Am I Wrong? Memories of Botswana

I recently discovered the song "Am I Wrong" by Nico and Vinz. The song has an inspiring message and is unbelievably catchy--the perfect summer dance tune. (I may or may not have danced to it alone in front of my bedroom mirror while listening to it on repeat.) Nico and Vinz are actually a Norwegian duo, but the video was filmed in Botswana (Maun, the gateway to the Okavango Delta) and Victoria Falls on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border.

As soon as I learned that, I had to watch the video again to reminisce. Victoria Falls remains one of my very favorite places on Earth--the sheer power of all that water was awe-inspiring! I felt humbled to be standing alongside the falls, drenched and blinded by the spray. Just for fun, here are a couple of my old blog posts about Victoria Falls (here's one with photos) and my living situation in Maun.

I can't wait to return to southern Africa one day. My heart swells when I see that huge, open landscape, and I love the slow pace of life and the focus on relationships over "achievement." Although the months I lived in Botswana and Madagascar were stressful in their own ways, I felt much less overwhelmed and anxious about the day-to-day than I do here. I dream of one day spending another few months in Africa, maybe on a service trip when I'm older. And I dream of finding a way to bring the sense of calm and wonder that I felt while there into my normal, American life. Anyway, this video by Nico and Vinz perfectly captures the African landscape and lifestyle that I remember!

... Am I wrong? For thinking that we could be something for real... Now am I wrong? For trying to reach the things that I can't see...

Factoid

Ten years ago today, just after midnight on May 17, 2004, the city of Cambridge became the first city in the United States to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Today, 18 states, Washington, D.C., and eight Native American tribes do the same. Countless other jurisdictions are winding their way through the legal system.

It's incredible how much can change in ten years, and I'm proud to call Cambridge home. What leadership will we be celebrating ten years from now?

Things I've Neglected to Mention

Life moves so fast! Where does the time go?! While the months have been flying by, I have *not* been updating my blog with all the things going on in my life. So here's a quick catch-up:

• I am registered to run a 5-mile (not km) race this Sunday. Whoa. When I registered two months ago, that seemed so far away. I was going to run a couple times each week and work on increasing my pace, but, you guessed it, I didn't. The only thing saving me from embarrassing myself on Sunday is that I've been going to the gym a couple times a week, and my running buddy Dave hasn't been running, either. Of course, he's a veteran marathoner so when he says he's out of shape, I assume that means it will take him half an hour to run all five miles. I'm shooting for under 50 minutes... 40 minutes would be amazing. The trick is that this race is held at the Harpoon Brewery and your entry fee gets you two beers after the race. My goal, therefore, is to run fast enough to finish in a respectable amount of time but slow enough to be able to comfortably drink beer afterwards. Easier said than done, I suspect.
• I am registered to run a 5k in June. This is the same race that I did last year, again subsidized by IEc. It's not ideal to do the 5-miler as a training run for the 5k, but that's how the timing worked out. At least maybe I can get an even better time in the 5k this year!
• Sticking with the theme of "five," my five-year college reunion is next Friday. That totally amazes me! Where did the years go?! I'm convinced that time moves faster once you're no longer a student because there's nothing to break up the seasons. As my wise sister told me upon my Michigan graduation, "nothing ever ends anymore." Time just keeps on rolling, work just keeps on coming, and there are no built-in pauses without semester breaks. When I was at Brown, I imagined that I'd be married and settled into my career by the time I attended my five-year reunion. What can I say; I'm not quite there yet...
• In other "I'm trying to be a real adult" news, I took a Thai cooking class at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts a couple weeks ago. It was another event subsidized by IEc, and it was so much fun. There were nearly 30 of us, and we split into two kitchens to cook a family-style meal of fried spring rolls, red chicken curry, pad Thai, ginger ice cream, and more. There was so much food! Sadly I didn't get any photos to share, but I have the recipes if you're interested.

I think that's it for important updates. Better late than never, right?

Plant Problems

This past weekend I finally pruned my jade plant that I got four years ago in Ann Arbor. It had grown top-heavy and sparse around the bottom. Similarly, last fall I finally pruned my geranium plant that had grown from a small cutting into a veritable tree.

My geranium, when it used to be a tree.

