adventure day II

hello,

adventure day - one day a weekend (very similar to seattle saturday from when i first moved here) where adventure is the theme, or at least one of the themes. sunday was adventure day II.

i didn't have my camera for adventure day I, but to sum it up: a flower show at the bellevue botanical gardens; a quick visit to the park right next door to the bellevue botanical gardens; jamba juice, where we both ordered a small and jamie got a medium while i got a small and for some reason felt left out; a park on mercer island where i read on the small patch of swimming beach. way too cold for people swimming, but this tiny dog was determined to guard the beach from slightly confused ducks; and a walk down some of the i-90 floating bridge. a definite park theme with this adventure day.

with the camera ready, adventure day II was set to go:

driving to a secret destination (not that secret for the thousands of cars that pass it every day) south of seattle, we came across shipwreck beads, the worlds largest bead emporium. i replaced the word emporium with their use of the word "store" since i thought emporium was a better description, especially if it was a "worlds largest." one great big building with many many beads. i kept trying to look at all the employees and even the people shopping to see if they had bead necklaces on, but most of them didn't (i saw two with them on, about 15 with nothing). i guess people are doing different things with beads these days other than wearing them. Yep there it is, the world's largest bead emporium.

after a bit more driving, we arrived at the secret destination: four giant metal cows! They were right off of the freeway and made of giant oil cans. not sure if they are painted or just naturally rusted. The mother/calf one was a bit confusing since the mother cow had horns. After a little bit of research, apparently there are many breeds of female cows that have horns. The city of Austin public library says that the Danish Red, the White Park and the Texas Longhorn all have female cows with horns. It must be one of those then.


For the return trip we stopped by the Spar cafe and restaurant in Olympia, the Washington State capital. Olympia is a much cooler place than Carson City, Nevada (apologies to the 17 non-governmental residents of Carson City, Nevada). It has that cool small town downtown feel to it. Kind of like a surviving Fargo, North Dakota.

After a miscommunication with the waitress, we received our spicy macaroni and cheese $5.00 blue plate special (which was definitely not our spicy macaroni and cheese pizza $5.00 chef's special). We wondered how they were going to do a macaroni and cheese pizza, since putting pasta on top of pizza is not a usual practice. And the answer is that they can't.

The final stop was the world famous Bob's Java Jive. I guess back in the day, Bob had two chimpanzees named "Java" and "Jive" that would bang on bongos while they would play the guitar and sing. That would have been awesome to see. This place is not the easiest to find since it is nearly under two freeways. Its been in a lot of movies that were filmed in Tacoma: Three Fugitives, I Love You to Death, Ten Things I Hate About You, and Say Anything.
I don't remember any of those (ten things vaguely, but I don't remember this place in it).


So there it is. Adventure Day II.


And a side note. My friend is embarking on an amazing multi-year world trip (she doesn't actually know when she is coming back). Have fun Megan! We will definitely miss you.

I don't know who the guy in the back is.

Spring!

hello,

first post of the year and its already march! which also happens to be the month that spring starts. seattle usually doesn't realize this for another two months, but what is more important is that the sun does realize it. yesterday i was talking to someone about watching the sunset from my last place i lived, and how it was at 9:00pm. i just can't even imagine that at the moment, but am greatly looking forward to those days. the apartment wrapping should be finished by that time as well (yep, still under construction), and the sunset views are from my bedroom window.

currently i am looking for employment. it must be (in order of importance):
a place i am passionate about working at
in a field i am passionate about pursuing (i must want to own my own business within the field)
with a position i am passionate about filling
and they must offer a bus pass. i miss reading on the bus.

other than that, nothing else matters.

i read my 2nd-half-of-the trip journal a few nights ago and it was a good shaking of my life. it almost doesn't feel like i wrote it, except there are a lot of memories that are sparked by every entry. there are a lot of opportunities for living to be had.

have a good day
your friend
chad.

home in seattle

hello,

i've finally got a moment to give a few words. there is a little monthly calendar that i got from work, and it has been getting full. after my australia trip, i've decided to actually start living in seattle instead of seeing where things would take me. its great to be open to change, but when you have been in a place for a year and can't really call it home, something is wrong.

so, my home in seattle:

the place is still looking very empty but it doesn't bother me at all. having an empty living room with a tv for movie nights, a bean bag chair, a dining table without any chairs, and a makeshift work station (to be by the windows to steal internet from the cafe across the street) is a daily reminder of living within my means. i come home, walk inside and say "crap, i don't have much". i'm not trying to fill it with things just because there is space.

on sunday i joined an italian speaking group that meets two times a month. the first meeting was on monday and it was amazing! i have been missing my italian speaking fix. the first thing i did afterwards was put a long list of italian movies on my netflix queue. out of the 6 people there i was the worst speaker but no worries, i'm not trying to win the best-italian-speaker-in-seattle award. the good news was that i understood every single word spoken, and i wasn't translating in my head, i was understanding as it came. the i-need-to-work-on-it news was that my speaking was horrible. verb tenses, vocab, all the filler words, they all disappeared. we'll be working on that.

