Brrr…

Cold arrived this week in America… Well, at least in the parts of America that I frequent.  It is more of a shock to my system than I anticipated.  After all, I haven’t lived in cold weather since probably March of 2007 – well more than a year and a half ago now.  That, in and of itself is pretty strange, since I grew up in the bitter cold north.  Now, I better understand the shock that people who have lived in warm climates their entire lives feel when they first experience fall and winter. 

On the flip side of this freezingness is the wonderous, glorious color that I am now really loving!  I missed fall- and the other non-summer seasons – when I was living in South Asia’s tropical climate.  For a while, I wanted the weather to get cold, so I could bundle up in my bed at night or light a spice-scented candle while I listened to Christmas music, which I always start doing in October.  (Yes, I’m one of those people.)  In fact, the weather did get chilly by January, and I did have to bundle up in bed at night.  But, it just didn’t feel the same.  There were no brilliant colors of autumn.  There were no trick-or-treaters.  So, I’m glad to experience the fun little aspects of fall again.  

It is strange how seasons can be so ingrained in you.  Living without the typical four seasons that I had experienced for more than twenty years threw me for a loop.  To me, May and July felt about the same.  They were both hot – just in varying degrees.  There was no snow in my recent memory to remind me that May was near spring and – so, at last, the weather was finally warm! – for example.  The weather was warm the last half of February and all of March, too, so what was the difference between March and May and July?The real difference was how much rain we would get or just HOW hot the temperature was.  Anyway, by the time I returned to America in August, I was a bit off in my orientation of which month I was living in.  I wonder if this is a common reaction of culture shock.  It has been for me, anyway.  

But, alas, winter is coming.  The winter, which I found myself missing (at times) in all its Christmasy, snowy, pumpkin pie-eating, and spice candle-burning glory.  So, bring it on!  but, please crank up the furnace and pass me some mittens, while you’re at it!

actors and musicians raise awareness

The film’s director is Justin Dillon.   I have never heard of him before.  However, several musicians apparently perform in this film, which is a new spin to the social justice / anti-human trafficking film designed to increase awareness and motivate people to become involved.  So, I figure this film is worth checking out.  If you do see it, let me know what you think.  I’ll do the same.

Releasing Nationally:

• OCT 10: SAN FRANCISCO, PORTLAND, SEATTLE, REDWOOD CITY, LOS ANGELES, ORANGE COUNTY, SAN JOSE, AUSTIN, DENVER, ATLANTA, NASHVILLE, BOSTON, WASHINGTON DC,
• OCT 17: SAN DIEGO, DALLAS, MINNEAPOLIS, CHICAGO

For more information and tickets, visit: WWW.CALLANDRESPONSE.COM

Here I am…

Hello everyone.  Yes, I am back.  I have been exhaling… processing… listening to Sara Groves… trying to figure out my next steps.

A few weeks after we got back to America, I took account and realized that  we had been in a different city every week for eight weeks straight! – including four countries!  So, needless to say, we did not sit still even once we returned to America.  However, it was good to see lots of friends and family after being away for so long.  

Now, we have been here for about a month, so normalcy is starting to set in – which is good, by the way.  I am meeting new people and forming friendships that are a real blessing to where I am right now.  I am  also finally starting to catch up with some old friends in the area.  (If you have not heard from me yet, email me so we can get together!)  Church has been great, for which I am grateful.  My new housemates have been great.  They made me cookies the other day just to say they loved me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a different note, look for some pro-justice posts coming soon.  I want to continue using this blog to encourage people to promote justice around the world and in their neighborhoods, generally, and to fight human trafficking, specifically. 

 

      ”Learn to do good;

      Seek justice,

      Rebuke the oppressor;

      Defend the fatherless,

      Plead for the widow.”

      ~ Isaiah 1:17 (NKJV)

We’re back…

Bill and I made it back on Sunday night.  We’re fighting colds and jet lag, but it is great to be in our homeland once again.

