insomnia

I don't know why I haven't been able to sleep lately, but it's starting to get a bit inconvenient. It has, however, provided me with time to catch up on reading and music a bit. Here's what I've been doing instead of sleeping:

• Mountains Beyond Mountains - An account of the making of the great Paul Farmer, a guy who has been taking on public health in the world's poorest of communities. Really good book. It was interesting to me because of the work that my company does in sustainability and appropriate technology and the model we use to address public health issues. In the book, it didn't seem like Farmer really cared whether his methods were sustainable or not, but rather that each individual patient received the highest quality of care, regardless of their location or their ability to pay for treatment. He's written a bunch of books about the inequities of health care, which I plan on reading as well.
• New Moon - I know these books are written for 13-year-old girls, but I recently saw the Twilight movie, and for some reason am now obsessed. They're a fun read though!
  
• No One Belongs Here More Than You - Miranda July is awesome. She did the movie Me and You and Everyone We Know, which is so great. This is a series of short stories about normal people doing normal things, but written in such a sweet and honest way.
  
• CSS - Brazilian band who were apparently featured in an iTunes ad last year, but I missed it while I was abroad. Love them. "Music is my Hot Hot Sex" or "Alala" are two of my favorites.
• Grand Ole Party - Love the lead singer's voice. So cool. Download "Look Out Young Son."

P.S. - I got pictures from Cali up on my Flickr account finally if you want to check them out.

insta-friends

So I was supposed to be on a 1030AM Megabus from Chicago to Detroit. It's now 140PM and I'm still waiting. And sadly, there are people still waiting for their 830AM bus. And the worst part is that the Megabus doesn't have a station, so we're all just standing outside in the cold - the negative-20-degree-windy-Chicago-cold. I don't think I can feel my toes anymore. There are probably about 200 people waiting here on the street to go to about 8 different cities. We've been taking shifts waiting outside and warming up in Happy Village, the little Indian take out place across the street. To ensure no one misses their bus (even though there hasn't been a bus in hours) we have created very distinct signals for each of the cities, so the people waiting outside can alert those of us inside. Ann Arbor/Detroit is a karate chop/kick combo because, well, Detroit is pretty bad ass. Seriously. No one has any information on what's going on with the buses, the bus company has stopped answering our calls and the Megabus people here, bless their hearts, are just trying to prevent a riot. To pass the time, we've started to concoct elaborate reasons for 8 buses and counting to go missing. The theory with the most support so far involves a bus heist at the bus depot. I won't go into the details, but it gets pretty messy.

I do, however, love how unfortunate circumstances breed insta-friends. All my new insta-friends and I are bonded by the fact that we will probably all have to have at least a few fingers and toes removed due to frostbite, but it's fine because we can all hang out and be frostbitten freaks together. Awww...

Hopefully I make it home today. I think I must be pushing my travel luck - all those trips with no lost luggage, no delayed flights, no missed connections - the travel gods have been good to me so far. Let's hope Mexico City and Megabus are just two flukes in my tradition of good travel fortune!

'tis the season

I'm so excited for Christmas!!!!!

I haven't much been in the Christmas spirit lately. Since returning from Oaxaca, I've been crazy busy with a bunch of new work projects, leaving me little time to take in all the wonders that are Christmas. Yesterday, however, was definitely a Christmas turning point!

So yesterday was the first really big snow of the season. I decided I needed a Christmas pick me up, what with the snow and all, so I made my amigo Sean help me bake something like 820,287,392,281 Christmas cookies while rocking out to all the best Christmas tunes. We, of course, also decorated the apartment with Christmas lights and candy canes, made our Christmas wish lists and got all dolled up for no apparent reason. I just like dressing up. =) I did feel somewhat like a 50's housewife wearing my dress and heels and apron while baking cookies. Truth be told, Sean did most of the actual cooking, but he's a trained professional, so I figured it was best to let him do it.

Check out our cooking fiesta on my Flickr if you please.

Also worth mentioning: After we finished our baking fiesta, we decided to go to a psuedo-Christmas dinner at a really amazing Korean restaurant in Logan Square - Urban Belly. Sean, who is a chef at Hot Chocolate, is friends with this other chef who knows the chef of Urban Belly...I don't really know how it worked. Moral of the story is we got a ton of amazing food all for free! Love it. Even if it weren't for free, I would definitely go back. The food is so good, the prices aren't bad, the atmosphere is really cool and it's BYOB, which I love. So if you're looking for quality Korean food check out Urban Belly.

In other Christmas-y news, I'm so excited to be home for Christmas this year! I missed Christmas last year while I was in Peru (I should do a re-cap of my Christmas in Peru...perhaps another night). Anyway, I can't wait to see everyone! And with that, I'm off to make my company Christmas card...working at 1030PM? Kinda lame...

Peace out all!

oaxaca and back in 7 days flat

So I got back from Oaxaca, Mexico last night.  I had an amazing time.  Oaxaca is an amazing place.  It's a pretty small city...around 500,000 people...set up in the mountains.  Like Cusco, there is a large indigenous community around the city, but the vibe of the city was much more "city" than Cusco was.  It wasn't nearly as touristy, there were normal stores, there were things like movie theaters and organic markets and delicious food.  It's just a very cool place.

I spent the first few days in a hotel and going in and out of meetings.  For the first time ever since I've started working for ProWorld, all the executives were there - Nick and Richard.  IEP Abroad's execs, Scott and Troy, also came down, as well as SAE's President, Rich from Barcelona.  It was a really fun group.  Around day 3 or so, I moved in with the Martinez Juarez family - Evi and Samuel and their children and grandchildren.  In between spending time with my family and meetings, we did sneak out to tourist it up in the city - checked out some ruins, tried all the food, did some hiking, partied it up around town, worked out in the communities and on projects.  

Our site in Mexico does very similar work as our sites in Peru.  Health is the most in demand project field and we work with a number of different rural clinics and communities on both clinical health and public health education.  We also work with the Union de Museos, which is a group of community museums, and Vida Nueva, which is an indigenous women's cooperative.  There's a bunch more, but those were the big ones that I experienced while I was there.  Vida Nueva was particularly cool - these women have started this co-op together, working to sell their tarpetes (the Oaxacans are known for their weaving) directly to buyers rather than selling them at low-cost to some middle man.  It's very cool because as they've become more successful, they've begun helping their community in other ways - creating their own social enterprises to provide services to their community.  We spent a day at their cooperative as well as out in a community constructing a "temazcal" which is this little domed sauna type thing that is used in ancient Mayan rituals.

I'll close with my Top 10 Things about Oaxaca:

1. Quesillo.  Amazing.  I need to find some good quesillo here.  It was really funny, because you literally eat some form of quesadilla or tostada or flauta for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  So delicious.
   
