Help Me Help the Refugees

As most of my friends and readers know, I have spent some time serving, at my own expense, in some of the world's saddest, most underdeveloped places.

I have personally worked with sex-trafficking victims. I've heard their stories, and helped them find education and new job skills. I have worked in hospitals and tent cities with disaster victims. I have volunteered in orphanages. I have held dying babies who had no other family to hold them in their final moments. I have driven ambulances and fire trucks at lightning speed. I have pulled people from car wrecks. I've seen families sob as they accept the death of a loved one.

I acutely feel the pain of the refugees fleeing our common enemies. I have not yet met them. But I can imagine their circumstances and fear.

Today I find myself grateful for federal judges who had the bravery and confidence to stand up to a president (a president who likes to make threats and taunts and insults to those who disagree with him), to uphold the Constitution and American values. (When the president openly admires some of history's most vile and corrupt leaders, it must be terrifying to defy him, wondering what he might do to you in retribution.)

I have been patriotic for as long as I can remember. My earliest childhood memories involve political rallies for a party I can no longer support. I have served on Capitol Hill. I have served on presidential campaigns. I've hosted phone banks. I've canvassed neighborhoods.

I believe in democracy, free trade, capitalism, and that America was build as "one nation under God," and in "liberty and justice for ALL."

More than anything, I believe in free speech. I thank God every day for the right to express ourselves openly, without fear of punishment. I believe in free press, and that good journalism means telling every side to a story, even if and when it makes you enemies. And I believe most of all, that no one, especially no government or political leader, can or should control the press and what every they may choose to say.

And all of these reasons, held deep in my heart, and on my sleeve, are why I must do something to help the refugees. I am reminded of a scripture from the Book of Mormon, Alma 60:27-28.

"And I will come unto you, and if there be any among you that has a desire for freedom, yea, if there be even a spark of freedom remaining, behold I will stir up insurrections among you, even until those who have desires to usurp power and authority shall become extinct.

28 Yea, behold I do not fear your power nor your authority, but it is my God whom I fear; and it is according to his commandments that I do take my sword to defend the cause of my country, and it is because of your iniquity that we have suffered so much loss."

Many times in my life this scripture has jumped out at me, inspired me, and reminded me, that it is God that I fear, and not mankind. I fear the judgment of God if I do stand up for what is right.

I am only one person. But I know my skills. I know what I have to offer the world. I know what resources are at hand for me to make a difference. And that is why I have chosen to sell t-shirts, so that others, like me, can wear our beliefs proudly. We can show others that there is still a "spark of freedom remaining." And by doing so, and selling the shirts, I can raise money to give directly to refugee organizations in Germany this summer.

I will in Germany this summer in a town where we know there are several refugees already. I know that by personally bringing the funds and donations with me, I will be able to give it to refugees at a more personal level. The money will not get lost in the overhead of large nonprofit expenses. But will go to getting clean clothes, toys, and food, directly into the hands of those who need it most.

I hope you will consider supporting the cause. Even if you don't want a t-shirt, you can make a donation. The t-shirts come in men's, women's, and youth versions and sizes.

Thank you all for your support. It means more to me than you will ever know!

https://www.bonfire.com/support-true-american-values/

My European Adventure As Told By My Travel Pillow

Do people read blogs anymore? The analytics say yes, the engagement says no.
But for you remaining readers, hello! I'm home! By now you've probably noticed I was in Europe for the last few weeks. And what a crazy few weeks it was.
I was on tour with Clog America again. Some may question the wisdom in going on a European tour whilst unemployed. But for me it was a logical thing to do. I get to network, clear my mind, find new creativity, and more importantly, do some marketing for a worthy non-profit. I took over 2,000 photos and videos while on tour, and will soon have them turned into a few articles, and a few videos they can use for fundraising and recruiting purposes.
It's always an interesting adjustment going from solo and bored to living in close quarters with 40+ people to back to solo and bored. (And coming home to less than enjoyable circumstances.) I've been home 8 days and I'm still adjusting back to civilian life.
But adjusting I am.
You've seen the pictures from the trip, so I'm not going to bother giving a full travelogue. Does anyone want to read that stuff anyway? I doubt it.
But I will hit on some highlights that didn't show up in the pictures.
First, I LOVED my new Little Cloud Nine Travel Pillow. It may look completely bizarre, but it was a life saver on more than one occasion.

