Avorriment

Last night while making a spontaneous round of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies I asked Alex, "What are we doing this weekend?" Laughter ensued. The funniness was in that we don't really do ANYTHING. We sleep late, typically go for a round of shopping, cook/eat something delicious, and drink gin and/or beer. I guess that isn't such a horrid weekend, but we're 23, not 70. Sometimes I Just feel so cooped up.

With the Brits gone Alex is my only option for someone to go out with. Mike had gone out with us a few times but I think it was just to be nice. It's not that I even like going out so much, especially here where you're either with 15 year olds of 35+, it's just...*sigh* I guess I'll be a weirdo and study German and Bulgarian, finish my historical linguistics book, and watch Dexter. Oh the joy and excitement!

Thankfully the months ahead are peppered with several travel plans and visitors. Taking a look, what will ensue is as follows...

Jan 27-31 I have a 6 day weekend, and Alex's friend Laura (whom I love) will be in from Paris

Feb 13-21 Chris' visit to Andorra/Morocco getaway

March 17-19 Santander, Spain for the Spanish Fulbright Commission "conference"

March 20-26 Berlin "conference" with the Fulbrighters

March 27-April 4-ish Hayley, Rachel, and maybe Karen are in for Easter. Planning a trip to Carcassonne, Narbonne, and Perpignan

April 5-11 I'm still off, so I should probably go somewhere fabulous

End of April-ish Kasia visiting for a week around my birthday. Hitting up Toulouse and maybe elsewhere

End of May-ish The Fleming-Marino's Purported Visit



How bad can that be? I'm still hoping for a visit from my parents as well as from the Pulice-Schuierer family

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe I haven't posted in oh...4+ months but nevermind that. It's a new year full of wondrous new things. At least that's what I tell myself whilst trapped here in the Pyrenees with nothing to do but cook feasts and educate little beasts.

I've come up with some resolutions I'd like to adhere to, and here they are!

1) READ MORE. Remember books? I almost don't, so in December I went to the library and picked up something in English (oh the choices in Andorra!) - The Lovely Bones. That inspired me to continue reading, so currently I'm on the Spanish version of Angels and Demons (for something mindless but in a foreign language) and I'm 2/3 done with "The Power of Babel: A Natural History of the World's Languages". I'm not really a classic literature kind of girl, so chances are my reading materials will be about either languages, some culture I'm interested in, or pop culture crap. Oh well!

2) STOP BEING A FAT MESS. I'm failing at doing any research for my MA thesis so I might as well put forth some effort to at least look presentable. I'm trying really hard to stop the nail biting, I'm halfway through a WhiteStrips routine, I've begun to work out again. In terms of food I just need to continue being sensible and not eat gluttonous things like confit de canard or cheese fondue more than once...ok maybe twice...a week. It's all about balance, right?

3) DO SOMETHING MA-RELATED. I would like to think that I can still do some sort of research along with my roommates (we do have 6 months), but if I can't do that there is no reason I can't at least finish a comp or two. I have picked out the article I want to review, so why not do it?

4) TRANQUILITZAR-ME. Little shit should not bother me, nor should a horrible class period. If my kids want to waste their time and not take advantage of my presence, that's fine. They get a big fat ZERO in my grade book, and ja està. I should go home happy and not need to drown my sorrows in alcohol.

5) TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ANDORRA MORE. Even if this means just going out to eat more (which we never do) then fine. I live in the Pyrenees, I should take advantage of what it has to offer.

6) COOK MORE GLORIOUS THINGS. What better a way to pass the afternoons/evenings than cooking a feast? There are so many recipes that need to be experimented with. This week we're seeing if we can't make an even better Pho, then there's this African Squash Peanut soup from Saveur I'm dying to eat. Guess I need to buy a soup wand!

I leave you with a wonderful interpretation of Bad Romance. I only wish I had thought of doing this...

Slavic Feast!

Going back earlier last week I hosted a dinner celebrating Slavdom with courses from the Southern Slavs (Bulgaria, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Slovenia), the Western Slavs (Poland, Czech Rep., Slovakia), and the Eastern Slavs (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus). For three days I ran around to various Russian and Polish markets and cooked for hours on end in preparation. In the end I think it went splendidly, and I was surprised at how much people enjoyed the food (or at least how much they consumed). Let's recap the courses!

First Course (South Slavic)
шопска салата - Bulgarian feta, tomato, roasted red pepper, cucumber, and onion salad
ајвар - Macedonian spicy red pepper spread
burek - Bosnian meat and cheese phyllo pastries
pašteta - Croatian pork pâté
пълнени чушки със сирене - peppers stuffed with Bulgarian feta

Second Course (West Slavic)
bigos - hearty hunter's stew with cabbage, mushrooms, apples, tomato, pork, sausage, and bacon
buraki z boczkiem - beet salad with bacon
pierogi ruskie - Ruthenian pierogi with potato, cheese, and onion filling
kiełbasa -fried Polish sausage
ogórki kiszone - homemade pickles
sałatka rosyjska - Russian vegetable salad

Third Course (East Slavic)
naleśniki z serem / блинчики с сыром - crêpes with sweet cheese filling
Шармэль - chocolate-covered marshmallow
сливы и миндаля торт - Plum and Almond Tart (note: poor translation into Russian)


