tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73030423862356119942024-02-08T09:41:05.097-08:00travelraulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-85731084486567855342011-11-28T13:51:00.000-08:002011-12-15T13:57:59.692-08:00sawubona recapDurban week was fantastic, definitely the more "unusual" part of the trip. This was mostly by design, since we wanted a more easy-going, relaxing week to start the trip and we had the luxury of the house, though I think the regions inherently suggest this type of itinerary. Cape Town was definitely as advertised, a ridiculously beautiful setting, incredible flora, and Boulder's Beach is one of the nicest beaches I've seen, even without the penguins. I would have loved more time there (like forever!) and it seems like a fantastic place to live year-round.<br /><br />In the Durban area we focused on what we missed in Cape Town, exploring the indigenous African culture and seeing big game. We spent a night at the Simunye Lodge north of Eshowe, where you head into the hillside to meet Zulus, learn about Zulu culture, and sleep in a tourist version of a Zulu hut. Some of it was clearly for our benefit, but it also felt quite authentic and didn't have the Shakaland vibe at all. We spent a day at Umfolozi and had great luck for a single outing (including male and female lions just off the road), before finishing in St Lucia where we saw hippos and crocs. St Lucia seemed like a great place but we had pretty bad weather (cold and rainy) so we didn't really get a chance to experience it.<br /><br />I was intrigued about Durban because of the mixture of Indian and African influences, but downtown was too big and messy to be easily accessible and we only spent an hour or so exploring it. That might have been the only time we felt insecure at all, very slight though and more "uncomfortable" than anything else. I don't have much to compare it to since we didn't tour Johannesburg at all and haven't spent any time in other African cities, but it definitely wasn't like the harassment you can get in Egypt or India.raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-16994565373869230862011-11-18T13:50:00.000-08:002011-12-15T13:51:15.434-08:00onwardHi guys! Just wanted to quickly check in... Today we went to wine country, about an hour out of town into the valley, mostly since one of the vineyards has a cheetah outreach program that breeds and raises cheetahs you can pet. Turns out you basically just stroke the back of a sleeping cheetah, which I guess is about as close as you want your kids to get to a cheetah but didn't really qualify as the "cheetah encounter" they advertise. It was hot and Nate and Aya were not at their finest, and Davi just preferred watching the cheetahs roam around ("more cat, more cat"). All was not lost though, the vineyard restaurant was in a beautiful setting with a nice, small playground that we all enjoyed, and for some reason the PR rep at the vineyard decided we should be in her photo shoot so she asked if she could bring us lunch and wine and take our picture. Uh, yes, you can do that.<br /><br />En route we passed the first real shanty town we've seen, Khayelitsha, it is absolutely insane that these things are real, permanent electrified tin roofed huts for hundreds of thousands of people going on and on as far as you can see. You basically just drive by the setting of District 9 on your way to the lovely vineyard with the restaurant that sources its own produce and livestock. Kids didn't seem to notice it.<br /><br />Anyhow, we had to have a second look at the penguins and now we're in a rush to get the kids to bed, so... over and out. We leave tomorrow for the northeastern, more "African" part of the country, we hope to meet some Zulu descendants and have a brief safari. Not sure how easy internet access will be so if you don't hear from us, assume we haven't been eaten by lions and we'll see you next week!raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-21461936577271902732011-11-15T13:47:00.000-08:002011-12-15T13:49:36.212-08:00penguins, baboons, and golfers, oh myWe've been unofficially judging Cape Town's road signs and today's "Look for penguins under your car" narrowly nudged out "Baboons!" for front-runner (also in the running: "Watch for golfers"). The penguins are a colony of African penguins that really shouldn't be here, apparently 25 years ago two of them made landfall and there's over 2,000 of them packed in now (I guess including under your car). There's a viewing platform on one section of the beach with a platform full of tourists, but there's also an area further down that hardly anyone was at where on a good day you can swim with a penguin. We didn't get quite that lucky but we did get one random penguin who waddled right down the footpath, across the beach, and up to his nest, all while being chased by Nate and Aya... It's just a really funny experience to be lounging at the beach and then say "There goes a penguin!".