“We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.” - Jeremy Irons

Time. We seek it. We treasure it. We waste it. We never know where it went.

I find time always running away from me. I keep waiting for the perfect moment to catch it, a moment that never comes. Time stares at me from a distance. Laughing. Daring me to enjoy the sites, smell the flowers instead of constantly scheming about how to catch it. But I can't help it. It's like an addicting game. An addicting story. You couldn't stop playing if you tried.

There are moments where I forget about time. Those moments where I forget where I was going. Those moments of music. Those moments of beauty. Sometimes the world is so beautiful it stops you in your tracks. You can't help but forget about time. Butterflies. Cupcakes. Laughter among friends. A smile. A bird's song. Beautiful souls. Inspiring moments.

Sometimes I realize time is not in my present.

“We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.” - Jeremy Irons

A quote about time that I had never read, but it fits the story of my life perfectly. I live by my memories and my dreams. I travel to create memories. I travel to dream. I dream to travel. I dream to escape. My life is a series of travel memories. I dream of so many more. Memories captured in pictures. Dreams captured in my mind. Some day I will be free.

Random Cruise Memory Part 1

Found this in my drafts and finally decided to finish it. Memories from NYE 2010 Cruise Pt 1. Dedicated to my PIC.

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Things to do on a cruise ship - dodge EVERYBODY.

No vacation with Partner in Crime would be complete without us having to hide from people. What do we do to have to hide? You'd have to be there to tell me.

Cousin and I were both exhausted on Belize day. We overslept and ended up taking our time, getting off the ship late and just taking a city tour. Belize City tour - not that interesting. I advise going to the jungle. I also advise not missing your tour of the jungle by not waking up. It might be a good idea to sleep once in a while too. But I digress.

After getting back on the ship we were both starving and decided to go get food. One problem - food required going across the pool deck...the pool deck with people...people we were not trying to see at this moment.

We can handle this though - sunglasses, head down, walk fast. Never mind people almost falling over railings to say hi. We did not see them. Did you? Sunglasses, head down, walk fast. And clear.

Or...not so clear. We have food. But we can't pull the same trick twice. This calls for a covert operation. One floor down, walk across. Perfect. Almost perfect. Almost to our room. Me: 'PIC, I can't believe this, we are safe!' . PIC: 'Not so fast, we are not safe until we are in our room!'. Me: 'Don't be...' .

Queue the comedian. On our floor. Walking past our room. Right. This. Second. Darn, he is turning around...and....queue a conversation we do not want to have. Comedian: 'So did you catch my show?'. Yes we did. And we know we made the show thank you very much. We are happy we are so fascinating. We'll send you the bill. You're on the wrong floor? You normally stay one floor up? Right, honest mistake, goodbye.

Run into room. Lock the door. Queue laughing fit. Only with my PIC.

I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine. ~Caskie Stinnett

Happy 2010 everyone!

It's been a while. Even though it seems like I am stuck somewhere on a mountain in Lebanon, I'm really not...sadly. I meant to write a full fledged report on Lebanon, but I got to the view on the mountain and then life happened. So here I am in Indianapolis, 7 months later, living, working, and still spending all my money traveling. My scrapbook and my blog missed the bus and are behind on my adventures, but they're trying to catch up. It's the latest 2010 NY resolution I just made up....

I've gone on some more adventures since moving here - Chicago, Minnesota, Ann Arbor, Holland and most recently a Western Caribbean cruise with my partner in crime. I try to settle down sometimes, but I just can't seem to sit still. Result: I still feel like I moved to Indy only yesterday. My cost benefit analysis says that's okay.

I'd love to keep writing, but the sun went to sleep many hours ago and I think I should join it. I'm trying to train my body to be in the Eastern time zone. I'm not really sure what time zone it thinks it is in. New Year's resolution #2 - Sleep.

I'm motivated to write about cruise adventures, so hopefully you'll hear from me again soon.

Signing out,

Ms. Globetrotter.

Lebanon Road Rules

1. Don't break - ever - why would you? Just honk, people will move over. How dare they get in your way?!
2. Red Light? What Red Light?
3. This is Lebanon, do what you want!