Beverages
srpska šljivovica / српски шљивовица - Serbian plum brandy
българска ракия -Bulgarian grape brandy
Żubrówka - Polish bison-grass vodka
Столичная - Russian vodka
Żywiec - Polish lager
Pivovar Zlaty Bazant -"Golden Pheasant" Slovak Lager
Staropramen -Czech "premium" beer
Okocim~Leżajsk~EB~Warka -Assorted Polish beer
sok jabłko mięta - apple mint juice
сок клюквы и землянки - cranberry and wild strawberry juice
сок клюквы, черники, голубики и ежевики cranberry, bilberry, blueberry, and blackberry juice
квас - fermented rye beverage

Cape Weekend with the Fam

This past weekend was spent at my family friends' house in Chatham where my family was staying for two weeks. Since I leave in a mere 19 days this was the last time to see them before departing. Really I'm only going a month longer than usual since I'll be seeing them next at Christmas as opposed to Thanksgiving. Nonetheless it was a teary goodbye for my mother. After work on Friday Christopher picked me up for what ended up being a 3 hour ride down thanks to traffic. We sat about for and chatted before heading to Clancy's for dinner, a place on the bass river we have frequented when we're up there. Well the 2 hour wait put an end to that, so we instead headed to Dennis for dinner at Ebb Tide, another favorite place. It was a very nice dinner and very comfortable with Chris there - he mentioned that for the first time it felt like he was just chilling with them as opposed to "getting to know them". I was quite satisfied with my Scallops, as was Chris with his crabmeat stuffed salmon. We stopped at the liquor store on the way home for some port and this chocolate wine my Mom had enjoyed a few years ago before a riveting game of Balderdash .

The next morning Chris left wicked early so he could beat the traffic to Rhode Island, where he was meeting his family at their house. I enjoyed three hours of coffee and getting work done before we finally made it to breakfast at Grumpy's, another favorite. I thought I'd start out with something light and got the homemade corn beef hash benedict. The next few hours were spent at Crow's Pasture, this off-the-beaten-path beachfront we had discovered a few years ago. In order to reach it you need 4 wheel drive and drive down this bumpy-ass puddle-filled road down to the beach. We are used to being the only people there, but apparently that's not the case anymore and many people were there with their jeeps and trucks driving on the sand. We walked in the shallow water picking up crabs and shells and whatnot for an hour or so before heading back. Next stop was the Cape Code Museum of Natural History, another favorite destination. There are a bunch of exhibits of all of the Cape's wildlife and whatnot, then a nature preserve going down to the water. After another few hours of sun and exploring we set out for an early dinner at the Lobster Claw where I had - lobster! - and also a really tasty red ale from Maine, "Lobster Ale". The rest of the evening was spent relaxing at the house, with an additional excursion to get ice cream around 9. Unfortunately I was slightly underwhelmed with my butter pecan. **Sigh**

Sunday was the day we designated as our "beach day" and naturally it was overcast and a little cooler than normal. Nonetheless we stuck to the plan and headed to Harding's beach in Chatham after some delicious spinach and cheese and ham and swiss croissants from Marion's pie shop. The water at the beach was nice and warm, but once you got out all the wind made you feel like you'd get pneumonia. Still had a nice time and got a bunch of reading done. Lunch was at Guapo's, this new "Mexican" place my parents found and had really enjoyed fish tacos at. They were really nice and had huge chunks of lightly fried cod in a creamy lime sauce. Got ice cream again - this time "Red Velvet", which seemed to be a sweet cream ice cream with chunks of red velvet cake in it. Delish! Sadly it was then time to drive up to P-Town where I was catching my 7:30 ferry back to Boston. My entertainment for the 90 minutes was the psychotic mom and children with their whippet next to me. Highlights included the girl on the phone with her father asking for a new mommy, and the boy lifting up the dog's tail and sniffing it and sticking his finger in it. Awesome! Mind you these kids were perhaps 10 and 13, not like toddlers.

New York Weekend

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to have a New York escape with Lou in the Bronx. For the first time I took BoltBus, and not a Chinese bus - it was legit, and nice that it was only $10, but the internet was kind of shoddy. Oh well. How privileged American of me to complain about the INTERNET I am getting on a bus. Got in a bit after 8 - Lou picked me up in Manhattan and we headed off to the Bronx where he resides. That night we took it easy and just chatted it up and watched the teli.

The rest of the days were jam-packed. We had some breakfast Friday morning, then metro'd it to Manhattan to meet Christine. First stop - coffee - then High Line Park. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a (via Wikipedia of course)1.45 mile section of the former elevated freight railroad of the West Side Line, along the lower west side of Manhattan. Basically its an elevated park with nice views of...well, Jersey, and parts of the city. It's a nice place if you want to pretend you are removing yourself from the hustle and bustle of the city, and I'm sure as they keep working on it there will be cafes and whatnot in addition to the ice cream and other vendors that I saw when I was there.

Once we'd had our fill we walked over to Chelsea market, a huge indoor hodge-podge of gourmet grocery stores, produce shops, bakeries, and perhaps most importantly, the Food Network studios. Unfortunately we didn't see Bobby Flay or any of the other FN celebs out and about. We did, however, get our fill of free samples from random places. Having worked up an appetite we decided to head over to the place we had selected ahead-of-time for lunch: Cafeteria. We were attracted by the fun-sounding menu as well as the potential for seeing celebrities like Bobby Brown (lol) - or so the internet said. We started with these macaroni and cheese spring rolls with a smoked gouda dipping sauce - legit. Meanwhile we split a carafe of Wildberry Mojito.

