Hello, There! आप कैसे हैं? (aap kaise hain?) ازيك؟ (izzayak?) ¿Cómo estás? How are you?
How are you? I love this
question, and I love being able to ask it in a multitude of ways. I’m a
learner, and a lover of languages, and those two combined means that I love learning
languages! But, the primary purpose of languages is to get to know people, so
the primary question is always, How are you doing, other person that I could
learn so much about?
But, this is about getting to
know me. I’m an American, originally from Oklahoma, though I consider Vermont
to be a second home, as I spend a lot of time there with family. I’m a student,
pursing an International Security Studies degree from the University of
Oklahoma, after a long and windy road to get there. I like long and windy
roads, and I’m usually pausing conversation to ask people more detail about how
they wound up where they are today. I think it’s important to know a little
background of how they came to be here.
(Myself and My son, Personal Photo, June 2016 at Soda Lake, CA)
My background is that I graduated high school,
and jumped out of land-locked Oklahoma, bound for India. I stuck around there,
and Nepal, for 2.5 years before voyaging over to Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia
and Indonesia (though the apartment was in Indonesia, so we were based there).
I visited Dubai, Istanbul and Amsterdam along the way, and finally routed my
way back to the states. I traversed Guatemala and Mexico for a time, and am
currently learning Arabic at OU with the hopes to get to the Middle East
eventually. The fascinating thing in all of this, is that no matter where I go,
my American name never seems to work: Danielle. It’s masculine, it’s odd, it
doesn’t sound right to the ears, they all tell me. Try Dani, or Daniella, or
just pick something else close to it, are the suggestions that I get. So,
inevitably, my name changes, and I adjust. My most recent name change has been
to that of Mama, as I now have a 10 month old son who is an absolute blast.
Although, he can’t say my name just yet, so my husband, Jacob, and I just
practice it over a hundred times a day with him, it seems.
Personal Photo of our dog, Dax, from Christmas 2012
Rounding out our little
Oklahoma home, is our extra needy, 90 lb Velcro dog, a weimaraner named Dax.
So, AaJao, or come over here! (in Hindi), and explore a little bit about me and tell me a little bit about yourself as well. And, let's enjoy our stories along the way!
