Sunday, August 24, 2008

My Makeshift Hospital

I will be in Kenya in less than a week. So will my new headlamp, pocket knife, shnazzy adventure pants and shoes, water purifying drops, plus various other gadgets, medications, and fashion statements that are all ready and prepared for my trek through Kenya. I could also open up a business as a pharmacy or hospital as I have the makings to fix any easy to catch and easy to cure illness or accident. Kenyan food won't be getting the best of me!

Whether or not I will actually get all of it put into a somewhat organized mess, and then fit that mess into my backpack remains to be seen. Right now it is thrown around my room in various frightening heaps that make me want to crawl under my bed and sleep (which is probably something I should do anyway as sleep has eluded me lately and I am therefore cranky and mean).

Fortunately my parents are stocking me up with all the bad food I could possibly ever want, as I am pretty sure I am going to be missing out on many of those joys come Sunday. I might feel a little guilty indulging my sweet tooth as locals riot for real food.

So if you want to talk to me before I depart...call me! I have no idea what my internet situation will be like once I get to Kenya, and therefore you might not hear from me regularly at all. My goal is to get internet access once a week, but we'll see how that pans out. Emails are always welcome (HINT HINT), and emails telling me how wonderful, beautiful, and charming I am are even more welcome.

I promise not to swim in any lakes this time. I have a feeling that my luck of catching a parasite has probably run out, and I really don't want to add suffering from trypanosomiasis to my list of adventures this next semester.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Just Following the Family Trend

It's no secret that I have two wonderful parents. It's also no secret that their wonderful children occasionally like to call in emergency requests for cross country moves and the like; whether it be to escape a crazy fiance, or because you've suddenly come down with appendicitis the day before you are moving apartments, or because you seem to have every health ailment known to mankind. Luckily, so far, the rents have come on through for each of these calls and my case was no different.

After a wonderful weekend in LA filled with poker playing, lying on the beaches of Malibu, and deciding not to be a vegan because of pancakes, cupcakes, and smoothies (only a week after first deciding to become a vegan), I returned to San Francisco exhausted, cranky, and wanting nothing more to sleep. Of course the cat that I was taking care of would have none of the third, and her ability to wake me up at 4 am every day with an eerie precision still amazes me.

By Tuesday I had received a nasty email from the woman I subleted from, and I promptly broke down in tears, called my mother and said "I just want to come home" several times while she was on her way to Long Island. My siblings and I tend to have fantastic timing in our times of need. After a few more calls to siblings and friends, who assured me I was making a good decision and not being a whiny quitter, I decided to go home. Now after a crazy cross country drive in less than three days, I am home just in time to have the Ryan family descend upon Virginia and my life to become filled with beautiful nieces and nephews and all the ridiculous noise producing toys that come with being surrounded by almost four and unders.

So although I had to leave San Francisco a week early, and missed out on every making it the Exploratorium, I instead get a week to regain my sanity and unpack/repack for Kenya, go shopping, and argue with my older brother that the butterfly stroke is legit and he should probably learn how to do it before he bashes it. As an added perk, my parents will be doing the grocery shopping which means I don't need to resort to the always nutritious array of pop tarts, chocolate bars, and trans-fat filled pastries at work to suffice as my daily lunch. This may be the most exciting of all.

Here is a selection of pictures from the summer. Enjoy.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Needles, Cookers, and Water- Oh My!

This past week has had me answering the question "So is it true you work for some sort of sex hotline thing?" usually accompanied by a quizzical look, and the assumption that this could not be true. Well, it isn't true. It just happens that crazy people call me every day, and that most of my hours are spent about talking about weird, wild, and absurd things. But, to prove I'm not a sex therapist/ sexologist/ sex advice giver (which apparently friends of friends have come to believe I am), I will share the details of needle exchange.