I am not capable of sleeping with those horseshoe pillow things around my neck on a plane. It just doesn't work for me. And I can't sleep with my head tipped back, mouth open, etc. Normally, I try to hunch over on my tray table and sleep that way on a plane. But if the person in front of you reclines... It's hard sleeping on planes! But this funny looking pillow did the trick for me. It stands up in your lap, and you sort of tip over into it. There is a "window" for you to look out, and another one for your hands to go into.
Sometimes I used it the prescribed way. Other times I rolled it up like a log, put it by the window of the plane/bus, and leaned into it. Bus? Oh yes. It's a trademark of Clog America tours. We travel a lot by bus. And this particular tour included an unexpected 20 hour bus ride. We had expected it to be 9-12 hours. But due to the terrorist attack in Nice, France, our trip took much, much longer than anticipated. And my funny little pillow saved the day for me and others. I had the foresight to grab it and my regular pillow and pull them up into the bus when the trip started (not knowing how long we would be in there). I used it for a while, but then when a friend told me she didn't have a pillow at all, I gave her the Little Cloud Nine Travel Pillow, and I used my Tempurpedic for the next 10 hours. (She rolled it up like a log and snuggled with it.)
On my flight home I had a whole row to myself! On both flights! (It's a travel miracle!) I was so tired on my first flight from Rome to Istanbul that I fell asleep before the flight took off, and the flight attendant had to wake me up when we landed. I had stayed up for about 23 hours, and walked over 10 miles in 97 degree heat the day before. When I say I was tired, I mean it! Somewhere on that flight, which I don't remember in the least, I lied down across all three seats, and used my travel pillow in log position. The flight attendant must have covered me up with a blanket, because there was one on me when I woke up. I slept hard core for my entire four hour flight and have no memory of it.
When I got to Istanbul I was still completely exhausted, and used my pillow again. I put it in my lap, and used it in the prescribed position. I fell asleep face forward in it for two straight hours in one very loud and noisy airport. I'm not complaining.
(Of course by then I had actually had plenty of sleep and barely slept on my 10 hour flight from Istanbul to Dulles. Sigh.)
You can't do that with a horseshoe pillow! Or those dinky little airplane pillows!
So, this is my travelogue for you - get yourself one of these awesome pillows!

Tour Life and Coming Home Again

95% of my life is spent alone. I live alone. I work solo. I'm single. I really am alone nearly all the time. I wish it weren't always that way. I'm not a loner, but circumstances have made me that way to some extent. 3 weeks of close proximity with 44 people is a big change for almost everyone, but an especially overwhelming one for me. (So many people in my space! So little control over my surroundings!)
It's a challenge, but one that I enjoy 95% of the time. (See "Serbians After Midnight" for the other 5%.) I'm grateful to be home and getting back into my routine. But missing my big, funny, tour family. And daydreaming about next year already. (Germany! Netherlands! Belgium! Ireland!)
It's a strange adjustment going back to solitary living. So quiet! I look forward to the day where I get to live in a nice happy medium.

Au Revoir, Mes Amis

In just about 24 hours I'll be in a plane bound for Europe. It's a much-needed trip to get away for awhile.
I've had all this free time to work and be creative lately, but my head has been too full of drama from the past to really be able to let go and let my creative side take over. I hate having all this free time and not putting it to good use writing! I have let my creative side out a bit with painting and refurbishing furniture. I've redone 5 tables in the past 3 weeks. I think my neighbors will strangle me if they hear me fire up my orbital sander one more time. I've loved doing something creative and different from my usual routine. It's good to exercise the design and aesthetic muscle from time to time. I've been trying my hand at sewing again as well. (I'm taking several small crafting projects with me to Europe to give to an orphanage.) I think it's in everyone's best interest if I put the sewing machine away and stop watching "Project Runway." I can't sew a straight line to save my life.
But back to Europe, and all that chocolate and cheese that's just waiting for me! I've lost 30 lbs since January 1. And I don't care if I put back on every single pound by eating chocolate, cheese, and pasta. Did I mention I'm headed to France and Italy? Yeah. Good food awaits!
And so does creative freedom. This trip is coming at just the right time for me to shake off the past, clear my head, and reboot life a little bit better. Time for a new outlook. Time for new Italian shoes. Time to visit with old friends and make some new ones. And time to twirl in the Alps and put my toes in the Mediterranean Sea. All things that will definitely be happening!
Here's a funny thought for you- this is my first trip in about 10 years that I will be able to drink the water where I'm going. I always seem to be heading off to another less developed country where I have to get shots and take medications. This will be a whole new adventure for me to be in a place where the dollar isn't high-valued, and the water is clean.
Granted, I'm traveling with Clog America again, so it's not like we'll be staying in hotels or resorts. (We're staying in hostels, a dorm, and with host families this time.) But bring it on! I'm ready for some new sights and sounds! And to listen to the sound of little clogging feet, fiddles, and banjos every night. (Not looking as forward to all of the Eastern European dances as much. But still, I love them too.) Ooh and this year there will be teams from Africa and Asia performing as well. That should bring a fun new element into the mix.
I'm trying to force myself to stay awake another 33 minutes so I can book my seats and check in online. My flight has a layover in Istanbul, and due to the bombings there last week it's guaranteed to be a jam-packed flight. (Also it's the end of Eid in Muslim countries, so a lot of families are traveling that direction.) I don't want a middle seat!!!
So look forward to lots of pictures of food, cloggers, and pretty scenes over the next few weeks! And be sure to follow our adventures at clog-america.blogspot.com. 

