I'd often wondered if I'd be able to do it.

As an omnivore and one who enjoys eating meat, I'd often question if I'd actually be able to kill a living creature in order to eat it. While tonight, I discovered that yes, I can. But it wasn't pleasant. At least not until I was eating it.

I dropped 4 live lobsters into a steamer basket. This is almost worse than dropping them into boiling water I think because they aren't initially aware of how bad it is going to be. Then once I stuffed them in (and I had to, to get the lid on), I could hear them rattling against the lid for the first 7 or so minutes. I ignored their cries and kept reading (Pride and Prejudice - it's so good! who knew?!). And after 20 minutes, opened the lid to reveal 4 bright red lobsters which my family and I devoured.

Here I am kissing mine good-bye:


My sister, newly arrived to Maine ate hers almost instantly and declared "I eat 9 oz of protein a meal, you know! (Actually, no I didn't) I'll need two next time." Um, ok.


My dad had fun playing with his.


As did my mom:


This was my dad's 3rd lobster in 6 meals. Here he is at lunch with my mom looking on.


Not to worry, she also had lobster, but in the form of a club sandwich. Me, I had a salad. There's only so much of eating out that I can take (never thought you'd hear me say that, huh?).

Maine - first impressions

It's humid in Maine. Seriously, disgustingly (though I have a low tolerance for humidity) humid. However, the view from the back deck of our rental house (actually the view can be seen from every room in the place) is awesome. See:



Also we found a farmer's market today (you know I love those) and bought goat cheese, sweet corn, sugar snap peas, well you get the picture.

Now if only to avoid being driven crazy by the fact that there is no escape from the people I'm with (my parents). It's not them (for the most part), but more the fact that I ~need~ my alone time.

This post brought to you by the commission for parenthesis in every sentence (great for a mind that's often side tracked).

I'm calling it football

Living in Europe (Moscow is sort of European) for the start of the World Cup was pretty great. I was never that into soccer, but I do enjoy going to sports bars. So I started watching with Bree. And then I got into it. When I'm invested, I'm the person jumping up, almost knocking the table over, screaming.

And man, has there been a lot to cheer about these past two days. My future home, the Netherlands BEAT Brazil yesterday. Since NED was ranked high it's not ~that~ much of an upset, but to the world of football (and to the world, it is football, it's a game played mostly with your feet, it makes sense, America, get over it and start calling it football) fans, I'd say it came as a surprise. And me, I've never enjoyed watching Brazil - whiny, actors the lot of them. So I say "Suck It, Brazil! Enjoy the long flight home." Ha. GO NETHERLANDS!

Then Uruguay and Ghana going to shoot out! I was on the edge of my seat at the end of that match.

And today, what should have been a close game, but no, Germany slaughtered Argentina. Yet another surprise and again awesome because the Argentinian coach, Maradona is, in my opinion, a douche. I'll admit, I laughed at his tears. And we all know I have a thing for Germans.

The most hilarious part of this game was when the announcer used "tantalizing and scintillating" in the same sentence. Dude, I'm watching football (or soccer if you must), not porn.

But if it comes down to Netherlands vs. Germany, I'll be wearing orange.

Ups and Downs

Hm, haven't posted since my pack out day... which is now over 2 weeks ago. I've been everywhere emotionally and haven't known how and what to write here.

I'm still not sure that I could put it all down. I'm really going to miss my students - I would have loved to have continued teaching my grade 10 students as they head into the IB (feel free to send me questions!). I'm going to miss seeing Bree as often as I did. I almost cried saying good-bye to my vegetable lady - she was the first Russian (outside of Bree's boy) who was truly friendly and patient with me and continued to be for 3 years. But in the end, I only cried on the last day of school for teachers.

I spent one more week in Moscow to test out this relationship that had just started. However, even in the few weeks that it lasted had so much more drama than any relationship I'd ever had. I should have known that was a bad sign. I should have trusted my instincts. But I'm a gambler when it comes to love. I'm willing to accept that it will appear when I least expect it and to take a risk to see how the cards fall.

But this, the day that I felt like I was suddenly in a Jerry Springer episode, I should have stopped seeing him then. I know my students think I watch too much How I Met Your Mother, but Ted was right in saying that nothing good happens after 2 a.m. Or if you go to bed super early like I do, after midnight. And too often in the end did I allow myself to see him and make decisions after midnight. So much energy spent there that could have been spent enjoying Moscow. Not that I wasn't enjoying my time, but was the emotional stress worth it? Well, at this moment, I'm thinking not really. And I'm ready to let go of that - easier said than done, but hopefully writing it out will help.

I'm back in Atlanta; I've been here a week. And I've met two new babies. Here I am with my best friend's girl:


My sister had a pool party for her birthday (hence the suit) and here I am with Beth and her son.


I've eaten tacos and bbq. I've made summer pasta salads and a fresh tomato sauce. I've had a minor surgery and was told by the doctor and nurse that I'm the calmest patient they've ever had. Post op, I showed them my tattoo and it all became clear to them that I have a high pain tolerance.

I'll be in Atlanta another week, then off to Maine, Boston, back to Atlanta, Austin, back to Atlanta, then Asheville and then back to Atlanta to fly to Amsterdam. I'm also taking 2 online courses. In so many ways, it appears that I am mildly insane.

Moving Day

It's strange watching strangers pack up your life. I look at the things I've acquired living here - carpets and yarn mostly, but also Russian souvenirs - things I never thought I'd have. As well as the items that have been in so many different houses with me - mostly kitchen wear. I still have the plates that Ashish and I bought together for our first house out of college. My guess is he doesn't have his half anymore, but I should ask him. Because he, way more than me is a collector. Then I've got the board games - a fetish finally honed in California, though I've got 2 chess sets from college days as well.

However, the movers, they don't care about my stuff or my memories, so in just under 3 hours, they've packed up my whole house. In case you're curious, all my wordly possessions, well except for my much missed Kitchen Aid mixer living with Nate and Vero, fit into 50 boxes and 3 suit cases. I love having movers, someone else to lift the heavy boxes, to wrap up all the glasses and pictures. This is the way to go, I may never be able to move my own stuff again. I'm spoiled, I know. It's a problem, but admitting it is the first step, right?

And now, finally, the excitement of leaving Moscow and moving to Amsterdam is starting to set in. I'll miss my friends, I'll miss the school, I may even miss my apartment. But there is very little about this city that I'll miss. I've got another week and a half to try to soak it all in though. I really hope it warms back up… it's only 60 F and has been raining for 2 days straight. It's mid-June people, come on!

I hate this part of moving

Cleaned out the cupboards of the food stuffs that I've bought, but haven't used. I hate that - knowing I've wasted money and food! However, this situation is a bit better as I'll be taking most of it to school and I'm sure people there will take it - nothign sells better than free, right?

