so thursday. thursday wasn't much exciting. the usual feed birds, feed us, internet, feed us, feed birds, internet, dinner, internet, coladas, canasta routine. **i forgot about frappes! 2 different flavors of ice cream, frozen coffee, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, whipped cream. not much sleep for the night due to caffeine overload. but oh so good!** friday will be much better...ATM Caves is on the calendar! so instead i'll just expound on belize itself.
it's gorgeous here. and wide open. i've already said it once but this is just such a welcome change from crushed in korea of the gray/yellow/green skies depending upon what crap is in the air that day. so much space to raise children & let them run. as a child, i grew up in the country with plenty of room for running. and oh did i hate it. we were too far out from everything & it was miserable. but i see the logic of it now. perhaps at some point i'll have a yard for running. although by that point i don't think i'll have any little enough to enjoy it.
it is dirty here. in the towns. people are litter bugs & there is dust & dirt everywhere. probably wouldn't work for my family of allergy fiends. claritin has worked for me while i've been here but my allergies are basic compared to 1 and littlest. mold & mildew flourish in this tropical atmosphere.
the heat is cloying and oppressive. humidity sits on us like heavy blankets. air conditioning is essentially unheard of. although the atm chamber at the bank has AC. you also have to slide your card to get in. i guess they don't want to pass out AC for free. i've been sweating since i got here. i'm growing accustomed to sweat running down my back & my front. and i seriously appreciate the shower at the end of the day. and cold water splashed on my face in the interim. nothing beats it.
bugs bite frequently. deet is nasty stuff but keeps the ticks & squitoes away. there's a strange bite on my foot-right in the perfect position to be irritated by my tennis & hiking shoes. finally got smart enough to put coconut oil on it last night & the itchiness has subsided immensely. haven't spotted any ticks on my self yet but sister has found a few. no clue if there is lyme disease carried around here or not. probably, as everything else seems to be.
there is poverty here. education is privatized & very expensive, which i gather leaves quite a few people out in the cold. reasonably certain the 2 night-time security guards here cannot read. it's sad, really. but it is a developing country so perhaps at some point things will be better & there will be more hope.
there is a mishmash of people here. many of the groceries are chinese. there was honey at the market with a german's name on it as the bottler. many american ex-pats everywhere. and the belizeans are black and brown. mayan ancestry shows in high cheekbones & foreheads. mennonites & amish walk the streets in long sleeves, long pants, straw hats. the only woman i've seen had on long sleeves & a black bonnet. i didn't see her lower half but i assume it was clad in a skirt.
when we entertained the idea of south korea, people said "why korea?" and i got quite a few "why belize?" when i entertained the idea of vacation. people should stop asking why & just do what they can do. once in a lifetime opportunities should not be passed up. fear should not keep people chained to their couches, cowering from what the world holds. americans in particular seem to stay walled in by fear and trepidation. been there, was that. it took me (thirty-something) years to venture out of my bubble. don't wait too long...life has a habit of passing us by.
Showing posts with label adventures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adventures. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
belize! - day three
so...wednesday. things are possibly starting to run together due to 1-the lack of watch or cell phone with the time on it & 2-the nightly pina colada ritual. i figure i'll be back to the real world soon enough & will have enough time checking then that i shouldn't worry about it right now. so long as the birdies get fed at 8 & 3, we're good.
wake up, feed the birds (what time?...just making sure you're paying attention). head off to the market & post office. things are SO inexpensive here! we got what would probably have been about $60 worth of produce in the US or the commissary for about $15. amazing. fruit & veggies for the birdies. we then hauled it all home & made parrot salad. it involved large knives & cutting boards & a steamer. easy, mind-numbing work. chop, chop, chop. gracie took some pictures. that alleviated some of the numbness. for about 20 seconds. then back to work.
wednesday was also mouse cage cleaning day. (i think that actually happened BEFORE marketing. but like i said, it's all running together.) it is usually mondays but since SOMEONE had the audacity to disrupt the schedule with an airport arrival on monday, mouse cleaning got moved to wednesday. know how you move mice from cage to cage without getting bit? pick them up by their tails! there's a fantastic picture on facebook with me in my mask. CASA has its own mouse colony for when there are raptors in residence-no running off to the pet store or field here! just head for the mouse room! there are about 10 grown or juvenile mice & then about 10 babies of 2 different litters so varying ages. mice-meh. can't get real excited about them.
