joie de vivre

early a.m. ponderings about humanity.

2011-01-19T00:26:00.000-08:00

**this post is not to discredit any of the people who have dedicated and continue to dedicate their lives to doing extraordinary things, but rather to point out things i am finding to be more and more true.

today i have resolved to simply stop "being" and "be" more proactive while continuing to purposefully "be" lead forward.

i emphasize the verb "be" because more and more i am seeing the words "what" and "do"

dominate conversation. i wonder what it means to answer to these things on their own. i'll try to explain but at a later time because i've got other plans for this post.

as on most days, today the thought "what are w e doing?" kept coming to mind but it seemed more pressing than usual so i thought it deserved some attention.

-- i know questioning "doing" is kind of weird at this point in time because i am really interested in "being", but maybe this'll get there at some point.--

ANYWAYS

i hate to be blogging about facebook but sometimes it provides such thought provoking material/insight that it's hard to ignore.

at this late hour i am wondering how, in a culture that is obsessed with feeling good about yourself and "being the change you wish to see in the world" and "raising awareness", the collective "we" loves to act so frieking BAD.

we want to live lives that are tense and unsatisfied because we've situated ourselves into a permanent state of waiting for the next "thing"... the next lover, the next job, the next travels? we want to be people who run around spewing hate (i'm not talking about honest opposition) all over ideas and people that we dislike? we want to be so "in touch" with ourselves that we get stuck and end up disabling ourselves? we want to be so self-absorbed that we can't even find it in us to realize that our lives are smaller, but potentially s o much more meaningful, than we think? we want to be people who would rather idolize the people we can't stand than enthusiastically admire the people we love?

according to facebook, this is the change.

these are the things that are important to us.

oh my, ohhh my.

2011-01-09T23:34:00.000-08:00

per usual, it has been awhile and, as to be expected, a lot has been happening.

momentarily i am frustrated and as i have a blog that rarely gets updated due to lack of motivation i figured that now might be an appropriate time to overcome such a hindrance.

this post isn't to overlook or discredit any events that have happened over the past several months but rather it is to try to begin sorting the scattered array of thoughts that have stemmed from them. the longer i am in school the more knowledge i gain but somehow it is greatly surpassed time and again by thoughts&ponderings. any thoughts, really, but mostly there are questions. lots and lots of questions. sometimes they have answers (i absolutely am in a relationship w. wikipedia) but most of the time they are overwhelmingly ambiguous and are pondered until one of two things happens : i either

a. get frustrated and start thinking about something else or

b. discover something that is more interesting to me at the time and devote my thinking time to that.

unfortunately this method leaves me w. tons of fragmented ideas and un-connected brain stems that amount to a whole lot of not much. and is there anything more mentally frustrating than innumerable pieces that do not (or not yet, hopefully) equate?? i am nearly 100% convinced that the answer is no.

anyway, with all that said, the challenge for coherence begins--

with drugs, & mexico.

(how groundbreaking)

this could go in a number of different directions but what i am really interested in is the WTF factor.

even though that has been a long ongoing issue, i read this article when it first came out and i am still thinking about it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10681249

and we say not to use because they are bad for you.

honestly? WTF.

things in my life that are awesome...

2010-10-19T13:01:00.001-07:00

- the strangest/most unexpected semester yet (there may or may not be a further elaboration at a later date)

- the mysterious development of having time. maybe i am forcing it, i think it's graciously being given to me. either way i totes have time these days which has provided l o t s of room...

so lots of space:

lots of listening & quiet. over the past few weeks i had been thinking & wrestling w. a lot of different questions and concepts and i started to feel like God was telling me to be quiet.

in trying to honour this i went to malibu on friday afternoon and by the time i got to pch i knew it was absolutely what i needed to be doing.

as i was slowly rolling along in traffic i saw two kind of bum looking guys on bikes riding down the bike path and they looked to be having such a good time. i watched them stop at a trash can and when they opened it a dozen or so orange balloons began to float out before they were made an accompaniment to the afternoon ride.

it was so much fun to see, the cheery orange balloons being toted along under the looming gray rain clouds.

malibu was deliciously relaxing and it was wonderful to get to spend time with my grandparents, both of whom i hadn't seen for awhile. i just love their crazy selves so much.

saturday morning i slept in late and then went down to westward beach which was

s o l o v e l y. the sky was gray and raining but there were still quite a few people at the beach

(woo, socal!) and it was a most pleasant change of scenery from la mirada. when i parked and

got out of the to marvel at the beauty of the early afternoon, i heard the road calling my name

so i happily obliged it. it took me on a run up to trancas and by the time i returned to the car

i was soaked w. rain and lactic acid but ohh, how i was refreshed. so refreshed.

there is something magical about meditating on the infinite beauty and greatness of God while

running by the ocean. m a g i c a l.

the rest of the afternoon was spent with my grandmother, drinking tea and looking over

pictures from the trip she and my grandpa took to china & tibet in 2007. i seriously love them

so much it is ridiculous. the end of the afternoon was spent in gloriiious traffic returning from

my most needed mini-retreat :)

in other news...

- it's torrey - i'm going home on thursday morning - have 4 million things to do

graduation is in 7 months.

"i will proclaim the name of the Lord,

how glorious is our God!

He is the Rock; His deeds are perfect.

Everything He does is just and fair.

He is a faithful God who does no wrong;

how just and upright He is!"

deuteronomy 32:3-4

currently thankful is.

2010-09-19T01:20:00.000-07:00

- my mother for being inexplicably understanding and so friekin' WISE

- THE ISLAND (h o l y c o w. still after all these years, what IS this awesome place i get to call home??)

- my awesome house/roommate/housemates

- having the exceptionally good fortune of getting to share in the lives of so many rad people

- my parents for being normal hard-working individuals

- southern california (i have an addiction, so shoot me.)

- the further absorption of the greek experience and it's synthesis into the new version of my previous life

- being single (i know i talk about this all the time but seriously? it's so good how could i not mention it?)

-also, whatever was going on with this guy...

probs much to the surprise of no one. . .

2010-08-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

i am just so thrilled with the lovely state of life and SUMMER!

on their own they are too good but together they are just, TOO GOOD & maybe it helps that this is what i'm pretty certain is the best summer ever :)

ok, it hasn't been perfect but it might as well be!

a lot of serious (serious in a meaningful way, not simply serious subjects) thinking/pondering/questioning has been happening over the past few months (it started when i was in greece) and as i've thought about and questioned and pondered the same sorts of things i have watched them take root in my life and begin to effect the way that i do life.

in general these ponderings have included:

LOTS of thinking about humanity;

-- it's past states (when i think about things being bad today i always end up thinking about crazy times in the old testament; i.e. the end of the book of judges).

-- it's current state, particularly how much love people need (both to give and to receive) in light of what they're actually giving or actually receiving.

