Ohh yeah, my birthday is coming up. I know I'm going to crock at 84 and I'm going to be 24 in a few days. This gives me exactly 60 more years left on this beautiful earth! Time is shrinking! For my b-day celebration I want to highlight my big moments from the past year and make goals for this coming year. Life is too short and I want to make sure I'm making the most of the short time I have here.
Reading the Alchemist is first on my list.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Becoming a Grizzly
Zowie's December/January timeline:
In spirit of continuing my list-making, hibernation in Encinitas entails:
Finals - Christmas - Homecoming Celebrations - Las Vegas - New Year's Eve - HIBERNATION
I'm now one week into the Hibernation phase which was induced by a sore throat and congested lungs. Last Tuesday I decided that after all my December activites, I had officially run myself into the ground and needed to recuperate, i.e. hibernate.
In spirit of continuing my list-making, hibernation in Encinitas entails:*New Music: Bob Marley's Natural Mystic (complementary poster included with purchase!) and Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun
*Old Music: Thanks to my dear friend Puma (and Chester), Allison Krauss and Robert Plant have been spinning around the clock. Which, in turn, have restored my love for Led Zeppelin and complete re- visitation of my classic rock days. I think I've officially mastered the air guitar.
*New Books: Coaching Youth Tennis (in preparation for Willard 2008) and Guns, Germs, and Steel
*Old Magazines: Vanity Fair and Vogue have replaced my bedroom carpet
*New Movies: Sweeney Todd, Talk to Me, The Namesake, Once
*Old Habits: sun bathing, kicking ass at tennis, revisiting beach running routes
(Picture = Encinitas Beach Cliffs)
(Picture = Encinitas Beach Cliffs)*Whole lotta family: usually involving cousins, aunts, uncles, parents all gathering 'round to watch a good 'ol sporting event
*Whole lotta sleep: for something refreshingly new and different in my typical life
Hibernation ends Saturday when I travel to Long Beach to take my Teach for America tests and then jet up to Berkeley a few days later. So, for the next five days I'll continue my tropical hibernation. I'm loving every minute of it.
Heyo!
heyo guys!
Sorry I haven't written in a while. I've been flyin high on some dope. They have so much dope here guys. I've been smokin ever since I arrived. haha...juuuuuuust kiddding. I'm totally a straight edge.
neway, do I have to say it again. Life here is wonderful. Here are my daily duties. I have to clean from 10-12:30. If anyone is interested in getting free accamodation any time during world travels I can tell you what kind of cleaning is involved. After cleaning, I am free!!!! I spend the day reading the newspaper, running, laying on the beach, playing soccer, napping, figuring out my white water rafting trip, going to jazz concerts in the park and restaurants, going out for a night out on the town.
Okay if I haven't mentioned this I have completely changed my beliefs about the supernatural. I am actually positive now that there is something else out there governing this whole life thing. This is b/c on my way to Nelson I passed by this spot that I am absolutely positive I dreamt about!! I was with my family though, not with the bus driver. Isn't that crazy?? Does anyone else support this belief that their are external forces out there that we haven't tapped into yet?
Hmm so today it's raining! Booo, but I actually think it's "brilliant" as the english would say mainy b/c it means my skin can't get any more sunburned than it already is. Okay time for some pictures and "all that jazz" as the Sri Lankans would say. :)
This is the Nelson Saturday market. This guy is playing a crazy instrament. There was also a really good raggae dude there.
It's about 20 times bigger than you see in this picture. At the market you can buy delicious fruit, awesome clothes, pottery, fishing equipment, plants, art. It's got quality stuff that you'd see in nice stores, unlike the Berkeley outdoor markets. There was this guy playing this crazy pipe instrament that sounded awesome.
These are two of my new buddys! One is a awesome girl from Germany named Andrea. The other is another cool girl from Sri Lanka. we went out and danced the night away. I was happy to here that new zealanders like to get down to the same tunes.
We were at the jazz concert and the Sri Lanka one named honey talked to me all about fallowing your heart. She said that if you trust the universe it will give back. There are infinite possibilities. She told me I should read the Alchemist. She is a crazy dancer that just feels the music and goes with it. It was inspiring so we both ended up just doing crazy dancing the whole jazz show.
This is one of the jazz bands that played in the festival.
They are called sideshow. Now if you look into the audience you might see your mom or even your grandma! See her out of all those people. If you really look you can tell that age is realy just a number for New Zealanders. Everyone young and old get up out of their seats right infront of the band and dances. It doesnt even matter if your the only one dancing and your 60. They will just get up and dance if they feel like it. Isn't that a great thing. I wanna bring that mentality of freedom back to the states! who will join my in the free-dance revolution??
