They assume I'm a man. I haven't told Coral yet but they assume she is a boy.
My given name is Jennifer. Everyone, except Coral, calls me Jen...she calls me Mom. Well, my Mom calls me Jenny.
Jen
Coral
I've figured it out. We have masculine endings.
I think girl names are supposed to have an -a or an -ova tacked on at the end. Their last names are at least.
Would that make me Jena? Like the English Jenna?? But that's not who I am. Could I be Jenova? That, to me, looks rather silly.
And Coral - in school will she be Coralova or Corala? That sounds a bit like a Toyota, Corolla, that's what's in my driveway right now.
I can't wait to hear my last name...it's fairly Irish so any sort of Slavic ending will be a brutalization. I just don't know how it works.
I can say one thing though, here I often receive mail addressed to Mrs.... whatever, as I am Coral's Mom and school, medical, and other systems are still fairly archaic and assume I'm married even when I leave the father information blank...or clearly state we're not a couple. This is the first time I've been in ongoing contact with someone, have clearly stated and written out our names, and continue to recieve correspondence, email and snail, addressed to "MR." and referring to my son.
Maybe it's partially assumed I'm a man because moving to the other side of the universe isn't something a woman should do on her own or with a child.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Just a bit about us...
As the heading says, this is about our adventures in Prague. We aren't there yet but we will be soon.
Currently we live in Northern California, slightly north of San Francisco. At this moment there are over 1,500 wildfires raging across the state, for financial reasons the nation is celebrating the Fourth of July on July 3rd, the dollar continues it's steady decline, Obama is hopefully on the path towards the Presidency , and the two of us are packing up our belongings as we prepare to move to the other side of the world. Prague specifically.
In between now and then, then being August 13th, the day of our move, I predict a number of things will happen:
1) I will turn 35. (done)
2) The Kid will turn 15. (yep)
3) I will realize what a disaster my best laid plans have become and begin to question my sanity. (ages ago!)
4) The dollar will continue to decline - therefore my rent and overall cost of living will continue to increase. (it plummeted but now it's on the mend - hopefully to continue the gain)
5) I will throw away the majority of our non-essential belongings and the Kid will not be happy with a number of my choices. (true)
6) We will cry. We will laugh. We will have to complete our search for a new home for our dog. We will stuff our insecurities a bit further, and join together to embark on a crazy adventure. (happened)
7) My friends will promise to visit. Most won't. (whatevs)
8) My family will promise to visit. Most will. (ongoing reality)
9) I will read at least ten books. She may read even more. (in progress)
10) I will eat corn on the cob at least three more times. (way more)
11) The Kid will go to the movies at least 2 more times. (at least - Dark Knight, Mamma Mia, and counting)
12) She will paint her toe nails purple, get a haircut, a facial, and possibly her brows waxed for the first time. (close - half are true, and she went metallic blue over purple)
13) She will also review this blog and be mad at me for writing number 12. (prophetic!)
14) We will have weather in the upper 90F and go swimming at LaCantera. (a few times, but not recently)
15) We will try to figure out how to pack a soccer ball. (yeah - it doesn't like our suitcase)
16) We will pack a whole box full of shoes and I will be again forced to face our rampant consumerism as they will only be a small percentage of the shoes that we own. (repeatedly, boxes of shoes, disgusting!)
17) I will wonder how large the stoves are in our new apartment and whether or not our cookie sheets will fit. I will wonder why I am bringing cookie sheets as I rarely bake cookies. (sorted it out and am storing the cookie sheets)
18) We will lose The Game (Hey monkey, you just lost...she can explain it when it's her turn to post).
