well i am back in north bend. dont really feel like writing here. everything feels ridiculous. surreal. wish there was someone here not sleeping though...
definitely missing NYSC cuddle puddles right about now. and being sung to sleep...
just bought some Peter Mulvey songs. helping to make this transition easier.
so... perhaps sleep is in order. i'll try that.
0 Comments
Ohmygosh!
Okay, before I start, I know I am getting WAY ahead of myself here, but fall quarter (and the months leading up to it, and the rest of the year after it) looks like its going to rock.
So I just went back and re-read the description of my program for the Fall and remembered why I should be so seriously stoked about the fact that I get to take it. Then I read the description for the second 2 quarters of it and realized that third quarter is an internship opportunity/individual project, meaning: I (or "we" --if Eric and Ty [and Ben?] wanna go too) could probably set it up so we could do that internship in Peru, at PSF! Click HERE and HERE to see program descriptions).
How cool would that be? If I got to go back to Peru (and bring greater skills to PSF) so soon!
Earlier today I temporarily removed the block on pictures from this computer because Cecilia had posted pictures from the first modular home they built in Pisco.
These pictures... brought me to tears. I am in absolute aww at how beautiful it is, and so much of me feels like I actually helped to build it, even though I wasnt there during the building process.
I also looked at Calum's pictures.
I met so many amazing people in Peru.
and here...
NYSC has also been changing my life. Some of the people I have met here have already become people I hope to have as life-long friends. I also feel like I am growing so much, and gaining experience in surprising areas of activity that I probably couldnt put a name on if I tried. Some of the more tangible things I have improved are my photography skills (obviously). I have taken so many pictures here, and I am expected to pretty much always have my camera on me, and take pictures of EVERYTHING. When I get home... no more picture-taking for a while. Serious. BURNT OUT. But I am definitely getting better at it.
I learned the basics of juggling, which I may have written about in a previous post.
I am pretty pro at belaying climbers now. ><
and i also got to take pictures while being suspended above the climbers. so scary, but way worth it!
My first real backpacking trip was amazing, and yesterday I did my first whitewater kayaking, and am hooked on that now too.
(Should someone rein me in yet?)
Oh, and next week, we all go to Washington, DC. I've never been before, so I am really excited to see museums and all sorts of stuff thats going on there.
I held my first seminar the other day, and it went really well! Everyone was enthusiastic about either speaking a different language or learning about a different culture. We had about 5 or 6 languages being spoken and discussed. We had 3 native Spanish speakers (teaching spanish/learning english), a native speaker for both Farsi and Hindi, a native speaker and at least one learner of German (same deal with Chinese), and someone who had studied Arabic. So many different discussions going on, and so much enthusiasm to share and learn!
The delegates here are brilliant and talented beyond most anything I have seen, and the guest speakers are fantastic as well. I am so invigorated with desire to learn more and more.
This place is similar to Evergreen in that everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student. Last night at the campground after kayaking (and a surprise pizza party!) Vienna and I were talking about school and grades and expectations of ourselves due to pressure from the standard education system. We decided that since she is going to UPS near Tacoma, she should skip her classes some day and come to class with me to see how EG works, and whether or not she thinks she would find greater self-fulfilment at a school where she doesnt feel the pressure of the standard grading system. It would be so cool if she transferred, but even if she doesnt I love that she is gonna be in the Pacific Northwest, and so close to me.
Hmm, one thing that is going to be interesting:
the day after I get back from my travels I am going to the SSPU concert. Brian (and probably other people once known as Facakes) is going too. Stoked for that... BUT that day is also the Centenial Celebration for Camp Fire USA, and Camp Killoqua is having a party. So, before I got to NYSC I called Minnie and asked her if she was going. She said yes, and that we should go together and so I told her I had to be back to Seattle for the concert that night, and she said "hmm... guess who else is going to that concert?"
...
duh.
Grey (or Showtime if we are going by Camp K standards.)
How could that have possibly slipped my mind that he would be going? OF COURSE he is going. What did we listen to EVERY TIME we left camp on TO or weekends last year?
I am actually quite happy about this little overlap, because I had texted him upon my return from Peru, and we seem to be on fairly good terms, and I think a concert would be a perfect venue to reunite and catch up, and maybe talk about what happened and why. Maybe he will be at Camp K that day too.
