From Tropical Sea Breeze to Crisp Winter Air.

Cuba was, as predicted, amazing.  There were a few culture shocks of course, but overall I fell in love with the beautiful people (so warm, so friendly and so extremely resourceful) and the rhythms.  It helped that I pretty much lived in a summer dress and that my skin and hair lapped up the humidity and perfect weather (28C with ocean breezes).  I will have to go again.  I wasn't able to visit any museums or buy any art on this trip, but I was able to interact with locals and eat amazing local food (anyone that's complained about bland Cuban food to me may have eaten at more 'touristy' places').  I am happy to say that I danced my ass off!  Morning and night :)  We got to be part of a music video for a famous Cuban salsa star and we got to see him and his band in concert as well as another famous salsa band.  Unreal!  I didn't sleep very much on the trip.

Now I am paying the price with my 2nd sick day off from work.  I will definitely go into the office tomorrow though ... there is nothing like spending the day in bed to energize the body. 

Also as predicted, I did come back a little different.  I feel like life could be so much more natural and simple.  I ate and drank (Cuban rummmmm) quite a bit on the trip, but I can still fit into my clothes.  I think we need to pump less processed food into our bodies.  Less processing, period.  We need to sing and dance more.  Cuban men can be quite the manly types but if they feel like breaking into song and dance, they do it on a whim ... and it's harmonious and gorgeous.  Here it's more like drunken Canadians yelling and stumbling around at the bar every now and then - heh.  I do understand that I may have had an unfair bias - I was fortunate to be constantly around a group of male dancers/performers :)

I know, I can't stop gushing about the trip.  The trip has made me appreciate Canada more as well.  I have a job that provides enough for me to live on my own and travel.  Infidelity is not as common (publicly anyway).  People never hear of shortages here (it's a good and bad thing).  But maybe all this abundance and comfortable ease leaves us less resourceful and less imaginative .... just a thought.  It definitely leaves us less ... slender ;)

When I go back, my Spanish will hopefully be better.  It's amazing what you can accomplish with a smile and the ability to salsa though :) 

Mind Farts
 -read Cutting for Stone based on a girlfriend's recommendation.  lovely read that sucks you into Ethiopia and Immigrant US using a plot line that branches out from the result of a union between an Indian nun nurse and a British surgeon: brilliant twin boys
-took Immodium for the first time on the trip (brought some digestion meds with me based on travel reviews and recommendations) and what a little Godsend!
-thinking of caving and getting a tablet.  i love love love my Kobo Touch, but it's not able to read bigger PDF files.  should i bite the bullet and pay for an iPad?  or will it be too bulky as a portable reader?  iPad Mini?  Google Nexus 7 maybe (seems like way more bang for your buck - 1GB RAM and 32GB storage for under 300 bucks)?  i'm just worried about the PDF rendering (my main purpose after all).  gotta do my research

It's a Sign.

I don't normally buy mags, but I picked this one up :)

Let's See How Much I Can Squeeze In the Last 2 Months of 2012 Shall We?

It's been awhile!

All the Hurricane Sandy craziness made me think of how I was just enjoying the NYC Salsa Congress last month.  So I went through my camera.

And emptied it. 

Because ...

I'm going to Cuba!!!!

To dance and learn and dance and learn :)  It's been a dream of mine to do this in Cuba.  I had my last chance to do it with a Cuban-style dance school here so I couldn't resist.  I leave next Sunday.  16 hours of private training with a Cuban professional in one week.  In a land overflowing with rhythm, sensuality and flavour.  The freaking roots of salsa.  I don't think I'll be the same when I come back!

Just 1.4 more weeks of work.  Speaking of which, so far so good.  The slope of my learning curve is ever rising but it helps when those around you are competent and sincere.  It really does.

I've been on a non-fiction reading spree lately.  The last work of fiction I read was Cloud Atlas (beautiful book - the variety of character and feel is mind blowing).  Then I delved into Escape from Davao, which gave me a new fascination about WWII.  While reading it I kept thinking the two halves of me were somewhere, unjoined, in the Philippines at that very period of time.  I had to write my grandma because I kept thinking of her.  If my other grandparents were still around I would have definitely written them too, may they rest in peace.  I couldn't stop imagining their lives and what they must have seen.  My mom was born and raised in Mindanao ... where the soldiers struggled with the heat and humidity and the living things that scraped and bit.  My very own ancestors on both sides suffered at the hands of the Japanese.  The book made it so much more palpable.

Next up is the Master of Disguise.. written by the former CIA agent that was portrayed in Argo (fantastic movie).

Oh!  And the Talent Code was also pretty fascinating.  I was on a "oh it's mostly genetic" train of thought for a while (especially after reading things like the Blank Slate) but the Talent Code had me thinking some more in the other direction.  The more you practice the better you get of course, but there's also more to that.  The igniting of a spark ... the maintaining of a spark ... the focus.  I know I have to sharpen and narrow my focus (focuses? foci?).  I think I'm at the point where if I add any more activities to my plate ... then OPA!  Crash.  So difficult for me though - I hate feeling deprived.  

However  I am great at depriving myself of sleep.  Which is something I'm trying to fight (and am so very painfully reminded of in the mornings).  So before I go, Happy Halloween!!!  I leave you with my first non-salsa Halloween costume in several years.  It took us 4.5 hours :)  Yip-yip-yip-yip.

Texas Family Hola Latin Calgary Sunshine Work Oil Salsa Manhattan - Huh?

