Finding My Destination

I recently read this in an article that I found while browsing the internet:

"Not all who wander are lost. When we were children we were told what to do. In our jobs, we are assigned tasks and projects. Our culture even has expectations of what we should do. It’s OK to step outside of the lines in order to follow what your inner wisdom is suggesting you do with your life. It’s not that you are lost when you wander, it’s just the opposite: You know what you want and you are only attempting to find the best path to your destination."

My 25th birthday was a few weeks ago and I found myself faced with a lot of feelings of being "behind in the game."  I haven't done anything for longer than a year since leaving college- I've had several different jobs, moved several times, and am still searching for what's going to make me happy in life.

Several people that I grew up with and went to college with have thriving careers, are engaged, married, buying houses, having kids,  etc.  I'm not doing any of those things.  But that doesn't mean that I'm lagging behind everyone else, or that I'm wandering aimlessly though life.  Quite the opposite.  I'm exploring life and waiting to settle until I've found what really makes me happy.  Maybe those people got lucky and have already found what makes them truly happy early in life.  Really, it's no one's business besides their own.

But I do know this for sure: I'm not on a schedule.  Not anyone else's, not even my own.

I have no doubt that I'll settle down, buy a house, get married, and do all the other "grown up" things.  Eventually.  When the time is right, those things will happen for me too.  But, for now, I'm too busy exploring the world around me and learning about myself... and maybe being a little reckless while I still can.  

My Happy Place

Every once in a while, I find a place that makes me really happy.  I call such places, appropriately, my "happy places."  My most favorite of these places is a veterinary hospital and animal sanctuary in Udaipur, India called Animal Aid Unlimited.

So, of course, I love this place because of the animals.  But I also love it because of the people.  The founders, Jim, Erika, and Claire, are freaking awesome.  It's rare that I meet people so admirable, brave, bold, selfless, and true to themselves as this family.  They have been and will continue to be one of my biggest inspirations in life.  The staff and volunteers at the hospital are absolutely fantastic, as well.

My days at Animal Aid  (mostly half days due to the summer heat and my general travel sickness while in Udaipur) were spent hanging with my favorite puppies, dogs, cows, donkeys, and the occasional kitten.  Sometimes I helped the staff cleaning wounds and administering IV fluids, but mostly I just lounged around with the dogs.  And I couldn't have been happier.  

Animal Aid cares for animals in some of the worst conditions you can imagine.  Here, the victims of starvation, traffic accidents, mange, neglect, and abuse are given another chance at life.  It's remarkable how many of the animals that receive treatment at Animal Aid make a full recovery - animals that, in the United States or other parts of the world, might be deemed "hopeless."

Animal Aid is so much more than just a veterinary hospital, it's a place of hope.

Please consider donating to this wonderful organization.  To learn more about Animal Aid Unlimited, visit http://www.animalaidunlimited.com.

In addition to running the hospital and sanctuary, Jim, Erika, and Claire are involved in the animal law world of India working for stronger animal protection laws and teaching others how to utilize the existing laws to the fullest.  

They will be attending a workshop hosted by a federation of animal protection groups in September focusing on Animal Legislation.  A variety of panels will be held with the goal of teaching these groups how to best use the existing Indian laws to help animals.  

Funds are needed for this workshop.  If you'd like to donate, please visit the Animal Aid donation page and specify that you'd like your donation to be used for the workshop.  Your donation will help ensure that animals have a voice in the Indian legal system.  

A Foreigner's Guide to Driving in India

As you may know, driving any type of vehicle in a foreign country, particularly India, involves a lot of horn honking.  A foreigner who is not used to using the horn while behind the wheel may be unsure of the appropriate times to honk.  Use this little guide and you'll be on the road and driving like a local in no time!

Get in your car: honk

Start the car: honk

Shift from park to drive: honk

Pull away from the curb:  honk 
*Note:  It does not matter if other cars are coming.  Pull out anyway.  They'll honk and miraculously miss hitting you by mere inches. 

See vehicle approaching from the other direction: honk

See pedestrian: honk

Approach curve in road: honk

Approach intersection: honk

Green light: honk

Red light: honk continuously
*Note: This helps the light turn green faster and pleases your fellow drivers.

