DC Day 1

This post started on Wednesday night when Rachel and I drove into Athens. We were planning on driving to DC to see Deep. We woke up Thursday morning and had a much better idea…instead of driving, we called AirTran and found out we could fly standby. If you are under 23, AirTranU lets you buy a one way standby ticket at the counter for $80-$110. You don’t have a guaranteed seat, but you can call AirTran and they’ll tell you how many seats are available. With the way fuel prices are these days, most (in our case all) of the flights have room. We dropped off Rachel’s car at her house and parked at the airport Park N Ride. Within 5 minutes of being in the parking lot, I somehow managed to lose the parking ticket and was almost left behind by the shuttle bus. Making it to the terminal in one piece, we bought our tickets at 11:00am and were in DC by 1:30pm. We took the Metro to the GW stop and were met by Jordan and Deep. The hugs were classic – the only thing missing was Disney music in the background. While Deep returned for a few hours of “work” at the VA, we went to a café called Cosi for flatbread sandwiches – they were so good that an unnamed individual unknowingly ate part of the wrapping paper. After lunch, we took a picture in front of the White House and escaped the heat by ducking into a Smithsonian exhibit on art jewelry. Once Deep was off from work, we walked to the Lincoln, WWII, Washington, and Jefferson memorials. I hadn’t been to DC in a while and forgot how inspiring they are. It’s also fun seeing community leagues playing soccer, softball, and kickball on the mall. For dinner, Deep took us to an Italian place where the chef makes you a customized pasta meal. The restaurant was packed with young people and had a fancy Copper Creekesque atmosphere. We ended the day at Lucky Strike, a restaurant/high-end bowling venue, with painfully low scores but a great time.

In the Big Dawgs Kitchen

I just wanted to share my (irrational) awe of last night. I have a bunch of friends from Watkinsville who I have been hanging out with, this summer in Athens. Last night, I was somewhere in Watkinsville (literally the middle of nowhere--no cell phone service, no street lights, nada) hanging out at someone's house. When in walks Michael Floyd. And then it hit me: I was in Michael Floyd's kitchen. And I just froze, watermelon half-way to my mouth. 

Oh, and for all of you that think I don't work...I DO! I AM decently productive at my job...my constant signed-on presence to my gmail account is testimony to the hours I am at work...I have also become a frequent surfer of ncaa.com. 

And that's that. 

later friends.

aqs 

NOC...not so much

So with gas prices the way they are, not too many people were coming rafting. Consequently, I had hardly any work and so I have decided to go back to Athens for the remainder of the summer. I will be working in my research lab and otherwise enjoying Athens and dt. Give me a hollar if you wanna go out or just hang out and watch movies with Britt and I. Anant and Deep are currently trying to guilt me into going to DC this weekend and it may end up working. We'll see...

Scrubs

Well I have finished Scrubs all 7 seasons until they come out with new episodes now i have no idea what to do with myself at work any other tv show suggestions or movies i should watch? thanks for your help!

Athens

I went to Athens for two days this week and had a great time - there really is no place like it especially when you get to hang out with Rachel, Britt, BO, Aqsa, and Alicia. On Monday, we got pizza at Mellow Mushroom while watching Tiger beat Rocco for the US Open title. We also had a ball watching Kung Fu Panda - Jack Black is hilarious and there are some classic lines in the movie! We ended the day with Orientation Live (the show the orientation leaders put on for incoming freshmen) and sat downtown with food from Five Guys. On Tuesday I took a tour of where Brittany works and yes she is big time with the corner office. We then went to IHOP to redress pancake wrongs that had been committed against Rachel in the past (they had actually denied her pancakes on a previous visit). We went to Doc Chey's for dinner before going to the Melting Point for a bluegrass show. The Melting Point is such an awesome place - it defines Athens for me - it is so chill with music playing as you sit outside on this lighted brick patio and hang out with friends. To finish off the night, we bought a tub of ice cream from Kroger, got some sporks from Taco Bell (where else), and ate/hung out on Herty Field till one in the morning... man, can't think of a better way to spend two days.

Akwabba!!

That means "Hello/Welcome" in Ghana. It has almost been a week since I arrived, and life is good.

I am in an internet cafe in Kasoa, Ghana which is about 30 minutes from the village that I am currently staying in called Nyanyano.

We are staying with the chief of the Nyanyano and sleeping on the floor in one of the rooms. We take showers out of a bucket that we draw water with from a huge holding tank they use to collect rain water. Rain water is the primary source of water for the village. Nyanyano is a fishing village on the coast. This means there is a nice breeze most of the day from the ocean . Everyone is extremely friendly.

