...

taken from bridge

2005-11-12T18:30:57Z

i started to do this last night, because a friend/coworker was crashing here, and apparently doesn't have a good understanding about how to stay at someone's house (i mean wob). it's fine to use the phone, but when it is a one room space, take it outside. don't have an emotional conversation with your fiancee about how hard it is being apart while i fuck about on the internet trying to seem busy and like i can't hear everything that's going on. awkward, awkward. anyway,

Two Names You Go By
1. Claire
2. i don't really have any nicknames right now, but i guess mike calls me baby sometimes

Two Things That Scare You
1. spiders (especially the thought of them on my face)
2. disapointing people/having people realize that i'm not good enough (whatever that means)

Two of Your Everyday Essentials
1. coffee
2. kisses

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. my fuzzy green horny toad sweat pants
2. my velvety brown horny toad hoodie (yay pjs)

Two of Your Favorite Bands or Musical Artists (at the moment)
1. animal collective
2. broken social scene

Two of Your Favorite Songs - at the moment
1. animal collective - the purple bottle
2. nina simone - little liza jane

Two Truths
1. i am not very good at letting people in
2. babies kind of scare me (i don't know what to do with them/how to interact with them), but i want to get over that

Two Physical Things that Appeal to You
1. on boys (and on some girls, i suppose), slightly gapped/crooked, but clean-looking teeth
2. intelligent eyes

Two of Your Favorite Hobbies
1. reading
2. hiking and playing in nature, although there hasn't been near enough of that lately

Two Things You Want Really Badly
1. private kitchen and bathroom, fully equipped, that are a part of my living space
2. one more big hike before winter really sets in

Two Places You Want to go on Vacation
1. Mexico
2. Alaska

Two Things You Want to Do Before You Die
1. travel EVERYWHERE
2. stop being so stupidly hard on myself

Two Ways that you are stereotypically a Chick/Guy
1. ... i have breasts and a vulva
2. i worry about my weight

Two Things You Normally Wouldn't Admit
1. why would i admit them here? <- good answer, bridget
2.

Two Things You Are Thinking About Now
1. i wish the high speed usb port would come in so we can redo our ipods and have more music variety
2. what the hell did i dream about last night? it was weird. i wish i could remember it.

Two Stores You Shop At
1. the curry store
2. trader joe's in fresno when i get the chance

Two people I haven't talked to in a while
1. jess
2. katherine
3. most people i care about

goodbye, sweet ring.

2005-11-07T00:26:26Z

so i took out my lip ring for good a few days ago. i'm kind of bummed about it, because i was rather attached to my little decoration. i miss it already!

it had just become too much of a pain in the ass to be worth it. i still really liked the aesthetic of it (oh how nice it looked on my lip!), but the cons were too heavy. it kept getting irritated (which it hadn't done in about a year and a half) because of taking it in and out at work all the time. the kicker was that for some reason it had started to push on my teeth in such a way that one or two were moving and getting crooked. not that i really care all that much about the straightness of this particular tooth (it's not too visible), but it hurts to have your teeth move! so it felt stupid to keep it in. oh well.

let's relive some lip ring memories! hooray!

so it goes. at least it's my friday!

shining!

2005-10-17T20:15:31Z

this is very clever.

claireep @ 2005-10-11T15:38:00

2005-10-11T23:34:44Z

today and last night feel so good it completely makes up for the shit week that i have had.

one night when it rained a beautiful little frog came into our wob.

my two favorite mikes, wearing my bandanas.

last week i went to mariposa grove of giant sequoias with a bunch of polish kids i worked with (now they have all gone back to school). it was pretty nice. (taken by rafal, i think)

this is me and rafal. (taken by daniel)

daniel and rafal.

that's a pretty big tree. (taken by daniel)

there are a few more on flickr, too.

claireep @ 2005-10-05T07:20:00

2005-10-05T02:24:20Z

i love autumn. i always forget how beautiful it is, then it comes and amazes me, every time.

why, hello!

2005-09-29T18:40:51Z

so it's been a long time since i updated. yosemite is prone to sucking me in and keeping me away from computers, which is excellent in some ways but definitely divides me from everyone else who is not here. so i'm sorry to everyone i've been not-contacting the past two months; it doesn't mean i don't love you, because i do. but now things will change. i have my cell phone here (610 420 7258), although i can't check my messages from the park and i never got around to changing the voicemail from my mom's old message. don't let it confuse you. i have a landline with an answering machine that is probably a better way to reach me (209 372 4696). and as of yesterday, i have wireless internet in my wob. right now i'm in the stage where there is so much online stuff i have been putting off it is too daunting to do all at once. i did pictures last night, this morning is lj, but the scariest of all, email, will have to wait for tonight.