<br /><br />The baboons inhabit a few parks in the interior mountains, including the national park at the tip of the cape where we saw a family of them. We were told to keep the windows rolled up and that they will actually open your car door if you leave it unlocked. Yes, these baboons will carjack you. We also spotted some zebra later on and got out of the car to make sure Davi could see and to photograph them, then thought that maybe the baboons send the zebra to lure tourists out of the cars so they can carjack them. Fortunately or unfortunately the image of the baboons driving away in our car, giving us the finger, was only in our imagination and made us all laugh quite a bit. Aya added that our car would have been particularly good for them since the baby baboon could have sat in Davi's car seat!<br /><br />There's also a city here, we visited the main downtown area on Sunday, some nice mid-1800s British buildings and churches but nothing quite so exciting as baboons and penguins. Tomorrow we'll take the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain and visit "The World of Birds", which is famous for its squirrel monkeys and should consider a new name.<br /><br />Our house is in a beach town about 20 miles from the downtown area towards the tip of the cape, in a really, amazingly beautiful setting, a 270 degree bay surrounded by huge mountains. Having a house has really blurred the transition from real life to vacation in a weird way, almost like we're in some alternate reality where you drive on the wrong side of the road and you say "Yees" instead of "Yes", but very familiar like we never left home. Somehow we avoided jet lag and sleeping hasn't been an issue, Nate and Aya have their own room (and similarly spend their only hour of the day with no arguing after lights-out) and Davi has her own room, so that's helped. Davi's having a great time and seems to enjoy the traveling experience as much as the rest of us.raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-34740613965909467962009-10-01T08:08:00.000-07:002011-12-23T11:32:39.414-08:00ma salam shucran, shalom toda!<div>plane ride over was only rough for a few hours, and everything else has fallen into place as it always does. we just left jordan this morning and picked up the rental car to begin the israel part of the trip.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>jordan was fantastic; amman is a sprawling mess (i'd give "a good place to recover from jetlag" stars), but petra was amazing. the buildings carved out from the mountains really are something, and the surrounding hills have that old lake basin, weathered, arizona look. the whole experience has an easy, kind of dutchess county fair-like fun about it as you go from site to site, and the bedoins have officially surplanted the japanese in the "people most kind to our children" contest we didn't know we were running. it was a bit ridiculous actually. we have like 14 beaded bracelets, wooden carved camels, (consumed) chocolates, and one serious man-crush on our donkey driver, fajad. nate loves him so much he can't even remember his name. at the very mention of jordan today, it was, "oh, jordan makes me think of ... that guy". "fajad?" "yeah, fajad". fajad took us to his village (upgraded to cement houses when they moved the bedoins out of petra 20 years ago) and we had tea with his mother and 15 brothers and sisters. i think the man-crush started when fajad took nate under his wing when nate was having a hard time sharing the bedoin scimitar. story for another time. our second day we did a 5 mile, pretty off-the-beaten path hike through an unused canyon around the outskirts of the main sites (that nate managed to walk the whole way by himself!).<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>today we crossed over to eilat and had a dip in the red sea before heading up to masada. we got there just before it closed, so we pretty much had the place and the sunset to ourselves (for the brief time we got them). ruins haven't lost any of their allure, and nate is already looking forward to the theatre in beit shean that he saw a poster of (he performed peter pan to the delight of the amman roman theatre crowd, who knows what will be next!?!?!?, although this afternoon we did unleash the joseph soundtrack so that might be the front-runner). tomorrow we'll finish up here with some dead sea mud and then on to jerusalem.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>aya's been doing great, like nate on the australia trip she seems to be becoming a person at a faster rate. she was equally fascinated with the bedoins ("i know that guy!" when we saw fajad on the second day and the subtle differences of horse, camel, and donkey poop "donkey poop", "more donkey poop!" were the highlights), and hiking ruins ("i do self") are no sweat. sleeping was a bit of an issue at first, but now we've got her going to sleep side-by-side with nate and that's done the trick. she's already pushing for an annie production at the next roman theatre...</div> <div> </div> <div><br />rachel and baby are feeling very well too, growing happily as ever in the middle eastern sun.</div> <div> </div> <div><br />hope all is all well at home, if we don't have a chance to write again, see you very soon!