I'm BAAACK: Part 1 - 2011 Summer in Colombia

Right, it's been a while.  I actually forgot I had my own blog until I started hunting for blogs about  my soon-to-be new residence (more on that later).  I feel I should continue this for future Kwaj residents, my friends and family (though in these next blogs the pictures will be also available on FB), and myself.  Years from now my time on Kwaj will have seemed like a blip on the radar.  My blog might help myself, in my golden years, remember how active I was when I was young.  We'll see.

Moving on.

The benefit of living and working overseas (if you're not working for the government) is NO U.S. TAXES!  Woo!  But, there's a catch.  At  least for here.  You have to establish non-residency (of the U.S.) to claim foreign-earned income.  It's actually kind of boring, tax-wise, but was the catalyst for my 6-week trip to South America.  You see, in the Marshalls, to establish non-residency, I had to be OUTSIDE the U.S. (and all territories) for 330 days.  I burned up 20 or so of my INSIDE U.S. days over Christmas break (whilst visiting home), so I had to say out of town.  So, where to go? Enter: Colombia.  And we did.

My parents and I headed to Cartagena, Colombia, for the majority of our Stay-Out-Of-The-U.S. adventure.  I don't believe any of us had ever been to South America, so woo!  New continent!

First, let's talk food. 

I'm a big fan of Anthony Bourdain, so of course I had to try La Cevicheria in the Walled City of Cartagena.  I was not disappointed.  We went there twice.














Ceviche, for those living the culinary dark, is seafood cooked by the acidic powers of the citrus in lime juice.  Mix it with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, maybe some avocado, and bam!  Delicious, fresh, and filling. 


Above, left, are two deliciously refreshing coconut-and-lime drinks from the restaurant La Mulata.  It was a popular restaurant - very busy during lunch.  Above, right, was the typical fare of Colombia.  Fried fish, smashed-and-fried plantain, brown-ish rice, and HUGE slice of avocado.  I've never seen avocadoes so big. 
 
Of course, the buildings were spectacularly colorful. I couldn't get enough of all the brightly painted walls and brilliant fauna in the Walled City. 

 
Another fun side trip was to the mud volcano.  It was about an hour's bus ride there and back, and at the top of this man-made "volcano" was a big tub of mud.  Why does this attract the tourists?   Maybe because it's weird.  It was such an odd sensation, floating/suspending in mud.  Afterwards we all tramped down to the lake to wash off.  Bad news if you have contacts and get mud in your eyes.  There's not a clean hand or towel in sight!
 
 

I'm BAAACK: Part 2 - Spring Break 2012 to Pohnpei

This is Part 2 (though it might be out of order) of my multi-part catch-up series.   


Spring Break 2012 - Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia

I went to Pohnpei (PAWN-a-pay) with a group of friends for a 5-day, 4-night trip.  We took the one plane west, touched down in Kosrae (KOH-suh-rye) for about 45 minutes, and then continued on with our flight.  United, west-bound, hits a lot of islands in the Marshalls and FSM.   Pohnpei and Kosrae are popular destinations since they are so close. 

We stayed for two nights at The Village, a fantastic, honeymoon-esque style hotel with thatched huts and excellent food.  There were mosquito nets around the beds, and a sheet suspended above to catch all the lizard droppings.  Yes, there were lizards everywhere.  Sadly, due to land ownership disputes, The Village has shut its doors as of March 2013.  Other hotels in the area are popping up, but The Village was truly the best.  I'm so fortunate to have stayed there!
 
Above is a shot of the ruins around Pohnpei.  Nan-Madal, I think they're called, but I'm trying to recall this from a year ago, so I'm sure my spelling is off.  These are...maybe 2,000 years old?  Again, might be making this up.  It's been a while.  Shame on me for not posting in a timely manner!
 
To the right, I'm contemplating certain death.  I think the fall was maybe 20 feet.  Or 50.  Felt like 100.  After about 10 minutes of deliberating, I took the plunge.  Turns out, getting OUT was the scary/hard part.  A rickety rope-and-bamboo ladder hung from a precarious perch on the rocks.  Every time I stepped on a rung I'd smash my toes against the rocks.  So, obviously, I only jumped once. 

Besides jumping from great heights and navigating ruins, people dive, drive around, check out some local bars, and go on hikes.  It's different, and a great change of scenery, to have mountainous views to enjoy.  It was an awesome trip.

Under the Sea


"Life under the sea is better than anything they got up there."


-Sebastion, The Little Mermaid



I finally did it! I finally SCUBA dove! (Dived? Whatever.) As you may (or may not) recall, I had bought all my SCUBA gear back in September of '10. And it's been hanging neglected in my closet ever since. But last Saturday I rounded up all my various underwater attire and biked to the SCUBA shack to do a walk-in dive off Emon Beach.

Turns out, the two most important components of a dive outfit (the BCU - Breathing Control Unit - and the regulator) of mine were busted. My AirII hose had no shut-off, and I was missing some hose. Luckily for me, my dive instructor came prepared with extra equipment, so the dive got underway without a hitch. Well, besides that first hitch.


We dove to 42 feet for about half an hour on a lovely, barely-cloudy day. The outside temp. was around 87 degrees F, and the water was around 80 degrees F. I'm a big baby, though, and still needed my 3 mil shorty!

I have no sightings of super-awesome things to report (such as: sharks, mantas, octopi, whales, etc.), but I DID see thousands of tiny fish, and some wrecked thingamabobber.



After the diving and photo-taking and coral-investigating, I commenced my check-out test.


