August 30, 2008: Blueberries and Sonnet 116

Dear Friend,

I wish you could’ve seen it. Andrew and I woke up at seven this morning to go berry picking. It was a crisp morning, but not too terribly cold. We hiked in the direction of the ropes course, stopping at the area we found yesterday. Coming from what I know is a very Western, middle class bias, I enjoy very much the quaint simplicity of going up the mountain to pick berries. I like the quiet. I like the berries. I love the mountain.

I value very much my new friendship with Andrew. Despite our obvious differences (baseball and theatre) we have very obvious similarities. He exhibits a genuine, proactive attitude towards socializing. I truly believe it comes from more than just the fact he’ll be the only guy in the group in a couple weeks. He’s just an enjoyable person to spend time with. He really cares about other people and getting to know them. We had conversations mainly about The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. We’ve both read the former, but Andrew hasn’t gotten around to reading the latter. We both enjoy Lewis’ philosophy and how he laces it throughout his writing. We also had a laugh when remembering how Lewis’ good friend J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t like The Chronicles of Narnia.

We decided to hold off on making blueberry pancakes until tomorrow. This would give us more time to gather more blueberries on our hike. We went without packs this time, but I took the hiking poles a very benevolent professor of mine lent me (thanks, Mr. T.) I rediscovered during the hike how much I’m a one-on-one socialite, especially on walks or hikes. I enjoy my alone time when I’m in a group. It gives me a chance to ponder. Stacey and Solita continued to try alternate names for me, which I only mildly appreciated. It detracted from their use of “Earl,” though, which was fine by me. Eventually Stacey assured me that she wasn’t meaning to change my name permanently. She thought I was very much a Kailen and that my name suited me.

Today is Dana’s fortieth birthday and we’re invited to the party. Janelle encouraged us to brainstorm on a present. I mentioned I could perform a sonnet (I had no other ideas) and she got excited. I immediately started running Sonnet 116 over in my head, realizing it’s more about marriage and has very little, if anything, to do with birthdays. I figured, though, that Dana rarely gets college students performing Shakespeare for him and that he’d appreciate it nonetheless. It’s the thought that counts, I guess. Beggars can’t be choosers. Before we left, Janelle got the idea to make Hawaiian leis using pieces blue garbage bags laced onto a piece of string. It was a lot of fun being craftsy and creative.

We stopped at Janelle and Daniel’s apartment before heading to the party. We finally got Internet access. At least, that’s how we all seemed to behave. It was amusing, a little coffee shop scene right in their living room, all of us using our laptops. Forty-two unread messages in my inbox, ninety-five percent of which were irrelevant. Unfortunately, my computer felt it necessary to update everything today, so very little was accomplished in that hour and a half. I did a lot of thinking about home, though, and everyone over there.

I’m not much of a party person, especially when I don’t know very many of the guests (or can’t speak their native language!), so I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. I can’t remember the last time I prepared shish kabobs, but this time it was a lot of fun. I got to spend some time with Diana, Janelle, Brandi, and a new acquaintance Raluca. Raluca is a political science major and will be starting next fall at the university in Madrid, Spain. She and I had a time keeping the Bateses’ cat away from the pork and chicken kabobs. I also got creative with the excess vegetables and made some kabobs made only of peppers.

Performing the sonnet was a lot like a Charlie Brown movie I used to watch growing up. Charlie Brown and three of his friends are chosen to be foreign exchange students to France. There’s a comedic moment on their first day of school in France where Peppermint Patty makes all sorts of cross-cultural faux pas simply out of ignorance. I felt that way about performing the sonnet, a little lost in translation. Everyone had that, “Oh, that was very nice, what just happened” look on their faces, or the polite applause look. It was fun, though. After my performance was a viewing of a homemade happy birthday video for Dana, which had happy birthday wishes from friends and family in different parts of the world.

I had a small conversation with Diana, my New Horizons contact, about A.R.T. Fusion. I’m really antsy about my upcoming work there. I’m also antsy about living in the city. That in and of itself should be an adventure.

Blessings.
Kailen