Storyworth: February's Questions

 Yep, I'm behind. As per usual. Time to catch up!

What foods do you dislike? Have these changed over time?

For years, whenever I ate fresh salsa or random Hispanic foods, there was always this unpleasant flavor that I couldn't identify. It tasted to me like metal and the taste would hit at random and was so off-putting that I couldn't finish whatever it was that had caused my instant negative reaction. Those who know me best know that I am most definitely not a picky eater...I will try anything once, and if I don't like it, years later I will try it again just to see if my tastes have changed. Years ago, a friend of mine had a party at her house, and I was eating chips and salsa and tasted the unpleasant flavor. I isolated it to this teeny, tiny little green leaf. I wandered up to my friend who had made it, chip in hand, and demanded to know what that little green leaf was. "It's cilantro!" she happily exclaimed. Mouth before brain, I of course responded with, "This is what I hate!! It's taken me years to figure it out!!" She just laughed and wondered aloud who in the world hates cilantro. Turns out there's a lot of us cilantro haters, and thanks to some diligent scientists, it's been determined that our hatred of cilantro comes not from pickiness, but from a random genetic mutation. I always had a sneaking suspicion that I was some sort of mutant, but I had hoped that my mutant-ness would manifested itself in some sort of super power, rather than just an aversion to an otherwise innocuous plant. I have tried over the years to eat cilantro to lessen my aversion to it, and I recognize when I omit cilantro from dishes that it should be in, there is definitely a flavor profile missing. But try as I might, I don't think I'm ever going to like it. Tolerate it, yes, but like it, probably not. It's not my fault, it's in my DNA. 

Which sports did you play in high school?

In high school I played volleyball in the fall. I had been playing volleyball since the 7th grade, and around my sophomore year of high school I had established myself as quite the server. I never mastered the jump serve, but I could pound the ball over the net, barely a wobble as it cleared the net with barely an inch to spare. Unfortunately, once the coach discovered this, I spent the vast majority of our practices serving to the varsity team, and therefore didn't have much opportunity to develop many other useful skills. It got to the point that I had so little exposure to the actual game that I was rotated in to serve, then out again immediately once the serve switched to the other side. My Junior year I didn't make the varsity squad and spent the fall on the JV team, which was okay, but there weren't enough of us to make a team so we were always begging some of the varsity squad or the B-squad girls to play with us. Some did out of pity, but most the time we just played short and didn't do all that well. I still dressed for all the varsity games, and every now and again I'd get put in to serve, but it just wasn't the same. Senior year I tried out for the varsity squad again, knowing I probably wouldn't make the team, and of course I didn't. Not willing to spend another year on the JV team, I called it quits. It was then that a fellow volleyball teammate of mine approached me about trying out for the dance-line team for the the winter season. Being the farthest thing from a bouncy, bubbly cheerleader and having little to no flexibility to speak of, I don't know what possessed me to try out, but I did. I made the team. And you know what, it was a lot of fun. I wish that I had had the confidence to try out for the dance-line team years prior, because I really enjoyed it. I even helped choreograph a couple routines, which was a lot of fun. Of course I fell flat on my butt during the opening bars of one of the songs that I helped choreograph, but you'll have that. The song, ironically, was Wipe Out...hahaha! I remember the first time I was able to get into the splits...I was so proud of my inflexible self! I could only do it with my right leg forward and my butt cheeks barely grazing the floor, but I had made it! Such fun memories, and I'm so glad that I stepped outside of my comfort zone to try something that I otherwise would never in a million years been inclined to do. 

What is the farthest you have ever traveled?