2. Mole.  The United States is seriously lacking on the sauces.
   
3. The Zocolo.  It's the "tourist center" but there weren't too many tourists there.  It's always a party there - we saw fashion shows and balloon parties and Oaxaca - palooza with 3 stages of music.  
   
4. Dancing.  We went out dancing a few nights and it's just fun.  I need to start hanging out at some of the salsa clubs here for sure.
   
5. El Pechote.  Fridays and Saturdays there is an organic market called El Pechote near our office.  We went for lunch one day and it was just so amazingly delicious.  Really good juices, coffee, lighter foods.  They had a little movie theater there where they would show free movies every day and a gorgeous courtyard where you could just hang out with a pond.  It was the type of place you could bring a book and go chill out all day.  
   
6. Parades.  Literally every day, there was at least one parade, sometimes 2 or 3.  The first night I arrived, there was a parade that went by our office which I watched from the balcony.  Not sure what it was for, but there were definitely kegs being pushed around in shopping carts, which was very hilarious.
7. Mezcal.  Rough to drink, but you get used to it after awhile.  You have to, it's Mexico.
8. Chupalines.  Grasshoppers.  You eat them.  Some are small, others are big.  The big ones are a lot harder to eat, but put enough chiles in them and they're not so bad.

Ok, I'm tired, I'm leaving with only 8.  If I think of 2 more, I'll update later.  Oh yeah, and check the pictures on Flickr.  Buenas noches!

mac "geniuses" aren't such geniuses after all

So I keep taking the stupid mac in to see the mac "geniuses" and they are never able to fix it. This means that I still can't upload images to the blog or anything. But I was able to use the magical Flickr uploader to get new pics online. So if you want to see what I've been doing for the past few months, check out my Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/callitalife/

last christmas i gave you my heart but the very next day you gave it away

I love Christmas music. And I love that it is now an appropriate time for me to sing the Christmas music all the time.

I'm currently listening to "Last Christmas" by George Michael. Love it. I'm trying to get my life together for my Mexico trip. I'm leaving for Oaxaca, Mexico in T-minus 8 hours. Flying Chicago to Mexico City, Mexico City to Oaxaca. I'm only there for 8 days - gonna check out the site, do some training with the new staffers, brainstorm for projects in 2009. It's gonna be awesome.

Have a good week, all! I'll update with Mexico adventures!

yes we can...

i'm so bad at keeping up with this thing, but apparently people read it, so i'll try to be better.

some major things have happened since the last time i posted! a campaign ended, people voted and obama actually won! i supported obama and knew he was up in the polls, but i was still terrified that something would happen...people wouldn't show up to vote...ballots would be lost...a freakish amount of people would go crazy and vote mccain/palin. when he was announced president elect, i couldn't quite believe it.

i was in chicago for his rally, but wasn't really planning on going down to grant park. instead i went to a viewing party out at one of my new roommate's friend's apartments (oh yeah, i got an apartment in chicago...what?!). but after california's votes were in and they made the announcement, we had to go down. we toasted the win with a glass of cheap champagn and jumped on the train downtown. by the time we got down to the park, we could hear him starting to speak, which meant it was time to do a mad sprint down michigan avenue trying not to loose my flip flops. we finally made it to a decent viewing spot and it was absolutely amazing.

the vibe was, well, hopeful. hundreds of thousands of people came out to see this man who had managed to move people to believe that we could do better as a country, that we had to do better. his speech was amazing and the feeling in grant park that night was unforgetable. and it was great to see everyone out there - people of all ages, races, socio-economic background all came out to support him. it was historic. plus, people were wearing these tee-shirts that i was convinced they made in their basements with their bedazzler. my two favorites included one which was a black tee with gold bedazzlement of obama's face...very bling-tastic...and the other was a knock off of the last lollapalooza tee shirts that said "obamapalooza 2008" and on the back it said something like "october 4, 2008. the day change happen." clearly there were too many letters on the back of that shirt and they couldn't fit the "ed" on the end of "happened" to make it grammatically correct. did that stop that from selling them for $10 a shirt? heck no!

amazing.

there are pictures, but my camera went a little haywire and i can't get them onto my computer. gotta figure that out.

8679 miles later

This past month I've been traveling around California doing campus events and faculty meetings at the UC and CSU schools up and down the coast. I started in Berkeley on September 25 and just drove all the way down to San Diego and back over a 4 week period, stopping at 16 universities along the way. It was an interesting 4 weeks and I'm ready to head back...although I'm going to miss having a bed seeing as how I'm sleeping on the couch-bed at my parents' house. Ah well. At least I can unpack...cook a meal or two (soooo tired of road food...I've probably put on 10 pounds since June).

Anyway, highlights of my Cali experience:

• Checking out the Jamie Lidell concert with Kate at the Filmore in San Francisco
• Wine tasting in Sonoma with Todd and Sam
• Surfing at Pismo Beach with Robert
• Spending time with Jim and Diane in L.A.
• Hitting the LA celebrity party scene with Niki
• Hanging in the mountains with Leah, who I haven't seen since we got on separate planes in Fiji
• Lounging in the feather bed at the Mariott Resort, San Diego
• Catching up with old New Comm roommie, Amy in San Fran

Thanks to all that made my four weeks out west happy times: Kate, Todd, Robert, Jim, Diane, Niki, Leah, Amy, Scott! Much love and hopefully we'll see each other again!

i heart you, old college roommate

Sometimes I forget just how much I MISS my friends. I feel like I go for so long without seeing them that I forget how awesome they are, which is no good. Definitely need to see everyone more.

I stopped in Cincinnati just in time to experience life as it once was - no power, no internet. Kinda crazy and my sympathy goes out to those 850,000 Cincinnati-ians who don't have power. Luckily, I had Suzi and her little family to hang out with while I stranded in the powerless city. It's funny how different our lives are these days, but even so it hasn't much effected our friendship. I mean, she's got a kid now, Drew, who turns out is a pretty spectacular 9-month-old. In fact, I think we're in love. She's definitely a cool mom and we definitely still have our giggles when hanging out. Ah, we've come a long way since puking in the bathrooms of Armstrong Hall... :)

I have two more cities before heading back to Michigan at the end of the week. I got to Morehead, Kentucky tonight and decided to have a look around. Turns out it's rather gorgeous in these parts. The road that my hotel is on is just a couple miles from a Cave Run Lake, which is beautiful. I'll post pictures later.

Peace out all. Or rather...y'all? Do they say that in Kentucky? Who knows...

just south of skunk river

I spent the last week driving around Iowa, and there was some river called "Skunk River" which I found hilarious. I kept seeing signs for it and it made me laugh every time. I also passed a community with a giant sign that said "Cornhaven Community." Also hilarious. Oh, and I stopped at the world's largest truck stop on I-80. It had a movie theater, restaurants, shops and even a dentist office. Pretty impressive.

