I made it.

I made it to New Haven.

I'm in my room, with Spring breeze coming in through my windows.

IKEA dresser assembled.

(I am preeettttty proud of myself for that, though I did have a PhD in Mechanical Engineering help me)

Lots of relocating stories to follow.

Biggest take-away was that this country is phenomenally beautiful.

I also stayed with beautiful people the whole way, so that brightened it up.

The drive actually felt like a vacation.

I would do it again the exact way I did it.

Thanks to everyone who offered meals and beds and warm wishes.

I went to the Farmer's Market and the beach this weekend.

First day of work is tomorrow.

I met a lot of co-workers this weekend.

Love. Them.

Love my new roommie.

 Love my new neighborhood.

Pretty happy with life right about now.

Over the next week and a half...

 I'll be driving across *almost* the entire continental USA -  - 

Idaho to Connecticut via... Arizona.

Tomorrow = Arizona to see Grandma and Da for a couple of days

Saturday, I pick up Eben in Albuquerque!

Eben's job is to keep me laughing through New Mexico, Texas (the way north part - no Houston this time :(  and Oklahoma..

Then we're on to check out the state of Arkansas (a new one for me!)

Next we play for a day or so in Nashville and drop Ebs off.

Then on to Knoxville for some Mollie lovin!

Next is DC for a hug from Vic (and maybe kidnap him to come drive the rest of the way!)

Then New Haven and New HOME here I come!

I'm excited.

we'll see how I feel on the flip side ;)

The Haywagn is loaded (thanks to some magic loading by Dad and some vacuum packing by Mom)..

Snacks are within arms reach..

Play lists and Spanish podcasts are downloaded..

The body-falling-apart and lost-ipod crises have been averted..

Ready, set, new life adventure ---- GO!

:)

Weekend in New York City

A couple of weeks ago, I made a trip to Connecticut and New York for a job interview (that had a very happy ending!!)  After all my interview business was done, I got to explore the city a little and play.  It had been quite a while since I have traveled alone, and I forgot what an adventure it is to figure out a new place all on your own.. I got to learn to navigate the subway system, orient myself (a big feat for someone with serious directional dysfunction), choose where to explore, read my book in all sorts of fabulous cafe's, and soak it all in - all in pouring rain.

I loved it.

Here I am in Central Park, moments before I burst into (happy) tears in the midst of a 

"whoa I am extra-incredibly blessed" moment.

 Beautiful, colorful bark.

 Magical

 Statue on the corner of Central Park.

 Times Square

Times Square Self-Portrait :)

It poured rain, so I cafe hopped and ate my way up Broadway....

A beautiful, wonderful weekend.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am officially employed!

On Monday, I accepted a job with the  

Global Partnership Initiative

for the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps!

The Hole in the Wall Camps are camps for children with serious and life-threatening medical conditions.  The organization was founded by Paul Newman, and the camps have been running in the USA and Europe for several years.  In the last few years, they have incorporated a more global vision.  The program I will be working for, the Global Partnership Initiative, has branched out to developing countries, partnering with local and international organizations to create sustainable programs in Africa and Asia that educate, motivate and empower children living with HIV/AIDS, as well as other life-threatening illnesses. 

This year, they are starting the first programs in Latin America... 
and that's where I come in!

My first programs will be in the  
Dominican Republic 
and Paraguay.

I will be based in New Haven, Connecticut,
but traveling.. a lot.

And I am so, so excited.

It took 7 months of job hunting to get to this point - and I was fortunate to end up with 4 AMAZING job offers, two of which I very seriously agonized and debated between.  However, after a lot of thought, prayer and analysis, this one was the clear winner.  

It combines my passions for 

teaching and training, 

working with both kids and adults, 

international development,

 capacity building and sustainability, 

working toward something POSITIVE,
 and of course.. Latin America.  

 Amazing.

Thank you thank you thank you to all of you for all of your love, encouragement, recommendations, floors to sleep on, and support - there were some big highs and lows during the last seven months (remember this?!?) and I don't know what I would have done without the ridiculously amazing support system that I have.

A special thank you to my parents, who took me in without any hesitation right when I dragged back in from Africa last fall.  You gave me the foundation and security to search for something that I was passionate about, rather than having to rush into something. You were unconditionally supportive, and I'll never be able to thank you enough.

Needless to say, I am celebrating both this fabulous new beginning and counting my amazing stock of blessings tonight.

Thank you for being part of this new chapter!!!
And know that each and every one of you now have a home in New Haven, or wherever else this journey leads!!

