a wonderful awesome epic adventure

this weekend i went to council bluffs to see sonic youth and the flaming lips in concert, and i am happy to report that good things can happen even in iowa. if you ever go to a show with me and see me holding my face with my hands and beaming a 1.21 gigowatt smile stageward and trying to stare at all members of the band at once, you're probably seeing one of my favorite bands with me, and you're probably seeing me nearly as happy as i ever am. and if you had gone with me and aaron on friday, that's more or less what you would have seen, since sonic youth is probably my favorite band that's still making music today, and the flaming lips are both near the top of that list AND probably the most carnival-like live show i've ever seen, and a 5 year old at a carnaval is exactly what i felt like. so it was a very, very, very good night for me.

a few highlights beyond the ecstatic joy of being there:

thurston moore, who is about as old as my dad, looking like he could be my not much older brother, and rocking with the enthusiasm of a teenager.
sonic youth's legendary stack of guitars (mhat, you know what i'm talking about--but we were closer this time!).
candle, reena, pink steam
the drunk woman next to me who kept telling me "baby, you're hot--and i'm a lesbian!!!" (also popular: "you're BROOOOAD!")
aaron telling above enebriated and purported lesbian "hey, keep your hands off my boyfriend!" (thanks, aaron).
lesbian girl to aaron: "hey, it's ok, we're on the same team!" aaron: "no we're not."
wayne coyne "crowd surfing" in a big plastic ball like a giant hamster rockstar pre-show.
wayne coyne explaining why flaming lips fans are superior to other fans.
wayne coyne.
aaron's version of the 1.21 gigowatt smile.

in other great news, southwest airlines told me today they're sending me a check for the equivalent of the cost of replacing all the things i lost in the baggage debacle. it's like i used the stuff for 5 months, destroyed it, and found someone who would pay full price to buy it from me. this is so much better than having a job. i think i'm going to fly southwest again soon with some more expensive things when this money runs out.

like it's going to be your last day

if there was a musical spectrum of a birthday's overall feel, on one end would be the beatles' "birthday", and on the other would be andrew bird's "happy birthday song". my 25th birthday, which happened tuesday, was definitely toward the andrew bird end of the spectrum. in other words, more sad than glad. on my way to lunch i got a speeding ticket, which pretty much summarized how i felt the majority of the day. when i used the fact that it was my birthday as a plea for leniency, the cop not only continued to give me the ticket, he didn't even wish me happy birthday. "thanks for buckling up" he said as he walked away, and i said "happy birthday" under my breath in exactly the tone and timing i would have used to either swear or say something really clever and insulting about his stupid hat or sunglasses or...baldness if i wasn't feeling so defeated and wrongfully accused (which, to be honest, i wasn't).

but in addition to up to date proof of insurance and registration information (MIRACLE!), my glove compartment gave me one extra special birthday surprise. i bought probably the coolest sunglasses i've ever owned in spain back in the day. they were just like kurt cobain's glasses in my favorite nirvana picture ever (of which i have a very large poster, and i have really big plans to hang it...somewhere when i live in a place i have any expectation i'll be in for more than "one more week..."), and i felt about 37% more like a rock star wearing them. which until tuesday i hadn't done for a very long time because they were lost. but they're not any more--they were just behind the registration and that big jiffy lube envelope that they use to prove that no matter how far technology enters into our lives, the guy who changes your oil will still probably not be able to use a computer to remember if you've ever been there before. the fact that some poeple still pretend they don't know about computers and internets is probably really comforting to someone a lot older than me. which, come to think of it, is the first time i've felt young since feeling like 25 is a long way from 18 or 22. so hooray for birthdays after all!

