Tuesday 5 january 2010
2
05
/01
/Jan
/2010
20:50
Since my last entry quite a bit has happened. Friday, 10/17 we headed to Hollywood w/AnnMarie & Laura for quite an aperitif if I do say so myself. We attended the "Hollywood Men" Male Revue,
which allowed to be entertained by guys in g-strings. A few lap dances were in order :) We all had at least one, some of us had a few more ;)Laura left on Sat., so my mom was a bit bummed out. Not
sure what I did that night, but don't think I went out 'cuz I was so tired....oooooooh, that's right. I was soooooo tired that I fell asleep at church and then proceeded to sleep right through the
afternoon until 6pm. I don't think I'd taken a nap like that since my early day in China's Jiangsu Province. Sunday was pig out galore day as I went and picked up my gramma Gina (dad's mom) b4
meeting up w/my dad, his gf-Vevi, and her son-Renato. We all headed to Antojitos Chapines Amalia, a Guatemalan restaurant in the heart of L.A. I had black beans like I hadn't had in at least 10
years, if not more. These were what we called "frijoles volteados", they're refried, but oh so yummy....somewhat indescribable. They had "queso fresco" (fresh cheese) on top and tasted
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABULOUS! Between the five of us we ordered Pepian de Gallina, Churrasco, Camarones Guisados, Camarones con Mayonesa, Empanadas, Pupusas, Platanos Fritos, and Paches.I think my faves
had to be the pache de puerco (a potato tamale filled w/pork) and the beans! It's not an everyday meal for me, I probably won't even get to go back all that soon, but man for that one day I WAS IN
CHAPINA (Guatamalen in the female form) HEAVEN! Oh, did I mention we had some delicious Horchata too??? I was absolutely stuffed after all the Chapin goodies that I didn't eat until the next
day....I couldn't eat a thing. That brings me to last week, which was pretty much all the same. I was in training for the Berlitz Language Center at their District Office in Beverly Hills. The
commute was a B*TCH and a half, roughly 1 1/2-2 hrs. there and 1 hr. on the way back. 'Twas unpaid and I had to pay for parking on top of that, but they would let me teach w/them w/o the training
so ni modo!I was in training from 9-4:30pm and met some great people. I think it was the first time, in the US, that I'd ever been in a room with some many people who spoke so many diff. languages.
Sure I knew tons of people at MHC who spoke diff. langauges, but even if we were all together we used a common language. Here, everyone spoke everything to each other whether we spoke it or
not...it was grand! Mon. night I took my mom down to Tijuana, Mexico and drove back up, which got me home by 1am. I was exhausted on Tuesday and took it easy that night. I actually got sick, but
managed to head to Starbucks to meet the author of Vantha's Whisper, Saoran Po La Tour, a Cambodian woman. She ended up falling asleep and never made it, so I came home and hit the sack by 9pm I
think.Wed. & Thurs. nights I headed to class. I developed another roll of film in my photo class on Wed. Practically none of my shots were good b'cuz I'd used a flash, but the prof. let me do
my fave shot and let me slide this once. She said "See, you're learning. Next time don't use the flash." Thurs. my prof. didn't show up, so I left 15 mins. after the class was suppose to start. He
might have shown up late, but I just came home to study a bit more for my GREs (Grad. School entrance exam), scheduled for Friday morning.Fri. morning I took my GREs, which looked just like the
practice ones I took at home. I certainly could've used some math tutoring from djriqui! I remember learning the concepts presented, but hell if I knew how to use them. A GRE prep-course wouldn't
have hurt either, but somehow I wasn't going to come up w/the money for one of those. Oh well, I did ok, got above 50%, now I just need see what that means for the schools I'm applying to. I'm
leaning towards UCLA & UH Manoa (Hawaii that is). I'm still applying to Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia, but honestly, the warm weather is sooooooo much more appealing! I def. want to teach in
L.A., but Hawaii wouldn't be bad either. I just met a guy who says they really need teachers there, as they prob. have the worst edu. system in the nation :( :( :(Friday night I hung out w/two
other trainees, Syou-Ling (Mandarin Instructor) & Andrea (French Instructor). We gabbed for a while and got to know each other better after training was over. Then I took Andrea home, hung out
at her place for a while, then went to Brigg's (some bar in Venice), which was near her place.Brigg's was interesting. So not my scene, as it was primarily a drinking meat market. I got talking to
this guy who told me how I should try to pick some guys up. I preceded to tell him how I hate the "games" and don't want to chat someone up w/the sole purpose of hooking up either now or later. I'd
rather meet someone outside the bar scene and determine if I'm interested later. The guy was like...you must be 25. Seems my age was showing b'cuz of my response. I did talk to his friend Owen, a
fellow architect, which was ironic b'cuz I had an architectual question in my GRE test that morning.Later on we (Andrea and I) got talking to Dean Park, a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines. As I started
talking to him I found out that he knew of a Polynesian Dance School in Torrance who only accepted students by referral. I have yet to call him, but will do when I'm finished w/my journal
update.Sat. I went to church and hung out in the Prayer Room after the service. I like to go there and talk to a fellow church member, not only about my problems, but also answer to prayers. I even
ended up getting some gift cash from the prayer leader. :)I hung out w/Felipe and his friend Anthony on Sat. night. We went to a friend's bday party up in the Pasadena Hills. It was a nice house
party. Afterwards we headed to Rudolpho's in the Silver Lake District, which tripped me out. This club plays Arab & Latin music the last Sat. of the month. It's also gay night. I must
admit....I don't generally think of gay man & Arab in the same sentence. But there it was...gay Arab guys doing their thing. I attempted to dance the best way I knew how, which wasn't saying
much. I so wanted Kavi there to hook me up w/the moves.Sun. was sorta chilled out. I got in so late that I slept in. My mom woke up super sick, w/a high fever & some major pain from all the
work her and my tia did the day before. My tia & I went grocery shopping at 4 diff. places, Sam's Club, Food for Less, Trader Joe's, and Bestway Supermarket. I was so pooped by the time we got
home, I could only muster up enough energy to make sandwiches for dinner.Today I went to the Berlitz "Crash" Training for Kids. It just helped us get familiarized w/the kids material. I was happy
to get home in 30 mins. as opposed to 1 hr. Now I'm off to Starbucks again to meet w/Saoran, the Cambodian author I've been trying to meet up with forever.
