7) "A picture of something/someone who has the biggest impact on you", or, Impact is indubitably influential. Indeed.

This is a difficult one because it says "someone" (singular).  Instead, I'll mention the most significant "someones" in my life.  My parents.

My parents have had the biggest impact on my life.  They created me and cared for me and significantly shaped me into who I am today.  I'm very grateful for the way they went about it.  I'm grateful for the values they taught me and the skills they helped me develop.

One of those skills is reading.  Literacy is one of the greatest gifts and perhaps the 'something' that has had the biggest impact on me.  Because of its connection and use in so many areas of life, reading easily climbs high on the list of influential somethings in my life.

Think of how often you use your skills of reading or writing - obviously we use them for reading books and writing research papers, but we also use those skills when shopping and reading labels or when we write to-do lists and brainstorm ideas.  Even searching for an entertaining video on youtube would be difficult without knowing how to read and write.  You're using your blessed literacy skills right at this very moment.  As am I…isn't that interesting?  I'm sitting here writing…I'm writing this blog post right now.  And you, when you're reading it, you're reading it right now.  But those two 'nows' are different.  Even though now means…now.  …hmmm

My mom and dad have taught me so much.  They've taught me to be kind and respectful, to be industrious, to love.  They've taught me to learn and to value learning.  They've taught me to love good music and they've taught me how to create music.  They've helped me emotionally, socially, mentally, spiritually, physically, academically, and always lovingly.  All these things they've taught me by example.  They have shown me how to live and how to appreciate life.

I'm very grateful for my parents.  They have, without a doubt, had the biggest impact on me.  I love them very much!

[This is post 7 of 30 blog writing prompts.  To see the entire list with links to the individual posts, click here.]

the joy of blog prompts, lists, friendly encouragements, and strange videos

Riss, who writes at Be of Good Cheer, recently listed myself and others as her nominees for the Liebster award.  Handy google translate informed me that liebster is German for ‘dearest’.  With such a fine namesake, as well as another good motivation to write, I happily oblige with the requests that accompany this nomination.

There are not many blogs that I consistently read (and some were already mentioned in previous nominations), so I won’t be doing step three.  However, I will gladly give 11 questions to anyone (including previous nominees) looking for writing prompts or conversation starters.  Simply message me asking for such and I will send them your way, eager to see the responses you create.



And now, we begin.



Post 11 facts about yourself
1. I have 13 nieces and nephews and think that they’re the bee’s knees!
2. Libraries are a weak spot for me.  I check out stacks of books and DVDs and CDs, even if it’s more than I can realistically consume before their due date.  Also, I have paid enough late fees to warrant a new wing at my home branch – the Andy Conlin Section for Xenophilia.
3. I really like knots.  Part youthful interest, part climbing knowledge, part scout camp influence.  I once won a brand new climbing rope for tying the fastest figure 8 follow through at the OR show.
4. My favorite color is cerulean.
5. I’ve only broken one bone before – my friend Josh’s nose when we were finger swordfighting at scout camp :S  Sorry Josh.
6. If I ever have long hair and get it cut, it’s always a drastic change, not just a trim.
7. I rarely use mosquito repellant.  I went for years without using it at all and now use it only very sparingly (like in areas with a high risk of disease transmission).
8. Back in 2009, I arrived in Washington, D.C. for an internship the night before President Obama’s inauguration.  There were crazy lines for public transit as people purchased tickets for the next morning.  Eventually I made it to my apartment to find that a neighbor intern had an extra ticket to the inauguration.  The tickets were great; we were very near the front.  It was quite an experience, being on the National Mall packed with people for such an historic event.
9. I may, over-utilize commas, and; semicolons;
10. I once tipped my top hat to President Eyring as he walked by.
11. I’ve snuck into the Louvre.  Well, not on purpose.  My brother and I heard of a side entrance with almost no line so we went there, walked through security, had our bags scanned, and so on.  We kept walking, wondering when we’d get to a ticket booth.  We never saw one.  Perhaps we were in a separate, free exhibit, we thought.  A little bit further that uncertainty was resolved when we saw a mass of people outside a room and peeked in to see none other than the Mona Lisa! No, indeed, this was not a separate exhibit.  Somehow we had got inside without paying!


