A Day of Travelling

Haysi still has no power. So, I left my cousin Misti's on the 27th and went to Tazewell to stay with my friend Joni and her family. We got up early on the 28th and got all of our stuff ready for our trip to England. We left around noon and met my friend Cody and his friends in Bluefield to eat lunch. It was a good time.

We drove straight to Washington, DC where we stayed with my good friend Jordan for the night. He is a volunteer with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and I'm pretty sure I have mentioned him in previous posts. It was good to catch up with him.

We woke up yesterday morning and got ready. We went to Gravelly Point, a park in DC, to watch a few airplanes take off. It is one of the best places in America to watch planes take off because they do it right over your head! The park is literally right at the end of the parkway! After figuring out that it was too cold to watch planes, we headed south of Washington, DC into Maryland to visit my grandpa for a little while. We stayed with him for about an hour then headed back into the city to pick up Jordan.

STORY: On the way to pick up Jordan, I was attempting to find a set of spare keys in my center console. Not paying attention to what I was doing, I ended up rear-ending a lady. It did nothing at all to either of our cars and she was extremely nice about it.

We picked up Jordan then we were off to the airport. I agreed to let Jordan borrow my car while I am in England so he could visit some friends, so he took us to the airport and dropped us off. We said our good-byes and headed inside. Jordan used his lunch break to drop us off and we were at the airport at 12:45...our flight didn't leave until 6:15! So, we had around 5 hours to spare. The British Airways counter didn't open until 3PM so we just sat around and read for a while before we checked in. We then dropped our bags, got our tickets, went through security, grabbed our lunch, and arrived at our gate.

STORY: Around 5:15, the sunset was beautiful. So, I decided I was going to take some pictures of the sunset from our gate. Security is really tight because of the incident that happened last week with the Northwest Airlines flight in Detroit. I was standing near the window taking pictures of the sunset and a TSA agent came up to me and this is how the conversation progressed:

(Zach is zooming in on the sunset with a happy face)
TSA Agent: Sir, what are you taking pictures of?
Zach: The sunset.
TSA Agent: Are you sure you're taking pictures of ONLY the sunset?
Zach: Yeah.
TSA Agent: ONLY the sun?
Zach: Um, yea. Would you like to see the picture?
TSA Agent: Actually, I would.
(Zach shows him the picture and comments on how the sunset is beautiful.)
TSA Agent: And you're sure you were photographing only the sun?
Zach: Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
TSA Agent: Thank you.
(Zach walks away laughing.)

We boarded the plane. British Airways was amazing! Me and Joni made friends with the girl who sat beside us so we talked to her for a while. About an hour and a half into the flight, I took a Xanax my cousin gave me to sleep. Needless to say, I feel asleep and slept until we were descending into London! It was great.

We arrived at the airport, went through customs, our friend Eddie picked us up, and we headed north to the village of Raunds where his sister lives. It is a neat little place! We slept from about 9 this morning to 2 this afternoon then woke up and explored the village some. So far, it's great.

Tomorrow, we're headed to London for New Years! I will update again soon.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

A Good Song

This song is at the top of my playlist right now.

From the Desert to Disaster

Yes, it's been a few days. I've led a rather hectic life since December 12th. I finished up with all my exams and ended up with a 3.5 GPA for the semester. I was satisfied with that.

I left Emory on December 15th and headed towards Charlotte. That night, I met up with my friend Annelise who went to the same Spanish school as me in Ecuador. We went to McAdenville (Christmastown USA) and then we went to the airport overlook at the Charlotte Airport and watched some planes take off and land. It was great to hang out with her.

I got up at 5:00 on the 16th and headed to the airport for my trip to Tucson. The plane rides were good. I like to sit beside people who I can talk to and learn things from (refer back to my entry about learning from strangers), but I was not lucky enough to sit beside another social person during my flights...so I sat there in silence.

Colton picked me up from the airport and we had an awesome 5 days. We did some hiking, his brother Lance took us jeeping, we hung out in some book stores, ate some good food, had some good talks, and it was great. Here are some pictures:

I had a very, very interesting flight back. First off, my flight was like a flight to a retirement home. Tucson is the Florida of the west. All the old people go to Tucson in the winter because it is the warmest place in the west. Anyways, on the way back I flew into Minneapolis. I ate dinner and got to my gate a few minutes early. My flight to Charlotte was delayed 40 minutes so I just sat around and people watched. And then came the big moment...the gate agent said they had overbooked and wanted to know if any volunteers had flexible travel plans. I basically sprinted to the counter because I knew if I gave up my seat there would be great incentives. Well, there was. I got:

• A one night stay in a Hilton in Minneapolis
• Free dinner and free breakfast
• A first-class ticket on the flight to Charlotte the next morning
• and, a $300 travel voucher to use on a flight in the future

I was hoping the overbooking situation would happen all along so I could earn all of this stuff. It was great! As we were flying from Minneapolis to Charlotte the next morning, we flew right over my neck of the woods! Below is a picture of the Tri-Cities Airport. I was able to see South Holston Lake and everything, but we were a little bit too far south for me to see Emory or Haysi or anything. Since I am an airplane fanatic and such, I was able to identify Tri-Cities Airport by the layout of the runways and that's how I knew where we were at.

I came home to Haysi being basically destroyed. The blizzard that tore through the area pulled down a ton of trees onto power lines and today makes exactly one week since most people around Haysi have been out of power. I have been staying at my cousin Misti's house since I returned from Arizona. Yesterday, I went to Haysi just to see things with the intention of staying a couple days but I ended up coming back. It is horrible. I'm sure it will be after the beginning of the new year that everyone has power again.

I am leaving for London in a few days. I have had the tendency to make my blog posts a little bit more, let's say, motiviating or something, but it just isn't in me today. I figured I would just update you on my trip to Arizona.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

A Question For You

I typed 10 1/2 pages of my 15-20 page paper this morning in 2 hours. Wow. Tomorrow I will finish that paper, type another 5 page paper, take an exam on Tuesday, and then I am off to Charlotte to spend the night and fly to Arizona early Wednesday morning. I like to travel.

My best friend Colton has a habit of sending me YouTube links to songs and wanting me to listen to them. I have to admit...in the past, I have had a hard time listening to songs for their lyrics. I would like songs solely because they were pleasing to my ears...never because of the quality or depthness of the lyrics. Since Colton started sending me these songs, I seem to have become more apt to listen to lyrics.

I like to go for drives. I have always liked driving. Now while I'm driving, I spend much of my time paying attention to the lyrics that are on the radio. Tonight, I was kinda stressed. So, when I get stressed, I go for drives.

I hopped in my car and Kris Allen's song "Live Like We're Dying" came on. As I listened to the lyrics, as I have started to do, he posed a question in his song. This question is kind of creepy for me to be posing considering I'm gonna be a pilot, but oh well! Here it is:

"If you're plane fell out of the skies, who would you call with your last goodbye?"

You don't have to answer it on my blog, but I want you to take a minute to think about that question to yourself. Who would you call with your last goodbye?



Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

The Day of No Power

I've thought a lot today about what to write on here tonight. Yesterday I had a pretty profound experience at the airport...but today, there hasn't been anything much that has happened. But, one has to learn to appreciate the little things I suppose.

I really enjoy all the guys that live on my hall. I've been an RA for nearly 3 years now and this is the first year I actually feel like there is a sense of community on my hall. Even though there are times when I know I should be doing work, I always enjoy my residents coming into my room and hanging out. I wanted to do something for them, so I decided we would go out to pizza this evening.

The wind has been terrible here today. We lost power around 1pm this afternoon and didn't get it back until around 10:15 tonight. They asked us RAs to be in the buildings at all time, so that shot the pizza plans into the air. I decided instead of going out to eat pizza, we would just order it and chill in my room.

