Around the World in Katie Days

New Blog

2008-04-08T08:22:00.003-04:00

A number of you have inquired if I plan to or (gasp!) requested that I continue some sort of blog ruminating on the ebb and flow of my daily life. My mother meant it facetiously but I mean it in earnest when I say - I live to serve. So, I now have a new blog that is not so much about me as it is about New Jersey. "Why New Jersey?" ask you. Well... because I am going to live there for the next two years while I pursue my masters degree in Urban Planning at Rutgers University. I know, I know, it's New Jersey! How can I possibly endure two years in the state known for big hair and not much else?! But, I decided to try to give it a fair shake and we'll see if at the end I have the means to defend Jersey to nay-sayers like you or perhaps I will just be better equipped with well researched and thoroughly investigated aspects of its "culture" to mock it right along side of you. Only time will time, but during that time, I give you:
Giving Jersey a Chance
-Katie

Don't Cry for Me Argentina

2008-03-31T11:30:00.006-04:00

Well, I fly back to the states today. I have been abroad for almost seven months, to the day. It's been grand. I laughed, I cried, I toyed with death (that's how I think about the entire "Israel" experience), I learned a lot, and I had fun. Traveling has been an amazing experience and I hope I do more in the future (but not for seven months...)
I land in JFK tomorrow morning and I'll be in Seattle in mid-April.
I can't wait to see you guys.
-Katie

A Short Side-Trip Turned Slightly Longer...

2008-03-26T16:23:00.005-03:00

I was in Buenos Aires for the past week and I had a pretty good time (saw some tango and soccer, drank some beer, made some friends, etc). I decided, however, that it was high time I check out another part of Argentina before I go home (on Monday). So, yesterday evening I got on a bus to Iguazu Falls. The bus was supposed to get me there in about 15 hours, but we were delayed... by protesting farmers. So much for my big, thick, juicy steak. Damn uppity farmers.

But, I made it to Iguazu Falls in 19 hours which wasn't so bad. Where tomorrow I will see:

And then, I go back to BA for one last hurrah before I return state-side.
-Katie

Buenos Aires

2008-03-19T15:46:00.012-03:00

The 20 hour bus trip from Bariloche wasn´t really bad at all. They fed me three square meals and my seat reclined way far back, if the child behind me hadn´t screamed for 60% of the way it would have been a really pleasurable journey. Check out the view of Argentina from the bus window:

I arrived in Buenos Aires at around 11am yesterday. I spent most of the day settling in to my hostel and just chilling out. Today I got off my butt and explored a little bit of the city. I went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes:

and the Cementerio de la Recoleta:

Where I saw Evita´s grave!

Buenos Aires is a beautiful city. There are plenty of old religious buildings:

fountains:

huge, beautiful trees:

and dogs out for walks:

I had planned to stay here for my last two weeks, but I might bounce a little early to check out some of the smaller towns nearby. I´m already feeling a little overwhelmed by the size (13 million + people!) and pace of the city.
Ugh, I am such a freakin´ wimp.
-Katie

Bariloche

2008-03-16T17:26:00.009-03:00

I left Chile from Puerto Varas which was absolutely gorgeous:

Then I arrived in Bariloche, Argentina and it was also quite a sight:

I was lucky because outside my hostel a bunch of artists were working on murals:
It´s cool because they just asked the residents of the street if they could paint on the walls and everyone thought it was a cool idea. Hooray for art!

And while I´m at it, hooray for ice cream!

My hostel (¨Hostel 41 Below¨) is great. One of the women who works there taught a group of us about the traditional Argentinian mate ceremony. I have had mate in the states before, but I have been doing it all wrong. It is super strong the traditional style and way too intense for me:

After I was high on mate I went on a hike with two hostel friends. Kiko, Natasha, and I had a nice little hike in the outskirts of Bariloche:

Bariloche has been fun and productive. I got my laungry done which I´m sure you´ll trust was absolutely necessary. I ate some good, cheap steaks. Amazingly I am leaving already. Tomorrow I hop on the bus for 20 hours (!) to go to Buenos Aires. Maybe you have heard that BA is totally cool. I hope so because I´m going to be there for two weeks...
-Katie

Chilean Lakes District

2008-03-13T17:54:00.005-03:00

One of the last things I did before I left Pucon was to go for a hike in the Huerquehue National Park. I went with fellow hostel-mate Anne (who hails from Holland). We had a great time:

The next day I left Pucon to continue my adventures south. We ended our day in Valdivia which has a number of old Spanish fortress relics around town:

And we stayed at yet another beautiful hostel:

but there wasn´t a ton to do in Valdivia so we left this morning.

We traveled through Puerto Montt where they had decent salmon and a really fun market where they sold cool things like this:

Now I´m in Puerto Varas and I´m here until tomorrow at which point I leave the whole country and head to Bariloche, Argentina.
Chile has been non-stop awesomeness. Let´s hope Argentina is more of the same.
-Katie

Pucon

2008-03-10T18:10:00.011-03:00

Pachamama clients can stay in any of the towns we go to for as long as we want, so I decided to stay in Pucon for a few extra nights. It´s this cute little town nestled next to the Villarrica lake and under the Villarrica volcano:

One of the reasons I decided to stay in Pucon is the "La Posada del Embrujo" hostel:
It is pretty phenominal. Clean. Cozy. Comfortable. Everything you would want for about $12 a night.

Another reason I decided to stay in Pucon is because there are really fun things to do here, for instance, white water rafting on the Trancura River. Here´s the group I went rafting with (from L-R, me, Nikolas, Lorent, and Eric):

Don´t be fooled by the awkward smile. I hate wet suits:

The river was great. Mostly class IV rapids and great guides (thanks Yo-yo!). We jumped off rocks, swam in currents, and balanced on the side of the raft. Plus, it was pretty:

Then, today I flew around on cables in the tree canopy of a local forest. I figure if Pheonix lived in a tree for a year and a half I can swing around up there for an hour or two. Who´s a happy camper?

