| | Happy Holidays, a little late!
It is that time of year again; where we all recite the joys and discouragements of our last year to everyone we have known for more than a year. To spare you another such letter, I will just give you the quick six month update. I will try not to bore you with the details.
I arrived back in the US in early August after spending three and a half years in Honduras. I traveled up to the US through Mexico following a path taken by millions of hopeful immigrants on their way north from Central America. It was a fitting finish to my time in Central America, considering immigration's significance in Honduras and to a lesser extent in the United States. I spent a month getting to taste (literally) Mexico before walking across the border into the US at Tijuana.
My reverse culture shock hasn't been too bad and didn't really set in until October. I guess that October was the point where I went from being a conversation starter to a stopper. I guess you can only say "in Honduras …….." for so long before it gets old. ;) Then, when the conversation switches to the latest pop culture, I don't have a clue. What is "House," please? Who are the Jonas brothers? Is being scandalous Amy Winehouse's day job or only her night job (what does she do)? I have figured most of these out by now, but I still have many more to work out. It will take me a little longer to get back into synchronization with American culture. In the meantime, I have a lot of great stories involving hitch hiking in the back of pick-up trucks, eating tortillas and beans, and marching through the jungle with machete wielding locals.
My reestablishment into American culture has taken place in America's biggest exporter of culture, Los Angeles. Why L.A.? I am currently studying at UCLA for a Master's in Urban Planning. For better or worse, there are few places as suited for studying urban planning as Los Angeles. The social, transportation, economic, globalization, and urban structure issues all come to a head in LA. Some say that L.A. is the epitome of bad planning; others argue it is the crystal ball for the future of American Cities; either way, it is at the nexus of many important planning issues. And the university isn't too shabby either.
In mid-December I finished my first quarter at UCLA (for many of you, it would be a trimester system, there is a fall, winter, and spring quarter; summer quarter is the same as summer break.). It had its ups and downs. I wasn't as motivated at every turn as I had hoped and it was difficult to keep myself focused on all the reading, but I feel ready and excited for my next quarter's classes.
One reason for the difficulty in focusing on my classes is all that Los Angeles has to offer. LA is full of neighborhoods to explore, food to try, museums to see, and events to attend. My favorite is the incredible diversity of food. Proof of the incredible array of food diversity was brought out pointedly when my cousin's family, the Kazamakis, was in LA. We had just spent the day at Universal Studios and were admiring the night views from the impressive Griffith Observatory when we, all famished, decided that we needed a place to eat. Quinn wanted chicken and as I was running through my catalog of LA chicken places, Emma's little voice said behind me, "But, I want waffles." Is it impossible to find a restaurant that serves both chicken and waffles? Not in LA, Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles was just the place for us. Sure the combination may sound slightly abnormal, but it is absolutely delicious; I don't know what they put in the waffles, but I am craving another.
My Christmas break has allowed me to get back in touch with the Midwest and winter. I always forget how nice downtown Chicago is. I also couldn't believe that right on the bank of the Chicago River, the US's second tallest skyscraper, the new Trump Tower, sprung up without me knowing about it. Minneapolis/St. Paul are still wonderful places and very cold, it was still eleven below zero when I left them at 9:00 in the morning a couple weeks ago. The snow still falls deep in my parents' backyard, allowing for lots of great sledding and snowmen building. My 13 year old twin sisters embarrassed my dad and me (both graduates of engineering programs) with their snowman. Tessa and Elise had constructed a nice snowman several weeks ago. I decided that it needed companions. My dad and I with the assistance of my younger siblings built two enormous snowmen, one standing seven feet tall and another standing six and a half feet tall. The next day it warmed up to 45 F and rained. My dad and my snowmen have been reduced to nothing while my sister's snowman still stands proudly, with what I think is a small smirk, in the backyard. To assuage my ego, I am blaming the failure on poor snowman-constructing material.
I am sure that many of you have many eventful and interesting tales from the past year. I would love to hear them, if you could so take the time.
As always, I have pictures posted online at http://picasaweb.google.com/jveverka81 and a blog, which I haven't written in much lately at www.xanga.com/jveverka81 .
Take care and be optimistic, a new, unblemished year lies ahead of us! Jacob |
