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childlike joy at a "grown-up" age

over memorial day weekend, i had one of the most relaxing mini-vacations i can recall having in my long history of vacations.  ocean isle beach has always had a special place in my heart but this weekend was just absolutely perfect.  we had the most ideal combination of everything i like at the beach: beach runs, good coffee, good books, great weather, delicious food, and excellent company.  i felt incredibly rejuvenated and ready to face the last 14 days of the school year with all my strength.  

while on this perfect mini-vacay, i spent a lot of time in the sand.  well duh, i was at the beach.  sunday afternoon, especially, i was sitting in the sand at the edge of the water making drippy sandcastles (you know the ones that look like la sagrada familia in barcelona) on my legs, covering myself entirely in sand and salt.  i was the most content that i have been in a very long time.  i looked over to my friend and said, "i am just having so much fun right now." and we talked about how unusual it was for me, a 25 year old with a career job, to be having such a good time playing in the sand.  i didn't fit in with the other beach-goers building sandcastles; they were 20 years younger than me.  it's rather unusual to see a 25 year old covering her legs in sand castles on purpose and loving it.  why is that?

when do we stop wanting to build sand castles?  and why?  does the decision to cease sand castle production correlate with growing up and the onset of adulthood?  and what does all that mean?  i know that being an elementary school teacher affords me many childlike privileges (such as wearing very bright non-business attire daily and telling corny jokes) but are these things actively avoided by other people my age?  i have grappled with this question before - what it means to "grow up" and to "be an adult" - but i just don't understand why a person can't have a good career job, be responsible with their finances, and know how to cook a solid meal (all qualities that i feel adults should possess) while at the same time, enjoy building sandcastles?

life isn't all work, work, work and i just don't think that everyone knows that!  especially living in the dc metro area, i can almost feel the stress vibes emanating off of a majority of the population.  if all of these adults took some time out of their stressful lives to act like children (by having simple fun, not by throwing temper tantrums), i'm pretty sure the world wouldn't stop spinning and they might remember what it feels like to not be stressed out.

i hope to never lose sight of the little things that make me smile (like a really terrible joke or blue nail polish) even as i grow into a more responsible adult (what that means, i've yet to learn...)

x!

it's summertime and i'm bouncing around.

ahhh. the school year has ended. and i have relocated again.  

while i am beyond excited to spend summer 2k12 in richmond, va, the constant moving around is beginning to really wear me down.  as i was moving out of my most recent apartment, i realized that the last place i lived in for longer than a year was my parents house - more than 6 years ago.  and a for a lot of those 6 years, i lived in more than one place.  like 3rd year of college when i spent 5 months in siena, italy.  that year i moved into the sorority house in august, home for december, to italy in january, and back to charlottesville in june.  that is so many moves in one year!  and you shouldn't be surprised to hear that i had many years that looked like that during my past 6. 

so i'm exhausted from moving hundreds of times in the past 6 years but the thought of actively deciding to move somewhere to stay is terrifying to me.  

so we'll see what happens.  all i know is that i am very thankful to have a summer vacation and i don't know what i would do if i had to enter the real world where summer break (and spring break and christmas break) didn't exist.

i'm going to spend most of my time this summer in richmond getting to know the city (as much as i can in 2 months), reading, writing, and thinking.  hopefully i'll clear my head and relax about where i'm going to go and what i'm going to do because deep in the back of my head i am certain that everything is going to work out wonderfully!  and i don't need to know exactly how, i just need to sit back and enjoy the things as they come.

x! 

memories of the mekong

i'm training for a (sprint) triathlon.

after my second half marathon, i decided i was up for a different kind of challenge.  in a roundabout phone conversation, my sister and i seemed to unintentionally convince each other that flying to san diego for a long weekend to compete in what will be my first triathlon was a great idea.

now don't get me wrong, i'm very excited.  i've developed a strict training regimen that involves me waking up far before the sun each morning to work out.  some mornings i cycle and other mornings i swim.  then in the afternoons i often run and do yoga.  i'm exhausted, but i'm feeling physically fit and prepared for the trio of fitness challenges that awaits me on the west coast.

