A Breath of Air

I have not written in ages and for those who read regularly, I apologize. The last few months have been some of the most stressful that I have ever had and I don't look forward to ever repeating what I have gone through. 

This is my breath of air before I dive right back into work and since my lack of posts has been weighing on me, I am trying to check another task off my unending list.

The last I wrote was on spending Christmas in Xining. From there I returned to Lhasa for two weeks, mainly to do a trek that I had been trying to schedule for months. Be prepared for a detailed post all about the wonderful Angie and her Highland Trekking Initiatives. Leaving Lhasa to return to Xining was an...interesting experience.

Sometimes I like to get to places differently than most people...

I will also save that story for another day since it is quite long and harrowing. After Xining I returned to Hong Kong and suffered from pretty severe food poisoning which lasted for the two weeks I was there. After Hong Kong, I went to Chennai, India. I lived there for three years during my freshman to junior years of high school and I still have some family friends who live there. It's a hard lesson that you can never go home but I still enjoyed trying. After Chennai I went to Dharamsala for two weeks while the Boy attempted to track down an oracle so he could get an interview. I must say, Dharamsala is way more fun when mold isn't growing on everything and rain doesn't pour down every ten minutes.

The giant Apple store beneath one of the IFC towers.

There are few things more delicious in life than cold coffee with ice cream!

Protest sign in Dharamsala

After that I went to Delhi for three days before flying back stateside. I spent the next two months moving between northern Virginia, North Carolina, NYC, Miami, Savannah, Tallahassee, Pittsburgh, and Ohio. Great seeing all the friends and family again although I think I will try to spread out reunion trips a little better next time. The following pictures are a bit out of order...

Statue at Florida State University.

Pittsburgh!

Taffy in Savannah, Georgia.

Blowing an egg to empty it for decoration! First time...

Great dragon egg my dad made.

Dried up jelly fish in Miami.

In May I returned to HK (that was an awful, awful experience. The flight, I mean) and then went to the Philippines to vacation with my family. More drama ensued when our flight to Coron was canceled and we scrambled to figure out what to do. Again, a story for another day.

A taste of what a surreal experience my delay in Chicago was...

Beautiful Boracay!

We opted for Boracay after which we returned to HK for a wedding. It was my first bridesmaid experience and was so ridiculously fun, if exhausting.

One of the tortures we inflicted on the poor groomsmen. They had to pick up a set of mahjong tiles with their toes out of ice cold water!

The day after the wedding, I headed back to the states, rested for a day, and then headed to Barcelona with the Boy and his family. The next two weeks were spent on a cruise, that the Boy's family generously treated us to, which went to Cannes (we took a day trip to Monaco), Florence/Pisa, Rome, Naples (went to Pompeii, so amazing!), Ravenna (they reunited with their Italian relatives), Venice, and then Split, Croatia. It was fantastic to return to Europe and a great way to get a taste for a variety of countries.

The serenade of the seas!

Yup, Bond's casino!

Typical Pisa picture.

Awesome masks in Venice.

Dante's tomb in Ravenna!

Random Bentley car exhibition in Florence.

Split, Croatia which is a fabulous, fabulous place!

View of Barcelona atop Gaudi's park.

Second time in Rome and I never knew there was a pyramid...

St. Peter's Basilica from the dome.

Preserved Pompeii!

After the cruise I returned to the U.S. for one week before heading to Istanbul. I will definitely dedicate at least one post to Istanbul. If you haven't been, GO!!! It is such an amazing city, I can't wait to go back. In four days it has become one of my favorite cities in the world. Great food, great people, great mosques, great bath houses, and especially great baklava, what's not to love?

Inside the magnificent Blue Mosque!

FINALLY after all of that, I traveled to Alanya in the south of Turkey where I will now live for a year. My new apartment is phenomenal and it was such a great relief to know that I will not be flying anywhere for awhile. At least until September when I head to Japan for a few days...

I have done nothing in the last week since getting here (barring the one day that my wonderful landlord acted as tour guide and gave me a whirlwind tour) but veg out on facebook and UVA drama. I am finally getting a few days of just breathing and getting into a normal rhythm. Part of that is getting back to these blog posts.

I hope you have managed to keep track of my ridiculous life! Look forward to some pretty packed posts. Sorry again for those who have been waiting, I will do my best to never let such a long period go by again!