Baltimore and Back
A few weeks back I went back to the U.S. for an Anjie visit. The first thing that struck me about the U.S. was just how clean and well organized everything is. This is odd, since Baltimore is by no means clean or well-organized in comparison to the rest of the U.S. And I was freaked out by the ethnic diversity. After only living around Peruvians, who are more or less divided by race between rich and poor regions of the city, it was refreshing to visit Hopkins where a there is a good mix of all ethnicities wandering about interacting happily.
It was a fabulously relaxing trip, mostly composted of snuggling, walking about, and coffee shops. Mostly absorbing Anjie-time to get me by until December. The first weekend back, Anjie took me hiking to a lake and water fall.
Within the first five minutes I managed to destroy my ankle pretty badly during a giant leopard frog hunt. It was sitting in the grass a good 100 feet from the lake, just begging to be captured. But it turns out it was a trap! I frantically pursued the bastard frog down a dike, but my foot got sucked into a hole with a nasty sharp rock in it. The evil frog took advantage of my moment of weakness and jumped down a gopher hole. I tried to dig him out, but the burrow was filled with threatening looking spider webs, and I dared not go any farther. Frog 1, Sean 0. My ankle gushed blood for the rest of the day, but that did not stop me from catching one of the frog’s smaller brethren an hour latter, or enjoying the rest hike.
Luckily, I have suckered Anjie into liking me so much that she has to put up with spectacles like this.
It turns out Baltimore had grown on me. I actually missed the stinky crab-obsessed city. Here is my favorite billboard in the town, a testament to the cultural royalty of Baltimore. On the left is the Natty Boh Man , the spokesperson for the worst beer in existence. Natty Boh is cheaper than Pabst, which pretty much forces you to drink it from time to time despite the fact that is more caustic than drain-o. It is, in fact poison. Be warned, oh yea who may visit Baltimore, steer clear of this elixir. On the right is the Utz Girl, who adorns the labels of the cheapest cheese puffs on this earth, and the snack responsible for my orange hands in my favorite crab-hat picture. Some of you may also remember her from brand of the 5 gallon tub I brought to Ian and Nick’s bachelor party.
As a side note, when I left the U.S. in June Anjie and I where on a similar level of English compression, but now she has surpassed me. However, I still have a more commanding use of words like “thing”, “thingy”, “thingamabob”, “thingamajig”, ect.
……….
Tonight I am particularly happy because I found a colony of kittens behind and iron gate next to a cathedral. A little orange one liked me petting and scratching it so much that if followed me half way across the plaza before I shooed it back to its home.
It was a fabulously relaxing trip, mostly composted of snuggling, walking about, and coffee shops. Mostly absorbing Anjie-time to get me by until December. The first weekend back, Anjie took me hiking to a lake and water fall.
Within the first five minutes I managed to destroy my ankle pretty badly during a giant leopard frog hunt. It was sitting in the grass a good 100 feet from the lake, just begging to be captured. But it turns out it was a trap! I frantically pursued the bastard frog down a dike, but my foot got sucked into a hole with a nasty sharp rock in it. The evil frog took advantage of my moment of weakness and jumped down a gopher hole. I tried to dig him out, but the burrow was filled with threatening looking spider webs, and I dared not go any farther. Frog 1, Sean 0. My ankle gushed blood for the rest of the day, but that did not stop me from catching one of the frog’s smaller brethren an hour latter, or enjoying the rest hike.
Luckily, I have suckered Anjie into liking me so much that she has to put up with spectacles like this.
It turns out Baltimore had grown on me. I actually missed the stinky crab-obsessed city. Here is my favorite billboard in the town, a testament to the cultural royalty of Baltimore. On the left is the Natty Boh Man , the spokesperson for the worst beer in existence. Natty Boh is cheaper than Pabst, which pretty much forces you to drink it from time to time despite the fact that is more caustic than drain-o. It is, in fact poison. Be warned, oh yea who may visit Baltimore, steer clear of this elixir. On the right is the Utz Girl, who adorns the labels of the cheapest cheese puffs on this earth, and the snack responsible for my orange hands in my favorite crab-hat picture. Some of you may also remember her from brand of the 5 gallon tub I brought to Ian and Nick’s bachelor party.
As a side note, when I left the U.S. in June Anjie and I where on a similar level of English compression, but now she has surpassed me. However, I still have a more commanding use of words like “thing”, “thingy”, “thingamabob”, “thingamajig”, ect.
……….
Tonight I am particularly happy because I found a colony of kittens behind and iron gate next to a cathedral. A little orange one liked me petting and scratching it so much that if followed me half way across the plaza before I shooed it back to its home.