A Burmese wedding and Jen's Spanish aquisition

Mañana es nuestra final clase de español, y estoy triste. Aprendí mucho pero la clase ha pasado demasiado rápido!

I have learned a lot over the last 3.5 weeks, considering I could barely say more than "Hola! dos cervezas por favor" on day one, I can now make my opinion known (albeit with a smattering of French thrown in) on topics such as: do you believe that there is life on other planets? do you think we will find a cure for cancer, and why? and: in your opinion, who was the best president of the United States (the fact that I'm not American didn't offer any respite from the latter question)? I can also count to a 999,999,999 (theoretically at least), name parts of the body, parts of the house, get through customs, and describe landmarks in Mexico city! Oh, and order some food to go with my two beers...

It was an eclectic class (two sixteen year olds, one whose fingers were glued to her cell phone texting the whole class; two women my age including another Canadian; and an older piano teacher who was so enthusiastic that she would often yell out other people's answers before they could), but I think it was well worth the money, and has hopefully launched me towards a future fluency (or at least proficiency) in Spanish.

Now if I could just get my French up to fluent...
In other news, last weekend we had the opportunity to attend a Burmese wedding. A coworker of ours was getting married to a fellow resettled refugee who he had started dating back in the camps in Thailand. While it may not have been punctual (which I am not one to criticise), or that organised, it was a wonderful celebration with a large portion of the IRC office, and the IRC Burmese community present. There was, of course, some excellent food there too!

I can't believe that it is almost August! Brent and I have been in San Diego for nearly 3 months. We are still waiting for the date of our immigration interview, which we are hoping may be scheduled for September. August will go quickly as Brent and I will both be working full-time at IRC until our trip to Vermont at the end of the month. Even though it is for only 4 days, we're really looking forward to the trip, and the chance to see Brent's extended family and celebrate his Grandpa's 90th birthday.

The day after our return to SD I'll be starting my job at the Peace Institute, and we just learned of another surprise - my sister Lindsay will also be arriving that day for a visit! Yay!

Well I think that's all for now. Hope you're all well, and we look forward to hearing whether any one else might have plans to head to So(uthern)Cal(ifornia) in the future.

Hasta luego!

El Desfile de los Homosexuales

In some ways it was like any other American parade...

And then in others it was not...

As you can likely guess, this weekend marked San Diego's Pride Parade/Festival weekend, and being in Hillcrest, we had front seats for the whole rainbow extravaganza. It was a roaring good time, with much love, laughter and fun to be had by all.

Brent and I joined the 225,000 strong crowd to watch the parade (the 5th largest in the US). And while there were both scantily and decadently clad men, women, and a range of combinations thereof,

the best part for us was the widespread support given to California's new same-sex marriage law, and an emotional opposition to a proposed ban which will be on the November ballot in California. More than 100 couples walked through the parade carrying signs inscribed with the years of their monogamy - 8 years together, 12 years together, 27 years together, 35 years together, 42 years together... etc. The majority were over two decades, and gave a clear message that same-sex couples were living in marriage-like unions, and had been doing so for decades. Those that had been able to marry proudly inscribed the dates of their marriage on their shirts or placards.

People of all sexual orientations, races, backgrounds, and ages seemed caught up in the supportive, affirming atmosphere. It was definitely one of the most entertaining and fun parades I've ever seen!

However, when my Spanish teacher asked me what I was doing on the weekend I tried to say, yo voy a la... Pride Parade? Always eager to have us say everything in Spanish, she searched for the correct translation for my weekend activity, and finally concocted: "yo voy a el Desfile de los Homosexuales."

I don't think that's exactly right, but it had the class in stitches.

Otherwise, things here are good. Busy with lots of work, from which we try to recuperate on the weekends by heading to the beach!

Wishing you all a good week,

Jen & Brent

My dream job

I don't have my dream job yet... but I am now one step closer!

