Yellow Underwear

In Chile for New Years, everyone wears yellow underwear for good luck...."general" luck in life... Yes, I asked.

You can buy your yellow undies in many different sizes and styles at any street corner where they are organized and displayed on cardboard boxes. I have not purchased as of yet.

We head to Valparaiso today for the weekend so I get to see fireworks over the ocean...one of those things on my checklist to do before I die.

I realized what one of my pre new years resolutions has been as well! Since I can't clean my house, I've been busily unsubscribing myself from junk emails!!! Extremely satisfying stuff! Highly recommended!

Happy New Year!
Get out that yellow undie in the back of the drawer!

Latina - Gringo

Rodolfo is a fuerte Chileno.
I am from the good ol' USA.
We are also married...for life.
Babies, little house with a big kitchen, reliable boxy car, perhaps a sturdy plant, the whole caboodle, it's all in the cards!  Now deciding  in which country this all occurs....just a bit tricky!

There are a lot of fun little pros and cons to being from two different countries; odd eccentricities that have to get worked around.  Rodolfo's managed to consume Norwegian Lutefisk with my family and I've recently become a fan of stewed monkey brain looking peaches with barley with his!  Rodolfo gets by with a "Ya, Hey, Don' cha know" and I throw in a "Huevon" every once in a while!  Rodolfo lets me freak out over Thanksgiving turkey and this year, I am ACTUALLY going to try and stay awake ALL NIGHT for Chilean style New Year's Eve!  (Yup....Chileans do that!  The party starts at midnight, when well behaved Midwesterners hit the hay!)

Something I didn't appreciate enough while I was on the road was that when we were both in a foreign country together, the country we were from didn't matter quite as much...well, accept for Visas...damn friendly Chilean international relations, it's a lot cheaper for Rodolfo to get around! (Chile: 1, USA: 0)

Travelers, foreigners, tourists - we were the same!  It didn't matter what country was filled in the blank on the Hotel registry, as long as we had the cash to pay for the room!  Getting to travel allowed us a chance to not worry so much about which of us had an accent... we both did!

We are both pretty open minded people, so when it comes to things like family customs or traditions, religions or political views, blah...no pressure!  Granted, I love baking, Rodolfo loves his soccer, but I'm not going to force Rodolfo to make me holiday spritz cookies any more then he could push me onto a football field!
I did go to the world cup though, I get points for that, right?!? (Chile: 1, USA: 1!)  Who we are is not going to change by what country we live in, especially our devotion for each other.

That all being said, after 8 years for Rodolfo living in the States with an accent and a funny sounding name, the tides have turned and as you already know, we are giving it a go in Chile.  For the first time in my life, I'm the outsider with the funny voice getting the odd looks, and unlike the comfortable neutrality of the open road, we are no longer a duo of odd fellows...I'm the odd man out.

As time passes, it's going to be interesting to see how well I adapt.  I sometimes joke that Rodolfo has become more of a  gringo then me, with his dislike for Salsa dancing or fancy 'bling bling' suits and a great love for things like recycling and organic carrots.  I can only fathom what a Chilena Saritah will be like 8 years from now!  Mixing up pisco sours and buying empanadas and pastel de choclo from my favorite street vendor?!? Having a favorite Chilean soccer team and recognizing a 'good' wine from a bad one... Time will tell!

I'm honestly quite a shy person.  It takes a long time for me to befriend someone and I'm generally not the one to jump up and say hello at a party...so!  Throwing me into a mix of new faces in a new language in a new place, I'm trying my best not to freak out.  I am just now beginning to understand how brave Rodolfo was to decide to leave his home and live on his own for the first time in the States....no friends, no family, no personal guide to make sure he was nice and comfy; a true explorer!  Getting to experience all of the crazy cultural differences also makes us stronger and richer people.  Plus, it's fun to live in a new place!  I can't complain about that!

Although our love for each other has no borders, the world we live in does.  The challenge is learning to live within these borders for the sake of our future...aka...little mini curly haired Rodolfito's running after soccer balls in between bites of spritz cookies!

Change

As you can see, I've given the blog a new "look", like a hair cut!  Just a little off the top, bottom, sides, kind of like what I need to do with myself...