While delicious and refreshing I can't say I tasted any alcohol. Maybe I looked too young and twinkish. For my meal I had a beef brisket sandwich with more gouda, caramelized onions, etc. It was really tasty but a bit on the salty side. Once we had our fill we walked around the city for a bit, even hitting up Toys 'R Us in Times Square. Finally it was time to head back to freshen up for the CT barbeque.

Our sophomore year roommate Mike was having a farewell BBQ in Darien, CT that evening since he was moving to London come August. Now Darien is "rich Connecticut" - his house was borderline mansion and has Renoir painting in it. NBD. Having always missed his summer BBQs, and since it's only 30 minutes from the Bronx, we decided it would be fun to go. Indeed it was! The people, though conservative, were surprisingly friendly, and in no time I was blackout! There were burgers, some volleyball, and obvoiusly plenty of booze. We stayed until almost 3am, when we heard water coming from the "boiler room" - it turned out something in his bathroom got fucked up and was gushing water through the floor into the basement. Time to go!

Next morning I had a nasty hangover combined with 4 hours-ish of sleep, which was perfect since we were spending the day at Jones Beach. FML. We got sandwiches at a deli beforehand, then drove the maybe 45 minutes to Long Island along with Lou's friends Danielle and Lauren, whom I had met a few years earlier when the came up to BC. The water was a bit violent, but perfect temperature wise. I got my ass kicked by the waves - my stomach got cut up from being thrown into the ocean floor, but at least it knocked the hangover out of me. The journey back home ended up being a 2 hour ordeal thanks to fuckass traffic. Meanwhile we were running on empty and freaking out about breaking down. Fun!!!

After chilling in Lou's pool back home, that evening was the St. Theresa's Parish festival back in the Bronx with Danielle and Lou's other friend Charlie. I hate carnivals and things like that, but thanks to the colorful characters like Guidos, Albanian badasses, 13 year old sluts it was entertaining. I had a doner from a Greek place, and we all split a bag of Zeppole which were quite good. Instead of going and blowing money at bars afterwards, we thought we'd go to White Plains for some drinks and a movie - the 12:30 showing of 'Orphan'. AMAAAAAAZING. I was falling asleep for the first 20 minutes but then was on the edge of my seat for the remaining half an hour. Another late-ass night, we headed home 3ish.

Sundays's plan was the Bronx Zoo, the country's largest Metropolitan zoo. The only problem with largeness is that it subsequently takes 5 hours of walking in between each animal exhibit. We spent a good 4 or 5 hours there - watched a Sea Lion feeding, hit up the Monorail, some overpriced chicken tenders for lunch, and obviously saw a shit ton more animals.


I enjoyed, as I do all zoos, but I was a little underwhelmed. Maybe I was just too hot. Oh well. After another exhausting day Lou took me back to Manhattan for my 5:40 bus trip, this time on Megabus, to Boston. The ride was tolerable, though for the first half I thought I was going to die of pneumonia it was so cold. Got back into Boston after 10 - in the blink of an eye the weekend was over. Sigh...and so went my first farewell to an East Coast friend before Andorra...unless he comes to visit in the next couple weeks ;-)

Espannnnnnya m'esta cridant

It's official! I've finally heard from Inés and Chris and I are definitely traveling down the East Coast of Spain to stay with her in Alcoi, a city outside of Alicante. After I explore a bit of Barcelona on my own before Chris' plane lands, we head 3 hours south to the city of Valencia, the region's capital. After a day and a half in Valencia we'll head further south to the sub-region of Alicante where we'll stay with Inés for 4 nights and explore the cities of Alicante, Alcoi, and who knows what else - Inés is planning the itinerary. Then we´re back north to Barcelona for a couple days before I bus up to Andorra and Chris flies home to Boston :-( It will be a bittersweet trip but I can't wait!

After this trip I'll have visited 8 out of the 17 autonomous communities and twelve of the country's major cities. Score. Hopefully I'll be able to knock off Galicia and the Balearic Islands over the course of the next year as well. Oh Spain how I've missed you. I can't wait to spend my days chatting away in Spanish and Catalan, stuffing my face with Pyrennean and Mediterranean delights, and sipping my glass (read: bottle) of wine...

This weekend I'll be in New York visiting Lou - I leave via BoltBus today at 4. Despite my relatively non-stressful summer I do feel like I need to get away for a bit. Hopefully I can keep my mind off of Andorra-planning, researching, and other "issues" I've been having. Tonight should be chill - I don't get in until after 8. Tomorrow is either high line park or Chelsea market or both - I don't recall - then an awkward-as-f**k barbeque in Darien, CT chez Mike Sinacore, my sophomore year roommate. Darien is where the Stepford Wives was filmed. Enough said. It's the first summer I've been "available" to attend, so Lou and I will make the hour or so trek there. Hopefully I can maintain a buzz and have a pleasant time. I just changed my ticket home to 5:40 pm Sunday night so we can hit up the beach since supposedly its going to be hot and nice in the morning.

I want to leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaveee

4 more weekends?

