Ah, yes. I've survived that horrendous roach-infested twenty-four hour ride back to Bali. The seats were comfortable and there was plenty leg space, but that does not make up for this strange crick in my neck that has yet to disappear or erase the nasty bathroom smell from my memory. (We did yell at those who dared to use it.) Really, it's good to be back in Bali. I enjoy the lushness and narrow streets... I enjoy not being perpetually stared at (because there are other tourists here!). All in all, I feel much more at home in Bali. In the next few days, though, I think I'll invest in a massage -- they are fairly reasonable here -- to work out all the kinks I've developed in the last few days... in addition to my pre-existing combination of knots and tension.
The highlight of the morning was calling the family from the next-door internet cafe. It was just really nice to hear your voices, Ma, Baba, and Mishti! It really made me feel more invigorated and cheerful about my stay here. This time, I'm rooming with Meghan. That's the good thing about the room assignments thus far, I think... it helps us know people we wouldn't otherwise.
After showering off the grossness of that 24 hour drive, we went back to Mangga Madu for lunch (mie goreng, es soda gembira). I, along with a few others, walked up a different directino on the street. I mean, I'm going to be here for another two weeks, so I am in no hurry to spend my money, but I did cave in and buy a pretty blue-and-silver pashmina shawl for $8.50 USD. (Yes, yes, I did bargain it down.) Afterward, I snacked on the peanut butter cookies Mom had made for me and read a little bit. Currently I'm reading two books relating to India: Freedom at Midnight and The White Tiger. I love the first one -- it's super intense -- but I'm not far enough into the second one to make up my mind.
Soon we'll be going to dinner... and I really don't know our schedule for the rest of the week. Oh well! more updates soon!
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
eleven -- bonding! (with my ibu!)
There's a lot I can talk about but I really don't have a lot of time. I've been watching Jhalak Dikhlaja (Dancing With the Stars) really slowly over the last two hours on the connection in the internet cafe. (Which, by the way, is really amazing and I can't wait to watch the finale when I get home. Because of Baichung Bhutia, I just may have to start watching football....) Computers here don't seem to like photos or videos, yikes. And it doesn't help that I'm only used to doing fifty things at once on the computer.
This evening was amazing.
Amazing in that I really talked (in broken English and Indonesian) to my Ibu. (Ibu is like "Mrs."). I told her about what we are doing tomorrow, what I purchased at the Batik store today. I asked her how she was, where Sonny and Aida went (to the mosque?), if Abi was sleeping. We ate dinner together and it was a delicious spread. First, there was some vegetable thing that looked strangely like potol which I had with rice -- Ma, this doesn't mean I'll eat potol at home! There was this delicious mie goreng (fried rice) with some chicken in it, but I'm not sure what part of the chicken I was eating... Regardless, it was delicious with the hot sauce. As usual, there was tempeh (a soybean patty that I don't have a taste for yet). Most surprisingly I ate fish-fish. Meaning something that wasn't salmon. Ibu couldn't remember the English name, but in bahasa Indonesia it is call pitang (or pintang?). It was... surprisingly delicious and not too many bones.
The Ibu taught me how to eat dinner Indonesian style; this was much harder than I thought. You hold the fork in the left hand and spoon in the right. Once in place, you use your fork to scoop whatever food into your spoon and then eat it. I tried it, and of course took too many noodles... thus looking absolutely ridiculous. Ibu was very amused at my attempts. After dinner, she offered starfruit, but I didn't know how to peel it. Even more amused now, she peeled it for me and taught me how to eat because I had never tried it before -- only Mishti ate starfruit at home. It was sour-sweet, which was very interesting. Anyway, it was just really good to be communicating.
few notes:
This evening was amazing.
