Glad

I don't know if it's just that this moist, cloudy fall weather makes me nostalgic but today I just feel so glad to be alive! As I go on a morning walk in the residential grid that is South of Campus I enjoy looking at the old fashioned houses with columns and front porches. Some of them are restored and painted in cute modern colors, others remain in a condition that reflects their age. As I walk by the houses I see evidences of the people who live there. Lots of gardens, lots of American flags, and lots of strollers and little bikes. Some houses are quirkier than others. One has yellow and purple trim and a yard full of glass toadstools and other nic-nacs. There is a bench in the street-side garden and enough bird feeders to attract the many fowl that are singing in the trees above.

Lately, after accomplishing two major life goals - graduating from BYU and marrying in the temple - I have felt some of the "blah-dom" so well described recently in a friend's profound blog post. She described things she was learning while waiting for the next big adventure in life. I am learning too. The biggest things I am focused on are the following:

1. Having true charity - really feeling that concern for other people and finding ways to serve. This way you don't get caught up in your own "problems" and forget about the world around you.
2. Being grateful - I am really so blessed. SO blessed. I mean to have the wonderful husband I have. To have the restored gospel and the ordinances of the temple and a living prophet. And then the fact that we such a nice little house. We have EVERYTHING we need. Not to mention a warm house with a hot shower and clean clothes to put on. How many people in the world can say that?

This phase of life brings unique opportunity to search for the real purpose of life. I have no over-arching identity such as 'student'. What is my purpose? I am a wife. I am a daughter and sister. I am a child of God. What am I responsible for? I am  responsible to keep my covenants. So I am trying to figure out the best way to do that in this charmed but uneventful phase of life...Uneventful for me anyway, my husband is still fully entrenched in the student world. The constant stress of always having more you could be doing. Always feeling that if you had more time you could do better. Whew! I'm glad that's over.

Meanwhile I will enjoy going on walks, cleaning and cooking, being a homemaker in general, substitute teaching for minimal money, reading my book and getting together with friends. I'll post again if I have any major inspiration for how to approach life post-graduation, zero career, and pre-kids.

In the thick of it

A little distracted while writing a 10 page paper for my infectious disease class today.

"...Dengue fever has been documented to be endemic in more than 100 countries..."

"..Control of Aedes mosquito breeding sites is the primary means of prevention of dengue..."

School! I have 17 credits and those faces are about how I feel sometimes. But I'm learning so much and I love it. I always thought I was a good writer until I took English 315 - Technical Writing. It is proving very helpful for writing a good resume and cover letter as well as research papers.

I was once asked to speak to the youth of my ward about success. This was the summer before my junior year, the year I spent taking classes and applying for the dietetics program to which I was not accepted. In preparing to speak I had to ask myself what I believed success to be. And I am happy to say my definition of success has not changed since then.

So what is success? I believe success is effectively using the talents and experiences God has given you in order to help others. That implies not comparing yourself to anyone else or their definition of success. I was not accepted into the dietetics program--the dietetics program did not suit me. Public Health suits me. There are interests and abilities I have had my entire life that are finding fulfillment in this major.

A different person will have a different experience with success. Greg Mortensen, author of Three Cups of Tea, has succeeded in building schools in remote mountain villages of Pakistan, providing education for girls who otherwise would have none. I feel that this book epitomizes some things my generation values and defines as successful - helping humanity. But reading this inspiring story causes me to think - could I do that? Have I been that helpful to humanity? The answer is no - I cannot build schools in Pakistan.



But as I began reading this book it quickly became clear to me that it was the experiences and interests Greg Morten had that prepared him to do what he did. Three specific things stuck out to me:

1)He was raised in Africa - he had a broad world view, languages came easy to him, etc.
2)He was trained to be a medic in the military (he formed a relationship with the mountain villagers by giving them medical care)
3)He is an avid high-altitude climber. (this is why he found this village - he had attempted to summit K-2)

That said, how could I compare myself to him?

So what experiences have I had that would lead me to be able to give to humanity? I think a lot of that remains to be seen. But one thing that comes to mind is that I have PKU - I enjoy speaking about it and encouraging mothers of children who have it. Every time I do that I think, "I am so blessed to have this. I am able to help these people because I am part of an obscure population of people born with phenylketonuria."

I believe we all have unique things about us that allow us to be successful in our own sphere of influence. As Pres. Uchtdorf says in his talk, Lift Where You Stand, each of us "stands at a unique place and has an important task that only he [or she] can perform."

China

My family went to China for Christmas.

My Dad speaks Mandarin and he has been working In Shanghai this fall so we all went out to visit him for Christmas break. We stayed in an "apart-hotel" where we ate breakfast every morning, and maids cleaned during the day. We mostly toured Shanghai, but one of the most memorable parts was our visit to Guilin, a gorgeous rural area a three hour flight south of Shanghai. I took lots of pictures throughout the trip and observed many of differences in the culture. The language barrier really prevented me from connecting to the people of course, and we really didn't talk to any nationals except those we were paying for food, souvenirs, or transportation. But this short experience abroad was one I will never forget.

21 DECEMBER 2010
Guilin is crazy. Looks like the whole thing is under construction. The floor Mom and Dad's hotel room is on in our hotel reeks. There are lots of bad smells in the streets.



SEVEN STAR SCENIC SPOT (a big beautiful park)



We walked through the busy streets and under bridges and over the river to get there. We're finally figuring out how to walk through the streets without getting hit. See, in China, road rules aren't really regarded, but somehow it works! You just proceed with caution. Honking your horn is not considered rude, its just a way of saying, "I'm passing you," or, "I'm going, watch out."