1. Fling regulator from mouth, hang out for a bit
without air, insert regulator again.

2. Flood mask, then clear it of water.

3. Take mask completely off, open eyes underwater,
replace mask, and clear it of water.

4. Take cheesy peace sign picture.

I passed!


*Update! I just asked Doug, my dive instructor (who's office is about 20 steps from mine at the high school library) what that thingamabobber is. He said it's an old aluminum navigation bouy. Cool!

Might As Well JUMP!


My friend Alex has a blog that includes jumping pictures of all her friends from all over the world. And let me tell you, she has many friends, and from many parts of the world. She also has many friends on Kwajalein who like to inundate her mailbox with large attachments of jumping pictures.

These pics are harder to coordinate than you may think. Especially when you have more than yourself in them (and even getting yourself off the ground can prove challenging). Timing is key, but the camera's timer is not always reliable (neither is counting: "Go ON three, or right after three? Or how about four? I think four is better. Ok, so four, then?"). Take 20 shots, and you might have one good one. It is nice to have some planned action for a photo, though. Much better than the obligatory peace sign or absurd gang hommage (I've been known to throw out a West Side gesture - an arthritic combo of the 'W' and snapping - always a hit).

On this particularly sunny and springy day we had a half day off from work. All the more reason to celebrate!
And celebrate we did. Repeatedly. It took a lot of celebration to get this stellar photo. See the outtakes below:







Finally! A good one!

While we were busy taking off and jumping and landing and running to check the camera in between each shot, the clouds rolled in and threatened to end our rather fun quad workout.

So we sat around for a bit, drinking and splashing and figuring out what to do with our un-sunny freedom. Well, jump more, of course!









For a time it was just us four: Anne, Josh, Kerri and me. But then Lisa happened by. Nevermind that she was on her way to run an errand, or that she was really quite sick. We demanded she join. And she obliged.



And then even more people happened by! No one was safe heading down 6th Street. The toll was a jump (or 10), and everyone paid!

Halloween, Again

Anything that's worth doing is worth doing twice. Right? I think the saying goes something like that.
___
I chose to be Stephen King's Carrie for this past Halloween. I realize I was this about 5 years ago, but since no one here knew me even 5 months ago, I felt it safe to have a repeat performance. So don't tell anyone.
___
Also, bear with me while I have entirely too much fun on picnik.com. It's an online photo editing site that I absolutely love but have little to no time to play around with. UNTIL NOW! BWAHAHAHA! Exhibit A: My lovely collage to the left.

This first one's called "ghostify." You can adjust the focal point and the ghostiness of the blur. Very fun. And then I stuck it in a Polaroid frame and made it askew.
The second one involved music note stickers, star stickers, and a confetti frame found in the New Year's Day section. Perfect for a man rockin' his own disco ball!

Group shot! The one in the hat is...I actually have no idea. Tweedle Dee? Then there's Quailman in the back (salute to Nickelodeon circa 1995) with half a head, an owl, Mary Kathrine Gallagher, the Dude, Carrie, and Dwight Shrute. This effect's called "Panography-ish." You can adjust the "kookiness" of the individual squares and the opacity. Woo!
Stay tuned for more picnik abuse.

Swashbucklers' Ball


Welp, for all the fun this was, not many pictures came about! Dang! Items missed: The list of home brews, the fantastic docorations, the food, the contests, and the duck race! But I did get some shots of all the pirates and wenches, so here you go! Nevermind the terrible lighting and poor-quality photos!




Here we have a cabin girl (small boy's costume purchased at one of our three fine stores in town), a wench, and...oh look, another wench. All the ladies were wenches, pretty much. And all the dudes were pirates. We had a few cabin boys. No one dressed as a parrot, though. Maybe I'll do that next year!


Here's a picture of a Micah taking a picture of Dustin. I just can't get over how awesomely amazing my camera skills are as of late. Anyway, dinner was great. We arrived kind of late (pedelling was slow in 4" heels), so we missed out on a few dishes. But they did have beef satay w/ peanut sauce, veggies, hot wings, and cheese and crackers. It was delicious! The beverages were quite tasty, too. There were 4 homebrews (blonde, pale ale, red, IPA) and rum punch! I wish I would've taken a picture of the drink menu.




Here we have a pirate with some nasty dreads, a tattered referee (?), and what's that? Another wench? No way! We're all hanging by the bar. Typical.

A thumb might've gotten in the way here. I can only tell because the cool decorations (lights, torn pieces of cloth) are blacked out. Oh well. Kerri's got her awesome Vogue-wench outfit on, and I'm a 70s wench. I'm not sure what the headband deal was. I felt it needed to go on my head for some reason.


Sure, we're smiling. But we've got our sharp (plastic) swords to each other's neck! This was taken after some awful race in which I was forced to participate. It involved panty hose, some oranges, and a tennis ball. I'd go into detail, but it was rather lewd. I didn't win, and that's OK.








Swashbucklers' Water Balloon Fight

A few weekends ago the Kwajalein Yacht Club held their (however many) annual Swashbucklers' Ball (post coming shortly). To kick off the party, the captains of the various sailboats had a naval water balloon fight during the day. My friends and I were happy to lend a hand!The throwing technique really only worked well if the boats were close. And, sometimes they were. A little too close, maybe...










Nah, our captain (and all the other boats') is a proficient sailor. He's even dressed the part!

If the boats were more than, say, 30 feet away, we had to inact the sling. We were the only boat w/ one! Sight set...

Aim... Direct hit!


I believe our boat, Down East Trader, did end up winning the battle. It's hard to say, though. In the end, I think we went through about 900 water balloons. Provisions have already been ordered for next year!