orientation

Today I finished cultural orientation for about 30 Bhutanese people who have come in the past few weeks. I had never done it before, but was placed in a situation where I had to do it. I pretty much knew what was to be done, and the trickiest part of the whole thing was making sure the people got to the office! The logistics of getting that many people without cars to one location is a nightmare. I had some wonderful volunteers that helped out.

I really enjoyed doing cultural orientation. It was fun watching my coworkers interpret for me. It was interesting that if I focused, I could pretty much tell what they were saying based on tone of voice and hand motions. One of my coworkers tended to directly translate everything I said. Another one tended to elaborate on every word I said. It was fun to work together with them to make sure the refugees got as much information as we could cram into their heads.

I really liked teaching the Bhutanese about American culture; about how we don't have caste systems based on our name and families, but we have something similar to that. Our caste system is based on money. You are of the highest American caste if you make a lot of money, and the lowest caste if you don't make much. It was fun to talk to them about how they can rise up and improve their status in life, like President Obama who started his life on food stamps. I tried to give them encouragement, saying that if they work hard and have patience, they will make a wonderful life of opportunity for their children. I tried to encourage them so they would know that immigrants are the reason this great country exists. They are already American, even if they don't know it yet. I loved that part of my job today, having the opportunity to teach these things about my country. I'm proud of my country, even though it seems to be a huge mess of anger and bitterness and intolerance these days. I must believe that it's a better place for the sake of the refugees. I must cling to this fact about my country: that we accept people who want to be free and want to work hard and be proud of who they are and where they come from.

It was nice to have happy times at work. Yes, my brain is fried and I just want to curl up in a ball and watch TV. And yes, the morning was stressful and painful, but the afternoon was awesome and rewarding and fun.

a reason for the silence

This time there's a reason for the silence. Work has been a nightmare. My boss and 3 coworkers were fired, on top of many people quitting. I won't go into details here, but the changes break my heart.

I added a "widget" on the side of my blog with info about my training for the half-marathon. I just registered for it today. The registration is the final commitment. I paid my $60 to run, now I have to run it. Having been looking at my training today, I've noticed that I've been running faster, which is a very cool feeling. I hope to keep it up. I remember when I was in rowing and I blogged on Xanga. I wrote about the details of my training all the time. For the half-marathon, I'm not quite as deep into the training as I was with rowing, but I am using a heart-rate monitor a lot, and I can tell the training schedule I am now reflects the pattern of some of my rowing training.

Kurt and I have been together for a year now. It's quite a milestone, but I kind of forgot about it in the whirlwind mess that is my job. My boyfriend posted a song on my Facebook page by Flogging Molly to honor our year "thing" as he so eloquently put it. I'm amused with the low-maintenanceness of our relationship. We do hope go out of town some weekend to celebrate the year we've been together, but it will be a challenge, seeing as this month is a very unstable month for both of us. He's finishing his Americorps contract and my job is just FUBAR. I am a big fan of us, and I'm glad we've held it together for a year. I hope there are many more to come.

little brother

One week ago, I was flying back to Omaha from Chattanooga, TN where I attended my little brothers wedding. Now, he's well over 6 feet tall, so he's not quite little, but he's 2 1/2 years younger than me. It was a weekend to remember. My parents rented a huge house (7 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 3 living rooms) and we stayed there with most of the out of town family and a few of my brother's friends who were in the wedding. It was like a big Michigan reunion and it was awesome. I got to spend a LOT of time with my family, which I enjoyed and I no longer take for granted now that I live far away. We slept in rooms near each other, shared bathrooms, ate our meals together, and shared rides everywhere we went. When we weren't busy with wedding stuff, we had time to relax and enjoy each other's company. When I visit Michigan, I don't always get to do that to this extent.

The wedding stuff sure kept us busy, though. The events were all formal or semi-formal, and they were all just a little bit different than how we do it in the north. I wore a lot of makeup and did my hair in fancy ways every day. For the wedding, I got my first pedicure and got my hair and makeup professionally done. At first, it was fun to dress up, but I got sick of it by the end of the trip. I am not one of those women that enjoys a ton of pampering. I believe they call that low maintenance.

There was the rehearsal dinner, which was attended by about 80 people. I don't know if our experience was normal, but we spent about an hour or so sharing memories and saying how much we love and appreciate the bride and groom. It was so much fun because both Peter's side and Connor's side got to share memories of their loved one. There was much laughter, many tears, and boatloads of love in that room.

It was strange and wonderful to see Peter so happy. He was actually serious, which is rare for him. He was serious about how much he loved Connor, and serious about his appreciation to his friends and family. He was genuine and heart-felt. I don't even remember the last time I saw my brother like that. There were a lot of moments when I felt proud to see how much he has grown up. I was proud to see him in a healthy, loving relationship with his woman. I am thrilled to welcome a new family member into the Overbeek clan. I look forward to Connor being my sister for a very long time. It's strange to see her with my last name, but again, strange and wonderful.

And then Kara announced that she is pregnant! There's going to be a baby in the family! The first grand-child! I will be an aunt! I will hold a baby in my arms that shares my blood! I'm pretty excited for that.

This weekend overflowed with joy and happiness. Those times are rare and precious.

lucky

I've had this thought come into my head several times the past few days, and I would like to write it down.

