Coreyoria World Tour

Visited Countries

2006-09-20T13:05:00.000-05:00

Today, through some linkage on a Flickr contact's page, I came upon this countries visited site. It maps out all of the countries you've been to.

Mine looks like this:

create your own visited countries map

Then, underneath it said: "14 countries, 6%." Yikes, I need to work on that! STAT! Haha. Well no travel plans in the immediate future, except to the Grand Canyon with my mom for her 50th. Still exciting. Actually, I should make those arrangements ...

Photos have been posted.

2006-09-04T18:08:00.000-05:00

Check out the latest and greatest!

These photos from my time in Israel are all oganized into sets. Enjoy!

Home.

2006-08-25T14:19:00.001-05:00

I'm home! Arrived back in St. Louie the night before last. After driving through 15 states and stopping in several of them, I have returned. And I must say that it does feel good to be home. My room is still an utter disaster ... clothes and crap have exploded everywhere, but I'll clean it up in good time. I really did have an amazing journey and getting the chance to not only see Israel, but also live there was such an opportunity (one that I hope wasn't merely "once in a lifetime"). I miss all the great people I met there and I have a good feeling I'll be in touch with a number of them. Back to reality, though. That means job searching, cold weather ... but also good things like spending time with friends and exploring a city I've never lived in before. It was great to end my trip with waterparks, swamp buggies and ocean waves, but all of the driving was exhausting and I'm definitely ready to be in one place ... for a little while anyway. ;)

Thanks for keeping track of me and my goings-on while I was abroad. As always, I'll keep it updated with my plans for future travel and eventually pick up where I left off next time I go on an adventure.

I just wanted to put up these pictures of this waterslide we went on that had a funnel because it was so rad. It's kind of random, but here:

Awesome, huh? Well soon enough my very own pictures will be posted on Flickr. Some of them are up there already from the beginning of my trip. But I have yet to upload the rest or get them organized. It should be done soon seeing as I have a sinus infection and little energy, which gives me plenty of time to spend on the computer. :)

Stay great,
Corey

Jet lag, thou art my bane!

2006-08-16T04:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, so it's what? 5:20 in the morning and I am abnormally awake. My body clock is so screwed up after going back in time 8 hours and then taking a 17 hour roadtrip, that even I don't know what to think. I guess my life conclusion that jet lag is psychological and a war that can be won with perserverance of the mind is, after all, wrong. Damn you, jet lag, for causing me to be tired when everyone else is awake and to be awake when I should be sleeping like a baby! What to do ... what to do. Could this have anything to do with the Claritin-D I was forced to take last night as the result of a killer headache and uncontrollable sneezing yesterday? Ugh, I'm a mess!

I have naturally decided to get up and blog after a fit of internal rage caused me to pop out of bed and Shea asked me, "What the hell are you doing?" Me - "I can't sleep; I'm going on the computer." He - "You're a freak, Polk." Yeah, yeah, what else is new? How long was I supposed to wait there for? For the first time in a week, I feel full of energy. Why is it now? Ahhhh! Jet lag, though art my bane!!!!

Anyway, I'm in Florida, safe and sound. Our New York City excursion got nixed as a result of Brendan's checking out process being more of an ordeal that we had previously thought. And since going into the city can be somewhat of a process and we were low on time, it got tossed aside. Moma and Teany will have to wait for some other time, but I was truthfully glad to be out of the Northeast and heading south, as was Brendan. To D.C., the city where as far as we can tell - the sun is always shining. What a beautifully clean space full of preppies. Brendan feels at home there and I a little out of place, but we both agree it's wonderful.

We stayed with his sister for the weekend, mostly going out to eat and walking around. We did get a chance to go to the Holocaust Museum and WWII Memorial, both of which were crowded and impressive. I'd probably learn a lot by living in D.C., because there are so many museums and places to go to learn about history without reading history books, which I cannot do for some reason without falling sound asleep. Where's a history book when you need one anyway?

Sunday was awesome because I got to meet up with Cassie, a fun and amazing person that I was fortunate enough to meet whilst traveling through Europe last summer. Right around the time of the anniversary of that unbelievable trip, too. So we sat around in cafes, perusing through photos on the MacBook Pro that I advised her to buy (what a sweet computer), reminised a bit, and then she headed south again (she had been in D.C. coincidentally over this weekend for her sister's bacherlorette party). Cassman, it was so great to see you!

Monday around noon we began our own trip to the sunshine state and at around 4 in the morning, we decended upon Boynton Beach. Yesterday we went for an impromptu swim in the Atlantic Ocean. Luckily we had just been at the mall buying new flip-flops and had both purchased swimsuits on sale. We were just going to take a drive, but this was much better. Now finding the beach my family normally goes to proved hard. So what do I do when I'm lost? Call my mom of course. She always knows what to do and where to go, so I call her often for these types of things. Brendan refered to me as Batman and to her as my Alfred. Haha. Mom, you make a good Alfred!

Things in store: more beach, maybe a water park, a swamp-buggy trip through the Everglades with my grandparents, South Beach in Miami, and oh so much more. Stay tuned.

Signing off,
Bruce Wane

The proof is in the pudding.

2006-08-11T11:10:00.000-05:00

TIME article:
The Toughest Airline Security of All

Backtracking a bit.

2006-08-11T10:49:00.000-05:00

So I promised details from my hellish journey back home, but since I don't really feel like hashing it back out and reliving those moments, I'm just going to insert a passage from an e-mail that I sent my friend telling him what happened. And it goes a little something like this:

"Man do I have a story about my flight. The sand dunes were great that night, but being that everyone had already left the kibbutz by the time I left, my last night seemed pretty much uneventful because almost everyone went to bed by 12:30. This means I sat around by myself for 2 hours. My taxi to the airport was fine and then it was pretty much hell after that. I was interogated by 7 people at the airport, very personal and demeaning questions, and then they emptied all of my belongings out of my bags, going so far as to empty medicines out bottles and gum out of wrappers. They just dumped everything into buckets - forget about any organization I might have had. I don't know if I fit the description of a Lebonese terrorist or some shit, but they were like hell-bent on not letting me go. Then they had to hold the plane for me because it took so long and it was almost impossible to pack everything back into my bags. I had been in a little room with these people for 3 hours! At this point I also hadn't slept for about 24 so it felt like a nightmare. My flights went fine other than feeling a bit like a sardine whose limbs would go numb everytime it tried to fall asleep, but then Brendan was supposed to meet me at JFK but didn't make his train in it so I was forced to drag all of my shit onto the subway by myself. Ugh! I was so jet-lagged and exhausted, plus the heat and crowd ... I wanted to break down and cry. Luckily, he met me at Grand Central where he bought me a smoothie and I tried to recompose my sanity. Still it seemed like the longest day of my life and not quite as smooth as I had imagined! Chimpanzee that ... "

Needless to say, I'm happy to have all of that behind me. I understand why they went through such stringent security measures, eepecially in light of everything that has come out over the past few days. I sure am glad I left before all of this and that my flights were on time and I'm here now. As soon as Brendan gets back from checking out of his apartment, we'll hit the road.

Hasta la vista, baby!
Corey

Honey, I'm home!

2006-08-10T23:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I am home safe and sound. And from the looks of it, I got out before a bad situation got worse. I'm happy to be home, in the company of friends and family. I had quite the ordeal with security on my way back and it was certainly a bumpy return home, but now I'm here safely and that's what matters. I'll post more on that later on that chaotic mess of a trip.

Anyway, Brendan will be officially moved out of his apartment tomorrow (woot! Way to get out of that hell hole, B-dawg!), which means we can commence our little roadtrip. Tomorrow we plan on going into NYC, going to MOMA, and then to Teany. Yea! After that we're going to drive to D.C. to visit with his sisters for a few days. Good times, good times. I pretty much fell in love with D.C. last time I was there, so I can't wait to be reunited.

Take care, everyone!
Corey

Whoa. Whoa.

2006-08-06T12:11:00.000-05:00

To say the least, it's been a very intense last few days here on Kibbutz Ketura. I'm feeling very torn about leaving, even though most of my friends here have already packed up and shipped out themselves. Still, I find my self increasingly attached to this sun-baked piece of desert and to the memories I have made with the people I'll miss.

Friday was my final day cleaning hotel rooms. It was quite the last day, too. On one hand I received my first and last tip for cleaning rooms. 20 shekels! Woot. On the other hand, it was from the most obnoxious tour group we've ever had. They were Canadians and not Americans, thank G-D, but whats the diff - they were those stereotypical Japs in the worst sense of the word. Horrid little things that were completely spoiled and walked around like they were better than everyone else. So I'm cleaning the kitchen in these little apartment like units at the hotel, washing the dishes, changing the trash bags ... clanging around a bit in the kitchen. There are four rooms attached and from one of the rooms I hear, "Whoever is in the kitchen needs to shut up!" Being the only one in the kitchen, I kind of shrugged and continued on. But then again, "Whoever is in the kitchen needs to shut up!" Still, I ignored and went about my business. However, when I heard, "Seriously, whoever is in the kitchen needs to shut the fuck up!" - well, I had had enough. So I opened the door and said, "Excuse me?" There were like 10 girls in the room having a sleepover and boy were they shocked when they saw me. One of the girls whispered, "It's someone from the kibbutz ..." Ha. "Oh my G-D, we're sorry. We're so sorry." "Yeah," I said, "I'm just trying to help you guys out by cleaning up. I'm sorry if it's a bit noisy, but I'm just doing my job." Then I got apologized to and thanked over and over again. It was okay though, because the tips evened things out. Even so, what a last day!

Friday night all of the volunteers went to a neighboring kibbutz and danced the night away and last night there was a good-bye party for a few of us girls that are leaving. There was wine and chardonnay so I can't complain. Then last night there was a world beat musical performance and I walked away with a free CD from the band so no complaints there. Also, a guy from the beginning of my time here came back to visit and we rode the infamous wheel of death (pictures will be posted in a short while and you'll be able to see it in all its glory).

This morning I awoke before sunrise to catch it rise over the Jordanin mountains. Martina, Sarah, and I climbed atop bales of hay to get the perfect shots. Hay is sharp and gives you splinters. I don't recommend climbing on it unless you're trying to capture the sun rising over Jordanian mountains or something equally spectacular. It wouldn't be worth it.

Oh, another thing I did was take a walk out to the "cow graveyard." Where they used to take the cows when they died. All that's left is bones now. It's a creepy site and you'd never know it was there unless someone else showed you, like many things in the desert.

Today lots of people left and we exchanged information and I was given a photo CD and I realized how much I am going to miss this place and the people and got all sad. It's a bittersweet feeling, but good things are coming my way so I'll smile as a wave good-bye.

Tomorrow holds in store a trip to the sand dunes and then I am going to Eilat with a friend of mine for drinks before getting to the airport at the hellish hour of 3am to start my trip back home. Okay, someone is waiting for the computer and I'm done hogging it.

Shalom,
Corey

Leaving Soonishly

2006-08-03T03:55:00.000-05:00

I am now in the final days of my stay here in Israel. And while I'm not necessarily "excited" about leaving the Kibbutz and parting with all of the great people I've met here, I know I'm moving on to something positive and bright. I'm looking forward to living in a new city with good friends (Chicago - here I come!). I'm looking forward a little roadtrip with one of my favorite people in the world. And I'm so happy to have done this and experienced the things I have. Also, I'm thankful to be done cleaning hotel rooms! You can't believe how happy I am that tomorrow is the last day I will have to clean up other peoples' trash and shit and hair out of drains. Really dreadful stuff, but considering this not too bad because of the great people and environment I was surrounded by. Not a day went by where the mountains and desert became less impressive and beautiful. The heat I could maybe do without, though I feel I've adapted quite well. It's the upcoming winter I now fear. So I check out of here Monday and at three o'clock in the morning begin my journey back to the States.