i have a hanging pot on my balcony now. the great part is that the real construction is going to start on my apartment complex on monday. i didn't really understand the message they posted and i'm not sure what they are going to do exactly, but my guess is that the entire building will be covered in scaffolding. i think that is going to be fun, like living in a giant pillow fort. maybe my hanging plant might not be so happy about it. i'll miss the view from the windows though. i gather its going to take a few months. if thats true, more time at the coffee shops! oh, i hope it doesn't effect the internet connection. i'm holding out as long as possible on that.

i will be attempting to make my own pasta. i now have a rolling pin. i'm not sure what else i need. but a figured a rolling pin was necessary.

the trip to australia was great! i've got pictures to post from it, so i'll wait on the longer explanation. no complaints, but it was more work than play. casey and i used every free moment as best as possible, but it mostly was jam packed with work things. still no complaints. some highlights: getting scraped by a kangaroo (how often does that happen?) who was way taller than i initially thought; climbing trees in an australian gum tree forrest; wake boarding on a man-made, pull-line wake boarding park (much easier to get up and going, incredibly difficult to make the turns without dislocating your shoulders, elbows, wrists, back, and ankles); mixing with the belligerent locals at a pub in alice on a sunday afternoon; scuba diving and petting a nemo fish on the great barrier reef (the cute dive instructor had me sold on the dive the moment we stepped on the boat, dang her sneaky sales tactics); riding a camel! - big fan of camels but would have liked to see what his top speed was. we were going kind of slow. i guess when its listed out like that, there definitely aren't any complaints (it was still exhausting though).

i have worked one year at my office, which means i now make a much less embarrassing salary. i feel like things are more in line with the work i produce. also i moved into a shared office with my groups manager. she is only in two days a week, so its just me the other three. i really like working with her so all the days should be great.

kickball is still sweet. the last game we played was the most fun of this season. our team was really interacting and the other team was rad, so the whole game was fun. there isn't a winter kickball season, but the other team invited us to some winter for-fun pickup games. absolutely, i'm up for that. theres something about playing outside in the winter and getting the cold hands and runny nose. its a good part of life.

invite a friend to dinner night has been going really well. i couldn't find an available friend for last weeks meal, mostly because of my more full schedule. the challenge has been the vegetarian meals but everyone seems to enjoy the picnic style seating on our living room floor.

bring cinammon rolls to a neighbor night has been a bit tougher. theres a very small window of time to deliver baked goods to a stranger, and thats assuming that they are home (my guess is from 7:45pm to 8:35pm is the best time). not going to give up on this one though. i think it will get easy as we come into fall/winter; i'm hoping more people will be home in the evenings.

personally, things are so much better. i feel more whole now. i got a book about abandonment that actually christiana recommended. and although it was a bit hard to read, there was one sentence that was exactly what i needed. part of me does want her to feel like she has missed out (its a bit immature, but still, somewhere in my head, that thought does exist). and the book says that a certian type of anger is good and: the best revenge is success. which i think is great because its helping me get back to focusing on life and living the best i can. eventually that need for revenge will fade away and in its place will be a full exciting life. i'm already feeling different over the last month with more thoughts on possibilities of life than on the all consuming thought of how i was hurt. i wish her her own success, and in the meantime i will live my life to the fullest i possibly can.

so happy overcast seattle day! theres a fall, crisp feeling to the air and i'm getting excited about all of the trees changing colors. the hooded sweatshirt is back out but not quite the wool socks. maybe next month.

chad.

1.64

the new place is awesome! i spent the last hour at the coffee shop across the street. they had an alternative folk singing guy (there will be live free music every friday and saturday). i was starting to fall asleep in my chair from not getting enough sleep last night. i think i'm a pretty slow mover. i took one full day. its crazy to think that less than a year ago i moved up here with one car load of belongings. now i've got quite a few more (although, the car loads were not as tightly packed).

i really can't convey how much i am liking my new place. i had to move out of the last house on monday, and was able to move into this one on friday. that meant one week of being homeless. i almost wish i had more time. everyone at work was so incredibly nice to bring me home for the night. my apologies go out to jamie for breaking her air mattress (all i did was push the tab like it told me to). some highlights of the week: wonderfully prepared lunches for work, my first thin-tire-bike ride, a treatment massage (for my shoulders and neck, apparently i have a freakishly tight neck), but the best part was being able to hang out with people every day of the week. i would like to do more of that.

my current projects:
finish unpacking and sorting all of my crap
find where in the apartment i can consistantly get free internet
set up a local phone line for the apartment (right now, yonina, my roommate, is the only one with a local number, which means anyone that uses the apartment call box, will be calling her)
fill the living room with things. sitting things, specifically

the coffee place across the street has a great atmosphere. i will be a regular there by the years end (both to fulfill my new years resolution, and because i like it). a short hot-chocolate (with whipped cream) costs 1.64. thats a fair price for becoming a regular. they have a lot of board-games too, so maybe some game nights are in order.


have a good day,
your friend
chad.