I'm less and less ready to leave Moscow every day...

Good Bye AAS

Good Bye AAS
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

Oscar Night at AAS. I was photographed for the school news paper for an article on leaving teachers. I'm not sure what was done to the photo, because I'm fairly sure I don't look this good on a daily basis, so thanks Balint. It's a great shot!

Secretly I've been a person all along

Well, graduation weekend has come and gone. The school feels really empty without the seniors around. It was a weekend of reflection on my 3 years here, because really after teaching most of this class when they were in grade 10, I knew that I wanted to stay and see them through graduation. I expected to cry, but didn't. Instead, I felt so proud. I can't even imagine what it's like if you're a parent - you must want to explode with the joy of what they do and can do. And when they disappoint, the heart ache must border on wondering if you should call an ambulance.

As a class, these students were not cohesive, which I've related stories of before. However, as individuals, they are amazing and I have no doubt of what they are capable of.

There were fewer teachers than usual at the post-graduation celebration at the Hard Rock. It is strange to share a beer with students, especially for those of us coming from North America. But, I had a good time. Seeing some of my favorite students smoking was awful. Seeing some of my former students who had come back for the ceremony no longer smoking was awesome.

On the way out the door, at a very reasonable 10:45, I was stopped by one of the students. "Ms. S, I don't know if should tell you this or not, but we've found your blog. I went back and read the whole thing and I feel so much more connected to you... you know, as a person."

I'm always conscious of this being, well, on the Internet, and knowing that whatever is here is for public consumption. But I did have a fleeting moment of "should I be worried?" But then, I realized (hoped?) that it was that students aren't used to thinking of their teachers as people with lives outside of the school. But it's true! We are people, maybe we just don't such a good job of making it obvious in the class though.

And while I find it exciting that my readership is now up to potentially 8 (eight!), perhaps instead of googling me, y'all should have been studying. But now that exams and graduation have come and gone and you're on your way to college feel free to comment or send my messages occasionally.

Best of luck, class of 2010.

Cooking with the Seniors

I volunteered to give up several (3) of my prep periods today to teach the seniors a "cooking in college" lesson. We made spaghetti with home made marinara and meatballs as well as these Orange Cheesecake Brownies (they deserve their own link because they were so very good).

I had a blast, it was funny to see who was comfortable in the kitchen - the boys who just dove in, mixing up the meatballs with their hands, there was another who I had to teach how to wash a dish (seriously). There was one girl who was all about the baking (me at a young age, I'm sure) and the others who just sat around watching.

It was a really nice day over all.

And it inspired me... I came home and made a lemon cake.

Coming soon, senior celebration night and graduation and the after-party that teachers are invited to at the Hard Rock. Stay tuned.

Baltic Sunset

Baltic Sunset
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

Just got back from chaperoning girls tennis in Riga. It was beautiful! We were about 500 meters from the beach. I walked for an hour every morning. Graduation is coming this weekend, the year is flying by.

Not sure if I'm ready for all of this to be over.

Southern France in Pictures - Week 1

This is Mazamet, the town we based out of on our extended spring break holiday. The first day we were there, there was a flower show.



Here are my parents. Mom bought dried lavender, that's what's in the bag.


After that, we went to Carcasonne


The next day to Castres


It was Monday, so everything was closed including the Goya museum, but we got to see the gardens:


But since it was all closed we headed to Minerve (where we loved and bought 6 bottles of the 4 euro wine!)


Then we had a day or two of chilling in Mazamet. We played cards and the neighborhood cats hung out.


Albi with it's incredible cathedral:


Full of delicately carved limestone:


And then back to Mazamet, home of a giant preying mantis.


More photos on flickr.

Karaoke!

You know how normally when you watch karaoke, there are people on stage and as you watch you end up in a shudder, muscles twitching as you struggle for control. Attempting to contain your facial expression (an impossible feat for me) while the person on stage desperately tries to be Whitney Houston. But then there is a person who gets up an knocks your socks off. One who makes the whole crowd go silent, then start tapping their feet and with an occasional "Yeah!" whistle or finger snap.

Bree is in the second category of people. We were in Mazamet. I know you've never heard of it. It's a small French town, near Castres and Carcassonne (more than just a board game, people!) There are 3 pubs in town and the one closest to our B&B, La Paix, has Sunday night karaoke. Bree started with "Hush" by Bjork and well, everyone hushed and listened to her belt it out. I don't know why I was taking photos instead of videoing!

But here she is singing:

Hit the Ground Running

Bree and I got out Friday night, landing in Moscow at 2 a.m. (technically Saturday). After far too few hours of sleep, I was headed to school at 8 a.m. for IB revision sessions. Then Saturday night was prom - James Bond Themed!

Prom was once again held at the US Ambassador's "house." The ball room seats around 150, so I use the word house lightly. There's a picture of him with his family and the Obama's in the foyer. But when it's full of students, it's hard to imagine dignitaries there. The dresses this year were the best I've seen - mostly long, very classy and classic. I wish I had some more pictures of them, but I felt a bit rude and voyeuristic taking them.

Here are the prom king and queen though, my students in grade 10 and in grade 12.



These two were my students in grades 10 and 11.



And these girls, well, one has been in my advisory for 10th and 12th grades, and both of them were heavily involved in and traveled with Thai Challenge this year. Further, they supported my Buffy then Angel addictions and love Joss Wheadon as much as I do.


As always, more photos on flickr.

Sunday was the International Fair. This offered great food but it was SNOW/HAILING and there were waaaayyy to many people for my comfort level. The great thing about the international fair is that they were all speaking languages other than English and Russian!

Sunday night was book club - The Eyre Affair - I LOVE this book. Unfortunately I was the only one...

Then back to a "normal" schedule, except that before break, I agreed to dance in the talent show. I'd forgotten just how much rehearsal time goes into creating a good dance. Mr. A was a huge help with the choreography and yesterday I got up on stage and did a 2 minute solo to All That Jazz - the Bebe Neuwirth version (see her dancing it here).

It's been 12 years since I've been on stage. I'd forgotten how nerve wracking it is to be under the bright lights, not able to see the audience. And since I'd only learned the steps the night before, I forgot half of them. Shockingly, at the end of the night I earned an audience vote to move on to the finals tomorrow night! I'll try to get some photos.

I never thought I'd say this

But I'm ready to go back to Moscow.

We're stuck in Southern France due to the volcanic ash debacle. We're going on our 11th day, of what was supposed to be 7. Thankfully our hosts are AMAZING. Come stay here at Mazamet Central ()

And really this spot, their house, it's all ideal. We've been able to go to Carcassonne (where they filmed Robin Hood Prince of Thieves), Castres and other amazing French towns. The wine (cheap and delicious), the cheese (stinky and delicious), but it's really difficult to send lesson plans from here.

