Marichan

Cynthinee

Greetings and salutations,

The purpose of my new and improved travel blog is twofold: this is an outlet for me to share my travel experiences with my friends, family, and complete strangers -AND- this is my chance to write about my experiences as a "tourist in my own hometown." Now since this is a public forum, I don't care to disclose my "101 in 1001" in its entirety; however, I will state that one of the 101 things that I plan to do in 1001 days is to appreciate what is right here in front of me, i.e. being a tourist in the place that I live or have previously lived. As a native Northern Californian-Seattleite living in Orange County, my "hometown tourism" will probably take place in California although I would love to go back to Washington and Japan at some point in the next couple of years. Just think about it: if we were to explore the cities we live in with the same voracity we have while traveling, we would see a lot more of the world. Well, I think it's a good idea anyhow.

I'm currently finishing up my MA at San Diego State, which terrifies me because this means I probably won't have the flexibility in my schedule that I've had for the past couple of years. The reason I chose to pursue a graduate degree in Latin American Studies in the first place was the opportunity to travel. I've been able to travel to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Chile, Panama, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Brazil for academic and not-so-academic purposes, and I don't really want to lose that. So, despite the opposition from my parents, I will most likely be applying to doctoral programs for Fall 2010.

Some other mentionable travel-related goals from my "101 in 1001" list:

#6 - fill my passport
#15 - Swim Around the Rock 2009 or 2010 (3.25-mile swim around Alcatraz) - I've wanted to do this for years!
#19 - Climb Mount Fuji
#20 - Bike the California coastline
#22 - Go to Sweden, the love of my life
#23 - Köttbullar in Sweden! Also known as the Swedish meatball.
#27 - Finish visiting every country in Latin America (countries left: Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela)
#33 - Take Trowlie, my Marshalltown pointing trowel, on another archaeological adventure in South America
#37 - Visit all 50 states
#39 - Go to Bhutan
#43 - Get a Brazilian in Brazil
#50 - Visit Copán
#51 - Visit Easter Island
#55 - Do another farmstay abroad
#63 - Be a tourist in my own hometown(s)
#92 - Make mochi the old school way in Japan

My research interests are: the Asian diaspora in Latin America, traditional healing and medical anthropology, and the preservation of endangered languages. I love learning new languages, and I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it. My other interests include street food, llamas, coffee, museums, libraries, hiking, kites, reading, Scrabble, earrings, hammocks, ocean/lake swims, bikes, loose leaf green tea, monkeys, making to-do lists (it's the Virgo in me), volunteer work, cheese, world flags, and social justice. I want to go on a hot dog tour of the world. I want to go fishing on every continent. I'm really indecisive at restaurants, so I'll either get the menú del día or "ice cream surprise" - that just means give me whatever you think is good and doesn't necessarily pertain to ice cream. I speak Spanish and Portuguese better than you might think, but my Japanese is pretty horrible even though I spent a couple of years there as a kid. I want to learn Quechua, Swedish, Swahili, and Nahuatl. When other people get to travel and I don't, I physically get ill. I always wait until the last minute to send out my postcards even if I'm abroad for a long period of time. I feel like I learn the most Spanish by talking with taxi drivers. I've recently decided that I want to try and eat at every IKEA restaurant in the world. I'm a dreamer, and I love life.

Hopefully, I'll actually get to use this blog since it seems I have limited time and money right now. Any traveling I do in 2009 is going to be budget travel for sure. Travel destination goals for 2009: Sweden, Colombia, Germany, Israel, Hawaii, Washington, Alaska, and Washington, D.C.

Contact info:

Skype - marichan206
MSN Messenger & e-mail - marichan.21@hotmail.com

Cheers,

Cynthinee <3

"El conocimiento nos hace responsables." -El Che