sneezing while driving and visits to the vet.

so what are you supposed to do when you have to sneeze while driving? it always freaks me out because i'm afraid that in that split second that my eyes are closed someone will speed out of a side street and hit me or an animal will jump out of the woods and onto my car. i guess the possibilities of either of those options happening are rather slim, but it still freaks me out a bit.

on another completely different note, i got a kitten for my birthday.

her name is luna. and she is wonderful. she can be a bit crazy sometimes so it's a good thing she's so cute or else i probably would've strangled her by now. unfortunately she is usually in her frisky mood right when i'm getting ready to go to bed.

another unfortunate turn of events was a few days ago when she stopped eating. which then led to visits to the vet. now what i am wondering about is what name am i supposed to give to the receptionist when i arrive? my name? even though the appointment obviously isn't for me. but i feel a little silly saying that luna is here for her appointment. it's not like she picked up the phone and dialed and decided on a time that didn't conflict with my class schedule. but have no fear. little luna is getting better and is back to her frisky self.

more good news: spring seems a little bit closer each and every day.

little letters.

dear professors,

instead of giving me a maximum word or page count for an assignment, how about telling me the minimum of what is expected? i prefer knowing how much i have to do as opposed to putting a limit on it.

dear snow,

you are beautiful and lovely, but we've got plenty right now so you can just hold off for a while.

dear people,

when clearing off your cars and driveways, please don't throw the snow into the street. it really is not helpful.

dear peruvian friends,

i'm totally jealous that you are currently on summer vacation and enjoying the warm beach weather. not fair.

dear fotocopiadoras,

i miss you becasue i'm not very good at using the copy machine.

dear amelia,

i really hope you come up for spring break.

dear gordon college,

it's good to be back, but i've noticed that we've both changed a bit.

dear friends,

please be my friends.

dear la casa,

i think of you everyday and am desperately looking for a way to get back.

dear water,

i love that you are free at restaurants and that i can drink you straight out of the faucet. thanks for being so wonderful.

dear english,

you're great and all and i'll always have a special connection with you, but to be honest i kind of miss speaking spanish.

dear TOMS shoes,

i can't wait till springtime when i can walk around in you everyday.

dear introductory phonology textbook,

where are you? why are you taking so long to get here?

dear girl i saw in lane yesterday,

why on earth were you wearing flip-flops? did you not notice the 3 feet of snow covering the ground outside?

dear french professor,

i am sorry that i decided to drop my french class this semester. i do miss taking a class with you, but right now i just need as much spanish as i can get.

dear micros,

as much as i thought it would be impossible to do so, i actually kind of miss you, and the way i felt more peruvian when riding on you.

dear may 21st,

please hurry up.

dear cold, dry winter air,

i really do not appreciate what you've done to my skin and hair.

dear hot showers,

you are so wonderfully marvelous and i will not take you for granted any more.

dear wi-fi at my house,

i'm amazed by how fast and dependable you are.

dear peru,

i'm happy here, but i miss you very much. and i don't think i'm ever going to stop missing you.

joy, love, hope.

i don't know why it has taken me so long, but i think it's about time that i write about my most recent trip to mexico. now when most people think about mexico thoughts of tacos and mariachi and deserts and such come to mind. and more recently thoughts of drug-trafficking and kidnapping and murders and violence. and especially when the border city of tijuana is mentioned, thoughts immediately jump to drugs and violence, and rightfully so. the city of tijuana is considered as the second most dangerous city in all of mexico and plays a huge part in all the illegal drugs that are brought from mexico to the u.s.

but for me it is a different story. instead of thinking of all that my mind immediately goes to this place:

and to these people:

these beautiful, wonderful, kind, caring, loving, friendly, funny and inspiring people who i have come to know and love over the past four years.

let me share with you some of the people that i have gotten to know.

--m. is reserved, loves joking around, enjoys history and is a good cook.

--l. is a sweetheart who loves to have fun, and can also be dramatic.

--a. is very friendly, a good conversationalist, and a good cook.

--r. is a hard worker who cares about and loves his family very much.

