Chicago via iPhone photos October 2011

Finding Love on the Road

Last night I was watching yet another episode of "House Hunters International" (that show is seriously addictive) and the episode chronicled a woman who was buying property in Lima, Peru after meeting and subsequently falling in love with a Peruvian. She hadn't known him very long, but was leaving the USA to buy a house, live with this guy and start a travel business. Basically, she was uprooting her life for someone she'd only known for a few months. I couldn't help but sit there and shake my head and make comments to my roommate about how dumb this girl was for committing to a house payment for someone she barely knew and in a country where she didn't speak the language. I was judging her big time.

Then I realized maybe I am too cynical. Obviously, if you found the love of your life you would want to be near them. I am skeptical after living in Peru because they even have a term for the peruvians that show up in bars to prey on foreigners (brichero/a) and I cannot possibly count how many I saw. But, for every five bricheros and bad vacation romances, I met people who it seemed had honestly found something that was working. Even if it meant long visa waits, long distance periods, moving to Peru and changing their life.

I kept thinking, how do you know you love them when you've only known them for two weeks? But, maybe that's all that it takes and just because I can't see that happening for myself, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I know my grandparents and several other people's that got married after knowing each other just a short while. It was the thing to do then and not so much now, but their marriages lasted 60 + years and I rarely see people as happy as I've seen them.

When things work out in a long distance romance, a vacation romance or with someone that you've only known a month before deciding to marry them it's seen as super romantic. It's the ones that fail that are seen as a huge mistake, but there are so many relationships and marriages that don't work out that people knew each other for years and years before.

People rarely criticize military wives, husbands, boyfriends and girlfriends for carrying on long distance for months on end. I don't know why it's seen as a weakness in other relationships. You can't judge people without being in their shoes. You can't plan when you're going to meet someone and it usually comes at inconvenient times. But if someone is worth it, long term worth it, then it seems obvious that you would be willing to make big changes to carry on with that person, because you don't want them to get away from you.

Anyway, this is kind of a ranty post I guess, but I am going to stop criticizing, judging and shaking my head when people tell me stories like this, instead I will think, "Wow, crazy. How lucky you are to have met", I'm going to try and see it as romantic, because it is if someone knows so much that you are the one that they are willing to change their lives for you or you for them. Good for you if you've found them. You have to do what you think is right. In reality, I know so many couples that are only together out of convenience and proximity, don't really like each other and are wasting time being with someone they barely like. It seems like a much more romantic idea to like/love someone enough to put up with not being able to see them all the time or having it be complicated to see them knowing that one day it will all be worth it, than to stay in something that means nothing to you. And coming from someone who hasn't really been in love yet, I really should not think I am an expert on these matters, what do I know?

End of rant.

PS One of my family members I saw this weekend (hey Barb!) told me I never said where I had been accepted to school. I'm going to Northwestern this fall, starting Monday... The last 18 months have been unreal, crazy, scary, stressful, amazing, but it's time to get back to being a member of society again. I hope to study abroad next summer and I already have a trip to the Caribbean planned for December after finals, so this is not the end of travelling, but it is the beginning of having to live a more scheduled travel life!

Skyline Obsession

It's really a shame that I only have an iPhone 3G (ancient in technology time) to take pictures right now in Chicago. I'm pretty obsessed with the buildings and the skyline as seen from a distance near my place and all over the city. Thus far I LOVE the city. It's easy to get around, there is always something going on and people seem genuinely nice. I wish these pictures could better showcase how awesome the views are around the city! 

I'm enjoying the last month before school starts, the start of more fall weather and exploring more around the different neighborhoods- probably to eat more food. Oh and of course enjoying having a pool... 

Views from around the city via my awful phone:

From Grant Park looking North, during Lollapalooza 

Right before a crazy storm, the sky looked so awesome, but this doesn't do it justice

Awesome architecture- Wrigley building and Tribune tower

Sears tower in the back 

View from my roof  

Really windy day- look at those waves

Realizations and Acceptance

I feel like a failure. I'm back in the United States right now after just one week in Israel when I was supposed to be there for a month. I thought I had a well thought out plan- five days on the beach in Tel Aviv, two weeks doing WWOOF on a farm in the Negev, culminating in a week with friends camping and hanging out. Then things started to go wrong even before I left home.

I had a lot of reservations about going on this trip in the first place. I knew I wanted to get out of Boulder and I was excited to pack and leave from my old apartment. But, that was the last time I was excited about leaving on this trip. I am usually highly organized, almost to a fault, but this trip I couldn't get motivated to pack and didn't have anything fully put together until the day before, less than 24 hours before I was going to leave. Highly unusual for someone who usually packs for a big trip a week in advance. 

And then I was super busy the last week before I was supposed to leave. When I thought about the upcoming vacation I was in denial that I was actually leaving, also odd for someone who lives to travel. When Monday finally came to the airport, I drove myself there and it still had not hit me that I was leaving and that it was my choice. 

It wasn't until I was at Ben Gurion waiting for the train to go to Tel Aviv that it hit me, I did not want to be on a trip where I had planned to be by myself for 3/4 of it. It was a really awful feeling considering I planned this, I got on the plane and now I was on the other side of the world. In addition to my nagging feeling of regret, things started to go wrong from there on out. 

The first night in the hostel in the mixed dorm some guy was a major creeper, not only to me, but to the other girl in the dorm offering to get us drunk and give massages. I went to sleep afraid he was going to come into my bed or touch me. I thought I had a plan B though, my Israeli friend had offered me his couch at his place in Tel Aviv, basically around the corner from the hostel. Perfect, I thought! But, then he wasn't there in the morning, he hadn't asked his roommates and I felt super awkward. I looked for hostels and private rooms were really expensive. I decided to go to Jerusalem to stay at a friend's apartment and try to go to the farm early 

But then he didn't have a couch, things were complicated in his life and my presence wasn't helping. I started to consider going home since it seemed like already the last fourth of my trip, the part I was going to have company for, would probably never come into fruition. Since I had already made arrangements to go to the farm I decided to just go hoping it would be better and at least a good two weeks. 