Well that's a bit depressing - only four more full weekends until my departure...and they're already booked more or less between NYC, the Cape, Providence, and the going away party. Strangely enough I'm not getting increasingly unpleasant per my usual separation anxiety but rather just sad. It's not like I live this thrilling life that I can't bare to separate myself from - I'm just so stressed about the teaching, research, making friends, etc. that sometimes I convince myself it isn't even worth it. Sometimes I'm just so over this Master's - I just want to make money, travel, eat, and speak/learn languages all day long. I think I need to buy a new bottle of St. John's.

This past weekend was nonetheless enjoyable. Thursday I went to see Bruno with Matt, Aly, and Chris. Though I didn't love it I was certainly entertained. One of my favorite scenes included Jamie Lynn Spear's baby being voted abortable as a D-List baby. Loooove abortion! Friday I played grandpa and stayed in - went to Haymarket, made some dinner, went for a run, and watched 'La Flor de Mi Secreto' (and was pleased I can still watch Castillian Spanish movies without subtitles save a few rapid passages)

Saturday was a bit more dynamic - pregamed at Chris' along with Mark and co. for Mark's bday, then headed over to Cambridge where Shatilla, Derek, and some CT/NY people Chris knew all were celebrating Shatilla's departure to Law School in Florida. I was doing reasonably well until Kevin bought me a Mojito, which put me over the edge into brownout mode. Apparently Chris tricked me and got me a tonic water which I was convinced was a G&T. Afterwards we went to IHOP, but instead of going in I decided to stand outside and talk to Derek the whole time. Straaaange.

Sunday I was most certainly hungover, but nonetheless I went to have lunch on Newbury after Chris and I picked up Derek and Kadie from Waltham where Shatilla lives. Bummmmmmmmmmmmmblefuck. Why on earth would anyone who isn't a suburban family or a student at Brandeis want to live there? We ended up at Pazzo to meet up with their other friend Dave. I was not in the mood for socializing and just ate my "PLT" - salmon with pancetta, arugula, and grilled tomato in a zesty mayo. Quite tasty. I was a waste the rest of the day and sat around until True Blood and Hung at 9.

Hi it's me

The clock is really ticking now, it seems. The rest of my weekends are basically booked and in a mere 37 days I depart for the glory that is Iberia. Christopher finally booked his flight, so we will most certainly be enjoying a 9 day "lovers' last call", if you will, on the East Coast of Spain between Barcelona, Valencia, and Alicante. *Sigh*

Things have been busy - I suppose I'm subconsciously trying to cram everything in before I leave. Last weekend was our fun weekend in P-Town with Matt to visit Alex. The weather was absolutely perfect and we spent most of our time leisurely strolling up and down Commercial Street - that is, when we weren't boozing. The exaggerated presence of bears made for some interesting people watching. It's so funny how you can see a man who, alone on the street, would based on his looks kick your ass for being a poof, but then in P-Town be holding hands with an equally butch man and talking in this high-pitched gay tone. It was great to finally be able to go out in P-Town after having been there with my family so many times over the years. The most fun was probably A-House, which was more or less a sex den. Somehow I found myself dancing shirtless, which I NEVER do.

oh wonderful - i just spilled coffee all over my white shorts

Anywho...this Tuesday we put on a North African Dinner Feast chez Bo for Matt, Kevin, Mel, Lauren, Bryan, and Peter. The night before, Bryan and I had made homemade baklava, as well as pick up a number of things like Muhammara and pita for appetizers. I was incredibly nervous seeing as normally with these international dinners Bryan does most of the cooking. This time all the main dishes were on me. It took 3 or 4 hours for everything to come together but I think we did a decent job. Let's have a review of the menu, shall we? While the main theme was North Africa, we did have some things from our friends in Armenia for appetizers.


apéritif 1- vodka, pomegranate, mint, seltzer concoction a la Bobo
apéritif 2- sherry, both cream and dry
appetizers - hummus, muhammara (2 types), lahmajoun, kibbeh, metch, tsatsiki, and pita
main dishes - bastilla, lamb tagine, vegetable cous cous
dinner drinks - heineken (best-selling beer in N.Africa) and white wine
dessert - date rolls, homemade baklava
dessert drinks - turkish coffee with cardamom, moroccan mint tea

The evening closed with hookah and drinks on the porch before the last guests left around 1am. I'm now planning the next evening of international delight and going back to my roots with Slavic cuisine. I'm just unsure what I want to do - doing East, West, and South Slavic cuisine presents the problem of a huge spectrum of dishes that may not go well together. Doing just East and West cuts out the food I have the most experience in preparing myself, Bulgarian. I may just end up with Polish, but in Boston that's annoying bc I have to drive to Belmont to actually get to a non-Russian deli.

Decisions decisions...

Quickie!

Well I must say I'm quite proud of myself for getting my FA up this morning and going for a run. Normally my body does not function physical-activity-wise for several hours, but with P-Town on the horizon, aka hundreds of pretentious skinny-ass gays to judge me for the weekend, I just had to. Unfortunately this comes after a long week of eating - 4th of July, Indian Feast Night, 2 Year Anniversary Dinner, and Jillian & Meg's Berry-themed dinner party. There is however, one thing that may be my saving grace. This salvation of sorts can be seen below...

That's right, kids! This weekend marks the beginning of Provincetown's "Bear Week" - a celebration of the gay bear subculture. To quote the city's website "Muscle bound or heavyset, the lushly haired and the more bare, often fully bearded, sometimes bedecked in leather and always manly, bears of all sizes and types are welcome. " BLEHHHHHHHHHHH. At least that means I'll look skinny in comparison, albeit undesirable in my non-burliness. Should be an adventure of a weekend with Chris, Matt, Alex, and his new bf Thom I'll be meeting for the first time!

