Monday, September 04, 2006

Academia, Nature, Christian fellowship, and Chickens and Corn....

We had a fantastic weekend. We've had several, but this one kind of marked what our life will be like here (I think).

Friday night we were invited to dinner at one of Shane's colleagues' house. I did not know what to expect. (I had to ask Shane to ask the host what would be appropriate attire for the occasion.) There was another couple and a guy all of which either currently work at or have retired from Vtech. The guy was, like Shane, a young new faculty member (in a different department). The host, his wife and the other couple have been at Vtech for a while and had many stories to share. It was funny because, they started out discussing their fields of academia. Like what they taught, where they had studied, and so forth. They were interested in the newcomers to Blacksburg (the other guy, Shane and me) It was interesting conversation and then.... The inevitable time came for them to ask me about what I had studied. Not being a professor, not having studied at a top university (I studied at Cal State LA- which some people confuse with UCLA. CSULA vs. UCLA, I don't know how, people just do!), I had to tell them "I have a bachelor's in sociology, but it was long time ago, so please don't ask me about it." I wasn't short or haughty about it. It was more of an embarrassed kinda joking response. I thought it was funny. They were kind enough to understand and asked about other stuff. After dinner the conversation was easier, not so scholarly. Not to say that scholarly is bad, I find it very interesting, I just get nervous and self-conscious about contributing to the conversation. Overall, it was a very good time.

Saturday, finally, after the rains and much cooler temperature than the previous weeks, we went on a hike. We went to check out "the cascades" people have been telling us about. The hike was two miles in. It followed a stream that came from the cascades. It was a very interesting hike- rocky, shady, and scenic. We didn't even need our hats, because there were so many trees covering over us. It was really nice. Not too steep but rigorous enough to get the heart pumping. Chispita seemed to enjoy it, too. The cascades were very pretty, we'll post pictures soon.

Sunday, we went to church. Afterwards, we went out to lunch with another couple from the church. Very good conversation, and surprisingly, good food, too. :p (Yeah, upon request, the waiter brought me some "chiles toreados". It made my food that much more enjoyable.) The couple is older and they have college age kids. They were very nice and trying to get to know us better. Like everyone we've met, so far, they told us about different places to go and see in and around our town. It was funny that they said they live out in a "one-stop-light" town, near Christiansburg. One-stop-light... Imagine that.

Later on Sunday evening, we went to yet another event we were invited to. Another one of Shane's colleague's invited us to an annual "Corn Festival" at his house. He has a cornfield- small, compared to commmercial ones, but large for a private home one! So every year he invites people over to help cut it down, then they grill some and people eat the corn. People bring other foods, too. But the main event is cutting it down, tearing off the husks and such. We arrived late, so we missed the "fun" part. We ate and were introduced to other Vtech faculty, staff, and interantional students. Then we kinda toured the property. He showed us his large garden where he and his wife grow tomatoes, squash, peppers, green beans, okra, and much more. He let us pick some green beans and whatever we wanted. My favorite part of the evening was checking out the chicken coop! He gave me the three eggs that we found. One was a pullet egg- an egg from a young chicken. They are smaller than most eggs because they are the eggs from when they first start laying eggs. They lay pullet eggs, for about a month and a half. I thought that was cute. (I want chickens. The idea of fresh eggs is so cool. When we buy our home I want to have space for a small veggie garden, fruit trees, and chickens!)

So, that was our exciting weekend. We ended it by coming home and talking with family and friends on the phone and on the ichat! That was supercool and hitechlike! :P

2 Comments:

Blogger kika said...

Hi Matt.
So far we are really liking it. A friend told me that looking for a church would be a good experience. As it would at least show us what other churches are doing and how they do it. It's a good idea but we haven't really had to look around since we found this one. I guess it is because we met people right away. It is hard to just go somewhere else when the people we've met are pretty good people, ya know? One of which has already become a friend. Above all though, I really like the pastor's style. He gives notes to his sermons that you can follow and look up later. I really enjoy the worship music, too. Tomorrow we are going to go check out a home group. We'll see how that goes.
As for the Mexican food... It isn't that good. But it isn't horrible either. The restaurant we went to was Mexican and so was the staff. It was nice to be able to order in Spanish and have the familiarity. I enjoy speaking it and I know they appreciate it.

10:35 PM, September 05, 2006  
Blogger Jenny said...

It sounds like there are very friendly people over there. I'm really glad that the people don't have that cold New Jersey temperment.

You know, Jessica - I say be proud that you went to CSULA and be proud of your degree. I don't think it's anything to be looked down upon and if those people do, then they're not good people. You are a good person and that experience in your life has helped shape you into who you are. :)

PS: I think you should have tried to do crop circles in that guy's field!

10:09 PM, September 06, 2006  

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