Family Reunion in Lopez Island

The Braun Family Reunion (My dad's side reunion on Lopez Island)

• "Family reunion", a word that strikes terror into the hearts of some. Dentists appointments are normally listed with a higher degree of enjoyment than family reunions. All families have their quirks, and my family is no exception, but sometimes, those oddities are what makes for the best experience, or at the very least story. If everyone were normal, where would the fun be in that!
  
• The group, which was relatively small and did not have much in diversity of age included, my dad, the eldest of the siblings and a "realist" as he claims, but I say borders on cheery pessimism. My aunt Pam, who is the baby of the siblings, brought along her new boyfriend. New additions always change the equation around, adding elements that were lacking. My aunt Eleanor who is a self-proclaimed introvert, but who has a hearty laugh. My half-sister Racheal, from dad's first marriage, is one of the quiet and sweet Brauns who not only displays the red hair gene, but also has given birth to two out of three redheads, attempting to remove red-heads off the endangered list. The wonderful host of the weekend was my dad's first cousin, Ann, who lives on Lopez Island which is why that was our destination in the first place. She has (or should I say had, since the house is being sold, and she is moving ) a beautiful house on a sound or a bay, not sure which. And then there was Kyle and me, the youngest of the group, but able to keep our own.
  
• Family members who couldn't be there, and who missed out on a fantastic reunion, included my Uncle Robert, his wife, and my only first cousin, Kimberly, Robert's daughter, with her new baby that I have yet to meet. They had a good excuse, and will be sure to make it to the next one right? I want to meet this baby while he can still be called that! Rachael's red-headed children and husband had other obligations and were not able to attend. Also my half brother Lawrence was supposed to come, but for complications, at the last minute was not able to. And of course, my dad's deceased twin, Donald, who was remembered in spirit throughout the weekend.
• So do we have this family tree down yet? Five total siblings, the twins being the eldest with Pam being the baby. My dad had three children, Lawrence and Rachel first and then me. Robert is the only other sibling with children, making Kimberly my only first cousin on that side. And Ann is the siblings only first cousin on their dad's side. Get it, got it, good!
• Lopez island is this cute, quiet little island that moves on island time. It is a natural home to bald eagles, retirees and artists alike. Saturday morning we went down to the farmers market. However, this farmers market probably had two stalls with fresh vegetables, and 30 stalls with art work, such as jams, scarves, beaded kitchen utensils and the like. It was lovely, lively and full of excitement even a mini dog fight.
  
• The temperature on Lopez island, however hardly rises above 70 degrees in the summer. I say, one can hardly call that summer, although the rest of my family seemed to think it perfect! I am very temperature sensitive because of my lack of natural body insulation and possibly a heart made of ice (as kyle likes to joke) I am to the cold like a fish is to a birds nest, very uncomfortable. When I am cold, all pink recedes from my face and limbs are replaced with a ghostly white, with any scar, or acne mark accentuated with the color purple. A white ghost with purple speckles, not my most flattering moment. Not only does cold weather debilitate me, but I transform into a scary Halloween costume. Now, I shouldn't give the wrong impression that I was miserable. For the most part the weather wasn't terrible, just cooler than I am accustomed to or prefer.
  
• While on Lopez Island, the Olympics began, and we became experts in the sports of synchronized diving, sand volleyball, bicycling, and water polo. However, as with most family reunions, EATING is the main activity. We ate freshly caught crab for our first evening, lamb with scrumptious veggies and for our final evening we ate at fine dining restaurant on the water. Other yummy things that I had included a creamy clam chowder, probably the best I have ever had, and a blackened salmon burger!
• Besides eating, we went hiking, witnessed a seal colony, and went on a boat trip to see the magnificent Orcas.
• Interesting facts about Orcas we learned on our outings: Orca's got their name "killer whales" when whalers saw Orcas attacking and killing whales. The name started out "whale killer" but in the beauty of language, it jumbled around to be "killer whales." Whale hunters would even train the Orcas to help kill whales for them by offering them a portion of the kill. Different groups of Orcas eat different food. The resident Orcas, or the ones who lived near the coast of Washington, only ate a specific type of salmon and nothing else. Even when that particular salmon started to become over fished, these Orcas refused to eat the several other types of salmon inhabiting the waters, and will go elsewhere to find their favorite food. The way the scientists know what the Orcas are eating is an incredibly interesting fact. They have trained a dog to sniff out Orca poop, so that the scientists can test it. We even saw this pooper scooper boat on our whale watching adventure. Orcas that live in the deeper parts of the ocean, however, will eat seals, penguins, whales, shark, and all sorts of other creatures. They must teach their young how to hunt and have even been recorded taking a baby seal, demonstrating the hunting techniques, letting the baby Orca try, and returning the baby seal, uneaten and alive. Also when Orca's sleep, they do so with one eye closed and the other eye open. This allows half of their brain to rest. While whale watching these magnificent creatures, we witnessed what the biologists on board claimed was unusual behavior. One of the Orca females was floating in the water, for longer than usual. One theory was that she was giving birth. Evidently, a birth in the wild has never been witnessed. The biologists admitted that there was still much to be learned about the Orcas, and much of their behavior is a mystery. Seeing these magnificent creatures in the wild was an amazing experience!
• Overall, this family reunion, contrary to popular belief, was not something to run screaming from. We ate, we talked, we laughed, and we had fun! One of my favorite things about the Brauns is their laughter, they laugh loud, and they laugh often, and even in troubled times, you can count on a good laugh from them. A great weekend family trip all and all.
  
