Croc Camp

"I don't know Sarah, everyone is telling us to take a taxi.  I don't have a very good feeling about this..."
"I don't care!  This is bull#^*#!  I'm not paying  a taxi $5 to drive me to a $5/night campsite!  That's ridiculous!  I can see the entrance down the road!  They're just trying to scam us!  We're walking!"

R man and I were in the middle of a small village in Southern Zambia a half mile away from the entrance of South Luangua National Park and Croc Camp (a reasonably priced campsite that offers safaris) where R man had begged me to go so he could finally see his LION!  Men and their lions....we'd just spent 8 hours (4 hours waiting and 4 hours moving) in a very small minivan with 12 adults, 5 kids, a bicycle, a large screen television, enough toilet paper for an end of the world hideaway, two live chickens and about 15 dozen chicken eggs....I was not too excited about yet another form of Zambian style overpriced, ridiculously bad transportation if I could help it...

"But Sarah....you haven't seen their eyes!  Look into their eyes....they think we are walking to our death!"
"No. No. NO!  I'm walking!!!  I don't care!  They just want to rip us off again and have a good laugh at our expense.  I'm not doing it!"
"Ok....but, I'm taking a taxi."
"Fine!"
"FOR REAL?!?  Ok!  I'm your husband.  I love you.  You're crazy.  We are going to die, but I'm coming with you!  Happy?"
"Yes! I don't see any hippos or lions, do you?!?"

And we begin to walk out of the bubble like village of men standing on the streets staring at us/drinking cheap beer and children running around us begging for money.  We leave the security of normal (for Africa) and step out onto the dusty road of nothing for half a mile, which became a tree covered area of the unknown shortly after that with a small wooden sign that you could just make out ..."croc camp - $5 camping).  Looked pretty easy.  I had no idea what I was doing.

R man:
"I sure hope you know what you're doing!"

jobs and bureacracy

• under qualified
• over qualified
• not qualified in the right field
• not quite the right work history
• have to take a test, but the application is due before the date of the test
• have to fill out an online application that takes 5 hours, complete with a social security number and then never hear back 
• have to reply to a craigslist ad with no idea where the business is located, if it's real or not, how much you might get paid...but keep doing it in hopes something might pan out.

Maybe the mafia has it right.  You know a guy who knows a guy and done!
What happened to local word of mouth?  Or a sign posted on a window?  Maybe these things still exist and I'm just not 'out' there enough?!?

Finding a job or meeting a significant other has become a cyber game of read/type/submit/repeat, hoping that you're actually communicating with a real person!  You know...as I type this for comfort into my computer assuming/hoping a real person might read this later and think....poor Sarah.....I'm pathetic.

I know it all works out, that the future will unwind and figure itself out over time and all will be well....I don't even know why I bother checking job listings and craigslist ads, googling for potential sublets and local businesses perhaps in need of a funny, awkward, unemployed 28 year old with a 33 year old man and a 24 year old bird and a furnished sublet on the east side hoping for the best....perhaps it's time to go back to bed and try this day again...without opening my computer!

grumble, grumble, grumble.....

Chicago

We love Chicago.  Rodolfo would have babies with Chicago if he could.  With....not in.  With!  Loves it that much.
These are very random pics of our 2.5 days spent wandering around in Chicago neighborhoods, wandering around downtown Chicago and spending some awesome quality time with our good friends April and Eric.  Eric used to go to school with Rodolfo in Madison and I'm now an avid reader of April's blog Wanderlust and Foodstuff  which inspires me so much to cook and travel...Chicago as we discovered thru April this weekend at a Paella event is an intense food town and a serious place to be for all food lovers!  We definitely had a great time eating ourselves silly!

