Showing posts with label 2025. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2025. Show all posts

8.22.2025

It's Not You, It's Me

This is post three of three in a series where I get a few things off my chest. Here are the other two: onetwo. I actually drafted this post at the end of May and commented about it on this post of Elisabeth's! Cleaning house over here, which kind of just solidifies my point! 

I want to talk about commitment. (We've been together for a long time now, and I think it's time we take it to the next step😊! Just kidding!) 

I am an upholder, an enneagram one, an ISTJ and a maximizer. I often get analysis paralysis, and I would rather say no over and over than say yes and not follow through. People who flake, ghost, or are late are a mystery to me, and usually I have very little tolerance for them. There are obviously exceptions, such as one of my good friends, who has been a friend for years, and has a lot of great qualities and she would definitely help me hide a body and would be great at researching and planning how and where to do it. I know that if I am meeting her, I have to bring a book and a patient attitude, and know that there is a 94% chance that she will not be on time. However, she will probably show up with a full takeout dinner that she picked up for us, which is why she was late in the first place. Sigh. 

Reading and eating

Why am I talking about this? Well, I often feel guilt when I have committed to something and then I cannot fulfil my own expectations about completing said thing. A great example, and the one that made me start this rant, is blog reading. If I have subscribed to someone's blog, and have committed to reading and commenting, in my brain, I have to do it fully, as in read thoroughly, comment thoughtfully, check back for the response, and be fully invested. I don't skim; I don't just say "great post!" or "well said!" and move on. I always check back to see if they have responded before marking it off of my list. My other issue is that I hate reading things or doing things out of order. I cannot read today's post before I catch up on older ones! Yet some people post every day and I cannot read six other posts before I get to today's post! 

I know this is not the writer's problem; this is a me problem. The writer doesn't care (or probably even notice) if I comment out of order, or don't comment on every single post. But I care, and it makes me feel rude or guilty if I am away for a while and I have to mark everything as read. In my mind, I am screaming, "but I did NOT read them!" So they pile up, and I get behind, and then my motivation starts to wane and then I want to hide everything under the bed and tell my Mom that I "cleaned my room!" and go out to the beach for a swim. 

This is one of the reasons that I stopped writing or reading blogs for a period of time back in the late twenty-teens. I had a blog roll of multiple dozens of blogs, I felt like I just could not keep up with all of them in a quality that I wanted, plus I didn't feel like I had anything to say, so I quit for a while. I cannot do a half-assed job, so I did no job. All or none. Like I said above, I would rather just not commit, than say yes and not follow through. 

This is not just about blogging. I used to get the New Yorker magazine and I started to get behind because I could not read this month's magazine without first catching up on the four month's prior, in order, which of course did not happen, so once again, nothing happened. 

I also have this issue with Instagram. I rarely post because I want the posts to be in order and the last thing I posted was about Seville and so now I have to chronologically post about the last three months but I cannot do it all in one day so I need to space them out so that requires planning and....yes, it sounds crazy, but then I just decide to do nothing and another month passes by (*edited to add that I wrote this post almost three months ago and have actually posted three more times since then, but that also proves my point)!

So I want to apologize to you if I have not commented on all of your posts, and to let you know that I AM reading them, but I have decided that I can only dedicate a certain amount of time each day to commenting, as it requires the extra commitment of checking back to see if the person has responded etc. and I need to prioritize exercise and health and the pursuit of knowledge, and not get sucked into the black hole that is the internet, which is so, SO easy to do. 

However, I am still here, but I do want to find other ways to stay in touch that don't require sitting in front of a computer! I know I may have your email address but if I don't or if you  want to keep in touch, you can email me here with your number, or if you have my number already, feel free to send me a message to say hi! If you have WhatsApp, I am trying to lean more towards that, but I can also still use regular texting! Also if you want to have a chat, I would love that (as I can walk and talk at the same time, thankfully)! Hit me up! 📟(I was looking for a cell phone emoji, and I found this pager! Haha! Blast from the past!) 

What is your enneagram number and how does that affect you when doing tasks? Do you mark all as read and move on or do you feel like you have to actually read the item first? When you get busy, what are the first things that you let go of? 

Also, the Twenty Questions series is still going strong! Don't forget to fill out --> THE QUESTIONNAIRE!

8.18.2025

Out of the Groove

This is the post I was writing when I realized that I had never posted this post! Sometimes my drafts get out of hand, and also it just confirms the fact that when I get out of routine, I get sloppy! (This will be post two of three in a series where I get a few things off my chest. Once they are all available, they will be here: one, two, three). 

Also, I want to apologize, as I accidentally put a jump break in my last post, which then truncates it on the main page of my blog and  on the Feedly feed. I did not mention this in my peeves post, but this is another of my peeves! When I am reading in Feedly, I don't want to have to click a link; I want to see the entire post and sometimes if they are truncated, I pass on them. So it should be fixed now! Okay, carrying on. 

I am out of the groove again. Let me explain. A couple of weeks ago, I did an eight day hike where I had no service or internet and it was wonderful. I saw some beautiful views, ate lots of ramen noodles, and got to lie in my tent with the stars above my head most nights. Before that, I was in faster travel mode, and I went to four different places in three weeks. What this means is that usually I am in the place for 3-6 days with a day of travel in between each one. This makes it kind of hard to get into a groove, as it involves a lot of packing and unpacking, sitting on buses and looking up what to do and see in each new place, but I did try to run a few times a week, sightsee a few times a week, and hit up some of the historical places. 

This is where Franz Ferdinand was shot and killed

However, this faster travel followed by the off the grid hike, along with the prep and the aftermath of the hike, has caused me to get out of the groove that I was starting to get into (you may remember from my last post that I wanted to start running three times a week; in the first three weeks of July, I did just that!). Then I returned from the hike and I have hundreds of unread emails, Feedly posts and things on my to do list to get done. Instead of tackling them head on, I feel no motivation to get started. I want to just mark all as read, but that is not really my personality (upholder here!). I have to touch it and look at it and read it, and then if I read it, I have to comment on it, and then I have to return to see if there is a reply... sigh. In addition, I am now in a new place again and so want to see the sights and try the foods and walk the streets, but sometimes it is hard to find a good mix of relaxing and exploring. 

I know this is a first world problem, and some of you have kids and jobs and real problems to juggle and this probably sounds like complaining, but it is not. It is just a comment about the lack of routine in my life at the moment, and a expression of how that can often be a little discombobulating. However, I can happily say that none of this stresses me out. I remember days when I was in my 20s and I was going to school from 7 am to 1 pm and then working from 2 pm to 10 pm and then coming home and having a glass of wine or going out for drinks with coworkers to wash away the problems of the day. I don't do that anymore. My therapy is in wandering, taking photos, sitting in a park and watching people go about their days. My therapy is in researching and learning, in being curious. I find joy in that. However, sometimes I want to do nothing, but I feel guilty about that. 