El meu cap de setmana

OMFG this weather is out of control. Bryan was literally soaked through to his skin upon arrival at work today. I was lucky enough to have Melanie drive me, but nonetheless donned galoshes, a somewhat rain-proof coat, and an umbrella. Thank satan for this short week, even though miserable weather is nothing new. I took off from work on Monday and we're off for the Holiday weekend on Friday! Let's do a weekend recap, shall we?

Saturday (since I got in midnight-ish Friday)
I spent the morning pussy-footing around mostly, helping my family prepare for the Luau festivities later that day. Per usual I stuffed my face with a delicious lox & bagel spread after awakening. The Luau itself started at 4, and I actually had a very nice time. I was decked out in a grass skirt, leafy necklace and headband and spent the evening sipping on punch, daquiris, and margaritas (all tropical enough)I won the limbo competition, and my family swept places 1-5 in the memory game. lol

Andy came by for a bit, just in time to play the dollar game, but then it was time to head out for a night out on the town. Downtown plans fell through, so we ended up going out in the Northwest 'burbs. That worked out well since I got to see my friend Theresa, who I've known since kindergarten more or less. As heinous as the idea of a suburban nightlife it, there actually is an abundant number of places, and we checked out 3 of them. The last place, Gatsby's, was a site. There was this one couple, the boy half of which was like trying to disrobe his drunk-ass girlfriend. Then there was the cute boy with jeans I liked - Theresa asked him where he got them and I was mad embarassed lol. But whatever -$3 jack and cokes and cheap beer sounded fiiiiine to me ;-) So did mozzarella sticks and bavarian pretzels with cheese. Oh, and a 10 piece McNugget with fries at 3:30am. Faaaaaatass.

Sunday (The Lord's Day)
I then awoke on 4 hours of sleep to get ready for Pride with Kasia and Ben. I got a ride over to Kasia's parents' house at 9:30 and we left for downtown shortly thereafter, stopping at DePaul for a round of rozwol. The picture to the right is the Cook Country Sheriff's float, lol - I'd like to get busted by him! The parade itself was great, though I could have done with an hour less of it. After being there for two hours and not being drunk like everyone around me, particularly the horde of dykes to our left, it was time to go. It made Boston pride look even shittier than it already is. Sigh....perhaps if all the students were still around in the summer our Pride would be legit and lively.


I really had wanted to go to the Taste of Chicago while home, so we headed over after the parade. Mind you we first got trapped in dead-end alleyways and the like attempting to escape the parade, which seemed to encircle us. We finally made it to the L and headed toward the lake. We were all exhausted from the sun and getting up early, so really we weren't that hungry. We ended up splitting a number of "taste" portions - an enchilada, vegetable tempura, bbq steak tips (i think), spinach and sausage stuffed pizza, and then a frozen thing of Eli's cheesecake covered in chocolate and other goodness. This dessert was by far the winner.

Since eating is all we do, we eventually met up with Andy and headed to Culver's for dinner to play one of our favorite games - The Cheese Curds Game. It is quite simple. First you need to order a Family Size cheese curds, basically deep fried balls of white and yellow cheese. Going clockwise, each person one-by-one picks a curd and has to guess if its going to be yellow or white. If they get it they get one point. Meanwhile, the person to their left has to guess which curd the person that is choosing is going to pick. If they guess correctly, this person gets a bonus of 5 points. Since there is no way to prove they aren't lying, it's really just scout's honor. Also, if you happen to choose 2 or more curds that are joined together, you have the opportunity for as many points as there are curds if you guess each one's color correctly.
After that I wanted to explode, and we spent the evening chilling at Kasia's parents' watching trash TV like 'Brooke Knows Best' & 'Daisy of Love'.

Monday
Monday was pretty low key - did some shopping with Mom, watched 'True Blood' and 'Hung' from the night prior, and headed to O'Hare. Twas a very fun weekend!

We have a ginner!

Well last night's gin tasting was a smashing success - I was not only smashed but also have a better understanding of my gin preferences! Surprisingly Bombay (not sapphire) came out on top! My preferences were as follows - Bombay > Bulldog > Hendrick's > Beefeater > Plymouth. Now I will happily drink any of these in a gin and tonic or something, let's be serious, but when it came to just sipping the straight gin, Bombay was the clear winner for me. We also consumed a shit ton of Trader Joe's frozen appetizers from coconut shrimp to phyllo wrapped brie with raspberry sauce. Derrrrricious!

Despite being bloated and disgusting from last night's debauchery and certainly not bathing-suit ready, I have been thinking about bathing suits lately and just how I hate the style American men constantly choose: big, baggy, and ugly with some heinous pattern. GQ offers some help in its latest issue with "How To Buy a Swimsuit". Just look how nice this man looks in his above-the-knee trunks - but ignore the beast atop his shoulders. I can't wait to be in Europe and wear my little trunks from H&M. Unfortunately wearing them weirds people out. Fuckers. I just wish Americans would stop looking so ugly. I can't say I'd mind being mistaken for European if I did wear them here.