So I'm ready to go home. Meanwhile, I'll go have another pain au chocolat.

Things I want to write about

Reminders for myself of at least 4/5 posts I want to compose:

More about Cappadocia

More about A's visit

Perhaps a birthday/goals for the new year post

About my current trip to Southern France

Have I traveled too much?

Playing with St. Basil's

Playing with St. Basil's
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

I have things to write about, awesome things I've been doing and have done. But the motivation isn't here at the moment. Instead, I"ll tell you that my dear friend A was just here. She and I have been friends for 13 years. We had fun playing tourist in Moscow. I hope she and her squeeze will come to see me in Amsterdam too :) Her she is holding up part of St Basil's. One of my favorite photos from her time here.

Cappadocia

IMG_1445
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

I've got some Cappadocia photos up. There's not mine as I forgot my camera!! (Can you believe it? So ridiculous!) However, this gives an impression. It was stunning all the time. It all looked like this, well not true, there were red hills and mountains and many more Fairy Caves. There's more to write, just not today.

Cappadocia - Central Turkey

I'm in central Turkey for Discovery Week with a great group of 16 students. Seriously, best group I've ever traveled with. We did 8 km of hiking yesterday and 15 km of biking today with almost no complaints. And the scenery is stunning, no, stunning is too mild of a word. Breathtaking. I've biked through many spectacular sights - papaya orchards in Thailand, hill country of Laos - but this beats it.

I'll add pictures when I've got a faster internet connection.

In the meantime, I highly recommend looking this region up and planning a trip. It's awesome.

Tom's Shaggy Bread Recipe

I typed it up for Zombie Girl so figured I'd post it too:

Here's the bread recipe:

Ingredients:
Medium/Large Loaf
2/3 c water
1/1.25 c starter
1/1.5 T Kosher salt
1/1.5 c whole-wheat flour
5/~7 c unbleached flour

Plus
For savory bread:
1T/1.5 T dill seed
.25/.4 c chopped fresh dill
1/1.5T whole grain mustard
1 small/1 medium onion, grated

For sweet
.75/1 c brown sugar
.75/1 c chopped dried fruit
.75/1 c chopped nuts
.5/1 T spice of your choice
(We used dried figs, walnuts and nutmeg, though less than a tablespoon)

Mix water and starter (if making savory also mix in dills and mustard). Stir in whole-wheat flour (if making savory, also stir in onion). Stir in 1 cup flour. Stir in salt (delayed so it doesn't kill the yeast in the starter). Add remaining flour 1 cup at a time to form a shaggy, moist batter which just begins to clean the bowl (pull away bringing all surrounding dough with it). (If making savory, stir in ingredients while still quite shaggy).

Cover and allow to sit overnight in a cool place (refrigerator is ok).

In morning, tip out dough onto floured surface using a spoon dipped in flour. "Knead" lightly 5 to 6 times. Form into shape of pan. Line a similarly shaped proofing pan with 2 pieces of "cross-wise" parchment (crossed to make lifting dough out easier) sprayed with oil. Scoop dough and place inside.

Cover and allow to rest in a warm place approximately 4 hours.

0.5 hours preheat oven and pan that you'll bake bread in to 500F.

Remove pan from oven, score the top of the dough and transfer, parchment and all, into preheated pan. Cover and return to oven. Lower temperature to 425. Bake covered, 0.5 hours. Remove lid, continue to bake for 35 - 50 minutes or until internal temperature is 208 - 210F. If browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil.

Allow to stand 5 minutes in vessel. Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack for 1 hour (if you can manage) before slicing.

Shaggy Bread

One of my co-workers had me over to see how he makes bread yesterday. This guy rocks. He brings in some sort of breakfast treat EVERY Monday. It's a great way to start a Monday. It's often a huge loaf of bread that he's made.

He uses a sour-dough starter and it's a no-knead, over-night slow rise. The only difficulty is having the starter. I used to have one going in Vancouver and I think I'll start one again in Amsterdam. In the meantime, I might get some of his because it really was easy. You proof it in a vessel that's a similar shape to the baking pan and proof it on parchment. Then just lift the whole thing into the pre-heated pan when you're ready to bake it.

But all of this I've seen and done before. The best part was getting to see Tom and his wife's collection of Polish pottery. I'm inspired. I'm already planning to rent a car for my October break and drive to Poland. Anyone want to join me?

Here's the bread plus some pottery:

Women's Day

Monday is International Women's Day. It's still unclear to me whether it's celebrated anywhere other than Russia. However, the folks at Nat's work definitely honor it. She came home with 3 bouquets of flowers. So as I sit here, I'm surrounded by tulips. It's lovely. And my orchid seems to be celebrating also, because another (4th!) bloom just opened.

New Career?

Student: "Hey, Ms. S, did you ever do drama? Or have you considered a new career in drama?"

Me: "Huh?"

Student: "Well, because then you could yell, and make all those weird faces, and people wouldn't think you were so strange."

What city is this?

Remember how before I left Moscow there was 30+ cm of snow and it was cold? Well, when we arrived there was hardly any snow left and it was only (only, she says) -4. Today it's right around 0 and snow and icicles continue to fall off of roofs. Maybe spring is coming...

More about the boat trip

One of K&M's colleagues organized a boat trip as her parents were in town also. So K&M signed us all up. It was a private boat tour, just our group of 10. We were picked up in mini-vans with air con and off we went. Being a Saturday and a holiday weekend, traffic was light and it only took us about an hour to get out of the city. I took several photos from the van:

A rickshaw parking lot:


A guy walking down the street with a huge vessel on his head:


And proof that it's not like a kilt:


Then we arrived. As we made it before our boat, we had time to look out over (and smell... it was horrific) the water. This guy was sitting on a bunch of jute before it's been made into rope:


As mentioned below, a crowd gathered. Definitely not threatening, just curious. One of the girls that K&M work with was loving it - acting like she was a movie star as they are staring and photographing us. Me, as mentioned below, not comfortable at all. Hence, I've only got the one photo of them.

We were on the boat for about 10 minutes before stopping in a village where they weave the silk sarris.



I took a lot of pictures holding my camera in my hand, with my hands down at my sides. I got lucky with a few:







And here I am with K&M:


I went to bed at 8:30 last night. Tonight I've made it until 9:45. Right back into the routine.

The Staring

Dhaka Boat Trip
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

This is one example of the staring. We took a boat trip. And this is as we're leaving. You can see the others walking away up hill, they'd seen enough. In that crowd there's actually 4 women! More later. Time to return to work!

