Armenia: As Old As Time (Literally)

For many, the lure of travel is the promise of adventure. It is the act of collecting stories to share at dinner parties of  close-calls on mountain tops, of hilarious miscommunications at a restaurant, or moments of clarity that dawn with a sunrise on a beach.

While booking a ticket to a new city or country stirs that sense of promise, there’s something sweet about knowing you are going back to a place you loved. This fall break, after flirting with other locals, we settled on a return visit to Yerevan, Armenia. Readers may recall details from our previous trip last October

This time we settled into a familiar routine. Wake up. Donne our hoodies (after living in the desert it feels nice to be a bit chilly) and raincoats. Walk to breakfast. Meander down some side streets. Stop for coffee. Meander some more. Head back to the hotel for a nap. Hit the streets again for dinner and street food. The best part about revisiting a city you’ve experienced previously, is that you don’t feel any pressure to hurry up and “see all the sights” because you already have.  

In the spirit of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” we booked again at the wonderful Phoenix Boutique Hotel, one block from a corner store, one block from the 24/7 Shawarma & Chicken joint, and 3 blocks from the best wine bar in the city, In Vino.

We popped by our favorite tour company One Way Tours, and selected a half-day trip “Garni, Geghard, Arch of Charents, and Symphony of Stones.” Although it poured rain most of the day, and the view of Mount Ararat was obscured by low clouds, we were not detoured and frankly, we enjoyed the respite from the (post-summer yet still not pleasant temps in  Abu Dhabi. 

Twenty-something Hope and Nate would've told you “if you've seen one monastery, you've seen em all.” In our 40s the historical weight of a 2nd century place of worship is beyond description. At one point, we thought someone was piping in choral tunes (and thought ,”boy, that's cheesy”), but as we turned the corner we saw the four person chorale. In. Real. Life. 

At another point, our guide nonchalantly noted that much of the church was built by carving out solid basalt rock. Yes, you read that correctly.

If that wasn’t enough, the story of Garni Temple is equally epic. A nod to pre-Christian Armenia and designed in that Hellenistic style we often associate with the Parthenon, this pagan temple has seen some things. At one point, Christians decided to build a multi-story church–bigger and better than this temple. However, when a massive earthquake hit, only one of the structures really survived and the locals stole the construction stones from the church.

To close out the tour, we ended at the Symphony of Stones. Despite the pouring rain (we’re Washingtonians), we walked down a huge ravine ensconced by basalt columns. It was like walking inside a giant pipe organ. 

Shortly after this, we dipped into a family restaurant, where 70 year olds were making Lavash. Arguably a cross between pita and a tortilla, this ancient bread is traditionally made in literally 900 degree below ground ovens. This woman has been making bread since she was SEVENTEEN. Her hands are like cinder blocks.

One surprise of this trip was the number of dogs we saw. That’s right. Armenian street dogs. Here’s a photomontage for all you dog lovers out there.

One evening, we woke up a little later than usual from our nap and decided to try out a restaurant we’d passed by a few times by Martiros Saryan Park . We walked gingerly down the stairs, past a cloud of smoking old men who nodded and continued reminiscing about the old days. Immediately greeted by a giant stuffed bear (see picture), the sound of piano music, and an intoxicating aroma, we knew we’d found our spot for the night. Tables were filled with plates brimming with meats, dumplings, salads, and lots and lots of lavash. Beyond the menus, there wasn’t much going on in English, but that didn’t deter us from ordering Georgian garlic chicken, beef soup, and a few other delectable dishes.


One new thing we did this year was dig into soups. You read that correctly, soups.  “No one ever got fat eating soup” Nate declared one evening. So we decided to test his theory and are now working our way through recipes from The Armenian Kitchen.

On the way home we were joking about coming back next fall break. Yerevan is a special place.

For the Love of Doors

I slam the car door shut, grab my luggage and walk confidently through the automatic doors of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. I love an airport for its palpable buzz and the intense people watching. I can’t wait to throw my bag onto the conveyor and walk towards my gate. Not because I enjoy standing in line or going through security checks, but because with each doorway I pass, something promising awaits. 

Our love of travel was icing on the cake when we decided to move abroad, and transitioning from one port city (Tacoma/Seattle) to another (Abu Dhabi/Dubai), has opened up worlds of opportunity to see life outside our Northwest bubble.

Somewhat recently, I started to take pictures of the beautiful doors or passageways we encountered. I was reluctant at first, because it felt very 2007 and a certain type of Tumblr persona. Being the English teacher that I am, I think of doors as symbolic. Each door I photograph, I pause, take in the details, and envision the story it tells.

Baku, Azerbaijan

Vilnius, Lithuania

St. John’s Co Cathedral, Valletta, Malta.

Yerevan, Armenia

Is this door sacred?

Did this door provide security and protection for someone?

Did it keep people out or hold people in?

Did this door welcome newcomers?

Did this door invite the community to experience God in a new way?

For the most part, I will never know the answers to my questions. All I can do is take a moment of my time to appreciate the intentional craft, beauty, and history represented in front of me. And maybe convince my spouse to take a silly pictures (scroll to the bottom of this post).


Tashkent and Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Don't Spill the Tea

Technically, Nate did spill the tea about the ins and outs of our weekend away in Samarkand and Tashkent, Uzbekistan. What he didn’t share was the national obsession with tea.

Every country has a national beverage. You might be imagining arak, raki, aguadiente or maybe Miller Light. But according to Pew Research (I know, it’s so pretentious to embed this link), thanks to colonization the world can be divided between tea countries and coffee countries. With the exception of the Philippines and South Korea, “coffee predominates in the Americas and in continental Europe, while tea is preferred in most of Asia and the former Soviet Union.”

Our last few trips to the Caucuses provided us some education on the tea vs coffee divide. Knowing that Georgians and Armenians trade in both coffee and tea, while the Azeris primarily rely on tea, I was curious to see what our journey eastward would prove. To our delight, Uzbekistan was the land of tea.  Fruit dominated the scene but the bits and bops of cinnamon, all spice, and anise floated through many pots.

Today, I present to you highlights from our teacation.

Nate wraps up our trip with a cup of strong Turkish tea.

Traveling Through History In Uzbekistan

Originally posted in Nate’s weekly newsletter Takes and Typos on March 17, 2024

The Republic of Uzbekistan was born in August 1991. It was one of the 15 states that emerged from the fall of the USSR. Uzbekistan is landlocked, jammed among its Central Asian neighbors: Kazakhstan to the north and west, Hermit-ish Turkmenistan and Afghanistan to the South, and Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the East. In recent decades the country has leveraged its natural gas and mineral wealth to modernize its infrastructure and cities. 

Manti, Uzbek style dumplings

Manti, Uzbek style dumplings

Like the rest of its Central Asian cohort, the country is geographically and politically situated between Russia and China and resides in the spheres of each state. We noted this repeatedly in our travels. When we took the train from Tashkent to Samarkand, we rode along rails laid during the Soviet era but on a high-speed train car, manufactured in China. The metros in Tashkent are built in the ornate Soviet style that Tucker Carlson recently gushed over in Moscow. One of the two national dishes is manti, a dumpling dish that arrived in the country from China along the Silk Road.

