The Power of Redesign!

More Cupcakes

2010-02-16T09:40:00.001-05:00

These ones went to Dr. Kenning’s staff and my Creative Art Therapy group.

The “gang” at home.

Hanging out with some naked spirit dolls . . . one of our assignments for the day.

Cyan Goes Wild!

2010-02-06T19:46:00.001-05:00

What can you say . . . snow brings out the best in her . . . and Barak

Lions and Tigers and Bears -- Ommaya . . .

2010-01-21T17:22:00.000-05:00

After 3 months of treatment, I had my first set of scans and re-confirmed stable results last week. It required a 2.5 hour stay in the MRI machine, but it’s well worth it because I got the brain MRI I needed to get my neurosurgical consult scheduled for the Ommaya (don't worry, it's not graphic) Reservoir. If I can get back to this post after the consult, I’ll update it with my surgery date, which should be soon!

Soon is soon – it’s tomorrow January 22 at 7am!

Keeping up with Crafting Something

2009-12-28T11:33:00.000-05:00

For my birthday last year, my friends Ana and Ravi gave me a cupcake decorating book. During this last burst of treatments, while in house arrest and going out of my mind because my motor and cognitive functions have been out of whack . . . I needed some inspiration. The directions promised to be for novice decorators. You be the judge.

From the “TV Dinner Collection” Chicken Drumstick, Chocolate Pudding, Peas and Carrots, and Mashed Potatoes.

These went to the staff at the Radiation office as well as my Onc practice who are the regular recipients of my cupcakes.

Round 2 was a bit harder, but at least I had the rhythm right. I knew what I was getting myself into. Instead of trying to my 50 . . . I only made about 20 cupcakes and I don’t think they need any explanations.

Life, Craft, Snow, in Reverse – Forward, Who knows??

2009-12-28T09:51:00.000-05:00

We had a massive snow storm over the weekend of December 19th-20th and our dog Cyan loved it. Barak loved taking her out on the long leash and letting her romp around in the snow. Then she just wanted to sit in the snow all day long. Here are some photos.

Israel August 09

2009-08-27T08:36:00.001-04:00

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As you will see, our trip was full of seeing Barak’s family, mostly spending time with his sister Inbal and baby Uri. We went for a walk in a new park in Herzliya (just a bit north of Tel Aviv) with Inbal, Uri, Avner (Uri’s Dad), Barak’s Mom, and our niece Nof who came in from Jerusalem. Later that night, Nof, Barak, and I went out to eat shawarma and falafel at one of the local places in Netanya (B’s hometown). There’s also some pics of us eating a rather large lunch on Shabbat at a place called Eunice. Typical Mediterranean fair with lots of salade and pita and shish kebab and me drinking signature Lemon Nana (lemonade with mint).

New Blog Editor - - - Trial and Error

2009-08-26T17:06:00.001-04:00

I’m trying out a new editor . . . much easier for me to use and understand than the blogger one and I thought I’d give you something to look at . . . Honeymoon Photos!!!

To give a little background . . . We started in NYC, then pics on the ship, then Turks and Caicos, then the cruise company’s private island in the Bahamas and then Nassau. We were onboard for 9 days.

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Trust and You Shall NOT See!

2009-08-26T16:37:00.001-04:00

So . . . I was working all day long on my photos and the website that I loaded them on had a “glitch” and now they are lost in cyberspace. If you recall, the last time I downloaded and edited a significant amount of photos, for our honeymoon in June, my computer’s motherboard crashed and I ended up waiting until my beautiful new desktop arrived to finish working on them. After uploading 316 photos of Brussels, Uri, hummus, and some random things around Israel, I am again disappointed. Maybe I should just take less than 50 pictures per occasion an just call it a day!

Home and back to the routine!!

2009-08-19T16:56:00.002-04:00

We're home . . and things are shaping up to feel like a usual August summer on the eastern seaboard. It's hot and humid and humid and humid. After a 6 hour lay-over in Paris, our 8 hour flight to Philly left me with a major headache which put me to bed at 3pm and wake at 5am. I rested and tried to get some fluids in me by the time I went to chemo at 12nn.

There's about 10 days between now and when school starts here at Haverford. B is working hard on his writing and sending out his book which conveniently came during our trip. He was very excited to open the box with his 10 copies when we returned. He's officially on Amazon.com.

Chubby Time!

2009-08-07T08:57:00.002-04:00

Today is our second day in Israel and I've had more food in 48 hours than I usually do in a week. We've spent most of our time sleeping (very nice) and eating, and Barak has been Chubby's personal sleeping bag of sorts. After being quite hesitant to hold him, Barak picked up Uri while he was crying on Wednesday night and Uri fell fast asleep on his uncle's huge chest. Now Barak is deemed the official baby nurse. Last night when Barak tried to put Uri back in his bassinet, Uri began a protest and back to Barak he went.

This afternoon it was about 90 degrees and we went for a walk in downtown Netanya -- Barak's hometown. The streets were full of French and Russian tourists and by 1pm, they were all heading back to their flats to take a nap and get ready for shabbat. Tonight, with his parents, we will head over to Barak's sister's for dinner with her & Avner, and his mother, Rena and sister Osnot.

More than Cancer . . . What a Concept ?!?!?!

2009-07-26T18:37:00.003-04:00

Sometimes, I forget that my life is more than just dealing with cancer. I know, I know. Not really awesome thinking, but honest. My life moves in 3 week time-tables with the side-effects of each treatment carefully taken into account and the larger chunks of life are planned according to the 3 month spans between scans. That's just the way life goes now. I can't think of any other way to approach life anymore. I'd like to hope it's the antidepressants that make it difficult for me to conceptualize time that knew no boundaries of social convention like I did when planning my 20s . . . ha, there's a concept I've let go of . . . planning.

But, I've digressed . . . what a surprise. The purpose of this post was to say that I need to start posting about the things I've filled my days with. I started with my sewing in the fall, and then I moved to my art therapy group which is an amazing source of comfort and strength, and then my garden which is mostly organic vegetables. My plants . . . most of which I propagated completely by seed. I started them in February, in our sunroom on the radiator. I babied them for months and now they are outside and supposed to flourishing, but, because we are having really, really mild and rainy weather this summer, only in the last couple of days did my 39 cent cherry tomato seeds have their first flower turn fruit action.

I have a week before we leave to go to Israel, so don't expect much. But feel free to email and nag me if I don't produce . . . much like my plants.

Welcome Chubby!

2009-07-26T18:26:00.006-04:00

On Wednesday, July 22, my sister-in-law Inbal had an unscheduled C-section and welcomed a baby boy (as of 7/25/09 still unnamed) . . . whom B and I have been calling Chubby, into the world! Congrats to Inbal and Avner!

NYC!

2009-07-26T18:19:00.014-04:00

In between treatment #2 and #3 I had a fabulous weekend in New York with the ladies I met in Dallas. Carrie arrived from Colorado on Thursday afternoon so I took the train up to meet her and Steph at Steph's Upper East Side Apartment that day. On Friday, we cruised to Midtown for a Betsey Johnson sample sale, met Cristina downtown at her place near NYU for some cheap dumplings and walked around Chinatown and Canal street before heading back up to Steph's to reunite with Melinda and Jen. Friday night through Saturday at noon we ate and chatted nonstop. Insanity! From then on, we documented the weekend with some photos!

Walking around the Upper East Side

Jen and Pam in Central Park

Saturday Night Dinner (Jen, Me & Melinda, Carrie and Steph)

Sunday -- Walking to the Subway and Brunch in Brooklyn

50 chemo treatments

2009-07-26T18:15:00.003-04:00

. . . Treatment #2 of the last cycle was my Golden Chemoversary. Barak was in DC at his Foreign Fighters Round Table, so Bethel, a history prof here at H-ford and the proud, proud owner of Cyan's besty Finnegan, came with me. I brought 50 mini cupcakes for 50 chemos. . . yes, oh, so eventful. On my 51st treatment Barak was back and Devlin was not down at the shore with his family so I bestowed on him our present to him . . . a matching shirt to mine stating "My Patient is My Homegirl." True to Devlin form, he was very touched and now addresses me as "Homegirl" when I enter the office . . . not sure if this was a good idea!

Keep Pluggin' and Chuggin'

2009-06-28T13:50:00.002-04:00

I'm happy to report back to blogging duty from my new computer . . . after many hours of tending to my ailing laptop, I caved and ordered a desktop last Sunday. Thanks to the lagging economy, the stork arrived yesterday and all pieces seemed to fit together and are working . . . keep your fingers crossed. I hope to get all of my photos and music transferred over this week.

This week marks the end of 48 chemo treatments and 16 "rounds of chemo" . . . 4 week cycles with 3 treatments per cycle and one "off" week. The last conversation B and I had with Devlin confirmed that as my regimen continues to work, the results will be less impressive and it will take a whole lot more chemo to make the tumors shrink and the cancer to stay away from where it's already been. It was hard for me to accept that during the first 8 months of treatment, all but 13 mm of tumor were annihilated and now during the last 6 months only 6mm have been knocked off leaving me with the current 7mm tumor on my liver, but that's how it goes.
We will continue to move in a 3 month pattern . . . from CT scan to CT scan. The plan will be to stick to my chemo regimen . . . same drugs, same dosages until the next set of scans in October and then reevaluate.

On other news, B and I will be leaving sometime in late July/early August for Israel to see his family and friends. We are counting on modern medicine and the preciseness of the Mendelsohn family for his sister Inbal to deliver her first child whom we have nicknamed "Chubby" within a 48 hour window around her due date on August 5. This is the first Mendelsohn grandchild in over 15 years so all are anxiously awaiting his arrival!

Scan Results

2009-06-17T16:57:00.002-04:00

I had a CT scan yesterday afternoon. Yeah! It was supposed to happen during last month's chemo schedule, but the lady in Devlin's office that does the insurance co. certifications for these things was out on vacation and it fell through the cracks. Surprisingly enough, he got the results this AM. The itty bitty tumor on my liver is down to 7mm. About 1/3 smaller as Barak describes it. Nothing else lights up on the screen.

I know, I know. Cruise pictures. Coming soon to a blog near you.

March

2009-05-25T08:13:00.004-04:00

March was a very busy month.

There was no doubt in my mind that we would celebrate my cancerversary and chemoversary . . . just how to commemorate such occasions was the vital question. Those of you who are on facebook may have seen the dedication to Dr. Devlin during the month of March. His BM hospital ID photo is too easily accessible from the internet . . . poor John. On the day of my chemo appointment closest to the day of my date of diagnosis, I wore a new t-shirt:

Dr. Devlin was quite touched. He suggested that I add a new piece of oncologist-fan paraphanialia to the mix every year.

For my chemoversary, I made boobie cupcakes.

The frosting could have been better. I tried to use half butter half something else. it starting running by the end of my appointment, but there weren't very many left by then. Martha Stewarts frosting recipies are awesome. Even Dr. Cohen, the head of the oncology practice, admitted that he ate 2 or 3. Apparently, he was also very jealous of my t-shirt . . . none of his patients want to be his homeboy.

And finally, at the end of the month, well, actually the first weekend of April, Barak threw me a birthday party. We had about 30 people at our place. Lots of food. Lots of wine. Good times had by all.

Reborn

2009-05-22T12:13:00.002-04:00

Ok. I'm starting slow because if I pressure myself to start from where I left off, I'll be overwhelmed.

The most amazing thing that has happened in the past 3 months is getting my strength together and heading out to the YSC conference in Dallas. I met my girl Carrie and a bunch of other amazing women who can understand everything that I have felt after you find out your diagnosis. It has saved my life and opened doors and avenues that I needed to find myself after a year of sifting through the crap that was dumped on me. I am now relatively active on the message boards and keep connecting with more and more people that make me feel like a human and not like an alien. We ended up bonding and loving eachother so much we are having a 6 month reunion of sorts in NYC in July!

B and I are going on our honeymoon in about 10 days. We leave for our Carribean cruise on June 1. There are still lots of things to get done before then, but we are ready to get on the train to NYC and board the ship.

At least another 3-4 months of chemo

2009-02-23T12:37:00.003-05:00

Last Wednesday, I got the results of my latest CT scan. They were good, meaning that there was some progress, but the spot on my liver is still there. The improvement is in the fact that the spot is more fluid-like rather than solid. They tell me that it's a good thing, so I believe them.
I got hit with another round of Taxol and Avastin (and Zometa) for at least 3 months, and maybe 4 depending on how my blood work goes. If I start to have some more serious side effects, mostly neurapathy, then we will consider a different type of chemo.

On a fun and positive note, I will be heading off to Dallas on Friday morning for the Young Survivors Conference and get to meet my dear friend Carrie in person! There will be lots of other young women with BC there and I hope to make some more contacts so I don't feel so alone in this journey.

another day, another CT scan

2009-02-09T21:49:00.002-05:00

I had my CT this AM. We started out at the outpatient radiology center, but their new policy states that if you have a port, you have to get your tests done at the inpatient center. This meant that what would have been a 10 minute process became a 90 minute hassle.

My expectation is that the spot on my liver will be gone, or closer to gone than it was 3 months ago, my bones will show some continued healing, and my left breast will still have an unidentifiable mass. We'll know more about the extent of the cancer in my bones whenever nuclear medicine decides to answer the phone so I can make an appointment . . .

Today, my cancer friend Carrie had her second lumpectomy surgery. As another 20-something BC fighter, she had a couple of rounds of chemo starting last summer and had surgery in January. When they did the pathology report on her tissue, they didn't cut out enough of the breast tissue for them to confident that they got it all. So they have to go back in and try again. She is a trooper!

Bad, Bad Blogger

2009-02-08T19:21:00.002-05:00

So, I'm not even sure how to get through the last two weeks of life in one blog post. Chemo has been the least of my worries.

With the down turn of the economy, the Haverford College administration is trying to slim down employee benefits. In December, while we were in Cali, they had a meeting to discuss the options they were exploring. One was to take a step down in health insurance coverage. They went on and on about how if the faculty were good community members, they would suck it up and take the cut and not complain. Of course, this means a whole lot more for us than some of the other staff at Haverford. But, putting that aside, most of the faculty are either 1) not savvy enough about compensation to realize that the administration is trying to pull a fast one on them and when the economy rebounds, they will not reinstate the current plan, thus leading to a permanent reduction in their compensation packages, or 2) they are too weak to dissent. In their limited thinking, they told the faculty what they were planning to do, but masked it as "we looked long and hard at the budget and we decided that the only place we could possibly cut was in this specific way." which is total bull. Luckily, we are friends with some pretty smart folks and they starting building a movement to explore other options (mostly those that don't make a permanent dent in compensation) and point out the major flaws in the lesser HC plan. This has saved me from running out of my monthly allowance of Xanax :)

On a happy note, when Barak and I arrived at chemo on Wednesday, the nurses had set up a little celebration for our marriage. They decorated one of the chemo areas, bought a cake, and collected funds for a gift certificate to Bed, Bath and Beyond. It was a very sweet surprise. They wanted Barak and I to feed each other cake. As they were cutting a couple of slices, they were alluding to the standard wedding tradition of creaming your newly minted spouse in the face with cake. I could tell by B's expression that he wasn't following. I took full advantage of this and when it was time to "open wide" I smashed it right in his face! There were all sorts of wonderful colors in the frosting and it stained his skin pretty well. But, in true Barak fashion, while the nurses kept snapping pictures, he finished eating the piece of cake he had tried to feed me. Devlin, my onc, also gave us a gift certificate to Chilies and wrote on the card "To help you put up with each other." We were very shocked and very spoiled by my cancer team. I will have to think of something good to make for them when we start yet another round of chemo on Feb 18. I will also find out on the 18th, what my scans from tomorrow, Feb 9th look like. It's just one CT scan (Hurray -- No MRI, BOO -- to drinking lots of Barium at 7:30am).

And the Chemo goes on and on

2009-01-26T19:45:00.002-05:00

Hi all,

Ahh, sorry about the tardiness . . . I've been playing catch-up with life since we got back. Last Wednesday, I started another round of chemo. B and I spent about 45 mins with Devlin discussing all sorts of stuff. I really had a wonderful time on my chemo break and a renewed sense of confidence in myself and putting together my life after the diagnosis. I'm adding new tasks to my day all the time and trying to stay on a good schedule (ie getting up at 8am rather than 10 or 11am). Barak offered to start exercising with me, so we talked with Devlin about what kinds of exercises and machines would be gentle enough as to not break my back. Although we know that the bones are healing, there is no way to tell exactly how much they have healed and how strong they are.
We also talked about possibly ending chemo. Yes. Apparently, after the spot on my liver is taken care of, I will be eligible for moving from I.V. chemo to taking a daily pill. Insane, I know. Treating my extensive cancer is my job. It has taken me almost a year to cope with it and devise a strategy for handling it, and now, it might be over in 3-6 months. I'm not sure how to handle it. But since it's not in the immediate future, there's no rush to figure it all out.
We also dropped the wedding bomb on Devlin's office and my chemo nurses. It was really fun to tell all of them and get lots of hugs and well wishes from the other chemo patients.
To my surprise, I had little side effects on Thursday and Friday. I actually had energy to go out and do things. I went to see "The Reader" with about 30 senior citizens on Thursday afternoon. Friday, I wasn't too productive, but I was up and around the house. We went out for Happy Hour and Barak treated me to a piece of "Peace of Pizza" which is almost the most tasty eatery around here, next to Hunan, of course! Saturday, I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" with Bethel and we went to play board games at Peter and Anna's (our old neighbors). On Sunday, I got another sinus headache, so I was no fun. Not a bad first week back in the saddle. I hope they all continue to go as well, or even better.

Thanks again for all the love and support!
Catherine

On Our Way Home

2009-01-17T11:08:00.002-05:00

We are leaving Tel Aviv tonight at 11:30pm and will be home, hopefully, by noon on Sunday. I hope that I will sleep for at least 5 hours on the plane, but even with lots of powerful drugs in my bag, there is no guarantee. So far, they haven't switch the plane on us (on our way out, they downsized and we got no-so-good seats) and we are still supposed to have "premium seating."

I'm loading up on bread, cheese, hummus and fresh and ripe fruits and veggies. We also have some candy bars and chocolate to keep us company over the next 14-16 hours.

My chemo-cation is coming to an end. On Wednesday at 9am I will resume chemo and start round #12 . . . with scans set for the middle of February. I'm hoping that the 1 cm tumor on my liver is gone, but since the bones are still healing and I'll be doing chemo anyway, it won't matter that much. I guess it's just the drive to improve that needs to be satisfied.

More from the States to come.

Shabbat Shalom

Gwen's Not a Match

2009-01-09T15:47:00.002-05:00

Sad, but true. Barak and I had Gwen over for a play date with Cyan. Her foster dad, Joe, brought her over on Saturday, Jan 3, in the morning before we left for Israel. Gwen was suggested to us by the rescue because she is a younger female and was very submissive to the dogs she had been staying with. Well, when Gwen came over, she would have none of that from Cyan. Despite 30 minutes of "interaction" Gwen would not accept Cyan as her superior. Joe said several times that in his experience, he thought that it would take a long time, and supervision, to get Cyan and Gwen to bond. It wasn't like they were going at each other's throats, but when Cyan tried to assert her dominance (read: mount her) and snap at her when Gwen took her toys, Gwen fought back. Cyan's tail was wagging the entire time, so we know that she was trying to play, but it just wasn't working for Gwen.

As Gwen and Joe were getting ready to go, Gwen disappeared on her own down the corridor that leads to the bedrooms. She came back after about 30 seconds. About a minute later Joe said that he thought Gwen farted, and apologized. When the smell didn't pass, his eyes widened and he said, umm, I think she pooped somewhere. POOPED! POOPED??? What kind of 3 year old dog still poops in the house??? We did not sign up for a pooper. Barak went to investigate and indeed, Gwen had pooped, . . . in our bedroom . . . on the small rug that Cyan has been sleeping on! Barak said, because I refused to see it, that it was at least 3x the size of a large Cyan poop. WOW! Also not what we signed up for!! So clearly Gwen was not happy, and we are looking forward to continuing our search for another dog to rescue.

Yes, it's true

2009-01-07T13:06:00.002-05:00

Barak and I got married on December 22, 2008.

We had a civil ceremony in California while visiting my family. Unfortunately, there was no way possible that both of our families could get together any time soon for a more formal ceremony (but we are planning on it for the future, so expect to have at least one visit to the Philly area in the coming years), but by having it in California during the holidays, we hoped that both families would be happy to be able to celebrate the occasion. My parents and my brother were able to be there to share the moment with us. And we waited to tell Caroline and Jocelyn until they arrived the following evening.

Now, while we are in Israel, we are extending the celebration or as Barak calls it, our Victory Tour. It's a very special time for us and we are basking in the glory with the ones we love.

Wow, lots of ground to cover . . . Let's start with chemo

2009-01-07T12:53:00.005-05:00

Ok, so I will start with the wrap up of my 11th month of chemo -- December 17 -- Barak got a break and Lissa (my best friend since we were 10) took me to chemo. I got my white blood booster shot, which I had to bring with me to the airport the following day (more to come) . . . and we were off. I felt great that afternoon. Lissa and I went shopping for last minute items I needed before Barak and I took off for Cali the following day, Thursday Dec 18. I attribute it to Lissa being there. As I've been trying to get a handle on how to live my life the last 5 or so months, Barak has been the only one to be with me at chemo. Having Lissa there was a nice break and it allowed me to push myself to be aggressive in keeping my mood up and break the routine I wrote long ago for my Wednesday-afternoon-pity-party. Thanks Lissa! I'm glad that the teasing all the kids gave us at SPA kept us together all these years :)
Barak and I flew to Chico on the 18th and stayed through the 25th. We got an amazing deal ($231 per person, round-trip) so Mom was ok with us leaving on Christmas day. As I said above, I had my scary looking WBC shot, and I had to take it out and declare it as we went through security in Philly. To our surprise, when we changes planes in Phoenix, we had to go through security again . . . After 14 hours of travel, we made it to Chico, with our luggage, and enjoyed a fabulous fast-food dinner of In-and-Out! My one-month chemo-cation (thanks Carrie for the cool lingo) started out with a bang!

AHH, Sorry, time flies!

2008-12-10T14:48:00.004-05:00

Hi all,

I just wanted to let you know that although I haven't posted in a while, that doesn't mean that anything bad is going on. Things have been relatively normal around here. I just got home from chemo . . . also uneventful. There are some chemo "newbies" in the office and one guy was screaming on the phone to a customer service agent while the rest of us were trying to enjoy our benedryl buzzes. As If!

I have one treatment left and then I am off for a whole 4 weeks!!!! Incredible! The only major side effect reeking havoc on my days is acid reflux which is now under control thanks to the little purple pill - Prilosec.

In other news, Barak and I are searching for a second dog to adopt in January. We met a young and spry Coonhound, Ellie Mae, over the weekend. She's a puppy - about 5 months, so she needs a whole lot of attention and guidance. We think she and Cyan would get along just dandy, but we are really looking to save a dog, so we are going to pass on here for the moment and keep our eyes peeled for another. So far, the rescue we are working with has suggested another dog, Gwendolyn. She is about 3 years old, and . . . drumroll please . . . a Cane Corso Mastiff. Yes, it is possible that she will be taller (on her hind legs) and weigh more than me. But we are assured that she is a big teddy bear kind of dog, so we're going to meet her with Cyan and see how it goes.

The house is decked out with Xmas gear . . . lights, wreaths, Santa signage, and other decor. I think I've done all I can since we are leaving for Chico in a week. Wow, time flies when you're having fun.

Here are some pics of the girls.

Gwendolyn

Miss Thang aka Ellie Mae

Another One Bites the Dust

2008-11-19T21:43:00.005-05:00

I had chemo today -- Taxol and Avastin = 4 hours of good ole fun with my chemo nurses. Nothing exciting happened. I will go in for my Neulasta white blood cell booster shot tomorrow. . . .

Devlin and I exchanged thoughts about Turkey day and that was about it. Not even a RX refill. Guess that's a good sign.

It's about 30 degrees outside and we had some very light snow flurries yesterday. Winter weather is here and Cyan is loving it. She, of course by being a husky, is more frisky on her walks and wants to go out ever 90 minutes or so.

Some pictures.

Cyan in her "chicken" pose.

Finnegan, Cyan's best friend, and Cyan panting after a hour of wrestling.

Me in my "F*CK CANCER" t-shirt and one of my sewing projects.

Another Drum Roll Please . . . . . . . .

2008-11-12T15:40:00.005-05:00

Family and Friends, I got the results from my latest scans.

The CT scan of my torso showed two vast improvements. In March they measured out two large tumors covering about a third of my liver. The largest was 7 x 3 cm and the other was 6 x 4 cm. As of last week, the larger one is now a 1 cm cube and the other was not detectable. The CT also showed that my bones and spine are filling in the spots where the cancer ate away at the bone. Bone cancers take a long time to heal, so this is a good first step.

The MRI of both breasts showed only one 3cm mass in the left breast. Everything else looks stable.

Today I got the results of the MRI of the brain. I had a mass in the soft tissue behind my right eye that throughout the last 8 month of treatment remained the same. We had been discussing starting radiation in the new year if there was no progress. Yesterday, Dr. Devlin got the reading from the radiologist. S/He did not see anything. Devlin called them back and asked them to review the images because of my history. After an additional 3 hours of looking, they saw the remnants of cancer (a cancer footprint) in the exact location. By all means, this is good news too.

Lots of folks have been asking about surgery. Essentially, the most popular protocol, especially mets, is to treat with chemo/radiation and then after you shrink or zap it the most you can, you remove the rest. So for me, this means lots and lots of chemo.

Off the Net

2008-11-02T14:05:00.003-05:00

I'm taking my week off literally and trying to keep the "c" word out of my daily thoughts and activities. I couldn't run that far away from it all this week as I had to schedule my CT for last Wednesday and I have a breast MRI tomorrow. I don't know the results from the CT (which doesn't bother me) and regardless of what they say, I'll start round 9 of chemo on Wednesday. At least the office will be full of leftover Halloween candy.

I'm going to test out a new therapist on Wednesday so we'll see how things go on that note.
In other news, the Phillies big World Series win has been the main activity for the week. We watched all of the games, and parts of games, and got roped into Phillies Phever!

I'm continuing with my sewing classes and working on some beginner projects in each of my three classes.

Halloween was quiet. We got about 20 trick-or-treaters and went to a birthday party for one of our neighbor's kids.

Barak's brother Amit is in town from France (he's in the US for business) so we are entertaining him for the weekend.

Fall is officially here in suburban Philadelphia. The leaves are starting to turn all sorts of fabulous colors and the temperature lingers in the low 50s and high 40s during the day. I'm glad that my hair started growing back because it's quite chilly!

That's about it. I'll let you all know what we find out/discuss with Devlin later this week.

New Family Member

2008-10-16T14:30:00.004-04:00

We have a new addition to the family. My cousin Tom and his wife Melissa welcomed their first child on Tuesday the 14th.

Welcome to the World Liese Schappacher!

The last word I got was that Mama and baby were both doing great and headed home today!

Chemo Round 8, Treatment 2

2008-10-16T14:06:00.002-04:00

Sorry I've been a bad blogger. I don't really consider writing every day. Just when it seems decently important.

Last Wednesday, I started Round 8?!?! B and I had a long conversation with Devlin; mostly dispelling rumors floating around on the BC support sites. Not officially sanctioned stuff from the organization, but some of the posts by women who think they know what they are talking about, but really don't have a clue. Then I had my regular dose, Taxol and Avastin with my hefty dose of Benedryl and a shot of Neulasta (white blood cell booster). Nothing eventful, side effect wise, happened the rest of the week/end.

On Saturday morning, I got a visitor. My cousin Marie Levine, from Boston was in town and stopped on by. She has three grown children and is really my mom's first cousin, although the genes all pass on just the same. A BC survivor herself, and recently, she and I shared stories about the post-millennium oncology world. It was really nice to see her and feel some comradery.

Tuesday was my "Project Runway for the Mainline" class. This was only our second meeting. About a third of the women dropped out, so we had more work space and individual attention. We brought in our own little projects. Some of the ladies had some really cute, modern patterns and fabric. I got the scoop on a local notions and fabric store Cloth and Bobbins, closer than our neighborhood Joann Fabrics store. I was so pumped up that I went to C&B and signed up for a class in November to learn how to make hobo bags.

Yesterday, we went in for treatment #2 which is Zometa (bone strengthener) and Taxol. I also got my Neulasta shot, but my red blood cell count was good so I didn't get my booster (Aranesp) for that. Aranesp is another drug that has some bad, misunderstood rumors surrounding it. It was super busy and I got my newly-back-from-maternity-leave chemo nurse Kathleen. I was done around 2pm (about 4 1/2 hours, ugh) and B and I went Rubies for lunch.

One of the newest studies found that chemo patients shouldn't eat soy products because it promotes cancer cell growth, so eating out has been a challenge. Since the nut allergy phenomena hit, most places have been switching over their frying/cooking oils to soy. This makes it a challenge to eat anywhere. When I told our waitress about my concerns, she went to the manager and even though they use soy oil in everything (they read all the labels on all the condiments too) they were willing to customize my choice. So, two thumbs up for the Rubies in Ardmore for being gracious and accommodating without being rude and obnoxious.

Ok. It's time for Cyan to go out for a walk.

new pic

2008-09-29T18:48:00.000-04:00

the hair's growin' back

Off Week

2008-09-29T15:38:00.002-04:00

ok. I'm off this week. There are lots of things on the to-do list including getting a letter out to the insurance company and figuring out new insurance issues. Barak's Haverford insurance offers a higher premium, lower copayment plan that we might be eligible for a rebate with if we can prove that the difference between the premium we're paying now, and the new one is more than our monthly out-of-pocket expenses. Yeah, I don't understand it either.

On brighter news, we went to the Phillies game on Saturday. They played the Nationals, and won. In doing so they won the division title and are off to the playoffs for the second year in a row! Hurray!

Mel guilted me into this post!

2008-09-24T13:03:00.002-04:00

Hi all!

Back from the last treatment of round 7. I can't believe it's been over 6 months since the diagnosis and starting treatment. Wow how time flies! I passed my blood test and got the full dosage. I had a little bit of a sinus headache, so my nurse today, Jane, gave me my Benedryl first. Yeah! Nothing better than a nap at 9:45am!

This round was physically much easier than all the previous. Emotionally, I had a hard time. Unfortunately, my gap insurance co is still not paying anything out to the hospital or Devlin's office for my treatment. He had to bring it up to me on the first day of this cycle. It was awkward and I felt horrible. I stayed in bed the following day. On Friday I tried to convince myself to get out of the house and keep moving forward. This could have been a major set back after working so hard to avoid how I had been coping with all of this initially (Spending the first 4 months hunkered down in the house and digging myself into a rut).

In other news, I started my sewing class last night. It was so much fun. There are 12 other young ladies (all from mid 20s to mid 30s). My table decided that we should sneak wine into the class. I told them if we got caught, I would take the fall. Who would punish a cancer patient. We made teeny tiny pillows to practice straight lines. One of these days I will have to find the USB cord to my camera and post pics of my work.

On good news, I'm still getting plenty of PMS pimples so we know my ovaries are still working!

Round 7 Kick-Off

2008-09-10T18:16:00.002-04:00

I started round 7 today. The plan is the same -- take the WBC shots after sessions 1, 2 & 3. So today I got Taxol (chemo), Avastin (biological warfare drug), and the Neupogen shot.

So far, so good. B and I had to go to a meeting about benefits (they're changing up the health insurance plans) immediately after chemo. I felt good throughout the meeting. Then I went grocery shopping and came home to put my feet up.

I'll be home all day tomorrow waiting for the facilities peps to finish up some of the work on the apt they were supposed to do before we moved in. Hopefully they will get everything we want done in the next couple of weeks.

Some Pics

2008-09-07T22:45:00.003-04:00

After (end of April 08)

Before (beg of April 08)

Another great outlet

2008-09-07T22:40:00.002-04:00

I've been posting a lot on the bulletin boards at www.youngsurvival.org -- home to the Young Survival Coalition. Unlike other websites, I haven't been asked to leave because I'm too young or I don't have kids. (Yeah, really, some BC women are still women.) I was even asked to join a group of 20 something women on a "special" board. OOHHH!
Alrighty then. I'm off to keep working on Caroline's scarf. The report from Lima is that she's cold.

Travelin' Woman

2008-09-04T10:06:00.001-04:00

I finished the last two weeks of my sixth round of chemo in style by going to Vineeta's wedding and Cape Cod. August 23rd Vineeta became Mrs. Patel in fitting style. There was the prayer service on Friday with 100 of her closests, nearest and dearest friends and family (Indian buffet lunch served to Barak's delight). Then on Saturday morning, she did us all proud by stunning all 200+ guests in her beautiful red sari. She had her signature smile painted on her face the entire 2 hour ceremony. During the evening reception she looked equally as radiant and I had a wonderful time with some old college chums! I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to last to almost 1 am!

We came back on Monday the 25th, went to chemo on Wednesday and on Thursday got in the car for an 8 hour ride to Massachusetts. Barak had his annual Poli Sci meeting and I stayed with Sybil and crew in Plymouth. I'm shocked at how big the kids are getting. So smart and independent.

Round Six, Part Duex

2008-08-20T14:59:00.001-04:00

Good Afternoon All,
Today I had Taxol and Zometa (a bone strengthening drug). We were holding off on the Zometa during Rounds 4 & 5 due to an issue I was having with my gums. Dr. D (Barak is now officially referring to him as my "drug dealer") thought that the Zometa was causing my gums to be sore and bleed, but we've now established that it is a side effect of Avastin. This is good news as research shows that Zometa is a great drug for patients on chemo let alone those like me who have cancer in their bones.
The past week I've been feeling really strong and energetic. Barak and I have been to the pool several days this week and will go again this afternoon. I managed to swim laps one time for about 30 minutes (my first "workout" since being diagnosed).
On a side note, I wanted to go back to explaining the results of my scans a little bit further. Essentially, the "stable" report that the radiologist gave was good news. In order for a radiologist to report "change" from one scan to the next, there has to be a 25% or greater increase or decrease. Since the decrease wasn't substantial enough for the radiologist, Devlin explained that this is still good news as his assessment is, that at the very least, my liver is smaller (the tumors have shrinked more, just not as notably as the first scan) and the bones take an extremely long time to show healing on CT scans (calcification doesn't happen over a few months but rather several months to even a year). As for changing my treatment, the only other addition to the next three cycles that were missing from the last two is getting a white cell booster shot every week to keep them as high as possible so I can receive even more chemo.
We are leaving tomorrow for Vineeta's wedding in Anaheim. I am so excited! This is the highlight of my summer and I am so proud to be there to celebrate with her, Nimesh and their family. I will be reunited with some of the family members I met when I was traveling through India too! I'm not sure who is coming, but we will see them at a prayer service and luncheon on Friday afternoon. It will also give me and Barak a chance to see people in Southern California that I love and adore which makes me extremely happy.
Off to the pool!
Zijian for now (goodbye in Chinese)!

Results

2008-08-13T14:14:00.003-04:00

Hi All,

This AM Devlin told me good news. My scans showed that I'm stable. No new growths, and no significant improvements. This is probably due to the fact that I only got about 2/3 of the chemo treatment I had when I started. He wants to review the scans himself since there wasn't anything too specific said about any of the areas.

More later!

Waiting!

2008-08-12T14:56:00.002-04:00

Still waiting on the results. Hopefully we'll get them when we see Devlin tomorrow AM for the start of round 6!

Scans

2008-08-06T11:20:00.001-04:00

I'm going in for a MRI of my brain today and CT scan of my midsection tomorrow. My oncologist, John Devlin, is pretty good about calling me if he gets the results before my next appointment which is a week from today. Wish me luck!

Round 5 is over!

2008-07-31T10:53:00.002-04:00

Hi All,

Just a quick update about chemo yesterday. I passed my blood cell tests - ie. my white blood cell count was high enough to tolerate the chemo in addition to Avastan, my biological warfare drug. So we'll go into the scans next week knowing I was fully loaded!

Love ya,
C

The Latest, Really

2008-07-29T11:31:00.002-04:00

As most who will be checking the blog know, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer on March 17, 2008. After a week in the hospital, it was determined that I had cancer in my left breast, lymph nodes, spine, liver and lungs. The treatment . . . a shit load of chemotherapy! My two-month scan results were promising. All tumor sites had been reduced and the "spots" on my lungs disappeared. I've had three more "rounds" (4 week cycle with 3 treatments, 1 per week) and am scheduled for my second set of scans the first week of August.

In addition dealing with the issues of diagnosis, treatment, and the emotional side effects of all of this, my insurance company decided to start an investigation as to whether or not I fully disclosed all known medical conditions when I applied for coverage. What does this really translate to -- they won't pay any of my medical bills until they prove to themselves that I didn't KNOW I had MBC when I was issued the policy. I couldn't even guess what the total $$ amount is so far, but we have on the tab 1) 7 days in the hospital (including 1 night in the ICU when they were pretty sure I was going to have a fatal cardiac episode due to the hyper-concentration of calcium in my system); 2) 5 months of chemo; and 3) numerous exams, scans, biological warfare drugs to boost my white and red blood cell counts, and lab tests.

I didn't spend the entire past four months in denial, but I would say about 75% of the time I refused to look in the mirror at my bald head. I also came to the realization that writing anything down and talking constantly about all of this made it real. That's why, dear friends, I have a hard time calling and responding to emails. Cancer is an awful thing. It consumes your life. It takes away all the things you use to do that made you who you are.

About 6 weeks ago, I started believing that there was indeed a reason to get out of bed. I taught myself how to knit. Started a vegetable garden. Researching King Henry VIII wives (The Hapsburg's are to follow). Working on wedding presents for Vineeta. I live for Tuesdays. My most precious day of the week. The day before chemo. My "best" day.

My new hobbies are an attempt to fill my days with something more than Comcast on Demand. It's a work in progress.

I restarted this blog at the persistence of Barak, the urging of Sarah and the interest of Patrick (or at least his friend Kyle who read my blog before). Although the title and the description have changed, I'm not going to change the URL. As much as the name is reminiscent of a film starring a young girl named Debbie, it's important to me to keep the integrity of my travels in tact.

Love to you all!
Catherine

The Latest

2007-06-12T01:49:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't know, my international travels for 2007 aren't over just yet. On June 23rd, I'm headed back to Israel to reunite with my man. It will be nearly 7 months since we've seen each other. Barak has been an incredible sense of strength and love during the darkest moments of the past 10 months and I am so incredibly excited to see him.
I'll be helping him wrap-up the past year that he's spent in Israel and getting ready for setting up our new life and home outside of Philadelphia. On our way back to the US, we're stopping for about a week in the south of France to visit his brother Amit.

On August 7, we'll be back in the US, officially, and will begin the rat race to set up our home and our lives!

Saying Farewell to China

2007-06-12T01:36:00.000-04:00

Matt left to return to Shijiazhuang on Monday, May 7, and it left me a good three days to relax and reflect on my time in China. There was a wonderful feeling that came over me during my first week or so there. I felt a true sense of completeness. I knew that at this time in my life, I am meant to work in China, for the Chinese people. The ambiguity of where my career would take me in terms of my career feels settled. I know what I want, and I'm carving a way now to get there.
Needless to say, I was incredibly depressed during the last two weeks of my time there (and nearly cutting off my finger didn't make me feel any better about it). Although in my head I keep thinking that I should have devoted the past year to China, I know that making my trip more broad and spending time in 19 other countries really allowed me to challenge myself and force me to grow in ways that I never could have only living in a country where I speak the language.

It's quite emotional now to reflecting back on my experience. And as of today - June 11, 2006 - I have been "state-side" for a month. Luckily I've been at my parents' retreat in Chico and was lucky enough to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday metropolitan life. Last week I spent 4 days in Southern California visiting friends and now I'm back in Chico preparing for the next leg of this adventure called life.

The Great Wall - Simatai

2007-06-12T01:29:00.000-04:00

Day three was a trip to the Simatai section of the Great Wall. We tried to make it out there using our Chinese language skills and Lonely Planet knowledge of all the scams. We made it to one of Beijing's informal bus stations by 10am, but were told that we missed the last minibus (aka minivan) directly to Simatai, but we could get to Minyin (a smaller suburb of Beijing) and catch a taxi from there. For those people headed to China who don't speak Chinese, this was relatively simple. There was actually a group of volunteers at the bus station with a thick book of FAQ's and answers in English. AMAZING!!!
The bus ride took about 2 hours and then it was time to negotiate the rate to the Wall's visitor entrance. Matt and I decided to play good travelor/bad traveler where he translated my biding war with the driver so that he didn't have to seem like the bully. It was all working out fine until I slipped and started speaking to him in Chinese! Luckily, we had already negotiated the fee.

The day was quite beautiful for a hike up one of the modern world's greatest sites. There were relatively few tourists at this section of the wall (most go to Badaling, NE of Beijing). There was a HI hostel just inside the gates and a couple of overpriced places to eat. The climb up was relatively easy, but there is always the option to pay the $10 for the cable car up the mountain and walking down. We were true to the task at hand and slowly made our way up. We made plenty of stops along the way to marvel not only at the craftsmanship and history of the wall, but also at the beautiful nature that was surrounding us. Although the mountains are not nearly as majestic as the Himalayas, every mountain landscape I've had the privilege of seeing with my own eyes has been breath-taking, and this view was no exception.
This and other visitor sections of the Great Wall have been restored to some degree, so the authenticity of the experience is somewhat not as rustic as I would like. I'm not sure if I will take the plunge and try another section next summer when I go back to northern China to see my host family and watch the Olympics, but we shall see.

Touring Beijing

2007-05-27T17:18:00.000-04:00

In the week or so I had in Beijing, I managed to cover the basics. On our first day, Matt and I went to the Forbidden City, Wangfujing, and wandered around the lake district. The Forbidden City is huge. You could spend three days wandering through the emperor and his court's residences. Lucky for us, the Emperor's pad was closed down for renovations, so we didn't get the chance to see that, but we did wander through tons of other spaces that are currently being used to house some of China's National Museums. There are tons of art galleries with various different themes - classical and modern of course - and there is an exhibition hall that ironically had a huge display about Great Britain. I was crowded, but not more so than any other national monument on a weekend, so that was pleasing, and the weather was pleasant (a budding summer day with spring clouds and breezes).
After about 3 hours of the FC, we made our way over to WangFuJing (a city street name and major tourist area). Actually, on the way we were approached by several rickshaw drivers all offering overpriced transportation between the two destinations (about a 15 minute walk). One asked if we wanted a ride, after refusing, he offered to sell us a Rolex. Without saying anything by the word "No," Matt managed to talk him down from 100 yuan per watch to 10 yuan for 2. Hilarious.
WangFuJing is Beijing's version of LA's CityWalk, NYC's Time Square, the National Mall in DC, or Chicago's Loop. It's littered with tourists and cheesy overpriced stores. But it is home to one golden egg - Foreign Language Bookstore - where a hopeful Chinese Language Student cannot only find cheap books and study guides, but they also have tons of fiction and non fiction books in English. Being the nerds that we are, Matt and I spent about an hour wandering around inside.
On our second day in Beijing, we went for the more "light-hearted" activities. This means we went to the Beijing Zoo and Aquarium. Fun was had as we strolled around and looked at all the animals including a huge panda exhibit, and the great Aquarium and their dolphin and sea lion show.

The world's second most populated city

2007-05-10T22:03:00.000-04:00

Beijing

Because of my finger, I didn't end up heading out of Shijiazhuang until Thursday, May 3. From May 1 - 8 is "May Day Holiday" in China and it's the biggest travelling and shopping season. About 500,000,000 Chinese hit the roads, railways and air to explore their own country. The other 800,000,000 hit the shopping malls for incredible deals on everything. It's kind of like the Friday after Thanksgiving, but for 7 days (Mel, get your credit cards ready for this one).

I waited almost a week because I was lucky enough that one of the guys at my school - Matt - was also planning a trip to Beijing. He ended up being my personal porter at the train station! At any rate, he also bought us tickets on the new high speed train which gets to Beijing in 2 instead of 4 hours. Upon our arrival, we started on an adventure to find James' (one of the administrators at the school) Beijing apartment (gotta love free accomodations). Thursday afternoon/evening was a bust as we just walked around the neighborhood and watched DVDs until we both fell asleep.

Finger Delay

2007-05-10T21:57:00.000-04:00

Sydney Australia - Airport

Ok, so my last post was ages ago because . . . I nearly severed my finger in the door of my apartment. Long story short, I sliced it down to the bone. The best hospital in the province is only 2 blocks from my host family's apartment, so I was seen by a doctor and stitched up about an hour after it happened. I've got pictures - don't worry, the finger's wrapped and I'm sitting in a huge room with an IV, so no blood. I'll post them after I get home on Friday.

Still can't move it, and going to see the hand surgeon in Chico shortly after I get back. I knew I wouldn't get home with out a scratch, but almost losing a finger is a little ridiculous!

Trivia in China

2007-04-25T04:35:00.000-04:00

On Saturday night I was invited by some of my schoolmates - Matt, Joseph and Greg - to attend an evening of trivia at the only expat restaurant in Shijiazhuang - Christ's Church. Owned by a Belgium guy, this place apparently, only make money on Saturday nights when the 30 or so foreigners in town gather for some mindless fun. Besides me and my fellow Chinese language learners, there are a gaggle of English teachers in town. None of them speak any Chinese. Yours truly speaks more Chinese than they do, and I've only been here for 2 months.

At any rate, the game got underway at about 9:00pm. The first question - Name 5 Bond films staring Roger Moore. Where was Mel when I needed her most!

We didn't win - probably got 5th place out of 5 teams. But we had fun.

Our first field trip

2007-04-10T03:52:00.000-04:00

On Friday, April 6 my language school went on a short field trip. We went to the temple I had already visited with my family, out to see the pear blossoms, and to pick strawberries. The only exciting thing that happened was that our bus broke down and to compensate for the hour we had to wait, the tour guide bought us all ice cream.

Me and Zhou Zhou - my Chinese sister amongst the pear blossoms

Me crawling through the small door into the strawberry greenhouse.

My schoolmates, Matt and Greg (wo de tongxue) picking away!

My Chinese Family

2007-04-04T04:49:00.000-04:00

Here they are!

My Birthday - Shijiazhuang Style

2007-04-04T04:13:00.000-04:00

I celebrated my 26th birthday in simple style on Saturday, March 31, 2007. After a day of studying, my Chinese host family took me to a nice restaurant where I got my very favorite dish - kung pao chicken. Er-ren (the 3 yr old) behaved most of the time. There was a period where he kept poking me in the back, saying "ding dong. ding dong;" to which I replied, "wo bu shi men" (translation - I am not a door).

Here I am at their home cutting my birthday cake. It was quite tasty!

All things Chinese

2007-03-28T04:42:00.000-04:00

There are things that I love about life in China and things that I loathe. I love that no one can get angry at me when I do something wrong because I am a foreigner. I went to the train station to buy a ticket to Beijing. There were over 50 people in line. I walked up to the counter, shoved my elbow in front of someone (I learned about this technique in Israel, the only people just as rude as the Chinese), and promptly bought my ticket.
I loathe the pollution. Even during the windy days in Shijiazhuang, it is impossible to see that the sky is blue. You look up and all you see is brown-grey haze.
I love going home for a warm lunch every day. I wish that my break was a bit longer so that I could take a nap, but this works for me.
I loathe that people smoke everywhere. Today, there was a man smoking in the elevator. Gross.
I love the way they eat. It's not just the chopsticks, but the communal dishes that everyone plucks their food from. Each person usually has a dish of rice or rice porridge or soup of some sort, but then there are always 4 or 5 dishes that you eat out of during the meal. You can tell this is a first come first serve culture.
I loathe the over population. This makes everything incredibly difficult, from riding your bike on the streets, to finding a spot to park your bike, to getting a decent table at a restaurant, to finding a seat on the train. I don't think I've been anywhere in my travels where on every city block there is some sort of public school (elementary, junior middle, or senior middle school).
On the topic of food, I love the many varieties of tofu that are available. I think since I arrived, I've had at least 12 different preparations of one of my favorite foods. Today, it was in a soup with ginger, parsley and green onions. Unlike miso soup, tofu was the central ingredient. Amazing.

My life in Shijiazhuang

2007-03-28T04:14:00.000-04:00

It's been almost three weeks since I first landed in China. I was set up with my host family, who is great! My teacher, Dong, he goes by Tom, is also wonderful. I wake up every morning around 7:30am, sometimes earlier if my 3 year-old Chinese brother is up early and crying about going to preschool. He is very sweet, but as he is only a toddler, he throws temper tantrums quite frequently. My family provides me three square meals a day, and breakfast usually starts out with a hanbao (chinese hamburger - usually just eggs and onions) and a bowl of milk. Then I take the elevator downstairs from their apartment on the 22nd floor. I usually see 3 or 4 school children along the way. They always stare at me and giggle.
Then I find my borrowed bicycle and ride through the busy streets to my school building. Tom is usually about 5 minutes late, so I wait outside room 303 and review the lesson from the day before. Classes officially start at 8:30am and the lunch break starts at 11:30am. I go home for lunch, which is awesome. I love the break in the middle of the day. Not to mention having a great, hot Chinese meal cooked just for me. I head back to the classroom at 1:30pm and when I arrive Tom is usually asleep. His chief complaint is that someone put some sleeping pills in his meal. We speak Chinese for another hour or so before riding our bicycles to the program's main office where I check my email, chat with other students and eat some snacks before heading back home. Like an elementary school student, I practice writing my Chinese characters for about 2 or 3 hours before dinner. Dinner is usually a comedy. My host parents (Jiu Li and Chen) are trying to talk to me in ChinEnglish, only asking their 16 yr old to translate on occasion, while Didi, the 3 yr old, is going nuts over what he wants to eat and doesn't want to eat, changing the children's DVDs he watches constantly every 3 minutes, and the dog, PiaoPiao barking up a storm at everyone who is eating good food except for her.

I'm in bed by 10pm. It's hard work learning Chinese.

My first 12 hours in China

2007-03-07T01:22:00.000-05:00

I finally made it to Beijing on March 6th at 8:30pm. My 3 hour flight from Hong Kong was great and not only did I get an aisle seat, but there was no one next to me so I got to stretch out!

At the customs check, there was a young man holding up a sign with my name on it. He didn't introduce himself, he just said, "My English is bad. My aunt sent me to pick you up. You go to Shi Jiaz Huang?" He took me to the enormous Beijing West Train Station and put me on my 3 hour ride to my host city.

In my sleeper car with me were two Chinese business men on their way home from the capital. They knew I was incredibly nervous about missing my stop, so they tried their best to explain to me what was going on. Not expecting to be travelling on my own, I hadn't brushed up on my transportation vocab, so I was really a mess. My biggest problem is that I don't want to fill in the blanks of my words and phrases with English, so I fill them in with my other foreign language - Spanish. This does not help a young American woman who is traveling for the first time through China.

"Ivy" the owner of my language center was at the station when I arrived. She took me to the office and set me up with a room, but I was too excited to sleep. I just wanted to get out and see the city so badly! But eventually, I drifted off.

This morning - March 7 - I started my day at the Hebei Health Clinic. I apparently need a physical in order to live with a Chinese family. I had a blood test, urine sample, eye exam, ultrasound, eco cardiogram, and a chest x-ray. Then I went to get some noodles with my teacher.

I spent the rest of the day in the center, talking to both teachers and students. We have a really small program with only 10 students at the moment so it's lots of individual attention. Tonight I will spend another night in the office and hope that my physical results will come tomorrow and prove that I'm not HIV positive and therefore can live with a Chinese family.

Philly Here We Come

2007-03-07T01:19:00.000-05:00

Just a short post today. Barak got his official offer from Haverford College for a three-year appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Dept.

Looks like we'll be setting up shop in July so keep your weekends open for a visit!

Thy, my Khmer companion

2007-03-06T00:04:00.000-05:00

After a long nap, I emerged from my room refreshed and ready to learn about modern life in Cambodia. My friend from the night before, Thy and I made arrangements to meet up at 6pm and go get some traditional food. We went to the central market and had a great meal of fish and chicken soups. I learned quickly that for every Khmer life experience I had, Thy wanted a western one in return. Thus we ended up on Bar Street (yes, this indeed is the name of a street in Siem Reap) at a pool hall where we ended up meeting some great folks from around the globe and playing pool all night long.

The following day I explored Siem Reap on foot. I ventured into the fabric market and bought some raw silk for my mom and sisters. I wandered down the streets and into the residential neighborhoods to see what kinds of housing arrangements the urban people lived in. I also took a long rest at a cafe and enjoyed several cold beverages as it was about 85 degrees and humid as hell. My afternoon was spent avoiding small children selling all sorts of crap - mostly postcards, books and bracelets - and wandering the grounds of the Royal Palace.
That evening Thy and I met up again and this time we joined a couple we had met the night before for dinner and drinks. Then it was time for another taste of Khmer culture. This time Thy took me to a popular local disco. When I walked in, it reminded me of a 7th grade dance. Boys on one side, girls on the other. Groups of friends danced together and there is very little mingling between groups. I wasn't the only westerner there, but I was the only western woman. The western men were all there with their Khmer girlfriends. My favorite aspect of it were the "girly boys." A well known cultural group in Asian society of young men who dress and act feminine, but do not consider themselves homosexual. They were hilarious. They were actually friends of Thy and so impressed that he brought a western woman to the club.

In Khmer, as in most developing countries, relationships are based on wealth. Because westerners are the ultimate sign of wealth, to be seen with a westerner is one of the most impressive things a local can do. The minute we walked into the club, all of the people were starring at Thy and I. It was really bizarre. After a couple of minutes, I knew that this was the effect he was going for when he decided this is where he was going to take me that night.

We only stayed until about 1am and then it was time to go home. I had an early bus to catch to Phnom Penh the next day, and Thy had decided he was going to come with me and visit his friends and family back home.

The bus to Phnom Penh was long. There were several delays including the fender-bender accident we got into as we pulled out of the Siem Reap bus station. But at 7:30pm, we made it into the city and I found a super cheap guesthouse to spend the next 3 nights in. Thy and I had dinner by the riverside that night and made plans to visit the Killing Fields the next morning.

Visiting the Killing Fields was a mixed emotional experience. Although I felt great compassion and sadness seeing the 8,000 skulls housed in the white memorial pagoda, I was also incredibly angry when I left. It seems in this world, our governments will spend large amounts of money to build memorials for genocide victims, but they won't spend the money or political capital to stop it from happening. In 10 years from now, am I going to visit the Sudan's genocide memorial where thousands of visitors will write in the reflection book, please don't let this happen again? Why is it that we can all sit by and watch and not do anything to help the innocent people who are subject to such hatred and torture? Here I go again.

After spending the morning at the Killing Fields, I needed a bit of a break from the Khmer Rouge Regime history. Instead, we went to the National Museum and the Royal Palace. Both great places that remind you that countries are run by humans, they have horrid periods and magnificent ones.

The next day, I continued my Khmer Rouge tour and went to S-21. This prison camp was were the people murdered in the Killing Fields were jailed and tortured. There are amazing photos of the prisoners as well as some who worked for the regime at the prison. The exhibits are really amazing and eye opening. Hands down this was the most powerful place I have visited in the past 7 months.

The rest of my time in Phnom Penh, I spent with Thy. Asking him questions, riding around the city on the back of his moto, meeting his friends, etc. I was very lucky to be found by such a wonderful ambassador. He's working really hard to upgrade his status, but is really happy and content with what life has handed him so far.

The Glorious Angkor Wat

2007-03-05T23:33:00.000-05:00

Cambodia is an amazing country. It's one of my favorite developing countries. I loved every minute of it.

In terms of level of cleanliness, facilities, and general infrastructure, it reminded me of Nepal. The people are warm and friendly, most out to make money off the tourists, but also willing to help you in any way they can. The folks I talked with spoke both English and/or French in addition to their native Khmer. Most of them saw being fluent in English as their ticket out of the middle-class and into the Lexus-driving-business-running-upper-class.

Although my official first step in Cambodia was on February 4 for my flight to Kuala Lumpur, I didn't really see too much of the country at that point. I came back to Cambodia - flew into Siem Reap - on February 19. The line for immigration was horrid. It took over an hour to process the 120 people on my flight. But I made it through and got myself a driver to the city for $1. Moto drivers are big in Cambodia. It's the budget way to get around any city. The customary procedure is to schedule your visit to Angkor Wat with the man who provides you transportation to your accomodation. The drivers in Siem Reap have to buy a permit from the government and present their license at the gates to the architectural phenomenon. My driver and I decided that I should see Angkor Wat at sunrise, so he would pick me up at 5am the following day.

After a long nap and an easy walk around the city streets, I made my way back to my guesthouse. I was lounging around, talking to foreigners and locals when I met Thy. He's Khmer, from Phnom Penh and works as a driver while studying English at the Australian Center for Education (ACE). Thy and I had a long conversation about life in Cambodia and life in the US. We even spent about 2 hours working on his English homework. He told me that he would meet me after I came back from Angkor Wat and take me to some local places to see what Khmers really live like in Siem Reap.

Angkor Wat at 5am was mayhem. There were about 2,000 people with me for sunrise. You arrive in complete darkness. The guides shine weak flashlights along the bridge you must cross to get the main compound. Your body feels the stored heat in the murky moat water as you make your way. Once across, you enter the grounds through the small opening in the massive wall protecting the complex. There before you is Angkor Wat, the largest temple in this some 60 acres of religious sites built during the Angkor era. When you emerge from the gate in the wall, there is about 4 acres of land between you and the entrance to the temple. Scattered on both sides are much smaller altars and temples where the early birds have perched themselves and their camera tripods to get the picture of a lifetime - sunrise behind Angkor Wat.

At first, I joined them. I was sitting just to the left of the temple on the far side of a small lake with about 300 people drinking coffee and eating Khmer-French pastries sold for $3 a pop. But as the sun began to rise and dawn provided enough light to see the inconsistencies in the rock paths, I decided to ditch the crowds and explore the temple on my own. Knowing that any picture I could take would never be as good as a postcard's, I was one of the first 10 people inside the temple that day. It was quiet. No sounds of tourists snapping photos, or arguing with each other over who would take the photo and who would stand next to one of the millions (maybe even billions) of carvings of Buddha.

There are 7 levels. Social hierarchy determined the levels to which an individual was permitted to enter. The top level was admitted only high priests and kings. As I wandered through the narrow hallways and paths around Angkor Wat, I came across several Khmer Buddhist priests preparing their offering for the day at different worship sites. They are incredibly appreciative of those who bow in reverence. By watching others, I learned that Buddhist bow three times in quick succession towards the statue before lighting a stick of incense or leaving a monetary offering.

I wasn't alone for long. About 20 minutes into my experience, the masses started crowding in and I knew it was my que to move on to another temple. In total, I visited 6 temples in the area in about 8 hours. I was back home and asleep at 1pm. Next time, I will get a multi-day pass and go to some of the more remote temples, but for my first trip, an on my own, this was suffice.

Visa woes, Chinese New Year and a lot of karaoke

2007-02-19T05:32:00.000-05:00

After a four hour bus ride (it was supposed to be 2), I arrived back in KL. The following morning I made my way to the Chinese Embassy to pick up my passport. I decided to head on over to the US Embassy and get some extra pages added as mine only had one blank page. I was amazed at the crowd outside. There were at least 200 people lining the streets waiting to get in during the 2 hour window to process their visa applications. As a citizen, I just walked in. I even got the visitor's badge that didn't require me to have an escort. Surprisingly, the additional pages were free and inserted while I waited.
I got back to the guesthouse around 12pm, surfed the internet for a while before chatting it up with some people and watching a movie. I was in a dorm room, so it was much easier to meet new people and go out on the town during the past couple of days. I met some really nice girls from Canada. They had just come from Tanzania and had some great stories and picture (now it's on the "to do" list), two Dutch girls on their way home from a 6 month study abroad in Australia, two Brits on their way to Australia to work for a year, another British girl who has been living and working in Miami for 3 years but is travelling for about a year, and many others. Since I had a couple of days to kill in KL, I became a social butterfly and rallied to troops to go out and see the city at night.
Most of the bar around the guesthouse are for tourists - therefore beer costs about $10 a pint. The local bars, where it costs about $3 a pint, are all karaoke joints. And the Malaysians are pretty serious about their karaoke. I sang along to a lot of songs, but the only one where I actually held the mike was "We Are the World."
It wasn't a bad couple of days in KL, just not all that exciting. Chinese New Year celebrations were pretty mild, so no fun stories there.

Now I'm in Siem Reap. I'll be here until the 22nd. Tomorrow morning, I will rise at 5am to go to Angkor Wat to see the sun rise. Hope to get some good photos!

More Malaysia

2007-02-16T02:03:00.000-05:00

On the 12th, I came back to KL to process my visa for China. I left again on the 14th to explore the colonial town of Melaka (which used to be the home of the Dutch East India Co.). It's a popular tourist destination, and only 2 hours from KL, so I decided to give it a try.

The city itself is very western as well, but the population is less than 1 million people, so it is much smaller and more inviting than KL. My guesthouse was ready for my arrival and so I got to take a short rest before exploring the city.

On the afternoon of the 14th, I explored the colonial part of the city. First they were conquered by the Moguls from India, then the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and finally the British. Don't forget the great Chinese migration to Malaysia in the 1500s too!

It's amazing to see this mix of Indian and European architecture, customs and culture integrated in the city. The buildings, food, decorating styles, everything exhibits the multicultural influence of the town. It was breath taking.
I started out my adventure at the "People's Museum" to get a better understanding of the history of the city and then wandered through the Islamic Museum, St. Paul's church (built by the Portuguese), Church of Christ (built by the Dutch) and administrative centers (built by the Dutch but altered by the British). I had dinner at an Indonesian restaurant and hit the sack pretty early so that I could head out early and beat the heat the next day.

On the 15th I explored the Chinatown district of Melaka. It was quite funny to wander around this section of town. The Chinese took over the Portuguese area of the city, so there are all these Chinese shops and businesses located in Spanish style buildings.

After a quick lunch of rice chicken balls, it was time to head back to the guesthouse, collect my things and head back to KL to pick up my passport on Friday morning, the 16th.

Wonderful Wonderful Malaysia

2007-02-16T01:43:00.000-05:00

On February 5, I flew to KL (Kuala Lumpur). My friend Stefan (I met him in Istanbul) came to the airport to meet me. We spent the night catching up over cheap chinese food, and relatively cheap beer. The bar we found ended up being a karaoke bar. It wasn't packed with locals, but there were enough so that there were endless love songs in English and Chinese being sung until the wee hours of the morning.

Our first day in KL was spent site seeing. We went to the KL tower first and paid a whole 20 ringet (about $6) to go up to the observation tower and get a look around the city. KL is really a western city in the middle of south east asia. It's got high rises and banks everywhere. There are 3 metro systems and drivers actually obey the traffic signals. From there we walked to one of the many shopping malls for lunch and then over to the KL Twin Towers (they now boast them as the tallest "twin towers" in the world. There is a bridge connecting the two at the 20th floor. They are nice during the day, but are lite up at night. They are an amazing site. We then walked around Chinatown and it's major shopping street Petaling before crossing over to Little India for dinner. Exhausted from walking - the weather here is about 80 degrees and humid as hell - we opted for an early night.

Day 2 was spent exploring the colonial area of the city. We started off at Independence Square which is surrounding by both colonial (british) architecture and beautiful arabic inspired buildings. After a short stop at the National Mosque and a look at the old train station, we began an epic walk through the gardens and parks on the western side of the city. We walked past the bird park, orchid and hibiscus park, deer park, and swimming hole to reach the ASEAN sculpture garden and national monument honoring Malaysian soldiers who fought for nationhood nearly 50 years ago. A long walk back through Chinatown took us back to our hostel for a shower and a rest before dinner at another Indian restaurant and drinks at our favorite karaoke bar. They really wanted Stef to sing, but he declined graciously several times. During this visit to the bar, there were several female/male duets being sung. The female parts were sung by our bartender, a man with an incredibly high voice who seems very eager to be a part.

Day 3 in KL was spent trying to figure out what was next. Stef caught a bus to Singapore and I decided to meet up with Alicia (a potential IEP student) on the tropical island of Pulau Tioman off the eastern coast. I took a 6pm bus to Mersing (the port city), spent the night there in a questionable hotel (I got there at 12:30am, so I had to take the only thing that was open), and got on the ferry at 9:30am the following morning.

Pulau Tioman is actually the island in which they filmed the musical "South Pacific." It's a lush tropical paradise. There are only a couple of villages on the island and there is no road connecting the villages together so the only way to travel between them is by renting a speedboat. They may or may not be available during the season during low tide.

At anyrate. I met Alicia at a great little budget guesthouse where we had our own room with bathroom and air conditioning (YES!). We spent the next three days sunning ourselves, reading, talking with the locals, admiring the local animals. On the 11th, we decided to take a hike over to the eastern side of the island to the village of Juara. After 2 1/2 hours on a path, we made it to town. (I should mention that it is monsoon season here in Malaysia. Although there was little to no rain in KL during my stay, we did encounter a heavy downpour during our hike. Just another thing to add to the adventure!) Juara was deserted. There was only one guest staying there and the other 5 people milling around were from the other side of the island like us. The beach was magnificent. I couldn't keep myself out of the water. The South China Sea is green and warm and irresistible. Ahh, I would spend months there in a heartbeat!

The guidebook suggested that we head back before 4pm as the jungle tends to get dark much sooner. So we came back to Air Batang (ABC as it's known to the locals) and had showers, dinner and some internet time before heading to bed.

To be continued in a new post . . .

Sai Gon and the Mekong Delta

2007-02-08T19:21:00.000-05:00

After a long 12 hour layover in Delhi, I made my way to Ho Chi Minh City (or Sai Gon - "same same" as they say here). My first day there I explored the city and booked a 4 day trip on the Mekong Delta. It's an amazing city. Not only are there over 12 million motor bikes and scooters, but there are very few traffic lights and when there are, they are only a suggestion.
The city retains so much of it's French influence after nearly 100 years of colonialism. The city center is constructed like a European city with several traffic circles and parks. It was in one of the many green squares that I started being approached by young Vietnamese men. No they did not want my company at dinner, but rather, only wanted to use me for my native English skills. At one point, there were 5 of them sitting around listening to me. I felt like a guru.
I left on my Mekong Delta cruise on the morning of the 31 of January. The first day involved few activities (we went to an island where they made coconut candy via boat and had lunch) and then spent the afternoon travelling on the canals to my "homestay" with two Americans I met earlier in the day - Shuge and Amit. We expected to be dropped off at various family households and experience a night with the "real" people of the delta. We were sadly disappointed when we, all three of us, we dropped off at one location. It was basically a hostel on stilts. Our dorm room had canvas-sling beds and thin blankets. Food was included, so we had a decent meal of Elephant Ear Fish and rice before we were forced to bed due to the lack of electricity.
The following morning we went to the Cai Be floating market and went for a long bike ride through the small village towns on the island. After lunch I joined a new group of tourist and we made our way via bus and boat to Can Tho - the largest city in the Delta. My group was full of great people, mostly couples, but also a group of older (mid 40s to late 60s) Aussie men and another female solo traveller from Sweden.
Day 3 took us to the Can Tho floating market where hundreds of merchants and buyers congregate to buy and sell their goods. Most of the people involved live on their boats as well, so in addition to commerce, this is a grand social occasion. We spent the majority of the day in transit to Chau Doc, close to the Cambodian boarder.
We woke up early in the morning to visit a Buddhist temple built into a mountain (it also had a great view of the boarder). We then took 3 person row boats through a floating village, fish farm, and to the Muslim enclave of the delta. Once again we spent the rest of the day on the bus and boat on our way back to Sai Gon.
That night I was greeted by great news - Barak got a great (unofficial) offer from Haverford College outside of Philly. We're still keeping our fingers crossed that everything will work out well and that soon he will have an official offer from the dean.
The following day, February 4, I took a bus to Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh ( I would have taken one from Chau Doc if I knew I would have been so close). On the 5th I flew to Kuala Lumpur and met up with my friend Stefan, who I met earlier in my journey in Istanbul. More great stuff about Malaysia next time. Now I've gotta run and catch a speed boat!

Wrapping Up Nepal

2007-01-29T07:12:00.000-05:00

I was supposed to leave Pokhara on the 21st for my "three day" stay in Royal Chitwan National Park, but was delayed one day due to the bus strike. My extra day in Pokhara was spent wondering whether or not I would get out of there. I went to my favorite spots and no one I had chatted with before was there. I wandered around the lake, got various offers for tea and dal bhat, but was too stress to really enjoy the local hospitality. I went to bed anxious again, but at least the following morning when I woke up at 5:30am, my bus was scheduled to depart.
There were several weary travellers at the bus stop that morning. All of us slightly worried that we would board and drive only a couple of kilometers before the driver would stop the bus and get off.
We left about an hour late and at every check point all of the tourists would look around to see if something fishy was going on. When we arrived in Chitwan, the Jungle Safari Lodge had not sent anyone to come pick me up. I went to the local call booth and found a Chinese couple calling the same lodge. Wanlie and Zhulin are married, about 30 years old, and from Beijing. Not only did I have companions during my time in Chitwan, but they were Mandarin Chinese speakers and thrilled when I spoke with them.
The first afternoon/evening in Chitwan, one of the guides took us around the town and explained the culture and history of the native people. We also went to a culture show where they performed several dances.
The next morning the three of us woke up early for our full day in the park. It started out with a canoe ride down the river (which was at most 6 inches deep during this winter season). Then there was the formal jungle walk where we didn't (and didn't want to see) any wild animals. The morning wrapped up with a visit to the Elephant Breeding Center where we got to feed the baby elephants.
That afternoon we had the highlight of the stay - an Elephant Safari. The elephant picked us up at the lodge and then during our walk through town, we joined up with 7 others before entering the park. About 20 minutes into it, one of the guides spotted two rhinos so we circled them. It was quite scary to be on top of a trembling elephant while we were only a couple of feet away from the rhinos. We also saw deer, wild boor, crocodiles, monkeys and of course some birds. It was great to get on top of the elephant and enter the park in a more natural way than in a jeep.
The following morning I took the bus back to Kathmandu. In my day and a half there I wasn't able to get my transit visa for India due to the Independence Day celebrations. I thought I was screwed but it ended up being ok. I spent 12 hours in the Delhi airport. I met some interesting people and had lots of 10 rupee cups of tea and biscuits. The flight to Hong Kong went smoothly. I sat next to a young female professional golfer from India and got to watch "The Departed."
I had a lot of hiccups in Nepal, but I would still return. I'm sure it is much more exciting when you get to share the experience with others, but I feel there were certain moments that I needed to experience on my own and for that I am happy.

Pokhara - lakeside town and Maoist Country

2007-01-20T07:37:00.000-05:00

Dipak and I got on the 7am tourist bus to Pokhara. We had two short stops for breakfast and lunch before arriving in the city around 2pm. After a short rest, we starting our tour. The first stop was Devi's Falls and Cave where there was an ancient Hindu temple. Then a short boat ride on the lake to another Hindu temple to Sheba on an island. That was about all to see there so we finished up the day with some supply shopping and dinner.
That night at the hotel we had a bit of a problem. The guesthouse was over booked and they asked if Dipak could share a room with one of the other trekking guides staying there that night. He agreed and put his stuff in the room. While we were out, the other guide arrived, put his stuff in the room and left with the key. For those of you who don't know, in most developing countries, the hotels/guesthouses/hostels have only one key for each room meaning that there is no master key for the whole place. Dipak was locked out all night and requested that he sleep on the floor of my room. I was a little uncomfortable with this arrangement, but what could I do. Needless to say neither of us got any sleep that night and instead of starting the trek the following day we came up with an alternative plan to head up to Sarangkot (via taxi and trekking) and start the next morning from there.
Sarangkot is a small village about 1800 m above sea level. We stayed in a quaint family owned and operated guesthouse. I had a great conversation with the eldest son who managed the place about life in Nepal as a young adult.
One quick word about trekking in Nepal - this is not like hiking in any other country I have been in. Essentially trekking is walking on the mountain roads and pathways between villages in the mountains. Part of that means that you are walking on ancient roads and stairways and that there are tons of villages, guesthouses, and shops along the way; another part means that there is an incredible amount of donkey poop, trash, and Hindu and Buddhist temples along the way.
The next morning, Dipak and I set out on the first leg of our trek to Nayapol. It was about a 4 hour trek, mostly flat and I was happily surprised to see lots of schools (primary and secondary) along the way. Once in Nayapol, we started the harder part of the trek. Another 4 hours of climbing up stairs (slate stones sometimes fashioned into stairs, other times they are just sticking out of the ground so that the animals have some sort of traction as they ascend and descend). It was about 30 degrees at that the point that we reached Tikkadunga our stop for the night.
I wasn't too clear with Suman when we picked this particular route for my trek. This was an advanced/expert level trek. My athletic appearance was the reason why he suggested it, and I should have stepped in during the planning process and told him how out of shape I really was.
After the 200th stone stair the following morning, Dipak and I made an alternative plan. We ended up trekking back on the same path, at a much slower rate, and even trekked the distances we had previously taken by taxi and local intercity bus transport to make my total trek only 5 (much less painful) days instead of 6.
I arrived back in Pokhara yesterday afternoon. Dipak and I had our last couple of meals and a celebratory beer together before he departed early this morning to head back to Kathmandu.
Now I am spending my two extra days in Pokhara running errands, updating my blog, trying to upload photos (not too successful doing that) and still trying to chat with the locals about life.
In two days I will take a 5 hour bus ride to Chitwan National Park and start my jungle safari activities.
As for now, I'm bummed that I didn't get to go all out during my trek, but really happy that I am able to take a couple of slower days, collect my thoughts and be at peace and enjoy the wonderful countryside around me.

Nepal - "The North Face" Counterfeit Capital of the World

2007-01-20T07:23:00.000-05:00

Ok, now for some stories from Nepal.

On January 11th, I arrived at Kathmandu airport from Delhi. I was picked up by the owner of the guesthouse I booked on-line Raj. We arrived at the Kathmandu Peace Guesthouse around 5:30pm and at 6pm I met with the travel manager, Suman, over a small pot of steaming hot black tea (national drink of Nepal). Within an hour Suman had sketched out a great 14 day plan for my short stay in Nepal. My tour began with two days of site seeing in Kathmandu, followed by a day to travel to Pokhara (trekking capital of the western region) and 2 days of site seeing, 6 days trekking in the Annapurna region, 3 days in Chitwan National Park for an elephant safari, nature walk, and various other activities, then travel back to Kathmandu for two days of rest before flying back the Delhi.
Early the next morning I met with CB Kahn, my first guide, who took me to great landmarks of the Kathmandu Valley region. On the 12th we started with the famous Buddhist Monkey Temple, Boudhanath Stupa, the Hindu Pashupati Nath Temple where ritual cremations occur on a daily basis and Hanuman-dhoka Durbar Square. On the 13th we ventured outside Kathmandu to the cities of Patan and Bhaktapur where we saw a variety of great Buddhist and Hindu temple built by the great Malla king dynasty.
CB has been a trekking guide for about 9 years. He's incredibly knowledgeable about Nepal, but he was eager to get out of the city and take me on my trek. Due to the considerable amount of industry growth in Nepal over the past 20 years, there are various rules that trekking companies need to follow in order for the guides to be rotated and given a "fair" shot at the foreign money coming in. In short, he told me that if I requested him to Suman that he would be my guide for the trek, but in reality, when I met with Suman later that evening, he shot down my request before I could even utter it. I met my official trekking guide Dipak that night and the following morning at 6:30 am, we set out on our adventure.

Aarti and Mehesh's Wedding

2007-01-20T06:42:00.000-05:00

The wedding ceremonies and parties started officially on the 5th with a small, intimate engagement party for the families. I was still soaking up my alone time in Anjuna, so I didn't attend.
The afternoon of the 6th was the official arrival time of Aarti's family from all over the world. The family spent the day preparing for all the guests (around 100 from her side) at the Hotel Fidalgo in Panjim, Goa (main city in the center of the state). After everyone got settled, the Mahboobani family hosted a wonderful, and simple welcome dinner at a really fun restaurant - Sweet Chilli. The casual atmosphere was a great way for members of both sides of her family to meet and greet while enjoying great Goan food and watching some local entertainers on the outdoor stage.
On the 7th, there were two events - Mendhi and Sangeet. The Mendhi (henna tattoo time) was for the women only and started around 5pm. I was fortunate enough to borrow an Indian pants suit from Geeter, Aarti's cousin from the US. The low key event was held outdoors on one of the lawns of the Taj Fort Aguada Resort. There were four mendhi artists and all the women sat for at least a little bit of the ancient Indian art to be applied to their hands (both top and bottom). Traditionally the darker the mendhi, the more the groom will love the bride. Aarti had her's applied earlier in the day and was keeping the thicker layer on as long as she could. I only had mine applied to the tops of my hands so that I could enjoy all the wonderful snacks that were available.
At about 8:30pm the men arrived which signaled the end of the mendhi party and the beginning of the sangeet. As far as I could gather, the purpose of the sangeet was a night of entertainment and fun performed by the bride's side of the family and friends, but Mehesh's family and friends were present as well. Vineeta and the three other bridesmaids (Anjana, Vandana and Vibha) spent hours preparing a wonderful skit/dances telling the story of Aarti and Mehesh's courtship. Members of Aarti's family also performed dances to popular Bollywood movie tunes from the past year or so. The show lasted about 1 hour and afterwards, of course, there was more food and drink for everyone to enjoy.
The 8th was a pretty relaxing day. I went to the beauty salon and got my hair cut, finally, and had a manicure and pedicure; all done for about $30. I came back to the hotel and relaxed for a while before preparing for the Puja - Aarti's hindu blessing/prayer ceremony. The Puja signifies the last night the woman will be a part of her family so traditionally it is a very sad occasion. The clothing she wears during this event is either thrown in the ocean or donated to charity. This event was held at the Hotel Fidalgo, and of course, included a large Indian dinner and dancing afterwards. It didn't run too late as the wedding ceremony started at 11am the next morning.
Coaches from Panjim to the hotel in Fort Aguada started shuttling over guests around 12pm the following day. Unlike any other wedding I've been too, the ceremony started without the guests. Mehesh's family is Maharastran, so there was a simple ceremony from that sect first before the Sindhi ceremony began. It lasted about 3 hours total. The bride and groom's families are all seated on a rised platform/tent. The Hindu priest performs a varity of rituals signifying the giving and taking of the bride, blessing of the marriage, and so forth. During the ceremony, the guests chatter about, eat snacks (of course) and take photos from the ground of the couple and the families. This was located outside on another one of the lawns at the Fort Aguada Resort. I borrowed one of Vineeta's lengha's which happened to be a dark maroon silk, and was sweating like a pig from beginning to end. As I watched the rituals, I was quick to stand next to someone I knew to have them translate what was going on. It was really beautiful. Rich in tradition and emotion. Again, I was incredibly lucky to be able to take part.
At around 9pm, the family hosted a reception. Dinner, dancing and well wishes to the couple were all a part of this event. I went back to the hotel around midnight, but Vineeta and the girls stayed into the late hours of the night to say their final goodbyes to Aarti before she left to spend some time with her in-laws and go on her honeymoon in Europe.

Relaxing in Goa

2007-01-20T00:34:00.000-05:00

Vineeta and I left Ahmedabad on December 31st for Goa (small state in the south once a Portuguese colony and a big beach resort place for travelers from around the globe). We packed up our things and said our final goodbyes before Sunil took us to the airport.
We landed in Goa around 3pm and arrived at our hotel at 4pm. The ride from the airport to the hotel was about 1 hour. This third world paradise is a mixture of tropical plants and scenic water ways with poverty stricken people begging on the streets and anorexic cows eating trash along

the road. Not the most appetizing combination of things, but hey, it's India.
Our hotel was seculded as it was set back off the main highway and there were no other resorts in sight. The Marina Bay Beach resort was finished only in October 2006 and consisted of two buildings with 6 rooms each and a small restaurant. The owners were an odd couple (him - early 60s and British, her - late 30s and Malaysian), but friendly. Vineeta and I were pleased to find that the other girls we were meeting there were out for lunch and we were able to unpack and unwind before the New Years Eve mayhem began.
We decided to go to an outdoor club called Tito's. A group of about 15 of us loaded up in taxi's and drove to Baga Beach, the party headquarters of Goa. The outdoor atmosphere was really nice as we all danced 2006 away and welcomed 2007.
The next day was uneventful for me as I was experiencing the worst migraine of my life. The 20 degree temperature change between Ahmedabad and Goa didn't agree with me and I ended up spending New Years day in bed sick. I was really lucky to have Vineeta by my side taking care of me.
On the 2nd, I officially separated from the girls and acquired my own accommodations in Anjuna, about a 30 minute drive north of where Vineeta and the bridal party were staying for the next couple of days. This didn't prevent me from venturing out with them. We went down to the beach one day for water sports (jet ski, inner tube, banana boat - 6 people on a "banana" shaped floating device that is pulled by a power boat) and the infamous Anjuna flea market known for it's handcrafts and bargaining.
I did spend some time on my own in the small town known for it's beach party/drug scene. I treated myself to some spa treatments, sat in the sun and chatted with the locals, read and wrote in my journal, and prepared myself for the craziness that I knew would be the Indian Hindu Wedding.

Pictures - added in Malaysia - I know I'm slow!!!

More India from Nepal

2007-01-13T08:50:00.000-05:00

Hello all -

Here I am in Nepal, but still trying to catch up on my wonderful time in India. After returning to Delhi, doing some much needed shopping in which I purchased my very own lengha, Vineeta and I flew to Ahmedabad to visit more of her family. At the airport we were greeted by her cousin Chotu. At home waiting for us was his dad Uncle (because I can't remember his first name), his wife Preeti, son Madhav (age 7), brother Sunil, his wife Kiran, and their son Thramil (also 7). Our first full day, Uncle took us and the boys to Gandhi Ashram - the ashram where Gandhi started his nonviolent resistance movement. What an inspiring place! It was located on the banks of the river . . . can't remember it's name either; just a few simple buildings and manicured lawns. There was also a museum that told the story of the movement through photos and artifacts.
That night Chotu and Preeti took Vineeta, me and the boys to the Indian version of Medieval Times. This place was like a theme park restaurant with old Gujrati performers, craftsmen and traditional food. We all had lots of fun.
The next day Sunil and Kiran took us out to this really nice Hindu temple called Swaminarayan. A couple of years ago there was a Pakistani terrorist attack there. They took the visitors hostage and 22 people were killed and another 20 or so injured. The security is very tight and it was impossible to take photos.
The temple itself was set back quite far on the lot and the foreground was a beautiful garden and oddly enough, a couple of carnival rides which Vineeta and I enjoyed with the boys after our tour of the temple and the grounds.
That afternoon, we had one of the greatest experiences of our trip - the Gujrati Handicraft Market aka Law Garden Market. It was here that we did most of our souvenir shopping, but in order not to get charged too much, we concocted a plan. Vineeta and I would move ahead of Kiran and Sunil and browse the stands 2 or 3 down the line. If we saw something we wanted, Vineeta would sneak back to them and let them know. When they arrived at the appropriate stand, they would bargain for us, give us a sign when the price was decent and then we would come over and pay. It was so much fun. The plan worked brilliantly and before we knew it we had spent 2 hours and countless rupees on various crafts.
Our last day in Ahmedabad started off with another market, but this time it was fixed prices. Preeti and Chotu took us to the Tibetan Refugee Market which although it wasn't nearly as exciting and the products were not all that diverse, the fixed prices made it much less stressful. We spent the rest of the day with finishing up mall shopping for shoes and other things Vineeta and I needed for our Indian outfits for the wedding. We returned to the house around 7pm, had our mandatory Chai tea and biscuits, played with the boys and had a wonderful final dinner with the whole family.
I had an amazing time with Vineeta's family throughout my time in India. It was really a blessing that I got to spend so much time with one of my best friends and get to know real families so well. They were all so incredibly welcoming and made sure to let me know that I was welcome back at any time.

Some Photos

The Great Taj Mahal

Snuggling up with Nani

2007-01-04T04:20:00.000-05:00

I have to again apologize for the tardiness in posts. Since arriving in the middle of the night on December 20, I have been running around the country with Vineeta and her family. It's been an amazing experience thus far and I wouldn't change a thing.

We arrived at Vineeta's grandmother's house - by way of her cousin Avinash (a DELL service tech who goes by the alas Peter) around 3:30am. After a brief three hour rest, it was off to Agra with her dad to see her aunt Saroj, uncle and cousins. My first impressions of driving through the "countryside" between the two cities was not pleasant. I thought, ok, prepare yourself for culture shock. Immense poverty aside, the smell is by far the worst of all of the physical evils. Burning of all nonessentials fills the air with a putrid rancid odor that would make anyone sick to their stomach. The road to Agra is lined by some barren and some not so barren fields. Many poor people make their homes out of mud and straw along the highway. Children play in the filthy water, dirt or disheveled construction or deconstruction sites along the way.

We arrive at Saroj Massie's (aunt in Hindi) for lunch where the mandatory food consumption was no less than three helping of everything on the table. The food was quite excellent so for this, the first meal of several we would have there, it was able to fill my quota. We had a quiet afternoon of family talk and chai before heading out to a small hotel restaurant for dinner. The following day was special as Vineeta's 15-year old cousin Vineet took us up to the Taj Mahal. It is truly one of the most magnificent sites I have seen in my short 25 years. It was crowded with foreigners, NRI's (non resident indians) and locals alike on this particular day, but I managed to get a couple of good shots before heading back to the house. We were not able to go back during the night time or during a full moon to see the special properties of the pure white marble against an Indian night sky, but I still feel like I can now check it off the list.

We ended up spending a couple of extra days in Agra because Vineeta's dad got sick with food poisoning. We spent some time driving around the city and of course eating about ever hour on the hour. I got a lot of time to sit and chat with the boys about school and life in Agra which was really nice. We left on Christmas Eve to head back to Delhi for a couple of days. It was sad to leave the small city and the first home that I was welcomed in India behind, but I promised Saroj Massie that one day I would return with Vineeta and our children and she could really cook some wonderful feasts for us then.

British Airways' £406.31 mistake

2006-12-18T22:34:00.000-05:00

Still in London. Got bumped off my flight to Delhi. In a nice Hilton (of course it had to be a Hilton) hotel and now almost $800.00 richer. Vineeta was informed using the great chain of email and cell phone calls. Got to love technology.

Heading East

2006-12-18T09:30:00.000-05:00

Today I'm in London. I've got a 24 hour lay over between flights. Christie - my friend from Salzburg - let me stay in her house. It's a great ''flat'' just south of the Thames. The area Clapham is mostly residential and shops, bars, and other goodies are just a few blocks outside her door. London is cold - about 40 degrees. A real shock from the high 60 degree weather I was experiencing in Israel.

During my time alone here I'm starting to get more and more afraid of the next leg of my journey. Leaving Barak yesterday was so incredibly painful. He is my partner, my best friend, and the past two months with him have made me appreciate his presence in my life so much more.

Thankfully Vineeta and her dad will be waiting for me at the Delhi airport tomorrow morning. I will have more loving arms to embrace me for a little while and help rebuild my strength and confidence before moving on to Nepal, Vietnam and China on my own.

Shipping Out

2006-12-13T08:30:00.000-05:00

I have four days left in Israel and I can't believe that the two and a half months that I've spent here are over. Where has the time gone?!?!? I can't say that my Chinese is much better than it was when I got here. I spent my time in Europe studying a book that was actually Cantonese and not Mandarin, so that was a minor set back. On the other hand, it will help me out when I'm in Hong Kong on my way to Beijing.
What I can say is that Barak and I are in the best possible state we could be heading into 6 months of separation. Meeting his family and living with him in Tel Aviv was the best way for us to see if we love each other and whether or not we have a future. Sure the next phase will be difficult, but we're both happy that we made the effort to figure it out instead of giving up and going our separate ways.
His family is amazing. They are so loving and caring and have made me feel like a part of their clan (or should I say tribe) since I arrived. It would be hard to think that I would never see them again. I've loved exploring Tel Aviv on my own with long walks down the city streets, runs along the boardwalk and random conversations at the beach. Dispite all the media attention, the city is relatively calm (of course this comes from a girl who has never lived in a city of less than 3 million people).

As for the home sickness, I can't say that I miss the physical part of being in the US. I don't miss American food, traffic, rude people on the metro or folks talking on their cell phones every where they go. I do miss hearing my family and friends' voices, chats at coffee houses and bookstores, people watching at the Clarendon Marketplace, cheap beer and food at Froggy Bottom, and of course, Monday Nite Trivia at Four Courts!

I'll post some final photos of Israel later this week. My new digital camera came in the mail today, so I'll be spending this afternoon playing with it to figure it out.

On Sunday afternoon, I'll head to London for the night. I was lucky enough to meet a great girl in Salzburg who is letting me crash at her place for the night. Then Monday night I fly to Delhi. My great friend from UCSD, Vineeta will meet me at the airport and we will start our Indian adventure together.

Reno 911 Moment

2006-11-21T17:48:00.000-05:00

So I was just walking the streets of Tel Aviv with some of the many groceries I need to recreate Thanksgiving in the Middle East, when I saw two police motorcycles on the sidewalk (that's ok here). The male cop was talking with a middle age man, looking over his identification papers and the female cop was inspecting her bike. As I prepared myself to go around the spectacle, the female cop swung around. I looked up from the sidewalk and saw her. She was about 5 11', hair tied back, policeman's hat on, but the kicker was, she was sporting the worst pair of faux Chanel sunglasses. With her hands behind her back, she asked (I assume this because is was in Hebrew) for my identification. I responded by plucking my earbuds (attached to my iPod) from my ears and then dropped my jaw and uttered, "huh?" This time, in English, she asked again for some ID. There was absolutely no way I was going to take her seriously, so I said sure, handed her my shopping bags, and my new Tel Aviv traveler's map while I fished around for my VA Driver's license. When handed it to her, she barely looked at and then handed it back (the Israelis I consulted said that she probably saw that it was in English and knew that she didn't want to struggle to actually examine it).

Oh Tel Aviv

2006-11-16T15:28:00.000-05:00

Downtown Tel Aviv

The other night while alone in Barak's apartment while he's in the States, I heard police over their megaphone giving instructions to someone resisting arrest. After the third or fourth "announcement," a gun shot was fired. About 20 minutes later, traffic was normal on the street. This is the most exciting event I've experienced here. Too bad the Maoists aren't a threat anymore in Nepal. Where will I see some real action?!?!?

Me In J.C.'s Hometown

2006-11-16T15:17:00.000-05:00

So the other weekend, Barak and I made it out of Tel Aviv and Netanya to Nazareth and Akko. We drove through several other places, but after a long night of drinking celebrating his upcoming interview at MIT, we didn't leave as early as we expected.

So here are some photos of Nazareth and Akko (north of Haifa, but also on the bay).

Market in Nazareth

Inside the Basilica - Built on the site of ruins of four churches

The Basilica from the Town Square

Barak and me in the Ancient Acre of Akko

Three Very Long Days in Athens

2006-11-03T04:49:00.000-05:00

Don't get me wrong. Greece has some amazing sites, just not in Athens. The weather was pretty bad, so when I tried to leave, the agents at the bus station told me it was no use, anywhere I could get to and from in one day was experiencing the same crappy weather we were. So instead, I hung out a lot at the hostel with some serious partiers from Australia and New Zealand and met four people who either went to or are currently students at UCSD. Insane I know.

The Acropolis was about a 10 minute walk from my hostel. It was the most crowded site that I've been to since walking around the touristy part of Paris. I think there were over 500 people there the same time I was, hence all the folks in the photos below. It was cool to think about the power of one of the world's oldest civilizations while walking around the sites, but literally, once you've seen one column in Greece, you've seen them all.

I also tried to get to the Port of Piraeus, IPO people will appreciate this one, but once there, it was basically just another stinky fishing depot. Nothing too exciting there.

I have to applaud the Greeks on the metro system. It is quite amazing. Not only does it connect the huge metropolis that is Athens from end to end, but it is also the cleanest, most efficient and timely metro that I have ever experienced (Sorry Germany, they got you on this one).

Well, that's all. As you can see from the photos below there wasn't really much to it, but it was a trip that I had to take to get back on track with my RTW ticket, so I can't really complain too much. Next time I head to Greece, I'll be island hopping for sure.

Acropolis at night - from the roof of the hostel

Temple of Olympian Zeus

My First Week in Israel

2006-10-26T13:26:00.000-04:00

Well, I made it to Israel in one piece, without any trouble from passport control. My backpack made it to Tel Aviv in one piece as well. Barak was waiting for me right outside the baggage claim and we just made it on the train into the city to get into bed at around 4:30 am. The following day, Wednesday the 11th, we had lunch with his mom Varda, aunt Shula (who lives in NY), sister Inbal and her boyfriend Avner. It was an amazing meal and the company wasn't too bad either. Being nervous and only having 4 hours of any sort of quality sleep made me a little bit more on edge than I thought I would have been. But they all made an incredible effort to speak in English and help make me feel comfortable. That night after a nice long afternoon nap, Barak took me for my first walk through the city. The streets are really alive with young people meeting up and socializing where ever they see fit. I got a general orientation of the area before we headed back to his place. The following day, we made the trek to Netanya, Barak's hometown, where his parents still live. It was wonderful to be in his family's home. Again, the Mendelsohn crew made me feel so warm and welcome. After a big snack and smaller but still quite tasty supper, Barak showed me the night life of Netanya. We ended up at a bar that he frequented in his youth for the night. The scene wasn't much different than the US, there just a guy with a metal detector wand standing at the front door. We spent Friday during the day walking around Netanya's shopping district, running small errands and observing Netanyans enjoying their weekend. After another quick meal at his parents' we drove to see one of Barak's best friends since childhood, Asi, his wife Tzafi and their two boys (Yoav,3 and Yonatin, now 3 weeks). It was great to see Barak interact with someone he has known his entire life who is outside of the family. Asi and Tzafi are two of the most genuine people I have met in a long time. It was really nice to get the chance to meet and chat with them even though we were only there for a little over an hour. Then back to Barak's parents for dinner and then off to Tel Aviv to meet up with one of his former roommates who is stuck in her apartment with a broken leg. It was an intense first couple of days, but as the week started on Sunday, Barak went back to a normal work schedule at the university, and I got some time to explore Tel Aviv on my own. Spent most of it just wondering the streets and at the beach which is amazing. The water is so much warmer than either the Pacific or Atlantic oceans and it is so clear that you can see schools of fish swimming nearly to the shore. The sand is packed with Israelis and tourists alike baking in the Indian Summer sun. After just a couple of days, I had to pack some stuff up to catch a flight back to Athens for a technical RTW ticket issue. If I skipped my leg from Athens to Tel Aviv on the "One-World" alliance airline partner, the rest of my ticket would be cancelled. More about Athens next time.

Pictures of Barak's Apartment - 87 Allenby - Tel Aviv

The City that Spans Two Continents

2006-10-23T05:22:00.000-04:00

Istanbul is a must see for so many reasons. I been obsessed with going there for several years now to be in one of the most fascinating geographical locations on this planet. Anywho, I was really excited to get out of the comforts of Europe. I met an amazing group of people in my room at my hostel who made the trip even greater. Nick (another Aussie), Stef and Tim (Brits) and Claudia (Swiss) were a great bunch of companions who had so much travel advice to offer. They were all very laid back individuals longing to see as much of the world as they possibly can before getting caught up in settling down.
I was in and around Istanbul for almost a week before coming to Israel. My hostel was in Sultanahmet, the old part of the city, about 3 blocks away from the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. What was particularly amazing was the proximity to these places. There is a huge festival/market for Ramadan set up in the gardens between the two. About 200 vendors sell everything from yummy baklava, kebabs, falafel and other middle eastern varieties of food, scarves, jewelry, etc. There is even an open air theatre where they booked both traditional Turkish music artists and modern. Once the sun went down, that place was alive with a great array of Muslims from all over the Middle East and Europe. It was my favorite part of the city.
I also spent some time in the newer part of the city, across the bridge in Asia and down the Bosporus on the Prince's Islands, a vacation site for many wealthy Turks back in the early 1900s.

Here are some photos:

The Blue Mosque

Commercial Street on the Prince's Islands

My new friend Stef (right-green shirt) and me with host from good Turkish place near our hostel

Catching Up - Budapest

2006-10-15T05:45:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Sorry again for the delay, but here's my adventure highlights for Budapest.

I got to the Hungarian capital on Friday Sept 29. The hostel I stayed in was relatively small, only 30 beds and located in the 5th district of the Pest side. Pretty much right in the tourist center of the city. A guy I met in Bratislava was also staying in the same hostel so I had a buddy from the start. We met up with some British girls, Sarah and Gina, that evening for an interesting introduction to Budapest nightlife. We went to this bar, not too far from the hostel, with sawdust on the floor and a unique decorative pattern. The theme was centered around obtaining a push pin and tack anything you have on you to the walls, ceiling and posts. There were thousands of business cards, IDs, passports, bus passes, ect. all over the place. The entertainment was also a hoot. They had a karaoke set up, but there was no rotation. One, very attractive women, sat at the helm the entire time singing American and British pop songs. After a couple of rounds, we all had a great time laughing and talking with other travelers and locals.
The next couple of days were filled with typical site seeing mostly on the Pest side although I did get a long walk in around Buda on my last day.
I ended up finding another bike tour company. This time I was again with a local as well as two more British girls and two guys from Spain, one of them spoke English, the other just chain smoked for the 5 hours we were riding around. The first half of the tour was pretty standard, introduction to the city, mini history lesson, blah, blah, blah. The our guide, who never introduced himself, suggested that we stop a local market for some snacks. Snacks turned into four rounds of beer and some interesting fried pastry with cheese and sour cream. Needless to say, the last hour was interesting. I'm not sure how everyone managed successfully to navigate Budapest afternoon traffic, but we all returned to the bike shop in tact.
I absolutely loved Budapest. It was clean and charming. Each district has its own unique character. The people were incredibly friendly. Even on the train into the city, they had a tourist bureau representative coming around asking if anyone needed maps or directions to their accommodations or questions about the city. The bridges are amazing and the Danube is breath-taking. I did indulge in a mineral spa experience. Sitting around in a very large, luke-warm bath tub with several old Hungarian women was surprisingly relaxing. My $12 15-minute massage wasn't bad either. Another city on my list to visit again in the future.

Heroes' Square

Me touching the "golden pen" - like the blarney stone - this one has special powers. It is supposed to give me the gift of articulate writing. By the merits of this blog, I don't think it works, but I got to take a photo next to a funny looking statue of a monk. His importance: commissioned to write the history of Hungary.

Bratislava

2006-10-02T15:44:00.000-04:00

No catchy title, because it was a less then catchy city. Getting there was a bit of a headache as I had to go back through Vienna and get to a different train station, not to mention the weird people at the Bratislava station who try to convince you to stay in their homes.

Let's clarify one thing. I don't like scary movies, so before deciding to go to Bratislava, I had no idea that the horror film "Hostel" was set there. In fact, I learned about that in the hostel common room while posting my reports on Prague and Austria.

Well, like Prague most of the important historical things to see are located in the "Stare Mesto" or old town. There are a couple of churches, small museums, palaces and the like with tons of over priced cafes and ice cream shops in between. The government's done a good job of putting up directional signs in English and German to
direct travelers so finding things on one's own is not that difficult.

Most of my time in the city was spent at this one pub - 1 Slovak Pub, which is a student hangout. They even have specials on the menu for students who bring in "A" papers or exams. I actually saw this one happen. It's a pretty significant discount, a whole 50 cents, but when your meal costs 2.30, it counts. The first couple of times I went to the 1 Slovak by myself and quickly learned that Slovak men are not intimidated by the fact that neither of us speak the same language. Within minutes of sitting down, some guy would be at my table, drink in hand. I let them talk for about a minute or so before letting them know that I in fact was not a country woman and would not be partaking in their ritual. But unlike everywhere else in Europe, these men persisted and some even tried to use the waiters as translators. This is when the wedding ring I picked up in Chico becomes especially handy. I soon learned that putting my mug of beer to my lips and then holding up my left hand was the best defense.

After learning the sad fact of not being able to go to the cheapest and tastiest place in town alone, I started recruiting hostel goers to join me for a pint or 3. It became our own ritual and so most of my time ended up being with a group of regulars from the hostel with cheap and relatively tasteless Slovak beer and various dishes stuffed with potatoes and bacon.

Three days of drinking and saying my life story over and over again to new additions to the group, I left Bratislava rather underwhelmed, but glad that I went.

The Stunning Bratislava Castle

The Novy Most (New Bridge) over the Danube - designed by the Commies back in the '70s

Failed Foto Frenzy

2006-10-01T12:58:00.000-04:00

Tried again to upload photos with no avail. Here's a pic of me on the London Eye.

From the center of the Hapsburg Empire to the Hills of the Sound of Music

2006-09-29T04:14:00.000-04:00

Austria is a great country. Quiet, beautiful and full of various different activities. My first night in Vienna was less than productive as I got a migraine from forgetting to eat every four hours and had one hell of a time trying to get my laundry done in the hostel. I ended up meeting several people in the laundry room however who were terribly confused as to why I was there instead of pre-partying to go out. This is a conversation I rarely ever win with the hostel goers who are only on vacation to drink in foreign bars and clubs. But I was relentless and finished up my errands and returned to my quiet dorm room in an annex the hostel rents during the summer to take in the overflow. The next day, to no avail, I started off my time in Vienna with another bike tour. This one was almost a private one as there was only one other person with me and the guide. It was great to go around the city with an actual Austrian (although I still sing praises for my American and Australian tour guides in Paris and Berlin). She wasn't from Vienna, but could at least give me some historical perspectives from an insiders point of view. Vienna is absolutely beautiful. I think it is second to Paris as one of Europe's most breath-taking cities in that romantic and pristine image of beauty sense. The old palace and gardens are so well taken care of it was hard to find a piece of trash in them. The streets are all well taken care of without any major potholes for Catherine to lose control and flip over the handle bars of her bike in. I was quite impressed. There also happens to be excellent shopping throughout the city. After my personal bike tour, I returned to the hostel for a much needed shower and nap and then ventured out to find another cathedral on the map that we didn't get to on the tour. St. Charles Borromeo Cathedral (which also happens to be the same saint the church in Arlington I use to go to was named after) is a mix of baroque and other architectures. I have to say that it was at first quite odd looking, but then I started to appreciate the eclectic value the mixture brought. What was more interesting to me was the display outside the church. The Austrian government had decided to place an exhibit of about 150 bears decorated by artists from around the world (one for each participating country) around a pond outside the church. Some of the bears were just ok, like the one for the US was basically a big statue of liberty, but others had incredible designs on them. I took a couple of photos, so when I actually get to post some pictures you'll have to guess which countries they are. Not all countries were represented, even some bigger ones were left out, so that was kind of a bummer. But all in all it was cool. The following morning I left for Salzburg. It was a great train ride only momentarily interrupted by a chatty older American guy from South Tahoe who was disappointed that he couldn't get a place to stay in Munich due to Oktoberfest. On our way into town we started noticing some road blocks and police cars along some of the main roads. As it turned out, the world championships of road cycling happened to be taking place that afternoon, so many roads, bus and tram routes were blocked off. It was rather exciting to see it all from the comfort of the train, but it was absolutely no fun trying to negotiate the new traffic route in an attempt to make it to my hostel. I was lucky that on the final bus I had to get on there was an Australian guy also headed in the same direction so when the bus driver failed to let us know which stop we were supposed to get off at, I had some company in the middle of Austrian cow country while waiting for another bus to take us back into the city. The hostel was less than impressive and actually had several groups of middle school children staying in it. Screaming preteens was not what I was thinking when I planned two days in the quaint mountain city of Salzburg. I dropped off my things and set out to find some food. I returned to the main roadway and basically follow the crowds into what turned out to be the old part of the city. As I turned down the small cobblestone streets I noticed that a lot of the smaller cafes weren't open, but I continued to follow the crowds. After one last bend, I came upon Salzburg's version of Oktoberfest. Beer gardens, kiddy rides, entertainers and food vendors lined the streets and squares. It was quite a treat. I had no clue where I was but I was entertained. There wasn't much substantial food around, so I settle for a huge pretzel and beer and listened to a traditional Austrian band. Over taken by so much visual stimuli, I went back the hostel and figured that I could fill my hunger void with snacks I've been carrying along with me. But alas in the hostel I ended up meeting a very cute and energetic American from Irvin of all places. She had actually just recently transferred to the London office of her company and was taking some time off early to do some European site seeing. Meeting Christy was a Godsend because she actually motivated me to look for some real dinner food on a Sunday night in Europe which is almost impossible to find. After a bit of walking we found a nice cafe in the newer part of the city, had a great meal with some Stigel beer, and returned to the hostel for a decent night of sleep.
The next morning she invited me to join her and another girl she had met in Vienna out for some site seeing. It was during this trek that I realized that the carnival I went to the day before was actually in and around all of the major historical sites of Salzburg, including the big cathedral, Mozart's house and some of the cities best museums. When the question came up as to whether to go on a tour of the ice caves or continue roaming the streets of Salzburg and shop, we picked the option most American girls would: shopping. After some relatively productive ganders through some of the shops, we sat down for what I have deemed the best and most healthy meal I have eaten thus far on my trip. We ended up at this little Indian place in the newer part of the city. My special of the day plate consisted of three different kinds of vegetarian curry with a mound of basmatti rice. It was so simple, but so excellent. Ohh. I'm not sure any meal I will have in the next few weeks could top that. After our meal, we sat around for a while and chatted, which actually got us free dessert, and then parted ways for some afternoon errands before meeting up to see the only English language movie playing at the Salzburg film festival, "Breakfast on Pluto." For those who haven't heard of this film, it's a trannie movie. Yes folks, this film chronicles Patrick "Kitten" Braden and his quest to find his long lost mother who left their small town in Northern Ireland when he was a baby for the metropolis of London. Set in the 1970s this film is relatively happy but has some pretty intense moments of IRA historical fiction added in. But that was pretty much it for Austria. The next day I had to trek back through Vienna to get to Bratislava where I am now. More on that from Budapest. Off to catch my train!

Oh the Czech Republic (or is it Republiky?)

2006-09-26T16:37:00.000-04:00

Ok, first a disclaimer. I failed to post my revised itinerary. I had a slight issue with my flight from Budapest to Istanbul. Turns out that I booked it one week earlier than I thought, so I had to shave off some time in Europe. Forgive me if the dates aren't perfect but this is kind of what it all ended up looking like.

Sept 10-13: Paris
Sept 13-14: Cologne
Sept 14-18: Berlin
Sept 18-22: Prague
Sept 22-24: Vienna
Sept 24-26: Salzburg
Sept 26-29: Bratislava (I know, I know, you'll find out later why this one got it over Munich)
Sept 29-Oct 04: Budapest
Oct 04-10: Istanbul and maybe some other places in Turkey
Oct 11-18: Tel Aviv
Oct 19-22: Athens
Oct 22-Dec 18: Tel Aviv and various other places in the Middle East.

Ok. Now that that's all in the open, here's Prague.

Well, got into Prague after an interesting and again beautiful train ride down south through eastern Germany and northwestern Czech Rep with two German businessmen and another world traveler from Brazil. Got to my hostel and realized that they had put me in a room with 5 19 yr old British guys who were on a one-week holiday before heading back to Oxford for the year. For about the first hour I was there, they tried to get me to start playing drinking games with them. It was 4pm. Then as they got more drunk the most frequent words out of their mouths were, "Catherine, do girls like it when guys do . . . " (you fill in the blank). Then, when they realized that I wasn't going to hang out with them, they left, and I went off to find myself some dinner before hitting the sack before midnight. My first full day in Prague was great. I wandered around a little bit on my own, but the highlight was my personalized tour from Barak's friend from Cornell. Ondrej is a local and after he so eloquently asked me to meet him at the horse's ass of a particular statue, we had a great time touring the city. We walked for 5 or 6 or 7 hours with a coffee break and dinner to nourish us along the way. I had a great time. I gather he did too, or he was just too nice to tell me to stop talking and leave him alone. We'll see if a comment pops up to prove me wrong!
After hitting all of the major sites with my local tour guide, heading out on my own just didn't have that spark the second and third days there. I retraced some of Ondrej and my steps from the night before to take some day time photos and made my way somehow to the state theatre where I managed to score tickets to two shows - Cinderella, the ballet, and Madame Butterfly for each of my last two nights in the city for less than $50. Awesome. I ended up in a great box, first balcony, just right of the center. I know most people reading this really don't care about theatre, but it was great to be able to see two shows in Europe without killing my budget.
To be honest, I don't really remember what I did during the day time during my last day in Prague. I was probably too excited to see Madame Butterfly for the 3 or 4 or 5 time. But I know it wasn't too bad whatever it was I did. It will all come back to me when I see the date stamp on my photos.
Well, then it was off to Vienna. Got to the train station just in time and managed to find a seat next to an American couple from the DC area (Wheaton). The world is too small.
Seeing as I just left Austria today, I can't possibly keep my blog too up to date with my travels, so I'll have to sign off now and see you sometime in Budapest, or worse, Turkey! Cheers

German Hospitality

2006-09-23T10:55:00.000-04:00

Hi all, well, of course I'm in Vienna (posted in Bratislava) now, but it's time to talk about Cologne and Berlin. I was really only in Cologne for less than 24 hours so I can't really say much about it. After a sobering ride on the train back up through Brussels and across the boarder, I arrived in Cologne tired, smelly and slightly hung over. This called for a quick nap and lots and lots of water. After which I awoke to the sounds of one of my hostelmates. She was this cute young Canadian girl in Germany to teach English for a year in some town in the north. At any rate, she seemed normal enough to share a meal with and knew the area so she could navigate us somewhere better than the tourist places next to the cathedral, which is the only major building to survive WWII, and the plethora of kebab (or kebap) stands. We ended up at a relatively nice cafe by the river where we enjoyed some wiener schitzel and pomme frites. All in all it was a good meal, but the conversation was kind of strange. She was very eager to hear about my Catholic upbringing, because she wants to convert to Catholicism, and is a huge fan of Bush's foreign policy. When we got to the latter topic, I filled my mouth with fries. Needless to say, we returned to the hostel where I promptly got ready for bed!
My morning in Cologne was kicked off to the Lindt Chocolate Museum. Excellent facility. Not only did it have comprehensive English guides, but I received 4 samples of chocolate along the way. Totally worth my 3.50 euros. After that, I walked along the river, and back to the Cathedral for some photos opps, then it was off to catch my train to Berlin.
The trek across the middle of Germany was beautiful. I had a great time watching small towns pass by from my seat. I arrived in Berlin in the late afternoon and found my hostel with ease. It was called "David's Little Backpackers Hostels" in the western part of the city. When I walked in I thought I had entered one of those really cheesy Indian shops with cheap handicrafts from around asia plastered around the place. In the kitchen, which was really just a section of the common room/check-in area, there was a picture of "David" circa 1950 and it was encircled by tubes of various different colors of neon lights. The rest of the place had a very bohemian feel. Matresses were on the floor, simple bedding, and shower curtains separated the large bedroom into smaller sections. There was only one toilet and shower for all of the occupants to share, but this place was clean, staff was friendly, and I didn't see any spiders or other small insects, so I didn't really care.
One of the other major bennefits to this place was that there was an internet cafe around the corner and they only charged 0.80 per hour and allowed users access to the CPUs so I could potentially upload my photos. While we're on that note, I did try to upload my photos, but it was a nitemare which only ended after the third technician called to the internet cafe was able to remove my digital camera memory card from the computer. After potentially losing all of my photos from this trip, I think I'll be slightly more careful about chosing which machines I trust.
Anywho, Berlin is awesome. The culture of the city is driven by all of the events of the past 70+ years and the young adults who are working so hard to make the city their own. It's an amazing blend of motivations that create an incredible environment. It was really overwhelming. Well, I started my site seeing in Berlin with a long walk through the middle of the city, and then, you guessed it, another bike tour by the same guys I used in Paris. My guide in Berlin was great and conveyed the history of the city in a way that really made you understand how it has developed. The only drawback to this one was that I had to pay for the alcohol and that there were 20 australian kids along for the ride. They were very annoying in several different ways, but my guide, Randall, who also happened to be an Aussie, was amazing and made up for it. We had dinner in a beer garden in the Tiergarten, the major park in the west end of the city, and rode along the Spree at night with the lights of the parliament and other government buildings guiding our way. It was a great start to my time in the city.
My second full day in Berlin didn't start out great. I'm constantly fighting a cold, so I decided to take it slow. Walked around a great flea market and had a light lunch/dinner again in the Tiergarten. On my way back to the hostel, I ran into the manager, a greek guy named Adrien. He was headed to the movies and invited me to come along with him. We settled on "Friends with Money" and got a bite to eat at one of the many little cafes inside this huge Sony complex that hosts something like 30 movie theatres. It was great to see a movie filmed in LA. Saw a lot of places I remember well from my childhood on the west side since most of it was filmed in Santa Monica. Afterwards we walked through the former French occupied region and Adrien filled me in on his life story.
My third and final full day in Berlin started out with a great breakfast at a little cafe around the corner from my hostel, another flea market, a picnic in, you guessed it again, the Tiergarten, and a random walk through the city with Adrien. Another great, simple day on the road. I loved it.
Next it was off to Prague!

Ohhh Paris

2006-09-14T15:05:00.000-04:00

Paris was overwhelming from the start. I got there in the afternoon on Sunday for a brief, too brief, three nights stay at another insane hostel. This one had over 200 people staying in all sorts of rooms, but get this, they only had one key for each room. So who ever got there first, got the key and the last one to leave brought it down to the desk. Interesting concept of security . . .

Basically I was still a little sick when I got to Paris, so I took a little nap to rally for the night. Ended up meeting these two Irish girls and a German in my room who had me out sucking down bottles of wine in no time. What a surprise. Great fun. The next day I decided to get up early and go on a bike tour with a company I found a flyer for in Amsterdam. The Fat Tire Bikes Paris city tour started at 11am (sharp) and somehow, after leaving my hostel at 9:50 am, I was thoroughly stumped by the RER trains integrated in the Paris metro system and didn't get there until around 11:15 am. Luckily they were still there and I got to go on a 4 hour tour of Paris' most visited places. Unfortunatley, it being 20 degrees hotter in Paris than Rotterdam didn't agree with me, so instead of spending the rest of Monday at the Louvre, I slept off my heat-induced migrain in the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower. Went back to the hostel around 8:00 pm and again, ended up rallying for the Irish girls for a couple of hours of wine and cheese before heading to bed.

My second day was just as productive. I got up. Walked around the area near my hostel for two hours looking for Sacre Couer, which I never found, and ended up at another cafe for some journal writing, then back to the hostel for a shower before my second bike tour of Paris at night. This was a great tour. Not a lot of stopping to take photos, but we hit major sites and had some fun on their beach bikes. The highlight was a nite cruise on the Seine with a couple of glasses of wine. It was amazing to see the city at night. It was interesting to see the group get back on the bikes to take them back to the shop too.

Afterwords I was befriended by my tour guide, a fellow California, named River, who took me an awesome crepe place and then allowed me to hang out with his fellow tour guide friends while we had beers in front of the Effiel Tower . . . until 5:00 am. That was a good night. My train ride to Cologne was interesting to say the least, but that will have to go in the Germany post.

BTW - I found an internet cafe in Berlin that has the ability to upload my photos, so expect some pictures in your email boxes soon.

Random Animals in the Netherlands

2006-09-14T14:44:00.000-04:00

Hello all,

I know it's been a long, long time. No excuses. Here we go . . . The Netherlands.

So I arrived in Amsterdam on Saturday, September ?? . . . oh man it has been a long time since I updated this thing. OK. EasyJet, britian's budget airline, was 3 hours late in departing, and after spending 5 hours in London's Gatwick Airport getting my photo taken several times before I was able to go into the boarding area, I had little energy to roam the city. The next morning however, I ventured out into the wild canal guided streets of most young and liberal adults' city to orient myself. The only thing I kept noticing was that there was a plethera of stray, or seemingly stray, animals everywhere. They weren't necessarily gross, smelly or dirty, just all over the place. I had a grand day exploring the canals, a nice walk up to the train station to get a visitor's museum pass, and planned out the next couple of days in a great little cafe near my hostel.

Oh - my hostel. This place was interesting. Sixteen people in each room, two rooms on each floor, one bathroom. Yes people, 32 individuals shared one bathroom. You can only imagine how they tried to keep things sanitary.

There was one good thing about the hostel. No lockout. And since I brought a cold with me to the Netherlands, I was free to go to my bunk whenever I pleased. That was nice. I also met a Japanese girl and Brazilian guy who ended up becoming my drinking buddies in the city. They were cool too.

So Amsterdam was pretty chill. Went to 10 museums in 48 hours. Ended up in some amazing parks for some alone time to write in my journal. It was pretty good to me.

I wasn't able to get a hold of Annemieke, one of the wonderful young women who came to be au pairs for the Stringer children 20 odd years ago, so I went on to The Hague (or Den Haag) for a night. Called the political capital of the Netherlands, this place has basically one purpose and although I enjoyed my time there, I could have skipped it.

I did however decide to spend three days in Rotterdam which were awesome. Rotterdam's tag line is the "cultural capital" and is true to a "T." Loaded with small art galleries and private museum collections, this place was my ideal. Friendly folks, great outdoor markets, clean streets, great bridges, . . . I could go on and on. My favorite activity was watching a puppet show in the city center with a bunch of little kids. They were really just too cute.

So in the end, I loved the Netherlands. I'd go back without question. I'd go to the north too and some smaller towns with less than 500,000 people to see what that life is like too. Well, got to end this entry so I can talk about my 36 hours in Paris.

They Really Do Exist!

2006-09-05T12:24:00.000-04:00

I wasn't sure whether or not the Monty Python guys made it up or if British women actually possess the power to talk in an incredibly high pitch. This I discovered was a fact of nature at my hostel in London when a woman about 60 walked in and started speaking to her son(?). I couldn't keep my eyes and ears off her in total disbelief! It was amazing. It was such a thrill.
Well, on the whole, London was London. I got in around 12nn from my flight from Cork, took an express train to the main train station and the "tube" two stops to my hostel where I promptly crashed for a couple of hours before going to check out the neighborhood. I feel kind of silly because I ended up at a Borders bookstore about 5 blocks away. I enjoyed a huge cup of British Starbucks coffee with my Big Ben London guide until I was approached by a chatty Londoner who had his own opinions on what I should and shouldn't spend time on. I quickly retreated to my hostel where I met my roommates, an Italian named Guilia and a German, Franziska, and some others. We left for a pub about 20 minutes later and after starting to convert the amount we were spending in pound Sterling into our native currencies, left to go to the local grocery store and stock up on some cheap drinks. The rest of my days in London followed a similar pattern: rolling out of bed, checking out the sites, heading back to the hostel to my new little family and then some celebratory drinks. I went to Regent's Park, a beautifully landscaped park designed in the 1800s for London's upper class, Madame Tussauds, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye, Covent Gardens, Trafalger Square, Picadilly Circus, Tate Modern, Globe Theatre (where I saw "Antony and Cleopatra"), London Tower (my favorite), and some other more or less interesting places. By the time I left on Saturday I was $100 over budget and satisfied that although I didn't see half of the more interesting places, I covered the basics and that I can always return. Cheers!

Ireland in a Nut Shell

2006-08-27T06:19:00.000-04:00

Well, today is my last day in Ireland. Although it's a great country and I have a list of places to go when I return, I'm ready to push forward through my agenda. I came down here to Cork on Friday morning, through the absolutely beautiful Irish countryside. I instantly liked Cork. It's much smaller, cleaner and more charming than Dublin. Everyone is really nice. Asking for directions is not a problem, but understanding them is a different story. My hostel is on the north side of town, if you look at a good map you'll see that Cork is built on land divided by two strands of the same river. Some maps only show one branch which is incredibly confusing!!! It's pleasant, clean and there are actually solo travelers here, so that's a big plus.
Yesterday I went to Blarney Castle and ruins, Kinsale (small tourist trap fishing village) and Charles Fort, which apparently was the inspiration for the shape of the Pentagon. When I got home I met up with these (40s) women who were staying in my room. Both Americans from southern Florida, Dixie and Elliot were great friends who decided to rent a car and drive around Ireland for a week or so. They had incredible energy and invited me to come out to a pub with them. So off the three of us went with the addition of a sweet Canadian girl to find a happenin' place. Once at the pub we got some drinks and the fun started rolling. Some guy named Pauly (he pronounced it like Pooly) came and joined up with us along with a couple of Swiss. The pub closed at 12, but Pooly would have none of our going home, so we followed him to the central part of the city to a night club. Well, he was rejected from the first two that he tried to get into, but the third one - Bodega - saw that he was with four women, so they let him in. Let me tell you, no one in Ireland can dance. It was so funny. Out of the 50 people on the dance floor, only 4 of them, maybe could keep a beat. Greg could make a killing off teaching them how to do some killer moves. Greg, keep that in mind in case DC doesn't work out for you! It was nice though, no men trying to grab any part of skin possibly showing, much better than Adams Morgan or frankly, any other dance club I've been too. Afterwards we went to get some late night snacks and hit the sheets. Not a bad night. I only had 3 guinness and managed to have a blast. No shots this time which was also a plus.

This afternoon I spent the day walking around eastern Cork. So beautiful. I had the chance to walk around the grounds of University of Cork County, which is nearly as beautiful as UCSD. Ahh, it was amazing. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take as many photos as I wanted to because my battery died, but it was an amazing blend of natural beauty with modern and classic architecture. AHHH! Once again you'll have to wait for the photos because I don't have the right technological tools to get things up and running now. I've got to get more organized.

First Night

2006-08-23T04:48:00.000-04:00

Well, let's just say that after an 8 hour layover in Chicago that I more than made up for it in Guiness last night. After going through lots of emotions for the entire trip over here, and not being able to brush my teeth for almost 28 hours, I ended up on a pub crawl through some of Dublin's trendy bars with some locals and foreigners. I met these two Aussies, Gaza and Nick at my hostle. We started out with some Guiness at the famous Temple Bar whiskey joint, then went off to join up with a pub crawl group they had been hanging out with for the past two night. Turns out, said the pub crawl mistress Heather, that no one showed up at the meeting point and she lead us on a mini one of her own. We didn't have to pay and got free shots at the first three place. Man, I forgot about those shots until now. No wonder I'm drinking water like crazy this morning. Pictures soon to follow. Needless to say I missed my alarm, all three of them and am getting a later start than I wanted. I may just end up on one of those bus tours so I can sober up before trying to soak in the Irish culture. Cheers!

My Last Day in DC

2006-08-10T09:08:00.000-04:00

I woke up this morning to turn on the news and watch the war. I can't believe I put my boyfriend on a plane to a war zone. All I saw was snow. Figuring it was something I did because Greg's got more remotes than the entertainment wing of Best Buy, I got up, washed my face and brushed my teeth to really start the day.

What does one do during their last day in the city that contains so many sweet and sour moments? It's raining today. This much needed weather change will provide some relief to the residents of this muggy swamp we call our nation's capital. . . . There are the errands of course, the short list of friends I must drop by and bid final goodbyes to, but I'm still struggling to figure out if there's something I need to do, and if so, what, to close this chapter in my life.

Now, it's 1:01 am on Friday the 11th of August. My flight leaves in 6 hours and 15 minutes. The four or five or six bottles of wine have taken their toll and I am so happy that friends, old and new have come to say not only final words of wisdom, but also, made promises to see me along the way.

This LA girl is not one to have too many friends. I didn't have many in CA, but here, I've found a small and absolutely wonderful set of friends who I know I will be supported by for the rest of my life. For this I am eternally greatful. I feel like the most lucky women in the world to have won the affection of these individuals and for the next ten months or so, it will be their emails that keep my chin up when I am down.

I can now say, "See you later," to DC knowing full well that when I can get back the nation's capitol, I will have an amazing group of friends with open arms to receive me. Thank you to all of you have made my life so incredibly special over these past four years. You hold a space in my heart.

Brief Overview of Europe

2006-08-02T11:27:00.000-04:00

My first and only trip to middle-America's favorite continent came between my junior and senior years in high school. My parents were desperate to get me to explore options beyond school, club swimming and saying the prayer over the PA system at my Catholic high school. When the opportunity came to ship me off to Madrid, Spain for a couple of weeks, my mom fought tooth and nail to let me go. The result: well, since my parents will probably be reading this at some point before I leave, I reserve the right to withhold several details, but I came back to LA a bigger LA girl than when I left. My next jaunt is short and sweet, therefore it's also very limited. For all the Italians out there, I won't be getting to your homeland for various reasons, but the most prominent one is that I would actually really like to spend significant time in the country shaped like my favorite fall fashion accessory. And as you can see . . . I'm basically hitting the capitals and that's it.

August 22, 2006 - Dublin
August 25, 2006 - Cork
August 28, 2006 - London
September 02, 2006 - Amsterdam
September 10, 2006 - Paris
September 15, 2006 - Berlin
September 19, 2006 - Munich (only if I can get my friends Greg and Rob to head on over from DC for Octoberfest)
September 24, 2006 - Prague
October 04, 2006 - Budapest
October 10, 2006 - Istanbul
October 16, 2006 - Athens
October 21/22, 2006 - Flight from Athens to Tel Aviv

The Whole Shebang!

2006-08-02T11:00:00.000-04:00

Here are the boring basics, but they need to be said. I got my flights from the American Airlines Advantage miles my parents gave me for graduation. For a total of 100,000 airmiles, I could travel up to 20,000 real miles (ie miles between point-to-point cities). This itinerary adds up to 18,457 miles. All of the cities have to stay put, but I can change the date/time to any flight that may become available.

Leg 1 - Aug 21/22, 2006 San Francisco, CA to Dublin, Ireland (connection in Chicago)
Leg 2 - Oct 21/22, 2006 Athens, Greece to Tel Aviv, Israel (connect in Madrid)
Leg 3 - Dec 17/18, 2006 Tel Aviv, Israel to New Delhi, India (connect in London)
Leg 4 - Jan 28, 2007 New Delhi, India to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (connect in Hong Kong)
Leg 5 - Mar 03/04, 2007 Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to Beijing, China (connect in Hong Kong)
Leg 6 - May 25/26, 2007 Beijing, China to Sydney, Australia
Leg 7 - June 01/May 31, 2007 Sydney, Australia to San Francisco, CA (connection in Los Angeles)

Technically legs 6 and 7 are one ticket with a stop-over in Australia.

Once I get the chance to plan out each of the regions, I'll post them too.