The Next Big Adventure

Some pretty building and flowers in Belgrade, Serbia. Summer 2014 

In the past week I've made the unexpected decision to join Clog America on their summer tour this year. I hadn't expected to have the funds, time, or resources to make the trip this year. But with everything else in my life falling apart recently, suddenly the 2015 summer tour came together for me.
I've had to explain to a few friends how it is I became associated with a group of cloggers from Utah, and why I get to travel around Europe (again) with them. Every time I explain it, I laugh even harder. But basically the short version goes like this.
I accepted an invitation from a strange man on the internet to go to Serbia.
Seriously. That's basically what happened.
The longer version is this- a man who had read my columns for several years sent me a very nice email and explained his relationship with Clog America. And told me how they would like to invite me along on their tour as their social media person. So I said yes.
It honestly didn't hit me until I was in the Belgrade airport looking for a total stranger just what a crazy situation I had gotten myself into. I had taken a few precautions (for instance, my plane ticket was flexible. I could have left at any time.), but I really was just along for the ride.
And what a crazy ride it was. I won't say that it was fun and easy every step of the way. Joining up with 40 complete strangers, having no control or influence on what could happen next, and not really even fully understanding the situation, was really hard on me. It was definitely a learning experience in "letting go." I like to be the boss, and I like to be influential. And I really like to make my own choices. So to be at the mercy of so many unknown people for so long was really hard.
But granted, it was a hard thing to deal with in the middle of an awesome situation. 3 weeks in Romania and Serbia? Not exactly a hardship, you know?
I didn't love every minute of the trip. But I did love more hours than I didn't.
Which is why I more than willingly volunteered to join up with them again this summer as we tour Switzerland and Germany. 20 more days of folk music and dance festivals in the heart of Europe. It's going to be great!
And if you thought I posted a lot of pictures of food in Serbia and Romania, just wait till you see what happens when I'm in the land of chocolate and cheese! I can't wait! (Did I mention we are going right through the town of Gruyere? Oh yes, there will be cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. AND CHOCOLATE!!) (I have a lot of weight to lose before I go to Europe and happily gain it all back.)
(So much chocolate!)
This year I will have more responsibilities than just social media for the group. And I'm excited about the changes. I'd much rather be able to contribute more and be busy, than just be along for the ride. Patiently waiting for things to happen is just not my style! I'd rather make things happen! (And oh, will I be making things happen this year!)
Watch out, Europe, I'm coming back for more [chocolate and cheese]!

Romanian Food- a meal 13 years in the making!

13 years ago I volunteered and worked in Romania for a month. I stayed in a tiny little town called Lupeni. (It doesn't make many maps it's so small.) What I was doing there is a story for another post and time. Today we're going to talk about food, specifically my love of Romanian food.
Back in Lupeni I discovered two dishes- sarmale and papanoci. (sar-maul-eh and poppa-nosh). These were my two most favorite foods, and I ate them every chance I got in Romania. My "bunica" made them for us. Bunica means grandma, old lady, or babushka. Everyone has a bunica.
It's been 13 years since I had good sarmale and papanoci. I've tried many times to make them on my own, but it's never been as good as Bunica made it.
So you better believe I was looking forward to having it again when I got back to Romania!
In our first town, Baile Herculane, one of the first things I did was ask our hotel if they would be serving us either dish. They were impressed I knew Romanian food, and said they would try, but it never happened. Hotel Afrodita did serve us some awesome food, but it was mostly just nice hotel food, but nothing truly amazingly Romanian.

