Alice and Rumi

Something interesting I forgot to mention last week was that I met my language partner for the first time the week before. Her name is Fereshte and she's a medical doctor for Iran. She's beautiful and pleasant. Hannah and I went to pick her up at her house and she served us chocolate milk on a platter--very hospitable. Hannah and Erin had their Indian language partners over (all of whom speak perfect English--they've been taught it in school since they were five) and I had Fereshte over for chili one Tuesday night. We had a lovely time together. Fereshte told me to look up the poetry of Rumi and I did--it's delightful! Here's a favorite:

I wrote a poem that made my love angry
At me, or at the measure of my verse.
"Tell me then," I said, "What should I write?"
"Tell me", said she, "What poem could contain me?"

And another:

The face she shows me is a little sour,
Though sugar has never tasted sweeter.
Sugar would be bored by its own sweetness
If it ever came to know that sour flavor.

http://www.iranian.com/Arts/rumi.html Check this out for more

Exciting news! Alice is back from Australia/India! We had a family party for her Monday night. It was so nice having all the sisters together again for the first time in half a year. With plans for Leah's wedding, that might be happening more often (I hope so!). Some of my favorite memories of growing up with five sisters are when all of us end up in someone's room, gathered together around and on someone's bed, talking about all sorts of things--the family, each other, guys, etc. That happened the other night. I wish I'd tape recorded it--lots of laughs going on. Those moments are priceless :). Alice drove me back to school Tuesday morning and it was great having one-on-one time with her in the car for an hour. She's grown up so much! She's not my baby sister anymore! She loved Indian and Australia, and California, where she's been for the past week or so. And, when I say she took me back to school, I'm implying that I'll no longer have a car at Clemson, which kind of makes me sad. But my bike still works. It'll be fun, just kind of limiting :).

Today Rebekah and John leave for Prague, Czech Republic. I'm going to miss those kids! I didn't mention this already, but I think the word's out by now: they're having a baby! In September! I'm praying about moving to Prague to teach English with them next year or going ahead and getting PA school pre-requesites out of the way this fall, then traveling in the Spring. Whatever I decide to do in the next six months--it's weird--will definitely put me in a different place in the next twenty years. I mean, the next few months could determine the rest of my life. That's scary, but kind of exciting! I've always liked open-endedness: having multiple options, then deciding something at the last minute. Maybe it's time to not do that? :) To just decide the fate of my life? Pray for me, if you're reading this.

Other really exciting things have been happening lately: good stories to tell at my next story party. You should come.

This one's for Anna :)

Because I know Anna's one of my faithful few who actually check this. I'm so flattered by her.

So, nothing unusually exciting has happened in my life recently. I've been kind of sick (will accept flowers and or chocolate--though my mom and Gatorade were what I craved last week). I'm figuring out how to balance school and friends, and one way I've discovered to do that is (this is the ultimate nerd thing to do) by having STUDY PARTIES! Last night Hannah, Erin, and Erin's sister Ashley and I all sat around our living room drinking tea and writing papers, taking an occasional long facebook break throughout. Ha--tell you the truth, writing this now is a study break for me. I have a make-up paper to write! My professor was kind enough to extend my deadline!

I realize I need to utulize my weekends better for doing homework. I think what got me off track in the first place was going to a party a few weekends ago and not getting any homework done that weekend! Then pulling all nighters and getting sick trying to catch up. Now I'm doing makeup work! :( So, if I'm caught up on schoolwork, I can have fun during the week. If not, I'm staying in. Oh, but it's always more complicated than that. I usually get things done, somehow--whether I see friends that night or not. Sometimes, the less time I have, the more productive I am. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, right? BY THE WAY--I have a good friend who goes to Harvard and HE says that (I almost feel bad posting this!) the school has a stipend for students to throw parties there, so they can increase student life! Clemson would NEVER have that problem, I'm [proud?] to say :). But, seriously--can you believe that? I think he's going to go for it the next time he throws a story party--one where people sit around and tell life stories. (Doesn't that sound fun?)

Home

Ellen and me, after a deep conversation

I didn't realize how much I missed home till last weekend, hanging out with my family. (Oh--that's called homesickness! I thought I didn't get that!) I've seen the fam here and there--at church, a trip to the beach--but hadn't spent a solid weekend with them at our house for much too long. This weekend was much needed. :)

Ellen and I hung out with a couple friends till the wee hours of Saturday morning, watching a movie and later, Ellen and me talking about things only girls can talk about with each other. She's an encouraging friend. When I got home, to my delight, Mom was up doing some cleaning in our spare room downstairs. So, of course, we stayed up and chatted a good half-hour (this was... really late at night). She was surprised I was home :). It's always nice when you are a pleasant surprise for someone, and they are for you, too.

