Riding with Strangers

I'm running out the door, but I must write a short blurb.

Some times in life you have to throw out all the rules your mother and kindergarten teacher have taught you and get in a car with a stranger.... Ohp. . . dog needs to go out... more to come...

World is Awesome

So in my many days (3 moons) of unemployment I renewed and fed my love for documentaries. I binged on Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Travel Channel, and more. (Bravo! too). But my favorite was the commerial done by Discovery Channel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0

I loved it because, well, the world is awesome. I love the spotted dick pudding of UK, the rolling hills of Wales, the Iskender of Turkiye, drives in the Tunisian desert, hamams, the penguins of South Africa, dunes of Namibia, South African grocery stores, the moon, fresh real chinese food in China, the wisdom of the Turkish desert, Planet Earth documentaries done by the BBC, the hidden gardens of London, nooks and cranies of Paris, fresh baguettes, Yangshuo, the amazing tropical and lush garden in Macau, all the amazing cultures, Turkish spices and food it creates, IKEA, markets, spice markets, metal markets in Istanbul, people tripping, me tripping, joy rides with strangers in Tunisian oasis, cruises on the Nile, Hamburg Germany, cheetahs, Romania (all of it), and more.

Why do you think the World is Awesome?

What if...

So last week while sitting for 2.5 hrs in the Dr.'s office waiting for my regular checkup. I started reading the very outdated magazines (nearly as old as my last visit). I thumbed through many OK!, Black Entrepreneur, The Times, Newsweek, and others. When reading Newsweek from April 2007 I came across an article by Anna Quindlen entitled "The Weight of What-If"

This article really hit home for me and made me ponder many things about the world and my life. Her article mainly talks about war and how the politicians in todays world don't ever see the playing field of war and how they don't think about the "what-ifs" linked to wedding engagements never fulfilled, "orphaned children, towns denuded," etc. Her article wasn't political but was about the regular people and how we wonder about the what-ifs, especially in relation to war. Her account of how she waited in front of the ticker to see what draft number her then boyfriend and now husband would receive, showed how she wonders frequently what would have been of her, her husband, and her 3 children had the draft dice rolled a single digit number. This made me recall the stories of my newly married mom and dad when he was issued his draft numbers. If the numbers were different, my families entire history would have been erased or at best completely re-written.

Her thoughts lead me to the thoughts of those directly effected by war, mainly the citizens of the country where war is taking place. I can't help but think about how deeply I would wade through the what-ifs if I were a citizen of a war torn area. I would be plagued with fear, knowing that if I chose the wrong route to the market or chose the wrong market, my life could be completely altered or ended. Alternatively, if I lost a friend or family member, I would plague myself with questions of "what-if I had told him/her to not go that route?", or "what if I had told them to stay the night instead of trekking home at night?" (Having plagued myself with these very same questions after a bombing in Istanbul).

This past week, I would touch on these wartime thoughts quickly, but would quickly, and selfishly leave these deep and sad thoughts behind to think of more tangible and less depressing what-ifs. Granted, I acknowledge that what-ifs in their very nature tend to tip the balance more to the depressing/sad side of the scale than to the fun/humorous side. Perhaps it is because the what-ifs of my own life are a bit more manageable than those of entire nations. Departing from the depths of painful what-ifs, my what ifs tended to fall on the following topics (in no particular order):

WHAT IF...

1. I took that job offer at the orphanage in Romania in 2001?
2. I took the job in Afghanistan in Dec 2003? (ya, can you tell I'm unemployed right now?)
3. I had never gone to Turkey?
4. Keeley, Deb, Christian, Ahmet, Onur, David, Sara, Jeffrey, Craig, Seth, Chetin, John, Momma M, Esther, etc and I never met?
5. I was straight
6. I finally wrote that book
7. Someone paid off all my student loans?
8. I hadn't arranged to meet my friend's cousin in that square in Istanbul when that bomb happened to go off? What if I wasn't late? What if he had been late?
9. I took a chance and tried at to make at least one of my dream jobs happen now?
10. I hadn't left my bike out front for those 2 minutes when I ran inside?
11. I had a bag of gummy worms right now?

The list could go on for days, as the article made me wonder about many things in life, some based on things I could control, some not. Overall, I find wondering about the what-ifs amusing and entertaining and quite rudimentary compared to those who have to deal with the very heavy and pressing what-ifs of war-torn homelands.

In the end, after every "what-if" session of this past week, I've been pleased with where life has taken me, what has happened to me, the personality and genetics I was born with, and where I am now. Things can always be better or worse, but at the end of the day, I'm happier than I've ever been and love to take time to think of where I've been, good and bad, difficult and fun. All of them have molded and chiseled me into the amazing 6 pack, 200 lbs bench pressing, one handed push-ups and pull-ups stud I am today. ha ha.

