last christmas at home

Well, here’s the post that I’ve been meaning to write for a while: Christmas at home. My last Christmas at home, to be precise: my parents are retiring and moving away from Yellowstone, and they’ll have the house packed up and moved before I get back from Spain. It was REALLY STRANGE to not be able to tell anyone the real reason I bought a 2^nd transatlantic plane ticket just to be home for Christmas… but now that they’ve officially announced it, I can finally say something. They have been planning this for a long time: they even applied for the Peace Corps! They were nominated for a couple’s position, and they’ve gone through all the medical checks, and they’re just waiting for confirmation. During all the traveling I do, it’s always comforting to know that my home is still waiting for me… now that they’re moving, that “home” is switching from Mammoth Hot Springs, WY, to Bozeman, MT, which isn’t too far, but if they go into the Peace Corps for 27 months, I don’t know how I’m going to define “home.” I feel like I’ll go through reverse empty-nest syndrome: I have to accept that my parents need to leave the nest, too, and have adventures of their own.

Anyways, I spent a wonderful 2.5 weeks at home, and although it was weird to feel like I had to say goodbye to every last bit of the house, I still had a good time. I went downhill skiing a couple times, snowboarding once, and cross-country skiing to several new places. I spent some wonderful quality time with my mom, dad, and brother. We were actually together for a whole month—they came to Spain to visit me on Dec. 14, we all flew back to Bozeman together before Christmas, and I flew back to Spain on Jan. 14! I haven’t spent so much time with them since the summer of 2008, which was the last full summer I spent at home. It was a great month!

During the break I also hung out with old friends from high school. Gardiner kids have gone far! Kathryn drives ambulances through New York City while she’s studying medicine at Columbia, Lindsay is getting her Master’s in something having to do with pediatrics, Josh is married and his wife is having a baby, Daniel is working in China doing skateboarding ministries, David just finished up four years in the Air Force and he owns his own plane, Mary just spent four months in Denmark and is studying architecture at Smith, Steph is working with some of the coolest photographers and their self-published books in Washington, D.C., Tanya just got back from three months full of boxing, capoeira, and caipirinha in Brazil, Mariah is getting her degree in social work while she’s working full-time at a mental health action organization…I’ve got some pretty cool friends! :)

Another really fun part of the break was judging at Gardiner’s home Speech and Drama tournament. (PS, Gardiner just placed 1^st at the Montana Class C State tournament in both the Speech and the Drama competitions! Woo-hoo!) I love Speech and Drama. I loved Speech and Drama. It was a wonderful part of my four years in high school, and it was nice to re-live some of that at Gardiner’s home meet. It was GREAT being back in the high school, because instead of being the quivering, nervous contestant trying to convince some unknown judge that I really could act, I got to be judge—I had the power! Muah-ha-ha-haaaa… Towards the end of the day, I was getting pretty tired and it was becoming harder and harder to find nice things to say about the really bad pieces. I got to judge Classical Duo for finals, which was awesome because I had been in Classical Duo, and the whole time I was praying “Please let there be no Importance of Being Earnest… Please no…” and of course, there was. The Importance of Being Earnest is a fabulous play, and I always enjoy watching it when the actors are good. Unfortunately, in the world of high school Speech and Drama, when there are two girls who are friends who want to act together but don’t know what else to do, they usually pick Humorous Duo or Classical Duo. Classical Duo is considered to be easier, so sometimes the actors are really, really bad. There were three pairs of Gardiner girls in Classical Duo, and I was very impressed by each of their originality, acting, and enthusiasm—so, I’m not trying to be disparaging to all S&D actors in general, but there are some bad eggs in there. And the really bad actors tend to choose exceptionally over-done pieces, like Gwendolen and Cecily’s tea scene. (Another scene that’s usually beaten up-side the head by the actors is Pride and Prejudice’s Lady Catherine de Bourg’s sweeping down upon Elizabeth and demanding that she not marry Mr. Darcy.) In any case, this Gwendolen and Cecily pair met my rather low expectations, and the long list of rather negative (ahem, I mean, “constructively critical”) comments ended with, “You shouldn’t use your parasol as a weapon.”

After the 2.5 weeks at home, I spent a few days visiting my Dad’s family in the Seattle area. I got to spend the night with my great-aunt and visit with my 2^nd cousin, which was a treat because I hardly ever get to see them, and then I was with my grandparents for two short days. My grandpa’s not doing very well, so it was really, really hard to leave in the end. G&G, I love you both a lot!