  

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Roadtrip Highlights: Montana

Montana (two destinations: Ashton and Anna Sanders (my cousin and cousin in law ) and Glacier National Park

• Only 22 hours lay between Moline, IL and Ashton's house. Twenty-two itty-bitty hours, and whats more, broken up in two days! How hard could it be? Nothing to dread right? HA! Well, we did dread the drive, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, it was far from pleasant. In fact on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being lovely and 10 being as close to the ring of fire as possible, I would say that we were seared but not burned! The AC worked most of the time and we entertained ourselves with books on CD, music, snacking and mad libs.
  
• Our second couch surfing experience was also an experience to remember. The guy we were staying with was very hospitable, and nice. When we arrived to his front door, we heard a chorus a girls voices squealing in delight and laughter. His 12 year old daughter was having her birthday party, and a pinata was being hoisted into a tree. We were offered dinner, since they had cooked enough for the party. After the pinata broke, the daughter placed the broken limbs of the horse/llama on her own limbs and said she was a llama. The other girls, taking cue, picked up sticks and tried anew to bust open the pinata. There was also a make shift tight rope tied from the pinata tree to a pole. Luckily no one actually injured themselves but it didn't seem very safe to me. As for the house, the man was a hippie left over from the 60's. His house was not a disaster, but it wasn't clean either. We decided it was best if we went to bed as early as possible so we could get up and get on the road for the rest of our drive.
• 5:30 am in the morning we rolled out of bed. The entire trip to Polson, MT took us through Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming and the entire state of MT which is the 4th largest state in the US after California. Because there are more farm animals than humans, I found the size deceiving. We arrived at Ashton and Anna's little piece of heaven around 5 pm. Somehow, driving in the car for hours, even without physical exertion, one feels disgusting. First line of business; showering, second; eating cherries while food was being prepared, third; boys became manly men by the mere act of grilling, fourth; eating previously discussed manly grilled food. Yummy in my tummy!
• After we ate dinner on their front deck, admiring the view of mountains, and soaking in the sounds of nothingness, we went out to meet her horses. Her horses were like large puppies because if they could have gotten in our laps, I think they would have. They loved human interaction. At on point three of the horses boxed me into a little Vanessa cubby, and I had to use force to make them move their big butts out of the way. The entire time we were playing with her horses, I was making special care to watch my feet, which were in flip flops, (I know not the best choice of shoes, but that is what I wore to dinner) however I was not careful enough. Standing in front of one of those beautiful giants, with my back towards her face, I assumed I was safe, however, the horsey wanted attention, stepped forward and stepped on my exposed foot. I reacted quickly enough so that I only walked away with a scrape and a bruise. Next time, no flip flops!
• We spent the rest of the evening watching a film and playing on the internet. In the morning, we slept in, which felt so good. Rising early is not something I would say that Kyle and I particularly enjoy. We had a relaxing morning with french toast and then we were off. Ashton and Anna have a beautiful home, set far away from the hustle and bustle, a peaceful haven that I can't wait to return to.
  
• Our drive to Glacier National Park was only supposed to take 1 hr 15 min. to drive to the park which was accurate, and 1 hr 30min to drive through to our hotel which took much more time than we expected. We left before noon and didn't arrive to our room until 6 pm. Now, I should explain, the extra time taken was our doing as we couldn't stop taking pictures. It was a beautiful and scenic drive, almost impossible to explain with words, so I think I will let you just look at the pictures.
• The first night in GNP (glacier national park) we stayed at Swiftcurrent Motor Inn. Our cabin was, simple, quaint, adorable and might have been perfect had it provided a bathroom. Our first attempt at finding the bathroom took 15 min, as did the second since we had gotten so lost on the first try. The day had been very warm, but the icy hand of the evening took a strangulating hold. I don't know what has happened to me in the last few years, maybe I am secretly an old man, but I have come to the point where I am no longer able to sleep through the night without needing to go to the bathroom before morning. My bladder woke me at dawns early rise. I attempted to ignore it. My bed was warm, the cabin and the air outside were not, and I did not want to leave my nest, however when I could no longer take it, I crawled from my warm bed. Once out of my warm and cozy hovel I made a silent resolution not to wander around the camp grounds hopping around, crossing my legs, and getting lost trying to find the bathroom, that was what the great outdoors is for. Unfortunately for me, I had spent too much time in bed willing my bladder to be patient, and the suns rays were much more illuminating than I had hoped, but that didn't change my plan. Luckily, not another soul ventured from their cabin, and I finished undetected. You may laugh at my silliness, but had it been you freezing your tush off, you would have done the same thing:)
• We woke early, packed our bags, and drove to where we were to catch our 8 am boat. As we boarded, we noticed that we were the only passengers without hiking sticks. Kyle was also the only person wearing simultaneously a bandana, a beanie, a cowboy hat and socks with his chacos, always going in style my husband! Our hike was to Grennel Glacier, the closest glacier to the main road. In total, including hiking up the mountain and back down again was 7.6 miles. Ranger Bob was our guide, explaining much of the geography of the land, which mostly went over my head. The hike included glacier run off lakes, that were almost teal in color, waterfalls, ground squirrels that were skilled at stealing humans lunches, big horned sheep, and a magnificent glacier. By the end of the hike, I had formed and popped blisters, making walking a bit painful.
  