Until next time,
Corey

War in the Middle East

2006-07-30T12:19:00.000-05:00

Today I read in the newspaper a quote that touched upon a sentiment I've been feeling. And while it wasn't exactly what I wanted to say, it came very close to coindciding with my thoughts: When will people "stop getting 'pride' from fighting and start getting it from constructing a society that others would envy, an economy that others would respect, and inventions and medical breakthroughs from which others would benefit?" Lately I've been pondering an intangible void created by the loss of human capital and its potential to create good when it is preoccupied and wasted in the tragedy of war. So after I read the article with this quote in the International Herald, I took a nap because I had a hard work day. But I woke up to write this poem. It's not an anti-war statement because I want to believe that no one is "pro-war," and I understand that everyone has their justifications and rationale for war, but this is rather just contemplation on what we don't achieve by so many people being wound up in all aspects of it, on all sides - how it preoccupies our minds and eliminates the possibility for people to think and do other positive things. I hope this isn't cheesy. I'm not trying to be political per se, just express what I've been thinking about ... how war pervaded my thoughts.

My Thoughts on War
What a waste of potential.
A waste of human capital.
Of infinite opportunity and possibility.
For hundreds, thousands, thousands of brains
To work toward something good instead of evil.
To grow intellectually toward the betterment of society,
Creating ideas that would
Mulitply, grow, divide, and bring more meaning
To a world where many things lack just that.
What a waste of life, of time.
Where the ends meet the means
Around a locus of destruction.
Nullifying a population's, many populations',
Ability to contribute toward
Progress and modernity.
What a tragic, tragic waste of energy.
What a sinking feeling I feel
To recognize what could have been,
What might have been,
With a different focus, a different lens.
Ideas and inventions have vanished
With the smoke of a firing gun
And with another bomb dropped.
With each life lost or consumed,
The world will never know what it's missing.
And for what?
Only to spawn the dispair,
Distrust, heartache, and hate
That will cause new generations
To pick up their weapons,
Eliminating yet more potential
For peace and understanding
In our war-torn world.

This Desert Life

2006-07-27T09:33:00.000-05:00

I have a little over a week here and I cannot believe how fast time has flown by. I changed my flight and it turns out I will actually be arriving at JFK on Aug. 8, around midday. I can't wait to see everyone! Woot!

I'll be helping BShea move out of his apartment, going to Florida for about a week, and then heading home to the Lou where I hope to see some nearest and dearest. And those that I don't see then, I'll be seeing soon thereafter when I move to Chi-town! Life's looking good, baby!

In the meantime, I'm going to try to stay out of trouble and have fun. I've been reading the newspaper everyday despite the near-heart attack it gives me.

Yesterday I went to this amazing park about 15 minutes away from here called Timna Park. The rock formations were absolutely astounding and I even saw some kind of pictogram carved into stone. It was of the Pharoh and a goddess. Guess how old it was! Give up? It was 3,400 year old! And I saw an unearthed ancient temple, amongst other sites that would blow your mind. The layers of rocks, sand, and sea creatures formed striations and shapes that have been wind-blown, covered in ocean, and exposed to the elements to form something magical. This park is home to one of the first copper mines that ever existed and copper still exists in the rock, so some of the mountains look like a dull green, similar to that of a rusted penny. I can't wait to get my photos up when I get home. The desert has some unimaginable surprises and stories to tell. And so do I. :)

I might have time to post once or twice before I leave, but if I don't - feel free to call me on my cell phone come Aug. 8 and I'll definitely post once I'm home and again when I upload all my photos.

Thanks for caring about me and reading my blog!

Lots of love,
Corey

Chimpanzee That.

2006-07-24T11:43:00.000-05:00

As you all probably know, things have been escalating quite a bit here in my neck of the woods, err ... desert. Many people from the north, over 500,000, have been migrating south, a handful of those families landing right here on Kibbutz Ketura. Israelis I've befriended since my arrival here are forced to wait in anticipation, to find out if they will be called up for reserve duty. It's such a scary thing, that all of these people my age are fighting this war, without consent - a war that everyone else can view complacently from their television sets at home. It's disturbing. If Israel was my home, this would be my fate as well.

So Ketura has been a bit more crowded as of late. You can feel it in the dining hall mostly, wading through a packed line just to get some grub. Simultaneously, however, the influx of student groups coming here on trips is dwindling down due to the unsafe nature of traveling around at this moment, particularly in the north.

Anyway, I have decided to cut my trip short and I will be returning to the US in 2 weeks, on the 7 of August. My reasons are as follows:
1) First and foremost, being in a country where was is escalating and the intensity worsening.
2) Taking up space and resources while not really doing much to contribute during a time of crisis.
3) Feeling a bit guilty about "having fun" right now ...
4) I feel like I've gotten the "Kibbutz experience" & cutting it short 2 weeks ain't gonna change that.
5) It's no longer feasibly safe to travel to Jordan and Egypt after my stint here.
6) This seems to be when all of the other volunteers are departing as well.

So you want to know what I've been up to lately?

Well my roommate, Martina, has been teaching me some Swedish phrases while we're cleaning the hotel in the mornings. Apparently Americans aren't that adept at pronouncing Swedish. Is there anything we're good at, I ask you?! Anyway, I've been enjoying her company and the company of others, having some seriously goofy and fun times, trying to incorporate sayings such as "Chimpanzee that!" into our everyday vernacular (meant to be used like - "Fancy that."), climbing huge-ass mountains and stupidly waiting until nightfall to climb down (don't fret, we had us some flashlights, however dull they were ...), singing and dancing more than necessary, and generally trying to take life one day at a time.

... Until you're innocently lying in the grass, searching for constellations in the night sky with 2 of your buddies, when a huge ball of fire, bright blue with a glowing tail, lights up the entire sky with it's apparent descent. And the potential exists that it's a rocket. Or a missile. I don't know because it's not like I've actually seen these things before. But it's definitely NOT a shooting star. And then you all look at each other like, "Did you just see what I saw???" Yup. That happened on Friday and as much as we tried to convince ourselves that a UFO had just flown overhead, I couldn't quite shake the wall of reality I had just slammed into. Too close to home. Like the needle popping my little bubble of safety and security. I still don't know what this flying thing was, but I pray tell it's the last one I ever set eyes on.

So in 2 weeks I'll be saying good-bye to sleeping on a foam cot, to all of the cockroaches living in my bathroom drain, to my favorite cats - Sweedy, Skinny Binny, Mr. Rogers, Moo Moo & Flavio, to the great, bizarre, & interesting folks I met, to the virtual Mars in my backyard ... that never seizes to amaze me every morning, to the piercing blue skies and perpetual heat, to sand finding its way into everything, to the gossip and giggles, to treasure hunts, pub nights, and to spending waaay too much time a the pool. Life here will continue on, volunteers will come and go, and I'll make my way back home, a little less sure of where home is, how is should feel, and what it means to me.

Love you all,
Corey

My First Day Off

2006-07-17T06:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, so normally we only get one day off a week. Saturday, for Shabbat. And you can’t go anywhere because everything is closed down and nothing is working. It’s a wonderful idea, but a horrible concept. The one day you have off, you can’t accomplish anything! You can’t catch a bus or go to the store. It’s frustrating. I know my mentality sounds uber-American right about now, but I’m telling ya what … anyway, yesterday I took my first day off. Originally there was a plan for about 5 of us to go to Petra to visit the ancient ruins, but my better judgment told me it would be wise to stay within Israel’s borders for the time being. Hopefully I’ll get to go there before I leave, but maybe I won’t. That’s life.

Sarah and I headed for Eilat after a late night and sleeping in and the day got off to a rough start as we were caught in a massive 2-hour traffic jam outside of Eilat. Probably from increased security, but we were starving. We did manage to find an excellent vegetarian restaurant once we arrived and from there on out, we were in all out vacation mode. We headed down to the south beaches, famous for their coral, tropical fish, and myriad of watersports. We were given some poor advice and accidentally went to a bad spot first, but realized this and decided we’d just walk the mile to where we needed to be. Not the best idea, during the middle of the day, in the desert. I think I may have had a mirage or two. Haha. So we finally, finally, finally make it to our destination, only all of the beaches are private and we’re dying from the heat. So we just walked into a hotel lobby to sit in the air conditioning. After re-hydrating and coming back to our senses, we realized that one could enter a pool area from the lobby and past that the private beaches. So we said, “Don’t mind if we do!” and proceeded to mosey on down to the beach and then we were right next to Club Med’s strip of beach, which looked better for snorkeling so we sat our stuff on the chairs and hopped into the water. Never has anything felt so refreshing. Thank you, Red Sea.

But beyond that, the snorkeling was fantastic. Full of tropical fishies including blowfish, rainbow fish, neon this and that, okay so I don’t actually know any technical terms per se or names for these fish, but I do know they are gorgeous and magical to stare at while you float weightlessly above. Not to mention snorkeling is a good time. Also, we hung out at the beach and when we were done, went back the way we came – through the hotel, making use of their swimming pool, showers, bathroom, and lobby for a cup of Turkish coffee before setting out again. We pretended we were French tourists like everyone else. I felt like one of the rich and famous. A true vacation day indeed!

After that there was some shopping in the outdoor markets and eating of falafel. Best day off EVER.

There are some other random things to write about now, so stay with me.

First of all, I have a favorite cat. “What!?” you say! “Corey? A favorite? WHAT?” It’s true. I’m a new woman. I fell in love with a cat named “Sweedy” who keeps me company during the days at Keren Kolot. She’s one of the sweetest, kindest animals I’ve ever been privy to. So yes, the object of my affections is a cute, skinny cat that hangs out with me at work. I think I’m in love (But I still love dogs more, don’t worry). I didn’t know cats could be so nice, though I am still allergic so I wash my hands religiously after petting her. I tried so hard to resist, but today she sat right next to me while I was taking a short break and I caved. I also have new appreciation for things such as clean hotel rooms, fruit smoothies, cockroach-free bathrooms, rain & clouds, easy transportation and many other things that I thought of yesterday, but am failing to recollect today.

Things that I don’t appreciate: The Egged Bus. Ahhhh! This is the slimiest, most-crowded mode of transportation you’ve ever experienced. There are never enough seats to sit down and when there finally are, this sweaty, overweight, sleaze-ball of an Israeli man sits next to you and basically crowds you up against the window and starts touching your leg and face and telling you you’re beautiful and trying to kiss you and making you feel like you’re going to vomit because he’s this huge boulder of a person and you can’t make him move and he doesn’t understand English. Ugh! Then you have to wait for the screaming baby across the isle to distract him enough so that he gets out of his seat; meanwhile, you slide out behind him and make a mad dash for the back of the bus. Okay, maybe this only happened once. But it was enough to scar me for the rest of my life! No one deserves to have this happen to them. No one, I tell you!

Well I have to stop ranting because my time here on Sarah’s computer is up. Why? Because it’s pool time, baby! So grab your swimsuit and hit the water!

