Janette's Joys

I heart Jan Brewer.

2010-05-08T07:42:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLgZ1LWLlko&feature=player_embedded

Lemonade Stand Capitalism

2010-04-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4R0F5DdvhE&feature=player_embedded#!

This video sums up life for a small business owner in America today!

I was born too late...

2010-03-23T20:03:00.001-07:00

because I would have been a HUGE fan of Ronald Reagan. The writing has been on the wall for a long time of the work the socialist movement was doing to move to power in America. Lucky for them, America got just dumb enough to elect such fine individuals as Obama and my pal, Nancy P. Check out this clip with some insightful words from Reagan himself, circa 1961:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jK2_trRPRk

An unnamed colleague is a flaming liberal and these were his arguments about why Obamacare is great for America:
1) He lived under nationalized healthcare in another country and it works. (Really? Then why do people come here for top notch care?)
2) Taxes will not go up. What we save in uninsured folks' ER visits will more than pay for the administration of the program. (I can't even find the words to fight this kind of illogic. You can't subtract a huge number from a negative number and expect to get a positive number. Maybe that country's education system was as "good" as its healthcare system....)
3) This is a Christian country. Christ taught that we ought to care for others. (A) Pretty sure Jesus was a conservative. And B) I want to be the one deciding how I will help others by CHOOSING how to spend my money, not by being told by the government!)

Ugh. Thats all I have to say. Someone told me I was too young to run for president in 2012, but if Obama can be elected without clarification on his birthPLACE maybe my parents can fudge my birth certificate and I can be elected without clarification on my birthDATE. Just a thought.

This is the time of night when I need to turn off Fox News and read my Bible. And pray. Hard. In the words of my Daddy, "Lo-ord, help us".

Life as a Chick on the Right

2010-03-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

This weekend goes down as historic for many reasons like the passage of ObamaCare and the huge jump down the socialism path, but also its going down as possibly my most politically active weekend ever. I loved it!

My buddy Patrick, fellow DC intern, and I ran a half marathon through DC that went right up Constitution Avenue through the heart of historical markers that note the people and ideals that make our country so great. The weather was perfect, the company was great, and the scenery was phenomenal! My time wasn't so hot though because as it turns out, killer knee pains will severely slow you down. Who knew?

Capitol Hill was calling our name after the race so we waddled (yes, that is the correct word for how we were both walking at that point) up with the other concerned American citizens to shout "Kill The Bill", knowing that Congress could hear our chants but was in no way listening to what we were saying. I've attached a few pictures of some absolutely ingenious signs....desparate times bring out creativity in signage.

Back in Indy yesterday, just in time to go to a book signing by Karl Rove at the local Borders store. A side note: during his time with President Bush, Karl Rove started and directed the Office of Public Liaison (the office I interned in)though Karl was gone by the time I arrived. When I walked up to shake his hand, I told him I interned in OPL in fall 2008 and he said, "Oh, you were there just after I left!".....yeah, I felt pretty stinking cool:)

While waiting in line to meet Karl, I met two of my new role models though. Its two Indianapolis ladies who got tired of all the hullabaloo during the 2008 presidential election and started blogging about it. Get this: they use FACTS and LOGIC. Crazy, huh?!?! I've become a huge fan since moving to Indy and got to have my picture with them yesterday. They happened to post it on their blog, so I think maybe we can document this as the launch of my political career? Anyway, their blog is: http://chicksontheright.com/.

Touche, lady, touche.

A random lady with a HILARIOUS sign...or so I thought...

Can you read the top sign? "Socialism is like a hospital gown. You think you are covered, but you are not."

Does this need an explanation?

Somebody must have messed with my calendar....

2010-03-07T13:52:00.000-08:00

Because there is no way its already March, right??? Ok, so clearly I've been MIA for a while, perhaps buried under the snow of the Midwest....but alas, I have survived to see spring because this weekend it has actually been 50* and sunny! I've always had a close relationship with the sun, but the old saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder" has proved very true in this case as I've realized just how much I love the sunshine. A LOT.

Work is great, still loving life on The Turkey Team. I do have to share one highlight, that might make me seem a bit childish, but its just too funny to keep to myself....so the other day I was driving with a customer when he said he had to go. These are his exact words, "I've got to get to a breast meeting. (Awkward stumble and pause) I mean, a breast meat meeting. Yeah, a breast MEAT meeting." Ha!

To catch up on 4 months of life is a bit overwhelming, so I'll just share a few pictures to capture all the fun of the past few months. Things are going really well, but super busy. I'm so thankful that I'm able to get home and to see the sisters fairly often. I'm also thankful that I've made some more friends here in Indy that are really fun to hang out with...when I'm in town, which seems to be a rare occurance!

Bible verse of the week is Psalm 107:1
The Lord is good, His love endures forever.

A super fun trip up to Turkey Creek (appropriate, huh??) with Mom, Dad, Jason and Candice.

Jennifer and her monkeys while we played in the snow after their big 12' snow! This picture was taken after all the snowball fights had taken place:)

Neenie and the monkeys....they all look so sweet! Later on that day, Ross got on Neen's shoulders and said, "Wanna pet my wild piggy?!?!" (Referencing the term "piggy back ride"...pretty clever, huh?)

As much as I hate driving in the snow and scraping it off my car, it is absolutely gorgeous and peaceful out in the country. My job takes me to some pretty rural areas, so I take full advantage to expand my photography collection.

This was my yard during one of the big snowstorms. The next morning I had to put trashsacks over my boots to even get to my car!

Thankful for Farmers and Food

2009-11-25T20:05:00.001-08:00

Below is a response I wrote to a girl on Facebook who was promoting a vegeterian lifestyle because of its "environmental benefits" and the cruelty of humans to animals....

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it gives reason to pause and be thankful for the blessings that we often overlook. I'd like to share a few blessings I'm thankful for:

1) As an American citizen, I'm thankful to live in a country that has a higher standard of living than many places. Most of us have the luxury of choice when it comes to food; we can eat in restaurants, eat specialty label food, eat higher priced proteins. These choices are a luxury! The average American citizen spends about 10% of disposable income on food, compared with other countries that spend anywhere from 20-60% on food. On the flip side of that coin, we often talk about the "poor people in third world countries", but what about the 36 million people living in poverty right here in the US that have the same nutritional requirements as affluent people but a fraction of the income? Meat provides valuable nutrients that are readily absorbed by the human body to keep us functioning at our best. As the least cost protein, poultry products allow even low income families to eat nutritiously. 100 billion pounds of food are wasted each year...I wonder if those 36 million people would turn their nose up because of fears of "environmental damage" or "inhumane treatment"?

2) As a consumer, I'm thankful that I can find a grocery store on practically every street corner that is always stocked with nutritious, safe, affordable food. Only about 2% of the American population is involved in food production, so that means that 98% of the population can rest assured of constant, easy access to food. What a blessing to know that farmers are doing such a great job keeping our mouths and tummies full!

3) As the 6th generation in my family that is involved in production agriculture, I am thankful that I was raised to have the utmost respect for precious resources that provide nutrients and sustain human life. Farmers care for the land, their water resources, livestock, etc. in a way that best utilizes and preserves the resource while supporting food production. American farmers have become so effective that 1 farmer feeds 144 people!

4) I'm thankful that tomorrow I'm going to sit down with my family to a table overflowing with food. My hope is that everyone around the globe could do the same, though I know that isn't going to happen. I'm thankful though that farmers across America are working day in and day out to get a bit closer to making that a reality. Lets also remember that there is limited unbiased & nonpolitical science that supports the human-caused climate change religion. And besides, warming of third world countries won't matter much if people are dying of malnutrition.

One Call at a Time

2009-10-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

I was dashing around about to leave my house at 6:45 am this morning when a friend here in Indy called to tell me to turn on the radio to WZPL 99.5 where the morning show host was praising Michael Pollan's documentary "Food, Inc.". In case you aren't familiar with the documentary, it espouses incorrect information about today's food production systems and condemns the American farmer for today's obesity problems, global warming, cancer, high toe stub rate, etc....

So I run to the car and turn on the radio. Immediately my blood is boiling, so I call in. Here is a summary of what I told the host when I was first connected (it was recorded, not live at this point):
1) Americans are blessed to have easy and constant access to the world's safest, most abundant, most affordable, most diverse food supply.
2) It is in the best interest of farmers to care for animals in a way that allows them to grow to their potential which means keeping animals disease free, comfortable, etc.
3) Many production practices are misunderstood by the public. These practices are in place for either a) the animal's benefit or b) the consumer's benefit (food safety).

This snippet was played on the radio a few minutes later, along with a snippet where a woman said chicken's are injected to grow more breast meat and also a woman who said organic food is better than conventionally grown and about the "benefits" of free range production. Blood pressure sky high now! So I call back, this time I am live on the air. Here are the highlights of about a 3 minute conversation:
1) There are no substances for injecting in a chicken to stimulate meat growth that are legal, nor is it feasible/cost-effective for a farmer who has 50,000 chickens to inject them. This is not a part of today's food system.
2) Show me the science that says organic food is more nutritious or safer. You can't, because this science does not exist! Conventionally grown food is better for the animal and the consumer because a healthier live animal=safer meat on my plate.
3) Until the 1940's, all protein was produced in "free range" systems. We could only feed about 10 people per farmer. Then we got smarter and more efficient. In today's confined systems, 1 farmer can feed 50-100 people. The animals are fed a controlled diet, disease challenges are reduced, and the animals are kept in an environment that protects them and the consumer. It would take exponentially more land to produce the current amount of protein in a free range system.
4) The bottom line is that farmers are in the business of producing nutrients that sustain life. Independent farmers raise their families and they produce food, not only for America but for people all over the world.
5) It is great to learn more about food production, but go to a credible source that understands food production, not someone like Michael Pollan who doesn't have a clue about agriculture and is only pushing a personal political agenda.

I was on air live for about 3 minutes with a golden opportunity to share a few soundbites of truth about production agriculture. I probably stuttered and sounded like a doofus (I can't find it online or I'd put the link up) but I tried. All too often the silent majority allows an ignorant and uneducated (and obnoxious...) minority to disseminate fallacies and misinformation that is accepted as gospel truth....at a very high cost to farmers and consumers alike. Let's seize every opportunity to help Americans better understand how food gets to their plate---and for crying out loud, ignore Michael Pollan!

Old Finds & New Accomplishments

2009-10-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

Since moving to Indiana, I have become captivated with the wonderful world of antiques and all the character, history, and unique-ness of the pieces. Above is a picture of my new-to-me-but-old cedar chest that is currently serving as my coffee table.

Just so you can see the "coffee table" and the new couch....decorating is definitely a fun part of being a grown up:)

And now to the exciting part of the post...I finished a half marathon on Saturday!!!! Probably everyone reading this has already heard the whole story and the gory details. Multiple times. Likely to be told again next time we talk....;)

The race was here in Indianapolis at a state park, running amidst the orange and red trees was beautiful. At 8:30 am when we started running, it was 34 degrees---brrrrr! Based on my training times, I hoped to finish in under 2.5 hours but really didn't know if that was doable. When I crossed the finish line, the clock read 2 hrs 14 min 44 seconds---after I inhaled a banana and waddled out of the mob of people, I couldn't wipe the dorky grin off sweat-covered face:)

Obviously I'm not a "real" runner, but I can see how running half-marathons could become very addicting. As I was "in the zone" running yesterday, I was thinking about how much you can learn from training/racing:

1) There is incredible motivation that comes from having a specific goal to work towards.

2) Our biggest competition is with ourselves---mainly that little voice that makes us doubt our potential...

3) There is really no goal that is unachievable, its all just a matter of training ourselves, whether its body, muscles, mind, etc.

4) Any accomplishment worth achieving only comes from a mixture of failure and success. There were training days when I'd start out on a long run and just couldn't find it inside me to run; the following day I could just go for miles! Maybe this concept really has more to do with being patient with ourselves, rather than expecting immediate perfection?

5) I run with a watch that signals me for timed walking breaks. On the race course yesterday I was constantly passing some people and being passed by others. The temptation is to feel smug as you pass and to be jealous as you are passed by, but in reality the person who just passed you might be about to walk for a bit and the person you just passed might suddenly get a second wind and tear past you.....what that whole confusing scenario says to me is that we can't concern ourselves with comparing our own progress to other peopel! Refer to #1.

6) You can always do better. A little more effort or a tweak to a technique or whatever it is; there's always opportunity!

7) A little cheering goes a long ways---is it weird to admit out loud that I pretended all the other runners' friends & families who had signs, etc. were actually cheering for me??? Because I totally did that:)

Wow, maybe I should have been a philosopher?? Then again, maybe not...

Fall is in the Air

2009-09-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

Fall is descending here in central Indiana and this desert rat is looooving the colors and the weather! It seems like things have been hopping, so here are a few highlights:

1) Travel to Lake Tahoe...for work! In the midst of meetings, I hiked, golfed (yep! There were even a few times the club made contact with the ball.) and even ran...somehow the air is a bit different at 8,000 feet elevation vs 1000 feet my poor lungs are used to! It was gorgeous there and is on my list of places to re-visit.
2) Travel to Missouri and a stop at the original Bass Pro Shop store. Made me wish I was in Mexico with Nina & Papa....
3) Travel to Michigan where fall is in full swing which means apple harvest. Not just any apples are grown up there---my very favorite: Honeycrisp. If you've not had a Honeycrisp apple, I highly recommend them. They are deliciously sweet, extremely crispy, so juicy, and HUGE. YUM!
4) Turkeys. Need I say more?
5) Judges 10:1 There is a man in the Bible named Dodo. Look it up if you don't believe me....
6) Cochise: alllll the fam, a jaunt in the Stronghold, Nina's chili rellenos, picking chilis to bring to Indiana, church and getting to hear Papa preach, catching up with my church friends, helping Katie get ready for the fair (seriously induced nostalgia!), Mom & Dad's beautiful new house, and so many more things about being home that I can't even capture them all here!
7) A stop on campus to see a couple of good friends and an slumber party with my Katy & Anna in Buckye....so, so fun:)
8) Moving does not really fall on the highlight list, but since I just signed the lease for an apartment this afternoon and got keys to my new crib, I am excited to decorate it and make it my own. Not that I'm begging or anything, but I have loooots of room in my new apartment so please feel free to visit! Pleeeeeaaaaaaseeeeeeeee;)

A Runner's Prayer

2009-09-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

Mile 0:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this beautiful day! The fresh air is invigorating and the hint of fall in the air is refreshing. It is a great day for a run!

Mile 1:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for my health that allows me to be out here running and pushing myself physically.

Mile 2:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this goal that I have of running the half-marathon in October. I pray for perseverence, discipline and good health to make it to the end.

Mile 3:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for that verse in the Bible about "casting off the weight so we can run the race"...does that imply that reduced weight trumps modesty in exercise and I can shed clothing out here on the trail?

Mile 5:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for "fearfully and wonderfully making me". I can no longer feel my legs. I pray they are still attached.

Mile 6:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the fresh air. I wish I had some in my lungs.

Mile 7:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this tree that you put here just for me to lean on.

Mile 8:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for band-aids that I can cover my foot in a sock-like manner as soon as I get home.

Home:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for Icy-Hot.

Cupcakes and Cooking

2009-09-06T18:39:00.000-07:00

Cupcake #1: Eggs2Go
In the bottom of a muffin pan, put cooked sausage (or any other meat). In a bowl, mix eggs (or just egg whites if you want), cheese, green chili, tomato or anything else that suits your fancy. Then pour the egg mixture in the muffin pan and bake for a bit. Yum! They are easy on the go, taste good hot or cold, and have potential for a kabillion variations.
Cupcake #2: PB&J Cupcakes
Bake regular butter recipe cupcakes. Cut the cupcakes in half and insert a layer of jelly (any flavor!). The frosting is peanut butter, powdered sugar, and cream. I made them to take to a picnic tomorrow...they are ugly as can be, but I'm hopeful they'll be a hit with the kids there!

Some words of wisdom from Julia Child's Memoir, "My Life in France":

"I tried to structure every recipe as a class. And the great lesson embedded in the book is that no one is born a great cook, one learns by doing. This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook---try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!"

And my personal favorite from her, after she recounts her very first meal in France that ignited her passion for French cooking:

"In all the years since that succulent meal, I have yet to lose the feelings of wonder and excitement that it inspired in me. I can still almost taste it! And thinking back on it now reminds me that the pleasures of the table, and of life, are infinite---toujours bon appetit!"

Perhaps I should hurry and conquer cooking so I can take photography lessons, huh? :)

Funny Funnies from a Comedian Extraordinaire

2009-09-05T05:59:00.000-07:00

I believe wholeheartedly that God has a sense of humor...through irony in life and experiences we see that, but all you have to do is read the Bible: filled with encouragement and direction, but also words and stories that will turn your tickle box upside down!

A few of my favorites, though there are many, many more:

2 Samuel 14:28-32
Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem wihtout seeing the king's face. Then Absalom sent for Joab in order to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So he sent a second time, but he refused to come. Then he said to his servant's, "Look, Joab's field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go set it on fire." So Absalom's servants set the field on fire. (Is the modern day translation of this lesson to not screen calls via caller id?? Oh, and Joab came to Absalom.)

Judges 1:6
Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. (Sounds like older siblings chasing a younger, doesn't it? Thank goodness mine hadn't read this verse when we were young!)

Exodus 10:26
Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind.

1 Chronicles 19:2-4
So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father. When David's men came to Hanun in the land of the Ammonites to express sympathy.......So Hanun seized David's men, shaved them, cut off their garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away. (Yikes!)

2 Corinthians 12:11
I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it.

There's also my favorite story in Kings where the kids make fun of the old man for being bald and then a she-bear comes out and eats them, but I can't find the address for that story right now.

And here's a quote a good friend sent me this week:
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says "Oh no, she's awake!"

Have a most joyful, peaceful, and productive long weekend!

I'm loving it!

2009-09-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

Every day is a new adventure! Here are some pics from a recent trip to California and Arizona, plus a few from Texas also.

The world's largest Raisin Box, located at the Sun Maid Raisin Plant in the heart of raisin country in the Central Valley of CA.

The Giant Sequoias at Yosemite Park: can you tell they ain't kiddin' when they say giant?? Note sign. Its been a life goal to visit Yosemite! New life goal? Re-visit Yosemite for some serious exploration.

I spent my whole life working for this moment of sipping coffee with my Nina & Papa! Every day Nina & Papa start the day out at the kitchen table with a pot of coffee, what a treat to join them as a "big kid":)

"Our" alfalfa. What a good looking crew and a beautiful backdrop! My long overdue trip home was spent filling every minute with good family time, a fish fry at Nina & Papa's, a "42" tournament and a run with Jerry...and admiring Mom & Daddy's BEAUTIFUL new house that's going up right before our eyes!

The sun was a devil that afternoon, but the kiddoes cuteness shines through anyway.

Our little cowman. Being three years old doesn't stop him from anything!

The milking carousel at the Fair Oaks Dairy. The cow steps onto the carousel on the left side of the picture, is milked as she rides around and eats, then steps off on the right side of the picture. Rough life, eh?

Dilemna's and Delusions

2009-08-23T06:34:00.000-07:00

Food production is a topic that affects everyone. The ironic thing is that often times the "experts" according to much of society are people who know nothing of the economics and dynamics of how American farmers provide a safe, wholesome, and affordable supply for us all. Individuals like Michael Pollan in "The Omnivore's Dilemna" spout detrimental untruths and misunderstandings about our food system, yet have more influence on society than those who are actually producing the food!

Below is a link to an article that is extremely well written and will answer any questions you might have about food production. Here's to us all making a concerted effort to listen to those who are "in the trenches" rather than out-of-touch individuals who have a talent for "spin" (applicable concept for just about anything: politics, religion, ag, etc.).

http://www.american.com/archive/2009/july/the-omnivore2019s-delusion-against-the-agri-intellectuals

Happy Reading!

Blessings

2009-08-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

Recent Highlights & Blessings:
1) Visiting the Fair Oaks Dairy last weekend with my friends Kacy & Megan. Google it; its a 30,000 cow operating dairy that has opened up for tours, added a butter/ice cream/cheese factory to view (and more importantly, taste the fruits!), a birthing barn where visitors can see calves born, and a really fun learning center. Agri-tourism at its finest: educational and super fun! I did get a tiny bit of flack from Kacy and Megan since my entire work life revolves around food animal production during the week, and visiting the dairy was what I wanted to do on the weekend:)
2) Trip to Arkansas that included a pit-stop at Mema's house in AR and then a long layover in Dallas that included supper at the Rainforest Cafe with R, A, and Jen! What a special surprise for us all:) Oh, also while I was in AR (I really went for work.) I was out with folks from a chicken company one day at lunch time and we stumbled upon chicken gizzard on the menu. I had previously promised myself that the first time I saw gizzard on a menu, I'd try it...just to get the full chicken experience. Turns out, gizzards are great for a diet: it takes more calories to chew them than you consume!
3) Coty, Beau, Jenn and I had a grand reunion in Lafayette at the Triple XXX Diner----a local diner whose hamburger with peanut butter had been featured on Food Network!!! I felt a kinship with Guy Fieri (host of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives) as we left, and a few steps closer to realizing my dream of hosting my own show someday:)
4) Ran 7 miles yesterday---half-marathon training continues.

Galatians 5:6b
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Made for laughing!

2009-08-14T20:05:00.001-07:00

One night this week Banana and I were talking on the phone, carrying on an entire conversation in our high pitched "Julia Child" voices. I finally could take it no longer and began to giggle, telling Banana, "You are too funny, girl!". She chuckled and retorted, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's why I was made!".

Also, it is reported that little R said this week, "Nettenette is a princess!" I told Jen that I'm not sure what movie they are watching that has a princess that I resemble, but who turns down that kind of a compliment?

A New Love...

2009-08-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

I've come to Indiana and found a new love...cooking! I recently realized that my life revolves around food: work is all about food production, at home I'm either cooking, eating, or exercising away calories...or watching Food Network. (Ok, that's not really alllll I do outside of work...haha) Tonight I saw the movie "Julie & Julia" (which was adorable by the way) and I've officially decided I want to take some sort of a cooking class in the very near future.

I'm feeling proactive about this new venture in life right now since (as I type) I'm making Nina's Mexican Grits for the 2nd weekend in a row to take to a pot-luck'ish event tomorrow night. Fortunately, I know I have good cook genetics (Nina, Mema, Mom), they've just not really been tapped into before now so hopefully chef genetics don't expire if not used...here's hoping I'll find my inner "Julia Child" soon!

The Proverbs 31 Sista

2009-07-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

I've read it before. Many times. But this morning I was reading Proverbs 31 and I just realized how COOL the Proverbs 31 woman is! Sometimes in the past I've had a grudge against her, assuming she was constrained, unable to use her talents, popping out babies left and right as her contribution to the family, and waiting on a man to lead her....and felt completely intimidated at the thought of being her. But this morning as I was reading my eyes were opened to how phenomenal she really is and how much I really do want to be like her someday.

The phrases that hopped off the page to me:

Works with eager hands
Provides food for her family
Considers a field and buys it
Out of her earnings she plants a vineyard
Sees that her trading is profitable
Works vigorously
Does good for husband all the days of her life

And my personal favorite (verse 25): She is clothed with strength and dignity, she can laugh at the days to come.

She is motivated, ambitious, strong, dignified, entrepreneurial, intelligent, capable, kind, loving towards her husband/children/the Lord, and has a sense of humor! Now THAT is a list to aspire to...I'm still intimidated by her, but how exciting to try to follow in her footsteps!

Sweet Summer

2009-07-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Recent Highlights:

A fun night with 2 new friends from work and the county Young Farmers & Ranchers
Dinner/Harry Potter with a friend from Michigan that I interned with in DC
A "reunion extravaganza" with Jamie and Jenn
New church friends....and upcoming VBS in which I get to dress up in Biblical Fashions and play with kids:)
Week on the "Delmarva" Peninsula...included my first crab meal. See pictures below.
Running 4 miles! Training is in full swing for the half-marathon.
Finding the area of Indy where all the cool, historic houses are and some fun shoppy-shops too!
Furthering my new hobby: antiquing...I'm officially hooked. Oh, and Food Network...
Reading "The Shack"---it will seriously shake your world up! Highly recommend it.
Currently reading a book with short stories by various Christian women focused on how faith and laughter go together:) Btw, I'm reading the Old Testament right now (slowly...) and there is some hiiiiilllllarious stuff in there!

They brought out a bucket of crabs and dumped them on our table, which was covered in brown butcher paper and had a trash can at the end of it. Each of us were armed with a mallat and a knife..though tools are only useful if you know what you are doing...fyi, I didn't!

For some reason that first bite wasn't too good...then I realized you take OFF the shell! J/k, this is just a silly picture so my mom can see my face:)

Jamie, Jenn & I living it up at the local County Fair. Too fun:)

Turkeys: The Texas Variety and the Beaked Variety

2009-07-09T18:08:00.000-07:00

The past several days have been wonderful! I enjoyed an awesome trip to TX to surprise R&A and spend time with Jen & Neenie as we enjoyed the 4th and a long weekend. I also visited a turkey barn: Six THOUSAND turkeys that weighed FORTY pounds each. And me. Every now and then you'd hear a gobble, gobble....then every few minutes they'd all get the memo to gobble, gobble simultaneously and it seemed as if an roaring ocean of turkeys was about to oertake you at any moment! It was great:) I also went golfing this week with customers and have met some more phenomenal people within the company. I hope you've all had a great week as well!!!

A Whole New World of Eggs 'n More!

2009-07-02T18:07:00.000-07:00

Life in Indiana continues to throw pleasant surprises at me in the form of friends at work, church friends, weekend fun, and cool experiences on the road! Here are some highlights of the past couple of weeks:

Trip to Minnesota to spend three days with another sales rep visiting customers. She just started last year with the company and we hit it off and had a great time! We swung through Wisconsin and actually got to have dinner with Jamie from my National FFA officer team....such a small world. The trip included learning up close and personal about the anatomy and diseases of a chicken by helping to dissect them and check for health issues. All I can say is: a) wow and b) gross. Cool, but gross! Success of that event was that I only almost threw up a few times, but never lost my lunch. (Small wins is what its all about!)

