Peace Out USA! November 27, 2009

We’re off to Mexico for our Mexican/Central American Adventure.
How long? 2 weeks….. 2 months…. who knows. We’ll see

Sorry to anyone I wasn’t able to call or hang out with before I left- the trip stuck up on us bigtime and I’ll probably be awake all night trying to get last minute things together before our 7am departure tomorrow!

So anyway, wish us luck and good health, and hopefully I’ll see ya on the other side!
Oh and our Skype number will remain active if you wanna give us a shout. We’ll check it when we find internet along the way: 805-426 -9259

And HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Cali-forn-I-A May 17, 2009

Howdy partnerz,

So as some of you know, Brandon whisked me away to California the other week for a quick little visit. I’m very sorry to those of you I wasn’t able to visit- my stay was short and my prime mission there was to have a little relaxing time with my fiance who I hadn’t seen in over 2 months    I did get a chance to surprise my dad, and give my mom a birthday/mothers day hug in person. I also got to say goodbye to my old house in Ojai, as well as some of the animals I wont be seeing again. And of course, I got to meet the rest of my new family (brandons immediate family), and spend Cinco De Mayo all with people I consider my family at rachel’s restaurant (thank you sis).

If I missed you last week, the good news is, it wont be long before I get a chance to redeem myself and come visit with you in less than a couple months. I’m throwing the towel in over here- it’s just too hard to be away from the love of my life for these long periods of time. I feel like an empty shell out here and it goes against everything I preach if I don’t follow my heart and pursue what I know makes me happy. Life is really good out here and the job is going well- but the richest life in the world isn’t worth the heart ache of being away from the one you love. Happiness and family- it’s that the whole purpose of why we work and strive to be successful anyway? Without it, you forget what the point is….

Anyway, so I put my notice in at my school. They weren’t stoked, but they understood. We’re looking for a replacement and I expect to be in SoCal within the next couple months at the most.

Also, I’m currently on the Master Cleanse on day 3, and things are going well. For those of you that dont know the Master Cleanse, it’s basically a fast to help clear out old toxins you’ve been carrying around in your body. The only thing you’re allowed, is water and a mix of fresh squeezed lemon juice and maple syrup with a bit of pepper mixed in. At the end of every day, you do a ’salt water flush’ (chug water full of sea salt, which is unsalable and comes out the other end very quickly). Yesterday we took a bus to the mall to get some more overpriced import pure maple syrup. It was rough walking thru the delicious smelling mall. You dont notice how many incredible food products are sold out there till you try not eating for a few days, haha. It wasn’t too hard tho- I brought my ‘lemonade’ with me and took a shot whenever a hunger pain came along as I passed the amazing smelling pastry shops. Here’s more info on the master cleanse if it interests you : http://themastercleanse.org/

See ya soon

-jetski

New Vid: Everest 08!!!!! March 28, 2009

This vid is about the trekk i did with my future husband and sisters last fall.

Trekking to Everest sucks- I highly do not recommend it. Trust me- I made it look alot more fun than the 90 mile stroll was, lol.

I wish I coulda gotten more footage, but I only had 5 minutes of tape for the whole trip (as i was near the end of a tape when my camera playback controls took a poo on me), so I worked with what I had, haha.

It’s posted below, but if you’re feelin motivated, it’d be way cooler to watch it in higher quality right here:

http://vimeo.com/3846870

and for you less-motivated people, here’s the lower quality embedded -_-

(but at least click the little “HQ” at the bottom of the video player!)

My Thai life February 7, 2009

WTF:

I arrived into Bangkok at 1:00am after my 15 hour lay-over in Beijing and a few cups of coffee. It was Chinese New Year so I was lucky enough to experience seeing hundreds of fireworks exploding all over the cities from a birds eye view.  When I landed, they lost my luggage- but after 30mintues of waiting in the baggage claim office, they meraculously found it. Hazzah!

