Ayudame...

Anybody have suggestions on how I can focus better on my reading? I just spend the last 30 minutes reading 15 pages in a textbook and I can seem to recall much. My eyes read it, it goes into my brain for a brief time, and now that I try to recall it, it's pretty much a blank. I hate feeling stupid.

On a more interesting note, I was talking to one of my fellow TESOL grad students and out of nowhere she told me that she liked my nose. Now, she's from the Ukraine so perhaps over there they have an appreciation for bird-like noses. I dunno and frankly, I was taken a little aback but since I am not one to turn down a compliment...

Wruak?

Is the second day of classes too soon to second guess your ability to handle graduate school? Especially since 3 of the 4 classes are taken with undergrads so are technically easier than other classes? Wow, I must confess to being overwhelmed and wondering how I will be able to do all of this in the short period of time that I am allocating for this degree. Perhaps it would be easier if I had some academic knowledge of ESL but I don't. I have practical knowledge but that isn't going to do me a lot of good in most of these classes.

Plus, I'm beginning to suspect that I know nothing about writing a good paper. I rarely used journals for my BA and I'm pretty sure that I used them incorrectly. I feel like such an idiot compared to some of the other students in the class. On a side note, they all seem to be very helpful and we even had a group study thing this afternoon.

And to further expound on the niceness of my fellow grad students, they all have done things with their lives that make them pretty interesting. There are only 6 of us that are first years but half are foreign (China, India but with Tibetan roots, Yugoslavia). The other 3 (myself included) have all done a decent amount of travel and living abroad. AND I have an invitation to visit Siyan's home in Sichuan. I might just have to take her up on that at some point. I don't know when but I am rambling on about traveling again and I really need to stop that.

In conclusion, things are going well but I am overwhelmed and have a feeling that I will be for some time. I wish to do well and to earn the regard of my professors but am thinking that I will have to make an idiot out of myself first.

Be still my aching arse

I have come to the conclusion that I am a wimp. Both my mind and my body are exhausted because I have had one class and have been biking around Cedar Falls. Cedar Falls has hills. Certainly more than where I grew up but not like the hugh .5 mile 10% grade monster that I went up in Mankato. Granted, I only biked to work less than 10 times before succumbing to the lure of being a lazy American again. I blame the hill (but that's only an excuse to make myself feel better).

Here, I have no choice or at least not a viable choice. There is a bus system but I haven't figured it out yet and it's a bit expensive on my budget. Of course, my budget stretched enough to buy some pretty yarn but that's not the point here. The point is that this is good for me even though right now, it's exhausting to have to bike everywhere. Campus is a good 2.5 miles away, the grocery store is 2 miles in the opposite direction (can't even cheat there and get food on my way back from class), the library and yarn shop are in the general direction of campus but further north.... you get the idea. Everything is within biking distance but not easy biking distance.

And while there are plenty of recreational bike trails, this isn't a very biker friendly town for practical use. There are many busy streets and not all streets have sidewalks. I think that I'll slowly get it all figured out; the ways that are safe and not too far out of the way. It will be strange to be so confined to what I'm willing to bike to, though. One thing is for certain; buns of steel might finally be in my grasp ;-)

Oh! The horror!

I had an interesting time at work last week Friday and as always, interesting means painful or disgusting. First of all, it was that special time of the month for me. Sorry to all my male readers but this plays a very part in THE STORY. It's not horrible every month but this month....

Desire to walk around with my hands on my back. CHECK

Ovaries slowly eating their way through my belly. CHECK

Intense nausea. CHECK

Basically all the things that I get, I had very badly. Except for the violent mood swings. Those missed me this month.

Anyway, the morning didn't start off too terribly as far as symptoms go, but as the day went on they kept getting worse and worse. By lunch time, I was in a world of hurt and just wanted to curl up into a ball and hide somewhere. Of course, I can't really do that with my job but I really wanted to. I was dusting something somewhere and I get the dreaded phone call.

Umm, Nadine? There's a pile of dog poop in the mail room. Can you come clean it up?

Thinking, thinking <<>>

I manage to drag myself to the mail room, take one sniff, and promptly decide that this is NOT DOG POOP. IT'S PEOPLE POOP. The poop bandit had struck again. And not just a little poop, a big pile of poop, in the mail room, which is across the hallway from the bathroom. Explain that one to me.

Added to the horror, was the fact that another resident had failed to notice the BIG PILE OF STINKING POOP in the mail room, had stepped in said poop, and tracked in back towards the bathroom and into the dining room. Seriously, dude, this was not a small pile of poop and did I mention that it smelled foul?

Paper towels served only to pick up the massive amounts of wet poop on the carpet. Rags (which I then threw away), proved no match for the stain. Whimpering, I drug out the carpet cleaner in order to get rid of the stench.

Folks, this was horrible. I almost vomited. I wished to smear the poop covered rags upon the person who made me clean this up. I didn't, but the thought did cross my mind.

