KatPoz

Thought:

2009-07-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

Will there come a day
When the mailman becomes as
obsolete
as the milkman?

Thought:

2009-07-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

How much can be done in a day.
How little can be done in a day.
Time is strange

Whatever Home Is

2009-07-03T08:41:00.001-07:00

It's early in the morning and I'm the only one awake, (the definition of early includes anything before 9:30 nowadays). I have just a few days left before I leave on Wednesday, but I've decided to move here, so I will be back in October. It was a difficult decision to make, being half-way around the world from most of my family, but I really think Portland chose me. I haven't felt this comfortable since Burlington, and while it may be a good thing to challenge oneself, I'm ready for a comfortable home...at least for a few years. I'm sure that I will encounter all sorts of challenges here too, but it's nice to feel support from the envirionment one is in, and that's something Portland gives me. I've never been in a greener city; there is an incredible variety of plants on every lawn. Bicycles are a norm, and though it's not Amsterdam, I've never seen such bike friendliness in the United States. People are friendly and funky, as expressive in their clothing as in NYC but without the stink of self-consciousness. There seems to be a co-op in every neighborhood, stocked with beautiful bulk sections and bountiful organic produce. There are farmer's markets throughout the city. There are parks everywhere, and leaving the city for incredible hikes and views is easy in someone's car. I am amused to see signs for chiropractors on what seems like every street-corner. Everyone recycles, and there is a city-wide compost available if you don't want to make your own. People own chickens! I want chickens!

I also am looking at two schools for acupuncture, and went on a tour at the less expensive one, Oregon School of Oriental Medicine, a couple days ago. I met the director and was incredibly impressed by how friendly and easy-going he is, on a first-name basis with the guy who gave me the tour. He gave me a really good impression, as I think the director is indicative of the mood of the entire institution. Monday I'll tour NCNM and we'll see how they compare.

So, this is it, though I'd rather be on the east coast. Portland is my new home, and I can't wait to set up a space here once the fall comes around.
That's all for now.

Smiles and Rambles from Frivilous Living

2009-06-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

Monday's Activities: Coffee-shop. Drank Mate with rice milk and laughed out loud while reading "Holy Cow". Explored the NE's shi-shi neighborhood on my bike, explored a new path to the SE, began recognizing places and began memorizing their locations, ate an amazing meat-loaf sandwich and had my coffee refilled 3 times while reading and still laughing out loud to "Holy Cow". Biked to a small rose garden and continued reading. Sat with the roses. Talked to Maggie. Biked home.

Tuesday's Activities: Had a late start. Made breakfast of leftovers and egg on bread, topped off with some homemade sauerkraut and pickled cucumber. Intended to sit in the coffee-shop mentioned above and read more, and then go to a yoga class, I instead played guitar and procrastinated leaving the house, and then went to the coffee-shop with Lolo and neglected to go to yoga. Figured out a good herbal regimen for Lolo, drank a chai and ate a chocolate-chip cookie, and later, a heavy pesto sandwich that wasn't very good. Went to the co-op and bought produce as well as sea salt and baking soda for toothpowder. Lolo bought her recommended tinctures, some lemon balm for tea, and some sea salt for a bath scrub.

Wednesday's Activities: Woke up at 5. Enjoyed the morning silence in bed, fell asleep about an hour later until 10:30. Took time eating and brushing teeth and watching hair. Booked it to new yoga studio, "Bhaktishop," and made it there panting and red-faced just in time for the level 4 yoga class to begin. I almost considered skipping the class, but it turned out to be a lot of fun and felt good to get out all the unused energy I'm used to spending hoeing for hours on the farm. Met Stella and sat in her apartment. Walked to get a burrito for her and a drink for me, got coffee and mate and sat in the park and watched her dog play, went to her apartment and chatted, walked to eat another meatloaf sandwich for me and fries for both of us. Forgot phone so returned to her apartment. Drank peppermint tea and reminisced about old camp friends and situations. Walked to my bike and biked home.

Now I'm going to try to finish "Holy Cow" and then sleep soundly, thinking about how lucky I am, and about all the people around me, near and far. Thanks for your support, love, and encouragement.

Starting Portland LIfe

2009-06-10T15:10:00.000-07:00

Walking in Portland is delightful. Most of the front lawns are strewn with flowers and herbs, people are friendly and interesting, and the neighborhoods make it feel like a small town.
Yesterday I went to one of ten nights at a neighborhood building convergence. I have never seen so many creatively dressed people in one place in my life, and everyone was smiling and open to meeting each other. We did a circle dance outside where all 300 people, of every age and ethnicity, held hands and sang, ending with a collective OM that might have been the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. After the dance I went inside for free acupuncture that reduced the chronic pain I've had from a muscle I pulled over a year ago so drastically that I think stretching might be enough to bring it back to normal (where stretching worsened the pain prior to the session). And to top the night off, a band played called Medicine for the People that encompassed all my favorite music styles and inspired me to dance more than I've danced in years.

Life is good.

I'm Leaving, On a Grayhound Bus, won't be comin' back again. Oh babe, I hate to go....

2009-06-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

Some version of that song is always running through the back of my head when I am at the end of something big. Those phases of time that are lived so intensely that they consume you, in which your identity has been first and foremost a member of that specific experience, cannot be fully realized until you've been gone for while.
Significant culture shock can be expected.

When I remember that this is it, it's really over, I feel like parts of me are leaving as people depart. The people who I have learned to live around- and therefore with and even through- may never make an appearance in my life again. In fact, experience has proven that I won't see most of them ever again, and perhaps only ever hear from a few.

Leaving the "We" of doing everything together, and reclaiming the "I" that we were initially hesitant to let go of, each of us must now get to know themselves again as we realize how we've transformed since we were last outside of this experience.

The blackboard has a few scraps of messages left from when we communicated through it, and where the lost and found has been written in the past, Missing are instead names of departed interns. It is like looking at our group's tomb stone, it's identity unraveling, no longer present in this moment. And the empty tincture shelf looks like a ghost of it's former self.

Walking up stairs I realized my ears no longer needed to be perked for certain voices, or chance encounters in the hallway. Most of the rooms are empty now.
Jars are still out in the kitchen, and the drying rack is full, but there are no eggs frying in a cast-iron, nor are dull knives chopping garlic; no hands are washing a dish, nor making tea. Nobody's reading books and nobody's upstairs either. Nobody's frolicking in the grass through a rainstorm, nor sunbathing, nor doing yoga, nor panting from jogging club, and no abdominals are being made phenomenal. Nobody's watching a movie, no Pandora Radio-station to be heard singing on the computer. Our speakers are gone, and work is over.
I wonder how long my calluses will hold.

