And yet this post will have no pictures.....I'm sorry I don't carry around my camera! I don't even have a camera phone, I'm so lame. Anyway, two great photoless-photo-ops the past week or so:
Walking from church to the temple again, this time I DIDN'T fall! But I was distracted again, because as I looked up at Angel Moroni, I saw a couple of birds perched on his trumpet. And not just any birds, MACAWS! You know, the giant-parrot-looking birds that are either blue and red or yellow and red. And they were SCREEEECHING and CAAAAWING at the top of their lungs. I'm telling you, these birds are big and LOUD. It was hilarious. Seeing 2 macaws sitting on Angel Moroni's trumpet even beats out seeing pigeons sitting on Abraham Lincoln's head, in my book. Though not quite as awesome as seeing one pigeon atop EVERY statue going around St. Peter's square in Rome. We're talking like 50 statues here. I think they planned it. But that's neither here nor there. Anyway, back to Caracas, so this other church member passed me, chuckling, and said "Well, I guess now we know what his trumpet sounds like." :)
The other photo-esque moment this week was in the morning, on the way to work. I don't know if you've ever seen a cap cloud before, they would happen sometimes in Utah -- a cloud forms just on the top of a mountain, when there is wind pushing air up and over, that condensates as it goes (or something like that). Anyway, it usually looks like someone wadded up some white cotton candy and stuck it on top of a peak. But the one I saw the other day ran the whole length of the mountain, it was beautiful! Like someone was going to paint a cap cloud, but just kept running the paintbrush along the mountain. I've tried to find a picture online that's similar, but I can't find one to do it justice. So you'll just have to use your imagination.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Life Lessons Learned This Week
1) The hardest part about making fortune cookies is finding a recipe online that actually works.
2) Three recipes later, when you actually find an amazingly easy recipe, and have successfully made about 20 fortune cookes, DON'T be a perfectionist and put the soft ones back in the oven on broil to crisp up, and then forget about them. No one will ever be able to read those fortunes.
3) Don't let burnt cookies get to you, even if they are fortune cookies.
4) Don't try to roll chocolate truffles into the perfect little mounds like your chocolatier roommate used to do -- you will end up with melted chocolate all over you. And subsequently all over your face. Mmmm. Just cut up the cooled ganache into squares and be done with it. Still not sure how she made them round.....maybe that was a figment of my imagination.
5) If you live far from home and you are assigned to give a lesson at church on Mother's Day, avoid mentioning your mother at all costs, no matter what the topic is. You will cry.
6) Don't think you can ever drive like a local -- just as you start to feel accustomed to the driving norms in your area, you'll honk at someone pulling out to let them know you're there because you're passing by, and then you honk again, and again, and again, and they'll ignore you and almost hit your car. I said almost. Just drive like everyone expects you to, and let everyone pull out in front of you.
7) No matter how old you are, WRITE UP A WILL! Otherwise you will leave some poor American Citizen Services Consular Officer (or your family's lawyer, ideally, I wish everyone had one) resolving next-of-kin disputes as people come out of the woodwork arguing about what to do with your body and claiming your stuff. Or claiming they had your children.
8) Not all ants go for sugar. Some prefer black beans, chicken, and egg. I think the ones in my apartment are protein-starved.
9) Trying to sing your Mother a Mother's Day song on a 3-way Skype conversation almost works.
10) Charred fortune cookie prints do not come off cookie sheets, but they do leave a pretty cool design.
2) Three recipes later, when you actually find an amazingly easy recipe, and have successfully made about 20 fortune cookes, DON'T be a perfectionist and put the soft ones back in the oven on broil to crisp up, and then forget about them. No one will ever be able to read those fortunes.
3) Don't let burnt cookies get to you, even if they are fortune cookies.
4) Don't try to roll chocolate truffles into the perfect little mounds like your chocolatier roommate used to do -- you will end up with melted chocolate all over you. And subsequently all over your face. Mmmm. Just cut up the cooled ganache into squares and be done with it. Still not sure how she made them round.....maybe that was a figment of my imagination.
5) If you live far from home and you are assigned to give a lesson at church on Mother's Day, avoid mentioning your mother at all costs, no matter what the topic is. You will cry.
6) Don't think you can ever drive like a local -- just as you start to feel accustomed to the driving norms in your area, you'll honk at someone pulling out to let them know you're there because you're passing by, and then you honk again, and again, and again, and they'll ignore you and almost hit your car. I said almost. Just drive like everyone expects you to, and let everyone pull out in front of you.