Upon arriving in Tashkent we found the capital busy, clean, and notably quiet. I’d say 60% of the women wear hijab but more in Samarkand than Tashkent. Uzbeks are very reserved people. They don’t smile much; they don’t chatter much in public. They greet each other quietly with a handshake and a meeting of the forehead. I joked to a friend this week that "full metro cars and weekend markets in Tashkent were quieter than three Jordanian dudes having lunch." 

The Gūr-i Amīr mausoleum of the Turco, a Turkic Conqueror

Like Azerbaijan, which we’ve previously visited, the leader of Uzbekistan during the Soviet era, Islam Karimov, became the president after independence and ruled until his death in 2016. The country began to open itself to tourists in 2018. We saw other travelers in both Tashkent and Samarkand, but most of them appear to be Russian or Kazakh.

The historical sites in Uzbekistan are incredible. We toured mosques and madrasahs that date back to the 1400s and visited ruins the result of the Mongol conquest in the 1200s.

From what we could tell, Uzbeks don't really have a cafe or bar scene. This makes sense given the cold climate and conservative culture. On a few occasions, we walked towards busy-looking streets expecting to find restaurants or cafes and came up empty-handed. But the food we had was wonderful. Uzbek food is hearty, which again makes sense given the winters. The other national dish, plov, is a rice dish with stewed meat and vegetables—a Central Asian paella or biryani. It is also notable that people in Uzbekistan are decidedly tea, rather than coffee people. This was great for me because I don't particularly like coffee. I typically only drink the occasional espresso when I'm traveling. But I love tea and drank it at every opportunity possible.

Plov, an absolute banger of a rice dish

In preparing for our trip, I came across several videos calling Uzbekistan the “cheapest country in the world.” I thought these were tacky and felt a touch exploitative. That said, if you are budget-sensitive, traveling to Uzbekistan is affordable. The US dollar trades at 1:12,500 Uzbeks Soms. Most of the meals we had were in the neighborhood of 150,000 soms, so under $12 for two. The best meal we had, manti, plov, and tea service, at an understated cafe in Samarkand, was eight bones.

Tashkent very much has a Soviet feel. On a couple of occasions, we found ourselves taking multi-block detours to get around government ministry compounds. There are police everywhere. In our prior travels in post-Soviet states, we have found a vibrant nightlife and restaurant scene around Freedom or Independence Square. Not so much this trip. In Tashkent, Independence Square is in the middle of a quiet park.

Independence Square in Tashkent

In closing, let's talk about traveling while Black for a moment. Racism is real and not everywhere is safe for everyone to travel. I am not saying I am the first Black person to ever go to Uzbekistan but I didn't see any other brothers and sisters, and many of the people I encountered acted like I was the first Black person they'd ever seen in real life.

In a phenomenon I have not experienced since going to Beijing, in 2014, I was repeatedly asked by people to pose for photos. I obliged the first few. Hope overheard someone practicing saying “Welcome to Uzbekistan” in English before approaching us. As we walked through the Registan, I heard a couple of people yell “Hey, New York!” and wave.

That said, The people were very chill. I felt no hostility toward me. If you are a Black traveler you shouldn't have unusual safety concerns in Uzbekistan.

On the whole, this was a great little adventure. The people of Uzbekistan are welcoming. The food is solid to great. The history is unavoidable and compelling–it’s literally in your face everywhere you go. When I was a kid in geography class, Pyongyang, Tashkent, and Harare were the most exotic sounding places on Earth to me. It’s really cool that I got to visit one of them.

A Quick Oman Travelogue

Over National Day weekend, Hope and I took a trip to Sohar, Oman. While crossing the border we had a small miscommunication with the border agent over duty-free allowances. Boom! I suddenly felt filled with feelings I hadn’t experienced in a long while. I don’t miss that feeling and it exploded back into my brain and kept a hold of me for the better part of a day. I addressed it a bit in the most recent Takes & Typos newsletter.

The drive to Sohar, the captial of Al Batinah North Governate in Oman is a tidy three hours across the interior of UAE. The sudden transitions from the cityscape of Abu Dhabi, to rolling dunes of Al Ain, to craggy Omani Mountains, to quiet coastline along the Gulf of Oman are remarkable.

Fun fact: Sohar claims to be the birthplace of Sinbad the sailor!

It was my first time in Oman, Hope’s second, after attending a conference in Muscat in pre-Covid times. I was struck by how it feels more traditional and slower than on this side of the border. There aren’t delivery drivers slaloming through traffic. The roads are less congested. The landscapes are varied and breathtaking. And of course, the food is solid, heavy on seafood for obvious reasons.

View of the Gulf of Oman from the Corniche in Sohar

The Sohar Fort is located across the street from the waterfront facing the Gulf

Minus the border fiasco, it was an enjoyable time and if you’re reading this in the region (or planning a trip), I recommend popping over to Oman and enjoying its unspoiled landscapes.

Cornering the Caucasus: Yerevan

City Center, Yerevan

The crisp fall air hit our faces as we stepped outside the airport and bulky men with cigarettes precariously pinched between their lips offered “taxi?” 

Yerevan in October is picturesque–reminiscent of any bustling city in the throes of the fall season. Red, orange, and yellow leaves dot the sidewalks. Couples laughing over wine or brandy at a local cafe. Tourists wide-eyed, trying to read signs in Armenian and English. Bakeries, hookah bars, and shaurma shops (yes, the spelling is different) line the street inviting you to take a moment for yourself. 

One of our favorite things to do in a new city is just walk. We let “the spirit lead” the way as we turn down narrow alleyways, stop for an espresso, or decide to pause at a beautiful church. 

The City

While Yerevan feels like so many cities we’ve traveled to, it also has its own beat. One distinguishing element is the towering and magnificent Mount Ararat in the background. We could never actually capture this on camera but often found ourselves staring at it. Another aspect is the undercurrent of a complex history informing the daily lives of people today as Nate noted in his blog post.

Nate thinks she looks like my grandma…

The Blue Mosque (image to the right) is the only mosque remaining in all of Armenia, serving as a place of worship, a museum, and a language center. A lovely Armenian woman originally from Iran gave us a short tour of the grounds, leaving us with stories of the past and a tour of her classroom where she teaches Russian!

A trip to Yerevan would be incomplete without a visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial & Museum. Obviously as educators, we prioritize learning about a country’s history–even the tough parts. As awful and heartbreaking as the experience always is, we are forced to see humanity's most cruel moments and consider how we might live today with more empathy and kindness to those that are different from ourselves. It’s also a reminder why telling a group of people to “get over it” when it comes to such atrocities is ridiculous. Be it about slavery, the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, or what’s happening in Gaza today, pain and trauma is deeply rooted in a community and it takes immense effort to take steps towards healing. 

Day Trips to the Countryside

As we age, we find ourselves succumbing to local tours. In the old days, we’d hop on public transportation, gesture our way through a bus station terminal or haul our backpacks on a train. I’m not above that by any means and don’t get me started on my favorite places in the world and their beautiful metro systems (Mexico City, I see you. Hong Kong, I have not forgotten).

Adding complexity is that some places we travel would be too stressful to try to drive through. The Armenian countryside proved to be such. As we dodged cows, followed detours through villages, we appreciated our driver, Edgar’s adept ability to maneuver the minivan as we focused on Nina’s tour.

First stop Sevanavank monastery overlooking Sevan Lake.