Answer 11 questions from your nominator
1. What is the most impulsive thing you've ever done?
Two things.  Once upon a time I decided to quit my job, move to Provo with my car packed up and no housing arranged, and apply for school a couple weeks before the term started.  The other instance was when I decided to take a trip to Cambodia with my brother and friend, purchased the plane ticket two days later, and caught the flight two days after that.  Both of these experiences proved to be wonderful decisions and I am very grateful they happened.

2. What is your favorite breakfast food?
Ebelskivers, sourdough pancakes, Marshmallow Mateys, and scrambled eggs by my mother with chocolate chocolate-chip muffins (not necessarily all in the same meal, though that would be amazing!)

3. If you had to choose one holiday to repeat every day for a year, what would it be?
St. Patrick’s Day.  I always liked this one as a kid (and still do).  Sometimes I even dressed up like a leprachaun.

4. What is your favorite type of weather?
I really enjoy the weather of Spring and Fall; I like those times of change.  I especially love the Fall.  Here is a poem I wrote in my journal on October 9, 2011:

You can almost taste this time of year
A chilled breeze moving the air
The new smell of cold as nature grows old
This age will not stay, but it is perrenial.

Then, for the Earth, these are the golden days of a year
This makes sense, with the colors of leaves and of apple juice
and candy corn that I crave
These are the golden days of the year
And these golden days, too, bring me feelings of peace and happiness.

5. Why do you blog?
I blog because I believe that the process of creating is not only healthy and invigorating, but also fun.  Blogging helps me develop my thoughts and present them coherently – helpful for sharing as well as for my own understanding.

6. Cats or dogs?
I have come to be comfortable with both, though I was tentative around them as a youngster, and much more allergic than I am now.  I normally don’t feel a strong pull to have a cat or dog (except for a recent experience), and I don’t significantly prefer one or the other.

7. If you had to choose one, would you rather spend the rest of your life on a vegetarian diet or a gluten-free diet?
Gluten-free.  While I admire both options, the gluten-free diet, with its neurological benefits, takes the cake (quinoa cake, of course).

8. Would you rather backpack Europe staying in cheap hostels along the way, or take a Mediterranean cruise?
Again, both sound appealing in their own right, but I still much prefer the backpacking, hosteling approach.

9. What is your favorite national park?
Zion National Park.  I was lucky to grow up in Utah with its five national parks, raised by wonderful parents who saw the value in traveling in and exploring these beautiful areas.  For some reason (perhaps frequency of visits), Zion carries the most memories for me.

10. If you had to live in the world of one science fiction or fantasy book, which would you choose? [I went with a series]
The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey.  I read only one or two of these books when I was younger and don’t remember much of the details, but I do recall enjoying them mightily and imagining myself in that world of humans and dragons living side by side.

11. What song is stuck in your head right now? (bonus points if you include a video of yourself singing along).
Unfortunately there really isn’t a song stuck in my head right now (unfortunately because I was kind of looking forward to posting a video for extra credit). I’m listening to some excellent yoga-type music and it’s not quite the type that gets stuck in your head.  Or perhaps it is and I just haven’t listened to it enough.  By the way, this music is part of a free MP3 album available from Amazon at http://amzn.com/B005R2OVME. This album comes highly recommended by yours truly.  It's free, anyway, so it's worth a quick download.
You know what, I am going to post a video.  It’s a video of me listening to this music, bobbing my head, and half-closing my eyes in moments of musical merriment.  Certainly a video that will shoot to the top of youtube’s charts within the week.  You’ll notice that I’m wearing headphones.  I unplugged them from my laptop to give you, the reader/listener/viewer, the joy of hearing the awesome music while still retaining an attempted authentic atmosphere of Andy authoring this article.



Youtube gold right there, ladies and gentlemen :)


Thanks again to Riss for the nomination and the thought-provoking questions.  I enjoyed writing this post and look forward to reading more from you, my dear friends.

Cheerio!

+Andy

the joy of returning from a business trip

I just got back from a business trip and a couple of quotes and thoughts are going through my head that I'd like to share:

"To create the olive, king of all trees, a hundred years is required. An onion plant is old in nine weeks. I have lived as an onion plant. It has not pleased me. Now I wouldst become the greatest of olive trees..."

