Gotta love my follow through. I create a blog and three weeks later I'm ready to actually begin writing. Honestly, I have really strayed from myself in the last three weeks and lost sight of the things that matter to me. It's time to get back on track. I mean it's always fun to mix it up a little, but not when there are resulting negative consequences. Holy vagueness. Whatever. Moving on...

So yeah, these last three weeks have been crazy in a number of ways. I need to be better about recording the absurdities of trying to negotiate your way around a country where the language is still hazy. For instance, today, I have the house mostly to myself as everyone is at the beach celebrating our roommate's going away party. But the housekeeper is here. I already have a complex about having a housekeeper in the first place. It makes me feel like a spoiled child. Yes, let me sit here while you clean up after me and my other privileged roommates. I'll sit here and do "work" meaning reading and typing. It's just very strange to me. I think the housekeeper has taken a shine to me though, despite the fact that I have a very hard time understanding her. I think she might have asked me for money earlier today? And then she gestured to her arm - like for a shot? Heroin? I have no idea. So then she started gesturing to my hair and she asked if I had a boyfriend (not sure what that had to do with my hair...) and then she basically ripped my hair out of its ponytail and started twisting (pulling) it. I think then she was saying that people do that at Boca Chica and that I could pay her to do it or something. Who knows. Awkward me out forever! So I went back to my transitional justice article...ha.

It looks like instead of just being here until the end of July, I will actually be here until like mid-October. My boss is leaving at the end of July and the consultant who will be replacing her is coming October 1, so they need someone to cover the department and they offered me the job. I hope my jaw didn't physically hit the ground during the meeting where this happened, but that's how I still feel. I mean, I understand that it is largely the result of timing - I'm in the right place at the right time, but what an opportunity! I feel very lucky. So, I will have to take a semester off of school, but I think that this could be an amazing chance to widen my contacts, prove myself, and really open up some career opportunities. Also, I might be able to get published! Wow. I don't know if I take myself seriously enough to get published, but we'll see...when will I start thinking of myself as an adult, an intelligent adult who has things to contribute to the field I'm interested in? I maintain that I am still a teenager, my thoughts are still percolating, and I need to sit back and learn. Perhaps this experience will change that.

Even before I was offered this position, I started thinking that I should change my thesis topic. I've had misgivings for awhile now and it's just not changing. I was talking with my fabulous roommate about it and she was helping me brainstorm and think things through and she sees the disconnect in what I was doing as well. Widows and transitional justice - but why? How? It just doesn't fit. And my professors certainly aren't stepping up to help me out. I am going to try to formulate something about transitional justice and gender so that I can use my time at INSTRAW to work on my thesis. We'll see! That's what today is about - me time and thesis-ness. Getting my head back on my shoulders.

Ok, holy serious post. Jesus. This is not what I intended. I will post pictures now and hopefully get back to my lighthearted self in a couple days.