Living a Solar Life

Hey everyone!
I have so enjoyed reading all of your posts and looking at the pictures from Kelsey´s wedding. I also had a really wonderful time and loved being back together again. And for me, it´s time for round 2 on the blog! (yes, i am a couple of days early, but i won´t get internet again until after the 1st of Feb...)

I don´t know where to start. I feel like I ahve experienced so much since the last time I posted. Right now, I am in a rural village in the northern part of Nicaragua called Sabana Grande. It´s a co-operative of women that build solar cookers and then these two guys that try to build solar panels. We are staying with host families and some of our families have solar panels that were donated to the NGO. Okay...let me back up:

I am in Nicaragua right now with 10 other students and 2 professors. It is hot down here - around 90 degrees everyday and as you all know, i love the heat so i am in heaven and tan! I even got burned when I went to the beach and tried surfing until I broke the board. I was so bummed because right when I finally stood up and rode the wave all the way to the beach, the board broke at the end and then they made me pay for some of the board :( But, it wasn´t definitely worth it because the feeling of standing up on the board is totally worth it. So that was the beach one day...The next day we headed to Cerro Negro which is an active volcano covered in black sand. It´s the only volcano in the world like that so we got to go sledding down the side and we got to walk around in the crater. Here´s a pic of us at the top of the volcano.

and this is Carissa volcano boarding

The first two weeks we spent learning Spanish in a city called Leon while receiving orientation about Nicaragua. We each stayed with a host family in Leon to practice our Spanish. I also went to a salsa class with a couple of people in my group and am becoming pretty good at salsa, mombacha, and meringue - hehe. it´s so beautiful compared to the grinding we do. One night with my host family, we had 2 robbers try to break in to the house. I was so scared because I didn´t totally know what was going on so I hid in my bed under the covers, but it turns out the never actually made it in to the house before my host mom came out screaming `ladrones, ladrones`at the top of her lungs.


The group also really likes doing yoga, so I lead sessions a couple of times a week! There are runners in the group, hula hoopers, and soccer players, and fiddlers, and harmonica players. It´s such a cool group and community.

Okay...back to where I started. These past two weeks, I have been without internet in Sabana Grande. Again, with a homestay family. This family isn´t as nice as the one I had in Leon. In fact, the mom is quite a bitch and a total gossiper but her daughter and son are really cool. There´s limited electricity and showers are with a bucket. I got my hair cut here, but I got someone in the group to do it for me. I never thought I would do that!
Here we are taking classes for a bout 2 hours in the morning and then spend the afternoon learning how to build solar panels, solar cookers, and we just finished an electrical installation of solar panels on a `solar restaurant`they are building. And let me tell you about class....hahahahha. We just have to read a couple of pages and then participate in the discussion and wrtie a couple of things in our journal. It´s such a refreshing break from Davidson. I am learning a lot of Spanish and about Solar and about how NGOs work - really sketchily and unorganized (At least the past 2 i have been to).


Learning how to make tortillas! They start from the corn at night, peel it off the cob, soak it and then cook it in ash and water, and then leave it overnight. In the morning at like 5, they take it to the grinder and then come back at like 6 and start banging away making perfectly round tortillas. Mine were nowhere near perfect! Did i mention this was class one day?

Okay that´s all for now because my internet time is up.

This trip is making me think a lot about how consumer-based our culture is and I think I definitely want a simpler life where I am aware about my needs vs. wants. The first thing I want to do when I get back to the US is get rid of almost all of my STUFF.

Much love,
Claire Bear

Kickapoo --> Panama --> Rice

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for taking so long to write a post. I think I'm the last person... (whoops).

