Laundry

Dorm life, I have been warned, can be quite interesting- in all senses of the word. For one thing, kids have to do their own laundry, and not all of them know how to do so. My roommate, for instance, has been asking me questions like "what can I put in the washing machine?" "what is the difference between the 'colors' button and the 'whites' button?" etc. I thought that (thanks to my mother's insistence that I'd have to do laundry on my own someday anyway) I had learned pretty much everything there was to know about clothes-washing. So yesterday I got all my dirty clothes in a basket, and went down to the laundry room to see what was what (then ran back upstairs, having forgotten the soap. Yeah, memory like an elephant). I chose my machine, put my quarters in the rather full-sounding slot, put in the soap, and started the machine. When I came back an hour later, I opened the door, and looked in. Oddly, the clothes didn't look wet. They didn't feel wet either- they felt warm and sticky. And the mud stains on my caving shirt were still there....
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I "washed" my clothes in the dryer (they got sticky from the evaporated soap). And this is the girl who goes to an ivy league school. Sigh. So I took the clothes out, stuck 'em in one of the real washing machines (the ones on the other side of the room that said "washing machine" in nice, clear black letters) and started the load.
Maybe I shouldn't be a translator after all... maybe the profession of absentminded professor is the one for me.
over 'n out.

Spain, China, and America

Here I sit, in my American dorm room, with my Chinese roommate, listening to music by Enrique Iglesias, Chenoa, and Merche, while enrolling in German classes, and looking at my Catalan books.
Life is a strange, strange phenomena.
Oh, and did I mention my facluty advisor is from Brazil??
As Fred would say- Craziness!

Bumps, Bruises, and Bonding

So this morning I got back from my Outdoor at Emory Orientation (OEO) trip. We went caving, aka spelunking (which is a much cooler word, though less ppl know what it means). Well, that is, we spent about 6 hours total caving. The rest of our time was spent in the pool, the van, or making fire and talking. =)
I should explain. Basically what happened is this. I moved into the dorm a couple days ago, and the next day packed my backpack and left campus to get in a van with 8 strangers and go to Tennessee for two days. This van full of strangers and I were to camp for two days and nights near a mountain with a cave system in it, and venture into the caves on the second day.
It was definitely an interesting experience in many ways. First, there was the weirdness of traveling and spending 2 days with ppl - strangers- my own age, which is just surreal on some level. Then there was the fact that despite the campsite's being equipped with an (and I quote) air-conditioned shower house and a pool, we were indeed sleeping intents, on the ground. I might add that it was very rocky ground (that is where some of the bruises come in. :P)
The two most interesting aspects of the trip, though, were the caves and the people. I will start with the caves, because I am still sorting out my impressions of and thoughts about the people (yes, this is a mild form of WABing :P)
The cave that we went into is a wild cave, for the most part. After you get past about the first 150m. Then you turn your headlamps on, get on your (padded, thank goodness) knees, and begin to crawl, climb, clamber, walk and scoot over, under and through literal tons of rocks. The formations are astonishing... some look like cumulus clouds frozen into rock, others are shaped like a watermelon rind that someone scraped out with a spoon- all pocketed. Still others look like waves of rock, and sheets, and columns. There was one formation, our guide told us, that is never the same twice. It looks like it's made of mud, and water drips down it constantly. The swiftness of the drip determines whether the formation grows or shrinks. If you've seen The Lion King, there was a place that reminded me of the gorge. I can't describe it to you in the little time I have, just imagine (unless your imagination's broken, in which case I a) pity you greatly and b) can't really help you anyway). That's just the formations. There were also little black salamanders, and brown Crystal Cavern spiders (4 known exemplars). There was a stream, and pebbles, and gypsum roses forming. The passages were all named: the Superman hole, the Keyhole, the 180 foot belly crawl, the 49 cent crawl, and many more. Every name has a story behind it. The superman hole, you have to stick both arms out in front of you and "fly" (or inch, more like) like Superman; the discoverer of the 49 cent hole lost the change he carried in his pockets while going through- you guessed it, 49 cents. Our guide joked with and teased us. It was a blast, and the caves were so amazing. It's incredible the things we don't see... this summer I've been on all levels of the earth: above its head, on its surface, and in its belly. :)
Anyway, that's all I will write for now, as I have a meeting to head off to.
over 'n out.
K

Moving

Tomorrow's the day.
I have 3 hours to pack up all my (summer) belongings.... in duffel bags, laundry baskets, random boxes, whatever suitcase is being left for me when I travel.
My roommate is traveling today, a 20-ish hour deal. I will meet her tomorrow, in all her jetlagged glory.
Who knows?

In life, you can count on change from everything but a vending machine.

Change, here I come.
...I don't feel like packing.

Goodbyes

Goodbyes. Every summer (and some winters) I wonder if it wouldn't be better to forget about internet and mobiles (cell phones for you americans) and even letters. Internet, although it allows us to stay in contact with anyone who has access to it, seems to elongate and distort relationships between people. Do you know what I mean? I was watching Amazing Grace last night, and what struck me most about that movie was not it's great ideologies or the touching personal story of the main character (see, can't even remember his name now). Instead, what really hit me was the scene where Wilberforce is reuniting with his old colleagues and the one says to him "You haven't changed a bit!"
I wonder, wouldn't it be better sometimes just to make a clean break of it? And not worry about trying to sound all casual and day-to-day-ish on sites like facebook or myspace? Then maybe when you meet again the next time, there won't be all the emotionless, black-and-white words and intervening-time stuff between you. Because you simply can't carry on a normal, working-day relationship with people who are continents away. Invariably you end up discovering (but not saying) that each person's life has grown as far apart from the other's as there are km between you. And until you meet again, on common ground, there is nothing you can do to change or develop that. I suppose it's like my other good friend said (she's overseas, so it's not like she has a vested interest or anything. :P): you have to pick which relationships you want to invest in.
Me, I don't know. Certainly I think it would be easier, in some cases, to simply say "goodbye" or "until we meet again" and then leave it at that. However, we never know if we WILL have the chance to meet again. And too often that would be immensely sad. Friendships- even potential ones- are precious. They should not be wasted by the intervention of a silly little thing like distance.
Plus, it is just so nice to have the option of staying in contact with people through the internet. Why waste such a resource?
I guess my real question here is- do the benefits of internet outweigh it's costs. The logical answer to that is, it depends on circumstances and on how you use it. Apart from that, I don't feel like going through cases and ramifications right now.
here ends my coherent thought tonight.
i wish you all a thoroughly good Sunday.
over 'n out.