Our trip to Ireland

This post is way overdue!  I am a lazy blogger.

So here it is... the story of the rest of our summer travels:

Ireland.  Ireland is awesome.  I know why it is so green there.  Because it rains ALL the time!  It's also really cold.  I had to buy a raincoat and an umbrella and like 5 pairs of socks!  I was freezing the whole time we were there.  In August.  It was kind of funny actually--every time the sun came out (which was only for a few minutes at a time) and the temperature increased to about 65, everyone would start complaining about how dreadfully hot it was!!  Anyway, it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  And Irish people are pretty cool.

We didn't learn our lesson from the first car rental and did it again in Ireland.  At least it was not a hybrid this time, but we did have to drive on the left side of the road which was WORSE!!!

Dad shifting the gears with his left hand.

We saw a lot of old castles like this one on our drive.

The beautiful fields in the countryside.  It's probably hard to see the stone walls that separate the fields but that was one of my favorite things to see.

Anyway, the first day we drove down to the southern tip of the island, to Bally Bunion.  People drive crazy mad in Ireland, like 80 miles an hour on the small two-lane highways.  Scary.  Bally Bunion is famous for golfing.  Even President Clinton was there once, and they built him a statue in the center of the town!

The reason we decided to stay there was because John and I have a friend in Atlanta from there.  His family is still there.  So we were planning to meet them but something came up with the family and we never ended up meeting them.  But it was ok, because we stayed a bed and breakfast that looked right out over the beach and the sea.  It was so beautiful.  Check out the ancient castle ruins.

By the way, there were toddlers running around NAKED on this beach!  I was barely able to keep from shivering with my sweatshirt on!

The next day we drove north.  We stopped by the Burren (pronounced "burrn") National Park in County Clare.   It is a huge area covered in limestone rock with little cracks where the grass came through.  While we were there we saw the oldest man-made structure that I had ever seen.  It is an ancient tomb and I think they estimate that is is 5,000 years old.  Here is someone else's picture from the internet.

The Burren had stone walls like this everywhere.  Some of them were reeeeally really old.

We also stopped by the Cliffs of Moore which are these really cool cliffs along the ocean.  Sorry, no picture.  I think it is where they filmed some scenes in the new Harry Potter movie!

Anyway, Dad and John went home the next morning and Mom, Carlene and I stayed for the epic event that we had been waiting for... the whole purpose for our trip to Europe.  The Fleadh!  The biggest traditional music festival in the woooooorlddd!  This year it was in Cavan.  It was awesome.  We stayed with a host family who we paid 35 Euros each per night.  They made a killing off of us.  (Everyone in the town rented rooms for the same price so I guess there was no way to negotiate it.)  The mom cooked us traditional Irish breakfast every morning.  It was more like meatfast than breakfast but what can you do.  They eat this weird thing called black and white pudding which I never ate because I heard someone say "pig's blood" and that was the deal breaker for me.  But I did really like their brown bread and porridge.    Our host family had four children who had names like Cian and Cara.  It took me a few days before I could understand anything they were saying but they were nice to us.  Their house was freezing all of the time.  I took a shower as little as possible because the window to the bathroom was always open and I hated taking a shower while cold air was blowing on me!  One night we asked them if they could turn the heat on and they looked at us kind of funny and then brought a little space heater into our room.

This was the view of the front and back yard of the house.  The house and property had been in their family for many generations.  I can't imagine what that would be like!

Well, we started out the week by attending the Scoil Eigse, a big music camp that proceeds the Fleadh Cheoil.  All of the students were divided into groups by instrument and ability level.  I joined the adult mixed instrument class.  The teacher of my group was Mary Nugent and she was so cool.   This was my first experience learning tunes by ear and it was really hard.  I played the whistle, by the way.  It was the easiest one to carry all the way over from the US.  Mom was playing the flute and Carlene was playing the fiddle.  Other traditional Irish music instruments are: accordion, banjo, uilleann pipes, and concertina. Every evening after we spent the day memorizing new tunes, they had a huge "session" with everyone in the camp.  It was crazy to be in a big room with like 500 people all playing tunes together!  (A session is when irish musicians get together in a pub and just play tunes together.  Kind of like a jam session I guess.)

