Aruba!

Ah, finally, the long-awaited Aruba post. (Sorry about the delay; I've been ridiculously busy. I'm still busy, but I have a day off tomorrow so I'm taking some time now...)

And man, where to start? First off, I had no idea what to expect. Which is a good thing, because it was so beyond my experience that any assumptions would have been wrong. It was a big corporate vacation for the top 10% or so of the company-- about 250 people, plus their guests. This had its pros and cons. Mostly pros, admittedly, but a few things that could be seen as cons from the perspective of this poor bohemian grad student.

First off, the climate was absolutely perfect. It was between 80° and 90° F every day, with a constant breezes. The island itself is more of an arid desert than most of the Caribbean, but the wind off the ocean added just the perfect amount of humidity. After three days, my dry chapped winter hands had healed, and my skin felt gorgeous. The ocean was warm and beautifully, almost unrealistically clear.

We stayed at the Westin Resort, which is probably ties with Halifax's Admiral Nelson as the fanciest hotel I've set foot in. All of our meals were provided: we got breakfast at the hotel buffet, for lunch we had meal tickets worth $40 per person (!), and dinner each night was arranged as a group. The dinners themselves were spectacularly set up, with elaborate settings and decor. Oh, and the food... the food was delicious. For example, one night, we had dinner on the beach, literally about five yards from the ocean; the buffet included both steak and lobster, as well as a raw bar with oysters and ceviche.

The company arranged activities for us. Jim and went on a "catamaran snorkel sail," which is exactly what it sounds like! We got on a catamaran at 9:00 in the morning with maybe thirty other careerbuilder people; the boat sailed up the island to picturesque spots and let us off to snorkel and sightsee. There were three snorkel stops in total, two close to shore and one in deeper water by a shipwreck. (The shipwreck was awesome, and was probably a highlight of the trip for me!) In between snorkel stops, there was an open bar, and around noon a lunch buffet.

On our "free day" Jim and went into Oranjestad, the capital city of Aruba. It was very tourist-oriented, of course, though in kind of a weird way; the shops were either selling cheap trinkets or expensive jewelry! (Jim and I wondered about the number of diamond stores. "I guess Aruba is a romantic getaway," I said. "Is an engagement ring really something you buy impulsively on a vacation, though?" Jim argued. I've since found out that it's more because of the lack of U.S. taxes and duty on diamonds. Still weird to see everywhere.) Still, the city was very pretty, and the bus ride into the city gave us a great opportunity to see a bit more of the island. For our second activity, we were supposed to do another snorkel cruise, but the day it was scheduled for was very windy. Other people who had gone on the cruise in the morning told us that the water was too choppy for good snorkeling, so we decided just to skip it and laze around on the beach. Which, really, was a great decision. :-)

The cons were all directly a result of it being a corporate vacation. Our meals were all paid for, but they were limited to a few restaurants at the hotel. The hotel was wonderful, and the food was great, but by the last couple days we were getting tired of the same restaurants. The fancy resort was absolutely lovely and decadent, but it didn't feel any different than, say, a resort on the Florida gulf. 90% of the people we talked to were Americans, and 100% of them spoke English. I suppose, when it comes down to it, being that American tourist is not something I'm wholly comfortable with. I'm, as mentioned, a poor bohemian grad student! I'm used to staying in cheap hostels and eating cheap local food. The whole time, I felt like I should be working at the resort, not staying there.

It was great to spend time with Jim, of course. It's the first time we've flown somewhere, and definitely a new experience overall for both of us. I also got to meet a lot of his friends from work, which was really fun as well. Overall, a wonderful week, and over too soon.

On to a crapload of pictures! Jim and I shared a camera most of the time, so assume all the good pics were taken by him. (Click to embiggen.)

Aruba from the air:


Jim held a parrot!


Pool deck. Beautiful, not to mention comfortable!


Palm trees!


Pool deck from the patio. On the left, you can see the workers setting up what looks like a wedding. Nope. That was for us.


Sun rising over the island, from our balcony. Beautiful.


The resort and beach, seen from aboard the catamaran! The resort is the one with the green column.


The color of the water was just unreal. Beautiful.


Jim and I on the catamaran! Yes, it was really windy...


Aruba from the boat.


Pirate ship!


One of the snorkel stops, and a good shot of the island's trees and rocks.