I spent the weekend in Chicago and I feel like every time I come here, it becomes harder to not want to be here more permanently. I just like the community. Haha, I think I'd be happy with any sort of community at this point. One of the only complaints of being on the road so much (well, y'know, other than the constant driving and bad road food) is that I have zero community. People ask me where I live and the answer is no where. I have no home. I mean, I guess I could call my parents' house my home, but I don't have a bedroom or any of my own space there...I sleep on the couch in the den, so it doesn't really feel like my home anymore. I definitely miss having that sense of community in my life. One day, Chicago, you and I shall reunite in a far more permanent way.

Sigh, not today, though. I'm off again - Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Columbus this week...

Have a good Sunday everyone!

p.s. - here's my schedule

So here is my schedule for the next 2 months. If you live or are going to be in any of these places, email or call me so that I can find you and not be super lonely for 2 months!!!

• E.Lansing, MI: 9.5 - 9.6
• Chicago, IL: 9.7
• Iowa City, IA: 9.8 - 9.9
• Cedar Falls, IA: 9.10
• Ames, IA: 9.11 - 9.12
• Chicago, IL: 9.13 - 9.14
• Urbana/Champaign: 9.15
• Bloomington, IN: 9.16
• Morehead, KY: 9.17
• Cincinnati, OH: 9.18
• Columbus, OH: 9.19
• Cincinnati, OH: 9.20 - 9.21
• Detroit, MI: 9.22 - 9.24
• San Francisco, CA: 9.25
• Berkeley, CA: 9.26 - 9.28
• Davis, CA: 9.29
• Rohnert Park, CA: 9.30
• San Luis Obispo, CA: 10.1 - 10.3
• Los Angeles, CA: 10.4 - 10.6
• Santa Barbara, CA: 10.7
• Northridge, CA: 10.8
• Los Angeles, CA: 10.9 - 10.12
• Riverside, CA: 10.13
• Fullerton, CA: 10.14
• Long Beach, CA: 10.15
• Irvine, CA: 10.16
• Costa Mesa, CA: 10.17
• La Jolla, CA: 10.18 - 20
• Berkeley, CA: 10.21 - 10.22
• Detroit, MI: 10.23
• Oaxaca, Mexico: 11.5 (?)

ikes, it's already september!

How is it already September?! The summer flew by faster than usual this year. Ikes!

I've made it back to the midwest safe and sound. I spent the last week with Alissa and Matt in Baltimore, hanging out in my old hood with my old dog. Apparently Lucy still sleeps up in my old room despite the fact that I moved out 2 years ago. :)

Anyhoozle, Bmore was fun. I worked from the house most days and then hung out with Alissa and Matt in the evenings. Pretty chill, but after this summer of constant moving and especially after the craziness of NYC, it was nice to have a "home" for more than 2 or 3 days. I did go with Alissa to work one day because she works in the building that houses the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins, which was one of the programs that I was interested in. I quickly realized after visiting that I am incredibly under qualified. Sigh. Maybe in a few years after I have more experience on my resume.

My parents and Paul came out to Baltimore on...Wednesday I think? We were all there because Lauren was getting married in Virginia, so it seemed like a good opportunity to hang out as a fam minus Mark because he was being lame-o. The parents and Paul drove down to VA on Friday morning (Paul was an usher and had to be at the rehearsal on Friday night) and the rest of us drove down on Saturday morning. Lynchburg, turns out, is much like Jacksonville in that there is just NOTHING there. The wedding was a total of 17 minutes long and then we had 2 hours to kill before the reception so my fam, Rick, Donna and Riley all headed to the TGI Fridays to get some adult beverages. Eventually we made it to the reception where, like a bad girl at a high school prom, I spiked all of my family's peach punch with vodka out of a Sprite bottle which I had stashed in my purse. Us McIntee's, we are trouble makers. Anybooze, it wasn't really my style (I prefer dancing and boozing at receptions...go figure), but Lauren and Dustin seemed to have a good time so it worked.

After the wedding, my family drove back to Alissa and Matt's house for Labor Day and then I drove back to Michigan with the parents. It was weird cause it kinda felt like a family vacation, which we haven't taken since I was like, 14 or 15. The 10 hour drive home brought back some bad memories of the summer I was 11 and my parents decided it would be a good idea to pack me, my 2 brothers and my sister into 1 van and drive the scenic route all the way to California and back. I wore my All 4 One cassette tape out on that trip. Not cool...

It's now back to normal life for me. By normal life, I mean car rentals, long drives, countless hotels, too much fast food and college campus after college campus. I'm tired just thinking about the weeks to come. Sigh. I'm getting closer and closer to breaking down and moving back...getting a dog (I really want a dog..Karen called me a pet-o-file the last time we hung out in Detroit because I kept lusting after all the dogs walking by us). I also decided that the next apartment that I have has to have a dishwasher. For all of the houses and apartments that I've lived in since moving out of my parents' house at 18, I have always had to wash my dishes by hand. And now I want a dishwasher because that's fancy. Honestly, I think if I wasn't moving to a place where I could surf every weekend, I'd totally bail and move back to Chicago. The possibility of surfing on a regular basis is the only thing keeping me going...

I'm beat. Night all. Happy Tuesday.

such a vivrant thing

My week in NYC has been pretty outrageous. Such a good time. Mary and I arrived late on Monday night. We drove 12 hours straight, which was entertaining. Wait, no...not entertaining exactly, but fun. Ohio and Pennsylvania just don't offer much to look at when driving through. There was satellite radio and curly fries though, so we did ok.

I split my week between Harlem with Mary and Tim, Hell's Kitchen with Autumn and Alphabet City with X. I'm becoming a professional couch surfer and an amazing packer. :) It was fun wandering around the city for the week and by the end, I actually was finding my way around the subways solo, which made me very proud considering last time I was there for a week, I couldn't figure them out to save my life.

Some awesome touristy and maybe not-so-touristy adventures I found in the city:

• Free wireless internet in Central Park...spent a lot of hours sitting in the grass at Sheep Meadow working on the laptop. If only that could be my office...
• P.S. 1 - Mary and I tried to go to the MoMA to see this exhibit by Jeff Koons that I wanted to see. Sadly, the line wrapped all the way around the block and I didn't want to see it that badly. So as a replacement, we decided to go to this P.S. 1. When the MoMA needed more exhibit space, they decided to buy an old public school out in Queens. The exhibits are in all the classrooms and even in the basement boiler rooms (which was incredibly creepy). In the summer, they have Summer Warm Up on Saturdays, which is basically a giant party in the courtyard area. They've turned the courtyard into a really cool space, with an area for a band/DJ and dancing. On Saturdays they host different musical acts, sell beer and food and people just come hang out all day. Very cool. When the place shuts down at 9PM, everyone walks to the Water Taxi Bar, which is basically a bunch of picnic tables on the beach with beer/cocktail stands sprinkled around, so also very cool. Plus, it offers a fantastic view of the Manhattan skyline.
• QTip DJ-ing @ Santos House Party - Friday night I wanted to do some dancing, so X, Mary, and X's friend Ron decided to go to this place called Santos House Party. It was kind of a strange place in the middle of Chinatown, but QTip from A Tribe Called Quest was DJ-ing there, so we figured the music would be cool. And it was. QTip spun all night playing really good hip hop all night, we all danced like crazy (we even started a dance circle...although the dancing was not that impressive) and at some point Busta Rhymes showed up. That was my celebrity sighting for the week. Mark Ronson was also there, but he's not as well known unless you know all the hot DJs. I only know of him because his sister is having a lesbian relationship with Lindsey Lohan. (I heart celebrity gossip, I can't help it.)
• Sunday morning, a group of us hauled ourselves out of bed early and jumped on a train to Long Beach. An hour later, we were on a beach that was surprisingly quite nice. There was a $10 fee to enter the beach, which was probably why it was so nice, but I really didn't expect to find a beach like that in NYC. Anyway, the purpose of our trip was SURFING. So exciting! We had signed up for a group lesson and board rentals for the day, but when we got there, the instructor guy told us he wouldn't do a group lesson with us because the swell was too crazy and we would all get pummeled unless we each had our own instructor. After a bit of negotiating, we all decided to do private lessons for an hour. We did a quick 10 minute review on the beach (we'd all surfed before) and then we took to the water. The instructor guy was right...even with my own instructor I still got pummeled by the waves when trying to paddle out. Once I managed to paddle my way out though, I was really good! I was so proud of myself because I hadn't surfed in years, but I stood up every time and only fell off a few. My instructor guy was trying to teach me how to do different maneuvers or whatever towards the end of the lesson, but after an hour in the water, my arms were definitely hurting like whoa. I've become such a wimp! After the hour in the water, we decided to call it a day. I was too tired and wasn't about to try to paddle through the waves by myself, so we spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach and eating boardwalk food. Such an awesome day. Perfect weather. Surf. Greasy food. What more could one ask for?

So that was my week in NYC. When I wasn't doing all that, I was just hanging out with NYC friends at random bars and eating delicious food. Mmm...the food.

And now I am on a bus (with wireless internet) heading for Baltimore to hang out with my sister and brother-in-law for a week, followed by a weekend in Lynchburg, VA for my cousin's wedding and then back to the midwest for work.

Hugs, kisses and many thanks to Mary, Tim, Autumn, X, Nick and Jason for letting me crash on couches in NYC!

Peace.

detroit city rocks my world

I know I don't spend much time in Detroit, but every time I go back, I like it more and more. It's such an interesting city. Sure, it's dirty and corrupt and all that negative stuff, but it also has boatloads of character and really interesting people.

Mary and I drove from Chicago to Detroit on Thursday night with all of her stuff in the trusty old escort. Due to poor planning, I didn't roll into my parents house until about 2AM on Friday morning, but whatever, I eventually made it after dropping her off in Ann Arbor.

Friday night I met up with my best friend Karen. It's so funny because Karen and I are so similar in that we're terrible at keeping in touch, but whenever we see each other (about twice a year), we have such a good time. We met up for dinner at Detroit Brewing Co and then went on a mini bar crawl through downtown Detroit, stopping at Cliffton Mills (a jazz club where we paid for our cover in pennies), The Park Bar (out of tradition) and The Town Pump (also a tradition). We decided it would be appropriate to call up Chris, this dude we met the last time we went to The Town Pump last October and who went through the shooting ordeal with us. We totally bonded over the fact that we were all trapped in a bar with 2 guys who both had guns out and were ready to fight. Oh Detroit...

Anyway, it was so much fun hanging out with Karen. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a months, so it was just a great feeling. We called up Rene from the bar to complete our old high school tripod of friendship. :) The next day I went to my first game at Comerica Park so I got to hang out and see the new stadium, which was way big time, especially compared to Wrigley Field.

Today was a pretty chill day. I went with Mark and Sarah to the Detroit Yacht Club to rub elbows with the fancy people. Mark and I drove his motorcycle from Trenton to downtown Detroit via West Jefferson, which was definitely an experience. I got a quick tour of the yacht club and learned a bit (did you know the first cement building in the U.S. is the original Detroit Boat Club building?), but mostly I just hung by the pool. Afterwards we went to this hilarious bar called The Bronx in Detroit, which was a total dive bar, complete with a Make Your Own Bloody Mary Bar. The bar was a piece of wood set on 2 tables and the bloody mary makings basically consisted of cans of V8, various hot sauces which appeared to have been stolen from other establishments and a whole bunch of olives, celery and randomness. Very cool place though. Delicious hamburgers. Mmm....

So that was my Detroit weekend. Probably won't have another one for awhile. Tomorrow Mary's picking me up early so we can make the trek out to NYC. ROAD TRIP!

"it's complicated"

Vomit in my mouth. I hate when things get complicated for no reason. I mean, I can understand that sometimes, plans change or people change their minds or whatnot...I can deal with complications as a part of life. But when things get unnecessarily complicated, it drives me bananas...region 4 is bananas...B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Sorry. I think Kate McConnell is the only person in the world who gets that reference.

Anyway. Boo to complicated shiz. That's really all I have to say.

my ipod is getting crazy full

Yay for new music! I was getting so tired of listening to my old music over and over again. Most US downloading and streaming sites prohibit downloads from Peru and my iTunes wouldn't let me download new music, so I always felt stranded. Needless to say, I've been downloading music like whoa lately. Here's what I've been listening to that makes me so happy :)

Jamie Lidell - His song "A Little Bit More" was featured in a Target add awhile ago, but he's really fun. I went and saw him at The Metro when I first moved to Chicago and he was pretty much awesome.
The Wood Brothers - Another good show I saw in Chicago in 2007 and I finally bought their CD off iTunes. The one Wood brother is the "Wood" in Medeski Martin and Wood.
The Submarines - Too cute for words. Love them.
The Roots - I bought their new album (by "new" I mean it came out in April...but again, I was lost in Peru in April, so it's new to me!)...I just like The Roots in general :)
The New Pornographers - Michael Platt gave me this CD during the Chicago conference last month. I never really took the time to listen to these guys, but turns out I like them quite a bit. Thanks Michael Platt!
Daddy Yankee - He's the Puerto Rican rapper that sang the US radio hits "Gasolina" and "El Impacto" but I really like some of his other songs. It may be crappy reggaeton (I don't know what good reggaeton sounds like) but it reminds me of dancing in the discotecas in Cusco :) Especially the song "Lo Que Paso, Paso."

If you have any more recommendations, I'd love to hear! I need a whole new collection to take with me to Mexico, just in case I can't get any new music there either!

