Let's talk about Thailand for a second, since that is where I am right now and since most people don't know much about Thailand. Let's start with what most people have a brief understanding of: Pad Thai.
To answer some of your questions:
Yes, people actually eat pad Thai in Thailand. No, I don't know if it's similar to that in America, since I only ate pad Thai twice, and both times it was the rice version, or cow pad. But yes, it is good here. No, not everything is spicy. According to my Thai teacher, Nui, food in the north is not nearly as spicy as food in the south, just as food in the northern states of America is not as greasy as that in the south. And (I'll take a moment to let you gasp here), I've only had pad Thai once in Thailand thus far. And I've been here three weeks. So there you have it: it is not the norm to eat pad Thai three meals a day, seven days a week. Other food includes a veggie mix of eggplant, carrots, tomatoes, and sometimes meat over a plate of rice; a bowl of noodle soup with a chicken leg in it; and Mama Noodles (the Thai version of Ramen Noodles).
However, another factor of my lack of pad Thai consumption could be that I feed myself. Notice I said feed, not cook. And so, Mama Noodles, cereal, apples, hot dogs without buns, and canned tuna are the main percentages of my diet. Except on Tuesday and Thursday nights, that is, when my dorm mate Biw, who is a Thai seminary student, cooks real Thai food for me for dinner. This serves two purposes: to make sure I don't die of malnutrition, and to force me to practice my Thai and her to practice her English. Biw cooks all the time. She actually likes it. She brings out loads of ingredients every single day just to make herself a plate of food. I, on the other hand, eat my food when she's not around, as to not make any kitchen situations awkward. Except this morning. Here's the back story:
Last week we went to Chiang Mai for a missionary conference. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand. I was on nanny duty for Noah and Sydney so their parents could convene with other missionaries and not have to worry about their children jumping out of windows. Big city visits are very exciting for missionaries out in the boonies because the following items suddenly become available at the grocery store: cheese, ham, microwave popcorn, Pop-tarts, Mountain Dew, pancake mix, maple syrup, mac and cheese in a box, Quaker pre-packaged oatmeal, canned soup, and tomato sauce. All of these things are imported from the states, and they are by no means cheap. I paid 90 baht, or about $3 for a single box of Kraft Mac and Cheese. And believe me when I say it will be savored. While I was in Chiang Mai I also bought a box of pancake mix, in the event that one Saturday morning I would wake up and actually have the willpower to turn on the stove and make pancakes. Let's make this clear: I NEVER turn on the stove. I've only had to use it 3 times since I arrived. Everything else is cooked in the microwave.
So, last night Biw and I were having our Thai dinner, and she suggested that we eat breakfast together as well. I thought, Gee, what a great time for me to pull out my pancake mix and make her an American breakfast!! So it was set: 8 am, Saturday morning. American Pancake Breakfast. I should have known something would go wrong. I made the batter. Easy. Then I went to turn on the stove. This is where I realized hat I had never actually made pancakes by myself. I mean, sure I had helped mix the batter and flip the pancakes, but I had no idea what level to turn the stove to. Those poor pancakes were charred. Mine was black all the way through, and Biw's was burnt on the bottom. But she ate it with a smile on her face, which made me happy. She's so polite. So Pancake Mission: Failed. But that's okay, since I also had my microwavable Quake Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal to fall back on.
Alright. I apologize for falling off the pad Thai subject for a few paragraphs. But since I'm sure most of you are reading this only because you're procrastinating on something else, we'll call it even. Next up: The King.
You've all seen The King and I, right? If not, it's another great reason to procrastinate.
His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the longest reigning current monarch in the world. He has surpassed the Queen of England by a few years. And when I say he's the King, I mean, he's the King. Buddha might as well step aside, because the King is much godlier in the mind of the Thai people. For example, he is on all the money. Not just one bill, like all the former US Presidents, but every single piece of currency issued in Thailand. You cannot step on a coin if it is on the ground. You also cannot lick the back of a postage stamp, all of which have the face of the King on them. You can't even mutter a bad phrase in conjunction with the King's name, or you might be jailed for a decade or two. Also, if you're ever lucky enough to see the King in person, your head cannot be higher than his.
On top of all of this, this King has actually been a great King. I can't go on about all of his accomplishments, since the government has blocked the Wikipedia article and I'm a bit too lazy to conjure up other sources. But he's a good King, and the people love him. Unfortunately, he's quite old and deteriorating in health, so he probably won't be alive much longer. His death will most likely make the country stop everything for a few weeks. But we won't talk about that now, since he is still very much alive. And a random fact: he was actually born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. So for all of you who feel that Obama can't be a good president if he wasn't born on American soil, just look at the awesome King of Thailand and know that great people don't have to be born on the soil of the country they rule.
Other things about Thailand:
There are three different types of Thai. Northern Thai, Southern Thai, and Central Thai. I feel like there might be another one too, but I can't remember. Google's not telling me. Obviously, being in Northern Thailand, I hear a lot of Northern Thai. However, this does not sound any different to my ears than Central Thai, which is what I'm learning. This makes it incredibly hard to teach English, though. Schools are taught in Central Thai. So if you learn Northern Thai when you're little, then go to school and learn Central Thai, then try to learn English in Central Thai, it can get pretty difficult. But it's even worse for my students at Soi Prow because it is village with a lot of Laos people in it (we're about 30 miles from the Laos border). So these children learn Laos, Northern Thai, Central Thai, and then English. By the time I get to them you can tell they're a little burnt out. We fix this by dancing and singing and playing games and loading them up on candy :)
Music Videos. Thais have their own music, which is totally refreshing since the Europeans seem to be content with listening to American music. Thai music is fine, but Thai people love to sing along. Therefore, every music video has karaoke words at the bottom. This is by no means a huge problem, it's just a statement.
Rice is the food to eat here. Just as Americans can't survive without PB&Js, Thais can't survive without rice. In fact, Biw thinks I'm on the brink of anorexia, not because I don't eat, but because I don't eat rice. Don't eat rice and you'll die of starvation, according to the locals. Perhaps this is why Biw enjoys feeding me a few times a week. I'm like a charity case to her.
Alrighty. That's it. I'm off to bed so I can wake up at 4:15 and go running. This practice, by the way, has been mighty successful. Finishing my runs by 5:30 means I get to avoid dogs, heat, traffic, and awkward stares from locals. G'night!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
The world didn't end, so now you have no excuse to not read this.
Well, I apologize for not blogging lately. But to be honest, I didn't want to bother with it if the world really was going to end on the 21st of May. But since it's already May 22nd here in Thailand, I think we're safe. But this is a good thing, since now you are all still alive to hear about my amazing adventures in Thailand :)
First of all, I have to say that God is doing amazing work in Thailand. Last week when the staff went to Bangkok for a conference (remember I mentioned I was here all by myself?) they met with all the protestants in Thailand. As of right now there are 400,000 Christians in Thailand. This means that only about .25% of people in Thailand are Protestant. The Christians want to change that. So, they have a vision. If everyone does their part, they want to have 1 million Christians in Thailand by 2015. Obviously, this is no easy task. But it's doable. It's totally doable. Most of the other 99.75% of the people in Thailand are Buddhist. So add that to your prayer list: Buddhist need to start humming in the name of Jesus.
So now that I've filled you in on the Big Mission in Thailand, I'm going to fill you in on what actually goes on around here. I live on a compound with three other missionaries and a seminary student. Cheri and David have two children, whom Cheri home schools while David does village visits, and Jeri is the boss of everything. Bew (I think that's how you spell her name) is a seminary student interning here for a year. The rest of the staff (there are about 10 of them, I think) lives elsewhere. Basically they do village visits. They have this ministry where they have teams of staff drive up to the villages to teach and have worship services. It's pretty cool. I know this because I went on one last Tuesday. We drove way up into the mountains to the Sakat village. First we taught an English class, followed by visits to certain families, then a worship service in a woman's house. The only catch is that it rained. Rain isn't so bad. You learn that when it rains a lot (which it does here). But this was intense rain. Not just raining cats and dogs, but raining every species in the Kingdom Animalia. It was ridiculous. And when David gives me pictures from the visit, I'll post them on here for you to see. (I apologize for being lazy with the whole picture-taking thing, but I find it pointless to take pictures of things that everyone else is taking pictures of. I find that if I'm patient, I can just borrow theirs).
But the main ministry used to be a clinic here on the compound. Here's the building:
They had to shut down the clinic a few years ago because they didn't have a Thai doctor there. So now it's just used for offices for the staff.