Anyone want to adopt a dog?

So I would like to figure out how to get Oscar Davis (I named this dog) away from his owner and into a new family that will take care of him. We thought he had died after he didn't show up to eat for a few days, but then he showed up and seemed to be doing okay. OD is one of three emaciated dogs that live next to Ivan in Wyoming. This boy was the friendliest and cutest. He won my heart instantly. I would love any help in getting this dog to DC so I can place him into a loving home.

The pics don't show how horrible it is for him. All his ribs, spine and hips are completely exposed. Currently Ivan is feeding him and the other two as often as he is home, but since he is in the field frequently it is hard for him to make up where their owner is lacking.

PLEASE contact me with ideas and/or donations.

Some pics from South Africa

Lately, I've been having problems with uploading pics to this blog so I'm just posting a few at a time when I can.

Here's a few from South Africa.

One is of Bella during our play time, which was the highlight of my trip. I missed Bella before getting there but didn't realize how much until we started playing. She's so much fun and the best dance partner. It was a trip to hear her new South African accent instead of her English accent.

The other pics include my beautiful friend Tam in her wedding dress. She was stunning and a bit dreamy as she came down the mountain in her dress with the sun hitting her so she was in this glowing cocoon of white silk.

The rest are of Keeley, AJ, Matt and I doing things in SA. Table Mount was a bit too windy for them to allow us to the top. Not sure what they were thinking, I mean ya we nearly blew off the cliff next to where we parked, but whatever. They're overly cautious.

Box of Crayons

Egypt is like a box of crayons.

Cairo is the smaller package of crayons that you get that are specific color themes. These existed when I was a kid, don't know if they exist anymore. Anyways, you could get them in packs of 6 crayons and they would all be the some shade or tone theme. Well Cairo is the skin tone theme, the one that had the white, black, brown, tan, yellow, and peach in it. Why? Well that is pretty much the ONLY colors in Cairo, and that pack would be colorful. You could exchange the yellow for a grey one for the sky (due to pollution, not cloud coverage). Ivan and I frequently discussed how someone needed to come in with some colorful paint and paint the city colorful. Out in Giza there were a few (probably 3 or 4) buildings that weren't mudbrick tan. We were excited. Oh and the Egyptian Museum (which, YES we DID NOT visit - lynch us now)was pink and red.

When I first arrived I LOVED Cairo. IT was exciting. I felt like I was in China again. Pollution burning my nose, mayhem on the street and sidewalks. Yelling, honking, smells everywhere (good and bad), people hacking their lungs out, and all the other exciting life of developing countries that I LOVE. I guess when you add in all the people and cars you could add a few streaks of color from the crayon box (yellow, blue, red, a tinge of green).

Once I had checked into the hotel, I decided to head out for a bite to eat while waiting for Ivan to arrive from Alexandria. The guy at the sandwhich shop was nice and threw in a drink for free. Nice man.

Apparently, nice man didn't get nice meat.

About 16hrs later, this was proven by my developing illness that followed me for the next near 48 hrs. Sadly, this illness did not add much color to the monotonous box of crayons of Cairo.

I am impressed that out of the list of people involved (Ivan, the train steward, janitor, people next door, all those walking by our cabin) not one had that reaction that you saw in the Junior High Locker Room after someone threw up. (a chain of puking). Kudos to all those involved and those who dutifully cleaned up after me. Poor, sweet, older, janitor guy.

Our attendant, for some reason was convinced I had been drinking too much. He kept doing the drinking sign and saying, "no, no". At first I tried to convince myself that he was talking about the bad water, but then I realized he wasn't when he pointed to Ivan's beer. I guess he assumes all foreigners are drunks. Note - I still don't drink and I didn't like our Cairo attendant.

Aswan, Luxor, Kum Ombo, and River Nile Cruise.

These places can be compared to the super duper huge coloring box with the built in sharpener. (I loved those ones and always envied the kid next to me who somehow was able to afford one and NEVER used it. Jerk. Did he not ever notice my craving, pitiful, jealous eyes?)

River Cruise - The colors from the box that first come to mind are green, blue, tan, sky blue, and white. Basically these are my favorite colors. So calming. The river was so blue and there were islands of green grass rising in the middle of the river. Green was bountiful on both sides of the Nile with mudbrick homes mixed in here and there. The homes had yellow fences made out of dried palms and papyrus. (This is me guessing - I'm no botanist.) The sky was also sky blue with the occassional cloud. I'm relaxed now just thinking of it.

