I spent Thanksgiving at my mom's house in Milwaukee with my mom, my stepdad Paul, my brothers Chris and Jan and my sister-in-law, Angela. We had a very yummy traditional dinner which made us all very tired, even Bo. It was nice to have everyone together and feel like I was part of a big family again.
I went a bunch of different places over winter break. For the first week I stayed with my boyfriend's family in his childhood home of Garland, Texas. I had a great time meeting his family and their sweet animals and visiting the state for the first time. Contrary to what many of my friends and family think, not all Texans are conservative Republicans named Clovis or Shep who believe in the death penalty, wear ten gallon hats and revere George Bush. They don't (all) carry firearms and only some operate cattle ranches in their spare time. ;) Actually, I only saw one man in my entire stay there who was wearing a cowboy hat and tight jeans. He was carrying a cell phone. It seems like any other pleasant city: diverse offerings in food, tree-lined neighborhoods (only parts of the state have desert-like environments), skyscrapers, and lots of opportunities to spend money in nice stores. Only with warmer temperatures and real Mexican food. (I had some Tex-Mex for the first time, too. It was good.)
There are lots of malls and nice restaurants in Dallas, and I had a lot of fun going out to eat and doing more Christmas shopping than I have ever done in my life. I felt like such a preppie kid letting this handsome guy drive me around to different shopping centers. It was great to spend so much time with my boy. During the week, we drove through a rich neighborhood full of beautiful, expensive Christmas decorations (though there was no snow), went to the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository where they have a museum and saw almost the same view that Lee Harvey Oswald saw that fateful day, ate yummy sushi, watched heartwarming Christmas movies, saw a production of the ballet "The Nutcracker", and cooked a homemade, four-course Italian dinner for Jared's family. His parents were very warm hosts, but when Jared's dog, Sevvy, eventually accepted me and allowed me to rub her belly, that's when I knew I was really part of the family.
From Dallas I went on to my mom's house in Milwaukee, where we stayed for only a couple days or so until getting on the road to drive to Michigan to have Christmas at my cousin's house. We woke up there on Christmas Eve and eyed the presents piling up excitedly. We had a nice dinner with my cousins where Curt discovered that he really liked the bottle of Nostradamus wine that he bought because it was "guaranteed to make you prophecize." Somehow I think you have to drink a lot before that happens. The next day we went through all the presents and had a big vegetarian dinner in the afternoon. I was very glad that my cousins were vegetarian, because having finally taken the final step to completely adopt that lifestyle, I didn't want to be tempted by any turkey. My mom and I saw Castaway that evening, which was very good but terrified me with the scenes of the plane crash and Tom Hanks floating on the open dark ocean. (I saw Jaws way, way, too young. I have never been in the ocean.)
The next day was my 18th birthday. That's right, I'm now a legal adult. I can buy cigarettes, and porn, and get into R-rated movies... There is one good thing that comes with being 18, though: I can vote in the next election. That makes me happy. Finally, my government feels that I am old enough and informed enough to make a small decision concerning the future of the country. Awesome. My mom and my cousin Helen and I went out for a nice lunch together and I opened my presents. Later, I saw the movie "Miss Congeniality," which actually was very funny. Unfortunately, I spent the evening and night in the car with my mom driving back to Milwaukee because one of the tendons in my stepdad's knee had blown out and he was in the hospital awaiting surgery. My mom was understandably very worried, and we got back as quickly as we could. We still managed to have a pretty good time, though, eating out and going to visit Paul in the hospital.
By December 30 I was on the road again, this time taking the train to my dad and stepmom's in Plainwell, a little town in Michigan. I spent the next couple days there making cookies, playing with my new digital camera, and watching my favorite show, Ally McBeal. We went to the annual Kalamazoo New Year's Fest on New Year's Eve, which is an event where people can walk around between several downtown buildings and watch different performances of dance, music, and comedy about every 45 minutes all the way up until midnight. We ended up going home at the end and watching Dick Clark and drinking champagne. Makes your head spin.Ha ha.
On Wednesday, I took the bus to my old hometown, the fair city of Ann Arbor. My best friend Lindsay and her boyfriend Evan picked me up and I spent the next few days in Tree Town staying at their place. We threw a vegetarian dinner party for our friends complete with sushi again! Evan and I had trouble handrolling the nori and it fell apart somewhat, but it was still absolutely delicious. We also made stuffed peppers, deviled eggs, and butternut squash soup. It was good to see my buddies again, especially Lindsay, who I hadn't seen since before I left for the cornfields.
When I got back to Milwaukee, my brother Jan was already there visiting my mom. The three of us hung out a lot and went back to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant for a late birthday dinner. Afterwards, we had some pretty birthday cake with blue roses. Jan and I were able to fly out to Seattle together the next day, and we arrived in Seattle on Monday greeted by my sister-in-law, Angela.
I stayed in Seattle for five days in their beautiful home with its wood floors and high ceilings. We stuffed ourselves with Angela's vegetarian chili (also a first for me, so it was definitely the best I'd ever had), played with their Tivo (a smart TV show recorder), ate good Asian food, read the New York Times over chai at the nearby coffeehouse, and went to the Seattle Aquarium, where Jan and I saw graceful white jellyfish and cute sea otters floating as they slept. We also went to the Seattle Zoo to see the adorable baby elephant, which was one of the jokes for the trip. See, Jared and my friend James tease me because I often refer to things as "cute" when actually they're just "small." I'll say, "Oh, look, my laptop is so cute!" And they'll add, "And small." So Jan asked me what would be something that's *big* and cute, and immediately I responded in a coo, "Baby elephant!" Jan was reminded of the new arrival, which was indeed very cute and still quite big. We also watched snow leopards pounce on their mother, which was pretty darn cute too.
I leave for Milwaukee tomorrow, to return to Grinnell on January 20. I've missed Jared and my friends at college very much, and I'll be glad to get back to being a liberal arts student soon. Who knows what the second semester holds for me or what new and interesting things I'll learn? I'm looking forward to finding out.