Needless to say, I´m having a ball.
-Katie

Pachamama

2008-03-08T12:13:00.013-03:00

Okay, so the tour I´m on is totally perfect for:
1. Where I want to go and
2. My non-existant Spanish skills.
The name of the company is Pachamama. I did not know that it meant "Earth-Mother" when I signed up, but besides the name everything is great.

Here´s the van we drive around in (thankfully they didn´t paint pictures of trees or the wind or women giving birth, phew):

Before we left for our long drive yesterday, we enjoyed a sunset off the Chilean coast:

Then, early in the morning we hit the road and our only real stop was in Santa Cruz at the Museo de Colchagua. It´s the country´s biggest private museum built by Carlos Cardoen. Who is this guy? Um... an arms dealer who was on the US Government's 10 Most Wanted list for years. So, going to his museum was strange. Here was one of the exhibits:

I left Santa Cruz feeling confused. Fortunately I had pleasant views of Chile from the van window to get my mind off warfare:

Now we´re in Pucon which means "Entrance to the Mountain." I´m going to be here until Wednesday. I hope to get in some rafting and hiking. It´s possible to hike up a volcano, but that´s not my style. Somethings are better seen than experienced - like lava.
-Katie

Santiago and Environs

2008-03-06T14:55:00.004-03:00

I was only in Santiago for a couple days, but I was told by the locals that that´s all you need to see the sights of the city. Pretty much as soon as I got off the plane a few days ago I started feeling not so great and yesterday the not so great feeling morphed into a fully formed illness. It´s not anything too exciting, no explosive diarrhea or anything, it´s just a headcold. I am pretty sure I got the cold because the air quality here sucks. But, I didn´t let that stop me. The only thing I had to skip was a gay night out with some locals which is a bummer, but I think I needed my 12 hours of sleep. Anyway, I saw Santiago! Here are the pics:

A sculpture garden:

I went on this long walk through a city park that was up on a hill. I was able to get a view of the city. What? You can´t really see it? Oh, that´s the smog that will clog your lungs and make you sick and snotty:

Here´s a fountain commemorating something (it was in Spanish):

And the capital:

So, that´s it for Santiago. I already left this morning on a tour, usually I wouldn´t splurge for something like that, but this one seemed pretty cool and I think I´ll get to see more of the country this way.

Our first stop was in Pomaire where the inhabitants are known for their pottery skills:

Next we stopped at Rapel Dam, but the pictures suck and a dam is a dam no matter what country. Our tour guide, Jorge, said Chile gets most of its energy through hydropower. Wow.

Now I´m in Pichilemu. It´s a touristy town on the coast. We´re staying at a cute hostel with an underwater theme, whoa...

We´ll be here for the night and then we´re off to Pucon tomorrow. Hopefully I´ll be over this cold by then.
-Katie

Valparaiso

2008-03-04T18:20:00.007-03:00

Valparaiso is a great little city an hour away from Santiago. I had a totally fun time just wandering around for the day. Here´s the scoop: it has two levels, the normal ground level but then a higher level on a hill that is accessible by crazy long steps or cable car. For example:

It is a beautiful city for a number of reasons. First, it has cool, fun architecture and alleyways:

Second, it has really cool murals:

Third, there are beautiful parks through out the city, complete with statues commemorating things, fountains, nice trees, and stray dogs:

And fourth, it has kick-ass graffiti art:

So, I spent the day just basking in the beauty of the city. It was totally great. Look! I made a friend. Andreas (he´s from Oslo) and I decided to take the day trip together. Here he is catching his breath after our climb up those god awful stairs.

That was today. Tomorrow: Santiago.
-Katie

Time Warp

2008-03-04T09:00:00.003-03:00

So... I landed in Santiago at 12:15pm on March 3rd which is weird because I left Auckland at 5:30pm on March 3rd. Whoa. So, the only acceptable explanation is that I went through a time warp. Here's what a time warp looks like:

Santiago is... small. I'm acutally only going to be here for a few days before I head south. My hostel is kind of ridiculous. Think: "The Real World." I know, sick. So, I'm avoiding in the drunk 18 year olds and trying to enjoy South America!
-Katie

Cash-flow

2008-03-01T22:26:00.004-03:00

So... I started my travels abroad in early September. Y'know what else happened in September? The dollar lost a ton of its value. Here is a chart that shows how many Euros a dollar would buy over the past 120 days:

I know I am not in Europe, therefore the value of the dollar to the Euro isn't totally relevant to me, but it would have been annoying to put charts of the dollar against the shekle, the rupee, the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar, etc. and it is indicative of how the USD has been faring globally. It ain't pretty. Dammit!

One USD is currently buying about 0.65 Euros. Sweet Jesus. I need to go home. And I will. But first, Chile.
-Katie

Bye Dids!

2008-02-26T05:32:00.003-03:00

You're leaving...
Gonna miss you.
Love,
Katie

Business

2008-02-24T03:34:00.011-03:00

Here are the updates:
1. I got into graduate school, hooray! (That may mean bad news for all those reading this in Seattle...)

2. I left Rangiora for good a few days ago. I stayed there with (Pheonix's parents) Kate and Rob off and on since December. Who knows how they put up with my nonsense since then, but they did and with grace and generosity to boot. I know it doesn't suffice to just say thank you so thank you a lot. You guys rock. For real.

3. This is from a while ago, but it's... a pig that sits on command.

Hil.ar.i.ous. The video you just watched is of Lucy, a kuna kuna pig. She is in one word: horrific. Here's a close up:

See. Pheonix thinks she's cute. I think not.

