Wiki Aloha

This is only a month over due. But I can't seem to muster the juice to post. So anyway, I started this draft a few weeks ago...

Spent ten days in Maui with my family to celebrate my sister's 40th birthday. Pretty nice.

 

Here's the whole lot of us + friends.

Whale-watching "date" with my brother-in-law's mom. It was AMAZING!!!

Quick update is that I was hired at both Kamiakin high school as a paraed through the end of the school year and at WSU's Prosser Extension as a communications specialist. Start next week after I get back from Gosia's wedding in Warsaw. 

Pictures of May

From most recent to further in the past.

COLORADO:

Josh and Marleen's oldest. Balancing an Andes mint on her head from the Olive Garden bill. So the story of how I know Josh is that we used to work together back in 1999 at Grey Interactive. I was learning about web producing and he was a "TPM" technical project manager. Though he never said a word to me about God or Jesus, I knew he was a Christian and--in my backslidden state--God used him as part of His continual testimony about His presence. So years later when I returned to the Lord, and was prompted to contact people from my past, I had the 'good fortune' to rent an apartment wherein the landlord's daughter Natalie (from Island's photo) knew about Josh and Marleen from Brooklyn Tabernacle where she went to church. My landlords gave me a BT CD that year for Christmas and there as a soloist on one song was Josh! I told Natalie that I knew him and when Josh and Marleen left NYC to start their church in Colorado, I sent him a letter telling him what an impact he'd had on my life. So even though we were never friends, here I am visiting his church and family and staying with their friend Lonni.

This is their 2nd child. So funny. He began the Andes mint tricks.








Their baby with bread stick.











NEW YORK:

Juanita and Queens flora.











Nancy and I in Central Park.











WARSAW:

Gosia prepping a Turkish breakfast as the 'craft' part of my presentation: village brown bread, white cheese and honey.









Miss Irene, special guest.











MONTENEGRO:

Me and Maja on street in Bar, Montenegro. She's a long-termer there.















Girlscamp: Esther, Hannah, Maja, and me.











Daily trek down the tracks to meet up with the rest of the team.










Outside Roma gypsies camp playing Cat Cat Dog with the kids.










Context of the fun and games.
















Drawing on a paper taped to the team van. Daniel is a native Montenegrin pastor. Natja and Volker are German. The story about how I came to Montenegro is that Esther's parents Mark and Shelly and I were in the same small group at Bethel Church in Richland, WA for about half a year. So, more near-strangers taking me in and defining Hospitality. :)





Esther with Volker and Natja's baby daughter. So freaking cute.















The week I was there it was Hannah's turn to cook. Here she is making mandu with sauce. Yummy.















My favorite flower in Bar. A sort of lilac meets rhododendron meets honey suckle. Amazing lilting scent, especially in the dusk air, like English breakfast tea.














My first day in Bar, I took a walk down to the water. There were some boys swimming--clearly tourists as no local will set toe in until summer.









SERBIA:

This is in Beograd (Belgrade), Serbia. I had a six hour layover from Istanbul to Podgorica so decided to check out some sights. This art to sit on made me think of Anna who designs chairs.








Serbian urban sport? Parachuting off a cliff down to Sava/Danube confluence. Quite a crowd watched on. I thought it great (free) entertainment.








TURKEY:

Taksim, Istanbul. Brandy, Karen's Wellesley roommate, and her boyfriend Keith's visit overlapped with the tail end of mine. So we went out on night for pizza. It was good. This is the two couples strolling. I mostly refuse to use flash. So this is what I get.






Karen and I at the NYC-esque pizza place. My earrings are from Krakow.










My 2nd day in Cappadocia, Turkey. The tour group was impressive: sisters from India, two brothers and their sister from South Africa and Muslim, two retired teachers from Canada, Australian father and daughter, Argentinian couple, and a smattering of Japanese youth. Here we're in a tunnel carved by erosion. Just Google 'Cappadocia' and you'll see a good sample of pictures that I took something similar to.




Formations in the Rose Valley.
















Hittite ceramics. The circular one is a wine carafe in the shape of a sun symbol and the littler pointy one is a tear vase. The story we were told is that a woman whose husband was away at war would collect her tears in some such vase and then pour them out to him upon his return as a testament to her devotion. I immediately thought of the verse: You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle (Psalm 56:8)

I mean, Hittite or otherwise, it's poetic.





More cool rocks.









T-shirt at the Spice Market, the Grand Bazaar's little sister. Showing off Turkey's religious tolerance.







These are dried apricots with peanuts. Or in my mind.














Karen insisted I take this quintessential photo with this cami (mosque) on the Bosphorus.