cupcakes and bugs

good moment of the day: eating the new raspberry cupcake at the cupcake royale.

not so good moment of the day: seattle is finally hot with the rest of the country. the last couple of nights i have slept with the windows open. and have been completely eaten alive by a variety of bugs. current bug bites: back of shoulder, behind the elbow, on my third rib, and the same toe on both feet (the one next to the pinky toe, and one of them is all swollen). i would like to take all of my skin off.

chad.

best thing i have done in seattle

hello,

a lot of things have changed in the last two months. i'm not with christina anymore. things just didn't work out. she is an amazing person and, one day, some guy is going to be one of the luckiest to end up with her. unfortunately its not going to be me. after a good bout of depression things are starting to move forward again. my friends have been the lifesaver and i am incredibly luck to have them.

i think the timing of everything has been good for me. my lease is up at the end of this month so i'll be having a fresh start in a new place. carie bought a house with her boyfriend and moved out a couple weeks ago, emily moved into her own place closer to the city last week. now its just yonina and me, and we don't really have anything at all so the house is pretty empty. we'll be finding a place hopefully this weekend that is closer to a city center. i'd really like to walk to a grocery store; thats my only rule for finding the right place. then it will be off to the garage sales and thrift stores to get things to sit on. the ol' brick and wood maguivered shelving unit always looked good to me.

my work will be sending me to australia in about three weeks. i'll definitely be posting some pictures. its going to be a completely different trip. reasons why:
* - i won't have giardia (the sickness i picked up in fiji, that i had the last time i was in australia). i plan on seeing much more than the hostel bathrooms
* - we will actually be staying in nice places, that will be feeding us good cooked food.
* - we'll be going on some pretty sweet tours; with kangaroos, penguins, koalas, camels and a bunch of other things
* - i don't have to pay for anything
* - i actual get paid to go

not bad. not bad. also, i'll be going with casey, who started work the same day i did. we are freakishly similar. they call us chasey at work, as we both usually end up with the others papers/files/phone calls because people get confused. i'm really looking forward to the trip.

i joined a kickball league with some friends from my community group. its coming to the last game of the season, and we really need a win to get into the tournament. its amazing seeing grown adults playing kickball. our team brings capri-suns, orange slices, and goldfish to the games. our team name is 'lord of the pants'. the first game we played, i had a short stint of being first base. there was a moment of hesitation on my part that ended with me throwing the ball as hard as i could to get someone out (in this case a girl). the problem was, she was only about three and half feet away from me...and was running straight towards me. the ball hit her incredibly hard in the chest and rebounded into her face. i got the out but she (and her team) was not very happy. my team now calls this pulling "a chad". and i got player of the week last week for the league. here is the write up from the website:

POTW: Chad Watson
Lord of the Pants
With is signature move of always throwing the hat off before making the catch, Chad Watson was huge in the field on defense and never made an out at the plate in the Lord of the Pants win on Tueaday night. Chad received several calls from the crowd to throw off his hat AND his pants, but Chad is too classy for that. Way to be Chad....way to be....

playing kickball has been the best thing i have done in seattle. this season is over soon, but we'll be playing at the greenlake one for the fall season.

thanks for listening, have to eat breakfast and go to the horse races for tildy's birthday party!

have a good day
your friend
chad

the window

i have finally reigned victorious over my window.

before all of us moved in, the house was painted by a crazy man living next door (who later stabbed someone with a sword on the street outside our house. he has since moved out). he wasn't sane and he certainly wasn't a very good painter. many of our windows are painted shut and while i'm ok with some of our house windows not being able to open at least since its not too hot yet, i'm not ok with my windows not being able to open.

i was able to open the window looking out to the front from the start, but the side window has proved to be quite the project. today it is finally open. after days of hammering the paint covered seams and being told some of the windows just wouldn't open (implying that my window was one of them), i now have a wonderful crisp breeze blowing through my room. i was focused so much on getting the paint off of the inside that i forgot to check if the crazy fool painted the outside also, which of course he did. so, its happy days ahead as it gets warmer during the summer.

hot chocolates

ciao a tutti,

shoot, i can see how the years go by so fast for grown-ups. time is flying. i hope everyone is getting ready for sweaters and hot chocolates and all the good that winter has (christmas is a big one for me). its raining in seattle, and don't think it will be stopping until march or later. i don't know really, i've never done a winter in seattle before. i like it.

work has really stepped it up. i am working pretty much on my own now with real client after real client. they really put a lot of trust into me and the knowledge that i have to offer, but i feel alright with that. i just make sure that i'm putting people in good hotels and on great tours. the quicker i get with things, the more clients i get so its been amazingly busy. i'm so lucky to have a great job where i'm challenged every day and am able to learn new things constantly.

