#I always thought it could be fun if they were decorating their boat with souvenirs from their travels

[nouverx]

Some post-timeskip Luffy redesign sketches because first of all I hate his wavy shirt and second of all I wish he could be more decorated, with jewelleries and tattoos and stuff

[tiramisiyu]

【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: 【夏彦拜访剧情】 Xia Yan’s Personal Story 2-13 Translation

Translated parts: Xia Yan’s Personal Story Chapter 2: 2-1 / 2-2 / 2-4 / 2-5 / 2-7 / 2-8 / 2-9 / 2-10 / 2-11 / 2-13 / 2-14 Translation Masterlist: here

Video: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1xV411m79T?p=10

A quick explanation of how this feature works is that each boy has their own section that you can “Visit”! Part of it is like MLQC’s GSH feature, where you can talk to the boys (with Live2D!) and raise intimacy by interacting with them. The other part of it is a storyline that centers on the MC running around with the respective boy to deal with a certain case or situation.

Outside the Church

After leaving the police station, Xia Yan and I headed to a church.

“Three years later, Marivisa left a message: “If you are willing, then miss me. If you are willing, then forget me”.”

“Zero responded by using his own methods to input this into his heart: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”.

Xia Yan: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” – this phrase comes from the gospel of St. Matthew.

MC: So, the place that hides your treasures is a church.

In the many churches of Stellis City, they all display steles – but after searching on the big data lab, we confirmed that there was only one church with this phrase on its stele.

MC: Over there – there’s a storage cabinet!

Beside the stele engraved with that phrase, there was a smart-cabinet.

MC: The storage cabinet’s password should be hidden in the poem’s first line.

MC: “If you are willing, then miss me. If you are willing, then forget me.”

MC: This is the poem by English poetess Christina Rossetti – “song”!

Xia Yan very quickly understood my words, repeating that poem verse’s original English verse.

Xia Yan: And if thou wilt, remember, and if thou wilt, forget.*

Xia Yan: To Zero, his answer would definitely be “remember”.

MC: “Using his own methods” – could it be binary system again? So we need to convert “remember” into numbers…

Xia Yan: That’s not right. A letter’s corresponding binary code has 8 digits.

Xia Yan: “Remember” has 8 letters. If it’s completely converted into binary code, then there will be 64 digits.

MC: The password can’t be 64 digits. Is there another way to convert letters into numbers?

Xia Yan: There is! Morse Code is also a kind of two-base code.

Xia Yan: We can first convert “remember” based on Morse Code, and then use 0 and 1 to distinguish between Morse Code’s short sounds and long sounds…

Xia Yan: Like this, the converted numbers are 010, 0, 11, 0, 11, 1000, 0, 010.

Xia Yan: After converting these into base-10 system, it’s… 39810.

Xia Yan entered the password 39810 into the system. Immediately, one cabinet door beside his hand popped open with a “click”.

Suddenly somewhat agitated, he looked inside, then quietly released a breath.

I was a little doubtful and was about to ask him, but my attention was caught by the thing that he took out from the cabinet –

It was a little ball pit decoration.

MC: Ah, this…

When we were little, there was a time when I bubbled in my answer sheet wrongly for a test. The result was, of course, extremely tragic.

Because it was my own mistake, there was nothing I could complain about. I could only wallow in sadness on my own.

And then, Xia Yan dragged me to go to my favourite ball pit park.

This ball pit’s decoration was our souvenir from that time.

MC: Why did you keep this?

Xia Yan: Because – this is the proof that a certain person once set up a promise with me.

Xia Yan: She swore that she would tell me everything in the future, regardless of if it was a big matter or a small matter, or a happy matter or a sad matter.

Xia Yan: She really did do as she said, telling me everything. Even when I left the country, she didn’t stop sending me messages.

MC: …

The past flashed in front of my eyes, scene by scene. He still remembered so clearly about something that had happened so long ago…

Xia Yan: Ah, it’s just a pity that after separating for eight years, she completely forgot about this promise.

Xia Yan: Getting locked on the balcony, getting cut by glass, getting threatened… she didn’t tell me anything.

MC: Uh…!

Xia Yan: I know it’s because of me… I disappeared for eight years… letting her have no choice but to get used to facing everything on her own…

Xia Yan: And because of this, she started to learn to try and be brave…

Xia Yan: Now, I’ve returned. I won’t leave again.

Xia Yan: I just don’t know if she would be willing to establish this promise again…

MC: Xia Yan…

Xia Yan held up my hands, gently holding them in front of his chest. His eyes were facing the sunlight, crystal clear.

Xia Yan: Whatever happens, tell me.

Xia Yan: No matter if you were locked on the balcony, or if you’ve encountered a troublesome case.

Xia Yan: No matter if it’s something big or something small, something happy or something sad – tell it all to me.

Xia Yan: I’ve returned. You’re no longer alone.

Xia Yan:  Whether you’re capricious, lonely, or scared… I will accompany you. I’ll accompany you through anything.

My figure was clearly reflected in Xia Yan’s eyes. Right now, it felt like they would solidify me in them.

MC: Okay, I promise you.

Xia Yan: Gotta do as you said!

As Xia Yan said this, he laughed. In my trance, I felt like the whole world had been lit up by this smiling expression.

Thinking back on his promise just now, my face suddenly became somewhat hot. The hands overlapping with his also followed in heating up.

MC: …

Xia Yan: R-right! There’s a place I want to take you to!

MC: What place?

Xia Yan: You’ll know when we get there!

Xia Yan led me along tightly. The palms of our held hands became more and more hot, but he never let go for a second…

Amusement Park

Xia Yan tugged me along, back to the amusement park. At this time, night had already fallen.

MC: Why did we come here? Plus, the park’s already closed.

Xia Yan: It’s better this way.

Xia Yan winked at me and climbed up the wall.

Xia Yan: Here, give me your hand.

Following Xia Yan, I got past the wall. Bounding down the route, we arrived at the themed ball pit.

MC: Wait, Xia Yan! This-

Xia Yan scanned the code to pay for entry very quickly.

Xia Yan: Alright, entry price is already paid! The Great Lawyer can relax!

Xia Yan: During daytime, weren’t you taking into consideration how other adults weren’t playing and having fun? Now, you can happily play all you want!

Xia Yan: Between us, there aren’t any of the burdens that adults have to carry!

Laughing, Xia Yan extended a hand to me.

Xia Yan: My dear Watson, are you willing to accompany me to return to our childhood together, and to indulge?

I placed my hand lightly in Xia Yan’s palm and nodded at him.

MC: … Yes.

Holding Xia Yan’s hand, I walked into that ball pit again.

--

Inflatable castles, trampoline, slides, ball pit – after growing up, each time I felt stressed and exhausted, I would often think about playing these.

As if doing that would be able to get rid of all my worries, letting me return to a childhood free of worry and concerns.

But whenever I had the chance, I would often be like how I was, as if my hands were tied.

I’ve always thought that this just might be reality. No matter how much I desired it, maturity was irreversible – and after all, I had nowhere to hide.

People must often learn to grow on their own, to become independent on their own, to bear everything on their own…

Bam – a big bunch of balls bounced off my entranced self.

MC: … Xia Yan!

Xia Yan: Hahahaha!

I picked up some balls and tossed them towards him. Xia Yan nimbly dodged them, then immediately moved to climb the slide.

Holding a pile of balls, I chased Xia Yan, climbing up the ladder.

MC: Heh heh, I saw where you went to hide—

I pounced at Xia Yan, but he just took my waist into his arms, sliding down the slide while holding me in his embrace.

MC: Ahhhhhh-

Bam - Xia Yan and I rushed into the ball pit.

Slides, trampolines, inflatable rock climbing, rubber boats…

This time, holding his hand…

I finally integrated into this simplest of games. No distracting thoughts, no worries, returning to humanity’s earliest, simplest pleasures.

--

After coming out of the amusement park, Xia Yan and I prepared to return home.

The night wind was crisp, mixing with the green grass and blowing a new scent, breezing past my forehead. The sky above was full of sparkling stars.

