Five years

Today was my oldest nephew's birthday party. He's five. There's nothing like measuring time by the age of a child. To think back to where you were five years ago, what has changed, what has not. Today was super fun - spending time with family, great food, and a game of baseball with my nephews. It's amazing to watch them grow and learn. I'm so grateful for them. :)

Acha!

It's Friday! Who doesn't love Fridays? Maybe the same folks who don't love chocolate. Life is pretty groovy at the moment. I've booked my ticket back to India, leaving in July. It promises to be incredibly hot there at that time, perhaps hotter than I've ever experienced. My website is well underway, although it still needs some polishing to be sure. I've started talking to some local shops about carrying my stuff and so it feels like I'm finally getting some things done. More than anything, I'm having a great time and learning a lot. I have two new students from Africa and while I thought it would be a lot harder than just having two, in some ways it's easier. There are more opportunities to pair them together and they can all learn from one another.

Speaking of learning languages, I've completely fallen off the cliff on the Hindi front. I bought a book while I was in Thailand and studied some while I was traveling. When I get back there I'm hoping to sign up for some lessons. I should probably learn some Tibetan while I'm at it, since those are the folks I'm hoping to work with. So much to learn, so little time.

I kind of feel like I'm floating today. I know part of the reason is because it's Friday and I have a pretty fun weekend planned, but I think the overall reason is because I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing. I have a million part-time jobs (OK, only 4), my mind is stimulated, and the pen is in my hand so to speak. Of course, I'm fully prepared to get to India and end up veering in a completely different direction from what I'm envisioning, and that would be OK too. The point is, life is full of possibilities, and while that blank slate can be pretty scary sometimes, it's also pretty exciting.

So life is pretty "acha," which is one of the coolest and most versatile Hindi words ever. Depending on how you say it, it can mean, "good," "OK," "I see," or "really!" I'm sure there are other uses, these are just the contexts in which I have heard it said. And this is one of the funniest signs I saw on my trip there, using the word.

I don't know about you, but this massage doesn't look very "acha" to me! Maybe if you're in Cirque du Soleil.

The aftermath

On Thursday the now-empty Jordan's meat factory caught on fire as they were in the process of demolishing it. There was a huge dark grey cloud of smoke pouring from the building. On that day I didn't have my camera with me, but I went back to Portland on Friday and took some pictures. It's weird to see a building reduced to twisted metal. The adjacent buildings were fortunate in that the wind was blowing in the opposite direction that day, saving them from destruction as well.

Mmmm...

Even though it's gorgeous out today, I was determined to do some long-overdue baking. Currently the house smells like pumpkin chocolate chip scones. YUM. After that I'll be baking off some chocolate decadence cookies. Any takers??

The windows are open, the breeze is warm, and the birds are chirping... feels like summer!