We wanted to get a quick visit in with them before April leaves on a Central American travel adventure thru Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama....sounds so awesome!  I guess our little trip to Chicago will have to quench our travel thirst for the moment..... I gotta say, for me, it totally did the trick!

a transitional mood

I've been in a surprisingly weird mood for the past few weeks, uncertain of what to do next...definitely not a feeling I saw coming homeless and jobless in Chile a few months ago!  I thought that an address and a coffee pot were all the answers needed to our problems and once we had a place to call home, we would find some perfect zen like tranquil state, find our inner harmonious callings and you know....be happy!  As the dust starts to settle from our wanderings, we are both becoming a little bit anxious, a little bit worried and concerned, about...well....we aren't quite sure yet!

After all this time away, what is the next step?

Are we doing the right things?  Making the right choices?

This next decision we make could decide the rest of our lives!   A baby, house, car, job, picket fence and retirement plan.  But, hey, no pressure!  If we could figure out what this great big thing is that we are apparently deciding though, that would be a great start!

Living out of hotels, tents and other gracious people's homes had its fair share of stresses, but now that we finally have access to all the cherished and beloved prized kitchen gadget, book and bike possessions we missed for so long, both R man and I find ourselves with our head in the clouds with dreams of travel and far off places and a heavy feeling beginning to numb our toes and steadily grow up our legs, digging down roots fastening us into stability and structure, hard. cold, deep, back into the ground....forever!  Dun dun duuuuuuuun......all that time weightlessly fluttering around wherever we felt like at a moments notice, I feel nervous and apprehensive that it's not the right time yet to hunker down back into the natural routines and patterns that I've missed so much.

One of my old friends and coworkers from Madison asked me last week, 'is it weird to be back where nothing has changed, but you are now so different?'  a thought I hadn't even considered to be a problem until she asked because I hadn't thought I was all that different...and now, I don't know!

Are we ruined for normal day to day life?  Are we ready to commit to a non-transitional life?
(hmmm....it's like we are preparing to marry...life?)

Granted, we are yet still in a time of transition after many, many other types of transitions....letting go of jobs, furniture, double ply toilet paper, the English/Spanish languages...it's become a way of life, uncertain of what's coming next and hoping for the best.  The idea of living without that extreme variability, the choice to leave whenever we feel like, to sleep and eat wherever we'd like, it's sort of terrifying in a way I never would have anticipated!  Is this why some people prefer to be homeless?  At the same time, isn't this what life is all about!?!  Jumping in with both feet, going with the flow and seeing where life takes us next!  Sometimes it's a little mysterious and questionable, but that's just part of the fun.  I mean, heck, I bet that's the way a lot of kids are brought into the world!

At this time, we have no real plan for our future's, no year long lease or job plans signed, only a few hopes and dreams for either a life at root or a life at flight.  Almost hopeful that things won't pan out so we can happen to fly off for a few more extra months in S.E Asia or some other far off land with a warm climate and spicy food...you know....perhaps China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Borneo, a nice 3 month 'transitional' trip....not like we've talked about it or anything ;)

Well, what comes will come and then we'll know I guess!  Stay tuned these next few months for the exciting choices to come.  I will be just as surprised as you with what happens next!

moving...again!

Pros:

• I finally find/throw away all of my orphan socks with no match and stare/ponder//toss the clothes with larger sized holes....
• A great excuse for the largest living room fort/stuff mountain ever!!!!!
• Good exercise
• I finally put together my tax, health insurance, blah blah forms all in one place!  How cleansing!
• I've unearthed a missing pair of men's loafers, my grown up sized snow pants, an mbira from Africa and two checks for $3 each!  Score!
• How many nail clippers does one person need?  What do I do with the extra 5 I've just found?

a portion of STUFF!

Cons:

• I had no idea I had this much stuff!  What are we going to do with all of it?  Panic!
• lifting, carrying, dropping, lifting, carrying, dropping...oof!
• How are we going to fit all this stuff in a car?!  Panic, again!
• I bet we are going to throw out half of this the the first week...what is the point of moving it?
• In a few more months, we are going to do this AGAIN!?!?!?!?  AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

bread, bread, bread!