Love,
Corey

XOXO

2006-07-15T09:50:00.000-05:00

First of all, thank you to everyone for their emails, comments, messages, and the like. It makes me feel like I'm so fortunate to have so many good people in my life that care about me and my well-being.

I know things seem crazy here right now and yes, I am staying abreast of the news and the situation as it unfolds.

But I want all of you to know that I'm staying safe and not taking any risks. Where I am is located in the far south and is extremely isolated. There aren't many people or places in the vicinity - I'm literally in the middle of the desert. I feel very safe and if it weren't for the convenience of modern-day media technology, I'd have no clue that the country was at war.

If the situation was to become increasingly and unbearably worse, I would take the necessary steps to evacuate from the country. But for now, all is well in my little corner of Israel.

Again, thank you for your concerns and wishes. I love and miss you all, but am really quite happy here in Israel.

Peace,
Corey

Don't Worry

2006-07-13T10:06:00.000-05:00

In light of recent events, we're postponing our trip to Petra until things cool down (and hopefully they will).

So please rest at ease and know I'm safe.

Instead, I'm going to go snorkeling with Sarah in the Red Sea this Sunday (the link brings you to her fab Flickr photos). Snorkeling is safe and beautiful. :)

Last night hiked the desert under the full moon. We didn't even need flashlights, the moon was so big and bright. We made pitas over open fire and dined by the light of the moon. Dreamy sigh.

Love,
Corey

"You really float through life good."

2006-07-10T08:53:00.000-05:00

My apologies - I have been rather slack about updating this blog. It seems odd too, since really I have nothing to do. I spend my days idly after work, flipping through a book and of course, going to the pool.

But between dancing for endless hours on pub nights (my dancaholic nature is back in full gear - I've been there for closing all 3 pub nights I've been here!), watching the Mondial on a large projector screen in the dining hall with hoards of screaming kibbutznik children, galavanting to Eilat so a friend could get his hair cut and another her plane tickets, planning, crafting, talking, drinking, eating ... well ... it's easy to see how one's time evaporates like water here in the desert.

Already we've been losing some volunteers and gaining others. It's the nature of the game, but it's easy to get attached to someone in a very short time when you're living in a dorm-like situation. And while I'm not particularly fond of everyone here, there are lots of great people and no one that I despise either. I feel very calm and relaxed. Hopefully this won't fade like a tan when I return home and I'll be able to take life a little more "one step at a time."

I can also now say that I've been swimming in the Red Sea. It's very boyant and my friend Arielle and I enjoyed ourselves as we imagined and acted out moves from "The Matrix" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." I'm contemplating taking a scuba diving course either in Eilat or Egypt when I'm done with my stint here at the kibbutz. Possibly a 5-day beginners course so that I can get my certification and go diving anywhere in the world. What a dream come true! I think this would be outstanding. The coral reefs in Egypt are supposed to be some of the most breath-taking and unique in the world. I'm going to look into it. Another option would be taking a ferry or flight to Greece for a week (soooooo tempting and inexpensive from here!).

This weekend, my friends Sarah, Doron, and I are tentatively planning to travel to Petra in Jordan to explore the ancient ruins and go camping in the desert:
About Petra

The feeling of nothingness out here is something I've never experienced before. Especially when you go out to the sand dunes or away from the kibbutz and all you can see is sand and rock and all you can hear is the wind whispering in your ears; there is nothing. You can't see anything living. You can't hear a thing besides the sound of your own thoughts.

The most beautiful sight here is when the sun is setting. The mountains turn red as the sun dips down behind them. Then the air becomes tolerably cool and the moon shines like a giant orb against the pitch black sky. I've never seen so many stars in my life and when you drive away from the kibbutz, the milky way explodes out of the darkness. Phenomenal.

What else? I'm sure there's more to tell. I still need to take more pictures of the kibbutz; I've been working on just living in the moment and enjoying this place and the people surrounding me so my interest in photography has somewhat fallen by the wayside. One of these days though ... one of these days.

An Israeli guy that I met here told me a few nights ago that I "float through life good" and that I just had "a very good energy." Apparently it's a saying here in Israel - "to float through life well," but I just thought it was one of the nicest things I've ever heard. To me it seemed a very un-generic compliment.

Missing you and hoping all's well,
Corabelle

Ketura Tid-Bits

2006-07-03T09:26:00.000-05:00

"One man's trash ... is another man's craft project" - Jeremy on project "Trash to Treasure." The other day Arielle, Sarah, and myself set out on a treasure hunt around the kibbutz and then spent hours working on craft projects. I made a bracelet and some hanging wall art. Sarah made some, too. Pictures to come. Jeremy is a hilarious, crazy boy from Ohio who works in the hotel, is getting his master's degree from a nearby university, and speaks in strange accents more often than not. I've dubbed him "Doppel Douche" after a German men's bath product that he found working and decided to bring home. It's both a body wash and shampoo. Maybe it was the blistering midday sun, but I'd never heard anything funnier than the name "Doppel Douche."

I work at a hotel, under an Israeli guy named, "Guy." He doesn't really understand my English very well, but apparently this goes both ways. The other night when we were sitting outside drinking he says to me, "I'm always telling jokes and you don't understand. And this is really killing me because I'm a funny guy!" So I laughed then and there and now I think I understand him better. He was right - I hadn't understood when he was joking before and now I get it. We're buddies and I help him take his truck to pick up laundry - a glamorous escape (not really) from the life of a chambermaid (a term my roommate uses to refer to housekeepers ... the Brits really have a way with words). Also, Guy encourages me to eat lots of fresh fruit at work. I've never been one to turn down a nectarine.

Today I worked with a guy who had been labeled a real loner and kind of spacey. After working with him, I think - yes, he's an odd duck, but the term "spacy" has been incorrectly been assigned to a language barrier. He's from Switzerland, speaks French, has no one to talk to in his native tongue, and doesn't understand English or Hebrew all that well. Anyway, I encouraged him to come to the pool today and folks were shocked to see him. But he played volleyball and smiled; he hung out with people. I felt pretty great about it.

Tonight I'm going up into the sand dunes with some people from work. The reason I'm going is that we have these groups of young Jewish teens on tours who come through and stay at the Kibbutz hotel. A tour leader takes them on a hike through the sand dunes and we come along to help make pitas and serve dinner. I think I'll probably be doing this about once a week considering a group is taken up to the dunes nearly every day.

Well that seems like enough tid-bits for now, right?

I'm going to try to take some photos of the kibbutz and surroundings and get them up on my blog. Don't go holding your breath, but I promise to try.

Lots of love,
Corey

PHOTOS!!!

2006-06-29T09:46:00.000-05:00

CLICK ME!

Israel Ahoy!

2006-06-29T09:20:00.000-05:00

I'm getting pretty settled in here and my everyday is starting to resemble something like a Jewish summer camp. Besides cleaning rooms, I spend my time playing Belgium 11 in the swimming pool, socializing by starlight, wandering around in the killer heat, reading, listening to everyones' stories, and searching for trash that becomes treasure with some imagination. It's not a bad life, not at all. And the people have really been great, too. I finally got a roomie a few days ago. Her name is Ariella and she's from Manchester, England. I've befriended Swedes, Canadians, Israelis ... and people are coming and going all of the time here. The food is good. Lots of veggie options and today for lunch there was some kind of zucchini pine-nut falafel concoction that was wow.

Things are going to be picking up starting tomorrow at the hotel where I work, so things will start to get more hectic. The sun just doesn't stop shining here and everyone walks everywhere with hats and water bottles for protection from the sun. Today I had to sweep around the hotel walkways during the peak of the heat. Now I know what it's like to sweat. It's been getting close to 115 degrees F every day.

I've taken a bunch of photos from friends who went on my Birthright trip with me and I'm going to try to post them onto Flickr soon so I can link to them from here.

Oh, and in case you feel like sending me something (if you don't, no worries), here is my address (it MUST be written just like so):

Corey Polk - Volunteer
Kibbutz Ketura
D.N. Hevel Eilot 88840
Israel

You can call me on my cell phone here (from the US) by dialing:
011-52-580-7160

Or, if there's an emergency, you can contact the volunteer office at:
011-972-8-635-6666

I have been watching the news and I know things seem bad in Israel at the moment, but please know that it is not where I am and I am safe, healthy, and happy.

Always,
Corey

Kibbutz Ketura

2006-06-25T12:23:00.000-05:00

I have arrived here, at Kibbutz Ketura, despite a very shaky start! I had to take a bus by myself from Tel Aviv towards Eilat, so the stress began in the Tel Aviv central bus station where I held up about 50 impatient Israelis as my luggage was thoroughly inspected. 7 floors with hundreds of bus departures, I found the way to my gate, the last gate - number 628, on the 6th floor and waited. Then there were 2 buses going to Eilat at the same time, but I had to get onto the correct one, which thanks to the help of some people, I managed to but I was quite nervous that someone might have misunderstood me. So I'm on this bus for about 4 hours driving through desert and I reminded my bus driver twice that I needed to get dropped off at Kibbutz Ketura, but he was busy chatting on his cell phone and wasn't listening. Then he yells out "Kibbutz Ketura!" at this lonely bus stop in the middle of nowhere and I knew it wasn't the right one because the driveway of the Kibbutz was supposed to be right next to the stop. So I didn't get off the bus, thank goodness, becuase it turns out that the next stop was the one I was supposed to get off at and I did. As I exited the bus, I told the driver I had stuff under the bus and gave the universal hand motion for baggage while pointing down. Again, communication barriers arose and he just smiled and closed the door behind me ... and then started driving off!!! I ran after the bus and began pounding on the sides (at this point my heart is in my throat) and after he realized what was going on, he stopped a few meters down the road. I was never quite so happy to see luggage in all of my entire life. I was almost dropped off in the middle of the desert without any of my belongings! Oy!

Good news is that things got much better from there. I've met a lot of very interesting people, got in some serious pool time, hung out with some dairy cows and camels, climbed up to some mountain huts, listened to lots of conversations in languages I can't understand, consumed muchos houmus and water too (it's effing dry here), stared for hours at stars and the milky way, and ran into a herd of donkeys while going for a night tour through fields of date palms. It's been a very full, very interesting few days. More volunteers are coming this week, including my future roomie. Also, I started my job today. Housekeeping in the Kibbutz hotel called Keren Kolote (pronounced "Karen Colote"). It's a shit job ... I mean, who likes to clean? I'm cleaning up the crap people leaving behind in their rooms. But it's a job, mostly air conditioned, not bad hours, and today I scored a bottle of Dolce & Gabana perfume that someone was so kind to leave behind ... tehehe ... and some body-wash too, which was awesome since I ran out. I hated cleaning the house before but I have a feeling the hatred for this type of work will reach an all new high after this summer. :)

I'm sure I'm leaving out a lot, but it's 9:06pm and I'm running on 3 hours of sleep right now. More information and updates to come ...

