Wednesday, June 29, 2011

freaky streak

today, i had one of those really freaky letter streaks when i was taking a test in the testing center. you know when you get four c's in a row and know that they can't all be right?! how rude would it be if your professor made them all the same letter just to scare you? i would probably cry.

just food for thought.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

anniversary post




i came home from china a year ago today. i have been thinking of june 16th all week. actually, all month. my mom thinks it seems like it's been longer than a year. that depresses me. i swear it was last month. china keeps getting further away. i hate that.


so i'm going to write an anniversary ode to china today and if you're thinking "oh my gosh, rachael, not china again".....then read no further! i always swore i would not be one of those people, who talk about their travels abroad months after they got home and generally bug the heck out of everyone. but here we are. reading my one year anniversary post. (sorry...)


anyway.

i miss china. everyday. i think about it everyday. i didn't imagine i would ever miss it this much. i miss the smells and the sounds more than anything. i miss those pesky fireworks that woke me up at six every morning. i miss hearing only chinese. i miss my kids calling me "miss geisel!" i miss my kids. i miss bob and sam the most. sleeping on a concrete mattress. waking up to a sore throat every morning. the smell of smoke. the smell of stinky tofu. (i never thought i would miss these things! i hate stinky tofu!) i miss trying to be creative on weekend nights (parkour? hot asian stalking?) i miss my girls. gourmet donuts downtown. haggling. seeing who could say obscene english sayings the loudest in public. tucking my kids in bed. rotting teeth and dirty kisses. little hands and bear hugs. wearing gnome jammies to the cafeteria. sun salutations, yoga, and running every morning. getting embarrassingly creamed in ping pong by 9 year olds.


i miss traveling. i miss having no adult supervision. being a free spirit and not having a care in the world. as a result of my devil-may-care attitude, while i was in china i experienced what i'm pretty sure is the best day of my entire life. after some reflection (even a year after the fact), i still submit that the day i'm about to share with you was the best day i have ever experienced in my almost-21 years of living.

after kindra and i were released from ILP, we backpacked around china for a few weeks and loved. our. lives. we took a 25 hour train ride to guilin and explored the city for a few days. on our last day before we were leaving for our next destination, we woke up and had no idea what to do. we had seen all that we wanted to see in guilin and were in the lobby of the hostel about to get directions to some cheesy touristy cave ride. all of a sudden this young, bearded american backpacker reading a book in the corner said,

"if you're looking for something adventurous, i know where to go. but the last bus there leaves in 5 minutes."

he told us about these gorgeous villages a few hours away that you could hike around and in between. he'd gone the day before. it wasn't very touristy but kind of a hassle to get to. worth it in the end, he said.

he scribbled down some messy instructions, and we bolted down the street to the bus station to find aforementioned bus that left in 5 minutes. we couldn't quite read the name of the bus he'd written down, but there was one that looked kind of promising, so we took a chance and jumped on it. hopefully we'll get to where we're going!

after two hours or so, the bus stopped and the driver ushered us off. when the bus rolled away, we realized we were standing on the side of a road. in the middle on nowhere. not a thing to be seen in any direction. ok, that's not true. there was a run down building and a man standing by a car telling us that he could drive us where we needed to go. we ran into the building but couldn't communicate with the teenager sitting there. we walked outside, sat down, and started laughing--why? i don't know. we were lost in a foreign country. all of a sudden, a rickety bus appeared and an old woman's scraggly-haired head shot out the broken door that wouldn't close.

"dazhai?"

we looked at the instructions paper, which said dazhai village. we looked at the building, looked down the street into nothingness, looked at the man by the car, and got on the bus.

we drove up a canyon, through waterfalls, and across bridges till the road ended. the driver dropped us off and told us the bus would be back at five. we hiked for a while in silence, seeing no one and only hearing our breath and chorusing insects. we finally got to dazhai village and spent the day eating lunch in a tavern, playing with local kids, and hiking up the mountain to sit and look down upon dazhai and the hundreds of rice patties that surround it.

there were no cars, no televisions, no tourists, no noise. it was surreal. i felt disconnected from the world and mindful of my thoughts. it took us a while to climb the mountain because we would stop every few minutes, sit down, take in the scenery, and listen to the silence. kindra and i had an understanding of silence with each other and therefore hardly spoke the whole time we were there. we just companionably walked, hiked, sat, thought, and enjoyed the village. i remember thinking the whole time, god gave us beautiful places like this so we can be happy and enjoy them. and enjoy it i did. we meandered and took our time. we had no place to be. life is slow there. everyone takes their time. the women take their time washing their hair in the river. the men take their time picking rice.


we rode home in silence, but smiling the whole way. back in guilin, we walked to the park, stuck our bare feet in the lake, and put our arms around each other, glad to be in china together.

i was so happy that day. when i got home to the states, i realized that i had forgotten that i had things to worry about like school, work and boys!

i'm sad that it's been a year since i got home. but i will never forget the memories i made in china. it will continue to be one of those life-changing experiences that i am grateful for everyday.




thanks for the adventure, china! i'll never forget it.




