perito moreno

we bought tickets today! to rio gallegos, and from there we can take yet another bus to el calafate, where we can see glaciar perito moreno, which is one of two moving glaciers in south america. i´m not sure what a moving glacier really means, but i guess i´ll find out in a couple days.
i did not realize that argentina is so big. huge. the bus to get to rio gallegos is 24 hours. wow. and we were on a bus 16 hours or so to get to where we are now. so we´re leaving sunday evening for rio gallegos. til then, we´re going to go on a brewery tour and drink lots of wonderful cervezas. and also go to a hill to see wood carved by artists. and maybe another hill. hills are a big deal around here i think. we were going to see a bird museum that has 100 stuffed birds, but decided that the money would be better spent on food because buses are sooo expensive and taking up a considerable chunck of money. today we´re going to pick farms to go to on our way through central america! i´m excited about that. also a bit nervous. i get nervous every time we go to a new place and have to find accomodation and food and everything. not like i think we´re not going to find those things, i think it might just be a bit of anxiety. anyway, i´ll for sure write about the beer tour and the glacier. i think those will be my highlights of the next couple weeks. oh and also, the town we´re in has mountains on both sides. i have some pictures. but it might be a while because it takes forever to upload...
love
kt

el bolson!

dearest dears. it´s been a minute. here´s a summary:
foo and i spent those two weeks in mendoza, then her parents came at the end of november. we met them in santiago and stayed at the holiday inn, which is way swank compared to our normal lodging. we went to valparaiso and vinas del mar and then santa cruz. where we toured and tasted wines at two bodegas: casa lapostolle and montes. casa lapostolle was pretty amazing, they are organic and biodynamic and make some delicious wine. and the process is super important and exact. and they take lots of care of the grapes. the wine from there won best wine in the world this year. the 2005 close apalta. montes was ok, but less impressive especially since we had just come from casa lapostolle. they practically abuse their grapes in comparison.
then we went back to argentina. spent a couple days in the urbana suites hotel in mendoza, drank more wine, and ate at this really good restaurant called la marchigiana or something like that. then headed to visit the agostinis again and the farm. that was fun. they´re super nice folks, and were excited to see us again.
we headed to san rafael for the night. stayed at the tower inn. very exciting. i like decent hotels. and drank more wine at dinner.
then we drove like a million miles to buenos aires. for real, in the middle of argentina there is nothing but desert with a few dry bushes and grasses, for hours. like 10 hours. we stopped in some small city outside buenos aires for the night. billychen and i stalked the only other asians for miles around (who worked in a little grocery store) and she talked to the man about hotels in the area. next day to buenos aires.
in b.a. there are soooo many cars and motorcyles and pedestrians. it is a really hectic place. one day there nancy and i went to lunch at this really good place called bio, which is organic and vegetarian. yesssss. after two months of meat and bread and pasta, i was feeling ready for organic green veggie goodness. and it was amazing. i would go back to b.a. just for that place. we also saw a tango show, which was clearly geared for tourists because it was ridiculously expensive. also, i don´t know much about tango, but it didn´t seem all that amazing. but what do i know about tango? oooh and one night we went to china town, which was pretty far away, but soooo worth it. the restaurant we went to had chinese people from china (as opposed to white people from santiago, like in our last chinese food adventure in south america). and the elderfoos did an excellent job ordering. that was a good meal. also, the elderfoos have introduced me to an amazing drink called shandy. it is beer and 7-up mixed together. sooo delicious. you should try it. i know it sounds like it might be sick, but it´s really good.
headed out of buenos aires, stopped in san luis and san juan. nothing too special there i don´t think. then back to mendoza for another amazing meal! on the elderfoo´s anniversary, we went to 1884 francis mallmann for dinner. it´s a bodega and restaurant so we had two bottles of good wine and really good food. i had pea soup. sooo good. and also pumpkin ravioli. amazing. i think we might go back there on our way to chile.
then nancyfoo and i went back to the farm in tunuyan. mistake. we were going to stay through christmas, but once we got there we realized that we didn´t want to work 60 or 70 hour weeks for no money. or even for money. so we decided to head south. we stopped in san rafael again for two days because there wasn´t a bus all the way south til then. in san rafael we went to the jean rivier bodega, which had pretty terrible wine. and we bought a bottle of borgoña wine from the suter bodega, which is quite possibly the worst wine i´ve ever had. seriously.

