Ploofle

I unfortunately forgot my camera, so the memory shall remain with those attending - except for the nifty presentations! Manuel’s had Wisconsin-brewed beer that we had while on our road trip that I think is pretty uncommon to have on tap in other places.  Tom presented facts as how they related to New Zealand; for example, the capitals of New Zealand and Mongolia have the same number of letters in their name, and the armed forces’ size of both countries are within 10 of each other.  Bonnie presented on traditional religious dances which disappeared during communist rule and were re-inaugurated only in 2002.  Rob and Susan presented a field guide (subset, but still) of animals in Mongolia, most of which were cute - like the long-eared hedgehog, which I am now supposed to import eventually.  Julie “forgot” to bring anything, and Gigi, Judy, and Manood didn’t even bother mentioning anything

Good times by all, and it’ll be hard to be away…

Tags: mongolia, party, peace corps

Mixing metaphors, I’d like to say that you can get a Category 5 Mongolia experience for no interest no money down. Anyway, for those of you who do not receive the imminent email, here’s the deal:

1. I’m leaving very very soon (staging starts on May 31 ironically in Atlanta)
2. There is a contest!
3. There is a party!

Concerning #2 - Mongoliathon 2007 and contest:
Learn a lot about Mongolia this week and coincidentally help Charlene! Pick a topic and post or come to the Farewell/Mongolia or Bust Party ready with a spiel. There will be a special (tbd) prize from Mongolia for the most entertaining (as determined by Charlene) entry. The rest of you may get party favors later. Deadline is a week from today (5/28)

Mongoliathon 2007 topics could be:
Location and Geography
Climate and seasons
Plant and animal life
Religion
Women
Education
Cultural life
History
Diet/Food
Politics
Housing
Clothing
Holidays
Crafts
Sports

Concerning #3 - Mongoliathon 2007 and party:
This Thursday 6-8pm at Manuel’s Tavern in Atlanta in Poncey-Highlands.

If you’re not in Atlanta, this is the post where you can comment to add your submission.
If you need more than plain text feel free to email it to Charlene or submit a link and I’ll figure something out.

Tags: mongolia, party, travel

…and invite Hsien to

“Caramel Apple and Pinata Fall Festival”
“Thanksgiving in July”
“Halloween Masquerade Twister”
“Bowling + Waffles + Children’s Party Package”

Tags: party, random

Portland’s pretty nice, though not as pretty as Seattle. It just may be a weird mix of Durham (housing, more diversity, some tasty tacos) and Seattle (cold, rain, bicycles, vegetarians). Pies were super cool - nothing like a mac and cheese pie with puff pasty, or a great pear pie. I feel slightly iffy at the moment, which I think is more due to the lunch the day after than the pies.

Side note: I need to remember to read “Letters from Birmingham Jail”.

Tags: food, party, travel

(melissa’s version)

So, after wandering around on the Ave and getting sandwiches and $2 margaritas, Amy and I met with Jordan, our de facto driver
Not knowing where to go, Melissa and I threw ourselves at the mercy of Amy and Jordan to find a place - any place - as long as it was acceptable. We ended up in Wallingford at an Irish Pub (who knew that The Postal Service was irish?? And the waitresses were all tall and blond and vaguely intimidating…) Drinking ensues, I avoid the fireplace to prevent smoking, and we’re in nice comfy chairs. Melissa has a long island iced tea.
…
time passes…
…
Then an odd-looking man stands just outside our circle of chairs and stares hard - somewhere within the circle. I glance at him occasionally but mostly ignore him. By this time, people had unfortunately shifted so that only 3 chairs of the 4 were occupied. He takes the advantage and sits down, and asks, “Is this copper?” (mumbled responses) “I *love* copper….” (as he begins to lovingly stroke it). I am without a doubt slightly creeped out. He’s a tad scrawny with skinny legs (wearing shorts, for some unknown reason), so I’m sure I can take him down if necessary with my mad skizillz. Jordan attempts to make him go away, but….

Melissa, being one past a long island iced tea and now nursing a screwdriver, unexplicably actually engages him in conversation. I tune out and ignore this, as this is odd, then try to continue to talk to Amy and Jordan, but it just bugs me too much. So I ask Amy and Jordan if they’d like to go out to smoke. Dumbfounded looks: “You *smoke*?” Me: “No. Now, do you want to go out to smoke?”

I am scolded for attempting to leave Melissa behind, tho it is more to get away to strategize. By this point, the man is parabolically (hyberbolically? elliptically?) hitting on Melissa in my opinion, having somehow worked in priase for the Chinese’s aqueducts and mentioned the word “oriental” several times. Amy rescues by saying “oh, we girls, have to go to restrooms together in packs. Wanna go?”

We all jump up and flee. Melissa laughs hysterically in the bathroom whilst Amy pees and I scold We try to figure out a game plan but figure we can get Jordan to be mean man to man grrrr things. Amy leaves first to check out the situation, then returns to say Jordan’s chased him off while we were gone by saying we were having a private conversation. Weird man says, “Sure, if you want me to blaze, I’ll blaze…” and it’s all over…we then troop back over giggling.

Weird situation, but weirder, I think, that it ended up being the guy chasing away the other guy. Rather silly…

Tags: food, funny, party