Amazing in that I really talked (in broken English and Indonesian) to my Ibu. (Ibu is like "Mrs."). I told her about what we are doing tomorrow, what I purchased at the Batik store today. I asked her how she was, where Sonny and Aida went (to the mosque?), if Abi was sleeping. We ate dinner together and it was a delicious spread. First, there was some vegetable thing that looked strangely like potol which I had with rice -- Ma, this doesn't mean I'll eat potol at home! There was this delicious mie goreng (fried rice) with some chicken in it, but I'm not sure what part of the chicken I was eating... Regardless, it was delicious with the hot sauce. As usual, there was tempeh (a soybean patty that I don't have a taste for yet). Most surprisingly I ate fish-fish. Meaning something that wasn't salmon. Ibu couldn't remember the English name, but in bahasa Indonesia it is call pitang (or pintang?). It was... surprisingly delicious and not too many bones.
The Ibu taught me how to eat dinner Indonesian style; this was much harder than I thought. You hold the fork in the left hand and spoon in the right. Once in place, you use your fork to scoop whatever food into your spoon and then eat it. I tried it, and of course took too many noodles... thus looking absolutely ridiculous. Ibu was very amused at my attempts. After dinner, she offered starfruit, but I didn't know how to peel it. Even more amused now, she peeled it for me and taught me how to eat because I had never tried it before -- only Mishti ate starfruit at home. It was sour-sweet, which was very interesting. Anyway, it was just really good to be communicating.
few notes:
- tried serabi Solo, a sweet dish of this rice powder-milk-chocolate combination on a thin, sweet dosa-thin pastry. Delicious. (Wow, I only seem to talk about food here. SO GOOD.)
- We might hit the Indonesian night scene tomorrow night! A few more host parents have agree to let the students go out "so late." (Things end early here.)
- Ma + Mishti --> I bought three pretty Batik fabrics here. Once I get back, we can each pick one out and have kurtis or salwar tops made when we could to India. (I didn't want to buy you guys something that wouldn't fit or you wouldn't like.)
- Dad --> You're still very difficult to shop for, but I have an idea or two!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
six -- blame it on the sa-sa-sa-sarong
Some of you may be familiar with the song "Blame it on the A-A-A-Alcohol." Clever Jill (our student fellow and my roommate) came up with this clever ditty that is the post's title as we, the sweaty and tired GIEU students, stumbled in our sarongs back to the temple. More on that soon. Right now, it's May 14, in the early evening, but this update is about yesterday. I rather not overwhelm you all with one intensely long post. (Look how considerate I am.)
Unfortunately, this computer is stripped of its USB port soooo -- no pictures for now. But I promise they'll be up, on flickr/snapfish/something and facebook. No worries.
By yesterday morning, most of the gang had touched down in Denpasar, Bali with only four more left to come in. There was a little problem -- though everyone landed on the 13th, it was at like 12 AM. Agustini had booked their rooms for the 13th but check-in, of course, was at 9 AM. So we managed to get two more rooms and two girls went to Badanu's gorgeous guest house a few minutes away for the night. I literally slept like a rock. See, the weather isn't that bad because things cool down a bit at night and with the fan, things are comfortable. Anyway, we got up, checked out the other's rooms and meandered the streets. A small group of us walked all the way to the nearby Monkey Forest, but we had to return because we had to again pick people up from the airport. We now have Badanu's van that holds 6-7 people and what reminds me of a party bus, which holds 11, driver included.
Meaghan and Avery (and their 3-4 pieces of baggage, teehee) came in around noon, I'd say. We all trooped to a diner somewhere in Denpasar that specialized in East Javanese food. We ordered Ayam Pechak , which is fried chicken with this spicy sauce, and some fish and vegetables. I'm a little averse to fish, so I had the chicken. Chickens here aren't as plump as American chickens (Say in a Dubya accent, "I'm American, I like my chickens big!"). Regardless, it was yum -- tasted like fried smelt almost? My favorite part however was Soda Gembira, or Happy Soda!!!
Happy Soda, recommended by Agustini, is a combination of flavored syrup, milk, and soda water. You have to mix it when you get it and it looks like this pink fizzy mix when done so. Jill and I shared it and it was fabulous.... (we were initially skeptical of the combination)
Back to the airport... again. (for Jill and I, the fourth time!) This time for Betsy and Hannah. Betsy landed fine, but Hannah came out 1.5 hours after she landed. In that time, we were all freaking out, thinking she was lost, her luggage stolen, kidnapped... haha. But it was just long lines that held her back. We immediately shipped off to the very nice sarong store.
