Quinceñera

This event started and ended pretty awkward but was awesome in between. My host dad’s sister was turning 15 so the family had the huge, traditional birthday party. My host mom had told me about it a week in advance and said that we would just go for a couple hours to be polite but she didn’t want to stay for long. I was okay with this as I knew I was going to stand out like a sore thumb. The night before, we went shopping and made “bocaditos”, which are little candies that are handed out during the party. We stayed up late Friday night working on them and then finished them on Saturday morning. This was really fun and both Sonia and Javier and I made them together.

On the day of the party, Sonia said we would go around 4:00 so during the day, I wanted to find a payphone to finally call home. We were making the bocaditos when 5 family members showed up at the house and everything became hectic. So now Sonia had more errands to run for the party and she was going to drop me off at the payphone place and come back in 20 minutes. So I couldn’t make all the calls I wanted to and the calls I did make were very expensive. We headed back home and got ready and then Javier’s stepdad was picking us up, so we were leaving by 3:00 but Ayllen’s dress wasn’t ready and neither was Sonia’s pair of pants, so we get to a church (which I didn’t know was involved) and Sonia and Ayllen waited in the car for their clothes and I was sent inside. So I participated in this whole Catholic mass by myself when Javier comes in at the end and hands me the baby and a cell phone and tells me how to use the cell phone if needed. He didn’t explain what was happening, so when the mass was over, Sonia and Javier were gone and I had their baby. Apparently they needed to go to the party venue to set up. So some family member drove me there and the party commenced. For a split second, I thought they were giving me their baby…forever.

The party was really fun, muy chevere (very cool). We had a lot of food, really yummy cake, and everyone danced the whole night. This party seemed more like a wedding reception, with various traditions like choreographed dances and the birthday girl has a little group of friends like a bridal party. They like to drink. A lot. So they get a bottle and a cup and they walk around the party pouring a cup or a shot of whatever they have and handing it to each person one-by-one. I was advised not to share this communal cup (because if 1 person has diarrhea, the whole party will have diarrhea, or more likely the only gringa at the party because she has a sensitive stomach). So I had my own cup and a beer (the national beer is called Pilsener and they make it in this huge factory near my house and sell it EVERYwhere). I danced a little bit with my host parents and with this silly old man who danced really crazy, but the most fun song was Gang Nam Style- everyone here knows the dance too, and they played it twice. 

We stayed until midnight and ended up getting home close to 1am. Funny how a couple hours turned into 9, but I really didn’t mind because it was a lot of fun. At the end, when Ayllen was asleep and Sonia was really tired from serving all the food, we sat around from 11 to 12 looking for a way home. The plan was that one of the young men was going to drive people home in his dad’s car, but all the young people got drunk and all the old people got really drunk. So we were looking for sober people for so long! And we ended up just calling a cab. Sonia and Javier apologized profusely but I still really didn’t mind because at this point, people had started making drunk speeches and walking around leaning on each other and being silly. Sonia and Javier ask a lot about if things are the same at home and they asked about the party. I was telling them that the style of the party is quite different but the results are pretty much exactly the same. Partying is pretty universal.

Now it’s Sunday morning and we all got to sleep in! Now I’m going to see if I can help with breakfast. I don’t know what we’re doing today but I’m sure it will be awesome, as usual.

Thank you for reading and thank you for partying.

Chels

 The party tent

 A recuerdo de la fiesta

A few photos

 A cat that lives at the training center.

 A volunteer who caught a chicken

 Me being a kid, playing on the tire swing at the training center

The view from the roof of the training center

 More training center

 My room at my host family´s house. Dolphin bedspread and view of an avocado tree

Cows I moo at every time I walk home from school

El Mercado Ofelia

One of our training classes is called Language and Culture. We assigned ourselves to different levels for the first week (I assigned myself to beginner) and then had an interview with the training managers to determine our actual level. I tested intermediate medium, which is much better than I thought, but I need to be at intermediate high by the end of training, so I still have work to do. The hardest part is that I understand when others talk, I just cannot recall words in Spanish when trying to explain something. But lucky for me, that’s what Language and Culture class is for. 

