The birds of St. Francis and of Galileo

I am officially 33 in all time-zones! Thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes, both physical and telepathic. I have dubbed 33 the WhatEver age (W=3 fingers and E=3 fingers; three three!), so I am gonna take things as they come, all laissez-faire like. My mom always used to get me the coolest cakes for my birthday (and by cool, I’m talking about a replica of a Starfleet Captain’s uniform, to name the best of them!), so in keeping with this tradition, EB and I headed to Perugia , Italy’s chocolate capital, in search of cake.

Perugia is capital of the province of Umbria, which is a magical place with enough rolling green hills to make Maria von Trapp want to cut up curtains for everyone, enough labyrinthine streets in the hill-top towns to make the Minotaur’s head spin, and enough chocolate to make even the likes of me say "Uh actually, I think that’ll do for now." The city itself contrasts the old (within the ancient city walls you’ll find the most exquisite stained glass I have even seen as well as a billion beautiful Byzantine Christs) with the new (outside the walls, there are blue lights in the public bathrooms so druggies can’t find their veins) and is a wonderful place just to wander. Most importantly, it has the Etruscan Chocohotel, dedicated to all the chocolate a girl could ever want.

From Perugia, we headed to Assisi to hang with the monks, Franciscan style. Assisi is the birthplace of St. Francis, famous not only for lending his name to my youngest brother, Billy Franky, but also for (after a youth of debauchery and upon being asked by Christ Himself to repair His house ) renouncing his worldly possessions and founding the Franciscan Order of monks, dedicated to worshipping God through the beauty of a simple life. The city is absolutely stunning, stretched across a small hill, with peach coloured brick buildings that glow in the sunlight (we were lucky enough to get a little sunlight in an otherwise freezing day). The approach through the winding streets to the Basilica of St. Francis, which sits perched on a cliff overlooking the patchwork of fields and vineyards below and is fronted by an almost quixotic looking statue of Francis on a horse (one of the most moving statues I have ever seen), is absolutely spectacular.

Legend has it that St. Francis had an Ace-Ventura way with animals and even preached to a flock of enraptured birds who did not fly away until he was finished. Figuring ‘when in Assisi’, I took it upon myself to do some preaching of my own, armed with a sermon prepared about the glory of the dinosaurian ancestry of birds. Unexpectedly, the birds did not seem that eager to flock to me. I did manage to corner one or two at the train station and after hitting them with the revelation that they come from greatness, I did my best to convince them that they can do better with their lives. I will admit that my congregation of two didn’t seem outwardly moved by my speech, but I’m sure they’ll go home and ruminate for a while. I am pretty sure I saw tears in those glassy, beady eyes, and while EB seems to think they were of boredom, I am banking that they were of exaltation. I’ll post the video on facebook and you can be the judge!

Life in Firenze since I last wrote has included beautiful views and climbs around the city (877 steps yesterday alone; incidentally at the very top of one of the towers, I was greeted by a Storm Trooper sticker on the garbage can!), some wicked Gregorian chanting in a cool little chapel on the hill, and lots of imbibing. The biggest highlight for me was at the History of Science Museum which houses, I kid you not, the middle right finger of Galileo Galilei! It was removed from his hand when they moved his body to its current resting place about a hundred years after he died. It now sits, erect and defiant, in a glass case in the museum, effectively flipping the bird for all eternity to all who opposed his ground breaking views! It has been a wonderful week of birds!

As some of you will recall, the mission for last year’s adventure involved taking photos of my 3PO, R2, and Boba Fett PEZZ Dispensers in various Star Wars locations in Tunisia. The mission I have chosen to accept for my current adventure is a little different, albeit just as odd. Think Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants meets the travelling Gnome from Amelie; but with a somewhat fashionably challenged Guinness jacket. Why, you ask? Dunno! This is just how I roll. This mission will likely culminate in a stop at the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, where I am certain the locals will mutter "bloody lookin’ edjit tourists" under their breath. For those of you on facebook, check out the group Clan of the Travelling Black Gold, for updates on the ongoing saga of the jacket. For those of you not on facebook, whatcha doin’? The latest stops for the jacket have included the statue of David, the Basilica of Saint Francis, Firenze at sunset, and the Duomo of Firenze (look for a rather ingenious, if I do say so myself, photo through the hood of the jacket!). Thanks for having me (this was a long one!).

I miss you all and hope you’re well.
Love, Jen

Greetings

Hello!

