Peru, who are you?

Let's backtrack a few years and make ourselves a timeline, shall we?

March 2007 - spring break trip to New Orleans (post up!)
September 2007 - parents &co move overseas, giving me a reason to leave the country
June 2008 - I spend 3 weeks in Russia (after two years in the US without leaving)
Jul/Aug 2008 - six weeks in Texas (thanks, Willis family!)
Sept 2008 - Four months in Russia
January 2009 - Four and a half months in Oklahoma
June 2009 - Three months in Ukraine and Russia
August 2009 - Four months in Oklahoma
December 2009 - Four weeks in Russia and Ukraine
January 2009 - Two months in Oklahoma
March 2009 - spring break trip to PERU!!

Yes, I can't quite seem to commit to one time zone, can I? Well, I am off to Peru. This time I will only be leaving the country for a week (possibly my quickest overseas trip ever). I will be back. And then I really don't know how long it will be until I leave the country again. I have no idea. It could be two more months, or it could be years. Yikes. Sometimes I feel Claustrophobic by Continent.

But oh hey yeah I am leaving for Peru tomorrow. What I am looking forward to:
- the layover in Panama City, Panama! Central America! oh wow!
- I have never been to a Spanish-speaking country or been this much of a tourist
- I FINALLY get real hard proof that Peru (and even all of South America) exists. I mean, I've seen pictures and heard stories, but how do I know that that is real? It could be some sort of Truman-Show-style deception. Tomorrow at this time I will know for sure.
- I get to see AMANDA! And who wouldn't look forward to that, right?

Wish me well, or whatever your equivalent of well-wishing is! And a happy spring break to you too, if you get one!

When I get back I will post pictures like this:
and this:

I JUST FINISHED WAR AND PEACE

Last summer, I took a thirty hour train ride from Russia to Kiev. There I stayed the night, then took an overnight train the next night to L'viv. I flew out of L'viv, through Munich, to Chicago, where I was supposed to get on a plane to OKC. At that point I had been traveling for four days, and had been away all summer. I was worn out and jetlagged. I missed my flight to OKC and had to spend the night in the Chicago airport. The next morning I flew to Denver and then to OKC. I had come SO far and was SO close to being home, but it felt like it would never be over.

That is how I have felt about War and Peace today. War and Peace is an excellent novel. You should read it. No, really, you should. It's got love and romance, war and violence and killing. Duels, marriages, births, deaths, broken marriages and engagements, elopements, ruined fortunes, gambling, amputations, hunts, balls, captivity, the burning of Moscow, and so much more. It has philosophy and religion and history and drama and French and English and Russian and German. I can help you pronounce the characters' names if you want. BUT. War and Peace is also 1200 pages long. Today I reached Part Two of the Epilogue. Yes, even the epilogue has two parts. At this point I was just dozens of pages away from the end. At which point Tolstoy decides to unload himself on his readers in a lengthy manifesto on history, power, freedom, fate, and I don't even know what else. It was so hard to get through. I was at the Chicago airport, watching my plane leave without me. I was flying to Denver instead of Oklahoma City. I was so close to the end, but just....not....there.

Okay so I did finally finish. And I liked the book. And it is over now so I can go study for the midterm. But I just don't understand why Tolstoy did that. Why not end on a good note? On an interesting, exciting note? On something that leaves your readers happy and wanting more?

Why???