"Tonight" I fly home to Chicago for a few days. I put tonight in quotes because Satan knows how the f*** long it will take thanks to storms in Boston. On the agenda so far is my aunt's "Luau", drinks downtown with Andy, Chicago PRIDE parade, then perhaps the Taste? I'd better stop eating now so I don't look like a whale at the parade. It's going to be in the 80s, which is nice I suppose.

Also in case anyone was wondering what my latest obsession is, it's Malta. I'm fairly certain Christopher and I will be going there for my week off next February. It's an island, it's warm, it's got a long-ass fun history, and they speak the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet - how bad can that be?

it's monday...

*sigh* and so begins another rainy-ass week. honestly, why are all the days so nasty? it's going to storm all week long, and i will without a doubt be trapped at Logan airport on friday night trying to get home to Chicago.

chris has been gone since the middle of last week, and i must say I'm proud of myself for keeping myself entertained. thursday night i enjoyed dinner at South End Pita with Bryan and Peter, followed by some gin cocktails and the Jonas brothers. friday was Jonathan's free pool/food at Felt, and thanks to gin and tonics that weren't too watered down, i was feeling good and even played a couple rounds of pool before calling it a night.

saturday mel, lauren and i headed to haymarket to get shit for the "housewarming", then mel and i enjoyed an hour of tennis at the park. my arm and legs still hurt from it - sad. if only the weather were nicer i'd be up for tennis every day. i just need to get my racket restrung like woah...according to the sticker on it the last time i had it done was 2003 when i was on my high school tennis team.

that evening was our quasi-housewarming party. it was quite the motley crew - a handful of lauren's friends, meg felice, matt and his roommate, 2 harvard gays, mel's co-worker, and so on. we went through a shit ton of beer and tequila and after we ran out of beer tad and lauren ran over to tad's apartment for more beer. i did something strange and disappeared around 1am, apparently having put myself to bed. eventually people noticed i was gone and found me in bed in my underwear - pictures followed.

sunday i was convinced to sing at the orientation mass. despite my continued hatred for all things religion, i really do miss singing. spent the rest of the day trying not to binge eat, then failed after two large servings of moose tracks ice cream.

as for this week...boring until thursday when we have our gin tasting. mel and i picked up plymouth and beefeater today and already have bulldog. b & p are bringing bombay and hendricks, plus two types of genever. i'm thirrrrrrrsty!!!!

I WANT TO TRAVEL

My oh my...67 days until I depart for Iberia and my year-long adventure begins. I've been going through my travel blog from the last time I was abroad and could seriously die I miss traveling like that so much. I just hope I'm so enthralled with European life that I don't dwell upon being homesick and missing people.

I've been thinking about where I really want to travel to, trying to be realistic about time and money. Let's make a list:

Definite -
Barcelona, Spain & Tolosa (Toulouse), France -Both of these places have direct bus lines from Andorra La Vella and are about 3 hours away
Valencia & Alicante, Spain - since I'll spending time with Ines in Alcoi before heading to Andorra, I'll also get to explore these great two cities!

Extremely likely
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur - Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Nice
I imagine this would be a single trip around a week or where I'd attempt to hit up some of the major cities in Provence
A Coruña & Santiago de Compostela, plus perhaps Porto
I really want to do Galicia and just stuff my face with seafood, perhaps rounding it out with some port in Porto in nearby Portugal
Les illes balears - Palma de Mallorca, Maó, and Vila d'Eivissa
I've been dying to explore these islands, especially to hear the varieties of Catalan spoken there. It's a quick flight from Barcelona, though I'm not sure about inter-island transport

Hopefully feasible
St. Andrews & Edinburgh, Scotland
A friend of mine will be studying in Scotland in the fall, and I can't say I anticipate ever having a desire to visit Scotland otherwise, so might as well!

If I can find a travel companion
Algiers, Algeria & Tunis, Tunisia
I would love to visit these two cities and elsewhere in the two countries, but I'd be scared doing it alone. Hopefully I make friends in Andorra lol!

If a cheap opportunity presents itself...
Basically I could put any European capital in here, but I'd most certainly like to go anywhere in the former Yugoslavia first - Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, and Montenegro (I've already been to Macedonia)

Mmmk enough dilly-dalling. I need to go put in some hours with Dwayne now. Ciao ciao.

Lazy Sunday

Well Pride weekend has come to a close and I managed to stay alive throughout the day on Saturday. The day started early, with Matt, Chris, and I leaving my apartment a bit after 8 to T it to Bryan and Peter's for brunch. Chris and Matt did the fruit while I prepared the smoked salmon frittata. The food was all delicious, though I must say I was underwhelmed by my own dish. At least my whale looked decent. I think my two favorites were Bryan's ham salad and Adam's 'sticky bottoms', delicious sticky buns made with puff pastry and chocolate instead of raisins.

We headed to the parade at noon, just missing the dykes on bikes. *tear*. I was again surprised at how "towny" the Boston parade is. There are a shit ton of gays here, why such a lame parade? I had fun nonetheless and afterwards walked over to Adam and Bob's, where I spent the rest of my evening. Pride Punch 2.0 was consumed, music was played, and a grand time was had by all. Perhaps the highlight was reenacting the opening scene from Wicked, complete with light changes, bubbles for glinda, a green elixir, and a few other fun props. Matt and I headed out 11ish, hoping to go to Dwight for Kristen's party, but I didn't realize it was just a pre-game and they were already en-route to Hennessy's. Despite my proximity to the establishment, I declined. I'm really just becoming disinterested in going out to bars, particularly ones of that kind. Besides, I had been drinking for approximately 14 hours.