And finally, here's what I'm actually doing:
I came here to teach English and help out with whatever Jeri and Cheri tell me to do. So I do that. Since I got here I've started an English class on Saturday mornings for some teens who live a few villages over, I've taken over the Sunday School English class for kids on Sunday mornings, I've planned (with Cheri's help) my curriculum for teaching in the schools, and I've helped prepare materials for the Nehemiah Project (more details on that later). I'm teaching at two schools: Soi Prow and Bon Den. I'm not actually sure that that's how the names are spelled, but that's how they sound. I go to Soi Prow on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Bon Den on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I love all my students so far. The kids from Soi Prow often come to the compound in the late afternoon to play games, since we have a lot of toys and a tennis court here. It's a great way to connect with them and make sure they practice their English :)
Now for the Nehemiah Project. This is an organization of the International Mission Board that lets high school and college aged kids go to third world countries for a summer and help out. We're getting eight Nehemiah kids in June who are going to teach English, and Cheri and Jeri are both bending over backwards to try to get all the logistics worked out. For me, this means laminating thousands of Days of the Week flashcards and cutting them out. It's pretty mindless and I don't mind the work, but I definitely won't complain when it's finished.
So that's what I've been up to so far. Oh, and watching American Idol. Jeri has a TV, and every Thursday night we watch it! I'm hooked on Scotty. I've never liked country music until he came along. I'm sure if I could stand his accent for more than 10 minutes I might even daydream about him. But regardless, Go Scotty!!! I'll be rooting for him in the future.
Also in the future: I leave today to go to Chang Mai for a few days to watch some missionary kids while their parents attend conferences. Then I go to Singapore to get my visa fixed. Then I go full swing into teaching. Then the Nehemiah kids come. Then a group of 17 people comes from the states. I am quickly learning that things are never quiet around here. I'm sure I'll have more interesting stuff to blog about in the future. And I'll put up more pictures, I promise!
First of all, I have to say that God is doing amazing work in Thailand. Last week when the staff went to Bangkok for a conference (remember I mentioned I was here all by myself?) they met with all the protestants in Thailand. As of right now there are 400,000 Christians in Thailand. This means that only about .25% of people in Thailand are Protestant. The Christians want to change that. So, they have a vision. If everyone does their part, they want to have 1 million Christians in Thailand by 2015. Obviously, this is no easy task. But it's doable. It's totally doable. Most of the other 99.75% of the people in Thailand are Buddhist. So add that to your prayer list: Buddhist need to start humming in the name of Jesus.
So now that I've filled you in on the Big Mission in Thailand, I'm going to fill you in on what actually goes on around here. I live on a compound with three other missionaries and a seminary student. Cheri and David have two children, whom Cheri home schools while David does village visits, and Jeri is the boss of everything. Bew (I think that's how you spell her name) is a seminary student interning here for a year. The rest of the staff (there are about 10 of them, I think) lives elsewhere. Basically they do village visits. They have this ministry where they have teams of staff drive up to the villages to teach and have worship services. It's pretty cool. I know this because I went on one last Tuesday. We drove way up into the mountains to the Sakat village. First we taught an English class, followed by visits to certain families, then a worship service in a woman's house. The only catch is that it rained. Rain isn't so bad. You learn that when it rains a lot (which it does here). But this was intense rain. Not just raining cats and dogs, but raining every species in the Kingdom Animalia. It was ridiculous. And when David gives me pictures from the visit, I'll post them on here for you to see. (I apologize for being lazy with the whole picture-taking thing, but I find it pointless to take pictures of things that everyone else is taking pictures of. I find that if I'm patient, I can just borrow theirs).
But the main ministry used to be a clinic here on the compound. Here's the building:
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| Former clinic, now office building. |
They had to shut down the clinic a few years ago because they didn't have a Thai doctor there. So now it's just used for offices for the staff.
And finally, here's what I'm actually doing:
I came here to teach English and help out with whatever Jeri and Cheri tell me to do. So I do that. Since I got here I've started an English class on Saturday mornings for some teens who live a few villages over, I've taken over the Sunday School English class for kids on Sunday mornings, I've planned (with Cheri's help) my curriculum for teaching in the schools, and I've helped prepare materials for the Nehemiah Project (more details on that later). I'm teaching at two schools: Soi Prow and Bon Den. I'm not actually sure that that's how the names are spelled, but that's how they sound. I go to Soi Prow on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Bon Den on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I love all my students so far. The kids from Soi Prow often come to the compound in the late afternoon to play games, since we have a lot of toys and a tennis court here. It's a great way to connect with them and make sure they practice their English :)
Now for the Nehemiah Project. This is an organization of the International Mission Board that lets high school and college aged kids go to third world countries for a summer and help out. We're getting eight Nehemiah kids in June who are going to teach English, and Cheri and Jeri are both bending over backwards to try to get all the logistics worked out. For me, this means laminating thousands of Days of the Week flashcards and cutting them out. It's pretty mindless and I don't mind the work, but I definitely won't complain when it's finished.
So that's what I've been up to so far. Oh, and watching American Idol. Jeri has a TV, and every Thursday night we watch it! I'm hooked on Scotty. I've never liked country music until he came along. I'm sure if I could stand his accent for more than 10 minutes I might even daydream about him. But regardless, Go Scotty!!! I'll be rooting for him in the future.
Also in the future: I leave today to go to Chang Mai for a few days to watch some missionary kids while their parents attend conferences. Then I go to Singapore to get my visa fixed. Then I go full swing into teaching. Then the Nehemiah kids come. Then a group of 17 people comes from the states. I am quickly learning that things are never quiet around here. I'm sure I'll have more interesting stuff to blog about in the future. And I'll put up more pictures, I promise!
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| The dorms where I stay! |
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| The toilets. I actually think they're pretty cool. They conserve way more water than western toilets. |
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| The church! |
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| And the pool. I am so grateful for that thing. |
Friday, May 13, 2011
Thailand makes my feet stink.
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| I am in Northern Thailand... in the mountains! |
Thailand makes my feet smell. I know that's an awkward way to start a blog, but it's so true. Ever since I stepped off the plane, my feet have been grossing me out. Maybe it's because the temperature averages 349.5 degrees Fahrenheit everyday (that's a conservative estimate, I swear). Or maybe there's something in the water. Either way, my feet stink.
I arrived in Thailand on Tuesday night after flying from New York to Hong Kong, and then Hong Kong to Bangkok. But my first crisis actually arose before that. The original plan was to arrive in Bangkok on Tuesday night and fly to Nan on Wednesday morning on this cute little airline called Happy Air. But the week before I arrive in Thailand, their contract expires and the company temporarily shuts down. So then I was stuck without a flight from Bangkok to Nan. These cities are about 12 hours apart by car. So, after many urgent phone calls to my contacts in Thailand, we arranged for me to take a bus to Chiang Klang, the city nearest our village. So here's how it went:
9:30 pm (Tuesday): I arrive in BKK Airport. I wait until 6 am to go to the bus station by taxi.
6 am (Wednesday): I go to the bus station by taxi.
9 am: I get a call that the boy who was supposed to get my bus ticket, Ben, got it for the other bus station in Bangkok.
12 pm: Ben takes me to the other bus station.
6 pm: I leave on a bus from Bankok to Chiang Klang.
6 am (Thursday): I arrive in Chiang Klang.
Now, I can't tell you what happened between 6 pm and 6 am because I was asleep before the bus even left the station. I slept until around midnight, when the bus stops for a noodle and bathroom break. I stumbled off the bus to the bathroom, but afterwards I didn't really feel like eating noodles. So I got back on the bus and passed out again until the attendant woke me up and informed me that we were at my stop. That was the best 12 hour slumber I'd had in a while, considering I had an aisle seat on a bus. But after being up for 48 hours (I didn't sleep well on the plane), it was great.
So, I'm here now. I am living on a compound with other Americans and a Thai. Jeri is the boss, Cheri is the English teaching whiz, and her two kids, Noah (6) and Sydney (4), are very... energetic. I haven't met Cheri's husband yet because he is in the states for a wedding.
This week is actually a very interesting one because I'm the only one here. Sunday morning the entire staff (Thai and American) went to Bangkok for a conference. (Most of the staff are Thai, and they all live in the villages.) So anyway, I'm just here, chilling out, learning Thai, and preparing for my English classes which start on Monday. That, by the way, is why I'm here in the first place. To teach English.
So I've been learning Thai this week, and it's hard. Thai is a tonal language, so mai, mai, mai, mai, and mai, all said in five different tones, mean five different things. Basically, it's hard. But the written language is beautiful. Here's a random paragraph pulled off of Google Translate. I can sound it out for you (I learned to do that this week!), but I can't translate it.