I suddenly didn’t want to ride a car. I wanted to return home under these stars.

MC: Xia Yan, let’s not hail a car. I want to ride a bike home.

Xia Yan: Okay.

MC: But I’m tired. Could you bring me along as you pedal the bike? Just like before!

Xia Yan: No problem!

Xia Yan found a bike very quickly.

He got on the back, patted the backseat, and smiled at me.

Xia Yan: Get on, and put on your seatbelt!

MC: Mhmm!

I held my arms around Xia Yan’s waist, just like before.

The bike road had a slightly cold night wind. The corner of my skirt flapped in the wind.

On the road, there were some ramps up and down, but the space where I nestled tightly against Xia Yan’s back was always warm and stable.

--

TL Note:

* I kept my more colloquial translation of the original Chinese renditions of the verse before this part, to kind of maintain that difference between the Chinese and English that can easily be seen in the game.

[thelunarbond]

chocolate chip, biscotti, Dutch letter, and fig roll for Yume, Minami, and Phoenix?

Chocolate Chip: What smell reminds you of your childhood?

💙 Yume  💙 :

“The smell of the beach! The sea water, the sand… It reminds me of when me and my dad would go to the beach and go out in our boat. Since I moved to Westerlyn, I’ve kinda missed the beach, but I get to see it a lot when I travel! The beach brings out a childlike joy in me. I should invite the other Lunar Bond members to the beach soon!”

💕Minami 💕:

“Old books. Like, really, really old books. My sister used to take me to the library in Upper Lake when I was a kid and I’d listen to a storyteller every Sunday afternoon. I’d never actually rent books from there like my sister would, but I’d play with the other kids and talk to the storyteller, who was always nice and she would bring homemade cookies for all of us. Fun times!”

Phoenix:

“This is probably gonna be a little weird, but… paint. The smell of wet paint that’s drying. Also, the smell of crayons. And pencils. The smell of clay. Just… art materials. My mother was a very talented fine artist. She’d spend hours upon hours in her studio, painting or sculpting or drawing. It was normal to not see her for up to a day at a time. But the work she made was incredible. You could see her feelings in every brush stroke and every mark in a sculpture. It was through my mother’s work that my young mind started to understand art. She’d sometimes even make paintings of my favourite book characters or little clay figures of my favourite cartoon characters for my birthday when I was younger. I can’t really go into art stores anymore. They make me a little… emotional.”

Biscotti: What languages do you speak? Which one feels the most intimate to you?

(Note: As the Lunar Bond isn’t set in our world but features human characters, the names of countries and languages are different! As this aspect isn’t fully planned and completed yet, I’ll put the closest to our world’s equivalent as their answers, but I may do an updated version when I plan it out more)

💙 Yume  💙 :

“Hmm… I’ve travelled a lot, so I can speak quite a few languages, but none of them are fluent. I’m pretty good at French, German, Italian… but for the most part I can ask for directions or for food in a cafe and that’s about it. An intimate language? Oh, I absolutely adore the sound of Italian. It’s so pretty. I’ve used a pickup line on Chase in Italian once but then I realised that he learnt Spanish at school, not Italian. It was kinda embarrassing but he didn’t seem to care!”

💕Minami 💕:

“I’m pretty good at Japanese as my dad’s family still live there. I’m still pretty rusty at my reading or writing skills though. And I’d also say it’s my most intimate language as it reminds me of family. It’s a little part of who I am, you know? Those family members mean a lot to me.”

Phoenix:

“I… don’t speak any other languages. It’s kinda embarrassing, actually. Yume and Chase speak at least one language to a basic degree and Minami is virtually fluent in Japanese speaking, and Alexis is learning French in order to speak to an online friend… So it’s only me and Lavender who can’t speak any other languages. I’d like to learn another language if I get time to. Maybe Minami can tutor me… I might be biased because I’m monolingual, but English is my most intimate language as I can take in what is being said to me. But I do really like the sound of French.”

Dutch Letter: If you could decorate your room anyway you wanted, how would it look?

💙 Yume  💙 :

“Oh, I’ve thought about this for the longest time! I’d cover one wall in photos from my travels and photos of me and my friends as a feature wall, and have a glittery, custom king sized bed! I’d also have a big, sparkly shelf unit full of trinkets and souvenirs from different countries and a walk in wardrobe to keep all my clothes and shoes in. Oh, and a pink rug. And a dog. I know a dog isn’t room decor but I always picture my dream room having a dog in it!”

💕Minami 💕:

“I’m the kind of person who thinks that less is more, so I’d have plain yellow walls, floating shelves with books and trinkety bits on, and a double bed with yellow patterned sheets. From the ceiling I’d hang little fairy cutouts and I’d have bunting on one wall. I’d also get a huge houseplant to put in the corner. It wouldn’t be a massive room, but not too small either. I’d maybe also have a comfy chair to relax in as well.”

Phoenix:

“I’ve never really had to design a room before. But I’d like white walls, as any accent colour looks good with white, and one entire wall would just be shelves to put my books and things on, so I can look at them. There’d also be a snug in the corner to read my books in. I feel like I’d have a blue accent colour, as blue is relaxing, so maybe a blue rug and blue bed sheets, and I’d paint the wardrobe and drawers blue as well. I’d also get a few cacti and succulents to dot around the room and my shelves because I like to look after plants. I have no idea if that would look good, but it looks very “Phoenix” in my head.”

Fig Roll: What promise do you wish you could take back?

💙 Yume  💙:

“Oof, we’re getting into the heavy stuff all of a sudden. This question makes me sad. I’m not the kind of person to make promises I’d want to take back, but… I’ve done it before. I promised my little sister I wouldn’t move out and leave her on her own, but I ended up running away. Maybe I want to take it back because I broke it, and I know that makes me a bad sibling. She’s probably never forgiven me for what I did. I want to see her again so I can apologise, but she’d be furious… Haha. I don’t really like this talk of sad stuff. Let’s try and lighten the mood again!”

💕Minami 💕:

“Oh… At school, I promised this one girl that we’d be best friends forever. I wish I could take it back because I didn’t see how she was using me, and talking about me behind my back. She’d spread my phone number to everyone and they all texted me horrible things. I never suspected her of doing such a thing, but all the signs were right in front of me, even when I made such a dumb promise to her. Maybe I was feigning ignorance or something. I know it’s dumb to think about that promise as something serious, but it really reflects my ignorance at the time. …And as for promises to my family, well… I don’t really want to get into them. It’d make it depressing.”

Phoenix:

“Promises I want to take back?… I don’t feel the most comfortable talking about this kind of thing, because I don’t make many promises. I wouldn’t promise someone anything if there was a slight chance that I’d want to take it back. You see, I don’t really get close enough to people to make promises in the first place. And I wouldn’t promise something to someone I don’t feel close to. I don’t trust other people’s promises, so I don’t make them in case I can’t fulfil them.”

[rodpupo2]

Research: Project Defuture The Future

Randolph Lamonier

Randolpho Lamonier, is a visual artist from Minas Gerais, born in 1988.

He developed several works, specially photography articulated with other languages. He deals with several daily experiences in the city as a form of work, in which photography leads to multiple forms of symbolic exchange.

His work moves between different media, with a leading role in the practice of textile art, drawing, photography, video and installation. In his research, word and image are always together and tend to talk about micro and macro politics, urbanities, sentimental lies, chronicles, diaries and multiple crossings between memory and fiction.

The work done in fabric and embroidery brings sentences like: “ In 2040, we legalized love and other less intense drugs”, and is part of a set of creations in which Lamonier elaborates predictions based on thoughts about the present. “ I always create these works from guidelines that I consider urgent”, explains him.

In the words of the artist himself: “I make flags with what I have. I have never been so foreign. I draw poems, calls for help, war cries, everything is very urgent. The air is contaminated, the floor is covered with debris; sheets, pots, ropes, concrete, broom. Under the rubble the seeds grow in a hurry”.

Perhaps something more interesting than his incredible flags, are the themes he addresses, most of the time making a prediction of the future, about things that could happen in Brazil.