Camping with my friend Amanda and her grad school friends at a lake about an hour away, including swimming in a lake on a PERFECT summer day. On my way back to Indy, I discovered a potentially dangerous hobby: Antiquing! There are antique stores EVERYWHERE out here that have really fun things....I bought my first piece and couldn't help but think how glad I am that I have some of my Uncle Ronnie in me:)

Sunday morning I went to church at the church I had previously found and then was invited to lunch by my a family that has semi-officially adopted me. They have two girls home from Freed-Hardeman University for the summer and are just such a cool family. Some other people joined us for lunch, one lady lives right behind me and was a missionary in West Africa for 7 years...she was so interesting!

The Sunday am church doesn't have a Sunday pm service, so I ended up hunting down another congregation that I had heard about and went there on Sunday evening. I have been to some places with some kind people, but never, ever, never have I been just so loved on when I went to a new church and made to feel like it made their day that I had come. The singing was beautiful and the sermon was rock solid---he talked about how bad events happen to all of us throughout life that we can't control, but we can ALWAYS control how we respond...and the Bible calls us to always respond with joy, like Paul did while writing Philippians from a jail cell awaiting a bogus trial. I'm so excited to have not one, but two churches that I really like! Oh, and there are a couple of people from work who go to this church too, and its always cool to have additional connections like that to people at church.

Monday night Beau (also from national officer team) and I went to watch the Indianapolis Indians game. I'm not much of a baseball person, but I passed the quarters (ok fine, I know its really innings!) enjoying hanging out with Beau, eating peanuts, and cheering for the Toledo Mudhens...what a great team name:) The highlight for Beau was this: I had stood up and had my back to the baseball field, looking at Beau to ask him a question. Beau all of a sudden yells, "Look out!" and points as if a baseball is going to hit me....so I of course, yell. Mid-yell I realize I just got punked....and a bunch of little kids in front of us and old men behind us start to laugh...luckily I'm a good sport and could laugh along with them! Although I wanted to kill Beau at that moment, it really was a great punk:)

Today I toured one of the largest layer hen complexes in the country! There are more than 3 million birds in one location that produce approximately 2.1 million eggs daily. Yes, those are big numbers to wrap your mind around! We went from the barns where the eggs were laid and followed the eggs to the processing plant (on a conveyor belt...the eggs, not us) where they were washed, graded, packed and sent to various locations and in various forms (either in a carton as a "table egg" or cracked and in liquid form). The other sales rep I was with wanted to make sure there was a smidgeon of nastiness for the day so he took me down in the manure pit (hard to explain but the manure from the birds falls down into a concrete pit below the house where you can walk down) to check for flies, maggots, etc....once again, ew. The gentleman talking with us said their most menacing challenge is animal rights activist who sway an uneducated consumer base. The truth (backed by science) is that birds are in cages because its good for the birds! What is good for the bird is whats good for the producer; consumers don't understand that producers want to maximize bird health and productivity and that only happens when the hens are properly cared for.

Happy 4th of July to everyone!!!

Ok, Fine....

2009-06-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

I've decided to go ahead and share the embarrassing story from my Friday customer visits...

On Thursday, Lisa (the administrative assistant who has completely adopted me!) hooked me up with some polo shirts that have the company logo on them. Obviously, these were brand new shirts. Friday I was wearing a snazzy looking blue one and I was feeling oh-so-professional in my company gear. We visit customer one. The visit is myself, the other sales rep, and five gentleman. Cool. We go to customer two. I'm decked out in those hot coveralls while we went in the pullet house. We come out. I take off the coveralls. We are about to leave and the customer (lady) leans in and says, "Janette, did you know that you have tags hanging on the back of your shirt?" Oh my....of course, with all the professionalism of a new sales rep, I had forgotten to remove the tags from the new shirt! And may I throw in that it was like 5 big honking tags? And also of course, Keith (other sales rep), thought it was hi-lar-ious and is so pumped to have official fodder on me....rats! Lets be honest though, what a boring and rare week in the life of Janette it would be if there were no embarrassing stories...

Now here is the bright side: its all relative. Last summer, Jamie from my national officer team did an internship with this company and also did some work with Keith. On her first visit to customers, she somehow put on the coveralls on the other side of a vehicle from the rest of the group so she couldn't necessarily see anyone else putting theirs on at that moment. She walks around the vehicle in her coveralls, confused as to why the zipper is in the back and says to Keith, "Um, can you zip me up?" Note: the coveralls do NOT zip in the back. They zip in the front. So although I am a member of the "Embarrassing Clothing Related Story from First Customer Visit Club", Jamie is officially still the president, not me. Thankfully:)

Chickens and Brazilians

2009-06-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally got to enter "the field" by visiting two customers with another sales rep...big time "Yay!" for getting out of the office and seeing some real live birds! I had a great day and there was some good learning that took place, but lets just say that I've been promised that my poultry perception can only go up after this first visit. The other sales rep (who is also being called my main "Probation Officer" right now...haha!) told me he was so proud of me for not bolting out the door of the pullet house after we entered and began looking at the maggots in the chicken litter. All I can say is "Ew". It was more of a glimpse of poultry production 20 years ago rather than today...and I'm going to go ahead and say that technology has been good to the poultry industry! So here's to future weeks of visiting high tech operations. Below is a picture of me in my "biosecurity" gear including complete with plastic booties to cover my shoes and coveralls made for a 5,000 lb man...what a hot fashion statement, huh?!?!

My friends Amanda, Jenn, Beau and I set out for a state park today to do some canoe-ing, but unfortunately a storm yesterday thwarted our plans by raising the river level too high. But the day was not shot! Several of Amanda's friends from grad school at Purdue joined us though, and they are all from Brazil. Not only was it fun to hang out with these people from such a fun and friendly culture, but we got to experience a real Brazilian BBQ (Picture the restaurant "Fogo de Chao" meets the boonies!). Family is big in Brazil and its a common part of their culture for upwards of 30 or 40 people to get together and bbq every weekend, all day. They just start throwing meat on the grill and as it comes off, they slice it up and pass it around. You just graze all day! The whole day was just so relaxing and low key and FUN with new friends and old ones, as well.

I'm thankful for another great week in Indiana!

Answered Prayers

2009-06-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

1) I found low-carb tortillas!
2) I found a great church! I went to Bible class last night at a church I had found online, and I met two families in particular that just welcomed me with wide open arms. Although last night I went to the Ladies' Bible Study (I must say that while those ladies were fun, they were not nearly as much fun as the J-Six girls!), there is a fairly large young adults group that meets so I'm looking forward to jumping in Sunday morning. Oh, and instead of a week long VBS, this congregation basically has VBS every Wednesday night all summer long...can I just go ahead and say I'm already trying to figure out how I can hang out with the kiddoes instead of the adults? I want to hang out with them for many reasons, but top of the list is the fact that I think I heard them singing the "Booster, Booster" song the other night!
3) Today someone tried to teach me how to distinguish between different types of chicken diahrea...Woohoo! (Okay, maybe I hadn't been praying about that, but it seemed like an appropriate conclusion to this list.)

Facts of the Day

2009-06-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

1) Approximately 8.5 BILLION chickens are processed annually in the US!
2) 1 in 4 meat products (poultry, beef, or pork) come from Tyson.
3) 1 out of every 1 of Janette's bosses will remember that she tried to dump coffee on him on her third day on the job, and will likely give her a hard time about that henceforth....
4) 93.99% of Janette's days in Indiana include rain...lots of rain.
5) Grocery stores in Indiana have 97% less tortilla options...seriously, what is a Southwestern girl to do in such a situation?!?!

Home, Sweet Home

2009-06-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging right now from my new apartment in Indianapolis! This was my favorite move yet: it took all of five minutes to move my 2 suitcases from the car to the apartment and, bada-bing, I'm already set to live here for a few months. Sweet:) My new home is nestled in a great area that is really safe seeming and has lots of "stuff" around, but there is also lots of grass/trees so it doesn't seem quite AS city as it could...thankfully. Oh and don't worry Mom & Daddy, I have my mace-spray on my keychain;)

My first weekend in the Midwest started with a drive to Lafayette, Indiana (home of Purdue University) to see my friend Jenn. Our lowkey Friday pm included dinner in the "college-y" part of town, the grocery store, Wal-Mart, and a rented movie...crazy, huh?!?! Haha:) Saturday morning I woke up and drove a bit further west into Illinois to my friend Kacy's house for a going-away party for her and her husband. Swimming, home-made ice cream, and lots of giggling and catching up were the highlights of the day. I'm so pumped to be so close to such good friends though! Sunday I completed the road trip as I came back to Indy...if you want to know what the country looks like that I drove through, just open up a Country Living magazine or a Farm Journal or Progressive Farmer. Corn, soybeans, old farm houses and barns line the highways perfectly! Oh, and another indicator the Midwest is the Bread Basket of America? On the Christian radio station, in addition to the regular news update, they also have an update on corn and soybeans! Both of which are late this year, in case you were wondering.

I'm looking forward to a great second week of work because this week I'll get to be "in the field" on Friday learning about poultry up close and personal!

Memory Verse:
Psalm 23:1
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

It was only a matter of time....

2009-06-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

until I had an embarrassing story to share... Today, it happened. My supervisor and I were meeting this morning, so at about nine o'clock we headed to the cafeteria where all informal meetings are held. Before we got down to business, we went to get a cup of coffee. So we are standing there visiting at the coffee-getting-spot. He has his coffee already, I'm stirring the Splenda in mine. As I reach to grab the cup off the counter, with all the gracefulness of a true Barnard/Curry, I somehow side swipe the cup and knock it to the floor where, in slow motion, an entire medium size cup of coffee, creamer and Splenda plummetted to the ground...and quickly spread out into an ocean on the floor! Luckily, my supervisor has quick reflexes and he jumped back so no coffee got on him (trust me, I'm thanking my lucky stars for that!!) but my open-toed sandal'ish shoes were baptized in coffee. Just in case you think that cofee is easily wiped off of shoes, don't. These shoes are cork'ish material meaning they soaked up the stickiness so all day long I've been wiping my feet off on the carpet under my desk....ew, I know!

BUT, despite the embarrassing start to our meeting, it ended up being both productive and insight-providing. In addition to visiting more about business matters, we had a long conversation about church involvement in the "Bible Belt" where he is from, versus here in the Midwest. He shared that basically everyone directly straight up (not necessarily across) the organizational chart from me, all the way to the top, is a Christian of some sort....how cool is that?!?! I know that a corporate still has corporate-ness, even if it is filled with Christians, but it is encouraging to know that people are at least operating off similar values and goals.

Why do I bother with showering??

2009-06-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

Because I just walk outside and am disgusting...not to mention the fact that I've been told that the weather is "nice" right now...ha! Good thing there is no danger of me melting. (No comments, please.)

Day Two completed! And the moral of the story is this: Why, oh why, do I pray for humility and patience??? Because the good Lord is definitely (trying!) to teach me those two things as I find myself being the very paragon (Dictionary.com word yesterday...look it up!) of ignorance combined with severe impatience to overcome the ignorance. Thankfully everyone around me has much more patience with my lack of even basic poultry knowledge than I do! It does look like I will be working mostly with layer hen products....kind of funny, since our family of protein-eaters definitely supports the egg industry in a BIG way:) Fact of the day: there is approximately 1 layer hen in the US for every 1 person.

Both work and my hotel are on the "outside" of town, so I hadn't seen the "downtown" area of our little town yet but I'd heard several people make fun of how small it is. On my way to church tonight though, I was shocked to see how big it was. There is a Home Depot, a Wal-Mart, and even (just for you, Mom!!! Now I know you'll come see me!) a Tractor Supply! The town really is adorable though, complete with a downtown block of OLD brick buildings. Oh, and Nicolette---let me know when you're free to come shopping---there are tons of antique shops around here! Aside from the very center of town, there are cute farm houses and old barns situated in the middle of 10 acre corn fields...everywhere. I wasn't kidding about this being quintessential Midwest!

Anyway, so I had Googled to find a church in the area and was pumped to try it out tonight. Lets just say, my non-white/gray/silver/salt&pepper hair caused me to stick out like a sore thumb! But I think this congregation just might be in severe need of a 23 year old stray puppy such as myself to adopt:) I met a few couples before church and then they mentioned me during the announcements at the end and told everyone to "be sure and shake that girl's hand"...and they ALL listened. One sweet lady offered me a bed at her house and I told her my mom would be glad to know there were kind motherly people around. She instructed me to tell my mom there are "plenty of mother hens around to look after me"! Haha, I do love kind old people:)

Welcome to the Midwest to me!

2009-06-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

Humidity, green grass and girls with big hair are characteristics of Indiana thus far. Travels were fairly uneventful, as was my first day of orientation with the parent company. However, during orientation the company credit union was doing a presentation and they passed out applications to join. I went ahead and filled one out. Then they did a drawing for a $250 gift card from the applications they received....and yours truly won it! I've never won anything like that in my life, so what a fun start to the career world:) At the orientation, I was the youngest person by a good 15 years and throughout the day of visiting and getting to know the group (about 13 people) the "motherly" of the group were quite concerned about me being so young and far away from home. I ended up with three ladies' phone numbers to "call if I ever needed anything at all" and a church invite! See, there are sweet people everywhere:)

Today was my first day at my company and what a whirlwind! The phrase "drinking from a fire hose" doesn't even begin to describe it, though I know that will be the feeling for the next few months. When I interviewed with this company, a huge attraction was just the caliber of all the employees who seemed incredibly capable and competent, but also like good people you'd want to just visit with. Today I met even more folks who further proved my initial perception of the company, and this makes me so excited! I'm eager to continue getting to know colleagues, as well as the role of a sales person, the business, and the poultry industry...bring it on, birds;) It looks like my life for the next 3-6 months will be spent learning all of the above, and then I'll be moved out to manage a territory.

And tonight I had supper with my friend Beau (national office teammate) and realized that it is such a blessing to have such good friends in close proximity. Now I'm going to crash and hope that all the info my brain took in will settle overnight so there is room to start over tomorrow....oh how I hope my brain is big enough for this position!

Thanks for all the prayers for a safe and good start!

Enjoying it while it lasts...

2009-06-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning I am flying to Indianapolis to begin a new phase in life as a career woman! I'm incredibly excited about this new adventure and really looking forward to learning and being challenged. For those of you who don't know, I'm going to be working as a sales rep...with poultry producers! Bok, bok:)

Here are pics from recent highlights:

This is my friend Sandy from church whom I've gotten to spend time with this semester. Not only is she spunky and so much fun to be with, she has such an incredible wealth of Bible knowledge and wisdom to learn from. She and her husband, Roy, have become so special to me!
Mom, Daddy, Nina & Papa at my graduation...with my Neenie who came all the way from Texas to celebrate with me! We had such a good time with her:)

Jason and Candice with me before graduation....this picture is mostly cool because Candi & I are the two Wildcats in the family. Bear Down, all you Aggies!

The Girls' Bible Class at our Gilmore Girls Marathon/T-shirt Decorating/Picture Frame Decorating/Dessert Eating Party!

We may be crazy, but we're all that way so we have FUN!

My alfalfa, I mean Jason & Candi's...isn't it beautiful???

My sweet Nina & Papa on the lake in Mexico enjoying each other, me, the gorgeous mountain, and one of our favorite pasttimes of fishing! Six days in Mexico was tooooo fun:)

For ONCE, my fish was bigger than Papa's...what a miracle!

Blessings from Mom

2009-05-10T15:17:00.001-07:00

I observed a cute moment in church today that I want to share. Jeff (preacher) had all the moms to stand up so the youth group could pass out flowers to them. Then while they were still standing, he read off a list of things that we are thankful for about our moms. One of the last things he read was, "We are thankful to our moms for showing us Jesus' love." A few pews in front of us is always occupied by a cute little white-haired couple who love each other and love God, very much. When Jeff read off that last one, the husband reached up and, oh so tenderly and affectionately, patted his wife and nodded his head in agreeance. I totally had a moment of "When I grow up, I want to be the kind of woman who merits a pat for having shown Jesus' love to my family and I want the kind of husband who encourages and appreciates that." Too precious!

This morning in Bible class with the girls, we looked at several passages in the Bible that describe the beauty that God wants to see in us as opposed to the superficial beauty that "the world" looks for. Proverbs 31 was one place that we looked and the reading was followed by some fun discussion of how each of us sees many of the qualities of the Proverbs 31 woman in our own moms...what a blessing!

I am so thankful for my Mom and how special she is! Somehow I got extra lucky though because I also have an incredible Nina and Mema. AND not only am I extremly thankful for my own Mom, Nina and Mema on this Mother's Day, I'm thankful for the many other women in my life who also set examples of living gracefully and kindly with a gentle and quiet spirit. (Maybe God has given me so many examples because I am SOOO slow on the uptake for that whole gentle and quiet thing! Haha)

Proverbs 31:30
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Its May Already????

2009-05-01T15:42:00.000-07:00

April has been such a great month! Here are a few highlights including my dear friend Anna's wedding, the Gospel Music Gathering, and the Girls Bible Class. Here is the beautiful bride waiting for her wedding to start! We've been friends since we were about 15 years old, and Anna and I lived together my first two years at the UA...she definitely has sister status in my book and it was so special to be part of her big day.

We are sooo blessed to have such fun friends and we totally soaked up our time together. Didn't Anna do so amazing picking out bridesmaids' dresses? I told her she wins the "Trendiest Bride" Award:)

This was a semi-reunion of the WHS Girls' Basketball Team at the wedding.

Allison---I put this on here so I could show off my photo-taking skills! Okay, perhaps it isn't my photo taking thats good, but the sweet little one:)

Love these two!!
The Smith's Annual Gospel Music Gathering was a fun time to hang out with Nicolette & Candice and enjoy beautiful weather and Christian fellowship!

I suppose those pics sum up the excitement of the last month, unless I added pictures of how ridiculous I looked after my wisdom teeth got cut out. Although my mom and dad threatened to take a pic of me all cracked out on Vicadin, I don't think they really did...thank goodness! Now I'm just finishing up classes so I can graduate in 2 weeks..yay!!!

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

That is the memory verse for our high school girls' Bible Class this week; this coming Sunday will be our 3rd week together. I knew it would be fun to get to know the girls and study the Bible together, but I had no idea how wonderful, inquisitive, intelligent, and sincere these girls are! Monday night we got together for "Hot Tub Night" at one family's house....lets just say that I had tooootallllly forgotten how funny it is to be a high school girl. 99% of the conversations was about such and such boy being SOO cute, and so and so was dating so and so now, etc. Lets just say I had a great laugh with these girls:)

Recent Convo with my Homefries

2009-04-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

I talked to R on the phone this afternoon...or rather he talked to me for a bit about "home", "car", and "Razona". I even got a sweet "wove ew" at the end:)

Then he handed the phone to "Sissy"...
A: I'm going to church tonight. If my classmates aren't there, I'll go to the baby class. They get a juice box AND fruit snacks AND sometimes Lifesavers in there! What do you get at Bible Class, Nette?
Me: We don't get anything.
A: Just a Bible? (said with pity) (Pause) Oh no! R is putting soap on his toothbrush and trying to brush his teeth!
Me: Holler at your mom.
A: MOOOOOOM! R IS EATING SOAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!
Me: Haha, oh good she'll take care of him.
A: I'm going to the bathroom now, thats why I had to yell.

At this point I was just dying wishing I were there to see the scene unfolding in person...HAHA
I do love our babies!! No wonder Jen calls it a circus...:)

A Little More Love

2009-03-31T21:23:00.000-07:00

Remember that song called "A Little More Love" that Jessie & the Rippers recorded on Full House??? Anyway....

This last weekend there was a youth rally at a church in Tucson, and everyone from the campus college group (A4C) helped out. I was excited to go, but had no idea what an encouraging time it would be! The speaker was from Tennessee and is now a missionary in Ghana, Africa; his message was just so good that I wanted to share some of it...

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

The speaker took that passage and made 3 columns using every phrase/action description above. On the left side he left a blank, and on the right side he left a blank, so it looked something like this:

____ is patient with ____

____ is kind to _____

____ does not envy ____

And so on and so forth to ____ never fails ____.

Then he told us to put "God" in every blank on the left. Then put "Janette" in every blank on the right. Wow. We know these statments are true because "God is love" and this passage describes love! Then he passed out an identical document with the same blanks as the first one. Only he had us put "Janette" in the left hand column blanks. In the right hand column blanks, he had us put the name/names of people we struggle to love. Now, not due to anyone's fault but my own, I found I had a long list of people's names I could put down!

The whole point is that if we can grasp (or attempt anyway) how God loves us and how much he loves us, then we can't help but administer/show/give that love to others! Obviously loving this way is contrary to our selfish nature, so he pointed that this is something to constantly pray and ask God's help with. In fact, the speaker pointed out that when it comes to love, God calls us to a standard that we are incapable of meeting...except through Christ!

I recently read a book called "Crazy Love" which is about how God loves us and yet, we typically only respond to that love in a lukewarm fashion by either keeping it only to ourselves or hardly acknowledging it at all. (I highly recommend this book, by the way!) Several other speakers/writers lately have addressed this same concept from different viewpoints. I've come to think that when messages/themes continually pop up, it isn't random...rather its a "God-cidence":)

So here's to praying for more capacity to love and looking for opportunities to do so! Don't you just LOVE that? ;)

Weekly Highlights

2009-03-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

1) I bought my cap & gown!
2) I was watching Fox News last night. Marc Thiessen, former speechwriter for President Bush, was a guest on the O'Reilly Factor and I got really, really excited heading down memory lane...one time I was helping a staffer with an event. It was Friday afternoon before the event the following week. The staffer I was helping was gone for the day already, and Marc Thiessen called looking for info...so he could write the words that President Bush would deliver! Imagine me panickedly (is that a word?) hunting down info as soon as I could so I could help out THE speechwriter on time! Oh my....cool memory:)

An Exciting Opportunity and Jonah

2009-03-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

After national office, I was really wanting to use all my training in teaching/presenting somehow for God. Last spring Candice and I taught the 1st-3rd grade Bible Class at church, but I was still really wanting to work with high school age kids. It almost worked out in the fall, but then didn't; I had still been praying about it though. Then, this Sunday one of the moms of 2 teenage girls approached me about teaching a high school girls Bible Class on Sunday mornings starting April 18 until I move....and of course, I ecstatically agreed!

I am really excited about this and looking forward to sharing things I have learned/am learning with them but also to learning so much from the girls and the additional motivation to studying my Bible. I never had an opportunity to be part of a class like this, and I am just so eager. But, that brings me to the question of the month: what ideas do y'all have about specific aspects of classes or teaching techniques or anything else that might be valuable to incorporate into the class? Today during Economic Geography I was in full on brainstorming mode and the ideas are flowing, but I definitely still need more. As far as the actual content of the class, I am working on that but am waiting until the first class when I can find out from the girls what they want to study.

I just so pray that I can encourage these girls to hunger for the Lord and to seek His ways in everything.

Also, at Monday night's Bible Study we looked at the book of Jonah (I know what you are thinking..."who did? who did? who did? who did? who did swallow Jo-Jo-Jonah?" :)). I don't know that I had ever sat down and read the book, but its a quick read with some great take homes. Here were a few of mine:

Jonah had the same attitude as the Prodigal Son's older brother, of pride and elitism...do I?
Jonah had a short term memory when it came to trusting God and His provision....(I won't even bother asking if I do, because I so know the answer to that...)
Jonah told the other sailors on the boat who he was and who he believed in, yet they saw him running from the God he professed! Talk about an example incongruent with his words!
Jonah had an opportunity to spread God's Word and he ran...
God stuck with Jonah through it all. Also in the book you see God's love and compassion, thankfully.
Its also easy to see the role of our sovereign God alongside our role as beings with a free will.

Anyway, I just so enjoyed the study and thought y'all might want to share it too:)

More SB09 Pics!

2009-03-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, Rossy is wearing big boy under-draws and his "bootses". Someday he'll hate me for posting this:)
Oh what sweet babies!

These are the moments a good Spring Break is made of. And yes, Grace was totally sharing Ross's popsicle:)

Guess who "snapped" this photo? Yep, Banana was so proud of herself!

Are you proud Mimi? I took a "leaving" picture!

Does this help you to visualize the "Cane Races" at Mema's house? Ross is only a little bit ahead of Mema in this picture, but about every third lap he would lap her and get the biggest kick out of it!

This was the start of SB09! Yes, we were all in the front of the car. I guess the kids aren't the only ones who can't handle not being in the middle of things....:)

Spring Break 09: Part 1

2009-03-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

Like the saddle? Thanks Anna;)
Someday I might be as good as she is....

The Bush's house in Dallas!

Our new fun museum in Dallas!

Highlights & Happenings:

1) Super special time with Neenie, Jen, Ross, Anna, Mema, and Karen

2) Going to church at the College Church of Christ where my favorite preacher ever preaches...I wanted to yell like he was a rockstar when he walked up to the pulpit;)

3) During church Anna went to a kids class. I went to pick her up after church and as we walked out she said she had something to tell me after we got out of the church building. As soon as we walked out, she said, "Nette, my class was SO noisy. (with the most disgusted look ever on her face!) They were all first graders but nobody would listen to the teacher!" A rule follower after my own heart.

4) Ross had cane races with Mema between the rooms in the house.

5) NEENIE IS GOING TO NURSING SCHOOOL!!!!!!!! YAY NEENIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are soooo proud and as soon as Brad called to tell her we all started jumping up and down and screaming...including Ross;)

6) A traumatic experience between Ross, a jogging stroller with straps that didn't work, Nette-Nette, and the concrete. Don't ask. Just know there were many tears shed by all involved.

7) The Dallas Heritage Museum with legit 1800-1900 era houses/businesses...a nerdy-historic-learner's haven!

8) The drive by of the Bush's house in Dallas. All the neighbors had these cool signs in the yard that said "Welcome Home George and Laura". I wanted to come back and plunder one tonight in the dark, but Jen said no. Something about setting an example for the kids?

9) The horse riding picnic and extravaganza.

It has been an awesome week so far with some of my favorite people in the whole world!

SB09 Day 1

2009-03-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

1) I got to Dallas and Jen, Neen, Anna & Ross picked me up at the airport. We were talking about SB09 and how excited we all are and Anna piped up, "What is that y'all keep saying? What does S-O-B mean?" Trust me, we quickly corrected her abbreviation challenge issue!

