AH-HA!

I may not be able to Facebook or Tweet at work but I can blog! This is good, considering I have been ignoring my blog for awhile now. I got a job and boy did I forget how exhausting it is to work a full 8 hour shift, without my many scrabble, FB, IM, news breaks. My coworkers are obsessed with country and seem excited to be introducing me to the "wonderful" world of country. They were in shock when they found out I liked hip hop. One of them said, as in rap, do ya sing? She's very nice and very southern, but not the kind that hate northerners, the kind you want to be your friend. Speaking of I have been here for 1 month and 11 days and I am still friendless but I am trying to be positive, I know it takes time. In the meantime I've decided to volunteer at the Nashville Chinese School and it's been, uh interesting. Last weekend I manned the "store," used loosely because it's really a table in the gym at the local middle school. I sold paper, caligraphy paint brushes and Mickey DVD's in Chinese. I actually think I did quite well. I made over $200!! So the principal likes me and said I can come back next week and help out in the classroom and be the photographer at their moon festival. Funny thing, while I was working the table some woman kept talking to me in Chinese, sure she probably thought I understood since I am volunteering at a Chinese school, BUT it turns out she thought I was Chinese. She came over later and apologized, even funnier thing, it's not the first time someone thought I was Asian, or maybe they thought my friend was White. Either way, bizarre. It can be added to the list; confused as Latina and now Asian.

I can't say I am getting used to Southern life but I am definitely entertained. Chik-Fil-A might be one of the best things to happen to the South. They need to be open on Sundays, this religious stuff is really getting in the way of me enjoying an amazing chicken sandwich with pickles when I need one the most!

Alright more stories later but I want to leave you with a teaser. We are on a burger hunt. A burger hunt so big and so delicious it is going to take over a month to complete. *Drum Roll*

We are searching for the best fastfood burger in Nashville! Pictures and updates to come later on.

Faygo what?

A couple of nights ago I was introduced to the wonderful world of Faygo. We went to a Chinese restaurant, well it was more take-out, Panda Express style. There were pictures of food, about 4 tables and real chinese people behind the counter. Which, actually, is going to put me on a short tangent. Last week we went to the San Antonio Taco Company, also known as SATCO and wow, it was interesting. I was confused by the reviews on yelp. San Antonio Tacos scream Tex Mex to me except someone raised in SoCal was claiming it was authentic Mexican. Tex Mex is not authentic Mexican! Ugh. Anyway, we show up and we are handed a sheet of paper outside, you mark off what you want sushi style. I scan the list and at the bottom are chicken wings. Chicken wings? Now I'm really confused. The did have carnitas but otherwise the menu was super basic. Queso, taco and enchilladas. I walk in and hand my order to the cashier. She didn't give me change for my $2.46 taco but whatever, I'll let her have it. So the first thing I notice is the music isn't the traditional tacqueria music. Then I see it. Not a single person in the kitchen or at the counter is Mexican. A Mexican place without Mexicans?? I'm not saying Italians need to cook Italian, Greek cook gyros, etc but after coming from California with Mexican a plenty, I was in shock. The whole kitchen was black, which explains the chicken wings on the menu. Not something you see everyday. The food wasn't bad, the carnitas were a bit more pulled porkish but I liked it. A crew of about 30 frat boys entered the restaurant in suit jackets and shorts. We could just imagine what the drunk crowd was like, I'll have everything and mark off the whole sheet. Which by the way, was also weird. The put taco and enchillada 3 times on the menu. Not a different type of enchillada but three of the same. Anyway, it was an interesting introduction to Nashville. I did find the little Mexico. It's out by Home Depot. Zac's barber had moved here from NoCal and he said when he got here he really missed good Mexican food. He wants a kitchen full of Mexicans that don't speak English and he found it.

Ok back to the Chinese take-out. While we are waiting for our food he spots it. Cans of Faygo in the cooler. Faygo you ask? It's a small independent soda out of the Detroit made famous by the Insane Clown Posse. Violent J threw an open bottle into the crowd and has hoped the company would do a limited edition soda for all the Juggalos but the company has yet to acknowledge them. Juggalo? They are the followers of the ICP, well actually they are male follwers, Juggalettes are the female followers. So we decided to give it a shot. We bought the grape can and it tasted awful. AWFUL. Grape Bubble Yum in a can with a ton of small bubbles. Thankfully the Chinese was better.

If I don't have a job, I might as well blog.

Well I made it to Nashville. The roadtrip was amazing but I'll cover that at a later time. Nashville is a funny little microcosm. There is this dichotomy that exists. The downtown is a carnival of cowboy living, the west end is a college town nestled in a bigger city. The banks welcome back the students. The bar at the Holiday Inn is named after the football team. The city is not quite as southern as I expected, but yet it's completely southern. It's not a southern city filled with cowboys and cowboy boots. It's a southern city filled with frat boys and college football. Little did I know reading, "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell" would prepare me for Vanderbilt life. I haven't directly communicated with the real life Tucker Maxes but at one of our first outtings I saw more than a few mulling around the comedy club. They double fisted beers and yelled, "Yeeeeaaaahhh" a lot. One so much that one of the guys in the Broken Lizard troupe had to tell him to shut up. This weekend I will officially be inducted into college football: Vanderbilt versus Western Carolina. More to follow on that.

The downtown of Nashville is filled with neon lights and country stores, not like cracker barrel. We went down this past Saturday for BBQ on the waterfront. It was slightly disappointing as we couldn't try any of the bbq. Something about health laws. However the downtown was packed. We were confused until we saw Keith Urban was playing that night, with Sugarland as the opener. Still with the country boot stores, country bands playing 3/4 of the day and bbq every other store front I couldn't help but to feel that Fresno has more authentic cowboys. I gather if you leave the city, the real cowboy life begins. Hopefully I'll see some at the state fair. So far though, I really enjoy the city. I really enjoyed the country band turned almost rockabilly. I loved the cross section of artists. Furthermore, I love the diversity of the population.

Surprisingly though, unemployment hasn't brought the creativity. I've come to realize I need to be busy to function. It's too easy to lay in bed until 11:30, go sit by the pool until 3 and then watch TV and apply for jobs until past midnight. Yeah it sounds fun but it's not. It's tiring doing nothing. It's boring. My brain needs stimulation. I need a hobby, a job and about 4 friends. So hopefully the next post will be a bit more creative and a bit funnier.