Blast from the Past: Australia '03-'04

Short (<5 min.) video from my backpacking trip around Australia Dec '03- Feb '04.

Avoriaz: Snowboarding in the French Alps

I just spent a fun-filled week of snowboarding with the usual suspects from work. Here are some pictures and details on the trip:

When: March 18-25, 2006. We skied for 6 days during that time.

Lodging: We stayed in chalet "La Vuargne". There were like 6 bedrooms, kitchen, lounging area, fireplace, etc. The decorations and layout were a bit strange but the place as a whole did its job.

Slopes: We went to Avoriaz in the French Alps. It borders with the Swiss Alps and has a fairly large terrain for skiing and boarding with absolutely stunning views. There are also several neighboring slopes that can be visited from Avoriaz. In Europe, there are 'red' slopes in addition to green, blue, and black. The red slopes are somewhere between blue and red. I think the green slopes are pretty much bunny slopes here. It seemed like we spent most of our time going down moguls, hitting the blues only to warm up in morning and after lunch. We also had to take the blues once in a while to get from one area to another. The downside at times was that there were many flat bits which is bad for snowboarding. There are also snowboard parks, but Trond and I didn't get around to hitting them.

Participants:

"President" Joe: Skier and leader of the pack (literally, at work also). He had been to Avoriaz before so he lead the way most of the time. He also resided the most number of times as President while playing Asshole.

"Speedy" Thomas: This guy can move for his size! He impressed us with his down-hill skiing skills... usually first one down the slopes.

"Cheese King" Trond: Ate cheese for breakfast, lunch, dinner and desert. Fellow snowboarder. The mastermind behind the trip (he organized it). Voted snow-bum of the week.

"Newlyweds" Lars & Ionna: Just married last fall, it's Ionna's first time skiing (she's from Greece). Lars took up snowboarding to keep her company on the easy slopes.


"Must... sleep..." Rune: First one to bed and last one to get up. Also the resident food barometer - if he's hungry, you will know it. Telemark skier.

"Had the whole of Africa in my hands" Theo: Mini-skier & champagne tasting organizer. Was the first to occupy a continent at game of Risk... but lost it while being distracted on the North Eastern front.

"Don't You Want Me Baby?" Lukasz: Spent the whole time (trying) to sing to this song by Human League. For future reference, here are the lyrics babe.

And me.... No intro needed here I hope.





The Snow: The conditions were great for the most part, considering it's about the end of the season. They got several inches of snow about a week before we arrived. The base was pretty good. It was sunny some days, and warm all week. It did rain on one day which was a bummer, but it was good for a break and a night of drinking. It snowed here and there, and dumped on the last day. It was my first time in that much powder and found it a bit difficult but the variety made it very interesting!

Evenings: We spent some evenings eating out and enjoying fine French dining. Other nights we stayed in and cooked. We played lots of games - Yahtzee, Risk, Jenga, cards, etc. Of course, drinking is always involved with this group. One night was spent "champagne tasting".

Logistics: We flew from Amsterdam into Geneva on EasyJet (about 1.5 hours) and then took a car service to Avoriaz from there. Here's a rough break down of what it cost in Euros:

• Flight: 200
• Ground Transport: 80
• Chalet: 425
• 6-day ski pass: 170
• Board rental: 120
• Food: 250

Casualties: Amazingly, there were no hospital goers. A few of the guys had minor aches and pains here and there. Only two took a break from skiing as a result. Crazy boy also took a bad fall down the moguls and landed on his already injured shoulder but that took him out only for an afternoon. I took many tumbles too, but I guess four layers of clothing and a butt pad saved me from anything serious. I had a sore neck and a thumb for a day and that was it as results of falls (though my muscles were pretty sore the first couple of days from simply being out of shape.)

Geneva: On the last day, we left Avoriaz early so that we might have some time to check out Switzerland a bit. Geneva is the land of watches, chocolate, cows, and Swiss Army knives. It is also a very beautiful city with the Alps in the background. I wouldn't mind living here, especially with the Alps only couple hours away.

Click here for Avoriaz Photos

Click here for Geneva Photos

Back in the USA

Just wanted to do a quick post to say I'm back in the USA. I've got a lot of mundane crap to do like taxes, school, etc. Will be in touch with everyone once things settle down a bit. Also, pictures from Avoriaz is up on flickr & I'll be making a blog entry on it soon.

The Future is Bright

Today was the day I was waiting for. I received the official "Congratulations!" letter from my office. I've just finished my fifth month of working here as a temporary contractor and I couldn't think of any place else where I'd rather work. Holland isn't all that, BUT I enjoy the work and the people in the office here very much. And I do have fun here. Plus, can you say "10 weeks of vacation"? Yep, I said 10 weeks. 6 weeks (30 days) of vacation time and 3 weeks (17 days) official holidays every year, AND 2 weeks of home leave every other year. Now where else but in Europe can you get time off like that?

