One Semester Down, Decompressing in Colorado

Final papers, hours and hours spent at the library, procrastinating and wasting time mindlessly browsing the internet, listening to music and trying to find anything to do but finish said final papers. That was pretty much the story of the last few weeks. It's now a few days before Christmas and I'm in Colorado, relieved to be done with my first semester of graduate school. I'm anxiously waiting to hear back on the grades for three out of my four classes as I sit here at my mom's house, exhausted. My friend Nik flew out to New York City and we drove to Colorado with my dogs. The trip went really well, car had no issues, dogs pretty much slept the whole time, and we only made one long stop, for a two hour nap at a rest stop. 34 hours or so to drive from NYC to Denver, pretty impressive if I do say so myself. Glad it's over though, my body hurts from being in a vehicle so long.

I'm looking forward to spending the next couple of weeks catching up and relaxing with family and friends, decompressing, and recharging before I head back to NYC in early January. It feels good to be home, now to see about relaxing. :)

Brooklyn

Here's a few pictures I took a couple of weeks ago in Brooklyn when I had some friends visiting from Colorado.

Trying not to lose my mind...

Aside from Phnom Penh, I've never lived in a large city before and certainly not one even close to being as large as NYC. This city has a lot of ups and downs but has really been wearing on me lately. The noise, the people, the general hustle and bustle, it's all been contributing to a stressful past few weeks. As the semester winds down, as I scramble to finish readings, study for quizzes and prepare final papers, I find myself very much looking forward to spending a couple of weeks in Colorado during the winter break. It will be nice to spend time with friends and family, to be near the mountains, to enjoy the fresh air and quiet, and to relax a bit before my second semester begins.

I've been meaning to write a longer blog post but I don't have much time. I need to get back to reading and studying.

Awesome Video - Genki Sudo + OWS

I posted this on Facebook so most of my friends and acquaintances will hopefully see it but I figured I'd share it on my blog as well. This is such an amazing video and song. :)


Also, just saw this video via a friend on Facebook and loved it, hahaha. Brilliant!

Photos - Occupy Wall Street, WTC Construction

Still working on getting my act together as far as blog posts go but thought I'd put up a few pics I took a couple of nights ago. After class a friend and I wandered down towards Ground Zero (if we can still call it that?) to take a few pictures. Of course we ended up at Zucotti Park as well and I took a couple of pictures while we walked by.

Occupy Wall Street, Worries, Fears - First Encounter Thoughts

I haven’t written on my blog in quite a while and I still need to get my final blog post up about the Kenya trip but I wanted to write about this particular topic while it’s ‘fresh’ in my mind and I suppose in the minds of anyone who pays attention to current events. The ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests, or movement, began a few weeks back and being a current resident of New York City, I had to get down there to check things out. The protests had been going on for probably a week and a half or two weeks before we made it down so I’d had plenty of opportunities to read news articles, opinions on facebook, blog posts, and the media’s variety of coverage on OWS.

Last Friday I was in the downtown area to meet with my advisor and afterwards I wandered in the direction of the World Trade Center where I planned to wait for my girlfriend and a friend before we went in search of the protests. Being unfamiliar with the downtown area and not really knowing where I was going or where Wall Street was, I walked right into Zuccotti Park and the main group of protesters on accident. I had my headphones on but my attention was drawn to the loud beat of drums and I looked up to see a crowd formed around some musicians and a group of young men dancing. Admittedly, it took a few minutes to register that I had found the protesters. I started noticing signs, flags, a variety of political t-shirts, tarps, and as I began walking around more, laptops, cameras, tarps, tents, air mattresses, and enthusiastic people opening up to anyone willing to listen. I stood off to the side of the park for a while, taking things in and it wasn’t long before I was approached by a young man, maybe a few years younger than me, who asked if I’d sign a petition in support of a single payer healthcare system for New York. I’m cool with that so I signed his petition and chatted with him for a minute, and then wandered further up the sidewalk along the park. The further ‘up’ I went, the louder it got and the more signs I saw. I also started to notice a number of reporters and news vans around and even a lady who appeared to be ‘dressed up’ as Sarah Palin, interviewing protesters. I checked out some artwork on the corner and continued to people watch. I noticed economist Jeffrey Sachs standing a few feet away talking to some of the protesters and a couple of reporters. I had to do a double take but later confirmed that it was him. In my Global Civil Society course we’ve reviewed some articles by Sachs on development and aid and his work has come up in a couple of my other classes.

