Story of a Girl Following the Road to Everywhere

[thelovejournals]

She did not need much, wanted very little. A kind word, sincerity, fresh air, clean water, a garden, kisses, books to read, sheltering arms, a cosy bed, and to love and be loved in return.

Starra Neely Blade (via thelovejournals)

[katiec53]

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.

Ann Landers

[katiec53]

Goodnight #hochiminhcity #Vietnam

[katiec53]

Potato stories from Nam. The nearly perilous adventures of potato trying to get back to his family. #second grade #adorable #teaching #Vietnam

[katiec53]

While I’ve Been Away

Many of you at home are probably wondering what I’ve been up to given that I never post pictures. Well, that may have been a bit arrogant--there is a small chance you haven’t been wondering at all.

Anways, let me clue you in as it has been an interesting few weeks.

Is anyone at all superstitious? If so, then you will understand where I am going when I say that everything bad happens in 3′s (or as my lovely friend Ami has mentioned, 7′s...let’s hope for the latter). Instead of rambling to you about all of the monotonous other things I have been up to, I’ll skip straight to the point (rare, I know).

1. I was hit by a motorbike.

Most of you know by now that I have never been a skilled driver *clears throat trying to drain out the giggles that have inevitably followed that understatment*

I was riding my bicycle (yes....I know) on the wrong side of the road (again, I know) and as a motorbike pulled out to take a right turn, instead of being met with the long stretch of road he was expecting, he found me. I then promptly found the pavement and soon after a doctor. It was nothing serious but it did scare me out of driving my own motorbike for a while. 

2. My bag was stolen.

Still healing from the motorbike accident, someone managed to swipe my bag from under a table. I know I can be careless at times, but having lived in Ecuador for so long, where crime is a lot more violent, I have become quite the careful traveler. I let me gaurd down with some friends in a cafe, walked off to the bathroom without my bag, and (not to my surprise at all) my things were gone. Luckily, I had my phone on me and my money. Nothing was taken that cannot be replaced, just small keepsakes and memories that the clever theif took from me. I let myself be sad for about 30 minutes, then got over it. 

3. I got burned by a motorbike.

Clearly, motorbikes aren’t my friend. I was hopping off of a bike and accidentally leaned my calf on the muffler of the bike. It must have only been 2 seconds but it left me with two weeks worth of a second degree burn and a lifetime scar that I will carry with me throught my days. It hurts SO MUCH. 

Asi es la vida. This is life. Bad things happen but we continue on. So many wonderful thigns have happened as well. I’ve been gaining so much invaluable expereince in the world of international education, I’ve made wonderful friends, and I’ve been reading some phenomenal novels. Overall, life’s been more than generous and I’m loving every moment, even the bad. 

[howapcvputsitgently]

The end of PST.

[katiec53]

"I couldn't keep up my transient existence forever. I would have to end up with someone, sometime, someplace. Wouldn't I? But what if I missed a turn somewhere -- missed my own future? That would be frighteningly easy to do. I'd make one hesitation or one departure too many and then I'd have run out of choices; I'd be standing all alone, like the cheese in the children's song about the farmer taking a wife. Hi-ho, the cherry-o, the cheese stands alone, they used to sing about this cheese, and everyone would clap hands over its head and make fun of it. Even I made fun of the solitary cheese during that game. Now I was ashamed of myself. Why should being alone -- in and of itself -- be such a matter for derision? But it was. The alone -- the loners -- were not to be trusted. They were strange and twisted. Most likely they were psychopaths. They might have a few murdered corpses stowed away in their freezers. They didn't love anyone, and no body loved them either."

Excerpt from Margaret Atwood's "The Other Place"

[katiec53]

An amazing band at #quest music festival. Using traditional Vietnamese instruments to mix with the music. LOVED. #Vietnam #Hanoi #music

[amandahelmpoetry]

In a past life we were birds. We were always flying south to be warmer. I do not remember how we got separated, but I remember looking back and you were no longer there. It became cold without you, no matter where we flew.  In our first life we were bees. We made our home in the wrong place and that time, I left first. I don’t know how long you lived without me. In the life just before this one we were vines, twisting and turning around our favorite trees. We were always too far away to touch, to embrace, to become entwined.  But now, we are human and we no longer know how to love one another. Our hands touch, but we don’t feel a thing. We look at each other, but I am afraid we are too tired to try this again. I thought we could love each other through infinity, but I was wrong.

Amanda Helm, Becoming Human (via amandaspoetry)

[katiec53]

A little bit of Ho Chi Minh at night. #vietnam

[katiec53]

Just Give Me A F#$%ing Bagel.

Today, I enjoyed a lovely basic-white-girl moment. Overpriced coffee with a bagel. An effing bagel. 

Okay, I will now resume acclimating. 

Sometimes, you just need it. 

[wordsnquotes]

She wasn’t afraid of difficulties; what frightened her was being forced to choose one particular path. Choosing a path meant having to miss out on others. She had a whole life to live and she was always thinking that, in future, she might regret the choices she made now. ‘I’m afraid of committing myself,’ she thought to herself. She wanted to follow all possible paths and so ended up following none.

Paulo Coelho, Brida (via thatkindofwoman)

[findingwordsforthoughts]

most of the time the things you need will conflict - you will want love and you will also yearn for independence; you will want stability and you will dream of adventure; you will want one person and you will also want the world. do not resist this, do not apologize for it, do not try to fix it. accept your own complexity, your own conflictions and uncertainties. accept that you are a being, a live, wild thing that keeps on changing. accept that you are many things, and love yourself for it. fight for your many needs. that is not selfish, it is caring.

marina v., you are the only person on earth who can see all of you | every single piece.  (via thatkindofwoman)

[trvpgod-deactivated20140106]

[sarah0197]

Distance sometimes lets you know who’s worth keeping and who’s worth letting go.

Lana Del Rey (via blakebaggott)

[labella-instagram]

[howapcvputsitgently]

When I submit my rent receipt on time