I was a little nervous the first time I did needle exchange, fully expecting most of the clientele to be like the men on the side of the road that ask me if they can give me a sponge bath. Instead, the program has given me a new perspective on who's using drugs and how many people show up that I would never expect. IT does a lot to expel a lot of myths about drug addicts and the homeless, and has really challenged how I see this part of the population and my reaction to all the people on the streets of San Francisco. The sites are all over the city (including one 2 minutes away from my apartment which is wonderfully convenient, especially on cold and windy nights), and definitely all come with their own character. As an added bonus, I'm now also an expert on making drug paraphernalia and can make you a cooker for some dope in no time and am now the proud owner of a safe injection manual.

In other news, I'm going to LA this weekend. Most people up here in San Francisco are making fun of me for choosing to go there, but oh well. At least it won't be 50 degrees outside in the middle of August. Unfortunately, it means putting off much needed work a few days. Maybe someday I will get over my issues of procrastination.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Reality Hits

The past eight months have basically been a breeze, and of course that is slowly coming to an end. Well maybe not so slowly, instead I let reality crash right down on my pretty head and have realized I have tons and tons of work to complete before Kenya. Luckily I've enjoyed my last few days here, because I've since realized I need to become somewhat of an isolationist these next few weeks here so that I can actually get back into the swing of doing schoolwork. Silly me thinking I could slide by with little more than Wikipedia for the rest of my life.

My new place is quite fantastic. It did however come equipped with a ginormous cat that likes to wake me up every morning at 6 am by plopping down on me, and not going away until I acknowledge its presence and pet it for an hour. I didn't have to buy a monthly public transportation ticket because I'm actually in the city and can walk to work and most places of interest, and then hop on a bus (which then gives you a ticket that you can sneak around with for the rest of the day which is wonderful and cost effective for me) whenever I feel the urge to go somewhere a bit further. I've even found parking, and my car has been safe so far after the near loss event.

San Francisco and its hippies seem to have gotten the best of me tho, as I've decided to go vegan. Well, I'm trying it out for two weeks at least. We'll see. Soy ice cream is surprisingly delicious, and am amazed I wasn't turned on to it earlier. I think I may overdose on soy products soon and should probably do a little more research in how to avoid that. I even went crazy and bought hemp bagels...feeling every bit as ridiculous as I should for such things.

This weekend it was beautiful for a change (which of course I am paying for this week as I FREEZE!!!!) but I got outside, and built some trails through a forest and went to a music festival.

I suppose I should go back to doing real work, trying to figure out what I'm going to be doing in Kenya since I live in 25 days! Yay!!!

Friday, August 1, 2008

The Case of the Car that Should have Been Stolen

My apartment sublet ended yesterday, and although I have a place to stay for August I needed to stay at a different friends house last night. So last night I carried up a heap belongings to his house, and stuck them in a pile. As I was off to work I tried to find my car keys to go get a sweater out of my car, and when I couldn't find them I just thought they were somewhere in my pile and I would find them later when I got home.

I just so happened to walk by my car on the way to work, and saw a piece of paper that I assumed to be a ticket (although I couldn't figure out why), and so picked it up. Instead it was a note that said "Found your car keys- I am homeless and sleep on Stevenson an Duboce. My name is Brian."

Well Brian may be the greatest man ever, as he could have easily had a new car (and home for him!), plus all my belongings stashed in my trunk. It took me a bit to find him, but when I did I had the perfect timing to interfere with the mean security guard that was yelling at him.

So when I am not searching for sleeping homeless men, I am still having a wonderful time (well at least most of the time). I no longer have to commute more than 2 hours every day, which is wonderful. Although I'll no longer be living next to the projects, by no means will I have less than my fair share of addicts and overdoses. Now I'll just be even more aware of the late night ambulance runs through the Mission, where I'll be staying. At least I'm not homeless and the number of gun fights just a few blocks away will be dramatically reduced.

Yesterday my roommate locked us out of our apartment as we were moving all our stuff out. Luckily my roommate had a bit of an interesting youth and was able to break back into our apartment in a matter of minutes making me feel so safe. I then convinced her to take the day off of work and join me on an impromptu trip to Muir Woods to see the Redwoods and go hiking. It was beautiful.

29 more days until Kenya!