then it was lunch time & then a little later feed the birds (again) time & then we got to jump in the (air-conditioned HALLELUJAH!) peregrine fund truck to see some orange-breasted falcons. took a LONNNNNNNG ride on bumpy roads to a mountain. found what may have been some slash & burn farming right near where we parked the truck. that was quite mood-dampening. then followed long-legged & fast-walking yeray UP the mountain to a sink hole void of falcons. continued (puff, puff, gasp, wheeze) following him to another hole with a female on a nest with 3 eggs. he had a fancy-schmancy scope he let us look through. it's so amazing to me that these birds nest on the walls of cliffs. she was a pretty thing & we saw her move around a bit which was interesting. the going back down was much easier than going back up. natalie, of the not-as-long-fast-legs led the way. i was in the middle & felt as if i were going to be run over at any minute. we all made it back down safely & got back on the crazy bumpy road back home.
ate serendib for dinner...sri lankan food in belize? of course! i mean, i had to go to korea to try indian & thai, why not come to belize for sri lankan? it was pretty good. nice & spicy. didn't care much for the dessert-wattalapan, i think. it was advertised as coconut custard but seemed more like pumpkin pie. pumpkin, in my book, is nasty. no thanks. i tried to like it but just couldn't.
after sri lankan, headed back home for more canasta & coladas. we were hoping for tamarind daiquiris but there seemed to be a shortage of tamarind juice that night, so we stuck with old faithful. and it was just fine.
wake up, feed the birds (what time?...just making sure you're paying attention). head off to the market & post office. things are SO inexpensive here! we got what would probably have been about $60 worth of produce in the US or the commissary for about $15. amazing. fruit & veggies for the birdies. we then hauled it all home & made parrot salad. it involved large knives & cutting boards & a steamer. easy, mind-numbing work. chop, chop, chop. gracie took some pictures. that alleviated some of the numbness. for about 20 seconds. then back to work.
wednesday was also mouse cage cleaning day. (i think that actually happened BEFORE marketing. but like i said, it's all running together.) it is usually mondays but since SOMEONE had the audacity to disrupt the schedule with an airport arrival on monday, mouse cleaning got moved to wednesday. know how you move mice from cage to cage without getting bit? pick them up by their tails! there's a fantastic picture on facebook with me in my mask. CASA has its own mouse colony for when there are raptors in residence-no running off to the pet store or field here! just head for the mouse room! there are about 10 grown or juvenile mice & then about 10 babies of 2 different litters so varying ages. mice-meh. can't get real excited about them.
then it was lunch time & then a little later feed the birds (again) time & then we got to jump in the (air-conditioned HALLELUJAH!) peregrine fund truck to see some orange-breasted falcons. took a LONNNNNNNG ride on bumpy roads to a mountain. found what may have been some slash & burn farming right near where we parked the truck. that was quite mood-dampening. then followed long-legged & fast-walking yeray UP the mountain to a sink hole void of falcons. continued (puff, puff, gasp, wheeze) following him to another hole with a female on a nest with 3 eggs. he had a fancy-schmancy scope he let us look through. it's so amazing to me that these birds nest on the walls of cliffs. she was a pretty thing & we saw her move around a bit which was interesting. the going back down was much easier than going back up. natalie, of the not-as-long-fast-legs led the way. i was in the middle & felt as if i were going to be run over at any minute. we all made it back down safely & got back on the crazy bumpy road back home.
ate serendib for dinner...sri lankan food in belize? of course! i mean, i had to go to korea to try indian & thai, why not come to belize for sri lankan? it was pretty good. nice & spicy. didn't care much for the dessert-wattalapan, i think. it was advertised as coconut custard but seemed more like pumpkin pie. pumpkin, in my book, is nasty. no thanks. i tried to like it but just couldn't.
after sri lankan, headed back home for more canasta & coladas. we were hoping for tamarind daiquiris but there seemed to be a shortage of tamarind juice that night, so we stuck with old faithful. and it was just fine.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
belize! - day two
really it's 6. i just can't get caught up!