I eventually met up with Hanna and Erica at the other end of the park and we walked towards the center of the park where Sachs conversed with a number of protesters via the ‘human microphone’ method. We listened for a bit, took a few pictures, and wandered around some more. We didn’t spend much time there but I observed enough to know that sometime soon, I’d like to go back with my camera, take more pictures, and talk with some of the protesters (perhaps my first foray into journalism?). Here’s some of what I noticed and some of my thoughts on what I witnessed: A variety of flags, from pink and rainbow heart designs declaring love for all and peace to red flags with Che Guevara’s likeness, upside down American flags, flags with whatever message the creator was trying to portray. Signs, cardboard, poster board, notebook paper, posters, drawings, cartoons, caricatures, hastily scrawled messages of anger, frustration, calls for justice, demands for jobs, frustration with Obama and other elected officials, support for universal health care, ending the multiple wars we are currently engaged in, protecting the environment, ending global warming, and so on and so forth. I also saw a number of signs and t-shirts expressing support for presidential candidate Ron Paul, which I found rather interesting. I didn’t get a chance but the next time I certainly will, but I wanted to ask some of the Ron Paul supporters about their thoughts on other protestors’ calls for universal health care, free education, student loan debt relief, etc. A part of me wanted to laugh at the irony but my idealistic side found appreciation in the diversity of these protesters, in the fact that though many have called them disorganized, delusional, and misguided, there were a lot of different people from different ends of the political spectrum putting their differences aside to basically tell Wall Street and the world, they are pissed off with the way things are and they want change. Real change I’d imagine, not the bullshit many were sold on three years ago.

I admit I had my doubts and misgivings at a lot of what I witnessed, due to a lot of mixed messages, a number of messages that seemed rather foolish, and perhaps misguided anger. Quite a few people seemed to be there with what some would call rather generic messages of "end all wars", "save the planet" and I can understand some of the criticisms of the lack of coherence or direction. People in support of bigger government, mixed in with people in support of ending the fed, Ron Paul supporters, people with signs praising Obama, a lot of it threw me off and that's why I'd like to spend more time down there and ask questions, get a better feel for what people are thinking, etc.

As someone who’s had difficulty finding a job over the past few months, I can sympathize with those who are coming out of college or graduate school and are unable to find work. There are plenty of jobs available, argue some of my friends. There may be jobs available in a number of fields but some of us either just aren’t qualified for those jobs or we just aren’t getting hired. As someone who’s applied for hundreds of jobs over the past few months and only landed three interviews with no job offers, again I can sympathize. The same friends who argue about all these available jobs say that people shouldn’t go to school to get ‘worthless degrees’ or should go learn practical skills in order to get jobs in skilled labor. As someone who tries to remain realistic and firmly grounded, I can appreciate that more people need to be willing to go into blue collar jobs, skilled labor, and jobs that will help our infrastructure and economy to grow. I have applied for jobs in manual labor, jobs that have nothing to do with my education, entry level jobs in a variety of fields and done my best to express to potential employers that I am willing to do almost any type of work and that I am not ‘above’ or ‘too good’ for the jobs that some may turn their nose up at. I’ve considered pursuing a number or qualifications and skills in order to make my resume more practical and diverse all while trying to keep my goals and dreams in mind and focus on my studies. These cost money of course and given the cost of my current degree program, it might be best for me not to take on any more debt. People are quick to call the protesters lazy and tell them there are plenty of jobs available and it’s very easy to criticize when you have a job, when your industry hasn’t suffered as many cuts. Is the U.S.A. not supposed to be the land of opportunity? Why criticize and make fun of those who can’t find jobs in the fields they’ve put years of study and work into? I don’t appreciate free loaders or those who abuse the system but when qualified, educated people are unable to find work, why bash them?

Sure I’d be as cynical as anyone if I had a friend pursuing a higher education in underwater basket weaving but isn’t part of the American dream (if it still exists) being able to pursue your dreams, to do what makes you happy and make a living? I admit I was moved by Mike Rowe’s (host of Dirty Jobs) message on CNN i-report about how there are a few hundred thousand jobs in skilled labor that can’t be filled because there just aren’t people with those skills. Yes, we need people with more diverse and ‘practical’ skills but when millions of Americans are out of work and unable to find jobs, EVERYONE should be concerned. Whether you believe that unemployment is the often touted 9 percent or as high as 15-16 percent, American citizens should be concerned and more sympathetic.

