June 2011
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camino begin!
Well hello all! Chris and Lau here. We just got done hitch hiking through the south of France to the starting point of our Camino, Irun, Spain!
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We stopped in Arles (Shout outs to Sylvain!), Toulouse (for the Fete du Musique!), & Lourdes (Hi Mom!) and finally arrived in Irun today. We´ve checked into our albergue and have our pilgrim credentials.
6am wakeup call tomorrow...
March 2011
3 posts
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This is Selim Sesler. He’s the local...
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Above is a shot of the beginning of Istiklal...
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Another part of the recordings I took in Sweden...
February 2011
8 posts
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This is the sound of the çeng. It’s a...
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Settling in Turkey
Hey you guys, it’s Laurel!
Traveling for the last seven months has been amazing. It is hard to believe all of the people I have met and situations I have been put in and gone through. The real crazy thing now is settling in a new country for a few months—Turkey. It’s great to be immersed in a different culture and try to discover who I am in this different culture. I think...
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At a pub near our WWOOF house in Tipperary,...
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Mexican art in Istanbul
Literally right across the street from our apartment, a woman is painting a large image of a Mexican revolutionary… How awesome is that? I also saw a finished painting of a Mexican woman on a horse, and a smaller piece off to the side of La Virgen. I almost wanted to take a picture from my door but that seems a bit creepy. Maybe I’ll meet here someday soon. —chris
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This is another killer piece I grabbed from the...
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January 2011
6 posts
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At the Norrskog forester’s event in Sweden,...
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Been in Istanbul for one month now...
Hey all! Chris here. Been in Istanbul for one month now. Three months ago, I’d have had no idea I would be posting up here in a flat of our own, with a job, ready to spend winter and spring. The city definitely has a magnetic vibe about it, or like a quick moving current which has pulled me in (and it’s not just the cheap pomegranate juice I’m sipping on in this picture). I love...
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Last week I had the good fortune to stumble into...
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This is a recording taken from a couchsurfer...
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December 2010
2 posts
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"My name is Azizah"
Whatup folks! Chris here. İt’s been a good whıle sınce any storıes so I thought I’d share a lıttle buskıng story. Quıck update before that: we are currently on the ısland of Büyükada, the largest of the Prınces’ İslands (Prens Adaları) off the coast of Istanbul. LOVING ıt! No motorızed vehıcles allowed (except utılıty vehıcles, ambulances, etc…) and somethıng lıke 6 square...
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Grabbed this recording of mid day ezan (Islamic...
November 2010
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So we're in Dublin!
Yes! We’ve made it! Much to the chagrin of the customs official. No, we’re not going to STAY FOREVER in Ireland. Come on, homie! We showed him on the laptop that we’re leaving from London to Istanbul and he was sort of satisfied.
“If I entered America with this little preparation, I would certainly not be let in” he said. Law of reciprocity I suppose.
And no, Dublin...
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“Did you know Dublin is one of Europe’s most dangerous cities? And how do I...”
– customs/immigration agent to us upon arrival in Dublin
October 2010
1 post
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Couchsurfing rules!
Hey All, Laurel here…… here’s a flashback to Prague, the Czech Republic:
The Czech Republic is beautiful! We have been exploring this city for a few days now and it is great. Couch Surfing has really been such a wonderful aspect of our trip. It gives you such an inside view to a city and gives you friends who you would probably not be able to meet otherwise. Chris...
September 2010
11 posts
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Popelka the kitty
Yo! Chris here. Flashback to our WWOOFing north of Prague, ca. one week ago. Any cat lovers out there? Meet Popelka (it means Cinderella in English :) ) She’s one of the 3 kittens here. The unfortunate story is that their mommy, “ran away with another lover,” leaving their uncle (see below) to help raise them and, “train them to catch the mice,” according to...
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“Cement effs up your hands, folks! Wear gloves! Take it from us. That stuff is...”
– My hands
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A Czech trek
Howdy folks. Chris here. A small story about how we arrived at our current WWOOF destination, a bit north of Prague. The date is September the 15th. Wednesday. Spent about an hour on a bus to a rural area 60km north of Prague.
We got off the bus to be greeted by light rain and no real idea where to go from there. (I guess you could say we skipped a couple steps in the commincation and planning...
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Time to think.. . .
It’s crazy: you get tired of the hustle and bustle, and then when it’s gone, you miss it. Well, I am happy to be in a quiet place for ten days or so, but I have to admit, sometimes the silence is hard. It makes you think of the people you miss, the exciting uncertainty of the future and, most of all, the things you put off thinking about.
With the time that I have now, I am left...
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arrived in prague!
currently in a hostel with 5 (west) germans, 1 aussie, 1 frenchman, and with 4 americans (chicago) in the midst.. na zdrovie! beers here are less than $1 apiece from a store.. for good beer.. cheers (na zdrovie). updates to come + pics from poland. woo!
—chris & lau
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“we’ve had all sorts of awesome polish foods.. from like, breads that come...”
– from a note from chris to a friend
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Bye, Sweden
SWEDEN folks! Been there done that—smörgåsbords, Swedish fish, pickled herring, Volvos up the yinyang.. wait..
Just kidding.
I LOVE THIS PLACE! Give me more!
The pizza places, always oddly coupled with kebab. Chokladbollar [chocolate balls] with my kaffe [coffee] (and I demand many påtår—that is, REFILLS, please!) Their election with so many danged parties—too many to count....
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Umeå
Hey beautiful people, Laurel here—it’s been awhile, people, and I know it!
Sweden: it is almost about time to leave this country and I am definitely sad. I love cities, and I have always wanted to live in them. I’ve been in Stockholm now for four days and I can tell you, Stockholm is not what I’m going to miss about Sweden, actually, it’s my least favorite thing...
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“Perhaps the greatest contribution of New Sweden to the development of the New...”
– wikipedia
August 2010
31 posts
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next stop stockholm, then krakow, then prague
Gangstamari: how long are you guys staying in sweden for?
Me: 1 more week
Me: then off to krakow, poland for a week. WWOOF outside of prague for a week and a half, then prague for a week or so...
Gangstamari: excellent
Gangstamari: if you see one, grab me a "hey prague, Czech me out!" shirt
Me: hahhahaha
Me: ok
Me: thats going on the blog
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Made enchiladas last night..
Howdy folks! Chris here.
Made some enchiladas last night (a la Suecia) with Laurel for Marianne, Lars-Erik, their daughter Hanna, Thomas (a student they house) and our friend Viktor. Here’s the breakdown:
Pico de gallo without cilantro, without jalapeños (but with some other unique, tasty and spicy chili)
No mole of any kind, no dried chilis available. We used a sort of green tomatillo...
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Back from Höga Kusten
Chris here. Lau and I are back to Umeå from our trip to Sweden’s Höga Kusten (high coast) with Marianne! Some brief highlights: visiting a museum which featured an ACCORDION house (!!), going to a forest interest group event, jamming with some locals at a farm and getting a gift of potatoes (10 kilos!) as a thanks! (The potatoes are AMAZING!), trekking for Chantarelle mushrooms (Laurel found...
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“Far, får får får? Nej, får får inte får, får får lam.”
Translation:...”
– Marianne Norberg
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experimenting..
experimenting with different themes and configurations so the site might look weird here and there and for an undetermined period of time… suppahtime!
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Song 2 of 2 of the Mazaher ensemble. This is a...
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The Mazaher ensemble plays music from what...
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Song 4 of 4 from the El Tanbura show in Egypt (see...
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Song 3 of 4 from the El Tanbura show in Egypt (see...
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Song 2 of 4 from the El Tanbura show in Egypt (see...