we arrived in el bolson yesterday. it´s a cute little hippie town. we´re camping here. so i sang foo every christmas song i know (she particularly loved ´rudolph the red-nosed reindeer´). and we had really delicious christmas eve dinner last night. it was like a set menu for 95 pesos, which is about $30. we got there at a bit after 9. so i stared with an artesanal beer that was really good. then a glass of malbec, which was also pretty good. foo had cabernet. and some little foods that were breads cut into shapes with some goo in the middle. i can´t remember what they were called. they were ok. then a salad. and guess what! it was in a bowl of crunchy asiago cheese. oh my goodness i about died. it was soooo good. and also there was a delicious piece of garlic bread. and avocado wrapped in ham. that was less good. but ok. then a lemon sorbet. amazing. then the main dish was tenderloin i think, wrapped in bacon stuff. and rice and asparugus and carrots. and more wine. and foo had trout ravioli, which was terrible, but my dish was enough for both of us so it was ok. then another glass of wine. and then dessert was a brownie with icecream and some berries and this sort of net of melty sugar turned hard. i´m sure it has a name. foo probably knows it too. check her blog. then champagne. it was midnight about then, and the whole restaurant staff came out and we toasted the fabulous xmas. then they brought yet more dessert. chocolate covered raisins, some sugary peanuts, some nugat stuff. but we were both too full to eat any of it. they gave us a little pan dulce as a gift. it´s a sweet bread with little bits of fruit in it. i don´t really like it, but i think it´s a traditional christmas thing here. we had it at the farm too. so then we walked home, and it was chilly and i´d had quite enough to drink. and that was christmas eve.
today is christmas. we washed our clothes, which were so dirty my mom would be ashamed. and ate bread and dulce de leche for brunch. wandered around the town a bit.
i think we´ll head further south sunday or monday to see a glacier.
that´s it for now.
lovelovelove
katie

runnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

dearest dear loves of my life:
someday i shall return to the US. perhaps next fall, or the spring after that. and after that, i will run a half marathon. not like right after that. at least three months. perhaps six months. and i think nancy foo will do it too, because you get free beer at the end. and i want everyone else to do it too. or at least come to watch. but preferably to run. we can pick a city. and meet there. and stay in a fancy hotel with a hot tub. yesssss.
i love you all.
kt

a note about mendoza, argentina

we have been here a few days now. some things i have noticed: mullets are cool. not like the 40-year old man in the US who wears nascar muscle tees and cut-off bleached jean shorts and is still wearing the same mullet he got in 1985. no no. the mullet here is worn by the popular kid in high school. and everyone else. and they´re bad mullets. like the whole top/front of the head is buzzed and then there is like this pantene commercial hanging off the back of the head. and this haircut is worn with pride. i blame maradona, who i guess is a really famous pro soccer player. i had never heard of him before coming here. but he´s on the news everyday it seems. and he has a mighty fine mullet himself. so every little boy who wants to grow up to be a pro soccer player (which is just about every little boy) cuts himself a pro-soccer mullet.
also, the traffic rules seem to be a bit different than i´m used to. by that, i mean that they don´t exist. this is what happens at intersections (which are almost all one-way): many many cars come at the intersection from two directions. they lean their heads wayyy far to see how many cars are coming from the other way (which is perpendicular to the street they´re on), and how fast they´re going. then they judge whether they can be first to cross or not. i´m not sure how that is decided. because sometimes it´s who gets there first, other times, it´s who is the bossiest driver i think. so basically, no traffic rules, just a keen sense of potential collisions. which makes being a pedestrian quite dangerous. probably more dangerous than being in a car.

also, today we bought a mate. which is a special tea cup. and the straw to drink the tea is called a bombilla. and we bought the tea, which is also called mate. i think i want to have a special mate tea time everyday even after leaving argentina.