He is indignant with everything rotten that has in Brazil, from the corrupt government, the uncontrollable drug trafficking, the misogynistic society that still exists in Brazil and in several Latin countries, up to the violence itself.

He creates these flags in order to have some kind of hope for Brazil in the future, creating an utopia, where the problems would be thrown away.

David A Smith

Is a British designer who is specialized in lettering.

He started his own company own sign writing company in 1990 and after 13 years sold the business in 2003 to concentrate more on hand crafting lettering and glass gliding. His main techniques include water and oil gliding, acid etching, French embossing, screen printing and sign writing.

His career in sign writing began in 1984, when he left Westlands school in Torquay, age 16 and was apprenticed for 5 years with Gordon Farr & associates. They were a traditional sign writers, who had come up through the ranks and Gordon, had an uncanny ability to paint letters, accurately laid out, without even a sketch. Under their  tutelage, David became an accomplished draftsman, and a accurate letter painter.

This gathering of talented sign artists, carvers and muralists experts. David passion for creating elaborate, ornate mirrors&reverse glass signs of distinction.

In 1992 he set up his own business in England dealing every aspect of sign trade from vehicle graphics to 3D installations.

In 2012, Smith was hired by the singer John Mayer to design the album cover, of ‘Born and Raised’. The cover was styled like 1900 trade card.

He has also worked on posters and other merchandise associated with the album and single.

He was also commissioned by Jameson Whiskey to design a st.Patrick’s Jameson Whiskey bottle for the brand.

David sold the business, to concentrate more fully on gilding, painting e acid-etching glass, adding cutting, so that he could fully replicate the Victorian glass work he admire so much.

Thomas Burden

Burden is a senior designer at the design boutique “I Love Dust”.

He likes to produce work that references the pieces of vintage tat and printed material he gets from car boot sales and junk shops. Thomas Burden has created work for book covers, ad campaigns, music videos and magazine editorial to packaging, and even animations.

Thomas Burden was always encouraged to be creative, he was allowed to draw murals on the walls of his house, when he was very young. He had many references to do his drawings, in his grandparents house, full of Alpine memorabilia and indigenous art.

Toys weren’t allowed in Burden’s life as a child, so he was always looking at catalogs full of brightly colored things.

So in his works he tries to transmit that nostalgic journey to his childhood memories.

In each work there is a maximization of colors and textures and his great influences are: the film director Wes Anderson and the artist Mark Ryden.

On his own words: “ I was lucky enough to have a pretty idyllic childhood. I grew up sailing and skiing and traveling, so our house was full of souvenirs that parents collected, along with various bits of old boating junk and pieces of old cars”.

As an 3D illustrator / Art director from UK. He had worked with many different clients such as Nickelodeon, The New Yorker, Apple, McDonalds, Penguin, Bloomingdales and Ford.

His signature style is mainly the toys that he was never allowed as child, combined with fairground / neon signage and anything bright and fun that catches everyone’s eyes. He create works in Cinema 4D, also using the Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and After effects.

Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger is a postmodern artist who was born in 1945 in New Jersey. Having grown up in a middle class family, her first job was as an operator. In 1965 she graduated from The Parson Design School in 1965 and worked as an art director in different magazines. By breaking some barriers of the modern art, Kruger and other women artivists ( art + activism) demonstrated not only against the bonds of patriarchy in society, but also within cultural production. Being an artistic medium an environment built largely by male hegemony, feminist art presents itself as a mean of liberating women. Her works examine stereotypes and the behaviors of consumerism with text layered over mass media images. Rendered with black and white, with a red background, Kruger’s works offer up short phrases such as “Thinking of You” and “I shop therefore I am”. Kruger uses language to broadcast her ideas in a myriad of ways , including through prints, T-shirts, posters, photographs, eletrônico signs and billboards. Despite the work of feminist artists of the twentieth century to change the way women are portrayed in the art world, today this representativeness still confined by a backward ideal. Thus, the work of Barbara Kruger proves to be even more relevant and undoubtedly necessary today.

Mike Perry

Mike Perry is an artist that makes paintings, animation, sculptures, books, public art installations, monographs, silkscreens and more. Mike Perry was born in Missouri, United States, and grew up in Kansas City. He started drawing at the age of four. He attended to the College of Art in Minneapolis, and earned a degree in graphic design. Mike Perry's style of using extremely vibrant colors, and making totally stylized designs with a lot of personality is something that draws my attention mainly. His letters are always around a totally imaginative space, which can be both a forest and even a city. The creativity in making those compositions for his posters is something very captivating, not necessarily making a poster that matches with the reality, but doing something perhaps lysergic. His works can be considered love notes to the abstract, unknowable future that is all possible in the present. Illustrator Ana Benaroya said that , “Mike Seems like a modern surrealist to me. His works feels like a childhood memory of slipping down a giant water slide during summer. Slippery and wet and innocent but not innocent. His drawings feel like they just fell right out of his brain onto the paper”. I think he is a great influence, especially for this project. Because I'm wanting to go overboard with the lyrics and the drawings, wanting to do something totally experimental, doing something absurd and creative at the same time. And with this nature theme, I want to make posters with extravagant animals and unconventional scenarios. How he uses photoshop and Procreate for most of his work. I would like to use Photoshop again for this job to continue to learn painting techniques.

Filipe Grimaldi

Filipe Grimaldi is a lyricist and designer. He has been working in the graphic design market since 2006 and, in recent years, has been focusing on the study of manual techniques of calligraphy, lettering and letter painting, migrating part of his work to the development of letterings and commercial decorative painting.

He even give practical classes in ateliers of other institutions. His works can be seen on walls, slates and thousands of plaques that circulate around with his characteristic traits.

Filipe Grimaldi works on the primary chromatic contrast, a key element for the graphic construction of the alphabet.

Letters, words and sentences are organically raised, avoiding the precise math of right angles.

I met Filipe Grimaldi at EBAC in 2019, when he taught a class of typography, teaching how to make a freehand letter. I was impressed, because I saw great perfection and lightness when he drew those letters.

In addition to using several very vibrant colors in his works, even looking like a lettering of an entertainment show.

He even painted on a mural at EBAC, where even I had the opportunity to give a light brushstroke in one of his letters.

For 13 years, Filipe has been specialized in manual techniques of calligraphy, lettering and letter painting. In his own words: “ My authorial research and commercial activities ended up leading me to rescue the calligrapher profession, an almost extinct activity in the development of technology and printing and clipping machines”.

Currently, he teaches typography and calligraphy, for college students, with the goal of encouraging people to try more hand-made letters.

Wayne White

Wayne White is an American artist, typographer, cartoonist and puppeter. A former set and character designer for the television show Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, White produces ironic, often subversive imagery. On Pee Wee’s Playhouse where his work for his set and puppet designs won three Emmys; he also did many voices on the show. He is best known for his word paintings composed of oversized, three dimensional text painted onto cheap landscape paintings he finds at thrift stores and markets. In 2000, he began painting words and phrases, on thrifted lithographs. “When you think about it, you’re surrounded by giant letters and words everywhere”. White said once. “We don’t take for it granted, but the whole American landscape is nothing but a giant letter forms”. One Journalist said his opinion about White’s paintings: “the weirdest landscape painter in America, White uses master painting techniques to create the illusion of words and phrases surreally disappearing into the horizon or jutting out from each lithograph’s place setting.” White’s famous “word art” paintings hang in museums and galleries across America. His paintings features technically proficient and wildly colored phrases that are funny and sarcastic. And critics have praise White’s series for being entryway to the artist mind. Over the past years, White has worked primarily as a fine artist with solo exhibitions of his paintings and sculptures in galleries in New York and Los Angeles. In 2006, he created a giant head sculpture, with a giant lettering next to head. This marks one of White’s other  passions, which is sculpting, and he like to exaggerate on the expression, of the characters that he is sculpting.

