Real Sisters

"anyway ate cacang, i planted more mangroves because it reminds me of you. I also wrote an article about it."

This is an excerpt from a message from my sister (host sister). Whoa. I can't tell you how much and how many ways this touches me. What a wonderful message to wake up to. :)

It's no secret that Kristine and I didn't always see eye to eye. I think she would agree with you on that. The time I lived with her and the rest of our family she was 13-15 and I was 24-26, we're coming from very different places in our lives. I think the cultural differences can be completely bypassed for why we always didn't see eye to eye. I remember being her age. It's awful. The hormones. The crying jags. The temper tantrums. The feeling that no one understands you. A time I would never return to even if you paid me all the money in the world.

Why do I call her my sister rather than host sister? Well host sister seems very cold and distant and to me it diminishes the relationship I have with her as well as her mom, dad, brother, and grandma....not to mention all of the extended family. I lived with them for two years in their house, eating their cooking, sharing in all kinds of family events, it was so much more than being a spectator or anthropologist looking in on another culture. Perhaps it was how they treated me, as one of their own. Perhaps it was just this weird bond that formed between us. One of those once and a lifetime kinds of bonds. They aren't my host family, they are my family.

Kristine is 16 now and will be going to college in a month to study nursing, taking after mom. She's also an amazing writer and I hope she keeps it up. Not as a vocation if that's not what she wants but something for her...that hopefully she will find some way of sharing.

You can never have too much family. There is always room for one more.

filled with happy

It's rare when I wake up happy. I am the definition of not a morning person. But I woke up smiley. Checking the interwebs for emails, news, weather, gossip, facebook. And on facebook there was an onslaught of good news. Friends having success at work, friends having babies, friends with cheery facebook status messages.

Just a few things that made me happy this morning (it needs to be documented because I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON)

-I have the best bf ever
-I have the best family ever
-I have the best friends ever
-I love my new hair...yes I will shut up about this eventually
-I am positive that I will find a job that becomes a career that makes me happy and it will be amazing
-I love this house
-I love that the daisies Page got me a few weeks ago are still beautiful, bright and cheery
-I love that window, especially in the morning with sun coming through...it makes the whole kitchen a bright happy yellow
-I love this city
-I love that my friend Whitney will be back in the US in less than a week and a half
-I love my Peace Corps family
-I love chatting on the phone for hours with friends who have known me for years
-I love chatting on the phone for hours with friends who have known me for months




*refer to this post when feeling down

New Year, New Location, New Blog

Where to begin?

I suppose where I last left off. I finished up my Peace Corps service which was a whirlwind of emotions. I think I cried from the time I said goodbye to my Filipino family at the airport til the time I met up with other volunteers in Manila who were COSing as well. At the same time I was excited to travel and see what the world had in store for me next. Thailand and Cambodia were both amazing...in different ways. Thailand was about food, fun, and temples. Cambodia was emotional. I didn't know that much about Pol Pot's Regime or realize it's magnitude until seeing the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Museum.

Back in America now, making a life in Boulder, Colorado. Which I love more than I ever thought I would. Peace Corps made me pretty adaptable so I knew I would make this work and make it home. However, I didn't expect it to be home so soon. I love being able to walk downtown in 10minutes, I love being able to meet a friend for coffee or tea and kill an afternoon watching people, I love being in our kitchen whether its washing dishes or dicing garlic while catching up on the days events...

No job as of yet...that's the only downside. The job search is frustrating because everyone is looking and employer's are looking at mountains of resumes and you are just another name. But I have faith that something good will come about.


My non-Resolutions resolutions...
-find a job that I love
-learn Spanish
-establish an early/regular bedtime
-volunteer more
-go to the gym more
-climb harder routes with no taking and no cheating
-actually boulder without being a scaredy cat
-try to get into running...I hear its good for you
-read more
-write more postcards


I'm sure I'm leaving out something. eeeeep!


I am dedicating this first blog post to Dawn and Elise...Dawn I told you I would start up again if you did...sorry it took so long...Elise thanks for the blogging and climbing push.