Dreams

This is why I'm studying Humanities - not to be a lighthouse keeper, specifically, but because it's something I love.

Yeah, so the formatting sort of cuts off half the comic - sorry about that. Check out the real thing HERE.
Or you could just click on the image for the full size effect.

I have about a hundred ideas floating around in my head about "what I want to be when I grow up" (whether I will ever really achieve that "grown-up" status is still a topic of debate). These ideas stretch from teaching high school English & Literature to working at a museum in the publicity department to owning my own antique bookstore/bakery (My Kneads). A wise woman (okay, it was Oprah) once said, "Find your bliss. Once you've found what makes you blissful, find a way to turn it into a career."I don't have a solid plan. Yet. Someday I will. But for now, I love what I do. I learn, I cook, I blog, I love, I flip, I dream, and yes, on occasion, I think seriously about my future. I'm not sure what it holds yet, but I'd like to think whatever it is will be surrounded in a hazy cloud of happiness.

In conclusion - listen to this song - Life is beautiful - sometimes you just have to look up & see the beauty that surrounds you.

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Aaaaaaaaaaand... I'm done with the Taylor Swift as the first song on the blog. Toldja it wouldn't last.

Words of Wisdom

Sometimes I go on these wild quote binges. It starts with thinking of a quotation that I've heard, but want to get exactly right, so I look it up. Then there are always a few other quotes on the page... which often are linked to more pages, sometimes even organized by SUBJECT. sweet. It's like Pringles - you just can't stop.

Here are some of the gems from my latest quote binging accompanied by some of my favorite paintings.

If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth. -- Mitsugi Saotome

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go. -- Mother Theresa (this seems like it should be a slogan for Rising Star Outreach)

My Ajay. :)

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end. -- Margaret Thatcher

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. --Ingrid BergmanHave courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. --Victor Hugo

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. --Erich FrommYou may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don't trust enough. --Frank Crane

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change. --Buddha

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next. --Ursula K. LeGuin

The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. --Henry Miller

A thing of beauty is a joy forever. --John Keats (also used in "Mary Poppins" cool. )

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in. --Rachel Carson

When Words Fail, Music Speaks

Author's Note: I stole that awesome title from little Miss Julie - thanks for sharing!

I feel like the fact that the first song on my blog could be classified as part of the "country" genre needs a bit of explanation (& it will probably last...hmm... three days). So here's the explanation:

I like music. A lot. & I'm all about the lyrics (please see every other post on this blog even remotely related to music for more evidence). Also, I like taylor swift kind of a lot. shhhhh - don't tell. This particular song is awesomely fitting in my life right now, in a sort of ironic happy ending way. If that sounds vague, it's supposed to be - I'm learning that a little ambiguity isn't such a bad thing after all.

So, for all of you out there (*ahem* Jason H. - you know who you are) who listen to this blog more than you read it, give me a shout out opinion on the new country-ish additions & let me know what you want to hear more of. If the lyrics are good, I just might give it a spin.

& now I've got to run, baby, run & finish my D&C assignment. You don't understand how helpless[ly distracted] I get.

Author's other note: I dunno what's up with the font size on this - it's being stubborn.

Turning Twenty at the Taj Mahal

I should be working on Spanish homework but... this is also worthwhile, right? Here are a few more of the many photos, with short captions. (Short because if they were longer I'd feel a bit more guilty for neglecting my homework.)

India is definitely the best place to turn twenty - here's why: our tour guide greeted in the lobby of our hotel around 6 am with a beautiful Indian pashmina (aka super amazing scarf). Then we traveled about three minutes by air-conditioned bus to the Taj Mahal to watch the sunrise. This experience really can't be described in words; the beauty of the Taj Mahal is ethereal and graceful, changing in the different hues of the early morning light. My twentieth birthday continued in its amazingness, but here are a few images from my first few hours as a twenty-year-old.

The inner walls of the Taj Mahal complex - I can't see it, yet!
But aren't the gates beautiful?

The gates of the Taj Mahal aren't lauded as much as the
mausoleum itself, but they are stunning. And so HUGE.
Those walls are definitely a forceful yet
beautiful guard for India's lovely lady.

My first glimpse of the Taj Mahal... I may have shed
a few tearsof happiness and gratitude at this point -
I really could notbelieve I was actually there,
seeing such a magnificent structure.


One of the most beautiful sunrises I've ever seen.