The house is silent save one conversation in the yoga room and the buzzing of the still-overflowing refrigerator. And though I craved a silent moment just a couple days ago, it's too loud to sit in comfortably right now that it has arrived in absence.

I wonder how I'll reflect on my aloneness, when I'm sitting in the house tomorrow morning, one of the last to go, and then as I roll off to Portland on a Grayhound bus, starting a new reality once again.

The last batch of photos from Herb Pharm: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2146825&id=6901865&l=31325b6bab

Thoughts on Life and Death

2009-05-27T19:24:00.001-07:00

I found out last night that a classmate from my year in China took her life. Five months ago another classmate from my high school graduating class did the same. It is difficult to find words in such situations. First one is shocked, on autopilot, hungry for any and all details, as though more facts could offer some sort of answer as to why their desperation mounted to such a horrific state. Then a phase of disbelief, while incomprehension sets in. Then sorrow and compassion, for both those that they left behind, and the women themselves in their last moments.

I have wondered repeatedly: What were their last thoughts? Were they even thinking, or was the pain so enormous that it muted the voices in their heads and only action remained? How long they must have felt their sorrow, to forget the shining moments of joy and love, to forget that everything will pass in its own time. And what pressure were they feeling that made them feel so hopeless, so trapped?
And then what must their parents be going through, their partners, their close friends? How do they speak with one another after hearing the news? How do they comprehend the reality of their loss?

Both were brilliant.
Emma I met when I was just a toddler. I have a video of her in a striped dress at my 3rd birthday, but didn't reunite until we found ourselves in the same class in 9th grade. This past fall she was finishing a book she had been working on collaboratively with a friend. It was based on a year of traveling the country, filled with interviews of various women about their takes on modern feminism. I remember that she wore dark red lipstick and fishnet stockings in high school. She was in an anti-smoking commercial and shared a cigarette with the director during a production break. She spent a year in India in college. She was passionate and clever, overflowing with life, and still decided to end it in Venice where she was doing an internship at the Guggenheim.
Amy I did not know as well. We spent 11th grade exploring China in the same group of 60 students, all trying to define ourselves while immersing in a starkly different culture. I remember her as inseparable from her friends, sarcastic, and a highly dedicated student. In newsletters I was impressed but not surprised to learn that she was pursuing a PhD in Neuroscience.

Looking at both these groups I may have wondered who would be the first to go, but if I did it was only as a fleeting thought, a possibility to put off for the far future. I certainly did not think it would be under these circumstances.

I hope that their family and friends continue to find joy in their own lives, that they find a way to use their grief to propel themselves to live fully, pause, breathe, and feel gratitude for their own abilities to experience every moment.

It is incredible to me how far-reaching each individual's influence really is. Neither of these women played any significant role in my life for the past 6 years, we did not put forth any effort to keep in touch, and still I have cried for them, and feel their loss tremendously. My thoughts have often turned to Emma, and surely will turn to Amy frequently also. This impact reminds me of how fragile we all are, how breakable -even, and perhaps especially, those of us who appear strongest. It is incredibly humbling, and a great inspiration also to give as much compassion as one is capable of giving, as we all experience moments of desperation.
I am grateful to both Emma and Amy for jolting me into a great appreciation of my own life, and that I have the capability to find what makes me happy and leave situations that don't. I am further inspired to listen and stay present with every being that presents themselves in my life, in the slight chance that perhaps loving attention can influence them in some positive way. While some things cannot be changed, perhaps by increasing these things within ourselves we can help others heal, even just momentarily.

May these two be remembered for their passion, their sense of adventure, their dedication, and their strengths, and may we remember as often as possible to be grateful for the little things, for they have the potential to be the biggest of all.

Namaste

3 more weeks til the unknown

2009-05-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

I realized I haven't written nearly as frequently as I thought I had, but I think that's good proof that computers no longer rule my world. Life is fantastic, and while the information is overflowing and I have little room to spare for flashcards at the moment, the experience of being with these wonderful people in this beautiful place is a great thing, for lack of other words. In fact, I'm happy without many words, a skill I'm learning by living with 12 other individuals. So I'll let my pictures do the talking. You have 3 weeks left to reach me at the landline number, and I would love to hear from you!
peace love and light
K

ps, a list of recommended readings and other media is coming up :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2146825&id=6901865&l=31325b6bab
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2146823&id=6901865&l=c0c93b239d

2009-05-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

Interesting link: How Plants Protect Us From Disease: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090419202029.htm#

Newer pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2143948&id=6901865&l=37e68094e8

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2143935&id=6901865&l=e6a61ebb71

May 2, 2009
Life on the pharm is officially more than half-way over, and not too soon. Despite the gloriousness of all the things I'm learning and experiencing, this house is very small and there are 13 of us in it, resulting in a situation where having 5 people in the main living space feels empty. A day alone is impossible unless you go outside, when after working outside all week it seems preferable to cuddle on a couch with a nice cup of tea.
But my complaints are lessoned when I think of how wonderful the people I'm surrounded by really are. When does it happen that you live in such tight quarters with so many people and nobody gets on each other's nerves sufficiently enough to cause real discord? Still, a little breathing room, and maybe variation, would be nice. The farm crew offers some balance and proverbial spice, I suppose, but even with them adding variations to our daily interactions, I'll be ready for the next whenI leave.

As for the next, I've been contemplating going back to school afterall, for either naturopathic medicine or midwifrey, but the pre-requisites are hefty and I am regretting my decision not to take science classes in college. We'll see if I even get to that point. I'm trying to follow whatever hunches make me happy, but I'm not positive what those might be as different ideas make me happy every hour. Maybe I'll just find myself a little country home and get some chickens and make soaps and pots and teach yoga as previously planned...

I'm sorry I still have no real tips to contribute to this page. I am floating along and trying to absorb and learning in ways that aren't evident to me right now. If you want to know about herbal alternatives for something I would love to look it up, as I absorb information best by using it! Also, leaving feedback on here is appreciated so I know who's reading it!

I'm done rambling for today. Much love to all!

Farm Pharm life continues

2009-04-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

Recommendation: If you are free of nut-allergies, buy two handfuls of almonds and soak them overnight in a jar of water. Rinse the next day. Also, cut up some fresh ginger root, bring to a boil, and simmer for at least 30 minutes, longer if you have time. Then pour the ginger water on top of the almonds in a blender (the ratio should be 3:1 almonds:H2O) and blend until the almonds are chopped up entirely and the liquid is white. Strain out the almond and ginger remains and mix with dried fruit and nut-butter, honey, spirulina and flax and whatever else you want to include and roll into balls. Then use the almond-ginger milk as a milk substitute and tasty beverage, especially with a bag of tea and some raw honey, hot.