• However our day was far from over. The online course, Kyle was enrolled in scheduled a test the day we were in GNP, not very considerate if you ask me! The only place we found in the entire park with available internet was another hotel about twenty min. from ours. However half way through the test, the internet timed out and he was not able to finish answering the questions. Frustrated and hungry we went to eat dinner at a local diner, but when we had paid the bill and gotten into our car, the car wouldn't start. After much deliberation with a local, we decided it was the battery, and hopefully we had just been careless and left the lights on, but alas, that was not the case. When we arrived at our new hotel Many Glaciers, (the hotel made famous by Steven King, the inspiration of the movie, "The Shining") the battery died yet again. We were told that the closest mechanic was in Canada, about forty min. away.
• The following day, we drove into Canada, $131 later, we had a new battery and were heading back to the Park for another hike. This hike was only a 4 mile hike, because my blisters had reformed and were incredibly uncomfortable. However on our hike we saw a Mama moose with two of her calves. Also, later on in the evening we saw two grizzly cubs not 25 yards from the road. I was extremely grateful that mama grizzly never showed her face, because she might not have been so thrilled to see so many humans looking at her babies.
• Montana is a beautiful state, and I recommend to everyone to make a trip to Glacier National Park within the next ten years. When the park was founded in the 1890's, there were over 150 glaciers. There are now only 20 glaciers left, and melting at remarkable speeds. It is worth the trip, we certainly enjoyed nearly every min. of it, save the cold morning, the crashing internet, and the dead battery!
  

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Roadtrip Highlights: Mariah's Wedding!

Moline, IL (The genesis of this roadtrip adventure all started here. My roomate from our Walt Disney World internship was getting married and we wanted to be there for the big event. Elly one of our other roomates would be in the wedding and we were excited to be seeing them both.)

• After running several errands, we found ourselves at a decent Mexican food restaurant, being served free tequila shots in celebration of Mariah's wedding. Aubry, another bridesmaid, but one hilarious girl, meets us with us and tells us her story of woe of her brokendown car.
• The next day is spent running last min. wedding errands, including manicures, pedicures and eyebrow waxing. Followed by the rehearsal at the church where the preacher proceeded to set down the rules of drinking at a wedding, not in the parking lot, not in the waiting room, and not in the sancturary itself. The rehearsal is accompanied by screams of excited children running up and down the aisle as if it were the best playground God had ever created. (those children did not attend the wedding)
• Wedding Day! Mariah was not stressed, always a good sign. The day was full of wedding preparations, we were in charge of passing out the programs, having guests sign the guest book, and passing out rose pedals after the ceremony for throwing at the newly married couple. However we were also desperately trying to find a place in that small town to fix our A.C. that went out on our way in from Chicago. Sweat had covered our backs, but the deafening noise of the traffic and the 70 mph wind coming into the vehicle was what really bothered me. Kyle was able to produce a miracle, if only temporarily, however so that we could drive the 11 hours necessary for the next day.
  
• The reception took place in the hotel that we stayed in. The hotel was themed with a woodsey, outdoorsey feel, with fishing poles, pine trees, bears, deers and other creatures, however one of my favorite moments was when Mariah was looking over her reception hall the day before, and commented that she didn't like the brown skirt on the coffee table because it made her look outdoorsey, I couldn't stifle a laugh. Oh Mariah, how I love thee!
• The food was good, and we were sat with Aubry, her boyfriend and another couple we hadn't met before. Blane, Aubry's boyfriend and Kyle hit it off, and Kyle had a grand ole time, dancing away the night. I had a great time too, but I don't think anyone had as much fun as Kyle!
• The day the girls (including me) had spent the day being pampered, Kyle had spent trying to make a CD for Mariah and Matt for the dollar dances, a cd which he was especially proud of, with good reason. After the dollar dances were over, the CD continued to play, many songs of which, we considered to be sing-a-long songs, so we did! I am not sure what people thought of our singing/yelling but Mariah sang along just as loud so it was acceptable behavior!
• All in all, we had such a fun time seeing our old roomies, hanging out, and dancing away the night at Mariah and Matt's wedding!! Thanks so much guys!

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Roadtrip Highlights: Chicago

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Chicago (We originally planned to visit our good friend Howard Chen in Chicago, but he decided to take an internship in San Fransisco for the summer! How selfish of him not to stay in Chicago just so we could visit him ;) So instead, we just thought of Howard as we wandered lost through the streets of the third most populace city in the US.)


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• Our first experience with couchsurfing.com was here in Chicago. A very positive experience, and I would recommend it to others.
• To get a clearer idea about what this is here is couchsurfing.com's mission statement: Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch at a Time

  CouchSurfing seeks to internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance and facilitate cultural understanding.

  As a community we strive to do our individual and collective parts to make the world a better place, and we believe that the surfing of couches is a means to accomplish this goal.

