Along the Way

Snow Day! Snow Day!

2009-02-26T17:45:00.003-08:00

Well, I woke up to a blanket of white and my initial reaction was the same as when I was a kid-"Hooray! Maybe school will be canceled!!!" Naturally, the decision was held off just long enough for me to get ready, walk the dog, scrape off my car and be literally heading out the door. But, I'm not really complaining because I didn't have to drive anywhere. For a few moments, I then wallowed in sadness regarding how late our school year is going to be this year... (almost to July now, I believe) but then someone reminded me to "enjoy today and worry about this summer later." Good advice and I must say that one of the perks of being a teacher is the random "snow days" where you can stay at home and really do nothing all day and feel ok about it. So, I knitted, got caught up on Lost, played in the snow with my dog, ran errands, and now I'm about to make a real home cooked meal. Sounds like a pretty nice day, hey? It's such a nice break to have a complete day with no schedules or expectations.

All Creatures...

2009-01-25T09:10:00.004-08:00

Last night while I was perusing the thousands of options on Netflix, I found this jewel:

As an animal-loving kid, I had read bits and pieces of James Harriot's books and really enjoyed them. This BBC drama was filmed in the late 1970's and despite its age, I really enjoyed watching a few episodes last night! It's set in 1940's England and the quaint English countryside and the interesting rural characters were a great break from all the modern suspenseful stuff we find ourselves watching. Yes, things are cheesy, and yes it's outdated but I still loved it. It's slow, quirky and yet rather peaceful to watch. Give it a try sometime.

Believe it or not...

2009-01-24T09:32:00.003-08:00

It has not rained in Seattle for over 7 days. In fact, it has been sunny. You know, blue skies, mountain views, etc. Don't believe everything you hear about this fair city!
Come visit!!

In November

2009-01-01T10:03:00.003-08:00

In November 2008 the U.S. elected a new president, I turned 30 at Long Beach with my extended family and we were Thankful on the island in my brother's family wonderful new beach front cottage. That was pretty much what happened in November 2008.

Camping near American River

2008-12-22T18:55:00.004-08:00

In late October my parents and I decided to go out and enjoy the fall weather. And it was beautiful and clear.... and COLD! We met up near American River just east of Mt. Rainer National Park

This is a lake we wandered around.

This is Mt. Rainer. Really. Just trust me.

It was actually too cold for me to sleep in a tent, so I thought I'd try out my new (to me) Forester as a camper. Lucky me, I was short enough to fit comfortably inside... even sharing the space with a big furry puppy dog.

Here the intrepid campers are. After it warmed up enough for us to move around (it was in the 20's that night. brr).

Rainy Hike

2008-12-22T18:38:00.003-08:00

Leo, Anna and I went on a hike to a nearby State Park. We had checked the weather forecast, it was the fall after all. The weather said that the chance of rain was rather small. So we thought, "Great, let's go!"

We had, however, neglected to specify where we wanted to know what the chance of rain was. While in Seattle, the outlook was good, near North Bend (Cascade foothills) it rained and rained and rained. Leo just kept looking at us like we were crazy. But we kept going.

Despite our weather-mania fathers' careful coaching, it looks like Anna and I have a ways to go with maximizing optimal weather and location events.

Well, the waterfall was nice, despite the weather.... and Leo's long sighs.

2008-09-17T21:44:00.002-07:00

I just got ridiculously excited about receiving my new Dirt Devil Breeze Bagless Canister Vac (with attachments- 12 amp) in the mail today.

I'm not sure what to think about this.

Lawn Care

2008-07-10T15:00:00.002-07:00

Um, since I've been home alone a lot this week (don't detect ANY complaint here) I've found myself noticing and doing... a variety of things that one doesn't do when one is busy working. This morning as I was watering my back lawn I noticed just how sparse it was. It has been likened to a balding man's head. Now, in my defense, it's hard to find the balance between wanting the place you live in to look nice and not wanting to spend lots of money on rental property. Anyways, as I was noticing my sparse lawn I also noticed very lush, abundant grass growing in the flower garden area, so I decided to try implants. Grass implants. You know, to help the bald lawn look better. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Introducing my new partner...

2008-07-07T18:59:00.003-07:00

in crime, that is. Here's Leo:

He's a German Shepherd- Golden Retriever mix. I think he has something like Newfoundland or St. Bernard in there too. He is big (77 pounds!!) and has a really wide head.

I definitely wasn't planning on getting such a big dog. But he has this quiet, sweet personality and at the shelter he just sort of leaned against my leg and said, "pet me" so I was hooked.

So far he hasn't barked. He does like to shred paper though. So, we learned to keep books out of the backyard (what kind of a place is that to keep books anyway?).

What I know about Leo is that he LOVES to be petted, cuddled and get his belly scratched. He loves people and dogs and to sleep. He's not so sure about traveling in the car, but is willing to keep giving it a try. He sometimes comes when he's called and he loves to go on walks. He's about 2 years old and I can't believe that nobody else wanted him. He's such a sweet dog!

He's been a lot of fun and is doing a good job of keeping me company and entertained so far.

Summer Vacation!!

2008-07-07T18:55:00.002-07:00

I have officially (and finally!) completed my first year teaching 3rd grade. Phew! I do think that it is the right grade for me right now since the kids are at the age where they love you when they begin... and they still love ya as they leave (miracle!!). It was kind of a bitter-sweet end of the year... hard to imagine that I don't have to show up for work for 2 months (yes, I am rubbing it in) and that when I do it'll be COMPLETELY different.... Well, teaching does keep a person on their toes, that's for sure. I do like how my career is always changing.... keeps me from getting bored.

Mom does know best

2008-05-10T19:31:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I wore my mom's navy blue clogs from 1979 to work. I received more compliments on them than I have on anything else in my wardrobe. This goes to prove that my mom is infinitely more stylish than I am.

February in Hood Canal

2008-03-28T17:36:00.005-07:00

Who says blogs have to be sequential?