This is my teacher's cd that just came out.  (She's the one playing the flute!) I love it.  You should check it out.

At the end of the week the town became flooded with thousands of Fleadh-goers.  There were concerts and sessions going on all over the place, and competitions, and (my favorite part) busking going on all over the streets!  I didn't know what busking was before this trip.  Basically it's when you play on the street for money.  People of all ages (even cute little kids) were playing by themselves and in groups all over the place.  And the streets were packed with people listening and enjoying themselves.  Literally, the streets were packed so tight that sometimes I got stuck in a human traffic jam and couldn't move.  It was crazy to see how excited these Irish people were about the music.

This was a spontaneous street session that we joined for a little bit.  After a while people had to start sessions on the street because there was no more room in the pubs.  

Some young buskers.

Mom and Carlene played in a few sessions.  I was never brave enough to join in. 

This session was fun because there were kids playing in it.  The bar served them soda instead of Guiness. 

Some of our highlights were seeing Andy Irvine (front row seats!!), Lunasa, and my favorite--Dedannon!  They were soooooo awesome.   One of the main draws of the Fleadh are the competitions.  They have competitions for every instrument and every age level.  We went to some of them, and were totally blown away at how good all of the kids were who participated in the competitions.  There were little kids playing the fiddle who would knock the socks off of some of the famous fiddle players in the US that I have heard!  And that goes for all the instruments.  Banjo, concertina, etc.  It's like they were born with the music in their blood.  The most interesting competitions we went to were the whistling and lilting.  They would just stand in front of the room and whistle tunes!  They were very serious about it.  Lilting is hard to describe, but it was also really cool to watch.

Andy Irvine

Going to the Fleadh was the most intense introduction to Irish music anyone could have.  It was awsome.  I am totally into it now.  "Trad" is what they call it over there.  I love "trad."  I listen to it all the time.   The thing that really surprised me was how into it the kids were.  There were hundreds and hundreds of kids at the music camp and in the competitions who were SO good.  I've never been to a music camp that had so many kids who were so excited to play music.  It was really unbelievable.  I can't wait to go back someday (but I probably won't be able to afford it for a long time)!

NEW YORK CITY!!!!

Ok, well if you haven't already heard, John and I are moving to New York City!  And we are doing it in SIX days!  I have been meaning to announce it on here but I have been keeping myself busy and away from the computer.

Things are crazy around here!  We are packing up our house, selling our car, and spending time with as many friends as possible before we leave Georgia.  I am sad to leave Atlanta (I will miss the hot weather SO much) but I am terribly excited to live in New York.  John of course is in heaven and we haven't even gotten there yet.  New York is one of his number one favorite places on this planet.  It is my dream come true to live in a place where we don't have to own a car.  No car payments, no insurance, no more being stuck in traffic, no more finding a parking space!! Yay for the subway!  I'm excited about lots of other things too, but at this moment the car is on my mind because we are trying hard to get that thing sold and out of our hair.  Anyone want a 1999 Camry?

We were just in NYC last weekend looking for an apartment and boy, what an adventure that was.  We think we found one (cross your fingers), but we haven't signed a lease or paid any money yet.  It's in the Washington Heights/Inwood area in northern Manhattan.

SO, consider yourself invited to New York.  Please Please Please come visit us.  You have no excuse not to come now.  A free place to stay in New York!  You CAN'T pass that up!  So go buy your plane ticket right now!

Oh yeah the reason we're moving is because John's fellowship program is sending him to the New York City Health Dept. on assignment for two years.  He is really excited to work there.  It will be good for him to rub shoulders with some important people in the field.  And he competed with several other people for this position so go John!!  As for me I am going to find a job.  Somewhere, somehow.  Hopefully I will be able to use my fancy expensive degree.  We'll see.

