well, I finally did it

last night, I went to youth group for the last time. this came rather unexpectedly to me - I was always the "going down with the ship" sort of person. but I realized when the last three weeks in a row brought nothing but way too many young life games and nearly no teaching, that I couldn't be driving myself out there for a dying youth group every Thursday night. I think Becca and I are going to start our own little Bible study group or something. I spent most of the drive home trying not to freak out.
I think I felt so awful because 1) I've been very up and down a lot the past week, between turning 17 without wanting to, and some other stuff; and 2) we had to talk to my youth leader about it, and got sent on a guilt trip sort of, and I didn't agree with everything he said....which makes me feel sacreligious because I don't agree with everything my youth pastor says. A "good Christian girl" should.
but I honestly think this is the right thing to do. and Becca's hanging in here with me. I think we'll get through.

but I'm also feeling rather like youth group's fall apart after I join them. it's happened twice now, and its not fun. I'm sure glad I have you guys.

Becca and I went to this Christian group thingy at school today, that Jacob C. invited us to, and who should I see when we get there but Emily!!! that was a really sweet surprise....for both of us ha-ha. I am so stealing your hoodie dear.....

yes. this is my life. babysitting, not sleeping, and feeling like crying for no reason. Don't despair; it'll pass.
(on the flip side I only had half an hour of French because it was a quiz, and 20 minutes of English because my teacher let us go early!)

I saw my friend Spencer and when I gave him a hug I think I scared off this creepy guy who kept stalking me in history last quarter. It was really funny - Spencer is a lifesaver! a really really tall lifesaver....

ok, I'm gonna go do something now. maybe I should run. that sounds good. my mom and I are not having a good day together, if you understand my meaning. of course she's being "unreasonable" and I'm being a "teenager." this is not helping me in my struggle not to cry today.
life sucks sometimes. maybe I'll just eat ice cream and watch Peter Pan. yeah, what a great idea. working out is overrated.
(no it's not, to clarify, I just wanted to say that for sarcastic emphasis)

this is your birthday song/it isn't very long....hey!

it's funny, in a rather paradoxical way, that when I think of India last year, I think cold. My first trip three years ago conjures up yellow sunshine rays, and a mix of too hot and (when the air conditioner ran for too long) too cold. last year it just was cold, and in a land without heaters, you just throw another itchy blanket onto that uncomfortable, coconut husk-stuffed bed, and call it good. I especially think of my overnight train trip, where I tried desperately, in broken Hindi, to make the young man passing out blankets understand that I was freezing and needed another one. I also remember the conference that took place in a concrete building, starting about 9 in the morning, and how all the men would stand in the bushes at break time because there was no sun on the lawn. In our newspaper one morning there was a picture of snow and icicles in the northern part of our state. January usually treats India better than that.

But even though I start shivering at the thought of those unexpected temperatures, I get a warm glow in my heart when I recall the images in my mind of our hosts, hotel staff, and incredible friends made. I still laugh out loud at some of the crazy things we did (that long argument about real v. fake palm trees in LAX) and the jokes we're still reviving to this day (just order the coffee in the big cup, you'll get what you want). I don't think a culture can be steriotyped as welcoming or non-welcoming, because of the variety of people in it. Sure, we got some angry glares from anti-Americans, but we also got hugs and gifts from total strangers, who just wanted us to remember them kindly. They will be, forever.

Today I see a picture of the hotel I was in, or an Indian person I knew well, and I could almost start crying. I want to be there so much, sometimes it hurts. It's like you have your home, but then there's another place you call home, because you feel totally in place there, completely comfortable. When I think back on asking the restaurant waiter to order my dinner for me, and the beam which accompanied the dish he set in front of me, tears come up again. Maybe today, more than ever, because I turned 16 in India, I remember a certain day - the best day of my life. A year ago today, I visited a Dalit Education Center for the first time, learned the Hindi word for chipmunk from some little kids, taught them some English, was given a candy that I never ate, joked about a camel farm with our driver, took the best picture I've ever taken in my life, learned about a Sikh temple, breakfasted early on hard boiled eggs and jam on toast, watched my mom's proud face as she told me about crossing an Indian street for the first time, ate the cake she procured on the other side of that street, gave chocolate to all the team members and the hotel staff, went to bed ruminating on one of John's impromtu sermons, and slept one of the best night's sleep I've ever had on probably the worst bed I've ever slept on.

