Rock band

I had a lot of game 'firsts' on this trip. I played Wii with Victor's family (and I swear that my arms are STILL sore) and I played Rock Band with these lovelies:

It was a little stressful at first,

But clearly I am a natural.

And Vic of course could do it like he was a pro. I hope our children land his musical genes.

Houston

On New Year's eve, I flew to Houston to be with Victor and his family for a few days, visit with my beloved friends, and give my final report to my Sponsor Rotary Club, who financed and supported my travels in South Africa last year.

Vic and I are getting pretty good at this long-distance thing... and I've found the perks... the biggest one is that reuniting is AMAZING. While I was in town, we took an afternoon and walked around Rice Universitity's campus, just like old times. It was so surreal to be back on campus, and it brought back a wave of memories and nostalgia.

Here are Lanese and Elisa - 3/4 of our Bible study group (Come to think of it, I'm not sure that we ever studied the Bible, but that's a side point)

We had an impromptu salsa night, and met up with another set of Rice friends. This is Jean-mark and Suzanna, such an adorable couple. Kudos to Vic on taking this picture, it is one of my favorites.

Here I am waving my hands around and giving my Rotary Presentation. It was one of the first times that I gave one without a powerpoint, so I winging my talk (and the more I wing, the more I wave, just ask my former students). My club, the Galleria Area Rotary Club, is one of the most gracious I have ever been to, and giving my presentation there was a reminder to me of their amazing support and dedication. They literally changed my life by sponsoring me to go to South Africa, and I am forever indebted to them and grateful for them.

More reunions ensued the rest of the trip. This is Jen, one of my old roommates and one of my heroes.

Elisa and I went to Ecclesia together. It was both of our first week back, as Elisa just returned from Kenya a few days before I got to Houston.
And this is one of the reasons I love Ecclesia.
Vic's best friend, Jose-Miguel, had a birthday while I was in town. This is JM and his wonderful girlfriend Alesha at the sushi restaraunt where we celebrated.
After dinner we went to hear Andy Vargas play. Andy is the singer for Santana.

Most of my time in Houston was centered around food. I had an entire list of meals that needed taken care of, one of which were GIANT blueberry pancakes at Buffalo Grille. Here are the remains:
I shared the pancake experience with three of my dearest (who you may recognize from pictures from South Africa - they came to visit in June). Kate and Rachael:
And, of course, the Best Ever herself, Pearsy:
We left the pancakes and went over to Rach's house to play Rock band (more on that later). We invited along Victor and one of his friends Bonnie (whom I LOVE), and it turned into a full on randomly amazingly fun day/evening event. Here are Pears and Rarthur jamming hardcore at Rarth's house. Watch out American Idol.
Victor rocked it out too:
Here's the whole group after dinner that night.

Reunions

This holiday I had the opportunity to reconnect with some of my oldest and best friends. It was so wonderful to see everyone and to reconnect. Our lives have surely taken us in different directions, and it is truly beautiful to see how each of us has found what we are passionate about in such different ways. I love you girls.
This is Robyn and her wonderful son Lucas. I am in awe at what a wonderful mom Rob is. I will surely be calling her when I have my own kids for advice.

This is Rob and Lucas, me, Karlee (who just texted me saying she was asked to interview for vet school at her top choice - whoooooooooooo!!), and Cat, who is hands down the most successful and motivated person I know. These girls are all part of what I think of as home.

And here is my favorite person on earth, my brother. He took me out on a date to the classiest restaurant in town (ha!) - and it was perfect. Love you Bri.

Christmastime

My heart warms just thinking of Christmas at home. My mom and dad have always been incredible about making holidays extra-special, and Christmas is no different. Our house is literally bursting with Christmas cheer - here is a picture of our living room in all of its glory.

Even the squirrels in our yard want in on the action.

We didn't have any candy canes in the house this year, so Mom and I decided to fill the gap:

And on Christmas morning, we had a very special visitor come and visit - humpy bear. I'll have to let one of the boys in our family explain that one.

This is a picture of Sophie, the adorable bulldog puppy that belongs to my aunt Donna. She is one of the most precious puppies I've ever seen.

Family Time in the Mountains

My dad arranged for a mini family vacation before Christmas, so that we would actually all have some quality time together before the chaos of the holidays fully set in. Though I was VERY skeptical about this idea (mainly because the HIGH was supposed to be 3 degrees), I think we all agreed that it was an absolutely wonderful time.

We stayed in a condo overlooking the mountains of Ketchum, Idaho. It was snowy and wonderful, but cooooooooooold cold cold. Here is the view from our condo:
The first night we were there we took a sleigh ride to dinner and froze the whole way.... or I WOULD have frozen the whole way, but fortunately for my time in South Africa, I had one of THESE tucked under my sweater:
Yes, that's right, a hot water bottle. I am telling you, they are the best things EVER. Everyone in South Africa uses them since there is no central heating, and they make a world of difference. Trust me. I could do an infomercial on them.

Here are the gigantic horses that pulled our sleigh.

Here's me and my cute little brother on the sleigh ride. I am personally impressed that I kept my hands out of my mittens long enough to take some pictures.