When I sat at my cousin’s graduation earlier this year and watched hundreds of graduate students receiving their diplomas at the University of Denver, the majority of which were in International Studies, Psychology, Sociology, etc. the question ‘what the hell are these people going to do now?’ kept running through my head, a great thought given that I had just recently decided to pursue my M.S. in Global Affairs at New York University and would be starting in three months. My misgivings and second thoughts about whether this expensive degree program is a smart move have continued as I’ve applied for jobs and heard nothing back, as I’ve watched the progression of the angry, unemployed masses at Occupy Wall Street and as I’ve tried to picture the knowledge I’m currently acquiring evolving into a future career. I’ve considered looking into the possibility of pursuing a dual degree, pairing my MS with a Masters in Public Health (in hopes that the practicality and diversity will offset the costs in the long term), I’ve considered pursuing an EMT certification, trying to land a job with a construction company and pick up some more hands on skills, learn to use some different equipment, and even the possibility of going back into the military as an officer, though I have my misgivings and anticipate an ideological struggle in that option.

I have always been good at adapting and adjusting to changing conditions and I know I’ll figure things out eventually. While I will hold on to my cynicism, realism and my constant questioning, I will still have sympathy and concern for those who (provided they are putting forth the effort) are unable to find work or get by in these increasingly tough times.

As mentioned above, I hope to get down to the protests again soon and do some more ‘investigating'. In the meanwhile, here's a cartoon I borrowed from a friend on facebook that I found pretty relevant:

http://i.imgur.com/FIZuV.png

Thanks for reading, more to come!

Two Weeks in Kenya, Part 2

Ok I've procrastinated long enough on writing this blog post and seeing as how I started my first semester of graduate school this week, I figure I better get this done before I get too busy.

At Fisherman's Camp we were a hundred feet or so from Lake Naivasha, which was beautiful, and we were surrounded by massive trees, which were full of monkeys and large, rather evil looking birds. I wandered around the camp site a bit, took a lot of pictures, and enjoyed the view of the lake from the dock. We enjoyed a delicious and nutritious meal of tuna sandwiches, peanut butter and nutella sandwiches, and chips. In the evening we hung out at the camp bar/restaurant and enjoyed a few beers. As I was getting up to hit the bathroom, an Australian traveler pointed out to me that a hippo had come up from the lake. I probably did a quadruple take as I stared at the massive gray beast moving around near the electric fence. I quietly made my way closer to the tent and viewed the animal while slightly hidden behind a tree. I was standing fifteen feet or so from a hippopotamus in the wild. The only thing separating me from this small car sized animal was a thin electric fence, maybe four and a half feet high. I stood and watched the hippo as it walked up to the fence, tested it a little bit, and then lay down in the dirt. I tried to take pictures but it was too dark and I didn't want to freak the hippo out with my flash. After watching it for about 10 or 15 minutes, I made my way back to the bar with a huge smile on my face. I probably haven't mentioned this on my blog but hippos are one of my favorite animals. :)

After a night of cramped, uncomfortable attempts at sleeping, We woke up early the next day, took a boat ride out onto Lake Naivasha and saw a group of wild hippos relaxing in the water. We couldn't get too close but it was pretty cool seeing hippos again in the wild. After the boat ride, we rented bikes from the camp site and rode a couple of miles to Hell's Gate National Park. Previously I had seen CTG’s pictures from Hell’s Gate and it had looked impressive but biking into the park in person, seeing sheer rock walls climbing hundreds of feet, fields of zebras, and just a vast, rugged but beautiful stretch of land in front of me, it was breath taking. We followed the dirt road through the park and rode past herds of zebras, warthogs, and gazelles as we made our way to the spot we’d be camping at for the night. After enjoying the ride to the site, taking a few hundred pictures, scarfing down some pb and chocolate sandwiches, we hopped back on our bikes and made our way to the Hell’s Gate gorge. On the way down to the road we spotted a giraffe wandering around amongst the zebras, so naturally I rode closer to take some pictures. Jordan and CTG rode ahead and when I got on my bike to catch up to them, I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. As I was quickly pedaling down the road, a couple of zebras were crossing into the road. As they saw/heard me coming near, they stopped in the middle of the road, when I was about 20-30 feet away, they trotted out of the way. As I started to pass them, they both went into a full sprint, running in the grass next to the road, maybe 10 feet away from me. I rode next to these galloping wild zebras for close to a hundred feet before they turned off into the field. I can’t really find the words to accurately describe the feeling but I know that I had the biggest smile on my face and it just felt so surreal. It was definitely one of the most memorable moments, not only of the entire trip, but of my life.