Last month I escaped for a weekend to Hood Canal. Despite having grown up on an island in the Pacific Northwest, somehow I'd never been there. Come to think of it, I've never been to Tofino, Oroville or Ritzville but we'll have to leave those deficiencies for another time.

Oysters lying around on the beach. Like rocks, kind of, but they're not.

So, now I've spent some time in the fabled Oyster Heaven Hood Canal. And, yes, it was oyster heaven. In fact, it took you about 3 minutes to get all the oyster's you needed for a meal. No searching required, they were just lying around on the beach. I'd like to take this moment to mention that while I have absolutely no qualms about gathering, say, berries that are growing wild, or even apples lying around under an apple tree, there is something definitely weird about just picking up a rock-like object, steaming it open and eating the gooey stuff inside. It's just weird, that's all.

It is good though, if you don't think about it too much.

This is my friend and I gathering our oyster meal. That bucket was full fast (in 3 minutes -as I said before). The tide is out and those little oysters had nowhere to go (they're not known for their speedy evasiveness).

We did not eat this. There is some kind of clear delineation between what one finds and eats and what one finds and says is "cute" and puts back down. This is an example of the latter. Note its claw. He wasn't afraid to use it either. I, like a true scientist, let him have a go at me to "see if it would hurt". This technique is not advisable for all scientific inquiries. In this case, the answer was no, it doesn't hurt.

One of the great things about the area is that it is on the Olympic Peninsula which has some pretty fine mountains (thus the picture). It also has this incredibly long canal (named Hood) that connects all the way out to the Puget Sound and then to the Pacific. You get all the sea life in what looks like a lake or a river. It's kind of interesting. The tides come in and out, since it's connected to the ocean but it doesn't really feel like you're on the ocean. It's kind of hard to explain. It even felt different from being on one of the islands in the sound.

This place wasn't far at all from Seattle, just a ferry ride across the sound, a drive across Bainbridge and then a bridge to the peninsula. We got to see things that are relatively difficult to spot in the city, like seals, eagles, deer, funky jelly fish and of course, the oyster.

My last comment about the weekend was that it was sunny. This is remarkable since we're talking about the winter in the Northwest. It was splendiferous.

The sweater on its namesake

2008-03-23T19:57:00.005-07:00

Here's Leif in his sweater-talk about a cute kid! (I'm not biased at all!) The sweater fit pretty well. I had made the sleeves a little long, and the torso a bit long too- but I was paranoid that it wouldn't be big enough. In this picture the sweater is slightly askew since he'd been playing in the snow. The panel of knit goes straight down the front with equal pearl panels on either side.

You can see how the twisted tree pattern runs up the sides, splits at the sleeve and then meets on both the front and the back at the neck.

The top of the sleeves also has a knit panel that runs down the sleeve. The sweater isn't designed to cuff at the sleeves, but I had knit them too long (oops). I'm thinking he'll grow into it perhaps?

This photo shows better how the front is when it's not all wrapped around him from playing. It looks like he's enjoying modeling here, but believe me, the moods change quickly so I had to fire off a ton of shots while he was still willing!

Here Leif is doing what he likes to do best-romping around outside.

Thanks again to Sarah who did such a fabulous job designing this! http://www.bluegarter.org/category/patterns/

Introducing Leif's Twisted Tree Pullover

2008-02-16T21:07:00.002-08:00

I finally finished it! 2 months late for Christmas, but at least it'll be delivered before the winter is over. Here's hoping it'll fit Leif, who apparently just doesn't stop growing.

Complements to my friend, Sarah, who designed this and don't judge her design on my knitting ability!

More photos of the sweater will be forthcoming...

Washington State Caucus

2008-02-10T09:52:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I attended my local precinct's caucus to elect delegates for a presidential candidate. I'd never been to a caucus before, or even really paid that much attention to the process of narrowing down the candidates to the final two. But this year was different, for whatever reason I'm a lot more interested and I decided that I should go and just see what it meant to caucus.

The first word that comes to mind regarding my first caucus ever is LONG!! I'm quite sure the process could have been seriously streamlined. For example, the 30 minutes of listening to a lady say nothing at all.

But other than that, there were some cool things. The first is the act of walking to the local public school and watching my neighbors stream there as well, then standing in a room with a bunch of the people from my neighborhood, chatting and getting to know each other. One thing I totally miss about living in Seattle is the sense of community, and for once I felt it a bit yesterday.

I also like the feeling of trully having a say. When you go into the caucus you sign in and write down your initial candidate (or you can be undecided), then you go to your local precinct's room and they take a first round tally. After that people are allowed to stand up and talk for 1 minute about their support for this or that candidate. There were some really strong opinions in the room, but people were really polite about it. Everyone got a round of applause at the end of their speech, no matter how wacky they sounded. It was a good thing that the speech's were timed to one minute, however, because I'm sure some of those people could have spoken for a very, very long time. The 1 minute maximum kept this part moving right along, and it was by far my favorite part of the experience. It's cool to hear what people have to say and to feel like you can stand up at any moment and share your own views.

After the speeches, we all wrote down our candidate preference again and then the tally person tallied it up again. The results were quite different from the first round, so several people had been moved by the speeches. Next delegates were assigned in proportion to the tallies. My precinct has 5 delegates, and we voted as a neighborhood who they would be. It was pretty cool to see ordinary people have the chance to go to the next round (County Caucus) and represent our neighborhood. It really did feel like the government was by the people at this stage in the elections.

In all, the caucus was the most intimate feeling of voting that I've ever experienced. I felt that my vote really counted, and that my opinions mattered, as did those of my neighbors. Once the process leaves this neighborhood level of elections that feeling of intimacy leaves. Big numbers take over and my vote gets mixed in with the multitude. But, I'm glad for the experience and the ability to participate in this American tradition of elections. I like sitting with my neighbors and chatting about houses, pets and jobs as well as having a sense of common purpose. I think we all need more opportunities to experience this.

Did anyone else go to a caucus?

