Act 1: Thanksgiving Day It's been years since my family had a traditional Thanksgiving (at least partially due to my becoming a vegetarian as a teenager) and we decided that this wasn't the year to break our tradition of being untraditional. So, on Thanksgiving Day, my sister, my mom, and I gathered to bake Christmas cookies and candies. We had a chance for extra celebration because my sister got engaged the day before! Ahhh, my baby sister is getting married! I'm so excited and happy for her and incredibly impressed because her fiance picked out the ring all by himself and [View Full Entry]

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That's my new motto. It's been brought out this year in response to the way in which the Christmas sleigh has overrun the Thanksgiving turkey. Now, I like Christmas as much as the next person, but I happen to believe that Americans should spend equal, if not more, time and effort towards preparing for and celebrating Thanksgiving than they do for Christmas. Why, you ask? Because Thanksgiving is truly a national holiday, available to celebration by every single American. Christmas, in contrast, is a religious holiday celebrated by only part of our population (albeit the majority). Thanks [View Full Entry]

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I know, I know. I haven't been keeping up. I'm sorry! My computer crashed and my camera's broken and I'm trying to settle into being back home. I promise to update you all again soon! [View Full Entry]

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It's a tragedy. Here's a link to an article about this horrible deed. http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071019/NEWS01/710190364/1001/NEWS. We're all morning the loss of Eric and the injury of Annie. Anyone who was ever greeted by their shining, smiling faces on the way to the State Fair (which is pretty much everyone in Iowa) is in mourning. Ok, obviously we aren't really in mourning, but seriously, whoever did this, you should be ashamed of yourselves! Taking out an innocent little bovine and ruining the State Fair experience for thousands of children acros [View Full Entry]

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We are now camped in Wyoming after visiting Sam’s friend Joe in Missoula, MT for a few days. While in Montana we went hiking, rock climbing, cider pressing, fly fishing, Hot Springs bathing, and visited several fun clubs downtown. Joe was a great host, always doing something fun, but laid back at the same time. I have met few people with both those qualities, myself included. Missoula is a great place to be. We also visited Bob and Sandy Shook and reunited Ruby with her old roommate Samilla. After leaving the happening town of Missoula, we went to Yellowstone National Park [View Full Entry]

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Here I am, back in the U.S.A.! It's very strange trying to adjust back to my own culture. My stomach doesn't like the food, my mind is on language overload, and even after 3 weeks, I can't get over how terrible American television is. Seriously. I'm quite excited that I'm back in Iowa for the autumn. I haven't been in Iowa at this time of year for 11 years. I had forgotten how beautiful everything is during harvest season. I really do live in a Grant Wood painting. When I first arrived, everything was still very green. But, one week later, [View Full Entry]

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I just jointed travelblog.org so that I have a means of sharing my trip with close friends and family as well as documenting my experiences for myself. I leave on Sept 24 on a trip that will be the biggest I've ever done. My first stop is Japan and that will be followed by visits to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Malaysia, India, Kenya, Uganda and the Netherlands before I make my way home to the United States next July. I have some international experience, but have never done a trip this big and have been away from family and [View Full Entry]

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First off, I’ll answer the question I get asked most often… No, I’m not “officially” working for the Obama Campaign. I learned earlier this month that had I been hired as paid staff, I would have been placed in another county and I would have had to move in order to take a position. Also, since field organizers get almost no time off, I wouldn’t have been able to spend any time with my family. I figured that since the whole reason I’m spending a year at home in the first place is to spend time with them before (hopefully) moving [View Full Entry]

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On Tuesday, August 21st, I left Rapid City heading for the “Life on Wheels Conference” in Des Moines, Iowa. Once I had left the Black Hills area there isn’t an awful lot to report about South Dakota. The scenery is quite blah! I stayed overnight in Salem, South Dakota, a weather front came through during the night and it was drizzling a bit while I was packing up, but nothing too serious. The drizzle turned to rain around the South Dakota/Iowa border—then the rain turned to downpour and by the time I got to Sioux Falls I was in a deluge. [View Full Entry]

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I have a little over two days left before I board my flight for Italy. My flight leaves at 10:00 a.m. from Des Moines. I will have two lay-overs. One in Chicago and another in Munich, Germany. My girlfriends mom, Bobbi, will be joining us for a week. We decided to go over a week before classes start to get used to everything! I have got almost everything all packed up. I plan to spend the next two days going through my long lists of supplies and neccessities. This is a little different than going on a weekend trip!! [View Full Entry]

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