I am back, back in my pseudo home, Mountain View. For some reason, it doesn't feel weird or strange or shocking to be back, maybe because I am well prepared this time. I did come back through the UK and Chicago which I think dampened out the culture shock factor a bit.
In Chicago, my friends put on suits to attend a cancer conference. And I felt very far removed from that corporate world I used to be a part of. Maybe that's just the initial shock or maybe I have successfully removed myself from Corporate America, who knows. I did find myself surfing the web for potential jobs the first day I got back - biotech, public health, non-profits... Just looking, I don't think I will actually start pursuing anything for another month or two.
No, the traveling has not ended. Next week is up to Reno to keep charlie company, camping on one weekend and a world music festival the next. Then a week or 2 week trip in July somewhere in North or South America with Dr. Julia (to celebrate finishing her PhD!!!), and then a few weeks up in Vancouver to spend some time with my grandma. And who knows what else. Meanwhile, I am hanging out with the family and sorting through all my stuff and catching up with friends so it's all good.
Well, it's been a wild couple of weeks in North America. After arriving from Central America we had the week long ski trip to Whistler and Vancouver. I loved Vancouver and would like to move there. I had bizzare series of sales meetings, for certain clients, and found my self doing business travel in the midst of a backpacking trip. Pretty odd, but it looks like a sale is possible in the next few months, which could completely curtail my travel plans.
We relized that San Francisco is the most beautiful city we've been to since we left, and quite possibly in the world. Had tons of great re-unioin, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and drinks with friends, and it was great to see everybody.
So we're heading to Fiji, quite glad to be heading out of the country in its current war like and ugly climate. Doing some sailing, so we might not have a posting for a little while.
Once again, we had trouble leaving the country. We were not allowed to check in last Sunday night because we did not get to the counter 45 minutes ahead of time (we missed it by 2 minutes!!) to check our bags. Needless to say, we were not too happy and since we were still feeling a bit culture shocked and out of place, we started cursing United Airlines and the US in general.
We did make our way into Canada the next day and were again whisked to another huge chinese feast by my parents, grandma and aunts (we celebrate the first few days of chinese new year, not just the first day) and were basically fed continuously during our entire stay.
We also spent 3 days up in Whistler with the WASTED crew - an annual Whistler trip organized by my cousin Joe and a few of his friends. Do check out the website! They want to eventually allow others to plan ski trips on their site, it's pretty cool (Kirby is a genius!). There wasn't much snow. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen the mountain that bare! Forunately the weather was fabulous and the snow wasn't all that bad and we had a great time anyway riding and drinking with everyone. Check out our pictures!! and some other fun ones from Kirby's camera , including a very nice sequence shot of Joe's failed rail slide jump which earned him 'Crash of the Day' award, sorry Joe ;)
or 'Staging Area' as Charlie called it since we don't really have a home. The only remnant from our 498 Carl Street home was our bed, which i happily hopped up and down on the first second I walked in the door at my parent's house.
We left the volcanos, mango trees, rice and beans, etc. this morning and are now lounging in my parent's living room after a huge fantastic Chinese New Year dinner with my family! Happy New Year (it's the year of the ram!)!!
Final week activities in Costa Rica included a few days' attempt at surfing, watching superbowl with a bunch of Americans in the largly foreigner-populated beach town of Nosara, and a few days volunteering with Habitat for Humanity!
We stayed with a family in Miramar in Central Costa Rica and helped a young family build their home. It was HARD WORK, especially under the fierce sun. Even though we only had 3 days, we helped them out quite a bit with the foundation. It was fun and rewarding and we had a great time with the family, first chance we had to get to know some local Ticos. We have new found respect for construction work and are looking forward to hopefully doing more the second part of our trip or back here at home.
Tomorrow we are off to Vancouver for a short visit to see my grandma and some snowboarding at Whistler!
(Today is blog catch-up day) Just want to post one on the fabulous wedding we attended this past weekend in Saratoga Springs put on by the Zeltmann's for Laura and Justin. Got a chance to catch up with a few long lost friends from Hopkins and Charlie had his first visit to upstate NY. Congrats and best wishes to Laura and Justin who are now honeymooning in Antigua.
I am in exotic Philadelphia right now visiting Jessica who is a first year MBA student here. I am writing from this lecture hall-turned-computer-lab at the new fancy building at Wharton. There are more than 100 IBM desktops with flat screen monitors. The place is filled up and it looked like everyone is in class taking notes when you first walk in and seems quite strange. We just came from the health clinic after getting Jessica her flu shot and now we're off to take some yearbook pictures for Jessica's ice hockey team (yes, little jessica is playing hockey) and marketing club. Later, we are going to some social at some bar and then someone's birthday dinner. Life at business school is quite hectic. Oh, and she does go to class and studies too.