Connections to Home & Updates

Well, February has come and gone and I wrote on this blog a total of three times. Oops! I really am not sure what has been occupying all my time on a daily basis, so hopefully I will have more to say in March!

Recent Updates
Things happening lately and things I am excited for in the future.

• Over the long weekend that just passed Kelsi and I headed to the mountains for some relief from the Cali heat and spa time at the hot springs in San Vicente. (Blog post to follow!)
• Seven short months after moving from Minnesota to Wyoming, my friends Anna and Andy got engaged!! Love them both so so so much and I am so excited :)
• Annnnnnnnnnnnnd Anna bought her plane ticket to come visit me in Colombia at the end of the school year! We plan to spend some time in the mountains as well as some time on the Pacific Coast.
  
• I bought my plane ticket home to Minnesota for the summer! Nothing like a little trip planning to get you motivated for the rest of the school year :)
• My friend Katie and I bought tickets to see Sugarland in concert at Summerfest AKA the best outdoor music festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin! Outdoor music in the summertime - specifically country music is literally the best thing ever. I haven't been to Summerfest since I saw Keith Urban two years ago, so I am psyched to return.
• I heard from my friend Ilse in Uganda. She left on February 10 for the Peace Corps in Uganda and after tw0 painstaking weeks I finally heard from her that she is alive, happy, well and living with a great host family!
• Kelsi and I bought plane tickets to Medellin and have reservations at Rio Claro Nature Reserve for Spring Break! We will be staying in a tree house with three walls and one side open to the river below. Oh hey Swiss Family Robinson.
• After tutoring all the time to pay my way through college, I really have been missing that one-on-one connection with kids that is hard to make in the classroom. Thanks to a hook-up from a fellow teacher, I am now tutoring two siblings, 6th grade boy and 5th grade girl, once a week each in math and loving it! I just love being able to work at the student's individual pace and not feel like I somehow need to find a balance for every kid in the classroom.

Books
We went to our ladies only book club last week and I brought lots of things to share!

• The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - After getting through the initial 100 pages, I couldn't put it down. If you love mysteries or novels or just good writing, you must read this series!
  
• The Girl Who Played With Fire - As good as the first one, but better. I read this book in two days because I couldn't wait to figure out what happened to Lisbeth Salander.
  
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest - The saga continues. I read this book non-stop until it was done and then proceeded to watch all three of the Swedish movies with English subtitles. These books are just as good as everyone says they are. Lisbeth Salander is literally the female Jason Bourne and she basically rocks at it.
  
• The Handmaid's Tale - A Margaret Atwood classic about what America would look like in a primitive, futuristic society where women are only kept around for their ability to reproduce. I had to read it in high school, but re-reading it as an adult was fascinating.
  
• Power of One - Five year old Peekay grows up in South Africa at the start of apartheid and his journey to be a boxer is filled with funny characters and a great story of personal triumph.
  
• Something Borrowed - I love Emily Giffin! Such a good author, and these two books tell the same story from two best friends' points-of-view. Sounds repetative and boring, but the story is anything but. Definitely a good beach or travel read that you can dive right into.
  
• Something Blue - The companion to Something Borrowed.
  
• Out of Captivity - I may or may not have cried like a baby on the bus coming home from San Vicente while reading the end of this book. This is the story of the three American men, Keith, Tom, and Marc who were held captive in the Colombian jungle by the FARC for 1, 967 days. Their plane went down while they were doing countranarcotic intelligence work for the Department of Defense, and they were only rescued years later by a covert operation led by the Colombian military. Lots of their time in captivity is spent with Ingrid Betancourt, whose books I also read, and who is a pretty controversial figure in Colombia so I loved hearing their take on things. Overall this book was a stunning insight into their personal will to survive in captitivity and remain the best of friends.

Awards Show Season
I wasn't ever that into awards shows when I lived in the United States, but living abroad I am so into them! They are just this huge connection to life back home, even if it is the lives of people I don't actually know.

• After the Grammys I immediately get Lady Antebellum's new album and have been listening to it non-stop! I was so out of the music loop I didn't even recognize their song, Need You Now on Glee, but it was super good. I also cannot get enough of Something About A Woman - love those lyrics!
• Also post-Grammys I am in love with the Avett Brothers when I need some good relaxing music to grade to. :) They just looked so adorable and psyched to be on stage singing with Bob Dylan that I loved them immediately.
• Why oh why do we live in a society where Lady Gaga arrived to the Grammys in an egg and everyone thought it was hilarious?
• FACT: James Franco is an awesome acter in Indie movies about a person stuck in a cave for 127 Hours. However, he is a pretty terrible Oscars co-host.
• Not as bad a Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes who was terribly rude and basically made me forget how kind and adorable British boys can be.
• Best moment of the Oscars? When James Franco's grandma exclaimed "I just saw Marky Mark."
• Ryan Seacrest is actually the death of all that is good about live TV. If I wasn't so starved of good old fashioned U.S. celebrities, he would actually make me throw things at the TV.
  