In other news, I finally made it back to the great mitten state. I hung out with the fam, got to see Grandma Jackie who has been in the hospital for the past few days. Everyone is trying to be optimistic about her recovery, but she's got a lot of physical and speech therapy to go through, so hopefully all goes well over the next few months.

I'm now back in Chicago hanging out with Mary before she moves to NYC. I heart Chicago summers! The weather is perfect (especially compared to the unbearable heat and humidity of Florida and New Orleans) and it's just fun to sit around drinking daytime beer on patios while people watching. Such a great city. :)

I'm going crazy with the emoticons here...I think that's a sign I need sleep. Peace. Out.

when i say "o" you say "hi"

Greetings from Gate A6 at New Orleans International Airport (airport #7 of my summer travels). My 3 days in New Orleans were incredible. I got to see some AMAZING bands, check out some very cool bars, meet some very cool people and I even did some service work in the 9th ward. Some highlights below:

• On the recommendation of some lady in the hotel fitness center, I headed to Frenchman's Street as an alternative to Bourbon Street to catch some good music. I highly recommend this area for music and chill bars and good beer. I went to D.B.A.'s, which was by no means fancy, but very chill with a huge beer selection and great live music. This is where I met Corey Henry and the Young Fellas, an amazing brass funk band! Dancing the night away, I met Rashon, who was in New Orleans for the weekend and whom I want to be my best friend. He was the happiest person I've ever met and so in love with the music. He was there to play a couple gigs in New Orleans and to support his friend, Clarence, the 19-year-old saxophonist prodigy with Corey Henry. Clarence and Rashon knew each other from Ohio, where they both grew up. Rashon is finishing his jazz composition degree at University of Cincinnati and Clarence had just moved down to New Orleans to pursue his music. After sweating it out on the dance floor for a few hours, Kate and I cabbed it back to our hotel to pass out in our glorious hotel room.
• Friday night, Rashon invited us to check out his show at Sweet Lorraine's. He was playing with his old Ohio band, including Clarence. Kate and I took a cab out to Sweet Lorraine's and were a tid bit freaked out when we were dropped off. Sweet Lorraine's is in a pretty sketch looking neighborhood and was almost completely barred off. We found our way inside and were pleasantly surprised by the swanky interior. It was a serious jazz club. After ordering some adult beverages, we found a table in front of the stage and prepared for the show. Again, it was amazing. Rashon is a jazz pianist and SO talented. Clarence, obviously, did his thing again, only this time instead of funk it was more traditional jazz. Their friend from Ohio was playing the upright bass and though their drummer was missing, they had replaced him with a drummer who had played with Herbie Hancock, so he wasn't too shabby. It was definitely a different vibe than D.B.A.'s - all the boys were wearing suits and there was no dancing, just chilling out. Such a good time, though, and such a cool place. I love finding places like that!! After the show, we said goodbye to Rashon and Clarence (I'm definitely hanging out with Rashon when I head to Cincinnati this fall!) and called a cab to come get us since it was not a neighborhood where cabs regularly come through. We were waiting outside when Lance Ellis approached us. He seemed like a nice dude and he offered us a ride back to our hotel, and while it may not have been the smartest idea, we accepted. He was also a jazz musician, but seemed a little jaded about the music scene in New Orleans. He no longer performed on the music scene, but continued to record music in his home studio. He dropped us off at the hotel, safe and sound, and left us with a copy of his CD entitled Thinking of You. It's really good, if anyone's interested. That was a good night...
• Saturday morning the whole conference loaded on to 12 old school buses to go do some work in the lower 9th ward. We split into teams and worked on a couple different vacant lots and rebuilt homes. It was pretty intense to see the state of the neighborhood we were in, especially considering how long it's been since the hurricane hit. I was working to clear an old lot that once had a house on it - we could tell where the kitchen and bathroom were once located because there were tiles in those rooms, but the rest of the rooms were just overgrown with brush and trash. The houses that were still standing were vacant for the most part, with the "X" marking, showing the day it was checked and how many people had been found in the house. Many of the houses still had messages and cell phone numbers spray painted on the front of them. We only worked for about 4 hours, mostly because the it was reaching a dangerous temperature for us to be out there working, but even so, we made some significant progress in the clean up effort on that block. It was pretty remarkable how much work a group of 600 motivated people can get done in a short amount of time.
  
• This morning, before I peaced out for the airport, Robert, one of the GK Board Members from Boeing who I hung out with all weekend, took me to Cafe du Monde, which is like the tourist's breakfast spot. They only have 2 thing on the menu - coffee and beignets. My new favorite food is doughy powdered sugar beignets. Mmm....

Anyway, those were the highlights from New Orleans. There were a million more stories from the 3 days, but I think this blog entry is too long as it is, so if you want to hear more, just ask and I'm happy to share!

TRENTON IN T MINUS 10 HOURS!

peace out, jacksonville!

Only four days and five more airports before I am HOME! I'm so excited. I don't think I've ever been more excited to get back to Trenton in my life! But it will be some NORMALCY for a few days, which I am in desperate need of at this point.

Jacksonville was an interesting experience. There just was not a lot going on. As our farewell tonight, we all went to the "international dinner" which consisted of about 15 or so of the community advisors (like RAs in the apartments here) bringing an international dish out to the picnic table in the courtyard. By international dish, I mean someone made mini pizzas for Italy and 7 layer dip for Mexico, etc. Hilarious. And delicious. Afterwards we barged into an apartment equipped with a television to watch SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. I heart that show so much. If I ever move back to the states, I am definitely taking more dance classes. :)

In about 7 hours, I'm heading off to the airport, flying back to Charlotte, NC and then to New Orleans for the Golden Key International Conference. It's at a kick ass Hilton Hotel right downtown, so I'm pretty excited, especially considering I've been sleeping on either a plastic mattress at UIC or the couch at JU for the past 5 weeks! I was looking at the hotel online and they have a rooftop pool, tennis courts, squash courts, a full fitness center and basketball courts. Amazing. Kate and I put together a pretty decent presentation for our workshop on international internships. The facilitation skills I learned at the NYLF thing definitely helped me out in the planning portion, which is fabulous. AND I found out the other day that we will be provided with FLIP CHARTS in our workshop room. (During the NYLF training, we spent a lot of time working on the art of flip charts, so I'm pretty much a professional flip chart-er). I'll only be there for a few days, but I'm psyched to see the city and Saturday we're doing a service project, so it'll be a fun few days.

So farewell, Jacksonville. I doubt we will ever meet again. Peace. Out.

if you're ever driving from jacksonville, fl to savannah, ga...

Since I didn't want to hang out in Jacksonville all weekend, Anna and I decided to rent a car and drive the 2 hours to Savannah, GA. Anna and I peaced out on Saturday morning, heading north on I-95. We made it all of about 5 miles before we decided we were starving and had to get some food for the road. We had every intention of just grabbing some fast food (we were already late to meet her friend in Savannah) but that all changed when we stumbled upon J-VILLE CRAB SHACK.

