Buon Natale in Italy!

Hey World,

As you know, I take off in a few short days for my whirlwind 36 hours in Istanbul, Turkey. I have a lot on my to-do list, but not much organized -- I think I'll do a lot of my plotting on route or in the moment!

What I have been trying to make arrangements for is the second leg of the trip: Italy!

I'll be meeting Mother Dearest in the Rome airport on the 20th, and then we've got 9 days to travel to 4 cities around the country, celebrate Christmas, and see some of the highlights of what Italy has got to offer (and by highlights, I mainly mean wine).

The Itinerary:

Dec 20: Rome

Dec 21-22: Naples + Pompeii

Dec 23-24: Florence

Dec 25-26: Siena

Dec 27-28: Rome

Much like Istanbul, we will rarely have more than 36 hours to spend in any one place -- meaning that we'll see only the things that interest us the most, and fill up on as much delicious Italian cooking as we can get our hands on. 

We'll be moving between cities by train (!) and thanks to a few GREAT Airbnb apartments, we'll be right in the thick of it all in Naples, Florence and Siena -- meaning a lot of points of interest are mere minutes away from our doorstep!

I'll be making a concerted effort to over-document this trip, and the first week of January, relay our adventures over this blog. However if you're looking for live updates, I'll be posting to my instagram where you can follow the hashtag #ParmesanOnEverything :)

If I don't catch you before Christmas:

Happy Holidays

Krismasi Njema

and

Buon Natale!

xoxo,

M

Two Weeks Until Turkey!

Hey World,

In exactly 14 days, I'll be heading to Istanbul, Turkey for 36 hours of exploration before continuing on to my final destination, Italia. 

Both of these countries have been on my travel bucket list for such a long time, and I cannot wait to cross them both off before the end of the year!

Istanbul has a wealth of things to do all across the city, and it's going to be my mission to cross off as many sites and experiences as I can in a limited amount of time (and money).

Here are some of the things I have my eye on:

--> Taste kumpir (loaded baked potato) and doner (kebab)
--> Check out the Valens Aqueducts
--> Buy some glass lanterns for Casa Iringa (home)

--> Ferry down the Bosphorus and see Istanbul from the water
--> Get lost in the Grand Bazaar (without breaking the bank)
--> Buy a variety of spices from the Spice Bazaar

--> Purchase a God's eye bracelet, and one to protect my home
--> Listen to the Blue Mosque's call to prayer
--> Visit the Hagia Sophia

--> Soak in the views from Galata Tower
--> Drink Turkish tea!
--> Wander through Topkapi Palace

--> Eat dinner at Hamdi, a restaurant with 180 degree views
--> Take a soak and get scrubbed at a hamam
--> Cross the bridge into Asia, and then wander back

Can I do it all?! I hope so! I'm planning on going to sleep early and waking up early to maximize my daylight hours and get it all in. 

If you've been to Istanbul before and have any suggestions for not-to-be-missed places, restaurants or experiences, let me know!

xoxo,
M


Note: All images are from http://commons.wikimedia.org/: a database of 23,989,542 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.

Thankfulness is a Frame of Mind

Hey World,

Rain has started pattering down onto our roof almost daily and our yard is thirstily soaking it up. It's been a long four months without rain; I forgot how soothing the sound of rain is. The air smells alive. Seeds and trees and grasses are awakening, as am I. Change is coming, and it's starting today.

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Ray Charles has been crooning to me about a woman he's got that's good to him. I'm smiling, because I know that feeling. I've changed my iTunes to a RC-only playlist for most of the week, and I haven't regretted it for a second.

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I found gourds at the market this week. GOURDS! Tea lights are still scattered over our dining room table, the remnants of a fantastic Friendsgiving potluck dinner. I'm pretty sure I'm still full from the inhumane amounts of stuffing I devoured (thanks for the recipe Mom!), and there's so much more gravy left in the fridge...

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After receiving my first-ever plaid / flannel shirt in the mail a couple weeks ago, I finally broke one out of the closet. Why did no one ever tell me how soft flannel is?!?! I've been missing out on a massively comfortable trend for so very long. Thank goodness rainy season brings with it cooler temperatures.

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I cooked with freshly picked basil last night, and the scent whisked me back to my grandmother's kitchen. Then it whisked me forward to the giant margarita pizza I'm going to order the second I arrive in Naples next month.

And then I returned to where I was - standing in my kitchen, making pasta sauce from scratch out of farm-fresh ingredients - and thought, how lucky am I?

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Today is Thanksgiving, and I'm counting down the minutes until my family is assembled at the dinner table so I can video call in (internet, don't fail me now!). The power cord for my computer is working on overtime to get charged up.

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This Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for the recent realization that distance, happiness, success, and satisfaction are all but a frame of mind. They are feelings that you can manage and manipulate.

The shroud that kept me down for so long (though perfectly warranted) is slowly lifting.

Sometimes, you need to laugh about something when you really want to cry.
Sometimes, you need to sit alone and think about how cool this planet is and how lucky you are to be a micro-drop in it.
And sometimes, it's actually all about the basil. Or Ray Charles. Or a flannel shirt.