Kimbo, my love, & me showing some early morning lovin'.


Fact: There are actually two main domes on the Taj
Mahal - the outer dome,which you see here with the classic
Indian "onion shape," and the inner dome,which forms
the soaring and unsuported ceiling above the mausoleum.
Our amazing tour guide, Nithan, told us that between the
two domes therewould be enough room to for twenty
elephants or something crazy like that.

Fact: All of the designs and decorations on the Taj Mahal
are madeof semi-precious stones inlaid in the white marble.
The marble used for the Tajis slightly translucent, giving the
building its soft glow as the light penetrates the surface.

Fact: The Taj Mahal has a beauty all her own. Go there. You'll see.

Rosemary's Birthday

With over 160 children living in the hostels at Rising Star Outreach, sometimes it's a bit too easy to get lost among the masses. But each child gets one day to be special, one day to put away their normal play clothes and dress up, a day to give out candy to every other child, one day to share their cake and be the center of attention.

One of the first birthdays we got to be part of was Rosemary's 6th (? RSO-ers, help me out here) birthday. With her slightly mischievous smile, gold dress, & orange runners, Rosemary stole all of our hearts & a large portion of our memory cards. These pictures are some of my favorites.

The birthday girl, Miss Rosemary. (The shoes, oh how
I love the shoes!)

Cutting cake (yum!) with the help of her daddy. Having her

dad there was a special treat itself, as the children live at
the school for most of the year & only see their parents on

certain visiting days a few times during the school year.




Mariadas was pretty excited for his piece of Rosemary's

massive heart-shaped cake. (From Left to Right: Ajay,
Jabstin, Mariadas, & Peter)


We started a tradition of taking awkward pictures of Jared,
our sole boy volunteer, throughout the trip. This bashful
picture with our pretty little Rosemary is one of the best.

Nothing better than swinging on your birthday.

Getting To Know You

We made it! After about 32 hours of travel, we finally arrived in Chennai! Then we just had to survive the two hour drive to Rising Star.

The beginning of "the longest bus ride of our lives." We were all a bit tired by this point.

After our late night/early morning arrival, we got up early to make the 2 hour trek back into Chennai for church in the local branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the next morning. We were still a bit jet-lagged, but the spirit in that small gathering of people was incredible. Their gratitude and enthusiasm for the Gospel was contagious - there were 4 new converts welcomed into the congregation that day. Those people love the gospel with every part of their soul. They make great sacrifices to attend church, hold meetings with flickering power, an old piano, & battered hymnbooks, but there is nothing lacking in their faith.

All the hours on a plane & driving the streets of India at night were worth it - that afternoon we got to meet the most beautiful children in the world.

Satia & me on the playground - yes, they definitely know how to do bunny ears in India.

This sign came to mean we were almost home over the next three weeks.

Boys will be boys - they love spiderman and posing for pictures worldwide.

My first day in the colonies - this beautiful woman lived in this colony in order to take care of her mother, who was a leprosy patient.

Time Travel

My days in India were full & my nights were dedicated to reading bedtime stories, catching frogs, enjoying my bucket showers, & trying to sleep on my lovely technicolor Indian mattress. But now I'm back in the USA! I have access to high-speed internet, a couple hours to kill between classes, & 1711 pictures in my India album. Cue epic blog update full of pictures.



I spent 14.5 hours on this 747, which we christened "Bertha." Twas a very large plane.



Luckily, I had a window seat - this was the view from above the clouds.



This was the view about 5 hours later. Please notice how the clouds & shadows look almost exactly the same? Yeah, it stayed like that for about 12 hours of the 14.5. It really messes with your head when the sun stops moving. We were traveling along with the sun, so it stayed at about the same position even though we technically flew through Friday & Saturday.




They did feed us rather well - we had a menu to choose from & everything. Kim & I were pretty excited to eat stir fry chicken with shitake mushrooms & jasmine rice while on a plane to China. Author's Note: When flying with Cathay Pacific, do NOT order the Kosher meal. The regular econo-class food is pretty amazing & much easier to deal with. If you get the Kosher meal, you'll just find yourself sitting in a pile of wrappers & plastic, trying to figure out why they gave you all these packets of mustard to go with fish & roasted turkey. not pleasant.



China! It's very smoggy & mysterious looking, no?