 - Learning the spanish!  It has become almost painfully clear that I do not speak spanish and I must LEARN!  AHORA!  (NOW!)  Unlike the rest of our trips skipping along to different countries and languages where saying "Thankyou" and "Hello" is good enough, most of my day in Santiago is spent at a mesa (table) with familia y amigos (family and friends) eating and talking....TALKING....which at the moment is more listening, drinking el vino and zoning out, which makes communication and sharing my witty and thoughtful (inappropriate and probably dirty) remarks a bit non existent.  I'm looking into intensive language classes in Santiago, starting inmediatamente!


 - Exercising.  The part I love the most about being in Chile is LA COMIDA!!!!  I love to eat everything and anything here!  It's so exciting to try new foods and flavors and it all tastes so good!  So many fresh fruit and veggies are in the ripest season for eating...mmmm....but it also makes it a struggle not to eat all of them at once.  I MUST find a way to exercise regularly or pay the consequences!


 - Una nueva vida.  (A new life)  I need to learn how to live in Chile.  How to get around.  How to find my way home.  At this point, my ability to take care of myself is at the same level as Simoncito (see below).  My hope is that I will find my rhythm here; cook, walk, talk and get around like a Chilean...una Chilena.  This is our 5 month test run to see if Santiago is our permanent future home.  It's very simple, if I can't learn the basics, we probably won't be able to live here.  For me, this isn't just a holiday, it's a final exam.  The test begins now!

Who will learn Spanish first?

Taun Taun sleeping bags

We have spent a lot of time on planes.

My favorite magazine to read?

SKY MALL

Everything the middle class 50 year old frequent flyer business man would ever want!

Although this time...page 175ish or so had a special treat:

STAR WARS THEMED WEIRD STUFF!

AWESOME!!!!

light saber chopsticks

space slug oven mit

death star cookie jar

Jawa garden gnome

Darth Vader toaster

Princess Leia Bikini apron

Millenium Falcon Car Shade

my ultimate favorite: STAR WARS TAUNTAUN SLEEPING BAG!

Dude!  You can sleep inside a Tauntaun!  How cool is that?!?!?

I'm always enamored with the odd and unusual items for sale only in this magazine, only in mid air.  It's awesome!   Is there something about high altitudes that make you want to purchase weird crap?  Doggie sweaters, secret spy gear, christmas trees, a back massager and now...a Jawa garden gnome?..

Well, I love it!  It's the only itemized catalogue I ever read cover to cover...probably because I have 2-8 hours to read it.  Keep it coming sky mall!  I love you almost as much as my one plastic cup full of boxed California red wine!  You make my flight!  Tauntaun sleeping bag....awww......

Feliz Cumpleaños Jaime!

We have been keeping a little secret!  How often can you secretly travel to another country in order to scare the heck out of your father?  So.  That's what we did!

Today was Rodolfo's dad's birthday!!!  

(Happy Birthday Jaime!)  

After arriving yesterday morning in Santiago and spending the day secretly recuperating and catching up with wonderful friends,  we scared the begeezus out of Rodolfo's dad at his door step this morning!

He survived the attack and we all got to celebrate the day with the entire Perez clan (two of his brothers and their families) out for lunch!

It's good to be back in Chile!  Great to see friends and family!

One week in Yogyakarta Indonesia

I just recently got a chance to look at some notes I wrote at the beginning of our trip in January.

January 2010
Yogyakarta - Java - Indonesia

Both Rodolfo and I are getting tired of the road and tired of cities, maybe a little tired of each other.  I have moments where I think I'm home, then I realize I'm not.   I have other moments where I'm very much here and wish I wasn't.  Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in a funny dream and I'm patiently waiting to wake up.
If this is how I feel after one week on the road, what will it be like in three months?

Terima kasih:  Thank you
Tidak mau:  No thanks
hmm...how do you say, How much is?

The Indonesian Smile
With a history of bloodshed and misunderstanding, it's easier to smile at your enemy while taking everything you can.  Something is always confusing, not sinister but uncertain.  Kindness is carefully measured in actions but shown to an extreme on lips.  What are they really thinking?  I don't know.