Yes friends, life is wonderful here. As intense as I can stand, but truly transformative. I am learning so much and doing so much that I won't have time to absorb much until I leave, (please don't ask what I plan to do when I leave. The only definite plan is Italy in September, but beyond and before that I really can't say, and will tell you when I know.)

Beyond the information that I'm collecting-which is too much for me to continue writing in detail-some highlights include:

A pool and a hot-tub that we can use anytime, especially popular on the way home from work and at dusk when the stars begin to appear.

Free tinctures

An amusing and loveable farm crew

A bond that will be difficult to part from. Our group lives as an organism, each of us an organ within the whole. When one of us isn't feeling well, the rest of us feel it. It has been a great lesson to learn to maintain my own well-being amongst so many other moods.

Unbelievably beautiful bike rides-including a 40 minute ride home in the dark with just 2 headlights for 4 people. The roads are so empty that we didn't have to worry about traffic, and all that could be seen were the stars up ahead and the light in the distance, following the silhouette of the person in front. It was magical.

Hope your list of good-things is just as long!

Another week over

2009-04-11T06:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was phenomenal. The work week was over after being briefer and easier than the previous one because I played housekeeper ("Hazel") on Monday, cooking and cleaning for everyone while they were at work, and on Tuesday and Thursday I spent the mornings thinning baby plants in the greenhouses. Tuesday evening's class was questionable, but Thursday we had a 3 hour Ayurveda class that I could have sat in for another three, (for those of you who have witnessed my struggle in trying to identify my Dosha, I am conclusively Pitta-Vata. I can't wait til next week when we start to learn about herbs for different constitutions. I also get to pick the teacher's brain at work because he does landscaping and I will be on his crew all week.)
And then Friday rolled around, and we all lazily rolled out of bed an hour later than usual and migrated over to the "Plant plant" (we live on the "Pharm farm") for Dagmar's nutrition class. Some things we learned:
-Eat vitamine B daily because it is water soluble and therefore gets flushed through your system quickly.
-To reduce arterial plaque/risk of heart-attack eat:
-Eat an anti-inflammatory diet (discribed below)
-Vitamin B, C, K2, omega-3 fatty acids
-Triphala (has the highest content of vitamine C; is a liver, gut, and blood cleanser; balances your bio-burden; and regulates bowels. Take a spoonful in some juice.)
-Garlic (Superfood in any condition)
-Natto (fermented soy, doesn't look appealing but is apparently very tasty. Eat raw.)
-Hibiscus tea (inhibits oxidation of LDL)
-Sugar Cane Extract, "policosanol," is an excellent alternative to cholesterol-reducing drugs that tend to do more harm than good. *Switch medication only under a doctor's supervision!!!!
-To treat high blood pressure eat chocolate, celery, and fermente foods such as miso, wine, cheese, and herring.

The Anti-Inflammatory Diet:
-Omega-3 fatty acids (oily fish, walnuts, flax, pumpkin seeds)
-Olive oil
-Game; Organic free-range or grass-fed beef (This is healthy meat. What's unhealthy for both you and the animal is when they are grain-fed and cooped up in stalls so their muscles don't harden, causing their meat to be rich in omega-6 rather than 3. Red meat being unhealthy is therefore a myth, it depends on where it's coming from)
-Whole, unproessed grains (most of the good stuff is in the shell), vegetables, fruit
-Raw, boiled, or steamed food (fried only on occasions when your body is craving it)
-Herbs: Willowbark, feverfew, boswellia, and other anti-inflammatory herbs

Depression and insomnia:
-Can be indicative of insufficient amino acids, diets with too little protein.
-Treated with whoe organic food, essential fatty acids and vitamin B's from grain and liver (my liverwurst obsession as a child shows that I was craving those), Magnesium from green foods, dairy, meat, seeds, apple cider vinegar, turmeric, green tea, ginger, rosemary, pineapple, Frankincense.
-Herbs: St. John's Wort (NOT if you're on oral contraceptives or other hormonal treatment; for the first month take a dropper-full every hour. After that your body will forever be familiar with it and will only need to be given a couple droppers 2-3 times a day, even if you haven't taken it in years), Rhodiola (EXCELLENT anti-anxiety herb,) Cat's Claw, White Willow, Arnica, Licorice (Don't take licorice for more than 12 weeks).

Insomnia:
-Exercise wil help
-Herbs: Kava, St. Jon's Wort, Rhodiola, Ashwaganda

-Sunlight is extremely important for vitamin D. Go outside for half an hour every day WITHOUT sunblock to absorb vitamin D. When you start getting pink put on the sunblock. Cancer develops when you get burned because it melts the fat under the skin in which many toxins are stored, not because the sun is inherently evil.

After that class we had another that tought us how to analyze tongues, and then we all got dressed up and went to dance our booties off at a local bluegrass show. It was soooooooo much fun.

And now it's time to enjoy the weekend and make some tinctures.
I hope you enjoy yours too!

photos!

2009-04-05T16:40:00.001-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2140932&id=6901865&l=afdf12b597

Herb Pharm: Week Two

2009-04-04T08:07:00.001-07:00

I woke up this morning at 7:30 feeling fully rested. Climbing out of the top bunk is still an adventure, even after a week and a half. I made it down safely after concluding that going down backwards like my father taught me years ago is, in fact, the wisest technique for this endeavor. Directly out of the window from my bed I can see trees and some sky, but when I walked up closer I was forced to pause by the mountains in the sunlight. The lowest trees at the base of the closest mountains glowed deep yellow, turning dark green further up at their still-shady tops, against a backdrop of further mountains wearing snowy crowns. But no matter how poetically I attempt to describe the landscape my words cannot come close to the beauty of this farm. And the longer I stay, the more beautiful it seems to become.

I spent the whole week hoeing: Echinacea the first two days, Motherwart at the end of the second day, and a field full of baby nettles at the end of the third to the end of the fourth day. I and my friend Ki have spent the most time in the fields as everyone else has either spent a day in the greenhouse thinning baby plants, spent a day at the house being housekeeper (we call this day/position "Hazel,") or spent the week on landscape-crew in the garden. My arms and lower back hurt the most on the second day, blisters solidified on my hands by day four (I hope they will be calluses by the time I have to hoe again). But while the work may be monotonous and slightly painful at first, it is lovely to be outside everyday, using my body to make things grow. I look up and see Canadian geese flying low, I see the sun and the clouds shift light, direction, and shape over the mountains, I can practice focusing in on what's in front of me- staying in the moment, and I can have sometimes hilarious/sometimes informative conversations with the rest of the farm crew.

