The Land Before Time

So I'm going to skip the previously mentioned Puerto Viejo trip and go straight to this past Saturday because, well, what happens in Puerto Viejo stays in Puerto Viejo (not really, but take Nosh's "this is what partying with 19 year olds is like", change 19 to 22-24, and that's a pretty solid summary of the weekend >.< )

Manisha, Randall, and me went white water rafting on the Pacuare river Saturday and it was easily the most fun we've had since we've been here. For any of you rafting enthusiasts, its one of the top 5 rivers in the world according to national geographic and definitely lived up to its reputation. Our guide for the day was named Saci, a dude with 1.5 legs. That's right, 1.5. Where his left knee should have been was a fully formed foot. Don't ask me how, but it was crazy. He used crutches to get around everywhere and would always stop next to knee high rocks so he stand up without the crutches. He was also absolutely crazy, but in a good way. He'd periodically leap out of the raft in calm areas and proceed to pull us in when we tried to pull him back into the raft. We also went down half the rapids backwards just because we could, and we even went airborne one time using a rock for a ramp. It was sweet. Saci had definitely found his perfect job because half a leg really doesn't matter in the water. Randall's a life guard in Cali and Saci easily outswam him.

However awesome the rapids and Saci were, the best part was definitely the rain forest rising up on all sides of us. In some places we'd float by beaches that gradually gave rise to dense trees. In the canyons, the mountains rose straight up out of the water to our left and right, with trees growing directly on the sheer rock faces and the occansional waterfall crashing down on us from 100 feet above. Sadly, none of our cameras are waterproof so I couldn't take any pictures, but it was easily the most beautiful place I've been to in my entire life. At one point in the river was a rock that looks like an on coming fist. If only I could have gotten a perspective shot of me pounding the rock... *sigh* (on a pounding side note, one of the women at our school is here with her kids and her 3 year old gives me a pound everytime I hold out my fist. I'm totally teaching my son that before "da-da"...)

That night was Dustin and Zack's last night in Turrialba so the five of us (them + the rafting trio) decided to go out and celebrate. After pregaming with a bottle of guaro on the curb in true Costa Rican style (hurray for $10 fifths!), we headed to Charlie's, probably the best bar in town. After a few rounds of shots (which they have 5 whole pages of) we discovered the massive food list because, honestly, what do drunk people want more than food? On Dustin's recommendation we got a platter of dank nachos, wolfed it down, and ordered another. My appetite is indeed in full form even outside of my local chipotle enviroment.

From there we made our way to the local discotec which was an experience to say the least. Zack and Manisha started dancing (as we med students are prone to do) but no one else was dancing except for one other couple. Everyone else in the place (75-100 people) was standing around the edge, hanging out and watching those drunk/crazy enough to be dancing to hip hop. Apparently no one grinds outside the US. However, about an hour later the dj started playing salsa music and suddenly the dance floor was packed. Five minutes later it was back to hip hop and the dance floor was again deserted to a mental *facepalm* from myself. We also saw two girls go at it while the security guards & boyfriends tried to separate them. They had latched on to each other's hair while one was beating the other in the ribs with a beer bottle. Pretty hilarious. Around 2 we said our goodbyes to Zack and Dustin and went home for the night.

This Friday we're leaving Turriabla to spend our last week in Dominical, a beach town on the Pacific coast, and hopefully I'll have something more exciting to tell than the non-stories from Puerto Viejo. Only a week and a half until orientation and I'm gonna see you all in Charlottesville. So exciting! Until then, Pura Vida! (basically the all around go to Costa Rican phrase)

Allez!

I'm closing in on my last week in France, and I cannot believe how quickly the summer has gone by. I remember getting picked up from the airport, seeing palm trees, and smelling the Mediterranean air for the first time like it was yesterday. Since my last post, I've done a lot of traveling around southern France, which has been really eye-opening. But, we'll go in chronological order...

