t minus 4 days...

until julie gets to medallo! im already at the point where im having daydreams while walking down the street of julie being next to me and telling myself "in 4 days she will be doing just this..." and ive already bought the bus tickets and reserved the taxi and found the flower stand where im going to buy flowers for when i pick her up...


yes, i am heterosexually in love with her and im not ashamed to admit it.

the thing i will miss the most...

is probably the cafe con leche from juan valdez. no one makes it quite like juanny.

pity party much?

The Millers said they used to have lavish dinners about once a week, but they don't know if they will be able to do that again anytime soon.
"We used to travel a few times a year, take vacations, and now that just doesn't seem like a possibility," Ellen Miller said. "... Couple that with the way the economy is going, each of our businesses are also on the downside. The income coming in last year wasn't where it was even without Madoff." (cnn)

im sorry that you lost a lot of your money due to madoff's selfishness, but i am not going to pity you because now instead of taking multiple vacations a year you can only take one more two and you can only go out to an extravagant meal once every 2 weeks instead of once every week. and to this nino guy, as much as what youre doing is nice, of ALL people who need a nice meal i dont think these people are the most deserving. im not saying you all didnt work hard for your money, but there are people in WAY more dire situations than yourselves so complaining to cnn about your tales of woe (and cnn ACTUALLY publishing it) really is not getting you any sympathy points here. how bout giving a free meal to the people who have just lost their homes due to foreclosure which is most likely due to the selfishness of those bankers and such who lost their money (well, actually, OUR money) in the madoff scheme?

im big for live and let live but im sorry cnn you should NOT be encouraging these people to feel so bad for themselves when the rest of the nation is suffering 3942304 times more. i try and defend my country a lot saying that we're not that selfish and that money isnt the only thing we think about, but when articles like this come out it makes it really fucking hard to do that.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh me da RABIAAAAAAAAA.

ok im done venting now.

another one drinks the paisa kool aid

i may or may not have convinced another cornellian to come live the paisa dream this summer. hopefully that makes 2 for this summer and more to come...

i dont know why but the younger generation seems to listen to me and think im way cooler than i actually am. i really hope i dont disappoint.

my mentor.

sheila danko has changed my life in a big way. it is because of her that i finished my college education the way i did, that i joined aiesec, that i went to the business as an agent for world benefit conference in october 06, that i developed a passion for social innovation and design, and ultimately the reason i have the knowledge and passion that i do today. i sent her a copy of an article yesterday with a letter of thanks and praise, because every once in a while its nice to hear that youve influenced someone:

hey sheila!!!!
i hope all is well in the tundra that is ithaca these days! im doing really well down here in medellin teaching english and im SO glad i made the decision to come here. a lot of things in my life and plans have changed because of it, but one thing that just hasnt changed is my passion for social innovation and cradle to cradle design :)

for my conversation class i found this article that i IMMEDIATELY thought youd be interested in if you havent already read it: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/09/plastic.bottle.boat/index.html i hope you enjoy it as much as my class and i are! tomorrow im actually doing the entire lesson on cradle to cradle design and showing a video by bill mcdonough on youtube!

honestly sheila, the more time i spend out of college living my life the more i realize that you are one of the people that has influenced my life more than you will ever realize. every decision i am making has its roots back to DEA 111 and dancing mind/thinking heart. with your passion and ability to explain things i have been able to figure out where my strengths fit into the world and what i want to do with them. i hope we keep in touch sheila. i want to know about the awesome work youre doing and keep you updated on where my life goes.

whenever you get a chance (i know you dont have much time) just let me know how youre doing :) maybe we can even set up a phone date! hope all is well and hope to hear from you soon :)

besos desde colombia
syd

and this is what she wrote back:

Sydney Dear,
I do appreciate your notes and updates, though I don’t always express it. You have no idea how much your words and enthusiasm for change means to me. To know that I was a part of your development is most gratifying, especially in a field where teaching is relegated to lower status than research. I hope to stay in touch always. Nothing means more to an educator than to watch a former student grow and pass on their enthusiasm for learning and commitment to change. Your energy astounds me.

Thanks for the article!! Please, always make sure I have an email for you. I am going to be redesigning 111 in a major way and would love to run the critical ideas by you.