Joshua Noom

Joshua Noom is a famous illustrator who was born in Australia, in 1988. He is very popular in the social networks, specially in Instagram, where his minimalist illustrations and typography have earned him over 60,000 followers. He had created several illustrations for musicians and major brands like, Miller High Life, Sony, and Warner. Today Noom lives at Florida, and he is specialized in detailed and bold illustrations combined with an organic sense of typography. One of his most recent works, was recreating the Bible’s cover, with many other Christian artists. Each artist offers a visual entry point focused on a particular biblical theme or passage, setting a tone of reflection as readers engage with the Bible. I’ve been looking at Joshua works, and I really like the feeling of gritty and inky that he puts in his illustrations. Some of his works feels military inspired and masculine, while other pieces feel soft and feminine, like some vintage postcards that he produces. Something that Josh uses in most of his work, and that connects with my posters, is the use of wild animals and different situations. It can either make a tiger surfing, or even protest posters for the preservation of wildlife. He has a very intense passion for animals, and he enjoys drawing them in very expressive ways. With strong colors, with its minimalist style, and texts with different  fonts around it. In a interview Josh even discusses his style “ My inspirations for my style are mostly from music and other art, but one artist that I’ve been diggin’ is Mark Conlan. My style has just kind of developed over the time and I think I will probably keep evolving. After many attempts of trying new things and figuring out what works for me, and what doesn’t for me. I prefer to  draw in a more minimalist style, specially using my ink pens. Animals are one of my inspirations, specially here in Florida, we got many different species of birds and reptiles, so like to sit somewhere, and draw any animal that appears, and try to create a composition with different typefaces, to make future posters.

[its-abroad-world]

Adventure #4: June 6, St. Petersburg Day 2: all the art you could ever desire

Our morning began with a quick breakfast on the ship and then Olga and Sergei picked us up at 8:30 am to take us on a driving tour of the Neva river before we followed it with a river cruise. Our first stop of the day was along the banks of the Neva where there were two large sphinxes. It didn’t seem like much until Olga told us that the sphinxes were original sphinxes from ancient Egypt that were about 3,500 years old. Of all the places I thought that I would see a relic from ancient Egypt, outside in Russia was the last place I would think of. They were bought by Nicholas I in the 1830s and they have sat there since. There is a discussion about bringing them to be displayed in the Hermitage to protect them from the harsh weather of Russia but as of now they still reside outside.

After the sphinxes, we headed to where we were going to board a river cruise on the Neva River. The boat was tiny and most of the seating were metal chairs sitting under the sun and I was the only one in my family that opted to see the cruise outside. Taking the river cruise was an awesome way to see St. Petersburg because the river runs through a lot of the main parts of the city and has hundreds of bridges connecting various parts of the city. St. Petersburg is considered the Venice of the North. There are many small canals and one of the bridges that we went under, we actually had to duck lest we hit our heads. Most of these bridges were built during the time of Imperial Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries. On the cruise, our guide pointed out various landmarks that you could see along the banks of the river; she even pointed out people that were sunbathing along the banks, which was uncommon since it was rare that the weather was in the 90s in Russia.

Neva River - 10 am

Once our river cruise was over, we headed to St. Isaac’s Cathedral, which used to be the main church and largest cathedral in Russia. It was built in 1818 and took 40 years to complete. It is most impressive because of its large golden dome. The dome, 21.8 meters high, took more than 100 kilos of gold leaf to cover. The large pillars, weighing about 80 tons each, on the outside of the cathedral were erected using a special pulley system. Everything about this church was massive: the dome, pillars, doorways, windows, and even the artwork. Many of the carvings on the columns inside were gilded and the walls and ceilings were decorated with large mosaics and paintings depicting different saints and scenes in the Bible. While it is still a church, it mostly serves as a museum and has services only on significant religious holidays.

Under the main dome - 11:30 am

As we were leaving the Hermitage our group joked with Olga that she was a magical tour guide with perfect time because while we walked to meet our tour bus, 3 large tour buses were arriving to join the already massive line to enter the museum. While all those people waited to go inside the museum, we went to go have a typical Russian lunch. We were served a cabbage salad paired with borscht, a soup usually made from beets and cabbage, for our appetizer. Our main course was chicken kiev, a flattened piece of chicken breast that is breaded and fried, with mashed potatoes. My favorite was the borscht, which was surprising to me because I detest beets, but you could hardly taste them in this soup. We finished our meal up with some Russian coffee which was super strong.

Borscht soup with brown bread - 12:30 pm

The State Hermitage Museum along the Palace Embankment was right after lunch. This museum is the second largest one after the Lourve and is a highly respected art museum, housing roughly 3 million items of priceless art from all over the world over many different centuries. The collection of the Hermitage began in 1764 when Catherine the Great purchased 255 paintings from Berlin and continued to grow her collection. The main facade of the Hermitage is the Winter Palace, which used to be the home of the royal families of Russia for almost 200 years. However, the whole museum is made up of six buildings, 5 of which are open to the public: the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage, and Hermitage Theatre. It was opened to the public in 1852 and became public property after the October Revolution of 1917, after which its collections were expanded in the 1920s and again after WWII. Because this museum was created using the old homes of royals, of course, many parts of the museum were ornately decorated and still maintained to look like how it did before, like the throne room and ballrooms.

This museum is one of the busiest with thousands of people visiting every day; of the five open buildings, we went to the Small Hermitage and the New Hermitage. The New Hermitage houses paintings, sculptures, and other art from 15th and 16th century Italy, including the Raphael Hall where they have many of Raphael’s works ranging from the beginning of his career to the end of it.

I would say that going to the Hermitage was the highlight of my day. I’ve always loved art and going to museums to see them, and to think that so many centuries and cultures were compiled and put on display is simply amazing. What shocked me the most was that none of the priceless paintings were properly protected. There was light streaming in from the open windows directly on the paintings and the air was not controlled so the paintings were exposed to the humidity outside. People could step as close to painting as they wanted; the palaces were better protected and maintained than the artwork here! For a place that houses thousands of paintings by renowned artists, I just couldn’t believe that the artwork wasn’t very cared for. Although the collection of paintings was stunning, my favorite exhibit was the Peacock Clock, built in 1777 and still working today. The golden clock is housed in a gold and glass cage with a peacock perched on a tree with a rooster and an owl on either side of it as well as various small animals scattered around. When the clock chimes on the hour, it begins with the owl turns its head and the peacock turns and opens its tail feathers to display a fan of gold and ends with the rooster crowing; this display is supposed to represent the end of the night and the rise of the sun to show the continuity of life. The clock is only winded once a week and unfortunately, we missed the show by just one day so we only saw the display in a short video the museum provides.

Peacock Clock - 1 pm

As we were leaving the museum, we joked with Olga that she was magical and timed everything perfectly because there was a ginormous crowd waiting to enter the museum as more tour buses arrived to join the line. While those people waited in that monstrous line, we stopped by a souvenir store before heading to The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, also known as The Church of Resurrection or “Savior on Spilled Blood”.

The church was built in memory of Tsar Alexander II and was named so because the church stands where he was murdered in 1881 when a bomb was thrown into his carriage. It took 24 years to complete the church and is best known for having jeweled-looking domes that are colorful; this decorative style is much like the Kremlin in Moscow. Unfortunately, the main dome was under renovation while we were there, so we couldn’t see the building in its full beauty. 

Just like all of the other places we’d seen in St. Petersburg, the inside of the church was opulent. There were saints and religious reliefs, mosaics, and paintings everywhere: the columns, the arches, the ceilings, the walls, and of course, everything was accented with gold.

Interior of The Savior on Spilled Blood - 4 pm

After leaving the church, we headed back to the port to say our goodbyes to Olga (in the stripes) and Sergei (not pictured).

After a long day in the hot sun, we unwinded in the room and then prepared for our nightly dinner at the fine dining with our waiter Alberto. Almost every single night of the cruise we sat in his section, getting to know him well, as well as a couple, Nina and Wade, and their church friend Fred. Wade has Alzheimers and Fred is an old widower and both were hard of hearing, so during dinner, Nina kept leaning over to tell us stories of her having to wrangle two old men both during the tours and around the ship. It was such a fun dinner. Afterward, my sister and I enjoyed the rest of the night in the karaoke room, bumping into Isabella and Lousie, before heading to bed.

