SuzetteSP's Guestbook

From Mom Your photos are sensational.Phones are out here because of the bad storm from yesterday. You need to call me cell if you cannot get through. I have a faulty USB port which is making the Skype connection poor. Check out the p
hotos I posted on Kodak site. Our houses were on the news last night and will be back on at 5pm today. What a mess! But no one was hurt except our beautiful old trees. Later......Mom

Glad your backin blog mode! Missed hearing and seeing where you were for those long weeks. Kinda' feel like I am tagging along when you keep us in the loop. This trip seems so serene. Not the fast paced tourist travel I am used to.
Nice! Keep in touch and please stay healthy. Love, Mom

From Sofia Hi Momma, I wanted to tell you I ate my first bug of the season! (Nonna took this picture while I was watching it.) The bug was on Nonna's new window screen and I batted it with my paw and it fell down. It was injured and tri
ed to walk away, but I followed it and sniffed at it....then ate it! Love + miss you. Sofiaps....JLo had twins and a personal trainer who got her back to her pre baby figure.

Re: I would love to, but could never, ever.... LOL, you are so great Jana! I guess I am a moderate thrill seeker. No bungee jumping thanks, but I do love to get my heart pumping when the opportunity presents. This ride was actually pre
tty tame, it only moved about 1mph so just a smooth and easy scenic thing. Good way to get the lay of the land. The trip has not always been easy, but I really love the adventure of it. I find myself getting lost/not using my map on purpose just so I can have a little fun trying to find my way back. Backpacking through Europe in 2002 was a great warm-up for this trek. I am a total travel nerd and I love the logistics of traveling. Figuring out which destination is next, how to get there, where to sleep, how long to stay, what things to see there - love it. The Asian culture is way more foreign to a westerner than Europe was to me, but people are still just people. Families still do what they do no matter what their culture, just as many things are recognizable here as aren't. The biggest challenge for me, which won't surprise you =), is remembering not to offend the locals with my brash American demeanor, and especially my feminist point of view. More than once, a man, usually someone I was buying something from or negotiating with, rolled his eyes at me when I asked too many questions or *gasp* disagreed with his conclusion. I get the distinct impression that they were thinking, "woman just do what I say and don't make me waste my time explaining to little old you how this works". You can imagine how much restrain it takes for me to keep on a smile and remember I'm a guest here. These guys are few and far between. Most everyone responds well to my wide-eyed big smile and offers to help me out of whatever I'm into. But there are definitely times where I've felt I was engaging more directly and powerfully in conversation/negotiation than the local women. I always try to soften it with a smile, but you know that only works on some people. =) LOL Love back to you, Dave and the girls. Thanks so much for writing. This is my 9th week of traveling and I guess I got a little homesick for something familiar; your note did the trick. Made my day =) Now if I could only find an American gossip magazine I'd have my fix. I don't even know if JLo had her baby yet! Suzette

Re: Ohhh... My camera lives! So, I guess it was a little moisture on the chips or something, because a night spent sitting in a dry corner and it's working today! And I just spent a million un-budgeted dollars on a new camera, ah well.
I feel better having a back up, and I can use this one for SCUBA. So I guess I just justified the expense pretty easily there...that was easy. =)

Ohhh... Sorry to hear about your camera; you worked it pretty hard. I am beginning to understand the wearing out process more than I would like to! Glad you went out to by another; you would not have been happy with the results of a th
row away camera. And we would all have missed your very professional shots. Did not like the looks of that ridae, but then, remember how I embarassed you screaming on the kiddie roller coaster because you did not want to go alone? Enough of that memory, thank you! Be safe. I love you. Mom

Re: From Mom My guess for the use of fruit as an offering rather than cash is two things. Locals don't really use cash that much, they still trade a lot. And second, the offerings are eaten by the offerER after the gesture has been made
. So nothing goes to waste, it's more of a ceremonial gesture than actual quantifiable donation made to an organization.

From Mom I am just loving all your beautiful photographs. They are adding so much to your travelogues. The flora and fauna are so beautiful, (especially to a Mom who is looking out her window right now to a heavy snowfall that has total
ly covered the grounds here in western Massachusetts.) Love, Mom