Skukuza part 2

Aaaaahhh craziness! I can’t believe I come home so soon!!! Anyway stories about work:

Insect collections

I am so happy it’s done! It was a bit of pain towards the end. Especially since we thought our first box (which had all of our work in it) went MIA, found the day after we turned it in though >:( Anyway it was hectic.

IP2

So it’s just me and Kyle this time around. The field work was a little crazy because it was freaking HOT and you know all the hippos and working in a male leopard’s territory and all that jazz! I was wearing shorts so my legs look like I stuck them in a blender or you know trekked through kms of knife sharp grass, which I did. It was hard work but it wasn’t so bad. Surprisingly I actually didn’t feel the heat so much. I think Singapore made me less of a weather-wimp. The first few days of writing were hectic because Kyle had a bad fever and was out of commission. It was a total struggle bus! But I made it through and work isn’t so bad hahaha. We’re polishing it up right now and I’m pretty hopeful. It actually is starting to look pretty good. I am happy we worked in a group of two because I got to do a lot m ore of the work and thus learn more.

Fun stuff/Day off;

We started the morning by waking up really early and driving of Elephant Whisperers. We meet these lovely elephants and one of them was almost double the size of the others! His name was Tembo and he was my favorite! We got to touch them and learn all about them. We also got to take some pretty awesome pictures with Tembo. I look so delighted! After we finished up there we went for breakfast and I had delish French toast and the best bacon I have had since I left the states. Seriously blissful start to the day! The pics from today are gonna be the best pics of my life not just cause of the awesome settings but because I look so truly happy.

Speaking of true happiness 2 words:

BRIDGE JUMPING

Soooo awesome!!!

We thought we weren’t gonna get to go because the first place we went to was closed. It looked for a bit like the remainder of the day was gonna be a dud, with us just driving around doing nothing. But then we found another place with bridge jumping. We drove over to the bridge and well it was a normal bridge with cars on it and everything. We were SUPER sketched out when we saw these two guys jut tying a rope to the safety rail. But it turned out to be really legit (ie the rope on the rail was just a signal rope we were attached to permanent stuff). So Kyle and I volunteer to go first. Kyle actually goes first and as he jumps part of me was Fuuuuuuuuuuuu…..

Then I was up. The man strapped me into my harness attached me to the ropes and over the railing I climbed. Poised at 30m above a river I braced my toes on the small ledge while he talked me through then next 30 seconds.

“Now on the count of three you jump, ya?”

“Ok got it.”

“Alright”he said. (My thoughts while he talks will follow in italics.)

“3” Oh my God! What kind of retard does this?

“2”  Well me for one.*shrugs*

“1”

                                Jump!

And I jumped. Mind you my jump was lovely according to my friends and the video. I didn’t fall off the bridge, have a false start or hesitate. I crouched and pushed off with the full force of both my legs, and then fell back with my arms out and my legs straight. I was also hollering like a hooligan, which took the grace out of it I’m sure. I stopped yelling when the harness caught the rope and I stopped falling and started swinging. Then I stared whooping again. I believe a transcript of what I was saying would have gone something like this:

WOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!!! YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

BEST THING EVER!!!!!!

YEAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!

I had calmed down by the time I was getting close to ground and waited patiently enjoying the swinging as the nice man at the bottom of gorge stopped me.

It was LEGEN-wait for it---------------------------------------------------DARY!  Hahahaha

Then I watched the rest of my friends jump. Not everybody was as willing to jump of a bridge as I was though. Some people freaked out big time, but in the end we all jumped and we all loved it! I’m trying to round up a group of people to go to the first place (its waaay bigger) on our last day off.  I loved it!!! I can’t wait to go bridge jumping again! I hope I talk some my friends at school into going!

Skukuza part 2

Aaaaahhh craziness! I can’t believe I come home so soon!!! Anyway stories about work:

Insect collections

I am so happy it’s done! It was a bit of pain towards the end. Especially since we thought our first box (which had all of our work in it) went MIA, found the day after we turned it in though >:( Anyway it was hectic.