This is a restaurant in Nelson.
They have all kinds of food here including sushi, thai, indian, american (pizza hut and mc'ds) and kiwi.
Sorry I haven't written in a while. I've been flyin high on some dope. They have so much dope here guys. I've been smokin ever since I arrived. haha...juuuuuuust kiddding. I'm totally a straight edge.
neway, do I have to say it again. Life here is wonderful. Here are my daily duties. I have to clean from 10-12:30. If anyone is interested in getting free accamodation any time during world travels I can tell you what kind of cleaning is involved. After cleaning, I am free!!!! I spend the day reading the newspaper, running, laying on the beach, playing soccer, napping, figuring out my white water rafting trip, going to jazz concerts in the park and restaurants, going out for a night out on the town.
Okay if I haven't mentioned this I have completely changed my beliefs about the supernatural. I am actually positive now that there is something else out there governing this whole life thing. This is b/c on my way to Nelson I passed by this spot that I am absolutely positive I dreamt about!! I was with my family though, not with the bus driver. Isn't that crazy?? Does anyone else support this belief that their are external forces out there that we haven't tapped into yet?
Hmm so today it's raining! Booo, but I actually think it's "brilliant" as the english would say mainy b/c it means my skin can't get any more sunburned than it already is. Okay time for some pictures and "all that jazz" as the Sri Lankans would say. :)
This is the Nelson Saturday market. This guy is playing a crazy instrament. There was also a really good raggae dude there.
It's about 20 times bigger than you see in this picture. At the market you can buy delicious fruit, awesome clothes, pottery, fishing equipment, plants, art. It's got quality stuff that you'd see in nice stores, unlike the Berkeley outdoor markets. There was this guy playing this crazy pipe instrament that sounded awesome.
These are two of my new buddys! One is a awesome girl from Germany named Andrea. The other is another cool girl from Sri Lanka. we went out and danced the night away. I was happy to here that new zealanders like to get down to the same tunes.
We were at the jazz concert and the Sri Lanka one named honey talked to me all about fallowing your heart. She said that if you trust the universe it will give back. There are infinite possibilities. She told me I should read the Alchemist. She is a crazy dancer that just feels the music and goes with it. It was inspiring so we both ended up just doing crazy dancing the whole jazz show.
This is one of the jazz bands that played in the festival.
They are called sideshow. Now if you look into the audience you might see your mom or even your grandma! See her out of all those people. If you really look you can tell that age is realy just a number for New Zealanders. Everyone young and old get up out of their seats right infront of the band and dances. It doesnt even matter if your the only one dancing and your 60. They will just get up and dance if they feel like it. Isn't that a great thing. I wanna bring that mentality of freedom back to the states! who will join my in the free-dance revolution??
This is a restaurant in Nelson.
They have all kinds of food here including sushi, thai, indian, american (pizza hut and mc'ds) and kiwi.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
A Small Update
Today I woke up at the ungodly hour of 5:30AM just so I could catch the bus to Utrecht Centraal, the main station from Utrecht (which is 25 min away from Amsterdam) to Frankfurt Am Main. I’ve been staying at the University College in Utrecht because my friend Joyce goes to school there and she offered to host me for awhile. Utrecht is such a quaint little city but its supposed to be the 4th largest in the Netherlands. Highlights of the town include the Dom Tower (the main church) and a fairly large shopping center called De Planeet as well as ridiculously cute streets, shops, and restaurants. My Dutch (speaking, reading, or repeating) is shameful because I can’t seem to be able to make that hacking guttural sound that sounds like I’m coughing up a hairball. All the consonants jumbled together makes things confusing and also make remembering place names a little tricky. I often think to myself, “Alright, just remember to get back to the place that starts with a V and has 15 N’s, 4 J’s, and 2 I’s.”
Anyway, the sun hasn’t risen yet and I’m the only person walking along the cobblestone street to my stop. Its really nice—the ground is still wet because it rained yesterday and I like the sound my boots make on the ground. When the bus arrives, I give the driver my Strippenkaart which he stamps. It’s a pity that I have some rides still left over. The bus is really a better version of the nice AC transit buses that run in Berkeley, made by the same Belgian company Van Hool. Still sleepy, at Utrecht Centraal I buy a croissant and water at the nearest Albert Heijn (supermarket/711 type store) and make my way down to the ICE train tracks for my Frankfurt bound train. I’m not going to lie, if I had balls I would’ve frozen them off while waiting for the train. Its not the cold that makes it unbearable, its the wind. Brr. Also, trains in Europe are PUNCTUAL. I know this from experience as I missed my train going from Paris to Amsterdam (a story which I’ll explain later). Nevermind all that digression.