All my love,
Haley

Easter Tradition

My family has a wonderful Easter tradition of all gathering at my aunt's house in Idaho.

We eat, we play, we hunt Easter eggs (if we wake up early enough), we snuggle - - 

and we make sequin eggs.

 Sequin egg =

  

Here is my egg this year!

Happy Easter!

  

Our family - -missing grandma and da..

100%!!!

As of yesterday, 

100% of the 
YES Prep North Central Seniors 
have been admitted 
to at least one 
4 year college or university.

These were the kids that I taught as 9th graders when we opened a new high school in 2006, and are the first class to graduate from North Central. 

Its amazing.  The real deal.  The goal that so many of my colleagues set all those years ago, and have poured endless amount of energy, sweat, and lots and lots of tears to realize.... is met.

Congrats my little Trailblazers.

So, so proud.

www.yesprep.org

A Sign of Spring

 

Even though it is snowing outside as I type, I saw these little guys poking through yesterday.

 And that surely must be a sign that Spring is around the corner!

Good Book.

The Weight of a Mustard Seed: 

The Intimate Story of an Iraqi General and His Family During Thirty Years of Tyranny

by Wendell Steavenson

Its a true story about an Iraqi general and his family.
He worked for Sadaam Hussein.
He was a good man.. but he sat by while bad things happened.
It makes you think about why we do what we do.. or don't do.
And if it is who we are or what we do that makes us good or bad people.
It is so eye opening.
I like that it is a story of an Iraqi family, because it shows the situation through their eyes, rather than through the eyes of an outsider.

NY Times Book review of Weight of a Mustard Seed

Online excerpts from Harpers Collins

PS - I got the hardcover on Half.com for $3 plus shipping.  That deserves a shout out.

Da's hands

I had a Georgetown Cupcake.

I have been hearing about these fancy cupcake places for a while.

I half thought it is was a ridiculously pretentious little fad, and half thought that it sounded pretttty delicious.

So Victor promised to take me for a fancy cupcake while I was in DC (it seemed like a fancy date for a fancy big city.. you know.. something fancy city people do)

The night before Valentines Day, he took me to Georgetown Cupcakes, and I ordered the Red Velvet cupcake because the menu said they are KNOWN for their Red Velvet cupcakes.  Plus the frosting looked preeeettttty delicious, especially since I got to stare at racks and racks of the little beauties as we stood in line for 45 minutes.

Yes, I said 45 minutes.  The line was SOOO long.  I thought it was just because everyone and their mom were probably getting cupcakes for Valentines day, but when I asked the cashier/cupcake maker, she said it was like that EVERY NIGHT!  WHAT?!?!

It all started to make sense when I learned that apparently, they are about to make a reality show about Georgetown Cupcakes (why is this not even surprising anymore?!)  So you can watch the cupcake drama unfold yourself on TLC.

Anyway, needless to say, the cupcake was indeed as delicious as they say.  I would go as far as to say it was THE BEST Red Velvet cupcake I have ever had.  Granted, I've never had Red Velvet anything before, so... I don't have a lot to compare it to.

Thanks V!!

Mouse in the house.

I tell you no lies, I saw a mouse squeeze through a hole that was smaller than a dime.

It took him a while... he got a little stuck..

 

But about an hour later, he made it through.

Gross?  Uh.. yeah.  Fascinating?  Definitely.

I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it.

Makes me think a little differently about how to keep mice out of the house.

!!!!!!

Robyn.

Its a pretty phenomenal thing

to realize that one of your best friends  is not only a mother...

  

but a great mother.

robbie, you are amazing.

 
love you. :)

Fascinating.

Vietnamese food tragedy!

My very favorite restaurant in the whole world burned down yesterday. :(  

I have such wonderful memories of LATE night food runs while at Rice, after-a-bad-day-teaching unwinding, and dozens of hours of laughing and talking with friends over spring rolls, pho, and vermicelli bowls.

I religiously visit every time I go back to Houston.

So I am of course joining the chorus of people hoping that they re-build!

Thinking of you, wonderfully grumpy people of Mai's!!!

(image location)

Year of the Tiger!

(image location)

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!!

Chinese food for Valentine's/Chinese New Year date tonight, mmmmmm mm.

Day of Love.

(image location)

Happy Valentine's Day
to
all
of my
loved ones.


i have the best ones in the world.



PS - AirTran gave me a VERY HAPPY VALENTINES DAY wake-up call at 5am saying they were at the front door.... WITH MY FOUND LUGGAGE!!!