It was just off the Norwood exit (I picked it because I grew up on Norwood Court). We pulled into the Hardee's, but we couldn't bring ourselves to eat there, so we kept driving down the road, hoping we'd find something better. As we drove further, we realized there weren't any more options, so I pulled into what looked like an abandoned strip mall to turn around and head back to Hardee's when Anna spotted the crab shack. We decided to try it based on the fact that there were dancing sea creatures painted on the barred windows that reminded us of the Under the Sea song and dance number from the Little Mermaid. (see picture)

The interior was definitely not worth writing home about. There were cases of fish and crabs, no tables, 5 or 6 chairs lined up against one wall and that's about it. We felt bad leaving, so we decided we'd just order our food and eat it on the road. Somehow, we ended up staying for about an hour.

The shop was owned by family of 13 from Kurdistan. The 21-year-old daughter, 20-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter were working that day. They grew up in Chicago, but had moved to Jacksonville about 5 years ago to open this business. They talked about wanting to move to Nashville because there is apparently a large Kurd population there. The family currently occupies 2 apartments in Jacksonville.

The 21-year-old girl was in charge of the store that day and she was awesome. She basically told us her life story while feeding us free samples of crabs smothered in butter and garlic. The crabs was delicious, but we weren't really sure how to eat them, especially since we were without utensils or a table. We kind of situated ourselves on the chairs and tried to just bite through the shell of the crab with our teeth. It was definitely a struggle. After we finished our crab, we finally got our food - fried fish, fried scallops, hush puppies and garlic eggs. All delicious and amazing and only $7.48.

So, if you're ever driving from Jacksonville, Fl to Savannah, GA, make sure to stop by J-Ville Crab Shack at 5625-02 Norwood Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32208.

when i grow up i want to be warfare...

So tonight I went to dinner with the new co-workers, Troy and Troy's family and it was one of the most hilarious meals of my life. We went to a Brazilian restaurant in Jacksonville, which was AMAZING. If you've never eaten at a Brazilian steakhouse, it's basically all you can eat MEAT. You get a little flag, one side green, one side red. As long as your little flag is on green, the servers will bring you meat after meat after meat - pork, steak, chicken, lamb, turkey, turkey wrapped in bacon...mmm...bacon...

So we're at this restaurant with Troy's kids. He's got 5 total: Noah (17), Santiago aka "Diego" (8), Mariano aka "Nano" (7) and Jovie (I don't remember what her real name was or how old she was, but she was the youngest). They also have a new baby, Julia, who did not come. Anyway, so we're all sitting together at this restaurant and Diego and Nano are hanging out down by our end, saying ridiculous things and playing ridiculous games. I don't think I can really convey the hilarity that went down during dinner, but here are a few examples of conversations:

Nano: Did I tell you what I want to be when I grow up?
Anna: No, what?
Nano: I want to be a scientist. And an artist.
Anna: Cool.
Diego: I want to be warfare.

Nano: I know a lot of different accents. Listen to this one. "Sssssss...."
Anna: What kind of accent is that?
Nano: That's a Sprite accent.
Anna: Sprite?...like the soda?
Nano: Yeah. Sprite...It's also the snake accent.

Diego: There was this one time when the German's bombed Orlando...

[Outside the restaurant as we're getting ready to go]
Jovie: [seeing a plane in the air] Look.
Scott: What's that?
Jovie: It's a star.
Scott: Oh, that's pretty.
Diego: I'm pretty sure that's the Germans coming.

Ok, I feel like this might have been one of those you-had-to-be-there situations, but whatever. It was hilarious.

another day, another dorm, another cafeteria

So I survived NYLF, hit airport #4 and #5 of my summer travels (Charlotte, NC and Jacksonville, FL respectively) and am now occupying a new dorm which has it's own unique smell not unlike that of my UIC dorms. I just keep reminding myself that in a few days I'll be shacked up in a Hilton Hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans and that this will all be worth it once I get there...but the dorm-life is getting OLD.

Despite the less than perfect accommodations in the Chicago, I MISS it! I think it might be one of my fav places in the world during the summer time. The NYLF posse definitely went out with style on Tuesday night - we had a party bus shuttle us around town, hitting Piece, Whirley Ball and Cans, topped off with a 2AM stop at Flash Taco. I mean, really, what is a night out in Bucktown without Flash Taco? All and all, it was an excellent evening to finish out an excellent/exhausting 4 weeks. As much as I complained about everything, I'll miss the FAs and student drama and all of that good stuff.

So after peacing out of Chicago on Wednesday (nearly missing my flight thanks to a faulty alarm clock and a hangover), I made it to Jacksonville, FL, which as it turns out, is full of nothing. It's only claim to fame is that it is the largest city in the continental US (Alaska has some city that is even more spread out), but this just means it takes forever to get anywhere, especially when you are sans car.

I did get to meet my new co-workers down here, along with the infamous Troy, who from what I can tell, is a living legend in the international education field. Since ProWorld and IEP recently decided to get in bed with each other, they've produced 4 new staffers: Anna, Julie, Keith and Kate. They're no Autumn, but they're all pretty chill, so it should be fun time in Mexico. I saw Adam for a full 20 hours, which was fab, since I haven't seen him since May and won't see him again until we both move to Mexico in November. I can't believe I'm moving to Mexico in November...

That's all I got for now. Training has been as expected - kinda boring, but necessary. We're going to try and explore Jacksonville tonight with the help of some locals, so hopefully we'll find ourselves some fun! Till next time...

so i officially hit my quarter life...

So the big 2-5 was a pretty big one! Ok, not really, but for being on lock down in a college dorm with 403 high school students, it was pretty "B.A." as my students all say. They talk in so many acronyms I can barely understand them and that's how I know I'm officially crossing the line into old-dom. Some quick highlights of my day of birth:

• Having the 16 students wage psychological warfare on me with the Invisible Hat Game ALL day at Evanston Hospital...
• Getting a "surprise" party in my classroom once I got back to the university from my 22 students...
• Awesome flip chart cards and posters from other groups...
• A really nice card from Jimmy Ops...
• Just being able to witness the complete mayhem that was the Wa-nament.
  
• Receiving awesome gifts (nerf gun, playdough and a bizarre card game) from my NYLF boss...
• Escaping NYLF-land with the Bobert for a grown-up drink (even if it was at a crappy bar and only for one drink)...
• Drinking wine and breaking all the rules in my dorm room...

Like I said, I did the best I could with what I had and I must say, it was a pretty good day. So thank you to everyone who made me smile! I'll make up for the lack of adult activities on Tuesday when the final students head out and all the FAs are FREE for real. I can only imagine the debauchery that is going to go down on Tuesday.

