Try the currywurst.

I’m sitting in the computer cluster at 1:00 in the morning, German time, trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to wake up later this morning without an alarm clock. I could just stay up until the time I planned on waking up (at 7:00), but that would require un-sleeping and I’ve never been a fan of being awake. My converter for my electronics blew a fuse and now all connections to the 21^st century—my cell phone, my computer, and my electric razor—are meaningless boxes of wire and plastic. Fortunately, this has been the worst of my problems lately.

I really like it here. Now that I know how to get around the city without accidentally taking the subway to Austria, it has been a lot more enjoyable. I'm familiar with the neighborhood that my host stays in and it’s really wealthy and artsy. Not to mention the euros they allot to us for food far exceed the cost of good eatin’ in Berlin and can be used on much-coveted trivial purchases in the area. If you can picture having your own room in a European-style Haight-Ashbury district with lots of bars and bookstores and no children, then you can see why I can’t wait to move in Friday. Maybe she’ll let me use her studio.

Besides the limited food options of sausages and potatoes and sausages and potatoes, the only problem I can see on the horizon is the way the students in the program are already starting to group off. I envisioned myself making certain new friends here, as in I scoped out people I thought were cool—and I must have impeccable taste in personalities because they all seem to have realized this and they’re becoming friends with each other instead of diffusing their interestingness around the city. Perhaps I could just try harder in the next few days. These things are delicate like jell-o; if you let them sit too long in a cool place they solidify and become nasty. Wow, that was an impressive metaphor.

Tomorrow is our first day of classes. I placed out of the lower level German this summer, so I’ll be fumbling and confused with the big kids instead of the beginners. The professor is amazingly engaging. Living here might be worth becoming yet another quarter behind in my major. I’ll post pictures as soon as I find another converter.

Love *manda

I forgot to post about this, but the other day my hematologist from New Orleans called to tell me that he got my labs back and I have some sort of blood mutation that makes me more prone to clotting. I'm not exactly sure what but he's sending the test results to the hematologist here. Although he didn't sound happy that I wasn't already tested for it. who knows. I'll let ya'll know when I find out more.

drama

Hello all. I'm in Meyer right now cause I sent my computer to Apple to be fixed. It's not that bad when you don't have work to do. I bought my books today. woohoo. And all the froshies got here. Lots of yelling outside my window. And when I was in the bookstore, there was one who was trying to figure out what IHUM books to buy. Brings you back.

So, the other night Duchess and I went to the city to visit Shiyan. Her apartment is cute. But while I was there, my phone rings and it's Ronnie. I answer (my first mistake) and he's like where are you? And I'm like I'm in the city visiting a friend. And he makes some snide remark about not calling him and then let's me go. Then the next morning he calls and seriously throws a shit fit because I was in San Francisco and didn't call him to hang out. Um, does anyone remember how he treated me last time I went to see him? Of course I'm not going to be bending over backwards to go visit him. Plus he moved and I have no idea where he lives anyway. So I mention that he was an asshole last time I went to see him. And he's like whatever, I didn't treat you like shit! Right, the way you're yelling at me right now is proof that you would never treat me like shit. It ended with him being like I don't know why I'm getting so upset about this and me thinking yeah me either and then hanging up. I haven't talked to him since then and don't really plan to. He and Josh can kiss my ass. Oh wait, I don't think I posted the story about Josh and my birthday.