  CouchSurfing is not about the furniture, not just about finding free accommodations around the world; it's about making connections worldwide. We make the world a better place by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives. We open our minds and welcome the knowledge that cultural exchange makes available. We create deep and meaningful connections that cross oceans, continents and cultures. CouchSurfing wants to change not only the way we travel, but how we relate to the world!
  

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• So basically we stayed with strangers that we found online and slept on their literal couch.

• After driving about 3 hours to Chicago, we arrived at the home we were to stay at. She had left us a note leading us on a scavenger hunt to the key, however the ink that she had used had a strange and immediate reaction to the sun, and was nearly completely faded. We were able to pick out key words such as "the back" "stairs" and "silver ___" We found the key under a silver trashcan in the backyard and settled ourselves in.

• Before we could adventure in Chicago, Kyle's online course took priority and he (we) took the online psych test. So much fun!

• We then drove to Chinatown, several blocks away, parked our car, ate at a Vietnamise restaurant and took the train into downtown Chicago. Unsure of our game plan we wondered around until we saw a very important word on a poster, "free." It was the cultural center, featuring several different artists, including one who had photographed an abandoned wing of Ellis Island. The pictures were breathtaking, just remarkable.

• We then found the tourist center, and motivated by a cheap, blue bag that said Chicago as a prize, went on a walking scavenger hunt of the "music district" of Chicago. The sights it took us to, however, were not very interesting, the walk was. Chicago is an amazing city, one that I might consider living in, if I weren't so adverse to the combination of extreme cold and lots of wind.

• We then took a boat/lake tour of Chicago where we learned several interesting facts about the city. -The Chicago river originally flowed into the Lake Michigan, but when the river continuously caught on fire due to it's use as the cities trashcan, the city decided to reverse the course of the river to empty into the Mississippi River. - "The Windy City" nickname refers not only to the ferosious winds that sweep the city but also to the overly winded politicians biding for the 1893 World's Fair who incessantly raved about the glories of their city.

• That evening we sat around with our roomates for the next couple of evenings, chatted about life, ate homemade guacamole and tortilla chips and stayed up late into the evening.

• The following morning, we did not rise with the sun, nor did we rise until the sun was in need for it's mid morning snooze. However, we did rise before lunch time, therefore we were successful! We spent the day exploring Millennium Park, where the large mirrored object in the shape of a bean can be found, Navy Pier ( a trap more dangerous for tourists than a Venus fly trap is for flies), Chicago pizza, deep-dish style, way overpriced but ohhh so yummy, the Magnificant Mile, a mile of upscale shopping, aka: not for Vanessa and Kyle, and an evening of magical theater; Wicked! What an amazing show, it is up there with Phantom of the Opera.

• I know, I know, you must be wondering if we left Chicago without getting a famous Chicago style hot dog. Not to worry, the following morning, on our way to Moline, we took a small detour of 45 min. to eat at Hot Dougs. It was worth the calories :)
  
  
  

Roadtrip Highlights: Beautiful Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor Highlights: visiting Karen and Justin

(Karen is a good friend from high school and also my roomie in college. Karen and Justin, (who also went to MacArthur, although we didn't really get to know him well until he and Karen were an item) married just a couple of months before Kyle and me. They are living in Michigan because Justin is getting his doctorate at the University of Michigan for music, specifically tuba)

