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Moss Festival

Friday Harbor, United States


Stumbling through the woods at night could be considered a dangerous feat. However it was the Egg Lake Music Festival and the potential hazards would be worth it. The smell of bonfire and cannabis created a distinct aroma that became more noticeable as we approached. Finally the woods cleared to presents an outdoor music festival.

Moss Festival consisted of a laser light show, a bon fire, an beer garden and pizza kiln providing us with an endless supply of pizza and smoked salmon.


At first the music was a bit abrasive so we took a wander through the woods. The path was barley illuminated with solar lights that wound around with random patches where tents were pitched. The tents were covered with a variety of light images.

We were convinced that we would not make it out of the woods alive. Later, in the next morning's news, the local isalnders would read the news of the lost kids and proclaim "what on earth were they thinking?!"

The truth is we were not. Bottles on pbr and wine finished off as Reggie Hanson topped the night off with his Jimmi Hendrix covers and playing his guitar with his teeth. We danced carefree under the stars as Foxy Lady, Hey Joe, All Along the Watch Tower and other Jimmi favorites were played. The dying bonfire announced the winding down of the night. The island life is truely a great life.


permalink written by  wanderlust on July 3, 2007 from Friday Harbor, United States
from the travel blog: True Blue: Summer in the San Juans
tagged Festival and Summer

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the life of juan

Friday Harbor, United States


the island consists of herb's, sunsets at lime klin, and bailer hill debauchery.

-- this entry is a work in progress --

permalink written by  wanderlust on August 22, 2007 from Friday Harbor, United States
from the travel blog: True Blue: Summer in the San Juans
tagged Summer

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Team CFO Boracay

Caticlan, Philippines


First time I would ever go out of town (and via plane) with my officemates! We were off to the sinful island of the Boracay. Summer is up!

permalink written by  flaircandy on March 19, 2009 from Caticlan, Philippines
from the travel blog: flaircandy's Travel Blog
tagged Beach, Summer, Philippines and Boracay

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La Luz - Batangas

Batangas, Philippines


Off with the citisurfers! Crowded almost 10 people in 1 room but we experienced VIP cabanas and VIP tours to some exclusive areas. I also got a massage here. Buffet for 1,000 per person.

permalink written by  flaircandy on April 18, 2009 from Batangas, Philippines
from the travel blog: flaircandy's Travel Blog
tagged Beach, Summer, Batangas and LaLuz