As me and my resident Kameron were going to Glade Spring to pick up the pizza, the sunset was amazing. I stopped beside the road and got this picture of the sky. I thought it was beautiful.

We got back and a bunch of guys gathered in my room and just hung out and ate pizza. It made me think a lot though. Even though the guys on the hall all get along, it took a situation like the power going out to just sit around in my room all together and talk. We had no TVs, internet, anything. But we, a bunch of guys in college, just sat around and told ghost stories and stuff. It was enjoyable. It is a part of college I will miss. I am eager to graduate, but I will miss having a bunch of friends who live just right down the hall from me.

What did I learn from this experience today? We need to take time to be with our friends. Even if the power is on and everything is perfectly fine, turn off the TV, close your laptop, order a pizza, sit down, and have a good time just enjoying each others company. You may enjoy it more than you realize.

All this came from one simple happening...the power going out. Even though most people saw it as an aggravation, I saw it as a good time and hopefully the guys on my hall did the same. Maybe it will happen again sometime next semester.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Lessons from a Man at the Airport

I had a free day today. Since I finished my work at the Crisis Center, I didn't have anything to do. I ate lunch, then I told my friend Cody to put on a jacket because we were taking a trip.

We hopped in my car and headed down the road to Tri-Cities Airport. I checked the flight schedule before we left to make sure we would have a few planes to watch. Since Tri-Cities is so small, flights are few and far between.

A rainy, windy day doesn't make for a good day for plane watching. But, I'll take any type of weather so long as I get to see some planes take off and land. When we got to the airport, Cody headed towards the bathroom and I went up to the observation deck. There was a man standing on the deck who looked to be in his 60s and he struck up a conversation with me. "It's been 15 years since I've been to this airport. It's really built up!" "It sure has," I said, excited that someone wanted to talk about the airport with me.

I asked him if he had come, like myself, just to watch a few planes take off and land. "My daughter has a friend who is coming home for the holidays from Iraq today. His parents don't know he is coming, so I am picking him up so we can drop him off and suprise them." I thought this was cool. I almost teared up when he told me the story because for some reason, I imagined in my mind some worried parents who hadn't spoken to their son in days, and the joy that will be coming into their lives in just a few minutes when he arrives by suprise at their house. I just can't imagine.

We continued the conversation and the man told me about his work in the armed forces. He was drafted into the Korean War where he was wounded, and he later served again in the Vietnam War. He met his wife when she was only 14, and he won a bet against his brother saying that the relationship wouldn't last. They've now been married for nearly 40 years. He had an alcohol problem. When he was in Vietnam, one of his friends who was a pilot took him up in a plane one day. "I thought it was amazing," he said. "I came back to the United States and needed a hobby, so I started to take pilot lessons. My instructor knew I drank a little. He always told me, '24 hours from bottle to throttle.' I came to the airport one day to take my lesson, and he smelled whiskey on me from the night before. He told me I couldn't fly that day. I never went back to the airport after that."

It was at this point I started telling him about my dream of becoming a pilot and how I knew it was gonna make me happy. "Young man," he said, "you gotta do what makes you happy. You don't need to do something in life that you don't like."

I was sitting at the airport, watching airplanes, and I was talking to a man who was giving me lessons on life. It was a bittersweet moment. For some reason, this man has stuck in my mind for the rest of the day. Had me and Cody not gone to the airport today, I wouldn't have met him.
I learned a few things from this...how alcohol had ruined something he enjoyed, how I needed to pursue my dream, and how it is important to strike up important conversations with people in public. After all, you never know what you will learn from a perfect stranger.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

A Fast, Crisp DC Visit

Yes. It's been a few days since I last updated my blog...but I have been very busy. I finished up my work at the Crisis Center a week back from today. Even though I was sad to leave, I learned a lot from my experiences there that have taught me a lot. I think I talked about this in an earlier post, but the Crisis Center was one of the big factors I decided to pursue my dream as a pilot. I know I wouldn't be happy working at a 9-5 desk job and my love to travel just cut to my core even more this semester.

This past Thursday, I left to go to Washington, DC with some classmates. For our practicum class (the class for which I worked at the Crisis Center), we had to go to DC and give a presentation to the Appalachian Regional Commission. We proposed that empty school buildings throughout Appalachia be used for community centers. Not to brag or anything, but we had the best presentation by far.

Thursday night, I was able to meet up with my friend Jordan from over the summer. If you read my blog or kept up with my pictures from this past summer, Jordan was mentioned or pictured many times. He has been a great friend to me ever since we met 2 summers ago in California and it was great to catch up with him. He is currently working with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Washington, DC. He has a good blog going about his experiences in DC...if you're up for some more reading, here is it: http://jodoggsblog.blogspot.com

Funny story. I have a fascination with airplanes...if you didn't already know this. It's bad. I could sit and watch airplanes for hours. So, there is this park in DC called Gravelly Point. It is at the end of the runway at Reagan National Airport and the planes take off right over your head! I was there about 10 years ago but never had the chance to go back. On Friday after we gave our presentation, I sat aside my whole afternoon to go to the Holocaust Memorial Museum and to ride the metro to the airport and go to Gravelly Point so I could watch some planes and take some pictures. Holocaust Museum...success. Gravelly Point...not so much. I ended up walking around the airport for an hour and a half. I finally found the trail that goes to Gravelly Point, but it was across a 4-lane highway. I walked around the airport on the verge of tears because I could see where I wanted to go but I just couldn't get to it. By this point, it was 5:00 and getting dark, so I just rode the Metro back into the city and roamed around some. It was very frustrating.

Tomorrow is my last day of classes. I only have one class left. Today, my time is going to be spent eating lunch, working out, writing a paper, and then relaxing! I have a paper due tomorrow, 2 due on Monday, and a final exam on Tuesday. Then...I'm off to Arizona to visit Colton and his family! I'm really excited about that. It's been over 4 months since I've gotten to hang out with him and I can hardly wait to Arizona to do stupid stuff and not have to worry about anything in Virginia.

I'll leave you with a few pictures from DC.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Stereotypes of an Appalachian Dialect

For everyone that lives in Appalachia, have you ever been aggravated when someone from outside the area asks you to say something again just so they can laugh at the way you say it? I have been aggravated by this before, and it spawned into a project for one of my classes. Below is the clip for a radio show I produced. Hope you enjoy.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Thanksgiving and a Black Friday

The past few days have been pretty relaxing.

I didn't get any crisis calls on Wednesday night. I was very excited about that. Since I didn't get any calls, I basically slept all the way through the night! That made me a happy person for Thanksgiving.

On my way home from the Crisis Center on Thursday, I proceeded to get into an argument with a cashier at a convenience store. I didn't have enough quarters to get a Bristol paper with all the Black Friday salespapers, so I decided to go into the store and buy a cup of coffee, a donut, and a paper and put it on my debit card. Well, I got to the register and the cashier said I couldn't put the newspaper on my debit card. I asked him why not and he gave me some bull-shit answer. Thinking out of the box, I asked him if he could just charge me for another coffee (which would equal the price of the paper) and I would just take a paper instead. He said he couldn't do that because his inventory would be messed up. I was angry. It was then he told me that the paper machine now takes debit cards. Why couldn't he have told me that at the beginning and we wouldn't have had a 3-minute conversation about the dang paper?!

Thanksgiving dinner was good. I ate way too much. I spent the day with my Aunt Karen and her family. It was good times.

