Things are a flurry of motion around me: My friend Travis is furiously cleaning his apartment and the whirring of his vacuum is my sloth symphony. These next few days will be the last I have for a while to be a laze on the couch, so that's what I'm doing. My fingers are getting a bit of exercise, though. Tonight I've booked travel plans, updated my ipod with a plethora of awesome new "gifts", and made a task list for what I need to accomplish in the next couple days, my last in Berlin.
It feels good to put fingers to keyboard again. My body has been in constant motion for the past month and I have failed to properly record my experiences, as the good blogger should. Here I put forth my July 10 resolution to chronicle what's to come with more resolve - both for you and for me.
My friend Julia left today after an incredible two weeks in Greece. Despite lost bags, cancelled ferries, and a very striking Athens we had a great time in the place where my name came to be. Rando fact: "Helen" means "light" in Greek. Not one Helen of Troy sighting, though! The cats toured the lovely capital (which totally doesn't deserve its rep as a "one day only" city) and then moved to the beautifully dramatic islands - Mykonos, Santorini, and finally Crete. Highlights included getting tear gassed, eating our weight in souvlaki and tomato balls, riding donkeys up a cliff, being told that when we dance we "make people go crazy," an epic and too-dangerous river hike, and taking pictures of all the "real" cats we saw. I hope to blog more about this (and post some pictures) as time allows. I already miss the Julzkitteh but am so excited to join her and Jencat in Los Angeles in five days!
In a little over a week I'll find myself having crossed one and a half oceans, my home continent, and over 8,000 miles to get to the place where I'll stay for a long time. I don't even want to think about the jet lag! This year has been peripatetic, next year will be settled. I'll build a home in Kosrae, Micronesia - a 42 square mile island of about 7,000 people in the South Pacific. I'll be there with seven other "young" Americans as part of the WorldTeach program. I'll be Miss Helen for the year - I'm teaching world history and geography to high schoolers there. Couldn't be more excited about my assignment :)
I'm still putting thoughts together on how to properly say goodbye to this country, this program, and to the wonderful friends I've made here. I need to buy a big journal. For now my mind is distracted with where my body will be in the next week: Berlin, Mainz, Frankfurt, New York City, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Kosrae. Stop.
Auf Wiedersehen from Germany, more to come from the stop :) And hopefully a blog facelift too!
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