"...and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

Before walking through the door at my apartment I stopped to remember what I had experienced, afraid it would too easily get left behind in the transition back to my normal schedule.  Standing there, I reflected on the experiences of the past few days.  It may seem overly deep to some, the feelings that were brought on by a trade show in Vegas.  To me, though, these are legitimate and real feelings.

Looking over the past few days, I recall being helped, respected, befriended, and even sought after.  As well, I met people and made friends I respect and look up to.  Not to say that these things don’t happen back home, but it simply felt really good to be actively involved in creative and productive conversations and to be so frequently engaged in social interaction, often with people I just met.  It helped me realize how it is I would like to live my life, how it is I would like to spend my time.  While relaxation and leisure are great and important, too many days have I spent excessively self-absorbed in inconsequential activities such as facebook and netflix (both of which can be wonderful in moderation).  As Og Mandino wrote in his terrific and insightful book, The Greatest Salesman in the World, “I have lived as an onion plant. It has not pleased me.”  I desire to more actively pursue the memorable and meaningful experiences of life.

In addition to these feelings and desires to be more of a producer and a contributor and not only a consumer, I was reminded of the feeling one can get upon returning home after a long or significant experience.  Perhaps you have felt this before.  It’s the feeling that, while YOU have changed significantly, the rest of the world is in the same place you left it.  I desire to have as many experiences as possible in which I truly progress and am not simply left in the same place, unchanged as time moves on.

Like T. S. Eliot said, we will come to “know the place for the first time.”  This can be in seeing the wonderful things we may have taken for granted as well as seeing our former selves and where we ought to be – an awakening of ourselves to a realization of our possibilities and potential.

6) "Favorite super hero and why", or, Super heroes soar high, share hopes, save humanity

I've never been into the standard superhero scene too much.  Batman's pretty cool; I like all the cool gadgets he has.  Spider-Man is pretty awesome, too; his acrobatics and mode of transportation speak to my own love of jumping and climbing (trees, rocks, buildings, anything) :)

Really, though, my favorite superhero is this guy:

Wishbone was one of my favorite shows as a kid.  Wishbone was a very honorable and moral dog and had grand adventures both at home with Joe, David, and Sam, as well as in his recreations of the stories of classic literature.

One definition of super hero is, "a benevolent fictional character with superhuman powers, such as Superman."  Wishbone is practically a paragon of benevolence and his superhuman powers include his polymathic repertoire of detective (Sherlock Holmes), explorer (Odysseus and many others), scientist (Frankenstein), spirit (Ariel), and god (Hercules).  That's one awesome superhero!

[This is post 6 of 30 blog writing prompts.  To see the entire list with links to the individual posts, click here.]

5b) "A Pic of Somewhere I Have Been", or, Why We Wander When We Want Wide World Windows [Part the Second]

This is the second part of my blog post about the countries I have visited.  In the first part I wrote about my home country, the United States, as well as Canada, France, Italy, and Guatemala.  This post has some awesome pictures and stories from the next 5: Greece, Turkey, Germany, Cambodia, and Taiwan.  Enjoy!


Greece
Population: 10,815,197
Area: 50,949 square miles

My brother and I decided to take a trip on short notice, deciding a couple of weeks in advance.  We made a list of possible fun locations and examined the timing, climate, desirability, need for visas/vaccinations, etc.  Using these criteria we narrowed down a list that also contained India, South Africa, and Nepal and decided to take a trip to Greece and Turkey.

Greece was an incredible place to visit!  It was awe-inspiring to see the stunning monuments from ancient times and to stand in places like the Agora of Athens, Mars Hill, the Temple of Zeus (one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World), and Mycenae.  It was fun to have our own contests in the original Olympic stadium with no one else around.  It was thought-provoking to visit the site of the Oracle at Delphi.  It was enriching to stop at a mountain monastery, the abandoned Larissa Castle, and beautiful Peloponnesian towns, and it was downright frightening to happen upon a storage site for giant parade float statues of people, animals, and things straight out of an Alice in Wonderland/Little Nemo-type nightmare.  It was a blast to practice (essentially learning) driving a manual transmission in a Fiat Panda on the raucous yet flowing roads of Greece and it was a thrill to spend a windy day racing around the island of Santorini on a 4-wheeler and scooter despite becoming separated for almost an hour and fearing that my brother had been blow off a cliff.

