Guatemala Numero Trez

Alright continuing on with the house. Concrete floors, skylights letting light down the stairwell into my room through an INTERIOR window in the wall, and the weirdest stairs I've ever seen. Also, she had an old stove covered up with a sheet and used as countertop space. Showers in Guatemala (apparently this is normal) are hooked up with a heater attached to the head of the shower that heats the water right there, rather than downstairs in the water heater. Looks a bit like electrocution waiting to happen. There was no AC or central heat, because the climate is mild enough in both directions that you either put more blankets on the bed or open the windows. Some pictures:

My dad outside the house we stayed at:

The deathtrap:

My room.

Our host lady Lily. She liked to wave constantly to the camera while repeatedly saying "hola, hola, hola" as if we were taking a video. Stop bloody moving!!

And now I shall get on with talking about the school, before I get to discussing our excursions and our new friends that we made.

Guatemala #2

As soon as we got into Xela, we got picked up by the director of the school, who apparently doesn't speak all that much English- or else he just doesn't care to try. He drove us to our house and showed us where the school was, around the corner, enough that we could walk there from the house. We dropped our stuff off, ate a quick meal made by our host lady Lily, who speaks basically no English, and scooted off to our first day of class- yeah- within one hour-ish of getting into town we started Spanish classes.

The brief is this- the town of like 3-400,ooo didn't look like it. Most buildings were 2-3 stories max. Concrete. With lots of rebar sticking out the top in case they want to add on in the future. If I didn't know better before, after 2 years of education I can certainly tell you that pouring concrete over rusted rebar is a terrible idea. The streets are mostly bumpy cobblestone, and the few streets that are busy are very busy. Many many vehicles are not only diesel, but crappy old buses burning oil and belching clouds of dark smog into the air. Every day our walk to school (until we found a side-street route) was a diesel-smog choked ten minutes.

The house we stayed at was actually pretty large, but conspicously empty. Lots of bedrooms where other people like us could stay (she'd been doing this for like 15 years) and then a small apartment on the first floor where her daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren Carlito and Marie-ta live. And a garage, one car wide but three cars deep. Weird. With open windows into the house. Mmmm, fumes are tasty.

The sidewalks are also ridiculously narrow, sometimes high off the street, and often bisected by random telephone poles. There are shops everywhere that open right onto the sidewalk. There's a volcano in the distance called Santa Maria that we didn't get to climb- left the day before that group trip happened :( It apparently caused tremors twice, one which failed to wake me up, the other which I missed while playing soccer with the kids.

Most roofs were metal, but the few that were tile had stuff like this growing:

The is Parque Central (I hope you can figure out what that means):

One of the only steep streets in the city, near our school.

The town, and El Vulcan in the background again...

A typical gaudy ish house.

Our typical environment walking around.

The other kid often in the house was Fernandito (or Fern), who was three- his mom would drop him off for grandma Lily to watch him. But the kids called her Lily. So I called her abuela (grandma) instead. She liked treating me like the kid, and called me "el bebe".

This picture was in the kitchen- another grandkid, Andrea, had her 13th birthday- and got a new cell phone- meaning she had one before. This was when I played soccer with the kids...

Fern, "Ita"& Andrea (sisters), Carlito (12), Marie-ta his sister, and random kid with too much energy.

Its time to start a new post.

Guatemala #1

The funny thing about writing is I'm going back and reading my friend Anne's posts now. She was there before we were, and is still there now. More on her later. Like pictures. So we started out getting up, taking the El to O'Hare (I bloody hate O'Hare, but taking public transportation with your parents is somehow interesting, almost anachronistic in a way...?) and chilling out there. We flew to DFW and had a little layover, and saw these two sculptures there:

My dad trying to decide why someone would make this...thing.

Then we arrived in Guatemala City. No shock yet, but humorous to fill out little forms about our state of health (worry about the swine flu, which I of course told everyone there I had (okay no I didn't) and we were greeted by people collecting the papers, while wearing dust masks. We got picked up by a nice lady named Gilda who drove us to her house where we stayed, slept, had breakfast, and an early drive to the bus station to take the bus four hours to Quetzaltenango, traditionally known as Xela (shay-la) from the Mayans.

Gilda's place:

We drove four hours in not a bad bus, on some pretty bad roads through the mountains, all of which were being constructed as if they were just recently brought into existence at all. They were often dirt with a lane of concrete that was maybe or not blocked off. Never know. The lanes were constantly changing. The scenery was great though. We got a rest stop some random place, and I slept a bit, also reading Musicophilia (by Oliver Sacks, a psychologist, writing about people with different music disorders and obsessions or abhorrences, which I'm just finishing now) and writing in my journal. This is where I shall finish post #1. Pictures.

