Juan Luis Guerra - Bachata en Fukuoka

Forget jazz, forget opera, forget ghetto rap.
Bachata is where it's at.



MELT

I went dancing Saturday night at a discotheque with most of the Baha'i youth and I danced Baracha and Merengue and Salsa and other stuff and the cute part is that you actually dance. You don't do that whole disgusting booty humping grossness that goes on in the clubs in the States. Men actually dance... and they dance well aaaaand they ask you to dance with them and IT'S SO FUN. I'm going to start practicing my moves in the mirror... more. :P

Chased by piglets

Last week I was chased by piglets. 10 piglets, black and white. True story.

We were walking to the bus stop in Punghe, an indigenous community, where we had children's classes and junior youth groups. Anyway, we walked by a farm where in the front meadow area were 10 piglets. Walking by, I counted... 8 black/white, 2 white. I thought to myself about their genes, trying to figure out what kind of fur their parents had because you know that's just what I like to think about sometimes while walking through an indigenous community in Ecuador (why am I so weird). But, as I was thinking, I forgot the number of white piglets and I remember wishing I could go back and count again.

I snapped out of my nerdy daydream-thought and realized Eduardo, Mauro, Val, and Monica were all looking back at me and chuckling. I thought to myself "First the female dog, then Roberta.... WHY DOES EVERYONE SEEM TO KNOW FUNNY THINGS I DON'T." So then Val told me to look behind me. I glanced back and there following my trail were those 10 piglets, trudging along with their little snouts and perky ears. Anyway, I kept walking thinking that maybe they'd stop... but nope, I glanced back again and sure enough... oink oink. Well. Eduardo suggested that I run, because apparently the owners of the piglets would think that I was trying to steal them if they saw this situation... because you know, it's every 19-year-old-foreigner-girl's dream to have 10 piglets. So, I ran. And they ran after me. And I started laughing because I realized I was running away from a herd of piglets, oinking behind me. My little piglets got distracted with something in the street and stopped following me after about two minutes of chasing.

Today, I returned to the same community. This time, we went in the Radio Baha'i truck, so we rode by the farm and sure enough... there were my 10 little piglets. I think they might have remembered me because they looked at me as we drove by. Either that or they were just turning their heads to see what the loud noise was... but I'm pretty positive it's because they felt my presence.


On a completely separate note that has little to do with pigs, have I mentioned recently how awesome my sister is? She left a facebook video on my wall. It was three seconds long, but long enough to blow me a cyber-kiss. No one else has a dragon loving, basketball playing, music jamming, braces wearing, cyper kiss blowing sister like I do. Best friend, best sister, best love of my life.

8/8/08

I love that 17 year old Maryam knows how to make present day Maryam feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Here's a peek into my 10 year old journal....

8/8/08 12:37am 17 years young


I read the past 2 entrees and there seems to be a common theme... "I hate myself..."


Maryam - if you ever go though that again I honestly don't know what's gotten into you. You are God's creation. God loves you. Why don't you love yourself back? Yes, you could look at all your imperfections but where does that take you? Fine, go ahead and sit there feeling sorry for yourself and waste yourself and your life in this beautiful world of opportunities. You are smart, loving, kind, comical, one hell of a leader and always trying to be better than your best. Keep remembering... humility, detachment and service!!!

OH HAPPY DAY

I just learned that burp in spanish is eructo. BAHAH

And it's official. I am officially home sick.
Dear friends/family out there who read this... send me love notes. I miss you all. <3


So, there's these two lovebirds who chat and hold hands and hug and make out every afternoon for about an hour by my window. I call them lovebird 1 and lovebird 2. They're cute. I can't wait until my spanish is good enough so I can understand what on earth they have to talk about for hours. I mean, doesn't it get old? How can you sit there and talk to someone that long everyday? I guess this goes back to my never having a boyfriend background, but for me... when I'm around someone I like I get shy and I'm always extra conscious of what I say so a lot of times I say nothing and I'm boring and I resort to the "so... do you like cheese?" question. I mean... there's been guys before who I can talk to for hours but isn't it ok to not talk? To just sit in silence and enjoy the company?

Whatevs. I MISS MY DESERT CACTUS LAND

B.O.B. - The Kids Cover

Life goal plan B: rap/become a gangster

Wanna eat a crayon? Well, you can!

Teaching Art is so FUN.

I've decided to take my Art History course I took last semester and water it down and teach that. So... we're starting with art periods. Our first unit was the Archaic Style. Their project was to paint/decorate a pot, where in the middle, they should paint a picture about a story about a hero, or an animal or something creative. Think of Hercules (yes, the Disney movie) or Egyptian type-ish drawings. I will post pictures soon. These students are so good at being individuals and creative. It's so FUN.

Also with all this art, I'm starting to develop a bit of an obsession to art supplies. Fresh, clean, sharp colored pencils... plump and thick paint brushes... clay that makes your hands all chalky and dry...

EDIBLE CRAYONS.... WHA?

I am learning so much about myself, my potentials, my limits, my dearest inner-core desires, and my personal goals. I've always had such issues balancing stress, emotions, inner conflicts, and basically life... but I hope and I think I'm working towards clarity and peace. I'm also learning things that I really like about myself. I'm not easily persuaded, I'm very flexible, I try to do everything with pure intentions, I don't speak openly about my emotions and I'm fairly good at becoming good at something. My confidence in myself is growing, but not in a cocky/conceited way... it's just growing.

I had a dream that I was on the bus here in Ecuador and someone tapped my shoulder and I turned around to find my brother sitting behind me with a huge grin saying 'SURPRISE' and then laughing like a hyena from the Lion King and I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO happy. Such a good dream. The best part about the dream.... IT'S ACTUALLY GOING TO HAPPEN. December.... december... :)

My life goal

Assist the world of humanity as much as possible.
Be the source of consolation to every sad one, assist every weak one, be helpful to every indigent one, care for every sick one, be the cause of glorification to every lowly one, and shelter those who are overshadowed by fear.
In brief, let each of you be as a lamp shining forth with the light of virtues of the world of humanity.
Be trustworthy, sincere, affectionate, and replete with chastity.
Be illumined, be spiritual, be divine, be glorious, be quickened by God, be a Baha'i.


-'Abdu'l-Bahá