This morning we watch a soccer match on the local dirt field. The people say that this is the same field that Michael Essien (The famous Chelsea player from Ghana) learned to play soccer. All the boys are really good at soccer and usually play barefoot. We sometimes have a scrimmage at night with some of the locals that we met.

The food is tastes good but is too spicy for my liking. It is also really heavy because it is oil based and usually red because of the spicy red palm nut that is always used in cooking. So far we eat two meals a day, breakfast and dinner. Breakfast consists of bread and fruit and dinner is usually a local dish. We often get snacks from sellers on the road side. The fruit is amazing and it is mango season. Everything is pretty cheap too.

Nyanyano is a poor community but does have a small clinic with a few nurses that staff it twenty four hours. They do everything and more. They put U.S. doctors to shame. They work whenever somebody is sick and take shifts in the middle of the night. They do everything yet do it with a smile. The clinic is clean but not sanitary. They are in desperate need of supplies. Most of the cases are malaria or pregnancies. We saw a women give birth the other day and a small boy get circumcised. Most of the people are anemic especially the women. It amazes me what people just deal with on a daily basis because they have too.

We also spend time at the local schools. The children are really intelligent for their age and extremely well behaved. I especially enjoy P.E. and just hanging out with them.

I am spending another week in the village getting to know the chief and the people. This is the primary village Global Endeavors is focusing on for the time being. It is an amazing experience!

By the way, for those wondering, the beer is called Star Beer and tastes like watered down bud light.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Peace.

Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!

So, its not until Tuesday when I enter my second decade on this earth. But, I don't like a big to-do for my birthday because they make me nervous. However, me having the great friends that I do, they insisted that they celebrate with me. So, John came to visit me in Athens and Rachel and Aqsa came over tonight to feed me cake (Boston Cream Pie) and delicious, fresh-baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

It made my evening. Now, off to finish a philosophy paper. I have class tomorrow!

I hope everyone else's summer is as relaxing as mine is!

--Sayama

¡Hola amigos!

Hello from Barcelona! How is everyone? I´ve been so busy over here that I completely forgot to check the blog, but it is so good to see what everyone is up to. By the way, Bleedin Love is just as popular in Spain as it is in the States. That, and ¨Beautiful Girls¨ by Sean Kingston. I heard it five times in the first 48 hours here. Interesting music choices.

I met up with Matt and Tyler when I got here, which was great because they´d already figured out the layout of the city. I got to follow them around rather than trying to navigate on my own with my huge map out, definitely reduced the distinct tourist appearance. It was really fun to see them here, despite the fact that we ended up not going to Club Catwalk. Bummer.

Anyway, Barcelona is gorgeous! Everyone should try to come here sometime. Unfortunately, it´s rained almost every day I´ve been here. Apparently that´s very strange... it´s normally 80 degrees and sunny all summer here. Go figure. It´s a funny place too. It´s part of the Republic of Catalonia, so most of the signs are in Catalan rather than Spanish. And everything is late here, so you eat at 9 or 10, go out at midnight to a bar, end up at a club at 3, and get home around 6. I have 9 AM classes, so I haven´t been taking full advantage of the clubbing scene (as you all can probably imagine) but it´s still been a really interesting experience when I have gone out.

Not much else here. Betsy Allen (for those of you who know her) arrived Sunday, so it´s been fun having her here to explore the city with. I´m taking classes every day, although my Spanish isn´t improving quite as much as I would like. Still, the 7-year-old at my homestay is working hard to ensure that it does get better. She laughs at me a lot.

I feel that this is going to be a long post when I actually put it up, so sorry. A few things I learned in class today, for your amusement:
1. Soul mate in Spanish = ¨media naranja¨- literally translated, your half orange. How cute.
2. Dogs pant because they can´t sweat, thus they release heat by basically sweating out of their nose or mouth. Gross, but interesting.
3. Thoughts to ponder. Did Adam (of Adam and Eve fame) have a belly button? If so, who was his mother?

Okay that´s it for now. Miss you all! Have fantastic summers!

Kelsey

Magic Square x2

At least a good portion of you should have reacted to that title...(whether it be a smile or a flinch--I don't care. There just should have been a reaction). Went down to Valdosta this past weekend to drop my baby sister off at GHP. The kid is a Soc Stud '08. 

I was like, "Ammarah...maybe you'll meet your own versions of Deep Shah and Anant this summer!" To which I just got a look. Whatev. Little siblings sometimes just make you feel like bigger idiots.