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Summer teaching plan

Dalian, China


We are planning to make the big yuan this summer. Last summer, we taught in Dalian for Aston English School. I loved Dalian and the people, but hated the whole for profit language school thing. The boss was actually the best boss I have had in China, if not the world. He was just awesome and would do anything for us, without asking.
It didn't really feel like teaching because you use a book that is more for a parrot. Teacher says something, parrot gives response. There is no thought, just this statement gets this response. Maybe over time this language method results in good communication, I dunno. Then, to make matters worse, my heart was breaking for these kids. It was summer, they should be playing. The grandmas and the parents would watch the whole class thru frosted glass. It was so much pressure for these little guys. In the younger classes, the parents would be in the class with them, pushing them to answer every question. I did see that these little kids could read at an amazingly young age, so there is something going on right. The word "elevator" and "balcony" were read by 6 year olds with no hesitation. I assume it was just from memorizing word lists, but it was quite impressive.
The thing that broke my heart the most was on the last week of class. I had this little girl all summer (6 weeks), her parents signed her up for every class there, mine, everybodies. 7 days a week, they had her in English. That actually is some big time money, well needless to say, for 6, her English was pretty good. So she could go a little beyond the basic parrot talk, so for some reason the textbook had words about daily life and showering. So I'm joking with her about oh, you need a shower, the chinese teacher was there too, and she was joking with her. And the little girl whose family must pay their whole salary so she can speak English said, that they didn't have a shower, they go on Tuesdays. She was very matter of fact, not even embarressed. It was all I could do not to cry. I still water up thinking about it and it is almost a year later. I felt so awful about joking with her, I felt so awful that the dumb book had this conversation in it that shouldn't be brought up with little kids anyway. Especially little kids in a developing country. They are learning English so they can pass some exam, go to college abroad, or work in a foriegn company. Unless they are in the hospitality industry, showers aren't going to be on the test. These children are their parents future, and they know it at such a young age. And the parents really just want the best for their kids and they see English as the way. It is just so mind-numbing. Culturally so different.
Since we built our own house from scratch, on an island. I have lived without ammenities. I know what life is like with no indoor plumbling. In fact, this winter thanks, to the housesitter losers, we didn't have plumbing 17 of the 45 days we were in USA. It is a humbling experience to try to figure out where you can shower in America. It is even more humbling to do dishes outside in the snow... Anyway, I've been there. I can tell you in my budget of priorities, water is number one. Electricity is nice, but indoor plumbing is neccessary. I can't imagine the situation where I would feel that my money is better spent on English classes for my 6 year old than a water heater. I think most apartments in China do have plumbling, it is just the water heater that is missing. I certainly wasn't going to ask the little girl to diagram her pipes or anything.
But it killed me that here we were, in this school, with all of her families dreams; learning to parrot talk. And I felt like I wasn't in a position to give her the most amazing vocabulary and language skills possible. She deserved so much more. I just gave her a hug and changed the subject.
The whole time, I worked there, I kept the adoption in the back of my mind. I kept the images of the kids I volunteered with in Shenyang in the forefront. Everyday I told myself, I'm doing this so we can adopt. I know I can't change the world, but I can change the world for one little guy. If I didn't have that big picture in my mind, I couldn't have done it. At the end of the summer, when we counted out the pile of yuan, I couldn't decide if it was worth it.
So now we are going to do the summer camp experience again. it's daunting. Poor Dalian has been hit by the world reccession and since it is the Redmond of China, the language schools are getting hit. I think they make the big money on business English for the software giants, and the kids are just a nice and steady stream of income, but I dunno. Anyway, when the software giants close/layoff, English classes are put on the backburner. So they said, that enrollment was down and they were just going to have their teachers work overtime for the summer classes instead of hiring people. yuck, overtime.
So, we decided to spread our wings and check out the South of China. We are very happy that we found a job in Anhui. I think it is a public school that is offering a summer program, so should have a different feel than the language school. The lady on the phone sounded really nice.
Our second job is in Wenzhou, or Ruian to be exact. That's going to be teenagers. We have found that job by way of recruiter. Sometimes recruiters are good, and sometimes they are fishy. So I feel a little uneasy about it.
Our plan is to go to Anhui by plane and then train the rest of the journey....


permalink written by  carseat tourist on June 19, 2009 from Dalian, China
from the travel blog: Life in Harbin as an American English Teacher
tagged Summer

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Moroccan's Spirit

Marrakech, Morocco


We decided to escape winter month in England to somewhere not too far; reasons are
1 you know kid on the plane only last 2 hours before they fed up and started to annoyed you.
2 coming close to Christmas now, end of the year, not much left to spend.
3 France, Spain, cold cold, where else, I have to use my travel knowledge to the limit.

Now i can't afford Dubai or any middle east countries as they are now footballer playgrounds, North Africa sounds hot to me as part of Sahara Desserts Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco are the big 3.

We pined down to Morocco now and have to choose between Agadir and Marrakech. To be fair, we love beach holiday and never spend a holiday without beach unless i went back to Chiang Mai, Thailand, my home town to visit my family. For some reason, we gave it a go, Marrakesh for 1 week in December 2011 anywhere else would have been better than England. Why not?

Got there it was lovely

permalink written by  neverending on December 12, 2011 from Marrakech, Morocco
from the travel blog: North Africa
tagged Mountain, People, Holiday, Morocco, Family, Snow, Winter, Summer, Dessert, Hot, Marrakech, French, Friendly, December, PanoramicView, SnakeCharmer and MintTea

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