I'm on a roll!  (pun unintentionally intended)

After rye bread, I moved on to hot cross buns - which involve using potato water to raise the yeast and mashed potatoes to add fluffiness...these were good!  I added lemon zest in to the dough and lemon juice in the frosting....oh so good!

Yesterday, I made up some classic hot dog buns:

Last night, I attacked yet another sweet dough recipe!

This circle of love is called a Swedish Tea Ring!

Raw ring raising

Baked tea ring with almond sugar glaze (inside: walnuts, figs and cinnamon)

If I keep this up, I'm going to get fat!

Home is where the stuff is.

It has become pretty obvious to the family and friends we've been around...
probably to the point of annoying...
We need a home.  We need it bad!

We are talking basics...no deep metaphors...walls and a floor filled with our own personal stuff!
After living a lifestyle which is the antithesis to Hoarders with two pairs of underwear and a tooth brush on our backs, we almost need some kind of coaxing therapy just to start purchasing things again.  Even Williams Sonoma has lost its sparkle to me.  It's been so long since I've had my own bathroom, I don't even know where my make up is anymore!  Do I even have make up?

We are getting a little weird!  Walking in circles, catatonic states, wearing purple everyday...ok, not that bad, but seriously!  Examples?  Oh yeah, I've got em....

Walking into kitchen sections of department stores where we don't necessarily want to buy anything, we just mourn our boxed up old friends.  "Rodolfo, look at this slicer/chopper/grinder/holder/place mat/thing a ma jig, "We had one of these, right?  Doesn't this look just like ours?!?  Where is ours?  Did we throw it away?"  and then we kind of look at each other puzzled, because we can't remember and walk away confused.

"Do you smell a barbecue?  We have a grill don't we?!?  Where is it again?"

"Wow!  I really love this couch!  Hmmm...I wonder when we are going to have a couch...."

and....repeat!
Over and over again it comes up here and there...we are so home sick for a home!

We boxed up and stored/sold most of our belongings in mid December of 2009...we will be moving into our sublet/furnished apartment later this week which will make it a year and a half since we lived together somewhere that was ours alone with our own things.  For me, to go without my dish set, mixing bowls and matching rubbermaid tupperware set, this is a very long time!  (Gosh, I sound so American!)

our beloved pet Paz rejoining the family soon!

We are pretty sure we have some stuff around, we just have NO CLUE where or what anything is anymore!  It's like a really, really big birthday present waiting to be opened, but about 300 presents at once, because we can't remember what we have!  Talk about exciting!

It's going to be so much fun to meet and greet all of our old things and see what's made it through....consolidating not only our things, but our minds into a new reality.  Coming from a life style where owning less meant moving faster, this is definitely going to be an interesting transition!

the backyard

Rockin Rye Bread

Over this past week, my mom has graciously been teaching me how to make bread!  With yeast!

Yeast breads have scared me for so long, because I'm afraid of killing it and it takes a bit of effort to get it right.

Yesterday marked my first ever *made totally by me* rye bread!  Rock!

Here's how it all went down!

Step 1:  Growing
The Beastie Yeasties!!!!!!
You have to get em kickin'!
How's this done?  Feed em!

2 cups warmer then tepid water
2 packages beastie yeasties
1 tsp salt
1tbsp oil
1/2 cup brown sugar



Think positive growing thoughts for a while, and tada!  THEY'RE ALIVE!!!!!  AHHH!!!!!

LIVE BEASTIE YEASTIES!

Step 2:  Stirring
I added 2 1/2 cups white flour and beat it to death until I got bored/it looked like:

Step 3:  Kneading

Then I added 2 1/2 cups rye flour until it got nice and ballish looking and it needed some kneading!

I gotta say, I really love kneading bread now...it's extremely therapeutic!  Kind of a half punching someone in the gut mixed with giving someone a back massage....kind of in between the two.