IP2

So it’s just me and Kyle this time around. The field work was a little crazy because it was freaking HOT and you know all the hippos and working in a male leopard’s territory and all that jazz! I was wearing shorts so my legs look like I stuck them in a blender or you know trekked through kms of knife sharp grass, which I did. It was hard work but it wasn’t so bad. Surprisingly I actually didn’t feel the heat so much. I think Singapore made me less of a weather-wimp. The first few days of writing were hectic because Kyle had a bad fever and was out of commission. It was a total struggle bus! But I made it through and work isn’t so bad hahaha. We’re polishing it up right now and I’m pretty hopeful. It actually is starting to look pretty good. I am happy we worked in a group of two because I got to do a lot m ore of the work and thus learn more.

Fun stuff/Day off;

We started the morning by waking up really early and driving of Elephant Whisperers. We meet these lovely elephants and one of them was almost double the size of the others! His name was Tembo and he was my favorite! We got to touch them and learn all about them. We also got to take some pretty awesome pictures with Tembo. I look so delighted! After we finished up there we went for breakfast and I had delish French toast and the best bacon I have had since I left the states. Seriously blissful start to the day! The pics from today are gonna be the best pics of my life not just cause of the awesome settings but because I look so truly happy.

Speaking of true happiness 2 words:

BRIDGE JUMPING

Soooo awesome!!!

We thought we weren’t gonna get to go because the first place we went to was closed. It looked for a bit like the remainder of the day was gonna be a dud, with us just driving around doing nothing. But then we found another place with bridge jumping. We drove over to the bridge and well it was a normal bridge with cars on it and everything. We were SUPER sketched out when we saw these two guys jut tying a rope to the safety rail. But it turned out to be really legit (ie the rope on the rail was just a signal rope we were attached to permanent stuff). So Kyle and I volunteer to go first. Kyle actually goes first and as he jumps part of me was Fuuuuuuuuuuuu…..

Then I was up. The man strapped me into my harness attached me to the ropes and over the railing I climbed. Poised at 30m above a river I braced my toes on the small ledge while he talked me through then next 30 seconds.

“Now on the count of three you jump, ya?”

“Ok got it.”

“Alright”he said. (My thoughts while he talks will follow in italics.)

“3” Oh my God! What kind of retard does this?

“2”  Well me for one.*shrugs*

“1”

                                Jump!

And I jumped. Mind you my jump was lovely according to my friends and the video. I didn’t fall off the bridge, have a false start or hesitate. I crouched and pushed off with the full force of both my legs, and then fell back with my arms out and my legs straight. I was also hollering like a hooligan, which took the grace out of it I’m sure. I stopped yelling when the harness caught the rope and I stopped falling and started swinging. Then I stared whooping again. I believe a transcript of what I was saying would have gone something like this:

WOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!!! YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

BEST THING EVER!!!!!!

YEAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!

I had calmed down by the time I was getting close to ground and waited patiently enjoying the swinging as the nice man at the bottom of gorge stopped me.

It was LEGEN-wait for it---------------------------------------------------DARY!  Hahahaha

Then I watched the rest of my friends jump. Not everybody was as willing to jump of a bridge as I was though. Some people freaked out big time, but in the end we all jumped and we all loved it! I’m trying to round up a group of people to go to the first place (its waaay bigger) on our last day off.  I loved it!!! I can’t wait to go bridge jumping again! I hope I talk some my friends at school into going!

Western Cape

It was really lovely and I got a lot of sleep. Not much else to report… oh I henna-ed a bunch of people (myself included) and designed the T-shirt for our group, and did some art for a cool assignment so lots of art J Also got hooked on a new thief type show. Thank for the Leverage Keith… yeah other than all quiet…

Dev Hoop:

Just working hard mostly. My FFP was on Dung Beetles and Marcus our prof was supper cool and funny. The high light was actually on the day when I worked with the other FFP group in the tide pools. Lawrence wrangled an octopus!!!! He literally just grabbed it out of the water and we all got to hold it!!!! That was cool.

On our day off we went to the southernmost point of Africa, and saw both the Indian and Atlantic Ocean. It was a really fun, in a more hospitable beach we played around in the water. It was a lot of fun. I even learned a little bit of surfing (ie how to catch a wave, but not how to stand). My legs are little banged up (I actually scratched a hole in the skin!!!)  but appear to be healing nicely. 

We have also doing this thing called pillow talk. It is where we sit around and chat about all sorts of things before bed. I have lost so much sleep to pillow talk!!!!