...so how's that for a random Wednesday of thoughts?

More conherent ramblings to follow soon...

“You might as well give up on the idea of sleep till you’ve finished the book.”

Since returning to school 2.5 weeks ago I have been frustrated by my students a bit. They didn't come back from three week of vacation with a positive, rested, ready-to-learn attitude and instead seem to be complaining more and more each day. Things got a little better this past week, so maybe we all just needed time to get back into the swing of things...

However, a part of my annoyance might have been the tiny, not-so-insignificant fact that I have been reading the Stieg Larsson series non-stop! After coming home yesterday after school and spending four straight hours reading I finished all three books, and yes, they are definitely as good as everyone says. I have been reading them at night, at lunch, on the way to school, on the way home from school...basically I have been living and breathing the life of Lisbeth Salander for two straight weeks. I cannot recommend these books highly enough to anyone who enjoys mystery, suspense, drama, or just well written novels.

I have included the summaries from Amazon for your reading enjoyment! Just be warned that the minute you start reading these books you will NOT be able to put them down until you finish the series! Also, a piece of advice: the first book takes awhile to get into. Once you are hooked there is no turning back, but you probably need to read to at least page 100 of the first book to get to that point. So don't give up too early!

Currently getting ready to watch the movie (The Swedish version...they are also making an American version) from the first book! Can't wait! Happy reading!

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Amazon Review:

Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there's no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Amazon Review:

Stieg Larsson's seething heroine, Lisbeth Salander, once again finds herself paired with journalist Mikael Blomkvist on the trail of a sinister criminal enterprise. Only this time, Lisbeth must return to the darkness of her own past (more specifically, an event coldly known as "All the Evil") if she is to stay one step ahead--and alive. The Girl Who Played with Fire is a break-out-in-a-cold-sweat thriller that crackles with stunning twists and dismisses any talk of a sophomore slump. Fans of Larsson's prior work will find even more to love here, and readers who do not find their hearts racing within the first five pages may want to confirm they still have a pulse. Expect healthy doses of murder, betrayal, and deceit, as well as enough espresso drinks to fuel downtown Seattle for months.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

Amazon Review:

As the finale to Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is not content to merely match the adrenaline-charged pace that made international bestsellers out of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire. Instead, it roars with an explosive storyline that blows the doors off the series and announces that the very best has been saved for last. A familiar evil lies in wait for Lisbeth Salander, but this time, she must do more than confront the miscreants of her past; she must destroy them. Much to her chagrin, survival requires her to place a great deal of faith in journalist Mikael Blomkvist and trust his judgment when the stakes are highest. To reveal more of the plot would be criminal, as Larsson's mastery of the unexpected is why millions have fallen hard for his work. But rest assured that the odds are again stacked, the challenges personal, and the action fraught with neck-snapping revelations in this snarling conclusion to a thrilling triad. This closing chapter to The Girl's pursuit of justice is guaranteed to leave readers both satisfied and saddened once the final page has been turned.

My Thoughts on Committed

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

I finished this book awhile ago, but I wanted to wait until another round of book club to post my thoughts. However, book club never happened in October or November, so here you are! I loved Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and so I picked up her latest novel, Committed.

In the book Elizabeth tries to come to terms with the idea of marriage. She is abruptly forced into the idea of marriage at the beginning of the book so that her boyfriend, Felipe aka the Brazilian guy from Eat, Pray, Love, will be allowed to stay in the Unites States for extended periods of time. Her first marriage ended in a terrible divorce so she doesn't really like the idea of doing it again.

Throughout the book she discusses marriage from many perspectives, including ideas from history, other (non-western) cultures, commitment, etc. Here are a few of the lines I found particularly thought-provoking:

• A therapist friend of mine defines this problem simply as "the condition by which all of my single patients secretly long to be married, and all of my married patients secretly long to be single."
• If you honestly want to have a society in which people choose their own partners on the basis of personal affection, then you must prepare yourselves for the inevitable. There will be broken hearts; there will be broken lives.
• This is the singular fantasy of human intimacy: that one plus one will somehow, someday, equal one.

As a single woman reading the book helped me to see new ideas about commitment, relationships and marriage from kind of an "outsider" perspective. A great book and one that you can always put down after a chapter and come back whenever!

Book Club Field Trip AKA Ladies Night

Book Club!

Front: Kelsi, Kristin, Angie and Lori

Back: Hana, Tara, Ana Maria, Steph, Rita, Maggie, Catie

Photo Credits: Samantha

Our ladies book club meets about once a month here in Cali and we love sharing about all the books between meetings. One of my favorite things about our book club is that we all read different books, so the variety in choices is huge and there is always a new book to check out.

