I haven’t written about our dogs for a while. GoodDobie and BadLab love that Spring is here, and regular walks have returned. We went for a long walk last week, and I wore them out. Too ambitious, too fast. BadLab will be nine in November, and GoodDobie is between 10 and 12 years old. GoodDobie is from a rescue group, so we don’t know his exact age.
GoodDobie went to the vet today, and goes back Tuesday. The poor guy started falling apart last week. A typical Doberman lifespan is 10 years old. Our dogs always get sick on Friday afternoons. I’m convinced they do it on purpose since it buys them a few days to see if they really need to see the doctor. GoodDobie has a hard lump under his eye. He let Husband look inside his mouth without flinching, and it’s not tender at all. He’s also been drinking tons of water, and wants to go out all the time. His body shape is changing, and he occasionally won’t life his leg or squat when he ‘goes.’
Part of it is arthritis, and we’ve started him on glucosumine and chondroiten. The vet said the drinking/peeing could be related to the arthritis. (I didn’t quite understand that, but really wasn’t paying attention after we discussed the lump.) The big thing is the sudden lump. He has antibiotics for the next week, and Tuesday he goes for blood tests, X-rays, and hopefully a pulled tooth under anesthesia. The vet is concerned the tooth isn’t abscessed since it doesn’t hurt, smell, seep, or anything.
Whatever happens, we know he is happy with us, and we’re thrilled we adopted him. He isn’t in pain, just a bit embarassed about peeing like a girl. It will be tough to leave him at the vet’s, we don’t want him to think we’re dumping him off like his previous owners, and BadLab will go nuts without his buddy even for a few hours. We can sit and wait in the parking lot.
I had the biopsy today…I think. I took a Vicodin, Motrin 800, and a Valium. I’ve never taken so many different pills at once. I was a bad girl today. I felt I should’ve added a Quaalude into the mix. Husband told me they don’t make Quaaludes any longer.
Anyway Husband held my hand through it. The doctor was quick, and explained what she was doing. I was mentally going ‘lalalalalalalala.’ It hurt like hell, but was over in 2 minutes start to finish. I think.
We came home, and I slept hard for about 3 hours. Totally wasted my buzz.
Edit: Biopsy was fine. Good, because I don’t ever want to do that again.
…Some women scream.
I was speechless. Sorry if it’s TMI, but I have to get it out. I had a small girly problem. I assumed it warranted a blood test to check hormone levels, or maybe an ultrasound. Nope, I need an endometrial biopsy. The doctor said she could do it today, but didn’t have any pain medication on hand. She warned me since I never gave birth, she may not be able to ‘get in’ to do the test. I wussed out, and made an appointment for next week. She suggested 800mg of Motrin, and a Vicodin an hour beforehand. I Googled as soon as I was home, and ohmygawd I’m screwed. I feel better now that I’ve shared with the entire world. 
Comment from a reader: I’m a bit curious about your program. Is the country specialist local or national? What qualifies the person to be a specialist to a particular country rather than exchange students in general?
Good question, and it deserves a complete response. “Country Specialist” is a descriptive term I made up. I think each program calls them something specific to the program. I try to stay anonymous. I’ll explain what ‘country specialist’ does and why.
A country specialist is the person who sets up the exchange with a particular country. When we have a student who wants to go to Germany an exchange must be set up. One person here contacts someone in Germany and they agree to swap students. The person here should talk to the student to see where in Germany the student should go, which may not be where the student wants. (Most students know nothing about a country other than “it’s cool”, or “my friend liked it.”) Most countries are divided into several areas. When the exchange is set up, we hope that it will be an ongoing exchange, and our exchange partner will take great care of our student. We also expect hope their student is trained and screened.
A country specialist has to be willing to devote extra time needed to care for their students in other countries. Some volunteers prefer to deal with paperwork, activities, or meetings. People specialize in countries for a variety of reasons. John likes Italy because his wife is Italian. Sara likes India because she was an exchange student there. Kevin does Costa Rico because he loves the country and returns as often as possible. Susan likes Austria because her daughters went to Austria on exchange. Seth was ‘stuck’ with France because the French specialist resigned, and no one else speaks French or wants the responsibility.
I like South America. I’ll happily spend hours working on exchanges with Spanish-speaking Americans. It’s not a duty, it’s fun. Husband and I plan to retire to South America. I have no interest in some countries and cultures, and would resent the time spent. For example, I’ve been to Germany several times, and it’s not for me. To me, it seems like everything is black or white, and I see everything in shades of grey. I’m not interested in learning German or travelling there every few years to keep up my contacts. I believe I’m knowledgeable about South America, and can help the students. I think it takes a good three years as a general volunteer to learn the program before someone can take on more responsibility as a country specialist.
I complained earlier this week about my exchange program. Many of our concerns were answered with “Oh,” “uh-huh,” and “I’ll look into it.” Yikes. Um, I thought you wrote the report. I’m not certain now.
We do have a new outbound student coordinator. Me. Anyone surprised? I think it killed a bit of our Chairman’s soul to appoint me to the position. I wasn’t going to ask for it. Again.
