Contact

Liz and I met on tribe.net. I don’t recall how I came across her profile but this is the profile photo I saw there.

Here is our first conversation. I wrote:

Fri, March 12, 2004 - 3:53 PM
Hi
That's a cool picture you have there liz. Red looks like a nice contrast with your skin
color. So, what were you decorated up for?
Sam

Then Liz wrote:

Fri, March 12, 2004 - 4:14 PM
Namaste-It was New Years eve at the Om downtown and I was supposed to be fire. It
definitely felt like I was on fire after a while. Luckily I had some watery clothing that
I put on after to put it out before I turned into ash-much peace in your day-liz

Then she wrote another mail a few minutes later:

Fri, March 12, 2004 - 4:21 PM
Do you have family in India? I lived in Nepal last year and I'll be going back this
fall. That's where my true home (of many lifetimes of course) is even though I may look
like a white Irish-American girl. Acha acha... My hindi doesnt go past that. My Nepali
is fluent so I'm sure hindi won't be a problem. Shanti Shanti-liz (titalee is my
hindi-given name).

I responded [note that 'titalee' is the Hindi word for 'butterfly']:

Fri, March 12, 2004 - 5:08 PM
Namaste Butterfly,
I hardly ever use "Namaste". Only with some relatives when I visit India.
Yea, I have family there. Everyone. Well, almost everyone, a few are in different parts
of the world. I have been in in the US for about 4.5 years now.
Pretty cool, living in Nepal. I went there a loooong time ago. Have just a few memories
of that visit and those are due to photos taken at that time. Dunno when I will go back
there although I would surely like to. I like the Himalayas. Loved Kashmir when I went
there once and I go to Shimla as often as I can. I visited India in Dec-Jan recently. It's
always fun to go home.
I have no idea about Nepali. I love to talk in Hindi (with slangs, of course) but dislike
reading it. Used to suck at it in school.
So, why were you in Nepal last year? And what do you do here in PDX?
Take care,
Sam
P.S. Satyajit is my given name, but my sister started calling me Sam one day and it stuck.

A few days later I wrote again since I hadn’t heard back from her:

Fri, March 19, 2004 - 11:02 AM
Hi
How are you? I had sent a response to your mails a few days ago but didn't hear from you
after that so I was wondering if you got that or not. Anyway, hope you had a good week.
Take care,
Sam

Later that day, she wrote:

Fri, March 19, 2004 - 2:52 PM
Re: Hi
Sam-Namaste dai-I did not get your message, but send another one if you want. Maybe
sometime we can meet up for tea next week. I won't be here in POrtland for much longer
but I want to meet you. I'll be going to Northern India a lot over the next couple of
years so maybe we can even meet up in India. In 1 month I'm leaving to go and work in
Afghanistan-Jalalabhad so I will be very close to INdia and vacationing there a lot. I
have some friends in Daramsala and Dehli. Much peace in your day-hope to see you
soon-liz Om Shanti

So I sent her a copy of my last mail, and also the following:

Fri, March 19, 2004 - 4:10 PM
Re: Hi
Liz,
I have resent the previous message so hopefully you should get it too.
I am curious about why you are going to Afghanistan, especially considering the situation
there and current events. Meeting in India would be nice but I have no idea when I would be
going. We can surely meet in Portland. Any day after 4pm would be cool.
Enjoy,
Sam

After a bit of scheduling we met up at the Tao of Tea on SE 34th and Belmont. She suggested the place. It was my first time there. We had a nice chat about her past and upcoming travels over some tea and snacks. About an hour later, we parted ways. She left on her adventures to Afghanistan a few days later. We kept in touch over email and she posted stories on her blog about her travels.

Two years later, in 2006, she returned to Portland for a brief visit. We met again at the same location for another hour and later that day I wrote a post about her on my blog.

She left Portland again soon after on a trip to Cambodia for a non-profit. From there she went to Los Angeles in the Fall. She lived there until early May 2007, when she returned to Portland. A day later we started dating.