If you have received this e-mail, it means you are cool enough to partake in updates on my current adventure (to include parts of Italy (3.5 weeks), Barcelona (5 days), Senegal & The Gambia (8 days), Lisbon (1 day), London (2 days), and Ireland (3 weeks)). Be advised that unlike last year, I don’t expect to be writing about whacking lions, fighting bush fires or rescuing train wreck victims, however I do always manage to get into the odd scrape here and there. I can promise you a lot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and possibly a blow by blow of every bottle of wine and glass of Guinness to grace this throat. If you know someone who has not received this e-mail, please don’t tell them as I wouldn’t want anyone to think they are not cool! J

If you would like to stop receiving these e-mails, please send me the proverbial feck-off e-mail!

So it is the morning of Tuesday, November 6 and I am still packing up my apartment (yup, the week leading up to my departure was pretty busy, not to mention that karaoke was far more important than packing) when I discover that I have lost my Visa card. After some major, but short-lived panic (because I have no time for panic), EB and I mail my boxes (probably with my Visa packed in one of them) and board the airport bus one hour later than I had planned. Now, for those of you who know me or have travelled with me, you’ll recall that I am anal about arriving at airports at least (if not more than) 2 hours before departure. So, with the loss of my Visa (which I am also always anal about) and my arrival at check-in a mere hour and 10 minutes before departure, I am totally off my anal game (odd choice of words there, I know).

So off my game was I that when the check-in chicky told us we could go to the First Class Lounge (cuz I have a special card) I was all over it! I was utterly blinded by the free food and free internet and even convinced EB that we had enough time. I’m here to tell you that we didn’t, in fact, have enough time, folks! As we approached our gate with 20 minutes to spare (loads of time, I figured, even though boarding time had come and gone 20 minutes ago) we were joking about how they’d be paging us any time now. Even when a frantic looking airport man grabbed the gal beside us saying she was the last passenger to board a plane to Munich, we laughed about the fact that at least we weren’t going to Munich. Then we saw our own frantic looking airport personnel standing at our empty gate. She said "Are you Lee Eunbyeol?" EB nodded affirmative and we were ushered on to the plane in a wave of panic to the sounds of "Ee Eunbyeol shi kabang chim neriji baseyo" crackling over 5 radios simultaneously, which roughly translates into "Stop taking the bags off! I repeat! Stop taking the bleedin bags off!!!!" So that, in a very long-winded way was how the trip began!

Despite that near miss, we did finally make it to Firenze and are relaxing our asses off! The apartment we rented is not too small (at least by Korean standards) and the hot water sorta works (read that as scalding for three minutes and then freezing)! We are living right next to the market which means fresh pasta and pastry every day. Yesterday we visited Galileo’s tomb in the Basilica di Santa Croce (which was pretty cool because of the irony of the fact that the dude was excommunicated and then buried in a church) and then went to hang out the house of Dante Alighieri (which is one of my favourite places in Florence) and the nearby church in which he met his muse, Beatrice. Life is beautiful, indeed.

I hope you are all well.

J

P.S. I have tried not to think too much about work except I had dream in which Little John (who is 6 years old, by the way) brought beer to school to "drink after school with Kevin K" and I was forced to scold them, all the while having a hard time keeping a straight face and wanting to drink the beer with them.

heros in a half shell

Picture it: our last night in Europe. Lee goes to take money out from an ATM on the Champs-
Elysse in Paris. Suddenly she is inundated by small children with magazines trying to block the screen and press buttons. D'Arc and I stood dumbfounded and were only pulled from our reverie when we heard a thud (none of us are sure whether it was Lee's arm or somebody's head) and Lee screaming "what are they doing!!" as she started throwing elbows. Luckily we were able to shoo them away and we all emerged un-pickpocketed. I am sure those of you who know Leah would have paid big money to witness her cracking the skulls of street urchins!!! It was a priceless end to the trip!

By the way, we did manage to see a few things in Firenze (despite all the gelato and vino!). I also had some quiet time at the Casa di Dante, learning about the inspirations for the Divine Comedy and we went on a hunt for the statue of Pope Joan in the Basilica in Siena (unfortunately a lot of the popes looked a little feminine so we are still in disagreement as to whether we found her or not). Venice was absolutely magical; the water sparkled and even the air was romantic!