</div>raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-80575965853054975742008-12-27T13:36:00.000-08:002008-12-30T13:41:49.286-08:00hola de nuevoso although new yorkers are very much vacationing here, hanukah is not, which is just as well since it turns out that after digging and sitting in sand holes aya's next favorite thing is manger scenes. Hi! Hi! Hi! she's become a real person on this trip, really participating in every activity and exploring such intricacies as the ice bucket and remote control at each stop.<br /><br />we really lucked out with the weather, getting perfect beach days and only getting rained on once. we've had a tough go though each time we've strayed off the path (i.e. didn't go to a beach, pool, or pirate fort), but our expectations weren't particularly high for the Science Museum and it still managed to disappoint. apparently in PR you don't touch things at science museums. the big caves were closed at the camuy cave park, and though the dry forest and beach in the south coast were great, the bioluminescent bay was teeming with neither bio nor luminescence (although for that I was expecting little green aliens swimming next to the boat, so that might have been my bad). but one big plus to traveling with kids this age is that it just doesn't matter! not to say that we haven't had a few moments of glory - tops is definitely stumbling on to the world's best ice cream shop in the middle of nowhere, with such unexpected flavors as bread fruit, rice and beans, corn, and plantains. mmmm, bread fruit.<br /><br />we've had good luck with Nate too, it wasn't until beach day #4 that he was the first one ready to go and we only almost left him in the car once. at our mountain retreat stop he just couldn't get over how close our room and the restaurant where you got to pick your own bananas were, and he made a "friend" and cried for a long time when she left but never quite learned her name then or now. for the first ten days he watched the first 20 minutes of Peter Pan at least ten times a day on the iPhone and somehow managed to warp a digital movie (literally, it won't play anymore). he learned to tread water completely by himself (with a life jacket) and is so proud that he makes each random person at the pool watch him: "i'm swimmmmmmmmming!".<br /><br />our last few days have been in the spanish virgin island of culebra, a bit of a hike and a messy boat ride to get to, and almost completely devoid of algo puertoricano, but incredibly beautiful and pretty deserted. we're now at our last stop, a resort-style place with minigolf and a playground; needless to say it's a big hit!raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-89225671543038869382008-12-18T13:33:00.000-08:002008-12-30T13:36:38.005-08:00canaelo, the one-eyed dog wondergreetings from san juan! all is well and so far, so good, except that our dueno's dog is missing an eye. ooops! where did my eye go? my eye is gone! somehow nate was not freaked out by it, surprising considering that the troll on a Disney show really got to him this morning.<br /><br />also happily surprising is that nate is a fort (pirate castle) junkie, mostly for the great performing spaces, but also for the cannonballs, and he's really gotten his fix here.<br /><br />so far we've lucked out on the weather and it's been as advertised: super-easy in and around, all the comforts of home (real highways and drinkable tap water! 3g wireless!), just foreign enough to make it interesting.<br /><br />today aya had her first real beach day, best part for her was the under-the-palm-tree nap, best part for nate was the naked car ride home.<br /><br />at night we cede the apt to the kids and we get the rental car. yes, we've considered sleeping in here, but no, we haven't yet, although next stop we're all in one room together and it's very likely to happen...<br /><br />all our love,<br />rrnaraulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-6525021981676329902007-04-14T18:37:00.000-07:002008-02-23T19:26:58.397-08:00final japanhi again! finally found our way out of kyoto -- we got serious temple-fever (thankfully, my actual fever had subsided by then, two fevers would have been unacceptable) and probably would have stayed there forever trying not to miss anything. kyoto was just absolutely amazing. the cherries are everywhere, bursting different shades of red and white almost wherever you look. the temples are all preserved and in various states of restoration going back to their 750AD inception, and each is still an active, important shrine. each of the different buddhist sects has a major complex in kyoto, and each has something interesting to see -- dry rock or floral garden, giant buddha statue, bamboo forest, etc. we were just blown away. we ended up mostly on our own since it was fairly difficult coordinating schedules, but everyone was all together for a great group dinner (with nate and baby echo, yes, echo, sleeping next to each other) and we had a nice zen temple lunch with adam and akiko the next day. the one full day we spent with janis and maxene kind of summed up kyoto: in the morning, we visited wild monkeys that live in the outlying hills, and in the afternoon we shopped for baby clothes at fancy dept store takayama. sometimes it's more like nepal here than anything else, but then when you're done with the fun you get to drink the tap water and ride 250km/hr trains. goodbye third world, hello japan. so by the end of the week a three-story pagoda didn't even get a second glance, and luckily it was time to move on.