Me with Frank, Lisa, Nicole, Siobhan, and Kerrie

I've been to Australia and Thailand, and I would have to say that Thailand was the farthest. I think it was 18+ hours of flying time total, not counting the layovers. By the time Simon and I had arrived in Thailand, we were so backwards on our circadian rhythms that it took us almost a full three days to finally switch over to the local time. We had the same issue on our return to the US, awake in the middle of the night, completely exhausted in the middle of the day. We tried so hard to flip back as quickly as possible, but it was a struggle. Thailand was amazing. We volunteered for a week an elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai, and it was one of the neatest experiences of my life. There was a lot of poop shoveling, but we were shoveling with an amazing group of people, some of whom became life-long friends. Nothing solidifies a friendship like 10 pound elephant turds. The elephants were beautiful, some of them were sweet, some of them were not. We learned about the process that it takes to train an elephant to be safe around humans, and we learned very quickly that "train" is not the appropriate word; "abuse" is far more accurate and appropriate. Wild elephants are not like horses or dogs, they are not curious about humans nor do they want to interact with humans. They would much rather squish us than spend a single minute in our presence. Elephants are stolen from their herds as babies and horrifically abused for weeks to break their spirit. Many of them suffer from intense emotional, physical, and mental trauma...sometimes all three. Every single elephant at the park, outside of the ones who had been born there, had been traumatized. Many of them were scarred or disfigured, the vast majority arrived at the park emaciated and in poor health. Some of them were safe for us to be around, but many of them were not. Luckily when we were out working in the fields around the elephants, the guides at the park knew which ones to steer clear of. There was one moment when one of the guides scurried over to us, pointed to an elevated platform, and said, "We have to go up there, right now!" Several yards behind him was a massive female elephant with her ears sticking straight out, bee-lining towards us, nothing but business. So we ran to the platform and hung out up there until she had decided that she had sufficiently scared us off and returned to her herd. It was amazing to see the way the family units functioned. While there were no free-roaming males in the park (they are far too dangerous to be around, even for those who have extensive experience around elephants), there were several bands of females of various ages, and usually a couple babies. The adult females are called "nannies," and their job is just like it sounds...overseeing the care and safety of the babies. My favorite moments at the sanctuary were in the mornings...Simon and I always got up so early, and we would wander out to the elevated dining area, have a cup of tea, and watch the park wake up. We'd see the elephant families wander by as they made their way to the river to bathe, or out to the designated eating areas for breakfast. Then the water buffalo would wander by, the birds started to sing, the cats and dogs would wander by and find their way onto our laps for an early morning siesta. It was so peaceful, and so very special to have those quiet moments to ourselves. 

Mud bath...best day ever!!

There are a lot of elephant "sanctuaries" in the Chiang Mai area, but I chose Elephant Nature Park because they don't allow riding of the elephants, and are actually making moves to have their sanctuary be entirely hands-free, meaning no physical contact with any of the guests and volunteers. Being able to be so close to the elephants was so special, but I understand that our presence is actually quite stressful for most of the them. And truly, just getting to be near them, observing them from an elevated platform, watching them go about their lives, was still so very rewarding. If you are ever interested in volunteering at or visiting a sanctuary in Thailand, without a doubt I believe this place would be your best choice. 

If you could have as much money as you wanted, what would you do with it?

Well this just ties into the previous question. Without a doubt, I would travel. I would spend months in Europe riding the rails, eating all the things, soaking up all the World War II history that I could, as I've always had a special interest in it, probably because both of my grandpas served in that war. I would go to Ireland, Iceland, and England. I want to go back to Thailand, and to explore more of Asia. I would go on extensive road trips in the US, and stop at all the funny little points of interest along the way. I would finally ride in a hot air balloon, maybe multiple times over multiple cities in multiple countries. Maybe I'd even ride in a blimp, as there is one still operating in Europe for tourists. I can't remember how outrageous it is for a 45-minute ride, but if I had as much money as I wanted, maybe I'd just rent it for the entire day, or maybe even multiple days! I'd take some bike trips across Europe, and since I'd have all the money I wanted, I'd bring along a bunch of friends. I would go on river cruises in Europe, and maybe I'd even do one of the running cruises where at each port you get out and run a 5-10k. Maybe I'd go to culinary school, just to learn how to cook fancy. Or maybe instead of school, I'd just book one of those cooking cruises where you take cooking classes on the ship, then get out at port and let the real chefs make their local fare. Lots of eating, lots of traveling. That's what I'd do. Of course, one can't ignore the practical things like paying off the house, donating to charity, starting an animal sanctuary, funding a massive countries-wide spay/neuter initiative for dogs and cats, etc...traveling just makes for a better fantasy. :)

And that's it for February's questions. I've had a lot of nervous energy lately as Simon and I search for jobs, waiting in limbo to find out where we're going to go. Being someone who likes to pack up everything far in advance and plan for all the things that I might need (whilst also bringing all the things that I won't), I've been spinning my wheels these past few weeks because where we end up determines what we bring. Are we going somewhere warm? Cold? Far? Near? Staying with friends? Renting our own place? So many uncertainties, and I know everything will work itself out, but in the meantime I need to find productive ways to manage my energy, and this was a good way to do it. So yeah, more to come. :)