Happy early Thanksgiving!

Friends,

I lament that it has been awhile since my last post. I can tell you that life has been BUSY! My responsibilities at work have increased substantially and I am extremely occupied most of the time. Today, I said goodbye to Sandra (my supervisor) because she’ll leave for her 3-month sabbatical while I’m in Spain. I don’t know what we’re going to do without her, but I have been assured that we’ll do a beautiful job of holding down the fort. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous!

This month, though, I’m fortunate to have some vacation time. Tomorrow, I leave for Spain to visit my sister (with Mom, Aunt Vicki, and B’s friend Al), so I’m extremely excited about that. It still seems really weird to be jetting off to Europe amidst my year of simple living, but trying to reconcile the two realities—life pre-JVC and this yearlong commitment—is always a struggle. I think, for me, missing this experience would be a major mistake and a major regret. It was so important to have my mom and sister visit me in Chile because they then knew what my room looked like, what the ice cream tasted like, the way my host mom’s voice sounded, and how amazing the view from Cerro San Cristobol is. These things need a place to land when you get home, and it’s incredible if someone you love is able to be that person who understands. I want to be part of that for my sister during and after her time abroad. I’m really excited, though I will honestly miss my community and El Programa Hispano. No doubt they’ll be present in my mind throughout the trip.

What else can I tell you?

In the Japanese Garden with some friends on Vets' Day.

I had Veterans’ Day off, and I took advantage of the fact that the Japanese Gardens were free that day. It was fun roaming around the gardens with Jenna and some friends from Morris House, though it was a bit too wet and cold. Still, I’d love to take some of you to the Japanese Garden if and when you visit. Normally, admission is about ten bucks, so it was a JV’s dream to have both the day off and the garden free day coincide.

My birthday was Monday, so I celebrated the weekend before with my community. On Saturday, we went to Edgefield, a really fun estate with spas, hotels, restaurants, bars, etc. We went to a $3 movie and then had a cheap wine tasting flight (delicious!) while listening to some pretty decent live music. We got lucky and the band was actually really talented, so that was enjoyable. Afterwards, we ended up at our local watering hole where everybody really does know our name (4^th Street Brewery). Lizzie spent the night after so graciously commuting to the ‘burbs to party with us, and the next morning she joined me and my community at Mass at a beautiful locale called The Grotto. Vic and Mom, you’d love this! It was another rainy day, but I’d love to return for the Christmas season’s festival of lights and again in the spring. Still, it was what I wanted to do with my weekend and I was so grateful that my community members came with me, even those who probably would have preferred to sleep in instead.

On my actual birthday, I received a delicious surprise at work when Sandra ordered an enormous, beautiful birthday cake for the staff on my behalf. So sweet of them! At home, we had dinner and I ate MORE cake, this one a marvelous pumpkin cheesecake creation, courtesy of the resident culinary genius, Ms. Lindsay Poston. I opened beautiful gifts from Mom and Dad and Molly, and gifts and cards have been trickling in throughout the week from a number of you. Seriously, you’re all too generous, too thoughtful, and too sweet. Everyone here is now completely aware that I am incredibly spoiled!

Another gorgeous rainbow in Gresham!

I’d love to tell you more (and I’m sure you’d love to sit there and read for an hour, right?) but lucky for you I have to go home and cook dinner, prepare myself to go to Harry Potter at midnight—you heard me correctly—and then go to sleep for three hours before getting to the airport to go to SPAIN!!! So, this is all very exciting.

I wish you the happiest of Thanksgiving celebrations. Someone please make sure my dad gets some turkey since our Spain escapades are disrupting the usual holiday plans!

Katharine, Mikey, Diesel, Crunchy, Jillian, and Brittany, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

And Granada, prepare yourself. Here we come! Nos vemos prontisimo, mi hermanita!

Love to you all.

Amanda