4. Rosary - check, religious stickers - check. Make a cross at every Maria Statue we pass - check. You will now survive the crazy streets.
5. Cars going to opposite way of you is totally normal. You actually blinked twice?
6. Car not working? No big deal.
7. If you'd like to drive a taxi, get an ID. Any ID. Who cares if it isn't yours. They never said it had to be yours.
8. Do not tell a cab driver they do not know where you want to go so you'd rather not get in the cab. They may follow you. And yell at you. And not be happy. Cab drivers always know where you want to go. You must be crazy for thinking otherwise.
9. Taxis are impromptu tour guides if you get lucky.
10. Don't drive.

Possession by A.S.Byatt

"What is it? My dear? "
"Ah, how can we bear it?"
"Bear what?"
"This. For so short a time. How can we sleep this time away?"
"We can be quiet together, and pretend - since it is only the beginning - that we have all the time in the world"
"And every day we shall have less. And then none."
"Would you rather, therefore, have had nothing at all?"
"No. This is where I have always been coming to. Since my time began. And when I go away from here, this will be the mid-point, to which everything ran, before, and from which everything will run. But now, my love, we are here, we are now, and those other times are running elsewhere."

Breathtaking Views from our Backyard

Update 10/05/09

Since it seems like this piece will never get posted if I keep waiting until I get a chance to upload those 'breathtaking views' I was taking about, I'm just going to post it. Pics to come with some later post I suppose.

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08/22/09

On Day 2 we left the congested streets of Beirut behind and were off to Bazhoun - the village in the mountains where our family is from. Driving up there bordered terrifying, but I have decided that Lebanon traffic is getting a post all to itself. So for now, lets pretend we just teleported up to Bazhoun and got there safe and sound.

Our destination was this amazing 3 bedroom/2 bath grotto style home belonging to one of my uncles. South Africa Aunt greeted us and had the house stocked and ready. There were even seperate rooms for me and Cousin but we refused. What good is a vacation if you cannot have a sleepover? Even when you are over 20, staying in the same room is required for all-night gossip!

Our backyard terrace had a breath taking view. I sat outside staring out over the valley every day and hardly wanted to move. It was the perfect reading/writing/meditating spot. In Lebanon, a lot of people have a house down below for the school year, and then they come up into the mountains, to their summer vacation home, when it gets too hot. All I can say is - this is the life! If you want to find yourself - go on a vacation to the mountains of Lebanon.

Another perk of being in the mountain - and hindrance at the same time - is that everyone knows everyone, and it will be known that you are not from around there. Which is fine, all we had to say was: bint (daughter of) Robby, bint Ralph, bint Moussi, and everyone knew who we were. In order to be somebody you need to have a long line of family aparently. Fine with me, that just means I belong. And you really don't have to explain very much after you have said those few words. It is known - you are Lebanese. And being Lebanese means you will be entertaining every day - whether you want to or not. The same way anyone you ask for directions or anything else will invite you in for coffee - you'd better invite anyone who walks past your house and greets you in as well. It is the neighborly thing to do. Tip: ALWAYS have coffee and sweets handy. You'll need them.

In the village, we quickly met shop owners, neighbors, and friends. We were there before summer started, so there wasn't that much nightlife when we first got there, but we amused ourselves walking around Hasroun (the next village over) and visiting all kinds of tourist attractions during the day. The thing to do around here, which is what we did in our last week mostly - is to go to Hasroun and join the women walking up and down while the men drive up and down in their cars. Our last three nights MiamiCousin, SurinameCousin and I would go sit on the terrace at Los Amigos, a bar/lounge in Hasroun, and just talk and people watch. And we would actually see the same 10 cars driving up and down 4 times. Too funny. We met some of them as well when there was a one man show in Los Amigos on the third night. My dad's reaction: 'O it is still the same!?' And mind you - he is talking about 30 years ago. It is comforting that some things will never change. Next time I visit Lebanon, I will go after summer has started, and I hope I can still go sit on the terrace at Los Amigos, and just watch the cars go by night after night while drinking my glass of wine and listening to the chatter of familiar voices. It's nice to know you instantly belong in a place where you have never even been.