Anyway, life has been pretty exciting for past couple weeks. Apart from an awesome Christmas (I'll explain why in a minute) we went to Panama from the 31st of December to the 7th of January. We stayed in three amazing places: the old colonial section of Panama City, a small town in the mountains called Boquete, and (much to our disbelief) an even smaller town on the coast called Boca Chica. Panama City was amazing, though a little quiet because of the New Year weekend. We had a great time though and went all over town and saw the Panama Canal. Dad and I were really impressed, especially when we got to see a cruise ship go through the locks. Mom on the other hand quickly tired of watching boats move really really slowly (go figure...?).We also ran across a small problem none of us had thought about at all. Turns out Latin American countries take their holidays really seriously, and as a result all the local restaurants were shut. The only places to eat that were open were a Lebanese restaurant, and Chinese restaurant. So on New Years day in Panama we had Lebanese food for dinner. Not something I would have called in advance... (it was delicious though).


After the big city we took a short flight to the western end of the country and rented a car to drive up into the mountains. Our first day we hiked up around a volcano, got really lost (my family and directions: bad, my family and directions in Spanish: catastrophic) but ended up stumbling across  several coffee plantations high up on the hill side. We ran across an old abandoned land cruiser on the hillside and tried to start it, only to discovery the engine had been replaced by a large bush.

Eventually we found the right trail and trekked for a few more hours up a narrow valley to a beautiful hidden waterfall.

Before leaving town we spent a day whitewater rafting, and we all agreed that it was one of the highlights of our trip. Not only did we have an excellent guide, but we also got to see the countryside from river. Our leisurely float down the Casco Viejo River was interrupted periodically by pretty intense rapids, and it only took me five minutes to become the first person to fall out of the boat and owe everyone else a round of drinks! Luckily I was spared from the shame, as one by one, everyone else proceeded to get tossed out. Coming out of a particularly violent set of rapids (proceeded ominously by advice from our guide "I would try not to fall out up here if I were you") we were all astounded to see the boat ahead of us floating along with nobody in it! All we could see were seven heads bobbing all around the boat. Everyone turned out alright though, and the rest of our trip proceeded without incident (we all become a hell of a lot more cautious).

Exhausted from our day rafting we went to eat at a small Peruvian restaurant. Now to this point I had been surviving on local and occasionally imported beer (Balboa, Panama, Heineken, Corona etc... all of which tasted as though the bottles had been left out in the equatorial sun for about a decade than lightly chilled and served.) So as I sit there and listen to the variety of beers at this restaurant I'm ready for the worst. The waiter reels off the names as he must do fifty times each night, "Balboa, Panama, Heineken, Corona, Dos Equis, Paulaner." Uhhh rewind? Paulaner is a really solid German beer that I would be delighted to find in the nicest places in Houston. Needless to say I was in love with that restaurant. The food was good too, come to think of it...

The next day we drove down to the coastal "town" of Boca Chica. In reality it was a small street with a half dozen houses hidden back in the woods 30 miles from the nearest major town, along roads that certainly voided our rental car contract (avoid unimproved roads... uhhh how??). It was beautiful there and we quickly settled in for what we thought would be a relaxing  two days snorkeling and hiking. My stomach on the other hand, had other ideas. After gamely taking several servings of campechana (pickled seafood salsa... yum!) a day for the past week, it  finally decided enough was enough and I spent the entire time in bed, watching Spanish TV and wishing I had paid better attention in Ms. Hill's class. Luckily I had my wonderful and caring parents along to help me in my time of need.

Here is an example of one of our conversations:
Mom: How are you feeling?
Me: *groan*
Mom: Oh thats good, I'm glad you're feeling better
Me: *groan*
Mom: So Dad and I are going sea kayaking for a couple of hours, we'll see you when we get back!

Much to everyone's disappointment I survived and we left Panama agreeing not only that it was one of the best vacations we'd ever been on, but also that I would only be allowed to come on subsequent vacations if my stomach behaved itself.

I've been back at Rice now for two weeks and have enjoyed every moment of it. The time has been extra special as a result of our fifth roomate, Sarah Palin. Let me explain. It turns out my mom and sister are peculiar people and for Christmas they got me a life size cutout of Sarah Palin. This is not without cause however. While visiting my sister a couple months ago in DC we passed by a souvenir shop with a life size cutout of Sarah Palin in the window. I commented on how awesome it would be to have one, and then as we moved on I promptly forgot about the entire thing. Millie on the other hand decided that the cutout was what I really needed for Christmas. I've lived with Mrs. Palin for a few weeks now and I must say, there is nothing quite as scary as opening your door in the morning to find Sarah Palin staring at you (We are trying to find new and more ridiculous places to hide her. We're thinking we might laminate her and stick her on top of a building in the academic quad.).