Last week I went to an interview at the University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc Institute of Peace and Justice (IPJ) to be considered for a Peace Writer position, for their 2008 Women PeaceMakers program... and last night, (now last week since this post is taking so long to complete), I found out I got the job! The Woman PeaceMakers program selects 4 women from conflict zones around the world who are doing exceptional work in the area of peace and/or justice in their communities (at a local, national or international level). The women are invited to the Kroc Institute for an 8-week residency of lectures, workshops and an international conference, in which the women all participate. One of the primary goals of the program is to document the stories of these women, and their struggles for peace. To achieve this, the program pairs each of the 4 women with a Peace Writer - someone who interviews them extensively, helps them prepare their presentations, coaches them on public speaking elements of their residency, as well as accompanies them for the duration of their time in San Diego. Most importantly, the Peace Writer is tasked with writing her partner's story in an article which will be published at the end of the program.

While it is only a 10-week position, it will be a great opportunity, and I am hoping that it could lead to further work with the institute. The minute we arrived on the campus for the interview I felt like a kid entering Disneyland; by the time I left I was so enamoured I was ready to trim shrubs just to call USD my place of work! However, I think the IPJ would be a better fit (I have yet to develop my green thumb). The staff's resumes include work on national peace negotiations, election monitoring and working with civil and political groups in conflict and post-conflict societies. A key area of interest for the IPJ also seems to be on women's rights as necessary components to peaceful and just societies. I am hoping the Peace Writer position will be an opportunity for me to learn more about the areas of peace building and peace making as a possible career. Sorry for going on about what may sound boring to many people, but this is what does it for me!

In other news, yesterday was a sad day as my parents finally left San Diego after an extended 2-week stay. We threw in a lot to their first trip because we wanted to ensure that they would come back! So from pro baseball games, vineyards, camping, beaches, and lots of shopping to symphony concerts and fireworks, we kept them busy! However, despite our best efforts, I think their highlights were buying and working on our car (Dad), and our local Market's wine specials (delicious $10 wine on for $2.99/bottle plus a 10% discount when you buy 6 bottles, for Mom)!

As you can see from the photos, we had a lot of fun (yes, Mom and I are riding Segways)! However, all good things must also end, so the folks are now on their drive back north to get back to Victoria, and especially Barclay! (For those who were worried, we continue to check their routes and they should be able to avoid the California wildfires). Which means Brent and I finally have to go back to work! I took time off while they were here, but on Tuesday my intensive Spanish class began, and I have now returned to work in the afternoon at IRC. It makes for exhausting days (including a full 2 hrs on, or waiting for buses!), but it allows Brent and I to meet for lunch every day and ride the bus home together, and I am very pleased to finally be learning Spanish!

Well, this post has taken me nearly a week to write, so while there is (always?) more to say, I think I'll sign off here.

Missing you all!

Adios!

Jen and Brent

Our baby (to be named soon)

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

Working girl

It's 7pm and I'm trying to stay awake...

Today I put in my first day at IRC. Now I can see why Brent comes home exhausted every day, and I was only there for 4.5 hrs! All that big talk I did about not being able to sit around and do nothing for three months is suddenly sounding hollow... a day flopped out on the computer, reading and watching baby births on Discovery Health is looking pretty good right about now.

Seriously, it's not that bad. I got to meet the program team that I'll be working with, and the Program Coordinator instructed everyone to write out their schedules for the week and give me and her a copy so that we could make the "best use of my time with them". How flattering. However, every time I was introduced, people would ask what I was there doing, etc. then after my answer, and a moment of silence, someone would inevitably add, "and she's Brent's wife." I would have to agree, and my cover for future "so, what do you think of the new guy?" investigations was blown.

We have been dying to have a steady, "normal" working routine for what seems like years now, but as many warned us, the reality is a little less glamorous than we had imagined. Up at 6am, to the gym or a run by 6:30, to the bus stop by 7:45, at work by 8:15am, work through lunch, then home by 6:15, make and eat dinner and we're ready for bed before 8pm! I know this isn't a "hard" schedule compared to many people, so could someone tell me why we are so beat? Maybe everyone's this beat and they just hide it better...

At least we have weekends!

This past weekend we went out to a cocktail hour with friends on a rooftop restaurant in Bankers Hill, bordering Hillcrest. The outdoor roof was packed. It was a near-exclusively gay event, and I was one of about 4 women in the whole crowd. While the company was great and the view over San Diego to the ocean was stunning as the sun set, the highlight of my night was walking down the 7 flights of stairs with a couple behind me that started commenting on my figure. Hey, you've still got it if you can get "hit on" by gay guys...!