Fun lemonade at one of Karen's favorite places: The House Cafe. She kept saying how much she was looking forward to living on the European side of Istanbul.












At Ephesus. The ancients didn't have it so good, eh?










I love the concept and look of keystones. Also in Ephesus.










Second to last night in Bodrum at Emre's sister Eda's house. She's on the left. They have a fabulous view, this is only half of it.









Here's my favorite Turkish food: lentil soup, specifically Ezogelin which has tomatoes in it and is also referred to as Bride's soup.












Ok. So now I'm caught up photo-wise. Any questions? Not sure what my lovely readers want to know about.

Back in the USSA

Love my new friends in Montenegro. Will post photos soon.

A day in Warszawa to quickly catch up with Gosia and give a little presentation to her 2nd grade class on my visit to Turkey. Karen and Emre had helped me out already by teaching me a song. The two Turkish kids in Gosia's class--excuse me, Miss Margaret's class--resisted singing it because they said it was for babies. And the one American kid said to me in reply after I told him I was American: "Native American?" It was a fun day. Will post pictures tomorrow maybe. See: Turkey/Montenegro culture has worn off on me a bit. Nothing is definite. Nothing is urgent.

Can I just say that the Vienna airport is the only one so far where wifi isn't an issue for my iPod? Countless other places I have full bars, so to speak, but still Safari won't open. Ugh. This is frustrating to me. Disagreeable even.

So then I was in NYC for less than 24 hours but had breakfast/Central Park stroll with Nancy from Alabama. Gosia said it was funny she used to be Nancy from back stage crew at TSC, then she was Nancy from NYC, now she's Nancy from Alabama. People move.

And of course a Korean food fix with Juany (my endlessly gracious host) before catching my flight to Colorado, where I am now. Aurora. Which reminds me of Wayne's World, even though it's the wrong state. Like strip malls and nice split level houses. Work with me.

I'll be here for the next few days before visiting Joanna (Wellesley friend) in Albuquerque (which I'm learning to spell correctly) and then Grisel's wedding (TSC friend) in Phoenix and the Grand Canyon and then Vegas to see Carrie (high school friend).

So many stories to relate about the rest of Turkey trip and Montenegro. But for some reason what I want to share is getting on the subway from JFK airtrain (my fav) and glancing over to see the totally thugged out guy sitting next to me is midway through The Plumed Serpent by DH Lawrence. More reasons why I [heart] NYC.

Bunny and Monkey

Writing from Gosia's apartment (which is huge btw) in Warsaw.

###

Monday, I painted two walls in Northern Pear Tree. Very slowly. Then blogged the two-ago entry. After she got off work, Juanita and I met on the 7 to go to Tiffany's place. We arrived early to a text message that she was on her way so we wified in the entry. Oblivious to the comings and goings of the other apartment residents. Tiffany welcomed me with a request to go to Duane Reade to pick up paper towels. Juanita asked for white thread to sew a button. I got distracted in the candy aisle and eventually returned with the listed items and three packs of Cadbury mini eggs. Tiffany's place looks great, she's made lots of nice improvements (including paint) over the past two years. And a sweet couch with fun, colorful pillows. She fed us Portobello mushroom pizza (basically sandwiched between mozzarella--yum) and pasta and asparagus. Photo to come. (I know you're saying: promises, promises.) We talked about Driscoll and TSC and parents and friends and growth. It was good. Juany and I headed home around 9pm. I am now a 7 train fan.

Tuesday, I painted the Driftwood walls. Quickly. Because I met Linsey at her Jersey City apartment (well, technically the PATH Grove St. station) at 2PM. Her place with Kristin is a calm sanctuary with plants and amazing furniture. Lunch was mushroom risotto with rosemary. And coffee. We talked about work and the arts and old times and she gave me some tips on Berlin. I skimmed her CV on trip back into downtown and later sent it off to my Wellesley theatre contacts (Ken from Sanibel post)--wouldn't that be fabulous??

Called on Elder Donovan at TSC who visited with me for about twenty minutes. He asked some good questions and reflected with some good advice. And prayed for me. As Treg later quipped to me, I feel loved.

Also got to sit with Alice for a bit and catch up about her new job responsibilities which are really cool and chat with some other folks in the missions department. Including one fun talk about languages and what are the five key phrases to learn. Mine are: "Thank you", "I want", "I like", "Now", and "Good". [I have learned these in Polish.]

Tiffany joined me for service that night which was very poignant and pointed and pertinent. Sapporo afterward--she confessed she'd been there since last time. Ha ha. Really good chat about emotions and some things I've been thinking about.