Storytime: The bathrooms in the Hong Kong airport were by far my favorite bathrooms of the entire trip; they were spotlessly clean, the tile, floors, and sinks all have glitter embedded all over them, the toilets were small, very rounded, & somehow very Chinese looking, & each bathroom had a nice little attendant who mopped the floors after each person. It was awesome. Kim & I were in the bathroom freshening up after the arduous flight from San Francisco (we had left Salt Lake City about 25 hours earlier), when the sweet little attendant came in, smiling a crinkly smile, waving her arms, & saying something about the sky. "Come come! See sky! Sky like fire, you see!"

We walked out of the bathroom giggling a bit & trying to communicate our thanks, then we saw this:



It was incredible. I snapped quite a few pictures, but they can't come close to the real colors - the sky truly did look like it was on fire. I loved the architecture in the Hong Kong International Airport - it wins the prize for my favorite airport, which is quite the honor, as I am now quite the expert. I was in an airport 12 times during the course of my trip.

All You Need is Love

I truly can't believe this is my last night in India (unless you count waiting around in an airport until 2 AM - I don't). The past three weeks have been full of unforgettable experiences, yet they've flown by so quickly I could hardly catch my breath. I celebrated my twentieth birthday (at the Taj Mahal, no less!), traveled to a country & continent that I've never visited before, walked & talked & sang with leprosy patients, taught a bit of English, learned a bit of Tamil, & fell absolutely head over heels in love with the children of Rising Star Outreach.

I could write thousands of blog posts about my experiences here & never tell them all; each day has held so many new stories. There are many more posts to come, but as I reach the beginning of the end, I feel like a bit of a wrap up is necessary. And yes, this is only the beginning of the end - I still have roughly 36 hours of travel ahead of me.

I have learned so much in these three short weeks - about the world, about children, about poverty, about airports, about mangoes, about leprosy, about bugs, about frogs, about alternative toilet designs, & about myself. The children here truly have the ability to love unconditionally - they can even forgive you for refusing to give them crayons, which is, of course, a huge deal when you're 6. Before they even know your name, they reach up & beg for hugs. They have so little but give so much. We are forever finding little love notes & trinkets by our door. How could I keep my heart from melting with their warmth?

While I've been in India, I've learned a lot about perspective. True beauty isn't skin deep, it comes from the heart. Some of the most beautiful smiles I've ever seen have been full of rotten teeth & sunken gums. You can be grateful for the smallest things; a piece of gum or a simple smile delivers such joy to those who are grateful for even the smallest sign of love.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: seeing more of the world has greatly changed the way I look at my world. I have been so incredibly blessed throughout my life - I have been surrounded by comfort & people who love me. I have a mommy who takes care of my hurts & a daddy that makes sure I have a roof (not made of palm leaves) over my head & food (which I can pronounce the names of) on the table.

Perhaps most importantly, I have gained a powerful testimony of my Father in Heaven's love for His children. One wise man in one of the hospitals we visited told me a very true thing, "I will pray to my god for you - but we all pray to the same god. It doesn't matter what we call Him, He answers all the same." I know this is true. I have felt the power of prayers to gods I don't know in languages I don't understand. Faith is faith, no matter who or where you are. Hope is a treasure. Love is powerful & universal.

And the best thing about love? You just can't give it away with out even more coming back at you.

There were some pretty embarrassing grammar flubs in this post - I wrote it around 2 am Chennai time. Please excuse.

This Is India

Photographic proof of my trip AT LAST! Sorry it's taken so long - for those of you that are also my facebook buddies, there's nothing new here... but I felt like some photos needed a spot on my blog. Unfortunately, they got a bit jumbled in the uploading process, but I hope you enjoy!


Kaitlin & me showing off our best "Hindu Hands."


All the girls getting dressed up - except Lauren. She was coaching from the sidelines.


You wonder how I'm so close to my fellow volunteers after 2 short weeks? It's Sumo (SUV) trips like these that make it possible! Katie, Jared, & me got to know each other pretty well on this trip to & from a remote leprosy colony - we were painting their houses.

Chucks go well with traditional Indian sarees, right?


Sitting on the Taj Mahal itself - the sun was bright & I like to make super attractive faces!


Sunrise at the Taj Mahal on my twentieth birthday. Now THAT was an awesome way to bid farewell to my teen years.

My little Ajay! He fell asleep in my arms on my second night here & I've been completely in love with him ever since - how could I not be?


Satia & myself on the playground at Rising Star Outreach - she's got a mischievous streak as wide as this country.