Every bit of countryside that wasn't forest or an actual house was cultivated farmland, no matter how steep. Looked pretty cool. And hard to work.

Frank Lloyd Wright Tour!

The moment you've all been waiting for. Time to write about my trip. Well, not yet, more the prelude to the trip. First I gotta serve myself a bowl of my newly made/invented (but I'm not the first sadly) potato-avocado soup. It tastes salty, potatoey, avocadoey, limey, and hot saucey.

SO. First, my dad was in town for a conference, and stayed with me the night before the Frank Lloyd Wright Tour. As a preface, its a once-a-year tour of *some* of his houses in a neighborhood in Oak Park, a nice suburb teeming with his architecture, as well as somewhat yuppie wealthy white people. But anyway my dad and I and Tiffany went out for tapas (Spanish appetizer-sized dishes of food-tasty) and had sangria, walked to another bar, had a beer, and walked home. We walked like three miles all in all- good cause we were stuffed.

Then Chris and my mom showed up Saturday morning and we drove to Oak Park. We got to see five of his houses from the inside, though there are probably 10-12 in the neighborhood. Annoyance #1. Then we waited in line for anywhere from 15 minutes to closer to 40. Annoyance #2 (we're not counting the price of the tickets here, which was steep, since my dad paid for mine). Then we found out we couldn't take pictures of the interiors. You guessed it- Annoyance #4. The icing on the cake was the house we waited about 40 minutes to see, which we saw for all of two minutes as they ushered us in the front door, through the family room, and out the back door of the kitchen into the back yard. No upstairs. Same for the next house. AWESOME. As was waiting in line for it next to a sweet as hell house, which we were not able to tour. So the tour was cool, but kind of a let down in some ways. If I was loaded and could return each year for five or so years and see all the houses, maybe it'd be better, but I'd still leave without seeing some upstairs or being able to take pictures.

But then I guess thats what I subsequently bought the Frank Lloyd Wright bible, titled "The Houses" for. It retails for $75! And weighs its worth in pennies too. I paid less, thank you Half.com So here's a few pictures:

I should mention that we came across the car of a packrat/hoarder. And as we were taking pictures and saying how embarrassing it was, I was apparently the last to know until after we had walked away, but the guy standing by it selling newspapers was THE OWNER. He said something like "quite the spectacle I guess?" And I said "heck yeah!" which I guess is when Chris and my dad heard him say "yeah I guess I should take care of that" while I went on to make an ass of myself saying how embarrassed the owner would be if they saw people taking pictures of their car. Foot in mouth disease.

The coolest house we actually got to see, the Robie House, on University of Chicago campus. Still in the process of renovation. (Which cost TEN MIL).

The coolest house we didn't get to see.

The second coolest house we didn't get to see. :P

iPhones. My dad joined the resistance (sorry just saw Terminator tonight)

The Oak Park library, built by some other guy but still cool looking.

And now its time to write about Guatemala............

A Job!

I should note that I got a job. I applied to/contacted over 100 firms in Chicago- basically every single one I could find, including professors. I heard from maybe 20-30 saying they weren't looking or had filled the position, heard from like 4-5 asking for more information, and got an interview with one place. My professor Bill Worn, who I would have LOVED to work for. He's big on sustainable design/"green" architecture in many ways, he's very smart and interested in technology like solar panels and gray water reusing systems, and knows not only about their value but their shortcomings and the calculations behind it all. I've had him for two classes.

I really don't know what I did to deserve the job, because most of my classmates didn't find anything, and a couple are working for FREE just for the experience (good experience, yes, but I think I'd rather teach myself software and skills all summer, but its good on a resume). SO, I get paid, I get work hour credits towards being able to sit for the licensing exam someday, and I get something good on my resume, as well as lots of new knowledge and skills. So I'm pretty lucky, and pretty thankful. And I even have a nice view out a huge window, and the whole office runs on Macs. Another thanks :)

Minnesota ho!

So for my next adventure, after a couple days of recovery from Finals, Tiffany and I took the Mega Bus to Minneapolis. Its a bus line owned by Greyhound that goes from Chicago to all the surrounding major cities, including St. Louis, Detroit, and much of Ohio. If you buy your ticket more than 3 months in advance, its a dollar :) They keep costs low by having no stations- just drop points with a sign on the sidewalk.

