Desperation

This blog post comes courtesy of my sister, who had quite an enlightening thought last night.  In our Family Home Evening lesson, my roommate was talking about a quote by President Henry B. Eyring, where he states that while we may have times in our lives where we have major and obvious trials of our faith, the times in our lives when everything is going well is when we really need to evaluate our lives and then we will find trials of our faith as well.  So as a group we were talking about what this might mean in our lives and how we can overcome these trials of our faith that we don't realize we're having when life is good.  My sister had a wonderful thought, which she shared with me later that night.  She said that when we are at are worst, when we have our most major trials, that is when we are on our knees, crying in desperation for the Lord to save us.  What we fail to realize/understand is that when life is going good and we have no problems, we need the Savior just as desperately.  No matter how good we are in this life, we are not good enough.  We desperately need the Atonement of Christ to overcome our sins, our weaknesses, the fallen nature of man.  If we could strive to go to the Lord in humility, realizing our absolute dependence on Him and our absolute necessity of His Atonement, then maybe we could constantly overcome the trials of our faith, whether they come in times of trouble or when life is going good.

The Secret Language of Siblings

There was a book I had to read once in one of my Italian Lit classes, called "Lessico Familiare" (Family Lexicon), and it was a story about an Italian family, demonstrating the fact that as families we have an almost exclusive language with each other that more often than not other people don't understand.  I was reminded very much of this book this week as I was reading an email from a friend.  The point this person was trying to make in the email was very different from the meaning I got from the email because of the way it was written.  The gist of the email was talking about the temple and how they were excited to go.  However, the email was written in all lower case, with multiple of these: "...." in the body.  Now, when I am speaking with my siblings (and by speaking I mean in this case emailing, texting, IM-ing, etc., etc.,), there are usually only 3 possible meanings for this: "....":
1.  I am uber annoyed
2.  I am aghast at your stupidity
3. What I just said was probably a lie
4.  I am bored
Writing in all lower case also suggests to me that one has no energy and is very apathetic about what they are writing me about.  But ironically enough, the writer of the email was actually trying to express their excitement.  Lesson learned for the day:  No matter how funny or clever I think I am when I communicate with others, they won't be able to comprehend my greatness in humor, wit, ability to pinpoint intricate emotions, etc., so I should spend my time only talking to my brother and sister.

The Good Ol' Days

I've been reading a series of books lately, called Betsy-Tacy books.  This books are great for a number of reasons!  They start with a 5 year old girl named Betsy, and follow her as she grows up, goes to high school, travels Europe in her early 20's, and finally gets married.  The great thing about these books (there are 10 of them), is that as the characters age, the reading level of the book ages as well.  So a young child would be able to read and love the stories of Betsy and her friend Tacy when they were 5, and a high school girl would enjoy the books when Betsy was in high school. 
Another fabulous thing about these books is that the stories are based on the author's life!  Which brings me to the point of my blog, really.  The author grew up in the late 1800's and early 1900's, and that's of course the period where her stories take place as well.  It was so cool to read stories about what life was actually like over 100 years ago, written by someone who lived through it!  I actually learned a lot about what life was like back then, and it was pretty neat!  There are definitely some things that I'm glad we've progressed from, 100 years later, but there are definitely some aspects of that life that I wish we had now too.  For example:

1.  These people ate homemade desserts CONSTANTLY and NEVER got fat!!!!  What the heck?!?!?!?  At least 2, if not 3 times a day, these people were eating cake, fudge, pie, cookies, etc., etc.  I just have to daydream about one of these items and I feel like I've instantly gained 5 lbs. 

2.  The high school boys are all football players AND uber talented in music.  They spend their free time singing around a piano.  My dream guy would totally be athletic and musical, but it turns out guys don't seem to do that anymore. 

3.  These people had all the leisure time in the world, even after doing their work, school, homework, chores, etc.  They picnicked all the time, they were going to operas and plays, they were always going out to ice cream (see note #1), and don't even get me started on all the parties and dances they had all the time. Our world now gets progressively faster and gains more technology, with the seeming outcome of giving us the ability to get or work done faster so we can have more time to play, but it turns out people just do more work instead.  Just a few weeks ago our internet was down for like 5 days, and I was stunned by all of the free time I suddenly acquired.  I wish more people valued the blessing of slowing life down.

4.  Almost everyone back in the day cherished good values.  If only....

I also enjoyed immensely the 9th book in the series, where Betsy is traveling Europe.  She spends time in Munich, Venice, Paris and London.  The most intriguing thing about this book is at the end, when she is in London and WWI breaks out.  It was so cool to learn more about what that time period would have been like for a 22 year old girl living through it, having just made dear friends who are now on all sides of the war.  These books were so much fun to read, and I love all that I've learned from what life was life over 100 years ago! 