Anyway, I've rambled on long enough.

I hope you are all doing well wherever you may be! I look forward to hearing about how 2011 starts off for you.

-Robo

From Virginia

Hi everyone!! Sorry I haven’t written in so long, I keep reading posts and forgetting to actually post somethingJ I love this blog already; it’s so nice to hear from everyone and see pictures, a great way to stay in contact without trying to play phone tag!!

So life has been pretty crazy here in Harrisonburg. I had a realllly short break because I had to be back early for rehearsals, and I don’t think I was quite ready to come back. It was weird knowing that I’m kinda leaving Texas behind, when it’s been where I’ve spent the last 12 years, and know most of you guys! I spent a lot of the break doing moving stuff, such as going through trillions of my old dance costumes (I have to admit, I did keep some of them:):)), going through books, clothes, photos, etc. Many of you all have recently done this too, so I know you all know what I’m talking about. I’m going to miss some things, but one definitely won’t be the heat!!

I got back to Virginia on the 4^th, and had a week of Kiss Me, Kate rehearsals, and I’ve been rehearsing almost every night (or day on the weekends) getting it on its feet. It’s going to be a great musical and I am so excited and having a blast!! I’m a dancer/singer, and I do a bunch of crazy lifts that reminded me of Betz at Cooper and her crazy dances…But anyways I am really proud of where we’ve gotten so far. This will probably be my favorite musical since Peter Pan!!

Funny, but not so funny story for you: This past August I bought a fish, a blue Beta named Angelo, for my apartment. He was really sweet, and I’ve never had a fish before so it was fun. Weellllll there are some really strange theatre majors out there, and one of the guys who lives in my house is friends with one of those strange majors. Anyways so one night in November, Grey (the weird theatre major) asks me if he could borrow Angelo and do an experiment. I told him no immediately…buuuut that obviously didn’t mean anything. When I was at rehearsal one night in December, the boys snuck into my room and took Angelo, Grey drank a lot of water, proceeded to swallow my live fish, then threw it back up after 30 seconds or so. Yes, he SWALLOWED MY FISH. Well, Angelo survived, and no one told me Grey had actually done this til I got home from break when my other roommate brought Angelo back and he froze in her car on the way back from Virginia. I wasn’t the happiest camper around for a bit, but it’s actually kind of crazy he survived. Just know I do lock my door constantly now… And I got a new fish named Scorch lol

Otherwise, things are pretty good here. I’m settled into my new communications minor classes and other musical theatre classes, and I’m enjoying the snow and whatnot. I have been applying for more auditions for jobs this summer, so that is the only thing that I’m stressing about. And Roma, I will probably hear mid-February if I get a slot at NETC and am coming to Boston!! But I will let you know asap. Because I really want to come anyways:) Bri-your dog is ADORABLE. Claire-wow, I hope you’re having so much fun on your trips and start getting food other than rice! Kels-Hope you and Brandon’s life is going wonderfully, still so happy for you both:) Oh, and I friend of mine painted the painting on the right for me for Christmas and I just wanted to share it with you:)

Love you guys so much,

Rachael

Back in Boston!

Hello ladies and one gentleman, but Row, you can be the honorary girlfriend as well ;p


Let me start by saying I miss you all so much! The wedding was so enjoyable and I throughly enjoyed catching up with all of you over the break. Seeing good friends so close to Christmas time just makes the season more joyous..I'm being senti. 


