Greensburg, 10:29 PM.
Finally feeling relaxed. After months of slowly moving my things out of Pittsburgh, it's done. Today the last carload of stuff was taken from Pearl St. and I did my bulk food shopping at the Co-op. It feels so nice to have most of the things that I'll be needing already purchased. Tomorrow I'll be doing a bit of odds-and-ends shopping and I'll start organizing things that I'll be shipping over to Japan (bulk foods, camping gear, winter clothes). I can remember starting my JET application in October of '06 and thinking that if I could get into the program I wouldn't mind the prep work and packing. I think the thing that gets me is the amout of little things that I'm always thinking of and writing down...like a sewing kit or new dress socks. However, the majoriry of this stuff is in my posession, waiting to be packed up in a few days.
My six year stint in Pittsburgh is over. It's off to Japan in less than a week.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
lists and packing
Today I realized that I'm going to spend this week before I leave either shopping, packing, or sleeping. Hopefully I'll be able to fit in a bit of eating and hanging out as well...
Tomorrow I'm off to Pittsburgh to spend my last three days there. I'll be going to yoga every day to use up my pass and I'm looking forward to it because I feel like it's been forever since my last formal session. I've also got to pick up some nice clothes, region-specific gifts, bulk food items, and bunnnch of other things. I was a little stressed out today but the lists have been made and it's just a matter of gathering and packing up.
Monday, July 23, 2007
in transit...
So it's been a while since I've been able to throw in an update on here, but I've been pretty busy over the past month...
Yesterday I returned home from a trip to Philadelphia that included a two day venture in Vermont with Jordan to see friend and ex-housemate Lisa, who will be moving to Turkey in late August to teach English. I had planned on visiting the Philly crew a while back but the Vermont idea was pretty much done on a whim...I think I needed to get a bit of spontaneity out of my system before settling down and gearing up for Japan. Jordan and I were a bit discouraged when the 2:05 AM bus came to the Philly Greyhound station and the driver announced that there were no seats available. It was a few hours later that we found out that the next bus would be at 5:30 AM. Having got no sleep the night before, we decided to throw in the towel. We both agreed that it was a good thing that we were too exhausted to be angry when we were denied access on a bus that we both had tickets for. But that's Greyhound for ya.
We ended up catching a bus at 2:45 AM the next morning. After 9 hours of observing a rotating all-star cast of bus riders, we arrived in Brattleboro, VT a little before noon. Lisa picked us and took us back to her temporary residence at a small college in Marlboro where she is working as a nanny until mid August. Jordan and I were amused when it was revealed that we weren't really allowed to be there, so we had to pretty much stay hidden while lurking around Lisa's dorm.
Aside from the bus rides to and from, Vermont was great. We were able go boating, do a good amount of hiking, drink some local IPA (and dance at the Mole's Eye while the locals tried to make sense of our physical gyrations to Salt-N-Pepa), and, finally, hang out with a cool six year-old.
In other news- Jon took off for South Korea earlier in the month. I'm glad that we got to hang out a good amount before he left and I'm excited to pay him a visit in the next few months (among other future endeavors together).
And last week I was fortunate enough to have a Japanese-themed party thrown in my honor...
Some recent Pittsburgh/Philly/Greensburg shots...
I'd say that tomorrow marks the beginning of my actual preparations for leaving. Most of my stuff is ready to be moved out of my apartment on Pearl St. and I've got JET's official list of things that I need to bring to Japan waiting for me in Greensburg. I've got week and a half before I'll be in DC doing pre-departure orientation stuff and I'm expecting this time to fly by. Actually, these next few months are going to be so full of new people and experiences that I'll probably forget what it's like to be relaxing on a couch in here in Pittsburgh. However, I won't forget the great send off that I've had. Over the past few weeks I've been fortunate enough to spend time with many of the people that I really needed to see before leaving. It's crazy, I've never said goodbye to so many people...it makes me think about what will change when I see friends and family again. But it doesn't really worry me because I know that I'll be keeping in touch.
