Friday, August 26, 2005

Weird trees and bootlegging

My car has been enveloped in this weird, sticky, mini-drop mess. Apparently Berkeley and Oakland are plagued with "Yellow Leaking Sap Trees" or something awful like that, and they are attacking the poor, slow, defensless and now dirty Saturn. It is really quite exciting.
Sidenote: I just had some breadsticks and they were fabulous...and now I am going to watch "50 First Dates" - the non bootleg version**- and then sleep lots and lots.
**For those of you who have not watched proper bootleg DVD's (like from Chinatown in NYC), you can totally tell that someone videotaped what you are watching from the back of the theater - people actually get up and their shadows walk across the movie, sometimes they cough, and if you are lucky, they make ridiculous comments!

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Durian, its nastiness, and the fam


During our exciting work training, Jessica announced today that she had the grossest candy ever last night: Durian Sucky Candy. Haha. Then we engaged in a conversation about just how disgusting durian is and debating if people can ever really like it, or if they are just confused.
Other news: My mom just sent me that picture and since I am becoming tech savvy, it is online here now. Say hello to the fam!
More other news: School starts in a few days and I really have no clue what I am doing yet....moreover I am not worried about it. What is up with that?

Thursday, August 18, 2005

tech savvy and loving it

So I finally have gotten my pictures online from my travels, have begun online banking, got all the music Leslie and Vicky gave me into Itunes and have learned how to use a mac.
In other news, Joyce (my next door neighbor growing up) was out here for an interview and we went out for a wonderful sushi dinner. I've also been working the past 3 days at a program for our 7th graders and the kids are pretty tough....the year should be interesting! Lastlu, Ben came up and Leslie and Bryan met us for drinks which was great - I love where I live now! We walked all over and found a great little bar and cheap Mexican place for dinner. Today I am going into my classroom to set up. Exciting - I know you are all jealous :)

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Saturns, Kayaks, and Hiking Boots

Jay, Vicky and I have been busy touring California and the unfortunate city of Reno. Conclusions:
Yosemite is goregous, but hiking up mountains poses challenges unmet in the Midwest.
The lack of humidity is loved by all (me escaping Asia, them escaping the Midwest)
Cold water or pop is the best thing after hiking.
More Europeans travel in our parks than US citizens.
It is really hard to Kayak on Tahoe. It is necessary to befriend rich people with boats (anyone....anyone???)
Good times were had by all. We toured around SF today and said hello to the Golden Gate, sea lions, Ghirardelli chocolate and vats of ice cream, the lovely Pacific Ocean and Redwoods, and the random crazies around the city. Tomorrow we are going to the great city of Sebastopol with Johanna and Ry to experience the greatness that is the apple festival.

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Yosemite!

Today Jay, Vicky and I embark on our cross-California journey to the lovely Yosemite National Park. Things to look forward to:
good car snacks
ipods galore
weird company (my family isn't normal...me included...)
goregous views
The adventure begins soon - I have to shower and then we are off!

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Faux Pas

Some of the funny things I didn't mention yet were as follows:
In Cambodia, it was necessary to educate people about condoms since the average family has 5 kids and 60% of the population is under 15. Volunteers educated village people about condoms by using bananas and, well, condoms. All of the people practiced, and it was certain that they were ready to use them accordingly. Well, what happened was that they thought they needed to put a condom on a banana to prevent pregnancy...they didn't realize the true use :) Needless to say, more than one lesson was given.
Secondly, a friend of mine was trying to buy tampons in Vietnam and couldn't really act it out (acting is a crucial skill for travelling to Asia...) so she showed one that was in a bright pink wrapper to a pharmacist. The pharmacist thought it was lipstick and acted out putting it on her lips. We all looked at her in a sort of weird manner cluing her in that she was wrong. Then she figured it out, screamed "oh...." looked at us in a horrified manner, and said "Oh....you won't be able to find them anywhere here....on no..." She was clearly horrified and it became quite clear that it was seen as a taboo to use such objects.
Now that I am home, culture shock has set in a bit. Johanna has been my princess in shining armour and is helping me get used to cars, sidewalks, no bikes, drinking water from taps, non-Aussie/European language, and all TV channels in English! Woo hooooooo! It is nice to be back :)