At Guste's suggestion (our thirty-year-old, gammelan-playing, absolutely sweet guide), Agustini negotiated a 50% discount on the sarongs (which can be worn like skirts or dresses). See, Badanu and Guste were taking us to their temple's anniversary ceremony (celebrated every six months) and to enter, we needed to wear proper attire. I purchased a purple sarong with white and teal flowers (which thankfully match a shirt I own) and a matching teal scarf to tie it. My was sewn at the ends so I can't do anything creative with it.. That's okay, I love the design. The boys also had to get a special scarf to tie around their heads.
We stopped briefly at the guest house -- all sweaty and tired from standing in the airport for hours -- and changed, then driving off to the temple.* It was separated in two compounds. In the first compound, everyone was sitting and praying, while waiting for the priest to arrive. When the priest arrived, they would move to the other compound. One of the ridiculous antiquated Hindu rules here is that women on their periods can't enter the temple. Kellie, so sweet and awesome, was just honest enough to admit it and had to stay back. I felt terrible for her. I think it sucks that such rules still exist... It's not impure, but a natural part of a woman's life for goodness sake!
(Oh, note: J and I are coming up with euphemisms for swear words since that's frowned upon... Mother of Pearl! and Oh Snap! are ones we have thought of thus far. haha.)
Anyway, the rest of us trouped into the temple compound. Everyone, dressed in their sarongs, sat on their knees in rows to receive the holy water and rice, administered by two young girls. It reminds me our own pujas at home, but it was interesting to see how Hindu rituals differ here. I went to end of the line to get some holy water and the ladies there were really understanding and helped me out. You get the water three-four times, sip it and put the rest on your head. Then you take rice from the pan, put it in the water and put the few pieces of rice on the middle of your forehead. Sitting there was a little awkward because there was no on there to explain what was going on to us.. Agustini isn't Hindu and familiar with all the Balinese traditions.
From there we went to the other compound to watch the musicians from the Cudamani Group play gammelan music (all religious ceremonies require that, Guste said. He started learning from age 10). Guste was on this sit-down xylophone looking instruments hit with hammers and Badanu played a flute. It's literally this massive band of JUST MEN. (the only woman on stage was Susan, an exchange student to Cudamani who is studying gammelan. She just chilled and smoked with the rest of the musicians.) Anyway, live gammelan sound SO MUCH BETTER than CD recordings. All the instruments are shiny and gold and it was gorg. Anyway, I'll show the pictures when I can upload them!
We just kind of waited around for a while. The priest was taking his lovely time in coming and people were just getting exhausted (mind you, they were just getting used to the time change). We decided to eat some dinner and then split off. This time, we hit up this hole in the wall roadside place with small tables and plastic stools. It smelled divine though, and it was. Simple but delicious. I had Nasi Goreng which means fried rice. Interestingly, it also had a little meat in it... well, the interesting part is that pretty much everything here has meat in it. Even the vegetables people had. In the supermarket today we noticed chicken-flavored chips. Vegetarians, beware of Bali!
I, and a few others, stayed at the temple since the ceremony had started while we ate. It was in the compound where the gammelan had played. A Balinese act was going on and the actor had this really elaborate outfit. (Couldn't understand, though. Balinese is its own language and Agustini doesn't understand that well...) With Badanu's gracious help we saw the meditating high priest who was totaly decked out. After meditation, the main portion of the ceremony would begin. Again, we tired quickly (long day!) and soon left. As we were leaving, we stopped to watch Cudamani Group's Balinese dancing going on in the outside pavilion, accompanied by gammelan. It was great. They wear such amazing silks, elaborate hairdos, and dance with such emphatic shoulder movements and wide wide eyes. Again, my pictures will be uploaded eventually..
