How to Stop Time?

When I was on leave last year from my university position, the days passed by slowly, allowing me to enjoy each of them as they came and went. Now that I have been back at work for four months, I miss those times.

On the last day of my 14-month leave in early August 2010, I wrote this…

I am sitting in my rented cottage in Negril, waiting for the driver, Leroy, to come pick me and my suitcase up. From where I am sitting, I can see abundant greenery – palm trees, ackee trees, and lots of small green bushes. The sky is clear, with just a few clouds floating overhead. It is a beautiful, calm morning in Negril. Negril is a truly fabulous piece of Mother Earth, and I have been very fortunate to spend these past two and a half months here.

It is hard to believe this year is over, just as it was hard to believe that I actually was going to do this – take my family to live in four different countries over a period of 14 months. When I applied for the funding, I thought I would never actually get it. When I heard I had been awarded the Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Award, I still was not sure how I would pull it off. But, I did. We did – my husband and my three children survived all of our escapades. Survived, and even thrived.

As I am apprehensive about returning, I have to remind myself that I was apprehensive about leaving. Life is like that – things always seem different when they are actually happening. When faced with new situations, we adapt. Once we adapt, we just start living, day to day. Once life starts happening, we just get into the rhythm.

Looking back on this, I fear I allowed myself to get into the rhythm perhaps a bit too much. How can we enjoy life when it seems to fly by so quickly? Time, of course, cannot be stopped, but, surely there is a way to enjoy life more, to take pause each day and enjoy each passing moment.

The semester is over for me, and it has flown by all too quickly. I am now packing my bags to leave Lawrence for four weeks. During this time that I am on the road – in Washington, DC with my family, in Miami with friends, and in Negril, alone – I will reflect on how quickly life is passing me by and do my best to enjoy each passing moment.

Perhaps I will even feel inspired to post a blog entry about it….

Until then,
Tanya

Children's Museum in Kansas City: Wonderscope

This past weekend, I took the kids to Wonderscope in Shawnee, Kansas. They had a fabulous time!

We had been members before, when my twins were six and my younger daughter was four. So, I wasn't sure if it would still be fun for my twins who are now nine. But, it definitely still was appealing to them. We arrived at Wonderscope at 1:30pm, and they still were not ready to leave when it was time to go at 5pm!

Raymi had a blast in the building section. There are these huge blue building blocks, made of a soft, light material that kids can use to construct whatever they want to. Raymi and I made a fortress, and she is pictured here guarding it.

Tatiana and Soraya spent quite a bit of time in the "Garden to Farm" room. In this room, you can pretend to plant vegetables, and then take them to market to sell. Tatiana is pictured above on the left choosing which veggies to buy. There also is a chicken coop and a barn. Soraya is pictured above on the right with the barn owl. There were about a half-dozen other kids in the room with them, and that made it fun for the kids, as they had someone else to play with.

The art room was very cool. There are tons of recycled art supplies that you can use to make whatever you want. The girls spent at least 30 minutes in that room, making pictures and gluing things on them. I even tried my hand at it, trying to re-connect with my creative side.

To top it all off, we got to see a beautiful sunset on the 40-minute drive back to Lawrence, Kansas.

A few of my favorite things about Lawrence, Kansas

View of KU from Fraser Hall

I first moved to Lawrence, Kansas in August 2005. I have lived here off and on since then, with over two full years away from Lawrence. In August 2010, I returned to Lawrence after having been away for over a year. I was not very excited about moving back. However, I have been surprised at how much I like living here again.

Here are a few of my favorite things about Lawrence, Kansas.

1) The campus.
I work at the University of Kansas. Admittedly, the view from the 7th floor of Fraser Hall, one of the highest points in Kansas, is quite majestic. The campus has large limestone buildings and plenty of green spaces. It also has some pretty cool public art.

Public Art in South Park

2) Public Art.

The picture on the left is one example of the public art on the KU campus in Lawrence. I am not sure how to describe it, but it is basically a bunch of twigs wrapped together around a huge tree. Pretty interesting, eh?

Campus is not the only place that has public art made with dead trees. The picture on the right is the spiky entrance to South Park.

Castle Tea House

3) Cool buildings.
There are also cool buildings that are not on campus. The picture on the right is the Castle Tea House. I think it is pretty cool to live a couple of blocks from a castle!




















4) No big-city hassle. A big advantage to living in a small town like Lawrence is that you do not have many of the hassles of a big city. Grocery stores are never unbearably crowded. There is almost never anyone at the Department of Motor Vehicles. And, you hardly ever need a reservation to get a nice meal. In addition, the restaurants are remarkably affordable.

Pictured right are my and my husband's $10 lunches we had at the Eldridge hotel!

Lawrence, Kansas is not so bad after all.