Synopsis
Things I have done in the last few months, in brief.
July 10-15th - Family Reunion. It was great fun, seeing family is always a bit stressful but also a pleasure. My family is loud and a little crazy. My grandfather perked up for the drive down to the beach and chatted with us almost the whole way. The best quote of the week was Nonno saying, "My son is an old man" in reference to my father.
July 13th - Accepted into the Peace Corps.
July 15th - Return home from my family reunion and start thinking about what we need to do for the PC. Really, this meant digging through paperwork more than anything.
July 25th - Friends' wedding. It was fun, both to watch them get married and to meet and talk with their friends I'd heard stories about. Good people all around and some cheerful writing geekery.
July 29th - Went to LA for Hwa Rang Do World Championships and Seminars. This was a longer post, then the internet freaked out and deleted it and I haven't had the time to re-write it. The tournament tally for me was two firsts (grappling and sparring) and a third (weapon form), for Jason it was a first (sparring) and a third (weapon form) and several awesome team matches. Seminars were interesting and as full of rants as ever. I really enjoyed the technical aspects of the chaining and grappling seminars and watch the expression on Inst. Mattucci's face when Jason couldn't open his fingers while Inst. M. was holding a piece of jade. There is a lot of other things to think about from the week, the post about which was deleted by the internet. Oh well.
August 3rd - Argued with post offices in LA about Jason's passport. We eventually got our way, but it took all day and a lot of walking. The post about that is at the other blog.
August 5th - Spent the night at Do Joo Nim's house. He has a jade clock that is taller than Jason. I'm just saying. Also, watching poorly subtitled Korean TV while drinking pomegranate soju with Samonim is a cultural experience in and of itself.
August 7th - Red eye flight home. Slept half the day after we got home. Had dinner with friends. It was good.
August 11th - Last day of work. I am done with LL3 and I'm happy about it!
August 14th - Loot the House Party. It was a great party. Jason and I were both happily tipsy for almost the entire night. The first person came over at 3:30 and helped me cook and clean and the last person left at 3 in a cab. Jason fell asleep before 2 and was put to bed by my friend. I drunkenly did almost all the dishes, which saved a lot of clean up the next day. We got rid of a lot of stuff and most of the booze.
August 15th-16th - Went to the Farm and said goodbye. Yes, I had to say goodbye to a piece of land.
August 17th - 19th - Went to Phoenix to visit my grandmother. It was a good trip, both relaxing and productive since I found water shoes to fit Jason and me for reasonably cheap. Those things aren't available in MN at this time of year. I'm still trying to figure out where I can find quick-dry, below-the-knee board shorts.
August 20th - Went to the Science Museum and saw the Dead Sea Scrolls after doing lunch with Amelia. Met up with Jason's family for Karis' goodbye dinner at the Blue Nile. Made it out to Fest with all our stuff, including the rest of the booze in the house, before dark.
August 21-22nd - Fest. It was a fun weekend. I think when I come back, if I land in the Twin Cities and if I do Fest again, somethings will have to be different for me. But for the weekend, it was great. Lots of hugs and watching shows and other amusements. Less amusing was the part where my friend's mother collapsed from heat exhaustion and dehydration before her last show. Jason and I drove my friend to the hospital where the ambulance had taken her mother and spent some time with both of them getting things sorted out.
August 22nd - Dinner with friends. After all the excitement at the hospital and the heat of the weekend, we still made it to dinner. I'm sure we smelled bad, but damn if we didn't make it anyway.
August 23-24th - Packed up the house and moved out. Lots of things went to friends, more went to Savers and Half-price books. The furniture went to my dad, or my mom, or back to Jason's parents. A few things played prostitute (they sit on the corner until someone takes them home). We had our final checkout at 7:45 on the 24th. We only had one more thing to do from the check out. Seriously, who vaccuums out the window seats and cabinets? Whatever. We stayed up until 2:30 am finding and packing for our trip to the east coast.
August 25th - Trip East. Flew into Charlotte, SC where we were all set to rent a car. Turns out you can't rent a car one-way on a debit card. Excitement ensued. We eventually caught a greyhound to Columbia, SC where we were picked up by my cousin.
August 26th - Rented a car with my aunt's credit card. We'll pay cash at the end of the trip. Drove to Harrisonburg, VA to have dinner with Jason's grandfather and one Uncle and family. It was a nice evening.
August 27th - Drove to Norfolk, VA to hang out with friends. It was a great day. We jumped in the ocean, which was much needed after being in the car, and went to an awesome dinner. I even ate a bite of tuna. I'm going to miss my friends.
August 28th - Drove to Jason's aunt's for lunch. It was good, there were cute children to play with. Then we drove to another uncle's house for dinner. Jason's cousin met us there and we had another awesome meal. I managed to eat three bites of shrimp that time. There was pleasant conversation with intelligent people and even a game of munchkin.
August 29th - We have the morning to be a little lazy then we're off to lunch with a friend and dinner with my family.
Tomorrow we go to NYC and see a show with my brother, then a slight detour south into NJ the day after for dinner with more of my family. Back up to NYC and another day with my bro then into a car with Tess, Arlen and Greg and up to Noho for the night. Friday is a hang out in Noho day and then Saturday is a wedding. Sunday we chill with friends and Monday we fly back in MN.
We fly to LA on Thursday the 9th. Friday the 10th is "orientation" for the PC and we leave the country at 9:30 pm. We arrive in Aukland, New Zealand at 5:30 am on Sunday the 12th, having skipped over September 11th by flying over the international date line. We catch a connecting flight to Vanuatu and arrive around noon on Sunday. From there, I haven't the faintest idea what life will be like.