2) Ross was in his carseat when I crawled into the car at the airport, but he just grinned so big at me. I was playing with him and tickling and we were being silly....since he typically has such a hard time knowing my name Jen asked him what my name is. He looked at up and said, "twu-bble". HAHA then he said Nette-Nette:) He is a mess!

3) I made Jen a cd of 60's tunes for her students at school. After the shopping extravaganza, we were driving home listening to the tunes and Anna was just jamming out and singing along like she knew all the words. Then she said, "Nette, I'm so glad we are listening to this new music and not that old music like my mom and dad like...its like from the 30's or 40's I think!" Classic:)

Boogeymen, monsters, and ....just plain dark!

2009-03-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

I hate the dark. I repeat, I HATE the dark. Irrational? Completely. A very real fear? Totally.

I am home alone tonight because my roommates all got a head start on SB09. So here I am, with all the lights in the house on, locked in my room with my big mag lite flashlight (thank you Daddy!) right next to my bed and my phone (with 911 handy) clinched in my hand.

Here's the problem: I have to go to the bathroom....which implies I must leave the safety and confines of my room to walk the 2 feet to the bathroom---but you never know what/who could be lurking there! No thank you.

Here's the next problem: I was almost asleep when I was awakened by a helicopter noise (what is it with helicopters this semester?). I look outside and there is definitely a helicopter shining its light down looking for something/someone within about a mile radius of my house. Oh my.

When I was little, I thought my fear of the dark was a phase I would grow out of....but its appearing this phase is lasting a while. Nonetheless, here is the Bible verse I'm looking at right now:
2 Timothy 1:7
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

As comforting as that verse is to my fearful heart (and frazzled nerves), I don't think it will do anything to ease my bladder pains. And as much strength as that verse offers, it isn't quite enough to convince me to walk to the bathroom.

Its going to be a long night.

Everybody needs a Floyd!

2009-03-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, Mom & Dad, Jason & Candice, and I went to see a man who is briefly in the hospital in Sierra Vista...only he isn't just any man, he is Floyd. Floyd has been going to J-Six Church of Christ for hundreds of years...well, maybe not, but it does seem as though things wouldn't carry on the same if he weren't there to offer hugs and hellos every Sunday with a smile and a "hello young lady!". Floyd is extra special also because he is actually a survivor of Pearl Harbor!

As we were visiting with him on Sunday, he continued to prove that he is sharp as a tack and has a heart of gold. And even though we went to be the encouragers, I think we all came away as the encouraged. At one point he mentioned that he needed to get out of the hospital soon because there is a potluck coming up in a few weeks. Then he said, "Yep, I missed that last potluck and I was MAD." SO, one of my new goals in life is to be an encouraging, example setting, wise older person someday who gets mad about missing potlucks:)

Bear Down, Arizona!

2009-03-05T22:59:00.000-08:00

Tonight I cheered on my Wildcats for the last time in McKale Center as an undergrad student, but I know my obsession won't stop with college, because it didn't start here. Growing up around Nina & Papa, who are both avid UA bball fans, I was infected at a young age, especially when the UA won the National Championship in 1997 when I was 12. As a college student, some of my most fun memories include going to bball games w/ Katy, Erin, or Anna, or watching the games with various friends as each season held the hope of another National Championship and always an opportunity for another game and another chance to succeed.

Obviously the company make games fun, but I am also partial to Arizona Pride (the UA pep band that is AWESOME!), the extreme athleticism of the players and watching how teams develop, the best fight song EVER: Bear Down, Arizona; Wilbur & Wilma (yep, I named sheep after both of our mascots). Oh, and towards the end of every game on a time out when the pom line, cheerleaders, etc. come on court there is a little old man that comes out with about 3 layers of UA clothes on...he starts the U-of-A chant, and then takes off a layer of clothes...it is totally as bizarre as it sounds, but it gets the place riled up like no other! Oh, and of course...the one and only Lute Olson! Coach O retired this year after some health issues, but he was honored tonight for the legacy that he created through his 25 years building the UA basketball program to what it is today. On my list of celebrity-role models, Lute Olson is ranked right next to Laura Bush (and those who know me well know that is a high rank in my book!) not just because of his perfect silver hair or his handsome smile (yeah, I know he is in his 70's but he is still handsome) or because of his extreme winning record or because of his accolades as a Hall of Fame coach...it is because of what a good moral man he is who has set an example in the midst of the limelight of integrity, hard work, and a strong marriage with his late wife, Bobbi, who many argue played a bigger role in the UA team's success than Lute. If you are looking for a good read, I HIGHLY recommend reading Coach Olson's book...its good stuff, especially if you want some serious inspiration!

Erin and I enjoying the game at a calm moment...though most of the game was spent on the edge of the seat!

The man himself: LUTE OLSON!

Wilma and I: I just love her:)

The funny UA stripper man...I'm so trying to find out the history on him!

What the UA stripper man did to McKale Center---lit it up!!

An Encouraging and Empowering Thought

2009-03-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

2 Timothy 2:3-4
Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer.

How cool is that verse?!?!? All too often I try to please people other than Christ, my Commanding Officer, but I just love the image that those words illicit of us in relation to Christ and the attitudes that we should have in serving him, to please him alone.

Its funny how people and authors and speakers always want to "rephrase" the Bible so we can understand its message better, but its absolutely awesome how God always says it best...in verbage from many centuries ago, with messages that hold true today and tomorrow.

Showers and Subway

2009-02-28T20:18:00.000-08:00

Today I got to reconnect with one of my college roomies from my first year at the UA, Shamarie. That year I had one of the best blessings: wonderful roommates in Katy, Sha, and Anna. I knew Katy and Anna through FFA, but not super well, and I had never met Sha before....but through the late study nights, ice cream runs, early morning walks, shopping trips, cooking dinners (and usually desserts), instant messaging each other from our bedrooms and then writing lol and then hearing each other lol for real, and chasing bad guys out of our ghetto neighborhood together, we all became such good friends. Right now is an especially special time for Anna as she prepares for her wedding in April! Today was Anna's first bridal shower and after we had showered and celebrated Anna, we had to have a "roommate" picture...the 4 of us will forever be "the roommates":)

As Sha and I were driving to the shower, we were hungry and stopped at Subway for lunch. The following conversation ensued:
Sha: Wow Janette, good job ordering the salad and being healthy!
Me: Yeah, I have GOT to lose some backfat so I can fit into Anna's bridesmaid dress.
Subway Lady behind the counter making my salad: I knew I had to lose some weight when my back breasts were bigger than my front breasts!
Sha and I laughed hysterically...almost the whole rest of the 2 hour drive to Cottonwood:)

Check out this Link!

2009-02-25T14:59:00.001-08:00

http://www.howobamagotelected.com/

Thank You, Mr. President

2009-02-24T23:51:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr. President,

I just finished watching your address to Congress and I'd like to start out by thanking you for your honesty and transparency. The campaign rhetoric is obviously translating directly to fulfilled promises in the Administration. During the campaign, I (somehow) gleaned that you are against special interest and big business having an impact on Capitol Hill. Thank goodness no special interests are being put ahead of the interests of the American citizens and small business owners, especially in the recent spending bills. Holding true to your liberal roots and ideologies, you are doing a phenomonal job of carrying the torch of integrity. I'm sure Slick Willy is so proud!

Thankfully, you know what we, the American people, want before we do. How did you know that we want a magnetic lightrail to go from Las Vegas to Los Angeles?!?! You must have known how high demand is for this project, since you also assumed our willingness to pay. You must have ESPN! Please thank Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for that as well, but don't just thank them. Please extend our gratitude to all your cronies, lets be sure and give credit where credit is due. The next several years should be fun as we continue to discover what you think we all need!

In addition, thank you for the for holding my intelligence in such high esteem, and for really digging into the truth of economic principles and political integrity. One doesn't have to dig so deep to see that you really are a mastermind--all the work of the past two weeks has only been to set an example for future generations of how not to respond to economic challenges and to prove that the power of America lies in empowering its citizens. Thank you for your servant leadership and willingness to put the good of the future generations first.

I especially want to thank you for pointing America back to God. Prayer lives across America should be revived and rejuvenated in response to the fabulous work of the Administration.

Respectfully Submitted,

A US Citizen who is not quite as dumb as she looks (or as you obviously think she is)

So on that note of utmost snottiness, I'm vowing to myself that tonight is the last time I watch Obama speak, Sean Hannity analyze or anything close to political television right before bed! Forgive me (oh please forgive me!)...but seriously?!?!

Correo Mas Rapido, Senor!

2009-02-23T18:26:00.000-08:00

Friday morning I was working about 1/10 mile from my house on one of Jason's alfalfa pivots. My mom was gone, Papa was gone. I was working away when I realized a helicopter was flying overhead. Cool, no big deal. Then it was circling overhead. Hmm. Then I realized it was green and white---Border Patrol. Hey now... Then it was LANDING in the pivot RIGHT next to my house! I hopped in the pickup and drove home so quick, and by the time I drove by the house (no way was I stopping!) a BP agent was marching across the field with 7 illegals in tow! After running down to Nina's to make sure she was okay, I went back down to the house where about 4 BP vehicles had gathered. One of the agents told me that a truck of illegals had passed a BP about 10 miles from our house, and then started speeding away. The BPs had then clocked the truck going 110 mph! For some reason, the driver of the truck thought he could drive right by our house to get away...and after going through 1 wire of electric fence, they got a bit tangled in the midst of the trailers/chili boxes/random panels out back of the Barnard menagerie, so they parked the truck, jumped ship, and ran right into the field where the helicopter dudes got them! The funny thing (and I say this as someone who has been gotten many times) is that the illegals totally had to have been "gotten" by the electric fence as they ran:) Needless to say, it was crazy for a bit...And it ensured that I will totally return to my pre-twenties habit of not going outside to feed in the dark by myself:)

Also, for my fellow "Barnard Weight Loss Challengers" I made peanut butter cookies tonight: 1 cup splenda, 1 cup peanut butter, and 1 egg. Let me tell ya---MMMMMM! I feel compelled though, to recommend that you NOT use the Splenda from the little packets. All I had was the little packets, but 1 cup did not sound like much...until I began tearing packet by packet and emptying it into the bottomless bucket (or cup measure). Approximately 140 (but whose counting?) packets later, I had my cup of Splenda. Perhaps it was a bit of workout to make the cookie ok to eat? I added Splenda in the bulk form to my grocery list.

The weekend also included fun time with Erin at the Tucson rodeo and lunch with Nicolette and kiddoes and Shaye and kiddo...I am entirely too lucky to have such wonderful friends!

Bible Verse:
Psalm 23:1-3
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

Mountain Lions, and Lambs, and Snow---oh my!

2009-02-10T14:54:00.001-08:00

In the midst of the beautiful winter weather this weekend, we had some excitement...to say the least.

Excitement 1:
Saturday morning my mom had to take some ewes to town. No prob, I will feed and check everyone. As we go outside to load up the ewes though, there are two ewes about to be in labor. Once again, no prob. Mom leaves. I put the first ewe (Dixie---the official matriarchal ewe of my flock!) in a pen. Dixie appears to be the furthest along. I get her settled with straw, etc. I go to get the second ewe (Belle) in a pen....and now she has feet sticking out her hindmost parts and won't let me catch her to put her in a pen! I wrestle (please take that as literally as I mean it) Belle into a pen, just in time to look over at Dixie...who is now progressing more rapidly than Belle. (Can you capture the chaos of the moment in your minds eye??) I hop over to Dixie and stare at the nose/feet poking out....anxiously weighing whether or not I should pull the lamb (Please note: I HATE gook. HATE.) As I'm contemplating, I look over and see that Belle has half a lamb out already! I jump to Belle, dry off the lamb, make sure its breathing. I start looking for the iodine, and realize that Dixie now has a baby. So there I was trying to get both babies dried off and breathing good....have you seen the movie Father of the Bride 2? I have a sincere love of Steve Martin in that movie, but especially now that I can totally relate to the whole 2 babies at once conundrum! On a side note, all babies are doing wonderfully:)

Excitement 2:
Mom and I went to check cows across the railroad tracks. On the road over there, we notice some funny looking animal tracks. Here are all our clues:
1) Tracks are recent---it had been raining about an hour before.
2) There are 2 animals heading North, then East (as in towards our house!)
3) Tracks are about 4 inches long and have no claw marks.
Upon referring to the ever so trusty Google, we learned that our tracks belonged to 2 mountain lions! Yikes! Very creepy, but still pretty cool:)

And the snow topped mountains made for a beautiful spin on our gorgeous desert...hope you like the pics!

Academic Freedom

2009-02-06T19:01:00.000-08:00

After I sent the letter (previous post) out, I participated in 3 meetings. Below are the results:

Meeting 1 (with Dr. Lueck, or OTLE, or simply "rogue professor"):
"I don't understand the problem with my statement. Whats the big deal?" (????!?!?!?!!?!?) And also, "It was highly inappropriate of you to send that letter to others in the college."

Meeting 2 (with the Ag and Resource Economics Dept. Head):
"Healthy debate is good for students and keeps you engaged."

Meeting 2 (with the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences):
"Academic freedom is most important in the public university. Academic freedom is what allows you to dispute this professor."
"I applaud your pursuit of this issue and that you brought this to our attention." (Haha, take that OTLE! Ok, snotty, I know, but a bit satisfying nonetheless)

In regards to meeting 1, I write it off as the fact that his pride kept him from admitting his mistake. In meeting 2, I let it by that he really understood me more than he let on and he was protecting his faculty by hiding behind the "healthy debate" position. Meeting 3 was really enjoyable and I have absolute, utmost respect for Dean Sander and am really grateful that he took the time to meet with an undergrad. He absolutely understood the discrepency and the inaccuracy in OTLE's statement. BUT. (By the way I am soooo tired of hearing the phrase, "I appreciate your passion and enthusiasm, BUT.") This issue of academic freedom is very troubling to me. On the one hand, I can appreciate how important it is that I as a student have the right to raise my hand and question a professor without getting shot. And I can appreciate that as a professor, it would be empowering to not be micromanaged in curriculum. BUT. When inaccuracy invades academics, academic freedom should no longer trump all!

In another course I'm taking right now, the professor has been talking about "climate change" and how we as humans are not conserving the earth for generations because we are emitting so much yada, yada, yada. The only question he brings up is how to deal with it---not whether or not it is real. I forwarded him some info about the "other side" of climate change (as in the side that says it is a hoax, based on elitism not science). I received an email back that "the preponderence of evidence is in favor of the theory that human activity is driving climate change and therefore there is no need to discuss the other side in class." WHAT???

And then we wonder why the average American believes in liberal politics (thank you professors in the Political Science Dept.), climate change (thank you professors in TOOO many Dept.), animal equality (thank you professors in TOOO many Dept.), and now, that Ag is not important (thank you professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences). Its a huge puzzle, don't you think?

But alas, we can rest assured knowing that we have "academic freedom".

P.S. I was picturing Dumbledore eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans when I wrote "alas". :)

Agriculture: Important to America, Arizona and CALS?

2009-02-02T14:02:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the poor formatting after I copied it here, but below is the official OTLE response:

This letter is in response to your slide that was shown in the last lecture of AREC 478 that so boldly and inaccurately claimed, "Agriculture is not important in the US and has been of declining importance since 1776." Not only do I find that statement inaccurate, I find it offensive. America produces the world's safest, most affordable, most abundant food supply. In the remainder of this document, please find evidence intended to help you appreciate an industry that feeds, clothes, and provides shelter for you.

I am a proud product of many generations of agriculturalists. As an Agriculture Economics major, I plan on spending my life working as an advocate and active participant in the agriculture industry. I live on an operating farm in Southeastern Arizona where pumpkins, alfalfa, chili peppers, corn, sheep and cattle are just a few of the products we have produced. I am also one of more than two million people who live on farms across America and work to produce the food that you consume daily.

Fundamental Importance of Agriculture
Food, water, clothing, and shelter are at the basis of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid. As with any pyramid, if you take away the base, the rest of the pyramid won't stand. To say that agriculture is not important in America is naïve simply because you cannot put a dollar value on the ability to meet the very basic and fundamental needs of humanity. You and I know that we will eat tomorrow. We will have clothes to wear tomorrow. We will have homes to keep us safe and warm. People in developing countries do not have those same assurances, and thus, as shown by Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, they are unable to reach their potential. And not just them as individuals, but entire economies are unable to reach their potential due to a lack of the very things you claim are "unimportant"!

Agriculture's Role in National Security
I noticed on the syllabus that we will be extensively exploring our nation's current energy supply and future potential alternatives. Many view America's dependence on foreign energy sources a matter of national security. Can you imagine how different our world would be if we had to depend on foreign sources for our food as well? History has shown that empires have risen and fallen, wars have been won and lost, and nation states have been built and destroyed, all because of the country's ability, or lack thereof, to feed its citizens. It is commonly noted that one reason the South was defeated in the Civil War was because they had planned to sell their cotton crops to England and Europe to pay for food and ammunition. The North put ships off the ports to stop boats coming to southern ports to pick up cotton and therefore, the South could not sell their product to purchase supplies to meet the basic needs of its citizens and it resulted in weakening their army. A further example of this point was the strategic, key advantage that the United States had over its enemies in World War II that led us to victory. Our troops were well fed and operating on good nutrition, theirs weren't.

Agriculture Economic Contributions
You said that you based your position on the dollar value of economic contribution of the industry in America relative to the entire economy. The purpose of this document is to prove that dollar value alone is not an efficient measure, however below are a few statistics as to the staggering economic contribution of agriculture:
$9.2 billion in Economic Contribution from Arizona Agriculture in 2004
$6 billion in Economic Contribution from Arizona Agriculture in 2000 (note the growth)
$3.5 Trillion Total Output from American Agriculture in 2002
20% of America's GDP is from agriculture
Approximately 20% (21 million) of the jobs in America are in related Agriculture
1 farmer provides (on average) food and/or fiber for one year for 143 people vs. 1940 when 1 farmer fed 19 people
Agriculture products are the primary products that America exports
Americans spend 10% of disposable income on food
Mexicans spend 33% of disposable income on food
Citizens of India spend 51% of disposable income on food

In addition, your statement "USDA's budget is mostly comprised of subsidies to large farmers" is also wrong. Of the $88.8 billion budget in 2007, below is the breakdown of monies allocation:
58% ($51.4 billion) in Food and Nutrition Programs (Including the Food Stamp Program and Women, Infant, and Children Program)
14% ($12.4 billion) in Farm Programs (Including, but not limited to subsidies)
6% ($5.1 billion) in Conservation Programs
Please note that farm subsidies represent only 14% of the total subsidies paid out by the federal government. It is true that agriculture only represents 3.4% of total federal spending but less than one half of one percent of total federal spending goes to Farm Programs. Most economists and individuals would see this as a sign of how independently this industry operates. Clearly in comparing .5% of federal spending versus the 20% of GDP output from agriculture contribution, the benefits outweigh the minimal costs. Please also note that among industrialized nations, America has by far the least amount of subsidies; for example, in the European Union, agricultural subsidies account for more than 40% of total spending.

To capture the value of support industries for agriculture is a challenge because they are so numerous: irrigation, fertilizer, food processing, equipment, real estate, automobile, transportation, retail and the list continues; many of these support industries, including the less obvious ones, are impacted directly by the health of the agriculture industry. In addition, in these challenging economic times as various industries are shrinking, potential employees are turning to the agriculture industry for jobs due to the stable and "always in demand" nature of the industry.

America's Role in Global Agriculture
American agriculture not only feeds Americans, but approximately 16% of all agricultural products produced in the US are exported around the globe. With less than 7% of the world's land, the United States provided:
39% of the world's corn
38% of the world's soybeans
22% of the world's beef
20.9% of the world's cotton
20% of the world's milk
9.3% of the world's wheat

In addition, American agriculture is the world's hub for food science and technology. Companies like Cargill (160,000 employees operating in 66 countries) and Monsanto (20,000 employees operating in 61 countries) are working worldwide to bring food, seed, and more efficient technologies to people across the world. Just because you don't appreciate the stability in the food supply provided by American agriculture, don't doubt for a minute that people in Japan who use our grain because their country does not have enough land mass to grow their own grain, appreciate it. Or farmers in Sri Lanka, who because of better seed (from America) made available to them, are able to produce more food per acre and in turn ease hunger a bit in their country. Globally, 8 million farmers in 18 countries grow biotech crops on more than 167 million acres. Those acres are feeding more people than ever before, with science that, in large part, comes from the United States.

The precipitous rise of the commodity markets in 2008 (not just the grain markets, but looking at them in particular) was due to a dangerously short level of carryout crops from the 2007 growing season. The "Wall Street Speculators" and ethanol production take the blame from most people for that drastic rise and then the fall of commodity prices; however, if one is honest with no biases or looking for scapegoats, it was a true supply and demand situation with some emotion thrown in, which we know is what drives markets. The world was afraid of running out of both corn and wheat, and also sorghum, which are the major human feedstuffs in most of the world. Most of the globe doesn't worry about how to feed live cattle in a feed yard situation because they are most concerned with feeding the people who are still alive in their family- and keeping them alive!

The whole run on commodity prices did not start with corn (negating the ethanol argument); it started with wheat because, as a grain more affordable than corn, it is the primary grain product in diets around the world. Due to global adverse growing conditions and low prices, the world was perilously close to not having enough wheat supply to meet the world's demand. After wheat prices rose, corn followed, crude followed and everything went crazy for a period of about 8 months to a year. (For more information about this topic in particular, please refer to the link below for the National Corn Growers Association to see more in depth research.)

History of the Morrill Act
It is also interesting that you claim that agriculture has been decreasing in importance since 1776. In 1862, Abraham Lincoln realized that in order to continue thriving and to support a growing population that the American agriculture industry needed to grow. To make that happen he signed the Morrill Act to create land-grant colleges in every state with the primary purpose of conducting agricultural research and to provide training for those in the industry. The University of Arizona is the Land Grant Institution in Arizona and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences was the first college. As a part of this Land Grant Institution, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and in particularly, a member in the Agriculture and Resource Economics Department, it is a shame that you do not find agriculture important. As for the rest of the students and professors within the College, agriculture and the life sciences are fundamental to the learning and careers of all of us.

Words from the Wise
According to former President John F. Kennedy:
"Our farmers deserve praise, not condemnation; and their efficiency should be cause for gratitude, not something for which they are penalized".

While serving as the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush said:
"Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to our farmers and ranchers for helping to ensure stability in our economy, for providing food products that amply meet all our citizens' needs, and for representing what is best about America. They show the character and values that have made this country strong; values of love and family, faith in God, and respect for nature."

In conclusion, on behalf of 20% of the American workforce who are employed in the food, fiber and natural resource industries, as well as the two million producers across this country, I hope that you will be more careful with the position you hold as a professor shaping young minds. If there is anything this world does not need, it is one more person who does not understand nor appreciate the value of a safe, affordable, and abundant food supply spouting inaccurate statements. Just ask someone who is hungry right now—they will tell you.

Sincerely,

Janette

Sources
National Corn Growers Association: http://www.ncga.com/files/pdf/FoodandFuelPaper10-08.pdf
American Farm Bureau Federation: http://www.fb.org/
Arizona Farm Bureau Federation: http://www.azfb.org/
United States Department of Agriculture: http://www.usda.gov/

Think with all my heart---wait, I mean, mind.

2009-01-29T14:17:00.000-08:00

I ran across someone's blog post about 44 (as in Obama, 44th president), that ended with the following question:
"Why don't we more often elect leaders that we are actually excited about?"

Below is my response:
You posed a question at the end of your blog that I wanted to address, and I'll do so by sharing a story that I learned this summer.

In the 1970's Nicaragua was the most developed country in all of Central America, even more so than their neighbor Costa Rica (who as you obviously already know is now the wealthiest country in the region). However, a new political party, the Sandonistas, came along. The Sandonista leader, Daniel Ortega, promised the poor, uneducated people that he would lift them out of their poverty and create a new, changed, better economy for all the citizens of the country. He certainly created a new and changed economy for the people as he took land from private owners and gave it to his cronies or to various of the poor people and used countless other ineffective "economy building" methods. In a matter of a few years, he turned the clock back on that economy to what it had been 50 years prior, or more according to some people. The country is now the LEAST developed country in the region. He definitely fulfilled his promises of a new, changed country...but better? Hardly.

Fast forward to 2007. The Sandonistas have been out of power for several years. Daniel Ortega has been laying low as various other leaders have worked to repair the damage he had caused the economy. He decides to run for President again. He campaigns to the poverty stricken, uneducated population (please note this portion is now larger than it was the first time he came to power because of his economic "policies"). He promises that he will create a new, changed, better economy that will lift them out of poverty and put them on track to prosperity. The VAST majority of the educated people voted against him, obviously. But because the poverty-stricken portion of the population is larger and bought into his "promises", he was re-elected. The country is, once again, spiraling downward.

And that is why we do not elect our leaders based on how they make us "feel" or whether they are "popular" or whether they have charisma. That is why a vote for President of a country is not a matter of how I feel in my heart, but how it feels in my brain according to the logic and rational processes. Elected leaders have a much, much graver charge than to keep people "happy"---they are charged with providing their constituents with safety, security, and opportunity.

Just one final thought: When I was little I was a picky eater and had a mean sweet tooth. I wanted my mom to serve dessert for supper every night, and I did NOT want to eat all that protein and veggies! Imagine what would have happened to my health had she given me what I wanted so she could be "the cool mom" and make me "feel good". Food for thought.

Blood Pressure Medicine---PLEASE!

2009-01-29T12:25:00.000-08:00

I will never make it through the semester at this rate...thankfully Erin is a willing workout buddy so we've been exercising everyday, though I think I need many more hours than I've been getting of exercise in order to combat the frustration level at times! (I know what you are thinking, CHILL OUT DUDE! I'm almost there...really, I'm so, so close.)

Today I was sitting in my Economic Geography class and we were talking about the value of Natural Resources. The professor is very liberal but he just ALMOST is able to cover it up as he teaches the class and discusses how to handle the management and allocation of natural resources. Today we were talking about how the world's oil supply will only last about 40 more years. Then he put up a slide listing the alternatives: coal, hydro, geothermal, solar, etc. Yet he had a reason for why none of them are sufficient, either because of their pollution levels or their price inefficiency. As I sat listening and taking this all in, my mind reasoned that there are 3 alternatives at this point:

We realize that our environmental standards are unrealistic and we lower them which allows us to use energy that is found here in the US such as coal...which really means that we realize taking care of people is what is most important.
We trust in the free market system and the knowledge that, always in our history, technology has come to the rescue, and we assume that technological advances will enable us to have some type of cheap, abundant energy.
Our economy ceases to function.

