A New Day

Wow! I've been to some pretty amazing places in my life these past two years...but none of these places can top what I experienced today!

At around nine o'clock on this beautiful, sunny, crisp November morning, I packed up my Honda full of art supplies and headed off to Sunset Park Place Retirement Community. It was our first session of our Creative Aging Program that we are starting at the Dubuque Art Center.

As I entered the activity room at 5 minutes to ten, I already had 8 students patiently waiting. They were all very curious about what was going to take place. As I began to unpack and open my supplies, I had one very bright and cheery lady helping me out any way should could, loving the feeling of being useful.

In the next ten minutes people of all abilities started to trickle in. Soon, I had 20 bright eyes staring at me ready to see what we were going to create. I gave a quick demo of drawing materials and some basic watercolor techniques and let them quickly get to work. It was amazing to see their apprehension as the new materials laid by their fingertips. With a little encouragement though, the magic began.

Eyes lit up, grins appeared across faces, old skills came back to life, stories and memories flooded the air! Art awakened their senses that had seemed to be closed for much too long.

Near the end of class, one little old lady walked in and had a seat. I gave her some watercolors and she asked me "What should I do with this?" I said "Let's just have some fun and see what we can do." Then her story began.

"My name is Margaret she said. I'm 94 years old. I can remember one March day at school when I was 13 years old. On this particular day at school we went for a walk. Our teacher wanted us to draw a picture of what March looked like to us. So, I began to draw a clothesline with the clothes blowing in the wind. I was very proud of my picture. And then all of a sudden, the teacher picked up my artwork and held it up to the class. I was feeling very excited, thinking she liked mine best. Then, all of a sudden, she said to the entire class, "This is the worst picture I have ever seen." I felt terrible and since that day I never did another picture."

After this story, I was shocked! I couldn't believe her teacher had said that, and yet again I could. So many times in Art, we judge our work and feel shame for not being "good" at it. Yet, the beauty of Art is that it is neither right or wrong, it's about how our eyes see this world.

So, as I begin to set up my new office space here at the Dubuque Art Center, I feel excited and lucky to be able to create an environment that is safe for the creative process to be explored. After 81 years today, Margaret finally had the opportunity and the courage to take the risk and paint. I will now proudly hang up my first painting at my new desk. Do you know what it is? It's a beautiful clothesline with clothes blowing in the wind!

Culture Shock!

Alirghty...it might sounds a little bizarre that after being gone for two years, I wasn't expecting to be culture shocked. I thought Israel would give me some padding for normalness, but DAMN! It didn't!

I wasn't in Dubuque for more than two hours and as we entered the pizza joint and I saw the 3 trashiest girls smoking cigs on the corner, I went inside and put my head down on the table. Whoa! What am I doing here, I thought to myself. I was ready to leave right then and there.

But...after being back for 6 days now and as I entered Iowa City last night, a huge breeze of relaxation took over my body for the first time in 2.5 years. Wow! Seeing College Green park made my heart finally feel rested after my travels around the world. Something about this town makes me feel at HOME. Maybe it's the people who go outside to enjoy the park, the people walking home from class and work, the people riding their bikes everywhere to save money on gas. It could be the hip retro fashion that everyone is wearing these days, as well as, the hip retro bikes they are driving around, also...there are people on scooters here! Though they are not wearing helmets which I think is insane. Is there not a law here for scooters and helmets? I can't believe that! I feel like there is a Jess style person on every corner here!

But! I know that as each day comes and goes, new ideas, people and places pop into my head. At first it seemed like an arduous path before me, but now, as I begin my way on creating a new life, things are looking brighter. I am up for anything that comes my way and look forward to continuing to network with anyone I meet. I am also going to continue enjoying the yummy food I have missed for OH SO LONG! heheheh....

Back Home

I think John Denver sums it up best in his song, Back Home Again, when he says, "Hey it's good to be back home again, it's feels like a long lost friend."

I woke up this morning at 5 a.m. Walked down the same creaky stairs as I did in High School, went straight to the kitchen to make some coffee, looked at the coffee maker and thought to myself, "How in the hell do I make this thing work!?" That's when I realized, I've been gone a real long time.

