Ocean Park, Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong around 7pm on Monday night. The flight was really long, but it wasn't quite as terrible as I imagined it being. They gave us lots of food and drinks, including a smoked salmon salad and Haagen Dazs ice cream! Pretty classy. I tried to sleep on the ride, but was pretty unsuccessful. Since we arrived in the evening, however, we were able to go to sleep once we got tired. We got some yummy fresh mango drinks in the airport while we were waiting for our airport bus. Once we got to the hotel, we decided to go out and get something to eat. I got some really yummy pork-vegetable wanton soup. Even when we went out at 10pm to get some food, the streets were super crowded with people.

The next day we woke up pretty early (around 5:30am) since our bodies were still not completely adjusted. That gave us plenty of time to get ready, have breakfast, and take a short tour of part of the Central District on Hong Kong Island. We went to a local chain that has many breakfast options. They had your standard American toast and egg option, but I decided to be a little more adventurous and have one type of Hong Kong style breakfast--beef noodles with egg. It seems more like a lunch food to me, but it was a good breakfast too. I also got a coffee, of course.

After breakfast we took a ride on one of the old trolleys down one of the main streets so I could get a feel for Central Hong Kong Island. It was hustling and bustling with lots of people. Surprisingly, it doesn't feel as different as I had expected it to be, but maybe that's partly due to the fact that it was British territory until 1997 and it is also a large international city.

Everything is written in both Cantonese and English, which is really nice for me. Also, everyone who works in Hong Kong seems to be bilingual, which is awesome. Although most people talk in Cantonese on the street (or perhaps other Chinese dialects, I honestly can't tell the difference...yet), many people seem to be able to readily switch into English, and automatically do so when addressing me. Also, many of the streets still have rather British sounding names.





After breakfast and the trolley ride, we headed out to Ocean Park. I didn't really know what to expect, but it's basically like a nicer version of Marine World with infinitely better views. Many people from mainland China come to Hong Kong to go to Ocean Park and Disneyland. We spent the whole day there, and had a great time going on the rides, seeing the animals, and enjoying the views.

The park is split up into a couple of different "lands" which are spread out over two sides of a mountain. You have to take either these gondolas, which go up and over the mountain, providing spectacular views, or a high speed train which goes through the mountain, to get from one side of the park to the other. We took the gondolas over in the morning and got these beautiful panoramic views of the islands and bay.

There are lots of animal shaped hedges around the park. These ones were outside the penguin enclosure.

The biggest roller coaster in the park (complete with creep clown decorations), called Hair Raiser, with the beautiful harbor and one of the nicest areas in Hong Kong behind it.

Looking out the direction from the park. As I said, amazing views all around.

When we went through the aquarium, I was astonished by the size of the rays. They were HUGE. I have never, ever seen such huge rays (I can't remember which kinds they were, but there were about 5 different varieties). For size comparison, this one is next to a shark! And not a small shark, either, but a normal sized one. They were absolutely majestic, especially when they swam over your head in the aquarium. I stood staring at them for a long time, I was so mesmerized. I also learned that seahorses live off the coast of Hong Kong!

Of course, no Asian park is complete without some pandas. They are so cute!

After a long day at the park, we took a taxi home instead of the bus. It took quite a while because we left during rush hour. We were all so tired after waking up early and a long, fun-filled day in the park that we fell asleep on the ride!










Well, that's all for now. A great introduction to Hong Kong :)

