Barton Springs! Brrr... Refreshing

 This post is for Rina, my favorite and very missed voice teacher!

As promised, I made it to Barton Springs for a swim! This place was listed as one of the things you can do for affordably, which was indeed true at only $3 per person. The neat thing about this pool is that it is spring fed and the temperature is always at about 68 degrees.  This sounded perfect to me considering how Austin's average temperature had been over 100 since I arrived!

I ended up going for Labor Day and funnily enough, that was actually one of the colder days! No joke. There was a cool breeze and it must've been around the high 80s that day for a change. This temperature made me even more excited for a fun day and even prepared for the event by making my first pasta salad. It was supposed to be a neat picnic day.

Unfortunately, food is not allowed! Boo. It probably has something to do with the fact that there are endangered salamanders who live in the pool. That may seem kinda gross, but this was a natural pool, so what can you expect? There were also tons of greenery growing in it, so you get more of a "lake swimming" feel than pool. I think that was one of the coolest traits of the pool.

Even though I ended up having to sneak pieces of my food in my mouth when no one was looking, it was a super fun time. The sun was nicely shining down and once you jumped in the water, you can enjoy just how brisk (read: COOOOOLD!) it was. Very refreshing.

The best part about the whole thing was the people watching you get to do. I almost forgot that in Austin, it is perfectly legal to be topless. That's right. Topless. I definitely remembered this rule though after seeing some women take advantage. Who likes tan lines right? Haha!

In case you were wondering, no, I did not do as the locals did on that aspect. But I did go sunblock-less and paid for it the next few days! Ouch!

Make new friends with a walk and fish fry!

Yesterday was the Stop Child Trafficking Now 5k Walk in Austin. I was up at the crack of dawn, per usual, except for the fact that it was a Saturday! Feels almost sacrilegious. But, this sacrifice was worth it since SCTnow is a great organization and I wanted to start getting active in the community in general.

I arrived just after the start of registration and sat on a ledge to wait for the rest of the walkers to arrive. After relaxing for a few minutes, my eyes caught the sign of where my church was supposed to congregate. But, instead of heading over, I stayed where I was. Honestly I didn't feel like heading over. There were no seats by the sign. And even more than that, I didn't know anyone over there.  

noob = newbie

Well, I barely know anyone in Austin. The last two months has been all about creating new relationships, which, as fun as it can be, is exhausting! (I have a lower social limit compared to the rest of my immediate family). However, when you move to a new town, it is essential. Back home where I had lived for about 20 years, I have a whole network of friends from various communities that I had been part of in those years. It is so easy to hang out and, most importantly, they know me and still think I'm cool (well, more or less)! Fortunately and unfortunately, this noob has to brave the social world to create the community that I am used to having.  (But of course, in the case of this walk, it didn't stop me from at least waiting for the one person with whom I was acquainted before heading over to the rest of the unknowns.)

Of course, as intimidating as it is to be in new social situations, they are usually rewarding. The 5k went by quickly as I learned more about my new friends from the small group that I joined. It was also a perfect opportunity to enjoy the beautiful neighborhoods that were part of the older section of central Austin. Then, afterwards, we spent a lovely brunch together, complete with a carafe of mimosa.

Here I am at the walk

To continue the trend from that morning, I also joined a gathering by one of my coworkers. She was having a fish fry and I had never heard of, let alone gone to one of those before. I know, it's obvious from the name that a fish fry is a party where the group fries fish. But, who was I to assume such things. 

For my first fish fry, I thought it was a lot of fun. Her boyfriend caught the fish himself from Lake Travis since they lived so close to it! They had set up a propane tank and grill on the parking lot to prevent burning the already dead and dry grass in the drought. And we just sat on the curb, drinking wine, chatting and generally enjoying one of the few cool nights in Texas since I've arrived. Again I was able to spend time with some very fun and interesting people. There was one even someone who had also moved from the town where one of my good friends lived in New York. That was a neat coincidence. 

Over all, it was a great weekend of doing new things and meeting new people. And this Sunday, my first priority should be to take a break from being social... maybe after church. :)

106.5 Keilah Radio

Ever since my experience with the Spanish language in Peru last year, I have been wanting to learn more and become fluent. Though, NYC has a large Latino population and I was accustomed its presence, Texas seems like NYC on steroids with regards to its prevalence.  To me, this is one of the advantages of being in a state that borders Mexico. This fact was exciting since I could practice my comprehension more easily with a larger variety of radio stations.

