Now, about tomorrow!!

Today is my birthday... I'm 32! I'm sentimental in the fact that on birthdays, significant anniversaries and new years, I look at my life, where it's at, what I've done and where I want it to go. I have to say, the last year has not been a disappointment!

I've been thinking a lot over the last several weeks and even more over the last week about if I will continue this blog after I've gotten home and life has returned to normal. I've decided not to. So effectively, this will be the last post. :( Now that I type that with the intention of posting it, it makes the finality of everything seem really REAL!

The adventure will never end... life is meant to be an adventure!

The adventure will just start to take on a different shape. So now that I'm not traveling and don't have traveling at the forefront of my mind.... I've registered with a temp agency and will continue to look for and perform temp work for the next few months. Provided the door is open when my circumstances are ready, I plan on moving up to Portland, Oregon and working again with the company that laid me off. They did want to keep me before I left and made it very clear I was welcome back when I got home. Ultimately, it was a very good company to work for... the office and management I was working under in Larkspur was what made it so miserable. I've been to the Portland office before and there's a very different vibe, a much better vibe. After I've been there for a year, I'll be eligible for tuition reimbursement again and can go to school to study international finance. Ultimately, I plan on moving back to Calcutta to do micro-financing. This however will be several years down the road!

In the meantime, the adventure is in the form of moving to a brand new state, much less city! I plan on learning how to roller skate in the interim and once I'm settled wherever that will be after the holidays, I want to join a roller derby team. Don't ask me where or why, but that just seems like a fitting competitive activity for me! And then there's school... for the first time ever, I'm actually excited about going to school, taking real (math and english) classes and having homework. Oh yeah, and then there's the book that everyone keeps telling me i should write....

No one knows what the future really holds! I have these plans at this moment, but this could all change depending on what opportunities are presented to me.

I'm excited for the new adventure that awaits me!

Lessons learned on the road!

Here's some thoughts that crossed my mind and observations that I made that I actually wrote down specifically for a posting when I got back. I'm quite surprised I didn't lose the piece of paper!

• We all laugh at the same things, regardless of where we're from or what language we speak!
• Every culture has their own definition of beauty.
• Every country and culture has both beautiful and ugly people... inside and out!
• "Big" is only looked down on in the western world.
• Children's temper tantrums sound and look the same no matter what country you're in.
• Not enough American's travel... specifically I mean to third world countries/areas.
• Never underestimate the power of a smile. It was one of the most effective and helpful tools I had... regardless of whether or not there was a language barrier.
  
• Coca Cola and the Japanese are EVERYWHERE!
  

Istanbul, Turkey

Considering the fact that I had barely any money, this was a good city to be in under those circumstances. It is a beautiful, fascinating, culturally rich city that one can enjoy and eat in for very little. You can easily live it up and have an extravagant and expensive time just as easily as you can get by for 10 Lira a day, which is under $10.

Here's some of what I saw for free!

The Greyhound!

There will still be a post about Turkey with pictures, but all in good time.

Now that I've been home for a few days. Am working on getting myself settled and making my apartment resemble what I left... I figure I'd take some time to tell the story of my Greyhound trip.

First of all... I think Greyhound has a bad reputation. At least on the west coast; but I will also say, it's almost rightfully earned. When I boarded the bus in NYC, it was all normal people just traveling from one place to the other. It's not uncommon to not have a car in parts of the east coast because transportation networks are so well developed. However, after Pennsylvania, the further west we got... the more interesting the passengers got. No matter how weird or sketchy some of the passengers got, the company actually has some pretty strict rules, which are announced regularly on the bus.

I was on the bus for almost 3 full days. I left NYC at 8am on Friday and arrived to Sacramento at about 1am on Monday morning. And for three quarters of the ride, it was an older bus. Which after boarding a new bus in Salt Lake City, it turns out the older bus was much more comfortable. Rather surprising actually. Or it could have just been that after 50 hours on a bus, I just couldn't reach a point of comfort any longer. I was lucky enough to have relatively empty buses where I didn't have to share a seat with anyone except for maybe 12 hours of the trip. And even then, both people I shared a seat with were relatively normal and nice. Despite the fact that I was able to stretch out, there were periods where my butt just HURT!! It was a relief when we had stops, to be able to get out and stretch, but it was never pleasurable to be getting back ON the bus.

