Summer updates

News of the day – I received my medical clearance! What a relief… It only took two months, dozens of scanned forms, two extracted wisdom teeth, a colposcopy (ask me about it later :P), and about 10 visits to various doctors and clinicians. Easy-peasy (kind of).

I’m also continuing to volunteer at Gaining Ground. What a wonderful place – so peaceful and beautiful. Once, when I was walking there (it’s about 1.5 miles from the bus stop), I saw a man with headphones. We struck a conversation, and he told me that he takes a bus here every weekend and then walks back to Boston, which is 14 miles away. He said that it helps him with his job in finance. Poor thing. After farming, I found the trail he was taking (it was a famous Minute Man Trail!), and walked to Lexington in about one hour. Great walk!

I’m also taking Krav Maga self-defense courses. It’s a lot of fun, but I realize I’m not really a fighter and don’t like hurting people. My instructor told me that if I have an opportunity, I should just run (and I gladly will).

Every day, when I go somewhere, I think how lucky I am, and how wonderfully my summer is going. I’m almost always conscious of the fact that I will not be back to Boston in the next 2 summers, and so I try appreciate every walk, every T ride, every air-conditioned office, and every cultural event.

I already realize what things I will be missing about Boston and the US (besides people, of course):

Boston skyline

Cool wind
Good beer (subjective, I know, but will I be able to find Ithaca Brewery’s Apricot Wheat or Yuengling in Africa?)
Efficiency
Tuna sandwiches (the one next to the deli at my work in Waltham is delish!)
Plough & Stars
The People's Republik
Davis Square
Movie festivals
ICA (those first Friday parties!)
Running along the Charles
Flour bakery
Cambridge streets
Coolidge Corner
Trader Joe’s (aaah, it has everything for care packages :))
Honk fest
Outdoor movie nights
Open mics and trivia nights
Boston Common
Air-conditioned trains and cars
Coffee
Jamaica Pond & Emerald Necklace
The fact that  there are so many events every day that sometimes you don’t know what to pick
Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Oregon

I’m sure the list will continue to grow.