Monday, January 31, 2011

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. 

Monday, January 24, 2011

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.

Monday, January 17, 2011

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 


Wednesday, January 12, 2011

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! 

Thursday, January 6, 2011

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!