So, I haven't been blogging now that we are back in the US and everyone is on Facebook. Facebook me!

Currently

1. Quit smoking

2. Work out at Curves 3+ times a week

3. Pay off Credit Cards

ASAP

1. Buy a bike and ride to Curves

2. Get converted from Contractor to Full Time Employee

This year

1. Go back to school

2. Figure out how to pay for school

3. Spend a week on a houseboat at Lake Powell

Next year

1. Buy a new car

2. Finish School

3. Get a new job

Within 3 years

1. Buy a new house

2. Go backpacking through Europe

3. Start a family

Tree!

Lights!

Presents!

Kitty!

Dad and Me

Haydar

getting a new monitor Us

Mom and Me

getting Concert tickets

I really had a wonderful holiday. It couldn't have been better.

I know, I haven't updated my blog in a long time. I guess I mostly did it for my parents, and now that we are living in the same town again, it's not as necessary to update the blog.

Anyway, I've been watching the Sing-Off. It's basically Acapella American Idol squished into 4 episodes. The finale will be on Monday.

My two favorite groups are in the final 3 (yay). They are: the Beelzebubs and Nota.

I'll post a little video so you can check them out. Keep in min that there are NO instruments - everything is done by voice:

Nota - I would totally buy their album right now - I voted for them :)

Beelzebubs

Turkey Dad

Gravy Grandma

My side dish

Linda Pie

Uncle D and Haydar

The cooks

Sunset Point

Sedona

Junipine Resort

Our cabin

Patio

Slide Rock State Park

Octopus tree?

We are planning on going up to Sedona this weekend for my birthday. I'm trying to figure out where to stay. Ideally, we want a cabin on Oak Creek - maybe with a patio or outdoor jacuzzi. My plan is to find a day spa the next day. Anyone have any input?

I've been on the diet for almost a week now. The JillianMichaels.com site gives great recipes. Last night I made this and it was really good:

Chipotle Beef, Broccoli With Caramelized Onions and Pine Nuts, and Easy Black Beans

Chipotle Beef

Cook Time: 2 h 5 mins

Ingredients

* 2 pounds beef, chuck pot roast

* salt, Kosher, to taste

* freshly ground pepper, to taste

* 15 ounce(s) broth, beef, low sodium

* 7 ounce(s) pepper(s), chipotle chiles, in adobo sauce

Preparation

Dust the meat with salt and pepper. Coat a medium skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Heat the pan over medium-high heat, then brown the meat on both sides.

Add the broth and the entire contents of the can of chipotle peppers, sauce included.

Cook over low heat for 1 to 2 hours, then slice and serve.

About this recipe

Serving(s)

Contains Red Meat Contains Red Meat

Nutrition Facts

Number of Servings: 4

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 250

Total Fat: 12 g

Saturated Fat: 4 g

Cholesterol: 100 mg

Sodium: 475 mg

Total Carbohydrate: 2 g

Dietary Fiber: 2 g

Protein: 52 g

Broccoli With Caramelized Onions and Pine Nuts

Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

* 3 tablespoon nuts, pine nuts, or chopped slivered almonds

* 2 teaspoon oil, olive, extra virgin

* 1 cup(s) onion(s), chopped

* 1/4 teaspoon salt

* 4 cup(s) broccoli florets

* 2 teaspoon vinegar, balsamic

* freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preparation

Toast pine nuts (or almonds) in a medium, dry skillet over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until lightly browned and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl to cool.

Add oil to the pan and heat over medium heat. Add onion and salt; cook, stirring occasionally and adjusting heat as necessary, until soft and golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, steam broccoli until just tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the nuts, onion, vinegar, and pepper; toss to coat. Serve immediately.