So today, and every day, relish the little moments:

 The perfect texture of your mashed potatoes.
The gleaming smiles of your friends/family around a shared table. 
The skull you tripped on by accident (or is that still just me?).
This picture of a pig in a tutu:

Whatever it is, be thankful that you're alive and well and able to enjoy it -- because thankfulness is a frame of mind too. 

xoxo,
M



PS: I am always open to exchanging emails with cute animals wearing clothes. If you want in, let's do it. 

Feeling Full and Empty: The Missing Piece

Hey World,

It's been a while. 

I never finished my posts on Malawi, and I stopped writing my "Dear World" posts every Sunday. I probably could have shared with you a million little thoughts about a number of things and some notable experiences, but I simply haven't.

Overall, things are going fine. Life is just plugging right along. 

 I love my work, and my co-workers. I love my boxing gloves and my access to both Pringles and cheddar cheese. I love the contact I have with friends and family back home, and the website "Project Free TV" that allows me to binge on all shows (good and bad). If you asked me if I was living the dream, I would be inclined to tell you a resounding yes.

So many good things are happening, I can't help but go to bed each night feeling fulfilled and grateful. And on top of that, Christmas vacation is less than six weeks away. 2015 is less than eight. 

Before the new year, I'll visit two new countries and check them off my bucket list. Could I really want anything more? 

Well...yes.

I wish Gus wasn't dead. 

Our last picture together; less than 24 hours before. 

In fact, I think the foremost reason I have stayed away from blogging is that I'm still reeling from the loss of my Muffin Man. Losing him has seriously affected me, and it's affected my ability to share my life on this blog.

So without beating around the bush, here's the whole truth:

My beautiful Gus Muffin died 6 weeks ago. I was there; it was instant. There was nothing that could be done but wrap him in one of my favorite kangas, bury him outside my bedroom window, and lay on the cold tired floor gawping for air as I heaved out tears.

If you want to see me at my worst, I'll be cold, alone, and mourning the loss of a love that left me too soon. It doesn't happen often (thank goodness), but when it does, I am inconsolable.



Even though it has been six weeks, there are daily objects, reminders, and heart pangs that remind me that his love is no longer here with me {i carry it in my heart}.

 I miss his warmth, and his dependency.
I miss how his toenails alternated color based on the surrounding fur.
I miss those darn ears.

 

I miss our selfies, and our walks, and his impatience when I was stirring milk into his dinner bowl. 

I miss his neck snuggles and our reading time and his midnight whines to be pet back to sleep. 

I miss his funky little puppy smell, and the fact that he sat with his tail under his legs. 

But most of all, I miss the overwhelming sense of home he gave me.
I miss the sense of purpose he brought to my non-professional life.
I miss that he was the puzzle piece that made everything here feel right.

It's hard to put into words, but without those things, my life is now somehow both fulfilling and empty. There are so many things that I am proud of and excited about, and yet...it's all incomplete.

I hope my pangs of emotion reduce to a bearable throb.
 I hope seeing my mother in December centers me.
I hope time brings me balance.
I hope the New Year washes me with hope.


And ultimately, I hope I find another beautiful spirit to love with all of my heart sometime soon -- one that can hopefully endure the test of time.

xoxo,
M

#OffTheGrid: Hiking Livingstonia, Malawi

Hey World,

I'm going to backtrack a little bit, and get back to my recent trip to Malawi -- and pick it up right where we left off. 

After writing about how I got to Chitimba/Livingstonia from the Tanzanian border, the next thing to be covered is my one main adventure while I was mountainside.

After arriving in the late afternoon to Mushroom Farm, I spent the rest of the evening on a hammock reading, eating a delicious dinner, and making a new friend whilst drinking shandies. 

I arranged for a guide to come and pick me up the following morning, and at the last minute, had my new friend decide to change my plan for the day, and hop along (the more the merrier!).

The game plan? Morning hike to Chombe Plateau, then continue from there to the mountain-top town of Livingstonia before heading back down to Mushroom Farm for dinner. Depending on the timing, I also wanted to stop by the waterfall en route home as I hadn't seen it yet (it's the tallest in Malawi!).

I'm going to let the pictures do the talking, but this ended up being a solid 6 hours of hiking, and we easily covered 20KM -- meaning that my legs were in a sore way that evening! 

But the sites were beautiful, we had a great time walking and chatting and soaking Malawi in, and I couldn't have asked for a more challenging, perfect day.

xoxo,

M

Chombe Plateau in the distance

Final push to the top!

The long road to Livingstonia

A panoramic view of where we started, Chombe, and the path we walked to get to the base of Livingstonia

Thank goodness for a lift home!

How to Be a Dream Chaser

Hey World,

I know I've been on hiatus for awhile. It was my intention to get back to travel blogging (remember that time I backpacked solo in Malawi?), but as you can probably tell from my last post I've had a bit of a tough time in my personal life, and my blog has suffered as a result.  