So our lesson this week was how to bargain and buy things at the market. Each language level group split up and went to a different market. We went to a free trade market just north of Quito called Mercado Ofelia. It’s cheaper because everything is wholesale and direct from the distributor/grower. We saw all the different fruits that are only in Ecuador and we saw lots and lots of animal parts. There was one area with all the meat that was indoors that smelled so strong, I almost lost my almuerzo. There is also a large area with live animals to buy, including guinea pigs, bunnies, and thousands of chickens. A guinea pig is about $8 and a chicken about $12. The only thing I bought was some blackberries which my host mom used for juice the next morning- it was soooo good. There is an Ecuadorian price and a foreigner price for everything. For me, the “mora” (blackberries) cost $1 for a pound, for my facilitator, they were $0.90. So I got them for $0.90 with his help. I’m terrible at bargaining in English, much worse in Spanish. I’ll probably just pay the gringa price when I’m on my own.

Awesome lesson. Good day. I’ll definitely be shopping at the markets when I’m out on my own rather than the stores (SuperMaxi and MegaMaxi) which are in the center of each city and much more expensive, with less culture.

<3 Chels

Mercado Ofelia

Went to the market today. This is all I have time to upload right now but HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY EAT THIS ADORABLE LITTLE CREATURES?!

to be continued...

4 Seasons in One Day

I got sunburnt this morning (I now have a watch tan. Real cute. ) and it rained on me this afternoon as I walked home in a jacket. I got home and exclaimed about this ridiculous weather to my host mom and her answer was simply, “Bienvenidos a Ecuador. Cuatro estaciones en un dia.” She explained that everywhere I go, I need to wear sunblock and bring a jacket. Everyday. I opened my curtains, I’m waiting for snow.

I find myself thinking in Spanish now. I’m not sure if this is the road to being bilingual or if this is temporary insanity caused by my preoccupation with learning the language. New words, phrases, and customs are constantly at the forefront of my mind to the point of obsession.

We visited a school today to observe the English classes, but it was a military academy, so the environment is different than our future sites. The kids were hilarious! And so cute. They seemed very nervous with us watching, I’m really going to make an effort to make the students feel more comfortable when I’m in my permanent site at my school. One of the kids walked up to a volunteer and said “what’s your name?” (in English) the volunteer responded with his name and asked for the student’s name, the student said “thank you” J This is going to be fun.

Talk at you soon.

<3 Chels

The Important Things

Warning: this moment of reflection came to me while in the cold shower. It is cliché and simple, but I can’t stop thinking about it ever since my change in scenery.

I need to meet my program group at the park tomorrow instead of the school. The park is in the opposite direction and I haven’t been to this area yet. There is no iPhone in my pocket/purse, which will provide the answers at my fingertips, so how do I navigate the world? There is no access to Google or Mapquest and Jebus knows I can’t figure it out on my own. So I ask. My host dad drew me a map. People become your resources. Human interaction replaces technology.

I eat at least 2 fresh fruits every day, and “meriendas” from scratch, made with love and care. Baby Ayllen (correct spelling) gets thousands of “besos”, and has just 3 little toys. Each volunteer has learned more from their families than they could from class. We’ve had more conversations about food and our families than politics and religion. Of course, there are bad people out there too, but our families and neighbors watch out for us. We venture out of our safety net in the morning, each to his own job, and regroup and eat together, then sit at the table for hours, together. The birds sing a different song here. It is in these circumstances that it is easier to remember what’s important. For example, in a cold shower, you quickly realize which parts are the most important to clean. (My recommendation: airplane shower- under the wings and the rudder.)

Obviously, the third world has its pitfalls but I can’t help but wonder how much better off we’d be if we were all “underdeveloped”. It can be a pure and simple life. In an ideal world.

Thank you for reading. And thank you for caring about the important things.

Chels

Back to School

I forgot how to be a student. Training seems hard but it’s no different than when I would spend a day in class. We learn so much in a day about the language and Ecuadorian culture and about teaching and the school system here.

It was fun to hear about everyone’s host families. I feel very fortunate that my family is young and fun. Some families don’t leave the house much. Though, they have internet… But in a way, I’m glad that I don’t. I don’t have the temptation of spending a lot of my time on the computer when I’m here to learn and help. I just wish I could call home. Javier gave me his SIM card to try in my phone but it didn’t work.