mendoza

we´re in mendoza now, for a couple weeks total, til nancy foo´s parents arrive. we left la stala on sunday, we got dropped off at the bus station and we took an hour long bus ride to mendoza. we were thinking we would stay in a nice hotel for two or three nights to relax. so we found this hotel called balbi. relatively expensive. it was supposedly a three star hotel. for 240 pesos, which is about $75 or $80. i was thinking that for $80 in argentina we´d be in the lap of luxury. not so. there were two twin beds in the room, one painting on the wall, a little desk, a night stand. and a bathroom. i guess that is a bit vague for a description of quality. but basically, you´d get way better quality in the US for $80 a night. there was a bidet in the bathroom though. this is only the second bidet i´ve ever seen. and i didn´t know how to work it, so i decided to figure it out. there are three knobs on a bidet for those of you that don´t know...i didn´t. and i turned the one closest to me (i was on the side of the bidet, this was just a test run) and the water came out with some force. and it sprayed all over the bathroom and the ceiling. dang. and i was like ´nance, uhhh what do i do? i just got water all over the ceiling. should i wipe it off?´and she just said ýou got bidet water on my towel´. oops.
anyway, we decided the quality of balbi wasn´t high enough to spend $80 again, so we went to look for hostels and such. and we had this flyer that a girl on the street handed us the day before. on our way to balbi. so we went to check out the place on the flyer. 100 pesos per night for two people. we get shown to the room, which is an apartment that you can rent daily, weekly, or monthly. the room has a double bed and two twin beds and a fridge and a kitchen with dishes. amazing. we can cook. yessss. so we decided to stay there while looking for a longer term option. like two weeks or a month.
so for two or three days we stayed there and frantically searched for an apartment with furniture. the lady that works at the place we were staying knew somebody with an apt. we looked at it. 1800 pesos per month. which, by the way, is ridiculous. i think that may have been the tourist price. but we were desperate because the oven didn´t work and we were paying 100 pesos per day and the apt would be cheaper. so we decided to stay at the expensive apt but only til the end of november. so its not as bad.
anyway, now we have another crappy apartment in mendoza. i am learning that any accomodation that we rent here is going to be of relatively poor quality. i´m sure there are some really nice places for like $1000 per month. or more. but it seems like everyplace looks nice, but has several appliances that dont work. or leak. or do something else wrong. but i´m not used to closely inspecting a place before moving in. like checking to make sure the air conditioner works, the fridge works, all the lights work, the toilet doesn´t leak water all over the floor. i think that where i´m from, that´s a little rude. but apparently it´s necessary here. dang.
sooo, we´re wandering around mendoza for a couple weeks. its a nice city. we found a little market, like a farmers market. there are 4 or 5 produce stands there. but get this: you aren´t allowed to touch the merchandise. you get a number and tell them how many kilos you want of whatever and they go get it for you. but the food is all sitting out and looks like you would pick it up yourself. but no. you don´t.
so today we´re trying to plan the next 6 months or so, and also do laundry. that´s it. oh also, i want to eat popcorn. so three goals for the day...
the next 6 months: foo is trying to stay out of the US for a full year so her work visa can be renewed for another 6 years. if that is what we´re doing, then i think we´ll work our way up through south and central america, wwoofing along the way for three weeks at a farm, til april 23, when foo can fly to canada and stay for 3 months, and i might go there, or might go to MO to hang out with the family for a bit. then foo can re-enter the US after july 23. so we have to plan what countries we want to wwoof in along the way.
what else about mendoza? the ice cream is really really good. folks are generally really friendly. we´ve been so busy finding a place to stay we haven´t gotten to explore too much. so i guess we´ll start that today.
when we were looking for a place, we had to call a lot of people to ask if they had stuff to rent. by we, i mean i had to call. and understanding spanish over the phone is much harder than in person. but after the second or third call i realized it isn´t so hard. and it was much better from then on.

foo seems a little happier, i think. being super independent, i think it´s hard for her to live completely by someone else´s schedule. like on the farm. and i don´t think all farms are so consuming of time. just this one. it was like 50 or 60 hours per week, and free time was always with the family inside because it was dark outside by then. and we didn´t get to choose what or when to eat, or when to shower, or what to do in free time even. so having this apartment i think works better for her.
i also like the freedom aspect. but i think i´d get bored if we stayed here for a month, which was the first plan. bored because i don´t have a life here, or friends, or a job. but it´s good for now.
so we´ll head to santiago on the 28th and pick up nancy foo´s parents. then i guess stay in santiago for a couple days before heading back to argentina.
much love,
katie

cansada

hello, dears! we´ve been at la stala for a month now. and we´re both tired and dirty still. but i think my spanish is improving. and foo´s is for sure. on friday foo stabbed herself in the eye with barley. and she got the chunks out but her eye was still hurting so i was like, let me look, i´ll take out whatever is left. and so i was looking at her eye and trying to poke my finger into it to brush out what looked like fuzz on the brown part of her eye. and i tried to get it out and her eye kept fluttering and her eyelid sort of turned inside out. which is kind of gross looking. but then after a few minutes of this i realized it was not fuzz in her eye. it was the tissue of her eyeball which was torn away and sort of floating on her eyeball. so good thing i didn´t touch it with my finger. we tried to go to a specialist that afternoon, and laura, the host lady, drove us to the hospital first. we were walking in the door and another family was also heading that way, and then laura kicked it into mom-mode and walked faster to get ahead of the family. she pushed in front of the three year old entering the door, knocking the poor kid in the head with her purse. then she went up to the window, first in line, of course, and knocked on it and then on the wood desk til finally the lady came out. the hospital doesn´t see patients with eye problems. bueno. so we go to a specialist office, where there are three women working at the reception. and no doctor. and he won´t be in at all today, or tomorrow. ok, so we leave and i ask why there are three receptionists and no doctor. one to serve the mate, one to get the water and the other to drink it. mate is a tea, btw. pronounced mah-tey. so we went to two more specialists offices, which were both closed, and finally we just went to a little medical clinic. the doctor shined a flashlight in foo´s eye, which is very sensitive to light, and said he doesn´t think it is serious, but go to a specialist. bueno. so it´s friday afternoon and the only doctor working in the whole city that day says go see someone else. saturday foo woke up with a whole lot of gross greenish goo on her eyeball. and a lot of pain opening and closing her eye.
this conversation happened:
katie: does your eye hurt?
foo: no. it just feels like something is stabbing my eyeball all the time.
right...
so that day was rough. sunday she woke up with more goo. and more pain.
today, monday, we went to the specialist. who looked at her eyeball and dilated it and looked at it again. and said basically there´s nothing in it, it´s just scraped. and he gave her a prescription for eyedrops. so we´ll see how that goes.

