Mid-December 2009...I left Chicago on a cold, cloudy, dreary day in December, with my kitty cat, in my little Toyota Yaris packed full of my belongings. I was sick to my stomach with anticipation over the tasks that lay before me--driving to Nashville, starting up my OLD rickety motorhome (which was stored there), hooking up my car to the towing apparatus all by myself...
...and hooking into the nearby campground where I had a reservation. All went well that day. I did find a broken kitchen faucet. And I was very worried that I would have inadequate heat, since the furnace was very temperamental on our last trip to GA (leaving us one freezing night without heat). Sure, I had electric heaters that would work if I was plugged in, but would they be enough in freezing temps? I doubted it, because they weren't enough in GA. I did learn a trick to lighting the furnace, which included lighting all of the stove burners to get the propane flowing, and that worked most of the time.
So I drove my rig into Arkansas, where I stayed at a state park, having arrived LATE at night and hooked up in almost complete darkness (and nearly out of gas!). I arrived so late because I decided to cut a day off of my travel in order to arrive in TX earlier, but I drove around 55-60 mph to save gas--a necessity, because I was getting around 5 miles per gallon (a $70 fill up every 100 miles, ack!)
It was an OK night. I didn't pay for my stay, because I couldn't find the office, & I had to back into the site (in the pitch black, yikes!!) because it wasn't a pull-through...but my cat adjusted well and I remember being warm that night. I wound down by covering the windows with plastic.
In the morning, though, despite a pretty lake view and sunshine, my hot water heater didn't work. After worrying that the tricky furnace would fail me, this was the last thing on my mind. I spent the whole freaking morning trying to figure out what to do, calling Leo & everything. No dice. No hot water. No showers at the campground. So I remained unshowered, packed it up and I moved on. I figured I would pull over later on to shower. My water tank was full, and I stopped at a RV service station on the way out of camp to see if someone could look at the water heater--and it turned on! Yey, I thought. I'll let it heat up and then stop at a rest stop to shower. No dice again. It stopped working. I finally stopped at a rest stop to take a COLD shower--pure HELL. That was the beginning of the end. I started to get really tired of spending all of that money on gas just to worry all day about how to make basic functions work.
I rolled into Dallas after a couple of days of driving (the longest, most expensive road trip experience of my LIFE!), and checked the rig into Camping World to be examined...after being told the water lines probably froze and it might cost $700-800 to fix. I cried and cried, stayed at my BFF's place with the kitty for a few nights...and decided I was done with the motorhome. I put it in storage, moved everything into my car, and submitted to driving to California in my Yaris with the cat. It was an 80-degree day in Dallas and it felt very liberating!
That's the short version of the story. Most of which has been erased from my memory due to the psychological trauma it caused me.Two days before Christmas, I drove to Tyler, TX to see "Team Hawk"--my second cousin, Ken Hawk, and his large and gingerly family =). It was heaven. They greeted me that rainy evening with pure white rice and gently sauteed vegetables, just how I needed them cooked. And they have such a cool house & had my kind of x-mas tree:
We have so much in common, and we spent the first two days just sitting and talking, sitting and talking...
They were so sensitive to my eating needs, open to sharing their thoughts and stories, and so welcoming. It snowed there on Christmas Eve, something they were all THRILLED about (in Texas, that's a novelty)...but it didn't make me happy!!
The kids wanted me to stay for Christmas eve/morning, so I did.
We were up so LATE on Christmas eve, wrapping their presents, and then those little ones...daggit if they didn't tiptoe into my room at 7am and wake me up so they could open presents!!
Most of that morning was a fog, but I do remember lots of homemade presents, contained joy, and most of all love and sincere "Thank You!"s and "I love you!"s coming from those tykes. They even got me a rice cooker, a great gift since I cook/eat SOOOO much rice!!
They're a good bunch. I can't wait to go back and see them again!!
On Christmas, I left and drove back to Heather's (my BFF) place. After spending the night with my kitty (who was pretty freaked out after being alone in a strange place for 2 days), we packed up and drove down to San Antonio, where Heather's family lives. I spent a couple of nice days there, too. It was fun to see her mom, who was our neighbor growing up. Most of my focus during those days became my final destination--California. Since I didn't have the motorhome, I needed to find a place to live. I decided to head to San Diego. We also took a nice walk, on a warm day, on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. It was warm and green there--very nice.
