starbucks in the airport

My alarm went off at 3:50 this morning. It reaffirmed that I am definitely NOT a morning person. But my 6:20 AM departure for Seattle forced me to wake up at such an ungodly hour. I had a layover in Atlanta. When I got to my gate, there was a sign that said the flight was delayed, but it didn't offer any information on how long the wait might be. I milled around a bit to see if there was anyone to ask. There wasn't. So I decided to visit the Starbucks kiosk across the hall.

After being in the States for a few weeks now, I finally have my Starbucks ordering down pat. I used to roll my eyes at some of my friends' drink orders---with all their complicated Starbucks lingo---but really I just had beverage-order-envy. So now I'm feeling good about knowing exactly what I like and exactly how to order it.

The line at Starbucks was pretty long. The woman taking the orders seemed rather impatient with anyone who didn't order with politically correct terminology. I kept repeating my drink order in my head, determined to not be one of "them".

I'm next in line. She shouts, "What can I get you?" And I freeze for half a second before telling her my order. "Grande non-fat, no water, no foam, 180 chai... please!" Phew. The Starbucks pressure is, at times, overwhelming.

I get my drink, take one sip, and start walking back to my gate just as they open it up for boarding. WHA?! Yep. And with the new FAA regulations barring all liquids on board, I had to pitch my completely full chai. Shame!

queen

We spent some time with my "little brother" yesterday. I put "little brother" in quotes because Andrew's really not all that little anymore. In fact, he turned 21 last week! But seeing as he's 7 years younger than me, he'll always be my little brother.

For Christmas, my parents gave him my mom's old car. It's a Saturn, Homecoming Edition, and my mom always called it the Homecoming Queen. Yesterday Andrew mentioned that he still calls it that--affectionately referring to it as "The Queen"--even though some of his friends make fun of him.

I suggested that he now call it The Car Formerly Known as Queen.

how to make a nickname stick

I've never really had a nickname. My mom has a few that she calls me, and a small group of 3 (including my husband) sometimes calls me Kitty, but I've never had a nickname used by friends at large. I guess my name isn't too conducive for deriving nicknames from, so I've just never received one. My lack-of-a-nickname-ness led me to read with interest the following article I found on how to make a nickname stick.

Steps

1. Choose a great nickname. This can be the trickiest part. Consider what talent or feature you want to emphasize.
2. Meet a new person and introduce yourself to them with your nickname. You'll have at least one person calling you by your new name, and they will introduce you using your nickname to anyone new.
3. Refer to yourself in the 3rd person. Repetition really will help drive the new nickname into your friends' skulls. "Ace don't play that. Don't be getting all ghetto in Ace's face." --things like that. Your friends will love it!

Tips & Warnings

1. Don't choose a name that is already in wide use. How many Diddy's can there be? Z-Diddy, Me-Diddy, U-Diddy, We-All-Diddy etc.
2. Sometimes, you just can't force a nickname of your own choosing. Nicknames given by other people also tend to work better than ones you make up yourself.
3. Beware of nicknames bestowed on you by others; be sure you know its origins. Mean nicknames can be deceptively catchy.
4. Please, don't go overboard with your nickname. If you want to be known as Ace, for instance, don't go getting an Ace of Spades tattooed on your arm, or replace all your car accessories with Aces of Spades kitsch. Your nickname will still be Ace, but people will use it to tease you.
5. Having a nickname does not make you cool - you have to do that yourself.

(From www.wikihow.com)

Well, having read that, I don't think I'll be nicknaming myself anytime soon.

So Texas

During our stay here in Maun, we are being hosted for dinner each night by different staff members at LBOM. It has been a real blessing and a fun opportunity to get to know some of the staff that we hadn't known very well before. Every night thus far has been a lot of fun, each with its own unique "adventure" of sorts. There was the child-with-a-finger-stuck-in-Tupperware night (which ended with a combination of pruning shears, blood, and band-aids). There was also the night dinner was delayed till nine o'clock because all the pizza places were randomly closed and we had to revert to Nando's.

Tonight was a real blast. We were hosted by a Norwegian family; while they aren't particularly new to LBOM, we have never had a chance to get to know them before tonight. We laughed so much! Having never known Norwegians before, I didn't really have an expectation in my mind but I guess I figured they'd be similar to a Finnish woman I know (since Finland and Norway are somewhat neighboring Scandinavian nations). The Finnish woman is very prim and proper; I guess I figured the Norwegians would similarly be very reserved and refined. By saying that they were not reserved and refined, in no way do I mean that negatively. I so enjoyed their laid back, vibrant personalities. Their funny facial expressions, dry humor, and hilarious stories made the night one I'll never forget.

We discovered a phrase that is used in Norway that had us cracking up with laughter. Norwegians have an expression they use when something is wild, crazy, and just out of control. They say it is "so Texas". When the kids are running wild, you can say, "Stop being so Texas!" When you are telling a friend about things being out of control at work, you can say, "It was like Texas in there today". When there is a bizarre bank robbery in your small town, you can describe it by saying, "It was so Texas".

We thought this was so funny. It is always amusing to hear what people of different nationalities think of America -- and to discover that Norwegians have a phrase about Texas that is synonymous with wild and crazy was very humorous to us.

Tonight was so Texas!

Baby Steps

Niel has always dreamed of having a yacht. He already has a name picked out -- Outreach. Odd name for a boat, you say? Well, it makes it possible to use the boat more often when it has the name Outreach -- because when someone calls or visits the office looking for Niel, we can truthfully say, "Sorry, he's out on Outreach; can he call you when he gets back?" or "Niel is out on Outreach for another few weeks; call again next month." Perfect. Well, we go from glory to glory and in the same way, we often take baby steps towards our dreams. Someone in our town just gave us a boat. It's nowhere near a yacht or Niel's ultimate dream boat, but we now have a boat. It's red, made for fishing, and has two motors; that is where my boat-knowledge ends. We are excited to have it and plan to make good use of it.

On Saturday we took all the staff out with the boat to Sterkfontein Dam (third largest dam in all of South Africa -- basically an enormous lake). We went dam-exploring in the boat, tubing (great fun!), and... sun-burning. Yep -- most of us got more sun than we'd planned on or really desired. No, I'm not blushing...

We still need a name for our boat. Niel says we shouldn't name it since it's not THE boat yet (kind of like not naming the pig you're going to make bacon out of next year?!); but I think it needs a name. Naming it is not conceding that you've reached the pinnacle of boat-ownership, it just means you've given the baby-step-glory-to-glory-in-between boat a name. Now, all we need is a good name... (Feel free to offer suggestions!)

We are really blessed to even have the boat. It is wonderful to be able to enjoy the remaining weeks (hopefully months!) of summer with our staff family and friends on the boat. We are looking forward to many more boating expeditions -- and will surely pack stronger sunblock next time!