At Frankfurt I’m supposed to meet Chris in front of McDonalds since it’s the most prominent landmark on the second level of the station. If you know Chris you’ll know why this is an obvious meeting point. After some complications and missed connections, we finally met up and his Dad offers to take us on a whirlwind tour to see some castles along the Rhine River in the town of Rudesheim. The place is known for making Asbach Uralt Brandy—all the shop windows are filled with bottles of the stuff—and after having lunch in Drosselgasse, a small historic alleyway, where I had schnitzel! (it was alright), we walked a little along the Rhine where Chris’s dad pointed out a miniature toll castle which back in those days, if you couldn’t pay the required fee, you would be doomed to suffer in the depths of its prison when the river’s water level rose. How marvelously morbid.
--- Chris just walked in---
“So you’re the one using the internet! I’ve been trying to talk to Alex but it keeps cutting out. Well, I’ll go steal the neighbor’s signal. Goodnight!”---
The hills/mountains along the Rhine are jagged and rocky and the trees look a little like the ones you see in Caspar David Friedrich paintings. With the rain and the fog, the landscape was truly eerie, but impressive. We drove on down the Romantic Road (I know, its really called the Romantic Road but I think its because of the Romans and not because its actually “romantic” in the love sense) and did some castle spotting. The castles which fly flags mean that there are people who still live there. We saw two of those at the most. But as I had been deprived of proper sleep for some days now and last night was no exception, I had a terrible time staying awake (a moving car is a mother’s womb they say) and I basically conked out. This was ok, since Chris did too and when I awoke, we were in fields of green as far as the eye could see heading towards a small village called Enkenbach Alsenborn also part of Kaiserslautern, a bigger city near the Palatinate forest.
In the district where Chris lives also is home to approximately 50,000 NATO military personnel members who are mainly American. This means American TV (we watched Fraiser and Pirates of the Caribbean tonight)! I cannot explain how hidden this village is. Their house is incredibly homey – I got my own room with a slanted wooden roof (its like living in a secret attic!) and there’s a fireplace constantly burning. Chris’s father is soft spoken but extremely knowledgeable while Chris’s mom towers above me and reminds me a bit of a 19th century schoolmarm with a Scottish accent.
--At the dinner table—
“Christopher, did we raise you proper? You are supposed to pass the potatoes to the lady first.”
The response: “Oh, whatever”
She turns to me: “I want you to know that Christopher was raised to follow manners”
Later while watching TV
Chris: I don’t even know where Monaco is
His Mom: You’ve been to Monaco, we’ve taken you there
Chris: I have a bad memory
His Mom: (sarcastically) You seemed to remember very clearly when you didn’t get the same pink Barbie car as Whitney when you were four years old
In addition, Chris and I are setting off the day after to Munich where we will see Dachau concentration camp and Neuschwanstein Castle (New Swan Stone Palace), built in the 19th century by Ludwig II of Bavaria, then an overnight train to Vienna, then train to Venice, Florence, Roma, Pisa/Monaco, then well…. We still aren’t done planning. In true backpacker fashion we have chosen to skimp on hostels (they are still expensive!) and opt for overnight trains instead. This means no showering for some days. Good thing I have no one to impress here.
I should go to bed now, as tomorrow we are going to Heidleberg and Trier (a city on the bank of the Moselle river) and we're also finishing some last minute planning. Ciao!
Anyway, the sun hasn’t risen yet and I’m the only person walking along the cobblestone street to my stop. Its really nice—the ground is still wet because it rained yesterday and I like the sound my boots make on the ground. When the bus arrives, I give the driver my Strippenkaart which he stamps. It’s a pity that I have some rides still left over. The bus is really a better version of the nice AC transit buses that run in Berkeley, made by the same Belgian company Van Hool. Still sleepy, at Utrecht Centraal I buy a croissant and water at the nearest Albert Heijn (supermarket/711 type store) and make my way down to the ICE train tracks for my Frankfurt bound train. I’m not going to lie, if I had balls I would’ve frozen them off while waiting for the train. Its not the cold that makes it unbearable, its the wind. Brr. Also, trains in Europe are PUNCTUAL. I know this from experience as I missed my train going from Paris to Amsterdam (a story which I’ll explain later). Nevermind all that digression.
