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August 25th, 2008
10:23 am - For my birthday I joined Ravenclaw
Today is the first day of law school classes. So far it is going pretty well - no running out of the class crying for me!
My class is composed of approximately 180 students separated into three sections. Apparently these sections tend to develop the following personalities:
Section A - Studious, hardworking, type A personalities.
Section B - Looking for a good time, Wild and crazy (by law school standards)
Section C - Politically active.
So there you have it. I will spend the next year almost exclusively with section A. I am officially a Ravenclaw.
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April 10th, 2008
10:38 am - Oh Canada!
Hello from Jolly Ol England!
Our flight from Mumbai was delightful. Despite the fact that we should have spent the whole time sleeping they fed us two huge meals. The highlights had to be the apple crumble desert from dinner and the locks and swiss cheese at breakfast. I felt a tiny bit guilty looking at the much more basic meals of the people around us. A word to the wise - always pick a special meal. We've found Kosher is generally pretty amazing. Clearly a rabbi's blessing makes everything more delicious!
London is very much as one would expect. Clean, shiny, and full of character. I'm a bit sad we only have 5 hours here before going back to the airport for our connecting flight. Ironically our morning has been entirely Canadian. First we found a shop selling Tim Horton's coffee. It wasn't the same as back home but there was something immensely comforting about the feel of the cups. I'm writing this from the Canadian High Commission. We were taking a picture of the building + my Tim Horton's cup when a couple of employees came out for a smoke break. They were terribly friendly and invited us inside to check out their exhibitions and make use of the free internet. We also got some Canadian flag pins including one collector's item made from the old roof of the Canadian House of Commons!
T was/is amazed by the friendliness of this place. Apparently an American embassy does not instill the same kind of warm fuzzy feelings.
I guess I got back to Canada a bit sooner than expected
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April 8th, 2008
02:11 pm - Day 601 - reflections
601 days ago I left for Taipei from Calgary at 7:20pm. I will touchdown at the same airport April 10th at 7:15pm. That 603 days almost to the minute!
To put it another way, I will have been gone for 1 year, 7 months, 25 days
Some of the permanent expats out there might scoff at this figure, but I'm amazed by it. Since leaving I've had two birthdays, learned a new language, and gone through the entire law school application process. I've visited 8 countries, dozens of cities, and have learned to love and hate the idiosyncrasies and innovations of a great many cultures. This has really been the trip of a lifetime.
I sincerely believe that this trip has fundamentally changed the way I go about my daily life. Undoubtedly the trappings of our own silly culture will ensnare me once again, but I am curious to find out just how much of the world I will bring back with me. The cooking lessons, bargaining practice, and coping skills will most certainly come in handy. I can't wait to get a complete physical to see what unexpected "guests" I might have picked up along the way living inside me . Parasites are fun!
*** I can't wait to see you all! ***
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April 7th, 2008
08:44 am - Perspective
It is amazing the difference perspective makes. My first time through Bombay I found the city rather uninteresting. I believe I described it to a friend as "just another city". When I came back through to pick up T from the airport I found myself more at home. My familiarity with the megalopolis made my job as tour guide natural feeling and quite fun. Now I am back here for the third time.
After traveling through India for a couple of months this city feels distinctly non-Indian in a wonderful way. It is cleaner, smarter, and faster. Taxi drivers are much less difficult to deal with than in any other place we've been - even the auto-rickshaws (three wheel taxis) have proper meters. There are touts-a-plenty but our kung-fu is strong. Fresh tourists are fresh meat here, but the hawkers seem to realize quickly that we are both seasoned and uninterested in their junk.
Yesterday we turned left where before I only turned right. The same street on which the biggest tourist junk market is found showed a different face than I (and I imagine most other tourists) never see. We found some splendid shops with great products at good value. We found delicious gelatto, a nice park, and good coffee. One tree lined road we strolled down felt like an Indian New York. The omnipresent chai wallahs, phone stands, and saris were there but the buildings were clean and well kept, and the people deliciously calm.
Today we will embark into the heart of some bustling bazaars in search of postcards. Time will tell, but I imagine that the same markets I found so stressful my first time through will be perfectly normal now. God willing we will emerge with our sanity intact!
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April 6th, 2008
12:16 pm - Back in Bombay
This morning we finished our long haul train ride from Amritsar to Mumbai. The most surprising thing was that the 33.5 hour trip wasn't actually bad at all. I guess we can now consider ourselves seasoned dirtbag travelers. If you need any tips on proper travel snobbery please don't hesitate to ask.
Quoth the dirty Hippy "I never travel by plane like a tourist. I prefer to hold on to the outside of the train during monsoon season - because that's what the locals do"
Note to all: Please don't lynch when we next meet. We have become used to a more direct, non PC approach to life. It will take some time to remember that you can't say ______ in public.
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12:05 pm - 2 of 4... not bad so far!
More happy news - Pace Law has officially given me a thumbs up! They might not be the top ranked school in NY, but according to my trusty US news survey they apparently have a well regarded environmental law program. They have a meet-the-alumni reception on the 14th and an introduction-to-the-school day on the 24th. I wasn't planning on doing any hardcore cross country travel so soon after getting back home but am thinking this would be an excellent chance to see what they have to offer.
It's way to early to rule out any west coast schools but I am starting to wonder what it would be like to set myself up far from friends and family for the fourth time. On the other hand it might be nice to live in (another) place which is totally new to me.
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April 4th, 2008
03:31 pm - Acceptance!
Valparaiso law has apparently accepted me into their 2008 program. I say apparently because I haven't yet received the actual acceptance letter but they did e-mail me a follow up to it asking for additional information.
As I only applied there because they offered to waive the application fee I don't know anything about the school yet. Apparently they are in Indiana. It's good to know that I'll have at least one school to go to in September.
:)
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April 1st, 2008
01:45 pm - Golden Temple
We're in Amritsar, home of the Golden Temple. The town itself is rather neutral but the gurdwara (temple) is fantastic! We will be going back to Mumbai in 4 days so are just hanging out until then.
Back in Canada on the 10th! wow
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March 22nd, 2008
08:04 pm - Holi!!
Today is the second, more colorful day of Holi. What a blast!
Check out my facebook profile for a few choice pictures. We couldn't bring our cameras out to play due to the dyes and water, but we did bring some disposables. I hope those pictures turn out well!
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March 18th, 2008
01:36 pm - Going to Delhi
Going to Delhi today to meet up with a good friend who is flying in tomorrow. Can't wait.
We've been in the holy town of Pushcar for a couple of days. Once you get past the horrible quasi-religious touts the town has quite a bit of charm.
FYI - the camels here have one hump :)
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