Aswan, Luxor, Kum Ombo - All the colors, but the ones that come first to mind are red, gold, tan, green, blue,and white.

RED - my anger when I got completely fed up with the "baksheesh" people. These color would change to Beat Red when we returned to Cairo and I had a very splendid conversation with our Tour Agency.... Red is also a very common color on the temple and tomb walls.

Egypt and Switzerland

I swear I will post pics, etc soon. Promise. I hope tonight, but we will see.

Only 2 more countries left.... Canada and one more... where will it be (can't be India...sigh)?

Namibia

So I went to Namibia in late March on my way to a friend's wedding in Cape Town, South Africa. It was beautiful. Would have loved to have stayed in Namibia for a while. I've seen jobs posted at the World Bank in Namibia and have been tempted to apply. I've seen ones for South Africa also, but have given in to the temptation... :)

My entire trip to Namibia and South Africa was full of nature, but Namibia was especially full of it. I spent a day in the desert and a few days in the small town of Walvis Bay (second or third largest city in Namibia). I loved wondering around the town and being in the small town environment. Since I was walking everywhere, I got strange looks and honks with yells out the window, "Want a ride?" "Where you goin?". Apparently white people don't walk in Namibia. Below are a few pics of Namibia.

Crème Brûlée

Of all the desserts in the world, freshly made Crème Brûlée has to be my favorite, sorry flan. When my mom came to visit me in London for my graduation we went to Paris for a few days. We both have serious weaknesses for desserts, but we both seemed to have the same inability to resist Crème Brûlée. Let's talk about it:

Top 10 favorite things about Crème Brûlée:

10. sugar
9. creamy texture
8. every time I eat it, it's like a little bit of heaven
7. each bite brings flashes of Paris back to my mind (ya, I know, after my 1st visit I hated it and vowed to never return. Said the same thing about Istanbul....)
6. burnt sugar top (different from just being sugar)
5. it's French - in general, their food is good
4. it's a dessert!
3. the cool little pottery it comes in (yes, this is number 3. I love small little pottery things, personal weakness)
2. every time I eat it I think of my mom...aww..but it's true (I'm eating it now)
1. cracking the hard burnt top and having the creme ooze through it

It's all thumbs up for Crème Brûlée


All looking down for Flan



For those that say Flan is just an upside down version of Crème Brûlée, I dare you to tell this to a frenchman or a spaniard.

They are miles apart, and as a result, flan just floats around with all the other desserts and doesn't make it to the number one dessert spot for me.

Self Portraits....don't laugh

Then we had to do self portraits. Well, I forgot my tripod, so I didn't get to play around with the aperture like I wanted. So these are just shot on fairly quick shutter speeds and low aperture.

Here they are, again, I am trying to be serious, and so I look more somber than serious. I am not putting up the ones where I am totally laughing at myself, which there are a lot of, of course....

Portraits

SO as part of our class we had to do portraits of each other. So here are a few. For the most part we are all joking around. Well, actually, I think I was the only one not taking it serious.

A little update of sorts

Ok so again it's been another 2 months in between posts. I've become quite horrible at posting. So let me list the top 10 things that have happened as of late:

1. Did not go to Brazil because a "friend" backed out of watching Danger two days before going (fingers crossed this doesn't happen in two weeks.
2. Going to South Africa and Namibia in exactly 2 weeks
3. Fixed my Mac (YIPEE!!!)
4. Became a consultant at World Bank (ends in a month)
5. Broke up, dated, broke up, dating...
6. Going to India for half of August as the conclusion of my 30 x 30 goal
7. Discovered new band Elbow which I love and have grown to love Brandi Carlile even more
8. Took a 4 week photography class (it only met once a week)
9. Committed to a triathlon in September. Need to decide if it will be the one in the Black Country, UK or Southwell, UK
10. Need to find a 29th country to go to... thinking Ireland, maybe Belize....or Costa Rica?

So here are some photos from my class.

Well it's been over two months since I last wrote on this blog. Things have happened of course, but too much to throw into a blog all in one go, at least. Amazingly, I still live in the same place - 6 months now!!! I think that may be a new record of sorts. However, I have not been in the same room that entire time..... Oh well, one step at a time, right?

Well in a week from Monday, I will be heading to Brazil! I'm just starting to get excited about it. I will also have a day layover in Panama and also Miami. Bit bugged about Miami as it is just another day away and I have never really had any desire to go to Miami. I blame CSI Miami. Now Las Vegas on the other hand....

