Tsunami

I'm in Indiana.
I'm with Mother.
I'm hungry...I'm going to eat a pudding.

*kitchen break*

Pudding has been consumed.
It was banana pudding-esque.
Life is sufficient.

My room is a shitshow...I guess that's appropriate: I'm moving to China in t-minus 15 days and am slowly sifting through my life, packing this, trashing that, getting stuff ready to move to the local Goodwill.

I just got home yesterday after a day on the road. Before that, I was at a camp in Madison, CT, for Yale-China orientation. We got lessons on teaching to a foreign audience, talked about moving overseas, ate yummy Chinese food, talked about "football" with the awesome Brits on staff, conquered (kind of) rope courses and other group bonding-type stuff, and generally hung out. It was a total blast. The people are awesome, and I think that I'm going to find teaching (and having total latitude over my curriculum) to be nothing short of a blast. I'm super-psyched for the next two years.

Anywho, back to packing and watching "A Few Good Men"...I could really use that right about now...

Zaijian!

-cy

Life in the middle of nowhere

Is just about as exciting as you would expect. Highlights of today include:

-A trip "into town" to get groceries (by "town," I mean "2000 people," which is what passes for a booming metropolis around here).
-Chasing the dog out of the compost bin. Over and over.
-Finally setting up my gmail account for real! I know, I am behind the times as always.
-Doing a LOT of reading about classroom management, lesson planning, etc that I was assigned by TFA months ago and of course am just starting now.

I'm leaving for Mississippi on Thursday! Pretty excited, pretty nervous. I know institute (aka TFA's teacher-training boot camp, where I'll spend most of my summer) is going to be really hard. Also, EVERY SINGLE PERSON at home who I have told about my plans has said "Wow, Mississippi! It's going to be really humid down there, you know!" No, really? I had no idea! Thanks for enlightening me!

Expect pictures of me and my enormous hair soon. Hope you are all doing well!

wait, p.s. Does anyone remember how we're supposed to set up our aya email accounts? I forgot and I think I deleted the email.

Move #3

I got back from Ithaca, NY this afternoon. I dropped AJ off, and did the 5+ hour drive back solo. It was certainly the longest drive I've ever done alone. It wasn't great-- leaving AJ, and then driving back was not ideal. At least I didn't hit much traffic until I hit the CT border.

We're hanging out in B-partment (see the bBhouse blog) now, about to move our random crap into the house. It's the third move in a week, and I'm not excited to move yet more stuff. I am, however, quite excited to start settling into a place.

My summer job is boring, but then, that was the point. The point is to have a boring job, and then to appreciate school again in the fall. Hopefully that'll work. I said goodbye to Chris yesterday, which just about killed me. I miss you all like crazy, and the rest of the band too. Much love to all!

The cinnamon bread was WHERE?

Unpacking after a weekend like this--after a Yale life like this--is going to be, I have realized, the most absurd struggle-fest ever.

Finishing up my packing on Monday was tough. After the JE ceremony, I kept expecting some sort of closure, some final farewells, and there really weren't any. We were graduated; we were fed lunch; we took some pictures; and then everyone went to pack, which felt horribly anticlimactic. "Here's your diploma," says Mother Yale, "But do be a dear and clear out by noon." I ended up missing goodbyes with some people because of that, so hopefully I'll send some emails this week that'll fix that problem.

But somehow, I managed to get everything in boxes or bags or suitcases or rolling carts or Tupperwares or, really, anything that would hold anything else. And I even managed to get it all done by the time my family came on Tuesday to help me move out, despite staying up in the JE courtyard until five to say my reluctant goodbyes. Of course, being a local, I've never gotten the hang of efficient packing--I'm a subscriber to the "throw it in the car and see if it'll fit" rule--so my sister ended up repacking my suitcases for the sake of space. That is to say, she put anything anywhere it'd fit well--which means that when I started some unpacking last night to search for my contact case, I found the following items in short succession:

• a music stand
• a John Grisham novel
• a scrubbing sponge
• my toiletries kit (including my contact case)

and, finally, half a loaf of Pepperidge Farm cinnamon swirl bread. Perhaps the packing theme was "rectangular objects"? Whatever the case, I think my unpacking adventures will be something like one of those I Spy books that we all used to read as kids... "I spy a photo, four pens and a book, some coffee beans, steak knives, and pasta (uncooked)..." Oh boy.

I miss you all already. I'd reflect on my leavetakings from Yale, but I don't think I'm ready to do that yet. Not until I write my FroCo reports...

The first day of the rest of my life...

...and also my first blog posting ever. May 26th 2009. I woke up this morning in my parents' apartment, with the TV on in the other room and the sounds of them getting ready for work, and I could have believed for just a second that the last four years were a dream. But of course the evidence around me in my room contradicts that, in particular the two-foot tall piñata that now greets me in the morning. Duffito will miss Yale and you guys especially, just like me, but he takes comfort in the fact that soon he'll be living much closer to his homeland south of the border, and in a much more "natural climate" for him. :-)

Yesterday was a very interesting day to be sure--not surprising, given that we'd all been anticipating May 25, 2009 for years, but it still had some unexpected twists and turns. It started with all the pageantry and pomp and familiar music that I've come to expect having participated in Commencement all 4 years, and ended with me leaving my residential college for the last time armed with nothing but a small suitcase and a half-empty container of Pringles, my parents' car being too full with family members and my stuff to take me home. As I walked through Old Campus in the setting sun to catch the shuttle to the train station, the finality of it all hit me, and I felt a combination of intense nostalgia and peacefulness. In the past couple months I'd experienced denial about leaving Yale, followed by being too stressed out to think about it, followed by a simple inability to grasp the fact that a stage of my life was coming to an end. I expected that when I finally did grasp it I would be incredibly sad, but I was at peace with it. And ten minutes later I was in the real world (i.e. the New Haven train station), having left the pageantry and pomp and familiar faces far behind. It was an oddly liberating feeling. Not that I won't miss my four years at Yale (not to mention the eleven years of my life I've spent playing in bands), but it's comforting that the friendships made will not be lost, and neither will the memories. In the meantime, I'm definitely ready for three weeks of down time and just chillin' out.

I just bought

A one-way ticket from Seattle, Washington, to Jackson, Mississippi. Ack, ack, ack, real life, why must you approach me so alarmingly rapidly?

Oh well. For now I am here! Can't wait to hear about Myrtle; I missed you all!

Getting Ready

Since I had to change my calendar to May now, I figured I might as well start up the '09 blog. It sure beats "working" and even really working (ha!).

Beginning of End or End of the Beginning

It feels really strange to be setting this up now. We're all in this awkward between mode of graduating and finishing the last grueling (I don't know about you but after I finish my Sr. Project I may not be held accoutable for other work) assignments we'll ever complete at Yale. We know where each other will end up roughly, but who can imagine what this thing will turn into when we know we won't see each other in a week, or a month, or even some years? Will things really be that different, or will we somehow retain part of Yale and YPMB 09 in this blog? I don't know where this blog's going, but I'm excited.