Your Daily Gem.

Andy:  Teacher, if I die you must not go to my funeral.

Me:  Why can't I go to your funeral Andy?

Andy:  Because you are much older so when I die you will already be died. 

Me:  What if I live a really long time and I'm still alive?

Andy:  Sorry teacher, you are old.

Steppin' Out Saturday

Okay okay I'm late.  It's technically Monday night in Korea, but we live in the future so I'm really not that  behind.

Our weekend was awesome.  We are saving pennies for our big expedition, our 3 year anniversary, and our next big vacation so we've been attempting to lay low for the next few weeks.  We spent most of Saturday at home.  I cooked a little pasta bake (you can find the recipe here) and then the boy and I headed over to our friend's house for a big potluck and game night with all the other Pohang foreigners.  It was good fun!

We also managed to take a few pictures of us "Steppin' Out".  Here's what we wore.

Shirt: UGIZ

Tank top: Style Lab

Pants: F21

Jacket: Buckaroo

Beanie: Style Lab

Ensemble: Hapkido Katana Uniform

(Okay.  So he didn't really wear it all day but he did go out and practice in it)

Sunday was spent chillaxin' at home.  My friend Claire and I are going to try to get back into marathon training but it's just too frigid right now.  You think I'm making excuses, but really it's the coldest weather that Korea's experienced in over 100 years.  Take that.  I'm really just lazy. 

So there you have it, our weekend.  I promise that we'll have more to talk about over the next few days! 

Foreigners Unite!

A Culinary Milestone

Something very exciting happened today.  The day that I never thought would come actually arrived and it took me completely by surprise.  Ladies and Gentlemen after 25 years of walking this Earth, I finally ate a whole bowl of cereal...

...with milk.

Now I'm sure a lot of you are confused.  But, don't you always eat your cereal with milk Tawny?

The answer is no.  Not ever.  I don't even really like milk.  The only person in my immediate family who can drink milk straight is my brother- and he's lactose intolerant.  My mom, dad, and I don't really enjoy it.  So instead of eating our cereal with milk, my dad and I would always pour some orange juice over the top.  Nom nom nom delicious. 

I love cereal.  I love orange juice.  Mix the two together and it's pure perfection.  I once shared my culinary concoction with my best friend in junior high.  She told me that she tried cereal with juice and absolutely hated it. When I asked what kind of juice she used she replied, "Capri Sun".  No no no.  For me, it has to be orange juice. 

This morning the boy went out to fetch something to eat for breakfast.  He came back and prepared his bowl of cereal and for the first time in my life, it looked delicious with the milk in it.  I decided that I would be adventurous and go in for a bite and hot damn!  Cereal with milk is where it's at. I can't believe that it took me so long.

The veil has been lifted people.  No cereal is safe.  I'm yearning to go out and buy a box of Lucky Charms to see how those crunchy, stale marshmallows taste with the sweet, white nectar that I've just become acquainted with. 

While I'm not sure that I'm willing to give up on my orange juice just yet, you best believe that milk will become a frequent supplement to my breakfast.  Three cheers for milk!

Moving Mountains.

The Disney movie "Cheetah" is what brought me to Africa.  It sounds ridiculous, but I remember being 8 years old and glued to the television whenever my mom put that movie on.  I was enthralled with the sights, and the people, and even the animals that were featured on the film.  There was something so mysterious about Africa and I wanted to experience it for myself so bad.  I remember swearing to myself that someday, someway, somehow I would get myself to Africa. 

Fifteen years later I found myself on the plains of the Serengeti holding my breath while watching two cheetahs search for their next meal.  It was something that I had waited for my entire life and I was able to experience it with a group of amazing people.  I was on a J-term trip with a group of 18 other students from Pacific Lutheran University.  We were to spend 3 amazing weeks in Tanzania; going on a safari, reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, and soaking up the sun on the island of Zanzibar.  As an added bonus, we were getting Communications and English credits. 

This post is to celebrate a milestone.  Or maybe, milestones.  Three years ago today I was quite literally standing on top of the world.  It took us four full days of climbing, and 7 grueling hours of altitude sickness on summit day until we finally made it to the top of the highest free standing mountain in the world.  It's amazing the things that you learn about yourself when you're bound to your thoughts, unable to feel your fingers and toes, painstakingly working your way to a goal that you cannot physically see.