Can I be a student again please?!

Cousin and I visited the American University of Beirut before we left the city. All I have to say is – welcome to a beautiful campus and CAN I GO HERE PLEASE?

The campus overlooks the ocean, has beautiful walking paths, amazing architecture, people I think I’d like as friends and it is in the middle of Beirut! Spoiled me could even have her McCafe cappuccino's across the street! The Business School recently got accredited and the new building sits right on the ocean.

Cousin and I are in LOVE.

Taxi? Taxi? You're a .... taxi?

In Lebanon, you're funniest stories are sure to come from taxi adventures. When wandering in Lebanon, it may seem to you that every car is a taxi. Well you are right - to you Foreigner, they are. And they will honk at you and let it be known, sometimes even stopping two or three at a time. Even if you don't look like you need a taxi...you'll be honked at - just in case...

We experienced it all, from the guy with the SVU who instantly became a chauffeur when we walked out of our hotel (I guarantee you he was not a taxi. And for $10, he drove us 2 minutes away. Hmm...thank you?), to the cab driver who did not speak a word of English and made two stops along the road to see if someone else did and could talk to us, to a cab driver that cursed at us because we didn't want to get into his taxi without him knowing where our hotel was.

Taxis will take take you anywhere you want to go, even if they do not know where it is. Excuse me? How are you going to get there then? Sit back and try to relax, there are hundreds of people on the street. We can just stop and ask. Multiple times if need be...or I will just drive around, we are sure to find your destination! You live, you learn, and you ask before you get into a cab if they know where your destination is...

One cab driver, the one who could not speak English, kept saying Habibti (darling) to us and at some point asked us if we came from the US and starting chanting: Obama, Obama, yes, Obama, Obama good! It was too funny. Not too funny when he didn't give us change, supposedly not understanding us. Owh well, Cousin and I were alone on our way to the American University of Beirut, so it was a good laugh and we were just glad we made it in one piece. I really need to learn how to speak Arabic for when I come back...the whole time we kept wondering if we would actually end up at AUB and we just could not stop laughing. I am sure the cab driver amused himself.

One time we had a really good cab driver. Told us the price in advance, spoke English really well, even gave us all kinds of tidbits about Beirut on the way to our destination and pointed out sights. He gave us his phone number in case we wanted to go sightseeing and hire him for the day. And then my dad proceeds to tell me something along the lines of that he hopes we did not get kidnapped or so. DAD. You'll jinx it! Stop talking NOW. Thanks.

O, and then there was this time we got into a taxi that had a taxi id. With the wrong face on it...HAHA. Well Mr. Not-Cabdriver. Who are YOU?

This post is proof I survived all of my crazy taxi adventures. Don't let it scare you, it's actually not that scary, just funny. And the stories had to be told but please don't take them in the wrong context :) All there is to do is laugh.

Signing off from the back of another taxi, praying for our safe arrival and laughing out loud until we do,

Ms. Globetrotter

Downtown and the Rolex

After spending the afternoon in ABC mall where I bought the coolest outfit - which I am not sure will make it to the streets in Midwest USA- our first night took us to Downtown Beirut.

'Downtown' is the town square ...which is really more of a town circle. It includes a clock tower with a Rolex in the center of the circle, the most beautiful expensive boutiques in the streets which go out to every direction , and many chic restaurants lined up with waiters inviting you in at every step.

We had dinner at Al Balad, a restaurant I found in my Lonely Planet. After this afternoon I was determined to redeem myself and prove Lonely Planet was useful! Even if just ink on paper. The food was AMAZING. 1 point to Ms. Globetrotter and her Lonely Planet :) . We sat outside, because Uncle hates smoke, and there is not an inch of Lebanon that is smoke free. Whether it's mothers smoking an Arguileh with their children eating ice cream right next to them, or men smoking cigarettes with their father-in-law, tabacco is an unmissable cultural staple.

After eating way too much food, which, as Uncle noted, is one of the most healthy cuisines ever so it doesn't matter, we go back to our hotel. Cousin and I meant to go out, but are too exhausted, so just hang out. Tomorrow is another day.

