Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Temporary

My name is Katie Leaper. My middle name is Lynn. I imagine as I get older I will switch it up like this:
Katielynn Leaper
Katelynn
K. Lynn Leaper
K. Leaper
It seems like a good thing to do.
I arrived in Portland one week ago. I will spend two more days here at which point I will fly back to Sun Valley, Idaho where I am a temporary resident, though on second thought I usually am.
My brother and sister live in Portland, OR. That's what brings me here once or twice a year. This is a great city brimming with eccentrics. I suppose that's why I feel so at home here. That is why my travels stop here on September 18th, temporarily anyway.
In one month I am leaving Sun Valley. I have been there for 6 months, 6 snowy snowy months. I work there as a nanny, a career choice that has successfully funded my wanderlust. From Sun Valley I am bound to Lancaster, PA; home to my parents, 2 sisters, and a whole heap of Amish people(respectively). This is another in between place for me. The length of this "in between" will be about two weeks. There will be something somewhat new in this visit. I will be met for a week by 2 friends from an "in between" in Sacramento. After the 3 of us adventure through the east coast we will all hop on planes to Europe.
On the 16th day of June the 3 of us will meet in Amsterdam. This will be my third visit to this soulmate city. As for my California friends, Nancy and Derek, it will be their first. I will have a couple of firsts myself; my first time celebrating a birthday abroad (6/19), and my first time traveling abroad with companionship.
On the 20th of June our paths will break as Nancy and Derek will fly back to the states and I will fly to Mumbai to see some old friends. There I will stay until Sept. 18th at which point I will find myself in the very same place that I am sitting at this very moment. Upon writing it seems silly to end up right where I already am. The great part is that I won't be the same me after an adventure like that. In which case here will not be the same here as it is now. One thing that I've found tricky about traveling, tricky and educational, is that "here" stays the same for everyone who didn't experience the same thing as I did. It gives one a rather "outside looking in" sensation. Everything inside has shifted, but on the outside worlds are plastered as they were.
This should prove interesting as this will be my second trip to India. Since my last visit I have traveled through Thailand and Hong Kong, taken a semester of college in Sacramento, interned on an organic farm in Jackonville, OR, temped at a cheese factory in New Holland, PA, and found myself isolated under 4-6 feet of snow in Hailey, ID. I suppose I will have a clear view of these things from India.