Nebraska Adventures

I have returned from spending several days in Lincoln, Nebraska, visiting friends. Before leaving, I shopped at Trader Joes for some wonderful holiday cookies to take along. While waiting in line to check out I overheard that the clerk was originally from Nebraska. He said he was here "because nothing happens there."

Well, things do happen. On Friday we drove to Omaha. My friend is having a ring made from the diamonds from the wedding ring of her recently deceased mother-in-law. This is being done at a very interesting shop called Goldsmith in the Old Market Area. I did not escape the store without buying something. My treasure is a new pair of earrings with three pieces of colored glass coming from sea glass. The artist who made them is Charles Albert. After the jewelry store we walked to a nearby Italian restaurant we remembered and had a wonderful late lunch.

On Saturday my friend and I went to the Homestead Museum in nearby Beatrice, Nebraska. This is a national park providing information about the homestead process that allowed many to get their financial start in the United States - at obviously the expense of the Indians who had lived on those lands for many, many years. We saw an a truly amazing exhibit of photographs takes at pow-wows. I belive the photographer is Tidwell. Our primary reason for going was a display about different cultural customs associated with Christmas. After this visit we stopped for at a Runza fast food place, something one can only do in Nebraska.

Sunday found us having brunch at the Wilderness Ridge Restaurant. Everything served was wonderful. We enjoyed the architecture of this building as well as a very talented jazz musician.

Monday found us delivering cookies for a cookied exchange at my friend's place of employment. Then we went to a new restaurant, Cup and Bread, for lunch. I had corn chowder that was very good. If in Lincoln, look for this place. It serves a limited and changing menu of very good food along with beer or wine if desired. On Monday evening my friend's son came by and we went out to a new place, a combination Chinese buffet and Mongolian grille. Sounds odd perhaps, but the food is very good. After supper, he showed me a computer program he had written that enhances student registration for classes as well as giving faculty better information about who is registering for classes. I showed him how the software works that we use for online classes. Forty years difference in our ages, but we are both into the same thing.

Tuesday found me flying home without any much difficult. I felt like a fairy princess. One perk of this apartment is that one gets airport transportation. I got delivered home right into the underground next to the elevator that is the closest one to my apartment unit.

So one can do something in Nebraska.

End of Adventures

This morning I took my friend, Dorota, to the airport for a 7 AM flight. We have done so many things since I last posted anything. We went Christmas shopping of course. I took her to brunch and discovered, despite the fact she has been in the states ten times, that this was her first experience with a buffet and going back to get more! I joined all the many here for Global Volunteers training for a Welcome Supper. Then a teammate I had worked with last summer came up from Florida for training as a volunteeer team leader. We all enjoyed supper together at Cafe Latte. Minnesota "instructed" her about winter snow and cold.

Many of us who have volunteered in Poland joined the Polish guests here for the Global Volunteers celebration at a lovely dinner at LaGrolla Restaurant. I planned to pick up the check for the Polish guests plus myself. Imagine my surprise when I looked in my purse and found I had forgotten my credit card. Some whispering to a friend solved that problem, plus a check quickly sent to her to cover my mistake.

On Friday, December 11, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of Global Volunteers and had a great, great time. On Saturday we went to a breakfast where some planning was done for a 20th anniversary celebration of Global Volunteers in Poland. This will be in October, 2010, and alas I can't attend. Then we picked up a volunteer visiting here from Colorado and headed to the Minneapolis Art Institute to see the Louvre Exhibit.

On Sunday we truly enjoyed a "down day." It was great to eat breakfast and then not do much of anything else for awhile. Later in the afternoon we went to the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre to see a production of Oklahoma.

I've got great memories of these past two weeks, and hope that in the interest of frugality, Global Volunteers again decides to ask families to host their international staff when they come here to work.

Party Adventure-- Cultural Adventure

I hosted my university department in the cybercafe room in my apartment building for a holiday party. It's a great space. First is the space really is space, quite spacious. Secondly there is a microwave and refrigerator and even a dish washer. There is a fireplace. If the weather would have been just a bit warmer, we could have walked outdoors only 30 seconds to find a view over the Mississippi River. I do think everyone had a good time.

This was a cultural event for my Polish friend who is staying with me. We do a white elephant gift exchange. White Elephant is not a Polish thing, but now Dorota says someday it will be. She will work into something in when she does an event with some friends. I got the most ghastly chicken that walks around and makes a lot of noise. Dorota got a three piece set that put together makes a snow man. I think maybe it's for serving snacks, but indeed it's a white elephant. The person who put this into the gift exchange said, "once it was cute, but not anymore."

Black Friday

For the second year my church holds a worship on Black Friday to think about what the season truly is. This year we thought and spoke about being able to say, "Thank you, I have enough." This Minneapolis newspaper did a story about this and other churches doing the same. In the story came the idea: Don't just trade presents, give to someone who can't give back." (For example, my work office is getting presents for a family we do not know.) One person commented on the story said this idea is socialism. Socialism?!? Some people must think that helping anyone for any reason is socialism. If this socialism, bring it on. One of the best feelings if helping someone who didn't expect it. Each time I've helped a family at Christmas, I find that the parents are very surprised to find something for them under the Christmas tree, too.

Last Day of Summer?

Fall grasses
November River View

I purchased a new camera on Sunday, one that I think will work better for my six months in Europe, and particularly in all the "baths" of Hungary. I tackled charging the battery last night. I didn't think it was working because the charger light kept going out. I decided to just leave it plugged in all night and voila! the battery was charged this morning.

We are on the cusp of a change of weather, from the very warm November we've had to something like regular winter. This morning began cloudy and rainy. I was startled to see about 2 PM that the sun was out. It seeemed smart to grab the camera and take a walk, for we may not see this kind of weather again for a long time. The colors of November are wonderful,another kind of beauty.

Misadventures by the Health Care System

I am a nurse, but there isn't much I like about our present health care system. I recently had an encounter with it because I had to get a physical for the Fulbright Award. Tonight I got e-mail messages about some bills I owe. One is for 49 cents and the other is for 81 cents. Just how much do you think it has already cost to prepare the "this is not a bill but an explanation of benefits" memos. Even though they were sent electronically, this had to cost more than will be recovered. My students find it hard to believe that we spend 20 cents out of every dollar on paperwork. This is certainly a perfect example of one of the problems!

Misadventures

I went for a walk at sunset and took some photos with the intent to post them. I came back and downloaded them using Picasa basically for the first time. (My new computer won't accept my old version of Photoshop and knowledgeable folks have told me to avoid the new version of Photoshop until some bugs are fixed in early 2010.) I didn't do something right to make them vanish from the camera so I deleted them by hand. Then I went back to edit the photos a bit and found they had disappeared, too, from the computer because I had not saved them correctly. Well, there's always tomorrow.

And then when I went to write this blog I found a comment from a reader that had been there for quite awhile without my acknowledgment. Comments used to go directly to my e-mail. So sorry to that reader.

Almost did something else wrong. I was convinced there was something wrong with the USB drives on the new computer, as if a protector had been left in place. Discovered that they simply look a bit different and that if I fiddle a bit everything plugs in.