Today has been fairly low key. I really just need to detox from all the shit I've eaten recently, but that didn't stop me from eating delicious lahmajoun, zucchini and roasted pepper salad, and rose loukum from Arax. I loooove that place and its Caucasian and Middle Eastern delights! I later managed to drag myself to the gym, which is now a 30 minute walk from my apartment. I had planned on going everyday at 2 after GSAS, just taking the B line from work, but now that I work 2-4 at Romance I haven't felt like it. On the bright side, at least I get a full hour of light cardio every time I go from my apartment now.

As for the rest of the day, I'll just be relaxing. I need to go to TJs for some salad greens and other healthy items since my Friday morning Haymarket trip was just for fruit for Saturday. In the meantime I'm watching a frightening documentary on neo-Nazism in the U.S. fun!!!

Nostalgia...

I love being the only one awake in the morning at my apartment, the sole benefit to waking up early at Chris' since he has to go to school and drop my ass off. I also love how Balkan I just was with my coffee, little bit of Turkish delight, and Greek-style yogurt drizzled with honey. It reminds me of my favorite breakfast scene of all time - 3 summers ago with Kasia in Istanbul on the rooftop overlooking the Marmara sea. Delicious Turkish coffee, fresh yogurt topped with stewed apricots, cheese, fruit, breads...It was the most amazing scene to wake up to...we MUST go back!

Another day...

Good afternoon!

I am finally over my sickness after having awoken drenched in sweat Saturday night, apparently breaking the fever. Luckily despite feeling like death warmed over, I managed to have a delightful weekend in Rhode Island. Grilling, drinking, Newport-ing, boating, Block Island-ing, boating, all contributed to a wonderous time.

Meanwhile I've been working 10-2 at GSAS, then at RLL with Professor Carpenter every day until around 4. I'm getting paid for 80 hours working on the department's self-study, a mess of data and description spanning hundreds of pages. Given his fancying everything printed out, I hope to have single-handedly caused the death of at least one major rain forest by the end of my work there. The work nonetheless gives me an interesting insight into the department going-ons and what apparently is very confidential information. I'd be very curious to see Slavic's self-study from last year and see what they hope to accomplish in the next couple of years.

Working in Romance has once again rekindled the flame of my love of romance languages - I just can't seem to keep up with Arabic, and at this point may just beef up my Portuguese skills and really get my Catalan grammar down. *Sigh*

Seventy-four days until I arrive in Barcelona...scary. The latest news Andorra-wise is that I have received my teaching assignment. I'll be teaching 16-18 year olds (thank god they're a bit older) at the Escola Andorrana de Batxillerat. I've looked at it on Google Earth and it seems I'm teaching in a "village" of the Parish of Andorra la Vella, just southwest down the river from the capital. Excellent. I still have to do a shit ton in terms of figuring out my research, namely wtf i am doing and clearing it with the IRB. bleh.

Pride is this weekend - fun stuff. We'll be brunching chez Fleming-Marino. I'm providing a fruit salad in a Whale-shaped watermelon bowl I plan to carve, as well as a Smoked Salmon Frittata. That night Kristen is hosting a last hurrah party for her work friends, so hopefully I can keep things under control and show up to that. The weekend after is our housewarming it seems, then the following I am going home for my family's "Luau" summer party. Should be interesting...

I'd best finish up these Escalate cases and then head over to Lyons. TTFN!

All moved in...

Well I'm all moved into the new apartment - quite the ordeal. I awoke Sunday morning feeling refreshed after abstaining from going out and ready to move. Everything was boxed up and ready to go at 12 when we were able to get into the new place. From 12-4 we moved all the awkward odds and ends that could fit in the cars; then came the phone call from "Jonathan's Movers". "Hi, do you have a truck?". "Um why would we have a truck, you are the movers". Long story short they were FUCKTARDS and never secured a truck for the move despite this having been indicated clearly in their confirmation e-mail. Being May 31st when leases are up, there was no chance for us to get a truck or van from anywhere - the day seemed destined for disaster. Thank Satan Lauren managed to get her mattress deliverers from Sleepy's to move our impossible items - the mattresses, kitchen table, couch, and Mel's desk and dresser. Despite their help, the move in total lasted 10 hour - even with the extra hands from Jonathan, Jillian, and Matt. Exhausted and dehydrated, we celebrated around 11 with pizza and beer.

The next morning I wanted to die and continue to feel that way. My entire body is sore, and I also seem to have contracted whatever illness Christopher had - swollen glands, sore throat with painful swallowing, fatigue, and general unpleasantness. Having to move furniture from IKEA yesterday certainly did not help. After being awake for a few hours and taking drugs I do feel a bit better, in fact I have somewhat of a second wind, but we'll see once the drugs wear off.

It's rather strange that although I am settling into this new place I will have to leave it in 80-some days. The excitement of setting everything up makes me kind of want to stay...but I mustn't. I think I will be signing some kind of fake document indicating that I plan on returning to my same apartment for 2010-2011 - I do rather fancy it. I just don't know how to pack up my life into two suitcases. Luckily as a tax haven and shopper's paradise, I shouldn't have an issue finding new clothes for myself.