ตอนนี้ฉันไม่สามารถบอกคุณถึงสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้น เพราะผมกำลังนอนหลับอยู่ก่อนที่รถประจำทางได้ซ้ายสถานี ฉันนอนจนประมาณเที่ยงคืนเมื่อรถประจำทางหยุดสำหรับบะหมี่และทำลายห้องน้ำ ฉันสะดุดหยุดรถประจำทางไปห้องน้ำ แต่หลังจากนั้นฉันไม่ได้จริงๆรู้สึกเหมือนกินก๋วยเตี๋ยว ดังนั้นผมจึงได้กลับบนรถบัสและผ่านออกมาอีกครั้งจนเข้าร่วมปลุกผมขึ้นและแจ้งผมว่าเราที่ป้ายของฉัน นั่นคือดีที่สุด ชั่วโมงนอนหลับฉันมีในขณะที่การพิจารณาผมได้ที่นั่งริมทางเดินบนรถบัส แต่หลังจากที่ถูกขึ้นเป็นเวลา ชั่วโมง (ผมไม่ได้นอนหลับสบายบนเครื่องบิน) มันก็ยิ่งใหญ่มาก
Coexisting
Bugs and lizards are everywhere. When I first came I tried to kill them all. But that is extremely messy and hard to do (especially with lizards). I imagine this is what tyrants feel like when they are conducting a genocide among lesser peoples. So after 48 hours I had to convince myself that I was, in fact, the bigger animal, and that if we can all live peacefully together, I won't hurt anything (mosquitoes excluded). But the ants are hard to not get annoyed at. There are thousands of them and they will one day kill me (indirectly, of course). You see, they love my sugary food, and if I'm not careful they will eat all of my food and make me starve to death. Basically, this just means that sugar-everything goes in the fridge. Except my sugar-free gum. They don't eat that! I'm pleasantly surprised. But the ants outside have something going on. I'm constantly impressed by their productiveness. Look at this picture:
No matter how hot it is, they're out there all day going back and forth in these lines. They're so organized! I'm sure the military could use a tip or two from these ants. But I can't gush about them too much. For all I know they're transporting my Corn Flakes piece by piece to their humble abode.
The one way to not drive myself crazy with the bugs is to not turn on any lights at night. Lights at night tend to attract the bugs that did not agree to my terms, so this normally results in my going to bed early.
Running
Because I go to bed early, I wake up early. This is good, because if I'm not done running by 5:45 am, I practically melt onto the pavement. As I mentioned before, it's hot here. And it's humid. Combine the two, and you have a death sentence. It's far more draining than the following foreign countries I've been to: Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, the Bahamas, or the Cayman Islands. Believe it or not, though, the heat is actually helping me have more productive mornings. Because it's impossible to sleep in the heat. It probably doesn't matter if I go to bed at 1 am, the heat will still get to me around 4:30. So, I go running and then jump in the pool. Problem solved.
Food
The funny (not) thing about Thailand is that I have to prepare my own food. I hate cooking my own food. I have a rule: it must come out of a box or package and be able to be ready in less than 10 minutes. If this can't happen, I'm not cooking. End of story. Luckily, Thais have the same idea. They just opened up a grocery store here a few months ago, and it is dedicated to packaged food such as ramen noodles and hot dogs. Once again, problem solved.
However, I did have one instance where I had to cook myself food. Jeri gave me a chicken breast when I got here, and I couldn't just chuck it in the trash. So I cooked it! In the microwave. I felt so proud of myself. It didn't taste good, and I have no intentions of perfecting my recipe of chicken and salt. But I did it. I cooked meat. Here is what I normally survive on:
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| Taro Ice Cream. It's made from a taro root, and is absolutely delicious on a hot day. |
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| Rambutans. This cute little hairy fruit is a pain to peel and eat, but its goodness outweighs the work. |
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| Ramen noodle-like rice on the left (just add hot water), and duck flavored Ramen on the right! |
Dogs
I hate dogs. I really do. I've been attacked a few times while running, so I normally try to keep my distance. The problem is that everyone in Thailand owns a dog. But here's the good news: dog owners in Thailand aren't as nice to their dogs as the dog owners in America. The dogs here are pretty scared of everything because they're beaten. And whenever they start trouble amongst their owners, the owners eat them. Problem solved. So, running with a rock in my hand and growling at the dogs is more than enough to scare them away back to their owners.... who then scare them away to the woods. Once again, I have learned that I am the bigger animal :)
Me!
I have learned that I am exclusive in Thailand. Seriously. Just as Americans are captivated by the French way of life, so are the Thais with the American way. They want white skin (made available by lotions and body washes), brown and blonde hair (hair dye), and most of all, they want to speak English (made possible by me!). The villagers are fascinated by white people. Not just any white people, though. You have to be young, have some style sense, and have light skin. You also have to speak English. I can't say how many times I've walked into the market and been touched by strangers, asked out by middle school boys, or been invited to people's homes. And I've only been here 10 days. Now I know how Lady Gaga feels. Some people are shy and try to discretely follow you. But the majority of people see you, call out to you, and come running, even if they have no idea who you are. I have learned that I'm white, and that's all that matters. Realistically I could have the entire village wrapped around my finger in a week. But I'm nice and I can't in good conscience take advantage of nice people. So I won't. I'll just teach English at my schools.
Okay. Well, I guess that's it. Not too much is going on this week because, like I said, I'm the only one here. But I know that after my first day of teaching I will have tons of stories! Until then I'll just sit here, sweating my brains out and studying Thai.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
The Good Ol' USofA
I'm pretty sure this past weekend was a dream for journalists all over the world. I mean, you have the Royal Wedding (I'm not even too sure why it's capitalized), the birth of Mariah Carey's twins, the storms and destruction in the south, the postponed (again) shuttle launch in Cape Canaveral, the White House Correspondents Dinner, and the death of Osama bin Laden! All in one weekend. And what did I do? I waltzed around DC eating giant pretzels :)
You see, I absolutely love Washington DC. The city part of it. I mean, the monuments are nice too, but America is way too monumental. I'm not sure if I'm the only one who thinks that, but it's true. Don't get me wrong. We should totally honor those who served in our wars and were great presidents, but I think we can repay them with something other than monuments. Have you seen Lincoln's? It's HUGE. I mean, the guy wasn't even that honest. Big white monuments taking up precious real estate and tax dollars- we just can't get enough!
The other thing I love about DC is the Smithsonian Institute. I'm pretty sure that everyone who has been to DC can testify that you could spend a month with the Smithsonian and still never learn everything they have to offer. I've been to the important ones before (American History, Air and Space), but this time I went to the art museums (Asian and African), along with the Portrait Gallery and the Postal Museum! I also made trips back to the big ones I'd previously graced with my presence. But I think the best one was the Postal Museum was one of the coolest. Did you know that there's some kind of intense Postal Investigative Service that has to do all kinds of investigating every time a natural disaster strikes? It's to protect the safety of those who use the mail system. And did you know that after WWII, the government gave all their old trucks and vehicles to the USPS along with over a thousand gallons of Army Green paint? I suppose that resourcefulness helps make up for all those monuments on the Mall...
Now, the real reason I was in DC (besides the fact that I LOVE DC) was because my mom had a conference for the American Society of Breast Surgeons (or some long name like that). I went to two things with her, the first being a lecture on the _______________. Let me tell you something. You know what it feels like popping back into Algebra after missing a week of school? That horrible clueless-ness that makes you feel like you're looking at Mandarin Chinese on the chalk board? Well, after missing a Biology degree, a med school degree, and countless hours of residency and surgical training, I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. And, based on the blank looks and face-palms of the surgeons behind me, I could only guess that they didn't either. But my mom was there, taking notes the entire time. That's how she puts food on our table... Go mom!
The second event I went to involving doctors was the President's Gala. This is like a prom for doctors. They get all dressed up and pretend to run late and everything. Except these doctors hack off boobs for a living and drink countless glasses of wine before dinner and then enjoy a performance by the Capitol Steps (which, I must say, is a fabulously entertaining political comedy. But then again, maybe that's only the case after a half bottle of wine. I don't know). But it was fun nonetheless.
But in the midst of all that doctor-pretending and Smithsonian stuff, I did have a chance to catch up with a good friend from high school, Zack Cady, who is going to school in DC. It's quite refreshing to talk to him sometimes, especially since we agree on almost every political topic. We had cheesecake and coffee and talked for quite a while, reassuring each other that there are a few sane people in this world with concurring political views.
Oh yeah. There were two other things I did in DC. One, I went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. That's where they make all the money! It's pretty cool how they do it. Especially when they're popping out 1000 $100 bills every minute. And the other thing I did was go to Arlington Cemetery. Let me tell you: there's a lot of dead people at that place.
