Saturday, December 12, 2009

Thankful?

Today I had a conference out in Flushing Queens so I had to ride the train there for over and hour. I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection on the window and it hit me like an MTA bus…I have become a New Yorker!!! There I stood with my black shoes, black pants, black wool coat, black scarf, white iphone headphones playing the podcast of This American Life, holding a thermos cup with tea (Tazo Cinnamon Spice EXCELLENT) standing in the moving train, close to but not touching the pole and staring expressionless ahead, oblivious to the 100 people all around me. After almost hyperventilating at the prospect of being a New Yorker, I realized that my relationship with New York City has been pretty good lately, what with it being Christmas and all and the city has put on her sparkly Christmas dress while the freezing temperatures mask the smell.

A friend of mine, actually Cristi’s brother in law, has been in charge of the Organ at Radio City Music Hall since his dad retired from the position.


So he got me and a friend of mine tickets to the opening night of the Rockette’s Christmas Spectacular. I had never seen the Rockettes perform and was mesmerized from beginning to end. The coolest part though was at the very end they do a live nativity complete with Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. It was so strange to see something religious on a stage in NYC. I was thrilled that they do that. Then Rich and Ronnie, took us on a backstage tour where I was able to do the can can on the stage of Radio City Music Hall! Hooray! Then we went to the cast party and mingled with the Rockette’s who are all very proud of their legs and decided to wear the smallest cocktail dresses possible.

Thanksgiving was lots of fun. My roommate Holly and I headed down to Time Square to see the balloons in the parade. It was pretty warm out and fun to be with thousands of people cheering for cartoon characters.

I have done it a few times and I liked the location in Times Square because it looks like the balloons are coming straight for you with a menacing fist in the air.



We went back home and I gave moral support while my roommates cooked TONS of food.

Then I ran up to Broadway, hailed a cab and brought it down to our house so that we could transport our Thanksgiving Feast (turkey, gravy, sweet potato casserole, 3 pies etc ) up to our friends house where she had 20 people invited for the night.


It was a blast, good food and great people. As has become my tradition, we took a walk between feast and pies. This year we walked up to the Cloisters (a museum affiliated with the Met). Gorgeous warm night! I am thankful for good friends, family, and to live in a city that keeps life interesting.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Bakersfield, CA: tourist attraction?

So it has come to my attention that I am a less than faithful blogger. I can’t say that I am all that moved, but after all the adorable Halloween posts of the nieces and nephews I thought I should slap some pictures of my own up.

First I can’t possibly overlook the one week in its entire history when Bakersfield became a tourist attraction. It boasted one tourist…Cristi Johnson. She came all the way from NYC to walk “the streets of Bakersfield.”

And walk them we did. The highlight reel of the week included sleeping under the (glow in the dark plastic) stars (on the ceiling) in the cowboy room with the awesome bed, being schooled in swimming by the Skinner fish, visiting the center of Bakersfield culture at the Crystal Palace where we were able to pay homage to the statue of Buck himself, visiting Dad’s power plant. (this was actually fascinating, I had no idea what a beast of an operation it is, it was also fun to see all the people over there treat Dad like a very big deal. I am sure he is grateful to those who saved him from getting a big head by providing a bit of a balancing environment at home.

We went to the Kern County Museum and had a blast exploring Bakersfield's old houses and oil industry.

Bryce took us rock climbing up in the canyon


we visited Edwards Cinema (because when we looked at all the guidebooks it was mentioned as one of the top three attractions).

we went to see the famous Bakersfield High School

Being the New Yorkers and world travelers that we are, Cristi and I know that in every great tourist town you can find a great walking tour of the Homes of the Noteworthy and Influential, I am glad to say, Bakersfield was no exception. This walking tour was guided by none other than Dad and his trusty rat on a leash. Fitting guides for Bakersfield I would say. He made sure that we got a long look at all the hot spots in Bakersfield. Cristi was noteably excited throughout. Here we passed the Stake President’s house who reportedly has NINE daughters and one son.

On this block there was a time when three mormon families shared the same Culdesac! (Parkers, Thomas and Mandelaires)

Here is the Eastdumfries house which was the scene of an evening of babysitting by two teenage boys. (David Morgan and Derrick Hayes)

The current Relief Society President’s House. Don't be fooled by our guide's expression, he was doubtful of the sincerity of our excitement but his spirits were soon roused at the prospect of passing the famous Dennis Hayes' house.

Laurelglen Elementary. Nine Allred children graced its halls.

Dad’s new ankle socks were noticed and appreciated by the tourist.

