Ready for something new...

While it may seem like life is so exciting and there's tons going on... but all of a sudden I am bored. Not that this is new, but going to work is just mindless and boring and irritating, today I spent half the day organizing letters to send home that promotes a program that I don't even care about, yet it took up my time. BORING. I swear, this job is making my brain shrink. Everything else is the same, running, soccer, tutoring, cold days, I mean, not that it's not fun, just a ton of the same old thing. There are some fun things coming up, I'm trying to pull it together enough to go camping this weekend, but the warnings of flash flooding has me a bit worried. Then there's a birthday brunch, two races in a row, one actually looks really fun, it's this camping the night before then a relay run through a Wadi apparently it's straight up the first half and straight down the second, we'll see how that goes, and then a half marathon. I'm really hoping to go to the post office and pick up a package today. They called yesterday, which is weird, and said they had something for me. In the past, I've received a slip and then bring it in. I have that Dubai feeling that I'll get down there and it will be disastrous. I am really excited to get to a place, Vienna, where daily life is not such a challenge. It's funny, here, there's a leak in the ceiling, or your plumbing stops working, or the roads are flooded and you really can't give it a second thought, it's just the way it is. Annoying! Somehow, I still really like it here... thing is, I can't figure out how I'll ever be able to live at home again, if I'm feeling a bit bored here, I can't imagine how I would feel at home! I bought a few Lonely Planet books and have been reading all about Eastern Europe, which will be so great to visit! A friend of mine is interviewing for the same school I will be at next year, I would LOVE to know somebody there!

Marathon. Everest Base Camp. Marathon. DONE

I think I may have just completed the most active seven weeks of my life. I ran the Lisbon Marathon, hiked to Everest Base camp and just ran the Dubai Marathon on Friday. I think I was in a daze most of last week, trying to recover from the freezing cold weather and freaking out about the marathon that was only days away. At different points during the Everest trek, I was actually talking to my legs and willing them to keep going. Now, I think they (my legs) are rebelling... they don't want to do anything. The marathon was awesome, I got my best time by nearly 20 minutes, and finished at 3:46. It was way better than what I was hoping for. On Thursday afternoon, I was sitting at work and decided I would look at those pace charts that probably most runners use and just write down where I should be at the 5km, 10km, all the way to the end if I wanted to finish in under 4:00 hours. I didn't really think it would do any good, but it was frustrating to me that I would train with people that could finish marathons under 4:00, but couldn't quite get there myself so I thought I'd try it. Well, needless to say, I probably should have tried that a while ago. The weather was perfect, I felt great and although my knee starting hurting at about 32km, the race felt relatively easy, I usually hit the point in the run where I start thinking about how it's still over an hour to the end, and I'm tired and why did I even sign up for this... that didn't happen this time. It was nice because it started in the dark, so I was pretty confused for the first half an hour or so, then it was an out and back course and by the time you are starting to get bored, you started to see people coming towards you, which is nice and then you're headed back to the start, so it all seemed, well, pretty ok. Some friends who ran a different race that day came and watched at the 28km and it was awesome to see them and then there were some people at the end too, all in all, great day! We went to Barasti for a tuna burger and bloody mary and a bit of sunshine. I loved it! The whole weekend was great. I didn't do much the rest of the day, ordered in drank some wine and then got up early the next day for a massage, sports day at the park and an awesome BBQ at a girfriend's house. I am loving Dubai these days! I have soccer practice tonight and I'm just not so sure my legs are up for it! Running for a bit yesterday was pretty hard, but I'm sure it'll be fine tonight... I'm also wondering if I'll ever get better, I have been sick for nearly four months. At this point I have to make sure I take small bites of food and swallow really fast or I can't breathe. That's convenient.

Again... a few more...

Maybe someday I'll get all the pictures up!

Here's a few more from the beginning...

This was our first day! We were clean and looking forward to the hike, little did we know... Those are Ram's fingers, you'll be seeing a lot of those if I ever get the pictures all up!

How pretty is that! We only hike about 2 1/2 hours the first day, it was relatively flat and gorgeous! We arrived at the first village we slept at and I was thinking, this should be easy, cold, but easy... couldn't have been more wrong!

Could it be any prettier?

This was Ram, Buddah and I and my first view of Everest. It was weird though, because of the angles and where we were and where Everest was situated, it never appeared to be the biggest peak... but, it is! We had a huge photo shoot of us and were so excited to actually SEE Everest. Every day the clouds would always roll in at some point. This day was an acclimitization day, which is code for the most impossible hike ever... and we were meant to go to this spot we were at and then up to Everest View Lodge, where we could order a drink (Hot chocolate, coffee, tea, not beer or wine...) and see a great view of Everest. Katie and I got worried that the clouds were coming in and literally ran along these ridiculously steep edges, up and down these climbs and were barely breathing by the time we got there. But, we did beat the clouds and had another photo shoot... By the way, the people that walked got there in time too...

We called these guys Hasulee's, which means smiley in Nepalese (I'm SURE that is not how you spell that word). These guys were AMAZING! They carried all of our bags, which were ridiculously heavy, and also smiled and were nice the whole time. They weren't taking medication for altitude sickness, or complaining of headaches, or the cold... Amazing.

Just another view of Everest... all in a days walk...

Thought I'd try the black and white features of my camera. I tried the panoramic thing too... as soon as I get my computer back I'm going to have to see if it worked!