If you know my travel habits, you know that this is the ideal job for me. I spent most of yesterday thinking about what I would do if I could take 4 weeks off over the Christmas and New Year holidays. I'm definitely going somewhere warm - i.e. the Southern hemisphere. I thought about South America (I have a friend in Venezuela), an overland tour in East Africa, or back to OZ or NZ. Still up in the air, but if anyone has suggestions, let me know!!

Okay, so barring anything unexpected from happenning, I am shooting to be back in Europe by June 1. I have all of April and May to hang out in the U.S. and enjoy the spring. Of course, I have a few things to take care of like taxes, school, moving.... For now though, I am off to Avoriaz tomorrow for the week. Then I fly back to the U.S. on 3/26. Btw, for those of you who had my 704 cell phone #, I no longer have that #. I'll probably get some prepaid thing when I get back. So... don't try to reach me by phone until you get my new contact info.

Blast from the Past: Southern Africa 2003

Short (<5 min.) video from my backpacking trip around Southern Africa in fall of 2003. Went mostly to South Africa. Also did a 3 week overland trip from Capetown to Victoria Falls.

Pictures from Black Belt Test are up

One-step jump spinning round-kick
Originally uploaded by dancingnomad3.

Well, if you remember the entry back from January 8, I didn't have any pictures to post from my test. I finally took some still photos off of a video and posted them on flickr. Check 'em out, but you don't really get the full effect from photos.

I'm trying to make a short 'highlight' video also. This'll probably take much longer (or never), but I'll let you know if I ever finish one.

ps. A friend sent me another funny video last week. Check it out: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/karatemaster.html.

Book Review: A Year in the Merde

Stephen Clarke tells in first person narrative the story of a young Brit (himself) who goes to Paris on a year long contract to help open tea rooms. The typical stereotypes of French culture, compared to that of England, are highlighted in the book. I walked away from the book thinking that all French people care about are food and sex. Surely, it's not true, but I could understand why someone would rather think about these things more so than politics, war, economy, and all the other things that affect our life. I'm not a 'live to eat' person (rather I 'eat to live'), but after being in Holland for some time, I can appreciate one's desire to eat something that appeals to the human palate. As for sex, do I really need an explanation here? Anyhow, in two weeks time, I will be in France myself for the second time. The first time was to Paris in 1998. This time, a group of us are off to Avoriaz in the French Alps for a week of snowboarding. Armed with a handful of vocabulary and a few phrases, I will see for myself if indeed the French are all about food and sex:

Excuse moi, parlez-vous Anglais?

Je m'appelle Diana. Je suis un American. (Maybe I should leave this out).

Ou est la toilette?

Vous etes une pomme de terre.

Voulez-vous couchez avec moi?

Oh, about the book.... Yes, the author's quite witty so it's a fun book to read. And merde means shit. 4 stars.

Book Review: The Motorcycle Diaries

The book details the adventures of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his buddy on their not-so-trusty motorcycle across South America. It was a journey Che took before becoming a legend. His experiences through South America led to an effort to remedy poverty in the region through revolution and he later became a social icon. The book was given to me as a gift by a friend after he found out I had no idea who Che Guevara was. The book is not about what made Che famous, but about his travels. I also like to travel, and sure enough, I found the accounts of Che's travels interesting. I went on a backpacking adventure through Africa, New Zealand, and Australia back in 2003. I tried to do mine on a budget and went through similar experiences of trying to find lodging, transportation, and food everywhere I went. In no way can I compare my minor inconveniences to the extremity of Che's, but it made me wonder how cheap can I go in when I travel? Trying to cross an entire continent with no money - now that's an adventure. I suppose tho, that if I can afford it, I should not be bumming off of people for food, lodging, rides, etc. South America is also a generally unexplored part of the world. Mainstream tourism is often limited to places like Machu Picchu and Galapagos Islands. South America isn't a typical backpackers route. I've only been to Peru myself, but I've been wanting to explore more of the continent for a while now. Che's adventures served as motivation and a reminder to get my butt out to South America before it becomes spoilt by more tourists.

P.s. Anyone have the movie I can borrow?

