Damsel in distress

Yesterday was not my day. It started after our morning run when I got locked in my 5'x5' bathroom for nearly 2 hours...

It all started when I went in for a 10min shower. When I tried to get out, I realised the bathroom door that normally sticks had now locked itself. Luckily, I was able to yell to my parents for help before they left on a walk (thank goodness they were visiting, or I could have been there till Brent got home!). They didn't know whether to panic or laugh, but eventually got it together to push, pull, jiggle, and heave at the door...unfortunately, it was all in vain.

A plan was devised to throw a hammer, screwdriver and some knives in the second story bathroom window so that I could jimmy it open from the inside. Even though the throw-into-the-window went off remarkably smoothly, the door was not to be jimmied. I slumped down on the toilet in defeat while my mother called the landlord's emergency number. Two fitness magazines and a self-pedicure later (i.e. about an hour) a very large man called Jose with a ponytail longer than mine took his turn at the door (saying that he had dropped everything when he heard there was a "damsel in distress") and after repeating all the jiggling and thumping my parents had already tried, eventually drilled out the offending doorknob and lock, and a good chunk of the door too. I was rescued with the only scars being a new aversion to bathroom privacy.

The day continued with an IRC meeting to take a 72yr old Iraqi refugee to an optometrist in preparation for eye surgery she will be undergoing on Thursday. It got interesting when we took her back to her apartment to record all her current medications for the surgeons. A bag full of empty prescription bottles turned into a medical guessing game as her case worker (who speaks Arabic) and I tried to decipher which pills she'd moved into non-child proof containers, which pills were which, which pills she had run out of, and which pills she was taking that her sister had given her (medical significance unknown and possibly dangerous to be taking with her other meds). Through this multilingual sleuthing we were also being harassed by the old woman's roommate (also an older Iraqi woman who only spoke Arabic) who had very bad varicose veins but was not wearing her support hose, and was experiencing a lot of leg pain. I tried to give what advice I could (varicose veins are a serious problem, you need to wear the hose, go see your Dr. again, yadda yadda...) but somehow the situation deteriorated to the two women yelling in Arabic over who had the more serious medical condition, and the non-IRC client following us out to the car to complain that we should be taking her to the doctor since she was in more pain and the other woman has a sister in town who could be taking her. Whew!

I was looking forward to a relaxing night, so we ventured back to San Diego to historic Old Town for a traditional Mexican/Californian dinner of rice, beans, Baja fish tacos, and very generous margaritas. The latter came in handy when I naively took a bite of Brent's sauteed jalapeno pepper, giving myself a nasty chemical burn on my lips and tongue. I downed all the water on the table, giving myself brain-freeze and a horrible stomach ache, before our server saved me with slices of lime and lemon to suck on. It was just not my day!

It's actually been a great week though- our first trip to the Zoo, my father's birthday, and his birthday present: a trip to see the San Diego Padres play the Seattle Mariners; but the big highlight for Brent and I was the purchase of our first car! After 4 days of searching we found a sporty '02 Mazda Protege 5 in great condition for a very good price (a half-price salvaged Prius was the next runner-up, but we're happy with our Mazda). I will bombard you with photos later. In the meantime, here's some pics of everything else we've been up to.

We hope our Canadian readers had a great Canada Day yesterday, and that our American audience has a fabulous 4th of July weekend.

Take care,

Jen, Brent, Lois and Peter