On The Road Again

Yesterday I saw a guy trying to parallel park in a tight spot. There were several guys watching and when he hit one of the cars they all yelled, opa! 

What is the point of this story? That's right--I am in Greece!

Kalimera (good morning--one of the 3 Greek phrases I actually remember!) from Athens! 

I made it! My flights were long (I didn't get much sleep stuck in a middle seat between to guys for 8 hours),  but uneventful. It's funny to me when I have long travel days how when I finally get where I am going, it feels like a surprise to be there (I mean after about 20 hours in transit it should sink in that I am going somewhere different, no?). But I am so excited to be back in Athens. I was here in July and it feels both like I was just here and that I was here about 3 years ago. The best part is that I had a soft place to land when I got here--I am staying with my Couch Surfing friend Fylenia. I stayed with her last time I was in Athens, and even though we only met for a couple of days, she feels like an old friend. 

We spent the evening catching up on changes, chatting about travels (she recently spent a month in India!), playing with her Cretan puppy, drinking tea and chowing down on one of the largest and best salads I've ever eaten (including lettuce, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, raises, apples, sunflower seeds, and cheese--YUM!). She is such good company that I made it to almost midnight before I crashed. 

All I can say is that I am in a happy place. I woke up contently snuggled in my sleep sack (I'll explain more later) and under the covers (because people, winter has not left Greece! Thankfully Fylenia gave me a heads up to bring some warm layers. I even saw snow on the ground! But I hear the sun is on the way soon!) Anyway, it is good to be on the road again, and it's good to be back here in Athens. 

And one funny story to close: when I got to the metro station by Fylenia's house I needed to give her a call to let her know I was there. There's no public phone, so I just asked a nice looking lady if I could use  her phone. Her boyfriend took over, dialed the number up and was super nice. After he said, you are from Texas, right? Um, yes. How did he know that?! He said my accent gave me away. And then he asked where I was from? Dallas? Fort worth? Yes again! It was one of those moments where you look down to see if you forgot to take off your name tag. He said he was from Mykonos and meets a lot of tourists, so has learned accents. So to everyone who says I no longer have a Texan accent, apparently here is the proof! (As for me, I am still baffled!)

{Also, if you are wondering how I am sending out this blog, check this out: 

Yep, that's the (ridiculously beautiful and fancy) replacement computer (which hopefully my student insurance is going to cover!). I don't know if it will turn out to be a good or bad idea, but I have it here on the road with me--so looks like the blog might live on after all!}

We're Not In Kansas Anymore

Well, things got off to a rough start. I left Tuesday evening for Costa Rica...but woke up Tuesday morning at 5 violently throwing up. Fun. Not one to let a little vomit get me down (OK, I almost did, but it cost way to much to change my ticket so I refused!), I took a cocktail of different drugs, slept most of the day (and had some crazy fever-dreams) then woke up, packed in 30 minutes and was on my way. 

It was a long way, too--2 hours to Denver, a 3.5 hour layover, a 5 hour flight to San Jose, a 4 hour wait at the bus station in San Jose, and then a 5 hour bus ride to Samara. Most all of that was spent dozing so the contrast was even greater when I finally got here. 

In a way the landscape reminds me a bit of Puerto Rico, but it's really different too. The jungle just kind of falls into the beach. And I was just complaining about the cold a couple of days ago, so I won't go too far, but the sun is intense here. (PSA: If you fall asleep in the sun, you will get burned!) 

Once I got here and found my way to my hostel though, things unfortunately didn't start looking up--they had lost my reservations. Ugh. She did help us find a place in a new "hostel" out of the city some. Unfortunately, the place lacked some of the basic amenities that I generally prefer--like a door on the shared bathroom. I was so tired that night that nothing really mattered, and I got a good 13 hours of sleep out of that place, so I won't complain too much. In the end though I walked through town, saw a sign for a place full of Germans (which I figured at least meant it would be clean) and took a room. It's a bit of a splurge, but it has breakfast, AC and a pool that feels like you are right in the middle of the jungle (which...OK, you pretty much are). Also, I realized tonight, considering I'm still not eating hardly anything (I went for my first real meal since Monday yesterday...it did not go over well), I am still more or less making my budget! (Silver lining?)

