Wow! It has been a month since I last worked on my blog. Life in MA is going great so far with some bumps in the road here and there. The people I work with are all wonderful, for the most part. I absolutely love Boston. I feel at home here and I am experiencing so many new things. I have been to Harvard almost five times which has been pretty amazing. I visited BU, UMASS, BC and some other schools that I can’t remember right now. Being in New England makes me want to continue my education once I come back from the Peace Corps.

About two weeks ago a couple co-workers and I went to New Hampshire and Maine for the beach and a clam sandwich. This was our work day! I have decided that clam is my new favorite seafood. You haven’t tasted seafood until you have visited New England!

I finished my Master’s Paper and handed it in to my Prof. He gave it back to me for corrections and now I am trying to beat the clock before I leave for the Peace Corps. I literally have about three weeks left in the U.S.! I can’t believe that I will be in Eastern Europe so soon. How will Bulgarians treat me? Will I learn the language? So many thought are running through my head that I am often distracted, excited, nervous, and anxious at the same time.

I have to get going but here are some picture of the people I work with.

In Boston at the Quincy Market. If you look close enough you can see me and three other people taking the picture.


I went Wellesley Unveristy. This is the school Hilary Clinton graduated from with her BA.

This was a team building excercise we did during training.

Living in Boston and Other Random Things

I finally made it to Boston. The people I work with are really nice. They all seem to have the same interest I have (i.e., travel, community service). We have a mixture of medical students, teachers, recent college graduates, Master’s students, and professional doctors on the staff. I guess we all have to have the same interest in order to be hired.

We have already started to plan days to hangout this weekend. One girl wants to book a hotel room in downtown Boston so we don’t have to worry about getting home. Wow, I thought we could catch a cab. She wants to go all out…

I ran outside for the first time in about two years. I am a treadmill Queen but, when it comes to running outside I get tired faster. Today I could not run my usual routine. To be honest I have no idea how long I ran because I was so tired. I think it took me about twenty minutes to get warmed up!

Ok enough about running. I must complain about my flight from Chicago to Boston!

Well I arrived at O’Hare airport bright and early at 8:52am to catch a 9:55 flight. I checked my luggage in and proceeded to my airline. I got there at about 9:45 ready to board the plane. The flight conductor person told me at that point that the entire flight was booked and I had to catch another flight because I was flying standby. I wasn’t upset at all. I didn’t have to be in Boston until after 4pm. So I got prepared to wait for the next flight at 11:40am. The plane arrived at the scheduled time. I went to the desk to get my boarding pass and the flight was overbooked as well. The flight attendant told me I had to wait until 1:40pm to catch the next flight. I still wasn’t upset because I didn’t have a time restraint to get to Boston. When 1:40pm came the flight attended said that the flight was booked and I would have to wait until 3:40pm to catch the next one.

At this point I began to get really frustrated because I didn’t want to arrive in Boston too late and I had been in the airport since 8:52am and it was going on 2pm. The attendant also said that it looked like all the flights would be booked for the entire evening. Meaning I wouldn’t be able to fly that day! I was pissed. I immediately took action to find another flight with a different airline. I called my trustworthy friend and booked a flight with a different airline. It cost me $240 bucks one way! Poor woman’s burden (This is in reference to the movie “Black Man’s Burden” if you haven’t seen it, you need to rent it this weekend).

So I arrived in Boston at 9pm yesterday. Instead of catching a cab for $50, I decided to catch the “T” for $1.25. I am the type of person that likes challenges, when it comes to competing against me. I don’t like competing against other people because I feel guilty if I beat them. That’s one of the reasons why I like to run long distance. It’s about pushing yourself past your limits. Anyhow, this ties into riding the “T” because I like to challenge myself to figure things out especially directions, transportation, resources, etc., when I go to a new place. Riding the “T’ definitely proved to be a challenge. I was able to catch the train to my destination with my heavy luggage all by myself at 9pm. My commute was extremely long (I arrived at 10:50pm) between waiting for the train, and have to transfer to two different trains, but I made it. I am so proud!!!

I am getting extremely tired right know. My eyes keep closing as I type this. OMG I have pictures of me, my twin sister, and my brother from this weekend in Chicago. I just bought a digital camera, so more pictures will be posted on a regular basis.

Working in Boston,

Crystal

Me and my twin Christine. Do we look a like to you?



My Brother Tim



Christine and me where playing around with the camera

Chi Town

I am leaving for Chicago tomorrow. The first leg of my trip will be done. I get the feeling that I will be extremely tired over the next few days with all this traveling. I am excited nonetheless because I will meet my nephew Jerry-Justin for the first time. Jerry-Justin is about two years old. When he was born I was in London. By his second birthday I was in PA. Every time this particular sister is in Chicago I am somewhere else. Hopefully I get to see him this weekend. I will post pictures with my new camera!