my seattle saturdays have been going really well! seattle has so much to offer and i picked up even more brochures of things to do in and around seattle. this weekend i went to visit some relatives (my grandma's brother and his wife) near bellingham, which is a city right near canada. they live in a nice house right on a lake. they fed me great food and we had some good conversations. other seattle saturdays (and sundays) since the last post: the emerald downs horse racing (such awesome cheap fun!); going to a bluegrass concert!; the downtown seattle library (a modern architectural accomplishment, although i thought it was a bit too much like a museum. i prefer the old english reading room type of library); a tour by my friend byron of the downtown pier area (with a visit to the ye olde couriosity shoppe and a sushi dinner).

my last seattle saturday was a california saturday. i had to do some financial stuff and see the people in my fraternity because i would like to be more involved with them. but mostly i was going down there to see a girl. she is amazing. her name is christina and she is finishing her last year of university. things are going great and she's probably going to take a year off after she finishes school and live in seattle with her friend. i'm just really happy.

so i hope everyone is doing alright. i'll be coming home to las vegas for christmas and in a couple months i'm going to go to ireland and scotland with my brother. some time they'll send me to australia to check things out down there. that would be sweet; to get paid to travel. of course it would be a different kind of travel, but still...

have a good day,
your friend
chad.

chittenden locks

ciao everyone,

now that i'm getting settled in at the house an update is in order.

my job is awesome and the people are great. i've started working on real clients now so it will only get busier. my feeling is that there is not going to be too much down-time. thats ok by me because it will make work fly by. i got my desk on friday so now i have an established home in the office. there isn't anything on my desk, but a computer should be coming sometime soon. and the phone that i have tells everyone my name is 'denise', so i'll have to change that somehow.

my roommates and house are amazing. right now i live with emily and carie but another person will be moving in shortly. and there is a dog named abbey. the commute from work is about an hour but i think that is a good thing. in the mornings it gives me time to wake up and on the way back i have an hour to unwind. by the time i get back home i feel relaxed and calm. right now the bus goes over lake washington right at sunset, so the timing is perfect. i've met cool people on some days (and avoided eye contact with a few crazies too).

my first seattle rain happened on thursday. maybe it will stay until next year, or maybe it will clear up. my vote is that it will clear up tomorrow (i have a feeling i'll be saying this a lot).

i want to keep exploring and experiencing the city and surrounding areas, so i've started 'seattle saturdays!' i'll be doing something cool in the city every saturday. yesterday i went to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Gardens. the locks were rad. its where the water from lake washington meets the sound (part of the pacific ocean). the water levels are different so they have something set up just like the panama canal. whats cool is that there were huge salmon jumping out of the water all over the place--i guess they don't want to get sucked into the pumps so they jump around at the top of the water (at least thats what some guide said). what made it really interesting is that it was pouring down rain with some wicked lightning. everyone was in their gum boots and rain coats, while i was in my hooded sweatshirt and chuck taylor converse; not quite the outdoor weather gear i should have had. first item to buy in seattle: waterproof jacket.

also, i am now a member of the seattle public library system. my first seattle library book: catch-22 by joseph heller. first i have to finish 'the traveler's gift' by andy andrews. thats a great book. anyone that liked the alchemist should read that one.

so i'll be keeping this site and posting every month. the reason is kind of a reverse of why i started it. originally it was to keep everyone at home in the u.s. informed and now its for everyone i met while i was travelling. its funny how things change like that.

have a good day
your friend
chad

Move to Seattle!!

ciao,

a lot has happened so an update is needed. after a few little trips around the western part of the u.s., i started looking for a job. in going for one in san diego, i found a great opportunity to work for a rad company. its a travel agency wholesaler that deals with new zealand, australia, fiji and the south pacific. the people seem awesome and i think the job is in the area i would like (both with travel and working with people). the cool part is that it took me to seattle. i moved two days ago and i've loved it so far. i'm still on a roommate/cool apartment search. i'm going for a good one right now but its on the waiting part. i've done all that i can.

as for "being back", i don't really feel that way. being back to what? i think that over the year i got into the habit of living life to the best that i can and making the most out of where i am. i don't think that should stop now just because i'm back in america. moving out of las vegas should help in being open to new things (mainly because everything around me in seattle is new).

seattle as a city is way cool. i don't know how cold its going to get but right now its great sweater weather temperature. it reminds me of christmas, so if its like this now, then christmas season is going to be awesome! i start my job on monday, which i'm really excited about since its been a year and a half since i've worked a non-farming job, it will feel like a new experience.

have a good day
your friend
chad

i'm starting to think maybe a monthly update posting wouldn't be a bad idea. just to keep communication up between the long distance friends. we'll see.

ciao for now

ciao a tutti,

well, its been a good year. it hasn't been too weird being home because i've been able to keep myself busy. the night before i left on this trip i moved out everything from my room to a storage unit. at the time i thought i got rid of a lot of things, but now that i'm getting everything out of storage i realize i don't need any of it. so its been a really good removal of material things.

on the flip side, i acquired a new cell phone. i guess i'm reconnected with regular society now. the folks at t-mobile have been really helpful and gave me a good deal.

i've been trying to put more pictures on the site, and blogger has made it a lot easier; the only problem is a really slow dial-up speed at the house. it takes about 15 min. a photo, which adds up. i'll swing over to my brothers and put a bunch on all at one time.