It's been a rocky start, but soon I'll be feeling better, and in the meantime I've already seen 3 or 4 monkeys, 4 iguanas, a neon green and pink bird, tons of butterflies and 3 sea crabs. As the Ticos say, ¡Pura Vida!

Itinerary Update

Santiago De Compostela

So...I changed my mind.

I was feeling so stressed trying to get everything lined up for my trip (or trips--it was like trying to plan 4 trips at once). And I was having trouble getting my tickets bought and all of a sudden I thought...maybe I don't want to go there anyway. Also, I found my old "to-go" list on a post it note. So I looked deep and asked myself what I really wanted to do.

I wanted to go to Spain. I want to walk the Camino de Santiago. I didn't want to go back to Asia. I wanted to relax the pace.

I decided I have all my life to travel. For now what I really want is to take a sabbatical and rest and recoup. Also, I figure if I am going to throw myself a proper quarter-life crisis (and actually I realized it should probably be called a third-life crisis...which is even scarier!) then what better thing to do than to walk an 800 km pilgrimage route all by myself for a month? That is bound to sort me out.

Now, I had a minor relapse where I forgot about those things called visas, which only allow you to stay 90 days in an increasingly large area of all of Europe, so I had to be a bit creative, but I am oh-so happy with the result. (PS. Tip of the day: Do NOT try to overstay a Schengen/tourist visa in Europe anymore! Apparently they are on their way to making the Schengen zone into a fortress and are handing out fines in the thousands along with 5 year bands nowadays!) Anyway, here is the itinerary, part duex!

Step one: Central America (no change here): Costa Rica (I booked myself a place on the beach for the first week to just chill!), Panama, Nicaragua

Step two: Greece, Cyprus

Step three: Spain! Flying into Girona (Barca), then making my way to the French side of the boarder to start the Camino Frances. Then I'll be walking my way across the peninsula aiming to make it to Santiago by my 25th birthday.

Step four: Balkans--Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania. (I've also decided if I get there and don't love my time there that I'll head over to Turkey and spend some time in the countryside.)

Finally, step five: I'll make my way back into the Schengen zone, making sure to get up to Cinque Terre on my way to fly home out of Zurich on August 2.

So there you have it. Yes, I am very last minute (I leave in about 36 hours at this point!), but whatever, I am excited! And I have the permagrin to prove it!

Shots!

Today was shot day. Probably my least favorite part of trip preparation. Thankfully I just had two shots with my name on them. I finished off my Hep A series and then was lucky enough to get my first Yellow Fever vaccination. That one hurt! But it's good for 10 years, so I guess it works out to just a teensy bit of pain per year. The annoying bit is that I don't need the vac for where I am going, but because parts of Panama have Yellow Fever, the Panama stamp in my passport will cause questions throughout my trip without the vaccine. I just rolled up my sleeve and took it. Ouff, she didn't tell me until I was already wincing that it was a stinger. It's all right though, she told me I'm now ready to be a world traveler. 

And I have the shot record to prove it.  

PS. For anyone living in the metroplex, I highly recommend the travel clinic at Harris Methodist HEB! She's great and even got me in at the last minute. 

Itinerary

OK, sorry for the blogging hiatus. Along with celebrating the holidays with family and friends I squeezed in a quick road trip and then was lucky enough to land a surprise visit from a Supy who was rerouted to Dallas due to snow in NYC. I shouldn't say I have been busy, but my days have definitely been full--full of board games and food and late night conversations and travel channel episodes. But full nonetheless. And as of late they have been full of one thing specifically.

Airport codes.

After my break for the holidays I got serious about trip planning. I am happy to say that I have tickets with my name on them and a basic itinerary! Now to get to this point, I have filled a whopping 13 pages in my little spiral with airport codes and possible routes. But I will admit it. I have a soft spot in my heart for airport codes. I remember Matt and Supy having Airport Code Bees in Santander to see who knew the most. I'm no expert like those guys, but I do love the airports.

