Saturday, July 9, 2011

The Penguin has Landed

Another mango hits my roof as I hide in the mosquito net arranged over my bed. I am staying at an awe-inspiring accommodation. I've been told people here will rip you off every chance you get. I'm cat-sitting for someone, and they offered me a "deal" by having me pay $700/month. I backed out of that one, but I am still paying rent to cat sit. Which is no prob, cats are like nothing. And now I can live like a princess.

All in all, I could only find 6 bites on me, but I'm pretty sure one bite was directly on my eye!

Sunday: the last day of my summer vacation. Vacation is hard to come by these days-so I tried to make the most of it, but that's difficult in place that I don't know and with people I don't know in a country I'm not too sure about. I'm waiting it out 'till orientation tomorrow.

I did get a tour or all that is hip to do. Go down to the Marriott hotel (to walk on the beach its on and shop at the overpriced shops), go to one of the cafés, drive to some of the beaches that we'll play volleyball on.

Finally I went on my first grocery shopping trip. The students weren't kidding-a few essential groceries, some shampoo and some tupperware-80 USD!! What a heart attack! I plan on leaving this beautiful abode (in Sept.) for much smaller quarters that are complete with ducks and a garden, a mountain and an ocean view.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Prepare for Takeoff

Here I go.

I've visited some of the cool people in my life and I'm off to a new page of my life. Nothing like an internship in the middle of nowhere to teach you what really matters in life. So this next year for me is meant to set things straight. Collect all the things that I deem essential-friends, good food, sanity. I will miss you all-you know who you are (especially if I didn't get to say goodbye).

I've gotten to visit Davis and Ashland in the past week. My strategy of buying additional essentials in these cities has backfired, with me ending up with 3 more pairs of shoes/sandals than I anticipated, and at least a few new dresses, and a few items of non-essential clothing. I definitely cannot help it. And everything is cute to the very last non-essential item.

Aside from the shopping, it's great to be back on the West Coast. Running into the hippies, and the tattoos, the sexually liberal that make the area spectacular. I took the time to take some extra bike-friendly photos to hammer in the bike-hugger attitude here. In Indiana, I was yelled at at least 5 times by people in cars. My location on the street/sidewalk did not matter. People would straight-up yell angrily at me and my poor Sabine (http://www.nickbantock.com/Gryphon/Griffin_and_Sabine.html). Today I toodled around with Cristina's Fuji bike-a pretty sweet thing. What happens? A resounding "Hells yeah!!!" from the athletic gentlemen in the SUV. That's right-welcome to Ashland.

There were a couple of big fails out here as well. I took the Greyhound from Davis to Ashland. Well, the bus does not stop in Ashland, and drives straight past to Medford. To get to Ashland, you need to wait for the bus going in the opposite direction. In my case, they wanted me to wait 5 hours for a 20 minute commute!! So I took the local bus.