[ivyimagine-blog]

SEE: LIMA, PERU

Welp, here goes nothing! I am finally getting the chance to sit down and type the post I have been dying to write about for the past month. I am so excited to finally share my story with you all!

Back in May, I discovered an organization called MEDLIFE while searching through the many organizations we have available to us at my school, Oakland University. I was hoping to find an opportunity that would give me involvement and leadership. 

MEDLIFE- Medicine, Education, and Development for low income families. This description promptly fascinated me so I decided to do some research on the program. Basically, the organization holds these awesome trips that take place predominantly in South America and Africa to help communities who are underprivileged. I applied for the trip and was blessed with the opportunity to go! Here is a little bit of insight on what my experience with MEDLIFE was like.

DAY 1: Arrived in Lima. Lima is a huge district in Lima, Peru, filled with many smaller cities in it. We stayed in Miraflores, the wealthiest city within the district of Lima. It is a beautiful, vibrant place along the Pacific Ocean. The views on the drive to our hostel were unlike anything I have ever seen before.

Our hostel was not the worst, but it definitely was nothing like places I’ve stayed at before. The downsides were: wifi that only worked occasionally, so it was very hard to reach family and friends back home, and very small rooms with minimal space.

The first day we spent roaming Miraflores, shopping and forming a feel for our home for the week. The streets were clean and busy, the buildings were tall and the culture was captivating. After checking out a few shopping stands, and caffeinating with a much needed Starbucks run, we visited the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, which is a breathtaking, Roman Catholic cathedral built in 1535.

From there, we went on to visit the one and only, Larcomar, an enormous shopping center and tourist site located right on the ocean. The mall is known to have every store you can imagine, as well as tons of fun places to eat and game.

On the way back to our Hostel, we stopped in the Indian Market Miraflores, a vast marketplace, full of amazing Peruvian souvenirs and gifts. I loved everything, I honestly could not stop shopping. If I could go back right now, just for that market, I so would.

So, Kennedy Park is a park honoring President John F. Kennedy. The park has street vendors and artists galore. But wait.... it gets better. The park is home to many residential cats. A park.. filled with popular paintings and street art, food, shopping, and well, cats... What could be better?! At night, the park is lively as ever, and still feels safe to shop and explore around. Not to mention, it is surrounded by a vast array of restaurants, cafes, shops, and about every other thing the capital of Peru could offer you. The sellers are so kind, and the products are one of a kind because you can’t find them anywhere else, yet all for a low cost. If you happen to come here after Peru wins a game of fútbol.... Well lets just say you’re in for a fun time.

Eventually, the afternoon came to an end and we all wanted to get some rest from our long day of traveling. But that didn’t stop us for too long. Our next stop was near Kennedy Park, the so-called Calle de las Pizzas (Pizza Street), a whole street that in fact does include a couple of pizza places but that also turns into a party boulevard after the sunset. We ended our night at this incredible place, being lured in by deals on food and drinks from the restaurant workers outside! The atmosphere was extraordinary. I loved every minute of our time as a group here and of course, the pizza was bomb.

DAY 2: Scheduled on the second day was our reality tour. The reality tour was meant to introduce us to the villages we were going to be volunteering at. It was remarkably eye-opening. The smell in the air from the garbage being burned was unbearable, the "houses” were shacks and the bus ride up to the top of these communities was scary nonetheless; but it made me appreciate life back at home. Stray dogs were everywhere and the difference from the city life to village life was very clear. 

What amazed me was when our tour guide brought us to the top of the mountain-like landfill. A climb over 200 steep stairs to see a wall that the villagers built. The people living in San Juan de Miraflores, the poor community, were paid by the rich who live on the other side to build it. The wall represents that the wealthy people do not want to contribute to any development; they choose to separate themselves from those who should be included in their community, and they choose to forget about the horrific mess happening on the other side. The wall reads “In Lima we adore the cement that pardons the memory.”

DAYS 3 & 5: Clinic Days! Throughout the week we are assigned either clinic day or project day. Clinic means we will be setting up and working at mobile clinics in different areas. The clinics we run are: toothbrushing, hygiene, pharmacy, dental, doctor and triage. Throughout the week, I was given two assignments each day. Toothbrushing consisted of a line of super cute kids, waiting patiently to learn how to brush their teeth! They got to keep their toothbrush and were so excited to receive one. The mothers were extremely appreciative and although there was a language barrier, their gratitude was undoubtedly expressed. After toothbrushing, we applied fluoride to their teeth, and the kids would proceed to the hygiene station where they could wash their hands. 

Shadowing the doctors was another favorite of mine. The doctors had us take blood pressure and would explain to us the diagnosis for each patient so that we had something significant to take away with each one. I loved being able to see up close and personal how genuinely the doctors cared and how happy they were to be able to give them care. From this station, the patients would take their prescription and head over to pharmacy.

At pharmacy, patients would receive their prescriptions provided by MEDLIFE. This is something that is absolutely irreplaceable for a community like San Juan de Miraflores. Anything from tylenol, to vitamins, to ointments and insulin were provided to them. Though this seem to be short-term care, quick fixes, MEDLIFE works with patients and establishes a follow-up program; keeping track of their medical history to continue providing care and medicine for them each time the families return to the clinics. They also go to the homes of patients who are not stable or mobile enough to comethemselves, to deliver medicine and other necessities to them, such as milk or bread.

Dental... well, I’ve always asked myself who are these crazy people that sign up to work on teeth for their entire life!? But after working this station at the mobile clinics, it shed some light for me on why it is an interesting field. I worked with the dentist, taking notes and suctioning the saliva for them. Gross, but... surprisingly fun!

Day 4: This day was project day. Our chapter’s project was to build two staircases for the citizenry in San Juan de Miraflores. Since they are living on what used to be landfills, the hills are extremely steep making it difficult for the residents to reach their homes. Not only is this construction important for their physical health, but staircases are also necessary in order for them to receive land titles from the city. Land titles are difficult to obtain without staircases because in the event of a natural disaster, such as an earth quake, legally the community needs a safe way to evacuate. A land title also provides an address, which then can give them legal electricity, plumbing and access to other important needs.

On my project day, our job was to bring large, tall, heavy blocks of wood up stairs (remember the 200 steep stairs I mentioned before.. yeah, that times 4!). The wood was being used to separate cement for the stairs our group was building the days before us, and it needed to be taken up another set of stairs. It was the hardest work I have ever done, to be honest, and afterwards we had a break and then spent the rest of the time painting the stairs we built. Though the work was demanding, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Day 5: Inauguration day: the day we commemorate the staircases. It started off working the mobile clinics, and afterwards we made our way back into the hills and celebrated. We had finished painting the staircases, the families decorated them in balloons, and after a few speeches of gratitude from both community members and group leaders, we broke a bottle of champagne at the ends of both the staircases, and were given pop and a meal cooked by the residents to celebrate. Everyone was smiling. I swear, the happiness and joy in the air could be felt from miles away. 

Day 6: Our final day was bittersweet. Sad because our time was coming to an end, but also happy because the day was incredible. We left the hostel at 3 AM I believe, and headed to Ica, the capital of the Ica Region of Peru. Our adventure began four hours later, when we arrived in Paracas and started with a boat tour of the Islas Ballestas. The Ballestas Islands lie off the southern coast of Peru, near the city of Pisco. The uninhabited islands are home to sea lions, pelicans, and Humboldt penguins. On the way, we passed the Candelabra geoglyph, an enormous hillside etching of mysterious origins. It is a given you will fall in love with Peru.

The next thrill of the day was located about an hour away: Huacachina, the desert oasis village in Ica, Peru. Our mission was to ultimately sandboard but the way up was somethin’ else. The dune buggies run across the high, rolling sand dunes surrounding the village and we made our way to the top of one, we got on our boards and went down the dune! On our stomachs.... HA! You thought my first time sandboarding would be my last? You thought wrong. The sand was awesome, and sliding down was fast and absolutely exhilarating. The climb back up was always a rough one, but BEYOND worth it once you were able to board again.