Nasi and Chicken Sate

I want to try:
Gado gado - steamed veggies with peanut sauce
Nasi campur - rice with small amounts of veggie, egg and meat
Rendang - fried beef curry

"Transport?  Bakso?  Special Batik Art!  I take you now?  Obama!  He lived here!  Sandals?  Earrings?  I give you good deal!  Where do you go now?  Where are you from?  French?  Dutch?  Transport?  Chicken Sate.  Goreng Bakso.  Soto Ayam.  You buy Batik shirt?  10,000 rupiah.  5,000 rupiah....OK!  1,000 rupiah!  Transport?  Where you go now?  We have special for you!  You go to Prambanan today?  Tomorrow?  You stay another day?  Where you from?  America!  AH!  Obama!  1,000 guns for free!  You give us as gift!  We like America!  How many sons you have?  We have Batik art center!  Hello Mister!  Hello Mister!  Hello Mister!  Transport?"

We are instant celebrities at ancient ruins

Avacado chocolate shakes are oddly refreshing!  Don't think I'll try it again.

Things I miss from Madison:
my lady friends
leftovers
mayo
cheese
biking
internet
reliable safe transportation
independence

Dancing within the Sultan's Palace

With a baby in one hand and a package in the other, she prepared herself to climb off the bus.  She looked tired, hot and ready to go home.  Then, I caught her eye and I smiled her direction thru the window.  Happiness filled her face, radiance.  Looking thru the bus window as we began to drive on, she waved still smiling and I waved back.  We were now sisters on opposite sides of glass.

separation anxiety

10 months, TEN MONTHS adjoined at the hip except for bathroom purposes and this week will be our first week apart.  Whoa.

Rodolfo has left me to visit our family in Madison.  Two hours into the trip, our old beloved Green Meenie - 1996 (199,000 mile) Ford Taurus - electrically failed in the middle of the highway and he called to let me know it died and it was getting towed away....forever....  FOR-E-VER!  Pretty wild!

So.  No more car for us.  Such is life!
Atleast it's not Rodolfo getting towed away forever!

Now it's just learning how to sleep again without a goodnight discussion about who gets which side of the bed and who should turn off the light.  No one to watch how many cookies I eat or see how much t.v. I watch.  No one to make the bed for or put my dirty clothes in the bin for.....

joined at hip in Malaysia

Hmmm.....hey..I could get used to this!

Charles Schwab

ATTENTION:  Those friends traveling the world and living abroad!

I know I'm going to sound like an advertisement, but I can't recommend Charles Schwab enough!

I may have mentioned it to a few of you here and there, but this financial has probably saved us over $100 in fees in the last few months!

•  No international ATM fees!  
•  If a foreign financial adds on a fee, they reverse it!
•  No Annual fees!
•  .5% interest on your checking account
•  Excellent online access 24/7
•  You can open an account online!
•  You can transfer funds from your local financial (hopefully Credit Union ;) in the same day and have access to your money a few days later
•  Every time I email or call, I get an immediate response!  Real people!  No holding!  
•  When you open an account, you receive your card and all the information within the same week.

You are required to have/open a "brokerage account" in order to have a checking account with Charlie (we are that close - first name basis!)  But!  You don't have to have any money in it! 

The other draw back - I remember trying to open an account in Thailand and not being able to - you may only be able to open an account in the States - but I'm not entirely sure!

I don't mean to be a total freak about this, I just hate how quickly and how high some of the fees can get while you are abroad just to have access to your money.  I think it is an American thing to want the best bang for your buck.   Rodolfo thought I was being ridiculous opening yet another bank account, but now even HE agrees that Charlie is the way to go!

Even if $2 seems like not so much to take out $50, it adds up extremely fast when you are traveling for an extended amount of time and $2 becomes $200!

I feel extremely adamant that local business/banking is the way to go, but!  In this one case, when you become an international man of mystery, sometimes you need a more international friendly option!  Just a little food for thought!

Running of the bulls!

We are currently visiting the Northern Spanish city of Pamplona!

We got to walk the streets where the bulls run along with hundreds of their friends!
How did it start? They needed to move the bulls from the fields of the country side somehow to the bull fighting ring at the other side of the city! They did this either late at night, or early in the morning when people weren't in the streets.

One year, some crazy dude jumped in with them, the next year, a few more... Now! Hundreds of crazy dudes crazily running with bulls through very tiny streets!  Our friend showed us a particularly tricky corner where an intersection is blocked off with boards and known to be where many a bull smash against the walls to make the turn!  If you try to run drunk, they will definitely pull you out!

