I've started packing for real now that the realization I only have 2 more full weeks until I move out of my apartment has sunk in. My two big bags are mostly packed containing books, school stuff, the quilt my grandma made, work clothes/shoes, and various other odds and ends. My closet is down to about a week's worth of clothes. The only part of my apartment that I haven't begun to pack is my kitchen which a) I'm still using and b) is being given to either my sister or my boyfriend anyways so no need to worry about packing it yet. My dad came down earlier this week to get most of my furniture to store for Grace and use in the attic at my mom's house once it's finished. The pictures below are what's left of my living and dining rooms. In the tubs are the rest of my belongings that will not be traveling with me to Vietnam. Everything else that I owned has been donated or given away. It's been rather freeing to downsize my belongings and realize that I really don't need as much junk as I had. Yes, currently my living space is in a sad, empty state but it's temporary. I've spent way more time than usual doing other activities this week to avoid sitting on my camping mat in the living room watching TV. I'm back to working on my Vietnamese, reading good books, and trying to use up the rest of my aerial classes/rock climbing passes.
If you're in Atlanta and want to hit me up before I leave, let me know. I'll be leaving the city on July 14.
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I got back earlier this week from two weeks of traveling. Here's a small(ish) recap of events: June 2 - 9: Cruise in Western Caribbean Grand Cayman: We caught a taxi out to one of the private beaches and hung out there for awhile. There were chickens just walking around. . . just because. The water was remarkably chilly and very clear so swam for awhile and laid out on the beach. We caught the taxi back into town and had drinks and a giant mound of nachos at Margaritaville along with a Tortuga Rum cake (delicious). Afterwards we walked around town and saw more chickens. Roatan, Honduras: SLOTHS!!!! So this was the part of the trip I was most looking forward to. We had booked a tour at this place called "Daniel Johnson's Monkey and Sloth Hangout." We left port to find our driver, Felicia, who took us out to the Hangout. She gave us a history of the island and pointed out some of the landmarks along the way. When we got out there we had to wait for a bit but there was a nice orange tabby kitten that decided to take a nap next to me so we bonded. On the tour we saw a raccoon (yes they had a raccoon, it was mildly strange), some parrots, spider monkeys (freaky tails), Capuchin monkeys, and of course the sloths. We got to hold the macaws, monkeys, and a sloth named Sid (yes, like in Ice Age). The monkeys were very friendly. One decided to go exploring down AJ's shirt and three decided that they should hang out on my arm all at once. Sid the sloth was super adorable. True to sloth form, he barely moved and most of it was human assisted. He just kind of hugged onto you and when it came time to move to the next person, the tour guides would hold his arms and legs (Sid himself wouldn't move) and place them onto the next person. Sid then slowly grabs onto you... Hilarious to watch and I do an excellent impression should you ever want to see it. On the way back, Felicia recommended a place to try baleadas (local food) and even turned around to take us there. We got 3 baleadas and drinks for $5 US ... supa cheap and very tasty. Belize: Cave tubing! Basically self explanatory but we took a bus out to the Belizean hills with a tour guide named Shanti. She gave us history and told stories all the way there. We had to change buses to get over the last hill to the tubing place. After splitting into smaller groups, we hiked with our new guide Chelsea to the start of the cave with our tubes and gear, learning about the various rain forest plants along the way. With the tubes tied together, we started down the river and into the cave. After a rope broke we had to reset and restart but luckily this was before we got into the cave. The rest is basically floating through a set of cave tunnels. We saw some bats. Cozumel, Mexico: We had zero plan for Cozumel but knew there were Mayan ruins so we took a taxi out to the ferry pier. After talking to an information guy, we found we would have 4+ hours of transportation (ferry + taxi) to go see the ones on the mainland. So we nixed that idea and walked around downtown. When we saw a map with a bike path marked on it, we decided that was a good idea since there were some more ruins in the middle of the island. That information guy walked with us to a bike rental shop where the girl working didn't really speak English. I felt very accomplished after completing our transaction mostly in Spanish. $24 USD for two bikes for the entire day, great deal. Once AJ figured out that he could indeed ride a bike and agreed to ride on the road with cars, we set off for the architectural ruins in the middle of the island. We knew ahead of time that it was 9.5 miles out there but OMG that was a long, hot ride. We get to the turn off and the guy