Lots to be Thankful for!

It's Thanksgiving, so it seems like a good time to think about what I am thankful for in my life.

I am thankful for my family. I have incredible parents. The best parents ever, really.
I am thankful for my sister who lets me stay at her house when I decide to quit my job for one reason or anther. :)
I am thankful for my extended family - who make sure that our family reunions are never dull!
I am thankful for my cats - I know, it's silly, but I am! They're my buddies.
I am thankful for all of my friends in Denver who are the most supportive and caring people anyone could ask for as friends.
I am thankful for all of my friends who are not in Denver - because they are also amazing friends although we don't see each other very often.
I am thankful that I have the opportunity to quit my engineering job and run off to travel or take a competely random job with i-to-i.
I am thankful that I will be hopping on a plane to Hawaii this afternoon!
I am thankful for such an amazing life that is full of new adventures, love, and joy in everything.

So - to my family and friends, I thank you for being you. I thank you for putting up with me being me!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love, Kt

Rag Doll

I think as we all go along in life we learn more and more about ourselves. And this trip and new job have been some pretty great learning experiences thus far. For example, I learned that I can be a huge ditz at times. I never realized to what extent that was true until I managed to lose (either permanently or temporarily) all of the following items in the course of three weeks:
My purse - in a restaurant
My driver's license - on the airplane
My ATM card - in an ATM machine as far as I know

All of these things caused momentary panic followed by relative calm and quick action to just continue onward. The purse was luckily still in the restaurant. The ID is gone forever, but my roommates FedExed my passport to me the next day and it is possible to order a replacement license. The lost ATM card was the last straw and briefly caused some beating of my head against the nearest tree, but now it has been replaced with a new one. So despite the agonizing knowledge that I am a big ditz, all of these things were, in the grand scheme, easily taken care of. So in the course of handling the loss of said items, I have realized something else about myself. To a certain extent, I'm a rag doll - or perhaps a leaf blowing where the wind takes me, if you will.

By this I mean that I seem to have adjusted so that I just go with the flow. I’m not sure when that started, to be honest. I think a lot of it had to do with visiting India. At some points on that trip, I was astounded by my own ability to just take it all in stride.

The same can be said of my reaction to things on this trip so far. I am not letting any of it get to me too much. Of course, it helps that Ashley also tends to handle things really well and without panicking. I think the fact that neither of us completely flipped out when I lost my driver’s license was proof of that. It was a god-awful way to start the trip, but we made it work without any tears, although it was very close! Originally, I was the one slated to drive our rental car. As we all know, that requires a driver’s license. So Ashley ended up driving instead. It did cost extra since she is under 25, but in the end it worked out for the best. She readily admits that she is not the best with directions, whereas I am a pretty decent navigator. This means that we unintentionally stumbled into the perfect arrangement with me navigating and Ashley driving.

Things like that make it easier to just go with the flow, I think. It just reinforces that when you are forced to adjust, sometimes it all turns out for the best in the end…

However – I do not plan on continuing to lose everything. Time to stop being a space case so maybe I won’t need to readjust quite so often…

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Love, Kt

One if by Land, Two if by Sea

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

So how is everyone's recollection of history class? A quick visit to Boston is a great way of refreshing your memory, let me tell you! We braved the rain on Sunday to see the sights of the north end of Boston - including the above statue of Paul Revere. Depite the rain, it was a great day of walking all around the city. From the north end to Boston Common and the Public Garden up Newbury Street to where we were picked up by the shuttle to the hotel. So much to see in such a small area.

Today was a bit different. Today was work. We took a cab to Tufts University for a full day of talking to all the crazy service-oriented kids. Our first onstacle of the day was getting a cab to actually come to the hotel during rush hour. Ha Ha! It only took half an hour! But once we made it there, we ran into a new obstacle - our large unfolding display was too tall for the ceiling. Oops. Luckily, we have some yo-yos and string on a yo-yo can evidently come in very handy when you need to improvise a way of setting up a giant display so that it isn't quite its full size... Here's a pic:



Yeah, I was pretty proud of myself for that!

After the table in the student center, we participated in a panel discussion about Teaching Abroad. We're on video in the Tufts Career Services office if anyone is ever here and wants to hear more about options when considering teaching English overseas.

One more picture - this one is really mostly just interesting to me. But this is a picture of me (attempting to look appropriately serious) with the headstone of my 8xs or so great grandfather, the founder of Hadley, Mass, and Governor of Connecticut in 1659. C'mon, that's just crazy stuff....

Western Mass

Ah, Horton hears a Hoo! Doesn't that take us all back childhood? Ashley and I stopped in Springfield, MA to see the Dr. Suess Sculpture Garden. And this picture is the result! Good stuff.

The trip to western Mass from Framingham was uneventful. And fast - things in MA are much closer together than they are in Colorado, so we were both surprised how easy it was to drive across the state!

Now we are staying in a Quality Inn, and feeling incredilby spoiled with our work-out room, indoor pool, free breakfast, and free wireless internet.

Some interesting family stuff for me is that my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather was massacred here back in the 1600's - In this very town where I am typing a message to all of you on my laptop. His son is buried in the local cememtary and I'm hoping we have a chance to stop by and see it. How many of us in the US can find headstones for our ancestors that date back to the 1600s?? It's an uncommon thing!

Work is going well - and despite the fact that we get paid to travel, it really is work! We have had a pretty successful week so far (or at least we think so!) But next week should be a bit busier - we'll be in Boston, sans car, travelling via public transport and cabs. And we have a lot scheduled. So we'll be running around like crazy, no doubt!

More pictures soon and more of an update shortly as well!

-Kt

Boston

Motel 6 gets a bad name - but you know what, for the price, I can't complain. Ashley and I are settled happily in our cozy Motel 6 room in Framingham, MA, drinking 2 Buck Chuck and watching one of our ten cable channels. Granted, the room doesn't have much to offer, but it's clean and the beds are comfortable.

We had a very eventful day today - took a lovely break from work and spent the day as full-on tourists. We drove our mid-sized rental car to Salem, MA for some witchy history. We followed that up with yet another meal out. We're attempting to be careful about our weight - walking a lot and attempting not to eat so much that we leave every meal feeling uncomfortable. We finished the day with a quick tour of the shore near Marblehead and then stopped by Concord National Historic Park for a quick reminder about how the American revolution got it's start. One if by land, two if by sea. Good stuff.

Tomorrow we hit the road again, this time heading for Hadley, MA. The plan is for one last breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (their egg and cheese English muffin sandwich is recommended by Self magazine), and then we'lll take our time heading to western Mass and hopefully the Dr. Seuss museum in Springfield. More to come very soon - thus far the trip is going well and Ashley and I are both looking forward to the next step. We're upgrading to a Quality Inn!