I feel overwhelmed. I don't know which way to turn, where to go, what to do. I'm shocked. I didn't think I would be, but I am. I feel scared.

At 8 a.m. I decided that since I don't know what to do, that I would take my car out on a drive. As I opened the car door, sunk down into the seat, my past life smacked me in the face. I looked over at my CD case, flipped thru the pages and looked at the music I used to listen to. Some I didn't recognize anymore. Then I look up and hanging from my ceiling was the beautiful sight of the turkey feather my brother Dan gave me, with a piece of Blackfeet Sage tied to it. Wow! I thought to myself...Now that is Jess! Those first moments in my car, just sitting there looking, I felt like I was tying all of my learnings and growings into one "Jessness". I realized I've been many places and met many people and now I have finally completed the wholeness of who I am.

As I stuck the key into the ignition, my feet had no problem remembering the clutch and the gas pedal. My hands knew exactly what gears to move to as I began my morning drive. I headed straight for Highway 52. I can remember laying in my bed at Christmas time in Taiwan just feeling like I would give anything to drive that road. So, this moring that's exactly where I headed.

Iowa has never looked so beautiful before. There is green everywhere. Land for miles and miles with nothing on it! It looks so expansive to me! It is incredilbly beautiful! The farm houses, barns and silos ease my overwhelming feelings. I feel the curves of the roads like I had been there yesterday. I go past familiar places, signs, bars, country stores and nothing has changed, it's incredible! Nothing has really changed. I drive out to where my ancestors are from and think of my grandparents and miss them deeply, I drive past my best friend from HS's house and tears fill my eyes, I drive old roads to see new bridges have replaced the old rusty ones. Beauty is everywhere.

As I look around the city though, that's when the fear sets in. I don't even want to go into it. I am afraid. I want to keep myself sheltered right now. To fill my soul only with familiarities and not think about the future at the moment, the future is so unknown right now and so many decsions to make, I am glad I have the time to sort it all out.

The most amazing thing to me though, is that everything looks so clean. Dad says, they cleaned the entire city just for me. Ha ha! Just makes me realize what filth I've been living in. Also, as we drive down the city streets and I look at all the houses and stores and realize Sacred Heart Church never looked so enourmous to me before, but something seems missing, like there should be more trees or something and then....I just realize...it's becuase I can see the sky. I'm not used to seeing the sky anymore.

Now it's time to start my day...where to begin, I'm not quite sure, I guess I should take a look at my finances, that might help a little. And I think I will just take it easy...I look forward to seeing you all in due time....just gotta shake this shocking feeling first. Love you.

Israel

Wow! Sorry, I've been terrible this trip at keeping my blog up to date! So, I have now been in Israel for over a week. During this time, we've been able to see a lot of this small, but versatile country.

We've been up North to the Golan Heights, past the Sea of Galilee, where we went water hiking. Which was super beautiful and it happened to be on the hottest day of the year. Water hiking, for those of you who don't know, cause I didn't, is when you go hiking in a river. So for a long, long time, we went hiking thru a tunnel of greeness, with spotted pink flowers hanging over our heads. It was a great way to spend a hot day and even better when we got to the end, we were able to hitch a ride back to the car with some other people and have coffee and cookies at the end. While being up North, we were right on the Syrian border. That night we camped at a beautiful, old Syrian military pool, where natural water just filled it up and ran in and out of it. It was so nice! I also got to brushen up my camp fire making skills. Also on the way home from the North, we stopped at a little town that is super religious called Safad, where lots of artists are, little children running around with long sideburns and old men in tall black hats. The archeitecture here is wonderful and I have lots of great shots of doorways and lamposts and the buildings are these beautiful golds and blues.

A couple days later, we headed to Jerusalem. Here we went to an all night concert. Some very popular Israeli artists and Macey Gray. Well, I enjoyed the first two bands and by the time Macey came on I was a bit too tired and the beer had really kicked in, so I wasn't too much fun at that point, but after some sushi, I was ready to go. By 4:30 AM though, Noam and I were both so happy to find Amit and stay with him and his freinds! Yay! No sleeping in the car! The next day, we woke up at about two and headed to do the typical sight seeing. It happened to be Jersaleum day, so there was lots of action on the streets. We went to the Wailing Wall, which was super interesting. To me, it was amazing to see how devoted people are. The praying and devotion these people were showing was something far beyond my eyes have ever seen. The energy in that place is like a magnet, it just sucks you in and is super powerful.

