This blog has been keeping track of my adventures since 2004. The stories and the adventures have come from my college dorm room to Uganda, Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan, learning Dutch in the Netherlands to living in the wilds of Homer, Alaska. I went back to school in Amsterdam to study Theaterwetenschap (Theatre Science) at University of Amsterdam. And now my adventures as a Fruit Fly, a Sexy Unicorn, and creating a movement with Team Sparkle in Chicago.
I just want to take a minute and recommend Homer Brewery's Broken Birch Bitter. It is a great beer. I like to say, "Travel Globally, Drink Locally." It also works with with food, "Travel Globally, Eat Locally." I support supporting local companies. I think it helps the economy and helps an area retain it's character. I have tried most of Homer Brewery's brews. I personally like Broken Birch Bitter the most. I has a great hop/citrus taste. If their is a brewery in your area and you haven't checked them out yet, go ahead and try the whole selection. Worked for Tom and I at Squatters in Salt Lake City. It only takes one afternoon to try them all.
It's not my stinky habit. I have a lot of friends who "just need to" do it pretty much every day or at least every other. It leaves you stinky, it ages your skin, and empties your pockets of any extra money you have. No, I'm not talking about smoking. I'm talking about tanning. As in going to a Tanning Salon. My friends and acquaintances who are addicted to tanning say things about their addiction without a flinch of irony: "I'm super busy. I gotta go shopping, get lunch, and I HAVE to go tanning.", "No, seriously I have to go tanning. NO, seriously I am a light brown and I really NEED to be a dark healthy looking brown.", or "Yeah I think I might have skin cancer... but what can ya do. I gotta stop off at tanning salon later." This idea that you NEED to go tanning I find ridiculous. Especially when in an excessive amount it seems to age skin at the kind of warp speed that you only see with chain smokers. It's kinda gross. I went tanning today. I'm like one of those people who only smokes when they are drunk. They know it is bad and unnecessary but they do it anyway. I tan when I am extremely pale. I have only ever gone tanning at two other periods in my life. Once because I won two free coupons and John Fyolek and I went tanning together at the end of high school. Then again to get ready to go to Honduras, because I had gotten talked into being afraid of going to a sunny location with no prep. I decided that it would be okay for me to go again since I rarely see the sun. I am starting to turn transparent. I also found out if I get really pale I start to look pretty sick, and not "sick" being used as slang for hot, no just sick. The thing is, now I'm remembering that I didn't just stop because it's unhealthy, I stopped because you stink afterwards. There is that specific post tanning smell. My friends who are addicted to tanning don't seem to notice their distinct smell anymore, but it's there, lingering. While I never say anything about their post-tanning smell I'm quite taken aback by it lingering on my skin. I have to go put some perfume on before I got to the bar and have my skin absorb in the second hand smoke. For once I won't mind it, the stink of a cigarette is a step up from the stink of a tanning salon.
I decided to look at Godaddy.com to see whether I should go ahead and buy the name carolbontekoe.com to make it easier on you-the dozens of you that read this blog. I figured you could than just type in my first and last name throw a dot com at the end and find me Carol Bontekoe. Shockingly carolbontekoe.com was still available. Since I am the only one in the world, or at least the only one that comes up when you google my name(using google as a verb not a noun is super cool, also you should facebook me sometime). I didn't appreciate Go Daddy trying to talk me into a bunch of other names. Names it felt were better than carolbontekoe.com. carolbontekoe.asia-for some reason costs as much as .com Go Daddy even went so far as to suggest maybe I might want carolynbontekoe.com or carolinebontekoe.com How insulting! That's not my name don't call me that! It's bad enough that I saw in a baby naming book once that said, "Why name your baby Carol when there are nicer more elegant versions like Carolyn and Caroline?" First it was books suggesting that my name wasn't good enough now it is the Internet. Who does that? Who goes, "yeah, your name is alright but you see how adding three letters to the end makes it that much better?" At least my last name is okay for getting a domain name.It keeps the price Low. I feel sorry for a Carol Morris, Carol Myers, Carol Gibson, Carol Hill, Carol Kennedy, or Carol Hunter. Because of their painfully common last names their names will cost them between 700 to 4,000 dollars for a domain name. Carol Bontekoe is worth 10 dollars. Wait! That just made me sound like a low end hooker... In the end I decided not to pay for a domain name. Not because Go Daddy had insulted me by suggesting I might be better off with Carolyn or Caroline as my first name. No, I decided not to because except for a handful of people no one knows how to spell my name. I'd be like, "oh, Dude you can check out what I'm doing by going to my website it's just carolbontekoe.com" They would talk to me a few days later telling me that they couldn't find anything when they typed in my name. I would then find out that they tried: caroleboniko.com carrollbotko.com carolbontico.com carolebonetko.com