A week or so before our departure I was talking with my friend Jacob Booher and invited him along.  He met us in Athens and it was a lot of fun traveling with him.  I don't know how long it would've taken us to maneuver our rental car through the intensity of Athens to the highways outside if it weren't for Jacob's driving skills.  It was insightful to listen to him and my brother respectfully debating their sometimes differing views on politics and the like.

Greece is a wonderful place.  The food is delicious, the landscape (both earthen and human) is beautiful, the history is inspiring and fascinating, and the people are friendly and inviting (like they are everywhere, as I'm continually reminded).  I would love to return there someday.

[I'm returning to write more of this blog post and I wanted to add that I've been craving Greece a lot lately!  It's such a cool place!]


Turkey
Population: 75,627,384
Area: 302,535 square miles

We traveled to Turkey via the Greek island of Chios.  Perhaps we ought to have planned this better because we woke on the morning of Greek Independence Day to catch an early ferry out of the country.  Funny that we moved to another country, Turkey, on the very day Greece was celebrating their independence from the Ottomans.  Perhaps we missed some fun parties and interesting celebrations, it's true, but Turkey certainly didn't disappoint.  That being said, next time I'll make a point to change the schedule if it means being at the right place for an important event.

Traveling to Turkey was like taking another cultural step eastward.  Already, in Greece, I had felt the influence of the east and the blending of its styles and feelings with those of the west.  Traveling to Turkey was like riding this cultural pendulum further east, even to the point of passing the point of equilibrium and beginning the arc upward, now undoubtedly in the east.  It was a very exciting feeling!

We traveled by bus (Turkey's bus system is awesome – modern, clean, reliable, plentiful) to the ruins of Ephesus (site of the Temple of Artemis, another of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, though we didn't visit it, specifically).  Tyler tested the acoustics of the nearly 2000-year old odeon by cranking out a cowboy yodel, much to the delight of the other tourists, who applauded his anachronistic performance.

Back in the nearby town of Selçuk, we purchased tickets for an overnight bus to Istanbul and passed the time before its departure by getting impromptu haircuts from a local barber, complete with a flaming q-tip used to singe unwanted hairs from the ears and face.  We also indulged in multiple varieties of baklava, a common practice of ours throughout both Greece and Turkey.

Istanbul is a beautiful, enchanting city.  It is very clean, modern and friendly.  Though we had heard it before, in Selçuk, it was quite an experience to hear the call to prayer originating from multiple points all around us.  The gorgeous and huge mosques, as well as the Hagia Sophia, were breathtaking.  It is difficult to grasp the size and grandeur of these buildings without standing beneath the towering domes.  To give you an idea, imagine the Statue of Liberty standing in the Hagia Sophia.  From toe to tip of torch, she wouldn't be able to touch the ceiling.  In fact, she'd need to balance a two-story building on her torch to reach the top of the mosaiced dome!

Our time in Istanbul was spent sightseeing, visiting the bazaars, wandering the streets, and eating more baklava.  The night before we were to fly home we visited a hamam, or Turkish bath.  This was an experience, indeed!  It was simultaneously invigorating, cleansing, painful, hilarious, relaxing, and a fine test of our ability to not feel uncomfortable or awkward.  The mix of sauna, bath, exfoliation, massage, and chiropractic visit had me feeling cleaner and more refreshed than any other time I can recall.



Here's a glamorous look at our guilty pleasure during this trip – baklava!  Featured here is the chocolate baklava.




Visiting Turkey was an absolute delight!  There are treasures to be discovered, both tangible and otherwise, in this region's wide-ranging history as well as its exciting present.  The people are pleasant and helpful; clerks and salespeople are friendly and the continuous calls from restaurant concierges were entertaining and welcoming.  I would be very happy returning to Turkey!

Germany
Population: 81,799,600
Area: 137,847 square miles

The flight home from Turkey included a stopover in Frankfurt am Main.  The layover was 4-6 hours and we decided to leave the airport for a quick stop in town.

We took a rail line into the city and went to the MyZeil shopping center, which has one of the largest escalators in Europe.  The architecture of this building is amazing and impressive!  At one area, the glass panels forming the exterior turned in on themselves, funneling back into the building and up above it before crashing back through the center of the mall.  It was like some complex, inside-out, glass-whirlpool-tornado.  It’s difficult to explain; you’d need to see it.  Then again, it was difficult to comprehend even when standing right next to it.