A quick stop for lunch at a popping side-of-the-road cafeteria, the Tsovagyugh supermarket and food court. Note the lavash is easily the size of a throw-blanket!

Next up Goshavank monestary built in the 10th-13th centuries. Words cannot describe the serenity and wonder I felt standing on these grounds, imagining this as the hub of community it provided.

We continued our journey to the Haghartsin monastery. The way this church was situated in the orange and yellow hillside was breathtaking and reminiscent of New England falls. Funny enough, the monastery underwent key renovation thanks to the generosity of a Sheikh from the UAE!

Our excursion culminated in a stop at Dilijan National Park. Hugging our jackets tightly, we followed the trail and stomped through the wet leaves feeling right at home (Pacific Northwest).

Views from Dilijan National Park

 

Family House, Yerevan

 

This concludes our trek through the Caucasus.

The call of khinkali will bring us back to this region but for now, we turn our sights to the next adventure.

Armenia: An Ancient People with a History Marked by Tragedy

This piece was originally published in Nate’s weekly newsletter Takes & Typos October 17

 

Barev dzez (Hello in Armenian),

This week’s newsletter is coming on Tuesday because I was in transit back from Yerevan on Sunday. On the whole, our visit to Armenia was wonderful. The food, the history, and the brandy didn’t disappoint. Travel within the country is affordable, English is widely spoken, and if you can somehow make the trip you should. This week’s newsletter is a recap of my learning from the trip. It’s ¼ travelog and ¾ me reflecting on Armenia’s deep history and complicated present.

Last Thursday afternoon, I stood in a monastery two hours north of Yerevan, the Armenian capital. Our guide, Nina, was describing how the Mongols had burned all the books in the library as they swept through in the thirteenth century. As I listened, my brain started to collapse on itself contemplating the amount of history before us. 

Yerevan pre-dates Rome and Armenians are ancient people, among the oldest continuous civilizations on earth, and everyday Armenians have a grasp of their collective history that I find beyond admirable. 

We initially went to Georgia last fall because it was a cheap flight from here in Abu Dhabi. But this is now our third trip to the Caucuses. I caught a little bit of guff and some pointed questions at immigration about the prior Azerbaijan stamp in my passport and by entering Armenia, I believe I'm now banned from ever re-entering Azerbaijan. This is my first time being banned from a country, so I’m not quite sure how it all works.

A map of "Armenia" in the Ararat Distillery in Yerevan that includes the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh; ethnic Armenians were forced out of the region by the Azeri military in September

We've dug into the history of the region in our successive trips. Armenia, like its neighboring states, is located at a geopolitical crossroads, trapped between great powers. Archaeological sites in Armenia date back as far as the Paleolithic Era (200,000 years ago). The Armenian Kingdom, then called Urartu, dates back to the Iron Age (861 BCE) and at various points they've found themselves under Roman, Mongol, Persian, Ottoman/Turkish, and Russian/Soviet occupation or rule. 

A map of "Armenia" in the Ararat Distillery in Yerevan that includes the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh; ethnic Armenians were forced out of the region by the Azeri military in September

The size and shape of what we call Armenia today are artifacts of those outsiders. As such, the territorial claims of recent Armenian history are broader than the land of the modern republic. Their strong sense of collective history, galvanized by the genocide of 1.5 million people in 1915, informs the way they talk about their country and their complicated relationship with their neighbors, in particular the modern states of Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The Tragedy of the Twentieth Century - From time to time nation's face existential questions. Armenia faced a pair in the twentieth century: 

  • What happens when your desired political reality or collective national memory does not match the political or territorial reality on the ground? 

  • What happens when you find yourself under the dominion of a greater military power and the global community ignores your calls for aid?

Nations facing these dilemmas can either accept the new reality, as the world is ostensibly encouraging Palestinians to do or they can forge—usually through violence—a different reality, as Israel did in the twentieth century and Azerbaijan did this fall in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh.

While traveling in the country, we heard repeated references to "Western Armenia"— the territory, larger than the current state of Armenia, lost to the modern state of Turkey, largely as a result of the 1915 genocide. This land claim includes Mount Ararat, a national symbol for the country, and purported to be the mountain on which Noah disembarked after the Old Testament flood. Boundary making by Russia and Turkey Post-World War I nullified claims to Western Armenia. Imagine if Canada committed genocide in the Dakotas and kept Mount Rushmore. You can’t even fathom it. 

The Monastery at Sevan Lake, built in 874

The Monastery at Sevan Lake, built in 874

We also heard references to “Historical Armenia”—considered to be the territory within and bordering the country where the plurality of the populace are ethnic Armenians. This includes Western Armenia, parts of Georgia, and ethnic enclaves in neighboring Azerbaijan. Notably, up until the middle of last month, ethnic Armenians made up the majority of the population in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, those claims were largely extinguished by Azeri military forces, creating over 100,000 refugees. 

What happened in September in Nagorno-Karabakh was the end of a conflict that’s simmered on & off since the fall of the Soviet Union. Ian Bremmer summarized recent events in his GZERO Newsletter:

On Sept. 19, Azerbaijan launched a ground and artillery offensive to take full control of Nagorno-Karabakh after what it claimed were terrorist attacks on Azeri civilians by Karabakh Armenians. Moscow, occupied by its own war and chafed at Yerevan’s growing alignment with the West, did not intervene on behalf of the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Neither did Yerevan. Within 24 hours, the overwhelmingly superior Azerbaijani military had killed more than 200, injured 400, and forced the local Armenian authorities to surrender, leaving Azerbaijan in effective control of the territory.

Yerevan

The menu at Dolmama, an Armenian restaurant that Anthony Bourdain visited in an episode of Parts Unknown, features "Historical Armenia," including Nagorno-Karabakh and Azeri territory.

It feels like Armenia has come to grips with the loss of its western territory. But it is still noticeably (and understandably) grappling with the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh, where they feel ethnic Armenians were abandoned by the West, Russia (Armenia's purported ally), and the government in Yerevan led by PM Nikol Pashinyan

When looking at Aremina’s past & present, there are corollaries to both sides in the conflict currently raging in Palestine. The modern state of Israel was created in the aftermath of the genocide in Europe, modeled on the Aremenian Genocide. And the Palestinian people, like the Armenians, find themselves at the mercy of a foe with superior military force, bent on extinguishing their land claims (more on that in next week’s newsletter).

There and Back Again-- A Final 2023 World Cup Dispatch

This post was originally published in Nate’s newsletter on August 6

Our view of the tournament opener in Auckland, where the host Football Ferns upset Norway

I really hate when I am right when I wish I was wrong. I ended last week’s newsletter by saying the US needed a win in their final group stage match in order to avoid Sweden in the round of 16. The US  didn’t get that result, squeaking out a scoreless draw against Portugal. That dropped them into second place in Group E, behind the Netherlands, setting up today’s match against Sweden that the US lost in PKs. This is the earliest World Cup  exit from the US in recent memory and likely brings an inauspicious end to the tenure of Coach Vlatko Andonovski and this generation of USWNT players. I don’t want to dwell too much on the loss. I’ll leave that to others. I had a great time in New Zealand, so instead I want to leave with some final takeaways from our visit.  