Learning to live life in the slow lane and other fun stories

Well, I don't really have any pictures to post. I've just living daily life and trying to work. I'll try and get some of downtown and where I live to post for next time. But, I thought I'd share a few short stories of my life in Jarbacoa so far.
First, I think I get to move into my apartment today! (Nothing is for sure until the furniture is actually there and I have a key...) Previously, it only had a tin roof. The landlady wanted to put some insulation up so it would be a little nicer. So, I've been living downstairs with just a bed and a table. Needless to say, I'm excited to have a real home soon. She also wanted to give it a fresh layer of paint. Before, it looked like popsicles. One room was bright pink, another bright green, another bright orange...you get the picture. I'm curious to see what it will look like now.
However, since I have no kitchen and no living room to speak of in my downstairs pad, she's basically adopted me and allowed free access to her house, which has been awesome. Her husband is in the States right now (they're all dual citizens), so it's just her and her two boys (14 and 16 years old). But, more than that, she's taken me around and shown me the town, introduced me to her family, invites me over for all the meals, etc, etc. It's been pretty awesome.
Second, I've become a master cockroach killer. Yes, you read that right: cockroaches. Those disgusting (big) bugs the creep around. They're everywhere here, especially at nighttime. Luckily, they mostly stay out of my room and in the other parts of the house. But, the landlady also sprayed the complex recently so there have been less live cockroaches around and more cockroach corpses. Lovely, no? It's okay, every night when I go home I arm myself with a broom. I've got a whole system down. Just another reason I'm excited to move upstairs...less nasty cockroaches.
Third, everything here takes FOREVER. To a certain extent, I knew that. It's pretty much the same in any other Latin American country I've lived in. But, it's like going on a wild goose chase to get anything done. At least when you're in the US you can do most of the annoying bureaucratic stuff and mind-numbing work from the comfort of your sofa at your house. For example: I want to find out the prices of how much it costs to stay in certain hotels around the area. I have to find out which hotels are available (some info available online, some via talking people). Then, I have to physically take myself to every hotel and talk to them about prices. I can't just email them or call them (I mean, sometimes you can, but it's generally not as effective). Another example: I went to get a cell phone chip. First, I had to get the phone unlocked. Which took going to a couple stores to find out how much each store would charge to get it unlocked. Then, once I did that, going to another store to get the SIM card. In any case, about an hour and a half later I had an unlocked phone and SIM card. 
Ah yes, and the title of this blog: learning to live life in the slow lane. Any of you who know me in the States know that I'm a person who likes to be super busy. Constantly running from one thing to another. Well, that's just not how it works here. Don't get me wrong, I've been plenty busy. But not in the same sense that I am in the States. When I'm not running around town trying to track down the price of things, I'm doing a lot of work via the internet for VAW, which is just a different kind of work than what I'm used to. I kind of miss my busy-ness, because it makes the day go by really fast. But, in the same sense, I think it's good for me to take a breath and not have something to running somewhere every second. 
Well, that's about all my fun stories for now :) Next time I'll post some pics of my new apartment!

Exploring Jarabacoa

To start off, this is what it looks like where I'm living this summer in Jarabacoa in the Dominican Republic. Absolutely beautiful. Green, lush mountains surround me everywhere I look. Although it may not look tropical, the weather still acts tropical: it's hot and humid during the day (although not as hot nor as humid as at the beach) and there are thunder and lightening every afternoon/evening. It cools off in the evenings, but you can still easily go without a sweater. It is different from where I was last time I was in the DR, but there are still many similarities among the two locations.

On Saturday, Marie (the other woman who was working with me from VAW) went into town. Mark had come out to the hotel in the morning, so we were able to catch a ride with him into town. The hotel we are staying it as absolutely beautiful, but it is in the middle of nowhere. It is a 3-4 hour walk to get into Jarabacoa. The closest colmado (little store) is about a 30-45 minute walk away. The main highway which links Jarabacoa to La Venga (a bigger city) is a 1.5-2 hour walk away. Anyways, I was able to get my underwear, she was able to make a phone call to her family, we both got a few items from the supermarket, and we had a nice lunch out (plus some yummy ice cream). When we were trying to decide where to eat, as well as just exploring the town, we walked around the same 5 blocks about 4 times...people started to give us funny looks.