The farm wasn't what I expected though. I wouldn't be working with the animals or the winery, but doing just gardening stuff. There was only one other person that spoke English and without a basis of Hebrew I was struggling big time. I felt super sick on the bus there and at the farm. I knew that I probably needed a different farm, but then all the other ones I tried to contact were full for another week or two. I had a long day of doing nothing on the farm for Shabbat, a whole day of solo thinking time sans electronics, in the middle of nowhere and I realized that I needed to just go home. Nothing was working out as planned and struggling through three more weeks alone, plus spending a bunch of  money on a hostel was not going to be worth it. Changing my ticket ended up being cheaper than sticking it out. 

Horses on the farm, whom I wish was part of the work on the farm

I came home three weeks before I had planned, or more like five months before I planned to be in Denver again. My pride is hurt and I am finding it difficult to reconcile the realization that I am done travelling alone. I enjoyed it most of the time last year, but I think that that phase has ended. I am not done travelling, but I am done taking long solo trips for a long while, maybe for good. I'm working hard on accepting that fact. Were things that bad on my trip? Not really probably, but alone they were amplified. 

Lesson I am taking away from this whole ordeal: listen to your intuition, it's trying to tell you things. I wish I had... It was an expensive lesson to learn. 

At least sunsets were pretty in the Negev on the farm! 

Kindness of Strangers

Along with New Yorkers, Israelis have a bad reputation of being rude and brash. It never bothered me in either place, in New York people are not rude, they're busy, in Israel it's just a part of their culture. In fact, people in both places are quite willing to help you out with where you are and where you need to go. The only problem in Israel is that I didn't speak hebrew which posed a problem when you are not really sure where you are or what's going on exactly. Luckily for me, strangers were really kind in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

After a trip to H&M in Tel Aviv at the Azrieli Center, I was sitting on a bench at a stop for a lot buses that go all over. I wasn't really sure what bus I needed to take, but figured I knew how to get to the beach from the Central Bus station, where I had come from, so it would be best to backtrack and go from there. I was waiting for quite a while and then this woman starts talking (kind of yelling) to me in hebrew and I tried to say "I only speak english", "anglit (the word for english in hebrew)" and the woman just kept talking to me very loudly and quickly. The girl next to me translated for me that the lady wanted to know if I wanted to go to the beach (I did, and was wearing beach attire) and that I should take the bus that was there. "Seshim ve shelosh" she said again, which is 63 (numbers up to 100 are part of the very limited hebrew I knew). I got on the bus just crossing my fingers that I was going to the beach and would recognize where I was at some point. That lady was amazing. She probably saved me an hour of commuting! I don't think I ever properly thanked her since I was so confused about what was happening, but thank you random yelling lady!

The last day I was in Jerusalem I was waiting for a bus to go to the bus station and a lady just handed me her ticket and I stared at it, then stared at her questioningly. She said something in hebrew that I took to mean that there was another ride on the ticket. Sure enough there was and I made I ended up saving 6.40 shekles or about $2 on that trip. Again thank you random lady, sorry for the very confused stare!

This is a lesson that everywhere there are nice people, no matter what the city or the country, even if it might not seem like it. And there is even such a thing as helpful yelling! I wish I could have helped the numerous people that asked me (probably) for directions in hebrew, to which I gave them blank stares. I'm going to have to pay it forward on public transport in Chicago, that is when I learn how to use it.

In my opinion, strangers are pretty great.

My iphone camera really sucks and is not doing the Tel Aviv beach justice at all! 

In Transit: Stupid Americans

I have been lucky to steer clear (generally) of most Americans that fit the negative stereotype of ignorance and laziness. I was, however, unlucky enough to sit next to one on my ten-hour flight from Newark to Tel Aviv. The flight was packed with Christians from Texas and Oklahoma going on pilgrimages to the Holy Land to find the roots of their religions. It makes sense, but I was pretty surprised at the number of über religious christians there were on the flight. There were nearly as many of them as Orthodox and Hassidic Jews.

After being asked to move twice to new seats so that friends and families could sit together, I was squeezed into the window seat (I prefer aisles for long flights and even had to give up one with a free seat next to it) next to a woman from a group of pastors from Oklahoma on a trip to reaffirm their faith and station in the church. Apparently, a typical pastor in the Methodist church only lasts 7 years and these pastors were reaching this expiration and the bishop was attempting to help them stay with the church.

I tend to try and not engage in unnecessary conversation on the plane, it's not that I do not like to talk to strangers, in fact some of them are really interesting. However after last years travels, I've discovered that the interesting ones are generally not the ones that strike up a conversation on the plane. Usually, it's the people I don't want to talk to that have that look in their eye like they want to talk. It's that darting eye, trying to catch your eye contact so that they get the ok to engage another person in conversation. I try to not talk to these people because ten hours straight in a five foot square area is a lot of time to spend with anyone that you do not have a close relationship with or are annoyed with aka most people interested in talking with you about nothing.