I went to Dana's house last night so we could get up and go shopping this morning. We woke up at 3 and left the cabin by 3:15. We were in line at Target around 3:40. People get on my nerves...and a lot of people are idiots. The lady in front of us in line would not shut up talking to the people beside of her. It was FREEZING! Here is a quote from that lady, "It doesn't look like it's gonna get any warmer." What the hell? It is 3:45 in the morning. Of course it's not going to get warmer. The lady needs to use her common sense!

The crowds were crazy, I was tired, and honestly I didn't feel like putting up with anyone. I bought a few things and then we headed back to the cabin. I did get a really nice GPS system for my car. I was really excited about it.

Currently, I am sitting in Blacksburg at my friends' apartment. I wanted to get away for the weekend. This is a good place to come because it is always fun, it's relaxing, and it is a good distance away. It helps me just to get things off of my mind.

18 days and I'll be in Arizona. I can't wait.
1 month and I'll be leaving for England. I also can't wait.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

The Next 10 Hours

The cool thing about a blog is that I can update it from anywhere at anytime...as long as I am near a computer of course.

It's 11pm on a Wednesday night and I'm sitting in the Crisis Center. I agreed back a while to take overnight shifts on Wednesday nights into Thursday mornings. My shift tonight is from 11pm-9am in the morning. 10 hours. Yes...10 hours of my life where I am devoted to the phone and the receiver sitting on the desk in front of me. I don't know what to expect. A person could call me and tell me their heat is messed up and their house is cold and they don't know what to do...or I could receive a call from a person who says they have a gun in their hand and they're contemplating suicide. I never know what to expect when the phone rings. But, I had to do 40 hours of training to work on the hotline and I am pretty confident I can handle whatever comes my way.

Much of my day was spent relaxing and scoping out the deals for Black Friday. Me, my friend Dana, and her mom Rita have made it a yearly habit of fighting the crowds at 5am on the day after Thanksgiving. I am very excited. I always end up buying a lot of stuff for myself. My goal this year: to obtain the $99 Garmin Nuvi GPS that is at Best Buy. I will be in line at 5AM to get it. I have read reviews and compared it to the many other GPS deals that are being offered, and I feel that particular one is what I want. As much as I travel, I have never owned a GPS. I would like to have one and I think it will be beneficial to me.

I spent the day at my cousin Misti's house and then me and Dana ventured into Abingdon for the evening to have frostees at Wendy's and to loaf around Roses. I went back to Misti's for a while then left to come here. On my way down her driveway, a rabbit ran out in front of me. But, when I expected it to keep running, it didn't. It had no choice. Something was wrong with it and it kept rolling around on the ground. It was moving around but it could hardly walk. It reminded me a lot of my cat that contracted "milk fever." I sat there with my headlights focused in on this rabbit for about 2 minutes and I desperately wanted to get out and help it...but I thought I shouldn't because it could have had rabies or something. The sight of that helpless rabbit stuck in my head for a while after seeing it. I'm not sure why it bothered me so bad, but I think it teaches us a lesson. We are able people, and we have the responsibility to help those who can't do the same things as we can. Tonight, I should have helped that rabbit, but I really didn't know what I could do to help it.

A possibility: the next crisis call a receive will be someone who has helped a rabbit in distress in the past and they will tell me what I should have done. I learn more from the calls I receive and the people I talk to than I could ever teach someone else over the phone.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Is It Gonna Work?

So, my blog fails. Epically. When I'm doing something cool (like travelling in Ecuador or working in California), I seem to have no problem keeping everyone updated with what is going on in my life. But, when I am in school and busy doing other stuff, my blog falls to the back burner. That is proven by the fact it hasn't been updated in nearly 4 months. Maybe more than that. I want to change that. This is my last semester in college. I've learned something I suppose. I want my blog not only to be about the fun stuff that happens in my life, but letting you in on stuff that I've learned over my past few years here at Emory & Henry.

I'll just highlight some important points from the past few months of my life:

• My summer ended great. After finishing work at CTY in California, I travelled to Yosemite National Park and Las Vegas. It ended up being the best summer of my life.
• I began my work as President of the Student Body.
• I have been working as an intern with the Crisis Center in Bristol. I help people solve their problems. It is quite challenging, but at the same time I am learning a lot about myself and other people.
• This is my last fall semester at Emory & Henry. Wow. It is over in two weeks!

As most of you know, I am fascinated by airplanes. One of my good friends helped me realize that I am not going to be happy unless I'm a pilot. So, after I graduate from Emory & Henry, I am going to pilot school to become a professional pilot. I get more and more excited about this each day. I was driving through Bristol today and I saw a jet preparing for it's landing at Tri-Cities Airport and I got really excited. I know...you probably think I'm weird as hell, but that's the kind of thing I get excited about. If everything goes as planned, I am going to enter an accelerated training program after graduation and I should have my commercial pilot's license 5 months after I gradate from E&H and hopefully this time next year I'll be working for an airline!

Here is what I want my blog to give you over the next little while: what I know, what I learn, what I experience in my travelling (I have upcoming trips over Christmas break to Arizona and London, England), my thoughts on things I read (I'll put up interesting articles and such), what one's last semester of college is like, and everything in between.

I hope I don't slack as usual.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

A Birthday of Fun, A Trip to Reno...and a Bunch in Between

Again, I have been neglectful. First off, I would like to give a shout-out to my good friend Catherine Robert who I worked with last summer here in Santa Cruz. She is one of the faithful readers of my blog and she is good about reminding me when I forget to update.

I stay so darn busy here. For some reason, it seems like I am staying much more busy than last summer and it is really hard for me to find time to sit down and update this blog. I will give you a slight synopsis of the last few days.

I turned 21 last Tuesday. I am happy to say that I didn't drink a drop on my 21st birthday. It was a great birthday though. Tarah, my good friend from Virginia Tech, is working at a CTY camp in Palo Alto about an hour from Santa Cruz. She rode the bus over on the morning of my birthday and me, Jordan, and Colton picked her up at the bus stop. We went to Denny's where I had gravy and biscuits (wahoo!) and then we showed Tarah around the campus here where we work. We then proceded to travel up the coast of California towards San Francisco. We stopped at some beautiful beaches and also a lighthouse. It was a great drive. We eventually ended up in San Francisco where we visited the Golden Gate Bridge. There are pictures from the trip below. After we left the Golden Gate Bridge, we visited Stanford (where Tarah is working) and Santa Clara University (where Jordan graduated from.) We also went to a mall where I got a pair of $31 Adidas shoes. It was great.

Camp ended on Friday. Our students from first session left then. I was kind of sad to see mine go. I had a good group of guys. As soon as the students were gone, Jordan, Colton, and I left for our journey to Reno, Nevada. By the time we fought traffic, it took us about 5 hours to get there. We got there around 10:30, ate at Jack In the Box, checked into our hotel, and then we walked around the city. I gambled for the first time. I lost $25 on the slot machines. Even though we were gone for only 24 hours, this was possibly one of the best trips I have taken in my entire life.

On Saturday morning, we got up and left Reno. Before we left, we bought matching t-shirts and hats. On the way back we visited Lake Tahoe. It was absolutely beautiful. We made it back just in time for our staff meeting at 6:30 here in Santa Cruz. It was a great time.

Now, I'm sitting here getting ready to tell my new kiddies to turn their lights out. Hopefully another adventure will happen soon. They are too much fun.

Lots of pictures are below.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

The most beautiful lake I've ever seen

At Lake Tahoe

Rocks at Lake Tahoe, CA

Lake Tahoe, California

Panoramic Picture of Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe, California

Oh no! It's empty!

My first slot machines!

RENO!

At the Golden Gate Bridge

Pigeon Point Lighthouse; Highway 1, California

My Bad

Hey everyone who may still read this. I figured I would give you an update about my time here at camp in California.