We had a few classes this week also: Botony for herbalists, an incredibly informative plant-walk, tincture-making procedures, and client constitutional intake. It is very intense having such a tight schedule on top of living in such tight quarters, but it's a shove in the right direction.

I'm beginning to think about what I want to do next, and where I want to do it.
I'll keep you posted.
Much love 'til next time
K

WEEKEND!

2009-03-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

I am so relieved to have a day to breathe! I went to a farmer's market and healthy food store with 4 other ladies from the house and plan on drawing and breathing and reflecting the rest of the afternoon. I feel better today than I did at first; I'm definitely starting to feel more comfortable in the intensity that this program is presenting me with.
When I first got here I felt simply stifled, living in tight quarters with 12 other strong individuals, but it's a learning experience and greatly humbling. I think some great friendships will spring from being here, and I'm finding the space here and there to be alone too.

It's interesting to me how we reinvent ourselves through other people's eyes. Being confronted by such a large group of fascinating people has forced me to step back and lose some of my ego. In relating to them I have to let go of perceptions I've collected of myself and react in more unfamiliar ways to negotiate the mass of energy I'm surrounded by, whether it be in response to opinions about household matters or simply sharing of skills and knowledge (which this house is oozing with).

I will be different when we meet again.
But then, so will you!

Classes begin!

2009-03-27T18:55:00.000-07:00

Today the real classes began...and are going to go until 10 pm. We began this morning with Nutrition and Healing. I will be buying a binder to contain the overwhelming amount of information I have already accumulated in handouts.

Some of the key points I have learned that you might be interested in:
-Listen to your body and what it's craving. If you eat well regularly your body will know what food you need.
-Never get a tumor biopsy without first applying honey to the skin. The honey will coat the needle and for unknown reasons will prevent the cells that attach to the outside of the needle from spreading outside the tumor.
-Honey also heals open wounds, burns, surgical cuts, and diabetic ulcers when applied topically
- When children with a cough are given a spoonful of honey before bed they cough less than they do when they are given a spoonful of children's cough "medicine"
-Honey that is heated (as in tea or milk) loses some nutrients in the heating
- There is a monosaccharide called N-acetylgalactosamine that can only be derived from mammalian and shark cartilage or red algae Dumontiaceae...good case for not being entirely veg (sardines and anchovies are also a good way of getting this if the idea of knawing on bones doesn't appeal to you). The reason this is an important contribution to your diet is because it inhimbitits metasitasis (a.k.a. cancer reproduction/maintainance.)
-conventionally grown produce has a four-digit number on the sticker. Organic has five-digits begining with a 9. Genetically modified information has five-digits that begin with an 8.
-Coconut oil is god when it comes to cooking oils. Olive oil is second, but best when not heated.
-Scrambled eggs and hard-boiled eggs lose their nutrients. If you eat eggs, make sure the yolk is runny.
-Don't eat more than a handful of nuts per day because they inhibit calcium uptake.

And so much more! But those were my favorites. Hope you enjoy!

Herb Pharm: day one

2009-03-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

I just arrived at the Herb Pharm in Williams, Oregon. It is absolutely beautiful, blue mountains being dusted by low-lying clouds offering a stark contrast to the light green moss on the trees.
There are 13 women living in the intern house with me...going to take some getting used to. I am slightly overwhelmed and feel like retreating a bit. It might take a few days for me to come out of my shell...I just want to observe right now.
Tomorrow the intensity starts with classes all day. Very exciting.
Til next time!
K

The end of Mexico, Portland, and so on

2009-03-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

I apologize again for the interspersed nature of my entries, but this is my last apology. That's just the way it's going to be, and I'm proud of myself for even writing this much. The real issue is that I keep a journal, and it has dibs on all of my recordings. What then gets translated into a blog entry tends to be slightly more edited and therefore time-consuming, and while I do enjoy writing these entries, I am enjoying life away from the computer much too much to feel guilty for not sitting at it.

So, life. Is being lived, and lived wonderfully. The last few weeks with my sister and co were positively magical. We explored all around Oaxaca: A small village where they only produce pottery; a huge market with too much of any one thing, guys drinking beers in the morning, meat hanging openly, and mountains of mole; a beautiful waterfall hike that I went on once with Nina and then with my friend Trevor, involving some serious rock/root climbing up extremely steep inclines; to the ruins of an ancient city; to the inside of some crazy caves; and a weekend excursion to a waterfall that is composed almost entirely of mineral deposits and has barely any water on it save at the top.
Not to mention the beach! The beach was sooooo lovely. Trevor and I ventured to Puerto Escondido on Tuesday, the 10th, on a slightly cramped, slightly rickety mini-bus. We arrived around midnight and checked into our straw-hatched cabin by the beach. Could have been quieter, was lacking in the hot-water department, but it was comfy and clean.
We went to dinner the first night after a hike along the coast and met a waiter, Louis, who was very enthusiastic about the area and suggested numerous different adventures he could take us on. We decided to take him up on the offer, and the next morning he picked us up with his fiance, Clara, and we drove down dirt-roads in the jagged mountains to the most incredible waterfall I had yet seen in Mexico. On the way to and back from it we stopped at a family's house and I made tortillas with the women and we ate fried eggs and cactus to go with them. At the waterfall Louis asked Trevor if he wanted to catch some shrimp. After a while I got to try also, but Louis quickly came over and removed the heavy, but not so heavy I couldn't move them myself, rocks for me, and I chuckled and stopped trying. Note that Trevor was not invited to try to make tortillas. So much for progressive gender-roles!

Nina came a couple days later and it was so much fun running away from/into waves with the kids.

Now I am in Portland, saturated in green moss and grey skies. But the rain is not the only difference I percieve. It seems I acclimated to Mexico much more than I realized, and I've made a list of a few points of culture-shock that I'm working to overcome:

1) Water-pressure
2) Not doubting the safety of water; being able to potentially drink tap water; being able to clean vegetables with tap water, etc.
3) Having the right of way when crossing the street.
4) The incessant checking of IDs whenever I want a beer or to enter a bar.
5) Smooth, paved roads that one can drive very fast on without too much concern.
6) Higher prices, obviously.

There are more, but those are the most obvious.

Portland is beautiful, equipped with a bunch of funky neighborhoods. Too many hipsters though. I don't know if it isn't too big of a city for me, but I'll feel it out better this summer.