It's hard to be disappointed in really awesome food, so I wasn't too sad about the lack of authentic dishes.

Not to mention, I accidentally got the restaurant to serve us free Cokes for a few meals before the hotel caught on and made us pay for them. (How does this happen? Easy. I went up to the restaurant bar, and asked for a Coke Zero. Which reminds me, did you know Coca-Cola Light (which is served instead of Diet Coke in most other countries) has been replaced by Coke Zero? This was new to me. I quickly adapted to it. Turns out I like it. Who knew?) I tried to pay for it. The bartender didn't speak much English. And by that I mean, he was very pretty to look at, but spoke absolutely no English at all. This has a lot to do with why I re-learned how to count and all my numbers in Romanian. Bet ya didn't know I know a good 20 words in Romanian. It's a pretty easy language to learn if you know any of the other Romance languages, especially French. But I digress. So the bartender said since our meals were covered, my Coke Zero was too. At least, that's what I gleaned from our miming. I did this for 2 meals before other people caught on and started to get free drinks too. That lasted another 2 meals with 30 people getting free drinks before the hotel caught on. After that we had to pay for our drinks. A 1-liter Coke Zero was roughly 50 cents, so not exactly a hardship, you know?)

We were in Herculane for 5 days, and then moved on to the town of Timisoara. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I LOVE Timisoara. It's a beautiful, charming town. We stayed in a nice little hotel right off the town square. We ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant (which was very small), but our other meals were provided by the festival. We ate at a small school a few blocks away with the other performers. The food was... pretty typical cafeteria food. Just cafeteria food with a Romanian twist to it. In other words, a hunk of bread, gassy water, meat, with a side of meat. And sometimes a dish of pickled cabbage.

It was perfectly good food. But I wanted food like Bunica made it!

And what was I supposed to do with a beautiful, charming town square with a dozen restaurants just feet away from my hotel? Closer to me than the school? And I hadn't spent more than $3 a day in over a week! With plenty of Romanian lei in my pocket, and in a town that actually takes credit cards, I went off in search of sarmale and papanoci.

I tried looking at the window menus of three different places with no luck. After going on a big walking tour of the city with the whole group-

- I decided to try one more place. I walked right into one of the nicest restaurants in town, and asked if they served either dish. They said yes, they served papanoci, but no to the sarmale. But then the manager (quite fluent in English) asked how I knew about sarmale. I explained "My bunica used to make it for me." He stopped and looked at me funny. "You know bunica?" I said yes, and she used to make the best Romanian food for me. (I took his question to be more surprise that I knew the word bunica, than anything else.) He stared at me again. "Then I will make for you sarmale like bunica." He had me bring a group of friends back with me an hour later.
Sarmale isn't on their menu. And he did have me put a deposit down on the meal, which I felt was completely fair under the circumstances.
So one hour later, I rounded up a few Clog Americans, and we ate at one of the best tables in the restaurant.

So what is sarmale? Other than a little piece of heaven in your mouth? It's boiled cabbage, wrapped around a rice and sausage mixture. It has some lemon, dill, and vinegar going on in it too. You have to like lemon and dill to love it. And oh, do I love it. 13 years of waiting for sarmale, and it didn't disappoint!
But then came the papanoci!

Papanoci is basically a big, fluffy donut, not unlike Krispy Kreme, with the donut hole on top. The center is then filled with cream and either fruit compote or hot fudge. And then more cream and fruit over top of the whole thing.
It's rich, it's heavy, and oh is it good!!!!
I can promise you not one tiny bit was left on our plates.
I even went back the next day with some other friends from our group to get the papanoci again.
I admit I was a bit nervous to take a group of soon-to-be-friends that I barely knew to try a food I feared I had over-hyped. But I'm happy to report that no one seemed to think I oversold it. They all loved it. In fact, word got around to several people in our group about our foodie excursion, and more than one group of people went in search of it the next day.
It was a meal 13 years in the making. And totally worth it! 

Things You Don't See in the U.S.

Just a few of the pictures I took around Eastern Europe of things you just don't see in the States. 

This was a mini-mart/7-11 type of store (0-24 indicates that it's a nonstop, open 24 hours store), that sells chicken. Every time we passed it, I thought it looked like there was a giant turd on top of the chicken's finger.

A contacts vending machine I found in the Moscow airport.

At a "beach" in Belgrade, Serbia (a dammed off river area), this ginormous water bottle (easily 3 stories tall, maybe more) was also a water spout/fountain. Most original marketing gimmick I have seen in a long time.

