Working?

I have been trying to post this forever, but my internet keeps being dumb. 

There are some benefits to being "sort of" employed. I guess technically I have three jobs, but none of them are full time and only one is somewhat regular.

I have to say, there are a few perks to this irregular employment. I get to make my own schedule and I can take breaks pretty much when ever I want. Although, these are the down sides, too - I have to be totally accountable to myself and my bank account!

One of the perks of administering surveys for the Indiana State Department of Health, is that I get to travel all over the state. (Down side is that I am putting thousands of miles on my car). But, I've seen some pretty neat (and not so neat) places. Two weeks ago, Nathan joined me on a survey trip to southern-ish Indiana. we didn't stay there, although we are now planning a trip back. We headed over to Cincinnati, OH and Newport, KY. I love that this was a day of "work."

Three states in one day!

Authentic German Beer and Food in Newport, KY.

Hofbräuhaus

Proud of his beer.

I "helped..."

Spatzl with chicken

Pretzel with mettwurst

Shopping at Ikea. (No photos...apparently I forgot during this part of the day)

Buying yummy international food at Jungle Jim's.

Reminiscing about the first time we talked. That's a story for another day.

The first time Nathan and I talked was on a bus trip while we were passing through Eaton, Ohio. 

Since my whirlwind of three states, I haven't been anywhere interesting - just a lot of miles in Indiana.

Ireland

I feel a little less silly about celebrating and decorating for St. Patrick's day after spending some time in Dublin. I made this quote-thingy for my seasonal shelf - you may have seen it in some other pictures.

Then, as I was getting reading to post today, I realized that in all my blogging and adventuring last Fall, I some how never managed to blog about my trip to Dublin. So here are a few pictures of Dublin in honor of st. Patrick' Day.

Inside St. Patick's Cathedral

There he is, banishing the snakes.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick was a real man. And he banished the snakes from Ireland. But that's not all Dublin has to offer....

They have beer.

And buses

And convenience stores with yummy cheap food.

And yes, much much more. Like....

A stunning National Library

Beautiful Castles (Malahide) - this one is not in Dublin but a short train ride away.

And really cold water in the Irish Sea

 Can I go back now?

1 Week Later

I have been home for a week now. Everyone said to expect a little culture shock - I didn't think I would - and I'm not. Well, kind of. It hits a strange times. There are moments in the last week where I would give anything to be back and other moments that I'm so happy to be home.

Things I miss about London:

- Never being bored (there was always something to do, close by)
- Not driving (I hate looking at the gas tank drop - maybe some of this has to do with the fact that i'm not driving my lovely car - but seriously, I hate putting gas in a car)
- Low cost healthy food at the store that looks fresh.....seriously I don't want preservatives.
- Public transport - but that goes with the whole car thing
- Ethnic food (maybe that's because I live in Muncie)
- Pastry
- Culture
- Affordable art/music/dance
- Walking everywhere

Things I'm glad to have back:

- Nathan (maybe I should just take him to London)
- My cell phone with a keyboard
- The ability to call my family whenever I want
- Fast Internet
- Street signs/road names that you can read - in other words, I don't have to get lost because the road names are posted on some buildings.

Morocco in Photos

It's been almost a week since my adventures in Morocco and I can honestly say, it was the best of my three side trips. I loved Dublin for it's familiarity and size, I love Prague for it's richness of culture and history, but I loved Morocco for it's smells, the people, the culture, the weather, the history, and so much more.

Marrakesh, Morocco was like unlike anywhere I have ever been. In many ways it reminded me of Istanbul and in other ways it reminded me of the smaller cities in Kenya. But, the winding alley ways, the markets, the square, the museums, the riads, and the mosques were totally unique (at least compared to my tiny experience).

I could probably go on forever describing every detail of our trip (ask Nathan, I talked non stop for at least a half hour before he could get a single word in) but I'll just share some photos with you instead.

We tried to find the Palmerie but ended up at the Jardin Majorelle.

I love the detail in design.

We found the Palmerie, but not the camels.

So we hailed a taxi back to the square.

And went to a museum of caftans instead!

And then to an old Koranic school.

And then hung out in the square

And watched some snake charming.

 The day we went mountain climbing in the Ourika Valley...

Traditional Moroccan plant based medicine.

These bridges are everywhere across this river.

I made it!

After the bridge.

Pointing us in the right direction

The small waterfall.