I don't claim to be smart on any of this, but as best I can tell these are the only options. This led me to a different train of thought (stay with me, I know I'm sporadic).

Gen 1:28 ...Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.

I just got to thinking that God, in his perfect wisdom and knowledge, would not have told us to "fill the earth" if he had not created the earth to support life on it....even at the earth's full capacity (which we are incapable of knowing what that is or dictating that)! Matthew 6:25-34 tells us that God promises to provide for us. I don't mean to say that we don't have to work hard and be innovative (enter technology, etc.) but there is a fundamental faith that says that I do not need to stay awake at night worrying that oil is scarce because God created this Earth so perfectly that it will support us. ALL of us. Hand in hand with those thoughts are the fundamental differences in a believer and a non-believer's approach to conservation of the environment: as Christians, we believe that we are to be stewards of the land and use it wisely to provide for US, vs. a non-believer who believes we should delete people from the equation altogether so the Earth can sit and look pretty (for who???).

Okay fam, do y'all agree/disagree with that? Maybe I'm just simplistic and slow on the uptake and y'all have already thought of all this nonsense in those terms....

MISSING: Common Sense

2009-01-27T20:07:00.001-08:00

The semester so far has been one filled with debating. Debating to defend the rights of unborn children, the honor of former President George W. Bush....and the latest? Defending against the following statement:

"Agriculture is not important in America and has been of decreasing importance since 1776."
?????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????????????????????

This was the first slide that showed in my natural resource economics class today. Please pick your jaw back up, just as I had to in class. The first thing you need to know about the professor is that he is over-tanned (definitely supporting the Tucson tanning bed industry...ok, maybe that is an assumption...), liberal, AND an environmentalist. Henceforth he will be referred to as OTLE (abbreviations from the previous sentence, get it?). The following is the conversation following the revealing of this slide in class, as best I can remember (though it gets so fuzzy when your blood is boiling, your pits are sweating, and your mind is absolutely reeling!):

OTLE: So, as you can see from this slide, agriculture is of little importance to us as Americans. The total contribution to GDP is minimal. (Turns to hit the button on power point to bring up next point.)

Janette: (Raising my hand but not really waiting to be called on...) I would argue with that statement. While the contribution to GDP might be smaller than other industries, you cannot put a dollar value on what it means to our national security and the basis of our entire economy as well as to the health/nutrition of Americans, all who must eat each day! America produces the world's safest, most abundant, most affordable food supply. In addition, the only reason that the number you are referring to is smaller than it was in 1776 is that with technology, farmers have become more efficient at producing food, so as an American we typically only pay 10% of our disposable income on food, where as in Kenya or other developing nations, they might pay up to 70%.

OTLE: (Writes on the board pretend numbers for Ag contribution to GDP and a higher pretend number for movie industry contribution.) Which number is higher? So, we can conclude that movies are more valuable than food and agriculture here in the US.

Janette: That is a naive statement. At the end of the day, we each must eat, be clothed, and have shelter---all of which comes from agriculture. We can do without being entertained though.

OTLE: Do you have a better measurement then for measuring the importance of the industry?

Janette: Common sense. (Yep, I said it.) Common sense tells us that food is fundamentally more important than movies and you absolutely cannot put a dollar value on that.

I stared him down with a defiant stare that few people besides my mom and dad know I possess....but he got the message and I think he was a bit scared of me after that as he changed the subject. HOWEVER, I am not through with this. Hopefully tomorrow evening or Thursday I will be posting a rough draft of a calm, rational, logical, FACTUAL argument to prove him and his statement wrong. Please keep an eye out for that because I need all my agriculturalists to help me make this good!

My life hangs in the balance though, because I had recently resolved that I want to farm someday. (Don't laugh Jason and Papa!) I don't know where/when/what/how, but I had made up my mind. Today I realized that I might have to spend my life combatting idiots like OTLE instead....though if I do take that path I am CERTAIN I will have high blood pressure soon. Like tomorrow maybe.

Just to stay on the soapbox a bit longer, it is so sad to me that our country that was founded on high-caliber, progressive agriculturalists has become so ignorant of agriculture life/ways/facts that they must question/assume the worst about all agricultural pursuits....if they even see the value in them. It is absolutely appalling to me. Whats worse is that they don't even know what they are missing....appreciation of a safe food supply, knowing the joy of seeing a newborn animal born (after you carefully selected the genetics of its mom and dad!), watching a crop grow from seed to harvest, the pride of a hard days work (and the soreness that comes with:)), the peacefulness that comes from working in the environment God gave us, a deeper understanding of the very principles in our world that God put in place for us, getting to avoid the "birds and the bees" talk with your parents b/c you grew up watching it happen in the pasture, and countless other blessings that I can't even begin to capture here.

Genesis 1: 28

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and SUBDUE it. Rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

So not only do we have an America that is further removed from the facts of farming and agriculture, we have an America that is further removed from God and His will for mankind to live on earth. The second one makes the first one look like small potatoes, so maybe I should conquer the second one with my life's work and inadvertently conquer the first one after that....

Breath of Fresh Air

2009-01-26T20:07:00.000-08:00

Mom in her "element", surrounded by her puppies, calves and ewes...and a gorgeous sunset amongst our mountains!

The newest addition to the Barnard Cattle Company is a sweet little baby who eats ALL the time...Jerry thought if the little guy spent all his time doing that, maybe he better check it out too;)

Nothing more peaceful than the animals at dusk, all fed and chilling, but especially a new momma and baby. The momma has a name (you'll have to ask me if you want to know it!) but the baby still needs one...any ideas Banana???

This is our sweet and lovable little bear, Jerry, who thinks that birds, and all other small animals were made JUST for him to chase!

All those pictures are to show how PEACEFUL, WONDERFUL, and REFRESHING it is to be at home enjoying the beauties of the farm, the animals and the fam....a real breath of fresh air. Its funny how being at home to hang out and work a bit is a reminder that its the small things in life that make it special, like conquering the fork lift (I was a lifting/moving foooool!), mastering the small tractor (blade and front hoodad both!), and pulling calves (okay, I only pulled at it, Jason and Mom did the real work).

All of the blessings of the past few weeks have brought me to this verse:

Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

I hope you also have a wonderful week filled with small blessings and thanksgiving!

Change

2009-01-21T08:47:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a day of change. Change of gargantuous proportion. Change that shakes your world up and gets you all discombulated, like a baby calf being dropped on its head out of the pickup (Not directing that to you at all, Mom...). Let me describe this change for you...

I have been an avid Diet-Pepsi'holic for some time now. But, being blessed with such wonderful roommates (Thank you Brittany b!) who convinced me to quit drinking last February, I did. And I enjoyed a blissful, healthy, caffeine-free period of life throughout the spring...and the summer...then I went to DC and sleep became something to wish upon a star for...so I started drinking again. Then when I was home over Christmas break, I would occasionally have a diet cherry pepsi with my Mom (When in Rome? And I didn't even have to doctor it up like I do the coffee with Nina and Papa!).

This brings me to yesterday. I'd just gone to Economic Geography AND Macroeconomics. Feeling a brain overload, I thought, "well, I'll just have ONE diet pepsi...just this once." Keep in mind, the University of Arizona is a proud Pepsi campus which has always worked great for me! So, I walk to the Student Union (Oh, it feels so good to be a student again!) turn down the hall to find the Pepsi machine and much to my chagrine, I find instead....a COKE Machine. Hmmm...thats odd, no big deal though. I shrug it off and eagerly walk to another building to find a Diet Pepsi (which by this point I am totally craving)...and find another COKE machine. Apparently, some ya-hoo changed my campus from Pepsi Products to Coke. I HATE change.

So, this is a caffeine-free blogger here drinking Crystal Light Peach Mango Green Tea and being (well trying anyway) thankful for change...now if only all the change coming from yesterday could be good for my health:)

Attempted Perspective

2009-01-19T20:48:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is January 20, 2009. I dread it just as much as the next anti-gay marriage, pro-life, pro-agriculture, conservative does. I THINK Obama is inexperienced, has poor policy ideas, and only spouts rhetoric with no real substance....but I KNOW that tomorrow he will become the 44th President of the United States of America: a position that is to revered and respected for the great responsibility and opportunity it holds.

The campaign is over and tomorrow his administration begins. I could continue to bad mouth them and run the aggressive Anti-Obama campaign that I've been running all fall, but here are a few scriptures that suggest I do otherwise:

Romans 13:1-2 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
Romans 13:5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible pubishment, but also because of conscience.

It appears that all we can do now is pray that the new leader of our country will seek wisdom from God, approval ratings based only on his own conscience, and fight for justice and freedom.

We've been blessed to be led the past several years by a leader who made decisions in a long term manner, and also despite approval ratings---not because of them. President Bush and Laura have been examples of intestinal fortitude, morality, and faith. As much as I'd like "4 more years", its like Mama always says, "You got the same shoes to get glad!" Hence the attempted perspective...

So even though it will be a while before I name any sheep after anyone in this Administration, here's to each of us doing our part in sincerely praying for the new leader of our country and submitting to the authority set in place by God.

December gallavanting, friends, and family fun:)

2009-01-09T18:50:00.000-08:00

I think the next generation is learning all the important things in life: mountains are beautiful, the field is the best photo place, horses are fun to ride, hunting is good, and siblings are your best friends ever.

Sister/niece time is just too special...especially in the Stronghold! Our Neenie is quite the little mountain goat, so she made sure A and I tried our best to be too...we were trying so hard to keep up w/ Neenie until she skinned her knee all up, then we decided we might not need to follow EVERY step she took:) Our hunter/shooter men/women...don't they look rough??

Hillbilly or not, we had fun in the back of that pickup going to check Mom's cows:)

I love being home!!!!!! The picture doesn't even BEGIN to capture the beauty of the rainbow---God is such a good artist:)

Some of my favorite, best, most encouraging, wise friends ever:) I am so blessed!

Almost Done...

2009-01-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

Does this need any explanation at all???? Caught in the act of mischieviousness:)

Meet Mary, holding Baby Jesus...we could combine Bible stories and say that as the animals walked 2 by 2 to the Ark they stopped in Crandall to see Baby Jesus. Even the animals of the sea came...:)

Oh R, he just decided HE should be in the manger instead of Baby Jesus...then he said "Baby Jesus bobo...eeweeee!" Oh my.....

I'll stop soon....

2009-01-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

Oh also on Thanksgiving my friends Shannon, Stefanie, Karen and I ran 5 kilometers in a "Turkey Trot" race in DC. The course ran alongside the Potomac and near the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument. Phenomonal!! (But as much as I'd like to lead you on, I can't let anyone believe that just b/c I ran in a 5k that I stayed in shape while I was in DC....)

This was when I was in Texas and got to spend the day with R...first we went and had lunch at school with A, and then R and I went to Jen's class. Jen was getting on to her students for not paying attention and doing their worksheet and for not working...so R crawled in the desk with his book and said "I working!"

Sonic never tasted so good as in our special treat of enjoying lunch at school together...how special to see A in her big girl element of kindergarten:) Though I felt like I was being a good aunt, I know R didn't like it too much when I pretended we were out of ketchup just so I didn't have to help him put it on his corn dog...I blame you, Uncle Jason, for that!!! ;)

Uncle Jason and R at Mema and Grampa's house....if R (and Jason) looks extremely happy, its b/c he is!!! They had so much fun playing! Though our reason for gathering together was not happy, it was so special for so much of our family to be together and to be reminded how blessed we are by the relationship of family.

We love our Mema so much!

Still Going....

2009-01-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

This is the sweet family from church who took in a stray puppy from Arizona for Thanksgiving and made me feel as welcome as could be! They are from Oklahoma, so their accents made me feel awfully close to home:)

Leigh, Patrick, and I...and Pumpkin, the Official Thanksgiving Turkey that was pardoned by President Bush. This was taken before his looooooooong, fiiiiiinal ride...no, not to the slaughter house! To Disneyland to live out the rest of his life in the lap of luxury...Jen, you think your kids' turkeys are aspiring to be Pumpkin when they grow up??? ;)

This was the Curry FFA reunion in Indy with cousins Heath and Jessie and Ronnie James...I really do love that FFA has such roots in several branches of the family tree and that it is continuing to do so!

ADORABLE houses behind the Capitol....do I need to say anything else? (Other than I want to clarify that these homes are for LOOKING----NOT for living, b/c they are entirely too close!)

Meet Barney, President Bush's dog! Cool, huh?

2009-01-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

Two of my favorite people in the whole world!!! Kendra from CA and Banana from AZ after a fun morning of shopping and eating at Eastern Market.

We thought we were oh so cool at the RNC Party in DC...despite the dismal end to the evening, we tried to be joyful, but such great company made it easy:)

Coty, Whitney, and I went back in time to the location of the Battle of Gettysburg, in Gettysburg, PA. There is a driving tour of the battlefield and then a cheesy museum to follow (complete with a wax/plastic Abraham Lincoln that rose from the floor and then delivered Gettysburg Address)! This was a tower that we found where we could look out and see all kinds of farms...awesomeness. Oh and P.S. I am sooo going to miss my "One Tree Hill" club buddies! Any newcomers want to join the club?

Don't look at my arms in this picture, but these were my fellow West Wing Tourists after we had completed our tour of the West Wing...that is the Oval Office over Candice shoulder to the right. This was during a fun, fUN, FUN weekend of sight-seeing and special visitors!

I just love this picture of such an important building...and with the beautiful fall leaves, so beautiful! That was honestly one of my favorite things about living in DC was just the gorgeous leaves all throughout October-November...somehow this desert-rat missed the whole leave change thing growing up:)

More Catch Up

2009-01-09T07:28:00.000-08:00

Halloween in our building is not child's play...it is serious business! The goal is to create a "buzz" about your decorations so the BIG dogs want to come by...the First Lady's Chief of Staff brought her daughter's by...twice! I suppose our mission was accomplished:)

This is our crew in front of the entrance to the "Haunted Hospital"...don't we look spooky? We definitely toned down everything for the little ones, but we did get a reputation as the scary office...Tim and Joe finally gave up because they were "tired of making little girls in princess dresses cry".

Most of my team at our wonderful reunion at National Convention! It was soooo fun to be together again....

This is the White House after Mrs. Bush lit it up pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month...beautiful or what???

This is me in front of the White House that same night, waiting for Mrs. Bush to speak....and she was amazing, of course!

Sorry for the sporadic-ness of the blog...I've got several months to catch up on:)

Welcome Back to me!!

2009-01-08T15:14:00.001-08:00

The Olympians at the White House with President Bush, Laura Bush, and me! Well, just MAYBE Michael Phelps didn't come to see me...:)

My wonderful Aggie roomies! Michelle, Kelli, Sarah, Emily, Ide, and Liz...Gig 'Em!

Brittany was the first of my DC visitors...this is us and the Potomac...can't you just picture George Washington behind us?

My camera died after I took this pic, so I captured G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian, instead of President Bush who spoke just a few moments later.

Jake, Leigh, Sarah, Kendra and I after breakfast at Old Ebbitt's following a WONDERFUL morning of leading Gold Star Families through the East Wing...a real honor.

More pics and stories are to follow, but I've got to run...I'm just so happy to be back in the blogging world...aka the Barnard Family lifeline!

Happy Birthdaversary!

2008-08-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

August 13th was a big day in Cochise as Candice celebrated her b-day and Mom and Dad celebrated 35 years of marriage...wow! I decided the appropriate celebration tool was a surprise cake...decorated by yours truly....complete with John Deere trimmings. I did not want to exclude either celebration so the obvious solution was to combine them:)

Unfortunately, I stink about surprises, especially ones I am really excited about and so I ended up spilling the beans to both Mom and Candice about what I was planning to do...I ended up decorating the cake at Candice's house and receiving top-notch coaching. We had so much fun!! (And she even pretended to be a bit surprised at the offical revealing!)

Pride may be a sin, but I was absolutely filled to the brim with it as Nina and Papa and Mom and Dad and Jason and Candice and I sang "Happy Birthdaversary to y'all" sitting at my first official (almost) decorated by myself cake. Now THAT is a milestone in a young girl's life:)

Woohoo for Pics too!

2008-08-15T21:40:00.001-07:00

At the big Pedicure Party, R was "helping"...
We were sooo proud of ourselves! That particular chunk of cake may look like hodge-podge icing to you but it was a masterpiece for A and I!
The cupcakes themselves!!
A looks so grown up riding that horse! I think she could give Euphemia Texas Ashby King (from our fav book "True Women") a run for her money....
Really? Does this really need an explanation? This is the face of the boy making the sound that I don't know how to spell:) Or he might have been saying "che-che-che" since A was the one taking the photo...only for her would he be a ham for the camera!

A WONDERFUL time...everywhere!

2008-08-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

So when I left Nicaragua, I left behind my good blogging habits...but I am back on board now:)

In order to avoid a true Janette-style (ridiculously long) blog, I am going to bullet the highlights of my time since I landed on good ol' US of A soil.

-Kacy's wedding: Jamie, Jenn, Coty, Beau and I had a blast being Kacy's cheerleaders as she and Zack were married. It was quite the reunion and although Vegas isn't really my favorite city, we just so enjoyed each other...not to mention, Kacy really was the prettiest bride ever and her and Zack seemed incredibly happy...what more could we ask for??

-HOME! Who knew Cochise, Arizona was so pretty??? I had forgotten what my mountains, alfalfa (sorry Jason and Candice..not yours, mine...j/k), sheep and family all looked like. Oh and of course Cocoa. I have gotten to spend fun time with Nicolette and the kiddoes, the Grandils, and my Anna G...and several more people are on my list before I leave; but these are pretty key ones:)

-Andrea's Wedding: My mom and I enjoyed some quality time on a road trip to TX to meet up w/ Jen, Neen, and A for a "girls slumber party" as A called it and then to go see the whole crew in Oklahoma at the wedding....we always love our time with our Okie cousins, but getting to play together at the wedding, then swim at the house, and then go eat supper together was all just EXTRA special time. The only bad thing was that it really made me feel old! We are so, so lucky to have sooo many fun people in that crew to spend time with and just enjoy...literally from young to old and everywhere in between:) Oh, and Erika and I are planning to go to Egypt, Morocco and wherever else our parents will let us go...woohoo for my new travel buddy!!!

-Week in Texas: Seeing Neenie, Mom, Jen, and the kids was super fun for the weekend and then I loved also getting to spend time w/ Jen and R and A. There is just something so cool about extended time with people and getting to incorporate yourself into their lives and just do everything together. Plus R and A are just the cutest, funnest kids ever...its true! Although R only said Nette-Nette a few times and usually called me Mimi, he also spent the week looking out the front window and "spying on the neighbors", trying to "po" (mow?), and walk around making a noise that I don't know how to spell but sounds like a weed eater...with everything he could get his hands on! But perhaps my favorite was when he walked around saying "go, gO, GO!"....he even woke us up yelling that from his crib one morning:)
A continues to mature entirely too quickly and to be incredibly grown-up and fun. We especially enjoyed our pedicure party (yep, she did my toenails....!) and our cupcake decorating party and the swimming and the shopping and seeing her ride her horse and especially everything else we got to do....aka we enjoyed it all:)
Jennifer and I had great sister time...I have recently come to realize just how special a sister is and what a very, very cool friendship that ALL my sisters and I are blessed with!

-Michigan: I went to Michigan for a scholarship I was very blessed to get and met some of the nicest fertilizer salesmen ever at the conference. The main guy I visited with was the father of 9 kids, a former chef, and a humble but devout Christian. My favorite "nugget" from him was this: "None of us are equipped to deal with life and all its pressures on our own. The ONLY way we can do so gracefully is by the grace of God." Cool, huh? There were several people there who knew Jason/Papa/Ed which was fun too...though lets be honest, I felt entirely uneducated as we walked through the research farm looking at all the fertilizer experiments on crops. After staying awake for 22.5 hours I even made it home!

Una Sorpresa!

2008-07-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

I needed to meet with Roger to review my presentation, so I went to his office. He told me we needed to go next door so that we could use the big screen...we walked next door and the room was dark...and they turned on the lights...and everyone was there with balloons and food and music and smiles and hugs for me! It was soooo sweet of them all and I just was feeling really overwhelmed with thankfulness for these great people and for my time with them...serious warm fuzzy moment. Oh, and they had a white board where they had written some sweet thoughts and then something about Janette: more Nica than maduro and gallo pinto! They are amazing....

Mi Final Pensamientos

2008-07-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

My last day at work…I am sitting here trying to brush up a few changes for a follow up meeting with Roger, but mostly I am just thinking about the summer and how great it has been. The end of really great experiences tends to make me pretty reflective, so I suppose I will share with y’all. The list’er in me is coming out strong, so bare (bear?) with me!

Misc. Learnings/ “Aha” Moments:
New appreciation for Latin America, but especially for understanding a new culture
New patience for people in the US who are trying to learn English…trying is what counts!
New commitment to be welcoming to “new” people in any situation
New level of thankfulness for my amazing family, opportunity, and especially education
True trust in God and knowing that the song “He Leadeth Me” is so right!
Renewed love for the fact that there are really, really good people everywhere…
I am sooo tough enough to live alone, as long as I have a few door alarms…
Life is all about experiencing new things…whether culture, job, people, whatever
Experiences just take our little brains and pull them like pizza dough in every directions which means we end up MUCH more open minded on some things….
But new experiences also confirm us or solidify us in some beliefs/opinions
Confirmation of my belief in capitalism and a free market society

What I will miss the most about Nicaragua:
Saying “Buenos Dias!” every morning to thousands of people at work
The people at work…
Having Spanish “classes” everywhere…literally everywhere…
Driving in Managua where I have learned that honking is always appropriate and to look out for the horse carts…oh, and that lanes, stop signs, stop lights and most other forms of traffic regulations are mere suggestions…look out USA! (Oh, and horse carts are quite economical…one day I saw someone “fueling” up their horse at a grassy median while waiting for the light to change…cool, huh?)
The people at work…
Utter deliciousness in the form of fresh juices and fruits at all meals of the day…plus the anticipation of finding a new fruit somewhere!
Queso frito, gigantic aquacates, gallo pinto, maduro frito…ok, just all the food I will miss (Look out Cochise family though, b/c I am bringing home a pound of cheese and some recipes so y’all can experience Nicaragua a bit!)
My newly acquired pina addiction…
Subtitles on my favorite TV shows…especially Friends
Paying in Cordobas…and paying Nica prices
The kissing greetings, which I am still super awkward with…(ok, maybe that goes on the things I won’t miss list! lol)
Javier, Ruth, Mariana, Veronica, Melisa, Benjamin, Roger, Leonardo, Luis, Felipe, Norma, Silema, and everyone else at work…
The cute waiter at Casa de Café…
The cute waiter at my Fritanga…
Practicing Spanish…
Practicing Spanish with the cute waiters… (okay, I am just kidding…I just threw that in there for Jason and Dad!)
All the cute little pueblos
The beautiful scenery and greenness and my volcanoes!
Driving on roads with no street signs…(wait, maybe that goes on the “Not Miss” list also…)
The challenge and newness of living in a place where literally everything (except the Pizza Hut near my house) is foreign
The VIP movie theater with the La-Z-Boy seats and waiters in the theater
The diverse agriculture everywhere in this country
A certain granjero I met named Oscar…wink, wink
Did I mention the people at work?

The Few Things I won’t Miss List:
Being stared as the Gringa…. sometimes gawked at
The feeling of never really knowing if I am saying something I shouldn’t be
Motorcycle drivers who are insaaaane
Temperatures in Celsius and distances in Kilometers…it takes me forever to figure out how cold I want to be or how far I need to go!
Seeing poverty on a daily basis and knowing the government isn’t doing anything to fix it….it is so sad.
Driving only 40 mph max…look out I-10!
The jacked up police system and cops who pull over gringas…
Humidity! Bring on the sunshine Baby!

All in all, I am so, so, so thankful to have come here to Nicaragua and I now have a special place in my heart for this unique, rustic, culturally rich country where people have been so kind to me and where I have hopefully developed perspectives and opinions that will make me a kinder, more patient, more living, and better person in the future. I think that some experiences you don't really realize what you've learned until you have stepped away from them, so I am intrigued to continue learning what I learned...wow, that was confusing and its even in English!

In the spirit of not being toooo sappy (ok, I know I am way past that now…) I am sitting here looking at my dried coconut monkey on my desk that says “Soy Nica”…and I am loving it! Something about a Nica monkey is just so funny to me…:) And I am really getting excited to see everyone (some people?) on Sunday!!!!

The Costa Rican Scoop!

2008-07-22T09:57:00.001-07:00

I must apologize in advance...this blog is only for the die-hard readers because I am at work with nothing to do today so I got a bit carried away in my blogging....

To add another country to our “countries visited lists”, to be beach bums for a bit, and to find some fun adventures where our main objectives in visiting Costa Rica and all of them were officially accomplished!

Our “weekend” started Thursday evening when Amanda and I went to dinner with Ruth and Eduardo to an Italian restaurant. This was eventful for a couple of reasons. First, just because hanging out with Ruth and Eduardo is allllways super fun and second, because the restaurant we went to had menus that were literally probably 75 pages long…I have never been so overwhelmed about ordering food in all my life! However, it was delicious and thus worth all the pre-ordering work. After that we went and hung out with Roger for a bit since we hadn’t been able to see him all week….honestly, hanging out with Argentinians just never gets old:)

Friday morning we were going to peace out at 5:30 am but woke up to a true Nica style thunderstorm with iiiiinnnnsannneeely heavy rain and thunder. After sleeping a bit more and partaking in breakfast at Casa de Café (that place never gets old…especially since the waiters know me!) we headed for the border. Our plan at that point was to get to Costa Rica…somehow…not exactly sure of the specifics but somehow come hell or high water we were going to get there. I like to say that Amanda is a “travel bulldog” which is a most endearing trait I must add! I hope to be a travel bulldog myself one day. Anyway, we drove to Penas Blancas which is the border town between Nicaragua and Costa Rica…being a border town means dirty, gross, dirty…did I mention dirty? We parked my car at the Dollar car rental there and hoofed it across the border to rent a car on the CR side because rental cars cant cross country lines for some reason. Anyway, we met a nice dude at the car rental place on the other side of the border (After getting another stamp in my passport…wohoo!) but he didn’t have any cars. Plan B: we took a cab to Liberia with this young driver who was super nice and obsessed with my name (yep, he said Gee-nay!) and I think that someday there will be a small Costa Rican child running around with my name…well, sort of my name anyway:) We had driven about 20 km from the border when we were stopped at a little check station only to learn that we had somehow missed the place on the Costa Rican side of the border where we were supposed to get our stamps….oy vey! :)So our nice cab driver drove us alllll the way back to the border for our second attempt at legal entry into the country.

