A Few Thoughts from My Tired Brain

1. I don't get enough sleep.  Ava is contributing to this by waking us up at 4:30am.  She needs a friend.
   
   
   
2. I had a great time volunteering in Grant's class today, but, as I didn't get enough sleep last night, I didn't have as much energy to put into it as I'd like.  I got to eat lunch with Grant today, too (they have longer days every other Wednesday).  I'm always a little disappointed to see what parents send with their kids for snack and lunch.  Grant's a lucky guy, because his finickiness gives his parents a very tough time, but they still put a lot of care into what he packs.  One student in particular had an Atkins meal replacer shake and gummies for a snack and Poptarts and Cheez-Its for lunch.  I was also sad to see that the school gave the kids the option of a pile of pickle slices as a vegetable (carrots was the other option, but the kids who had carrot sticks, only had one each).  It's not all bad, mind you, I saw that some of the kids had chosen to buy salads from the cafeteria and they looked great.  Dark, leafy green veggies.  Not the iceberg stuff you expect to see.
   
   
   
3. Ian has a post that's been on the back burner.  Hopefully, he'll get some time soon to sit down and tap it out.  His parents are coming to town tonight, so I'm not sure that there will be a post tonight or tomorrow.  I'll do my best.

Lavilin

For chemical free March, I stopped using deodorant.  I didn't even bother with Tom's or any of the like because in the past they didn't work and a couple of them actually gave me underarm rashes.  Stinky and sore.  Totally not rad times.

My mom suggested that I try Lavilin.  It's an herbal cream.  

Snazzy box.

It's not cheap ($15.99 at Whole Foods and I haven't seen it anywhere else).  But, it claims to last up to seven days.  For best results, you're supposed to put it on before you go to bed.  Then, you shower to remove the excess.  I didn't want to wait, so I put it on after I bought it today.  

I found the excess to be pretty tough to wash of without scrubbing (I didn't want to scrub it all off).  The package recommends against using it after shaving, but I shaved before and it didn't irritate my skin.

It definitely lasted through today, so I'll just be keeping tabs throughout the week.  The real test will be a work day, as I tend to sweat from the stress during my 10 hour shifts.

We shall see.

What?

Ian found these at Pacific Market:

  

They're rubber gloves.  Ian intends to use them to wash dishes.  But, what is their intended use in Korea?  Why are there horses on it?  What?

Quarter Life Crisis

I've lived in Portland for almost five months now.  And, I'm already feeling a little stuck.

It sounds pretentious and a little... insincere, but I'm just bored.

I like my job.  It's a good company.  But, I still see it as a transitional position.  My supervisor tells me I have a future there.  That's awesome because who doesn't want the security of a place in a big, successful company?  I'm not sure that I do.  We came home to put down roots.  Do I want roots?  I have my family.  Aren't they my roots?  

I want to write.  Really, I want to travel.  Life is expensive and we're having a hard time putting money aside to go somewhere.  We want to go to Turkey next.  We were thinking fall.  But we haven't even started planning.  We actually haven't talked about it recently.  I don't even know if it'll be a viable destination by fall.

 

Coffee, mosques, bazaars and ruins

My mom belongs to Servas (an international hosting cooperative).  I want to join, too.  She sent me an email recently about a program within Servas called SYLE (Servas Youth Language Experience).  The pitch goes like this:

"Are you between 18 and 30-something? Would you like to improve your foreign language skills outside of a classroom? Would you like to have a meaningful cultural exchange? Do you have a month or more to commit to the unique learning experience that can only be found in travel?"

Yes.

Well, at least, I would be willing to commit to a month or more.  But, I would have to give up my job, as I'm sure they're keen on the idea of giving me a leave of 30 days or more. There's even a $500 scholarship available.

The over-thinking needs to stop.  I'm going to apply to Servas and the SYLE program and see what happens.  Wish me luck.

Eavesdropping

You know, that's a strange word.  I couldn't help but Google the etymology.  Apparently, there isn't a Latin root.   It's a genuine English word.  It comes from the overhang of a roof on a house called an "eave."  When rain falls from this and makes a line, it's called an "eavesdrop." An eavesdropper is someone who may stand behind this line, tucked up to the house, clandestinely listening to the goings-on inside.  The verb "eavesdrop" was back formed from the -er noun.

Anyway...