We visited the Eurotower, which is the seat of the European Central Bank, and we took pictures beneath the giant Euro symbol.  My brother and I talked about the impressive German people who, despite going through so many difficulties during the early 20th century, have managed to create one of the five largest economies in the world.

On our way back to the airport we bought a couple items for a lunch at a small bakery/pastry booth.  I thought it all out beforehand and was successful and thrilled to be able to complete the entire transaction in German!  (Thanks to my dad and mom for the German influence over the years, including all-night German tutoring sessions while driving down to Lake Powell :) )


Cambodia
Population: 14,952,665
Area: 69,898 square miles

In early 2012 I learned that my brother was going to Cambodia in approximately a month.  Though I wanted to go, it didn’t seem feasible at the time.  I decided not to go.  One Sunday, while reading Kevin Sites’ book about his travels and reporting, I felt that now-familiar strong desire to go somewhere.  I decided to see if I could make the Cambodia trip happen.  I asked my brother if I could still come along.  He said yes, and that they were leaving that Thursday.  Four days away!  I was a little disheartened, feeling like I wouldn’t be able to make it happen after all, but I decided to look into it, nonetheless.  I found a flight for (relatively) cheap, and decided to take up the matter with my boss, who sells video footage from around the world, thinking I may be able to subsidize the trip by filming while I was away.

Eventually, enough things came together that I decided and purchased my plane ticket late on Tuesday night (technically wednesday morning).  I would be flying out Thursday night, less than 48 hours away! :D  It was wonderfully exciting.  I’m very glad I made the decision to act on the opportunity to do something I love instead of letting the occasion pass by without my trying to make it a possibility.

Cambodia is a beautiful country with an awe-inspiring history, tragic recent past, and promising future.  The trip was filled with fun adventures, delicious food, awesome people, new experiences, difficulties, and opportunities to learn – both about the people and their history as well as about myself.

This trip could certainly have its own extensive blog post detailing the experiences I’ve had (as could all of these journeys I’ve written about), but for now I’ll briefly mention some of the standout moments and the people I met.

+Being greeted at the airport by a man with a sign that said "Mr. Conlin." :)  My brother and our friend Adam had arrived before me and paid the guy to greet me as they hid around the corner :)
+Eating frog legs, beef with ants, tarantula legs (I couldn’t bring myself to take a bite of the whole body), crickets, and my very first Coke.  Of course there were other delicious things, too, like noodles, fried rice, curry, pancake/crepes, and the most incredible fruit shakes!
+Learning of the traumatic recent history in places like the Tuol Sleng prison (which was formerly a high school) and the mass graves of the Killing Fields.
+Meeting Sam, our incredible guide to the wonders of Angkor.  Though Angkor Wat is the most famous, there are tons of impressive, awesome, and huge temples scattered all around the area.
+Spending time talking with two young shopkeepers in Siem Reap while I waited for an overnight bus.
+The kind tuk-tuk driver who rushed me to catch the bus when I realized they weren’t, in fact, coming to the location where I had been waiting.
+Being directly propositioned by a prostitute, not to mention seeing the industry blatantly active and available all around. (I declined, just so you know :) )
+Sailing in a catamaran in the Gulf of Thailand with new friends.
+Meeting awesome fellow travelers, including a man who had crossed the Atlantic in a solar-powered boat and many photographers with whom I was able to connect due to our common interest and pursuit of photography of the amazing places we saw.


Here's a fun and goofy video we made at an awesome tree at the Ta Prohm temple at Angkor:



Cambodia felt like the wild west of the travel beat.  There are places that are "off the beaten track" but Cambodia felt even more so.  It probably doesn't compare to places like Myanmar or Chad or Kyrgyzstan in terms of "off-the-beaten-track-ness", but there was something about it.  It seemed like if you ever wanted to just up and leave a place and live like an outlaw, Cambodia would be the place to do it.  That being said, it wasn't too much a rough-and-tumble place.  It may not be as "developed" as some European countries, but most anyone would be totally happy, safe, and successful traveling there.  If you ever choose to do so, you will be greatly rewarded with magnificent sights, matchless experiences, and memorable people.


