seeking an addiction to h-two-oh.

one of the most endearing things about my husband is his penchant to think about my blog, check it, and refer to it when i come up with crazy ideas.

(example given: me: "i'd really like to [insert random idea i'd had]" chris: "i know, i read about it on your blog already. let's do it.")

while bobbing around in the gulf of tonkin in northern vietnam a few weeks ago, chris mentioned an article he'd read that claimed that many american were getting nearly fifty percent of their calories from sugary drinks, and that if we gave up these drinks, the average person would lose ten pounds in a year.

while i can't find that article specifically, i did find a few that discuss the implications of sugary drinks and obesity, like this one from cnn that was published just two days ago.

which of course, has me thinking about that small obsession i have with those small little cans.  you know the ones...

le sigh.

on vacation, i happily enjoyed two cans a day of these lovely, delicious, caramel-hued bubbilicious drinks.  that's about three hundred additional calories each day.

crap.

so i decided: who wouldn't like to lose ten pounds in a year? certainly, this girl wouldn't hate it. (and really, if you add up an average of a coca a day for a year, that's more like twenty pounds a year. eek.)

so.

we're going to give this a little experiment.  i've given up coca cola and coca light (diet coke) before. i've endured the headaches (god, that makes it sounds like i'm an actual addict) and that in itself is a reason to make the official switch from sugary drinks to...

water.

(our medical officer would be so proud.)

a great article written on the cnn blog eatocracy last fall said it best when they noted that some people can enjoy a soda without it being the.thing.you.look.forward.to.each.day. some people don't let out that relaxing sigh- like it's the fix they've been waiting for.

so, here it goes.  officially for the next six months, one soda per week- diet, regular, or otherwise.  no other sugary drinks (like the amazing, delicious coffees readily available here), unless that is the substitute for the one soda.

i'll let you all know how it goes.

anyone else a coca addict who has turned in their badge for other, less delicious drinks?

things of note (or, not so much)

yesterday evening, topher and i ate some lotus flower buds.

surprisingly, they are delicious!  unless you accidentally eat the "sraom" which is quite sour.

the "sraom" is the khmer word for envelope, or outer casing, or shell, or even:

condom.

we also decided on a few things regarding food and nine months (9!) in country:

a. our favorite noodle place is a roadside stand that sell noodles with vegetables, a fried egg, and some beef stuff for eighty five cents.

b. we need to find the best place for fried rice. our regular haunt has fried rice that i do NOT prefer.

c. we need to branch out in terms of places to eat- we visit the same one place way too often, and two or three other places frequently.  we're determined to find some new places.

d. we should really be making delicious things like salads at home.  we (or, i) had this weird thing that we really needed, should be making khmer food at home.  but really, why do we always need to?  we can use the ingredients of cambodia and make food that doesn't involve rice. like salads. we usually avoid them because lettuce/veggies are cleaned. we clean them ourselves = problem solved.  so, more fresh dishes like salads coming our way.

today, on the bus to phnom penh, the girl next to me kept falling asleep and her poor head was swinging to and fro, to and fro and bumping my shoulder.  i think she was embarrassed by that fact, and so she kept trying to lean as far away as possible. but it made me realize how universal it is for us to fall asleep, awkwardly, on public transportation.

and finally, the other night our kids helped me make the batter for the peanut butter cookies, and topher captured that fun:

any good recipes you have for delicious, easy homemade salad dressing? or suggestions for yummy food made with really, really simple ingredients?

and that's 35, folks

when topher and i chose a wedding date of may first, i was partially aware that i was selecting a wedding date exactly one week after my own parent's wedding anniversary.

as a chillun, i lurved looking through my parent's wedding album- admiring those white tuxes with frilly blue shirts, those seventies shags, those peasant dresses, and mostly the excitement that was my! parents! wedding! album!

and this year is thirty five years! cheers to you mama and pops.

established 1977, yo.

curse the fact that i live very far away from that awesome album and cannot share those photos with you.  2014, watch out!

from italy to cambodia, and back.

mail is just the best, yeah?

i joined in the postcard swap that jess set up (check out her fabulous blog!), and i was so excited to receive mail from what may be my favorite country: italy!

it only took twice as long as nearly everyone else's postcards to arrive, but i finally got my postcard, and i think jess got mine recently too, as well!

jess' postcard has me reminiscing about speaking (a little bit of) italian, drinking caffe latte, and eating pounds and pounds of margherita pizza.  it was awesome!

now i'm off to eat some rice instead. enjoy that italian food, jess!

also, i find it oddly appropriate that i chose to watch you've got mail while blogging today.

cheers to mail, of all forms!

things that are happening right now

...or, actually, last night and then right now. otherwise, captioned as "photobooth pics from the week."

