a sign of getting older?

Something weird is happening...

I got back from my 12 week stay in India just a few weeks ago. I guess that's when things started to change a little. They happened pretty much unconsciously until I would somewhat recognize what I was doing afterward.

Just a brief synopsis of what my life looks like: for the past 12 weeks, I have been working in an orphanage (an amazing experience), I am currently jobless, filling out many job applications, and am living with my parents - including my younger sister, my 6 year old brother, and my two cousins who are staying with us temporarily.

Now the things begin to unfold...

I have always been the "neat and tidy" sister/daughter. Not only do I like to keep my things picked up and clean, but apparently I have become the second mom of our house. I am finding myself organizing my own things and the things in my parents house as well! Cleaning off the kitchen table - which is near the back door, which then becomes the "drop off dock" for everyone's left-over belongings (mail, graded papers, handouts from school, a "misplaced" hot wheels car or two of my little brother's,...things of that nature); unloading and loading the dishwasher more occasionally; keeping the living room picked up while my dad is off to work and my mom is teaching at school all day (although I still haven't folded my parents' laundry yet...I wouldn't put it past me, though!); organizing the items on our bathroom countertop.

I did a complete "mom-thing" this morning...I woke my little brother up so that he could get ready for school, and in his groggy morning voice he said, "My pants are really sweaty." Uhhh, while that is a possibility, I had a sneaky suspicion that it was something other than sweat. Yep! It was. So, since my mom was getting ready for school, I decided to help her out. I gave my little brother a bath, got him ready for school, and then I cleaned his sheets. Wow. I never thought I would do that one until I became a parent.

And then I have found myself looking in the kitchen pantry at all of the things my mom has stocked it with, pondering what things I could cook or bake! Now, I don't mind cooking. I think it's kind of fun when I actually set out time to cook, but I also think that it is somewhat of a waste of time. It seems as though the longer time you spend putting together a meal, the more time it takes away from getting something else done. But then again, I guess it's a matter of looking at your opportunity costs of cooking.

My first weird cooking experience occurred when I made blueberry muffins for my family one morning. Jet-lag woke me up at 2am, 4am, and 6am. I decided to make use of those early, sleepless hours. After wandering around my house, I thought it would be a nice little surprise if my family had breakfast awaiting them. Everyone loved them, especially the ones on which I sprinkled brown sugar. I, on the other hand, did not have one - not even a taste. I thought, Gosh, I am turning into my friend, Sara, who bakes quite frequently, but never eats what she bakes!

Well, I have not come to a conclusion as to why I am finding myself doing so many domestic things on my own accord, but there are a few potential solutions:

-working in the orphanage and being a responsible caretaker has rubbed off on me more than I thought;

-these things are just a sign of jet-lag that has left a "jet-lag residue" after three weeks;

-since I am jobless, I am simply finding more things to do to fill my time when I get tired of filling in the same information on each application;

-my interests, potentially, are shifting and widening a bit;

-OR it could very well be that I am just getting older!

The social stigma of "aging" is a little frightening to me. However, if waking up to a new day every day is, in and of itself, a sign of new things springing forth in this aging and cyclical world then maybe "getting older" doesn't have to be such a scary thing. Each morning that I wake up could be an exciting and adventurous day! Even if, and possibly when, I get stuck in the monotony of life, there is no reason why I should not search for the small things to amuse me. Ambition and dreams will last as long as you let them.

Am I getting older? Well, yes...but maybe it's not such a bad thing.

books for little explorers

I love to travel.  I love learning about other cultures.  I love meeting people.  I love to talk with people from other countries and cultures...

I also love to read.  I am the sister/aunt who you can count on to give a book as a gift!  I can't even keep track of how many times I would tell my mom or a friend that I was just going to drop by the book store and then be right back...but "right back" would always turn into about two or three hours later!

I have noticed that you can find just about any sort of book you want to for an adult, but unfortunately, children are a bit limited in their selection of book genres.  Oh, of course there are very colorful books, pop-ups, fairytales, brainy books, but something is missing in most bookstores:  Books about other cultures.  I think that more book stores should have a "Cultural" section.  While I love buying books for my little brother, and now my two precious nephews, I want to open their minds not only with imagination, but with a broader picture of the world in which they live.