To get a feel for the feelings of this trip, check out this video that I made:





Taiwan
Population: 23,315,822
Area: 13,974 square miles

While selecting my flight to Cambodia, I had the opportunity to take advantage of a layover in Taiwan.  I happily picked the itinerary with a 12-hour layover.  During my brief stay in Taipei I enjoyed a number of things, including getting lost :)  I had a map with me, but at some point I lost track of where I was (don't tell my Map Reading/Navigation instructor :) ).  It was confusing trying to get reoriented, but eventually I knew (kind of) where I was.  There was a night market where I found something to eat.  Wandering through the stalls and carts I eventually picked one and pointed to an item.  It was a type of stuffed pastry.  I don't recall seeing (or recognizing, at least) any tourists while I was in Taiwan.

Taipei has really cool street crossing signals!  When it's time to walk it has a normal looking stick person, except that it walks!  And it speeds up as it gets closer to turning red.  It's really cool.

At one point I walked past a piano shop.  I went inside and asked if I could play one of the pianos and they said it was ok.  A lot of this happened without actual words; cool how that happens :)  I played some songs and a couple minutes later, out of the blue, a bunch of little kids were in the store and watching me.  I think they must have just got done with lessons or a recital in a back room or something.  I wish now that I would've asked some of them to play, it would've been fun to have an impromptu concert.  Now I'll know what to do next time there's a similar situation :)

Before catching the bus back to the airport I found my way to where I could get a view of Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world pre-Burj Khalifa.  I tried a couple of timelapses and then headed back to the bus station, the airport and eventually back home.

While passing through customs I had some thoughts that I put together in my head and later revised to make this poem:

Welcome Home
An astronaut, upon safely landing back on Earth, is greeted with, "Welcome home."
A returning traveler, upon passing through customs and border security, is greeted with, "Welcome home."
Arriving in my hometown again, I feel at home
But it is upon rejoining my family that I am most truly greeted with, "Welcome home!"



It's fun and exciting to travel and be in new places, but it's also a wonderful feeling to be somewhere familiar and comfortable.

Cheerio!

+Andy




P.S.  If you want to know some of the destinations high on my list of next places to travel to, check out this video I made about a year ago for a travel contest:
http://youtu.be/FeO33IN93QE

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!  I hope you’ve had a good day.

It’s a great day to share your feelings with those you love.  There are many people I love and am grateful for.  My family, of course, and close friends.  Unfortunately, sometimes we aren’t able to express our love to each person that means so much to us.  It can be difficult on a day like today.  It’s hard when people ask about your valentine, ask about your plans for the day.  You know how this feels.  I understand how you feel.  It’s especially hard when the hurt is so real and the sadness is so fresh.  It hurts me to think that you’ve been feeling the same way.

There have been so many times already these past couple of days when I’ve forgotten why we even came to that decision earlier this week, why we decided it would be best to not be together anymore.  All I can remember is why it sucks to not be with you (sorry, not going to sugar coat it).  All I can remember are the things we won’t be doing together anymore, the things we said goodbye to, and the things we hadn’t mentioned then but have since hit me in the chest when I realized they’re no longer on the horizon.  Damn that changed horizon.  It seems so empty now.

Those are the things I remember.  Those things, and the wonderful memories with you, are what fill my mind and heart.  Not the things that motivated us to separate.  Those seem so insignificant now, and not appealing in the least.  Perhaps they’ll come back and remind me why they were important enough (or at least timely enough) to encourage the decision we made.  They seem so unimportant now.  I speak from my side; I don’t mean to call your feelings and reasons insignificant.

Even aside from all of this, I just miss being your friend, too.  I miss talking to you and being able to share neat experiences and insightful and happy thoughts.  I feel so strange that it would be wrong to have any interaction.  Why does that have to be a thing?  Yes, perhaps that’s the best way to be a friend now.  Yes, perhaps this was not the best idea, using this passive means of communication to tell you my feelings.  I just feel inclined to share these feelings today.  I guess I wasn’t strong enough to let Valentine’s day pass without telling you how much you mean to me.  I long for the day when we can talk to each other again.  I’m excited for it, even, though there are parts that will still hurt.

It’s kind of strange, how will we ever know when it’s ok to talk again if we can’t talk to each other to find out :)  What an unfortunate catch 22.