4. All of you reading this already know I no longer look like this:

but you didn't know that I look like this:

see:
Heh heh.
To finish up the big news, I'm in Wellington and I'll be here until the 27th when I fly up to Auckland for a few days and say goodbye to Pheonix...
-Katie
Confidential to Lexi again: you're not allowed to comment on this post.

Couchsurfing

2008-02-15T04:31:00.006-03:00

I finished WWOOFing a few days ago and now I'm back in Rangiora with Pheonix's parents. It's been kind of a slow week here, lots of rain, lots of planning for South America (gulp), and lots of eating Big Bikkies (again, gulp). Without any pressing moments of hilarity to report, I thought I would let you guys know about one of the ways Pheonix and I have been making our travels more kick ass and affordable:
Couchsurfing.

(Mom, Dad, don't freak out.) Basically we sleep on random peoples' couches around the world. We use individual accounts to search for cool people who live in the places we want to visit. Then, emails are sent, accounts are examined, more emails are sent, and then we meet, we hang out, and we sleep on their couch. (Note: we have yet to sleep on an actual couch. So far we've had big cozy beds in guest rooms. Hot.)
So, I get to meet rad people, learn about new places from people who live there, and keep things on the cheap. Um... yes, please.
Join right now and start offering your couch to people like me. For reals, it's way kick ass. Way.

-Katie

The Life of a WWOOFer

2008-02-06T22:37:00.000-03:00

This:

is where I sleep.

This:

is what I eat.

This:

is what I drink. Right now. At 2:43pm. Ha ha.

-Katie
Oh, and to everyone who told me to cut my hair, I did, thanks for the help. The final straw was Lexi saying I looked like an Indigo Girl (confidential to Lexi: shut up and now we're in a fight).

This is fowl (hyuck hyuck)

2008-01-29T04:51:00.000-03:00

Pheonix and I have been WWOOFing since the 26th and so far it's been a blast. We are staying with Tanya and Simon and their adorable two kids: Samantha and Thomas. They live on a 9 acre family farm in Nelson, NZ. We do chores to earn our room and board. One of our responsibilities is to help tend to the poultry, they have chickens, ducks, and turkeys. As we now intimately know, these birds are not just for egg production... they are for eatin' too!

Here are the happy alive birds...

I made a video of Tanya killing the two turkeys that we prepared for dinner, but it's a little too gruesome to put online. But, here's a pic of Phenoix plucking one of them. She was good, a little too good for a former militant vegan if you ask me, about plucking then gutting the turkeys. Here she is, looking ever so happy to be destroying life:

Plucking their warm bodies and taking their guts out and chopping their feet and wings was totally disturbing and much more difficult than I thought it would be, but dinner was delicious:

Then, we went back to the coup to play with the ones that were still alive. Look! Ducklings are adorable (these are dinner in a few months. Yum. Heh heh.)

-Katie

Road Trippin'

2008-01-15T21:45:00.000-03:00

Phew, we made it. Pheonix and I went on a crazy two week adventure around New Zealand. It was incredible. This:

was our car. It was a loaner from a friend of Kate and Rob's. It drove like a dream and I even took a turn behind the wheel:

It was a terrifying few hours but I tried. And I will never do it again. I swear.

We ate most of our meals by pulling over to the side of the road and throwing together some kind of edible sandwich from the options inside the cooler. It wasn't bad, but there is a limit to the number of meat-log sandwiches one can consume in a week:
We also slept most nights in the back of the car and on a few occassions we couch surfed with people (more on that in a later post).

Fortunately, we were also able to enjoy and explore our surroundings outside of the car. Here we are in front of a random waterfall on the west coast. Hooray for 10 second timers!

[As some of you make have noticed (Ariana), I am in the middle of a hair crisis. Without any good ideas of my own (suggestions are welcome) I went for the tried and true option of a do-rag (bringin' it back from my field hockey days circa 1995). An unfortunate outcome is that I look like a stupid hippie now.]

Rest assured, New Zealand is gorgeous:

We saw glaciers and fiords (which I discovered are like sounds only carved by glaciers, not rivers) and sea lions and penguins and an albatross and jungles and ruins and sunsets and everything that you would want to see on a blog, but my camera is a little busted so this is all you get.
Here is the one wildlife picture that I wrangled from my camera. We swam in this crystal clear lake for a while and when we got out we saw a HUGE black eel:

We thought it was creepy at the time, but then we found out that they bite people. With big horrible teeth. The animal kingdom hates me. No joke.

-Katie
PS - Check out the poll to the right. This choice was a very real, daily struggle for us.

What would a torturous pest look like?

2008-01-09T01:36:00.000-03:00

This:
Sand flies make it "challenging" to enjoy life on the Western coast of New Zealand. If Pheonix so chooses she can comment on how calm and collected I've been despite the DOZENS of bites I have on my feet, ankles, legs, and other butt-like places that are exposed when peeing in the woods.
I hate sandflies and they hate me - but they are winning the war!
AAAARRRRGGGGG!
-Katie

Kiwi-an News

2008-01-01T18:16:00.000-03:00

It's the New Year. Whoa. Let's hope 2008 continues to kick as much ass as 2007. So, I guess 2008 is the year of "keepin' it up." Ha-ay.

Lately, Pheonix (otherwise known as P.Diddy, Pids, Dids, Phx or Dune) and I have been hanging out in the small New Zealand town of Rangiora which is home to Phx's parents.

Group photo:

Kate and Rob (the 'rents) are awesome and somehow they know everyone in this town. The other day this old guy showed up at their door wanting to give me and Dids a tour of the town in his old car. Who is this guy? Eric. He's just a friend of the family. um... Rad! So, we got into his car and drove around Rangiora. He took us to his friend's house who also has old cars and we then went for a drive with him, too!

