New New New

Behold: a new year, a new blog layout, and a renewed commitment to posting fresh content as I move on to new opportunities.

It is hard to believe that eight months have already passed since I sat in a stadium and moved that tassel across my hat. It's weird that it's been that long since I've seen Duke and some of my closest friends.

It's even harder and weirder to wrap my brain around just how far away I'll be from everything I have ever known in about a month. Guangzhou is still a name on a piece of paper and some pictures that show up on an image search. China is an intimidatingly huge country full of places I want to explore, but it still looks small when I look at it on my google maps.

But I should have a visa in my passport and a plane ticket in my possession before the end of this month, so maybe it will feel more real then.

In the meantime, I hope to fill this blog with a recap of my brief Costa Rican encounter, some details about packing and what I'll be bringing with me to the other side of the globe, and my thoughts as I spend my last days in America for who knows how long. I also will be starting a new series, in which I look back at my favorite places/experiences/hostels/restaurants/museums/etc. from my various destinations and hometowns and explain why they make it on my favorites list. So be on the lookout for new content, let me know if you'd like to see me write about something in particular, and I hope you enjoy my continued ramblings.

Welcome to 2013, everyone. Our days ahead are full of promise.

The Iciest Spring Break

After over a year without international travel, I'm busting out my passport again for spring break. That's right, after buying the tickets in early October and many long months of waiting, Iceland is finally here! Although we don't have set itineraries, really, and haven't booked any accommodations past Monday, we do have a plan and a vague idea of how we're going to see most of the southeastern corner of the country - which is more than enough to get us all super pumped!

Here are some highlights of what we're planning to do:

Gullfoss

The Golden Circle Route: this is a day-long driving tour of some of Iceland's most famous landmarks, including Þingvellir National Park (where you can see crack caused by continental drift, as the North American and Eurasian plates shift away from each other) and Gullfoss (one of Europe's most powerful waterfall).

A Change In Weather, Among Other Things

Two weeks ago, I'd just returned from Croatia.  While the weather there hadn't exactly been warm, our trip had been favored with almost entirely sunny weather and clear skies.

We got back to Prague in time to watch the transition begin from autumn to winter.  That first week back, all you could see out my window and on the walk to the metro was fall colors.  Reds, oranges, yellows and browns were falling all over the place, blowing around in the wind and piling up under trees and on sidewalks.  I make it a habit to try to find the crunchiest leaves to step on as I walk along.  Katherine and I agree - it probably has something to do with growing up in a place that doesn't get autumn.

Recap

Apologies for my slowness. But now that that's out of the way, I'll tell you about the past few weeks!  Munich for Oktoberfest was fabulous, and it was great to see my friend Jori, who I hadn't seen in months.

Then the 'rents and Greg invaded Prague.  They are the luckiest weather witches I have ever met.  Currently, it's 45 degrees F outside and cloudy.  It's been raining.  But while they were here?  In the 60s and sunny practically every day.  Why they insisted on stealing such beautiful weather for me, I don't know.  But I miss sunshine and 80 degree weather - I'm glad this semester is going to end with a beach Christmas!

So, the fam was here, and we had a lovely weekend of exploring Prague (hopefully, by now, their legs have recovered from walking literally the entire city).  Now, I'm being pulled down the drain that is mid-terms week.  This past weekend was spent vaguely studying and writing papers, but mostly sleeping - was feeling sick on Thursday and promptly took that as an excuse to sleep almost the entire day on Friday.  I needed a chill weekend, if nothing else than for preparation for the next few weeks.

Turning Off The Lights

I'm sitting in my bed, in my now-empty room, with packed bags sitting neatly nearby, and it's finally starting to sink in that it's time to go home. It all went by so fast that it was hard to really realize that it was time to go home - even when we had final presentations in class, or as my students were crying as we gave last hugs, or as we waved our way out of the Ana al-Masri center that last time. I mean, the past week I've been telling myself that this is my last whatever. My last time in Khan al-Khalili, my last sandwich ma ful bilsalsal, my last metro ride, my last time on the Nile. There were plenty of warning signs telling me that it's time to go back home, I just never really took the time to read them, or process what they meant.

And when I say "last," I hope to not mean the last time forever. I absolutely would love to return to Cairo, and hopefully to bring a few of you with me. And I'm excited to go back home, to see my family and some friends and to go on PWILD and to go to Prague. I'm excited for Mexican food, and to see Inception, and to not be harassed in the streets.

A Day of Firsts

Today featured eventful transports to and from my center. On the way there, Fernando was somehow designated as the one to figure out change on the minibus, which I think I found funnier than he did. Then, we watched a mule pulling a cart cut in front of a car and win, which was really funny as we were watching it but doesn't sound funny as I describe it here.

At the center, we had a less-than-engaging guest speaker come talk to our kids about services provided by the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross/Crescent) which help refugees find lost family members. He came into our center and the first thing he asked was where the computer or projector was - Fernando and I just laughed. We'd planned for the talk to be a lot longer, so we had to wing a lesson afterward, but I think the kids understand parts of speech at least a little bit better now.

On the way back, we bought grilled corn for the first time from some old ladies along the street in the market we pass through. All throughout Cairo, you'll find people sitting in front of these little coal grills on the street, grilling corn. It was good, but a little chewy, and could've used some butter. As we were sitting on this low wall eating our corn, some random man walked by, whipped out his camera, and took a picture of us. It was the first time some stranger had taken a picture of me, so that was interesting. Well, first time I'd noticed, I guess. Then, the train went by, and since our wall was right next to the train tracks if some guy hadn't told us to move we probably would've had our legs crushed by the train.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to bring our students on an outing somewhere, but our plans may fall through - we wanted to bring them to the Egyptian museum, but that may be too expensive/closed. Then, on Thursday we're heading to Alexandria for a brief vacation, so we're all excited about that. Woo!