currently: late june/early july

 

 

enjoying nature + my new camera

nearly finished teaching for the summer

reading The Cloister Walk

eating summer veggies from the garden

loving bikes rides to and from work

harvesting a few tomatoes here and there

running despite the heat

watching the Olympic trials

looking forward to two weddings: Niquita's and then MINE!

a short & sweet backpacking adventure

This past weekend my family (including Josh) and some friends went on a backpacking getaway in the Mark Twain National Forest in Southern Missouri. We left early Saturday morning and started hiking around 11am.  We stopped for lunch shortly after beginning the hike and then continued hiking until around 4:30pm.  We chose the Mark Twain National Forest because campfires were allowed and apparently the trail has a good upkeep.  After hiking 30 minutes downhill in the wrong direction we realized that maybe the trail wasn't kept up so well; we had trouble seeing some of the trail blazes and were confused a couple times about where the trail actual was!  Finally we came across a beautiful stream (seen in the picture above) so we set up camp, filtered water, started a campfire and made dinner.

 

The vegetarians had prepackaged Indian curry with rice, while the meat eaters ate pigs in blanket.  I've found that meals on a backpacking dish are always incredibly satisfying and tasty.  After dinner we toasted s'mores and drank hot cocoa.  We were living the high life on this trip, considering we only had to carry our food for one night.

I felt a little nerdy because I was so intrigued and amazed by all the cool rocks on the ground!  I kept seeing all these sparkly rocks and rocks that looked like a tie-dye sunset.  Does anyone see where I'm coming from?  My love for the rocks quickly faded during the night when I found a rock jutting into my thigh.  But, I soon fell asleep and forgot about that unfriendly rock. 

Josh slept in a bivy on the flat rocks. (so cute!) Everyone in my tent (Mom, Dad and Lay) woke up the earliest on Sunday morning and pretty much woke everyone else up.  But then we enjoyed breakfast couscous, coffee or cocoa and a morning campfire.  The hike back to the car was rather short for my taste-only about 45 minutes.  Despite the shortness of the trip, it was refreshing to spend time in nature and not think about work.  Plus, Layla found a turtle on the way back! 

  

Are you going on any adventures this weekend?

June Goals

During the second to last week of May I started a new job.  I'm now an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher to an awesome bunch of Chinese students through a program at Greenville College, my alma mater.  Yes, that's right, I am a college graduate.  So in the end of May two big things happened: I got a job and graduated from college.  These two coinciding events brought me quite a bit of stress.  Since I began focusing all my attention on preparing lessons for my ESL classes, I left many of my emotions about leaving college unattended; I didn't take much time to reflect or process what was happening in my life.  I knew that I needed to stop everything and write in my journal, but I didn't.  I keep plowing through the lesson planning and the tasks of everyday life and if I had free time I wanted to be with people, with my friends and my family.  But then my second week of teaching began and I couldn't handle the load.  I broke down one day and through a conversation Joshua I realized that I needed to take the time to revive my emotional, physical and spiritual health.  Last week I made steps towards this revival; I went running once and wrote in my journal a couple times.  That was good, but sometimes without clear goals I let myself slip back into tunnel-vision/get work done mode.  These are my goals for the month of June:

I'm excited about these goals because I really like doing all these things.  I have already played soccer once this week, I have written in my journal twice and I have been praying for my students (almost) daily.  The Cloister Walk is an intriguing book about the author's experiences at a Benedictine monastery.  I have a bad habit of not finishing books, but I hope to finish this one in June!  Although I am focusing the most on my physical, emotional and spiritual well-being, I would also like to spend time being creative.  Working on craft projects and making things to sell in my etsy shop has often been a stress-reliever for me.  When I'm being crafty I am thriving and I get more excited about life.  I think having these goals will encourage me and remind me to continue to take care of my whole being.  Do you make monthly goals?  I got the idea for making monthly goals/blogging about those goals here.

our new garden.

