Another Step Closer to Conquering the World

Life is still exciting out here in the big AA. Claudine Mamo called me with some job ideas in mind for my stay in Switzerland. Her brother-in-law owns a theater/jazz singing cafe in Lausanne. Her sister offered to set up a room for me in there. It's in the basement of a building that, apparently, according to Bill Mamo, looks like a castle. And it's in the center of the city, so I would be in walking distance of all the shops, etc. "It's nothing luxurious" says Claudine. To me, it sounds outrageously exciting. In return I would help out with the cafe. There is also a job opportunity for me to help tour youngsters around in the mountains as a teacher's aid type deal. This will require me to learn french phrases such as "not so close to the edge" or "come back" or "no, it's too cold to go swimming." This job would provide lodging for me as well, and food. I would be able to do that for the month of May. So, okay, here's the itinerary for my trip so far:
Jan 4-March 21--L'Abri
End of March, April--live in cafe, meet people and look for job opportunities
May--Hike with the kids
June and beyond--tentative
I believe that I will get a visa for January to November (or, if I have to get a year, a year, but I plan on returning before Christmas 2005), and hopefully opportunities will come up for work. Claudine mentioned I may get tutoring jobs teaching kids English. I am hoping to make some money so I can pay her sister for the place and for much of the food I'll be eating. Her sister has been very gracious in her offers though. I'm pretty excited about this. I should be forced to learn french, which is scary and good for me.

While I'm at L'Abri I will hear about the Fulbright. If I get the scholarship, I may come home earlier than November so I can get a job and make money to spend in South Africa. It's all up in the air about that. But the application process is coming along. I wrote a Fulbright advisor (called the "commission") in South Africa and heard back from him today. His name is Solomon. Hm, thought I. An advisor named Solomon. I made this connection mainly because I'm reading Proverbs. Anyway, Wise Solomon said I will need to apply at the University of Kwazulu-Natal as a Masters student in Theater Studies. The idea of being a grad student as early as 2006 is strange to me, but maybe by then I'll be ready.

Today I met Annette Masson, who is writing a letter of recommendation for my application. She was the dialects teacher for the theater dept. Turns out, she used to be on the Fulbright committee here at UofM, so she is full of good advice herself. Now I just need to continue specifying my proposal. Annette advised me to tell as many people as I can about what I plan to do there, as good practice for knowing what I want to do and sounding like I know what I'm doing for the interview portion of the application.

After seeing Annette, I tutored Paul and Gyu Rie, my two 8 yr old Korean kids. Then I went to see this woman read at Shaman Drum, who is a non-fiction writer. I bought her book (I'm such a splurge) because it sounded so good and interesting. She signed it and asked me if I was a writer and I said yes, fiction and non-fiction. She told me to look into her University where she teaches, in North Carolina, where they have a MFA Non Fiction program. After that I went to the Ann Arbor Brewering Company and saw my friend D. from the theater dept. She is a PhD candidate and she just got a Fulbright for Australia next January. She's going to Sydney tomorrow to work for two weeks with a theater company there. Then she's going to Helsinki for a theater conference. I have gotten to know here a bit in the past few months, and all her graduate student friends, which has been interesting. I still feel so young.

After D's going away party at the bar, I went to my friend Emily's bachelorette party. I had a good time. We played games and ate desserts. It wasn't all that raunchy, which is nice. I still think the bachelorette party would be the most nerve-wracking part about a wedding. I don't know why, it just really makes me uncomfortable to think about.

Okay, I'm going to bed. Sorry these updates are so sparse that they have to be so long.