the one leg of the race that i'm very nervous about, despite my preparedness, is the swim.

you may or may not know this about me.  but i'm scared of the dark.  this fear includes:

1. walking alone at night (the only legitimate part of my fear for someone my age)

2. entering a room/building when no one is home and thus, all the lights are off (i have grown to be ok with this situation in my own apartment)

3. sleeping (yes, i have a nightlight to scare away the monsters under my bed)

4. camping (lions, tigers, and bears, oh my)

5. expansive bodies of water when i cannot see the bottom

those expansive bodies of water are what concern me most right now.  to prep myself, i have been trying to recall all the times that i've swum in something dark and unfamiliar.  unfortunately, all the water we swam in during our travels last year were perfectly crystal clear, so that doesn't help my comfort level.  the atlantic ocean is cloudy but i've swum in it my whole life, making it familiar and non-threatening.  i generally tend to stay away from anything particularly murky... 

the one very fitting experience that comes to mind for comfort was last fall in thailand.  A and i were nearing the end of our SE asia adventure and had traveled with A's cousin, H, from nong khai via motorbike to a sleepy "town" on the mekong river.  by town i mean, a very small cluster of people and buildings having the most relaxed life imaginable.  we each rented a bungalow for a long weekend of reading in hammocks overlooking the vast mekong river.

to say that our setup was idyllic is an extreme understatement.  i don't know if there are even words to describe the calmness of this place.  despite the roaring mekong below us, i cannot remember a time when i have been more relaxed.

on our last night in the bungalows, we stayed up late chatting and drinking leos until the boys decided that it was time to go swimming in the mekong.  now, it was the middle of the night and we were in the middle of nowhere.  darkness surrounded us and i was terrified to begin with.  absolutely not was i going swimming in the river that RAGED below us.  had they not seen how fast it was moving?  had they not seen how wide it was?  had they not noticed that you can't the bottom?  who knows what lives in there! did they not notice that it was DARK OUTSIDE?!!  

while they ran down the hill and dove in, i slowly made my way behind them as their "lifeguard."  i wasn't going to completely miss out on the "fun" by sitting on the porch in the dark alone.  

well. needless to say, after a couple rounds of the boys flipping into the water and letting it carry them downstream before swimming back to the hill and climbing up, i realized that they weren't going to die.  if any scary monsters lived in the depths, they hadn't surfaced yet and i they were having so much fun!  so in i jumped.  the swift current caught me by surprise and my heart was racing (you know, because of the potential sea monsters and all the darkness) but i was swimming in the mekong!  those 15 minutes of swimming in the hugest, muddiest, fastest moving body of water that i have ever seen are something that i will never forget.

it's funny how something that encapsulates so many of my fears can be one of my greatest memories. 

so when i think about swimming in the mekong, i realize that san diego's mission bay can't possibly be that bad. 

x!

possible retraction?

i cannot believe how many things i did today!  despite the cold, rainy weather, i got up (early) and ran the GW Parkway 10 miler classic (and finished in 1:35:39!), ate a delicious brunch in del rey with M and her fam, AND met up with cousin J (who i hadn't seen since i moved here) for delicious, celebratory beers at one of my favorite spots.  that was all before 3pm.  i was exhausted.  upon returning home i took a much needed shower and nap and then was out the door for church at 5 followed directly by needtobreathe at the 930 club.

i did all of those things and i normally don't like to leave my house in the rain.

i was thinking over my day and i realized that it would be hard to accomplish such a day living anywhere else.  i also realized that i've had lots of similar days in the recent past.  in fact, my weekends have generally been incredible.  thus, i may have to retract my previous claim of having a mundane life...

x!

life seems so mundane and i feel like a brat for complaining.

on this calm saturday evening, i've been sitting on my couch, sipping a tasty stone smoked porter and trying to update this here blog with stories of my current real life.  everything i begin to chronicle, however, seems so..... normal.