It was totally fun:

We've done some other things, too.
Like, we went to the ocean:

We visited the itty-bitty town (pop. 650!) of Oxford:

For all you landscape lovers(?), here is an example of the amazing New Zealand scenery:

Oh and get this: Kate and Rob have friends who agreed to lend us a car for two weeks to travel around the southern New Zealand island! So, we're leaving tomorrow to go on a two week adventure to see fiords (whatever they are), penguins, and more cute New Zealand towns. 2008 is already keepin' up the ass kicking that defined 2007. Sweet.

-Katie

New Zealand Decembers

2007-12-26T06:25:00.000-03:00

This is how I spent the last few days. How's the weather in the states these days? Bahahahaha!

Kisses!
-Katie

(For the people who want the deets, the picture is of me, Pheonix, and Pheonix's Dad [Rob] jumping off a dock into Akaroa harbor.)

By Popular Demand...

2007-12-21T06:33:00.000-03:00

At the request of both family and friends, and much to the chagrin of Katie, this blog is being temporarily co-opted by...me (Pheonix).

We did some pretty rad things during our stint in Australia. I'll jump right to Melbourne, because it was our favorite. It reminded us a lot of Seattle, maybe because we spent most of our time in cafe's drinking coffee, but we had some good nature experiences as well, as you'll see.

We started off our trip there by riding into the train station with no idea where we were or how to find the folks we were staying with. After a few ventures out to find an internet connection, and convincing Katie that she didn't have to embrace each and every bag to avoid theft, we found our hosts in the grocery store buying some beer. Leo and Greg are awesome guys with great senses of humor, and they made sure we enjoyed ourselves in their city.

Melbourne has tons of colorful graffiti and stencil art. Here is a pretty typical alley way:

And a few of my favorites up close:

Keep your eye out for a little graffiti zine we will be working on.

We also went to the immigration museum, which was fantastic. Melbourne is like the Ellis Island of Australia, and they had tons of history in this museum. Other touristy things we did included: having lunch in some park and walking through the Queen Victoria Market, a huge open air combination of flea market junk, organic produce, and live little chickens and ducks. I bought a tea towel with a map of Australia on it, and Katie tried to find a cool Australia jacket that would fit her brother, but they were all too small.

Oh, and we went to the beach. Seeing as how there is no ozone layer down here, going to the beach consisted of: rolling our pants up a little, lathering up in sun tan lotion, getting out our books and water bottles, and sitting on the sand for about 5 seconds before it got too hot and it was time to move on. We did, however, have a lovely walk along the water and found a few adorable dogs to play with. There were 2 little yappy gay boy dogs who just wrestled and rolled around in the sand, and a tough little girl dog who ditched her owner when we walked up and decided we were the only ones who could throw her tennis ball for her.

That was the beginning of the nature experience, where all the ferral little creatures of Australia came out to say hi to us. We saw wild penguins nesting in rocks, they used to be called Fairy Penguins, but out of respect for fags everywhere, some of whom apparently didn't want penguins named after them, their name was changed to...Little Pengins. No pictures, though, because it blinds the little things. We did see some fluffy little chicks, along with some swimming water rats.

We also saw kangaroos:

Unfortunately they don't stand still for pictures. But, they do just hop wild in the streets of suburbs.

We also saw a deadly spider:

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), our hosts sprayed it with Raid. This picture is post-Raid.

We saw a bat just chillin in a tree in the park:

The best, however, were the 'possums, which we quickly made best friends with, thanks to a loaf of stale bread:

(That is a lollypop in my hand, which I pulled out of the mouth of a baby 'possom. Stealing candy from babies, I'm so bad.)

And that pretty much wraps it up. We are now in New Zealand to reconnoiter with my folks, I'm sure Katie will be glad to have control of her blog back to give her faithful readers the next update.

xo,
Pheonix

Cool Kids

2007-12-18T03:37:00.000-03:00

Pheonix and I are having a ball in Australia, mainly because we are meeting really cool people. We spent three nights with Ed and Kat:

They are superfun. Ed rides a Penny-Farthing (RAD!):

and plays in a couple bands. Here he is in The Fuelers playing the upright bass:

Kat just generally kicks ass and got an adorable puppy, Eva, a week ago:

We had a great time sharing food, drinks, and stories with Ed and Kat in Canberra. We were sad to go, but hopefully we'll see them in Seattle some time soon-ish.
We are now staying with Leo and Greg who are the wonderfullest people in all of Melbourne.
-Katie

PS: We saw kangaroos (duh) in Canberra and penguins in Melbourne.
"What?!" say you. Yeah... I don't really know why penguins are on the beaches in Southern Australia - no ice, no ozone, it's summer. But, there they were and the pictures didn't turn out! Dammit! They were super cute, too. Grr.

Wollongong (rated PG13)

2007-12-10T04:12:00.001-03:00

I left India and I am heartbroken about it so it’s not to be discussed until I have a ticket in my hand to go back.

The upside is I’m in Australia, hooray! And, I’m with Pheonix, hooray! We’ve been in and out of Sydney, which feels strangely similar to Seattle so it was somewhat familiar. Now, we’re in the town of Wollongong where the residents have weird senses of humor.
A Public Service Announcement about the problem with drunken walking:

Business establishments that refer to sexual acts without apology (!):

And the current events are rather gruesome:

This place is, needless to say, bizarre. Let’s hope weirdly fascinating things happen to us here...
-Katie
(I turn 26 tomorrow, which I’m sure you all remember, but it is kind of sad to have a birthday on the road... miss you guys.)

Sanjay

2007-12-02T04:42:00.000-03:00

This:

is Sanjay.
Sanjay drives a rikshaw and this is how we met: Yesterday afternoon I was looking for someone to take me sightseeing around Pune (pronounced "Poona"). Sanjay stood out from the crowd of eager drivers - I think it's his friendly face and demeanor. Once we agreed that he would be my driver, we almost immediately developed a fun and lively relationship. One that wasn't so much based on verbal communication, but rather subtle more profound methods including various arm and hand gestures... Anyway, off we went! Sanjay's tireless rik tore around Pune with enthusiasm and speed that can only be fueled by loud, noxious diesel gas.