a lot of people have been asking me what i want to do now that i'm back home. my answer to that is i have no idea. my goals (still) are: learn how to drive stick shift; be home for christmas. for the first one, my brother courageously handed over his keys to me for a spin around a high school parking lot. due to the tractor practice in italy (at least i think) i am much better at manual now. i would rate myself a b- (one stall and two of those jerky start things). thats alright for a first go at it. the second goal, will be done, really i'm just waiting on christmas. so, am i "doing" anything yet. no, not yet, but i am doing the things that are important to me.

a thing that has been on my mind lately is what to do with this site. its weird, the little things that can influence people. for me, a cool person that i met in positano told me about how she had a web log once, experienced a loss, and realized she was spending more time writing about her life than actually living it. i don't regret this website at all. its going to be sweet to look back on it one day and relive the crazy times, and it really was the best way to have updates available with being too annoying. but i am going to have to agree with her (for at least this portion of my life). its time for me to live...and not continually send the updates. i'm still going to post as many pictures as i can from the trip because right now it feels unfinished. what i will post after today is any big moves (so people can know where i am, visitors are always welcome, there's a lot of karma to return) or if i depart on another adventure. given my current double digit funds (thankfully i have more than 10 dollars left) i don't know if the second one will happen too quickly, but in no way am i ruling that option out.

some final photos:

me one week after the beginning of the trip (new zealand)



me one week before the end of the trip (new york). thats cool, two "new" places. i'm a nerd. i'm the one on the left.

i wish i could post pictures of every person i met. they were the coolest part by far.

thanks for reading if you did. i hope it was somewhat enjoyable.

have a good day
your friend
chad

full black costumes

ciao,

i'm running out of days now. i've already had my last wednesday and thursday, and today will be my last friday. on tuesday i'll be eating spaghetti at my home, seeing the mom's new dog, and going to sleep in my old room. kind of strange.




times square at night time. we just got out of the show Producers, which ranks pretty high on my list of musicals. odd, but good.







the east coast part of the trip has been a lot of fun. meeting my friends at the airport (after i got through customs by being surprisingly honest) was a good feeling. on a promise made long ago, ryan and amy f. came from las vegas with the only purpose of seeing me at the airport (and having a wicked cool roadtrip). good people.

the roadtrip to rhode island and boston was perfect--one of the best parts was getting a mini-van! i was slightly bummed that i couldn't drive due to my having no insurance. but i think i make a mighty fine navigator, so at least i had control over the music. it was cool seeing lauren and amy and where they are right now with work and school. seeing americas longest running parade was sweet, but i felt bad for the bands that had the poor judgement of wearing full black costumes in the hot hot temperatures. boston was more rain than not, but thats ok, the rain does not have any effect on the taste of a boston cream pie (which is actually more like a cake with some cream on it)






brett, adrianna and i finishing our night-time empire state building visit.





i'll be in chicago tomorrow to stay at kate's parents house. she is going to ghana, africa on the day i arrive so i won't be able to hang out with her.

i'll be putting up a bunch of pictures over the next week. i haven't really seen many of them, since i've been burning cds, sending them home, and forgetting about them. maybe that will make the sight slightly more entertaining.

have a good day and thanks for checking the site every once in awhile. its been a good year.

your friend
chad

hilly side

ciao a tutti,

i'm not going to lie. its been tough to post this past month. the first reason is that the travels with the mom were to some pretty remote places in italy. when there was internet it was usually a bit on the expensive side, and i didn't really want to drag my mom into an internet cafe while i typed away. but the last week its been different. i don't really want to post because somehow it makes it seem like the end of the trip is already here. with my four days of europe left i don't want to be using the time to describe things i've already done instead of doing new things. so, there it is.


every once in a while i have moments where i freak out inside about leaving this place. it almost feels like i'm more nervous about going home than when i left (and i was about a smidge away from throwing up nervous level on the day i left), but really i think its just been that i haven't had those feelings in so long. i'm not used to it.


to sum up the weeks with the mom: really great actually. it was good to have a break from travel mode, where you have to think about where are you going to sleep, how are you going to get there, and (most importantly) what are you going to eat. my mom was like a squirrel and always packed away some kind of food, which meant not even being hungry on trains. i think everything worked out really well and we had a lot of those unique travel moments that i definitely would not have been able to have had i been by myself. i didn't get to practice learning stick-shift because the villa we stayed at was a bit on the hilly side. i did move it around the parking lot some without stalling it, so a vast improvement since the last time driving a manual car (not counting tractors).

me with the mom in lake como, italy.



my last week in europe (and italy) has been amazing. i thought about going to another country but i think its best to end on a relaxing note. so, i'm on the amalfi coast now in a cliff town, positano. before that was sorrento and capri. the mosquitos met up with me again in sorrento but these ones are on the strange side. everybody in my room wasn't sure if it was from spiders or mosquitos (my vote is on mosquitos, they're bastards). the reason is that the first day it would appear to be a normal bite. the second day it would start to swell and get larger and redder than it should. the third day the redness would go down my veins for about an inch or so. that was the worst day because after that it would kind of go in reverse order back to a normal red dot. the problem is that they didn't all bite me on the same day so i have a nice rotation of all of the above.

minus the bites this has been a great place, but again its mainly because of the people. i joined a family of solo travellers in sorrento where there was a lot of laughing and pasta cooking. they all left and were replaced by cool canadians. then in positano i joined a rad group of university students that are studying in rome for some of the summer. i'm hoping to meet up with them again for my one day in rome before going to london. they invited me into their group (somewhere right above 10 people)and made me feel really welcome.