Moving on from my amazing zebra race, I caught up to CTG and Jordan and we eventually arrived at the gorge entrance. The site, which consisted of some picnic tables, bathrooms and a ranger building or two, was crawling with large baboons. Baboons were constantly coming up to where people were, trying to snag a snack, then the rangers would chase them away, only to have them reappear soon after, a little further away. We spent a few hours walking down through smooth rock walls, streams, water falls, pools of water, past large groups of Kenyan school children, and multiple hot sulfur water streams dripping down from the tops of the canyon walls. The gorge was really nice and in spite of getting stuck in the middle of a few groups of kids trying to climb down the steeper ledges, we had a good time exploring. We made our way back to the camp site, slept the night, and woke up to a gorgeous sunrise peaking around the hills into the entrance of the park (look at the pictures!). On the way out of the park we saw water buffalo, more zebras, and warthogs trotting around in the grass.

From Hell’s Gate, we made our way back to Fisherman’s Camp, returned our bikes, and then made it to the city of Nakuru, after one bus and one matatu ride. In Nakuru we sampled more Kenyan cuisine, which mostly consisted of fried chicken, brown rice, and little fried, triangle shaped dumplings called samosas. It was pretty good and at the little café/restaurants, you get a lot of food for very little money. Cold cokes or sprites were almost always the beverage of choice. We set up a safari tour of Lake Nakuru and spent the evening relaxing in the hotel room. Early in the morning our guide picked us up in a small jeep like vehicle that kinda looked like a Suzuki Samurai and we made the 15 minute or so drive out of the city, towards the park. I’ll try to finish the last blog post about the Kenya trip as soon as possible. In the meanwhile, here are a few pictures from Fisherman's Camp and Hell’s Gate and if you haven’t looked at the Kenya photo albums, be sure to take a look!

Also, I changed the layout and the main picture on the blog. The pic I took in Nakuru on the way back from the park. I switched it to sephia on the camera and I thought it came out pretty good. Let me know what you think, thanks!

Two Weeks in Kenya, Part 1

On August 1st, my good friend Jordan and I arrived at JFK international airport to embark on a two week journey to Kenya. In true American fashion, we decided to hit the McDonald's for a late pre-flight lunch. From the U.S. to Frankfurt, as well as from Frankfurt to Addis Ababa, we were on Lufthansa Air flights, which was really nice for the most part. I'd definitely fly with them again internationally. We did end up with some slight delays because of the weather but we were lucky enough not to miss any of our connecting flights. En route to Kenya I finished a really interesting book titled "Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower", by Michela Wrong. It was a fascinating though disturbing book about corruption, inequality, tribal/ethnic differences and how they've tied into Kenyan politics over the past few decades. Perhaps I was immersing myself in cynicism prior to even entering the country?

After taking an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, we deboarded the plane and went in search of passport control and my checked bag. As we were attempting to enter immigration/passport control to officially enter the country, we were stopped by a lady who asked to see our vaccination records. Jordan had researched necessary vaccinations months prior to our trip and on the website, it says nothing about needing to present vaccination records to get into Kenya, unless you are coming directly from a country where Yellow Fever is a problem. It also said that Ethiopia is one of those countries, but if you are only going into the airport, you don't have to get the vaccination or have your vaccination records. Jordan, who is course always more prepared than me, had her records and presented them to the lady. The lady turned to me and asked me about mine. I explained to her that I didn't have them but I had not come from a country that had Yellow Fever. We politely argued with her over what she was telling us versus what's actually on their website and after a few minutes she basically told me to go ahead but next time I come to Kenya I should have my vaccination records. Needless to say, I shook my head in amazement as I walked on to get my visa stamped. It didn't take long for me to revert to 'in developing country' mode.

Chris, better known as CTG, was waiting for us at the airport but before I could greet him with a glorious embrace, I had to find my checked bag. I stood at the luggage carousel and waited...............................and waited, for a good 30 minutes or so before I started talking with a few other people who I noticed also anxiously waiting, about the fact that our bags appeared to be nonexistent. Eventually we were helped by somebody who worked for one of the airlines or the airport, and we filled in paperwork for missing luggage. The gentleman assured us the luggage was not lost, it was just missing and that it would turn up. Luckily, I had brought most of my expensive and important stuff in my camera bag, as well as a change of clothes in my extra small backpack. I reunited with CTG and Jordan and before hopping into a taxi, we exchanged some money.