Already in Love with Lebanon,

Ms. Globetrotter

Lebanon - If you had been there, you wouldn't have wanted to leave either...

Left Schiphol on Monday morning. Two flights and a stopover in Italy later, we were in Lebanon.

First thoughts:
Free seating on a plane - what is up with that?

People can smoke IN the airport?
Why is the airport one of the busiest ever at 3 am?
I feel under dressed. A little background info on this one: I decided to wear leggings and boots with a boyfriend shirt - dress. Well once we landed I felt super claustrophobic and hot and lost the leggings and boots. Leaving me in ballet flats and a shirt dress. Too much skin for 3 am airport. And too little make-up. Women always look fabulous here. Even at 3 am.

On to Beirut!

We get out of the airport after the immigration officer has extensively checked our passports to make sure we do not have an Israeli stamp in it. If you want to see the world, you have to pick one between Israel and Lebanon. We have a driver waiting for us and take off. I wait for the 'I'm in Lebanon' feeling, but that's kind of absent. I suppose getting onto a highway and into a hotel at 3am won't really give you a good sense of where you are though!

Day 1
The next day we get up and headed to lunch. Or that was the plan at least. I didn't get the memo that I was supposed to be the leader and know where everything was...whoops...didn't study up on my Lonely Planet enough! Note to self: Lonely Planets are amazing, but they are no GPS....you actually have to sit down and study them before you leave...walking and reading and navigating just doesn't go together. Also, it would help if you knew where you were on the map before you ventured out. Do they have Lonely Planet in electronic versions? If not Lonely Planet, it is time for an upgrade. Gen Y does not know how to read from paper. We are in the 21st century after all.

We were wandering with no destination and figured we would run into food...or Ms. Globetrotter here would figure out the Lonely Planet. WRONG. Can we take a cab out of this neighborhood we ended up in? It took some time, but we finally convinced Uncle it would be better if we took a cab. I think we would have wandered forever otherwise. Wandering forever on an empty stomach does not make me happy to be in Beirut...it just makes me wish a McDonalds would magically apppear on the corner. Yup, Ms. Globetrotter is spoiled and always wants to have food at her disposal or she gets crabby. Add heat, and the hotel restaurant is starting to sound good right about now.

We finally take a cab to Rue de Hamas, and find a cafe. Wonderful! I'm happy again and ready for the next adventure! I thought the cans of Diet Pepsi with Arabic writing and the hand written receipt were the coolest thing ever! We were off to a mall, but more about that in my next post. For now, we have every cab in the street honking at us as they drive by, and I suppose we will just get into one and hope we arrive safely.

Signing off from here, there and everywhere,

Ms. Globetrotter

Adventures in Sisterland

Next stop: Brussel!

Sister loves exploring, so we decided to take a way-to-early-for-me train to Brussel. So excited to go to Belgium, even if only for a day! Of course we did not plan anything, but we kind of figured we would find everything we needed at the train station. Little did we know....

Arriving at the station, there was no food. Problem #1: Sister and I both get crabby when we don't eat. Then we couldn't find an exit. Problem # 2: Sister and I are impatient. We finally make it out, and there is no food in site. What city is this?! Problem #3: It starts raining. Ok, can we start over Day? I'd like a redo.

Sister of course comes up with a brilliant solution - something I swore I would never do when still living in NYC - take a Hop on Hop Off tour. it was definitely necessary though. Transportation taking you to all the spots of the city all day and more importantly - we figured we were sure to find food!

We get off at the next stop - it looks cute, we figured there should be a cafe around here. WRONG. There were all these fancy sit down places and an antique market. Where exactly do people get a quick grab and go meal?! Not here apparently.... I start taking my distance from Sister because I swear she is going to kill me even though this is not my fault, haha. While trying to find the next stop we end up finding a little cafe and ordering tea and crepes. Wonderful. You know the mug 'Instant Human Just Add Coffee' - well, try that one with us and food! We couldn't stop laughing over nothing all of a sudden. A quick map study later and we were finally good to go.