I also have been in contact with Matt F and Ben J and can't wait to see them! I can envision a small party with those guys along with Heidi and Haley and Emily and other wonderful people like that.
Could there possibly be more?
Seeing Eclipse! and all the other cool movies that are out now that I can hardly wait to see.
Spending time with my family and kitties!
Having fun with all the other people I havent seen in forever.
Relaxing (or not? See above and below.)
Working at Summer Winds
Hopefully volunteering for a week at Killoqua since I miss it so much. (I will quite possibly have to clone myself multiple times in order to do everything I want to do next summer, ie. come back here, work at Killoqua and Summer Winds, remain in Peru after contract/internship, be with my family).
Have I gone overboard making plans? The answer is always yes, because who knows what could happen between now and then, but at least I am making lists about things I am excited for rather than things I feel I am obligated to do, which is SUCH a change.
Maybe I am just in a good mood cause I've been doing so many cool things (sleeping under the stars, kayaking in the perfect-temperature water on a perfect-weather day, pigging out on pizza and pop, sitting next to fires having incredible conversations, listening to music on long bus rides, and playing the Psychiatrist game) for the past 48 hours,
and for the past two weeks spending time getting to know a bunch of freshly graduated high-schoolers who have so much excitement about what they are about to go do in the world.
I've been calling my Mom daily, which helps me stay sane too.
The only thing I wish I could do more is write, which is why it is all coming out right now in this mess of thoughts and excitement.
Oh no. One bad thing.
So, one of my fellow Staph members, Alex Kinn, doesnt believe that anyone can take flattering pictures of him, so I stupidly bet him that I could do so by the end of camp. The stakes are:
successful flattering picture: he has to shave everything below the waist.
no flattering picture: i have to bleach my hair and then dye it a bright color for Staph week.
I better not fail. :/
I should probably get off the computer now. Dinner time soon, and there are always pictures to take or rate, so I shouldnt use up anymore of the precious little time I can actually sort through pictures on the computer.
There is one person in my life (and not really even in my life right now) who drives me insane.
*sigh* I need to really think about how I am actually going to write about this, because this person is probably much different than the last time I spent any decent amount of time with them.
just got back from a great backpacking trip and probably really need to go shower soon,
BUT
I got an email from Sandy and it sounds like I got the job at the Writing Center! She won't send out official letters for a week, but "see you next year" sounds promising to me. :)
I'm excited for next year. I am taking an awesome class, plus Ty and Eric are BOTH in it with me. I (probably) get to tutor again. I am going to climb a ton. I get to see Ari and Cari and Alicia as much as I/they want. I feel like I have a much better friendship with Ben now, which is wonderful.
The end of the summer is gonna be great too.
I really enjoyed my group for the overnighter, and after the hike yesterday we were camping by a waterfall/waterhole where we swam in the freezing cold water. I never wanted to get out.
I'm signed up for a climbing trip too and they are gonna rig me up on the wall so I can take suspended pictures.
Homesick still. Trying to take it day by day. Its easy at some points, and almost impossible at others.
Oh, I learned the basics of how to juggle and almost have it down.
In the past week or so, I have been really missing Ben Joselyn and Matt F.
camp is amazing. the people are just fantastic, and everything we do is new and exciting.
the lecture we had tonight was life-changing, i think, for many of the delegates, and it just inspired me to live the lifestyle i have been wanting to.
im definitely falling in love with this place.
but i miss home so much i can hardly stand it..
i dont even know what home is, but i miss it.
this could be a home for me... but its not the one i want right now.
I'm absolutely exhausted...
i dont have time to write.
i dont have time to myself.
maybe its better that way, because when i have a chance for it all to sink in (especially that this is only day two of actual camp), i just want to cry.
actually one of the things that makes me feel the most at home is the fact there there are Peruvians here. One of the presenters has his wife Ana here and she was born in Lima, and her family felt the 2007 Pisco earthquake from there.
A couple of the delegates are from Peru, and one of them had family in Pisco during the earthquake.
I talked to the woman from Lima during dinner about PSF, and after dinner she came up and gave me a hug and thanked me, telling me that the people of Pisco will never forget me. It was amazing.
time to get ready for cabin meetings, which are also an incredible part of camp.