Maybe today seems a little, anti-climactic? maybe. getting up early and going to school, coming home and procrastinating on homework, it's not the best time I've ever had. but I look at some of the relationships I've made in the last year....people who e-mailed me "happy birthday" a year ago are still saying it today. when it comes down to the marrow of life, it's the people you put in, way more than the experiences you have or the places you go. and I'm blessed to have the people in my life who are there now, whether they live here, or in India, or anywhere else in the world. They are heart friends, and that's the most important kind.

the undiscovered country

aaj meri sal-girah hai. main satrah hun.
today is my birthday. I am seventeen.

this is what I'll say tomorrow when we go visit my friend at the Indian restaurant. he's really amazing. I'll try and get a picture of us to post. I've started carrying my camera around with me everywhere, in my purse.

it's cold outside, but I don't feel cold...

so here it is, late, the night before my seventeenth birthday. I've been freaking out about this for months now. It's past 10:30, but I'm not tired. maybe it's the Cold Stone sugar buzz kicking in.
my head is filled with french and school, movie music and alarm clocks, tears and friends, that smell of Indian food mixed with my tires peeling out as I'm late for piano and super-low on gas. a lot has changed in the past year.
I spent my day thinking back....the India team with whom I spent my sixteenth birthday, the fact that I can count to 70 in French but not in Hindi really bugs me. I'm thinking about trying to get a tutor. I'm too lazy and undisciplined to go this on my own.
I've made some really incredible friends in the last year, and grown much closer to the ones I already had. huge plans have come into my life, as other "set plans" have changed. I'm playing a Chopin waltz, Maple Leaf Rag, and Rhapsody in Blue all at the same time. I joined the worship team - something that terrified me, and I can actually admit I'm glad I did it.
we moved, and part of me changed too. part of me is still homesick for fresh air and a million stars. most of me still curls up and tries to hide when I have to go to the sketchy library or pump my own gas.
sometimes I feel like I'm being pulled in thirty-eight different directions, and everyone thinks they have the same say over me. from my piano teacher loading up Hanon and seventh chords, to all that pointless English homework, to worship music, to youth group, to friends (who I'd rather give my time to), and chores and all those little daily things. everybody wants part of me that I don't especially want to give them. what happened to "me" time? what happened to a good book and our old gas fireplace?
this year I got real a little more than ever before, and pretended slightly less that I used to. I experienced some love triangles and realized that growing up is even harder than Adventures in Odyssey makes it out to be. I bought "teenage clothes." I attempted to show the world that homeschooling can successfully produce educated, mature, and non-sheltered people. I'm not sure if I succeeded or failed.

this year I had some major ups and some major downs. I started turning into my own person, not my parents' miniature. that has caused for some friction, and some freedoms. I guess it'll all be worth it, but I still don't want to pay my own bills or pump my own gas. I'm still pretty stuck in between doing it myself and calling Mom for help when I've really gotten lost (or the nozzle just won't pump and my transaction has been cancelled for the sixth time in a row). some days just seem so bipolar....when my family of three people can't act older than five, and then an hour later we're laughing ridiculouly at something that's probably painfully 'uncool.' I don't care. I wouldn't trade a true laugh for coolness anyday.
this has been a year of getting lost in school parking lots, school campuses, and school buildings. of being forced to pick up the phone and call someone I've never talked to before, despite my known phonophobia. of starting a real job that I actually like. of finally starting to let God take over the plans and change them how He wants them. of learning the real value of extra cream. of early morning (really cold) walks, instant oatmeal, rushing everywhere. this coming year I think I'd like to rush a little less. it might mean cutting some things out.
this year I got a little less young and a little more old. I outgrew some things and started to like others. a few are still being transitioned. transitioning sometimes hurts.
re-read those really big, really deep books as you get older in your teen years. they make a lot more sense when read through teary smiles. and every now and then add Danny, the Champion of the World for good measure.



so very soon, in an hour and ten minutes, I will venture into the undiscovered country. I don't know if I'm really excited to go, or if I'm being shoved into it like being pushed off a cliff. but I don't have a choice - I'm going. I'm praying next year, when I'm really freaking out at 18, that you'll all still be here with me.

