Sam and Open Door with Sarah and Spanish with Erica

05/16/23: So I’m starting this very very early in the day. I just now met with Dr. Bergquist, from Mayo, and I’m at Papa’s. Screw it I’ll just go from the notes. So I literally wrote down first thing this morning “best conversation Ever with Sam, meds at 6am with avocado toast.” Sam was a new person from Tinder. I told Sam pretty much everything and we also spoke Spanish to each other. I told him how I learned it, and he knows that I like Latinos and dated an Ecuadorian. For him, his parents are from Veracruz, Mexico, but he’s never been even though he lived in California as a kid. I told him also how there’s a restaurant with his last name by my house, and we talked about maybe going there some time. I swear to God I literally feel like I told him so much more than I tell most guys, even about the cancer and my hair being white because of it, which I said had happened before the accident, and I also told him how I’m on disability and wanna get a job because of the social benefits. Then I even told Papa that we’d really connected and might go to Dominguez Family Restaurant some time in the future. He also said that he works for Pepsi, and I said that when I worked for Valleyfair, where I learned Spanish, we were sponsored by Coke. Then after that I walked over to Minnehaha United Methodist Church to volunteer as an interpreter, which I also told Sam about doing. I thought my “yo hablo español” pin was even more useful at Minnehaha than it is at Open Door, where I got it. I did an absolute ton of Spanish upstairs checking clients in and translating for some of the other retired volunteers, and then I went downstairs where the clients pick up their food and did a bit down there too. That’s where I took my photo. I took a photo with Sarah, an older volunteer, and I also told her the reason for the project. I told her that the one thing I really wanted was to find a job where I could make new friends. Then I told Beth, Cecelia, and Sarah all about my cancer as well, and I also told them that I tried to work at Fogo again after the accident but my memory was too bad due to the TBI to be a server, and I told them how if I ever wanted to get off disability I’d have to find a job that paid really good health insurance because of the cancer. Cecelia, one of the older women handing out meat, said that if I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. I did tell them though that I make a lot from disability just because I made so much before the crash. A bit after that I also commented on how good some coconut squash daal looked, and Sarah just told me to take it. I did. Funny enough then it was slowing down upstairs, though honestly today was pretty slow in general, and they only gave out like 73 numbers or something, whereas usually they give out well over 100. I also told Barb that I didn’t realize that she typed all of the people’s names and information into the computer when they registered, because she was doing that upstairs too. I also had my noon medication at exactly 12pm. Then I had my lunch, which was two pieces of chicken alfredo pizza that the guy Steve made for the volunteers. I also had it with the pop that I’d been craving yesterday. There was both Pepsi and Coke in the fridge, and I chose the Pepsi just because I’d had that amazing conversation with Sam this morning, and he works for Pepsi. After the pizza I noted I last ate at 12:13pm, then I walked home around 12:30pm. Then I had another good meeting with doctor Bergquist who is a brain rehab therapist of some kind. We talked about how the brain injury taught be who my real friends are, and that also the reason I wanna work somewhere soon is for the social connections I might make. I also showed him the yearbook, which was very exciting. I literally walked him through parts 1 and 2 completely. At the very end I said that I love talking to Whitney because I chose her for myself before the accident. Then after I finished my meeting, I drove over to Papa’s house and worked on the yearbook a bit and messaged some people in Spanish. I also talked to Papa a bit about mock trial, and he said that he has a recording of my nationals cross somewhere, and told me to remind him to share it with me at some point. Don’t forget that, Anya. Oh also with Papa I read through my nationals cross of Luz Bennett with him, and did pieces of my closing. Then it was late enough that the meds would work, and I had them with some quesadillas we made. We mesured the rice, chicken, tortillas, refried beans, and I had one folded in half so I could add a little sour cream. After I ate, and did the meds at 4:30pm, I drove over to Spanish class at 6pm. Basically I asked what organization does the classes, and the guy in charge gave me his card and said it was “Minneapolis community ed.” Then the teacher Atala told me that the homework I’d done was actually for the second class not the first one. Then we had the first class, and I learned that not only does Atala not like snakes, she also doesn’t like looking at sunburns. So my left arm is made to torture her because it has a snake and also quite a bit of sunburn right now. She also recommended some Aloe Vera for the burn even now that it’s been a while. Then the class ended and the next one started. Glad I joined the two not just the one. Atala also noticed my earrings and didn’t have a problem with them, but she did tell me that I should use the word “pechos” to describe them instead of “tetas,” which is apparently more vulgar. Also at the very end when I was walking out I told one classmate, Erica, about BeReal and explained it to her. I wasn’t able to get her to download it because she has a “dumb” phone that can’t do apps. So I also didn’t ask her for her Instagram or anything because I’m sure she doesn’t have it. Had a good conversation with her though, and she told me that for learning Spanish she used LingQ, and I told her that I learned using HelloTalk, which she hadn’t heard of. Then I drove home and ate some of the leftover grape leaves I had frozen, which I also ate because they were just frozen from when Kaky was here, and we don’t know the fat in them so I can’t eat them with meds. Damn it have space for one more line and it’s the next day, the only bad thing that happened yesterday was I forgot my “yo hablo español” pin at Minnehaha. Whatever, I can get another one at Open Door anyways, and I might get it back too.