Ok, Josh got out of rehab for my birthday because the hurricane was coming, and they let the patients leave to evacuate with their families. Josh calls me when he gets home and wants me to stop by cause his parents don't want him to leave the house. So I say ok and drive over there. When I get there, his mom answers the door crying and tells me Josh freaked out and she wants me to talk to him. I go upstairs and he's arguing with his dad and had basically thrown a fit cause his parents don't want him to leave. He starts the whole "I'm 21 and I'll do what I want" bullshit and is throwing stuff on the ground and his mom is so upset. So I try to talk to him, but he wants none of it. Finally his parents are like Julia you can just take him to your house cause he was threatening to leave in his car and they would rather him leave with me. I take him to house and I can tell he's up to something cause he keeps leaving the room to talk on his phone. Then he goes into my kitchen and gets some ziploc bags. I'm like Josh are you serious? You're out of rehab for one day and are ready to start selling drugs? So he gets pissed at me for I don't know what reason and leaves my house walking. I'm freaking out cause I'm the one who took him from his house and now he's running the street doing who knows what. My mom finally gets him to come back and he calms down and tries telling me he's sorry. But I'm pissed at this point cause he really stressed me out. Then he asks me if I still want to hang out! I tell him no and bring him home. He totally ruined my birthday though. I mean it was already a bad day cause Becky and Tiff couldn't come in town cause of the storm. He just really put the finishing touches on it.

My exboyfriends are so lame. But at least I'm happy now and in a relationship where I don't get treated like crap.

Be safe and have fun abroad my friends. I love ya'll!

BRAZIL!

BRAZIL

DAY 1

Okay, so after 6 straight days of class the MV Explorer finally docks at Salvador, Brazil. A brief history of Salvador: It is located in the Northeast part of Brazil in the region known as Bahia. Bahia is home to many Afro-Brazilians who take pride in their African roots. Their ancestors were brought to Brazil by the Portugese from Africa.

Alright, so once we get into port, pass our health inspections, go through immigration, and complete our briefing by the US Embassy representative we are let loose on the city. It was just in time too, because some of us were starting to get a bad case of cabin fever from being stuck on the ship for the last week. None of us had anything to do until later in the afternoon so about 5 of us decided to check out the Mercado Modelo, a huge folk art market located across the street from the elevator in the lower city. The elevator can take you up to the upper city more safely than it would be to walk. Going through the Mercado was crazy. Many of us had never been hounded and preyed upon by sellers so aggressively. You learn quickly to walk away, shake your head, avoid eye contact and repeat the phrase, “Nao, obrigata,” meaning No Thank You. There were soooo much stuff to buy in that market. It was hard to walk away from some things. I took a quick course in Bartering 101 which I plan to use for the rest of my stay here and hopefully, I’ll be even better at it during the rest of the countries I’ll visit.

During the afternoon I went on the City Orientation which was interesting because it focused on Architecture and Urban Development. I was finally able to use the stuff I had been learning in my architecture class, so that was cool. Salvador is a great city. It is full of history, culture, beaches, you name it.

With that said, however, Salvador is a city. There is still crime and dangerous areas that should be avoided. We went out tonight into the upper city, did some window shopping and saw the big festival that takes place every Tuesday night. It was great, we had a blast. We decided to walk by ourselves (there were about 5 of us girls) back to the port. We realize, now we should have taken a taxi since it was after 10pm. We got home safely, fortunately, but we found out that earlier during the day time two other girls weren’t so lucky. They were almost kidnapped and have the bruises to prove it. They managed to fight the men off, but still lost their cameras in the process. It was pretty scary to hear about it, but very important that we did. From now on we are being much more careful. Granted, they were in a shady part of town, but it probably could have happened anywhere. There have been some other incidents with stolen bags or cameras, but this has been the worst I’ve heard. Don’t worry though, even though we have been cautious the whole time, we are being even safer now.

I love Brazil. It is soccer. It is music. It is dancing. It is wonderful! And surprisingly, at a time when one of America’s greatest cities (New Orleans) is trying to find itself again, Salvador reminds me of New Orleans more and more. The mixing of ethnicities and the history that still permeates through every cobblestone street is reminiscent of the French Quarters. And although Brazil is facing many difficult issues throughout I have already found ways America can learn from the Brazilian people.

