good luck making sense of it all
13 February 2006 @ 00:16
I don't know what to write, or where to begin. So I'll just have to pick a place and you'll deal with it if it gets too random.
I met Cousin 4 today -- he's still really really tiny, around three weeks old. Aunt says that he's been a good baby, not really fussy, easy to please, only wakes every three hours through the night. Uncle took pictures of me holding him, so if you're lucky I'll have those posted next weekend.
Aunt looks like she's doing well. I imagine that it would be hard, having your fourth child and then still having three other ones to take care of. And the three boys are quite a handful, believe me.
And yes, my mother bought lots of toys for the C4 as well as his brothers. Like always, she's spoiling them to death.
Cousin 3 is surprising the heck out of me. First of all, he's still rolling his r's a little bit -- which makes me a little envious since I struggle with it -- and I think he's retained it because he watches Dora. But the really cool thing is that C3 can also navigate around on the computer. He can switch users, pull up the internet, and attempt to play games on his own. It's more than just mildly shocking. I pointed his browser to Boohbah Zone and walked off to talk to Aunt and Mom, and before I know it he's navigating the site by himself and solving puzzles rather than doing the other silly things that were available. Mom thinks he's going to grow up to be a computer geek. I have my money on marching band.
The scary thing is that I can remember Cousin 1 and I played on the computer when he was that age.
I've had brief conversations with Exe lately, which do nothing but prove how well I didn't know him when he was here as a student. (Insert pause here just for Rocky.)
For example, he went snowboarding every weekend during the winter. Every single weekend. And the nearest resort is over an hour away. I only mention that because he suggested that I do things like get out of the house and try something new (such as snowboarding or skiing) every once in awhile.
He's also talked about coming back to the States and how much he misses it here. One of the things he told me about during our study sessions was how he didn't even want to come to the States, how he would rather be in Argentina, and how he missed his friends. I think being the star soccer player and the snowboarding rubbed off on him.
I've not had the courage to ask him for his mailing address (I'm sure I have it somewhere, actually) nor have I had the courage to mention that I'm travelling to Brazil in the spring. Not that it matters, since he lives on the opposite coast as the places I'll be hanging out in.
And in case you're curious, he still looks the same as he did at graduation.
Somehow what was supposed to be a month long visit for Fran, Dudu and JP was cut down to Fran and her sister for one weekend. Dudu didn't even spend the night (as usual), and JP didn't come along for the ride at all.
I'm beginning to wonder about Dudu.
I'm searching for good recipies to take with on my next plane hopping border crossing electronics smuggling adventure. I've decided that as a gift to Andre's family as a whole that I'll just make a few big meals. Or maybe one big meal. Hopefully it won't go like the meatloaf fiasco and I'll be able to go grocery shopping without Andr� going "but I don't know what crackers are..." Good times, I tell you.
I called the study abroad company that I'm planning on using to find out about internship-ish things. There's a very prestigious planetarium in Paris that I would love to do even an unpaid internship at and I know people who know people who know people, so it's really a matter of figuring out the legalities of it. And writing a CV. And hoping the my French is good enough from the start to be able to handle that kind of situation. The company is doing some research for me, so we'll see how that works out. And before you suggest it, no, I'm probably not eligible for a student job.
I've also been tossing around the idea that if I'll be inactive for an entire year, that I might as well spend a summer working / studying / backpacking / doing the au pair thing in France. That's a money- and Army-dependent issue. If I don't time it right, I'll be out of luck as far as funding for the following semester at home goes. But it's just something to keep in mind.
For some reason, planning this academic year abroad in Paris is much less scary than spending five weeks in Brazil. Other than the language thing, I don't really understand why I feel like this.
When I grow up, I want to have books in French, English, and Portuguese on my bookshelf. Right next to the code books. Is it possible to be a code poet in another language?
So far I have all three languages, but can really only make sense out of two.
Apparently there's nothing like a Brazilian bikini top on a 20-something to get the attention of the penis-bearing species.
The boy called me branquinha the other day. It's a term of endearment, seriously, but it freaked me out a little. Or maybe I'm just not understanding it well.
[/randomness]
--Annie