so tuesday.... tuesday is birdie cage scrubbing day. i don't guess there's much that can be said to glamour that up. soap & water & scrub brushes & brooms. guess a working vacation can't be all vacation.
tuesday afternoon was a birdie surgery. a cattle egret (korea friends, think of the white birds we see all over the rice paddies) had come in - a week or so before i did - with an injured wing & some of that foam stuff you spray to fill in holes in your house all over his feet. natalie managed to get the foam off with tweezers, scissors & lots of patience but his wing still needed some attention. the veterinarian they use was coming out to the clinic to try to pin the wing. unfortunately, once he was sedated, they could feel around & find that the injury was much more serious than they thought and the decision was made to go ahead & put him down. it was kind of sad.
i did not even try to observe the surgery as i did not want to fall out on the floor & be in the way. so i spent the afternoon reading/sleeping in the hammock until it was time to feed the birds. i had agreed to do it in case the surgery wasn't over when it came time for feeding. everyone got food & clean water.
once natalie was done, we went into town for some pina colada supplies (that damn song has been in my head ALL.FREAKIN.WEEK.). and came back here for pina coladas & canasta. yeray, who works for the peregrine fund (click it to read about it) documenting orange breasted falcons in central america, joined us for coladas & canasta. he invited us to go hiking with him on wednesday to hopefully see a falcon or two and possibly some eggs. with that in mind, we went on to bed with plans to hop out of bed in the morning so we could get all of our work done in order to be able to play in the afternoon!
so tuesday.... tuesday is birdie cage scrubbing day. i don't guess there's much that can be said to glamour that up. soap & water & scrub brushes & brooms. guess a working vacation can't be all vacation.
tuesday afternoon was a birdie surgery. a cattle egret (korea friends, think of the white birds we see all over the rice paddies) had come in - a week or so before i did - with an injured wing & some of that foam stuff you spray to fill in holes in your house all over his feet. natalie managed to get the foam off with tweezers, scissors & lots of patience but his wing still needed some attention. the veterinarian they use was coming out to the clinic to try to pin the wing. unfortunately, once he was sedated, they could feel around & find that the injury was much more serious than they thought and the decision was made to go ahead & put him down. it was kind of sad.
i did not even try to observe the surgery as i did not want to fall out on the floor & be in the way. so i spent the afternoon reading/sleeping in the hammock until it was time to feed the birds. i had agreed to do it in case the surgery wasn't over when it came time for feeding. everyone got food & clean water.
once natalie was done, we went into town for some pina colada supplies (that damn song has been in my head ALL.FREAKIN.WEEK.). and came back here for pina coladas & canasta. yeray, who works for the peregrine fund (click it to read about it) documenting orange breasted falcons in central america, joined us for coladas & canasta. he invited us to go hiking with him on wednesday to hopefully see a falcon or two and possibly some eggs. with that in mind, we went on to bed with plans to hop out of bed in the morning so we could get all of our work done in order to be able to play in the afternoon!
Friday, April 16, 2010
belize! - day one
it's thursday...i've been here 3 1/2 days. i can't figure out if it seems like more or less than that! and i've not been blogging like i meant to so i have to hurry up & catch up before more adventures happen!
the country is beautiful. so much more wide-open than korea with its buildings stuck on every spare patch of land that doesn't have a rice paddy. and so green! even in the dry season, it is green. again-better than korea that is still struggling to wake up from the cold cold winter.
so, monday. i got a wake-up knock at 4am. needed to be at the airport at 5:30 and with the unpredictability of dorchester rd. traffic, we wanted to leave 45 minutes early. we left 40 minutes early. good enough. the atm was uncooperative so that took a few minutes. and we finally made it to the airport. and i had checked in online & the curbside guy was fantastically high spirited for 5:30 am...sang me the "brandy" song as he tagged my bags. flight was early getting into atlanta & i had plenty of time to make my connection. flight into belize was about 3 1/2 hours & the water coming in was SO green. this internet here is awful so i'm not even going to try to upload pics. check my facebook-there are plenty there! upon arrival, customs was easy & she gave me a break on the duties for the donated supplies i was delivering. and then i got outside & natalie was nowhere to be found! so i sat. in my jeans in belize. whoo hot. and a taxi driver used his phone to call my sister who was running late! sheesh. what is new? there was a mixup on the pickup so she was late. but then she was there. it was a bit of a drive. i fell asleep.