I was so excited when I was perusing through some of my favorite blogs, and I happened upon this website, Cookiemag.com. It has a wonderful list of books by international children's authors.  I think that you should check it out and introduce your children to more of our vast world!

all you need is trust and a little bit of pixie dust

Peter Pan was my favorite Disney movie to watch when I was a kid. I can even remember watching a really old version of the Broadway play that my mom had taped on our VCR. My favorite part was probably when Peter was fighting with Captain Hook, and the pirates were up in arms against the lost boys, Michael, and John! Such a nail-biter, that scene was! Another thing I can remember, was the time I tried to fly...yes, I was one of those dumb kids who really thought that I could fly if I thought alot of happy thoughts. Needless to say, my flying attempt was unsuccessful, with a painful land that caused me quite the headache after SLAMMING into my wooden bunk bed. But at least I still had my happy thoughts!

Well, I guess I never really grew up, imagination-wise, that is. My friend, Sara, laughs at me when I tell her the strange dreams that I have sometimes, and she just tells me that I have alot of imagination. So what is one to do with this locked up imagination? I have decided that I will write children's books. This thought came into my mind again as I was talking to my friend, Natali, last night. We were talking of adventures in life that we would like to take and the wheels in my head were turning!

This idea has lingered in my mind for several years, now, but I have never taken the time to write down my ideas. I have ideas for individual books as well as series of books! One of my most favorite things to do is to just daydream and use my imagination. I love trying to get my little brother to use his imagination, too! What a tall tale we made up together when I prodded him to imagine where the books go when you drop them off at the library's book drop...of course, it involved dinosaurs, stormy seas, pirates, crazy slides and mountains, and then finally, the book fairies. It brought me so much joy to see Connor's eyes and his face light up with curiosity, and then excitement as he helped me color the story with his own imagination of the book drop. Who knew the old library book drop could be so exciting and adventurous!

Now, I just need to write down my ideas!

So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever, in Never Never Land.

If only money could grow on trees...

-I would be able to support so many wonderful people in India, like Chandan, Dommi, and Dolly.
-I would be able to spend quality time with all of my friends when I get home - like visiting Emily in Mexico; the Watsons in Portland; Caroline in Portugal; so many of my friends in Oklahoma.
-I could visit Latin America, with Mirela as my wonderful guide and cultural informant!
-I could pay off my college loans so that I could begin Grad school debt free.
-I could provide high quality services to my community, free of charge, such as: health care, counseling, school, higher education, business training, and even "creative" lessons, like arts and crafty stuff.
-I would be able to pay for rent (for the house that I do not yet own).
-I could support more sidewalks to be made.
-I could buy myself a good bike so that I could ride it on the new sidewalks so that I would not have to worry about using my "tree money" on gasoline, which would, in effect, only cause more pollution in this increasingly higher populated world, leading to more money to be invested in preserving our environment, getting rid of pollution, and taking care of people's health as a result of pollution. (Whew! What a mouthful!)

And those are just a few things that I would do...if only money could grow on trees.

the fun things you find when cleaning out

I was cleaning out some old files on my laptop earlier today and I came across this one document labeled, "Poems". "Hmmm", I thought to myself, "why do I have a document like this?" Once I opened it, I remembered that I wanted to start a collection of poems that I liked. Maybe I should have done a better job of remembering this file, because the scroll bar stopped at the end of page 1. Ooops! Apparently, my collection of poems is not much.

Well, I'm glad that I cleaned out my files today, because at least it reminded me of something fun to keep myself busy with (finding more lovely little poems, that is). Here are my "collection" of two poems...

The Swing

by Robert Louis Stevenson

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide, River and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside— Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown—Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

Jabberwocky

by Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand;

Long time the manxome foe he sought—

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"

He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

a useful site for all your ills!

I love WebMD. I find myself going to this website probably on a weekly basis. There are just so many things you can find out - and it is in simple terms for all of us non-medical people!