Came back to the guesthouse (The Ganesha Guesthouse!) and promptly fell asleep. I felt really sticky though... maybe I should start off the Balinese way and shower 2-3 times a day!
Peace, love, and check out the next post!
Unfortunately, this computer is stripped of its USB port soooo -- no pictures for now. But I promise they'll be up, on flickr/snapfish/something and facebook. No worries.
By yesterday morning, most of the gang had touched down in Denpasar, Bali with only four more left to come in. There was a little problem -- though everyone landed on the 13th, it was at like 12 AM. Agustini had booked their rooms for the 13th but check-in, of course, was at 9 AM. So we managed to get two more rooms and two girls went to Badanu's gorgeous guest house a few minutes away for the night. I literally slept like a rock. See, the weather isn't that bad because things cool down a bit at night and with the fan, things are comfortable. Anyway, we got up, checked out the other's rooms and meandered the streets. A small group of us walked all the way to the nearby Monkey Forest, but we had to return because we had to again pick people up from the airport. We now have Badanu's van that holds 6-7 people and what reminds me of a party bus, which holds 11, driver included.
Meaghan and Avery (and their 3-4 pieces of baggage, teehee) came in around noon, I'd say. We all trooped to a diner somewhere in Denpasar that specialized in East Javanese food. We ordered Ayam Pechak , which is fried chicken with this spicy sauce, and some fish and vegetables. I'm a little averse to fish, so I had the chicken. Chickens here aren't as plump as American chickens (Say in a Dubya accent, "I'm American, I like my chickens big!"). Regardless, it was yum -- tasted like fried smelt almost? My favorite part however was Soda Gembira, or Happy Soda!!!
Happy Soda, recommended by Agustini, is a combination of flavored syrup, milk, and soda water. You have to mix it when you get it and it looks like this pink fizzy mix when done so. Jill and I shared it and it was fabulous.... (we were initially skeptical of the combination)
Back to the airport... again. (for Jill and I, the fourth time!) This time for Betsy and Hannah. Betsy landed fine, but Hannah came out 1.5 hours after she landed. In that time, we were all freaking out, thinking she was lost, her luggage stolen, kidnapped... haha. But it was just long lines that held her back. We immediately shipped off to the very nice sarong store.
At Guste's suggestion (our thirty-year-old, gammelan-playing, absolutely sweet guide), Agustini negotiated a 50% discount on the sarongs (which can be worn like skirts or dresses). See, Badanu and Guste were taking us to their temple's anniversary ceremony (celebrated every six months) and to enter, we needed to wear proper attire. I purchased a purple sarong with white and teal flowers (which thankfully match a shirt I own) and a matching teal scarf to tie it. My was sewn at the ends so I can't do anything creative with it.. That's okay, I love the design. The boys also had to get a special scarf to tie around their heads.
We stopped briefly at the guest house -- all sweaty and tired from standing in the airport for hours -- and changed, then driving off to the temple.* It was separated in two compounds. In the first compound, everyone was sitting and praying, while waiting for the priest to arrive. When the priest arrived, they would move to the other compound. One of the ridiculous antiquated Hindu rules here is that women on their periods can't enter the temple. Kellie, so sweet and awesome, was just honest enough to admit it and had to stay back. I felt terrible for her. I think it sucks that such rules still exist... It's not impure, but a natural part of a woman's life for goodness sake!
*funny/weird side story: Jill had fried chicken in a box on the table near the open window in the room... When Karen and I went there, the fried chicken was outside of the box. So strange!
(Oh, note: J and I are coming up with euphemisms for swear words since that's frowned upon... Mother of Pearl! and Oh Snap! are ones we have thought of thus far. haha.)
Anyway, the rest of us trouped into the temple compound. Everyone, dressed in their sarongs, sat on their knees in rows to receive the holy water and rice, administered by two young girls. It reminds me our own pujas at home, but it was interesting to see how Hindu rituals differ here. I went to end of the line to get some holy water and the ladies there were really understanding and helped me out. You get the water three-four times, sip it and put the rest on your head. Then you take rice from the pan, put it in the water and put the few pieces of rice on the middle of your forehead. Sitting there was a little awkward because there was no on there to explain what was going on to us.. Agustini isn't Hindu and familiar with all the Balinese traditions.