-- humanity in view of other religions & other people's thoughts . . . hinduism teaches that life is not unfair because in the very end the end will justify the means and this life will lead to a new one which will lead to a new one which will eventually lead to the soul becoming one w. itself, one w. god and things will be balanced. if this were to be true, to what degree do individuals effect other's lives? what does life mean if it's cyclical?

as well as lots of thinking about humanity in light of what i believe to be true about Jesus

and the atonement of sins

and my role as a follower in a world wallowing in sin.

this has, really awesome-ly, lead to lots of good questioning and brain-picking with friends and acquaintances as well as several opportunities to share my faith w. people.

it's been really really cool.

there's been more, a looot more, but as i leave for school in one week (and still do not have a place to live, ah!) i should pack.

ok, packing... packing... p a c k i n g . . .

in conclusion to the past 4 months of my life :

2010-06-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

i think i am actually growing up.

living in greece was simple but being there was often a challenge--

i could go where i wanted when i wanted and i was free to roam, but i never got used to the unabashed racism, the sporradic ferry/taxi/bus/whatever strikes, the coldness from so many of the locals and maybe just the greek mentality in general.

it is all still very much a mystery to me.

and as much as i (thought i) was absolutely done with greece when i left athens, the past few days (as to be expected, i suppose) i have missed it TERRIBLY

and looking back, i just had no idea what i was getting into... NO IDEA.

i was blissfully unaware of the friends i would make, the places i would travel to, the things i would fall in love with; all of which i have in some form or another brought home with me only to cause myself this -- the worst of nostalgia.

i know the yearning to return to moments that ceased to exist the second we stepped into the new ones will go away soon enough, but as for right now -- i feel like i could be on the beach by jimmy's happily dying of the sweltering heat or having breakfast at symposium or even walking to school in gail force winds

but i am at home, downstairs, sitting on the new couch, wishing the sun would come out for reals.

and in terms of (maybe) growing up, i am somehow more than ok with this.

while i miss my life in greece more than i could explain i am also SO happy to be home

to be with my fam, to get to go to work, to hang out with the girls all the time, to get to go paddling whenever i want, to make smoothies every morning...

i am so happy it's summer.

+ i am also obsessed with this poem

the world cannot bear the weightlessness of sparrows

or the confetti of our illegible addresses

the moon’s breathless ascent

the world cannot bear it

so the world makes heavy things

like airplanes

and skyscrapers

like your heart

and heavy things fall down

because the world cannot bear them either

-- "heavy things" by denver butson

++ dinner partyyy with the girlies tonight! can't waiiit!

so i left paros...

2010-06-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

after

a most memorable dinner at levantis and some delicious extra early morning homemade latte iron&wine love time with three of my faves

and the beach, OH THE BEACH. on the island i thought i lived close to the ocean, i had nooo idea...

swimming in the aegean will always be one of my favourite things of life and also, dying of heat after 2 secs. of laying out.

both are way too good.

so anyways, the point of all this is that i left paros and it was so strange because even though i had been there for three months, i didn't quite feel finished with it.

i felt like there were a lot of places that i hadn't been, places i wanted to further explore and other locations within close proximity that i would have liked to have visited...

so i guess that's life.

ANYWAYS

since leaving paros i have been in athens with my mom for the past two days and WHAT THE HECK WE HAVE BEEN HAVING SO MUCH FUN!!!

seriously suchhh a blast. i am kind of starting to be down with athens, i def was not into it all before (athenians are still out of control).

yesterday we did the acropolis (woot) and the acropolis museum (which i especially loved because it was frieking awesome).

and THEN later we went to the national archaeological museum...

what the heck. it was so frieking cool, i want to live there.

+ there were octopodes everywhere... who knew?

+ my mom and i just have way too much fun, that's pretty much the bottom line.

today we went to delphi and it was basically mammoth and catalina + ancient ruins and it was way cool/weird.

there were some women on our tour that were professors in tehran and it further reminded me of how much i need/want to go east... like reallyyy need/want to.

in other news...

tomorrow we're leaving on the cruise (wtf, i know) BUT on saturday we're going to be in istanbul and allie bell and tay tay are going to be there, woo hoo!

too excited.

ok, i am really tired. hopefully this thing can be updated at sometime during the c.

wah wah wah.

turkey and the life after after after.

2010-05-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

it has been a longgg time

too long

since which...

turkey.

it was a frieking triiip and there was literally nothing about it that was normal/expected.

. . . i have never ever ever ever ever been so surprised by a place in my entire life (and on SO many different levels). ever.

prior to leaving i will admit that i knew (next to) nothing about turkey (except)

- my bizarre common knowledge of some of the uglier history (mostly in regrards to the armenians and the kurds)

** in knowing these things turkey has never been somewhere i wanted to visit and therefore i was barely excited about getting to visit. haaaa.

- it being a predominantly muslim country which i automatically associated with indonesia which i figured would mean having to dress extra conservative all the time, not really being allowed to look males in the eyes, being so limited in where we could go and what we could do, feeling weird about being a female/the call to prayer again etc etc

-it wanting to become part of the eu (which i, in my very limited knowledge and perhaps ignorance, think is ridiculous because greece is definitelyyy pushing it by being part of "europe." in which case, turkey is out of the question so i thought that as a country it was extra stupid that they would try to join something that the geography/culture does not match. at all).

- the whirling dervishes (ok, their one cool asset).

that was pretty much it. when i added these things up the sum was less than desirable and i was certain there were a number of other places close by that were much more worthy of my time. (haaaa).

AND the extra weird thing is that i am the queen of research before i visit a place (any place) but i thought that turkey was going to be whack no matter what so i did zero research.

(** i knew the trip wasn't going to suck, my peeps are way too awesomeee and i knew we were going to have a fantastic time no matter what but i wasn't holding my breath that that would happen because of where we were going to be. also, in truth i was a little excited about getting to leave paros for awhile. and, the trip was dirt cheap which was why i definitely could not deny it).

we left paros at 11:30pm on the 15th and arrived in samos (one of the islands about an hour away from kusadasi, one of the main ports in turkey) at around 4am. after a long and comical stint and a random coffee shop we ended up with breakfast at hotel samos. (also comical. we were sooo tired!)

we arrived in kusadasi around noon and were met at the port by some guys from the hotel who took us to selcuk (town we stayed in, like 20 mins. from kusadasi)

when we arrived at the hotel. . .

- potentially very cute boy working at reception

- (sacntity of) room 401: tej tej + britts + me = OWNED. not only do i love these girls and not only was our room perfectly coloured/cozy/condusive to sleep but we had a sick view of the most precious park and the old part of selcuk. a really sick view.

- everyone went out that afternoon but i stayed back to take a shower and indulge in the most delicious nap of life. unfortunately i was rudely awaken after a couple hours by the call to prayer which i was pretty sure began with 'O-BA-MAAAA.' it didn't but it was still really, weird.

- that night we all went out to dinner which was fun and hilariiious and also weird and maybe made me a little skeptical

at the end of the day, i was glad i had come to turkey but also had no idea what the heck was going on. it was weird and also wonderful.

on our first full day in selcuk we spent the morning at the bazaar which was so cool and so much fun! we had a blast wandering around, trying different things, buying the coolest stuff ever and being exposed to turkish baklava : the most delicious thing in the whole world.

howeverrr. . . in general, i haaate not being able to communicate (even if it's the smallest things like basic phrases and numbers) with people in their own language. after several hours i started to feel lame about it so i went back to the hotel figuring that maybe someone there would teach me some turkish. . .

when i got back, who else would be working but potentially cute guy? ohh right.

when i asked him if he would help me he agreed and then he ROLLED HIS EYES AT ME but i was undeterred. i was going to learn some turkish and he was going to teach me, even he was weird.

his (western) name is adam, his real name is harun.

we sat and drank tea and he taught me the basics and then he needed to take some papers over to another hotel so i went with him and as it turned out, he was not weird at all.

after he dropped the papers off we ended up at a cafe in a park drinking lemon soda and talking about life. sitting in the park turned into ending up at the temple of artemis (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, i had no idea it even existed. good job, amy) which furthermore resulted in wandering around in a blossoming peach tree orchard on the way to some old roman ruins. . . he was an excellent guide and we had a lot of fun.

later we were sitting on a bench and as he was telling me about ararat, which is where he's from, i was trying to devise the most inconspicuous way to find out if (being from so far east...) he was actually turkish or something else (armenian?! georgian?! the possibilities were endless) as it turns out he is actually

kurdish. (!!!!!)

i died.

to get to talk with someone who is kurdish about kurdish people and kurdish issues and relations with turkey was seriously the best thing that could have happened. ever.

it was quite the afternoon and made for a perfect rest of the week.

that night i went out for turkish pizza with a few peeps and it was one of the best dinners of life. we laughed SO hard anddd our waiter was kurdish and filled us in on some of the more recent developments in regards to kurds in turkey. he was happy to share that things are improving.

later a bunch of us sat on the roof and smoked shisha for a long time. it was excellent.

and after all that, i really had no choice but to love turkey.

as the rest of the week went on. . .