C'est lundi. C'est destin.

It's Monday. That's destiny - there's nothing you can do about it. C'est la vie.

I can't believe I'm almost 17. It's crazy. And yes, I'm freaking out. like the...I'm almost an adult/I won't be a teenager much longer kind of feeling. I understand it's not that common. oh well...

today the pond at school was frozen. it was SO COOL because there was a really thick layer of ice over all the reeds, and the fountain was still going, streams of water raining down on the frozen surface. there's nothing so beautiful as ice and snow, I think. Becca's car still had snow in the roof.
in French we're going to begin conjugating verbs tomorrow. Becca's really terrified but I keep telling her it will be easy. I hope I'm right.
then English got cancelled. let's all throw a party now!!!! it was crazy though, because the sign to inform us that it was cancelled was on the side of the door, not on the door itself. so we didn't realize it was cancelled until about 9:03. I guess my teacher has the flue. We're supposed to email our papers to her though. :( rats.
so I sat in the warm classroom for 50 minutes studying French, and pleasure-writing. I haven't really written for pleasure in a long time. I wrote in Anglo-Dwarvish 'cause I'm a little LotR-obsessive like that. kept forgetting the double letters though. I so want to do a LotR marathon soon.




in other news, I survived my first weekend on worship at church and didn't die. my next rotation will be Valentine's Day weekend. I'm really proud of making it through the two piano-intense pieces without dying. and the team is really nice.



one day, one night, one moment
my dreams could be tomorrow
one step, one fall, one falter
east or west, over earth or by ocean



I'm playing Valse by Chopin and Maple Leaf Rag by Joplin for my recital. I feel a little funny playing such well-known songs, but I guess it's alright. as long as I can really love them. and I'm startin this crazy intense version of Rhapsody in Blue. crazy as in, I really can't play this. I wonder how long it will take me. but seriously....this is the most amazing piano song ever. I could listen to it over and over and over.



one day, one night, one moment
with a dream to believe in
one step, one fall, one falter
and a new earth across a wide ocean



I can't believe how busy I've been lately. so many little things that I can't seem to find time to do. and then those other things that come up unexpectedly and put everything else on hold. I feel like I'm stuck in go. when I have some spare time, I just want to sleep forever........but I'm sure this won't last long.
I still feel like my birthday is sneaking up on me. I was trying to make plans to get together with my friend Kelsey on Wednesday and she had to remind me that it was my birthday. a little strange, no? but she freaked out at 17 too, so we talked and I felt better. poor girl will be 18 in a couple months. she's wishing for a real-life Neverland.

speaking of which, our harvest festival this year will be Neverland themed. if you've got any ideas for how we can make it an amazing little kid candy heaven, I'd love to hear them.


this way became my journey
this day ends together, Far and Away.
this day ends together, Far and Away.
Far and Away.

called from the wreckage/the fallen and beautiful bride

well, my birthday is coming up in awhile. just a few more days. I feel like I can see it's shadow as it tries to sneak up on me. I'm not sure yet if I'll catch it at the last moment, or if I'll turn my attention elsewhere and it will actually succeed in surprising me.

anol shalom....

I really want to watch Gladiator.

Roger came over today and we did music stuff. I'm not really nervous anymore. my biggest problem is knowing the order of each song. I love the comraderie in the worship team though. they go out for dinner after church every Saturday night, and just hang out over pizza and a soda. he's not worried about me, so I guess I shouldn't be either. not worried, just a tiny bit jumpy, if you know what I mean.

school goes on. if you guys have any ideas, we are doing compare/contrast essays next week. we need to pick two people (I'm definitely thinking literature or movie based, but they have to be from the same book or movie), figure out 10 values they share, 10 interests they share, and what we've learned from them. and it absolutely can't be LotR. so...all the examples I'm coming up with are two people from different books. I'm sure I can think of something, but if you're reading this and have a moment of brilliance I would like to hear it.

