So we ended up going to the Bluegrass concert in San Francisco. We kind of saw Iron and Wine, Riders in the Sky, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Prince Billy and probably someone else.  It was at Golden Gate Park and the park was absolutely beautiful. It was a free show, so it was really really really crowded and we actually could hardly hear, let alone see, most of the performers.  It was a really nice day and still a whole lot of fun.
We also went to a forest of redwood trees.  They were really big--which was to be expected.  We went to the park right before dark and it was really quiet.  I hadn't thought about how soft pineneedles are before. 
This morning we saw the Golden Gate Bridge and then this afternoon we saw the Arch in St Louis.  I'm at Ben's house now.  His parents moved his bedroom and changed his old bedroom into a study and he has one less cat now.  We've unpacked boxes and boxes of stuff on the living room floor (stuff we mailed here from Korea) and are trying to figure out what I'll take with me tomorrow.
Tomorrow Ben's mom is driving me to Galesburg and Em is picking me up from there and taking me home to Lisbon.  Finally home after about 1.3 years!!!

So we got to Hawaii and were aboslutely exhausted.  My mom picked us up at the airport and took us to this adorable house she'd rented on the north shore of Kuaui.  The house was 2 bed rooms and a living room, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and porch.  It was perfect.  It was really nice to have a kitchen finally and we only ate out once the whole week (taco bell).  One of the things we cooked was breadfruit.  It's a big yellowy colored fruit that is supposedtly really nutritious.  It is sometimes used as a substitute for pasta for people with wheat allergies.  I boiled it for like 10 minutes and then it was kind of sticky and latex-y.  Then I peeled it and cut it up and covered it with veggies and sauce and baked it for another 15 minutes or so.  It was really really good but very filling.  Its texture was a lot like a potato. 
We went to a hula competition in Lehui, which is the biggest city on Kuaui.  I thought it was going to be really touristy, but most of the people there were locals.  We didn't know enough about the stories being told, or the meanings of the different guestures to really understand the dances, but it was very pretty.  They only used live music, so we got to hear a lot of Ukilele and men singing in falsetto. 
The roads on Kuaui only go around about 2/3 of the island and the other 3rd is accessable only by boat or helicopter.  It's called the Na Pali coast and consists mostly of cliffs plummetting down into the sea.  We went on a rafting trip with about 12 other people along this coast line.  Dolphins came and swam along the boat and we saw several sea turtles, but they dove when we got too close.  We went into some caves along the cliffs and saw where some movies (I can't remember which ones) were shot.  The coolest cave was round and there was no ceiling because it had collapsed forming an island in the middle of the cave.  It was really cool.  Our group stopped for lunch on this little beach and we looked at an archeological sight of an old Hawaiian settlement that they'd been working with recently. We went snorkelling on this reef after lunch.  It was the first time I'd ever been snorkelling and it was amazing.  At one point I found myself directly over a huge sea trutle, not more than 5 feet away from me.

Besides the rafting trip and hula competition, we spent a lot of time on the beach boogie boarding (MUCH easier than surfing).

Now we are in California.  Scott (Ben's old suite mate) picked us up at the airport and we are staying with him and his roommate Sam, another Knox alum. They live in Santa Rosa, outside of San Francisco. It feels a lot like Knox to be staying in their apartment.  This weekend we are going to go see redwoods, go to a bluegrass festival in San Francisco, wine tasting, and possibly go to a love festival/parade in San Francisco. There are some other Knox people who are in the area so we're going to try to see them too.

Tuesday we're flying to St Louis so we'll finally be back in the midwest! Our current plan is to each stay with our families for about a week or so and then Ben will come to Iowa City and we'll find an apartment and jobs and stay there for about a year until we figure out what we're doing.

Somehow, after leaving our hostel at 4:00am and then a 6 hour flight to Japan, we are doing great.  The Tokyo airport is pretty cool.  We went to an origami museum and an oxygen bar.  There is also a lounge type thing in the middle of whatever terminal we are in and there are big plates of glass splattered with paint surrounding big cushions that people are sleeping on.  The oxygen bar was really strange.  I can't believe we paid for flavored air but it was really fun.  We had pear, cinnamon, eucalyptus, grapefruit, spearmint, wintergreen, orange blossom and melon air.  After reading some litterature they had about oxygen I became temporarily worried that I have not been breathing enough oxygen in.  I'm okay with it now though. 

It's really too bad that we're in Tokyo for such a short time.  I really would love to get out of the airport.  I knew way more about Japan than I did Korea before we came to Aisa in the first place.  If we teach in Asia again (which is unlikely) I'd rather come to Japan than Korea again.

We have 7.5 hour flight then a 45 minute flight left. 

Somehow, because of time changes, we are going to live through 40 hours between 12:00am tonight (9/25/08) and 11:59 pm tomorrow (9/25/08).  I'm tired just thinking about it but after that we'll be in Hawaii with my mom so it'll be okay.