- we visited a some reallyyy cool places!

ephesus : for reasons which go without explanation

pammukale : calcium baths, roman ruins, endless fields, the coolest pool i have ever swam in and good exploration

sirince : a little hill town famous for its fruit wine. the main part of town was kind of touristy but it was beautiful and we had fun so i'll take it

- i took one of the funniest/one of my fave photos i have ever taken. it still kills me!

- there was lots of silliness and we all loved all of it.

- room 401 always had good morning stories

- we got turkish baths : ah ha ha, it was TOO good. there were like 11 of us and the whole time we were just like, 'whaaat the heck. . .' ah ha, it was quite the experience.

adam and i also ended getting to spend quite a bit of time together which included. . .

- a few double dates with tej tej and mehmet (the owner of the hotel who totally had the hots for my girl) at gypsy camp restaurant

- late night walks in the old part of the city

- sitting around and drinking tea. lots of tea.

- one of the best night everrr which involved a kebap/baklava date, hanging out with some of my friends at a shisha bar and drinking efes and then hopping a fence to climb the steps of an ottoman castle so we could look out over the city

- dinner on the roof

- cruising around selcuk on a scooter that refused not to stall

- exploring st. john's basilica

so, that was good.

it was basically the perfect week and has probably (to some degree) ruined every other awesome place that i will ever visit. it was that excellent.

since then...

-marina and vale came to visit at the beginning of the month!

it was sooo much fun having them here! we had a blast.

-it has gotten SO FRIEKING HOT. beach day every day. pretty literally.

it honestly went from steady to mid-60s to steady mid-80s pretty much overnight. it is SO wonderful. i die of happiness a little bit everyday.

+ the water is DIVINE. it is so good!

-went to santorini a few weeks ago and it was SO MUCH FUN! we all stayed in fira for two nights and then two of my friends, allie and sam, and i stayed a 3rd night in oia.

-went to RHODES with tej tej last weekend. favourite place ever. maybe someday i will write a post about it but also maybe not.

-we had our art show the 28th/29th and it was really good but also insane because we ARE emotional beings. (mostly it was really good and we were also emotional and there was just a lottt going on).

a lot of people left today so last night we all went out to dinner and then sat on the beach drinking wine and trying to get all we could out of being together for the last time.

it was the perfect ending.

today was ridic b/c the majority of the peeps left so mars and i shopped forever and then sam and i were at the beach (which just KEEPS getting better. it is incrediiiible!) and THEN mars, sam, j. kirk, her mom and i all went to levantis for dinner and suddenly everything had come full circle.

i have been wanting to eat there since finals week and it did not disappoint.

tomorrow.

i leave. wtfrick.

but first: there will be morning homemade lattes, muchhh beach time and then seeing MY MOTHER.

life is so good, and mostly really cool. also, so frieking strange.

later days, paros.

santoriiini!

2010-04-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

the BEST WEEKEND EVER!

the girlies and i overlooking wonderful OIA!

poolside at our AWESOME hotel.

there are incredible places.

and then there are increeedible places.

santorini (much to the surprise of no one) was increeedible but i was more than pleasantly surprised at how much i LOVED it for all the commercialism/tourism attention it gets.

fira, the main city, was cool but i won't be ruined if i never return. oia (sisterhood of the traveling pants land), on the other hand, was another story. . .

the weekend:

marsy, bribs, tay tay and i left parikia at noon and after a quick stop in naxos and three short hours we were at thira's tiiiny main port : )

when we left paros the weather was beautiful and sunny but as we neared our final destination the clouds started move in and as we cruised through the caldera it started RAINING.

normally this would be a huge bummer, however, we were much too happy to care.

when we got off the ferry around 3:30 we were greeted by a man who drove us to our hotel (which we paid a whopping 10E for (HA!) AND they gave us breakfast!) where we rested and laughed and got ready for what would turn out to be one of our craziest nights yet. ha ha ha.

we were a 5 min. walk from fira's main little street which overlooks the caldera and was obvs INCREDIBLE so we walked around and explored a bit before we purchased a few bottles of wine and made our way to als and her mom's hotel. we were going to have a few drinks and then go have dinner but then we ended up hanging out for like 3 hours and we had SO MUCH FUN! their room was so sweet and had a great terrace overlooking the caldera + karon, als' mom, is AWESOME and it was just SO wonderful. ahhh! too good.

we left for dinner around 10 and ended up at this fish place where we had a most deliiicious feast, got rowdy (and a little bit messy) and probs laughed harder that ever before in our liiives!

when we finished we were on the verge of too full to move so we went back to the hotel to go to bed. . . on the way back we didn't want to embarrass our american-selves so we started speaking in british accents which we proceeded to do until we fell asleep and like pretty much everything else that night, it was SO FUNNY!

the next morning we woke up early an tay wanted to see some black sand beaches so we rented a car and then set off for OIA where we would be spending our 2nd night : )

we got there around 11:30 and then ventured to scout out our hotel which was seriously the BEST EVER!

tay tay didn't want to know anything about it before he could see it in person so when we walked up to it, all white-washed and cliffside overlooking the caldera, his first reaction was a gasp followed by a "no. way."

yes way, tay tay!

we stayed in a sweeet little 4-bed apartment and it was insanely rad. INSANELY.

after putting our stuff down we laid out at the pool for awhile and then karon came down and decided that she and als were gonna get a room and stay an extra night because the place was so frieking cool.

post-pool we had lunch at a ridiculously wonderful taverna and then went on the sisterhood pilgrimage where we scoped out every single location from the movie that we could find and we did a very thoroughly satisfying job. i am shamelessly obsessed with that movie so it was a dreammm.

bribs, als, me and marsy outside the door!

during the pilgrimage we laughed a ton, had a few joy freak outs, took lots of picts and FULLY enjoyed ourselves.

we welcomed the evening with wine and snacks by the pool before we proceeded on to watch the sunset, which is evidently the best sunset in the world.

it was not the best i have ever seen but i was thrilled nonetheless!

sunset in oia.

after the sunset we walked down the 300 steps to the sweet little fishing village of ammoudi where we had another FABULOUS dinner at a fish place right on the water.

the people at the restuarant were so kind and so wonderful and we just had the best time!!

on the dock (yep, the one that lena falls off before meeting hot kostos!!!) in ammoudi.

so, that was awesome.

the nest day we woke up and ate a wonderful breakfast on our patio and then the rest of the peeps wanted to black sand beach hop so i stayed back in ammoudi for the day exploring on my own :)

IT WAS THE BEST!

i loveee the people i was with but it was SO WONDERFUL to be able to go out and see things on my own and explore when i wanted and to sit for as long as i wanted wherever i pleased.

i spent a little bit of time in the town but i was stuck on ammoudi so i spent most of the day down there.

it was wonderfulwonderfulwonderful.

before heading back up to catch my bus i walked by the restaurant we had eaten at the night before and the same guys were working and they invited me to sit down so i sat at a sweet table on the water and we chatted and when i ordered a coffee they gave it to me on the house.

coffee in the early afternoon in ammoudi.