Overheard

2007-11-16T22:21:00.000-08:00

Overheard today at school. Said enthusiastically by a 3rd grade boy.

"Sometimes my armpits smell like a man's!!"

Great.

Mt. Rainer

2007-11-14T22:27:00.000-08:00

Mt. Rainer in all its glory in early October 2007.

(taken from the parking lot, no hiking required!)

My cousin and I heard that we were in for a nice weekend, so we thought we should go to the most famous mountain in the state. Mt. Rainer, at 14,410 feet (4,392 m) is the tallest mountain in the area. It took us about 2 1/2 hours drive from North Seattle to Paradise Lodge which is at an elevation of 5,400 feet and a great jumping off point to all sorts of trails.

Assured by the ranger that the snow wasn't too deep yet, we ventured up the Skyline Trail. This trail is a 5 or 6 mile loop with an elevation gain of 1700 feet. This doesn't seem bad, unless you're walking through 3 feet of snow! Despite the ranger's assurances, after a few miles, we found ourselves doing just that! I got pretty tired, but the views were so amazing, that it was worth it.
The views and the weather were amazing. Down by the lodge, the blueberry bushes were scarlet, and as we heading up, gleaming white snow and blue sky dominated. It was amazing because no matter where you looked it was gorgeous. You had Mt Rainer right there, or if you turned around you could see Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens and countless other peaks. We even heard the rumble of glaciers calving from the other side of the ridge. Mt. Rainer got so close, I felt like I could just reach out and touch it.

It's actually rather strange, Rainer can be seen from 100's of miles away, and as you get closer and closer to it it appears really big. But then, when you're practically hiking on one of its shoulders, suddenly it seems so doable. It's almost like it was luring us in. It made us think, ah... it wouldn't be THAT hard to go up there. But it is, trust me. And no, I haven't tried. yet.

We made it to Panorama Point (6,800 ft) for lunch and watched people backcountry skiing down from Camp Muir (the base camp for Rainer ascents). During our lunch I wandered around to the other hikers, asking if they were going to turn around to head back or finish the loop. While this may have appeared as me just being friendly, I had other motives. The 2nd part of the loop hadn't been broken through yet, and I didn't know where the trail was (and wasn't that excited about breaking the trail through 3 feet of snow myself). I met a nice guy from Alabama and his Mom. He was interested in making sure he "got his Mama off this mountain" (insert southern accent here), but wasn't sure of the way either. Finally I found someone who had been down the last part of the loop, and as we stood at the top of the ridge, surveying where we needed to go, we saw 3 toiling shapes coming up the other way. Perfect! All we had to do know was sit back and wait for them to make it all the way up to us and we'd have our trail. After a while though, our consciences got the better of us, and we headed on down. Poor guys, we did cheer for them when they got close and made sure to comment on the beautiful trail they had made.

It was a gorgeous day, and a gorgeous place to visit. Unfortunately it's going to have to wait until the snows melt next summer before I return.

September hike: Melakwa Lake

2007-11-13T21:53:00.000-08:00

On a whim, Anna and I decided to go for a hike on what we thought might be one of the last sunny Saturdays of the year. We didn't really know where we wanted to go, so decided to head out east on I-90 since that got us out of Seattle and into the mountains the fastest. We ended up getting off at the exit for Denny Creek and parked at the trailhead for Denny Creek/Melakwa Lake just west of the Snoqualmie Pass summit.

The way up was nice, especially since the blueberries and huckleberries were at their peak. Soon our mouths were all blue from tasting them. While the first part of the hike took us under a large overpass of I-90 and from which lots of traffic noise could be heard, we left all remnants of modern life bejomd within 30 minutes or so of beginning.

Melakwa lake was a decent day hike, though not on my top rated list. (Though, as I said before, the blueberries and huckleberries were superb). Here's picture of the lake itself:

Anna and I enjoying the sun and the great outdoors.

Rachel Lake

2007-11-01T20:59:00.001-07:00

In July I had a lovely camping and hiking trip with my parents and Jenny and her parents. We all stayed at Lake Kachees just off I-90, about an hour east of Seattle.

Here my parents and I are in middle of our huckleberry-blueberry picking walk. Though it was a tiny bit early in the season, we found enough to make GREAT pancakes!

Jenny and I ditched our parents for a day and went up to Rachel Lake. It was a 8 mile, 2000 foot elevation hike that left me quite tired (Especially after all that sitting around in classroom this past year!). But it was really worth it

Here's a photo of the trail. It was gorgeous, trees, boulders, flowering heather and peaks of old snow fields. Here's some Columbine Flowers:

Part way up the steep part of the trail, we came upon this fabulous waterfall! It gave me a really good excuse to take my pack off and rest.

Rachel Lake.

October 28, 2007

2007-10-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

It's October.
I have a job now. I teach 3rd grade at the same school that I student taught in last year. In fact, I have one of the younger sisters of a student from last year. There's something to be said about that.

Teaching is hard, but really worth it. The kids are fantastic. Sometimes they drive you crazy, but in the end they help you take life into perspective and make you laugh.

My brother, sister-in-law and nephew have moved back to Washington State. I love being able to see them every few weeks. They currently live on my old island home, and I've just returned from visiting. There's also something to be said about walking with your nephew up the same steps to the same church you walked up as a kid to.

Speaking of my nephew (sometimes it's hard to get me to stop) he says my name now. A lot. And he can say complete sentences. It's amazing how quickly he learns things these days.

I wish I could learn that quickly.

current status

2007-06-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

6.15.2007/ 8:36

Teaching certificate: yes

Done teaching for the year: next week.

Job: t.b.a.

Master’s: August.

Ready for a break: definitely.

Yeah for random emails!

2007-03-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

I think that the best things that have happened to me this month is that two of my former students randomly emailed me this week! Thanks Viktor and Zoli, you totally made my day!!

It's spring time, I love it! There's flowers everywhere, and I'm back to enjoying the sunrise over the Cascade mountains as I commute to work.