Book Review: Deception Point

Deception Point, by Dan Brown, was the third book I read by the author. I've already read his bestsellers - Da Vinci's Code, and Angels and Demons. While the first two books I read focused more on religion and beliefs, this one is more about science and politics. The gist of the plot is that NASA makes a monumental discovery and it becomes the job of an intelligence analyst to find the truth behind it. As with his other books, Brown does an excellent job of playing the devil's advocate in conflict, this time between those interested in national security and those interested in scientific truth or knowledge. By now, I could guess though that nothing is as it seems in his books and much of the plot in Deception Point was predictable. I found it less thrilling than the others, but nonetheless, it kept me interested enough to keep picking it up. The book also satisfied the science fiction lover in me, but did not provide any thought provoking scientific insight for the knowledge seeker in me.

If you like Dan Brown's, also check out Digital Fortress.

Four Seasons

Last night Lukasz and I went over to Trond's apartment for dinner and to watch Brothers Grimm. Trond cooked chicken, French style, which was excellent. As always, dinner at his house is high class - coupled with champagne, wine, desert, the works. The movie, which stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, was less interesting though. It was rated #1 as far as DVD rentals here in the Netherlands go, but I wanted to fall asleep soon after starting to watch it. Trond called it a "medieval Ghostbusters".... I did not care for the Ghostbusters either. But I chose the movie so I only have myself to blame.

The night progressed onto a bit more drinking for the guys and Jenga - Trond's all time favorite game. We play it so much tho that we had to get creative in how we stacked the blocks. I keep telling him to invest in Truth or Dare Jenga to make things interesting, but maybe we (being colleagues) aren't the right crowd for it. Some where around 2 or so, I fell asleep on the couch. We'd already missed the last tram home so we ended up crashing there.

I woke up this morning on the couch to a howling blizzard outside. I'm thinking... shit, I gotta go home in this weather? But as soon as the guys were up, it was sunny out. And then we sat down for breakfast, and it's snowing again!!! And it was sunny again after breakfast. Lukasz and I finally left Trond's perhaps a bit before noon and decided to enjoy the nice day... I mean hour... by walking home. We took a detour through a walking trail near home when again... a blizzard hit. Okay, a blizzard's a bit of an overstatement, but with the wind here, if it snows, it's a blizzard to me. So I'm get home, jeans soaking wet. That's Holland for you....

Anyways, I will probably be posting some book reviews shortly. I just finished reading A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke. I also have couple other books I read in the last few months which I'll comment a bit on too. A bit late, but here goes.

What is Love?

It's been just a bit over a year now since I came out of my last real relationship (would you believe it ended on February 13th?). Since then I went through a period of sadness, dating, falling in love again, confusion, etc. etc. Now with a series of events happening in that aspect of my life recently, I just went through one of those moments where you ponder what life and love is all about. A friend also posted yesterday a poem that hit home pretty good. I read it, and I'm like... that's me! Nothing lasts forever and life is so full of good-byes. Another friend likes to say that 'change is the only constant.' Another always reminds me that you cannot rely on a man to make you happy - you have to make yourself happy.

I thought I had true love in my last relationship, only to realize what a fragile thing it is. Distance easily tore it apart, and greater the love, the greater the fall. What is better? To have emotional extremes in life? Or have everything in moderation? What I've come to realize since then, though, is that no one person is the end all and be all. I recall something once telling me that I'm the kind of person who will experience several great loves in my life time. I would really prefer to grow old with that special someone though. What are the odds of me achieving that in this day and age? The older one gets, the pickier you get. Meanwhile, your choices become more limited. Even if you meet someone, who's to say it will last? Divorce, death, affairs.... A little discussion with a friend back home earlier today raised the question - how many animals on earth actually are monogamous? The first Yahoo! search on "monogamous living creatures" lead to this article here. Primates aren't one of them.

I also realize there is no one man who can satisfy your every need. I knew a guy once who would sleep with me but not take me out on dates. That was really stupid of me to let him do that to me. Then there is a guy who is 180 degrees the opposite. While he does make me very happy, he does not see me the way I want him to see me... physically. When things do go well with a guy, the timing always seem to be off. Either I'm in transition or he is in transition. So, I have to settle for something, perhaps. So now I am wondering, what is the most important thing for me in a relationship? What are the must have qualities in a guy?? I used to think with my heart, but maybe now I should use my head a little.

To simplify analysis, the basic needs are health, fitness, financial stability, intelligence, and non-repulsive looks. Let's just say those are a given and must haves. Now, from here, what else is important? Actually, I can't give anything up. I want a guy who can satisfy me physically and emotionally. I guess until I meet another who can and will give me what I want, and whom I'd want to give to also, I will have to take what I can get when an opportunity arises. The other night, I had the most incredible night with a guy I'd just met. No, not the Dutch dude. He's actually from North America and I had so much fun with him. Nights like that say being single isn't so bad.... Besides, I have male friends who buy me dinners, movies, drinks, etc. What do I need a boyfriend for?

