Holiday letter, draft I

Dear Fam ‘n Friends:

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve sent one of these out. Wish I could say I’m on top of things enough to send it out on time this year… but the truth is, I’m sending it out late for last year. Anyhow, here are the highlights of my life over the past… while:

I’ve been practicing my amateur photography skills. For Christmas of ’05 Santa brought me a digital camera, and I’ve been experimenting with angles and features and photo-manipulation software. It’s currently my favorite hobby.

I also took up writing missionaries from a pseudo-identity/alter-ego named Brünhilda. She writes elders on a referral basis. Usually she begins the first letter describing herself as 6’7”, 375 lbs, with crossed eyes, knuckles that drag on the ground, and a 4” overbite. In the second or third letter she likes to tell elders she’s decided to wait for them. Then before they come home, she 'Dear John's them with a wedding announcement for her and Og Thogson. It’s pretty fun for me, and I figure if the elders Brünhilda writes were put off, they would stop writing her back.

I lived with the most awesomest people EVER - during my last year in college I was blessed with the best apartment full of women this world has ever seen. We had apartment prayer, Sunday potlucks, we made up songs on the guitar as a group, used each other as models for artwork, and applauded whenever one of us walked in the front door (have you ever tried it? It’s a great feeling!). It was an adventuresome year.

I was called as Relief Society president in my student ward for a year.

I dated someone for a while. It was lots of fun while it lasted, but (as most good things that aren’t meant to last) it came to a screeching halt when I skipped the country for Guatemala (see below).

I was an intern at an elementary after-school program. I directed parent volunteers in helping set things up for after-school programs. The main projects were with the dance and theater clubs – I helped create and organize costumes. A partner and I also planned and brought to pass weekly classes for parents and activities for their wee ones.

I went to Romania for 10 days – my job for the past 2.5 years has been working with the orphanage internship program that I went to Romania with. Every semester 2 faculty members go to Romania to visit the interns, and this semester only one could go. She didn’t want to go alone, so I was blessed with the opportunity to return to my beloved Romania and visit both the interns I had prepared the previous semester, and the wonderful kids I had said goodbye to 2 years before.

My sister got married to an awesome guy in May. I was grateful for her strategic timing, because the very next day:

I left for Guatemala for 10 weeks to do anthropology research in a highland community. I lived with a great host family and did lots of interviews with parents and teachers at the local elementary school. My research topic was how parents get involved in their kids’ education. The goal of the program was to send undergrads to do real research, then help them get it published. It was a great experience (except for the 3 times I got violently ill). Two weeks later:

I graduated with my bachelor’s degree! My major was International Development, and I had 2 minors: Latin American Studies and Child Development. Best 8 years of my life…

I spent a couple of months resting and writing up my research. After all that excitement, I’ve been pretty pooped. Not to mention I’ve been experiencing a mild mid-youth identity crisis about what to do next. However:

I got a job for a company that makes point of sale and inventory management software for small companies. I work in the marketing department making gift cards (not greeting cards, but the plastic credit-card gift cards we get for people who are picky/when we are *coughlazycough* short on time). No, it has nothing to do with what I studied (directly, anyway). When I was looking at jobs in my field – jobs in small non-governmental international development agencies – they all wanted either people with years of experience (like 10 or 20), or people to do clerical and graphic design work. So I’m getting experience in that for the next while.

So for now I’m living with my parents and working. I go to the stake singles ward and have 3 callings (Visiting Teaching Supervisor, Ward Website Administrator, and Ward Literacy Specialist). My research article is still a work in progress, but I’ll be presenting it (along with 8 fellow researchers) at an anthropology conference in March (provided I survive the grueling writing process).

I hope things are going well for y’all. Thanks for your love and support.
Happy Christmas and Merry New Year!

Love,

MB