...in its tell-tale time

time is a tricky, mercurial, and alternately treacherous and benevolent thing. you never know what it'll do when you're not looking, and you're never as unwatchful as when you leave. while your thoughts are elsewhere, some things you long for are changed, and when you look again they're lacking: the buffalo wings i'd been pining for in south america had me up all night with a kind of stomach pain you'd probably get if you fried a piece of the devil's tail in volcanic lava and ate it. after weathering 5 difficult months on opposite sides of the world when all either of us really wanted was the company of the other, janae and i decided we'd be better off as friends upon my return. or suddenly i don't seem to belong in the city i call home and it feels like a place i've been hanging around for too long.

but it's never all deception or all generosity, and no matter what alchemy or transformation it brought me this time, i've found that the acts of organizing, arranging, and listening to my records is every bit as wonderful, soothing, and delightful as i remembered it and had been hoping it would be. so thanks to everything on my shelf, from air to young mc (it was a used-bin nostalgia buy!), and to time, for never taking without also giving.

faq, home edition

q: hey, you're back! how was your trip?
a: good.

q: really?
a: well, really it was good and bad, fantastic and terrible, fascinating and boring, overwhelming and underwhelming, relaxing and stressful, and so on. but "how was your trip?" is like the average of all the questions one could ask about a trip, and "good" is more or less the average of the responses.

q: oh. so...you're back now, right? like, in lincoln? why were you in new york?
a: yeah, i just got in last night. i flew into new york to visit janae and betsy and to sort of look around the city a little. i saw the moma, i got my indian food and sushi and chipotle, i watched television, i took showers, i loitered in bookstores...it was great.

q: how was your flight?
a: it was ok for me, but my bag didn't do so well. it seems it was dragged for some distance on either cement or very coarse sand paper, completely incinerating my bag and my raincoat and my sunglasses, which incidentally are the three most expensive non-electric items i took with me while traveling. jeremy vs. southwest airlines will probably begin today or tomorrow, so stay tuned for updates. in the meantime, here's a shot of the jacket after i leant it to the terminator to wear while he tried to kill sarah connor.

q: where are you staying? can we hang out?
a: i'm living at my parents' house for now, out of boxes once again. actually, can we hang out is not a question i've been frequently asked. but the answer is yes--give me a call! my number is the same as it was.

q: is it good to be back?
a: hm. it has been my experience that the sadness of leaving is not equal in measure to the happiness of returning, and that the inequality tends to lean toward the harder truth. there's a hint of that this time, but overall i would also say that yes, it's been really great to be back. i really like my country.

q: are you being ironic or something?
a: no, not at all! i'm sort of in love with the usa right now.

q: oh, like since you just got back, sort of a honeymoon thing?
a: no, not like that. more like how a couple loves on their 50th anniversary. these are the quirks, these are the faults, these are the terrible wrongs in the past, these are the completely illogical tendencies that have driven us all crazy at one time or another. i know these things, and i love this country. it's not an idealized thing, i just like the way the country is and even in some ways the ways we're wrong because our greatness, our occasional stupidity, and even our atrocities are distinctly american.

q: mmm...patriotic civics lesson blog entries. always a hit. let's change the subject. what are your plans now that you're back?
a: what i would most like to do is get a job interpreting in a medical setting. on my way home from new york i stopped in chicago to test for a certification program that would allow me to work for a firm as a free-lance interpreter in chicago. i would use the independent work to live while looking for a full-time position at any of the hospitals and clinics in the area. this would be nearly ideal because i love the city and they have a large latino community--it'd be a great way to spend the next year, both gaining the experience and exploring a new city, two things i couldn't do staying in lincoln. but in my opinion i really bombed that test, so i'll probably be looking for a different firm in chicago. which means i don't know how the timeline will go. after that, hopefully next year at this time i'll be making sure i have a good enough bookbag for med school.

q: so does the fact that you're moving out where janae is mean anything particularly gossip-worthy about your relationship?
a: haha--no, not really. i really think i'd get sort of antsy staying in lincoln this year, and i am very mobile right now and chicago is a great option for reasons listed above. janae being out there is definitely a bonus, and i guess if you want to know "what it means" it means we like each other enough to try living in the same city for a little while--a strange idea for people who are dating, i know. i don't think it means anything in particular beyond this year, though.