Me, drinking water... I became obsessive about drinking water after we met a bunch of people that tried to make it to base camp and didn't. We were at this place (with the worst toilet on the trip, or at least one of the worst) and all the people we met were on their way down. Everyone was saying how cold, windy, awful, it was. Nobody was trying to be negative, but they kept saying things like, well, I'm sure you read about the naseau, headaches, not sleeping, loss of appetite, and I was nodding my head yes, but thinking uh, no! Didn't even cross my mind this would be hard or that I wouldn't make it... Anyways, one guy said you were supposed to be drinking 1 liter of water for every 30kg you weigh, + 1 liter for alttitude adjustment + 1 liter for additional exercise that we are doing. That's a lot of water! I already don't like drinking it, and get up a zillion times a night to go to the bathroom, and at this point, getting up in the middle of the night is TORTURE. Not only is it freezing cold to get out of your sleeping bag, but it takes forever because you have to add all these layers, find your wipes and hand sanitizer, hope you don't slip on the frozen pee or vomit because of the smells and all this while you're indescribably tired. Anyways, in an attempt to not have to get up at night, I thought it would be best to drink all this water by 3:00 in the afternoon. Needless to say, it made me feel incredibly sick and that ended after a day... and I was up all night anyways.

It's all kind of backwards the way the photos were posted, but now if you look at it from this one down, it should be almost in chronological order... I do plan to eventually put up a day by day thing with the appropriate photos... we'll see. I'm sure it'll be great, just like the scrapbook I have of my second semester abroad in 1997...

Few more pictures...

Great use of my tutoring time... system is quite a bit faster when everyone else has gone home...

One of our acclimitization hikes... those were the hardest days (except for the actual day we went to Base Camp)










Before I gave up on carrying my day pack... pretty amazing views!













I brought some of those blower things for New Year's, we may have been in bed by 9:00, but they were quite a hit with the guys!










Katie, Syma and Buddah heading towards Base Camp...

Everest Pictures

Well.... here's a start to the pictures. Not having a computer at home is making me crazy! I've been trying to get pictures to Picassa and/or Shutterfly for days and it's just not working, so here's a few to start with and I hope to post more later!

This is me at Everest Base Camp











This is all of us... happy we made it!










Katie and Syma taking the final steps towards Base Camp










Gorgeous sunset from the highest place we slept...



















One of the beautiful outhouses...













Yes, they are that bundled up... and indoors.










Enjoying our breakfast before day 8 zillion... at least we're on our way down!










Very cool ice fields










Could it be any more beautiful?









Some of the guides, they've all done this a zillion times...

This is INDOORS and it's below zero, this is also at the "lower altitude"

Katie, Syma and I before we crossed the river for a ridiculously steep climb up.

I refused to carry my daypack the last few days because it was too heavy, good thing I wasn't the one responsible for food and drink... they carried this strapped onto their heads...

Another sunset

I have sooo much more to write and I will, eventually! Lots more pictures too. I wanted to write a bit about "authentic travel" for some reason I spent tons of time thinking about how tourists decide what is "authentic" in a country or place they are visiting and then go out in search of it. Is that really seeing a place if we are searching for a specific thing? Or is it just as "authentic" to just be in the place? I know, important things to think about. On a complete side note, I am not a big fan of New Year's and all that goes along with it. It seems like everyone is on a "new plan" of some sort and I don't really have one, should I? Also, lots of people are watching what they eat, and/or eating healthier, which I suppose I should do to... but now I think I am and am craving junk food and think I can't have it because no one else can... weird. There is something wrong with me! I need to go home and make some cookies.

Cold. Cold. Cold.

Just a quick update... for those of you that knew, I decided to hike to Everest Base Camp over my Christmas break this year. If you're wondering, I am not a "hearty adventurer" the words they used to describe people that were willing to do this trek during December. I am more the can't believe how cold it is and pretty sure I'm not going to make it... I'll write more and include some pictures soon, I'm currently still on my way down of this mountain and have four more days and three more nights of being so cold I am still trying to figure out how I have not just died. I spent a lot of time on the trek trying to figure out what made it so hard, they freezing cold/wind, the altitude, the actual up/down of the trail(for those of you familiar with Grouse Mountain in Vancouver B.C. it would be like climbing up and down that two times a day with some "Nepali flats" in between for 4-9 hours a day for 13 days in a row, the duration of the hike (13 days), or maybe just a combination of it all. I really do think it was the cold that is killing me. It is bitter cold, there are no words to describe it, even when you get to the teahouses, you are still not warm inside. You are actually colder because you are not moving. So, you keep on all your layers, add more and are still freezing. It's unbelievable! We met some cool people, played a lot of cards and ate a lot of the same food. We were laughing because they say you can drink the boiled water, but we added Iodine tablets to our drinking water, but then drank the tea and hot chocolate and soup without it... who knows. Just a few quick comments that I never thought I'd hear or say... Careful in the bathroom, don't slip on the frozen pee, I use the word bathroom lightly..., what do you think the beginning signs of frostbite are?, It feels so good to be back down to 4100 meters... what do they mean by "really bad" headache? The list goes on... It sounds like I'm complaining, and I guess in some ways I am, but I am so excited that I was able to make it. It was truly the most physically challenging thing I have ever done. I cannot remember a time that I wasn't sure my legs could take one more step and that's how I felt starting on Day 8, also I like to blame it on the altitude, but by then I was just in a bad mood and stormed off one day and cried another. Ram, our assistant guide wasn't quite sure what to do, we had just left Everest Base Camp, which really wasn't much to see, and all of a sudden I got this headache that I was pretty sure was going to instantly turn into whatever it is that happens and kill me. I started to cry and then pretty much ran, well as close to run as you can when you're on these rocky cliffs, back to the hut. When I got to the lower altitude, which was probably still above 5000 meters, the headache went away, but all I wanted to do was curl up and die. I was so tired! We're on our way down now and I wish we could just get there, we still have a ways to go... More later...

Next Christmas I plan on being with my family in a heated environment...