Tomorrow, we head over to the midwest to see family and friends.  Yay!  I am excited… and SO tired.

good night…

In London now…

Hello friends of cyber space and three-dimensions,

Bill and I left South Asia about twelve hours ago.  We planned to sleep “through the night” on the first flight, even though it was about 8 in the morning local time when we left, since we wanted to get onto EST right away.  However, sleeping is hard on planes.  So, we slept some.

We are now in London on our way home to DC.

See you soon…

Nepal!!!

We are in Pokhara, Nepal!!!  I was here five years ago, and I did not expect to ever return.  Who knew I would be around all these beautiful, grande mountains again!  I am so excited to be here.

What a wonderful, sweet finishing touch to ten months in South Asia…

monsoon and voices in my head

It has been raining a lot here.  Some of my coworkers had to wade through knee-deep water to get to work yesterday.  Fortunately, I found a rickshaw driver who took me right to the door step of my office.  Bless his heart!  I felt a little bad for making him walk through it, but if I didn’t hire him, I knew he’d just be waiting for someone else to hire him.  So, I might as well help him make a living while catching a dry(er) ride, right?  Once I got to the office door, the rickshaw driver stopped close enough for me to step onto a metal bench-type grate that we use to get into the office b/c the water actually comes into the building when it floods.  Then, I walked along the metal grate over the water in the entry way and onto the steps.  Ahh… safety…

Last time it flooded like that, I had to walk through the water from the taxi to the office door, which wasn’t so bad – until my foot collided with a clingy, unknown object.  Ok, it turned out to be a plastic bag, but still.  It freaked me out at first.  Actually, the water does not look that gross at the beginning of the day – aside from the occasional floating object or mushy, slippery, mysterious surface under foot (eww!).  

But, regardless of my efforts to convince myself that the water doesn’t look so turbid and harmful, the voice of my college biology professor, Dr. Goff, seems to be permanently implanted in my brain, reminding me that microscopic parasites are often quickly transmitted via water.  So, as a result of Dr. Goff’s health-conscious tutelage and my great desire to avoid elephantiasis, I have made it a policy to avoid sticking my vulnerable, sandal-clad feet in any water that is likely mixed up with various other water “sources” – if you know what I mean.  

But, alas, monsoon really is not so bad.  The flood waters subsided in time for us at the office to escape our confines for a late-ish lunch.  Now, the waters did rise quickly again last night, once the rain resumed, but it’s actually kind of fun.  Just another adventure before returning to the homeland.

a little of this and a little of that…

Things are changing around here…

We have two new interns.  They share the same name and the same apartment.  Kind of like Stephanie Tanner’s friends Jennifer and Jennifer, don’tcha think?    

I just moved into the spare room of the apartment of some married friends of mine.  I moved to make room for one of the new interns, but this move also symbolizes the last stage of my life here in South Asia.  It’s fun to be in a new neighborhood that has a different feel than my last neighborhood.  Last night, from the vent window in my bathroom, I heard adults and children talking, laughing, and clanging pots and pans or some other manner of metalic objects late into the night.  Interesting.  I definitely did not hear those noises of life from outside my last apartment…  There is also a pigeon permanently perched on the ledge outside my bathroom window.  So odd.  It is there every day.  It barely moves.  If I bang on the window, it will budge, but it does not fly away.  Maybe I should name him.  Any suggestions?

I lost my phone last night.  boo hao!  But, I have hope that Bill will find it at the restaurant we visited.  In the grand scheme of things, this seems to me not such a tragedy.  (no kidding)  Bill and I had a great date celebrating our one year of dating.  God has found me a great treasure, mis amigos.  :-)   

Some of my friends and I are planning another weekend trip three hours away from this place.  This will be one of the last two trips Bill and I take here.  Just a day trip.  A whole bunch of friends are planning to go.  and there will be handicrafts.  what more could I want, people?

Allrighty.  That’s all I’ve got for ya today! Check in later for more exciting news in the life of Kate. ha!

Seven, I mean… four and a half weeks left!