19) We will finalize our favorite movie and book list...you can expect to see some of them here. If you're in Prague, take note cause we know how to share. (ongoing project - the books are the killers)
20) We will wonder how hard it will be to make new friends as we are leaving everything we know behind. This is our hometown, for both of us. We've never lived outside of northern California, and where ever we've been we've had family around. (we made new friends already - and we aren't even there yet! 8/10/08)
Enough of the list. A lot more things will happen than just what's there. I'll hear back from my school, and figure out how the heck I'm going to cover my tuition. Hopefully I'll hear from the kid's school and will be able to arrange tuition payments for her. I'll have to consider giving my landlord notice in order to move some place less expensive - due to the dollar's decline, in the past month my rent has increased over $100, over $150 actually, and it's just going further and further down. Once we're there more people will rent to me...for our visa requirements I needed a signed lease so I've had to pay rent for the past 2 months without ever setting foot in my home...noone else would rent to me without my being in the country. Now, that we'll be there soon I can re-evaluate our living situation...unfortunately the apartment is beautiful.
Currently we live in Northern California, slightly north of San Francisco. At this moment there are over 1,500 wildfires raging across the state, for financial reasons the nation is celebrating the Fourth of July on July 3rd, the dollar continues it's steady decline, Obama is hopefully on the path towards the Presidency , and the two of us are packing up our belongings as we prepare to move to the other side of the world. Prague specifically.
In between now and then, then being August 13th, the day of our move, I predict a number of things will happen:
1) I will turn 35. (done)
2) The Kid will turn 15. (yep)
3) I will realize what a disaster my best laid plans have become and begin to question my sanity. (ages ago!)
4) The dollar will continue to decline - therefore my rent and overall cost of living will continue to increase. (it plummeted but now it's on the mend - hopefully to continue the gain)
5) I will throw away the majority of our non-essential belongings and the Kid will not be happy with a number of my choices. (true)
6) We will cry. We will laugh. We will have to complete our search for a new home for our dog. We will stuff our insecurities a bit further, and join together to embark on a crazy adventure. (happened)
7) My friends will promise to visit. Most won't. (whatevs)
8) My family will promise to visit. Most will. (ongoing reality)
9) I will read at least ten books. She may read even more. (in progress)
10) I will eat corn on the cob at least three more times. (way more)
11) The Kid will go to the movies at least 2 more times. (at least - Dark Knight, Mamma Mia, and counting)
12) She will paint her toe nails purple, get a haircut, a facial, and possibly her brows waxed for the first time. (close - half are true, and she went metallic blue over purple)
13) She will also review this blog and be mad at me for writing number 12. (prophetic!)
14) We will have weather in the upper 90F and go swimming at LaCantera. (a few times, but not recently)
15) We will try to figure out how to pack a soccer ball. (yeah - it doesn't like our suitcase)
16) We will pack a whole box full of shoes and I will be again forced to face our rampant consumerism as they will only be a small percentage of the shoes that we own. (repeatedly, boxes of shoes, disgusting!)
17) I will wonder how large the stoves are in our new apartment and whether or not our cookie sheets will fit. I will wonder why I am bringing cookie sheets as I rarely bake cookies. (sorted it out and am storing the cookie sheets)
18) We will lose The Game (Hey monkey, you just lost...she can explain it when it's her turn to post).
19) We will finalize our favorite movie and book list...you can expect to see some of them here. If you're in Prague, take note cause we know how to share. (ongoing project - the books are the killers)
20) We will wonder how hard it will be to make new friends as we are leaving everything we know behind. This is our hometown, for both of us. We've never lived outside of northern California, and where ever we've been we've had family around. (we made new friends already - and we aren't even there yet! 8/10/08)
Enough of the list. A lot more things will happen than just what's there. I'll hear back from my school, and figure out how the heck I'm going to cover my tuition. Hopefully I'll hear from the kid's school and will be able to arrange tuition payments for her. I'll have to consider giving my landlord notice in order to move some place less expensive - due to the dollar's decline, in the past month my rent has increased over $100, over $150 actually, and it's just going further and further down. Once we're there more people will rent to me...for our visa requirements I needed a signed lease so I've had to pay rent for the past 2 months without ever setting foot in my home...noone else would rent to me without my being in the country. Now, that we'll be there soon I can re-evaluate our living situation...unfortunately the apartment is beautiful.
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