Apart from hanging out with my family, the best part of those 2.5 weeks at home was the skiing. Last Christmas, I was home for 14 days, and I was playing in the snow (skiing, snowboarding, sledding, or ice skating) 10 out of those 14 days. This Christmas, my record wasn’t quite as good, but I went skiing & snowboarding at least nine times. One day when my dad and I went to Bridger Bowl together, I was on my snowboard and he was patiently waiting for me on his skis, it was about 10 below and icily sunny. The sky was blue-blue-blue and the wind was whipping ice crystals into the air, so the entire sky sparkled. At one point, two intense sun dogs appeared, and then they grew until there was a whole halo around the sun—almost a double halo at one point—and at a 90-degree angle straight up from the second halo, there was an upside-down rainbow. I felt like I was in some sci-fi drawing of outer space—you know the ones where there are loops and loops of rainbows around every planet? It was heavenly. Check out the pictures on facebook. On cross-country skis, I went to several places I’d never been before: Snow Pass, Jardine, Mill Creek, the Chittenden Loop… all fabulous winter excursion spots in and around Yellowstone, and I waited until my very last Christmas to check them out!

It’s weird knowing that I’m not going to be able to put “Yellowstone National Park” on my address any more, or that this was the last Christmas where I could practically ski out my back door into the most wonderful spot on Earth, but it’s not like Yellowstone’s going anywhere (unless the supervolcano blows, and then it's not like we'll be around to mourn for it, anyways). I can always go back. My parents are only moving to Bozeman, after all, so we can always make a day trip or even an overnight trip back to the park—but we’ll be doing it as visitors, not residents. Yellowstone will always be a special place for me, and I miss my house already, but I spent a wonderful 19 years calling Yellowstone home, and I guess it’s time to give someone else a turn. Besides, I’ve sort-of sold my soul: I’ve been working in Grand Teton National Park (aka, “Yellowstone’s South District”), and I’m starting to like it just an eensy weensy bit better than Yellowstone :)

growth

My friend Lily is currently doing a Fulbright in Perú, researching about the Japanese-Peruvian community. She always writes thoughtful email-blogs about her time there, and in her last email, she asked her readers to think of a word that describes their 2010.

I wrote her a nice, long answer, which I’m going to plagiarize by re-using here:

Let's see, to answer your question about my word... hmm. What did I do in 2010?

In January, I took Latin and decided I liked teaching other people languages.

In February, I went to the Dominican Republic to build a house and I decided that I really could speak Spanish, even though I don't speak nearly as well as I want to, and even though I may never get to the point where I don't feel like I'm putting on some ill-fitting clothes every time I step into my Spanish-speaking self.

In March, I went on a wonderful roadtrip with Joy, 3,000 miles through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and back again, and I decided that I love America, and could work happily in America for the rest of my life, as long as I do lots of substantial travel to other countries along the way.

In April, I worked hard at school. I love school.

In May, I graduated from Linfield, and I learned that the relationships that I formed in college will be important for me for the rest of my life.

In June, I went to work at Grand Teton National Park, and I loved my job more than any job I've ever had, and I decided that I could be comfortable with being extroverted when I really love the subject that I'm explaining.

In July, I went on hikes to breathtaking places, and decided that I need to live away from cities, and in areas where I can easily access the great outdoors, in order to be truly happy.

In August, I drove home a lot to visit my family, and I learned that I really had grown up in one of the most beautiful places on earth, and that I wouldn't mind dedicating myself to working for the Park Service forever in order to protect places such as Yellowstone and Grand Teton.

In September, I set off on an adventure for Spain, and I decided that although I really don't like change and that the 1st week of work in any new place is always awful, change is good for my soul.

In October, I moved in with a Bulgarian grandmother, and I decided that even though I feel "independent" and sometimes chafe under the fact that I'm living with an almost-parental figure, I still have a lot to learn from those who have more experience than me.

In November, I worked hard, and decided that I enjoy teaching English as a Second Language, and in order to do that, I need to go back to school in order to really learn how to teach.

In December, I traveled to Austria, and I met people who reminded me simultaneously of my family in Norway, my friends in Oregon, the crazy people I met in Germany, the Californians who vacation in Montana, and my family back home, and I learned again that people really are just people, wherever they are.