I'm hard to find if you don't know how to spell my name. I do know at least one person who knows how to spell my name, Caitlin Joy Dobson. I have been looking for adjectives to describe myself and I liked how she used my name(correctly spelled) to describe me. C - aring A - dventurous R - owdy O - ver-the-top L - ovely
L - oud Y - oung-at-heart N - ice N - ever late
B - rave O - pen-minded N - octurnal T - rue friend and true to herself E - nergetic K - ick ass (no really, she could kick your ass!) O - utgoing E - veryday people
It may not be a domain name, but it's all spelled correctly and not trying to make me jazz up my name. That means alot to me. :)
"Hey do you have a small pair of shoes I could..." "Oh, I.." "OH.MY GOD!!!" The twelve year old who was going to ask to borrow a pair of my shoes had suddenly gotten a glimpse of my bright green shoes. Yeah, "Oh my God" probably is the correct response. I smiled and we both agreed my shoes probably weren't going to fit her. Ya know the "Oh my God" response would be a lot nicer and more fun if it were to lets say, my breasts. But alas it is only for my feet. oh, and my hands. well and if you are next to me in a plane-my shoulders. okay, I guess I'm just an "Oh My God" kind of Girl.
Hey All Check out this site freemacbookair.com. They're giving away the MacBook Air! Click here: http://www.freemacbookair.com/?referral=1koe8pc Thanks!
I saw 5 moose today! Oh, and one more tiny lil thing... Today is Bush's last day!!!!!!! Free at last free at last THANK GOD almighty we are FREE AT LAST!!!
I'm not unique in my addiction to Diet Coke. Practically every woman I know is either currently or has been addicted to Diet Coke. I have finally beat that addiction, thanks all to not being able to afford Diet Coke. At almost 3 dollars for a 2 liter of Diet Coke it is well out of my reach. So, thank you Alaska for being to expensive for me to afford Diet Coke.
If you have seen me since I got back from the Netherlands or you saw me in the Netherlands you have probably heard me singing the song konijntje. It is a great song. The chorus part literally translates into, "Come on Bunny, wiggle it, wiggle it." Feel free to enjoy a touch of the ridiculousness of Dutch culture.
* Found the lyrics to this amazing song and have traslated it the best I could: Ik zie mensen wiebele I see people wiggling
Kom op konijntje doe maar wiebele, wiebele Come on bunny do more wiggling,wiggle Kom op konijntje doe maar wiebele, wiebele, huppel Come on Bunny do more wiggling,wiggle, skip Kom op konijntje doe maar wiebele, wiebele, huppel Come on Bunny do more wiggling,wiggle, skip Doe maar huppele alsof je in het bos bent Do more skipping as if you were in the forest
Kom op konijntje doe maar wiebele, wiebele Kom op konijntje doe maar wiebele, wiebele, huppel Kom op konijntje doe maar wiebele, wiebele, huppel Doe maar huppele alsof je in het bos bent
Kom op konijntje doe maar huppele, wiebel Come on bunny do more skipping, wiggle Wiebel met je oortjes, laat ze heen en weer wiebele wiggle with your ears, let them go ahead and wiggle Kom op konijntje, doe je ding, doe je dansje Come on bunny, do your thing, do you little dance Kom op konijntje, ah Kom op konijntje, ah
Ok konijntje, het is je dag vandaag ok bunny, today is your day Ik zing een liedje en ik doe het een beetje traag I sing a little song and I do it a bit slowly Voor jou alleen, voor niemand anders for you alone and for no one else Konijntje, omhoog met die handen Bunny upwards with the hands
Huppel huppel konijntje, huppel en wiebel skip, skip bunny, skip and wiggle Huppel huppel konijntje, konijntje wiebel skip skip bunny, bunny wiggle Doe maar wiebele en huppele en wiebele do more wiggling and skipping and wiggling Beweeg die oortjes heen en weer move the ears back and forth
