Wednesday, July 31, 2013

What's Next?


            If I had a Cadbury bar each time someone asked me that question (if only), I would be one fat, happy girl.
            To answer the question, I will be moving back to Seattle and getting involved in the community while hiking and dancing as much as possible along the way. Still working on the job aspect, it’s a bit tough when you were, you know, halfway around the world.
            Along the way I’ll also be making a few pit stops: in Scotland to walk across it (see last blog post), DC for a week with my best friend (next blog post), Seattle for my roommate’s wedding (I’m baking the wedding cake!), California for family time, and then road tripping back up to Seattle.  This blog will continue on if you’re still up for the ride!
            Phew. Sometimes I get tired just thinking about it. Oh, and don’t forget the three heavy pieces of luggage getting tugged along in wake...while on crutches. I sure won’t be able to.
            Thank you for being with me on this journey! Your support is so appreciated as I now know just how important the love of a community is. None of us can make it alone and from the bottom of my heart, thank you.  This beautiful year has sadly come to an end and in the months to come I’ll be needing that support more than ever in transitioning back to life in the US.
            But, as we all know, every ending is just a beginning in disguise.
            And, oh, this journey is far from over.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Mission: Accomplished!

You know you’re having a good day when your least favorite part of it is walking down a butterfly-and-sunlight strewn trail. Granted, it’s also mile 75 in four days and your body is staging a coup de tat to replace you with a hopefully less adventure-inclined counterpart.

While toward the end it might have gotten a bit questionable, WE DID IT!!!!!!! 4 days, 77 miles coast to coast, moonlight over Loch Ness, going a bit nuts, being grateful for ferns, story time, lots of pictures, miles of too-gorgeous trail, too much medi tape, some elephant ears, and a pair of crutches later...MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Maybe a little worse for wear, but definitely intact upon arrival in Inverness! I definitely couldn’t have made it alone, Blake and I carried each other through (sometimes literally) to the very end of the line. Unfortunately, on the train ride back my ankles decided to make good on their threat of revolt and officially went on strike. After walking off the train my left ankle completely gave out with the other not far behind. Thankfully, health care is FREE in Scotland and twenty minutes at the hospital, a host of pain meds, and a pair of crutches later I was diagnosed with some pretty angry tendons that will soon (hopefully) heal themselves.

It’s a strange feeling, making a dream come true. Surreal, still reeling when my brain wraps my head around the fact that we LITERALLY WALKED ACROSS A COUNTRY. I couldn’t have done it alone, that’s for sure. The one thing I do know is that this is only the beginning. Where to next? Who knows. But big things are definitely on the horizon.

Pictures tell this story better than I ever could:

Day 1: All strapped up and ready to go! If only we knew what was coming....

Break time on the canal

Hitting the trail by Loch Lochy

Loch Oich, almost too gorgeous to be real

Medical tape--the key to happiness on long hikes. Pretty sure it was what kept my feet together.

Mile 36: Already ready for the loony bin

Trail overlook Loch Ness

That moment when you stop in your tracks because the scene you're looking at couldn't possibly be real.

Day 5: I'm a gimp! SO WORTH IT.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

So You Want To Walk Across Scotland?

Tomorrow I will start walking Scotland coast to coast. Yup, you read that right and no, I’m not crazy. Mulalo, my South African best friend, has endearingly called me “mpengo” (“crazy person” in Venda) since the day I suggested climbing Devil’s Peak four months ago. (finally got him to climb it with me last week, who’s the crazy one now??) While walking across a country may sound a bit crazy, there’s a story behind it.

As some of you may know, I have synovitus in my right knee from a bad dancing injury five years ago. My friend flipped me incorrectly and instead of landing on my feet my knee was slammed, with momentum, into the floor. Ouch. The swelling was so bad it was too painful to wear pants for a couple of weeks and there was talk of a cartilage tear in my knee joint. But without a conclusive answer, I refused to get surgery.

A while back, I finally went to a knee specialist and was told it was synovitus, swelling in the knee joint. He said that it was a common problem for young, active women. Yup, sounds like me. The bad news was that there is nothing to help it. The good news was that it usually went away on its own after a few years.