As of 1 Jan I will be officially unemployed, unless some things really change for me and my luck/karma really turns around. I'm not looking forward to it, but maybe this is that little extra push I need to just go take those photography classes, start my own business, and get a teaching certificate. (they all fit together, really) Why are you going to Brazil then, you might ask? Well I bought the tickets back when I had savings and a strong hope for a future perm job. And can't waste those non-refundable tickets, now can I?

Other things: Danger is dating Roxzy. I'm pretty sure they are official.

Here's a pic of Danger at Halloween as the Brazilian Futball fan.

Water

So yesterday I went on a hike with my dog and Serge. It was a lot of fun. Then today I was looking at the National Geographic website (I can spend hours there without even realizing it.) and saw this photo exhibit on water patterns. http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/patterns-water/surf-ripples-photography.html

It reminded me of the hike yesterday because the water in the canal was making this argyle pattern all over. It was quite amazing. Check out the link above.

A List....

One of my friends makes a lot of lists. So today I’m following Sokphal’s (http://www.carpediem16.blogspot.com/)example and making a list. This time it’s things I’m grateful for (other than the obvious – family, friends, good health, yada, yada, yada):

1.) Vitamin K – good for fighting off rat poison in dogs (cross fingers he is completely cured!!)

2.) Second Chance in Baltimore: http://www.secondchanceinc.org/ and http://www.photopian.com/gallery/2nd_chance/

3.) Craigslist – finding roommates

4.) Photography – it’s fun. I miss my camera (I had to return it and be responsible) and my Mac. :(

5.) Music groups: Interpol, I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness, Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, classical composers, Pet Shop Boys, Elefant, The Church, Cities, The Strokes, Libertines, Depeche Mode, A-ha (oh yes), U2, Erasure, etc. . .

6.) Zoo – makes me appreciate my freedom to roam, which is directly related to my number one fear – being locked away in a prison for a crime I didn’t commit.

Seaweed is important, think of Japan

Today at work I was thinking what would happen if all the seaweed in the world died? Now, you may wonder, what brought on this thought. Well I was eating some Japanese seaweed rice crackers. And the thought hit me.

It needs sunlight and oxygen, but if it gets too much sun will it die, will global warming kill it all? What will we do? Now, seaweed seems like it doesn't really play a role in the life cycle, but it does. Also, think of Japan. What would Japan do? Sushi, sushi rolls, dried seaweed snacks. I mean Japan's culture filters into all of Asia like the US does in Latin America. (sorry) Also, think of all the seaweed facial masks, beauty products, ice cream, food in general, etc. The list could go on. It's a snowball effect.

I have concluded that seaweed is important. Let me tell you why. Much like coral reefs they are living organisms and many different creatures live in them. Now I'm just speculating here, but if plankton live in seaweed and all the seaweed died, where would they go? And what would all the sharks, fish, whales, etc eat? Would they all have to migrate to the plankton's new domicile? Think of the migration issues? Who would accept these strange refugees? And what about the tuna? How would those who eat meat get their tuna fish salads and sandwiches? Would we have to resort to actual chicken?

I'm scared for the world, but mainly the Japanese and those who eat tuna.

So tired......

Ok. I know a dog is not like having a kid. Please tell me a kid is easier. PLEASE!!! I have an active toddler on my hands. I've only had him for 46 hours and it feels like 4 days. Don't get me wrong, I ABSOLUTELY love having him. I'm just out of shape.

Yesterday I took him running, scratch that, he took me running in the morning for 30 minutes (and again this morning). Then we walked for 15. Then I took him for a 15 min walk at lunch. And then we went for an hour walk after work and then to the dog park for about an hour. Last night I fell asleep at 10:30!! That is SO SO early for me. I only woke up because I was super hot. Why was I hot, you might ask? No it wasn't because it's summer. Well, at some point during my rest, Danger decided to get up on my bed and snuggle right up next to me. There are no personal boundaries with this dog. He even had his face on my neck. Now if any of you know me, you know that I'm a fairly light sleeper and if anyone touches my neck I instantly wake up (think Kenya). But I was so tired I didn't even wake up when he did that.

Despite my efforts to tire him out yesterday, he was wide awake at 5:30 in the morn. I now understand the idiom, "wide eyed and bushy tailed" firsthand.

I'm getting a DOG!!!

So it's official, I have been approved for adopting a dog. He is half German Shepherd and half Doberman Pincher. I've pasted the shelter's picture of him. He get's to come home on Wednesday evening. I will post pictures on Thursday.

Also, his current name is Ranger - - I do NOT like that name! Please let me know if you have any suggestions for his new name. So far on the list is: Danger, Silas, Jedediah, and Jacob.

Hope to hear your suggestions!!