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

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.

Mt Baker itself-gorgeous!

Happy me kayaking on Baker Lake a couple weekends ago.

phew, a cloudy day

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

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…

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!

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

Not too shabby of a camping spot, hey?

check out THIS waterfall!

one week left of freedom...

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

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...

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.

Some of our students before their turn to dance.

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

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.

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

Bethany and I in our appropriate attire.

resurfacing worlds

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.

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.

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.