That being said, there are some books that make it around the group so that we almost all read them. Eat, Pray, Love is a prime example of one of those books that everyone read. While we have a very wide range of differing opinions on the book itself (I did however, love it), we were all excited about the movie starring Julia Roberts and the oh-so-deliciously-hammockable-worthy Javier Bardem.

When the movie premiered in Colombia on October 1 we saw the perfect opportunity for a girls night at the movies, so after some not-so-subtle emails from me, which included this photo of Javier, we had our first book club field trip to the movies!

The night started with appetizers and sangria at Catie's house before fourteen (YES, fourteen!) of us went to see the movie. We ended the night with a smaller group at Crepes & Waffles for dinner. I loved the movie, even if the middle part did drag a little bit... definitely go see it if you have the chance!

Book Club

Last Thursday Kelsi and I started off this year in Book Club by hosting at our place. Per usual, we invited all the English speaking female teachers we work with, made some delicious food and got out the wine opener. Our spread included Kelsi's pretty-much-famous Sangria, zucchini hummus, roasted red pepper hummus, guacamole, pitas, pasta salad, fresh veggies and no-bake chocolate/oatmeal/peanut butter cookies. Mmmm - just thinking about it all again makes me hungry!

I wish I had some pictures to share, but unfortunately we were so busy getting ready and then enjoying the night that any documentation completely slipped my mind! The whole night was so fun and we had a great turn out for the first month. There is just something about getting together with a bunch of fabulous women that is so fun and inspiring!!

Here are the books I shared:

Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw by Mark Bowden

I actually had an interesting conversation about this book with my students last week because they asked why I would read this. Since most Colombians do not like Pablo Escobar in the slightest, they thought reading something like this was a waste of time. The answer I gave them went something like this...

For me, Pablo Escobar is something like the tagline of Colombia. Whenever I tell someone I live here, they inevitably think of Escobar. For so many U.S. citizens he is the face associated with this country. This book helped me understand why. I wanted to know the story behind the man who held an entire country hostage in fear of what he would do next. I wanted to know the story behind the man who got his government to allow him to be "imprisoned" within his own mansion on a hill. I wanted to know the story of the man who kept the United States government searching and searching for years on end. I wanted to know the story behind the man Bowden calls, "Public enemy number one in the world."

Killing Pablo helped me understand the terror he imposed on Colombia and also helped me understand the back story to much of the U.S. involvement in the Colombian drug trade. This book opened my eyes to the infinitely many tiny little strings that bind these two countries together.

The Eleanor Roosevelt Girls by Bonnie Bluh

While this book was not exactly what I expected, it was still a great story about Catholic and Jewish girls growing up in New York City in the 1950s. They form a club dedicated to working together and maintaining strong community bonds. Well written and true to life, I felt like the author truly captured the spirit of growing up with girlfriends who become more like sisters. It was a cute book and a quick read!

Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas

I picked up this book during a family stop in Lincoln, Nebraska to register my little brother for college this summer. I think it was one of about five books in the Latin American section of the used bookstore. Piri Thomas is a dark-skinned Puerto Rican who grew up in Spanish Harlem during the 1930s and 1940s. Infused with Latin rhythms, Spanish words and occasional slang, Thomas paints a spell-binding picture of growing up on "these mean streets". While the memoir reminded me a bit of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, the story was still magnificent and well-told. I was especially intrigued by the introduction to this 30th anniversary edition, written by Thomas, which reminds readers that these mean streets are even meaner today.

After lots of sharing of books, wine and food, our September Book Club ended a success (even if there aren't any pictures to show it!).

The Other Colombia

When I told my parents I was going to a job fair to look for an international teaching job they were excited for me, but the idea definitely took a bit of getting used to. I am the oldest child, and short of crossing the Mississippi for four years of college in La Crosse, Wisconsin, I have never spent more than about two months away from home.

When I told them I was looking into Colombia the conversation intensified a bit because, let's be honest, Colombia doesn't exactly have reassuring reputation as the safest place in the world. Nonetheless, they remained supportive, and with the exception of the occasional drug jokes, so did most of my friends and extended family.

My Side of Colombia

Here I sit nine months into living in a county that the U.S. State Department still warns Americans against visiting. In nine months I have taken a number of precautions to keep myself safe. I almost always call a taxi if I need one, rather than just hailing one off the street. I have yet to ever walk alone after about 9 pm at night. In fact, I rarely even walk around anywhere after 9 pm at night with a group of people unless its in a well known area with restaurants or bars and lots of people around. I try not to make a scene or draw attention to myself as an outsider when I am in public places. I stay away from more dangerous parts of cities like Bogota, Medellin and Cali. As a result of these basic precautions I can count on one hand the times I have felt even the slightest bit uncomfortable in the last nine months. Now, knock on wood, I know anything can happen, and crime takes place all the time, but for now I feel safe.