The past week or so has been very interesting. We have had a flu outbreak. There have been many kids to leave and go home. I began to get a sickness but mine only lasted for about a day. We now have a seperate dorm that all the sick kids are staying in and we are now required to take the temperatures of all our kids. The college is also making us eat in our own seperate dining room so we don't contaminate the other camps that are here. It is quite the experience.

Otherwise, everything has been going great. We've been spending the majority of our free time exploring places around Santa Cruz and just taking time to relax. My kids are great. My time here is great. Its another awesome summer. I will leave you with some pictures.






Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Address

Last year, I really enjoyed getting birthday cards out here in California...and my birthday is coming up soon. Here is my address if you would like to suprise me with a letter or card.

Zach Triplett
JHU-CTY Summer Programs
c/o Central Conferences
College 9, Res Bldg. 2, Apt. 2231
UCSC
1156 High St
Santa Cruz, CA 95064

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Good Times in Santa Cruz

I enjoyed myself last summer. Perhaps, last summer was possibly the best summer I had ever experienced. This summer is starting off in a similar way. First, my cross country trip was one of the best experiences of my life. I got to see so much. Now, I'm enjoying my time working with the kids here at camp.

I have been a bit sore lately. I sprained my ankle somewhere in the midst of my and Colton's 13 mile hike at Big Sur and I am just starting to recover from that. On top of that, my legs are also covered with poison oak and I have a couple blisters on my feet. I am pushing on though.

I have really taken the initiative to get in shape. Day before yesterday, I played Ultimate Frisbee with some of the RAs and then we played Volleyball. Yesterday and today both I woke up around 6AM and took some of the campers running at the track. Yesterday, I ran a mile and today I did 1.5 miles. I am taking the morning off tomorrow to sleep in though.

I am staying super busy here. Sorry I'm not getting to update that much. Once I get caught up on my sleep I will think of some funny stories to tell. Today, one of my kids who speaks Spanish gave me a lesson on Spanish cuss words. Now I know what to look out for!

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Apologies

Ladies and gentlemen,

I apologize for slacking on my blog. I realize it has become a serious problem and I figured I would address it right now while I have some free time. It is currently 12:25AM local time in Santa Cruz, California.

The last three weeks of my life have been pretty much crazy. My last few days in Ecuador were great and even though I was ready to get back to the United States, I was kind of upset to leave my friends and my new "life" behind me. It was a good time though. An update...I got robbed and shot at in Ecuador. Most of you have heard these stories...if not, email me and I'll fill you in. The situations were quite comical and exhilerating at the same time. I didn't write about these originally in my blog because I didn't want people back home to worry about me.

I am tired and for that reason I am going to give a quick run through of the past couple weeks. I got home from Ecuador on a Tuesday. On Wednesday, I visited everyone in Haysi and on Thursday I visited everyone around Emory. Then, me and mom left for Cincinnati on Thursday night. On Friday morning, we woke up and she dropped me off at the University of Cincinnati where I met my friend Colton and his friends Bryant and Nick. We began our trip to Chicago. Chicago was a great city. Out of all the cities I have visited on the east coast and now the midwest, Chicago was my favorite. On Saturday we visited the Museum of Science and Industry, went to the top of the Sears Tower, walked around the city, ate the original Chicago Style Pizza at Uno's...and had a really good time. On Sunday, me and Colton headed to the Amtrak station to begin our journey across the country.

After 60 hours on the Amtrak which turned out to be awesome, we arrived in Tucson, Arizona on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, we hung out with Colton's mom and dad and helped his mom do some stuff around town related to the house they just bought. On Thursday, me and Colton woke up and went hiking in the desert. It was the most intense hike I had ever had up until that point. I didn't drink enough water and I got dehydrated. I think I may have actually had a little bit of heat stroke or something. I was sweating profusely, chilling in the 105 degree heat, and I was also having some emotional problems. It was very intense. Colton's mom hooked me up with a ton of ice and wet towel and she basically nursed me back to health...so it all turned out good. On Friday, me and Colton went to Phoenix with his parents and walked around the city a little bit. It was also a good time. On Saturday, we went to a park about 30 miles outside of Tucson and did some hiking. It was also good.

On Sunday after eating Father's Day breakfast with Colton's dad, we started our journey north. We arrived in Los Angeles and met up with my cousin Mac and his wife Marta where we spent the night. On Monday, Mac took us all around the big places around Los Angeles. On Tuesday, we got up around 5:15, got ready, and went further north. After stopping in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Malibu, we finally arrived around Big Sur at our campground. We walked to the beach which was directly across the road and enjoyed ourselves.

On Wednesday, we hiked 13 miles. Enough said about that. It was awesome!

On Thursday, we headed north to Santa Cruz. We stopped in Carmel and did the 17 mile drive. It was nice. We finally arrived in Santa Cruz and now we are already at work at CTY. The kids get here on Sunday so we have been preparing for that.

Most of the people who read this have facebook...so all of my pictures are on there. I'm not going to put them on google like I did in Ecuador. That would take way too much time.

The past two weeks and the trip was probably one of the best times of my life. It has been a great experience. Now...it's time to work for a few weeks. I'm excited about the kids getting here. It will be a good time. I promise I will update more often now.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

HA

Besides the mountain climbing experience yesterday...nothing exciting has happened.

Otherwise, here are some good stories and random thoughts:
-I rode in a taxi the other night that was driving me 90 kilometers per hour down the city streets of Quito. It was intense.
-Last night, I rode in a taxi that didn´t have brakes and the driver was using the emergency break to slow down and stop.
-My host mom is very funny. She tried to save a handicapped bird that was tied up on the street yesterday. It turns out the people who had it tied up were going to eat the pigeon for dinner...so she left it to be.
-I told my teacher today that I needed to wash my car and my mom. I really need to get these verbs straight.
-I rode on a bus the other day that was so crowded the doors wouldn´t shut.
-I eat rice everyday.
-A week from Sunday, I´m going on a 59 hour train ride across the country with my friend Colton. Some people tell me we are crazy for spending 59 hours of our lives on a train. I beg to differ.
-I attempted to put some videos on YouTube for you to see, but the files are too big and I can´t do it here. Once I get to a better computer, I will do that.

I will be back in the United States on Tuesday! My time here has gone by fast. Even thought I´ve met a ton of people, I´m excited about seeing everyone next week!

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Pictures

At this point in time, I don´t have time to do a long update. That will come probably tomorrow.

Today, I visited the Teleferiqo which is a cable car that goes to the top of the mountain behind Quito. It was almost 14,000 feet elevation! It was amazing to say the least.

There are a few pictures at the bottom of this album.

Ecuador

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Apparently, I Like Fire

I apologize for slacking on this lately. Really, nothing worth updating has happened. But, I will provide you with a funny story.

Today, I told my Spanish teacher...in Spanish...that I liked to burn my family and my friends. That is what the subject of this post refers to.

I come home in 6 days! Yes, Ecuador has been a great experience and I have met cool people, learned Spanish, and visited (and will visit) some cool places...but I am ready to get back to the United States. I am not happy with my flight situation on the way back. This may get confusing, so try to follow along:

The American Airlines flight out of Quito that I will take next week is almost always delayed. I have a one hour and 50 minute layover in Miami...which means if the plane is delayed next Tuesday...I will have a short time in Miami. While I am in Miami, I have to go through customs, collect my luggage, recheck my bags, and make my connecting flight in a different terminal. So...everyone hope that my flight from Quito leaves on time and not an hour late as usual. If I miss my flight to Charlotte, I´ll admit...I will cry.

