Houses, Burma, and DADA

It seems that my blog has been in perpetual catch-up mode this whole year. Not only is there much to tell over the last few weeks, but I haven’t even finished posting all the pictures from my trip home to Vicksburg this summer. But here’s some of the big highlights as of late:

As most folks who read this blog are aware, Katie and I have been in the process of buying a house. Now first off, we were not looking to buy a house. We were in no way in the “market to buy.” But this one just plopped in our lap via a friend of ours (and now a co-worker of mine) who had recently bought a house on the same street. We looked, we liked, we studied, we made an offer, it was accepted- all in less than two weeks. And while I was in my first two weeks of grad school. Yikes. Poor Katie had to assume the bulk of the work on this deal, as I was just not able to make myself available to realtors and mortgage officers and the like.

So the house is nice: 940 sq. ft, screened in porch, big back yard in the Olympia neighborhood, which by all estimates is on the “up-and-up.” There are definite quirks to it (a small awkward kitchen, a claustrophobic little bathroom) and some spots that need fixing up, but over-all it’s OK…EXCEPT (and you knew there’d be one) that the roof needs to be replaced. We were told that it was 5 – 7 years old, but after two separate inspections, we’ve been told it is in bad shape and is much older than that.

So that’s where we are. Stalled while we try to hammer out a deal with the sellers to get some kind of assistance with the roof repair. I think we’re being remarkably fair, not asking for much at all. We’ll assume a large portion of the cost- we just want a little help to cover the costs. We’ll keep you posted. Here’s a link to Katie’s blog with a photo.

My internship with Lutheran Family Services is going well. Good coworkers and interesting work. Last week I had a Burmese woman throw up in the back seat of my car. (Luckily she was savvy enough to grab a plastic bag). And I taught 6 people (4 Burmese and two Vietnamese) how to ride the city buses. And I personally had never done it before so it was new to me AND none of the 6 spoke English. Nerve-wracking but fun.

My parents are alright and my Dad is doing well. My sister Erica is in an awesome new play called Soireé DADA: Blinde Essel Hopse that looks to be fabulous. It opened Friday night to a full house. That’s her third from the left.