No Turning Back Now!

After weeks of inner turmoil I have reached a decision. I will be going to Brown!!!

Logical Reasoning:
There are a couple of reasons I chose brown. One is that it is only a year program. I really want to be in the classroom and working at my reservation as soon as I can. Going two years at another institutions would mean another year not teaching at Gila River. The other is that both Sara and Arisela (who were a part of IRT this past summer) are going to be in the teacher education program at Brown, which is something important for me. In fact, Arisela and I are going to be in the exact same program! Funding was another issue for me, all of my cost will be covered (tuition, health, living expenses, etc) with the help of their scholarship and my Gates scholarship. Furthermore, when I was thinking about the future and how I would like to return to school to obtain either an PhD, or EdD I would want want Gates to provide as much funding as possible. Gates funds based on years. So I have five more years of funding. If I used two years worth of funding then I would only have three more left, where as if I go to a one year program then I will have four years left of gates funding for a Phd or EdD.

Emotional reasoning:
I felt most comfortable at Brown. I had been hoping for that feeling of "just right," but every school I visited just did not have it. Before meeting anyone or seeing the school the feeling started to come. When I was at Columbia I was talking to a wonderful professor who said, "trust your gut!" My gut was saying Brown.

What this means:
I will be hopefully teaching one year from now. As excited as I am, I must confess I am a little sad. This summer I was suppose to share life with some good friends Josh Ware and Ryan Zoradi in Santa Barbara, but now I cannot. The program starts in mid-June which means no SB, no Joshy, no Zoradi. Also, I was so looking forward to working at a camp I have been a part of since second grade, Natives Camp. I will be missing that too.

Thanks:
I have to say thank you to all those who talked me through the deciding process: (in no particular order) Dr. Steve Cook, Christa Moya, Anne McCrae, Dad, Mom, Joshua "La Cueva" Cave, Pat Zumhagan, Gaston Luis Picone, Yolanda Sealeyruiz, Mike Allen, Whitney Laughlin, Reggie Wilburn, Asabe Palome, JoAnne Fallon, Leslie Godo-solo, IRT, Arisela, Sara, and the list goes on.

Turning 24

Friday we slept in pretty late, ate some brunch and ran some errands.

Saturday was the 24th year since my birth. The Picone family was busy preparing a surprise for me while I slept in. I finally came out of my room around 11am to a beautiful torta (cake) and un regalito (a small present). They are simply wonderful. Being away from family is hard, but some how I seem to find adopted parents all over the world. Jaja (haha).

The cake was tasty. They got me a t-shirt from Argentina and helped me welcome in this next year of life as a 24 year-old.

Hours 4-7 - Martin's Cumple

We finally arrived at Martin's apartment. He lives on the top floor with a great outside rooftop. Gaston introduced me to everyone, and everyone gave me a kiss.

They were preparing fried potatoes, some steak, salsa, and bread for the party. We all sat around on pillows and chairs and gave a toast. Augustina made a sandwich of bread and steak and then passed it leftvto the person besides her, who passed it to the person besides them, until it reached the person to Augustina's right. It was a curious scenerio, but everyone was giving to the person next to them and not taking for themselves.

The food was great. My name was strange to them, "Es serio, Dallas?" They could not believe my name was Dallas. The way they speak here is strange to me. I thought I understood Spanish, but most of the time I am lost here. There are different words for everything, they dont finish the ends of words, and their pronunciation is totally foreign to me at times.

After we ate Alejandro grabbed the guitar. Everyone sang out loud as if they were reciting their own name. I mouthed what I thought they were singing. They passed out other instruments: hand drums, box drums, tambourines, shakers, and a cow bell. Everyone was adding to the music, laughing, yelling, singing, it was beyond beautiful.

Despues, after the music was finished and the food demolished, the cartons that acted as tables were moved and the dancing began. They taught me a folklore dance called the Chacarera. We all lined up in the small living room apartment and made flirtatious gestures, part of the dance of course, at one another. There was stomping, clapping, sweat dripping, laughing, and some dancing.

Alejandro and his girlfriend danced some Samba for us. We put on some techno afterwords and went crazy dancing our feet off.

I am not entirely sure what time we headed home, but the neighbors never came up and yelled at us even as the night went longer. It was a Thursday, and dancing all night was just the thing to do.

Check out the link here to see a youtube of what the Chacarera looks like in action.

Hour 3 - These streets

The Cobbled Stoned Streets:

On our way to Martin's birthday party I bent down to touch the cobbled stoned road. "I like this," I said. "Yes I like them too, but they are sad," Gaston said.

I could not imagine what sadness had to do with the historic stones. Gaston began to tell me how the stones came to be here in Argentina. When the Spanish came to Argentina they needed to weigh down their ships so they placed these cobbled stones in the mass of the ship.

On their way back they took "un monton" a ton of gold, silver, and men as slaves. "They did not need their stones anymore because they had our treasure. They left us these stones. We used them to build roads. These are expensive streets, but they are pretty.

The first two hours in BA

I touched down in Argentina a few days ago. It is starting to feel like home. I am surprised at how easily I come to gain the feeling of home in rather new and strange places.

Gaston and his friend picked me up at the airport. We drove to his town (Olivos) in a Fiat. We talked of Obama's health care plan, favorite birth days, and dating anywhere from 5-10 years before getting married.

Olivos is a 20-30 min bus ride from the city of B.A. I am staying in his sisters room for the time being. The fuchsia pink covered wall does not threaten me. Here the houses are much smaller. I like that it is possible to live in less space, comfortably, than we seem to claim we need in the U.S.

We did not stay at his house long, but just long enough to get a shower, and then take the 152 bus to his friends Martin's birthday.

The buses here are fairly cheep, only about 75 cents, and have a disco flare. The black lights glowed from the inside and made my white shoe laces illuminate. We got off and walked a little. Walking with Gaston is one of my favorite things. It is slow, thoughtful, and used to learn about whoever he is with.

Looks Chillly in Chile

I am finally taking a breath. I am breathing. It has been a very crazy week. I started in New Hampshire and have taken buses down the east coast all the way to DC.

I had originally planed this long 9 hour lay over in Santiago, Chile, but after this week I decided not to go out into the city and instead sit in the airport and send emails, read, sleep on a few random airport benches. So, I have just been looking out the huge windows. It is overcast outside, but to me it looks cold, even though I am positive it is not.

Also, I am trying to figure out which grad program to go to next year. It is between these four: Brown, Colombia, University of New Hampshire, & University of Arizona.

Stay tuned for Monday will be the big announcement where I will go.

Thanks for reading.

The Things I Do To Escape a Paper

I just traveled back in time to the time when I wrote on my blog. Well, those times are about to return. There will be no moldy chicken nuggets any longer. Stay tuned, and bring some BBQ sauce.