It took me three plane rides, two books (neither finished), and one conversation with an Irishman to get me to Europe, but I made it! The conversation, by the way, consisted in part of me convincing my airplane friend, who had just spent a week in the Chicago area for an “American wedding,” that not all beers in the USA are watery and yellow. I recommended he go to the NW. He recommended I visit the bar he manages in Mayo, Ireland. I traversed the Atlantic from Chicago to arrive in Bath, England where I was picked up by my soon-to-be sister-in-law. She drove me from the airport to her and my brother's home. The following day would be their civil union and I had come to celebrate with them and to be a witness at the ceremony. Our next step would be France, where we were joining the rest of our families and friends for a weekend celebration of their marriage. We were ready for days of fun. Fate however, had something else in mind. The night before traveling, Vanessa and I were very suddenly hit with the Norovirus, a 24-hour nausea-inducing virus. We spent the night and the following day traveling to France all the while painfully cleansing ourselves, to put it lightly. The Norovirus had apparently been spreading through the UK, and it managed to find me by my second day on the island. In the following two days, three more family members succumbed to the virus, with Vanessa and I on their trails sanitizing the bathrooms. As we all made our way to south-central France, we continued to religiously wash our hands and never shared food until finally the nausea subsided for everyone. By the time friends and family arrived to the beautiful location of the wedding ceremony, no one was sick and we were all definitely ready for days of fun. My job was to translate the ceremony from English, being read by the celebrant (in white shirt above), into French so that our French-speaking relatives and friends could understand. The bride and groom didn't need any help translating the kiss into French, however. AND THEN DANCE!!!!
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"I'm sweating from eating," said my brother Mathias, apparently struggling through a second slice of Chicago deep-dish pizza. Though it was late on my first evening in Chicago, I was told we had to eat some deep-dish while I was in the city. Certainly, it was filling, and great as left-overs. As the Euro Cup 2012 began, I explored Chicago. I stayed with Mathias and his friends for about a week, walking, running, and eating my way through the city's pervasive summer block parties, beachwalk and parks. Below are some highlights. Art The Art Institute of Chicago currently has many Lichtenstein pieces on display. My mom (right, with a POW coming from her mouth) and I had our photos taken, a la Lichtenstein. Food If you need a travel book while in Chicago, go to Kopi, a Travelers Cafe in Andersonville, where two large shelves at the back of the little cafe/restaurant hold Lonely Planet guides for every place around the world. I had searched Chicago all morning for a bookstore with a good travel section, and this was the best I found. Here I researched Spanish hostels while warding off the summer heat (and improving my memory) with a green tea/ginkgo biloba/ginseng mango smoothie. Whoo! If you want a breakfast or lunch that'll sweep you up satisfied with quality ingredients go to Toast. On the menu you'll find lots of fruit, honey, benedicts and the Pancake Orgy. Music Drink Shayna has studied and toured many of Chicago's historic establishments so she was a great tour guide. She pointed out The Berghoff, a German style eatery as well as the first place to receive a Chicago liquor license after Prohibition. #1! Architecture
There's as much to see by looking up as there is right on the ground. Between Durham, North Carolina and Chicago, I made a one-night stop in Baltimore. I stayed with my friend Vianney and several members of his art cooperative. This group of 6 or so creative people have variety of talents. They paint, act, sew, draw, and make tunes (check out Vianney's art). I am looking forward to seeing what these guys have in store for their upcoming TV show. I also received a tour of their NE Baltimore neighborhood, complete with buildings vacant and inhabited, a Natty Boh (originally brewed in Baltimore), a peek at the MICA campus, therapeutic mug-smashing, murals, and cornbread waffles. Falling asleep with canvases at my feet and a window open to the warm East Coast summer breeze above my head, I had dreams only sweet.