I´m going out with my friends from Clemson tonight. We´ve discovered some neat bars\dance clubs here in Quito and they create for a good time. I´m looking forward to that. Then, this weekend, I am heading to Otavalo...a huge market about 2 hours from the city. It will be a good time as well.

See everyone in...6 days! Yeah!

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

You Have Got to Be Kidding Me

So...yesterday.

I went to Spanish class then I came here to the internet café to take care of some business as usual. If you´re wandering, that business consisted of checking facebook, email...and that´s about it.

I decided I was going to visit the Old Town...or the historic part of Quito...just as I am going to do today. I got on the Ecovia (one of the main bus lines) and normally it is packed. Yesterday, it wasn´t. A seat opened up beside a couple of people and I noticed they were speaking english...so I proceded to ask them if they were from the United States. They said they were from North Carolina. I told them my school was about an hour across the mountain from Boone and it was about 20 minutes from the North Carolina border. Here is the rest of the conversation between Channa (the girl) and I:

Channa: Do you know where Bristol is?
Zach: Yeah...my school is only about 20 minutes from Bristol.
Channa: Do you know where Abingdon is?
Zach: Yeah! I go to Emory & Henry!
Channa: Oh my gosh! I graduated from Abingdon High School!

That might not have been the exact wording...but it was similar. I am in the middle of Quito, Ecuador, got on a random bus, and met a girl who graduated from Abingdon High School! It was nuts.

Everything is good. I have the weekend ahead and I´m not sure what I´m going to do yet.

Yesterday, after I hung out with Channa and her friend Estyn for a little while, I visited the San Francisco Monestary and Museum. It was very interesting. I paid $2 and had an english speaking guide walk me around the museum. It was cool.

See everyone in 10 days!

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Spanish Mishaps

Of course, if you´re just learning Spanish, you are going to have words confused and things sometimes aren´t going to come out right. Since I really don´t have anything to talk about on my blog today, I will update you on a few of the mishaps I have had over the past few days. Me and my spanish ¨profesora¨ spent a good time laughing over most of these.

1. She wanted me to write down the past tense of verbs. She said ¨pasado¨ which is the spanish word for past. I quickly asked her, ¨fish?¨ The spanish word for fish is pescado...I had gotten them confused.

2. Today, she was asking me what I ate for dinner with my Ecuadorian family. I was explaining in spanish that my family really doesn´t eat dinner...and I was telling her some of the things I fix for myself. I said, ¨Yo como sanduches de jabón.¨ Translated: I like to eat soap sandwiches. I meant to say jamon, the word for ham.

3. Today, I was trying to tell her that my host sisters in Ecuador do not speak english, that they only speak spanish. I said, ¨Mi hijas ecuadoriana no hablo inglés.¨ Translated: My ecuadorian daughters do not speak english.¨ I quickly turned myself around and explained to her that I was talking of my ecuadorian hermanas, or sisters and I am positive I have no ecuadorian daughters.

4. One of our daily exercizes is that we go through verbs, and I ask my teacher questions in spanish. Yesterday, I asked her, ¨Que gusta hace in la noche?¨ Translated: What do you like to do in the night? I was expecting to get the answer from her, ¨I like to sleep.¨ I think she took my question pervertedly and she thought I was hitting on her and asking her out. It was confusing.

5. I´m not going to try any spanish for this one, but I asked my teacher yesterday why she liked to work in the mountains. I meant to ask her why she liked to travel in the mountains.

I hope everything is good in the United States. I return in 11 days. Although I am enjoying Ecuador, I´m ready to get back.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

The Excitement of a Bank

So,

Ecuadorian banks are not like banks in America. Well, banks in Southwest Virginia that is. The bank I went to a few minutes ago was very similar to a DMV. You walk in, punch in some information on a computer, and you are given a number. When I got there, I received number C400. The tellers were on number C345. That meant there were 55 people in front of me! I ended up waiting about 45 minutes to see a teller.

Anyways...two interesting things. Most little shops, especially the internet cafés in Quito, won´t take bills larger than 1s! They won´t even change a $5 bill. So, I went to the ATM and it gave me two 20s and two 5s. I didn´t know what to tell the teller, so my host mom wrote out a conversation for me on a piece of paper. When I went to the window assigned to me, I kindly said, ¨Hola! Yo no hablo español,¨and then I handed the teller my money and instructions...haha. It was basically like one of those robberies where a person walks up to the bank window and hands the teller instructions on what to do...except my instructions said graçias with a big exclamation point at the bottom. It was a good time and the teller laughed because of the instructions and fact I wanted 50 one dollar bills.

The other interesting thing. People get really excited when they´re number is called. If you went to a bank and had to wait 45 minutes to see a teller...you would be excited too! Anyways, there was this shorter lady in a business suit who had on really high heels and she was sitting in the seat beside me waiting. Her number was called. She jumped up really quickly not noticing that the front of her foot was wrapped around the chair leg in front of us. She flattened out in front of the whole host of people waiting to see tellers. Everyone from Ecuador was like ,¨ahh!¨ and they ran to help her. I, on the other hand, had to keep my cackle inside. I think I was the only one laughing. I really need to learn not to laugh at inappropriate situations like that.

I don´t know what I´m going to do this afternoon. I may go to the Vivarium...it´s a museum with all kinds of live reptiles. On the other hand, I may go back and take a nap.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

A Day in the Life of Zach

I said a few days ago that I was going to educate you on the culture of Ecuador. I have a list of topics made up...but I figured I would do something different. Here is a day in the life of me, in Quito:

6:15- I wake up because the sun is coming through my window. I roll over, pull the blankets over my head, and try to sleep a few more minutes.
7:00- This must be when everyone begins to drive to work because this is when car horns start blowing. By now, I am awake...and I probably won´t go back to sleep. My bed is comfortable so I continue laying there for another 30 minutes.
7:30- Now, it´s time for me to start getting ready. I only have an hour to get to the spanish school. I gather all of my shower stuff and head to the bathroom.
7:33- I walk in the bathroom and turn on the hot water and wait for it to make it´s way from the water heater in the kitchen. This takes approximately 3 minutes.
7:36- The water is steaming, so I step in. I make sure the large window in the shower is barely cracked so that the neighbors in nearby apartment are not blinded by my white, American posterior.
7:45- I get out of the shower and head back to my room to get dressed. I put on my clothes and make my bed because it would be rude for me to leave my room a mess in someone else´s house.
7:53- After getting dressed and making my bed, I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I have to be careful not to swallow any of the water out of the sink when rinsing my brush so that I don´t contract E-coli which could lead to bad number 2´s.
8:00- I head to the kitchen where Cecilia, my host mom, has a slice of pineapple waiting on me. I pop two pieces of toast in the toaster, layer it with ¨marmalada de frutas¨, and eat the toast along with my one ¨omelette egg¨, as Cecilia says.
8:15- After discussing the weather, breakfast, and some Spanish with Cecilia, I head back to my room to gather my things. I put $5 in my back pocket in case of a mugging, my keys in my left pocket, change in my right pocket, and grab my backpack.
8:21- I´m out the door!
8:22- I wait a minute for the elevator to get to the top of the apartment building, then I ride it down.
8:24- ¨Hola, amigo! Buenas dias,¨ I tell the apartment guy as I walk out the front door.
8:25- Now, I´m at the intersection of Seis de Diceiembre and Orellana. I rush across the road to keep from getting hit by a taxi all while having a bus honk it´s horn at me. It´s not very often that a unusually tall, red bearded gringo is running across the streets of Quito.
8:27- I turn the corner of Yanez Pinzon street and head towards the language school. I pass many people in suits who are headed out to work. I, the gringo (American), am in my Gap pants, an E&H tshirt, and either my trusty North Face sweatshirt or my favorite Old Navy sweatshirt.
8:30- I arrive in front of the Equinoccal language school and hit the button to have the gate opened for me. After they look through their little security camera and see it is me, they buzz me in.
10:30- By this time, I have had two hours of español and I want a break. My teacher lets me go get a drink of water and chat with my friends at the school for a bit.
12:30- I am starved! After having them buzz me out of the gate at the language school, I head straight for my apartment.
12:43- After taking my backpack to my bedroom, I head straight to the kitchen where Cecilia has a plate of food waiting on me.
1:07- I usually finish eating my rice and whatever else around now and I head to my bedroom to put some more change in my pocket.
1:15- I leave now to head to the internet café to check my email, check my facebook, and update my blog!! Yea!
2:45- Depending on the amount of email and such that I have, I usually head out of the internet café around this time.
2:45-5:15- During this time, I may go a park, a museum...something like that. After I am done with that, I head back to the internet café before it gets dark to check my email and facebook one final time for the day. Sometimes, important messages come within those three hours!
6:15- I usually head back to the apartment around this time.
6:25- I arrive back at the apartment and head for my bedroom.
6:32- After thinking about the day for approximately 7 minutes, I pick up my book I´m reading and read until around 7:45.
7:45- I head to the kitchen a fix a ham sandwich...yeah! My splurge of American food each day.
7:55- I head back to my bedroom and do my Spanish homework. Usually, it takes me around 45 minutes.
9:00- I go to my closet, grab my toothbrush, floss, head to the bathroom, brush my teeth, floss, and then I head to bed.
11:10- I usually wake up around this exact time every night. I think there is a really loud plane that goes over around this time every night.
11:13- I´m back to sleep.
12:30- A car alarm goes off. Awake again. Then, I´m back to sleep and sleep until 6:15 the next morning!