Just a random kid out walking her Shetland pony on the sidewalk. (Which begged the question, was it really a Shetland pony? or some other breed of midget pony?)

This was my hotel room in Timisoara, Romania. No sheets on the beds. Just this oddly folded blanket/comforter. And everything was folded into triangles.

Pepper cream cheese? (which, by the way, we ordered, and was exactly that- cream cheese with paprika and pepper in it). Grilled "chilly" pepper? I do love poorly translated English!

I didn't mean to buy this. I was attempting to ask if some chocolate candies were chocolate covered pomegranates. I kept point at this can and then at the candy. Next thing I know, I've purchased the drink, and not the candy. It was absolutely disgusting. Little floaty bits of aloe jellies in it. So gross. 

Favorite Picture

This picture will forever be one of my all-time favorites for the way the moment was captured. 

Finally- a real travel post on Romania and Serbia!

I finally have a few minutes to myself for the first time since arriving in Europe last week. I just double-checked the date and time, and discovered it is Thursday, July 10. I honestly thought it was Monday. Traveling on tour can mess with your head that way.

I guess I’m going to have to give this travelogue in reverse order, and jump all over the place. My brain refuses to remember the beginning of this trip. It was too long ago.

Tonight I’m in Timisoara, Romania, a town once known as the Paris of Eastern Europe. It’s also famous for being the city of roses, and the first city in all of Europe to have electric street lamps. All odd claims to fame. But as it turns out, Timisoara is one of my all-time favorite cities. There is a large town square (piata – pronounced pee-awt-suh) in the center of town. My hotel is “Hotel Central,” which is conveniently right off this square. The hotel itself is very clean, but something of a 1960’s stark nightmare. The bathroom has an accordion door to it, which locks from the outside. What would you ever need to lock a bathroom door from the outside for?

The hotel has very typical European, tiny, narrow elevators, designed to hold 2-3 people. I call these the violent elevators. Someone else described it as “they buck you off.” It’s pretty comical. You squeeze into this shoebox of an elevator, which is all mirrored on all sides, and go to your floor. It may or may not actually squarely reach the right floor. But when the doors open, the elevator gives a violent bump. So far I’ve had to grab the wall each time to keep from falling over. It’s amusing to watch someone else do it for the first time. 

Which brings me back to last week in Serbia. As I’ve mentioned, I lived in a floating bar/clubhouse. Each of us that lived in there have had a rough time getting our land legs back under us. I figured it was just my Meniere’s Disease doing exactly what I would expect it to do after living on water, but apparently the other 3 houseboatmates have it too. The elevators here send all 4 of us into a funky swirly dizzy spell for just a minute. For me it’s just a very intense Meniere’s attack. I think it’s the violent jolt with the mirrors, throwing off the sense of balance, and the part where we went from sea level to high mountain altitudes in one day.

Which brings me to the town before this one. We have been in Baile Herculane, Romania for the past few days. We drove to Timisoara today. Herculane (pronounced hair-kyu-lawn) was sort of the Park City or Deer Valley of Romania. Except without shopping. It had several high end hotels (by Romanian standards), and some fun history to it. So maybe it was more the Heber City of Romania? It was way up in the mountains, and simply beautiful. It translates to the “Bath of Hercules.” It’s the natural springs and cold bath houses where Isis, Neptune, and Hercules all supposedly came to rest and relax.

In typical Romanian style they’ve built a whole town around their historical marker, but haven’t bothered to fix up the actual bath houses. So you can only look at them from the street or through a boarded up door. Very cool marble statues, and nice cool air. But no springs, because in typical Romanian tradition, they’ve blocked off the water, to reroute it for some unknown use. So really it’s all a town about “something cool used to be here, we can tell you about it, but not show it to you.”

Our experiences in Serbia were, according to my companions, typical dance tour activities. We stayed with host families, went on a tour of the city, visited the orphanages, performed with the host dance company, went to church, had a party with the hosts, and left. Pretty normal stuff for Clog America apparently.

Our time in Baile Herculane was anything but typical. Everyone was surprised. We were put up in a 4 star hotel (I even got a massage- more on that bizarre experience later), ate (for free) in the hotel restaurant, walked to the performing venue (right next door to our hotel) with was an outdoor amphitheater, and had tons of free time. We also got a tour from a nice guide who took us up to a cave and to a zip line.