In the past week, I've learned the difference between North and South Carolina barbecue, how to find and kill a tic on my skin, and what boiled peanuts taste like. All this and more I learned with Kina, a long time friend of mine currently living in Carrboro, North Carolina, her boyfriend Alex, and their various family members I met on a tour of the Carrboro area and into the mountains and waters of South Carolina. Barbecue in the Carolinas refers specifically to pulled pork, unlike the broader application I am used to. BBQ in eastern North Carolina uses the whole pig with a vinegar BBQ sauce. BBQ in western North Carolina uses “pig butt” (shoulder) and the vinegar sauce has an addition of tomato paste. The vinegar sauce added to BBQ in South Carolina has a mustard base. Pulled or not, the entire pig can be eaten. Above image credit: Independent Weekly. Sarah P. Duke Gardens, NC where Alex is working this summer. Here he shows me a venus fly trap native to the area. He explains that visitors should not touch the fly traps, because a trap may die if it closes with nothing actually inside to feed on. Amendment 1, which passed in an early May 2012 election in North Carolina, added the already-existing ban to same-sex marriage and other same-sex domestic legal unions to North Carolina's State Constitution. Even after the election, however, opposition to Amendment 1 is still very present in Carborro and the surrounding areas. Travelers Rest, South Carolina is a land of strawberries, peaches, boiled peanuts, night storms, dogs, beers, harmless snakes, and porch time. Above is the Walker Family farm, land and surrounding fields from which Kina's father's family has lived for generations. The home of one of her uncles on the land is built off of an old cabin from the 1700's. Uncle Herman and Aunt Carrie live down the road past a large trout and turtle pond, where we dipped after a long hike. Night-hunting the elusive strawberry. Uncle Herman has bush-whacked and hunted the forests outside of Travelers Rest, South Carolina since he can remember. I joined in on the fun with Kina, Herman, and her cousin John. Here we are resting at Hospital Rock (a supposed hide-out for Confederate deserters during the Civil War) before continuing on and narrowly escaping a nest of yellow jackets hidden in the fallen leaves. We collected red salamanders in our hands and small black tics in our clothes. Kiawah Beach, South Carolina. Water, sun, and sand. Now I'm 100% satisfied. Enough said. Alex's aunt and her husband live on a hidden piece of land on James Island, SC. The love they have nourished themselves, their home, and their gardens with exudes from every pore of this place. Alex and his aunt are happy to point out some interesting plants, like this flower that looks like a bat's face. Old, old oak trees line the streets of many neighborhoods in Charleston, SC. Piggly Wiggly, the drug store with growlers and beer on tap! Kina and her puppy Herald. Now, onto Baltimore and Chicago!
As any half-aware materialist well knows, that which you hold holds you. Neither could the earth escape the moon. Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker I worked at the Western Washington University Recycling Center for three years while I was living and studying in Bellingham, and we sorted through a lot of stuff (this ties in to the present, I swear). The job had little to do with my main fields of study, but it did fulfill the pack-rat and hoarder in me without the guilt of accumulating anything new. I never bought a binder, notebook, wrapping paper, or envelope during the years I worked at the RC. My coworkers and I would pick out the gently used notebooks tossed by other students, rip out the used pages and repurpose the remainder for our own classes. No matter that my Human Services notebook had “Chem 203” written across the front by a previous student. This and other sorts of salvaging was a perk to a job that otherwise put me in contact with slimy bags, tufts of hair, chunky liquids, molds, and a variety of non-recyclables others had deemed appropriate for the university's blue recycling bins. This job also made me more aware of the STUFF we accumulate, and, inevitably, made me question how to get rid of that stuff when we don't want it anymore (before, of course, putting it on the curb with a ''free sign''!). Some, like your used Q-tips and left-over take-out Chinese food (common items mistakenly “recycled” into the university blue bins), can go to the trash. Not only can you never use those again, but no one else wants to either. I asked myself that question - how to responsibly get rid of my possessions - when moving out of Bellingham, living in Seattle for two weeks, and preparing to travel. All of my belongings – recently used and long-forgotten – were in one place, and many of those possessions were ones I would be happy never to see again. So, I sought out the best options for turning my junk into someone else's riches. Here's what I recommend: MAKE ART! Or, if you're leaving town, look for organizations that will take your donated arts and crafts supplies. Allied Arts Reused Thrift Store in Bellingham took all my old spray paint, butcher paper, bottle caps and more. Hold a yard sale. It's a fantastic way to spend a sunny day, and you may find the person whose been dreaming of owning your old sombreros and VHS tapes of Eddie Murphy on tour. Donate your clothes, kitchenware, furniture, and knick-knacks to organizations whose causes you support. You have many choices other than Goodwill and Value Village (though those are valid choices!). My favorites in Bellingham are WiseBuys and For the Love of Hospice, both in the downtown area. In Seattle, most of my donations go to The AIDS Alliance Lifelong Thrift Store in the Capitol Hill/1st Hill area.
