Zim

Hi guys! I am lucky enough to have the chance to take an amazing trip to Zimbabwe, so am resurrecting this little corner of the internet to share some of my experiences while I'm here. Wifi here is a little less reliable than the country-wide access in Korea, so posts are going to be a little more sparing, or might not be posted until I get back  :)

I'm spending three weeks near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe with an awesome organization called 2 Seconds or Less that partners with schools to build school in areas plagued with malnutrition. Our work will be centered at Matapos Primary school, and we'll be partnering with an organization in the community, Forgotten Voices, that helps families care for the large number of child orphans resulting from the AIDS epidemic.

In addition to being a great experience, this trip is doing double-duty fulfilling my practicum requirement for my master's program. My role will be to help collect data on the current state of nutrition and diet in the community, so the organization can measure if their program is making an impact later on.

 

After a long string of flights and car ride - Washington, DC to Accra, Ghana (10 hr), Ghana to Johannesburg, South Africa (7 hours), South Africa to Harare, Zimbabwe (3 hours) and another 7 hour drive - I'm here! Although not exactly where I planned to be.

 

Due to a communication error, the school in Bulawayo isn’t expecting us until this coming Monday, which means they weren’t ready for us. So we traveled to a small rural town called Doma instead. 2SOL has two established here and two members of our team have lived here since January so we were welcomed with open arms. There are 5 total in the team I’m with – 4 employees and 2 other interns. More on everything later! You can subscribe to this blog with your email on the right hand side if you're interested.

 

 

Escape to Outer Banks

About halfway through each semester of school and working full-time, I'm more than ready for a trip to somewhere new. Since I have some big money savings goals this year, anywhere too expensive was out of the question.

After a little searching, I landed on Kill Devil Hills, NC - a great Groupon deal on a pet-friendly(!) hotel and only 5 hours in the car away from DC. We went in Mid-March, so it was off season as well, and it was refreshing to be at the beach without the crowds.

The trip got off to an interesting start when, after an amazing birthday surprise party that was a little more wild than I expected, neither CJ and I could make our selves get out of bed for the 5am departure time we originally intended. So we bummed the day away while I struggled to work from home and set off for North Carolina in the evening.

After a Serial podcast marathon and eating dinner in the Chic-fil-a parking lot because we felt guilty leaving Max in the car, we made it to our hotel at about midnight. And then woke up to boxer pup whines at 6am. He's lucky he's cute.

We made no plans ahead of time, and just spent our two days exploring everything Trip Advisor told us to. Here are some highlights:

Wright Brothers National Memorial: Not much here except a hill and a few statues, but I guess it was cool to stand where history was made. Luckily we didn't have to pay since it was off-season, but there's usually a per-car entry fee.

Jockey's Ridge State Park: Sand dunes, sand dunes and more sand dunes. Max went a little buck wild and the views were pretty cool.

Bodie Island Lighthouse: The inside was closed, but was still a nice scenic walk.

While the sites were fun, by far the best part of being at the beach is the beach. Max loved running around, and I spent a decent amount of time reading on a hotel porch overlooking the water. For dinner one night, we had a picnic of cheese, crackers, wine, and salami outside. We also woke up to watch the sunrise, but ended up being an hour early after a daylight saving mix-up. I will say that shivering in the pitch black for an hour does make you appreciate the sunrise more :)

If the best part was the beach, Duck Donuts was a close second. They make every donut fresh as you order, and I've never had a better donut.

It's great to make memories with our little squad of three, and I'll take any vacation I can get, no matter how small!

Rooting DC Forum

This weekend I attended the 9th annual Rooting DC forum. It's an awesome free conference hosted each year covering all things food access and urban gardening. I don't know much about gardening (though I would like to!) but loved hearing about all the great things folks are doing to decrease hunger, connect people with healthy food, and grow the local food economy in the district.

Even more than the talks, just being around people who are so excited and passionate about their causes was energizing. And, there was a bunch of food trucks there too!

2.27 | Life Lately

It's finally starting to get nice out in DC, and I've been a little more motivated to leave my couch and Netflix :) This week I've been...

Starting my work days off with chia seed pudding. It's so easy to make ahead of time and delicious. (I use 1 cup of coconut milk and ~1/3 cup of chia seeds, and let sit in the fridge overnight). I added cinnamon and pear slices in this one.

Buddha Bowls, Part of a Prettier Dinner

I first heard of the "Buddha bowl" concept when browsing Pinterest for new recipe ideas. As far as I could tell, they didn't have much in common except for being chock full of veggies and extremely Instagram-worthy.

 Picture and recipe from: http://sweetpotatosoul.com/2015/05/everyday-buddha-bowl.html

I did some research quick Googling and came up with definitions all over the spectrum. A mindfulness blog described the term as a "bowl filled with simple pure food and enjoyed with deep gratitude" and I think Urban Dictionary was talking about a different kind of bowl...

DC Bucket List

 I've lived in the DC area for about a year and a half. Although, an Arlington resident, I'm not technically in DC, I'm more than close enough to take advantage of all the city has to offer.

Even though I've been here a while, most of my DC experiences have been running by or on the monuments during marathon training (all the pictures in this post are from my runs). I'm going to be moving away in a few short months, and want to make sure I visit everything I can while I'm still so close.

This DC bucket list is a combination of things I have already done and want to re-visit, as well as things I've been dying to experience for a while.

2.19 | Life Lately

With the combination of Valentine's Day, a 3-day weekend, and a surprise snowstorm, this week started off with a bang. The past few days have been crazy busy, so I'm excited that the weekend is just around the corner. Lately I've been:

Binge-Watching: The Office. Every episode is a classic, and Michael Scott's antics never get old.