Hey! Just wanted everyone to know that I'm safely home in the US of A. I'm getting settled into my dorm in New Haven for my summer teaching job. I'm so sick of packing and unpacking, it's ridiculous, but I'm grateful for the morning jetlag, so I can get up and get things accomplished before breakfast. Just so you all know, there are more blog posts coming down the pipeline on the Joe/Sarah blog. We still have to share the end of Madrid, and a surprise city that wasn't expected. So be looking for that in the coming days. Otherwise, I'm [View Full Entry]

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And so ends of my European experiment. I would call it a success, on the whole. Apart from housemates who were not the most inviting of people (they were nice and easy to get along with as long as you were perfect in everything you did) and living in a place where the dollar went nowhere, I made some great friends from all around the world, had a good job with people who were welcoming, easy to get along with and fun, got to live in the financial capital of the world in a foreign country, and was able to see [View Full Entry]

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Thankgiving in Conneticut. Kim's lovely friend from work, Judy, and her husband Andy invited us to their home in Conneticut for the holidays. It was amazing. Arrived on Thanksgiving Eve (if such a day exists) and went for pizza in Mystic, Conneticut. Town of the infamous 80's film "Mystic Pizza." We were served by possibly THE most Valley Girl you could imagine "oh gosh so sorry i havn't been back to take your order! we just have a new advert and my friends came up to see it cos like THIS big and its a picture of meeeeeee!" Judy and Andy's [View Full Entry]

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Sep 15, 2007 City official name :New Haven Founded date : Location :Connecticut State Elavation :? ft (? m) Area :Approximately ? square miles (? km²). Facts :New Haven is the second- or third-largest municipality in Connecticut, after Bridgeport and possibly Hartford, with a core population of about 124,000. "New Haven" also often refers to the wider New Haven metropolitan area, which has nearly 600,000 inhabitants in the i [View Full Entry]

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Although I have spent the past five months preparing for this journey - as each day passes I grow a little more anxious and nervous about my trip. I was selected to travel with a group of teachers form around the United States with the Asia Society. Our destination: China. Which part, you ask - all of it. 32 days of intense travel. Departure is slated for July 7th. As of now I am busying myself with all of the loose ends that accompany an extended trip away from home - buying supplies, stopping mail, converting money. It is all stressful [View Full Entry]

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Robert here . . . Ilene's not able to spend as much time posting to the blog as she'd like, so I thought I would share some of what she has written to me by email. (Don't forget to look at entries previous to this in case you missed the pix that she did post.) She wrote: Vietnamese class has been shifted to T, F, S, S, so it will be tomorrow before I see my tutor again. And this time it will be conversation, not pronunciation. I listened to the lesson again last night (the digital recorder came in handy). [View Full Entry]

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First, a little update from Ilene . . . She got there, early early a.m. Friday eastern standard time. She's been busy getting set-up errands done, so no blogging from her yet. I'm hoping we'll start to see pix from her soon. She has been in touch with me a lot, though. We've had "IM dates" each of the last 3 days to chat on yahoo messenger. That was the big leap forward in technology on the last trip--on this trip we also have the ability to see and talk to each other with the webcams and microphones on our computers. [View Full Entry]

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Hi All, Ilene posting here: If you are unsure of what I am doing in Vietnam, fear not, dear reader—you’re not alone. People ask me all the time how I got interested in Vietnam, what I do in Vietnam, and what I write about. Here are some pithy soundbites to digest and/or share. What do you do in Vietnam? I travel in Vietnam looking for experiences, people, artifacts, language, images, and sounds that help me question my most familiar ways of thinking and knowing. I also investigate the effects globalization has had on Vietnamese people’s lives—especially [View Full Entry]

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So hey to anyone who is reading this...I only have a few more days left in the states before I head overseas to Prague for the semester. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty petrified. I already packed a suitcase and I have most of my things, but I'm still acting like this isn't actually happening. I know it'll be the best experience ever, I just need to get through the flight and get there and be in my apartment. Then I'll stop being nervous. Slezska 45, Prague 2 That's my address. The split up Prague (Praha) into sectors called Prague 1, [View Full Entry]

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Hi All, it's Ilene. Language study procedes apace. I wanted to title this "I like to take pictures" but, alas, I don't know how to say that yet. I can tell you I like to drink coffee: Toi tich uong ca phe. I can also tell you that I like to eat rice: Toi tich an com. However, I do not like to drink soft drinks: Toi khong tich unong nuoc ngot. Enjoy a few photos from my January 2005 trip. This upcoming trip (a mere two weeks away, I realized today) will be my third trip to Vietnam. I've been [View Full Entry]

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