From there we went to the other compound to watch the musicians from the Cudamani Group play gammelan music (all religious ceremonies require that, Guste said. He started learning from age 10). Guste was on this sit-down xylophone looking instruments hit with hammers and Badanu played a flute. It's literally this massive band of JUST MEN. (the only woman on stage was Susan, an exchange student to Cudamani who is studying gammelan. She just chilled and smoked with the rest of the musicians.) Anyway, live gammelan sound SO MUCH BETTER than CD recordings. All the instruments are shiny and gold and it was gorg. Anyway, I'll show the pictures when I can upload them!
We just kind of waited around for a while. The priest was taking his lovely time in coming and people were just getting exhausted (mind you, they were just getting used to the time change). We decided to eat some dinner and then split off. This time, we hit up this hole in the wall roadside place with small tables and plastic stools. It smelled divine though, and it was. Simple but delicious. I had Nasi Goreng which means fried rice. Interestingly, it also had a little meat in it... well, the interesting part is that pretty much everything here has meat in it. Even the vegetables people had. In the supermarket today we noticed chicken-flavored chips. Vegetarians, beware of Bali!
I, and a few others, stayed at the temple since the ceremony had started while we ate. It was in the compound where the gammelan had played. A Balinese act was going on and the actor had this really elaborate outfit. (Couldn't understand, though. Balinese is its own language and Agustini doesn't understand that well...) With Badanu's gracious help we saw the meditating high priest who was totaly decked out. After meditation, the main portion of the ceremony would begin. Again, we tired quickly (long day!) and soon left. As we were leaving, we stopped to watch Cudamani Group's Balinese dancing going on in the outside pavilion, accompanied by gammelan. It was great. They wear such amazing silks, elaborate hairdos, and dance with such emphatic shoulder movements and wide wide eyes. Again, my pictures will be uploaded eventually..
Came back to the guesthouse (The Ganesha Guesthouse!) and promptly fell asleep. I felt really sticky though... maybe I should start off the Balinese way and shower 2-3 times a day!
Peace, love, and check out the next post!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
five -- selamat pagi!
Selamat pagi! That means "good morning" in bahasa Indonesia. Yes, yes, I did make it here safely... on day two of staying here in Bali. It's amazing. I can't do a very long update because we have to bounce and do some exploring, but here are some highlights.
- Have you read Eat, Pray, Love? Remember Ketut Liyer, the medicine man? Well, we're staying in Ubud where he is from! Jill and I passed a house with that name and our driver Badanu (sp?) confirmed that it was him. We were uber geeked. Better yet, he is one of the homestays so we got to check the place out with our site leader Agustini. SO YEAH. I met Ketut Liyer! He is a sweet old guy. We read to him from the book because he can't read English and then he read Jill's palm, neck, and knee. I'll get that done when we go back... cause guess what? Jill and I will be staying with him for our homestay! BALLER!
- Had TehBotol from a roadstand on the way to the airport for the millionth time.. It's "tea in a bottle." Cold, very sweet, with a hint of chocolate taste.
- Today we are buying a sarong to wear to the temple ceremony held near the Cudamani Music Group. Everyone in Bali has a skill and each village is themed by a handicraft. (Stone carving, music, etc). Bali is primarily Hindu so there are many stone Ganeshas and those symbols around. Exciting!
- From our guesthouse which I am sharing with Jill and Karen, we can see this beautiful garden outside our porch.. There is also a rice paddy beyond the fence and a mynah bird that wakes us up in the morning with cat calls and greetings in other languages. Als a squirrel in a cage outside.
- We are in Bali for a few more days before heading to Yogyakarta on the island of Java
- $1 = 10,000 rupiah --> I got a better rate outside the airport though.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
three -- and what i will miss the most...