i live with mike now. it gets messy easily (of course) and there are still some additions we need to do, but i love our place and i love living with him. all in all, things are going very well for me. work is fine, i'm at the coffee corner where i was last summer. it's a pretty good job, but i just spend far too much time there. i need to go hiking (next weekend, please!). since it has been so long since i've updated, i'm going to let a mostly pictorial lj-cut do the job for me.

so, bridget, helen and i drove out to california. it was 3 1/2 days of driving, but it was fun and it was beautiful. this was in utah.

one of our only stops was a quick tour of arches national park, utah. this is balanced rock. utah is gorgeous, and i need to go back and spend a lot more time exploring there.

we also stayed in the red garter casino in west wendover, nevada. we played nickel slots. it cemented in my mind the fact that i feel no need to frequent casinos.

then we were in yosemite! this is colin (who i only got to see for two days, boo) and mike when we went rafting.

and holly was there! it was the first time i had gotten to spend a good bit of time with holly, helen and bridget all together for years.

there were many good times hanging out, doing things such as eating veggie kabobs. this is at the cook's wobs, where mike lived before he moved in with me. now chris and dan live there again.

helen holly bridget and i hiked up the four mile trail to glacier point. that's yosemite falls behind them, it's completely dry now.

we went down the panorama trail. it was my first time hiking it, and i loved it. this is me on a bridge near illouette falls.

after that hike we went out to the hot springs, then the next day to june lake, then the mobil. we were tired and sunburned.

towards the end of august, mike and i hiked gaylor lakes out in the high country. it was amazing.

there was pink snow!

the next hike mike and i did was to young lakes. we got a pretty late start the first day and had to hike a lot in the dark. we camped at the first young lake, then played all day the next day.

we couldn't find the trails to the second and third lakes at first, so we just started climbing up.

we found the other lakes! we climbed down and explored young lake number two (this one), and it was my favorite.

ragged peak.

this picture makes me laugh.

he is actually quite a tall drink of water.

this was taken on aaron and emily's last night in the park. it was very sad to see them go! they'd been here since may 04, same as mike, chris and dan.

so i guess that gives some idea of what i've been doing since the beginning of august. i have a ton more pictures on flickr, so look at them if you want to.

now it's time for a super-quick shower, then the walk to work.

i miss you!

claireep @ 2005-07-19T22:47:00

2005-07-20T02:58:30Z

tomorrow i drive up to vermont to see josh! i only get to spend about a day with him, then i'm headed up to maine for family vacation time.

i'm so excited about it, but also sad - my dog billy is having surgery tomorrow. he has a mass on his spleen, and there is a strong possibility it is cancer. it will be so strange and bad to be in maine and not have him there running around and wearing his lifejacket and swimming and being thrilled about everything. i hope he comes out of this okay and can go to maine next year, poor boy. i don't want him to die.

but anyway, vermont -> maine. i'll only be there for about ten days this year, then i'm coming back to philly and almost immediately leaving to go to california. i have to be there much sooner than i thought i would, so my road trip will be rushed. i thought maybe i'd have to go it alone, but HELEN is coming with me! and h's friend sarah might come, and bridget was a hesitant maybe. (edit: i just talked to b on the phone, and it's sounding good!) so, yeah, that is awesome. i'm so excited to drive across the country with awesome girls to one of the most beautiful places on earth, to be greeted by people that i love.

now i just have to pack...

claireep @ 2005-07-18T19:49:00

2005-07-18T23:54:15Z

so, things are turning positive again. i'm still having trouble emotionally throwing myself into everything, but i am going out to yosemite, and i am happy about how things are looking.

i also just got back from visiting duffy! good times in the boons of pa. i miss him already.

home again, home again.

2005-07-14T16:30:20Z

so here i am. it definitely feels weird and different, but so far not so much of the culture shock they warned me about so many times. it's early yet, though.

mostly i just don't know what i'm doing. the plan i had been keeping under my ribcage is gone, and i don't know where to go.

the word patiperra is coming to mind, though.

i like beer, and i like jean.

i also enjoy the mean game! oh i miss these kids.

meghan is nuts and i miss her.

the cemetary in buenos aires was beautiful.

plaza de mayo.

i met up with antonia and her boyfriend adam on my last day in the city. i liked him a lot, and they were very cute.

we were going to try to look chill, but clearly we are not so good at that.

go see more.

claireep @ 2005-07-06T11:31:00

2005-07-06T15:46:23Z

i am currently dragging my feet about writing a paper, more than i usually do, even. it's taking FOREVER. except you know what i just thought of? in a few (or more) hours when this is done, i will not have to procrastinate and get frustrated over any more papers for a full year (as far as i know). pretty crazy.