I like christmas lights.




in a few days i'll be in new york. i've got a short stop in london at alex's--best friend from when i was growing up. its been a long time since we've been able to hang out so it will be cool to do it in london. its just so unbelievable that the new york portion of the trip is a couple of days away.

have a good day
your friend
chad

festival of the republic

so, more craziness with friends and now family. it was a lot of fun hanging out with katja in mannheim. i still can't believe that she hand built a massive giant sized home for her three guinnie (how in the world do you spell that) pigs. they make the coolest squeeky sounds. i couldn't stay too long because she had to roadtrip it down to lago di como for a holiday, so i moved over to heidelberg to stay with tyson and becky.

little people and dogs pay the same for a tram ride in germany.

it felt a lot like being back at pepperdine (my university) with good people all over the place. there was a group of students from the university that is also there doing a project and they were completely into games (cards, dice, or whatever else they could find). it made it great fun all of the time--but they really were a crazy bunch. being there with them definitely made me want to stop moving and saying goodbye to so many awesome people. thats probably good timing since there is less than two months left in the trip. my mind has been thinking much more about what i would like to do when i get home now, and a lot of it has to do with speding so much time with friends that i have met on this trip. i would like to have local friends again that i can see on a regular basis--the downside is that i know i am going to miss all of my european friends the moment i get back....guess that means i might be up for a move...


breakfast at tyson's and becky's. i had problems sitting in becky's chair; the ceiling was oddly angled.

i had problems gettting over to cologne so i had to skip out on that one for now. it was alright though because it just meant more time at tyson and becky's. everything works out for the best. for the last few nights i stayed with hayley in seregno which is about a 20 minute trian ride from milan. she is teaching english in italy and has a great apartment (huge balcony!!), roommates, and students. i guess that goes on the list of possible things to do (if only i could be an EU citizen, going to have to work on that...). i met hayley way back at the centre of new zealand (nelson) so it was cool to see how her path in life has gone.

this morning i met my mom in milan and now i'm staying at a hotel where i haven't seen that many stars on a sign this entire year. we've got about 20 days together for a sweet tour of northern italy. next week we rent a car so i hope to start working on my goal of learning to drive manual this year. i figure if i could do those tractors, i could do a car now. we'll see.

have a good day and happy festival of the republic! i have no idea what thats for, but its today.

your friend
chad

santa and screwy sleep

hallo!

man, being with friends everyday is so much different than travelling alone. time goes so fast when you are with good people.

helsinki was a cool day trip, but it would have been better if we had a local guide like sebastian in sweden. the weather turned cold and we really had no plan--that meant wandering around and seeing all the cool old buildings that we could see over the tops of office buildings. the best surprise for me--and it shouldn't have been a surprise because i could name at least 3 people who told me early, i just forgot--was that santa is from finland! good times seeing christmas cards in the middle of may. i guess he comes from "lapland" which is some place way up north, but i think finland as a whole is proud of their santa invention.

its been a really weird part of travelling because usually when i leave good friends i have some alone (and usually down) time, but now its just friend, friend, friend. it makes it easier now, but i think when i get home and all this is done, it will hit me how much i miss these people. i parted ways with pauline in estonia and went to hamburg, germany. a few hours later i was at a wedding party in Plon with jasmin and bjorn (i met them in my first two weeks of travelling--they weren't getting married, their friends were. germany wedding parties are crazy! nothing like i've ever seen. everyone was really cool and the food was amazing. we left the party at 4:30 in the morning as the sky was just getting lighter. when we finally woke up for breakfast it was 3:30 in the afternoon.

the next day we went to Jasmin's new flat in Lubeck, which is a rad old city. since our sleeping patterns were all messed up from the night before we never really got tired at night and played dominoes until 6:30 the next morning. her roomate moved in last night but was late from traffic. we tried moving everything as quiet as possible since it was 10ish, but i think the whole apartment building knows they have arrived.

this mornings trip to mannheim was really cool. they have a website here of people that are travelling from one city to another and have extra space for other travellers. the trains here are crazy expensive so it is such a good deal. the driver was a cool computer guy that goes to mannheim to work, and we also picked up a girl in hamburg. i mostly slept because the sleep is still screwy. i'm in mannheim to meet katja, i kayaked with her on the north island of new zealand. and then in a few days i hope to visit tyson from university in heidelberg. see what i mean...friend, friend, friend.