I was seated next to one of these darty-eyed women, a pastor from the group described above. I knew from the moment she opened her mouth that her semi-southern accented self and I would probably have differing views on life. Here are some highlights from the conversation between this woman and I on the plane:

1. After some standard getting to know you questions: Her: "Oh so you're moving to Chicago? I don't know why you would do that, that is a big change from Denver. You are going to hate it there, the weather sucks and you will probably get shot if you go to the wrong part of town." [Who gives that kind of response to someone?] 
2. Still getting to know you questions: "You travelled all by yourself for a year? Wow I would never, ever do that. How weird." [I am struggling to portray exactly how this came across, mostly it had a distinct, what's wrong with you tone. As in, you are clearly a crazy person. Thanks for the undesired comments about my lifestyle.]
3. After we are on the plane a while: Her: "What language do you think that guy is speaking?" Me: "He is speaking Hebrew...." Her: "Really? Wow, I thought that was a dead language." "Umm, well that's what they speak in Israel." Trying hard to redeem herself: "Well I speak Spanish, some German, some Greek and a little bit of Arabic and I knew it wasn't one of those..." [Is this woman for real? You seriously are going to a country that you didn't even research enough to see what language they speak there?]
4. During the flight: "Why do you these women have their heads covered in scarfs." "Umm well they're Orthodox Jews..." [Maybe I'm stupid to think that when you know a lot about religion and study it everyday that you are not living in complete ignorance of other religions.]
5. After the Continental's "Welcome to Israel" video where they specified if you were bringing large, importing quantities of electronics you have to go through the "special" immigration line: "I brought some electronics, should I go through that line?" [Clearly this lady has not travelled a lot and who would submit themselves to the special line for having an iPod??]

After the first ten minutes of talking to this woman I knew I really didn't want to talk to her. I tried everything, I was clearly watching movies with head phones on for most of the time I was awake, but that didn't seem to matter to this woman. She would just turn and start commenting to me. She did not get the hint at all, I didn't even think I was being subtle. I am just thankful that I didn't really sleep that much for the two nights prior to leaving and was able to sleep a lot more than usual on the flight.

I hope to steer clear of more women like her during the rest of my time in Israel. At least I should be able to avoid ten hour exposures to such awful people. I know that having a disarming personality will be a huge asset in my career, but it is often a huge pain in the ass in situations like this one. 

View from the coffee shop in Jerusalem that I'm writing from- more on why I am not in Tel Aviv later

(PS my camera died a painful death on NYE last trip, so there will be limited photos this time. My semi-broken iPhone will have to somewhat suffice as long as I can keep it alive.)

Saying Goodbye is the Hardest Part

Two months and not a word on this thing.... It's not that I haven't been doing things or that big things haven't changed. In fact, I got exactly what I wanted, my first choice graduate program! It's not that I haven't been travelling either, I made a quick trip to Seattle and even squeezed in a short camping trip. It's not that I haven't been having fun either, music festivals, baseball games, too many happy hours, a kickball league. I even made the decision to live out of a suitcase again for a month and be homeless to travel around Israel, spend time on the beach, do WWOOF, and hang out in Jerusalem with one of my best friends.

Why haven't a written anything? Because even though I got what I want, I am still mourning the loss of this life, the ability to move around, own nothing, meet new people, pack everything in one bag and live month to month, in the moment. I'm not saying goodbye to just my friends, family and familiarity, but also to a stage of life. The last three years have been tumultuous, stressful, even downright horrendous at times, but they allowed me to do something I always wanted to do, drop everything and travel.

I survived a pretty angsty, roller coaster ride of a quarter life crisis. I'm happy to have it in the past and to have survived, even thrived to come out on the other side with plans, a future career. But, even the scariest roller coasters are fun sometimes, but it's time to get off, get over it and move onto real life.

I own things again, which may not seem like a big deal, but I haven't owned a bed, a desk or a dresser in two years. It's frightening and exciting to give up a nomadic life. For the record, I prefer nomad to bohemian, I'm no hippy.

Saying goodbyes feels more permanent this time, more scary. A good number of friends are doing the same as me this fall, graduate school, law school, medical school, pharmacy school. It means that people are going to be putting roots down somewhere, maybe forever. No longer will everyone live in one place, we're going to have to plan to travel far distances to see one another, maybe only special events, maybe someone will get married and I won't even know their significant other. The whole thing is weird, weirdly awesome.

Everything is about to change and this change has been a long time coming, though I feel more melancholic (you could even use the word sadder) than I thought I would about leaving. I'm bad at goodbyes, especially to people you know you'll never see again, people that you hope you'll see again, people you aren't ready to say goodbye to yet.

Goodbye living out of a suitcase, goodbye Boulder, goodbye to Walnut houses (or Spruce houses), goodbye being within driving distance of friends/family and driving in general, goodbye life as I know it.

Hello rest of my life, I'm ready for you.

Lists: to go, to revisit, to live

Sitting at home with a lack of ability to plan anything of my life, I am thinking about all the places I still want to go someday. Some that I have been and would like to revisit and some that I could actually live in. The lists are in no particular order....

Places I still want to go: 

1. Thailand 
2.  Bali
3. Japan
4. Cuba
5. Argentina
6. Brazil
7. Colombia 
8. Uruguay 
9. Morocco
10. South Africa
11. Sweden
12. Hungary 
13. Jamaica
14. Puerto Rico
15. Kenya
16. Ireland
17. Austria 
18. Costa Rica
19. Iceland
20. Russia
21. Philippines 
22. Egypt

Places to go back to:

1. Chile
2. Greece (islands only) 
3. Germany
4. Canada 
5. France
6. Australia 

Places I would actually live: 

1. Israel
2. Northern European countries - Holland, Germany, Belgium
3. France
4. Chile

These probably don't even encompass all the places I would like to go, and I would definitely be up for going anywhere I was invited. I just know that I'm tired of traveling alone and would rather have shared memories with someone next time I travel. 

Who's up for an adventure? 

Flying, Cooking and Waiting...

Between March 4 and April 9 I took 13 flights, spent time in 6 different airports and spent several nights on couches and in hotels. Last weekend when I arrived home from San Francisco I woke up in the middle of the night and had no idea where I was, then I realized I was in my own bed. Ridiculous.

This was my view a lot last month

One would think that I must have had the most exciting month ever jetting all over, but in reality it was the most stressful month I have lived in a long time. I was flying all over the country for interviews which meant navigating airports, public transit, meeting new people everyday, formulating engaging questions to ask when I had none and wearing a suit all day (uncomfortable). And to top it off these interviews lasted at least 6, and up to 10 hours. It was a crazy whirlwind.

