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.