I delivered speech #2 to my Beach Cities Toastmaster's Club. I rocked it. This time I spoke about eating Street Food in developing countries with imagery as live as the crab I described and as spicy as the red curry I ate in Thailand.
(Note: Photo above is Street Food in Saigon, Vietnam)
I also should mention that I won "Best Speaker" at the meeting and I was simply floored. I am taking the head rush in stride. However, I am incredibly excited.
After the rave reviews over Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, I had to take advantage of low cost charter flights connecting Europe tighter than a well-weaved spider’s web. I decide to fly to Croatia because the photos along the coast are simply unreal. As an after thought, Aaliyah and I decide to visit Mostar and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is an amazing fortuitous side trip through a country still recovering from a war and findings its own sense of self. This trip is a healthy mix of beautiful coastlines dotted with islands and soulful conflict resolution conversations among shelled buildings.
Sept 26:
We fly into, the second largest city in Croatia, Split, and go directly to Prisca guesthouse. Ivanka, the owner, is right in the heart of old town, smokes two packs a day and doesn’t speak English. We enjoy watching late night cable TV from all over the world because we don’t have a TV at home.
Sept 27:
We go around to see Split’s Old Town. Split has a regular flow of cruise tourists, who typify the stereotypes of over weight, Mid-Westerns, who expect locals to “do it our way.” In Split, we do the Lonely Planet’s recommended walking. We stay long enough to catch our 5pm ferry to Korcula Island. After arriving in Korcula, we are bombarded with ladies asking if we want a room, and since it is low season, we are out number two to one. There are more ladies opening their house to backpackers then backpackers to fill them.
Continue reading "Croatia & Bosnia and Herzegovina: All In A Days Travel" »
After looking high and low, I found my British friend Catherine in the most unlikely of places, the internet. I started to look on Facebook, the new and improved MySpace and leagues ahead of Friendster, which hangs on by a sliver of popularity.
As soon as I arrive to London, my flat mate and my girlfriend plan a housewarming party and sent the invitations via Facebook. My flat mate, Jeff, tells me I should use the highly interactive cyber popularity contest program to receive an electronic invite. Initially, I am not opposed to receiving an invitation via the web when it involves my flat mate, whom I see regularly and speak to daily, but I am not keen on signing up for yet another internet friend site. Is MySpace and Friendtser not enough?
I haven't had the motivation to blog...as of late. I haven't been in the mood, mainly because I have been so busy with being a full-blooded American. Actually, trying to remember what it means to be a full blooded American.
Since being back, I hit the ground running, very typical of me, and pretty much haven't had time to look back. After moving back from Kunming, China in November, there hasn't been a dull moment to reflect.
I didn't used to believe in Eastern Medicine.
I went to my first Acupuncture session for my shoulder yesterday. I found a highly qualified acupuncturist, Jeff, who recently moved to Winter Park. He is still new and just getting his practice at Body Works Spa in Cooper Creek Square started.
My first impression; Jeff is very good at making me feel at ease and more than happy to explain the background for any body part, pin prick and ancient Chinese words. He did a great job working on my wrists, jaw and shoulder. On my shoulder, he also added Liquid Moxa, a lotion extract to intensify the heat and promote blood flow in the injured area. Moxa, short for Moxibution, is a herbal medicine that is set on fire to smolder and often associated with small goldfish glasses placed on the back.
I will go back for my second appointment this Tuesday. I am trying to take care of my body by mixing Physical Therapy with Acupuncture. Along the way, I will have a deep tissue massage and hopefully start working out my legs.
Until I lived in China and had some good friends study abroad in Chinese Traditional Medicine, I thought Eastern Medicine was all a hoax. I firmly believed Western Medicine had superior technological and research advantages over Eastern Medicine.
I dislocating my shoulder snowboarding. It wasn't a proud moment, in the least. In fact, I have been beating myself up over the whole incident. Three mood setting sentences have been running through my mind:
I am such an idiot! (Being hard on myself)
Poor me, I can't button my pants! (Feeling sorry for myself)
Everything will be OK... (Being optimistic, because...break into song and dance...the sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar...)
This is worth more than 1000 words.
They are bold. It is comforting to know there are women who are not afraid of displaying affection in public. The lesbian (or la-la) scene only grows stronger in China. Pretty exciting, being here to witness the birth of a queer movement, ever so small and strictly social as it is, a movement nonetheless.
After my friend Dan Washburn posted this photo on the Shanghaiist, this already popular photo with the flickr community, went from 150 views to 794. Not bad, but many folks were disappointed when they clicked to see more girls kissing and found some nights shots of Beijing. So, I decided to open up my archive and post the other two photos that went along with this one, just for added perspective.
I just can't pull myself away from the computer. There is just so much to do and I have finally taught myself enough about HTML and updating my blog, that it is exciting, rather consuming, me.
Right now, I still have a long way before I am finished with the backlog of photos, travelogues and poetry I am working on making live. So far, my website and the content I am trying to tie together has been a full time job.
Once my Mom reads this, she is literally going to 'freak out' but it is no mystery that I contracted the bacteria from freshly cut fruit from a woman with very dirty hands. I should have known better than to eat fruit cut from a vendor with greasy nails, but she never actually touched the fruit, but the knife could have been dirty. Either way, I am sick.
I have found a new favorite city, Chengdu. I used to say Langmusi, Gansu, the small out post on the fringe of the Tibetan plateau, was my favorite city; but it has taken a back seat to Panda-ville. Chengdu has a certain uncontrollable vibe, where men walk around, in the summer humidity, with their basketball bellies hanging over their pants, and women gracefully fan them self in the smog-filled nights. There is hustle with well organized traffic flow, amidst the 5000 year old city, only a few meters below the surface glamor.