If you all are looking for me after Tuesday, I'll be in Jacksonville, FL from July 23 - July 30 and then in New Orleans from July 30 - August 4. And then, hopefully, I'll be able to get back to Michigan for a quick visit!!

Tomorrow is my 6 hours off and I'm PSYCHED, plus there's a talent show tomorrow night (apparently the lady FAs are doing some sort of dance) and then it's SIX FLAGS DAY so hopefully Tuesday will come sooner than later! Peace out all...

FREEDOM

So I made it through the first conference without killing or loosing any of my kiddies. Hoorah! I celebrated that and my new found freedom (4 whole days of it) pretty hard last night. I heart dollar beers in Chicago summer. I know 10 days doesn't sound like that lengthy of a time, but seriously, we were with these kiddies ALL DAY EVERY DAY for 10 days straight, not allowed to leave campus unless we were with them. So it felt like quite a long time.

The kids were pretty awesome though, I must admit. My group definitely had their moments and to sound completely cheesey, I was definitely proud of them by the end of the conference. Hopefully my next group doesn't disappoint.

Anyhoozle, I am peacing for my very first Cubs game! Probably a little overdue considering I lived in Chicago for an entire year and never went, but better late than never, I suppose!

summer in the chi!

I've been a busy bee since landing in Chicago last week!  I went through a week of training for the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine (I'm a faculty advisor...faculty advisor = teacher of high school students interested in the field of medicine).  The first conference started on Sunday and it's been CRAZY.  I won't go into too much detail, but my 8 days back so far have included:

• Meeting all my awesome colleagues at NYLF Chicago...
  
• Seeing STEVIE WONDER live in concert for FREE! (amazing show, by the way...perfect weather and he played for 2 hours and Jesse Jackson was there and the people watching was better than I've seen in a really long time)...
  
• Hanging out with old Chicago friends and hitting all my favorite old spots...
  
• Learning as much about medicine and teaching in one week as I possibly can...
• Meeting 402 high school students from all over the country...
• Hot yoga hot yoga hot yoga...
  
• Adjusting to life in the dorms (again!)...
• Remembering what it's like to SHOWER everyday...
• Eating AMAZING food...I missed sushi soooooooooo much....
• Downloading new music and trading music with my co-workers...
• Hanging out in the Bat Cave...
• Drinking adult beverages...
• Playing WA!...

It's amazing being back and this conference is pretty fantabulous.  Exhausting, but fantabulous.  My days go from 7AM - 1130PM and some days we start even earlier.  (Tomorrow we're heading to Madison to see UW's medical school...bus boarding is 550AM...)  Anyway, it's interesting to be hanging out with all the students and attempting to teach them about a field that I know nothing about.  My goals are currently to a.)  Not loose/kill any of my students; and 2.)  Not cause any mental damage/harm to any of my students.  So wish me luck!

On that note, I am heading to my plastic twin bed so that I'm not the one showing up late for bus boarding tomorrow morning.  I'll try to write more later.  Night all!

the greatest despedida EVER

I had to say my goodbyes to the Urubamba staff on Thursday night at the Grupo Cinco show, which, by the way, was INSANE. I heart Grupo Cinco FOREVER. Friday was my last day in the office and my last day in Cusco. My co-workers and friends made my despedida last all day, which made me feel so loved (and made me hate having to leave...).

Irma made my favorite mid morning snack, fried yucca and aji. After we all devoured it, I went to lunch with Sandrita to say our goodbyes and then went to San Blas (the SoHo of Cusco) to buy some art. Now, I don't know a lot about art, but the pieces that I bought are pretty amazing. One of the galleries I went into was featuring a Cusquenan artist named Walter Hurtado Bejar, who does abstract oil and acrylic paintings. I bought a bunch - probably too many, but I couldn't help myself. I'll post pics of them once I'm not in an airport and hopefully one day I'll find myself some walls to display them.

Anyway, after lunch and shopping, I went home to finish packing up my apartment (amazingly I was able to maneuver everything I own into just 2 checked bags, 1 carry on and my guitar). Packing was too sad, so I went back to the office and received many hugs, a fantastic leather bag and...my Lucia concert ticket! So exciting! Rebecca, Jackie and I headed over early to nab a table and Sandra, Milagro, Liz and Carmen met us there a bit later.

The concert was at Pachamama in Cusco. Pachamama is a restaurant, an expensive restaurant, but I guess since we all paid s/40 for the concert ticket, they thought it'd be ok if we didn't eat their food. Everyone was going across the street to the market and bringing in their own food and after awhile, people started bringing in pizzas, which made me totally jealous.

Anyway, there were a few opening numbers, the first being a group of 6 or 7 dudes playing their guitars and singing along, nothing very remarkable. Following the group of dudes, someone announced the next performer to be Ms. Poala Ruiz. Some of my friends' reactions were as follows:

"She is really beautiful - in a whore way." - Sandrita
"Ms.? Ms. Whore." - Milagros (ProPeru's 40-something party animal)

Sandrita also said the girls at Base Men were "hookers" so I didn't really believe her description of Poala Ruiz. As soon as Ms. Whore/Ruiz came out, I changed my mind. Wearing her little lingerie outfit, she came out with a microphone, so I prepared myself for a nice little musical number...but...wait...no...There was no singing. Instead she just kind of shimmied around the stage and she wasn't even that good at the shimmying! After shaking her big boobies around the stage for a bit, she finally had a dance contest with 3 random dudes she selected from the audience. It was a pretty hilarious spectacle, but I have to admit, Sandrita was right in her description. Really beautiful, but in a whore way.


This is exactly what she did last night - same song, same dance, different outfit.

FINALLY, the main act came out. Lucia is a famous Criolla singer from Lima and she is AMAZING. I'm pretty sure both Tyra and Tim would agree that she is FIERCE. Her voice is huge, her laugh is hilarious, her lyrics are great and she was constantly walking around the venue, taking pictures with people while singing. My group was definitely a.) the most intoxicated and b.) the biggest Lucia fans, so I'm pretty sure Lucia knew who we were by the end of the night. =)

So that was my despedida. I said goodbye to everyone this morning, lugged all my stuff to the airport and off I went.
And thus my summer of airports and airplanes begins with 8 hours sitting in the Lima airport, a stop for customs in New Jersey and finally landing in Chicago. At least for the next four weeks. =)

chau, cusco....until we meet again...

Chau, Cusco. We've had our differences in the eight months that I've called you home, but I am honestly going to miss you.

For being a part of my life in Cusco,

Gracias a the ProPeru staff, for helping me out when I needed it; for having patience with me as I butchered your language; and for the beautiful bag and well wishes.

Gracias a Sandra, for making me get out even when I was feeling lonely or missing home; for always trying to make me feel connected to the community and to Peru; and for just being my friend.

Gracias a Liz, for always making me laugh when I needed it and for keeping me company in la oficina; I'll see you in Oaxaca!

