dancing

i just commented on a friend's post about dancing, i think specifically salsa. anyway... i told her a fun story about my time in orlando and thought it worth repeating here.

my friend bekah, who will soon be in madrid with me, loves to dance, particularly salsa. i do too, but not as much as bekah. so during the training she was going through and i was coaching in florida, on occasion bekah organized a salsa night, either to teach people or to go out. i can't say that i went to as many nights as i would have liked, but the one night i went out with them was FABULOUS and a time forever sketched in my memories.

there was a salsa convention going on in town, so we went to the open dancing. there were three of us women and two guys. we got there and were blown away by the dancers, all professional or semi-professional. i felt like i was on the set or in a movie, definitely very surreal. and they were definitely FAR out of our league. but we danced anyway and i had the greatest time!!! i felt like a star. while i'm sure i didn't look anything like them, i pretended i did and felt like a million dollars. damien and drew being there to dance with, along with the other random guys i danced with were obviously fairly key. it was definitely a night to remember. i only wish i had some pictures to go along with it.

and the venue was stellar. a huge ballroom with a hardwood floor and all the glitz to go with it. it kind of made me think of the japanese version of "shall we dance" (which by the way is MUCH better and came out far before the american version with richard gere).

Note: By the way, the picture above is from the Antonio Banderes (he's spanish) movie "Take The Lead" which I just saw a few days ago at a friend's house a few days ago in Lawrence, KS, while I was preparing for my talk on Spain at Grace EPC. It is a GREAT movie that is about dancing but also a lot more. Definitely a great movie to rent.

Florida Roadkill & Fauna

As I drove cross-country to and from Florida, I noticed that the common roadkill changed drastically upon arriving to Florida. Instead of the everyday pets and possum of the midwest and honestly not that much in the roadkill department, in Florida (at least in Kissimmee on the roads I was traveling with frequency) I saw several new armadillos a day and on ocassion the tortoise or alligator. Fortunately I wasn't responsible for the death of any of them, in fact I saved at least one armadillo by stopping for him to cross and stopping traffic in the process (although I was just in a parking lot). No other state was quite like Florida.

The roadkill does reflect upon the fauna of Florida and unfortunately also attracted the frightening turkey vultures to feed upon the dead carcases. Gross and a bit disturbing. In addition to these animals there are quite a few long legged birds, like heron and sand crane. In addition, there were a plethora of frogs, many both in number and in type, and lizards, both of which I am a huge fan. And while not an animal, there are an abundance of water lilies (and many growing in the sometimes not so pretty swamps).

gators

I am presently living in the state filled with gators and have just a couple of stories so far related to gators.

One, the other day as Erica and I were driving home from a great time at a Sara & Mike's place, I saw something snake like up ahead in my lane. As I got closer I mentioned it to Erica and at just about the same time we both said, "Is that an alligator?" I think it made both of our days because we have been dying to see one since we got here. Its length was about the width of my car (actually my dad's car on loan - a toyota prius) and it was dark brownish green (although it also was about 1am and very dark out).

Two, apparently CCC has at least one little gator on its property at Lake Hart. I have yet to actually lay eyes on it, but I have dreams of going in search of the little gator or even finding a few more. I have ideas of how to find it, but nothing that is sane enough to carry out.

our little walk & jerry

I got back from Charlotte about 16:00 and gobbled up some long overdue lunch. After going to visit some neighbors my roommate Erica and I set out on a little walk... or so we thought. We went the way I've begun to run, which is a few miles long and decided to take Neptune Road to see if it was a shortcut home. We walked and, as were were deep in conversation, we continued to walk. and to walk and to walk. We were talking about our homes overseas, life there, students, people's openness to the gospel, life and lo que sea.