Today in Bangkok wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  We walked all over the place and managed not to spend too much money.  I still like other parts of Thailand better though. 

We're getting really good at packing our stuff up quickly and also at waiting in lines at airports. 

So we are in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia again.  It's strange to be back here because we were here only 2 weeks ago.  It's nice to know our way around and to know where to go in order to get what.  We are staying in the same hotel we were last time because it is cheapish and near everything. Today we woke up and walked around town.  I finally found flipflops that I like and are big enough for my enormous feet. 
Later today we are going to a spa where we will be rubbed by locals using exotic spices and chocolate for several hours--does this make us imperialists?  Then I think we're going to go to the beach and waste time. 

Tomorrow we leave for Bangkok where we will spend 2 nights--i'm really not looking forward to Bangkok.  I don't like it at all.  There is a nice park in the middle of the city and the sky train is really easy but it's crowded and dirty and everyone is constantly trying to sell you stuff and take your money.  The last time we went to this park, however, there was an huge monitor lizard that crawled into a gutter about 15 yards away from us so I don't know if I'll be able to relax in the park. 

Today is our last day in Bali.  In about 7 hours we're flying to Malaysia where we will spend the next 9 days.  It looks like there's not a ton to do in Kuala Lumpur except eat and shop and wonder around.  But that should be nice enough.  The food is supposed to be really diverse and very good.  We're going to pick up stuff we need for Australia there because it is going to be a lot colder there than any of the places we have been.

Kuta has been okay--Ubud was too health concious and nothing was going on at night and Kuta is too commercial and is filled with fast food and kitchy teeshirts.  I'm ready to move on.  We only went to the beach a couple of times because I got sick.  The waves were too big to really swim much, but we did take a surfing lesson that was really fun. 

So we made it to Kuta... It's much bigger than Ubud and isnt filled with health concious new-age people (who I don't have a problem with necessarily, but it's nice to have some variety).  There are also a lot less stray dogs. 

We checked into our hotel and it's actually in a really quiet pace off of the main road.  We have an awesome pool which is nice even though the beach is really close.  We met a really funny British guy named Justin at the bar in our hotel and he and Ben had some obscure connection dealing with a man in a tank in Cornwall that I didn't really understand. We talked to him and a Finnish guy whose name I couldn't pronounce for a while and Justin might teach us how to surf.  

Last night we went for a walk on the beach and found a sea turtle conservation center that had 200+ baby turtles ready to be released into the ocean.  The told us to come back the next evenign and we could help because they needed volunteers.  So when we came back it was actually a huge tourist event and there were tons of people and we just went out on a part of the beach that they had cleared the swimmers away from. We did get to send off a turtle each but it was kind of depressing because it didn't feel like a good part of the ocean to be releasing them because there were so many people around and we also didn't get a whole lot of information about them.  I know that this probably brings in a lot of donation money and raises awareness of the sea turtle conservatory on the beach but it wasn't really what I wanted.  

Hello Everyone! WE're still in Ubud, we kind of got stuck here... it's been really relaxing.  But we're moving out on THursday.  We're going to the beach in Southern Bali for a few days, then we're going to Komodo to see the dragons for 2 days.  THen we have a week in Kuala Lumpur and are staying at a nice hotel for a week.  After that we are going to work on an organic farm near Perth in Western Australia.  WE'll be there for about a week before we got to Bangkok for another day and then to Honolulu. 

So we're in Ubud now.  It's really nice.  We're staying in a pretty nice, but old hotel close to the city center (it's a small city).  Yesterday we went to the monkey forest sanctuary and saw lots of monkeys.  I had every intention of not feeding them, but then these little British kids were feeding them and were just getting so much attention from them.  I bought some bananas and the monkeys swarmed me.  There was a big one that kept tugging on my pant leg until I'd give him food.  Another got really aggressive and climbed on my shoulder and tried to snatch the bananas.  One smaller one climbed up on my shoulder and ate the banana while sitting on my head.  He picked bits of banana he dropped off of my hair and shirt before I shooed him away. They were really cute and we've got lots and lots of pictures of them.  I did get a small scratch on my collar bone but otherwise escaped unscathed.
We've been eating really well and are planning on taking a cooking class here too.  We'll compare it to the one we took in Thailand and cook lots of food for anyone who will listen to us talk about our trip when we get home. 
Today we signed up for classes at the library here.  Ben took a class on making religious offerings.  They leave offerings out on the streets, in front of doors, on cars, and in temples all over the city.  There are so many that you end up stepping on some no matter how careful you are and there are lots of animals eating them.  They are mostly little baskets made out of leaves (coconut) with bamboo, flowers, cakes and fruit.  Some of them get really elaborate.  I took a wood carving class with a man whose family has been carving masks for generations. He was impressed with my motor control skills.  I'm going to go finish tomorrow. It was really difficult and I kept thinking about the statues that Rodney makes of the muscular naked women. 
We're here for two weeks then we are going to the beach in Kuta for a week.