And he Arrives...

James comes home tonight from Albania, as he has completed the Peace Corps. This should be interesting. :)

Saudi Student Discussion Forum

Apparently Saudi students on campus are having a difficult time transitioning/fitting in, but they are also being harrassed and misunderstood. I feel for them, as I know how it feels to not feel accepted and I also know how it feels to be harrassed for being Arab (I was called a hand full of names during the first Gulf War....not cool).

I've been working on a committee to help these students and to support the faculty. Recently there was an incident in which a Saudi student was harrased on campus, so a person on the committee called for an open discussion forum (in person, not digitally) with a panel of Saudi students. Knowing my background, she asked me to moderate the forum. I'm excited to help out! Getting cultures to understand one another and helping people feel more accepted is one of my areas of interest. It will be interesting to see how this goes.

Softball League - The Librarians

I'm playing on a softball team this summer! Our team name is "The Librarians," which I believe is supposed to indicate our lack of athleticism and coordination. Anyway, they have had practice a couple of times, but I went to my first practice this past Tuesday. As you all know, I am not the best softball player. I'm not horrible, but I'm not great. I was a little intimidated since I pretty much immediatly got pegged as a weak player. Which makes me a bit angry. It's my first practice!!! And I never got coached or played regularly as a kid. Just be patient and give me a chance to catch up a little. And instead of pegging me as a "weak player," why not be supportive and give me some coaching and tips? That would be much better for the team and my self esteem. So, anyway, I'm hoping that I get better as the season goes on.

Ahhhhh, the Power of Cleavage

I had something happen last evening that I don't think has ever happened before. At least not in the environment of a grocery store.

So, I was in a rush to leave my house to celebrate Father's Day at Terralyn and James' parents house. I was distracted because I was talking on the phone with James while getting ready. I threw on some different clothes and realized that the shirt I was wearing was a bit low cut. Normally, I would wear a shirt underneath, but I didn't have time to think about it.

Well, it was a bit more low cut than I orginally thought, but there was nothing I could do about it since I had already left the house. After visiting with James' parents, I went to the grocery store and had a fairly hilarious exchange with one of the baggers....some guy probably in his low twenties. It went something like this:

Bagger: Hey there.

Mona: Hi.

Bagger: You need help with that?

Mona (confused): UHhhhhhh....sure. [Thinking he meant help with bagging my items]

Bagger starts taking stuff out of my cart and putting it on the counter, as if I couldn't do that by myself.

Bagger: You look nice tonight.

Mona (red in face): Thanks.

Bagger: I don't think I remember you before. You shop here much?

Mona: No, it's been awhile.

Bagger: Yeah, you look like a Marsh shopper.

Mona: No...actually I shop at Whole Foods.

Bagger (acting intrigued): For real??

I sign my credit thingee.

Bagger: Have a great evening.

Mona: Thanks.

I am about 99.9% sure that this exchange would not have occurred had I not been wearing a low-cut shirt.

Meaningful Quote

A quote from a book I recently read that I was able to really relate to:

"When the gift I give to another is integral to my own nature, when it comes from a place of organic reality within me, it will renew itself - and me - even as I give it away. Only when I give something that does not grow within me do I deplete myself and harm the other as well, for only harm can come from a gift that is forced, inorganic, unreal."

- Parker Palmer, Let your Life Speak

Peregrine Falcons

As Melissa and I walked back from a Leadership Workshop being held on the IUPUI campus, we chatted, taking our usual route back to the center where I work. I turned my head, as I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye by a tree in one of the grassy areas. I couldn't see it fully....is it a duck? A goose? I kept looking and realized that it was a huge hawk-like bird. Had I been standing next to it, it would have easily been as tall as my knee. Melissa and I stopped to watch it. Apparently it had caught lunch, as it was standing on something and tearing it apart with it's sharp beak. All the small birds in the area were going nuts, screaming at the hawk-like bird. After about 10 or 15 minutes, the bird finally flew away. Melissa and I, with our morbid curiosity, ran over to inspect the remains of whatever it was eating. It was a squirrel....or what was left of a squirrel (which wasn't much). We found out later that there are Peregrine Flacons nesting on top of one of the buildings downtown. Too cool!

SO IRRITATED!

I have had the worst luck with my new bike!!! First, my wheel randomly decides to fall off when I'm riding it one day. Fortunately, I wasn't going very fast and heard weird noises which made me slow even more down and look at my bike to see what was going on. But then the wheel just came right off and I had to jump over the falling handle-bars in order to not totally crash. Nothing major happened to me and I was able to get the wheel back on, no problem. I think I must have not had the wheel on correctly in the first place.

So, then today (about 30 minutes ago, in fact), I'm riding my bike and I get to an intersection with a light. I'm able to go since the light is green for me and some guy turning right neglects to see me crossing. I swear he was looking right at me and kept going at a fast enough speed that I wasn't sure he was going to stop. So, I nail on my breaks in a panic and yet again have to jump over my handle bars in order to not completely crash. This time, my chain is off and I have a nice little lump on my shin. I got the chain back on, but it's not right. It keeps skipping gears and doing funky crap. So, I have to take it in to get fixed. Which makes me SOOOO MAD since I just bought the damn thing only a month ago.

The good news is, since I have to take my new bike in, I'm taking my old bike in to get fixed as well. So, I will have my choice of bikes to ride. I may ride my old bike for a little while until I'm mentally ready to ride this new bike with evil luck.

I'm in Love with Denver

My trip was very awesome! I arrived in Denver at around 12:45. Megan picked me up and we immediately drove to Estes to meet up with my friends, Emily and Jeff (and their two boys, Mason and Riley). We stayed in Estes over the Memorial Day weekend in their cabins, taking a jaunt into Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday. It was such a cool park! Mountains everywhere with snow still hanging around at the higher elevations.

After the weekend, I stayed downtown one night at Megan's house. She got a new job and now works/lives within walking distance of the Denver Zoo. It was nice to see her new digs and to meet her new roommates. We also went out to eat that night and I got a chance to meet her boyfriend, Stu.

Then Jen (and Emma) came to pick me up. Off to Northglenn I went! The remainder of the trip was spent at Jen and Silas' house chilling out. Jen works part-time, so she was able to spend her days with me, which was very cool. Being at their house is always very relaxing and comfortable because they treat me like family. Most of the day was spent watching court tv (I never get to watch daytime television, so it was nice) and Thursday night we went to see Mama Mia (a play based on the music of ABBA). It was a really fun show and I think I need to buy the ABBA cd, now.

I got back Friday afternoon and spent the weekend relaxing before I had to come back to work. I was not looking forward to Monday, lemme tell ya. And while I'm happy to be sleeping in my own bed, Denver is still calling my name. One of these days....

More pictures on Flickr!