7) No matter how old you are, WRITE UP A WILL! Otherwise you will leave some poor American Citizen Services Consular Officer (or your family's lawyer, ideally, I wish everyone had one) resolving next-of-kin disputes as people come out of the woodwork arguing about what to do with your body and claiming your stuff. Or claiming they had your children.
8) Not all ants go for sugar. Some prefer black beans, chicken, and egg. I think the ones in my apartment are protein-starved.
9) Trying to sing your Mother a Mother's Day song on a 3-way Skype conversation almost works.
10) Charred fortune cookie prints do not come off cookie sheets, but they do leave a pretty cool design.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
I love the mountains!!!
Since I was so verbose in my last post, I'll let the pictures do the talking this time. A bunch of us went up and over the mountain yesterday (El Avila) to eat at this fantastic Mexican restaurant, and enjoy the beautiful scenery!
The clouds rolling in......
The clouds rolling in...... 
Before
After
The sun came out!
I still need to ask my sisters to figure out what kind of bird this is.....they are super bird-species-finder-outers.
I'm not complaining....
So, one of my favorite poems we studied in high school was "I'm Not Complaining" by Philip Schultz. And the entire poem is a complaint, it's really a great piece of work :) You should read it. So, I thought it would be funny to do a similar blog post. Enjoy! And really, I'm NOT complaining :) (And no plaigarism here, I learned about that in high school too -- for the first and last lines, I give full credit to Mr. Schultz, the rest is purely me.)
It isn't as if I've...been subjected throughout my whole life to broken bones or torn ACLs, in fact on the contrary the worst casualty I'd sustained before this year was a severely stubbed toe, and a bad case of mono I guess, oh and tuberculosis, but it seems 2010 has it in for my ankles, I promise I usually look where I'm going and step carefully, except for that time in college when a British kid told me I drag my feet too much, maybe he's right, or maybe I'm spacey, but I was just innocently walking along the sidewalk near church, and staring up at the building next door (because it happened to be an LDS temple, which are notoriously incredible buildings, and deserve a glance or two extra), when I noticed my left foot fishing around in the air and not finding the ground that was supposed to be there, and then it found the ground, but at a funny angle, and I thought "Who on earth put that step in the middle of the sidewalk," but apparently most people are able to step appropriately and accurately, but luckily those accurate-steppers were nearby to help find ice (which they couldn't) and the friend I was walking with did the much-needed job of convincing me that it was the step's fault, which it was, and she helped me hobble back to the car, and we both swore that from that day foreward, I would always keep my eyes glued on the ground when I neared that subtle step, which I did for three months, until I got to daydreaming again about where I could snap a good picture of the temple, with my camera that I finally remembered to bring, and before I knew what was happening, well, I did know what was happening, because my right foot was fishing in the air for something that wasn't there, and it's amazing how many thoughts can go through your head in 1.5 seconds, like "Oh shoot, I forgot to look for the step! Can we rewind 3 seconds and do this over? I'll get it right, I promise!" and then as I hear my foot crunch under me, I think "Uh uh, this is not possible, is this really happening AGAIN!?" and then as I'm sitting there on the ground holding my other ankle, I hear the spattering of lots of hurried feet, and I pray that it's not the same accurate-steppers who saw me in this disgraceful position last time, and thank goodness, it was some very understanding not-the-same-as-last-time folks, a little young perhaps, but who told me it was a tricky step and that it called for a good glance-over or two before passing over it, to which I replied that unfortunately this was the second time I had failed the attempted sidewalk step, and that all I really wanted to do was take a picture, and my new friends jumped to the task, though of course not without first capturing a photo of me in my regular position, so although I've had two sprained ankles in the past 3 months, and although my jogging work-out schedule has been totally shot because all I can do is pilates-type goofy air-bicycle floor exercises, and although both of my ankles were swollen to the size of grapefruits (well, small grapefruits) and turned the color of eggplants, and even though they're both almost healed, I have to admit that when I stretched to reach the milk on the top grocery shelf today, I though I had pulled another ligament, and though I'm wondering if my weak ankles will ever regain their former strength, I must say that my lack of sidewalk-step-foresight has given me one of the most hilarious stories of my life, and has shown me that no matter if it's a close friend or total stranger by your side, people are there to let you lean on them when you're not strong, and they'll be your friend, they'll help you carry on, and so I just want you to know that even if things are lookin' kind of awful for me right now, and even if you're feeling this overwhelming sense of pity and want to send me flowers and chocolates and get well cards, I think you should know that...at heart I'm not really complaining....