We find the next stop...sort of - but end up waiting for 30 minutes and having to run to another stop anyways! Owh well, we made it. At this point, all Sister wants to do is go to a 'normal shopping street', and so we do. Now THIS is life in Brussel. Before we got off at this stop I was wondering if Brussel had anything normal in it. Two awesome jackets from Zara later, and a failed attempt at finding an H&M dress, we go back to the bus and to stock up on some more history. And decide not to walk anymore, we both wore awful shoes. Now I know why tourists never look fashionable! Both of us would pick fashionable over comfortable anyday though!

We get to drive past all the great sites, and only get off once more, at Manneken Pis. I figure this is one attraction we should see. We also stop at the Central Market...which is not a Market. It is basically like the Dam in Amsterdam. I wish I would have known that sooner, it was soo cute!

A long exhausting, but ultimately super fun day later, we were off to Tilburg! Not before a train delay though...but hey, it could be worse!

Loved the trip, had a great time with Sister and ended up loving Brussel. A city with a lot of character.

Travel Tips: Bring food, a map, and good walking shoes! The city is not walkable though, so I'd take the Hop on Hop Off tour even if just for transportation!

And don't forget to have Vlaamse Patat and Belgium Waffles when you are there!

Home is where the heart is...

It isn't home, but it comes close enough.

Here I was - the Netherlands take 4. Have time, will end up here. Nothing new :) . I see my friends there more than they see each other. Or just as much at least.

This time my journey was taking me to Lebanon by way of the Netherlands. I was super excited to FINALLY, after being Lebanese for 23 years and denying it for 75% of that, embrace my heritage and go to the home I never knew. But first, it was catching up with family and friends time!



Stop 1: Tilburg, somewhere in the South. Such a quaint little town and I loved it! Sister has a super cute apartment there and Mom was visiting too. Mom was leaving on Thursday, so I was planning on staying in Tilburg until then. Mom visiting means shoe shopping, and with only 4 days to go, there was no time to waste! Three new pairs of shoes later, we helped Sister paint her apartment (or should I say they painted and I watched?!), bought a toaster microwave oven (yes, they actually exist) and had lots of paninis. And ice cream... Great times.

Stop 2: Rotterdam! Where else. Most of my friends from Suriname live here. Stuffed my face with Surinamese food, gossip and a good dose of the past on night one. Why does it feel like I was here all along?! Saw my wonderful cousin that lives there the next day, went shopping, saw her brother and baby dog, ate more Surinamese food. We had such a good time together in December and it was awesome to be able to hang again in NL. More friends, more food later on. Then crashed at the last friend I still had to see while here. Stayed up till the sun came up. If I didn't have to get on a train the next morning early we would have never gone to bed knowing us! Wonderful wonderful two days. It's what keeps me going back. Loyalty.

Stop 3: Brussel with Sister! Lets leave that for next time. Too much to say about her haha. Cousin arrived from Miami! Will see her tomorrow, so excited!

Stop 4: Amsterdam! Aunt, Uncle 1 and Uncle 2 arrived the day before we left to Lebanon! Such an amazing day hanging out with them, Sister and Cousin! A bit rainy, but we survived. Aunt and Uncles were staying in this funky designer hotel which I would have LOVED but they were mortified! Haha. It was too much, lol. Look up Citizen M if you really want to know.

That night Cousin, her aunt who lives in the Netherlands, and I went to have the most amazing Chinese food I have ever had! I still dream of it. It was in Chinatown in Amsterdam. Do you deliver to the US?

Then I was off to Blast from the Past who I had not talked to in FOREVER, but who I was getting many texts a day from. Somehow we both made our appointment. Who would have thought. We went out to Leidse Plein and has such a good time! Saw a guy I knew in high school who did not even recognize me! I'll take that as a compliment thank you very much. Had a good time dancing the night away. I miss living here even though I never did.

Stop 5: Schiphol. It's the day we leave, and it brings horrible news. Cousin's brother has been in an awful car accident along with an old friend. We are all scared to death and don't know what to do. Time made it better, and all is well, but that day was a black page in history for us and brought on a scary few weeks. Uncle of course had to go back and he was terribly missed in Lebanon, but we'll all go back again together some day.