And then (making up for our lethargy in Italy) we had two action packed days in Paris which included Napoleon's obscenely huge Arc, the fantastically gothic Notre Dame (complete with gargoyles sticking their tongues out at me), the Eiffel Tower (with its heart pounding elevator), and of course the utterly astounding Louvre (in which I could have happily spent four or five years in the Mesopotamia area alone). And with our viewing of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, we completed a full tour of all the major works of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo (the party dude). Oh yeah, I know all about fine art!

I am currently in Zurich awaiting my flight to see my brothers and new niece, Shannon in Bangkok. So, thus ends the public record of my travels. It has been a friggin' whirlwind from train wrecks to Star Wars to Ninja Turtles. Thank you all for reading.

Love,

Jen

embarrassment of riches

Caio peeps!

I have made it to the land of naked statues, very rich priests, and all the pasta a girl could possibly dream of.

Yup, I have met Leah and D'Arcy in Italy and after three days in Roma and brief sojourn to Pompeii, we are now taking it easy in Firenze! Tough friggin' life, eh?

Rome is beautiful, and although there are millions of F.T.'s (fecking tourists), the city kind of saunters to to its own cobblestreeted pulse. We visited all the traps we could get our greedy little FT hands on:

The old Roman Forum-where Julius Caesar set up the first Senate, where great orators like Cicero expounded on about nothing, and where I got some great Live Long and Prosper photos in front of the Temple of Romulus.

THE Colosseum-where the ghosts of over 2 million dead vie with all the tour guides for attention. It was awe-inspiring just because of its sheer size and the imaginary stench of blood and decay.

The Palatino Hill -where Rome was founded after twins Romulus and Remus washed up and were suckled by the infamous she-wolf, after being sent to their deaths. I learned recently that this she-wolf may actually have been a hooker cuz the word lupin means wolf or whore...personally, I think the wolf seems much more likely!

The Vatican-where all the money put into St. Peter's could easily wipe out poverty three times over! I mean does God really need slabs of purple marble worth $17000US per square inch? The complete lack of actual spirituality aside, though, the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel were absolutely stunning.

Pompeii (the city that was completely buried by ash and volcanic debris when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD) was very interesting. Because the town was covered immediately in ash, it was preserved virtually intact (including the people's bodies). This proved a little overwhelming for me when I came face to face with a cast of a poor lad's body; you could still see the look of anguish on his face.

We are now hanging in Florence, another city that suffers from an embarrassment of cultural riches, and we have managed to see absolutely nothing yet (which might be a record, cuz there really is a museum on every corner!). If we can get our lazy asses away from the gelato for a moment, we might actually go see Michelangelo's David this afternoon. Qapla!

Love you all,

Jen

P.S. Lee says hi (but only to those of you she knows). D'Arcy, on the other hand says hi to everyone!!! :)

beaucoup du Star Wars

Since I last wrote, there have been

-dunes galore (where the Sahara sand looks and feels like butterscotch pudding on your feet-in a good way!, and the silence is deafening),

-a moonlit camel ride to an ancient fort (where I discovered that 17 pre-emptive inhaler hits are just about enough to allow me on a camel for two hours),

-a rainy day at a Mediterranean beach resort called Telemaque (where Dirty Dancing meets EuroTrash 1992, and they employ perpetually happy people called Animators who force everyone to learn the cha cha),

-the third biggest Roman colosseum (where Aman, Luke, and I enjoyed our Gladitorial deput and got trapped in the creepy catacombes during a torrential downpour),

-and, you guessed it... beaucoup du Star Wars!!! Our first stop after the Sahara was the town of Tataouine, and unfortunately I gotta say that there seems to be a reason why its namesake is an Outer Rim planet that everyone (including Luke Skywalker) is trying to get off of! It was a bit of a one-horse town, but the forts and hilltop villages around it were wicked!

From Tataouine, we went to the island of Jerba for the aforementioned rainy day at the beach. Unfortunately, this day was further complicated by the fact that my system finally overloaded and treated me to a fever and then lots of yuckiness (which seems to have stuck around for the last 3 days). Luckily, in the hands of Aman and Luke, I am on a course of meds guaranteed to kill any unwanted biode in my body, with a course of malaria meds standing at the ready. For those of you still worried, I promise to go to the doctor soon. :)

Once I got sick, I decided the only thing that could possibly help was a trip to Luke Skywalker's actual childhood home. It is a former troglodyte home (an underground dwelling consisting of large, open air pits connected by a series of tunnels) which has been converted into a hotel. Yes, this is the actual set used in 1976 where they filmed Luke drinking his blue milk with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. I slept at Luke's house and ate dinner in Luke's kitchen!!! How cool is that? I also directed Aman and Luke in a little re-enacting of the scene where Beru (played very convincingly by Aman) asks Luke (played coincidentally by Luke (now can you see why I let him come along)) to remind his uncle to get a translator who can speak Bocce! Sign up for copies of that video right now, people!!!