TOO PERFECT.

definitely one of the best afternoons of life.

we were all bummed to the island leave but SO EXCITED to be going back in a few weeks!!!

oh, and excited for turkey, too : )

we leave tonight at 10:30 and then we're coming back around the 25th-ish.

i don't really have any expectations and i have no idea what to expect but i'm excited!!

new post when i get internet again!

ammoudi bay...

there is literally NO good reason in the world to not be obsessed with this place!

island fever.

2010-04-09T07:22:00.000-07:00

greece is still awesome (of course) and i lovee paros a little bit more everyday

but now that we're approaching our 7th week of togetherness, island fever is starting to set in and it's causing some people to get a little bizarre and tensions to rise.

anyways

as any good islander would, i know that when island fever begins to set in there is only one cure: to flee from the situation and move on to more torquoise-y seas.

in which case, i am lead to believe that this

is a better offer than what current times are offering in the hisa dwelling.

so, decided a few hours ago, in a most whimsical fashion -- two of my fave girlies, bribs and marsy, and our main man, tay tay

are GOING.

it's going to be inexplicably wonderful to get out of the group atmosphere, which hasn't been at its finest lately anyway, and just have some time to be away.

however, i have been incredibly fortunate to connect with some awesomeee people that i get along swimmingly with and are SO wonderful.

i am well and things are good, i am going to unexpectantly hope that santorini is fantastic.

also, als and her mom are there right now so we'll get to see them, too!

in other news. . .

in a time not long from now, i will write about the deliciousness that i have semi-recently become acquainted with

but for now

the other day i started craviiing whole wheat banana pancakes so this morning i made some and tej tej, bribs, bobs and marsy (who made a most delish fruit salad) came over and we ate pancakes and chatted.

then i made hummus, which is still waiting to be eaten.

it was a most perfect friday morning : )

those have been the "big" happenings since the last post, it's been a pretty meh-ish (and somehow incredibly dramatic) week for everyone so i am more than ready for some getaway rejuvy juv time.

long live the cyclades.

"ke gamo ta skinika!"

2010-04-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

once upon a time last wednesday night two of my faves, als & tej, and i decided to go for a stroll around parikia.

we meandered toward the other side of town and on the way got stopped by an overly ambitious young greek and his two friends who kind of looked like zombies. ambitious guy asked us our names, picking up allie and tej easily enough but somehow my name was beyond his comprehension. he called me kiwi.

then he asked us to get coffee so we kept walking.

we ended up in the old residential area of parikia and after exploring for a little bit walked down an alley which brought us out to the piazza of an old church, across the street from the sea.

it had been our intention to stroll for a bit before meeting bobs and taylor at the old abandoned church but when we heard music coming from down an alley next to the church we followed.

a few winding alleys later we found ourselves walking by the open doors of a room that looked like someone's dining room, full of happy greeks eating, drinking and making music.

tej & als were a little ahead of me and wanting to get a better idea of what it was that i was seeing, i was going to take a shameless peek inside but then this big happy greek guy appeared at the door and was like, "AH! you must all come in! come in! come in!" and excitedly motioned for us to come inside.

with zero hesitation we went inside and before we really knew what was going on we had joined two men and a woman sitting at a table behind a big group of younger looking people who were sitting near the door. the men and the woman instantly gave us wine and started offering us food which we more than gladly accepted and then a woman from the big group turned around and started talking to us. her name is anna and she's been all over the world and she's awesomeee. some of the guys from their group (there were probs like 10 or 11 of them) were the ones playing the music (on their extra legit greek/turkish instruments) and it was the most wonderfully greek sound i have ever heard.

everyone sang along and clapped and then there were some wooden spoons and a tambourine that were passed around.

OH MY GOSH, SO MUCH FUN.

everyone was SO sweet and so much fun and they kept pouring us wine and giving us delicious batter fried fish and veggies. anna's english is like perfect so we got to chat with her and this other guy, fivos, who is awesome AND has lived in rome AND speaks italian (!!!)

and we thought we were going for a quick stroll. ha.

more happenings...

when we asked anna where we were she was like, "this, is a taverna" and i couldn't believe that any other "taverna" could even try to boast such a title (there are tavernas everywhere but this place was outrageously legit)

marcos, the guy who wanted us to come in, loves us to the max

when i said thank you because he was SO nice, he was like, "no thank you, this is the greek way! this is the way of paros! welcome to paros!"

and when he suspected we were drinking too much (which we were not because who wants to blow such a cool sit?) he was like, "not only drink wine! you must eat! i will get you more, what do you want?" so he got us more fish and it was SO GOOD!

tejey tej did some lovely indian classical dancing

fivos and anna taught us some crucial greek

marcos and i greek danced and he told me that i was a "fantastic dancer." (points)

we played the turkish drum and the wooden spoons

and drank sun dried parian wine

before it felt like any time had passed it was somehow 2:30am so we exchanged info and said good-bye to our new friends.

on our way home we decided to stop by saloon d'or to say hi to kostas and yiannako but when we got to the bar kostas was the only one working. we had barely said hi before he was shaking something up in a martini shaker and like, "i will give you a free shot! but don't tell yiannako because they are very expensive!"

without saying a word except for "yamas!" one shot very quickly turned into not two but THREE screaming orgasm shots.

haaaa.

after that we danced a few songs and then went back to jimmy's, giddy and excited about the wonderful surrealness of our parian lives.

one of the best nights in greece (or in my life, ever) FOR SURE.

other high lights...

saturday the 20th was the day that changed everything because it was the day that i started to fall in love with greece.

we all met in the morning and then drove to lefkes where we dropped off at the head of an ancient byzantine road. we hiked the road and then were picked up in the town below lefkes to be whisked off to barry's awesome house for lunch.

barry, our awesome hisa director, lives with his wife, yuko, and their precious daughter, mona, up in the hills behind parikia. he has a bunch of land on which he's built a beautiful house and studio and lots of terraces for growing fruits and veggiiies. he also has a bunch of olive trees (obvs) which make the most delish olive oil everrr.

before we could have lunch we had to partake in some hisa slave labour which required us removing rocks out of the dirt of one of the terraces. yep.

when we were happily rewarded with beer & wine and later an exquisite variety of salads and meats.

also, it was SUNNY and BEAUTIFUL. and it was pretty warm

which, you know, automatically equals happiness.

we sat on the roof where we wined and dined pretty much all afternoon and relished in the fact that what we were experiencing was indeed reality.

that night we went out and danced and it was perfect!

the weekend of the 27th we went to naxos, one of paros' neighbouring islands

and obvs it was a BLAST!

naxos town was rad to the max

(so greek islands)

- sat in the sun

- explored w. bribs & jarre and laughed the whole time

- ate the most delish gelato since athens

- saw a BENETEAU!

- saw this sexy guy

(obvs i am all about hairy men washing down their boats in their tightie whities)

and also had another intensely greek experience...

saturday night, our one night on naxos

- had the best 4E sangria ever

- we went to this bizarre-o mexican place that we stayed at for WAY too long

- upon leaving the "mexican" place some of us went to explore our after hours options and after getting lost, some people getting feisty and complaining, we split up. four went to a small dark bar and myself & 5 other girlies ended up at this awesome wine bar.

at the wine bar...

- a strange greek named yianni bought us all a shot (ask me about what happened when he tried to take one, it might have been the single funniest thing i have EVER witnessed).

after awhile yianni was too weird and we wanted our other friends to come join in on the experience so i went down the extra greek island alleys to seek them out...

when i walked into the bar it was so dim and our peeps were sitting in a corner by the door. there was loud greek music playing and i think britts was dancing so we busted out the moves and then...