I blame the lack of sleep for the cold I feel coming…. I don’t wanna be sick!!!!

Anyway I can’t believe how soon I will be coming home!!!!! Part of me can’t wait to get back but at the same time I know that after about a month of being home I’m gonna have itching foot and wanna get on the move again. Well we’ll see what happens. I plan to go abroad next summer also (either Europe or Costa Rica). 

cape town 2 (a lot of stuff)

Taylor:

So I got to meet up with Taylor here!!! Its funny how her whole life no matter where she goes, I’m there. Ahahahaha. Anyway so it was really nice we talked about all manner of things, but mostly about people from home. That was something that I didn’t even know I needed to do. J  We had a late lunch at a very tasty café then walked down Long Street to Green Market and back. I bought a pretty dress and belt to with it. She bought a fun skirt. Then we came back to the Backpacker’s and hung out till she had to leave It was pretty sweet!

Shark diving:

SUPAH FREAKIN AWESOME AMIGOS!!!!

I had such a good time!!! It was pretty cold that day so we were joking that people where more afraid of the cold water than the sharks (which was true in my case). We saw a bunch of shark real close up as well as a babyb Southern Wright Whale!!!! He was tiny!!! (aka two-three time my size) At the end of the dive was the best shark. She was huge!!! She was some 4 meters long. And she was working for the bait. She kept surging up from the depths, turning quickly, and all other supper awesome things. We (on the boat, they took us out of the water she was so aggressive and big) were screaming like crazy!!! It was so cool! And so was the water but we were all too excited to care.  We crashed pretty hard on the way back. I was sitting listening to music and the thing I knew I was waking up and had almost gone through the whole playlist. Then I curled up on Amy’s lap and took a proper nap.

More Clubbing/Bar Hopping

Let me start with the facts:

·         I still have never been drunk

·         I still have not had my first kiss (though it could have happened)

·         I still have not brought a guy/been brought home

·         I am still a pillar of moral awesome-ness

So deal.

On the second night of clubbing after a very boring start to the night we wound up at this club called Jo’burg. The music was great but the dance floor was tiny and packed. Once again I picked up a nice Scandinavian. This one was only a year older than me, almost as cute as the other guy and almost as bad of a dancer. So I did the same thing I did the other night and we danced for a bit, and then I thought he wasn’t interested (later in the night I came to realize that was part of his ineptness) so I jetted and danced with my friends…. A whole 2 feet away hahahaha. I actually ground for the first time. Well first I was ground on separately by my two guy friends. And in return I ground with them later. It was not as demeaning as I thought it would be. With the club being so small I couldn’t help but make eye contact with the guy here and there. He smiled at me so I smiled back and thought naught of it. Then about an hour before I left the guy tapped me on the shoulder. He wanted to dance. I was like ok. It was basically middle school dancing (you arms on shoulders and swaying back and forth) but without the space in between us. We kind of tried to talk to each other over the music and he sort of rubbed my back/sides. At one point he said “You’re from LA I’m not sure what to do from here” first off lame! Second I was like well how about a kiss(trying to complete the mission here) but he didn’t hear me and then I didn’t repeat the suggestion because something inside me thought better of it.  I tried.

One of my friends was dancing with a guy and I was giving her our nice job/ that’s sweet/ all things are good tight butt hole symbol (don’t ask I didn’t start calling it that but has stuck) and she was like WTF? This went on for a while until I realized the guy she dancing with one of our friends. She said my face when I realized it was just Kwaku was priceless disappointment. Yeah the following night was also at Jo’burg but it was filled with creepers so I left early and there were no cute guys to pick up L.

Point of Good hope:

Oh damn!!! It was sooooo beautiful!!! And ridiculously windy!!! We hiked about ran on this lovely beach (while getting pelted with sand) and just all around had a good old OTS time. The wind was so strong!!!!

The  later that day some of us stayed in the area and just kind of walked around. We saw cape fur seals up close and personal, African penguins (they are smelly) and did a little shopping. We also had a delicious dinner at The house of Waffles and Pancakes. It was cheap and super good. We were all lamenting the fact that it was so far away, but still it was very enjoyable.

Robben Island

It was a very sobering thing for me to be in a place were so much pain had been caused. I wondered about how humans could do such thing to each other. I decided they must not see their victims as human because otherwise there is something inside you that would stop from doing these things.

