July, Phase 2

As my mother has helpfully pointed out, it's been some time since my last blog. I guess I've been focused on DOING so much, I've neglected to document it all :)

School ended June 28, with pretty much an equal amount of frustration with my eternally ridiculous school and sadness at saying goodbye to wonderful students and friends. Then began the real packing ... I ended up storing almost a cargo van-full of stuff: clothes, books, and my few pieces of furniture that aren't falling apart. My beloved sister helped me finish packing and drive through Hurricane Cindy's rain for SEVEN HOURS to my dad's (special shout-out also to Noyes and Mitch who helped load the van!).

In Boston we had fun family time over the weekend, which was over far too soon, because then it was time to drive the stupid van back to New York (though this time we made it in a killer 3 1/2 hours). This morning was supposed to be simple: get up befoere 8am, pack my sister's car with some bookcases, etc. that she wanted to bring back to DC and each of us leave by 9am b/c I had to return the van. Of course, it wasn't that easy b/c I had spilled water on her fancy lo-jack keyring and short-circuited it so that this morning she couldn't get her car to start. So we drove around the neighborhood (using up the last bit of free mileage on the van) and finally I left her on the street to find a place that would sell and install a new watch battery in the keychain so she could try to get her car started and get back to DC. Meanwhile, I got lost on the way to the car place and almost went to Staten Island!! But it all worked out and now she is on the road to DC and I am catching my breath before I start cleaning my (filthy) apartment.

This month is going by quite fast .... three weeks from now I'll be about to land in El Salvador! There's a lot to do before then, but I'm also looking forward to enjoying these last few weeks in New York: Shakespeare in the Park, concerts by Ozomatli and the Waifs, a free week of yoga, Peter Lugar's Steakhouse! Woo hoo!