NASCAR

Many people think that I’m an unlikely Nascar fan…people who don’t know my background. “How can you like Nascar? Didn’t you major in environmental science? Don’t you realize all the tires and fuel that are wasted? How can you find a bunch of cars driving in a circle a few hundred times entertaining? “ Well, my answer is this: I grew up with it. Sunday afternoons in my house were made for napping. And if the race was on a major network, they were made for napping with the race on in the background. I never took naps, so I eventually got hooked on racing. And when I was nearly finished with high school, we got a satellite primarily so that Dad could see the race every weekend, rather than just when it aired on network TV. Also, we have a “Miniature Nascar” track in our back field. We might live in the sticks, but there is weekend entertainment in our own backyard. Every Saturday night, a group of 100 or so come out to race go-carts for points. This is a serious competition, and many a lip have been busted over it.

So this racing gene is bred into me. I understand some of the strategy of it and can relate to the culture. So this past weekend, I was graciously offered pit passes to see the series finale for the Nationwide Series in Homestead, FL. And when I say “pit passes”, I mean we were right there in the pits. The car pulls in for fuel and tire changes, and we were right across the wall with the pit crew, but out of their way. Phoebe, a friend from ECHO, came with me. It was her first Nascar experience; she had never seen a race on TV or anything. Well, she got the most intimate introduction to it outside of driving one of the cars herself! At the conclusion of the race, we were directly in front of Victory Lane to watch my favorite driver, Carl Edwards, pull in to receive his trophy. It was all a dream to me, as you can see from the pictures!

Choices

Long overdue, I know...just haven't searched for inspiration to post. But as the election draws to a close (don't worry, I'm not going to get political), I was pondering this whole concept of choices. We are given so many options, from clothing to transportation to entertainment to education and career. We're so overwhelmed with options that we get annoyed when we have too many. Some of us are just really indecisive people.
About 2 months ago, a girl from Haiti named Rose spent 6 weeks studying at ECHO. She was one of the privileged few who was able to complete high school and further her education at a university there. And beyond that, she was awarded a scholarship to be able to fly to the US to spend time as a student at ECHO. She was hesitant upon arrival to use her broken English, though I could tell that she understood nearly everything spoken to her. I tried to assuage her intimidation by attempting to speak to her in French. You could see the tension ease in her face when she could express herself in a more familiar tongue...just wish I could have understood everything she was saying to me!
About halfway through her stay, I accompanied her to the grocery store. She had already been once before with someone else, and someone in Haiti apparently made sure she was financially prepared to pay for food and other incidentals. I stayed with her in the store in case she had any questions. Now picture it: you're from the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. You may have seen movies of American affluence, but standing in the midst of it is another story. We walked up and down the aisles and I just subtly watched her facial expressions. Her eyes went up and down the shelves, but she had no idea what she was looking at. Even the simple task of reading a pricetag is pretty complicated when you're not accustomed to it. Is the price marked for what's below or above? This tag says "buy one, get one free" - does that mean any of them or just this one kind? She shopped at an outdoor market most of her life, where there are no price tags, or package labels, or packaging. I could tell that she was yearning for something familiar. So we found beans, and then we found rice. And then I discovered something else about my new friend - she had a sweet tooth. She stopped at the candy aisle and browsed for a while. I thought that would be an ok area to leave to her peruse the options. I went and flipped through a magazine. Came back a while later, and she was right where I left her.
So after about 45 minutes of grocery shopping, I was fairly confient that she had enough to keep her through at least the next week. I could tell that she was in sensory overload and ready to be done.
At the end of her time, we took her to the bus station to catch a Greyhound from Fort Myers to Miami. That's pretty intimidating...personally, I wouldn't know where to go or what to do in a bus station. My roommates and I took her to the station, helped her get her luggage tagged, and then walked her to her bus. We were a little late, so the gruff busdriver gave her a hard time and said that they throw the latecomers out for the alligators to eat. Poor Rose looked back at us with such distress and fear. Then the busdriver softened and asked where she was from. When she told him she was from Haiti, he said that he would take good care of her and see to it that she made her connection in Fort Lauderdale. She then relaxed, gave us each a kiss and boarded the bus.
If only I could be a fly on the wall to hear the stories she told to her friends and family about her adventure in the States!
Just something to ponder the next time you can't decide between crunchy or smooth peanut butter.

Andrea, I fulfilled my promise! :)