i´m thinking we´ll move on from this farm this week. maybe stay in hostels for a couple weeks and rest, then foo´s parents are coming.
´
that´s all the interesting news for now....

this week...

hey all! this is going to be a bit quick...
three pigs had babies this week! and several have gotten squashed by the giant mama pigs. the word in spanish for squashed is aplastar. haha. several chanchitos aplastados. tragic.
i´m pretty tired. and dirty. we work 7 days a week. and it´s all kind of the bitch work of farming. like if i had my own farm, i would take a minute to make lunch, clean the house, relax a bit. but being the help, we pull a lot of weeds and dig a lot of tiny canals to water plants. i think we might take a couple weeks in mendoza to relax. and cook our own food. i eat a lot lot lot of white bread here. foo seems to be doing a little better. she´s learning tons of spanish but i don´t think she feels like it yet. a couple kids from the US came to the farm for 4 days this week. it was good to have some more communication in english. also, the internet is unbelievably slow. tomorrow we´re making chinese pancakes for the family for dinner. it´s nice to be able to cook even if it´s only once every two weeks. also, luis, the owner of the farm, likes to talk about foo (in spanish, of course) and the other day he said she was like a ´tanque de agua´. they seem to think that being asian gives her special harmony and balance. for real. she´s as tranquila as the water in a water tank.

farming and such.

we´re still at la stala. not sure how long we´ll stay. i´m not sure this place is awesome for nancy´s soul. so we´re talking maybe language school for a month or so, maybe a farm where they speak english. i can imagine being around 6 people who speak a different language that you don´t know would be a bit difficult.
anyway, more about la stala: everyday we wake up at about 9. it´s really hot in the day time and really sunny. and at night it gets super cold. so at 9 we get dressed, go inside and eat breakfast and have tea. then we go out back and feed the pigs and the chickens and sometimes the rabbits. there are 4 pigs that are separated from the rest because they´re pregnant. and 2 of them are going to have baby pigs any day now. i can´t wait! the family sells the baby pigs for christmas. i think that baby pig is a traditional christmas food here. so they´re going to have like 50 pigs to sell. oh my. so after pig feeding we get the eggs from the chickens. and we start the work day. we pull weeds, cut oregano to dry it, put compost on the garden. last week we dug sort of trenches to water the grape vines. we did a pretty good job i think. it doesn´t rain too much here so the watering system involves one giant canal which is 300 meters away. you have to go there, block it off a little so the water is redirected through several people´s property down a little man-made canal and then directed to different parts of the farm, depending on where you want to water. then it goes down between each row of plants. and everything is muddy for three days.

we eat well. a lot of food. and at this point, i feel like i´m physically active enough that my food is just fuel. there is no recreational eating. i´m still not used to the dinner at 11 pm. i still would prefer a 7pm dinner and bed at 10 or 11.

i´m loving this place. tired, but loving it. i think the family is a little more comfortable with us now, because they bicker in front of us. kind of often. and they all have this like sing-songy whiney voice. except the mom. that can get annoying.

so today when we get back to the farm we´re going to have lunch then cut oregano and tie the grape vines to the fence-support thing above the vines. and then maybe weed some more and cut off chamomile flowers to dry for tea.

oh my goodness! this happened today: we use the dry bathroom, which is a composting toilet, which is outside. it´s like a little room with a toilet seat and a bucket underneath to catch all the business. so one scoop of sawdust gets put on pee and two scoops on poo. and you can pull the bucket out when it´s full and put it on the compost. so i did my business and i was scooping sawdust into the bucket and then appeared a dog head in the toilet! dulce is the dog´s name. she stuck her head in from outside the bathroom. oh my.

not sure when we´re heading out from here. or to where. i could stay a while but i think foo´s soul could use a change. so we´ll see.

i guess that´s it. i could use a bit more salad and fresh veggies and fruits in my diet. we eat tons and tons of bread. delicious, but a huge change from how í´ve eaten for the past year.

