Cafe Victoria

I love working on a college campus. I love that I get to experience the first day of school twice a year. Remember what it was like on the first day of school? You got to wear a new out fit or got the chance to see your friends again. What about meeting a new teacher or buying text books?

This week was the first week of Spring Semester classes. Part of my job is to coordinate the information tables. At the tables, campus volunteers give out campus maps, coffee and doughnuts. It is such a joy to help a student find their way to class. It’s also a great way to make a student feel welcome and connected to the campus. To take a college class is truly a choice. For some, it might feel like there is nothing else to do, or parents expect it or you have to do it for your job. But in the end, you make the choice to get out of bed and come to class.

This week, I also got the chance to present my mental health workshop assignment for my Counseling Issues and Practice course. I did not have to present my workshop but there was something inside me that encouraged me to present at Flex Day. I did and it felt so great to share all the knowledge I have been learning in this graduate program with staff and faculty at the college. For the first time, I really felt like an expert in the field. Yahoo! All this work is paying off!

Everyone knows that old saying…where are you mostly likely to catch a cold? On an airplane! I pretty much can guess that I caught my latest head cold from a girl in her early 20’s one row away from me on the plane coming home from Germany. She looked miserable with a running nose. Today makes it official; I have caught a head cold about every 2 months since last summer. The benefits of being a grad school student working full time. In the end, what can you do? I have been taking Vitamin C tablets every day, going to the gym at least three times a week, drinking water all day and since we got back from Germany, sleeping. No dice. I still got sick. At least it came before the new semester started.

As soon as I feel more like my normal self, I will share the great news that happened over the holidays. Until then, non-stop CNN…I am telling you..It can suck you in. I hate to say it, but after the Saturday Night Live skit of Nancy Grace, I now like watching her for real.

Hello! Wie geht es ihnen? How goes it? It is Monday night in Essen, Germany. Happy New Year! Life is good. Matthias and I are having a great time.
Here a few pictures from our trip.

First day in Germany. It is a tradition now to go to Nordsee first. It is a fast food fish place that Matthias loves. He he… lets just say it is nothing like fish and chips in Bodega Bay but is worth the cultural experience.

Here are a few shots of Matthias’ hometown of Burgaltendorf, Essen, Germany I took while taking a walk today.

Here is Matthias’ mom Alice and I enjoying tea and coffee last Friday afternoon at Adelas Cafe in the city of Hattingen. The town is about 15 minutes away from Matthias’ parents’ place. So far it has been my favorite place.
The town has a great Old Germany feeling to it.

Here is a picture of me with “Kniffel” or as we say in America “Yahtze”. This past weekend Matthias’ family and I drove 2 hours to see his brother Guido and his girlfriend Sarah who live in a small town in north Germany.
The 6 of us played 5 rounds of Kniffel. It was a lot of fun. You can also see Matthias’ reaction when he got a Kniffel too.

Here is us on New Year’s Eve watching the amazing fireworks being shot off from everywhere. For the evening we went to his friend’s Andreas and Tanja’s apartment to ring in the new year. They live on the 3rd floor in an apartment complex.
Most places in Essen are three stories tall. From their deck we were able to catch the most amazing fireworks show I have ever seen. It made the many days of jetlag worth it. Cheers to Germany!

Auf Wiedersehen! By for now.

Winter Solstice “The turn of the wheel”. Another year comes to a close. I love how I get to finish off the year being with family and Matthias. Tonight, we are celebrating Missy turning 26 in Nevada City and then meeting up with Kristina and Janel for dessert. I’m looking forward to catching up and sharing the sweet highs of 2006.
To the world, I wish you peace, joy, and a moment of silence. Just a few minutes, somewhere over the next few days to reflect on how amazing life is. Gracias!

Can you imagine working for a place that gives everyone at the same time 2 weeks off? My college does. I realized this morning that giving your staff along with faculty forced 2 weeks off means that you are investing in the mental health of your people. Lately the news have been reporting on end of the year bonuses companies give to their employees to motivate them to work extra hard all year. At NVC, instead of a cash bonus they give you 2 weeks off. It’s funny, because through out the year you think boy, I could sure use the extra cash, but those 2 weeks arrive and you wake up thinking, yahoo, now this is what I needed.

For all those about to take a week of vacation or 2—Enjoy! You’ve earned it and deserve it. Hey and if you already took your week vacation, cheers for taking care of yourself.

Today, I am going to take my homework and laptop to the local Starbucks, meet up with my co-worker Marcel who is also working on her graduate degree, and try that Gingerbread Latte I watched so many people buy yesterday..hmm..It must be the ginger.

Tonight Matthias and I were able to get into the sold out performance of “Songs from RENT” performed by the Experiential Theatre Company (ETC) of the Sonoma Community Center. ETC is the bold youth theatre company where teens and young adults from around Sonoma County come to learn and perform musical theatre. I give a standing ovation to the director and producers of ETC for providing these young actors with RENT to perform. The teens not only gave a 4 star performance, but you could feel they now have this deeper understanding for people who live and have died from HIV/AIDS. What better way to teach them about a disease that at one point in time did not even have a name. I wonder if for today’s youth AIDS just sounds like another STD or just another reason for a Triathlon? Do they really know the story?

As I watched these teens perform songs such as “Seasons of Love, Life Support, and No Day But Today (Another Day)” it hit me that a play with the story about life and living with HIV/AIDS in the late 80’s, that was written in the 90’s, was meant to be told today. In a way, Jonathan Larson the playwright of RENT wrote the story of HIV/AIDS that is now teaching the young people of today and tomorrow. How will I tell the story of HIV/AIDS to my future students, maybe even children? I hope I will take them to see RENT.

Thought for the day by one of my favoriate artist Richard Stine
“Q. How long do we have? A. As long as it takes.
Q. How much do we get? A. As much as we need.”

Today is my 5 year anniversary as the Coordinator of Student Life at Napa Valley College. Yahoo! Life has been pretty amazing. I have gone from starting with 6 students to now having 20 very active student government officers. I love my office. My highs are the joy I get when students stop by to grab some candy and check in. I want to say thank you Dr. Ed Shenk for hiring me. You always gave me the support and freedom to build up my program and an office to take to new heights. Cheers!

For all those generation X’iers out there ages 26 to 40. Take time out to rent Clerks II. You will understand once you watch the movie. Remember the first one with Ben Aflick, Jason Lee, and the beginning of Jay and Silent Bob? Kevin Smith reminds us that each day is the beginning of the rest of our lives. I take that as I am old enough.

You know how growing up you watched older friends fall in love, live by themselves, change jobs, have children. And in the back of you’re mind you thought..am I old enough to do that? I turn 30 in January which is about 8 weeks away. Lately, I’ve been feeling this strong generation difference between myself and my students. Most of my students are from Generation Y who bought IPODs first, made MySpace famous, and only drink Starbucks. They are between 18 to 22 years old.

When I was 18, I was just learning how to use email in the dorms, still making mix tapes, only going to non-chain coffee shops, and for fun I would drive to San Francisco in the middle of the night after studying of course at the Lyons in Rohnert Park. Remember Marta? So much fun!

After watching Clerks II tonight, I feel like you never want your life to be just good enough or like anyone else’s. Generation X, I think we will be the generation that will surprise everyone in the end.