I left San Antonio after a couple of days, and drove to El Paso in one day (an 8-hour drive). I love seeing fun names of towns--this one is Comfort, TX (How ironic!!):
I was a little worried about how my cat would adjust to going in and out of the car and into different hotel rooms, but she was fine--a little freaked out, but she always seemed to find the bathtub (she loves bathtubs!) and slept with me on the bed. The morning I left El Paso, it snowed there!! In fact, throughout the desert of New Mexico, snow covered the ground! It was very, very strange.
I spent one more night on the road, near Phoenix, and then I arrived in San Diego. I spent a week at a hotel there, and then moved into a little studio on the back of someone's property.
Once I arrived in San Diego, my goal was to find work and find a place to get some research experience. My intention for traveling to the southwest this year was to find a research lab in a psychology department where I could participate significantly in order to put some experience on my resume. I started with an interview at UCLA. The professor I met with is active in research with pregnancy--just my thing! Plus, my thesis involves data of a professor at Roosevelt who did her dissertation at UCLA, so it seemed like a great fit. However, I soon learned that I would get bounced around a lot. At UCLA, the professor was discouraged that I was staying in San Diego, and didn't have anything definite for me--much different than her emails communicated. I think she really wanted to give me something substantial, seeing as I'm preparing to apply to PhD programs and I am almost done with my master's. She referred me to about 2-3 other universities/professors.
I interviewed with an anxiety lab in San Diego, literally 5 minutes from where I was staying! I thought that would be great! But, again, the lead researcher/doctor seemed to discourage me because he saw that my focus was pregnancy and he told me that I really should stick with my focus. Another person, at a different lab, told me that she thought I was "grossly overqualified" for a volunteer research assistant position! I was so disappointed, because I just wanted research experience!!
A few days later, though, I met with a professor at UC Irvine, and I realized that I found my place! The professor there works specifically with pregnancy and postpartum research! Not only that, but their studies involve many of the same measures (cortisol, TSST, SCID, depression) that my thesis is using. She was very warm and welcoming, encouraging me to jump in and get involved. She also encouraged me to make a 1-year commitment to being there. I also met with two of her graduate students, who were also very down-to-earth and encouraging. That afternoon, I immediately started asking about apartments in Orange County (OC)--I knew that was where I was headed.
I also applied for a teaching position at a massage school in OC, preparing myself to commute from San Diego, if need be. However, it immediately became clear that I would be moving to OC. And I did. Within a few weeks, I was already commuting to UC Irvine a few days per week, interviewing for the teaching job (and others) and looking for apartments.
I got the teaching job, I found an apartment, and I moved (with dear Leo's help) on March 1st. I signed a 1-year lease, bought a king-sized bed and everything!! While Leo was here, he visited some of his clients & vendors, which was a really great experience for him. One vendor had a "Leo Table" (pictured below) and a warehouse 10x the size of his--they are role models for him!
I've now been here almost a month. My teaching job started, changed drastically (the weekend class I was hired for was canceled)...I took the first massage job that I was offered, at a franchise that payed very low and treated me like a 5-year-old, and have since quit...I'm now teaching weeknights and looking forward to starting a job at a chiropractic office in the mornings...
AND...I'm participating in the research at the UCI lab and already starting my very OWN study! More on that later.
I'm also a bit homesick and wondering how this next year will be. There is a lot in store for my future--work, research, thesis, applying to PhD programs (including UCI's program, where I constantly hear about how they hope I "stick around" for longer than 1-year), visits to Chicago, and enjoying the sunshine and warm temps.
I never thought I'd end up in Orange County (!), but it's okay for now. I would never have chosen to relocate here--it's like a stifling, conservative, snooty, suburban wasteland. There's not really much culture, and there is a big divide between the really rich, entitled folks and the poor minorities. Everyone drives really fast and people are kind of rude, especially in grocery stores and such. But, of course, the weather is really nice, so I'm learning to deal with it and be grateful for this opportunity.
I'll post updates frequently....although I doubt they will be very exciting after this first post!!
No comments:
Post a Comment