Guilin Sunset:



On this trip I kind of realized what an American pansy I am. I always thought I would love to go abroad and "rough it," so to speak. But at first I found it stressful not knowing if there would be toilet paper provided in the public restrooms. In Guilin there were bad smells and the beds were hard. Throughout the trip it wasn't always easy to find a PKU-friendly meal either. The language barrier made it difficult to communicate my needs, and the culture isn't as accepting of special orders.



I finally know what "culture shock," feels like. Although I can't really describe it. Its kind of like cognitive dissonance. You see something totally different and you fee like in order to truly accept it you would have to change the way you think.



RIVER BOAT TOUR FROM GUILIN TO YANGSHUO











There were lots of bamboo rafts on the Lixiang River



Trying to sell his wares to the people aboard our tour boat:



BAMBOO RAFT TOUR ON LIXIANG RIVER







Jenni and I shared a raft.



We got to pet the water buffalo




We got double checked in the airport for this.




It was a beautiful ride.








23 DECEMBER 2010
Wow. Today.
This morning was slow as we didn't have any plans. But it was nice. What we ended up doing was renting bicycles and getting a tour from a local. This is Guilin's low season, so there are hardly any other white people around. We rode out of the town along the river and through the farm land. I took tons of pictures of course.


I've always been drawn to farmland - aesthetically, ideologically. This felt different though. It was kind of a reality check for me that this was these people's livelihood. They had almost nothing - but the have the land and bounteous crops. God is no respecter of persons after all. The rain falls upon the rich and the poor. Something told me these people were a lot happier and healthier than poverty line Americans who work two jobs and eat fast food every day.







We ate lunch at this Country Cafe.



The vegetables were from the garden we walked past when we came in. While we waited for our meals we saw them fishing and killing a chicken. It took two hours for our orders to come out. This was FRESH food!



I had a BEAUTIFUL bowl of vegetable soup.


More to come but for now....

30 DECEMBER 2010
Well, I'm back in the San Fransisco airport with Marianne. We're definitely back in America, I have see no less that two men wearing skirts...maybe that's just because we're in California. I had avocado sushi and seaweed salad for lunch! Yum! I think one of the things I missed most about America while I was in China was the Japanese food.

The Fourth Year of My Formal Education

It is my fourth year, but not my last . I have just started the Public Health major and I am loving it! Everyday I learn about all the problems in our country and world and what we can do to help them. I am required to think about ways I could solve these problems and go out into the community and experience things for myself. I want to share my experience with attending an Alcohlics Anonymous meeting. I am just so grateful for the education I am receiving, including my " general education." I have studied singing and participated in choir, I've studied the Spanish language, I've learned about art and history, statistics and human anatomy. I am very happy to have finally found a major that is right for me. I will graduate in April 2012. I am really excited because I figured out my graduation plan and registered for winter classes. Next semester I'm taking Spanish for the first time in a year and a half! I am so happy.

Me and the bike lane
An assignment for my Health 100 class to find something that means public health and put this sticker on it. This is Public Health is a campaign to create awareness about the field of public health and all it does for society.
http://whatispublichealth.org/

http://www.thisispublichealth.org/video_highres.html

The following is my experience at the alcoholics anonymous meeting I attended.

I went to a 12-step meeting at the state hospital chapel. When I arrived on my bike all the people were just getting out of their vans and entering the chapel. I found out they were from a recovery center in Payson. There was actually no program director there. We set up chairs and someone took charge. They didn’t have anything to read, so they just said any topic was ok and started going around the circle.

A lot of people chose to speak. I thought what they had to say was really interesting and really touching. Over all there was a really good feeling in the meeting. One man said, “There is a difference between recovery and sobriety.” He talked about how if you’re just white-knuckling it, you are going to relapse. I thought that was really insightful. In talking to my friend about it later, it made more sense. If you’re just white-knuckling it, you still want the alcohol more than anything. You haven’t changed. So I suppose we are to understand that without the Savior we can’t change. Many of them mentioned a higher power, and many of them specified that by that they meant Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I think most of them were raised LDS. One lady sounded like she had been married in the temple. She said Satan has known us for a long time. And he knows what will push our buttons. She said he is a beautiful liar. She said she become a beautiful liar until she believed the lies herself. Several people mentioned coming to the point where they were in recovery for themselves, rather than simply the better alternative than jail. Most people were pretty positive. They were very supportive of each other and very grateful to each other and to their higher power. One young man was having a harder day. He talked about how it hurt his pride to realize he needs help. He sort of talked through it and became more positive at the end. He said he needed to remember that he was worth it. That he was worth being happy. The lady before me grew up in a really good LDS family from what I could gather. She was grateful for her experience as an addict because she said she’s become much closer to the Lord than she ever was. She encouraged the young man by saying relying on the Lord is not weakness, it’s a strong person that can depend on the Lord. She said her parents taught her that the Lord wants so much more for us than we want for ourselves. I was really touched.

By the time my turn came around I had been very moved and was truly humbled to be there. I introduced myself and got the traditional, “Hi, Elisa,” response. I was able to thank them for letting me come and say how impressed I was with the things they had said. I did say that while I don’t know what they are going through, I do know what it feels like to be helpless. I testified that no matter who we are or where we’re at in our life, we all need that higher power.

At the end we all stood up and, arms around each other, said the serenity prayer.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

I feel that anyone would benefit from attending a meeting like that and saying, “Hi, my name is Elisa (or Sam or Jo or Mary), and I need the Savior just like everybody else.”