Embarrassing story #2: I can NOT, for the life of me, figure out the shower. As soon as I got to the house, one of my first questions was about hot water (after asking if I can put toilet paper in the toilet- no). They said “oh yes! We have hot water all day!” so we walked into the bathroom so they could demonstrate how to use the faucet. They have a little contraption attached to the shower head, which runs on electricity (which is a little disconcerting as the wires are only covered by electrical tape and surrounded by water). Sonia advised me, “cuando baja la luz, calienta el agua” (“when the light dims, the water is getting hot”). No. I have tried everything. And I have taken 3 cold showers. It’s possible that they truly think the water is hot in comparison to how frigid it usually is.

Funny misunderstanding: My host family thinks that all Americans love pizza, that they eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She said that the pizzerias here have 2-for-1 Tuesdays so she insisted we get pizza tomorrow so that I don’t miss home too much. I will take whatever she gives me as tonight’s meal was AWESOME. She made paella with shrimp and crawfish (which they call shrimp of the river). And some kind of hot water with herbs (yerbabuena) which is supposed to be good for digestion.

Funny baby: Eileen has named me “Beebee”. She has only started saying this word since I’ve been here and when I left this morning, she was looking around every corner saying “Beebee?” Her parents said she has her own language and you have to go along with it because she is la princesa de la casa. Her 1^st birthday is in March. I’m thinking of getting her a little purse because she is always trying to dig through mine. (Just like Cbaby) I wonder how difficult it will be to explain that Colton’s first birthday was monster themed.

Time to do homework. Womp wahhhh

Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring.

Cdub signing off.

Un Poquito de Quito

My host mom insisted that I rest and sleep in (I got up at 8, people rise with the sun here, usually very early) because I seemed tired yesterday (probably just overwhelmed) and then she said she would take me to the town market. Sonia prepared a huge breakfast, as usual. There was a huge portion of cantaloupe (I did not like this in the States, but I’ve been forcing myself to eat everything here, and I admit it is better. The fruit here is amazing, and I usually don’t even like fruit. I could live off of la pina jaguayana). We had a dish called molita, which is potatoes, cheese, onions, and butter, with a fried egg on top, which was really good but she put a mountain on my plate! And Sonia made a juice (they make all of their juices from fresh fruit) out of tomate de arbol (tree tomato) which I was not a fan of but she told me that people drink it to lose weight so I sucked it down (I can already feel my ass jiggling from all the fried foods they’ve been giving me). And instant coffee, which is much better here!

So we went to the central market here in Tumbaco and Sonia showed me a million different fruits and vegetables that I’ve never seen before. Sonia bought 5 or 6 for me to try. Today, I tried the tomate de arbol (yuck) and reinaclaudia, which is sort of like a nectarine but really juicy and not very sweet and surprisingly good. The market is overwhelming for me, I definitely need to improve my Spanish before going on my own. And the buses here are NUTS! They don’t come to a complete stop, you have to run/briskly walk and jump on! And they’re packed (which was common in SF, so I don’t mind so much) but they drive really crazy and fast and they don’t even close the door. It’s kinda fun. In a scary way.

When we got back from the market, we set our stuff down and picked up Javier and went to the capital! It was awesome and an unexpected surprise! It’s over an hour away by bus so I thought I’d have to wait until at least next weekend and maybe go with some other volunteers, but my host parents love showing me around, they’re really great people. We went to Old Town Quito and did a tour of La Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus which houses the remains of a famous Ecuadorian saint, Santa Marianita, whose miracle was keeping earthquakes from hitting Quito for the rest of her life. There is also this really cool contraption in the church with cajitas (little boxes) and the Padres would put their secrets in the boxes, it could be money or letters or jewelry, and their secrets would be safe because legend has it that if you open a cajita, your tongue would fall off. (At least I think this is what they were telling me in Spanish lol). I was tempted to try it but it would be severely detrimental to my job to lose my tongue...

Then we ate in an area of Old Town Quito called La Ronda, which is where all the tourists stay. I had a dish called Llapingacho which is sausage and a fried egg and tortillas made of potatoes and cheese. It was pretty awesome but the aji got me again (the spicy stuff), it looked different so I tried it. IT WAS HOT. While we were waiting for the bill, a guitarist walked in and started playing “Hey, Jude” by the Beatles. I pretended my mom was sending me a big hug from far away.