I was hoping to be signing off in Spanish tonight, but unfortunately my Spanish lessons were postponed again, and so I've switched to an intensive month-long course which will be 5 mornings a week starting next week. Spanish in the mornings, IRC in the afternoons. However, after getting my feet wet this week, I will likely take some time off from IRC next week for my parent's visit. Speaking of which, they started their drive down here today - yay!

Ok, it's now 9pm... I think I can justify heading to bed now. Good night from sweltering southern California,

J & B

Ray at Night and my TV addiction

Sorry everyone, still me! Brent has been snowed under with work lately, including having to go in this past weekend to try to get caught up on the towering pile on his desk that welcomed him back from Phoenix. I, on the other hand, am sitting at my desk drinking an iced coffee, trying not to move my legs, thereby preventing the shooting pains that are afflicting my quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves. I seem to have gone a little overboard at the gym on Monday and my muscles are making sure I will never forget it!

I've been quiet for a few days because I haven't had too much to report. We had a great weekend, hitting up one of the best vegetarian restaurants I've ever tasted with friends, and making our usual tour of the farmer's market for our weekly produce and coconut pancake fix (a 25 cent treat we save up our spare change for every week). Then on Saturday night we tried out the neighbourhood bordering Hillcrest (North Park)'s arts scene. On the second Saturday of every month downtown North Park celebrates Ray at Night - an art gallery walk along two gallery-lined streets, complete with live outdoor bands, and cheap wine and free snacks in all the galleries. However, in contrast to the Brattleboro Gallery Walk's family atmosphere, Ray at Night definitely caters to a more eclectic crowd... for example, on doing our rounds, Brent and I followed the general door-to-door movement of the crowd, and entered a large gallery beside one of the playing bands. Looking around, we tried to discern what type of gallery it was - Asian? An art school? Sculpture? Modern? There were sculpture-ish looking things on shelves... items for sale... dog collars? Wait a minute... is that a...? Turns out a large Adult Erotica store was also open for viewing!

The week has progressed with lots of work for Brent, and as yet, no work for me. For the first time in years I've become a frequent viewer of the "one-eyed Monster" (B's reference to the TV), and have probably seen more infomercials, heard more jingles, and definitely learned about and seen more births, medical procedures, international adoptions and dog training than I ever thought I could in a 3-day period!

Needless to say, Brent is looking forward to me getting back to work and away from Discovery Health! I was finally able to get a hold of the woman I'm supposed to be working with at IRC, and so we'll be meeting tomorrow to discuss my role there. Next week looks virtually TV-free - in addition to IRC, on Monday my Spanish lessons will finally begin, and mid week we're ecstatic about welcoming our first visitors - my parents! YAY! Stay tuned to hear about all the fun we get up to with them. Really, I'm most excited about having the use of a car for a while! Joking :-)

Hope you all are doing well. Please continue to send us your news via e-mail, and for those we haven't heard from, what's going on?

Till next time!

J&B

Home sweet California

Stepping out of San Diego's small, familiar airport (3 visits in a month = familiar) and into the warm early evening with Brent and two colleagues yesterday, we all chimed how great it was to be back in San Diego! We had just returned from 4 days in Phoenix, Arizona, the site of IRC's Case Management Training workshop. Brent went along as a supervisor, with two of his caseworkers - Amina and Wafa - whose turn it was to attend this year. His three other case managers went last year, and so they stayed to man the office.

Unfortunately all I can tell you about in Phoenix are the freeways, our hotel, and passing views of suburbia and strip malls. There are undoubtedly nicer parts of the city (there have to be!), but a combination of the sprawl and the incapacitating heat kept me sequestered in the hotel for most of our visit. Luckily, as you can see from the photos, it had a nice pool as a respite from the stifling 40/105 (C/F) temperatures.