Peace and love,
Corey

Farewell Tel Aviv

2006-06-21T08:03:00.000-05:00

Today is my last day here in Tel Aviv with my friends that I met on my Birthright trip. Tomorrow morning, very bright and early, I will be heading south towards Eilat on my way toowards Ketura. Today was a nice lazy day; we spent the morning at the beach, ate lunch at a nice cafe, perused the outdoor markets and shopping areas, and now I'm here to write a post because I'm not sure when the next time I'll be able to will be exactly. Yesterday, we made the mistake of going to the old city of Jaffa, once an Arab shipping port, now home to an arists' colony and I'm not sure how to put this nicely ... lots and lots of crap. Endless flea markets of old crap. Stalls that looked like they hadn't been cleaned in 75 years filled to the brim with mostly anything used, old and crappy that you can imagine (including sex toys -ugh!!!!). So Jaffa is creepy, slummy, and certainly not recommended visiting from moi. We tried to strike it from our memories by catching sunset on our hostel's roof, eating amazing Israeli home-cooking at a very un-touristy spot off the beaten track, and ending up at a local bar that had a great atmosphere, but not-so-great prices. 2 days ago was really the best day though. We went back to Jerusalem (per the suggestion of our friend, Enon, at the hostel who gave us so many great ideas for food and travels, including the afore-mentioned Israeli restaurant) and headed back into the Ancient City. This time it was wonderful. We avoided the tourist traps of the Jewish quarter and wandered right into the heart of the Muslim quarter. Talk about sensory overload! The smell of spices, sounds of haunting Arabic music, the hot sun beating down, the cobblestone roads, goods for sale everywhere, people everywhere wearing traditional garb - I truly felt that I had arrived in the Middle East. There was no hostility toward us and we just walked around, absolutely fascinated. We also walked through the Armenian and Christian quarters and upon leaving walked from the Ancient City to the Ultra-Orthodox ghettos. This is also a spot where few tourists venture and was truly something to see. It was truly a slum and everywhere we turned people avoided eye-contact or looked with disdain. It was self-contained and I have been told that the people who live in this ghetto very seldom leave and very few people come in. There are huge signs upon entering the neighborhood that warn one not to dress immodestly or you will be forced to leave - a rather cold world inside the gates. And everyone looked at though they were thoroughly immersed in thought. So tonight we are going to try to take advantage of some of the nightlife scene here. We haven't yet because it doesn't really get going until between 1-3 am and we've been soooo tired! Well that sums it up. I just bought two pairs of pants for $12 - whatta deal! And I'll catch you all later. Feel free to leave comments or e-mails; I'd love to hear from you!

Shalom,
Corey

Israel Outdoors >> Update From Israel

2006-06-20T11:35:00.000-05:00

Hi all,

All is well in Israel and everyone's having a great time.

We have posted some pictures online from the trip.
To access them, simply go to the following link:
http://www.israeloutdoors.com/login.asp

From there, you can logon with the username of "israeloutdoors" and the password of "birthright".

Click on trip TL-38 June 6-18 to view.

More to come...Nicole

Nicole Barda / Israel Outdoors
Tel: 1-800-566-4611 / Fax: 1-303-379-5262
info@israeloutdoors.com / www.israeloutdoors.com

Shalom from Sunny Tel Aviv

2006-06-18T03:59:00.000-05:00

I'm here in Tel Aviv and I've had a very productive morning so far. Turns out, the first hostel we went to was a shithole. 5 beds crammed into the smallest room possible and I drew the short straw and ended up on a cot that collapsed in several spots when I sat on it. And it was dirty and hot ... and pretty much miserable. It at the very least provided us with many laughs. We relocated early in the a.m. to a much lovlier hostel at the same price, called the Hayarkon Hostel. Also I took care of changing my flight and I'm flying back into JFK on September 1. Then, my buddies and I made our way to the Kibbutz Program Center where I found out that I will be staying at Kibbutz Ketura, located in the south, just north of the resort town of Eliat. There will be about 40 young volunteers and I actually heard about it from a girl who was in my West African dance class. So on Thursday, June 22, I'm heading there. And I should have consistent internet access so I'll be able to update my blog regularly. Today was pretty much about running errands, tying up loose ends, and taking it easy so my body can recover from the lack of sleep and whirlwind experience of the last 10 days. We also took it easy last night, but plan to really hit the town tonight because Tel Aviv is known for having amazing nightlife. Maybe a little beach time later. The beach here is gorgeous! Tomorrow, we're thinking of a day trip to maybe Haifa or Jerusalem or Jaffa. The nice thing is now we can fly by the seat of our pants and throw all of the structure out the window (as our tour guide, Chen, would have said- "Thanks G-d!"). The forecast here is, as always, sunny, hot, no clouds. Now to go do some laundry ... let's just say I'm wearing my bathing suit because I have no underwear. Too much information? Haha.

If you want my cell phone number, let me know via e-mail. I can recieve free international phone calls. :)

To anyone worrying about me, I'm safe and happy. I'm with several great people, in a good area, and everyone speaks English.

Lots of love from the Promised Land,
Corey

Ciao Israel Outdoors!

2006-06-17T06:11:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of my Israel Outdoors tour and it is also a Saturday, Shabbat, and so nothing is really going on. I have a few hours to pack and get ready, and then we take off for the airport where I will separate from the rest of my group and make my way into Tel Aviv. I'm staying at a hostel called the Mugraby Hostel, which is located on Allenby St. in central Tel Aviv, a stone's throw from the markets and the beach. Yesterday we were in this vicinity and the markets were absolutely incredible, filled to the brim with life, energy, and of course people. I've loved getting to see so much of the country and people so far and am so thankful I will be continuing my trip here; I'm not at all ready to leave. Although, I really miss soy milk and Caesar (my puppy) ... and of course all of you great people. However, out of 40 people on my trip, there are only 14 of us who didn't hook up with anyone else on the tour and most people hooked up with multiple people plus people from other tours. I don't know about them, but that's definitely not why I chose to come to Israel so let's just say we have different lifestyles and ideas and after all of this untimely incestuous activity, I'm not terribly upset to say goodbye to them all. Well a minute of time left, so adios!

Always,
Cor

Well and Alive!

2006-06-15T12:12:00.000-05:00

Hello, everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting, but I am going to have to keep this short and sweet for lack of time and shequels. First of all, the updates that Israel Outdoors posted are not of my group. Haha, turns out it's the other group, the 18-21 year olds so you might have trouble locating me in these photos. Hopefully this gets sorted out - I am going to let my tour leader know. Anyway, everything here is great! I can't begin to sum up everything I have done over the past week. Golan heights, Tiberias, Tzfat, kayaking and hiking in the Jordan River, visiting the Old City and the Western Wall, camping in Bedouin Camps, climbing Masada, exploring the desert, swimming in the Dead Sea, attending a mega-event with 7,500 Jews and the Prime Minister of Israel ... and much more that I don't have enough time to recapitulate right now. But I am doing great and I'm safe. I must admit it's a bit odd to get used to seeing soldiers walking around with M-16's strapped to their backs, but you'd be surprised how easily you get used to the sight. My group has been interesting. There are some nice people, but I have mostly been abnormally quiet seeing as I don't/can't relate to the majority of my group and feel very much out of my element around these people. That said, I'm ready for the this part of my trip to end in 2 days. After that, a group of about 5 or 6 of us are going to stay at a hostel in Tel Aviv together for a few nights and maybe take some day trips to nearby cities and attractions. After that I am going to take care of getting to a kibbutz. I have a cell phone, but don't have the number on me right now. I can receive free international phone calls and of course I'll be missing you, so I'd love to hear from you. Other than all of that all I have to say is that Israel is an amazing and spiritual place, and the people are lovely and make you feel right at home. It's a good place to be a Jew. More to come later ...

Love and miss you all,
Corey

Israel Outdoors >> Update From Israel

2006-06-14T15:54:00.000-05:00

Hi all,

All is well in Israel and everyone's having a great time.

We have posted some pictures online from the trip.
To access them, simply go to the following link:
http://www.israeloutdoors.com/login.asp

From there, you can logon with the username of "israeloutdoors" and the
password of "birthright".

Click on trip TL-38 June 6-18 to view.

More to come...Nicole

Nicole Barda / Israel Outdoors
Tel: 1-800-566-4611 / Fax: 1-303-379-5262
info@israeloutdoors.com / www.israeloutdoors.com

Nicole Barda / Israel Outdoors
Tel: 1-800-566-4611 / Fax: 1-303-379-5262
info@israeloutdoors.com / www.israeloutdoors.com

Israel Outdoors >> Update from Israel

2006-06-13T09:23:00.000-05:00

Dear Parents and Friends,

Our trip has been amazing so far! During the first part of the trip, we were
in northern Israel where we spent time in the mystical cities of Tsfat and
Tiberias. We also had the opportunity to go on a few hikes in the Golan
Heights and the surrounding area, taste wine from the Golan wineries, and
visit a few beautiful observation points where we saw the entire region
including the boundaries that Israel has with it's Arab neighbors and really
get a grasp of the political conflict in the north. Yesterday was our first
day in Jerusalem and we spent it visiting Mt. Herzl, Israel's military and
national cemetery, and Yad Veshem, Israel's Holocaust memorial and museum.
Today we are touring the Old City/Kotel and will be spending the this
evening at the Taglit birthright Mega event in Jerusalem, which is expecting
to have over 7,000 participants. Also, something special that happened to
our bus yesterday is that we were chosen to send a representative from our
bus to speak at the Taglit birthright Steering committee meeting which was a
wonderful experience for the participant who we chose as well as a proud
moment for our bus. We have a phenomenal tour guide that has made the
experience of being in Israel for the participants memorable.

--Tali & David

Nicole Barda / Israel Outdoors
Tel: 1-800-566-4611 / Fax: 1-303-379-5262
info@israeloutdoors.com / www.israeloutdoors.com

So Close!

2006-05-29T17:17:00.000-05:00

Well I just received a phone call from my tour group leader, David, which makes this whole thing feel a heck of a lot more official. That and it's nearing the time for my departure. Very early Thursday morning I am leaving for NY. Friday I have to have a personal interview with a woman from the Kibbutz Program Center before everything gets finalized and then I'll be assigned to a kibbutz. I'm kind of happy to not know where I'm going to end up. I think this adds an excellent element of excitement and intrigue. Next Tuesday, June 6, I'm outta here!

Also I'm proud of myself for remembering to call El Al Airlines to make a special meal request. Eating vegetarian in Israel sounds like it's going to be a breeze, especially due to Kosher dietary law. While I was wondering around the site, I checked the flight schedule information and the maps, etc. I thought that there would be a layover somewhere, but the flight goes directly from JFK to Tel Aviv. And whoa - the flight can last anywhere from 10 hours and 10 minutes to 10 hours and 25 minutes. That is one hell of a long time to be sitting in a plane. Here's hoping for some captivating in-flight movies. I'm bringing books and my ipod, too. Last summer I think my flight to Amsterdam from Detroit was around 7 hours and that wasn't so bad. Hopefully my tourmates will be full of good, stimulating conversation (or at least not be annoying).

I had a wonderful parting weekend here in St. Louis, thanks to the presence of some very good friends who were in town for the weekend, made surprise visits or are back in town period. Thank you guys! It made me feel like I am leaving on a very happy, positive note. It was great to see all of you - you made St. Louis one million times better for several days. :)

Now to go visit some fam and chill with my best bud before I take off. "Am I feeling nervous or apprehensive?" the masses want to know. Nope, there are some anxious butterflies, but I'm 100% psyched.

