What a tumultuous time. I have a partially written post trying to dissect my thoughts on 10 years in the US that was marked in 2017, but suffice to say it's a bewildering era to call America home and I feel the general sense of national uncertainty bleeding into my personal life. It's not all negative, but it's definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone which can be lonely and scary, even as it's exciting and rewarding. It's a time of transition on many levels.
Before I get into my personal year, I realized that my peers now send out Christmas cards and newsletters and I'm falling down on the job here in terms of updates about family life. I'll give the people what they want! Jonas has now been working at DenMat in Lompoc (making artificial teeth) for a year. He enjoys the work and is heavily involved in trading Ramen packets between his Korean, Vietnamese and Filipino coworkers. The potluck ladies of South East Asia gave his fried rice the stern nod of approval, so he's working on making a new life goal. He continues to draw at home but is considering finishing his degree in something related to wildlife conservation. A highlight of this year for him was seeing the Black Angels play in San Diego, and he has been fostering a love for legos and transformers with our boys. Ishmael turned 5 in the fall and has been going to Transitional Kindergarten at Joe Nightingale. He loves school and eagerly practices letters and numbers. He can read simple words. He is especially good at puzzles and is learning to ride a bike! Ira turned 3 in the summer and will probably start preschool in the fall. He adores his brother and is all about copying him, but also has a distinctly funny and quirky personality. He loves to sing and dance and generally entertain everyone. Thanks in part to his brother, Ira is doing a great job counting.
My biggest goal for 2017 was to finish college, and I did!!! Sort of...
I found out in August that I had two outstanding GE courses that weren't covered by transfer credits or major credits. I finished all my classes in November, but have two extra tests that I'm studying for in hopes of testing out of those missing courses. As relieved and excited as I am to have worked so hard to finish school, that little bump in the road of took the wind out of my sails in terms of finishing school this year and made it made my timeline such that there is no clear time at which to celebrate having finished. I am sad about that, but also proud of myself for doing my best and marking a huge personal achievement. The highlights of my schooling this year were an Arabic literature class (my favorite class of the past 4+ years), beginning to learn Arabic, and my research project on the intersection of the Druze sect and modern Islam.
I am scared and lost and confused about what comes now - I am considering grad school since we're still about 3 years out from having both sons in full-day school and all of the types of jobs I'm interested in require a masters or several years of experience. The prospect of job hunting in general is very overwhelming and I hope that in 2018 I can pursue some leads and develop a more concrete picture of what my options might be and how to work those into our life. Everyone asks me what job I want, and in a nutshell: I want to continue fostering interfaith community in our city, I want to continue writing and developing/honing skill and discipline in that area, I am interested in continuing language studies in Arabic and Farsi, and I would love to make short-term trips for work, so I am dreaming of teaching writing/art workshops abroad in a summer-school scenario so that I can combine travel/art/writing/language immersion.
Other notable things of 2017: Jonas and I traveled around Thailand in February which was our first trip abroad together! We were dazzled by the beautiful limestone islands in the Andaman Sea. // We had many wonderful dinners with various friends, for which my life is richer (special mention to our neighborhood friends the Jones' for hosting us 7 times!!!). I'm so thankful to have dinner parties be a regular part of our life and we look forward to continuing this trend... forever! Also, my dear friend Michelle had the most perfect twin boys and I never tire of holding them and being in awe. // I've made many new friends in our city-community this year as I pursue getting to know the local Muslim community and get involved in our inter-faith community group. This process has been much slower than I expected (and made me ask difficult questions about my motives and goals, which I don't have air-tight answers for), but I am learning a great deal about my own faith and am looking forward to facilitating more casual cooking lessons and food sharing among our community members. // In random fun stuff, I finally made it to the Rose Bowl flea market (which did not disappoint), and saw Regina Spektor and Elbow in concert (separately), as well as Hamilton! The hype is warranted, I actually choked up during a stage production.