Ok, back to packing.  Any tips on how to pack hangers?  Box or garbage bag?

Our trip to Europe

Sooner or later I will use this blog not just for updates about my life.  :)

John and I went on a fun little trip to Europe last month with my parents and Aunt Carlene.  The trip started out when Mom, Carlene, and I went to hang out in New York for a few days.  We stayed with John's brother and sister-in-law Josh and Mattie in New Haven.  You would have had quite a laugh seeing three country girls trying to find their way around the Big Apple.  First time for all three of us. 

We got to eat New York hot dogs, New York cheesecake, rode the subway, saw street dancing on the subway, went to the top of 30 Rock, saw the Statue of Liberty, and most importantly, saw Wicked!!!!!  (It was awesome.  Totally worth the money and the trip to New York.)

Dad and John met us there after a few days and then we all headed for London.  Everyone went to see the famous Tower of London (which is actually a castle?) while John went to visit the London School of Tropical Medicine where he's thinking about going for a PhD.  After learning our lesson to never plan to meet in a huge train station (that none of  us had ever been to) in the middle of a big city during rush hour right before we were supposed to get on the airport bus several blocks away to catch a flight to Scotland, the grown-ups finally found John who finally found me after I had left the group in a desperate search to find him.  Whew.  Close call.  

Anyway, off to Scotland we went but not before an episode on the plane involving a passenger having a heart attack and another passenger giving CPR until the medics finally showed up and worked on the poor man for an hour or so right there in the isle while we all sat there watching, buckled up and ready to go.  (They eventually carted him off the plane and we never heard from him again.  Hope he made it.) Finally we made it to Glasgow late in the night and after a good night's sleep, a hearty breakfast of Hagis* and beans, and a looong walk through town with luggage in tow we made it to the train.  Just in time for the train ride that we had been waiting for all our lives but didn't know it yet.

It was hard to beat off the jet lag during this most beautiful ride through Scotland's countryside, but worth it.  It was also hard to get our trigger happy fingers to stop taking pictures so we could just relax and take it all in. 

 

Recognize this bridge?  Does Hogwarts Express ring a bell?

On the train ride we also learned about Scottish culture and politics from the few sentences we understood of our conversations with the natives.  We rode all the way to the edge of Scotland to a little fishing village called Malliag.  I actually don't know how to spell it but you say it like "mallet" and just as you're about to pronounce the "t" switch it to a silent "g."  

The next morning bright and early we boarded the ferry that was to carry us to the Isle of Skye.  It was there there that I was called a "poor lass" by a Scottish seaman (I must have looked really bad that day).   When we arrived on the island we walked around like lost tourists until a nice man suggested the right road to take, where we soon found ourselves at a big mysterious castle in ruins.  

 An ancient bath house.  Looks good to me!

The castle was owned by (and the island ruled by) the McDonald clan, of which we (the Blackham side of the family) are said to be descended from.  Pretty cool.

The next day, after a delicious meal of fish and chips (well, veggie burger and chips for me) we boarded the train back to Glasgow and I tried to teach everyone how to play Euchre but they were definitely not into it like I was.  

From there we took a quick train to Edinburgh.  To our delight (and Dad's embarrassment) there were two very friendly old men on the train who saw the fiddle and insisted that there be music.  So Aunt Carlene got out the fiddle and Mom got out the flute and the men got out their robust singing voices and there was music.

Around what seemed like midnight we arrived in Edinburgh (pronounced "Ed-in-burrrreh" make sure you roll the "r") and found that we happened to be there smack dab in the middle of a big huge cultural arts festival.  Which was cool but we felt kind of dumb standing there in our grubby clothes and back packs with all the Scottish hipsters in their skinny jeans, scarves, and come-over do's.  Anyway, we made it to our hostel after getting lost several times because the streets did not match the google map in John's head.  THANK heaven we were assigned to a room with a group of Asians who were nice and quiet.  