I actually wrote another post that I never published about commitment and guilt. The funny thing is that in this post I talk about my issues with doing things in order, and how I cannot read something from today without first reading the thing from yesterday, or how I cannot post something from today without first posting the thing from yesterday. Actually, now I am trying to decide whether I should post that post first, and wait on this one....but no. I will post that one out of order (the horror!) in a few days and link it here once it's done

So, without giving away everything that I talked about in the commitment post (coming soon!) I will just say that I am behind on all things, and I am not running three times a week and I need to book some travel but am putting it off. I am out of my groove, and I want to get back into it, but am struggling to get back on the right track. And I will end this post here, with a few questions for you. 

Do you get bogged down by "having to" complete tasks in order? Do you feel guilt when you don't want to do something, even when it is a self imposed task (or even a fun task sometimes)? Do you often feel like you need a vacation from your vacation?  

Also, the Twenty Questions series is still going strong! Don't forget to fill out --> THE QUESTIONNAIRE!

8.15.2025

Routine Shmootine

I wrote this post a month ago, and I was recently drafting another post about a similar thing and I realized that I never posted this one! Oops! So I decided to do an extra post this week, so I can post this one now and the next one on Monday so that they are in order! This will be post one of three in a series where I get a few things off my chest. Once they are all available, they will be here: two, three.

At work we used to talk about people who would work to a deadline. You know these people. Maybe you are one of these people. These people get one project and if they have a day to do it, they will get it done in a day. If they have a week, it will take them a week. I am not one of these people. If you give me a task, I put my all into getting it done as quicky and efficiently as I can while still having it be done right, double checked and revised. If this means that I do the task in one day and then have the rest of the week to sit around, so be it. I also don't do things on a whim normally. I don't "dash out emails" or answer without thinking. Sure, do I take longer to do some things? Yes. Do I frustrate people because of my analysis paralysis or my need for things to be nearly perfect? Of course. Do I sometimes do less things because I overthink things? Absolutely. 

I am also a lover of routine. The industry I worked in had a lot of changes every day and this meant constant pivoting when it came to strategies or actions. Or maybe a client would ask for something that we had never done, so I was constantly having to learn new things or be creative. However, the general tasks around all of that were fairly routine and I would go in an hour earlier than everyone else so I could work on my checklist before the chaos ensued. 

So, why am I talking about this? Well, despite the fact that I am not currently working a traditional job, I still have these personality traits! If I get a "task" I want to get it done right away and get it off my list. And for my days, I would like to have at least a few hours where the action items are exactly the same, and I can have that "comfort zone." However, when you have more time or when you change locations a lot or when you are meeting new people with their own quirks and agendas, this is not always possible. 

Let me give you an example. The other day I met up with a woman for drinks and dinner. Let me set the scene. There is a FB group where you can link up with other solo travelers or locals, in this case it is all women. So when she said she would be where I was, I contacted her to see if she wanted to meet up. She said yes and asked if I wanted to meet for dinner that evening. It turns out she is French, and if you are not familiar, there are two things you should know about *most* French people. First, they often eat dinner a lot later than I am used to. Dinner hours in a restaurant for example, is usually 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm, but they can easily spent three hours eating, meaning that if you eat at 9:00 pm, it could be finished at midnight. The other thing is that French people have a more flexible understanding of timelines than I do. For example, if you say that we will meet for dinner at 9 pm, people may trickle in at 9 pm, or maybe 9:10 pm or 9:15 pm and nobody will be offended. 

So. The French woman asks about dinner, and I, knowing how they can be, ask her what time she is considering for this. We agree on 7:00 pm. It is a 20 minute walk from my place to dinner, so I leave my house at 6:35 just in case, and of course because I like to be a few minutes early, and I do not want to be late, which in my case, would be anything after 7:00 pm. I arrive at the restaurant at 6:55 pm and I get a text from her saying that she is going to be 5-10 minutes late as something has come up. I decide to go inside and get a table if possible and order a drink while I wait. I wait for a while.

She arrives at 7:25 pm. She is a nice woman and we have a good time, and this does not ruin my day in the least, but this is a very typical example of how life is when you are constantly meeting with people who you know nothing about. My routine is shot basically, and it is hard to wrap my mind around it. However, the other alternative is to not meet up with people, and then it is too easy to get into a funk where I am alone all the time and not trying new things because I am worried that they will mess up my routine. So obviously this is not an option! 

However, these kinds of things definitely give me a bit of a feeling that I am lacking control, which of course, I am in this situation! But I don't really like this feeling, so I decided to work on some things that I do have control over so that I could counterbalance it. So have been running again. You may have assumed I was already doing this, but I wasn't really. I have been walking and hiking (average per day in June was 6.2 miles or about 10 km), but not really running (total in June was 32 miles [~1 per day] or about 50 km). *This post was drafted on July 3rd. :)

Running in Warsaw

This is not always easy, as I am sometimes moving around a lot, but this is something I feel that is important and also gives me a chance to explore a new place (even though sometimes the decision fatigue of figuring out where to go each time is real!)

I don't really need an accountability buddy, because I am pretty hard on myself as it is, but I am telling you this so it will be in print so that I cannot back off when I am feeling lazy. My goal is to run three times a week, and I am still trying to do at least 10,000 steps per day! So now you know. 

Does meeting new people come easily to you? What does "being on time" mean to you? Do you have any step or fitness goals at the moment? 

8.11.2025

What I Learned, Looking Forward, Looking Back: July 2025

Please copy and paste the questions at the end and add your answers to the mix! 

Where was I? Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo (whew!)

1. What is the name of your last month's chapter or the theme of your last month if you prefer that? 

January: Baguettes and Many Steps
February: In Like Minnesota; Out Like Hawaii
March: Wet and Wild
April: My Life is in Ruins, and Beaches Too
May: Al Fresco 
June: Tales as Old as Time: The Christianity and Wine Versions
July: Quick and Dirty: the Baltics and the Balkans Adventure

2. What did you learn last month? 

Holy smokes, I cannot even recap this as it is so deep, so I will just say one thing that is shallow. I saw these "candy bars" in the refrigerated section of the supermarkets in the Baltics, like next to the yogurt, and I was puzzled by why they were there. So of course I had to buy several of them (for research purposes!) and see what they were all about. The translation came up as "quark bars" which I had no idea what that meant, even in English! 

I tasted them and they basically tasted a little like cottage cheese or cheesecake, with a chocolate layer on the outside. Anyway, turns out that quark IS a cheese, and is something between yogurt and cottage cheese, and since I love yogurt and cottage cheese (and cheesecake), I was a big fan. I have not seen this anywhere outside the Baltics though. 

Outside view

Inside view

3. What was the weather like where you are? 

It rained a lot, and then it was very, very hot (95 F/35 C), and then it rained. 

4. What event last month was your favorite?

I cannot choose just one, but I really enjoyed the hiking! However, I also rented a bike a couple of times and had some great rides, I swam a couple of times, I met up with people and ate and drank and was merry! It was a good month. 

5. What was the best thing you read, listened to or watched last month?  


Movie/Show: N/A

Podcast: All The Hacks: 18 Tactics for Booking Award Travel

6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

In 2010 I went to Albania, and their currency is the Lek. As you do, I took out too much cash and had some left over when I left. I tried exchanging it in Montenegro, then Croatia, then Italy, but nobody wanted it. So I still had this cash, and I brought it with me on this trip so that if I went back to Albania, I could use it. 