My thesis is almost done. I just need to complete my conclusion tonight, which means I will be up all night. The light at the end of the tunnel is almost here!!!

Congrats OG for finishing your thesis!!!!

A Summer of Moving

This is a crazy week. I am in the process of writing my Master’s Paper (which is almost done, yea), packing, and making flight arrangements for summer travel. In the mist of all of this Peace Corps is constantly sending me paperwork to finalize plans for my service. OMG I also have to learn the cryptic alphabet before I leave in August!

I keep getting distracted by people constantly contacting me to wish me luck in the Peace Corps and wanting to get together for breakfast/lunch/dinner before I leave. I usually have a lot of fun when I am out with my friends but I lose time on my paper, packing, or completing Peace Corps paperwork. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy talking and hanging out with people but its getting to be a little daunting. After I complete this paper my time will definitely be dedicated to hanging out! Imagine life with out school. I have literally been in school since I was about four …wow. A two year stint in the Peace Corps without school work I can’t wait!!!!


The plan for the summer so far, if you are interested in knowing, is as follows:

•June 9 – Leave Middletown for Chi Town (for those of you who are not natives that is Chicago)

•June 11- Leave Chi town for Boston (Decided to spend the summer in Boston working instead of Chicago. I love Boston even though this will be my first time visiting).

•July 26th – Leave Boston to go back to Chicago (Going to spend 9 days with the fam before I leave for Peace Corps)

•August 4th – Depart Chi town for Philly or D.C. (this is for Peace Corps Orientation)

•August 7th – Leave Philly or D.C. for Bulgaria

Wow! A lot of traveling this summer.


From inside the airplane,

Crystal

What I am made of...

Today was another day of running, but for some reason I was extremely tired. I usually try to run an hour two to three times a week so my body is used to this physical activity. Maybe I didn’t get enough food or rest this morning or maybe the gym was too hot! Anyhow, as I reached thirty minutes every muscle in my body felt like they were going to explode. To get some energy I turned my Kirk Franklin CD on blast, drank water, and forced myself to keep going.

When I looked at the clock again only two minutes had pasted and I was starting to lose my breath and the sweat was pouring. When it comes to working out I always push myself to the limits. I continued onwards thinking happy thoughts. That worked for another ten minutes but once again my body wanted to quit. I was about to stop the treadmill when I thought of my mother.

My mother always encourages me to stay fit. She is 48 years old, about to be 49 this summer, and continues to work out 3 times a week. She lifts, runs/walks on the treadmill, and does the Stairmaster every time she exercises. Whenever I call her or she calls me, she tells me about her workout routine to push me to keep exercising.

Furthermore, my mom is going back to school for a bachelors degree and eventually a PhD in Psychology at her age. If she could do that I knew that I could finish running for another fifteen minutes on the treadmill. I pressed onwards did my sixty minutes and was extremely happy that I accomplished my goal (even though I had to sit down for fifteen minutes to catch my breath and I am still sore).

As I am making the transition from America to Bulgaria (i.e., packing, throwing things away, planning, reflecting), I am realizing that my mama is what I am made of! She has always loved to travel, she is crazy at times, and she is very independent. I don’t think I would be who I am today with out her influence in my life. My mama is a powerhouse!!!! Although she always worries about me being away from home, she respects me enough to let me do what I want to do. I love her for this. Maybe I should have posted this message on Mother’s Day. O well, I just had this revelation today.

Mama if you are reading this blog let it be known that you are appreciated!!!!! Can you send me some money (hehehhehehe)?

Running on the treadmill,

Crystal

My Mother at "the Black Graduation" at DPU 2004.

People in Middletown Love Me!!!

I have been in Middletown for about a year and a half and it almost feels like home…almost. Coming for a big city like Chicago it was hard for me to adjust. However, the people in my town embraced me. They played a tremendous role in helping me to adjust. Interesting enough, I met most of my friends on the local bus.

Riding the bus in a small town is an adventure!!! Things happened on our bus that would never happen in the city. For instance, back in the beginning of December the bus hit a deer! The bus driver thought the deer was a piece of cardboard. She didn’t realize it was a deer until we heard a loud thud. One lady started to cry because she felt sorry for the deer. I started thing think about how we as humans are infringing on the rights of animals by taking over land that once belonged to them. Apparently to the locals this wasn’t abnormal, because minutes later the bus driver simply reported the instance and we proceeded to our destinations.