you've got your iphone pic recap, i've got my photobooth. what up!

topher and i returned from vietnam last week and spent the last days of the khmer new year holiday in phnom penh.  we brought home some souvenirs from vietnam to our family, and found we'd really missed these goofy kids and our little khmer family.

the kids love to hang out in the house we rent from their grandmother/mother, and hang out is just what they did last night, indeed.

first they took some awesome pics using photobooth on topher's computer, which i captured from the side, using my photobooth.

and then. THEN! there was angry birds to be played.

we also came home to two great packages- one from my parents and one from opal- thanks opal! my mom's included peanut butter cookie mix!  mixed with the chocolate chips megan sent a bit back, i had myself some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

welcome home, self.

happy weekend!

let's all go to: kampot!

while i'm traveling through vietnam, let's discuss what might be my favorite convenient place to visit in cambodia.



kampot town.



kampot is a mere two hour drive from us, and features some of the things i crave the most - barbecue,  italian food, baked goods, and scenic views.



topher and i chose kampot as our first visit from site once we were allowed to travel, after three months at our permanent home.  for two days, we did nothing buy enjoy every last minute of comfortable beds, gorgeous evening walks along the water, cheap, cold drinks, and eat.



eat so much good food.


our country director recently related the story that when she visited with volunteers in kampot, she asked for the best three things to do (see, visit, whatever.)

all they had to share were the names of the three restaurants.



what can i say, we volunteers, while we love beauty like that found at bokor mountain, when we get some spare money,

cheese and barbecue and brownies are where it's at.

new hairs

when i moved to the 'bode, i decided that i'd let my hair go, free flowin', growin' itself out out for twenty six months.

and then someone mentioned haircuts for ten dollars.  and i said no. ten dollars? that's one-fifteenth of how much money i have each month after bills as a volunteer.  

and then i said, topher! you have saved a great deal of money more than me. maybe you will give me ten dollars for a haircut?

and at first he laughed.

and then he gave it to me!

and i got to go from this to that!

i ventured to the salon with three fellow volunteers, two of whom also geared up for a little snip-snippety-snip!

i snapped a before...

and after photo!

 and took my new hairs, all light and schtuff, out to celebrate.

amazing how something as simple as a haircut can give one a new lease on life!

hot season.

sucks.

many months ago, some current peace corps volunteers recommended the best way to prepare yourself for the heat in cambodia was to lock yourself inside your car with the windows up in july.

i'd like to add a bit to this. first, put on the warmest clothes you own.  then, go park your car in the sun for a few hours.  finally, hop into that car and then don't turn the fan or ac on, and sit for thirty minutes or so.

if you find some way to magically make it humid in there too, all the better.

it's currently the hottest month in cambodia- so they say.  i'm spending it in vietnam. where temps are thirty or so degrees lower.  i am pretty sure khmer people hate the hot season too, though they'll never admit it.  but taking nearly the entire month of april off to celebrate a three day holiday? convenient i say. also, awesome.

sweet heaven.

dear topher: let's go!

dear le hubs de marsh,

so we're off! off to vietnam!  i am incredibly excited for this trip, for a variety of reasons.

one.  this is our first two-of-us travel for the first time since our honeymoon.  we've gone many places- but always to meet others and almost always with a clear agenda.  this time, it's kate and chris travel time again, with only destinations and hotel reservations made.  adventures? museums? activities? open!

two. this is our first backpacking adventure since 2007. i love backpack-hostel traveling, especially with you.  our backpacking trip after college graduation five years ago- those nearly five weeks alone together, with only our respective bags- marks the moment where i think both of us realized that if we could travel like this together, we could do most anything together.  a great team, is what it is.

three. our first trip out of cambodia since moving to asia!  finally getting the chance to explore the countries that are so near our new home. hooray!

so let's go, just us, with our thirty pounds on our back, our washing clothes in the sinks, our lack of plans. let's go!

already know i'm gonna love it, cuz it's with you,
kate

ENFJ/P

so i took a form of the MBTI (meyers briggs type indicator) test.  i'm pretty sure i've taken one before because, in general, i love this kind of stuff. i have no recollection of what type i may have been when i took it a ways ago then, but now! now i shall remember.

i'm writing about here, for posterity and all.

i took it twice.  not because i didn't like the results. because given the subjectivity of these things, i wanted to be sure.  i gave myself rules each time, to try to ensure that the results were true.  i could not think too long about any one question.  i had to go with my gut. and i had to be done with the 72 questions in less than ten minutes.

i followed these rules both times, but the second time i took it, i gave in to my need to practically approach the question.  see, i found, both because of the results of the quiz and the actual quiz itself, that i do not deal in the theoretical all to well.  to gauge my true response, i had to put some of the questions- not all, but some- into a real world situation. i had to ask myself things like "do i make decisions based on advanced planning or my current emotions? well, i'm a planner so i'd like to think i make them based on my prior thinking but honestly, when i make decisions like whether or not to buy two shirts or one at target, i don't base it on the amount i said i'd spend. i decide based on my current desires. at work, when i'm managing a large group of people, i don't always think about what i had planned on doing- i go with my gut and thoughts in the moment."

by doing that, i think i was able, the second time around, to more accurately answer with my honest opinion.

and both times, three things were shockingly clear:

-i am dominantly extraverted.

