This week I was lucky enough to have Devynn , my old flat mate from Amsterdam , come visit! She and her friend Emily were taking road trip from Michigan to Texas and guess who’s right smack dab in the middle? ME! So they stopped to visit for 2 days. It was nice seeing Devynn again and meeting her bff Detroit Emily who I’ve ALWAYS heard about in stories, but never had the chance to meet. Didn’t get to show them around, but they got to see/experience Memphis Bar-B-Que and our famous Beale St, which they definitely left an impression on. And I hope it made an impression on them. ^_^
Oh and guess what else happened this week? I got a job at the pre-school! I interviewed and applied for the pre-k teacher position, but was offered the 2-year old class. Not really my preferred age group, but hey! Unemployed, broke, girls that are saving for moving out and holidays and are in no position to be choosey. I start as soon as I get my fingerprints and background checks finished, which will probably be this week sometime. I’m excited about having something to fill my days and wallet with! I’m a little bit worried about how I will handle the stress of school (starts at the end of the month!) and an 8-5 every week day job…
Ah well. I’ll tackle that when it comes up.
Hey Memphis! It’s Gay Pride weekend!
Please come celebrate diversity at the Mid-South Pride festival! The festival starts at Peabody Park at noon and the parade starts at 4PM at First Congo church! (If you want to march in the parade, be there at 3) Hope to see you there!
For more information and directions click here.
I feel the need to give this topic the respect that it needs. Last week another act of violence was committed against a trans woman in Memphis. She was shot in the nose and throat by her attacker because she “misled him about her gender.” She’s still alive and in critical condition.
Sadly, it happens quite often here. I was shocked to learn that in the last 2 years five trans women have been shot in Memphis. 3 of those resulting in deaths. It really disgusts me! Just because of differences. I find it ridiculous that in this day and age people can’t show tolerance. Come on! No one is asking you to be ok and agree with their lifestyle, but be tolerant of it. Please? If you disagree with how they are living don’t take it out in violence against them. What does that solve?! Nothing.
I wish I knew a way to solve this-these hate crimes. Education maybe? But where do we start? At home? I do think that parents need to start instilling tolerance in their children at young ages. They need to teach their children that it’s ok to be different. And not just with race, which is the only tolerance I remember being taught about, but teaching them tolerance of people with different backgrounds, sexual orientations, religion, life choices, everything! But what happens when the parents don’t agree with tolerance of such things and don’t teach their kids!? Then who do the children learn from!? And what about the parents that instead of passing down the need for tolerance do the exact opposite and pass down more intolerance!? And what about all of the people in the world that are ALREADY intolerant of differences? How are we supposed to reach them!? ahhh! This kind of stuff frustrates me to no end…
I guess I’ll never know the answer, but I do think tolerance would help. Maybe then we wouldn’t have to hear about Dr. Tiller being murdered for his choice to perform late term abortions. Maybe then I wouldn’t be reading about the 3 murders of memphis transgendered women, Leeneshia Edwards, Tiffany Berry and Ebony Whitake.
My heart goes out not only to Kelvin Denton as he recovers in critical care RIGHT NOW, but to victims of any hate crimes, the ones we’ve lost and to all of their families.
My first week as an advertising sales rep was alright. I didn’t trip and fall in my heels! score! I wasn’t actually a sales rep yet as I was in training all week. So, far I’ve learned a lot. How to sell effectively, Do’s and Don’t of selling, the demographic our publication targets, and tons more information about our publication. Seating is everything when you have a week of training. I picked the worst seat ever! We’re on the 25th floor of a building and it has a great view, but of course I picked the seat facing away from it and closest to my boss. I had to sit there ALL WEEK. Ok, it was a short week because Memorial day was Monday aaaaaaaand I wasn’t feeling well on Friday so I called in and went to the doctor.
Tomorrow I start selling! Well, I probably won’t go any sales calls, but I will probably arrange some. I’m going to dedicate the day to calling the prospects (I prospected about 42 businesses that I think would benefit from advertising with us) and setting up appointments.
