Today was our first day in the beehives, and I have to confess there wasn’t a huge difference between these Africanized killer bees and my bees in Michigan. A little bit, yes: 1. The bees here are constantly divebombing your head. It’s kind of nice, incidentally, since it creates a breeze around your face, but [...]

Don’t get too excited. We aren’t allowed to leave the Sao Paolo Airport. We found out yesterday that our layover wouldn’t be three hours but fourteen due to scheduling issues. This has its ups and downs. For example, we spent a good chunk of time as a group studying the native language that we’re going [...]

I’m sitting in a hotel in Miami digesting the heap of Cuban food I just ate with about twenty of my new best friends. Let’s recap the day: 8:30 – Mom and I eat most of the last of the peaches. We leave the last few as “condolence peaches” for when I am gone. 9:15 [...]

People keep asking. So this is how packing is going! This was actually a few hours ago.  It is way better now and I mostly have things into my suitcases. I think – think being the operative word here – that I will be able to bring almost everything I wanted to bring. No, that’s [...]

Leaving soon has made my already scatter-brained self more hasty than normal. For example, I forgot to wish my beautiful, amazing, and talented mother a happy birthday via the blog on Monday (I did wish her happy birthday several times in real life, but if it’s not on the internet, does it really exist?). She [...]

In which I describe my interactions with 7th graders, and neither Justin Beiber nor Stephenie Meyer books are brought up.

Also, mini-gourds were such an exciting and integral part of the day that I felt a desperate need to have a separate post completely dedicated to photos of them. The task was to go to the upper barn, get some gourds, and bring them to the lower barn. Those of you who have hung out [...]

Today I rolled out of bed and went to the farm with my mom and two of my cousins. I should mention that they’re twelve and fourteen years younger than me, so they’re actually more like nieces sometimes. I didn’t take fantastic photos by any means (we were getting our hands dirty sorting apples, picking [...]

I was going to do a big photo post, but then I realized I’d already done a decent job uploading photos at my sister’s flickr page. Just look there, kay? I highly recommend looking at them in sets so you can get the real order.

A lot of people have been asking me lately whether I’m thinking about the Peace Corps every five seconds. The answer is yes and no. Jess’s wedding is on Sunday, and I’ve put off a lot of things I need to do for “after the wedding.” When I do think about Paraguay, I try not [...]

I added a new photos in my design section. The most notable addition is probably The Mushroom Bag, a gift for a friend that I made in a marathon sewing session yesterday, but there are a few more things mostly in the “Other” section. Filling out Peace Corps paperwork has been the other major activity [...]

I, ReBecca Sonday, am accepting my invitation to serve as a Beekeeping Extensionist Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay, departing September 29th, 2010. I hereby certify I have read the Volunteer Assignment, online welcome book, and Core Expectations and agree to abide by the policies therein. Cheers, ReBecca Sonday

….is the same music that plays in your head when the half gallon jar of honey you were lifting out of the sink breaks. Three pounds literally down the drain. The other three that we managed to save will be given back to the bees. They can clean tiny slivers of glass out of it [...]

Allegedly with an Invitation to the Peace Corps (like the one I was notified on Friday that I would be receiving), an envelope of epic proportions overflowing with information about your country and job assignment is sent to your door as soon as can be in an express package. This probably has, in fact, happened [...]

Life is dominated by sewing, wedding planning, and visiting friends. I made a ton of presents for bridesmaids and other people helping out with the wedding, as well as my sister’s reception dress this week. Now I need to make MY dress, but it’ll have to wait until after a little vacation with my friend [...]

Last Thursday, Mom and I checked out a bunch of books on tape from the library, packed up the car, and left for Georgia. You might be wondering what would bring my mother, a delicate northern flower, and me, a Great Lakes mermaid, to the hot humid city of Kennesaw (in July, no less), and I [...]

The past week has been the quintessential Casa de Sonday vacation: intense amounts of food; specifically blueberries, tons of friends (Jesse for several days, Dov and Oren, Rashel, many others), beekeeping galore, and several swims in the lake. I’ve been working my butt off getting ready to drive to Atlanta (hereafter referred to as ‘Hotlanta’) [...]

Well hello! These past few weeks I’ve been on what could be called the best route ever: the Circle Loop around Lake Superior. The greatest feature of Michigan’s environment, Lake Superior (or Gitchi-Gamee, Lac Superieur, the Inland Ocean, whichever name you want) is the largest hunk of freshwater in the world by surface area, the [...]

I know I haven’t been updating much, but it’s because there hasn’t been anything to say. And there won’t be for a bit. A companion and I are traveling to Canada for a couple of weeks and I don’t anticipate having much of an internet connection, so expect something around the 15th.

This state gets a lot of flack. It’s in flyover country. The mildest of its winters seem to last years and years. Half of it is ridiculously flat, and the other half seems to have a pine tree infestation. Quite frankly, people who didn’t grow up in Michigan rarely understand it, along with a whole [...]