Aotearoa (Land of the King White Cloud), is a country the size of the US state of Colorado with the population of South Carolina, more often referred to as New Zealand. The entire country is a series of volcanoes. This plays cool tricks with the topography, creating soaring peaks, numerous active volcanoes, and thermal & hot springs that litter the landscape. New Zealand is made up of two main islands and is packed with more beauty than I can begin to describe. The North Island, where we spent our time, is roughly the size of the Western half of Washington State and shares a similar climate and mild winter. But the landscape is more varied. For folks back home, imagine if our "wet side" of Washington had ten mountains the size of Mount Baker, a Glacier National Park, and a Yellowstone all jammed inside.

The landscape in New Zealand is gorgeous and goes on like this for hours between Auckland and Wellington

Because we’re city folk and came for football, we spent most of our time in Auckland and Wellington, the commercial and political capitals respectively. But we also ventured into the rural areas in the middle of the island and witnessed some of the natural beauty. We toured thermal springs turned every shade of the rainbow by sulfur and other gasses. We also did two tours of caverns. Our second tour was by boat—yeah, you read that right: river rafting in a massive cave in the dark. We got a fair amount of windshield time covering over 1000 miles in just under two weeks. I was most struck by the rolling hills that looked like they were drawn by the video game engine in Red Dead Redemption 2.

The Maori and surviving conquest - My biggest area of learning this trip was about the history of the Maori people. For those unaware, the Maori are the original occupants of New Zealand and make up about 15% of the population. Most Maori can trace their genealogy back to a series of seven canoes, called Waka,  that arrived in the 1300s. Those seven canoes are the basis for the Iwi (or tribal identity). Maoris are Polynesian people, sharing an ancestry with the people of Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, and native Hawaiians. 

Our raft in the Waitomo Caves, near Te Kuiti

Arguably, they are one of the most successful survivors of conquest in the post-colonial world. They weren’t decimated by disease like the indigenous people in the US; they weren’t ruled under an Apartheid state well into the 1990s like in South Africa; they don’t live under a state of permanent occupation like Uyghurs and Tibetans in China. Don’t mishear me—I haven't been propagandized by the Kiwi state. But Maoris are largely integrated into New Zealand society, while retaining key elements of their cultural heritage and traditions and unlike many conquered people, they’ve largely managed to retain their language*, called te reo. 

There are Maori language newscasts, radio stations, reality TV shows (bad ones tho), and official Maori dubs of Disney animated films. Each match at the World Cup opened with a Maori song, as a form of land acknowledgement and welcome to Maori lands. I noted the typical Kiwi is far more conversant in Marori culture, history, and placenames than people where I’m from are about the history and culture of the S’Puyalupubsh (generous and welcoming people) and Squalli-Absch (people of the grass). The US’ commitment to the eradication of native culture was a core value at the country's founding that largely endures to today. However in New Zealand, there are initiatives underway to make Maori language instruction compulsory in schools. This one really gets me: can you imagine the meltdown the culture warriors of the American right would have over their kids being taught the languages of the native people in the US? It would make the Common Core Wars look like Chutes & Ladders. 

The sulfur infused Devil's Bath in Wai-O-Tapu Park.It looks like Gatorade and smells like hell


Yo, why are all the bartenders from Ireland? Something else I learned about in New Zealand is the Working Holiday Visa Program. If you’re between 18-30 years old and from a select number of countries, including the US, you are able to secure an up to 18 month visa to travel to New Zealand and engage in temporary employment. Most tourist visas are for 30 or 90 days and forbid you from taking on any form of employment but with this program, people get to experience New Zealand's culture and lifestyle while supplementing their travel expenses. 

Consequently, most of the bartenders and servers we encountered were from Ireland, the UK, and rural parts of the US. One person we talked to, from Southern Arkansas, was on their third of these visas, previously working at restaurants in Australia and Brazil. It seems like the perfect thing for a kid on a gap year or someone who is burned out working in the service industry in the States. 


*Maori appears easier to learn than most languages: there are only 13 letters in the alphabet and phonetic patterns are predictable. An “A” makes one sound, unless it is marked as “Ā” then it makes another sound. No guesswork like with the “A” sound like there is in English  “gas” vs “was” vs “swap.”

These Sheep Ain't Gon' Shear Themselves- A 2023 World Cup Dispatch

This post was originally published in Nate’s newsletter on July 29 

The Running of the Sheep, Te Kuiti

The Running of the Sheep

I bring you greetings from a rented farmhouse in the sheep shearing capital of the world, Te Kuiti, New Zealand. Te Kuiti used to be the home of the annual Running of the Sheep but the festival was discontinued this year (yeah, I am bummed about it too). 

Since we last corresponded, after taking a detour to Hobbiton, Hope and I have traveled the 400-ish miles from Auckland down to the capital, Wellington. Wellington is lovely. It is a city the size of Tacoma but more hilly and cosmopolitan. We arrived on Tuesday, taking in two matches at Sky Stadium and are now winding our way back north for a final pair in Auckland.

Our football odyssey has been exciting. Here’s a rundown:

We watched the host nation, Lady Ferns, upset Norway in front of an ecstatic crowd of Kiwis in Auckland in the tournament opener in Eden Park.

Sky Stadium, called the Pie because of its resemblance to a disposable pie tin, is the site of World Cup matches in Wellington

We next watched an uninspiring but professional USWNT performance against Vietnam, defeating them 3-0 at Eden Park. I fear the US showing in this match was a portend of the unfortunate first half against the Netherlands.

On Tuesday at Sky Park in Wellington, we witnessed possibly the match of the tournament as the Philippines returned the upset favor to New Zealand in a classic 1-0 smash & grab. In the second half,  the Philippines played some of the most cynical, time-wasting-y football I’ve seen in my life. But it paid off. They won and the entire country (and assorted Filipino diaspora) celebrated their first ever World Cup victory. 

Most recently, again in Sky Park,  in a rematch of the 2019 World Cup Final, we saw the US draw against the Netherlands. The US peppered the Dutch goal before going down 0-1 in the first half. They established firmer tactical footing in the second half, with Lindsey Horan scoring the equalizer in the 63rd, but the match ended in a draw. The result left many USWNT fans (myself included) nervous.

We spent last night at the foot of Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings and  will arrive back in Auckland tomorrow for the Philippines vs Norway. If the Philippines can pull off another upset, the Cinderellas from Manilla will advance to the knockout rounds. 

Our final match will be the US vs Portugal. The US needs to secure a victory if they want to win Group E. But the Dutch face a weaker opponent, Vietnam, in their deciding match and thus have an inside shot at a higher seed for the knockouts round. 

Mount Doom (Mount Ngauruhoe) in the Tongariro National Park on Saturday

If the US comes in second, they likely face number two ranked Sweden in the round of 16. If they win the group, they would face the 14th ranked Italians.

Life and Learning in These Kiwi Streets

New Zealand is culturally diverse: the white majority are descendants of British and Dutch settlers. There are also nearly one million Maoris, the descendants of Polynesians who settled on the islands in the 14th century. As we’ve found in previous travels in ex-British Colonial territories like Singapore and Malaysia, there are high numbers of South Asians and ethnic Chinese people who have been here since the 1800s. Like in the Gulf, people from South East Asia, especially the Philippines and Vietnam have settled here in recent decades. But beloved, I have never been in a place so bereft of Black people. I saw more Black people when we traveled through China. Hell, there are more Black Republican members of Congress than there are in these Kiwi streets. This has resulted in some odd looks, particularly in the more rural parts of the country, but everyone has kept it one hundred thus far. Although, not even my family says “yah, brotha” to me as much as dudes of all stripes here. 