Half way to our destination.

Brandon at the top of the second waterfall.

At the second waterfall.

Our camel ride in the rain!

Brandon eating snails in the market. You could still see the eyes, so I graciously declined!

Our hostel, a converted riad. Riads are the old mansions in the cities. Many of them have been converted into hotels and bed and breakfasts, but many are still owned by locals and foreign transplants. 

They all look kind of grimy from the outside. Generally, wealthy Moroccans don't want people to know how much money they have, so they keep the outside of their property looking run down and then have exquisite interior design. This became a little more clear to us when we stood on the terrace of our hostel and looked around at all of the surrounding private terraces. 

Our room was in the bottom left hand corner.

One of the hostel sitting areas.

From on top of our hostel.

For those of you who think I can't pack light....mom.... this is all I took!

The backpack and purse not all the stuff in the background!

d

I can pack light!

Waterfalls and Camels

It is only 8 and I am totally zonked so short post today long post to follow.

We left the hostel about 9 and drove out to the Ourika Valley. We were with a very interesting (to put it poltely) group of tourists! We drove and stopped along the way to get fabulous view of the Morrocan country side. We scaled a moutain (in the High Atlas) to see stunning waterfalls, crossed a rickety bridge and rode camels in the rain. That's right. We rode in the rain. I though it was a touch funny to be riding a desert animal while it was raining. I had the camel with the most personality and almost got bucked off a few times - but it was totally worth it.

We shopped a little and now I'm going to get in bed and read. We are going sight seeing in the morning and then back to London for the last week. Eek!

More to follow... and pictures!

I have way too many thoughts

I promise that photos will follow there is just too much to document to wait until I get back.

Brandon and I went trekking today - kind of - by accident. We left the hostel and tried to find these 2 museums that we wanted to see. Our hostel is near the Souks - the marketplace made up of winding alleys, the map made it look like we needed to walk one way so we did. WRONG. we got to see the real Marrakech this morning. We stopped some French people to ask if they knew how to get there, they didn't, we asked a shop keeper and he didn't, we got stopped by a man on the streets who spoke about 4 different languages and he offered to have US take HIM to lunch and he would tell us where to go. When we refused he kindly told us that we weren't anywhere close. So, we went back to the square, had a snack and ventured out.

Let me tell you, guide books are fantastic most of the time. Apparently not the one I have. It told us to take the #1 bus to get to "La Palmerie," Well folks, it doesn't go that far. We got the end of the line and the driver felt bad for us so he pointed us in the direction of "le Jardin Marjorelle." It was well worth it. It is a stunning botanical garden with bamboo and palm tress, foutains, little ponds and tres jolie flowers.

After purusing the garden, we decided to walk to "la palmerie" becuase according to my guide book there were supposed to be camel rides there. WRONG. Perhaps during high tourist seasonm but certainly not now. We were a good 2 miles away from the tourist part of town. We finally came accross a taxi stand and paid a little extra to get the taxi to take us back to town. We finally found the museums that we had originally been looking for.

It's super hard reading signs in the museums in French, but everything was great to look at! We had dinner at on of the pop up restaurants and and now just taking a break until we go out exploring once again this evening.

A few side notes...

1. I'm not kidding when i say the streets in the souk are windy. Here are the directions we used to get to our hostel....

DIRECTIONS: From Djemaa el-Fnaa: The easiest way to get to the hostel is from the famous Djemaa el-Fnaa square. Ask your cab driver to leave you at what is popularly known as "Café Argana" although the canopy reads "Restaurant Argana". The name "Argana" is written in large letters on the roof of the premises. If you arrive by bus, or the square is closed to cars, look for this cafe, or ask someone to show you the way to it. It's located on one of the corners of the square. Facing the cafe, take the street immediately to the left. Very soon you will get to an open space. Cross this taking the street on your left under the archway. Pass through the arch and you'll be in Mouassine street. This is a fairly wide street (for the Medina standards), with shops left and right. Walk straight down this street. Soon on your right you'll see a small corner shop called 'Fnaque Berber' followed by another arch, walk directly through it. After approximately 100 meters you'll get to a small open space (or a place where the street widens), once you enter this area you will find a small arch behind and to your right. This is a slight u-turn but do not worry as our street starts there! You can read its name at the top of the arch: 'Derb Laghnaiz Lamouassine'. Pass through the arch and walk down three steps. You're almost there. This street has no shops and in most parts is roofed. Walk and don't leave the wall on your left. After 50-60 meters of walking down this winding street, you'll find a door with our name on it: 'Equity Point'. Welcome!!