The cute padres.

My mom and I spent the days shopping for last minute Christmas gifts and enjoying the snow. :)

On the drive home we drove through Hailey...

Home Sweet Home.

I made it!! After essentially 4 straight days of travel, I am officially back on American soil, snuggled into the folds of freezing Burley, Idaho. I've been home now for about 60 hours, so I'm already forgetting some of my first impressions of being back.

Some Thoughts:
1. There a lot of white people in America.
2. There is also a ridiculous amount of 'stuff'.
3. People are wonderfully friendly and smile all of the time, I love it.
4. Thank you Lord for Mexican food.
5. I still can't figure out what side of the car to get on, and I definitely turned the wrong way onto Main Street yesterday.
6. I love the fact I can just pick up the phone and call my loved ones.
7. No one does customer service like the USA.
8. It is cold, and I may never be warm again.

I am still all off on when I eat and sleep - I ate two tacos al carbon before 5 am this morning.

Today, my family and I are taking a mini-vacation to Sun Valley, Idaho, where my Dad has lined up a sleigh ride for us. This does not exactly sound appealing at the moment as the HIGH temperature of the day is supposed to be 6 degrees Fahrenheit (-14.4 C). I'll let you know if I make it back alive. Considering less than a week ago I was in Zanzibar, where it was around 90 degrees F (33 C), I will be experiencing more than a 85 degree temperature change in less than 6 days.

Much more coming about my last week in Grahamstown, travels in East Africa, and wonderful homecoming. The Merriest of Christmases to you all!!!


Here are links to pictures from Kenya and Tanzania, more pics coming soon:
Lamu, Kenya:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057169&l=4ca63&id=3000795
Zanzibar, Tanzania:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057190&l=e3068&id=3000795

done and done.

That's right, folks, with an ENTIRE 2 hours and 19 minutes left before I leave...

I. AM. FINISHED.

Word count: 24, 344 (we had a minimum of 15,000 and a max of 25,000 - so I was starting to sweat a little there at the end, but it also helped wrap things up...like the music at the Oscars).

Time - 3:14 am

Pages - 85 (at 1.5 space)

Relief - ENORMOUS.

Did I actually say anything important about AIDS? Who knows. But I surely learned a lot, and I surely took years off my life doing so. No matter, its done now. And I am very, very relieved (I might cry a little..)

Beach - here I come.

Signing off with love from Grahamstown,
Haley

P.S.

Eben, if you are reading this, you are my knight and shining armor.

(Eben is not only waking up before 5:30 tomorrow to drive me to the airport, but he is binding and handing in my oh-so-painfully-written thesis for me. Words will never describe the love and gratitude in my heart for this boy.)

My last day in Grahamstown..

Just officially ended. It is half past midnight. I am leaving for the airport in just 5 hours.

I am possibly more tired than I have ever been - this is my 5th consecutive night where I will get less than 4 hours of sleep....

but my thesis will be done before 5:30. Yes, it will.

As for my last day in Grahamstown, it is a fog of sleepless delerium and an endless number of errands to tie up all of the loose ends I have aquired in a year of living here. And footnotes. Lots and lots of footnotes. (Note to self - always do these as you go along, or they will make you more miserable than any size 10 font should EVER be able to make ANYONE.)

Despite my less than ideal levels of sleep and stress over this never ending thesis (why do we do these things to ourselves?!), my stomach is full of pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, gravy, all thanks to dear Grahamstown friends Cortney and Matt, who spent the evening cooking a Thanksgiving feast the likes of which has never been seen outside of the borders of the United States. :) I will post pictures someday.

I am too sleepy to write anything coherant or clever (hopefully any amount of cogent thoughts are going into the last touches of my thesis)...

But I do want to say that in spite of the chaos and exhaustion of this ever-so-non-traditional of Thanksgiving days, I am filled with love and thanks.

At the end of the tunnel........

The thesis marathon continues.

I have been living on sparkling water and bread that my mom sent me for my birthday for days now - and a very large pizza that I strategically purchased on Friday.
Today I even gave in .... and drank a cup of coffee (never again, my hands are shaking so hard I can barely type).
I still have about 36 hours to go....
But the very, very bright light at the end of the tunnel is this---- where I will be on Saturday morning.....

[Image location]

With these lovely ladies.....









Hopefully drinking something that looks like this....
or that's what I tell myself, anyway....
African beaches are actually usually a bit less... relaxing than all of that, but at least I won't look like this anymore:

Jacaranda Trees

One day I woke up and all of Grahamstown had exploded into this color-------->

It is ridiculously beatuiful - the trees are lined with Jacaranda trees that all look like this, there are jasmine plants in full bloom everywhere that make the air smell perfumed, and bougenvilia accent the sidewalks around the quad in bright pinks and purples.

Ahhh - - summer is finally here. Of course, just when it has arrived I am leaving it for the callous of Idaho winter......

