RAND Corporation in Santa Monica

The RAND Corporation, popularly known as a “think tank”, is a highly respected, non-profit corporation formed to further educational, scientific, and charitable purposes for the public welfare and security of the United States of America. This was a program to introduce southern California Fulbright Scholars to their academic counterparts at RAND where scholars work on a wide range of research as broad as the public policy agenda. We had the opportunity to listen to two presenters. They introduced us to two projects: Richard Hillestad's - Health Information Technology and Rita Karam's - The Analysis of Language Policies in the U.S.
It was very interesting and informative.

UCLA

When we were at Ann Kerr's house for that lunch, she asked me to come to UCLA and talk to her students. The topic was America through different perspectives. I knew that the date would be January 18 and I was patiently waiting. There was no call till Tuesday, the day before so I almost thought that it had been cancelled. But then I got the call and it was the time for me to start my being nervous.......I am the expert of being nervous. (some people may be shocked)

I arrived at Ann's office at about 3:30 and we both walked to her classroom. The lesson started at 4 and there were about 20 students. I must say that despite the fact I was dying of nervousness, I really liked the class. The students had very interesting questions and seemed to be interested in what I told them about. I should have prepared myself much better for it but now it is too late to regret. It was a great experience for me. (one of many here)

Then we went back to Ann's office where she showed me a poster of her son Steve who is a professional basketball player. Steve Kerr who used to play with Michael Jordan, has five rings and is considered the best three-point shooter in NBA history. I was amazed!!! Ann also told me about her face- to -face encounter with Michael Jordan which I was thrilled about.

Ann is an incredible woman with incredibly interesting life.

My classes after almost 5 months

This is my Period 1,2 - ESL students

This is my Period 3,4 ESL students

Calico - the Ghost Town

On our way back to Los Angeles we stopped at the town which used to be once the richest in the state for its silver mines. There used to be over 1200 people living and working there. It was established 1881 and was producing over $86 million in silver. When the price of silver dropped it became a ghost town like many of the kind. Today it is operating as a County Regional Park and it is stil alive and well. Thanks to Mr. Walter Knott. You can also camp there today and enjoy the beauty and history of this small town where used to be 600 mines.

And also a live performance...

Fascinating thing was also a cemetery where are buried both people from the time when the town was flourishing and also people who are connected to the town today. One of the people was an artist who died at the age of 71 and was a comedian for sure. He had written on his tombstone " See, I told you I was sick". I found this amazing. I admire that man, his strength and wit.

City of Las Vegas

Yes, as I said in my previous post it was my "life saver" trip. We couldn't find a cheaper accommodation right in Vegas so we decided on a small town Primm in Primm Valley. It was a good choice. Closer to La and also closer to Hoover Dam which we really wanted to see. And we did. It was overall a great trip and it DID saved my life. Denisa took a lot of pictures (sometimes I feel like I married a Japanese) but I appreciate it and I can show you the place now.

So first our hotel Primm Valley Casino Resorts

And of course necessary casino in every hotel

The trip to see Hoover Dam. It belongs to one of the technical wonders of 20th century. There is no doubt about it. It is sooooo huge and took only 4 years to built. Amazing. On the borders between Arizona and Nevada, so two different time zones.

Some people were excited from standing with one leg in Nevada and the other one in Arizona.

We also went further to Arizona and we found this beautiful oasis in the middle of a desert, Willow Beach. On the river Colorado.

In the middle of a desert I said.

And finaly Las Vegas itself.

And of course Elvis Presley everywhere.

Back to reality (s-l-o-w-l-y of course)

After we came back from Florida (now I have realized I liked it over there, even though California is still state number one), we had a few more days with Kylowna. It was great as usual. We did again interesting things. Shopping for "our" czech friends was fun, going to see Queen Mary was awesome ( King of the Woooooooorld...), going to movies ( Memoirs of a Geisha was a great movie), Palm Reader was interesting kind of experience, despite the fact that I had to leave the room after the "psychic lady" said I was sending some strong signals which were disturbing her or what, driving round LA and listening to Eminem's "Stan" ( pretty shocking info for people who know Kylowna I guess). But it was all fun and a great tme for me. (oh boy how I hate the word WAS!!!)
Well, I drove Ms. Moton back to the airport and since she left I was pretty out of enthusiasm. My first bigger crisis I guess. I wanted to go home. I felt it was enough for me here. I came home and I was whining for hours. Denisa almost went crazy. I told her I had to get out of here asap. I could not bear it any longer. So we decided on Las Vegas, booked a hotel and set out early in the morning. It was my life saver.

Happy New Year 2006

Always wondering what the next year will be like....... Hopefully as good as the last one.