I went on a picture-taking spree on my walk today.The flowering trees are blossoming and it is absolutely gorgeous.
What is it now? Four days? I've caved in and done most of my packing. By Friday, I hope all the loose ends will be tied up. Interesting fact: I'll be taking cash and my debit card with me. In Indonesia, however, they are very particular about things. They will only take $100 or $20 bills -- and crispy, new ones at that. $100 bills cannot be from 1996 or 1997... banks just won't exchange them even if it is real. Apparently there was a counterfeiting ring that had counterfeited those bills. Also, bills with series A, B, and a lot of the alphabet are not recommended. H and F series bills are suitable. Never thought a country would be so particular... But there is my random Indonesia fact, yup.
Since the days are winding down until I leave, I feel it would be appropriate for me to make a list of what I will from home... other than people, of course. Because I will miss my family and friends (that's all of YOU reading!) without a doubt. But hey, I lasted through a year of college.. a month should be a piece of cake. I hope.
- quiet: Unusual, but so true. I'm sure the traffic is going to be crazy. I know this is what surprised me coming back from India to the US.... it was so quiet here, even on the road. At the same time, I do love the noise -- there is a certain comfort in the hustle and bustle of the city. (Of course, we aren't going to be in the city the whole time.)
- milk: If I have to watch my water, my bets are that the milk would have to be boiled if I wanted to drink it too. That's what I missed in India as well.. My milk, dang it. Milk in India comes in sealed bags; I wonder what it comes in Indonesia?!
- laptop: Self-explanatory. As I mentioned earlier, my laptop is a beast of a thing and I don't really want to drag it with me to Indonesia. Still... the convenience of having a computer readily available without having to hit up an Internet cafe is going to suck.
Okay. This is a very lame, lame list. But it's a start, so stop judging. It's a ... "work in progress."
In my last post I gypped Chelsea with my lack of swimsuit details after devoting such space to my new Tevas. (And BTW: good job for using gypped versus jibbed. I am so proud of you. SO PROUD!) Anyway, I guess I used to be really picky with swimsuits so I stuck with a black one piece for
forever and a day... except now it's showing some wear, meaning that I'd have to give in and get another one, as painful as the process would be. But surprisingly enough, it wasn't that bad.It looks like the one to the left, except the top part is a sky blue and from under the chest onwards it's black. The suit not only ties around the neck, but ties around the back. (It's almost like a two-piece... that's a one-piece, what do you know?)
Okay. Now I feel extra lame for writing about a swimsuit. Whatever, though. It's late and I'm a bit bored.
Tomorrow I'll talk about the places we're going in Indonesia! (That'll force me to read about them, too! I love educational blupdates.)
Thursday, April 30, 2009
two -- shop until you drop, or an ode to tevas
This time, next week, I'll still be on a plane and reaching Indonesia at 12:10 AM on May 12th. It still hasn't fully sunk in. Way too much to do before I go and I don't really want to do it... Seriously, I just want to laze around, exercise, and read... Not pack my life in a suitcase, blergh.
On the bright side, I've been shopping like crazy (with gift cards, of course!). I needed some more light, cotton pants to wear while there, because jeans will get too sticky and are slow to dry, too, if I need to handwash anything. So, the result is a gazillion new clothes. Not going to lie, it felt good to do some clothes shopping after only spending on food, dance gear, and program expenses during the school year.
I also purchased a new pair of shoes and they are glorious. For some odd reason my pair of Teva's weren't featured on the website... They are a pretty chocolate brown with some light blue trim. Teva is a company known for their awesome water-terrain-walking shoes. When I was in my phase where I was doing a lot of research on backpacking, Travel Independent (which is a very comprehensive and totally awesome website on backpacking) mentioned Teva as a good, fairly reasonably priced brand. To quote...
Wow, I can't believe I've rambled this long about hiking sandals. Funny.
Look! A random Bali picture break up the text of my post!