On my hiking trip, I hiked through Albania for a few days, but my plan had been to camp the entire time. However, I checked on the exchange rate, and it turns out I had about $75 worth of Lek, so I decided to go hog wild! I stopped and bought a bunch of food, had lunch in a national park, then got a room in a hut, and I still had some left over, so I bought myself three glasses of wine! It was like going on vacation! Oftentimes after 15 years, the currency will be reissued, so the old stuff will have no value (and this was true for one of the bills, which was worth about $3) and so I have lost a lot of money by not using up my cash before I leave a country! This time I was not going to let that happen again! 

7. What are you looking forward to this month?

I am looking forward to learning more about the history of the Balkans, trying the food, and doing some more hiking (probably just day trips mostly). Also I have three countries coming up that I have never been to before which is exciting. 

Your turn! To copy/paste, highlight the text below and click CTRL-C, then put the cursor in the comment box and click CTRL-V.

JULY:
1. What is the name of your last month's chapter or the theme of your last month if you prefer that? 
2. What did you learn last month? 
3. What was the weather like where you are? 
4. What event last month was your favorite?
5. What was the best thing you read, listened to or watched last month?  
6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

AUGUST: 
7. What are you looking forward to this month?

Bonus question! Have you ever heard of quark? Have you ever tried to use money that you had left over from traveling and they would not take it because it was too old? [FYI this has happened to me a lot!]

8.04.2025

Twenty Questions (E2): Peeves

I was going to save the Peeves post for later, but today I was sitting on the bus and there was an old man next to me that kept swishing his dentures around in his mouth and kind of making wet mouth noises and I thought, you know what, I guess it's time for a peeves post! I want to make a disclaimer before I start though: I don't hate people who do these things, they just sometimes annoy me. So if you do these things, don't fret; I am still here for you! I just may have to go into another room from time to time and get a break from the whatever it is you are doing. So, as always, chime in and let me know if these things bother you at all, and what else is a peeve of yours that I have missed.

1. As I mentioned above, wet mouth noises. Smacking, licking, slurping, sucking your teeth (there is a person I care a lot about who does this and I have asked him repeatedly if he needs a toothpick or a piece of floss and he always refuses and goes back to sucking his teeth! Sigh).  

2. Playing music, listening to your phone, talking on the phone out loud in public. I know in some cultures this is more normal, but I just don't get it. First of all, I don't want to hear your private conversation, but even worse is the Instagram swipers who go from video to video, so you have to listen to a little snippet of each one. And the absolute worst is when they are playing music out loud on the trail. Here I am walking along listening to the birds sing and admiring the trees and a dude comes up the trail with a boombox blaring Korn of all things! Seriously? Don't get me wrong, I can get down with Korn, but not in the woods. 

3. People getting too close to me. I am not obsessive, but I see no reason for the lady behind me in line for airport security to be touching my backpack. We will all get there eventually, I think you can give me three inches of space. I also was changing money in Georgia and a lady came right up next to me rather than standing back to wait her turn. That made me really feel weird as I was exchanging a few hundred euros in cash and I felt uncomfortable having her be so close to my money! :) 

The too close money changing lady

4. Sitting with my back to the main part of a restaurant. What can I say; I like sitting with my back to the wall, so I don't have any empty space behind me. Maybe I was a mobster in another life. I also like sitting that way so I can catch the eye of the server if I need something! 

5. People who watch TV or look at their phone when you are out together having a meal. This is not always true if it is someone you spent time with a lot, but usually when I am out for a meal, it is with someone I have not seen for a while, or someone I want to have quality time with, and I have set aside this time for them, and I feel like they can set aside one hour for me too where they are not always looking at their phone or the TV behind me (I hate restaurants with TVs in them also!) If I want to watch TV while I am eating, I can do it at home in my jammies and I don't need to pay more for the restaurant experience. 

6. Dripping faucets or running toilets. I have to find the leak and fix it; the sound of dripping drives me crazy. Or at least, I have to find a rag that I can put on the faucet so I don't have to hear the sound of the dripping! The same goes for the smoke alarm battery sound, or the "you've left something in the microwave" beep.

7. People who say "I wish I had the time/money to do what you are doing." This can be traveling, reading, going to a movie etc. Whatever it is, I believe that people make their own destiny, and most of the time they CAN have the time or the money to do what I am doing, whatever that may be, if they really want to prioritize things that way. 

8. People who wear too much perfume/cologne. It makes me sick, literally. It gives me a headache and I don't know why it has to be put on so liberally. A little dab here or there, fine. But taking a bath in it or spraying it on your head or whatever it is they are doing is too much for me. I have had to move seats at the airport before when a heavily scented woman sat down next to me! I think I would rather have a heavy BO person next to me than a heavily perfumed person. 

9. Untrained dogs. This is not as much of an issue in the US, except maybe some of those badass dudes who want to have a fierce Pitbull, but in other countries there are dogs everywhere. Most of them are friendly, but sometimes they are not, and I have perfected the fake "pick up a rock and throw it at them" move, because sometimes that is the only thing that will keep them away. It's flipping scary, let me tell you, and sometimes the locals just sit there and watch as the dog runs at you! 

10. Extreme tardiness. I know some cultures view time in a little more relaxed manner than I do, but it still doesn't make me like it when people say that something starts at 7 and then they don't even show up until 8. If they text and say they are running late, that helps, but it is still not my favorite thing. 

11. Flakes. Same as the above. Don't say yes if you are going to just change your mind or ditch out at the last minute. Just don't. 

12. People who write "hello" as their first text message and then don't say anything else until I respond. I kind of just want to ignore them. I mean, they say one thing that means nothing and conveys nothing and then they are basically putting the ball in my court? Do you have a question? Would you like to make plans or talk about something? If yes, feel free to put them out there. Hello means nothing to me, especially when you are a person who I don't know well and/or I don't have your name in my phone (which happens a lot when I am traveling and joining groups etc.). Who are you, anyway? Block and report spam. Goodbye. 

13. Overly confident males. OMG. You guys heard about creepy shirtless guy. I have a couple of other stories which I can talk about offline too. Also recently, I was hiking and I was waiting out a rain shower and this guy caught up to me and started talking. About himself. And how much he knew about the area, and how many times he had been to the area, and all of his wonderful accomplishments. Any time I tried to interject with a question or clarification or addition, he basically just steamrolled over me to talk about himself. Um, no thanks. Block and report spam! I got out of there as fast as I could. 

14. People who put their bag/backpack (or their feet!) on the seat next to them on the bus/park bench and then pretend they don't see that someone is trying to sit down. It is rush hour, you are on the bus, you know more people are going to get on. Just put your backpack in your lap! And don't get me started on people who put their feet on the seats. That is just low class. You are not in your own apartment; you are on the subway and you are taking up three seats when there are people who are standing and are too polite to ask you to move. 