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

Always,
Corey

Keeping Track of Me

2006-05-11T15:51:00.000-05:00

Israel Outdoors offers this feature where friends and family of trip participants can sign up via email to recieve updates during the trip. I don't know exactly what these updates will consist of; they will probably be just locations and activities. Feel free to sign up if you want. My trip is: June 6-18/NYC/Quest/22-26[TL-38]. If you're going to sign up, make sure you've got that right or else you will be following someone else's trip through Israel. :)

The other thing (and the reason Blogger is so darn great) is that I can e-mail my blog entries in wherever, whenever to a specific e-mail address I have set up and they are then published as a post directly onto my blog. So I signed my blog up to recieve these updates and that way everyone won't need to personally sign up if they don't want to. I don't know what it will look or be like, I hope it works. We shall see.

The Wide World of Coreyoria

2006-05-08T08:44:00.000-05:00

Playing Catch-Up

Okay, so I obviously went to DC & NYC quite some time ago, but good things take time? Heh, anyway ... I finally uploaded the pictures a few weeks after my return, got them up online sometime soon thereafter, and am FINALLY posting about it. But I decided it would be easier if you just looked at my photos through Flickr. It's kind of like a photo story, more or less, when you watch the slideshow. Good times were had. When I visited Amy in DC, the weather was gorgeous and I was able to walk everywhere. The cherry blossoms were a bloomin' and we went ice skating and life was grand. I got to see a lot and walk a lot. DC gets two very enthusiastic thumbs up in my book.

I then visited Brendan in CT and we went to NYC for a few days. The focus was very much on vegan delights (i.e. food). You'll be able to figure that out from the pictures. We tried everything from vegan calamari and crabcakes, to raw sesame meatballs. Unfortunately the weather was crap, but we still tried to make the best of it. There are some great night shots of the skyline from the top of the Empire State Building.

And lastly, but not leastly I visited my aunt, uncle and cousins at their home and got to have fun spending time with them. Alas, I traveled back here to St. Louis and have been staying all too busy. I recently had my wisdom teeth removed and the recovery has proved quite rough. I'm glad I won't have to do it again. And that pretty much brings us to now.

And Now, For the Good Stuff

I am leaving in less than a month for Israel. You heard me right, kids - Israel. So amidst tooth pain and general overall insanity, I have been trying to read some books about touring the region. The fact is that I might never get through them, but I tried. On June 1, I'm going to fly back up to the Northeast to visit some family before I actually leave the country on the 6th.

The plan so far is as follows: to travel from June 6-18 with my Israel Outdoors group from Birthright Israel. Then when my tourmates return to Tel Aviv to fly home, I make my way to the Kibbutz Program Center where I discuss with them possible options for where I can volunteer. Then for the remainder of the summer I plan on staying and volunteering at a Kibbutz. Of course if things don't go as planned for whatever reason, I always have the option of changing my flight and returning home early.

I plan on trying to write a few entries in this here blog from Israel, but it honestly just depends on which Kibbutz I get placed on and if they have internet access. And that's pretty much it. I'm totally stoked!

Ah ha!

2006-03-23T10:35:00.000-06:00

At last, I have received an email from Israel Outdoors telling me this:

We are holding a spot for you to participate in the following program sponsored by Taglit-birthright israel:
June 6 – 18 / NYC / Israel Quest (22-26)

Woot!!! Good to know, eh? I responded with my acceptance, so nothing is set in stone yet, but hopefully it will be by this weekend.

End of month present for self. Hehe.

2006-03-06T23:10:00.000-06:00

I've made plans for a little bit of cross-country travel at the end of this month. I'm flying out to visit Miss Rainey in Washington DC, and I've never had the opportunity to visit DC before so I'm stoked! I get to see the sites, go out, skate!, and tour around ... and all with the fabulous Amy. Oh, friends, how I miss you. And then! I am going to go up to the tri-state area to see Monsieur Shea. We'll explore NYC, eat muchos amazing vegan food (maybe even spot a Moby!), take it all in. Two major cities in one fell swoop. I'm extremely excited. Plus, I am traveling back to my home state of CT ... I guess it's my home state. Please don't let Missouri be my home state. It is, isn't it? Sigh. Missouri is my home state. Well, regardless, I'm going to Connecticut, too. I'm looking forward to a week away from life and to seeing two of my most favoritest peoples! What could be better than that? I'll let you know what I see and do!

Love,
Corarama.

Call me a hippie ...

2006-02-28T23:22:00.000-06:00

Call me a hippie ... but I found this incredibly amazing sounding, environmentally progressive kibbutz called Lotan. And if I can arrange to delay my return flight back and extend my stay in Israel, Kibbutz Lotan is where I want to be. Eco-building, organic gardening, sustainable living, massive recycling iniatives, birdwatching programs, veggie cuisine. Wowee! It's supposed to be in a gorgeous location in the Arava Valley, situated between desert and mountains. The website is incredible; I suggest you peruse. Hopefully I will be able to figure this out. It sounds too wonderful to pass up.

If you're reading this and you've ever volunteered on kibbutzim, I'd love to hear about your experience(s); please contact me!

Am I Jewish enough?

2006-02-20T18:27:00.000-06:00

I am one step closer to stepping foot in Israel this summer. After faxing the same document to Israel Outdoors three times and harassing them via phone on a daily basis, the ball is finally rolling. I am keeping my fingers crossed because I just don't feel like these people have their shit together. I never received e-mail confirmation like I was supposed to, but when I called again today, they must have had enough because they finally followed through with a phone interview. I think that's one of the final steps to being selected for the trip. They asked me questions about my heritage and about what Judaism means to me and the role it plays in my life. The woman also mentioned that I had top priority due to the fiasco last time around. I think everyone at the office is starting to know me personally. "Oy, that Corey ... she's calling again." I'm okay with that so long as I get to take the trip! Jeeebuz. Well who knew it would be such a trying process! I no longer feel like it's a "free" trip to Israel. I've had to work pretty hard to even get this far! ;-)

Peace.
Cor

Adventures in Israel

2006-02-12T22:34:00.000-06:00

Okay, kids! Here is the first Coreyoria travel update in many moons. The time lapse between now and then has one simple explanation: I haven't been doing any traveling or planned any trips. But! On February 8, days before my 22nd B-dizzle, I re-registered for the Birthright Israel trip through Israel Outdoors. I signed up to partake in the Israel Quest ... an adventure tour of sorts ... in the beginning of June. I'm trying to work it out to see if I can't find a kibbutz or something along those lines to volunteer at for a few months afterward. Anything to postpone reality and coming back to the Midwest, really. I applied for a job as a travel writer through this MTV/Frommers thing, but it's a real long-shot. What a dream job though, if it did pull through! So if everything works according to plan, which it should this time because I know that I applied properly and to all of the right places, then I shall embark on a trip of at least 10 days to Israel. I have never been anywhere in the Middle East. The thought alone can be terrifying if you let it, but I'm not one to let those fears get in the way of my life. I'm not going to purposely get in harm's way, but I also don't want to miss out on an experience of a lifetime. As a friend so morbidly put it, "If you die, what better place to be than the holy land?" And as my grandmother so aptly put things, "Just don't get involved with any Orthodox Jews!" Haha! I'm waaaaay too liberal for that!

Bad news.

2005-11-02T18:39:00.000-06:00

Ugh. Bad news indeed. Something erroneous happened with both my application and Amy's over at Israel Outdoors. After much of what seemed like a wild goose chase to get a hold of someone, we were informed the other day via e-mail, that we are "no longer applied." It's too late now to try to fix this because the registration date has passed. So it looks like we're up shit's creek. And we're not going to Israel this December, which is disappointing. I realize, though, that these things happen for a reason and I am going to have to think of it that way. Look at my Europe trip, for example. Things fell apart horribly the first time I planned the trip, but look how wonderfully things ended up working out. Nevertheless, I will plan on trying to travel there this summer instead, provided it works out. Where's a cheap place I can travel this winter? All I know is that the frustration and complexity of planning a trip usually ends up being worth it and then some. Let's hope that's the case.

Until next time,
Cor

Israel Quest

2005-10-17T01:33:00.000-05:00

Plans for a new adventure are in the works. Amy and I are planning our Birthright Israel trips for late December, early January. This means 10 days in Israel, the only cost to me being a deposit, plane tickets to my take-off destination, and food while in Israel. The Birthright program is intended to establish bonds between those with Jewish heritage and their homeland.

Amy and myself, neither of us being all that religious, decided to go on a trip focusing more on the natural, physical land of Israel, with other educational aspects being complementary to it. I really want to experience the land itself, in a raw sense. Israel Quest, a trip designed I believe with a person like me in mind, is one of the trips offered by Israel Outdoors. So we've applied and sent in the deposits, waiver forms, and online applications. After an interview and maybe a few other minor arrangements, this trip will be settled.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing a different, volatile, and important region of the world. When I get more information on the specifics of my trip, I'll be sure to post the details.

Dresden Revisited

2005-10-10T13:20:00.000-05:00

Anonymous said...

I'm doing a report on Dresden for a German class I take in the evenings and wondered if you know anything else about it that isn't in a brochure.

10/10/05 12:58

Well ...

Probably not too too much. Any information I've learned has been from tours, etc. And that's probably the same information you'd find in a brochure. Just by searching the net you'll probably be able to find anything you're looking for. One thing that did interest me was that the city of Dresden is still in the process of rebuilding the city after all of the destruction that occurred toward the end of WWII. Seeing the comparison of the city at that point with photos of all the reconstruction that has been done was unbelievable. Being able to compare those pictures might show you the progress they've made. However, there's still much left to do. They were in the middle of a huge project when I was there. I think they were renevating a church (I could be mistaken) and they were making a replicate of the old one that used to stand there, even using some bricks from the original structure. Also cool was the Volkswagon manufacturing plant constructed out of glass so you could see the cars being made. It's apparently state of the art. I'm checking my travel journal to see if there's anything else I've left out. Oh, many things were invented in Dresden. For example: toothpaste tubes, mouthwash, and bras amongst other things. Dresden was also the birthplace of German Baroque architecture. One other aspect I found to be pretty cool is that they have all of this land set aside right around the city, and people who live within the city get these little plots of land with garden sheds so that they have some space to do their gardening even though they're living within the city. I'm no history buff, but I hope this helps. Looks like I need to learn more about Dresden myself. I've been meaning to read a book on European history and the major cities now that I'm back. I think it will really help give more meaning to the places I've traveled.

I'm back and better than ever.

2005-09-15T10:43:00.000-05:00

Good news, kids: I'm home safe and sound. After a solid 13 hours of international travel, I reached St. Louis. My flights went well; only one minor delay coming from Detroit to St. Louis, but it was all good. No jet lag yet. I also don't really believe in jet lag. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. We'll see how that works. They make you jump through some hoops to get into this country, but it's good to be back (for now). :-D

If anything super cool or interesting happens in my life, I will surely make a post, but that might not be until my next adventure or if I think of something about my last one that I want to reflect on. In any case, stay tuned-in, shoot me an email, or give me a call.

Bye for now,
Cor

P.S. This is a shout-out to my peeps in Como: Woot! I'm coming in tomorrow (Friday) afternoon/eveningish! Can't wait to see you all!

Amsterdam is the kind of place where you don't know what to think. So you just watch.

2005-09-13T04:26:00.000-05:00

Amsterdam is one crazy town. I'm going to spare the details since we have a mixed-age audience potentially reading this blog, but if you're curious for details, ask me when I get back. Wild, that's all I can really say. No judgement expressed on that, although there are plenty of judgements running through my mind. Last night was ... whoa, quite the eye-opener. Went to the red-light district. Okay, leaving it at that.

