:: eye of the storm ::


About Me

A 27-year-old PA student who wants to visit all seven continents, write a book, work at a pediatric clinic in Africa, and basically meet as many of the world's challenges as possible.

View my complete profile

current mood:
current mood

Life List

(already accomplished)

Become a PA

Visit all 7 continents

Take a SwimTrek trip

Bike through Western Europe

Raft the Grand Canyon

Improve my Spanish proficiency

Go on safari in Africa

Trace my roots at Ellis Island

Vacation in Hawaii

Work on a hospital ship in a Third World country

Celebrate New Year's in Times Square

Visit all 50 states (29 to go: AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, ND, OK, OR, RI, SD, TX, UT, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY)

See the ruins at Pompeii

Swim in Capri's Blue Grotto

Tour Mt. Vesuvius

Throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain

Tour the Colosseum

Visit the D-Day beaches

See the Mona Lisa

Visit the palace at Versailles

See the Acropolis and Parthenon

See the Egyptian pyramids

Hike the Inca Trail

Walk El Camino Santiago

Take an Alaskan cruise

View the Taj Mahal at sunrise

Hike Table Mountain in South Africa

Climb through the Amazon canopy

Walk at least part of the Great Wall of China

Get laser hair removal

Learn to surf, ski, and snowboard

Learn to drive a stick-shift

Learn to play the piano

Go on a tropical cruise

Ride horseback on the beach

Ride in a hot air balloon

Get tickets to the Olympics

Go to adult Space Camp

Witness a shuttle launch from up close

Build a full-sized snowman

Sew a quilt out of my old race T-shirts

Update and continue my Life Scrapbook

Become the oldest person to ever do the River Run

Live to be a happy, healthy 100 years old - at least!

(unlikely dreams)

donderdag 29 april 2004

So I did get to go riding, and I think I'm going to go back for some more lessons, so Marrit and/or Liselotte, if you guys have a suitable pair of pants and/or shoes I could borrow, I would be forever in your debt...

Anyway, I'm sore - it's been a while, and my horse had an unusually bouncy trot - but it was also a lot of fun. The instructor kept making me the leader, because out of the 5 'advanced' people, only 2 of us really were advanced, those two being me and Sarah (from Ireland). But Sarah was having trouble with her mount; he had a really sensitive mouth and it took her a while to adjust to that, so I ended up being the leader every single time. Plus I was the only one who spoke Dutch, and the instructor's English wasn't all that spectacular, so he asked me for words a couple of times.

It was funny - another instructor, a girl, said something about stirrups, and the guy asked her in Dutch, "What are they called in English?" and she said, "Stirrups!" and I realized I didn't know the Dutch word, so I asked the guy, "Hoe heten ze in het Nederlands?" The guy did an exaggerated double take, looked at me with an amazed expression, said "...Beugels," and then we went through the usual line of questioning about how and why I came here. That was the second time in one night, actually - one of my bike brakes snapped on the way to Parnassos, so I was having trouble stopping on the way to the arena and nearly ran into the two ESN girls leading us. So I said, "Het spijt me alvast als ik tegen één van jullie aan rijd; mijn handrem ging net kapot." The brunette stopped and stared at me and said, "Oh, je bent gewoon Nederlands!" ["Oh, you're Dutch!"] I grinned and said "Nee" and she said, "Dan heb je Nederlandse ouders," ["Then your parents must be Dutch"] and I once again said no. "Je woont hier al heel lang." ["You've lived here for a really long time already."] "Nee." It was funny to see her keep guessing.

Various Pains: right calf from being repeatedly pinched by the stirrup leather, inside of left knee for the same reason (extreme pain there, even though you can barely see a bruise), bruised-like feeling where the lines of my underwear were (that's a new one) plus the general thigh muscle aching that you get when you haven't been on a horse for a while, but I don't really feel that so much.

Next Lesson: Wednesday at 20.00. They have to give me a 'trial lesson' to see where I fit, so they're putting me in a half-beginner-half-intermediate class to 'check me out'. (I had the feeling the girl who signed me up hadn't seen me riding, but they'll figure it out.) :)

Well, Martin's going to be here in a little while, so I'll get going now.

(Confession of the Day: I am listening to Hanson.)

My Stuff

Blogs I Read

Blogging Since 2003


Free Blog Counter
Poker Blog

Powered by Blogger