have a good day
your friend
chad

kubb in the park

ciao a tutti,

the transitions have been really fast lately so it makes it hard to sum up everything that has happened. i'll do my best:

i did not want to leave spain at all. the freaky weird day seemed to be perfect with naps and super late nights. i've never seen a father and son play football (soccer) in the street on a sunday night...at three a.m. i was getting used to the good cheap food, good cheap sangria, and free amazing days with good people. so, it was a good thing i was going to sweden with friends i met in fiji.

the four day fiji reunion consisted of sebastian and sofia, the cool swedish couple, pauline, from england, and myself (laura, you should have been there too). at times my mind would say, 'what are you doing in sweden visiting friends you didn't even know existed before this trip?' the week we were in stockholm was some of the best weather they have seen in a long time (long, cold, dark winters for them). it was a bit chilly at times but the sun was shining. they really know how to make cinnamin buns and hot chocolate there, so that helps take the chill away. sebastian had a pretty good knowledge of interesting swedish history and things about buildings/statues/and other sites so we did lots of cool walking tours. then we would usually meet up with sofia after she had work. it was also cool to see urban, the swedish guy that i met in croatia. one of the best moments for me was playing kubb in the park. its a game where you knock down small blocks of wood with sticks. we played two games and whatever team i was on lost. thats ok though, i'm not swedish. i feel like a wuss because for the past three days, my muscles have been sore from throwing the sticks (if you saw how big...ok, how small the sticks where, you would understand why i feel like a weenie--its just i was playing it really intensely). but really the best part was hanging out with everyone. i think if i grew up in sweden i would want to be best friends with sebastian and sofia.

now i'm in tallinn, estonia with pauline. its always been really easy to travel with her so its been a good time. tallinn is pretty small but we've been able to occupy our time with cool things to do. there's so many dang churches its unbelievable and everything has a bit of that communist touch to it. some things are cheap and some things aren't. food is nearly nothing, but getting a water always costs more than you would think. we've been really lucky with the restaruants we've gone to. the one on our first night was straight out of italy which made me happy and last night was a proper estonian dinner. my potato porridge thing with bacon was good but a traditional softdrink called kali got me sicker than i would like to admit. tonight is some musical concert--i don't really know much about it, but i'm hoping its not too fancy-pants. tomorrow we are going to helsinki, finland for the day. its not in any of my books (the scandinavian countries have their own lonely planet book, and i don't have that one) so we really have no idea what is there.

on friday i'm going to hamburg germany to enjoy some wedding festivities. i don't know who is getting married but i know they are nice. the people i'm visiting (jasmin and bjorn, the cool german couple from the farm in new zealand) are going to the wedding and i'll be joining them as a guest. i'm going to do my best to look fancy, but i'm not so sure. either way, it will be good to see them again.

so, from now until arriving home, i believe i will be with friends or family--minus a few days. this means its going to be fun for me, but also it means i'll be a lot more delayed in returning emails. if you've emailed me, or if you will email me in the next two months, i'll do my best to write back as soon as i can, but it may have to wait until i get back home.

have a good day
your friend

chad

two travelling chads

hola!

i'm going to miss spain, all of its people, beaches, sangria, tappas, and most of all siestas.

i don't understand why they don't make more buildings now like Gaudi made them. they are full of imagination and make you dream. i think if i could get two people in human history to meet, it would be Hayao Miyazaki and Antonio Guadi. miyazaki is the guy that made spirited away and other trippy cartoons in japan. they would have been good friends--a common language wouldn't even be necessary.

today i went to the dali museum in figueres, a town about an hour and half by train from barcelona. i think that guy was too smart and had to find creative ways to entertain himself. there isn't a proper path in the place and it was incredibly crowded. i think its the first tourist site where i just wanted space and to stop bumping into elbows and feeling bad for getting in the way of everyones photos. i was about to make a quick exit until i found the stairs to the top levels (where i think a lot of people skip since they just follow the flow of people). it was all of his sketches and drawings and i think i spent an hour or so just up there. that definitely made it worth it.

tomorrow is the flight to sweden for a fiji reunion! pauline is flying in from england and we'll be staying with sebastian and sofia in stockholm. it would be cool if laura could make it, but she's working in northern ireland. i'm holding on to all of my winter clothes because i don't know what the weather is going to be like. the moment i think its warm enough, all the winter clothes are getting dumped. they are in no shape to wear when i get back and the extra space/less weight would be good.

so i guess there's a website of a different travelling chad at www.chadstravels.com (which has caused some confusion with a few people i have met) he's got pictures of his trip to new zealand too. i think its good that more chads are getting around. i hope he has good times.

have a good day
your friend
chad

agua de valencia

ciao a tutti!

my last day in valencia turned out really relaxing. a group of us went to the beach (after picking up some fruit and bread from the giant market) for the morning--and by morning, i mean spanish backpackers morning--11ish. i left my sunscreen in lagos so i had to purchase some more. the only one the pharmacy had was spf 60; i didn't even know it went that high, but it was either that or nothing. everyone made fun of the 60 but, whatever, when half of the people came back with what looked like purple sunburns, they weren't making as many jokes then. i'm proud of my shade in a tube.