My street has a bunch of flowering cherry and plum trees, and it reminds me of Japan. I think it would be fun to have a cherry blossom viewing party... want to come Mika and Tara?

Nothing else to say: just school, school, school.

Write me, I miss you.

A Valentine's Day Poem, courtesy of a 5th grade student

2007-02-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

Ms. Ellingson

So light and
Beautiful.
Her short calm curly hair
is fluffy and brown/golden,
pritty in its own way.
Her bright blue eyes
Always
makes me smile.
The large buffy eye-
brows make a dark
sadow over her
Long
eyelashes. Her
face formed
like an angel's.

There are no words.

Happy Valentine's day everyone.

P.S. I'm moving this weekend, I'll send a change-of-address email soon.

2006-09-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

Mt Baker itself-gorgeous!

2006-09-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

Happy me kayaking on Baker Lake a couple weekends ago.

phew, a cloudy day

2006-09-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

You know you're a Northwesterner when a cloudy day after a long stretch of sunny ones is a bit of a relief. Around here, you feel guilty being inside if it's nice outside. That's why it's been so long since I've updated this blog, or emailed anyone. I mean, who knows when it's going to be the last sunny day of the year? Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I've gone camping, hiking and just plain enjoying living in such a gorgeous part of the world. Come visit, you'll see what I mean.

So, a brief update:
I'm still an avid member of the "Jack" club, soon to be finishing season 5.

Still in school, at school, and learning about school.

Despite going to Cape Disappointment, I still don't know why it's called that.

My car, Duna, is now a trusted partner in my adventures.

When I grow up, I want to try living on a sailboat.

After a life of consciously not being addicted to TV, I am now watching it entirely too much (it's great for procrastinating).

I've gone to watch the spawning salmon jump up the fish ladder 3 times now, and wanna go back again.

I miss you guys.

5th graders are hilarious, and somehow they don't realize it.

6 friends of mine have gotten married in a 3 month period, and I haven't gotten to go to ANY of them.

I want a dog.

The method of "rolling out of bed to wake up" doesn't work when your bed is on the floor.

Traffic jams are nice when there's a sunrise over the Cascade mountains.

And I miss you guys.

Oh, I added my picture website to my links here on the right... you should check it out sometime.

one reason why you shouldn't build on a tidal flat

2006-08-12T23:26:00.000-07:00

Whew… the past few weeks have been a bit crazy. I’m a student again, and that, uh, well, takes some adjusting to. This is good for me to remember what it’s like for when I’m back to being a teacher in the future. My classes this summer have been about teaching methods, classroom management, professional issues, etc. They’ve been more interesting than I thought they’d be, and that’s a good thing (I was expecting extreme boredom). I’m still just not used to coming home and having this much homework though (and it’s so gorgeous in Seattle in the summer, it’s terribly difficult to be inside doing papers…).

I’ve also had a wonderful string of visitors the last few weeks, and there’s been bridging of all sorts of my various “worlds”. So far I’ve seen Pete, Heidi and Zannah from my Indonesian world, Laura from my ESI world, Jennifer from my early-childhood world, Marta from my Mexican world, almost all my Ellingson family (not my sister yet though!), and lots of people from my Friday Harbor world. Now, I’m still missing some pivotal Trinity Western people (soon to be remedied) and MESP (Brook-I know I need to call you!) and Japan. So, with all this said… I’m getting good practice at hosting people, so come on over-I’d love to see you. And it has been too long… trust me.

Thanks to my new set of wheels, and said guests… I’ve been learning more about my lovely new home city-Seattle. Did you know that when Seattle was first built, it was on a tide flat and the toilets would explode if you tried flushing them at the wrong tide? I bet you didn’t…. Happily, this is no longer an issue.

Well, even though I’ve been horrible at returning emails… please don’t give up on me! I love hearing from you.

talk to you later…

2006-08-12T23:20:00.000-07:00

So, far this has been the best part of the summer... look how big my nephew is! Believe it or not, he's even cuter in person!

2006-08-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

the view from where my parents are staying this summer, I'm trying to work... really!!

2006-08-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

Not too shabby of a camping spot, hey?

2006-08-12T23:16:00.000-07:00

check out THIS waterfall!

one week left of freedom...

2006-07-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

I'm in Seattle, and I have a car (finally). But good things come to those that wait! And I got the much-dreamed of Subaru wagon (it even has a sunroof!) hooray for freedom to go places without begging, borrowing or cajoling others for rides!

School starts next week, and apparently it's very intensive. After the meeting I had with them on Monday, I believe them now. So, I might not be having that much fun this next year, but I think it'll be a good program nonetheless. I'll be interning in one classroom during the entire school year which should be interesting. I don't know yet what grade or where, but I'm pretty curious to see how American students are, compared to Japanese, Hungarian and Indonesian students. I'm sure they'll be just as amusing, but I will understand them when they mouth-off to me, and that'll be a change.

So, until next week, I'm enjoying staying in my pajamas past 8:00 am, and having time to read and explore Seattle a little bit. Luckily for me, my cousin who has been subletting my place the past 3 months, is looking for a job now and so has lots of time to play around with me! And I have a great camping trip lined up for this weekend, ah- you gotta love the northwest in the summer.....

moving furniture

2006-06-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

So, I’m back in the U.S. My last few weeks in Meulaboh were a whirlwind. And the most I can say, is that I certainly felt very loved and appreciated by the people I worked with. I had a great going away party at the beach, complete with a fabulous sunset and moonrise. I also had a surprise helicopter ride (I got to sit in the co-pilot seat WITH NO DOOR! just like in the movies… ask me about it some time, I’ll get all hyper for ya). A few friends were able to meet me in Medan, so I didn’t have a lonely moment to cry about leaving…. until the never-ending flight between Singapore and San Francisco.

Since coming back to the States, I’ve been hanging out with my family. It’s been really nice seeing them. And a great relief to be able to see my Grandma… at age 96 I wasn’t sure I’d get to see her again with her surprise hospital trips this spring and all. But she’s doing really well now, and still beating me at Scrabble and cards.