 

This spring a bunch of friends and I started a garden.  We built raised beds, shoveled horse manure, dug up the Earth and planted vegetables upon vegetables (all from seed).   Joshua spends a lot of time weeding, watering and hanging out with the plants everyday and I join in on the gardening activities about once or twice a week.  Friday was one of those delightful days.  Classes have ended so we spent a couple hours gardening in the sun. (Sidenote: I'm completely done with college!  All that's left is graduation in a week.)  We've planted squash, tomatoes, beans, peas, lettuce, beets, carrots, zucchini, basil, oregano, dill, and peppers.  So far we've harvested some lettuce for salads and basil for pasta.  I can't wait until the tomatoes are ripe!  Fresh, homegrown tomatoes are my absolute favorite!  That twine thingy you might notice in some photos is for the climbing peas.  Some are climbing, but some are dying :(  We're still learning how to make plants grow!

 

For Joshua's birthday we went to the Botanical Gardens in St. Louis.  Josh's favorite was garden was the vegetable garden (not too surprising).  We were impressed by how productive the botanical Garden's vegetable garden already was!  And for any curious readers, none of the vegetables in their garden go to waste (we asked). I thought this vertical garden was pretty cool too:

Enjoy the rest of this beautiful Sunday!

Week in the Life: Tuesday-Friday

my sister got some pet ducks -- preparing to present on my semester long project about transgender -- salads with homegrown lettuce -- morning routine: oatmeal and coffee -- sunny walk -- strawberry patch --  another sunny walk -- speaking spanish with nat and kayla -- awesome sky at layla's soccer game -- presentation plan for transgender project -- wall next to my desk (paintings from cuba, postcard from rome)

I got a little sidetracked from finishing my week in the life posts, so my pictures from April 24-27 are a little lot late.

Week in the Life: Monday

loving the sunshine + new plant--morning run--parched after said run--conserving shower water--studying aztec creation myths--admiring my painted sticks--snacking on homemade donuts while studying--enjoying bonsai stamps for our wedding invitations

Week in the Life started by Ali Edwards is a project to help/encourage people to record the little, everyday things in their week.  This week is a busy one for me and this project slows me down a bit.  It helps me to see that amidst the homework/studying/meetings there is so much joy in my life.  

april 3, 2011

As I was writing in my journal this morning I thought it would be fun to read my journal from last spring when I was studying abroad in Costa Rica.  Since today is April 3, I flipped open to April 3 2011.  At that time I was doing an internship at a small school in rural Costa Rica.  I had been living with a Costa Rican family for two weeks already and was the only American our pueblito. [Read more about my internship here.]  When I flipped open my journal I found a good reminder:

3 de Abril

     This coming week is my last full week in Chahuites, working at the school and living with my host family.  I want to remember: To be willing to assist in everything or nothing with a good attitude.  To stay engaged with my family even if I'm tired or feeling awkward.  To be flexible, do new things, and not get upset if we don't stick to the plan.  To be observant, watch, listen, ask questions.  To have a gracious heart and be thankful that my hosts are letting me into their world and that they've accepted me like a daughter.  To have perseverance through the uncomfortable, difficult, lonely moments and realize that I can learn something from those experiences. 

I think my advice to myself is helpful even in my life here in the States, but it seemed to spring up at an especially appropriate time because I just found out that I will be living in Oslo, Norway for a year beginning in August.  Joshua received a Fulbright scholarship to study and do a research project in Oslo.  This recent news is extremely exciting, but I'm also anxious to figure out what I can do for a whole year in this foreign country.  I will certainly try to learn Norwegian and I will try to volunteer somewhere or get a job, although I hear it's nearly impossible to get a job as a foreigner.  Since everything is so uncertain, I think it will be helpful to adopt a mentality that is flexible and ready to try new things.  I think in August I will be ready for a new adventure.  Right now I want to live in the moment and cherish what's left of my life at Greenville College living with my crazy roommates.  But I can't deny that I'm looking forward to being married to Josh and experiencing a totally new culture.  I'm looking forward to making some new friends (and keeping in touch with my dear friends in the States), speaking a new language, and learning more about myself.  Living abroad, away from the comfort of family, friends and the familiar way life seems to open my eyes to new things.  I'm thankful for the experiences I've had in different cultures that have taught me new things and I'm equally thankful for this new opportunity that is so full of potential. 


Oslo, Norway (from google images):

It looks like a pretty cool place, right?