From there we decided to go and try and find the Church of the Holy Sepuclur, which is where it is said that Jesus's cross was put into the ground and where they whipped him and gave him his crown of thorns. But before we found it, an old Arabic religious man started randomly talking to me in the little bit of English he knew. He kept inviting me in for coffee and his house telling me "It's free, it's free!" So, knowing that I love these types of random meetings we took him up on his offer. He was a very passionate man who use to run a tea/gambling house, which is what we were sitting in, though, you would never know it from the dust that caked the walls, chairs and kitchen. David was his name and he was a very passionate old man. Noam had to try real hard to decipher is Arabic/Hebrew mix of language being spoken. I just sat there, drank some yummy tea and took it all in. Jerusaleum, to me is a beautiful city. Once again the architecture is amazing and I love all the old stones and shades of blue everywhere! When we finally eneded up finding the church of Jesus, it was quite a sight. I would say it's the most beautiful church I've ever been in, even compared to the ones in Europe and Prauge. It was immense! The cielings were as if they could touch the sky. The gold and lights that decorated the place was beautiful! Once again, the people who entered the place were just full of devotion. Such a strange sight to me....I had no idea people still really care about religion this much, especially the Christian aspect.

Some of the things I love best about Israel so far are 1. the bread! It is so delicious to eat tasty gourmet bread. 2. the Olives! So many yummy, salty olives to eat 3. the people, everyday I am shocked by how friendly everyone is! It is so nice!

Well, I am off to the museum right now, so I will update you on the Dead Sea next. Ahhh! Heavenly! Miss ya!

Last days in Kashmir, On my way to Israel

Hello Everyone,

I will post some photos soon, still just need to figure out how to do it on other people's computers. So, I have finally reached my second destination, Israel. I am happy to say goodbye to India. Kashmir was fantastic, but I am sooo tired of Indian men!

My last days in Kashmir were spent hanging out in their beautiful gardens and on the second to last day, I went to Sonmarg, Kashmir. It was amazing! We walked for a short 4 km on a nice little trail and all of a sudden we were surrounded 360 degrees of the Himalayas. It's amazing how no effot was required to get to a place so incredibly beautiful! I was in heaven! The photos are great too!

Then, as I said goodbye to Kashmir, I went to their aiport to head towards Delhi! Wow! Before we even enetered the airport we had to go thru two security checks, which meant getting out of the cab and dropping my bags in an x-ray machine, then getting patted down. After doing that, then I could go inside the gates to the airport. Once in side, I went thru at least 8 more security checks, no lie! Many, many pat downs and intensive searches thru my bags. I had to take everything out of my carry on and they inspected everything, they were a bit perplexed about my traveling chopsticks and they just couldn't understand what they were for. I said "for eating, ya know." No, they didn't know. So the chopsticks, batteries, MP3 player and camera did not pass. From there I had to go visit another man, who then inspected these things. He said "What is this?" I said "It's an MP3 player." He said "Let me listen." So, I got out my headphones and he began to listen to my music, just to make sure it was what I said it was. So strange! From there, he took my batteries and chopsticks, put them in a sealed envelope and said I could pick them up once I got to Delhi. After this, then I wanted to go sit at my gate. Yeah right...not quite possible yet. Some security man kept pointing at me to go over there and I am just like GOD! are you seriuos? Yes, he was. So, I turn the corner and then I have to identify my bag before they will load it. Then, finally I was able to get into the Gate area. As, we began to board our plane, there was still one more security check we had to go through out on the runway...American have no idea how bad airports could be!

