23 March 2009

Tartine's Banana Date Tea Cake

Banana Date Tea Cake (with title)
So, there are a few of you who are probably wondering what happened in the almost 2 weeks I didn't post on this blog. Big changes. HUGE changes. They are changes in plans, though-- as in real life, what I instead have is a giant stop sign in front of my face. You see, I failed to match for a hospital (read: the four hospitals I interviewed for went another way). What followed is almost a week of malaise, juggling trying to "feel the feelings" (as my friend Allen puts it), smacking myself in the head for inadequacies, smacking myself more in the head for realizing that there are people out there with real problems and this: coming to the United States to grab an opportunity, missed as it was, does not even rate. However, even though we can argue about what the factors were that led to this outcome were-- internal or external-- the fact remains that I could only have really influenced the internal factors, and that's what really kills me. (Especially since it worked for some of my Filipino peers, but not for me.)

"It's time to go back to the house, pack your belongings, and go. Home." In all probability I'll give it another $hot. Even though there are $ome problem$ a$$ociated with that. But frantic sublimation a week after falling flat on your face is a little superhuman, don't you think? (The start of the next application period is September.) Though I try to be a Tiffany, I usually end up a Rebecca, which is probably for the best because the last thing I need is Tyra yelling at me how to feel. But I am trying, Tyra! I want to take control of my destiny!

11 March 2009

Reading, Between the Lines

Lancaster train station
(or, Trains, Trains and Automobiles.) I think I have to make something clear about my travelogues: I don't write about a place where my itinerary isn't up yet. So, when I wrote about Akron, I'd already left. And I'm not going to write about New Jersey, New York, or San Francisco till a few weeks after I've gone back to the Philippines (which is April 4). Now, last January 26, I headed to Reading, Pennsylvania, which was my last stop in my interview tour. It would be self-contradictory to say that it exceeded my expectations, because I had none. Before I applied for the hospital there, all I knew about it was that it was one of the four railroads in classic Monopoly. Trips to Wikipedia and various other sites were needed. And now, I'm going to be one of those sites. I think.

I totally dropped the ball as a commuter, though. After my $45 Amtrak trip to the nearest Amtrak station, which was Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I had to spend $70 plus tip on the 30-minute taxi ride to Reading. And then another $45 and $70 for the trip back. Ouch. Greyhound ($45) would have taken me straight to Reading, though it would have been nearly a 6-hour trip from New Jersey. Although if I'd gone the extra mile and gotten a license valid in the States (and enough driving chutzpah), I could have driven from New Jersey or New York, which would have taken 2 hours. Grrr.

01 March 2009

Tartine's Mango Galettes

Mango Galettes
Oh, hello again! Some of you might be wondering what hole I fell into since the last week. What happened was that my laptop finally decided it's tired of this life and severed its adapter jack from the motherboard. I guess it's served me kind of well over the last three and a half years considering in the last few months its battery no longer worked and wasn't really in stock anywhere. So, not super-portable. And since that time, I flew to San Francisco and didn't acquire a new laptop until recently. And nooo, it is not a Mac. I know some design freaks out there poo on PCs, but I don't really get the belly-aching. I work remarkably well with a PC-- we have a rhythm.

Anyway, so I'm out here, and meeting two of my faaavorite bloggers (and, since my social Venn diagram isn't super-expansive, that means they're two of my favorite people as well), Allen and Joe, and Marvin (more on those later). Without my trusty sidekick, I was able to devote a lot of time to doing fun activities with my host family's kids (my cousins), like cooking lunch, helping with the homework, and indulging the occasional need for a playmate (though chess isn't really challenging against a seven-year-old, Mario Kart on the Wii is). And then there is the simple joy of the Wii fit telling you every day to keep up the good work as you go through yoga poses in the exact opposite way you should be (screaming).