First, he took me to:
The Aga Khan Palace (Gandhi was held in detention here for 2 years, his wife passed away here, as well):

Then, to The Saras Baug Park:

Rushing past the Lal Mahal (another palace where a famous Indian historical figure was held in detention for a while):

Nearby was Shaniwarwada (which is an old kick ass mansion, but really a fortress):

Lastly, we went to The Pataleshwar Caves:

After that, we called it a day, but not before we promised to meet up early tomorrow (this) morning to go to The Osho Commune:

And to check out the Laxmi Market:

Sanjay and I just bid our final farewell where he overcharged me for a second day in a row. Sanjay, thanks for the goodtimes!

-Katie

Transportation in India

2007-11-29T03:37:00.001-03:00

I'm in India!
A couple first impressions: it's not as hot as I expected, it is relatively easy to navigate around, and the transportation here rules.
For starters, they drive on the right.

Weird:

Next, there are rickshaws that drive around willy-nilly. They are like covered tricycles. They are driven with motorcycle handbars inside.

In other words, they are rad:

My final observation about the transportation issues in India I've discovered thus far is that people like to honk. A lot. It's like they are communicating all sorts of little things to each other, things that I don't normally see people honking about in the US. For instance, if you are turning right, HONK. Or, if someone else is merging, HONK. Or, if things are just too slow, dammit! HONK! Or, you're bored, just honk. I think it is hilarious.

It can all be summed up with this bumper sticker that I saw:

I love India.
-Katie

More Generosity

2007-11-26T09:14:00.000-03:00

I am staying at Uri's place in Tel Aviv and I've been here since Friday, he is so willing to share his space. I hope someday I can return the favor...
I have explored various markets and cafes since my return to the tel. I haven't done anything terribly interesting - except there was a protest/march we went to the other night. It was basically the Israeli equivalent of Take Back the Night: "NO means NO means NO..." or in Hebrew: "LO ez LO ez LO..."
Uri was arrested for civil disobedience, but he's out and fine now.

Yesterday I visited family outside Jerusalem. I hung out with my cousin and his wife and I met their four adorable kids - it was so much fun to spend even a little bit of time with them. David, my cousin, lives close to my grandmother's roommate from college and she gave him a picture of her from college days:

David and Devorah, his wife, treated me to a wonderful dinner and dessert plus a comfortable bed to spend the night.
-Katie

Israeli Graffiti Art

2007-11-26T08:30:00.000-03:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-23T02:01:00.000-03:00

We North Americans celebrated Thanksgiving with smoothies and french fries. It was a fun way to spend my last night in the lap of luxury in Haifa. Sheer leaves for Switzerland today (have fun!) and Adam and I head south to Tel Aviv.
More to come soon...
-Katie

An Ending and a Beginning

2007-11-20T03:29:00.000-03:00

Yesterday was my last day on Lotan and it was mostly spent packing and running around doing last minute things. The previous day (Sunday) was when I really said goodbye. It was a lovely day - chi gong in the morning, a final lesson with Mike, a closing circle, and then the certificate ceremony with dinner

I had an absolutely wonderful time on Lotan. I strongly recommend the Green Apprenticeship for anyone who is interested in living sustainably and has a few months to spare. I learned amazing skills and I am impatient to put them into practice upon my return to Seattle. I am thankful to the members of Kibbutz Lotan and the staff of the Center for Creative Ecology for their time and energy. The GA is a wonderful program because of them.

Farewell images:
Sunrise over the Jordanian Mountains, just East of Lotan:

I planted these sunflowers as seeds!

Award Ceremony (I am a certified permaculture and ecovillage designer. bahahahaha!):

Goodbye GA. It was a blast!

As I struggle with the transition out of Lotan, I am fortunate that Sheer is incredibly generous and offered to put me up for three nights in her family's apartment in Haifa. I don't know if I would have survived if it hadn't been for the condo on the 18th floor of an apartment building on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea. It's been a difficult transition but at least I have a king size bed and balcony to make it a little bit easier. (Thanks to Sheer and her family for their generosity. This apartment is, without a doubt, going to be the nicest place I'll sleep for the next six months.)

Goodbye Lotan...
Hello Haifa!
-Katie

More Lotan Adventures

2007-11-12T08:53:00.000-03:00

My time is winding down on Lotan, but I still have another week so I’ll do the whole “it’s been great and I’m going to miss it” thing then. I had a good week and one of the highlights was going to Timna which is like a national park. It has these ancient copper mines and beautiful landscapes. It was an all day hike and we had a ball.

Check it out:

We also saw Solomon’s Pillars:

At the end of the week we went to Neot Smedar which is another kibbutz that some people think is a cult, but I think it’s all a big misunderstanding. The members built this crazy craft center and it’s kind of... ugly, but still impressive, no?

Then, I had my second to last shabbat dinner on Lotan and enjoyed the quiet weekend.
-Katie

Weekend Travels

2007-11-04T11:34:00.000-03:00

Dude. I was in Egypt over the weekend. What the hell, right? Here's the deal. A bunch of us have been talking about going to Sinai (Egypt) for a while. We decided a few weeks ago that we were going to go this past weekend. Then, the equivalent of the Israeli Homeland Security Department released this scary thing saying that people shouldn't go to Sinai because someone's going to kidnap people and hold them hostage. So, I wasn't going to go and I was totally bummed because it was going to rock. But then, I went. It doesn't really make sense, but it did rock and I didn't get kidnapped so I'm thrilled I went (except for the mosquito bites all over my FACE).