DAY 2

Today I awoke rather early to go to Calabar. Calabar is a favela (barrio, shanty town). However, the term favela is often received negatively. Calabar is a community where people from rural areas have found refuge in the city. The residents construct their own houses out of cheap materials. They steal electricity and their water supply is not in the best condition. However, while Calabar may sound like a difficult place to live for us Americans this community means a great deal to everyone who lives there. Calabar used to be in much worse conditions than it is today. We say today that they have their own stores, police station, and primary school. They still have a large problem with AIDS and teen pregnancy, but they are still at a better state than they used to be. We took a short tour around the town before spending the majority of our time at the school. Many of the kids showed us the Brazilian dance/martial art knows as capoeira. We then went outside into the courtyard where we were allowed to paint on their walls with the kids. We left messages showing our appreciation for letting us into their community. The kids were wonderful, adorable, and heartbreaking because unfortunately the majority of them, once they are finished with primary school will eventually become street kids. It is so sad to feel so helpless. Two percent will go to college. The main reason for this is the education they receive at the primary school is radically different than the education they will get outside Calabar for their secondary schooling. In the primary school, the education is focused on learning about Africa, the country where most of their traditions come from. In the secondary school, the children do not get to learn about their roots, and the teaching style is so different the kids often get discouraged and drop out.

During the afternoon, I went out into the upper city again and did a little shopping before calling it a night. Right now I am exhausted. I need sleep desperately, and hope to get enough to be refueled for my visit to the Cortejo Afro tomorrow. Read on to find out what that’s about…

DAY 3

So, just in case you were wondering, Cortejo Afro is a group that participates in Carnivale, a celebration sort of like Mardi Gras. It’s actually a group consisting of mainly young kids drumming. Then there are dancers as well. It was so awesome to hear the drums. The rhythms were infectious. These kids were extremely talented. Some of us tried to drum, although we weren’t nearly as good. It is very clear that they have practiced a lot to become as good as they are. The dancers were also pretty amazing. It was ridiculous just how in shape they were. They used their entire bodies and were able to dance for such a long time. I can’t even describe it. I’ll show y’all the videos and pictures when I get back.

Then, tonight I went to Bahia By Night. It was another drumming performance much like the one by Cortejo Afro, but complete with costumes and the orixas (Candomble deities). There was also some insane capoeira dancing as well. After the performance we went to a restaurant called Villa’s. If you like meat, you’ll love this place! They just keep bringing you meat after meat, then some more meat. They will only stop if you turn the little circle on the table to red. If it is green, they will continue to offer you more. It was pretty ridiculous and very good!

Alright, well, I’m coming down with a cold, so I’m going to end this day summary here. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll feel better.

DAY 4

Ok, well, it’s tomorrow and no, I don’t feel better at all. I’m going to try and not let this cold ruin my last two days of Brazil.

This afternoon I went with a group to an Afro-Brazilian museum and to a Candomble house. We learned all about the various deities and just about the Candomble religion in general. I got through it, although I did feel like I was going to pass out at one point. I’m okay now though, not over the cold but over the whole light headedness thing. Sorry I’m not going into a lot of detail, but it’s extremely hard to put all these things I’m experiencing into words. Hopefully, when you all see the videos and pictures it will suffice.

Tomorrow’s our last day, aka shopping day! I get to use up what little reals (Brazilian currency) I have left buying souvenirs and gifts. Right now, my room smells like sulfur because they are emptying the sewage tanks or something. This cold is actually good for something though. My sense of smell isn’t all there right now, so I’m extremely glad about that. See, there’s always a positive to be found. I’m going to go watch a movie now and then pass out!

DAY 5

So, today? Yeah, feeling a little better. I got more sleep last night so that’s good. We started off our day by taking a taxi to Barra Shopping Mall. After walking around the mall for a bit we took in a movie entitled 2 Filhos do Francisco. Even though I understood practically none of the Portugese spoken in the film I still thoroughly enjoyed it. It was mainly about these 2 brothers who played the accordion and guitar when they were young and became a pretty popular act. Okay, so maybe from that description it doesn’t sound very enjoyable at all, but I’m trying not to give anything away just in case any of you have a chance to actually see it. Think Selena, only with two brothers? I don’t know. All I know is that I liked it.