I also wrestled with my ideas of justice and amnesty. When hearing about people who did terrible things and got of scott free and part of me cried for justice. But really that tit for tat idea of justice is so low/unevolved.  Still forgiveness is hard (which is probably why I consider it to be a mark of a higher human). I found myself singing “Odey vo Shalom Allanue” I think half for my comfort and half as a prayer for peace.

Yep I think that’s it J

cape town 1

 Kyah! First night in Cape Town!!! First off all I love being in the city again! I am such a city slicker hahahaha. That’s not to say I wasn’t surprised at how much I loved the rural, no power uber gorgeous Hamakuya, but still It’s good to be back. Also its upper gorgeous here too! The cape is sooo nice! The water is so blue and Table Mountain is just magnificent!

Yesterday went out for lunch at this Mexican place called the Fat Cactus. The food was surprisingly good for being so far from Mexico. I couldn’t finish my meal though, it was just too much! Actually my stomach has been a bit off since our home stays…. A lot of people are having the same problems… we think we picked something up… Oh well I still feel pretty healthy lots of energy and all that. None the less I will keep a close eye on myself.

Last night we went out to a bar. When we first got there it was pretty dead, but sure enough us OTSer’s brought the party to that place. There was a wedding singer/bar mitzah type guy that singing and playing music. We jammed. It took a while but eventually as more people came they got swept up by our enthusiasm and we were all partying it up. So exciting part…. I picked up a guy *squeals!*

Anyway there was this cute guys who was drinking with his friends. He was blonde with blue eyes and little bit of scruff. I picked him out towards the beginning of the evening and debated whether I should go over and well... pick him up. He was older which was my main excuse for not acting right away. Anyway later with some encouragement from Ashley I went for it. I just walked up to him tapped him on the shoulder and out my hands out. Then we were dancing (tee hee) He was one of the worst dancers I have seen in my life!!!! But was almost cute how bad he was. He was also Norwegian… And super tall… yeah I go for tall guys but I didn’t realize how tall he was till I was dancing with him. His hands were huge I think my whole hand held about two of his fingers, and I didn’t even make it up to his shoulder. (This was source of some amusement to my friends who later said I was about 2/3’s his size).  He did this weird thing though where he would disappear for a while ( a long while; I didn’t think was gonna come back the first time) but he always came back *shrugs* Idk, I had fun either way (it was more fun dancing with my friends than with him… b/c he was really awkward) Anyway his friends were very friendly, I liked one of them and we chatted very briefly, and the other kept getting in the way >:/ Anyways he invited me to come to this other club with him and his friends, and I was like “Nope, I stay with herd!” And then he stayed until I left…. I think wanted to get in touch with me again b/c he was asking all about whether I would be around again and how long I was in Cape Town for. He wasn’t a creeper or anything but I didn’t really want anything much to happen anyway so I gave non-committal answers. He didn’t seem super motivated so I doubt he’ll come around the bar again despite me saying that we might come by again (I would be deeply shocked)

Anywho… I PICKED UP CUTE GUY!!! WINNING!!!!!! All my friends were high fiving me and all that. I felt like a total champ! Still do! I can totally do this!

Today a smaller group of us did those red double-decker buses. It was great fun! We went to the botanical gardens, a winery, and the wharf.  The gardens where lovely, we took some fun perspective pictures. The weather was super schizophrenic and it was alternately really cool, windy and raining a bit and them hot and sunny. We just dealt with it.

Wine tasting at the winery was fun. I found 2 things that I actually liked and bought to bottles to take home. We were a bit tipsy after because none of us had eaten since the morning and we were all hungry. We just laughed sang and were a little bit more inappropriate than usual but nothing much.

We wound up at the wharf around 3 and were all starving and freezing! We had some very tasty sea food (I had garlic prawns nom nom nom!~) Took some lovely pictures and then made our way back. Almost all of us passed out on the bus on the way back. We got very little sleep last night and had a super full day. Tomorrow is shark diving!!!! So excited!!!

catch up

Ahhhhhhh catch-up time!!!

