7.11.15

DC day 3

This whole thing was a chaotic, fun, exhausting, overwhelming, emotional and inspiring experience.  I'm so glad I got to meet all the people, share all the stories, drink all the drinks and dance all the dances.  It truly felt like meeting a large, loud, extended family.  I think I passed.

7.10.15

DC day 2

I love the house we are staying at.  It is full of interesting Asian furniture and fabrics and stuffed with books that are intriguing and intimidating.  I'm getting inspired by the lives lived by the people I'm meeting.  A few years ago I could never have imagined living in Islamabad after 9/11.  I could only glimpse working with populations in Africa and elsewhere to research family planning and it's challenges.  I never even thought about what it might be like to grow up part of the Nepalese royal family.  Now I have faces for these stories.  Not only are they wild adventures - they are real lives, lived by real people.  People I now know!  I am leaving here with about 30 more books on my to-read list and 100's of ideas for the future bursting out of my brains.

7.9.15

 

dc day 1

We've come to Washington for Russ's high school reunion.  Since the high school was an international school in New Dehli, India it obviously wasn't held there.  Rather it takes place in our nations capital and people come from all over the world to attend.   It is a school wide event, encompassing all years rather than the traditional graduating class reunion like we have here in the states.  

I didn't like high school very much and I've never attended my own reunions.  But AES, Russ's school, and it's students seem to be very different.  Having grown up as third culture kids; an isolated bubble in a foreign culture, they've formed their own culture and are more like a family than anything else.  So for the past year Russ has been telling me how important it is to him for me to attend and meet so many of the people closest to him in one spot.  

So here we are at last.  Many people to meet and functions to attend. I have a cold.  But it will not stop me.