momo post-it

Moses did a great job of having "gentle hands" this afternoon! I only had to remind him once, and he did a good job of listening. He is such a darling boy! When we were doing an activity, he was the only kid who knew that when the teacher was giving instructions, he needed his listening ears! Way to go, Moses!

Love,

Miss Bryn

India OR All In a Panic

So, on Feb. 25, 2010 the Walden School is taking a trip to India. The cost is $3000, and not going would be... out of the question. Heartbreaking, if you don't mind me being dramatic. The problem is, I have no idea how to earn this kind of sum. Does anybody have any ideas?

2:28

Just thought I'd stop in.
Got back from Cambridge Sunday night, which was wonderful. Cambridge, and getting back. I really love it here, and am starting to feel like it's my home. I think since I've moved so often I make that adjustment more quickly than most other people, which I'm grateful for. I pulled my first all-nighter of the semester writing a paper on Wordsworth's Prelude, and maybe it was all of his romantic bs or the lack of sleep, but when I watched the sun rise over college walk I got a little teary.
I hope the fam is doing well. I'm so jealous of your tans, tamales, and ... well, I can't think of anything else that starts with t, but the point is I am expecting Mom to Remember what I showed her long ago, or to enlist Dad's help, to post pictures from the trip/wedding for my viewing pleasure.
I forget what you all look like already! And I want to make sure the littles haven't gotten any bigger.
Love you guys!
xoxoxoxoxo
Eva

Red Leaves

I'll try to catch up today, unless Momo climbs on my lap and preempts the post again.  So. . . .

New York:

You can see photos of Eva's fabulous b-day dinner at the Noodle Bar with Julie Turley and family. We also shopped like crazy at Loehman's and found a great coat for Eva, with a quick but productive trip to H&M thrown in at the last minute.  We went to Cafe Sarbasky for lunch, DUMBO to see Black Watch  at St. Ann's Warehouse (Hot Scots!!!!!) and watched the lights of Manhattan turn on from the Manhattan Bridge Overpass Park (while eating Jacques Torres chocolates), The Frick (and I was so happy that Eva seemed to like it as much as I do.  I think it's one of my favorite places in the world.  One night we ordered chinese and watched a television series about a group of single Manhattanites and their love lives.  One night we went to see Eva's friend belly dance at a fundraiser put on by a pan-Asian sorority at Columbia.  It was very long so we went out in the middle and got caught in a rain storm and ducked into that famous Hungarian bakery across from St. John the Divine until the rain (sort of) stopped.  My favorite thing was just hanging out with Eva and seeing her life and getting to talk with her late into the night. She is a terrific companion.  On the downside, it really increased how much I miss her.

Ingrid:

We are sort of incommunicado these days.  We send her a once a week letter.  She has no internet and we've been told to phone her no more than once a week.  I'm hoping her family will eventually get her internet working and we'll get a little more information from her.  We did get a letter from her, and it sounds like she's doing quite well.  She's starting to volunteer for a nursing home on Tuesday through the church she's been attending, and she's excited to practiced her German with people she's not afraid of (i.e. the oldies).  She said she goes for long walks and does yoga.  She says nothing about school or her language, so we're in the dark on that topic.  It's hard to believe we're not going to see her for so many more months.  I feel like she's on a mission.

Little Kids:

For Halloween, Lula was a go-go girl, Cecily a spider queen, and Moses a bat.  Things went pretty smoothly this year.  No one had a melt-down about their costume at the last minute, which is my least favorite Halloween occurance.  Lula is doing well in piano and school and is a fantastic friend and helper for me.  Cecily is "adjusting" still at school.  I think she is doing better, but it's still a challenge.  Will I ever have a normal child who goes with the flow at school?  Maybe Moses will come through.  Momo just asked me "Why do skeletons not have ears?" and "Where is the button to turn off the rain?"  Last night for movie night, Lula and Cecy, Christian and I watched Kit Kittredge and ate popcorn and Halloween candy.  Curse that candy that's so disgusting and yet so irresistable.

Christian:

Viola CD release last week at Muse Music.  He played a beautiful show including prepared viola acoustic stuff, viola and harmonium, viola and wahwah and then the beautiful finale Joseph Smith death scene from The Open Curtain.  We had a little get together at our house afterwards which was fun.  He goes to Seattle with the CD on November 15th, so check it out, Seattle.  He's currently arranging a couple of primary songs for strings for our primary program on November 16th.

Lara:

I totally revised my poetry manuscript (Alburnum of the Green and Living Tree).  Not really totally.  I guess it was more of a clean-up, so now it's in really good shape.  Even though I hate it now.  I'm not touching it again unless it's being published.  I sent it off to some book contests, and hope to see it accepted somewhere by next fall.  It's such a long and competitive process.  I don't know if it's worth it.  I also wrote a grant proposal that asked for six essays.  It is a large award, but perhaps I shouldn't have spent so much time on something that is such a long shot.    It's hard to know what to spend time on, for me.  

