(Hi Mom!) Many of you have requested that I create a blog to send my updates. I've had one for a while and didn't really do much with it but yeah, it might be easier than sending emails. For those of you interested in keeping up, you can find me at http://guatejennimalafer.blogspot.com/ I have a whopping THREE followers (thanks, guys!) and I'm not really sure how you can "follow" me, but you can find me there. I've copied and pasted all of my old emails to the blog, in case you missed anything. And to make it look like I've been busy writing lots of posts..
SO! There was finally a Second Place winner for Postal Roulette! I got a card from my friend Julie "Mean Girl" Arndt last week. That was a nice surprise (for a mean girl). And today, I got yet ANOTHER cool homemade card from my Aunt Karen in Phoenix. In addition to Aunt Karen's card, I also got a postcard from my brother's family from The Grand Canyon. Obviously this means if you want to send a letter to Guatemala, go to Arizona and send it from there. (But make sure you have all of your papers in order, juuust in case you get pulled over.)
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| Sookie in the Revue office garden |
While Joel was at the Jades store for his interview, I got a one-on-one tour of the factory, which included a history of jade (which explains why I'm suddenly so brilliant on this subject). The man who gave the tour just so happened to be the head of marketing and he was SO nice. He gave me his card and said they wanted to expand their marketing to the US and I sent my resume. We'll see what happens. In the meantime, I'm still editing the Revue Magazine, which is great and I love it, but it only takes a week of my time each month. They asked me to write an article for the next edition but the gal I'm supposed to interview just had surgery on her deviated septum and isn't up for visitors... Sooo I might have like A DAY to write it and get it submitted. YIKES.
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| Sweet sleepy Savannah |
And now, to the dogs. You know I can't send an email without mentioning rescue dogs. We fostered my favorite rescue dog, Savannah, for about a week. We quickly realized she is a morning-person dog, while we are night owl-people. She'd start falling asleep at 8pm and we'd do everything to keep her up like play with her toys or call her name -- it's so funny to watch a dog groggily raise her head like, "Whaaa...? Huuuh?" She'd come romping into the bedroom at 5am ready to jump on the bed and wake us up with her cold wet nose. Her motto was, "If Savannah is up, the rest of the world must be up to play with me." And if you didn't give her your immediate attention (even after putting her outside to go potty) she'd find something to chew on. My slippers where a hit. So were my book, a towel, a pair of hoop earrings... Yes, she tried to eat a pair of silver hoop earrings. Luckily, I woke up and rescued them when she dropped one and it made a "ping" sound on the floor and she couldn't find it again. (She couldn't have worn them anyway -- her ears aren't pierced.) We ended up having to return her due to an absolute lack of sleep -- but she actually has a much better life now -- she is spending her evenings at the Revue office and her days playing with the other rescue dogs at the coffee farm! So she's immensely happier. In the meantime, we've been walking some rescue dogs that are staying at the house of a vet who lives in our neighborhood. The vet, Dr. Linares, is an amazing man. He takes in whatever animals people drop off. He nurses them back to health, spays/neuters them, and gives them a place to stay until they can find a foster home. He rarely gets paid for his work. So we go to his office every day and walk whatever rescue dogs he happens to have on hand. Lately, it's been two guys -- Biondo and Wylie. Biondo is a Yellow Lab. There might be something else in his mix -- like jackrabbit or Sherman Tank -- because he wants to GO GO GO GO. And he is STRONG. My hands are always sore after walking him because he pulls the entire time. He saw a bird on the street yesterday and damn near tore my arm out of its socket trying to catch it before it flew away. He's not a bad dog at all, he just has tons of energy. And a bladder the size of the Goodyear Blimp. I've never walked a dog that peed so much. I have to admit I timed him once -- he did his thing for a good 20 seconds (he was saying, "Ahhhhhh..." with his eyes) -- and then went on to mark about 10 more rocks, trees, gates... And then there is the amazing Wylie. I say "amazing" because he has the coolest eyes -- one brown, one blue. He's a skinny rust-colored Husky. He looks like a wolf. A rusty wolf. With cool eyes.
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| Wylie and his cool eyes |
He's young and absolutely terrified of anything with wheels -- cars, trucks, motorcycles, bikes... I haven't tested him around roller skates, but I don't think he'd like those, either. He literally shrinks away from anything that drives by. Poor guy must've had a terrible experience in the past. Anyway, he's a really cool dude and I like to take him and Biondo to a park in our neighborhood which is mostly fenced. I let them off their leashes and watch 'em fly. It's fun to see them jump around and frolic. That is, until they stop and sniff at something in the grass, then pick their heads up and I see them chewing... I am in the "don't ask, don't tell" mindset when I see them eating a mystery meal. Maybe it's best that I don't know what delicious goodies they are finding in the long grass...
Now that Joel is working, it will force me into learning Spanish because I won't have him to lean on for translations. After taking him to work yesterday morning, I went to the market. Alone. Solo. All by myself. And I don't mean the nice, safe (yet wildly unorganized and crowded) grocery store. Nooo, I mean the big open-air farmer's market-type ginormous food and goods area here. I navigated my way around (yes, I got lost) and bought a few things. I'm sure I had the "deer in the headlights" look a few times when I asked people the price of an item (learning numbers is HARD for me!) but I managed to figure things out enough not to get ripped off. Damn, I was proud of myself. "Look at me! I'm a dorky white gal alone in the market! Woo-woo!" I've attached a few pics of the colorful food you can find here. Ok, is that enough for now? I know a few of you had been sending me nasty messages about not writing sooner. So I hope this appeases you for a while! Please feel free to write back at any time -- it's always nice to get email (and regular mail)...
Stay thirsty, my amigos!
If that volcano erupts, you have to post pictures.
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