But I am here, nonethless, safe and sound in this grimey hostel, my last European destination. Today is for last-minute shopping and wandering, before our canal cruise tonight and our last dinner as a group. We're going to the Sea Palace, a huge Chinese restaurant that sits on the water. Maybe I'll get me some wooden Dutch clogs. Well, off to explore the town, on this last day with my chicas.

Flight info: I'm leaving Amsterdam tomorrow, Sept. 14 at 1:00pm, flying into Detroit, and then making a connecting flight to St. Louis. I should be arriving into St. Louis around 5:00pm, at which point you should feel free to bombard me with phonecalls! I've missed you all!

Ciao, ciao, cheese!
Cor

I could live here. Easily.

2005-09-10T10:23:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting in the amazing Swiss mountain town of Lauterbrunnen, world reknowned for their cascading waterfalls. Our chauteau happens to look right out on one and they light it up at night, which is spectacular. I'm pretty proud of myself because today I went mountain-biking in the Swiss Alps, and it was so hardcore! We started off this morning (Me, Greg, Luke, & Trent) by renting bikes from reception and we didn't really know what our plan was but we decided to go with the flow. Our first stop wasTrummelbach, the only remaining glacier-fed waterfall inside of a mountain still visible by human eyes left within Europe. The waterfall went like a corkscrew through the black rock, made slick from centuries incredibly forceful water pumping it's way down into the river below. We climbed to the top and the water was loud, beating down with tons of power. After we left Trummelbach, we headed to Stechelberg, where we took our bikes up the mountainside via cablecar, first to Gimmelwald, then on to Murren. From there we road across the face of the Swiss Alps and made a possible wrong turn that ended up being phenomenal. At first our ride was easy and beautiful, but after a short time, we were forced to dismount and walk/carry instead, being as we were 6,000 ft in the air, and the width of the trail soon diminshed into merely a foot wide. Not to mention the rocks and drizzle - they don't provide too much traction. But it was all worth it, every second, because after the cows with their bells moved from being in our way, we soon entered into what looked like a Swiss rainforest. There were ferns, moss-covered rocks, huge mushrooms, and trees without visible tops. It looked like a scene from Lord of the Rings. We kept riding when we could, and then more walking, you get the pattern. We were gone for probably 4 hours, at least 2 or 3 of which was riding. But risking our lives in order to be able to see the snow-capped peaks in the distance, riding past lazy cows on the side of the path, meeting locals, flying down curvy gravel streets, and finding unimgainable landscapes and views made all of the danger worth it. I'm covered in mud, but beaming from ear to ear. I can say it was the most intense biking I've ever done, but hey - I rode a bike through the Swiss Alps! And I've got a picture of myself holding my bike over my head atop the mountain to prove it (will be my next facebook photo for sure, hehe)!

Tomorrow we're heading back into Germany, to St. Goar, in the Rhine River Valley. Basically I'll be sitting in a bus all day. From there, we go through Belgium and then on to my final destination of Amsterdam. I'm seriously not ready for this adventure to end. The way I'm seeing it is that I'll just be putting it on pause, because I don't want to think that this will be the only and last time I hike these mountains ... or see any of the cities, oceans, museums, cultures, people that I've seen. I'm ready for the tour to end though, seeing as 37 days is a long time to spend with the same people day in and day out. But there are a fabulous few who I know I'll be in touch with forever because we've experienced some of the most unique things together and that will build a bond like none other. I'm looking forward to winding down a little, but it's official - I've got the travel bug ... and once you've got it, I'm afraid there is no cure.

Looking forward to seeing and talking to you all when I get back!

Lots of love,

Cor

Internet cafes steal all your money and don't give you enough time.

2005-09-08T10:01:00.000-05:00

Today I threw myself off the side of a mountain! You heard me right. I went paragliding in the Austrian Alps on a tandem jump. Everything was very safe and amazing; my instructor has been doing this for 13 years and is a 5 times Austrian paragliding champion. This came after our 25K bike ride up the side of the mountain this morning. The tour has moved from focusing on the cities to exploring the countryside and the sports it has to offer. Yesterday I went white-water rafting on a grade 3 river and I had never been before so that was interesting. But this place is so green and beautiful, rolling hills with quaint Germanic people and traditional Bavarian style homes. Probably the most fantastic landscape I have ever seen. If Switzerland is supposed to be even more beautiful ... well, I just can't imagine that.

Sorry, I haven't written an entry in some time, but it's been very go-go-go the past week or so. We left Mykonos straight for Athens, where we toured the ruins and only stayed for a day. From Athens we sailed the Adriatic Sea, pulling into the magnifiscent port of Venice before making our way to the "fair city of Verona," a lovely and romantic place indeed. Then, we headed back to Venice for 2 days where we wandered and explored and purposely "got lost," which is easy to do in a city with no roads. We even took a motorboat to get back and forth from our campsite. Then came the magical and musical city of Vienna, where a couple or girls and myself rented bikes and toured the city cyclo-style. Also atteneded a classical concert and found a sushi restaurant, which pretty much made me a happy gal. Then came Munich, and the markets there were amazing ... I don't have time to talk about much else, only a couple of minutes left here. Right now we're in Hopfgarten and tomorrow we make our way into Switzerland. There are lots of huge details and such that I've left out, but I'll just have to catch you all up when I get home ... IN A WEEK. Whoa. I'm ready and I'm not. I miss the people, but Europe has been fabulous.

Later!
Cor

Mixed emotions.

2005-09-03T11:25:00.000-05:00

Despite that fact that I had an awesome day here in Venice, I am brought right back down to earth with news of all of the horrific going-ons in what is left of New Orleans. It looks like a third-world country and I am having trouble understanding why hardly any action is being taken to recitify the situation at hand. Is it because the people that are stuck in the superdome are the poor black people and the government doesn't care about them? What the f*** is going on? It seems seriously messed up. When I first saw the footage of the damage and the corpses lining the streets I was on the ferry from Greece to Venice and I started crying because I had no idea the situation was so bad. It looks out of control and was such a shock for me to see. Any new news regarding the situation? Are they going to get the remaining thousands out of the dome or are they going to leave them there until they all rot and die? I feel sick to my stomach.

I want to write about all of the good things in my life right now, but I just don't feel that it would be appropriate given the current situation. So I will continue to pray for them because what else can I do ... Meanwhile, know that I am happy, healthy, and safe. I am continuing to have an amazing time and I will post on what I have been up to sometime hopefully in the next couple of days. I have recently been to the fair city of Verona and also to Venice, where I am now as I type this entry. I really love Italy. We still have yet to travel to Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands before I make my way home from Amsterdam on the 14th.

Love and miss you guys,
Cor

It's all Greek to me.

2005-08-26T12:59:00.000-05:00

Get ready for the longest post I've ever made. Deep breath. Now go!

Grecians are crazy ... and I love them. I just spent 3 of the most amazing days on the Greek island of Corfu. I have so much to share and I don't know where to begin. I have seen scenery that I never imagined I'd see in my life. Definitely the most beautiful country I have ever been to. I'm going to try to post some pictures when I get back here to Athens in 4 days, but I'm not making any promises. Meanwhile, thanks for all of the emails, everybody! Continue to send them - I love hearing from you all!

That first night was the craziest toga-party I have ever attended. Okay, so it was the only toga party I've ever attened. But the Greeks know how to party and party hard we did. :-)

So let me begin with the second day in Corfu, since the first was mostly traveling and exhaustion. I rented a car to drive around the island with 3 others from my tour: Cassie, Mary, & Craig. We got a little, red, open-topped 4-wheel drive Suzuki and we named her Suzi. Traveling north from Corfu, we drove to the beaches of Sidari, where the rocks jut out above the water and you can jump into the crystal clear Adriatic Sea. We swam under a cave and when we emerged at the other side there were mountains stretching across the horizon, contrasting with the bright turquoise water. Absolutely breath-taking.

From there, we went back out on the roads to battle the crazy Greek drivers, and took the more rural winding roads along the Western coast of Corfu to the beach at Agios Georgios. We had the wind blowing in our hair and the sun was shining - not a cloud in the sky! The second beach was just as beautiful as the first and we took another dip in the ocean before continuing on.

We got out of the car in some of the smaller towns and wandered around the shops and met some locals. One lady stopped our car to give us directions when we got a little lost, but she then proceeded to give us a sales pitch for family-made honey, olive oil, or wine. She was a real Greek mama. Well her kindness worked on us and Craig bought a $2 bottle of delicious red wine from a country town in Corfu. Something I forgot to mention, the roads have no names or signs in Corfu ... you just have to look at the signs that tell you which direction you're heading in and pray for the best. It made things interesting to say the least, but Craig's an automechanic so he was an ace at driving and I sat beside him in the front seat, doing my best to help him navigate. When you're in Greece, you're in a hotbed of chaos, but all of the people are completely relaxed. No one is ever on time and things don't run smoothly. You just have to adapt the same attitude they have. So if you're standing at the counter for an hour waiting to be served, it doesn't mean they have not seen you, it simply means you'll get served when it works for them. After being here for a few days, I certianly know where the phrase, "It's all Greek to me," hails from.

Our last stop of the day was Pelekas Kinopiastes, a beach surrounded by caves. But we didn't get out there because we still had a trip to get back to our hotel by 7. We left at 10 in the morning by the way, so we had a loooong day. But it was a great way to get a feel for the culture that most tourists don't ever have the opportunity to truly experience.

Then, yesterday, which was our last day on the island of Corfu, I had the most amazing experience. We were blessed with another gorgeous, clear, bright blue sky and and the sun was at it's finest. We woke up bright and early and headed to the port to jumpaboard George's Boat, where we went on a special all-day boat ride around the southern part of the island.

After a beautiful cruise and a history lesson interspersed with some of perverted Geroge's jokes (he was a real character and had us cracking up the entire time), we reached our first stop where we had the chance to partake in virtually any watersport you can imagine. So I took advantge of this!

First thing off, I took to the skies and went parasailing with my buddy Steve. After harnessing up, attaching ourselves to the boat via rope - the boat started and we ran and then all of a sudden we were flying high above the islands ... looking over the mountains and horizon in every direction. The water below was clear as could be and we could see all the way down to the coral reefs below. There was a warm breeze and I just let go and flew throw the air. I'll never forget it. After that I went tubing with 3 others in these triangular tubes called Mambos that are designed to give you a bumpy ride and get lots of air. It was bumpy all right and the whole time I couldn't stop laughing hysterical. What a workout! But even more of a workout was this ride that they call "fly-fishing" even though it actually has nothing to do with real fishing. Basically you sit on this flat raft that has 3 bumps across it and each person sits on the own bump. Then you hold on for dear life with all of the strength you can muster up as the boat starts and the raft goes over bumps, turning vertical, and flying into the air. Boy am I sore today. You have nooooo idea how sore I am today. I'm still glad I did it all though. I wouldn't take it back for the world.

Our second stop was right off the coast, in more crystal waters. We dove right off the boat and into the ocean. The water was so salty that you could float standing straight up, without treading water. From where we were, we could see Albania in the distance and we just splashed around, some people snorkeled, and all had fun. Then more beautiful cruising until we came to our last spot, which curious George deemed "Hanky Panky Island." Well a group of us girls swam pretty far away from the ship and then we all skinny-dipped in the Adriatic Sea. No boys were allowed. And now I can say that I flashed Greece (and a couple of passing boats, which made for overall hilarity and a bunch of giggling girls).