on friday i'm going to buenos aires. i am excited both for the city itself (obviously) and because this will be my first time travelling alone. i'm really looking forward to it. though really, i would have liked it if antonia and her boyfriend could come earlier - they're coming in the morning of the 11th, and i'm leaving late at night that same day. but we still get a good part of a day together! so i come back at 1AM on monday, and fly out HOME (eep) at 9PM that night. i really can't believe it. it's felt very close for a long time now, but it still feels like it should be in the close-but-not-so-close future - not confined within THIS WEEK.

i'm going to miss a lot of things, but i think i'm mostly excited about leaving.

oh, i put up some more pics the other day, from last saturday.
here are two with some hand gestures:

i can't decide if i want an empanada. sheila, meghan, phil and i made them last night (by ourselves!), and they are definitely rica, but i felt so sick at the end of last night, and i don't know if my belly can take any today. but on the other hand, they're empanadas. hm.

well back to work.

maybe i'll see you soon. (and maybe i'll make you empanadas.)

new pics

2005-07-03T17:33:36Z

i put up some new pics, by the way. (nothing super exciting, just some around santiago shots.)

help!

2005-07-02T02:20:01Z

meghan and i are going crazy because we can't think of this movie. there is a scene in a diner where a man gets his sandwich and complains to the waitress that it has mayonnaise on it. she takes off the slice of bread and wipes it on the edge of the counter, then slaps it back on the sandwich. ¡¿what movie is this?! i know someone knows.

and it's not the whole nine yards.

claireep @ 2005-06-26T20:47:00

2005-06-27T01:10:12Z

today i went skiing! oh man, i got to go skiing in june, in the ANDES. it was gorgeous. and so much fun. i wish i had brought my camera, both for the beautiful mountains and to show you all what it looks like to see santiago's smog from above. it really made me not want to come back down into the brown cloud, but here i am. at least i got some clean air in my lungs today.

unfortunately, my good mood from today was somewhat ruined (as usual) by my terrible host-dad. i don't know if i have ever disliked someone as much as i dislike him, and i have to live with him. but only for two more weeks.

on tuesday i am officially finished with two of my classes. the following tuesday i am completely finished. oh yes.

i miss this!

2005-06-05T20:37:19Z

claireep @ 2005-06-04T12:13:00

2005-06-04T16:59:42Z

so it's been a while. things were mostly down for a while, but lately there have been some ups. most notably, my parents came for a visit! it was perfect timing, and did good things for my mental and emotional health. they were only here for six days, but we kept quite busy. of course, being poulins and all, much of our time was spent eating and drinking wine or coffee, depending on the time of day. i put up pics of their trip, and also some friends/party type pictures. go see.

antonia and sheila making an awesome face at a bar in barrio brasil.

party at sarah's.

snuggling my favorite girls into my bosom.

anne and john in valparaíso. we stayed in a beautiful old hotel that you can see up on the hill there.

we went to san antonio, and there were a lot of sea lions and pelicans who were hanging out on the rocks right next to a fish market, hoping to be fed fish heads. this guy was so old, and seemed mostly blind.

we went up to pablo neruda's house in isla negra, but of course it was closed for renovations. so we peeked through these fence slots.

i didn't really mind though, because there was a beautiful, rocky, huge-waved beach.

now for the first time since i've been here i have actual work for school i have to do. what the hell is that about?

it seems really strange - exciting and scary - how fast the weeks are going by, and how soon i will be back in the states.

la serena

2005-05-17T22:41:01Z

this weekend i went up to la serena, which is about 8 hours north of santiago, on the coast. it was so nice to get away, and overall it was a good trip, although not extremely exciting. some highlights include frollicking on the beach, sea lions, cabaña parties, visiting an observatory (although we got one of 5 or 6 cloudy skies they will have this year) and eating at a community project/restaurant that uses solar ovens (although their speciality is goat, and they have not yet mastered the vegetarian plates).

i put up pictures.

wow.

2005-05-11T05:38:30Z

that was without a doubt the most generally awkward and HORRIBLE nights, ever.

claireep @ 2005-04-21T20:14:00

2005-04-22T00:16:27Z

you know what dogs in ñuñoa should do? STOP BARKING. i swear, 24 hours a day.

alright, i guess maybe the real problem is not the dogs, but the owners who don't pay attention to or walk their dogs, and just leave them bored and antsy behind fences. it's pretty sad.

still, shut the fuck up.

torres del paine

2005-04-20T03:09:03Z

so i went backpacking this weekend in patagonia, in a national park named torres del paine. it was the farthest south i have ever been in my life. at the airport in punta arenas there was actually a flight to antarctica! crazy. did you know that while the rest of the world thinks of antarctica as its own, non-national thing, chileans consider it part of chile? well they do.

torres was pretty amazing. it was tough at times, especially when it was raining and/or blowing hurricane-style winds. i went with jackie and antonia, two girls from COPA (my program here), but we met a lot of cool people along the way. not many chileans go there, but lots of awesome traveling europeans. it was jackie's first time really camping or hiking, so that was pretty interesting. i put up a ton of pictures, but i'll put a (slightly) more concise version here.