• We left Searcy at 6am which is incredibly impressive considering it is Kyle and me we are discussing. You know, us, the people who LOVE to sleep in. Shara and Mike sent us off with a wonderful care package full of lots of goodies including peanut butter crackers, sour punch straws and trail mix bars.
• 13 hours in a car at any given time with your loved one is a very long time. We survived the trip, no one was murdered, we hid the knives and Kyle's behavior only reverted back to a 10 year old, another hour however, I might have been dealing with a pinching and screaming 2 year old.
• Karen bounded out of her adorable, white Ann Arbor home to greet us. I am sure Justin would have been right there with her, bouncing like a bunny rabbit had he not been taking a shower. ;) It was such a wonderful feeling being able to stretch our legs and hug Karen, Karen is famous for her wonderful hugs!
• We were given the tour of her garden which included tomatoes, lambs ear, mint and a tree house now occupied by thousands of spiders.
• Parker, their little white furry child (dog), showed us how he could sit, lay down and sing. Very impressive! Although the treat was the only thing he really had eyes for.
• Ann Arbor is kind of like a smaller version of Austin, hip, young and all about outdoorsie stuff and keeping the small businesses kickin.
• Dinner was the obvious next step, with a Polish appetizer, I can't remember the name of it but it was made with potato, cheese and yummy yummy goodness. Michigan brewed beers were a must for the boys .
• With our new bartending license we decided that Karen and Justin's mint needed to be used, and Mojitos were the obvious choice! Yummy!
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• The next day was full of fun times. We toured around U of M, picnicked by a lake in front of the music building, and canoed down beautiful Huron River. It was delightful although the advertisement promised an abundance of wildlife on our scenic route, geese, and strange humans looking off into the distance at seemingly nothing was just about all that we witnessed. At one point Karen and Justin sneaked up behind us and attached their rope to our canoe exclaiming, "I caught me a Kyle and Vanessa!" It was very funny.
• I should mention that we saw Captain Jack Sparrow that evening walking around the campus. Not sure why he was so far inland, maybe he was in search of a canon, we ruled out the girls since Michigan girls are not famous for their good looks,but he was generous enough to allow us a picture with him. (not the real Johhny Depp in case you were wondering)
• The next morning Kyle and I decided to go for a run. Kyle mapped out a route for us and wrote down every turn. The route was to be 4.8 miles, but as you can imagine, not everything went to plan. Our first mistake: running without cell phones in a city we were unfamilar. Second mistake: not taking one of our turns and continuing to run for a mile afterwards. Third mistake: trying to run in the generally correct direction. We stopped running to ask a man blowing leaves how far we were from our destination, 3-4 miles was his answer. After walking a ways, we stopped a man driving a car and asked what direction we should be walking. Thankfully he was kind enough to give us a ride home. It was very fortunate because I am not sure when we would have gotten home if it wasn't for his kindness.
• Blueberry picking was next on the agenda and proved to be lots of fun! We did have to search out the ripe berries, however, but 4 pounds of blue berries, and 25 pictures later, we were heading home, well more accurately we heading for ice cream.
• We made a blueberry crumble for dessert for our backyard grill. Great Job Justin by they way! And we had an unexpected addition. When Kyle and I worked at Disney World in Florida, we made a friend, Colleen, who was from Michigan. I had no idea however that she lived in Ann Arbor, but we soon discovered we were in the same town and had her over for our grilling adventure. It was great to see her, it had been 4 years since our parting at Disney! What a small world!
• The next morning we left for Chicago. Visiting friends is bittersweet, it makes you remember why they were important to you in the first place, but goodbyes inevitably must follow. We love you guys! Thanks for making our trip so memorable!
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Road Trip highlights: Searcy, Arkansas

Searcy (The home of our Shara, our good friend from high school and her husband, Mike)
• Arkansas (or R Kansas as Kyle likes to pronounce it) was much greener than we expected and our drive was bordered by immense trees gazing down on us. The drive was much nicer than we expected. We even bought a yellow meat watermelon from a one armed woman when we stopped at a gas station.
• We were very amused by some of the silly names within the state; Texarkansas, Boston, Austin, friendship, and Beebe were among some that we laughed hartily at.

• Random Donkey/Zebra
  

• The first activity of our visit initiated Kyle’s addiction throughout the visit, Mario Cart on their new Wii.
• After dinner at a restaurant offering home-cooked meals, including a shepards pie with meatloaf (yummy) we visited Mike’s place of employment. He is a program coordinator at the community activity center. The current activity he was teaching the children was archery and he was kind enough to let us go and shoot. I was a wuss and only shot probably ten arrows because my two fingers that pulled back on the string hurt my fingers. Kyle and Mike were much more talented than Shara and me.
• The Hair Cut. I blame Shara ☺ I had thought about cutting my hair off for Locks of Love but hadn’t really commited to it. Shara said some places would give a discounted price for locks of love but we couldn’t find anyone who would give me a discount so I settled on going to the beauty school for a $8 haircut (what can I say, I am my mother’s daughter). However it just so happened that the girl who cut my hair was a newbie, more than the others because I was her first haircut on the floor. I asked her how short my hair would be if she cut the 10 inches required for Locks of Love and she held my hair right under my shoulders. She cut off the 10 inches and then proceeded in trimming another 2-3 inches off, making my hair the shortest it has ever been in my life (except for when I was a new born). I like it though, and I think that she did a very good job.
• A fried catfish and hushpuppiy buffet made all of our tummies very full, followed by an exciting game of Mario Party on Wii. We wont mention how badly, correction, horribly I lost.
• We spent the next day in Hot Springs and had blackened burgers with Shara’s lovely aunt and uncle.
• When our trip was over, I realized how much I missed my friend Shara, and I was incredibly glad that we got to spend quality time together!


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Road Trip highlights: Dallas

Dallas (Kyle’s parents live in Coppell, just outside of Dallas)
• Coppell has a city ordinance that all the public buildings must be of redbrick, bestowing a mixture of emotions between inner peace and comfort that comes from the neatness and 1950’s sense of security, and the unnerving feeling that causes tingling on the back of one’s neck making one wonder if Big Brother is watching.
• Arriving in Dallas without any hiccups, a much needed nap ensued as soon as our hunger had been satiated.
• We spent a good amount of time trying to get as many quizzes and chapters read as possible ( for the psych class Kyle is taking at SAC so that he can have the six hours required for SAC to send his clep scores to UT in place of Spanish so that he will have that highly coveted piece of paper that says he is done with UT forever.)
• The girls (Aurora, the princess and Isis, the brat) were extremely hard to leave. Abby (kyle’s grandparents massive yellow lab) was staying with Kay and Mark, but Isis of course stole her bed during the night. How I love those darlings.
• An afternoon of BBQ and the new Batman movie made Kyle a very happy boy. He is so easy to please him, an action film and good food in his tummy!
• Dallas frustrates me and I doubt that I would ever have the patience to live there since it is so spread out, it takes forever to get anywhere.

• We had such a great time with the rents!
  