Oh! And I went to the zoo in DC. I'm not too sure what my obsession has been with zoos lately. Maybe it's because I get to see animals in a cage and I don't have to trek through the wild to get to them nor am I obligated to interact with them in any way. But the main reason I went to the National Zoo was because they have Panda Bears! I know, right? Like, the only time you ever see a panda is when they show a documentary stating that there are only 13 pandas left in the wild, and that the Chinese government charges a billion bucks a year for panda leases.
So anyway, the pandas just sat there. They eat bamboo for, like, 16 hours a day. So that's what they were doing when we were there and I'm sure that's what they were doing the entire day when we weren't there. The pandas are pretty fast at eating bamboo, too. But they do have an easy job. Just sit against a rock. Eat bamboo. Let insane tourists take your photo. My brother could do that if you replaced the bamboo with potato chips and Oreos. Or maybe he would eat bamboo, too. I don't know. There's just no telling with Andrew.
But the thing that drove me crazy about DC was the school groups. I completely forgot that it was typical spring break time, and therefore thousands of kids of all ages appeared in the city wearing horribly tacky matching shirts and talking loudly to one another. The middle schoolers (girls and boys) annoyed me, the preschoolers annoyed me, the high schoolers annoyed me, the foreign exchange students annoyed me, heck, even the Girl Scouts annoyed me. If there's anything I've learned traveling alone, it's that travelling in a group makes you completely oblivious to your surroundings and thus makes you a nuisance to the people around you and an embarrassment to your institution, whatever that institution may be. I know, I've travelled in groups before, but I never quite realized how much of a pain groups are for the rest of the tourists who try to arrive in a city without disturbing the peace. So to all my readers: keep that in mind next time you're travelling in a group.
So that was DC. Now I'm going to tell you about my college fiasco before another dozen people blow up my inbox with inquiries. Well, that and I also don't feel like writing a second blog for college stuff, since that is not part of my journey.
But here's the timeline:
Sometime sophomore year: I decided I wanted to join the military and do ROTC.
A random night, September, 2010: Mom makes me sit down and decide what I'm going to be when I grow up. Apparently, no one has a major called "I don't care," and if they did, ROTC probably wouldn't accept it. So, I choose Air Traffic Controller. After 48 hours, it grew on me.
September/October 2010: I fill out Air Force and Navy ROTC applications and apply to the following universities: Embry Riddle Aeronautical, Purdue, Ohio State, and Arizona State. The last three of these were randomly chosen. I was accepted to all.
December 2010: Interviews for both ROTCs. I told both of them that I would be willing to do a language fast-track program if chosen. Sometime after this I start to lose interest in sitting in a dark room all day telling pilots what to do.
February 2011: I get a partial Air Force ROTC scholarship to the Ohio State for Russian language and studies. No problem here, except our waiting for the Navy to see if they make a better offer. Keep in mind that National Choose a College Day is May 1st.
April 22, 2011: I get a full ride Navy ROTC scholarship to Rice University. I didn't apply to this one. Of course, the one college on my list of 5 universities is the one they chose to give me a scholarship to. Apparently, from what I found out the next day, Rice is a super prestigious, snotty school, kind of like the Harvard of the south. Apparently, there's no way I can do a last minute app. We think we've hit a dead end.
April 25: We find out that it's not so much the school that matters with Navy ROTC, but rather the ROTC unit. Apparently, I was in luck because Rice and the University of Houston shared an ROTC unit, and UofH loves anyone who even attempted an honors class in high school. I was so in luck. So they proposed I do a fast application to UofH so I could be accepted and still use my scholarship.
April 25, 26, 27: Crazy nut-case times where I had to re-send all those marvelous test scores and transcripts and redo another whole application! All those hours spent in the fall...wasted. Whatever. Of course, this had to be the week my high school was on spring break. So obviously transcripts couldn't get sent. This caused a slight delay.
May 2: I call to get my transcripts rushed to UofH, completely bypassing National Pick your College Day and resulting in dozens of emails and phone calls from my four other prospective universities.
Right about now: I should be getting an acceptance call sometime soon about going to the University of Houston. Of course, I wouldn't know if I got it because....I'm in Thailand! In a bus station. But that's a story I'll save for next time :)
You see, I absolutely love Washington DC. The city part of it. I mean, the monuments are nice too, but America is way too monumental. I'm not sure if I'm the only one who thinks that, but it's true. Don't get me wrong. We should totally honor those who served in our wars and were great presidents, but I think we can repay them with something other than monuments. Have you seen Lincoln's? It's HUGE. I mean, the guy wasn't even that honest. Big white monuments taking up precious real estate and tax dollars- we just can't get enough!
The other thing I love about DC is the Smithsonian Institute. I'm pretty sure that everyone who has been to DC can testify that you could spend a month with the Smithsonian and still never learn everything they have to offer. I've been to the important ones before (American History, Air and Space), but this time I went to the art museums (Asian and African), along with the Portrait Gallery and the Postal Museum! I also made trips back to the big ones I'd previously graced with my presence. But I think the best one was the Postal Museum was one of the coolest. Did you know that there's some kind of intense Postal Investigative Service that has to do all kinds of investigating every time a natural disaster strikes? It's to protect the safety of those who use the mail system. And did you know that after WWII, the government gave all their old trucks and vehicles to the USPS along with over a thousand gallons of Army Green paint? I suppose that resourcefulness helps make up for all those monuments on the Mall...
Now, the real reason I was in DC (besides the fact that I LOVE DC) was because my mom had a conference for the American Society of Breast Surgeons (or some long name like that). I went to two things with her, the first being a lecture on the _______________. Let me tell you something. You know what it feels like popping back into Algebra after missing a week of school? That horrible clueless-ness that makes you feel like you're looking at Mandarin Chinese on the chalk board? Well, after missing a Biology degree, a med school degree, and countless hours of residency and surgical training, I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. And, based on the blank looks and face-palms of the surgeons behind me, I could only guess that they didn't either. But my mom was there, taking notes the entire time. That's how she puts food on our table... Go mom!
The second event I went to involving doctors was the President's Gala. This is like a prom for doctors. They get all dressed up and pretend to run late and everything. Except these doctors hack off boobs for a living and drink countless glasses of wine before dinner and then enjoy a performance by the Capitol Steps (which, I must say, is a fabulously entertaining political comedy. But then again, maybe that's only the case after a half bottle of wine. I don't know). But it was fun nonetheless.
But in the midst of all that doctor-pretending and Smithsonian stuff, I did have a chance to catch up with a good friend from high school, Zack Cady, who is going to school in DC. It's quite refreshing to talk to him sometimes, especially since we agree on almost every political topic. We had cheesecake and coffee and talked for quite a while, reassuring each other that there are a few sane people in this world with concurring political views.
Oh yeah. There were two other things I did in DC. One, I went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. That's where they make all the money! It's pretty cool how they do it. Especially when they're popping out 1000 $100 bills every minute. And the other thing I did was go to Arlington Cemetery. Let me tell you: there's a lot of dead people at that place.
Oh! And I went to the zoo in DC. I'm not too sure what my obsession has been with zoos lately. Maybe it's because I get to see animals in a cage and I don't have to trek through the wild to get to them nor am I obligated to interact with them in any way. But the main reason I went to the National Zoo was because they have Panda Bears! I know, right? Like, the only time you ever see a panda is when they show a documentary stating that there are only 13 pandas left in the wild, and that the Chinese government charges a billion bucks a year for panda leases.
So anyway, the pandas just sat there. They eat bamboo for, like, 16 hours a day. So that's what they were doing when we were there and I'm sure that's what they were doing the entire day when we weren't there. The pandas are pretty fast at eating bamboo, too. But they do have an easy job. Just sit against a rock. Eat bamboo. Let insane tourists take your photo. My brother could do that if you replaced the bamboo with potato chips and Oreos. Or maybe he would eat bamboo, too. I don't know. There's just no telling with Andrew.
 |
| Just to let you know, I totally stole this image from Google. |
But the thing that drove me crazy about DC was the school groups. I completely forgot that it was typical spring break time, and therefore thousands of kids of all ages appeared in the city wearing horribly tacky matching shirts and talking loudly to one another. The middle schoolers (girls and boys) annoyed me, the preschoolers annoyed me, the high schoolers annoyed me, the foreign exchange students annoyed me, heck, even the Girl Scouts annoyed me. If there's anything I've learned traveling alone, it's that travelling in a group makes you completely oblivious to your surroundings and thus makes you a nuisance to the people around you and an embarrassment to your institution, whatever that institution may be. I know, I've travelled in groups before, but I never quite realized how much of a pain groups are for the rest of the tourists who try to arrive in a city without disturbing the peace. So to all my readers: keep that in mind next time you're travelling in a group.