Sculpture in Millenium Park, Chicago

I am glad to have all of my interviews over, but I cannot breathe a sigh of relief yet. Now the time of waiting has commenced. All the schools correlated a day to tell you whether you are accepted, wait listed or denied to their program so decision day is also know as the most stressful day ever.

Since, I lost my job at the pizzeria for having to take too much time off, I have way too much time on my hands to be stressed and think about the future. Instead of sitting around and making myself crazy, I have taken up cooking and baking. I'm pretty sure I am gaining weight, but at least for a few hours a day I feel less stressed and I am becoming quite a good cook!

I have made indian, mexican, israeli, american, italian and vegan dishes. I have been making things I have wanted to do for years, but never had the time to. This week I plan to again make indian food and try my hand at gnocchi. Plus my roommate and I are hosting a brunch this weekend (the day before I find everything out).

I'm trying to turn my time and stress into something productive, but it is only a mild distraction. I can't wait until this is all over and a distant memory. I need to plan more than a menu, like my life.

Until then waiting, waiting, waiting, thinking, waiting....

And if you're hungry this week, please let me know what I can make you!

What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas

I had the most amazing weekend in a place that I didn't expect to like that well. Vegas is a destination in the middle of nowhere that I associated with opulence, excess, and gambling, three things that I don't generally support. I set my expectations pretty low expecting to see too many spring breakers and obese gamblers wasting their lives, trolling for tramps and flushing away their money. Instead, I ended up having one of the best weekend trips I have ever taken.

Two of my girlfriends and I had been discussing going to Vegas since I returned. At the age of 25, I had never been to Vegas old enough to drink or gamble, so I figured it was an experience that one should have in their twenties. When we found out Lady Gaga was to perform in March and we had previously discussed going to Vegas in the spring, it wasn't even a decision, it was an obligation to find tickets and get ourselves to Vegas for the show.

The show, obviously, was amazing, a definite spectacle just as you would expect to see from Lady Gaga. I had high expectations for the show and they were all met. Even our seats were better than I had hoped as we were very high up, but we had a rail in front of us which meant good views and lots of dancing room. Plus we had an excuse to dress-up and look amazing!

Lady Gaga outfits

The following night and days were what surprised me about Vegas. Mostly, that the cliché "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," seemed to be a saying that people really take to heart there. Never in my life have I been to a bar and had multiple groups of guys offer to buy us drinks and chat us up. It was literally one group after another. One guy even tried to get me to talk to him when I was clearly engaged in conversation with someone else, using a line about his friend needing help to get away from another girl (please, like a boy has ever needed saving from a girl at a bar).

Pick-up line after pick-up line were thrown out. We ended up spending Saturday with some guys from LA who asked my friend to peel an orange for him and feed him a piece on a dare from a friend. Saturday we didn't pay for anything. Over the course of the weekend we were bought food, multiple rounds of drinks (always watched them being made!), cab rides were paid for, drugs were offered (politely declined) and plans were thrown out for the next day.

All of this and what I found the most surprising, not one person ever mentioned, or asked if someone had a significant other. Not once. I don't even think I heard the word boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, partner, fiancé, etc. used ever outside our room. Clearly it didn't matter to anyone what was going on outside the Vegas vortex, the only thing that mattered was that the present was fun and maybe the next day.

I am not stupid to think that these people didn't have one objective in mind for throwing money around. Everyone had their vacation hat on and was on the lookout for a vacation romance aka fast, passionate and short-lived. Everyone knows what the priority is, all I know is that my girlfriends and I didn't spend a penny for a whole day, we stayed safe, and came home every night together. I have never met so many characters in my life or had so many funny stories/inside jokes develop in such a short amount of time. I was throughly entertained all weekend by my surroundings.

I will admit that the boys on the other end of this deal probably had the opposite feeling about the fate of their weekends, since they threw a whole bunch of money at girls who ended up going home and not answering calls and texts the next day. Would I advocate doing this all the time in my life? No. But does it happen all the time? No. Would I want to spend more than a weekend in Vegas? Definitely no.

But as you know, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

One of our favorite bars in the Cosmopolitan Hotel

Ash Wednesday Mass

I haven't had a lot of time for new experiences recently, but I was able to fit in an hour at Catholic mass on Wednesday for Ash Wednesday. Let me preface this by saying I am not Catholic and could never be Catholic, but I am curious about what goes on during different religious services. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of 40 days and nights of lent before Easter. If you're like me you have probably seen people with ash on their foreheads and have definitely known people who give up some kind of pleasurable thing for lent. I also like to give things up, not for Jesus, but because I think it's good to have self control and not rely on too many things. This year I have given up beer and hard alcohol, one year I gave up facebook.

On Wednesday, two of my friends and I, one Catholic and one not, but like me curious, went to Catholic mass. I had previously been to two Catholic funerals and a mass in Spain when I was 17 that I fell asleep during, so I had no idea what happens when you are at a regular service. Catholicism is so ritualistic and if you aren't familiar with the prayers or the order it is confusing. There is kneeling, communion, Latin, and there was a bell ringing while the priests held a cup up to Jesus. It was probably one of the weirder things I have ever seen, but very interesting to see what a billion people believe in on Earth.

What bothered me is that there hasn't been any changes that allow for how the world has changed. There was one part where they were saying the people of the Synagogues and the "hypocrites" were very wrong in their way of showing good deeds and piety. I understand that it is traditional, but I do not respect religions that bash other religions and if that is not their intent then the words should be changed.

I also do not like being told what a sinner I am and that the music also had a lot of undertones about sinning. This whole idea really bothers me about Catholicism especially, but christianity in general.

I found it highly odd that there were no bibles in the pews, I guess the priests are the only ones that can read it?

I discovered while I was there how lax the Catholic church has become in regards to lent. Apparently, you can do/eat/drink whatever you want on Sundays as per what the Pope has declared. I think that a place so founded in traditions and rituals should either stick to them or undergo some major changes.