I am a very lucky person. Some people prefer the word "blessed". To me, they mean about the same things. I was born in America to upper middle class parents. I attended private schools and got an excellent education. I got my bachelors degree and my masters degree. I have a lot of work experience. I have lived in a different country and traveled to a bunch of other countries around the world. I have good, good friends. My parents are still married and my family is strong. I am healthy, both mentally and physically. Very few of my friends and family have passed away. I live in a comfortable apartment with cable and internet. I have delicious strawberries in my fridge and cold water from my tap. A wonderful man loves me. I have more joyful memories than painful memories.

These days, work has been very difficult, for a variety of reasons. And I sometimes narrowly make it with my bills. Nevertheless, I am awed, amazed, humbled, and thankful for my luck, and I hope that I make the very best of the great things I have been given.

music

Considering how voraciously I consumed music for the past, like, 8 years, I am surprised at how little I listen to these days. It makes me kind of sad to know that I'm missing a lot of great music that would probably turn into lifetime favorites, but I don't make the time for it like I used to. Sometimes I feel disappointed in myself, and sometimes I just feel lazy. I'm turning into one of those people that says, "Yeah, I used to be really into listening to music, but I just don't do that anymore."

I need to find a way to listen to music that keeps me updated on the good stuff. I recently cancelled my Rhapsody account, which I've had for years. I'm primarily doing it to save a few extra bucks per month, but I definitely don't use it like I used to. I hope to start listening to Pandora and WYCE more. I have completely stopped listening to WYCE, which makes me sad, too, because it's so easy to listen to. I still have the icon on my favorites bar, so I will hopefully be clicking on that more often. That is where I discovered all my good music before. Not having Rhapsody will limit my ability to listen to a particular album to death, but I think I will find a way if I find an artist I really like. I am definitely in a new phase of my life, which is clear in just my musical habits.

On an unrelated topic, I've had ants crawling out of my computer the past few days. I can't figure out why. I don't see ants anywhere around my apartment, just in my computer. It's very strange...

thoughts on my 10k

So I ran my first 10k on Saturday. I had been working out during March and April at the gym pretty regularly for a weight loss competition thing, and so I was in decent shape to start training for a 10k in early May. I used an 8 week training plan, and started on the 3^rd week. I followed the training plan almost perfectly, only missing 2 days of workouts, one of them on my trip to Michigan. I was still pretty nervous the night before the race, though. My goal was to run 11-12 minute miles, and under no circumstance, to finish after the 1 hour and 15 minute mark.

The race went far better than I expected. It was really nice to run it with a friend, and we seemed to keep pace with each other easily. When the race started, everyone was passing us, but I was adamant that I didn’t want to start off too fast. The first big hill was long, but I just slowed my pace down and steadily ran up it. I felt great up that first hill, which was a shock to me. It was at this point that we started passing people. The subsequent 3 hills went well, too. Once we got into Mahoney Park, though (the end of mile 4 and into mile 5), I started to feel tired. There was a gentle upward slope that I struggled over, but we kept the pace steady and continued to pass people.

The last half mile was a straight shot down a residential street to the finish line. Tyne and I really picked up the pace at this point. There was this girl in a pink shirt that we caught up to and Tyne said, “We’ve got to beat her.” And so we raced her for the last .3 miles or so. We sprinted to the finish line, which was very difficult, but I wanted to burn out any energy I had left. The time said 1 hour, 12 minutes. I was breathing hard at the end of the race, but not once did I wheeze, not even during the race, which is a victory for this asthmatic. I vaguely remember someone handed me a slap bracelet, and this one big guy who seemed very concerned for my well being. 

Immediately afterward, I was NOT hungry at all, but I forced myself to eat a little. We stood around and chatted for a while, congratulating ourselves and discussing the run. I felt the what they call "the runners high" and I was also excited because it went so much better than I expected!  I realized my training went well, and that if I train, I can run any race.

I’ve been thinking about it since then, and I really want to do a half-marathon now. Training isn’t always a ton of fun, but I enjoyed working toward a goal. I enjoyed the energy of all the people in the race. I enjoyed the feeling of crossing the finish line and feeling successful and realizing I had met my goal. I enjoy running because it’s something I can do by myself, or with others. If it's something I continue to do, I can challenge myself to beat more people, and challenge myself to improve my own race times.

I really did enjoy the race a lot and might be on my way to a certified running addiction. :0)

tough day

Today was a tough day. At work we were audited by the national agencies of which we are affiliates, as I mentioned in the previous entry. It was very frustrating because their final feedback was not too positive, though we have worked reallyreally hard the past few months to make a lot of improvements. I know I came in at a turning point in the organization, and I've seen a lot of important and positive change in my short 9 months. The review was discouraging, and a bit unfair from our perspective. There was one particular part of my job I worked to improve a lot in the past few months (it was something that was completely ignored until I took charge of it), and it was lambasted in the final review today. It was insulting and frustrating to hear that all that work and care and improvement and vigilance was not appreciated, and was, in fact, worthy of criticizing. Like I said, we felt it was unfair. I hope we can improve our program after this, but help each other realize our strengths and growth, which we felt were ignored.

Anyway, the week has been tough. I'm glad its over and I believe a bottle of wine and some Sigur Ros is appropriate.