A random note - growing in different directions but still being on the same page makes the best friends. Thank you for that conversation we had on friendship.

That's it for the Netherlands Part 1 of summer 09. Stay tuned for more summer 09 adventures coming up! Ann Arbor, New Orleans, Lebanon, Belgium, Netherlands Part 2, Indianapolis.

Signing off from here, there and everywhere,

Ms. Globetrotter

Chi-Town

Hey friends!

I'm not in Chicago, but I was a month ago, and I wish I was right now! Ann Arbor is great, don't get me wrong, but I am looking to a week full of paper deadlines and finals and I am not looking forward to it! Instead of writing my papers I of course decided reminiscing about Chicago would be a way better thing to do :) .

Plus, while trying to figure out how my web cam worked on this computer....I found out that Picasa has some new AWESOME features, such as making really cool collages (see above pictures!) and a movie maker! I am so so excited, but I will avoid exploring the features any farther until vacation hits.

Back to Chicago - Grace, Kelly and I went to visit Emma. I was so so excited I was finally making it after a year of promises! It was such a great weekend. All four of us though everyone else wanted to be active but we all wanted to just relax, and then we figured out - that is exactly what every other person wanted to do! Yay! Relaxing weekend in Chicago here we come! Who says you have to be running around a city when visiting. Ashley's travel rule #1: When visiting friends, it is entirely OK to not see a thing in the city! You're there to visit friends after all. Why not have a long weekend on the couch?!

Travel Rule #2: When road tripping to your destination, why not stop at every McDonald's along the way? You're driving after all. And who doesn't want to see a bunch of random cities in Michigan. Indiana and Illinois on the way to Chicago? OK, we didn't actually stop at every McDonald's, but three stops in four hours must be some kind of record?

We finally arrive and what does Emma have - wine and cheese(AKA heaven)!!! O, and the cutest apartment ever! After hanging out a bit and finishing I don't know how much wine and cheese we went to a super cute restaurant with a very flirty bar tender and futuristic swings (see picture collage). No clue what it was called anymore, but we had a great time of course :) . Stop on the rooftop terrass afterwards. Very cool.

Saturday - Bagels and coffee + lots of rain = hanging out at home. Wonderful! Pizza and gossip for lunch, tea and gossip for dessert, wine+cheese+grapes and gossip for....a mid afternoon snack = perfect girls weekend. We did decide to hit the town after and ended up going to....another place that was lovely but of which I forgot the name....wow, remembering details does not seem to be my forte. Anyways, champagne bar first, then a tapas bar. So big city, loved it!

On Sunday we went to Emma's favorite brunch place and then we were off to Ann Arbor again.

One of my favorite weekends this semester for sure! Thanks for having us Emma! Be prepared, I'm coming over again soon :)

It's been too long!

Oh my gosh, I can post through email! That is wonderful. Another reason to fall even more in love with the BlackBerry!

Just a quick note to say hi! I owe posts from Traverse City and Chicago but I am in my final weeks of college so that will have to wait. Also, summer plans got changed. Details soon!

Greetings from Ann Arbor!

Ash
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” - Aldous Huxley

The quote is so true - I don't think you can describe the feeling you have when you are on the top of a mountain, on another continent, gazing over the ocean. You just had to be there. Travel experiences are priceless.

Suriname always poses that problem: I lived there for 18 years, but I can't explain the country. I have tried, many different ways, but no words are good enough. You just have to visit some time :) (And yes friends, you are always welcome).

That brings me to my current endeavor. The roommate and I are planning to volunteer in the Philippines for a month and after that possibly visit Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. I have several friends who have been to those countries and their pictures and descriptions look and sound amazing, but of course, the above holds true - I can't imagine the place. It sounds wonderful, but I think I just need to be there. I cannot wait! I hope it all works out.

Currently we are only in the beginning stages of planning, and are only focusing on getting our volunteer time finalized, but here is a preview video of Tacloban City, the site where we hope to be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFxV8kf8XA8&feature=related

First Update of '09

Wow, when I said: 'I have probably given you enough to read until my next update a year later' in my last post, I did not actually think I would not be writing anything until 8 months later, but such is life I guess :) . I am always running around doing something, and blogging is not high priority.