First was the Tour de France in Montpellier on July 7. I decided to watch from the beginning of the stage since it was a team time trial, which meant that I would be able to see all the riders as they lined up to depart every 7 minutes, instead of being somewhere else on the course and just watching them fly by. I got there at 8:30am, and the actual racing didn't begin until 2:30pm. My skin was angry that day. But, TdF marketing kept us pretty entertained with lots of caravans that tossed out free food and stuff. It was like a pre-race parade! I snagged some pretty sweet swag like jerseys, hats, inflatable noodes, the usual. It helped that I was a tiny girl in the very front amongst a sea of old dudes. I passed some time by making friends with a professor from Louisville and a family from Australia. And, my dream did come true -- I saw Lance! Of course, they saved him and his team for last. He got the biggest ovation of all the riders, which was really surprising to me because French people HATE him. I was really confused. All in all, it was an amazing day, and I still can't believe I got to cross this off my life to-do list.

The rest of the week was filled with chateau-hopping and zoo/Amazonian greenhouse-visiting. One of Beatriz's friends from Spain came to visit that weekend, so we went out. Bulat gets drunk from one glass of wine, so he's really no fun. After he had one glass, he went into the living room and started watching YouTube videos of Russian songs. What. Beatriz got so drunk (from Calimocho = red wine + Coke) that she passed out and vommed at the bar we went to. So, that's what partying with 19-year-olds is like.

Beatriz and I took our first train trip to Avignon on July 13. It's a typical Provencal city, and it was absolutely beautiful. I think I said, "This is so cute!" approximately 1,000 times on that trip. Avignon is known for being the seat of the papacy a bunch of years ago and having Pont d'Avignon, a bridge which is the subject of a famous French children's song. The Festival d'Avignon, an international theatre festival, was happening when we visited, which made for some hilarious sights. Lots of mimes, weird interpretive dancing, performance art, white people breakdancing, and bands playing in the streets. It was a great place to visit for a day, but I think I would be bored as shit if I lived there.

The next day was Bastille Day! There was a military procession in the downtown square in the morning. Not really impressive, but exactly what I was expecting from the French. They do have some pretty dapper uniforms, though. The fireworks and giant picnic/party were in a big grass field/park that night. It was a very subdued independence celebration, compared to what I'm used to in the U.S. Hilariously, the band that performed didn't even play French songs, but instead played the classic hits of Gloria Estefan, Jason Mraz, and Duffy. But, they redeemed themselves with the fireworks show.

That weekend, the three of us took a day trip to Marseille, which might be my new favorite place on Earth. It's the third largest metropolitan area in France. I have entirely too many great pictures and stories from this trip, so we'll just have to talk about it in person. Marseille has been populated for like 30,000 years or something crazy like that, so there was tons of history in the city. So, clearly, it was an orgasmic experience for me.

This past weekend, we visited Toulouse and Nimes. Bulat missed the train to Toulouse because he drank 1 1/2 glasses of wine at the city festival the night before and was too drunk to get to the station on time. So again, this is what partying with 19-year-olds is like. The train ride to Toulouse was my favorite so far; there was so much beautiful French countryside to see, and I finally got pictures of sunflower fields! Toulouse is the 4th largest city in France, and its more modern than Marseille. So, I'm glad I got to a different region of the country. Nimes is also really old and really Roman, and there were three major tourist attractions we saw: The Arenes (the most well-preserved Roman colosseum in existence), La Maison Carree (another really old Roman building), and La Tour Magne (a Roman tower that had spectacular views of the city, Mont Ventoux, the Alpilles, and Pyrenees. The Arenes was my favorite because it was awesome to imagine all of the gladiator battles and bullfighting that happened inside.

During the weeks, I've just been frolicking and reading in city gardens, going to the city music festival, and oh yeah, doing a bit of research here and there. The other day, I watched a neurosurgery - partial frontal lobectomy for a glioma. The patient was awake because they were testing him for speech in his frontal lobe, and there were times that they stimulated his frontal lobe and he went into speech arrest! Crazy!