Mmmm ... Fort McMurray for breakfast.

Talk about contrast. Flew out at 7AM to spend all day at a site visit in the oil sands and then flew back to Edmonton nighttime. Now am packing for the NYC Salsa Congress!!  Yup, I am hitting Texas, Calgary, Fort Mac and NYC within the month of August. Wheeeeee!!! Thank God I booked an afternoon departure for New York. I may actually get over four hours of sleep tonight!  I'll need it - I'll be averaging three hours during this wonderful congress (helloooo dancing till 5am followed by 9am workshops!).

Passport? Check. Dance shoes in carry-on? Check! Everything else is secondary.

Mind Farts
-Texas was fabulous! what lovely relatives I have :)  video games, shopping, workouts, the Alamo, the Riverwalk, food, drink, pirates, awkward movie, decent movie, a creepy book and a beach ... still have to post pics!
-Calgary Expo Latino was delicious and hilarious.  it somehow turned into an invading swarm of flavourful female Edmontonians that came in groups.  we danced in the sun ... we danced in the dark ... we catcalled men using Italian food names ... we talked smack to male Calgarians ... we gorged on edamame beans and Latin food and gin.  my wicked group of roomies:

 -watched the Queen of Versailles.  fascinating peek at a rich family's financial plunge.  makes me appreciate being middle class (no need for old sugar daddies, no need for crazy upkeep of crazy assets).  the doggies reminded me of Kobe :(  she had American Eskimos everywhere!!!!  i miss my little guy. 

Beach and a Book....

....Makes a happy Angel.

Family. 'Tis a Beautiful Thing.

Currently running on 2 hours of sleep for the 2nd time this weekend and will be off on a road trip to South Padre Island in an hour or so :)

I love that we can visit our aunt and uncle and cousins after 7 years and it's like nothing's changed. Aside from more additions to the family of course :).

I was coerced into a Silent Hill marathon last night. My throat's still sore from screaming and laughing. Love having spazztastic female gamers in the family!

Still Hot.

First of all, thank you Lord for men on the Olympic track.  Gymnasts too!

Also, thank you for delicious Heritage Days (my favourite Edmonton festival) which fed me well this weekend!  I was stuffing my face the whole time while sweat was pouring off me.  It's been constant heat mixed with rainy thunderstorms - hopefully these are not tornado ingredients for Edmonton!  I really shouldn't complain ... there is crazy flooding in the Philippines right now :(

I was a bad girl at Heritage Days:
Egyptian donuts (zalabia - soo good.. like a syrupy Tim Hortons tim bit)
Dutch mini-pancakes with icing sugar topping (poffertjes)
Filipino fried bananas (turon)
Israeli lemonana (tart lemonade)
Egyptian roselle (reminded me so much of drinking Ribena as a kid!)
Ugandan fried plantains (gonja)
Filipino shaved-ice/ice-cream/coconut-bits-and-other-jelly-and-bean--goodies (halo-halo)
Filipino noodles (pancit)
Dutch salted herring with onions on a bun

I played with the thought of going for a giant elephant ear (monstrous pastry the size of a newborn) from Romania but we were so full and hot and sweaty that we just plodded on home.

This long weekend gave me the luxury of waking up without alarm for 2 of the 3 days.  There's nothing like coming home when the sun's coming up and waking up later in the afternoon naturally with no interruptions :)
I needed that.  Last week was a bit nuts.

To kick off crazy week, my car got broken into for the first time.  Thankfully, whoever did it was nice enough not to break the window.  He/she took a pair of sunglasses (really?) and my emergency roadside assistance kit.  The rest of the week consisted of some big changes at work.  When I was applying for this job (and I really didn't think I was going to get it) I told myself that it might be time to deviate from engineering if something managed to change or impede such a good opportunity.  Well, something "changey" has happened.  I still really enjoy my workplace (best one I've experienced so far), but these changes are either going to make me extremely overwhelmed or extremely self-sufficient.  Either way, I have many things to think about.

Sometimes I wonder if the universe is trying to tell me something and maybe it's time go somewhere a bit less rednecky and a bit more tree-hugging and cosmopolitan while I'm not yet 'tied down.'  I have friends who have made the big leap elsewhere and it's hard not to catch the 'grass is greener' bug.  At the same time, the economy here is fabulous and I have a fun and stimulating lifestyle already......

So I continue to marinate.  It'll be a while before I can actually take action anyway.  But thinking doesn't hurt now does it?  Maybe some new goals are in order.

Mind Farts
-despite the heat, mosquitoes are still attacking me.  myself and another mosquito-bait girlfriend tried being guinea pigs and experimenting with various more 'natural' DEET-free repellents.  i even tried the vitamin B1 patch on my left butt cheek.  no go.  they were still biting.  a cruel mosquito even bit my left butt cheek, taunting my patch defense.  i tried the greasy stinky citronella spray.  nope.  got bit seconds after.  same thing with Tiger Balm.  so far, DEET is my only hope
-and HOW do i get bit inside the change room after a workout?  sneaky little mosquitoes!! arrghghghgh
-to counter Fifty Shades, i am now reading Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty erotica trilogy.  well-written and imaginative but ... maybe i just don't get pain and subordination as a turn-on
-i am also reading The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari ... haha this is kind of not helping my situation ... actually it is, just in a strange way
-Alberta men sure like their meat
-so when is a ref's weird calls still allowed to be 'human?'  poor Canadian women's soccer team :(
-hi Mars :)