Sunday, June 12, 2011

yes, that's a paper airplane in my hair

here's a picture i just found of me looking like a bob dylan alien.
happy sunday!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

i love buying mens shoes for myself


i usually do not have awesome bargain shopping stories to tell (like, i wish i could say that i once found some secret/rare/mythical/ancient/dan brown-esque book in a charming but forgotten little thrift store) because i don't go to thrift stores very often. but this semester, i have been converted to this small thing called D.I.

i'm proud to say i've found quite a few little gems there-some really cute clothes, a few sweatshirts (D.I. sweatshirts are a college student's rite of passage, duh) and best of all....fabio. the apartment boyfriend. the best back massager ever. whatever you want to call him. i'm pretty sure he was made in the dinosaur age and is unnaturally loud. but he can punch my knots in the face like no one's fist can.

anyway. the other day, abby and i drove to idaho falls for the day to look around. (sometimes a girl just needs a break from rexburg to remember she used to be a city slicker.) (i'm being sarcastic.) (but seriously.)

i went to journey's to try on a pair of sperry topsiders and marvel at them in the mirror. if only i had $90 to buy them, i would most definitely be happy forever. (it's statistically proven that sperry topsiders increase your long term happiness by 300%.) but i didn't get them. that blasted conscience of mine reminded me that i have no such money. we went to the D.I. afterwards and while passing the men's shoe section abby said,

"are those sperry's???"

indeed they were. brown, leather and gorgeous. or cool, i should say. they are men's shoes. they fit. they were $6. my conscience told me i do have such money! so i bought them.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

a dilemma

right now i'm sitting here on my bed, staring my brothers' old copy of the great gatsby. we're having a bit of a war with each other.

well, i'm having a war with it...i don't think the poor book has anything to be upset about, except for the fact that i'm not reading it yet.

i've probably opened it and read the first page six times since yesterday, but every time, i think that it's still too soon, so i shut it again. and stare at it again.

two days ago, i finished reading the chosen by chaim potok (read it. now. stop reading this blog to go buy it.) and i can't help but feel that if i start another book so soon, i would be betraying the characters. how could i just move on from them? it was that easy to forget them? do i even remember their names?! danny and reuven are so fresh on the mind, i want them to stay there! i promise i won't forget you guys! i'll be back! and i'll bring some friends with me!

so, it is the age-old debate of the universe. to read...or to not.

maybe i'll start it tomorrow. or the next day. but for now, i'll just stare at it and think of danny and reuven.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

magnet love

um. hello, handsome.
holla at your favorite hot supervillian, magneto.
who thought first class was definitely the best of all the x-men movies?

this girl did.






Wednesday, June 1, 2011

story of my life

guys! the weirdest thing happened. some creepy person set up a video camera in my room and tracked my college behaviors and then made a list about it. scaaaaary.

(really, though. i can't take credit for this. i wish.)

How to write a paper in college/university:

1. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a well lit place in front of your computer.

2. Log onto MSN and ICQ (be sure to go on away!). Check your email.

3. Read over the assignment carefully, to make certain you understand it.

4. Walk down to the vending machines and buy some chocolate to help you concentrate.

5. Check your email.

6. Call up a friend and ask if he/she wants to go to grab a coffee. Just to get settled down and ready to work.

7. When you get back to your room, sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well lit place.

8. Read over the assignment again to make absolutely certain you understand it.

9. Check your email.

10. You know, you haven't written to that kid you met at camp since fourth grade. You'd better write that letter now and get it out of the way so you can concentrate.

11. Look at your teeth in the bathroom mirror.

12. Grab some mp3z off of kazaa.

13. Check your email. ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR YET?!

14. MSN chat with one of your friends about the future. (ie summer plans).

15. Check your email.

16. Listen to your new mp3z and download some more.

17. Phone your friend on the other floor and ask if she's started writing yet. Exchange derogatory remarks about your professor, the course, the college, the world at large.

18. Walk to the store and buy a pack of gum. You've probably run out.

19. While you've got the gum you may as well buy a magazine and read it.

20. Check your email.

21. Check the newspaper listings to make sure you aren't missing something truly worthwhile on TV.

22. Play some solitaire.

23. Check out bored.com.

24. Wash your hands.

25. Call up a friend to see how much they have done, probably haven't started either.

26. Look through your roommate's book of pictures from home. Ask who everyone is.

27. Sit down and do some serious thinking about your plans for the future.

28. Check to see if bored.com has been updated yet.

29. Check your email and listen to your new mp3z.

30. You should be rebooting by now, assuming that windows is crashing on schedule.

31. Read over the assignment one more time, just for heck of it.

32. Scoot your chair across the room to the window and watch the sunrise.
(favorite)

33. Lie face down on the floor and moan.
(other favorite)

34. Punch the wall and break something.

35. Check your email.

36. Mumble obscenities.

37. 5am - start hacking on the paper without stopping. 6am -paper is finished.

38. Complain to everyone that you didn't get any sleep because you had to write that stupid paper.

39. Go to class, hand in paper, and leave right away so you can take a nap.


this sounds strangely familiar. hmmmm. well, now that i have that out of the way, i can start my paper!