Luckily for me, Marie was also up for an adventure and did not want to spend the 400 pesos (about 10 dollars) it would cost for a taxi back to town. So, we decided to take a guagua (minibus; really, just a big van) to the main turn off for our hotel (where the first road you take to the hotel branches off of the main high to La Vega) and then walk. The guagua cost 35 pesos each (about 75 cents), and I just had to holler at the driver when we wanted to be let off. Once we got dropped off, we started the (long) walk down the road. Luckily, it was starting to cool down because the afternoon rain was coming and the whole road is lined with big trees. Along the road we stopped at the Escuela del Medio Ambiente, some sort of outdoor education college school where people can come for a few months at a time and learn different aspects of the environment for training in different professions. We both had to use the bathroom, and the kind, older security man graciously let us do so.  

Because we were out in the afternoon, the rain started on our way home. Luckily, just as it was getting heavier, we found this abandoned house that is being built. We were able to hide out in it until the heavy rain passed. When we finally turned off onto the last road (a smaller, dirt road that leads into a "private community"), the bus that we use to take us to clinic, and that the students can call if a large group of them wants to go somewhere, pulled up and offered to take us the rest of the day to the hotel. We gratefully accepted his ride, saving us about 30 minutes of walking.

The next day, Sunday, we decided to go check out the nearby waterfall, Salto de Jimenoa. Siji, the team leader from Vanderbilt decided to join us in our adventures. It was about a 45 minute walk to the waterfall. We had a nice time walking and talking.

Once we got to the entry for the waterfall, we had cross over a few of these slightly sketchy, rickety bridges to get across the river. They weren't too bad, except when Marie would bounce them while we were walking across, just to scare us! And, they also had a sign saying no more than 5 people going across at a time.

We met another group of students from the US who were on a trip investigating the education system of the Dominican Republic (apparently it's the 3rd worst in the world! Worse even than Haiti's). They were doing researching and volunteering in some of the local schools. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go swimming at the base of the waterfall because it was all fenced off. And we didn't want to go swimming in the river because it was all brown.

On our walk back home, a couple who had also been at the waterfall and had a car stopped and offered to give us a ride back home. We all looked at each other then decided to accept their offer since it was getting pretty warm. We got into the car and all started chatting. As it turned out, they were going to visit another waterfall. So when we got to the turn off for our hotel, we casually dropped the hint that maybe we could go with them, and they happily invited us to continue on the adventure with them. We got a little lost on our way, but with the help of a few locals managed to find our way. It was not nearly as organized as the last one; we didn't have to pay an entrance fee or anything. It was called Salto Baiguate; until I saw it written down, however, I thought the lady kept saying Salto Bywater.

There was a damn-type thing above the waterfall, creating a secondary waterfall. The machinery to operate it was completely open, anyone could get to it. I'm pretty sure we could have opened or closed the damn more had we wanted to...

This waterfall (Salto Baiguate) was prettier than the other one (Salto Jimenoa), in my opinion. Plus, you could go swimming at the base of it, a big plus. While we were splashing around, another family that we had also seen at Salto Jimenoa showed up. Apparently it was visit the waterfalls day :)

The path leading down to the swimming hole. When we got back out to the car, we payed an old man who had been "watching" our car a few pesos each. Mostly because he was holding a machete and looked a little intimidating...

Because we knew we had missed lunch at the hotel, we asked the couple if they wanted to go out to lunch in town. We all decided on one restaurant that we saw while we were walking around. We all got the plato del dia which included rice, beans, and meat (your choice; or, in Marie's case, some sort of vegetable mash) and salad (which I didn't eat since I wasn't sure of the sanitary/washing side of it). I also had some delicious fresh pineapple juice. And, we were introduced to a new drink called morir sonando, or die dreaming, which is orange juice mixed with milk and sugar. It might sound a little weird, but it's really good. The woman and I exchanged emails, and she said to contact her if I come to Santo Domingo, where she lives :) Oh yeah, she's Dominican, from the southern coast, works with an NGO based in Chile called Un techo por mi pais (A roof for my country), and she told me I had a Chilean accent when I first met her! The guy is Russian, lives in New Orleans and works as a Petroleum Engineer. They met in Santo Domingo...they were very sweet together. It was funny because he would speak to her in English and she would respond in Spanish...they clearly understood each other though, but were comfortable in the different languages. After our lunch, they drove us all the way back to our hotel from town :)

At the hotel, the best internet was right in this stairwell because it was right by the router. Otherwise, you could sometimes get a signal elsewhere.