We stayed with Ahab on Diana Beach. Ahab is Bedouin and his beach has been passed down through a few generations and now he's building mud houses there. One of the GA's (Amit) has a boyfriend who volunteers with Ahab so we decided to come down and help, too. It was fun to be useful and relax at the same time.

Here's the hut I slept in on the first night:

Here's the umbrella thing I slept under the second night (the sun's coming up on the Red Sea, whoa):

Mud building:

Ohad and I are wearing orange:

Despite the previous week's difficulties, I managed to have a perfectly lovely time this weekend (so there, Andrew).
-Katie

Kvetching

2007-10-30T02:23:00.000-03:00

For some unknown reason this was kind of a rough week for me. I’ve been in Israel for two months and I think it’s a little too much time here. Perhaps part of it is kibbutz life, I have discovered some problems or shall we say challenges about this lifestyle.
“WHAT?!” say you?
Yes... I know it’s damn near impossible to believe that there are some hard components to living on a commune. But, it’s true.
For instance, I share a house with three other people and a room with one of those three. The door to our shared room in our shared house has been broken for oh... three weeks now. In a country where cockroaches are not really seen as a pest problem, I miss having a door to shut out undesirables: bugs, sights, smells, the occasional stray cat etc. And I have a hunch that the kibbutz isn’t going to get that door back on its hinges until well after we leave. Just a hunch.
Additionally, there is this expectation that “what’s mine is yours” or more precisely "what's yours is mine." While I appreciate that things should be shared (sharing is caring) and that personal property can be a problem (I mean, property is theft), I grew up in America. As a middle child. What's mine is mine and what's yours is yours. If I want to share mine with yours (which I do), let me offer it to you. I am not suggesting that all Americans are selfish little shits. I am suggesting that all American middle-children (ahem) are selfish little shits. Thus, the kibbutz mentality just doesn’t jive with me.

That being said it was still a pretty good week on Lotan.
We baked brownies in a solar oven:

We visited an Anarchist Kibbutz (What the hell, right? I just go on the trips I don’t plan them) where they had crazy boob houses:

I went snorkeling in Eilat:

And I made a mug (!):

The finished mug (just for you, Alex):

I’m in Israel for another month and then I think I will welcome the change of scenery as I venture to my second (and last) “I” country for this trip around the world: India.
-Katie

As We've Discussed, Shit isn't Waste... That Goes for Us, too

2007-10-20T04:25:00.000-03:00

I've written before that the Arava desert, in which Lotan is situated, is an “extremely arid” desert. Needless to say water is a highly valuable resource. Flushing water down the toilet bowl is a ridiculous thing to do in this environment and as a result areas of the kibbutz utilize composting toilets to reduce water consumption.

Composting toilets convert human waste into organic compost and usable soil. Generally speaking, people don't use "humanure" (yes, it's a ridiculous term but I assume the opportunity was too good to pass up) as fertilizer or soil on annual garden plants. Not only is there a fundamental "icky" factor, but there are some potential health concerns as well. Instead it is used on trees and flowers.

I have seen a handful of composting toilets in my day and not all of them have been pleasant experiences. The Lotan composting toileting experience, however, is a dream.

Check it out, here is the bathroom building from the outside:

One of the FOUR stalls:

A close up:

The sink:

I am totally impressed with these babies. There is no god-I-hope-it-doesn’t-smell anxiety before I enter, it is fun (a handful of straw into the pot after you do your thing does the trick), and it’s good for the environment! Hats off to Lotan for making composting toilets respectable.
-Katie

Note: I apologize for back-to-back postings discussing shit. I will avoid all things fecal in my next installment.

A Sample GA Lesson or Why Mike Probably Won't Be Hired as an Academic Professor (even though he should be)

2007-10-15T11:58:00.000-03:00

Here is a lesson we can reasonably expect on any given day as a GA on Kibbutz Lotan:

Clearly we are going to learn about shit and then put the lesson into practice:

For those of you who are wondering what type of shit this is, it comes from the Kibbutz dairy. More specifically from:

And then from there, we will make "shit tea." Yes, "shit tea." Yum:
I thought I would be a little more specific about some of the pleasures I get to enjoy as a GA. For everyone who doesn't know, "shit tea" is an amazing fertilizer. It's so potent it usually needs to be diluted before it can be added to your garden.
-Katie

Hanging Out

2007-10-15T11:48:00.000-03:00

After a long day of working in the garden and exploring neighboring Kibbutz Grofit, I relaxed by lounging on a dog:

(continued thanks to Marisa for making the "Bikesexuals" silkscreen - everywhere I go people want my shirt. Like hell I would give that shirt away...)

The next day, my friend Michal came down to visit for the weekend:

It was really fun to see her and to catch up on things, considering we haven't seen each other since 2001(!) there was plenty to share. Hopefully we'll get to see each other again when she (maybe) joins us for a trip to Sinai.
-Katie

Another Lotan Week

2007-10-09T10:31:00.000-04:00

Wow. I’ve been doing some crazy rad things in the desert these days. Check it out:
Building Geodesic Domes

Sorting dates factory style

Eating arugula from my own personal garden (I don’t even like arugula, but I guess if you grow it yourself it tastes better because it really wasn’t that bad!)