Step 4:  Waiting!
Once it had that "je ne sais quoi" thing...I don't know what it is, but once it's there, you know and you stop kneading, I shaped it into a ball, slam dunked it in a bowl and covered that puppy up with a plate and proceeded to check my email about 100 times, read the news, looked for jobs and failed yet again at passing a level on Angry Birds...right after all that!  (2 hours) Step 5!

Step 5: Poking and Punching!

You poke it!  If it doesn't jump back at you, you get to punch it!

Step 6: Cut it in half, shape it into two balls, cover with a towel and wait again!

Then it looks like this!

Slitting the top can help give the bread balls of love room for growth while baking away.

Step 7: Bake it up!!!!!  Until it sounds hollow when you thump it!

We enjoyed my fantastical rye bread with some homemade soup for lunch:  Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!

Up Nort'

Lake Superior + Minnesota Wilderness

After one day for S&R to R&R at my parents house last week, we were back on the road, this time with my folks for a week of Northern Minnesota explorations,

which also meant spending Mothers Day with....

MY MOM!!!!!

Mom day in Grand Marais!
(Me + Mom)

First 4 wheeling in Two Harbors with Jaren

This past Monday (May 9th) also marked our second Anniversary as a married couple of kooks.  6 years together so far!  Go us!

We've had quite a ride so far, I'm curious to find out what happens next!

We began our journey in Duluth where we did all the required Duluthian things!  Eating ribs at Buffalo House (oh, how we missed meat smothered in American barbecue sauce!!!!), looking at Minnesotan animals at the zoo, walking along the boardwalk overlooking Lake Superior, admiring the lighthouse, taking a tour/sampling of Fitgers Brewery.  Good times!

Heading north we stopped by a few must see State Parks!  (Minnesota has some amazing parks) 

The fam in front of Gooseberry Falls

Then we went for a few days to an Indian Reservation/Casino in Grand Portage!  First time gambling ($20 won on penny slots, yay!) and first time walking along the border with Canada overlooking some gorgeous waterfalls and appreciating Minnesotan nature!

MN PARKS!

R meets Split Rock

When you're in the North of Minnesota, it's mandatory to spend some time with nature!  It's the #1 thing to do, because you're surrounded by it!!  With well maintained State Parks to meander thru at whatever level of hiking you feel up for, camping, picnic sites, well marked trails...it's hiker heaven!

We went to:

Gooseberry Falls - for waterfall watching

Split Rock Light House - for light house watching

Grand Portage - for Canada watching

Judge C.R. Magney  - for cliff wandering overlooking a raging river rapids

Grand Portage State Park (middle Pigeon Falls)

What I'm amazed at about these beautiful parks is that not only can you buy an annual pass and just wander in and out all year round, but there's free public working toilets complete with T.P. and hand soap, easy free parking, beautifully clean and sometimes cemented trails, easily viewable maps, pretty much all the things you don't find in National Parks else where's in the world  - expensive, dirty, difficult, no maps (unless you pay more) usually no free parking - even for your bike or moped and a working toilet that's free?!?!?!?  I like Minnesota! 

MN FOOD:

On this trip North, we were on a strict diet of Minnesotan food, which was a bit of a culture shock, but for me, a welcomed one....not for my waistline, but for my heart!

unlimited coffee at Betty's Pies near Two Harbors MN

Broasted Chicken (pressure cooked and roasted)

Wild Rice  - a Minnesotan favorite

Barbecued ribs - we had them with a "32 ounce"... Blue moon - with orange wedge...oh soooooo good!

Unlimited refills of fresh coffee drunk out of a great big mug!  How I have missed you free refills!!!!

American style rhubarb/berry pie

Potatoes (skillet style, in fry form, sweet potato fry form, mashed with gravy all over them, good god!)

MN CULTURE:

It's interesting how traveling for so long in so many other places has fueled my fascination and interest for learning about my own culture/heritage/family/home and how that has an impact on how I view the world.  