We're on our way to Bam's for Sunday dinner, picking Eliza up on the way.  It's raining out and the mountains are red and gold.  This is my favorite time of year.  

Love you all and miss you.

xo

L

All of the muffins at JavaCity are bad muffins. I am reading my cs textbook--"Big Java"--in Java City.
I think people here are obsessed with Java.
What is java, actually? Besides a place and a computer language?

I guess it's unimportant.
I have a hindi quiz tomorrow, though, which is important.
Everyone wish me luck!!!

P.S.

Who figured out about how to make their post title into a link? What did I say about instant gratification and commas etc.?

P.P.S.
Thanks for posting, mama. I read and reread, and even commented.

Here's what I did today:

Cuz ya'll are so interested in my life.

1. Carried my shoez around in my bagz because me and shoez are so not on good terms right now. Until I had to cross the street to Columbia, because peeps over there are totally judgmental of people who only wear socks, probably.

2. Woke up at 8:40 (that's right, folks) to see a TA at 9 (who was half an hour late) and was late to Econ (but prof couldn't remember who I was because my hair is still straight, and I certainly wasn't going to tell her).

3. Made myself eat salad and only a little bit of pasta because it is time to get my life back on the right track again, and my RM was making me feel insecure with his super healthy meal plus OJ plus milk.

4. Made a real live computer program with inputz and outputz (funny how puts with a z is putz. Not that puts is a word.)

5. Cleaned my room a little tiny bit (it was actually last night, but past midnight, and people here are always pretending like they think of a day as starting at 12:01 am instead of starting at whenever they wake up, like normal people do).

6. Dropped/spilled a lot of things.

I am finding time to miss each and every one of you (even anonymous blogstalkers who are scheming about how to steal Cecily because she is so adorable/a genius) even with my busy busy busy schedule.
Talk to me about the Serial Comma. Why is everyone so anti-comma these days? My First Year Seminar prof says it is because of the New York Times (which is why I am boycotting the NYT) but I think it must be something deeper. More sinister.
Akin to the instant gratification generation phenomenon, and also probably gangsta rap.

EDIT: Puts is a word. Excuse me.

Java City

I just ate a bad muffin.

Barnard makes us buy 125$ at this horrible cafe on campus as part of our meal plan. I am trying to find good things to use it up on, and so far only the steamed milk is good. I've been drinking a lot of whole milk since I've gotten here.

The internet works here, though, which is nice.

I shaved my legs, am pursuing a boy with a rainbow mowhawk, and eat Nutella every day (or, how Europe has changed me)

First week of school. I am a little bit scared. Fortunately, I am in a class with Leander, and I have learned much of what they are teaching us already, but even so I rarely have any clue what is going on around me. I tear five 3 by 5 cards into quartes every night and make twenty flashcards, which I learn on the two different buses that I take to reach school. So it's not as though I'm not learning twenty new words a day, but it's also not as though I'm not scared to go back on Monday.
About the legs and underarms: On Monday, my sister pulled me aside and told me that I would not be accepted socially if I didn't shave. I resisted the urge to burn my bra right there in the kitchen and determined that I was already going to have trouble making friends, and should probably shave. So I did. I am exceedingly sad about it, though, and decided that I would give myself body hair as a Christmas present, because I will speak German and have friends by then.
About the boy: I said something (was ist dein leiblingsfarbe in dein haar?) that I'm sure was around 30% coherent, and he smiled at me, and I decided that he would be my boyfriend. Not that I've said anything to him since, but you know... don't want to be forward or anything.
About the Nutella: Does this need explaining? I think not.
I visited Erfurt yesterday, which was neat. Me and some family/ friends went shopping, and I admired all of the street performers and buildings. In the evening, I went to a party with big sister Annagret, where I was offered alchahol (I said no, but keep in mind that it would have been legal, as the drinking age is 16)and answered lots of questions (I won't lie, though: they were in English). I am kind of loving it a lot over here, though I really miss being able to talk to people. And here's something interesting: I haven't known a single person who I currently talk to for more than a week. I think that is a new thing for me.
I'm sorry if my English is getting worse. They said that would happen, and I am certainly getting no opportunity to use it.
It's really cold here, I want you all to know that. And not just between the house and the car-- Germans love fresh air, and the house is always the same temperature as outside (hopefully this will stop by the time it starts snowing, which will probably be next week). I wore my long johns to bed last night, and seriously considered getting my scarf, before I realized that that would mean getting out from under my comforter.
You know what else Germans love? Southern Utah. There was a delicate arch poster on the wall of one of my classrooms this week, and I tried to say, "I've been there!", but ended up with "Ich!....gehen... *blushes, sits down*". Which is cool.
I have no idea what to do about homework. I've tried to ask my brother for help, but I don't think he understood me. I would love advice on that aspect of things, because I don't even know what our assignments are.