Going on a beautiful hike (those are ibex in the distance)

I also managed to get 1. a piece of glass in and then out of my foot (why am I such a wreck?!) and 2. a haircut (can you tell from the pictures?).
In other news, the mosquitoes have emerged from their summer slumber and have begun to torture me. The one good thing about the desert was the lack of skeeters. Now I don’t even have that. Stupid desert.
Regardless, I am having a wonderful time.
-Katie

A Queer Break

2007-10-02T10:57:00.000-04:00

I have been on Kibbutz Lotan (except for the journey to Eilat) since I arrived over three weeks ago. And while it is a wonderful place with wonderful people, it is itty bitty (150 people) and in the middle of nowhere (Arava Desert) and extremely arid (fewer than 30mm of rain a year). Needless to say, I had to leave. So I spent the weekend in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Sheer and I left together and we had a great time. We went to Jaffa:

watched a movie (with English subtitles), and wandered around appreciating the freedom. Sheer and I went our separate ways on Friday - she to Lotan and I stayed in Tel Aviv (and then Jerusalem) to get my queer on. I went to J-town to attend a queer street party. It was totally adorable:

About 25-30 people were there, we danced and hung out for about 2 hours. I mostly sat and watched because everything was in Hebrew... Maybe you all know this, but Jerusalem does not like the queers so much and everyone was happy that there was no violence from the police or the orthodox Jews. (Perhaps we can all agree that religious fundamentalism, ANY religious fundamentalism, is bad bad bad.) It made me appreciate the US a lot. Well, it made me appreciate Seattle at least.
After that, I went back to Tel Aviv, saw a drag king show, and then slept. The next day I returned to Lotan where I immediately recommenced sweating...

Andrew is legal. Oh shit.

2007-09-28T16:25:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday, kiddo.
I can't believe you're 18.
It's ridiculous.

Green Apprenticeship (GA) Education

2007-09-25T10:40:00.000-04:00

Some of you have asked me about what I am learning in Israel. Here is a rough sketch of some of the topics we are discussing on Kibbutz Lotan.

-Natural Building: building structures (homes, benches, retaining walls, etc) out of mud, straw, tires, etc

-Permaculture: roughly defined as "the development of perennial agricultural systems that mimic the structure and interrelationships found in natural ecologies."

-Organic Gardening: growing plants without chemicals for soil, fertilizer, and pest control

-Healthy Living: including physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being (I know, I know, I'm ridiculous, but it's endearing, right? RIGHT?) consisting of Chi Kong stretching in the morning, Watzu lessons, among other topics. Here's the Watzu pool:

Those are the topics we've focused on thus far. I know we still have loads to learn. Oh! by the end of the program I will be a certified permaculture and ecovillage designer. Wow... So, if any of you have a garden, space, or ecovillage (bahahaha!) that you want help designing, just let me know.
-Katie

A-tone-mint

2007-09-21T14:15:00.000-04:00

Yom Kippur began tonight. I did not, as originally planned, go to Jerusalem to observe other people celebrating their beliefs. Instead I chose to stay on Lotan and attempt to observe Yom Kippur in my way:
I have had a wonderful year. My family, my friends, the people I love are (mostly) happy and healthy. I met an amazing person who I love and enjoy. I have a variety of freedoms and privileges that allow me to make positive choices in my life.
In other words, I have it very good – and I am thankful.
That being said, I believe I have an obligation to work for justice so that other people have the ability to create their own happiness, too. I do not get to take from the world without giving back. That is my responsibility – or so I’ve been told.

I am not going to take up too much time discussing my mistakes. But needless to say they are numerous and I hope to learn and grow from each one, well... at least the big ones.
I hope you all forgive me for my transgressions, intentional or unintentional. Certainly, I forgive you for yours.
May we all be inscribed in the book of life for this upcoming year (but only if you want to be...)
-Katie

The half-moon over Kibbutz Lotan:

(BAHAHAHAHA that is a hilarious picture of the moon! It looks so small! You'll have to trust me that the sky over Lotan is amazing and gives me reason to stop and pause. I guess relatively cheap point and shoot cameras don't always perform the way you'd like... Google image search "moon" and pretend those pictures are what I see every night. Now you get it, yeah?)

A trip to Eilat

2007-09-19T11:13:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the first time I left the kibbutz since I arrived on the 3rd. It was, needless to say, a much needed break. Nine of us went into Eilat to enjoy the city and say goodbye to Serena, one of the GAs, who decided that the program was not right for her. Here are a few things that we enjoyed on our excursion:

The ride down

The scenery

The supermarket

The drinks

And the nightlife

It was a nice night and an important break. We were back to work today building a retaining wall made out of tires. We built it with one less person - good luck finding what you are looking for Serena.
-Katie

Goats. Not for the weak.

2007-09-17T16:52:00.001-04:00

It was a long weekend in Israel because of Rosh Hashana. It was kind of boring (or relaxing, depending on how you look at it) on the kibbutz and I wanted to do something that would occupy some of my time. I heard there were baby goats (aka "kids") and that the workers could use some help feeding them. Off I went to be helpful and celebrate the new year with baby goats:
Cute, right? Wrong.
As I was sitting there feeding the smelly, dirty beast there were other smelly, dirty beasts entering the world mere feet away from me! Naturally, I ran over to where the mama goats were and looked in absolute horror as I saw this:

And then:

My first reaction was, as you would expect, EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW, SICK!!!!!!
Followed by: OOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!
It wasn't until a few hours had passed that I realized this was the first time I witnessed a live birth (perhaps my last?) Childbirth looks not fun AT ALL.
Clearly I am having an educational experience on the kibbutz in more than one arena. When all was said and done, 14 kids were born that day and I saw 5 of them. It was bizarre...
Let's hope things are eventually less exciting around here.
-Katie

New House.

2007-09-12T08:41:00.000-04:00

I moved from the tourism room (see previous post) to a new, better place:

L'shana tova everyone!
-Katie

Lotan - Week 2

2007-09-11T09:10:00.001-04:00

Since I last wrote one week officially ended (with Shabbat) and another officially began (with the end of Shabbat). It is a really amazing experience to have Shabbat on this kibbutz. While I wasn't a huge fan of the services (unfamiliar tunes and format), I loved the spirit. People were just hanging out and chatting, wishing each other "Shabbat Shalom" and giving hugs and kisses. It was totally great. Then, the next day was so chill and quiet - they really take the day of rest thing seriously here.
Sadly, Shabbat ended, but week #2 of the green apprenticeship (GA) began!
We started by working in the nursey which was fine until... A SCORPION GOT ON ME! No joke, I freaked out and brushed it off MY BARE SKIN. I thought that was a totally normal reaction to A SCORPION ON ME, but apparently I "over-reacted." Whatever, here is a picture of something vaguely similar to what was on me:

It didn't sting me so eventually I calmed down and continued with the day, but holy shit...
The next day we played with worms: (Efrat is eating this one, but most of them are used to make worm castings which is kick-ass fertilizer. I can't wait to make my own worm bin at my next home.)

and stuffed tires full of trash to make a bench:

Today I am a little sick - head cold nothing serious, it sucks, but I still planted a garden:

It's my first real garden and I forget what's in it, but hopefully I'll find out in a few weeks.