After the movie we went to a grocery store nearby before taking a taxi to the Pelourihno, located in the upper city. We were pretty hungry so we found a pizza restaurant called Carpaccio and Pizza. It was great. It looked right over the square down on a huge group of Brazilian drummers and dancers. The waitor was really nice and the pizza was absolutely delicious. Note: If ever in Salvador, Brazil go to Carpaccio!

We continued our day with a little more souvenir shopping around the upper city and then later down in the Mercado before heading back to the ship and saying Ciao and Obrigato to Brazil.

And now we are sailing away from the port with Archbishop Desmond Tutu somewhere on board. Maybe I’ll see him tomorrow. Next stop beautiful (I’m assuming) Cape Town, South Africa!

Lauren

PS-Nora, thanks soooo much for the postcard! I loved it! I didn't get the one in Venezuela though.

I'm out of Texas and back at Stanford. I got to move in early cause of the storm. I have a single in Roble. But it's on the third floor. All is well though. So anyway, I'm around. If anyone else is call me so we can hang. Much love my friends.

Times I wish ol' Scotty would beam me up...

Monday at the Nissan Dealership. I'm sitting in the waiting room watching my car sit idly in the "vehicle service line." It's 9:17 in the morning, and an oil change appears to be everyone's idea for breakfast today. My interest wanes and peaks again when I notice the other 6 costumers in the room cross and re-cross their legs, slouch and sit straight and slouch; each trying to find the optimal resting position in these terminally uncomfortable chairs. There's a coffee table infront of us tastefully ornamented with a cornucopia of stale donuts in the center. The Maple one appears deceivingly appetizing enough for me to move out of the sitting position I'd just battled to get into. I look around for something I could wash it down with; I find the instant coffee on the counter behind us. I figure the caffeine won't mix too well with my anxiety and leave the dounut in its place.

The flat screen on the wall screams of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina before cutting to some special interview with Ellen Degeneres about some awards show she's hosting. I put on my earphones and pour The Bravery through my head. It's not enough of a diversion, so I grab the San Diego Union Tribune off of the table and go straight to the Arts section. My eye is caught by a featured article about a production of Bertolt Brecht's The Caucausian Chalk Circle being done in L. A. The writer raves about the show and presuades me to drop $40.00 to see the it before I'm halfway throught the review. He goes to talking about the "notable" performance by Alex Mendoza. The wheels stop turning in my mind and my eyes freeze over the name. Alex Mendoza. Alex Mendoza. Alex Starbucks Guy Mendoza?

Alex is a guy I met at Starbucks last winter. He's attractive, he's an actor; unfortunately it just wasn't in the Tarot cards for us. Within a week he was quitting his job at Stanford, and making his way down to L.A. to work on a play. Perhaps the work on The Caucasian Chalk Circle?
It makes sense. His name is Alex, Starbuck Guy's name is Alex. They're both actors, they're both doing shows in L.A. The only missing link here is Starbucks Guy's last name. Eh, something hispanic sounding, Mendoza will do.

I get home and I'm running on sunshine. This is clearly a sign that me and sexy Starbucks guy who's an actor and therefore artistic and sensitive are destined to be together.
Not one to ever be too sure, I check my inbox for old emails from Alex but I had deleted them. I still don't know why. I have gmail, it's not like I can run out of space or anything. I'm the damn anti-packrat. Despite not having any proof, I was still pretty damn sure about myself. I write Starbucks Guy a friendly email inquiring if he's in the play, [if so] congratulations on the stellar review, yadda, yadda, can't wait to see the show,

yours,
Dina.

Two days pass and I still haven't heard from him. It's no worries though, he's a busy actor after all. I cruise the production website, to figure out my plans for falling in love this weekend, when I come across the cast bios. I immediately scroll down to Alex Mendoza- seasoned actor who's done this film that film this play and this one too... And I'm just swelling. I'm going to fall in love with star. This impressive bio concludes with: graduated from Santa Clara University.

Stop the record.

Starbucks guy is a student at Foothill not Santa Clara, but close; he's working on the beginnings of his acting career, not riding off the the success of past breakthroughs. Suddenly the name Garcia hits me the way only wine can do-- after eight glasses and just before I pass out.