I was greeted by Ken and Trish (2 of the american teachers), the 2 school directors, and Suree- an almost overly-friendly thai all-around type guy who wheres alot of hats at the school and does a lot of driving for them. We all jumped in his 15 passenger van and began the 1.5 hour journey home.

We arrived at Ken and Trish’s house, where I bid farewell to the directors and Suree, and flopped down on the couch that was to be my bed for the night. After relaxing and chatting for bit, Ken showed me to their extra room and explained that I could sleep there if I prefered. I casually strolled into the room saying that I’m happy to do whatever is easiest, but stopped in my tracks as I observed the room and realized what was in the corner of it.

It was a person. Wait, it was a person I knew! WAIT! A person I knew well! Holly sh*t, it’s BRANDON!

That’s pretty much what went thru my mind as I attempted to comprehend that I was lookin at him. He apparently flew in over a week ago, and had been just playin it off like he was still in India. It was sooooo awesome to see him.

My City:

My big town/little city is called Chachoengsao. It’s supposedly like 60,000 people… but there’s a big bridge across the big river that runs thru it, and my whole little life is on the ‘country’ side of the bridge. So on this side, it’s small town life. I havent had a chance to explore the city side, but I’ve heard theres nothing too exciting happening there. We’ll see….  There’s a big ghetto mall down the street that’s got lots of fun stuff (including massages), and then there’s a big K-Mark esk place called Big-C, and thats where I got all my apartment supplies.  There’s a big night club called Dome, and a bunch of little restaurants I’m excited to still explore

My House:

I live in a huge white building around the corner from the Yamaha store and 7-11. My building has a marble floor lobby and key-card entry. I have air conditioning.
My studio apartment is furnished and included cable TV and a cleaning service… both of which I canceled, as I’d prefer to not have either. I did sign up to have the wifi installed tho…..

It didnt take me long to realize what a bitch it was to constantly trying to hail taxi scooters and tuk-tuks, and then fighting with them after about them trying to rip me off because I’m white…. so I got a motor scooter. He’s a blue Yamaha Mio and his name is Matote. Muuuuuch more cost affective (and yes, I’m being careful).

My School:

I work at a big school and I am a Kindergarden teacher. Right now I’m joining in on Trish’s classes, as she is teaching K1 right now. The next school term starts in May, but I’ll be doing a summer school in April as well. Until then, it’s just training and breaks. I have just over a month of paid vacation time before the new year

I’ll be taking a few trips with the school this month- the first of which is to Chang Mai next week. They pay for all of it and it gives the teachers a chance to bond, so thats nice. Then the next week I go to Loas for a visa run- it takes a few months to process the work permit, so in the mean time, we do visa runs paid for my the school. Zoe is the other new teacher this year and is also my neighbor, so we’ll be taking the trips together. By next month all the american teachers (5 of us) will be living in this building- it’s the Teacher Tower, lol.

Pics and vid soon to come- Still getting settled and setting things up. Just wanted to give everyone the basic idea

USA: Hello and goodbye! January 21, 2009

Most of you already know, but incase you dont, I’ve been back visiting in the states the past few weeks. I took a trip to SF last weekend and got to see some old homies and visit the freebord factory again (which was real nice!).
I’m down in SoCal right now bouncing between Ojai, Ventura, LA, and Irvine if you’d life to hit me up. I’d love to try to see some friendly faces and I’ve got a cell for the time being: 805-616-7445
I’ve been doing some work with Freeline Skates and will be focused on that a chunk of the time that I’m here, but lemme know if you’d like to try to meet up.

On Jan 29th I fly to Thailand. I’ve been offered a 14 month teaching contract over there, and am excited about the opportunity. I’ll be teaching English to 5-10 year olds at a large school about an hour outside of Bangkok. There are a few other american teachers there already, one of which I’ve met before, and they’ve got nothing but awesome things to say about the job and town- I’m stoked.

Anyway, next time anyone’s thinkin of coming to thailand, you know you’ve got a place to stay!

I’ll miss all my family and friends.
And I’ll miss In-N-Out and mexican food too…. but I’ll do what I can, and post some updates and vids/pics along the way

To da next chapter!!!