Ok.  So, I started this post three weeks ago and titled it “Seven and a half weeks left!”  And, now, look at the time!  I will be back in the US in four weeks and four days – not that I’m counting or anything…

I have started thinking about this wierd idea that I won’t be living in South Asia soon.  It still seems quite odd to me.  I have been living here for quite a while now.  It doesn’t seem like the time has passed quickly.  I guess, now, it feels like I’ve always been here, in a way… like this is now my default location on the planet.  so strange…  I’ve only been here for a little less than nine months, so I guess it doesn’t take long to start to feel like your current life has been and will always be your life.

So, yeah – I’ve been thinking of my life on the other side of planet… the next chapter, my next step, what’s around the bend, yadda, yadda…  I’ve been investigating jobs, but I’m thinking I might just exhale, you know?  Maybe I’ll work in a tea shop and do some legal temp work for a while.  I want, no NEED, to pay my bills, but I want to step back and re-examine my life a bit, you know?

***

so.  Let me just interupt my thoughts on transition back to America to say that… I’m always hesitant to say too much when I blog.  The internet is not private, you know.  And, blogging is really a lot like vomiting the contents of your brain out to ANYONE in the world who wants to study your thoughts!  yuck! 

This is the main reason I have not posted much – ok, Barbara, hardly EVER!  This is the main reason that I have been thinking of closing this blog.  I do not want to shoot myself in the foot by saying something that might give a future employer a negative impression of me.  Plus (!!), I just don’t see why I should throw out all my private thoughts for the entire WORLD to see!  This is the main reason that I journal, rather than blog.  If I just need to wring my brain free of its weighty sogginess, I usually can attain catharsis through scribbling in the joyous privacy of my own happy, lined notebook.  I started journalling when I was fifteen, and I just started journal number 22 on Monday!  Isn’t that exciting?  I’m planning on having some poor, young orderly read me all the (recorded) pages of my life once I am old and decrepit and (REALLY) deaf, sitting in my cushioned rocker in a nursing home.  I can just imagine some young whipper snapper screaming into my tired, used up ear canals, “But, Lord, what should I major in now?  I really don’t know what I’m going to do with my life!”  I am really looking forward to it.

***

Anyway, on to the regularly scheduled program.

I am really looking forward to being back in America.  I miss my family.  so much!  I miss calling my friends whenever I think of them.  (I love you!)  Yet, I am also glad to have a little more time to do some things that I want to do and see what I want to see before I leave this country for I don’t know how long.

I have wanted to live in this country for years.  I remember first becoming interested in this place and its people when I was in fourth grade.  Later, in high school and college, as a science geek, I thought I might move here and work as a doctor.  During law school, I met many great people who call this country their home.  So, last October, my many dreams and ideals met reality when God opened the door to allow me to live here.

Has reality met my many expectations?  Not really.  Reality is always different than theory.  Now, I find myself wishing I had savored the experience a bit more – read more books about the culture here, really reveled in the unique flavor that is this place. 

*sigh*  But, alas, such is life.  You could always do more, see more, etc… But, I would say that I am pretty satisfied with what I have done and seen and experienced.  I’ve attended a wedding here (the beginning of it, anyway), worn traditional clothing, traveled to Thailand to see friends I haven’t seen for several years, traveled to various spots in India to sightsee (including the Taj Mahal and Mother Teresa’s Mission) and to visit friends, visited rural areas of this country, seen most of the tourist sites in this city, and (most importantly) made some wonderful and life-long friends.  God has really blessed me with some interesting experiences during my almost nine months here.  Hopefully, He’ll let me pack in a few more adventures before I return to America.

Then, on August 3, 2008, I begin a whole new set of adventures – starting with my childhood best friend’s wedding in Ohio, followed by a vacation in Michigan with Bill’s family and my family the following week!  I’m excited! 

But, don’t worry.  I know I’m not there yet, and I truly am glad for where I am right this moment. :-)

a quick update

So, in an effort to update more frequently than, say every three months, I am going to give you a quick little update that doesn’t say a heap.

I am now 26.  

in all time zones in the world.

Oh – and Bill and I are going to Hyderabad to for business/socializing.  Yay.  I am glad to explore this area of the world a bit more before packing up and heading back to my home on the range.

ciao, amigos.