Obviously, I will not be converting any time soon, but I think that it makes you a more rounded and educated person to experience these types of situations if not just to be able to form better opinions about them. I respect that it helps a lot of people get through the day and live a more moral life, I just don't believe in any of its teachings. I am glad to have had the experience though, it was definitely a more interesting way to spend the hour than watching TV or sitting on my computer!

We plan to go to a Mormon service next and also to Jewish temple. Luckily we will have people who are familiar with these religions, not necessarily followers, who are going with us so we can absorb more of the experiences.

Update:

I have started my crazy busy interview and travel schedule! Last weekend was intense with two interviews and flying to the east coast and midwest. Tuesday I am off to NYC again! 

Taking a break....

I just wanted to let anyone know who reads this blog that there may not be anything new for the next month and a half or so until the middle of April! I have been very honored to be invited to several interviews out of state to genetic counseling programs, which means lots of time in airports, being nervous and travelling around on top of working and volunteering.

I hope to post something in the meantime since I will be travelling and surely will have stories!

Wish me luck! 

Denver Jewish Film Festival and Yad Vashem

This past Friday I was invited to the Denver Jewish Film Festival at Cherry Creek. Film festivals and anything that gets too artsy and hipster are not my scene, but I wanted to hang out with the person who invited me (my friend's mom), so I decided that I would go. Going into the films, all I knew is where it was and that there were going to be two short films shown.

I was really blown away by the movies. The first movie was called Cohen on the Bridge and detailed Operation Entebbe in 1976 when an Air France flight bound from Tel Aviv to Athens to Paris was intercepted by two German and two Palestinian terrorists and flown to Uganda. Idi Amin was in power and the Jewish passengers were separated from the non-Jewish passengers. In the end they were saved by the elite Israeli Defense Force, the Mossad, and most of the hostages were saved. This was a story that I had never heard before, never even heard mentioned. Normally I would have been annoyed by the nature of the movie- a very hipster, very comic book-esque black and white film, but I was highly engrossed in this story. The thing that impacted me the most was the fact that there was a Holocaust survivor among the hostages and I can't imagine living through a situation like that again, in fact I can't imagine anything more horrifying than that.

The next film was Ammon's Journey, a french film that was partly in French, English and Hebrew, detailing a Ammon, who is a luthier (a person who makes violins) and painstakingly took it upon himself to refurbish violins from Holocaust victims in the second world war. He repaired the violins that were played as a distraction, abusively, for hours on end at Auschwitz. The journey took us from Paris to Austria to Norway and finally to Jerusalem, where these instruments were played at a special concert at the wailing wall. The movie highlighted the beauty and the pain of Ammon as he came to grasps of the horror and elegance of these musicians (including his own father) during one of the darkest times in Jewish history. It was again a documentary, something I normally do not enjoy, but found myself engaged in his story all the same.

During the brief time that I was at the festival, I was again reminded at the time I spent at Yad Vashem, somewhere that I have been trying to decide exactly how to incorporate into a blog post for quite a while. Yad Vashem houses the holocaust museum in Jerusalem. It is a free museum, that exists for many historical reasons and to help validate to anyone curious, why Israel exists as a Jewish state. I have honestly never felt such a dichotomy of horror and hopefulness as I stepped out of this museum in January 2011. I learned and saw things about the Holocaust, which in my mind was already so repugnant, that made me sick to my stomach. I will never forget seeing actual footage of Holocaust survivors and victims proceeding with their daily, atrocious life, side-by-side Nazi propaganda of what the ghettos looked like in actuality. This combined with endless photos, knowledge about death marches, the room of  names of millions of victims, understanding the prejudice and racism faced by survivors after the war, was so overwhelming I was unsure of how to cope. The hopefulness lied in what my friend, Josh, described as one of his favorite views in Israel at the end of the museum as you exited. There was an amazing view, at sunset no less, of Israel and Jerusalem, which left me feeling slightly hopeful, and definitely more understanding of the validity and purpose for Israel as a nation.

As a non-Jewish person I think sometimes it is easy to dismiss the atrocities committed on this religious group of people and only see Israel for the strife and conflict it creates in the Middle East. As I learn more, see more, I understand more why Israel exists, and why it should exist. I've never been that curious about history, but I feel a new wonder and found intrigue to learn more about the history of the Jewish people and the country that I have recently fallen in love with.

I said this in the last post, but I am excited about the cultural growth that I am able to achieve, not only abroad, but in my own country. Being stranded here the last three weeks (I have my passport back finally!!!), had really made me expand my openness to experiencing new cultures and doing things that I may not have been as excited or willing to do before. 

Chinese New Year... In the USA?

My new roommate is the son of a man in the Navy and thus spent a lot of his childhood out of the USA. His family lived in China, Singapore and Hong Kong. Instead of growing up with traditional US holidays like Thanksgiving, 4th of July, etc, he grew up in a place that celebrated such holidays as Chinese New Year. He threw a dinner party to share these traditions with everyone, including me the new roommate.

I came home Thursday, February 3rd, to Matt frantically cooking since 14:30 for a party that was to start at 19:30. Since I was at the time unemployed, I offered my help. I preceded chopping vegetables and rolling out dumpling dough for the next two hours! He didn't need any recipes or measuring cups and just kept mixing ingredients while I, the sous chef, just chopped away. At the end of the two hours we had all of the prep work done, but the cooking hadn't even started. Finally, around, 20:00, everything was made and the guests had arrived. 