i mean, i do lots of fun things, i guess...  (although writing a follow-up sentence here is proving to be rather difficult) 

it's just that living here in arlington and working in the DC area is a life that so many other people are living.  not everyone can say that they've lived in italy and taught at an international school, or traveled to SE asia for 6 weeks, or driven the alaska-canada highway, so i've had a significant leg up in the realm of exciting life experiences during the last year and a half.  and now i feel that i've fallen so far...  maybe i'm still coming down from the high or i'm still struggling to adjust to staying in one place?  how long is reverse culture shock supposed to last? 

i struggle every day with my level of happiness.  i am enjoying my time here (all 4 months of it so far) but i just feel like such a cop out.  to be here seems like taking the easy way out -- i mean i already have friends here, family close by, to build a more long-term life here would involve almost no effort.  so that sounds great! what's the problem?  ugh! i don't know!  i find myself welling up with tears in moments of even the smallest confusion.  or when i'm stuck in traffic that i've learned to expect.  what is wrong with me? 

i'm teaching which is what i want to be doing.  i'm doing something good for the world -- not everyone is willing to work to educate those adorable children with whom i spend most of my time.  i have an excellent job at an excellent school in an excellent district with excellent funding with the best coworkers and an excellent class of students with supportive parents -- it just all seems too easy, too normal...

when i compare my current state of affairs to what i was doing a year ago, things aren't that different.  we took weekend trips to nearby places like slovenia, verona, and venice .  i still take day and weekend trips but they are to richmond, charlottesville, and other places in the great expanse of northern virginia -- it's much less exciting to write home about traveling across northern va for dinner than it is to tell of an osmiza adventure in slovenia.  i'm still spending most of my time at school with small children and much of my free time is taken up by reading, running, and drinking illy coffee.  and i'm happy.

i guess i shouldn't be complaining.  i have just told you how i have pretty much everything i could need or want as far as a job and a life go and the fact that it's not terribly exciting for every minute of every day is no reason to complain -- that makes me sound like a little bit of a brat.

ugh.  

reunion and my second half marathon!

a week ago, i ran my second half marathon!  the plan was concocted while i was in vietnam last november.  i'm not sure where the inspiration came from but all of a sudden, i remember thinking, "i want to run another race!"  so i did a quick google search, found the rock 'n roll half marathon in DC and sent an email out to friends.  who wanted to join me?! 

since we ran the bavisela together in trieste last may, it was easy to convince V and L and the plans were set.  march 17th, 2012 = reunion half marathon + early bday celebration for me and my quarter of a century! 

so how did the training go?  well i got into really good shape in december when i wasn't working.  i was lucky to have beautiful running weather at my parents' in roanoke, and not having a job gave me plenty of time to focus on the running.  unfortunately, when i did start working again in january - things got a bit hectic.  i was stressed and with minimal daylight hours, it was difficult to find time to run outside - and who wants to do a long run on the treadmill? definitely not me.  

thankfully, living near V again gave me extra motivation.  we started running together during the weeks and doing long runs on the weekends -- it's amazing how much more fun it is to run 11 miles with a friend than by yourself.  overall, things were much easier this go around.  i knew what to expect and i was more confident in myself knowing that i had run 13 miles before.  in addition to V, i knew lots of other people in the area training for the same race or another race so there always seemed to be people doing the same thing i was.  and running through the monuments in DC isn't the worst thing ever.  

as we turned the corner to march and the weather gods decided they weren't into winter weather, things began to heat up around here.  and by that i mean, temperatures very quickly rose to mid-70s and wearing a jacket was no longer necessary.  beautiful! wonderful! excellent! i first thought.  but then i went on a run and was super sweaty and the heavy, humid air was hard to breathe and WOOF i was not trained for this. enter, nervous emotions.  

my goal for this race (the one i told other people) was to beat my time last year (2:14) but my secret goal (the one i didn't tell many people) was to break 2 hours.  i was feeling really good and the times of my long runs made me think i could do it.  alas, neither happened, officially.  my official finishing time was 2:16 but i did have a 7ish minute bathroom stop in the middle.  so, minus those 7 minutes of standing in a line, i would have finished in 2:09 and boom! met my outloud goal.  

