Sa Wakas ng ikawalang Linggo

Madison is still just as strange and foreign to me now as when I first arrived. I have been continuously nauseous for the past week and a half despite my best efforts to remedy that with coffee, whiskey, and really good homemade food. I have had a great time cooking with my classmates because we have a mutual appreciation of excellent food and each others company and at least in my case, have no problem spending money on nothing else. My roommates here are not really interesting to me so I avoid spending time at my sublet. Its also a 20 minute walk away from school and our social epicenter referred to as the club house, which is our classmate Kris's nice apartment with a rooftop deck. I am tired all the time, perhaps because I lost my bus pass and I get lost nearly every time I try to walk home from Madison's sad excuse for a downtown. There are a few nice restaurants here and we finally found a bar that satisfies what we had been searching for (except no dancing here). So I am coming back to Seattle tomorrow for the wedding of my high school best friend. Weird. That is all I can really say about it at this point. I am really excited for her. Its nice to see wholesome relationships work out once in a while. I arrive Friday evening/night, wedding is on Saturday, and I leave Sunday morning. Short trip home. My vacation-vacation I suppose. The other kids I hang out with most here are going to Chicago this weekend. I kind of wish I was going, but Becky's wedding is actually surprisingly important to me. Also both of my parents are in Seattle right now. It will be kind of a rare treat to see them both at the same time, which has not happened since Christmas. Alright. I need to pack. Tagalog was hard for me this week. But I still think overall I am happy I came out here. At least I won't ever have to wonder what the midwest is like again, though I am not sure I ever really wondered that in the first place. Cloud Cult played an outdoor show on campus tonight, I thought I liked them, I guess I was wrong. I don't really know how long weddings take, but perhaps I will see you this weekend. Sige bye.

Re: Fireflies

I caught one yesterday. They actually look kind of like carpenter ants but smaller and less disgusting. (photo from curiouslee.typepad.com But I am determined to get an even better shot myself)

Red Bicycles

Back in Seattle, my friends Zach and Tynan (if you are a good friend of mine you met Zach at my going away party) who had just finished a road trip across the country, told my about this really cool thing in Madison. Zach has family here and he told me that they have community bicycles all over. I though he was lying but its really true. My kaklase Julia let me practice on hers earlier today. Its really cool. They are painted fire-engine red and you put a $40 downpayment on them and you can ride them where ever and for as long as you want, like two months. Then when you return it, you get your $40 back. Isn't that novel? I asked a guy at the bike shop why they do that and he said its because they strongly believe in free transportation. So even though I am terrible at riding a bike, I figure it will be better than walking in this god damn heat and I will go get mine today. Also the smaller bikes don't have hand breaks, so...hopefully I don't join Allan in the hospital. Also best quotes of the day Jon "that street is hateful" and Ate Fe "magdo"=best Tagalog verb for sex.

Poging lalake ang pinsan ng isang kaibigan mo. May interesting na interesting kaklase ko. Isang pumunta siya sa thing in NY that Carmel went to at nagsalita siya. Eric ang pangalan niya at nag-aaral siya sa Berkley ngayon (pogi rin, pero sa palagay ko, gusto niyang maggingpreist.)

Sige. This is fun.

...Bukas

Hey, short post today 'cause I got to go to class early tomorrow. Wandered around the equivalent of the 'Ave' today. Cool place. Kind of like downtown spokane, but better. More on that later. Anyway this might be interesting
http://www.youthspeakswisconsin.wisc.edu/institute/
Okay time to try and remember some Tagalog before my placement exam tomorrow.

Fireflies!

First, let me say this is a really strange place. I am lost geographically, but I really want to see what a 'great' lake looks like. I am not sure if I am by one or not because it seems like every three miles there is another lake, and none of them have been that 'great' yet. My flight connected in Minneapolis and I tried the whole plane ride to think of what state that was in. Turns out its in Minnesota, according to the 'Made in Minnesota' stores in the airport.

I took a taxi from the airport to my house of the next two months. The driver for some reason thought I was from Wisconsin, and I engaged him in conversations about gas prices and weather, so he wouldn't think otherwise. Considering I was completely at his mercy for those 15 minutes between the airport and my house, I thought it was a good idea.

When I got to my house, the key was not left where my future roommate had told me it would be, but the girls upstairs let me in and the door to our apartment was unlocked. I met one of my two roommates, her name is Laura and she just graduated from uw-madison with a degree in behavioral psychology (?). Its interesting that they say 'u-double u' here instead of 'u-dub' that would explain the weird look my airplane rowmate gave me. Unless that look was in response to me studying Tagalog, which also happens all the time.

The house and my room are both pretty standard. With the exception that my room has no ceiling light. I am told none of them do, which seems kind of odd. But I have a decent sized window and a sliding door out to the patio. Which brings me to the coolest thing I have seen all month. Fireflies.

I have not come up with a very good way to describe them yet, but I will do my best in case you have not seen them before either. At first I described them to my dad as like little shooting stars because you have no idea where they will appear next and their little burst of light only lasts long enough to catch your attention before they disappear into the darkening sky. (two hours later here). However they are way cooler than shooting stars because they are so close you could catch them if you are braver than I am and actually want to see what they look like up close. My roommate Leanne has seen them before and could only describe them as magical. I feel like seeing them up close might ruin that magic for now.

I don't know if any of you have experienced it before but they also remind me of bioluminescence, which is one of my favorite things about night dives, and the ocean in general. If you are diving at night, whether in puget sound or the tropics (at least everywhere I have been so far which is fairly limited) turn off your dive light for a second, and wave your arms around in the darkness. Little zooplankton in the water column will release a substance that glows bright blue for just an instant. They use this bioluminescence to communicate (i.e. attract a mate, warn off a predator etc...) And I think its fascinating! If you ever have the opportunity to sail anywhere at night, go to the stern and look for it in the wake of the boat. Its possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

But these fireflies are the closest thing to that I will find out here in the midwest, and for now thats okay.