The Other Side of the Story

This morning I finished Ingrid Betancourt's book, My Struggle To Reclaim Colombia. Yes this is the same book that I started reading after book club four days ago. I couldn't put it down! In her first book, Betancourt details her time as a child growing up in France in the early 1960s until her present day involvement in the Colombian government. Despite all the odds stacked her favor, Betancourt was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 and the Senate in 1998. She ran on a platform of anti-corruption - she exposed fellow politicians (including then president Ernesto Samper) who accepted bribes and money from drug traffickers. She marched against election fraud after she won a Senate seat despite the corrupt blocking of votes against her. In 2002 she published this book in the midst of a campaign for presidential election. A campaign that Alvaro Uribe, the current president of Colombia won. However, after the publication of this book and before the end of the campaign season, Betancourt was kidnapped by the most powerful guerilla group in Colombia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on February 23, 2002. Six years (2, 321 days) later she was rescued on July 2, 2008 by the Colombian National Army. In the time after her rescue, Betancourt has been both praised and criticized in Colombia and internationally. While she certainly paints a picture of herself as a national hero, others, including fellow hostages and her ex-husband describe her as a woman who took advantage of her political and social standing both during and after captivity. As always, there are two sides to every story...

Where Two Sides Meet

Colombia now stands at a crossroads. As Colombians prepare for the next presidential election to take place in a mere 29 days, I struggle to understand the reality of where these two worlds meet. On one hand, I realize that Colombia is becoming a safer place to live and to travel every single day. The majority of Americans and other travelers who visit here leave with a positive outlook that surprises even the most cynic of international onlookers. Is this because of Ingrid Betancourt and her work in Colombian politics? Maybe in part. She was one of the first people to stand up against corruption at any cost. But is the struggle to reclaim Colombia, to reclaim democracy over? Definitely not. While I do feel safe here on a daily basis, I still would not list Colombia as one of the safest places to visit or travel. There will continue to be issues related to corruption, drugs, smuggling and dishonesty that remain to be dealt with on a national scale.

Final Thoughts

The Colombia I know today is a beautiful place, albeit complex and complicated in its political scene, and for me, what is of the utmost importance is that I am able to judge, to understand, to contemplate, to think, to know, to explore this country for myself. It might not make the State Department's Top 10 List for travel, but that doesn't mean it won't make mine.

Book Club

Book club time again! I look forward to these nights so much because they are such an amazing time to share ideas, thoughts and insights with amazing women. Also, reading is so much more interesting when you have someone to discuss it with afterwards. This month we headed over to Carrie's house for snacks (strawberries and carrot cake!), wine and sharing. I brought the books I read this month and shared a bit about them. I read a lot this month since we had a whole week of Spring Break, so the book sharing was even more diverse than normal! LOVE it!

I started this month by reading The Help, which I picked up after last month's book club because Kelsi read it and loved it. I read all 464 pages in about five days, it was that good! I felt so connected to the characters and I just could not put it down. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, tells the story of African American house maids living in the 1950s in Jackson, Mississippi. The maids, or as they are otherwise called, "the help", band together to write a collection of stories about what their jobs are actually like. The author, who was raised by her black maid in Mississippi as a young girl, does a fabulous job of managing character development with an intriguing tale.

Historical fiction is definitely one of my favorite genres and ever since reading Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement in high school, I just cannot get enough of reading about the 1950s and 1960s in America. In summary, I highly recommend this book, and already have told many friends about it. I definitely think its going to be one of those books that makes the rounds to our entire group!

After a quick break from the serious topics to read a chic lit book that was so ridiculously bad I cannot bear to discuss it, I finished this month off with Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them as recommended by my friend Catie. This book is the collection of five short stories told through the eyes of children in Africa. The stories are not all universal in length, which was upsetting at times because I enjoyed certain characters more than others, but overall the writing was fantastic. At times Akpan uses French words in his dialogue and since I speak zero French I didn't really get these parts, but I was still able to understand the characters and the story line.

My favorite story was about two little girls who were best friends growing up together in Ethiopia. They spent ever waking moment together until religious conflicts drive their families apart. However, despite their different belief they find a way to communicate. The book ends with a brief, but terrifying account of children in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. While many of the stories in this book were terribly sad, I still thought it was a fantastic and insightful book. Cheery? No. Thought-provoking? Yes.

I walked away from book club last night with two new books, one of which I am already loving!!!
Til Death Do Us Part by Ingrid Betancourt is a fascinating book so far about a woman who stood against the corruption of Colombian politics, and endangered herself and her family as a result. I got it from a co-worker, Amanda, who wrote about in on her blog here.

I have tried not to read too many reviews in anticipation of reading this book so as not to spoil the ending...but here is a small preview from Amazon.com. I cannot wait to finish it and tell you my thoughts...