Bubbling spring

I haven’t written anything for nearly nine months. “Why do you only write when you are traveling my friend,” my Disney roommate asked when we returned from Chile. It hasn’t been for lack of material, I have had plenty to write about; segway tours, working at Rain Forest Café, happy hour at Pat Obrien’s, Susie’s wedding. Maybe these topics aren’t as intriguing as “My Chilean children love torturing their teachers,” but I love making something out of nothing, that is what I do, that is what I feel I have a talent for. I mean, one of my previous blogs was about knives in the kitchen attacking me! How much more of nothing do I really need? But if not material then what?
I have noticed a pattern in my writing habits and it has to do with when I write and when I don’t. I do write when I am traveling, even when there are stressful events that can squeeze enough juice to make lemonade. I don’t write when I am at home, distracted by the mundane, the ordinary, by the computer and my email. I don’t write when I am unsure of where my life is, or what is happening. Sometimes when I have thoughts that I want to filter from the public, a wall is built rather than a net. Ideas are completely barricaded and imprisoned in my mind where they tromp around causing havoc. After banging their head against the wall for hours and/or days, they sit down and give up. They still want out, but the wall is strong and tall and laziness or dejection sets in. I want to release my thoughts but I am afraid. I am afraid I will let too many of them go. I am afraid I wont know how to control them or mold them to hold the meaning I intend them to. Anxiety plagues my mind holding it hostage, squeezing my heart until it hurts. Fear is what holds my tongue and my actions; the fear of failure or being viewed as a failure. Fear is a dangerous emotion if we let it control us.
One reason I have such a strong desire to travel is my fear of an ordinary life, routine that sets in early and becomes life rather than just being an aspect of it; sitting in an office, staring at a computer screen, daily monotonous chores, mindless yet addicting TV and ending the day with much needed sleep, too tired to explore something new or too bored to search out fun. I am afraid of those grey, rusting metal bars impeding my growth and creativity. I am listless when I am home, hindered by something I don’t understand; I need adventure, I need to know I am alive, that my heart is still overflowing with love and curiosity, Travel slashes the bondages of uncertainty, because although my life is still uncertain and I still can’t read the compass, my heart and gut whisper, no not whisper, they sing on the tops of the mountain that I am on the right path. I am not ok with the slow trickling of a spring dammed by grey, oblong guards. The clean crystal clear spring water has the power and desire for the freedom to gush out of the ground and out into the world to do what it may.
I was afraid to write because what if I wrote about our wonderful and exciting plans, told the world what great adventures we were planning for our life, and for some unknown reason, it didn’t happen. How would people look at me? I don’t want to be the girl who didn’t live up to her dreams or potential. How could I write anything when my fingers were tense with anxiety, blocking the flow of creativity; the sharp and rough rocks that dammed the beautiful spring. I didn’t want to give too much for fear of loosing too much. I don’t want to be afraid anymore, I want to face the world and untie the ropes binding my tongue and thoughts. I have held them captive this nine months, but in this moment I release them to do their worst. No, that is untrue, I am still guarded, and self-conscious but until we walk off the plane into South Korea, my heart will be my own, hiding behind my ribs, waiting anxiously for that heavenly release and the sound of flowing water.

Our cross country ROADTRIP!

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Road trip Summer 2008
We are taking a cross country road trip starting July 20 and ending August 12. We have never taken a road trip before and although I often view driving as a chore, I am anxious to start on this new journey. We are visiting friends and family and I am teeming with exuberance. This is the plan:
July 20- goodbye party with friends
July 21/22- visiting the Rogers in Dallas
July 23-25- visiting Shara and her hubby in Searcy, Arkansans
July 26-28 visiting Karen and her hubby in Ann Arbor Michigan
July 29/30- Chicago, visiting no one
July 31- Aug 2- visiting Elly and Mariah ( Disney roommates) in Moline, IL for Mariah’s weddin!
Aug 3-4 drive 22 hours until in Polson Montana to visit Ashton (my cousin) and his new wife
Aug 5-8 Glacier National Park
Aug 8 – drive to lopez island, Washington (12 hours) for Braun Family reunion

Look for updates!

Saying Goodbye to Bethany

The calmness of her voice gave her away. I knew the instant I picked up the phone, the meaning of the call, but she didn't say it then. Instead, she said she wanted us to get together for pisco sour and manjar (something very similar to dulce de leche) and she would be over in an hour or so. My anxiety, which had begun in my big toe shot bolts of lightening first through my calves, and then thighs. Once it reached my stomach, the game was over. The stomach is like miracle growth to anxiety, there is no turning back after miracle growth has cast it's spell. After the anxiety had reached the furthest regions of my body, it began planting clouds of doubt. What will you do when she leaves Chile? What will life as a sola gringa be like? Will we make it? Should we consider going home as well? I knew why she wanted to go home. She had been talking about how unhappy Chile had made her, and that staying in Chile for the sake of finishing the program was not as important to her as being happy. But, I was not Bethany, and although I had ridden along a similar roller coaster as she, mine consisted of less dips and more height. There were definite pockets of unhappiness in my life in Chile, and moments when I thought to myself, “What the hell am I doing here? All I want, is to be somewhere comfortable and familiar, with heaters and Taco Cabanas!” But life as a roller coaster does not coast only in the low points but also reaches heights unimaginable. Walking home from school through the valley near our house, I often feel overwhelmed by the beauty of the sunset in the sky as big as any Texas sky. The horses would look up from their grazing seemingly annoyed by my presence, but a little apprehensive. The rolling hills surrounding the town never turned brown, but seemed to grow greener with each passing day. Life is not meant to be a walk in the park because without a struggle, there is nothing to be proud of and I was proud of our bold decision to come to a foreign country to help children possibly get ahead in life.