So let’s stop here and discuss clogging. I’ve now seen the Clog America show several times over. I’m becoming an expert on this one show. I’ve also seen Serbian folk dancers, Romanian, Georgian, Armenian, Ukrainian, Turkish, and a dozen others. (I have an affinity for the “tiny Ukrainian dancers.” They dress in little ninja costumes and do this cute little “he-man” dance. I love it. I can’t wait to see it again tomorrow.) 

Most of these dances are pretty similar in style. Men kick, women prance daintily around them. There are lots of accordions and saxophones. You really can’t tell the difference between most countries. And after you’ve seen about 5 of these dances, you’ve seen them all. It can get pretty boring. But one thing is for certain at every show. They LOVE Clog America. Our team gets up there and does the Charleston, a 50s swing number, and a bunch of hoedown numbers, and the crowd goes wild.

We’ve come all this way for approximately a 10-20 minute show every evening. Today we were supposed to be in a parade before the big show. (I use the term “we” lightly since I’m not actually a performer.) But due to the rain that never happened. After the parade got canceled, the sun came out. So the band (and our band is awesome) went in costume to the middle of the square, and put on a concert of their own. They got a huge crowd all around them. Romanians were dancing in the square and calling out requests for “Clementine” and “Susannah.”

Speaking of our band- 3 members of the band are family. Nate, Adam, and Chrissy Keller are siblings. Their dad, Ivan, is also on tour with us. I believe Nate and Adam have been on over 10 tours with Clog America, and Chrissy maybe 5. Ivan is 77 years old. He just likes to see his kids perform and to travel. He keeps his schedule pretty easy, but he tries to keep up with the rest of us. He’s a very nice man, and always doing kind things for everyone around here. Yesterday at the outdoor show in Herculane the team was presented a trophy from the festival, and the Kellers were acknowledged. Much to everyone’s surprise, the announcer also acknowledged Ivan, sitting up in the stands. The crowd demanded he stand up and take a bow. I’m sure we missed something in the translation, but basically they gave him a standing ovation for raising 3 talented children. It was really an interesting cultural moment to see how they honored this father. It was very touching for the Americans to witness. (Of course, we all adore Ivan, and agree he deserves more ovations.)

My free time is rapidly dwindling, so I'll end this travelogue here. I'll write more about the rest of this trip the next time I'm caught up on sleep and have some free time to myself. 

And again, please go visit http://clog-america.blogspot.com and http://instagram.com/clogamerica for more pictures and stories. I'm putting a lot of work into those! 

Serbian Boathouse Living

Forgive me the poor quality of this video. It's just for fun to give you an idea of what life was like in our little boathouse in Serbia last week.
There was much laughter, chaos, and stuff everywhere. This was taken probably around 11 pm on Sunday night. We had 4 women in a studio apartment, living above a bar/clubhouse. Our bathroom was about the size of a train or airplane bathroom (plus a shower).
There was no furniture in the room- just 3 mattresses on the floor. (You'll notice there are 5 women in the video, including me. That's because one of the dancers, Ashlynn, was visiting us for a few hours.) We did find a few small chairs in the bar that we used as shelves.
Every time there was a lot of movement downstairs or a boat would go by in the lake, our little boathouse would rock. We had clothes hanging from a makeshift clothesline, and they would sway back and forth when the room rocked. I was trying to capture it on video. If you look closely, you can sort of see how the clothes never hold still.
But mostly you can just see the complete chaos we turned the place into. It was a brand-new apartment, very clean, and a very fun and unique experience!

whereabouts

A very quick and fast attempt to explain my whereabouts-

We were in Belgrade for a few days.
And then we took a bus to Romania.
We've been here 2 days.
We'll be in this town 1.5 more days, and then go to another town.
I forget how long we'll be in that town.
And then we'll go back to a different town in Serbia for a few more days.
And then I will go back to Moscow for 1 day.
And then home.
Where I shall sleep a lot.

Orphanage Day

Today was orphanage day. We had a wonderful time visiting an orphanage in Belgrade and then a home for mentally disabled men. It was so much fun. I taught the little girl in this picture how to blow bubbles, and the joy of playing with a slinky. I may have even taught her to say slinky.
I won't be in many pictures during this trip, since I'm the one taking pictures of everyone else. There are lots of stories and pictures up on the Clog America blog and Instagram feed today.
All in all, a great day.
Stories and pictures to come when I have 5 minutes to myself. 

I'm on a boat!