-i am most definitely dominantly extraverted in either feeling or intuition, which means...

-i am most definitely more likely to shun things like highly logical decision making, thus the thinking or sensing sides.

some of this came as a personal affront to me. i read the descriptions of my results with quite an open mind, but i was slightly surprised to realize that while i pride myself on being a logical, reasonable, reasoning person, in reality, most of the decisions i make about my relationships, my career, my life moves and dreams, are based on my feelings, values, and perceptions about those i meet and those whom i love.

so my two tests returned two incredibly similar but slightly different results.  in the first, i am most assuredly- well, moderately at least, given those percentages- an ENFJ.  that's an Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Judging person.  in the second, i am an Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiving person- an ENFP.

as an ENFJ, i'm a dominant extraverted feeling person, with auxiliary of introverted intuition.  as an ENFP, i'm a dominant extraverted intuitive person, with an auxiliary of introverted feeling.  

given that the two are so close, i believe the quiz was correct. especially as i researched the descriptions of both types (ENFJ here, here, here and here; ENFP here, here and here), i found that i believe the second result to be more accurate reflection of my true self, though i exhibit many of the ENFJ traits as well.  

in both cases, all indications point to me being a people person. beyond true.  i always thought i was someone who loved expending energy outwardly but needed alone time to gain it, but this test, and further reflection, proves me wrong.  take this post, for example.  if i were truly an introvert, i would not need conversations with cambodians to lift my spirits or make me feel happy.  i'm generally happy person, and i am good at identifying people's feelings or motives, both in friends and acquaintances.  

of course, i made chris read both the ENFJ and ENFP descriptions, and he agrees. though i exhibit many of the ENFJ tendencies, i am more dominantly an ENFP.  

as an ENFJ, i do consider people my highest priority in life, and i think the world is full of possibilities.  i love sharing things with others so that they can become the best, or develop their skills- which is why ENFJ's are sometimes classified as "the teacher" type.  i love public speaking and think i'm decent at it. i am straight-forward and honest, and i absolutely love things to be highly organized- i'm quite fussy about it, in fact.  but, ENFJs are often classified as people who usually value other people's feelings over their own values or feelings or opinions.  they put other people first in nearly everything. i wish i could say this was true of me, but my own notions- ones i feel i've honed through experience, research, reading and general intuition- are almost most important to the way that i operate and view the world.

as an ENFP,  i'm overly passionate, i find that i am usually good at the things i try- and i try to do a lot of things.  my personal values are incredibly important to me, and are my guiding focus through my life.  i struggle with maintenance-type tasks (picking up my water glasses? remembering to pick up that paper i dropped the other day? meh.) and i am most happy when when i get to work with people or big ideas- too much routine is stifling for me.  i value independence and attempts to label me is the fastest way to piss me off.

of course, i made topher take the test.  he's in bed with giardia (welcome to g club, hubs!), and he returned with a result of a type trait that so described him that it's...scary.  

and, i had to ask myself: are we complements to each other?  and we are.  this website, which of course i'll take as canon, explain that in many ways, opposites do attract in love relationships.  so the fact that topher's dominant type and auxiliary types and functions are complete opposites of mine is a good thing- a balance thing, if you will.  however, we share the same dominant function (that second letter).  we both operate dominantly- me, outwardly, him, inwardly- letting our intuition lead.  this works for us because though we may function, or deal with the world differently, many of our values and beliefs align because we dominantly function the same way.

(in working relationships, though? best to be surrounded by those more similar to you.  explains. so. much. about how i work with people at school and in my previous jobs.)

what i loved about learning more about the MBTI was that while it is an indicator of natural tendencies, it isn't a predictor of talent, or usefulness, or success.  all the types have strengths and the ability to grow their auxiliary, or inferior, traits to become a balanced individual.  usually, professionally administered MBTI are followed by a best fit process where test takers actually review the types and are able to select what they believe to a best fit description of their own selves.  and experts do actually believe that we are our own best judge in indicating our type.  so after reading all sixteen of the trait analyses, i believe that i am more of an ENFP than an ENFJ.

thank god i married an INTP, who possesses those logical thinking and decision-making skills i so desperately need to help inform and balance my feeling based ones.

want to take the quiz i did: see here

what's your MB type?