In a memoir that sometimes conveys the excitement of a Clancy thriller, Betancourt recounts her remarkable life, from the Paris of her childhood (her father was Colombia's minister of education and ambassador to UNESCO) to present-day Colombia, where she has served as a senator in Bogota and where she plans to launch her 2002 presidential campaign. That is, if she isn't assassinated first. Betancourt announces early on that she is no ordinary politician and that her reminiscences will comprise no ordinary political memoir. But what constitutes exceptional in Colombia, a country awash in political corruption and controlled by a government that is under the thumb of organized crime and vulnerable to the financial lure of illegal drug trafficking? Well, for starters, Betancourt spent her first campaign, for a seat in the House of Representatives, standing along the city's busiest streets, handing out condoms ("[O]ur poster: my photo alongside a picture of a condom, with this slogan: `The best to protect us against corruption.' " She scandalized her parents, her friends, her country, but won her seat in the House. So began Betancourt's campaign against electoral fraud and narcopoliticians, which, despite the death threats and the pressure exerted on her family, continues to this day and which won't end, as her title implies, until she wins or is killed for her efforts. Betancourt's memoir is intelligently written, if occasionally sentimental, and she passionately and clearly describes the consequences of corruption and the dangers of combating it.

Note: After the publication of this book, Betancourt was captured and taken hostage by FARC guerillas in the Colombian jungle for six years. Her second book, Every Silence Has An End, provides details on her thoughts during and after, so I will have to read that next!

green beer, green backpacks & (kind of) green mountains

I could just have easily entitled this post "Catch Up" or "Oh yeah, I have a blog", but the green theme seems to be working nicely. I have been quite busy living, but apparently not so busy blogging. Sorry friends. :(

In an effort to fill in some of the gaps from the last week, here are some updates:

• On Wednesday, I did find green beer on St. Patty's Day...or rather my friend Scott made green beer with crappy Colombian beer and food dye, but it was fabulous none-the-less. I celebrated the day with friends, Catie, Scott, Caleb and Angie, and enjoyed the green beer as well as fish and chips. Not quite the same as spending the day in Naples, Florida with my grandpa as I have the past two years, but still a successfully "green" holiday.

• Thursday, we had our annual girls book club. I haven't finished my book from last month yet, because it is really intense and also non-fiction, so hard to get into. However, I did keep that book to finish, as well as bring three more home to keep me occupied until next month. Here are my new titles to read:

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan

Make Him Look Good by Alisa Valdes - Rodriguez

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Til Death Do Us Part by Ingrid Betancourt

The Heart That Bleeds by Alma Guillermoprieto

• In preparation for our Spring Break trip to the Amazons in less than a week, I bought myself a backpacking backpack that I spotted at Totto on Thursday. Ever since I used my roommate's on my Ciudad Perdida trip I have been wanting one of my own, I just thought they would be difficult to find in Colombia. Turns out they sells them in several places, but I just loved this green one, probably because it matches my hiking shoes & I feel the need to be fabulous even in the jungle. (Or at least camouflaged so insects/snakes/bugs/animals in general do not recognize me enough to eat me) My roommate Hana also bought a new backpack, so we are all set to travel!

• Friday at school we finished up the week by showing the movie Sandlot to the students, since we still only had half the 8th grade class present as a results of the binationals tournament. They loooooooooooved it. Which I knew they would, cause its amazing, but still - so great seeing them enjoy it. Despite going to an international school many of them have not seen "classic" English language movies, so I love sharing movies with them. As a baseball lover, this is definitely one of my all-time favorites - check out this scene for some Sandlot memories - enjoy!

• Friday night I headed over to Caleb & Angie's to catch some of the March Madness games. Caleb streamed them thanks to CBS Sports and we watched them projected on the wall of their apartment thanks to a school projector. I love watching basketball again, and it makes me so excited for baseball this summer! I started a bracket pool at school with 11 other co-workers and I am loving watching the games and keeping track of points. Summary of my bracket so far - thank God I didn't pick Kansas to win it all. Go West Virginia!!
• Saturday - read my book outside & realized you can still get burnt even under cloud cover. Thanks equatorial sun, we are no longer friends.
• Monday - climbed Tres Cruces for the second time; you can read my more detailed account of the first time here. The second was much like the first, but it was Kelsi's first time climbing it, so I am glad I went again! Once again it was very hot, I drank lots of water, but was again stunned with the impressive views of my city.

View of the Tres Cruces (Three Crosses) hike from halfway up.

Hot & sweaty at the top with Hana, Steph, and Kelsi.

P.S. (Did you even think I wasn't going to mention it?!?!?!) THE Minnesota Twins, you know the baseball team I love that is going to contend for the 2010 World Series, yeah that one. Wellllll they signed this guy yesterday, not sure if you have heard of him, but his name is Joseph Patrick Mauer and I sort of love him. Annnnyway, he will be staying in Minnesota thru 2018 for $184 million. LOOOOOOOOVE. One of the top ten largest contracts in the MLB and one of the only ones for a non-NY Yankees player. Hip hip hoooooooray!!!! :) Can't wait to see him play at the new stadium this summer!!