2. While walking past a shop a man came up behind us and said "want to come in the back, and smoke. Hashish?" Totaly un-pc but this man resembled and sounded like Jafar from Aladin.

First Impressions

This weekend, I am exploring Marrakech Moracco with Brandon! We are staying in this absolutely stunning hostel with free internet and computers so, even though I don't have a way to post pictures while I'm here, I figure I may as well update you guys on this trip.

We landed in at the airport and passed through customs. We only had one minor snaffu- but hopefull it will be the only one of the trip. Stupidly we forgot that we can't use our debit cards outside of Europe. Luckily bBrandon had a different ATM card on him and withdrew enough cash for the both of us! I'll Just have to pay him back when we get home!

We found a cheap bus instead of a taxi that dropped us off in an excellent location. We are staying right off the main sauqre (Jemma El Fna) in the Medina. The sqaure was bustling with little food stands, dried fruit stands, and shops. We almost had the wool pulled over our eyes at one restaurant but a nice French lady pointed out a discrepency on the menue to us and we were fine. So in otherwords, I may actually get to use those 6 years of French after all! The food was delicious we had chicken and lamb kebabs and bread and veggies.

After dinner we walked around the sqaure we peeked in some shops. It's going to be fun haggling in the markets! I'll keep you all posted! Until then, I'm going to go relax by the pool under the night skym or maybe on the poof chairs in the courtyard, at our hostel that is only costing us 25 dollars a night! Score!

I think I'm going to love it here.

NOT My Fault!

I happened to tell Denise (the director of the program/my mentor/my boss/my mom away from home) that I'd been eying a particular London ducky. I had no intention of buying it, but she did. So, I have yet another PERFECT ducky for my collection!

Duck to protect the rest!

A Circle of Stones, a Giant Bath, and some Wizards

Wednesday the group went to Stonehenge, Bath, and Lacock. Everything had a little element of magic involved! I love excursions with Philippa – our main tour guide and the art history professor. She makes even really boring things come to life.

I really wasn’t all that jazzed about Stonehenge – it’s cool, but not really my thing. Holy Cow – much cooler in person than in photos. I never learned much about it in school – perhaps because the whole thing is an unsolved mystery.

You can’t get very close to the monument because people used to chip little pieces of the stone off. It’s a little bit annoying that you have to pay to walk a giant circle around the thing. It’s stood for over 5,000 years – I don’t think it’s going anywhere any time soon!

I’ve posted a few pictures, but you can’t see some of the really cool things in the pictures. First, the tall standing stones all have little knobs on the top, the ones that lay across in the circle have notches that fit onto the knobs. What’s so cool about that is that the knobs and notches would have been carved with tools made out of bone or wood and maybe bronze towards the end of construction.

No one really knows why it was built. It is perfectly circular and is on a raised patch of grass. The sun rises and sets over one stone. It may have been a seasonal calendar based on the rising and setting of the sun or it may have been a religious site. There are graves scattered all around it on the hillsides. It was pretty neat.

I loved Bath. It’s a big city, but it’s not overwhelming. We didn’t stay long unfortunately so I only got – yet again – a taste. I’ll be going back in my lifetime for sure. We popped into Bath Abbey where the very first coronation of a King took place. Edward the First – maybe. Our main stop was in the Roman Bath. Very cool! Again, I learned nothing of this bath in history, but it was a huge deal. Julius Cesar took baths there. I must say, I find it a touch creepy that people all took Baths together.

You can still see the steam as it rising up from the Baths today – although you can’t get in. The Romans were some of the first people to really value bathing. They even valued massage and oil treatments. Very spa like! 

Bath kind of fell apart over the years and then in the 18^th century had a revival of sorts. All the rich people from London would travel there to relax and unwind in the spas. Jane Austen was a frequent visitor to Bath. There are homes in Bath that are still maintained by the rich and famous and go for about 4 – 5 million pounds….a row house for 4-5 million pounds. I’d at least like my own garden for that kind of money! 

30 row houses - about 4 to 5 million pounds each!

On the way home we stopped in Lacock. It’s a cute little historical town. We didn’t learn much about it other than it was the site of filming for many of the scenes in the first two Harry Potter movies. I had some yummy ice cream and window shopped!