not to feel as though I'm taken for granted.
I know it's great that I get to be out of the house at all in the mornings, but it's just disheartening to finally have a chance to do something I feel I can be passionate about and then get it taken away - it doesn't inspire confidence that I'll be able to stick with it.
Hope all is well,
Steph
It was a wet and rainy day today. Rather gloomy, and prone to sudden and sporadic showers that were just light enough to make wearing a raincoat barely worth it. This morning I used the leftovers (frozen) from my mushroom and barley soup to make a mushroom risotto. When Sam came to take a peek, he exclaimed in dismay: "Why is it purple?!?"
Well, from the red wine, of course. Although I was then told that risottos is made only with white wine, this was impossible as we only had red on hand. Not to mention that I'd made the soup with red wine, so it was more practical to continue with it. It turned out ok, a little gummy after setting, but had pretty good flavor. I also had to raid the seed room for cabbage, as the co-op's supplier didn't get their shipment of lettuce, and so neither did we. So, risotto and coleslaw for lunch!
After lunch I trekked over to the woodshop to meet Flo to work on the planters. He'd also made a box planter, although after putting some screws in (which went every which way...not looking too pretty at this point...), it isn't lining up right anymore. The one with the angles is looking pretty good, and hopefully they'll both be "finished" by Wednesday. As long as they hold dirt...
Our orientation outing was canceled due to the rain. We were apparently supposed to be scraping paint off of a building. One co-worker raised the question (finally) of why we were doing all these jobs - what did they have to do with "orientation"? So after a half an hour of some manual labor - we seemed to be getting farmed out for this a lot lately - we sat down and had a discussion over what we thought it should be like. It lacks cohesion and a purpose, and hasn't really helped to "orientate" us to anything. So hopefully this will prompt some changes.
Since housemom changed the seating arrangement, I've noticed how little she noticed how much and even how Maria interacts at the table. At dinner I always did a "1 piece of bread and then more after soup" since housemom is always talking about meeting nutrition requirements. So it was almost funny to see her struggling to get Maria to finish her bowl of soup after she'd let her have 2-3 pieces of bread first. Not to mention she was talking about how we have to maintain her weight, and I don't quite think she believed me when I was telling her how often I have to remind Maria to just eat. Her child-like wonder can get her so revved up on questions that she just doesn't think about it.
I'm a little irked that tomorrow I'm going to have to stay home so housemom can take her youngest into the ER. He's been having a reoccurring problem for the last 2-3 weeks (not life-threatening, but painful) and she should've done it then. It's probably petty to resent being kept from going to something I actually really look forward to (since I'm really starting to get into the real work at the stain glass workshop) and she treats it as though it's not important. Yet she's always going on about the value of work, no matter how small it is. Housedad has an appointment tomorrow himself, so you'd think that would somehow be able to work out. Apparently not. It's just frustrating that I have to keep picking up the pieces. It's clear that her children are her first priority, but that does shift a lot to me. Housedad and Sam share a lot of the work for their care, while I was pretty much taking sole care with Maria. It's true housemom does a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff, but it's sometimes hard not to feel as though I'm taken for granted.
I know it's great that I get to be out of the house at all in the mornings, but it's just disheartening to finally have a chance to do something I feel I can be passionate about and then get it taken away - it doesn't inspire confidence that I'll be able to stick with it.
Hope all is well,
Steph
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Why Do Cows Have Gutters?
Hi all,
Living with Maria never has a dull moment. She followed up this gem with: "Do cows have seizures?". True, cows were the hot topic of the day, as they moved some into the field by our neighborhood - but I'm not exactly sure where the seizure question came from.
Maria has some unique qualities, her sense of ever-present wonder is one of them. And vastly unappreciated before and during breakfast, unfortunately. The most common phrases are:
"WHAT'S THAT?!?"
"What's it's name?"
"What does it sound like?"
"Is it ----- or is it -------?" (insert any word, and then repeat...she likes to give you the semblance of a choice, kind of...)
Eventually, I've realized that certain topics must just not be mentioned until the last minute, such as: doctor's appointments, visitors, phone calls, mail, and any special events. Because she can fixate like no other. Fortunately, I can tell her that we're going to drop a conversation, and that works for a few good hours, usually. That, and avoiding eye contact at the table, because then the stream never stops...
Today was a good day.
Aren't you glad?
This morning was pretty low key, and after my surprise success with the yogurt last night (it turned out beautifully after a spell on the warm dryer), I was emboldened to attempt hummus. I'm not sure how great it was in comparison to other types of hummus, but I liked it...
I made Mexican Millet for lunch, with nachos with cheese and beans. The millet turned out the best yet. Not only did I not burn it to the pan, I had some red pepper and it really helped it to taste great. It was hard to believe it was millet!
We had a neighborhood co-worker meeting (boo for lack of nap...) where I did get some chain work in during the mostly extraneous-to-Steph (and the house for another month or two...they're planners here...) information. Apparently I will be getting a crash course on doing the finances for the villager's personal accounts (how we give them their money to pay for things and how to account for it) - which pretty much boils down to: Math.
And we all know how much Steph loves math.
Work was interesting the co-op. I learned how to do invoices and deposits through the computer system and helped with some normal food stuff. I ran the shift mostly by myself, but it was a pretty uneventful day.
Oh. I did forget: I got the news at the meeting - I'm Going to the stainglass workshop tomorrow morning!!!
Not that I'm at all excited about it. Well, maybe you can't tell because FB doesn't show the bolding. But the exclamation points should help...
Hope all is well,
Steph
Living with Maria never has a dull moment. She followed up this gem with: "Do cows have seizures?". True, cows were the hot topic of the day, as they moved some into the field by our neighborhood - but I'm not exactly sure where the seizure question came from.
Maria has some unique qualities, her sense of ever-present wonder is one of them. And vastly unappreciated before and during breakfast, unfortunately. The most common phrases are:
"WHAT'S THAT?!?"
"What's it's name?"
"What does it sound like?"
"Is it ----- or is it -------?" (insert any word, and then repeat...she likes to give you the semblance of a choice, kind of...)
Eventually, I've realized that certain topics must just not be mentioned until the last minute, such as: doctor's appointments, visitors, phone calls, mail, and any special events. Because she can fixate like no other. Fortunately, I can tell her that we're going to drop a conversation, and that works for a few good hours, usually. That, and avoiding eye contact at the table, because then the stream never stops...
Today was a good day.
Aren't you glad?
This morning was pretty low key, and after my surprise success with the yogurt last night (it turned out beautifully after a spell on the warm dryer), I was emboldened to attempt hummus. I'm not sure how great it was in comparison to other types of hummus, but I liked it...
I made Mexican Millet for lunch, with nachos with cheese and beans. The millet turned out the best yet. Not only did I not burn it to the pan, I had some red pepper and it really helped it to taste great. It was hard to believe it was millet!
We had a neighborhood co-worker meeting (boo for lack of nap...) where I did get some chain work in during the mostly extraneous-to-Steph (and the house for another month or two...they're planners here...) information. Apparently I will be getting a crash course on doing the finances for the villager's personal accounts (how we give them their money to pay for things and how to account for it) - which pretty much boils down to: Math.
And we all know how much Steph loves math.
Work was interesting the co-op. I learned how to do invoices and deposits through the computer system and helped with some normal food stuff. I ran the shift mostly by myself, but it was a pretty uneventful day.
Oh. I did forget: I got the news at the meeting - I'm Going to the stainglass workshop tomorrow morning!!!
Not that I'm at all excited about it. Well, maybe you can't tell because FB doesn't show the bolding. But the exclamation points should help...
Hope all is well,
Steph
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