[Image location]

Next Steps

Here is my itinerary for the next few weeks:

• Nov. 23 - Nov. 27: Grahamstown, SOUTH AFRICA - Finish thesis, start PhD applications, say goodbye to my home of a year.
• Nov. 28 - Dec. 7: Lamu and Mombasa, KENYA - bask on the beach and swim in the Indian ocean, drink things out of coconuts and pineapples with the lovely Elisa!! and Jeannie!!
  
• Dec. 7 - Dec. 14th: Arusha, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam TANZANIA - look at Mt. Kilimanjaro (no climbing), meet up with crazy Denver people who DO climb, bask on the Spice Islands.
• Dec. 14th - Dec. 15th: Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA - stay with the wonderful family of Estelle, eat my last South African meal, say goodbye to this amazing country.
• Dec. 15 - Dec. 17th: International skies - sleep, watch movies, journal, eat airport food.
• Dec. 17th - Dec. 30th: BURLEY, Idaho - love on my family, my childhood friends, and my home town, sleep, have ridiculous amounts of Christmas cheer, finish PhD applications.
• Dec. 30th - Drive to Denver
• Dec. 31- Jan 5th: HOUSTON! Love on my amazing Houston family (best people in the world), snuggle with Victor and his family, celebrate new years, give my welcome back presentation to my sponsor Rotary club.
• Jan 6th - Jan. 11th: DENVER - bother/love Catherine and Peter and John and Meredith, avoid their dogs, look for somewhere to live, go to lots of meetings.
• Jan. 11th - March 23rd - JERUSALEM: attend Hebrew University, work with Human Rights NGO (tba).

Phew, that kind of makes me tired to look at, but that's my amazingly ridiculous reality for the next couple of months. If you are in any of those places, block me out a meal or a cup of tea, I am so anxious to reconnect with my loved ones.

And then there was one...

I am not good at living alone. I mean, I REALLY hate it. I have no desire to do so - ever. I love LOVE having roommates, and fortunately, throughout my entire life, I have had PHENOMENAL relationships with my roomies -you know who you are and I love you. However, this week, I am roommate-less. I have been dreading the day that everyone left, and sure enough, it came. So when I walked back in the house.... well, I'll let you read below.

Following, there is an email I sent to my newly ex-roommates about 25 minutes after they pulled out of the driveway.....

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

now that i am officially a house of 'one,' i thought i would update you on what's been going on at 5 Gilbert in the last - oh, 25 minutes or so that i have lived alone.

ok, so as soon as you left i walked back to my room and cried - you know - like a little baby.
then i turned on bob marley don't worry 'bout a thing... every little thing gonna be alright.
that made me feel better.

then I saw that princess had left her shoes by her chair (way to go big foot), and that cheered me up a little too thinking about how big her feet are.

and then i realized the there was one very important upside of being the only one left ---

Everything left in the kitchen....

is MINE!

(not that people being here ever really stopped any of us before from eating anything, but now ... now there was freedom)

so of course i waddled to the kitchen to check out the scene. i first scoped out the cubbords (how in the world do you spell that?) - saw all that was left of rosa's peanutbutter and stale granola - rummaged through the rest of the cubbords (cubbards?) - saw... 70 things of tea, a stale rusk or two --- seriously? THROW ME A BONE PEOPLE. Pitiful, I tell you - pitiful. But then I remembered there was one more little place.

The fridge!

I opened the fridge to see what treasures would now all be mine.

The bounty: a bag of lettuce so old and rotten that it had expanded and bloated to its limit. I mean seriously, this bag was a full on BALLOON of rotten lettuce.

I picked it up gingerly and threw it in the garbage can along with a whole load of other semi-rotten 'veg' (as you say here).

Thanks, girls. Thank you for the rotten veg. Much appreciated.

Since that was a flop, I made the round to the bathrooms to see what products I could lavish myself with the next week.

There aren't many products left... but there were surely a LOT of... razors. Twelve to be exact. TWELVE! That means that even at our full capacity we were averaging 2 razors per person. Who knew we had such serious hair issues. Oh wait, I just found another one on my desk. 13. Thirteen razors.

Plotting my next shaving escapades, I returned to my room and Bob Marley. I settled in to feel especially sorry for myself (and maybe even eat some of the chocolate Cilnette gave me). I turned off Bob to wallow in the utter silence of loneliness.

and then..... BANG!!

I swear that the whole house shook.

And my heart stopped.

I mean seriously, it sounded like a gunshot in the kitchen.

I half walked/half crawled in there to see who had broken into our house and fired a shotgun.

But instead, I found a room covered - I mean COVERED..

in rotten lettuce.

Yes, that's right - the lettuce bag had exploded over the entire kitchen.

So enjoy your nice kitchens at home girls! Don't worry, I have it under control.

In your absence I will surely keep myself busy wiping rotten veg off of every surface in the kitchen and when I get done, maybe I'll shave.

;) I love you.

THESIS UPDATE!!!

I have... officially... handed in the last draft my adviser will see.
Is it done? Not so much.
Is there still a LOT to do on it? Very much so.
Is there a LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL? Thank you Lord, yes.


Next Friday morning, I get on a plane to Kenya (yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!). Between now and then, a thesis will be finished, God willing. Very God willing.

For good vibes, I leave you another picture of my thesis adviser, just because it makes me happy..