MX: Day 1

-



Today I was picked up at the airport by Luis, a very cool undergrad who works for the Alliant faculty. I was then escorted to my host family - Isabel (a dentist) and her sister (Leticia), both in their 50s, and Isabel's son who is 21 and attending college. There are four students in total living here and my roommate is an MFT from Vista, CA. The sisters are very sweet and made us a delicious dinner and we walked around town.


First impressions of life here - the smog is not as bad as I was anticipating. However, my roommate is having a hard time with the smog making her eyes water constantly. Fortunately, I haven't been affected (yet).

Also, the LGBTQ community is alive and well in the Zona Rosa, where the Alliant campus is located. I saw so many couples out walking the streets and PDA was on display everywhere.

I did see quite a few homeless people and those that looked mentally ill on the streets. As with any big city, this seems to be a prevailing problem here.

Lastly, I met my first Ferret pet. Very lovable!

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Popular posts from this blog

Can COVID save a marriage?

-
Image
I am dusting off this blog after an 8-year hiatus. So much has happened in my life, career and relationships, including aging nearly a decade. Perhaps the most shaping influence of late has been living through a once-in-a-generation pandemic and the way the last 16 months has reset my priorities, needs, and expectations of myself and the folx around me. I've realized that I can do with a lot less. Frankly, I've worn the same 5 tops for most of the past year, paired with shorts or joggers, and flip flops most days. The shoes and clothes in my closet have been ignored  -- they're too fussy, constricting, wrinkly, unnecessary -- and I just can't be bothered. Having a closetful of clothes, not to mention several seasonal boxes in the attic, seems frivolous and out of touch with what is important in the day-to-day pandemic life I've grown accustomed to.  With my classes moved online, my teaching style shifted, and I became more acutely aware of the challenges my students...
Read more

Traveling post-COVID

-
Image
Summer is nearly upon us and we leave in 2 weeks for a 3-month trip to Europe. We have been looking forward to spending time with our family in Germany and yet it feels so strange to travel internationally again.  A few days after updating our travel documents at the German consulate in Los Angeles recently, where we were fully masked up, my husband tested positive for COVID. What a disappointment after 2 years of the pandemic where we've been so careful, adhering to all of the social distancing efforts, vaccines, boosters, you name it.  The virus got my daughter next, and I,  being the remaining caretaker for the family, succumbed a week later. Now we are all quarantined and hopeful that we will receive our negative PCR tests in time to fly. We are thankful that our symptoms have been very mild and that our elderly parents are far away from us while we recover. Trying to understand the ever-changing COVID travel rules which vary by country and airline has been nothing sh...
Read more

Why do people cheat?

-
Image
I think there are many reasons why people cheat, though one that jumps out to me is that people want to feel heard and accepted. Sometimes in a relationship after the initial infatuation stage is over, people start taking one another for granted. The unique characteristics that drew them together in the first place seem so much more mundane. People start to forget those special qualities that made their attachment secure in the first place. As partners begin to feel less special, appreciated, respected and desired by their mates, they crave those feelings, that desire and that acceptance once again. This is human nature, right? To be needed and wanted, to be part of something bigger... whether it is a relationship, a family, or a community. If a partner is already in a state of frustration or loneliness inside their relationship and someone else comes along who starts to pay them attention, to recognize their beauty, their humor, their kindness or any other positive qualities – it giv...
Read more