Our taxi ride to the hotel wasn't too long and we were pretty tired from 24 hours or so of traveling. We caught up with Chris a bit and discussed our options and concerns over the missing bag (which in addition to my clothes, sandals, toiletries, etc. also held two liters of oh so delicious root beer, root beer which poor CTG hadn't had the pleasure of tasting in a long time). CTG had our trip planned out day by day so we made some adjustments and decided to do a few things in Nairobi the next day, that we originally weren't planning on doing until right before we flew back to the U.S. The early part of our day on August 4th was spent wandering around the city, lookin for food and drink, and searching for a local airline office where we could purchase tickets needed towards the end of the trip. We ate lunch at an upstairs cafe overlooking the street. Lunch consisted of beef stew, rice and some vegetables. It wasn't spectacular but it certainly wasn't terrible. Kenyan food has a lot more flavor than Mongolian food but not quite on the same level as Khmer food. :)

Moving on, we managed to land our plane tickets, just barely and soon after we received a phone call that my bag had arrived at the airport. Needless to say, we were all relieved. After picking up my bag from the airport we had dinner at what is apparently one of the most famous restaurants in Nairobi, called 'Carnivore'. Carnivore is set up similar to a lot of Brazilian meat/steak houses in the U.S. You pay for your dinner, sit down, and they bring you skewer after skewer of different varieties of meat and you eat as much as you can. The meal was a bit pricey (for us at least, I think it was somewhere between 20 and 30 bucks) but we wanted to see what the hype was all about and it came highly recommended by my friend Jessica, who had traveled in Kenya previously. The restaurant was full of tourists/foreigners and was bustling. After having some beers at the bar and waiting a bit for our table, we sat down, ready to gorge. Over the next hour and a half we were served some salad and side dishes, bread and some potatoes, and then tried a variety of different meats and cuts, including crocodile, ostrich, bull balls (AKA rocky mountain oysters, which oddly enough I never tried in Colorado), camel, lamb, and different cuts of beef, pork, lamb, and I believe goat. The majority of the food was delicious and we left satisfied, but we planned to eat the majority of our meals at cheaper establishments for the rest of the trip.

The next day, CTG let us know he had a surprise for us. After securing our plane tickets we hopped in a cab and went for a ride. After driving around for a little bit we made a stop at a giraffe preserve outside of Kenya. Depspite the school bus full of obnoxious tourist kids (and by kids I mean, these kids were probably all in high school) throwing food at one giraffe's face and repeatedly screaming it's name while trying to get a picture of it licking them, it was a nice experience. After the giraffe visit we had the pleasure of visiting an elephant/rhinocerous orphanage. The elephants, of which there were many, were obnoxiously cute and fun to watch. Here there was also an obscene amount of tourists, hugging the rope to get up close to the animals and pretty much ignoring the workers who were trying to explain a little bit about the orphanage and the animals. Basically the orphanage rescues baby elephants and rhinos whose parents have been poached or hunted and takes care of them until they are old enough to be out in the wild on their own. There was also one rhino but he was huge, not quite as small as most of the elephants. Below are a few pics from the orphanage.



The rest of my Kenya pictures can be viewed at these links:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.633251806863.2125758.72206395&l=a83178afd5&type=1

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.633430773213.2125820.72206395&l=2d77a737f1&type=1

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.634112102823.2126064.72206395&l=b56d541d94&type=1



After enjoying part of the day with awesome animals, we took a matatu (large van with a crazy driver, stuffed full of people and stuff, very similar to our mikr vans in Mongolia) to a campground called Fisherman's Camp right on Lake Naivasha. More on that and the rest of the trip as soon as I can get through my notes and pictures. :)

Matt Becker, African Adventure 1.0

I'm sitting at home, AC on full blast, pretty tired after a fun but exhausting weekend, mostly spent drinking beers, catching up with friends from Peace Corps and making new friends and acquaintances. It's been about two weeks since we moved into our apartment in New York City and I'm about to leave again, this time for a two week trip to Kenya. Like most of previous travel experiences, it never really hits me that I'm going somewhere until I'm on the way there. Right now, I'm sitting here thinking 'I'm going to Kenya tomorrow. Cool." but tomorrow when I'm on the plane it's going to be more like "Holy crap! I'm going to Africa! To Kenya! Awwwweeeesssoome!".

I've lived in Asia for over two years, been to the Middle East briefly and I've traveled extensively around the continental United States. I've never been to Africa but so many countries on the continent have interested me, have made we want to go. I think that as I've spent the last few years working in development and education, and as I've decided to make the transition into human rights, humanitarian assistance and conflict resolution, I've always known that I'd end up in the Middle East or Africa at some point. This is only a two week trip, mostly for pleasure, to visit a friend who's there with Peace Corps, to experience something new and different for a short time before graduate school starts but in a lot of ways I feel like it's just going to be a preview, a small view into a country that I could end up working in sometime in the not too distant future. I'm reading a book right now, called "Our Turn to Eat", about Kenya, which came highly recommended by Chris, my friend who is there now. It's pretty interesting so far and it's helping to educate me on some of the current woes Kenya is facing, perhaps to understand the root causes of many of the country's struggles with corruption, before I arrive there.

