early birthday celebrations~*~
at nana san.

eggplant, lotus root (AO!), mushrooms, salmon

^^my favorite things.

we had the entire fiords
to ourselves that day.

punakaiki; aotearoa.

oh the places you'll go!
the new people you will meet,
the new sunsets you will see,
the new air you will breathe,
the new lands you will explore,
the new ideas, perspectives and knowledge
you will gain! 

don't be nervous, everyone will

be on the same boat (literally).
it will be amazing, a once in a
lifetime opportunity! so, 
go forth michelle!

waiheke island~

aotearoa is the maori name for new zealand.

it means "the land of the long white cloud."

on this day, i joined the others for a walk

but then decided to sit on a hill

by myself while they went ahead.

(luckily, i didn't go because

they took a wrong track,

got lost after the sun went down

and the police had to search for them).

they came back hours later and

the first thing morgan said to them was:

"where are the car keys? i'm hungry."

take a walk..on a glacier!

kiwis pronounce it as
"glay-see-er"

fox glacier was our first stop

on our road trip through the south island.

interestingly, there was a rainforest

rather close by. keas fluttered about.

the time richard nixon visited china

and my mom & her elementary class

danced and gave him flowers..

"a cosmic dawn,

not the end of the world."

there were eels in the water.

fiordlands, nz

"we need more people like you"

my anth senior seminar prof said to me

before she headed to rajasthan.

^____^

whoo!! :)

"Dear ed115ers,
Yes, we do walk our talk...
We computed the Cronbach's alpha for

the final exam and found it to be a respectable .87
The mean difficulty index for the items was .74
The mean discrimination index was also good at  .34
We did notice a few items that we can improve upon, but we were pleased overall, not just with the final exam but with all the work you all put into the course and the learning you made happen. Impressive achievements all around!"
~k & k

all i want is zucchini potato soup.

my living spaces

(in chronological order).

12.12.12!!

a burmese map of the world (1906)

"work for a cause, not for applause.

live life to express, not to impress.

don't strive to make your presence noticed,

just make your absence felt."

 abel tasman national park.
the time morgan and i did not
see another human being for 4 days.

geothermal rotorua, urban auckland;

new zealand.

crossing volcanoes.

maryna: my housemate/gardening instructor :)

i have had 5 different living situations
in the last 4 years.

1. dorms with nadya!
2. apartment with nadya, mary, brianna & others.
3. pica community & agro-ecology program
4. ed house in wellington, nz with
international students & kiwis!
5. apartment with maryna & theresa!

i've been really lucky and have
met so many amazing people
through my living situations~

yesterday, i got to teach the kindergarten
class for 5 minutes. the kids put 7 mystery items
in a cloth bag and i improvised a
make-believe story.

by kala n.

~

my friend maryanne is studying abroad

in costa rica right now.

she saw this bird in the rainforest:

"If your work ethic has no limit,

neither do your dreams."

^i like this.

this paper on Hawai'i

is dedicated to all the

amazing people, classmates & professors

i had the opportunity to meet in the south pacific.

thank you for all the

conversations,

insights,

and perspectives

on the Pacific Heritage.

from tonga, to
samoa, niue,
tokelau,
kiribati,
fiji,
cook islands
& the rest.

o oe se a.

holiday socks in the backyard.

someone baked maryna an epic birthday cake.

when she blew out the candles,

the sprinkles scattered everywhere~*

"But Talal Jafari, a 47-year-old shopkeeper

in the West Bank city of Hebron, said for

Palestinians, every victory counts.

"The entire world supports us, and that

by itself is great for us," he said."

regarding Palestine:

Countries Voted for the resolution:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, East Timor, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kirghistan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Qatar, Russia, Russia, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Sweden, Switzerland, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, UAE, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Voted against the resolution:
Canada, Czech Republic, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia(FS), Nauru, Palau, Panama
and the United States.

"be accessible, be easily reachable, be welcoming.

keep the door to your life open

so new breezes bringing new ideas

and new people can enter and enrich it."

-molly ford.

the best piece of writing advice i have ever received:

"stop worrying, just write."

-m. moodie

(my anthropology senior seminar professor)

sometimes, in class,

my mind wanders and i will

create a list of people & professors

that i think have the potential to

collaborate and truly contribute to a

better, nicer, more compassionate

and peaceful world.

she is on the list
^___^

how we quit the city(北京)

"i really want to buy you a klean kanteen

so you can put bumper stickers on it."

"no, i don't want to turn into a santa cruz senior"

was my sister's reply.

♡(*^﹏^*)♡

"BUT THANK YOU for bringing these things up.

You always inspire me and challenge me to grow."

~n r t

^she's gonna make me cry :) 


i am thankful for
many things this year.
mostly thankful for being surrounded
with supportive family & friends (and mops)
within an [almost] hopeless world, but
my sister and I figured out last night that, essentially:

EVERYONE just wants the same thing:
1. a nice house & someone to cuddle with
2. for their kids to grow up and be happy
3. to leave some kind of legacy. 

doesn't matter if you are
Chinese, Israeli, Palestinian,
Tongan, Maori, Malaysian,
Papua New Guinean
or American.

once someone went to

syria, jordan and egypt
(just days before the madness began)

and got me

sheets of papyrus paper

& a necklace with my name

carved in arabic

~*~*~*~*