upon arrival, it was about birdie lunch/dinner time. so we fed them. they get birdie salad, except for the egret who was in residence at the time. more about that & the birdie salad later. we then went fishing, belize/staples style. belize style means using a wine bottle with a hole punched in the bottom & filled with cat food/parrot food & then sunk in the river (we also used lines with small hooks baited with masa). staples style means we had no patience and didn't catch any fish. oh well. the water was nice.
on the way back, we decided to put gas in the truck. only 1 gallon, since everyone uses it. but we were going to use it that evening so we figured we'd put a gallon. $10 belize. exchange is 2-1. yeah, that's expensive! they have full service gas stations here. so we stayed in our truck & told the guy what we wanted. and then when he was done, the truck wouldn't start! agh! we waited a few minutes. it still wouldn't start. so we got a push out from the pump so we wouldn't disturb business. and then we walked home. and then that evening, we walked back out again. all the way to san ignacio. where we had some drinks & met an ice cream guy who makes guiness ice cream? perhaps we will see him at the market saturday. and then we walked all the way home because the taxis wanted $7 belize to take us home & sorry dude but we're on a budget! and then we fell down in our beds with mosquito nets so we could get up & feed birdies on tuesday.
the country is beautiful. so much more wide-open than korea with its buildings stuck on every spare patch of land that doesn't have a rice paddy. and so green! even in the dry season, it is green. again-better than korea that is still struggling to wake up from the cold cold winter.
so, monday. i got a wake-up knock at 4am. needed to be at the airport at 5:30 and with the unpredictability of dorchester rd. traffic, we wanted to leave 45 minutes early. we left 40 minutes early. good enough. the atm was uncooperative so that took a few minutes. and we finally made it to the airport. and i had checked in online & the curbside guy was fantastically high spirited for 5:30 am...sang me the "brandy" song as he tagged my bags. flight was early getting into atlanta & i had plenty of time to make my connection. flight into belize was about 3 1/2 hours & the water coming in was SO green. this internet here is awful so i'm not even going to try to upload pics. check my facebook-there are plenty there! upon arrival, customs was easy & she gave me a break on the duties for the donated supplies i was delivering. and then i got outside & natalie was nowhere to be found! so i sat. in my jeans in belize. whoo hot. and a taxi driver used his phone to call my sister who was running late! sheesh. what is new? there was a mixup on the pickup so she was late. but then she was there. it was a bit of a drive. i fell asleep.
upon arrival, it was about birdie lunch/dinner time. so we fed them. they get birdie salad, except for the egret who was in residence at the time. more about that & the birdie salad later. we then went fishing, belize/staples style. belize style means using a wine bottle with a hole punched in the bottom & filled with cat food/parrot food & then sunk in the river (we also used lines with small hooks baited with masa). staples style means we had no patience and didn't catch any fish. oh well. the water was nice.
on the way back, we decided to put gas in the truck. only 1 gallon, since everyone uses it. but we were going to use it that evening so we figured we'd put a gallon. $10 belize. exchange is 2-1. yeah, that's expensive! they have full service gas stations here. so we stayed in our truck & told the guy what we wanted. and then when he was done, the truck wouldn't start! agh! we waited a few minutes. it still wouldn't start. so we got a push out from the pump so we wouldn't disturb business. and then we walked home. and then that evening, we walked back out again. all the way to san ignacio. where we had some drinks & met an ice cream guy who makes guiness ice cream? perhaps we will see him at the market saturday. and then we walked all the way home because the taxis wanted $7 belize to take us home & sorry dude but we're on a budget! and then we fell down in our beds with mosquito nets so we could get up & feed birdies on tuesday.