This was our view out the bus:

So we took an 8 hour bus ride up. Sweet cause they have wifi on the bus (same bus I took to Indy in December) but unsweet because they don't have power outlets for your computer. And THAT is why I need a 7 hour battery in my laptop. Soon, my child.

I went to visit Rob and Michelle, two independent friends from college who un-independently got married and moved back to MN, where Michelle is from, and had Logan a couple years ago and now recently Oliver. So I went to visit them again. No offense to Oliver, but he was kinda boring- cute, but infants are just boring to me. Toddlers, kids, they rock. Logan turned 3. He rocks. Smartest tallest most athletic kid I've ever seen at that age. Incredible.

We played whiffle ball (I pitched and he rocked the ball across the yard), soccer, basketball, whatever. Walked around the gardens next to the Walker Art Museum (which I wanted to see but was closed Mondays, as were the two other cultural architectural things I wanted to see- oh well, next time) and otherwise kinda mostly just hung out, outside and in. Time for some pictures.

The Family Dineen sans Oliver:

Three happy kids:

One kid who thinks he knows how to rock:

And one kid who doesn't know how to do a whole lot

(and also his son Oliver):

They like the hammock.

School Stuff

Well I guess since I finished another semester I should write about that also. Not only did I frighteningly finish my second year of grad school, Tiffany is going to grad school (as I mentioned), Jenny finished grad school and has a DOCTORATE of Physical Therapy (and passed her licensing exam) AND got a great job making a whopping $XX,XXX a year!! (She said she'd be mad if I told people how much she was making).

AND. Nathan got into Notre Dame!!!

So this semester actually went pretty smoothly, partially due to the fact that I had strategically (or lazily, but gimme a break our workload is crazy!) taken a theory class that I knew would be basically zero work. With an oooooooold professor who drones on and on...smart guy, but not very interesting, not a compelling or riveting style of lecturing...nor one that "facilitates note-taking" (as the end-of-the-semester survey asks) or results in much actual learning. But it eased up my semester.

I did enjoy my design studio because we made cool models, I learned a lot, worked hard but not too hard, and felt it went at a good pace. And the professor who lead the studio was great- he is basically a badass architect who built a house for the most important architectural family in Chicago (who give out the Nobel-equivalent Prize of architecture each year). Here are some pictures of my models, followed by group photos of everyone's models. My parents even came to watch my little 5 minute presentation followed by 15 minute grilling by the jury (a panel of professors both from the university and from other universities or firms, invited by our professors or by our dean).

First, a study model from the beginning of the semester, done as a team with my friend Shauna, then a picture of many peoples' models grouped together (3 weeks into the semester):

Now mid-terms, we did the same thing- except individually. So instead of 24 models, there were 48. I think. Again, my model plus other peoples' models:

Finally, our final models. We were basically designing housing, 12-22 units, for a 125'x125' square generic plot that would be for somewhere in Chicago. I focused on efficiency living, cheaper condos (that looked like trailers yes) for first-time buyers who don't have $250,000 for a condo yet. Everyone's models were sweet and I took lots of pictures but bloody hell it'd take forever to post all the cool ones here.

Here's a friend of mine Alex's model- one of the cooler ones.

Missing Concerts.

During my Spring Break, this little cruise (which interrupted plans of visiting Jenny (Stahl) in Denver and going skiing for my first time) made me miss a concert- notable only because this has become the year of missing concerts. I guess life is getting too busy.

Missed or will be missing:

Howie Day cause of Spring Break

Third Eye Blind cause of Guatemala

The Doves the same bloody day, so I would have missed em anyway

Guster on the 4th of July

possibly Switchfoot because I wanna celebrate Dave Cantos' birthday

Blink 182 cause I'll be helping Tiffany move in Austin

U2 who will be in Barcelona and Amsterdam July and August, where I will be in September, when they are here in Chicago

Now I'm not complaining about any of the things I'm doing instead of these concerts, just lamenting missing concerts, cause I hate missing stuff. And I love concerts.

These concerts are notable also because outside of The Doves, these are like 5 of my top however many favorite bands. Solace is that I'm also SEEING (or saw):

Travis

Ed Kowalczyk (lead singer of Live)

Counting Crows (free)

The Wallflowers (also free)

Barenaked Ladies (yes, you guessed it, free)

Jet for $20 at a bar

Ben Folds

The Beach Boys!

Back to our regularly scheduled blogging.