<br /><br />backtracking a bit -- the wedding event in kanazawa was quiet, nice, japanese, about 40 guests at a U shaped table eating various courses of fish, soba, and more fish and more soba. oh yeah, and fish for dessert. it was a bit overwhelming. truth is you really wouldn't have guessed it was a celebration, it was really just a nice lunch. two geisha (entertainers) sang songs and played the drums and japanese guitar-like instrument. it sounded like the orient, no surprise i guess. nate got a shot at the drums, as did adam and akiko and others. there were long introductions of everyone present including full resume and education credentials, although we were introduced only as "the cousins", still not sure how insulted we should be.<br /><br />we also took a day trip to osaka, japan's 3rd biggest city, where there's an impt castle we all know from Shogun (or at least marc and i do, reading that while here is lots of fun) and a nice acquarium.<br /><br />we've pretty much got the food thing down now, there are a bunch of vegetarian options once you know what to look for and some vegetarian restaurants we've enjoyed. milk, yogurt, and bread are in steady supply, but cheese is virtually non-existant. and there's always KFC where you need it...<br /><br />rachel is feeling great, quite a bit better than before we left actually and there was really only one day with any nausea. my cold has subsided and is now alive and well with akiko, damn those western germs.<br /><br />anyhow, now we're up the foothills of the japanese alps where tomorrow we'll do a big hike on the old postal route between two small, very picturesque towns. then it's on to nagano further up in the mountains for some more mountain scenery and an old volcano, finally back to tokyo on tuesday for a couple of days of bright lights big city.<br /><br />if we don't get to write again, see you next week!raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-36114036835206733272007-04-10T18:37:00.000-07:002008-02-23T19:27:22.207-08:00apostrophe is back!getting my apostrophe back feels REAL good, thank you maxene's good, old-fashioned western-style hotel. by western-style, everyone still bows five times to you as you go up the escalator, but you get a real bed. mmmmm, real bed (rachel and i have crazy hip soreness from sleeping on the floor, i mean, "futon" mats). japan is just really japanese; if it's only an act it's an incredibly good one. we're in kyoto now, the old feudal capital, temples and samurai palaces by the dozen. if nate talks to you about trying to convert, tell him no, we can light incense, rinse our hands in fancy cups, and look at buddha any time he wants to. this time of year kyoto is full of japanese pilgrims here to visit the temples during the cherry blossom season, but everyone is still amazingly accomodating with him. apparently there is some serious anglo-baby-mania: rob told us a funny story about a friend who went to china to adopt a chinese baby and everyone who stopped to peak in the carriage was disgustedly disappointed.<br /><br />i'm a bit delirious from japanese Contact (didn't know we even still made it), so this one will be this short. hopefully this cold will end with me... hope all is well with you, glad to hear sami is an official crawler, send us a picture! love, r&r&nraulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-77105284884315370592007-04-06T18:36:00.001-07:002008-02-23T18:37:06.110-08:00all systems goexcept for the lack of apostrophe on this keyboard, everything has gone swimingly these first few days. flight over was long but really ok, nate did great. at about hour 8 rachel and i looked at each other and said theres no way we are going to make it to 13.5, but we brought out the wiggles and the time just melted away. spent the first night in a hotel near the airport to catch up on sleep, but nate had other plans (up at 1am). saw the old palace and ginza area (shopping, sony building) in tokyo, then spent the night in the mountains where it was quite a bit colder than we would have wanted (the innkeepers daughter lent nate her mittens) to break up our journey to kanazawa where the wedding reception will be. weve been staying in "japanese" inns, which means there are tatami mats and futons on the floor and tea kettles and sliding paper-covered doors for nate to break. actually, rachel broke the door, but you didnt hear it from me. food situation is as expected, a sometimes not-so-fun challenge unless youre looking for udon noodles or chicken curry. they just really love to put pork EVERYWHERE. in sat question form, that would be japan -> pork as pizza hut -> cheese. today we spent the day in the old samurai and shinto temple district, really amazing old houses and gardens and windy, twisty streets. nate is a ridiculously big hit here. he had them at "blond haired two year old", but when he gives them the "bowwwww" with the namaste hands, its really all over.