I've been back in the U.S. since September and I've been itching to do some international travel for the past few months. My bags are packed, I've finally got a a nice camera with which to document my trip and my friend slash traveling companion Jordan is here. Jordan has never been to Africa either but has traveled in Europe. We're both nervous and excited and we're both happy to know that we have a good friend and a great host/travel guide to show us around the country he's been living and working in for almost two years. I have about 40 gb worth of memory cards in my camera bag so you can believe I'll be taking and posting up a lot of pictures of this adventure.

24 hours from now we'll be on the first of three plane rides that will take us to Kenya. I can't wait. :)

Washington Heights: No Habla Espanol?

Just under a week ago, Hanna and I signed our lease and began moving into our new apartment, in Washington Heights, upper Manhattan. The first few days I walked around our neighborhood, I heard a lot of Spanish being spoken. By a lot, I mean I heard significantly more Spanish than English. Our friends Dylan and Elaine, also former Mongolian Peace Corps volunteers, took us to a great Dominican restaurant a block away from the apartment and told us that our neighborhood is known for being predominantly Dominican. Interested in learning more, I hit the always reliable and informative Wikipedia :D and read a bit more about Washington Heights. Here's one tidbit that seems to accurately describe my new hood:

"Today the majority of the neighborhood's population is of Dominican birth or descent (the area is sometimes referred to as "Quisqueya Heights"), and Spanish is frequently heard being spoken on the streets. Washington Heights has been the most important base for Dominican accomplishment in political, non-profit, cultural, and athletic arenas in the United States since the 1960s. Most of the neighborhood businesses are Dominican owned, driving the local economy. Many Dominican immigrants come to network and live with family members. Bishop Gerard Walsh, former long-time pastor of St. Elizabeth's Roman Catholic Church, located in Washington Heights, said that many residents go to the neighborhood for "cheap housing," obtain jobs "downtown," receive a "good education," and "hopefully" leave the neighborhood."

If this isn't the perfect opportunity to pick up another language, I don't know what is. If every minute of my time is not taken up by my graduate studies, I'll have to see about getting some lessons in Spanish.

It's been obnoxiously hot in NYC the past few days. By obnoxiously hot I'm talking Cambodian hot. It's been in the high 90's, hovering around 100 degrees and higher some days and of course, it's incredibly humid. NYC is already humid enough but we live between the Harlem and Hudson rivers so I can't imagine that helps. The dogs are doing well for the most part, adjusting to the craziness of living in the big city. We have a park right down the street, which is pretty nice. I'm pretty sure that we are the only people in our neighborhood with dogs other than chihuahuas and pit bulls, so Zack and Jack get a lot of looks from the neighborhood kids, some excited and curious, some terrified.

I had a ton of thoughts I wanted to write down in more detail as part of this blog post, thoughts and observations from living here for the past (almost) week, walking around my neighborhood, the madness of driving in the city during rush hour, etc. but I am experiencing a serious brain fart and I really need to eat dinner. More profound and thought provoking blog post coming very soon. In the meanwhile, here's a few pictures from the past few days.

The Poconos, New York City, Nomad, Vagabond

After two and a half days of driving, we arrived in Pennsylvania to spend some time with my mom's family. Nebraska, Iowa, and Indiana were obnoxiously hot. Zack was my copilot, he was pretty calm for most of the trip but didn't do a whole lot of driving, mostly sleeping in the passenger seat. :) The cool water of Fairview Lake in Paupack was a welcome change from being couped up in a vehicle driving across the torrid midwest summer.

The last two weeks or so have been interesting and fun. I was able to spend time with aunts, uncles, cousins, my siblings, my grandma and my mom. Hanna met almost all of my mom's side of the family, we spent a lot of time by and in the lake, swimming, boating, relaxing. Zack seems to be enjoying PA for the most part. The humidity seems to have helped keep his nose from getting too dry and he seems to have an extra bounce in his step when we go for walks. The first day we had him at the dock, he launched himself into the lake in pursuit of my aunt Cathy's dogs at the next closest dock, seemingly not realizing that once he fell into the water, he'd have to swim to get anywhere. He looked panicked for a second, swum in a circle, and turned right back around, the terrified look in his eyes screaming at me "MATT MATT MATT GET ME OUT OF THIS WATER HOLY CRAP!!!!". It was surprising and amusing to witness.