I decided to stay again Sunday night, after a lovely day at church and lunch with Ellen, Jennie and friends. I also hung out with Leah and Reagan and their friends that night. Reagan and his family were staying at Embassy Suites. The Embassy Suites hot tub was so relaxing! Ah--it brought back Yellowstone memoires--soaking in the hot springs there is something I could literally do forever. I have thought about the Boiling River many a time this year, during the most stressful periods of school.

This week was a bit stressful, actually--last week, too. That's why the weekend was so needed. Emotionally, this week was rough. Tuesday a girl at Clemson got hit by the CAT bus (Clemson Area Transit) and I saw her on my way to swing dance class, just as the ambulances were pulling up. I thought she was surely dead. I couldn't stop thinking of her all day; I definitely didn't want to dance just then. It was raining all day, too, and started thunderstorming later. I remember thinking, "Where's the sun? I know it's there--but I need it now." It's good to know the sun's there. It was a beautiful Wednesday (Valentine's Day). That girl is alive, too. She's in serious condition--she was almost paralyzed. But she's ok. She'll live.

Maggie and me (doesn't that sound like a song title?) ps--check out her shirt :)

Last night Maggie (our RUF intern) had a bunch of RUF girls over for a Valentine's party. We smashed a pinata shaped like a heart, filled with candy and feminine products! hahaha. Oh, Maggie's so creative. It was fun. My roommate Amanda had some of her friends over for dinner and strawberries dipped in chocolate--hot, delectable chocolate. It was delightful.

I've been pulling way too many late/all nighters the past few weeks. I don't have class till pretty late (11, 12, and 2!), but, I need to go to bed early and wake up early. I've always wanted to be one of those people who does that--don't know when it'll happen :).

die Schwestern!

I'm going home for Jessica's birthday this weekend! Here's what I love about home: old memories in boxes from childhood and high school, the security of not having to worry about food or money--seriously, this is a big one, staying up late with my sisters (Leah AND Jessica are home now! and Joel, of course) (and Jen and I hang out a lot, too), talking to my mommy--I LOVE my mom!, getting wise advice from Dad, having adults around. I miss that. I feel so, so secure at home. And I feel so de-stressed. My family is a particularly low-stress family, which helps matters. I love seeing my mom's Valentines sprawled across the dining room table. I know she's been going to the PO all week. I love seeing my friends at home--they are some of the best in the world. But I didn't get to see many of them last weekend because they didn't know I was coming :(. Sorry, guys. I like school, too. Everyone loves Clemson. But there's something so special, so warm, so comfortable about home. Ha--I think I want to live with my parents the rest of my life ;).

Derrida

I've thought this about Derrida and other literary theorists for a while, but didn't know someone said this about Socrates.

Meno: "Socrates, I used to hear before ever I met you that you do nothing but perplex yourself and other people. And now, it seems you are bewitching me--and dragging me and binding me completely with your spells, so that I have become saturated with perplexity. And if you will allow me to speak facetiously, you seem to me to resemble to a striking degree, both in appearance and in other respects, the flat electric ray that lives in the sea. For it numbs anyone who comes in contact with it, and you seem to have done something of the sort to me. For in truth, I feel a numbness both in my mind and on my lips, and I do not know what answer to make to you." (Plato's Meno 80 A)

It's funny--parts of it could be used in a love speech, too :).

Here's a thought.

(click title)

My class schedule

Is very much up in the air right now--as it almost always is at the beginning of the school year. I'm signed up for three classes so far, and on the wait list for four. I'm hoping to get into most of the ones I've requested, but Tuesday's the last add day. I feel like more of a humanities major than an English major. There are SO MANY books I haven't read--I'm ashamed to name them off. And I'd often rather take history or art classes than English classes. Not that I've taken that many history classes.

So, I have a couple of post-graduation ideas: probably grad school, but waiting at least semester first (and I'm not sure what to study yet--art education, journalism? go to seminary?). I feel like I should get another degree before studying something like art! So one thought is to work at a folk school (ie: the John C. Campbell Folk School--Hannah introduced me to it) as an RA and get to take classes for free, building my art portfolio. I could do this for a year or six months. Another idea is to go to Sweden and enroll in free classes as an undergraduate. AnOTHER more random idea is to teach English in Prague with Rebekah and John for six months--not building any kind of portfolio, but just feeling out teaching as a career. Here's another thought: working on organic farms all over Europe this summer, recieving free housing at each village I work in. That'd be sweet--plus, farming is a wonderful skill to have for an aspiring missionary in a third-world country. Oh--my "main" idea is to study at L'Abri next fall. I've been reading through Hannah's journals a little bit and growing in excitement over how much she learned there. Our plan is to type up every page of her journal and make a book of the things she learned there. Oh, one more really random idea is to become a nurse :). Africa needs AIDS workers...