i´m looking extra forward to having my own farm and making it run how i want. seeing what works, growing my own foods.

but i think i´m learning more spanish, which is good. i´m thinking that to not overwhelm ourselves with learning yet another language, we´ll have a stop over in an english-speaking country for a bit after this. but who knows. at this point there are no definite plans at all......

much love,
katie

La Stala

We made it (again)! we had a 6 or 7 hour bus ride from santiago, chile to mendoza, argentina. we had to go up through the mountains and it was snowing. so when we passed through customs, which was like a sort of a giant garage/tunnel there was a giant hole in the roof and it was snowing inside onto all of us. we got to mendoza and searched through the bus station and found a place that had a bus leaving exactly at that moment. so we bought tickets and ran to the bus, which took an hour or maybe more. but this bus had random stops on the side of the highway so we didn´t know when to get out because it´s not like there were big friendly signs. there was a huge family next to us slash behind us that was playing this song on their cell phone over and over the whole time. the words i understood were ¨eres mi chica sexy¨, which means you are my sexy girl. so an hour of that and we finally made it to tunuyan. where we were let off. on the side of the road. with no idea at all where to go. we knew we were supposed to take a taxi to the house. so we found what looked like it might be sort of the main road and walked up it. everyone- no joke- every single person that we passed stared. and stared hard. because turns out the asians don´t come here too often. so two foreigners with huge backpacks, one of them asian, walking around looking lost. finally we found a taxi man. and he drove us there. on the way i told him what we were here for and he asked me about mormons from utah. i think a lot of missionaries come here.
anyway, so we made it to the farm. there were some french kids there wwoofing too. but the family agostini has 4 kids, who are by far the best kids in the world. they are all super nice and behave and help. antonella is 14 and helps nance and i learn spanish. maurizio is 13. he is really funny and reminds me of craigy a little. nicolas is 16, doesn´t talk as much but i get the vibe that he´s a really good kid. and sofia is 18. she´s nice but i don´t know too much about her. laura is the mom and she is a teacher and luis is the dad. he works on the farm all day.
so far nance and i have cleared ground and built sort of a trench for grape vines, weeded a whole lot, fed pigs a lot of times, milked a cow, fed chickens, cleaned up rabbit poo, and i got stung on my booty crack by a wasp. no joke. not quite sure how it got there, because i was wearing pants. anyway... and we eat with the family. the food is delicious. laura is a supermom. she works, comes home, cooks lunch, works on the farm, cooks the afternoon meal, washes clothes, cooks dinner. she does everything. also, we eat four times a day: breakfast at 9, then lunch at 2 or 3, which lasts about 2 hours. then mediatarde, which is at 7 or so. then dinner at 11. then bed. and everything over again.
there´s so much more but i don´t have time. so anyway, i´m having lots of fun. learning lots. more later, dearest dear loves....

we made it!

we left yesterday at noon and got to santiago this morning at 11 or so. managed to get to the bus station to buy tickets for tomorrow and then took the metro to where our hostel is. i had to ask two different people for directions. i´m a bit nervous and unsure of anything i´m doing here, and it occurred to me that being totally unsure of what to do made me act like a kid. like the people i asked directions from were cops. both times. like when you´re 6 years old and you´re told that if you´re lost or need help, ask the police. as an adult, i would never do that. but when i´m totally lost, a cop is who seems safe. strange...
anyway, we got a room for $33 for the night. which isn´t awesome i guess, but i´m feeling really tired and i don´t think either nance or i wanted to keep walking around trying to find another place that probably wouldn´t be that much cheaper.
so tonight we´re going to find a chinese restaurant (we studied the phonebook for at least a half hour to find a restaurant within walking distance since it turns out asking people on the street for directions is hard. i think partly because i don´t understand and partly because they don´t really know...). i think we´ll take out food and sit in our cozy little room and eat and go to bed early.
this is a totally new dynamic for nancy foo and i. she´s totally dependent on my ability to navigate us. and we operate in really different ways. usually she´s the organized one who has a plan before we get started with anything. now she has to deal with my "walk around til you find it and if you get lost ask a cop" approach. so i think she´s frustrated. not with me, but with not being able to help herself really. anyway, she´ll learn fast. she does that.

also, a PG-rated blog is coming soon for grandparents and other folks who would just do better with that sort of thing.

now to help nance with the keyboard. all the punctuation is hidden in new mysterious places on this keyboard...
much love
kz

more on the golden shower

yesterday nancy foo and billy chen and i went to a mexican restaurant for burritos and a pitcher of margaritas. it was delicious. on the drive:
nancy (to billychen): this is where you dropped us off for the golden shower.
me: the redbull boxcar race?
nancy: yes
billychen: it seemed as if golden shower was quite popular.
nancy: really?
billychen: yes. they won.

