Allie-oop

Happy birthday, dear Allie!

Allie is one of my students and she also works with us. PTL for Allie for the following:

1. Taking over library duties so I don't have to do it anymore!
2. Being ever cheerful no matter what's going on
3. Always willing to serve where we need her
4. Being a clever gal
5. Keeping me young
6. Picking me and Christine up from the airport so we didn't have to walk home :)
7. Introducing me to "bun" at Hu-Dat Noodle House
8. Having a global vision
9. Inspiring me to exercise
10. Giving me the privilege of being her friend

See Allie's xanga site...new link to the right!

The only thing that doesn't change...

Is change.

After job-hunting and doctoral program-hunting for nearly a year, I have accepted an academic advisor position at the University of North Texas in their School of Visual Arts (www.art.unt.edu). The SOVA is one of the most comprehensive programs of its kind in the country...several people have asked what exactly "visual arts" means. Well, it's anything artsy that is NOT performance (music, drama)...the UNT SOVA includes programs in sculpting, fashion design, interior design, ceramics, photography, metalsmithing & jewelry, printmaking, art history, art education and more. Like I said, comprehensive. :)

UNT is located in Denton, TX, which is about 30 minutes north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. So I get the big city without having to be IN the big city. There is another large university in Denton, Texas Womans U, so Denton is a "college town" but has lots to offer that isn't necessarily "college-related".

Those of you who know me well at all know that I LOVE changes! I love new opportunities and challenges! I am so excited to start a new experience...the moving date is May 17th!


The University of North Texas "Mean Green"

Kate is another year older!

Happy birthday to my former roommate and teammate in West Africa! Kate is a wild woman! Here are some of my favorite Kate moments:

1. The first time we met in Abidjan, and she hugged me. I thought, "Who is this freak I just met that's squeezing me?"
2. Kate's trip to the make-shift bathroom (i.e. bush) in a Senegalese village...she almost peed in the pot you're supposed to use to wash your hands!
3. The camel at the McIntire's
4. Driving our pimp station wagon that we had to refill with water every 5 minutes on the road
5. Hanging out at the Niangs
6. The Great Flood of Derkles 2002 when we first moved in and our water went out. We accidentally left the sink on since it was out and we couldn't tell. We came home hours later to our 2nd story apartment flooding down the steps and into our (dirt) road...and thus began a beautiful friendship with the Niang family.
7. Kate's impersonations..."What's the deal?"
8. Cruising the Sahara with a GPS as our only hope for getting to our destination
9. Hiding in the bushes in Tukulor-land so we didn't make any of the Muslims we were trying to film at the mosque angry
10. Long hours in the office, cranking the New Community Church cd
11. Watching Sinatra the cat get fatter and fatter and fatter...
12. Tanou, Kate, Robin,& I visited Tanou's village in Cote d'Ivoire...Tanou's family gave us this chicken as a thank you for coming that Tanou insisted on cooking for us. Kate and I took the unused chicken feet and did a little dance...4 years later, Tanou still doesn't know...
13. The day I told Kate I was moving to Senegal to work with her...she was driving and she screamed and almost killed us all driving off the road.

Good times with Kate! Happy birthday and many more!

Granny, the Energizer Bunny

Yesterday, my grandma turned 85 years old! So we partied it up!

My grandmother usually goes to her room around 9:30 or 10 p.m. to read and then go to sleep. But not the night before her birthday...she stayed up until 11:00, so my plan to decorate the kitchen to surprise her was delayed for quite awhile. What a wild woman she is! But she finally went to bed and she loved the decorated kitchen (and her "Birthday Girl" crown).


Surprise!

The day before, Wednesday, I invited her neighbors that take great care of her (and always bring really good food) to have dinner with us the next night for her birthday...this was also a surprise. So I went to one of the neighbors' houses, and their daughter, Lauren, answered. She's 13, and doesn't know me well at all. So I asked if her parents were home and she said no...then I heard her dad's voice, coming from what sounded like the roof. So I told her I could hear him trying to get my attention. She didn't hear it. But he kept saying, "Hello?" yet I couldn't see him! So Lauren (who is on the phone while she's answered the door) starts looking at me like I'm a crazy person (which I'm wondering if I am, since she can't hear the voice). She closes the door and as I'm leaving, I finally see David, talking to me through one of the windows...I knew I wasn't crazy!

The next night when the family came for dinner they told me that Lauren had stayed on the phone in case I was in fact crazy, and she bolted the door after I left! Turns out she didn't know her father was home and she really didn't hear him. Wow. She thought I was schizophrenic!

Anyway, the neighbors did come over and surprise Grandma--she was really excited!

It didn't matter that she was opening gifts, my 18 year old cat wasn't going to get off her lap!


Grandma's surprise party