One element of this trip that I am dying to talk about at length either on the podcast or in a subsequent newsletter is the history and current status of Maori people in New Zealand Society. In many ways, they are among the most successful people groups in the world at weathering colonization but in others there are clear barriers to be overcome. We visited a Maori village and had a traditional meal (Hāngī) while visiting Rotorua. I felt like an idiot for not knowing most of the info we were taught that evening and I walked out of the village with a ton of questions but those will have to wait for another time. 

You Owe It To Yourself to Watch Women's Soccer & The World Cup

This post was originally published in Nate’s newsletter on July 21

 Trinity Rodman is a player to keep your eye on this tournament

Jet lag is real.

At some point yesterday, I looked at Hope and realized I had no idea what day (or day of the week) it was. Our road to Auckland was silly (Seattle to Dubai to Singapore to Sydney to Auckland) but was necessitated by life circumstances and the packing/clothing  requirements of going from northern hemisphere summer to southern hemisphere winter. Tonight when we go to sleep will be the first time we’ve spent back-to-back nights in a bed since June 15. I am far too old for all these red eye flights.

But we made it—I’m stoked for our third World Cup.  

Our seats in BC Place in Vancouver for the group stages in 2015

Last night, we were in Eden Park for the tournament's opening match. The hosts, the twenty-sixth ranked, New Zealand knocked off twelfth ranked Norway, 1-nil. Tomorrow we’ll return to Eden Park for the opening match for the US versus Vietnam (if you have access to a sportsbook, I suggest you bet the over, +/-6.5 goals). 

As often is the case in my life, plans came together one night at a pub. While talking with some friends, we decided we should head up to Vancouver when Canada hosted the World Cup in 2015. We caught a few matches and really enjoyed the atmosphere. We decided on the drive back to Tacoma to make this our thing. 

In 2019, the tournament was in France. We followed the US through the knockout rounds. The atmosphere at PSG’s Parc des Princes in the quarterfinal was electric, as tense as any football match I’ve ever attended. I have never heard anything as loud as the French crowd’s eruption when Wendie Renard scored in the 81st minute. The match result was in doubt deep into the match. We went to watch the US defeat England in the semi and the Netherlands in Lyon in the final. 

Hope and I in Lyon before the 2019 final

In some ways, high-level women’s soccer is the best sporting experience in the world. 

Players are accessible. I can’t imagine ever sitting down with Messi for an hour long chit-chat. But I interviewed arguably the best WOSO player in the world, Megan Rapinoe for an episode of Nerd Farmer. Several players from OL Reign (Seattle’s team in the NWSL, the professional WOSO league in the US) lived at Point Ruston before the team relocated to Seattle; a few players still live there. 

The matches are  affordable. Our tickets to last night’s opener were 30 Australian Dollars or about 20 USD ($20.29, if you’re nosey)—you can’t get in to see the Mariners lose for that much. 

The US women are dominant. If you like winning, the United States is the Argentina + Brazil + Germany of WOSO. They enter the tournament seeking their third consecutive World Cup title. Meanwhile, the American men haven’t gotten out of the round of sixteen since 2002.  

The game is at a really special point. It’s like the old baseball Negro Leagues or the ABA in the 1970s—arguably a better product—with less hype or recognition. 

This can’t last. 

In the book The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer by David Goldblat, he argues sports go through a transition from amateurism to professionalization to commercialization. WOSO in the US is professionalized. Players get paid (not enough, obviously). They play in professional facilities (I hated when OL Reign left Tacoma but they deserve to play on the same pitch as the region’s men’s team). They have a national TV deal with CBS/Paramount and are increasingly drawing larger audiences. There’s work to be done but with these structures in place, players have the chance to showcase their talent on grand stages. 

But commercialization is coming. 

The players deserve it but it will degrade the accessibility and affordability fans currently enjoy. Picture Alexi Lalas (bleck) bellowing “we’re coming to you live from the Subway Fresh Take Studios, here alongside the Raytheon Pitch at Facebook Stadium.” All the gross capitalistic trappings that have consumed European football and the big three US sports leagues are coming, but the barbarians aren’t quite there yet. 

The US women kickoff tomorrow against Vietnam at 1pm from Eden Park here in Auckland. I’ll be there and you should be watching. 

We Came, We Saw(adee), We Snacked

Happy Sweaty 13th Anniversary

Happy Sweaty 13th!

Another year, another spring break, another day to travel with my favorite person

The thing about Thailand is once you're there you don't want to leave. Ever. It doesn't matter where you call home. Thailand finds its place in your heart. 

In the early 2000s, the Thai government engaged in “culinary diplomacy: winning hearts and minds through the stomach”, sponsoring thousands of Thai restaurants launched across the globe. Honestly, it was brilliant. Combine that with films such as Anna & the King (1999), The Beach (2000), Ong-Bak (2003), Beautiful Boxer (2003), Tropical Madald (2004), and Love of Siam (2007), many in the West were inundated with the sounds, sights, and smells of Thailand.

Thailand holds a special place for us because in 2018 we were sitting in the back of a songthaew (Thai bus for medium length trips) and adorable uniformed Thai children jumped on. Someone said "I could teach the mess out of those kids" and by the end of the summer, we had our applications in at Search Associates

That summer we let the spirit lead our trip. We wandered the streets of Bangkok and sands of Phuket and Ao Nang. Then, we hopped over to Malaysia exploring Penang and Kuala Lumpur before we flew to Cambodia spending a week in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville.

This time, we limited our 12 days to three stops– Bangkok (central), Chiangmai (north) and Koh Lanta (south). 

In many ways our experiences in Thailand are much like its cuisine—a perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy. From the generosity of Thai people (sweet) to the gorgeous beaches on every coastline (salty) to the sweat trickling down your back as you sit in traffic (sour) and the som tam filling your stomach (literally spicy). 

The best part of visiting somewhere more than once is you don’t have the “have to do” or “you must see” pressure or guilt. Instead, you can branch out to lesser known experiences or choose to get two massages on the beach in one day just because you feel like it.


Careening through the streets of Bangkok in style

Bangkok, Central Thailand

A few friends recommended this Trip Advisor tour and it did not disappoint. Shuffled around the city in style, we ate sampled dish after dish. Feast your eyes on some of our favorite items.



Chiangmai, Northern Thailand

“Go to the north” they said. “It will be cooler” they said. We did. It was not. In fact, we learned that March is prime burning season, with smoke billowing in from Myanmar and Laos. Needless to say, we donned our masks and made the best of our four days spending our time at a Mui Thai fight, learning how to cook a few dishes at a culinary school, and scrubbing an elephant at the HUG Elephant Sanctuary (well, Hope did that while Nate took photos from the safety of dry land).


Koh Lanta, Southern Thailand

It’s super easy to top off the gas tank!

The last few days of the trip we wanted something slower and low key. With blue skies and cool breezes, Koh Lanta was perfect. Not much to report here beyond if you’ve ever thought about staying at an “adults only” hotel, you should. The absence of children screaming was peace we didn’t know we needed. We did spend a day joy-riding on mopeds.