Minnesotans really love:

Bear Proof Trash Receptacle!

Hiking - not walking, not strolling, good ol' day long ventures hiking woodsy paths where you need a map, some sun screen, bug spray and a jug of water just to survive, and people love it here!  I had no idea how special and unique our hiking/biking paths are in comparison to the rest of the world.  In every city and town in Minnesota, you are guaranteed to find a trail of some kind to wander on.  

A deal - I'm pretty sure now it's not just me that's a 'cheap skate' in MN based on recent events.  If it's free, it's good!  We partook in a free brewery tour, train tour, zoo tour with lots of other little freebies along the way and we weren't alone!  I'm from the land of coupon clippers and deal finders...it's in the blood!  There is a reason why Costco and Sam's Club are so popular here!  We love a deal!!!

You're in MN when you walk by "Sven and Ole's Pizza"!

Ya hey - Believe it or not, us Minnesotans have an accent!  A big thick one.  I know you don't believe me, because us Minnesotan's like to think we talk like news anchors and everyone else has the problem, but no, we've got our own bit of twang goin' on!  I find myself saying odd things now like, "ya know?!?" (Chile: Cachai?) "ba-bye!" (chao-chao!) "where we goin'?" (vamos?) "how ya doin?" (como tai?) etc. etc. etc..  "gosh darn" (chucha!), "shoot" (mierda!), "holy - anything" (puta la hueva), put me in Minnesota and it all comes gushing out, more so now then ur' average Joe (Juan Perez)

23 hours

We had a 23 hour commute from Rodolfo's father's doorstep to my parents house.

15 hours in airplanes
6 hours in airports
2 hours in cars

I'm not the biggest fan of Delta airplane food.
A roll with cracker and pasta is not a meal!  It's a bad quality carb overload!

Lower left corner?!?  Our luggage!!!!

There is always a list of eccentric things that float into my mind coming back to the States, from people, signs, the nightmare that is U.S. Customs.... 

Immediate First impressions:

• Lemonade powder - I saw a guy adding a packet to his bottle....I used to do this, but I haven't seen it in so long, it really cracked me up!!
• Long lines for Starbucks.  This would just never happen in Chile.  Never!
• Actually understanding passing conversations...I really missed this!  I know.  It's rude.  But getting to hear a funny sentence while passing by a couple of businessman is SO MUCH FUN!!!  
• Accents!  We were waiting for a flight to Denver Colorado and a group of cowboys on a business trip sat next to us, complete with jeans, work boots, business shirts and the cutest little accent ever!
• People with stuff.  Holy cow do people have stuff here!  Is it me, or do purses seem huge here?  Granted, we were in an airport and I looked like a crazy person with my purse stuffed to the gills and my back pak overloaded with electronic gear and Chilean nik naks....but geez louise
• Clean, not pretty.  I don't know, it's weird, but Chile is a dirty city, but in that dirt, it has a kind of funky character....I forgot how clean everything is here, but lacking in character....just in streets and buildings....boooooring.
• Warmth.  Physically and mentally.  I'm going to miss the Santiago sun and quite honestly...hugs and kisses.  I'm going to miss beso-ing (kissing) everyone!  It used to freak me out, but looking back, it was nice to have a set warm greeting when seeing a friend or meeting someone new....a sort of physical way to feel actually welcomed and warmed by another persons presence. 
• Upon entering the MPLS airport, I heard 100's of people with my exact same accent!  Other potential "Sarah's" who look a little like me, sound like me, dress like me!  SO COOL!!!!!

That all being said, it's so nice to be back!!!  We made it intact with all luggage and no broken pisco bottles (whew) and I'm soooooo happy to see my family again!  Take a hot shower.  Eat chocolate chip cookies, homemade blueberry coffee cake (thanks mom) and freshly brewed, real, authentic, straight from the actual bean coffee!!!!

I'm so happy!!!!