Wow...that turned out much longer than I expected. I hope you like it though.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Yesterday, I Walked on the Equator

A few times that I have updated, I have told about what I considered to be my best time yet in Ecuador. Once again, I will say that yesterday was the best day I have had thus far in Ecuador.

I took a trip with the group from Clemson. We met at the school around 9 yesterday morning and headed north of Quito towards the equator. On the way, we stopped at an overlook. I forgot what the name of the volcano was that we were looking at, but it was an amazing view. There is a picture in my photo album.

We left there and headed towards the equator. We first encountered the equator at a museum we visited. It was a museum that demonstrated how the Incas lived. It was very interesting. In this museum is where the equator passed. It is where all of my pictures of the equator were taken. There were many neat instruments they had placed on the equator to demonstrate the forces of gravity and the sun telling time and seasons and such.

We left there and visited La Mitad del Mundo, or, the middle of the world. We ate lunch at a nice little café and then visited an ethnographic museum that explained all the different peoples that live in Ecuador. It was very interesting. Even though most of the day was spent learning stuff in Spanish, I got the general idea of what the guides were trying to tell us.

We arrived back in Quito around 4 yesterday evening and then we went out to a bar\dance place last night. It was fun. There was a ton of spanish music and all of a sudden...Usher came on. Of course, I danced a lot. Since it is dangerous to walk from my apartment to the ¨Mariscal¨, or club area of the city, I had to take a taxi by myself to the Mariscal last night. I got a taxi, told him where I needed to go, negotiated a price, and paid him...all in spanish! It was good. Even though it may sound simple, and it was, I was proud of myself because I did the whole thing in spanish. At around 1230, I took a taxi back as well.

I stayed in bed until 1030 this morning which is different for me considering I have been waking up at 7 every morning. It was good to just relax. I don´t know what I´m going to do this afternoon. I may go the park not far from where I live and finish reading my book I´m on. I will have it done by this afternoon. That will make two books that I have read since I have been here. And, I only brought two. I´m going to have to seek out an english bookstore here in the city and buy a couple more to last the rest of the time while I am here.

I added a few new pictures from the equator to my album:

Ecuador

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

It´s Friday!

Here in Quito, Friday´s feel the same as they do in the United States...I am glad they finally come around. I have two days free of spanish classes which is a big relief. Even though my spanish classes are going pretty good, it´s nice to have a break.

Yesterday, I visited the Botanical Gardens. It was actually a good visit. It cost me $3.50 to get in and I could walk around as much as I wanted. A couple good pictures I took are in the photos I have uploaded.

After I visited the Botanical Gardens, I went and laid by a pond in a park for about an hour and just watched people. It was fun.

Tomorrow, I am headed off to la mitad del mundo...the equator! I leave here around 9am in the morning and I will get back around 5 tomorrow evening. I am going with the language school so there is no need in worrying about me getting lost somewhere in random Ecuador. I will be fine.

I put a few new pictures in my album. Enjoy-

Ecuador

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Going on a Week

Tomorrow, I will have been in Quito for seven days. That is hard to believe. I was counting up last night...I really don´t have that much time left here. I have 11 days of Spanish classes and 3 weekends. The last weekend I am here I am taking a trip to Otavalo, so it will go by fast.

I figured I would make today a more worthy update than yesterday. Actually, yesterday after my update has been my best time in Quito yet. I have decided that instead of just having my blog, ¨Zach did this...Zach did that,¨ I will try to teach you a little bit more about the Ecuadorian culture than what I have been doing. I feel like the last few posts have just been similar to a journal or something and I am not really teaching you about life in Ecuador. So, my plan for tonight sometime...I am going to sit down, make a list of things that stand out to me (the children here, food, clothes, cars, etc.) and each day that I update, I will try to teach you something new about Ecuador.

First off, I was disappointed to get to my email this afternoon and have no emails...from anyone...nada. I look forward to hearing from people and all my faithful readers did great for the first 4 or 5 days. But you are slacking now. Get back at it!

Yesterday after I updated, I began to walk back towards my apartment. I can´t remember if I told you this yesterday, but I made a list of 16 different museums, gardens, parks, and things like that I want to see while I am here. Since I have all of my afternoons free, that basically gives me one thing to do each afternoon from now until I leave.

Anyways, yesterday, I began to walk back towards my apartment because I was going to go to the Botanical Gardens. According to my handy-dandy Ecuador guide book, it was opened in 2005 and has over 300 species of plants native to Ecuador. Of course, being my touristy self, I want to visit the Botanical Gardens. As I was walking, I passed by one of the city bus stops. The city buses here are only 25 cents but I had been afraid to get on them since I don´t speak spanish. Well, yesterday, I decided I was going to brave up, get on a bus, and go to the historic district.

Once I got off the bus stop, I walked directly to find the city square. I learned in Urban Geography this past semester that one of the main points in South American cities is the plaza. So, I found it. I just sat down and was watching all the people when all of a sudden, I heard music. I looked around and what I assume to be the national army/military band was walking around the plaza. All of a sudden, they doubled in numbers. There was some type of celebration going on and I got there just in time to see it! Some of the military guys were on horses playing their instruments and it was very organized. It was quite an amazing site.

Pictures- Just to let you know, pictures are a pain here. Sometime tomorrow afternoon or this weekend, I plan to put up a few more. I won´t be putting up many while I am here. Once I get back to the United States, I will make an entire Ecuador album on my google account and let you see every single picture I have taken. It will be much easier once I get back. Also, I have a few videos of the event I witnessed on the plaza yesterday that I will put on YouTube and link to my blog.

Otherwise, everything is going well. It is only 2pm here, so I think I may head to the Botanical Gardens today since I didn´t go yesterday.

Email people! Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

The Life of Quito

Spanish is about to kill me. I have spent the past two days learning one verb. Although it is hard, I am learning.