What about clothes & running shoes that are tattered and no one else would want to wear? As for the tattered clothes, I found a listing of organizations in the Seattle area that will take any donated textiles, including old shop rags and towels (see also this Seattle Times article for more info). As for holey running shoes, check out the Nike Reuse a Shoe Program for Nike locations that will take any brand of old sports shoe and turn the different parts into materials for running tracks, basketball courts, and tennis courts (at least that's how it's explained on the site). The trickiest item to find a new home for while I was moving was my laptop, too heavy to travel with but still in good form. When I realized that it was not worth more than $100 and that I had no potential online buyers, I researched other possibilities. One option was to mail my old computer to Dell, where the laptop is refurbished and resold or otherwise recycled appropriately. I know other manufacturers have similar options; just go to their sites and search for “recycle” or “refurbish.” However, the better option was to gift my laptop to the owners of Pert's Deli in Leschi, Seattle. I worked at this deli in high-school and still visit Max and Mai when I am in town. They've never owned a computer, and were hesitant to start, but Mai's curiosity for a taste of the internet was enough for her to accept the “new” laptop. And while on the topic of reusing, here's an enlightening little video on the story of bottled water. Ok, I admit, it's a plug, but there is good info in there. What will you do with your old stuff next time you move? In early May I bid ''until next time'' to my home for the last six years in Bellingham, Washington, the friends I'd made during my time there, and the job that'd brought me a satisfying taste of the professional world. This good-bye is an eye-patched curiosity-driven leap in what I hope is the direction of other real and just as satisfying worlds. A month before this good bye to Bellingham, my toes were as itchy as ever to get moving. But I couldn't leave just yet, as I had a new employee to train, an apartment to move out of, friends and new family to spend time with, and a tent that cried to be popped up just once more in a PNW spring forest. So in order to make my last several weeks in the area memorable, I pretended I was visiting with new eyes and signed myself up for a stay-at-home vacation. While I wasn't working: I hiked once more to the top of the Oyster Dome, sharing the view with about 15 dogs and their owners. Here is my companion taking from her bag the ''best chocolate ever." I sailed! Red Beard, Mal de Mer and I dubbed each other our sea names, felt the wind in our hair, and calmly landed on the southeast end of Lummi Island. We ate pancakes overlooking the bay while tanning our winter-white legs and reviewed our sailing vocabulary. Quiz me, I think I can tell you what a jib and tacking are. I snowshoed, once in a race (I won't tell you who won) and once trekking into the Mt Baker ski area back country with my mighty guidess. Look here, she is so excited! She showed me how to use the beacons we wore around our cores. However, before going into the backcountry again I need to take an avalanche safety course. I showed some drawings in an art exhibit (well, sort of. Thank you ModSock for hosting a live drawing session and scotch-taping our drawings to your walls!) True to the traveler's mind, I tasted many new foods. The restaurants have been breeding in Bellingham and there are many new locally-owned food and drink joints to try. It's an entrepreneur’s economy, it seems. I couldn't get to them all in just one month, but here were a few of my favorites: Cheese(Meats)Beer (opened in April by wonderfully cheery and hip Annalou and Travis) Cafe Rumba (A Peruvian deli where the chicha is all natural, just like the best in Peru) Kulshan Brewery (Bellingham has an appetite for not 1, not 2, but 3 of its own microbreweries. I expect there to be at least one more by the next time I'm in the city.) Dashi Noodle Bar (not new, new to me) At the end of April I moved out of my beloved little apartment in the Alamo Building and for a couple of weeks alternated between a couch, a tent, and a gracefully provided bed. Thank you again, hosts; your hospitality is heartwarming. While I had no couch of my own to share during that time, I certainly had some time for a couple of ''official'' Couch Surfers visiting the area. I answered questions such as: “Where's a thrift store?”, “Do you have a beach here?”, and “Where can we find the cheapest beer that isn't a 'cheap beer'?” If you ever need a place to stay in Dallas (until he moves to another corner of the globe), I recommend you find Mowgli (contact me for details). Not to put words in his mouth, but he will welcome you. So, I vacationed in my own home. I continued to play, run, eat, and create and filled myself with the bright beginnings of springtime in Bellingham. This experience was a great reminder to never take my home for granted, and perfect fodder for the next phase of travel.
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yes blog is currently 'archived'yes blog started when I moved from the States to Spain in 2012 and documented the results of saying 'yes' - to the people and learning opportunities - that came my way. Archives
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