Ten Things That Have Happened To Us In The Last Week
1. All three of us, Megan, Sarah and Zil, rode a ferris wheel in Todos Santos. The ticket booth indicated that the ride had, at one point, lived in Chicago (like Zil). We were on the ferris wheel for, I kid you not, 1 hour.
2. We successfully navigated our way through the Guatemalan hillsides using only a map drawn on a napkin. We dubbed this map our “mapkin.”
3. Sarah and Megan both became ill and spent some quality time in the bathroom.
4. Megan met John, an attorney from San Francisco, who had previously been law partners and close personal friends with Bob Lieff, of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, Megan’s last place of employment. Megan has never met Bob Lieff personally, though she has seen him in the elevator on two occasions. He wears expensive cuff links and, according to John, recently married his sixth wife. John, unlike Bob Lieff, knows Megan’s name.
5. Since then, we have met more than 5 people who live in San Francisco. It seems that there are far more Americans in Guatemala than in Mexico.
6. We watched the coronation of the Queen of Todos Santos, in which several young women paraded up and down a high-school auditorium floor and an announcer spoke into a microphone so muffled that absolutely none of the event was intelligible to us gringos. The only part we understood was the dancing.
7. We watched the All Saints Days festivities in Todos Santos, during which incredibly drunk men attempt to stay mounted on their horses as they raced back and forth. All day. In red striped pants.
8. Megan and Zil entered a Todosantero bar to escape from the horse races, where they encountered Julia, a small Mam woman who’s father had passed away. Since it was the eve of Day of the Dead, Julia was celebrating her father’s life by drinking and dancing. Julia proceeded to dance with Megan and Zil, grabbing tightly onto their index fingers, until her relatives took her home. Since Julia was about half the size of both Megan and Zil, things got interesting whenever she attempted to twirl them.
9. We took 2 buses on a 5 hour journey from Todos Santos to Xela, paying only $4 U.S. each. Each of these buses let us off at the bus station, which, conveniently, is on the Lonely Planet map.
10. Last but not least, we signed up for a Spanish school at Sakribal to start on Monday. The tuition, room and board comes to a whopping $145 U.S. per person per week.
-Megan and Sarah
Tags: American Identity, Central America, Guatemala, Health, Language School, Quetzaltenango, Todos Santos, Transportation, Travel, Xela
admin
WOW!!!! What an amazing series of events! You guys are the coolest. We’ve had nothing like that cool a week, but just for information’s sake, here are ten things that happened to Kate and Bethany this week:
1. Bethany obsessively checked Sarah and Megan’s blog and read any entries aloud to Katie
2. Bethany and Katie received, in overnight mail from Montana, two dead pheasants, feathers and all.
3. Bethany dreamed that the three year old Sarah came to spend the weekend, and woke up all nostalgic for the days when Sarah was shorter even than Julia
4. Kate and Bethany walked up to the Philadelphia Art Museum and saw their “Todoros” exhibit, of lots and lots and lots of gold and silver and paintings and stuff from Spanish America, 1492-1850.
5. Kate and Bethany went to see The Queen, with Helen Mirren, which was not so very interesting except that halfway through Kate looked at the screen and said “That’s my Moral Tutor!” and it turned out that the woman playing Tony Blair’s aide was, in fact, this horrible horrible snobby horrible woman from Kate’s days in Oxford, who had been her “moral tutor.” What did that mean? Apparently not much, since all the woman did was A: get undressed in front of Kate during one of their two meetings, and then dressed again in a ballgown and jewels, and B: make fun of Kate’s London accent during their second meeting. How she ended up being in a movie is a mystery.
6. Katie and Bethany went to Gay Bingo where they won nothing whatsover but had lots of fun
7. Kate was befriended by all the huge Italian guys who work in Canulli’s House of Pork, when she went into buy some fat-back. What do you want the fat-back for, they asked her. She told them that she had two pheasants at home, feathers and heads and feet and all, and she was going to roast them. They immediately fell wildly in love with her and kept her there for 45 minutes telling her about their hunting experiences, and then showed her, in the back room, all the photos of them with their various “kills.” Then, as she was leaving, one of them asked if she was really going to chop the heads off the pheasants and when she said “yes,” he shook his head and said, “A nice, pretty girl like you . . . .”
8. Bethany enjoyed wearing her new fuzzy sweater to work
9. Katie and Bethany went to a Halloween party but they didn’t dress as anything except themselves in nice clothes (Kate has new black and red Fluevogs that are really quite something).
10. and in a few hours, Katie and Bethany will have plucked, beheaded, befooted, roasted and eaten two pheasants.
Little Loves! I’ve been away all week in Georgia and am back to the pleasure of your blog! Wow — so much excitement, and even tips on the side about bleaching silverware from Bethany.
