All Grown Up

This was R one year ago...

This is her now, with her purse and lollipop (at the Science Museum). Such a difference! It's really incredible.

Mount Diablo

My favorite thing about the suburb my parents live in is Mount Diablo, an isolated mountain in the middle of the county and a state park. Seeing loom up on the horizon as you enter the town they live in is so dramatic. There is something about a mountain that is stirring and uplifting, especially when it's still in a natural state.

The name is kind of unusual (it means Devil Mountain in Spanish). According to my father, who used to be an archaeologist, it got that name because the Spanish fought a battle with one of the local Native American tribes on the slopes of the mountain. The Spanish lost. Among the Native Americans was a medicine man or shaman, and the Spanish believed their defeat was due to his evil magic powers. This story has always fascinated me, because it's not the typical one told of the interactions between the Native Americans and Europeans. I imagine the bewilderment and terror each side must have felt, as two such different cultures faced each other, the one with a shaman in full spiritual regalia, and the other with strange pale long-nosed men clad in wool and metal.

California is very different now, from either the managed wilderness densely populated by hundreds of unique tribes, or the sparsely settled ranching empire dominated by Franciscan priests, dashing Mexican cowboys, and their Indian slaves. But many of the names remain, as a reminder of what used to be.

2011 in Review

2011 was a year full of huge changes for me. I had a baby, quit my job, and then adjusted to being a mother and housewife.

In July we moved to Singapore, a country and region of the world I had never been to before. We had to learn how to do everything in a foreign environment, find an apartment, and unpack all our stuff. Since then we have been adjusting to expat life, B's first professional job, and a new culture and climate.

We traveled a lot: B went to the East Coast and southern California for work, R and I went to Washington to visit family, we moved to Singapore, B went to Japan (for work), we all traveled back to the US (and B went to the East Coast again), B went to China (for work) we took family trips to Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia, and then we flew again to the US (with a third trip to the East Coast for B).

We saw many interesting things--wild monkeys, temples, historical artifacts, museums, tropical beaches--and learned a lot. Sometimes it was very fun and sometimes it was horrible. It was always both interesting and stressful.

This year was full of intense emotions, both good and bad. The good moments included getting to know little R, watching B develop into a great father, and visiting Hong Kong and Langkawi. There were also a lot of really bad moments: stress-fueled fights, sleepless nights, horribly long plane flights, money issues...

I would like 2012 to be a nice calm year without any more dramatic changes. However, to be honest, this is most unlikely. So instead I hope it will be a year full of personal growth, in which I become a better person, take care of my husband and baby in a way that I can be proud of, and make time for travel, relaxation and my family. Fingers crossed and braced for the ride!

How Much Things Change

We celebrated Memorial Day by going for a walk in Golden Gate Park, around Stow Lake. We also climbed up to the top of Strawberry Hill and admired the view. San Francisco is so beautiful: I will really miss it when we move.

Afterwards, we went out for pizza at Milano Pizzeria, which was pretty nostalgic as B and I used to go there all the time (like once a week) when we lived in the Outer Sunset on Vicente St (back in 2001-2002). We would frequently bike there (it's about half an hour each way), since the route is pretty pleasant/low traffic.

It's strange to think of us going there as a young unmarried couple, before most of our travels, before graduate school, and with completely different career paths. B worked in a neurobiology lab then, tormenting mice and rats in hopes of curing chronic pain, and I worked as a receptionist (and hated it). We hadn't yet decided what we wanted to do when we "grew up". Neither of us had lived anywhere but northern California. We still did a lot of recreational drugs on the weekends/holidays.

Now we've been married for almost 4 years (as of June 23!), have a daughter, two graduate degrees (one Phd in Economics, one MA in Museum Studies), have lived in Asia for three years (and will be moving there again in a month), have visited 11 additional countries, and learned another language. Also, B became ambitious and career-focused, and spends most of his waking time working (back in the day he usually only worked until 4 pm or so). I became organized and in charge of everything, and successfully run the household and the schedules of three people (back then I could barely get myself dressed in the morning). It's amazing how much is different.

Of course, some things are the same: B still doesn't have a driver's license; I still can't cook anything; we still like traveling, reading, eating out, and learning new things; and we are still together. Also, a lot of our furniture is the same! (since we've never been settled enough or made enough money to get nice new things). That may change soon: or maybe not, I don't know if I want to invest money on furniture in Singapore since we'll probably be moving again.

Maybe in 10 more years Milano Pizzeria will still be there, and the three of us will again go to dinner. I wonder what changes the next 10 years will bring?