So that was DC. Now I'm going to tell you about my college fiasco before another dozen people blow up my inbox with inquiries. Well, that and I also don't feel like writing a second blog for college stuff, since that is not part of my journey.
But here's the timeline:
Sometime sophomore year: I decided I wanted to join the military and do ROTC.
A random night, September, 2010: Mom makes me sit down and decide what I'm going to be when I grow up. Apparently, no one has a major called "I don't care," and if they did, ROTC probably wouldn't accept it. So, I choose Air Traffic Controller. After 48 hours, it grew on me.
September/October 2010: I fill out Air Force and Navy ROTC applications and apply to the following universities: Embry Riddle Aeronautical, Purdue, Ohio State, and Arizona State. The last three of these were randomly chosen. I was accepted to all.
December 2010: Interviews for both ROTCs. I told both of them that I would be willing to do a language fast-track program if chosen. Sometime after this I start to lose interest in sitting in a dark room all day telling pilots what to do.
February 2011: I get a partial Air Force ROTC scholarship to the Ohio State for Russian language and studies. No problem here, except our waiting for the Navy to see if they make a better offer. Keep in mind that National Choose a College Day is May 1st.
April 22, 2011: I get a full ride Navy ROTC scholarship to Rice University. I didn't apply to this one. Of course, the one college on my list of 5 universities is the one they chose to give me a scholarship to. Apparently, from what I found out the next day, Rice is a super prestigious, snotty school, kind of like the Harvard of the south. Apparently, there's no way I can do a last minute app. We think we've hit a dead end.
April 25: We find out that it's not so much the school that matters with Navy ROTC, but rather the ROTC unit. Apparently, I was in luck because Rice and the University of Houston shared an ROTC unit, and UofH loves anyone who even attempted an honors class in high school. I was so in luck. So they proposed I do a fast application to UofH so I could be accepted and still use my scholarship.
April 25, 26, 27: Crazy nut-case times where I had to re-send all those marvelous test scores and transcripts and redo another whole application! All those hours spent in the fall...wasted. Whatever. Of course, this had to be the week my high school was on spring break. So obviously transcripts couldn't get sent. This caused a slight delay.
May 2: I call to get my transcripts rushed to UofH, completely bypassing National Pick your College Day and resulting in dozens of emails and phone calls from my four other prospective universities.
Right about now: I should be getting an acceptance call sometime soon about going to the University of Houston. Of course, I wouldn't know if I got it because....I'm in Thailand! In a bus station. But that's a story I'll save for next time :)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The End of This Chapter
Okay. It's been over two weeks since I've blogged, so I'm going to have to catch everyone up on my happenings. First thing's first: my Amtrak adventures have ended. My train tour was definitely the most exciting, independent part of my travels thus far. After my trip to Albuquerque, NM, I stopped in Los Angeles for a few hours for a layover. I only had about 5 hours, so I did what every tourist does: I marched myself straight to Hollywood Boulevard, saw the Walk of Fame, looked at the Grauman's Chinese Theater, and took a tour to the Hollywood sign and Rodeo Drive. Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned in Hollywood was that stars get their name on the Walk of Fame when elected by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Then they must pay $30,000 plus the installation of the star. I learned that Julia Roberts does not have a star because of this. I can't really blame her. But guess what? Charlie Sheen does :)
Then I hopped on a train headed to Houston, Texas to spend some time with my Aunt Andrea and Uncle Arthur. First of all, I have to say that my Aunt Andrea is the strongest person I know. Last September her daughter, my cousin Katie, died unexpectedly, and instead of completely losing it like most mothers do, she worked hard to accept the things she could not change. So Aunt Andrea, I say this: You are incredible.
Houston is a pretty sweet place. Here are the Top 10 reasons:
#10: It is a commuter city. EVERYONE has to own a car. I never want to own a car, so theoretically I could never live there. Fortunately, that does make it a favorite vacation spot.
#9: There is this one week in the middle of April where the weather is mighty pleasant. Not hot, not cloudy, not windy, not rainy. Just... pleasant. I was there that week.
#8: It's on the water. I like being by the water. I just don't like being in it.
#7: Houston is one of the two "Space Towns" in the US, along with Cape Canaveral, Florida. This makes it very exciting to go to the space center and learn about rockets and planets. The day I went to the Johnson Space Center was the day the Center was snubbed for not receiving a retired shuttle for display from NASA. This led to a press conference, where I was asked for a quote by a reporter in a lime green polo shirt. I simply told him I didn't know enough about the situation to comment. Too bad, though. I could have had my fifteen seconds of fame.
#6: The Houston Zoo is pretty cool. They have plenty of giraffes and sea lions (the ones at the zoo are less smelly than the ones on the piers in San Fransisco) and other animals. You see, I like to watch animals from a distance. I think they're cool to look at....sometimes. But don't expect me to gush about cuteness, or desire to pet, feed, or ride them or interact with them in any other way. Unlike most people, I will be perfectly content in life never owning a pet. Maybe a rock, but that's it.
#5: The WorldFest International Film Festival is a huge Indie film festival held in Houston for 10 days every April. Guess what? I was there for 5 of those 10 days. We ended up watching 4 movies, the best being a movie called Finding Hope Now. It's a movie about a pastor who lives in Fresno, CA and works to keep kids off the streets. The movie is beautifully directed and edited. I highly encourage everyone to go to findinghopenow.com and look for it when it comes out. It will be released in the same way as Facing the Giants and Fireproof.
#4: The Menil Collection. Once upon a time there was a filthy rich family called the Menils. They liked art and decided to buy a bunch and put it on display so commoners like me could see it for free. Now, I've seen a lot of art while traveling, so not many paintings, sculptures, or photographs grab my attention like they used to. But the Menil had a fabulous African Art display with fabulous wooden sculptures and masks from centuries ago. I found those to be absolutely fascinating.
#3: Sue and Max came to visit. Sue is my Uncle Arthur's aunt, and she is the coolest 70 year old woman I have ever met. After growing up in a town with a bunch of grouchy, conservative retirees, it was refreshing to know that not everyone with white hair has left their mind in the 1920's.
#2: This one little bakery sells the most amazing Toll House cake. I ate a piece. I was happy :) Unfortunately, eating more than one piece would have meant buying a bigger pair of jeans. Mine have grown tight enough as it is.....
#1: My Aunt Andrea and Uncle Arthur live there!
It turns out that I liked Houston so much that I decided to skip New Orleans and extend my stay there. I figure New Orleans is probably more fun when you're 21 anyway.
So after a fabulous visit with my aunt and uncle, I flew to Miami for a cruise, where my family, along with my mom's brother and his family and my grandparents were celebrating my Grandma Elaine's 70th birthday. It was quite marvelous, I'm not going to lie. You see, I hadn't seen my super-cute brothers, Andrew and Aaron, in 4 months, and I only had 10 days to spend with them. This meant lots of the following: loud squealing upon sighting them, cheek pinching, kissing, waving with a flirty look on my face, and lots of bear hugs. Aaron secretly loves this, I know it, but Andrew doesn't. You see, Andrew is 14 and in 8th grade. He's so cool he could melt ice (or so he thinks). So he didn't exactly appreciate it when I ran up to him squealing and kissing him while he's trying to make new friends aboard the ship. Oops. I know he still loves me.
For those of you who haven't been on cruises, let me tell you a bit about them. This was my second one, and I must say that there's no better way to vacation than to take a cruise. You do three things when you cruse: Eat, drink, and dance. The drinking and dancing goes hand in hand, though, because often times I would make my way to the Lido deck around midnight and observe 200+ white, middle class Americans following the dancing instructions of staff on a balcony. Most of these dance moves resembled those of the Wiggles. Apparently, dancing like the Wiggles is suddenly appropriate when you're under the influence, aboard a cruise full of people whom you will never see again.
Our cruise made two stops, one in the Cayman Islands and one in Jamaica. Jamaica was cool. I got a dress that resembles the Jamaican flag and ate authentic Jamaican fast food, which is meat patties. In the Caymans, we snorkeled. Remember how I said I didn't like to interact with animals? Yeah, well those fish got insanely close to my face. Basically, I just spent my whole time swimming away from flocks of Dory-like fish. I suppose it was good exercise, though. In the Caymans I also ate a turtle burger, which is totally illegal in the US.