And now without further ado....the famous Dennis Hayes' house. According to our guide this is pretty much the Mecca of the Bakersfield walking tour.


Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, we passed the Starkeys! Need I say more.

This is the home of the Fordhams who had the honor of being Home Taught by Roger Allred for 20 years (hence the 2 and 0 hand signs)

and this is the home of the current hometeaching family

and here is the former home of the Ross McClintock who had the honor of attending the walking tour back when it was a running tour several times a week for 15 years.
The Selkirk house. The Allred family lived here in the early 1980's and it was here where Jessica received a Glow Worm on Christmas morning when all her 3 older sisters received Cabbage Patch dolls. The fit she threw earned her a cabbage patch doll and led to her mother giving the glow worm to her cousin Melody at which point Jessica thought "Sucka!!!"

The famous Becca Petersen's house. She is nothing short of legendary.
Score!!! He found a half-used roll of electric tape!

This car passed through the hands of three Allred children before being sold to the neighbor and is occasionaly mistakenly referred to as the "Mistake" instead of the Mystique.
After all the excitement of the walking tour, a fully clothed dip in the pool seemed only fitting.
The evidence is here, you decide, is Bakersfield a tourist attraction or not? I submit that it very well could be.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Some Pictures on my Camera

So I realized that I had some pictures of things that I have done that I never posted on my blog. I thought you might be interested to see some of the things happening. Now please realize that I NEVER take pictures of many of the things that I do because I don't have any people to take pictures of and I hate the self portraits when you hold the camera yourself. So you get pictures of scenery, strangers or nothing.

This is the view from my front porch on the first snow day for NYC public schools in 10 years!! Cristi and I were so thrilled you would think we won the lottery, but one free day with no kids is JUST as good!


The day after my birthday, three friends and I went on a 50 mile bike ride through the Pennsylvania Dutch country. It was exactly what I wanted for my birthday, beautiful sunny weather, three of my favorite people and being just about as far from NYC as possible (culturally speaking)
The wide open spaces are probably not a big deal to you but to a New Yorker who is not meant to be a New Yorker, it is enough to make you cry and giggle simultaneously. Which I did until I came to a big hill which kicked the giggle right out of me. This Amish man is plowing the field with horses. NUTS (but secretly I want to run away from NYC and find a bearded Amish man and lose myself in the simple life)

My ESL class has been studying different countries around the world this whole year and to end our unit on Egypt we went to the Metropolitan Museum to see the mummies. They loved it!
Then they had to split into groups and do a project and a presentation about a country of their choice. Mom and Dad got to come and see several presentations.
I went with some young women to a trapeze school downtown. They strap you in and then you soared through the air with the greatest of ease, those daring young women on the flying trapeze. It was really cool.
I took my students to Central Park for a class on orienteering in the Ramble. They had compasses and a "treasure" map of Central park, so they had to find the treasures. For the first 30 minutes they were just so thrilled to be out of a building (there are no playgrounds in schools in NYC) that they went running around with no real aim or direction, they caught on eventually.
Then we had a great afternoon playing in the park...until one little girl became a woman for the first time (if you know what I mean) and I had to deal with a hysterical 6th grader. MOTHERS, please talk to your daughters about what is going to happen to them so they don't flip out on a field trip!!
FYI. Spring is here. This is the park across from the church, we went on a walk on a gorgeous Sunday. These are my three current roommates and a friend of ours. (Aja, Cristi, Cy and Danielle). That is the Hudson behind them and the New Jersey beyond the water.
I have some pictures of Mom, Dad, Evan, and Landon's visit. As you can see in this picture, Evan LOVED it!!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

The First of Many...

Mom and Dad have begun their East Coast Tour 2009 so my total readership has been cut in half but I will post about my birthday because I know Dad will LOVE my birthday present.

So the weird thing about turning 29 is that when you tell people that you are turning 29 they think you are being coy and lying about your age, so to clarify I told them that today was my 29th birthday, the first of many!

I went to work on my birthday, only because I needed to get some papers out of my classroom and couldn’t figure out how to sneak in and get them…darn cameras. So my student Fatime came up and gave me a big, tight hug, the kind that knocks the wind out of you.
I have been trying to break her of this hugging thing but it is hard to tell a sixth grader who has been taken away from her mother and everyone and everything she knows to come to NYC that she can’t hug you. Fatime wished me a happy birthday and then produced a gift she had wrapped. Based on past gifts from students I expected it to be a half eaten bag of chips or some dancing cat figurine that she had swiped from her mother‘s bathroom counter collection. Instead I found this…


That’s right, folks, a real live Barack Obama wallet, complete with Michelle and one of the kids. She had saved up her bus money to buy it by walking home. I was, of course, ecstatic and have quickly adopted using it.