Punda Maria

Baking/Birthday Madness!!! I was baking like every day for everyone’s birthdays. It was fun. We did our work for our IP1 (independent project). It was hectic. Laura was super stressed out but it wasn’t so bad. I felt like I kind of had to fight for my right to be helpful but I suppose that’s better than having to do the whole project on my own. People are getting to know each other well enough to start to actually form real opinions about each other. There are these two girls who are just all trouble and drama (aka total shit shows when they get drunk/ are waaaay to …. Hungry) there’s really just one of them that I don’t really like I don’t know how she is friends with her best friend. The best friend (who the other girl is like completely ignoring) is really nice super down to earth and really well adjusted, and the other girl… has vomited 3 times and makes a big production about something every time she gets drunk (I find her behavior particularly off putting). Other than that I am surprised at how well everyone is getting on.  The people who I was dubious about at the beginning, while still more scandalous than I am entirely comfortable are cool and fun to be around.  

I roomed with Claire which was mixed. She went to bed later than I did; I got up earlier than she did. It was nowhere near as estranged a relationship as it was with Ruby (Singapore) but I made me miss what a good relationship I had with Hannah (Burrak). I like Claire a lot as person but she was really stressed and upset about her FFP, and that was understandable but hard to deal with.

Random note: I’m not Singapore sick that much anyone, nor am I still pinning over my Singapore crushes. But now I miss places from home. I want to go to Venice (LA Venice not Italy) really bad!!! I think I miss cities a bit.

Also my water bottle leaks a lot… bleh

Hamakuya:

SOOOOOO PREEEEEETTTTYYYYY! It is criminally gorgeous here. Really one of the most beautiful places I have been in my life!!!! It was supposed to be super hot here but it’s been pretty cold (thank god!!!) There’s this soap in our bathroom it smells so good and manly!!! Kyle came out of different bathroom saying that the soap was so nice right when I walked over saying the same thing. We had a good laugh because my hands smelled like sexy man, and his hands smelled like a pretty lady. Other than that been working hard …. Yeah I have developed this weird art style in my time in Africa… it’s very strange, super simplified and very color oriented… I wonder if it will stay or whether I will revert to normal when I return… I wonder if want to stick with it or if I want to return normal style…. I was also pondering the self aggrandizing nature of a lot of my art, but you know what, my art is an expression of how I feel. Of course it’s me centric!! If I feel like I’m on top of the world (which I do) then I’m going to draw me on top of the world damnit!!! Also on that note I feel sooo happy!!! Sure I have my share of struggles but my life is unbelievably blessed. I feel so fortunate to have the people in my life that I do. That I can feel the love, pride, and support of my family 100% behind while I’m across the world means so much to me. Also that my life had been blessed with so many opportunities is amazing!!!! I have really traveled the world and I’m starting to really appreciate/feel the benefits of that. Not only that but the schools I have gone to, the books that my parents read to me, all the programs and education elsewhere that I’ve had… it’s all truly a blessing. I am so lucky and am over whelmed with a sense of gratitude towards this benevolent world I live in. GAH! So thankful!!!! *does full dogeza of gratitude to the universe* Like really I’m gonna have to slaughter a cow or something when I get back to show my thanks to the universe ahaha

Homestay:

4 of us stayed with a Venda family for 3 nights for our home stay. Kyle, Melissa, Katrina (one of the dramatic trouble duo) and I went with our translator Mulalo and stayed in the village of Fandani. You remember those world traveling benefits I was talking about? This is one of ‘em: People are people everywhere. Manner and societal trapping may be different but kids are kids old ladies are old ladies and as corny/cliché as it is its true we are all the same. There was no real moment of realization just the patterns of behavior (i.e. kids will come to you if you don’t look for them in hide and go seek, and old lady wants to show off to the guest and gets pissed at the kids for taking all the attention act) It was cool and towards the end a little overwhelming. I had kids all over me and that was fun. They all wanted to touch us Makour (white people) and play with us. It was great. They wore me out!!! We ran and jumped and played and held hand and I carried them and played and it was sooo much!

Funny story about my name: Tasha means to touch in Venda, so most people just called me Tasha instead of Natasha (the kids said like batman says “I’m batman” they would “Tashaaa!!!”). When I was introduced to one mother of a household she make a grabbing gesture at the sky and said something, which my guide full of laughter said meant: Natasha one who touches the sky.

I LOVE IT!!!!

