2012 Year in Review

2012 was a crazy year for me. I think I'll have to call it "the year of travel" because I went to more countries and places than I'd ever been in my life. I wasn't the best at blogging this year, so here's a summary of blog-worthy events.

January

January was a rough month for me. I was finishing up my first semester at Hebrew University and struggling with a severe 2-month-long cold, living in a freezing apartment in the West Bank and commuting every day in the rain and hail. Notable things from January: the branch party (at Bananaland in Jericho) and starting a class in Arabic at Bethlehem University.

February

In February I took a much needed break from the "pressure cooker" of Jerusalem (aptly named by one of my friends also living in Jerusalem) and went to Spain to attend the temple. Additional highlights of my Spain trip were eating large amounts of very unkosher meat and cheese, visiting sites around Madrid and Toledo, and taking a side trip to Morocco. I visited Rabat, met up with Brooke and Max, fellow 2008 Jordan study-abroad students, and went to the LDS branch meeting there, and then stopped by Assilah on the way out of the country. I missed my train back to Madrid when I crossed back into Spain and, after a crazy night of trying to get to Madrid (including a stolen wallet, several incredibly expensive phone calls trying to get some money sent by Western Union to me, and wishing I knew Spanish so I could actually talk to people), finally made it just in time for my flight back to Jerusalem. Two days later my sister Losaunne visited me and we spent 9 glorious (and freezing) days traveling all over Israel and the West Bank.

Toledo, Spain

Morocco

March

March was great. The weather finally warmed up a little, I finally got over my cold, and just after my sister left my friend Noelle came to visit. We spent a week visiting sites in Jerusalem and Northern Israel, at it was actually warm enough to wear short sleeves again! At the end of March I took a trip with the international students at Hebrew University to the Beit Guvrin caves and got to see the glorious Israeli countryside during the three weeks that everything is green and flowering. I also started a research project interviewing women in many different part of the West Bank. Oh, and I started classes again (this time in Hebrew instead of English) at Hebrew University and continued my class in Arabic at Bethlehem University.


April

April found me celebrating my birthday, General Conference, Passover, Easter, and the exciting prospect of only two more months left in the semester. My friend Arlissa threw a lovely birthday party for me and my friend Sahar, and I spent the Passover break dogsitting, exploring East Jerusalem (and getting mistaken for an Arab girl), visiting the Dead Sea with my coworker Rakheli, and completing an intensive Hebrew course at Ulpan Or in Jerusalem.


May

May was the time for me to leave Jerusalem and get some fresh air. Perhaps those of you who have lived there might agree that it is a very exhausting place to live, and I was exhausted! I took a day trip to Jaffa and Tel Aviv, went with some of the Hebrew U international students to Nahal Heverim for a night hike, and after exactly 58 minutes of sleep got up the next morning and went to the Samaritan Passover lamb-slaughtering ceremony on Mount Gerizim. The Bethlehem LDS branch had our second ever ward party (a delicious potluck BBQ). I gave tours of Jerusalem to several visiting foreign service officers and friends-of-friends (both in May and throughout the previous several months) and I finished my class at Bethlehem University.


June

June was an exciting month of firsts and lasts. The firsts: the first Bethlehem branch child was baptized in the Jordan River, I almost got to go into the Dome of the Rock because of my mad Arabic skills (but alas, politics kept me out), and I went to the Jerusalem light festival in the Old City. The lasts: ICCI, the place where I interned for a year, had its last party for the year, I finished up my classes at Hebrew University and my Arabic course at the Polis Institute, I completed my interviews with West Bank Palestinian women, and I said goodbye to my favorite people. I was sad to leave my friends in Jerusalem and the West Bank, but I was THRILLED to be going back home!! I learned a lot during my year of study and research in Jerusalem, but it was way past time to go back to the US.


At the end of June I met up with my friend Carli (who had come over to stay with me for a while) and her brother to travel back through Europe together. This was probably not the wisest choice, since I was physically, spiritually, and emotionally exhausted after my year abroad, but I thought that I would probably never again have the chance to hit lots of major cities in Europe in two weeks. First stop was Istanbul and then on to Germany, where we drove through the Alps, spent some time on Lake Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland, and finally ended up in Strasbourg, France. 

July

July saw more stops on my Europe trip: Paris, Rome, and London. I dragged my exhausted body around the tourist-crowded cities in the middle of July, willing myself to at least take pictures at all the sites so I could enjoy them later, but by the time I got to London I needed a break from the crowds. I visited Oxford and Bath and had a lovely time, although I found myself spending a fortune on train tickets.


As I was flying out from London my desperate prayers for money to replace the unforeseen travel costs was answered, and I gave up my seat on my flight for a 600 Euro refund. 4 hours later, I got on another flight and flew to HOUSTON!!! I was so relieved and excited to be back in the US that I barely even noticed the heat and humidity of Texas. I visited my sister and her family, and we even had time to drive up to Tyler, Texas to visit one of my other sisters living up there. We were there for "dress up like a cow and get a free meal" day at Chick-Fil-A, and I took my sister's family pictures despite the heavy rains and backyard flooding! At the end of July, I flew back to Utah and had a great time visiting my family and going to a lovely family reunion on Pioneer Day (zipline, anyone?).