15. People who don't give up their seat when an older person gets on the bus or needs a seat. Same as above. As Aretha said, show a little respect. Don't pretend you have something so important on your phone that you did not notice a 90 year old lady get on the train and stand next to you with her legs quivering. Especially if you are in the disabled seats, but even if you are in a regular seat, I think it should be given up. 

16. Sand. I love the ocean, and I love the beach, and I love swimming, but I don't love having sand on my body. No offense to dogs or kids, but when I am at the beach with friends who have either one, I kind of want to declare my blanket off limits because they kick sand on it and then it has sand on it, and then I have sand on me. I don't care if it's on my feet, but I just don't really want it all over my body. My Mom used to make us hose off before we came into the house in the summer time and now I get it! 

17. Non-cold drinks when it is very hot out. Dear Europe, when it is 38 degrees C out (basically 100 F) and I have been riding my bike and I stop in your restaurant and order an iced tea, I kind of expect it to have ICE in it. A lukewarm bottle that you pulled from the non-refrigerated shelves and gave to me with a glass (with no ice in it) is not going to keep me from dying of heatstroke. Okay, maybe that is a little dramatic, and I actually don't like drinking water with ice in it normally but on a really hot day, I miss the US custom of having a lot of ice in our drinks! 

This tea was NOT iced, but the ice cream was still cold. 

18. Loud talkers. Yes, I know that foreigners think that people from the US are loud, and that can be true for sure, but there are loud talkers everywhere. The other day two Montenegrins were yelling across a street at each other (in a friendly way) at midnight. It's not just them; there is always someone! 

19. Smokers. I sometimes forget how strict our rules about smoking are in the US. But then I go to Türkiye and people are smoking in hotels, in the lobbies of hotels, or on the bus. Or when the bus stops, even if just for a minute, everyone jumps out and inhales ten puffs before they all get herded back on the bus. When you are walking down the street in Georgia, you are enveloped in a cloud of smoke. In Montenegro people are smoking in restaurants, even in the inside portion, not just on the outdoor patio. There are cigarette butts on all of the trails and near the lakes and on the street. Everyone smokes! 

Looks like a joint right? It's a bone I found on the road. 

20. Fidgeters. A person I care a lot about wiggles their legs under the table a lot when we are playing cards. Sometimes when we are on the same bench, the bench shakes. I get distracted easily (see #1, #3, #4, #6) and I can't focus when they are fidgeting! Sit still, dang it! 

I guess the moral of all of this is that I prefer still, quiet, sandless and scentless. Haha. The end. Your turn! 

COPY/PASTE: 
1. Wet mouth noises. 
2. Playing music, listening to your phone, talking on the phone out loud in public. 
3. People getting too close to me. 
4. Sitting with my back to a restaurant
5. People who watch TV or look at their phone when you are out together having a meal.
6. Dripping faucets or running toilets. 
7. People who say "I wish I had the time/money to do what you are doing"
8. People who wear too much perfume/cologne
9. Untrained dogs.
10. Extreme tardiness.
11. Flakes. 
12. People who write "hello" as their first text message and then don't say anything else until I respond. 
13. Overly confident males. 
14. People who put their bag/backpack on the seat next to them (or their feet!) on the bus/bench and then pretend they don't see that someone is trying to sit down. 
15. People who don't give up their seat when an older person gets on the bus or needs a seat. 
16. Sand. 
17. Non-cold drinks when it is very hot out. 
18. Loud talkers. 
19. Smokers. 
20. Fidgeters. 

Also, Don't forget to fill out --> THE QUESTIONNAIRE!

What is one of your peeves that I don't have here on my list? 

7.21.2025

Twenty Questions (E1): Weird Food

Today kicks off the very long lead up to my 20 year blogging anniversary. I decided that I would do it this way, as I know myself and I do not want to be pressured to cram this project into the twenty weeks (I usually only post once per week) before the actual anniversary date, so this is the plan. Taking a page from Engie's book, I will do 20 posts, which will each be lists of 20 random things. These posts will be twice or three times a month depending on how many Mondays the month has, and will culminate just before the anniversary date, which is technically April 3rd, 2026, but will be celebrated on Monday, April 6th. 

I do want to have some crowd participation and so have compiled a questionnaire for you to each fill out and I will compile your answers into some fun lists down the road. You can fill it out here. Additionally for each list, I will put the prompt or questions at the bottom of each post for you to copy and paste (CTRL-C, CTRL-V, my site does not allow right click copy and paste) and answer as well! 

Without further ado, here is list number one: strange things that I have eaten. Now, I realize that (a) some of these actually are not strange to me (in fact many of them are not strange to me anymore!), but they may be strange to you, and (b) some of them may be strange to me but not strange to you, so feel free to add your strange thing if I have not covered it! 


Rambutan

1. Rambutan (fruit). Various parts of Asia, San Francisco, US.

I have mentioned this one before but if you look at the outside of it, you would never think that it was something that you could eat and enjoy. The inside tastes and looks kind of like a lychee and is quite delicious! You can find them at your local Chinatown sometimes or possibly in an Asian grocery store, and I have actually seen them at Fred Meyers in Portland, OR, so you never know! If you see them, I suggest you get them so you can try them! 

Chapulines

2. Chapulines (roasted grasshoppers). Mexico. 

These are actually quite good, if you get over the fact that they still have legs and wings and can ignore the feeling that they may crawl around in your mouth when you are eating them. However, if you were fed them with a blindfold on, you would just think you were eating some popcorn with nutritional yeast or something like that. They are not bad at all. 

3. Sweetbreads (thymus and/or pancreas glands). La Folie and other restaurants in San Francisco. 

Neither sweet, nor bread! If you get over the fact that you are essentially eating an organ, these are also quite good. Often they are covered in sauce and again, if you did not know what you were eating, you would likely enjoy them. They are quite light and a bit fatty in a good way, kind of like foie gras, which I also enjoy a lot. 

4. Chicken hearts. Bolivia, Peru, Brazilian steakhouses.

In Bolivia, you can buy these from street vendors, who grill them on a little BBQ right in front of you. They are not my favorite organ, but they are worth trying at least once. 

Pho

5. Phở Dặc Biệt (rice noodle soup with beef tendons, tripe). Vietnam, San Francisco, any place that serves pho. 

This is my favorite pho. Usually it comes with beef brisket, sometimes meatballs, and then of course the tripe and tendons and strange pieces of collagen. It may sound strange, but I have the nicest hair and fingernails you have ever seen. :) If you are not so adventurous, you can just get regular pho, which only has the beef brisket. If you have not tried this before, I highly recommend it; it takes like two days to cook the broth and it is so flavorful. This is one of my go-to meals, as in, if I have a chance to have it, I get it! 

Oink, oink

6. Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle). Germany, with variations in Czechia, Poland, Slovakia and other countries, also in German restaurants (this one in New York is my favorite).

If you like pork, you will like this. It is an entire pig knuckle, slow roasted for a really long time so that the skin is super crispy, and then below that you have a nice layer of fat and below that you have a fall of the bone tender pork. With one bite you get heaven every time. I got it when I was in Germany with the girls and made them try it so that they could see that just because it has the word knuckle in it does not mean it is gross. They both loved it! 