Yesterday I returned home from a trip to Philadelphia that included a two day venture in Vermont with Jordan to see friend and ex-housemate Lisa, who will be moving to Turkey in late August to teach English. I had planned on visiting the Philly crew a while back but the Vermont idea was pretty much done on a whim...I think I needed to get a bit of spontaneity out of my system before settling down and gearing up for Japan. Jordan and I were a bit discouraged when the 2:05 AM bus came to the Philly Greyhound station and the driver announced that there were no seats available. It was a few hours later that we found out that the next bus would be at 5:30 AM. Having got no sleep the night before, we decided to throw in the towel. We both agreed that it was a good thing that we were too exhausted to be angry when we were denied access on a bus that we both had tickets for. But that's Greyhound for ya.
We ended up catching a bus at 2:45 AM the next morning. After 9 hours of observing a rotating all-star cast of bus riders, we arrived in Brattleboro, VT a little before noon. Lisa picked us and took us back to her temporary residence at a small college in Marlboro where she is working as a nanny until mid August. Jordan and I were amused when it was revealed that we weren't really allowed to be there, so we had to pretty much stay hidden while lurking around Lisa's dorm.
Aside from the bus rides to and from, Vermont was great. We were able go boating, do a good amount of hiking, drink some local IPA (and dance at the Mole's Eye while the locals tried to make sense of our physical gyrations to Salt-N-Pepa), and, finally, hang out with a cool six year-old.
In other news- Jon took off for South Korea earlier in the month. I'm glad that we got to hang out a good amount before he left and I'm excited to pay him a visit in the next few months (among other future endeavors together).
And last week I was fortunate enough to have a Japanese-themed party thrown in my honor...
Some recent Pittsburgh/Philly/Greensburg shots...
I'd say that tomorrow marks the beginning of my actual preparations for leaving. Most of my stuff is ready to be moved out of my apartment on Pearl St. and I've got JET's official list of things that I need to bring to Japan waiting for me in Greensburg. I've got week and a half before I'll be in DC doing pre-departure orientation stuff and I'm expecting this time to fly by. Actually, these next few months are going to be so full of new people and experiences that I'll probably forget what it's like to be relaxing on a couch in here in Pittsburgh. However, I won't forget the great send off that I've had. Over the past few weeks I've been fortunate enough to spend time with many of the people that I really needed to see before leaving. It's crazy, I've never said goodbye to so many people...it makes me think about what will change when I see friends and family again. But it doesn't really worry me because I know that I'll be keeping in touch.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
goin' raw
So, yesterday was the official start up of my raw foods diet. I feel like my current situation is allowing me to easily transition away from the handful of non-raw items that I’ve been eating (which mostly includes quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat wraps, and the occasional vegetable sauté) to a fairly ‘strict’ raw diet. And so brings up a two-fold question:
1) What exactly is ‘raw’? and
2) Why eat raw?
(from Wikipedia.com)
Raw foodism is a movement promoting the consumption of uncooked, unprocessed, and often organic foods, as a large percentage of the diet. A raw food diet consists fully of foods which have not been heated above a certain temperature. The maximum temperature varies among the different forms of the diet, from 92ºF to 118°F (33°C to 48°C). Raw food diets may include a selectıon of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds (including whole grains), eggs, fish, meat and unpasteurized dairy products (such as raw milk, cheese and yogurt).
A raw foodist is a person who consumes primarily raw food, or all raw food, depending on how strict the person is. Raw foodists typically believe that the greater the percentage of raw food in the diet, the greater the health benefits. They generally believe raw food prevents and/or heals many forms of sickness and many chronic diseases.
So why would I choose to eat like this?
Well, personally, it’s been a process of evolution. Over the past eight months I’ve been focusing on how my body reacts to certain foods. I never really set out to specifically alter my diet for the sake of my health, but I began replacing a lot of the processed things that I was habitually consuming with fresh, (mostly) organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains. For quite sometime I’ve been aware of the importance of avoiding things like high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and trans fats (of course), but I was inspired after my trip to Japan to bring a new level of focus to my diet.