Shift gears: honk

See animal in or near road: honk

Roundabout/traffic circle: honk the entire way around

Arrive in general vicinity of destination: honk

Visual confirmation of destination: honk

Arrive at destination: honk

Before turning car off: honk

After turning car off: honk

Remember, the lane markings are mere suggestions- no one actually follows them.  Buses will always yield to rickshaws.  And speed limits are for losers.  Time for a road trip!

I Like Dogs

Maybe I'm crazy, but I really freaking like dogs.  Spending time with dogs always makes me happy.  Always.  How is that possible?  I don't even know any people that I always  feel happy to spend time with. 

There are so many other things in my life with the potential to make me as ridiculously happy as I feel when I'm around dogs.  But they don't. 
Spending time with kids?  Nah. 
Spending time with a boyfriend?  Occasionally. 
Cats?  Sometimes.*
French Fries? Frequently.
Dogs?  Always. 

Whether it's my own dogs, shelter dogs, street dogs (good gracious, do I love the street dogs in India), sick dogs, healthy dogs, young, old, clean, smelly, etc. dogs will always make me happy. 
 

And I'd like to think that I've made a few dogs pretty happy, too.

*Relax.  I'm half kidding about cats.  They generally make me pretty damn happy, too.

India - The Moment

The first post on my experiences in India. 

I’ve thought long and hard about this.  I don’t want The Bumpy Road to be a travel blog (although, I’m in the middle of a three month trip abroad so it's going to inevitably have a travel blog tone at times) nor do I want this to be a bitch-about-the-stupid-thing-that-happened-to-me-today blog.   

So I’m just going to post my favorite pictures and tell the story behind each picture. 

There it is, "the moment."

After a week of bouncing around chaos in Hong Kong and New Delhi and questioning why on earth I thought it was a good idea to leave the peacefulness (and glorious summer weather) of Portland for three months, I finally arrived in Udaipur. 

As I sat on a rooftop watching the sun set over this familiar city, I was flooded with warm, fuzzy feelings and remembered why I came back to India. 

Travel forces me to leave my comfort zone.  Upon arrival in a new place, abroad or in the US, I'm bombarded with the unfamiliar- everything looks, sounds, smells, feels, is  different.  I am made to feel on edge, uptight, confused, angry, delirious.  If the weather is hot, all those feelings are magnified (I am not graceful in hot weather, never have been, never will be). 

But then something magical happens.  I hate to use the word "magical" but it's really the only way to describe it.  All of a sudden, I feel relaxed.  And content.  And settled.  Sometimes it happens within a few minutes or hours of getting to a new place, sometimes it takes weeks, or even months.  But when that moment comes, there's nothing else like it.  I live for that moment.  And spinning through the chaos to get to that moment is so worth it.  

The Most Fabulous Travel Quotes

Let me just throw this out there:  I'm a sucker for quotes.  Yeah, I know all the usual gripes about quotes that they're usually taken out of context or attributed to the wrong people.  But there is something about a good quote that makes me feel like I'm bursting with contentment. 

Here are a few of my favorite travel quotes.  Enjoy. 

 “The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” – Samuel Johnson

 “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber 

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux

 “Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” – Pat Conroy

“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” – Rudyard Kipling 

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

So I Guess I'm Blogging Now...

Yup.  Life has officially come to this.  I'm a blogger.  Yikes! 

So why did I start this blog?  I feel as though I'm headed to a crossroads in my life.  In past year, I've moved to the other side of the country, struggled through my first year of law school, and spent a summer living and interning in India.  I've made some wonderful new friends, lost some old ones, and failed miserably in the dating world. 

But I'm not happy.  I know I'm not happy.  The thought of trudging through another year of law school sends me into a panicky tailspin... as do the thoughts of living through a second Portland winter and another failed attempt at a relationship.  So what's my deal?  How do I move past this? 

Join me on my search for happiness.  I can guarantee it'll be a bumpy road filled with highs and lows, laughter and tears, seemingly impossible decisions, and some unforgettably wonderful experiences.