I came into New York City last week to meet Hanna, meet up with some of my good friends from Peace Corps, and check out an apartment that we are trying to get into. Hanna found a nice place in upper Manhattan that we put in applications for and we've got our fingers crossed that we can possibly move in sometime this week or weekend. I've been spending a few days in the city, going back and forth between a friend's place and my aunt Peggy's house in Long Island. I'm a nomad, vagabond, call me what you will, at the moment and really looking forward to getting settled into an apartment in the city so I can do some more exploring and hopefully find some temp work.

New York City is, in one word, crazy. There are people everywhere, there's something going on on every street corner, there is so much to see, so much to listen to. It's so much louder and more fast paced here than in Colorado. I take the subway everywhere so I'm constantly watching people, wondering about them. There is so much diversity here. It's so amazing to me how many different ethnic groups have such a large presence in this city. So many people from so many different walks of life, all living crammed into one city. It's incredible.

I've taken a lot of pictures, I've asked a lot of questions, I've eaten a lot of good food, I've caught up with friends from Peace Corps Mongolia, I've been lost, I've gotten on the wrong train, I've met some new and interesting people and it's only been a few days. I'm doing my best to stay optimistic and curious. I'm here for at least two years, going to make the most of it.

18 days until my trip to Kenya. Can't wait. Here's a few pictures I took over the past week.
Driving across the country. Sunset in Ohio.


Fairview Lake, Paupack PA, view from my aunt's dock


Few random shots in New York City

All Packed Up and Ready to Go....East Coast Here I Come

I'm sitting in my old room at my mom's house looking at piles of boxes containing all my stuff while I try to find the words to express my feelings about leaving Colorado again. Tomorrow is my last day working at Mission Possible, my last day to spend time with friends, my last day in Colorado until who knows when. I've been in Colorado since September and it's been nice. I've enjoyed being able to spend quality time with friends and family, showing Hanna my favorite places in Colorado, introducing her to my friends and family, and just being home. There have been ups and downs but I'm glad I stayed as long as I did. Colorado will always be home for me, though I foresee a future of lots of moving and traveling around the world. I get stir crazy often and I think between spending time in Pennsylvania with my family, exploring New York City, traveling to Kenya, and starting school at NYU, I will have more than enough to keep my stir craziness in check over the coming months.

The past few weeks have flown by but it's been nice. I was able to catch up with a lot of old friends, spend quality time with close friends and enjoy Colorado's beautiful summer. Whenever I'm driving and I look at the mountains, I realize how much I'm going to miss it here. It's funny how we take certain things for granted and don't really appreciate their significance until we don't have them anymore. I have no doubt that I will visit Colorado as often as possible while I'm living in New York City but there's so much I'm going to miss. I'll admit I'm a bit nervous about living in a city as massive and fast paced as New York City, but I'm trying to be as optimistic and open-minded as possible. There will be new people to meet, places to see, foods to eat, experiences to have and it will be nice having Hanna show me all of her favorite restaurants and spots, introduce me to her friends and family, and show me how to get around the city. I'm anxious but excited for this move, for this new experience.

Tonight I'm hanging out with friends, tomorrow I work my last shift and I will be having dinner with some of my friends, then Friday morning we venture east. We'll be staying at my sister's place in Iowa Friday night, then driving as far as possible on Saturday and barring no problems, arriving in Pennsylvania on Sunday. It will be nice to see a lot of my mom's family since the last time I saw most of them was on my break from Mongolia two years ago. I'm excited to go swimming in the lake, enjoy the summer and catch up with my grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins. It will be a great segue from Colorado to the east coast. Hopefully next week I will be able to venture into New York City and take a look at some apartments with Hanna. Ideally, I'd like to find some temporary work so I can make a little bit of money before I leave for Kenya, but we'll see what happens when I get there. I will probably start putting in applications for part time work and go wander around NYU's campus to see if there's any leads there. 12 credit hours as a graduate student will be very tough, no doubt, but I'd like to work while I'm in school. Fingers crossed.

More blog posts to come as I move forward on this next journey of my life.

