Let it flow

I apologize once again for the prolonged silence. As my graduate studies are now in full swing and my life has some routine to it, I let myself fall into the mental trap of perceiving my seemingly mundane daily activity as no longer "blog-worthy", relative to crocidile encounters or island adventures. I realized last night that this type of logic is completely absurd. The point of this blog is to keep my friends and family up to date on what is going on in my life, however unadventurous it might seem to me in the moment.

Highlights

1. I am getting pretty ripped. I joined a gym that just opened three blocks from my house that has the best Zumba (an aerobics class with music from all over the world), Pilates, and Spinning classes ever. The one advantage to being a student and having all night classes for my school program is that it opens up my days to attend regularly, a luxary I never had in Austin.

2. I bought an accordion. I decided that my rainy season activity would be to learn how to play the accordion, and conveniently my friend's Dad was selling his grandmother's old accordion for an incredibly good price. I had not thought threw the logistics of actually taking buses around town with an accordion in tow, but it is a little more difficult than originally anticipated, as the accordion is quite large and quite heavy. Good thing I am getting ripped at the gym.

3. I am getting closer to finding an accordion teacher that lives near me so I don't have to take the bus. Nothing definite yet, but even the thought of not having to carry that accordion 15 blocks to the bus stop makes my triceps very happy and hopeful.

4. If I learn at least one song on my new accordion, I already have work. If I can learn one song, I will make my long awaited debut in the world of puppet shows. It will be nice to have my foot in the door. ; )

5. I got all A's my first trimester. I can honestly say that my Spanish is coming along quite well, although there is much room for improvement. The nice thing is that I no longer return from class with an enormous headache from exerting all of the energy that my body had produced in a three hour class session.

6. I got to go to Austin and to the beach during my break from school. I managed to squeeze a short visit in to Austin, to pick up a piece of luggage I had left with a friend and help my little sister find an apartment and get settled into her hew home. It was a whirlwind of a week, packed full of visits with family and friends and shopping sprees to pick up a long list of items for myself and friends in Costa Rica that are half the price in the states. It seemed to be over before it started and to this day I am not sure if it actually happened or if it was just a dream. When I returned, my classes had been postponed for a week due to the fact that my professors were out of the country, so I headed to Samara Beach to enjoy the extra vacation time. Managed to stay with friends in a house right on the beach with a pool and plenty of hammocks. Niccccceeeeeeeeee.

7. I made a pair of sandals, like really made them. I had never thought about the possibility of making my own shoes until my friend started a shoe-making business. It is actually a pretty complicated process, but luckily Fadrique has all the tools and machinery necessary. It was both of us, as he had never made a pair of sandals before either. I really love them and will post a picture on the site.

8. I turned 29! It is quite nice to have people constantly telling me on a regular basis that I look 8 years younger than I actually am. I rang in the new year of my life on the dance floor (big surprise), breaking in down to my favorite group from San Jose called Sonambulo!

Lowlights

1. Rainy season has started. Every day at about noon, the clouds come roll in and the downpour begins. The disadvantage of having night classes is that I often have to make a mad dash for the bus in the midst of downpours, for which an umbrella is only marginally helpful in avoiding getting soaked. It rains sideways more often than it rains up and down. The upside to the rain is that it provides ample opportunties to stay in and watch movies and practice accordion.

2. I have to take Statistics this trimester. I thought my Spanish was getting better until I showed up last week to a 3.5 hour Stats class with a professor from Spain whose accent I can't quite seem to wrap my brain around. After understanding about 2% of the dialogue during that time period, I approached her and we developed a "Sarah needs you to speak more slowly" hand sign that I am confident will be very useful and highly utilized in the upcoming weeks.

3. I have to narrow down a thesis project soon! Yikes. Already? I was originally planning to do something related to peace studies, but as of two days ago I am leaning more towards investigations of the women's prisons here with a focus in gender.

4. My rent went up. Darn it! We had sent a request to our landlord stating our financial limitations, but maybe we didn't cover it with enough smiley face stickers because she shot it down in less than 24 hours.


Insights

1. Routine is actually quite nice.
2. It is really nice to get up early and enjoy the few hours of morning sun.
3. Normal phone calls now seem rather boring when compared to Skpe video calls!
4. It is quite valueable and perfectly alright to not understand what is going on around you at all times.

You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you. - Barbara Sher