The menu was as follows:

27-ingredient salad (or was it 24, Matt couldn't remember)- ingredients included raw fish, grapefruit, peanuts, rice noodles, cabbage, carrots, jicama and much more 

Veggie Dumplings (that also happened to be vegan)

Pork Dumplings (no photos)

Various kinds of stir fry, veggie and non-veggie

Noodle Stir Fry 

Rice Stir Fry

Lots of oranges (you are familiar)

Some items on the menu were traditional good luck symbols, namely the oranges and the salad. The salad even had a special way of being "tossed" to bring all of the guests good luck. Everyone sticks a fork into the salad and then shouts "Lo Hi", while flinging the salad high into the air, the higher it goes the better luck you will have in the year. It was a stressful tradition for someone with cleanliness OCD like myself, but definitely a fun way to commence a dinner party. 

The night went well. Everyone had a good time dressed in red (also traditional), eating delicious, food, and drinking. The best part came the next morning when Matt had cleaned up all of the mess from the night before by the time I woke up at 8:00! Awesome roommate.  It was a great ending to a fun night. 

I never expected to have a close encounter with Chinese traditions outside of China and without any Chinese people... I am interested to see what other traditions I will learn in the next few months! I'm glad I'm able to experience new cultures while not abroad, right from the comforts of my own home. 

Why I loved Israel and no I am not Jewish

A common question that I have encountered is what country and place was your favorite? And irritatingly, people are often not pleased with my answers. I didn't really feel a connection or like India nor Peru, and no I couldn't see myself living in Spain again. So.. where did I like the most? Israel, specifically Tel Aviv.

This is an odd answer to a lot of people, I often am asked, "are you Jewish?", which no I am not. I have also received, the reply, "oh well you just liked it because your ex-boyfriend is there and there is obviously still something there." Wrong again. It has nothing to do with faith nor that specific person being in Israel, I just really liked it there. Let me explain.

Sunset on the beach in Tel Aviv 

For starters, Tel Aviv has a very European feeling to it. There are a lot of outdoor cafes, some pedestrian only streets, tucked away bars, amazing food and public transportation where it is unnecessary to have a car. Tel Aviv is like Europe, only the climate is unequivocally better. I was there on NYE around the coldest time of the year and I was in a thin jacket. There was no need for snow boots, nor a down coat, and definitely not snow pants. If you know me well, you know this is big for me. Tel Aviv also has the carmel market or "shuk" which is a permanent farmer's market where fresh produce is sold everyday, except shabbat (Saturdays). Finally, probably the most amazing quality, is a beautiful, clean Mediterranean beach next to a thriving big city that is amazing for sunsets, running, swimming and sun-bathing.

The Dead Sea at sunrise

It's not just Tel Aviv that I liked. I also enjoyed traveling to the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), Eilat, the Dead Sea and the Golan Heights. All very different landscapes from each other, all a part of this beautiful and small country. I even found the West Bank, entirely confusing and a little scary, but nonetheless interesting.  In one day you can see the borders to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. From the Gulf of Eilat you can even see Saudi Arabia on a clear day.

Banyas in the Golan Heights

Gulf of Eilat looking toward Jordan and Saudi Arabia

Then there is the history of the place. You go to Jerusalem and you can see all of the places where the three biggest religions on the planet originated. The very places described in the Old and New Testament, the Torah and the Quran. Three religions all trying to survive in the same small area, literally stacked on top of one another. You can go to Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Masada, where jesus walked and countless other places that events supposedly took place.

Dome of the Rock

It is a combination of all of these things that made me really fall in love with the country, but it is also because of these things that it is not an easy place to move or work. For starters the whole Jewish thing is a prerequisite to getting citizenship, many jobs, universities and work visa programs. There is a lot of strife and potential for violence in the region because of the nature of the country.The fact is safety will never be guaranteed there. They speak an entirely different language and have a different alphabet from anything I am familiar with. Lastly, there are a lot of complex political issues and stances that are deeply rooted in history, hatred and misunderstandings, on all sides. Not to mention the political instability that has taken over this area in the light of recent events and protests, especially Egypt.

Getting artsy on the border of Egypt and Israel (less than 1 yard/meter away!); Also a photo to demonstrate how I feel Israel would be about accepting me

In spite of all of these problems, I still really enjoyed my time there. It is one of few places that I could see myself living (can't say that for anywhere in the USA) for at least a little while. Plus, they have a lot of genetic research and possibilities in the country! I don't know what will happen in the next 3, 5, 12, 24 months, but I do know that my time in Israel was not just in 2010/11 and I am determined to find a way back there in the near future whether it be for an internship before or during school or an option if grad school doesn't pan out.

Negev Desert: so much nothing where no one lives and everyone wants to claim

I often wish I was Jewish so that Israel would accept me! 

Word to the wise

I would like to take a moment out of my usual travel stories and rants about grad school to inform everyone of a very important lesson that I have recently (painfully) had the displeasure of learning. It has to do with health while traveling, specifically dental health.

There is a lot of controversy regarding water fluorination in public water, but in the USA this is a common practice. I never gave it a second thought until going to the dentist this past week after traveling 11 months abroad. After two very unpleasant and traumatizing dental visits this past week, I am now a full proponent of fluorinating water.

I have never really had a lot of dental problems, yes I had braces as many Americans do on the quest to ideal teeth, but root canals, cavities and the like really never affected me. Then I traveled abroad in countries that do not fluorinate their water. And I came home to four cavities. $800 and three excruciating hours of dental visits later... I am never traveling abroad without prescription strength fluorinated toothpaste ever again.

I know that this is not necessarily the cause as correlation doesn't equal causation, but I am not the only one that I have known to have this occur. Do yourself a favor and when you are packing bring some Crest Pro Health toothpaste (apparently the best) and maybe even some prescription strength toothpaste. It will save you a nitrous oxide filled afternoon (not as fun as you would hope) in the dental chair!

And FYI bottled water doesn't have fluoride either... I am so thankful for fresh mountain water at my disposal! I know many countries do not have the same luxury. 

