My college friend was in town from New York so we decided to check out the local comedy festival.
One of the acts happened to be a Houstonian stand-up comedian who lived in NYC and was going on a rampage about all the things he hates about it. He talked about getting angry at tourists for thinking that a New York Moment was going to the top of Empire State Building or hi-fiving a celebrity on the street, while for him, a New York Moment was finding a dead rat inside your fridge’s mechanism and trying to convince your landlord to get rid of it.
After the show, we passed by a cute Italian restaurant and decided to go in for a later dinner. “Wow, it really reminds me of some of the places I used to go to in NY,” I commented to my friend.
As we were finishing up dinner, I happened to look up at the wall in front of me and saw a GIANT rat running up to the ceiling and hiding behind the suspended speaker. Oh the screams I was able to produce…
The owner of the restaurant seemed horrified (I am still not sure how much of it was from seeing a rat in his restaurant versus me leaving a bad review). We of course got the meal on the house and promised we won’t tell anyone.
I go to a Brazilian restaurant in Austin and my companions ask me to show off my Portuguese so I turn to the host and ask: “Tem uma mesa para tres pessoas?” (do you have a table for three people?)
He looks at me with bewilderment like I just spoke Swahili to him. Then I try another approach: “Tienes una mesa para las tres personas?”…
Then he understands.
When I asked our waiter if anyone there spoke Portuguese he pointed at the adjacent room and said – “Yeah there’s is one Brazilian, he works in the taqueria.”
In Brazil I would have said: “Pó, você tá de brincadeira meu.”
I ignored the TexMex page and ordered Feijoada because I wanted to make sure that I go REALLY Brazilian. It was ok.
So I go to the grocery store to buy my first-ever protein shake.
As it’s the USA there are about 50 types of different kinds of powders and liquids, all with shiny letters promising all sorts of benefits.
Then I see about 30 more kinds in the natural / vegan / gluten free / non GMO/ organic or whatnot categories that cost you 50% more for something that is half the size, all these have lots of green and white packaging that will sure make you feel healthier just looking at it.
A nice store employee comes and asks if I need any help because I obviously look lost. I tell him that I want to buy a protein shake because I want to gain weight. So he points to one of the shelves and says I should get THAT one but “beware because it has lots of sugar.”
“Strange,” I say, “because it only has 3% daily value of carbs per serving…” (which is about less than half of the carbs in the average yogurt cup).
“No, you have to look at the calories,” he says, “that shows you how much sugar it has. ”
Now, am I missing something or I learned the wrong things in Biology class (I know it has been at least 15 years since but still…)?
Finally, I ended up getting something that is called Muscle Milk, which has no milk, but has milk proteins (so confusing).
During my graduate studies on Russia, I learned of an interesting element in Russian folklore: the theme of man’s connection with the land, with nature. We came across it in the mystical children’s stories, in Chekov’s plays and in more modern pieces such as Nikita Mikhalkov‘s films. I always appreciated this esthetic but found it hard to comprehend; why was it that with all the modernity and attractions of big cities, one would want to return back to his or her origins in the countryside?
As I grew older and accumulated more polluted air in my lungs, I started realizing the special allure of pure nature and simple things that make our lives more real and meaningful. Jericoacoara, a quiet beach town in the northeast of Brazil (of which I wrote some time ago here) was the first place that had a transformative effect on my mental state. Even…
During my graduate studies on Russia, I learned of an interesting element in Russian folklore: the theme of man’s connection with the land, with nature. We came across it in the mystical children’s stories, in Chekov’s plays and in more modern pieces such as Nikita Mikhalkov‘s films. I always appreciated this esthetic but found it hard to comprehend; why was it that with all the modernity and attractions of big cities, one would want to return back to his or her origins in the countryside?
As I grew older and accumulated more polluted air in my lungs, I started realizing the special allure of pure nature and simple things that make our lives more real and meaningful. Jericoacoara, a quiet beach town in the northeast of Brazil (of which I wrote some time ago here) was the first place that had a transformative effect on my mental state. Even today, when I am asked to think of a special place that makes me calm, I imagine myself walking on top of the Sunset dune in Jeri with the sandy wind touching my skin and rippling through my clothes as if it’s trying to lift me up in the air and set me flying.
When I was debating with my boyfriend about our last vacation, we’ve almost settled on yet another sightseeing frenzy but then I remembered the calming effect of nature and how much we all need it in today’s crazy world. So we we decided on the mountains of Colorado instead.
Renting a very little car (as always, I was being cheap), turned out to be a good idea on one hand because it was excellent for all the turns on the mountain highways. On the other hand, merging or accelerating turned out to be a good exercise and in peddle pressing and praying as it huffed and puffed trying to get to a speed of 65 mph. Mitsubishi Mirage is not for the outdoors but great gas milage 😉
We first stopped to visit friends near Boulder and took a trip to Estes Park, which I previously saw in its winter glory. The next day we drove up high in the mountains to visit the breathtaking Brainard Lake, which was surrounded by snowy peaks even in the hot August time.
After Boulder, we headed to Aspen, which is what I would call a yuppie Switzerland (very beautiful but very expensive and full of wealthy people in fancy clothes and fancy cars). We stayed in nearby half-yuppie Snowmass Village and enjoyed several sunny and lazy days of eating, hiking, cycling and people-watching. The highlight of this part of the trip was visiting Maroon Bells, the view of which from the Maroon lake is the most photographed scene in Colorado (google this). There were several trails around this park so we randomly picked the Maroon Creek trail which turned out to be very versatile (forest, river, open fields, rock formations, etc) hike, that we had all to ourselves. Hooray to random guessing!
On our way back to Austin, we stopped for one day in Denver, which was kind of a nothing city in the middle of all the beauty so to compensate ourselves for its nothingness, we went to visit the Red Rocks Amphitheater, which was full of people jogging and doing all sorts of sports that I would never do during a 90F / 30C scorching heat. We were not surprised at all to see this as throughout the trip we learned about all sorts of crazy things that Coloradans do in the name of fitness (think of riding mountain bikes at 45 degrees incline at 8k ft/2.4k meters and smiling while at it).
Frozen Lake in Estes ParkSame place in Estes Park in the Summer
Estes Park
Estes Park
Brainard Lake
Brainard Lake
Maroon Bells, Aspen, Colorado
Maroon Bells, Aspen, Colorado
Maroon Creek Trail
Riding bicycles between Snowmass and Aspen
Between Snowmass and Aspen
Sculpture Park in Aspen
Street signs in front of Aspen’s Museum of Art
Aspen Museum of Art
My favorite restaurant in Aspen, Pyramid Bistro: Really healthy food at this hidden spot above a bookstore
Grobetrotter 