One of my few outings was a trip to replenish my sunscreen. I asked the hotel's front desk if the complimentary shuttle could take me to a drug store in the vicinity of the hotel. "Sure," she said, "there is a Wallgreens (drug store) or a Wal-Mart." Definitely Wallgreens! But by the time they tracked down a driver willing to take me, the only person they could find was a new girl from Hawaii. As we pulled out of the hotel parking lot she said "Wal-Mart, right?" Um, actually I had requested Wallgreens, is that ok? She hummed and hawed, before admitting that she didn't know where the Wallgreens was! She reassured me that the Wal-Mart was just a couple blocks away. Would the reduced carbon emissions of not searching aimlessly in a huge van be worth supporting the exploitation of workers in free trade zones overseas? I wanted to resist, but it looked like I was stuck between patronizing the evil Mega-Giant or skin cancer.

I think it's been at least 5-7yrs since I've stepped foot in a Wal-Mart. Now I have been to other box stores since, and I tried to reassure myself that it couldn't be that much worse, but it was. The shuttle delay meant that it was now around 2pm; I'd missed lunch and was ravenous. I stood in the doorway staring out at a warehouse of cheap, mass-produced goods. To my right was an in-store McDonalds churning out the aroma of french fries and Big Macs. I haven't been in one of those for nearly a decade either, and certainly wasn't about to break two ethical standards at once! To my left was Wal-Mart's version of a deli. These were the only options for lunch that I was going to get, as there were no other commercial stores in sight (welcome to suburbia). I spent nearly 20 minutes walking up and down the deli counter and scouring pre-made items on the shelves for something remotely vegetarian (let alone healthy). Nothing. I kid you not. Even the salads were piled with either ham, chicken or both. Every sandwich's primary ingredient was meat. In the end I resorted to a $1.98 pre-made Tuna Fish sandwich (filled with more mayo than tuna), some overpriced apples (yes, everything in Wal-Mart is cheap - except the healthy food), and some baby carrots. After tasting the sandwich, my lunch consisted mainly of carrots and apples. I started up the behemoth aisles looking for something like skin care, got scared and came back. How to navigate this place? Finally, I edged along by the cash registers until I saw the glint of fluorescent lights off a plastic beach ball. I made a b-line for the beach accessories and grabbed my precious sunscreen. My bill came to $25, of which $20 was probably the carrots and apples. Ok, I'm joking. But looking around that place really did make me consider whether the physiological ill-health of a portion of the North American people (yes Canada, we have them too) could be placed at Wal-Mart's door. I know their unquestionably low prices have become a necessity for those living near or in poverty, but for the rest of us - is it really worth supporting that place (or those like it -something I'm still working to adhere to) to save a few dollars? Pick an issue - human health, environmental health, or ethically-produced products and regardless of what their spin doctors say, Wal-Mart is evil.

As I was navigating the epitome of capitalist greed, Brent was busy at the conference - meetings all day and networking at night. We got to meet (and even have dinner and drinks with) some of the national Directors in IRC, and even get away for a romantic anniversary dinner at a funky New Orleans-inspired seafood restaurant. I think Brent came away from the conference exhausted, but also with a few new ideas that he now has to find the time and resources to implement.

I am also finally starting to get my hands full, and may soon be switching from being commitment-less to having as much work as I can handle. My Spanish lessons have been postponed, but will be twice a week, starting the 23. I will likely be starting my volunteer monitoring and evaluation project at IRC next week, and I have been in contact with another group that does gender-based violence work specifically with immigrants and refugees that I'm looking forward to being part of. So much for my days of domestic work and periodic relaxation!

However, just because I'll be busy doesn't mean we don't still want visitors!

Talk to you all soon,

Jen

p.s. Sorry if I offended any Wal-Mart lovers. I'm sure it has its pros, and as far as environmental and ethical consumerism go: 1) we flew to Phoenix, 2) I enjoyed a pool in the desert, and 3) getting seafood in a landlocked state had to have consequences, so don't think I'm polishing my halo over here. But we try, and if posts like this make me and one other person reconsider how we want to impact other people and the earth by our consumerism and lifestyle, then it's worth it.

p.p.s Thanks "Isley" and others who've commented on here, or written e-mails to let us know you're reading (and enjoying) our news. Brent's still trying to find time to write on here, so soon you should have a brief reprieve from my rambling ;-)