The bus was also a means of social interaction. This included book swapping, loud talking, date catching, event planning, hair braiding, makeup wearing, cloths and shoes changing, and a host of other things. I have had so many funny conversations with people, from interracial dating, and eating Chinese food, to joining the Peace Corps and traveling. Sometimes I felt like I stuck out with my city cloths and styles; however I also felt like I fit right in because the commonality of being a human, with the same basic needs. Doesn’t that have to do with Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs or something? I remember this from the first semester in my grad program. Aha!!!! I did learn something. Maslow claims that we all have basic human needs that must be met these are physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and actualization. I guess I was getting my love/belonging need fulfilled because I met a lot of friends on the bus. My friends and I became “the Group” on the bus. It was great.

Our group consisted of single and divorced woman ranging from the age of 24 (me) to 65. Being the youngest in the group didn’t make me feel out of place at all. Most of my friends provided words of advice and encouragement that helped me “find my way in the world”. I also provided words of advice and encouragement to them. We usually tried to get together once a month for social outings. These ladies were and are the best. I will truly miss them! One woman in particular was so influential in my life that I felt like she was a second mother to me. She lived in Alaska for about 9 years completed a degree as an older adult and simply lived her life. She moved to Middletown about three years ago to be closer to her grandchildren.

She always had words of encouragement that helped me through difficult times on my job and at school. She is a Christian but she is still open to things that are different from her which is the way I am. This says a lot about her because she comes from a Pennsylvania Mennonite family. If you know anything about Mennonites they are sort of like cousins to the Amish i.e. very strict in their beliefs. Although she was open to try different things her faith was not compromised. It is funny how God operated to place her in my life. By meeting this woman I felt God was telling me it’s ok to be me! I am very independent, liberal, and a Christian.

I am going to miss my friends here!

From inside the bus,

Crystal

Sex Change

Funny things have happened to me throughout this month. Literally the stories I have to tell will leave you laughing for days.

Here we go…

I had to give a presentation for my Russian Politics class about two weeks ago. The teacher called a break and told me I would be going after we returned. I felt a little nervous so decided to take a trip to the bathroom to make sure I looked presentable.

As I walked down the hallway I noticed a woman walking in front of me. She stood out because I initially thought she was a man. I recognized she was a woman only because she had a little curve in her hips. She weighed about 117 pounds, short hair, boy’s shorts, boy’s stripped polo shirt, and boy’s flip flops. I was truly mesmerized by her and my mind began to wander. Was she a lesbian? How did I know for sure she was a woman?

Anyhow as I continued to walk down this hallway behind her, she was walking towards the woman’s bathroom. The place I was headed! This caused me to think even more about bathrooms. What if she had a sex change and decided to use the men’s bathroom because she identified herself as a man rather than a woman? What restrooms do people use that have a sex change? For instance a man that has used the men’s bathroom his entire life might feel awkward going into the women’s bathroom even though he had a sex change. Believe me this was a really weird day because I have no idea why my thoughts took this turn. The story gets even weirder so read on….

The man-looking-woman walked into the woman’s bathroom and I, subconsciously, walked into … the men’s bathroom!!!! I was so busy thinking about sex changes and bathrooms that I didn’t realize my mistake.

As I entered the men’s restroom I took notice to the change in color. The bathroom was green instead of pink but I chalked it up to being a bathroom I had never used on that floor before. First I washed my hands in the sink. Then I fixed my hair and started to think about the presentation I had to give in a few minutes. I decided to use one of the stalls, when my mind switched back to sex changes and bathrooms. I said to myself it would be hilarious if I actually walked into the men’s bathroom without knowing it. I looked around the bathroom to check to be sure that there were not any urinals around and I didn’t see any.

I chuckled to myself and proceeded to go into a stall. There was human waste in that stall so I backed out and started to go for another stall when I noticed….. URINALS!!!! Folks I had been in that bathroom for about five minutes. I even looked around to make sure I was in the “women’s” bathroom and still wasn’t aware of my surroundings until I caught the glimpse of the urinals out of the corner of my eye. This was a hilarious Crystal moment. I looked around the bathroom to insure that there weren’t any men in there and ran to the door. I peeped to make sure no one was around and ran into the woman’s bathroom. I had to laugh at myself. Oddly enough the man-looking-woman was still in the woman’s bathroom and we washed our hands at the same time and exited the bathroom together.

I learned a lesson that day. Our own life experiences, thoughts, stereotypes, and familiarity will cloud our vision so that we see what we want to see. I can’t make assumptions about people based on my perceptions. What I see might not be the reality of the situation. While I am I Bulgaria I hope I will look, listen, and learn before I make assumptions about Bulgarian culture.

From inside the men’s bathroom,

Crystal