q: darn, i like gossip better than simple logistics.
a: yeah, sorry about that.

q: well, as long as you're back safe. tell you what, why don't we get together and i can ask you some other questions i want to know about your trip.
a: i'd love to! give me a call!

gracias

trips like this don't just happen, and opportunities like this don't just materialize in the air and fall from the sky into laps. unfortunately. instead, they require a lot of work, sacrifice, and support from a group of people who in many cases haven't had the opportunity or anything like it. i am indebted to those people, and i wanted to say thank you:

to my parents, for support in more ways than can probably be imagined, enumerated, or named. for ignoring hugo chavez's latest psycotic ramblings about the undoing of america (or just not knowing about them), for sending money i never asked for, for emotional support before i left and while i was there, for never complaining about the infrequency of my calls and emails, for understanding or trying to always, for swallowing probably more than a few reservations and protests when i was telling them what i wanted to do and where i wanted to go and for how long...for all of this and undoubtedly lots more.

to mike hertzler and the elder board at faith bible church and the attenders of faith. when i asked mike to look into any possible opportunities for medical volunteer positions in south america, it was (in my mind) one of several different paths i might find to south america. it may have originally been that, but to be honest at this point i can't imagine having done it without him. almost immediately after asking him (especially in south american terms) we had a possible position with a hospital in ecuador, and thereafter mike made sure the preparations were on track, and always asked me how things were going and if he could help. mike was also the one who brought my "mission" to the elder board for possible financial support, which they agreed to give me, so thanks to those men as well for believing in what i wanted to do and supporting it, and for then bringing it to the congregation and giving all of them a chance to know about the happenings and help out in prayer or even just interest (when you ask my mom how i'm doing, she tells me you did, and it was good to know you cared). thank you.

to about a million people at hospital vozandes quito, including but not limited to karen, ximena, maira, evelyn, cecibel, piedad, soraya, drs. balesteros, vallejo, barros, kon, calerón, cueva, corral...hey look mom, it's an unending list of names! and tons more. for their friendship and help and patience and education and for making the whole experience much more than about medicine or even service.

to janae for coming down to see me (twice!) and putting up with all my wanderlust and still even wanting to be my girlfriend when i got back (hey hey!) and for phone calls and emails and packages and other things to remind me i was missed and hinting that if i were to come home immediately at least one person would be thrilled.

to all aim buddies everywhere (anyone i talked to on the internet in the last 5 months) for keeping up and keeping me up. especially so aaron and sarah (my traveling buddies forever) for sharing commiseration, understanding, and learning in a special way, and mhat for sending me little mpeg-layer 3 sound files of home.

to marmot mountainwear for making probably the single most indespensible piece of clothing i had on my trip, the superjacket.

to the people who came under my charge at vozandes, for teaching and giving and helping me much more than i was able to do for you.

to everyone who read my blog, and especially those who commented. knowing anyone was interested both made me feel good about the friends at home and helped motivate me to experience as much as possible while i could. thanks for listening--this has been fun, and it wouldn't have been the same without you all.

THANK YOU!!!

confirmed landing!

this is now the longest extended pictorial metaphor i have ever endeavored to...endeavor. (remember the endeavor space shuttle?) well, this picture isn't that shuttle. and i landed and john f. kennedy airport, not space center. but you get the idea. i have arrived safely in new york. but let me give you one more piece of advice. if you've been traveling in south ameria for a long time, you've probably gotten sick of watching your bags so closely all the time. you might think "hey, i'm in an airport now--i can relax about that!" you'd be wrong. if you are me, your being wrong means that several people's gifts went to some other opportunistic passenger on my flight to the united states of all that is good and great and wonderful and truly awesome in the world. that person would like to thank you all for your generosity.

i'll probably still update this for awhile because i like it when people are listening to me.