Monday, March 22, 2010
and now to lighten the mood...
since i'm a little bit over my butt-hurt. a little bit. i didn't say totally. anyway....
this past saturday, the ladies planned a trip to dongdaemun and the flower market. dongdaemun means "great east gate" & there is one there but mostly there is shopping. serious shopping. shopping such that last weekend, when a friend & i went to the fabric place, we met a group of women who had flown over from shanghai for the weekend to 1-go to the fabric place & 2-go to dongdaemun. our main mission was for ribbon & doo-dads for hair bows. and hair bow clips. all of which is amazingly cheap up there (over here? whatever).
so the plan is for me to pick up 2 girls & meet at starbucks at 7:30. notice i said the "plan". NOT what actually happened. friday night i was up late waiting for the dishwasher to finish so i could empty & reload. because our dishwasher can only be run at night now. because we paid over $1000 in utilities last month & i'm trying to avoid that happening again. and night electric is cheaper, so they tell me, therefore the dishwasher only gets run at night. between 10pm-5am. i don't remember why there were 2 loads worth of dishes but there were. and i was waiting on the molasses-ass dishwasher to finish sloshing around so i could go to bed. and then it was 2:30 or so. and i swear i set my alarm. which apparently i did but neglected to switch it from weeknight to weekend. and then at 7:25, 1 gained consciousness long enough to ask me was i leaving? and OMG IT'S 7:25 AND I SHOULD HAVE BEEN UP 1 1/2 HOURS AGO! and the race began.
so i finally made it to starbucks, sans my riders who had either already been picked up by someone else or missed the memo & walked on post under their own steam. 4 of us met in the starbucks parking lot where we soon discovered the sign on the door kindly informing us that they were closed due to water outage. nice. thanks, caffeine fail.
we persevered and picked up the 5th member of the group & headed for the train station...trains run REALLY early, right? SURELY korean starbucks will be open, right? AHAHA no. not when most koreans don't roll off the floor until about 10am since they stay up til 2am...presumably emptying their dishwashers. however, one of the 2 dunkin donuts was open. so we were able to satisfy our sugar/caffeine/water/juice needs. and we were off to the flower market!
until we hit traffic. hooray for traffic. we waded through it & thought we were on the right path. what's that up there? it says market! this must be it! and we were on the far left lane to make a left hand turn into...into...into...aww crap. that says grain market! quick! make a u-ey! and we did, cause that's what you do in korea. but then to get back on the road headed in the right direction, we needed to turn back around. in the traffic. agh. but through group driving...turn here! you can make it! look out for adjeema & her bike! ooh, look at the fish! keep backing up, you've got a few more inches...we got turned around in the right direction (after witnessing the costco parking guy holler at the lady in the car who just about sideswiped us in her haste to get in the line for costco parking) and were ready to make another stab at the flower market. which, yes, it was a flower market. but, no, it wasn't the right one. this was the wholesale flower market that we figure supplies the market we were actually looking for. but there were still flowers, and pots, and dirt, and greenhouses, and a skinny little road on the edge of a 10 foot drop off to a creek that we played chicken with some top heavy bongo trucks on. in other words, it was a market in korea next to a korean road. and it was fun. but no flowers came home with me since adjeema wouldn't sell me a single, only a flat. and i just didn't need that many daffodils, sorry.
and then we jumped back into traffic to head for yongsan for some quick lunch & a quick spin around the px before heading back out into korea to head to dongdaemun. we walked to the nearest subway stop where i temporarily lost my subway navigation skills but where a nice korean girl with a phone subway map sorted us out. and then at the next station where my skills were still nonexistent, she caught up to us & got us on the right train and, lo! we were at DONGDAEMUN!
sort of.
apparently coming up on a different train gets me confused & renders me unable to find the correct exit from subway-land to get to where we need to be. we'd pop up out of one flight of steps to find a huge road with no crosswalks separating us from our goal. and pop up out of another one to find another road separating us (this was after some of the crew had to buy a ticket just to walk through the station to another exit). this time we found a crosswalk or 2 and raced traffic to find ourselves where we meant to be. **note to self, it's subway exit 9** at this point we had spent so much time being lost that we had to kind of race around the ribbons & such to try to get home on some semblance of time. i'm the proud owner of 60 yards of ribbon now. and there were 172 yards spread across my living room floor that night as i was given the task of distributing the ribbon we bought in bulk so as to not annoy the adashee who was cutting...which meant someone had to cut it. and i volunteered. i'm so sick of ribbon right now that i threw mine in the drawer & haven't touched it since.
