The Hobbit Hole

Well I’ve found a place! Its cozy and rent is good. Well, rent is good relative to my other options. For what I’m getting its just ok. 

I’m living in a shed. Its a 10’ by 10’ (roughly) room in the back ‘yard’ of Sergio, my coworker’s, place. I say yard with ‘ ‘ around it because its not a nice green grassy space that I can lay a blanket out on and read. In fact there hardly are any such spaces out here. 

But getting back to the topic at hand, my little hobbit hole really isn't bad. I've got a pretty cool mini fridge, in fact its a Google fridge. I also have my tiny little camp stove that I use for cooking oatmeal or pasta, or whatever else I might want to cook next!  Sergio is also great with leaving the door open and letting me in to use the bathroom or shower when ever I need.

In addition to the procedural (although sometimes interesting) details of life, the more important and weighty issue of moving across the country has been finding people and making connections. In this realm the MVSers have been a real blessing. Getting to spend Sunday afternoon learning how to play hearts, and then teaching them how to play Jungle Speed was a blast. Then watching the Superbowl and getting really worked up about putting together a puzzle really did wonders for my mood.

In addition to doing some great social activities this weekend I also got a chance to skype with my amazing sister who is learning difficult and poignant truths about the plight of the Palestinian peoples and about the beautiful humanity that still manages to push through it all like the desert plants that show resiliency in the times of glaring sun and high temperatures but yet burst forth in life with the rejuvenating rains.

Hearing from Nicole is always great, but I must say that being so thoroughly immersed in the historic and current suffering of the region must be heart breaking and at times overwhelming. Hearing about it second hand is hard enough. Hearing about it from those involved (let alone actually being involved) in the conflict or experiencing repercussions of it is hard to imagine at this point. But the CrossCultural  seems to be a good way to go through it all so I'm pretty sure she can handle it!

The Tucsons

And so it was with these weighty topics in mind that I embarked on a lovely of bike ride through the Tucson Mountains. It was Saturday afternoon and the weather was just oh so pleasant. So, in all the splendor of work clothes (I had been hoping to put interrupter brakes on my new road bike) I took off on a ~30 mile adventure that wound up some gentle but impressive slopes leading to some remarkable descents and views!

In other news, work should prove interesting this week. Especially in relation to last weeks overwhelming feeling of lack of progress. This week we plan to present to highschool students about our program and maybe even go as far as to recruit some interest. Furthermore, our order of bike tools is scheduled to arrive which will be much like Christmas. Only better because it wont be as cold. My work, though, is focused much more on curriculum. One of major projects for the week is to get demonstration bike parts; gathering various types of brakes, a couple of hubs, headsets, etc. It’ll be fun, and hopefully I can keep myself on track and not be distracted by the other bike repair projects going on all around the shop!

This is a bike path in the shape of a snake. Its a lot of fun to ride through it nohands.

More of the Tucsons.