My trip to Lima was the experience of a lifetime. It was inspiring, rewarding, exhilarating, and it pushed me to step out of my comfort zone, make friends, try new things and see new places. I hope to go back to Peru one day and visit Lima, and other regions of Peru too. I hope my MEDLIFE trip summary gave you some advice on what to expect if you’re interesed in going on a trip like this and I hope I helped you discover something you would also love to do.

-I

[ponderingthenoonlight]

Adventures In the Land of the Vikings – Part 1

I just had to turn almost all the way back to the beginning of my stuffed journal to re-read this adventure.

In March 2017 I went on my first real solo trip, to Norway and the Faroe Islands. I’ll start with Oslo. Here is a little excerpt from my journal:

“I am well into my third month studying abroad, and our long awaited ‘winter’ break has arrived.

There is a screeching sound combined with a noise like metal springs being murdered, as the subway (above ground) pulls up to the Holmenkollen station where I am sitting. Of course, it’s going in the opposite direction from where my plans will take me. My subway should be getting here in about 15 minutes, but I don’t mind the waiting. I’ve gotten used to being okay with missing trains and subways in my time commuting from Täby to Stockholm and back in Sweden. After all, the wait now is giving me time to write this.

As the subway pulls away from me, it leaves me sitting across the tracks, a little less than 350 meters above the city of Oslo. Behind me are the sloping roads and drops offs leading down into the fjord which has a strange sunny mist playing over the whole thing. Birds are prattling on in the trees up here, and though there’s still some snow on the ground, I’ve already had to stuff my sweater in my camera bag/backpack. Spring is really coming.

…

I’m on my train now. It’s clean, un-crowded, and filled with sunlight. Nothing like the subways of New York underground. In my opinion, Scandinavia just keeps wining at the public transport game.

Man, it’s so sunny. To get the view of the fjord includes getting slightly roasted. Coat off.

Yesterday was the beginning of my truly solo Nordic adventure. One day in Oslo then a train-bus-boat journey of 2 days over to Bergen. Then 2 days in Bergen, and then flying off to the Faroes. …

Today, museums. Heck yeah archaeology.”

Peek at my journal

I’d flown from Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport to Oslo and taken the airport train to the Oslo train system. From there I got to my hotel. I’ll be open about the finances of this trip. Norway is ridiculously expensive, and I was ridiculously lucky to have financial help from my parents. They treated me to the stay in the gorgeous hotel at the top of the hill looking out of the fjord, and the wonderful meal I had there. For the rest of the time in Norway, I tried to eat at not so nice places, and didn’t do much souvenir shopping… much. But it’s still definitely a trip to save up for or to put on a Christmas list. It was certainly more affordable as I was just hopping over from Sweden. I also bought the Oslo Pass which give you deals on museum tickets, transportation, and more! I found it worth it to get a day pass for my day there.

It was just magnificent

I mean… Look at this gorgeous nordic castle of a hotel! I arrived the night before in the evening, and rose in the morning to see this place shine. I felt like possibly the luckiest college student in the world.

It was a daydream I was hesitant to leave, but there I was, as you read in my journal, at the subway station ready for a day of exploring Norwegian history.

My view, waiting for the train.

From the subway I walked to the harbor-side and hopped on a ferryboat which brought me to the “museum island” Bygdøy across the Oslo Fjord. The main highlights of the island are: The Viking Ship Museum, Norsk Folkemuseum, Kon-Tiki Museum, Polar Ship Fram, Norwegian Maritime Museum, and the Holocaust Center. I made it to four of the six before I returned to the mainland.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Fram Museum

The Fram museum holds two of the world’s strongest polar vessels and a rich collection of polar exploration artifacts and stories. The Fram was the strongest wooden ship ever built in it’s day, and you can walk across its beautifully preserved decks. Around the outside of the huge room, one that reminded me of my dear Vasa Museum back in Sweden, was a huge timeline of the explorers that called this ship their home over the years. I highly recommend this place. Learn about the Northern and Southern expeditions, Nansen, Roald Amundsen, being trapped in the ice, and more. The Gjøa is the first ship that made it through the Northwest Passage, and sits in another building, also part of the museum. I could have spent hours in both. It was humbling and fascinating.

The Fram

I was a pretty happy camper as I left one maritime exploration museum for the two more…

The Norwegian Maritime Museum and The Kon-Tiki Museum

I have always loved boats. Especially wooden ones. Especially sailing ones. But I can still never imagine being on the open, I mean really open, sea. These two museums taught me a thing or two about being humble when faced with the ocean. The Norwegian Maritime Museum walks you through hundreds of years of history and the people who really make Norway, from sailors to pirates to the women who traveled with them, and much much more (see the last circle photo below).

The Ra

And the Kon-Tiki Museum… well it mostly taught me what a crazy bastard Thor Heyerdahl was. I kid, I kid. It gave me the upmost respect for Thor, who crossed the Pacific Ocean on the balsa raft called Kon-Tiki, in 1947. What a feat… He didn’t stop there, either, and built two more rafts (including the Ra). The museum itself is brilliantly set up, especially giving you a real feel for adventure concerning archaeology, as Heyerdahl also explored Easter Island and several other sites. Really fascinating stuff. I couldn’t recommend them more. Plus, these two are right across from each other!

  The Viking Ship Museum

Nothing really compares to walking into a museum and seeing the real-life artifacts that you’ve been learning about in class for months. Well, at least for an archaeologist. I’d spent three months already learning about viking archaeology at Stockholm Universitet, including ships, burials, art styles, and more. The Viking Ship museum (in Oslo- I’ll write about the danish one later) has it all. Well, specifically it features grave goods and ships from four main ship burials in Norway. Oseberg, Gokstad, Tune, and Borre. All these ships were used as “ocean-going vessels” before being used in burials. The ships, large and small, from these burials are magnificently preserved, as are the masterpieces of burial goods found inside them. After looking at them only in books, it was emotional and incredible to see them in person. (Actually, I had been here before, as well as the Fram museum, as a wee bitty child. It was interesting to see that I had combined aspects of each with each other in my vague memories. Nice to sort that all out again as an adult, and sad to see how much I had lost or gotten wrong in those childhood memories.)

It was almost impossible to get the complete ship in one shot. There are special balconies in the museum made for getting all the ship in one photo.

I won’t bore you by going into details of each burial, or the artifacts I took photos of, but one amazing fact I will share is that the largest boat, the Oseberg Ship, appears to the the burial of two powerful viking women. Their burial goods include not only the massive and gorgeously decorated ship, but also three sledges, a wagon, beautiful animal shaped headposts (incredible examples of the viking art style that actually got its name from this find), five beds, six dogs, fifteen horses, two cows, and more.

Gods do I love Viking Ships…

Hello, beautiful

Akershus Fortress

The last stop of the day before I headed back to the hotel – I had an early start on the next leg of my adventure the next day – was wandering along the harbor and exploring, and playing really, around the Akershus Fortress. I love a good castle-park-fort exploration and had far too much fun by myself; taking photos, posing with the statues that were part of an art exhibition at the time, and generally feeling like I was in another world. I’ll show the rest of the day with photos, because it was too gorgeous a place for me to describe.

Oh also, it’s free entry! – I never went inside any buildings, so not sure if those require entry fees or are even open to the public… there was so much to do outside and it felt like springtime for the first time! (You’ll see me without a sweater in a couple photos!)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I had a fantastic time. I think I’ll have to write a post about taking photos of oneself while solo-traveling, because this was the first step of that learning curve. It was a fun first step though, and I have some great memories captured now to show for it.

I remember one moment in particular. I was taking the photo (the first in this blog post) and there was that long beautiful avenue of trees on a hill above the main cobbled walking path below, and I thought the light was just perfect. So, I set up my tripod, set off the timer, and sprinted down the avenue of trees, away from the camera, to spin around and pose in that ridiculous but joyful moment you see above. Panting and grinning, I ran back to the camera to see how it had turned out, and heard a voice call out from below.

“That was so nice!”

A young man, maybe tourist maybe local, but with a Scandinavian accent for sure, was beaming up at me, having seen my skipping gullumfing moment. Apparently it had made his day. I shouted a thanks and he gave me a thumbs up before continuing on away with his friends. That one little comment made me feel a lot better and less silly for all the other photos I had taken before that moment.

