5/12/99 Going to the Louvre
Garnet and the Louvre. That sounds like a disastrous combination if I've
ever heard one. It sounds like a totally predictable story. Garnet is a 7
year old ball of fire who seems to be on a mission to destruct everything in
his path. So, I wasn't exactly excited to take him to the Louvre, one of
the most famous and large art museums in the world. After we had been there
about an hour, seen the legendary Mona Lisa, the stunning Venus de Milo and
about 1000 other pieces of art in this museum which houses 30,000 pieces, I
thought Garnet would be climbing the walls and impatient to leave.
Amazingly, I was more ready to leave than he was. Somehow, something came
over him and he was totally fascinated by the artwork. While I was walking
through holding his had and trying to answer all his questions, I realized
that the rest of the family was long gone. In an attempt to catch up, I
started briskly walking and dragging him along behind. All of a sudden,
with a huge amount of force, he yanked me back. looked me right in the eyes
and with the the most commanding voice he said, "Jess. Would you stop
trying to race through here. I want to look at the pictures. OKAY!"
5/3/99 Moscow to The Adriatic Sea
While we were in Moscow, the American embassy was closed and surrounded by
trucks full of armed guards because there had been recent bomb threats. Two
days after we left there was an explosion in a hotel in Red Square.
While we were in Athens there was a huge demonstration going on about the
war. A few days after we left Athens there was a bomb in a hotel there.
When we took the ferry to Italy we were less than a mile from the shore of
Albania and just yesterday a US bomber plane crashed in the Adriatic Sea,
right where we were.
3/27/99 The Streets of Kathmandu
The streets of Kathmandu are fascinating, but not particularly clean.
Many people walk around with little masks over their nose and mouth, the
kind that doctors wear in hospitals. They wear them to keep from
breathing the dust. Today while wandering around Thamel, I saw a
rickshaw driver take off his mask and light up a cigarette. Hmmm......
3/23/99 Surf's Up at Kuta Beach.
For some reason everyone in Kuta assumes that everyone in America knows
how to surf. When any of the young Balinese surfers asked, "Where are
you from?" and I replied "America.", they always said "Oh, so you can
surf." "No this is my first time.", I would say totally
shocking them.
"You're from America and you don't know how to surf? Why not?" I tried
to explain that not everyone in America knows how to surf. Actually, I
did a much better job showing them.
I spent the first day looking hopeless, just floating out in the ocean,
holding on to my rented board for dear life while waves as high as my
house tossed me around. Actually only the first part of the day was
like that, because I was later rescued by a young surfer who noticed
that I didn't have a clue what I was doing. He introduced himself and
then took it upon himself to be my personal tutor for the day. By the
end of the day I was feeling like there was some hope for me and so I
would give it another try in the morning.
I spent another two days struggling with the fierce and powerful ocean,
losing all of the battles. And I have the scars to show for it. I am
bruised and scabbed after being beaten up by the board and literally
thrown up onto the gritty shore numerous times. I spent 3 days
wrestling with the ocean. And the power of the ocean can be very
intimidating. Finally though, I did it. I stood up on the third day.
It was such a rush to be moving so fast with the strength of the ocean
pushing me ahead, rather pulling me under.
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