The day before the run, everyone wears white and there is a special ceremony. During this ceremony locals tie a red handkerchief around their necks to prepare for the next day.

People in this area used to keep a sunflower at their door to keep bad spirits away. On some doors you still see them.

Sunflowers. Bulls. Breathtaking views. Pamplona rocks!

1 stop away

We are 2 minutes and 1 metro stop away from making it on time to catch
our train which leaves the Atoche station in 15 minutes.

I see Rodolfo checking his phone for ticket details. No biggie.
Everything is perfect until...

"Sarah! Wrong station!"

We are 2 minutes away from the wrong station. The station we need to
be at is 30 minutes away in the direction that we just came from!!!

We get to the 'other' station 5 minutes after the train has left, to
find out....

It ALSO stops at Atoche station, the station we had been heading to in
the first place!

We would have made our train if we had ignored our ticket. 3 hours and
18€ later, we've made it to Alicante Spain! Yay!!!

Grrrrr multiple train stations!
Yay beautiful southern Spain!

Home. Part two.

It's a lazy Sunday morning here in Madrid Spain.

We spent the morning sipping coffees while I worked on my crepe
technique (thanks P.T.) which we ate with JAMON pate and roasted red
peppers.

Now we are laying around in our pajamas reading the New York Times
online and catching up on our Internet fixes...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This
is life!

So I have to admit, Mission accomplished! This is what I call home!
Two weeks of having a kitchen and the same set of sheets every night
has been incredible! We got to eat leftovers a few times! I got to
make spaghetti! I even ran out to the store to buy things like milk
and lettuce! Can you believe it!?! Talk about exciting!

I know which buttons flush the toilet, how to get hot water in the
shower, where the light switches are; I have even mastered which keys
open which apartment doors! (these things may sound pathetic, but
they tend to be the most quirky parts of travel because they change in
every country!)

I know how to take the metro and I don't feel lost anymore walking
thru the streets of Madrid! We even know where to buy a small glass
of beer and a bocadilla (ham sandwich) for 2€!
What I'm surprised at is that now that we've had this incredible time
of stability and comfort, I'm getting the itch again to hit the road!
I'm ready for more!!! What's with that?

We are thinking to also settle for a while in Chile, so I can work on my
Spanish and perhaps we will both find some jobs, a little apartment,
another little spot to call home for a while!

Before Chile however, we luckily get to experience the other
definition of home, family! Yay!! First a visit to Montreal to meet
our brand new nephew, then it's off to visit our dear friends on the
East coast that have become our family, and finally, some quality time
with my fam in Minnesota!!

Sometimes it is not until after an experience that you can really
apreciate it. Now that we've had some time to chill out and just be
somewhere steadily, I feel so happy for all the great places we've
been! I can't wait for more!

Important news announcement!!!

At 10:19am on Saturday September 25th, Simon Perez was born in
Montreal Quebec nice and healthy!

Rodolfo and I are now auntie and uncle! We now have to wise up and
become responsible role models for the newest little edition to the
family!

We head to Quebec soon to help out with with things like laundry and
dishes, but I selfishly can't wait to meet the little dude. I take
auntie responsibilities very seriously! This little kiddo has a great
future ahead of him!

Millions of pictures are guranteed to come once we reach Montreal!

For now, good night from Madrid!

Beware of bananas

With two weeks left in Europe, it feels as if the crazy part of the
trip is coming to a close.
Here are some random thoughts that have come to mind:

In France, wifi is pronounced "wee fee", in Indonesia it's called a
'hotspot'

What are you supposed to say when a Buddhist monk sneezes? I was
stumped. Btw.. Ladies..hands off the monk! They can't touch women.

In Tanzania, you really can slip and fall on a banana peel. They
throw them out their bus windows. Look out!

In the London tube, there is a free library of magazines and
newspapers circulated daily.

In Norway a knife is pronounced "ka-nee-foe"

A hand shake in South Africa can get a bit complicated, with snaps,
twists, bumbs and wrist action. If you are a women, you get a limp
handshake and sometimes a weird look.

In Copenhagen, it is not unusual to have a picnic or exercise in a
cemetary.

Ask for Obama at a bus station in Lilongwe Malawi and you'll get a
ball of fried dough.

Your welcome in Indonesia? Sama sama!