And finally, once the mess was all cleaned up......

Umm, Nadine? Would you mind cleaning up in the dining room? Somebody vomited on the floor....

Those of you who aren't cat people....

are CRAZY because nobody that I know, could refuse cuteness like this.

Yum!

I wonder if anyone can tell that I've been bored lately. This is the second day IN A ROW that I've managed to post and who knows, I might walk on the wild side and post again later tonight. Now that I'm happier, it's easier to post things that don't make my (2) readers freak out and think that something is going wrong in my head....

Anyway, tried out another new recipe and both sister and I agree that it's fabulous. Very tasty and perfect for those of you who have way too much zucchini to use. So here goes, my first actual recipe that I've posted on this here blog:

Chile and Zucchini Quesadillas

2 ancho or pasilla peppers, or 1 tsp chili powder
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 small zucchini, sliced into 1/4 rounds (I used 2 zucchinis)
s&p to taste
4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated
2 12-inch flour tortillas
2 Tbsp sour cream
Your favorite hot sauce

1. If you're using ancho or pasilla peppers, soak them in hot water for 30 minutes. Then drain them, seed them, and chop them fine.

2. Heat 1 Tbsp of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. add the garlic and the zucchini. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and the chili powder, if you're using it. Saute the zucchini, stirring often, until it softens, about 5 minutes. Transfer the zucchini to a plate.

3. In the same skillet over medium heat, heat 1/2 Tbsp oil. Add one tortilla. Sprinkle the cheese and chopped chiles, if you're using them, evenly over the tortilla. cook until the tortilla crisps and the cheese melts, about 3 to 4 minutes. Place the zucchini rounds on the cheese, then top with the second tortilla. Slide the quesadilla from the skillet onto a plate, and invert it onto a second plate. Add the remaining oil to the skillter, then slide the flipped quesadilla back into the skillet. Let the quesadilla brown well on the flip side for 3 to 4 minutes.

4. Remove the quesadilla to a cutting board, and slice it into quarters. Place two pieces on a each plate, top them with sour cream, and pass the hot sauce.

*** This will serve two.

Now, I have made this twice (had to get rid of the cheese, ya know?). The first time I used cayenne pepper because we were out of chili pepper. I LOVED it but sister spend a lot of time fanning her fried taste buds and blowing her nose. The second time, I used chili powder and she liked that much better so pick your poisen and know that you have options.

Buen provecho!

***This recipe was taken from the fabulous book Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons. Absolutely love this cookbook and would steal it from sister if I thought that she wouldn't notice ;-)

Really? You this THIS is gross?

I was feeling a bit ambitious on Sunday so I decided to make eggplant Parmesan. I already had a teeny tiny little itty bitty eggplant from my garden and had been wanting an excuse to decimate my fresh basil supply. I found the recipe online (of course) and with a little help from sister who served as my clean hands while frying the eggplant, we had a truly delicious supper. It's amazing what 7 or 8 simple ingredients can do for one another.

The next day, I brought the leftovers for lunch and proudly heated them up. One of the nurses (she's really nice just very... typical for this area), curled up her nose at my lovely dish.

What is that?

Eggplant Parmesan.

Really? It looks gross. What's in it?

Basically tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, basil and eggplant.

What's eggplant? How does it taste?

It's a purple globe-like vegetable that doesn't have a strong taste. Would you like to try it?

Nuh-uh. No way. You go ahead and eat it.

Ok, but it's just Italian food.... If you like mozarella.

I do.

And tomato sauce.

I do.

Then you will probably like it.

No thanks. I'll just eat my turkey sandwich.

End of conversation about my disgusting looking eggplant parmesan but here's the kicker, this lady thinks that it would be great fun to visit both Africa and China someday. Honey, you'd better buy some stock in KFC because if you refuse to eat eggplant you won't be eating much of what is offered in those two places.

Sheesh.

Da........birds da birds da birds

At work, since it's an old folks home and they like these sorts of things, there is a bird atrium. It's lovely, the residents love looking at the *pretty* birds and everything is just hunky dorey dandy.

Until you ask yourself the simple question, who has to clean the lovely bird home full of shite and feathers? I think you know the answer to that one. Once I week I risk the possibility of loose birds (never happened) and getting shat on (happened once) just so that appearances are kept up.

This week, going along as usual. Nothing is wrong, clean a few windows, look around again and suddenly...... uh ooh, man down! We have a dead bird in the cage. Poke poke. Is it really dead? That would be an affirmative. Oh well, grab a paper towel and pike up the poor, dead birdy and into the trash it goes.

Later on that day..... I tell Mr. Boss Man about the bird and he starts freaking out. Apparently, if an adult bird dies they need to keep the corpse for evidence. Evidence for what I do not know. Luckily, I had yet to empty out my garbage so I had the lovely task of digging trough dirty you-don't-want-to-know in order to find the birdy.

Enough said, bird found, bird given to slightly strange boss, peace, out.