A Little of This & A Little of That

Again, haven't had a lot to update on this week in terms of big ideas, but here are the recent happenings in Cali.

• Kelsi is officially addicted to Gossip Girl, thanks to me. I would imagine this obsession will take up a large part of our weekends as we have an entire season to watch before season 4 starts at the end of September. (I have seen it but plan to re-watch with her)
  
• Best thing I read this week >>> this article about people's comments on a life of travel vs. not a life of travel. Basically it finishes with this quote: My happiness is different from your happiness. More importantly: it’s not a threat to your happiness. LOVE.
• After Direct TV chose not to play the Twins vs. Angels game on Sunday Night Baseball when it was the only game at that time and I pay for three MLB channels, I was somewhat irritated. However, this week they showed THREE of the Twins vs. Rangers games. LOVE even if we did go 1-3 in the series.
• I have taken to listening to the Baseball Today podcast with Seth Everett and Eric Karabell from ESPN every morning on my way to work. My baseball knowledge is at an all time high and I usually arrive to work in a pleasantly amused mood because of how much the two hosts banter back and forth about ridiculous things like umpire acountability and would Manny Ramirez fit in with the Chicago White Sox.
• BLOG UPDATE!!! 80 minutes of non-school-related use of my prep time later and I think my blog has a cleaner, fresher look so come check it out if you are reading this in email version or in a reader. :)
  
• Happy Birthday to Jennifer Ann - I hope your 22nd year is just as fabulous as your 21st!
• I have TWO little brothers in college now! Weird! My parents dropped Michael off in Lincoln, Nebraska last week and he is officially a college boy. This leaves in his senior year at University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse and Danny the lone ranger holding down the fort at home. Living at home with only your parents at age 16ish after a life with three older siblings has got to be weird. Props to him for handling it. :)

That's all for now - this weekend I will work on being more coherent and formative in my blog postings. Until then...happy Friday!

When Blogs & Real Life Collide

My blog has been getting a lot of press lately...(and by press I mean people beyond my parents, five diligent friends and roommate who lives all of this in person with me anyway are commenting). At first I didn't really know how I felt about it. I mean, first the new teachers hired at my school showed up at the beginning of August and the majority of my introductions to them went something like this:

"Hi, I'm Kristin."
"Oh yes, I know, I read your blog. It's ______ (insert some sort of positive adjective)"

Followed by more comments on how my blog really paints a picture of Cali, Colombia, my school, etc.

This wasn't bad by any means, but since my blog is still relatively new (since April 2009), the incoming teachers were really the first group of people I met who first knew me through my blog. I get the feeling from family and friends that my blog portrays pretty much how I am in real life, so that's good, but it is always a bit different relating to someone in person versus online. In summary, I like having my blog out there, it was just a unique first experience.

Then, second, this week I received a great comment on my blog about kayaking on the Pacific Coast so I went to check out her blog and discovered this post about my blog just a few weeks ago! My first thought: cool! My second thought: People are talking about me (in a good way!) on the internet and I didn't even know about it! How do I find out about these things in the future??

Third. Well that starts with Saturday night, wherein I convinced my oh-so-lovely and willing to deal with my ridiculousness friends to come with me to a party held by some new teachers at a fellow international school in Cali. How did I get the invite? He found me through my blog. Random but cool, so we went and met some new friends. Turns out they are great people and more fellow Americans out looking for an adventure in this big old, not-so-disconnected world we live in.

This brings me to today aka Monday of the second week of school where I love teaching, I love students and I love math, but remain unconvinced about the necessity of all this bureaucracy business involved in schools. So I am sitting at my desk listening to Keith Urban and thinking about how awesome it would be to be a travel blogger or travel photographer or both. Because then I wouldn't have to take time off from my job to buy the JetBlue AYCJ pass and fly everywhere I want in a month's time span. Flying everywhere I want would be the job. Or at least it would be the job I envision in my head...the grass is always greener on the other side, right?!?!

Author's Note: I am 100% happy here and I know living in a foreign country is already pretty awesome. I'm just thinking aloud via my blog :)

A Saturday Morning in San Fernando

While I was home this summer my friend Anna made the comment to me that while she loves reading about the places I travel to, she really loves when I go into detail about my day-to-day life here in Cali. For me, the day-to-day things became routine last year, so much so that I forgot how different things are in the United States until I went home this summer.

However, they are quite different, so my goal for this year, in addition to travel blogging, is to attempt to provide an adequate picture of the little things that compose my daily life.

Starting with...a typical Saturday morning in our neighborhood, San Fernando.

I have lived in San Fernando since last December, when I moved in with Steph and Hana, and I absolutely love it! Despite our 30-45 minute commute one way to work each day, I think it is 100% worth it because of how much I love where we live. San Fernando is closer to the city center, so there is more going on around us, and the 4:30 breeze that rolls off the mountains every day without fail is the best part of my day!

This Saturday Kelsi and I started our day with tea and oatmeal, followed by a walk to our neighborhood gym, and then a walk to the grocery store. (Hmm...maybe this is why I don't write about my daily life - it sounds terribly boring!) Here are some photos I took along the way so you can get an idea for yourself!

Starting out on our street which faces a large hill that goes up to the next neighborhood. Please note our neighborhood avocado lady pushing her cart off of which she sells ripe avocados. Her advertising methods? Yelling aguacate (Spanish for avocado) in a shrill voice that sounds something like this: "Aguuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacaaaaaate"

Heading downhill to the Parque del Perro (large park in the middle of a round point) and our friend Tara's house.

Parque del Perro - quiet on a Saturday morning but quite the rocking place around 11 pm on weekend nights.

Kelsi along the road next to the Parque del Perro.

Next to Primos, a cute outdoor cafe with free wi-fi :)

Walking down the main road into San Fernando, Carrera 34, near Mister Wings, a frequented happy hour establishment with reasonable chicken wings.

The outside our small but adequate gym.

Walking down the Quinta (5th Street), the main drag that runs from the North to South of Cali with the two separate lanes in the middle for the public transportation system, the Mio. Our morning finished at Exito, a large grocery store chain here in Cali - note the big yellow building and sign in the background. This particular Exito is one Mio stop away from our place, or about a 20 minute walk.

One post about daily life - check!

Anyone have ideas for future posts?!?