I love baby Eileen. All day I try to make her laugh. She is a very happy baby but she’s studying me because I look different, she just stares and cocks her head to the side. I’ve figured her out though, she likes a good game of hide and seek, and she likes when I pretend to eat her hands (because she always eats her hands). It’s really nice having her around because it’s something that her parents and I can bond over, I talk about my nephew a lot, and we always have something to laugh about- ella es muy chistosa.

Today was another really good day. I think I’m falling in love. Something bad has to happen soon, right? Cosmic balance? Anyway, I’m really hoping to be able to go to an internet café tomorrow. My host parents are dropping me off and picking me up at “school” (training at the compound) so I don’t get lost J So hopefully I can stop in and at least send some emails tomorrow and finally post these to my blog.

Sending you my love.

Chels

Mi Familia Ecuatoriana

We received lessons on culture and customs from our facilitators and learned that it is not acceptable for women to get drunk (seriously?!), it’s rude to take off your shoes in the house (what?!), and your family will pile mounds of food on your plate and be mad if you don’t finish it and accept seconds (okay, this is just like my mom). Needless to say, I was pretty worried about fitting in, but the Peace Corps staff did a really good job of advising us on the best way to avoid awkward situations.

My house is cute and small with a big gate out front and lots of fruit trees out back, including an avocado tree right outside my window. My host mom is Sonia, her husband is Javier, and their 10 month-old baby is Eileen, who is cute as a button and has curly red hair. Sonia is the nicest lady in the world and is pretty young and less traditional. She grew up on the coast in Esmeraldas (near the Colombian border) and worked in Spain for 2 years so she is pretty progressive. Her husband is very quiet but smiles a lot and seems very nice. Javier’s mother, Zoila, came over (I’m not sure if this was to check out the gringuita or to watch the baby) and she does not speak directly to me, but seems pleasant. They were told that their volunteer would know little to no Spanish (probably because I placed myself in the beginner level) so they were happily surprised that I could understand them somewhat and they could ask me questions slowly.

Embarrassing story #1: I was trying to ask if it was okay to boil water when I needed to, but could not, for the life of me, remember how to say “to boil” (hervir) so I had to walk out to the kitchen and act out what I was trying to say. My mom and grandma giggled with me a lot but when I walked back in my room, I heard my mom and grandma talking about me and my grandma said “que coraje” (what courage). My heart swelled.

I attempted to help my host mom with lunch (lunch is the largest meal here) and she let me chop some onions and lettuce and she made the rest of a delicious meal of menestra (beans), rice, chicken, and salad with avocado (she asked Javier to go get avocados from the store because I mentioned that I liked them). She also made fresh squeezed orange juice, which was the best I’ve ever tasted.

I am so happy today. This was one of my biggest worries, really forcing myself out of my comfort zone, and it’s been great so far. But, of course, being here does make me miss my own family, whom I still haven’t been able to call. No one will ever replace you guys.

My host mom said she would take me to an internet café tomorrow so hopefully I’ll be able to post these and call home. (My old thumbdrive wasn’t working and I couldn’t find my new one.)

<3 Chels

A Beautiful Compound (with barbed wire)

SO. MUCH. STUFF. IN. MY. BRAIN. RIGHT. NOW.

First day of class. It was just like kindergarten. The staff babied us, but we needed it, and we did our best to take in more than our brains had room for. We got about 5 hours of sleep and woke up to hard boiled eggs, bread, homemade cheese, coffee, and fresh juice. There's a lot of pulp in the juice here, which normally I would spit out, but I'm doing my best to eat everything without bias and it's not that bad. (I even ate melon! yuck!)

We started with the Peace Corps Medical Office, which basically means "let's talk about diarrhea and then we're going to shoot you with needles". Needless to say, they are not my favorite people on staff. Luckily, I only had to get the first of the rabies series (yeah, stray dogs. 'nuff said). Then we had a snack break and it was Ecuadorian pizza! With real Coca-Cola! Holy geez- this was to die for. Then we got a talk from Special Agent, Chris from the US Embassy. I'm pretty sure this guy's title comes from his specialization in scaring the diarrhea out of you! (sorry, gross, but if I had to hear it all day, you do too) He told us pretty much every worst case scenario and gave us suggestions on how to get out of it, and then advised that all efforts were probably futile. So now I'm suspicious of the housekeeper, sweet little Anita, and the security guard, whose job is to protect us. 