I google his real name and immediately find the show he's doing in LA. A much more modest yet equally impressive production called Reapers- not quite the momentous, groudbreaking work of Brecht, but more of a disturbing take of Green Acres in which a farmer family is more or less smoted for losing their faith in God.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dina Howard
Date: Sep 14, 2005 11:56 PM
Subject: guess who feels like an idiot...
To: A-- Garcia

Yep, that'd be me. I bet you were wondering what the hell I was talking about in that previous email. Hopefully you didn't figure it out, 'cause the truth of the mistake is pretty embarrassing.

I hope your experience preparing for your "actual show" Reapers went well, and that your run has been sensational! I'm sure tickets must be out, but if not I'll probably be there this Saturday or something.

Have a great closing weekend! Take care!

Dina

I gotsta git ta bear-leen

You know I just realized it's Semptember 11th. I conisidered not posting today, just so I wouldn't have that date on stamped on the blog. I mean it only happened in 2001, but I think the horror of that it just now starting to creep upon me. Isn't it just like to me to have a four-year delay in my reaction.

I was watching the National Geographic channel the other day. And they had this inside 9/11 documentary. It was quite good. Inspiring even. I mean after the show I spent a good couple minutes re-evaluating my dad's entreaties for me to join the Air force reserve... I could make my way to the CIA or something, get those cool spy pens, right Lo?

Speaking of Lo, your trips sound absolutely amazing. Yay to your mom and dad for making it happen. Yay to you for being crazy enough to sign up for that. Hehe, I know, who am I to talk about crazy, right?

And Annie my dear, flying with a buzz? Alright, so I thought about it... But I concluded that the only way I could make it to at least Frankfurt with a buzz would be if I boarded the plane at LAX piss-drunk. Which didn't seem so bad until I thought more about it. I can see it now, me rolling on the floor trying to get through the metal dectectors... "you kant arrest me offisher, I gotsta git ta bear-leen..."

transformations

chinapeople

so, tonight i accompanied my mom to an event, she was receiving an award from a chinese women business association, or something like that...

anyways, so the event was completely china-ed out. so i thought i'd add to the list of awesome stereotypes.

existing ones:
- we like thirsty's smoothies (as i was informed by yamanda)
- we like KFC and popeye's fried chicken
- we like mcdonald's filet-o-fish (though i have not yet sampled it in my life)
- piano, violin, etc.
- grabbing inches of paper napkins from every fast food restaurant visited

new ones:
- super shiny clothes (like jackie's shoes but single colors, and entire outfits)
- super corny and over-extravagant events
- liking of marriot hotels
- love of michael jackson and elvis

for example, at the end of this thing, there was an entertainment segment, a performer did a billie jean michael jackson impersonation, with moonwalking and all.
so anyways, those are my new discoveries.
perhaps on this visit to china, i'll find some more amusing things to share.

oh, and i thought i might amuse you all by telling you that i got a pedicure and (french) manicure.

did anyone else notice that the spammers' comments on other people's posts are about things like debt control, travel, ect., and the one on my post is about penis enlargement? gotta love it.

so i flew back from copenhagen last night. i've spent one week alone with my mother, and now i'm preparing my mind for the next two weeks in china. fortunately it's a group trip, but a group of old ladies. but still, i'm kind of looking forward to it, because my mom's coworker is coming, and she is really cool for a 50 yr old. she gets buzzed at the company dinner parties, and in the parking lot once did a high kick.

copenhagen did have a sad moment - school had just started so all of these college students were lined up at this club. and the bar in the hotel we stayed in was a common spot for the student night life. and being with my mother, i had to miss them all

from copenhagen:
- as yamanda stated, i am probably at maximum parent tolerance - though i must say i think a big reason that i didn't whine and tell my mom to stop stretching was because having her yell at me for doing so would have been more embarassing.
- all danes are blonde and beautiful - not that they go together always, but at least in denmark they do.
- people drink beer and wine at literally every meal. so, i tried to follow suit. danish beer is actually really good.
- the best way to fly is with a little buzz. quite satisfying.
- in the airport i came across the greatest ad. it was for jägermeister. it had a picture, kind of an angled profile of a woman from the base of her neck to just a little below her boobs. she was nippling, and then on the side it said "you can't kind your happiness." awesome.