Anyway, here I am again. Last semester kind of flew by. It was good fun, but a little too late to write about I suppose :) . Since this blog was mostly created to write about my travels, I'll start by talking about Suriname briefly.

Going home is always good fun, but this time was one of my most fun trips back home! I started off my staying with Isabel in Miami for a weekend. One night of chilling out, one mall day, a pair of shoes, and a super fun Caribbean party later, I was off again! I should stop through Miami more often!

During my 3 weeks in Suriname, I hung out with family a lot, was the MC at a horseback riding competition, went zip lining at a new resort, wandered around town, hung out with old friends, and just generally enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and warmth of home. It is really an opportunity to re-energize. Since pictures speak a million words, here are some pictures:

Ok, uploading became tiring...so that'll be it for now :) . Will hopefully be back soon! xo

Livin life and Lovin it

Livin life and Lovin it

Hello hello,

Publish Post

So I FINALLY decided to get an update out :) .

I think I am going to try this more often, but once school starts - no guarantees. I never think my life can get crazier, but then it does! One semester at a time...
Being busy is no excuse to not have time...but sometimes it has to do.

I should have a South Africa blog up soon with the dispatches we sent out, but this is my update. The trip was great. And I still LOVE South Africa. People are so warm and caring and the country is gorgeous.

First we had an 8 hour Paris adventure, it was fabulous! Saw the Eiffel Tower and L'Arc de Triomphe. Then off the SA!

I really enjoyed being at the University of Zululand, even though it is the most rural place and there is not many places to go, people are really welcoming, we have two 'mothers' who take care of us while we are there, and the students love hanging out with us. We did three days of focus groups and then some in depth interviews as well to see what effect the module has had. We found that the students who learned the module in the past couple of years taught over 10,000 people! That is so crazy I still don't believe it! We need to step it up in the US! It was also a great experience in the sense that we got to talk to learn more about who they are, how they feel about the epidemic, etc. Good times :) . Also the time when I was stressing about having to write SWE award applications though! They got done :), but not having internet was hard...and having to be on the internet as well, cause it was slow and I generally like to disappear off the face of the earth when abroad. Not possible this year...

Durban was amazing as well - I LOVE working with the primary school students. They are so bright and so enthusiastic. Little kids teach the module so well. It is great to see the young kids empowered to teach others. We selected six of them to teach in front of the entire school of ~600 kids and they were so confident when answering questions! All the hope they have even though they are living in a poor community in really inspiring as well. This is the school we raised funds for and we were able to donate fans to the school and donate food packets and clothes to vulnerable children. I had three girls to pick out clothes for and they were great to work with! Very funny, we were playing games all the time :) . I think I played more games with my kids than I did in my entire childhood! The impressive thing about Cato Crest is that the teachers are so motivated, despite the lack of resources and the difficult community they are in. South Africa made me realize who true heroes are. And those teachers are it....they work tireless even though they are underpaid and face a lot of sadness.
Besides the primary school, I taught at a Community College in Durban as well. The students were jokers but they did very well learning it. That environment reminded me of U of M though. Hard to get the kids to get up and teach the module back to us!

Johannesburg - many of our former students had graduated from WITS, so besides doing in depth interviews with two of our former students we did not really work there. We did spend a day teaching students and workers at a community college and saw some real stars there as well :)

Namibia! - Ok, I love South Africa, and I love all the people there and the work we do....but Namibia was one of my favorite parts of the trip! My favorite day was climbing sanddunes...I felt amazing. I was literally skipping that day, running around, going on picture adventures....to the point where a few people were like: ashley...you look really happy today...you cannot even contain your happiness! I was like: uh...am I usually not happy? But I guess it was over apparent that day. What can I say...I love big cities...but natural beauty is amazing and I get really happy being outdoors. I climbed to the top of Dune 45 - the most famous sand dune in Namibia - and I did not want to come down. So after our little photo shoot there I ran down, cause that was at least another adventure. Also got to see a dried up river bed with petrified trees. Surreal is what I am going to say about that. And most of the people did not even do that part because they had already climbed a sand dune an said what more could there possibly see in the dessert when our guide dragged lead the way off to ...sand....and more dessert...Umh, a whole lot!! That part was just as good as being on the top of the sand dune! I went all out. Apparently a scene in one of JLo's movies was shot here.