It isn't as if I've...been subjected throughout my whole life to broken bones or torn ACLs, in fact on the contrary the worst casualty I'd sustained before this year was a severely stubbed toe, and a bad case of mono I guess, oh and tuberculosis, but it seems 2010 has it in for my ankles, I promise I usually look where I'm going and step carefully, except for that time in college when a British kid told me I drag my feet too much, maybe he's right, or maybe I'm spacey, but I was just innocently walking along the sidewalk near church, and staring up at the building next door (because it happened to be an LDS temple, which are notoriously incredible buildings, and deserve a glance or two extra), when I noticed my left foot fishing around in the air and not finding the ground that was supposed to be there, and then it found the ground, but at a funny angle, and I thought "Who on earth put that step in the middle of the sidewalk," but apparently most people are able to step appropriately and accurately, but luckily those accurate-steppers were nearby to help find ice (which they couldn't) and the friend I was walking with did the much-needed job of convincing me that it was the step's fault, which it was, and she helped me hobble back to the car, and we both swore that from that day foreward, I would always keep my eyes glued on the ground when I neared that subtle step, which I did for three months, until I got to daydreaming again about where I could snap a good picture of the temple, with my camera that I finally remembered to bring, and before I knew what was happening, well, I did know what was happening, because my right foot was fishing in the air for something that wasn't there, and it's amazing how many thoughts can go through your head in 1.5 seconds, like "Oh shoot, I forgot to look for the step! Can we rewind 3 seconds and do this over? I'll get it right, I promise!" and then as I hear my foot crunch under me, I think "Uh uh, this is not possible, is this really happening AGAIN!?" and then as I'm sitting there on the ground holding my other ankle, I hear the spattering of lots of hurried feet, and I pray that it's not the same accurate-steppers who saw me in this disgraceful position last time, and thank goodness, it was some very understanding not-the-same-as-last-time folks, a little young perhaps, but who told me it was a tricky step and that it called for a good glance-over or two before passing over it, to which I replied that unfortunately this was the second time I had failed the attempted sidewalk step, and that all I really wanted to do was take a picture, and my new friends jumped to the task, though of course not without first capturing a photo of me in my regular position, so although I've had two sprained ankles in the past 3 months, and although my jogging work-out schedule has been totally shot because all I can do is pilates-type goofy air-bicycle floor exercises, and although both of my ankles were swollen to the size of grapefruits (well, small grapefruits) and turned the color of eggplants, and even though they're both almost healed, I have to admit that when I stretched to reach the milk on the top grocery shelf today, I though I had pulled another ligament, and though I'm wondering if my weak ankles will ever regain their former strength, I must say that my lack of sidewalk-step-foresight has given me one of the most hilarious stories of my life, and has shown me that no matter if it's a close friend or total stranger by your side, people are there to let you lean on them when you're not strong, and they'll be your friend, they'll help you carry on, and so I just want you to know that even if things are lookin' kind of awful for me right now, and even if you're feeling this overwhelming sense of pity and want to send me flowers and chocolates and get well cards, I think you should know that...at heart I'm not really complaining....
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Nooooooo!!!!
Shakespeare might be French? And France is trying to claim him as one of their country's greatest writers!?!?! What is wrong with the world today!?!??! Can't they just leave us in blissful ignorance!?!?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8598000/8598291.stm (or just Google "Shakespeare French."
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Rio!
I went to Rio last weekend! Long overdue, what a great city to visit! And one of the families my Dad taught on his LDS mission offered to let me stay with them.....not only did they let me stay with them, but they took me all over town! And taught me a bit a Portuguese. Of which my favorite word was "Caraca!" (emphasis on the "a" in the middle). Sounds a bit like Caracas, and it's the equivalent of like "Holy Cow!" But I digress.
The "kids" of the family my dad taught are all grown up now, married with kids of their own. Great families! Junior now works as an architect on restoration projects, and he gave me a cultural/historical tour of the city. Saw the cultural museum he works at, with great exhibits, and the courtroom that was used by the Brazilian Supreme Court until they moved the capital to Brasilia.
Then I got the amazing chance to go with him and some of his fellow restor-ians to Ilha Fiscal (or "Tax Island"), where they used to collect taxes from the ships coming in before they made port. Looked more like a castle to me!