We finally made it to Liberia where we rented a Toyota Peuget (yeah…what a terrible name, huh? Oh and it was a stick so Amanda took over the captain’ing of the car) and headed East for Playa Coco and the beginning of our adventures! The highlights from Coco were a delicious restaurant where I had amazing fruit punch (please don’t be thinking High-C right now, think after I ordered it they went back and juiced some fresh fruits…delicious!!), also a nice Columbian man’s jewelry stand where Amanda went CRAZYYYY shopping and I found some fun souvenirs for some sisters I know. BUT the best thing we found of all, was a little gelato store that someone recommended….move over BlueBell, Coldstone, 31 Flavors because the best ice cream ever is in Costa Rica! Nina, your lemon and cherry nut ice cream is still better but I think I will need to compare when I get home…:)

After Playa Coco we drove to Tamarindo which is the primary beach city and is soooo touristy and States’ish it isn’t even funny…there are so many gringos running around…for some reason, most of them didn’t appear to have bathed during their time in Costa Rica….ew. Anyway, we got a hotel, went swimming, and went to bed early since we were both worn out from our long, wonderful day…though we were both super proud of ourselves for traveling accomplishments thus far!

Saturday morning we woke up early and enjoyed the beach while it was just us and the surfers since the rest of the world was still asleep and missing out on the beautiful morning on the beach. After breakfast at restaurant right on the beach, we just shopped and walked around Tamarindo a bit. Oh, Mom and Nina, I took tons of pictures in Costa Rica of all the beautiful flowers for y’all!

After a calm morning, we were needing some adventure so we took off in our little Peuget for some random beaches (after asking our friend from the hotel for where we should go and she hooked us up with some great maps! I love locals!). The best ones we visited were Playa de Piratas where the water was just amazing to watch since the waves were just angry looking. I have never, ever seen a beach like this or waves like this! One minute we were standing there and the water was at our ankles and the next minute it was at our necks…way, way creepy! The rain forced back into the car and we took off for the next beach, Playa Conchal where LITERALLY the sand is not sand at all, but small pieces of sea shells. The picture in the last post of the foot in the seashells is at Conchal. Talk about unique and beautiful! BUT the coolest part of all, was that there was a place to rent snorkeling gear for pretty cheap…so of course we jumped on that (snorkeling has been on my life to do list for a LONG time!). For about an hour we floated at the top of the water looking down onto a reef and the seashell sand and several schools of small shiny fish…we didn’t see anything too exciting but we definitely saw some fish action. I loved it! Now, remember how I said that the ice cream in Coco was the best ever? Well, as we were leaving Conchal we saw a sign for the same ice cream place about 10 minutes up the road…so we took off for that excited to tear up some more ice cream (vacation, remember? Don’t judge me…) only to find a muddy dirt road. Now, we were fine until we came to a point in the road where literally there was a river running through the middle for about 100 meters before the ice cream store (Oh, by the way EVERYTHING in Central America is about 100 meters away when receiving directions:)). Just know that were this ice cream only mediocre we would have turned around and given up…but oh no, we just buckled up, grabbed the handlebars in the car, started praying, and made that little Toyota Pueget show what it was made of! Somehow we made it through and lets just say that ice cream tastes even better when you can say that you literally forded a river to get it…lol

Back in Tamarindo we went to dinner and just tooled around town a bit, but we went to bed early again because Sunday morning we woke up at 5:30 am so that we could be at the ocean by 6 am to meet Nobel and the beginning of our fishing excursion on the ocean! We found a guy who made us a good deal on 6 hours fishing on the ocean….not to be picky though, but this did NOT turn out to be fishing. Sitting on a boat while there are 4 lines trailing behind us with bait on them where the capitan does all the baiting and everything is NOT fishing in my book….but nonetheless, it was cool that Amanda and I each got to reel in a fish. Hers was a tuna and mine was a mahi-mahi. I didn’t feel too much ownership, but I did enjoy it. The fishing may not have been that great, but the boating was amazing! The waves were soft and rolling, the sun wasn’t too bright under the shade of our boat, the dolphins were jumping everywhere putting on shows for us and Nobel the capitan was super fun. The dolphins were really, really fun to watch and keep an eye out for because we saw them sporadically throughout the whole day, but the best part was when we saw 2 tortugas (turtles) in the middle of the ocean. They were hanging onto each other and I told Amanda I thought it was funny that they floated together like that…she looked at me with a look that said “I don’t think they are just floating together right now..bless your heart” and then it was confirmed when our capitan said “Oh, happy turtles!”….so on our trip to Costa Rica we learned that July 20th is part of the tortuga mating season....the picture in the previous blog is of the random mating Tortugas in the middle of the ocean. Immature? Definitely. Hilarious anyway? Obvio! (obviously) Another random immature thing from the morning: in our small’ish boat there was no bathroom….for 6 hours….so lets just say that I have a great memory in mind of tinkling in a bucket…on a boat….right behind the capitan…in the middle of the ocean…in Costa Rica…in Spanish…now THAT just brings a smile to my face!

The coolest part of the “fishing” was when we took our newly caught filets to a restaurant just a few feet from the water and they cooked it for us….mmmmmmm! After our amazing lunch, we hightailed it out of town and to the border and back to Nicaragua without any incidents, thankfully. Although I loved Costa Rica, there was something reassuring and comforting and familiar about being back in Nicaragua. Luckily also, we made it back in time to take Amanda to my favorite pineapple selling stand on the side of my favorite road for my last fresh coco in Nicaragua…it was actually a super sad moment….

Yesterday at work was my meeting with Roger and Javier to review all my work and my final recommendations for our brands from what I did this summer. I felt pretty good about it, so I was thankful for that and I had a good visit with Javier during my evaluation…I think I am a big nerd because I love evaluations especially from good people analyzers like Javier. However, Javier, Ruth, and Mariana (3 of my FAVORITE people here!) all left yesterday afternoon for a week in Guatemala which meant I had to tell them good-bye for good….lets just say this was one sad, sad gringita to see my new friends go….

Last night Amanda and I worked on packing, which is code for admiring all of our souvenirs for ourselves and everyone else…we both got some cool stuff for sure! Her last meal in Nicaragua was at my favorite “fritanga” where I have a waiter friend (I think that is a sign of frequenting a restaurant too much…then again, I am pretty recognizable here…how many gringas go into the fritangas here?) and we enjoyed all of our favorite Nica foods…oh there are many… I dropped off my Central America travel buddy at the airport this morning and once again I was counting my blessings for the really good friends I have. How lucky am I to have had 3 super special visitors here in NI!??!?!

I dont have much work over the next few days, but I have lots of random wrap up thoughts so I know I will be blogging more...get excited;)

A few more...Hope they are as fun to look at as they were in the moment!!

2008-07-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

Costa Rica! Explanations coming tomorrow...

2008-07-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

Just some stuff from Nicaragua

2008-07-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

This week I have been working with Javier and really winding down everything at work as I prepare for my final meeting with Roger on Monday. I am enjoying this part as I am getting feedback on my work and getting to learn a lot more right now. Just so everyone knows, I am definitely feeling the possibility of living in Central America or South America after I graduate from college so that I can continue learning Spanish. I know that idea might take some getting used to for some people, so I just wanted to throw it out there. Of course, those of you who know me well at all also know that my plan could change 2000 kabillion times between now and thenJ

Anyway, Amanda and I have had a relaxing week thus far as I have shown her more local cuisine, work friends, and the city of Granada. She says it is really similar to Antigua, Guatemala, which makes me feel like I’ve seen more of Central America than I really have…silly as that may be! Last night when we were there I wanted to buy some Nica candy to bring home (especially cajete de leche which is ricisimo!) and Amanda and I ended up stumbling upon a little place called “El Miel” which was in a cute little old lady’s home. She had so many different candies of all kinds that she had made herself and being a good little old lady, she let us taste a ton of themJ We had so much fun visiting with her…and tasting the candy of course! I just LOVE culture like that and nice, sweet people like that.

I have had a couple of particularly fun Spanish/Spanglish moments this week that I need to share. First of all, everyone knows I am about to leave so Project “Teach the Gringa Spanish” is in a tizzy at work! Every day when I go to the bathroom, I end up having a mini Spanish class there with a new friend. So yesterday when I walked into the bathroom I saw one of my friends I don’t know very well and asked her a question. She responded in Spanish (normal)…only she was brushing her teeth (not normal)…let’s just say that I do good to understand Spanish on its own, but when it is mixed with a mouthful of toothpaste and spit…not happening! Luckily she realized that and delivered my Spanish lesson sin toothpaste. lol Also, there was something I was having a hard time logically thinking through at work and so at the top of a document I was reviewing with Javier I had written “oy ve!”. Javier saw that and laughed…I laughed too because I thought he was laughing at my Spanish…wrong. He said, “What is that?” I said, “What do you mean what is that? It is Spanish for “oh my”, right?” He laughed so hard and said he had never heard of that phrase in his whole life….oh my, I am so scarred by my life at the border, Taco Bell, and the Spanglish speaking Latinos in Southern AZ. I mean that in a completely politically correct way!

I wanted to share 2 memory verses I am working on right now, both on learning them and learning to live them…
Proverbs 14:22
…But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.

Ephesians 4:2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Pictures

2008-07-14T19:38:00.001-07:00

Mi Nombre

2008-07-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

Oh I keep forgetting this, but it is one of my favorite things about Latin America...the way the say my name...well, attempt to say my name is more accurate:)

Here is a typical first conversation...
Otro persona: Hola, mucho gusto! Como te llama?
Mi: Igual, mucho gusto! Me llama es Janette.
Otro persona (now with a very, very confused look on their face): Eh...como?
Mi: (now with a very, very amused look on my face): JA-NETTE
Otro persona (still confused): Geenuh?
Mi (still amused): Ja-Ne-TTe
Otro persona: Ah...Geenah!
Mi: Sure:)

Hehe, I love it:)

Tranquilo Encanto

2008-07-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

Picture the calm, blue horizon stretching out from rocky bluffs mixed in with smooth sand in front of a cute little pueblo (town) with colorful Nicaraguan style buildings/houses. Imagine seeing all that view while sitting in a pool on a hill in the midst of a beautiful resort called Pelican Eyes….and welcome to our weekend in San Juan del Sur.

At about noon on Friday, Amanda, Roger, Diego (from Costa Rica but originally from Argentina also) and I headed south for our big weekend trip to San Juan, which is the most popular tourist attraction in Nicaragua that everyone has told me about forever now. Of course, nothing gets better than a good road trip with some Argentines jamming out to some Spanish music!

Our hotel was actually a really cool “house” with 2 bedrooms, bathrooms a kitchen, a great porch view and tons of stairs up the hill to get there…so you definitely enjoyed it after you worked so hard to get up there! It was literally just gorgeous though. One of the highlights was the swimming pool and spending time there, just chilling out and relaxing all cool and swimming inside the pool…hehe, I know I am so funny:) I capitalized on the free time to actually get some swimming exercise which felt amazing, and even better to read a book about a ranch in New Mexico…when Roger and Diego asked me about it, they had a terrible time understanding the point of a book about a life on a ranch. But let me assure you I enjoyed it!

We tooled around the “city” a bit and just relaxed and had soooooo much fun together. Seriously, Roger, Diego, and Amanda are all just so fun and we really had the best time. And just to help you understand Argentinians a bit better, here is what Roger gave me as financial advice: “Buy an Argentinian for what he is worth, and sell him for what he thinks he is worth…you will make millions!” Anyway, they were great tutors and worked to further my Espanol, though Amanda’s main advice is to get a Latino boyfriend….hmmmm.

The beach in San Juan was nice to look at from our swimming pool at the hotel, but it wasn’t that great of a beach for playing in so we drove about 30 minutes on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere to get to another beach….but seek and ye shall find because we landed at an amazing beach! There were a few other people but no buildings really, just beach, trees and rocks. It was gorgeous! At one point, Amanda and I had wandered off walking on the beach. I was standing in the water and she was about 20 feet away next to the trees…all of a sudden we heard a loud “grwwwmmm” from a Howler monkey who remained hidden but certainly let us know he was there. Definitely a first for me!

We got back about six yesterday afternoon and then I took Amanda to my favorite Nica restaurant which she loved…I have to admit I felt a bit of pride that she liked “our” food:)

2 Corinthians 12:11
I may be a fool, but you drove me to it.
Heheh…:)

But for real:
Ephesians 6:10
Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Un loco fin de semana!

2008-07-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon I took off from work as early as I could get away with, went to pick up Laura, and we set off for her first real adventure in Central America! We drove to Didiamba, the town about 30 minutes from Managua, because the road over there is one of the prettiest in all of Nicaragua because there are so many hills, pueblos, and pina farms. After driving and seeing the cuteness of the town, we stopped at my favorite vendedor de pinas (pineapple seller) so that we could each enjoy Agua del Coco while sitting on the cute bamboo porch swings and talking with each other and the sweet family who owned the fruit stand…of course, we also purchased some pinas to support my new addiction….

Friday evening we hung out with Ruth and Eduardo at the mall for a bit and then went and saw a movie called La Misma Luna which was a really sad story about a family crossing the border, but it was a really good movie…especially since the whole thing was in Spanish and it only cost $2 to get in.

Saturday morning we started out by going to Casa de Café for breakfast…delicious breakfast…mi favorite desayuno en todo Nicaragua! Then we headed to Mombocho (the big volcano here) to hike around. Nothing too eventful happened during the hike, we just really enjoyed the view and the cool weather and the beauty of it all. Then came the canopy tour…and the eventfulness. It started out when I recognized two of the same tour guides as when I went before…I was being friendly I suppose and just was excited that they recognized me. However, I think it might be a bit more awkward for someone you “know” to strap a harness all up on your hiny than a stranger…anyway, we started the tour. Laura and I loved it! We were with a few other people who were pretty scared, so they kept calling us las campeonas (the champions). After about 3 cables I asked one of the guys if there were any monkeys there…he said of course there were, and he pointed them out to us a ways down. So cool! Then he offered to take pictures of them, so he took off on the cables and when we caught up with him, he had a full on National Geographic worthy 3 minute video on my camera of 5 Howler monkeys and even a baby playing in the trees! I was so pumped, I could have kissed him! Which leads to the rest of the excitement…on one of the cables they offered to go with us “Superman” style which means you are “flying” and the rope comes from your back instead of your front…and you go with a guide holding your legs….yes, it is definitely as awkward as it sounds, and I realized it after I was strapped in with the same guy as last time. Oh my, I tried so hard to fly fast down that cable! We got to the end and Romney, that is his name, was complementing my canopy touring abilities…and then ever so smoothly asked for my phone number….eek! I tried to play off that I was new here and couldn’t remember my number, however there was a definite awkward moment as I realized that he realized that I was so not being completely truthful…so then I just took off on the canopy again and hoped he wouldn’t push me off or something. AWKWARD! Of course, my incredible ability to make situations like that even more awkward than they already are really came in handy that afternoon…. Don’t think Laura was left out though, because she definitely had her own friend she was trying to stay away from…oh to be popular…and a gringa….

After Mombocho, we went to Catarina which is the town overlooking a lake. We walked through some viveros (nurseries) and then bought some Nica candy from a sweet little gramma at her little table. We ate dinner right over the lake and after we had eaten and our waiter was standing there taking our plates, he leaned over Laura’s part of the table to pick up several pieces of rice….with my newly acquired mastery of the Spanish language, I proudly initiated small talk by saying, “Ella es muy sucia!” Again…awkward moment as I realized that I just proudly declared to this man that my friend is very dirty.... The awkward moment lasted as I suddenly realized what I had just said, as Laura tried not to laugh, and as the man continued to clean up her rice mess…oh my! That night we went to the mall and just hung out for a while. It was such a good day!

The highlights of Sunday started when Laura and I created our very own Centro America fruit buffet for breakfast with fresh pina, pitahya, guava (which is really funny to eat because you crack open a big green pod and then eat the white fuzzy part surrounding the seeds) and also a mamba-jamba aguacate (avocado)….sooo good! Then we went to the Mercado Artisania in Masaya to buy souvenirs, etc. Oh, the best part is that I had no idea where I was going when we entered Masaya but after stopping and asking about 5 people for directions we made it:) When we first arrived, there was suddenly about 5 teenage boys trying to direct us where to park…very overwhelming as they also wanted to be our tour guides for the market. We politely declined and escaped. After a few hours of shopping around, we returned to the car and I held out my 10 cordobas to tip them (for a whole lot of nothing!) and one of the several guys by my car said, “oh, its nothing”…I thought, wow that is so nice of him! Then he scowled and said, “that is nothing…$5 to watch your car” At that moment I was just so overwhelmed with all the strange people by my car and his odd reaction that I just gave him $5 like a big dodo…but after we got in the car I gave him a really, really dirty look. Take that strange boys trying to scam the gringas!

Granada was our next visit where Laura and I just tooled the streets and enjoying the beauty and serenity of the old colonial town, as well as the cool drizzle as a storm moved in. After walking around for a while and going in a few of the old Catholic Cathedrals, we went and ate supper at the best ever El Zaguan. We were walking to my car after that and it was a bit dark and rainy….my car was on the right side of the road and we noticed a man sitting on some steps on the left. He was talking to himself, which really isn’t uncommon here for the homeless people so I was just ignoring him. We got almost to the car and he started saying, well, some things that he shouldn't have....and so we RAN to the car even though he hadn’t moved an inch. Once in the car Laura translated most of what he had said to us (which I had thought was to himself) and it was sooo not blog appropriate! Picture Laura and I hightailing it out of Granada laughing at the crude man with panicking hearts a bit creeped out by the weirdo…it really was funny. Then that night we went and hung out with Roger and Ligia and watched movies…super low-key evening, but very fun!

I just need to mention here that all this driving during the weekend was done…by me! Other than needing to ask for directions in Masaya, I got everywhere else just on my own…I don’t know if you can appreciate how big of a deal that is…but let me remind you: there are NO street signs…it’s a big deal, trust me:) Also another random thing is that Laura has really commented on my bug collection in my house…I suppose I have just come to terms with the fact that I don’t live alone, I live with about 15 different species of 4-400 legged creatures who just want a dry place to live…and are completely resistant to Raid. The great thing is that I really had sort of stopped noticing…soy Nica!

Monday Laura got stuck at Casa de Café for about 10 hours as I couldn’t get away from work at lunch…bad for Laura, but more really good time meeting with Javier and learning from him. As I wind down my project, I am just learning more and more although most of my learning is coming from my ignorance. Sometimes I just feel so dumb, but it is the good kind of dumb that precedes a lot of learning…and I am totally okay with that. Last night we went to Mi Viejo Ranchito for supper and hang out time and then to the VIP movie theater where we paid $6 each to sit in a La-Z-Boy recliner and watch Hancock…that is high living my friends!

Not sure yet what our plans are tonight, but we have got to show Laura as much Nicaragua as possible since she leaves tomorrow…we have had such a great time enjoying Central America this week and I have been learning so much from all her experiences with her Spanish classes and Latin American interests. All weekend we had such a blast testing our Spanish with various people and of course, listening to my disco compacto full of Espanol muscia. Best of all, we have plenty of random stories from the week…which we love!

Here is the memory verse:
Galatians 6:4
Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.

Feliz Cuatro de Julio!!

2008-07-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! Yesterday I asked Javier if he and his family had big 4th of July plans…and he looked at me with a “Oh child, bless your heart” look…and I assured him I was only kidding:)

It has been a big week for Nette-Nette in Nicaragua with some visitors, some fiestas, and some good work. Monday was a big day for me because typically whenever the phone rings at my desk, I ignore it…what is the likelihood that the person on the other end of the phone will be speaking English? Honestly. However, Monday morning it rang and Norma pointed to it and said, “Contestas…es buen practica para tu” (Answer it, it will be good practice for you) I complied and was ecstatic when I effectively took a message perfectly (I think) completely in Spanish! What a milestone in my life… Also on Monday, I taught Felipe the word “boonies” referring to Cochise. He kept repeating it to make sure he had it right. He came by my desk a couple of hours later and said, “Hey Janette, booties!” I quickly corrected him…:) Everyone was preparing for a visit later on in the week from some executives in the company, and so they were all practicing their English…enter Janette. I felt so helpful and needed here as everyone wanted to run documents or sentences, etc. by me to make sure they were correct….I loved getting to help! Also, my friend Silema and I went to lunch so that we could both practice our new languages. The bad part is that she is much better with English than I am Spanish…but we are learning together anyway.

Tuesday morning Roger came by desk and was giving me a hard time as usual. I don’t know if I have blogged about this or not, but his favorite thing to do is to mock my big eyes and big expressions that apparently occur when I speak Spanish…lets be honest though, it happens in English too and I am totally okay with that. But he was testing my Spanish and said something about a “mochilla” and I said, “backpack!” He said, “Yes, how did you know that?” and I said, “Dora Explorer of course!” and Veronica said, “Oh, Dora la Exploradora”…it was a great moment for all of us as we realized the universal language of a good cartoon:) Later on, I was trying to explain the word ‘token’ to Veronica and I asked her if she knew what Chucke-Cheese is…she said, “Why are you chunkin’ cheese?” Another great moment:)

That day I had double checked my directions to the airport..aka confirmed that Norma could ride with me:) At 5:30 Norma, me, and her friend (who I think is named Fanny?) took off for the airport…in the rain…in the traffic. We took a back route, so the majority of the trip was pretty calm despite the torrential downpours…until we got into Managua. Oh my. In Managua, stop lights are suggestions, the lines that mark the lanes are faded and ignored, and the drivers are loco. Straight up loco. Especially near the airport. Especially in the rain. Especially in the dark. It combined for some interesting moments to say the least. However, Laura’s plane ended up running late and I needed to get Norma and her friend home so they didn’t have to wait. We left the airport and I drove them where they needed to go. The whole evening had been in Spanish, which was fine until it came time for them to give me direction back to the airport. Picture a big eyed gringa getting direction from 2 sweet little Nica ladies talking 400 miles/minute giving directions in the rain and the dark and the traffic. Once again, oh my. I mostly understood what they said, and I even made it to get Laura fine, it just made me chuckle:) Anyway, Laura arrived!!!! I was soooooooooooooo excited to see her and she was sooooooooooooo excited to be here:)

Wednesday was the big day at work that the executives were coming and at the office it felt like we were preparing for Santa Clause or something! At lunch, I went home and Laura and I went to a place called Cocina de Dona Haydee which has delicious Nicaraguan food…Laura really liked it, and I definitely did. I had to go back to work in the afternoon, but that night there was a big fiesta at Roger’s house with the management here at the company and the visiting executives. Let me tell you, they went all out! There was a fancy tent set up in the back where we ate, with beautiful lighting, delicious juices, appetizers (is that the word or is it that h word I cant spell?) of ceviche and shrimp hoodads before the meal and time to visit with everyone…it was wonderful. Everyone loved Laura of course and I was so proud of her and her Spanish since everyone was so impressed with it:) Before the meal started, we were entertained by a very popular Nica band! They were wonderful; Laura and I were sitting there pooling all of our Spanish understanding as we worked to decipher the songs and translate for each other…we were pretty proud of ourselves, though we didn’t get it all. Then the meal came. First with these cute little tamales (made of pollo of course!), then a plate with pollo and some sort of sauce and this really great zucchini with fancy cheese. I was pretty full after eating all that…and then they brought a plate with steak and beans and maduro! Oh my goodness, my eyes were rolling back in my head by the end. Then there was a desert buffet of local Nica desserts…and we couldn’t walk away from that! Actually the desserts were really cool assortments of Nicaraguan little candies, etc. My favorite was cajete de leche (a tan little ball of doughy stuff that was really sweet) and limon y mile (lime in honey)….I love Nicaragua:) We had so much fun with everyone and I loved sharing my work friends with Laura. By the end of the night she understood why I just adore everyone here so much!

Yesterday Laura and I went to lunch together at a place near my house, then I dropped her off at the mall while I went back to work…thank goodness she is such a trooper and can entertain herself. In the afternoon I met with Javier to review my progress on my project here. The meeting was really, really good and it was good to ask questions and affirm what I was doing and where I need more direction. Things are really coming together as far as work though, so I am thankful that I am on the right track (hopefully). I cant believe I only have two and a half weeks left! Anyway, last night it was late when I picked Laura up at the mall and we headed to a “fritanga” restaurant for some more Nica culture. I was so proud of us for not getting lost since it is definitely off the beaten path. Laura and I enjoyed more Nicaraguan food and juice and we were so full from all the food this week that we made a pact to never eat again…ever…we’ll see how long that lasts:) (I have realized that I blog a lot about food…but I think it is just such an easy mark to see of a culture and a fun thing to appreciate and learn about a culture... or maybe it is just that I like food:)) It is so, so, so fun to have Laura here and to share my new country with someone who is truly appreciative of Latin American culture and people and the Spanish language, and especially now that I know my way around more (sorry Neenie!)…plus we have just had so much fun catching up on the summer and getting stay up late giggling like little girls:)

Pans are still ‘to be determined’ for the weekend, but they will be big and many in an effort to show Laura as much of Nicaragua as possible in a short time frame. I am really, really pumped:)As I drove home from work and was admiring Vulcan Mombotombo and the lake view of Managua, I realized that I have gotten so used to all the beauty here and the good things about Nicaragua I think I’ve been taking them for granted…and with only 2 and a half weeks left, I have to soak up every single moment! It still just amazes me at what a blessing my time here has been.

Estoy empapado en la Isla de Ometepe....(I am soaked!)