When I got home my roommate Cristi had turned my house into a birthday wonderland and gave me some awesome cake and an AMAZING birthday present. I have a brand new 10 megapixel Cannon Digital Camera. She had researched, with a bunch of professional photographers in the ward and found that this was an amazing camera. She said that she was investing some of the money that she owed me but in reality she is just an awesome friend that gives great gifts!This card sums up our friendship pretty accurately.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Some Shout Outs

Mom: Shout out to you for sending hand warmers. They saved us! We put like 3 in our sleeping bag at night and a few in our pockets in the morning.

Bryce: Thank you for selling me the camel back. It was awesome!

Bakersfield: Thank you for giving me the lungs of a 75 year old with emphysema. That was really great when I was gasping for breath.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

My Own Odyssey

The last time I was in Peru was with Mom, Dad, and Alicia on my way home from my mission. I was suffering from a pretty serious case of mission weird and although I remember being impressed by Machu Picchu, didn't really remember it. I did remember wanting to hike the trail to Machu Picchu instead of taking the train, so this spring break I decided to do that.

With 5 Manhattan friends I headed to Peru. I had a very cool feeling as we touched down in Peru of being "home." I have never felt that way about NYC, perhaps it is because I am really not classy enough to live here. We stayed in Cuzco and visited a bunch of the Inca ruins around the city and got our lungs acclimated to the altitude. There really is a noticeable difference in your ability to breath, especially when climbing stairs. We ate papas a la huancaina and big choclo with goat cheese and drank chi cha.

On Easter we went to Mormon church, which I loved and then to Ancient Inca church at Moray. Bascially we went there to lay down at the bottom of these bowl shaped farming terraces to "get the energy from the Pacha Mama" which is apparently what the locals do when they need guidance or help in their life. That night we went to Easter mass at the Catholic church, a long held tradition of mine.

We met with our guide on Monday morning for last minute instructions and he took one look at us and with a disapproving head shake said, "I don't know why you decided to do this hike in THREE days." The hike is a rigorous 4-day hike, but since there were no permits left for the dates that we wanted, we signed up to do it in 3 days. He said it would be really hard and we left feeling a little frightened.

The next morning we left at 4 am to drive through the streets before all the protestoring farmers from the country took to the streets again and got violent.

After making some last minute alterations to my clothes we started down the trail. We hiked past some amazing ruins and through breathtaking rainforests. The trail was beautiful and had a very special spirit about it. Toward the end of the day we started to climb and endless path of stairs. We were headed to Dead Woman's pass at almost 14,ooo feet.










We stopped about halfway up the mountain and camped for the night. This was the view from my tent. When we arrived at camp the 12 porters who accompanied our guide and the 6 of us on our hike had our tents set up, along with a dining tent and a cooking tent. They proceeded to serve us a 5 course meal complete with a full set of silverware and a table with table cloth and folded napkins. I felt like a rich person on an African Safari.






The next morning we woke up and hiked the rest of the way up Dead Woman's Pass, stopping to breathe every few steps. That altitude really gets ya!! We summited at 7 am then started the descent. Turns out the descent is really hard on your knees. Once we got to the bottom we started to climb up the stairs again to the next pass. The hike would have been really hard, had the views not been so breathtaking. On the passes it was always either raining or misting because you are quite literally in a cloud. We met up with the porters and our chef for a three course lunch and then continued hiking up and down stairs until we got to the final camp that night. We slept there and in the middle of the night the parasites took their vengeance on Cristi. She had a really rough night and then the porters ran her the 3 hours to Machu Picchu the next morning. She spent her time at Machu Picchu on a bunk bed in a back room and then was rushed by ambulance to a hospital in Cuzco.
For me, Machu Picchu was a totally different experience this time. It was originally built for the Inca, the ruler of the Quechuan people, as a spiritual retreat or temple. He would go there a few times a year when he was seeking spiritual guidance or clarity. It was a holy place for him. What I found so different this time is that the Inca had to make that long trek to be able to make it to the temple. He had to really want that spiritual guidance, he had to plan for it and he had a long hard road to prepare to recieve that guidance. Coming to this holy mountain after having made that trek made it seem so much more special. I really loved the spirit that is present in Machu Picchu and it doesn't hurt that it is nestled in one of the most picturesque vistas I have ever had the good fortune to behold.