French is still pretty sweet. stupid masculine and feminine....that's the only hard part so far. and it isn't that hard really. today we watched a video about why French people have like no heart disease even though they eat three times the fat Americans do - apparently it's all in the red wine, and cheese isn't nearly as bad as milk, something about the fermentation. this is good news because I love cheese.
but of course it's much more complicated than that. it's also all in the processed foods we eat, and the microwaves we use, and the amount of snacks we eat between meals....Americans must be the unhealthiest people on the planet. I hope I lose weight in Europe. :P

We have no heat in our house because some transformer blew so the furnace and heat pump don't work. it's getting replaced today, but it's been about 50 degrees since last night. I'm really thankful that we can get it fixed so fast though, and that we have heat. a lot of people have worse problems than me.
and I have my own little room with my own little space heater.



please pray for the India team from the church in Portland - they left yesterday morning and are probably in Singapore right now....can you believe they've been traveling for a day and a half and they aren't there yet? that flight absolutely sucks....anyway they are all really tired and still have a ways to go and a lot to do over the next two weeks. if you want to keep up on their progress and stuff they're doing while in India, e-mail me and I'll send you a link and password for their website.



I guess that's it. anything exciting happening anywhere else?

"we're too young to believe that certain things are impossible"

I guess it's time all of you know. It's not like it's a secret or anything. I have to get good at learning how to tell people about this crazy plan of mine.
It started as a dream, and now we're working at turning the dream into reality.

My mom had this idea, because I love to travel and I've wanted to go to everywhere in Europe for as long as I can remember, that I should just go. After I graduate from community college, take a year off before I go to missions college, and just go everywhere in Europe.

So I'm gonna do it. Me and my friend Lauren are going to do it together. We started planning about a week ago, and have got a rough itinerary and budget lined up (believe me, you don't want to see this budget). gosh this is going to cost a fortune.
but it's going to be worth it. and even though we're not taking laptops, there are internet cafes all over Europe, so I plan to blog and skype every step of the way.

yeah. I just thought you guys should know about it. and if you have any tips for traveling or lodging cheaply or earning money or saving money, we would love to hear about it! really, this trip is going to cost so much money.........yikes.

:D

this song was meant for you/it had a happy ending/but you had to change your mind/I don't know what happened

I feel incredibly stuck.

I have never been a conformist. I HATE conforming. so now.....do I go along with my English class, write tiny little sentances, 14 per paragraph, follow format, don't deviate from the plan, and keep up my grades? or do I pretend I'm a Dead Poet and break all the rules and try my best to write an amazing paper?

I mean, I know I can write better than this, if I could just have a little freedom, some wiggle room. what we're doing is stupid. period. paragraph.

*sigh* I hate compromise too. and....I think I will stop complaining right about now.

I am sore, but it's that good kind of sore, the kind you get from working out when you know you need it. so I don't think that qualifies as complaining.

I'm re-reading the Count of Monte Cristo. it's so much more amazing than it was the first time! and I'm finding myself making so many comparisons/contrasts between Les Mis and CoMC. like-

- It's ok to have a hero who is flawed. perfect heroes are boring. heroes with mistakes and weaknesses are people you can identify with, and feel with. Jean Valjean was a convict, and he really was guilty, though he sinned with near-to-justifiable reason (is that blasphemy?). Edmond Dantes just tried to commit suicide, and will later discount God and religion, and take vengeance and justice into his own hands.

-Speaking of justice, is it better to sin out of a desire for perfect justice, or out of ambitious pursuit? Javert was totally all over bringing Valjean to justice - he left mercy out of the picture. But I'm more inclined to cut him some slack than Villefort, who sacrificed Dantes whole career and drove him to the state he's in, all for his own ambition and status. At least Javert was open to the law; I mean, he would've died, willingly, at the hands of the law if he thought he deserved it. Villefort spent his time hiding from the law. but in the end, the law isn't the high, pure standard - it's just as corrupt as the men who make it.

-Isn't it odd, and rather awkward, to read something in which the hero is more to the Jacobin side, and the villains are all Royalists? strange, to say the least.