on asians in canada

basically half of vancouver is asian. everywhere is chinatown. three-fourths of the house i'm in right now are asian. i guess i imagined canada to be full of sturdy white people that don't shave.
the elderfoo residence: i'm becoming quickly aware of some key differences in parenting styles between my people and nancy foo's people. i, for instance, grew up with the ability to say no to my parents. i also talked back, fought back, and let my opinions be known. which isn't to say i didn't get smacked for these things, but none of that was considered completely unacceptable, i guess.
nancy foo, on the other hand, is my parents' dream child: the girl never talks back, never says no, never expresses how she feels about things her parents have said or done. also, she offers to do things for them all the time. when jessie was here, she noticed this difference and said 'when i was little, i would get annoyed if my mom asked me to get her a glass of ice water.' i grew up much the same way. also, it is totally accepted and appropriate for me to say something like 'dad, i'm doing you a favor, stop complaining.' or 'you're such a crotchety old man. stop complaining. this is the way it's going to happen.' or something like that... in the elderfoo residence, this would never happen. and it's not like there's something that would happen if it did. it is, i imagine, totally unprecedented. and it just wouldn't happen. so like last night when nancy was making dinner, her dad came in to complain that he was hungry and it wasn't ready. i think more than once he did that. and so she was extra pissed on the inside. but of course didn't even think of saying anything. and i just imagined if that happened at my parents' house. i probably would say something like 'do you want to make your own god damn food?'
so anyway, nance is the best kid ever, it seems to me.

oh! i think i might be replacing nance as the second favorite kid in her family. her brother is the favorite, for sure. so we make dinner most nights for ourselves and her parents. and when i first got here, nancyfoo made most of the meals. and every night her parents, especially her dad (ckfoo) would always tell her how she could have made it better. and every night they ask where the meat is. then jessie and i started making food, and her parents say stuff like 'oh this is better.' since jessie left, every dinner, without fail, her parents always like the part of dinner that i made better. yessss.
also, the elderfoos have a strong aversion to leftovers. like it's a serious deal if there are leftovers in the fridge. and forget that i'm saving it to eat it for lunch the next day. ckfoo will take it, even if he doesn't really like it, because it is some terrible terrible offense to have leftovers in the fridge. i don't get it.

also, billychen is the cutest. she always says things are 'very cute' or 'very nice' or 'not nice'. this is the extent of her adjective use, more or less. like we can't have leftover quesadillas because they're not nice. or the singing toothbrushes she's sending to her sister in malaysia are very cute. or the eggtart (the one the lady took in the elevator) is very nice. the woman loves a good deal. she got this glass napkin holder and made nancyfoo and i both guess how much it cost. nance guessed $12, i guessed $16. it was seventy cents. for real. and then she left the price tag on it when she put it on the kitchen table. i guess so she could relive her moment of a great deal. then the other day nance and i got puzzles from a thrift store. they were brand new! which i love, because all the pieces are there. billychen found them on the table and was soooo excited that we got brand new puzzles for $1. then we talked about thrift stores, which she loves. and i was like 'yeah, i need to get some pants for farm working' and she said 'oh no we don't get clothes there. because they're used. not nice.' dang. i'm a dirty dirty girl.
also, yesterday we made homemade pizza. of course, the elderfoos prefered the pizza i decorated. and it was delicious, that's true. but i woke up sometime in the middle of the night and realized i had been feeling nauseous and half asleep for maybe about an hour. so then i went and somewhat violently puked several times, then took a shower, at maybe 3 am, but i didn't want to go back to bed covered in the backsplash. so that was awesome.

i think i'm going to start writing about more hilarious interactions with the elderfoos. because it's not ok to say no to them, we end up with things we don't really want or need. like 5 melons from our trip to the market. a long scenic drive (ckfoo's driving makes me extra car sick) to who knows where, only to stop for a few minutes to look around, then ckfoo gets ansty and we drive forever to the next destination. the puzzle we're doing might just get framed. i got three nasto pomelos because i wasn't allowed to buy them at the first store, which had delicious but slightly more expensive pomelos. the produce i had picked out just disappeared from the cart, and probably in chinese the elderfoos discussed that i should buy this from the asian grocery store.
the asian grocery store: there are always approx 3 people per square foot, and i'm the only white person, and therefore the biggest, and i get run over by several small asians pushing big shopping carts. but billy chen tells me to get whatever very nice produce is on super sale. and i run out of there feeling like i got punched in the face. emotionally, of course.

a farm!