We also saw a canyon that day. And then a day later we drove to an animal sanctuary where we got to see animals who were rescued because either farmers captured them or killed their parents etc., and if they come there as babies and are brought up by people they cannot be let into the wild anymore, because they will look for people to get food. We saw lions, cheetahs, leopards, african wild dogs and baboons. It was a cool place to see. It also raises funds for a bushman village. Bushmen are very impoverished in Namibia because they cannot live the traditional way anymore due to commercialization...
O, you can volunteer at this place! Definitely recommended for you animal / nature lovers.

Other things....stayed in the fanciest, most different 'hotels' ever.

Other random thoughts/things I did:
-I could definitely move to South Africa if only for the fact that they appreciate tea! A church I went to even had a tea garden! Note to self: have tea garden in future home :) . Or a tea corner if space does not permit a garden.
-Bollywood dance/play - amazing!! Maybe I will move to India instead?
-Aunt Nazha's dinner party! She cooks the best food and is so hospitable :)
-Lebanese Church the next day.
-KZN Philharmonic Orchestra in which one of our group members played!!
-Mtunzini Beach - One of the most gorgeous untouched beaches....
-Paris in 6 hours on our way to South Africa!! Yes, absolutely possible. No, you do not get to be immersed in the culture, but Eiffel Tower, Champs d'Ellysees and l'Arc de Triomphe in 6 hours...yes, we did it and it was fabulous! We even had some time to hang out and eat some french bread and croissants. Fabulous. Definitely going back.

Now that I have written a book I think I will stop....
-O wait - if you ever make it to South Africa, the Soweto Tour with Kenny and the tour of Constitutional Hill are a must. Kenny speaks with such hope and insight about South Africa and one of its most famous townships. He is truly inspiring. Constitutional Hill is home to a former women's and men's prison - turned museum. The women's prison especially touches us since it is rare that attention gets paid to the women's view of history and the women's experience in prison, so it is a really important thing SA did. The Constitutional Court is also on Constitutional Hill and is very well thought out, so it is one of my favorite spots.



Transition to NYC:
-Family of twelve to alone and chill place to world in overdrive - kind of hard, but got better fast :) I had rather gone to a place more familiar for a break, but scheduling worked out this way, so gotta ride with it. Slowly falling in love with NYC. People are kind of mean and hurried, but you just gotta ignore that I guess.

I have been up to the most random things since coming here:
-I went to the Today show for Rihanna this morning! What an adventure.
-NY Palace Hotel for tea! They film some scenes of Gossip Girl here :) .
-Bodies exhibit. Look it up if you really want to know.
-Window Shopped 5th ave - not so random I guess :)
-Walked over the Brooklyn Bridge!
-Played in F.A.O Shwartz....almost made my own Barbie

It's been good fun. Have a friend who I met during orientation, after which we figured out we lived in the same building....and then we got our work assignments and we both work on the same floor 3 desks away. So needless to say we are stuck at the hip. She is my random adventure buddy :) . We got up for the Today show at 6am and we are going to BET's 106 and Park (Top 10 Live countdown) on July 2nd!! Our goal is to go to Goodmorning America and Saturday Night Live as well before the summer is over. We wanted to go to TRL but that starts too early...

Anyways....time to sign off. I think I have given you enough to read until my next e-mail comes a year later...

-xoxo-

peace out,
ash

All around the world

Number of places visited: Lost Count...
Number of places I still want to go: Way too many...

I love travel, and travel every chance I get. I have a restless soul, and need to go everywhere. Another reason I love traveling is the fact that I LOVE other cultures. There is so much culture and richness in the world and I think life is most fulfilling if you understand others and come to appreciate their culture.

I decided to start a blog highlighting these travels...partially so I would remember it all :) . I should journal...but I never keep it up...and I love posting pictures so an online blog is super convenient. I am currently trying to make a bucket list...but it will probably only contain places I want to travel :) . Be back soon!