Not everyone makes it to the top of Kili.  Summit day was one of the most grueling days of my life, both physically and mentally.  Altitude sickness is a real buzz-kill.  Not only did it make me want to projectile vomit every ounce of liquid in my body, but it also made most of us hallucinate.  One person thought they saw someone in a hyperbolic chamber (turned out to be a rock), someone else (cough cough me) got it in their head that their camera was frozen and wouldn't work (which is why I don't have any pictures of us at the summit), and someone else had an amazing revelation.  This revelation was a saying.  This saying went something like this, "If you don't tie a train's shoelaces it will go around in circles until you get dizzy".  Bottle that shiz up and sell it people.  It doesn't get more amazing than that! 

We would have never made it to the top of Kili if it weren't for our awesome guides.  One man in particular found himself dubbed "Simba" for his warm personality and his lion heart.   He was ridiculously strong, he knew Kili like the back of his hand, and he was almost like a father figure for us as we carefully trekked up the mountain.  One night we asked him what nicknames he would give each of us.   He claimed that I looked like a "Duma".  He didn't even have to give me the translation, I had already known what duma meant.  I had known for 15 years.  Duma is Swahili for cheetah. 

On summit day we moved painfully slow.  We had only gotten a few hours of shut eye (at  best) and I wanted to sleep so bad that every time we took a short break, I'd jab my trekking pole into the ground and rest my forehead on top of it.  It wouldn't take long before Simba would shake me awake and yell, "Duma!  No sleep!".  There were a few occasions where I felt so sick and so cold that I just wanted to throw my hands up in the air and roll my way back down the mountain.   A few thoughts stopped me from doing just that.

1.) My parents invested way too much into me and this trip for me to just quit.  

2.) I'd be paying for this trip for quite some time and I better get my ace to the top.  

3.) I might never have this opportunity again.  

4.) Reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro would give you some pretty awesome bragging rights  

5.) That douche of a boyfriend that I used to have will defecate in his pants once he finds out I that I made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro.

I also prayed my way to the top.  Boy, did I pray.  The first verse that came into my mind was Isaiah 40:31, Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.  They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.  Pretty fitting, I'd say.  Even when I was so tired that I couldn't think, that verse continued to ruminate through my head. 

I can't believe that it's been three years.  I'm so grateful for the experience.  I was given the opportunity to push myself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I met some truly incredible people on the trip and I have so many memories that even now, make my heart swell with happiness.   So here's to us; the group of us that held each other up, emotionally and even physically while climbing to the top.  Here's to challenging yourself beyond measure.  And here's to hoping that we experience so many more of these moments in life.  May everyone find and summit their own Kilimanjaro.

Day 3.

Day 4.

Making our way down from the summit at over 19,000 ft.

Coming this Spring

Alright ladies and gents, the following post is going to come not from me, but from the boy.  This is something that we've been waiting to reveal for quite some time.  It's actually one of the main reasons I started the blog.  It's also why we came to Korea.  We came to have an adventure of a lifetime, and to also save up money for this grand expedition.  I'll let the beau explain it to you for himself...

Why do we write home?

I think with most of us there is a deep and primal urge to explore; the thrill of mystery compels us all.

Equal to that desire however is a need to also have community. We want as much to be with each other as we do to find what lies outside the known boundaries of our lives.

With letters we can mitigate those needs and find some middle ground.

This has been going on since the romantic days of sea travel.

This Spring, it will happen again, in full style.

I've been planning this journey for years. 

Correction.

I've been obsessed with this quest for years.

In the Galapagos there is a spot that sailors have been using to store letters. Originally British, Dutch, and Spanish vessels would drop their letters on the island. Post Man Bay as it's come to be known didn't take long to become an international hot spot. Vessels would come and drop their mail off and pick up letters bound for their next port. When they arrived they would deliver them.

Today the tradition continues. When people visit the Galapagos they drop a letter into the barrel on Post Man bay and take one out to deliver by hand to someone near their home.

This spring Tawny and I are traveling to South America and out to the Galapagos by ship.
When we arrive we will go to Post Man Bay, claim a fist-full of letters and deliver them across the world.
As we go we will be taking the traditional modes of transportation unique to each country that would have been available during the time period when Post Man Bay was established.

 Join us for a journey around the world.
By ship.
By train.
By camel.

Across the globe delivering your stories.

Yes to Coca. No to Cocaine.

CNN recently posted this little gem online.

I get all giddy inside when I hear this kind of news.  The unintended consequences of coca eradication in South America was the topic of my capstone (i.e. dissertation) in college.  It's something that I'm very passionate about.  This passion was fueled by the time that I spent in Bolivia and Peru.

It wasn't until my trip to Bolivia that I was able to see firsthand the integral part that coca plays in Andean society.  Coca has so many uses; traditional, medicinal, and even religious.  For example, the second we stepped off the plane in Sucre we were given cups of coca tea.  The coca tea was to calm our stomachs and to also prevent us from suffering the effects of altitude sickness. 

