Perfecting the Shadow Puppet

Dearest blog followers,

Sunday night we lost power. Monday work started at noon and ended at 4:30. Tuesday my car swam to work and then got redirected on my way home because all the streets were flooded. (I resorted to back streets and got lost because there were trees down across the road.) Wednesday I got ready for work at the gym so I could shower with more than a flashlight's worth of visibility. Perhaps you think, ahh tropical storm, no big thing? Here are the headlines from the paper:

• Huracán Irene en Puerto Rico deja al menos un muerto y mil 500 damnificados (Translation: Huracan Irene in Puerto Rico leaves at least one dead and 500 damned)
• El paso de "Irene" por Puerto Rico provoca perdidas de 70 millones de dolares (Translation: Irene's passing through Puerto Rico provokes losses of $70,000,000)
• 1 million lose power in Puerto Rico as Hurricane Irene heads towards US
  

Somehow, though, PR culture sneaks in and turns this into a party. That would be why I spent hours last night at my neighbor's place hanging out in candlelight with people from the apartment. It was a glamorous shin-dig focused mainly on eating the food that would otherwise rot in our refrigerators and gossiping about PR government/apartment dwellers/famous people. Brilliant.

Work also increased in social exchanges, as everyone is curious to catch up on who has lights and running water. PLUS people stop by constantly to ask how I survived the storm (Let's be serious - I got all the "scared" out of my system with the non-existent storm Emily... I SLEPT through Irene's 60 mile an hour winds!). Overall, it's been an amusing change of pace and routine, but I am sooooooo glad the lights are back on!!!

Here was my drive to work on Tuesday morning (note, this is 48hrs+ after the storm):

La tormenta tropical Irene

La tormenta tropical Irene continúa su movimiento al Oeste-noroeste por lo que su paso por la región será muy cercano al sur o entrando a la Isla. NO DEBE SER COMPARADA CON EMILY. Irene tiene grandes posibilidaes de ganar fuerzas, por esta razón la Isla también se mantiene bajo un aviso de huracán como medida de prevención.

Irene 5:00pm
5:00 PM AST Sun Aug 21
Location: 17.7°N 64.4°W
Max sustained: 50 mph
Moving: WNW at 17 mph
Min pressure: 999 mb

Se esperan vientos de intensidad de tormenta entre las 45 y 60mph, acumulación de más de 10" de lluvia y oleaje peligroso. Es importante que activen su plan de emergencia, aseguren sus pertenencias y eviten dejar objetos sueltos o sacar basura a la calle. El servicio eléctrico se verá afectado al igual que el servicio de agua debido a los vientos que se esperan.

Katie's rough translation: They aren't just calling this one a storm, they also have a hurricane warning out. 45-60mph winds, 10 inches of rain, risk of tornadoes, 6-11 foot waves. It's already blowing and pouring and it's going to hit its strongest in the weeeeee hours of the morning. This storm hasn't even hit and it's already bigger than the last "tropical storm" we had! Good thing I stocked up on water!

Wanted.

Gracias a Angel por llevarme a ver Fast Five.
Gracias a Randall por mi primer mapa de San Juan...y por tu numero
Gracias a Nelson por las classes en Photoshop
Gracias a David por el guía de noche por San Juan
Gracias a Andy por buscar mis goggles en el Nat
Gracias a Antonio por...pues...nada.
Gracias al guarda que me saluda todas las mañanas y me invitó a bailar
Gracias a Frank por querer ser mi primer amigo boricua
Gracias a Miguel por ser atletico
Gracias a Juan por saber todo sobre los carros.
Gracias a los desconocidos que voy a conocer por las risas y diversión

They say it's my crazy light hazel eyes eyes - I am the exotic foreigner. (REMEMBER - I'm from Wisconsin. HAHAHAHA). I am not a serial dater, but it is eye opening how many people I'm meeting that really don't fit my lifestyle! I thought I was just a normal kid, now I'm putting a whoooole new definition around "normal".