A quick airplane ride later I am in Delhi and I will stay there for the next 12 hours as I wait to catch my plane to Israel. At 2 AM, I decide that I will begin to check in. Thank god I love to do these things early, because for no apparant reason at all, only simply becuase he could, the Royal Joradanian airline man gave me the hardest time! I was on the verge of tears and nervousenss that he would not let me on the plane. Becuase I didn't print out my return ticket back to the States, he was thinking I was not planning on leaving Israel. He interrogated me about why I was going there, when I would leave, how much money I have etc? He then began to interrogate me about my visa for Israel, I kept saying , I don't need one, I can land on my passport. He refused to believe this until I told him for like the 10th time and then I got nervous, maybe I read it wrong, but I knew I hadn't. So, Finally after passing my passport around to about 10 different, useless men, and having me run around the Delhi airport looking for email to pring out my ticket to the States, they finally let me board! Ugh....it was a terrible time!

Now....after being in the Himalayas for 6 days, 40 minutes after landing in Israel I was sitting on a wonderful beach in Tel Aviv! Crazy how life can be so drastically exciting! I've only been here for less than 24 hours, but it is SOOOO nice to be in a country with some western flare! Yesterday, we went to this great little cafe, nice atmosphere, salads, cheese, no sweet bread, espresso, olives, beautiful people with acutal curves to their bodies! I was in heaven! It made me realize how living life in Taiwan, I lived without so many everyday things that people in western cultures get! I was culture shocked just to normal things I used to do everyday back in the States. So, I think being in Israel will be a good way to transition back into the States, I get a good taste of regular life again. They have beautiful big roads, nice traffic, people acutally follow rules when they drive, clean air...ahhh! What more can one ask for !? :)

This blog is getting long, so I will try to end it now. Noam has been the most amazing host ! He has made me feel right at home! Tonight we are heading to his home town of Tiberias and we will travel the North area for the next couple of days. Then head South to Jerusaleum. I will keep you all posted and hope life is going well! Miss ya! But I don't miss India! hehehe....

Strike day, Every day

Alright...it's Luke's last day and I am sad, yet happy to see him go. He is ready to go for sure! He has a hard time with the hasseling of people trying to sell us things all the time. Since traveling through Vietnam and Cambodia I am totally use to this. India's hasseling is NOTHING compared to that of either of those countries. So no bothers for me. He is definitly stressing about his Art project, so he is ready to go.
Let's see, I missed out on one complete day because I was SOOOO SICK! The most SICK! Ugh....I laid in bed for 24 hours and did not eat a thing! But our houseboat people were so nice to me, bring me Kashmiri tea to help my stomach, hot water bottles and blankets. It was nice to have someone take care of me for a change when I am sick....I still haven't eaten much of anything in the last 40 hours, but I feel much better.
Yesterday, we went to Phalgram, Kashmir. A beautiful little mountain town up in the middle of nowhere, where all the shepard people live. We started on a little trek up to some nature preserve, where the mountains were just amazing. It was very emotional experience for me, since it has been two years since I have returned to the mountains. My mind was flooded with lots of memories, most of them that I don't want to remember at this place and time. But, it was still a sight for my eyes to see and they were glued to all the peaks! Luke was a tropper as we made our way through the slippery mud and he carried our chips and water and sugary apple juice. For not being a mountain person, he didn't complain one bit! I love him for that! Well, with 4 KM left to go and still more beauty to see , of course, I started to get sick again! Ugh...so I had to turn back, I just couldn't handle feeling sick anymore. So, even though our trek was short, it was still beautiful. ON our way back, we walked down with a bunch of school boys coming back from a school field strip in the mountains, all of them carry packs with lots of gear on their backs. I asked one of them what they had been doing and he said "Ya know, hiking, rappaling, ice climbing, making camp, normal stuff." I was like, Yeah, normal stuff for you! hehehe.! Just amazing what other children learn what is normal, because we all know that is not normal state side.
When we finally got back down, Wassim, my awesome Indian friend who we met on the bus and who has been a great companion, took us to this little animal zoo. Now I hate zoos, but since we are here, I said "YES" just like Sally tells me to do, so we went to see! I was actually enjoyed it. We say a real leopard! Even though it was in a cage, it was still an amazing site to see! Then we just headed back into town and started our ride back home.
Now today, is Luke's last day, and of course, there just happens to be a strike for the next two days, which means everything has been closed down. I guess this is what happens when you live in a politcally unsound place. Nothing in town will be open. So...Luke is more than happy to leave and he is sunbathing in the garden behind our boat right now. I will spend the next 3 days, just relaxing in the gardens, drawing, writing, reading and chilling on the lake. I am happy for this. We've just been going and going. So, that is our update. Now on to Israel, I am super excited to get there! Hope everyone is good! I am thinking of you!