we found a farm! around mendoza, argentina. my new good buddy laura emailed me back this morning and would love to have us. we'll be sleeping in a tent and doing some farm work. not sure what yet, really. but i'm excited. she wants us there in the beginning of october.
so the slight terror is setting in. because in two weeks, i have to speak spanish. any communication that happens between the family we'll be living with and the both of us is totally dependent on my ability to speak spanish. oh my...

a plan

so we have a basic plan now! we're flying (one way) to argentina in mid-october. we've joined wwoof italy because for joining italy we got the whole wwoof independents list for free. (wwoof independents is a list of several countries that don't have their own wwoof organization, so they're grouped together). so going to argentina. there are 16 farms to choose from there. we narrowed it down to 6 that we would like to go to, then 4 that we really liked, then picked our favorite. we were looking for a family farm that speaks only spanish and can teach us how to make amazing things and basics about organic farming. we've only emailed one farm so far. today. so hopefully we hear back soon to see if they're interested in hosting us. i had to write them an email in spanish, which i'm definitely capable of doing but it takes me super-extra time because i want to make sure they can understand it, since i speak pretty medium spanish.

things we can learn at the farms we picked (and we'll probably work on more than one farm): permaculture, organic farming, we can learn to make cheese, wine, beer, soap, jam, sausage (not too interested in that...), honey, hmm probably some other things i can't remember. but amazing amazing things. that's for sure.

ok, so we'll get a one way ticket to buenos aires, which is difficult, btdubs, because nancy foo can't stop over in the US without a C-1 visa, which would take time and money to acquire. so we have to find a flight that stops in mexico city instead.

we're thinking of staying in south america for around 6 months. so i think we'll go between argentina and chile. neither of us needs a visa for those countries. and we might head north toward central america, but we'll need to fly because i'm not going through colombia on a bus. but i think it would be neat to explore costa rica and nicaragua, and i'd like to make it up to mexico actually, but we'll see how much time we have. unlimited, really, because we're getting one-way tickets.

so from wherever we end up, we're flying to europe. and we're going to italy to work on farms. this is the part that puts some time constraints on the journey. because the growing season in south america is from maybe september to april or may, and the growing season in italy probably starts in april. so unless we want to be in south america for a year and a half, we'll only be able to stay 6 months.

in italy, the plan is to learn to make wine and olive oil. and eat wonderful italian food.

i had a moment today. about food. i'm changing up my approach to food. in a huge way. well, i guess i had two moments. one was the other day. one was today. here's what happened:

probably most folks reading this know that i've had some food issues. since i was 12-ish. by food issues, i guess i mean eating disorder. i don't like to call it that. it seems too harsh or something. so i've been vegetarian for 7 years, vegan for 6, and raw-vegan for a bit more than one. each of those changes was due to personal beliefs, not to be skinnier. although i have to admit i considered it as a possible benefit each time.
i've been trying to not have food issues for about 6 years. starting the raw-vegan thing helped a lot with symptoms of disordered eating. but i realized recently that it's not fixing the problem. so i'm starting from scratch. removing the restrictions on my eating. developing a healthy relationship with food from the place where the unhealthy relationship started. i never thought this would happen, but i'm not eating raw, vegan, or even vegetarian.

i guess i still have some restrictions, but i consider them healthy: only organic meat from happy animals that were killed in a way i'm ok with. i'd prefer to kill them myself, really. if i'm going to eat them. only organic dairy from happy animals. and if i'm going to eat meat or dairy, i want it to be locally-sourced. i'm thinking this will be really easy on a farm. oh also no nasto-microwave-heated food.

the moment that happened today was when i realized i don't chew my food really. it was more of a discovery, actually. i mean, i do chew, a little. enough to swallow without choking. but probably i eat way more than i need to because my body can't absorb anything from unchewed food. also, i eat really really fast. and end up really full.

so basically, food is changing for me. and i really do think eating raw and mostly vegan is a healthier way to eat. but what's good about that if my whole approach to food is totally jacked-up?

so i'm starting over.

finish your food

billy chen (to nancyfoo): chinese say that if you don't finish the food on your plate, you get pimples.

(then to jessie and i): that's why nancy has so many pimples on her face.

the bike shop

when we went to the raw food places the other day, this happened:

on the way back, nancyfoo was driving, her mom was sitting shotgun, and jessie and i were in the back seat.  up on the right is a store called 'womyn's ware'.  also on the sign it said 'vibes! lubes! dills!'.  so you get the idea.

nancy foo: i think that's a bike shop up there on the right

me: uhhh i don't think so.  look at the sign.

billy chen: it's a women's clothing store.  look: women's wares.

no one corrected her.  

also, today there was a redbull box car challenge.  jessie and foo and i watched from a different spot than the elderfoos.  there were like 50 different entries and the cars are super funny.  one was a pacman, another was a fire truck, a batmobile, a picnic table.  all kinds of things.  later we were driving home with the elderfoos and they were talking about the race.  billy chen said: the fish one.  that was cute.  and the golden shower? (there were two shower entries that raced against each other.  so they were showers on wheels.  and one had a gold curtain.  i don't think she got it.)  