"Cruise with me baby."

Thanks Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow for that uber-cheesy song.

So Tiffany and I went on a cruise. Below will be a few pictures. Her mom paid for the whole thing as a Christmas gift/random get away and have some time together gift. So we made sure to leave from Galveston, so we could see her family, and then we went to Mexico (my first of three forays into Spanish speaking countries this year) to the Yucatan Peninsula to see Mayan ruins. Sweet. We went to Chichen Itza, the (or A) former capital of the Mayan culture that extends all the way down to Guatemala (where I just got back from).

The boat had a random old Rolls-Royce Phantom:

We spent a good portion of the trip walking around the boat, to various events- shows, free drink things, random watch/booze sales, art shows, the Casino, a sushi bar (!) open from like 5-7pm, and many random events on the main deck where the pool and (lame-ly slow) waterslide was (or maybe I'm just too fat/highly frictional). We had two days of stops- Chichen Itza was a two-hour bus ride each way plus a couple hours to tour the place. We couldn't climb the (damn) pyramid cause it was damaged by (damn) Hurricane Rita a couple years ago. Couldn't go under it into the catacomb crypt thing either (dammit). We got to see the water hole (like 40 feet down and 20 feet deep) where they used to apparently dump sacrificed bodies (mostly children- sorry for the squeamish). It occurs to me I'm using a lot of apostrophes (I mean parentheses).

Some random points from the trip- we had some giant flavored margaritas on the beach, after we did a zip line-wall climb-snorkeling adventure for a couple hours. The snorkeling was cool cause the fish were EVERYWHERE (sorry don't have pictures like that) and I saw a barracuda (sorta like the Heart song). We ate lots of decent food that was tasty and unhealthy- but the first two days we ate lunch so late that we missed dessert. I was piiiiiiiiiiissed! We also had a set dinner group, cause the seating was by room- so we ate with people whose rooms were by us. A white couple from Texas (the guy had done three tours in Iraq and was going for a fourth, for nine months) another white couple that were teachers and nice but awkward but smart, and two black couples, (one and a half, actually cause one of the girls was Latino, her boyfriend had a grill, as in a fake silver and diamonds mouthpiece that looked like teeth) and the other couple just gambled all the time apparently. Tiffany and I gambled $10 each. And lost.

It was also VERY windy at night, which I knew would happen and was excited about. It was exhilarating and felt awesome. So we went up there every night to feel the wind and watch the stars, and occasionally argue about something :)

We saw a large globe in the "library":

And I missed a couple spots, even after checking midday, on my legs. Swear words.

That is all I have to say about that. I'm sure I'm missing things. But it was fun and warm and sunny and windy and food-y. On to the next event. Which is again why blogs are weird- now that you've finished scrolling down to read this entry, you hafta scroll up to the next one, but then back down to read the next one. Odd.

Back from the Dead!

My triumphant return to writing starts now. Over the course of a week or so hopefully I can recount the past two plus months in multiple entries. Here goes. First, I alarmingly realized that my last real post was in February. So I guess if I had any faithful readers, they are long since gone. I'm gonna try and do this in however many installments it takes to recap things more or less. I'm actually going to have to look at my calendar to discuss whats been going on with me...

I'm going to have to make multiple entries so they're bite-sized. And I'm going to hafta go back to February to begin with. Man. I think back then Tiffany was still waiting to hear from UT about acceptance to her program- she's since been accepted, which I think most people know. Three-year joint Master's of Social Work and Public Health. I think she'll actually have two Master's degrees. But I forget. Which probably annoys her :)

In the Spring U2's new album came out, and I listened to only one or two songs from it each day for like five days. I wanted to stretch out the elusive and rare experience of hearing a song for the first time- which obviously you only get once, with any particular song- which could be the next great thing. And that feeling of discovery is pretty amazing, like the first time you saw a beautiful sunset and your jaw dropped. By the time you're done looking at it, its cool, but not the same anymore.

We also back in March went to the Southside parade for St. Patrick's Day for the first time- and apparently the last, cause it sounds like they cancelled the old and revered drinking celebration because it was too much of a ruckus. Single white college graduates across the city who like drinking Guinness one day out of the year lamented. We had fun on the $10 bus ride down to the South Side, where some unnamed friend of mine was mooning passing school buses full of people just like us- white, wearing green, drinking beers on the bus. See below for the mustache I sported for the day :)

ALSO! I just remembered, that Tiffany and I went on a cruise in March :) So that's next post.