Talking to Strangers

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There are 31 days left in the year.

That means I have 31 days left with my family and friends here in the States. I have 31 days to eat all the Tex-Mex and BBQ I want (though I should seriously cut back). Best of all, I have 31 more days until I return to Prague.

Well, I won't actually get back to Prague until January 2 because of the time difference.Technicalities, meh.

Thanksgiving 2010!

So in case you don't remember, Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday of all time. I love it. 

I made a cranberry-caramel upside-down cake.

Screw the Timeline for Life

So I was reading this blog post about how we 20-something women have a tendency to set a life deadline of 30. By 30 we should be getting married and ready to have babies (or already have a litter brewing). Our career should be on the right track and then the rest of our lives will just magically fall into place during the fourth decade of our being.

I'm sad to admit that sometimes a little voice deep inside my brain nags me with similar thoughts. Though I'm happy to say that I know it's all crap. Deadlines for things like that are impossible not to mention absolutely absurd — and that's coming from the girl who thrives on deadlines. 

Relieved

So the worst part about moving abroad — well, really about moving anywhere — is finding an apartment. It's generally pretty difficult because most of the time the owner of the apartment doesn't speak English. Then there's the fact that you have to get used to different ways things are done.

Every apartment I ever had before moving to Taiwan was in Texas and followed the typical TSA leasing agreement which is a standard format and follows the state laws which, surprisingly, tend to advocate for the tenant's rights because those are often stomped all over.

History Shapes People

If any of you have ever been curious about what drives me to travel, I think I might have at least a bit of an answer for you.

I love people watching. People watching is great even in your own backyard, but it's even better abroad. 

I guess what I love about watching people abroad is that it's all new and different and I'm always trying to figure out what is going on. But I love that the things that are different about it are entirely based on their culture. The thing about culture is it's so mixed and it's entirely shaped by history.

I'm torn

After the first week or so of being home had gone by, people started to ask me if I'm bored and ready to go back.

So after having been in Texas for nearly a month now (Wow, time flies!) I'm starting to finally be able to answer that question.

Cardio-tastic

I'm fairly certain I've mentioned this before, but I hate exercise. However, I also hate the idea of getting fat, mostly because the longer you wait to counteract fat the more exercise you have to do to make the fat go away. 

Sucks how that works.

Well I'm pretty sure you guys have also figured out that I love reaching goals and what's more is I love surpassing my goals. I love excelling at anything really. Finding out I'm really good at something is basically the best feeling in the world (right behind the feeling I have after eating a crunchy beef taco and drinking a Mexican martini, but still). 

It's like the freshman 15 all over again.

I remember when I first moved to Austin. I, like most other girls entering college, gained my freshman 15. Of course, back then, it wasn't really a problem because I was actually underweight. I worked so much and was so active in so many clubs that all the junk food I ate back then didn't even compensate for the calorie intake I probably should have had. (Oh how nice those days were.)

But again, the freshman 15 wasn't a big deal because I needed the weight. I just don't really want to go adding to that too much.

So remember how I said I'm probably going to eat the city of Austin? That's not faring too well for the belly.