I did not eat this one

7. Rattlesnake. California. 

When I was growing up, we had rattlesnakes in our neighborhood (this is a loose term since really it was a lot of land with very few neighbors) a lot. One day after killing one that was getting frisky, we barbequed it and ate it. I was maybe 13 or 14 at the time, and it was surprisingly good to me, and of course, like the cliche states, it did taste a bit like chicken. However, it has a lot of bones and very little meat (see also: #13)

8. Pig trotters (hoof). The southern part of the U.S., and La Folie, San Francisco. 

Pickled pigs feet are definitely worth trying if you ever get the chance. They usually come in a jar with a lot of them floating around, which is a little off-putting, but like most pickled things, they taste delicious. And if you are not into that, you can find them at fancy French restaurants sometimes, which is where I also tried them, in a very delicious pig foot and lobster terrine. 

9. Haggis. Scotland, the U.S., my family gatherings.

My family hails from Scotland and so we have heard about haggis all of our lives, but I did not try it until I actually went to Scotland in my 20s and it was delicious. It is traditionally made of the parts of the sheep that you could not use, which are then cooked with herbs, onions and oatmeal, by steaming the entire thing inside a sheep's stomach. So essentially, just think of eating turkey stuffing, and that is haggis. I mean, not to insult anyone, but it tastes like stuffing, and nowadays is often made with artificial casing (no stomach) and less offal, so it is not even that crazy. 

10. Alligator. Florida, Australia. 

Alligator also tastes like chicken, and I have had it fried which really makes it taste like chicken, and in Florida you then even dip it in mayo based sauce, so you may as well go to McDonalds and get a chicken nugget. For real though, if you can get it grilled so that you can actually taste it, I suggest that. And actually, it tastes a tiny bit fishy, so it is like fishy chicken. Haha. Did I sell it or what? I actually like it just fine. 

Portuguese snails

11. Escargot. France, Portugal, Philippines. 

Snails! Who knew that you could take a pencil eraser and smother it in butter and garlic and it would taste good? Actually in Portugal the ones I ate were so tiny that they give you a kind of safety pin looking thing to pluck them out of the shell with and you also get like a hundred of them so by the time you are done you have burned so many calories and taken in so few that you need to go and get a pizza. 

12. Cuey (Guinea Pig). Peru. 

It tastes like very greasy chicken. The weird part is that when you visit people's houses they have them running around in the kitchen and you just know that later that day, the poor wee beastie is going to be someone's dinner. 

13. Chicken Feet. China, San Francisco, any Chinese restaurant. 

These also taste like chicken. Haha. Just kidding; I mean, they do, but they taste just fine but just like the snails, they are a lot of work without a lot of meat. (see also: #7) Worth trying, but nothing that I would order over and over. If I am going to do a lot of work for only a little meat, I would rather eat crab. 

14. Yak Milk. Nepal. 

Apparently the lady yak is actually called a nak, so technically (unless they are milking the males) you are really eating nak milk. It is quite sour, like kefir or plain yogurt, but apparently has some really healthy properties. I only tried it once and it was okay but nothing I would have gone running out to procure after that. I wonder if I would feel differently now, since I have developed more of a liking for non-sweetened yogurts etc. 

15. Ube ice cream. Philippines, San Francisco, Hawaii.

I have never met an ice cream I don't like and ube is no exception. Ube is a purple root that looks like a yam, and is often used in Filipino cuisine. In San Francisco, there is a really good ice cream shop called Mitchells and they have ube on the menu (they also have some really good ones like green tea, Thai iced tea, and seasonal favorites like pumpkin and eggnog) and it is delicious! If you go to the Philippines, you can get halo halo, which is an odd concoction of jellied things, beans, shaved ice, sugar, coconut and ube jam or ube ice cream. It is a must try! 

16. Cherimoya / Custard Apple / Sugar Apple. South America, Vietnam. 

These are strange fruits that looks kind of quilted on the outside, and then inside is white with large seeds. I first tried it in Vietnam it a little messy to eat when you are traveling by backpack, but is well worth a try. 

17. Kohlrabi. U.S. etc.

I accidentally grew these in my garden, thinking it was a beet based on the photo. However, once they grow, they are a large round vegetable with leaves growing out of it, and if you cut it up and eat it, it tastes similar to a jicama or an Asian pear or water chestnut (kind of). I found that I enjoyed putting them in salads for a nice crunch, or made into a slaw, but you can also put it into stir fries or boil them like a potato and eat them like that. 

18. Cacao fruit. Panama. 

I never knew before I went to Panama that the Cacao was a fruit. They harvest this fruit, remove the seeds, roast them, grind them and make them (the seeds) into cocoa that we are used to. However, the fruit (fleshy) part can also be eaten, and it is quite good! 

Nopales + Prickly Pear

19. Nopales (cactus) + Prickly Pear. Mexico. U.S. (+ Mediterranean, Australia etc.)

In San Francisco, you can get a burrito made with nopales and when I was a vegetarian, I would do this a lot. You can also get all kinds of dishes made with it. Also, fun fact, the nopales cactus is the same one that has the prickly pear fruit that is also edible. You can find them growing wild all over California, as well as other U.S. states and other countries. I used to work with a woman from Malta who would pick and process (peel, cut etc.) the prickly pear for us and bring it into work; I loved her, as that is a lot of work to do! 

Young almonds

20. Young Almond.
Türkiye. 

When I was walking the Lycian Way, a farmer gave me these fuzzy little fruits and I was not really sure what it was but I ate it (why not, eh?). Later I Googled and it was young almonds. You can eat the entire thing (the shell is not hard yet) except for the fuzzy skin, but the outer part is a little bitter, but the inner part, which will later be the nut that we are used to, tastes kind of like cucumber! 

COPY PASTE - which of these have you tried?:
1. Rambutan
2. Chapulines (roasted grasshoppers)
3. Sweetbreads (thymus and/or pancreas glands)
4. Chicken hearts
5. Phở Dặc Biệt (tendons, tripe)
6. Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle)
7. Rattlesnake
8. Pig trotters (hoof)
9. Haggis
10. Alligator
11. Escargot
12. Cuey (Guinea Pig)
13. Chicken Feet
14. Yak Milk
15. Ube ice cream
16. Cherimoya / Custard Apple / Sugar Apple
17. Kohlrabi
18. Cacao fruit 
19. Nopales / Prickly Pear
20. Young Almond

Don't forget to fill out --> THE QUESTIONNAIRE!

Have you eaten any of these things? Or what other weird thing have you eaten that is not on this list? 

7.14.2025

Summertime, and The Living is Easy?

I had to do several things when I was in the country of Georgia and it is amazing how hard a normal everyday task can be when you are in a place that you are unfamiliar with. We kind of take for granted the fact that if we need batteries, we can just go to Target (or wherever) to get them, or we can order them from Amazon. But where do you go to buy batteries in Georgia/Turkey/Thailand? Here are a few things that I did and a quick(ish) note on how they went. 