July 10-15th - Family Reunion. It was great fun, seeing family is always a bit stressful but also a pleasure. My family is loud and a little crazy. My grandfather perked up for the drive down to the beach and chatted with us almost the whole way. The best quote of the week was Nonno saying, "My son is an old man" in reference to my father.
July 13th - Accepted into the Peace Corps.
July 15th - Return home from my family reunion and start thinking about what we need to do for the PC. Really, this meant digging through paperwork more than anything.
July 25th - Friends' wedding. It was fun, both to watch them get married and to meet and talk with their friends I'd heard stories about. Good people all around and some cheerful writing geekery.
July 29th - Went to LA for Hwa Rang Do World Championships and Seminars. This was a longer post, then the internet freaked out and deleted it and I haven't had the time to re-write it. The tournament tally for me was two firsts (grappling and sparring) and a third (weapon form), for Jason it was a first (sparring) and a third (weapon form) and several awesome team matches. Seminars were interesting and as full of rants as ever. I really enjoyed the technical aspects of the chaining and grappling seminars and watch the expression on Inst. Mattucci's face when Jason couldn't open his fingers while Inst. M. was holding a piece of jade. There is a lot of other things to think about from the week, the post about which was deleted by the internet. Oh well.
August 3rd - Argued with post offices in LA about Jason's passport. We eventually got our way, but it took all day and a lot of walking. The post about that is at the other blog.
August 5th - Spent the night at Do Joo Nim's house. He has a jade clock that is taller than Jason. I'm just saying. Also, watching poorly subtitled Korean TV while drinking pomegranate soju with Samonim is a cultural experience in and of itself.
August 7th - Red eye flight home. Slept half the day after we got home. Had dinner with friends. It was good.
August 11th - Last day of work. I am done with LL3 and I'm happy about it!
August 14th - Loot the House Party. It was a great party. Jason and I were both happily tipsy for almost the entire night. The first person came over at 3:30 and helped me cook and clean and the last person left at 3 in a cab. Jason fell asleep before 2 and was put to bed by my friend. I drunkenly did almost all the dishes, which saved a lot of clean up the next day. We got rid of a lot of stuff and most of the booze.
August 15th-16th - Went to the Farm and said goodbye. Yes, I had to say goodbye to a piece of land.
August 17th - 19th - Went to Phoenix to visit my grandmother. It was a good trip, both relaxing and productive since I found water shoes to fit Jason and me for reasonably cheap. Those things aren't available in MN at this time of year. I'm still trying to figure out where I can find quick-dry, below-the-knee board shorts.
August 20th - Went to the Science Museum and saw the Dead Sea Scrolls after doing lunch with Amelia. Met up with Jason's family for Karis' goodbye dinner at the Blue Nile. Made it out to Fest with all our stuff, including the rest of the booze in the house, before dark.
August 21-22nd - Fest. It was a fun weekend. I think when I come back, if I land in the Twin Cities and if I do Fest again, somethings will have to be different for me. But for the weekend, it was great. Lots of hugs and watching shows and other amusements. Less amusing was the part where my friend's mother collapsed from heat exhaustion and dehydration before her last show. Jason and I drove my friend to the hospital where the ambulance had taken her mother and spent some time with both of them getting things sorted out.
August 22nd - Dinner with friends. After all the excitement at the hospital and the heat of the weekend, we still made it to dinner. I'm sure we smelled bad, but damn if we didn't make it anyway.
August 23-24th - Packed up the house and moved out. Lots of things went to friends, more went to Savers and Half-price books. The furniture went to my dad, or my mom, or back to Jason's parents. A few things played prostitute (they sit on the corner until someone takes them home). We had our final checkout at 7:45 on the 24th. We only had one more thing to do from the check out. Seriously, who vaccuums out the window seats and cabinets? Whatever. We stayed up until 2:30 am finding and packing for our trip to the east coast.
August 25th - Trip East. Flew into Charlotte, SC where we were all set to rent a car. Turns out you can't rent a car one-way on a debit card. Excitement ensued. We eventually caught a greyhound to Columbia, SC where we were picked up by my cousin.
August 26th - Rented a car with my aunt's credit card. We'll pay cash at the end of the trip. Drove to Harrisonburg, VA to have dinner with Jason's grandfather and one Uncle and family. It was a nice evening.
August 27th - Drove to Norfolk, VA to hang out with friends. It was a great day. We jumped in the ocean, which was much needed after being in the car, and went to an awesome dinner. I even ate a bite of tuna. I'm going to miss my friends.
August 28th - Drove to Jason's aunt's for lunch. It was good, there were cute children to play with. Then we drove to another uncle's house for dinner. Jason's cousin met us there and we had another awesome meal. I managed to eat three bites of shrimp that time. There was pleasant conversation with intelligent people and even a game of munchkin.
August 29th - We have the morning to be a little lazy then we're off to lunch with a friend and dinner with my family.
Tomorrow we go to NYC and see a show with my brother, then a slight detour south into NJ the day after for dinner with more of my family. Back up to NYC and another day with my bro then into a car with Tess, Arlen and Greg and up to Noho for the night. Friday is a hang out in Noho day and then Saturday is a wedding. Sunday we chill with friends and Monday we fly back in MN.
We fly to LA on Thursday the 9th. Friday the 10th is "orientation" for the PC and we leave the country at 9:30 pm. We arrive in Aukland, New Zealand at 5:30 am on Sunday the 12th, having skipped over September 11th by flying over the international date line. We catch a connecting flight to Vanuatu and arrive around noon on Sunday. From there, I haven't the faintest idea what life will be like.