Tuskegee is fine, y'all

Sorry I haven't blogged in a coupla days. I've been busy with the job search (2 interview, alhamdulillah!!!) And watching the news nonstop since Katrina was in the Gulf of Mexico... Thanks to Aleksa and everyone else who asked about my family in Alabama. Tuskegee is fine- I spoke to my grandfather (right after I hooted and hollered when they actually said "Tuskegee" on CNN and pronounced it correctly) and he said that although they'd pronouncd a tornado warning ovber there, there was some lightning and a whole lotta wind, and that was it. There wasn't even any damage to the pecan trees.

On my father's side, however, I'm a lil worried about my family in Metairie, the ones who hosted the family reunion a while back. I know they evacuated, but from what I saw on the tv screen, they won't have a whole lot to go back to. Or wayy too much, if they're lucky.

I'm also worried about my parents in Cincinnati. I lived through the last flooding there... the really bad one back in '98 and then again in '99, and even though it didn't hit our house, that stuff was no joke. I was rowing then, and we didn't get back on the river for quite a while, even though we rowed on a tributary of the Ohio in Kentucky- the Ohio at Cincinnati is WAY fast for novice-level (and even some more experienced rowers) most of the time. The Newport levee had just been finished , and so the aerial pictures- one of Covington, completely under water, alongside Newport, with its green wall around it, high and dry- just left me with my mouth open. A lot of people on riverside property- very poor, reminds me of La Perla in San Juan- lost their houses, clothes, food, possessions, etc. Very few people died, however. The main difference this time would be that the weather isn't cold. I remember it was freezing cold outside the last time the Ohio and Miami rivers flooded. No fun for anyone.

So. Y'all be praying for everyone in the path of the storm folks named Katrina. I know I will. She is one bad lil girl.

Hey, Aleksa. Get a blog, girl. I appreciate the comments, really. But it's getting to be a bit much. No fair I can't get you back, either- at least I can comment up a storm over at Sherry's place.


Onnn the job front- I've had a coupla people interested in me on the Great AuPair site. One job would be for a newborn who isn't here yet. I talked the other over with my mother, and I dont' think I'm going to take it, since I'd have to ask for a substantial increase in pay, and the family cant' afford it. I kinda regret that, since I talked with the mother for almost an hour yesterday. Turns out she had a two-year-old and then had a set of quadruplets- naturally. Yeah. Amazing. She's PuertoRican, and loved that I'd teach her kids, especially her older son, Spanish just by talking to him completely in the language, since she's from NYC and says she's the only one in her generation to speak the language. I think it's awesome that she wants her kids to learn Spanish. But I wonder about language ties and heritage. I'm constanly saying that any child I have would speak Spanish since that's all I'd speak to him or her, and they'd also have to speak whatever their father's language will be, so they'd en trilingual from jump street. It makes me sad to hear from so many people whose parents, thinking it was best for them, forced them to learn english, or worse, didn't let them learn their first language. They're ok with it until they feel impaired in that language. Hmmph. Americanization always has a hidden dark side. I'm not saying you have to keep all the customs of your homeland, that can be detrimental too. But knowing a second language has been so integral to my life, I can't imagine myself without that ability, and it must be something to yearn to have what I take for granted.

Sorry. I'll get off my soapbox now.

peace
Me