trip to Montreal, part 2

Montreal looks just like Paris! Oh wait, that is Paris. Oh yes, I remember now.

Only ever got as far as Seattle. When I got there, the plane that was supposed to take us to Washington/Dulles, and its crew, were...guess where! That's right: San Francisco. Awesome.

Got them to send me back to Portland on the 11pm Horizon flight (which the United person had to fight for because U.S. Airways doesn't have a relationship with Horizon & they didn't want to do it even though I'd sunk a sh*tload of money into this stupid ticket) and went home to bed.

Next day, slept in until 12:30pm (woohoo!) and later drove down to my mom's house for the weekend. Got to see much of the family for lunch on Sunday, spent the rest of the weekend lying around, watching TV, looking on the Internet for houses with Mom. Lovely!

Yes, I could've spent the whole weekend moping and making myself unhappy about my aborted trip, but I would rather enjoy myself. So I did.

trip to Montreal, part 1

Am taking my first trip abroad since I got back from Madrid last July. Is good to be back in the saddle!

My trip to Montreal has begun with a delayed flight and then a rerouting altogether. Was supposed to leave PDX at 6:27pm tonight on my first of three flights (even left work early to be sure to be here in plenty of time), but the bad weather there has delayed all flight in & out of SFO indefinitely. Poop. Now am scheduled to leave at 8:45pm for Seattle.

If everything goes according to (the new) plan, I will arrive in Montreal not much more than an hour later than originally planned, so will still have two full days there.

All day I've been experiencing mild anxiety for some unknown reason. When I finally examined this tonight, over a beer at the airport, I decided it was not because I am doomed to die (as my paranoia would have me believe), but because I am stepping out of my comfort zone for the first time in over nine months. I change depending on my environment, and because I have never been to Montreal before, I don't know who I'll be when I get there. Is thrilling and frightening at the same time.

And then there is always the risk of mechanical failure. But worrying will not change what is to be. And if science is to be believed, the fact that I've flown many times without dying suggests that I will again not die this time. Comforting, no? =*)

So I will sit here drinking my overpriced bottled water and munching on my overpriced King Sized Twix for the next hour or so, until they decide it's time to board.

Bon Voyage!

update

Here's the news in brief:

Am temping at a law firm downtown, where I basically bet paid to write and read all day. Excellent.

Current writing projects include: (1) a non-fiction book about my experiences teaching in Madrid, (2) a series of feature articles about being a late 20's single female in the contemporary dating market, (3) a series of feature articles about people in professions that are largely dominated by the opposite gender (e.g. female auto mechanics, male nurses, etc.), (4) The Lilly Frank trilogy.

Most recent book(s) I've read: all four Stephanie Meyer vampire novels from the Twilight series.

Plan to go to Italy in January or March for one month to take an Italian class and work on the novel.

Plan to go to Germany next October for one month to take a German class and work on the novel.

Plan to go to China in 2010 to teach for a semester at a Chinese university, to learn some Chinese, and to work on the novel.

Have just started a new blog to act as a central hub for my creative pursuits. If interested, you can find it at http://sioneaeschliman.blogspot.com

inner demons

I had less than 24 hours to make a decision about whether to get on the plane to Germany or not, and in the end I decided not. For now.

People have been asking me how I feel about the decision. Part of me is relieved that I get to be in Oregon and not separate from my friends and family again so soon. But part of me is also grieving the loss of another adventure.

I was really looking forward to some quiet time and to writing and to taking German classes, but in the end I decided it would be better to wait until I could be sure of having a place to stay that is stable and quiet and affords me some private space in which to write.

But now that I no longer have this trip planned, now that I need to get down to the business of finding a place to live and a job like everyone else, I am also wrestling a little with the inner demons that say I am not as interesting a person if I don't plan to jaunt off to other parts of the world with some regularity.

I just might have become as addicted as my Grandma to having a trip planned. If Grandma doesn't have a big trip planned for at least once a year, she is noticeably less enthusiastic about life in general. I think I can understand that traveling regularly is a way to inject some adventure and variety into one's life, as well as give one something interesting to talk about that makes other people a little jealous.

Anyway, I just gave myself a whole lot to do in the next couple of months: find a place to live, find a job (will be temping for at least a little while obviously), figure out what to use my airline credit on (have to fly before April 13, one year from the original reservation date), and most importantly create time and space for myself to write.

soul is recharged

After several weeks of soaking up the love of family and friends, as well as spending some time in the beautiful Oregon wilderness, my soul feels recharged.

Good thing too, because I just found out at 11pm tonight that the family I was going to stay with in Munich is no longer able to offer me a room due to a family emergency.

Of course this is not convenient, but so far am doing a good job of not freaking out. Have already sent out word to my Munich contacts that I need a place to stay, and I think it likely that the language school I've signed up to take an intensive German course from will be able to help me out.

Experience has taught me that something will work out. I trust in that.

In light of this new information, it's probably a good thing I have a teaching interview lined up for the first week I'm in Munich. I might end up needing the extra money.

And while all that is working itself out, I thought I'd share with you my photos from this summer. Copy and paste the links below:

Album 1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53611&l=85e99&id=595126014

Album 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55845&l=60200&id=595126014