oh, yamanda, if you still want to buy jack or hennessy, buy it at the duty free shop once you arrive in berlin. it's cheap, tax free, and you'll be of age. in the airport in kopenhagen, there was plenty of whiskey. i don't know why, but there was also hershey's chocolate - i mean who would buy american chocolate in europe.

love to all you. take care.

I put up my pictures, now give me your music

Hello all,

I'm in Harbin now, and I just finished my first week of classes. It is going to be a tough quarter, but I think my Chinese is going to improve by leaps and bounds...

Anyhoo, I (finally) put up my photos from Tibet (as well as from the last couple of weeks in Shanghai and from the Great Wall, etc. in Beijing). All of the photos are embedded in the posts of my blogs, or you can just go straight to them.

The link to go directly to all of my pictures from rugby tour, Shanghai, and my trip up to Beijing is:
http://www.stanford.edu/~noralev/blog/images/shanghai/shanghai.html

The link for all my Tibet pictures is: http://www.stanford.edu/~noralev/blog/images/tibet/tibet.html


Let me know if you like them, because it took me an assload of time to get everything put together and then upload it on this super slow connection.

Also, as with everyone, I like music. However, the whole point of this program I'm doing is not to hear or speak English as much as possible. But all of my music is in English (or Spanish), which kind of defeats the purpose if I'm going to be listening to it all the time while doing homework and stuff. So if you have any music that is purely instrumental, send it to me. I'll put my gmail account's capacity to the test. Please.

OK, I'll write more later on my blog. It's cool to hear about what everyone's up to - and I'm glad you and your family are all OK, Jules.

-Nora

Lessons of summer

wow, Lauren's trip sounds awesome, as does Nora's and I'm sure all ya'll's will too. Anyway, Yamanda's visit to New Orleans while it was still a city didn't happen because of Katrina. Boo. I'm still in Texas. Things I learned thanks to hurricane katrina/my evacuation to Texas:

-It really bothers me when people say "supposively" when what they really mean is supposedly. They're not the same words. In fact, I'm pretty sure supposively isn't a word. My mother does it. It bugs me.
-Commercials really are bad. I heard "Aunt JuJu I wanna have dat" so many times from Tyler while we were watching cartoons.
-You're a loser if you're in South Texas and don't speak Spanish. My understanding of the language has improved just to survive.
-Building a city on the Gulf Coast below sea level is a really bad idea. Don't do it.
-When you evacuate, bring everything.
-People eat cactus, my family included. Yuck.
-I mentioned that this has been a bad year in my previous post, but actually, I've been really lucky this year. I survived a really scary stroke and have fully recovered, and my family and I are safe even though a really bad hurricane hit our city. Our house is even fine. By the way Lauren, I'm so sorry about your family. I'll be thinking about them.
-I think the border patrol thought I was Mexican. When we were coming back from Mexico, they looked in our car and asked my mom if we were all US citizens and she said yes. Then they look at me, and ask "are you?"
-There are worse things than being stressed out at school.

Ok, much love my friends.

VENEZUELA!

First off my family in New Orleans lost everything, so all my family and some family friends are living in NC right now. Everyone back home has been so giving though denoting 2 houses fully equipt and food and clothes and stuff. They've been really great. Spirits as far as I can tell are up, just keep them and New Orleans in your thoughts please.