I always manage to find babies to hold at clinic. I got to hold this little guy for a while. I think sometimes the mom's are so tired, they're happy to have someone help out with the baby for a while. And that's just fine with me :)

...and this is why I love to travel

My day started off pretty well, putting the rest of my stuff from Berkeley into my closet. It was kind of like a giant jigsaw puzzle. And, of course, doing as I do, I left everything until the last minute. Whoops. Anyways, I managed to get everything put away in time, be packed (although after arriving here I realized I didn't bring enough underwear. Oops. Guess that means I'm going into town this weekend), and in the car. I bid my farewell to everyone, and was off in the car with my mom to San Francisco. I got to have a nice lunch with my mom and dad before I left, which was wonderful.
Once at the airport, I learned that my flight from Salt Lake City to New York City was delayed 40 minutes...giving me 30 minutes to change planes. They told me the flights were scheduled out of gates right next to each other, but I didn't buy it. Luckily, the goodness of humanity came through for me and the customer service guy was nice enough to double book me on my original flight and on the flight that left about an hour after mine, to assure I would make it to the Dominican Republic in time. Now, I consider myself fairly proficient in airport travel, but in Salt Lake City I could not find my flight on the departure monitor...anywhere. Nor were there any gate agents. So, I wandered around the entire airport (literally). While it was good, because I had about 4 hours, with nothing to do and was badly in need of some exercise, it was also a little weird. I've never had a non-existent flight. It was, however, displayed at one of the gates. When I finally arrived in New York, my flight was not in the gate right next time. In fact, it was in a different terminal. And I had about 20 minutes to make it there. So, I ran to a monitor, found which gate it was, asked a security where to go, and ran to the bus to change terminals. The lady who was loading the bus was really nice (again, humanity coming through). She called my gate and told them I was on my way so they wouldn't close the door and leave without me. Then, she loaded up the bus and had us going so I could get there. I must have had a really concerned look on my face because she also asked if I was okay.
Once I arrived in the Dominican Republic I declared the snacks I had brought with me on my customs card: toffee peanuts, wasabi peas, corn nuts, goldfish and chocolate. One customs official wen through my food and was unsure what to do, so she called over her boss. He proceeded to go through my food and ask me what everything was and wrinkle his nose as he pulled each thing out...I guess they don't eat a lot of those kinds of snacks here :P He was very nice though, and it was kind of amusing to see him try and process what all my weird food was. In the end, he took my peas but let me keep everything else.
After that, I took a taxi to the bus station and the bus to Jarabacoa. Everything went surprisingly smoothly. I had a bit of trouble getting ahold of Mark once I arrived, even though the bus station let me use their phone. But, luckily, some nice people stopped by and let me use their cell phone which worked. Plus, if I had just waited a little longer, Mark would have come by 4pm anyways because he got my mom's email that I was arrive then :) Gotta love technology.
Today we had our first clinic which was CRAZY!! But I think overall successful. More to come on that on the volunteersaroundtheworld.blogspot.com blog.
I'll try and get some photos up, but don't hold your breath. The internet is not very good here.
Jarabacoa is beautiful and I think I'm going to enjoy my time here :)

That city where moss grows on the trees, alligators roam, and there are too many cultures to keep track of

On my first day in New Orleans, I went out exploring with another woman from my hostel. We both wanted to go to the same basic area of town, so we decided to travel together, since we were both traveling solo. Just walking down the street, taking the streetcars and observing everyone and everything around me, I knew that New Orleans was a very special and unique place. As I said on facebook, the city instantly mesmerized me :)

Part of their public transportation system includes these street cars. They're not like the cable cars in San Francisco, which are now used mostly by tourists (and cost a pretty penny). They're part of the regular transportation system, used by the city folk (on the weekend, however, they are stuffed to the brim with tourists). Luckily for us, they go most of the places that you want to visit as at tourist (there are also city buses that are part of the same system). Since both of us have taken public transportation before, it was fairly easy to figure out the system. Take the St. Charles streetcar (which has green trolleys) to the Canal Street line. From there, the Canal Street car had three lines, and we needed to take the "City Park" bound line since that's where we wanted to go. Watching many of the other tourists try to figure this out, however, was quiet amusing. I think it just shows how unaccustomed most people from the United States are to taking public transit, which is pretty sad.