I hope you are all well,

J

A short time ago...

I have hooked up with Aman and Lou and all is good in the land of sun, sand, Dido, and Star Wars.

With the events of Zimbabwe seeming like those of another life (perhaps another galaxy), I have embarked on a Star Wars mission in Tunisia, from which I have only just popped my head up for air, and plan not to give up until I have blue milk in my hand served by Aunt Beru herself. (NB: for those of you not quite on board with the Jedi-speak, I apologise in advance for this e-mail and those to follow until I reach Italy).

Tunis was beautiful and we managed to make our way to the Carthage, the ancient city of the tragic Queen Dido (who killed herself after the Trojan prince Aeneas decided he had better things to do-things like founding Italy-and left her). I do have another theory as to why he left her, cuz if all the statues we found of her are correct, it seems as though she might not have had a head in life!

From Tunis, we journied southwest to an oasis town called Tozeur, to get our first taste of all things Lucas. This came in the form of the actual set of Mos Espa (the town where little Ani slaved for Watto and won his freedom in the podrace). I had the Star Wars theme blasting from the little headphones of my MP3 player as we walked up. I got some wonderful photos with some strategically placed R2, 3PO and Boba Fett PEZZ dispensers! It was friggin' wicked! From there we travelled to the actual Lars Homestead (where now teenage Ani learns of his mother's near death and gets very annoying after he kills all the sand people). As you may have guessed, this was also very wicked! Then off to Star Wars Canyon (where R2 trundled along and got taken by the wee Jawas). Wickedness all around!

We are now in a small town called Douz, and will embark on a two day 4WD camping journey into the Sahara Desert tomorrow.

Love you all and hope you're well.
Jendu Hothu

twilight zone

I am in Zurich and holy man is the internet fast (the keyboard is freaking me out, though cuz the exclamation mark eluded me for the last 10 minutes and the z and y have switched places)!

Thank you so much for all your heartfelt replies to my last e-mail. My last three days in Africa were spectacular and my two weeks there have changed me forever. On Monday, a group of us volunteers went to Zambia to visit an orphanage. I played a lot of soccer with some very young lads (and was completely out-classed) and then taught them all the Vulcan sign for Live Long and Prosper (that photo is definitely a keeper!). It was a friggin blast and did a lot to lift my spirits even further!

Tuesday and Wednesday I went on an overnight canoe trip down the Zambezi River with Kath and Lisa and a beautiful man aptly-named Blessed. Now I imagine many of you are wondering what the hell I was thinking going on a canoe (given my penchant for A. sea sickness a.k.a. 'strokes' and B. not being a very good canoeist-as Bon will attest after our Ligurian debacle). But I survived and I was even made captain of my boat (and no it wasn't just me in my boat). And despite me as captain, Kath and I actually made it to our destination. It was absolutely beautiful, as there were hippos (unpredictably) popping out of the water everywhere and elephants crashing near our tent in the middle of the night (and in the morning, for which I was far too exhausted to even think about opening my eyes to witness; the sound of Kath and Lisa enjoying the sight was good enough for me!).

I have just spent the day in Zurich (spending most of my time mesmerized by the Alps) and have actually found my limit in terms of chocolate consumption. Who knew I actually had one!

I fly to Frankfurt and then on to Tunis (for some full-on Star Wars action) tonight! Bring on the Bocce, Aunt Beru, and Mos Espa!!!

Love ya,

Jen

To all the Worwickers, congrats on completing the production. Your people rock and don't let anybody tell you different!!

Yes, Dusty I did receive the photos from Autumn. Please thank her for me and congrats on not getting fired.

Omi, how are you doing?????

Jiggles, save all that craziness for our next Noraebang action!

Lee, I hope your mom is doing better. Can't wait to see you! Only two weeks. Now get back to studying, Missy!

Jo, I promise to try to look after myself, but your sister is quite the bad influence!

Faaather, good work winning the 20 bucks. I can always use the slippers!

Mammy, I miss you! Can't wait to see you in Bangkok!!!