It is so hot in Memphis. I woke up on Saturday morning to take Peanut out for a walk, put my hand on the doorknob of the storm door and yelled! The doorknob was was so hot. Outside was even hotter. It was only 85 degrees (29 degrees euro peeps!), but it’s so humid here that it felt like I was going to die. I once read on a blog that “Memphis has the highest humidity rate in the world, perhaps the universe. Rain forests are less humid than Memphis.” I dunno about that, but it is flippin hot. Tomorrow is supposed to get up to 95. HALP! : /
It’s not even summer yet!
Long time no blog! I’ve been busy, busy, busy! I’ll try to catch you up on what I’ve been doing. First of all, I’m in America! I moved back last Sunday. I’m living in Memphis with my mom. It’s kind of annoying at the moment. After living on your own it takes some adjusting to living with someone who tells you what to do…and you HAVE to do it. I mean, after all it is her house. The plan before I moved back was to live with my mom until I finish nursing school (2 years). After a week of living here the plan has changed. I am going to live with her until the end of the summer and hopefully find a place to move into in August. I think living elsewhere will help me enjoy/tolerate being here a little better. I miss amsterdam SO much! I felt more at home there than I ever have in Memphis. BUT as I said before, I’m going to try to make the most of being here and not dwell on the past. *sigh* Since I’ve been home I haven’t been up to much. Just adjusting to being back here, hanging out with my mom, sister, and extended family. This past week I’ve seen about 60 relatives…no kidding! Friday, I spent with my African side of the family. There was a memorial service for my aunt who passed away. She died back home in Sierra Leone all of a sudden from high blood pressure related causes. Since no one could afford to go home with such short notice, we had a service for her here. A lot of relatives from all over were here for the weekend including my dad and a handful of cousins who I hadn’t seen in a couple of years. Even though the cause of gathering wasn’t a happy one, I still enjoyed seeing everyone AND yummy west african food (nomnomnom). Yesterday was spent with my American side of the family. We were celebrating my cousin’s graduation from college. Complete opposite crowd than the previous night. It was the side of the family who live in a teeny tiny town (there’s not even a walmart there!) in Mississippi. Had a good time seeing them including my grandma and my great grandma! AND eating tons of yummy food-some catfish, ribs, potato salad, cakes, baked beans, collard greens, LET ME STOP!
My last 2 weeks in Amsterdam may as well have been called drunkfest 2009, because I was seriously drinking/partying almost every night until I left. Oh and my favorite Dutch holiday was also during this time. Queensday! It’s a national holiday to celebrate the birthday of the queen. It was my seocnd time celebrating and just as fun as it was last time. Everyone wears the national color (orange) and the streets are opened up to the public for selling old stuff (vrijmarkt), drinking, dancing, DJ-ing, whatever! You can check out more pics and get a feel for the celebration on my photos page. Besides partying a lot I had a lot of tearful goodbyes to say. It was really emotional saying goodbye to people that I’ve gotten really close to. Some in the last couple of months and some the entire almost 2 years that I lived there. I miss them ALREADY!
Oh, I have big news! I got a dog! A mini dachshund! Yea, I know, I just got here! But I’ve been wanting one for ages and this breed in particular!
I adopted him from a family who couldn’t keep him anymore. He’s 1.5 years old, housebroken(!!!), teeny and his name is Peanut. I hate that name. It just feels a bit ridiculous yelling Peanut. So, I’m changing it! I’ve come down to a few names with the help of some friends.
So far, I have Koekje which is cookie in dutch, Pino(pee-no)-just a name, but it happens to be sort of the Dutch version of Big Bird, and Posey-everyone hates this one
So help me!
I’m back in the netherlands. woot
The flight here was ok. I slept the entire time thanks to my lovely sleeping aids. Hopefully that will help against my jetlag. So far, so good. I’ve been awake since 8 am and no sign of tiredness yet.
Memphis was nice…yup. That’s me, the mississippi river, and the bridge that connects TN to Arkansas.
TOMORROW is halloween! My roomie and I are having a sort of get together/party thing. I’m kind of nervous because we haven’t done anything to prepare for it. Oh well, beer+our friends+music+costumes=fun times anyway.
and if it starts to suck we can always just go out :)