I met a group of people from Clemson University yesterday at the language school. It is good to have some people here from America that I know now. I was supposed to go to a salsa class with them last night but it turns out the dance teacher had the times wrong so we went to a little restaurant instead.

I´m going to have to start updating my blog before I reply to all kinds of emails. By now, I am tired of typing.

I will sit down tonight and make a list of things I want to talk about in my blog tomorrow. I promise I will have a more rewarding post tomorrow.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

A Few Pictures

Funny...I´m at the internet cafe nearly 3 hours from earlier and My Humps just came on again.

Just to let you know, pictures are a hassle to upload from here. I uploaded 11 and they will give you a general idea of where I live and such. Below is the link.

Ecuador

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

My Humps in Ecuador

The internet café I come to in Ecuador plays a variety of American music. As of right now, Fergie is blasting with My Humps. It is quite comical.

Thanks for the emails everyone! My blog post from yesterday definitely prompted emails and now I have my work cut out for me responding. It is good though...I like hearing from people.

Today was my first day of spanish classes. They went well. My spanish school is about a 5-10 minute walk from my apartment. It´s in a house and the people are really nice. There is a group of students from Clemson University there as well but I didn´t get to meet them today. I´m hoping to meet them soon and maybe they will give me some people from America to hang out with.

My spanish teacher is really nice. She doesn´t speak a lot of english, but she speaks enough for me to communicate with her. I am actually suprised at how much spanish I picked up in the 4 hours I had class this morning. I have a lot of studying to do tonight.

I promise I will put up pictures soon. I would do it right now but I can´t find the computer that goes with this monitor. I know that may sound stupid, but it is true.

I am off for now. I need to reply to the emails I received, send a couple more, then go study for a while. Don´t think my trip to Ecuador is a vacation...it is actually going to be a lot of work.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

I Live Above a Gynecologist

First, I´ll explain the title. I live on the 7th floor of an apartment building. On the first floor is a gynecologist office. I just found it amusing when I walked in to where I was living the other day and there was a sign for a gynecologist office in the lobby.

I figured since I was at the internet café checking my email and such this morning I would give you an update on yesterday. After I updated my blog, I headed back to the apartment for lunch. Eating is much different here. Basically, I eat a banana or something and then a couple pieces of toast along with a cup of hot tea. I´ve never been a big tea person but I´m learning to like it. Different from in the Estados Unidos (United States), the big meal of the day is lunch. Yesterday, my host mom fixed us really good homemade spaghetti. It was very tasty. After lunch, I headed out to explore the city a little bit.

I found a park that is about 45 minutes from the apartment. I am afraid to use the bus system right now since my Spanish is not good so I have been walking a lot. The park was really nice. It had a little pond and a lazy river type thing with rowboats and paddle boats. It was cool. I took some pictures and I will put them up later. I don´t want to put up a lot of pictures until I have a few more.

I am off to a park that overlooks the city now. I have figured up that it will take me about an hour to walk back to the apartment from the park and I have to be back by two so it will be good timing. The streets are very easy to navigate here so I won´t get lost.

I will check my email later on this evening before it gets dark here. If anyone reads this today and wants to email me, feel free. I´ve not gotten any emails from anyone and I would be excited to get them.

Hasta luego!

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

I Made It!

So, I made it to Ecuador. It was definitely an interesting day yesterday. Not knowing if I was going to have a seat on my flight from Charlotte to Miami, I got at the airport 3 hours early to find out that I did indeed have a seat. Since the small plane I rode on from Charlotte to Miami wasn´t worthy of a real gate at the airport, we were parked on the taxiway and put on a bus that took us to the airport.

Since I didn´t book my ticket here until Monday because of my series of unfortunate kidney events, I had a middle seat from Miami to Quito. The flight was about 3 hours and 40 minutes and it was quite bumpy to be on a large plane. Arriving at the Quito airport was interesting. The airport is right in the middle of the city. So, when you are landing, it looks like you are landing right on top of multiple buildings. But, it turns out you are on the runway. Customs was much easier than I expected. Basically they just stamped my passport and sent my bags through an x-ray machine and that was it. As I was walking through the area where people get picked up by cabs and stuff, I heard my name called. It was some random guy at a cab window. It turns out my driver had called him to let him know that he was running a couple minutes late and I just needed to wait. Eventually my driver, Benecio, came and drove me to my host family´s house. It could have possibly been the scariest ride I have ever taken in my life.

My host mom is very nice. She speaks english rather well. I can have a conversation with her. I have my own bedroom with a great view of the city. The flight path for the airport runs right outside my window so I can sit on my bed and watch planes fly right over! I´ll put up pictures of my home sometime later.

I slept ok last night. I am right in the middle of the city and there are all kinds of car horns and such. There is a major issue in this city with car alarms. Apparently when a bus drives by and jars a car it can cause the alarm to go off. Also, my host mom says the wind from busses cause fruit to fall from the trees and land on cars and set the alarms off. Apparently, the windows in my bedroom are not very thick because I heard alarms all night.

There is another man staying in the apartment until Thursday. His name is Ray and he has been here for 3 weeks already. He told me a lot about the city last night and then we walked around a bit this morning. I have discovered this little internet cafe this morning while walking. It is cheap and it has phone booths where I can call the United States for about 7 cents per minute. It is good.

For now, I am going to run. I really don´t have anything at all to do today. I think I´ll go back and get my backpack and walk to a park and read or something. There are all kinds of parks around the city. If anything excited happens by tomorrow evening, I will update again. Otherwise, I´ll update after my first day of language classes on Monday.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

In the midst of packing my stuff for Ecuador, I decided to take a break and share a picture with you.

Today, I was laying in my hammock outside my apartment. I was staring at the ground while I laid. It's amazing. If you look at the grass from a distance, it looks so still. But, if you're about 2 feet from it just staring, you can see all the movement; ants, spiders, and other creatures. It was great.

I decided to go inside and get my new camera and see what kind of pictures it takes in situations such as this. This is one of the pictures I got:



Back to packing for Ecuador. Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

It's Still On

Hey folks. I figured I would give you an update. Right now, I should be departing Miami for Quito, Ecuador...but I'm not. It's ok though.

The last time I updated, I had underwent surgery and had a stent placed in me to help me pass my stones. I went to the doctor in Kingsport today and he has released me to go on my trip Friday. I have already bought a plane ticket for Friday so I will be going to Ecuador then!

I am excited. At first, I was very disappointed. But, everything happens for a reason. I'm still going to Ecuador though.

I bought a new digital camera the other day! Yesterday, it was a b-e-a-utiful day here at Emory and since I didn't have anything to keep me occupied due to my trip delay, I decided to walk around and take some pictures of campus. Here is the link to those photos:

Emory on May 10, 2009

Enjoy. Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

A Slight Setback

The past couple days of my life have been rather eventful. I will give you a day-by-day breakdown and I will make it short:

Wednesday: I go to have a Cat Scan done for my kidney stones before I leave for Ecuador on Monday. I leave there, go to the hospital where my mom is having surgery, then head back to Emory to take my last exam. I didn't think I did good on my exam and I had a B going into it, but I didn't do that bad because I ended up with a B in that class. That's another point of excitement...I made 3 As, an A-, and a B for the semester! I'm excited. That day went on with no other happenings...besides me going to eat Mexican with my two aunts and two cousins, which was fun.

