Let me explain.

Ok, so the last time I wrote was 3 weeks ago. And It's going to take me a few posts to get you caught up on where my life is right now.

This is mostly to be blamed on the march. Yes, that's right. The month of March.

You know the saying "In like a lion, out like a lamb"?

Well, for me. March was: In like a herd of roaring lions, chasing stampeding elephants. The elephants are then caught up to by the lions, who tripped over their tails, thus creating a large amalgamation of large and dangerous mammals. Then all of a sudden, across the serengeti, a freak cyclone comes through, sucking up the elephants and lions, all the while destroying brush, wild date palms, zebras, and other assorted serengeti flora and fauna. So now we have a holy mess of mammals and vegetation swirling around in a giant cyclone across Africa. So as this cyclone starts to wind down towards the end of March, March then finishes out like lions and elephants and zebras set back down to the earth, safely, but dizzy, where they all re-orient themselves and then lie down to take a nap after a long month spent mostly in a cyclone.



Now, I've thought long and hard about how I could possibly recount to you fine people what the month of march in 2008 has meant to me, and to be honest the previous was the only way that I have been able to come up to describe my thoughts.

So that gives you a little glimpse. As I said, I will be filling you in more about details about that loveable cyclone. It's had its high points and low points. The highs were very high and the lows were very low. The very low low I've already written about (See two posts ago about my precious baby angel mac) And the very high high was having my two friends Cassie and Diana come visit for 2 weeks. I'll fill you guys in more about this trip later, and many many pictures will follow.

The visit from Diana and Cassie ended last night, and left me here in Lima for a few days to sit, reflect, breathe, and spend alot of time at Starbucks, drinking several iced lattes. Starbucks is a rare treat that for me happens about, oh, once every 4 months. I do miss coffee shops. There really aren't any in Trujillo. But they're my escape, so I treasure the few times that I do get to spend in coffee shops every once in awhile. So, I am going to return to my iced latte and my safe haven of this plush arm chair and reflect about all the things I need to write about in the next few days.

Such highlights to be included:

-Easter

-The update on my baby angel mac

-Diana and Cassie's debut in Peru

-My debut on National Peruvian Television (oh yes, it's true)

Tune in next time...

dear you,

ok, I don't have too much time to write this post, but for all those avid peruvian gillian blog readers out there, don't worry, I have not sunk so far into depression over my baby angel mac that I cannot keep blogging.

It just takes a little more effort to borrow someone's computer and type up a blog. I hope to blog more soon, I will try to make time and update you guys more about what's going on south of the equator.

love,
gillian

Black Monday

Some of you may be wondering why I haven't updated my blog in awhile. Some of you may be wondering why you haven't received a February update Newsletter yet.

Some of you need to know what happened on that fateful Monday of March 2008.

It's too hard. I can't talk about it... but I must.

My hard drive crashed. My beautiful baby angel mac. My pride. My joy. My life. Gone.
I can't tell you the grief I've been through with this. I also can't tell you what exactly happened. So don't ask. Because I can't tell you, and it makes me sad/angry to talk about it. All I know is that I have lost all of my files with little to no hope of recovery.

Yes that's right. All of my files. All my photos, my music, my calendars, all of my work from SALI, and here's what hurts the most- I had all of my files from college on there. All my reports, and all of my interior design projects. It hurts. I can reinstall my operating system, but that erases whatever chance I had of recovering my files. That's like cutting off life support on someone in a coma. That says, "I'm giving up on you, files, you have no chance, You're dead to me. I'm forgetting you, and starting my new life with a new operating system."

If you think I'm being dramatic about this, then you probably aren't as attached to your computer as I am. My computer, though I did not spend every second on it, I spent a good chunk of my time on it. I used it for everything. For work mostly, and keeping myself organized. It had my agenda to show me what I needed to do, it had my grading sheets for my classes, it had my lesson plans so I knew what to teach, it had my class activities and conversation topics, so that we had stuff to do in class, it had my photos so that I could create an album of my life in Peru, it had my music to calm me down as I was working on everything, it had all of my work from college so that I could actually apply for jobs when I get back to the states. Basically, it had Gillian Baikie. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. And He tooketh my computer.

I've spent the majority of this week in a state of what I can only imagine to be depression. A part of me has died, and I don't think I can get it back. I'm going to call apple. Maybe they can offer me some solace of solution, but I doubt it. The outlook is grim. I think I'm just going to have to accept this and move on. Pray for me.

What did the Big Tomato say to the baby tomato?

This is the theme of my post today. I am sitting here watching my students complete their final exams for the month of February at SALI. And I am taking full advantage of this time I have to catch up on blogs, newsletters, on e-mails, on grading, and just in general on life, love, and the pursuit of happiness as well.

February has been an extremely busy month. Which as I ponder this more, I realize that in general, my February's are busier than normal. Perhaps it's because February is a shorter month, yet the amount of work remains the same, so it becomes necessary to cram it all in. Basically February is sweetened condensed milk. (The sweetened part only comes in because Valentine's is thrown into the mix, otherwise, there's nothing sweet about it).

I hope that your February was as pleasant as possible and that even if it was busy, it was a good busy. I hope to be sending out my February Newsletter soon (read: sometime still in February) with a more detailed description about February Activities.

Chau!