After this year, my passport has only two empty pages (no need to mention that most of those pages are filled with visa renewals from my mission--but I did cover quite a bit of territory this year). Estimating, I covered well over 40,000 miles in the past 12 months. I also spent my first year back in the classroom fulltime since completing my master's degree and spent hundreds of hours planning, teaching, tutoring, assessing, and planning some more--that too was an adventure.
January kickstarted adventure mode when adventure was brought to me with the visits of two good friends from Utah: Tami and Bret. Tami came over MLK Day and we ventured the sites of DC exploring new art exhibits while Tami singlehandedly charmed the hearts of every person we met along the way. I had to do a bit of charming myself (but picked the teenage variety as they seem to be more of my element) when I inconveniently left my cell phone at home and dropped Tami off in the Natural History Museum only to meet up later with no designated meeting spot. Bad idea. Fortunately a chatty teenage girl let me borrow her phone. Even more fortunate, Tami has the same cell phone number since high school, so it is one of the few numbers I still have memorized.
Bret's visit a week later added some extra spice to my classroom as he marketed himself into a frenzy and my students were immediately sold on him, his cool KURU Kicks (which are some pretty comfortable shoes), and his disarming personality. He certainly spurred their curiosity and intrigued them to continue their learning by asking many probing questions for the rest of the school year.
Shut away in a cabin down in Luray, VA was the perfect adventure for President's Day Weekend in February. Plenty of board games, delicious chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, and a historical outing to New Market Civil War Battlefield where we had our own self-guided tour with the renowned Civil War History Buff, Chad Hill (yet even this history buff learned a thing or two as we chatted with local cadets from VMI who help maintain the battlefield).
Despite my short getaway in February, by the time March hit I was dragging and was in desperate need of a little Chicago love. So away I flew to see Liz, Austin, and the crew. There I spent the weekend completely at peace (though there wasn't much quiet) snuggling babies, reading stories, and chasing children so long as they weren't "on base."
Three weeks later more March adventures followed when I flew home to Utah for Spring Break and thoroughly enjoyed my mountains on a backpacking trip down in Capitol Reef with Bret. If possible, more fun was to be had that trip as I spent hours chatting with Allison and Tami--keeping them both up until the wee hours of the morning. And if you know us at all, when we are together, it is always a riotous adventure.
I got back to DC in April just in time for a quick visit from Megan and Tyson only to leave again: this time to Manchester to see Kristen. Rachel flew in too and we went up, up, and away in a helicoptic adventure for an aerial view of Boston. On this trip, we also discovered one of Massachusetts' gems: did you know that in one location you can gorge yourself on frozen custard, be mystified by a magical display of water fireworks, master the flying trapeze, and purchase a new set of furniture? This adventure inspired future adventures and bucket list items for me and my sisters, who are all now aspiring trapeze artists, and thanks to Kristen and LivingSocial, 2013 will be the year we learn to swing like graceful swans to the rhythm of the magical water fireworks and become part of the extravaganza.
I left Manchester, but Kristen came back with me for a short weekend trip to DC, where many of our adventures were unsuccessful because who knew that they locked up all the trees in the National Arboretum at 5:00 pm. But we still managed to perfectly time some fantastic tree-swinging sister pictures, balancing Kristen's camera on several random items we had on us.
If April showers, bring May flowers, my May flowers brought a terrible cold. And that cold certainly put a damper on The Most Magical Place on Earth and The Happiest Place on Earth. Flying with my roommates for our Orlando Roommate Weekend, my ears were completely clogged. So much so that I could hardly hear a person standing right next to me. Stuffed up ears do not a good theme park experience make. And though Harry Potter World and DisneyWorld were both magical, my nausea and lack of energy got the best of me once or twice. Still sick, Tami came out for another visit and we ventured up to NYC--sadly only making my cold worse. But brunching with Cynthia is always worth the sacrifice.
Fortunately, my ears eventually cleared in time for Memorial Day weekend where I drove down to Winston-Salem, NC to see Megan and Tyson. Our adventures included a lovely stroll through the botanical gardens where Megan and I applied our carefully studied instruction from Dancin' Kim and danced as if we were in a cabbage patch in an actual cabbage patch. But our adventures did not end there. Megan and Tyson showed me the best Winston-Salem had to offer and so we went to the mall--which was a dangerous place for me since I wasn't purchasing any clothing during 2012 (which according to Bret really only lasted 6 months, and he is probably right, but it was a monumental 6 months). Saving the best for last, we went to a lovely state park perched above the city, we climbed to the outlook and enjoyed some beautiful views of Winston-Salem.
With June came the end of the school year, and what a relief that was. Having begun the school year while I was finishing up the final touches on my master's thesis, I was more than ready for a break. And no ounce of persuasion or sweet-talking from my administrator could convince me to stick around and work on summer projects. Only hours after throwing a beautiful bridal shower for DeAnna, I was gone from the hustle and bustle and treacherous traffic of DC for good (well, only for the summer).