What I know now, I couldn't have known then

It is completely and utterly surreal to be sitting back in the USA. I look at my calendar on my macbook and it's completely empty, gone are the days that in 2-3 weeks I would be embarking to a new destination. In fact, since I traveled so much in the last 5 years I had to send my passport off to get a new one because I was out of pages, so I am confined to the 50 states for at least 6-8 weeks.

I've found myself no less lost and confused then when I returned from NYC in fall 2008, dreams shattered and knowing that medical school was no longer a viable option. I am again sitting here, homeless, scouring Craigslist postings every day to find some kind of dead-end, easy to leave job. The jobs that were fine in high school, throughout college, but now seem so unacceptable to me.

Waiting, waiting, waiting for my life to begin. To hear about grad school interviews, admission and when the hell I can move out of here, make a plan and start my life again.

I traveled from February 22, 2010 to January 11, 2011, but what did I accomplish exactly? Obviously seeing the world, meeting new people, trying new things, getting myself out of my comfort zone and (too much) introspective thinking about life, the future and what I want.

At the very least I have figured out some things, albeit I wish it was exactly what I was going to do and where I was going to do it. That parts on hold.

What I want by December 31, 2011:

1. To pick a city and live there: I want to live in a city for more than 3 months maximum. I want to get to know the city, I want to make friends and I want to have a place of my own. I used to crave the ability to leave in a heart beat, but now I just want to stay somewhere, get a feel for it and start some kind of life.
2. I'm tired of being alone: After traveling all over the world alone (not totally alone since I saw friends in most places), I realize that I have the ability to spend countless, endless hours alone, but that I don't want to. In the wake of another facebook engagement announcement (congrats to my cousin Kristen), I realize that I want a relationship. I realized how much that I liked living with my ex-boyfriend, although we weren't right for each other. Someone to cook with, come home to, go out to eat with, plan trips with... That's what I want. Too bad that when you look for it you never find it. Step one needs to be accomplished first though, no point in looking when you are moving soon.
3. I want to be a good cook. This also goes along with number one as to be a good cook, you need to have good tools, so I need somewhere to store them, aka my own place. I just hate cooking for myself only, so number two would greatly help that. 
4. Never to live out of a suitcase again. I like to be organized and even now, back in the USA I am still unsure of where 80% of my belongings are and there is still a suitcase on my floor. I want a closet, I want drawers, I want order.

All of these things are things that I thought that I didn't care about and in reality I didn't care about at all one year ago. I have traveling to thank for a lot of things, learning to be independent, to be alone, to see the world, etc, but most of all to give me the ambition to actually choose somewhere to live and stick with it and basking in the serenity that comes with stability.

Come on graduate school and tell me yes or no soon, because I'm going stir crazy, holding my life back to see if you think I am good enough.

The rest of my life awaits.

2011: Ambiguous Future

Flash back to December 31, 2009. I was in Denver at a house party of people that I didn't know very well. Annoyed that I couldn't drink because I was driving. Midnight came and 2010 started. I was unhappy working in a dead-end job that was crushing my soul, my then boyfriend was leaving the country without me and I was still living in the same town that I went to university. I was feeling lost, trapped and extremely nervous about what was going to happen in the next year. I never had the idea I was going to travel the world in the next 12 future months.

Flash forward to December 31, 2010. I spent the night celebrating in the middle east in Tel Aviv, this time at a bar with my best friend and again a bunch of people I didn't know very well. I wasn't sober. Midnight came and 2011 started. I was happy as I had been traveling for ten months straight, exploring four continents. I was feeling bitter sweet to return to the USA in less than two weeks, there are too many options of things to do in the future and extremely nervous about what is going to happen this year.

Obviously a lot can change in a year and things that you wish would change stay the same. I started this year literally thousands of miles away from any thought that I had last winter. I never imagined that I would leave my job without another job, a plan or an acceptance to graduate school. Finding the strength to do just that was the salvation that I needed to remember how dynamic life can be and that there is no such thing as being cornered into a job or a life at 24. You can leave and start over.

I hoped that at the beginning of 2011 I would be less confused and nervous for the future. Instead, I am probably more nervous and confused, as I am sitting here apprehensively waiting for someone else to decide my future. An anonymous figure in charge is sitting in their office, my life sitting in their hands, packaged into a 10 page application and they get to decide the course of the next two to three years of my life with a simple accepted or denied.

And then there is the fact that although I have applied to graduate school, I still wonder if it is the right decision for my future. Am I boxing myself into a life of 40 hour work weeks, 2 weeks of vacation a year and the ability to only practice in the USA? Do I want to live in the USA? Will this summer be the last time I have to travel/live abroad/learn a language for the next 50 years? Is my life over until I retire starting in September?

Then I am reminded: 12 months can change your life and you can end up somewhere you never thought you would be. In this lies comfort and terror as I have no inkling where I will be December 31, 2011. The only thing I know is it very well could be the last place I expect.

Sometimes I wish I could predict the future and know that everything will be OK... But life doesn't work like that and all you can count on is uncertainty and that things will change in the most unpredictable ways. I just hope that the changes that 2011 bring are the ones that bring me closer to happiness and stability.

Here's to a good year and not knowing where I'll be, who I'll be with or what I'll be doing December 31, 2012!

2010 in Review 

Peru February 2010 

Spain March 2010

London April 2010 

Israel May 2010

Jordan May 2010

India May 2010

NYC July 2010

Peru September 2010 

Chile October 2010
(Photo credit to Marc) 

Germany December 2010 

Israel December 31, 2010 

Learning to Drink Vodka with Russians (and NYE)

One of my favorite things to do in life is to have some kind of cultural experience either while traveling abroad or in my own country. This year, I celebrated NYE this year in Tel Aviv with my best friend, his Kazakistani friend and his friend, a Russian living in Finland. It was a very international night. NYE is not something that is traditionally a celebration in Israel (they have their own new year celebration in the fall), instead I had a mix of a Russian and American night. 