It's been nice learning some new ones (SJO, MGA, GUA, BKK, JKT, KUL, AMM, BUY) and then there are the ones that feel like old friends (MAD, LHR, ATH, MXP, STN, BCN, ORY, STN) or old enemies (CDG, ERW). I've just been plugging them into Kayak.com and remixing them until it spit out something good. It's tedious, but not a bad way to pass the day.

Anyway, I said I came up with an itinerary, so here goes. It is still a little nebulous in areas, but part of that is by design. I wanted to stay away from having to get complicated or expensive visas, to go to places I haven't been, have nice weather, relax and see some incredible things. I divided it up into three legs that would let me do most of the traveling over land. That is, for one thing, cheaper, but it also gives me the flexibility to spend more time in places that I end up liking and to move on quickly from places that I don't. I think it's also more ideal for people who try to plan 6+ month trips in 2 weeks.

So starting January 18th (!) I'll be in:

Leg 1 Central America: Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua
Leg 2 Eastern Europe: Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia + Jordan
Leg 3 Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand

The return ticket still hasn't been finalized--I have two on hold. Because I am buying it with airline miles I couldn't exactly get out on the days I wanted. So the debate is between ZRH (Zurich) on August 2nd or CDG (Paris) on August 18th. Both are a little later than I planned on returning, but if I am careful, the money should hold out.

So there we have it. That's the final outcome of all the brainstorming. Some of the only things I had planned got bumped out, and some things I thought I would never see got thrown in. Overall, though, I am happy. And excited.

Also! If you are going to be in any of those areas, let me know! OK, 11 days till take off!

Amazon Woman?

Each day a new country is on top. It depends on my mood and what I am reading and how tired I am.

The last couple days I have been fixating on Chile. I found nice bus company that offers a hop-on/hop-off service for backpackers that takes them around the country. It looked intriguing.

Today I keep coming back to Brazil and Colombia. Brazil doesn't make a ton of sense because it requires a visa, some shots and Portuguese. I've wanted to go to Colombia for a long time and still stand by the assessment that it is perfectly safe for travelers, but not everyone seems to agree with me there.  Apparently they haven't seen the videos, other wise they would know el riesgo es que tu queiras quedar (the only risk is wanting to stay).

Anyway, I was listening to Joe Purdy, and probably subconsciously still thinking over Mark Twain's journey from the West coast to the East coast of the US...by boat through Nicaragua (!), when I came across this article: An Amazon Cruise for $17 a Day. Hammock Not Included. How 'bout that for a relaxing adventure?

Vamos a ver...


(And seriously, if you have ideas, send them my way!)


{Photo cred: Seth Kugel for The New York Times)

Now What?

The only bad part about graduating is that everyone wants to know, and feels free to ask, just what exactly you plan on doing with the rest of your life. I might as well just put it out there that I don't know. Character flaw or not, I try not to get too tied down to any super specific plans.

I once read some statistics about how people of my generation no longer have careers. We will end up in, on average, as many as 5 different job changes throughout our lives. Whether or not that is exactly true, I like the sentiment and it makes me feel better about not having some giant life/career goal that I am working towards. Besides, I have always felt that the events/interests/opportunities that have shaped me the most are things that I have rather unexpectedly fallen into. (I mean, who would have thought I would live in Spain? I was the person that always had my Mexican friends help me do my Spanish homework in high school.) Anyway, I also change my mind a lot.

OK, all that to say, I don't know exactly what I will be doing in the future. I don't have details on the big picture. I've got some ideas in the back of my mind, but I'm just going to let them simmer for a while back there.

I do however have some relative plans for the next six months or so. Ever since I started my Master's program (ok, actually even before I started it) I knew that I would need a break when it was finished (and oh-boy do I ever!). I started a travel fund. I ate rice and beans for 3 years, worked sometimes 2 and 3 jobs, and set aside a little sum.

