Beautiful Stars in the countryside!!!

Well, I've had a great 2 week with family and friends in WI, SD, MN and IN!


Here's some of the highlights:

• Conversations over multiple cups of tea with Mom and Dad




(this is Patches one of my Dad's dogs... isn't she cute??)


• Amazing fresh veggies from their garden!!
  
  
• Watching eight people be baptised in the lake - my favorite part is hearing their stories!
• Seeing my niece Julia pull herself up for the first time - she's eight months old and just started crawling two weeks ago... but is already shifting into 2nd and 3rd gear:).
  
  
  
• Visiting Mrs Fletcher
  
• Visiting the Zoo with Grandma, Aunt Pearl and cousins!!
  
• Some great (stomach churning :) rides at "Valley Fair" with Annette, Matt and their friends
  (OK... so this is just Joshua in Mrs F's yard, but I didn't take my camera into VF....)
  


• Sister bonding at Mall of America
  

  (Makeovers... later at the Cuban joint referenced below...)
  

• Fabulous Cuban food (another of Matt's great research jewels) in a serious "hole in the wall" in southern Minneapolis


• Seeing shooting stars AND the milky way (one of the +points of living 6 miles outside a small town, between the bean fields:)


• It's fun to be an Aunt!!

  Joshua (with Curious George)
  

  

Julia, happy as usual!

• A mini high school class reunion with Kirsten and Chrissy (the three of us DID equal nearly a quarter in attendance!!:)

A week of Goodbye's...

The last days have been busy with saying goodbye and spending last moments with friends here in DC. I am deeply blessed by the many amazing people in my life!!

From co-workers....

To college friends who've moved out here...

To grad school friends....

I have learned so much from each of them over the past four years. I hope to be back here in DC early Jan, once I'm finished with my semester teaching nursing students in Zambia, but only God knows exactly what I'll be up to five months from now!! Goodbye's are never easy but I have learned their importance - for good closure to one chapter of my life, and so I can more fully embrace the next chapter!!

I still have some packing to do before my flight tomorrow, so I won't describe all my experiences of the week, but just a couple...

Karen and I found a random spot in East Falls church to have lunch on Friday afternoon, after which we headed to the ice cream shop.... YUMMY MANGO SORBET

Anyway, we heard someone playing acoustic guitar, singing and another man playing the bongos in a little park next to this grocery store:

Apparently they have wine and beer tastings once a month....

So we just enjoyed eating our frozen desserts while listing to some great music.... FREE!!!

Sunday night we enjoyed the grills mastering of Scott R. What great hospitality.... this group were some of my first friends here in DC! Precious gifts each of them!!

Regina, Lisa, Kat and Ang

Picturesque AND Ironic

I've been staying with friends in NW DC the past few weeks before I leave town and have really enjoyed walking around the neighborhood. Not only are there a lot of parks with amazing landscaping, the architecture of many of the older homes and buildings create opportunity for great photo therapy:). But first, a picture of my fabulous companion on most of these walks.... MOLLY!!

And the occasional laugh as well!!

I suppose it was his destiny?!!!:):)

At the Zoo with Kate

I've lived in DC for nearly four years, but today was the first day I finnally made it to the zoo!! We did see the pandas, but the baby gorilla was probably the cutest!!

A yummy Indian lunch followed - Masalla Dosa!!!

Thanks for a GREAT day Kate!!

Jonathan

(L to R) My older sister Annette, me, holding my newest nephew Jonathan and my younger sis (his mom) Katie!! Isn't his hair amazing?? It's nearly 3 inches long... and he's not even 3 wks old in this picture!! His hands are the same size as my niece who's 7 mo's old... so I think he'll be at least 6'2"... but with his hair he'll be 6'5"!!!!:):):)

Tidbits from my emails... (while in India May'09)

Some people in Kodai have big resevoirs for the rains that they are able to use for much of the rest of the year!

Well, the monsoon rains are just starting, so we've had some heavy rain most afternoons, but when the sun is out the weather is BEAUTIFUL!! Combo of sun, humidity, hiking up and down the mountainsides and the elevation (7000 feet) each time I walk across town I literally drip puddles of sweat!!

I've definitly gotten a kick out of bargaining for fruits in the market and one of the students (Yuki) who speaks Tamil came with me to buy a couple sari's for graduation and such. The shopkeeper who sold me my carpet still remembers me too:).

I had to go to the bank to change some money yesterday and was wishing I had the nerve to take out my camera and record the event!! I went to the bank that I'd done most of my dorm banking at, where they have computer's, but most of the banking is still done on papers and there are books and papers stacked all over the place. All the signs were in Tamil, so I walked up to the man sitting in the middle section of the counter, explained to him that I wanted to buy rupees with my US$, he directed me to the man sitting next to him, who handed me a form to fill out. I did so, grateful I'd brought my passport with me and handed the paper's back to him, he joted down a few other things, counted my money a few times, used his little calculator to do the conversion math and passed the papers back to the guy sitting in the middle. I stood there for some time, waiting for the guy to finish with some other papers he was taking out of the top of the drawer next to him that was stuffed to overflowing with random pieces of paper. He double checked the other man's math and then handed me back my pastport and the copy of the form I'd filled out. He instructed me to go to either of the cashiers, but not to wait in line and get my rupee's from them. The cashiers sit in these wire cages with multiple locks on them and only little slots to fit a hand and some papers through. I don't think I would ever feel comfortable using them to keep my life savings for me!!

It's been fun visiting my favorite restaurants in town, some things have lived up to my memories, other things not so much:). Dosa at hilltop veg and the tandori chicken at the place above Sunshine arts have been my favorites!

The view from the porch where I stayed. I'd watch this view as I drank my tea each morning!

Well, I'm starting to get used to sleeping on the hard beds again:). I don't think I'll ever get used to the honking horns though... it's high tourist season here in Kodai this month and the traffic is CONSIDERABLY worse than I've ever seen it before!!