I arrived in Houston yesterday. Have a phone, just don't know the number yet! I start work on Monday. Yikes!
The weather here in Houston is still pretty warm (yey!), kinda like Manila, oddly.
My hosts/employers Mike and Joani have been absolute darlings. Besides housing me already and fetching me from the airport, Joani paid for my 1st groceries in Wholefoods as a "welcome to Houston." Mike helped me get a phone line here, though it only does calls, I think, and to the US? Not sure, will verify. (It's actually their extra "shared" line(?), where I only pay $9.99 a month, as opposed to maybe $80 with a prepaid) He also helped me mail Marian's package for her mom. Whew: that's done! Then this evening, they took me out for dinner, how nice is that! Everyone's been so nice: they said that if I need anything (particularly on mind is to go to the bank nearby, get a razor and a foldable line-dry to dry my yoga stuff and delicates 'coz no way can I dry those in the dryer, as well as to find a Catholic church nearby), to let them know so they can give me a ride, if need be. I've met Joani, Mike, Anne Marie, Jack, Janna, Ana and Andrea, so far. And Christina didn't apprentice here in Houston; it turns out she apprenticed in Dallas, I think that's what Joani said. Ana's Nikki T (from my training)'s friend, it turns out! And she said not to worry, just to go out there and teach!
Mike is a Texan through and through so has this cute drawl; Joani on the other hand is from New York, so she doesn't really have that Texan accent, though she doesn't really have that New York accent, either. Mike is a dog person (most of the staff are!) and has 5 dogs which he said he'll introduce to me one of these days; Joani is a cat person. And hey, Mike's 94-year old mom practices Bikram yoga, and has practiced it since she was 84, how neat is that? So if she can do it, anyone can! Quoting Bikram loosely, "It's never too late, you're never too old, never too sick, never too broken, to practice yoga."
Took Mike's class this morning, even if they told me I didn't have to: I figured it's the least I could do, to get up and introduce myself to him first thing, right? Then took his class. He praised my floor bow :) His class was pretty gentle, actually, as opposed to what I heard, that it's tough. The humidity was great, too--not as hot as Pye's, not as intense as Tu's class. But Mike was fluid, and genuine, and so assured, which I think made all the difference.
I voiced some of my concerns with Mike, like how to control the class, give energy or pick up the energy again, and so on. I particularly remember one thing he told me. He said when we talked about dogs, my voice inflection changed, my eyes lit up, etc. He said to remember that as I teach class and to input that in my energy, in my voice, when I teach. And of course, dialog, dialog, dialog. He says, it's hard--he and Joani both do--but they said I'll surely get there. :)
Will write more when I can--whether it be evenings here when everyone's gone (as I stay in the studio), or when my computer gets connected to the wifi here. Still have to get used to the timezone, too! It's 2 hours more here than San Francisco, 1 less than NYC. So if it's 10 am in San Francisco, it's 12 noon here, 1 pm in New York, and 1 am in Manila.
So still settling here in Houston, will maybe explore after work settles(!). In any case, will write again when I'm not as woozy.
1 comment:
Hello, Therese. Is that what we call you? Greetings from Honolulu. I'm Cathy, one of Mike's students and am over here for the training. Just wanted to say good luck with the new job. Hope you get settled very soon. I sat next to someone in orientation yesterday who knew you. Her name was Mutya.
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