I’ve only been ‘officially’ doing raw for a few days. My previous diet was heavy on cooked quinoa, a rice-like South American whole grain which was a staple during the winter months. I still can eat quinoa by the process of sprouting, although I haven’t been as of yet. Salads with veggies, nuts, fruits, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and nutritional yeast (providing B vitamins that most vegetarians lack in their diets) comprise my main meal of the day. I am still eating a lot of healthy snacks (many directly adopted from Jon’s repertoire) such as carrots with dijon mustard, sunflower seeds and raisins, cacao, and raw honey. I’ve been making a fruit smoothie almost every day for a least the past year but I am going to stop using yogurt and use less fruit. For example, I am testing out a homemade concoction this afternoon that’s comprised of one frozen banana, walnuts soaked overnight, rice milk, and raw cacao syrup (a mix of agave nectar and cacao powder). The effect that the multiple servings of fruit of my previous mixtures has worn a bit thin, as I began to feel tired about a half an hour after my only-fruit smoothies.
So far I’m feeling very positive about going raw. My energy is up and I feel more active and alert than I was even a few days ago. It hasn’t been a drastic change from my previous habits but only a more refined scope of my consumption. I feel that it’s the best time to try this out right now because when I start my job overseas I won’t be able to concentrate as much on my intake.
1) What exactly is ‘raw’? and
2) Why eat raw?
(from Wikipedia.com)
Raw foodism is a movement promoting the consumption of uncooked, unprocessed, and often organic foods, as a large percentage of the diet. A raw food diet consists fully of foods which have not been heated above a certain temperature. The maximum temperature varies among the different forms of the diet, from 92ºF to 118°F (33°C to 48°C). Raw food diets may include a selectıon of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds (including whole grains), eggs, fish, meat and unpasteurized dairy products (such as raw milk, cheese and yogurt).
A raw foodist is a person who consumes primarily raw food, or all raw food, depending on how strict the person is. Raw foodists typically believe that the greater the percentage of raw food in the diet, the greater the health benefits. They generally believe raw food prevents and/or heals many forms of sickness and many chronic diseases.
So why would I choose to eat like this?
Well, personally, it’s been a process of evolution. Over the past eight months I’ve been focusing on how my body reacts to certain foods. I never really set out to specifically alter my diet for the sake of my health, but I began replacing a lot of the processed things that I was habitually consuming with fresh, (mostly) organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains. For quite sometime I’ve been aware of the importance of avoiding things like high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and trans fats (of course), but I was inspired after my trip to Japan to bring a new level of focus to my diet.
I’ve only been ‘officially’ doing raw for a few days. My previous diet was heavy on cooked quinoa, a rice-like South American whole grain which was a staple during the winter months. I still can eat quinoa by the process of sprouting, although I haven’t been as of yet. Salads with veggies, nuts, fruits, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and nutritional yeast (providing B vitamins that most vegetarians lack in their diets) comprise my main meal of the day. I am still eating a lot of healthy snacks (many directly adopted from Jon’s repertoire) such as carrots with dijon mustard, sunflower seeds and raisins, cacao, and raw honey. I’ve been making a fruit smoothie almost every day for a least the past year but I am going to stop using yogurt and use less fruit. For example, I am testing out a homemade concoction this afternoon that’s comprised of one frozen banana, walnuts soaked overnight, rice milk, and raw cacao syrup (a mix of agave nectar and cacao powder). The effect that the multiple servings of fruit of my previous mixtures has worn a bit thin, as I began to feel tired about a half an hour after my only-fruit smoothies.
So far I’m feeling very positive about going raw. My energy is up and I feel more active and alert than I was even a few days ago. It hasn’t been a drastic change from my previous habits but only a more refined scope of my consumption. I feel that it’s the best time to try this out right now because when I start my job overseas I won’t be able to concentrate as much on my intake.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
summer sights (so far)
The new room...pre-80s night.
Studying the contents of gummy Life Savers...
Kelsey and Ant.
Jordan.
Matt Obrien.
Elizabeth and Jordan at Zenith's Sunday brunch.
Lisa and me on Mathilda St.
Jon, eating quinoa in Friendship Park.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
post number one!
Hiii! So, I've decided to create this as a venue for sharing thoughts and pictures as my time in Pittsburgh winds down and I begin prepping for life in Japan. It's kind of late right now so I think I'll leave it at that, but expect more updates very soon.
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