-jess/sica/jetski

Camel Safari December 13, 2008

moo

So Camel Safari’s are pretty cool. We did one while we were still up north (we’re south now). We went off into the desert, played and camped in the sand dunes, and ate fresh cooked Thali that our camel guides made. Did you know you could clean a metal dish by just sticking it in the dirt and rubbing the dirt around? Very exfoliating.

Anyway, the camel safari was cool. My legs hurt after, and camels fart all the time and sometimes make this really cool noise that I could only express in person. Awesome.

The internet is spotty out here in India- and the price and speed is all over the map, so I’m not too focused on updates right now (obviously). But I figure, I’ll have a night on a couchsurfers laptop with high speed internet when I can dump a buncha pics online and fill in a buncha holes. Until then, it’s hit and miss with these updates :p

Currently I’m spending my days in paradise relaxing on the beach. I’d always heard india’s beaches were awful, but who ever said that has obviously not been to Om Beach. It’s perfect. Not crowded, not over priced, no crazy hustling, and amazing scenery. It’s all jungle right up to the beautifulfine white sandy beach and cool blue water. Small waves to bodysurf, but nothing intense. Our hut with fan, electricity, and hammock out front is about $10 a week, and each meal is about $2- and I’m talking pizza, pasta, thali, butter masala, lassi, chai- whatever. Everything is good here.

They have these things called Munch bars- it’s basically indian kit-kat. Tehy make these Munch shakes at this one spot. Holy banana. It’s amazing. We have 3 a day.

Anyways, pics to come, pics to come. This internet and computer and keyboard is rediculous, so I cant be on it anymore. Munch Shake time

Oh yeah, and Goa’s dumb. Don’t waste your time ever going to that trashy played out trap. (go just south of it!)

Burning Man- the real one November 12, 2008

So Brandon and I decided to take an overnight bus to India the day I got my Indian Visa. We bought a connecting bus ticket in Kathmandu that was supposed to be for the bus that would be at the border (nepal/india)…. or course, 1600 rupees later we learn that that bus didnt exist and we got scammed…. welcome to India. At least we have the contact info to the ‘travel agency’ that sold it to us, so I can always crash their server as well as get Kathmandu tourist police on their ass. Karma’s a bitch.

So we came to Varanasi first- the city of the dead. Over 300 bodies are cremated and put in the Gangas river here a day. The 24 hour rooftop restaurant of our guest house (hotel) overlooks the 24 hour wood burning gaht. People with no money or no family are burned at the electric gaht, but you dont get to keep the ashes after, so the wood is prefered. Pregnant women, small children, certain holy men, and people that have died from a cobra bite are wrapped up and put straight in the river.  During our evening boat ride, our boat encountered one of these bodies (which was no longer wrapped, and we floating in the fetal position). It was surreal. There are no women at the burning gahts, because they cry too much and sometimes jump in the fire after their loved ones.

This city is crazy- very different vibe than other places. It’s one of the oldest cities in the world and is crammed up again the massive Gangas river, which is dirty as hell, but also very holy, so people still bath in it and drink from it. On the other side of the river is nothing but desert sand, and there’s actually a festival going on here now, so it’s startin to look a bit like burning man over there right now. Death is a celebration, and people come from all around to die here and have the honor of being put in the holy Gangas river. They also have ’special banana lassi’ on all the menus, which we learned is a ‘bong lassi’. Bong is apparently a different plant than weed, but is a similar herb. Basically, it makes you feel a little stoned, but mostly just tired and you sleep all day. They’re cheap in restaurants… probably because they know that if you order one, you’ll then order a bunch of food after.

I got a pretty nasty stomach bug a couple nights ago. I spent all day yesterday in bed sick. Sharp pains in my stomach, couldn’t keep food down, the works. It’s to be expected tho. The guest house we’re staying at is like Lonely Planet centeral. Buncha city hippy travelers- friendly people mostly. Some of them were telling me last night they’ve gotten sick a handful of times in the past month, but it usually only takes a day to pass. I feel alot better today- I can keep food down and I dont feel fever or chills- just waves of stomach pain every 10 minutes or so, but they’re decreasing.