And tomorrow I head to the HERB PHARM! I'm sooooooo very anxious and excited. I have quite a few more things I'd like to write, but I think I've been writing long enough. Once I've adopted a routine at the herb pharm perhaps there will be more time to include reflections of the internal me rather than my physical whereabouts.

For the last photos of Mexico:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2135556&id=6901865&l=8fa1b5b67d
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138645&id=6901865&l=f942a6c6c0
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138649&id=6901865&l=ab70cc9507
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138655&id=6901865&l=059bb60952

So much love 'til next time,
Shanti shanti shanti

Oaxaca

2009-02-25T10:50:00.001-08:00

I arrived in Oaxaca on Saturday at 4:30 am after accidentally taking a second class (rather than first class) overnight bus. Half of the trip I was stuck next to a very large man who sprawled into my space every few minutes. I used sleep as an excuse to shove him away whenever possible, but it wasn't very pleasant. Around 1am I awoke to see that he had traded with his daughter, who was a much more pleasant, and compact, seat companion. But at that point I was rolled in a ball in my sweatshirt, with my sleeveless arms crossed tightly at my chest, the tip of my nose cold because they didn't put on any heat.

It was great to arrive to a warm bed, but my internal alarm clock didn't let me sleep too late. I played with the kids and the new kitten all day, and on Sunday we ventured into the mountains with Nina's cousin's family and checked out a very cool cave.

Yesterday I was as lazy as possible, trying to read as much as I could, drew/painted a bit, listened to music and lay in the sun. My body seems to be on shut-down mode, getting used to truly having nothing to do and nowhere to be, and I've been taking naps every day.
Today is moving day though, so there is a bit to do, and I will go back to doing it now.
Love and smiles!

To the next....

2009-02-20T17:49:00.000-08:00

Hello dear friends and family,
I´m sorry I´ve been m.i.a. from the blog world, but after that last entry I had my fill of the internet for the remainder of my stay at the Bosque.
I am currently writing from the center of a large bus station in Mexico City, with an hour and a half left before I board an overnight bus to Oaxaca City, where my sister and co. live.
I think I´m in for a great deal of culture shock, not so much because I will be fully (rather than barely) immersed in Mexican culture, but more-so because I am returning to flush toilets, traffic, and a greater abundance of commerce and buildings and masses!
My last couple weeks at the Bosque were truly fantastic. Don´t be surprised if I continue wwoofing for the next few years!!!! (If you aren´t familiar with wwoof, I encourage you to explore the websites www.wwoof.org).

I don´t even know where to begin telling about my experience. My creativity is weighed down by fatigue, so I think I´ll just describe a day in the life of Katerina at the Bosque:

The workweek starts on Wednesday. During the first two weeks I consistently woke up at 1 am and 4:30, needing to pee at either one or the other of those times. The nights were so cold that my body woke me up so it could focus on warming my muscles and bones and not just my bladder. I toddled down the stairs and didn´t bother walking to the outhouse but instead popped-a-squat around the back of the building. Usually I´d have to walk around the spots where my roommates had done the same not long before.
Around six I officially woke up but stayed in bed for another 15-35 minutes. Then I rolled out of bed, lit a candle, and dressed in multiple layers to ensure my warmth through breakfast. I was always the first to arrive at the casita, and delighted in the few minutes to meditate alone by the early-morning fire, watching the colors appear outside as they were illuminated by the light of dawn.
At seven I began chopping onions, garlic, and other vegetables to make eggs for myself and some other volunteers. When Dan came he´d usually make coffee for all who wanted some. If I hadn´t started cooking by the time Dan came, sometimes he would take over and I´d set the table instead. We had a nice routine going for a while.
Other volunteers would slowly toddle in, and we ate breakfast communally. Most of the time other people would wash up if I had cooked.
At 8 o´clock sharp work began, and we´d be divided into teams to work with two local Mexicans, Beto and Chileno. They both had the sweetest little-boy smiles decorating their late-thiry-year-old features. The first few days I was more shy, but soon we began a language exchange, teaching each other words to describe what we were doing, and other, sometimes rather goofy expressions. One day we found a terrantula underneath a pile of wood and I was told that a spider is "una rania". This prompted a memory to appear of Genny, my Columbian nanny/non-related family member, singing me a song about an elephant on a spider´s web. Beto knew the words and helped me learn them again. The teaching and learning of languages made the sometimes very difficult/tedious labor extremely fun.

Lunch was served at 1:30, having been cooked by Marie and two volunteers (we switched daily). Everyone was always famished, and it was not uncommon for people to take upwards of 3 helpings.

The afternoons were relaxing, balancing out the business of morning. I usually read, went for walks in the forest, did/taught yoga, took naps in the sun, played guitar, and/or chatted with other volunteers.

And now I´m sick of writing, though there is of course an infinite amount to tell.
I hope all is well with you, where-ever you may be. I will write again soon from Oaxaca, hopefully with photos to post!
Much love, light, and peace,
Katerina

Mexico: week 1

2009-02-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

First, I must ask for forgiveness at the choppiness of my writing, as I am interspersing thoughts and info with excerpts from my journal, so I might write as much as possible in as little time as possible. We can only use the computer between 10-4:30, because it is solar powered, and I have not been motivated at all to sit at a computer while the sun is shining and the wind rustling through the trees. But it's been a week now and my story has developed so tremendously that I cannot refrain any longer.
I left NYC on the first of February, sat in 3 different airplane seats, drank starbucks coffee in Chicago, ate a greasy pizza in Houston, and sat in a taxi with a driver I could barely communicate with for another two hours before arriving at my hotel.

Entry from the second airplane:
I bought a new copy of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" yesterday and am re-reading it. I read the introduction, as it makes sense now that I am familiar with the story. Pirsig points out that in a first person narrative, "the writer is locked inside the head of the narrator and can't get out...so is the reader," (xiii). 43 pages into the story a relecant conversation is recorded between the motorcyclists, in which the narrator states, "The world has no existence whatsoever outside the human imagination."

To me, this is a logical argument for how we create our environments. Things ARE because we recognize them to be. The falling tree in the forest might create a vibration, but the sound is in our perception. Perhaps we can take that even further and claim that the tree only falls because we identify it as having fallen...?

Yesterday Popper asked me if I think the use of crystals has any validity. I answered that they do in so far as when we believe they do, they inspire us to focus our energy in a particular direction, and by repeatedly focusing that energy it becomes stronger. As for the question of crystals' mystical powers sans human intention, I did not know positively, only that perhaps the color frequencies are related to energetic frequencies observed in ancient medicinal practices... that seems logical but might be stretching it too far, I don't know.

With Pirsig's contributions to my contemplations now I think I reaffirm my first answer to her question: They work when we declare them to do so.