So Tired It Hurts

Well, I thought I hated flying with Russians more than any other culture. That may have changed last night. I was surrounded by people (read men) coughing, spitting up phlegm, putting their arms on me and being flatulent. And the flight was put into a holding pattern in the air above Muscat. Which means my 5 hour flight turned into a 6.5 hour flight. Which, in turn, meant I didn't get to my airport hotel (I canceled on the B&B, thankfully!) until 2:45. Wake-up call at 7:10. I couldn't figure out how to get hot water out of the shower. Blah. Blech. And eeewwwwwww.

I'm now at the airport waiting to board surrounded by, yep, Russians. I might actually be a bit happy about this. When I got to the seat I'm sitting in, a man was holding 3 seats and told me I couldn't have the empty seat. I'm so tired it took a while to process and I sat down. He shrugged. When his wife showed up, he says to her, "She doesn't speak Russian. She didn't know not to sit there." Ha! No, it's just that I didn't really think you needed 4 seats for 2 people!

A day in Dhaka

K & M took me around today. Once every 3 weeks their school provides them a driver for a weekend morning and today (Friday, a weekend day here) happened to be that day. Lucky us.

So first we went to the grocery store, always exciting for me! Then off to the outskirts of Dhaka where their school is. Their school sits on reclaimed land. "Reclaimed from what?" you ask. The swamp. So we drove out to have a look around. Here it is:



Rice fields, but the raised part, yep, rice fields that have been filled in.

Here's K & M in the same area:



Don't ask.

From there we headed off to the fair trade expat stores. Items made in Bangladesh where the money actually goes back to the people who have made it. Shocking! I went a bit crazy and bought a table cloth with 4 place mats, plus another set of 8 place mats with napkins, a shirt/pants/scarf set for 4,400 takka, approximately $60.

Downstairs I bought 3 more scarves as gifts for a whopping $12.

We then left and headed off to have some lunch at Mr. Bakery. Next off we headed to the Folk Art center where, in my continued shopping craziness, I bought 2 bed spreads for $30. This however, a good investment. I run so hot when I sleep, I need the lightest possible covering. Why bother with the covering? Well, more than you want to know I'm sure, I love to sleep fully under covers, like up to my chin covered.

This afternoon we're off on a boat ride. From what I saw of the lake yesterday, I'm not so excited about this. Hopefully the river is flowing...

Moscow Interlude

Winter 2010
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

Remember how I kept talking about all the snow. I took a few pictures before I left. Those of you who've been to see me, this is the path behind my building. That fence that you can barely see comes up to my knees or just above.

Women working

Women working
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

Here's a view of Dhaka, right down the street from K & M's school. Thus far, I've been quite reluctant to take pictures. Each time I pull out my camera, I feel a bit vulgar. So this was taken from the car today. They have no stone here, so to create aggregate for building, first they make bricks and then break them up. Strange process.

Dhaka - first thoughts

It's a lot like India so far. More mosquitoes than I was expecting, but the rest of it - crowds, loads of men, the honking, it's all familiar. We went out for Vietnamese food tonight, that was great. Tomorrow, I'm off for massage while they work and maybe down to a market as well if I get so motivated.

Oh and the b&b in Dubai only charged me for 1 night! Sweet deal!

Rough Start to Dubai

Well, it was rough getting here because apparently when I printed off the map (which was sent to me via PowerPoint, what the hell, make a pdf!), it cut off the header with the night attendants cell phone. And so when the cab and I arrived to what we thought was the correct address - and numerically it should have been - it was completely dark and there were no numbers on the house. We drove up and down the street. I called the one number I did have, to get an answering machine repeatedly.

My cab driver was great, he didn't just abandon me on a dark street in the middle of Dubai. Instead he drove me back to the airport. We stopped at 3 hotels, 2 of them full and the third being the "Moscow Hotel" I just refused. Finally at 1:30 (that's a.m. and you know me, not being one with the night), I said, "Just take me back to the airport." As we were approaching terminal 3, my cell phone rings. Night attendant says, "When are you arriving?" Me: "Are you fucking kidding me??" So the cabbie turns back around. We figure out the place is not where it's indicated on the map and apparently here #76 comes BEFORE #86, oh, ~of course!~

I pay my outrageous cab fare, at this point we'd been driving around the city for well over an hour and I guess given that, it wasn't all that outrageous - only around $60. I settle into my huge, gorgeous room, but am so keyed up (read FURIOUS) that I can't sleep. So I read until about 3, then slept until 7:30. Still annoyed. Then I came outside to breakfast. Recounted my tale to the other guests and suddenly it didn't matter anymore. The place I'm staying is everything I wanted it to be. It's quiet, the bed is comfy, the pool is delightful - I've been sitting next to it reading and working (yes, just a bit), all day. This is exactly what I wanted.

Now, off to read more. I head to Dhaka around 7 tomorrow morning.

Spoke too soon... of course

Warmest it got was -10 today, not so bad except that it's windy out. Really windy - I keep seeing large chunks of snow flying by the balcony from other balconies!My orchid doesn't seem to mind though. It's still got 3 flowers - this from it's second blooming in December and it looks like there is at least 1 if not 2 more on the way!

Being the first day of February break, I treated myself to a therapeutic 2 hour (!!) massage - you know in addition to my Wednesday relaxing massages. Contrasting those, this one hurt like hell. The stocky, Russian man massaging me was sweaty at the end. I've never had such a deep tissue massage. But, I'll happily say, "Thank you sir, may I have another." I like my massages to hurt. I followed that up with a mani/pedi. Been a long time since I've had a mani - probably Karla's wedding was the last time and that was back in 2006!

Now I'm working (obviously) on next week's grad assignments so I have little to do over break. That and during the pedi I marked my 3 extended essays. Check that off the list! Now if I can finish the rest of my "to be graded stack" tomorrow, I'll have nothing to do except read the books I just downloaded. Ah, what heaven that would be. I'm really into the Irish fairy tale series based in the Sevenwaters Forest having just finished the trilogy and downloaded the 4th (surprise!) book that Mary turned me onto. I've also been reading some other fantasy in the form of Kushiel's Dart which was a staff recommendation from my favorite Asheville book store, Malaprops.

Right, so back to that preemptive homework strike!

Not Since December 7th

It hasn't been above freezing since December 7th. That's a long time for it to be cold. For several weeks it was really cold. Today though, it's only -6 (22F), down right balmy. It's also snowing. I learned tonight that snow can drizzle. It can; it is; I walked in it. It was delightful - you don't end up damp from it until you're inside and at that point, you just take off the clothes covered in snow. Easy peasy. And so much snow (it's snowed at least 4 inches in the past 6 hours), means less cars, less people and shiny white. It's actually quite pleasant.

It's also easy for me to say that because on Monday I'll be in Dubai where the low is 18 C (64 F) and the high will be 28C (80F). Then of course off to Dhaka where it's even muggier, errr, warmer.

Helsinki - Weekend Wrap Up

I've been in Helsinki for the math competition. Two of our individuals won 2nd and 3rd place, a freshman boy and a sophomore new to the school this year. Both great students who really deserved it! Our two senior teams won 2nd and 3rd in the team competition, plus won of the boys won 3rd place for the individual round.

The best part was our strongest student, who has won the past three years and earned a perfect score last year, withdrew himself to give others a chance and instead coached the senior teams. I'm really proud of him.

I'm not so proud of some of the behavior and was down right embarrassed several times, but that was the only part of the group. The remainder were great to travel with and be with.

And Helsinki is great, very small, easy to get around (though paying for a metro ride is difficult to figure out) and the beer pubs. Oh dear lord, such a vast amount of good beer on tap and in bottles. It was so wonderful. I had a smocked bock that tasted like beer dreaming about bacon - and these are the things my dreams are made of. If only they weren't 7 euros each!

Great Chinese Circus Swan Lake

At about 1:55 this starts to get really, really cool.

Dhaka is far away

Like I said, I'm headed to Dhaka soon. The library ordered a book on Bangladesh for me so I could do some reading. I hadn't realized until I looked at the map on the back just how far away it is. Look:


View Dhaka in a larger map

You've got Moscow up above Kazakhstan. That's Dubai down below Iran and then Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, is sandwiched between India and Burma.

How is it I'm headed off to a place when I didn't even realize how far away it is? Well, I'm going to see K & M. So I didn't really consider the distance. I just knew that the flight times were awful if I tried to do it in one fell swoop. Hence the stop-over in Dubai.

Like I said, it'll be interesting... Geography lesson over.

At peace?

Diane's remains were located. I hope that this will allow the family to have some sort of closure and allow them to grieve honestly.

Upcoming Travels

Yep, only a week back and already it's time to be thinking about upcoming trips. I can think about it now that I'm done thinking about where to move/live/teach next!

Next Thursday I head off to Helsinki with 13 students and 1 other teacher for the CEESA math tournament. We have two very strong junior teams. Our notoriously strong senior team is a bit weaker as the strongest student (who has DESTROYED the competition for the past three years) withdrew himself and has been coaching. Then another student had his wallet stolen including his identity card and thus, may not be joining us. Regardless, it's Helsinki, I've only been to the airport and I'm excited to be going.

Then a week later, I head to Dhaka via Dubai. "Where?" you ask? Dubai is the man-made, should not exist, I know I'm going to hate it, city in United Arab Emirates - think all expats, loads of money and ski slopes in the desert. I'm only staying over night because otherwise, the flight times to Dhaka are awful. Dhaka is in Bangladesh. Near India. I'm going to visit K & M, good friends who left Moscow last year. I doubt I'd have gone other wise and I'm sure it'll be interesting.

March will take me to the Cappadocia region of Turkey - the central part. I, along with 2 other teachers, take a group of 16 students for a week of adventure. Horse back riding, hiking, biking, cooking and pottery making.

The day after I get back Amanda comes to Moscow, my only visitor of the year!

In April, Bree and I will meet my parents in Southern France. Just saying it causes a sigh of pleasure.

Then I think in May, I'll head to Amsterdam for a long weekend to begin looking at housing! PEOPLE, I'M MOVING TO AMSTERDAM!

My life does not suck.

Returning from London

We all know I travel... a lot. I'm a good traveler for the most part, though I can get annoyed in airport lines with people who don't travel as much, not their fault, I know, but still. I've gotten more zen about it recently, really!

I don't pay much attention to flights while I'm on them. I book early, reserve my seat up front, normally a window on shorter flights, aisle on longer flights. I've started carrying my water bottle and have the flight attendants fill it on their first pass through, so that I have water for most of the flight - plus I'm not adding to the many plastic glasses that are used and disposed of.

All this is neither here nor there though, with this story. This story is about my return from London. Remember, the Bone Tired, crazy stressful, deciding the next several years of my life weekend?

I was reading a book, mostly ignoring the women next to me. It's clear skies for most of the flight, though we're heading into night, so soon it doesn't matter. However, I notice as we approach Moscow, that we're above dense clouds. As we get ready for landing, we head into the clouds and it's a bit turbulent. I tend not to mind this, though am a bit more aware as we're on Aeroflot - remember the company with drunk pilots?

We break through the clouds and now I can see the snow covered runway. Landing gear is down and we're close to touching down. Suddenly, the engines rev and the plane is pointing steeply back up into the air. We're back into the clouds, landing gear is raised. We're back in turbulent air for about 10 minutes before anything is said. Apparently it's snowy and icy down there. We circle before trying again. Pilot doesn't even get near the runway this time before pulling up again. It's nerve wracking. I'm not near the people I'm flying with. The Russian woman next to me says, "No worry. Aeroflot good company. Drivers good." Right.

Eventually the pilot comes on and says that they've closed the airport that we're supposed to land in and instead we're heading to one of the other 4 Moscow airports. At this point, I was thinking that they might take us to St. Pete, so still landing in Moscow was a bit frightening. We made it though (obviously) and while frightened in air, once on the ground again, my mind was already skipping ahead to the pain it was going to be getting home from this further airport. Thankfully, the ladies I was traveling with invited me to share their cab (I love my boss!).

What happened to the other half of the flight, headed for Beijing, most of whom spoke no English or Russian, I can't imagine. But I'm sure it wasn't easy as this country isn't really known for their customer service...

It's been decided

Off I go to ....

...

International School of Amsterdam!

Too sleepy to write more. It was a long weekend.

Bone Tired

I had eight interviews yesterday:

Atlanta (ssh, don't tell my parents)
San Francisco
Hanoi
Antwerp
Amsterdam
Budapest
Buenos Aires
El Salvador

I received 2 firm offers (Buda and Hanoi) and 4 schools asking me not to sign any contracts before talking to them. El Salvador won't be hiring until at least Wednesday and Atlanta is really looking for someone who will teach both middle school and high school, my only real rejection.

It's hard to have your game face on from 9 - 6. But in the end I am myself. I was honest with the schools about what I'm looking for and I feel like they were honest with me.

Today I have 3 more follow-up interviews plus the presentations from the other schools. My mother is, of course, desperate for me to go to SF or Amsterdam. My father wants me to be happy and said that he is happy to visit Argentina. I would love to eat Vietnamese food every day, but don't think I want to live in Asia.

Off I go to the SF presentation!

15 minutes until Cattle Call

15 minutes until sign-ups for interviews begin. When I arrived yesterday for sign-ins my folder over-flowith with invitations. Of those, I rejected 70%. The ones I kept:

Luxembourg
Hanoi (knew about)
Budapest (knew about)
Madrid
Argentina
El Salvador

Considered but Rejected:
Tokyo
Manilla

Rejected:
Egypt (2 schools)
Turkey (2 schools)
China
Bahrain

Before I go to the ones I kept, first I'll be heading to Zug (Switzerland) and Amsterdam to try and get an interview.

I actually interviewed with both Budapest and Hanoi yesterday. Both went great. I'm still not sure I want to live in Asia, but everyone I've spoken to talks about how great the city is, how easy it is to get into the country. And Mickey, there's LOADS of hiking/trekking in Vietnam, lots of mountains!

It's starting to happen!

First off, still no word on Diane. She continues to be mixed into my thoughts, daily. Very tragic situation for hundreds of thousands of people.

However, in the midst of those thoughts are my own preparations for Friday when I leave for the job fair. Honestly, I had assumed that at this point I would have already had a job. However, I've only had one interview with a school in Cape Cod. Part of leaving Moscow is in search of a better quality of life, one that I think Cape Cod could provide. At the same time though, I wonder if I'm really ready to move back to America. Probably not...

And then this morning, I check my email and have 2 (TWO!) invitations to interview before the fair, one with the UN school in Hanoi, Vietnam and another with Budapest. So it is finally starting to happen, just later than I thought it would...

At this point Switzerland is my number one, but I'm open to possibilities. Any votes?

Diane Berry

I went to college with Diane. We played frisbee together for at least 2 years. We haven't been in contact since that time, but I have memories of her standing in the sun, always with a smile. She had a quiet, peaceful way about her.

She worked for the CDC out of Atlanta and was in Haiti working on an AIDS relief project.

It's still unclear whether she survived the earth quake or not.

And her family, their pain, her pain are on my mind.

Mixed in with a bunch of other stuff.

Olympics Video Available to International Viewers

I tried watching a preview of US Figure Skating (yes, I like figure skating, it all dates back to my first viewing of the Cutting Edge. No wait, maybe I like the Cutting Edge because I like figure skating) tonight. However, the video isn't available to international viewers. These are a few suggestions of videos that are available:

* Davis and White: Mid-Western Values

* Steve Holcomb on his Park City Roots

* Chad Hedrick: Why I love Texas

This is for their international viewers. Is the mid-west recruiting?

NYE with Amanda

NYE with Amanda
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

I had a really lovely 3 week vacation and am now back in Moscow. School picks up again tomorrow. I've beat the jet lag (I hope) and am ready to see my student - and to get back into an exercise routine!

Shabu Shabu!

I was invited over to a parent's house this evening. She's Japanese, he's American, I've taught their son for 3 years now and tonight I was invited over for dinner. The son should have been on his way to America. However, due to the snow storm hitting the NE, he was there as well. No matter.

It was a wonderful meal of shabu shabu (meat cooked in boiling broth), then with the left over broth rice and egg was added to make a porridge (sounds better than gruel and way more delicious than gruel sounds also, want not, waste not, right?) all with sake, lots and lots of sake. Then we adjourned to the couch and the student adjourned upstairs and the evening continued with wine. It was great. Of course, now I'm wondering if I'm going to make my flight.

You see, Delt4 has canceled their direct Moscow-Atlanta flight, so I have to connect through JFK. And as we all know, my luck runs either really hot or (especially when coming from Moscow) really cold with air travel. A and I are supposed to arrive within an hour of each other. I really hope it all works out!

PS - I'm really, really annoyed with 1tunes. All the music I purchased under my old AOL screen name on my Mac Mini won't play on my MacBook. The customer service woman I've been working with for TWO days seems to be useless. Give me the music that I paid for, jerk holes.

3 more days

Still really, really cold. The windows on the bus have been frozen (from the inside!) for the past 2 nights driving home.

It's seriously f*cking cold.

However, in 3 more days I get to go to my parents for Christmas vacation. Here's what that'll be like:



Except that we'll get to insert my friend A! Yep, I've got a friend coming from California for a visit. In talking to my parents recently:

Mom: "Now who's A again? Is he the one that you went to visit Aunt Cathy with in his van?"

Me: "Yep, on our way to Death Valley"

Mom: "Oh, right, the hippie." (I have no idea where she got this from except maybe my Aunt thought we were strange for going to Death Valley to sit in the hot springs in the middle of the summer... note: she was right, it was a bad idea)

Me: "Um, mom, you know I'm a hippie too, right?"

Mom: "I prefer to think of you as 'bohemian'"

Me: [involuntary shudder]

Minus 24 is cold

I know, I know it seems obvious. But really -10 is managable. However, I've discovered that I can't figure out how to layer to keep my thighs warm when it's below minus 20.

Play Write

Every year for the last assembly of December, there has been a Pantomime in which the teachers perform a mostly improve play where each character is based on a senior. It's always been written by a staff member who left last year.

The Student Council took up the slack... supposedly. However, it's a busy time of year, one student dropped the ball and it didn't get written. However, this is one of my favorite things of the year and I really wanted it to happen. As such, I spent all day writing it.

It's based on A Christmas Carol and I hope it will be funny but not offensive. I'll try to get it recorded.

In other news, it's gotten cold, but not horrendously so. And I've been watching season 5 of Angel obsessively. I like it much better than season 4.

Oh, and I got an A in my class (missed an A+ by 1%). It really does make a difference when you like your classes or are freakishly good at writing papers that you don't really care about.

Winter Wonderland!

It's finally snowed here. I watched it snow all afternoon and then went and took the first shuttle home. It only took me an hour. The people who left later, it took them from 2 to 6 (SIX) hours! But it's beautiful. This was taken by Nat from our apartment windows today.

Executive Thriller

Executive Thriller
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

Remember when I told you that the Student Council was creating dances to Thriller? Well, I didn't get a video of the final production, but here's a rehearsal. This video is of the executives. Head over to flickr to see the other grades!

More Music

Even though I've yet to write about them, I've been getting out and going to a few concerts recently. On the day before Thanksgiving, 6 of us went to see the Harlem Gospel Choir. I was really hoping for a few hours of gospel, but the fine print was that it was gospel plus a MJ tribute. Now, I really like MJ songs, but a gospel choir has no business singing "The kid is not my son!" At least they didn't do any crotch grabbing.

Our favorite part: "When I say Jesus, you say Christ."
Choir: "JESUS"
Bree and I: "Christ"
The rest of the audience: Silence punctuated by crickets.

This past Tuesday (I just want you to note the above was on a Wednesday and then I went out on another week night! Wild and crazy, that's me), was the Moscow Oratory Society's annual concert. They always do a medley of carols and then part of Handel's Messiah. I really enjoy this every year. This year especially as they were in a church and there is really nothing better than a huge cathedral filled by choir music. The only downside was that it's a church in the middle of renovation. As such, the enjoyment of the music was detracted by the smell of paint fumes and the huge outdoor flood lights on the second floor. You can see what I mean in the video:

Ludovico Einaudi

I can't stop listening to the music this guy has written. Before today, I hadn't really considered "contemporary classical" as a genre. However, I gave my students a quiz and had my favorite classical radio station on. When I heard this song, I wrote down the artist and title: Einaudi - Two Sunsets. I've been listening to many more on You Tube and tomorrow will buy ever album. I'm addicted. Have a listen:

What is that?

It's already gotten to the point that seeing the sun leads to questions like the above. We've been having 10 days stretches with no sun, but Friday it was out and was bright enough that for about 10 minutes I could have the lights off in my classroom.

No new job prospects, though I've started considering Latin America, tentatively. Better climate than most of W. Europe, you know? Any suggestions, besides me coming back to America? I'm still not ready for that.

And now a reminder of blue skies from this summer at Storm King Art Center:

Crockpot Catastrophe

Tonight was our 3rd annual Thanksgiving potluck. For the 3rd year in a row, I brought stuffing, because there is nothing I love more on Thanksgiving than stuffing. At least I tried to bring stuffing. I made a big ol' crockpot full. And then carried said crockpot over wearing oven mitts because it was hot, dammit. However, oven mitts lack grip. And as I walked in the building entrance, in slow motion, the crockpot fell out of my hands and shattered. Stuffing everywhere.

At least it made the entrance way smell good...

Editted to add: Finding a replacement insert is looking to be far more difficult than I'd anticipated. Meh.

Successful StuCo Event #57

I never wanted to be a Student Council adviser. But one was needed last year and my principal asked me if I was interested. So I gave it a whirl. And while I didn't really enjoy it all that much, when this year's executive team was elected, I decided to stick with it another year. And I'm so glad I did.

Earlier I mentioned how they all made up their own 30 second dances to Thriller. The Halloween assembly was awesome and the student body got really into it. This week we had another spirit assembly where the activity was drawing.

Yep, 4 kids per grade level up on stage drawing. Sounds a bit like watching paint dry, right? But nope, they were given Edward Munch's The Scream divided into fourths.



The first person had both hands. The second person only one hand. The third, no hands. The fourth no hands and blind folded. It was hilarious and the crowd was TOTALLY into it.

Tonight, we had our first Homecoming dance. 150 out of 380 kids showed. This is AMAZING. Our record for students attendance was 70. Yep, I love my job.

But just so you know, I still don't feel the need to stay next year.

Let it snow!

Winter is coming late this year! Mind you, I'm not really complaining, but I'm happier with snow than I am with rain and the snow is finally beginning. Temperatures are still hovering right around freezing, so things are a bit slushy still, but the trees were coated with white this morning as was the football field and it was really just beautiful.

One Quarter Done

Grades have been submitted, parent conferences are on Thursday. This is it. One quarter of the school year done. And really, it flew by. I think the next 3 will go by even faster. Pretty excited about that.

That time of year

I've stayed home sick from work twice this week. Was sick most of my time in Houston, especially the last 2 days in which I only laid around on the couches of my friends (thank you and I hope you haven't caught what I have). Pretty sure it's not N1H1, no fever, no aches, just a lingering cough and sniffles.

I'm feeling a bit better this evening, cooked dinner (well, it's cooking as we speak) and I brought home a bunch of grading I could be doing. There's also report cards (written narratives) are due by Monday morning, rough draft of my huge project for my masters class turned into my proofing partner on Sunday, an additional paper for said class by Saturday. But you know how when you have so much to do, that you can't even begin. Yeah, that's where I'm at.

The best part of Houston, well, second best, because the best really was seeing friends and family, but the second best TACO TRUCK! I wish I'd've felt better because I wanted to hit way more than 1, but the one we hit. Hot damn, Gina. It was great. Tender meat grilled to have crispy bits, generous tacos with cilantro, grilled onions and avocado. Yum-o. Although, I've decided I prefer my onion raw. Yeah, baby, I like it raw.

Antwerp, Belgium and Vienna, Austria have added posts for math jobs. There's one in Zagreb, Croatia as well.

Opinions?

Surreal

I'm sitting in one of my favorite cafes in Houston (Brasil). Since I was last here, at least 2 years ago, and maybe I didn't even come here then, they've remodeled. Where the bathrooms used to be, they've expanded and added a second outdoor patio. However, the laid back atmosphere remains, as does the free wifi.

I'm writing this on my new MacBook. YAY. I heart it already.

So this is my November break. My plane ticket to Houston was bought early this summer on a Singapore Air sale (direct from Moscow for $650!) back when I thought I'd be having a romantic rendezvous. Well, that part didn't materialize, but I'm here nonetheless. And even though the flight was long (12 hours of long), it's nice to be here.

I spent the last 2 nights with my aunt, uncle and 2 cousins. They're totally little people now and fun to hang out with.

Tonight I'm cooking dinner for AJ and Ashish. It's amazing how quickly routines re-emerge.

I also just got off the phone with an Asheville real estate agent. It seems like now is a good time to invest, so I'm looking into it. I feel like every time I catch a glance of myself in the mirror, I think, "wow, you're becoming a grown up." And, "you need a hair cut."

Yep, and I'm taking care of that on Wednesday, right after lunch with my college roommate RTK! Speaking of grown up, she's now got 2 kids and is teaching at Rice.

Supose I must

I keep checking in on the blogs of my friends and am often disappointed when there are no new updates. Likely they've all stopped even looking at mine with the frequency I update!

It's spirit week at school. As such I was dressed in all black today, black being the grade 12 color. Tomorrow is geek day - tight rolled jeans, here I come. Wednesday is pj day, known amongst the teachers as "wear your sweat pants to work day." Now Thursday is the hard part, it's "Hollywood" themed. I have no idea what to wear for that. Friday is Halloween costumes.

My favorite part of Friday is that the student council (StuCo), which I am an adviser for, is doing a dance to Thriller at the beginning. Yes, it was my idea. No, the students weren't really excited at first, but they're getting into it and it's AWESOME. I'm super excited about it anyway.

In the mean time, I've also begun looking at other schools as potential new jobs in earnest. A few months ago I was all ready to move back to the US, but I'm not sure that my itchy feet are ready to settle so I've been looking more at western Europe. Any opinions?

In which she is so busy her head explodes

There's a lot I've been doing, work wise, master's wise, head of department wise. None of it very exiting, but while I'm crazy busy, it's not necessarily stressful.

I did make time this weekend to see 2, yes TWO!, films. They were in English and everything. It was part of the American Film Festival here. I saw Trouble the Water and Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.

Trouble the Water is a really well done documentary on those left behind in hurricane Katrina. It could have gone whacked out political but it didn't and as the directors said "the material speaks for itself. We didn't have to add any slant." That's right, the directors were there answering questions. Unfortunately I left that early to see the second one directed by the cute guy from the American version of The Office.

