Rewind to December. Just a few days shy of Christmas, and my time teaching at Berhan has come to an end. Farewells are never easy. I have absolutely loved my experience here, with the people I've met, and especially with my crazy, endearing students. But it's time to get away from these monkeys!
My plans, however, do not take me straight home. New Year's Eve finds me on a calm, warm night, relaxed on a floating dock, perched on water's edge... on the Kwai River in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. We're exhausted and tempted to get to bed early. But how often are you in Thailand, and so we have the first resolution of the new year -- just make it to midnight. We do, and good thing too. We get an impressive fireworks display, not more than a kilometer away, illuminating the sky above the Kwai River.
From Thailand, it's back to Taiwan, but only for a few days. Time for final goodbyes to friends, brief visits with my students, shopping, and preparations for the next stop - Fiji!Everytime I visit the islands, I leave determined that this trip will not be my last... but never knowing when the next will come. So I take a full month... storing up the land, the people, carefully preserving my memories... and well, just being plain lazy!
Following a month in Fiji, and now nearly 8 months overall abroad, I'm eager to return home. I'm ready to take on the next stage, whatever it may bring.
Fast forward to mid February. I arrive in Los Angeles, pick up a rental, and drive two hours south. The next two days are spent in Bonita, California, visiting my aunt Celia. She has a beautiful home, and she's a fantastic host. We get this great idea to spend an afternoon south of the border in Tijuana, Mexico. Our main objective -- find the donkeys that are painted like zebras she tells me they have in Tijuana (zebrurros as I call them). How can you pass that up? Well, as you can tell, mission accomplished.
The next little bit is sort of a whirlwind. After California, I find myself back in Utah. Within a week, however, I'm on the road, driving south to Thatcher, Arizona. I know, it's like... "Where?" Or maybe you're thinking... "Um... why?" Well Thatcher is where my friend Stori lives. She and I are collaborating on an amateur documentary about our experience in Taiwan (where we worked together). In a week and a half we throw together a rough cut of the film. Then, we break and I return to Utah for about a week, following which I return to Thatcher, and another week and a half later, we have a finished film. Now one more drive back up to Utah. Each leg of the drive covers about 750 miles and gobbles up about 12 hours. Times four and that's a lot of one-on-none time! Fortunately, each time I drive through the amazing Salt River Canyon.
The documentary is done, finally. I almost missed all of March Madness. I get back to Utah three days before I turn around and fly up to Portland, Oregon. A vacation from vacationing sort of. My sister Melanie and her family live in Tualatin, a Portland suburb, and I haven't seen them in over two years. But it's not only a reunion with them. My sister Nadine and my brothers Jeremy, Matt, and Andrew all come out as well. We spend five great days together, and we do some wicked double-dutch.
Ok, I'm back in Utah. I moved into the White House, well a white house, and I've emptied the bags that played dressers the last four months. Time to return to some degree of normalcy. I'm staying put now... at least until the end of April!This post is far too long!!