By happenstance, I was surfing the radio one night and found a station with a soothing, slow song in Spanish. I realized that I was able to understand everything more easily, especially compared to the standard reggaeton songs played by my previous favorite Spanish station. This was already exciting! Then, as I listened closer, I realized that the words were talking about God. I had just found the Spanish Christian station and yay! the words were intelligible!!!

So now I have this ritual. When I am driving on my way to and from work, I will play the station for two reasons. 1) The soothing music is helpful to calm my mind. 2) I get to practice some Spanish skills while stuck in rush hour traffic. And of course, I actually do enjoy the songs that they sing.

One that I heard (and was very pleased with myself for comprehending) is a song called Soy Tu Hijo by New Wine. I thought I'd share the words and youtube video with you. :) Then you can practice your Spanish as well!

Soy tu hijo y me amas
eres mi padre y quiero honrarte
tu eres todo el ser que adoro
y a tu lado me siento seguro
dame un corazon de un padre
y enseñame como honrarte
Abba Padre quiero ser como tu

soy tu hijo tu me amas
eres mi padre y quiero honrarte
cuando clamo tu me oyes
y es por eso que tanto te amo


dame el corazon de un padre
y enseñame como honrarte

p.s. For the longest time, I couldn't figure out what the name of the station was. It sounded like another Christian station called K-Love.  That didn't make sense since the name already existed and I thought my comprehension/hearing was going bad. I'm glad to figure out the real name and that I'm not completely awful in my comprehension. lol

The Triangle

Today was one of those days when I had every intention of relaxing at home after a long day and lack of sleep, yet somehow, it felt like the last thing I wanted to do. Heaven knows why because last night I ended up falling asleep late and then not really sleeping well at all. This is mostly due to my new routine of waking up at 6:30 in the morning to do my part time job.

So, I found myself pondering of a fun new thing I could try out tonight. I decided on checking out one of the open mics at Kick Butt Cafe. That place brings a twinge of nostalgia since my sister did a gig at each venue back in March and I was absolutely missing her! Now the quandary was whether it should be the comedy or music open mic. Well, as hilarious as watching amateur comedians can be, I did not feel like going all the way to the location by Airport Blvd, since it'd pretty far from me. So, music open mic it was, which meant going to the KB at The Triangle.

I got a kick out of this image I found when image searching triangle!

Now, The Triangle is this pretty nifty place in Austin where Lamar and Guadalupe meet to form the tip part of the Triangle and 45th street is the bottom. It is full of fun little restaurants and cafes where you can relax with good eats and beer. It also has a nice green lawn that adds to the charm of the place. I am very envious of those who own lofts there and are able to be a stone's throw away from these areas. The atmosphere of the area is also more yuppy-ish, which I kind of life simply because it reminds me a bit of certain areas at home, and I am definitely a little homesick.

the actual Triangle

Anyway, the open mic was.. okay. Honestly, those things are always a hit or miss depending on the artists that play. I was not there for most of it since dinner was first priority and KB did not have quite what my stomach was looking for. Then, when we arrived, the artist performing was way too.... out there. haha My friends were debating whether it could be construed as new age. I just thought it was funny, but not necessarily in a "I'd like to hear more" kind of way.

However, I have enjoyed my evening and thought I'd just share this little tidbit.

Kolache!!

Today, I discovered the amazingness of kolaches!

My part time job had a board meeting today. When they finished, my boss came up to inform me that there were kolaches in the break room, in case I got hungry. Up until then, I had never heard of that word before. So of course, with a very confused look on my face, I said, "kolaches?" She thought my confusion was due to a curiosity of why there were kolaches available to be eaten and began to explain the breakfast meeting. However, still confused after her explanation, I sheepishly asked, "Umm... but, what are kolaches?"

It was explained that they are apparently a tex mex type of pastry, which is why I had never heard of them before. And I'm pretty sure many of my friends back home have no idea. At first when she described them, I thought they were more of a danish. But when I said this out loud, she said, "Well, sort of like a danish," but not very convincingly.

So, being very curious and hungry, I went over and heated one of these mysterious pastries.

They were amazing! Of course, I didn't have breakfast. But I got one with ham, cheese and jalapeno and I  loved it! If you are into yummy bread and savory meat... or even if you're into yummy bread and sweet fillings, you'll love it too (since it comes in that form as well)!  Too bad I didn't take a picture, but here's one I found on google image search.

Okay. The end.