the race was a fun one.  there were SO MANY people running and going through DC on st. patrick's day made for humorous spectator circumstances.  there were lots of encouraging signs saying things like "beer: 5 miles ahead," or "hurry up so we can drink."  there was even a make-shift service station of good samaritans passing out cups of green beer to runners.  i may have taken a cup if they hadn't been positioned right at the bottom of a big hill around mile 8...

at the end of the race, we weren't greeted with jello shots like last year (we missed you, K!) but the race did have a giant expo with lots of free swag and live music! we did our best to hoard the free swag and milk the expo for all we could.   

then we spent an excellent day hanging out in DC, catching up, refueling, and yes, drinking our share of guinness to celebrate the holiday.  the race was fun and the reunion around which the weekend was centered was even more fun. 

i love the camaraderie of running races with friends -- luckily, i have a few more coming up!  in may, i'm doing a triathlon in san diego with my sister as well as tentatively running another half over memorial day weekend with lizzy in boston!  apparently i'm into being physically fit.  thanks to daylight savings, it's much easier to find daylight hours in which to train...  you know me, just thinking about running in the dark makes me nervous.

i'm still amazed with myself and my enthusiasm for running now as an "adult."  on every long run i took, i found myself thinking back to my high school track days and the passionate hatred i had for running the 400 meter warm-up lap that was required.... man how things change.

x!

a taste of vietnam

this is an exceptional video (sent to me from S -of alaska fame) showcasing a two weeks meant for "exploring the food of vietnam."  it also hints at many other awesome things about vietnam and the vietnamese people that i experienced while i was there in november (don't they all look so friendly!?).  so in addition for making me terribly hungry, i'm crazy-nostalgic right now.

enjoy! and plan your trip to vietnam. you won't be sorry.

A Taste of Vietnam from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.

x! 

monsieur lazhar

i just saw an excellent movie, monsieur lazhar.  it was one of the 5 films nominated for the "best foreign film" academy award and was showing at the national geographic theater in DC.  the plot chronicles a classroom in montreal as an algerian immigrant takes over after the teacher dies tragically.  the story is inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time while the new teacher, monsieur lazhar, works to figure out the students and school and the students cope with their immense grief.  

to all you non-teachers out there, it accurately shows how a teacher is never 100% off work; the kids are always on our minds.  

check it out! and watch to see if it wins the oscar on sunday!

dear parents, love teachers

the other day, i was filling out a job application for a teaching job.  the application required essay questions and one of the questions was, "explain a difficult situation you have encountered with a student.  what steps did you take to resolve the problem and was it resolved successfully? how did you know? should a similar situation arise in the future, how would you act differently and why?" 

i procrastinated answering this question for longer than i can remember putting anything off.  i mean, months and months and months....  i was really struggling to recall a challenging situation that, if explained, would be a good representation of my classroom management skills.  i've been lucky in my (short) time teaching - i've had pretty great classes and haven't run into anything major that would really fit here.  of course i've had challenges, every day is a challenge in the life of a teacher, so i had to think of something.

i finally sat down and told myself i was going to respond.  i typed a full 600 word answer, edited my work, and then as i was re-reading it a final time, i realized that the problem was centered around a parent conference and wasn't actually a challenging situation with a student, it was a challenging situation with a parent!  so, back to square one.  i opened a new document and started over.  as i was typing out a second response, i realized i was explaining another problem that could have been avoided without obsessive parental involvement.  

and then i found this article from CNN in september.  

can i get an AMEN?! 

cronicles della mia cucina: spinach and sausage quiche

speckled eggs

recently, i had a bunch of eggs that were just about to go bad.  they were straight-from-the-farm eggs, so for them to become rotten without being consumed would have been absolutely tragic.  how to resolve this situation quickly?! a quiche!  it took me longer to figure out how to spell "quiche" then it did to gather up baking instructions - it was so easy! AND one of the most delicious things i've ever eaten.  (i'm so very humble)

ingredients:
pie crust
eggs
milk
whatever you'd like to add to your quiche

step 1: purchase frozen pie crust (deep dish) and thaw.  preheat oven to 350.
step 2: put all quiche additions inside pie crust (i used sausage, spinach, onions, and the best cheese in the world)

step 3: scramble eggs together with a cup (ish) of milk - i used 4 medium eggs. pour scramble mixture overtop of pie crust with ingredient filling.