Could he be any more adorable?

evidence that i am still young & impressionable.

Lately everything I read about, hear about, listen to, watch on television, etc. all I can think is "Cool! I want to do that!" Maybe this is because I have been thinking a lot about my life list of things to do, and deciding what is or is not worthy of making it on that list, but everything just seems like a great new adventure!

The book I am reading right now is no different. John Francis, author of Planet Walker is a genius. I seriously love this book. When I heard about this book about a guy who took a vow of silence and walked around the world I thought "Borrrrrring." Turns out you actually can't judge a book by it's cover cause I am loving it!

John starts walked in California, takes a vow of silence on his 27th birthday in order to avoid having to justify the lack of walking, and his life takes off from there. 17 years of silence and 22 years of walking later he had an amazingly rich story to tell. His story totally makes me want to walk around the city more, or my state, or Colombia, or the planet, I really don't know. Also - his silence and his commitment to his silence is astounding. I wonder if I could be silent for a whole day? a whole week? a whole month? I think at some point in my life I am definitely doing it for a whole week...probably in the summer since teaching math without speaking might be a bit of an undertaking... What do you think?? How long could you go in silence??

I will write about the book in more detail later, but until then here are some quotes that have caught my eye. :)

• "I realize now that I have taken a stand that challenges a way of life, a way of seeing things. It is no wonder people challenge me. I am challenging myself."
• "From this new place lessons comes, or perhaps realizations. The first is that most of my adult life I have not been listening fully. I only listened long enough to determine whether the speaker's ideas matched my own."
• "As my father stretches to understand my journey I realize that maybe you can't change the world by your actions alone, but you can change yourself. And when you do, the world around you may change by attempting to understand you, as we all try to understand each other."

LOVE that one about listening fully!

Have you ever tried to just listen in a conversation?

Listen to the other person talk and then wait 2-3 seconds before you jump in and respond?

Try it sometime - it will blow your mind!

I am a mango master. And yes, this is a legit accomplishment.

One of the best parts of Colombia is the inexpensive, delicious, fresh fruit in every grocery store (or street corner) on a daily basis. The produce section abounds with common fruits I have known back in the States, like apples, strawberries, pineapple, cantalope, and mango, to new fruits I had never even heard of until I came to Colombia. For example, lulo, guanabana, mora, granadilla, pitaya and more!

One fruit in particular has been the subject of many discussions here in Cali - the illusive mango. Do not be fooled by the sweet, delicious smelling, yellowy goodness inside, for to arrive at that amazing entity you must first cut the mango. So grab a knife and a cutting board, no problem, right?

FALSE.

The art of cutting a mango is no small task and should not be taken lightly. First, you have to take into account that mango pits ARE NOT round. They are oval shaped, very long, pretty wide, but without much depth to them. (That's the best I could explain it...if you cannot get a picture in your head may I recommend Google or a personal effort to improve your spatial reasoning). So you examine the mango. Decide which way you think the pit goes and then cut into the mango along the pit. In order to maximize amount of delicious yellowy mango for eating you want to cut as close to the pit as possible. BUT not too far that you cut into the pit (which is darn near impossible, more likely your knife will get stuck and you are back to square one).

Assuming you cut along the pit and now have a slice of mango to deal with, the skin is still on the mango. Eating the skin of a mango is a no-go, so now you need to skin the slippery goodness. Awesome. Thanks to a colleague I developed a sure-fire technique which involves slicing into the mango in a cross pattern until just before you hit the skin, and then using a spoon to scoop out the slices. Repeat to the other side of the mango, and you have many delicious slices to consume. The last step is to cut away any remaining mango-y bits from the remaining pit. Keep in mind the mango is juicy and all over your hand, kitchen, knife, cutting board and probably clothing by this point. No wonder most people, my roommate Steph included, simply give up on the pit all together and toss it aside.

Sounds like a lot of work, right?

It was.

At first.

But now?

I rock at mangos.

Seriously.

I attack, slice and chop them like an experienced chef.

PROOF: In making delicious Apple Berry salsa for this week's book club I decided to add a bit of mango to the mix. However, in order to add mango to the salsa I needed to chop a mango up into small little bits. In the past, I have only attempted respectable slices or bite size pieces. Never small little bits to go into salsa. Not one to let an inanimate object get the best of me, I decided to go for it. With Steph looking on wearily I attacked said mango.

The result? Check out this gem.

Look at all those tiny perfectly sliced pieces!

Enjoying the mango goodness that inevitably was covering my hands.

Skinned and pitted.

I am a mango master.

I was clearly quite proud - proud enough to document the entire experience on film. :) Seriously though, it made the already amazing salsa of green apples, strawberries and kiwi all the more delicious and everyone loved it at book club! There wasn't even any left for my lunch today! :( In general our hosting of book club was a fabulous success, and as always I walked away inspired to read and learn more. Here's a quick shot of our living room floor covered in just some of the books brought my ladies last night. Update soon to come on what I'm reading right now...

