Springing and Such

Happy Happy Naw Ruz!  Its the first day of Spring, and I couldn't be more excited :)  The sun is out today and my window is (cracked) open.  Plus, I just ate lunch... feels amazing.

The last two days have been great, just celebrating the new year and enjoying life.

However, the week before... Well, let me tell you!  Not so good.  Three essays.  5,500 words.  Four poems.  All due at 2 on Monday.  Oh goodnessgoodness.

But.... since the silence around here has been deafening, I'll try to recreate it for you :)

My days would go a little like this...

6:00

(eat eat drink drink eat eat drink drink...)

6:30

(pray pray pray)

7:00

laaaaaaaaaazzzzzeeeee...

7:50

run run run to library (gotsta get that perfect spot)

aaaaannnnddd...

8:00

"ah, i won't write an essay i'll write a sonnet..."

9:00

"now i'll write an essay."

9:05

"this sonnet needs work"

10:00

-R belittles women's trustworthiness

-J 'were I to choose a guardian for my Honour' about R --> very fickle

11:00

"wow, i've done soooooo much work... definitely deserve a break..."

12:00

"CALAANDRA, BREAK TIME IS OVER."

13:00

"hmmmmm what is everyone else doing?"

...google...article...facebook...traintimes

only a questionable 50% concentration rate...

Get Me Out Of Here.

14:00

"hello brain?  brain?  you still there?  no, huh?  ok, better go.

15:00

 16:00

??

17:00

http://joythebaker.com/2011/01/whole-wheat-molasses-bread/

http://www.anjasfood4thought.com/2010/05/banana-date-loaf.html

18:15

EAT.

19:00

(foreverandeverandever)

23:00

Bedtime.

Repeat as many times as necessary to achieve the required results.

Sorry if that was ridiculously boring.  Its done now, and I couldn't be happier!  Celebratin' more tonight.  Getting ready for the beginning of the end.  Wow.

Love Love Love.

p.s. I've started another blog.  It's significantly more self indulgent and poetry based... but if, after that disclaimer, you're still interested, it can be found here.

Gettin Stuffs Done?

The library is currently a certified Procrastination Station.

Putting the STUDY in Study Abroad.

When I choose my color...

It'll be Razzle Dazzle Rose.

This song is particularly great right now (Razzle Dazzle Rose by Camera Obscura).  I know I've been a little absent lately, but life has gone a bit crazy.  Fasting puts me in a whole different mindset and lifestyle, so although everything has been lovely, my thoughts are a bit scattered and my experiences have been more low-key.

I did take a spontaneous, picture worthy walk last week around Holyrood Park (mostly to avoid essays).  Also, there was sun (SUN), so basically I was obligated to be outdoors.  Here are a few views:

I was able to go on a walk with Sara and William (family friends who live in England now) while they were up here on vacation, which was lovely.  I hadn't seen them since I visited when I was sixteen, so it was great to catch up.

Yesterday, Aunt Pam, Lewis and I made a very exciting trip to Whole Foods!  There is just one in Scotland, and they hadn't been.  Basically Whole Foods is my favorite place.  Ever.  Seriously.  Needless to say, it was wonderful and I now have some nice, healthy goodies and was treated to a great family dinner last night.

I've been cooking and baking a lot (counterintuitive, I know) and bringing the finished products to everything I can.  I also ventured into making corn tortillas, as they are really hard to find/really expensive here.  Making them was surprisingly easy!  Who knew?  Here is my (somewhat failed) attempt at food photography.  The main subjects are the carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting that Sara and I made last weekend :)

Now its Essay Completion Week.  Basically a genius (not) idea concocted purely for my misery.  I have three essays due next Monday and no classes this week.  So I can't even manage to stress myself out with planning around required things, I just have free time to work.  And, believe you me, this does not work out well in Calaandraland.  So, we'll see what happens.  Actually, I can tell you what happens, I'll turn in three essays next Monday, but there is a high possibility that it won't be pretty.

Enough procrastinating for now...  Back to real (academic) writing.  SOso much looooove.

Kony 2012

I've been thinking a lot about Kony 2012 and how I feel about the film and movement in general...  There are obviously major flaws with the organization itself, the film's portrayal of African peoples, the 'white savior' complex, etc.   I do think that acting as a human family is one of the most important things we can do, regardless of our skin color or nationality, and I think that the film successfully pulls at heartstrings and creates awareness (however incomplete).  I read an article in the LA Times, and really liked this quote:


Rebecca Rosen, writing in the Atlantic online, said she hoped that the obvious flaws and outpouring of criticism of the video wouldn't turn off the millions of young people who have watched it. "It would be a terrible outcome," Rosen wrote, "if those who initially pushed the video along were discouraged by this experience from further engagement, overlearning the lesson and believing there is no positive way for Americans to engage in the world abroad."

Awareness is good.  Action is great.  The stepping stones to action are sometimes clumsy.  Americans can positively engage with the rest of the world.  So with that said, if you haven't seen it already, I recommend that you watch Kony 2012.

Anecdotal Home no. 3

On Tuesday mornings the Bosch kitchen was closed and we had to figure out breakfast ourselves.  We would stumble into the Lodge in the dark and cobble together whatever we could find in the leftovers fridge.  We would eat in a hurry, racing the sun, because we always slept for those few extra minutes.  After sunrise we would have a devotional full of singing and joy.  Usually this would segue right into a youtube marathon and my stomach would hurt from all the food and liquid combined with uncontrollable laughter.  Prank phone calls, persian comedians, anything really--we just died.  These mornings, although perhaps not nutritionally sufficient, were wonderful.  Then everyone else would head back to bed, and I, unable to sleep, would wander out to Inspiration Point and enjoy the sun.  In the afternoon, we would all pile into the van and head down the mountain for children's classes and then fast breaking madness, again filled with laughter.  Tuesdays were great.

Photo by Lucy Vorobej

Photo by Chela Lucas

Cornell

Missin this now...


This Is from Alex Silver on Vimeo.

You got to admit, it is gorges <3

In Case You Were Wondering...

I'm still busy doing lots of different things!  Just not terribly 'study abroad' things, and even though I'm constantly battling in my head what should go in this blog and what should go in my other blog, I've decided that the facts of life here are still, fundamentally, facts of life abroad.  So, with all that said, here's a little glimpse of my Friday :)

The Baha'i Fast started today, which is one of my favorite times of the year.  I love reflecting on the last year, deciding on goals and hopes for the next year, and, of course, looking forward to the Naw Ruz (new year) party at the end.  (This year I'm going to a ceilidh!)  I'm going to a potluck tonight and I made red velvet whoopie pies!  Oh the joy.  I did underestimate how difficult it would be to resist eating some of the cream cheese frosting...  But oh well.  Speaking of, I made waaaaaaaaaay too much frosting, so chances are, if you interact with me at all these days, you'll be receiving something with cream cheese in the near future...

Here's the whoopie pie I made Sara taste test for me...

Here's hoping they're good!

I got a few more Holga pictures from Ireland back, so here's a smattering:

Other than that I've been busy celebrating Ayyam-i-Ha and birthdays, and getting back into the swing of classes.  Its nice.

If you're fasting (or not), I wish you all the best <3

xoxoxoxo C