Today I witnessed the most perfect timing on a fart that has ever existed. The only one I have ever seen come close to the one I saw today was in 6th grade. I was doing sit-ups and just as I came up I let one rip right in Neele Nedvad's face. Today however was better for the sheer fact that I'm an adult and they shouldn't be as big of a deal. Tonight was open gym volleyball. Most of the people are middle aged. One of the older men from the group was serving and right as he hit the ball he let out a huge fart. You would think... I mean really YOU WOULD THINK that grown adults would ignore it and play the ball out. we couldn't. It seemed that after that moment the ball was suspended in the air. There was time enough to hit it. Instead of hitting the ball we all just stared at each other. When the ball hit we all just lost it and start giggling like 5 year olds. We would almost gain composure and than we would lose it again. Mature, eh? The man who did the serve/fart turned bright bright red. I have never seen an adult get that red from embarrassment. I was suprised by how hard I was laughing. I hate fart jokes. I think fart jokes are a last resort at humor. We eventually were able to play again. While we were playing I kept running it through my head why I had laughed so hard. I eventually realized that it was because of timing for the fart. So, while I hate fart jokes, I love perfect timing.
I like that in Alaska they cancel school because of warm weather. They said on the news today, "All this wamr weather causes school cancelations for tomorrow." What a weird place this is... Love it!
One of the main reasons I keep this blog is to keep track of my adventures. The other other reason is to hopefully inspire the reader to travel. It worked with Shawn... She came all the way to Friesland... So, I'll keep doing this. However, not that long ago I introduced photos into the mix. Now I'm hopefully introducing video. This is just a short little video of why I travel. Hope it works and I hope you enjoy.
I went to church this morning. I figured on top of the whole spiritual aspect it would be a good way to meet some people. I got a little welcome gift for coming: a jar of home-made raspberry jam. This made me way too happy. It is a little jar, however I thought it was so cute that I snatched it and admired it for a minute. I then came to my senses and put the little jar into my Kermit the Frog bag. There was a good chance for me to put myself out there but I panicked. It was that period where new people can stand up and introduce themselves. I was clearly the only new person. I looked down, than realized that wasn't enough of a commitment. I engrossed myself in my church bulletin. There was a long punctuated pause.?!.!???(I don't know which punctuation makes it in punctuated pause-wait is that even a real thing?) You would think by just being me I would be used to that weight that sits on your back when people are just staring at you. Some how on a day to day basis I can ignore it but in the house of the Lord it seemed extra heavy. I powered through and kept reading the bulletin, as if I no interest in the new people. At the exact moment I broke and started to raise my hand the minister start talking again. Thank you God. The service was pretty typical until the very end. The did a renewal of baptism. The minister went around splashing water all over the place. He warned a head of time that some might get on you but that was a good thing. I sat right next to the center aisle, he flicked some high over a bunch of us as I managed to get it right in my eye. He than walked up right be side me and forcefully flicked a bunch of water right into my ear. It was hardly the scattering he did the rest of the time. It seemed almost like he was through baptism water saying, "Don't make a fool of me again, when I give you the chance to stand up and talk about yourself you better darn well do it!" I hit my opposite ear to knock the water out of my ear and made sure to do everything perfectly through the last bit of service. At the end of service the old lady brigade immediately came up to talk to me. They always find me. I chatted with them trying to appear interesting and like someone they should talk with more. I also tried to make it as clear as possible that I know no one here and have nothing to do. I have knitting circle date for Feb 2nd. At least it's something. After meeting so many old ladies that I will never remember any of their names, except for Caroline-she was so close to having a nice name just three letters too long. After I got done with church I drove down to check out the water plane landing area. In the winter it is used for more than water landings. They use it for racing cars. Yep. Went and watched a car race on a frozen lake. I try to avoid frozen lakes, I think I saw Little Women a few too many times. It was a nice warm day today- 20 degrees. I don't understand why so many people just sat in their cars to watch the races. I got out and enjoyed it. The race I watched a 17 year old girl named Heather won it. I really enjoyed that. I'll cheer a girl on in anything where you would assume a guy would win, like ice racing. Heather didn't just win but dominated the field. The best part was that on the side of her car it said, "HEATHER" in big letters. There is no more insulting name to men for a girl to have while she whoops their butts... well maybe Tiffany. I didn't chat with anyone out there but I went on a frozen lake. Baby steps. IT'll still be a while before I make some friends, but I not going to let that keep me from getting out and about.
