A day in Iraq...

Today, I went to a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture with some of our USDA counterparts.  (Watch your local Iraqi news station tonight...you might see me.)

Then, we took our group on a tour of a sheep and cattle slaughterhouse.

I wore the same high heels to both places.  I don't think those shoes will ever be the same.

Flying

I traveled for 30 hours yesterday, College Station to Erbil, Iraq.

All this travel gave me time for reflection, and I've realized that over the span of most trips I go from loving airports and airplanes to hating them and then back to loving them.  All within about 30 hours.

Things start out well at the beginning of the trip.  I check in at the airport with anticipation, thinking about the new things to see and experience.  I settle into my chair with some coffee and wait for my flight.  I watch planes come and go, watch other travelers and enjoy the anticipation of travel.  I get on the plane and enjoy that rush of take-off.  This is my favorite part of flying, that feeling of heaviness before the plane defies gravity and lifts into the air.  I love flying!

It's downhill after take-off the initial take-off.  After that comes awful airline food.  Cramped seats and stiff knees.  Delays.  Wandering through the mazes that they call airports.  Multiple security checks.  Feeling dirty and disheveled.  I hate flying.

Finally, we land at the final destination.  My luggage made it!  I take the shuttle out to the parking lot.  I spot my friends who have come to pick me up.  My sense of anticipation and adventure returns.  I can't wait to walk around the city, eat my favorite Iraqi foods and haggle over the price of souvenirs. I love flying!

Flying.  It's a love-hate-love relationship.

Mystery French Horn Man

At least once a week for the last month or so, I've heard a single French horn playing when I leave the office in the evening.  A couple weeks ago, I finally spotted the man playing the French horn in the far corner of our office parking lot.  And today, I saw him from our office window.  He was practicing a marching routine by himself in the parking lot.

Random.

And fun.

I don't know who you are or why you play, Mystery French Horn Man, but you make me smile.

Simmer-er

I read this on a blog today, and I think it describes me pretty well:

I’m usually not a prickly person. I don’t argue much because I honestly don’t have a lot to defend. Most of my opinions are moldable and if I read something different than what I believe, it usually causes me to stop and consider for a while. I’m a simmer-er. It takes a few weeks after a read or a discussion for my opinion to be fully formed. And by then, most people don’t care anymore. That means I was never interesting in my college classes. I didn’t raise my hand. It isn’t that I didn’t have anything to say. It’s just that I was always a month late to say the things. By then the rest of the world had moved into the more brilliant places.

This is not to say that I don't have any firm opinions, but it takes me awhile to think through issues.  I like to let things simmer.  Percolate.  Mull.  Ruminate.

In fact, I'm still thinking over something someone said at a Bible study over a month ago.  But that's a post for another time...after I finish thinking it over.

Number 3

So I decided to go big for my first accomplishment from the 30 Things Before 30 list.  That's right, number three on the list.  I went skydiving.

It was amazing.

A-maz-ing.

I don't really know how to describe such an incredible experience, so I'll narrate through pictures.

As you can see, I was terrified.  They practically had to stuff me into the plane.  Actually...I'm pretty sure I smiled like that all the way up and down.

Don't worry.  I stayed clear of the propeller.  Thank goodness for the warning signs.

It's not skydiving if you don't have to chase donkeys off the runway.

There's quite a bit between the donkey/runway picture and the next one.  Unfortunately, it's difficult to take pictures when you jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet. One second we were in the plane, and the next we were gone.  Just like that.

If I had to describe the free fall in one word, I would say wind.  Lots and lots of wind.  

I never felt like I was falling or hurtling to the earth at breakneck speeds.  It mostly felt windy.  And incredible.  Oh, and maybe I didn't smile much during this part.  I think it probably looked more like cheeks flapping in the wind.  

After about 45 seconds of free fall, my guy (the one who was attached to me and making sure we didn't die) pulled the shoot.  We had four or five minutes of canopy time, which was so quiet and beautiful.

I even had enough time to chat with my guy.  We talked about where I work, what he studied in college, and how he got into skydiving.  Turns out he was a philosophy major.  I bet you can be pretty philosophical when you jump out of a plane for a living...contemplating life after death and such.

The landing part was super easy.  My guy said, "Bend your knees a little, and I'll tell you when to stand up."  And then all of the sudden, we were back to earth and I just stepped onto the ground.  

So there I am.  Safe and sound.  Now wasn't that fun?!?

30 Things Before 30

I like making lists. 

Grocery lists.

To-do lists.

Packing lists.

The list goes on.

(hehe)

So when a friend mentioned that she had a list of “30 Things Before 30” it didn’t take long to start listing things that I wanted to accomplish in the next few years.

1. Travel to Asia.

2. Read through the Bible five times.

3. Go skydiving.

4. Become fluent in another language.

5. Run a 5K.

6. Go sailing.

7. Take a photography class.

8. Learn to water-ski.

9. Finish my master’s degree.

10. Read Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

11. Travel to Africa.

12. Read My Utmost for His Highest.

13. Take a cooking class.

14. Go salsa dancing.

15. Memorize some poetry.

16. Go rock climbing.

I’m still working on the list.  It’s not as easy as you might think to come up with 30 things to accomplish.  They have to be realistic (although becoming fluent in another language might be a stretch), but they can’t be too mundane.  My goal is to try something new, learn a new skill or see a new place. 

I’m open to suggestions for completing my list (but I reserve veto rights...).  Any ideas?

Beautiful Words

I've been reading some of my old favorites lately.  Anne of Green Gables.  Persuasion.  Jane Eyre.  I love how descriptive these authors are, how they piece words together to create pictures.

I came across this paragraph last night in Jane Eyre:

It was now the sweetest hour of the twenty-four: "day its fervid fires had wasted," and dew fell cool on panting plain and scorched summit.  Where the sun had gone down in simple state--pure of the pomp of clouds--spread a solemn purple, burning with the light of red jewel and furnace flame at one point, on one hill peak, and extending high and wide, soft and still softer, over half heaven.  The east had its own charm of fine, deep blue, and its own modest gem, a rising and solitary star: soon it would boast the moon; but she was yet beneath the horizon.

Beautiful.

First Conundrum

I have finally entered the blogosphere. I've been an avid blog reader for a while now, and I finally decided to join in the fun. But that decision was the easy one, then I had to decide on a blog name, background, topics, etc. All the things that would be the visible expression of who I am in the blog world. Needless to say, it was quite a...conundrum.

I'm not sure what will come out of this blog. Stories from my various treks to other countries, thoughts on faith, introspection (is it really introspection if it's on the internet?), or just the randomness that is my life.

So...here I am. Sharing my conundrums.