For once in it's sad old life, the Hewitt Dining Hall was brimming with excellent food. My dinner consisted of (in this order):
Stir fry on rice noodles with broth and lime.
Carrot Cake.
4 fairly large pieces of brisket with gravy (so good.)
"Confetti" rice pilaf (not good.)
Salad with too much blue (bleu?) cheese dressing.
"Rosemary" polenta with tomato sauce.
To be fair, I didn't eat much salad. I did eat way too much of the bad pilaf, though, before I realized there was polenta to be had. But even still, I think Mackenzie would've been proud.
Now my dilemma is what to do next. The theme of this entry is: It Never Rains But It Pours. For the last few days I have been bored senseless. Bored to the point of cursing loudly alone in my room... But to be fair, not to the point of cleaning my room.
My to-do list today is as follows:

(Old things I have been putting off:)
Go to B.Babysitting office and find job.
Fold laundry.
Acquire fridge.
Clean room.
Clip fingernails (**acquire nail clippers)
(New things--assigned today:)
Switch stupid CompSci book for newer, bigger, 160 dollar Textbook entitled "Big Java".
Do first Econ problem set (algebra, mostly).
Read last 200 pages of Ragtime.
Fix painfully long Hindi assignment from last week.
Memorize Hindi vocab--pronouns and corresponding "to be" verbs.
Read first three chapters of OTHER compsci textbook.

And, last but not least, watch House season premiere at 8.
And also... buy Hindi books.
Crap.

now i'm wishin that i didn't wear these shoes

I forgot to go to the Barnard Babysitters office again today... It will happen when the time is right. There was a crazy fiasco with the bank that was extremely inconvenient, and also boring, so I won't get into deets, but suffice it to say that the good people at JP Morgan Chase were kind enough to waive a 25 dollar fee out of the goodness of their hearts. Everyone who works there (men and women) is attractive and ethnic.
I bought an umbrella today, and wore my spray-painted boots for the first time (with my cut-off denim skirt from Karen, a black v-neck quarter-length-sleeve t-shirt, and my turkish flag earrings) which earned me quite a few approving glances from the oh-so-desirable Columbia boys (The lengths we Barnard girls go to... It's ridiculous).
Hindi is starting to be comprehensible (not the language, obviously. The class.)
Other than that, not much is going on these days.
Keep posting!
Love you.
Eva

jezebel

Apparently I'm the last to know that Eva is "the Barnard student" mentioned in this article. I want some mileage out of my daughter's fame, or infamy, as the case may be. Does everyone else already know this?

http://jezebel.com/5044483/let-us-hope-that-the-traditional-woman-is-resurrected-and-feminism-forever-banished-from-the-record-of-man

humid

I love coastal rain. It is better than other rain. Really.

Kollege

Went to bed at 7:30 last night. Really. Spent a LONG time yesterday on the phone with various people (we have free nights and weekends, correct?). Walked down to Riverside park and sat on a bench like a real New Yorker. I thought about bringing a newspaper, but I thought that would've been a little too much.
My roommate is a doll. She plays show tunes in the mornings and sings along, which is actually quite endearing. She insists on pointing the fan in my direction at night, even though it's her fan. She says living in Lebanon has made her immune to heat. She has curly hair, which makes me like her a good deal more.
My nail polish is starting to wear off, but hopefully I will have a regular babysitting job soon enough--I am going to an orientation on Thurs. to become a "Barnard Babysitter". I miss the kiddies so much. They would love it here. If we ever win the lottery, I think we should all take a family vacation to NY.
I think I am finally going to figure out how to do laundry today. I need to go to the bank. I'll stop by the West Side Market on my way back and eat some samples. One thing about New York City is that you can have fun by yourself if needs be. Not that I'm planning on becoming a recluse or anything, but it's a type of independence that I really enjoy.
Love you all, and love hearing from you. Keep posting!