I just realized after typing in my title you can't ever write/say the three words "how do you..." together without following it up with, "solve a problem like Maria?" That's a good song. I should watch Sound of Music more often... but I have issues with watching any Nazi movie more than every few years. Yes, Sound of Music is a Nazi movie... not a Nazi propaganda movie but a movie about/dealing with Nazis. In case you didn't know Nazis are scary, they aren't people to go sing with about your age in a greenhouse.... I'm 24 going on 25 and I would tell any girl who is 16 that singing Nazis should be avoided. Wait Why did I sign on to blogger? Oh, yeah... My grandpa likes to call me his vagabond grand-daughter, which is fine and some what true. The only problem with being a "vagabond" is having to make new friends all the time. The thing is one of the best parts about moving around all the time is getting to make new friends. See what I did there? I'll explain. by changing the word "having" to the word "getting" it becomes an opportunity, not a task for survival. I haven't decided yet whether I will have a negative outlook on making friends or a positive one... all depends on if I make some friends. I don't know how to make friends... not in life in general... it's more of a Homer, AK specific thing. More of a me in Homer, AK specific thing. I chose to move here without knowing anyone. I also work at a job where I have no co-workers. I'm not taking any classes. I live alone. So, how do you make friends when there are no natural outlets for making friends? I signed up and paid for open gym basketball. I am middle aged at the open gym. I'm also the only female. And I seem to be the only person there who doesn't think they are God's gift to basketball. I'll keep going for the exercise, but I don't think it will be a great open door to new friends. I'm hoping to get out of work early on an occasional Monday. why? There is a knitting circle from 3-5 on Mondays... Fingers crossed I can meet with the gals at that and have them teach me to cable(knitting term, don't feel bad if you don't know what it is-it just means you aren't as hip as me) Oh, yes- I have never been to a knitting circle but I can imagine. I tried something I knew nothing about and have had to quickly throw away my naivety. I posted a little blurp on Craigslist under "strictly platonic" saying I was new to the area and was just wondering what there was to do. I also said if people wanted someone to hang out with or to show me the city I was up for going out. The responses I got weren't proportional to what I put out there. I won't mention them here.. some of you couldn't handle it. Those of you who can, I have already told. I feel not responding to an email is a bit rude but I know no polite way to respond. And since I'm getting recognized on the street from my photos I attached to it, I think any response to any email would be the talk of the town. I'm going to keep trying to go out and meet people and make friends. There is a good chance this will end in failure. I promise to document it here. I would like to say that if you have any suggestions for ways to make friends with no connections I am all ears. I'll let you know if you suggestion works. :) I got nothin' to lose.
I have been in Belfast for a week now and quite a few random things have happened: I learned the hard way not to refer to it as Northern Ireland and Real Ireland. Had all my money stolen in the Central Library. Led to sleeping on the streets and not eating for a few days. going to church on the notorius Sandy Row just for free food I excepted charity, despite finding that extremely painful. Seen almost every mural on Shankill Road and Falls Road. Have befriended a famous Irish singer who is actually Welsh. Foudn out CLive Owens is a wanker but Kiera Knightly is lovely. Been called love by at least a hundred people. Got offered a ride across country. Joined an old lady Bible Study. Eat at Subway and tripled the amount of Guinness I have drank in my life. So, I'd say it is on par with any other trip I have taken if not better. :)