In other shopping news, I have a sufficient number of books to take along with me to Indonesia for all the plane rides and whatever relaxation time we'll have... Granted, I have a lot of books from the school year that I need to finish, they were so tempting since Borders is near the sports store and Barnes & Noble near the mall. (See, I went with mother to pick up father's car from Meijer... so I could have the car all day!)
Final shopping note: swimsuit. Some of you reading this may not understand, but I've had the battle these last three years to find a new swimsuit, argh. The fact that I found not just one, but multiple is epic and certainly worthy of note.
Now that I have blathered on about shoes, books, and shopping, I think I'll wrap it up and do some reading. (I would say sleep, but I took a great nap earlier after my walk.)
On the bright side, I've been shopping like crazy (with gift cards, of course!). I needed some more light, cotton pants to wear while there, because jeans will get too sticky and are slow to dry, too, if I need to handwash anything. So, the result is a gazillion new clothes. Not going to lie, it felt good to do some clothes shopping after only spending on food, dance gear, and program expenses during the school year.
I also purchased a new pair of shoes and they are glorious. For some odd reason my pair of Teva's weren't featured on the website... They are a pretty chocolate brown with some light blue trim. Teva is a company known for their awesome water-terrain-walking shoes. When I was in my phase where I was doing a lot of research on backpacking, Travel Independent (which is a very comprehensive and totally awesome website on backpacking) mentioned Teva as a good, fairly reasonably priced brand. To quote...
These [Teva] and their type, often referred to as sports sandals and known as a sometimes unpopular icon of the modern backpacker, have solid molded soles and are made from strong modern fabric. They are comfortable to walk in, quick drying, sturdy and often lightweight - the perfect 'shoe' for warm weather. It is possible to complete long trips with only sandals and still do a fair bit of walking. If it's hot at your destination, you're not squeamish about having exposed feet at all times (say after rain in a dirty city) and you don't plan a full-scale trek, go with just sandals.Yeah, yeah --they are those sterotypically nerdy looking velcro sandals. You know what I'm talking about. (If you don't click the link in the quote.) Anyway, a bunch of us in our group going to Indonesia have purchased some sort of sports sandal ... you know, breathable, durable for water and terrain, and comfortable. The downside is that they do look a little touristy-backpackery but, hey, I went for a walk in them today and they are awesome (especially with their "modern environmentally friendly zinc technology to prevent foot odor!") Anyway, this fact shouldn't matter too much; the shoes match many of the clothes I'm taking with me. And besides, I'm going to stick out anyway.
Wow, I can't believe I've rambled this long about hiking sandals. Funny.
Look! A random Bali picture break up the text of my post!- The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge -- Ryan gave it to me around Christmas, but I had misplaced it after Inauguration. And it's super-interesting too. On neuroplasticity.
- American Lion, Jon Meacham -- Need to finish, ahhhh. Oh, Andy J...
- Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi -- It's a comic, actually. About the Iranian Revolution. I've been eying it for a while and gave in today.
- The Great Derangement, Matt Taibbi -- This was another book I have been eying for the last year, waiting for it to hit the paperback. It caught my attention when Matt Taibbi went on The Daily Show last year to promote the book. It's about the fringe groups on the extremes of the left and the right.
- Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert -- I've read it several times. Might have to take it because it takes place in Indonesia!
- Shantaram -- If Smita let's me take this... It's a gorgeous book. If you haven't read it, please do. Or at least watch the Johnny Depp movie of it when it comes out. It's amazingly written, but a pretty fantastic story when you think it was based off of a true story.
- A Year of Living Biblically -- This will be funny-slash-interesting.
- Sex Lives of Cannibals -- It's a travel memoir about the Pacific Islands. 'Nuff said.
Final shopping note: swimsuit. Some of you reading this may not understand, but I've had the battle these last three years to find a new swimsuit, argh. The fact that I found not just one, but multiple is epic and certainly worthy of note.
Now that I have blathered on about shoes, books, and shopping, I think I'll wrap it up and do some reading. (I would say sleep, but I took a great nap earlier after my walk.)
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