Oh the places I've been...

The other day I had to rearrange my room a bit, and I came across all of my photo albums.  I had been having a "woe is me" sort of day up to that point, but as I sat down and looked through my photo albums, I was quite humbled and was a little awed by all of the marvelous and wonderful things that I have done thus far in my life.  Especially when you consider the fact that I was born in Montana and grew up in a middle of nowhere farm town in Central Oregon.  I have received an innumerable amount of glorious opportunities and blessings from God, and I wanted to take a minute to write some of them down, so if I'm ever having another "woe is me" moment, I can remember what great things the Lord hath done for me.

• I have been in 4 amazing countries, other than my own:  Italy, England, France and Argentina
• I have lived in 6 states (Montana, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Massachusetts and California) and passed through 18 others, whether for vacation or an airport layover on the way to a vacation.
• I have spent considerable amounts of time at 4 highly respected institutions of higher learning (BYU, Harvard, MIT and Stanford), and interviewed at, accepted to or visited a handful of others (Duke, for example)
• I have been inside or on the grounds of 16 of the 136 operating LDS temples
• According to Goodreads I've read 644 books, but knowing me I'm sure there's an extra 1,000 that haven't been accounted for yet
• I've been to 7 major opera houses in 4 foreign countries, and even witnessed an opera in one of them (the Royal Opera House in London) wearing a fancy dress
• I have seen 10 operas, 13 musicals, 8 Shakespeare plays, 7 other plays, 6 choir performances and 9 dance performances, at the very least.  I try to save programs from each performance that I go to, but I might have missed one here or there.
• I've held a baby snow leopard
• I've crochet scarves made from camel's wool from Mongolia
• I've been to 7 major church history sites and 4 major American Revolution cities
• I've been to Boston on the 4th of July, twice
• I've been at a Red Sox--Yankees game in Fenway
• I speak 3 languages (English, Italian and Spanish) and had conversations with natives in 3 other languages (Romanian, German and French).  I know a smattering of words in Japanese and American Sign Language as well. 
• I've been to roughly 17ish National Parks, including Crater Lake, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, etc, but this number could be way off, since I live in Oregon and every 10 feet you walk you enter a new National Park.
• I've flown over the Alps in Europe and the Grand Canyon.
• I've written 5 poems, one of which is translated into 2 other languages and one composed in a foreign language.
• I've learned to play at least one song, if not more, on 4 different instruments (piano, clarinet, violin and guitar)
•  I was at the midnight release of the 7th Harry Potter book, and went to a couple midnight premieres in full on Professor Snape costume.
• I've witnessed a couple surgeries, though never had to have one myself (turns out a skull fracture heals by itself)
• I was a model for my Grandma's department store when I was 5, catwalk and everything.
• I've eaten tomatoes that I grew myself
• I've made a GINORMOUS Hogwarts out of legos with my brother and sister, and it is a glorious creation
• I've worn a real sari from India and a real kimono from Japan
• I celebrated the unbelievable and unforeseen 2004 World Series Red Sox win by spraying sparkling cider over me and my roommate
• I've met and talked with Switchfoot, gotten a Nomar Garciaparra autograph, watched the JoBros play softball and been to numerous Josh Groban concerts
• Merrill J. Bateman said hi to me once on BYU campus
• I've been to numerous world famous museums and monuments, including Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, National Gallery, British Museum, Uffizi, L'Accademia, Vatican, Notre Dame, to name a few
• I've been on various sports teams growing up, playing softball, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, tennis, and soccer, and I've been with 9 others as an athletic trainer
• I've had a cup of tea in London, eaten gelato in Italy, rode in a gondola in Venice, threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, walked on the Appia Antica, eaten bread and cheese in Paris, devoured many asados in Argentina, strolled through the Boca, hiked the Cinque Terre, and lost my breath at the mosaics in Ravenna

I'm sure that if I sat and pondered more, the list could go on.  I'm so grateful for the countless blessings God has so mercifully given me, and I hope that I never get bogged down in those "woe is me" moments again!