--k. is a typical boy-crazy 15-year-old girl who is overdramatic, she also has a kind heart and loves her family.

--y. is a mature, trustworthy young woman who is gentle and kind with a great laugh.

--c. and j. love having fun, being silly and laughing.

--e. has a sweet heart, a caring personality, and a beautiful smile.

--m. is quiet and mature, and he likes to just spend time with us.

--j. is quiet, but very funny.

--m. is smart, patient, helpful and fun.

--c. has a gentle nature and is also very friendly.

--m. is such a sweetheart, but has a bit of a temper when he doesn't get his way.

--b. is a little jokester and loves attention.

--a. just likes being silly and having fun.

--n. is a diva

--a. is stubborn but has the most adorable smile.

--p. and m. are strict and firm, but they really love the kids and what what is best for them.

--c. seems scary and serious, but she loves joking around and is very patient.

--s. is a little punk who is good at sports.

--j. is quiet, kind and has a beautiful smile.

--e. is a gentle, godly man who cares very much about people.

of course that is not all of the wonderful people that i associate with mexico, but it is a start. it's just a little look at what and who and why i have fallen in love with a country that people are scared of and don't know what to do with. but i have figured out what to do with mexico: love the people. love them in all of their brokenness and pain and hurt. and love them for what they are doing in the midst of such suffering. thats what i love about la casa de la esperanza en tijuana - it's joy in the midst of pain, it's love in the midst of hatred, and it's hope in the midst of despair.

waking up to a winter wonderland.

maybe it's naive or immature, but i still think that there is something almost magical about waking up on a snow morning, peeking through the blinds and seeing your world covered in snowy whiteness.

that is what i woke up to this morning. after a 6 am text message and phone call from gordon letting me know that all classes before 11 am are cancelled. can you believe that? i'm getting snow days in college. never thought that would happen. but it does, and actually quite often. last week my second day of classes got cancelled, which was a nice way to sort of ease into the semester. but even with a rather slow start, i am already overwhelmed by all the work i have. but that usually happens at the start of a new semester. you get the syllabus with all the work and assignments for the whole semester, no wonder i got overwhelmed. so i just took a step back, and realized that i don't need to worry about everything at once. so i'm just taking it one day at a time, making a list for the day and focusing on that. i can't handle any more than that right now.

on the road again

i've been home for 23 days now, i think its about time to get out of here.

don't you think so?

so i'm heading out tonight to meet up with the mexico outreach team from gordon. we leave boston tomorrow morning to fly to san diego. we'll be working with habitat for humanity for two days in san diego then crossing the border into tijuana and we will stay at the orphanage la casa de la esperanza for a week. i don't think i can even begin to describe how incredibly excited i am to return to la casa, to speak spanish again and to see some of the kids.

some of those wonderful kids featured here in a video from two years ago:

la casa de la esperanza is one of my favorite places in the world, and i always just feel right when i'm there. so i'm off to go love on some niños and feel right about myself.

two-thousand-and-ten.

so i've come to realize that the year 2010 will forever be etched in my mind as "the year i lived in peru". how cool is that? i personally think it's wicked cool. the year brought, as every year does, good times and bad times. but i feel overwhelmingly (is that even a word? please forgive my improper english if it isn't.) blessed because the good time exceedingly outnumbered the bad times in 2010. which i think is the most important. i'm learning that life isn't supposed to be all flowers and butterflies and happiness all the time. it's not always going to be easy, but God will remain faithful and will always be with you. i know that because He said he would, and He always keeps his promises. i didn't always know it at the time, but looking back now, i can see that God was with me every step of the way this past year.

and now for some highlights of 2010:

dancing with ale at la casa de la esperanza, tijuana, mexico.

visiting my best friend at school.

celebrating my 21st birthday with my new best friend.

trip to ica, huacachina, nasca and paracas

with some really great people.

hiking in and out of the "world's deepest canyon".

illegally lunching at machu picchu with these two

after we discovered the "llama room".

getting to know these wonderful ladies.

getting my first manicure.

gelato tuesdays.

playing monopoly for almost 3 hours at deporte y vida.

hanging out with my best friend in buenos aires, argentina.

eating at crepes and waffles.

getting to know these wonderful people. (cbu-pucp)

spending the day with rosa, my sponsorship child

with compassion international.

taking jumping pictures with amelia.

spending my fridays at deporte y vida.

trip to arequipa/puno with sam and amelia.

christmas with my awesome family, that i missed so much.

i remember...