<br /><br />hope all is well with you, should have somewhat frequent email access so we will write again soon--raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-50707629991790030582006-12-07T18:40:00.000-08:002008-02-23T18:41:15.157-08:00back to workhi! made it back to civilization yesterday, had a great trip down the coast. we saw lots of great beaches, watched some wild kangaroos, met some nice auzzies. everything here is pretty familiar but definitely subtly different. for example they also eat pies here but instead put meat in them. we're in a suburb of sydney now, i'm getting down to business setting things up for jack and rachel and nate are figuring out how to navigate the ferry system…raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-16564549986552740742006-11-26T18:40:00.001-08:002008-02-23T18:40:34.117-08:00made it!plane ride was actually not as bad as we feared, nate pretty much slept when we wanted him to (unfortunately rachel did not) and we had a seat for him on the long flight from LA to AU (thankyou qantas!). he's still talking more about una than kangaroos, but he did have a courtesy vegemite cracker on the boat ride over (we're here: <a href="http://www.tangalooma.com/" target="_blank">http://www.tangalooma.com</a>). rachel had to eat a cheese sandwich with butter and mayo. yum! today we'll relax at the beach and then tonight we'll go do the dolphin feeding if we're still awake... hope all is well, will write again when we can! much love, r, r, & nraulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-55495959092629585792004-07-01T06:01:00.000-07:002008-02-23T19:21:16.213-08:002rachelandrussell1worldman, is it cold here! our first day here was a perfect fall-like day, maybe 65 and sunny. but that was short lived, and we spent day two at the auckland museum (excellent) and the night watching harry potter. anyone understand what happened at the end? we feel like we need the cliffnotes.<br /><br />we then left auckland on monday and headed up to the "winterless" north and wound up driving straight into a subtropical noreaster, whatever that is. this is what it isn't: nice. where is my fiji? my fiji has gone. we managed to survive the cold and rain and visited the historic village of Russell, formerly known as the hellhole of the pacific (lahaina was a nice family town compared to it). these days it is quite a bit less exciting but there's some old buildings to see. we spent most of the day in new zealand's oldest hotel (1847) warming by the fire and drinking mulled wine. we also saw this really neat limestone cave with these bright blue iradescent glowworms all over. we had a great maori guide who showed us stalagmites and stalagtites (stalagtites hang "tight", stalagmites "might" reach the ceiling some day, he explained) and with the flashlight off the cave looked like a planetarium.<br /><br />next day the rain stopped and the sun even poked out for sunrise and we headed across the peninsula to an ancient forest filled with these giant, native kauri trees worshipped by maori. the most interesting part of the day wasn't in the forest but in a campervan down by the river. sound sketchy? it's worse: http://www.2boys1world.com. all we can say for sure is that marco makes a mean cup of hot chocolate, though the website flaunts his other skills. we caravanned with them the rest of the way back to auckland, through beautiful rolling green hills, sheep, cows, and even a rainbow!<br /><br />we stopped north of the city in hopes of visiting this open bird sanctuary we had seen on tv, but the weather was too rough for the ferry to run. after we got over our disappointment, it was back to the 1984 one-speakered corolla for another 3 hour ride further south. this time our luck finally changed and the skies cleared and we had our first taste of what the new zealand countryside is supposed to look like. this is what it is: nice. we arrived in the geothermic capitol, rotorua, early this afternoon to the not-so-sweet smells of sulpher (although some of us claim to actually like it). it's a small city built right in the middle of all this crazy yellowstone-esque volcanic activity. tomorrow we will head up into the surrounding hills for some hiking and a look at some mountain lakes, maybe even have a mud bath, then check out some of the maori cultural activities.<br /><br />so new zealand is best summed up by the 2 tv channels they have here that show all the hit american shows back to back: take everything that's good and filter out anything that's not the best. unfortunately, you pay extra for it, and things cost as much here as they do back home, which we're not used to when travelling. also you can get whatever you need whenever you need it, which takes some of the fun and adventure out of it. but we are staying at places with shared bathrooms, and that's helping to keep it real.<br /><br />hope all is well, thinking of you,<br />R&R.raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-303305556131814942004-06-24T22:57:00.000-07:002008-02-23T19:21:37.171-08:00bula-liciousgreetings from fiji! we're down to our last few hours here in the tropics... had a great time.