April Events

April 24, 2010

It's been a few weeks since my last email update. Some things haven't changed much. I'm STILL writing papers -- three more to go! The one I'm now working on is due April 30. After that, the next self-assessment paper is due May 17, and then there's a case study to write for June 1. I have discovered that I am a much more focused writer when I'm with someone else who's working quietly than when I'm on my own, which is a great excuse to get out of the house.

I'm also still doing the P90X workout -- just completed the third week, and am already seeing and feeling changes. May will be the most intensive workout month. I'm feeling ready for it, and enjoying feeling stronger. I also now have a bicycle here, so have been tackling the hills and enjoying the shoreline. It's cut my commute time to meditation on Wednesday and Friday mornings in half.

My Easter kayaking weekend was postponed due to gale force winds -- the worst weather we had all spring! Tanya hasn't yet been able to find another weekend to come up from Oregon, so not sure when we'll get out.

I did celebrate my first Passover with a seder dinner at Jonathan's (my roommate's) mom's. She had 17 of us, and had cleared the living room to line up every table in the house end-to-end so that we could all be seated. What a rich and delicious ritual it was! The evening was strung together with readings from the Haggadah, which tells the story of the Jews' liberation from Egypt and outlines the rituals to be performed. Dinner is very slow to start -- readings, then we ate a piece of parsley dipped in brine; more readings, then a boiled egg; readings, then some horseradish; then horseradish and charoset (a mixture of chopped fruits, nuts, honey and cinnamon) together on matzoh bread (surprisingly good!); then finally we got to dinner. The proceedings are accompanied by much discussion about the rituals, how each person's family had traditionally done things, what the deeper meanings were -- great conversations. And dinner was amazing -- matzoh ball soup (I had a veggie version), two meat dishes, an Italian-style quinoa, apricot compote, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, strawberries and whipped cream for dessert.... I can still remember it all. The ritual ends on a playful note with the search for the hidden matzoh and attempting to read an increasingly long list of things (kind of like the 12 days of Christmas) in one breath. It was the longest dinner I've ever sat through, and a great night.

The biggest change that's happened for me the past few weeks has been regarding my plans to volunteer overseas beginning this fall. CUSO-VSO invited me to come to an assessment day in Vancouver on April 10, so I made a trip back north (and stayed a few days to visit with friends there -- so good to see so many people!) Three assessors monitored four of us, while a facilitator led us through the day. We had a group interview, individual interviews, a dilemma scenario that we were given to discuss, and then three timed tasks to complete together involving ping pong balls and baskets. We also watched three videos of volunteer experiences in Kenya. While I did well during the day and was accepted into the volunteer program, I also realized that going overseas for one to two years feels way too big on top of all the other changes happening in my life. After sleeping on it, and then sitting with my decision for a week, I withdrew my application.

If you signed up for these emails in the hopes of hearing about my overseas adventures, please feel welcome to send me an unsubscribe request! I anticipate that my next big move will be to Ottawa this summer. I plan to spend a year or two getting settled there before deciding on any major next steps.

Speaking of transitions, we had our second-last school conference last week. The last one will take place the first week in June followed by our graduation ceremony on June 21. I am striving to get the most out of my remaining time both at school and in Seattle, and find that I am washed between times of great joy, gratitude, and inspiration (and just plain fun), and waves of fear about the future. It has helped to remind myself that I could in no way have predicted or planned what has taken place in my life the past nine months, and that everything has worked out better than I could have even hoped it would. It also makes me very much appreciate all of the wonderful people with whom I'm associated, and the circles of support of which I am a part. Thank you for being part of that.

Home

"Where is home?" he asks
me, nomad, visitor,
a guest beneath the border of my homeland,
and I have no answer,
dislocated as I am.

When I close my eyes, the place that comes to me
has disappeared --
a farm dog resting by a bush of fragrant lilac,
weathered red barn and chicken coop,
five apple trees guarded by geese,
a grove of poplars,
caragana seeds popping from tall, late summer bushes,
ditches of brown-eyed susans and wild rose --
the land that these once marked
now flat and bare beneath a set of iron tracks.

As I walk past the houses in this strange city,
my shoulder is brushed
by a branch of soft, new maple leaves.
Sticky buds of poplar on my soles,
I stop to smell lilacs on every block.

Copyright © 2010 Lynn Thorsell, All rights reserved.