What I learned when the airline took away my bag and then lost it.

I survived the largest snowstorm ever in DC, and busted out to head to less snowy weather (and a friend's wedding) in Houston - - - only to get snowed in on my layover, in Atlanta.  Long story short, flight was canceled, no flights going out to Houston anytime soon, all hotels were completely booked.  No matter what, we were going to miss the wedding.  So Victor and I ended up getting ourselves back on a flight to DC to avoid spending the next day or two in the Atlanta airport with the rest of the world.

Those types of situations really bring out the insides of people, you know?  People are tired, they want to get somewhere, they paid a lot to be traveling... there are all sorts of entitlement issues going on... I feel it too!  I felt terrible we were going to miss the wedding, I was going to miss seeing my beloved Houston friends, I felt like AirTran should FIX the problem, especially when it came out that the reason for the cancelled flight was because a co-pilot was late or something.  And to top it off, AirTran decided to take away my carry-on bag and then lost it, at which point I composed this letter to them in my head:


Dear AirTran,
I really liked you and your very cheap fares you until you took away my carry on bag, canceled my flight, and then lost the bag you took away. If you could please find it, I would be a little happier.
Thank you.
Sincerely,

Haley

But my lost bag situation wasn't nearly the worst of it.  There were people who had been stranded literally for 2 days already.  They were exhausted.  They were angry.  The staff wasn't apologizing.  And people were revving each other up - "Can you BELIEVE this!??!"  "They are the MOST DISORGANIZED airline EVER!"  "I want my MONEY BACK!!" "I am missing a funeral/performance/meeting/etc.!!"  So on and so on - -  everyone in the same boat, everyone upset about it, everyone with the common enemy of the evil AirTran staffers.  Keep in mind, this is now about 1am, for a flight that was supposed to leave at 9pm.

My personal favorite was a lady who got up in the face of the supervisor, and screamed "You are a bad person and a b****!!  NO ONE HERE LIKES YOU.  NOT ONE PERSON.!"  And then added a few more explicatives.  The supervisor immediately called security to have her removed from the premises.

I watched one older man though, who was kind of hanging watching the whole situation.  Unlike the rest of the 200 de-planed people, he wasn't frantically calling every person he knew, he wasn't punching away violently on his laptop, he wasn't bad mouthing the airline to the people around him, he wasn't demanding full refunds or free tickets or whatnot.  He just sat on the floor against the wall and waited, letting everyone else go in front of him, and then eventually went to the back of the line to wait his turn.  There was a sense of peace about him that really caught my attention, and when I met his eyes, he smiled at me.

We never exchanged words, but just his presence was a calming force for me, and I felt like he gave me a little gift.  I learned something important from him without him ever saying a word.

Wherever you are, thank you sir.

(cartoons location)

Snow snow snow!!

DC snow storm time lapse.

I grew up in Idaho. I thought i knew about snow. The storm in DC this weekend was FOR REAL. We got dumped on with over 2 feet in the time span of about 28 hours (started Friday night, finished Saturday night). Everyone is STILL digging out. Government was closed Monday AND today - and we are supposed to be getting 6 - 16 MORE INCHES tonight and tomorrow morning - meaning it just may be closed tomorrow as well. Cars are still buried under snow - many roads still aren't passable - absolutely crazy. I'll post some pictures soon.

Its all fun and games until you lose power - - fortunately, the house I'm in has had power the whole time. 500,000 other homes weren't so fortunate, and my heart goes out them and hope that everyone found somewhere warm to take refuge.

Check out this time lapse video of the storm - so cool!

(shout out to DCist for posting the video)

Go SAINTS!

(image location)

I admit, I'm a sucker for a post-Katrina comeback story.
Plus, I love the exposure that the continuing recovery is getting because of all of this.
So go get 'em Saints.
I'll surely cry if you win.
Ok, I actually already cried just watching the pre-game footage.

Snowmaggedon 2010?

Check this out!
I'm in DC right now, and this is all that anyone is talking about:

(image from the Washington Post)

Its supposed to be something like 16-28 inches of snow over the next couple of days. Even for an Idaho girl, that is a LOT of snow.

People here are going crazy - there has been a run on the grocery stores, gas stations, etc. as people are getting ready to be snowed in for a while. Most schools and businesses are closed today or else shutting down early. The city has warned that the above ground parts of the metro will be closing after 8 inches.