Until then, happy weekend!!

In Search of My Word

As I said in my last post, I just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Her book gave me a lot of "food for thought", but the most intriguing part for me was her search for her word.

Let me explain...

Elizabeth is talking to her Italian friend, Giulio, about how Roman woman are always dressed up and fancy, while she herself is not. He responds with, "Maybe you and Rome just have different words." He goes on to explain that, "If you could read people's thoughts as they were passing you on the streets of any given place, you would discover that most of them are thinking the same thought. Whatever that majority thought might be - that is the word of the city. And if your personal word does not match the word of the city, then you don't really belong there."

They go on to discuss the words of many cities, including Rome (sex), the Vatican (power), New York City (achieve), Los Angeles (succeed), Stockholm (conform), Naples (fight), before Giulio asks the ultimate question to Liz. "What's your word?"

She doesn't really figure it out until later in the book, so I will leave that for you to discover...however, I will say that this search for a personal word has inspired me to think of what my word might be.

What is my personal word? And does everyone just have one word for a lifetime? Or does your word change overtime? Is my word what I truly want it to be? Am I proud of the word that describes me?

I wish I could end this post with some sort of fabulous insight into how I discovered my word, but I really don't think I have. For awhile, I thought my word could be travel. However, travel doesn't really describe all of me, it just describes me right now. When Allison was here we discussed this and she thinks my word could be commitment. Which I am not entirely opposed to, as I do tend to commit to things whole-heartedly and then stick with them...it just doesn't feel like the perfect choice. Most people who have spent significant time with might toss out the word sarcasm in reference to me, but I don't think I am content with that as my life word either. So, in summary...the search continues.

I did however, do some thinking about other words. I think Colombia's word is prove. Fair or not, Colombia has something to prove to the world after a difficult history, and their efforts are quite apparent. Cali's word is most definitely salsa. Salsa rules this city - the culture, the language, the music, the bars, everything! Minnesota's word might be recreation...or un-complicated. Both seem to describe my home state quite well.

So...now the obvious question...what's your word?

Happy thinking!

Book Worm

Today was our first day back at school after break and I am already exhausted! These 8th graders sure are a handful. Who knew?

I have spent some time discussing my adventures over break, but in between all that I spent a lot of time on buses, in airports and in general just waiting around. As a result, I read a LOT over the last few weeks. I pretty much read and English language material I could get my hands on! :) In fact, after our last book club I located more than enough reading material.

I started break by finishing up Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I have had friends with mixed reactions to this book but I absolutely LOVED it. Probably because she was traveling and trying to figure stuff out about herself, and that's pretty much what I am doing... However, I also loved her humor, her ideas, her thoughts on life, prayer and love...and pasta! One of my favorite themes throughout the book is her search for her word. But I think that topic needs a whole separate post...so onwards.
After finishing Eat, Pray, Love I started on my next travel adventure through...SPAIN! After studying abroad in Spain for six weeks one summer I have fallen 100% in love with the country and I cannot wait to go back and explore more! A play on the title of Lance Armstrong's book entitled, It's Not About the Bike, It's Not About the Tapas by Polly Evans is the story of her 1,000 mile summer spent traveling throughout Spain. Visiting small towns and tourist attractions, eating her way through delicious tapas, local wine, and fine brews, Polly tells hilarious stories of being chased by animals on the road, questioned by old men in small towns, and hostel owners who gasped at her biking adventure. This was the perfect book to read before and after I embarked on my jungle hike to Ciudad Perdida, and seriously makes me contemplate biking as a means of transportation next time I am in Spain...
However...I do have to admit, when I found this next book sitting on the shelf in our hostel in Santa Marta, I had to put the tapas aside and jump into the wonderful world of Dan Brown. Dan Brown is one of the most engaging writers I know and he spins tales of fabulous intrigue and mystery, I can never put his books down! True to form I read Deception Point in four days...which almost ended up being a disaster because I finished it on day 2 of 6 in the jungle...what was I to do?

Deception Point captivated me beginning to end, and really gave a powerful insight once again into the powers that be that we as citizens put so much trust in. NASA, the Pentagon, the President and the NRO all come into play in this intriguing and suspenseful novel. Definitely a perfect beach book!
Turns out...one of the guys in our hiking group also finished a book on the hike, so we decided to swap. I have never read a John Grisham book before, but after reading The Partner I cannot wait to read more! Just like Dan Brown, I found Grisham a terribly engaging author with scenarios and conversations that kept me turning page after page. The Partner tells the story of a man who faked his own death, stole $90 million from his law firm and disappeared entirely...that is until we was found. The front cover proclaims, "A dead man can't run forever." Also a great beach read and a total page turner.
In summary I will clearly have lots to share at our next book club! :) Now I just have to decide what to start next! With my move to a new neighborhood my commute to school is a bit longer and while I usually cannot read in cars, I am considering trying to read on the bus rides home in order to pass the time. Anyone read anything fabulous lately??

