Am I homesick, or is it just nostalgia?

It's hard for me to believe that I've been back from Taiwan for almost 9 months! Nine months I tell you! Insanity is what that is.

I feel like I'm messing up my routine being here in the States this time of year. The past two years I was living it up in Feng Yuan with my adorable students and amazing friends, July through December. This will be the first year in 2 that I'll be home for the holidays, enjoy fall weather, American football, snow, and the like. But, then there are many things I'm missing like night markets, the beach, typhoon days, hiking in the jungle, my adorable students, and amazing friends. And who could forget my scooter!?

Anyhow, this youtube video is going viral among my Taiwan crowd, and it perfectly sums up the Taiwanese experience. If you weren't able to picture it before from my previous posts, this is Taiwan. All of it. Seriously. They hit it all. Even the reactions to stinky tofu (which were quite different from my own, by the way).

Wo ai Taiwan!

Happy Weekend!

Another week has come and gone, and another weekend has arrived!

Hurrah!

                                                                                as the lovely Bridget Jones would say.

This Friday evening I found myself at Cafe Tijuana, a great little Mexican Karaoke bar for a friend's going away party. When I first heard that we were going to a Mexican restaurant to sing karaoke, I didn't quite know what to say. Up until tonight, the only times I've sung karaoke have been in Taiwan. Therefore I assoicate karoke with Asia, not Mexico.

As the evening progressed our group surpassed 20, taking up the majority of the space. The other patrons didn't quite know what to make of us, the joyful, loud, energetic, non-drunk group. The place was awesome--not only did they have karaoke, but they had a dance floor as well. Finally we had enough space for an epic dance party that involved everyone in the joint.

Favorite song of the night: Andrea and Ginette's rendition of La Cucaracha.

Friends Rachel, Julie and I wanted to sing something, but knew our vocal chords weren't up to Whitney's I Will Always Love You--simply a classic.

Instead we went with this little diddy:


Here's to the weekend, in all it's glory!

Sometimes I don't understand people

{Random picture by the National Gallery. I'm somewhat obsessed with these pyramids.}

Summer days could not get any better than today. The sun was shining, the humidity was low, and the temperature was a pleasant 86 degrees.  I even saw butterflies for the first time in the Smithsonian Butterfly Garden! It was bliss I tell you!

As I was walking down 9th toward the mall after a delightful lunch with my good friend Maggie, I had to stop at a corner to wait for a signal. I was in no rush, as I didn't have anything in particular that I needed to rush back to the office for. 

As I was waiting at this particular street corner, thinking about the yummy Indian food I just consumed (oh how I love lunch specials!),  two men on the opposite corner started across the street. No biggy, right? Jay-walking is normal. These guys obviously had someplace very important to be, so they obviously couldn't wait the 30 seconds for the indicator. Without even glancing in either direction to make sure cars weren't speeding down the roadway, they started across the street. They didn't get too far because there were cars, and these cars had the right away. So these two men stopped in the middle of the street apparently thinking that the drivers of these cars were mind readers and would know that they wouldn't jump out in front of their moving vehicles. One woman who was driving, slowed to let one of the men finish crossing the street. If it were me, I would have smiled, waved, and ran across the street. But do you think this is what the man did?

Oh, no!

Not only did he take his sweet time crossing the street, but he had the audacity to start cursing at the driver for slowing down. Does this make sense to anyone? Is there some logic that I'm missing out on? He was breaking the law, and was cursing someone out for showing some courtesy. 

Seriously...sometimes I just don't understand some people. Do you?

Summer days and nights

I fear that during my complaints about the sauna-like weather, the weather has turned and there is that fall-something in the air.


Citi jako podzim, as my friend Janca and I would joke. 


While I enjoy the cooler weather (I'll enjoy wearing my cardigans in the mid-eighty degree weather and not sweat like a pig), the end of summer comes a yearning for it to continue.


This summer has been one of change, and I've discovered, much to my dismay, that I'm still not accustomed to change. I don't like it. Not even a little bit. But despite moving across the country, starting a new job, living in a new town with people I don't know surrounding me, it's been a good summer. 


A few things of late:

• Screen on the Green--watching 12 Angry Men on the National Mall was pretty spectacular. 

• A visit from my dear dad
• My first rodeo at the Montgomery County Fair
• Seeing my old MTC bro and mission buddy Brian, aka Jimi

• Lunching with Fenny and Arwyn at the National Sculpture Garden
• Hanging out in Bethesda with Maggie and chatting for hours with Rach at a hotel just because we could
• 7th Hill Pizzeria, Bread and Chocolate with fellow foodie Rach
• Biking around town, and trying to dodge cars and poorly paved side-walks
• Several metro delays because of "sick passengers"
• Letting a friend's bro crash at my place and enjoying a fun filled evening with him and his engaged friends
• Hanging out in the city with Katie, my movie buddy
• Reading too many books, watching entirely too many movies, a listening to a plethora of new music
• Game nights with good friends
• Losing electricity 4 times in the last month

Here's to the last days of summer, in all it's glory!

Happy Weekend!

This has been a long week of being the only person in the office. That's right...no co-workers or interns to keep me company. So naturally I had to turn to music to fill the empty space.

Katie introduced me to last.fm last week, and let me tell you, it's down right amazing! Better than Pandora. And it seems to have a larger database than Pandora too. Anyhow, this week I've been listening to a lot of Scandinavian Pop music and things along the electronica line.

This song, Bulletlproof, by La Roux has been on repeat all week! And I kinda love it!



I promise to start writing regular posts. I've been feeling like an angst-ridden adolescent, and thought it best to keep my feelings to myself. No one likes angsty teenagers! Ha.

Happy Weekend!

Aislan, one of the interns I had the privilege of working with for the past 3 months, and I have very similar taste in music. This past week we've been swapping music, or suggesting new artists. Aislan introduced me to the music of First Aid Kit. I tried to look up a bit of info on them, but it seems as though it's all in Spanish (not one of the 3 languages I know), and very limited at that. I did find that this group shares its name with two other groups, one being a folk group from Sweden (also very cool). But this video is from First Aid Kit, and indie band from Barcelona. 

Enjoy!

Six years ago today...

... my life as I knew it completely changed.

Let me explain.

Six years ago today I entered the Missionary Training Center in good ol' Provo, Utah and embarked on the most influential spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional journey of my life thus far. I didn't quite know what to expect as I said goodbye to my mom and went to find my room and my companion, Sestra Vaughn. But I did know that I was at the right place for the right reasons, and that the Lord would bless me for my sacrifice and service.

My MTC group

 Front: Sestra Vaughn, Sestra Hodnett, Sestra Judd, me.

Back: Starsi Murray, Starsi Heckmann, Starsi Hendricks, Starsi Condie.

And I loved the MTC. It's rules were rigid, but the Spirit was so strong. My MTC group was amazing, and we all grew super close. To this day I think of the Starsi as my brothers, and the Sestry as my sisters. Being in a classroom together for 12 hours a day will do that to you.

We learned Czech, memorized scriptures, studied the gospel, ate a ton of sugar (diky Starsi Heckmann!), played volleyball, attended the Temple, and above all, learned how to be the most effective instruments in the Lord's hands.

Every year on this day I ponder what I have done with my life since that time. Am I on the right track, continuing to do what is good and right and true? Or am I falling below that mark?

There are too many fond memories and anecdotes to share, but I will say that I'm velmi vdecna ze jsem mela prilezitost byt misionarka z Cirkvi Jezise Krista Svatych Poslednich Dnu!