And now it is sabbatical time (alternately known as my pre-tirement or quarter-life crisis). I'm taking the plunge and letting my bank accounts lie fallow.  It's time to rest, and travel, and just live for a bit. I'll figure out the rest later.

Now, my only problem is that I have been so busy and generally too singularly focused on finishing my degree that I have not had much of a chance to even begin planning my trip. Did I mention that I was planning on leaving just after the new year? Oops. So I have spent the last couple days holed up in coffee shops and bookstores trying to plan. I've got some general ideas, but the possibilities are so enticing and endless that I'm swinging back and forth between overwhelming excitement and mini-anxiety attacks. All this to say, if you've got ideas--send them my way! Nothing is (totally) out of the question.

Which is kinda how I like things.

Go West Young (Wo)Man

I never planned to actually go to Abilene, much less make it my home (on and off again) for six and a half years. I swore I would never go to college there and then once I was there I swore if I ever did grad school I would go far, far away. We all see how that turned out. I won't lie though, it wasn't all easy: I spent a large chunk of time hating the place, the Mesquite trees, red dirt and ridiculous wind. Eventually though, I came to like the place. I even miss it when I'm gone. 

This past week I drove out and was busy both catching up and saying goodbye. It's tough cramming a semester's worth of socializing into one week, but I think I was lucky enough to touch base with just about everyone--from classmates and professors to friends, old roommates and former students who are now speaking English and holding down jobs with the best of them. On top of that I got to take in a few Abilene institutions like La Popular for breakfast one morning and The Paramount for their Christmas showing of It's a Wonderful Life. It was good week, so good in fact it even had me considering staying and taking a job there. 

Abilene I tell ya, it sucks ya in. 

I thought it through though, and I know I can't stay. So finally I got to say goodbye to Abilene (maybe) for good. 

A few pictures from the week: 

Driving out I remembered just how amazing west Texas sunsets can be. 

My friends also threw me an "engagement" party.

Thaaanks, guys. 

It was also time for our second annual Christmas cookie decorating party. This year thankfully Krystal made sure Abby didn't steal any of my cookies.  

Krystal's

Mike's 

Mandi's 

Mine

Abby's 

And, Cody's. Which are always a little special.  

Yum! 

Krystal's airplane cookie 

I also found this guy hiding away in my master's hood (which, I wore all weekend by the way). He came into our possession when we all worked in the Williford/Ellis suite at Logsdon. Some undergrad made an extra-credit 3D map of Paul's journeys with this lovely little guy standing in as Paul. Somehow we decided it would be fun to hide it in each other's bags/gas caps/furniture/desks/etc. Apparently it was my turn, but friends beware: I found him before I left town, so there is no telling where he is!

I also got to spend a lot of time with this little lady. 

Overall, it was a great week (even if I didn't make it out before my allergies exploded!). A big thanks to the people who made this week (and the last 6.5 years) great!

Home

It's always good to be home after you have been gone for a while. There's all the things you have been missing, along with all the things you missed without ever realizing it. It was good to see family, especially my niece and nephew, and it was great to see my church family yesterday. It was good to bask in the sunshine (even if it wasn't 72 like I was hoping for). It was great to go without socks for the first time in 3 months. Nice to walk on carpet.

It was great to drive again, and to laugh with my best friend. And, of course, it was good to eat all the nice things Texas has to offer: a big salad with ranch dressing, fajitas still sizzling on the plate, and the traditional after church lunch of roast with all the fixings (Squash casserole? Fried okra? Oh yes.)

A few other things:

Dr. Pepper

Folgers!

With powdered creamer!

Mmm, and my mom even made homemade biscuits and sausage gravy. 

Needless to say, it is good to be home. Today I am headed out to Abilene to make sure everything is in order for graduation on Saturday. And of course, to take in even more of the things I have been missing!