Over the next week, I'm planning to go to the beach, take more pictures, eat my fill of baguettes, croissants, and cheese, and be emo about having to leave.

See y'all soon!

SO FUNNY

Now that I have some semblance of internet, I have been reading all of your entries to catch up with what you guys have been up to the past few weeks. Needless to say, I laughed loudly and uncontrollably, much to the chagrin of my teammates here.

Lesotho is a very interesting country. It's weird, mostly because it's one of the few homogeneous cultures left in Africa. White people (and Asians) really stick out here, because everyone else here is native Basotho. But I'm not the only Chinese person, because every grocery store in the country is owned by a Chinese family. I wish I were kidding. They're all really surprised to see me when I go grocery shopping, and several of them have invited me over to their houses for dinner sometime. I haven't gone to any Asian dinners yet, but I'm definitely going to try to before I leave.

I'm also caught in a dilemma because I've taken well over 1000 pictures since I've been here, and I'm going to have to sort them out before I come home, because there's no way I can post all of them on Facebook. My desire to be a National Geographic photographer is truly a curse on me while I'm here. Ah well, some things can't be helped.

I miss all of you guys incredibly, and I can't wait to see you in just two weeks!

from bad to very very good.

SOOO starting on monday I was not feeling so well...got a little sick after eating my oatmeal and then felt bad during the morning but well enough to eat a good size dinner that night... BOY WAS THAT A MISTAKE

spent the morning with my head over a plastic bag or in the bathroom on Tuesday...yuck Finally by the afternoon I wasn't getting too sick anymore and mananged to call up the airline just to see how much it would cost to switch my flight earlier since we were leaving san mateo earlier (we left this morning and are now in xela :) ) ANDDDD IT WAS FREEEEEEE.99!!!!!! So I will be in good old AMERICA on SUN! wahooo.

Anyways back to monday... so we invited this doctor and his wife,mph, over for dinner on monday since they just got into san mateo that day. We were discussing the problems in San Mateo and what needs to be considered when doing a project there and Tania starts explaining how alcoholism is a huge problem here... literally right after she says this Erin opens the kitchen door reaches into the fridge and we hear a KA-CHHHHHHH... she opened up a beer HAHAHAHA so funny

RIGHT NOW im in xela!!! trying to upload my pictures since they are all on Jon's computer

you guys sound like youve had awesome times!!! miss you all!

res= head of cattle; head of other animal

so these are old diary entries that I didn't have a chance to talk about because the internet was down for awhile:

Jon and I finally ate at the pizza place!!! QUESSSOOOOOO!!!! so we get there and are asked if we want pollo (chicken) or res on our pizza. we both are like what in the world is res? we ask her she shrugs and says "es res". so jon whips out his dictionary and it says head of cattle or of another animal HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... needless to say we order a pizza with just cheese. As we are waiting Jon mentions that there are a ton of flies, i see him looking at all the ones zooming around the room. THEN I look up and see one of those sticky fly catchers out of jon's view that is absoutely COVERED in flies... like there was no more space on the tape for another fly. I immmediately say I wish I hadn't seen that and jon goes what and looks at what im looking at... we both shudder. pizza was delicious... first taste of dairy in a while. then we end up buying cheese from her the next day! muahaha we found a cheese source.

More Asian craziness, divided up into chapters for your convenience.

A Trip within a Trip - Hong Kong

So as soon as we get off the subway from the airport and walk towards our hotel, all we see EVERYWHERE are strip clubs (that we find out later are NOT actually strip clubs) and hookers. We're just thinking "man I never knew Hong Kong was this seedy". The first night we're pretty tired so we just get some food and crash. The next day we do some touristy stuff that I won't bore you with. It was cool, but typical sightseeing. But that night... we go to Bar 7...