2/2/09
I'm sitting just inside of an open balcony at Hotel Jardin, listening to a rooster's repeated wake-up call harmonizing with a flock (or are there flocks?) of morning birds chirping.

Yesterday turned out to be quite a long one.
After the second airplane I had just enough time to gobble a greasy pizza before we boarded.

The clouds made up for my impatience as they hovered over the sunset. Two of them called to each other as they were filled with storms, illuminating every few seconds with lightning. As we flew further I could see the reflection of the bolts in the water beneath.

I exited the airplane in disbelief that I had finally made it. Crickets chirped as I passed by unflinching soldiers to collect my visa and backpack. The cab-ride was filled with awkward silences, as I was able to speak only limited Spanish. The driver made comments, and while I understood half of what he said I could conjure only the most limited responses.

But sights filled the space where conversation lacked, as I looked out the window into the Mexican night. We passed at least 10 hand painted Pepsi ads (not one Coca-cola), various groups of youth flirting, or drinking, or fighting, or chatting, a number of stray dogs, many men in sombreros and a few groups of adults sitting outside eating food. But the best was a procession with a tuba and trumpets, candels in each marcher's hand, and two girls in white dresses at the front. I concluded that it must have been a first communion celebration.
We also passes a fohl and its mother, both unbridled, walking along the side of the road.

When we found the hotel we waited about 5 minutes before the lights came on and they opened the door. I relized quickly how little Spanish I know, but everyone was really nice and the messages were conveyed successfully.

I wandered downstairs just after writing that and ran into a group of people who were not Mexican. We looked at each other for a moment, and then Brian, the owner of Bosque, introduced himself. An hour later they drove me up to the property, and I tried to learn my way around and settle in.

The first two days seemed very long, filled with new information and new people. I realized it might take some time to settle my mind into a slower pace, but the transition proved to be easier than anticipated. The first full day was relaxing, as it was still a volunteer weekend (we have Monday's and Tuesday's off). I found myself still impulsively planning activities for the day, but eased into the slow pace happily.

2/3/09
I just watched a green-sheened black humming bird kissing red flowers. There is a buzzing of bees, twitter of birds, and occasional rustle of leaves in the wind gracing my ears. So much nicer than the clanking of subways and honking of horns!
I went for a 15 minute jog to start the morning. Then I met the rest of the volunteers for breakfast, and ended up talking to a Scottish girl, Melissa, for about an hour. She is here with her fiance, an English guy named Dan.

These two have proven to be incredible people, who I am so happy to have as friends. Almost every conversation becomes philosophical, and they are so welcoming and encouraging...it's delightful!

I don't know the date but I think it's the 5th and I know that it's Thursday.

I am exactly where I need to be. I feel so content, so at peace, so loved, just as I should!

I was too tired to write yesterday because the morning began with 2 1/2 hours of wheelbarrowing wood down trails and stacking it on the side of a path at the bottom of a hill. I was thinking of the tortoise and the hare, but couldn't help being a bit ambitious in carrying armloads of firewood to my blue wheelbarrow rather than individual pieces. We had been divided into teams of 2 and 3, and switched tasks around 10:30. I and the French girl I was working with then went to help build the cob hut, mixing dirt, water, sawdust, and pine-needles with shobels and stomping it in rubber boots that gave me blisters. We then carried handfuls of the muddy mixture to where the floor was being layed. It felt gooey and wonderful like clay.
I was lucky enough to be on kitchen duty, so thoroughly exhausted I went to help cut vegetables with Marie (the other permanent resident at Bosque alongside Brian), and the other French girl, Clemence. I felt like a vegetable myself for the rest of the day. <-- The French girls left this morning and we are getting two new volunteers today. Besides them and Melissa and Dan there is one more guy named Harry, from Cape Cod, and next week a volunteer who was here before I came is coming back after having taken a two week Spanish course in another area of Mexico.

After dinner we went down to the Casita (where we eat breakfast), and I played guitar and sang and we chatted. I have been so blessed with the people I've met here.

The next day...
Today I was on a team with Clemence and work was a lot less intense, beginning with the cob and then some mulch shovelling/wheelbarrowing, but we chatted a lot with the Mexican man who was leading our crew so we took a lot of breaks. Then we migrated over to gardening and I spent two hours packing dirt into plastic bags. Clemence complained that it was boring, but I was delighted to have the opportunity to meditate Thich Nhat Hanh style.
Dan completely agreed with me when we spoke of it at lunch.

Then, this afternoon, I lead Dan and Melissa through a yoga class and guided meditation, and did a brief vinyasa flow of my own afterwards and felt fantastic.

Yesterday I went to a bread-making workshop with a local family and today I am resting. I would go into more detail but I'm itching to get back into the sunlight. We've lit a sauna for later, and Melissa is cooking some wonderful food for lunch (everyone else went to town.) Time for some blissful nothingness!

Till next time, sending you all my love,
Katerina

After dinner

2007-09-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

a short entry:
we drove around yesterday to see where we'll be working.
The car rides were long and I was looking out of the van windows. At a red light we stopped in front of a middle school. It was very run-down, obviously Katrina stricken. There was a sign outside that said the school's name, which I don't remember, and "home of the wildcats," which I found amusing as it very much resembled my almamater's mascot. My eyes sleepily wandered over to the next sign, that said "School Opening Aug 18" I started wondering when they'd change the sign to announce something new, and then I imagined all the uniformed students trickling in and out of the school. Then I looked at the sign again and noticed what it really said: "school opening Aug 18, 2005".

