March 23, 2010

A year ago I was in Peru...

Lima, Peru

In fact it was my first full day in Peru.  Mom and I had landed at 1am...

My travel journal from March 22, 2010 reads;

"...alarm 3:30 am.  Kissed Jeff goodbye at 4:15....arrived in ATL met up with Darrel and Connie so nice to see them...flight scheduled to leave @6:10 pm sat on tarmac for a 1 hr, finally left.
1 am Peru time, arrive in Lima, find a taxi...scary drive to hotel.  Filthy, run down, busy for this time of night....Hot, humid here.  Texting not working:("
"Kinda nervous/weird to be here without a guide or group.  Glad mom is here with me...our room without a view..."

We went right to bed after arranging for a taxi to pick us up at 8am for sight seeing in Lima before we caught our flight to Trejillo on March 23, 2010

I can't believe it was a year ago...

While my initial impressions seem unfavorable , it was exciting to experience, to not know what the next 10 min. had in store...

My journal for March 23, 2010 reads~

"Didn't sleep enough or very well.  Bed broke during the night :).
Breakfast in hotel after a "mist of shower."

"Our driver Alexander was prompt...we walked around downtown where we saw the Presidente Palace, a Cathedral...My favorite was Monestario de San Franciscan where the Fransescan monks lived.  The church was beautiful with side chapels and Moorsih design in the ceiling...We went upstairs to tour their library.  I loved it and feared for it.  All of their books, paintings and furniture where unprotected from the climate.  The rooms are not even air conditioned and here is a beautiful library with 25,000 books from the 17th century! "

"...we had a view of the shanty town surrounding the city.  We drove through CRAZY traffic-lanes mean nothing to theses people!"

After our morning of touring Lima we caught our flight north to Trejillo.  My first impressions of Trejillo were not positive...

My journal reads...

"Trejillo airport is right on the beach.  I was shocked at how arid it is.  Disturbed by the piles of trash along the roads, not piles, mountains.  Beautiful beaches, where are the resorts?
Squalor, ruined shacks, trash, dogs, people.  I thought good grief where are we going with this taxi driver who speaks zero English and his "cab" looks like a beat up tin can.  But eventually we got into a community of walls with barbwire on top and security guards standing around and we found our hotel.."

We went to Trejillo because our church was conducting an evangelistic series there.  It was interesting and the people were lovely!  More on that later...

Frychik

PS  I'm heading to the beach today for a few days.  I'm not sure if I will have Internet....

War or "conflicts" suck!

Libya - Gadhafi
The US is involved in another "conflict"  That is what we call our wars now...because we are not comfortable calling what we do "war". The American people wouldn't support a "War"  Somehow it sounds better that we are sending our men and women off to a "conflict"

death is death

I don't come from a military background...
Both my Grandfather and my step-dad served in their Wars...
Neither saw combat thankfully

As I listen to the nightly news report on the latest "conflict" in Libya the concern seems to be whether or not we are specifically targeting Gadhafi...
It almost sounds like it would somehow be immoral if we actually killed him...

Yet, the entire reason, justification, for our involvement is because Gadhafi ordered his own people attacked.
So why is it OK to attack and kill Gadhafi military forces (and any civilians who have the misfortune for being in the wrong place at the wrong time) but not OK to target Gadhafi himself?  How is that immoral?
Why not go after the source?  Why not spare thousands of lives?

I am always very conflicted when I think about these situations...
History have given the world some very bad people and a few of them have managed to put themselves into very powerful positions and I have been thankful for those who have made terrific sacrifices for Democracy and civility

However, war makes me sick. The death, the damage, the loss.  It comes at such an incredibly high price...
With all of the World's developments we still can't settle our disputes without blowing each other up...

When I see a soldier I want to hug them...all of them.  I respect and appreciate them tremendously.  However, if either of my boys ever want to "join up" I will do everything in my power to stop it. 
The price is too high for me personally...

I have been very blessed to have been born in America, with all of its stability and modern comforts...
And I have, and I'm sure will be again, indignant when no one steps in to help those who can't help themselves...We seem to be the big brother in the world, the one who steps up when the runt is getting the snot beat out of them and needs someone to step up and make it stop...
This is where I'm conflicted.  I don't believe in standing by and letting things like ethnic cleansing take place.  I also really, really don't like war...