Gracias a Jackie, for teaching me to cook tallarin al horno; for dancing with me at Grupo Cinco and Lucia; and for being one of the most genuinely nice people I met in Cusco.

Gracias a Irma, who always made me feel happy with her fried yucca, hot chocolate, avocado sandwiches and saltenas; for helping me with my laundry; and all those days of letting me into the office when I couldn't get the door open.

Gracias a Kenny, for sometimes being a dickhead and making me appreciate my friends but always being there for support or help when I needed it.

Gracias a Rebecca, for watching endless episodes of Lost with me when I was sick and for putting up with my messiness in the A.P.T. Good luck with the rest of your summer and I'll see you back state side!

I'll miss you all and hope our paths cross again sometime!

recipe for tallarin al horno

Ingredients:
Medium pot full of sliced onions; Medium pot full of sliced tomatoes, skinned; 3 boxes of noodles; 12 eggs; Handful of black olives, sliced; Brick of cheese, sliced; Olive oil; Paprika; Garlic salt; Salt; Butter; Milk

In one giant pot, boil noodles and 6 eggs. Pour olive oil in another giant pot. Let heat for a few minutes and add onions. After a few minutes of letting the onions simmer in there, pour in the tomatoes. Add paprika and garlic salt (just throw some in). When noodles and eggs are done, strain. Butter large casserole and put in a layer of noodles, followed by a layer of the onion/tomato mixture. Add a layer of black olives, sliced hard boiled eggs and cheese. Repeat with second round of noodles, onion/tomato mixture, olives, hard boiled eggs, cheese. Cover with another layer of noodles. In a bowl, mix 3 eggs with a few cups of milk. Pour over the noodles, letting the milk/egg mixture soak through. In another bowl, mix 3 egg whites, beating until fluffy. Once fluffy, add 1 egg yolk, mix it in and then spread the fluff over the top of the noodle pie.

We dropped ours off at a public oven, which is basically a wood burning pizza oven. They told us 30 minutes. Not sure how you would cook this in a regular oven, but you can guesstimate maybe.

It kinda sounds like an odd mixture of foods, but it's a pretty common dish in Cusco. Mi amiga Jackie insisted that I learn to cook something Peruvian before I left, so we made 2 huge dishes of it at lunch time. We're having my despedida at the office before we go to Grupo Cinco tonight, so we made enough to feed both the Cusco and Urubamba staffs. Our arms almost fell off carrying the casserole dishes from her house to the ovens they were so heavy. I'm such a sissy.

Anyway, now I know how to cook some of this noodle pie stuff if anyone wants some. Muchisimo gracias, Jackie, for teaching me!

grupo cinco day

I don't know why I like these dudes so much. They're played EVERYWHERE in Cusco - taxis, stores, restaurants, el molino, ring tones, EVERYWHERE. I guess I would compare them to one of the boy bands back in the 90s except that they're not boys, they're kinda old and are lacking the choreographed dances. Oh, and they play cumbia music, not American pop. Everyone here is crazy for them and they're playing in Cusco at some festival tonight. Obviously, I'm going. GRUP-O CINC-O!

life. crazy times.

The other night I went to a get together with a bunch of "ex-pats." Some were tour guides, others worked in/owned restaurants and bars, some were long-term volunteers, and Kenny and I were representing the community development and international education sector. There was a heavy US and UK presence, with people from Boston, Vermont, Michigan (me), Scotland and England; there was an Aussie, a South African, a German and a Peruvian. Everyone had somehow found their way to Peru and made their life in Cusco.

It was such an awesome hodge podge of people and it vaguely reminded me of my student co-op experience in E.Lansing - a strange mix of slightly strange people all thrown together to make their own little family unit. I forgot what a great feeling it is to find a "family" like that. It seems to get harder and harder to find the further I get away from college. It also reminded me of the movie L'Auberge Espagnole. Good stuff. Love it. Sigh.

I'm going to miss my life here in Peru. Little by little, I am getting more emotional about leaving. I wish I'd had more time to spend with people, more time to explore, more time to do a lot of things. Maybe one day I'll wander back down as a tourist and take my time with everything.

As sad as I am to go, I'm equally as amped for the next 5 months of my life - Chicago, Florida, New Orleans, DC, Baltimore, NYC, California and a move to Mexico in October. How can I not be excited for that? Honestly. Life. Crazy times.

"yes. she is the poo."

My co-worker said this to describe Irma, our amazing employee who makes the best hot chocolate ever in the universe - she actually melts the chocolate down, adds sugar and milk. After I confirmed that she had in fact called someone "The Poo," I proceeded to roll on the ground laughing for about 10 minutes. The Poo....

I just had to share the comment because it pretty much made my day. The end.

better late than never?

So it's probably a little over eight months coming, but I finally got around to starting a blog! Hoorah! Is it weird that I did it at 4 in the A.M. about a week before I'm LEAVING Peru? Oh well, hopefully there will be more adventures coming.

Yes, it's true. I'm leaving Peru in T - 5 days and like most things in my life, I don't think that I've fully wrapped my head around it. For the amount of time it took me and Peru to become friends, it's weird to think that I'm going to miss it. We had quite a lot of disagreements: homelessness, sketchy landlord, no water, no electricity, trying not to get typhoid while living with Typhoid Autumn, not being able to eat the CHEESE (obviously, my favorite food), the stalker, constantly being harassed, etc. etc. Peru and I, we had our differences. But now, as I'm getting ready to leave, I have to admit, I think I might miss it. Just a tad.

We had our moments - there was Mancora, Christmas in the plaza, Machu Picchu, the sunshine in Urubamba, the hilarious British/Peruvian "chef," crazy times at Mama Africa, the lunch time siestas, the delicious mid morning snacks, good old Lake Titicaca, trips to the Amazon, attempting to cross the Bolivian border, the Brazilian invasion in January, meeting Typhoid Autumn, the fresh mango...mmm....mango. All good things.

And as much as I hated my apartment, my sketchy landlord, my stupid shower that NEVER worked, the endless line of men who were constantly peeing outside my window, the fact that the roof wasn't completely closed off causing a draft every night...as much as I hated Joaquin, the stupid dog that NEVER stopped yapping next door...I still think of that apartment as home.

I'm not prepared at all to go. My stuff is EVERYWHERE. God only knows what I'm going to do with all the apartment stuff I now own in Peru - an amazing dinette set for 6, a fantastic nonstick frying pan (harder to find than one might think), sheets, candle sticks, a dart gun. Wait, no, the dart gun is definitely coming back with me. Mary and I have some trixies to shoot.

Anyhoozle, there's that. My mission this week is trying to fit my entire life back into 2 suitcases and bidding Peru a fond farewell. Oh, and if I have time, there's a Grupo Cinco concert on Thursday. That's my other mission. Very importante stuff. Wish me luck!

Till next time...