Getting your teeth cleaned. A few months before I left home, after having one filling keep falling out over and over because it was kind of situated on the side of the tooth so it couldn't hold on, my dentist told me that I needed a crown. When I inquired about the cost, the receptionist told me that actually their office did not accept my insurance for this procedure. I found this odd, since I had been going to them for years at this point, and had even had fillings redone with no (insurance) issues. They told me I had to have the PPO vs the HMO type insurance in order to do the procedure. So during open enrollment (December) I swapped to the PPO only to find out later (doh!) that my dentist was not in the PPO network. What the what? So I had to find a new dentist two months before I left, book an appointment and ask them to do a crown. However, the new dentist told me I did not need a crown and that she could fix my filling. In the end, this is probably the best accidental decision that I could have made. She also did a cleaning, fixed another filling that was kind of old, and fit me in on a Saturday to get it all done before I left. Best dentist ever (but this bar is pretty low to be honest). 

Bear with me here! My point is that I don't love going to the dentist in good circumstances, when I speak the language and know how to use (kind of!) the insurance system. But I had waited long enough; it had been a year since that last cleaning and I knew I needed to get my stuff in gear and just get it done. I looked into it in Türkiye, as they are known for dentistry, but nobody got back to me; I assume it could be because I was only wanting a cleaning rather than some huge dental procedure. Also when you ask about a good dentist in the expat group, you get some answers that kind of look like ads (this happens for apartments and other services as well) and so it doesn't inspire confidence. 

Turkish Dentistry Ad (not my teeth😊) 

So I asked about it in the Georgia expat group and got a few answers, so I started emailing dentists. I find this easier because if I call and they don't speak English it is hard to communicate over the phone. Also it gives me an idea of whether or not someone in the office does speak English. I emailed three and two of them got back to me and they both spoke English but one did not really answer my questions so I went with the other one that was more expensive but had better communication skills. 

I went to the office on the day of my appointment and it could not have been easier! The receptionist spoke English, the office was clean and cozy, it had a clean bathroom and a water cooler, the dentist was very nice and she explained everything to me before she did it, and she told me I had good teeth (I love her!) It was all very professional and I was in and out in about a half an hour. I could use my credit card to pay and the dentist even asked if she could write me a note or something to use for my insurance so that I did not have to pay it all out of pocket (my insurance only covers dental emergencies). In the end, it cost me about $60 USD. 

Getting a haircut. Luckily, in my case, I don't really care about my hair. The last time I got my haircut was when my friends came to see me in Canmore (June 2024) and I had my friend trim the ends. 99% of the time, my hair is up and so this is not something I really worry about too much. However, I was starting to have a little trouble putting it up (it was getting very long) and also the ends were pretty ragged, so one day I was walking around a small town and I saw a hairdresser and I got a wild hair up my a$$ (pun intended) and decided to walk in and see if they had free time. 

The hairdresser did not speak a lick of English. She spoke Russian, Armenian and Georgian, which did not really help me, but thanks to Google translate, we figured it out. I told her I just wanted to cut it shorter, she asked me a few questions, we negotiated a price of 40 GEL, which is about $15 and we were off to the races. She did an excellent job shampooing and massaging my head and then we were in the chair doing a bit of a blow dry when the power went out. This kind of cracked me up because (a) normally when I get my hair cut, they cut it when it is wet and (b) of course the power went out and (c) she refused to cut anything until it was more dry. So we had a coffee and sat and waited. It took a while for my hair to dry, so I probably sat there for about a half an hour before we finally got started with the cut. 

Getting a haircut in Borjomi, Georgia

Interestingly, she actually did the first cut with a pair of hair clippers. I have had people use razor blades, but never hair clippers, on the ends (not to shave the sides or something). Then she fine tuned it with scissors. When she was done, she styled it and waxed it and sprayed it. She then told me that since I had to wait so long, she would only charge me 30 GEL ($11). All in all, it took about an hour and 15 minutes maybe, and I was very pleased with the results. 

FYI, I have also had my hair cut in Argentina (a bob) and Thailand (a pixie) and in both cases, they did an excellent job. 

Buying running shoes. Luckily, I am not super picky about my brand of running shoes. I have tried several with good results, but I normally go with Saucony. At home, I put several pairs in my Amazon cart and let them sit there until the price goes down and I always (ALWAYS) buy them on sale. So usually I get a pair of $125-$150 shoes for about $50-$60. Well I don't have the luxury to do all of that when I am traveling! First of all, and I will talk more about this in another post, I sometimes don't have an address to send things to. Second, they don't always have the brands that you may be used to. I don't really want to buy a European brand unless I have heard of it or tried it. For example, I have used Solomon before and I would buy those if I saw them. Also La Sportiva is well known throughout the running world and so I might buy them, but I have never tried them. 

I really needed to go to a brick and mortar store. Have I mentioned that I hate shopping? Do you know the last time I bought shoes at a brick and mortar store? It's been a while! So I look up sporting goods stores and go to the first one near me. I walk in and the salesperson automatically asks me if I need help (in Georgian) and I go through the "do you speak English" rigmarole and find out that the running shoes are downstairs. I go downstairs and the salesperson asks me if I need help (in Georgian) so I go through it again and find out that they only carry Nike, which does not work for me, plus their running shoes are more like walking/jogging shoes, and I need something substantial. 

I go to the next store, do the Georgian/English dance with the salesperson, and they only have La Sportiva, and they are around $180 USD. I don't really feel comfortable paying that much for a brand I have never tried. I am okay paying normal retail (I mean, I am not, I would rather have them on sale, but needs must) but not for an unknown brand, and I will be leaving Georgia soon and would have no way to return them later if needed. Plus, do they even do that here? I don't know. 

I go to the next store, which is a New Balance store, and do the Georgian/English dance with the salesperson. I haven't worn NB since the 90s but it could do in a pinch. Once again, they cost around $150 USD and they are mostly walking/jogging type shoes. I really want a trail running shoe if possible or at least a hefty street shoe. 

I go to the next store, and do the Georgian/English dance with the salesperson. This store has a few brands, one being Jack Wolfskin, which is a German brand of outdoor apparel and all I know about it is that it is expensive and popular, but I have never tried it myself. I consider this but then, lo and behold, I spot a familiar logo, Hoka! I wore Hokas back in the day when they first came out and had those huge soles, but have not worn them in probably at least 10 years. However, they are one that I know works! They are around regular price ($150) and only have my size in one style (the Clifton). I would have preferred the Challenger, which is a trail running shoe, but they did not have my size, and after going to three stores already, I was ready to go home and have a glass of wine. Have I mentioned that I hate shopping? So I bought the Clifton, paid twice as much as I would have at home, and got a brand that I probably would not have bought had I had a choice. However, I was quite happy about it. See what happens when you lower your expectations!? 

Old shoes vs new shoes

I realize that this post is getting a lot longer than I thought it would so I will do a part two where I talk about the following "easy" tasks: Getting a new credit card sent to me. Shipping documents to the U.S. Getting something notarized. Doesn't that sound exciting? Stay tuned...

Have you ever had to do an "easy" thing in a different country that was harder than it should have been due to the customs or language barrier etc.? Or...what thing at home is always harder than it should be? 