This is me trying to be an artsy photographer like my sister. Not bad for never having had a class, eh? She says that I did a good job with the "framing" of the palm tree. Why, thank you :)
Here I am with Juliana, one of the "kids' kids." I do think the kids were a little disappointment in my lack of Portuguese abilities. Next time! I was definitely getting better at it by my 3rd day there, but then I had to leave. But we did find that you didn't need a common language to take silly photos together, so we took lots. Funny story -- after Juliana gave one of the blessings on the food, she said "Aw, Dad, she didn't understand anything I said." And I said "I understood that!" But it was true, I only understood the "amen."
Here I am with Adriana, one of the "kids" from the family my Dad taught. She was also my cousins' nanny when I was little, so we had a great time reminiscing and catching up. And her English was great! It gives me hope that I can retain my Spanish even after it's been awhile.
And here I am with one of the other "kids," Junior, and his wife Renata. Great people. P.S., you say the "R" like an "H" if it comes at the beginning of the word, or if it's a double-R in the middle. I.e. "Hio de Janeiro," "Caho" for carro, and "Henata." But of course, I think half of you who read this blog already knew that. The linguistics dork in me was fascinated by this. In Spanish, you roll the R when it's at the front of the word or a double, but the "H" sound reminds me more of the gutteral (sp?) French R. Fascinating. Moving on.
I wanted to give you all a play-by-play of something we saw in the national park we visited, Tijuca. It was beautiful! And we went to this....cliff.....where para-sailers and hang-gliders jump off. Wow! Here is one of the brave souls, getting ready to go
But wait, he had to make a phone call. It lasted for several minutes. I was trying to decide if he was saying "Yeah, honey, I'm about ready to go, just meet me down on the beach in a few minutes." Or if it was "Hi honey, I just wanted to tell you I love you, in case I don't make it." You decide.
And he's off!
And sailing down to the incredible Brazilian beach below.
This is the famous Cristo statue. So yes, I saw it. But he was covered in scaffolding, as part of a restoration project, so we didn't go up. Next time. I would complain more, but it made me so happy to wander the city and see all of this restoring going on. Well done, Rio!
Of course, you can't visit Rio without seeing one of the favela's. This is a photo (from the car) of Rocinha, the largest favela in Brazil. On another occasion, we were driving past a different favela, and saw that they had started putting up walls (apparently as part of preparations for the World Cup and Olympics). I had heard about such walls, and thought I remembered them being assosciated with some sort of controversy. I asked if the people from the favelas were offended or angry about the walls. Not really, was the answer. The privacy would be nice. Maybe true. I need to read up on the walls a bit more.
As part of my culturally-packed weekend, we went to the ballet! And not just any ballet, but Don Quixote! Which I have actually read, but have apparently completely forgotten, because I still have no idea who two of the main characters from the ballet were, and what their part in the story was.
Well, the spoiling-of-Shannon-while-in-Rio continues. Adriana knew someone from church whose son was in the ballet that night, and they all ushered me backstage afterwards to meet the cast and get pictures. Here is a picture of me with Don Quixote! He had already taken his beard off, so we were laughing about that. And P.S. you pronounce it "Don Quizhoche" in Portuguese, which caused some confusion for me in the middle of the play. "There's Don Quixote!" "Who?" "Don Quixote!" "Who?" "Don Quixote!" "Oh, Don Quixote!"
One more picture of me and Juliana, and of course, Kevin Costner. We just call him Kevin.
The "kids" of the family my dad taught are all grown up now, married with kids of their own. Great families! Junior now works as an architect on restoration projects, and he gave me a cultural/historical tour of the city. Saw the cultural museum he works at, with great exhibits, and the courtroom that was used by the Brazilian Supreme Court until they moved the capital to Brasilia.
Then I got the amazing chance to go with him and some of his fellow restor-ians to Ilha Fiscal (or "Tax Island"), where they used to collect taxes from the ships coming in before they made port. Looked more like a castle to me!
This is me trying to be an artsy photographer like my sister. Not bad for never having had a class, eh? She says that I did a good job with the "framing" of the palm tree. Why, thank you :)
Here I am with Juliana, one of the "kids' kids." I do think the kids were a little disappointment in my lack of Portuguese abilities. Next time! I was definitely getting better at it by my 3rd day there, but then I had to leave. But we did find that you didn't need a common language to take silly photos together, so we took lots. Funny story -- after Juliana gave one of the blessings on the food, she said "Aw, Dad, she didn't understand anything I said." And I said "I understood that!" But it was true, I only understood the "amen."