<br /><br />last week we were in a remote part of the country, the yasawa islands, site of the infamous lagoon where brooke shields lost her innocence. it was only a 2 hour ferry ride to the small island but we felt much further away than that when we were there. there was literally nothing to do but lay on the beach and play new zealand edition of trivial pursuit. even the kiwis couldn't answer most of the questions. the place was a very low key resort (our room was a "luxury" tent complete with mattress), the reception office had sand for a floor and the communal dining area was a big grass shack on the beach. there were one or two activities each day ranging from learning to tie a sarong to traditional song and dance show and a visit to the local village for fijian church services. we had no idea what was going on but we understood when<br />to put our money in the collection plate. at the aussie beach bbq there were party games with big ticket give-aways. we won a bottle of champagne after a blindfolded russell was able to identify rachel's knees in a lineup. party indeed. the snorkeling was absolutely incredible just right off the shore, beautiful reef and coral like we've never seen, nice tropical fish and a family of squids.<br /><br />we spent the last few days in the southern "coral" coast of the main island. we rode the local bus to get down here, passing fields and fields of sugar cane. there's a fringing reef here about 100 yards offshore that breaks up all the waves and makes a tranquil bay-like lagoon for miles. underwater is a different story (a more appropriate name might have been the "dead-creepy-get-out-while-you-can-was-that-a-sea-snake?" coast) but from the beach you'd never know it. for whatever reason the resort we stayed at was virtually empty and we had the place all to ourselves.<br /><br />today we went to a fijian zoo and saw endemic birds and iguanas, but the highlight was definitely the two fruit-bats getting it on. i think we might be permanently scarred.<br /><br />tomorrow we're off for new zealand where it won't be 85 and sunny, but we're very excited. more adventure to come...<br /><br />hope all is well with you all. happy summer!<br /><br />much love and bula,<br />R&R.raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-55903354678723015082004-06-17T03:23:00.000-07:002008-02-23T19:17:51.627-08:00about those indiansbula!<br /><br />all is well here in fiji. starting to remember what it's like to be in travel-mode... it's fun and your back hurts and you drink lots of cokes.<br /><br />so the indians here are the real-deal indians (red-dot and all), they came over 100 years ago as indentured workers to farm the sugar cane and are now indo-fijian. they speak hindi and english. then there are the real-deal fijians, they are the ancestors of the original fijians and they speak fijian (similar to hawaiian) and english. every village has a "chief" and if you don't ask nicely for something the chief eats you. yesterday we went on a great hike in the highlands and visited one of these villages. when we arrived we were greeted with a traditional kava (fijian "grog" made from kava root) ceremony. we asked nicely for everything and learned how to count to 10. then a woman swatted flies away from us as we ate lunch. rachel accidentally ate some tuna that was<br />mixed in with the taro and claims to have liked it.<br /><br />just kidding.<br /><br />today we took our driver moona on a trip up to fiji's "second highest city" as he kept telling us. it wasn't so high, just crowded. that must be what he meant. there was a big market there with lots of spices.<br /><br />tomorrow we're off for the yasawas, a group of slightly remote islands known for their white sand beaches and good snorkeling. we'll be at "the octopus resort" (http://www.octopusresort.com, tel. 666 6337). castaway was filmed near there. we'll be on the lookout for wilson.<br /><br />how did your award cermony go? wish we could have been there. congratulations again!<br /><br />ok, much love, be in touch again in a few days,<br />R&R.raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-78738494548116644132004-06-14T22:37:00.000-07:002008-02-23T19:15:39.164-08:00bula!so here we are in fiji! the flight out wasn't too bad. rachel actually slept this time. it's a lot like hawaii here only less people and more indians. and they say bula here instead of aloha. we had some tasty curry for lunch at an indian temple (but no challah or forks), now our hands smell like sujith's basement. the hotel is great, it's a whole bunch of huts on the beach. it's like a deserted island. with lots of indians. and we think satellite cable too so we can see game 5! go pistons!<br /><br />it's unfortunately really expensive to call but there's tons of email cafes, minus the cafe. plus lots of indians. so email will be the best way to communicate, we should be able to send messages for the next few days, then maybe not for a few days when we get out to a more remote location, then again after that.<br /><br />bula!