The next morning we went on an awesome historic tour of the city lead by our American tour guide who didn't have a hard time letting her fake Scottish accent slip through.  We learned all about how unsanitary  it was to live a couple hundred years ago.  And how much it sucked if anyone suspected you of being a witch (for REAL it seriously scared me).  And that if you got caught stealing they would nail your ear to the board in the town center and people would dump their rotten vegetables on you and even empty their chamber pots on you ewwwww!

Then we rushed (because one of us (ok, it's me) gets really stressed about making it to the airport on time) back to the airport and barely (just kidding--we were there three hours early) made our flight to Geneva.  And this brings me to one of the most memorable parts of our trip: the rental car. 

Why did the Hertz lady think that a group of people from the American West would know how to drive a Prius?  Especially one that had an owner's manual in every language except English.  Was it because we wouldn't speak French with her?  And why oh why did we think that a Prius was just like any other car?  Well, after an hour or so in the parking lot trying to figure out how to get it going we finally asked some guys walking by (remember this was like midnight) to show us how to do it and we got it running!  But we only made it a few feet because the e-brake was on.  Luckily the Hertz lady was just then walking to her car but she pretended not to see us so we stopped behind her parked car so she couldn't get out until she told us how to undo it.  We should have asked her how to work the GPS too.  Oh well.  We made it to our hotel after asking lots of people for directions.  We were all sleep deprived and grumpy but it turned out ok the next morning when we got to go on a gorgeous scenic drive up to Interlaken.  That was until we stopped at a rest stop half way there, and then couldn't figure out how to start the Prius.  We tried and tried and tried.  So John went in and found an English speaker to help us call the rental company.  Luckily they sent a guy out who showed us what to do and we felt kind of dumb but we were on our way.

At least we didn't use very much gas.

Anyway, we visited the famous Chillon Castle (written about by Lord Byron in "The Prisoner of Chillon"), and that evening made it to the beautiful town of Interlaken.  John and I stayed at the cheap hostel but the grown-ups stayed at Hotel Interlaken, where Felix Mendelssohn and Lord Byron had stayed many years ago.  The next morning we rode the train up into the mountains and went for a hike.  It was so beautiful.  Maybe the most beautiful place I have ever been.  

See that piece of cake on the table?  Well we should have brought more snacks with us because Mom and John could not resist sneaking a bite of the abandoned dessert.  Well, guess what it wasn't abandoned.  The two asian ladies whose cake they stole came back for it and we got out of there real fast.

The cows in Switzerland really do have bells!  I thought it was just for show but I think they use them because there aren't any fences up there and how else would the owners keep track of the herd?

Not quite sure what this was--maybe a trail marker?

Oh boy, am I not done yet?  This keeps getting longer and longer.  Anyway the next day (because we never wanted to be in one place for more than one day) we headed back to Geneva and flew back to London.  From there John's friend from Ghana who now lives in Sheffield, Frank, picked us up from the airport.  After all the meeting and greeting, we walked a long ways out to Frank's car only to realize that he only had enough room for three of us.  There was either a misunderstanding about how many of us there were or how big we were.  Too bad Frank's house is a few hours from the air port or we could have just made two trips.  So John and I waited for the midnight bus and arrived at Frank's house around 4:30am.  Anyhoo, the next day we relaxed at Frank's house and met his wife and new baby.  He cooked us a really delicious Ghanian lunch.  Then it was off to Liverpool.

We didn't actually do anything in liverpool because we spent all of our time in traffic trying to get there on time to catch our ferry for Dublin.  It was a good idea to take the evening ferry so that we could save on a hotel room--but not a good idea to cram five people into a four person bunk-room with no ventilation.  Oh boy.

Anyway, the next day we were in Ireland and that is a whole nother story that I am going to save for another day.  Thanks for reading, I'm amazed you made it this far!