After all of that, it's hard to pick one word...growth? Yes, I will go for growth. I have grown a lot as a person, and as I look at who I am versus who I was, I sure hope that I keep growing, because I am still not satisfied with myself. For example, a goal of mine for years and years has been to work on being more patient: being in Ecuador gave me a world of help, and being a teacher now also makes me constantly work on this. However, when I was at home over Christmas, I still found myself snapping at my parents and my brother, as if I were 14 years old again, without first taking a deep breath and thinking about whether it was really worth it to lose my temper over something so trivial. Some people cause my reserve of patience to strain itself much more than others, and I think I need to spend more time with these people, in order to become a better person. These last 3 months in Spain have been a time of self-indulgence, of gallivanting around Europe, of marvellous days of skiing at home, and I don't know if having such an easy life now is really helping me out in the long run. Don't get me wrong, I love living here, and I feel that I have learned a lot, but I think if I stayed in Spain to do this job again next year, I would curse myself for being a lazy bum. I want to go to grad school to learn how to teach, and then I want to come back to Spain and actually be a teacher. Another year of fumbling along as a teaching assistant would certainly be fun, and if my plans for grad school fall through, then I'll certainly do this again, but I couldn't maintain this lifestyle forever. I used to think that I wanted to be a ski bum; after skiing three days in a row over Christmas, I don't know if I could stand to be a ski bum day in and day out! I have been thoroughly acculturated in the American Puritanical tradition: I need to work in a meaningful job in order to feel good about myself. Another thing I need to work on: along with patience, finding more self-motivation. I am an incredibly motivated person, but my overachieving streak only really kicks in when other people are watching. I know that if I don't have someone pushing me (and the idea of people reading my blogs is certainly a good push!) then I really would turn into a lazy blob of self-gratification. So, thank you, readers, for keeping me accountable. I love reading your responses, and I certainly hope that my experiences during the rest of my year in Spain help me grow even more.

p.s.: like any good blogger, I check my stats every week, and it´s always interesting to see the things that pop up: usually, most of my hits are from the U.S. and from Perú (that can only be you, Lily), and the "referring links" usually come from Facebook (when I post the link to this blog onto my Facebook albums. Everytime somebody clicks on those links, the statistics are tracked). The other day, however, I had 23 hits from the Netherlands—I don't think I know anyone in the Netherlands! I also had a referring link from someone who Google searched "atacames prostitution." (I have my older emails that I sent from Ecuador also posted on this blog page—they´re listed below this blog post, and apparently in one of my Ecuador emails I used the words "Atacames," which is a place I went to, and "prostitution," both in the same email.) Apart from these minor, and slightly creepy, aberrations, though, I can tell you that I am very happy with what my statistics tell me: I think my family and friends read this a lot, and that's all that really matters to me. Thanks again!

filling up that calendar

Would you like to come and visit me in Mallorca? Let me consult my sshhhedule…

I happily live in a very wonderful part of the world at the moment, and just as I am visiting lots of friends all around Europe, lots of friends are returning the favor. At the moment, I believe my calendar looks like:

It’s going to be a busy spring! I wrote in November about how I love to have all the boxes in my calendar filled in: well, for this spring, they certainly are looking full! It’s strange for me to have so much free time (my whopping 12-hour-a-week job isn’t all that taxing) and so I’m making sure to fill as much of that time up as possible. This weekend, for example, I went on a great hike with a teacher from the high school and his friends. It was one of the most fun Saturdays I’ve spent here on the island! We went to the Castell d’Alaró, an originally Moorish fortress on a high hill overlooking the snow-covered Serra de Tramuntana on the one side, and the central plains of the island on the other. It was a very cold day—there was about 1cm of snow at the top of the knob, and the entire group was going crazy. “SNOW ON MALLORCA!!!” People made all sorts of baby snowmen and had mini-snowball fights. It was great. After the hike, we went to a homey, cozy restaurant where you had to shout at the waitress for her to bring you anything, and the food was delicious, and I ordered in Mallorquín! “Un poc més de vi, per favor…” (un poco más de vino, por favor; a little more wine, please) We had “un poc més de vi” for quite a while, and for desert we had flaming rum. Amazing. After that, it was still light out, so we drove to another town to have coffee. This town, Orient, was one of the most romantic villages I’ve ever seen in my life. Apparently, other people have thought so, too; they say the population is 95% foreign. The day wasn’t over yet: we then went to somebody’s house to have tea. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

As for the rest of the weekend: Sunday, day of rest = day of housework. Lots and lots of housework. Today is Monday, and since my work schedule has changed, I no longer work on Mondays. I’ve been a downright bum, playing computer games, studying a bit of Catalan, baking cookies, and lolling around. The laziness has been great, but I’m also feeling antsy: I need to get out and get at ‘em, otherwise I’ll go stir-crazy. Or else I’ll become a master at Age of Empires 2! Next weekend I’m going to a bonfire with the same group of hiking people, but I’m going to be a couch potato for 2 out of the 3 days of my weekend (especially now that we have TV in Spanish as well as in Bulgarian) and I know I’m going to drive myself wild. This has been a really good year for me to have lots of alone time, which I need, but there’s only so much time I can spend with me, myself, and I. I hope to find a good balance between work, travel, connecting with people here, and relaxing by myself; I’ll let you know how it goes after the next 4 months.

biking to work

This summer, when I first found out that I was going to be working in Santanyí and S'Alqueria Blanca, I immediately got on Google Street View to check out my two towns. Exploring around the outskirts of Santanyí, I discovered a backroad set between honey-colored stone walls, passing by almond trees and cacti. S’Alqueria Blanca is only 5K from Santanyí, and so I decided that as soon as I got to Spain I was going to buy/rent/find a bike, and then ride my bike along this beautiful-looking road to get to work every day.