เจอกันคราวหน้า (see you next time!)

Baku or Bust

I can’t think of how many times I’ve put off an experience, a trip, or a call to someone. But the fact of the matter is that our days aren’t promised to us. By no means, am I here to wax poetic about #yolo but I do think moving abroad is part of our seizing a moment (not the moment, just a moment). Time and again, I am grateful for the opportunity to hop on a plane and head somewhere I’ve only seen in a National Geographic magazine. 

Nate wrote a beautiful piece in his recent newsletter (btw, you should subscribe as he writes every single week), about our weekend trip to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. 

I’m toying with a few different takeaways from our trip but haven’t found the time to sit down and flush them out just yet. With that said, a few things–in no particular order and yes, in somewhat contradictory fashion– I’m mulling over. 

  • The vastness and diversity of the countries that exist on this planet are mind boggling.

  • Race, culture, language and all the beautiful things that make us uniquely diverse are also the things we can use to alienate and isolate ourselves from others.

  • We rely too much on socially constructed identities as if they are fixed and others are fixed to these categories, assigned to boxes they cannot get out of.

  • We can have a sense of pride in our people, history, and society without putting down others

  • Borders and boundaries are social constructs that in effort to define a people and place, bulldoze and silence communities. 

  • Travel, particularly on an American passport, is one of the great privileges that exists in the world. 

  • We need to step outside of our comfort zones or explore less popular destinations to open our eyes to other ways of thinking and being.

  • International conflicts and century-old beefs cannot be remedied in a few conversations over drinks or at a conference table.

  • Governments can act in benevolent ways that are truly good for their people.

  • Unconscious biases develop from hearing single stories and limited perspectives.

  • Whomever catches our ear first will shape the narrative (and the way we experience truth). 

Without further adieu, to Nate’s post. 

Three Nights In The Land Of Fire - A Travelogue

February 19, 2023

February in Abu Dhabi means temps in the 80s, but February in the land of fire means winds strong enough to knock you off balance and evening lows below freezing. Walking across an open area, like a plaza or square, elicited several “okay, we can do this” intra-group pep talks as we traversed old town. This is my second recent trip into “real winter.” The trip to the Hague was a good dress rehearsal because those Azeri gusts don't play. 

This plaza features wonderful dining and is an absolute wind-tunnel after dark

The Skinny on Azerbaijan - With a population of four million people, Baku, the capital, is as beautiful as any city I've visited. Its legacy as a major stop on the Silk Road gives it a deeply historical feel, like Xi'an or Istanbul. Two vestiges of the Silk Road come together in Azerbaijan: the trade routes brought Islam further to the east and brought dumplings from China westward into Slavic and Turkic cuisine. 

The country is 96% Muslim but due to the imposed atheism of the Soviet era, the government and broad culture are secular. All the mosques we saw in the city were built in the classical style, but we learned they were of recent vintage, mostly built after the collapse of the USSR. Like we saw in Georgia, the architecture fell into three main buckets: ancient AF (classical), Soviet AF (brutalist), or futuristic AF.

Azerbaijan was on the business end of several historical  conquests, having previously been a part of the Persian Empire, Russian Empire, and Soviet Union. The people are Turkic, like the people of Central Asia, Turkey, and the Uighers in China’s Xinjiang Province. But I noted they don't make the Turkic/Turkish distinction we make in English—our guides repeatedly called their countrymen "Turkish people." To that end, the Turkish flag is often displayed alongside the Azeri flag in the country. I've read elsewhere that Azerbaijan is culturally and politically Turkey's little brother. That largely checked out but leaves out the Soviet/Russian Empire thing. 

Speaking of Russia, their relationship with Azerbaijan is complex. Azeris share a border with their colonizers. Students in primary school are taught the language and Russian is widely spoken by Azeris in the streets. Russian tourists fill the historical sites. But Azeris are apprehensive about their relationship with their northern neighbors. I heard the phrase “we have to keep Russia happy” no fewer than six times when discussing events in the Caucasus Region.

The Heydar Aliyev Center, the Presidential Museum, and center for explaining the Azeri side of their conflict with Armenia

Generally, I was struck talking to Azeris by their sense of pride in their country, their Islamic faith, and the ways in which the government provides for the people (from their oil & gas profits). Azerbaijan is a post-communist state but dodged the neoliberal shock doctrine and IMF structural adjustment bullet, that stripped many states of generous public benefits over the last thirty years. Put differently, the legacy of communism there is a fairly generous social welfare system, rather than a stripped down neoliberal shell of a state. They provide well for their people, especially for a country with a per capita GDP that ranks between Barbados and Albania:

  • Azeri workers get roughly a month of paid time off each year

  • Public university tuition is free for students who are academy qualified based on national exams 

  • Tuition is also free (public or private) for people seeking employment in essential careers: doctors, pilots, etc.

  • They enjoy more or less zero out of pocket health care for basic and preventative care services

  • Typical rents run between $200 to $300/per month in the city

  • The government pays a subsidy to new parents, a one time baby bonus 

  • They pay roughly $30 per month for utilities and the country subsidizes energy bills in the winter for all citizens 

That’s quite a list. 

Places that have less than the US seem to offer their citizens more but we somehow call them developing states.  







Mahna Mahna...Manama

The Kingdom of Bahrain is an unassuming island nation just across the water from Saudi Arabia. 

Originally supposed to be one of the then nine United Arab Emirates, Bahrain (along with Qatar) dipped out three days before the signing of the documents and decided to declare themselves independent! 

Bahrain is the third smallest country in Asia. It is roughly 4x the size of Washington DC, with the population equivalent to New Hampshire. Someone compared it to Saudi Arabia's Tijuana but that does it a grave injustice. The two states are connected by a 25km long bridge and Bahrain is visible from Saudi Arabia on a clear day. It certainly feels more rustic than where we live in UAE's capital but we mean that in a good way. Manama, its capital, has history and character.

As ever in the region, the tall minarets rising from mosques shape the built-landscape. They're punctuated by the few high rises that dot the horizon, giving a Dubai/Abu Dhabi vibe but toned down, the architecture showing a hint of tradition. Bahrainis are seafarers and there are nods to that history throughout the city: the port, sculpture, statues, and of course the endless things named “pearl” (lulua in Arabic).

Bahrain is an interesting place, this 21 Facts About Bahrain article taught us several things about the country before we arrived. Our first stop after check in was Nassef, a traditional Bahraini style restaurant in the heart of the Old Souk. Similar to the rest of the culinary delights in the region (hummus, fattoush salad), Bahraini dishes have a stronger Iranian and Iraqi influence manifested in prominent sweet and sour flavors. 

We popped over for a weekend getaway with friends that included the Bahrain Jazz festival and a rather eventful brunch with live Latin music, a clown, a fight, and Mickey Mouse. The flight from AUH is under and hour and tickets to Manama float around 100 USD. We enjoyed our time, feel like we got a good sense of the city-state, and have some other sites we want to see next-go-round.

As Arnold said so eloquently, "I'll be back". 

Round the World in Three Days

It’s so easy to get caught up in the business of a weekend—catch up with family, knock out the laundry or maybe clear out your emails (most teachers have at least a portion of their weekend eaten up by prepping or grading). However, the weekend is just enough time to take a short but meaningful trip around the world.