Over pisco sours we discussed in detail her decision to leave. Although I would have preferred her to stay I knew that this was her choice, something that could only be decided by her. The determination in her voice dared anyone to argue and we respectfully made no attempt to contend. We discussed her plans for the following two weeks before her departure. Her flight was to leave from Santiago, and we would meet there with our fellow fifth and sixth region buddies to say our adieus to Bethany. We treated ourselves to one night in the luxurious Marriott with Bethany's ex-employee discount, and lived lavishly the following morning with a dip in the hot tub and a roasting in the spa. We feasted on sushi in the richer part of Santiago, partied with our fellow Chilean friends and said what we had come to say, “goodbye.”

Walking home from the bus stop in Pichilemu, I felt a physical change to the town. An emptiness that hadn't been there before, was present now. Possibly it was the hole in my heart projecting onto the town, a hole that I didn't want to face. But it is my opinion that the town felt her departure as well, and formed a black hole where her spirit should have been. As I walked, I kept repeating to myself, “We are going to be Okay. We are going to make it. We CAN make it.” I knew the words I said to be true, but life would change, and the emptiness saddened me. Life had been easier with our friend and ally, but we could prevail, we WOULD prevail!

The Tale of the Passports or Nearly Deported. (By Kyle Rogers!)

It all began back in March, when we had first started the program. Things were going relatively smoothly and it looked to us as though the Ministry had everything under control. Little did we know that within a month, all Hell was going to break loose.

As the orientation commenced, the Ingles Abre Puertas aka IAP (English Opens Doors for all you Gringos) staff assured us that the few hick-ups that many of us had faced upon our arrival were typical and we SHOULDN'T WORRY. This phrase; “no se preocupen” would be repeated to us countless times at every point in which a normal human being would in fact worry. On the third or fourth day of orientation the staff collected all of our passports so they could register all of us at once and save us the trouble of having to do it ourselves. Needless to say, this was a bit nerve racking. From the very moment we get them it is ingrained in us that our Passport is our life when abroad and should never be handed over without question. However, considering that we were told before hand that it would be necessary to receive temp visas, and the collection of the passports was done so in a very orderly manor, we handed our lives over with the reassurance of “no se preocupen.” This was the moment that Hell's gate slowly began to creep open. Over a week goes by and we trusting little volunteers still had not received our passports back. The only form of encouragement we have is that we ALL have not received them, not just an unlucky few, so in the case of some huge mishap the ministry would have to deal with 70 angry foreigners and not just a couple. As fate would have it though, our passports were actually returned ahead of schedule and all of us got them back with plenty of time to spare. At this moment, one VERY important thing should have happened that did not and if said thing had happened, I would not have needed to write this story and you would not be having the pleasure of reading it. This is of course the ONLY good thing that came from our passport adventure; a wonderful story to tell.

Point one, at which all could have been prevented; the IAP should have made it very clear to all of us that this was not the last thing we would need to do to register with the grand Republic of Chile. When we arrived at our respective towns we would have to register our Visas and receive our Chilean residence identification cards or carnets as they're called here. Now, to give IAP due respect, this vital little piece of information was in fact included in our Volunteer hand books that they did tell us on numerous occasions that we needed to read. The problem was that the hand book said very clearly that the regional coordinator would inform us when and where we would need to go to register our Visas. We, the 6^th region volunteers have no regional coordinator. Thus the gates of Hell swing wide open.

For the next Month Bethany, Vanessa and myself struggle through what would prove to be one of the most frustrating and disorganized times of all our lives. Fact 1; Bethany is the only one of us that spoke Spanish. Fact 2; No one at the Departamento Provincial de Educacion (Provincial Department of Education in Gringo) aka the Prov. speaks English. Put 1 and 2 together and Bethany becomes our coordinator. Let me also point out that we were told prior to our arrival here in Pichilemu that everything had been arranged and someone from the IAP would be there for a week to get us acquainted with our new home so “no se preocupen.” Definitely did not happen, and definitely needed to have. This would be point two, at which all could have been prevented.

Point three, at which all could have been prevented is slightly dependent on point two and slightly resembles point one but could certainly have occurred without point two having taken place and is slightly different than point one. To receive your Carnet (see above if your not sure what that is), you must register your temporary visa within 30 days. After the 30 days, you are required to pay a fee of 50 US dollars and, as we would find out later, be put under residential probation pending an investigation. I will explain this in due course, suffice it to say, we were screwed. 33 days after we had received our Visas, the IAP calls to find out how things are going and to make sure that we have registered our Visas. 3 days after the deadline. Not 3 days before, not even the day of, but 3 days after. So this point gets included because I feel that had the IAP truly been considering the well being of their volunteers, the backbone of their program, this phone call would not have come when it did. Regardless, the IAP informs us what we were supposed to have done and that it was clearly stated in the volunteer hand book that we obviously did not read. After pointing out that in fact it was not the accused who had obviously not read the manual but the accusers, we got around to how to resolve the issue. Now the fun began.