- the waitress gave us a tambourine

- the bartender gave us both a shot

- people at the bar yelled "opa!" and snapped their fingers

- they also threw tons of napkins on us

it was a blast and after awhile the girls from the other bar came down and we danced and played the night away together.

towards the end we asked brayden, our lone male accompaniment, to take a picture of all of us but when he did a man sitting at the table next to us threw peanuts at him so we left.

ah ha ha, best night everrr!

there has been SO (so so so) MUCH more going on but i felt like the two greekest experiences i've had thus far should be posted.

greece is still awesome as ever, this is seriously the most kick a. study abroad program ever.

new post soon, for reals! : )

almost abZORBAd.

2010-03-17T05:56:00.000-07:00

(haaaaa).

today is the two week marker, it feels like i have been here forever and also like i just arrived.

some things about general parikian greek life that i have learned thus far . . .

coffee = expensive (and so delish b/c the illy flows freelyyy!). coffee shops = flaming infernos of ash and smoke constantly being blown into the air.

toilet paper can never be flushed (all the pipes are too teeny tiny) so all toilet paper must get thrown in the trash.

& some things about my greek life . . .

i am becoming a morning person (yay!)

sundays are pastry sunday. the bakery has a million of the most delicious things ever so i only allow myself to go once a week, on sundays : ) thus far i have not been able to tear myself away from the cream pastries to explore my other options, they are just SO delicious. the filling (which i originally thought was a weird apple sauce, it's that other worldly delicious) is surrounded by the most delectable filo dough and then topped with powdered sugar and then lightly sprinkled with cinnamon. it is really TOO good.

thursdays are gyro thursdays. since gyros are cheap and delicious and i could eat one everyday, i save them for thursdays when i have class all day so they are extra looked forward to. another thing about the gyros. . . we always go to the same place and the same man is always there working so we call him 'the pita man.'

the past two fridays some friends and i have gone to this awesomeee fish place like 2 mins. from school b/c it is SO GOOD! b/c of this there is talk of fridays becoming 'fish fridays'.

anddd. . .

wednesday nights: casual wednesday : )

since no one wants to wait until the weekend before we can go out again we go out on wednesday nights, too.

on casual weds. we also get drinks at 1/2 price at saloon d'or, our most frequented hang-out (b/c we loveee it!)

some things about the saloon:

there are 2 bartenders, yiannouki (sp?) who is an older guy and so awesomeee and there is kosta (WOO!) who is young and gorgeous and IS (the hot/young version of) poopie kakas from 'my life in ruins.' (haaa.) they are so wonderful and so nice, we have a blast everytime!

the dj (who plays sweet tunes) has been given the name 'dj 6inch' b/c there are always like 6 inches between his shirt and his pants (when he turns around roughly 3 of these inches are crack).

i particularly love him b.c of the music. without my requesting he has continually played . . . "beep", "sweat", "i gotta feeling" and tons of other favesss (to each one i scream, "I LOVE THIS SONG" as soon as it comes on. obvs.)

our group is SO fun to go out w. b.c everyone loves to dance and we just have sooo much fun!!

classes thus far have been really good. most of what we're learning is in some way applicable to our location which has been so cool and also so different from anything else i've ever really done before.

lit is taught by larry, who is a poet and so cool. there are 3 other people in the class and we just finished the odyssey : )

digital imaging and historical sites of the mediterranean are taught by this guy cameron who is SO knowledgeable it is crazy and sooo enlightening.

historical sites (tied with lit) is probably my favourite class so far. the hisa program puts a big emphasis on exploring and adventuring so we've taken some trips around the island and then there are some weekend trips to other islands in the cyclades coming up.

exciting!

creative writing is taught primarily by barry, writer poet/ founder and director of the program, but larry is there, too.

it is awesomeee! i'm doing creative writing poetry so we've written poems and read them in class and it's just a really cool time. (that sounds so lame but it really is awesome!)

film studies is taught by george crane, a writer traveler man. we read books and then watch the movies : ) we've watched 'all that jazz' and then last night we watched 'zorba the greek.'

we just finished 'the lover' so tomorrow night we're watching the movie which should be, interesting.

i'm auditing greek on thursday afternoons and it is hard. REAL HARD. and unfortunately, not the most practical language one could know. ohh well.

ok, there is still lots to say but i think this is good for now : )

new post tomorrow (hopefully!)

an abridged collaboration of recent places & events.

2010-03-07T03:16:00.000-08:00

[i have perfect internet in my apartment. praise the LORD.]

as of tomorrow, i will have been in greece for a week but before i go into the deets about that i have got to highlight rome b/c it was absolutely one of the best weeks ever.

friday day i was so excited about going to caravaggio & the irish pub that night that i had totally worn myself out which caused me to sleep from 4pm - 1am.

totallyyy missing the point. love jet lag, it was kind of incredible b/c then i went back to sleep around 3 and didn't wake up until 9 or so.

shoot.

saturday, however, (to make up for lost time on friday night, of course) was the funnest everrr!

sam, vale and i ventured to the colosseum and took a tour b/c for as many times as i'd been there i'd never gone inside (and neither had vale, interestingly enough).

it was, interesting but way fun b/c the three of us were together.

on the way into the colosseum a gorgeous new zealand jake gyllenhaal look-alike (whom we heard speaking spanish, italian AND english w. an accent) crossed our paths and it was obvs thrilling.

that afternoon we explored some more of the city and then waited in line for awhile for caravaggiooo which (obviously) resulted in a most thrilling culmination.

and i got to see BACCHUS again. yes.

post-caravaggio we ended up back at vale's but since it was italy v. scotland rugby weekend (what else?) vale and i had to go hit up an irish pub but sam stayed in.

we met up w. her boyfriend's (alessandro) friend who wanted to h/o b/c he speaks english and he took us to this place called the scholar's lounge which was a little ways off piazza venezia.

such a friekin fun time.

the place was jammed wall to wall with drunken scots in kilts & sporins and some random americans (including myself and some east coasties from a study abroad group in florence who were in rome for the weekend) but the music was lame.

vale, alex and i sat at a table outside and quickly made friends with some of the peeps from florence. mid-conversation with this one girl i heard a familiar tune

so i freaked out and pulled her back into the pub with me

we may or may have bumrushed a security guy to get to a private balcony that may or may not have had a private party

but we did indeed sing the words to 'party in the u.s.a.' at the tops of our lungs and dance like crazies as the whole pub (kilts & all) went wiiild.

in keeping with the greatness of the situation the dj proceeded to play 'i gotta feeling' & 'single ladies' after which i made my exit and we went back to the apartment.

so stoked. SO MUCH FUN.

sunday morning luigi came to rome so we played around in the city for a bit and then went back to the apartment around 2 b/c pina and tonino were coming for lunch! woo!

we had to take the metro b/c the bus sched was off so when we got to the stop i went to make a bee-line for the benches b/c my feet were le tired and sitting there, kind of unsurprisingly,

was sexy jake gyllenhaal guy.

ok, life.

semi-unlike myself i opted to stand.

lunch was wayyy fun and afterwards we went over to giancarla's which was also way fun.

that night we went out (angela, vale's cousin and her boyfriend, carlo came out with us, too) around 10:30 and met up with alessandro, alex and another one of their friends. we wandered for awhile looking for a place to go

and my 21st birthday began by wandering the streets of rome in search of campo dei fiori.

when got there we found an enoteca at which we sat outside and had drinks. it was really fun except sam and i got cactus berries which were not the most delicious things ever. boo.

post-enoteca we got nutella crepes (obvs) and they were SO DELICIOUS.

the next morning we had to wake up at 5 (yuck) and, after a freakishly bizarre series of events, arrived at fiumicino where sam and i parted ways and were off!

