To dos

Although it’s still a bit early to start doing some of the preparations for our posting, that hasn’t stopped me from constantly thinking of things to add to the list. Here, a sampling:

1. Figure out whether we’re going to sell or rent our place. Take steps to do either of those – realtors and whatnot for the former, renters and property managers for the latter.
2. Sell, donate, or throw out anything we don’t want to keep…
3. …because we have to compile an inventory of everything we’re storing or shipping.
4. Get in touch with the moving company to organize assessments, pack-up dates, and bulk purchases.
5. Figure out what we’ll want to bring in bulk (maple syrup, sriracha, quinoa, who knows what else); buy it.
6. Get camping gear.
7. Stock up my wardrobe – maxi skirts, a one-piece bathing suit, flats, demure tops, hiking shoes. Ditto Eric (well, different clothes, but the same idea).
8. Eat as much shellfish and pork as I possibly can.
9. Unlock our phones so we can bring them with us.
10. Learn to drive standard – if we buy a car in Amman, we don’t want to end up paying way more for an automatic (or destroy our gears while we’re learning)
11. Figure out if we’re going to buy a car here, or there, or from some third location. What the hell do you look for when buying a car?
12. Get Gatsby’s Good Neighbour Certification so he is an unquestionably excellent dog.
13. Decide if we’re going to try to ship a 2-year supply of dog food or take our chances there. Our options for Jordan seem to be either prohibitively expensive dog food or making our own.
14. Sort out Gatsby’s travel – it seems as though Royal Jordanian will take him for relatively cheap (9 or 10 “additional baggage fees” as opposed to unaccompanied cargo the way most airlines would), and they have direct flights from Montreal, but there are still things to consider like heat-related blackout dates, buying him a custom-sized crate, and getting all his veterinary stuff in order.
15. Get Gatsby’s eye surgery (he has a goopy eyelid thing, ew).
16. Buy house stuff – we own two sad sets of sheets, old flat pillows, and hand-me-down towels from my grandmother. It’s time to move on from those days.
17. Find a home for my jade plant – I recently realized that I won’t be able to bring it with me! So sad.
18. Buy luggage – our shipment will take around 2 months, so we need to bring more than carry-on with us this time! But we don’t own anything larger than a 30L backpack.
19. Learn how to sharpen my cooking knives.
20. Figure out what we’ll do for banking overseas – do we keep our Canadian accounts? Get one there? Both? I confess to being ignorant on the subject.
21. Learn Arabic.
22. Replace my glasses.
23. Travel to Owen Sound and Oakville for various goodbyes.
24. Get Eric’s diplomatic passport.
25. Update our health insurance – our provincial care won’t work abroad, so we’ll be covered under my work insurance instead, but apparently it can take months for them to update our status.
26. Find out if we can renew our driver’s licences before we leave.
27. Confirm our departure date – I thought it was going to be the end of August, but it’s suddenly looking more like mid-July!

This is not comprehensive at all, but it still feels daunting – especially the house and car stuff. It’s going to be an interesting few months!

Maps

A little-known fact: my educational background is environmental studies, and I did my masters thesis on diversifying the ways that people could access food in their communities – namely gardens, wild food, and CSAs. Digital mapping was something I briefly mentioned, as a way for people to easily find neighbourhood fruit trees or community gardens, but it was outside of my main scope. Now, though, I find that I use this same technology quite frequently, especially when we’re traveling, to find food.

Rococo Café in Mexico – on the map

Planning a trip, I end up spending far too much time on restaurant review sites, Chowhound, and the Lonely Planet forums trying to determine where I’ll want to eat. Then I mark them all on a custom google map, and send it to my phone. I used an app called MapsWithMe in Mexico that would load my google map offline – it was well worth the $5.

Here’s our map from Mexico, and here’s the (far denser) one from when we went to New York. Obviously, we didn’t even scratch the surface of the NYC one, but I got a bit carried away – and now I have fodder for return trips! Of course, the New York map also has a lot of shopping marked on it.

I’ve had several friends ask for the maps when they’ve traveled, so I thought I’d post them here in case anyone ever goes to one of those places and wants one. I think I’ll make it a regular thing, because I find it a really good way to minimize eating regrettable food just because you’re in a foreign city (the disclaimer being that obviously, I ate something regrettable in Mexico).

I’m working on an Ottawa one as well, but I’m going to save that for a separate post, because I’m really going to miss the food scene here.

the eagle and the snake

I’m back from two weeks in Mexico, and I have bad news – my streak of never getting sick has been broken. Luckily, whatever virus or parasite (ugh, hopefully the former) currently residing in me had the decency to wait until the trip home to make an appearance, but I’ve spent the last 36 hours or so stumbling weakly through three airports and onto the couch, where I’ve been sipping powerade and telling myself “YOLO” (regarding street tacos, anyways).

