Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Crazy with a side of reality
It is amazing how quickly time flies, whether the result of busy work or a relaxing vacation. Since I last wrote, which is amazingly almost a month ago now, I have visited a brand new country/continent, celebrated a new year in a new place, and tackled three weeks of a new semester successfully. Hopefully sometime soon I will have a chance to write more about life these days, but for now know that I am alive and well! I will be sending out my newsletter in the next week or so, and if you'd like to receive it, please just comment with your email address, which only I will see. Have a lovely Wednesday/week!
Christmas Down Under
Written January 4th
Well, another year is over and another yet another vacation has come and gone, during which I forgot to blog. I spent the last two weeks in Melbourne, Australia, with Teresa and Wray. Tes was my roommate at boarding school in Kenya and Wray is a good friend from during my time at RVA as well.
There's something so wonderful about spending time with friends like these two. First of all, I've known them for more than a year, which trumps 99.9% of the people that I spend my time with these days. They also get me. They get the confusion, the geographical displacement, and the uncertainty that fills me when I think about long term plans or settling down in one place. It is so nice to be understood, to not have to worry about what they think or how they will respond to something odd that I say, and to just be able to relax. While I feel at home and comfortable in Chengdu, this vacation was a welcome reprieve from reality.
My time in Australia was filled partially with being a tourist, but more so with just relaxing and enjoying friends. I spent three days at the beach, a day on the Great Ocean Road, a day in the city of Melbourne enjoying the sights, a day visiting an animal sanctuary that only has animals native to Australia, and an evening ringing in the New Year with thousands of others in downtown Melbourne. All in all, it was pretty much the perfect vacation.
And now it's back to Chengdu with me, geared up and ready for whatever adventures this next quarter might bring.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Well, another year is over and another yet another vacation has come and gone, during which I forgot to blog. I spent the last two weeks in Melbourne, Australia, with Teresa and Wray. Tes was my roommate at boarding school in Kenya and Wray is a good friend from during my time at RVA as well.
There's something so wonderful about spending time with friends like these two. First of all, I've known them for more than a year, which trumps 99.9% of the people that I spend my time with these days. They also get me. They get the confusion, the geographical displacement, and the uncertainty that fills me when I think about long term plans or settling down in one place. It is so nice to be understood, to not have to worry about what they think or how they will respond to something odd that I say, and to just be able to relax. While I feel at home and comfortable in Chengdu, this vacation was a welcome reprieve from reality.
My time in Australia was filled partially with being a tourist, but more so with just relaxing and enjoying friends. I spent three days at the beach, a day on the Great Ocean Road, a day in the city of Melbourne enjoying the sights, a day visiting an animal sanctuary that only has animals native to Australia, and an evening ringing in the New Year with thousands of others in downtown Melbourne. All in all, it was pretty much the perfect vacation.
And now it's back to Chengdu with me, geared up and ready for whatever adventures this next quarter might bring.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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