We were told that the first thing we would need to do is go to the Governor's office here in Pichilemu and inform them of our situation. At this point one could add another point at which everything could have been prevented, as this was yet another perfect opportunity for the IAP to send someone to help us through our ever increasingly difficult situation. We met with the Governor's secretary who after hearing a good 5 seconds worth of our situation promptly told us exactly where we needed to go to resolve our issue; the Police of Investigations in San Fernando. The red flag shot right up at this but who were we to say no and she did tell us that we would not be fined and of course “no se preocupen.” Bethany then called the IAP who then called the secretary and then called Bethany back to say “go to San Fernando, you will be given a verbal warning, you won't be fined and, of course...”I don't even have to say it do I? If that sounds confusing to you just imagine how we felt. Certainly could have used a coordinator at that point right?

Point four, at which all could have been resolved was the day we went to San Fernando. You would think that the fact that we were having to go to the Police of Investigations would have merited a liaison from the IAP but Bethany spoke Spanish so clearly there was no need. We were then taken to the office of so and so. Officer so and so then spent the next two hours typing up a written warning stating that we had committed such and such infractions of such and such laws and that pending an investigation and such and such actions we would be given our Carnets. As this form was being written, officer so and so received a phone call. Bethany overheard him say that he did not understand why the Governor's secretary had sent us to him as he was obligated to put us under investigation and that all of this could have been resolved there in Pichilemu, by her. Either she wasn't paying attention when we were explaining our situation, (YES) or she was lazy and didn't want to do the work, (PROBABLY YES ASWELL). Anyways, after the papers were made we signed the forms and received our temporary residential identification cards and then were very casually asked to hand over our passports. All three of us froze. Without knowing it, Bethany and I both started to consider walking out then and there. My mind began to race with what ifs and plans of escape. Alas, out of sheer lack of a better idea and a pure leap of faith that this guy wasn't going to screw us over, we agreed and for the second time handed our lives over. We were however very certain to make it clear that our passports were extremely important to us and we were somewhat reassured by the fact that so and so told us if at any time we needed them, we could come and borrow them. He also said however that we were not allowed to leave the country during our probation. This concerned all of us a bit but I figured, if there was any kind of emergency, we wouldn't really have any problems getting out of the country. Later that week I contacted the US consulate in Santiago who told us that they knew exactly where we were and if anything were to happen, they would get us out and recover our passports. This was the first time in a long time that someone said “don't worry” and it actually made me feel better. Anyways, Officer so and so informed us before we left that under normal circumstances, infractors such as ourselves would have to come once a week to check in so as to make sure we hadn't left the country. He told us that because he didn't really think we were going anywhere, we could just call every Monday to let him know we were still around. He also said that at most, we would have to wait 2 weeks to get our passports back, at most. 2 weeks turned into 3 and still no passports. Bethany then receives a call from the Governor's Secretary informing us that we will have to pay a fine before we can get our passports back and our Carnets. We all think EXTORTION and quickly contact everyone we can think of at the Min. of Education so that someone will come and sort this out for us. This is quite obviously Point five at which the IAP could have stepped in.

Resolution. At this point we were all a little furious. We refused to fork over the third of our paychecks they were asking of us for a mistake that was clearly the Ministry's booboo. I was ready to be locked up kicking and screaming, just so the IAP would finally get the point that this was not something they could continue to ignore and work on from the fringes. Unfortunately, I never get the opportunity. Bethany relays our situation to her boyfriend Nick who relays it to his dad. His dad relays it to his Lawyer friend from Santiago who calls Bethany and says what the heck is going on and how can I help? Bethany tells him all that has happened and within 24 hours he is able to get more done than anyone else has in over 3 weeks. He calls her the next day and says “go to San Fernando and get your passports. Then go to the Governor's office in Pichilemu and get your ID cards. If anything doesn't happen how it's supposed to, call me!” Thus a lawyer slams shut the gates of Hell.

Now, after Bethany gets her lawyer involved who has pretty much already saved all our butts and did 90% of the work for them, the IAP sends someone to help. Gabbi, who we really do like by the way, meets us in San Fernando and takes us to get our passports and then our money which was a whole other can of worms. We weren't quite home free at this point cause the Carnet office in San Fernando was packed and the bank was closing so we chose to get the money that day and go to Santa Cruz another day to get our Carnets. This proved pretty painless actually but still inconvenient and rather anticlimactic. They don't even look all that great and we hardly ever use them. I often wonder what would have happened had we never registered anyways. Would they really have known? Some days I'm just not sure and other days I'm positive that the Chilean Gov't. doesn't have a clue!

So in the end it all worked out and the many points at which the Ministry could have stepped in proved to be useless. Who knew that all we needed to do was get a lawyer involved? In the end, we are still here and each day things get a little easier. Do we still have some problems? Of course, but the trick to it all, we finally realize is simple; “NO SE PREOCUPEN!!!”