India and The Taj

Well...what is it about life's path that when we reach these ultimate destinations, like the Taj Mahal, and you see it for all of the wonder and beauty everyone raves about...and one just looks at it and thinks, "Oh. There it is." Why is it that the best part of the beauty of that day was not the Taj, but was just sitting in the park playing badminton with Indian children?! Shocking to me, but then again not really. I think life is truly all about the simple pleasures.

India is an interesting place, I can't quite find the words to describe it yet. My eyes are just amazed once again by how people live in such places, full of poverty, garbage and filth. Why is it that India is full of so many men? Everywhere! The only thing that lights up our eyes are the Indian women, in their beautiful colored clothing and jewlery. Their colors bring beauty to this place.

And the Food! Of course is Amazing! Yummy in my tummy all the time! It's a short blog today, we are just trying to get out of Delhi and Luke wants to check out the monkey temple before we begin our new day's adventure! Just wanted to share with you some thoughts...Stay tuned.

Taiwan Synopsis

Taiwan Synopsis

I can't think of a more difficult thing to do than to write up a synopsis of my one year and 8 months I have spent in Taiwan. Taiwan is a place that is bursting at the seams! it's full of people, color, scooters, flowers, greeness, noise, temples. It's on the brink of changes as the old generation fades away and the new generation tries to blend the two together.

I had the preconceived idea that most foreigners do when they arrive to exoitc Taiwan. Tropical island, great beaches, lots of fun in the sun and that pineapples grown on trees. For as long as I live I will never forget how those thoughts were gone in a blink of an eye. I was standing on Jhongshan Loo in the middle of chaos and it took all the courage I had to hold back the tears for America. I had remind myself that I came here to challenge myself and grow into a more worldly person. So I picked up my bags and knew I could handle anything that came my way. And... I would be able to do this because of the most amazing gift Taiwan has given me and that is the people that have come into my life.

When deciding to leave Iowa all I could fantasize about was all the amazing things I would be able to see and do. I never! Not once! thought I would meet some of my most treasured friends. Canadians, Brits, Japanese, Vietnamemese, Israli, South African, Kiwis, Taiwanese and fellow Americans. They have brought millions of smiles across my face, lots of adventures and plenty of shoulders to cry on. It's been the first time since I was 12 years old that I have had connections like this , so natural. As English teachers, we have 3 things in common. 1. is that we can actually understand each other 2. we all have adventurous spirits and 3. for one reason or another we all choose to come to Taiwan. Being surrounded by people with the same innate spirit of discovery is truly a profound experience. We all have the energy, initiative and easy going attitude to hop onto scooters to chase waterfalls, climb about in gorges, eat crazy food, camp and just experience and see what there is to see in a foreign land.

Though I am ready to leave Taiwan, there are many things I will miss. I will miss riding my bike among the rice paddies and up the mountains. I will miss the old pineapple farmers walking along the highway after a long day in the field. I will miss the beauty of Nantou County, Gao Shan Cha, maugie, the woman who hems my pants, the ability to buy fresh fruits and veggies for a week for less than $15 USD, pineapple season, mango season (the list could go on and on with Taiwan snacks!). I will miss my scooter and the freedom it has given me in this life. I will miss the glow of red lanterns, the rainbow Tao temples, and the time I have had to discover myself through hours of painting and listening to music.

I will definiltiy miss the sharing of cultures through class discussions with my students. Through them, I've able to receive the true Taiwan spirit. They've showed me what lies beneath the frustrating traffic, polluted air and the bin laden stains that cover the ground. They've showed me passion towards family, diligence in studies, how to treat a guest like a king, willingness and excitement to learn a second language. They've also taught me how to work hard, how to make a dollar holler and the best way to relax after a long stressful week, by heading to the spa and getting a real long massage!

Taiwan has changed my life forever. I have learned many lessons in my life that I won't discover until years down the road. It's made my life richer, my eyes and mind more open and it has taught me to love in ways I thought were not possible. It is truly "La Isla de Formosa" and Taiwan has truly touched my heart.