NYC and Dengue

Hola Familia--
Well I wrote this about a week ago, and never sent it!

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE. Kara is in Fiji at the moment, teaching English to local kindergarteners. She had a nasty bout with Dengue Fever (DEN-gee, with a hard 'g' like 'get'), brought on by a disgusting mosquito. Can't think of a single good thing about mosquitoes...bat food, I suppose. But bats can eat other things too. Let's say NO to mosquitoes. It was basically 8 days of fever, rash, nausea, vomiting. Feeling like you'd rather die, you may know the feeling from stomach-flu. When you're away from home it's worse, I think!

But she is finished with that, and was able to eat food this week. She and a group of friends went exploring another island (Fiji is a series of beautiful islands with this crystal clear, blue water) this past weekend. Gorgeous, just like a postcard. She'll be there another few days.

9/11 happened at 10:02:14--here's a
clock from one of the rooms

MY BIRTHDAY. I was super-spoiled for my birthday this year. Frank had meetings in New York City this week, and I joined him for a couple of days. It was kind of a 9/11 trip for me, going to a photo journal museum of sorts, getting dozens of stories, photos, and memorabilia about the trajedy and recovery efforts.

Model UN

One of David's favorites
the original is at the MoMA
(Museum of Modern Art)
right now!

David was also in town that week, with his byu "Model U.N." class. The whole class spends the semester preparing for a week of activity with 3000 other college students from around the country. They come prepared to represent specific countries in U.N. discussions and goal-setting, or problem-solving sessions. BYU's countries were Italy and _______, can't remember the other one.

close to the World Trade Center

So, on my birthday we got to meet David for dinner and we all went to My Fair Lady at the Lincoln Center. I love that music! I was humming it all weekend.

TEMPLE VISIT. Saturday morning Frank and I went to a session in the Manhattan Temple. It's amazing to have the normal bustle of people on the sidewalks outside in the big city, and then you step inside and it's so peaceful.

9/11 MEMORIAL. Then we went back to the hotel and changed, and took the subway to the 9/11 memorial. It's a beautiful display at the site where the Twin Towers used to be. They have created beautiful waterfalls in the footprints of the actual buildings, and carved names of those who lost their lives into granite surrounding the waterfalls.

Well my blog time is up. Happy Friday tomorrow! Spring may even come to us in the Arctic North pretty soon :) :) :)

Kari