Worst job in the whole world: being the guy in charge of the puke
bags on the vomit ferry from Zanzibar.

Favorite thing we heard someone say in Thailand? "Oh my Buddha!!!"
aka - OMG - Said by a young Thai lady to her older white male "friend"

And the plane lands... - bugle call - "you have now flown another on
time flight with Ryanair!"

A hair cut in Indonesia? $2
A hair cut in Spain? €60

Go for a walk in a park in Sweden and you are sure to find people with
ski poles in any season!

A bottle of water in Laos? .50
A bottle of water in Norway? $5

Do not. I repeat. DO NOT eat the duck in your Pho soup in Vang Viang
Laos!

Japanese is easy to read! Just get off at the station that looks like
a smiley face over the little house with a dot on top!

Jamon!

People in Madrid:

1. Smell really good
2. Live outside sitting at bars sipping coffee and beer while eating tapas
3. Love playgrounds (if you have a kid)
4. Wear beautiful shoes
5. Can enjoy a good bottle of wine for less then 2€
6. Eat a big lunch at 2pm and a little dinner at ...much, much later!
7. Close their shops from 3-5...and the streets become a ghost town!
8. Have incredible locally made olive oil potato chips! (crisps for you
English folk!). You generally get these free as a tapa with your
beverage, or you can buy them for 1€ for a huge bag at any little
shop.
9. Have free access at the right times to the most beautiful art

10. Most importantly! People in Madrid love Jamon! (ham...but at an
artisional level...it's serious stuff!!!!) as well as chorizo and other forms of sausage are by
far the most popular and most apreciated form of snack/tapa/lunch/
dinner everywhere! It crosses every price range, every picnic and
every family table across the city. It has changed our lives!

 I heart Jamon!!!

Happy Chilean Independence Day!

HAPPY CHILEAN INDEPENDENCE DAY!

(Says a Gringa currently residing in Madrid Spain....hmm....awkward?)

We ate at a great little Chilean churrasco/empanada place called SAN-WISH  


The particularly awesome part of the day was spending it with our great friends Cindy and Sergio with their adorable daughter Bella!  It's  an amazing thing getting to catch up with old friends and just sit and talk for hours about anything and everything!  

                                                        

We also got to enjoy a real and true pisco-sour for the first time in a long time, which was AWESOME!  Cindy even led the Chilean cheer in the restaurant!  Some day I wish I could do that!!! 

CHI CHI CHI!  LE LE LE!  VIVA CHILE!

Churros con Chocolate

Home

Right around when we were leaving Africa, I lost it. I wanted to go home.
I was tired, I was frustrated, I didn't want to get ripped off or stared at anymore and I wanted it NOW!!!!

Well, our ticket to the States wasn't for another 2 months and of course, Rodolfo loves to TRAVEL, the trip was not over by far...and, small detail, we are homeless...lacking the home.

Being on the road so much, I think a lot about home.
The idea of what a home is, what my old apartment looked like, the traditions of my family, having a place to just stare at walls, drinking a giant cup of coffee out of my special giant coffee cup,  feeling "normal",  knowing how much an apple costs, or just buying a package of butter and getting to use it for more then one day.

So during freak out, Rodolfo asked me, what is it you miss Sarah?  Is it really the States or could we make a home anywhere?  We probably won't have an actual home for another year or so, so missing something that won't exist for a while is a bit tricky.   Could we perhaps rent a temporary home?  Find a mini quasi permanent situation?

Compromise?

We arrived today to Madrid where we will stay put for 2 WHOOOOOOOLE WEEKS in our friends parents house.  Our mini social experiment begins today!  Is it possible to make a feeling of "home" temporarily in someone else's home?

I've already taken a nap, stared at the ceiling for a while and considered cleaning my belly button!   All good signs!  I'm getting excited to buy that packet of butter already!

Lemon Pie

Why I love Rodolfo/a good travel companion

1. He will still open doors for me and carry heavy stuff....on occasion
2. He will eat anything *except cheese
3. He will try anything  *except bungee jumping
4. He has an obsession for avocados, ice cream, mango smoothies and above all, lemon pie
5. He will sleep anywhere  *although, not always well
6. He gets really excited about airplanes and airports
7. He can do a bunny dance that guarantees to make me smile....even when I don't want to
8. He has a smile that makes you want to feed him cookies
9. He listens to me whine....a lot.  (He's also the only one on the planet who can get me to stop)
10.  He has a passion for living every day to the fullest, to enjoy every moment and every sensation as much as possible.  He makes me want to try a little harder, push myself a little further, just for the slight chance to see the world thru his magnificently kind, curious and amazing eyes

I'm so lucky to have him as my travel buddy.