Okay, maybe not a boat.
I'm on/in a floating club house on a river. But it's not a river house. It's also not a lake house, regardless of the fact that we've dubbed it the lake house. I'm in a club house owned by a dance club (Klub Talija), where they come to hang out, drink, etc. It's the base camp for this leg of our trip. Our group members are staying with host families nearby and around Belgrade. I'm staying with a few of the other older staff members (some very fun ladies), in an apartment on top of this floating party house.
More stories and pictures when I'm not quite so tired!
Be sure to follow us on Instagram.com/ClogAmerica and clog-america.blogspot.com for lots more pictures and stories.

Hello Blog, it's been a while

Wearing my Real Salt Lake team shirt to support Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando on USMNT!

It's been about a week since the last time I posted on here. Which isn't too bad considering I've been going about 2-3 weeks between posts lately. But it's been even longer since I posted any day to day kind of stuff.
I guess my day to day life hasn't been all that interesting lately. Unemployment can be like that. I don't have the funds to go out very often. But I've been making an effort to do something fun at least once a week, to try and stave off unemployed depression. Some weeks I succeed, oftentimes I don't.
Next week I leave for my big Eastern European dance tour trip. Which, by the way, you can follow at Clog-America.blogspot.com, and on Instagram and Twitter as @ClogAmerica. I'm the social media person for the trip, so I'll be the one posting on those accounts. GO FOLLOW US!
I started packing tonight, but I started preparing for this trip weeks ago. I learned a trick before I went to Cambodia to beat jet lag, and I'm doing it again. A lot of people make the mistake of staying up all night before a big trip, and then try to sleep on the plane, and assume they can wake up at their destination, and "be on the right time zone." This usually backfires, and instead you're sleep deprived and groggy, and it takes a few days to adjust.
Because I want to be able to hit the ground running on this trip, particularly during my layover, I'm applying this little trick again. Instead of staying up all night, you plan to wake up earlier and earlier in the days prior to your trip. Since I have a 7 hour time difference ahead of me, I start 6-7 days in advance, waking up one hour earlier each day. (And hopefully going to bed earlier each night as well. This part takes a few days to kick in, I've noticed.) On the day I leave for the trip, I'll wake up at midnight (and hopefully go to bed around 4-5 pm the night before). When I get to my destination (in this case, Moscow) I will already be on their time zone, and not need to adjust or be sleepy.
Which reminds me- I'm going to Moscow!
My real destination is Belgrade, Serbia and Timisoara, Romania. But due to a lack of direct flights to Belgrade, I have a 25 hour layover in Moscow. And I land in Moscow at 6 a.m. (which would be 11 pm in Virginia). I got my Russian visa so I can leave the airport and tour around Moscow for the day. I'm very excited about getting to see Moscow. And actually, I get to see it twice because I have the same long layover on my return flight as well.
The real pressure this past week hasn't just been sleeping at strange times and packing. I WROTE A NEW BOOK! And if all goes well, and I'm hopeful that it will, it will be available on Amazon on Sunday. The title is, "Sharing the Gospel through Social Media." It's non-fiction (obviously), and is a guidebook for Mormons who wish to do missionary work online, and share the Gospel through social media. It's only about 30 pages, and fairly easy to read (I hope). It's in the hands of editors and reviewers right now. Fingers crossed that all goes according to plan.
Oh and then there is this little thing called the World Cup. (If you recall I've been a soccer fan for a very long time. How many blog posts have there been about Real Salt Lake games?) I've watched more ESPN in the past 2 weeks than I have in the past 2 (4?) years! I have to admit, I've watched more soccer than I should have. I find it very hard to multi-task or write when soccer is on the TV!
That all being said, I have to wake up in 5 hours. Time for bed!

You Can Make a Difference to a Serbian Orphan

You know me, and you my two passions in this world are humanitarian work, and orphanages. I've visited orphanages in Romania, Haiti, and Cambodia. I plan to work at an orphanage in China next year. And in just four weeks from now I will be visiting an orphanage in Serbia with Clog America. 

And we need your help!

As you may recall, I am going with Clog America on their international dance tour to Romania and Serbia in July. While they travel, Clog America makes it a point to visit different charitable organizations, and make a difference where they can. 

This year they (we) will be visiting Zdrinka Pavlovic, an orphanage in Serbia for 35-40 disabled or abandoned children. We are collecting various items to help the orphanage better serve their children. 