-And lastly, there like five different bad guys in CoMC, and they all have different motives. I find that fascinating. Villefort - ambition in legal status. Danglar - envy, strife with Dantes in his career. Fernand - poor guy couldn't see past his own love for Mercedes, twisted though it was; total rivalry, no chivalry. Combferre - I really don't see why Dantes went after him, he was just to scared to say anything, and personally I don't blame him.

anyway, my humble and rather O.T. (off topic) (as my English teacher would say) thoughts on this amazing book.

oh yeah, I guess I have some homework....English homework....I shall return at a future date.

(and if I never come back that means I just didn't make it through English. no fighting over the piano - just do rock-paper-scissors or something.)

the angel on the stairs/will tell you I was there

yesterday was pretty good, as far as days go.
I went to Starbucks. Christmas is amazing because of the ridiculously wonderful influx of Starbucks gift cards. I swear I would never be able to go if it weren't for gift cards.

at youth group we made bubble gum sculptures, and I volunteered Becca to be the sculptor. she's an artist, and extremely creative. poor girl. that was after playing hot potato with a jar of baby food. yeah, you end up with it and you've gotta eat some.
what's the point of Young Life games? I haven't figured it out yet either.


we generally just hung out and had a good time with each other. I haven't been to youth group in awhile (due to holidays and going out of town) so it was cool. Katie and Alicia are home from college for the month, and we all brought back jokes from the mission trip and stuff, which was...errr.....interesting. :P

I'm getting used to English, slightly. I mean, what we have to do drives me absolutely crazy, but I think I'm learning how to handle being with my teacher for 50 minutes of every day. as we learned in French today - "Vivement le vendredi!" basically, thank God it's Friday. a student's favorite phrase.
and French is still really cool. we haven't really gotten to much grammar though - just phrases and pronounciation and the alphabet. so it's boring, and lots of crazy vocab. she keeps talking about Paris though...I want to go so bad. do you think Europe is really as amazing as it's protrayed? I mean, as a tourist, would it really be like the movies? isn't it Hollywood that makes us want to go there anyway?
because honestly, I don't know how you could watch Sabrina and not be dying to visit Paris.


yeah, not much going on. oh I would like your vote, though. for my recital, I'm gonna to a ragtime piece - should I do Maple Leaf Rag, or The Cascades?



ok, that's about it.

you wanna reach out
you wanna give in
your head's wrapped around
what's around the next bend....

take back the lies/don't say I didn't try

what came out of my mouth was so totally different than what was going through my head....

today, in English, my teacher started telling us about our first essay (which, btw, we are taking like two weeks to finish, painfully slowly, with very few details for those of us who like to get a head start on things). She starts by asking, "How many paragraphs are in a college essay?"

I surprised myself by being the only one to answer. "Five." of course it's five. this is the kind of woman who has a right and a wrong for everything, and will lower your grade if you try to think outside the box.

but even though I said five, my mind was saying "how every many paragraphs you want and it takes to say everything that needs to be said." honestly. she gave us a length in sentances and amount of page space for each paragraph. ridiculous.

I mean, what if I want to put dialogue in? where does that go?

It is just possible that I won't be able to spend 10-14 sentances exactly on each body paragraph. maybe one point is exhausted after 6 sentances.

and really, you don't have supporting "points" in a narrative essay.

so what's with the stupid five paragraph thing? does anybody have a clue about this? does anybody else think it's the most ridiculous "rule" in English classes today????

and another thing! she says don't write your topic sentance until after you've written the paragraph. because only after you write the paragraph will you know what it's about, to put your topic sentance in. excuse me? does this make sense to you? I thought you wrote the topic sentance and created the paragraph around it, to support, prove, and embellish your point. of course I'm not very experienced in esssay-writing, but isn't it supposed to work like that? not....oh I'll write it first and figure out what I said later.

*sniff* I want my history teacher back....

Bonne annee!

Ah, the first day of another quarter. A day, however, on which I did not have to walk to school. my friend Becca showed up early for an amazing change, and we found parking pretty quickly, then headed to French together. school isn't half so lonely when you're with a friend. it's actually kind of fun.