i think the next few weeks are going to be really funny.

la casa

i forgot to mention this:  foo's parents' apartment is huge.  for real.  the building they are in is divided into four sections and has 26 floors.  so her parents have one section of the four.  and is on floors 25, 26, and mysteriously, 27, but there is no 27 on the elevator.  just inside the apt.  the top floor is only half the apartment, so in the livingroom/dining room, the windows are on two sides going two floors high.  oh my goodness.  this place is luxury like i may never know again.  so i'm soaking it up.

in canada

we made it to canada!  yesterday jessie and i left the santa fe house at 8 am, flew to seattle then took a shuttle to vancouver.  the shuttle took 6 hours.  no joke.  on a bus with some very excited 18 yr olds from jersey going to see some band in vancouver.  also, i learned that lying to customs officers is probably good policy.  i told him the truth, that i was not planning on returning to the US anytime soon, i'm going to south america, i don't have exit tickets out of the country.  he asked how i could prove that i wasn't just going to stay in canada.  i told him i couldn't, but i was going to south america in a few weeks.  and he asked who i was staying with, if she knew i was coming, how i know her, what job she did in baltimore.  oh my goodness.  next time i go anywhere, i'm leaving in a week and i have my exit ticket already.  no matter what.  

but we made it!  

vancouver seems amazing.  there are blackberries growing everywhere: on the side of the highway, in the parks, anywhere there are trees it seems.

nance's parents are super cute.  we went out for thai food last night and i couldn't eat anything so i think they were pretty concerned.  so even though i was super tired, we went to the grocery store and i bought a bunch of foods so they wouldn't worry.  and today billy chen (nance's mama) went with us to a couple restaurants that serve raw food.  i think she's for serious making an effort to understand the raw food.  not in a way that she's trying to eat that way, but more she's just curious.  also, she likes desserts.  and there are plenty of delicious raw desserts.  i think we may just bond over this...anyway, i'm really excited that she's seeming to be interested.  i was a bit worried because about 3 months ago she told nancyfoo that she thought i was influencing her (any by that, she meant 'i think katie made you gay').  so being really friendly and interested in the way i eat is good.  i'll take it.  

tonight foo made eggplant parmesan and we made mashed potatoes and salad.  and the elderfoos kept commenting on the food in ways that i don't think were actually critical, but if i were their kid and cooked them dinner, i would interpret as criticism.  i think nancy foo interprets it as such.  her dad really really likes meat.  and told us a lot of times why he needs meat with his meal and he couldn't eat like that everyday.  but they ate the food.  so i'll call that a success.

also, it's really really good to see nancy foo again!  it's been a month and a half.  mostly things seem the same, except in a new city so we have to learn new things to do.  

today jessie, foo and i went to granville (i think this is what it's called) island.  it's full of delicious food and a farmers' market and tons of art students.  and pigeons.  lots of galleries and art supply stores.  and an art school.  we took a tiny ferry across the water to get there.  it was probably a minute or two ride.  

also, any money that isn't US dollars feels like monopoly money to me.  turns out.  fortunately the canadian dollar is worth about the same as the US dollar.  we'll see how my spending goes in south america though...

vancouver seems pretty magical so far.

the very beginning!

so now is the start of the big adventure!  i'm in santa fe, nm right now, with jessie.  snuz and jean left today.  and on wednesday jessie and i are going to vancouver to visit with nancy foo.  who left baltimore a month and a half ago.  so i'm really really excited.  

nance and i are going to work on organic farms in south america.  not sure where exactly yet.  or when.  before oct 23, for sure.  because nance has to leave canada by then.  so i'm staying with nance and the elderfoos for that time.  

after we finish in south america, i want to go to asia.  nance has to go back to the motherland anyway to apply for a visa if she wants to go back to the us.  and i want to go to asia.  i've never been.  and i think eating the rawfoods would be way easier anywhere in asia than in south america.  lots of good fruits.  and some that taste like feet.  there's not even a word in spanish for vegan.  so i'm not counting on rawfoods being easy.  i was going to eat some cooked food there because with the program you get free room and board in exchange for working on the farm.  and so i'd have amazing food from whatever country i'm in.  but i tried some cooked food a couple weeks ago and the next morning i woke up feeling hung over.  for serious.  so we'll see what happens...

so anyway, two more days in santa fe (which is magical, really).  then vancouver!  i've also never been there.  but i feel excited.  i imagine everywhere in canada to be clean and amazing.  there's a leaf on the flag.  how could it not be clean?

much love