the morning we were going to the park we met this british guy jason at our hostel. he was definitely one of the coolest people ever (despite his crazy face in this pic), and he adopted us for a couple days until he had to leave. we found out at the end that he has three younger sisters, which explained his willingness to take care of us!

i've decided that fall must be the best time to visit torres. the foliage was incredible.

los torres del paine.

the second day.

there were CRAZY winds this day. huge gusts would come out of nowhere and push you around. at times we would be crouching down with our huge backpacks on, holding on to rocks and roots, and still be moved by the wind. it kicked up a lot of spray off this lake, and there were some amazing rainbows (you can see it a bit in this shot).

the third day.

that's glaciar gray up at the top. we only had a half day on sunday, so we couldn't get close, which was dissapointing. it was still exciting to see my first glacier, though!

beautiful blue icebergs in lago gray.

so that's that!

claireep @ 2005-04-02T12:38:00

2005-04-02T16:42:21Z

right now i am eating a pomegranate that grew outside my window. it's delicious!

for the longest time i didn't know what the mystery fruits are, but now i do and i will feast.

la campana

2005-03-31T01:10:28Z

i went hiking last weekend with meghan and antonia in la campana national park. we hiked up the highest mountain, and slept on the top.

it was pretty beautiful.

more pics.

claireep @ 2005-03-23T21:57:00

2005-03-24T01:57:58Z

I feel like I'm so pissed off! it's so not fair that I have Wednesday off but nobody wants to do anything :-(. I'll just sit home alone and write poems about death.

Hey and know what? I am so going to kick trem_two out of the house. They keep on stealing my condoms!

This entry automatically generated by the LJ Drama Generator!

i went to chiloé!

2005-03-23T16:56:49Z

so the past weekend i went farther south than i had ever been in my life. i went with antonia, susan, jean and maria to puerto montt and chiloé, which is chile's largest island (200x70km). i posted a TON of pictures, but in case you don't want to look at thirty-some of my pictures, here is a photo-story-style-lj-cut (because you have to look at some of my photos, it's a rule). i'll probably end up putting too many pictures here too! we really didn't do anything too exciting, so i hope it doesn't come off as boring...

we spent out first day in puerto montt, which is on the mainland of chile. we walked along the coastline from jean's host-aunt's house into the center of town. (that's susan.)

i'm pretty sure these are some black necked swans... or something. either way it's rather picturesque, no?

we didn't really know what to do with ourselves in puerto montt, so we climbed up this tower!

the next day we took a bus and a ferry over to chiloé. it was freezing and rainy all morning, but as soon as we got onto the island the sun came out and it was gorgeous!

we hung out for a while in ancud, a small city/large town in the north of chiloé.

i liked it!

these dudes were hanging out by the water getting drunk on boxed wine.

houses on chiloé are colorful and beautiful.

next we went to chonchi, a wonderful little town.

who doesn't like playing with dead jellyfish? not maria, that's for sure!

like the houses, all the fishing boats on chiloé are wonderfully colorful (plus check out that sweet shark!).

it's really easy to make friends with animals in chile. we befriended many dogs, but this kitten (of course) was my favorite! we played with her for a long time.

how great is this church?

it was beautiful on the inside too. i especially loved the ceiling, which was blue with stars.

so there ya go! it was a good trip. as i said, we didn't really do anything, mostly just wandered around and looked at things, but hey, that's good too.

oooh

2005-03-16T01:20:40Z

i rescued a cute kitty from a roof today! i went into the kitchen to make some coffee, but my need for caffeine was delayed when i heard lots of loud, sad meowing. he was sitting up on the neighbor's roof (one story), crying and looking desperate. i tried to call him down to me, but he was too nervous to try to climb down to the lower wall. so i climbed up a rickety old ladder (wearing a skirt no less!) and brought him down to safety. pelao and i gave him milk and played with him. he was so friendly! panda (our dog) is very friendly and grew up with cats, so he tried to make friends with him. the kitty would have none of it, and eventually left.

and then a couple hours later he came back! he came in through some window, and was running around the house. i hope he always comes back, i love him.

i'm worried he won't though, because according to pelao he is a "gato malcriado." i think pelao was being too rough with him and got scratched. hopefully mr. kitty was not too scared by the eight year old boy, and will come be my baby.

that's menena, our nana (aka maid type lady) holding him. she's awesome.

he got a bit nervous when she tried to pose him next to pelao's head.

panda just wanted a friend!

claireep @ 2005-03-15T17:57:00

2005-03-15T22:00:01Z

haha i just had to explain what "milf" means to my host-dad. he came across it on the internet and didn't know what it meant.

as he put it, cada día se aprende algo nuevo.

ps. my sweat smells different than usual and it's making me feel weird.