Current Music: Elton John - "I'm Still Standing" (yes, again)

I'm having one of those 'life is going on without me' moments... I just chatted with Mom and there was a lot of 'cousin news' (yesterday was Thanksgiving so they all got together). I have a pretty big family - a total of 15 cousins if you include the non-biological ones - and one of them got married on 19 September. She's one of the cousins I see most often, only a year or two older than me, but I've been over here so I didn't get to go to the wedding or even meet the guy. And Mom just told me today that she's pregnant (my cousin, not Mom!) and due in June. I'll still be here, so I'll miss it. For those of you who don't know, I worked (volunteered) for 4 years in the newborn nursery of a hospital in Jacksonville, and S (my cousin) will probably have her baby at that same hospital so if I really felt like pulling strings, I probably could. But I'll still be here, so I'll miss all the excitement. I love babies... I hope it's a girl.

Further in the 'cousin news' - not so nice - one of my non-biological cousins (half-step-cousin) committed suicide. I haven't seen him in a long time because he moved out of state - I don't even remember him all that well, if I'm honest - but he was only 23 and was married with a 3-year-old daughter. Worked with computers and seemed to be happy. So what happened??? Anyway, I didn't know him well at all, and the funeral's going to be in Texas (where he lived)... but I still sort of feel like I should be home... you know?

Anyway, so that was the cousin news. Apparently Thanksgiving went well; it's never been one of my favorite holidays so I don't much care about missing it, but it was at my dad's oldest sister's house so there would have been mac and cheese. :) Actually, if I had been home, I probably would have ridden up to South Carolina with my grandparents and sister, to go see my aunt and uncle (Mom's side). I would have liked that too. But you know what? Thanksgiving last year was the first time I was ever in Holland. Wow. It's been a whole year. I've come a really long way since then...

And I can't believe I've been here 3 1/2 months. It doesn't really feel that long. I guess because a lot's been happening. Let's see, timeline...

August: got here, moved in, got acclimated, broke up with D, bought a bike and the foldout couch and all the 'amenities' I have now...
September: started school at UU, started school at Boswell, started meeting people in the building and from class
October: had a routine, was settled in, went to Auschwitz, saw snow, met P
November: (now) started a new 'block' of classes
December: will be here on Monday... Boswell will end, Sinterklaas will happen :) I can pick up my residence permit, Mom and Dad and Catie will come... and a lot of my friends from this building will go home.

And there's still a long way to go. I'm not sorry - I'm actually starting to feel extremely at home here, maybe because I had to work to 'make a place' for myself here - but I'm missing out on a whole chunk of life at home. One cousin died. Another will be born. My sister will turn 17 and will finish her junior year of IB - the roughest year. My car will be a year older. All that on-campus construction at the Reitz is finished. My linguistics coordinator is retiring. The Coliseum is gone and the new Arena had its first concert - Elton John - last week. The Jaguars are playing a season of which I will miss every game. My room is being renovated. My aunt and uncle (and favorite little cousins, age 10 and 7) are finally moving back to Jacksonville now that their military service is up. I'm missing a lot of stuff.

But then I think... 99% of the population never gets the kind of experience that I'm having right now. I've seen and done things they don't even know exist. I speak a language that under 20 million people know. I've seen snow. I've been to Auschwitz. I've mastered the public transportation system. Sinterklaas is just around the corner. And I'll be here for New Year's, and Koninginnedag, and Linde, David, and Daan's birthdays. Alette will be home from Mexico in a week. I'm going to give English lessons - my first TESL experience. I'll (hopefully) see Marco Borsato live in June. I've got another seven months to see how things play out with P. And there are so many things I still want to do... visit France and Spain, drive a stick-shift, see snow (for the second time) and maybe go skiing...

I'm really lucky.