VENEZUELA

DAY 1 – September 3, 2005

So, when I woke up this morning the ship was already docked in La Guaira, Venezuela. We had finally made it to our very first port. The view out on the deck was pretty surreal. I mean, here we were, standing looking at a huge mountain beyond which the city of Caracas laid. It wasn’t just any mountain either. This mountain had been converted as a living place for hundreds and hundred of squatters. Squatters are mainly illegal immigrants that build very small houses on other people’s land. I’m not even sure how these tiny, disheveled houses remained standing, let alone how they could receive the electricity to run their tvs, refrigerators, direct tvs satellites, and playstations. Despite having those amenities it would still be a pretty hard way to live.

I took the Caracas City Orientation tour today. I boarded a bus with some other students and with the help of our driver Hector and our tour guide Marveda we started towards Caracas, and let me just say, I would never be able to drive in Caracas. Drivers made up their own lanes and apparently traffic laws because I saw more people run red lights than I cared to see. On this tour, we went several places. Our first stop was the National Pantheon where South American hero Simon Bolivar is body is kept. It was pretty humbling to be the presence of a person whom many Venezuelans nearly worship even if he wasn’t alive. Although, the little Venezuelan boy who broke away from his mother to grab the penis of the baby sculpture, was also humbling in its own way too.

We also went to the Colonial Arts Museum of Caracas which was a converted house filled with countless antiques. Bolivar would come to visit this house whenever he was in Caracas. Next we took a self tour of the Museum of Fine Arts which was pretty interesting. We saw everything from 19^th century art to some pretty unique modern art. There will be pictures eventually, I assure you. It just might be when I don’t have to pay 40 cents a minute to upload them.

We ate lunch at a restaurant Rucio Moro. This represented the culture of the Venezuelans who lived in the Plains area, or what we would refer to as the good old country. These cowboys could give Texans a run for their money, that’s for sure. After lunch we headed to East Park where we went to a reptile exhibit at the zoo. This was a true highlight. No, not the snakes, but the expressions on all the kids faces as we took pictures of them and they got to see the pictures on our digital cameras. It was priceless. It was the kind of excitement that only kids can create within themselves.

And that was pretty much the first day of Venezuela. On to DAY 2…

DAY 2

Today was awesome! I did the Coastal Explorer Adventure, so at 8:30 this morning we boarded these 4-wheel drive vehicles and took a drive down the Venezuelan coastline. It was so beautiful. Again, pictures will be posted/sent out eventually, so just trust me, it was gorgeous. Our first stop was at a small town just off the coast. There was a short tour of the Truth Museum. This museum was basically a small building where this local artist displayed his sexual and political wooden sculptures. He explained what a few of them meant. Outside of the museum there were many children from this small town. They posed for countless pictures with us and were so excited to see us.

Once we left that small town we head for a public beach, and then to this beautiful fresh water pool where there was a waterfall and everything. For the first time I could really get a sense that I was in Venezuela. It was very surreal. So, after swimming with the locals we headed to a restaurant called Hotel Rest de Gua. It was an outdoor place and had several cats just roaming around. It also had this cute little baby monkey that liked to nibble, chew and bite things like my thumb. It tried to break the skin, but fortunately failed. Come to find out later there might be an incident form filed for rabies or something. I don’t know. I don’t really think I have anything to worry about. At least that’s what Dad says.

After lunch we headed back the town with the artist and children where they played the tambores (a type of drum, I probably butchered the spelling) along with some of the locals. The little kids showed us how they dance to this music. It basically consists of the children standing around in a circle. A boy and girl go into the center of the circle and dance sort of sexually, but not really because they are just kids, you know. Anyways it was pretty funny because whenever the little boys would get too close the girls would physically either push them away with their hands or basically hip-check them. Whenever someone else wanted to dance they would just step in and takeover. Eventually, some of us students danced with them. Yes, I danced! I danced with a cute little boy and he was very respectful. There was no hip-checking or pushing. After having a local drink called La Guara Pinta (again butchering the spelling) that consisted of some type of rum and either peach or they also had blackberry, we say our thank you’s and goodbye’s boarded the truck and headed back to the ship. We did make a pit stop at a McDonalds though that was nice.

I seriously couldn’t have asked for a better 2^nd day in Venezuela. The trip was great. The tour guide, William, was awesome, and the overall experience was beyond these words. I can’t even imagine what tomorrow is going to bring!

