Hello World!!!!
I am so excited. My invitation to the Peace Corps is in the Mail!!!! YEAH!!!!! They mailed it out yesterday, so, it should be getting to me sometime next week.
In a way this makes me kind of scared. Next week will be my last week at work. I think I will miss it. I didnt expect this to happen.
Anyhow, HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!
I am soo tired! One of the girls I ride the bus with asked me to braid her hair today. I did her hair in micros for about 11 hours! I have been braiding hair a lot lately. Anyhow, I got to this girls house about 9am and left about 8pm. Her two kids and boyfriend were there the entire time. The kids are five and one years old. They were getting on my nerves, but, they were really cute. Problem was, we had to constantly stop so she could cater to her kids and boyfriend. Urggh!!!!
I could sort of understand her stopping for the kids, but her man needed to take care of himself. (I hope she doesn’t read this blog). The girl is African American her boyfriend is white. The fact the he is Caucasian doesn’t bother me; it’s the fact the she had to do everything for him that I couldnt understand. Literally the guy yelled for her about three times to get things for him. First it was to get a shirt from the basement, than it was to turn the television from the kids cartoons to rap videos, lastly it was to give him the password for his cell phone! I don’t know if I am making a bigger deal out of this because he kept interrupting us, but, it seemed really strange that he needed her attention at that moment. He should have been watching the kids while she was tending to her beauty needs =).
I'm writing this blog because woman are pulled in many directions. This woman works full time at work and full time at home. When the weekend comes instead of her partner helping her take care of the kids while she is beautifying herself for him, he places demands on her. I didn’t like how she was so submissive to him. Once I completed her hair she decided she liked it only after her partner said it looked nice. When I commented on the cleaniness of her house, her response was she keeps in clean because her boyfriend is a neat freak. I know that I can never be this type of woman…
Don’t get me wrong, I could tell that he really cared about her, but is that enough when he treats her like crap? They have been together for about five years now and she is going to be 24 years old next month. They were high school sweet hearts but she seems so weak to me. I know I should mind my own business, but I can’t.
Spending 11 hours at her house made me realize a lot of things that I would not have known about her from just riding the bus. I don’t like (what I perceive to be) her weakness. The girl has so much drive and ambition outside of her relationship with him. When I see her on the bus I see a strong ambitious African American woman. When I see her with him she seems so weak and insecure. This bothers me because he should be helping her develop her self-esteem, rather than demolishing it. Maybe he is intimidated by her strength, I dont know! It is times like this that I am glad that I am me!
Food for thought,
Crystal
This is a picture of me and my twisted hair.
Hey,
I feel like everything in Middletown, Pa is coming to an end. This is both sad and good at the same time. I have about two months left here. As I attempt to finish off school projects, pack, wait for my invitation to the Peace Corps, and deal with my social life, I am starting to feel drained! I love the buzz of being busy but I really just want to relax and do nothing for at least a week.
My Peace Corps Placement Officer called me Wednesday to see if I wanted to leave earlier than scheduled. I was truly considering leaving early, like June, but than I started to think about all the commitments I have already made. I cant leave early. I haven’t seen my niece since she was three and I have never seen my nephew who was born two years ago. I need to be able to see them and the rest of my family before I leave. I also accepted the position that I mentioned in an earlier post that I don’t want to turn down.
Although I really am not too keen on Middletown, I have had some great experiences here. I actually went to a hockey game for the first time a couple weeks ago!!!! Imagine and African American girl at a hockey game, how weird. To be honest, I really enjoyed every aspect of the game. It was a great experience. I also got a chance to see a play at the Whitaker Center on the "Diary of Ann Frank". The plot was great, the acting was not so great. A lot of the people in the play didn’t seem to have much acting experience. It was a play nonetheless! Yesterday I got a chance to see Hershey Chocolate world. If you know anything about Hershey Chocolate, you know it was a stimulating experience for me. I love chocolate. I learned about how chocolate is made, which made me think about my experience in Ghana, West Africa.
In Ghana a lot of the natives were talking about the Coco industry. Coco comes from Ghana but Ghanaians purchase chocolate from the western part of the world. It is like the people in the Middle East selling oil to western parts of the world but purchasing it back once it has gone through the purification process. Coco is produced in Ghana but they don’t have a huge chocolate industry there. Companies like Hershey, produces coco plants in Ghana and sells them Chocolate. Interesting concept to me, especially considering that coco is a huge part of their GDP.
Anyhow, weird things keep happening to me in Middletown. I was followed by some random guy last summer and now it seems like his buddies are trying to harass me because I reported him to the police. Long story short, I usually walk the same route to school every time I walk past a cemetery. The guy that harassed me was usually by the cemetery. I know people suggest woman should vary their routes but this town is really small and its irritating to go out of my way just to avoid some wackos.
I was walking back home Wednesday, the day my placement office called me, and one of the guys, that I know recognizes me as the person that reported his friend, stepped out from the shack near the cemetery. I think he works there because he always seems to be there between the hours of 7am and 3pm. The shack is the place where they store all the equipment to dig the graves. Scary!!!
Anyhow as I walked past the shack he stepped out and stared at me the entire time. It was a stare of recognition and intimidation. He was literally purposefully trying to scare me. I pulled out by cell and called my sister so that I wouldn’t feel alone. I stared right back at him and walked home. I am getting pissed off at men that think they can intimidate women! Ok this guy is about 6'3" 300 pounds and I am a only 5'3 but who does he think he is! I am not going to be afraid of some bully. All I have to say is BRING IT! If they think they can intimidate me, they have another thing coming. I am not going to be the same scary little mouse that I was last summer. I want to confront them and let them know that their behavior is inappropriate. I don’t think I will approach them but I need to do something soon. I am not going to be afraid anymore.
Sorry that was a long vent but I am tired of this craziness.
My apologies for the grammatical and spelling errors. Happy Easter!
This is a picture of the Hockey Game! Hershey Bears Versus Some other team. Bears won. 
Another Picture!!! Fun times, fun times...
I have decided to twist my hair. I thought it should take about six hours to do, but no it is taking me about ten! Urggh I cant believe I have been working on my hair this long. I cant stop because that would mean half of my head is done and the other isnt.
Anyhow, I am off to Chicago for the summer. I just got a position working for a nonprofit company that caters to international students. Essentially these student are brought from another country here to improve their English. They are usually here between three to seven weeks and they stay on a college campus throughout their time in the U.S. I am supposed to to be like a tour guide/ Residence Advisor. I also have to plan fun activities for the students to particpate in. I am pretty excited about this position. Yeah!!!
