more catching up

So Katie and I left my parents and sister and Rachel and went up to Northern Greece for a few days, then took an overnight ferry across the Adriatic Sea to Brindisi, Italy. In Italy we did a slight variation of the standard tourist loop: Pompeii, Naples, Rome, Umbria, Tuscany, Venice, Verona, Milan. It was great but really expensive. We befriended a nun on the train to Assissi who invited us to stay at her convent... We decided we didn't have time but now I really wish we had done that. My favorite part of Italy was meeting up with Tom and Emily, renting a car for 25 Euros and driving around the Chianti region of Tuscany. We ended up stumbling upon a "Medieval Festival" where they had turned a small hilltop town that was really still nothing more than a large castle into a real-life medieval market, complete with a shoemaker and a village idiot. They had performances that demonstrated the various battles that had been fought at that castle, etc. It was really quite an experience.

From Milan we flew to Sevilla where I went on a hunt for all my favorite places I'd frequented when I studied abroad there. I was also able to relive old times by meeting up with Carlos and Roberto and going to a festival on Calle Betis. During the day the city was like an oven so we didn't do much- the last Harry Potter had just come out so we hung out in the hostel, reading and relaxing.

From Sevilla we went on to Lagos, Portugal. Back when I studied abroad in Sevilla in 2004, Bill, Adriana, Katie, Kristin, and I had rented a car and driven through Portugal. We'd stayed a night in Lagos, but it was February then and Lagos, like most beach towns, really only comes alive in the summer. Katie and I really enjoyed the beach and sun time and made some great new friends at the very friendly hostel where we stayed. The owner, unofficially dubbed "Mama", personally made crepes and lemon tea for all hostel guests every morning. It was great.

Back to Sevilla for a few days where we spent most of our time experiencing first-hand the wonders of socialized medicine- Katie got really sick and we were in and out of the emergency room until she was finally diagnosed with "una enfermedad del verano" (a summer sickness). We got the diagnosis just in time to go from the hospital to the airport and board the plane for Dublin.

After two days in Dublin, Katie was much better. Sometimes cool, rainy weather and bland food are just what you need, I suppose. So we rented a car and hit every spot in the country, met some really interesting people in roadside pubs and small towns, and spent time trying to take in the beauty of the place. My favorite parts were: the James Joyce walking tour in Dublin where they take you to several of the places Joyce mentions in the Dubliners stories; SCUBA diving at Castlegregory on the Dingle Peninsula- making my way through the kelp forests and trying not let the iciness of the water seep into my bones; walking along the beaches in County Sligo- you can really understand why WB Yeats' poems are so wonderful after being there; and the Slieve League cliffs in County Donegal- standing on the edge of the cliffs in a field of purple heather, suppressing a barely controllable urge to leap off and fly out over the ocean.

Then on August 20th, 2007, the long journey was over. I went back to the US for one month, spent time visiting friends and compiling the data I had collected from my interviews in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

I came back to Chiang Mai, back to the Prince Royal's College, in September and hit the ground running. I started two programs- Peer Mediator and an AIDS Awareness Film Festival, featuring student-made films. I also took a second job as an intern for the ACE EducationUSA center where I work as a consultant for students who want to study in the US, helping match the students up with the right schools, prepare them for entrance tests, and locate scholarships for them.

From September 2007 until now, not much has changed. I'm still working at PRC and still interning at EducationUSA. Last year, three of my advisees got scholarships to US universities and are about to start their freshman year. I'm really proud of them!

Oh! In February we also put on a great performance of "That Takes Ovaries" and raised around 70,000 baht for Zonta, a women's charity. It was exhausting- we worked on it from November to February- but it was so much fun.

Other than that, things have been rocking along slowly. I'm still studying Thai, and have decided to take a Spanish grammar review course. I'm also studying French, just for fun- I've always wanted to learn and I don't know when else I'll be able to get private lessons for less that $10 per hour.

So now you're all caught up with me.

The next post will be much more interesting. I'll try to add pictures to these last ones too.