Jim's album cover!


The Piña Coladas. Oh god the Piña Coladas! Best Piña Coladas I've ever had. They were made of real coconut milk and pineapple juice, for one. Then, the coconut milk and pineapple juice were frozen into a sort of soft serve, and filled in a cup with dark rum. Soooooo good!


Shopping plaza in Oranjestad. Pretty!


Railings at the shopping plaza.


Oranjestad street. So colorful!


I held a cockatoo!


Jim also held the cockatoo. We also got to pet it!


The last night in Aruba, we had a big poolside party dinner with an '80s theme.


Centrepieces at the '80s-themed dinner. Bowls of water with floating flowers and the CareerBuilder logo!



Lizard at the pool deck. Ok, a note on the lizards: they were EVERYWHERE. Like squirrels in Michigan... every time you looked at a tree or bush, you'd see one.


Lizard close-up.


Looking down from the hotel patio. Pretty tree, right?

Do you see anything strange? No? Look closer...



EVERYWHERE!

Aruba! (Bahama?)

Just a quick post, because I need to get to bed, having a busy week ahead of me...

... because I am going to Aruba this week! Wow!

The reason I get to go is because of Jim's work. He's in sales at Careerbuilder.com, and every year the company takes the top few salespeople on a holiday to Aruba, all expenses paid. And, they get to bring a plus-one! So, lucky me, I get a free vacation! Well, the company didn't pay for my flight from Ireland to Chicago, but the rest is all gratis. Which is pretty unbelievable, really.

I have never been anywhere even remotely near the Caribbean, so I'm really excited. I have been to Florida once (in January, so it wasn't all that hot!), Texas twice, New Orleans once, and San Diego three times, but as far as southern vacations go that's it. I've never been south of the United States, actually-- all my abroad experience has been to the north or east! (Canada, England, and obviously Ireland.) It's been really cold here in Galway lately-- there has been frost on the ground most mornings for the last two weeks-- so this trip is definitely appreciated.

Aruba is an island, about 21 miles long, off the coast of Venezuala. It's officially part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, though it has its own parliament. The island has an arid, desert climate, which really excites me because I've always thought deserts were beautiful! There's a big national park that I'm hoping to see. I think we have a few scheduled activities, but hopefully we'll get a chance to do some hiking. Of course, as long as I can lay on the beach in the sun I'll be happy!

Ok, now time for bed. I have a big week ahead of me after all!

squash and babies! (not in that order)

Happy Valentine's day! I'm not really doing anything to celebrate it, though I may eat a piece of chocolate later. (That's what counts for hedonism with me these days!) Today I have mostly spent working on crocheting a baby blanket. Why a baby blanket? Because one of my dearest, closest friends is pregnant!!

My friend Brianne, who is my closest friend in Ireland, found out a couple weeks ago that she's having a baby! Luckily, she is in the final year of her PhD; the baby is due a month after her thesis is! I was the first person to know about it, even before the daddy, and she told me that I can be the Fairy Godmother. I take this to mean I have an obligation to cover the kid in crocheted items. Last week, I whipped together a little sweater-jacket-- baby things work up quickly, because they're so small! This weekend, I've turned my attention to a blanket, and I spent a lot of time last night and this morning designing it. I'm excited to have come up with a pattern mostly on my own.


Speaking of things I came up with on my own, the other thing I did today was make some winter squash soup from scratch! I was mostly trying to free up some space in my fridge and use whatever I had lying around, and the end result was really, really tasty. The sage really brings out the flavor of the squash, the curry adds a bit of sweetness, and the cayenne pepper adds some heat that's quite nice on a winter afternoon. I'll give you the recipe, though be warned-- there aren't really any measurements, because I just eyeballed the whole thing.

