"Oh let the stars beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream. I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been..."
Right now I am "packing." By "packing" I mean sitting on my bed next to my snoozing dog, Pandora on blaring Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, Facebook on a tab (just in case) with about every inch of my room cluttered with clothing, shoes, cds, books and things I either want to take with me when I leave for Moldova, pack up in storage, or never see again. How many days do I have to pack again? About 17. Plenty of time for a procrastinator like myself to get everything ready that I may possibly want for living in a multi-weather/four season country for two years...and be less than 100 pounds.
Piece of cake, piece of crumb cake. Or is it?
My confidence might be my demise but it hasn't phased me yet. I still have time (spoken like a true procrastinator). The best part of being home I will admit is my eating habits. Call me Porky the Pig but I have been pigging out on whatever I feel like. You never know when I'm going to eat Cousin Subs, Culver's cheeseburgers and Ben & Jerrys again right? As excited as I am about trying my next country of residence's food, this is pretty cool.
The second to last day in Vieques (off the coast of mainland PR), I jumped on a ferry for two bucks and headed to Old San Juan for the night. With live music, an art fair and a guest house/hostel right in the heart of it, I was all set as a happy camper. This wouldn't have been quite as exciting if I hadn't met two friendly swimmers on the Blue Beach (also the coolest beach) on Vieques. They convinced me to head to San Juan a day early and we spent the night shopping, eating and exploring Old San Juan. Its amazing how easy it is to make friends. One shop we stopped in had a guy in dreadlocks behind the counter wearing a cool red t-shirt with Jimi Hendrix on it. One classic rock conversation led to another and it turns out he took my guest house reservation for his Mom that owned the guest house I was staying at! He showed us the view of Old San Juan from the roof of the guest house, and site of his newly built roof-room-home before going through and showing us all of his artwork. We loved it. I hope his hard work and eye-catching designs will cover many touristy shirts, posters and other memorabilia for many many moons.
Last week I flew home from Vieques, Puerto Rico and couldn't be more relieved. Don't get me wrong, the beaches= beautiful. The culture= crazy, just how I like it and the chance to see Puerto Rico with someone who lived and breathed it for 15 years was a great way to see it. AND, ANNDDD there were horses running around and grazing on the sides of the road everywhere! How cool is that?!? It felt like the Hispanic version of Misty of Chincoteague. Anywhere I can sleep and hear the gait of a Paso Fino running down the street at night and get stopped in a mini traffic jam because of some mares and foals in the street is a good enough place to check out. But, it is nice to finally get home, off the road for a little breather with the family before shippin' out.
Now I have my sights set on cleaning my car... You can never have too many projects to tackle, right? Wrong. I'm up to my ears in them! Where are those organizing freaks of nature on HDTV when you need them!?! :)-Kate
"Oh let the stars beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream. I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been..."
Right now I am "packing." By "packing" I mean sitting on my bed next to my snoozing dog, Pandora on blaring Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, Facebook on a tab (just in case) with about every inch of my room cluttered with clothing, shoes, cds, books and things I either want to take with me when I leave for Moldova, pack up in storage, or never see again. How many days do I have to pack again? About 17. Plenty of time for a procrastinator like myself to get everything ready that I may possibly want for living in a multi-weather/four season country for two years...and be less than 100 pounds.
Piece of cake, piece of crumb cake. Or is it?
My confidence might be my demise but it hasn't phased me yet. I still have time (spoken like a true procrastinator). The best part of being home I will admit is my eating habits. Call me Porky the Pig but I have been pigging out on whatever I feel like. You never know when I'm going to eat Cousin Subs, Culver's cheeseburgers and Ben & Jerrys again right? As excited as I am about trying my next country of residence's food, this is pretty cool.
The second to last day in Vieques (off the coast of mainland PR), I jumped on a ferry for two bucks and headed to Old San Juan for the night. With live music, an art fair and a guest house/hostel right in the heart of it, I was all set as a happy camper. This wouldn't have been quite as exciting if I hadn't met two friendly swimmers on the Blue Beach (also the coolest beach) on Vieques. They convinced me to head to San Juan a day early and we spent the night shopping, eating and exploring Old San Juan. Its amazing how easy it is to make friends. One shop we stopped in had a guy in dreadlocks behind the counter wearing a cool red t-shirt with Jimi Hendrix on it. One classic rock conversation led to another and it turns out he took my guest house reservation for his Mom that owned the guest house I was staying at! He showed us the view of Old San Juan from the roof of the guest house, and site of his newly built roof-room-home before going through and showing us all of his artwork. We loved it. I hope his hard work and eye-catching designs will cover many touristy shirts, posters and other memorabilia for many many moons.
Last week I flew home from Vieques, Puerto Rico and couldn't be more relieved. Don't get me wrong, the beaches= beautiful. The culture= crazy, just how I like it and the chance to see Puerto Rico with someone who lived and breathed it for 15 years was a great way to see it. AND, ANNDDD there were horses running around and grazing on the sides of the road everywhere! How cool is that?!? It felt like the Hispanic version of Misty of Chincoteague. Anywhere I can sleep and hear the gait of a Paso Fino running down the street at night and get stopped in a mini traffic jam because of some mares and foals in the street is a good enough place to check out. But, it is nice to finally get home, off the road for a little breather with the family before shippin' out.
