Break Time

While I take a quick break from the de-wallpaperizing, here is a quick before and after of the master bedroom. Natalie deserves full credit for the stylistic decisions including the awesome green color. I know she wanted to wait until the room was 100% finished (pictures on wall, etc), but I figured that this would be a fun reminder that we have gotten some work done in the house the past week. That, and Natalie is currently finishing up the kitchen while I slack off on the computer.

Truly yours,

Jesus Agua a.k.a. Little Mexico

I...hate...wallpaper!

So, yesterday Natalie and I continued tackling home projects. The good news is that our bedroom looks great. The green walls, in conjunction with the white baseboards and the light wood of the bed frame looks great. The bad news is the kitchen.

The previous owners had decided to wallpaper the entire kitchen with a yellow plaid wallpaper (see pic). We took off the outer layer of the wallpaper no problem on Monday but yesterday we decided to tackle the bulk of the wallpaper removal, which constitutes in removing the papery layer of the wallpaper that is glued onto the wall. Needless to say, this kind of project can suck the life out of anyone. We spent the entire day spraying the walls with either a chemical product called Dif (which the bottle says contains a known carcinogen in the state of California-I guess being in TN we are cool) or a diluted vinegar mixture. After about 8 hours of plowing through the removal we had about half the kitchen done, with the catch that some of the walls still have a good amount of glue residue that needs to be removed.

So, the weekend for Natalie and I will hopefully yield a wallpaperless, glueless, and hopefully freshly painted kitchen. In the meantime, if you see anyone thinking about putting up wallpaper, please be kind enough to hit them on the head ever so gently with a scraper.

Depot Trips

While I am in a posting mood, here is an update on house projects and their up-to-date Home Depot/Lowe's trips to finish the project:

Replacing blinds throughout house: 3 (should have been 2 if I had measured the trouble blind)
New Locks: 2
Paint and such: 2 and counting

Wait, we have been here for almost a week and have done 3 projects? I better figure out what else I have been doing with my time.

Little Mexico

Well, this is one for the ages. I must say that the move has been going fairly smoothly, with the added benefit of having a full week off of work to unpack, organize, and paint. Today we finished painting the master bedroom (now dubbed the Green Monster by me) so we are starting to make some serious progress...or so I think. The neighbors have been incredibly friendly. Just about everyone has come over to say hello even when they recently lost some digits in a carpentry accident.

But the story of the move so far has to be last night. The past owners of the house came to visit with their 3 young kids. The kids were very excited (a little too hyper maybe) to be back in their old place and their parents were nice enough to bring cookies, some old manuals, and some house keys. During our conversation the topic came up about whether we had been out and about Nashville as of late. Natalie and I mentioned that not much but that we had been Sunday afternoon to grab lunch at a very cool Mexican restaurant (via Nashville city search). The catch being that it is in a not so nice part of town. This part of town is about 10 minutes from here, and is composed of ethnic restaurants, mostly Mexican restaurants, and although not Beverly Hills I feel like it is perfectly fine eating there or shopping there during the day. At night, maybe not so much.

Upon us bringing up this, the guy said that we should stay away from that part of town because it is just shady. If he had stopped there it would have been fine, but he proceeded to say that this part of town was a "Little Mexico." Yes, you read that right, the run down part of Nashville is called "Little Mexico."

Natalie and I did not say much, but his wife, fully aware that I am Mexican, stepped right away to clarify that it was because of the "gangs" not the Mexicans that we should avoid that part of town. Nevertheless, I thought it was an interesting way to refer to town but being courteous we said nothing and continued talking for a few more minutes.

10 minutes after they had left our house, the husband came back to the house because his wife had told him to come over here and apologize for the "Little Mexico" comment. Furthermore, he said that the gangs were not Mexicans but rather Salvadorians and that he was not a bigot. After Natalie rejected the offer to attend their church and giving us an old pair of hedge clippers he took off.

So, I can gather some things from this:

1. Although this guy is clearly a nice person, there are some serious stereotype/racial issues going on in his head that are not good.

2. Whenever you don't look/speak like a "typical" Mexican, people can run their mouths and really show their colors about certain racial issues.

3. Salvadorians are a lot badder than Mexicans in this part of town.

4. Even though I did not feel personally discriminated against, I can see why people in this country are so touchy about racial issues.

5. I will know something is really wrong when our neighbors start selling because the Little Mexicans moved next door.

Away from Carolina

Pretty amazing how fast 5 years in Chapel Hill went by. Graduate school is not an endeavor that tends to race past you, but I really feel like the last five years went by incredibly fast. I mean, in the last five years I:

• Got a driver's license (no small feat for a Mexican)
• Met Natalie, convinced her to go out with me, married her
• Bought a house
• Got a PhD
• Got a little more facial hair

OK, maybe I didn't do a whole ton of growing up but I feel like I grew up a ton the last 5 years, some of that sped up by my dad having a stroke.

Anyhow, what I am trying to say is that I loved Chapel Hill and NC. Not just the fantastic basketball and sports, but the academic culture at UNC, the friends, the people of NC, Carolina BBQ, the mountains and OBX, Franklin street, and living in that heavenly place where city and countryside meet.

For those still in Chapel Hill I can only advise to you live up every day and enjoy what you have.

I know I'm gone to Carolina in my mind.

Times O'Change

Summer is here, which means it is time to move to a new house. In 27 and a half years this is going to be the tin/aluminum/diamond move. Yep, this is my 10th move encompassing 6 cities and 4 different countries. By now I would say I have the moving routine down. The sadness of leaving the friends and places that you love; the excitement of starting a new life in a new town with new people and places; and of course the mundane and somewhat tedious task of packing your place, changing mailing addresses, and starting/stopping utilities.

The two big differences in this move as opposed to my last 9 moves is that this is my first move since getting married and this time we are moving to a house that we can call our own. This blog will serve as my punching bag to talk about the joys, pains, and tribulations that come with moving to a new house in a new state. Stay tuned.