Sitting in a Starbucks.
I feel like I've committed some sort of unforgivable vagabonding crime and should lose some of my travel badges. Negative brownie points for Aimee.
I'm here because Internet in Istanbul is sketchy business, and Starbucks seems to take America's shitty coffee and America's decent Internet connection everywhere it digs its evil foundation and sinks its seductive, destructive roots.
I needed decent Internet because I was supposed to Skype my parents today -- but they'd just finished driving from Las Vegas to Temecula to visit my uncle, so I received a message as soon as I sat down with my chai (not to be confused with çay) that said they had to cancel again. My exhausted father had fallen asleep.
Argh. At least I have my chai. As blasphemous as it feels to be sipping Starbucks in Turkey, drinking chai makes me think of Sara and Kenton and Jomas. People I care about and miss from home.
It's the season for resolutions (the more time I spend away from home, the fonder I grow of meaningless clichés and illogical traditions) It's the season for endings and (oddly enough) beginnings. So, in keeping with this western spirit (people in Istanbul don't make resolutions for the New Year), I thought I'd list some of the things that excite me about my future and some personal goals for the next few months/year/as long as they apply.
Aimee is Excited!
- A good friend from Colorado is going to visit me in less than a month! This will be the first time that someone from my home state has met with me on one of my gallivanting adventures, and I am too ecstatic for words. Cathy has booked the Spectra Hotel for the last week of January, and I hope to spend the majority of my time with her, exploring this strange, enormous city with someone from my hometown.
- Cathy is bringing me my Nikon camera with a new telephoto lens I purchased off of Amazon. I will be able to take significantly better pictures and will download the "Nikon D60 for Dummies" book on my kindle so I can really learn how to operate that camera properly. No more "automatic" settings for this lady. I want to redesign my website to have a section for portraits I take in each country, and the new lens will allow me to shoot more professional looking portraits on the sly.
- I get to volunteer at this retreat in March: Cranleigh House Katherine has already said that I can teach yoga classes for some of my hours. Yes, please. Please and thank-you and you're welcome very, very much. I'm thrilled to spend the month five minutes away from the ocean and five minutes away from a national park. It'll be unbelievably refreshing to escape into nature after three months of congested Istanbul. I'm thrilled to spend the month with fellow yogis and art therapists. I will be with people who inspire and motivate me to pursue the things I love.
- Maud! Maud is coming to visit me at the Cranleigh House from March 5th to March 9th. This will be the third country in which I've met up with my super hot, cuddly Dutch friend. We will spend many hours walking along the beach and exploring Exmoor National Park. We both love walking, and as the two of us are aspiring photographers, we both love walking slowly. I anticipate wonderful times.
- I'm attending an acro yoga training program in London between March 29th and April 2nd. This is the first step towards getting my certificate to teach acro yoga, and it feels amazing to be moving in that direction.
- I'd love to spend a few days with my English family after the training. Dear me, it would be wonderful to reconnect with them. I wonder if they still have some of the plum chutney I made from their overburdened backgarden tree last August.
- Vis! I will spend a month living on the island of Vis, teaching yoga at this retreat: Dalmatia Events
- I hope to volunteer at Undiscovered Montenegro for the month of June. Can you imagine how beautiful that would be? Waking up every morning to the sun glinting off the gorgeous lake Skadar, rippling, glistening, pooling through the window? Practicing yoga and meditating in this environment? Thinking ahead to these moments is something that helps get me through days spent in crowded trams and metrobuses. Big city life is not for me.
- I want to take myself (and maybe a girlfriend) on a budget train/bus adventure up the Croation coast, across northern Italy and along the French Mediterranean all the way to Perpignan. I want to make two days stops in Pula, Trieste, Verona, Genoa and Nice.
- I plan to volunteer with a lovely lady who is a circus performer and an avid acro yogini (I'll learn so many tricks, my goodness) for the last three weeks of July and the first two weeks of August.
- The last two weeks of August and first week of September has the Project Miranda in store. I'll get to work with horses, play with yoga, experiment with theatre and help people heal from traumatic events.
- Paolo! I've kept in touch with my couchsurfing friend from Venice with whom I stayed in August of 2011. We have scheduled the second week of September, 2014 at his apartment in Barcelona. Facebook is an amazing tool.
- Maud! Again! I end this European adventure with a brief stint in the Netherlands. We'll visit Belgium, explore the whole of Holland (probably in an afternoon) and make sure to see Billie again.
- Janet. My Wednesday girlfriend from university years (don't ask). The lady who has been there to encourage, support, love, and inspire me for the last 7 years of my life. Janet. I am flying home for your wedding in October. My plane leaves Amsterdam at 2:00 pm on September 28th and arrives in Denver at 6:45 pm on September 28th.
- Mike flies me to Spokane for his wedding in the second week of October. I will live on his couch and play with his cat and cook him and his fiancé breakfast every morning. Be warned. I will make you a breakfast specific to every country I've visited. May contain seaweed, chocolate and tahini.
- I hope to spend November exploring Portland and visiting my father's family in Bend. I'll have a hearty, traditional Thanksgiving before --
- flying to Mexico to see Miguel and volunteer at yoga retreats. I want to spend six months total in Mexico, learning Spanish and deepening my practice.
Aimee is Resolved!
- To be open to life and not give a damn if things don't work out the way I planned.
- oooh, I'd like to try to get better at watercolors...
- ... and maybe finish my laughter play...
- learning how to hold a handstand would also be pretty awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment