at home in the world

all the reasons why

2012-02-09T17:54:00.000-08:00

eighteen years in the city of angels, or nuestra señora la reina de los angeles if you want to be complete and specific, was enough for me. i am proud that i was almost 4th generation los angelina (i say *almost* because my great grandfather was born in the ukraine, emigrated through ellis island and went straight to los angeles with his parents in the 1880's, living there 94 of his 96 years) but i had to get out.

the traffic, the superficiality of the people, the lifestyle. need i say more? it just wasn't who i was or what i was willing to live with and i recognized that early on. i wasn't interested in putting on some facade for the rest of my life. life's too short to live in a place where you can't be yourself. really.

so i moved.
and then i moved further.
and then i moved to other countries and even the other hemisphere before moving back to the u.s. and to the pacific northwest.
and despite a couple of trips backs to my hometown years ago, i have stayed away.

this video really gives you a good idea why.

que viva los ángeles, !pero bien lejos!

time to laugh or cry?

2012-02-08T18:56:00.001-08:00

with the state of education in the united states being what it is, you see more and more cartoons illustrating what teachers deal with day in and day out. still, there are those people who criticize the job teachers try to do, telling us that we shouldn't complain because we, "get summers off." i have words for people who make comments like that, but i will refrain from posting them here.

i don't know a lot of people who bring their work home with them, stay up late grading essays and projects and then spend the second of the two weekend days stressing about what they'll be teaching the following week. most teachers barely get a weekend each week, since grading and planning easily take up one (if not both!) of the weekend days. many of my colleagues barely have a social life, are considered veritable servants to parents and students alike, accessible 24/7 via email and voicemail, and are too exhausted to do anything after school on most days save drive themselves home and collapse.

we obviously don't do the job for the money or the glory or the parental backlash that is all too common as of late. what isn't all too common, unfortunately, is praise, appreciation, or just genuine recognition of a difficult job done well.... or at least attempted. my god, when i've gotten anything in the form of positive feedback recently, i've almost fallen over in surprise since it seems, sadly, so uncommon.

people are happy to provide unsolicited suggestions for how teachers can do their jobs better, even though they've never been trained in this field.
everyone under the sun seems to think teaching is a job anyone can do.
i beg to differ.
just check out the attrition rate for beginning teachers.

in the meantime, ponder these cartoons:

festival of texture

2012-02-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

if i tell you i don't knit, you might then ask why i was in seattle yarn this afternoon.

well, let's just say that i went in with a friend but found my own kind of entertainment after one walk through.

how phenomenal is it to see all kinds of colors, textures and lines as far as the eye can see?

of course i just wanted to touch it all, try out the skeins for softness and comparative thickness.
the irregularity of some, the rich color of others had me pretty entranced.

all i could think of all were all those shawls, scarves, sweaters, ponchos and other things lying in wait!

small scale art (pun intended)

2012-02-02T16:28:00.000-08:00

one of the frequent contributors and behind-the-scenes people on the west seattle blog, christopher boffoli, is currently showing his work at a gallery here in town. some of us in west seattle are already familiar with his whimsical sense of humor as has been posted online before but i thought i would take this opportunity (and i don't even know the guy!) to make a plug for checking out his work.
i mean, what's not to find humorous and endearing?

clamshell lovers

cupcake golfer

olive stuffers

asparagus painters

teacup divers

canoe au lait

popcorn tycoon

the following is what's written about him on the gallery website:

Northwest artist Christopher Boffoli combines miniature, hand-painted figurines from Germany with staged arrangements of food and beverages to create clever photographic vignettes. Inspired by an unusual combination of magazine food photography and the 18th century fable Gulliver’s Travels, Boffoli explores how inverting the proportions of people and their surroundings create unexpected points of interest. Often juxtaposing activities that would normally cause little notice with likewise ordinary food items, Boffoli instantly draws a curious eye to both. This reoccurring cultural fascination with shrinking people and then re-releasing them into their natural surrounding to create dramatically altered realities can also be found in movies like The Incredible Shrinking Woman, Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Fantastic Voyage.
Boffoli’s images portray witty, comical or sentimental gestures as the small, animated figures engaged in routine actions and interact with the comparatively mammoth displays of food. These creative scenes evoke an uncanny, albeit theatrically portrayed, likeness to the world at large.

Capturing a sense of humor found in everyday life, viewers are able to draw on personal experiences, memories or pastimes to further connect with each photograph. These quirky snapshots of people toiling in their own little worlds are revealed to be more than meets the eye.

Boffoli’s work has been shown throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. For more information, please contact Megan Des Jardins at (206) 652-5855.

get a passport, siri

2012-01-31T17:42:00.000-08:00

when i made the choice to get an iphone 4s in october, it wasn't because of the marketing for siri. in fact, that is one of the least impressive features on the phone since nine times out of ten she doesn't seem to understand what i am asking. and just so you know, i don't typically get told my north american west coast accent is thick or unintelligible! i got frustrated and stopped using it altogether.

cut to last night when i saw this video. i think it's a brilliant representation of what (or maybe it should be "how") siri does when faced with people from different parts of the globe. the upshot is that accents and dialects differ.

trust me, i am a language teacher and i spend all day explaining to my students how spanish sounds different from the northern part of the americas to the south and then once again as you cross the atlantic and find yourself in europe. if this video shows anything, it's that siri should have traveled before she got installed. she clearly lacks cultural competence.

and on that note, i was pretty upset to learn, after my purchase, that the iphone 4s came ready to be operated by german, french and english speakers but not by those millions of people in the world who speak spanish! a horrible assumption and racial bias almost seems implicit----does apple really believe that there aren't enough native spanish speakers with money that would buy their most recent launch?

i am disappointed but not unwilling to toss my iphone because of it. i'll just take my frustration out right here on my blog, for my friends, family and anyone who happens to stop by to read.

i do think, however, that apple could have done far, far better on launching a device that was geared towards spanish speakers as well as one with a personal assistant that was adept at deciphering linguistic variation across borders. they are so, so good at almost everything else they take on, this seems but a small thing to ask. shame on you, apple. really!

leaving land behind

2012-01-30T17:59:00.000-08:00

a couple of days ago, i mentioned the national geographic live! lecture series we have here in seattle. i even put a link to it for people who might be interested in seeing if there's one in their area.
tonight is the first lecture of the new season and it is entitled, "ocean soul."

when the 2012 brochure arrived in the mail, all i needed to see was the photo below to know i would be forking over $20+ dollars to hear the photographer talk about experiences such as this and to see other similar aquatic wonderments on the big screen.

being someone who has always loved the ocean and had dreams of becoming a marine biologist ( i got the undergraduate degree and even used my skills for a while before figuring it wasn't what i wanted to spend my life doing,) this topic was a no-brainer: of course i was going to go!

the ocean is a welcome distraction from our day to day world breathing oxygen and walking on land.
it brings many a sense of tranquility and wonder. though i am reminded all too often that the ocean has its fair share of serious problems, there's an intense beauty and array of colors that few people get a chance to see. even if you dive and have been fortunate enough to go to some of the more well known spots on the planet, these shots are simply magnificent!

i've included a few others from national geographic photographer brian skerry who presented tonight.
(i may have friends who think i am a good photographer, but not this good! don't i wish!!!)

lounge kitty

2012-01-29T14:58:00.000-08:00

my friend susan thinks i favor the canine breed and brush off felines i come in contact with, including my own. while i will acknowledge under my breath that i'm much more of a dog person, a cat i do have; and she is spoiled regardless of what susan says.

almost every night, the dog and i become the equivalent of her hot water bottle. she splays herself over either or both of us, purring and letting us know if we inconvenience her in the slightest. there's just something about the stand-off-ish nature of cats that makes me gravitate to dogs who don't mind being smothered with love and don't mind reciprocating that love right back at you.

radha was posed in such a demure way the other night, i couldn't resist.

meet ms. lounge kitty.

the dragon's here

2012-01-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

i have a handful of asian friends (mostly chinese) who have gotten me in the habit of paying attention to when the lunar new year begins. this year i was especially proud of myself because i even got organized enough to send cards to my acupuncturist who comes from a long line of artists and healers in mainland china as well as my malaysian chinese friends living in singapore. i also made a special effort to wish the visiting chinese teacher at our school a happy new year.

she came to my classroom today and presented me with the bowl below, complete with all kinds of things typically eaten during the celebration. i loved how the colors played off one another; the orange and green, the black of the sunflower seeds and the crystalline white of the candied moon melon which i was particularly excited about trying.

may the year of the dragon be kind, and even generous, to us all!

why seattle?

2012-01-26T06:09:00.000-08:00

when i was recently in santa cruz fawning over the weather and the beach, my friends asked me why i didn't consider moving back. why am i living in seattle if i hate the cold? a completely reasonable question answered by taking a look around seattle on a sunny day as well as the news out today:

aside from the nation's capital, seattle retained it's place as the second most literate city in the country and i'm drawn to smart folks. and smart folks we have here in droves. plus, we have an amazing library system and such a diverse array of cultural events, it's hard not to soak it all up as often as my schedule and finances will allow.

just a smattering of things i try to do that contribute, in my humble opinion, to this city's learned citizenry:

national geographic live!

seattle international film festival

seattle arts and lectures

town hall seattle

and probably one of the biggest reasons this city reads as much as it does?

this amazing bookstore

of course one could argue we see tons of film and read far too much because the gloomy grey skies and unrelenting rain drive us indoors, but then you enter the rabbit hole discussion of "what really came first?" and who wants to go there? i'm happy enough to know that i live in a city of inquisitive people who spend their time engaging in an activity i can wrap my mind around as well.

three weeks and counting

2012-01-25T20:45:00.000-08:00

i have no room to complain. we just had an unanticipated run of snow days that allowed for time off from school. believe me, we are making up for it this week, with all kinds of wonky schedule changes and people scrambling to get things done before the end of the semester, which also got affected by the white flakes that came down from the heavens and caused mayhem throughout not only the school but the entire city (see prior postings for mayhem illustrated.)

but that's not my point.
now that we're back in it, back in the throes of trying to teach, all i can set my sights on is three weeks down the road when mid winter break will be upon us and i will be heading back to puerto rico.

last year, i found myself there on a whim and i have to admit: i liked it.
i didn't think i would, but just setting up shop in one neighborhood, establishing a routine and then settling into it for a week was both relaxing and refreshing.

so this time around i plan to do the same thing.
my days might look something like this:

wake up
walk
eat
read
nap
read
drink
eat
hang out
sleep

(ok, maybe that's being overzealous! maybe i will only accomplish half of that!)

i will be staying here, which means these will be my everyday surroundings:

and if i end up doing nothing but walking to the beach and planting myself there for hours on end, i honestly won't feel guilty about disclosing that either. these next three weeks can't go quickly enough!

you try driving these hills in the snow

2012-01-20T16:30:00.000-08:00

it's easy to disparage people's driving. we all know it happens and that sometimes certain ethnicities become more of the focal point in jokes than others. but that's not where i am going with this.

it's hard to describe to people who have never lived in seattle just what havoc snow wreaks on a city that has hills as steep as san francisco and drivers that are transplants from almost anywhere but here. some people even go as far as to say that seattleites can't manage driving in the rain. i agree, coming from the land of the angels, where i was taught to merge onto the 101 fwy at 60 mph at the tender age of 15 with driver's permit in hand and dad at my side. i was negotiating those freeway interchanges in downtown l.a. like a pro before i was out of high school and i sometimes find myself yelling at people here in the northwest because they lack defensive driving skills and can't merge to save their lives.

but driving in the snow is entirely different. and i would argue that you need to know your limits.
even with the quintessential all wheel drive vehicle, i don't venture out of my own driveway when it's a sheet of ice four inches think and i live on a hill. i know when to shut up, go inside and wait it out.

that's why i was so entertained to read art thiel's ~~rant~~ commentary.
someone finally called the loud mouths out!

last romp before the thaw

2012-01-20T08:53:00.000-08:00

as temperatures start to rise and we thaw our way out of this three day snow-turned-ice storm, here's what makes a dog happy: to have frozen toys the size of soccer balls that you can chew on, pounce on and bat around one last time.

state of emergency

2012-01-19T16:35:00.000-08:00

our governor declared a state of emergency this morning, with most of the state covered in a combination of snow and ice. the seattle p-i online had this image from a shut down seatac airport where all three runways were iced over and no one was going anywhere fast:

it's definitely more treacherous to go out walking today. from an audible standpoint it's easy to differentiate why. 24 hours ago it was a fine powder that would give way when you could walked on it, that you could easily pick up with your hands and throw without inflicting harm. with extremely low temperatures overnight and a bout of freezing rain this morning, the snap-crackle-pop sounds now emanating underfoot are totally different. one's body weight is obviously crushing the layer of ice laid down atop the snow from days before.

as a result, we stuck close to home and practiced a little catch

and then busied ourselves with images from the immediate environment....

i have to admit it'll be a bit of a rough go if this ice doesn't go away with the rain that's supposed to show up and we're homebound into the weekend but we'll take it one day at a time. no one's going to go hungry or be cold. we just might die of boredom or cabin fever!

take this ride

2012-01-19T07:48:00.000-08:00

snow day number two.

all the snow from the past two days got covered by freezing rain last night so instead of powdery blankets of white we're now looking at sheets of ice. (sorry, but the bedding analogy just seemed apt.)

so it'll be another day of hanging out but don't read this as a complaint! it's times like these when i truly feel my real estate potential: i could buy a cave and go about my business for weeks on end without any human contact. at some point this will end and i will have to return to the normal day to day routine but for now, i quite like looking at the cold, quiet outside from the warm inside.

to give you a sense of what it's been like here and how people find their own entertainment with limited options, you really should take this ride that was the talk of the online chatter late yesterday. greg daly skied from the highest point in west seattle down to the beach with a video cam mounted to his helmet and i have to say, it was exhilarating just watching!

blanketed

2012-01-18T16:24:00.000-08:00

despite all warnings, we seem to have survived the climactic doom that had been forecast for the region.
though the snowfall in and around my immediate neighborhood wasn't nearly what had been expected, the three inch blanket of snow in the early morning was delightful.

first there was the hesitation

and after the initial assessment, it was all fun and frolicking

i even got into it and take credit for the carmen miranda-esque snow woman that materialized

the big question now is: are we staying home a second day?

snowpocalypse 2012?

2012-01-17T19:44:00.000-08:00

i suppose it's only right that we gear up for december 12, 2012 (what some believe is the end of the world, though it's really when the mayan calendar ends and a new cycle is slated to begin.) if such a huge cataclysmic event is really in our future, some practice sessions might be in order.

tomorrow, for example, the pacific northwest is scheduled to get dumped on by a storm supposedly bringing more snow than we've seen in years. cynics in the crowd have been preparing all day:

yeah, right. let's see it.
it's all a farce! we'll wake up to bare streets and snub those forecasters who got it wrong, a-g-a-i-n-!
the city's going to be shut down for days.
stock up on toilet paper and essentials 'cause no one's going anywhere fast in this town where steep hills and frozen snow don't play nice with each other.

all anyone can do is just wait and see but the current mayor's even chimed in after a fiasco a couple of years back that befell his predecessor. (places like boston and buffalo would surely laugh if they heard mayor nickels' take on salting the roads and using snow plows but that's in the past and we need to look ahead to tomorrow.)

the schools made the executive call late this afternoon to cancel classes and it seems as though the whole city is holding its breath while we watch the weather reports get tweaked to accommodate just about anything that could ~~might~~ happen. knowing that i don't have to wake up early and play the waiting game to find out if we have to pack up and head in to work, i am not going to be the least bit disappointed if i wake up to a whiteout. stay tuned.

the land that winter forgot

2012-01-16T15:31:00.000-08:00

before you read any further, let me make a confession.

i used to live here.

this is actually the state in which i was born (and the town in which i spent five years) but you wouldn't know it with the doe-eyed look i've had wandering around santa cruz, a land that winter has apparently forgotten. as i flew out of the pacific northwest two days ago, a snowstorm (ok, snowpocalypse, as we west seattleites like to refer to these "occassions") was scheduled to arrive...and indeed, it apparently has.

so when i rolled into town the other day and saw this

my first thought was, "these people have no idea winter is happening elsewhere."

i've seen friends, walked along the beach in the sunny but cold and crisp early mornings and taken hikes through the redwoods. it's made me a little weepy for those days when i was in college and everything seemed to revolve around one of two things: studying or having fun in the most carefree of ways possible.

but more than anything, it's just been surreal to get emails and texts from people at home telling me how much snow is on the ground and how horrible the commute has been when i am amidst the brillant colors and random beach culture images i've managed to capture.

as i've walked along west cliff the last two days, surrounded by images that you'd swear were from a full blown summer day, it's just difficult to grasp that all it took to get me out of the wintry long weekend my friends are enduring up north was the online purchase of a ticket, a 2 hr plane ride and animal care.

if nothing else but for the blue, blue skies and the breathtaking green of the woods, this trip reminded me that whatever winter throws at you, spring and summer are still happening at this very moment, somewhere. you just have to go find it.

prize chickens

2012-01-16T14:29:00.000-08:00

cindy and charlie have had chickens for a couple of years now and when i come down to visit, it's nice to see these animals roaming around and enjoying life like animals should.

on our way out for a walk yesterday, i was mesmerized by the robust, healthy state they are in.
and the irradescent nature of the colors in one chicken's plumage, in particular, led me to lag behind trying to get images to showcase these birds.

if all people who have backyard chicken coops had chickens as striking as these, we'd need state competitions or beauty pagents for the birds.

let's play a little word association

2012-01-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

so i'll give you a word (ok, two, but really a place) and you tell me the first word you think of.

santa cruz

if you're a surfer or skateboarder or know anything about central california coast culture, this would have been the thing that popped into your mind simply because it's emblazoned everywhere:

i suppose you could have thought food brands:

or maybe you're thinking, "where the hell IS santa cruz?!"

well, it's right here, of course.

but when i think of santa cruz, after the years i lived there while at ucsc, this is what i think of:

hot summer days on the boardwalk when we'd all stay far, far away from the main beach because it was covered with people who'd driven over hwy 17 for the day

natural bridges state park

riding through campus on my bike with views of the monterey bay and town below

weekend breakfast lines at zachary's

and the way pacific ave used to look (pre earthquake aka back in the day)

well, that's all changed. and i have come to terms, through the years, with the fact that the place i went to college has morphed into someplace else. it's ok. we all change, even places!

and this weekend i am headed back there to see some pretty special people.

i am excited to be able to be back in ol' stomping grounds, to see folks who have known me for years and who've loved and supported me through thick and thin. to be able to just take a break from my faced paced day to day life and breathe.

best in show

2012-01-09T19:30:00.000-08:00

though i am not the quintessential pacific northwest java junkie whose everyday is punctuated by drive-thru caffeine stops, premier coffeehouse electrical socket locations and qualitatively pleasing latte designs, i had an after school meeting today at a local starbucks. while at the counter talking to the cashier, the barista came over with my order in hand and took out his cell phone almost at the same time he plunked down my mocha. without my even asking, he offered up the reason: my order, as seen below, was the most aesthetically pleasing coffee he'd produced all day. so i figured that if he were proud enough to take a photo to document the accomplishment, i would advertise his coffee making prowess to the whole word.

only the finest from the land where starbucks was born!

travel with a purpose?

2012-01-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

the nytimes ran a very interesting article today on unesco recognition of various cultural and historic treasures across the globe. it was a nice balance of showing the perks local communities and governments get from encouraging/soliciting such a rating but it also didn't fall short of naming some of the pitfalls seen in some of the places that have claimed this international recognition.

it's an interesting thing to ponder: when traveling, how much of where you decide to go is dictated by personal interest or whim as opposed to a certain level of status potentially garnered by saying you have been to such a prestigious locale?

if you look at the list of unesco heritage sites around the world, you will see they are scattered far and wide, but those people who have been to more than a handful of them have probably either shelled out a lot of money to specifically target these destinations or perhaps coincidentally live locally enough to make it a feasible excursion.

i especially liked the fact that there is a person at unesco whose sole charge is "intangible culture heritage." i want a job like that.

though somewhat tangible, i would make sure things like tea time in india

and chia pets in the u.s.

and resaca (especially following multiple days of towns being in fiesta) in spanish speaking countries

and sunday bans on doing anything but sitting around the tanoa in fiji

all had their day in the sun.

what are you passionate about?

2012-01-04T17:51:00.000-08:00

when i think about what this blog is about, what i am about, the answer is pretty simple:

i am passionate about travel and culture and about appreciating the differences that exist across the globe. differences in geography, in language, in religion and beliefs, in foods, in music and in culture in general.

i try to transmit the love i have for these things to my students so that someday they will want to venture out into the world beyond the borders of the u.s. and see for themselves how cool the rest of the planet is. sure, people prefer to stay in their comfort zones; some like to luxuriate in resorts in other countries because they offer fancy amenities or recreational packages, but more often than not, the reason people stay at those types of places is because they don't speak the local language, they don't know a lot about the culture and while they may not outwardly admit it, they are scared. they are scared of being put in a position where they might have to speak to someone in a language they are not fluent in (well, here's some pleasant news: when you travel internationally, you come to learn that most people on the planet with the exception of most americans, embarrassingly enough, speak more than one language and usually one of the languages people speak is english. that might not be the case all of the time, but it puts into perspective how insular most people in the u.s. are and it also lets you see that if others try to speak more than one language, you, too can make the effort! go ahead, embarrass yourself! use hand signals, gestures, draw pictures and share a moment with someone you might not normally get to interact with! i dare you!) if travelers can get away with not having to interact with another person in another language, they might be forced to see something that emotionally assaults their senses. or experience an event in a different way than they are used to experiencing it. so some people stay home in the comfort of an environment they are used to. that's ok. travel is not for everyone. it makes some people emotionally uncomfortable or even sometimes physically uncomfortable. it pushes boundaries when sometimes you don't want those boundaries pushed but each and every travel experience results in immeasurable personal growth.

how often do you think about daily life on the other side of the globe? i do all the time. it really doesn't matter where i find myself: i am always conscious of what time it is somewhere else. when it's time for me to head to work, my friends who live in south east asia are winding down their day. when i get ready to go to bed, my friend in south africa is just arriving to work. when i want to call someone in the south pacific, i have to take into account it's already the next day there. how keyed in are you to what is going on outside your daily sphere of reality?

when we travel we are challenged to confront how others live, what they eat, how they spend their days, what possessions others have/make do with, what others believe and what they value. and then we can't help but make comparisons to our own lives. sometimes we become envious of others; other times we become more grateful of what we already have. regardless, it's all a lesson in the humility that is being called being human.

so if these things interest you, i would highly recommend you check out the amazing documentary that came out last year called life in a day which took thousands of solicited hours of video from around the globe and condensed it into a cinematic travelogue. i showed it to my advanced spanish class in december and an entire group of american high school students were mesmerized. they commented afterward that they *loved* it. and if that isn't a good enough endorsement, i don't know what is.

back to school we go

2012-01-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

as i was making food for the school week this afternoon, i got to thinking about going back to school in general. when i was a kid, it was always so exciting to go back to school at the end of the summer (yeah, i know i am a geek; while most kids lament the end of summer, i was busy geeking out on a slew of newly purchased school supplies i hauled my dad to the local drug store to pick out, some new school clothes and other assorted paraphernalia.)

i decided to stroll down memory lane, electronically speaking, by looking at what lunchbox options are available nowadays. i know that i just throw my food in whatever tupperware it fits in and shove it in my bag as i head out the door. but i couldn't help but recall all those cool (now retro) lunch boxes from star wars (yes, i just dated myself) to scooby do (in case you couldn't guess my age from the first clue) to josie and the pussycats (this last tidbit of info is surely only for the advanced reader!) that we carried with us until it got uncool to do so in about 7th grade.

so here's to returning to school tomorrow after the winter break and a smattering of lunch boxes i found online that called my name for one reason or another:

this is what happened when you were in elementary school around the time of the bicentennial

the classic tiffin from india almost completely unknown to people on this side of the ocean

(unless they are part of the hip, new movement that's started marketing these)

ah, the adorable/cutesy bento box options i saw all over japan!

and while we're on the subject, my favorite: hello kitty, 3d!!!!

and finally, wouldn't i be remiss to not include the greener, environmentally friendly lunch bag option?

(neoprene-infused smell included with purchase)

hello, 2012

2011-12-30T17:57:00.003-08:00

a new year!
new beginnings and plenty of opportunity for new adventures!

well, you can see that we're taking it all in stride.

we can hope for quality time, quality walks, quality food and travel and maybe even some things not so new thrown in for good measure?

here's hoping.

2011, in retrospect

2011-12-30T17:57:00.001-08:00

as 2011 draws to a close, i realize that as much as some parts of my life stayed the same (i worked at the same job, i walked the dog, i cooked like a fiend, i flew across the planet to feed my soul,) the overarching theme for the year, in retrospect, was apparently c-h-a-n-g-e. and i am the first to recognize that i am not good with many aspects of it, including the dreaded "transition" upon which change is predicated. i am a definite creature of habit who likes her routine but looks forward to mixing it up when i step foot on a plane and allow myself the freedom to take things as they come while traveling.

so the changes that did occur to my life here at home challenged me to accept them or at least try not to stress over them. this wasn't always so easily accomplished. i admit that in some cases i failed miserably. at other times, i might have succeeded but since i graduated summa cum laude from the school of self deprecation, i might not know how many gold stars i earned.

what i learned-and what i continue to work on- is that c-h-a-n-g-e doesn't necessarily have to be bad. in fact, if embraced, it can really afford lots of opportunities for personal and professional growth.

so rather than lamenting the tough year i would say it actually was, i will be grateful for the various circumstances that presented themselves to me. gracious hostess that i am, thanks for knocking on my door and staying for long enough to allow me to accept your presence in my day to day routine.

the best of banksy

2011-12-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

sometime early this year (or was it last?) there was a huge hulabaloo about the british artist banksy who is known for his public ~~displays~~ commentary on life as we know it. what really escalated his name into the media's forefront (not that his work hadn't been seen for years on walls and buildings in the uk and north america) was the controversial movie, "exit through the gift shop" which called into question what art is exactly and who can make it; or maybe more importantly, do we have to call people who make art "artists" even if they have yet to develop a following? and then it also challenged the viewers to question just who made the movie and who was the last one laughing as we exited through the theater's doors.

cut to this week when i came across the photo below in a slideshow that has been compiled of some of banksy's "best" work. the biting message just rings true for me during the holidays when people can't seem to get enough of anything. they must buy more, bestow more, ask (sometimes rhetorically) for more. and while i won't say that i am not a fan of living comfortably, people who know me know that i am just as comfortable in my modest house here in the states as i am roughing it in the developing world where i used to live (and still frequently travel to) and where people almost always have a smile on their face and are less encumbered by stress, life and possessions.

so, yes. ponder how you live and what you need, how much you already have and if you even need more. also who you spend your time with. it all matters, in the big picture as well as in the small.

christmas tunes reinvented

2011-12-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

as the festiveness of the holidays really ramps up in these last ~~days~~ hours leading up to christmas, people get even more harried: scampering here and there to get last minute shopping done with nary a minute to just enjoy the time off work or the chance to be with friends and family. as much as i plot to steer clear of such frenzied madness, i must admit my level of engagement when i saw this video as part of the holiday merriment campaign that get launched every year at this time.

in a perfect world, we could live in the '80's again and snoopy would rule the planet.

he plays a mean guitar!

if you do one thing before 2012 sets in, make sure to hang out with friends and turn the volume up really loud in the next few days.

the sun, the earth and my dog

2011-12-21T09:56:00.000-08:00

i guess if you have to put things in perspective, the earth rotating on its axis and the sun's importance in the solar system are both pretty big to our overall existence. but then when you add in my constant canine companion, it rounds out the whole thing in the most perfect of ways.

circuit board of bones

2011-12-20T15:50:00.000-08:00

i went for tea with a friend of mine the day before yesterday and she brought her daughter since school is out and she didn't have child care. as we chatted, her daughter went through the pile of games atop a shelf next to the couch we were sitting on in the tea shop. finding nothing that really attracted her attention, i suggested she take out the dominoes and i would show her how to play. once she got sufficiently bored with matching colors and numbers and walked away from them altogether, it was my turn to entertain myself. it ended up looking more like a circuit board than a bunch of dominoes.

the barefoot diva sings in heaven

2011-12-19T21:04:00.000-08:00

i was on my way home from having sushi with a friend just now when i heard the kexp d.j. announce that the next song he was playing was in honor of cesaria evora who passed away this last weekend.
i had not yet heard the news and was reminded of her shows here in seattle over the last decade or so, when she she'd stumble across the stage with bottle in hand, still belting out the lines of her wailful cape verdean music.

for those who have never heard any of her accomplished albums, i highly recommend you take a listen. she was the soul of an island nation that is far too often overlooked. as a matter of fact, she pretty much put modern cape verde on the map, especially after it became independent from portugal.

with this news, i have to think that our loss is heaven's gain because she probably didn't miss a beat, showing up up there with that well known smile across her face, her feet barefoot as she liked them to be and her heart ready to sing.

scenes from the couch

2011-12-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

yesterday was what i had been waiting for: a day in which i could have some serious couch time with the book i am currently unable to separate myself from.

every time i looked up, there was a different conglomeration of clouds passing by or sunlight streaming through them.

towards the end of the afternoon, it was obvious what time it was by the slant of the winter's sun.

good morning, seattle

2011-12-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

vacation time is here and unlike most times when i am not teaching, i am staying close to home so the next two weeks lie in front of me with lots of unscheduled hours to walk, read, cook, go to the gym and watch movies. my elation should be palpable.

on this first day of freedom, the dog walk happened early but it turned out that i was treated to such an amazing sunrise over the port of the seattle that it didn't matter that i had to have on three layers of fleece, a down jacket, cozy mittens and a wool hat. there were few people out at that hour save some pretty dedicated runners who were similarly dressed.

i get admonished pretty regularly for not being a night owl, for not being social after the bewitching hour of 8:55pm, but it's times like these when i realize i am fine not sharing the world with a ton of people. misanthrope i wouldn't entirely say i am, but certainly someone who guards her time and shares it sparingly. on this occasion with my dog.

imported from singapore

2011-12-11T11:30:00.001-08:00

trixie finally got to meet xochi last night and there was a lot of love and licking to document.

too bad they have to wait months to see each other again, but xochi's not going to singapore anytime soon and trixie has to go back home because 5th grade awaits.

western coast of north america treated to a lunar eclipse

2011-12-10T07:05:00.001-08:00

don't i wish i could have seen this from my house early this morning but i woke up to low clouds.

the credit goes to david hutchinson who took this from alki, down near the water on the tip of the west seattle peninsula, and originally posted on the west seattle blog.

they had been talking about where in the western u.s. it would be visible and that we here in the pacific northwest were situated in a perfect place if the weather cooperated. looks like it did, at least for a few minutes, though i wish i could have seen it in person instead of online.

if you weren't anywhere in the vicinity but would still like to geek-out a bit by listening to the related cyber-conversation and watching the eclipse live, who am i to stop you?

bleak (and blech!)

2011-12-08T17:19:00.001-08:00

when one of my former students walked into my classroom at lunch today, i had to ask her to stop, put the food down and stand back so i could take a photo of it.
she readily recognized (and sadly agreed) that it was visually unappealing but what is unfortunately the norm (can you imagine?) for what one can purchase at lunchtime in our school cafeteria.

i was so taken back by the monochromatic color palette and the sheer carbohydrate-heavy tray that my mind went immediately to the ever growing problem in this country of diabetes among adolescents.
if you don't believe me, just read this.

so, it's no wonder when i eat in my classroom and kids tell me that what i am eating looks and smells really good, that they're staring at the natural colors of the vegetables i have used and the smell of
r-e-a-l food, not something unrecognizable or devoid of nutritional value.

present and accounted for

2011-12-05T21:03:00.001-08:00

last night i couldn't resist taking a photo when i looked over the cover of the book i was reading and saw this on the other side.

all four legged housemates present and accounted for.
as a matter of fact, lying right on top of me.

a case of, "a gotta have one?" (or maybe not)

2011-12-01T17:27:00.001-08:00

a friend sent me this link last night and it just seemed that with the holidays approaching and people wanting to keep their houses clean for visitors, this might be relevant.

if nothing else, it made me laugh.

house cleaning gone wrong

three shades of a reindeer ('tis the season)

2011-11-28T19:23:00.001-08:00

when my parents are in town, my mom almost always insists we go to swanson's nursery to see the flowers and to visit their gift store. around this time of year, it's like driving into the eye of the storm because the parking lot is packed, the grounds are swarming with people and they bring in live animals for people (ok, let's be honest, and hopeful: for kids) to be photographed with. maybe these animals are meant to appease the kids who have been brought by their parents? [on that note, i swear, i was tortured as well as a child when my parents dragged us to nursery after nursery in the l.a. area. how can parents think that is fun for kids?!]

at any rate, i try to indulge my parents at this stage in their lives so in the hecticness of the thanksgiving holiday weekend, wedged in between black friday and cyber monday, yes, i drove to swanson's, where i proceeded to entertain myself by taking photos of the live reindeer while my mom shopped. you are lucky i didn't document the other furry creatures there for everyone's enjoyment: curley the camel and moe the miniature mule, both caged t-o-g-e-t-h-e-r and purporting to be "friends."

so i give you the same reindeer photographed through three different lenses/films on hipstamatic:

and since this is as good a time as any to muse about the season, why is it that people use the holidays as an excuse to do bizarre things like display reindeer and pose with men dressed up in red suits and white beards? i don't mean to go all scrooge-like; actually i'd just like to propose that people be kind and nice and remember their family and friends all year round rather than just at this time of year. when the presents are long unwrapped and either broken or discarded (or put far into the confines of a closet, unused,) what really matters is who you are the other 364 days of the year, how you treat people and what you do to better yourself and those around you.
ok, stepping off the soapbox now......

2011-11-27T07:50:00.001-08:00

at the end of the long thanksgiving holiday weekend, i needed a little more entertainment so off to the nail salon where i had had a pedicure scheduled and where i arranged for my mom to get a manicure. i have been to this place a handful of times before so the women all know me. the minute i introduced her as my mom, they took it from there. they gave her a lot of special attention since it's very much part of all asian cultures to revere the elders.

i finally had to reach for the camera because i was laughing so hard when she was sitting with the warming mitts on.

an hour later, the final product was apparently worth it.

i'd say the whole experience lent me enough laughs to make the day worthwhile.

look who showed up

2011-11-20T07:35:00.001-08:00

....and just in time for thanksgiving!

for those of you who don't know, in 2005 i walked the pilgrimage of santiago de compostela across the northern part of spain. one of my closest pilgrim buddies, keith, left this nailbrush with me as we parted ways and he left the city to return to his native south africa.

i brought the brush back to the states and it's been popping up off and on ever since.

it makes me smile just looking at it because it reminds me of the times we spent singing through the meseta or exchanging life stories as we walked the verdant landscape of galicia.

i may not always (or ever?) have grime under my fingernails but i can always use something that makes me remember good friends, especially those who are far, far away.

consider this posting a shout-out to those people in my life who are far away in terms of distance but always close to my heart.

latitude and longitude, courtesy of nature

2011-11-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

it's time for the seasons to change for those of us in the temperate regions of the globe.
whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere, something is happening around you.
either you are gearing up for warmer weather or you are hunkering down for the winter but have you stopped to take note of how things are changing; how they look, sound?

for us here in the continental u.s., this weekend marked the end of daylight savings time which means we woke up to a little more light this morning (yea! especially if you're like me and are up at the crack of dawn) but then tonight will come quicker than we've been used to for months (in the far northern parts of the u.s. sunset can come as soon as 4pm in the winter which makes for mighty short days but not as short as people have to deal with up in alaska and scandinavia or down in ushuaia, argentina!)

i am always stunned by the colors of the fall. it's one of my favorite times of the year because it's nature's way of saying, "hey, you! stop and take notice of the amazing array of colors all around!"

if you live near the tropics or the equator you don't experience this. i recall years of living in fiji and ecuador when sunrise and sunset happened at the same time of day, like clockwork. and there's a certain regularity to that that's offset by the amazing other things you get to witness that we don't have here in the temperate regions. we don't get huge thunderhead clouds floating in vast, bright blue skies. we don't have turquoise blue tropical waters and we tend not to have lush tropical rain forests teaming with wildlife. we have other things that make living in temperate zones unique, like the fall foliage, for example.

how can you not stop whatever you are doing to listen to nature and appreciate all that work that's going on behind the scenes?

of half a mind

2011-11-06T09:12:00.000-08:00

my mind's either been focused on events on this side of the globe that have required my attention in recent weeks or it's been foggy due to being congested and sick.

but i think i am getting back to being fully whole.

on that note, i came upon this image and reminded myself of the other half of my life (the other area of the world i seem to "half" live in) that still exists and calls to me from afar.

day of the dead, phase 2

2011-11-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

each year i marvel at what gets created in my classroom for day of the dead. i suppose i should pat myself on the back because i try very hard to instill in my students a curiosity in other cultures and ways of doing things but i can't do it all on my own. they have to help, be motivated to contribute, etc.

yesterday morning i was rewarded when a random sampling of my spanish 1, spanish 2 and spanish 3 students came in before school and couldn't believe their eyes. the south korean exchange student who's never seen this festival before was speechless before the altar. he couldn't believe that he went away friday and came back to what you see below by monday morning. other kids commented that it looked beautiful and they were really amazed by its final form. i think what makes them respond in this way is that i encourage them to be a part of the holiday; to contribute and bring recuerdos (things that remind them of the deceased) or ofrendas (offerings) for the dead. even if they come from different cultural or religious backgrounds, almost all are respectful of what they see before them and also seem quite proud to be part of a class that collectively created something so successful.

most students did an art project specifically dedicated to someone in their lives that has passed away. their individuals work is somewhere on the altar.

other students read articles relating to day of the dead if they felt that doing anything beyond that conflicted with their personal views.

some students also brought things that usually appear on all altars like candles, flowers or bread of the dead.

it's true: it takes a village.

day of the dead, phase 1

2011-10-31T19:16:00.000-07:00

years back, i met issac hernandez, a mexican artist who was showing his work at a georgetown loft open house. since then, he's pretty much single-handedly created the biggest and most successful day of the dead celebration in the greater metropolitan seattle area. his co-conspirtator, shawn roseman, is also to be applauded because it's really morphed into a fun time for all who attend, though it probably takes them weeks to recover from all the work they put into it!

there are craft areas where kids can decorate sugar skulls, create paper marigold flowers, produce lino- cut prints and also have their faces painted.

there are also simultaneous traditional dances going on in the stage area and various crafts for sale.

in addition, there's usually an art exhibit and a room full of different altars, some specific and some generalized.

it's become a tradition for me to go and encourage my students to partake as well. some even volunteer to work at the festival.

here are some of the images from yesterday.
(and if you are wondering about phase 2 of this post, that'll come tomorrow or the next day when i share what's been "cooking" in my classroom in terms of our own day of the dead altar, which many of you know i spend a ton of time preparing.)

even if you know nothing or very little about this great three day event that takes place in spanish speaking countries, i'd urge you to spend some time remembering and keeping close to your hearts those people in our lives who have physically left us and passed on to a different realm of existence.

issac's tapete for the festival

altar with the virgin of guadalupe overseeing all

same altar, only in color

different lens, different tone-complete with bread of the dead and sugar skulls

una calavera con fotos de muertos

altar decorations

to all of our loved ones, four legged and two: thank you for gracing us with your presence during these days. you are forever in our thoughts.

in the spirit of halloween

2011-10-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

juggling halloween and day of the dead is a tough one but the farmer's market helped me out this morning by offering up two great images, one sweet the other scary.

handmade carmel atop local honey crisp apples

bloodied hand reaching for the greens

genius

2011-10-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

when you've exhausted your own technological prowess and have a myriad of things that are just an inch outside your grasp, it's nice to know that there's a genius ready to help.

after wrestling with a couple of iprojects (i seem to be taking a lot of liberties with putting the letter i in front of words lately; hmmmmm, wonder why that is!) for the last couple of weeks and then trying to figure out icloud synching and other features on this new phone, i decided to throw in the towel and head to the local apple store for help.

little did i know that the store would be packed or that i would end up being there as long as i did.
i should say that it's pure genius (pun intended) to allow the apple-using public to make their own appointments online. having said that, i can say that what would usually be a 15 minute time slot turned into an almost four hour odyssey this afternoon.

was i frustrated? no.
was i worried? nope; actually never.
was i bored? again, no. i had my own personal genius, sarah, right there engaging in conversation with me, trying everything in her power to help me solve what we both thought were the easiest of problems (and yes, she knows she's part of this post.)

i had plenty of time to play with the new films and lenses i couldn't help myself from downloading from hipstamatic while she attempted to work through the kinks i brought to her.

so when it was all said and done, i walked out with all the issues fixed or my understanding about how to run things deepened as well as some pretty cool images of the frenetic environment inside the apple store. and it wasn't even the day after thanksgiving/first holiday shopping day of the year!

thanks again, sarah. you made a potentially annoying experience super pleasant.

close encounters of the natural (heart-stopping) kind

2011-10-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

this amazing photo comes from santa cruz, california which is a place i spent five years of my life and is still near and dear to my heart. santa cruz lies on the northern part of the central california coast's famed monterey bay where the aquarium has made a name for itself in terms of exquisite exhibits of local marine flora and fauna.

i am pretty sure this kayaker was impressed by the fauna he observed at an involuntarily close range!

as a matter of fact, i read that he actually had to *duck* to avoid being hit by the whale's tail fluke as it breached. talk about a one in a million chance of photographing something like this!

joe doe plays the tractor tavern, but easy st records in west seattle f-i-r-s-t!

2011-10-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

as someone who grew up in los angeles in the 70's and '80's, it would be impossible not to love bands like the blasters, x and los lobos. those are quintessential to that time period. as much as i discount my hometown as a place i would no longer live, i am right there telling everyone under the sun that it was the best place to grow up in and the best music scene a teenager could want to be a part of.

it definitely made me into the music lover i am today; along with a few select individuals whose musical tastes either complimented or expanded my own somewhere along the way.

so yesterday when easy st. records in the heart of the west seattle junction hosted john doe (formerly of x (http://xtheband.com/) and now out doing his own solo thang) for an in-store prior to his show at the tractor tavern later last night, i had to (*had to*) go. i mean, i think his song writing and the discs of x and the knitters that i have from back in the day got me through half of the stuff i endured before i was mid-way through my second decade of life.

he's older and toned down a bit. not as gruff, not as wild but refined in his own right. and he's still a wicked good musician. (one who had to stop in the middle of his short set to turn off his iphone which was vibrating in his shirt pocket. ah, the times have changed! that wouldn't have happened 25 years ago!)

how nice is it to have such talented individuals play in your own neighborhood (for free) all up close and personal?!

new app, new fascination

2011-10-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

amidst all the solicitations of my iphone-using friends, someone had recommended the hipstamatic app for my new phone and i have to say, i am obsessed with it. it seems so perfect that i can now treat my iphone like the holga camera i had and loved for years but which got left in india this summer after too much duct tape got put around its edges and too many rolls of 120 film went unused for too long.

now i can have all that creativity with this app and none of the wasted film or contact sheet expenditures.

my favorite image from today?

the bread for sale at the farmer's market

tongue in (spanish) cheek

2011-10-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

day in and day out i trudge through rain, snow and sleet (kinda sounds like the motto of the usps, doesn't it?) to arrive in my dark classroom at the crack of dawn.
what for? the kids. their learning. their betterment as world citizens.

and the thanks i get?

maybe one day i, too, will lose my job as a result of someone's patriotic stance.

still, i carry out my mission.
one child at a time, one conjugation at a time, one more bilingual person to counteract the stereotype of the monolingual u.s. idiot. see below.....

http://www.theonion.com/video/patriotic-teen-fails-spanish,19782/

approaching i-overload

2011-10-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

the decision was made and a new iphone 4s has been in my possession since last friday.

i don't tend to think of myself as tech-unsavvy but jeez, my head was about to explode this weekend with the myriad of things i have was introduced to. coming from the world of blackberry (rim, i hate to say it, but i think your days are ~~done~~ numbered,) this was a paradigm shift of epic proportions.

i mean, i now have a personal assistant named siri (if i want her,) icloud which will synch anything and everything on all of my devices and so many cool apps, i decided to limit myself to about 20 before going hog wild.

but the biggest thing requiring my attention was the wealth of information i had to wade through in order to know what i wanted the phone to do, how i wanted to configure some of its features and what i could possibly download to make my life even easier. i can hardly imagine i could want anything else. as a matter of fact, i have found myself almost paralyzed by the sheer amount of choices.

in the meantime, the phone rings, i can figure out where i'm supposed to be when, it's got a lovely full screen and is more touch sensitive than i ever imagined. plus, i'm now in the *in* i-crowd.

no regrets thus far. just a lot of learning to do and a lot of i-overload to avoid.

just call me alice

2011-10-08T15:34:00.000-07:00

i have no idea what making the decision to go with the iphone 4s would do in terms of sucking my time and energy away from the precious free time i had. i was lured to the apple side and pre-ordered my new phone on friday morning along with what i assume was a few hundred thousand if not million others across the country. (no numbers as of yet to see if apple's decision to release the 4s now is going to help or hurt them in terms of people deciding to take the plunge or going to something else entirely.)

and down the rabbit hole i went.

i spent over two hours online last night looking at the various options for cases. i mean, you wouldn't want to buy the dang thing and then not protect it, right? so i was bombarded with soft cases, hard cases, diy design cases, pre-fab gadgets that laid their claim on youtube or the individual websites themselves to be the best of the best. but what kept happening was that i would think i knew what i wanted and then something else appeared in front of my face winking longingly and distracting me from the last case i'd set my sights on.

i finally opted for something sleek but functional and with enough creative flair to make me stand apart from all those run of the mill case owners: the gasket. now if only the phone and the case would show up so i could start using them!

to iphone or not to iphone

2011-10-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

everyone has their take on which smartphone is best.
with the apple announcement earlier this week (and then the subsequent death of steve jobs) i think apple has had its share of publicity in the world market.

i had been waiting and waiting for the announcement because i think that i, like others, thought that it was what we'd all been waiting for: the iphone 5, teardrop-shaped and all brand spanking new in design and features. but alas and alack, it was the iphone 4s which i have to admit was a disappointment, regardless of whether siri comes with the package or not. i don't need a personal assistant but i do need to get this outdated rim trackball-stuck piece of shit out of my possession. (can you tell i am done with it?)
i need something else.

i have been waivering between apple and android and reading the pros and cons for months.
and i may have been swayed. do i join the rank and file and become one of those who sing the praises of the iphone or do i snub the apple empire and go my own way with a droid?

one could spend all night ruminating on the options.
and there's always going to be something new, something glitzier.
so i'm going to take the plunge within days and then i can look forward, regardless of final decision, to having to acclimate to a completely different interface. what awaits? an annoying few days of the learning curve, siri or not.

vs.

the options, the options......

preparing to honor the dead

2011-10-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

it's when the first days of october come into view that i start to gear up for what happens towards the end of the month: the tradition in spain and latin america of honoring the dead and inviting their spirits to come back to the land of the living for a short visit.

in my classroom, all kinds of contributions are made to the altar we construct and i encourage students to bring to the forefront of their lives, if only for a couple of days, those people who have passed on but whose memories we work hard to keep alive in our hearts. while some cultures would not dream of honoring the dead in this way, i find it a beautiful way to turn something that could be sad into a positive tribute.

and one of the things i most enjoy is seeing the new designs isaac hernandez comes up with for his annual tapete (http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2007/10/28/mexican-sand-painting-a-colorful-feature-of-seattle-center-day-of-the-dead-celebration/) which covers the floor of the center house at seattle center for two days of the day of the dead.

i don't think isaac gets enough kudos for the work he does each fall. from the organization of the event to the designing of t-shirts and the large tapete shown below, we are all treated to his amazing eye for color and form. so here's to what is soon to take shape. i know he'll wow us all.

go mobile: go chow

2011-10-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

yet again the 'hood makes news.

following the weekly sunday morning west seattle farmer's market there was a gastronomic feast of international persuasion http://themobilechowdown.com/ for any and all to enjoy.

once i'd finally found parking and starting walking up the two blocks of street that had been blocked off for the event, i took a look at the offerings and the lines 30 people deep waiting for food they'd ordered (or were just plain waiting to order) and i decided i wasn't willing to pass out from low blood sugar.

sometimes you have to switch up the game plan.

so first up was meyer lemon ice cream from parfait. always a winner.

then there was a long lag time during which i roamed from truck to truck trying to find something that didn't have pork, beef or chicken. there were a plethora of options for the carnivores in the crowd but not a lot else. some of the best known street food vehicles in the city made the journey across the bridge for our culinary enjoyment.

when it became evident that any place was going to necessitate a wait, i decided to go for broke: street donuts.

after a 30 minute wait, i had a recyclable cardboard bowl full of warm ginger-cardamom mini donuts.

but that got scarfed fast and i made the executive decision to make a bee-line for home where i could get real food without any more frustration or wait.

overall thoughts: mobile chowdown is a good idea but somehow some kinks have to be worked out.
if you have 5-6 hours to spend waiting in distinct lines for 30-40 minutes at a pop, then i guess you've got more patience than i do. i want the instant gratification of being able to order, pay, stuff my face and move on.

what the fall brings

2011-09-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

a short list, in no particular order, of the things this time of year boasts (or brings):

*blustery, cool weather

*shorter days/longer nights

*birthday season (between the first week of september and the first week of november, i literally know more than 15 people who celebrate their birthdays) and all the parties, cards, phone calls and festivities

*day of the dead

*a return, usually against our will, of teachers (and students) to the classroom

*an unusually hectic schedule of arts events (book readings and concerts) around town

*college football (go usc! ......that's for you, dad :))

*halloween and whatever is the best/funniest greeting card my mom can find to send

*diminished offerings at the weekly farmer's market (thankfully, at this point it's still going strong)

*a general sense of impending hunkered-downness for the months ahead

feeling proud of my 'hood

2011-09-21T20:28:00.000-07:00

after the summer's construction, the fences came down last week in north delridge and voila!

the delridge skate park is on the map.

it is sooooooo cool to see how much interest the project has drawn and to see how many people are there. on bmx bikes, on boards, or just watching with video cameras rolling.

it has completely captivated my attention and made me yearn to be 15 again.

i have actually contemplated buying a board and reliving my days in that famed valley two states to the south.

for now i am living vicariously because i don't think i can get in the bowl and shred it up as well as my mind's eye might have me believe. my biggest thrill has been to see some girls in there giving the boys (and old timers!) a run for their money.

finally a place to remind people skateboarding is not a crime.

witness protection program, here i come

2011-09-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

this past week at my place of employment (which i am choosing not to name but which many of you already know) was so horrific that i have been trying to figure out how to blog about it without being traumatized all over again or facing any recrimination. maybe i shouldn't care. maybe i shouldn't make an effort to scratch from the record the names of the guilty parties or try to change names to protect the innocent. maybe i won't name any names at all; it certainly doesn't change the story. some might say the system is the guilty party but then i am stupid enough to still be a part of it so i probably have no room to complain. maybe just room to blog.

i suppose i should just call a spade a spade and say what i've been thinking for a while now.

public education is so close to being dead that it is writhing around on the floor taking its final gasps of air while some of us stand around and watch in horror trying not to get sucked into the vacuum being created by the multitudinous asthmatic inhalations. this is where i hit my forehead over and over again saying to myself, "i should have left years ago. i should have left years ago."

but i didn't so here's what i'm dealing with:

from the time i got to work this past wednesday to the time i left, my world turned upside down and in addition i was ~~expected~~ told to be more "professional." the not so minor changes that administration chose to make "due to budget issues and keeping in mind what's best for students" included: the collapse of my two distinct spanish 3 classes during two different class periods into one, the cancellation of my advanced spanish 4 class, the exchange of one of my spanish 2 classes (in which i'd already bonded with the students and they with me) for another teacher's spanish 1 class as well as the creation of another spanish 1 class that was filled with students who had, until that day, no class whatsoever scheduled for that period and those kids who'd originally signed up for chinese 1 because this mastermind of a plan also included the cancellation of that class as well. when i questioned why then a week into school, why so many disruptions to my teaching schedule, why we couldn't look at other options to achieve the same goal of finding places for students but retaining upper level classes for college bound students, the person who sits in the big chair informed me that i need to be more professional because she heard reports from other people i was calling her names that start with "b" behind her back. at this point, i just stared back with mouth open. not that i wish i hadn't done it; i wish i had. but i hadn't. i take pride in my integrity and professionalism and was completely offended that she accused me of anything otherwise. it might have been more prudent to ask if what she'd heard was true rather than making assumptions about a person she's known for a year but whose name she can barely keep straight. on some days i am pat and on others kim. i am rarely joy.... or joyful at work for that matter.

so i have been picking up lots of pieces in the aftermath of this decision. switching classes, saying goodbye to kids with tears in their eyes who didn't want to leave and trying to entertain kids who didn't want spanish in the first place. and then trying to act professionally because i apparently need to be reminded to do that given the changes i've had to deal with from one minute to the next.

now that i've gone "public" and exposed just how functional my workplace is, how compassionate and supportive my co-workers are and how concerned my superiors are for my professional and emotional well being, i am thinking that a witness protection program might be my next best move. moving somewhere where spanish is spoken and where i can blend into the woodwork. where i won't be a pawn in a big game of fiscal russian roulette. where people don't feign concern with their hands tied behind their backs.

9-11 on the minds of most

2011-09-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

as it was with my parents' generation when jfk and mlk were assasinated, i think people my age will grow old talking about where they were when they heard the news or saw the twin towers fall with their own eyes.
i can picture it perfectly clear in my head.
it was before school, i happened to have the tv on in my classroom (what for? i can't remember and anyone who knows me knows i hardly ever w-a-t-c-h tv!) getting ready for first period and all of a sudden there's breaking news and all hell's breaking loose. breaking news that made everyone in this country sit up and take notice as it did almost everyone around the globe.

in the coming hours and days, it became almost an erie six degrees of separation assessment to see how many people it took you to talk to before you could trace their connections back to someone who'd lost a life that day or knew someone who had. a week later, or maybe two (because all i recall and i didn't even live in nyc at the time) was that for days and days there were lists upon lists of missing people posted on the streets and broadcast on the news, desperate people using any method of communication possible to locate friends and family who didn't come out of the rubble or arrive home that night or the next. and it was when they posted the flight manifests from the plane that hit the twin towers that i discovered that for me that degree of separation equaled zero. the librarian from my high school in l.a. had been vacationing with her husband, david angell, the screenwriter and creator of the tv show "cheers" in cape cod that summer. they got on the plane early that morning at logan airport, bound for l.a. they never arrived.

so on the 10th anniversary this sunday, people all over will stop and remember. i say that because the attack didn't just affect new yorkers or americans but everyone on the planet. our world and the world hasn't been the same since.

being on the west coast or in a different country didn't exclude you from feeling the loss. the loss of loved ones, the loss of what i feel was my country's far too naive innocence and far too myopic view of the heightened security we "enjoyed" while others lived in war zones and were terrorized most often *by* us and as a result of things *we'd* as a country done. i won't get too comfortable on a political soapbox because that's not the point of this post.

it's to stop and remember. to do something that honors the dead, honors the people who didn't think twice about doing their duty to respond and honors the countless number of totally innocent muslims and sikhs who have endured unfair stereotyping and persecution since 9/11 because of a last name, a turban or "questionable" behavior in a public place. we all suffered on that day and while we can't change the outcome, we can work to make things right or better.... or different.

this compilation http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/08/us/sept-11-reckoning/folk-art.html?hp#1 of tattoos and community art to commemorate the lives, remember the destruction and honor the hope that sprang forth as a result of our collective experience is pretty moving.

and if you ever questioned the role of art in our societies or lives, check out this amazing idea http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/clairerenaut/9-11-knit?ref=video and transformation of raw 9/11 information into sheer beauty.

indian summer always welcome

2011-09-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

having the travel schedule that i do, i always lament (and i use that word lightly, since i *choose* to be gone during the summer) that i never see a lot of the high temperatures and sunny days that usually end up being touted as some of the best weather days in the pacific northwest all year.

this summer it was all about the heat and humidity of the indian monsoon but i know that going in and i willingly make the tradeoff of missing out on views of mt. rainier silhouetted against a crystal clear sky and the blue, blue, blue of the water up against the sky once the sun's up high enough to play with the colors.

so i'm pretty elated to have had some nice weather this past week. and it looks like it's going to keep right on into next. no complaints from this woman. not at all. bring on the indian summer. i love the colors, the slant of the sun, the afternoons when i get out of school and the fact everyone's still holding those summer memories dear.

the problem with parents

2011-09-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

....is that they get in the teachers' way of educating the children.

i think the following article hits the nail on the head.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/06/living/teachers-want-to-tell-parents/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

so head's up parents: sit back and relax. or just take notice. we don't want to parent your children. we want you to do it. we'd just like you to trust us and support us and not come at us defending your children upside down and sideways.
that's it.
(apparently that's pretty tough.)

this makes 17

2011-09-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

when i got home today, from the first day i was mandated to work full time this school year, i found myself thinking, "here we go again....the onset of another school year."

and then i wondered just how many this makes it. i honestly haven't been keeping track but i *do* know that it's been years since i've seen or thought of some of the hundreds of students i've taught over the years.

even though i started teaching prior to being in seattle, as far as the retirement system and the school district see it, this will be year seventeen.

so i ruminated on seventeen. 1-7. one seven.
no matter how you slice or dice it, so many references.

seventeen magazine. http://www.seventeen.com/ what female who grows up in the us of a doesn't at some time find a copy in their hands? (if you're smart, you grow out of that phase and eschew the garbage printed therein.)

seventeen is the 7th prime number, in case you're mathematically inclined and that makes your day.

then i found the following bizarre list wikipedia has amassed for things that can be done once one's 17th year rolls around:

In the United Kingdom, the minimum driving age for a car or van.
In the United States, the age at which one may purchase M-rated video games according to ESRB ratings.
Also in some of the states in the United States, seventeen is the age of consent.
In most states of the United States and in the United Kingdom, the age at which you may donate blood.
In many countries and regions, the age at which one may obtain a driver's license.
In the United States, the age at which one may watch, rent or purchase R rated movies without parental consent according to the MPAA film rating system.
In the United States, the age at which one can enlist in the armed forces with parental permission.
At this age one can apply for a Private Pilot Licence (however the applicant can start training at 16).

the preferred reference to seventeen that popped into my head was one of my favorite songs off the cure album "seventeen seconds" that i think i wore the grooves out of in the 80's and still find myself listening to when i get in one of those moods.

so i'm hoping that by the time june 2012 rolls around and the school year that starts tomorrow is finished, it feels as if it went by in only a matter of seconds!

last days of summer

2011-09-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

labor day weekend arrives and i found myself ready to get out of town even though i had no excuse to want to flee. i suppose it was my body telling me that soon enough i will want to run fast in any direction except that which leads to school. so the plan to camp at deception pass that was made months ago came to fruition. and the weather cooperated, which is apparently nothing short of a miracle, given what grey skies and cold temperatures people endured here this summer.

looking up from our campsite

crazy, comfortable condo-like camping, courtesy of jacquelyn and gordon

the caption has to be, "can i have my snow cone back now?"

unbelievably contorted 850 yr old douglas fir (see info board below)

the perfect campsite shot

low stress afternoon stroll to the beach

jacquelyn attempts to toast her bread over the open fire. what a campfire girl!

xochi is loving this through-the-woods routine

have wine, will travel

those primal instincts hard at work

north beach in the early afternoon

2 and 4-legged mountain goats at the water's edge

guard dog of the campground

those last precious days before school starts

i'll make some post-it notes to hang up reminding me of this state of relaxation in the coming months.

to market, to market (for karin)

2011-08-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

i'm getting back into the swing of things and in terms of being home that means a weekly sunday morning visit to the farmer's market where there seems to be an explosion of color and flavor as the summer crop has finally, finally arrived.

it all looks so good when you've just come home from traveling that it's a bit difficult to resist buying one of everything but i managed to let the camera do its magic this morning instead of my wallet.

someday i hope that karin will visit from india and get to go with me (ok, and to walk xochi, organize piles in the house and iron if she so pleases!) but for now, these photos will have to suffice. if you do some simple math and convert these prices into rupees, the amount we pay here is staggering but you can't put a price on the flavor of summer.

picture perfect days

2011-08-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

on alki with the space needle in the distance

bainbridge ferry all alone on the water

i always say there's no better place to be than in seattle on a clear summer day.
apparently conan o'brien shares my opinion because he sat down at a nearby table in the restaurant i was in during lunch today with what i assume were his wife and kids.
i so wanted to comment on the ad he'd done for american express a few months back that was india-themed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIZCtDJtFPw
but it seemed like he might like to be on vacation like any other person, enjoying the scenery and forgetting about whatever work woes he left back at the office.

whoa, dude! (or in hindi, bap re bap!)

2011-08-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

besides being asked if i had fun on my trip, everyone i've talked to since my return to has asked, "how long have you been home?"
that's not such an unusual question but as i was running errands today, i realized that 48 hrs hours of being back has resulted in my looking around and taking note of the differences....differences i've always been keenly aware of each time i transition between here and india......but really! really?

where's all the other people? driving across the "now soon to be torn down and replaced with a tunnel" viaduct, http://westseattleblog.com/2011/08/2011-election-tunnel-referendum-yes-leading-other-results
i couldn't get over how empty it was this afternoon nor how orderly everyone's driving was. i mean everyone was politely staying in their own lane and driving at a reasonable speed, all the while using their directional signals to communicate vehicular intentions. plus, no one used their horn. at all. not once. unlike in india, where it's a form of communication (i.e. hi, i'm here, 4 cm from your bumper,) here you're looked at as the rudest individual on the planet if you so much as tap your horn at the person in the car in front of you who's rummaging in their purse or trying to discreetly text when the light's changed color and your intention is to potentially nudge them out in front of you so you can get to where you're going. really, it's so quiet on the streets here compared to india it takes some readjustment.

and what about the cows? none here. not even a stray dog. animals here just know not to come within spitting range of a street unlike dogs and cows and goats that are all over the place on the subcontinent.

lastly, and sadly, no rikshaws of the bicycle or three wheeled kind. no men pulled over to the side of the road lying across the seat of their rikshaw in the shade of a tree taking a nap. nor any men sitting cross-legged while puttering through traffic with the wind in their hair and awesome individualized decorations adorning the rear of their compressed natural gas vehicles. weird after that's been my main mode of transportation for weeks.

this afternoon it was all smooth sailing through the streets. and all i could do was recall the gridlock and hullabaloo (to use a hindi-derived word) i've just spent six weeks in half a world away.

a tough question, answered

2011-08-14T21:50:00.001-07:00

as six weeks of being here are about to come to an end and i head home to friends, family, students and coworkers who will undoubtedly ask in the coming weeks if i had fun, it's a fair question but an even more multifaceted answer.

does one have 'fun' in india?
can one?
yes, no and maybe.

i suppose it depends on what you consider fun and what just comes with the territory.

for example, i haven't taken a real shower, where the water streams out of the shower head on the wall above your head, in as many weeks as i've been gone from seattle. it's a bucket bath each time, but i'm used to it and it doesn't bother me.

is it 'fun' seeing people and animals suffer or be in states of existence that you wouldn't wish on any living being? no. not at all. beggars hold out their hands urging your pity, dogs slink by you with open wounds or scars from previous attacks, and some people hold you in their gaze for an uncomfortable moment too long (you do, after all, represent wealth being a foreigner.)

but these unpleasantries (or perhaps "inconveniences") must be tempered with what being in such a place affords.

i have had more time than i ever have at home to reflect. maybe it's the subconscious reason for coming all this way: to have time to think, ruminate and understand things. almost a shame that that same level of enlightenment is so difficult to achieve in the hustle and bustle of my normal everyday life. and also somewhat ironic that my blog's name is "at home in the world" when i have such a difficult time making space for myself and the world while *at* home. (note to self: something i definitely need to work on.)

sometimes the scenery is so beautiful, the colors of the clothing are so brilliant and the overall visuals are so stunning they make you want to cry.

at times the unbridled generosity of people-some you know and some you don't-forces you to catch your breath.

and the general curiosity about a life lived in a distant land is beguiling.

i've come to realize that there are many ways to genuinely answer the question but only one people want to hear: yes, yes, i had fun. i started to even wonder if people truly expect any answer other than the affirmative. if you spend six weeks in a place it's almost assumed you'd have to like it to want to go there in the first place. otherwise, why would you go, why would you remain, and how would you explain yourself upon return?

i go places with eyes, mind and heart wide open. i go because i want to learn about others at the same time i know i'll learn more about myself. i go because i want to be challenged in some way or ways that i don't find myself to be in my life at home. i go because it always changes me.

fun for me translates into being in motion, seeing someplace new, overhearing conversations and practicing my language (or pantomime) skills, engaging people about topics that are meaningful to them and sharing experiences and meals. most importantly, fun means not sanitizing what or who or how i experience my time abroad. so if my version of fun is at all anything you can appreciate, these last six weeks were packed with it.

india's independence day- august 15th

2011-08-14T02:59:00.000-07:00

in the past week or so, there have been more and more things for sale on the streets in preparation for the country's august 15th independence day celebrations.

girls' bangles in orange, white and green are a favorite.
suggested recipes in the newspaper feature dishes that adopt the same color scheme.
indian flags are starting to fly all over the place in all sizes.
even kites are available in patriotic colors.

the day's a national holiday and a lot of people use it to go somewhere for an extended weekend with their family. people are quite proud of their country and want to share about accomplishments and advancements with anyone who'll listen. the only problem? you see a discrepancy in exactly which anniversary this is. some ads state, "happy 65th independence day" and others say, "suchandsuch company wishes the country a happy 64th independence." if only they could all get on the same page so as not to confuse the billion plus population!

kite flying season is here

2011-08-14T02:28:00.000-07:00

kite flying season coincides with the end of the monsoon and the kite market was in full swing today. the photo above is actually a sign that reads "kite maker." kites are inexpensive entertainment and on the way home on the metro the other night, we got a preview of what's to come in the next week or so: all kinds of kites fluttering from rooftops in the neighborhood's evening sky. i don't know how one wouldn't feel happy seeing such a sight.

a short metro ride to chowri bazaar yielded some of the photos below.
everyone seemed genuinely happy to see foreigners taking an interest and wanting photos of the variety of kites available.

the craft of the kumartulis

2011-08-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

october is a wild time to visit kolkata because it's the time for durga puja, a festival that the region and its inhabitants are known for.

since it's impossible for me to be there at that time of the year, i realized the next best thing (or maybe the better thing?) is to visit the area of town where the artisans make the goddess idols prior to the prayer services and submersion in the ganges on the last day of the festival.

individual families, businesses and temples commission the kumartuli artisans, months in advance, to make these idols.

so i wanted to see with my own eyes how you start with this

and end with this

we actually didn't get to the kumartuli area of town until the same day we were flying back to delhi so by that point, i was a little anxious and frustrated. i had plans to spend a while talking to people and taking photos and the visit kept getting pushed from one day to another as we got stuck in traffic or made other detours.

but when we finally did arrive, i knew from the first steps into the narrow lane of craftsmen that i was going to have fun.

some of the people were more open to talking and explaining their craft while they worked; others didn't even respond as we passed by greeting them. but the whole experience was amazing as we got to see various workshops and pieces in different stages of completion. the few lanes of the city that represent the kumartuli's beehive of activity will stay busy until the first day of durga puja slated for october 1st this year.

if i could have a theme song for this post these would be the lyrics playing in the background:
heaven, this is heaven....and i can't think of a place i'd rather beeeeeeeeeeee!

street food done right

2011-08-11T04:18:00.000-07:00

my favorite indian street food is papdi chaat.
i don't eat it from most vendors because there are so many opportunities to contaminate the many ingredients it contains, i choose to salivate rather than be remorseful hours later, if you know what i mean. even with what appears to be a traveler's stomach of steel, i ain't trying to be anthony bourdain's competition. he gets paid; i don't. since i have yet to figure out a way to not have to pay to travel i would rather ensure, to the best of my ability, that for the duration of any trip i take i am relatively healthy.

when we stopped to buy some indian sweets for debi to take back to singapore the other day i immediately knew what i wanted. you can't go wrong at haldiram's, an establishment that is known for cleanliness and tastiness (what an indian word!)

transportation woes: a life spent in traffic

2011-08-11T03:42:00.000-07:00

kolkata-ites spend an inordinate amount of time in traffic, regardless of their socioeconomic class. no one is exempt. there are bottlenecks everywhere and with the sheer number of people living in the city, trying to get from point a to point b, i started to wonder how much of their lives is spent waiting in some form of transportation.

we took the metro the day before debi arrived from singapore. it's old; much older than the gleaming new delhi metro. it's so old there's no air conditioning and each station and train reminded me of images of the new york subway sans graffiti. but it was efficient and a totally fine way to avoid the mess on the street above.

even if you're in an air conditioned car with driver, there's not a lot you can do but stare at the car/rikshaw/bus alongside you. i saw a lot of people with earphones in their ears, daydreaming out windows or engaged in conversation with the person sitting next to them. but as an outsider to the city, after i'd looked around, summed up the view and realized we still hadn't budged for 10 minutes, i decided it was time to do a post about transportation.

the one type i didn't include is the hand-pulled rikshaw. we'd heard that there are still human rikshaw carriers in kolkata though the service is technically banned. indeed, there were a lot and it was shocking to see it in real life. the quotidian yellow and green three-wheeled motorized rikshaws seen throughout northern india are one thing but seeing a barefoot man, scantily clad in a dhoti and t shirt, with a towel or other ragged garment usually tied around his head to soak up the sweat, running with each of his hands holding each of the handles of the weighted rikshaw rolling along behind him was a little much for me to handle. to get a photograph i'd be happy with, i'd literally have to stand in the way and point the camera in the person's face as they plowed along, probably more than a handful of times before i ended up with something passable. i just wasn't up to doing that for many reasons.

this is the lasting memory i take away from kolkata: wasim in utter frustration shaking his hand in the air at an intersection where 7 (yeah, s-e-v-e-n) roads come together into what karin has learned to term a clusterfuck. we got cut off by a bus that came through the intersection from the left and prevented us from moving. wasim actually got out of the car and started yelling at the bus driver while we found ourselves sinking in our seats because of the spectacle that was arising. no one was moving. not us, not anyone. there happened to be a police suv a couple of cars behind us. they managed to get close, get out of their car and direct the traffic so that people could start to inch forward. on a daily basis, that kind of frustration would lead to road rage that would take years off your (or someone else's) life.

late afternoon humor: a 5 minute tram ride

2011-08-11T02:40:00.000-07:00

if only i'd been able to witness this from the outside looking in.
we wanted to ride the kolkata tram (picture dilapidated san francisco cable car, circa 1959) at least for a short distance.

so wasim again came to the rescue by orchestrating the funniest sequence of events that would have been a spectacle for anyone who happened to be driving by at the time.

the tram only runs on one street, along an inset track, as shown below.

picture this: wasim pulls up near the moving tram and starts yelling to the operator that he should stop. there's a lot of arm waving and gesturing until the tram comes to a stop but keep in mind that the rest of the traffic is flowing all around us in the now stopped car that we're sitting in.

as the tram stops, wasim motions to us to open the doors, run out and hop onto the tram, explaining that we'll ride a short way and then do the whole action in reverse to get back into the car further down the line.

we jump out and hop on (leaving debi in the car with wasim) laughing the whole time. i pull out my camera and start taking photos of these old school fans on the ceiling of the tram and the general interior, all the while wasim is driving in tandem, parallel to the moving tram. debi's taking photos of me, i'm taking photos of her in the car and everyone's laughing.

when we got to the temple we had wanted to visit, wasim again flagged down the tram operator and positioned the car in such a way that the tram had to stop. we paid and jumped off, getting back into the car a little bit astonished that we'd managed to pull the whole thing off!

we probably weren't in the tram more than 5-8 minutes but it was a ride that had us smiling the whole rest of the afternoon.

from controversy to charity and back- two c's of kolkata

2011-08-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

if wasim, our driver, doesn't think debi, karin and i are odd after taking us around for three full days to some of the most randomly unconnected places we wanted to go, then i doubt he'll ever have a problem with anyone he provides services to. he actually seemed to embrace some of the destinations we had on our list; as a matter of fact, it became quite fun to chase after some of the things and places we looked for during our short stay.

hour after hour, day after day we would tell him where we wanted to go and he made sure to get us there. debi noticed that one of the days flung wildly between two disparate concepts so i have adopted her idea and titled this posting as such to reflect our experiences in each of the places.

our first goal, if you can believe it, was to find the communist party of india headquarters. i had seen some amazing images online, prior to our arrival in kolkata, of a street mural of marx and lenin and the address of the communist party office. it seemed like a cool thing to try to find and at least take a photo of. then, later, i came across some pictures of kolkata elections and decided that one of our goals was to hunt down the red and white umbrellas people in the party had been photographed using, complete with hammer and sickle. karin is always game for a challenge veiled as travel adventure and if we could snag an umbrella or two to bring home, how cool would that be?!

so after phone calls and map consultation and a lot of questions on street corners, we finally, f-i-n-a-l-l-y arrived at the office, verified where we were, and stood in front of a group of men gape mouthed as karin broke out the hindi to ask about the umbrellas. obviously this was not what they're used to- foreigners arriving at their party headquarters asking for umbrellas.

one man asked us if we were communist party members and why we were so interested. karin explained that she'd grown up in east germany and i told them that i'd been to an island 90 miles off the coast of miami (cough, cough) and that seemed to make our visit make perfect sense to them.

all of a sudden, we were getting the grand tour and were showered at the end with all kinds of party trinkets/paraphenalia, the best of which were election flags!
i couldn't believe the experience we were having.
we were shown photos of party speeches with throngs of kolkata-ites in the background, trophies the party had been awarded, the extensive reading library they have and their office space. the best part was taking the photo of karin and the men with the portraits of engels, marx and lenin behind them.

think what you may of communism, our visit and short conversations with the people at the office headquarters was a unique experience, one that you just don't read of in the recommended "2 days in kolkata" section of the lonely planet or time out guide books.

as though that weren't enough for one day, we went from that emotional high to one of a different nature altogether.

we stopped at the missionaries of charity house where the controversial mother teresa founded the famed order of nuns, worked, died and is interred. much can be said, both good and bad, of this woman who earned a nobel peace prize, an honorary doctorate from harvard university as well as the undying love of the poverty stricken of kolkata.

it's not allowed to take photos of any area of the convent or the small musuem they've created following her death. the only place photography is permitted is called "mother's tomb."

the convent is cordoned off but you can see nuns walking around, tending to work, and hear them singing if you're there during vespers. you can also see "mother's room," where she lived for many years and where she spent the last moments of her life.

in one room they have amassed quite an impressive amount of tattered photos and personal artifacts, including her original passport from albania, her shoes, toothbrush, pens and pencils, eating utensils and bowl, statements of her philosophy, photos of her work with the dying, etc. there are also a series of other large photos blown up poster-size delineating the trajectory of her life from childhood, through her arrival in india, her founding of the missionaries of charity and work with the destitute and dying, through to her death and initial actions taken by the church towards beatification.

i don't know what to think after seeing it all.
she staunchly condemned the use of birth control and in a country like india and a place like kolkata, with such intense poverty, that is hard to wrap your mind around.
there was also a lot of controversy around the monies donated to her charity and where they landed. i've also read that she was difficult to deal with and a bit of a shrew. but at the same time, she obviously dedicated her life to people who had been abandoned by the rest of society and for that, i think you have to have at least some respect.

so it could be said that these two experiences reflect a combination of charity and controversy. neither is devoid of its pro's or con's but both were fascinating in their own right.

jain temple complex

2011-08-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

on our first day together in kolkata, after the crossing of howrah bridge and the "bath" at the botanical garden, we just kept going. i honestly can't remember how many places we saw and things we accomplished that day but we made a stop at a jain temple complex that reminded me a lot of the mosques i saw in iran because of the intricacy of the mosaic work and the planning of the gardens around each of the temples. taken in its entirety, it was stunning. so even though we were sopping wet walking around this place, it was easily forgotten for the time we were there because you got lost in the beauty and tranquility of the place.

exquisite gardens

breathtakingly bejeweled buildings

artistry as far as the eye can see

this could be us

brilliant idea: stained glass roof

the tile work here reminded me of iran

on the day that didn't seem to end, here we are, wet but happy as can be

kolkata quilt

2011-08-08T23:04:00.001-07:00

bengali still life

awesome ayurvedic sign

randindranath tagore birthday shrine on the street

food hawker on the street

typical taxis:ambassadors

kids play in the flooded sunday streets

no one goes without an umbrella in this town

from all the driving we've been doing around the city, i decided to just share some random, unconnected shots i've taken. i love this place, flooding and all! it's got quite an artistic, intellectual vibe and the people and food are wonderful. plus, it's soooo clean compared to other areas of india. delhi needs to take some lessons from kolkata!

indian coffee house

2011-08-08T06:26:00.000-07:00

talk about a wild goose chase!

karin had seen an indian coffee house somewhere online and decided it was one of those places we *had* to see while here in kolkata.
that turned out to be a lttle more difficult than we anticipated.

we knew the address, but knowing the address in india turns out to not be of too much use. unlike in the u.s., the odd and even numbers don't all seem to be on separate sides of the street and in the middle of the block, sometimes, the name of the entire street changes! helpful? not.

so we drove around and around the neighborhood we knew this place was in at least four times, asking random people on the street, every which one of them gave us a different answer for how to get there. i started to wonder why we were making such an effort and i know our driver, wasim, was getting irritated and impatient, especially since he realized this was all for a cup of coffee we could easily find elsewhere. he would occassionally say, "shit!" and then drive around the block again, never giving up.

finally, finally, we found a guy standing under an umbrella who seemed the most confident in his direction-giving skills. turns out he was right! five seconds later we turned the corner to find the indian coffee house, with a 52 year history of hosting local revolutionaries, intellectuals and university students.

and it was the coolest place! high ceilings, whirling fans that looked like they'd been installed in 1959, men in white starched uniforms and the most amazing atmosphere.

soooo worth all the effort.

great banyan tree adventure

2011-08-07T22:05:00.001-07:00

if you look in the guiness book of world records, you'll find the great banyan tree of the kolkata botanical garden. it's over 250 years old and researchers from all over have come to try to figure out which part/s are from the original tree because it's so massive.

after our exciting foot crossing of the howrah bridge (ok, i admit it was my excitement more than anyone else's,) our next destination was to see this thing. it had started raining on the drive over the bridge so we were prepared that we'd probably get wet. i don't think any of us realized just *how* wet we'd get by the time we were done.

we left the driver at the entrance, bought our admission tickets and started walking, following the signs for the great banyan tree. we kept walking, trying to stay dry under the umbrellas and to keep out of the worst of the deepest puddles.

that was an impossibility.

we walked and walked and walked and got wetter and wetter and wetter. i stopped a lot to try to take photos which proved a bit hard to do trying to balance the umbrella between my crooked neck and shoulder and get the shot i had in mind, all the time trying not to get any wetter than i already was, condsidering that i had chosen to wear my jeans for the first tme in weeks.

the botanical garden was really beautiful as these photos will hopefully show.

it became impossible to stay dry as the downpour became heavier and heavier.
we just gave up and gave into the fact that we were going to be drenched.
actually, we already were by the time we arrived at this massive thing that no longer really looks like one tree from afar but an entire forest.

taking photos underneath the tree was challenging if not possible. i wasn't happy with what i got even with a completely waterproof camera. but they'll have to do.

we got back to the car as wet as if we'd stood completely clothed under a shower and laughed and laughed. here i was in 501's that were totally clinging to me. karin had on white salwar (loose fitting pants) which were see through at that point! debi couldn't stop laughing. welcome to the kolkata of the monsoon!

kolkata's famed howrah bridge

2011-08-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

one of the things i was intent on doing here in kolkata was walking across the howrah bridge. it's estimated that 2,000,000 pedestrians cross the bridge each day making it the busiest bridge in the world.

we managed to do this yesterday and because it was sunday and a day off from work, the traffic was a lot lighter than it would be during the week.

as the driver started across the bridge, karin told him of my intentions and he looked at me as though i was crazy. it was raining and there was nobody besides indians on the edge where people walk or ride bikes. i hopped out of the car, bullied karin to come with me (debi waited in the car saying she didn't want to get wet but she had no idea what was to come later in the day! that's a totally different blogpost, though) and we started walking as the car slowed to a crawl and went in tandem with us in the closest lane.

people were staring at us and then it was even funnier as i stopped to get the shot i'd wanted of my feet on the bridge. i just keep shooting one shot after another as we kept walking.

but the funniest thing was when we got to the other side. we had just passed a little covered shack with two kolkata policemen taking refuge from the rain inside. they, too, stared as we went by but said nothing. then, all of a sudden, i hear this man wildly screaming at me in hindi and english. he was gesturing up and i thought he wanted me to see some structural part of the bridge but he saw the camera in my hand and pointed up to a sign which, in retrospect i should have taken a photo of, that stated, "strictly no photography!"

bodhi tree: an oasis

2011-08-07T21:50:00.001-07:00

when we decided to come to kolkata, months back, i got online and spent hours trying to find a place we could stay. i found all the usual india-like hotels that have restaurants with plastic covered tables and all the amenities they think tourists will want but i wasn't looking for that. i wanted something with character, something that was out of the chaos of the city center and someplace to retreat to.

i stumbled upon a place called the bodhi tree and knew immediately this was the place for us. it wasn't easy to find on the internet but i saw a couple of photos of the four rooms available, each stylistically different and representative of a different region of the subcontinent. i emailed asap and the deal was sealed.

so when we arrived i was pretty sure i'd be happy but not nearly as much so as when i looked at the initial photos i took. our room is the tantrayana (tibetan monastic theme) and the garden area where there's a place to sit, read and eat the complimentary breakfast looks exactly like these photos make it look: heaven.

the staff who work here have been bending over backwards to be polite and accomodate our every wish. this is an amazing place, not to mention it doubles as an art gallery and on the first night here the current exhibition had its opening, complete with local bengalis who came to support their artist friend. we were included, offered wine and appetizers, and given the brochure with each piece's price and title. it was (and is) such a great idea for ambiance.

the door to our room

our room's main feature- the buddha above the beds

the garden/sitting area

oh, calcutta!

2011-08-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

i didn't know what to expect from this city.
i admit i was a bit wary of how i would react, knowing how congested it is and the poverty it's known for but i am in love!

there's so much to write about and so many things i have waiting to post but not enough time because we're about to go out for day two. as i write, the heavens have opened again and i will try to get photos of the knee deep water we saw all over the city yesterday. yeah, i know- i need a shot of my feet submerged in it.

sensory overload

2011-08-04T05:25:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite places to go in chandni chowk (and there aren't a lot because it's such a noisy, hectic place that it leaves you with a headache for hours after you've been there) is the incense and oil shop that's been around for over 100 years. i think i first went there in 2005 and took home a tiny bottle of cardamom essential oil that i've never actually used for anything but opening every so often just to get a whiff of india in its purest form. it smells exactly as it did the day i purchased it. and i've found that sometimes all it takes is a calming scent to cure whatever's causing you distress.

since we happened to be in the general vicinity yesterday, we made a stop so i could get some photos of the array of glass bottles, each gently holding a different scent. it's the various shapes all lined up together and the hues of brown, gold and pale yellow oils held within those glass fortresses that remain etched in my mind from thousands of miles away.

ode to jalebi

2011-08-04T04:41:00.000-07:00

oh, jalebi, how i love you. and for how long!
it was a love born in nadi during peace corps and through the years how you have remained one of my sweet tooth obsessions whenever i travel to places where i can find you.

today we came across a place in chandni chowk where the jalebis looked too good and too fresh to pass up. even though they also had samosas, i only had eyes for jalebi.

i dream of being a jalebiwalla in my next life

boredom leads to artistry

2011-08-03T10:39:00.001-07:00

a lot of lying around in the heat leads to a certain amount of boredom.
you can only do that for so long before you have the urge to get up and do something, although as soon as you do get up, the heat smacks you back down and you're reminded you can't do a lot of anything unless you're truly motivated.

so yesterday our walk in the neighborhood resulted in henna.
the teej festival date was 2nd august so there are a lot of men sitting in the shade outside of shops next to small plastic stools they've brought for the express purpose of inviting female customers to sit and have designs applied.
this is the season for it.

best of both worlds

2011-08-02T04:08:00.001-07:00

here i go again: waxing philosophical.

i've been thinking a lot about being here, amidst all these people, their individual hopes and dreams obscured by caste and socioeconomic state, the beauty, the poverty and the monsoon heat while watching the us congress haggle over the debt ceiling as the bewitching hour approached.

it seems as if there's no logical way to connect the two. at the most extreme these two ideas compete in my mind: female day laborers clad in saris at a construction site two houses away carrying sand in metal bowls on their heads up flights of stairs in the unforgiving sun or men furiously pedaling bicycle rikshaws through towns by day and sleeping on them at the sides of the roads by night for a monthly wage of the equivalent of us$10-20 (if they're lucky) while we americans mortgage ourselves for trillions.

two worlds, one planet. everyday i wake up here i'm reminded it must be true.
and while some might say you're silly, stop comparing apples to oranges, i'd counter that being here makes you think. it makes you think a lot about your existence and the existence of others. and while most of their lives are uncomplicated in the sense that they're not typically worrying about credit card debt, they have worries, they have concerns. their life is not stress free.

i've read a lot online this week about what people perceive the global impact of the american deficit will be and how obama's reputation has suffered from the inability of the congress to reach agreement without weeks and weeks of arguments and political theatrics.

ultimately, what's "fixed" by an agreement to raise the debt ceiling will come around to challenge us again, and obviously sooner rather than later.
that's the path we seem to be on.

so as life goes on and i dodge cows and cars and watch buses literally coming within inches of the rikshaws i'm riding in, and throngs of people push past me going every which way in the main metro stations of this city, i turn the mental volume up to the loudest i can stand it and play this song in my head to keep myself going.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjtMOMUt-GU&ob=av2e

india in a single image

2011-08-02T02:50:00.001-07:00

i stood on a street corner today, looked up and saw the quintessential image of india. it captures everything that goes on in both the private and public realm if you look closely enough. actually, that's india in a nutshell: the confluence of the personal life with everything else.

karol bagh afternoon

2011-08-02T02:48:00.001-07:00

as of late, and aside from the self-imposed hours of being horizontal at home in opposition to the heat, each day in delhi has had one specific purpose.

the other day it was an outing to "big bazaar," a target-esque all-in-one store with groceries, clothing, comestics, etc.

yesterday we went by metro to connaught place in the center of delhi but failed in our attempt to find what we were looking for. (we certainly didn't fail to sweat or attract attention from men we had no interest in.)

today, we ventured by metro to karol bagh, an area with just about something for everyone, including the tourists, some of whom choose hotels in the area and others who come by the rikshaw-full because of the jewelry stores and relative ease with which one can book travel to other parts of the country.

i've been to karol bagh a handful of times before and knew that there's a bikanervala on the corner where i always love to stop and get a snack. i think i discovered bikanervala on my first trip to india and fell in love.

http://www.bikanervala.com/

it's always busy, and always a panorama of colors and flavors, savory and sweet, for eating right there and for take-away.

it wasn't a long stop; we settled on lassis which are always heaven-like and took just enough time to savor the cold, sweet saffron flavor before heading out in the sun and heat to catch the metro back home.

edible jewels

2011-08-01T06:34:00.000-07:00

i can't pry myself away from food blogs.
it doesn't seem to matter that i am miles away from home. actually, with the free time i have to peruse my favorite websites and karin's interest in adding to her repetoire of what's possible to prepare here, i've taken it upon myself to cook dinner a couple of times this week.

tonight's fare is the nytimes chickpea, eggplant and tomato recipe adjusted for ingredients we could find here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/health/nutrition/29recipehealth.html?ref=dining

so instead of pomegranate molasses, we bought pomegranates which are absurdly expensive at home but a dime a dozen here.
i put karin to work getting the seeds out and i sat mesmerized by the seeds falling on the stainless steel plate, like small rubies.

downtime in delhi

2011-07-31T00:19:00.001-07:00

we've spent the past few days decompressing in delhi.
delhi is not a place i like nor a place i think is intrinsically relaxing but in a private home where you don't have to worry about being gawked at or followed, it can provide a nice respite from what lies in wait 15m outside the front door.

with the heat and humidity being what it is on a daily basis, i am not motivated to do a lot but we have gone out on some shopping excursions for things i had promised to bring back home for people and also for mundane things like groceries; it's definitely an excursion when you are battling heat and fighting for transportation.

sometimes you find that the simplest of things catch your eye, and i don't mean the person staring at you because you're wearing indian clothes or the rikshawalla who bursts through your personal space bubble insisting that he take you somewhere you had no idea you wanted to go. i mean things like the honest effort announcement inclusive of misspelling below that we happened to walk by as we got off the bus.

appreciating the obvious in india

2011-07-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

we went to the vegetable market last night and there were almost as many cows loitering around as people and vendors.

karin noted that it's always important to have a camera handy when i'm here because she never knows what situation will present itself. last night it was a tender cow moment.

globetrotting

2011-07-29T05:51:00.001-07:00

at 23.5 degrees north latitude lies the tropic of cancer.
at 23.5 degrees south latitude lies the tropic of capricorn.
then you have the equator in the middle.

not until the other day did i realize i have now been at all three.
it took a little research online but i can now say i've either lived in or traveled to countries through which these three geographic features cross.

i'll start working on the next geographical adventure.

day trip to sanchi

2011-07-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

on our first full day in bhopal, vineet picked us up and told us he was taking us to sanchi. we didn't know anything about the place but upon arrival, 40 km outside of the actual city of bhopal, we could see that it was a great choice. it's another world heritage site and the stupa was quite impressive. seeing all of these works of art, carved into stone, gives one a lot of appreciation for the creativity, time, religious reverence and dedication that went into the making of them.

reasons my parents would never come to india

2011-07-28T05:38:00.001-07:00

everytime i travel, especially to the places i *like* to travel to, i try to imagine my parents coming along for the ride. some places are easier to imagine than others. in india, all i can do is hear my mom gagging and my dad grumbling. they'd never come here. not even to stay in 5 star hotels. no way.

my dad would say give me scandanavia, let's go to canada, how about another trip to the uk, but no thanks to the developing world. his curiosity is there but he'll leave the actual travel to his daughter and ask questions from afar.
my mom would only come if she could bring a gas mask and if she were immediately whisked away from the newly opened international airport directly to the jewelry store she knows i love in udaipur. only then she might consider it. and i doubt she'd get past considering it.

so a couple of days ago, after our 8 hr. train trip back to delhi from bhopal, i decided to highlight some of the reasons this is not a place for them, although i can hear my mom's voice in my head louder than my dad's.

stray dogs with mange lying everywhere

piles and piles of rotting garbage
(the only thing that would really do this justice is a scratch and sniff photo; technology yet to be developed but this will have to do)

beggars
(i can't bring myself to take photos but trust me, you can conjure an image without my help)

monsoon weather
(karin's daughter, ratna, who arrived home during a delhi downpour)

waiting, waiting and waiting on the platforms in train stations

overnight travel and all its "luxuries"

other questionable forms of transportation

flies, insects, vermin and generally dirty conditions

i can see my dad shaking his head and saying, "better you then me."
i can hear my mom and uncle's words reverberating over and over, "feh, feh, FEH!!"

"you just come to bhopal, ma'am!" ----vineet neyol

2011-07-28T00:54:00.001-07:00

at the insistence of vineet who was a student at mussoorie public school in 2005 when i was living here in india, we arrived in bhopal where he's been studying medicine. we have stayed in touch over the past five years and when he heard of our situation in katni, he told us over and over again that we should get out of there and come visit.

we stayed at the lake view ashok hotel, which had an amazing view of bhopal's upper lake. each morning we would awake to groups of people kayaking (a shock!) or rowing which made me feel right at home since it's such a common scene in seattle.

it was a great place to hang out, to see something different of mp state, to catch up with him and decompress (yeah, yeah, you don't think you'd need that when on vacation but the hustle and bustle of actually being transported anywhere in india is somewhat of a tension filled affair, so being in one place and having someone who offers to be your tour guide is something you don't want to pass up.)

khajuraho: world heritage site

2011-07-28T00:53:00.001-07:00

so what follows is a smattering of the massive amount of photos i took while inside the temple complex. i haven't segregated the g-rated from the x-rated so be prepared to stumble upon images that might open your eyes a bit wider than normal. yep, that's how it is when you're there. you walk around these huge structures and all of a sudden look up amidst all the carvings to find people doing some pretty entertaining things. in spite of, or maybe in addition to the erotic carvings, the sheer detail and scope of this cluster of temples is mind boggling. in the end, even i got inspired (in a very appropriate way)-see below.

khajuraho: kama sutra central

2011-07-28T00:51:00.000-07:00

so first off, i want to say that if you come to india or are an indian living here, this place is a must see! but there are some salient facts you should know prior to arrival.

1) if you are an indian you will undoubtedly be treated differently than if you are a foreigner (i.e. if you have white skin, asian eyes, or any other physical feature that sets you apart from everyone else here, expect more attention than you might want or be able to handle)

2) this place is packed with tourists. not as bad as agra but if you are feeling homesick or alone, this will potentially cure that...or keep you far from home a bit longer. there are people coming here from all over the globe, in all manner of appropriate (and inappropriate) dress, speaking a cornucopia of languages, some in air conditioned tour group buses, some who have hired private cars and drivers, etc.

3) you have to be prepared for the walking salesmen. it's not that this is a rare occurance in india. it happens all over, but it's what they're hawking that could either be considered horrifying or make for potential comic relief. since some of khajuraho's temples have erotic aspects to them, the locals have capitalized on this and approach anyone visiting armed with a host of related paraphenalia complete with the most crude images of people engaged in sexual acts. miniature kama sutra books? why yes, we have that. (actually a man tried to convince me to buy one telling me it was, "a nice book madam. good practice!") erotic playing card packs? sure. tall, bronze emaciated sculptures of gandhi-ji in the other hand? why not? not at all insensitive to be selling both at the same time, especially given the fact gandhi's so revered throughout the country. whatever makes money is good, ethics be damned.

so if you arrive with a sense of humor and manage to leave after your visit to the temples without any souvenir pornographic materials purchased, consider yourself a champion, having left more merchandise for the next batch of visitors to contend with.

facial expressions tell all

2011-07-28T00:18:00.000-07:00

a clear comparison of karin's mental state and body language pre- and post- katni reveals how right we were to pick up and leave; not thinking twice or looking back.

before: tormented by the situation at the school (in katni)

after: in bhopal (i.e. out of the school and away from those worries) finally!

countdown to a getaway

2011-07-28T00:07:00.001-07:00

these photos have been lying in wait to be posted but worthwhile nonetheless.
they were taken while still at the school in mp but while waiting for the driver to arrive and take us to khajuraho.
the experience at the school was disappointing and really soured both of us but we managed to put our heads together and turn a negative into a positive by moving on.

still, when one feels slightly "trapped," it's useful to countdown the minutes to freedom.

we're outta h-e-r-e!

from katni to khajurao- no end of misery

2011-07-23T00:45:00.000-07:00

our departure from katni was thrilling in one sense and absolutely depressing in another. the taxi with driver that we managed to arrange was quite nice, which was a good thing as we found the roads were in pretty bad shape. the traffic getting out of the city was bad as well but once we got going, it was fine.

the first problem was the unpaved roads and the amount of mud that has resulted from the onslaught of monsoon rains. there were parts that we had to cross our fingers and hope the suv we were in would actually make it through. then there was the fishtailing in the mud because the tires were lacking traction (and i'm being polite.) some of the areas required buses coming from the oncoming direction to stop and back up or drive on the shoulder (shoulder? what shoulder! here's the zen koan of the trip: how can you drive on the shoulder if there's no road to begin with?)

once we'd cleared the major muddy section through which we crawled at a snail's pace, we made up for lost time and there really wasn't a lot of traffic.

in one small town we drove through, of all the sites i had to manage to focus on was probably the second most upsetting thing i have seen in all my trips to india. a dog that had obviously either been previously hit by a car or otherwise injured in some way could no longer walk on its back two legs. it was on the side of the road and amidst all the pedestrian traffic, rikshaws zooming in and out and bicycles going every which way, it was using its front two legs to drag itself along, half seated and half upright, and as "smoothly" as if this had been its method of locomotion for quite a while.
i almost barfed.

about two hours later came yet another ghastly sight that i couldn't get out of my mind for hours much less begin to intellectually problem solve. we rounded a bend in the road alongside which there were intermittent farmers working in brilliantly green fields. in some places, men were walking in the middle of the road with goats and bullocks. sometimes we had to slow down to account for the animals walking along oblivious to the vehicles and blaring horns around them. there was a woman on the side of the road squatting next to a cart that had two bullocks attached via their necks to a wooden harness (if i had grown up in farming country, maybe i would be better suited to describe the contraption, or even know the correct vocabulary word. alas, what's a los angelina to do but ad lib under the circumstances? david bair, i wish i could channel you right about now!) one of the bullocks was still standing, looking on as if nothing were wrong. the other bullock was on the ground, dead and slumped to the side, eyes wide open, with its neck completely twisted in a manner that was impossible to contemplate how it managed to result in such a contorted state. there was no one around except the woman who obviously owned these animals and as quickly as we saw the scene, we sped past, leaving me to wonder how she would extricate herself from a situation like that given the limited resources she must have had. she obviously could not budge the cart the animals were still tethered to with one alive and one dead. i'm still shaking my head.

be glad i have no photos from these parts of the trip.

bailout, indian style

2011-07-23T00:35:00.000-07:00

more than a slight change of plans.
actually, a complete bailout and i don't mean financial.

we ended up leaving the school in katni for some reasons i won't go into here.
between karin and i, we managed to put our heads together and utilize the resources that were available to us to arrive in khajurao to see the world heritage site temples. that part of the original itinerary i was unwilling to forego.

so our change of plans will allow for us to do some things we hadn't previously planned but as we say, chalo, koi baat nahi/asi es la vida/seqa na lega.

there are photos to be posted regarding this departure so this chapter will be added to when i have more consistent internet access. [stay tuned.]