This was based on a collection of shorts by David Foster Wallace (did you know he died? I only learned in the credits). It was ... well, interesting. It wasn't bad, but I'm not certain I enjoyed it either.

So there you have it, work, work, work, zone, work, work, watch Angel (I'm so addicted), work. Oh, I also waxed my legs this weekend. That's right, the fun never stops.

After a summer of posting

I've really slacked off. Bad, Traveling Em, bad.

You'd think that nothings going on or perhaps I'm so depressed about being here I've lost the motivation to write. However, neither are true.

My college buddy Phil and his girlfriend Abby just came out for a visit. It was AWESOME. So nice to get to spend quality time (read, insane amounts of board game playing and eating) with them. And they were the perfect guests. They arrived on a Saturday, stayed until Monday, spent Tues - Fri in St. Pete's and then Fri-Sun back in Moscow. It was grand.

Then last weekend we went camping for Bree's birthday. Man, how I love sleeping outside in the cold.

And now, the seniors have all headed off to Cyprus for Discovery Week, which means I technically have no classes to teach today, but instead loads of time to be productive (please, let me be productive) and today I get to sub for a PE class, which normally would be fun, except the weather has turned cold and rainy, boo. But hey, we've had SUN until now!

Oh and I'm up to twice weekly private ballet classes, um, heaven! And I still love my job. And I'm still in constant debate as to what to do next year. I was all set to move to Asheville and now, well, back to debate mode.

The People You Meet

Bree and I took the metro home tonight. We were commenting on the "fashion" of Moscow. Sitting directly across from us was a man who appeared to be mid-thirties. Seemed like his hair was thinning, but that didn't stop it from being bra strap length and tied into a pony tail. He also had a ZZ Top beard, except it was sandy blond. He was wearing an "Aria" t-shirt which is the Russian equivalent of Mega Death. That was topped by a two-tone, tan and black, leather jacket that said "RACING" on the sleeves. Oh, and he was drinking a "Trophy" which seemed akin to Red Bull.

His girl friend had on a long sleeveless black dress. It had metal studs around the arms and could have been goth, except she still had the "tarty female Russian" look that abounds. On her it said, "I desperately want to have my own style, or the style of my boyfriend, but if I stray too far from the image, then I'll be left." Ugh.

So anyway, mid train ride, dude pulls out a leatherman. You know, the 100 tools within a tool - screw drivers, knives, scissors. And I'm thinking, "What the hell is he doing?" Then he leans over and hands it to Bree who'd been picking at a loose thread. It was awesome.

And I remembered to write about it.

Go us.

Less Cranky

Now that the students have returned, I'm reminded why I'm here. That's right, I love my job. And how many people get to say that and mean it?

Tomorrow my good friend Phil and his girlfriend, Abby, arrive. Yes, more visitors to Moscow. The more the merrier!

I'm really excited about this visit. Phil and I were really good friends. It's been years since we've had some quality time. I'm being very martyr like and going all the way to the airport to pick them up (sorry if you've visited me and I didn't do this for you, but they're arriving on a Saturday).

Also, ballet classes will resume next week! Phil's bringing me new leotards and tights, so I'm super excited.

What else? Oh, right, it's been stunning. Indian summer abounds.

Bree and I are trying to maintain a positive attitude to see if it makes a difference in our enjoyment of life here. I'm thinking it will. I'm also thinking I'll be able to maintain the attitude for oh, 2 more weeks, if I'm lucky.

Back to the Motherland

Well, I came back to Moscow on Tuesday via an overnight London. It was nice to break up the travel as I was coming from SF, however my bag didn't make it to London. This was a bit of a relief as I didn't want to haul it to the hotel and back the next day. However, they couldn't get it to London in time for my Moscow flight. Now this is where it gets annoying because in ANY other city, the airline would be responsible for delivering the bag to your house. But no, not in Moscow. You have to go to customs and declare your suitcase yourself. Super pain in the ass. Huge. However, it was helpful in getting over the jet lag as I went to get it Wednesday night and the whole process took 3.5 hours. If I had been at home, I'm sure I would have fallen asleep. And being tired, gave me the right level of stubborn cranky determination not to leave the airport without my bag. Bitches.

Oh, and the leaves are already changing and it's only 10 degrees C (50F) here. Fuckity.

Man, apparently I'm still cranky. At least my hair (and pillow and fingernails) is purple.

US Wrap Up

I had an incredible time in SF, seeing many of my friends. I spent the last 4 days with my "cooking" friend, a group that I met through the Cooking Light bulletin board years ago. We've been gathering once a year since 2002(?)! Kayaksoup arrived a day early and we had dinner with Joy! and Nate at Pizzaiolo. She did an amazing dinner write up on here on her blog.


Here's the whole gang. This year we had 2 new awesome additions and were said that a few regulars were unable to join us. I'm not quite sure what was said to crack us up, but there you go:



I'm not sure how well you can see it in the picture, but my hair is dyed purple! Yippee, back to funky colors for me.

On this trip, I also discovered that I'm not as much of a hippie as I used to be . I know, the horror. My dear friend Adam took me to Harbin, a hippie mecca for hot tubing nude. And for doing yoga nude. Having random bullshit conspiracy theory conversations ... nude. You get the picture. And while it was quite liberating to swim laps, yes, nude, I really could have used a pants cannon. That's all I'm saying.

Snorkeling in Honduras

Snorkeling in Honduras
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

By far the best part of the cruise was visiting Isla de Roatan, Honduras. In the background is a ship wreck, likely from the 1970s, that we snorkeled around. I found us independent tours, this one we were a group of 11 snorkeling and saw no one else the rest of the day for about half the price of a ship tour. If you go on a cruise, do your research people!

PS - After this day even though I'd been wearing 30 spf, I ended up so burned on my shoulders and ass, that's right, I had an ass sun burn. And my poor tattoo. I used to have such a dark complexion, I guess that's what happens when you move to a sunless country.

In Miami

In Miami
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

Well, I'm off the cruise and have been in Miami Beach the past two days with my sister. Here I am drinking a bellini at an awesome pizza place. I found us great pizza, empanadas and an awesome burger all off the main drag (thank god!)

My thoughts on Miami:
Almost everyone walks around without their shirts. I think it's tacky, but I'm getting more and more crumudgony as I get older. Thankfully about 80% of these topless people have six packs so it's nice people watching.

There are a disproportionately large number of Corvette drivers and gay men, they are not the same.

I saw them filming Burn Notice, eeeeeeee!!!!

It's definitely a multi-lingaul place, beyond just Spanish and English.

Overall, it's nice to visit, but I'm happy to be returning to my reality of San Francisco summers where almost everyone will have on not only shirts, but also likely sweaters.