As my previous post described, I am currently in India. Things have been great until I hit about week 6 and 7...Bring on the stomach problems!! I have loved the food (although I have tried not to get too close to the REEEEally spicy traditional Indian foods). I typically have a pretty strong stomach and I will try anything! As of late, however, I think my immune system is slowly weakening. Most of my symptoms are not too out of the ordinary, but what do I do? Push the silver button to my laptop, wait for the wireless network to connect, double-click on the little Internet icon, then punch in these wonderful, and ever so helpful keys, "w-e-b-m-d-.-c-o-m"...So, after considering all of my symptoms, I find out that the mystery re-occuring illness that I am experiencing is none other than.....FOOD POISONING! (or at least maybe a mild case)

Thank you, WebMD.com!
(As a safety tip for all of my readers - which I suspect is but a few - always seek professional advice, especially if symptoms worsen.)

a far, far away land

I am currently in India. I have been here in Bangalore for nearly four weeks, now, come Thursday...ONE MONTH!! It has been wonderful to observe another culture...the differences, the beauties...

I am slowly adapting to their culture, too! I eat with my hands; I don't get scared when I am on the back of a motorbike or in an auto-rickshaw, and we get literally within a couple of inches from hitting a city bus, another bike, or a pedestrian! Although riding in a four wheel vehicle is not something that I have done often since being here, I am training myself to NOT put on my seatbelt. (When my host picked me up from the airport, we drove in a taxi on the way to the house. When I was working to put my seatbelt on, my host politely smiled, holding back his laughter, and then asked, "Do you where seatbelts in America?". Of course, I replied that we do. He proceeded to let me know that no one ever wears seatbelts in India. People will laugh at me if I do...Lesson #1.

Seeing cows meandering through the city streets has become normal for me. I still have not exactly gotten used to the stench that permeates the air in random pockets along the streets. When we are walking or riding through a not so pleasant smelling area, I try to hold my breath inconspicuously and be careful how much I talk!! Sometimes seeing stray dogs in the city is like playing "Where's Waldo?"...you might be looking down the sidewalk or in an abandoned lot, and if you look close enough, you will probably find about six or eight dogs just lounging in the sun, even under a car. (I find this game sort of amusing!)

I was shocked at one thing I saw when my host and I were walking down a street one afternoon, on our way to the ATM, just talking away. Just before we headed on our way, he told me to be careful where I step so that I don't step in cow dung. Oh, and watch out for human waste, too...What?! Yep, that's right. So, we were just about to the ATM, and what do I see along the side of the road?...The most precious little boy who is crouched on the ground. "How cute that this sweet little boy with no pants on is just playing in the sand next to his father", I thought. Nope...I look a second longer and see that he is relieving himself right there in plane daylight, on the side of the road. And we just kept on with our conversation as we walked toward the ATM.

It is also so interesting to see that Bangalore, the I.T. center of India, has both wealth and poverty scattered throughout the city. It's hit and miss where you will find a slum area. As you walk along a street, you will find some very beautiful and colorful homes and buildings, and then so oddly placed (at least in my mind) directly across the street or even between two of those homes will be a very run down home or slum. I am used to a city that is sectioned off...South "city" is the ritsy part of town; North "city" is a little more run down and full of violence; West "city" is not very developed, but it is still safe, and you can find some cute shops; Mid-town is okay, where you will have some nice, and some smaller houses and buildings...My host explained to me that Bangalore is set up in this "hit and miss" way because of the severe unequal distribution of wealth, where the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. The middle class just struggle alot.

I have also met some very beautiful people. Despite their circumstances, it has been so encouraging to see how solid the faith is of some of the people I have met. Since I have been here, I have witnessed some very difficult circumstances that my host family has gone through, or that a close friend is going through, and yet they hold on so firmly to their faith in God - that He will never leave them nor forsake them. Some of the stories I have heard make my troubles look miniscule!

It has been so fun to see and eat the tropical fruits that are so plentious here! As an Oklahoman, I am not used to eating tropical fruits...so this is a treat! The colors that the women wear seem to bring life to the city, or to the room. As I walk down the street, or as I sit in church, the area is so magnificently painted with such bold colors...brilliant purple, bright orange, deep red, shimmering blue, silver with some glitters of gold...And they wear these colors so unashamedly and so beautifully! Who cares if this or that color is in season or not! Wear them proudly ; )

It seems as though drinking coffee (and strong coffee, at that) is not quite as popular here as it is in the States. I went probably two weeks without coffee, and then my host family took me out to buy some coffee so that I could make each morning...they are such lovely people ; ) At the end of the day, no matter where my exploring will take me across the globe, I will still always love my cup o' joe to relax with!