Peace Corps, Third Goal

The Peace Corps has three main goals. Straight from the Peace Corps website, here they are:

The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:

Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.returned.thirdgoal.whatis

Third goal activities are basically meant to educate Americans about the peoples, cultures, etc. of the countries that we served in as Peace Corps volunteers. On a small level, I've engaged in this goal by talking about my experiences, telling stories and educating friends and family about Mongolia and Kazakh and Mongolian culture in short exchanges. Up until recently though, I didn't do anything official or on a larger scale to educate Americans about Mongolia and Peace Corps in Mongolia. A few months ago, my best friend's sister, who works as a teacher and also works with a Girl Scout troop after school, asked me if I'd be interested in helping her Girl Scouts earn their World Citizens badge by teaching them a little bit about Mongolia and what I did with the Peace Corps there. Of course I agreed and Hanna agreed to help me out.

We prepared a short presentation with some activities and brought some of our souvenirs from Mongolia to share with the girls. I prepared the information and slides anticipating that the girls were mostly in fifth grade. To my surprise most of the girls were quite a bit younger so I had to make some adjustments in how we presented the info. Despite the confusion, the presentation went pretty well. First we talked a bit about Peace Corps, its history, its mission, where volunteers work and what they do. Next we asked the girls if they knew where Mongolia is or if they knew anything about the country. None of the girls had ever heard anything about or knew anything about Mongolia but we were pleasantly surprised when one of the girls was able to point out Mongolia on an unmarked map. :)

We let the girls check out our Mongolian schwag, out of which the Mongolian wrestling hat and the Kazakh caps generated the most interest. We provided them with some basic information about Mongolian demographics, cultural norms and differences and even taught them some Mongolian numbers and phrases. At the end of the session, we played a 'Jeopardy' style game and quizzed the girls about information we provided on Peace Corps and Mongolia. The girls did well and seemed very pleased with themselves.

Overall the presentation and activities went well, though in the future I'd like to be better prepared. The girls seemed to enjoy meeting with us and hearing what we had to teach them and it felt good to finally engage in a more official third goal activity. I'd like to do some more of these in the future and of course, Peace Corps or not, I'd like to teach Americans about other countries I plan to travel to and work in, in the future.

Here are a few pics from our session with the Girl Scouts:

Shaquille O'Neal's Retirement

Shaq announced his retirement today, after 19 seasons in the NBA. I grew up watching Shaq in Orlando and Los Angeles and from when I first saw him play, he was my favorite player. I followed him from his rookie year until his last season with the Lakers. For a few years I didn't really pay attention to basketball but I always remained a Shaq fan and loved it when even as he was moving out of his prime, he won his fourth NBA championship with the Heat and had some incredible games with the Suns. Though I'm not a Boston fan, I was hoping he'd have one more solid season and help them win a title but it appears as though injuries and so many years in the league have finally caught up to the Shaq Diesel. He'll always be my favorite player and in my opinion, the best and most dominant center in NBA history. Here's a cool video tribute with some great Shaq hightlights:

Memorial Day

http://politicalwire.com/images/5-30-11.jpg

Couldn't agree more. Happy Memorial Day to those that have served and to those that continue to serve. Here's to hoping that those who choose to serve are taken care of and not sent to their deaths for questionable causes. Remember that Memorial Day is for more than just barbecues and days off of work.

Boulder

Hanna and I spent the weekend in Denver and Boulder, visiting some friends and enjoying a lot of great food and drink. We had some delicious pho with our friend Lisa, who just returned to Denver from Cambodia. If you are ever in Denver, Pho 95 off of Federal is a great place to get some good Vietnamese food. It sucks that we have nothing like that in the Springs.

After spending a few hours in Denver and me getting an MRI (left knee, as always) at the VA hospital, we headed up to Boulder with our friends Ridge and Anna, who were both Peace Corps volunteers in Mongolia as well. No need to go into the details of a hard partying weekend in Boulder but here's a few pictures I took while we were walking around.

Colorado Springs Graffiti

Every day since I started working at my new job, on the way home I see graffiti on a large warehouse looking building near Bijou and I-25. I always thought it looked pretty interesting and wanted to stop and get a closer look, maybe take some pictures. A couple of days ago I had some free time so I decided to stop by and take a look. I looked around, snapped a few pictures, and it seemed like the building used to be some sort of art gallery or studio. It looked a bit abandoned and run down but there were signs that it was maybe still in use. Anyways, here's some of my favorite pics of the graffiti artwork on the building.







I really enjoy graffiti style artwork, especially when it's very detailed and intricate, not just 'tagging'. This is some of the best I've seen in Colorado Springs.

A few photos

Here's a few shots I took over the last couple of days. They come up pretty small by default on the blog but if you click on each photo, you can see a slightly bigger version. Nothing spectacular but I thought they came out pretty good.