Tonight we take an overnight train to Jaipur over in western India. Varanasi is really rad, but I think we’ve seen all that we can here. I’ll put pics up as soon as we find an internet cafe that isn’t overpriced :p

Overnight train with no A/C…. wish us luck!

Nepal- I made it! October 16, 2008

So I busted ass on this totally scary motorcycle taxi in Bangkok to make it to my flight on time, and the damn thing ended up being canceled. The airlines put us all up in a really fancy hotel though, so it was cool (and the fanciest place I’ve stayed all year). I ened up hangin out with this other passenger (Nepalese dude) and a tower of beer later we ended up at this ‘club’ that was….. well, I’l never forget it, and if you want details, just email me directly (so I can write custom censored responses based upon who you are, lol). We had shwarmas (the middle eastern burritos) after too so I coulda died I was so happy and full. We got back to the hotel about an hour before the bus picked us up for our flight, haha. The dude was gunna hook me with a ride from the airport when we arrived, but e ended up getting seperated at immigration, so it never went down (btw, visas way more expensive than anticipated).

When I got here it was taxi madness, with everyone trying to give me a ride and make me stay in their hotel, blah blah. After shopping around I got one dude down to a reasonable price and asked him to drop me in central… which is kinda like, the center of everything.

After chatting me up andn being my ‘buddy’ and telling me I should stay at his hotel, I explain I dont need a place and I’m not interested, blah bah- well, in the end he ends up bringing me to his hotel anyway. As he’s bringing my bags up the stairs i put my foot down and tell him he can pressure me and carry shit around all he wants, but I’m NOT staying there, then he gets all depressed. As I’m walking to an internet cafe he walks with me and explains that its gunna look really bad to the hotel mamagement that he brought me there and I decided not to stay. I laughed and told him that he should have listened to me when I told him no the first time then! He explains that I’m the first one who’s actually backed out when that typer of situation happens. I tell him I’m not just some classic retarded ass tourist, and to suck it up. We end up drinkin beer and hangin out the rest of the afternoon, haha. And then his homie came and jopined us, and he ended up giving me a ride to Monkey Temple because I dont know about you, but when I get drunk, there’s nothing that sounds cooler than feeding bananas to a bunch of monkeys. I end up kickin it with the new friends friends family and crashing at their house in this sweet little cutty neighborhood. Surrounding landscape so beautiful, i cant even describe. The dudes father studied in the Philippines for a while too, so we had some great conversations.

Anyway, todays been awesome, walking around discovering temples, hangin out with the monkeys, meeting nice people, and I even got blessed this morning my a holy man

Nothings been stolen yet and I havent been cheated too bad either. This is a very peaceful country with alot of good honest people in it. It’s less chaotic than the PI, but there are some things that feel similar. There’s a great sense of pride and happiness that people have with their lives- in whatever condition it’s in- and a welcome desire to embrace and share their culture. Even if I’m the only white person in the neighborhood, people just smile and nod their head- not yell shit at me and laugh if I respond.

Aight, I’ve been at this computer too long- I’m gunna go feed more monkeys (it’s like feeding the ducks at the park…. but the ducks kinda look like you and they sit down next to you and eat with you)

Bangkok, Thailand October 14, 2008

It’s hella different here. I saw more white people in the first hour being here than I did the whole time in the Philippines. The taxi drivers are just as shady as they are in Cebu. And the drinks are a little more expensive.

They have San Miguel here tho

But at import prices

I got in at midnight and took a taxi to Sam Yang’s pad. As soon as I arrived, we changed and headed out to a club to meet a bunch of his friends. Be drank and danced and had a merry time, then watched the sunrise after. Good shit.

Sam’s place is hella posh. He’s got hardwood floors, soft lighting, a swimming pool, and has maids n stuff. It’s tight. I took my first shower out of a shower head in 6 months- and with HOT WATER too! Lol.