For the last few days of June and the first three weeks of July, I was ready to take in all the cornfields I could in the lovely land of Oswego, IL. Working part-time for Austin doing some social media work for his yardsaling site, I still managed to spend plenty of time playing with my five favorite kids. We watched movies, ate buckets of popcorn, splashed in the hot sun in multiple splashpads, went to Philips Zoo, swam in Lake Michigan, watched fireworks and ate ice cream, and then did all the normal stuff too (stories, Photobooth slide shows, etc., etc.).
The last week of July, I had a day or two in DC and then I was off to my second home in Bangkok. I met up with Peter, a friend from my mission, who was doing an internship in Bangkok. There, I had a few days to explore more of my city and visit dear friends all by way of public transportation. I even ventured to ride a motorcycle taxi on the crazy streets of Bangkok (more than once!). After being in Thailand for only a few days, Peter and I chugged our way up to Udorn Thani, an area where we both served. We even went back to Phuu Foi Lom (a place similar to a state park here in the states)--this time we took a Song Thaew, however, instead of biking like we had the last time. My Thai was immediately put to the test when I was asked to speak on the spot in Sacrament meeting because several speakers were not in attendance. By the time I got back to Bangkok, Bret and Mike had arrived and had already been swindled. Together, we went to a Muay Thai match (a first for me), a snake show, and spent some quality time with Puu, one of my mission companions.
From there, we flew up north to the mountainous Chiang Mai where we rented scooters and our hair was whipped in the wind as we darted up mountains to see Wat Doi Su Theb, hiked a 9-level waterfall, spooned baby tigers, learned the art of Thai cooking, ate Khao Soi (with which Bret and Mike immediately became obsessed), explored the night bizarre, devoured roti, ziplined through the jungle high above the trees, and landed safely back in Bangkok ready to head to the beach.
Though it seemed that Koh Samui was cursed as we missed our flight there, both my cell phones were stolen, we lost the key to our bungalow, and missed the ferry we had wanted to catch, paradise still prevailed. Amber joined the crew, turning our trio into a merry quartet, and the ocean a mere leap from our bungalow, calmed all of our fears. But this beach adventure was far from over because we were soon off to Bali where we joined my sister Kristen on a connection in KL, landed in Bali, and then set sail for the little Gili Islands, where the beach was rockier, but the ocean still pristinely clear.
Sailing back to the mainland taught me that my sea legs were not quite up to par, but once back on land I faired quite well doing yoga and wandering the Monkey Forest of Ubud. Ubud was a cultural smorgasbord where we even got to participate in a semi-annual Hindu temple celebration. Our last morning in Ubud we climbed Mt. Butar--a dormant volcano--and watched the sunrise over the misty lake. It was the perfect way to say farewell to Amber as she journeyed back to the USA and the rest of us went on to spend a day in KL and then a couple days in Cambodia exploring the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat and rafting through the canals of a water village before I had to head back to Bangkok. I had a few final adventures in Bangkok visiting dear ones and then reluctantly headed back home arriving only three days before the school year began (for teachers anyway).
Arriving back home without a cell phone was an adventure in and of itself--add a faulty alternator to the mix--and you almost have a recipe for disaster. Fortunately, all was fixed and a cell phone was borrowed, and the adventure of teaching began. The beginning of September put me back in the classroom at Bryant Alternative High School for my second year and proved that I do have some stability in my life. Though this year was a new adventure because in addition to teaching English 10, I also began teaching English 11 adding some stress and pressure of SOL tests to my mix.
I sat still for all of September, so by the time Columbus day rolled around, I was ready to head back to Chicago for some good kid-love the week before I turned 30! October didn't disappoint, as we did all things fall and picked pumpkins and apples in the Shenandoah Valley and saw Autumn in all her glory from the breathtaking views of Skyline Drive. October ended with a dose of hocus pocus (both the movie and the magic) on a weekend trip up to Salem in honor of Halloween where Sarah had her aura read at random and we all received a free spiritual consultation. I am still waiting for someone to come and hand me some money as was prophesied (any takers?).
November was the month of three-day work weeks and I have been suffering ever since. Hurricane Sandy canceled school for two days, then we had two teacher work days, then it was Viva Las Vegas for me where I presented at NCTE with Amber and Heather in which we wowed all the English-Teacher crowd and caught up with favorite professors. It was back to DC for the few days before Thanksgiving, but then off to Turkey where we appropriately celebrated the holiday, visiting the Haggia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and exploring underground cities in Cappadocia. Scotty, a fellow traveller, made this fantastic video to document the occasion:
(Song #11: Trip the Light, by Gary Schyman, featuring Alicia Lemke)
December seemed to drag (probably because I had long since lost my stamina for five-day work weeks), but it ended perfectly with a trip home to my family and mountains in SLC where I enjoyed a cozy white Christmas. Thoroughly living up every second in Utah, I spent lots of time playing games with my sisters, eating all the Utah food I could muster, watching Les Mis, and brunching with my best girls. I was sad to leave my mountains in Utah and come back as my year of adventure came to an end, but 2013 is here and there are certainly more adventures to be had.
No comments:
Post a Comment