I hate this!

Frychik

43 Things about me

I recently read that we should all make a list of 43 things about ourselves...Why 43? I have no idea...We should do it to make us more aware of what we enjoy, what we dream about and where we want to go...

Also, it has been said, that writing things down makes them more likely to happen.
I believe that to be true.  Jeff and I wrote a list of things we wanted to to/buy and then forgot about it.  We found that list years later and we could cross off almost the entire list! 

There is something important about writing down your dreams/goals...it makes them real, concrete.

So here it goes...

I'll start with the easy one~

Where I want to go

All 7 continents - I have 4 to go

All 50 states - I have 6 left, Ohio, Arkansas, Oklahoma, N & S Dakota and Alaska

Machu Pichu - sigh...

Amazon Jungle

On a photo workshop travel tour with Art Wolfe or National Geographic

A safari in Africa

Visit the area in Slovakia that my Great-grandmother lived

The fjords of Norway

The hot springs of Iceland

Patagonia

Bike tour in Europe

Vietnam

Cappadocia

Zanzibar

What I want to do

Become a better photographer

Get in the best shape of my adult life

Be more adventurous

Learn how to Scuba Dive

Learn how to make a quilt

Explore ruins

Go on a cruise

Get my masters in History

Take a photography class

Be less intimidated

See my pictures hanging somewhere other than my house

Avoid menopause

Swim with dolphins

Laugh more

Take a yoga class

Ride my bike more

Believe in myself

Grow 5 different varieties of pumpkins

Have a green house

Read more classics

Enjoy the moment as well as the journey

Go on a bike tour in Europe with Jeff


People I'd like to meet

Any living US President

Any relative of mine living in Europe

(Many of the people I want to meet are dead...)

Teddy Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt

Franklin Roosevelt

Hiram Bingham

Mark Twain

I'd love to read what's on your list!

Frychik

Wisdom Teeth

Yesterday, I took my 6'5" boy/man in to have his wisdom teeth removed...

We have spent a lot of $$$ on this boys smile!

I myself, have never had braces so clearly he gets it from his dad....

He wore braces for two years...

He ended up with a very nice finished product...
He is a handsome guy!
If he would just let me cut his hair short I would be sooo happy!

Dr Wong seemed very impressed with the size of his wisdom teeth...

They do see rather large but maybe he just says that to all the moms....

I will admit I took my video camera to the Dr. office in hopes that when he woke up from anesthesia he would perform in such a way that I could submit my video to AFV and win $100,000...
No such luck...

With rare and possibly never to be repeated self-control I did not take any pictures of Josh today...It's just not pretty and I don't think he would ever forgive me...

With the exception of being obsessed about what time it was, he was just groggy...
I had worried he would be so doped up that walking would be a challenge and how would I get his
largeness in the door?  Long gone are the days when I would just pick him up on my hip and carry him in...

As we drove home he was obsessing over whether or not he could stand up...
He kept saying "I just want to know if I can do it!" In a very irritated "why don't you understand what I'm saying????" voice...
I assured him repeatedly he could stand up...but now while we were driving down the road was not a good time to test that out...could he please wait until we got home to see if he could stand up?

I was thankful for control of the power lock to his door....

I think he was worried he couldn't stand up because they had taken him to the car in a wheel chair...
His blood pressure was really low and it just wasn't coming up...
So we were being extra cautious with him...

Once he got home he stood up just fine and I didn't have to call for back up to try and get him in the door..
He was cranky, irritable...
But when you know your boy needs you suddenly your patience, tolerance for that sort of thing is so much greater....wish I could package that up and use it later...

So far he's been getting by with just Advil...I may have to pull out the big guns for him tomorrow...
I hope he bounces back quick...

Did you notice those buns???

Heaven help me!

Frychik



Book Club - Tanna's house

I wish my life away, anticipating the next book club night...

Seriously, if you love to read, love food, love friendship, love conversation...

you have to start a book club with your friends!