Hm--what do you see me doing in 15 years?

This is pretty random, but awesome: Last night my friend Amy and I made dinner and YOGURT together! It was so exciting :). We just "almost" boiled milk and powdered milk mixed together, then stirred in 1/2 cup of plain yogurt and put our concoction in her yogurt maker to incubate over night. We woke up this morning and stirred in sweetened strawberries. It was so fresh and amazing. You can also make yogurt by putting the ingredients in a warm oven for four hours. Isn't that neat? I'm SUCH a NERD!

Road Trip!

Us at the "Gateway to the North," which is now in a parking lot :)

Amy and I officially decided to go ahead with the trip four days before we departed for North Bay, Ontario. I love last-minute decisions—they’re so final. You have to follow through with them. We’d wavered on whether or not to go to Canada and decided not to after a couple friends who were thinking of joining couldn’t come on the day we wanted to leave. But, after Christmas, I wondered what I’d be doing for the rest of the break. Sleeping in, hanging out with friends, an occasional productive day due to an early breakfast date. It didn’t sound incredibly appealing. So, I called Amy up and asked what her New Year’s plans were. She didn’t have any, like me. How about going to Canada? She got her mom to let us use her Suburu Outback (my favorite car now) and we headed up to Buffalo New Year’s Eve. We spent the night with Emily, a friend I met in Yellowstone, then drove through Toronto and up to North Bay New Year’s morning. The highways were quiet and we found ourselves driving 25 mph and taking pictures of a surreal, dying but beautiful Buffalo on the right with Lake Erie on our left.

Four-wheeling with Ian

We were pretty ecstatic when we crossed the Canadian border, except for the rude border crossing lady who said we couldn’t get our passports stamped. Oh well—so much for a great first impression of Canada. The drive from Toronto was beautiful. The word “bucolic” came to mind—one of those SAT prep words lodged in my subconscious. The opportunity to use it doesn’t arise every day. Amy and I were both a little nervous as we waited for Ian to meet us in the doughnut shop parking lot (BY THE WAY, North Bay has the highest per capita doughnut shops in the world!). It had been a year and a half since I last saw him. I wondered if we’d get along like we had in South Africa, when we were the outsiders in a foreign place. I also wondered what his parents thought of two girls driving seventeen hours to see their son. We weren’t trying to sabotage his relationship with Kristina by any means! Being an outsider can be nerve-racking, but our fears were assuaged when we met his warm, funny family, who welcomed us with open arms.

Amy and me lying on the glass floor of the CN Tower

To make a long story short, Ian did and excellent job introducing us to Canadian culture. I tried a whistle dog (a hot dog split in half with bacon and cheese—not bad!), Amy and I both tried a poutine (french fries drenched in gravy with cheese curds on top—super unhealthy, but delicious), bought some clothes at Roots (kind of an outdoorsey Gap in Canada), cross-country skied, played ice-hockey, “snow-shoed” (ha—just long enough to take a picture, and in only two inches of snow), four-wheeled in the snow, hung out in Ian’s hot tub, ate Canadian chocolate bars, went to “the Moose,” a bar in North Bay packed out on a Wednesday night, and stayed up late hanging out with Ian. We drove Ian to Toronto on the fourth and took the subway into town to go up the CN tower, the tallest free-standing structure in the world. (We also met some pretty creepy characters on the subway, but that’s another story.) Walking on the glass floor of the tower and seeing the tiny play city below us was definitely unnerving. We got dinner and said our goodbyes to Ian, who would stay with his grandma in Toronto before flying out the next day.

The girls at Niagra

Amy and I spent the next two nights back in Buffalo with Emily and company. Our other Yellowstone friend Lindsay got a one-way ticket to Buffalo just to see us, so we had a lovely time remembering our days from the summer, wishing Pete and Joy were there to join us. We hit up Niagra Falls, walked from the American side to the Canadian side, which I agree is prettier, and got our passports stamped on the way over! That lady at the border was lying to us! Amy and I were delighted.

We left Buffalo at 6:30 the next morning, dropping Lindsay off in Baltimore and finishing off the trip with just the Amy and me. We started a cheesy Tom Clancy novel after Baltimore but stopped early to listen to Cake and fun Memphis mixes. Amy and I each ended up spending $100 for the whole trip, plus money for food here and there. Surprisingly, a very doable trip! Even for poor college students. If you haven’t taken a road trip, do it. Call me—I’ll probably come along.

Ian and me on the subway