We had an awesome day planned for Valentine’s!  I hope you remembered that today :)  I hope it will make you smile at least a little bit.  It’s especially hard to hurt when the one who always took the hurt away isn’t quite as available.  Not as before, anyway.  But know that they are still thinking of you.  And that they love you.  I love you.

5a) "A Pic of Somewhere I Have Been", or, Why We Wander When We Want Wide World Windows [Part the First]

This is is blog post 5 of 30 from a list of writing prompts.  So far, I've blogged about these things:
1.  A recent pic of me and 15 interesting facts about me
2.  The meaning behind my blog name
3.  A picture of me and my friends, and,
4.  A habit I wish I didn't have

Now, "A pic of somewhere you have been."  This post will feature a handful of pictures and short memories from international trips I have taken, and probably a bit about places I'd like to go in the future, as well.  I am choosing to highlight the international trips I've been on to give myself a limit.  It would be long (albeit fun) to go through pictures of fun times spent in various states with family, camp staffs, friends, and by myself.  I value these trips and vacations very much and I'm very grateful for all the opportunities I've had to travel and see this wonderful world, both in this country and out.  Again, for the sake of establishing a limit, I'll only be featuring international visits here.  Also, it's no secret that the ship I'm on tends to list towards the exotic.  In fact, right now I'm listening to an African/Asian chill out music mix.  If you feel so inclined, feel free to put on your own favorite international/ethnic/exotic music while you read.

Also, here's a cool jacket.  This was in an awesome store near my metro stop in D.C.  I just read that it's unfortunately gone out of business.  This store was awesome!

And so we begin.

I have been to 10 different countries in my life.

First, the United States of America.
Population: 314,913,000
Area: 3,794,101 square miles

I looked at pictures from my time spent in Washington, D.C., thinking that showcasing this country's capital would be apropos for this post, but decided instead on a photo from where I call home.  My parents and I (and perhaps others?) were greeted one early morning, pre-boating trip, with this beautiful, fiery sky.

Everywhere you go is beautiful, just like everyone you meet.  I don't think I fully recognized or appreciated all the cool things about my own home state until I lived across the country and missed being back out in my homeland, not to mention how everyone mentioned how cool it would be to live in Utah.  People can be a lot like places.

"Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."

It seems like a good time to mention this quote, as well. From The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner:

"We can't love a place, or a person, if we always have one foot out the door."

Onward to the next stop on our journey, Canada.
Population: 35,003,000
Area: 3,854,085 square miles

I don't have a picture of my time in Canada (at least not here on my computer).  It was during a trip back east with my parents, sister, and grandma that I went to Canada.  We spent time just over the border viewing Niagara Falls and exploring the surrounding areas.  The Falls are very impressive.  It's cool to stand so close to where the water roars over the edge, and learning of legends explaining the existence of the falls was interesting.  After our time at Niagara we traveled through many states to various Mormon history sites.  It was my first experience in another country and my first experience flying in an airplane.

I'm very grateful for this and the many other trips that my family went on.  Perhaps this should've gone in the first section, but here it will stay.  My parents did very well at showing and teaching us kids an appreciation for the world around us.  I was lucky to spend many nights camping and many days hiking in this beautiful corner of the Earth.  Thanks mom and dad!



The summer after graduating high school I went to France and Italy with my brother Tyler.
France
Population: 65,350,000
Area: 260,558 square miles

Italy
Population: 60,813,326
Area: 116,346 square miles

This picture is from when we were goofing around and "climbing" the Eiffel Tower.  It would be fun to take this picture and superimpose it on another to make it look like we were really climbing it :)

France was a lot of fun.  I had taken French in Junior High and it was neat to go there and hear the language being used and see the places and culture I had learned about in class.  I remember on the first day we were looking for a church.  After going through the sentence over and over in my head I went up to someone at a booth and spoke it as fluidly as I possibly could (it was something like "Est-ce que vous savez où se trouve la rue (something)?").  The guy replied with an answer speaking full speed ahead.  I tried hard to hear and remember any words I'd recognize and I watched where he was pointing, hoping to glean the desired information.  I thanked him and walked back, proudly informing my brother that I had no idea where we were going (ok, I did have the general idea...kind of).