As for the people.... One of the people I shared a seat with was an older gentleman traveling from Ohio to LA for a reunion. He did political walks... you know the kind where someone walks across the country to promote awareness of whatever situation. He was very nice, a little odd, and towards the end, very annoying. There were people on the last leg of the trip that I'm pretty sure were snorting drugs in the back of the bus. I saw more "hookups" in a couple days than I expected. It's amazing what can happen on the back of a bus between two people, relatively close in age and of the opposite sex. The thing that baffled me, that I guess just shows you how guys really are, and girls for that matter, the girl or the guy, weren't really good looking. In fact, they were down right nasty looking. So there was one couple with a normal good looking guy and a skanky looking girl and then another couple with a beautiful girl and the guy was down right disgusting looking! To each their own I guess. Then, my favorite and the one that started making me reach my limit... when I got on the bus somewhere in the midwest, I don't remember where exactly... The old mexican cowboy who was sitting right behind me, had a cough that kept being coughed right into the back of my head and which I had to smell.... it smelled like horse butt. It made it hard to sleep because when he would cough, it was with enough force that i could feel it and it actually moved my hair. This might actually explain why I've not been feeling to hot for the last few days. Another favorite was the mexican guy who got on the bus after the bus driver told him it was the wrong bus and then the bus driver discovered him on the bus at a stop several hours later. The said bus driver, was NOT a nice bus driver. \

It was quite the adventure and definitely a fitting way to end the trip in general. I've gone and seen all these other parts of the world, but have never seen the full U.S. This definitely helped eliminate that situation to an extent. I drove through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and finally arrived in California.

Home Sweet Home!!

After three days traveling across the country via Greyhound bus (which you better believe will have it's own posting within the next few days!!) I am finally home in Vallejo.

I'm currently at my mom's place... my brother and I will do the swap-a-roo later today so I'll have my place and my car back. I just wanted to check in quickly to let everyone know I've made it home safely. Several more posts regarding the trip are still to come. But I need a day or two for my body to figure out what time zone it's in!

It's good to be home!

Stars and Stripes forever!

Yesterday, July 27, I set foot on US soil.

I'm still not home, but at least I'm in the right country now. The whole experience of coming "home" has been surreal and I don't think it's really hit me that the trip, this amazing adventure, is essentially over. Maybe because I'm in NYC and am still playing the role of traveler, I just happen to be much closer to home than previously. Maybe it's simply because the last five months is such a part of my life that the experience will forever be with me and it's not a matter of the adventure ending, rather just continuing on to a different stage.

I've decided that the last part of my journey, the homeward bound section, will be via Greyhound bus. Before I left, I would have been appalled at the idea of taking the Greyhound bus... it's what all the crazies and druggies take. However, after having traveled in some of the places I've been, it should be a cakewalk! I also think it's fitting for the end of my journey... I've never really seen the whole country. This will be a nice way to take in the sights of the middle part of the US while also getting myself home in the cheapest manner possible!

It's good to be "home".... I'm looking forward to being home!

Blessings Abundant!

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Luke 6:38

A while back in a posting before I left home, I talked briefly about faith and how I tried to keep my relationship with God to myself, internalized so to speak. I've noticed that while that was the mindset I had when I left, there's been a change occurring within me. I can't help but ooze how in love and in awe I am of my amazing God. I don't let it consume this blog, but I'm also not going to try to hide it for anyone who may not believe the same as me. My friends are my friends regardless of my religious beliefs.

With that being said, I continually have revelations about how incredibly blessed I am. Not just with this experience. Although this whole trip, the last 5 months, has been a dream come true. God has provided for me in ways I never thought possible... big needs, little needs, all needs!

Today's revelation about how blessed I am, wasn't so much about the experience, as much as it was about everyone I love and hold dear at home. I was in the amphitheater at the military museum watching the Ottoman Mehter concert (military band music) and I couldn't contain the tears. The concert wasn't sad, it was just the whole thing. The day before I spent the entire day trying to be resourceful and looking for alternative ways to get home that would be cheaper than all the tickets I'd found so far. I was alone in a big foreign city without a lot of money, trying to figure out how to enjoy my time here without spending any money. I found out at some point yesterday that a missionary in Istanbul was contacted on my behalf. When she got in touch with me she gave me all kinds of information on what I can do for little to no money. One of those things being the military museum with it's concert.

I set out on this crazy adventure and absolutely no one that I care for tried to stop me. Everyone has supported me both in the preparation as well as during the trip. People have been there sharing my high moments as well as my low moments. Friends were there to listen to me cry on the phone at some of the lowest points of my life. And now, despite the situation I've found myself in, that anyone could easily lecture me on or say 'i told you so', everyone continues to support me, love me, pray for me and be there for me.

There have been different points in this adventure that I've probably been to generous for my own good. But I believe part of it was a learning experience in giving to allow God to give back. A very dear friend, who is more like a sister, told me several times that she believes God will bless me abundantly for my generosity. I have to agree with her on that note. I realized today that maybe God hasn't blessed me financially (at least not yet!), but He's blessed me beyond my wildest dreams with the people he's put in my life!

I will never be able to express adequate thanks to everyone in my life who's been there for me. During the last 5 months, the last year as I prepared for this trip, and throughout the prior years in my life.

This one's for all of you who love me, have shared my hurts and joys, have molded me and influenced me, and just been a friend in general!