has lain silent for a while, thanks to the whirlwind of my final year of university and the dearth of subject material. But now, three weeks after Princeton's hectic three-day-long graduation festivities, reunions, and moving from one coast of the US back to the other, well, now I have both time and subject material.
 |
| Mom, me, and dad at Princeton Graduation |
I'm sure I could write pages and pages about this past year itself. It's been a year full of learning, hard work, stress, cooking, baking, friendship, romance, saying goodbye, saying hello, getting into running, getting out of running (for now), writing a book-length thesis, getting a poem published, figuring out where I'm off to next, discovering new passions (like theater) and re-discovering old ones (like music), learning important life-lessons, and so, so much more. Although it's no secret that I harbor dislike towards Princeton University and its pompous, self-righteous history and politics, my time there has been invaluable, as have the friendships I have made. I sincerely hope that these friendships won't drift out of my life anytime soon.
A quick side-note: for my senior thesis I translated sixty poems from seven different women poets across three different languages (Dutch, German, and French) into English. I selected these poems and poets in particular because of their reflections on the environment, human culture, and the ways in which we've shaped or are shaped by natural forces. The thesis, per my department's requirements, is accompanied by a lengthy introduction on environmental literature, the process of translation, and women in literature. It is titled
Let Us Calmly Be Grass: Environmental Poems by European Women. Do feel free to get in touch if you'd like to know more or read all or part of it. It's something that I'm admittedly proud of and would like to share with others.
Here is an *obligatory* Princeton senior thesis photo, taken after I did a reading of some of the poems accompanied by my Oma Ida who visited me in Princeton for two weeks:
Now I'm back home in California for the summer. Although I vowed all year that I would not move back home if I could avoid it (sorry mom and dad), I ultimately decided that it would be the perfect place to recuperate from a hectic year. In fact, living at home these past few weeks has meant that I've been able to spend unstructured days reading, cooking, baking, and gardening. I've also been able to go surfing numerous times already, and each time I enter the ocean, it's as if the cold saltwater rushes into my body as a reminder of one of my biggest loves. How did I survive for so long without salt on my skin, sand in my hair, and sun in my eyes?
I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Dave and Maureen for always welcoming me along for a surf session, letting me borrow your boards, and reminding me that I need the ocean in my life.
Some of you may know that I've been working towards a professional-level plant-based cooking certification this year (through Rouxbe Online Culinary Arts School). I'm almost done now, but I've had to spend these past few weeks getting in some key assignments so that I can finish on time. Below are some dishes that I've recently made:
 |
| Sautéed Mushrooms, Rice, and Cantaloupe |
 |
| Simple Tacos with Homemade Chipotle Sauce |
 |
| Raw Chocolate Tort |
And, I've revamped my sourdough bread baking! Thanks Théo for getting me into artisanal bread-baking; I'm excited to continue learning and making more complex bakes as time goes by.
The other big aspect of these past few weeks has been gardening and working on a few "landscaping" projects around our house. This includes, but is not limited to: digging/chopping/hacking a volunteer palm tree out from a small space, replanting this space with lavender, fixing pvc pipes and sprinklers, tearing out dead succulents, cacti, and a stubborn rose bush, revamping our two raised beds and planting them with young tomato plants and various seeds, and installing a
Jora composter so that we can finally stop having to throw food and compostables in the trash.
Now, I may be kind of crazy (OK, I am crazy), but I love compost. I've been working all year with Gina at Princeton's
SCRAP lab, or Sustainable Compost Research at Princeton Lab, which is just a fancy way of saying we take food scraps, add wood chips, and turn it into compost in a relatively short time span. But even before this, my mom likes to remind people that as a little girl I would sit on our backyard compost pile (this was back in Belgium, mind you) and dig for worms. Yep, I'm still that little girl who likes to dig for worms...
But I digress. I seriously think that composting is one of the ways in which we can make a direct impact on our environment. Instead of sending food scraps to the landfill, we can turn them into compost and add them back into the soil, which not only keeps the landfill a little bit emptier, but it also adds vital nutrients and bacteria back into the soil, which in turn feeds numerous creatures and plants (which is especially useful if you're trying to grow anything). Not to mention that I think it encourages people to eat more plants, which in turn positively impacts one's health and wellbeing.
 |
| Halfway Tree |
 |
| Tree Gone, Sprinklers Fixed |
 |
| Me after laboring to install the Jora Composter for two hours |
 |
| The composter's first load! |
The cool thing is, I won't have to stop doing any of these things when I leave California in a month. In fact, I'll be doing a year of service with
FoodCorps Americorps in Lakeview, Oregon, where I'll be working with the local community and schools to teach kids about food: what it is, where it comes from, how to grow/cook/prepare it, and so much more. Words can't describe how excited I am to teach kids about compost, or how to use a knife in the kitchen, or how to plant seeds.
As always, life is a journey filled with learning. Next, Patrick and I will be taking my new (to me) Subaru Forester on a roadtrip to Colorado. Stay tuned for the next update.
With love,
Helena.
Comments
Post a Comment