Starting to make my footprint

2007-09-13T18:44:00.000-07:00

This week started off rough. We had to go on a three-day retreat that claimed to be in the woods but was adorned with paved roads and air-conditioned cabins (to the point of making me catch a cold). The first day was extremely long, and we weren't given a moment to breathe until 9pm. Before dinner we had just 10 minutes to sit down and finally relax before they forced us to play yet another group-game as the food was being prepared. I participated for a decent amount of time, and then I left the circle and started fiddling with my guitar on a neighboring deck. Some people joined me and we chatted and were bonding, and just as we started having a real conversation someone came over and told us to rejoin the group for the next activity. I couldn't refrain from expressing my frustration, but put down my guitar nonetheless. The activity, not surprisingly, didn't end up being important at all. In fact, it was the least organized we had yet experienced: we divided up into three groups and each group had to come up with its own game to play and then present to the entire group. I wanted to scream. To make things even worse, at 10 pm we were forced to go to bed. At 15, at art camp, we did not have a bedtime, but here, as an adult, I am forced to go to bed earlier than most go to bed regularly.
But it is over now, and today, our first day back, was wonderful. The morning was very productive as we brainstormed with our groups on possible projects and community resources.
OH! I forgot to tell you what team I'm on! I'm part of the program called Whole School Whole Child, where I will be acting as a teacher's aid during the day and producing after school programs, as well as developing community projects in and around the school. I'm very very excited. I have a wonderful team and team-leader, all very laid back yet motivated. I can hardly wait to get started for real!
Back to why today was good: In the afternoon we met with the board of directors for this region of City Year. I mentioned that I was disappointed with the lack of environmental consciousness and was wondering why there were no policies already in place. The response came that I could change the policies here in Louisiana, and maybe by next year they will be policy in all of City Year. After the meeting the manager of the Young Heroes program approached me to say that he and another corps member applied for and received a hefty grant last year for Baton Rouge to improve the environmental practices of the organization, and I should make a list of ideas I have as to how we could improve.
I came home oozing with ideas and sat for about 2 hours brainstorming. I got so excited that I wrote a mission statement too. City Year tells us that it is important that we leave a legacy both as an organization and as individuals. I have a hunch that this will be mine. I'll keep you posted on further developments.
Hope all is well on your sides of the world, peace and love,
Katerina

Here is a copy of the letter I sent the manager this evening:

Why Should City Year Adopt Eco-Friendly Policies:
It is imperative that City Year, as a socially conscious, idealist organization, adopt the following policies. The excessive consumption of Western society, especially of the USA, is the primary contributing factor to the global-warming crisis that has lead to disasters such as Katrina. Yet, the main reason for this over-consumption is simply ignorance of alternative practices.
If City Year makes it its policy to be as environmentally-friendly as possible in everyday practices, it will not only make a difference as an organization, but many corps members and staff will adopt such practices in their own lives. In addition, through an active policy, City Year can help spread awareness to the schools, children, and communities that we serve.
If City Year claims to be as socially responsible as possible, it is necessary to also be environmentally responsible and spread awareness. People need to recognize it is not only the responsibility of the government to prevent environmental disaster, but also of vital importance that individual citizens change their habits. It seems to me that this is exactly what City Year is all about.

Environmentally Conscious Actions to Implement at City Year:
• An anti-paper-towel policy/ a supply of rags and dishcloths

• No more Styrofoam!!! (or disposable plastic for that matter)
• The use of reusable/washable, rather than disposable, cups, plates, and silverware. Everyone could be given a dish and cup to use. In addition, corps members and staff should be encouraged to supply their own to reduce consumption further.
Another possibility would be to have a supply permanently at City Year, to reduce the possibility of forgetfulness of Corps members. In the event of a retreat or similar event, there could be a rotation of a clean-up crew to wash dishes in a water-conserving manner (one sink filled with water to wash, a second sink filled with water to rinse, thereby minimizing water-consumption via running tap-water or inefficient washing machines.) Having members participate in this would be a good way to help them learn to practice environmentally friendly habits kinesthetically.
• Reusable water bottles for all corps members, as a required part of the uniform, to reduce plastic-bottle consumption
• Brita or other water filters always available to fill said water bottles
• Re-usable water bottles for the children City-Year serves
• Use of eco-friendly detergent products, such as Seventh Generation.

• Minimized air-conditioning. It is understandable that there should be some, but it is entirely unnecessary to have it turned up so high that one has to bring a sweatshirt to spend the day inside when one would be sweating outside in summer-clothes.
• Signs or stickers by all light-switches reminding people to extinguish them when not in use.
→The eventual use of motion-sensitive lights that turn off when room is empty.
• Signs or stickers at all water faucets to remind people to turn them off while washing hands.
→The eventual use of motion-sensor faucets.
• Warm-air hand dryers in bathrooms

• Recycling bins next to all garbage cans to make recycling convenient
• Compost buckets at City-Year offices and in schools
• Encouraging City Year members to bring in their recyclable goods and compost if they are unable to implement such practices in their private homes due to cost.

• Education for all corps members about awareness of consumption and the benefits of environmentally-friendly practices, (especially as we are in Louisiana, people should be made aware that it is vital to adopt more modest forms of consumption if we are to slow-down global-warming and avoid more hurricanes)

• A commitment to, and regular use of the motto: “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” and an explanation as to its meaning.

• Portable dry-erase boards to replace the large post-it paper pads
• Boxes to put re-usable wastepaper (where one side is still blank), and the use of this paper whenever possible, (for example: in getting-to-know-you games, brainstorming lists, hand-outs that are not already printed double-sided).
• The use of as much recycled paper as possible
• The practice of printing all materials double-sided
• A reduction of unnecessary handouts-for example, the schedule. Instead of printing more than enough, print less so people who live together can share. Another, even preferable possibility (still using the schedule as an example,) would be to write it on a large and accessible dry-erase board, and if someone wants to copy it down for themselves they can do so.
• Re-use of all cardboard -from goldfish or any other boxes- for any signs needed etc.

• An annual Earth-Day (Earth Week!? Earth Month!!?) event

• A supply of cloth shopping bags at offices and in all vehicles. This would make the practice of not consuming plastic-bags visible to the public.

• The goal to use only bio-diesel or other forms of environmentally friendly vehicles when purchasing them in the future. Information on this can be found at: http://www.biodiesel.org/

• More thought behind where food is coming from.
In-organic food may be less expensive, but the pesticides that are used are extremely harmful to the environment. Furthermore, purchasing locally-grown food supports local farmers and discourages mass-production (which tends to lead to environmentally un-friendly farming practices.) Purchasing non-local food also reduces its nutritional value, and leads to more fuel-waste and CO2 emissions emitted during transportation.

• Every City Year corps member should plant at least 10 trees in order to graduate