Best media of 2017: I read so much, but almost exclusively for school. My favorite book from the Arabic Lit class was Seasons of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih. // The best movies I watched (few of which actually came out in 2017) were A Man Called Ove, Turbo Kid, The Best Offer, Whisky Tango Foxtrot, Silence (favorite movie in a long, long time), Ladybird (surprised it wasn't darker), and I Am Not Your Negro (not an exaggeration to say it has been contributing to changing my day-to-day life). // I was underwhelmed by new music in general, though I did enjoy the new Killers album (Wonderful Wonderful) and I was interested by Nitty Scott and Jhene Aiko.
We accomplished some momentous things this year, and part of me is struggling as I try to find new goals to replace the old ones. Finishing school has been a 10 year journey for me, so I'm definitely feeling a bit of a chasm that there's no easy way to fill in (with the absence of a perfect job landing in my lap). I don't want to avoid having goals at all just because I can't see their shape right now or I'm afraid of not meeting them, so here are my more concrete, if not super momentous, hopes and targets for 2018:
Before I get into my personal year, I realized that my peers now send out Christmas cards and newsletters and I'm falling down on the job here in terms of updates about family life. I'll give the people what they want! Jonas has now been working at DenMat in Lompoc (making artificial teeth) for a year. He enjoys the work and is heavily involved in trading Ramen packets between his Korean, Vietnamese and Filipino coworkers. The potluck ladies of South East Asia gave his fried rice the stern nod of approval, so he's working on making a new life goal. He continues to draw at home but is considering finishing his degree in something related to wildlife conservation. A highlight of this year for him was seeing the Black Angels play in San Diego, and he has been fostering a love for legos and transformers with our boys. Ishmael turned 5 in the fall and has been going to Transitional Kindergarten at Joe Nightingale. He loves school and eagerly practices letters and numbers. He can read simple words. He is especially good at puzzles and is learning to ride a bike! Ira turned 3 in the summer and will probably start preschool in the fall. He adores his brother and is all about copying him, but also has a distinctly funny and quirky personality. He loves to sing and dance and generally entertain everyone. Thanks in part to his brother, Ira is doing a great job counting.
(sorry the resolution isn't great, I screengrabbed off Instagram where I collected these photos under #we_bo2017 if you're THAT into my life, lolz) Highlights in pictures: Top row - floral projects (all foraged!), Ishmael's first time correctly spelling his name plus an adorable drawing of me pregnant with him; Middle row - various outfits for various occasions, an island in Thailand; Bottom row- jungle-y AirBnB we loved in Thailand, lunch with some interfaith ladies, beautiful green hills after a very wet spring of 2017.
My biggest goal for 2017 was to finish college, and I did!!! Sort of...
I found out in August that I had two outstanding GE courses that weren't covered by transfer credits or major credits. I finished all my classes in November, but have two extra tests that I'm studying for in hopes of testing out of those missing courses. As relieved and excited as I am to have worked so hard to finish school, that little bump in the road of took the wind out of my sails in terms of finishing school this year and made it made my timeline such that there is no clear time at which to celebrate having finished. I am sad about that, but also proud of myself for doing my best and marking a huge personal achievement. The highlights of my schooling this year were an Arabic literature class (my favorite class of the past 4+ years), beginning to learn Arabic, and my research project on the intersection of the Druze sect and modern Islam.
I am scared and lost and confused about what comes now - I am considering grad school since we're still about 3 years out from having both sons in full-day school and all of the types of jobs I'm interested in require a masters or several years of experience. The prospect of job hunting in general is very overwhelming and I hope that in 2018 I can pursue some leads and develop a more concrete picture of what my options might be and how to work those into our life. Everyone asks me what job I want, and in a nutshell: I want to continue fostering interfaith community in our city, I want to continue writing and developing/honing skill and discipline in that area, I am interested in continuing language studies in Arabic and Farsi, and I would love to make short-term trips for work, so I am dreaming of teaching writing/art workshops abroad in a summer-school scenario so that I can combine travel/art/writing/language immersion.