At Frankfurt I’m supposed to meet Chris in front of McDonalds since it’s the most prominent landmark on the second level of the station. If you know Chris you’ll know why this is an obvious meeting point. After some complications and missed connections, we finally met up and his Dad offers to take us on a whirlwind tour to see some castles along the Rhine River in the town of Rudesheim. The place is known for making Asbach Uralt Brandy—all the shop windows are filled with bottles of the stuff—and after having lunch in Drosselgasse, a small historic alleyway, where I had schnitzel! (it was alright), we walked a little along the Rhine where Chris’s dad pointed out a miniature toll castle which back in those days, if you couldn’t pay the required fee, you would be doomed to suffer in the depths of its prison when the river’s water level rose. How marvelously morbid.
--- Chris just walked in---
“So you’re the one using the internet! I’ve been trying to talk to Alex but it keeps cutting out. Well, I’ll go steal the neighbor’s signal. Goodnight!”---
The hills/mountains along the Rhine are jagged and rocky and the trees look a little like the ones you see in Caspar David Friedrich paintings. With the rain and the fog, the landscape was truly eerie, but impressive. We drove on down the Romantic Road (I know, its really called the Romantic Road but I think its because of the Romans and not because its actually “romantic” in the love sense) and did some castle spotting. The castles which fly flags mean that there are people who still live there. We saw two of those at the most. But as I had been deprived of proper sleep for some days now and last night was no exception, I had a terrible time staying awake (a moving car is a mother’s womb they say) and I basically conked out. This was ok, since Chris did too and when I awoke, we were in fields of green as far as the eye could see heading towards a small village called Enkenbach Alsenborn also part of Kaiserslautern, a bigger city near the Palatinate forest.
In the district where Chris lives also is home to approximately 50,000 NATO military personnel members who are mainly American. This means American TV (we watched Fraiser and Pirates of the Caribbean tonight)! I cannot explain how hidden this village is. Their house is incredibly homey – I got my own room with a slanted wooden roof (its like living in a secret attic!) and there’s a fireplace constantly burning. Chris’s father is soft spoken but extremely knowledgeable while Chris’s mom towers above me and reminds me a bit of a 19th century schoolmarm with a Scottish accent.
--At the dinner table—
“Christopher, did we raise you proper? You are supposed to pass the potatoes to the lady first.”
The response: “Oh, whatever”
She turns to me: “I want you to know that Christopher was raised to follow manners”
Later while watching TV
Chris: I don’t even know where Monaco is
His Mom: You’ve been to Monaco, we’ve taken you there
Chris: I have a bad memory
His Mom: (sarcastically) You seemed to remember very clearly when you didn’t get the same pink Barbie car as Whitney when you were four years old
In addition, Chris and I are setting off the day after to Munich where we will see Dachau concentration camp and Neuschwanstein Castle (New Swan Stone Palace), built in the 19th century by Ludwig II of Bavaria, then an overnight train to Vienna, then train to Venice, Florence, Roma, Pisa/Monaco, then well…. We still aren’t done planning. In true backpacker fashion we have chosen to skimp on hostels (they are still expensive!) and opt for overnight trains instead. This means no showering for some days. Good thing I have no one to impress here.
I should go to bed now, as tomorrow we are going to Heidleberg and Trier (a city on the bank of the Moselle river) and we're also finishing some last minute planning. Ciao!
Friday, January 4, 2008
Some pictures
A produce stand in Le Marais (the Jewish district) one of the few places that was open that day because it was a Jewish holiday
Aurora and I on the Pont Neuf
Amsterdam
Nederland is prachtig
I'm deleting this post because Chester says its makes me a bad person.
Ok, he never said that but I'm taking it out because I can't make it subtle enough/and or obvious enough to make what I did sound innocuous. Now you can let your imagination run wild.
Ok, he never said that but I'm taking it out because I can't make it subtle enough/and or obvious enough to make what I did sound innocuous. Now you can let your imagination run wild.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
A "kiwi bird". I was walking along the street in Wellington when he pirched right beside me on a fence and said "Hey there, welcome to New Zealand. My you look tired".
Okay so I'm sittin on the edge of the dock waiting for the "ferry" to arrive. Like me this girl also gave the "ferry " a standing ovation when it finally showed up. These ferries are more like "titanic big asses" than nice little "ferries". This thing was colassal in size. I think over 50 cars including 20 RV's rolled out of this thing after it landed!
This is some of the view from the "titanic big ass" on our way from wellington to picton. we got to see some dolphins swimming along the boat on the way.
They have amazing food here to Natey Baby! I've seen atleast 5 Thai restaurants. You should come and check them out.
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