Here I am with Adriana, one of the "kids" from the family my Dad taught. She was also my cousins' nanny when I was little, so we had a great time reminiscing and catching up. And her English was great! It gives me hope that I can retain my Spanish even after it's been awhile.
And here I am with one of the other "kids," Junior, and his wife Renata. Great people. P.S., you say the "R" like an "H" if it comes at the beginning of the word, or if it's a double-R in the middle. I.e. "Hio de Janeiro," "Caho" for carro, and "Henata." But of course, I think half of you who read this blog already knew that. The linguistics dork in me was fascinated by this. In Spanish, you roll the R when it's at the front of the word or a double, but the "H" sound reminds me more of the gutteral (sp?) French R. Fascinating. Moving on.
I wanted to give you all a play-by-play of something we saw in the national park we visited, Tijuca. It was beautiful! And we went to this....cliff.....where para-sailers and hang-gliders jump off. Wow! Here is one of the brave souls, getting ready to go
But wait, he had to make a phone call. It lasted for several minutes. I was trying to decide if he was saying "Yeah, honey, I'm about ready to go, just meet me down on the beach in a few minutes." Or if it was "Hi honey, I just wanted to tell you I love you, in case I don't make it." You decide.
And he's off!
And sailing down to the incredible Brazilian beach below.
This is the famous Cristo statue. So yes, I saw it. But he was covered in scaffolding, as part of a restoration project, so we didn't go up. Next time. I would complain more, but it made me so happy to wander the city and see all of this restoring going on. Well done, Rio!
Of course, you can't visit Rio without seeing one of the favela's. This is a photo (from the car) of Rocinha, the largest favela in Brazil. On another occasion, we were driving past a different favela, and saw that they had started putting up walls (apparently as part of preparations for the World Cup and Olympics). I had heard about such walls, and thought I remembered them being assosciated with some sort of controversy. I asked if the people from the favelas were offended or angry about the walls. Not really, was the answer. The privacy would be nice. Maybe true. I need to read up on the walls a bit more.
As part of my culturally-packed weekend, we went to the ballet! And not just any ballet, but Don Quixote! Which I have actually read, but have apparently completely forgotten, because I still have no idea who two of the main characters from the ballet were, and what their part in the story was.
Well, the spoiling-of-Shannon-while-in-Rio continues. Adriana knew someone from church whose son was in the ballet that night, and they all ushered me backstage afterwards to meet the cast and get pictures. Here is a picture of me with Don Quixote! He had already taken his beard off, so we were laughing about that. And P.S. you pronounce it "Don Quizhoche" in Portuguese, which caused some confusion for me in the middle of the play. "There's Don Quixote!" "Who?" "Don Quixote!" "Who?" "Don Quixote!" "Oh, Don Quixote!"
One more picture of me and Juliana, and of course, Kevin Costner. We just call him Kevin.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Avocados and Sloths
Avocados are really big here....
And sloths are really slow.... I almost ran over one the other night. At first I thought it was a dog, because the headlights reflecting on it made it look the color of a golden retriever....then I thought it was a wounded dog.....it was moving SOOOOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOOW. Then I thought it was a dying dog, reaching out its paw with it's dying breath......and then this little face turned and looked up at my car. I SCREAMED! I'm not sure what I thought it was, but I had a lot of scary thoughts flash through my head. Luckily, I have a very thoughtful mother who sent me this picture she found on the internet, to help me laugh a little. Doesn't it make you laugh too!? Why do these sloths think they have a chance!?! STAY ON THE SIDEWALK WHERE YOU BELONG! Or in a tree, more like.
And sloths are really slow.... I almost ran over one the other night. At first I thought it was a dog, because the headlights reflecting on it made it look the color of a golden retriever....then I thought it was a wounded dog.....it was moving SOOOOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOOW. Then I thought it was a dying dog, reaching out its paw with it's dying breath......and then this little face turned and looked up at my car. I SCREAMED! I'm not sure what I thought it was, but I had a lot of scary thoughts flash through my head. Luckily, I have a very thoughtful mother who sent me this picture she found on the internet, to help me laugh a little. Doesn't it make you laugh too!? Why do these sloths think they have a chance!?! STAY ON THE SIDEWALK WHERE YOU BELONG! Or in a tree, more like.
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