Here are 10 things I did:
1. 2 minutes ago I left a comment about brocolli on the last fabulous blog entry on this site. It involves Sarah’s previous life as a blind giraffe.
2. I paddled in 80 degree weather on Tybee Island in Georgia beside dolphins. SOOO beautiful.
3. I took by “3 star” British Canoe Union paddling assessment and passed — it was intense — and all day test including strange maneuvers one would never do like “reverse figures of 8.” I kind of botched the figure of 8 due to current and wind, but … I aced everything else, especially the bow rudder turns, so… I passed. I’ll get a patch in the mail. WHOO HOO!
4. I Surfed. This I have to say is the best activity on the planet. It’s all i want to do.
5. I ate alot of really really rich Georgian food, most of it at breakfasts. Burping would have helped. Maybe I should get me some of that religion. Or maybe just some coke.
6. I returned to Rhode Island feeling guilty that I’d had so much fun … when… in reality, I’d been playing hookey. I’d set up everything at work to be taken care of but… well… er…. i’m not really allowed to do what I did. It’s just that I really really wanted to take this test and … so….
7. I had a stress dream about skipping school in Junior High that involved horrible dismemberments of children and strange encounters between figures from the past and present.
8. I fantasized repeatedly about either dropping out of my current profession to become a surf bum or… finding some way to make my job pay me A LOT more money so that I can become a surf bum more effectively as a side activity.
9. I listened to Bethany tell me about her dream about sarah being 3 and we reminisced about the wee one together. When I told Bethany that I used to dream of her that way, we then discussed how in some important ways Bethany has not changed one whit since being five while Sarah has… shall we say… matured?
10. I ate brocolli, last night, not suspecting that the morning would greet me with more than I ever would want to know.
LOVE — and SO MUCH VICARIOUS LIFE!
mom/becca
Hi dears, glad to hear you two are back on the LP map and still enjoying the journey.
I haven’t got ten things to report, but have told your broccoli story at least ten times this week. Linda wants to report that she’s gotten great responses to the “mapkin” expedition story as well.
Last night, Linda’s brother told us it meant you were in the jungle, since “above the broccoli” means in the jungle in Marine-speak.
I really don’t know about that, but I’m glad to no longer be checking and re-checking the last entry in suspense about the walk into the broccoli. Sarah’s always managed to make broccoli disappear mysteriously and I began to be concerned that it might be seeking payback.
Love you both and loving your stories,
Dad
What fun it is to read snippets of your time; not only from Megan and Sarah, but others as well. Here is a list of Ten things from Oklahoma.
1) I went to OKC and took the 8 hour certification exam, completing it in 5 1/2 hours. Not necessarily a good sign, but its over and the brain-numbness is gone.
2) I met with corporate HR and the investigation of my complaint has been resolved. I have been absolved and there is nary a single tarnish in my personnel file.
3) I quit my job.
4) I accepted a position at St. Francis.
5) I carved incredible jack-o-lanterns, including one of a cat being followed by a harvest moon. One trick or treator told his dad with earnest excitement ” daddy, thats my most favorite monkey!” I was very nostalgic remembering past halloweens, pumpkins, costumes and kids.
6) I had dinner with my good friend Paula and listened to funny and sad stories about her daughter’s recent wedding.
7) I read an article about myself in the church newspaper and thought it could have been better.
8) I celebrated with wine and tears the end of 3 months of hell, the completion of the exam, the resolve of a hostile work-place, the admonishment of an evil ignorant woman.
9) I obsessivley read your blog and laughed out loud.
10) I lit a candle on All Saints Day for your continued safety and joy. and, I continued to love you.
I have to admit I’ve felt some pressure to list 10 things about my week. Here goes.
1. Halloween came and went with no tricksters and a minimum of treaters. The best costume was the lady bug, a red tulle dress with big black dots, black ballet slippers and gauzy filigree wings that magically came out her pink ski parka.
2. I went to a 60th birthday dinner party for a golf buddy of Tom’s. About 40 people were there. Somehow during the evening, the conversation turned to how many times you’d been in jail, to which one man who loved his red wine, admitted to being in jail 6 times. His wife dropped her jaw, arched one brow, jerked her head and said “Out. We need to smoke and talk.”
3. I cooked some halibut that a friend caught in Alaska. Served it with a Romesco sauce and kalamata olive/parsley relish. I felt like Emeril. Bam!
4. On my morning walk in the neighborhood (before daybreak), I saw a young fox on the Jewish playground going under the fence. I guess he was going back to his “nest” which must mean he too lives in the neighborhood.
5. On Wednesday night, during a discussion at church about Raymond Carver’s story One Small Thing, someone saw a mouse run under the bookcase. Everyone just ignored it because after all, it was just one small thing. Besides that, someone pointed out it was be a church mouse.
