Off to L.A! ..(RUMIANA- Plamen photos below-& very important bday photos for all those who have yet to send gigantic presents..you know who you are):

(This is the bridge we went over yesterday-it crosses over the Columbia River, connecting Oregon and Washington.Btw, that is Zeus in the Hummer.) My brain is fried from studying, packing, and more studying and packing-thus, very little brain power left ...I leave for LA shortly! I decided to fly partly because I may need driving glasses for the first time and am going to get my eyes officially checked once I'm down there and my prep class starts right away. Hmmm, what do I want my glasses to look like? If I do really find I need them, they might as well hold stuff too- I'm thinking a compartment for a straw, my ipod, a pita pocket, my journal, and a little shot glass for my favorite sparkling blueberry juice. And maybe one for a banjo.

In other news, one of my wonderful former students, Plamen, from my high school teaching days in Bulgaria came to visit. ( (Btw, notice my flourescent peach pants. I have moved into a "bright colored pants" phase so if you see any bright turquoise ones, do let me know asap!) We, along with his terrific mentor, Jerry, went all over today-driving along the Washington side of the Gorge to Skamania Lodge, climbed up Beacon Rock, stopped at Multnomah Falls, the rose garden above my house, and meandered about Powells Books. Anyway, it was fun to swap stories with Plamen and to see one of my former students so totally thriving and happy. He is on a full scholarship at USC for his PhD in Environmental Science. I've known him since he was in the eighth grade and while I only taught him for two years, he was one of the many students that made me love teaching dearly. I miss it sometimes and thats probably why I will do some more of it once I have my license. He still calls me "Miss Alex the Axe," which is the nickname his classmates came up with when they realized I was going to be giving them a lot of work to do! See, I'm not all fun and games. I am also a diehard disciplinarian who loves to let a good little power go shooting up straight out of my head. Just kidding...I was the first American they had ever met and I learned yesterday expectations had been very high and had to be reconfigured immediately the moment I leapt through the door frame. The thing is things got off to a weird start right away. First, the teacher's chair was way too little but my gigantic teacher's desk, which stood up on a high platform, was just right so I taught most of the time sitting Indian style on top of my desk, where I could also more easily beam my striped beachball at whoever wasn't paying attention. There were no rules about teaching inside or outside of the classroom so if the mood striked or the weather was right, we would hit the pavement and English lessons would become more improvisational and freewheeling. They were all very good sports and mostly endearingly sweet kids, Whenever I was sick, some would always visit during the day bringing cookies or fruit. Really what I wanted for them in the end was to learn about possibilities for themselves. While I was there to teach English and Literature, in the end, my favorite thing about those two years was an empowerment camp I set up called Camp Glow where they had the opportunity to design their own awesome community service projects individually and travel to nearby countries like Macedonia, Romania, Czech Republic, and Hungary. We were supposed to go to Turkey right before I left but that ended up getting scrapped last minute because parents were afraid to send their daughters there. It was a shame because Turkey turned out later to be perhaps my favorite country I have ever been to.
But every time I hear from one of my former students my heart smiles. I'm so sleepy I'm about to fall over on the suitcase sitting beside me so I am posting some photos from today and my latest birthday party earlier in the week at Laini's wonderful parents' house. Her mom is like having an extra fairy godmother who has such a heart of gold. I dearly love spending time with them. I don't know what happened to the photo but she made the most beautiful and tasty cake with a single strawberry draped across the middle. The photo went MIA or I'd post it below with the others. I'm going to do a whole post on L's mom and her incredible gardens and majestical bird room in the next couple weeks. As I am leaving for LA shortly, I'll write once I am settled in there...these are some photos from last week.
Nighty night!

That is Jim's left hand in the upper left corner ruthlessly pelting me with pepper while I am trying to take care of very important business opening birthday presents!



I strongly believe that you should be thrown in prison when you hamper people from unwrapping their birthday surprises. I'm going to contact Oregon Senator Wyden today so Jim------...you will be hauled off very soon. Wyden and I are like this!



Heres another one of me opening more presents...just look at how good I am at it!



I should add that Jim's prison sentence should be slightly reduced because he did make this tremendously delicious pear and blackberry pie for my birthday! (He wasn't willing to pose in person with his pie but he did let his driver's license photo represent him instead!):



And here's the whole gang just before we sat down for dinner with wonderful chard from Patti's garden, vegetable and chicken grilled kebabs...so tasty you could almost pass out from the tastiness of it all. She even made sure it was all Weight Watchers-y because she knows how committed I am to the program. Thank you Pattii!!!!!