Book Club #2

Remember the book club we started here in Cali? Well last night we got together again to exchange books, delicious food, and wine before everyone goes their separate ways for the holiday season. I shared with everyone about the book I just finished, Julie & Julia, which I wrote about here, as well as the book I am currently reading, Eat, Pray Love.

Our host, Lyndi, made delicious homemade corn chips with salsa, pasta salad, veggies, peanut butter bars and more. After hearing about everyone's books we all took some that we were interested in reading. With a three week holiday vacation approaching I made sure to get some good reading material, and by the end of the night I came home with these selections:

Planetwalker: 22 Years of Walking. 17 Years of Silence.

John Francis

"Francis was green before it was the popular thing to be. On January 17, 1971, he saw a half-million-gallon oil spill near the Golden Gate Bridge, and a year later, in an attempt to do something positive for the environment, he chose to start walking, forsaking motorized vehicles of any kind. He walked everywhere, and on his 27th birthday, feeling again that he was not doing enough for the world, he took a vow of silence. For the next 17 years, he spoke not a word. But his life didn't stop and he never sat still. Francis managed to walk across the United States and, while he did, he earned an undergraduate degree and a master's degree in science and environmental studies; finally, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he completed a PhD in land resources. He learned how to play the banjo, and the five-string Conqueror became his walking companion, people magnet, and calling card. He continued his pedestrian trek, took a job at the office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and eventually became UNEP's Goodwill Ambassador to the World's Grassroots Communities, and walked and sailed to the tip of South America. Planetwalker is an inspiring story that will make teens think and may help them to realize that global change is possible through individual action."

It's Not About the Tapas: A Spanish Adventure on Two Wheels

Polly Evans

"A young Englishwoman leaves her unfulfilling job in Hong Kong and bicycles across Spain. From Basque country through Castile, Evans finds the Spanish hospitable, a nation rife with good food and dancing. Almost immediately she discovers that she lacks the physical stamina for riding her heavily laden bike through the Pyrenees' highest mountain passes. Nevertheless, she presses on, and her clothes grow too large for her newly lean physique. At her best when she leaves her self-involved narrative to give readers the opportunity to absorb the history and cultures of Spain's diverse regions, Evans' eye records delightfully unique sights, such as a group of vacationing female Spanish pensioners with their uniformly black garb and their bright, colorful hair rinses. With a young American writer, she learns about the flamenco tradition but never discovers a verifiable version of flamenco's origins. She finds vestiges of last century's civil war, but comes across few willing to talk about that grim era before democracy was restored."

My Best Friend's Girl

Dorothy Koomson

"When Kamryn Ryn Matika gets a call from college friend Adele Del Brannon, she reluctantly heads to the hospital where Adele is dying of cancer. The two had been odd couple friends (working-class Ryn is black, posh Adele is white) while attending Leeds University, but their friendship did not survive Del's admission of an affair with Ryn's fiancé Nate Turner, which also ended Ryn's relationship with Nate. The affair did result, however, in the now-five-year-old Tegan, and Del has called Ryn to ask her to adopt the adorable girl. Ryn agrees, but must face down Del's stepmother, Muriel, to do it. She finds surprising help from new boss Luke Wiseman, who, after meeting her unceremoniously, loves Tegan (and eventually Ryn, too), but the return of Nate, who doesn't know Tegan is his daughter, promises to reopen old wounds."

Has anyone read any of these yet? Have suggestions on which one I should start with after I finish Eat, Pray, Love??

Books: Julie & Julia

Over the weekend I finished reading Julie & Julia by Julie Powell. This book chronicles the author as she spends a year cooking all the recipes in Julia Child's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, or MtAoFC as Julie calls it in the book. Julie is a hilarious writer, and while some of the cooking details got a bit long, I would recommend this book -definitely a good read! I am excited to see the movie! Here are some of my favorite passages from the book...she just cracks me up as a writer :)

"I felt like a Jane Austen heroine all of a sudden (except, of course, that Jane Austen heroines never cook), confusedly looking on at all the people she loves, their myriad unpredictable couplings and uncouplings. There would be no marriages at the end of this Jane Austen novel, though, no happy endings, no endings at all. Just jokes and friendships and romances and delicious declarations of independence. And I realized that, for this night at least, I didn't much care if anyone was the marrying kind of not - not even me. Who could tell? We none of us knew for sure what kind we were, exactly, but as long as we were the kind that could sit around eating together and having a lovely time, that was enough."

"You cannot imagine how it eases the suffering of serving a mind-numbing public, when you can snidely judge said public via IM at the same time." (Discussing her job as a secretary after a co-worker introduces her to IM)