my flight to athens was at 10 and literally the second i stepped onto the plane i was greeted by a "kalimera" from an outrageously good-looking greek steward.

there was also a class of a bunch of italians which made me really happy and also kind of sad at the same time.

leaving italy is never my favourite thing ever, even when i'm leaving it for greece...

athens was fun but really hectic.

hisa booked us all rooms at a hotel like a block from monastiraki square which was perfect and such a good location.

during the 2 days we were in athens...

met the other students, all of whom are awesome

celebrated my 21st grecian style

explored the city (which, i can't lie, is not my favourite)

explored the acropolis (which is awesome)

and then we woke up at 5 on wednesday morning to catch a 7:30 ferry to the island which dropped us off around 12.

and now, here i am. on paros. :)

the town we live in, parikia, is small but it seems to have everything which is nice since we're so far athens.

we've been here for 4 days and still whenever we go out and try to discuss where we are the only things anyone can think to say are, "wait, what?" "how did this happen?" "HOW did we get HERE for study abroad?"

it is that beautiful and that cool. it's unbelievable, really.

we all live in the same apartment complex with our own rooms, bathrooms, kitchenettes and balconies. the building is white-washed with blue shutters and all, typical.

on friday we all took a bus tour around the island which was reallyyy interesting b/c the island is so small (it only takes like 45 mins. to drive around) but it seems like there's quite a bit here

and things are especially interesting b/c all the islanders are frantically trying to get ready for the start of tourist season.

which i cannot deny, i am pretty excited for.

the town is cool but it's almost a little eerie b/c it's such a summer place so a lot of things are still closed for a few more weeks.

classes officially start on monday but for some reason we had friday classes yesterday (saturday).

class schedule is as follows...

monday... lit. 3-4:30

tuesday... digital photo 10-12

creative writing 12:30-2

film studies 5-7

wednesday... historical sites of the mediterranean (field trip extravaganzas) 12:30-2

thursday... same as tuesday but + greek 2:30-4

friday... lit. 3-4:30

classes are in this awesomeee 18th century merchant's house which is like a 10 min. walk from our apartments. (the walk to "school" consists of walking along the ocean, through part of the town, small cobblestone alleyways & all.

have i mentioned how wonderfully bizarre all of this is? that's really just it.

unfortunately, the weather sucks today. it's cold, gray & rainy...

OH! also, it is ALWAYS SO WINDY here. so windy. which is exciting, but not the most fun thing ever.

i'm reallyyy looking forward to classes officially starting tomorrow because as fun as the last week, i'm kind tired of transitioning and ready for some sort of stability. even if it does mean school work :)

i'm also really, REALLY looking forward to hot sun.

the hectic life.

2010-02-28T21:24:00.001-08:00

as much as i want to say, this will have to be quick :(

my flight's at 10 and we have to leave vale's in like 35 mins...

this should come as no surprise to anyone, but i just wanted to re-state my undying affection for this bizarre country i have come to love so dearly.

on tuesday afternoon, after a long and sleepless flight, sam and i arrived in zurich before catching our 6pm flight for rome.

before we left the states communications with vale had gotten lost in translation so when we arrived at a fiumicino we were basically destination-less (as well as exhausted!). we ended up on a bus that took us to termini where we found a pensione and decided to stay there for the night.

valentina got ahold of us around 9:30 and we made plans to meet her at termini at 10 the next morning.

since meeting her at termini on tuesday morning we have...

shown samantha the sights

gone out for tiramisu

spent a lot of time waiting for/being on buses :) (woo hoo, public trans!)

eaten vale's most delicious cooking

seen a protest

hung out with alessandra, our friend from isernia, and had dinner at her place

drank lots of espresso

seen giancarla and the babyyy! YAY!

and since friday SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED!

gosh, and i thought rome was going to be boring. HAAA.

hopefully i will have reliable internet again soon (it has been horriiible here), so i can post peeetchas and things.

but, to keep you interested, stories soon to come... :D

the epic nap

il colosseo

hot/random guy

the irish pub

greece this afternoon... seriously? seriously. ma non voglio partire di roma :(

la dolce vita e'

2010-02-18T22:03:00.000-08:00

...going out in the hills to take sweet hikes...

with my awesome parents.

... my grandmother being all colour-coordinated and super cute.

... my room that i love
... oh and,
ONE OF MY FAVOURITE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD COMING WITH ME TO ONE OF MY FAVOURITE CITIES IN THE WORLD!! AHHHH!!

samantha is going to rome with meee!

SO EXCITED!!

it was the most random/wonderful thing ever... she came over this afternoon and we looked for cheap flights and we found them SO easily.

it was more than thrilling.

and that's basically it.

also, i hate packing :)

it is real tiring. and also, stressful.

t-4 days!!

mm, febs.

2010-02-15T23:17:00.000-08:00

you are a good month.

and while this past weekend has been beyond wonderful, it has legitimately caused me to the work the hardest i have ever worked at the restaurant. evereverevereverevereverEVER.

friday night, all day saturday, sunday night. it was always hectic and it never stopped.

i was constantly hot/heated/running around, over my head, overwhelmed and always 2 tables behind.

during my double on saturday i went in at 11, and didn't have time to check out after lunch so i had dozens of tickets floating around all night until they were able to be compiled when things finally started to slow down around 9.

holy cow.

while this is exhausting and semi-frequently causes me to lock myself in the walk-in freezer to stomp my foot and shout obscenties in order to cool off

i LOVE my job.

i love

getting to meet people from all over the world and let them in on a little part of my life

the people i get to work with (there will be a blog dedicated to them shortly)

always getting to work with my hilariousawesomelovingcaringwonderful DAD

getting to sell things that i love and am excited about

the potential of every new customer that gets seated in my section

getting to look out over the ocean alwaysalwaysalwaysalways

i also love reading people's names on their credit cards when they use them to pay

repeat customers

and i love the restaurant because it always makes me think of sweet grandma hazel

from the time i was 10 or 11 until the time i started waitressing the summer after i turned 18, i spent countless hours working with her on the door

listening to her stories

laughing about mishaps and server freakouts

dealing with crazy customers

discussing life

amongst sooo many other things

tonight i was standing at the hostess desk and as i looked out onto the harbour, just as dusk was beginning to set in

i thought about all the times i had stood the same way and looked out onto the same view but with grandma hazel sitting at the desk

i thought about all the summers i'd stood there and been so happy at the state of life

"ah, i loveee summer," i'd so often tell her

to which she would always breathe a sigh and respond, "oh, i know, i just love the summer"

and all the septembers and octobers and aprils and mays i'd stood there

and wistfully said, "ah, i wish it were summer."

to which she would always respond, "oh me too, i can't stand the winter."

i miss walking her down the breezeway and out to the street to wait for grandpa woody.

also, i love the restaurant because i get to see so many PRECIOUS children!

i am not kid crazy (i barely even like kids) but the cutest kids ever come through that place.

today i waited on this party of 10 and they had this little wide-eyed boy with them who, when i walked up to the table, leapt out of his chair and right next to me started jumping up and down going, "cheeseboga!cheeseboga!cheeseboga!"

haaaaaaaaaaa.

ok, i love my job.

in other news...

a week from right now i will be on a plane to switzerland and i am collectively FREAKING OUT

(at this point i don't want to leave home for italy & greece, so sue me.)

. . . as much as i love going places i also hate leaving places.

i miss my friends a WHOLE friekin lot and am excited to see peeps SATURDAY! (but also not excited to leave the island, bahhh.)

i love tuesdays with my parents.

we wake up early

go to sally's for breakfast

go for a hike and then come home and lay around

i loveee my parents.

i love tuesdays.

valentine's day.

