This is what I originally wrote to start my blog, but then realized I might need to start with an introduction of myself and what I'm doing in Zambia. I'm going to update the blog on different experiences I have down in Austin, some Peace Corps related, some not. The overall idea is to get myself used to and comfortable with journaling and then transferring it into something I then share with anyone that feels like taking the time to read some.
Thursday, October 21st
Moved/visiting Austin for the next month. It's a good trial run for the bigger end all of leaving for Zambia with Peace Corps. I'm not really quite sure what my plan is while I'm down here. I have a couple of goals.
1. Realize what I'll miss when I leave for Zambia so I can either bring it along with me, soak it in as much as possible between now and then, or just start to wrap my head around it so it's not as big of a shock.
2. Acquired a one-speed bicycle from craigslist that I'm working on riding all around town to start getting in better riding condition. Signed up for a bike maintenance class at the downtown REI in a couple of weeks.
3. Learn how to create/write a blog; publicly sharing more about my life.
4. Get connected somehow to the Austin community. Different ideas:
* Substitute teach: turns out to be an unrealistic plan because I'd need a texas drivers license, to get fingerprinted in TX, and the earliest orientation is a week before I'm leaving.
* Volunteer with kids, immigrants, school system, etc... doing some searches on volunteermatch
* do a meet-up event - looking into soccer, outdoorsy, and food groups
* Substitute teach: turns out to be an unrealistic plan because I'd need a texas drivers license, to get fingerprinted in TX, and the earliest orientation is a week before I'm leaving.
* Volunteer with kids, immigrants, school system, etc... doing some searches on volunteermatch
* do a meet-up event - looking into soccer, outdoorsy, and food groups
* get out into the city, meet new people, learn here and there
Friday, October 22nd
Drove out to the Salt Lick Restaurant - famous in the area for their bbq. There was a fundraiser event for the Hill Country Conservancy complete with a buffet dinner, open bar, armadillo racing, live auction, country dancing, and a bonfire! We got free tickets to the event from a family Katelynn babysits for. It felt like a real southern country event with men dressed in their cowboy hats and girls completing their dressy outfits with a pair of cowboy boots! Need to learn the two step when I get cowboy boots.
Saturday, October 23rd
Went to the downtown farmers market with Katelynn. We wandered around the market with her dog, Teddy; there was a dog costume contest going on with some really cute dogs all decked out - including one dressed like the hamburgler :) Reminded me of when Laura, my sister, used to dress up Kodi, our dog, and have photo shoots; took a picture and sent it to her. They have a great coffee stand so I could enjoy a dark roast while I wandered the different stands. I stumbled upon some prickly pear fruit! The night before I had a drink with prickly pear juice and was excited to discover that I had caught the tail-end of their season! Not really sure what to do with the four that I now have chilling in the fridge...
The same family that gave us tickets the night before to the fundraiser gave Katelynn two extra tickets to the University of Texas game; she had work so Emily and I got to go! But not before I had some fun with the bus system (turns out the routes change on game days because UT closes down streets - a new concept to me because the University of Michigan never shut down streets that I was aware of for the football games. We enjoyed the sunshine while sitting at great seats at the game and UT almost pulled themselves back into the game against Iowa State... almost.
University of Texas Longhorns in the fourth quarter - just needed one more touchdown!
Saturday night we went out to the Ginger Man, a bar downtown, complete with a beer garden, 70+ beers on tap, an oktoberfest celebration, customers that bring their dogs to the bar, and not just one accordion playing band - but two! Chatted with different Austin locals and learned about more restaurants, bars, country dancing locations, and taco stands to check out :) We ended our night by stopping by Surf-n-Turf, a taco stand/trailer and getting some delicious, generously portioned tacos before heading home on the bus. Their tables were secured by a pole extended from the top of the trailer and no table legs- got to love it.
Sunday, October 24th
Broke out the bike and explored the Wheatsville Co-op, which is quite similar to the People's Food Co-op in downtown Ann Arbor. Discovered an AMAZING new kind of hummus - spicy smoked bbq - made locally by a company called Baby Zach. The checkout guy told me there was a place in town that made vegan bbq from Baby Zach's company. Looked it up and going to need to visit the Halcyon coffeshop/bar/restaurant sometime quite soon to try out some vegan bbq esp. because I feel like I've been missing out on the bbq scene with my vegetarianism.
Met up with Emily who had run into our previous realtor at church - of all the churches in Austin. We're going to go to a concert tomorrow night. Really loving Austin being the Live Music Capital of the World!!
Not sure how I feel about chronicling my time... testing it out and see where I go from here. Tomorrow I'm going to bike down to the south side of Austin to Zilker Park where there's a least one place to swim, read my book club book (which I started today and am excited because I think I'm finally getting back into the reading zone after struggling to read much at all since August - quite unlike myself), and survive the projected 94 degree weather! I would never make it through an Austin summer!!!
Monday, October 25th
Headed out towards Zilker Park, a park located on the other side of the Colorado River. Just did a little google mapping and looks like I biked about 10 miles today, a bit shy of 40k but working up to it. Also hoping since Zambia's mainly a plateau there won't be big hills (fingers crossed) and having a mountain bike with different gears should at least make the ascents easier. There's a bike/hike trail called Town Lake that runs most of the south side of the river; it was nice to not be biking illegally on a sidewalk or frighteningly riding down the side of a road. Read my book club book at the park for a couple of hours, met a couple of dogs, and then biked over to S. Congress to meet up with Emily and enjoy a late lunch. In the evening we went to a concert where Bob Schneider played at the Saxon Pub on South Lamar. He played everything to rock/rap to slow songs; one of the band members played everything from the accordion :) to the harmonica, keyboard, and trumpet. It was great to experience the true Austin live music scene!
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