I went back to the hotel exhausted, only to go out again as I was invited to the art-opening of a popular bar in the city. But that’s a whole other story. I finally got to bed exhausted, delighted, and feeling seriously empowered, excited to continue my solo journey across Norway.

A very happy Petra in the Fram Museum’s bathroom #noshameformirrorselfies

  A Day (of Museums and Castles) in Oslo - The first stage of my solo adventures in the land of vikings... Adventures In the Land of the Vikings - Part 1 I just had to turn almost all the way back to the beginning of my stuffed journal to re-read this adventure.

[lynnsworldadventures]

Another update

Hey everyone, here I am again with another update, a little bit faster than last time. This one will be a more detailed one, because last time it was from about 5 or 6 months and I didn’t want to bore you too much with a long blog. Now, I will get more into detail, so it might be kinda long, just so you’re prepaired. I am still going to talk a little bit about the beginning of the year (things I realized I forgot last time and more details about some things), but towards he end I’m going to update you on what has been happening this last month. This one will also be without pictures but I will upload pictures of everything afterwards, then I can add more, tumblr only lets me upload 10 at a time.

Christmas and New Year

I know it’s a bit late to talk about Christmas and New Year but I just realized that I forgot those in the last update.

Christmas is celebrated a little bit different here than it is in Belgium. The thoughts, values and story behind it are the same of course, but the way they celebrate it here is different. They also decorate the house with lights, a tree and other Christmas decorations. They only put on the lights when it is dark though, where as in Belgium the lights are on the whole day (at least in our house). On Christmas Eve, we ate diner with the family (I don’t remember what it’s called, but it was something tipical for Christmas and it was really good) and at midnight we could open the presents. In my family in Belgium, we usually open the presents before dinner, just after or during the appetizers. I got a pair of earrings for my mom, a belt for my dad, a snapback with a rose for my sister and Play Dough from Marvel (Spiderman, Captain Amerika,…) for my brother. Also with AFS Machala, we had a “Cena de Navidad”, everyone had to prepare something from their country and bring that so we had an international buffet. After eating we had a “moment of talent”, where Katelijne and I played some Christmas songs (Katelijne on flute and I on violin), Kelly sang with her hostsister and I also sang a song while Kelly played the guitar (she played it a lot faster than the original so we made an improvised remix).

New Year, or better said, New Year’s Eve, is also very special here with a lot more traditions than we have in Belgium. In the week before, you can see a lot of papier mache puppets in the streets, they are called ‘monigotes’. The monigotes come all different kinds, you will find characters from Disney, like Elsa and Stitch, to politicians. They represent the bad in the old year and when the year changes, they get burned so that all the bad is gone and you can start the new year fresh. Then there are of course also the fireworks that come with the new year and after that you can go to eat dinner with your family and party some longer if you like.

Confirmation

On the 6th of Januari, was the Confirmation (Vormsel) of my sister. After 2 years of preperation and a change of date (normally it would be in December) it was finally time for her Confirmation. She had a little bit of a trouble with finding a Godmother, since they don’t have a Godmother for there whole life here but a different one for every sacrement, they have to search one every time. For the Confirmation the girls had to wear a white dress and bring a Godmother with them and the boys had to wear black pants with a white shirt and bring a Godfather. Afterwards there was a little party in the house with the family and as it was also the birthday of our grandma, it was a combined party.

Graduation

On the 6th of March I graduated (again) from High School at ‘Hermano Miguel’. Together with my classmates I went to practice 6 days before to know what we had to do, we practiced the entrance, how to receive the paper,… On the day of the graduation we had to be there at 7.30 a.m. so we could start at 8 a.m., of course everyone was late, we are Ecuador after all. The ceremony started at 8.30 a.m., we were all packed in a room that was way too small to fit everyone without airconditioning, you must know that we were wearing our monday-uniform (which is with long sleeves) and the graduation gown and it was around 30 degrees outside… After an hour to an hour and a half the ceremony was over, the paper we got, that is supposed to represent your diploma, was actually just a white paper. We, as exchange students, didn’t get a diploma, but we got a certificate of being exchange students at the school. Afterwards we took some pictures and then returned home. At night I could choose where we went eat, as we were going out for my graduation, I chose pizza.

International Womensday

8th of March, international womensday or dia de la mujer like they call it here. It is a big celebration here! While I was in Belgium this day just passed by like any other day, maybe a mention about it somewhere during the day (mostly on the radio or the TV), but mostly it just passed for me without anything special. That is another story here, here I got chocolates from my hostmom, we went to watch a parade in the center of the city where all ages of women participated in, the women of the firefighters and police let their male colegues do the work for the day,… concluded, a big celebration. I sure won’t forget it anymore that March 8th is the international womensday date.

Trips

I know I already said some things over the trips we made, but I actually didn’t really say anything, so now I will tell you a bit about the trips, which trips we made, what we saw and what we did.

Jambeli is the beach of Machala, it is on an island about 30min by boat from the port. While you’re on the boat, you have a nice view of the nature on the rest of the island, you can see a lot of birds searching for food on the shores. When you arrive at the island, right before the beach, you have these big letters that spell the name and we always have to take a picture on top of them of course. When you go in the sea and you swim a bit, you arrive on some rocks that lay there, which our group also finds a lot of fun to climb on.

Montañita is a small village at the beach, about 5 to 6 hours from Machala by car. We were going to do this trip with a van, so that everyone would fit in and we could go all together. But before we could actually leave we already had some complications, Kelly was an hour late (as usual) and then Felix’s phone fell into drain. After we got that out of the way, we could finally begin on our cramped trip (we didn’t really have a lot of space in the van). When we arrive it is time for breakfast, the first thing we saw were pancakes, crepes and waffles so that was what we ate, also the other days and they were delicious! Afterwards we went to the hotel and later went to explore. Montañita is a really cosey, international village that is famous for the surfbeach and the disco’s. So we didn’t let go of the chance to surf and took some surfing lessons, in the beginning it was difficult but after a while everyone got the hang of it. Right before we went back, we went to a viewing point and the view was gorgeous! Nobody wanted to leave because we felt like we were on summerholidays but we had to because we had to go to school.

The Devils Nose in Alausi was our first stop of the next trip we made, it is one of the most well-known touristic attractions of Ecuador. The train of the Devils Nose is listed as one of the most dangerous trains in the world. It takes you on a trip along the mountainsides of the Devils Nose mountain and lets you take in breathtaking views, culture and way more. Baños was our next stop, also a very international village, that is known for the extreme sports but is also just really beautiful. You also have the swing at the end of the world there, which is just a big swing where it looks as if you are swinging about open air because of the way the mountains are formed there. It is just a small park where you have beautiful nature and some beautiful places to take pictures with the view, tricked or not. At night we went to some of the stores in the center after we ate and talked a bit with the people who worked there. Quilotoa was our last stop of this trip and also the coldest one. It was the idea to camp at the bottem of the mountain, at the lake, but as it was already late and dark, we couln’d go down anymore because it would have been too dangerous, so we decided to put the tents up at the top of the mountain. When it was light the next morning we could finally see the beautiful place we were in. At the bottem was the lake and it was in the middle of a circle of mountains, it was really beautiful. To get to the lake, you had to walk for about half an hour down the hill and to get back up it was a little more than an hour. For the less sportif, there are also donkeys and horses that you can pay for to get back up. When we arrived back on top, we were glad we didn’t go down and so we didn’t have to get back up again with all the stuff.

Tumbes is a small city half an hour away from the border of Peru. Here are also students from AFS and we were going to visit them but when we arrived it turned out they were all on holidays with their families. But dispite that, we had a fun time, we ate very cheap (only 2.5 dollars/2 euros for a menu with drink), afterwards we went to the port for a bit to buy some souvenirs before we went back to Huaquillas to cross the border to Ecuador. Huaquillas is a small city on the border of Ecuador and Peru, you can walk over the border without any problems. A lot of people from Machala come here to buy their clothes, shoes, decorations, school supplies,… because in Peru it is a lot cheaper than it is in Ecuador and because it is only an hour and a half from Machala it is really easy, there are a lot of busses and you only have to pay 2.5 dollar for it.