"Hey Becca. How is 6:30 AM treating you?"

we found our classroom and walked in to La Vie En Rose played on the accordian - traditional French to "get us in the mood." our teacher is crazy, in a pretty fun way. I think she spoke more French than English in the class. Most of what she said was "repete, repete" - repeat, repeat. she spent half an hour calling roll, getting all our names and nicknames right. mostly we just learned greetings and stuff. and Bonne annee, happy new year! I'm actually really looking forward to this class.

English on the other hand.....my English teacher scares me. seriously. she is a redhead, towards the bottom of 14 kids, rather loud (naturally), swears rather more than is called for, and really doesn't care if she gets our names right or if we have a problem. Honestly, she reminds me of some morbid cross between Buggs Bunny and the Joker.......like unpleasantness with ADD. And I'm not exactly what you could call clear about homework. I'm really not looking forward to this class.

maybe it will get better as the quarter moves forward.

I guess what bugs me most is that my English teacher (whose name is actually Victoria, curiously) really seems most concerned with us getting all the little nit-picky things right. we spent most of today on MLA formatting, and at the end she asked us why it was so important that we got it right. it boiled down to: because we're getting graded on it.

how pathetic is it to learn something just so you can get graded on it? I wish I had someone who cared about what we were writing, not just how it was formatted and if all the right words in the title were capitalized. Did you even read the title???

well, I want a Professor Keating, and I'm not going to get one. I knew that before, so I don't know why I'm disappointed.

anyway, that's plenty about school. I guess I should cut this short to start on some homework.

Au revoir! A demain! (see you tomorrow)

it's the first thing you see as you open your eyes/the last thing you say as you're saying goodbye

I am just here to post in between various trips.

and I warn you all that school starts again tomorrow.

however, I am now riding to school with my friend Becca, who is taking French with me. I leave hecka early but am home by 10:00. it's gonna be sweet. she is giving me rides in return for me teaching her piano.

I'm so incredibly happy about only taking two classes. I hope and pray I have half the discipline required to stick to the nice schedule I made myself, which (if I can stick to it) will make me a healthier, happier, better person all-around.

yeah. sure.

my mom and I just got back from Portland yesterday, and my cousins and aunt and uncle came back up with us. okay, they're second cousins - my great aunt and great uncle's son and his wife to be Hobbitishly specific.

on the subject of Hobbits, yesterday was J.R.R. Tolkien's birthday. I sincerely wish I could've been home, because I would've had an LotR movie marathon all day long. hmm....maybe it's better I wasn't home.....

where was I? ah yes. In Portland. my mom and I drove down Wednesday morning, stopping at the most incredible donut shop in the whole world. extremely dangerous that we just found this out, as it is about ten minutes from our house. oh dear....

anyway, we also stopped at Nordstrom, where, as my mom informs me, the employee/customer ratio is 1:1. scary. we only went to return this scarf I'd gotten through this roundabout Christmas thing at my grandpa's work party (confusing? I know) and didn't really want, considering it had skulls and other weird things on it that were definitely not me. so, we returned that to Nordstrom and I got money for Powell's. fair trade, I think.

we made it down just fine, with me doing all of the driving. Wednesday night my second cousin Leslie came over with her two sons (3 and 6 years old) and we went out for pizza, but she didn't stay too long because she had to get home. I think we watched Deja Vu that night with popcorn, and rallied our efforts tolerably well in order to make it to midnight, which surprisingly even my great uncle (who's rather prone to sleeping) managed to do. we watched the replay of Times Square for a little bit, until the Pussy Cat Dolls came on and I warned my oblivious relatives that the show wouldn't exactly be their idea of entertaining. we all turned in pretty soon after midnight.

Thursday we all slept in, and then after getting some breakfast and playing piano for awhile, mom and I left to visit our friends Tom and Bonnie, who were both on our India team. Tom was the videographer, and through some rather interesting circumstances slightly involving a monkey he ended up in the hospital for a couple of days during the trip. Tom basically talks really fast and will keep going if uninterrupted. Bonnie is quieter, and very sweet. they're perfect together.

we walked in their front door and saw dozens of pictures from different trips they'd taken around the world. Tom good-humoredly informed us that he's been sick in 42 countries. He's a rather endearing character, and Mom and I affectionately call him monkey-man. The little woodcarving of monkeys that we bought him while he was in the hospital sit on top of their TV.