Scarves for Snow Leopards

I have a new hobby of crocheting scarves.  It's my dream to one day make it a business, called Scarves for Snow Leopards.  No, I'm not making scarves for the cats.  I am, however, making scarves that will help save snow leopards.  There is a group called the Snow Leopard Trust (click here to learn more about their AMAZING work!!), which was created to help save snow leopards from the danger of extinction.  This group not only spends a lot of time, money and effort on research, but they have a huge educational program to help inform the people that live in the snow leopard habitat and gain their cooperation in helping to save these magnificent creatures.  The program is really neat!  It's mainly in Mongolia right now, though the Snow Leopard Trust would like to eventually expand the program to other countries.  They make an agreement with the local farmers in Mongolia, that if they will not kill snow leopards, who sometimes prey on some of their livestock, the Snow Leopard Trust will buy crafted products from them to sell on their website and in zoos all over the world.  These handicrafts range from toys to Christmas ornaments to purses to rugs, and they are all wonderful!  They also sell hand spun camel yarn, which is what I have been using to make scarves for the past couple months.  Even though the yarn is a lot more expensive than what you could just buy at Wal-Mart, it's super cool to be able to say that a scarf I crocheted is made out of camel wool from Mongolia, and helped save snow leopards!  Here's a video that explains more about the program in Mongolia:
Snow Leopard Trust Featured on BBC World News!

And here are the scarves I've made in the past couple months:

Rue Cler, Bastille, Place de Voges

This is the post that describes the rest of what I did on my last day in Paris!  I'm actually going to start by writing about my dinner the night before, since it was a neat experience.  You may remember from earlier posts that I was at the Eiffel Tower during bad weather, after a very long and exhausting day.  While I was on the first level of the tower (I started on the second, then when down one), I considered buying some food and heading straight to the hostel to go to bed, but a part of me felt that it wouldn't quite be the full Parisian experience I wanted, and that I should go find a restaurant that my guide book recommended near the tower.  I was literally about to collapse, and did not want to go anywhere but bed, however the sandwiches at the Eiffel Tower cafe did not look appetizing in the slightest, and so I prayed that the restaurant would be good and that I would have the energy to make it there.  When I got there, it was a cute little place and I happened to be the only customer.  The man spoke a little English with me, and I got a good dinner!  I had duck with yummy potatoes and mushrooms and a salad, and it was divine.  I loved it!  I'm so glad that my day ended so well with the Eiffel Tower and the delicious Parisian dinner. 

The next day started off quite well too, as I went to Rue Cler, a cute Parisian market street, to assemble a good picnic.

I bought 3 different kinds of cheese, some bread, macaroons, chocolate to take home as a souvenir, and a yummy orange jam crepe!  Soooooooo goooooood!!!!!!

I ate the picnic later in the day, after I saw the Opera Garnier, when I was at the Place de Voges, a park next to the Victor Hugo house that I toured.  The Victor Hugo house was nice.  There wasn't anything super spectacular inside, but since he is my favorite author is was nice to give my respects.  There was a photograph, painting and Rodin sculpture of Victor Hugo that I liked.

Also in the area was the Place de Bastille, where the prison used to stand.  All that is there now is a monument, and another opera house!  I didn't go inside, but got a picture of the two together. 

After that I headed back to the train station to head back to London for a night, then to catch my plane the next morning.  I was a little early to the station, but ran into a nice Korean-American couple that I had seen earlier on my trip, that were seasoned tourists and had quite a lovely chat with them.  We talked about traveling, importance of education, and being Christian. 

This trip was quite hard on my body.  I arrived early to the train station because I couldn't do anymore.  I felt so sick and sore, and I mentally and physically could not do anymore.  The combination of sore legs for 6 days, plus my period, plus carrying all of my belongings that last day pretty much put me over the edge.  I think the moral of this traveling story is to always arrive and depart around check-in and check-out times, so I never carry my stuff around.  I want to be smarter with my luggage choice, and stay at nice hotels where I feel secure leaving my things there, and I have my own personal space to be at the end of the day instead of the hostel.  Not that the hostel was a bad experience, but there were always other people around.  I also need to stop doing too much in one day, and plan my vacations with more days than things to do.  This has been such a whirlwind trip.  I'm so glad that I've done it, for sure, but my body/mind can probably never handle a trip like this again. 

I had a headache as I started back to London on the train, and it kept growing worse and worse, and eventually it turned into nausea.  It may have been one of the most miserable I've been.  When I got into London I tried to find motion sickness pills for the plane the next day, but only found pain killers, which did the trick in the end anyway.  Coming into London after being in Paris felt familiar and comfortable.  Again, just when i feel like I am comfortable with the city and know how to maneuver, I'm leaving.  I kept thinking how fun it would be to return to London and Paris one day with Julia.  I hope that someday it will happen!

Opera Garnier

It's decided.  I want to live in the opera house.  Actually, it's probably almost exactly what my mansion in heaven will look like.  It's the most beautiful thing ever!  Words can't describe my joy at being in this place, and no one else would probably understand anyway, if I tried to explain.  So I'll just post the glorious pictures. 

This room in the opera house is called the Salon du Glacier, and is the location of my dream wedding reception.

And because the pictures I got weren't enough, I'll add a few more I found online.