Thursday (yesterday): I get up early and go to Johnson City with my friend Dana. While we are there, the college nurse calls and says that Dr. Elmore (my doctor) wants me to see a urologist before I leave for Ecuador. My cat scan showed that I had a 7mm kidney stone blocking my ureter and I also had another 3mm stone somewhere else. So, after having my records faxed all over the planet it seemed, I ended up at Bristol Urology yesterday evening. I saw the nurse practitioner and she told me that my trip to Ecuador wouldn't be feasible unless I had something done about this because if I put it off, I could lose a kidney. So, after being upset for a minute about my trip, I realized that I purchased trip insurance so it shouldn't be a problem to put off my trip a couple days. The nurse practitioner makes some phone calls and gets me an appointment with a urologist in Kingsport this morning at 8:15. Yesterday evening, Josh (the kid I mentor) came to Emory and we played ping pong for a while. It was good to get my mind off of this mess.

Today: I visit the urologist in Kingsport this morning at 8:15. He tells me he wants to do surgery today at 1:00. So, I went directly to the hospital and checked in. He went in, shocked and lasered my stones, and now I'm sitting in my aunt's condo in Bristol with a stent in me. My trip is being postponed for a just a few days. I have an appointment on Monday morning to have an x-ray and a follow-up with my doctor in Kingsport. If everything goes as planned, I should be off to Ecuador by Friday or Saturday, Monday at the latest.

I was depressed about this at first, but it's best I had this done rather than lose a kidney in Ecuador! I'll keep everyone up to date. Sorry you had to hear about my dang kidney stone troubles, but I figured I should explain rather than just say I wasn't going to Ecuador Monday. This is a set back, but at least I will be healthy in Ecuador and my later trip to California.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

One Week

I can remember updating this blog several months ago and telling you how I was going to Ecuador in May. Now, I can't believe it is only one week away. That is simply hard to believe.

This year has flown by. I can't believe I will be a senior next year. Everyone keeps asking me what I want to do after graduation. I don't know. That is a year away. My advisor and I had a good talk the other day and he brought it to my attention that I worry about the future way too much. I just need to chill and not worry. I have big plans for the summer, and I need to focus on those instead of worrying what I'm going to be doing a year from now.

My interests have changed somewhat over the past year, so it's hard telling what I will want to do a year from now. I'll just go where the wind blows me...although at this time it seems to be blowing me towards the Peace Corps. It is very enticing. But, I'm not worried about that right now.

I leave for Ecuador next Sunday. Dad is taking me to Charlotte and we're spending Sunday night and then my plane leaves at 10:15 on Monday morning. My Spanish has made a little bit of progress. Even though I can speak Spanish un poco (a little), I think I will just tell people down there that I can't speak it. Because technically, I can't. That's the whole reason I'm going to Ecuador...to learn Spanish. I feel like it is better for me to go down there with a small knowledge instead of trying to teach myself and learning it wrong.

I'm still debating on whether or not to take my laptop. I don't think I would use it. I definitely won't be carrying it around because there is a chance I could get mugged and I wouldn't want to lose my laptop! I will probably just find a cozy little internet cafe somewhere around where I live where I can go and sip coffee, update my blog, and email everyone.

I'm excited, yet anxious at the same time about this next adventure in my life. I've never been out of the country, and I'm going by myself! It will be interesting. I will update again before I leave.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Get Dat Gold

This past week has been very exciting. As I said in my last post, I went at Atlanta this past weekend. Before I get to talking about my Atlanta trip, I would like to share a video with you. It's a video that was made at the Highlands Project (the afterschool program) and now it is on YouTube. I warn you though. Make sure your volume isn't too loud. It's quite comical and we had a fun time making it.

Now that you've watched that, on to the Atlanta trip. We left here on Thursday afternoon and drove to Ophelia, Georgia. On the way, we ate at a delicious Italian restaurant with Dr. Reiff's mom and dad. Then, we went to their house for birthday cake because it was Dr. Reiff's birthday. It was a good time.

Friday morning, we woke up and drove on into Atlanta. In addition to being plagued with kidney stones for the duration of the trip, I also ruined one of Dr. Reiff's handkerchiefs due to a random bloody nose. We went straight to St. Paul United Methodist Church which we called our home for the weekend. It was beautiful. It was built many years ago and the stained glass windows were amazing. We met and talked with the Pastor and she gave us a little bit of history about the church then just kind of hung out with us for a while. Soon thereafter, we left to go to the Gateway Center. The Gateway Center is a community outreach program run by the city of Atlanta to eradicate homelessness and assist those who may be facing homelessness. After taking a tour of the place, we played games with some guys who were residents there. It was great getting to talk to them. I learned how to play Chess! The most eye-opening part of the Gateway Center was walking through the women and children room and seeing lots of kids toys laying around in the make-shift bedrooms. It hit me hard. Later that evening, we went to a choir/orchestra concert and Emory University. It was good.

Saturday was the best day. We first went to Emmaus House. This place operates outreach programs to the youth in the area. The main thing we did was head over to a community center to assist with a community cook-out. It was great. There were a few community organizations there such as the YMCA and YWCA and they allowed kids to go around and learn about summer programs they offer and they could sign up for them. Here is the deal with this community: I looked around and we were the only white people anywhere. Normally, I would feel uncomfortable because of where I'm from. But, I didn't. I felt so welcomed. It was definitely a great feeling being welcomed into that community and I enjoyed that. Below is a picture of our group at the community center, and also a picture of us on the steps of the Emmaus House.

Later that night, we went to a friend of Dr. Reiff's house who he knew from seminary. The church she is a pastor at (Brookhaven United Methodist) does a lot of recovery ministries for recovering addicts. She had four people speak to us who were recovering addicts and at some point had a run-in with homelessness. This was very eye opening and I enjoyed it.

In retrospect, this trip was amazing. It was probably the best trip I have been on since I came to Emory & Henry.

This weekend, I am packing my stuff and heading to Cincinnati to hang out with my friend Colton. We're doing Cincinnati's Relay for Life (which I'm excited about because I haven't done Relay since high school), going to a Reds & Braves game, and just walking around the city some. Everyone knows my love of walking around places. I'm very excited about the weekend.

Below is a picture that was taken by my friend Alex. I really liked it and figured I would share. I hope everyone has a great week and weekend. Happy Earth Day tomorrow!

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Off to Atlanta

I'm off to Atlanta for the weekend with my Church & Community class! I'm really excited about this trip, although I'm going to miss my inauguration as student body president. It's ok though. I suppose I'll survive.

I will update when I get back. Here is a picture of me and Josh from this past week. He is the kid I work with at Highlands Project on campus who is now like my little brother. It may possibly be my favorite picture from this year. I'm gonna miss hanging out with him this summer while I'm in Ecuador and California.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Easter & Good News

Hey everyone! This past week has been great. It was one of the most hectic weeks of my life, but maybe the most rewarding since I have been here at Emory & Henry. I, along with my good friend Rachel Preston, were elected President and Vice-President of the student body. It is going to be a large undertaking but I feel as if it will be well worth it. Our campaign picture is at the bottom of this post.

I leave for Ecuador exactly 4 weeks from today. I am getting slightly nervous. I need to make it a point to sit down and learn a little bit more Spanish. I found some podcasts on iTunes and I have been learning some from them. Although, the man teaching it is scottish and he has a strong accent and pronounces it differently than what I as an American would pronounce the words. It is helping me to learn greetings and such though.

I have a busy couple of weeks ahead of me. Most of my upper level classes are not requiring me to take a final exam. Only two of my five classes I have final exams for. Most people would be excited about this, but with no final exam comes multiple long papers and projects. They are all due about exactly two weeks from now. I'm leaving this Thursday to go to Atlanta for my Church & Community class until Sunday. Then, the weekend after that I am going to Cincinnati to visit my friend Colton and plan our trip across the country.

I am getting very excited about the summer. I can't believe it's only 4 weeks away. It will fly by. Maybe something will come along later this week and I will have some good dough for a blog update.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Future Prez & VP