Wednesday I did touch ups and then went to Brooklyn to see Laura's new kitchen (and baby stuff) and we had lunch at some place that served dim sum. :) Her kitchen, and closet, and pocket doors are very cool. Jason has done a good job. And her baby is set to come this week. She says that most people do not stand up to offer her their seat on the subway. Only black men. And older black ladies. Things that make you go hmm. Two other notes on the subway: there was a cellist playing on my ride in, quite good. I gave him $1 but since there was no money can, I awkwardly placed the bill on his knee as he continued to play. And on my trip later to JFK with luggage, a young man stood to offer me his seat. Maybe it's just Brooklyn riders who suck?

Raced back to Juany's apartment because I made a last minute appointment with my counselor for another phone session. It was really good. I told her that after last session, I was pretty down. But so many things have happened in the last few weeks that I can really see progress! It's working! :)

Then Juanita and I went to dinner at Taverna Kyclades--a place I'd ordered take out lunch from several times back in 1998 when I first worked in NYC on a movie that was being shot in Astoria. It was so yummy. And they give you free dessert that is kind of like a Napoleon. Juanita said Yelp is right on. We got there early to avoid the wait.

So then I typed up the last post. And met Stacey at JFK. We rode the air train/train back. On the escalator up, a woman was relating to her friends how much she loves air train. I could not help but agree. At 'home', Stacey met Anderson, the bunny. And ate some leftover fried calamari and Greek salad.

At 2:30 AM, I knocked on the neighbor's door and pleasantly asked them to turn down their music. Which they did.

Thursday, Stacey was up at 8 AM so we decided to take her into Manhattan for a quick look around since it's her first time to NYC. Juanita took the day off citing that most the rest of the office was out for Passover. We had beautiful breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien and then strolled around Central Park. It was a beautiful day. Perfect early spring. Flowers and children and nannies. We walked fast back to Times Square and then hopped on the train. The 7 was so quick that we had plenty of time to gather our things and go to the airport.

Not much to say about the flight. It was an hour late leaving but somehow on time arrival in Amsterdam. I sat across the aisle from Stacey and my row mates were a Dutch couple. The wife taught me the phrase City Trip and told me they're training for a 50 mile walk and that apparently these walks happen all over the world and were inspired by JFK's statement that the modern generation cannot even walk 50 miles in a day. They like Merrells and bought new pairs on their NYC visit. I told her I debated a long time whether to bring my Merrells or my sneakers.

The Amsterdam airport is truly impressive. There are lounge chairs and decadent chocolate shops. Great bathrooms where the soap smells good. Wow. The plane into Warsaw was small and I had middle seat but slept for most of it. Standing at the luggage carousel, I quip to Stacey: I hope Gosia's here. And as I've learned from my past arrivals to foreign countries, the pick up is always there. :) This time, with her dad. :) Who gave us a ride to Gosia's place. Which is huge.

We took naps and then walked around the old town which has been completely rebuilt post-WWII. Witnessed hundreds of people observing the Stations of the Cross outdoors along this pedestrian-only boulevard. Impressive. And kind of freaky. Had hot chocolate at the newly opened Starbucks--Gosia was literally jumping for joy--I have it on video. It was really cold last night and Warsaw looked austere in its post Communist aesthetic. The bus is fun. And learning Polish is fun.

Today (woo hoo, I'm current!) Gosia finally made some noise to rouse us at 11AM. Yummy 'breakfast' of farmers cheese, tomatoes, and buttered bread. We headed to the train station where we got the famous Polish runaround but succeeded in tickets to Krakow and Berlin and back. Then went to the Warsaw Rising (as in Up-rising against the Germans) Museum. Pretty cool and so revealed my gaping history knowledge. Embarrassing.

We tried to eat at a traditional Polish grandma-type restaurant but it was closed along with everything else--Saturday, and the special Saturday before Easter fast day. Some people carried baskets with eggs and some green (I suspect it's analogous to bitter herb of Passover) and a plastic chicken. They carry this around with them to church, get it blessed with holy water, then don't touch it for the rest of the day, eating the eggs Easter Sunday. Monday after Easter, apparently people get doused with water by strangers. A city-wide wet t-shirt contest all in the name of religion. Bad religion. We've been making Good Religion jokes. Anyway. It's late. I'm tired. Sorry for the rambling. We eventually ate dinner at a Jewish restaurant. Open = Good Religion. And then ice cream. Lodi. And then falafel at an Egyptian place. Walked through Saxon Axis park. Pretty. Again, pictures forthcoming.

Love you all. Good night.

Oh, the monkey part of the post is that I took a couple pictures of Mooch around Warsaw. It's funny to pull a stuffed monkey out of my bag.