Namaste

In the summer of 2005 I learned about a yoga studio in Morgan Hill. I started going and immediately became hooked. I was attending classes three and four times a week. It was wonderful. Then hurricane Katrina happened, and I was working twelve plus hour days, no time to even cook myself dinner, let alone go to yoga class. Before I knew it, I was moving to Washington DC and never got back into the swing of things.

Until yesterday. Several people had recommended a particular yoga studio in downtown DC. I had been thinking about doing yoga for months, and decided it couldn’t wait any longer. So I packed my yoga mat and decided to catch a class after work.

I can't believe it took me this long to start up again. My class was so calming, relaxing, and at the same time, HARD WORK! At the end of class, they give you an aromatherapy spritz, an eye pillow for the relaxation, and even a little two minute massage. I felt great leaving class.

Today I feel energized. I woke up alert, ready for the day instead of sleepy and snoozing. I even rolled out my mat and did a few poses to start my morning off. I am calm and collected, focused and worry free today. I also feel the stretching in my arms, legs and back. It’s so refreshing. I can’t believe I took a two year break from yoga. My goal is to keep it up, and hopefully attend classes once or twice a week. Check in with me in two months to make sure I'm still going strong.

This moring I looked up the meaning of Namaste on a yoga journal website:

The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. "Nama" means bow, "as" means I, and "te" means you. Therefore, Namaste literally means "bow me you" or "I bow to you."

Cinco De Mayo Lesson

Last weekend was my first weekend home since the end of March! Lane and I planned to take it easy and just relax. We took his electric guitar to a shop for repairs and then, on that rainy cinco de mayo Saturday, decided to go grocery shopping. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, grocery shopping. That’s when I feel like an old lady, when I grocery shop on Saturday evening.

We got home, arms full of groceries, opened the apartment door and were suddenly bombarded with a sea of loud music in our apartment. I immediately shuddered at our bad neighborship – did we really leave the music on THAT loud? Had Lane left one of his computer video games running? The horror.

But then we realized the sound was coming from outside. Being the resourceful person that I am, I checked online and found that a FREE Gin Blossoms concert was happening right outside our apartment. Shame on us for not knowing what’s going on in our neighborhood! We decided to just enjoy the music from our apartment, since with our luck, the concert would have been ending by the time we got down there ourselves.

We made some kick-ass nachos and strawberry margaritas in honor of cinco de mayo – and learned our lesson too! Stay informed of events in Crystal City!

In my newfound wisdom, I learned of a free art exhibit right around the corner from our apartment. We have to make sure we make it out there!

I had the best of intentions!

I was so excited to create my blog before leaving on my West Africa adventure. The only problem was that I spent most of my time in meetings, and there were only two computers in the whole office with internet access. This was some slow internet, too. I will try to provide a condensed version soon. Here are some pics:

Geneva - And Getting Here

Well, this is finally happening. I left yesterday and flew to Germany, hung out for a few hours and then made my way over to Geneva. I even found the train stop and the hotel without getting (too) lost. The weather is sooo nice - it's tank top weather, which i love. Side note: it was NOT finally spring in DC. While it was 84 on Monday and Tuesday, the rest of the week was spent in 40 weather and cold wind. it even snowed on Friday night.

Back to Germany, I mean i KNOW it's Germany but i never saw so many people drinking huge steins of beer at 9 in the morning. NINE. My Geneva airport surprise was how many people brought their dogs to the airport with them to meet family and friends.

So of course everyone speaks French here, and of course, I've been taking some beginner lessons and i understand but for some reason i can't get it to come out of my mouth. i've been thinking of how i would say this or that, but no. nothing. I am just nervous that people will be upset at me for taking so long to try to say what i want, especially when they all speak English too.

I took a stroll downtown and checked out Lake Geneva. I had hoped to do a little shopping but a lot of the stores were closed because of Easter Monday. It was so refreshing to eat a real meal after all those hours of travel and presentation of questionable airline food. I chowed down at a little thai place on some panang curry.

I started my anti malaria medication today. Tomorrow i meet all day with ICRC staff. i am hoping to also learn more details about the rest of my trip such as where i am staying, who is meeting me at the airport, and what my itinerary is for my trip. I am sure that it is figured out and that they will take good care of me. it would just be comforting to know and to be able to tell my family where i'll be when.

Tonight i am going to try to read up on some ICRC stuff, prep my travel bag for africa (complete with hand sanitizer, sunscreen, first aid kit, and other wonderful items. i am also hoping to score some ''delegate's cologne'' i hear this is the term for some kick-ass bug spray the ICRC has. cross your fingers. My plan is to just relax since I have a long day tomorrow and an even longer one the day after with my flight to Liberia. I'm really going to be there at this time tomorrow. I still am not sure I believe it.

by the way, you don't know how hard it was to type this on a keyboard in Geneva. So many keys are different (the Z and Y have traded places, for example), there are extra keys and it's a scavenger hunt to find some. The Exclamation point has hidden itself incredibly well.

6 Days Left

Here I am, six days away from departure with no visas and no itinerary. I hear the visas are coming, and it's just a matter of waiting for the embassies.

The ICRC has given me only minimal information so far. I know that one day in Liberia will be spent meeting with officials at the ICRC delegations and the Liberian National Red Cross, and the other out in the field meeting with the actual people who have been separated from their families because of the conflict and are using Red Cross Message and Tracing services. I'm told that the delegations in Liberia and Sierra Leone will arrange for my transportation to Sierra Leone. But I haven't been told yet how I will be getting there. I assume it will be via ICRC small plane. No news yet on how long I'm spending in Sierra Leone or exactly what is planned for me there. I hope to receive more details in the next few days.

One of my co-workers was especially helpful to me today. She is from Liberia and when I asked her for some guidance about currency exchange and value she immediately called a friend who just arrived in the US from Liberia. He was able to answer my questions. My co-worker also gave me her personal cell phone to ask her any questions and gave me the name and number of a woman in Liberia that she considers a mother figure and told me she could help me anything I needed while I'm there. I am comforted by their friendliness, openness and how eager they are to welcome me and help me out.

NYC with the Fam

We visited David in New York over St. Patrick's Day weekend. Christianne and my mom were already there visiting, and Cynthia came down from Boston so we had a mini-reunion :)


Christianne came from 99 degree weather to snowy, icy, and bitter windy weather. She was quite the trooper. She really enjoyed stomping in the snow and making snowballs, but didn't quite care for them being thrown back at her!

It's finally spring in DC