Sneak Peak: Atlantic

I couldn't in good conscience leave everyone hanging for five solid months, so I've chosen an excerpt from my trip to share. Enjoy!

19 September 2011

After Marin's watch, he escorts me to the focsle, or forecastle, or that pointy front deck area. Because the weather is windy and the seas rough, we thread through the tunnels between the ship's hull and her fuel tanks. These are narrow but high ceilinged and protect those inside from the elements or pirate RPG's. Coming out into the sunlight again a few minutes later, I see the waves for the first real time. What I had been gazing down on all along from the fifth floor of the accommodation tower had seemed like the stuff of lazy rivers. In fact, this was not the kiddie pool. Undulations crested along the lip of the deck only to plummet back down into cavernous recesses. To look at them one would think they'd get air time on the crest, each wave a trampoline.

"Now we can play Leonardo," Marin instructs. We walk to the forwardmost point on the ship, peering off the edge while the freighter cut the ocean in two. The water, in protest, picks the focsle up until we can't see the horizon then drops us at terrifying speed toward the deep blackness. Marin begins to tell how dolphins play Frogger by jumping back and forth in front of the ship, when suddenly a massive sneeze of sea spray blasts over the edge and into our faces. I sputter and shake off like a Saint Bernard and we both laugh. Marin turns to me and says, "It's ok. This is baptism," and I agree.

The Eve of Departure

It's been a comfortable, satiating, relaxing 2 weeks, but my American vacation is coming to a close. My attempt at circumnavigation begins Tuesday, September 13th, at four in the god-forsaken morning. I will board Amtrak bound for Chicago and, ultimately, New York City, where I will catch a freighter across the Pacific and the adventure will truly begin. After 9 months of planning, paper work, and headaches, the route is finalized and the visas are in hand.

I will depart from Newark for Morocco on the morning of the 17th. From there, I will cross the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain. Easing my way through early October and Europe, I will pass through southern France, northern Italy, Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, southern Poland, and Belarus before arriving in Moscow. From there, I will cross Russia via the Trans-Siberian Railroad, plunging down from Lake Baikal, through Mongolia, and into Beijing before Halloween. I'll spend the next few weeks whisking southerly through China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. When I arrive in Singapore or maybe Indonesia, I will ride a 21 foot crocodile to Australia (actually, this leg is still not tacked down yet...) where my pace will slow and I will sashay around with my friend D. Our traipsing will deposit us in Melbourne in time for my boat to New Zealand, set for November 30th. I will have a measly 3 days in NZ before I will again take to the high seas, this time for the long haul: Panama. Sometime between Christmas and the New Year, I will arrive in Central America, ready for a scenic January. I'll bus my way north through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala, inching ever closer to home. After clambering through our increasingly hazardous Neighbor to the South, I will arrive at last in Texas. After that, it's a simple matter of getting back to Michigan by February first and thus completing my global circumnavigation by surface transportation alone!

Quick question: what foreign foods do Americans love best? I believe they are Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and maybe Thai as a distant 4th. Who is going to Italy, Mexico, China, and Thailand (not in that order)? Food trip extraordinaire! It only just occurred to me that this is what is happening. Maybe it's my subconscious at work.

Sadly, there will only be maybe one more blog post if that for the next 5 months. I will probably have the time and the means to post my trip through NYC and Chi-town, but everything else will have to wait. I would be remiss to share my stories without their accompanying photographs, and anyways the Internet access will be infrequent and unreliable. I will be documenting everything thoroughly, don't worry, and I intend to release the adventure day by day, as if were happening, except much after the fact. Believe me, you'll be glad for posts with pictures.

Also, big news for February! The international blur just won't stop since I will be shipping off to Kazakhstan for my Peace Corps assignment. Borat jokes: ready, aim, fire.

My Tribute to a Week of American Food

As promised, I’m back to liven the mood of the blog. No more gloom and doom, no more lamenting what’s over. It’s time to turn my attentions towards what I have and what’s coming. In the spirit of this new outlook, I’m here to gloat to all my friends back home in Seoul about the foods that I’ve missed so desperately for two and a half long years. I give you my food binge of the past week.

Act 1: Ingredients

What’s that? Limes?

Unlimited, fresh, versatile limes!!!

Breads of all types, for all occasions.

Focaccia in olive oil and balsamic, buns for hamburgers, bagels or whole grain toast in the morning, crusty loaves for sandwiches, pita for dipping.

Local maple syrup.

It flows as abundantly as soju.

Raspberries in your face.

Throw them in vanilla yogurt with granola or bake them in a pie!

Garden fresh vegetables.

Literally picked all this with my mom from the garden in our yard*.

*yard: an expanse of grass that surrounds one’s house**.
**house: a Western-style building consisting of many officetel onerooms in which each individual room serves a designated purpose.

Act 2: Sides

Corn, done right:

On the cob with butter.

Veggie tray to the rescue.

It comes complete with bleu cheese dressing. Dill pickles and celery on request.

Salads everywhere!

No cabbage or pineapple dressing here, folks. Just vinegar based sauces, fresh vegetables and tomatoes, whole milk mozzarella cubes, cucumber from the garden, and happiness.

Mac’n’Cheese.

Is it even fair to show you cheap pasta covered in legendary white cheddar goodness and baked to a crisp in an oven? Is that cruel and unusual?

Act 3: Mains

Wing night at the house.

That means big, meaty drumsticks off the charcoal grill slathered in mango habanero sauce. Face-melting good!

More grilling goodness!


Chicken thighs and vegetable skewers. Note the eggplant, baby portabella mushrooms, and yellow squash.

Chili dogs.

Homemade slaw. Optional upgrade to Amish sausage. Don’t forget the diced jalapenos.

Breakfast of champions is not called Wheaties.

It’s called cheddar grits, eggs over easy, and spicy breakfast sausage. Good enough for any meal of the day.

Act 4: Dessert

Rasberry pie.

It’s all there needs to be and more.

I’d say I’m sorry, Korea, but I’m trying to lie less. I do wish that you all could have been here to share it. It’s been a truly stodgy week here in Michigan.