After awhile and at least an hour and a half later Erica asked me if I thought this road was going to hit highway 192 and take us home or not. It also occurred to us that neither one of us had a phone nor money with us, just my keys (including car keys, which at this point were completely useless). We talked about just cross-countrying it, but due to the many nice man-eating fauna of florida and the many marsh lakes filled with water moccasins and supposed gators (or so we've been told), we opted out of swimming the swamps or trekking cross-country. We walked a bit more passed MANY dead end roads and two roads we were sure would veer to the right, but to our chagrin actually went left.

At this point Erica asked what I thought about going up to a random house and asking for directions (and hoping they might actually give us a ride home). So we approached a house and then saw some nearby people in their yard and headed over there. We didn't make it to the people that we had seen (they disappeared in the time it took us to get there), but we did find a guy (jerry) who was helping his great aunt out of the car. So we asked for directions and he said it was at least three miles to highway 192 (not to mention the trek from there). So we took off and walked a ways. Granted we were tired, but his 2-3 miles seemed much farther than that. We asked a random guy on a bike, who was not totally there and gave us directions to some major highways that went in the opposite directions and would take us north instead of south. About the time we were going to say goodbye to him, a truck pulled up, honked and parked a little ways up from us. He asked if it was a friend and I thought (I sure hope so).

We walked up and sure enough it was Jerry, our newfound friend from Mexico City. He offered us a ride home and we jumped into his truck. It was definitely at least 5-7 miles back and he told us that if we want a good time to give him a call. :-) He offered to buy us a drink or dinner, but we got him to just take us close to where we're staying. But we do now know a bit more of Kissimmee, Florida, where we will be for the next few weeks. Fun times.

Driving to Orlando, FL

So, I did have a little road trip, but it was quite different from what I previously had thought it would be. The night before I left, if finally hit me that gas prices are crazy expensive and that it would be better to see a few people I hadn't planned on the way instead of trying to pack it all in on the way back, knowing I also had to be in Kansas soon after.

So, I didn't go to Louisiana nor to Mississippi, but went straight east to Atlanta, which by the way took about three hours longer than mapquest had said. (And the only time I stopped was to fill up for gas, once for coffee, and maybe once to go to the bathroom.) I stayed in an amazingly cool apartment on the 29th floor of a skyscraper in the downtown Atlanta with an amazing view of the city and surrounding areas and with a very nice porch and a million windows. I saw Macy and her husband Rick.

The next day I took off for Panama City, where I stayed with Angélica, from Madrid, her husband Dan, and their cute son Noah. I didn't actually see the beach, but did see the port and got to speak some nice Spain spanish. Also we watched Invincible, which by the way is a great movie! (It's about a guy who tried out for the Philadelphia Eagles at open tryouts and got on the team. Pretty great story!)

Then I took off for Kissimmee, close to Orlando, FL, where I am now and will be for the next month.

Road Trip

So... I am headed off on a little road trip. The truth is that it really is more about getting from Missouri to Florida, but I figured that I might as well add in some fun stops that include places I've never been to, specifically New Orleans. It helps also that I have friends and family along the way.

So, here is the plan thus far.

I'll take off from St.Peters, MO, early Tuesday morning (june 3) and head south to Louisiana. I'll hang out there and hopefully get to see my friend Danielle and crash on her couch. Then I'll take off the next morning to go along the southern coast and stop in Tallahassee to see my friend Angelica (who is actually Spanish and from Madrid, I met her here, but now she her husband and little boy reside in Florida) and her family and spend the night there. Then I'll take off leisurely the next morning to finish the trip to Orlando.

I'll be in Orlando for about a month as one of the coach for CCC's cross-cultural training for staff heading overseas long-term.

Then early on July 11 I'll get back in the car, head up to Atlanta, to maybe grab a meal with Macy and her husband. I'll head over to Huntsville, Alabama, to see some cousins on my mom's side and possibly spend the night there. I'll, either that night or the next morning, head up to Louisville, KY, to hang out with my good friend Kristie who recently came to visit me in Madrid (and do tons of research for her PhD). I'll get to see her baby and family and then make the trek back to St.Louis.

I'm excited... particularly about the New Orleans part and seeing some friends I haven't seen in quite awhile. :-)