once we'd bought out dongdaemun, we got back on the subway (exit/entrance 9!). during our transfer, we smelled the delicious aroma of deli manjoo so my workout buddy & i raced up one flight of stairs to discover that the aroma had vanished! back down we went and followed the smell to where i introduced everyone to deli manjoo: corn-shaped, custard-filled cakes best eaten hot & fresh. we all ate way too many. but i think that & all the walking balanced each other out. after another short train ride and more walking, we made it back to post & the van. everyone grabbed up some drinks & snacks for the ride home. i think i tried to fall asleep on the ride home-not sure anyone noticed. we made it back safe & sound, albeit 2 1/2 hours behind schedule, and in record time for korea traffic out of seoul on the weekend. it was a great time & once my feet & ribbon fund recover, i expect we will do it again. we're losing one of the adventurers, though. she will be greatly missed!
this past saturday, the ladies planned a trip to dongdaemun and the flower market. dongdaemun means "great east gate" & there is one there but mostly there is shopping. serious shopping. shopping such that last weekend, when a friend & i went to the fabric place, we met a group of women who had flown over from shanghai for the weekend to 1-go to the fabric place & 2-go to dongdaemun. our main mission was for ribbon & doo-dads for hair bows. and hair bow clips. all of which is amazingly cheap up there (over here? whatever).
so the plan is for me to pick up 2 girls & meet at starbucks at 7:30. notice i said the "plan". NOT what actually happened. friday night i was up late waiting for the dishwasher to finish so i could empty & reload. because our dishwasher can only be run at night now. because we paid over $1000 in utilities last month & i'm trying to avoid that happening again. and night electric is cheaper, so they tell me, therefore the dishwasher only gets run at night. between 10pm-5am. i don't remember why there were 2 loads worth of dishes but there were. and i was waiting on the molasses-ass dishwasher to finish sloshing around so i could go to bed. and then it was 2:30 or so. and i swear i set my alarm. which apparently i did but neglected to switch it from weeknight to weekend. and then at 7:25, 1 gained consciousness long enough to ask me was i leaving? and OMG IT'S 7:25 AND I SHOULD HAVE BEEN UP 1 1/2 HOURS AGO! and the race began.
so i finally made it to starbucks, sans my riders who had either already been picked up by someone else or missed the memo & walked on post under their own steam. 4 of us met in the starbucks parking lot where we soon discovered the sign on the door kindly informing us that they were closed due to water outage. nice. thanks, caffeine fail.
we persevered and picked up the 5th member of the group & headed for the train station...trains run REALLY early, right? SURELY korean starbucks will be open, right? AHAHA no. not when most koreans don't roll off the floor until about 10am since they stay up til 2am...presumably emptying their dishwashers. however, one of the 2 dunkin donuts was open. so we were able to satisfy our sugar/caffeine/water/juice needs. and we were off to the flower market!
until we hit traffic. hooray for traffic. we waded through it & thought we were on the right path. what's that up there? it says market! this must be it! and we were on the far left lane to make a left hand turn into...into...into...aww crap. that says grain market! quick! make a u-ey! and we did, cause that's what you do in korea. but then to get back on the road headed in the right direction, we needed to turn back around. in the traffic. agh. but through group driving...turn here! you can make it! look out for adjeema & her bike! ooh, look at the fish! keep backing up, you've got a few more inches...we got turned around in the right direction (after witnessing the costco parking guy holler at the lady in the car who just about sideswiped us in her haste to get in the line for costco parking) and were ready to make another stab at the flower market. which, yes, it was a flower market. but, no, it wasn't the right one. this was the wholesale flower market that we figure supplies the market we were actually looking for. but there were still flowers, and pots, and dirt, and greenhouses, and a skinny little road on the edge of a 10 foot drop off to a creek that we played chicken with some top heavy bongo trucks on. in other words, it was a market in korea next to a korean road. and it was fun. but no flowers came home with me since adjeema wouldn't sell me a single, only a flat. and i just didn't need that many daffodils, sorry.
