tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36731322009-10-29T11:36:31.386+09:00Carissa's Exploits and Fabulous Adventures<br>
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<br>Japan Round TwoCarissanoreply@blogger.comBlogger381125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-88158721464659702982007-10-16T03:22:00.000+09:002007-10-16T03:31:21.772+09:00One tends to forget the repetition of history. Today I was reminded that it all just happens over and over again....Historical Version:"So, how did the trend for pointed-toe shoes start?Manolo who? Long before they ever made an appearance on the TV show "Sex and the City," pointed shoes were favored by Polish nobles, who introduced the fashion to England on a diplomatic visit in the 1300s. The Carissanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-34039314696149540702007-05-31T02:09:00.000+09:002007-05-31T02:18:10.941+09:00The Chairman of the Committee I was watching today suddenly asked "What happened to the crack and all the other drugs? Are all the crack users just out there flim-flamming around?"Although the quote caused laughter, he was asking a serious question. Meth has become the focal point and popular drug to be against this year. Everyone is involved in preventing meth use and helping people who are Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-29522509064391674782007-05-31T02:07:00.000+09:002007-05-31T02:09:20.764+09:00I wish I was there with you, drinking beer in a quiet piazza watching the dust settle and the people pass. I can almost feel the sun on my face and hear the click of shoes on the cobblestones if I try really hard. (sigh) Instead I am in Carson City hoping that the legislators will finish soon so I can leave as well.Two weeks passage of time will find me drinking apple wine in Europe once again,Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-68294304918003837642007-04-25T08:40:00.000+09:002007-04-25T09:40:30.408+09:00Lipstick on a PigDeadlines in the Legislature last week and this week. Lots of bills are dieing and lots of hearts are being broken. Don't you love the government.We have been lucky thus far, although I would like to think that luck had nothing to do with it and it was just hard work. (Most of the hard work done by other people). Several bills that we didn't like have died, and several bills Carissanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1176497591519699882007-04-14T05:52:00.000+09:002007-04-14T05:53:11.536+09:00Unintended Consequences. This blog is going to have to change drastically. No longer am I being blown around the world by the trade winds. My wanderings have slowed for now. I seem to have taken root and am attempting to grow (which can be a challenge anywhere, but especially in the desert). What should this blog become though? Do I have a concsious choice or will it evolve in its own way, Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1176498291462840722007-04-08T05:56:00.000+09:002007-04-14T06:04:51.466+09:00I've registered for the MS Walk at Lake Tahoe on Saturday May 19 because I want to do something for the people who have been diagnosed - and because I want to do everything to prevent more people from learning what it means to live with this disease. Today, there is no cure for multiple sclerosis, and with a diagnosis occurring most frequently between the ages of 20 and 50, many individuals face Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1176497709127477322007-02-05T05:54:00.000+09:002007-04-14T05:55:09.130+09:00My new job!Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168847927130166002007-01-15T16:57:00.000+09:002007-01-15T16:58:47.130+09:00I finally (finally) got around to updating this blog. It took awhile I know. I added a lot of pictures but some of them won't appear on this page. You have to go into the archives to see them. Most of the pictures are August 2006- October 2006 so just select those archives on the right (I have faith that you are all smart enough to figure that out).Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168831265443825062007-01-09T12:20:00.000+09:002007-01-15T16:57:13.603+09:00I turned in the forms for the fiancé visa today. It was so complicated (35 pages of complicated). I’m glad that I am finished though, now I just have to wait (5-9 months of waiting, I’m going to be an expert soon).My mother bought me a book called “Immigration Made Easy.” I think it must be a joke, because there is nothing easy about the immigration process. I’m worried that I made a mistake Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168831165181995832006-12-17T12:19:00.000+09:002007-01-15T16:44:35.336+09:00Last night Ruan took me out to dinner at a beautiful restaurant called Cynthia’s. After dinner we got in the car and started driving, but he wouldn’t tell me where we were going! Finally we pulled off the road onto a small dirt road and bumped along for a few minutes before pulling into a place called the Sundowner’s Lodge. We went into our room which was beautiful (the Big Five Room because Carissanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168832942230518072006-12-10T12:44:00.000+09:002007-01-15T12:49:02.246+09:00Ruan and I went camping and had a run-in with an ostrich. I'm not sure what his problem was, but the ostrich would chase me around the tent and was stalking us all night. I had to chase him off with a kitchen towel (fairly effective for ostrich removal).Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168831116347331022006-12-07T12:12:00.000+09:002007-01-15T12:18:36.350+09:00Ruan and I spent the last 3 days at Manyane Resort near the Pilanesburg National Reserve. It is a pretty resort with thatched bungalows, 2 swimming pools, a restaurant and a semi-tame ostrich that wanders around. There are some wild baboons that like to cause mischief; we heard them a few times. The amazing thing about Manyane is how close it is to the park gates (maybe 2 minute drive). We Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168830698818219862006-11-30T12:11:00.000+09:002007-01-15T12:11:38.820+09:00I am in Pretoria visiting Ruan. I love it down here. Everything is so relaxed and easy going. The flight down here was 33 hours (evilness) but it is worth it. We have spent most of our time swimming in the pool, talking, reading books and soaking up the sun. After the election I was so stressed that I really needed this de-tox time.Ruan has taken me around Pretoria a bit to show me where he Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168830262685367412006-10-03T12:03:00.000+09:002007-01-15T16:50:25.636+09:00When I got to Customs in Chicago the agent asked about my traveling. After I told him he simply said, “Welcome Home.” It’s hard to believe after so long. I’m home.To summarize this trip is no small task. Was it amazing? Of course. Was it life-changing. Maybe not, but the words enlightening, inspiring, educational, and exciting spring to mind. So what have I learned?- That I know very Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168830195310765712006-09-26T12:02:00.000+09:002007-01-15T12:03:15.310+09:00In London met up with Richard (a friend of Ruan’s from Japan). We went to have drinks at the Queen Mary, a boat on the Thames, just down from the Savoy and next to the Waterloo Bridge. It was a gloriously beautiful day, I could see Big Ben down the river, watch the red buses cross the bridge, I was having great conversation and tasty beer. It was hard to believe I was actually in London!Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168830155655964742006-09-19T12:00:00.000+09:002007-01-15T12:02:35.656+09:00Munich, GermanyTook a posh overnight train to Munich and met Ruan at the station. Such a happy reunion! The first day at Oktoberfest we drank at the Lowenbrau tent. We started at 11am and by 4pm (3 beers and a lot of pretzels later) I was being led back to the hostel. The second day Ruan and I went by ourselves and didn’t start drinking until 4pm. We managed to hold out until 8pm. It was a Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1159526626992505802006-09-15T19:32:00.000+09:002006-09-29T19:43:47.030+09:00ROMANIASighisoara, the birthplace of Vlad Tepes "Dracula." Last night we ate dinner in a restaurant that is in the house where he was born. It was rather spooky because as we walked home there was a man dressed all in black standing under a tree staring off into nowhere, but that was the closest we got to seeing any vampires. Today we explored the old citadel on top of a hill in the middle of Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168830029401673522006-09-15T12:00:00.000+09:002007-01-15T12:00:29.403+09:00PragueThe highlight was definitely the Ossuary in Kutna Hara. I thought it would be spooky, so many things made of bones, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t spiritual either though. Perhaps just a bit overwhelming—so many people’s lives represented by those bones. We also explored Prague, went on a ghost tour, and drank beer (although I would like to argue that the beer is not cheaper than water if Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168829994252767602006-09-13T11:59:00.000+09:002007-01-15T11:59:54.253+09:00Dragging around Budapest at 6 in the morning. We hardly slept on the train because we didn’t have a sleeper car and were scared of being mugged. We don’t know what the exchange rate is or how much money we need. Tired estimations (probably wrong since they are pre-coffee). We go to the hostel but can’t get beds because it is too early. We go across the river to the Gellert Baths Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1158080658963032802006-09-13T02:01:00.000+09:002006-09-13T02:04:18.976+09:00Carissa's Version of Our Hiking Trip: We started out on our day of hiking with spectacularly beautiful weather. We took a train from Brasov to Sinaia then took the cable car to the top of the mountain (2000 meters up). Unfortunately we entered a cloud on top of the mountain and would have been utterly lost, due to the lack of a map, if not for my astounding navigational skills. Although the Carissanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1159525867528245422006-09-02T19:26:00.000+09:002006-09-29T19:31:07.530+09:00Exploring Churches, Monasteries and Catacombs in Kiev, Ukraine(we have to wear the scarves, it's not just a misdirected fashion statement)Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168829943214938172006-08-28T11:58:00.000+09:002007-01-15T11:59:03.216+09:00We went to the train station in the morning to buy our tickets to Moscow (by going back through Moscow we bypass Belarus and the evil visa). We took the Metro to the Peter and Paul Fortress. The rain beat down on us (and beat us down) and overall I was disappointed by the fortress. The prison (and torture chamber) was closed, there were no English brochures (plenty of French though so I Carissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168829881017247322006-08-26T11:57:00.000+09:002007-01-15T11:58:01.020+09:00I think the traveling to starting to wear me down a bit. I was pretty cranky and slow this morning (a filthy shower didn’t improve my mood). We went to VDNK which Ruan had described as “some old communist buildings” but ended up being absolutely amazing. During the Soviet Era the government had built beautiful, huge monuments to various groups and countries in the Union. Now the whole area isCarissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1159525587195391102006-08-25T19:23:00.000+09:002006-09-29T19:26:27.196+09:00St. Basil's Cathedral in MoscowCarissanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3673132.post-1168829829925176482006-08-24T11:56:00.000+09:002007-01-15T11:57:09.926+09:00Some general complaints about Russian tourism and sightseeing places:1.The entry fees are so high! It’s like Japan, which is ridiculous because it’s Russia!2.Charging to enter a working church? What ever happened to being able to worship freely? HA! Not if you are a tourist in Russia. (I will grant that I am not Russian Orthodox, so I am not going to worship. Christina on the other hand is Carissanoreply@blogger.com0