When I got here, I did indeed find a bike—my roommate has a friend who lives in Germany in the winter, and she just so happens to leave her bike here—but I never rode the bike out of town!

Yesterday, after another sleepless night (I really, REALLY am starting to dislike jet lag) I decided that good way to jazz myself up for the day would be to ride my bike to work in S’Alqueria Blanca! The main road is 5K, but since I haven’t bought myself a helmet yet and there are virtually no road shoulders, I took that back road, which is about 7K.

I set off an hour early, just in case I got lost or it took me a lot longer than I expected… good thing I did! I didn’t take any photos, but to commemorate this beautiful ride, and my first exposure to Santanyí via the internet, here’s a Street View version of my journey.

Setting off from Santanyí: left or right? Knowing the map in my head and getting to the actual intersection are two different things. Hmm...

Heading out of town. Check out the enormous cactus!

The almond trees are in full blossom right now. The Google team's car must have come by here in January or February of last year. Street View (which is amazing!) was created when Google mounted cameras on top of cars and then drove all over the world, adding this feature to their Google Maps program.

That blurry thing at the bottom of the screen is Google's car.

Hmm... the road is getting much narrower.

And I've arrived at the beach! This is a problem, because S'Alqueria Blanca is NOT on the coast.

I guessed I missed this intersection waaaay back here...

Ah, well, back on the road again!

Coming into S'Alqueria Blanca. I knew I'd get there eventually!

So, instead of being a quick 7K up a gentle hill, I ended up going about 14K with several ups and downs—down to sea level and then back up again. It was absolutely worth it, and I got to work just on time. Now that I know the route, more or less, this will be my preferred mode of transportation! :)

return to spain

Well, I’m back. I spent a wonderful Christmas with my family at home, and it was far too short, of course. Doesn’t everything always rush by too fast? I have a feeling these next 4.5 months in Spain are going to go by like a flash as well. As I got off the plane in Palma, I have to admit that I only felt a dull stupor after traveling for 23 hours straight and knowing that I still had another 1.5 hours on the bus ahead of me, but I really am excited to be back. I’ve got a lot of things to work on now that I’m back—making friends, exploring the island, learning how to be a better teacher, practicing Spanish, getting the gumption to practice Mallorquín. Etc.

I got back to my apartment in Santanyí on Saturday, January 15^th, at about 2pm. I promptly went to bed, and woke up about 7pm to head to the festivities: Jan. 15^th is the day of Sant Antoni, which is one of the biggest festivals here in Santanyí. Sant Antoni (Saint Antonio) apparently is the patron saint of animals, so people celebrate his day by eating LOTS of meat. There was one huge bonfire just off the main square of town, with several bonfire-grills set up all around the square. The city hall sold plates of raw meat that you dropped on the grills and let sizzle over the flames. It was wonderful. Sofia, my roommate, also prepared marinated chicken kabobs and we brought along several bottles of wine and had a glorious time. There were people also doing traditional dances in the main square, and it reminded me SO MUCH of Mr. Stringfield’s contra dancing that I couldn’t help but be happy and homesick all at the same time! It was wonderful to watch. There were two or three large circles of people spinning and clicking castanets, and in each circle there were one or two people who really knew what they were doing. The rest of the people dancing watched them to follow the fancy footwork, and it seemed like everyone had a good time.

A little later, Sofia’s nephew, George/Jorge (I can’t quite figure out what he prefers to be called—his name in Bulgarian is something similar, but it isn’t George or Jorge, so I’m not sure if I’m hearing correctly when his parents call him "George" in one breath and "Jorge" in the next) and I went to Cala Figuera, a nearby town on the coast, to see the festivities there. George/Jorge introduced me to his friends and although we were going to stay for MAXIMUM one hour, we ended up staying out until about 1:30am. It was fabulous! I’m so glad that I got a great introduction to life back in Santanyí—I had a wonderful, emotional few days staying with my dad’s family near Seattle before leaving the States, and if I had come back to Spain to an empty apartment and an empty weekend, I would have probably slept until the cows came home.

As it is, I still have slept almost the entire day. I hate jet lag! Going back to the US is one thing, because I magically gain back all the time I’ve lost, but coming over to Europe, I feel like I’m always struggling to catch up to where I should be, but with my internal clock protesting all the way. I didn’t fall asleep until 7am this morning. Gripe, gripe. Ah, well—at least I can stream Comedy Central shows from Spain. There’s nothing like 4 straight hours of the Colbert Report in the wee hours of the morning.

Anyways, I’m back! I still want to write about 1) my family’s visit to Spain in December and 2) my wonderful time at home and with my grandparents. It’s back to work for me tomorrow, so I’m going to start thinking of lesson plans. Or maybe I’ll just watch some more Comedy Central.