This past weekend, we decided to pop over to the city of Al Ain, the “cultural center” of the UAE, just east of Abu Dhabi city. You may remember our first jaunt back in 2020 as documented in the post “160kph in a Nissan Micra”. 

We live 7500 miles from “home” but have family only 90 minutes away. My sister, Faith, moved to Al Ain a few months ago. So everytime we visit her, we make an effort to explore her new town. In prep, I binged Google reviews and a few foodie Facebook pages. Most of them promoted restaurants rocking $$$ and little flavor. But, I don’t give up on food that easily. I was determined to find reasonably priced, delicious mom-and-pop, uncle-and-cousin eateries. 

Some of the best restaurants are located in the most obscure places. The way cities are planned here are very neighborhood oriented—the neighborhood for home goods, the neighborhood for automotive repairs, the neighborhood for fabrics. 

Friday Night: Our first stop was Korea. Bulgogi and Korean fried chicken spilled out of our bento boxes, begging to be consumed. The lack of pictures to show off is indicative of how hungry we were (and how good the food was).

Saturday Lunch: Next, we decided to go West to Morocco. We found Amazigh (get it, Amazing?) Restaurant Moroccan Food tucked behind a grocery story and next to a cell phone repair shop. The staff seemed surprised to see two white women and a Black dude roll in but immediately handed Nate a menu in Arabic. He promptly passed it to Faith, who’s studied Arabic for the last four years. The next 8 minutes she translated the menu section by section. Once we settled on our order, the waiter came over and spoke to us in almost perfect English. The end results was a beautiful array of couscous, roasted vegetables, mutton and salad. 

 

Saturday Dinner: You’d think we’d be full from lunch but we drove south to Ethiopia. A cluster of men, squatting and chatting eyed us momentarily as we exited the car. Inside the Addis Ababa Restaurant, the owner sat at an empty table working on something.  You can see from the images, this place was all about the atmosphere. The food did not disappoint either and we left very full and very satisfied. We order tibbs (grilled beef in sauce) and Special Kitfo (beef tartare).

 

Sunday Lunch: We decided to keep things a little more local, only traveling  2,769km away to Kerala, India. Not quite a record scratch, the staff and customers glanced up, sized us up and then went back to eating mounds of Biryani, curry, and other deliciousness. 

Ya’ll, a little Googling and petrol can go a long way. Hopefully, you’re feeling hungry and adventurous to check out the hidden gems in your own city or one nearby.

From Tbilisi with Love

When we travel we like to go beyond the usual suspects. Sure, Paris and Hong Kong are great but you haven’t lived until you’ve stayed in a Nicaraguan hostel where the owner tells you stories about being a contra en la guerra while driving you to the beach. We like places that feel genuine, not overrun by tourists, and I’m not gonna lie–we like a bargain. For these reasons, two of our favorite regions to visit, places we’ve returned to repeatedly, have been Central America and South East Asia: good food, good people, and the feeling you’re well off the beaten path. The Caucasus and Georgia are that. 

Geography: We spent fall break in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. For me, it’s been a while since I felt cold. It felt nice to get out of the Gulf and feel a more familiar fall. I spent much of the trip wearing a sweater and of course a 2016 MLS Champion Sounders hoodie. This was also our first time visiting a former Soviet Republic. Georgia is situated smack in the middle of the Caucasus. It has the Black Sea to its West, Turkey to its southwest, Russia (its occasionally problematic neighbor) to its north, and shares borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan to the southwest. Tbilisi is a cultural crossroads, bisected by the Mtkvari River with heavy Russian and Ottoman influences. Georgia is also home to the oldest winemaking region on the planet, going back over 8,000 years. That’s older than France’s and they are very proud of it. 

The Trip: Low-key, I am not sure when I really found out that Georgia was a thing. I think it was during their war with Russia in 2008. But I have been reading a ton about it over the last few years. Our head-of-school has a property there and raves about it. It’s one of those places that it makes less sense to visit from back home in Tacoma but from here it’s just a 3 hour flight over Iran and Azerbaijan. We flew FlyDubai, Emirates’ second label equivalent of Old Navy.  

Tbilisi is a beautiful city and it passes the $2/$5/$70 test. This is a test that I apply to cities. Can I get an espresso in the heart of the city for $2? Can I get a good meal on the street for less than $5? Can I get a nice hotel room, (hopefully with breakfast included) for $70? If so, game on–Georgia passes the test with flying colors. The food in Tbilisi was delicious, the wine was cheap and plentiful, and their national beverage cha cha (more on this later) flowed freely everywhere. We stayed in the heart of the old city, near Freedom Square and found the city very walkable and easy to navigate.

Dos:

  • First off, you should go! If you have ever been like I wanna go to Prague or Vienna, give Tbilisi a shot instead.

  • Drink Georgian wine–it’s literally all delicious and they’re (rightfully) proud of it.

  • Visit a traditional sulfur bathhouse for a scrub and a beatdown from a middle aged Georgian man with hands like bricks.

  • Eat the local cuisine. I recommend their dumplings called khinkali. They, like Russian pierogies, arrived from China via the Silk Road and are delicious. 

  • Embibe in the national beverage, cha cha. It is like Italian grappa, made from the skins, seeds, and stems of the winemaking process.

  • Tour an Orthhodox Church. It’s fascinating to me how they feel like the midpoint between a masjid and catholic church.

  • Read up on Georgian history–Stalin is Georgian–they have a museum about him, we didn’t make it there but we’re going next time.

Georgia is a country of four million people at the crossroads of history with their own language, alphabet and a culture, though influenced by their neighborhood, also distinct from it. It was dope and I want to go back. 

Now, here come the photos.

 

Greece: Four Islands Down 5,996 to Go

Ancient Greece …

Marble statues. Fistfuls of gyros stuffed with fries. Shops tempting you with fresh cones and heaping spoons of delight. My love for Greece began in 1995 when we drove through Thessaloniki and Florence on our way to Albania. This was my first experience with a "water closet." My first time seeing tomatoes the size of apples and experiencing the juiciest peach on the planet. I couldn't stop trying to decipher the Greek alphabet, hoping to be fluent in the blink of an eye. 

Even as a 10 year old, I was whisked away by the stories of ancient Greece. Devastated when I learned Sparta wasn't some place I could visit, I threw myself into the gritty city of Athens. I never understood why there were so many naked statues but I stood in awe of the towering columns, the remnants of a mighty culture. Those memories of windy roads through the hillside, the monasteries peering at us barely holding onto the cliffs above. 

Parthenon, Athens 2004

I fell further in love in 2004, when my family and I joined a few others for an outreach program during the Olympics. Maybe it was the hustle of thousands coming together to celebrate their country's achievement. Those memories are deeply etched into my minds, the smells and sights still fresh. 

This is why I was beyond excited to take Nate to a place filled with history, laughter and street cats. Actually, the street cats are a new thing, but I digress. 

As hardworking teachers and a childless couple, we have the luxury of traveling with loose plans. A home base is all we need to throw our packs and then head out to explore the neighborhood. Yes, we center our trips on food, but mainly look for those places that beckon to you as you walk by. Not with sun-faded pictures but with the laughter of old friends—the kind of place the homies spend hours talking shop or remembering the past. We've come to adopt the rule of 4. That is, if a place has four old dudes sitting together day drinking, it's like a Michelin star. We've got to stop. 