Curried Winter Squash Soup Ingredients:
-1 winter squash
-chicken stock (or veggie stock, if you want a totally vegan soup, but chicken stock is what I had)
-onion
-a couple cloves of garlic
-red bell pepper (optional, again just something I had)
-olive oil
-sage
-curry powder
-black pepper
-pinch cayenne pepper
-salt/soy sauce

-Roast the squash in the oven until soft, at about 350°. Mine took about an hour; I cut it in half, laid it cut-side down for the first 30 minutes, then flipped it and baked it cut-side up for another 30.
-At the same time you can roast the red pepper! Cut in half, clean out seeds, lay cut-side down on roasting pan until the skin is blackened and wrinkly.
-When the squash is roasted, cut it out of the skin and into chunks. Also dice up the red pepper, after removing the skin.
-Heat olive oil in the bottom of a saucepan and saute the onions until caramelized.
-Remove saucepan from heat, add chicken stock.
-Dice garlic cloves. Add garlic and squash chunks to the saucepan, and simmer on low for 30ish minutes.
-Using a potato masher, mash the squash chunks into the stock! You can also use a blender or food processor to puree the squash with the stock, but I actually like a bit of texture to my soup.
-Stir in the diced roasted pepper, add spices to taste. Simmer on low for 5-10 more minutes.
-Serve with a dollop of plain yogurt! I used thick Greek-style yogurt. Creme fraiche or sour cream would also work. Or, if you want a vegan soup, skip it.

and now for something completely different

Hey reader(s?), sorry about the radio silence on this here 'blog! I've been busy since I got back to Ireland. I've started writing a new chapter of my thesis, which means my days are filled with re-reading my notes, skimming over secondary sources, tearing at my hair in frustration, and occasionally typing something. With all this stress, a girl definitely needs some hobbies, wouldn't you agree?

Well, as luck would have it, I do have some hobbies. One of these hobbies is playing the ukulele! I bought the uke back in September, completely on a whim, and have been teaching myself to play ever since. I have been having a ton of fun with it! I brought it home for winter break, and impressed* all my friends with my mad skillz.

Then, one fateful night, my dear darling ladyfriend Krystal and I went out to the bar for karaoke night. In the midst of lots of singing, screaming, and drinks that may or may not have contained alcohol, we decided that a great way to stay in touch while I'm in Ireland and she's in Michigan would be to start a video 'blog, or "vlog" as the kids call it, where we played songs on the ukulele to each other! The only hitch was that Krystal did not, at the time, actually own a ukulele. Luckily, that has since been remedied, and we have now officially launched project Randi and Yeti. (It's named after what we sound like when we sing. My cat's name is Randi and she has a really loud yowly voice. And 'yeti' is self-explanatory, really.)

So this afternoon, I decided to record my first song for Project Randi & Yeti.


The youtube channel, where all the videos will go, can be found here. And the video that Krystal recorded for me is here, with bonus footage of my friends being silly.




*Does not guarantee that anyone was actually impressed.

It's almost Christmas!

Taking a quick break from paper-writing to update... I am flying back to the 'States on Saturday for winter break! I'm really excited to get home for a bit (though not so much about the prospect of facing snow), but right now it's more stressful than anything. I have been quite busy lately-- "so what else is new?" you ask-- with rushing around trying to finish up my current chapter before I leave on Saturday. Last week, also, was largely taken up with academic schmoozing.


My PhD is part of a larger project, called "Globalisation, Empire & Culture." There are three PhDs-- Sean, James, and myself-- and one post-doc-- Fiona-- in this project, which is headed by Lionel, who is also my direct supervisor. Anyway, the project got a big grant from the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, which has given us a lot more opportunities for travel and reseach than we'd have otherwise. Part of that grant, though, went to funding a workshop/seminar week, where two professors from other universities came to give talks and workshop papers with us. The two profs, Dr. Hilmes and Dr. Putnis, were very cool and immediately insisted on being called Michelle and Peter. The talks and the workshop were very good, but they also took up most of my week.

Of course, another essential part of any academic meetup like this is the food. On Monday, we had an introductory lunch, where we all ate at the nicest campus restaurant. Thursday night, after Michelle's second talk, I got invited to dinner with Peter, Michelle, James, and (James's supervisor) Simon. We went to one of the nicer (and most expensive!) restaurants in Galway. Friday night, after out workshop, all of us went first to a pub for a couple drinks, then to another really nice restaurant, and finally to a fancy hotel bar for a glass of brandy.

Ah, the glamourous life of a graduate student. They don't let us out of the basement often, but we do get out, it's all fancy parties and rich food and brandy.


Ok, back to the Word-document grindstone. (My friend Cooper, who is a math PhD, says "Back to the math mines." But there's really no equivalent for a humanities-literature-theatre-history person, is there? Back to the theatre history mines? Doesn't work so well.)