Koh san road is like the backpackers road out here. It’s got cool shit, but it’s totally aimed at the tourist that hates malls and wants some ‘real street market’ type experience…. so like, it’s still a tourist spot. But they’ve got strong alcohol that you drink out of a bucket, so that was nice.

The food is awesome, Sam and his friends are awesome, being drunk at 3am and watching an elephant cruise by has been awesome, and the schwarmas (middle eastern burritos) rock my world. I got a massage yesterday that was killer, and I love how Sam and his homies have their own name for everything, like “yellow tables restaurant” or “60 baht lunch”, cuz they cant read the signs anyway so screw it.

Going to stay with a couchsurfer tonight. Late actually…. I gtg. I’ll post pics tomorrow

The Next Chapter: Nepal October 5, 2008

Ok, so first I just wanted to say that I’m bustin ass trying to get all videos completed and get everything backed up and off my laptop by friday, so I have been (and will be) a bit distracted! My ‘day in the life’ vid that I’ve been telling some of you about is almost done, and WILL be done this week for sure.

OK, now on to the point

I’ve been having a blast here in the PI and teaching English and all that, but I’m ready for a new adventure. The Philippines has been a place to call home, and I’ll probably call it that again sometime in the near future… but for now, I’m off to Nepal

This friday will be my last day at my school. When I put notice in a month ago they were bummed, but have been very understanding and hope I come back sometime. Saturday afternoon I fly out of Cebu and into Manila, where I’ll find something to do for like 8 hours before heading over to Bankok. I’ll arrive hella late at night so I’ll probably just stay up all night hangin out around Koh San road. My schedule will be off cuz I wont be sleeping friday night and will probably sleep most of saturday, so it shouldnt be too rough :p

Sunday I’ll meet up with the Couch Surfer that’s hosting me and get settled in at her pad, then play around Bangkok (and surrounding area) for a few days. Sam Yang from San Jose is going to school there, so we’ll probably chill at one point too… no plan, so no doubt I’ll have some fun.

On the 15th I’ll catch my flight from Bangkok right into Kathmandu, Nepal. I’ll stay with some surfers the first couple nights and explore the city. I’ve never been to Nepal, but I hear so many great things…. I’m really looking forward to it.

After a couple days of playing, I’ll be meeting up with Brandon, Maile, and Caitlin (woohoooo!!!!!). They’ve been travelling India together since Sept. 20th and will be headed to Nepal to meet me by the 17th. I can’t wait to see them!!!! I couldn’t think of a better group to travel with- we’re gunna have a great time

The plan from there is to…. ummmm….. enjoy Nepal and do whatever the hell we want. Then we’ll mozey on over to India and continue our fun there. I’l love to visit some of the JK schools while I’m out there, so hopefully I can coordinate that.

Anyway, I wont have a laptop anymore, as I’m sending it back to the states with a friend before I leave. That means no video capturing, no editing, and MUCH less online communication in general. I’m canceling my Skype phone number (the 805 one) and I dont think my voicemail will work anymore too. Just stick to email communication, and I’ll do what I cant to keep up on it

I wont have a still cam, but Brandon and Maile will, so if I get a chance to do some flickr dumbs, I will. There are internet cafes n junk, so I’ll write updates when I can. Just dont get hurty if you hit me up and I dont respond for a week, you know?

This friday I’m having a massive party here. I’ve invited all my friends here in Cebu- everyone from my school (students/staff), my ‘big brother’ friends in my neighborhood, the Cebu CouchSurfing community, and any other randoms I’ve met along the way. It’ll be held at Switch, which is the restaurant/bar/cafe next to my school. My homies own it so we’ll have the run of the place and it’s open till 1am. At that point, we’ll head to a club or up one level to the Snack Valley, which is another restaurant/bar that’s open till 6am. At that point, I’ll head to the airport and sleep in the terminal for a few hours or something.

Here’s the flyer that’s posted all over my school, haha:

going away party