So, now, I’m trying to find a car I can afford, finish up my 2005 taxes, get my loans straightened out, and eat as much ham and cheese as possible (something I didn’t get in Indonesia). It’s funny what you crave when you’re away. God willing, I’ll be moving back up to Seattle with my OWN wheels within the week (but who really knows…)

So, for all you Indonesian friends: I miss you a ton already! My Japan and Hungary friends: I’ve been missing you for a while… and I still miss you! And for my American/Canadian friends: hopefully I’ll get a chance to catch up with you soon!

I’ve found that if you move enough…. everything is weird. So, that’s one way of keeping life interesting. My Mom, though, recommends moving the furniture around.

The past 2 weeks...

2006-06-03T03:12:00.001-07:00

Just so you all know, I have not been affected by the most recent earthquake, which took place on the island of Java (I’m on Sumatra). I didn’t even feel a tremor. But, please remember all the unfortunate people who were traumatized by the latest disaster to hit Indonesia (which is a country that gets much more than its fair share). Right now a few of my colleagues/friends are in Jogja distributing relief supplies. Please remember them as they work insane hours to meet an overwhelming need. It’s not an easy situation for everyone involved, but FHI is fortunate to be able to help.

We’ve been busy (as usual) prepping for and then hosting another team from the US. This time they were coming for 2 weeks, and we got to go somewhere besides Meulaboh for a change. The first week they were here we worked with the school that FHI is partnered with to improve the school yard and to host a “Celebration of Learning” event where the kids sang English songs and performed English skits for their parents. Wira and I were in charge of this, and I had all these horrific visions of me being the frazzled coordinator of one of those children’s programs where everything went wrong. There’s a lot of opportunity for that to happen when the school rarely does this sort of thing, and Wira and I had never! But in the end it all worked out well, the kids were champs, and we even got to see the older girls perform a traditional Acehnese dance, which they did beautifully.

This past week we all got to go up the coast a bit to Calang. We actually worked in a tiny mountain village 45 minutes up a funky road from Calang. The people there were wonderful hosts and were a lot of fun to get to know a little bit. Our lack of Indonesian (the US team and I) didn’t even matter as the villager didn’t speak Indonesian either! The village had not been damaged by last year’s tsunami, however it had been affected by the years of conflict prior, and definitely could use the assistance that FHI provides with its agriculture programs. FHI has recently opened a little branch office up there, and the village had invited the team up for the week. We helped clean up the hillside around the new FHI house, worked on the well (now the water is just cloudy- not yellow) and worked on terracing the steep hillside. We also had a blast finger painting with the kids, making hemp bracelets and just generally hanging out. It was a real nice break to be out of Meulaboh for a while, to be up in a village in the mountains, see traditional rural life, and to be outdoors so much! Of course there’s a ton of funny stories about our week of “roughing” it, but you’ll just have to ask me about them sometime. All in all it was a great two weeks and we were all sad to see the team leave. Here’s a few photos of the past 2 weeks.

2006-06-03T02:59:00.001-07:00

Some of our students before their turn to dance.

2006-06-03T02:59:00.000-07:00

Some of the Calang staff- all wonderful hosts and friends.

2006-06-03T02:58:00.000-07:00

Lunch at the village- always delicious. It never ceases to amaze me with how much variety our cook could make in her kitchen with essentially no cooking implements.

2006-06-03T02:56:00.000-07:00

Some of the kids finger painting. Which they absolutely LOVED- especially when we hung their completed works on the new FHI house's walls!

2006-06-03T02:55:00.000-07:00

Bethany and I in our appropriate attire.

resurfacing worlds

2006-05-19T03:14:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it that I have only a few weeks left here in Meulaboh. The time has gone by so quickly, but at the same time my other world seems so distant- was I ever a Seattle resident? Did I EVER teach in Budapest? It seems ages ago in some respects, but as my departure date draws nearer, those other worlds will begin resurfacing and I’ll once again be in that weird state of being everywhere and nowhere and enjoying yet another case of reverse cultural shock.

A couple of weeks ago a team from Phoenix came out. I was somewhat skeptical (to be honest) on how much a short term team could do, and if things like that are worth the expenses. Well, I can say truthfully that this team CERTAINLY was worth it. They were an amazing encouragement to us as staff; they really helped us see that our programs are indeed making a positive difference. And they really helped connect us in a new way with the people we’re working with here. It was a great time, busy, but great.

Now, we’re just real busy catching up on our work here, and preparing for another group to come. I’ve realized that I’ve got at least two more books of curriculum to churn out, and an increasingly diminishing window to get it done!

Yesterday we had an amazing party at the beach complete with an international game of tug-of-war. Indonesians v.s. foreigners, we each won a bout, but never got around to the tie-breaker as grilled fish and a gorgeous sunset distracted all of us. It’s evenings like that that make it extra hard to think about leaving.

Now, onto a completely different note. I just found out my cousin, Jonathan, and his wife, Chris, are going to be teaching in the exact same school I taught in Budapest next year! How cool is that?! Makes the world seem another size smaller.

2006-04-22T03:21:00.000-07:00

This is us at Meulaboh's version of Starbucks. I finally got to see some more of Indonesia! I had a week off for R and R and my friend and colleague, Herly, and I had fun exploring. After a night in big city Medan enjoying ice cream, pizza, real Starbucks (ya ya ya, it just makes me think of home!) we headed to the AMAZING Lake Toba- about 5 hours south west of Medan.

2006-04-22T03:20:00.000-07:00

I've had conflicting reports, but I'm told it's the biggest crater lake in the world (or 2nd) and it's the deepest lake too (not sure on that one either) but whatever the stats are, the truth is that it's beautiful! We were high enough in the mountains that it was cool- cool enough to want a blanket at night! (talk about exciting). We stayed on Samosir Island at the amazing Hotel Carolina.