Normally I would also have gone to Cuenca, a city where I really want to go to but because of a competition I couldn’t go when the group went. Normally I would have gone there for my short exchange, but sadly that didn’t go trough... now I am going to Guayaquil (Ecuador’s biggest city) instead in the beginning of June.

We, my hostsister and I, were thinking about buying a dog for the family as a suprise, but when we went to buy one they didn’t have any boys and we knew that our dad doesn’t want a girl. That way we still don’t have a dog, but we are probably soon getting one.

Last Sunday, my hostsister, Katelijne and I went to Loja with our aunt. We first went to Reigna del Cisne, there we went to church at 6 a.m., thats’s the earlierst I’ve ever been there. After that we went to a park in Loja where we took some really cool pictures. It is a 5-hour drive from Machala to Loja, the first one we left in the night and I couldn’t sleep so I sat in church without a minute of sleep and I must say that that’s not the best idea... but during our ride to Loja, I could finally sleep.

So, this was it for now, I will later post some pictures. Hopefully I will be able to update soon and won’t forget about it... see you later.

~Lynn

[83unsungheroes]

A four day trip to Dubrovnik was always going to be a strange experience for me.  I’ve only ever known two people who have gone, and they are both disappointingly far more in my past than they are in my present or future.  Walking in their footsteps in a place that sells itself on that sort of thing was an odd feeling.

We arrived in to Dubrovnik early evening and were picked up by the son of the owners of the guest house we were staying at.  We’d decided to stay out of the Old Town, not least because our booking was quite late but also because staying at Guesthouse Lile was staggeringly cheap.  For two people sharing a studio that sleeps three, it was little over £20 per night each.  That didn’t include food or room servicing, but did include wifi and air conditioning in a comfortable room.

We thought that it was a 30 minute walk to the Old Town but it turns out that it was a bit longer than that.  That’s not too bad at the beginning or end of the day, but in the sun and heat it isn’t much fun.  Busses run regularly and cost 12 kuna if you buy from an office or 15 if you buy them from the driver.  Either way, that’s not a lot.

I didn’t know a lot about Dubrovnik before we went.  Along with Zagreb, it was a name I remembered from the war in the area in the early 90s.  I knew it had A good place to start on the first morning, then, was with a walk round the walls.

As one would expect, the walls give excellent views across the whole town.  Originally, the walls were built only as a defence against the sea before becoming a defence against invaders.  Nowadays, those invaders are the likes of myself that are creating the risk of Dubrovnik losing its UNESCO World Heritage status until it comes up with a plan to deal with the number of tourists it receives.  Given the importance of that status in its modern history (it is unable to have an army), one hopes that Dubrovnik can find solutions.

We took a couple of hours to get round the walls with regular stops for photographs.  There are some bars that would have provided welcome respite against the heat.  Back at ground level and outside the Old Town, we’re met by an abundance of people selling excursions.

This appears to be the crux of the tourist industry in the town.  I’m not certain about how much regulation happens and there is something a bit strange about handing over money in the street.  Most excursions seem to cost around 100-150Kn if you’re walking, and double that if transport is involved.  Cash is King on the streets, which is a fact that stumped me and my expectation of paying for my big expenses on credit card.

For the second day we booked sea kayaking in the morning followed by a Blue Cave tour in the afternoon.  Kayaking is a must.  The tour guide was excellent, both in terms of kayaking direction and knowledge of the area and the history of the place.  The included lunch was a tad sparse and for a 7.5km row, I wish I’d have taken more of my own water.

I haven’t rowed for decades and was apprehensive given my inability (with my back) to sit in such a position.  But then I didn’t have a heart condition that caused me to capsize the kayak at the first stop.  Again, regulation and all that.

The Blue Cave Tour should have been 380Kn each, but we paid 350.  We were told it would be a speedboat, and it wasn’t. I knew nothing of the caves and didn’t appreciate that swimming was necessary.  Not being a good swimmer at the best of times, having spent the morning rowing and walking for 90 minutes to and from our accommodation, I gave the swimming a miss and decided to stay on the boat drinking what I could find and admiring the views, rather than complete a type of triathlon.

It was an enjoyable boat ride but probably lasted a good few hours longer than it should have done.  A boat tour to caves shouldn’t include 30 minutes split between two caves followed by an hour at a beach before heading back.

Another boat provided the transportation for the third day as we opted for a Three Island Tour.  The cost of this one was 250Kn, and included an all day tour, a cooked lunch and drinks.  We were picked up from the apartment, dropped off as the boat was being refuelled and taken by said boat to the actual pick up point.

The 3 of the thousands of Croatian islands we visited were Lopud, Sipan and Kolocep.  Lopud has a lot of buildings to look at if you’re prepared to walk to them.  We went up to a church, which was a 1.5km walk up a hill to see a wall.  As cynically as I say that, the views from the top were amazing.

The other two islands simply provided other bars to frequent.  They were picturesque, quaint and undoubtedly beautiful and, to that regard, simply provided more of what Dubrovnik had to offer rather than add anything.

That’s what I found on the last day.  We had a late flight leaving us the day to explore, but I found myself looking round the same thing.  The restaurants all served meat, pasta and pizza.  Each drinks round cost around 60Kn, served at bars decorated in the same way and all closed somewhere around midnight to allow the clubs to take over.  Each shop sold the same HBO licenced souvenirs from a building made with white stone walls and orange roofs.

For me, it is those orange roofs that hold the key to Dubrovnik’s identity, not only in terms of physical appearance but in its being.  Pre-conflict, the buildings’ roofs were yellow.  By decree, when the buildings were renovated and rebuilt, they were topped with orange.

That’s all you see.  As poignant and stark as the bullet hole reminders in the walls are, this is a town that is continuously rebuilt for one reason or another, lurching from earthquake to war to its new problem with popularity.

It’s not only rebuilt in to Dubrovnik, though.  Sure, the buildings are rebuilt to the same plans and with the same materials as their predecessors which keeps the DNA of the place running through every iteration.  But it’s also rebuilt in to King’s Landing in Game Of Thrones, or Canto Bight in Star Wars, or the Borgia’s Rome, or a medieval Nottingham for Robin Hood.  Its a place that defies time and location and, in so doing, can be anything to anyone with enough imagination and enough desire.

Given my connections to the place before my visit, I don’t know whether to find this inspirational or demoralising.  As I walked the shiny, worn streets in the footsteps of my past, I found myself wondering if the Pearl Of The Adriatic is a bastion of hope or a reminder that sometimes change is forced from something we would rather did not happen.

Try so hard to get away Think about you every day Try so hard to live without But no, no mas Sun shine is shining far away Birds eyes just looking out And they can see that you’re, you’re mine

‘Cause when we’re together, your love is controlling my brain Like plunging inside of that fire I cannot contain

Our love is like a heatwave It’s burning through the evening rain Sets sail out on an ocean wave ‘Cause our love is like a heatwave ‘Cause our love is like a heatwave

I never will walk away Unless you’re right by my side Burn gas in the Chevrolet She’s so hot And our connection’s like Wi-Fi Just love how you ricochet Won’t stop ’til you’re satisfied

‘Cause when we’re together, your love is controlling my brain Like plunging inside of that fire I cannot contain

Our love is like a heatwave It’s burning through the evening rain Sets sail out on an ocean wave ‘Cause our love is like a heatwave ‘Cause our love is like a heatwave

Strong current won’t stop you Just makes me want you more Couldn’t leave if I want to I wash up at your door I know at times, we break the rules Temperatures rise when I’m with you

Our love is like a heatwave It’s burning through the evening rain Sets sail out on an ocean wave ‘Cause our love is like a heatwave ‘Cause our love is like a heatwave

Heatwave by Robin Schulz feat. Akon

Everyone's Pearl Of The Adriatic. #dubrovnik A four day trip to Dubrovnik was always going to be a strange experience for me.  I've only ever known two people who have gone, and they are both disappointingly far more in my past than they are in my present or future.