7.07.2025

What I Learned & Looking Back & Looking Forward: June 2025

Happy summer! Happy belated independence day to everyone from the U.S. and Canada! The heat is on! I hope that everyone had a great long weekend and is ready to jump back into it! Its time once again for a monthly wrap up! Please copy and paste the questions at the end and add your answers to the mix! 

Where was I? Georgia & Armenia.

Ice cream for breakfast, kitties, lots of churches
and mountains and historical buildings!


1. What is the name of your last month's chapter or the theme of your last month if you prefer that? 

January: Baguettes and Many Steps
February: In Like Minnesota; Out Like Hawaii
March: Wet and Wild
April: My Life is in Ruins, and Beaches Too
May: Al Fresco 
June: Tales as Old as Time: The Christianity and Wine Versions

P.S. Armenia holds the distinction of being the first nation to adopt Christianity as its state religion in 301 AD. Georgia has a rich history and archaeological evidence suggests they were among the earliest regions to develop winemaking, roughly 8000 years ago, or around 6000 BC. Also, fun fact, they do not call their wine "red" and "white," they call it "black" and "amber."

2. What did you learn last month? 

Aside from the above (that is a long time to be drinking wine!) I learned a lot, probably too much to go into here. However, here are a few notable things. First, there are a lot of men in Georgia named Georgi. My walking tour guide, whose name was...you guessed it....Georgi, said that if you ever forget the name of a friend or a cab driver or whatever, just call him Georgi and you will probably have a good chance of being right. 

Interestingly, Georgia was not named after St. George, as some people may think. The natives do NOT call it Georgia, they call it Sakartvelo. However, Türkiye and Iran (and perhaps others) call it Gürcistan and Gurjistan, and Gurj means wolf, so the theory is that the Persians called the Georgians wolves because there were wolves in the region where Georgia is and it morphed into Georgian in English. 

I looked up how the state of Georgia was named just for fun, and apparently it was named after King George II. But wait, you may ask, why was it named after a Brit when the US was trying to escape them? Well, supposedly it was named this in 1732, before the US had independence. Also, at this point in time, Georgia was a colony that also encompassed part of what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Woof, I think I need to brush up on my U.S. History! 

Province of Georgia, USA

3. What was the weather like where you are? 

It was hot enough to go swimming (or to want to!) a couple of times, and then rainy a few days, but otherwise mostly in the 70s and lovely! 

4. What event last month was your favorite?

I really enjoyed the churches and the wine; I mean learning about them! Okay fine, and drinking them in the case of the latter. If you ever see a Georgian Saperavi in the store, snag it, because that is my favorite kind! 

5. What was the best thing you read, listened to or watched last month?  

Book: How To Read a Book, or Look Closer

Movie/Show: N/A

Podcast: The Choose FI guys did an interview with James Clear that I found interesting.

6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

This is not really that "funny," but when I was in Armenia, I got food poisoning (I think?) for the first time in my life. Although this is never really a fun thing no matter what, it was even worse, as I had booked a guesthouse with a shared bathroom (but my own room) since I was only going to be a few days there and I still kept my apartment in Georgia at the same time. Not only that, but I also booked a tour for the day after I arrived, and the night before, I was not doing so well, and so I tried to get them to change the date, but they wouldn't, so I decided that rather than lose money, I would go on the tour. I mean, at this point, I was not needing to run to the bathroom a lot, but I was not really feeling great. 

The tour was good, but it was super hot that day and there was a lot of stopping to get out of the car, get back in the car, get out of the car etc. and every time we stopped, I would go to the bathroom just in case, but was doing okay for the most part. However, I did not have breakfast as I was not feeling great, but I thought maybe I would try having lunch and that would help. It did not help and luckily the last stop of the tour had lots of bushes, as I had to lose my lunch in one of them when everyone else's back was turned. It was not ideal. 

7. What are you looking forward to this month?

I am looking forward to a lot of things! I will be moving a bit faster, which can get tiring, but will cover a lot of ground and will finally do a hiking trip that I have been looking forward to for a while! 

JUNE:
1. What is the name of your last month's chapter or the theme of your last month if you prefer that? 
2. What did you learn last month? 
3. What was the weather like where you are? 
4. What event last month was your favorite?
5. What was the best thing you read, listened to or watched last month?  
6. Tell us one funny recent story. 

JULY: 
7. What are you looking forward to this month?

Bonus question! If you are from the US, what did you do for the holiday weekend? If you are from Canada, what did you do for Canada day? If you are from neither, when is your independence day holiday?

6.30.2025

Looking Back: Books

You are going to laugh at this. In my mind, I was thinking, okay it's time for my quarterly book post, since the last time I did it was in the first quarter. Then I went back to find the last one, as I generally use the template to create the new one, and the last time I did a quarterly book post was the first quarter of 2024! Oopsie. So yeah, I guess time flies..? So I am going to do Q1 and Q2 together, I guess! Since this is 2025, I am going to give you...2 books I gave 0 stars (DNFed), 2 books I absolutely loved (5 stars) and 5 books that I did not give five stars but are definitely worth a read. So 2-0-2-5, (+5?) kind of! I am not going to divulge all the books I have given five stars yet, as that will in the year end wrap up! Stay tuned! 

Before I start, speaking of five star reads, last month I put the new TJR on hold!!! She has been consistently good (except that I don't love her older stuff as much, but everyone has to start somewhere) and I am looking forward to seeing what this new book brings! However, I am number 57 in line with 96 people waiting per copy so we will see how it goes! Hopefully my library gets more copies! 


Recommend! (5 stars): It is hard to pick just two really, but like I said, at the end of the year I will tell you all of them, so for now I will arbitrarily pick two! For fun, I will try to give you two that I have not heard many people talk about lately, so hopefully you will have not read these yet.

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult. Her books are sometimes a little over the top, but this one I enjoyed. I actually started it when I was riding my bike to Elisabeth's house, then my loan ran out and I waited around 12 more weeks before I could get it again and finish it! It is the story of the woman who was the real author of Shakespeare's plays, and a modern day woman who has written a screenplay about her. I found it fun. It also is based on an actual theory that Shakespeare was not the true author of the plays he was famous for. Picoult does a good job researching her subjects, and a good job portraying her stories, and this book was no exception. It got mixed reviews on GR, but I enjoyed it. 

Look Closer by David Ellis. I read this book in one day. I was going to do all the things, and then I started it and then I could not put it down, and I got none of the things done. It was exactly what I needed after reading a few meh books in a row. It is a thriller about a couple who seem normal at first, but the more you read, the deeper the tale goes and before you know it, you can't really tell which way is up. The cops get involved and there is money, revenge and emotional distress. I loved it. Recommended by Stephany (thanks!)

Still great! (4 stars): Once again, I will try to touch on a few that you may not have heard of as much on the interwebs lately. Four stars is actually my most common rating so far this year, despite the fact that if you asked me, I probably would have guessed it to be three. Here are a few good ones! 