2006-04-22T03:19:00.000-07:00

ahhhhh

2006-04-22T03:17:00.000-07:00

Samosir Island and Hotel Carolina

2006-04-22T03:16:00.000-07:00

Lake Toba is in the heartland of the Batak people, and the Carolina hotel is a great example of traditional architecture- cool, hey? The lake was nice and cool- and great for swimming. It was a lot of fun relaxing and exploring here, and extra cool because Herly is Batak and got a ton of local discounts for us!

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Here's a close up.

2006-04-22T03:09:00.000-07:00

After a few days of Toba, we headed south to the province of West Sumatra to the town of Bukkittingi- another place of amazing natural beauty. The mountains here were gorgeous, and once again-cool! (hooray for cool). One night we stayed in luxury (sheets and hot water and a pool) and one night we stayed at this great homestay place right beside a nature park.

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And here's the view of one of the many volcanos from our luxury room in Bukkittinggi

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This is how we got to our thatched-roof homestay cottage near the foot of that great cliff.

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Some rice fields in the valley by Bukkittinggi.

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Near Bukkittinggi there's still an operating waterwheel that pounds coffee beans into powder (that's how they do coffee in most of Sumatera). Here's a woman collecting the coffee powder to bag.

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The people group around Bukkittingi are matrilineal- one of the few societies in the world to be so. And their houses are really cool too: traditionally each "horn"on the roofline signified how many women were in the family.
Here's Herly in front of the "King's Palace"

2006-04-22T02:52:00.000-07:00

Also, the world's largest flower- the Rafflesia Arnoldii- grows here, so we decided we had to trek out to find it. With a local guide leading us scrambling up muddy mountain sides, we finally found this flower- a bit of a small example of the species- but interesting nonetheless! These flowers are so weird, google 'em sometime to learn all about it.

2006-04-22T02:51:00.000-07:00

And then, for the last hoorah before heading back to Meulaboh, we went to Bukit Lawang to see the famous Orangutans. Of which we did- after another few hours of scrambling around muddy jungly mountains. But it was well worth it (though I had no idea a person could get this sweaty). We met with 4 orangutans, and though I've never been a huge monkey-fan, I'm definitely a fan of these amazing primates. As this area is a rehabilitation area, there are many orangutans who live on the fringe of the park that don't mind coming down to meet human visitors and share a little banana picnic.

2006-04-22T02:50:00.000-07:00

When I returned to Meulaboh, I thought the adventuring was over for a while, but no! I got to hitch a ride up with some friends to Calang- an incredibly bumpy 3 hour drive north of Meulaboh. Much of the road was completely washed away last year, so we had an adventurous time driving on the beach, through craterous holes and over dubious log bridges. It was a lot of fun. And Calang is a gorgeous area- with really nice beaches (tons of cool shells). Pictures will have to come later as my camera ran out of batteries (most unfortunate).
Calang is a townwas essentially completely destroyed, with 80% of its population killed. They are working hard on rebuilding, and there are many good projects underway. FHI is busy up there with agriculture projects, and temporary housing.

So, now I'm back in Meulaboh. I enjoyed a nice, quiet Easter. And am now working hard catching up on all that missed work!

Oh- on other news. I made it into SPU's Master's of Teaching program- hooray for that. I'll be starting the year-long program this summer, if all goes according to plan (but you know how it is with my plans...)

2006-03-18T00:02:00.000-08:00

Epi and I

2006-03-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

This is Epi. She lives next door to our office. She's very friendly, especially to bule's (foreigners). She especially likes me for some reason. I think it's because we both have curly hair. She started off giving me flowers or grass that she'd picked. Then it was pretty rocks. Now, for some reason, she feels like it's necessary to give me a rock every time she sees me (several times a day), sometimes they're still pretty rocks, but usually it's just a piece of gravel she picks up on her way over to greet me. I still act excited about the gravel, but miss the pretty rocks, grass and occasional wildflower.

Epi's mom and dad have a little cafe by our office. I go there to get an occasional cup of authentic Acehnese coffee, minus the sugar (real authentic Acehnese coffee has so much sugar in it that you can hardly taste the coffee). It's pretty strong black stuff- very black. Actually, sometimes it's just pure charcoal. Sometimes it's really good though. So, I take my 1000 rupiah (about 10 cents US) over and give it a shot.

I tried taking a picture of Epi’s mom making the coffee, but she was too shy. But, I tell ya, it’s a unique process that doesn’t involve drip, glass canisters or any other coffee paraphernalia that I’m accustomed to.

a few more comments

2006-03-17T23:36:00.000-08:00

So, it’s officially the hot season here. And it’s hot. HOT!!! Also, religious rules are becoming stricter and that means more clothes. Which makes it even hotter.
I went shopping today to buy more long-sleeved shirts, and actually had some luck (perhaps my taste in clothes is adapting as well). But it was so hot, it wasn’t so much about trying on the clothes as peeling and unpeeling clothes on and off. I just don’t like sweating this much. But, the good thing is that it makes me appreciate cool things a lot more. Like the AC in the truck and the office. And a refrigerated drink. And now we can find ice cream here in Meulaboh. Which is awesome. It doesn’t taste like any particular flavor, however, but rather sort of the color it is. For example, the “strawberry” tasted pink. I’m not complaining at all though. I’m just really excited that it’s here.

On a side note: while I still love avocado juice, my current favorite has switched over to mango juice since mangos are finally in season again.

Another completely unrelated comment: We have this amazing electric mosquito zapper thing. It looks like a tennis racket and you swat mosquitoes and bugs with it and it zaps them to death. They’re completely vaporized. It’s awesome. It also makes a very satisfying pop sound whenever you kill one. I think I take almost too much pleasure in zapping them, but entertainment options are a little slim here.

March English Camp-whew!

2006-03-10T23:31:00.002-08:00

All I can say about this week is “Whew! It’s over!” I feel like I need to sleep for several days just to recover. Every week we teach for three mornings in an elementary school, and now we also have English Club on Friday mornings, plus staff English lessons in the afternoons. Well, on top of that we added our once-a-month English Camp! It was my second camp here, and for some reason I had the hardest time writing the curriculum for it this time around… which made for some late nights frantically putting things together. Luckily, I’m working with a great team of people, and I’m happy to say that we pulled it off, and pulled it off well- if I may say so myself.