It is such an uplifting experience!

Here is a step by step of what we do...

Step 1-Gather

We gather at someones house...the someone who chose the book for that month...

Last night we were at Tanna's house discussing her book "Finding Nouf"

I appreciated this book because it discussed the culture in Saudi Arabia.  Specifically, how men and women interact...

Can I just say I am so very thankful to have been born here in the USA where it is not 100 degrees and I don't have to cover myself head to toe with black cloth!!!!!!!!!! Yikes!

Step 2 - Eat!!!

When we arrived at Tanna's house we were greeted with wonderful food! It smelled and tasted divine!  The food is almost always chosen around the theme of the book.  This is fun because it challenges us to think outside of our usual box...

We usually get to the food as soon as we can...we spend time talking about life and catching up, eventually we do get to the book.

Step 3- Discussion

It always is fascinating to hear each other's perspectives and insights into the book.  Suzanne always has it figured out halfway through the book and I never do until the end...

The discussion part of our night is always the longest and the best part.

Step 4- Reveal

Then it's time for the "reveal"...
It would be difficult for me to decide what I liked best about the night...
The food, friends or reveal...
I'm always so excited to see what our next book will be...
As you can see it's such a big deal that we have cameras trained to capture the moment...

Our next book...
Two months ago when book club was at my home I had just finished reading "Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton and I offered it to Suzanne saying "you'll love it!" and she did.  Then she told me of another Kate Morton book called "House at Riverton", which I just picked up this week and now a third book "Distant Hours"  It's always fun to find an author you really enjoy!

So I have about 1,000 pages to get read (because I want to finish both books) before next month. 
But that's OK.  :)

I always leave book club feeling so happy and uplifted.

I wasn't even that upset when Mr. Policeman decided he needed to pull me over on the way home....
Something about doing 37 in a 25...
Maybe it was my book club glow that convinced him to let me off with a warning :)

This afternoon I take my 6'5" baby to have his wisdom teeth pulled....
Say a prayer...

Frychik





Geography

I teach geography
I have always loved maps
not sure why...

I guess it's the promise of leading you somewhere wonderful,
new, and exciting.
I think it's great fun to teach geography...

Some areas are more challenging than others...
A few weeks ago we did Eastern Europe...
They all learned where Macedonia and Belarus are on a map...

Then I decided to spring a U.S. map on them...
No warning just here's a map of your country, fill it out...

I often tell the story of my first year teaching in Georgia...
We were planning to take our New England trip.  That trip involved loading 40 teenagers on a diesel
bus and driving north.  Hitting as many historical sites as possible in 10 days...

It was awesome! It was exhausting!
One of my students who knew I was from Washington/Oregon asked if we would be
driving through Oregon on our way....

Huh?

She honestly thought the States where in alphabetical order...

I quickly arranged for a map quiz...

Confident that my kids here were better informed of their own country I handed out
the US maps and waited as they filled them in...

Out of 32 kiddos only 4 had 40 or more...
And more than I care to think of had 10 or less...
So I switched gears and instead of heading to the Middle East we are
studying our own country...

They were dismayed when I told them they also had to know how to spell them correctly
"Why?" one whined...
"Because you are an American and you need to know your own country!" I said...

I certainly never want to see any of my students on Jay Leno when he goes out and asks people
general history and geography questions that everyone should know the answer to but no one seems to!

It's embarrassing people!

Frychik

Caffine

Caffeine is not my friend

I don't like coffee

never have

So with the birth of Starbucks and the

frequent invites of

"lets meet at Starbucks"

I had to find something other than hot chocolate to drink

So I found Chai

I love Chai

nonfat, nowater, vanilla chai...

Then I found Big Train Chai to have

at home...

The problem is, it seems I'm rather sensitive to caffeine

even one cup a day and I seem to be

dependant

Yesterday I didn't have a chai...

I've had a raging headache since 4pm

all night long,

this morning...

It makes me mad!

I'm not drinking 3 cups a day...

I just want one

but I hate being so dependant!

Trader Joe's use to sell a decaf that I liked

then they suddenly, without any warning,

stopped...

grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Frychik