DAY 3

Today a group of us headed to the Hogar Bambi Orphanage in Caracas to spend some time with the 50 plus children there. A group of SAS students had already been there the day before, but you would have never have known it. Before we could even get back to the playground they were knocking on the windows with smiling faces eager to get a hold of any thing we had to offer, whether it be love or our sunglasses. Once we went out to the playground several ran up to us planting big hugs and pulling our arms to follow them. All of the kids were great. They were happy to let us play with them and take their pictures, show off their dancing skills to the Regge-ton music or their jump roping skills. By the time we had to leave they wouldn’t let us go. Some even physically blocked us from getting out the door to head back to our bus. All of the children there come from some kind of disruptive family. The girls have their own bedroom as well as the boys, but they all have to share clothes. The Orphanage has done an amazing job making sure the children are as healthy and best cared for as possible. I’m looking forward to going on more similar trips in the other countries we’ll visit.

Tonight about 7 of us took a taxi into Caracas. We went to the Centro San Ignacio mall to see a Venezuelan movie. It was entitled Secuestro Express and it starred Mia Maestro (aka Sydney’s sisters on Alias). Even though we didn’t understand every word we were still able to get the gist of the film. It took place in Caracas and depicted the level of crime in the city. It was pretty scary considering we were in that city. Fortunately, we made it back to the ship safely.

Tomorrow is our last day in Venezuela. I’m going to try to do some souvenir shopping. It went by pretty fast, but I think I’m ready to see what Salvador, Brazil has to offer.

DAY 4

For our last day in Venezuela we decided to stay in La Guaira and check our the local street markets. We had some bolivars left, so we figured we should rid of them by buying some cool souvenirs. We also ate at a restaurant called Avila. I had some great filet mignon. It was delicious! After lunch we did some more shopping in our port terminal before relaxing at the pool on the ship. Tonight there’s going to be a harp demonstration in the union, so that should be cool. Tomorrow it’s back to classes. We’ll have classes for 6 days straight before reaching Brazil. Fun stuff.

Seriously though, when I think about what I’m actually doing, it blows my mind. I’m one of the, if not THE luckiest person alive! Thanks Mom and Dad! Nothing will ever be enough to repay you two for this experience!

greetings earthlings

song playing: bukowski by modest mouse

i’m at home now and i only have access to the 21^st century for 24 hours, so let’s make it good. t-mobile hot-spot wireless internet access is a beautiful thing if you're a damned millionaire.

1. my road trip down to L.A. with some coworkers was quite possibly the best one i’ve ever taken.

2. now my days consist of reading novels, studying for my german language placement exam at the end of september, and periodically arguing with my mom. yesterday i asked her if she could buy me a bottle of hennessey or jack daniels to give to my host family as a gift. i was half joking. the other day, annie and i were saying that there comes a time when young adults reach “maximum parent tolerance” and learn to deal with these visits home efficiently. we think this is that time. yesterday i had to listen to an hour long lecture about the evils of alcoholism at drinking age and annie stood by while her mom did stereotypical asian stretching exercises in the airport. maximum parent tolerance, baby.

3. about the changing-the-major comment in my last post; it has officially been switched to psychology... again. i’ve even gone so far as to ask four professors to be my advisor, so i think this is serious. if i want to be a psychologist i should stop tip-toeing around the issue just because i don’t want be in school until i’m 30. not to mention it’s late enough in my academic career that any other major changes will prevent me from graduating on time. why haven’t you guys chastised me on my indecisiveness?

4. houston is in complete disarray right now. people are robbing people at the shelters downtown, and evacuees are begging for food and diapers outside of every store. i’ve never seen anything like this, and we’re hours away from louisiana. it kind of pisses me off that new orleans city planners would let a disaster this critical happen when they knew all along that the city was in danger. people should not be pushed to the point that they have to steal food for their starving children in a first world country. if you’re in the practice of praying for strangers, this would be a good time. glad you're safe, jules.

love *manda