Last month we realized that we had grown past the reasonable capacity of our office, so we had to find another location. After much searching, we were allowed to use the meeting room at the mayor’s office. I think meeting there, plus being active in a public school for a month greatly added to our credibility, because the attendance at English Camp grew this week in staggering proportions! Last month we averaged around 50 kids a day (with actually about 70 kids in all attending at some point). This month we grew to over 90 students by Friday (with over a hundred attending at some time during the week)! That’s A LOT of children in one room. One HOT room, I may add. The sheer numbers made us have to creatively adjust a few things, but in the end, it all worked out.

We taught about family, descriptive adjectives and jobs. It was a lot of fun leading 90 kids in silly motions for the various descriptive adjectives (friendly, serious, clever, etc). We also played rowdy games in the front parking lot and led craft projects. We had kids showing up over 45 minutes early, just wanting to hang out, and lingering as long as possible afterwards as well. If that's not a mark of some sort of success, than I don' t know what is! A lot of fun was had by all, but I must say I’m relieved to have a respite this next week!

This morning I enjoyed sleeping in, and then wandering into the kitchen to find my friend hacking into some fresh coconuts! There’s nothing quite like fresh coconut water first thing in the morning. Yum!

2006-03-10T23:31:00.000-08:00

Here they are getting registered and receiving their name tags, pencils, and English Handbook. And generally milling about.

2006-03-10T23:28:00.000-08:00

Wira busy welcoming the 84 students who showed up on Wednesday.

2006-03-10T23:27:00.000-08:00

Some of the cuties that got a special ride home. They were so proud to be driven right up to their homes, though their directions just included yelling "here! here!" good thing our driver knew where he was going!

2006-03-10T23:25:00.000-08:00

Hard at work filling in their job picture dictionaries.

2006-03-10T23:24:00.000-08:00

Some girls hard at work making their I love You Dad/Grandpa/Uncle cards.

2006-03-10T23:21:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago one of our collegues here got married. For Acehnese culture, that meant several days of festivities! Here he and his bride are at the reception room at the groom's house. Happily for us, the wedding meant GREAT food, and plenty of photo opportunities!

2006-03-10T23:20:00.000-08:00

Here's the reception room at the bride's house. The decorations were amazing, the entire room had been transformed.

2006-03-10T23:18:00.000-08:00

Here's some of the FHI women staff and Emi and his bride.

Reminders, Reminders Everywhere

2006-03-04T00:41:00.000-08:00

All week I was reminded of the tsunami. When I first came here, I saw the destruction everywhere, and every time I went down to the beach I imagined a giant wave sweeping towards me, dwarfing the palm trees. Every person I looked at, I saw as a survivor. It was fresh, so very fresh for me. But, it’s amazing how one can just get used to things. Now, when I go to the beach, I usually just admire the beauty. I can go for an entire day without consciously thinking about the tsunami and what the people here went through. But this week, I kept getting reminders of it- real, practical, every-day sorts of reminders. For example:

During the staff English class we were learning about the various rooms in a house. I asked a student how many bathrooms were in his house, and he asked before the tsunami or after?

This week we went out to invite children to come to our new English Club, we walked through one of the still-occupied tent camps where people are crowded in together so closely. This camp though, has a bit more of a long-term, lived-in feeling. There are a few tent-stores, bikes parked against tent walls, and a surprising amount of satellite dishes feeding in the latest TV series. We sat and talked with people, giggled with kids and generally answered questions about our programs. Then, as we were leaving, up walked one of the ladies who works in our office and house. She lived there, in a tent with her son; a tsunami widow who lost almost everything and was still living in a tent over a year later. And this was a woman that I saw everyday, that I knew, that was my friend.
Next we walked through a neighborhood that had been about sea level before the tsunami, but is now a bit lower so it’s always flooded with the waters rising to cover the newly rebuilt streets when the tides come in. When I asked why people are trying to rebuild over all that water, I was told… “this is their land, the only the land they have, so of course they’re going to rebuild on it.”

There is a lot of rebuilding, all over Meulaboh, slowly some of the ugly scars of the disaster are being smoothed over… but there are too many scars for it to be hidden. And the worst scars are on the people’s hearts themselves. Many are afraid of the sea now. Many still dream of their lost ones. This week, our intern, told me she had been dreaming of her brother last night, and that she missed him a lot. The way she said it made me think that he was just off in another town, going to university perhaps. But when asked, she said that no, he had disappeared in the tsunami. She said that they had hoped for weeks that he’d just show up again at their home… but as time went on, they just had to realize that he wasn’t coming back. She said she missed him so much, he had always given her such good advice and helped her out whenever she had a problem. She said that she really missed his advice.

What do you say? What can you do to help people that have suffered something so horrible that the average person who wasn’t there can’t even fathom?

What about all these children who are still living in tents? The children who are stuffed into over-crowded classrooms with little future opportunity? Granted, things were lacking educationally before the tsunami, but it certainly didn’t help matters. But, it has opened the door to this area that has so long been off the beaten path. Happily, there are people here who are working hard to make things better. And I’m excited to be amongst them, to do what little I can.

I’m a firm believer that a good education is an avenue for good opportunities on so many levels. A decent education allows a person to have the chance to do more with his or her life, it gives her/him a voice, self-esteem, and hopefully the capacity to dream, and to try to do something about that dream. When asked what sort of things they wanted NGO’s to help them with developmentally here, one big request was English and technology education. So, I’m excited to be help with the former, however as many of you know, I’m not that handy with the latter! There are many people here in Meulaboh doing everything from rebuilding homes, to giving business grants, to working in the educational sector.

If you want to support what FHI (Food for the Hungry) is doing here in Meulaboh just click on the Food for the Hungry link on the right side-bar here on this page! (yes, it's a shameless plug, but it's a great cause!)