Anyways. I think I got sick from the heat...And it's only June in Valdosta. Man. Gotta get practicing up on that before I hit paki-land.

For those of you wondering--the Magic Square. Still magical. haha. 

Back in Athens. Beautiful days, friends.

Ring Tones

So I make my own ring tones for my phone using itunes and a memory card. I just recently made one for the "Bleeding love" song but I had no one to assign it to until I read Anant's post and now... Every time Anant, you call my phone I will get to jam to Bleeding Love. Thank you so much Anant!

NOC and Ghana

Hey Everyone,

Anant couldn't have explained it better. We had an amazing time visiting Ryan up at NOC. Thanks again Ryan! Here is a picture of all of us going over Nantahala Falls, and Anant and I "riding the bull." Anyone who can should go visit Ryan!

I'm headed of to Africa and will be back in a month. Hopefully I can find and internet cafe and keep up with the blog. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer so far. See ya'll when I get back.

NOC

George, Rachel, Natalie, and I went up on Thursday and Friday to see Ryan at the Nantahala Outdoor Center near Bryson City, NC. We drove on Thursday afternoon - George demonstrated his Nascar skills on the windy roads of NC while distracting us with karaoke - my favorite being "Bleeding Love". After arriving at NOC, Ryan took us through some back roads to a swimming hole he had heard about - it was amazing...the swimming hole had a waterfall that flowed into it and was surrounded by rock formations. We followed Ryan onto a rock that was about 20 feet high and after watching Ryan jump off several times, George and I summoned up enough courage and prayers to try it ourselves. We drove back to NOC and had dinner on a restaurant overlooking the Nantahala River. We hung out at the river before going back to the Inn for the painful experience of watching Sex and the City on TV. On Friday, Ryan woke up early to get to a staff meeting while we went to the restaurant on the river for breakfast (the french toast was good but not as good as Mamma Shah's!) At NOC, we watched a comforting instructional video about how not to die on the river, and Ryan got us our gear. We took an NOC bus to the launch point, and Ryan led us on a raft for 2 hrs down the river. Along the way, even I was impressed by the mountains and the scenery and only talked about putting up a hotel once. Also, George was in a mutinous mood and briefly took over as captain. Ryan is a really good guide and made sure we got wet every now and then. He showed us some interesting old Indian caves and rescued a capsized boat's paddle. We made it down Nantahala Falls in one piece. As we went down the falls, George and I "rode the bull" - we held on for dear life to a rope Ryan tied to the front of the raft. After lunch at the pizza and barbecue shacks, Ryan got us individual inflatables called duckies. We felt professional carrying the duckies and paddles to a dropoff point before the falls. We each went down the falls three times with Ryan waiting for us at the bottom as our rescuer. Rachel had the gutsiest run as she fought through rocks and used some fancy paddling to make it down in one piece. We had an incredible time, and we wanted to give Ryan a huge shoutout - he took care of us really well and made sure we had fun. Thank you Ryan. I put our pictures up on Facebook and you can watch video of us going down the falls at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp4jDnTR4h8. Hope everyone's summer is going well - love and peace to all.

Helen's wedding and related festivities

My best friend is married! I am officially old. This is a picture of Alicia and I trying to help Helen out getting ready right before the ceremony. The whole event was really beautiful and so happy. I was so glad to be a part of it!

Alicia and I also went on a road trip to New York and DC during the week before the wedding, which took place in Helen's hometown of Gaithersburg, Maryland. Karen -- aka Hong Kong Wong -- was a wondeful tour guide and showed us all the sights. It was all really fun.

I hope every else is having just as wonderful a summer!

Maymester!

Well I am going in to my presentation of my final project. Then tomorrow I have my final and i am as free as a bird. Then I start work the day after my final so i will be free every weekend to travel hang or whatever. Now when someone is in Athens they should call me because I get off of work every day at 2:30! Hope everyone is having fun and I expect some phone calls! And i can't wait to see you Deep in D.C. soon!

Grayson's Wedding

It was a pretty awesome weekend because I got to see Deep, BO, Joey, and Grayson all in the span of 3 hours. Grayson had his wedding at Big Canoe Lodge near Tate, GA (an hour north of Atlanta) on Saturday night. It was something straight out of a movie - in the mountains, picturesque chapel, a reception by the lake, and a sendoff in a boat with sparklers. Although the setting was no urban metropolis with skyscrapers and shopping malls, it was a close second. Grayson and Katie were so happy and couldn't stop smiling. Deep has put the pictures up on Facebook. I also spent the night at Deep's place where Mamma Shah is the cooking world's best kept secret.