Fondly,
Sheila

the wheels have been a'turnin in that old brain of mine around cradle to cradle design. ill let you know what pops out.

letter from the boss

Dear Sydney,

It looks like things are going quite well for you so far according to these evaluations.  There were quite positive overall with students being happy with your methodology. Congratulations and continued success!

Best regards,

J.

looks like im doing something right :)

after an hour convo with senor maas, a quick yet insightful chat with mariana, and an hour's worth of rereading blog entries from the past year complete with nostalgic (and not so nostalgic) montage, i have come to a realization...

my goal for this year was to "trim the fat", in which i would cleanse myself of all toxic relationships, and thats exactly what i did. as difficult as it was i was able to let go of people in my life that at one point made me happy and fulfilled me in so many ways because i realized that they no longer played that role in my life and had in fact become more of a burden than a blessing. they changed, i changed, and the changes just made us no longer compatible.

not only did i cleanse myself of those toxic relationships, but i also strengthened the ones that still fulfill me and created new ones that are fulfilling me in completely new ways. ive finally learned to NOT be ashamed of how i feel and how people affect me and to allow myself to be...well myself. ive finally learned how to be truthful not only with myself, but with others around me even though it may make me vulnerable and seem weak. im finally walking the talk ive been talking for oh so long and finding people who appreciate that about me rather than resent me for it. 

so the realization i have come to is the following: i. am. happy.

and i say about fuckin time.

billy must be so proud...

in 2002 bill mcdonough and michael braungart, 2 former granola-y hippies (well, more braungart than mcdonough) published cradle to cradle, a revolutionary new book that shows how products and services, rather than having a cradle to grave lifecycle, could have a cradle to cradle one where the raw materials and services do not become degraded overtime, but rather become raw food for either the same product cycle or another product's cycle.

this is what he was talking about.

happy thought.

so today mari and i were reserving movie tickets online, but in order to do so she had to type in her password to her online account. you know what her password is? sydney. it made me smile from ear to ear. 

the little hiccup

theres really only one major thing about the paisa culture that im not too keen on: the vanity. obviously theres a ridiculous amount of vanity in the states too, but i feel its buffered by people who arent into vanity and political correctness. like for example, a friend wouldnt pat you on the belly and say "you should probably get rid of that, fatty" without expecting a slap in the face. unfortunately that buffer does not exist here in medellin.

before i get into this story i must preface with the fact that ive lost a shit ton of weight. before i went back to the states i had lost more or less between 10 and 12 pounds, and since i got back over a month ago ive shed another 10. the thing is im not even trying and though i am of course happy about not being a pudgy im a little weirded out at the rate i keep losing my college poundage, but thats for a WHOLE other post.

ok so back to the story. i went out on saturday with a few friends to rumbiar and dance the latino dance. we had a good amount of rum and sweated up a storm dancing, so we were in that endorfin-induced drunkin bliss. my friend jaime (who, to preface, really is a fantastic guy) and i were chatting of course when he interjects with "its so great you got so skinny...you look so pretty!" it would have been a fantastic compliment that would have made my night better (silly boy trouble, not for blog time) if only he had shut his mouth and stopped there.

"yea because when you first came you werent very pretty because you were fat."

i looked at him incredulously and followed with "so fat people cant be pretty?"

his answer: "no, they cant." plain and simple. no fluffy language.

of course i explained to him that i believe that hes wrong and that he could never EVER EVER say what he just said to me in the united states (he may be moving to miami in a few months) and that quite honestly i was offended but i understood that it was jaime and so i wasnt mad, just annoyed. we then got into a conversation about the vanity of colombia, especially medellin, at which point his verbal diarrhea started up again.

"you know youd probably get more guys if you fixed yourself up more and wore more makeup."

as much as i love the kid, this was the point in the night that i left him and went to hang out with other people because i didnt feel like getting my ego even MORE bruised. i understand its the culture, but come the fuck on!

these comments just made me realize that as much as do love it here i dont know if i could ever truly live here for the rest of my life. that story is just ONE example of MULTIPLE conversations ive had here, many of them ending with me ego getting a beating. people have no qualms about telling you youre pretty, but also no qualms about telling you you look like shit. im an honest person, but there can only be so much emphasis on the outside.

and thats the little paisa hiccup.