The boat ride in and of itself was a wonderful experience. I've never done anything quite like it and I really felt like I was on vacation at that point. Geroge kept us busy with his antics, at one point making everyone group up according to nationality and making us sing our national anthems. They played this old Yankee-doodle dandy version of the star-spangled banner, which left us 3 Americans sounding like downright fools, but it was enjoyable anyway! I got some spectacular pictures and I'll cherish these memories forever. I've been blown away by Greece. I think I'd be hard-pressed to find somewhere more spectacular. And I'm getting along great with all the kids from my tour. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I was really lucky to get this tour group. I've seen the other groups and every time, I'm thankful for the (mostly) normal bunch I landed with. No party-poopers aboard. I'm experiencing new cultures with these people, and we're growing into a big family.

And lastly, last night we went to a traditional Greek dinner nearby and it featured traditional Greek dancing. The men were wearing tights and skirts, and throwing plates. One man even stood in a ring of fire and lifted a table with his teeth. Wow. We all had the chance to get up and take part in the dancing, which we all readily did and everyone clapped along the entire 4 hours that our dinner lasted! This was after a whole day out in the sun filled with all those activities aforementioned. The highlight of the night for me was the "potato-dance." Let me explain. You and your partner must hold a potato between your forheads while following the orders given by the lady orchestrating the whole thing. My partner, Clint, is a lot taller than me which made things interesting, but he's a hilarious guy and we ended up doing really well. We managed to make it pretty far, spinning around, getting to our knees, sitting on the floor, and laying on our sides - all while keep the potato pressed between our heads. But we dropped it when we went to get up. At that time there were only about 10 potato-dancing couples left out on the floor. So I was pretty proud to place tenth. It was the funniest thing ever. I nearly went cross-eyed and was dying from laughter. At the clubs we've been to, Clint is the craziest dancer and we always pretend to ballroom dance when the music is the most inappropriate for doing such. He even dragged me up on stage to ballroom dance in Barcelona to Spanish techno. Don't worry, there's video footage that I'll try to obtain as soon as I get home. Good clean fun of course, just good clean fun.

After that, as you can imagine, I was wiped out. And we had to leave Corfu at 6:45 this morning to catch the ferry to the mainland of Hellas (Greece). Needless to say, I slept through the whole ride. Then we drove all day to make it to Athens, and I slept most of the bus-ride as well. On our way to Athens, we saw the Corinth canal, that was dug in 3,000 BC and it was truly unbelievable. Everytime I see these things that were constructed or dug so long ago, I can't imagine how they were able to create things on such an enormous scale without the advances of modern machinery. One guy from our tour bungee-jumped down the canal, which was pretty crazy. Other than that, just more riding on a bumpy bus while trying to catch a few zzz's. Tomorrow morning we leave at 5 am to catch a 6-hour ferry to the island of Mykonos, where's we're staying at a resort for 3 days of pure relaxation and sun-filled fun.

Whew. Well that was a lot of typing, but I had A LOT to say. Thanks for taking the time to sit down and read it! I can't wait to share my pictures and memories when I get back. I seriously wish you all could be here with me. Hope all's well on your side of the world! It's time to get me some dinner!

XOXO,
Cor

Roma!

2005-08-21T15:18:00.000-05:00

Favorite city so far: Roma!!! Oh man oh man. I spent today touring
Roma with my American buddy, Cassie. The day started out rough, seeing
as I was inappropriately dressed this morning for our walking tour (it
was raining and cold, I was wearing a skirt and tank-top, no
umbrella), so Cassie and I decided to head back to camp and get on
some proper attire. Well by the time we made it back into Roma, we
would have had to leave right away if we went on the bus with everyone
else at 4:30. So, we decided it would be best to just do our own
thing. We explored the colloseum ... 2,000 years of history under your
feet and all around you is something that is just inexplicable. We
toured a palace nearby that has been excavated from the times of
Imperial Rome. It was once under newer structures and has been
unearthed. We walked down the main strip of town, right down the
middle. In other words, we divided and conquered Rome! The campsite
was miles from the train which was a half hour from the metro. In all,
I would venture to guess we walked for about 7 hours and 20 miles. I
ate my fair share of eggplant and tomato paninis and drank LOTS of
water. The highlight of the night was definitely when we got beraded
by an angry Italian man on the metro because we put our aching feet on
the plastic seats in front of us. Something about dirty Americans and
a very passionate waving middle finger. I tried not to laugh because
we obviously upset him some, but it really capped off our day in Rome.
Everyone else was incredibly friendly and the transportation was
fantastic. Tomorrow we head to Pompei and then take a ferry across to
the Greek island of Corfu. Time to go get packing; another very early
day tomorrow.

Thanks for checking in on me,
Cor

Ciao, bella!

2005-08-19T08:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, I have exactly ten minutes so I will need to make this short and sweet. I spent today wandering around Firenze (Florence) with two friends from my tour, Cassie and Matt. We climbed the 463 stairs to the top of the first dome every built in Europe. We walked along the coblestone paths. Yesterday I saw the leaning tower of Pisa and everyday I'm astounded by the next thing I see, just trying to take it all in, and pinch myself for being so freaking lucky to get to experience all of this. Tonight we get to dine in the Tuscan countryside and tomorrow we make our way to Rome and the Vatican city. We just got here from the French Riveria and Monaco and everything is taking my breath away.

All of the people on my tour are wonderful and fun, the sites are spectacular, and I don't have much to complain about. The accomodations have been fine for the most part (aside from the frigid shower I was forced to take this morning - not a good way to start the day!). Food is all right, but I'll be happy to read menus and have options again by the time I return, I'm sure. I've been getting in lots of walking and drinking, but I'm taking care of myself and making sure that I don't let myself get too worn down. The 12 hour bus rides I could do without, but they always make for great conversations and it's a good way to get to know a new person.

Anyway, I'm in love with Florence and traveling to all these wonderful countries is rough, but someone's gotta do it. I'll check back in ASAP. Ciao!

G´day, mate!

2005-08-14T16:35:00.000-05:00

Hey, everyone! I´m in Barcelona right now, just took a dip in the Med Sea, and this is the first internet access I´ve had since I left London. I am having the most amazing time in my life and every time I see something that reminds me of my friends and family I think, Oh (insert name here) would love this. But I have been really blessed with a fabulous tour group filled with amazing Aussies, two other awesome Americans, some New Zealanders, and even a couple of gals from South Africa. I´m even picking up Aussie slang, full on.

Paris was astoundingly wonderful and seeing the Tour Eiffel at night was really magical. Also saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, Arc de Triump, Champs Elysee ... and more. I toured around with two really cool guys on my tour and we accomplished a lot, and did TONS of walking. I´m falling in love with every place I go. Spent the last few days at a French chateau south of Lyon and we drove 10 hours today through Barcelona. I´m getting awesome photographs and getting along very well with everyone. Our group is laid-back and I feel very lucky.

Best part so far: the Cross-dress/ Shock-your mother themed party we had the other night at the chateau, in an underground club called The Cave. If you know my affinity for dancing, then you know why. It was awesome, all of the guys (blokes) went all out, skirts, dresses, you name it. I swapped clothes with a guy and gave myself an eyeshadow mustache. We acted goofy and even pretended to ballroom dance. It was the best night I could have asked for.

Tonight, we had some tacos and sangria and had a beach party that´s still going on, but I needed to come check my email before midnight. Tomorrow night (it´s about 11:45 right now) we go to watch Flamenco dancing and then go out on the town. I´m very excited. Well that´s about all the time I have. I miss you all and look forward to seeing you again in a month or so. Adiossss!

Cheerio, London!

2005-08-08T07:13:00.000-05:00

It's my last day in London and I am, for the most part, all packed up. My tour departs tomorrow at 6:00 am. But, tonight I get to meet all of my tourmates, etc. I really hope there are some cool, down-to-earth people. I think there will be. I can't believe I still have so much time left - more than a month. So I probably will be posting shorter posts and less often from here on out, considering I'm not sure what my internet access will be like. Continue to write me emails and post comments though; I love hearing from everybody! And I'll update when I can.

Cheerio, friends!
Cor

Mullets are cool. I swear.

2005-08-05T11:53:00.000-05:00

Mullets are cool, well at least here they are. Inspired by the
veritable multitude of European mullets bouncing around on the
streets, today I ventured to Toni & Guy's to get myself a more
fashionable do. It's not quite a "cullet." A "cullet" for those who
don't know, is also defined as a curly mullet. No, I don't really have
one of those. And no, it's not backwoods country-style or anything,
but it is really layered and funky. I'm quite please with my
overpriced London hairstyle. I wish I could post a picture ... but I
can't, so I won't. She spent all of this time afterwards individually
twisting my hair into curls that were pantene hair-commercial
material. I never knew it could look so good. And it probably never
will again because I certainly don't have that kind of patience!

Last night Sarah and I went on a haunted tour of London, which wasn't
all that scary, but the stories our tour guide told were fun and
entertaining and it was a nice way to walk the city by night. It might
have been a smidge unethical, but we just blended ourselves into the
crowd and never paid our £5.50. Believe me, London has enough of my
money anyway. I did feel kind of bad, but I'm sure there were plenty
of other good people who actually paid. That said, our free tour was
awesome! :-) There are many a haunted buildings, theatres, flats, and
parks here in London. I might do another walking tour tomorrow if I
get around to it. I'm definitely going to go to Notting Hill &
Portobello market (recommendations give to me by my hair stylist,
Jude) and on Sunday, I was advised to check out Brick Lane and
something else I can't remember. Shoot. Maybe it will come to me. We
also got some pretty good Chinese food last night after walking
through Piccadilly Circus to Chinatown. Tonight we're probably going
to try catching a show; I'm hoping we can get tickets at a decent
price, but it is Friday. Can you even believe it's Friday?! Zoinks.
This is going by sooo quickly.

Also, I explored Tate Modern yesterday during the day and was given a
free interactive audio guide with palm pilot and part of a survey they
were conducting after you were done. So again, a free tour. Hehe. I
loved that museum by the way. It was probably the best art museum I've
ever been to. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the Frida Kahlo
exhibit because I didn't have time. However, I did see mostly
everything else. I'd better go now - my time's running low.

Only a couple more days here ... before I meet up with my tour peoples
on Monday. So far, I've loved it here, met very nice people, and I've
heard great things about everywhere else I am heading. Take care
everyone! I miss you guys.

Ego-boosting and acrobatics.

2005-08-04T05:49:00.000-05:00

Yesterday marked the hilarity of the British Beer Festival 2005. Oh man, what a day. Sarah wasn't around because she was at work and I was left wondering what I would be doing for the rest of the day, when Sarah's roomie Jenni approached me about this BeerFest, which sounded harmless. Haha. So then we meet up with a bunch of other girls and make our way toward the Olympia train station, because we didn't know exactly where it was. Well we found it. It was this huge expo center filled with hundreds of booths for beer coming from different countries. And well, there weren't very many girls. It was the only place I think I've ever been where there was a line for the men's' bathroom, and not for the ladies'. Anyway, being a small small minority amongst middle-aged balding men drinking beer became funny quite fast. No one bothered us and the atmosphere wasn't scary, but it was OBVIOUS we were a little out of place. At which point we decided it would be a good idea to take it for what it was worth and all wear cardboard pirate hats that they were passing around. I sampled beer and cider for a good 6 hours ... maybe a personal record. Luckily, more young guys started showing up after a few hours and they started buying our drinks. We were then assaulted with endless compliments, but they kept flocking to me in particular with all of these compliments which I thought was completely hilarious. They all looooved my eyes. Let me break it down for you - that never happens to me in my every day life. One guy even said to me that I must think British people were really ugly ... because I had such nice eyes and teeth. HAHAHA. I just found the whole thing to be a huge joke, but they were all serious and it was really the funniest thing to experience. Anyway, I took it with a grain of salt because it was, after all, BeerFest and I'm sure everyone had on some serious beer goggles. But it was a ton of fun and at one point some guys working behind one of the bars illegally swapped his badge with some of us to get behind the counter and pull some beer. If you want to be treated like working-class royalty, go as a girl to a beer festival. It will be a riot.