and then we jumped back into traffic to head for yongsan for some quick lunch & a quick spin around the px before heading back out into korea to head to dongdaemun. we walked to the nearest subway stop where i temporarily lost my subway navigation skills but where a nice korean girl with a phone subway map sorted us out. and then at the next station where my skills were still nonexistent, she caught up to us & got us on the right train and, lo! we were at DONGDAEMUN!
sort of.
apparently coming up on a different train gets me confused & renders me unable to find the correct exit from subway-land to get to where we need to be. we'd pop up out of one flight of steps to find a huge road with no crosswalks separating us from our goal. and pop up out of another one to find another road separating us (this was after some of the crew had to buy a ticket just to walk through the station to another exit). this time we found a crosswalk or 2 and raced traffic to find ourselves where we meant to be. **note to self, it's subway exit 9** at this point we had spent so much time being lost that we had to kind of race around the ribbons & such to try to get home on some semblance of time. i'm the proud owner of 60 yards of ribbon now. and there were 172 yards spread across my living room floor that night as i was given the task of distributing the ribbon we bought in bulk so as to not annoy the adashee who was cutting...which meant someone had to cut it. and i volunteered. i'm so sick of ribbon right now that i threw mine in the drawer & haven't touched it since.
once we'd bought out dongdaemun, we got back on the subway (exit/entrance 9!). during our transfer, we smelled the delicious aroma of deli manjoo so my workout buddy & i raced up one flight of stairs to discover that the aroma had vanished! back down we went and followed the smell to where i introduced everyone to deli manjoo: corn-shaped, custard-filled cakes best eaten hot & fresh. we all ate way too many. but i think that & all the walking balanced each other out. after another short train ride and more walking, we made it back to post & the van. everyone grabbed up some drinks & snacks for the ride home. i think i tried to fall asleep on the ride home-not sure anyone noticed. we made it back safe & sound, albeit 2 1/2 hours behind schedule, and in record time for korea traffic out of seoul on the weekend. it was a great time & once my feet & ribbon fund recover, i expect we will do it again. we're losing one of the adventurers, though. she will be greatly missed!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
5...
...weeks until we are done with auri's alphabet. i think we need to rearrange the alphabet cause the end of it sucks from a food/animal standpoint. maybe we could mix it up a little bit so all the suck letters aren't at the ass-end.
...weeks until i'm on an airplane back to (momentary) civilization & then (awesome) foreign hiking/scenery/new experiences. and mosquitoes/tarantulas/tiger attacks. i can't decide if i should be excited or freaked the hell out. which reminds me, i must call the byeong-won for some shots & drugs. great. hopefully it won't be an arm & a leg. especially since "someone" needs a new 500,000 won orthodontic appliance. esh.
...weeks until i say goodbye to a good friend. the military will be taking away my gym partner/therapist/Godly inspiration while i'm off on my adventure. we're trying to stuff everything into every weekend before then. this military life thing sucks.
so. to summarize, two out of three things suck. quick! someone give me some stuff that doesn't! oh, wait! i think THAT baby is actually taking a nap at naptime. that doesn't suck. so now we're even.
...weeks until i'm on an airplane back to (momentary) civilization & then (awesome) foreign hiking/scenery/new experiences. and mosquitoes/tarantulas/tiger attacks. i can't decide if i should be excited or freaked the hell out. which reminds me, i must call the byeong-won for some shots & drugs. great. hopefully it won't be an arm & a leg. especially since "someone" needs a new 500,000 won orthodontic appliance. esh.
...weeks until i say goodbye to a good friend. the military will be taking away my gym partner/therapist/Godly inspiration while i'm off on my adventure. we're trying to stuff everything into every weekend before then. this military life thing sucks.
so. to summarize, two out of three things suck. quick! someone give me some stuff that doesn't! oh, wait! i think THAT baby is actually taking a nap at naptime. that doesn't suck. so now we're even.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
yes! or...no!...or OMG I'M DOING WHAT?
so...what's that over there? over there on my counter? that's right...$1900 worth of paper. paper that will get me to BELIZE!
come april, i'll be running away for TWO WEEKS. leaving it all behind for another foreign country. apparently i've gotten brave over the past couple years.