But enough vaguely off-putting references to my intestines (and kudos to those of you still reading). Here are some observations about Mexico:

• Mexico City (or Districto Federal, or DF, as the cool kids say) is world-class. Much like New York, or Hong Kong, or Bangkok, it’s big enough and diverse enough to hold something for everyone. Want gritty Latin American working class neighbourhoods? Want cheap and efficient public transportation? Ritzy shopping malls? Fifty cent tacos? Leafy parks? It’s all there. We were expecting something … less – more akin to Ecuador, our only other Latin American experience. 

murals in the secretariat of public education building

• What’s not in the DF, for some strange reason? Many tourists. I know that there’s a lot of negative press about the dangers of traveling in Mexico, but as someone who sees every news story about a Canadian getting into trouble abroad, I can’t remember a single one in the past two years that happened in the DF. They all happen at the beach resorts.

Teotihuacan

• We ate very well. From a $100 meal with waygu beef and wine from the chef’s family’s vineyards to the aforementioned fifty cent tacos, there is a lot of good food to be found in Mexico. There’s also great coffee, which was a pleasant surprise.

quesadillas on the street

• Tequila may be more well-known, but mezcal is more delicious.

on our way to a rooftop bar for delicious mezcal cocktails and a view of the park

• There is very little in the way of hiking infrastructure (that we could find, anyways). Our planned hike up Nevado de Toluca was called off when the guide company (which we hired for the benefits of getting a drive to the mountain) didn’t show up at the prearranged 6am pickup time on Eric’s birthday. By 8am we had flagged a cab to take us to Ajusco, a smaller mountain within the city limits. The NYT makes it sound straightforward, but the lack of official trailhead (or park entrance, or maps) saw us spending the day scrambling up a washed-out scree field, only to arrive at the peak and realize that we were nowhere near what we had planned on summiting.

monarch butterflies outside of Morelia

Overall, we had a great time, although as always when traveling there were a few hiccups – the hike not panning out, a hotel much further from the centre than we’d thought in Guadalajara, and just that low-level sense of depaysment that makes travel so wonderful but sometimes so frustrating.

We came away slightly jealous of our friends who are (most likely) going on posting in Mexico this summer, and determined to get back one day to explore more of this lovely country.

PS – check out more photos on Instagram!

Citric acid

sunny

My boss turned to me the other day and said (about the weather), “it may not quite feel like spring, but it certainly feels like the end of winter.”

He’s right. It’s -20C out today but people are walking slowly, with their coats unzipped, instead of the hunched-down speedwalk of January. The sun is waxing slowly towards it’s most powerful months, instead of the feeble and faraway white disk we’d become accustomed to.

Spring puts me in the mood for bright, tart flavours. We won’t have local produce for months, but I can whet my appetite for them with lemons and maple syrup, pushing aside rich and steamy depth-of-winter things for precursors to asparagus, three long months away.

Not for a few weeks, though. Tomorrow, Eric and I are mimicking the monarchs we’ll hopefully see by giving winter the slip and heading to Mexico, for limes and cilantro, for hiking and eating and generally engaging in relatively tame sorts of malarky (the kind we do best).

The blog will be quiet, but feel free to follow along on instagram, where I’ll be feeding my social media addiction whenever I can get wifi.

God lives in St Petersburg, and other stories

I don’t normally enjoy short stories, because when it comes to reading I have the reverse of a short attention span. But this book of six short stories about Americans travelling through a largely ignored and decidedly un-touristy part of the world was wonderful; unsettling and familiar. Bissell perfectly captured that disorienting feeling of the rules being changed, of anything being possible, when you’re in a foreign land. It can mean wonderful things, of course, but it can also mean terrible things – you just don’t know.

dendochronology

If I were a tree, this year’s ring would be a good one. Thick and well-nourished; no storm marks or infestations to blemish the round. Of course I’d prefer that nobody, scientist or otherwise, take a cross-section of me just yet, but I can’t help but feel that far into the future, 2012 might show up in some trace sampling; new smile lines or gray hairs; a slight tan line that wasn’t there before.

confetti cannons

I finally saw the inside of an embassy, and realized that my job is a perfect fit. Then I did it again, to make sure. Then, after many spreadsheets, google searches, and unbearable waits, we found that we’ll be moving to Amman next summer – almost five years after I first applied.

At work in Ottawa, I started to feel like less of an impostor - then switched positions and started learning a whole new line of work. But the switch was easier this time, and I’m feeling more confident than I ever have, professionally speaking.

Eric and I traveled a ton, together and apart. During one trip, we decided that we might as well finally get married. During the next, we did. In between, we built tiny little symbols of our love that neither of us has lost yet, although Eric has so far managed to get his stuck on the wrong finger and throw it under the seat of a car.

I trained for, ran, and swore to never repeat, a half-marathon. I saw friends and family, although it could have been more frequent. I came very close to finishing my sleeve tattoo. I read a lot of books, and cooked a lot of food, which I then ate. I had fun, and didn’t cry very much.

Over the past several years, I’ve enjoyed an upward trend, and 2012 was no exception. Here’s to hoping that the streak continues.