* Want to know what Hagis is?  No you don't.  Stomach, heart, liver, and lungs of a sheep or deer, oats, onions, suet, salt, and pepper.  I actually didn't know what it was made of until yesterday when I found the recipe in a book that I actually own.  Good thing I didn't eat any.

When I made that last post I thought that I was going to publish more frequent updates about the status of my dissertation!  But it just got too busy and stressful and once it was finally all over, I really wanted to take a break from the computer.  Plus I got a Netflix subscription as a graduation present and I've been catching up on all the episodes of Scrubs that I missed.

Anyway, I did get my dissertation turned in, and I went up to Iowa for my defense in April.  Thankfully I passed, but my committee requested that a lot of additions to be made before turning in the final draft.  I almost drove myself (and John) insane for two weeks trying to change and add everything I needed to, and barely turned it in by the deadline!  What a relief.  I hope I NEVER have to do that again!

This was everyone who came to my defense including my committee members, Himie Voxman himself, and two of his close friends.  Himie is the one in the very center.  He was so nice to come to my defense, even though he wasn't allowed to participate.  (I wish he could have--he always has something funny to say and we could have used some laughs in there that day!)

And here he is, reading my manuscript.  I hope he has enjoyed reading about his life.  I know for  sure there are a lot of things in there that he has forgotten about.

I was so surprised when my parents AND John's parents wanted to come to my graduation!  I hadn't planned on it, but since they wanted to go we did.  My parents drove out (and even brought Uncle Nolan with them) and John's parents and younger sister flew to Kansas City, borrowed John's aunt's van, and drove up.  I'm still amazed that they were all willing to make such a big sacrifice to be there!  We actually only spent a few hours in Iowa City on the day of my graduation and spent the rest of the weekend in Nauvoo, IL.  Some friends from Iowa City let us stay in a house that they own there.  

John and Anna on the carriage ride in Nauvoo

All of us at the temple

Sunset on the Mississippi

Before the graduation ceremony

The hooding ceremony

This is Dr. Huckleberry--he hooded me.  He is one of my favorite professors.  I'm so glad he was there, because my own advisor couldn't make it and I was worried that I wouldn't have anyone to hood me! 

My robe. 

A lot of people have told me how impressing it is that I earned a doctorate degree, but I really need to give the credit to John.  John was the only one who was able to get me to sit down and just write it.  He was really supportive and helpful throughout all of it, even on the days when I was too busy writing that I didn't cook any food, clean the dishes, or even get dressed.  He solved all of my formatting problems and even at the very end, when the thesis office sent back my final draft because of a formatting problem, he just fixed the whole thing for me (probably because he knew that I would have a major nervous breakdown if I had to look at my dissertation one more time!).

Thanks John, I'm so lucky to have you!

Mr. and Dr. Hustedt  :)

Today is the day.

Today is the day that I am sending in my dissertation!  

Actually, I should say that today is the day that I'm going to finish sending in my dissertation.  It's a long and complicated process.  

It started Friday when, after looking over it 20 more times to make sure it looked alright, I frantically PDFed it and burned it onto a DVD.  Then John and I drove as fast as possible to get to FedEx before it closed, and sent it off to the University of Iowa Thesis Office.  I hope they will be able to open my PDF, because I forgot to embed the fonts.  (Actually, I didn't even know what "embed the fonts" was or that I needed to do it until the next day, oh well.) 

Today I have to send it to all five of the professors on my committee (they're the people who will be at my defense on April 21 and must give their approval of the final document).  Unfortunately, three of them want printed copies.  I was really hoping that they all would prefer to save some trees and save me the cost to print and send them!  Oh well.  

And then all I have to do is to pass my defense on April 21, make any changes that the thesis office and/or my committee requests, send in the final copy by May 5, and I'm done!