two of my roommates were from albania but spoke perfect italian (they study there), and had two friends (an italian couple) that were also visiting valencia. the couple made everyone a great italian pasta dinner and we finished the night with an agua de valencia at a cafe in the town center. its some kind of mixed drink with orange juice, vodka and a couple other things (although, i think it was probably 90% juice). most of the others went to another bar/club but i had to get some sleep for the morning (again spanish morning--10ish) bus for barcelona.

the day in barcelona has been perfect! i met amandine, someone i met in lagos and sevilla, and went to the beach. i swear i have never seen so many naked people in one location. ok, actually the tramatizing icelandic public pool was probably more. the best was catching a glance (i wouldn't even classify it as a "look"...strictly a glance) of a couple playing paddle-ball in the nude. you have to love europe's ability to be naked. as the sun started going down we got some icecream and sat in front of the casa batllo, a house designed by Gaudi. it is unbelievable considering it was made in the early 1900s. its straight out of a dreamy (but sophisticated) cartoon.

my hair is the longest it has ever been in my life and there are 70 something days left. its a lot hotter and i use way more shampoo, but other than that (as long as the shampoo has some kind of conditioner, or else it feels like sandpaper) i could get used to it...maybe.

have a good day
your friend
chad

giant futuristic space ship

hello,

its been a pretty relaxed birthday. somehow the lady at the hostel knew it was my birthday; it was a bit weird but a good surprise. valencia used to have a pretty wide river running through it, but it either dried up or was stopped somehow (i don't really know). now its a park that goes and goes--good use of space. at the end is a collection of museums and other buildings. i'm not usually impressed by modern architecture, since usually a building is a building, but these were really different. the opera house isn't finished yet, but looks like a giant futuristic space ship and has a roof that looks like it isn't connected at all (except for one little bit at one end). next to it is a baby spaceship that is surround by shallow pools that make the water seem silvery blue (a lot like the blue lagoon in iceland). i'm not sure what is in that one but thats where i stopped under a tree and had sandwiches and my siesta. i've realized with the siestas, you just have to stop and sleep. yeah, you could be doing something else, but it can wait. its good to stop everything and relax for an hour or two.

tonight i'm meeting some cool people that i met in the hostel in madrid. they study here, so they have places that they usually go to. a pretty good birthday, i would say. on saturday i go to barcelona for the end of my time in spain, where i hear there are wickedly cool buildings to see (and more beaches, always a plus). and i hope to catch up on some pacassos that i missed in madrid. then its time for a fiji reunion in sweden on the 10 of may. two more months in europe! its going to go fast since for most of it, i will be with friends or family (i'm going to meet my mom in italy).

have a good day
your friend
chad

salsa-ing shoes

¡Hola!

happy may day to everyone! i'm not exactly sure what holiday that is for, but not much of valencia was open. i'm starting to see the difference between a "holiday" and a "festival". festival is the much better option because it usually means cheap food and a lot of fun; holiday just means everything is closed.

i had a great time in madrid for the few days i was there. i don't know what it would have been like if i stayed in a different hostel. the place was really small which meant you had to meet everyone. on saturday 15 of us (it seemed like more than half of the hostel) went to a salsa club. i'm crap at the salsa (it was my first time and i was in flip-flops, not the best salsa-ing shoes). tonight i might check out some tango (to watch, not to do) in valencia. the next day i went to the street market where i have never seen such a long river of people. it was dense (not chocalate festival in perugia, italy kind of dense) and it went on forever.

spain in the spring is amazing--although, lots of places probably are...but i'm not there, so i can only tell you about spain. every city i'm going to either just had a festival or are getting ready for one. i don't know if people work in madrid because everyone is out walking the streets (all day and all night long). they have huge parks where depending on where you go, can be tranquil or packed full of people, and the difference is only a minute or two walk away from each other.

i skipped out on the bull fight on sunday. not as a social stand against the cruelty of it; i just really love animals, and i don't think i could have taken the killing of 6 bulls. so, maybe i missed out on a cool cultural experience, but this trip is a cool cultural experience. i think i'll do alright without it. i did want to see picasso's guernica but the museum it was in was closed. instead i went to the prado and saw a lot of spanish art of goya and velazquez. velazquez's stuff was good but goya's paintings were really dark and powerful. my award goes to goya.

so, my birthday is tomorrow. i'm thinking its going to be alright. i kind of like celebrating other peoples birthdays more than mine. it seems like such an ambiguous celebration--kind of like new years. it does put me one year closer to cheap car insurance though (one more year), after that there aren't many more milestones. 23 has been an unbelievably crazy year for me. its going to be hard for 24 to compete, but i'll do my best to give it a good chance.

i'm getting used to eating dinner on spain time. there were two other people starting to cook dinner with me at 10:30pm. its still a bit strange, but that's when i was hungry. the sun is out today, so that means the beach. its only a tram ride away.

have a good day
your friend

chad