Babyness

I Love Berkeley

Escape to California

California was a good place to find refuge from the Seattle rain with family this winter.

Survivors

Billy’s mom died last Thursday. It wasn’t very long ago that she was diagnosed with cancer, but they had time to start making plans. She died much sooner than expected. The whole family was planning to get together while she was still able to enjoy them. That was supposed to be this week. I haven’t talked to him yet, but I hear that Billy flew to Texas just in time, and was able to be with her in her final moments.

The same day that I found out that Billy’s mom and her doctors had decided that chemo was not an appropriate option for her, my Aunt Diane was diagnosed as terminal. She has three sons who are taking care of her. I admire their positive outlook, and their hope/acceptance balance. I have a lot of emotions that are a little more neurotic and confused.

This week, it seems like everyone is dying of cancer. I’m a little sad, but a little weirded out as well. It feels like the plague is striking again and picking up speed. I’m worried about my friends and family. I worry about myself. I’m sad.

Cancer.
CANCER!
Fight cancer.
Fight!
Billy’s mom, Diane, Scott’s dad, Gina,
Meghan’s father, GRANDPA.
Everyone everyone EVERYONE!
Peace.
Find peace.
Rest In Peace.
Fight!
Peace. Fight. FIGHT!
Peace-fight-peace-fight.
PEACE!
Pre-CAN-CER-ous-cells.
Cigarettes. Cell phones. Car exhaust.
Sunblock?
Sun.
Chronic exposure.
Acute exposure?
Unknown risk.
Everything everyone everywhere.
Exhaustion.
Cancer.
Live In Peace.
Survive!
In Peace.

Thankful in Fernley

Fernley, Nevada is one of my prime Thanksgiving spots, I recently discovered. Uncle Danny and Aunt Kim moved there a few years ago and this was the first time that I've managed to visit. It's a small town without a whole lot of population. My cousin Lisa enjoys traveling through the Sierras to play in her soccer games (yes! Good job Lisa!) I'm hoping to convince her to move to Seattle for college. Then she can play in Co-rec. That'd be fun!
I flew to Fernley via Mt. Rainier. Check it out! Twas a gorgeous day!

As we looked down at the baren Nevada desert landscape, I had the great pleasure of listening to this: "People say there's overpopulation," a woman behind me proclaimed, "but there's not," she was very matter of fact. "Because, I mean, just look at Nevada. It's totally empty. There ain't no people here." I was slightly irritated at her presence. But I was stuck with her, given the airplane situation. It certainly wasn't worth intervening. Just when I was about to get back to my Harry Potter book, she decided to continue. "I mean you could just take all those people in China, and put 'um right here in Nevada!"

God bless America! It's not every country where people say things like that!

Anyway, back to Fernley: We enjoyed a mean game of... of... this game that's kind of like Taboo and Pictionary, but you don't have to buy it. You just make it up yourself. I will not make up a name like Tabictionary or Pictionoo.

Believe it or not, Fernley is not the only place in the area. Virginia City took us in for the afternoon. It showed us its Cowboys, its gambling, its unexplained love of Mark Twain, and a memorable fire drill in the local theater... It was a just a fire drill. It wasn't a security alarm that went off because my family was having an impromptu talent show on the main stage that we thought was not in use. Soooo, no worries there. Just a fire alarm!


This is Robin hanging out with a statue of Mark Twain (the aforementioned love). She's HOT!

Tahoe also allowed us to enter... even after our talent show episode in Virginia City. They hadn't blacklisted us, at least not yet. We didn't actually enter the lake, for fear of freezing our little booties off, but we did walk around and check it out a little bit. And we ate burgers and garlic garlic garlic fries. They were good. I love garlic. And, while we alienated the rest of the world with our powerful breath, we had each other man. We were in it together. My family is there when I need them!

These are the Perrymans. I love them very much. I realize this is not a very good picture of the Perrymans, but it my only picture with all four of them. In fact, this, my friends is my only picture of Cheryl in my entire photo collection from Thanksgiving. Note to Cheryl Perryman: hang out with us for longer! Maybe next year I'll include your entire face in a photo, instead of only two-thirds of it!
We all had a GREAT time in Fernley! Even Robin thought so! Countless thanks to Kim, Dan, Cheryl, and Lisa for hosting us all and throwing a rockin' Thanksgiving party!

Mongolian Camel Movie

The railway runs through Siberia and the Gobi Desert. It kind of looked like this most of the way from south of Lake Baikal to Ulaanbaatar, except the little pond was special.

We found refuge inside the ger for a mean game of sheep ankle bones. It's a game played with... ankle bones of sheep.

The National Park had some beautiful views, but unfortunately not any hiking trails that we saw.

This would have been a perfect sampling well for my microbial source tracking project. The cows hang around right next to the drinking water well. I would say this is a high-risk well. It may or may not have been the source of my intestinal difficulties to come.

This is what the traditional Mongolian gers (or yurts) look like. The families move five or ten kilometers away, four times each year. It takes three adults about an hour to disassemble on of these gers and pack it up (usually onto a truck).
It was beautiful in Mongolia... but darn cold!

Adjusting Adjusting

My dear, sweet Uncle Hal took me in to Spanaway, and sent me back out again to Seattle on Wednesday morning. He picked me up at the airport after one of the clearest days I’ve ever seen along the west coast. Seriously, you could see all of the San Francisco Bay bridges from the plane! It was phenomenal! For those of you who aren’t familiar with San Francisco weather, IT’S ALWAYS FOGGY. The flight from San Francisco to Seattle was beautiful the entire way. However, I missed a lot of it because I was busy relishing in the fact that I was coming home with Ben, the person on my right. He and his wife had lived in the Czech Republic ten years ago. He acted like it was special to be the one to share this moment with me. “I feel so lucky to live vicariously through you right now,” he said. “OK, what do you want to eat most when you get back to Seattle?”

That was when I first realized “yeah! I’m coming home!” I survived the past year abroad. And there’s something about coming home that makes me realize how human I am. I just got back from Siberia, the Gobi Dessert, the Arctic Circle, but I feel the same way that I felt after the first day of kindergarten. I’m home!