An Eclectic Sampling of Thoughts (but this time about Ecuador):

What I thought was the alarming sound of women screaming in the street just now is actually a rooster. Good, good. Good to know.

I hate it when roommates take the last of something. I don't mind sharing, but leave me at least one. Eff.

But, I will miss my roommate, Katrien, who is moving out on Tuesday. She sojourns to the lovely isles of Galapagos for "x" amount of time. She'll be managing this and taking care of that. A visit is surely in order end of July or August.

I did some figurin' and I think I only have about 15 actual teaching days left (the rest consist of exam days, oral exam days, movie days and review days... and maybe a sick **cough cough** day or two).

__________________ . Humph. [This thought just left me.]

Many of the friends I've made in the WT program have left or will be leaving this week. Sad day. Their schools in their respective cities are finished for the summer so off they go. It's pretty surreal. It doesn't seem like that long ago we all met up in the Miami airport and played some stellar glass-breakers in the bar/lounge.... er, I mean ice-breakers.

I can think of about 3 people who will get the above reference, none of which read this blog, I'm fairly certain.

I'm diggin' Nina Simone's "Sinnerman" right now. Ten bucks for the first person who can tell me what modern-day singer emulates this song in one of his/her tracks.

_____________.... op. [This thought just left me, too.]

I keep forgetting that it's June. It has been so cold in Quito these past few weeks. Based off of my uneducated climatomoligical opinion, this is because the sun is hanging out in the northern hemisphere for what I usually call "summer." I miss you sun!

[Spell checker has no guesses for the above word... you know which one I'm talking about]

In two weeks, my family will be heading north to a little place I like to call Wisconsin. It's an annual trip that I can't remember ever not taking. (Lies: I missed it once when I was in India and I'll miss it again this summer.) Lakes, cabins, water skiing, bonfires, toasting "things" on bonfires, beer, Philipe. This is a tradition that not only courses through my earliest memories but also courses through my veins. It's practically part of my genetic make-up. My parents and their friends started this 4th of July tradition long before I was born. In any event, I will be missing that vacation this year but I am thankful for the "highlight reel" of last year's week up north which was sent to me about two months ago. It really captures the essence of this trip.... :)

Thank you for reading my thoughts!

G'night!

Deep Thoughts

Well that was a fun two hours of lying in my bed wide awake. Time to get up at make a sandwich and drink some tea, I s'pose.

It's interesting because in the dark, I have all these thoughts that seem so fluid and beautiful and poignant. But now that I'm sitting in my kitchen I think I want to write about floods. Firstly, water is good. However, too much water is bad. A playful puddle may turn out to be a deadly sink hole. Bummer, huh? I was just day-dreaming (or laying awake thinking?) about the Great Flood of '08 which rocked western Michigan. It was June, I think, and I was welcoming the summer scene good and proper at my BFF Rhys' house. This was when she still dwelt on 21st Street. We all congregated on the cement front stoop, watched the light show across the sky and mused at how fast the water was climbing her driveway. So high it became that it began to graze the undercarriage of Ruby, my VW Passat, which sat parallel to that stoop. That was a fun and electric evening. Adrenaline invoked, we all danced in the rain, I'm pretty sure. Or maybe I didn't because I was wearing a white tee-shirt... or maybe I did. Not to mention I had some good beer... sigh... good beer... an IPA called Two Hearted to be exact.

Now the Great Flood of '09 was a different story. Same water, same rain but the power was out for days completely ruining the Pad Kee Mao leftovers I had in the fridge - a tremendous loss to be assured! On the night of the storm, there was no party in the street. I had to work a 3rd shift that evening, 8pm-6am, and watch helplessly as over $250,000 of damage crippled Hope College. The phones were ringing, the alarms were alarming, the science building no longer had an operational 1st floor, and every available custodian that ever existed was on-campus. The joys of working in a 24/7/365 office are endless, let me tell you. Nearly every single road was submerged in at least a foot of water, even at the center line, and some roads were just completely washed out. Our quaint little Holland community was literally at a stand-still because Mother Nature lost her shit. In the days that followed, I did order more Thai food carry-out, but the trip to pick it up took at least twice as a long, causing all kinds of headaches.

Well, those are my thoughts on flooding. I can't imagine you read my blog because you want to know what goes through my mind at all hours of the night. But there it is.