at the gate says "seis kilometres" aka 6 km aka 3.1 more miles . . . argh! But we had made it that far so why not. After locking up the bikes, we hit the little store and grab 2 liters of Gatorade . . . they were demolished in under 5 minutes ... it was hot. Got our tickets and walked around the ruins. Lots of mosquitoes :( and iguanas :) but the ruins were pretty cool. Armed with another liter of Gatorade, we started back to town where we returned the bikes and got nachos/margaritas and a couple of restaurants around the square ... we had to compare nachos and happy hour deals of course. There was A LOT of other stuff we did on our two at sea days as well as each night after our land excursions but that's a lot of typing. Feel free to ask if you want to know more about the trip. June 13 - 18: Traveling for Crystal's wedding
We packed up the 15 passenger van with 11 people and all the accompanying stuff then left from my mom's house at 6:30am. Luckily I had the front middle seat so I was not able to nap much . . . yes that was sarcasm, it was not lucky. But it was fine. We drove to Metropolis, IL and stayed the night in a little farmhouse. The next day we drove the rest of the way out to Independence, MO. My cousins Bree, Sonia, and I went out to my sister's Bachelorette Party. There was a fajita bar, presents, and some very amusing rounds of Codenames. Grace traded spaces with Sonia after she got into town. Next morning was the out of towners brunch at Eric's (and now Crystal's) place. Dad, Grace, and I prepped food for like 20 people while Mom kept all the would be helpers out of the kitchen. Food turned out great of course and everyone ate their fill. Lots of talking and pictures before heading over to the church to help set up for the wedding. The best part was probably creatively covering the giant rocket ship advertising VBS in the foyer. If you've seen Crystal and Eric's new Facebook profile pictures, they're in front of the giant rocket ship ... we did a good job, yea? Second best part of decorating was moving the gigantic wooden backdrop from the basement to the church stage... moving that was truly a testament to how much we love Crystal and Eric. We got to chill at the AirBnb for a bit before the rehearsal and dinner. Rehearsal was a lot of walking in and out properly down the aisle in the correct order. But useful stuff as my assigned groomsman went the wrong way once and we had to reorder the wedding party on stage a couple of times. Cue wedding on Friday. We get to the church early to help with last minute things and get ready. I think I took the stairs at least a dozen times running back and forth from the prep room to where my family was just chilling out with various errands and directions. Crystal had her hair and makeup done by a couple of friends and looked absolutely gorgeous. After some last minute pictures and finishing touches on the bride's ensemble, we were ready to start (only 5 ish minutes late). The ceremony was beautiful and went well (thank you rehearsal). We had a lot of pictures afterwards. Family pictures, sibling pictures, wedding party pictures, indoor pictures, outdoor pictures (95 degrees!!) but the non professional ones turned out pretty good so I'm excited to see the real pictures when they're ready. The heels definitely came off as soon as we were done with pictures and went to the potluck reception. So much good food I had a full plate halfway down the tables and so of course had to go back again to tackle the second half of the tables. Realizing this is really long so last two sentences ... took out of towners back to airport in the morning, packed up the van again and drove for 2 days back to South Carolina. The AirBnb in Vienna, IL was at a hunting lodge I think, there were stuffed deers (whole and just heads) EVERYWHERE... glad we only stayed there one night, it was weird. THE END. Exactly 1 month until I take off for Vietnam. I can't take my ferrets to Vietnam. The best option was to give them back to the rescue where I adopted Sharice. Since I'm traveling for the next two weeks, I planned for and did it today. I stayed for about 2 hours helping out around the rescue because it was too hard to leave them. I've had Sanchez (left) since July 2015 and he's quite possibly the love of my life. Sharice (right) was adopted in January after Pabu passed away and she quickly stole my heart as well. They got into everything and frequently pooped on the carpet but how could you ever be mad at those faces? I know they're in good hands at the rescue and they'll have so many toys to play with, boxes to hide in, and new ferrety friends to be made. I wish so much that they could come with me. Unfortunately ferrets in general do not travel very well and are rather high maintenance. I couldn't guarantee being able to give them everything they need in Vietnam and so they must find a new home. I hope whoever adopts them loves and cares for them as much as I do. You guys will be missed tremendously.
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ShannonMath Teacher living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam Archives
February 2022
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