The other cool thing I did on the cruise was a Chef's dinner with my mother. We got to tour the kitchen and eat a dinner specifically prepared by the Head Chef himself. For a cruise like ours, the ship normally holds about 3,500 people and houses about 1,100 staff. There are 117 cooks that work to feed all the hungry starving tourists aboard the ship. The kitchen process is a remarkable thing to watch, as little raspberry halves are perfectly placed on fruit cocktail plates and every plate comes out looking like a work of art, not just food.
So after the cruise I flew back to Portland, where I slept in my bed for three whole nights. Barrett Davis, whom I visited in Amsterdam, came to see me while I was there and we had a blast walking around Portland, watching movies, and packing for Thailand! He was also there to witness my major freak out over colleges. That will all be explained in my next blog, I promise.
So that brings us to.... Thailand! As I type this I am on a flight to DC, where I will spend 5 days waltzing around the Smithonians while my mother attends a conference. Then I fly to Thailand! Yesterday I looked at the forecast for Nan, Thailand, which is where I will be near. Every day showed 100% lightning and thunderstorms. I suppose it's the rainy season, which is precisely why I brought a raincoat and my leopard umbrella! Perhaps on my next blog I will greet you in Thai.
Until next time,
Gabbie
Then I hopped on a train headed to Houston, Texas to spend some time with my Aunt Andrea and Uncle Arthur. First of all, I have to say that my Aunt Andrea is the strongest person I know. Last September her daughter, my cousin Katie, died unexpectedly, and instead of completely losing it like most mothers do, she worked hard to accept the things she could not change. So Aunt Andrea, I say this: You are incredible.
Houston is a pretty sweet place. Here are the Top 10 reasons:
#10: It is a commuter city. EVERYONE has to own a car. I never want to own a car, so theoretically I could never live there. Fortunately, that does make it a favorite vacation spot.
#9: There is this one week in the middle of April where the weather is mighty pleasant. Not hot, not cloudy, not windy, not rainy. Just... pleasant. I was there that week.
#8: It's on the water. I like being by the water. I just don't like being in it.
#7: Houston is one of the two "Space Towns" in the US, along with Cape Canaveral, Florida. This makes it very exciting to go to the space center and learn about rockets and planets. The day I went to the Johnson Space Center was the day the Center was snubbed for not receiving a retired shuttle for display from NASA. This led to a press conference, where I was asked for a quote by a reporter in a lime green polo shirt. I simply told him I didn't know enough about the situation to comment. Too bad, though. I could have had my fifteen seconds of fame.
#6: The Houston Zoo is pretty cool. They have plenty of giraffes and sea lions (the ones at the zoo are less smelly than the ones on the piers in San Fransisco) and other animals. You see, I like to watch animals from a distance. I think they're cool to look at....sometimes. But don't expect me to gush about cuteness, or desire to pet, feed, or ride them or interact with them in any other way. Unlike most people, I will be perfectly content in life never owning a pet. Maybe a rock, but that's it.
#5: The WorldFest International Film Festival is a huge Indie film festival held in Houston for 10 days every April. Guess what? I was there for 5 of those 10 days. We ended up watching 4 movies, the best being a movie called Finding Hope Now. It's a movie about a pastor who lives in Fresno, CA and works to keep kids off the streets. The movie is beautifully directed and edited. I highly encourage everyone to go to findinghopenow.com and look for it when it comes out. It will be released in the same way as Facing the Giants and Fireproof.
#4: The Menil Collection. Once upon a time there was a filthy rich family called the Menils. They liked art and decided to buy a bunch and put it on display so commoners like me could see it for free. Now, I've seen a lot of art while traveling, so not many paintings, sculptures, or photographs grab my attention like they used to. But the Menil had a fabulous African Art display with fabulous wooden sculptures and masks from centuries ago. I found those to be absolutely fascinating.
#3: Sue and Max came to visit. Sue is my Uncle Arthur's aunt, and she is the coolest 70 year old woman I have ever met. After growing up in a town with a bunch of grouchy, conservative retirees, it was refreshing to know that not everyone with white hair has left their mind in the 1920's.
#2: This one little bakery sells the most amazing Toll House cake. I ate a piece. I was happy :) Unfortunately, eating more than one piece would have meant buying a bigger pair of jeans. Mine have grown tight enough as it is.....
#1: My Aunt Andrea and Uncle Arthur live there!
It turns out that I liked Houston so much that I decided to skip New Orleans and extend my stay there. I figure New Orleans is probably more fun when you're 21 anyway.
So after a fabulous visit with my aunt and uncle, I flew to Miami for a cruise, where my family, along with my mom's brother and his family and my grandparents were celebrating my Grandma Elaine's 70th birthday. It was quite marvelous, I'm not going to lie. You see, I hadn't seen my super-cute brothers, Andrew and Aaron, in 4 months, and I only had 10 days to spend with them. This meant lots of the following: loud squealing upon sighting them, cheek pinching, kissing, waving with a flirty look on my face, and lots of bear hugs. Aaron secretly loves this, I know it, but Andrew doesn't. You see, Andrew is 14 and in 8th grade. He's so cool he could melt ice (or so he thinks). So he didn't exactly appreciate it when I ran up to him squealing and kissing him while he's trying to make new friends aboard the ship. Oops. I know he still loves me.
For those of you who haven't been on cruises, let me tell you a bit about them. This was my second one, and I must say that there's no better way to vacation than to take a cruise. You do three things when you cruse: Eat, drink, and dance. The drinking and dancing goes hand in hand, though, because often times I would make my way to the Lido deck around midnight and observe 200+ white, middle class Americans following the dancing instructions of staff on a balcony. Most of these dance moves resembled those of the Wiggles. Apparently, dancing like the Wiggles is suddenly appropriate when you're under the influence, aboard a cruise full of people whom you will never see again.
Our cruise made two stops, one in the Cayman Islands and one in Jamaica. Jamaica was cool. I got a dress that resembles the Jamaican flag and ate authentic Jamaican fast food, which is meat patties. In the Caymans, we snorkeled. Remember how I said I didn't like to interact with animals? Yeah, well those fish got insanely close to my face. Basically, I just spent my whole time swimming away from flocks of Dory-like fish. I suppose it was good exercise, though. In the Caymans I also ate a turtle burger, which is totally illegal in the US.
The other cool thing I did on the cruise was a Chef's dinner with my mother. We got to tour the kitchen and eat a dinner specifically prepared by the Head Chef himself. For a cruise like ours, the ship normally holds about 3,500 people and houses about 1,100 staff. There are 117 cooks that work to feed all the hungry starving tourists aboard the ship. The kitchen process is a remarkable thing to watch, as little raspberry halves are perfectly placed on fruit cocktail plates and every plate comes out looking like a work of art, not just food.
So after the cruise I flew back to Portland, where I slept in my bed for three whole nights. Barrett Davis, whom I visited in Amsterdam, came to see me while I was there and we had a blast walking around Portland, watching movies, and packing for Thailand! He was also there to witness my major freak out over colleges. That will all be explained in my next blog, I promise.
So that brings us to.... Thailand! As I type this I am on a flight to DC, where I will spend 5 days waltzing around the Smithonians while my mother attends a conference. Then I fly to Thailand! Yesterday I looked at the forecast for Nan, Thailand, which is where I will be near. Every day showed 100% lightning and thunderstorms. I suppose it's the rainy season, which is precisely why I brought a raincoat and my leopard umbrella! Perhaps on my next blog I will greet you in Thai.
Until next time,
Gabbie
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Breaking Bad
My adventure in Albuquerque was supposed to start out just like every other city: I would step off the train and walk or take public transit to my hostel, where I would then check-in, shower, and scout out a place to eat dinner. Well, that didn't happen in Albuquerque.
The moment I entered the train station, I realized I had lost my little note card that had the directions to my hostel. Oops. But I knew Google Maps had said it was 0.7 miles, and it involved a right turn and then a left turn. So, I figured, Hey, I'm not stupid. Albuquerque can't be that big of a city. I'll find it.
Well, it turns out Albuquerque is a big city. Not really people-wise (it has a population of about 850,000) but everything is very spread out. So when I started wandering, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. It turns out I took a wrong turn and wandered into the "homeless and dangerous" part of the town. When I got to a deserted street corner, the man smoking on the little tree stump said to me "Girl, you're lost. Turn around, because when you cross this street, ain't no one going to protect you."
Great, I thought. Not even 15 minutes into Albuquerque and I'm going to mugged, shot, or raped. Fabulous. So I did what I never, ever allow myself to do: turn around and go back the direction I came from.