Another cool moment was when we were wandering around Paris just after arriving and we were looking at the side of a church.  We turned around, and right in front of us, was the Centre Pompidou, which houses one of the most famous modern art museums in the world (second in collection size after New York's MOMA).  It's such an exciting feeling to actually be at a place that you've seen and learned about in books and movies.  Plus, the Centre Pompidou is a pretty cool looking building.

After traveling from France to Italy via the gondolas and trams at Chamonix, we asked for directions from an older lady in a shop.  The language we had in common was French, not English.  This is one of my favorite things about traveling (literally, in the top 3) – trying to communicate in another language.  Any communication difficulty in these situations is easily overshadowed by the enjoyment and the challenge.

We carried on to Milan, where we witnessed very young people smoking (apparently more common in Europe than the US) and ate a pizza that, frankly, I expected to be better as we were in Italy, after all!  To be fair, I only had one pizza.  At one restaurant.  In one city.  However, it did help me to realize that when I say, for instance, that I like spaghetti, I'm referring to the spaghetti that I know and love.  The spaghetti that I ate growing up.  The spaghetti that is my favorite food and that my mother always made, and sometimes will still make, for me on my birthday.

We rode a train across Italy to Venice.  Ahh, Venice!  What a rad city, where everything your average city has an automobile for, you'll find the marine counterpart.  The gondola ride was definitely a highlight.  The fact that it's cliché didn't detract at all from an enlightening and fun experience.  Our gondolier taught us about the history of the city and the workings of the gondolier's trade.  A knowledgable guide can give such value and insight into any visit.  Hiring a good one is well worth the cost.

Since this romantic picture was taken 7 years ago my brother has returned with his wife.  Someday I will do the same...with my wife, that is.  Sorry, Ber :)





After a handful of years at school and an internship at my dream job, I was again out exploring the world.  This would be a good time to mention that I studied Geography in college.  What an awesome thing to spend your time reading and learning about!  I had many awesome professors (both in the geography department and elsewhere) that helped me increase my knowledge, appreciation, and love of the world and the people on it.

During these years I also spent an incredible amount of time researching travel.  I read about places, possibilites and potential adventures online and in the many, MANY books I'd check out from the library.  I spent nights watching travel shows, my favorites being Rick Steves and Globe Trekker (both likely available at your city library).  It is my belief that I spent more time researching travel than I did doing my homework proper.  Luckily for me, the two overlapped quite nicely :)


The next overseas trip for me was to Guatemala.
Population: 13,824,463
Area: 42,042 square miles

This trip was different from all the others I have yet been on.  Tyler and I went to Guatemala with Hug it Forward, an organization that teams up with communities to build bottle schools.  That's right, schools made out of bottles.  It's a really interesting premise that seems to be going really well.  If you want to see and learn more, check out these links as well as this video from a different (but similar) trip.

Spending over a week in one place and getting to know the kids at the school was a lot of fun.  I still remember many of their names.  The picture above is from when Christian and I had matching injuries. Mine was from playing soccer in sandals; I'm not sure what his was from, perhaps the same.

There are so many good memories from this trip!  I remember having a relatively lengthy conversation with one boy and afterwards wondering and marveling at what we even talked about, and how; our language overlap was quite slim.  This trip was an excellent opportunity to learn and practice spanish, especially words like basura, botella, and tenazas :)

Tyler developed the nickname, "Gringo Loco."  I'm very glad we have a video of him teaching the kids how to yodel!  I went by the much more respectable epithet, "Gringo Contento."  I was also known as "Guapo," of course :)  Somehow I became the heartthrob of most grade school girls in the town.  It must have been those luscious locks I was sporting! (which, for those of you who haven't seen me lately, are returning!)  Still in my possession are the bilingual love notes I received.

Simple and consistent, I still crave the food we ate there and from time to time will recreate the feeling with beans, scrambled eggs and a bit of 'crema' to mix in.

We met some great people on this trip, both the Guatemalans and our fellow travel pals, and I'm very grateful to have had this experience.



I didn't anticipate making this such an extensive post but I'm glad of what it has become.  These memories ought to be recorded and this is a fine way to do it.  It seems most prudent to divide this into two parts and, as it happens, make this the conclusion of Part the First.

Tune in next time for notes and pics from the other 5 countries and the places at the top of my list for future trips!


Cheerio!

+Andy


P.S. This is cool, especially this.