First week of Training

2007-09-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

I just had to pause for a second and think whether tomorrow would be the third or the fourth day of training...the days are so long (tomorrow is the third). Yesterday we arrived at the NOLA (a.k.a. New Orleans Louisiana) office at 8 and drove an hour or so to Baton Rouge where we sat in a small room, classroom-style, without air-conditioning, the entire day. We had to listen to the history of city-year during the first half of the day, and the second half we had to read through chapters in the "Idealist Manual" that we were supposed to have read the night before (I'm glad I didn't know we had to read them). The one thing I did learn was that the program was started after failed attempts at lobbying for mandatory civil-service in the US, which is interesting because I had stated that I believe in mandatory civil-service when I was interviewed. Perhaps that got me the job... :D
Today was a little better; we didn't have to be at work until 8: 15, and training was in NOLA instead, so we also didn't have to endure the long car ride (we will again on Friday, at 6 in the morning...yay.) We started training with a leader-ship directions workshop, where we were given different personality clusters associated with North, S, E, W, and had to talk about their pros and cons. I identified as a South: caring about reaching compromise, satisfying everyone, people's feelings being more important than goals etc. I noticed that my group was both the smallest, compromised of only 4 people, and the only one that was entirely female. Really, I saw traits of everyone I knew of in all of the directions, but there are definitely tendencies. It was quite amusing because both Stephanie and I are quite quintessentially out direction, and we made jokes about our demonstrations of our typical behavior, (she is West, very organized and doesn't think outside the box easily...it was especially amusing that each of the four housemates identified themselves as a different direction. we have a well balanced house!)
We then did confrontation exercises, and yet another lecture on the history of Americorps and then finally lunch...In the afternoon the most interesting activity was learning details of the various programs. I'm leaving it up to fate what team I'm on, because while I think it would be most natural for me to be immersed in the entirely in-school program, based around tutoring and after school programs, I know that I would be challenged in ways that I need to be challenged if I participated in the other program because it would force me to organize projects and actively learn the nitty-gritty of organizing a non-profit organization. My conscience is pushing me to the latter, but I'll let them decide.
And that's all for now.
Cheers!
K

Welcome to your new home

2007-09-01T07:03:00.000-07:00

I made it, and am writing the from my new incredibly comfortable European-plush top mattress with a fan blowing directly on me, as it has been all night because we rarely use the air-conditioning. My yoga mat is spread out next to me toward the opposite wall, where I have designated it to stay as my yoga-zone, adorned with a big ol' Om that I drew a couple days ago specifically for the purpose. Unlike last year, my necklaces are hanging from the bottom tacks of all my tapestries and on any knobs I could locate already placed around the room. my earrings, on the other hand, are just as they were, dripping from a mesh pencil case that I have propped on the wall. The house itself is great too. It is split directly down the middle with the rooms mirroring each other in each apartment, except that I have a tree out my window and the guy who has my mirroring room does not. Evidently, we have become friends with the neighbors and sharing a beer on the porch in the evening with them is already starting to be somewhat of a tradition. Until last night, that is, when my housemates and I went to Decadence, New Orleans' gay Madeiras on Bourbon st. It was scandalous, to say the least- never have I seen so many shirtless men who look right through me as I pass. It was good fun. We then progressed to a house-party and then finally, when poor Stephanie was already falling asleep, we drove home.
But on to work: on Thursday we drove to Baton Rouge for registration. It was basically a long session of paperwork that ended with us all putting our hands in the center and breaking on "an inspirational word," which ended up being "registration". where the inspiration is in that, I don't know. but so be it.
I'm already quite skeptical of the whole team mentality...or not so much the team mentality, because that is essentially what I signed up to participate in, but rather the superficial exercises (such as the closing exercise) that try to force a team spirit onto you. I will be enthusiastic about what I do and about learning from the people around me if I am enthusiastic about them, and doing team-building and trust-building games and practices, after having done it so many many times before, will do nothing but reduce my enthusiasm. As a child I would have been uber-enthused about the exercises alone, I used to love those things, but that might be exactly the problem. I have grown out of superficial communion. Except the game big-booty. you have to love that one.
And lastly, what have I been doing with most of my time since the actual program doesn't start until Tuesday? I've been reading Eat Pray Love and must insist that everyone reads it. I hope to finish it today. And last week I went to an open mic and my roommates insisted that I play, so I did, and was asked to play an hour slot on Monday, so at 9pm my time send positive vibes in my direction please. I've also watched a lot of movies, such as the sound of music and breakfast at Tiffany's, and I've done between half an hour and and hour and a half of yoga every day...hopefully when my regular routine sets in I'll still have time for all these things...I might have to do an alternating day schedule, kind of like my face-exfoliating scrub.
And on that thought, I'm going to go brush my teeth and then make myself a smoothie or something.
til next time
cheers!

Summer Adventures 2007

2007-08-20T18:03:00.001-07:00

Hello All,
Welcome to my new blog. Since I'm heading out to New Orleans and leaving everyone else behind in various parts of the world, I am submitting to the vast blogging "community" in an attempt to keep in touch. So here's my first synopsis: my summer.
This summer has been a whirlwind as always. I began by graduating. That progressed to the most care-free week of my life, and then I packed up my belongings, put half of them in storage, and drove to Maine to work my fourth summer at Hidden Valley Camp. Working there four years in a row lead to one of the summer's highlights: I was in the candy drop airplane. The photo above that is very green is the view of camp from up high. We weren't on target, but dropping the candy ended up being a not-so-significant detail. The real thrill was seeing the beautiful landscape and being swayed by the heavy gusts of wind in an airplane with a seating area smaller than an average car. I want my new hobby to be small-airplane pilot.
Notwithstanding, the hours were long and as always I wish I could have had more time in art studios, but I was only contracted for half the summer and I'm happy that it was the right decision.
I left camp and drove back to Burlington for a couple days to collect the last of my belongings and enjoy a few extra hours with some loves, and then I hauled myself down to NY. The trip was great, because despite the excessive hours in a car, I returned to see what used to be my country-house. I had had a dream a couple days prior that the property was being developed and the house was in shambles, so it was a relief in addition to quintessentially lovely to walk around the un-changed property.
When I got back to the city I had just enough time to dump my things in a mini-storage and then hopped on a plane and flew to Vienna with my mother.
I spent 2 days in Vienna and then my mother and grandmother and I drove to Hagenau where my grandmother was born. The next day my cousins and uncle and aunt and great uncle and aunt joined us at my other great-aunt's castle and we celebrated my grandmother's birthday.
A couple days after that we were back in the car and drove to Salzburg for lunch to visit family friends and meet my dad. After a lovely afternoon I said goodbye and joined my father as we drove to my cousin's house near Switzerland. The next day we decided to avoid tunnels and drove over the Alps instead to get to Italy. It made me indescribably happy to be on top of those mountains looking at even higher peaks with glaciers and and and...
Few things make me as happy as mountains.
And then I found myself in Italy at my father's place, but it was not yet time to relax. We drove to Venice for lunch one day, had the best octopus carpaccio in the world, and a day later we drove to Tuscany and visited some more friends of the family there.
When we got back to Valeggio (my dad's village) there were finally 3 days of nothing but reading Atlas Shrugged and playing guitar, and then I got on a plane again and flew back to NY.
And that's where I am right now. Trying to take it easy a little before the big move...and on Saturday the next adventure begins. I'll keep you posted :D

P.S. I'm sorry that many of these photos are not visible, I have yet to figure out how to do this properly! But if you click on them they'll open fully in a new window