The first thing I learned was that Russians can drink a lot, even though we had three bottles of sparkling wine, Finnish booze and a bottle of whiskey, we obviously had to go and buy more alcohol and this had to include a bottle of vodka. I was told that night I had drank vodka incorrectly my whole life, usually mixing it with something else. According to the Russians, vodka should always be drunk cold and by itself (or in a Russian bloody mary, which is a shot not a brunch drink). There is also a very special way to drink the vodka so that you don't actually taste it. You should drink it as a shot and try not to breathe as you take it down. Your first breath should be smelling something like bread or in our instance french fries from the schwarma stand. Drinking in this manner insures that you will not really taste the vodka at all. It really works, though I am not sure that drinking without tasting anything can lead to good things...

The other piece of information I learned this night is be careful drinking with Russians! Leaving a bottle of vodka with a little bit of vodka left is not done, so we had to finish the whole bottle before going out.... WOW. Since we went to a bar (ended up being 75% American) to ring in the new year, we had to bring a long one of the bottles of sparkling wine, because it is a must drink at midnight for Russians. 

After midnight we proceeded to stay at the bar for a while chatting about nothing to mostly Americans, a few Hungarians and a Brit. Then we went home and I went to bed, while the boys all stayed up until 5 am drinking more. I can say that I was the only one who didn't have a hangover the next morning! 

NYE ended up being a really fun night, I survived my first Russian drinking experience and for the first time in my life was not freezing to death! It was welcome change after a snowy two weeks in Germany and temperatures hovering right around freezing. I don't want to go home to winter in Colorado for three more months.... At least I know how to drink vodka now and stay warm like the Russians! 

Happy New Year! 

Christmas in Germany

Since a lot my family decided to travel over the holidays to either places in the USA or to Asia (my grandma), I decided to also travel (big surprise). I went to visit my two German friends that I traveled a lot with in Peru in Germany. It was my second Christmas without family and my first Christmas abroad. Germany was an excellent choice as a Christmas destination and I even enjoyed a white Christmas!

I never really thought about Germany as a great travel destination, other than enjoying Oktoberfest, which I did in 2007. When I was 12 my mom went on a vacation to Germany in December and I remember hearing her telling about the Christmas markets and I was always jealous that I wasn't asked to go. This winter things came together and I was able to enjoy a German Christmas, and learn more about German culture as a whole. Some of the things were really weird to me and some things I think the USA needs to catch on to...

Things I learned about Germany regarding Christmas and general life:

1. Snow- First off, I always just assumed that by Germany's latitude that it snowed there all the time and most likely a good amount of snow. Apparently, I was very wrong. When I visited, they were having an unusual amount of snow. My friends told me there was "a lot", so I figured a lot meant there was over a foot (30cm) of snow on the ground. Turns out a lot was only 4 inches (10cm)... It was weird to see everyone so shocked and confused about what to do with such a small amount of snow. Trains were running late or cancelled, airports were closing, people were scared to drive and they were running out of salt for the roads. It was the first time that I had seen such chaos from such an insignificant amount of snow. It was really bizarre. I will admit that after my two week stay there was a good amount of snow (10 inches/25 cm), but I would hate to see what would happen if there was an actual blizzard! 
2. Heating up cars- I come from a state that is generally cold in the winter, sometimes very cold, and where snow is not a big deal and there are protocols for the car that I never thought about before going to Germany. In Colorado when you want to scrape your car from ice or snow, you turn it on and let it heat up. This not only helps to melt the ice, but also ensures a nicer drive the first 10 minutes in the car. In Germany they would never leave the car running if the driver is not inside and it is apparently illegal! The first time it happened it was really surprising. Even more shocking was that even if there is someone else in the car and you are picking someone up, and the driver leaves the car, they always take the keys out and lock the doors (another weird thing is that my friend locked the doors to the car while getting gas, even though I was still in the car). This leaves the passengers waiting in the cold while it is below freezing. I just couldn't get used to it. Yes, I care about the environment, but I also car about comfort and the comfort of my passengers...
3. Blowing your nose- Within the first or second train ride I was pretty disgusted to hear people blowing their nose around me as if they were trying to expel their brain from their skull. I commented on how unsavory the noise was to my friend and then learned it was normal and that Germans do it all the time. I prefer American politeness, thanks. 
4. Last but not least, Christmas time!

• 3 days of Christmas! Germans exchange their gifts and have their family meal on Christmas Eve, instead of the 25th and then proceed to have two more days (the 25th and 26th) reserved for seeing family, having big meals and celebrating. I am not sure about the whole Christmas eve thing, but I would definitely be on board for not cramming everything and everyone into one day. Why not a leisurely three day celebration? 
• I learned the hard way that if you are at someone's house during these days and celebrating with their family, then they will give you a present of some kind so that no one feels left out. I never expected that and I felt really bad not having taken the same consideration to bring gifts for everyone. I brought some informal presents for my friends, but apparently should have wrapped them, given them on Christmas eve and brought presents for family members. I felt awful, but now I know I guess. Bad guest! 
• It is normal to go out with your friends drinking on any of these three nights and clubs are open these nights and there are a lot of people at them! I had never spent a Christmas out with friends and definitely never drank and danced that night, but I think it was a nice break from family celebrations (especially three days worth) and you get to see your friends during the few days. I liked it after being initially skeptical. 
• Finally, the thing that was really nice was mulled wine and Christmas markets. There were several around different cities and all had a very Christmasy vibe and decorations. There was a mix of friends, families and tourists either looking at crafts or drinking hot wine! The mulled wine was one of my favorite parts and something that friends met up to do drink. I don't know why the US hasn't caught on to this drink, but they should ASAP! I am pretty sure there is nothing better to warm up from the cold then something hot and alcoholic. I am bringing this home for sure! 

All in all it was a successful holiday spent with friends. After this trip I would like to go back to Germany and see it without snow and enjoy some other summer activities. I think it won't be my last trip to Germany!

Danke Marc and Sebastian!