Brunch in Lyon

We stayed in Lyon with Rodolfo's amazing friend Sepu!

He introduced us to the world of Lyon's small shops and fresh markets, aka, real LIVING!

Boulangeries, Fromageries, ohmygod-eries!  There is a specific shop for every type of mouth watering food!

The melon, fresh eggs and  almond stuffed olives were purchased in the street market that morning, to the sounds of a French brass band across the street.

The pastry of pure love displayed in the center was found at Sepu's favorite Patisserie ...it consists of a croissant stuffed with chocolate and toasted sliced almonds on top.  Every biteful was buttery bliss!

Something the French are extremely good at is eating well!  The food that we have eaten in Paris, Clement and Lyon we will never forget!  Particularly the bakery and cheese!  My life (and hips) will never be the same!

Clermont-Ferrand France

The alleyways and small streets of this old lava rock stone town are gorgeous!  You can look in any direction and see rolling green hills and take a tour of the 25 or so water fountains!

Two grown up ugly ducklings enjoying grass together in a Clermont park.

Saritah and Laurita strolling along.  We got to stay with one of Rodolfo's good friends from Chile.  Laura was his incredibly adorable daughter who talks about herself in 3rd person and loves parks and princesses.

The future.....

Where are we going to live?

What are we going to do?

When are we going to have babies?

Are we going to buy a house?  Rent an apartment?

What language will we speak?

It's like a looming cloud full of question marks and no answers....
We are at that age where people do these types of things and whether it's the weather or some ticking genetic/reproductive/cranial time bomb, the cloud is getting closer and the question marks are getting bigger!

The funny thing is that when I was working a steady job and living in a steady apartment, I also had the same questions....what is the right thing to do?

We don't know.  *Cue scary horror movie music and women running thru the streets!  AHHHH!!!!!!!
Oops.  time to go walk thru a small quaint French town for a morning stroll and eat some baguette...oh, the stress!  What am I complaining about anyways?

Padam. Padam. Paris!

Pictures of Paris are HERE!

Fruit

La maison

La Louvre

Les morts de Paris

Guess whose bones are buried here?!?

We have decided:

We would rather not be buried in a cemetary to get forgotten about and moldy for 100's of years...eww. Exceptions: We saved the world from Martian attacks, wrote "the" book or compose a generation anthem... then our grave might be actually cleaned in the future

It really sucks to be the dead guy used as a bench next to the other more famous dead guy. Legend says that people have sex next to Jim Morrison's grave. Imagine cleaning up the graves nearby... super eww

Proust has an extremely boring tombstone, so he's probably a bit jealous of Oscar Wilde around the corner, getting kissed all the time...

I felt a bit like dead people paparazzi searching around for famous people in a cemetary *flash - click* ok Rodolfo, where's the next one? (and we weren't alone!) Although, I have to admit, as a free activity in Paris, pretty interesting stuff!

Tar Tar

Our friends took us to a true Parisian restaurant to experience real Parisian French food!

I ordered Tar Tar with looks of praise at my adventurousness not really knowing what I was in for, but promised that if I didn't like it, one of them would eat it for me!

What is Tar Tar?
Raw ground beef with raw egg and delicious seasonings!
Everything my mother has told me not to eat!
I absolutely loved every bite full inbetween fried bites of polenta!

Rodolfo went for the Foie Gras goose burger!

What is this?
The goose is fed yummy things so it gets nice and fat...and that fat...it's like eating heaven!

Best food of our lives!

Bon Pain - The Baguette test!

Here's a fact I just learned from a real live Parisian!!!!

If you want to buy a truly authentic Parisian pastry/bread/anything you see in a window that you would sell your first born for...you have to check the quality of the baguette first!

1.  Does it have a floury crust?
2.  Does it have pointy ends?

If the answer is yes to both, you are now allowed to purchase pastry from a baker who makes good quality pastry every day himself!!!