step 4: bake for about 40 minutes

step 5: admire

step 6: devour (see the sausage on the bottom?!) 

like i said, this was one of the easiest things i've ever made.  and it was incredibly delicious.  i'm sure the delectable taste derived from the farm-fresh eggs AND sausage AND the best cheese in the world.  i mean all three of those things are incredible individually - just thinking about combining them again is mind-blowing. 

YUM! 

memories of parma: bikes! and un panino di pesto cavallo.

last september, i spent a weekend in charlottesville, a place that i love.  the weekend was full of concerts, good food, good friends, and the beginning of incredibly crisp fall weather (!).  cville visits are always full of memories that make me terribly sad college is over.  however, since returning from italy, one of my favorite things about visiting cville is chatting in italian with one of the best bartenders on the corner, N, and invoking a whole different kind of nostalgia.

last year, N spent some time in parma, italy, playing for the parma panthers football team.  i know it sounds strange, an american football league in italy?  have you read john grisham's playing for pizza?  well N lived the life of the main character in the book - he played for and also coached the panther's football team.  in his spare time, he was hanging out in parma! lucky for me, he had a lot of free time during the day and his stay in parma overlapped with our spring break from school.  so before our epic malta adventures, V and i ventured to parma.  hanging out with him in cville brings back wonderful memories of our visit so enjoy a much-overdue review of our trip to parma in spring 2011!

________________

parma was an amazing surprise. the people must be very interested in keeping their little town a secret, because i haven't heard nearly enough rave reviews about the city.  being just a short train-ride away, it often gets overshadowed by the historically famous university city of bologna.  i haven't been to bologna myself, so i can't offer a comparison but i loved the quaint charm of parma;  it was beautiful, and just bustling enough to feel alive.

i arrived before V and spent an evening strolling the cobblestone streets with N and his football friends. similar to other small italian towns i've visited, people were spilling out of bars and cafes and flooding the streets.  it was a clear night and the streets were filled with light and weekend city noises - i was in heaven.

V arrived the next day and we only had the afternoon to explore before heading onward in our spring break journies.  thanks to the preferred method of transportation in the city, we were able to cover a lot of ground in a little bit of time.  

everyone in the city bikes, which i LOVED.  thankfully, N had 2 spare bicilette that V and i were able to borrow.  N was an excellent tour guide and led us on a speedy tour past all the sights.

we started at the duomo which was rather plain on the outside but incredibly beautiful inside.  this is unusual in italy as many of the churches seem to be competing with their neighbors to see who can have the most magnificent display.  it was refreshing, actually, to see a church that was so humble from the outside.  it seemed as if it was saving the beauty for the true visitors who ventured inside -- why waste all the effort on the half-hearted tourists who didn't bother to enter? 

after the duomo, we continued on our bike tour by the river, over bridges, and through a gorgeous park with lots of ruined things.  

then it was lunchtime.  N led us to a tiny alley that was full of parked bikes and people having lunchtime conversation - our hole-in-the-wall destination seemed like the place to be!  N assured us that we were getting something authentic to parma. 

we walked in and N ordered for us, "tre panini di pesto cavallo per favore"

knowing he was still just learning italian, i offered to help.  "hey, N? you just asked for some horse, what did you mean to say?"

nope, he ordered correctly.  we were about to receive a sandwich with RAW horsemeat.  the thing to eat in parma? who'd have thought?

the preparation

the finished product

in addition to the raw horse, the sandwich had grilled vegetables and some sort of white condiment.  and oh MAN was it good.  the horsemeat was very light - not too filling (which was good because it was piled on) and the crunch of the veggies went well with the texture of raw meat.  the bread was that perfect soft and flaky italian variety and it was just all perfect.  you could tell it wasn't their first time creating the masterpiece.  

as we left, it was a bit unsettling to see the horses trot by pulling carriages... but i would definitely eat the sandwich again.

after our raw horse sandwiches, the only thing left to do was buy postcards to send our friends telling them that "we ate raw horse!!!"  no other tourist attraction was going to top lunch.

the whirlwind day in parma was magical. beautiful weather, wonderful friends, bikes! and raw horse (?) - what more could you ask for?

xx

hello, nostalgia!

just to get those memories flowing, here's a pretty cool video of trieste that a friend sent me from the internets.  it shows trieste in absolutely impeccable weather conditions (which almost never existed in my real life there) and i want to go back now. 