Two other major events from July: I bought a car and got a job. 

August

My Utah job was just temporary, and in August I finished my time with Selnate International School as a Chinese counselor (best temp job ever!!). In July and August I had the privilege of translating the missionary lessons into Arabic while the missionaries taught a woman from Sudan, and in August Amna got baptized! I was seriously so lucky to be a part of that process and watch my dear friend grow in the light of the gospel. And I also had it reaffirmed to me that God knows where we are and has a plan for us: I was contacted about translating for her lessons the day I flew back to Utah, and she got baptized two days before I left the state! In that three week period, she took all of the lessons, had her baptismal interview, and got baptized. I also chopped off my long hair and took family pictures for another sister.

After three glorious weeks in Utah, I moved to OHIO to finish my MA at THE Ohio State University. I threw a random assortment of boxes into my car and drove 13+ hours for two days, finally arriving in Ohio with no place to live. Thankfully my sister's former roommate lives in Columbus, and she let me stay with her and her husband and little boy for a few days while I found an apartment. I moved into a townhouse with my very own private back patio and garden space (I felt like a real adult!), bought my first furniture (a table and two chairs) followed shortly by a mattress, and started classes at OSU. Taking advantage of residency in Ohio during an election year and a friend on the Romney campaign team, my friend Keshia and I attended a Romney rally in Columbus and naturally met a Mormon standing in line right behind us. Insta-friends.


September

September was the time to explore Ohio. With a car, no job, and a rather light (for me) graduate school schedule, I had several Saturdays free. I spent one of them driving up to Michigan to get my piano (that my kind friends who had moved from Salt Lake to Ann Arbor at the same time as me had kindly put in their moving truck) and moved it into my apartment by myself, thank you very much, took a trip south of Columbus to Hocking Hills with some new friends, Brit and Keshia, from my ward (Keshia served with me in the same mission in Taiwan!!), went to a stake-sponsored "learn how to shoot" activity, and discovered an awesome Confederate cemetery in my neighborhood. Oh, and I found my favorite cemetery in Columbus when Keshia and I went there for a service project. Yes, I have favorite cemeteries.


October

October was an awesome month. After several months back in the US and a cross-country move, I had had time to purge many of the toxins that I had picked up while living abroad (both physically and emotionally). I'd settled in to my grad program, found a mostly-empty office in which to study, and even made some friends. In October Keshia and I drove to Chicago for a graduate student conference and tried all sorts of delicious food, including deep-dish pizza at Giordano's and legit Chinese food at a restaurant in Chinatown (I hadn't had guotiee and shui jiao for years!!). Keshia and I are both members of the Christian Graduate Student Association at OSU, and we went to a large farm for a group activity of pear and apple picking in October. October was also General Conference, and I also acquired two free bookcases for my apartment (thanks craigslist!). Keshia and I went to an Obama rally at OSU (perhaps I should call October "Keshiamonth"?) and I went to a huge pumpkin festival in Ohio and tried pumpkin brownies for the first time. By October I was going stir crazy without a job, so I started teaching piano lessons.


November

A large part of November was spent writing papers and studying for exams. However, I did take time out to vote and celebrate the END of political campaigning in Ohio (finally!!) and host a Chinese party for my two Chinese students. I started teaching two friends from my ward Chinese in exchange for Spanish lessons, and in November they came to my house with several native Chinese speakers and we had a Chinese-only sushi dinner (I was so proud of my students, who spent most of the night speaking Chinese!). This was the night that a crazy attack cat started hanging out at my house (I took care of her the next night after several attacks on my screen door...don't judge me when I say that I tried everything and the only thing that made her leave was pepper spray!). I became a "real adult" in November: I hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my house! I cooked the turkey and it was delicious, and I invited several people from my ward who didn't have a place to go to come have dinner at my house. In my mind, hosting Thanksgiving dinner is a mark of real adulthood. In November I also started volunteering at an organization for refugees in Columbus, teaching a job-skills class.


December

December was the month of miracles. I finished all of my papers, exams, and classes for my first semester at OSU and celebrated by going to see the (incredibly overpriced) zoo lights at the Columbus Zoo. December was the month that my car broke down and initiated a string of miracles: a girl from my ward "just happened" to leave for a month in Taiwan the day after my car broke down and she let me borrow her car for 2 weeks while mine was getting fixed; I "randomly" ran into some missionaries that I hadn't met before who knew a cheap and good mechanic (who diagnosed and fixed my car), and several good friends offered me rides and picked up my car from the shop because it wasn't fixed until I left for Christmas break. I had a REAL fake Christmas tree with which I decorated my apartment (much bigger than the 12-incher trees that I've had for the past few years!) and, after the fiasco with my car, I flew back to Utah for Christmas break. It was great watching my nieces and nephews get so excited for Christmas--spending time with them (and the rest of my family, of course) was definitely a highlight. I went to see the lights at Temple Square, went to Park City snowshoeing with my sister, and went snowmobiling with my dad and brother and sister-in-law. I spent the last night of 2012 in Provo, visiting my dear friend Shayla and playing with her four kids.

Whew, I'm exhausted just reading all of that! I think one of my main goals for 2013 is to get some sleep! In addition to sleep, I'm hoping to finish my MA, get a job, and travel a little less. :) Here's to another exciting year!