I wonder tho, how many more years can I keep picking up guys? I am not getting younger. It's not as if it happens that often either. Also, will I want kids someday? If I met someone today, at the earliest, I'd get married 2 years from now. I'd want to spend some time alone with my husband before having any kids. Say 3 years to be conservative. So 5 years from now... I'll be 37ish. Yikes!!! Cutting it close. More importantly, tho, I am in my sexual prime. I do not want to waste these years not having sex. I also do not want to have sex with just anybody. It's not often a guy comes along that I'm willing to sleep with. I need to be careful not to base my relationship on sex. I think I might have made that mistake once.

I am starting to ramble on and on and I don't know what I am talking about anymore. I should just shut up and count my blessings. Yeah, so these are the things I think about when I'm bored. Oh, one final thing.... My past experience tells me that I generally enjoy things better with guys who are native (or at least good) English speakers and understand the American culture well. That brings me to the dilemma: should I take a job here if offered one? I really do like the job here. Or should I stabilize myself somewhere where the odds of meeting the kind of guy I want are better (er, like back in the U.S.) Seems like a stupid question. Why put partner searching above my career? My career is very important to me, but I guess deep down inside, I really do want to find that soul mate. So where the heck are you?!?

Funny... I was just about to wrap up and the song "You Can't Hurry Love" from Phil Collins just came up on my playlist. I'm not religious, but why do I get the feeling someone is trying to tell me something (like with that wacky fortune cookie).

Okay, I am really done now. Gotta run for dinner & movie anyways. I think the plan is to watch Brothers Grimm. Turns out my friend fell off his bicycle twice last night after getting wasted and injured himself so no partying for him tonight. Luckily he did not break his shoulder like he thought because I would have had to kill him if he could not ski in the upcoming Avoriaz trip.

Crazy Pianos

I raved about Crazy Pianos (CP) last year, but I am going to do it again since I didn't have a blog then. Yesterday was the last day of a major exercise. So to celebrate, many people from work, and all the other participants that were here for the last three weeks for the exercise, showed up at CP last night. And once again I had a blast.

As you might have guessed, CP is a piano bar. It's much better than Crocodile Rocks back home. The atmosphere here is more lively, and people actually dance here. Or is that just people I know that dance? Unless it's a Saturday, there's usually enough room for dancing. Even enough room to throw my arms around and kick and turn and move around the floor instead of being stuck in one spot amongst a crowd. Perhaps you are now getting an image of me doing some sort of dorky white boy dancing. Let me assure you tho, first, that I am no white boy - I'm a girl; and second, that I am not the Dancing Nomad without a reason. Also, being in a foreign country, it's just really nice to hear good ol' American classics I can sing along to. There are occasional Dutch and other countries' songs thrown in, but that just gives me an excuse to run to the bathroom or rest between songs. Anyways, CP ruled once again.

On a down note, I have no plans for the weekend. My dancing/movie partner is busy both Fri/Sat nights and I don't know what to do with myself now. Most of those exercise participants are gone by now too. I'm not about to do anything that involves being outdoors. Been to Amsterdam, Mauritshuis, the Aquarium.... Perhaps I'll check out the torture museum or do that CSI marathon I actually never got around to doing couple weeks back. I also have a few books I've been planning to read. Right now tho, I am spending my Friday night updating this damn blog. How lame. But check out my new flickr photostream thingy on the sidebar... it's cool.

My Fortune Cookie Says...

Your Fortune Is

It's ok to let a fool kiss you, but don't let a kiss fool you.

The Wacky Fortune Cookie Generator

Life in Siberia

I'm still in Holland... but I might as well be in Siberia!! It is the first of March and I am experiencing perhaps the coldest day of my life. That cold spell in Russia pretty much spilled over to Europe this winter. Today, I woke up to a blizzard outside (it rarely snows here though). It's probably only been a few degrees below zero but with the freakin' North Sea wind, I bet it's like -20 or something like that. All I know is that I feel like a popsicle when I'm outside.

I've been having a hell of a time trying to stay warm here while back home, everyone is enjoying the warmest winter ever. Seriously, I do everything in my power to spend the least amount of time possible outdoors. I suck up the 5-15 minute walk to the gym and grocery store about twice a week, and to and from the car for work. Unfortunately, I get invited out for dinners and what nots, so I do have to leave the house at other times too.

Not that it's all that warm in the house. My roommate doesn't get so cold easily, and the heating system isn't all that great here. So the room temperature doesn't get warm enough for my comfort. I'm already in sweats, but I usually need to be wrapped in a blanket. Kees does let me put the thermostat up, but he charges me 10 euros for every degree I turn up.