Rocking that *International* Paradise

Last year, we had a bit of trouble when it came to the Susan G. Komen 5K Race for the Cure… (see the story of how we got lost and missed the race here )  This year, when Kelsey and I planned to run the 5K, we planned it out better (we hoped) and went equipped with directions to the CORRECT coliseum and the memory of where we were supposed to end up.  We parked our car around 11:30am and headed to pick up our registration packets.  The race didn’t start until 5:00pm (we’d gotten there early because packet pick-up ended at 1:00), so we took advantage of our free time to meet up with our friend Carlouis and spend the afternoon at the mall.  He graciously agreed to pick us up so we didn’t have to move from our $5 parking spot, and we headed out for a sushi fix and some window shopping.  By 4:00 we were back en route to the Coliseum and the start of the race.  We took a slight detour since we had time, and got a glimpse of Carlouis’s college campus too.  Unfortunately, that detour

So, I know a guy who owns his own plane.  He actually flew it down to PR from Colorado…you know, instead of flying commercial.  Of course, it’s not quite as glamourous as it sounds…it took Robert and Sonja 4 days to get here from Colorado, and they spent 4 times more on gas and landing fees (one way) than I did on my last round-trip plane ticket.  But now they’ve got a plane here.  And that certainly has its perks.  A trip to the small island of Vieques off the coast of Puerto Rico takes them under an hour…and they don’t have to worry about getting up early and driving to Fajardo to catch the ferry, like I do.  San Juan is a 20 minute flight rather than an hour’s drive.  And they always have a great view.  Last Sunday, we had an airport party, made possible only by Robert’s generosity.  A bunch of us—13 total, actually—got together at the airport in Patillas where Robert keeps his plane.  We brought food and drinks and spent the day sitting outside in the sunshine.  Mea

I feel like I’m sort of getting good at it.  It’s kind of an art form, really.  Not as easy as you might think.  But not as difficult, either. We’d had trouble with the power going out at school quite a bit this year.  It hasn’t happened for a week now…so with this post I’m probably jinxing it.  But oh well.  I have lost power at least once or twice with each of my 5 classes—which shows you just how many times it’s happened.  Sometimes the power’s only off for 5-10 minutes.  Sometimes the lights flicker on and off at varying shades of brightness for up to an hour.  Once, all power remained off for a solid hour.  (That day classes were called off at lunch time.  And of course right after lunch, all power came back on.)  Now, none of our classrooms have windows.  So when the power goes out, we have no source of outside light, nor any source of ventilation (because of course the AC turns off when the lights go out).  So, I open both doors to my room.  This lets in a little bit o

Vampire Weekend (ref: song lyric in this post’s title) always plays through my head when we go to Old San Juan.   We may not have spent a week there, but we did spend one night longer than we’d originally planned this weekend.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Friday evening, we left for Old San Juan.  The plan was to eat dinner in the city, go out salsa dancing afterwards, and spend the night.  Saturday we’d go out to breakfast, then spend the day sightseeing in Old San Juan, returning to Guayama in the late afternoon or early evening.  For once, we more or less followed the plan…up until Saturday afternoon, at least.  Friday night was great.  We missed most of the rush hour traffic and made it to OSJ in about an hour and a half.  Not bad.  I dropped my things off at my Da House, where Kelsey and Jenni and I stayed, and then we went to the hostel where everyone else was staying.  When we got the hostel, we were met with an iron gate of a door and an intercom.  A caring

Tetris.  The classic game requires one to make the best possible use of the available space by packing things as tightly as possible.  It takes focus, is mildly addicting, and is quite a bit of fun.  But some people may not realize the ways in which Tetris skills can be put to use in real life. Take, for example, the job of loading 5 beach chairs, a large cooler, a grill, charcoal, 2 smaller coolers, and sufficient towels and beach supplies for 5 people into the back of a ’96 Honda Accord named Ruby.  This was our task at 6:00am this morning, as Kelsey, Amanda, Josh, Scott and I prepared to depart for Playa Sucia for the day.  It only took a few minutes of maneuvering and critical thinking, and the five of us and our gear were on the road by 6:15.  Not bad for a Sunday morning! The reason for our early start was due to it being Labor Day weekend—not only a holiday, but also the last weekend many Puerto Ricans will go to the beach before “fall” sets in.  We pulled into the par