We purchased our tickets over a year ago but life got in the way and we postponed this trip a few times. So when we finally landed and hopped onto the metro, I was relieved. 10 days to experience the richness of Greek life and culture. 

Our itinerary was simple. Athens and then some islands. Four days in the city flew by as we mobbed through the city, made guesses about where Socrates stood, and met up with colleagues for a glorious dinner of wine, Greek salad and grilled meats. The Parthenon and the Agora still held the wonder I felt as a child.

Korinthos

After galavanting around Athens for a few days, we hopped on a train for a short day trip to Korinthos aka Ancient Corinth—a significant village where the Apostle Paul kicked it.

The Fam, 2004

After a little Googling we decided to spend a couple nights on Aegina, a quaint little island an hour out of Athens. To our joy, some grad-school friends joined us for a few days bumming around. When we docked, I immediately remembered this iconic church and our family photo. 


Aegina, Saronic Islands

From there we hopped a ferry to the Cyclades, a handful of islands East of Athens. 

Most folks know about the instagramably views of Mykonos but not about the 600+ churches on this island. Turns out, this island is very small and pretty boring unless you like to party on yachts. It’s also insanely windy as evidenced from all our pictures. Thanks to a Greek ferry strike, we had plenty of time to drive the winding roads and eat a few more Greek salads drizzled perfectly with olive oil. We also popped over to Delos “Where Light Was Born”--perhaps one of the most intact and untouched archeological sites in all of Greece. 

Our favorite stop of the trip was actually the shortest, the port of Tinos. After dropping our backpacks at the AirBnb and testing out grandma’s cherry liquor, we wandered through charming downtown. As we made our way towards the center, I glanced down main street and noticed a type of bike lane covered in green carpet. It felt important and like a normal Birkenstocks-clad person shouldn’t be stepping on. But we soon realized this was the road leading to the Church of Panagia Megalochari which it turns out everyone, who considers themselves a dedicated Greek Orthodox believer, makes a pilgrimage to. As a show of faith, you can buy a 6 foot tall candle to light inside the sanctuary.

From getting lost in gritty Athenian alleyways, visualizing the birth of democracy in the Agora, drinking another .5 liter of house wine, or witnessing the power of organized labour strikes, our ten days in Greece flew by.  Maybe next time we’ll get an Anthony Bourdain tattoo that says "Be a traveler not a tourist". 

Generation Carmen Sandiego Goes to the Expo

Only the real 90s PBS nerds will remember this banger:

IMG_20211008_123828.jpg

Well she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina

She's a sticky-fingered filcher from Berlin down to Belize

She'll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China

Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

International escapades run deep in those of us who grew up trying to catch Carmen. So naturally, when we moved overseas, we were looking for opportunities to travel. Miss Rona certainly put a damper on our plans, but it seems we’re at the tail end of this crisis. 

In the UAE we’re down to fewer than 120 cases per day nationwide from 300,000-ish daily tests (a 0.0004% positivity rate). We now have over eighty-five percent of the country fully-vaccinated; Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed said last week we're exiting the emergency phase. A notable sign we’re entering the “post-emergency measures” era is the pandemic-delayed opening of the Dubai 2020 Expo.

For many Americans we know this as the “World’s Fair.” Old heads back home might remember the 1962 Century 21 Exposition which brought us Seattle Center and the iconic Seattle Space Needle.

Last weekend, we hopped in our car, this year a Mitsubishi Attrage, and booked a room at the DoubleTree (#ThatCookieLife) much like we would for any other trip. Donning an overnight bag rather than my 40ml hiking backpack, we headed to explore the world--one pavilion at a time. This year’s theme is “Connecting Minds and Creating the Future through sustainability, mobility and opportunity.” The Expo grounds are divided into five massive sections, each populated with 30-ish countries showcasing their interpretation of one component. Scattered throughout are ginormous, Jetsons-esque pavilions that feature artificial intelligence, intricate stages, concert halls, live art installations, and much, much more.

Our strategy was simple. Pick a region and explore it. Well, it wasn’t that simple. We had slightly opposing strategies. I, Hope, was on a mission to visit the entire world. Nate, on the other hand, was more selective about his time (“I ain’t got time for no minnow states!”). We did however agree to eat our way through the regions as best we could. After two days of wandering, eating and learning, we realized the pavilions could be classified as follows.

IMG_20211008_123411.jpg

Hey, Come Visit For a Good Time

  • The Bahamas (btw, there are way more Bahaman Islands than you think there are)

  • Dominica (no, we are not the Dominican Republic)

  • Dominican Republic (they called us out for only knowing about the touristy parts of the island)

  • Costa Rica (we almost made it through the pavilion without hearing pura vida, almost)

  • Madagascar (feels hella slept on, honestly)

IMG_20211009_134706.jpg

Peru

Incredible greenery, kind people, and Inca cola.

IMG_20211009_112630 (1).jpg

Tanzania

There’s a direct flight from Abu Dhabi to Zanzibar and they have an incredible female president who is currently the only female head of state in all of Africa.

Ya’ll Need to Invest Here

  • Algeria (they’re taking a ton of Chinese FDI)

  • Azerbaijan (extremely underrated national anthem)

  • El Salvador (really courting Bitcoin miners and crypto investors)

  • Sudan (looks kinda weird on the map with South Sudan removed)

  • Mexico (lots of talk about deep water ports, proximity to “global markets,” and infrastructure)

  • New Zealand (still flexin’ that Covid success)

  • Romania (they say they have 60% of Europe’s freshwater; this feels like a made up stat)

  • Croatia (they completely skip any mention of the entire Yugoslav era but they brought a 200 year old olive tree to showcase!)

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Hey! Hey! Remember We Exist

  • Albania (like Greece, but majority Muslim, much cheaper, and the world’s best flag)

  • Czech Republic (the duck rillettes were delightful)

  • The Kingdom of Eswanti (aka Swaziland, note the name change) 

  • Laos (you know, the landlocked spot everyone forgets about)

  • Turkmenistan (they obviously love horses)

  • Tajikistan (the Tajik drip tho!)

Just Flexing And Reveling in Our Awesomeness

  • Spain (sadly, their cafe was closed and we didn’t get to eat any bocadillos)

  • France (honestly, we went here for the cafe which was filled with cheese, croissants, and crepes)

  • Germany (they are developing autonomous, laser-zapping drones to reduce dependency on herbicides and pesticides)

  • Singapore (the focus on sustainability and plants)

  • Thailand (a 5-senses experience that made us want to move there immediately)

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Republic Of Korea

K-pop dancers, free swag, and access to an incredible restaurant.

Russia

We were disappointed to not hear the Russian anthem; it’s a banger.

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Philippines

Designed for all the Pinoy-expats in the UAE, this was complex, thoughtful, and smelled liked all the iconic Filipino dishes offered at the adjacent cafe

Engineered shade gave us a respite from the heat

Engineered shade gave us a respite from the heat

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and will return later in the fall when the heat is a little more manageable. Our “where do we want to retire/where do we want to teach next” lists are filling up. If you want to get deep into the Expo world, check out Bureau International des Expositions for a full picture of the process.