Lunch was rice, some kind of beef strips, some sorta pasta with no flavor, and really yummy veggies. We had flan for dessert and more pulpypoopy orange juice. Everything was really good but I decided to be brave and add "aji" which is a hot sauce offered with all meals. IT WAS HOT. I will not be eating it again. But I ate everything and my belly was happy. Then we had language and culture class. I signed myself up for the beginner class because I haven't been keeping up with the little Spanish we've heard, but I did well. Learned a lot. We had a snack break which consisted of coffee and banana splits... I said NO, GRACIAS.

We were done studying at 5:00pm so we had free time until dinner at 7. Some people played soccer, some played basketball, and a few of us explored the grounds. This place is a huge compound and it is absolutely breathtaking. We have chickens in the back and 4 little dogs and an orange cat. (I took a lot of pictures of the cat, but didn't pet him since I only have 1 of my rabies shots :) There are sprawling fields of grass and jungle gyms (including a fort you can climb up to in a tree!) The weather has been perfect, sunny (the sun feels hotter here) a few clouds, breezy, but cold at night. There are flowers everywhere and you can hear birds singing ALL the time! Especially in the morning. It's like paradise. Though I am excited to move to a host family's house in 2 days so I can practice more Spanish and make Ecuadorian friends, I'm tempted to never want to leave the beauty and safety of the training center. 

A few of us have a plan to walk into town tomorrow night after class to use the internet cafe, so I'll post these blogs and try to call home, or at least email. Wishing all my favorite people could be here to experience this with me. 

As always, thank you for reading. Thank you for caring.

xoxo

Chels

Travelbonanza

(the following was written on January 17th, finally found the interwebs)

Travel.

It's a blessing and a nightmare. I'm so grateful to be able to hop on a plane and go anywhere in the world, but paired with the crowds of people and the often unorganized airlines, I end up feeling like a rat in a maze. 

We arrived at JFK at about 5:00am after less than 3 hours of sleep. Some of the group slept on the airport floor, some on the chairs. Some played games, some split in pairs. (Okay Dr. Seuss) I played bananagrams (not as bad as actual bananas) and chatted with the other volunteers and ate a nutritious, delicious airport breakfast. Our flight left around 9:00am, headed to Miami, where we had a 3 hour layover. By this time, we were really good at killing time. One of the guys in the group had his 25th birthday and said this is exactly how he thought it would be- heading to a foreign country. So a couple girls bought him a cupcake and we sang to him. Hopefully our last time being loud, boisterous Americans in public.

I slept like a baby through most of both flights, earning me the title of "champion of sleep". I woke up for food, which may or may not have been worth waking up for, and I woke up when the Captain said we would soon be making our descent. Flying in over Quito was exactly how I pictured it. It was about 9:00pm so it was very dark but there were thousands of lights, lots of hills, and all those pesky emotions, only this time, they were mostly positive. My cell phone worked! So I was able to text my family that I had arrived safely. Though, I won't have internet for awhile, so I'm saving this to my computer to post later.

Then, we arrived at baggage claim... DUN DUN DUNNN! No bags. They lost all 50 (2 for each of the 25 volunteers). Some of them would be arriving on the next flight at 10:45pm and some would be coming the next evening. Each of us had to check with the attendant to find out our fate. Both of my bags were coming that night and the Peace Corps staff offered to take us to the Training Center so that we could start eating and get to bed and they would stick around to pick up the bags.

The bus ride to the Training Center was about 1 hour. I spent most of it looking out the window, trying hard to absorb everything we passed. When we arrived, there was a meal of humitas (cornbread) or tamales with tea. The tamales had chicken, peppers, and hardboiled egg! They were very good! The Training Center is a converted high school and we are staying in classrooms that have bunkbeds and 2 bathrooms with warm water showers! (I was happy about the "hot" water, which turned out to be lukewarm, but manageable). I had excitement-induced insomnia and fell asleep about an hour after going to bed to the sounds of stray dogs barking (there are a lot!). Now we're up before 7:00am and we woke up to our alarms, but also the faint sound of roosters. Awesome. The countryside is gorgeous and we have a huge window in the room. I'm going down to get breakfast now and start training. I'll try to write again tonight but of course, my computer is dying so maybe I'll write by hand the old-fashioned way.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring.