2008-06-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

The Island of Ometepe is a candidate to become one of the seven wonders of the World. It is a huge island with 2 volcanoes on it in the middle of Lake Nicaragua/Cocibolca which is one of the largest lakes in the world (also happens to have freshwater sharks!). On this island, there is kayaking, hiking, a waterfall, etc, etc as far as outdoor experiences to enjoy God's beautiful creation. And it just so happens that for the 24 hours I was on the island...it rained about 23.99 of them...:( Pero, todo es bueno.

Saturday morning at 5:00 am my friend Melisa and I set out with her friend, Angela, for Rivas, a town in southern Nicaragua where we would catch the ferry to Ometepe. On the way, we saw plantain farms, cattle farms, and papaya farms...it was soo beautiful! This was a new area of the country for me, so of course I loved the drive...especially since Melisa was driving my car so I didnt have to worry about it:) When we got to the Port, Melisa had to drive my car onto the ferry where there was all kinds of people and commotion and vehicles...it was pretty crazy for a bit. But after we got on the ferry and started out, we found a place to sit on the top level and let the calm ride rock us all to sleep...especially since we had woken up so early!

After about an hour, we unloaded off the ferry on the Island and set out for our big adventure...it was the first time to Ometepe for all 3 of us and we were PUMPED! Where we docked was in Moyogolpa which is next to the big volcano, Concepcion and so we started driving to the other volcano, Maderas, so that we could go on the 2 hour hike and see San Ramon, the famous waterfall. About every 30 minutes, as we drove through tiny towns/communities/Cochise sized villages Melisa would slow down as we drove through town and saw a person, she would roll down her window and say, "Sr./Sra., donde es San Ramon?" Then the person would point forward and say "Por alla!" THIS my friends, is a Nicaraguan mapa:) After about 10 stops on the maps and 2.5 hours on a dirt road, we arrived at the entrance of the waterfall...I was sooooooooooo excited to get to do some physical activity and to explore and to see MONKEYS and especially to see the waterfall! We walked up to pay to enter the park...and were told it was closed....muy, muy, muy triste...:( However, we took a few pictures of what was there and then turned around...for another 2.5 hour drive...on a dirt road...in the boonies of an island in the middle of a lake...

At this point is when it started raining. I mean really raining. After about half an hour of driving we stopped for lunch at Villa Santa Domingo. It just so happened that right next to this random place we stopped was a tree...with MONKEYS!!!! There were about 5-10 (It was hard to keep track because they were monkeying around so much...hehehe:)) and we wathced them for a bit and took pictures...I was soooooooooooooo excited:) Then we each ate fried fish at the restaurant...as in the whole fish...as in we even ate the tails! Yep, thats what they do here! Right as we paid and were walking to our car, the bottom fell out of the sky...literally. At this point it was pouring. I mean POURING. We decided we better head out though so we wouldnt get stuck on the dirt road since it didnt show any signs of the rain stopping. Unfortunately that meant driving right past the other 2 destinations on our list for the weekend:(

Once back on the main road that was paved, well sort of...I mean, there were patches of pavement dispersed among the holes in the road, anyway we stopped at a place called Charco Verde where there is a green lagoon, kayaking, etc. etc. fun stuff. Except it was still raining. We finally went on about a 5 minute walk in the rain to the lagoon, just so we could say we had done it...plus, lets be honest, it really is fun to walk in the rain:) Eventually we gave up and just drove back to Moyogolpa to the hotel...where it was still raining. After about a 2 hour nap (the perfect rainy day activity I suppose...and the only one on Ometepe..) we got dressed and went out for dinner and to hang out in Moyogolpa.

This morning we started our trip back at 5:00 am again, and didnt make it back to the port until about 11:00..ay, ay, ay. Oh on the ferry though, there were 2 really large trucks with plantain leaves on them. On the back of one of the trucks was a small 2 ft by 4 ft (about?) crate with a gunny sack inside it...inside the gunny sack was a pig...that was tied in with hay string...Mom, now dont you feel like we really were high class all those years with the make shift cage with the tarp in the back of the pickup for the lambs?? :)

We took a different route home though and drove through an area of hills that were COVERED in pineapple farms! It was sooo neat! Every few kilometers (have I mentioned that is how distance is measured here?) there was a fruit stand. We stopped at one that had about 10 different types of fruits so that I could buy some pineapple and zapote (a funny looking fruit...I know its not very descriptive, but that is all I know about it). The guy also had coconuts that were peeled and then he chopped a hole in the top and stuck a straw in it...so we each had one of those, and it was so good! THEN, when we finished we gave the coconuts back to him and he chopped them in half and scooped the coconut meat so we could eat it...muy rico! I was so excited and Melisa couldn't believe it was my first ever coconut...not everyone is lucky enough to live in tropical fruit land:)

I had such a good time though because Melisa is soooo stinking hilarious:) We have so much fun together and she is honestly such a great Spanish coach for me...as was Angela, who didnt speak English but honestly understood every word I said so when I didnt know a Spanish word I could say it in English and she could tell me what it was in Spanish. It made for a very fun weekend of Espanol learning as about 70% of the weekend was in Spanish!

One of my favorite things was that we saw lots of gringos on the Island. Ever since I bought that dried coconut in the shape of a monkey that sits on my desk and says "soy Nica" that is what everyone at work has been saying with me, especially Melisa and I...so every time we saw a gringo this weekend I would roll my eyes and we would say something about stinking gringos and then we'd say, "Que alevia no soy gringo, soy Nica!" (Translated, what a relief I am Nicaraguan and not a gringa:) lol Its fun:)

Oh and just now as I was waiting at the smelly internet store and decided to go have some cafe con leche y pastel zanahoria (carrot cake!) at the coffee house here at the mall that is my favorite...when I went they guy who was waiting on me was the same one who is always there...and he was definitely hitting me (remember how oblivious I am to these things???) but I couldnt really understand what all he said...he either told me I had really beautiful or really ugly eyes at one point, but I was blushing I know so I didnt say "what?" I suppose sometimes ignorance is bliss...except he WAS kind of cute....:)

When we got back this afternoon we were all tired, but really thankful about our big adventure...we figure we have some funny stories...that will be a lot more funny in a few days once we are done being sad we didnt see everything...lol I am very thankful though for a safe weekend to enjoy more of God's beautiful creation and good, new friends!

Some pictures from the Janeen's Trip to see Janette posted by Jennifer

2008-06-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

This is a sisterly post if I ever saw one! I will post the pics, and Janette can commentate! Enjoy - jen

I meant hola, really I did...

2008-06-27T17:30:00.001-07:00

Me encanta Nicaragua...en serio:)

2008-06-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

Holo todos!

Before I write anything about Nicaragua, I have to share the highlight of all highlights. The other day I was talking to Jen and the kids. Anna got on the phone and said, "hi nette-nette!" and then Ross, in the background started saying "hi nette-nette, hi nette-nette, hi nette-nette!" We chatted it up for a while and then as we were getting off the phone Anna said, "I love you Nette-nette" and the Ross said, "love you nette-nette, love you nette-nette"...if that doesnt melt your heart I dont know what will:) For those of you who dont know, Ross has been keeping us waiting for some time to hear anything like that from him so this was such a big milestone in his life and mine:)

Anyway, seriously, I do love it here:) First of all, I am leaving tomorrow morning at 5:30 to go to the Ometepe Island...oh my! I am really excited and cant wait to share pictures/stories from the trip. Actually, I cant wait to share all my Nicaragua pictures on here...only a few more weeks...wait, that is sad to think about!

Anyway, yesterday afternoon I decided that I wanted to visit some pulperias. Pulperias are these TINY, TINY little Mom & Pop type stores that sell basic food/personal items. There are about 7-8,000 in Managua and in every neighborhood they are on every corner. I think they are absolutely adorable because they are such a sign of the culture here where everyone knows everyone (literally! This country is like Willcox!) and people are just so friendly and helpful to one another. Anyway, so yesterday I not only decided I needed to go visit them...I decided I needed to go right then...which meant by myself. I was completely confident that, given good directions, my newly acquired Espanol, Nica driving style, and my Toyota Yaris could get me safely to my destinations. However, when I talked to Carlos about it, he made a compromise with me that he would send me with someone who speaks only Spanish so I would still get good practice. Entonces, I went with another guy named Carlos who literally did not speak a word of English! It was really fun for me though and I think I probably understood about 60-70% of what he said...the only problem is whether or not I understood the right 60-70%:) I felt like I was really challenging my Espanol though, which made me feel good and it was fun going into the barrios and going to the little stores..talk about immersing myself in the culture:) And I think I am blending in more too...I mean, I'm sure they often see very pale skinned girls with light colored hair and blue eyes carrying a pen and pad of paper up to the pulperia, right? I am definitley working on that though...

Then at work today I was trying to figure out my plan for picking up Laura (friend from AZ who is coming to see me!!!) on Tuesday and I decided that I think I can drive to the airport by myself; it is about 30 minutes across town. So I sent Javier an email (in Spanish) and asked for directions...then one of the guys who doesnt work in the office but works for the company came in, and Javier told me to ask him for directions...keep in mind this guy (Paris) speaks NO English...none. Anyway, about 25 minutes and a full page map later, I had finally received directions that were clear in my mind...at least I hope...Laura, I might be a bit late....:)

Seriously, as I learn Spanish my English is going to pot...no joke. But at least I am learning Spanish! Right? I mean as long as I can communicate a little in 2 languages its alright if I am not proficient in both right?? Maybe not so much....I offer that as my disclaimer for any poor sentences or misspellings in this blog. But I am having so much fun learning Spanish, in all seriousness. It is a humbling experience to know that when you open your mouth you sound like ignorant, uneducated baffoon because your grammer stinks...but it really breaks the ice with people I think:) I think it is so fun to learn here just because people at work are sooo nice and so fun to learn from/with. I really, really love all the people at work but I told my friend Mariana today that I think she will get a lot more work done once I return to Arizona so I wont be here to bother her all the time:)

Oh, right now I am in the smelly Internet store and my favorite Spanish song is on the radio! And Coty, Beau, Kacy, Jamie, Jenn I thought of you all the other day at the grocery store because the song "Umbrella" by Rihanna was on....I could go for some Umbrella? :) I suppose that is all the excitement of the last 2 days, but I definitely plan on having more stories from Nicaragua very soon!

I am sending lots and lots of hugs to all of you and hoping that everyone is having a really, really good summer!

Mi cerebro es frito!

2008-06-25T17:33:00.000-07:00

Hola todos!

Just to translate, the title says "my brain is fried"...that pretty much sums up today at work:) I am excited to be back at the mall to blog though...a whole week without? That is way too long, for me anyway:) I suppose I will try and be more brief than usual and just hit the highlights....

1) Work
I have basically completed the first half of my project as far as going out into the streets and all the places where our product is sold in order to learn about the market and how we fit into the overall picture. Now I am working to develop some suggestions of how to position our brands, so I am thinking...a lot...which is a bit challenging for this girl. However, I LOVE getting to look at the big picture and try and work the puzzle pieces together. I absolutely cannot believe I only have 4 more weeks from tomorrow here in Nicaragua, which means not much longer to finish this up so I am really trying to work hard.

I visited another market the other day with Jose Luis, it is called Huembes. After Oriental (the big scary one!) I was a bit timid to visit Huembes, however it was MUCH cleaner, and calmer, and was even indoors. They sell absolutely everything though! From socks to mangos, they have it all. There is a big section that is handmade crafts, etc. so I am hoping to make it back there before I come home.

2) Misc Fun
My friend Melisa from work and I have been hanging out lately...she knows all the good spots to eat. We went last week to a "fritanga" which is just slang for a type of restaurant where everything is fried...but delicious:) I had carne asada, gallopinto, aguacate, tajadas (which are plantains fried in long strips like chips) and guava juice...oh my goodness it was good:) I have really been capitalizing on the fact that I am in the land of fruits and juices! Oh, and Melisa and I are going this weekend to Ometepe...I CANNOT wait! I have been assured some monkey sightings even:)

3) The weekend
Friday night I went to Galerias to a restaurant with my friend Ruth and Eduardo (who I went to visit the farms with...I know the previous post said Rod....thats what I thought his name was...lol!). I had sooo much fun with them and 2 of their friends from Honduras; they are just a super nice couple and have really made me feel welcome. I love it when they all talk though because they tell stories in English, but use Spanish prepositions...it is great:) Oh, also...I confessed my secret crush on Oscar to them...Eduardo said that when he went home he told Ruth how impressed he was at the way I had conversed in Spanish with Oscar...he said that know he knows why:) hehehe

Saturday I went to the defensive driving course at work. Let me tell you, there is a reason it is against the law to talk on the phone and drive...because it literally takes all 10 eyes in the front/back/side of your head to drive safe here! I learned a bit more about driving and policies, nothing exciting...except that I finally learned how to correctly drive in the rotundas....God had been taking care of me because I had spent about 2 weeks in the wrong lane most of the time...oh my.... Oh, and the other day I was driving along on a side road and a taxi stopped RIGHT in front of me..no signal..no brake lights...no pulling to the side...at all...just stopped...who does that?!?!?!

The rest of the day I just hung out and read a book called The Informant...it is AMAZING and I highly recommend it. Although some might call that a boring Saturday, I loved it:)

Sunday Roger and I drove to Didiamba, Jinotepe and Granada just to sightsee. I love, love, love the scenery everywhere here and all of the small towns....these were no different! We ate lunch at a place called Restaurant Wyoming (go figure!) and of course, it was delicious...what isnt delicious here? That night we went with Ligia from work to see Super (Secret? I forget!) Agent 86 and it was hiiiiiilarious...I literally laughed the whole movie:)

4) Spanish
Yesterday I saw someone send an email that said "PTI"...and then I realized that is the Spanish version of "FYI":) Also, Melisa has a Strawberry Shortcake pencil at her desk...only it says "Rosita Fresita"...isnt that great??

Lately there have been a lot of times when someone comes to our hall looking for Norma , and no one is around but me...so I have to talk in Spanish and explain where everyone is. This is great for me, especially when I watch the person I am talking to as they realize how little Spanish I know but that I can still usually get my point across...its fun:) The other day there was a girl who came in and we talked in Spanish as I told her where everyone was, and then she started to walk away. She hesitated and then came back and asked me if I minded if she practiced English with me...of course not! So now with my friend Simele she talks in English only and I speak in Spanish only. She is 22 yrs old, has a full time job, is finishing college, and has 2 kids! Wow, she is my hero! She is super nice though and I think we are going to have lunch together tomorrow:)

Also, there is a lady who comes in a lot who is soooo funny! She only speaks Spanish and she speaks it really fast to me so I only get a little of what she says, but I still know she is hilarious:) She was giving me a hard time today about Nicaraguan men....oh my:)

It is officially a life goal to speak Spanish by the time I turn 24...so I have 14 months to jump on it.

Oh also, I dont know which of the above category this fits under but I have to share: People down here wear a lot of shirt with misc. logos/states, etc. and I always wonder if they know what the shirts say or represent....then this week at the plant, there was a guy wearing a 4-H shirt!! I got so excited:) It said "4-H: Raisin' Rookies!" but I am fairly certain the guy didnt know about 4-H although now I am holding out hope to see an FFA shirt:)

I hope this all makes sense, sorry I have slacked on the blog and am not telling stories very well tonight...Here is the memory verse, I hope yall like it:)
Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Un muy full corazon!

2008-06-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

Holo todos!

It is funny how things work out...to say the least. So, the last week I had honestly been a bit lonely and it just seemed like people at the office werent free to hang out much (other than my night in Masaya with the girls) so I was really needing some real connection time with people. Also, I hadnt been to church since my first weekend. A couple of weeks before, I had googled Churches of Christ in Nicaragua and had found a congregation in Masaya, that was having VBS this past weekend. I had gotten connected with the preacher, who luckily spoke English also, and was hoping to go. I had really been praying about it.

When the weekend rolled around, I was planning on going with my boss and his family to their weekend house at a volcano. Due to several different events, I ended up not going with them on Saturday and I went instead to VBS in Masaya. I had no idea what I would find or who I would find, but I went anyway.

When I got there, I met about 15 people from Tennessee who were down doing mission work, about 150 Nicaraguan kids who were loving learning about Jesus and playing with the gringos, and about 50'ish members of the local congregation.....talk about an aswered prayer! I spent the afternoon with them at VBS, and then went to eat supper with them. Afterwards, we went back to the church building as they were having a special service to try and reach more members of the community. Before the Spanish service started though, we had about half an hour of English singing....and it was wonderful! I felt so filled up and encouraged and just so thankful, as I sat there with Christians in Masaya, Nicaragua.

Sunday morning I joined my new friends again as we went to church in a small town called Las Flores, and then back to Masaya for VBS in the afternoon. They even let me join in on the skit and dress up! Woohoo! After VBS we played with the kids all afternoon. There was about 10 girls who were playing with myself and a couple of other gringas, and we just loved them to pieces....they were so sweet:) Then we had the evening service again, and after that we went to dinner at a place that looks out over the lake.

At dinner, I was sitting with Brenda, Tiffany, and Alan (Tiffany's husband). I had such a good time with them all weekend as we are all about the same age and just really connected. Anyway, we were talking about where everyone was from, etc. and it turns out the Alan was from Mountain Home, Arkansas and had classes with both Karen and Bill! How crazy is that!?!?

Monday I went to work and spent the morning in supermarkets, etc. I was with Benjamin and Hector, two really nice guys from work. Luckily, I left work a few minutes and headed back to Masaya for the last evening service....despite a minor detour (okay, a few minutes of being lost...including going the wrong way on a 1 way street!) I made it to the church building. I felt like I was seeing friends I had known forever! We enjoyed our last evening of singing together and then they left...this was one sad gringa to see them go, but I was just so thankful for how everything had so perfectly fallen into place. God is good like that!

Today I went to the largest municipal market in all of Central America called El Oriental. If you want, look it up on Google Earth...it is HUGE! Before I went, everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE!) warned me not to take any jewelry or money...because chances were I wouldnt make it out with it. Anway, I was with Benjamin again and a man named Luis also. As I followed them into the center of the market (aka the depths of the dark sea) I had such a terrible urge to grab Benjamin's hand so I wouldnt get lost in the crowd of shouting people...however, I had to remind myself that I am a professional who is self-sufficient and holds no ones hand. Plus, Benjamin kept turning around to make sure I was still there so that made me feel better too:)

Anyway, picture row after row after row of low ceilings, dirty streets, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE (literally 300,000 people visit this market per day!) and any product you could possibly want to buy from toilets to tires to rat poison to fish....with no separation between the rat poison and the fish. I suppose the highlights was seeing the raw fish (which was who knows how old and caught in the local lake...which is contaminated) laying out on no ice and covered in flies, seeing a table with fish on it with a small boy sitting right next to the fish playing with his toes and a bandaid on his foot (I am not sure if it grossed me out more for the boy or for the people who would eat the fish!), and a 9 year old girl chopping chicken with a machete...wow. The vendors were shouting at each other, there were loaded carts going through the narrow aisle, there was no air or electricity. What an experience for this gringa!

We kept stopping to visit with our clients, and at one place where the product was clearly not kept cold or very clean, the client offered Benjamin a taste of the lowest quality product there...of course, Benjamin could not say no so he ate it...and said he didnt feel too hot the rest of the day:) lol

So things are going well here! I am in week 5 and in full swing with work where I learn more every day. I suppose that is about it and now my timer is beeping at me so I must quit blabbing...but I am sending lots of hugs home!

Oh my memory verse (once again I forget its address) is:
Now to Him who is able to do, immeasurably more, than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

Estoy sudando....(I am sweating!)

2008-06-13T17:26:00.001-07:00

Wow, it is so hard to believe I am already wrapping up week #4 here in Nicaragua! Time flies when you are having fun....and when you are sweating. There are certain phrases that I have learned in Spanish just because they come up a lot in conversations. The title of this blog is a very, very important phrase for anyone in central America:)

Yesterday night I went with my friends Melisa and Ingrid to Masaya to the Festival Verbenas(sp?). The festival is held in a very well known enclosed market that has ALLL kinds of little shoppy-shop stands with tons of different handmade products that are very typical Nicaraguanese products. My purchases for the evening, for myself anyway, were a really nice handmade leather purse that was really inexpensive....and a little monkey holding a sign that says "Soy Nica", and the whole thing is made out of a coconut! I took into work today and everyone loooooved to see it sitting there on my desk:)

As we walked around and shopped, we enjoyed a bag of freshly sliced mango....I looooove this country! Then the show started and included a band that sang a few songs, and then a dance competition. All of the dances were Nicaraguan folklore dances. First of all, please know that during the whole show we were sitting in the audience looking at the stage and walking amongst us was a very, very, VERY scary dancing, Nica, clown that was jamming out and selling scary balloons and bouncing little dolls....he got a little too close to me one time and Ingrid thought I was going to leap out of my seat! Anyway, the dances were all really cool....until all of a sudden there was about 15 naked men on stage!!! Augh! It turned out that they were wearing a tiny little loin cloth...nude colored....oh my, Melisa, Ingrid, and I all three turned beet red I know! Then we went to TGI Fridays for supper and headed home....un beuno noche:)

Oh, perhaps the BEST part of the whole night was that as we were driving back to Managua I mentioned my favorite song that I have heard on the radio here...claro que si it is in Spanish. So then, we all just started belting it...from memory...in Spanish....how great is that?? Of course, they lasted many more stanzas than me, but Kacy, Coty, Beau, Jenn, and Jamie what is new about me not knowing the words? You know I kept singing:)

Today I went with Mariana who is a lady from the office, and one of the farm supervisors to visit the pollo farms. It is really interesting because they have about 25 farms altogether. About 20 of them are somewhat traditional and then the rest are what they call "tunnel" farms. The tunnel farms have controlled environment mechanisms and they control temp, water, feed, etc. They still have a problem with mortality rates though because during rainy season they can lower the temp, but they cant do anything about the humidity! Each of the galleras (barns) holds about 30,000 birds and the gallera we went into looked like an absolute sea of chicken nuggets to me:) At the more traditional farms, there is some automation but not as much and fans are their only means of controlling the temperature....it seems like technology from about 10 years ago, but apparently it is still working for them. I had a really good time with my friend Mariana today, she was an EXCELLENT translator and was really fun to hang out with.

It is REALLY interesting to see the affects of high oil prices here. Gasoline costs about $5 per gallon, which as a percentage of total income is HUGE for the average Nicaraguan, who earns $420 per month...that is AVERAGE, not minimum wage. (That might be different from what I posted before, but I am pretty sure that I trust the source on this one to be accurate.) Also, here in the pollo business they have really struggled with rising feed costs, and the embutido business has been affected as well, although the embutidos are an imported product from Guatemala and Costa Rica.

Oh, mi hermana Jennifer and the kiddos are in AZ right now and rumor has it that Ross has been quick to say Nette-Nette when he sees my room, etc....que bueno!! Also, Anna is not sure yet what she thinks about this, but her new nickname is Anna Platano...only she thinks it is Pappa-no:)

I am really excited to see what all the weekend holds, but I am sure it will be fun stuff:) I hope that everything is going well for all of you wherever you are!

Mas Divertido!

2008-06-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

This morning I walked to my car to drive to work, but the security guard Irvin informed me I had a flat tire....now, Irvin being the wonderful human being he is (no really, he is so nice!) said that he could change the tire for me. Que perfecto! Pero, once the spare tire was on the car and he took the jack out and let the car down...we realized the spare was flat also. Que malo! I called Javier who sent Fransisco to rescue this damsel in distress, and of course, he saved the day so that I could get to work and then Fransisco fixed my car for me and had it waiting for me at the office this afternoon...have I mentioned how well they take care of me?

I had several really great Spanish conversations today....I really, really like speaking Spanish and learning it. I have to admit, I am a bit nervous as I learn more and more because I realize more and more how little I know and how cryptic my grammar is....sound familiar to another conversation we had Dad? Anyway, it made me feel really good because Norma, the secretary in the office, speaks only Spanish and at first she didnt really talk to me and I didnt think she liked me...today we were talking so good though and when someone asked me when I leave and I said July, she said that I HAD to stay longer than that! Definitely a warm fuzzy feeling for me...smiley face.

I went to the markets in Granada today with Jose Luis. It was a good trip, just learning more about the product...I am going to be honest, I realized today that Jose Luis is very, very confusing. (I went with him last week to markets in the Northern part of the country.)
Por ejemplo, a conversation of ours...
JB...so, our product is not selling here because the price is too high?
JL....yes, the people make too much money and they dont buy our product.
JB...(very confused) wait, if they make more money why are they not buying our product?
JL...because they like our taste.
JB...(more confused) wait, if they like our taste shouldnt they be buying more?
JL...yes, that is why they think it is too expensive.
Oy vey.

Then this afternoon Benjamin (pronounced Benhameeen) took me to a supermarket, which is owned by Wal Mart but is a sad version. Anyway, Benjamin is soooo nice and is honestly one of my favorite people here...he is one of those people that just makes you want to hug him because he exudes niceness! He answered a lot of questions, but lets be honest...sausages and mortadelas (no clue how that even translates, but it is a nasty looking piece of meat that people buy tons of here!) are more confusing than one could ever imagine. Seriously. But I suppose that is part of the fun!

Anyway, I am about to head home and watch Friends with spanish subscripts....woohoo! Mi favorito!

Oh, the memory verse is a repeat, but I love it anyway so here it is....
1 Peter something something
Humble yourselves therefore, under Gods mighty hand and in due time he will lift you up. Cast all your anxiety on him, for he cares for you.

Un despacio caballo! hehe

2008-06-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hola todos!

I have a few misc stories that I am excited to share...once again, please pardon the poor punctuation...

First of all, on Sunday morning for breakfast I ate my FRESH pineapple...oh my goodness, it was so delicious! Then Sunday afternoon, I was going to make juice from pitahya, which is a beautiful bright pink fruit. I cut it open and on the inside it was the deepest purple you can possibly imagine....muy, muy purple. So, I mixed up my pitahya, lemon juice, sugar, ice and then I added in leftover pineapple....is your mouth watering yet???? It was muy, muy rico! Definitely a perk of spending the summer in the tropical rain forest.