For some of the way, the streetcar just takes up one lane in the road (much like our cable cars). In some areas, however, it goes down this nice greenbelt which separates the two sides of the streets. It's really quite scenic. One driver said the streetcars have been around since 1862! That's a pretty long time considering they're still in full use. I saw many joggers running along the tracks, they'd just jump over to the other side whenever a trolley came. I suppose it's a nice place to run since it's grassy and in a lot of places has shade, but I'm not sure if I'd like dodging trollies while I run. I guess you get used to it?

After a ride through the city, we arrived at City Park. The park is one of the biggest city ones in the United States, even larger than Central Park in New York City. In addition to being one of the city's parks, it also houses the New Orleans Museum of Art, or NOMA. They had a fairly extensive collection of art, I was pretty impressed. I enjoyed going through and seeing all the art, from Renaissance, to Modern, to African, to Chinese...they had a large collection with a lot of famous artists (I don't even know that much about art and I recognized many of the names: Monet, Renoir, Picasso, to name a few). My favorite room, however, was the one dedicated to the Louisiana landscapes. Sadly, it was one of the smaller rooms; but I really liked the paintings they had which were mostly of the New Orleans area from 100-200 years ago. This painting was one of favorites, depicting a bayou with an African American man in his canoe. (I have a thing for landscapes, and for bayous, so a double plus.)

Although I'm not usually a huge fan of modern art, I did really enjoy this piece. It is depicting the complexities of the ecosystems in the Louisiana bayous. It's supposed to show the competition between the different species as well as show how different invasive species have affected the native ones. I thought it was pretty neat.

Also in the park, and right next to the museum was a sculpture garden. They had a lot of different interesting sculptures. Here are three of my favorites: the one on the right is a tribute to the suffering of African Americans in the region. It even has a bell in it's back that you can ring which sounds very mournful as it resonates. The one on the left was titled "Karma" and looked like one man standing up with a bunch of other people crouched on each others back, getting smaller as they go up. It also kind of looks like vertebrae, especially if you look at from the side. The one on the bottom had large strings of beads in it, kind of like a giant, permanent Mardi Gras tree. I can't remember what it's title was, but that's what it made me think of. Pretty appropriate for a sculpture garden in New Orleans I thought.

After the museum, we grabbed some Gumbo (a local soup/stew dish with meat, seafood, and rice), which we ate outside at a picnic table by the bayou. The gumbo, was pretty good, but I enjoyed the scenery more than anything. They had the "typical" Louisiana style trees with lots of moss growing off of them (which, I learned, is not at all harmful to the tree, it's actually a completely separate plant). The whole park was just stunningly green, and the day we went was just gorgeous-the perfect temperature and a clear blue sky.

I was looking for an alligator the whole time we were in the park, because I had heard rumors that there are sometimes a few lurking around. Unfortunately, I didn't find any. I did, however, spot some turtles and some lizards! These little guys were just hanging out on a tree branch in the bayou. Bayou St. John runs right through the middle of the park, which adds a fun feel to it. Apparently it used to be pretty important to the Native Americans who lived in the area because it was part of the important waterways system that they used which included Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River, the various bayous, and the Gulf of Mexico. I just wanted to lay out and soak up the sun like these little turtles.

After seeing the museum, the sculpture garden, and the park, we decided to head over to tourist central: Jackson Square in the French Quarter. We got some beignet's (which are basically square doughnuts with tons powdered sugar on top) at Cafe du Monde, which is one of the famous cafe's in the area. We ate them in Jackson Square and enjoyed the sunshine and flowers. The Cathedral that is off of the square is the oldest functioning Catholic cathedral in the country. It's from the late 1700s, and it looks just stunning from the outside, very picturesque. 