While we were planting the gardens, we heard sounds of warfare in the background. It was totally jarring and scary to hear bombs and missiles, although they are a normal component to life here. It's taking me time to adjust but there are some things about Israeli culture that I do not want to adjust to or welcome into my life...

Lotan - Week 1

2007-09-08T02:20:00.000-04:00

Well, it hasn't even really been a full week here, but man it feels like we've been here for a month. In a good way, my days are really full and long. Here is a typical schedule for me:
6am - Chi Kong (stretching)
6:30am - First practical lesson (working in the garden, building buildings out of mud etc...)
8:30am - Breakfast (mostly salad stuff, it's really nice in the morning)
9:30am - Second practical lesson
11:00am - Classroom lesson (topics vary: the history of Lotan, learning about global issues, environmental topics etc)
1pm - Lunch
2pm - Second classroom lesson
4pm - Free time
6:30pm - Dinner
Evening - Activities vary: The pub (if it's open), singing together, a movie, free time, etc
These days are FULL. I have been asleep before 10pm almost every night I've been here.
Here are some more pictures of the things I've done in the first few days:

Desert Hike

I planted seeds into dirt I made!

Making a raised bed garden

New friends! (We used food scraps to make the raised beds - they STANK!)

OH! If any of you out there feel inspired to send me something, please do! Here's my address:
Katie Porter
Green Apprenticeship
Kibbutz Lotan
D.N. Hevel Eilot
88855 Israel
I hope to get into Eilat sometime soon to pick up postcards or regular mail stuff so I'll start writing mail soon.
-Katie

Lotan Beginnings

2007-09-04T12:15:00.000-04:00

After enjoying only one night in Tel Aviv with Uri, I left yesterday for the Negev desert and Kibbutz Lotan. We drove 4 hours south to get here and since we arrived it has been pretty non-stop. I am staying in this little tourist house:

for only one week with fellow green apprentices Efrat (from Petachtikva, Israel) and Serena (from Concord, MA).
Today was pretty basic: orientation, why we are here, what we hope to get out of it, trust games, etc... The course syllabus is pretty cool, I am really looking forward to the next 11 weeks on Lotan.
We also had a chance to start making mud bricks:

That's not the greatest picture, but maybe you get the sense...
Also, we are literally a few feet away from the Jordanian border, check it out:

They told us we are not allowed to walk too close to the fense because the army will call them and we'll get interrogated. No joke. Whoa.
So, life is good here and I am enjoying myself. There are 11 of us all together, it's mostly Israelis which is a little difficult because I never know what they are talking about. Oh, and this shit is hot. It's the summer, in the desert, duh. But still, where the hell is the cloud cover?! Seattle has penetrated my soul it seems.
Enough internets, it's time to connect with people.
-Katie

First Leg = Done and Done

2007-09-02T10:41:00.000-04:00

Phew, I made it to Tel Aviv. It was actually pretty easy... I am staying the night with my friend Uri who I met at Queeruption. He is so sweet and quite the host. I came into his apartment all sweaty and hot and he sat me down with a drink of water and proceeded to make me two plates of the most delicious vegan food I have ever had. We are going to walk around Tel Aviv once the sun goes down, it's still pretty hot over here. I think he's going to show me the gay part of town, ha-ay!
Tomorrow I will meet up with the peple from Lotan, thus beginning my adventure on the kibbutz. Stay posted as updates are undoubtedly forthcoming.

-Katie

Almost Gone...

2007-08-29T09:44:00.000-04:00

Life is taking on its usual course in South Central PA:
Valerie is back at her home in DC.
Andrew is back to school - he's a high school senior, good god.
And both my parents are at work during the day.

Which leaves me plenty of time to make the final arrangements for my trip! I leave this Saturday at around 5pm for Israel (by way of Frankfurt - my first time on European soil!). I will arrive in Tel Aviv on the afternoon of September 2nd. I am going to crash at my friend Uri's place and then I will meet the mini-bus for Kibbutz Lotan on Sept. 3rd. Wow... I guess I am really doing this.

My apologies to SC PA, there are CRAZY, AWESOME experiences to be had. (Thanks to hot tipper Andrew Beane for the heads up.)

Getting Started!

2007-08-21T22:09:00.000-04:00

Hey Guys,
I made it to Lancaster, PA after a couple of annoying flights (avoid AirTran, as if you needed to be told...) and now I am with my family. It's really nice to be with them. I don't really have anything exciting to report other than the fact that I made this blog! But, I did want to get the rough schedule of my next 9 months up on this thing just in case someone I love wants to visit me (Vida? Ted? Janet? c'mon...) Anyway, here it is:

Israel: September 3-November 28
India: November 28-December 6
Australia (with Pheonix): December 8-20
New Zealand (with Pheonix): December 20-March 3
South America: March 3-May 30
These are rough dates and I can (will?) change them so please let me know if you are thinking about meeting me somewhere.

Oh, another technological update, Pheonix and I have a flickr page! Check it out and make loads of inappropriate comments: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kpophotos/

More updates once I am somewhere a little more exciting than South Central PA.
-Katie

Check out me and the bro.