Going around in Hong Kong we realize that most of Hong Kong is your typical metropolis with really nice shops, restaurants, and buildings. We just happened to get a hotel in what seemed to be the red light district of Hong Kong. The second night we go out to a busy area of bars and clubs. Apparently some Beer Fest was going on while we were there so the streets were ridiculously packed. It seriously was packed like Mardi Gras. Beers on the street or in the bars were at least $6 US, so since there are no open container laws we hit up a Bar 7... 7-11 that is! So we spend at least an hour buying cheap beers at 7-11 and drinking them right outside while chatting up some new friends. We later head to a bar for a while, but Bar 7 was definitely the highlight of the night :-)

The crowded street by the bars and clubs

A Trip within a Trip within a Trip - Macau

Macau was a Portuguese colony in China so it has a cool mix of Chinese and Portuguese buildings and culture. It also happens to be the Las Vegas of Asia. Macau is just a short 1-hour ferry ride from Hong Kong, so we go for just a day during our HK trip. During the day we do the typical tourist sightseeing thing, but then we hit up the casinos. I really want to play some Texas Hold 'em, but the minimum to play is about $130 US and I don't want to risk that much so I go play blackjack with about $70. I manage to get that up to the minimum for poker so I take my chips away and try my hand at some hold 'em. I play pretty tight, while there's some Japanese guys there betting pretty crazy, like betting all-in pre-flop with $300. Anyways I manage to come away from the table with about $220, so all-in-all up $150. We head back to HK and decide to explore the "strip clubs" to celebrate...

Grand Lisboa - second tallest building in Macau and where I would win my millions

Hong Kong Hookers

So right back at our hotel in the midst of HK's red light district, we go into one of the "strip clubs". To our disappointment they are not strip clubs at all and the girls dance around in bikinis while looking extremely tired and depressed. There's no such thing as just dancers here, they're all hookers and the clubs are all fronts for prostitution. So I'm extremely curious about how this all works so I approach the mother figure of the place, aka the pimp, to ask about getting a girl for the night. She takes me aside and lets me know that I can have all my desires fulfilled for several hours for 2600 HKD (about $350 USD). I tell her I'm just a student, I don't have much money on me (she tells me I can use a credit card!), my credit limit is too low, Amsterdam is a lot cheaper, etc. and haggle her down to $1500 HKD (about $200 USD). Then I tell her I changed my mind and can't afford a girl and go back to talk to Sunny and Laura. A moment later, momma pulls me aside and tells me that I'm very tricky, that I never planned on getting a girl and just wanted to investigate... she wasn't really angry or anything, but I decided that we should probably leave at that point. Then in the middle of the night while Sunny and Laura were sleeping I snuck back into one of the clubs and bought one of the girls... no I'm jk... what happens in HK stays in HK, except for syphilis... and I don't want that shit!

Karaoke Clubs in Taiwan

Since karaoke is all the rage among Asians, we went to a karaoke club to check it out and sing the night away... it was actually pretty awesome! You get your own little room for your group, which was pretty comfy with great mood lighting... from the way the place looked I seriously thought some strippers were going to come in and give us lap dances. Beers are also real cheap with prompt room service and there's a great table in the middle of the couches for drinking games! Needless to say I drank many beers so that I would not be self-conscious about my awful singing skills :-)

Sunny, Laura, and Laura's friend singing their hearts out

Teaching English

Today was actually my last day teaching English here. It's pretty nice not having to worry about lesson plans and getting up early, but it was kinda a bummer too cuz those kids were so freakin adorable and now I'm not making any more money... they were paying me $18/hour to just play games with my students! I could even go into class hungover! Anyway, last night I bought some little gifts for my kids which were about 50 cents a piece and they were so excited about them it was ridiculous. I also had to pretend the whole time that I didn't understand any Chinese so that the students would always try to speak English to me. Near the end of class today I started speaking Chinese to them, which was once again cause for ridiculous excitement... aww I'm gonna miss them :-(

Gifts for my students

My Kids!