They have a lot of iris's around the city, which are all in full bloom and very colorful. They state's symbol, the fleur de lis, is based off of this flower.

After finishing our beignet's, we decided to ditch the French Quarter. We took a ferry across the Mississippi to Algiers Point. We got a nice view of the city from the ferry (although my iPhone doesn't capture the greatest photo).

Once on the other side, there were a lot of beautiful old houses, and really nice people (I don't think they get a lot of tourist's over there). We were trying to find one particular street, which for some reason we were having a lot of trouble locating (I think the locals must call it something different from the guidebook), even though everyone was trying to help us find it. After walking in a few circles, which wasn't so bad because we got to enjoy the scenery all the same, we came to the street we had originally been looking for and realized we had basically done the whole tour backwards. This gas station was opened in 1929! But it's no longer in operation as a gas station.

This was one of the beautiful, old, southern-style homes we walked by. There were many in the area that were photo worthy.

After a long (and fun) day out and about, we stopped by Walmart on our way back to get some food to make at the hostel. I had to get one of these daquiri-in-a-bag, because it was only $2, and you can drink it on the street (as long as it's not in a glass container) So, I drank it on the way back to the hostel, just because I could :)

It was great introduction to the city. I got to see a lot in just one day, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The beginnings of southern culture, ya'll

Well, my blog is called Adventures Around the World, so here's to my adventures in the Southern United States (a bit different from that liberal, California culture I'm so accustomed to, sometimes you would think you're in whole other country).

With a layover in Chicago O'Hare the inevitable happened...my flight was delayed. Not just a little delay, but a four hour delay. Gotta love that customer service coming from United... In any case, what is the best thing to do while waiting endlessly for your flight (they wouldn't give us a definite departure time, since we were "waiting on a crew from another flight"), get an extremely overpriced beer in the bar near your gate of course! It did help pass the time a little bit. That, and working on my honors thesis, and making friends with all the other annoyed people on my flight (luckily, there was no one who got extremely irrate.)  We did finally take off, and land safely in the Northwest Arkansas Airport, where I meet up with my Grandma and Grandpa :)

On my first day in Arkansas, we decided to go see a Civil War Reenactment, something none of use had seen before. As we were driving along the road to the battle, this convenient little sign popped up, guiding us to the Civil War. It made us all laugh. I wonder if they had these back in the 1800s in case people wanted to drop by and see the battles? :P

At the battlefield (which was in Missouri, right over the "stateline road," it's so weird how the states just flow in to each other here), there were some other signs that made me giggle. The had the "US" area for the Union Soldiers (or, damn Yankees as they are often referred to around here) and the "CS" for the Confederate Soldiers. Both sides had a little encampment near the battlefield, where they would hang out while the waited before the battle and during the battle intermissions. Every once in a while, you would see the "soldiers" intermingling in the neutral area (where the people coming to see the battle were hanging out). I don't think it was quite the same 150 years ago... As they were preparing for the beginning of the battle, Confederate soldiers would drive across the battlefield in their cars, since their encampment was on the far side of the field (that made us laugh too, the mixing of modern convenience and trying to maintain the authenticity of the battle). All the soldiers were dressed in period costumes, and you would think some of the people that attended still thought it was 1862.

The battle we attended was the Battle of Pea Ridge, which happened from March 6-8, 1862. Apparently it was one of the most important battles for the Union Army west of the Mississippi. The reenactment didn't take place on the actual battlefield, but on a big field a few miles away (we were assuming they didn't want anything to happen to the historical battlefield). The ratios when we were there seemed a little off...a lot of Confederate soldiers for not so many Union soldiers. However, apparently in the actual battle there were quite a few more Confederate soldiers than Union soldiers. We heard that in the reenactment, they try and replicate as close as possible to what happened in the actual battle (ie, reenacters "dying" when an actual soldier from the side died). The problem was, I think they were so short on Union soldiers, that they kept coming back to life! (Some younger boys next me took note of this, "the Confederates would win if the Union wasn't CHEATING!" I don't know if they realized it was based on the actual historical battle).