After the wedding I attended another wedding of a close family friend, the week passed by so quickly..there were three days where there was at least one event if not two in the same day! That's an indian wedding for you, sooo long (Claire knows ;) Anyways, during the reception I could not stop crying because the speeches became so emotional. The love between family members can be so strong that it really moves you and makes you wonder how someone can love another person so much. This love seemed tangible, and it was between friends as well as family members. To get to the point, it made me think about my friends, about you guys, and everyone close to me and how you all have affected me. After your wedding, Kelsey, I realized that we can all come back together and be the same friends we were in high school. Albeit with the some physical changes and status changes ie. married/single. Lets keep this blog going for a good long while...bc we are all going to be cool old ladies, right bri? (It was in a birthday card you gave me) 

Looking good Row!

It's a damn shame I didn't get one of all of us girls..ugh!


Now I am back in Boston! It is soooo cold here but that shouldn't discourage any of you from visiting me :) Kels, if you're still thinking about living here in the future you should come check it out and hang with me and Nina!!


Rachael, I expect to see you here like you promised, on March 18? 


Rowan, I miss you too and I would like to add that it was truly wonderful seeing you in December. Keep looking good and being an amazing guy because I'm not friends with ugly people :p


That's all for now..call me if you want the latest info as it is too private to be shared online :) 


Lots of love XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Lots and lots of change!

So north Georgia got 6 inches of snow last night, so I figured that since I'm snowed in and have nothing to do, that this would be a great time to write my first blog!

So I'll just go ahead and get everyone up to speed as my life has changed a TON in the last year! I am no longer going to Birmingham-Southern. Last fall I came down with Swine Flu and was sick for 6 weeks. I missed a lot of class, so I withdrew to avoid failing. I went home to Texas and took a semester off to recover. During this time I worked at the vet clinic that I worked at in highschool. Then, on March 7th, Lee proposed!! I then decided that I wanted to be closer to him and we both agreed that we were ready to take the next step in our relationship and we moved in together. In May, I moved to Rome, Georgia. It took a little getting used to but slowly I began to fall in love with this little town. It was a big step, but I have never been happier in my entire life. Lee is the most amazing and supportive fiance I could ever ask for and I cannot wait to get married! We are so excited about the life that we are building together!

I am currently going to school at Georgia Highlands College and am a nursing major. I am trying to transfer to Shorter University for Fall 2011. I am also working part time at a vet clinic in Rome, and of course, loving it! I have also become very interested in animal behavior and learning about training techniques. I am hoping to pursue a part time career as a Victoria Stillwell Approved dog trainer.  We have also been participating in triathlons and biking a lot! 

Lee and I recently decided to move out of our tiny, overcrowded apartment and into a house! We cannot wait! We are moving in this saturday! The house is located very close to downtown Rome and is in the cutest neighborhood! We are just renting for now, but if we decided to buy it one day, it would be an awesome starter house!
Check out our new home!

Lee and I have also been steadily growing our family over the year. As you all know, I'm an animal freak and it's just normal for me to have them:) We found our first cat Ryder at Birmingham-Southern, he is 2. Our second cat, named Bailey is 10 months old and we adopted her from Animal Control. Jack is our 9 month old kitty who found us by mistake. He fell out of the engine compartment of a truck in front of us, and well... we got attached!

Bailey (left) Jack (top) Ryder (right)

Finally, on December 10th, Lee and I adopted Maddie. Maddie is our first dog together, she is a 1 1/2 year old Chocolate Lab. She was found running as a stray by animal control. She stayed there for a week on death row until a rescue pulled her. They brought her to the clinic I work at where she received medical treatment, was spayed, vaccinated and boarded for about a week. I fell in love with her, and Lee did too once he met her. She is an incredible dog and we feel very lucky to have found her. She is also helping me practice my training techniques! I am hoping to train her to be a therapy dog because she has such an amazing demeanor. We may add one more dog to our family, as Lee wants a male black lab from his dad's dog to train to hunt. That would not happen for a while of course!