I also found out yesterday that I am possibly going to a 5-night all-expenses-paid Fulbright orientation in D.C. The State Department sent a letter to my house. Looking online, however, it seems like people going to Western Europe don't need to attend. As far as I knew, I had an orientation upon arrival in Andorra, then another small orientation in Madrid and that's it. I've emailed the other grantees to figure this out...

So yea, nothing else too exciting going on. I've walked to work the past few days, going along the reservoir, which is a nice 30 minute light cardio workout. I've seen turtles, geese, swans, mallards, robins, and fish! What a little nature gem! Unfortunately all the overweight middle-aged men in athletic shorts and bouncing sagging genitals ruined my experience. Bleh...soon it will be hot as shit and any outdoor physical activity will be tedious. I need to get my bike fixed so I can ride to work, not to mention to bike on block island this weekend.

Hopefully I can make it through the rest of the week without blowing too much money on random shit for the apartment. Then the excitement of gay lover's weekend in Rhode Island!

Back from the Island!

Well I'm back after a glorious weekend with friends and Bowens in Rhode Island. Despite there not exactly being beach weather for the first few days, we spent most of the weekend outside grilling, S'More-ing, playing badminton and volleyball, and drinking. My body is sooo sore from all that physical activity lol. I've decided that this summer I plan on being more athletic than usual - next week once we're in our new apartment Melanie and I will begin our weekly tennis matches at the park nearby.

I probably consumed 800,000 calories per day; it was amazing but also disgusting - steak, hot dogs, burgers, chicken, beer, dark & stormies, margaritas, etc. Thank god for fiber bars on the side - could have been a bit messy. TMI? Two of the three nights I most certainly raged. Stayed up til 4:30ish the first night belting Adam Lambert; then until almost 6 the third night watching the sunrise with Derek and Katie Bowen. Surprisingly I was not feeling like death either subsequent morning and managed to be a wholly productive individual. I am excited to be back at Chris' house many more weekends this summer! Less than two weeks until gay lovers weekend!

Now it's back to reality, aka working 20 hours a week and being bored. After discussing with MT, it seems I will attempt to start/finish some of my comps, namely the article and book reviews. I found a whole slew of new articles on language usage in Andorra, so I'm banking on one of those perking my interest. Other than that I'm still attempting to learn basic Arabic, beef up my Catalan, and not become a fat blob. I'd also like to work on being legitimately healthy, at least during the week. I've decided to give up Splenda for fear of cancerous tumors down the road and will in general attempt to avoid too much processed garbage.

I've also started to become a bit melancholy with respect to Andorra. I couldn't help but think of this fun weekend as a sort of "last hurrah" for some reason. This morning I got an e-mail about my Fulbright housing situation - August 22nd is not very far at all. I'm starting to think about who will be around when I return, who my friends will be, and just the general readjustment. *Sigh* I should probably just stop being dramatic and enjoy my summer.

2 more hours at the office. Then some gym-age and apartment packing.

سلام

Look at me, two updates right in a row!

It's another early weekday morning in Boston...Thanks to my open schedule and Chris' early rising, I've been up between 7 and 8 every day this week. The days go on forever - yesterday I got up, had breakfast, studied Arabic, went downtown to pick up my lab results, got some Starbucks, and did some shopping. When I was done it was 11:30am. Lol wtf?!? Once I start working things should be better. Any post-work accomplishments should at least take me to dinner time.

Speaking of work, naturally since I just signed on to work at GSAS I finally hear back from WorldTeach, the International Ed company thru Harvard. They say they have openings and would like to interview me. FML. I would have very much enjoyed the experience of working with them, especially since they have programs in Poland and Bulgaria, but alas...I think I'll prefer the fewer hours/money for more leisure time. It IS summer after all...

Today's fabulous agenda includes going to the post office, haymarket, and if i'm feeling ambitious maybe even a haircut. Hurray! I think I'll do some dishes now.

السلام عليكم

Well it's been a few weeks but here I am alive!

I'm all done with classes and whatnot, so basically my summer has begun. So far I've gotten two out of my three grades, both of which were A's, so my semester ended well in that respect. I'm definitely going to need to keep in touch with MT and figure out how exactly I'm going to conduct my research come Fall.

On the job front - until about an hour ago I was unemployed, but I'm now definitely working 20 hrs/week @ GSAS, so I'm very happy. It'll be just enough too supplement money I have, though hopefully I won't have to burn through the other money I had saved for Andorra and also for paying back my parents for the rent deposit.

I've done most of the necessary technical preparations for Andorra - I've gone to the police to get my fingerprints done for the background chec, got the physical (i'm not suffering from any dread diseases, thankfully), now I just need to send in the results. Hopefully Ines will be able to send me some popular Catalan literature to get Catalan-skills working more. What I really should be doing is watching more tv programs - only problem is I HATE starting shows mid-season. I'll be bad enough trying to interpret what everyone is saying, let alone catching up on who the f*** everyone is and what they've been doing.

My summer project is to learn Arabic. I bought some books on Amazon and have started working with the alphabet. It is hottttt, but definitely will take some getting used to. This morning I had a lovely little study session at Starbucks for an hour. I'd like to continue these little sessions - maybe tomorrow I'll try to do the Public Library's outdoor court. It's going to be quite the task, but since I'm likely to go to Egypt next year with my Dad and godmother, it'll be worth it. Plus I have motivation.

In the meantime I must try not to eat myself into obesity. All I can think about is a milkshake right now.