Orientation blorientation

It is obviously amazing here. My roommate is the sweetest (and, lucky for me, most on-top-of-it) girl, and we've been rushing around all day getting hangers, bank accounts, and egg rolls. She also makes me attend all of the orientation events, no matter how boring. I have to admit I fell asleep during some dean or another's "enlightening" orientation-role-play-skit. I was in the back, though, and there are hundreds of us, so she didn't notice.
Don't worry, though, I'm definitely far from jaded right now.
I spent a few hours on the Columbia campus last night and was completely blown away by the beautiful architecture and the beautiful people walking through it (people here really are beautiful). I'm looking forward to our after-hours trip to the Met tonight (jealous yet?), but I've almost run out of cash, so I need to hurry up and deposit a check into my brand spankin' new Chase bank account (I was going to go with shitibank, but the Chase man accosted me and gave me twenty dollars. At the end, I was trying to convince him that Citibank wasn't all that bad and he took his sunglasses off and looked me in the eye and said "Yeah it's cute and all. But if you want STRENGTH you go with Chase." People here are crazy.)
They'll mail me my debit card in 5 days, which I am nervous about, but which I think I can finally handle. There actually isn't much reason to spend money around here--meals are taken care of, and other than transportation, that's about the only thing you need to pay for. Window shopping and walking around ends up being just as fun as anything you could think of to spend money on.
I did go through a lot, though, on the first day buying hangers, toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, conditioner, etc., and I'll have to spend a little more on laundry supplies sometime (although the last people to live in our room kindly left us their remaining detergent--hidden in a little corner of my closet).
Most of my clothes are dirty by now. It is incredibly sweaty around here, and the sweat isn't even effective because it's far too humid for any sort of evaporation to take place.
No matter, though.
I'm getting used to the whole damp feeling, and Rian says that it's all very crisp and clean feeling come fall, so maybe I'll just be able to appreciate that even more when it comes.
I'm trying to meet people. It's intimidating, but not as much as I thought it would be.
I've gotta go to my "security forum" now (we have a lot of forums) but I love you all.
If any of you are in contact with Ing, tell her that if she doesn't post on this blog I will not buy her a christmas present.

Cold Sores

I have been ill for the last two days, and am still recovering. I am going to get in the habit of posting every day things like this because soon (with any luck) you guys will not even know about them otherwise. The college sitch is thus:
Reed: Wait-listed--i.e. didn't get in, but nice try.
Barnard: Got in!!! Just need to find a spare 10 thou to make tuition next year...
UW: Same, but not a'tall worth it.
Westminster: Got in, would pay approx. 5,000 yearly for room + board.
ASU: We'll see, but if I get in, I'll graduate scot-free.
NYU: Rejected!
New School: Accepted! but even more expensive than Barnard...
Have not made much progress on my creative portfolio; have made relatively much more progress on the cook book.
I just got a new AP English Teacher (Diane Monson is what I call her, out of habit, we're supposed to call her Mrs. Monson, as opposed to every other teacher at our school with whom we are on first-name basis). She is kind of a hard ass, which I like normally, but I am both the most apathetic and the busiest I have ever been in my life, so it is sort of the wrong time for me. However, she is a phenomenal writer, and she has been giving me some good input on some of my writing, which I appreciate, and the workload for the class is actually quite bearable.
I'll post pictures of my portfolio thus far this week end (if I have time--I am working 4-close thurs-fri, and then 3-close sat).
Love you guys,
Eva

First post...

Hm. I don't really know what tone to take here, because there are only like 3 people who can read this and in reality only mom will, probably. And it's not like I haven't already told mom all of this stuff... But I will just go for it.
I've been working thirty hour weeks at Lon's Cookin' Shack along with school, which has been crazy, but a refreshing change from the stagnant pool of life without friends. I can't wait for the Turkey people to get home, but at the same time I wish they could hold off so that I would have time to do something fantastic before they got back. I always think I'm going to do something fantastic, but I can never seem to get around to it.
I am working on a project for my Senior Portfolio, and not working nearly enough on the cook book I am writing right now. I am wondering right now what it would be like to sew paper for a skirt I am making for one of my "pieces". I put "pieces" in quotations because it is not even close to conceptualized enough to be a real thing--it is about as close to what it is going to end up as as it was a week ago when I thought I was going to put together a poetry portfolio for my project. But I think that if I folded the seams and used paper, the effect would be a lot better than the cloth skirt I am in the process of making right now. I just don't know if the paper will rip.
I will post pics when I finish something, even though everyone reading this will probably be sick of me asking their opinions, and will have seen basically every step in the process and understand what I am doing just as much if not more than I will.
Sometimes I wonder if I would prefer to scrap book. sometimes I watch those PBS shows about scrap booking where they use "embossing tools" and make tagging stencils, except they are just called stencils and instead of using spray paint they use "airbrushing tools" and they have "tools" for everything you could ever imagine and all you have to do to be a proficient scrap booker is take pictures and buy their "tools".
You know?
I really do think scrap booking is cool. And I think embossing things is probably the best thing I've ever done in my life.
Also, I am reading Catch 22 right now, and I think it is one of the funniest books I have ever read, but also very poignant. I would like to draw a comparison to Superbad, but I have a feeling that might offend some people.
Anyhow.
That is what I have to say right now. Sorry this ended up so long.
Love you all.
Eva