As for us: movies have been rented, I have on super thick socks, just sent a grocery list to Vic to pick up on his way home (the government is releasing employees a half day early), am turning on the fire, creating a snow music mix to accompany my job searching, and am maybe *over* excited with the idea of being snowed in for a couple of days! (Right now, I'm watching very innocent looking flakes float their way down, and promptly melt when they hit the ground. I wonder if all of the hype will be true?)

Here's the menu for night one of the snow fest:

escarole and orzo soup with meatballs

salted brown butter krispy treats

recipes and food images from smitten kitchen

Happy snow-weekend to everyone in the Northeast!

PS - special shout out to my friend K.C. who reported to Peace Corps El Salvador this week! Super proud and excited for her. And glad she made it out of D.C. before the snow craze. :)

No one talks about...

what its like to be crazy passionate, qualified, but ... unemployed.

Its my choice.
And technically, I'm not even unemployed. I actually have two jobs.
but i'm working on starting my career.
a career that gets me up in the morning.
and makes my heart thump.
where i DO what i BELIEVE.

Man there are HIGHS -
those wonderful moments when i realize that literally ANYTHING is possible,
ANYTHING could happen,
I could go ANYWHERE
do ANYTHING
love ANYONE
if i can DREAM it, I can DO it!
its utter FREEDOM!

And then there are the LOWS -

and lows are LOW and I mean LOW.
Scary low - feeling like I am wasting my life, wasting these precious days - scary realizations that I am 26 (as if the number in itself is a scary thing, whatever that means) - scary spiraling fears that start with -
what if i'm not good enough
to
what if i don't get my dream job
to
what if i'm missing a huge opportunity
to
what if i don't get any job
to
.....
and somehow that ends up
with
what if i never have babies???

what??!? where did babies come in to this?

its like my the worrying parts of my brain are so overstimulated, they are able to pick up anything, and I mean ANYTHING to worry about.

so breathing has become something i have to concentrate on, a lot.

because people, especially people who love me, want to know...
what is next?
what are your plans?

and sometimes that makes me shaky ... because it is really scary and humbling to say...

i. have. no. idea.

i've never been that person before.
i've always known what was next, and what was next was always... pretty cool.
but i'm not that person right now.
i'm the 'i have no idea what i'm doing' person.
its an identity change.


but its also good - one day at a time kind of good.
taking deep breathes
appreciating leaves and snow kind of good.
sitting over coffee with old friends and scheming about possible life plans kind of good.
relinquishing control an really trusting god kind of good.
refinding music kind of good.
hot baths kind of good.
essentially, appreciating the little things kind of good.

so if you are going through something similar, you are not alone.
i'm here, drinking ginger tea, with 100 tabs open on my computer and 15 open half finished applications, 43 simultaneous half-formed life plans, and a deep fear of being asked what those plans are.

and sometimes, i even enjoy it a little. :)

And here is one thing I do know:
I am not going to settle.
Something amazing is going to happen.
Because... I just know it will.
And the people whose lives I admire the most, never settled.
And until this something amazing comes up, I am going to enjoy being with the people I love.
And breathe a lot.


PS -
i promise i will ALWAYS help you if you are looking for a job (not that i'm a lot of help right now, but you know...).
i won't just tell you to look at the website.
and if i'm an employer of an amazing org, i will ALWAYS WRITE EVERY PERSON WHO APPLIES back a note, even if it is just to say no.
because everyone deserves at least a no.
and everyone deserves a little help.
and we shouldn't have to sell our souls to get a job that we would be great at.
you know?

ok, that's all for today.

The People of Kibera, the Largest Slum in Africa

This is ... wow. Wow, wow wow. This is a short documentary film about Kibera's residents screened on Al Jazeera English. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa, and it is also where I spent the summer of 2009, working on a water and sanitation project.

I am kind of shaky after watching this -it 'took me back' in a way I haven't experienced since getting back. The images are extremely powerful, and portray it much in the way I remember it. The part that is most important to me, is that it portrays the slum through the eyes of real people - it shows the human side, not just the numbers or statistics. If you have a minute, and want a glimpse into one of the world's largest slums, I highly recommend it.

Warning - the beginning few minutes are graphic, and show a birth.

Shout out to Africa is a Country for posting the video.

Bad Ideas

"The problem is that you can't have good ideas unless you're willing to generate a lot of bad ones." Read more at FEAR OF BAD IDEAS.

a friend just send me this blog post a minute ago.
and it made me feel validated for coming up with about 347 bad ideas every day.