Other notable things of 2017: Jonas and I traveled around Thailand in February which was our first trip abroad together! We were dazzled by the beautiful limestone islands in the Andaman Sea. // We had many wonderful dinners with various friends, for which my life is richer (special mention to our neighborhood friends the Jones' for hosting us 7 times!!!). I'm so thankful to have dinner parties be a regular part of our life and we look forward to continuing this trend... forever! Also, my dear friend Michelle had the most perfect twin boys and I never tire of holding them and being in awe. // I've made many new friends in our city-community this year as I pursue getting to know the local Muslim community and get involved in our inter-faith community group. This process has been much slower than I expected (and made me ask difficult questions about my motives and goals, which I don't have air-tight answers for), but I am learning a great deal about my own faith and am looking forward to facilitating more casual cooking lessons and food sharing among our community members. // In random fun stuff, I finally made it to the Rose Bowl flea market (which did not disappoint), and saw Regina Spektor and Elbow in concert (separately), as well as Hamilton! The hype is warranted, I actually choked up during a stage production.
Best media of 2017: I read so much, but almost exclusively for school. My favorite book from the Arabic Lit class was Seasons of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih. // The best movies I watched (few of which actually came out in 2017) were A Man Called Ove, Turbo Kid, The Best Offer, Whisky Tango Foxtrot, Silence (favorite movie in a long, long time), Ladybird (surprised it wasn't darker), and I Am Not Your Negro (not an exaggeration to say it has been contributing to changing my day-to-day life). // I was underwhelmed by new music in general, though I did enjoy the new Killers album (Wonderful Wonderful) and I was interested by Nitty Scott and Jhene Aiko.
Highlights in pictures: Top row - took the boys to the Monterrey Aquarium in December, Friendsgiving, meeting the Gee twins in October; Middle row - Jonas and I participated in a chalk festival, Welch kids weekend in San Diego (missing Julia), one of my favorite foraged bouquets of the year; Bottom row - visiting with our friend Nabila, finally finished my painting!, visited Palm Springs and the Salton Sea with Annelise and Genna in the summer.
We accomplished some momentous things this year, and part of me is struggling as I try to find new goals to replace the old ones. Finishing school has been a 10 year journey for me, so I'm definitely feeling a bit of a chasm that there's no easy way to fill in (with the absence of a perfect job landing in my lap). I don't want to avoid having goals at all just because I can't see their shape right now or I'm afraid of not meeting them, so here are my more concrete, if not super momentous, hopes and targets for 2018:
- Read books. Looking forward to carving out consistent to time to become an avid reader again.
- More communal cooking. I'm really pumped to get more informal cooking lessons from various people in our community, both in their homes and ours. I believe in this model for building relationships so much, and I've seen it start to work and it's incredibly rewarding and exciting and I can't wait to put more energy into this in 2018.
- Cook from cookbooks. I have so many beautiful cook books but usually reach for my phone or a magazine instead, so I want to start utilizing my books!
- Dual Immersion. I'm hoping to get Ishmael into a Spanish-English school program for Kindergarten (and on through the rest of elementary) which is out of our district, but something that I think is really important for several reasons. I hope he'll be as into it as I am. I hope that he can thrive with the added challenge after the initial switch, which I'm anticipating could be difficult.
- See a chiropractor. Not glamorous, but I have some chronic neck and shoulder pain which I finally realized might be fixable. I'm putting this on the list because setting up appointments and handling insurance etc. etc. is a hurdle for me.
- Roller derby! I am considering joining a team partly because I love to roller skate, but also because it's the one form of exercise I might look forward to and I think it will help me be more involved in our city. And let's be honest, I need an outlet for my aggression (jkjkjk).
- Mexico City??? I don't know how practical it is, but I always want to be traveling more and whether or not this makes actual sense, Mexico seems like a good vacation in which to ease into traveling abroad with kids.
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