Well, this has gotten long, and a bit soap-boxish. There’s a lot of stuff one just has to work through here. But, there ya have it!
Enjoy the pictures.

2006-03-04T00:39:00.000-08:00

Inviting children at the Manggis neighborhood tent camp to our new English Club.

2006-03-04T00:38:00.000-08:00

Talking to a family in the tent camp about our English Club. I made this little girl cry! But she warmed up again when I took her picture!

2006-03-04T00:37:00.000-08:00

The floor tiles of homes that were once here, now almost covered by plants. This is where the helicopter lands now.

2006-03-04T00:36:00.000-08:00

Plants grow on what was once a thriving neighborhood on Meulaboh's peninusla.

2006-03-04T00:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a view of Meulaboh from a helicopter. In the distance is the peninsula that sustained close to complete destruction, as well as Meulaboh proper. You can also see the amount of standing water inland from the beach that hampers rebuilding efforts.

2006-03-04T00:33:00.000-08:00

In this area, some houses amazingly were left standing (the white one in the background) while others were completely washed away, or almost completely as this remnant shows what was once someone's kitchen.

2006-03-04T00:31:00.000-08:00

Some rebuilding and some ruins.

2006-03-04T00:30:00.000-08:00

This was once a full neighborhood in downtown Meulaboh.

2006-03-04T00:29:00.000-08:00

One of FHI's Cash for Work projects was to employ people to rebuild roads in this neighborhood. They also made road signs, choosing to include FHI's name with the street's.

2006-03-04T00:27:00.000-08:00

Some of the constantly standing water.

2006-03-04T00:24:00.000-08:00

This is 1st grade. Happily, there's plenty of room to walk down the aisle here! As you can see, though, there's always by-standers in the doorway which can be pretty distracting. But if you shut the door, it's unbearably hot.

2006-03-04T00:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a very crowded 2nd grade classroom. Even the kids have a hard time fitting in the aisles. As you can see, though, they're pretty enthusiastic learners!

Our First Morning English Club

2006-03-04T00:13:00.001-08:00

This week was our first week of Morning English Club (not to be confused with English Camp!). Since so many schools were destroyed, there are two shifts at the schools that are still usable. So, all the kids who have to go to school in the afternoons don’t get a chance to go to English Camp, so we’ve started a Friday morning English Club for them. We had about 25 kids this week, and a really nice group too. We discovered that one of the older girls (6th grade age?) who came, didn’t even know how to read in Indonesian yet. Usually these students slide between the cracks of the educational system here, and are ridiculed as they go. I could see in her eyes the wariness, and the self-consciousness about any attention from a “teacher”. We are glad she came, and hope we can give her some positive reinforcement so she doesn’t give up on herself, like so many others have done. The club went really well and I think they enjoyed themselves.

2006-03-04T00:10:00.000-08:00

Here's some of the girls that came.

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they're really into it!

2006-03-04T00:07:00.000-08:00

Meilin's teaching numbers.

2006-03-04T00:06:00.000-08:00

Here's our first morning English Club group picture!

2006-02-25T00:12:00.000-08:00

This is Evi, she makes a mean papya flower-chili-fermented bean stir fry.

2006-02-25T00:08:00.000-08:00

Here's the street our office is on. It's kind of one way (more a recommendation than a rule) and also has a fair bit of goat traffic. People say it was completely unrecognizable after the tsunami... but as you can see there's been a lot of rebuilding.

2006-02-25T00:02:00.001-08:00

Here we are at a beach a few Sundays ago...

2006-02-25T00:02:00.000-08:00

I want my, I want my, I want my MTV...

2006-02-24T23:58:00.000-08:00

When it rains here... it really rains! But it makes for a great, relaxing Saturday morning.

Saturday Morning

2006-02-24T23:50:00.001-08:00

Life seems to be moving right along here. It’s amazing how fast you can get used to things, and how things that seemed so novel to you at first becomes common place and routine (though I still sometimes forget to roll up my pants when I wash my hands and get all splattered).

This morning (Saturday) I woke up and it was actually refreshingly cool! It was absolutely pouring outside, and still is. It makes it a lot easier to sleep in, and since it coincided with a Saturday morning it was the best way to begin the weekend. Usually, here in Indonesia, girls never sleep in. Not even on weekends. They’re supposed to always be up before the men, and while all my housemates don’t have their mothers here to harass them, they still struggle to sleep to 8:00 on a Saturday morning. Which, consequently, makes it difficult for me to sleep to 8:00 as well, since there are usually over 6 of us sharing this place. I’m almost always the last up, and Ma’nyak (one of our housekeepers and resident Mom) usually comes into my room and rubs my feet and pops my toes until I get up. The first time she did this, it well, surprised me, but now I like it. And now I don’t mind her coming in while I’m still sleeping (provided it's after 7:30). Though I think I perplex her as to why I would ever want to sleep so late.

2006-02-11T00:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is for all you Kossuth Students out there. This is how I got here. We can take this plane or an MAF plane. I like riding in small airplanes, somehow it feels a lot more like you're flying.

2006-02-11T00:42:00.000-08:00

Here's Meilin and I in our acceptable Muslim-approaved teaching garb. Yes, I did finally find a decent shirt.

2006-02-11T00:41:00.000-08:00

This has gotta be one of the best things about Meulaboh: avacado chocolate smoothie. Believe it or not, you just mash the avacado up, add a bit of sugar and chocolate syrup and YUM!!! This, you must try at home!

2006-02-10T22:59:00.001-08:00

Mr. Jim teaching art.

2006-02-10T22:59:00.000-08:00

A true survivor-he was orphaned by the tsunami. And he's a GREAT artist!

2006-02-10T22:58:00.001-08:00

Showing Mr. Jim their artwork

2006-02-10T22:58:00.000-08:00

another budding artist

2006-02-10T22:56:00.000-08:00

Some more kids

2006-02-10T22:52:00.000-08:00

Here's the group we had on Friday. They were lots of fun!