I set up outgoing student interviews the next day. I’m gathering interviewers, and trying to squish three months of preparation into four weeks. It’s a bit of a challenge because the Chairman won’t help me by giving me contact information on our current students abroad, or our volunteer counselors. He’ll quietly screw me as much as possible. This program has always put the students first, so I don’t understand why someone with different goals is part of student exchange. I like a challenge. I know I can pull it off despite the faux obstacles.
Remember last Winter when I won the Curves basket at a fundraiser? The one that’s been gathering dust? Chef took the socks, visor, and water bottle back to Chile for his mom. They have Curves in Chile.
I volunteered at a fundraiser last Saturday, and Curves had a booth. Many of the women volunteering with me are Curves members, and were talking about it. I told them how I won a month free, and they couldn’t believe I wasn’t using it. One of them dragged walked me over to the booth. The woman working the booth offered me a free week to sign up, then a t-shirt, visor, water bottle, and finally a free month. I caved, and made an appointment for today. (She was such an enthusiastic cutie.) I received a large emery board in Breast Cancer Pink which I gave to the woman who dragged my ass over. (She really wanted one.)
I went today, was measured, weighed, and signed up. I went through the circuit, and promised to return. The snakes part? Before I went, I ate a breakfast of chocolate chip cooks and Lime Tostitos. A lot of them. When I left the building, I was shaking in the car, and raced home. I took the dogs, and went straight into bed to hide-still with my keys in my hand. Obviously, I have issues. Let’s see if it was a one time thing. I really want to go back.
I didn’t go anywhere, I just haven’t had anything to say. That’s never stopped me in the past, so I’ll discipline myself to write 5 posts a week. I spent too much time building up my blog to let it slide. Bad, lazy Wry. Before I left to chaperone in June, I averaged over 160 daily views. I’ve lost a lot in this last month, and it ends tonight. If you’re reading this, THANK YOU for still peeking in on me.
I have seven students coming from Bolivia and Chile that I’ll be responsible for this year. They should be here in two weeks, but won’t. All of their paperwork is late. Only one 2019 has been mailed. (Actually FedEx’d, over $50.00) The kids need their 2019′s entered into the system to even set an appointment at the US Consulate in La Paz or Santiago. They must appear in person in the capital city for an interview. The interview is typically a formality for well-qualified students, but longtime readers will remember the nightmare I had last year with the ‘soft refusal.’ Suffice to say, if a student is denied a Visa, start contacting both of your Senators, and as many House Reps as possible. (Check out posts marked ‘Eli’ or ‘Visa denial.’) Besides my students, we have an additional 20 students from around the world this year, including five Brasilians. That means twelve Latinos. It’ll be a fun year. The last of this year’s students left today.
My eggs, hatchlings, and eventually adults are sometimes visible, and sometimes obscured by grey ‘fog.’ If one is hidden, it’s sick. Hiding it keeps it from getting viewed, and apparently it helps. They hatch, grow, and mature based on the number of page views, first time viewers, and direct clicks. Too many or too few, and they can die. They also can breed.
Eggs are released on the hour, and then a few more each five minutes. There are cheat sheets widely available if you don’t want to be surprised when you choose one. I like the weird ones, so some of my eggs were tagged ”This egg looks like it doesn’t belong.” The tiny one is a chicken, and the larger ones are dinosaurs. They are rare, since it’s a dragon game.
The green one that looks like an earwig? I ‘adopted’ it as an abandoned egg with less than a day to go before it ‘died’ unhatched because I felt sorry it would die alone. It hatched within 2 hours because it received a lot of love views from other dragon fans. (I can’t wait until Husband reads this post. He doesn’t know anything about my new obsession.)
“Verbal Shrug” “Indifference” “I don’t care.” “Whatever”
That’s what I feel about this past year. Last year’s students are mostly gone, and the new ones won’t arrive for another month or so. Meh. Last year’s inbound students were perfectly nice FESs, bland and boring to me. I don’t think I know any of them well. Not even the one who stayed with us part-time, or the other nearby ones. Not the ones on the trip I chaperoned, either. I’m quite certain if I knew some of them better, I’d find them to be vibrant, interesting people. I don’t even feel regret or sadness, I simply don’t care. I wish them well, but I probably won’t keep in touch with any of them. Each class is different. This was a quiet year. It was also the smallest group we’ve ever had, they were about half the size as we usually host.
I can’t think of anything to write this week. I’ve just been thinking ‘meh’ to each potential topic.
Home update:
- I’ve been busy around the house, faux-painting a ceiling, and helping Husband sand and finish hardwood floors.
- Husband was identity-thefted again, a card that hasn’t ever been used online. This is the 4th time in a year, but the first time it was a credit card instead of a debit card. The company froze the account, but didn’t notify Husband. He found out the embarrassing way when he tried to use it. The company apologized, and gave him $25.00 for not calling.
- Our oldest Chilean son, Chef, will be here next month. We’re excited to see him. It’s been probably 4 years since he’s been here. I was able to spend time with him in November. He was an exchange student 10 years ago.
- Zoloft and Effexor seem to be a great mix. I don’t have to see my therapist for 8 weeks! Pretty cool, huh? I like her, but sometimes I need to go biweekly. I always do better in Summer.