Story 2 is sort of for my Dad....not that I am saying you drive slow or anything Dad, I would NEVER say that! However, as I was driving to work yesterday morning there was a horse cart in the road...and the horse had decided to go backwards....literally....in the highway!! It brought to mind the phrase "if he was going any slower he´d be going backwards"....and for some reason I thought of my Dad? I love you Daddy!!...smiley face

The past couple of days I have been visiting supermarkets. In Nicaragua, lots of people get kicked out of bars for being too wild...but few have the distinction of being kicked out of supermarkets...multiple supermarkets. smiley face. As I visit the supermarkets, they dont really like a white girl standing by their cold cuts case for multiple hours taking notes...a few times though, the "no intiendo" card has bought me a few minutes..lol It has been fun getting more into my project because basically I am piecing together a big huge puzzle! My analytical side is enjoying it, especially now that I am feeling much more purposeful and not just sitting around waiting for something to do.

So, now I am at the mall to do some bloggin and callin. I left my house and confidently drove here, because by now I have mastered the short route. However, today en route there was a policeman on foot in the middle of the road. He motioned for me pull over. I did. Then I rolled my window down about a quarter of an inch (they make movies about this kind of thing!) and he asked for my papers and my license, so I gave them to him. He started asking me how long I was here, who I work for, if I was here by myself....let me tell you that I understood every single word out of that man´s mouth, but I definitely played the "no intiendo" card! He was pretty machismo and he just stood there for a bit holding my documents and deciding what to do...keep in mind I had done nothing. Then he finally gave them back and let me go. My hands were shaking afterwards, but I suppose it is just another story to add to the book, eh?

Last night there were several managers from the other Central American countries who were in town, and I got to go to a soccer game with them....I didnt play, just watched because they were INTENSE about it! Soccer is not quite as big here as in other Latin American countries, but it is still a very near and dear subject to their hearts. I got to practice a lot of Spanish last night...I am getting better for sure, but sometimes I just feel like a very ignorant person. Oh, and I am also learning Spanish via the radio as well now as I cruise the streets of Nicaragua jamming out to the Spanish songs...it is kind of fun to try and figure out the words, even though I am absolutely positive that it is good I dont know all the words or I would probably be blushing a lot.

Other than that, all is well in week number 4 of Nicaragua! I have a memory verse, but I just wrote it down this morning and I already forgot it....wow, that is not very good memorizing huh?

One more thing....

2008-06-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

So, during my day at the mall today I went and ate lunch at a mexican food place, then watched a movie and also talked to some people from the smelly internet store here....which got me to thinking that I need to send out a mass request to everyone I love: if a strange phone number calls your phone between now and July 24....answer it, because it might be me! So far I have contacted people via about 5 different phones, so just take a gamble and answer the random number...por favor:) lol

P.S. This is a different computer than I was using earlier and look who has full range of smiley faces:) :) :) :)

Ooops!

2008-06-07T10:38:00.002-07:00

That one post was supposed to say granja not granga...perdon if that was something bad i shouldnt have said!

Misc. stuff

2008-06-07T10:21:00.001-07:00

Oh, and I promised Nina that I would write more about Nicaragua in general so here it is...I cant remember what I already wrote, so forgive me if this is repetitive!

Basically from November to May is summer or the dry season, and from May to October is rainy season or winter. When they say rainy season, they mean it! It literally has rained almost every day, except for while Neenie was here...Neenie, I guess you were just good weather luck! There are lots of tropical storms obviously.

The terrain really varies depending on how far north you are, but there are lots of volcanoes and lakes everywhere and trees and green and flowers. Nina, there are so many of your favorite Fire trees with the really pretty orange blooms! I have tried to take lots of pictures of them. Apparently, Nicaragua is heaven on earth for bird watchers...I dont know much about birds but I am really becoming accustomed to waking up to really pretty songs of various birds.

The local currency is cordobas, which is about 20 cordobas for one dollar. However, you can pretty much use dollars anywhere also and quite often receipts have dollars and cordobas.

As I get into the culture more, I am really trying to understand the political and cultural history of the country and it is absolutely crazy here...I dont want to explain much now, not until I know more. What I do know is that prior to the Sandonistas being in power the first time, this country had the strongest economy in all of Central America....not now.

I think Mom and Dad have always taught us to value learning and education, but being here and seeing the difference an opportunity for education makes has enforced that even more. I feel absolutely spoiled because of the education I am getting and the opportunities I have had...it is so hard for me to fathom that not every one has the same opportunities....talk about teaching you to count your blessings, huh?

This coming week will hold lots more cool experiences as I visit more markets, some chicken farms, and get to work even more on my project!

Un muy grande granga y un muy guapo granadero

2008-06-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

If you could translate that title, then you are hopefully chuckling right now....

First of all, this morning I am back at the Galerias Mal to blog. I have been enjoying a very low key morning and I think I might see a movie in a bit...in English, with Spanish subtitles of course. There is a possibility that my evening might include an Enrique Iglesias concert, but that is still to be determined. Tomorrow I am planning on trying a new church here and then going to the local zoo that is home to all the animals of Nicaragua!

Anyway, hopefully you are gathering that this week has just been absolutely wonderful, and yesterday put the perfect cap on it! My friend Ruth´s (from work) husband is the man who works wiht the company that lends money to farmers here in Nicaragua, but actually throughout Latin America. Yesterday morning, he (Rod...I think?) came and picked me up to drive to a cattle ranch the company is financing! We drove about two and a half hours to the town of Juigalpa (sp?) and then the ranch manager met us to lead us forty more minutes down a dirt road....let me tell you, we were in the boonies of Nicaragua.

The drive over there was neat because it was new territory for me and also I had a captive person in the car that I could pick his brain about the organization he works for and agriculture in Nicaragua....let me tell you, it was great..for me anyway! Basically his organization lends money to family farmers here who are interested in exporting. They dont deal in small loans, but over $100,000. Obviously there is so much subsistence agriculture here, but surprisingly there is also a large portion of the industry that is very modern and efficient. Apparently peanuts, sugar, and coffee are the primary products grown for exporting but also in the country there are large amounts of rice, beans, plantains, and cattle produced.

The ranch is owned by a very, very, VERY wealthy family here in Nicaragua. I am still sorting out the conversions, but the ranch is about 8,500 manzanas which is a very odd measurement they use....regardless, the ranch was huge! The man who runs the ranch was named Oscar. Let me explain a bit about Oscar. First of all, he only spoke Spanish but there are some things that transcend a language and kindness, intelligence, sincerity, and down to earthness are a few things that Oscar was exuding....then I found out he was 23....then I looked for a ring....when I didnt see one, I spent the rest of the day trying to decide whether we should get married in the US or here...(just kidding!!) However, I was thankful that we spoke different languages and that I was trying to not be in the way too much of Rod and his business to discuss, because had I been able to talk more and had I learned that this nice, ambitous, young rancher was also a Christian...well, lets just say I might have not come back to Managua yesterday...lol

Okay, in all seriousness now, Oscar, Rod and I hopped in the back of a pick up and drove around the ranch. The ranch is intensely managed and on the wall of the office was the breakouts of how each lot is separated and the grazing rotation. Also on the wall was information about the cattle genetics and the breeds. They are working to achieve breeding that results in cattle that are one quarter Brahman, one quarter Angus Rojo (!), one quarter Simmental, and one quarter Seminpole (?) so they will resist the heat and produce quality meat. They are using AI and are intensely managing their breeding. Next year, they will start using the chips in the ears for identification purposes...very cool.

As great as it was to be on a beautiful ranch in Nicaragua riding around looking at cows, I couldnt help but realize how similar it felt to riding around any other pasture in the back of the pickup. First they showed us the electric fence, which they tested with a tester like yours Mom! Then we looked at several pastures of cattle, and they even had the big blue barrels cut in half long ways for feed troughs! We also saw the chute where they vaccinate, etc. and if it were a lot rustier and older it would have looked the same as yours also Mom. I thought all of that was really cool...smiley face.

Oh another interesting thing about the ranch is that when the Sandonistas were in power before, they were notorious for taking land from farmers...literally just the government TOOK the land. After the Sandonistas were no longer in power, some people were given their land back and others were just given money for it. The ENTIRE ranch had been taken during that time and was held by the government for about 10 years, so they have only had it back for about 15...isnt that crazy???

For lunch, there was a lady who served us fish...the whole thing! Thankfully I am getting good at conquering the fish in its natural form. She also made something called calala which was a delicious juice made from passion fruit....have I mentioned how great the food is here??

On the way home, it POURED...the whole way. I was sooooo glad that it worked out for me to take the day off from work (Roger suggested I do it, and he teases me about being a lazy gringa...lol) and visit the ranch and talk with Rod. We are currently making plans to visit more operations! The learner in me and the Ag nerd is looooving the sound of that!

Mom, do you mind if I just stay here? smiley face!

To be quite frank, one of my major objectives in this experience is to obviously gain skills that I can use elsewhere, but more importantly to gain insight into what I really am looking for in a career. I am really, really getting into my project because of the puzzleness of it all and the challenge of piecing it together....at the same time, I know that I was extremely intrigued and excited visiting with Rod and the folks at the cattle ranch. I am not sure what that means specifically, but I think personally it is worthy of noting. Okay, sorry for that boring paragraphÑ...smiley face!

This Little Pig went to the Markets...Lots of Markets!

2008-06-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

Hola todos!

First of all, I am at the Galerias Mal in Managua....how did I get here you might ask? I drove...solo! Of course, due to the severe spoiling I am receiving here, I drove in the automatic car they got for me...bless their hearts, for sure. Anyway, typically this would be the point that I would apologize for the book I am about to write. But not today. Nope, I am having a wonderful, full, rich learning experience and I am not going to apologize one bit for capturing all the details. So here goes!

Tuesday
After a morning of talking on the phone and sending emails (yes, I know, I know I was at work) Jose Luis picked me up to drive to Matagalpa, a town about two and a half hours from Managua, in the Northern part of the country. Jose Luis is a sales supervisor for that portion of the country and was a wealth of knowledge about Nicaragua, the company, and the products I am working with. The drive up there was BEAUTIFUL! Perhaps the best part was that as we were driving through a small town there were people on the side of the road selling pets....no puppies or kitties here though, we are talking armadillos, iguanas, parakeets and ......a monkey!! Jose Luis told me I could buy two for 30 dollars...what a bargain! We also were in the midst of the coffee country and passed acres and acres (well, hectares and hectares) rather of coffee farms and processing plants. Que bueno!

That night we went to dinner with one of the company´s clients...who was loco! Seriously, it was the most random, crazy, full of it guy ever...Coty Back, he reminded me of the guy at that one visit we did...you know who i am talking about. Thankfully he was nice though and it was just funny to talk to him. We also visited a supermarket that evening before going to the hotel.

The town itself is nestled, yes nestled, in the hills. It is a pretty small town though, and had that small town feel. My hotel was at the top of one of those hills and it had a phenomonal view, not to mention the peaceful ambiance of the hotel with the tropical flowers and the birds and the soft rain...heaven I tell you.

Wednesday
After enjoying a peaceful morning listening to all the birds and having a good long chat with my mom and nina and papa, Jose Luis picked me up along with another sales guy Omar. Jose Luis speaks great English because he used to live in New York. He is a bit reserved and serious, but very friendly nonetheless. Omar on the other hand, understood English pretty well but didnt speak it...so it was great practice for both of us! Omar was one of those people that you just get a really kind vibe from. Both of them were wonderful tour guides though and as we drove to Jinotega, about an hour from Matagalpa, we stopped at a coffee farm owned by Germans that had been turned into a hotel. It was in the midst of the mountains, a farm, and we ate breakfast beside a lake...oh my goodness, it was wonderful! I had Esteli Nica breakfast, which means Nicaragua style so it was eggs with gallo pinto, which is just rice and beans mixed together. Oh, and I had my first cup of coffee there!! THe coffee was grown on the farm....and great. Granted it was mostly milk, but at least I finally started on one of my goals for the summer of learning to drink coffee....mostly so that I can enjoy a cup with Nina and Papa now!

Then we went to Jinotega and visited a municipal market and a Pali store, which is owned by Wal Mart. It was really interesting....to say the least. After our visits there, we drove back to Matagalpa to visit the market. Ok, when I was little, Aladdin was my favorite movie...and I was taken back to that when we visited the market because it was exactly like that! There were tons of vendors and cars and dogs and flies and people and smells and any other thing you can imagine, all in one tiny place. There were tons of people selling various fruits and vegetables and meat and any other product. The exciting thing was that I talked to several people to ask questions and learn for my project....all in Spanish! Granted, mine stinks but nonetheless I was pumped.

We drove to Esteli next and on the way we stopped and got a Nicaragua pancake, or wirillia. Basically it was sweet corn flattened out and cooked and served wiht my favorite queso fresco....muy rico!! I am so not going hungry here....

When we got to Esteli, they dropped me at the hotel which was another adorable small place with tons of flowers and cool colors and we were all going to just chill and rest for a couple of hours before we would meet up again for supper. So, being the daring adventurer I am (hehe, i know!) I went shopping and to the town square...by myself! I felt so, so safe. Seriously, I love how safe it feels in the small towns here. In all honesty, I am really feeling safe in general and just settling into a great routine and feeling of comfort in this country...it is a great feeling. Anyway, then they picked me up and we went to eat Cuban food....thankfully they also had rice and beans and tostones...oh how addicted to this culture I am becoming!

Thursday
In the morning we ate breakfast, more Esteli Nicaragua of course! Then we visited several grocery stores. I was doing good with my conversations and learning in Spanish, until one girl thought I spoke more Spanish than I did...usually when people take off like that I stop them and convince them to talk slower, but she didnt understand how slow I needed her to talk and she just was so nice and I wanted so badly to understand her so I just turned my ears on rapido....lol

At the market in Esteli, it was a lot slower and cleaner and actually very enjoyable...especially since I bought a pina, a mango, aquacates, and plantanos! Oh, and this BEAUTIFUL bright pink fruit that I cant spell...but I am pumped to eat it!

After our morning of working, we went to a vivero, or a nursery. They had all kinds of great plants and flowers and avocado treese and papaya trees. We ate lunch in the beauty of it all, and had arroz con leche and wheat bread with tomato and cheese. I think scenarios like that are so picturesque...I loved it, and of course took a ton of pictures for all the plant lovers in my life!

Then we drove back to Managua. On our drive Jose Luis and I talked a lot about politics and the world in general. It was really interesting to hear his perspective on the US and it was very odd to look at the country from an outsider point of view...interesting to ponder, but it didnt make me a bit less thankful to be from the US. When I met Fransisco at the office, he had an automatic car for me! Let me just tell you how relieved I was to see that.

All in all, our trip was PHENOMONAL!!! It was so neat to see rural Nicaragua and a different view of the country from Managua. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was cool, the learning was great. I am feeling completely engaged and purposeful with my work now, incredibly safe, and really like I am absorbing the culture and the experience. I am just so thankful to be here and absolutely loving every minute!

The memory verse is Proverbs 3, verse 5 through 6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Today I had an AMAZING day doing something really, really cool but I dont have time to blog right now so I will write about it soon though......

Viernes a Lunes con Neenie!

2008-06-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

Friday
Guess who drove to work today???? Yep, from my apartment all the way to the parking lot at work…I drove…a stick shift car….learned by Spanish! Talk about a proud moment for me! I spent the morning with my boss getting to ask lots of questions and clarify even more about the company and my task this summer, so I felt really great afterwards. At noon, I headed to the Hilton to meet the Business Unit leader over Central America, a gentleman originally from England who now lives in Honduras and speaks great Spanish. Visiting with him was really good, and as soon as I finished there, I went to the airport to pick up my Neenie!!! It felt so surreal to have her here with me in my Nicaragua; almost like it was more real that I am here.

Fortunately, we had a driver for the weekend, named Jose. Jose didn’t quite understand that when he spoke and I said, “mas despacio” it practically means slow motion….so there was a bit of communication trouble, but nothing too major. I was sooo thankful that I didn’t have to drive all weekend, so Jose was a big time blessing for our trip. After the airport, Jose took us to Burger King so that we could grab something quick to eat and be off for some adventure. This was actually my first time ordering all by myself, all in Spanish….as painful as ordering is at fast food restaurants, I didn’t know whether it was because of the language barrier or just the restaurant.

Our first destination was Vulcan Masaya! On the way up, we took tons of pictures of the scenery and once there we roped Jose into being a photographer also. We didn’t stay long though; the gases are just too strong without a mask. They offer gas masks there, but we figured the pictures and the few seconds looking at it were the best parts.

Next we went to Granada, the town Roger took me to last weekend. Jose drove us by the lake, and then into town. Neenie and I just walked around a bit and enjoyed the “oldness” of it all and the neat culture there. We went to buy some postcards in a tiny little shop run by an old man. Last week I was there and bought 10 postcards for about $5. This time, we bought 21 between the two of us and when the man handed me my change it seemed really incorrect. Moments like this when you are trying to recount the change to figure out if it was correct are just really awkward because you are basically questioning the person’s honesty or their basic math skills. Picture that awkward moment lasting a really long time as I tried to count and multiply in dollars and cordobas….so painful. In the end we left, although we definitely got taken on the postcards….I can’t imagine why; I mean, its not like its obvious that we are tourists or anything!

We went and got mango cheesecake (delicious!) in this adorable hotel…it is my goal to learn to drink coffee before I leave here, but so far I haven’t started. We also went to eat supper at a place called El Zaguan, where we had yummy steak and rice and tostones y queso which is my plantanos! Walking around and just enjoying the beautiful weather, the great culture, and sister time made for a phenomenal afternoon and evening.

Saturday
Neenie and I were ready to roll when Jose showed up at 8:30 am to go to the volcano Mombocho, which is about an hour and a half from Managua. We rode in the car about half way up the mountain, and then we jumped on a big huge army-type truck to go all the way to the top. I feel like we have both been on steep mountains during our lives, but let me tell you this road was STEEP. The drive up was gorgeous as there were coffee farms, plantain and banana plants, beautiful tropical flowers and tons of green trees. There were even a couple of nurseries at the base.

Once we got to the top, we made friends with some other gringos who spoke a bit better Spanish then us and were able to explain what the “park rangers” were saying. It turns out, it was a couple in the Peace Corps and their family that was visiting them…super nice people who helped point us in the right direction for our hike. There were 2 hike options: 1 that would take about an hour, and one that would take about 4 hours. We opted for the short one in the interest of time and packing more into our day, but before I leave here I want to hike the long trail.

The trail we took may have been shorter, but there is no way it was less beautiful! We could see lakes, Granada, and the whole valley from up there…it was wonderful! On our hike, we also made friends with an older couple from Argentina who were just visiting Nicaragua for vacation. It is fun to hear everyone’s story of why they are here.

Our new Peace Corps friends were raving about the Canopy Tour, and we gave into the peer pressure. The Canopy Tour is a series of cables tied between two trees. Basically you are strapped into a harness, which hooks from your middle up the cable….you just slide right across! We ended up doing this with a couple from Salt Lake City who were really fun. We had two tour guides who spoke a bit of English, and they were super nice and helpful. The first time we went, Neenie was all hooked up, sat down in the harness, the guy gave the go ahead….and I don’t know that her rope had ever been squeezed as tightly as she was squeezing it then or that she had ever shut her eyes as tightly as she was…but she did so good! At the next platform when I grabbed her hand to help her stand up, I realized that her whole body was shaking….what a trooper!! There were a few options of how to go on each cable. You could go the basic way, by sitting down on the harness, or you could go “superman” with your arms out flying, or you could go upside down….for some reason, I felt really brave and went both superman and upside down! In order to go superman, the guide goes with you and is in back holding your legs….let me just say right here, that I know it looked terribly inappropriate and there was a Nicaragua strange man holding my legs, however at that moment all I cared about was not dying! Anyway, our canopy tour was great and Janeen cant wait to do it again—right, Neenie? ;)

Catarinas was next on our list, and it is a beautiful little town at the top of a hill that looks down in to a crater where there is a lagoon. The town is very touristy with lots of shops, and crafty things, and men with musical instruments, and many nurseries. Anyway, it was about 4 in the afternoon by the time we got there and we were starving for lunch so we went to a place looking right onto the lake…beautiful! Once again, I was trying to order in Spanish. I knew the word for fish and had communicated that, but then the waiter starts going off with other words and options I didn’t understand. The best I could come up with was “si”, which was fine until they brought my fish….the whole fish, head and tail included! Oh, and it was covered in sauce. Yum. Oh, and it cost about twice what I thought. Yum. Luckily, it turned out to be pretty good and I documented my fine finned friend’s cute head and all with a great picture! Luckily Neenie ordered beef and didn’t even end up with the whole cow! Honestly, by this point Neenie might have been understanding more Spanish than me…she was doing really good, even though she wasn’t quite comfortable speaking it.

We wanted to shop around a bit and found ourselves at a lady’s little dress stand where she even had the sewing machine to make the dresses, and she had two little girls….trust me, we took pictures of it all! Neen and I had a ball picking out dresses for some little girls in our lives, and just looking at all the neat stuff…I think the “crafter” in Neenie was in seventh heaven!

We headed back to Managua, and Roger came and picked us up to go out for the evening. We went to a restaurant at the Galerias mall and just ate and hung out. Ironically some people from my work were there so Neenie got to meet some more people. Oh, and I was sooooooo excited to meet the guy who works for the Central American ag lending company because he was all about taking me out and showing me around…I told him he had the coolest job ever, but apparently he has never heard that before. Go figure.

Sunday
We slept late and had breakfast of frozen waffles and watched Good Morning America…how great is that! Roger came and picked us up to head for Leon, which is about an hour and a half from Managua. Once again, the drive was beautiful!!! Are you sensing that common theme here? At one point we had a phenomenal view of the volcanoes and the lake, and Roger stopped so we could take some pictures. There was a family with a little drink stand and Roger told me it was a big test to see if I could go order a bottle of water on my own….so of course I did! While I was talking to the man, we noticed that on the wall of his shack he had written Philippians 4:13!! It was really neat! During the rest of the drive we saw tons of cattle, horses, pigs, goats, corn, banana plants and mountains and trees.

We went to a small town on the beach to have lunch, literally right on the beach! It wasn’t a fancy beach town, but really poor. We ate lunch in a restaurant where there were lots of chickens, dogs, and small children in diapers under foot. Then we went to downtown Leon to walk around. Honestly, it was really smelly and dirty and trashy…not my favorite place so far. We did go into the old convent there that is now a hotel, and had desert. I was ordering sorbet and trying to pick my fruit flavors and there were fruits Roger didn’t even know what they were! He said there are just so many fruits here that it is common to learn a new one. Oh, and we also went to some old Catholic churches that are hundreds of years old….crazy.

Then we drove back to Managua and Roger dropped us off for some sister hanging out time. Neenie had brought me a ton of pictures, some snacks, and my favorite Hot Tamales candies! We just got to chill last night and for a while this morning also since I just rode with her to the airport at about 9 and came to work after that….I was soooo sad to let her go, but we just had such a good weekend together. I am awfully blessed that she could come and was willing to come, so now I have proof that I am not living in a fairytale! Once again, it was so nice how helpful Javier was to help me plan a great weekend and Roger was to take us around….I am glad Neenie got to experience all the good things about Central America and even more glad that I got to hug her so much!

Hurricane Alma

2008-06-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry these get so long, but it is hard to pack multiple days in a foreign country into a clean, concise paragraph! I am in the office today (Monday) with full email capabilities from my work account, so I am going to try and catch up. Tomorrow I will be leaving with a sales supervisor for a few towns about 2-3 hours away, where I will be visiting municipal markets and really getting into the meat of my brand study. I will return on Thursday to Managua, but will be visiting more markets on Friday all day. I am so hoping to find an Internet café and blog this weekend, but it might be next week before I really get to. Anyway, I am going to just jump in...

Thursday (5/29):
Thursday morning when I woke up it was pouring….and I mean POURING. It continued throughout the day, courtesy of Hurricane Alma! I didn’t realize at first that it was a hurricane, and (silly as this might be…) I was sort of excited to say that I was in my first hurricane ever. I think I now need a lamb named Alma, for sure. Because of the rain, when I got to the office things were…interesting. The office building is fairly old and a lot of the ceiling panels are missing. On a dry day, this is no problem but on a day with torrential downpours it wreaks havoc. Picture regular cubicles and offices everywhere, along with buckets and trashcans…everywhere! The ceiling was leaking all over the place and lots of people had to move to a new workspace. I was fine, but I just couldn’t pull out my keyboard all day because it was right in the line of fire of a serious stream. I think I might have won the game because at the end of the day my bucket was really full!

The ONLY thing I did at work on Thursday was go to the hatchery. Javier had warned me that I would have to shower before I went inside, because of disease prevention. Thank goodness he had warned me, or when the Spanish speaking lady handed me a towel I would have been even more confused than I already was! Okay, there is more story here that I am going to have to share with the females in my life but somehow I don’t feel right posting it on the blog…possibly the scariest moment in my life for this really modest girl!

The hatchery was really interesting! They import eggs from US and Panama, so those poor little chickies start out with a rough ride. I saw all the incubators and even a few freshly hatched little chickens. Avian Influenza has not hit here, but they are very cautious about diseases. The company owns the hatchery, the farms, and the processing plant and it is really interesting to hear everyone talk about the coordination needed among the three facets and also the affects of small changes along the supply chain on the other areas.

Thursday night Fransisco took me for more driving lessons! I was feeling MUCH more comfortable and was doing fairly well driving on the main road between my two gravel lots. However, on one loop, Fransisco started looking behind us and saying “tranquila, mas despacio” which means just relax and slow down. Then he started saying something about the “policia” and had a funny look on his face. Instead of turning to go to my gravel lot, he told me to go straight and head out into the really main traffic and he kept looking behind us….I’ll be honest I really don’t know what it was all about but Fransisco seemed pretty worried! Fortunately they didn’t follow us outside the area and so I drove through about 5 stoplights and then traded with Fransisco…whew! Oh, also Fransisco brought some CD’s to listen to….mostly 80s music with John Travolta, go figure.

On our way back to my house, we stopped at Mcdonalds…oh my, I have never had McDonalds that tasted so incredibly good! Kacy Baugher, I ate some fries for you too!