Wanted: peace and quiet
Wanted: Conservative Wisconsin boy who likes to work out, loves nature, has a cool family & friends, likes his job, speaks Spanish, and dreams of heliboarding or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. He could be cute too, that would help.

solamente hay de pedir

La semana pasada yo estaba #*$(@#&$(*#&@ con el vegitariano. Lo odiaba. Lo querria. Pense que mi mundo personal estaba en ruinas y yo estaba super emocional (y por la primera vez llore por estar sola). Ah la gloria de ser chica. Summary: #*$(@#&$(*#&@

What SHOULD be happening: El me dijo que ibamos a...

• ir a kayakear
• pasar tiempo con sus amigos
• vender Pitufo y comprar un carro nuevo
• mejorar la factura de agua
• hangear con su familia
• visitar el otro lado de la isla
• quedarnos en su casa en Ponce
• correr caballo
• visitar a MI familia
• hacer ejercicios juntos
• limpiar al parque central
• ir de viaje por la isla
  
• hacer un programa de radio
• asistir a una clase de spin

What WAS happening: cosas divertidas, pero sin proposito si el no cumple con su palabra y me invita a ser PARTE de su vida y familia.

Yo estaba #*$(@#&$(*#&@ y sola. Yo me cuido. Mas que eso, yo me cuido BIEN a mi y con cuidado seleciono a los amigos que tengo. Si algien, especialmente si somos casi novios, no cumple con su palabra, ahhhh no lo prometo. Nadie juega con mis emociones, ni mi familia, ni mis amigos, ni un borriqua joven y guapo. Yo estaba #*$(@#&$(*#&@.

Antes de ser emocional soy pensativa y curiosa - tengo que entender porque la gente se hace lo que hace. Por eso, le explique que me estaba haciendo dano, que yo senti sola y triste (jejej, y que la culpa era suya). Le dije todo y, lo milagroso, me escucho y me endtendio. Ayer conoci dos de sus mejores amigas, fuimos a partes nuevos de la isla, fuimos a la iglesia, y me presento a sus padres (aunque eso era coincidencia porque la guagua no arranco y les llamo de emergencia!!!!!!). En dos semanas, vamos a kayakear. Hoy vamos a buscar un carro nuevo. Me escucho.

Pitufo update

You know how they tell you to trust your gut? You remember how MY gut told me my car was a piece of #**&^%%$@& and then the guys at worked convinced me I was wrong? There's a reason they tell you to trust your gut.

For Sale: Blue 2000 VW Beetle. AC & new tires.

You call THAT a storm (**Knock on wood!!**)

Are you wondering if I got swept away by the storm?? I didn't!! In fact, it was barely a storm at all. Here's my recall, play by play:

• Monday night 9pm: el Vegitariano calls Katie and warns her that PR is under a state of emergency, but tells her not to freak out (Katie freaks out).

• Monday night 10pm: Katie goes to the grocery store and buys 5 gallons of water, another case of 16oz bottles of water, canned goods, then goes home and buys new books for her Kindle.
• Tuesday morning 7am: Katie checks the weather at work and sees forecast for the tropical storm to hit at 2pm with tons of rain and winds averaging 20 miles an hour but reaching up to 40 miles an hour.
• Tuesday at 2pm: blue skies with puffy white clouds
• Tuesday at 3pm: blue skies with puffy white clouds
• Tuesday at 4pm: blue skies with puffy white clouds ... but Katie goes home anyway to make sure she's ready.
• Tuesday at 5pm: Katie and el Vegitariano buy more supplies (aka batteries and flashlights) then go back to the apt and lock all the windows and tie up the balcony shade.
• Tuesday at 6pm: windy, rainy, just another night in the Caribbean.

I woke up in the middle of the night to lightening and thunder, and it MUST have rained, but other than that it was an uneventful storm! I went to work Wednesday morning (not knowing that PR was still in a state of emergency and that all "non critical" employees were not required to report to work). The office was full of people like me, but we DID get to go home at 2pm because the roads were flooded (more to blame on the BAD road system than on the rain!!)!

PR averages 3 named storms a year. One down, 2 to go!! I've got enough water and canned goods to last me for days!

Tormenta Tropical

El Centro Nacional de Huracanes (CNH) emitió un aviso de tormenta tropical para Puerto Rico y las islas municipio de Vieques y Culebra ante el paso cercano mañana de la tormenta tropical Emily.

El aviso significa que la Isla será impactado por una tormenta tropical dentro de las próximas 36 a 48 horas.

Translation: AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Yes, that about sums it up.