The thought of it going away had me so excited I was crying as I left the hospital. Crazy thoughts started whirling around my head as to what I would do without the injury if only I could. Because it seems to have answers to most everything in life, I went straight to the bookstore. Within ten minutes I had a huge National Geographic World Atlas book spread across the reading table, country maps soon followed. I wanted to see it all, walk over mountains, hike til my legs fell off. Because, hey, I’d be able to without pain.

And so, the idea of walking across a country was hatched and tomorrow it will become a reality. Coast to coast, miles of countryside, mountain tops, trails beckoning. The magic moment of my knee healing itself hasn’t come yet, but no matter.

I’ve started dreaming and I refuse to stop now.



What would you do if there was nothing holding you back?

Thursday, July 11, 2013

I Am Because We Are

It’s official, I’ve left Cape Town :(

This year has been beautiful, it’s been a challenge, it’s been a mess, it’s been bigger and simpler and deeper than I ever could have imagined.

I am not the same.

People have walked into my life that have left their mark in a ways that I can barely put into words. The simple yet deeply real response I have is “thank you.” Thank you for accepting a lost American into your homes and hearts, thank you for laughing with me through the cross-cultural snafus and terribly cooked meals, thank you for letting me be witness to your lives.

Grace has truly carried me through this year. The grace of others through the ups and downs of accompaniment, grace for myself allowing my heart to feel deeply every bump in the road.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s of the beauty of community. I could never have made it through this journey alone. It’s been an adventure in itself learning to rely so much on others. The real beauty came in discovering just how powerful the love of a community can be in making us wiser, stronger, more vulnerable, more loving than we could ever have been on our own.

South Africans have a word that captures the heart of this idea, Ubuntu—“I am because we are.” It speaks to the truth that our humanity is dependent upon others to share it with, that the health of any individual is dependent upon the health of the community and vice versa. Stepping into this community so many months ago I had no idea how radically I would change. The unconditional, welcoming love of my family and others has given me the confidence to become more than I was—stronger, passionate, more open, vulnerable, rooted, loving. I became more because the quiet (yet sometimes sassy, outspoken) Ubuntu love of my community believed that I could.

Goodbye for now, Cape Town. Thank you for welcoming me, shaking up my life, and changing it for the better.

To those I love—in California, DC, Seattle, and Cape Town—see you again soon.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Taste the Rainbow

After begging for pap and chakalaka for dinner last night I paused mid-cheer this morning upon discovering a fresh pack of rooti in the fridge. My, how things have changed. If you had asked me a year ago what chakalaka was I’d probably have given an answer similar to my dad’s:

“Dad! Guess what! I’m making chakalaka for dinner!”
“Chocolate for dinner? Isn’t that bad for you?”

Now, I can’t get enough of braai (barbeque), am in love with all things fish, and have learned just about all of the ways to cook butternut squash. My friend Mulalo laughed when he caught me licking the grease off my fingers from eating some incredible fried chicken with gravy, “Jen, are you sure you were ever vegetarian? I’m not sure I believe you.” From Monkey Gland sauce to lamb curry to rooti to Gatsbys—call me a convert, my heart is sold.

Of course, I’m also taking every opportunity to learn how to cook the fantastic cuisine of the Rainbow Nation. My host mom has been helping with that while she and my host dad have gracefully pretended to like all of the culinary experiments served along the way. Perhaps the best moment came after a surprise success of a meal complete with dessert. I’d never seen my host dad look so content and he rushed in to while I was cleaning up in the kitchen.

“Jen, very good, Jen. It’s okay for you to get married now. I give you permission.”


Chakalaka (hey, maybe this can be your husband-catcher recipe too): 50 ml canola oil
30 g chopped fresh ginger
30 g chopped fresh garlic
20 g chopped chili peppers
200 g chopped onions
500 g tomatoes, roughly chopped
100 g green peppers, roughly chopped
100 g red peppers, roughly chopped
50 g leaves masala
200 g grated carrots
450 g baked beans, in tomato sauce
10 g fresh coriander

Directions:

1 Fry ginger, garlic, chillis, onions in the oil.
2 Add the leaf masala or curry powder of your choice.
3 Add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes.
4 Add peppers and carrots and cook for 10 minutes. Add baked beans and cook for 5 minutes.
5 Remove from heat and add coriander. Check seasoning. Serve with whatever you want, hot or cold.