Some Union soldiers going back to their encampment to rest between battles. A lot of the observers left between the battles, despite one of the organizers telling everyone "that was only the first part! There's a whole other battle where they capture the canons!" Everyone gave him a polite smile and said "it's cold and wet" and continued on their way. We were among those who wimped out after the first part of the battle. It was in the high 30s/low 40s and drizzly...a little bit cold for my spring weather liking. According to the reenactors, however, it just made the battle more authentic. (Apparently there were several inches of snow on the ground during the actual battle). 

After watching the reenactment, we decided to go check out the actual battlefield. Apparently it's one of the best preserved battlefields in the country. As you drive around it, there are different signs talking about what happened in different locations during the battle. Here, in the woods, one of the battles took place. The Union army apparently tricked the Confederate army by taking a roundabout way and surprising them at this location, probably part of the reason that the eventually won the battle (despite the fact the soldiers were exhausted by walked many more miles (I think about 60) than originally expected). 

A canon replica. Apparently they have some "historical fences" that have been around since the battle :) The rest of the props, however, are mostly replicas (I guess they don't want to leave the actual canons out through the Arkansas weather). On one part of the battlefield, they said the line of Union soldiers stretched out for a mile! I would be a little intimidated if I saw that.

The next day, we made a stop by the Crystal Bridges Art Museum. They have art from the Colonial Era through Modern times (if you can call it art, some of what they have nowadays...) Although I'm not a huge fan of modern art, this piece was kind of cool. As my grandpa said, "Through the looking glass: a rose colored world." The actual museum building and grounds are beautiful, a work of art in themselves. They also had a visiting exposition of Norman Rockwell, which was probably my favorite part of the museum. His drawings and paintings are great...they all tell a story, and are just fun to look at (unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures).

While I was here, the forecast was mostly cold and overcast...with a little bit of snow! I woke up one morning to find the deck covered in a light dusting a snow. Not exactly what I was expecting on my spring break.

Bentonville's Civil War Memorial, a tribute to the Southern Soldiers erected by the Daughters of the Confederate Soldiers in the town square. It kind of shocks me to think that there are still people who wish the Confederacy would have won. I just can't imagine how our country would be today (it's in a bad enough state as it is). At the battle, many people were supporters of the Confederacy...serious supporters. It begs the question...which parts of the Confederate ideas are they in support of?

The next day, we made a stop by the Native American museum. They have a very impressive collection of artifacts. A lot of the pottery we saw looked similar to the pottery I had seen from indigenous tribes in South America, which was cool. In addition to pottery, they had more arrowheads than I have ever seen in my whole life. It is amazing how many different kinds of arrowheads there are...shapes, sizes, serrations, materials they're made of, different purposes...

This was one of my favorite pieces of pottery, and apparently one of the most well known. It was made by the Quapaw Tribe, and is called "Screaming Quapaw," which was used as a teapot.

I also thought these head pots were pretty cool. Apparently it's the largest collection of pots of this kind anywhere in the world.

These are some of the dolls that they would give to children. They were all very unique and represented different spirits.

Some of the beadwork done by the Native Americans was absolutely incredible. This was a child vest, moccasins and toy horse. I can't even imagine how many hours of meticulous labor it would take to make these three items. And it's so beautiful. Apparently they only wore the fancy beaded clothing during special ceremonies. (I believe these particular items were made by the Sioux, but I'm not positive.)

Lastly, the lake that my grandparents live on. I decided to make the trek down to it (it's not that far from their house, it's just really cold outside). Once I made it to the bottom I only stayed a few minutes, because it was so cold out. Apparently two geese families are nesting on the tiny little island!

I've had a great time visiting with my grandparents and brushing up on my history...now it's on to the second part of my journey...New Orleans!