That, my friends, is now the official meaning of my name!!! I am the one who touched the sky!!!! It is so perfect!!!! Mya!! So great!!! WHAT IS MY LIFE?! HOW IS SO MUCH AWESOME SQUEEZED IN?! I CANNOT COMPREHEND!!!!

Ahem yeah. I was already pretty close with Melissa; she is really funny and cool. I feel like we have a lot in common but we do but heads over stuff. Basically she’s the one who I had the disagreement over the use of facts and statistics (I talked about that right?) and she also doesn’t like Shakespeare…. I know am an elitist snob… but really?? I just feel like she’s is sometimes a little low-browed/uncultured…. This only makes me more grateful for the Renaissance style upbringing I had. I am glad I am so cultured, and yes I think people should strive to be instead of reveling in not being cultured. Anyway she is still awesome and I enjoy her company.

Katrina turned out to be much better company than I had anticipated. Turns out when you get her away from the other girl she calms down and becomes a sensible person (even if she doesn’t like kids). I can understand sometimes people make you into things you aren’t. So in all in all I came away with a much better opinion of her than I had before (even if she still gets too drunk and makes an embarrassment of herself).

Just realized I must sound very critical and rude. Yes I am judgmental and I know it’s not my place. I still respect these people and I know my faults are many but these things I say are true. I do not think I am a better person than they are, just that my values are different and I am entitled to that. This does not stop me from enjoying their company, and hopefully from them enjoying mine.

OH! And Kyle! We got along super well. Our sleeping bags where right next to each other and as a result we spent a lot of time in each other’s space. Plus we’re both cuddlers so it nice. I gave him lots of head scratches and massages and he gave ‘em back. I love cuddling. There a few time when I think that maybe we could be more than just cuddly friends and I am not opposed to the idea (he’s pretty attractive) but story of my life I’m not that actively interested…. Well we’ll see. I know I should pursue if I want something to happen but I just think “oh it would be nice if it happened” but as per usual I am not enthused… Why am I so not passionate??? Anyway yeah we played like kids (as well as playing with actual kids) and had a good time. I’m happy with things the way they are, though I am determined to get my first kiss before I leave this content (if just by being here it will be a good story, even if there no real passion behind it).

So yeah… now we’re back all finally clean and well fed. Life is good, people are cool, and I am happy, healthy and grateful.

Shingwedzi

In the past 4 hours I have seen over 50 elephants, a ton of buffalo (zitch buffalo!), been charged by elephants more than 3 times, had to pull over to let Giraffes cross multiple times, saw two honey badgers (the only honey badgers many of the South Africans have seen that’s how rare they are; also they super badass I would like the youtube video keith showed me but no youtube out here L ), drove parallel to a leopard for about 10 minutes and watched it eat a hare, sang songs with guitar while watching the sunset over the savannah from a fantastic 360 vista.

TIA and MLISFA (like MLIA but with super fracking)

It hasn’t all been fun and games. This morning I was bent over by the stats test … I studied plenty and think I did fine on the written portion (worth most of the “marks”) but the excel part killed me! Oh well the afternoon more than made up for it.

I have been having a lot of fun with the people here. I have learned all sorts of campy new games that I wanna bring back and picked up some jokes and lingo from all over the place. If Singapore was a fantastic meeting of like minded super awesome people this is a fantastic meeting of awesome people who are very different. It made me pine for Singapore and home for a bit but by and large it has been enlightening and fun.

Oh and I’m now the resident: a)baker and b) go to for random knowledge person. I have made so very well received baked goods for people birthdays. Yay baking! And people have started coming to me for stuff like : “how do I get rid of headaches?’ “how do I fall asleep” “what is the back ground on…” And I’m also a go to movie person thanks to Keith. My hard drive has been very well circulated, and probably has had more people read through it than the student drive with all of our resources.

Also people here are cuddly! I have got almost as much cuddle action as I used to get in high school! It is soooooo nice! Aside from that there isn’t much on the romantic front here. There’s like 2 guys who I would be happy if something were happen with but I have to say I’m still nursing those Singapore crushes.

Away about to embark into 5 weeks no internet! At least a week of which will be spent without power (NOOOOOOOOOOOO!) But w/e life has been pretty cushy so far and I’m happy about it.

Academics have definitely been intense as  promised… but I’m slugging through

Anyway having a great time!!!

Can’t wait for more!!!!