we had a really good visit with them, reminiscing, and looking at pics/video from their latest trip - a month long cruise up the Amazon. after awhile we had to leave, to head to my second-cousins' house for some visiting.

the best news I've heard so far this year came with a picture my cousins showed us at their house - a picture of a tiny little baby profile on the black-and-white ultrasound background. my cousins married a little later than most people....they are late 30's/early 40's, and have been trying with much difficulty for some time to have a baby. with a 0.2% chance of conceiving naturally, our incredible and amazing God has answered all our prayers. I am SO happy!!!!!! She's about four months along....please pray for her that the rest goes smoothly. with all the difficulties they've had, bad things could still happen. they need a lot of prayer.

but still......we're all so excited! I can't wait to see my cousin as a daddy. he will be amazing, and fun to tease.

we visited with them for a couple of hours, eating truffles and other wicked things (they make chocolate in all it's treacherous forms). Visiting and eating chocolate turned into dinner, and we left in the evening. I think on Thursday night we played cards pretty late with my aunt and uncle. Our favorite game is called Nertz; basically it's group solitaire, where you are playing solitaire with four piles of cards (everyone has their own deck), and you put all the aces out in the middle, and everyone plays off everyone else's cards. it's a race to get to the bottom of your pile first. basically, it's pandemonium and lots of shouting and great fun, especially the more people you add. I think we played some cribbage after that, and then went to bed.

Friday we had already planned to meet Mythraie, our India team leader, for lunch, so I actually got up at a decent time and we kind of bummed around until it was time to leave for that. oh yes, and the extremely hard downpour from the night before had apparently turned to snow and frosted everything over, and was busy flooding the rivers and closing bridges. Hello, Portland.

We had a fantastic time with Mythraie, who is one of my favorite people - one of those people who is just a natural leader, never says anything negative, loves God, and wants to nurture other people. lunch was good and we spent the whole time talking about....just things - some memories from the trip, and a lot about what the future holds. she has always been really helpful and nurturing with my own plans for India, so we talked about stuff like that. It's weird when you talk to Mythraie, because it seems like you do most of the talking without realizing it, and she's such an amazing listener, but she gives good advice and guidance too. I don't know. she's cool.

After we said our goodbyes there we went to Powell's!!!!!!!!!!!! it is an amazing feeling going to a bookstore when you actually have some money to buy books. and I've decided if I were a store, I would be Powell's, for sure. did you know they have over a million books, new and used? a used paperback is generally about the best thing ever.

long story short, I ended up buying my own copy of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia (yes, REALLY), and The Once and Future King. altogether, $25.00, and no sales tax. don't you love Oregon? they pump your gas for you and don't charge you sales tax. amazing.

Friday evening we watched Hidalgo and I played some more piano, and mom and I got our stuff together before bed because we were leaving in the morning to get to the family Chistmas party up here by noon. Mom drove us back up, followed by my aunt and uncle, and then my cousins, all of whom were staying at our house. the party went fine....no special comments required I guess, except that my crazy aunts are all still crazy, and we played Nertz with about ten people, which is fantastically crazy. one of my second cousins had never played before, and as she sat there helplessly lost, she asked nobody in particular, "Don't we have Monopoly?"

after the party broke up we all came back to my place, and after some general visiting and looking through the India scrapbook my mom made, we agreed to watch a movie, and started Hitch which I made popcorn. by the time the movie was over we were all pretty tired, so we made up beds and get some sleep.

well, after reading The Queen of Attolia for awhile, of course. and I really thought I wasn't going to reread it right away. dang it.....

this morning I got up early (as in 7:30 early) so we could all visit before leaving for church, as the extended family was driving back down to Portland when we left for church. Dad made breakfast....not much interesting happened, we just talked and stuff. It was kinda sad to say goodbye. I'm wondering if we'll see my cousins again before they are parents.....(thank goodness they finished remodeling their house before all the baby stuff became a factor; they would never have time now!)

yes, that has been my week. tomorrow morning school starts again, and so does this missions class thing that I'm taking. and piano lessons resume. and who knows what else will happen to come my way.....

for now, I'm hungry. I think it's dinner-time.