In the meantime I've joined #fireworkpeople. If you're not familiar with #fireworkpeople, it's a group of women that meet on Twitter every Tuesday night at 9pm EST and talk about positive things and uplift one another. I stumbled upon the group about a month and a half ago, and whenever I need a feel-good boost or to surround myself with likeminded dream chasers, #fireworkpeople is the first place I go (which recently, is like, all of the time). 

I convinced myself to join this month's #fireworkpeople blog tour, and write a post about something encouraging, something related to dreams...basically something that matters deeply. 

When I started this blog I said "This will record the ways in which I chase my dreams and live the life I desire. A life where I continue to educate my mind, lend my legs to walk the paths of the world, hold tight to my passion for East Africa, remain open to opportunity, and live with humility. 

A life where I smile every day, where I feel like what I do means something, and I don't set my toast on fire. A life where I'm thankful, make good choices, acknowledge (manage and pay back) my debts (to society, to Sallie Mae, to the world)" so really, I couldn't think of a more perfect way to get back on track. 

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With that said, it's high time to talk about chasing dreams. I'm not talking about achieving goals or breaking down barriers (which are TOTALLY important for personal growth and development, and I think should be a huge influence on your life in a major way) -- but I'm talking about dreams. 

What are dreams? Dreams are what keep you up at night. They're what distract you from your workday. Dreams are the images of what your life could look like, or should look like, or will look like, but doesn't yet. Then, we must take the necessary steps to begin to live out the dream we've imagined for ourselves. 

But that right there my friend, is the problem with dreams. They can be achieved, they can be embodied, they can buried, but then, they must be reborn. In that sense, they can never be caught. Dreams can only be replaced or altered, only specified or blurred or made anew. 

Therefore, it's necessary to dedicate time in your everyday to think about what your future life looks like; what living the dream looks like. Then, you have to dedicate time to specifying that dream and outlining the steps to embody that dream, each and every day. 

From mid 2012 - early 2014, I did just that. I ranked my happiness daily, I thought about what inspiration is, I thought about the life I wanted to live. And then, I took some big steps and I took some missteps, but I ended up in the very place which I stand right now -- which is in the middle of a fuzzy fog, because I started to live the dream I landed on {loving living and working at a job where I serve others in East Africa while pushing myself to embrace new experiences both inside and outside of work}. 

It wasn't easy to get here. It cost me a lot of money (my student loan debt is unbelievable). I had to spend a lot of unhappy, lonely nights in New York City. But I cannot fault a single dollar or a single silent evening in my studio because I had a happiness breakthrough, moved to Tanzania in August, fell into a job that I truly enjoy, and started setting weekly goals to get out, do more, and push limits. 

Happiness is attained. I can honestly say that I am living my dream. 

Which means that for the most part, I maintain the dream. I keep the dream alive. I stoke it and poke it as I would a happy crackling bonfire, making sure that it has everything it needs to continue. 

'

But I also give some consideration to the future. I've started to ask myself: What does my dream life look like a year out from now? Three years? Five years? Ten years? How do I get myself there? 

From here on out, the details are a bit more fuzzy. I want bigger things: an opportunity to travel for months at a time, a life partner, a house I can make a home, a job that remains challenging and meaningful, strong friendships with my friends around the globe, continued personal growth. The variables are greater; it depends on so many variables that I can only partially control. But it's also so exciting. 

And that's what I encourage you to do: 

Pick a dream. 

Take necessary steps. 

Live the dream. Maintain the dream. 

Dream a new dream. Keep dreaming. 

And if you ever need the encouragement, shoot me an email, leave a comment below, or join

xoxo,

M

{i carry you in my heart}

Hey World,

Do you remember when I told you about the day my heart exploded? 

Well, there is something that I need to share with you all: It turns out that hearts can implode too. 

Hearts can be broken. They can stop beating. They can cease to exist. They can slow to zero beats per minute. They can be stunned into a shocked silence that leaves you feeling numb.

And love?

Love can be deep. It can be all-encompassing; it can swallow you whole and become you - you will feel it be reflected in every thought and every movement. Love can manifest in hugs and together-time, in shared glances and whispered secrets. Love can wake you up in the middle of the night to glance sideways and make sure your love is alive. Love can disrupt your being, and love can give you a reason to feel alive. 

But love can also be short. It can end abruptly, unwillingly, in a split second. It can end before you're ready, before you ever planned on letting go. 

Here's the secret that everyone knows but no one likes to remember: Love can leave you. 

It can make you feel broken and bitter; it can physically shatter you into a million tiny heart-shaped slivers or seep out of your pores so slowly that your body aches. It can make you wish you never loved. It can make you believe that a finite love isn't worth the heartbreak of a lost love. It can make you forget why you exist, and why love exists, while questioning the power of ceasing to exist.

But we mustn't think that way. We must be grateful for love, even, too-short, passionate love.  

So I promise to keep our love alive, to keep the story alive, to keep the memory alive, for as long as I can. 

I will not forget our love. 

And I will not forget you. 

xoxo,

M