<3 Chels

Orientation

SIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHH (of relief)

Orientation was great! They gave us a lot of information regarding safety and security and clearer travel instructions. But, the best thing about today is that there are 24 other volunteers here. We've done icebreakers (no trustfalls, unfortunately) and had a lot of time to talk about our anxieties and aspirations and, (as I should have guessed) we are all on the same page. Everyone seems very nice and more normal than I expected (not a single pair of Birkenstocks. No offense, Dad), which is pretty awesome because I'll be spending almost every minute of my next 3 months with these people and then some of them will be a big part of my support network for the full 2 years. We're all eating pizza in the lobby (fitting as this is our last American meal).

And! I've been so focused on all that's going on and absorbing information, I haven't had time to think about all these pesky emotions.

Tomorrow we're meeting in the lobby at 4:00am to get on the shuttles to head to NY. Flight leaves at 9:00am so it should be a lovely 4 hours in JFK. Then layover in Miami for 3 hours then Quito-bound. We'll be arriving in the capital at about 8:00pm. It'll be a long travel day but I can already feel phantom butterflies as we approach the city at night.

I may not be able to post for at least a few days. We're staying in the training center in Tumbaco for 3 days and then we'll be sent to live with our host families. I'll try to find internet access then and let you know how our "arrival retreat" went. I'll be wearing the same pants and not shaving for 3 days. So cute.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring.

Chels

And So it Begins.

I'm sitting in the Hilton hotel in New York, living in the lap of luxury, anxiously awaiting the next steps. Tomorrow is orientation and then Wednesday we'll be heading down to Ecuador. I made it from JFK to the hotel via Air Train, shuttle, and my aching feet. Test number one: passed.

I have felt more emotions in the last couple of days than sanity would allow. This morning, during tearful goodbyes at the airport, my heart felt so heavy, I thought it might be in my feet (heavy boots, as some call it). I self-diagnosed my neuroses as mini panic attacks for the last week as I was preparing and packing. I was worried about the size, weight, and content of my bags but I met a few other volunteers today who have similar burdens. (If you're reading this, you probably know me pretty well and you know that I tend to worry too much for no reason.) Through all of the stress of getting here and leaving home, there is an excitement hiding, waiting to get past the difficult part. The best way I can explain it is to imagine that tomorrow is Christmas morning, but you've never had Christmas before, you've only heard about it, and also it's going to be your last day on Earth. Then multiply that feeling times a million. Okay, I'm exaggerating.

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Q: What made you decide to join the Peace Corps?

    A: Simply put, I have to. I have had the most beautiful life so far. I had an amazing childhood and never wanted for anything. I have the most supportive, loving family anyone could ask for. I was handed my education on a silver platter. I have always had the opportunity to work, most of the time, 2 jobs. I don't understand why I deserve all of this while there are people who are faced with an eternal struggle and still do not receive half the benefits of life I have already received in 26 years. If I don't at least attempt to make something a little easier for someone else, I don't think I can feel like a whole person.

2. Q: What do you hope to gain from your experience?

    A: My light at the end of the tunnel is the feeling that I actually made a tangible difference. Of course, I am idealistic and maybe naive, but if I wasn't, I wouldn't be Chelsea.

On the same note, I wrote this a couple months ago to help me keep my feet on the ground. This is my attempt at being simultaneously realistic and optimistic:

A 2 Year Affirmation

You will be lonely.

But you will know you are loved.

You will be scared.

But you will have faith in your ability.

You will be nervous.

But you will remember a time when you were sure.

You will feel different.

But you will know we are all the same.

You will get lost.

But you will be found.

You will be transient.

But you will know a home.

You will be curious.

And you will learn a lifetime of lessons.

You will be selfless.

And you will feel the rewards in your heart.

You will be surrounded.

And you will create a global family.

You will teach and you will learn.

You will understand.

You will love.

I will probably be repeating this affirmation to myself in the mirror daily (possibly hourly) (I may have already done it a few times). And I will also look to the ever-inspiring words of my first love, Jason Mraz: if you have time, check out his song 93 Million Miles. The lyrics are my life.

If you'd like to give me some words of encouragement (please?) or ask any questions, comment here and I'll try to keep up whenever I have internet access. 

Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring.

All my love,

Chelsea