2010-02-15T01:12:00.000-08:00

might be my new favourite holiday, at least for the way it occured this year...

and just why was this year so special?

i would love to tell you.

for starters, (for the 20th year in a row) i did not have a valentine.

to some this a tragic and demeaning state of being, but to me, it is the blankest of canvases and the brightest of futures. not being romantically involved with someone is particularly thrilling to me at this point in life because it allows me

much

time.

i think time is something so misconceived because while everyone is aware that we never have enough of it, we forget we have it at all and that in having it we have

endless

possibilities.

endless. possibilities. endless possibilities.

i'd like to take my endless possibilities around the world a time or two to see where they take me before i succumb to the fate of the rest of my natural born life.

valentine's day is an excellent reminder of this.

i also love vday because (while i may seem like a cynic) i am a romantic at heart and love celebrating lovers, even when there is an inescapable explosion of them i.e. vday weekend '09 catalina island

i also love valentine's day because it is a (hallmark) holiday which means:

people go to restaurants and order things that they wouldn't typically order ("why yes, i would love to serve you a bottle of veuve cliquot with filet mignon and lobster tails")

so i get to dote on precious couples while also making bank. hell yea.

and chocolate covered strawberries.

need i say more?

OH WAIT. but there IS more

to make this valentine's day even more wonderful than normal, the weather

was

PERFECT!!

and by perfect, i mean perfect.

it has been warm, sunny & delicious.

+ the island is green as ever due to the freakish amounts of rain over the past few weeks

there have been boats in the harbour and yesterday afternoon, as the sun was setting and the temperature was perfect, i was outside waiting on a table when i saw a man paddle by with his son on the board with him.

oh, yesss.

. . . there has been tons more going on but i just wanted to give valentine's day some unadultered attention since it's so, you know, friekin awesomeee.

my life is

2010-02-07T21:38:00.000-08:00

AWSOMEEE.

a short synopsis of the past five wonderful days:

catharsis [kuh-thahr-sis] the purging of the emotions of relieving of emotional tensions, esp. through certain kinds of art, as tragedy of music.

as much as i despise junk, there is some sentimental part of me that cannot bear to part with stuff. (and by stuff i mean things that were significant once upon a time; letters from boys i used to like, old generic birthday cards, random receipts and things of the like, old bottle caps, etc. i.e. : useless crap). when we lived out at hamilton cove i had a drawer in my desk that was dedicated to all my "stuff" and when we moved to the new house, my junior year of high school, the contents of that drawer went into a box which then ended up in the corner of my closet where it was subsequently forgotten about.

until wednesday.

after a few days of much needed veg-out afte time i set to work on the big project i am determined to complete by wednesday the 10th; a room detox.

the detox started with the bookshelves and drawers, easy enough.

...the result of this was a large pile of books which are no longer of any use to me and a trash bag full of old school assignments (sick, i know), magazine articles and an assorted variety of other expendables.

somehow this eventually caused me to end up in my closet where i happened upon the box:

the primary sources of my school years 6th-10th and past-things most dear to my heart.

quite unlike i remembered everything, there was (so overwhelmingly) A LOT there.

i can't do much in the way of trying to explain how bizarre an affair this was, but it was very strange and provided a most cathartic experience.

anyways, i think i'm about halfway through this "detox" and will be more than thrilled when it is over.

also...

+ got to have dinner in l.a. with the lovely piehay on thursday night

+ got to be in the biola area later on thursday night/friday morning which allowed to me see some of my favourite peeps which was more than wonderful!

(+ had an epiphany relapse during a chat with some lovely girlfriends which i'll elaborate on in a later post)

+ it was rainy & stormy (mhmm!)

+ due to the generosity of her wonderful boyfriend jules was able to come to the island for the weekend!

YAYYY ! ! !

AND WE SAW ORCA WHALES WHILE WE WERE ON THE BOAT!

too awesomeee.

in honour of jules' visit we participated in some of our favourite roommate past times which included:

+ staying up way too late and sleepiiiing in

+ watching movies!

+ making brunch (& espresso via la macchinetta! woo woo!)

yummm.

photo by jules :)

+ discussing life & such.

+ laughing lots

+ making new friends

we love us some ryan gosling in the raiiin!

+ drinking lots of tea & coffee

+ eating sweet things

... and basically just enjoying the gift of our friendship and all of the fun things that in involves!

mm, life is good.

home has never been so good.

2010-02-02T21:33:00.000-08:00

nevernevernevernevernevernevernevernevernever.

AH! IT IS SO GOOD! i am freakiiing out.

and this is how the majority of my time has been spent...

sleeping : )

running/hiking

with the fam

readiiing (thru the whole Bible. fur re-eals.)

playing in the kitchen

... making lovely things & doing dishes : )

(yesterday i busted out la macchinetta & made legit espresso, wooot!)

and mostly just loving (everyyyy moment) that i do not have class for another month.

there have been a bunch of squid boats out in front of the harbour for the past few nights (since there are evidently GIANT SQUID squirting around) so tonight before dinner my dad and i went out to document and this is some of what we saw

... from our balcony!

... from the steps of the dive park!

... dive park again : )

i love being home. have i mentioned that yet?

on thursday i'm going overtown with the grandmothaaa to drive up to ventura to retrieve the pearl, back from battle.

thursday night i will be at biola which is, you know, THRILLING(!)

because

as much as i love being home, i miss miss miss my peeps at school. not the best thing ever.

tonight while doing the dishes, and gracing the parentals with the infectious sounds of lady gags, i turned around to see my dad looking out the window, flicking the outside lights on&off really fast (techno chocolate anyone?) and dancing.

holy cow. i love my dad.

and i love my mom. a lot. this afternoon we made scones and had tea time, it was ultra wonderful.

before all of this happened we went out to breakfast and then went on a hike.

HOW IS THIS REALLY MY LIFE?!

ohhhh, my sweet Jesus. mercimercimercimercimercimercimercimerci.

in avalon.

2010-01-31T20:53:00.000-08:00

from this point on, i'm seriously going to be serious about blogging...

so, for now, a recap.

since point reyes (which was AWESOME)...

got into my first car accident. next time you see a homeless person on the side of the road, do NOT try to give them

food.

had a different but wonderful Christmas, we all missed grandma hazel.

had an awesomeee interterm.

worked hard, played hard, learned SO MUCH.

packed my life out of the dorms forever.

had the BEST mammoth trip OF LIFE.

and now, i am home. again. for 3 weeks.

in the weeks leading up to the day when i would be here, moved back into my parent's house, i wasn't exactly sure what to expect.

i assumed it would be weird and a little bit uncomfortable since so much of me is still at school, however, now that i'm here, i must say i'm pleasantly surprised at how good it feels!

today i...

slept in :)

continued the organization/sorting of all my "stuff", most of which i someday hope not to have

made a most DELICIOUS brunch with my mumsie and then we went for a hike!

spent the afternoon reading/ in the kitchen making a pear ginger streusel which was diviiine

and spent a good deal of time laughing at these...

haaaaaaaaaa!

also, i have no class tomorrow :) WOO HOO!

the beginning of the first solo adventure.