Trieste from Andrija Kovač on Vimeo.

x!

reentry.

i'm alive.  yes, i've been MIA from the blogosphere for quite some time now (i believe my last post was in october? oops), but i'm back now.  i've just settled into an apartment in the ballston area of arlington, va with a lovely view of interstate 66 and i start teaching 3rd grade full-time on monday.  yes, as my sister says, i'm becoming a grown-up lady (sort of).

i got back from italy in late july, 2011 and have been flitting about the globe (of course) since.  i visited some friends in new york, california and then i took a road trip through alaska and canada.  in early october, i embarked upon an epic southeast asia adventure with longtime friend, A.  i was gallivanting 12 time zones away for 6 weeks and returned just before thanksgiving.  

and i've been in the states ever since.  that means i've been in america for 62 whole days - the longest period of time without leaving the country in about a year and half.  and oh man, am i still adjusting.  here is a short list of some things i haven't quite gotten used to again in the past 62 days.

my iPhone: in italy, i had a cell phone.  but only about 10 people had my number and i worked with all of them which meant there were very few reasons to actually call or message me.  that communication situation is drastically different than my current situation where my sister sends novels via text message (complete with pictures) and my mom likes to talk on the phone once a day.  apologies abound because i'm just not used to people calling me!  also, when i do use it, my usage skills are mediocre at best.  i'm almost certain that it doesn't reach its full potential.  i did have an ipod touch in my travels last year that i used quite well but something about adding the telephone capabilities have blown my mind.  i DO, however, have a neon yellow case for my phone, which makes me love it.

grocery stores: now, i love the grocery store.  i usually take a list with me but don't consult it very often because i love to go up and down every aisle and check out the selection.  when it comes to actually putting something in my basket, however, the anxiety sets in.  WHY ARE THERE SO MANY OPTIONS?! i've started reading the ingredients in everything for comparative purposes, thus, adding to the amount of time i need on each aisle.  and it doesn't really help me choose what to buy because almost all the labels include some chemically-sounding something that i have never heard of and couldn't try to pronounce if i wanted to.  do i really want to eat that?! so i usually end up choosing something that i'm less-than-thrilled about consuming and then i'm just unhappy.  now you're probably wondering how i have time to go through this process every time i need to buy some food.  i don't!! and i'm rarely completely satisfied with something i've bought, so it's not like i have go-to items that i can run in and grab.  i just don't know what to eat anymore.  for the record, comparable anxiety hits me in similar stores such as CVS, walmart, and target. it's awful (anecdotal tangent: my first day back in america last july, i was in target trying to buy shampoo.  i left the store in tears - and without shampoo - because i got so stressed out.  very traumatic).   

driving: i'm not totally sure what the problem is here but i know that i didn't used to dislike driving as much as i do now.  i've told you before that driving is not my preferred method of long-distance travel, but now i just don't like it ever.  i'm annoyed by needing to drive my car anywhere.  if i'm going somewhere close-ish, i want to walk; but people don't do that here - everyone drives everywhere.  it's nonsense.  this is more a cause of annoyance than something i'm not good at (not to say i'm an excellent driver, let's be serious).


in the coming weeks, as i'm continuing to adjust to life in america (and so close to the nation's capital!) and settling into my pseudo-grown-up-lady life, i'm going to be updating this here blog with things i left out of my travels last fall and even last year while i was in europe.  it will be all kinds of nostalgic to reminisce about travels and life last year especially as the weather here is so, well, january.

so, get excited because it's going to be fun!

x