Here's a little sample of what my brain has been glued to for the past (who know how many) months:

Quinoa Salad Recipe

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately, and trying some new recipes.  Some of them have turned out really well so I think I'll start sharing them here.  This new hobby has been a good way to keep me from going insane after long hours in front of the computer working on my thesis!

Quinoa is a super grain.  It has a high protein content and contains a balanced set of essential amino acids, making it an unusually complete protein source.  It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron.  It is gluten-free and considered easy to digest.  I need to start eating as much of it as possible, especially because I eat a vegetarian diet!  (But even if you're not a vegetarian, it's still good for you, and it tastes great, too!)

This recipe is easy to make, but you will have to spend some time chopping.

Quinoa Salad

1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups cold water
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup celery, chopped small
1-2 small carrots, sliced thin
1/2 green or red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 medium-sized ripe tomato
1 medium-sized cucumber
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, cilantro, or basil
1/2 cup chopped cashews
optional: chopped scallions, greek olives, minced jalopeno, fresh mint

Dressing
2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/8-1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper
Optional: pinch of cayenne, garlic powder, fresh minced garlic

Directions
Place quinoa, water, and salt in a pot and boil.  Turn heat very low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes with lid. Fluff with fork and set aside to cool.

Steam celery, carrots, and bell pepper for 5 minutes.  Rinse in cold water.
Chop tomato, herbs, and cucumber.
Blend dressing ingredients with wire whisk or shake in a jar.
Gently combine veggies, quinoa, dressing, and nuts in a large bowl.   Cover and chill.


There are lots of things you can do with quinoa.  You can eat it in a bowl topped with fruit, cinnamon and milk, or you can put a scoop on top of your green salad.  Try it if you haven't already!

What's in a Name?

I've been married for over 8 months now, and I still haven't changed my last name!  Part of the reason is because I'm lazy, but only a little bit.

I just don't want to let go of BOWEN!  I don't want to cast off the name of my father's fathers.  I feel honored to be connected to the Bowen family.  (It's not that I DON'T want to be connected to the Hustedt family, they're a great family.)  And I know that I'm not important or famous in the world, but before I got married I was just starting to establish myself in the music world as Michele Bowen.

Anyway, I almost kind of feel like if I become Michele Hustedt my identity will be subsumed into my husband's (but of course if it has to be someone I want it to be him!).  

So, what am I going to do?  John and I talk about it sometimes, but we usually just end up laughing about it because it's such a silly thing to get worked up about.

Here are the options we've come up with so far:

1. I could be Michele Bowen-Hustedt.  We've also thought about changing BOTH of our last names to Bowen-Hustedt, to be fair.  But what if we have a daughter who someday gets married and is in this same situation?  Would she be Molly Bowen-Hustedt-Smith?  Or even worse, what if we have a son who wants to marry a girl who also has a hyphenated name but doesn't want to give it up?  Would she be Susie Richards-Gould-Bowen-Hustedt?!?

2. I have been trying out Michele Bowen Hustedt for a few months.  As in, Ms. Bowen Hustedt or Sister Bowen Hustedt.  That way if someone writes a check to Michele Bowen or Michele Hustedt I can still deposit them in my bank account.  And I'll still be able to use my credit card.  But it hasn't been working that well.  I still get called Sister Hustedt at church, no matter how many times I tell people that my last name is Bowen Hustedt.  (And I'm not assertive enough to correct them.)

3. John and I have also thought about just having me stick with Michele Bowen.  Outside of the rural conservative areas in our country, this is becoming more common.  We also think (again, just to be fair) that if we both have different last names, then it would be fun to give each of our kids their own individual last names. (We've had so much fun coming up with some interesting ones!)

4. And of course, we haven't ruled out the option of coming up with a new last name altogether.  I would have to give up the name of my fathers, but at least he would too.  We could combine our names into something like Boustedt, or Hustowen.  Or something entirely new, like Gifford.  Michele and John Gifford.  

So what should I do?  Any suggestions?