2009-12-21T11:30:00.000-08:00

the last blog was written at the end of what was probably the most golden point of the semester.

since then...

grandma hazel passed away on friday the 27th and her funeral was the next wednesday. there were lots of family things going on and despite our huge loss, there was something special about us all being together under circumstances which i had never experienced before.

her funeral was the most beautiful thing in the world and the Holy Spirit was more than present.

in light of everything that had happened, school was put a little bit to the side but not so bad that any major problems would ensue from it.

except that my hard drive crashed the following tuesday (and i lost everyyything) which set me back a solid 5 days on school work.

this added a lot of stress to what was already going to be a heavy finals week. THEN a few days after that i found out that my small baby sister was now dating someone and not being entirely sure how to handle that situation, major family drama ensued.

and then finals week happened and it was hell. beginning on monday morning at 8 and not ending until thursday night at 7.

normally these (the school/family drama) are the details i would like to forget but because they are the reason i am where i am now, they're kind of significant.

on wednesday night i realized that i was totally fried/out of focus and knew that i couldn't go into Christmas like that.

so, i booked a 3-night stay and left socal for a hostel in point reyes, a small town (pop. 300ish?) about an hour or so north of san francisco.

i have only be here a night but i am quite certain that this may be one of my favourite things that i have ever done.

in short...

for starters, i am completelyyy alone. this is my first time ever going away like this by myself and it is SO LIBERATING.

it is especially liberating b/c i cannot stand being by myself for long (longer than a few hours...) but i needed some major Jesus/nature/refresh re-focus and this is the only way it would have happened considering the cricumstances.

so far i have been neither bored nor disappointed.

the hostel is WONDERFUL. it is 20 mins. out of town up a small winding mountain-y road (which is lined by greeeeen grass, sooo many mossy/beautiful trees and lotsss of hiking trailheads!) and everything up here is just so beautiful.

it is SO GREEN, so lush (it has been raining since i got here) and just so quiet and wonderful.

i wish i could explain it better, i am just so in awe. so thrilled and so thankful.

also, i wasn't going to be using my phone anyway but there is barely any service anywhere up here (i need to call my dad from time :) otherwise i wouldn't care) and it is the BEST!

basically, this is the best ever.

+ seeing ANGELA and MITCH on wednesday before i drive back down to malibu for Christmas!

so many wonderful things. thank You, Jesus.

the last 13 months, in a small seashell.

2009-11-25T01:39:00.000-08:00

it has been over a year and more than a lot has happened...

quick recap:

in january indonesia happened and it was more than incredible. i saw so many amazing places, met so many cool people, learned tons and acquired one of the most beautiful friendships i have ever had the pleasure of being apart of.

in the spring i was, amongst so many many other things, internally tired and confused.

things that i wanted to fit didn't and i was constantly worn down by going around in circles trying to make sense of things that i couldn't make sense of.

however, despite the weirdness going on in my heart, also in the spring i...

had the craziest encounter with the Holy Spirit

turned 20

had the funnest spring break everrr

watched prayers get answered

watched a lottt of things change

got my first ticket, of life. ever. for burning a book.

became friends with sexy man (which was a major accomplishment, which you should know)

got accepted to a study abroad program in paros, greece for spring '10

decided i would throw inhibition to the wind during the summer.

this resulted in summer of debauchery '09 during which...

was mostly so much fun but also resulted in a lot of heartache on a lot of different levels.

in the end, i love my friends from home more than ever. and i have learned that there are some things which need not be repeated, if they should even happen at all.

+ became the owner of a SUP board, which has changed my life.

as of now, it has been fall for 3 months. a wonderful 3 months, during which i...

have become a humanities/histories major and loved it with most fibers of my being.

have become enamoured

have learned how to surf

saw trevor hall and had the funnest night ever

have watched friend things radically change and loved every moment of it

have learned that i do not love epistemology

have been spending lots of time w. Jesus

have loved my roommate more than i thought possible

have laughed maybe more than at any given period in my life before

...amongst about a zillion other things...

i have spent a lot of time this semester thinking about where my heart was this time last year and am thrilled to report that it is lightyears away.

something (or multiple things, probably) about now ha(s)ve made me love more deeply, understand things (particularly things i would love to deny) more clearly and enable me to be enthralled with the moment while simultaneously look forward to the next.

the Lord is faithful and more than enough. He is strong and He carries me.

indonesia!

2008-10-16T00:51:00.000-07:00

last night i cut my saving account in half to pay for the down payment on the trip

and this morning i turned in all of my paper work :)

last night dr. mcmahan sent all of us e-mails and this is how they began:

"Do you feel it yet? You can almost smell the sate' cooking on the open fire, see the beautiful sunset over the Indian ocean and dream of tropical things!"

ha ha, oh d.mac.

i cannot wait.

yes, please!

what good is it to live with nothing left to give.

2008-09-25T15:08:00.000-07:00
on campus i am involved with a branch of associated students called 'coalition for social action.'
there are about 9 of us that meet weekly to discuss ways and ideas for BIOLA students to be exposed to what is really going on in the world, particularly in terms of global poverty and social justice.
we have fundraisers, arrange nights where we invite special speakers come and talk to the student body and do whatever we can to raise
awareness about certain issues going on in the world.

for the last week and a half CSA has had a table outside the cafeteria during lunch where students can donate money to red cross which will ultimately go to hurricane relief victims in haiti.

at our meeting on wednesday night we decided that we needed to take things a step further so last night 5 of us went door to door across campus to tell people about what we were doing and to ask for clothing/blanket donations. there is a student here who acts as our on-campus liason with red cross and she put boxes in all the lobbys so people can continue donating until friday.
it took my friend, cameron, and i several hours to cover our assigned areas but we had a great time! a lot of people were super responsive and some even had bags of clothes waiting for us when we got to their rooms so it was really encouraging :)
now all the clothing cameron and i collected is laying in a huge pile on the floor in my room and the rest are in the as office. i can't wait to put it all together to see how much was donated!
since last night ended up taking much longer that we had anticipated i missed the indonesia meeting but i called dr. mcmahan to tell him i wouldn't be able to make it so we're going to get together early next week to discuss the trip.
today is just exciting!

majestic, imperial, a bridge of sighs...

2008-09-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

despite being in the middle of a college career with not much besides a determination to travel and a passion for an array of all things random,
there is something absurdly wonderful about being "stuck" in university student mode.
for example...
in may, i spent two weeks in new york city with a group of 12 BIOLA students taking an urban research class in which we researched minority people groups. the two weeks ended with a bang of research presentations and ultimately, a lengthy paper on our discoveries of the peoples we studied.
despite the long hours of research and study, we were more than happy to make room for the "must-do's" around the city. this took us from the upper west side, to central park, to times square, to ellis island and the statue of liberty, to wall street and just about every place in between. in the process of visiting all of these places, i fell in love with the city and it's inhabitants and, in the end, came away with a deeply enriched appreciation for the peoples and cultures that have helped build new york city into what it is today.
anywaysss, as an intercultural studies major one of our upper division electives is a peoples of the world class and... as the professor that took us on the trip to new york, dr. mcmahan, once upon a time lived in indonesia for a long while...
over interterm (the last three weeks of our six-week christmas holiday) he is taking a group of 12 students to indonesia as an off-campus peoples of the world option.
i want to go SO BADLY!
the class is from january 3rd to the 18th and during that time we would explore western, central and eastern java before venturing on to to bali.
...it would be especially awesome because dr. mcmahan is so familiar with the country
and we would be able to get so much learning and exploring done in such a short amount
of time. this will be my first opportunity to go to that part of the world and as a lover of foreign
people and cultures, i truly hope that i can seize this opportunity! indonesia has never really been on my radar before (my primary geographic interests are the countries which lay in eastern europe and central asia) but i loved the way dr. mcmahan taught the urban research class so much that i am more than willing to take another off-campus class with him again.
plus the brochure makes it look BEYOND amazing...
a sneak peak at what it says :)
... explore the world's largest island nation
... hike to the summit of an active volcano
... learn about the culture and history of a diverse people
... visit ancient hindu temples
doesn't it sound wonderful?!
tomorrow night there is a meeting to discuss the trip
also, deposits are due by the 15th of october
... least favourite thing about being a college student?
permanent lack of money :)