I sit alone in a hotel room, just a little over 24 hours left to 2013. I'm in Chicago, and have celebrated Christmas with my family, as well as helped in what I'm calling, the Great Move. This year has been incredible. I saw three good friends get married, in three distinctly beautiful weddings. I went to two conferences to present my original ideas on Second Language Acquistion, and I was accepted into a PhD program at the University of Granada. I threw parties, I saw my husband race 2 different olympic distance races and complete them well. I ran my own races, including my first sprint race. I finished. But the one memory that sticks out in mind, besides the surprise birthday party, the weddings, the joys and the lows, was one of my lower moments this year. The Race I didn't Finish. It was supposed to be my first sprint triathlon. Surrounded by my team, as I began to swam out, I panicked. My asthma compounded by my nerves created The Perfect Panic Attack. I tried
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This summer we met and heard a musican named Alex Sampedro, I had heard this song before, but when I heard it live, I wept along with the rest of the audience. Below I will translate the song. El verano pasado, conocimos y escuchamos a un muisco se llama Alex Sampedro. Lo habia escuchado la cancion antes, pero cuando lo escuche en vivo, llore como el resto de publico. I have a bible that doesn't say anything A cruxifix that doesn't save A faith that is tired of mountains I have prayers with no focus And I have preached so many times in the valley of the dry bones I have news, but no hearers I have people waiting for fish But my nets are broken The wine is vinegar and the bread has no taste The salt no longer is salty The church no longer goes out into the streets Their light is under a table and the virgin doesn't care The yeast is in the fridge and my armour is rusty I have silver and gold, but the lame do not dance. I h
I have realized that this year I have written very little, but for me this has been an incredible year of wandering around the world and yet staying close to home at the same time. In just a little over a year, I've traveled to three separate countries in order to present my MA thesis, and have had it received quite positively. I didn't write about my time in Poland this year and I have a few memories I'd like to add to this blog. I traveled alone this time, as the two previous times I had either Liz or Andrew with me. I have traveled alone on various occasions, but this time was rather nerve wracking. My first country in which I didn't know any of the language all by myself since I have been married. I took the bus to Madrid, slept a bit in the airport and then off on the umpteenth Ryanair flight for this year. It took almost 4 hours by plane to get to Krakow, and then I walked tentatively to the train station, following signs and other travelers. You completely
Yesterday Andrew and I completed our third open water swim race this summer. The previous two, July in Salobrena, and August in Motril, were 1500 and 1600 meters respectively. We presumed this would be about the same, and instead according to our trainers gps, it was 2250m! With all the usual pre race nerves, we made our way down to La Herradura, one of my favorite beaches. If I could have a beach house in Spain, it would be there. The water is crystal clear, the beach super relaxed, lots of great little chiringuitos (beach restaurants) and lots of happy vibes. There were about 200 of us competing, lots of young people this time with lots of nervous energy. All of the sudden they called us all together, and BLEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH, we were off. I probably sprinted too much in the beginning, and that was revealed to me as I kept going and going and going and going, and about halfway through I realized this race was a LOT LOT LOT longer than we had anticapated. It was a zig zag course, a
This last year or so, I've realized, I'm an adrenaline freak. Not the bungie jumping, parachuting kind,but I'm more like the goosebumps kind. And I get goosebumps pretty easily. Give me a hug, take me out for coffee, let me ride my bike until WOW it's pretty cuz we live in the mountains, or ride my bike along a babbling river, or take me to a concert or read me a poem...or....I think you get the picture. But my favorite goosebumps have to do when I see transcendence. It's not too hard to do. Just go onto my rooftop terrace and watch the summer sun set into the dust of the Spanish desert. Take a bike ride along the river Genil.......and somehow, you get the goosebumply feeling that God is here, and we are not alone. I had that very experience this weekend. I was in great need of not just adrenaline, but God goosebumps. You see, I get all the normal ones on a regular basis,bike rides, running, swimming in the pool, reading a book, watching a movie..but those a e
Hide me in the cleft of your rock...cries the Psalmist. I have never really understood the Psalm, until this weekend. Tomorrow, Andrew and I celebrate13 years as a married couple. What a journey! We began with laughter and joy and peace, and even though we have seen sorrow and tears, grief and pain, we still find laughter and joy and peace together. To escape the rat race, and a few other things, we strapped on backpacks, jumped on the scooter, and rode around the other side of the towering Sierra Nevada to a region called Las Alpujarras. We've been several times, but never to stay. This weekend however, Andrew founded us a hotel, booked it, and off we went. The sights, smells and feelings of riding up the mountain were incredible. Rosemary, jasmine, orange blossoms and more overwhelmed our noses, the teetering "barrancos" or cliffs and the warm, spring air was a delight as we went higher and higher. We ate hearty country food, potatoes that were definitely not &quo
A new year. What better way to start a new year than with a wedding, and in of all places, Scotland. I had never been, and what a good excuse to see Jonny Henderson and Amy Ross married. I felt like I was on top of the world, and to use a word I usually detest, literally. The light was ethereal, the sun struggled to get much above the horizon, perhaps for only 6 hours a day, and that was up from the 5 and1/2 that it was at the shortest day of the year. As a result, the day felt like a continual golden hour, and I kicked myself for not taking Andrew's camera. I had to travel over 30 hours to get there, three planes, two trains, a shuttle bus, and an hour ride home from Edinburgh to the beautiful small town of St. Andrew's. The first two nights I bunked with Andrea and Amy as we crashed on makeshift mattresses in Jonny's apartment. I went for a brief run in their village and marveled at wet, green rolling hills with small houses and flats looking like they'd grown int