I am a bit of a helicopter plant-parent, and I have a problem cutting back my plants. I just get so excited to see them growing that I can't bear to chop them off! And then they grow tree-sized and unruly, and I realize that I should've pruned them months ago (or years ago, as in the case of my jade).

I think that's a pretty good metaphor for life, right? Sometimes you have to let things go in order for them to flourish... things like plants, kids, ideas... I mean, even the newest Disney princess Elsa made the case for letting go in order to realize your full potential.

My helicopter-parenting has led to other problems, too. I have now killed one cactus and one air plant since living in Boston, and a second cactus appears to be on its way out. I also have a second air plant now, but I'm terrified that it will die, too. Anyway, I suspect I'm overwatering the cacti, so I'm trying to ignore it in hopes that it pulls through. Or it could be that the winter has been too dreary, and the cactus is dying from lack of sunlight. Succulents aren't supposed to be so difficult!

On the other hand, my dracena and a different jade plant still have mealybugs. I cannot make them go away! I think I'm being neglectful in that regard, and I should probably take my helicopter tendencies to the mealybug war.

Finally, my bamboo has been looking sickly for a year, although it's not dead yet. I'm not sure if it's unhappy with the chemicals in my tap water (it generates a ton of salt crystals around its stem and the edge of the vase) and/or if it doesn't get enough light (its leaves turn yellow). Google tells me I could try replanting it in a larger pot with soil instead of leaving it in its vase with stones and water, but I just don't know.

For someone with a master's degree in natural resources, my green thumb is not that great. Things either shoot up like trees or die for no apparent reason when I try to nurture them. I'm trying to just "let it go" and relax, but I feel like I'm killing my babies here...

1608 Miles - Part 2

It's time for the second installment of my Ann Arbor trip! Where did I leave off?

Oh right, we had just climbed into the car for what was supposed to be a 13-hour trip. (Imagine me saying that like the line from Gilligan's Island, "three hour tour....") We got up and out around 6:00 so that we could beat the Boston rush hour traffic, as well as the impending snowstorm. By the time we packed up the rental car, though, there were already flurries in the air. The weather wasn't exactly sticking to its plan.

The flurries continued as we turned onto I-90, which we would take all the way across Massachusetts, all the way across New York State, and southwest along Lake Erie through Pennsylvania and Ohio, before finally turning onto US-23 in Toledo, which would lead us straight north to downtown Ann Arbor. In other words, the navigation for this trip was super easy. Two turns to go 804 miles. Plus, Colin and I had made the reverse of this same drive two and a half years before in a UHaul, so it should have been easy.

As it turns out, though, Massachusetts does not believe in plowing its highways. The interstate (the Mass Pike! Quite possibly the busiest highway in the state!) had only a single lane plowed in each direction, and even that was slushy. There wasn't much traffic, but because we were all slogging through slush from storms past, we were going about 45 miles per hour. Colin and I were afraid to talk to each other about anything driving-related for fear that one of us would state the obvious--that this trip was going to take way longer than 13 hours. Would we get to Ann Arbor in time to meet our friend for dinner as planned? Would we get there in time to go salsa dancing at the nightclub where we had our first date? And - worst of all - would we have to do this awful drive again on Sunday??

I think we were both about to cry out of frustration by the time we hit Syracuse more than six hours later. And then, as if magic, the flurries stopped, the roads cleared, and the sun came out. It was as if Syracuse hadn't seen snow in weeks. Traffic picked up to a totally normal highway speed, and we could finally breath a sigh of relief. Let the record reflect that Massachusetts is a great state in many ways, but they do a shockingly bad job of plowing their interstates.

From Syracuse, the drive was easy. We listened to audio books, sang along to the radio (the song of the trip seemed to be Katy Perry's "Roar," which played no less than five times), and just enjoyed chatting with each other. Every hour or so, one of us would exclaim, "Hey! I remember that landmark! Do you remember when we saw that on the move from Ann Arbor...." It's remarkable how familiar the drive felt. And, in a way, it felt like going home. You can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl!

We gave up on our dinner plans and ate at a Panera outside of Toledo. At that point, we were practically bouncing in our seats with excitement! We were gonna make it! Maybe even in time for salsa dancing! Around 10:00 - sixteen hours after leaving Boston - we pulled into the parking lot behind our friend Kinsey's apartment, where we were staying for the night. We were both exhausted but grinning. We were back. We were "home."

< to be continued >