If not?  They're a fraud selling frozen - thawed  - and thrown in the oven -  non fresh crappy bread unworthy of your highly sophisticated Parisian pallete.

I feel SO COOL knowing this!!!!!!

Oslo Norway

We spent a rainy day walking the city streets of Oslo last week. We visited a park full of naked people statues, a fort, city hall and saw many beautiful steeples. Gorgeous town! We arrived in Paris yesterday....speaking of gorgeous towns! We've already eaten pan du chocolat and some delicious cheese!!!

I'm from America, BUT I'M SWEDISH!

Maybe you connect with me on this one, maybe you don't.
The great and weird thing about being from the States is that we are all mutts!  I get made fun of a lot on the road for my tendency to say things like...

"Oh!  I'm Swedish too!  I love Herring!  You're Norwegian?  Yaa!  Don' cha know!, Dutch?  My name is Dutch!  Scottish?  I went to Scottish fest when I was 15!"

This is fine and well until they start asking for details...and usually their is some smirking going on at my expense...oh....silly mutt girl...so cute...she thinks she's Swedish!  Aww...

Minnesotans tend to be of the Scandinavian variety, which is why after discovering where life began in Africa, I felt inspired to discover where my family began!  My true Lut'eran her'tage!

So Rodolfo booked us a flight to Norway and here we are!  ... for one more day!  (flying to Paris tomorrow!)

A few days in Norway (particularly Vestby and Oslo),

• Lots of naked man statues!  This is cool if you're from Europe, but considering even horse statues are anatomically "altered" in the States, it was quite an eye opener for this young Minnesotan!

One night in Sweden (a beautiful city called Goteborg on a hillside)

• Cafes with the most incredible baked goods I've ever had!  This pic was taken of Gotenborg on a hilltop at night.

A few days in Copenhagen Denmark (of which I am not genetically from but is freaking awesome!)

• Bikes, bikes, bikes, bikes! and extremely pricey food!

What have I learned about myself from this experience?

• I look waaaay Norwegian, and get mistaken for one on the street here!  Why I think this is cool?...I'm not sure, but it's SO COOL!...Perhaps after Africa, my craving to blend in has struck hard...
• My obsession with kitchen gitch and cleanliness is purely genetic!  I have an excuse!  
• My inability to dress stylishly, also GENETIC!  WHEW!  Although clothing styles here beat the heck out of a piece of cloth wrap around in Africa, it's not quite Paris.  Eddie Bauer is more the norm.
• There are about 100 dudes that look like my grandpa in Sweden!
• There is a reason why Scandinavians aren't known to be good cooks...there are not a lot of ways to spice up crackers and cheese with salty fish!  Locals tend to eat Kebabs, burgers and pizza as a source of nourishment.  
• Walking and biking!  Also TOTALLY GENETIC!  We took a walking path thru the forest to get to the train this morning for a few miles at 5am!  I felt right at home!

So, as you can tell, this trip has given me an excuse to cook poorly, dress badly and clean my future house like a paranoid freak for the rest of my life!!!!  I LOVE IT!!!!!
I guess that's about it for now!  Lots of awesome pictures to come!

We made it to Sweden. Yaaa!!!

Norwegian food!

Norwegian chocolate milk and kaviar fish paste!

Norwegian pate - that kid looks just like my brother!

Norwegian brown cheese on bread!  A sweet and rich cheese

Norwegian dinner!  Fish cakes and potatoes!

Knekkebroed - hard crispy crackers are a cheap and healthy snack!
Tonight at the Kiwi mini market, we purchased a box of Lefsa!
(Here, you buy it dry, moisten with water, wrap with plastic, wait 20 minutes, ta da!)
So much for hours of work with potatoes and flour!  I'm so in Norway!

Real English grub!

I had been trying to figure out...what do Londoners really eat?

Every day for three days, we discovered different random little communities of street food vendors.

Moroccan one day, Sri Lankan the next, we were in street food heaven and we weren't alone. We were always surrounded by local Londoners enjoying a Friday mid work day lunch/Sunday street lunch!  Indlian, Mexican, Asian, you can travel the world on your lunch break!

Costing 4 to 5 pounds, it also doesn't break the bank. Pretty healthy too! The only trick is finding the right curb to sit on with the least amount of smog!

London rawked!

The history of a hill in Richmond!

Two famous Chileans together in London!