Holinights

While I do enjoy the holidays, I find the speed at which December flies by rather disconcerting. It seems like seconds ago that I stepped off a plane from Haiti, and five minutes before that, we were eating cookies in sunny New York.

snow-free in the GTA

We spent about 5 days at my parent’s house, and Eric’s family came to celebrate with us on Christmas. Despite receiving nothing but raised eyebrows when I shared this plan with people (something about inlaws being crazy), we had a really great time. I did end up feeling a bit guilty when I realized that we see my family a lot more than his, but I suspect that this is because my family tends to be really pushy (in a well-intentioned way, of course) whereas Eric’s is more laissez-faire about things.

We were also able to see most of our friends in the region, and extract promises of visits to both Ottawa (in the short-term) and Jordan (in the long-term). Explaining to people that we’re moving to the Middle East for three years has not helped to solidify the idea in my mind; it still seems like we’re going on a very long vacation.

Although the current weather is making Amman very appealing, I’m nonetheless glad to be back in Ottawa for now. I want to appreciate the parts of winter that I enjoy, since I’m likely to pine for snow (at least a little bit) next year, or at least for soup.

Wild

Number 78 was Wild, by Cheryl Strayed (fun fact – she chose her last name out of the dictionary).

It made me want to hike the Pacific Coast Trail, and also made me profoundly grateful that  my life is easy enough so that I’ve never considered having to undertake an arduous wilderness finding-myself excursion.

I’d still like to go on a wilderness excursion, but I think I’ll skip the heroin part.

If you like memoirs, or Bill Bryson, you would like this book, despite the fact that Oprah does too.

Not Lucky

Talking to people about my job invariably leads to questions about Eric. What does he do, is he coming with me, what will he do abroad?

gratuitous picture of us

Usually, I pair “he’s an independent consultant” with “I knowwwww, I’m so lucky!” How convenient that my spouse has a job that he can do anywhere with an internet connection! I couldn’t have planned it better myself!

I recently realized, though, that acting like it’s serendipitous is complete bullshit, and I’m doing us (and especially Eric) a disservice.

The reality is that we had a lot of Serious Discussions About the Future, starting pretty much as soon as I applied to this job and with increasing frequency as I continued along the hiring process. That Eric made connections and took on projects to start networking with consultants in his field. That he quit a steady job at a great place to consult full-time, that he has been continuously working on developing international contacts, that he works in his pyjamas and has access to our kitchen all day (okay, I am burning with envy on that last point).

We can’t know how well it will work overseas until we actually go out, but we’ve at least laid the groundwork for theoretical success (knock wood). And it took a lot of effort on both our parts (my role was mostly one of suppressing my panic at the thought of a fluctuating income, which was important in its own way).

I’m not lucky that Eric is a consultant. I’m lucky that Eric is awesome.

The other side of Haiti

Haiti is generally known to be dangerous, deforested, poor, and full of cholera. We see people living in tents, begging, and picking through rubble.

This is all true – but it’s not the full picture. Parts of Haiti are dangerous, certainly – at work I received daily emails highlighting what parts of the red zone were off-limits, based on reports of protests or gunfire. People don’t generally have much, but there is a rich culture and I’ve never been to a country where everyone is as politically plugged in as Haiti. And while the effects of the 2010 earthquake can still be seen, things are slowly getting better.

where I stayed for the month

I couldn’t exactly walk around in Port au Prince, because of the security concerns, but I was able to get out and explore every weekend. My first weekend was actually a long one, because I arrived in time for Gede, which is an important voudou holiday. I saw a parade go by the embassy, and I also went to the beach.

I’m not a beach kind of girl, but even I thought this was beautiful

My second weekend, we drove out of town and then hiked from Kenscoff, just outside of PauP, to Furcy, a few hours away. The mountains were beautiful, surprisingly lush and perfectly cool. The Haitians we saw were all very bemused to see three blanches walking for fun – a form of transportation usually only used if you can’t afford a taptap or moto-taxi.

My final weekend, we went on an overnight trip to Jacmel. The first day, we went just out of town to see the Bassins Bleus, a series of clear turquoise pools pounded deep into the rock by waterfalls. It was incredible, especially because we were the only tourists at all. We swum, chatted with a Haitian family having a picnic, and were duly impressed by our guide’s flawless dive from a 20-foot high ledge.

Bassin Clair, 75 feet deep and exactly the right temperature for swimming

Wandering around Jacmel was a treat on its own, especially after being so car-bound in PauP. We were a bit of an oddity again, but it was nice to be able to stretch my legs, talk to people, and buy some amazing crafts from local artisans.

walking in Jacmel

Overall, I really enjoyed myself. The work was fascinating and challenging, the people were warm and open, the landscape was rich and varied, and I’ve never eaten so much delicious fresh fish in my life.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that you hop on a plane and go solo backpacking through the country, but I think that you could travel in Haiti, with some planning, backup plans for unstable areas, and a good network of local contacts (at the very least, register with your embassy!). It’s not cheap to travel there, but it is rewarding, and Haiti could use some people spreading the word that there’s more to the country than sad news stories and handouts.