Lee and I are still planning our wedding, we may move the wedding up to some time around December or January, but its not set in stone yet! Will keep y'all updated!!! Of course now I have to go celebrate because Auburn just won the BCS championships! War Eagle!

wedding&honeymoon :)

 The week of 12/18/10 was perfect.  I'm so glad you guys were all able to come and celebrate even if we didn't get a ton of time together.  The bachelorette party was the highlight of the pre-wedding events.  I can't wait to try out my new moves haha ;)  It was just beautiful to have so many of my favorite people together!  It's funny how so much planning goes into one week and it's over so suddenly.  I soaked it up though - every minute of it.  Wish we could have danced all night but we had this honeymoon thing we had to get to...

 So, in case you don't already know, we went to San Diego.  Our room was amazing. the luscious green hills made for a beautiful drive every day to the city. and the people were fascinating..... fascinating meaning they were all so very weird!  which made for some good people watching!  unfortunately, it rained the first few days to the point where it flooded downtown!  our room (eventhough we were in the mountain villas) flooded so we had to move up to the 3rd floor hah.  it didn't ruin our time there by any means. it actually made us feel better about not wanting to leave the resort that often.  we saw "how do you know" which was not so good... and "the fighter" which was amazing!!! christian bale did a phenomenal job.  we got a couples massage!!! and went to a few beaches, the san diego zoo, and yummy restaurants.  i'll post a picture of the amazing, huge pancake i ate at the Hash House - best restaurant in town by the way.  if any of yall go to SD any time soon we've got some great recommendations!

 This has been the sweetest season in my life.  I. feel. so. blessed.  I get to wake up next to my favorite person every day (sometimes more than once when he snores ;) haha)  It's like a sleepover with your best friend!  All the time! lol
He is so good to me, you guys.  You'd be very pleased to see the way he loves me.  And we laugh SO MUCH.

At the Padre's stadium in SD

Thought you girls would appreciate this, knowing my obsession with penguins... I wore this on the honeymoon (so sexy right?!)  By the way, there aren't penguins at the SD Zoo... WHAT THE HECK are they thinking? :)

so that's a peek into my life the last few weeks.. i'm gonna take pictures of our place when i get the chance now that we're all settled in.  can't wait to hear from each one of you!
love y'all.
miss you badlyyyyyy.

All together again!

Adios!

Tomorrow I head to Nicaragua - a world with limited internet access and no cell phones. The program that I am on allows you to take one carry on item and the rest of the stuff for my 3 months down there has to fit in to my hiking backpack. I haven't actually put the stuff in the backpack yet, so I could be doing a lot of squeezing and squishing and sitting on before I get on the plane tomorrow! As most of you guys already know it is an environmental studies program and we go to Nicaragua first and then to Costa Rica. We were supposed to go to Honduras....but they have political problems.

My mom is kinda freaking out that I won't be able to e-mail with her everyday. She is addicted to e-mail and has discovered facebook this break....dangerous! So, I have asked my dad to keep her preoccupied. She is a lot better than when I went to Ecuador, though.

I have had a great break starting with seeing you all at Kelsey's wedding. Then, I packed up my house at Davidson and came to Pinehurst to chillax. I seriously haven't really done anything! Can you believe me not doing anything?! I have barely left the house except to go running and get 5 filling replaced - yuk! I guess better here than getting a toothache somewhere in the Costa Rican rain forest. We had 6" of snow the day after Christmas, so I went sledding with a couple of friends - twice!! And then built this awesome, sexy snowwoman - boobs and all!

Well, I should probably hit the sack. My day for posting is going to be the 2nd of each month (At least). The rest of the days of the month are up for grabs. But maybe not the 31st since that only happens once every other month. lol.

Much love,

Claire Bear

The First Post

We have to stay in touch!!! And in an effort to stay in touch, Kelsey had the great idea of creating a blog where we each post at least 1x / month. Ok? So...pick your day, write it on your calendar and let the rest of us know what is going on in your life.

Maybe we can be like those 80 year olds you see that are still hanging out and going on vacation with the people they went to high school with. Okay so maybe that's a little extreme, but I wouldn't mind that, would you?

I am new to this whole blogging thing, but whoever wants to post is welcome to!