By this time I had another solution: I would go find a Starbucks and buy a cup of coffee, then use their Wi-Fi to Google Map my hostel again. So I wandered toward the big tall buildings which normally represent the business part of the city. And businessmen need coffee from Starbucks. When I got to another street corner about 10 minutes later, a crazy guy started telling me about his "work" on the other corner everyday, and that I should come by and support "local business." I wasn't worried about him, though, because there were other people on the street corner who were giving him the oddball look. One of those people was a woman who was about four and a half feet tall, juggling a cigarette, a diet Coke, and a Blackberry. She sarcastically said, "Oh yeah, and we're also shooting Breaking Bad in that building across the street if you want to come support us."
Now, I've seen the previews for Breaking Bad, and it doesn't look too bad. I've just never watched it, and I had no idea that it was filmed in Albuquerque. "Really?" I replied. Then the light bulb in my head went on. She looked safe. I asked her if she was from there, and if she was, Did she know where the hostel was?
She didn't, but she did pull out her Blackberry and Google it. Score!
But then one of her coworkers started coming down the street. "Oh," she said, "this is one of our producers. He knows this place like the back of his hand." So she called him over and asked him if he knew. He did, and started giving me directions. (Keep in mind that he was quite large and nonathletic looking.) He suddenly gave me a crazy look, and asked "Are you going to walk there?"
"Well, yeah, I was going to." I mean, I hadn't wandered that far from my 0.7 path to the hostel. I wasn't crippled.
But he said "No, no, no. It's way to far to walk. I was just headed over to that neighborhood anyway. Let me drive you." So he pulled up his Jaguar, loaded my suitcase into the trunk, and drove me the half mile to my hostel, all the while talking about the upcoming season of Breaking Bad and the stresses of shooting it. Now all I have to do is start watching Breaking Bad.
So yeah, that was kind of a cool thing. I'm sure you didn't need to know that, but I just felt like telling you. The rest of Albuquerque was cool, too. I wandered around, went to the Petroglyphs, went to the Museum of Nuclear Science and History, and went to the 305th birthday of the city of Albuquerque.
The Petroglyphs were cool. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera, so there's not much to show or tell you except that they're pretty cool old rocks painted by the ancient Indians. Google them.
The Museum of Nuclear Science and History was not as interesting as I thought it would be. I'm not too sure why I thought I would get to watch them split atoms and make atomic and hydrogen bombs, but I did. And guess what? They didn't do that at the museum. It was just a bunch of information about nuclear science and radiation. So I suppose it was cool if you like to read about splitting atoms instead of actually splitting atoms.
And this brings us to the birthday party. The main tourist trap of Albuquerque is called Old Town, located surprisingly close to my hostel (like, a mile walk). And it has tons of shops and cute eateries and an old church. But Saturday was a bit different because it was the fiesta for the 305th anniversary of Albuquerque. The place was packed and there was music everywhere. I watched some Indian dances. That was pretty cool. Then I watched a Flamenco Company dance. Did you know that Albuquerque is the Flamenco Central of the world? Yeah. Everywhere else in the US, parents take their kids to ballet and soccer. In Albuquerque, they take them to Flamenco lessons.
I have to say that Albuquerque was nice, mostly because it was my first time since Costa Rica when I didn't have to where a coat. But there's one problem: Nobody walks anywhere in Albuquerque. So walking down the street in a totally nice part of town feels a little wrong, because even though it's a Saturday afternoon, no one is outside. It's a little gloomy. But I do love the stucco style of all the buildings. I could get used to that.
Okay. So I'm on the train now to Los Angeles, where I have a 6 hour layover between trains. My plan is to book it over to the Walk of Fame and hopefully run into Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift or Katie and Suri Cruise. Or maybe all of them. That would make me super happy :)
Until next time,
Gabbie
The moment I entered the train station, I realized I had lost my little note card that had the directions to my hostel. Oops. But I knew Google Maps had said it was 0.7 miles, and it involved a right turn and then a left turn. So, I figured, Hey, I'm not stupid. Albuquerque can't be that big of a city. I'll find it.
Well, it turns out Albuquerque is a big city. Not really people-wise (it has a population of about 850,000) but everything is very spread out. So when I started wandering, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. It turns out I took a wrong turn and wandered into the "homeless and dangerous" part of the town. When I got to a deserted street corner, the man smoking on the little tree stump said to me "Girl, you're lost. Turn around, because when you cross this street, ain't no one going to protect you."
Great, I thought. Not even 15 minutes into Albuquerque and I'm going to mugged, shot, or raped. Fabulous. So I did what I never, ever allow myself to do: turn around and go back the direction I came from.
By this time I had another solution: I would go find a Starbucks and buy a cup of coffee, then use their Wi-Fi to Google Map my hostel again. So I wandered toward the big tall buildings which normally represent the business part of the city. And businessmen need coffee from Starbucks. When I got to another street corner about 10 minutes later, a crazy guy started telling me about his "work" on the other corner everyday, and that I should come by and support "local business." I wasn't worried about him, though, because there were other people on the street corner who were giving him the oddball look. One of those people was a woman who was about four and a half feet tall, juggling a cigarette, a diet Coke, and a Blackberry. She sarcastically said, "Oh yeah, and we're also shooting Breaking Bad in that building across the street if you want to come support us."
Now, I've seen the previews for Breaking Bad, and it doesn't look too bad. I've just never watched it, and I had no idea that it was filmed in Albuquerque. "Really?" I replied. Then the light bulb in my head went on. She looked safe. I asked her if she was from there, and if she was, Did she know where the hostel was?
She didn't, but she did pull out her Blackberry and Google it. Score!
But then one of her coworkers started coming down the street. "Oh," she said, "this is one of our producers. He knows this place like the back of his hand." So she called him over and asked him if he knew. He did, and started giving me directions. (Keep in mind that he was quite large and nonathletic looking.) He suddenly gave me a crazy look, and asked "Are you going to walk there?"
"Well, yeah, I was going to." I mean, I hadn't wandered that far from my 0.7 path to the hostel. I wasn't crippled.
But he said "No, no, no. It's way to far to walk. I was just headed over to that neighborhood anyway. Let me drive you." So he pulled up his Jaguar, loaded my suitcase into the trunk, and drove me the half mile to my hostel, all the while talking about the upcoming season of Breaking Bad and the stresses of shooting it. Now all I have to do is start watching Breaking Bad.
So yeah, that was kind of a cool thing. I'm sure you didn't need to know that, but I just felt like telling you. The rest of Albuquerque was cool, too. I wandered around, went to the Petroglyphs, went to the Museum of Nuclear Science and History, and went to the 305th birthday of the city of Albuquerque.
The Petroglyphs were cool. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera, so there's not much to show or tell you except that they're pretty cool old rocks painted by the ancient Indians. Google them.
The Museum of Nuclear Science and History was not as interesting as I thought it would be. I'm not too sure why I thought I would get to watch them split atoms and make atomic and hydrogen bombs, but I did. And guess what? They didn't do that at the museum. It was just a bunch of information about nuclear science and radiation. So I suppose it was cool if you like to read about splitting atoms instead of actually splitting atoms.
And this brings us to the birthday party. The main tourist trap of Albuquerque is called Old Town, located surprisingly close to my hostel (like, a mile walk). And it has tons of shops and cute eateries and an old church. But Saturday was a bit different because it was the fiesta for the 305th anniversary of Albuquerque. The place was packed and there was music everywhere. I watched some Indian dances. That was pretty cool. Then I watched a Flamenco Company dance. Did you know that Albuquerque is the Flamenco Central of the world? Yeah. Everywhere else in the US, parents take their kids to ballet and soccer. In Albuquerque, they take them to Flamenco lessons.
I have to say that Albuquerque was nice, mostly because it was my first time since Costa Rica when I didn't have to where a coat. But there's one problem: Nobody walks anywhere in Albuquerque. So walking down the street in a totally nice part of town feels a little wrong, because even though it's a Saturday afternoon, no one is outside. It's a little gloomy. But I do love the stucco style of all the buildings. I could get used to that.
Okay. So I'm on the train now to Los Angeles, where I have a 6 hour layover between trains. My plan is to book it over to the Walk of Fame and hopefully run into Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift or Katie and Suri Cruise. Or maybe all of them. That would make me super happy :)
Until next time,
Gabbie
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
A Slight Catastrophe
When I planned my Amtrak adventure, I was fully aware that plans could change as a result of natural catastrophes, failed alarm clocks, train wrecks, or Charlie Sheen. I just didn't think they would have a domino effect. Of course, I should have known that any minor glitch would cause multiple delays (which would require lots of repair) in my back to back travels. And I think I did know that, I just chose not to think about it.