A Beautiful Country, Delicious Food, and Magical Water

Hola amigos! So me and Manisha flew into Costa Rica on Saturday and this place is sweet. Everything is so cheap! Absolutely delicious lunch: $2. Hour of internet at an internet cafe: 60 cents. Seeing people walk around with blunts in their hands: priceless. So we spent our first afternoon walking around San Jose. Cars here have the right of way and have no problem hitting pedestrians, and the gutters on the side of the road are 2 ft wide and a foot deep. Needless to say Manisha had a few near death experiences that first afternoon.

We met some other people in the same program at our guest house later that day. Alex is a med student at drexel, Eleanor is doing a post bac at columbia, and Sarah who's from Cali and is only 17 and a senior in high school but really wants to learn spanish. That night we went out to El Pueblo, the local hotspot. It was a square block that was pedestrian only with 4 or 5 bars and 4 or 5 clubs. We jut went to one of the bars and watched the shinnanigans through the window... to give you an idea, two girls walked out of a club wearing black bras and underwear with pink garders and fuzzy boots.

We felt bad about corrupting the 17 y/o but she said she'd been drinking since she ws 15 so we decided not to worry about it. Then when we got our first tequila shots and started pouring salt on our hands she looked at us like we were crazy. Needless to say we taught her how to really take tequila shots and at the end of the night she was struggling, as in Manisha slept on the top bunk b/c Sarah couldn't make it all the way up there.


Alex, Eleanor, and Sarah are all at different sites in Costa Rica, so we left our new friends the next day to go to Turrialba where we're going to be for the rest of the time here. Its a small town about 4 hours from San Jose. The best part is that, unlike the rest of Costa Rica/central america, the water is clean here so we could drink it without worrying. Its really awesome not having to brush your teeth with bottled water, which I had been really worried about doing.

I absolutely love my host mother. I was really worried at first since she's 60 and its just the two of us so it might be awkward, but she's super nice and I can actually talk to her now that I've learned some Spanish. And she doesn't have any cats (which was a surprise). Just in case any of you are thinking about coming to central america and think your other random romance language will get you by... it won't. I was completely lost relying on my Italian that first day. I was also really worried I'd eat too much and bankrupt my host mother, but apprarently her son (who just left for college a few days before I got here) eats twice as much as I do so its all good.

Spanish school is a lifesaver here. I'm of course in the super dumb kids beginner class by myself... even Manisha is a class above me since she actually bought a Spanish book and learned a few words before coming here. The other medical kids here in Turrialba are really nice, but there's a few kids in the teen program that clearly don't want to be here. Apparently they got sent here as 'punishment' by there parents, one guy for drinnking and partying too much (he's 15) and the other a girl for stealing a car. Too bad punishment wasn't this sweet when I was in high school...

The first night was 'Welcome Drink' at this bar called Ole Ole and the school pays for the first round. That was where I was first introduced to guarro, a Costa Rican liquor. Think vodka but it tastes 100 times better, the stuff goes down like water, which ends up being really bad for you if you're not careful. I'll bring a big bottle back so we can play the game with it and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Last night we had mystical fruit (direct translation). Its looks like a pommegranet seed but bigger with a slimy seed in the middle. It tastes a little tangy but the best part is after you eat it everything tastes really sweet for the 2 hours. So last night we sat around eating limes and drinking even more delicious than normal guarro. That's about it for now, though Manisha's host mother keeps shall we say suggesting that she hang our with her son more... awkward (for her) yet hilarious (for the rest of us).

Anyway, that's all for now (as I'm looking over this its actually super long). We're going to Puerto Viejo, a touristy beach on the carribean side, this weekend. The only thing we've heard about it from the other med kids is that its awesome and everyone there is high so we should have some interesting stories when we get back. Hasta luego!