Leviathon Wakes by James Comey. I feel like this is something Jenny would like, as it is a bit like Ender's Game in a way. This is the first of nine (?) books in the Expanse series, and just like the Picoult book, I started it in the middle of 2024, but either wasn't in the mood or my hold lapsed, and you may recall, I had it on a list of "should I ditch these currently reading books" at the end of the year last year. I did not ditch it because I have several friends of different walks of life who have really enjoyed the series, and I am glad I stuck with it, as it was fun. It is the story of a battle in space, topped with a bit of romance and friendship. This is not my usual genre, but I have put book two on hold! 

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. This is a story about a teenager in the Ojibwe tribe, and covers some of the strife between the people on the reservation and the nearby town, and of being a teenager in general. The main character Daunis finds friendship in a hockey player friend of her brothers, but then finds out that he is not all that he was cracked up to be after she witnesses a murder and sees how he reacts. 

Wish You Well by David Balducci. I guess this author normally writes legal thrillers, but I have never read one. However, this is a coming of age novel about a girl from 1940s Manhattan whose family tragedy forces her and her younger brother to move to a small coal mining town in Virginia to live with their grandmother. The lessons they learn about life, love and friendship in the small town are priceless. I think normal Balducci fans, and some others, really did not like it, but I enjoyed it. 

All The Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker. This is a cross between a missing person/murder mystery with elements of phycological thriller, coming of age and love (and obsession). It is the story of a young boy and girl and a small town. One day, the boy, Patch, saves a popular girl from a bad man but in doing so, gets captured himself. The search for him is lengthy and in the end, becomes bigger than you would ever imagine. If you like this, you may also like his other book, We Begin at the End, which I preferred over this. 

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. If you are looking for books from non American writers, this is a good one to try. The author is Turkish, and she writes beautifully. This book is about a talking tree (no, not like the Ents in the Lord of the Rings), love, and loss. Set in both Cypress and London, it is a beautifully written tale of a Greek Cypriot falling in love with a Turkish Cypriot during the time when this was forbidden. They have to meet in secret, in a tavern, under the branches of a fig tree. When war breaks out, people flee the island, but one person brings a branch of the tree to London, where it survives. Years later, the girl living there does not understand what this tree has been through, but as the tale progresses she learns more of its (and her own) story. 

Don't bother! (0 stars): 

Chaos Monkeys by Antonio Garcia Martinez. This book was actually so bad that I gave it one star, because I don't know if the zero stars go into the overall average and I wanted to make sure that my vote counted. In addition, I even wrote a review, which I rarely do. Here is what I said: Do not waste your time with this book. Whatever good information or insights the author may have had were drowned in his ego, entitlement and narcissistic manner. I nearly DNFed the book around the 5% mark when he started reminding me of all the finance bros I used to work with, but I carried on, thinking maybe it was a phase, but it was not. I thought I would check the GR reviews to see if they were so good that I should reconsider, but they were not, and laughably, the author rebuts several of the poor reviews in a very condescending manner, which seems pretty much on point. I finally DNFed for good at 22%.

Challenger by Adam Higgenbotham. I wanted to like this book; I wanted to learn more about this time period and situation. However, the description, the definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger disaster based on new archival research and in-depth reporting, is pretty much spot on. It is IN DEPTH, and it is minute by minute, and I tried to concentrate on it but I just could not. Maybe some other time, but I was not in the mood for that much detail and fact. 

Have you read any of these books and if so, what did you think? What was your favorite book in June? What was your favorite book so far this year? 

6.23.2025

Our Small World

If you know me, you know that I am not one to discuss politics. I think it was Elisabeth that said that this was not good small talk, and I agree. Why would you bring this up in a group that you are not familiar with, and especially when we (by we I mean the US) are currently in a climate that is less than stellar?

However, I have been in an area with some political things happening lately! In Georgia, the country, not the state, you may or may not know that they have been having protests lately. I actually got a notice from the US State Department warning me of this and I did look into it to see if this was something that should keep me from traveling there, but it is not currently a dangerous situation. However, I want to say clearly that the US State Department is in the business of covering their donkeys, and often ramp up the warnings at the slightest provocation. I have been to several countries where they have had some sort of warning against traveling there, and I have been totally fine. 

Ilia State University, Tbilisi

Currently Georgia is on the Level 1, "exercise normal precaution" list, which is the top (best) one. However, Türkiye, where I just was, is on the "exercise increased caution" list, as is the UK FYI. And my favorite, Columbia, is on the "reconsider travel with higher security risk areas to avoid" list and several parts of Mexico are on the "do not travel" list. You can find the current travel advisory map here. Obviously Russia is on the "do not travel list." 

Current map (June 2025)

So I have some things to say about Russia. Firstly, the other day I was 3.7 km (2.3 miles) away from the border, which is the closest I have ever been to Russia. In addition, there are two parts of Georgia that are still occupied by Russia. I have been around a lot of Russians lately, as the countries that they can travel to at the moment are few, and also the proximity to Russia to where I have been is close. So that brings me to these questions. Do you know the details of the situation between Russia and Georgia? Or any of the other former USSR countries? 

There is a large mountain in between

FYI, creepy shirtless guy took this photo for me. :)

Or what about the history of Yugoslavia? Do you remember hearing about Serbia and Bosnia and Kosovo  on the news? Did you know that it was only in the aughts that some of them broke free from the regime (Serbia and Montenegro did not dissolve until 2006!)? That area has had a lot of conflict. I was in Albania in 2010 and the host at my lodging in Saranda was talking about the recent civil wars. Did you know that they were warring as recently as the late 90s, basically just over 10 years before the time that I was there (PS it was probably on the "do not travel" list at that point!)? 

All of these things make me realize how small my world really is, all of the things I have not learned, things I do not know, and people whose stories I have not heard. And the more I travel, the more I realize this. When I was in Türkiye, I went to a ruined town called Ani, which sits right on the current border with Armenia. I could look across the river and wave at the Armenian side. However, this land was at one point part of western Armenia, and they had their own dialect, and the town of Ani was a strategic trading hub for them. Currently, you cannot cross the border from Türkiye to Armenia by land, as the relations between the two countries are not great.

I later went to Armenia and learned a lot more about the history there, but also, while I was there I had a conversation with a woman from Iran about the current situation and how she had to travel over land for 24 hours to get a flight from Yerevan (the capital city of Armenia) because all flights from Iran (in and out) have been canceled. There were many Iranians seeking refuge in Armenia when I was there (you can read more about it here), and once again, this made my world, and all of my "problems" seem small. 

I will not talk about being on one side or the other, or believing in one political thing or another. What I believe in is the importance keeping our minds open to learning new things, and listening to the people who are living through or have lived through things that I cannot even imagine. As I have mentioned once or twice, I also believe that people are inherently good, and I refuse to believe that all of one group is bad just because there is a bad apple in the bunch. Lastly, I will once again say how grateful I am that I am happy and healthy, have clean drinking water and a toilet, and that I am able to travel and learn more and more every day. 

Are you well versed in world history? Have you spoken to anyone who has been through any of these conflicts? Would you travel to a country bordering Russia right now? What was the last thing you learned that you thought, "wow, why didn't I know more about this already?"