I wish I could truly give these mountains justice. I wish I could capture with my camera the supreme beauty of the Himalayas. Everytime I look up there are the mountains,so close to me and i stop to thank God for his marvelous creation, this earth.

For the past five days I have been with Ramita and Brittany running around Kathmandu Valley like we owned the place. I had the opportunity to spend today in a village called Sankhu with four very dynamic and innovative young adults. Part of my stay in Nepal is dedicated to supporting youth managed resource centers that are basically community technology centers run by the youth. These four young folk have been fighting against the elders of the community that want to shut them down and have shut them down in the past, but Sunni, Ramita, LP and David find ways to reopen and to continue to serve the community. They inspire me. But today they let share my knowledge about the english language, specifically the use of the word 'yet'. I may only know one language but I was able to use that skill to it's fullest, because later I edited content on a website and then taught an english course to eager fourth and fifth graders. Head, shoulders, knees and toes has never come so handy.

Tonight I got the best compliment, my host family told me that I eat just like a Nepali. You would thin eating with your hands was not a complicated matter, but there is a clear form and finally I have mastered it!

Anywhere you go in the world they know the movie Titanic

I lost my birthday somewhere between los angeles and Tokyo. I boarded the plane at noon on the 19^th and arrived in Tokyo at four in the afternoon, the next day. My mind has been so preoccupied with the flight, I would have to continue to remind myself it was my birthday. I told the passenger next to me that it was my birthday. 22 seems so anticlimactic.

When we landed in Tokyo a herd of medical suit personal came on and questioned each person about their possible exposure to the pandemic commonly known as ‘swine flu’ or H1N1. Yes, I traveled to mexico, right into the heart of it all and I am fine!

I was in the Bangkok airport for eleven hours! AND btw Thai Airways is superior to all other airlines I have ever taken. Airplane food has never tasted so good. And they gave me a orchid boutiner as my parting gift. Who does that?

I was scared to land in Nepal. What if no one was there to pick me up? Do I really want to be doing this again? I looked out the window as the most majestic view. The Himalayas were in partial sight and I was breathless. Ten years ago I had gone trekking in Nepal with my family, I remembered the slaughted goats and the isolated tea shops, but I had forgotten these mountains. Accented with terraced rice patties and curvy roads, these mountains holds sublime qualities, they are so majestic in stature and poetic in beauty. Our plane touched the ground and I began to remember this sad little airport. It is so sad, it doesn’t even have a proper jet way and so dirty.

When I got out to the prepaid taxis and hotel salesman there was no one with my name card. Soon enough I had a flock of men trying to help me. I had to think fast. I got a prepaid taxi into the city, to a guest house that had been recommended to me. At this point, when I am in the taxi driving through the city, I am still asking myself if I really want to do this again. India was a hard place to be and isn’t Nepal going to be the same? But I smell the air, it is a mixture of burnt trash and marsala. I feel of rush of comfort come over and I am joyful. I excitedly talk to the man in the passenger seat who is trying to sell me a trekking package. He drops his pitch and we talk about his home town, the place I will be staying for the next three months. The conversation reassures me.

Sometimes when I listen to Sigur Ros songs I make up my own lyrics

I came to the recent discovery that I only have 4 GB left on my hard drive. In one summer I can take 4 GBs of pictures! My mother, for my birthday, got me a super cute and super small 500GB hard drive. Currently, I have 20 + GB of pictures and I can't seem to let them go over to external drive permanently. I love my pictures. And my external hard drive is easily accessible, but not as convenient. But clearly I have a hard time of letting things go, which is evident in the numerous boxes scattered in my bedroom in my parent's house. Who knows when I will need that cord that went to my camera that i don't have anymore? Someone, somewhere might need it!
So I wanted to share my pictures with the public, so you can partake of the love.
I'm sorry, but I was adorable when I was younger! That face!
AHHH! This is me in ninth grade. And even though this is painful to show to others, it is part of the healing process. BRACES+GROWING OUT BANGS+ CRUNCHY CURLS+NEW KID at SCHOOL= AWKWARD

And this is the boy that I had a crush on for so much of my high school, but it was unrequited. Also, I used to bake cakes! (what?) and I used to wear ribbons around my neck because i thought that was cool... not cool

This is Cameron. He was the first boy to ever hold my hand. We both had red hair! What more did I want? maybe a phone call
At one point in my life I used to be 'into' sports, specifically basketball (because boys also like basketball and I may or may have not been 15 years old and a bit boy crazy, in this picture i am at least 16) GO HAWKS! Since this picture, Amber and Stacie have both died (they got married).
This is my dear sister Mallory, during her second back surgery about four years ago. She is a really good and friendly person and it is hard to see her struggle. You rock, Mal!
This is during my freshmen summer with my awesome roommates Melodie and Chaela. We still rock and we still love each other. We are tan(ish) because that was the Summer of Love and no summer since will ever compare, and when it's the Summer of Love you get tan. Logical? of course

This was just last night. With Cassi and Louis, my good friends. Louis had missed his flight to Chile, so we saw Star Trek. I just need to say Spock is attractive (i feel weird saying that... rebecca, is that ok, will that compromise the assimilation tubules?) Used to be boy crazy? I don't think I have change much.

Awhile a go a boy said to me, 'i have a one tract mind that splits into seven directions.' Since then, his part in my life has been recasted and I write him off as a learning experience. Still, I cannot figure out what that statement means.

Recently, I was blog stalking. For awhile I became obsessed with blogs of girls I had known in high school that were married and expecting or had a child. I watched as they upload pictures of their son eating his first plate of mashed potatoes or the pictures of the new crib she got at her bridal shower. My friends, Steve, was right about blogs. Blogs that have pictures of babies always get a million comments. But I wondering if this obsession is linked to my new fascination with birthing stories. After a successful surf on the web, I found this website, which contained this website that has stories, with pictures, about birth. So it's graphic, beware. I particularlly am drawn into the stories about birthing centers and homebirths. The birth of a person is supposed to be a beautfil process. (kirsten, the hospitalization of childbirth in the 1930s). But this all comes from a book I read called Our Babies, Ourselves. It is about the biological and cultural implications of babies and raising them. Check it our my friends.