<br /><br />much love,<br />R&Rraulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-1677021410745863492004-03-16T19:23:00.000-08:002008-02-24T19:23:30.090-08:00ukevery happy to report that i have begun learning the ukulele. i'm taking this ridiculous community class, the teacher is this hawaiian-chinese self-taught 85-but-not-a-day-over-60 year old man. he told me about this friend of his who didn't speak any english when immigrating, so he just pointed to the guy in front of him when coming through customs. turns out the immigration officer was asking him his name, and the guy in front of him's name was greenspan, so the immigration officer just put down greenspan. so now there's a "greenspan's dry cleaning" in san francisco. my long lost chinese brother. sorry, i digress... man the class sounds bad, but it sure is fun to be learning hawaiian songs. whenever i pick up the guitar now it seems ridiculously big. rachel's even learning to hula. we're in.raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-72492933915900674602003-11-25T19:16:00.000-08:002008-02-24T19:17:06.999-08:00novemberclasses are great. do you have those mcdonald's commercials "i'm lovin' it" over there? (guy rapping, best/worst line: "i can't cook but yet i'm never hungry") well i'm lovin' it, loving what i'm learning. every now and again it's even applicable and evident in the work i do for tutor. i dig that, when i get to see in real life the theories i've been learning about. did you ever study genetic algorithms? i've got to tell you about it, it's one of those very cool ai things. basically, imagine you have a problem and you really don't even know how to go about trying to get the answer. you create some potential random answers, then evolve them by matching pieces of two of the answers and creating child answers from them. you do this for many generations, also adding in some random mutations in the child answers to guarantee you find an optimal solution. just like nature. super cool.<br /><br />hawaii is still kickin, learning to catch the waves like a pro, or more like an eight year-old hawaiian really, but hey, i'll take it.<br /><br />rachel is a real hit with her first grade class -- she's a teaching assistant and also runs the creative movement stuff they do once a week. her parents + sister will be out here in a few weeks, it's going to be great to have some company.raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-4343506760383897842003-09-04T19:11:00.000-07:002008-02-24T19:11:39.794-08:00over water --> on the roadso we are totally chillin hawaiian style, which has got to be the best of styles. everything here is beautiful, even the people match the ocean and the beaches. from all i'd heard of how developed it had become i wasn't expecting there to be so much natural beauty left, but it's all here. it's like the best parts of being in a foreign country with all the comforts of home.<br /><br />we found ourselves a very nice little pad (furnished) and a vehicle (convertible) practically right away after we got here, it all worked out real well. rachel is still looking for a job, there's really not all that much that fits her needs (few hours, lots of time for the beach) but hopefully she'll find something soon... i started class last week and am really enjoying it, i'm taking database theory and artificial intelligence from uhawaii and operating systems through an online program at uillinois, which i think is how i ultimately want to get my degree... more on that as it develops.raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-90798520958624222332003-08-17T01:54:00.000-07:002008-06-25T22:17:51.188-07:00more alohaso i think we're a-ok, we found a nice furnished place this week, got our digital cable working, might have even found a car. alas all this "stuff" has left little time for the real reason we're here, suntanning and surfing, but i guess the ocean will still be there once we're finished setting up shop. we (i) did have the most amazing gyoza the other day, the guy was just right there making it and he just fried up some up. so good. it's like tokyo + west palm beach here. i love it. have you heard of pidgin, the jamaican-style english the locals speak? we got "da jesus book" - the new testament - in pidgin. a big hit. "jesus feed four thousand guys: an he take da seven bread an da fish, and tank God fo um" or "jesus get love an aloha fo all da peopo inside jerusalem". can't wait to show you.raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303042386235611994.post-9813156510544227872003-08-10T14:11:00.000-07:002008-02-24T18:59:32.661-08:00alohawell, we made it, 0 warnings, 0 errors. the trip cross-country was a bit rushed but still a ton of fun. it was crazy hot through south dakota and later through idaho and nevada, but wyoming's rockies more than made up for it. we spent the last week in california visiting friends and family before the flight out here 2 days ago...<br /><br />so i guess i see what the fuss is all about, it really is ridiculously beautiful here. and we haven't even left waikiki yet. the ocean is as crystal clear as advertised and somehow the throngs of people don't seem to get in the way. today we're headed to visit the university and the neighborhoods we've been thinking of living in, hopefully we'll have a place sometime this week. school starts the 25th, so we want to have some time to settle in before then. cell-phone is working great and we have internet access in the room so i'll be checking email and on AIM from here on out.raulgspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350151469752304639noreply@blogger.com0