Afterwards we went to this punky club called the Notting Hill Arts Club where I felt my hip factor sink back down to its normal status. We met up with Sarah there. These kids were pretty fashionable hipsters, but the environment was really fun and we got to listen to a local band with a kick-ass female drummer. Now the only problem with getting started so early in the day is that we were done for by about 10:30 or so, at which point we headed back to Earl's Court, stuffed our faces, and went to bed pretty early.

The night before, however, was really the most spectacular of them all. Sarah and I had been planning to go to Tate, but we wound up at Shakespeare's Globe after it turned out that Tate was closed. We just kind of stumbled into buying tickets for Pericles, which was a great accidental decision. It was by far the most spectacular Shakespearean play I have ever witnessed. All of the actors were also gymnasts. One of the props on stage were a bunch of ropes tied to columns on either side of the stage, which gave it a kind of marine feel. But then, for the scenes that took place at sea, they would untie the ropes (about 4 men, 3 women), climb up them with their bare hands, and proceed to perform all kinds of acrobatics while belting Shakespeare at the top of their lungs. They performed all kinds of fantastic tricks, at times even swinging over the audience on these ropes and hanging upside by one hand or no hands while doing a split, flipping and tying their ropes, swinging around as though it took no strain. It kept us in complete awe the entire time and afterwards, Sarah and I really felt like little kids whose mouths were probably wide-open during the entire performance. I have never seen gymnastics like that in real life before and it was truly incredible. Not to mention the awesome man from Ghana who played the narrator and a very talented international cast. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to snap photos, but I did get one right at the end when they climbed up the ropes for a final time. It was AMAZING.

Later we're planning on taking a haunted walking tour of London by night, which should be very cool as well. And for me, I'd better get going because I am wasting too much of my day behind this computer. Ciao!

Cor

Pimms, anyone?

2005-08-01T10:07:00.000-05:00

Hello and g'day! I'm once again stationed in the cheap internet cafe above the McDonald's down the street from Larimer's flat. I'm falling quite hard for London. This city is seriously fantastic. Last night Sarah and I did this whirlwind megatour of some of London's more notable tourist attractions: Big Ben, Westminster, and a million gazillion other sites. We walked a ton and everywhere, meandering through Spitafields Market, eating tradition sausage and mash at S&M (stands for, you guessed it - Sausage & Mash) veggie style, stopping for a Pimms (a rather delicious fruity summer drink that I'll be learning how to make as soon as I step foot back onto American soil), stumbling upon a huge gay parade close to Chinatown, walking through lovely Hyde Park at dusk, stopping to watch the swans a swimming, then traversing back across some posh and expensive residential areas, and finally landing back at Larimer's flat. Lucky for me, several roommates have already returned home to the States so I have a bed and everything. I'm bunking with Sarah! Today I took it kind of leisurely getting ready seeing as yesterday started at 4 am for me and didn't end until maybe 1 am. I was exhausted! All of the flying, tubing (hehe), walking, and amazement had me TIRED. We had an absolutely awesome time yesterday, though. I had a great introduction to London.

Today I headed out to the British Museum where I wandered around for about 2 hours. Among the coolest things I saw were a piece from the beard of the Great Sphinx and huge Grecian columns, some things dating back as far as 1,000 BC or more. After I grew bored with the endless British stash of artifacts from around the world (unbelievable amounts of stuff, really), I decided to search for a vegetarian restaurant I'd read about called Food for Thought. After snapping some photos and consulting my handy pocket map, I finally found my way to Neal St. in Covenant Garden, where the restaurant was situated, which was good because after all of my walking, I was famished. I had a great bowl of Vietnamese Eggplant Tofu stew that was chock full of veggies and that fueled me for a lot more walking and wandering. I bought a watch because I'd been suffering without one - I never even thought about the fact that I would have my cell phone to check the time! I walked in and out of lots of shops and even bought the British fashion accessory of choice - the pashmina. And unfortunately, you pretty much need it because the weather here is pretty chilly. It's constantly going from hot to cold and I keep finding myself removing layers and then putting them all back on.

Navigating the tube has been a cinch, though unfortunately most of the Piccadilly Line is shut down due to recent events. That would be the main line to get me into the heart of where I want to go. That's okay though because I'm having to do a little more exploring this way. After I'm done here, I'm going to travel to the AP Bureau to meet up with Sarah before heading to Tate Modern. It's really easy to accomplish a lot in a little amount of time here.

That about does it for now, but I'll check back in soon, so you should, too. :-)

Thanks, love. Hehe.
Cor

Cheers, mate!

2005-07-31T16:50:00.000-05:00

Today's travels went according to plan! I'm here in London, sitting beside a one Miss Sarah Larimer in an internet cafe located where else but atop the local McDonalds. Classy. So today we walked all over the place and I can't remember everywhere we went, but I do know this much - I think I'm in love with London. From what I can tell so far, it's quite great. Almost 11 and this place closes so I'd better jet.

Cor

*Alert: Screen name change for AIM underway ... lost the password for my old one. Whoops. E-mail me for the new one.*

Time flies by.

2005-07-30T12:50:00.000-05:00

So my stay here in Germany is coming to a close. Today Micha, Denise,
and I traveled about two hours, close to the Checkoslovokian border,
where we climbed up to a fortress in what has been deemed "Saxon
Switzerland." And despite being covered from head to toe with more
mosquito bites than you can imagine, I was still able to appreciate
the amazing view. The fortress stretched 1.25mi long and was nearly
2,000ft above sea level. You could see for hundreds of miles in every
direction and we had wonderful warm, breezy weather. I saw buildings
from the 1600's still in tact and some unbelievable things like an old
water well that was so deep, you could not see the end. Astonishing
that all of this has remained intact. Now, to go accomplish some
packing. Tomorrow I leave the open land of BMW's, Mercedes, and
Volkswagons for the packed streets of London. See you tomorrow, Sarah!

Cor

Touring Germany.

2005-07-27T10:53:00.000-05:00

I'm covering all of Eastern Germany, or at least it seems like it!
I've been to Baützen, Görlitz, a dinosaur park (saurierpark), Dresden,
and today a little villiage made out of wood. I've had a meal at a
traditional German potato house and tried lots of new drinks. They
like to mix beer with everything here and I didn't know what it would
be like, but they know what they're doing. My favorite so far would
have to be a mixture of beer and a raspberry-lemonade kool-aid
mixture. I've also sampled all kinds of other great drinks. Hey -
they're on vacation right now and so am I! Dresden was wonderful ...
Michigan Ave. meets old style Baroque architecture and castles. It's
situated on the Elbe River and we walked probably the entire Old City.
I had been destroyed mostly by bombs after WWII, but it is almost
finished being reconstructed. On the way back, after figuring out some
calculations (which I have been having to do a lot!), I figured out
that we traveled 124mph on the autobahn! And that's normal for them.
Germany is, they said, one of the only countries with no speed limit.
Keep in mind there are far fewer cars on the road. The city of Görlitz
is Germany's easternmost city, and on the other side of the river is
Poland, so we were able to walk across a bridge and into Poland, which
I thought was really neat. I've seen lots of fascinating things, but I
don't have time now to recount them all. Thanks for checking in on me.
I'm doing great and absolutely loving it here!

Bye for now,
Cor

Gutten Tag.

2005-07-23T09:40:00.000-05:00

Hello! I made it here to Germany safe and sound. All of my flights
went very smoothly, no problems really. Traveling for about 15 hours
went by much faster than I'd expected. My sleep pattern is a little
messed up, but not bad. Everyone here is so friendly, but I feel bad
that I can barely communicate with anyone who's not speaking English.
The village I am staying in is very small. It's called Reichwalde and
there are about 600 people. Good news is that absolutely no one can
tell I'm American. Yay. They find out real soon, of course, when I
can't understand them or speak any German. Last night I went to the
annual summer festival. I've already whizzed around on the Autobahn
and traveled to the town of Bautzen for some sight-seeing. The
countryside is beautiful and covered in dense forest where it has not
been cleared for farms and fields. I just went to a race where the
contestants had to do old fashioned things like catch a fish with
their hands, cut grass with a syke, cut a piece of wood with an old
hand saw, wheel an old wheelbarrow, paddle through a lake seated in a
pig's trough. It was funny especially when a little boy accidentally
got smacked with a fish that jumped out of the holding tank and one
man's trough was leaking and sank in the lake. Well I'd better go.
Denise made me some tea and it's getting cold!

Ciao!
Cor

Pre-flight jitters.

2005-07-21T10:30:00.000-05:00

I leave in about a half hour for the airport. I'm a quarter nervous, three quarters excited, which is probably the definition of anxious. It's pretty surreal actually, to finally be going. I'll be in transit for about 13+ hours before arriving in Berlin, so it's going to be a long trip. I've got my ipod and some travel guides to look over. Of course, I've got a plush neck pillow so I can catch a few winks ... hopefully. Here's hoping the in-flight movie is a good one! Next time I post, I'll be on the other side of the world. Well, not really, but I'll be in Europe!

Thanks for stopping by,
Cor

Euroblogging.

2005-07-04T12:46:00.000-05:00

I’m at it again. I have created another blog, but this time with a purpose (and hopefully more staying power)! Instead of mass-emailing everyone and filling up inboxes with annoying updates, I started this blog to erratically update everyone on my whereabouts and adventures. This way you can check in on me when it most suits you and everybody wins.

I’m going to be departing for Berlin on July 21. I will then spend ten days in Germany with my friend, Denise. I met Denise awkwardly in high school physics sophomore year. She, a brilliant but lonely foreign exchange student living with a family sans teenagers in Chesterfield. Me, a too-talkative student, horrible at physics. Thus, a perfect match. She came to pay another visit summers later with her sister, Caro. It’s my turn to do the traveling and I am more than willing to oblige.

On July 31, I fly from Berlin to London, where I will meet up with none other than the smiling face of Sarah Larimer, who from what I can tell has completely revolutionized the world of sports in Great Britain. Interning at the London AP Bureau, sports division, my good ol’ buddy from the J-Slums has been kind enough to extend an invite for me to sleep on her couch. I’ll take it!

Last, but certainly not least, I depart London on Aug 8 for what I have dubbed my “European MEGAtour.” Spanning 39 days, and covering 12 countries, I will leave no stone unturned! I fly back to the States from Amsterdam on Sept 14.

Please e-mail me while I’m gone, although I can’t promise speedy replies. And feel free to leave messages on my cell phone voicemail, which I will be checking intermittently.

Uncontrollably anxious, but ultimately excited,
Corey