Week in Review: Au revoir Belgique--Hello Texas

Four different countries, lots of snow, goodbyes and reunions--What a week. Some snippets:

• My flight to London yesterday was cancelled. The computers needed to rebook us all were broken. Fuuuun. Eventually it got worked out though and 22 hours later I made it back to my house in FW. Hello lovely Texans!
• With early flights, jet lag, and lingering migraines, consider yourselves warned that I am feeling pretty filter-free at the moment. 
• British Air rerouted me onto two American flights. Hello downgrade. And BA owes me 50 bucks for the bag American made me pay for. I think they should give me a voucher for the trouble. I'm crossing my fingers...
• You know what I realized I missed without ever knowing it? Carpet. This morning I was walking around the house and thought, wow this is nice! So warm and soft. 
• Monday morning my mom and I made our way to the train station and took the Eurostar through the English Channel to spend most of the week in Bath and its surrounding areas. Roman Baths, Georgian squares, Saxon churches from 600 AD, ancient stone circles and Christmas markets. It was a fun trip. 
• Mom left from London and I was going to take the train back through the channel to Brussels. Except my train was cancelled due to snow. They decided to rebook everyone who had train tickets for the whole day on a first come, first serve basis. The line stretched from one side of the train station to the complete other side--but I did make it on the last train to Brussels. Snow in Bath, snow in London, snow in France, and when I got to Brussels? Snow. 
• Yesterday when I landed in Chicago? Snow. 
• A long train ride is the best way to think. 
• When I took the metro home from the train station I was almost relieved to be surrounded by all Arabs. There are so many white people in England that it is almost unsettling. 
• The day we went to Stonehenge we had the place almost entirely to ourselves, which was fantastic. Except for the fact that it was FRIGID. With the wind coming through I am pretty positive it is the coldest I have ever been in my life. 
• Today it was great to go to church in English. I would usually try to sing along rather futilly with the French and then just hum my way through the Arabic (except when we sang the "lalala" song...) so it was nice to sing in English today. 
• I won't lie though--3:30 PM still seems like a much better time for church than having it in the morning. Also, can we get on the Moroccan tea before church bandwagon?
• Did everyone give their kids steroids while I was gone? It was only 3 months, why are all these kids so big?
• I also didn't remember everyone having such strong accents. 
• I had fajitas last night and they were tasty! And I drove for the first time in 3 months! 
• Time to for the cap and gown in 6 days. Whoop!
• Also, now that I have a little time and some stable internet, I'll try to get up some pictures and catch up on all the fun stuff I've been seeing/doing. 

The end. 

And it begins...

Well, I am starting to wrap things up on the homefront. I leave in a measly 9 days, and I am feeling it more and more each day. (And a paper update: I am down to 12 papers left! My goal for the day is to break into the single digits. I thought I would warm up my writing with a blog!)

Anyway, the goodbyes have begun. Today I went up to work for my "goodbye potluck." I still teach 3 more times, but because I work in the evenings I don't often see everyone at once. It's a bit odd because while some of the people are relatively new to the IRC others I have known for 3 years now. Afterward I was chatting with a couple of our caseworkers who are from Rwanda and Burundi and they told me that there are fantastic African neighborhoods and restaurants in Brussels. One said that he has 4 sisters living there. I feel better knowing that if I start to miss my students I will be able to just follow the kangas and brightly printed clothes to that part of the city. The other caseworker said that the neighborhood I am going to be living in is full of good food (even if she did also say that it was really loud and always had fights!). My Latvian coworker told me she has an old Latvian friend in Brussels working for the EU. It somehow makes me feel better that I could run into someone with a connection to home while I am there. I am also really excited to be living in such an international city.

So yeah, the goodbyes start to get rough, especially for the people that I won't see when I return, but it's amazing to think back over all the great experiences had and the wonderful people I have gotten to know these last few years out here. It's a good start on the goodbyes. (Saying goodbye to my students won't be so easy! But more on that later...)

Anyway, we had some sweets to make it all go down more smoothly. Above is my "BYE" banana pudding, and below is my ESL/book cake my coworker made for me.