6. We had a huge barred owl in our tree last Sunday. The bluejays screeched and flew in circles.
7. I ordered and received a copy of my ex-husband’s first published book of poetry. The cover states that his collaboration with his (current) wife produced three children, which pissed me off because they didn’t really have 3 children–they only had one–and one of their “collaborative” three is really my daughter Sarah.
8. I went to a Day of the Dead Altar exhibit and was struck by the effort and love that went into those altars.
9. I saw dancers celebrating the Day of the Dead with fire sticks, eating fire to the music of drums. It was cold outside but the street was so jammed with celebrants that no one seemed to care. (Same event as above, but since one was inside and one was outside, I’m counting it as two.)
10. I stopped for coffee at a place I’d never been to before – “The Coffee Grinder – Seattle Style.” I asked what Seattle style meant and he said when it opened 12 years ago, Seattle was known for small coffee shops – this was before Starbucks – people would just get their coffee and go – it wasn’t a lounge. So they opened the shop without chairs
That’s it — my week in Tulsa America.
Love to you both. Thanks for inspiring all of us to examine our lives in better light. Carry on.
Wow — I love knowing everyone’s ten things. Bill — I don’t think you’re off the hook. You can do it! Just ten little things . . . and COnnie’s list reads like a poem. Just beautiful. Thought you all would like to know that the tenth item on our list — the roasting and eating of the pheasants our pal Larry sent us from Montana — went VERY well. YUM!!! And speaking of friends who send you things they’ve hunted or fished themselves, how can I schmooze the halibut fisherman? YUM!!!
Since everyone else is using your blog as a journal, I guess I’ll throw in my 10 cents, or is it 20…
1. Wrote a paper about the cultural boundaries of ancient athenian greece, turned out okay, I thought it was a stupid assignment.
2. Learned about the history of Palestine.
3. Enjoyed the last day of sunshine for probably 3 months… wait, make that 4.
4. Borrowed my drummers bass to finish the cd, decided that I want to get a bass
and play bass in a band. Bass is how you get the ladies dancin.
5. Watched “The Devil and Daniel Johnston”. Movie about a manic depressive singer/artist, super good.
6. Bought a bunch of paper and ink, made a ton of CD covers.
7. Found an old tuberware container with reaaaaaaaaally old tuna in it. gross.
8. Played a fun show last night with The Pharmacy and a bunch of other cool bands. Made some new friends, traded some cd’s, had a good time. While we were playing, some guy kept coming in and running to the back of the hall to get something, and tried to plug his ears with his fingers, made me smile…
9. Woke up at noon today, went with chelsea to the store and got some really yummy fresh seafood soup, then curled up and watched gilmore girls.
10. Ending my week by reading a massive book on gender and islam… busy busy busy
What a great blog! and I love everyone’s responses… the stories make me want to meet the Megan-clan. Such fun. And, like Bill, I’m very relieved to hear how the ascent into the broccoli went…. tho sorry to hear about your friendship with the bathroom.
Our ten things this week are really one thing: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10: Kirby, an 8-week old beagle with ears as big as her head, joined us since you last posted. If you still have your gmail account, look for pictures. Whew, gotta run, someone’s sniffing “for a spot”…
Aw shucks, Bethany, you make me smile. That was nice to read — especially coming from you. I don’t want to be a tease, but you’ll have to stay tuned to see what the Ling cod menu is like. The pheasant didn’t sound bad, ya know. Aren’t we lucky people?
Lool and Ceej — can’t you post a picture on this site? I bet everyone would like to see 1,2,3…10! Or, send me private images on my email account. Maybe if sarah gets a pic from you she can slip it in AS IF kirby were in guatemala? Maybe dress Kirby up in red striped pants to aid that?
I agree that bill is not off the hook. He can add the hook to his list.
I also agree that connie’s and jennifer’s lists are so great! but what is ling cod? All the gourmands on this list intimidate me. I wrecked a simple set of chicken fingers last night!!! I kid you not! sigh…
United in missing Miss Sarah and Miss Megan,
becca
egad, what a great adventure, what a wonderful blog, what brave (er, crazy) young things.
keep it up.
ps
From what I understand, ling cod is a very primeval looking fish that grows huge because it will live in areas that are inaccessible. I think they are caught by mistake when fishing for halibut, which is probably what happened in this case (since I also received halibut). Bear in mind that I don’t actually know these things, I just have a dear friend named google.
I’m guessing school starts today. Good luck. Can’t wait to hear about it.
OH. MY. GOD.
Imagine our surprise… you guys are amazing. 12 comments. This makes, give or take 120 ¨top things¨ that have appeared since we last checked the blog. You amaze and bewilder us both. We could not be happier.
-Sarah and Megan