The original plan in Gabbie's Big Train Ride said I would get on the train on March 24th in Sacramento around 11:00 am (leaving me plenty of time for beauty rest after a few busy days visiting my Aunt Cat and Uncle Rudy) and arrive in Salt Lake City around 3:30 am on the 25th, where I would retreat to my youth hostel and crash until sunrise, when I would wake up and do whatever you're supposed to do when you visit Salt Lake City.
Except someone messed up. I won't way who, mostly because I don't know who. But they messed up big time. Because whoever was supposed to put the Flanders (snow equipment) on the train and inspect them didn't do their job, because when we got to Colfax (a town about 2 hours east of Sacramento), they discovered that the snow equipment did not work. So the workers had to call a crew up from Sacramento to fix them, which takes a few hours.
This would have been great, had Mother Nature not decided to take advantage of the situation. Because as we pulled into Colfax, the steady rain that had soaked Northern California since sunrise turned into snow and ice. Well guess what happened then? They had to shut down the freeways for "safety issues." So the maintenance crew couldn't fix our giant snow plow.
So the conductor had another brilliant idea. We were going to wait for the Number 5 train (which was coming from Chicago to California) to come over the mountain pass. Then they would just give us their working snow equipment. This meant waiting a few more hours in COLFAX: Population 1750 (according to the sign outside the lounge car window). I was cool with that because Colfax feels the need to provide its residents with public Wi-Fi everywhere. I could not complain.
Unfortunately, plan #2 didn't work. Because after train Number 5 passed through the mountains there was a slight avalanche. Scratch that. There was a massive avalanche. One so bad that they wouldn't be able to send trains over the pass for at least a week. Since the beginning of my travels, I've totally been cheering on the trains when we cross the mountains, you know, the whole "I think I can" deal. But this darn train just couldn't. So when train Number 5 finally arrived in Colfax, we hooked up to them and rode back to Sacramento, arriving around 11 pm. I spent 12 hours on a train watching the rain, and I now consider Colfax one of the cities on my "Been To" list.
The next morning I spent hours on the phone with lovely Amtrak customer service representatives. They are wonderful, let me tell you. They booked me on (what they thought) was the next train out, to leave on Tuesday. With this new arrangement, I would skip my Salt Lake and Denver stops and go straight to Omaha. Then I would cancel my stops in Los Angeles and Tuscon, only stopping in Iowa, Albuquerque, Houston, and New Orleans.
So with the entire weekend to spare, I went back to San Fransisco to do what I do best: wander around eating local junk food and imagine myself living there. (I really do this fabulously, by the way.) I also had dinner with the marvelous Chandra Lowe, one of my friends from Portland who was in SanFran on business. As I returned on Sunday night to Sacramento, my father informed me of the call from Amtrak. My train was cancelled for Tuesday! I wanted to jump off my train in frustration, but I did what I do second-best, which was smile really big at the lounge car attendant who sold me my Snickers bar, told him to have a good day, and put my change in his tip jar.
Further delaying my trip to the mid-west would mean I would have to cancel one of my family/friend visits in either Omaha, Iowa, or Houston. Not wanting to do this, I booked a flight to Omaha since all rail and road traffic through the pass was terminated. Now I'm going to rant. I'm not one to complain about the airlines' bogus security procedures and the days I've wasted waiting either in line for security or for planes to take off or taxi to the gate. But after taking trains for a few weeks straight, hopping on a plane was quite maddening. First of all, I had to check a bag, which I never, ever do. And I had to pay for it, a service which is normally free on Continental Airlines. This meant I had to wait in line for my boarding pass and for my bag to be checked. Then I had to wait in the security line for a good 20 minutes, where they found the snow globes I had bought for my friend, Erin, to be a threat to national security. Deep down I knew that snow globes couldn't be carried on. I just forgot when I was packing my bags. So after convincing them that the glitter was actually glitter and not some explosive metal that would kill everyone on board, they allowed me to walk back down to the check-in desk, beg for my checked bag to be pulled, repack all my underwear in front of the staff, and put the snow globes in my suitcase.
I'm done venting now. Because once in Omaha I had a marvelous visit with some old friends. For those of you who don't know, I was born in Omaha because my parents lived there while my mom was in residency. So with mom and dad working 23.5 hours a day, they dropped me with the day care miracle from heaven: Sally.
Sally was (and still is) one of the coolest old ladies around. She is the one responsible for my health and safety for the first 4.5 years of my life. She's basically like my fifth grandmother (I have a lot of grandmothers). So I went back to visit her. We did all sorts of stuff, but the first thing she made sure to do was show me my old house. It's green now. I don't seem to remember it being green before. We also went to the Air and Space Museum, the DeSoto Wildlife Reserve, the Capitol Building in Lincoln, and the Jocelyn Art Museum. We also watched half a dozen chick flicks that were made in the 90's.
Air and Space Museum: Just a bunch of big, retired military planes. (But still neat.)
DeSoto Wildlife Reserve: Only if you like looking at tons of bare trees searching for a few wild animals. But they did have a really cool exhibit about a sunken ship from Civil War times that lost all the artifacts in the mud. Then, when they finally dug them out a century later, the lost cargo was perfectly in tact. Of course, the oxygen actually corrodes the artifacts, so they have to preserve them now that they discovered them. But seeing 500 pencils that were supposed to go to a schoolhouse in California perfectly in tact after a century in the mud? Well, now I can say I've seen it.
Capitol Building in Lincoln: Oh, this was good. Somehow we managed to visit on the day that 80 fourth graders were visiting, and we were part of their tour. Whoopee! Actually, what was more entertaining was seeing the tour guide ask a bunch of questions, and then see Sally try to beat them all out for the correct answer. That woman could write a history book on Nebraska.
Jocelyn Art Museum: This was great, too. There was an exhibit at the Jocelyn about the art from Ukraine, stuff that dates back to 5th century BC. I would tell everyone to go see it, but the exhibit isn't going to be there much longer. Basically, if someone wanted to impress me, they could steal one of those million dollar pieces of jewelry from 2000 years ago and give it to me for Valentine's Day. But just a warning: I'm sure if you were caught, you'd be punished by the US and by Ukraine. But you'd still impress me :)
Eye-Oh-Uh!
I never thought anyone lived in Iowa except my awesomest, bestest friend, Erin Geist. But guess what? More people live there. Shocking, I know. But it's true. I went there. They have real civilization, like McDonalds, Targets, and Starbucks. Although Erin informed me that if a town really wants to become a "town," it needs a Casey's Convenient Store. If it has two Casey's it's a big town. And three or more? Well, we're talking about New York City.
During my visit we went to Ames (she goes to church there), Marshalltown (that place has a cute coffee shop with good cheesecake), and Des Moines (which has a shopping mall). We also went to State Center, which is where she resides. Let's talk about State Center. You know those movies where the entire town consists of three blocks on one street with a restaurant, a store, a lawyer's office, an accountant, and a library? Well, those exist. At least, one does in State Center. I was amazed. We toured the town in about 27.38 seconds. And that's not the record.
Anyway, I had a fabulous few days to visit with Erin and her family and see a little bit of Iowa before hopping back on the train. They're a pretty awesome family, I'm not going to lie. We watched Tangled (which is adorable!) and shopped a lot. They totally got me addicted to the Food Network. Did you know that cake makers can screw up a cake's color palette? Yeah, me neither. Oh, and we watched the NCAA Championship game! I'll just throw this out there, I was all for UConn after Carolina dropped. Too bad I didn't bet on them...
I got on the train Wednesday morning and went to Galesburg, Illinios, where I would spend about 5 hours and take another west-bound train to Albuquerque. This part of the trip went smoothly. I walked around Galesburg for about 20 minutes with my cup of coffee, then sat down in the park and read my book for the next 4 hours. I only did this because spring has already arrived in Galesburg and is there to stay. It keeps teasing Omaha and Iowa with the whole, 80 one day, 50 the next game, making it very hard to go to a park and read a book all afternoon.
Speaking of books, they're expensive! Now that I can't just pick up a book from the library, I actually have to buy them. I'm pretty sure I've spent more on books this trip than I have on food. Okay, that's a lie. But I've spent a lot on books. Maybe it's time for me to get an e-reader.
And next time I'll blog from Albuquerque! That is, if no corn avalanches decide to cover the tracks in Kansas....
Note: Every stop in this blog had wonderful friends and family who took me in, fed me, and let me have a hot shower or two. So a huge shout out to my Aunt Cat and Uncle Rudy, the Geist Family, and Sally and Jerry Linquist.
Note #2: I totally forgot to take pictures of the mid-west. Forgive me. Erin and I were going to take Senior Pictures on Monday, but Mother Nature decided to drop the temperature and add wind, so we decided against it.
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