Nicaragua

2008-06-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

The country is tiny, and is divided into departments which are very similar to counties. Next week I will be visiting different municipal markets with a sales man, and I will get to see 3 new departments I think. The country is very split, with most of the people being on the Pacific coast where I am. The Atlantic coast is mostly indigenous people and just really small towns….there is hardly any road access there and to get all the way across the country to the ocean you would have to take a boat! Oh, and supposedly on the Atlantic side is where all the drugs and the gang activity are, at least the hard core stuff. Roger told us a bit about drugs in Nicaragua and Central America and lets just say I am thankful I am on this side of the country!

People here are just very poor (approximately $200 per month salary), with a ridiculously high unemployment rate. I had understood that it was 30-35%, but then I have also heard the number 60% thrown around as well. Roger was explaining yesterday that the problem with poverty isn’t just being poor, it is the fact that it is a cycle caused by ignorance. Education is the only way to break it, but it is just so complex. I have a really hard time really connecting in my mind that these shacks and the signs of poverty are the way that real people live, not just some made up commercial on tv. It makes me feel so spoiled about my life in the US, but even more so about my life of luxury here in Nicaragua…

Only 5% of people have a tv here, so obviously much less than that have a computer or Internet access. There are blackouts all the time, and everyone says it is the government…no one blinks an eye at work when the lights go out because it is so common. All of the plant equipment here is based on generator power because regular electricity is just too unreliable. I haven’t figured out how the energy is tied to the government yet. The government in the 80s that was in power and the US funded the war against them is back in power now, and it isn’t that great apparently. The country is only growing at about 2% per year. The government is also fairly corrupt. There are known illegal acts in business that companies get away with if they are connected to the government…crazy! People just accept this is as a way of life.

There isn’t a lot of infrastructure here. Everyone talks about how there is either nothing to do or no money to afford the activity, so drinking is an extremely popular sport here. Nicaragua is known as the country that drinks the most and curses the most, according to them. Apparently they are also very politically incorrect, also according to them. However, they also have a very open culture that is very neighborly and welcoming….my favorite thing about it!

Oh, everyone greets one another with a kiss on the cheek. Okay, lets just be frank, I tend to have a little Janette bubble that I only let people into on my own terms….fortunately Puerto Rico last year prepared me for the kissing. I am okay being kissed now, but I don’t kiss others on the cheek….you know those awkward hugs when you both lean your head to the same time? I have this terrible fear that will happen if I were to do the kiss greeting….oh my.

There is farming and agriculture EVERYWHERE, although much of it is just subsistent. I am really anxious to find out more though and to see some different types of farms.

Anyway, that is just a bit of background on the country….more to come as discovered...

To the internet via Texas

2008-05-30T12:49:00.001-07:00

This is Jennifer posting for Janette. Enjoy! She is eagerly awaiting more sweet comments...

I am writing this from work and outsourcing the posting to mi hermana Jennifer since I am currently not really in contact with the Internet, other than my email account at work. Good news though, although my work keyboard has random buttons associated with various punctuation signs, I think I have finally mastered it and I have full punctuation range again! Woohoo!
Monday Monday morning I packed up all my belongings at the Hilton in preparation for moving to the new casa. Although I was excited to see the apartment because I had full faith they would take care of me, I was still a bit anxious.
Monday morning I visited the poultry processing plant here. A girl named Flor gave me the tour, and although she is still learning English she did a great job of explaining everything. Occasionally I had a hard time understanding her because of her accent but she would write down the word and I would recognize it immediately. It makes me understand when a Spanish speaker has a hard time understanding me sometimes…
The plant was neat, especially since I have never been up close and personal with the poultry industry. We started from the point the birds have just been defeathered (a real technical term right there!) and followed them through the processing plant as various parts were cut off or cut up. Every bit of the bird is used and sold here, including the feet and the head….ew! It was amazing that although there was quite a bit of mechanization, there was a LOT of manual labor going on. For example, there was a lady cutting chicken nuggets….that is her job, because ALL chicken nuggets are cut by hand. Flor said that it is still economic to have so much manual labor because labor is relatively cheap here as opposed to investing in machines and also because the yield is higher when people are cutting each bird and there is less waste.
The second part of the tour was where the birds are killed. Now I would like to think that I am a pretty tough girl and that I have a reasonably strong stomach….however, there are limits to everything. The first step is that the birds are hanged/hung (I went to school in Cochise…forgive me for my grammar!) by their feet and sent on the conveyor line. We had to walk under the live bok-boking birds. Then the birds are stunned by a machine and a man with a knife slits the throats. At this point the birds are shaking their last shakes out and bleeding out also. We had to walk under the bleeding birds also. Then the birds are plunged into scalding water which takes off all the feathers….as immature as it sounds, I just couldn’t help but giggle at how naked the birds looked! It makes me giggle just thinking about itJ Anyway, then we saw the rendering plant where the waste and feathers are formed into a meal that is fed to the live birds.
Flor and I went to lunch in the cafeteria here and I had so much fun talking to her! I think we might hang out with her this weekend when Neenie is here. Flor is from Honduras, and we also ate lunch with someone named Elena who is actually from Russia! Elena met a man from Nicaragua when she was in college and followed him here…without knowing a word of Spanish! She was very encouraging that in two months you can learn an awful lot of a new language.
Monday afternoon I received my first “real” assignment from Javier to organize some data into tables, then charts, and then analyze them. I handled it pretty well and was navigating Excel decently, but Veronica sits right behind me and I really capitalized on her knowledge of Excel a few times. Now, Veronica and I are under strict orders from Javier that I am to “learn by making mistakes because that is the best way to learn”….oh my.
Fransisco and I left work and headed for the new crib….it is a great area, but it is especially nice as it is one of 4 or 5 houses in a gated area with a security guard that is around 24/7! I honestly feel super safe there, which most of you know is a big deal considering I am staying by myself. Yep, I am 22 years old and totally okay with my fear of the dark. That is why God made husbands right? Anyway, there are 2 bedrooms in the house, and a tv with all kinds of English channels….I even watched One Tree Hill the other night. Honestly, the English tv with Spanish subtitles is really, really helpful for me as I learn the language. I did end up using a few of my alarms though, and had quite a time with the window in my room as the surface is uneven and did not allow the two pieces to stick right. I went ahead and forced them, and then laid down in my bed to chill and read. About 15 minutes later, my body turned inside out when the one of the pieces fell off of the window and was going absolutely berserk! I jumped across the bed to the window faster than I’ve ever moved in my life and just prayed that the security guard wouldn’t here it and come running….it was about 10 minutes before my fingers stopped shaking so I could even turn the page in my book…oy ve! (Actually I don’t even know what that means, but I hear it a lot…maybe that isn’t a good strategy for building my Spanish vocabulary…)
Tuesday Tuesday I kept working on the project and the info for Javier. At lunch I went with him and Veronica to a place called Mi Viejo Rancherito which is literally a cool little hut, but so cute. I had something called quesillo there which is basically just a tortilla with TONS of JUICY cheese on it, that has been rolled up and stuffed in a plastic bag. Javier ordered for me and said that the locals eat it with their hands….Veronica ordered hers on a plate though, but Javier said I’m not no foreigner I am a local so that is how I had to eat it. I gave it my best shot but in the end, I think the quesillo won the battle!
Also at lunch, Javier was talking about driving up a volcano and the shifting in the car, etc…..he looked at me and said, “you have driven a stick shift before, right?” Believe me, I tried to get out of answering that one but as I realized my desparate situation, I admitted that I had not…but was going to learn this weekend. Javier and Veronica got quite a kick out of this and Javier assured me they would get me an automatic car, he said he didn’t want me proving his theory of learning by mistakes true with the car!
Then I asked them whether or not Janeen should take a taxi from the airport, and they both started laughing again! When I asked them why they were laughing, they informed me that she would have absolutely no way of telling the driver where to go….there are NO street signs here. None. Not one. I understand that not everyone wants to be as Americanized as the US, but lets just be frank here---street signs are an ingenius idea! Anyway, here all addresses are just directions basically. There is some famous tree in the middle of the street here in Managua and apparently a LOT of addresses are based from there. Veronica is from a small town and she said that in her town an address might be “2 blocks down from so and sos house”, but that so and so has to be a well known established family that has been there for many years….and they call us small towners rednecks???? Lol, I love it thoughJ
Although I will be getting an automatic car, Javier asked Fransisco to take me in the evening and teach me to drive. So Fransisco, who only speaks about 3 words of English, and Janette, who only speaks about 4 words of Spanish, set out to learn to drive a stick shift. We went to a big, flat, open, gravelly place where I learned to drive a stick shift car…in Spanish…in the rain….and sort of in the dark. An experience not soon to be forgotten! It wasn’t so bad, except that the car seemed to die…a lot. Fransisco, thankfully, is incredibly patient and I was able to recognize when he said “clooch” and “aceleradora” and mas despacio or rapido (slow or fast). Don’t tell me no stinking language barrier can get in the way!
After our drive, I went to a supermarket for the first time. It is a big chain, and was very similar to ours, only it was laid out different…and everything was in Spanish. However, there were a lot of familiar brands. The only problem I had was buying milk. I drink skim milk, and have no idea how to say skim in Spanish…there was a bottle that said “Eskimo” and I took a gamble hoping that meant skim…but it turns out it was only a brand. Oh well!
Wednesday Today I toured the distribution center…cold, lots of meat. That’s about it. Then this afternoon I looked at our products just so I will be familiar with them. By the way, I finally had embutidos translated and it just means cold cuts.
This morning as I ate my Raisin Bran and watched Good Morning America in my really safe house, I felt very much at homeJ Each day I feel more comfortable here and make a few more friends, however I am sooo excited to see my Neenie this weekend!
The memory verse is Galations 1:10: Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Porque no recorder?

2008-05-25T17:03:00.000-07:00

Why cant I remember everything at once?

A few more miscellaneous things...

1. On Monday I was supposed to go through the new employee orientation. However, Javier came and asked me how much of the presentation I was picking up on and I said, well the leadership model. He said, oh yeah, why just that? And I said, well I have seen it about 3 times in Cargill. Once he realized I was only getting what was familiar I got pulled out....I suppose that was good to not know Spanish in that moment, huh? My favorite though was seeing SMART goals in Spanish....for all my FFA peeps, you can appreciate that!

2. On Tuesday, I read about 100 pages of a Brand Study done by Cargill. Most of it was graphs, but obviously the labels on the graphs were all in Spanish...picture Janette sitting there with her Spanish, English dictionary finding all the words...oh my it was painful!

3. I just went outside to practice driving my car. It is raining like crazy here, so I decided to just play aroudn with the gears and get the feel of it. I tell you what feel I got though, that this might be a bit more challenging than I had planned on! I am soooo hoping I dont have to confess to anyone that I cant drive a stick....I can only imagine what they would say about the gringa then!

4. Okay, this is the doozy right here. I have been debating all weekend whether or not to post it, but I suppose I will confess...it is good for the soul, right? Anyway, we all know about the great clumsy, awkward moments that only Nette-Nette can create...right? Well, on Friday night when Javier and I were talking, I said, Javier I have to confess my favorite Nicaragua story so far. you were there, you just didnt know it. I proceeded to explain to him my security system and also about the first night when my alarm had gone off in the hotel. Well, he immediately starts cracking up! He said, of course I noticed it...it was going off as soon as you came out of the airport, but I didnt know this gringa from Arizona so I didnt want to say anything. Oh my, talk about funny! Apparently I just thought the annoying noise was a Managua airport thing and then a hotel thing....I absolutely died laughing, because had I not died laughing I would have died of embarrassment. Although he now knows about all of my alarms...I just couldnt bring myself to tell him that I also have two bottles of pepper spray and a mag lite flashlight also....ay, ay, ay. Nothing like a good story and a chiste for bonding people right?

Also, todays memory verse is courtesty of the best sister in law ever, Candi!
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in Me.
John 14 1

Politically charged....

2008-05-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is just a bit of the economic side and I suppose since it is my blog I can post whatever I want to, right?

Anyway, Roger and I talked a lot about Cargill and businesses in general investing in third world countries, and especially the American environmentalists problems with that. Here in Nicaraga, people love Cargill because it means jobs! That means that 1500 more families will eat because Cargill is here. In a country with a 35 percent unemployment rate, that is huge! Cargill operates under strict safety and quality standards in all its countries. If you were here and saw some of the pollution adn the trash adn the little kids in the street begging for money, etc. you wouldnt worry about Cargills destruction of the jungle, you would just appreciate the economic stimulation.

Roger said that in Brazil, cattle farmers are cutting down trees to grow soybeans. This is already occurring because of the high soybean price. So, Cargill built a plant on the Amazon that would provide infrastructure and bring better prices and organization and technology to the region. No more land was put into farming, but everyone was better off with the infrastructure, jobs and prices created due to investment and economic activity in the area.

The moral of my conversation with Roger is this, that it is easy for environmentalists in the US to sit in their warm beds and full refrigerators and big houses and talk about regulations domestically and abroad. But it is entirely different for people in other countries who just need a job, who just need to feed thier kids.

Just my thoughts....although I am still developing them every day.

Un loco Argentinian y mas!

2008-05-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

Hola todos!

I feel so random in my blogging, that i have got to get more organized....forgive me. Especially since I am moving tomorrow to my apartment, and I am not really sure of the next time I will be able to blog, but I promise to keep everyone updates as much as possible.

I do fee really good about the big moving day which is tomorrow! Thankfully, I will still have a driver this week and my Neenie will be here next weekend, which will be sooooo fun. Unfortunately, the next week I will be flying completely solo....in other words, my agenda for the afternoon is to learn how to drive a stick shift. I am all over this whole learning and experiencing thing.

Okay, get ready for el libro....

1. Driving in Nicaragua
Wow, talk about different! Basically I am on a road that is a straight shot from the hotel to work, and my apartment should be that easy as well. It is a main highway, of sorts, so it is 4 lanes separated by a median, of sorts. Every 5 kilometers or so is a rotunda, or a roundabout in English. At first this seemed a bit chaotic to me, but it really is faster than having a big intersection...as long as you dont get into an accident.

Probably the most confusing part about driving, is that there are no street signs! Crazy, huh? I have NOOOO idea how people know where to go, but somehow they do....well, Fransisco does at least. This is the reason that addresses are more like directions than true addresses. Have I mentioned yet that my apartment address is something about near Pizza Hut....seriously! I love that...smiley face.

Another funny thing, is the various modes of transportation. Literally within a 1 mile stretch of road, you can see regular cars, many bicycles, many motorcyles, funny little 3 wheeled cars called toritos, and even carts pulled by horses! It is so bizarre, but I guess it works. The really funny thing is that a lot of times bikes and motorcycles will have at least 2 people on them.

People say that Nicaragua is a peaceful place, which it is....however the roads are not! Not because of the driving, but because of the honking. Seriously, you see someone you know--you honk. You see someone doing something stupid---you honk. The light changes--you honk. I just cant figure out what its all about, and I asked Javier and he just laughed and said thats what we do! Amidst all the honking, there is a lot of waving to one another also....and I am not talking about a small town friendly full hand wave either!

2. Work friends
I just wanted to give a brief run down on my favorite work friends. Javier is my boss, and Roger is his boss. Veronica is Javiers assistant product manager and is my friend closest to my age who I will work with a lot which is exciting....and I am a bit confused, but I think she was or is on some sort of national basketball team here! Then there is Maria Jose from HR who is from Spain and always gives hugs. Then Simone and Melisa work in HR and those girls are soooo sweet. Simone is married and has a wonderful husband Carlos who I love to talk to...he told me that is going to tell Javier that we need to hang out for 1 hour every day so he can leanr English more. lol. Also Ruth, who works in finance is great as well and has the husband who works with Nicaragua farmers....I cant wait to befriend him! The great part is that especially Ruth, Javier, and Roger understand American culture and can joke a lot more with me, but everyone else does really good honestly and it is super easy to communicate with them. Oh, also Luis is in my favorite list because he is about 27 and is just so adorable in his excitement to learn English adn teach me Spanish. I met his wife last week and am hoping to meet his kids soon.

All that to say that people at work are amazing!!!

3. Celebracion de dia de las madres y trabajadores
As you have probably already gathered, people are very social here. On Saturday, there was an almost company wide event for about 500 employees to celebrate Mothers Day, which is on Friday here, and Labor Day which was May 1. The event began with breakfast and was followed by some awards for each area given by the managers. Then the fun started...there are 4 people in the marketing division who are special event coordinators, Paris, Juan, Maria Jose and I cant remember the fourth. Anyway, Paris has got the best tv announcer voice ever! I love listening to this guy talk. Anyway, Paris and the other special events people coordinated a game show of sorts where the different divisions were competing against one another. Although at any one time there was only about 10 people on stage, everyone was sooo engaged with what was happening.

THEN it got interesting...because there was a dance contest! At first it was just musical chairs, only instead of walking around the chairs, the 5 people onstage had to dance....so of course, they were getting their groove on! It was sooo funny, and everyone loved it. But THEN, they brought up 3 couples and just played music and had them dance. It was cool to see salsa and meringue, and the couples were really into it....but then Paris played a song, I think it was payo de mayo? and it is a very traditional song here in Nicaragua, and let me tell you the place went NUTS! Everyone was clapping and hollering in the audience and onstage....well, lets just say I think my cheeks were burning bright red! When I got in the car with Roger to leave though, he said, did you like the event? And I said, yes it was so great! And he said, yes well the payo de mayo was pretty decent today...when i first came to this country and went to the clubs i was like, wow, what are you doing in public? Again, picture this said with the Argentina accent...soooo funny.

It was fun though to hang out more with people from work and see a bit more of their culture. Cargill is soooo focused on safety and throughout the day I heard so much more that showed how everone in the company focuses on it.

4. Saturday sightseeing
After the Cargill celebration, Roger took me for the day. First we went to Vulcan Masaya. I so wish I could post pictures, but I cant do that yet. Anway, it was absolutely gorgeous on the drive up with all the thick trees and beautiful flowers. It really wasnt that far up in elevation though, I dont think anyway. It was sort of raining and cloudy and when we pulled up the crater it was the most eery thing I have ever seen because you could not see across the crater at all due to the smoke coming out of the volcano! I had been warned what the sulfur would taste like in my nose and my mouth, but I had no idea. After about 5 minutes, I couldnt even talk because it hurt too badly since the sulfur was so thick in the air. Roger said he had never seen the volcano with that much smoke, so I sure hope it doesnt blow while I am here! Just kidding, just kidding...smiley.

Next we drove about 40 minutes to the town of Granada, which happens to be the oldest town in all of Central America. It is the most touristy as well. Lake Nicaragua, the really big lake in the country if you look at the map, is right at the edge of town and apparently, you can get from the Atlantic Ocean to Granada by taking rivers to the lake from the ocean. This also means that back in the 1800s there were actually tons of pirates and buccaneers who ruled the area! Cool, huh? The town is beautiful though, and really reminded me of Old San Juan in Puerto Rico. Roger and I ate lunch at a yummy place and had more chicherones, the fried pig skin and yuka, also plantains and the yummy cheese, and then some delicous meat cooked on a skewer.

We walked around for a bit and then went to a coffee shop in an old hotel that was absolutely adorable! We had some yummy cheesecake, that I cant remember the name of it....but it was delish. Next we drove around to look at the lake and it was beautiful! Around the lake, there was a lot of various pastures wiht cows in them and I even saw a Nicaragua vaquero with cows in the street! Go figure.

The last thing we did was come back to Managua and go see a movie....perhaps you are thinking, oh you saw a movie in Spanish in a trashy movie theater? No, no, no. We actually watched Chronicles of Narnia, in English with Spanish subtitles which is honestly such a helpful way to learn...did I mentioned I watched Friends like this the other day? Anyway, and in the theater were these fancy recliners for all the seats! It was so cool and it was only six dollars for both of us...how great is that? My Tucson friends---too bad our ghetto theater on Grant isnt that nice huh?

Roger is absolutely phenomonal and stinking HILARIOUS. Randomly, he went to college in Jonesboro, Arkansas and knows where my grandparents live in Searcy, Arkansas. He said, Oh yes, I used to be a redneck and I lived in Arkansas, so i had to get boots and a cowboy hat. Are you a city girl? Then I explained about Cochise and he said, OH! You are a redneck too! And you live in the boonies! Okay, please read all of this with your VERY best Argentinian accent adn it is sooo great...smiley.

5. La iglesia
My mama Helen is so good. She got me hooked up with a guy from Georgia who does a lot of mission work in Nicaragua and has worked to start several congregations here. He was in town this weekend, so Fransisco took me to church this morning! It turns out that the guy from Georgia, Roger also brought a guy from Alabama, Pierce. Jennifer Himburg'---he used to live in Doathan!!! Anyway, the building was tiny with no air, plastic seats, and concrete walls...but it was perfect. During Bible Class, Roger taught and Mainor, the main Nicaragua contact for Roger, translated. Roger had a great lesson about giving God our whole heart and being to use. Then there was a 10 minute break. During that break, I shook a lot of hands and got a lot of hugs, and then I walked to the side door to talk to the kids. There were about 10 kids between ages 2 and 10 there, and it was only a matter of time before they were all sitting with me and literally sitting on me some of them! I ended up sitting on the floor with the kids at the side door during church, half loving on the kids and half way listening. The kids were soooo cute though, especially a couple of little girls who just wanted to play wiht my hair. I couldnt understand much of what they said, so i just said si a lot...hopefully that was ok? I was super sad to leave my new friends, especially since I probably wont go back to that congregation since it was a ways away. Roger from GA is going to try and get me hooked up wiht a congregation that is in Masaya, closer to my apartment.

Anyway, church was so, so, so wonderful!!

6. El hefe
After church today, I went to lunch with Javier, his wife, a friend of theirs and their little girl Elisa. Elisa was sooo cute and reminded me a lot of Anna actually. The only bad part is that we couldnt really communicate at all and it was a bit harder to make friends wiht her during the lunch setting. But we went to a really good restaurant that served great steak and the best beans ever and also seviche...which was good. It was kind of a funny moment because Javier went to tell me that this place had the best beans ever, only he said breast beans ever and then corrected himself. He kind of half way smiled but not really, so i couldnt tell if he realized what he said or not....what a great moment though...smiley. All of them spoke English though so it was pretty fun, but sometimes when I listen in Spanish I almost feel like I am eavesdropping.

7. Espanol
I have decided that not knowing Spanish is a great blessing, because these people are loving teaching me how to speak it and I think it makes them really comfortable practicing their English with me. If vulnerability and openness builds trust with people, then I am certainly building lots of trust because you cant hide a lack of a language! In all seriousness though, i am understanding more each day. It is always SUCH a great feeling when I can communicate an entire thought in Spanish, even if it isnt perfect. I know this is backwards, but I think next semester I am going to take Spanish again and really focus on learning the language.

8. They are treating me so, so, so good here and I feel absolutely spoiled. Although I have had a few moments when I have felt dumb for not knowing Spanish, or much about marketing, I have realized that the more things I am asked to do this summer that I dont already know just means that I will learn all the more. Trust me, this is definitely a summer of learning!

Okay, I dont really know what else I can write....but it is funny how much has happened in 1 week! I really, really love this place and am pumped for the next few weeks. This week I will be visiting diferent parts of the supply chain and next week visiting many markets here so it is going to be awesome...plus Neenie is coming in the mean time!

I guess this is long enough that there is no way I could have forgotten anything, even though I feel like it is absolutely impossible to get it all down here. I am sending lots of love home though!

Este fin de semana!

2008-05-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hola todos!

Well, today was the last day of my first week of work! I just got back to the hotel and it is late, well for me anyway, so I promise to not write a book tonight....but of course one will be coming before the end of the week.

I just wanted to write really quickly about my day. This morning I went to the office in Masaya, and didnt have too much to do so I played on Excel...boring, I know except that I learned about PivotTables, which Javier says I will be learning a lot about the rest of the summer. Jennifer, you would be proud!

At noon, everyone came to the Hilton for a seminar. Basically it was just to bring together the different functions and departments and allow everyone to be up to speed on overall company goals for the beginning of the new fiscal year. The really great part was that I understood almost everything that was on the powerpoints! Not so much as far as what was said though....lol

After all the presentations we were split into small groups for an activity. Beau, Coty, Kacy, Jamie, and Jenn---I had serious flashbacks to NLCSO when we did win-lose and win-win negotiations, because that was pretty much what the activity was. Even though I couldnt understand everything, I understood quite a bit and it was fun to see some FFA ishness in Nicaragua...smiley face.

So, then this evening all of the management, and yo tambien, went to Rogers house....oh my, talk about a nice house. Just so you know the exclamation point doesnt work on this computer tonight so i am down to a comma or a period for punctuation. Perdon. Anyway, his house was absolutely phenomonal including a pool, beautiful landscaping and an incredible view of the lake and the volcanoes. We had caballo vayo? It is some way of saying the way that a meal is served, but it was basically Nicaraguan version of Mexican food....muy bien. Roger told me that anyone who doesnt drink gets kicked out of the country, he was kidding with me of course but it was so funny.

This evening I felt more comfortable than I have all week because I have gotten to know everyone who was there, throughout the week and they are all absolutely wonderful people. I visited with one of my new friends, Ruth, who is about thirty and is the financial manager and I learned that her husband works for a company called LAAD, which is owned by about twelve different US ag companies and basically lends to Central American farmers. She has promised me that I will get to meet him and even that I will get to visit farms with him, how cool is that??

The reason for the get together was to celebrate this months birthdays, which was just Luis. For whatever reason, they sang Happy Birhtday to him in English, exclamation point. After we finished, I said, que? no feliz cumpleanos a ti? So then we sang in Spanish, per my request...super fun.

Javier and I got to visit tonight in a less formal setting that wasnt just work, and I feel so good about working with him and learning from him. The reason I know it will be a good working relationship is because he really started to pick on me tonight, especially making fun of Cochise...or Coochie as he called it. lol

Tomorrow is a big company event, and I think Roger is taking me to Granada to see the town. To be sure, blogging material will gathered, smiley face.

Also, todays memory verse was Luke two verse nineteen.
Mary treasured these things and pondered them in her heart.

But Jennifer, I will work on Annas verse as well.

Much love and hoping that tomorrow I will have more punctuation at my disposal....

Whoops!

2008-05-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, the whole reason for the title of the last post is that my Spanish is really improving I think....my grammar is still terrible and probably will be forever, but at least my vocabulary is improving. I know enough to hear when Javier tells people, ella habla nada una palabra de Espanol! lol

Jennifer Hiser or Candice, pick a memory verse for me chicas!