so i'll leave behind a kitchen full of groceries & recipes, a pile of schoolwork (maybe, maybe not. but we'll let the kids think i am) and all of the sundry other things that are here, in this country, and not in THAT COUNTRY. IN BELIZE. cause that's where i'm going and all.
blue hair is out until i'm headed back to korea. it's been nixed by she who keeps the mosquito net. in favor of we would like to keep our pretty little gringa heads, please. i guess maybe she has a point.
i guess i'll try to blog more. or at least about the trip. you know, the one to BELIZE. cause i'm going there. in like 5 1/2 weeks. OMG. IS THIS REALLY ME?
come april, i'll be running away for TWO WEEKS. leaving it all behind for another foreign country. apparently i've gotten brave over the past couple years.
so i'll leave behind a kitchen full of groceries & recipes, a pile of schoolwork (maybe, maybe not. but we'll let the kids think i am) and all of the sundry other things that are here, in this country, and not in THAT COUNTRY. IN BELIZE. cause that's where i'm going and all.
blue hair is out until i'm headed back to korea. it's been nixed by she who keeps the mosquito net. in favor of we would like to keep our pretty little gringa heads, please. i guess maybe she has a point.
i guess i'll try to blog more. or at least about the trip. you know, the one to BELIZE. cause i'm going there. in like 5 1/2 weeks. OMG. IS THIS REALLY ME?
Sunday, December 13, 2009
PSA
and totally unrelated to the PSA but it just occurred to me that the title of the last post should have been anatomy IN a korean hospital. i think that would have been funnier. anyway....
so. little sister is going to belize. as in that little bitty country in central america that is stuck to the eastern coast of mexico & a huge chunk of guatemala. she's going all by herself for at least a year to manage an avian (that means birds) rehabilitation clinic as a volunteer. she'll receive a tiny bit of money on occasion & all of her living expenses will be covered so she won't be wanting for anything but extras.
she has a heart for conservation of our planet & trying to clean up the mess that we've made of it in any way that she can. she's followed this heart from south carolina to texas & hawaii & now out of the country. these positions have been (and continue to be) internships or volunteer positions but her purpose here isn't to make any money. it's to do what she believes so strongly in that she is willing to put aside her material wants & completely rearrange her life time and again in the name of her heart.
so if anyone wants to follow her along on her journey-which doesn't officially begin until mid january (but preparations are already in full swing)-you can hop on over to her blog and keep an eye on her. and if you feel led to assist her on her quest, she has a donate button on the blog as well.
http://natalieinbelize.blogspot.com/
i hope to join her for at least a week at some point. which will necessitate me flying halfway around the world again & possibly killing myself on some dang mayan ruins or something since she seems to have unearthed a hiking gene in me somewhere but how often does one get to go to belize? and know someone there?
and i guess i could add as a postscript that i'm pretty dang proud of my brave little sister. try to keep up with her on her journey-i think you'll enjoy it!
so. little sister is going to belize. as in that little bitty country in central america that is stuck to the eastern coast of mexico & a huge chunk of guatemala. she's going all by herself for at least a year to manage an avian (that means birds) rehabilitation clinic as a volunteer. she'll receive a tiny bit of money on occasion & all of her living expenses will be covered so she won't be wanting for anything but extras.
she has a heart for conservation of our planet & trying to clean up the mess that we've made of it in any way that she can. she's followed this heart from south carolina to texas & hawaii & now out of the country. these positions have been (and continue to be) internships or volunteer positions but her purpose here isn't to make any money. it's to do what she believes so strongly in that she is willing to put aside her material wants & completely rearrange her life time and again in the name of her heart.
so if anyone wants to follow her along on her journey-which doesn't officially begin until mid january (but preparations are already in full swing)-you can hop on over to her blog and keep an eye on her. and if you feel led to assist her on her quest, she has a donate button on the blog as well.
http://natalieinbelize.blogspot.com/
i hope to join her for at least a week at some point. which will necessitate me flying halfway around the world again & possibly killing myself on some dang mayan ruins or something since she seems to have unearthed a hiking gene in me somewhere but how often does one get to go to belize? and know someone there?
and i guess i could add as a postscript that i'm pretty dang proud of my brave little sister. try to keep up with her on her journey-i think you'll enjoy it!
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