Coca leaves are also used in wedding ceremonies, burials, and even to celebrate the purchase of a new car.  Not only that, but coca is widely used to stave off thirst and hunger pains.  With Bolivia being one of the poorest and least developed countries in South America, the coca leaf is almost essential for the survival of many Bolivians.  When we went to visit the mines in the town of Potosi we were told to bring gifts to the miners that were tirelessly and tediously working inside.  What were their main requests?  Alcohol, dynamite, and coca leaves.  Quite the combo.   Because coca leaves are used to stave off hunger and thirst, it allows the men to work longer and harder.  The longer they work, the more money they can take home to their families.

Took this in 2007 in the mines of Potosi, Bolivia

The Bush administration believed that the best way to combat the war on drugs was to stop these drugs at their source.  It was thought that if one simply eradicated all of the coca in South America, the U.S. drug problem would be solved.  Erm, no.  Not only would it destroy the livelihoods of an entire nation, but it would only displace coca farms and force them move to another country. 

It's just not fair.  Believe you me, I did not see one Bolivian cracked out on cocaine the entire time I was in the country.  These people aren't using coca to get high, they're using it to survive.  And yes, I acknowledge that there are coca farms in Bolivia, and these farms produce coca that will later be refined into cocaine and inevitably make its way to the States.  However, I don't think that complete eradication is the answer.  And (I should stop myself before I get too heated), IF we were to completely eradicate coca, we should replace it with something else.  Provide Bolivians with another source of income while keeping their traditions and values at the forefront. 

So what exactly am I getting at?  I think that taking coca off the U.N. list of banned drugs could be a positive step in the right direction.  This would allow Bolivians to legally sell products made with the leaves, thus providing another option for them to make a steady income.  Coca tea, coca toothpaste, and even a fizzy drink aptly named "Coca Colla" might be new things to go on the wish list.

Bolivian president Evo Morales, a former coca farmer and a huge proponent for the legalization of coca.

Wandering Wednesday.

Wordless Wednesdays (the only one that I've done so far) will now be "Wandering Wednesdays".  Why?  Because quite frankly, I'm never really wordless on Wednesdays.  Plus, this way I can still choose a travel picture at random and insert some sound advice that someone, anyone might find useful. 

 

This one comes with a lot of memories.  This was taken back in January of 2007.  Has it really been four years?!  whimper.  This group of awesome girls and I had been traveling through Bolivia with Florencio, our amazeballs 4-wheel driver that played Michael Bolton remixes and Titanic on his 8-track.   There was a little language barrier between Florencio and ourselves, but we managed to get across that we liked being ahead of the rest of the group by exclaiming excitedly, "numero uno!"  And boy, Florencio delivered.  It was one of the best (and longest) rides of my life. 

I believe that this picture was taken after a one night stay at a  solar powered hotel in the middle of nowhere, Bolivia.  It was miles from any town, but located in close proximity to Laguna Colorado (google it.  seriously).  The name of the hotel is Hotel Tayka del Desierto and it was very basic with limited heating and electricity, but so worth it to be sheltered so close to Laguna Colorado.  

I'm not sure if the hotel is the same as it was back in 2007, but when our caravan arrived at around 11 pm we were greeted by a little smiling man in a tuxedo.  They had a big dinner prepared for us and we ate by candlelight (since all electricity was off by 8).  I remember showering with my headlamp on the toilet seat so that I wouldn't hurt myself while bathing.  As Spartan as it was, I remember experiencing one of the most restful sleeps of the trip. 

I know what I want for Valentine's Day...

Erm, so... I've lived in Korea long enough to miss certain things.  Certain things like Thanksgiving dinner, real bacon, and good ol' Western baked goods.  It's slightly ridiculous just how much I miss the smell of simmering bacon on Sunday mornings, being able to bake cupcakes in a real standard size oven, and Thanksgiving.  Oh Thanksgiving.  My favorite holiday of all time.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, fresh warm dinner rolls oh my!

Luckily for me, a little website exists that can cure my hunger longings.  This website is www.thinkgeek.com.  Here is what they have to offer...

Gimme gimme gimme.  Thanksgiving bubblegum?  Are you cereal?  All of my wildest dreams have come true.  I feel like Violet Beauregarde minus the whole turning into a blueberry fiasco.  They also have bacon and cupcake bubblegum (not together, silly), astronaut ice cream, civet crap choice coffee, and canned unicorn meat.   How can my day get any better?  Oh, if only I had some of this tasty and strange goodness right meow.