During the month of May, flooding caused widespread devastation in Belgrade, Serbia. Our help in this area is needed now more than ever! Your donations can help bring aid to those left homeless by these floods, and can help us bring aid to the orphanage that originally inspired this humanitarian project. Keep reading for more details. Every dollar helps!

Our goal is to raise enough money to provide the children with as many of the following items as possible:
Hygiene kits
Pajamas
Clothes for young adults
Underwear for ages 6-18
Crayons
Jump Ropes
Small Blankets (I know some of you are quilters out there! How about a small twin sized quilt or bedspread for an orphanage?) 
Soccer Balls
Sock Puppets
Bedding size 90 x 190cm
Mattress
Bed
Dishwasher
Deep Fryer


A percentage of the money raised will go towards the items listed above, and towards the relief efforts to help those affected by the floods in Belgrade. We are accepting physical donations of the above items (you can give it to me, and I can take it with me, or if you live in another state, we can arrange for shipping or a drop off with someone else), as well as monetary donations.

You can contribute towards these efforts on the GoFundMe page - http://www.gofundme.com/7aih94 . 
So far only $220 of the desired $2,500 has been raised. 


Check out this cute video of Clog America visiting a children's hospital in Poland two years ago.

Pinch Me, Please

I never get tired of this picture. (I've told this story many times before, so forgive me if you've heard it.) I'm twirling in the Alps in Romania, living out my "Sound of Music" dreams. In just a few seconds I will hit that small white-gray rock beside me, which isn't really a rock at all. It's mountain goat poop. And I will trip, fall, and roll unromantically down the mountain.

And the best part is?

I get to go back to Romania and do it all over again!

It's true!

An organization in Utah (that for now shall remain nameless, but I'll share more about them in a few weeks) has invited me along on their international dance tour this summer. (And I said yes.) We'll be visiting Serbia and Romania. And thanks to the very strange flight schedules of Aeroflot, and a lack of flights into Serbia, I will also be spending 2 days in Moscow.

I'd have to say that so far unemployment is suiting me just fine.

Actually, if we're being honest, I'm barely unemployed. I am writing for the Fool again, editing for Meridian, working on a top secret business venture, doing this gig in Serbia, plus accepting more and more freelance offers every day. It's really rather crazy just how many offers have just found me and jumped right in my lap.

And I have never been more grateful. Truly, I never could have imagined so many amazing opportunities could or would ever come my way so easily.  Somebody pinch me, please!

To do before the big trip:
Find a dogsitter
Finish editing "You Heard It Here First" to submit it to a distributor (this is a BIG deal, folks!)
Finish writing the sequel to "This Just In!"
Finish writing the book on social media and missionary work
Finish writing that other book I'm writing
Write lots of articles for freelance magazines that pay. I need the money.
Get more people to use that Amazon link
Get more people to use my eShakti link
Pack, move, unpack, get organized
Go to Duck Beach
Get Russian visa
Lose 10-15 lbs before Duck Beach (well underway, but goal far from met)
Figure out why my dog snores so much suddenly
Get a new, bigger suitcase
Get a briefcase-purse thing that will carry my laptop
And about a dozen more things

Mongolia, Money, and More Money

I recently read a fascinating [to me] article in Bloomberg Markets magazine regarding mining in Mongolia. To sum it up in simplest terms, a very large multi-national corporation has a very large copper mining project going on there. (And some other smaller companies too.) The company, Rio Tinto, stands to make a great deal of money over many years off this project. It is one of the largest known copper deposits, if I recall correctly.
In an interesting case of corporate responsibility and working with the government and the people of the country, Rio Tinto not only paying the country for permission to be there, plus paying taxes, and employing many local nationals, they are going a few steps beyond that. For instance, Rio Tinto paid taxes in advance.
Did you know Mongolia is a democracy? It's true. It is. And that's what makes the next part more interesting.

Photoshop lies. Guidebooks lie.

I was looking at pictures of Cambodia on Pinterest today, and found myself a bit confused. One scene seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. I had to do a little bit of research to figure out what the picture was of before I recognized it.
Let it be known, this is a post about how guide books and Photoshop lie.
What I found on Pinterest (and Flickr)-

Looks pretty and inviting, no? (Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixfrix/page2/)

Here's what it looked like when I was there-

 (ahem, I'd like to add that I've lost 15 lbs since this pic was taken. also, i was hours away from the worst illness of my entire life. but really, i admit i looked this bad.)

Photoshop lies. Guidebooks lie.

Hey You! Check out my new novels, "You Heard It Here First" and the sequel "This Just In!"