(quick confession, i stole this idea from my good friend amelia's blog. hope she doesn't mind)

i remember when the taxi picked me up from the airport back in february and i just stared out the window trying to convince myself that i was going to live there for the next ten months.

i remember when we had orientation and melvin told us all the "important" street names and then went in one ear and out the other.

i remember when i found out that i'd be sharing a bathroom with my two brothers, and that the bathroom was off of their room meaning that i would have to go through their room to get there.

i remember when we spent long days of intensivo with julio.

i remember when i figured out how to buy the básico at la cato.

i remember when i discovered all sorts of new slang: jato, calato, pucha, miércoles, chévere, asu, yuca, piña, pata, etc.

i remember feeling like i didn't even speak spanish.

i remember when amelia thought it would be a good idea to feed deer #14 her orange peel, leading to us being attacked and me getting deer-nipped in the butt.

i remember how amelia loved telling that story to all our peruvian friends.

i remember getting sucked into the peruvian time warp.

i remember the time someone on a micro asked me directions and i was able to understand the question, i knew the answer and was able to respond.

i remember when we stayed at a hostel in ica in the middle of the desert and there was a lack of water in the bathroom.

i remember when we were sitting in the bus station in lima wondering if chris was going to meet up with us in ica and then he walked right in.

i remember when we were chilling in the hostel in ica wondering when chris was gonna get there and then he knocked on the door.

i remember the first time i tried anticucho, without knowing that it was actually grilled cow's heart.

i remember the way alfredo would always call me gabby.

i remember when we saw the most beautiful stars in huacachina.

i remember when amelia and i found the best pizza place in all of buenos aires.

i remember when amelia and i ate so much parrilla that we never wanted to see meat ever again.

i remember when i said something in linguistics class the professor said "excelente!"

i remember when i skipped spanish class and got my nose pierced.

i remember when i was woken up by amelia at 1 am saying "abigail", and then how i had to remove the blankets from the bed because they caused a blister on her eye.

i remember when the nice storekeeper came out and told me that he had overcharged me and gave me my money back.

i remember when sam and i saw flamingos in the andes mountains.

i remember when there was a man who brought his rooster on the bus from arequipa to puno.

i remember going out for pollo a la brasa.

i remember when i tried sushi for the first time.

i remember when we tried (unsuccessfully) to have melvin take jumping pics of amelia and i.

i remember when i spent all day in gamarra getting t-shirts and toys to give to the kids at deporte y vida for christmas.

i remember when we painted the murals and don victor was quite particular about what he wanted: baby chickens, friends for the fish, a bird to go with the nest, eyes on the fish, fruit on the trees.

i remember when aprill informed us that we needed to have "a lizard on a rock in the foreground" because she likes lizards.

i remember when i saw a woman get dragged off the micro and robbed.

i remember when sam and i made a friend named david at la lucha and he dedicated poetry to us.

i remember when we saw david again on our last night out in lima and avoided him.

i remember the first day of cbu when amelia and i ended up in the picture and we decided that we had to come back because we were in the picture.

i remember when they wanted sam and i to do something funny.

i remember when we found out that miki and jonatan are good dancers.

i remember when amelia and i hiked into colca canyon and rode back up on mules.

i remember when i tried kraps and crack for the first time.

i remember when i went to polvos azules for the first time.

i remember when i would make pancakes for my family.

i remember when everyone thought it was the coolest thing that i could make balloon animals.

i remember when we would play bananagrams with cbu after lunch.

i remember when i would sit in my room and eat peanutbutter straight out of the jar.

i remember all the long, good talks with sam and amelia about faith and god and life and peru and boys.

i remember all this, and so much more.