I've been reading Eat to Live.  I'm working on being healthy as a whole and eating for nutrition (as well as weight loss).  It's going pretty well, though I do have the occasional slip up.  While the cover of the book advertises weight loss, the idea behind Dr. Fuhrman's method is that if you focus on nutrients and get 90% of your calories from unprocessed fruits and vegetables, the weight will naturally come off.  He's all about disease prevention.  There's a lot of focus on preventing and reversing illnesses like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.  For me, it's a little bit of preaching to the choir.  But, I need some reinforcement because I'm not perfect and I definitely have some bad habits that could be reduced, or, better yet, eliminated.  The book is dense and repetetive.  I won't lie and say I'm having fun reading it, but I can tell it's helping to set me firmly on the right path, so I'm sticking with it.

What does any of this have to do with eavesdropping?

In the break room during lunch (while I was eating carrots and snap peas, reading this book and feeling smug) I over heard a coworker say this, "One of the things I really believe is that when I eat this Twix, if I eat an apple later, they cancel each other out."  She was kind of joking.  But her lunch was this: a Twix bar, corn chips and a Dr. Pepper.  Other people at the table were eating Taco Bell, Sonic and microwave popcorn.

I may have slip ups (real fat kid slip ups sometimes), but it's moments like that that make me feel a little better about working at it and disciplining myself.

A Fresh Start

Hello, this is not Casey, this is her doting husband Ian. Some of you may have met me, I am gorgeous. When Casey and I originally envisioned this blog it was with the assumption that I would be pulling my own weight. And for those of you that followed "Everybody Jecheon Tonight" it was clear that I did not contribute, save for twice. So this will be my emergence into the exclusive blogging community.

Please bear with me.

As a recent university graduate, I am what one would call a "broke ass." This is not by choice as many of my Portland brethren would lead you to believe, but rather a symptom of the national recession, and my personal naiveity of obtaining a degree in history. It is forced and accepted position, much like the "Untouchables" of India or Canadians. We must simply make due. However, that is not to say that one must suffer, we need not purchase ramen, mac & cheese or cans of spam. This is an indignity that I shall not suffer. And so, I bring you this.

The "strange and slightly smelly pan Asian market that is near all of our homes" is a dandy place to find quality food on the cheap. Ours is titled "Pacific Market" and, like much of our neighborhood, is primarily Vietnamese. This does come with some inherent difficulties, you might not be able to find your usual brands or more commonly brands that are in a language you speak. But once you get past that you only have to deal with the distinct smell of your store, ours is jack-fruit and ham.

All the aisles are full and everything has a translated sticker on it, I personally think this removes some of the fun, but that's just me. Here is a nice view of the inside.

Produce, it even says fresh.

An all inclusive Vietnamese Deli with flavored rice, noodle dishes and meat wrapped in leaves, I hear these are quite tasty.

And noodles, many, many noodles.

These stores are simple, no Starbucks, no twenty kinds of yogurt or a bookstore, but food. Lots and lots of food. And much like "Costco" and "Cash and Carry" by removing those lovely little additions, that we have all come to love, you get one simple thing. A cheaper grocery bill. I submit to you, our receipt.

"28 cents, how can I get such a great deal on Hanh Vang-Y Onio?"

Though, the receipt is entirely in Vietnaglish it does offer some great deals. Everything at the "Pacific Market" is easily two thirds the cost of another larger and more well lit store. I have to poke some fun, because these places are not comfortable for the average American, we were brought up on clean white stores with a smooth jazz accompaniment. These are not those stores, but don't think for a second that they aren't great. These markets are an excellent way to stock up on things you know you can use; apples, oranges, bananas, beans, rice, noodles, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and ginseng, if you're into that.

This is what we bought.

We have, apples, oranges, limes, an onion, a bag of green beans, three types of potatoes, seven mangoes, et cetera, etcetera. We bought essential staples and enough fresh food to last us a week. That is a week of fresh food, locally bought and on the cheap. I think that if you give your crazy little Asian market a try, you might just like it.

Blurry Chronicles of Strange Imbibing

Ian and I went to Pacific Market tonight to get some groceries.  A post about the excursion will be posted shortly (by Ian, yay!).

While there, we picked up some fun times.

And some more probable fun times.

Ginseng Drink with Root:

Verdict: "Too sweet.  Like an Americanized ginseng drink."  Which is weird because it appears to be straight from Korea or China.  Tough to tell.

Verdict: "Too much citric acid."

Dragon Fruit Juice:

Verdict: "Not bad.  But, I do not support this texture." Dragon fruit is a melon... and there are junks of it in it.

Verdict: "Yay! I dig it."

We also bought some tamarind candy, which I highly recommend.  It's coating is a mixture of salt, sugar and chili.  So, it's literally sweet, sour, salty and a little spicy.  Remember, though, tamarind is mostly seeds; so chew thoughtfully.