About this recipe

Serving(s)

Quick Meal Quick Meal

Contains Nuts Contains Nuts

Vegetarian Vegetarian

Nutrition Facts

Number of Servings: 4

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 102

Total Fat: 7 g

Saturated Fat: 1 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Sodium: 166 mg

Total Carbohydrate: 9 g

Dietary Fiber: 3 g

Protein: 3 g

Easy Black Beans

Cook Time: 16 mins

Ingredients

* 2 teaspoon oil, olive, extra virgin

* 1 medium onion(s), yellow, diced

* 2 clove(s) garlic, minced

* 2 teaspoon pepper(s), chile, ancho or pasilla

* 1/2 teaspoon cumin, ground

* 1/2 teaspoon oregano, dried

* 30 ounce(s) beans, black

* 1 tablespoon tomato paste

Preparation

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Add ground chile, cumin and oregano and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds more. Add beans, 1 cup of water and tomato paste; stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans are heated through and the sauce is slightly thickened, 8 to 10 minutes. Serve warm.

To make ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Reheat in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons water over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.

Well, the 2nd wedding ceremony was beautiful! I can't wait to see the professional pictures.

We went to Vegas for the Honeymoon. We stayed at Palace Station and Harrah's. We did really well at Harrah's so we stayed through Wednesday.

Haydar started his job at the Taekwondo school on Friday. He loves it. I'm happy he's happy.

This morning we had our immigration interview for Haydar's Legal Permanent Resident card. We were approved!

News, news, news. Haydar bought a 2004 Dodge Dakota this week with my parents' help. It's a stick shift and we've never had one before. It's taking practice for both of us to learn, but it's a great little truck.

He also got a job as a Taekwondo manager at a TKD school nearby. We are very excited about this job for him.

We've been playing free poker games at the bar once or twice a week. We've met some cool people.

The big ceremony is in 2 weeks. This weekend is the combined bachelor/bachelorette party - we're just having some friends over for a BBQ and drinks.

My bridal shower was 2 weeks ago. It was very nice and stress free.

We still haven't planned what we are doing for our honeymoon - but I think it will be Vegas.

We STILL don't have the money from Jennifer.

I'm loving my job and can't wait to be full time with benefits.

Overall, life is pretty good.

Today I started my new job as a Business Systems Analyst for McKesson. It feels great to be back to work. My group supports applications used by the call center, among other things. I have been paired up with a Senior BSA. This is great because it gives me a great opportunity to learn and hopefully get a position like that one day. I am officially a contractor for a few months with the hope and promise of becoming a FTE soon. Anyway, I love the people and I'm excited about the job.

In other news, Haydar had his biometrics appointment on Saturday. This basically just means they took his fingerprints to verify that he is who he says he is. We already received and sent back an initial request for more complete info on the Adjustment of Status (AOS) packet. I got an automated email that told me there is another request in the mail for something else. Sheesh. One thing at a time... Hopefully soon Haydar will get his employment authorization and will start working.

The big wedding ceremony is coming up fast. We have deposits for food and a DJ. I've booked rentals for the reception and have gotten most of the RSVPs. I still haven't figured out what we will do for our honeymoon, though. Perhaps a road trip?

Today we received the Notice of Action (NOA) receipts from USCIS regarding the Adjustment of Status (AOS) and Employment Authorization (EAD) applications we filed.

According to timelines on Visajourney.com, EAD petitions from June 8th are currently being processed. That's not bad. Once Haydar gets his EAD, he can start working. I think he's bored here.

Also, AOS petitions from March 11th are being processed. If these numbers remain accurate, we are looking at about 2-3 months for EAD approval an 4-5 months for AOS approval(provided we don't get caught up in security checks again).

My god, planning a wedding is a LOT of work. I think we finally made some progress today though.

Yesterday I was so stressed out I contemplated canceling the big ceremony altogether. However, I have this amazing dress and man, I want to wear it.

Today is the 36th anniversary of the day my parent's met at Watkins Glen in 1973. This concert WAS LARGER than Woodstock by a couple hundred thousand people! Among those 600,000 people were... The The Grateful Dead, The Band and The Allman Brothers Band

We went and saw The Hurt Locker today. Considering it was filmed in my husband's home country, it was an interesting perspective for the both of us. I'm sure I considered it more interesting than him... but that's okay.

When I asked him what he thought of it, he said it was "Normal." For me, it got me thinking about several things... some I may even try to put together in a newspaper editorial. For one, it's amazing to me how personal everything became in the movie. On both sides of the war, the individuals all had their own reasons for being there and for their actions.

I was concerned that it would only perpetuate the misconception as all Iraqi's being terrorists. Although it didn't really touch on many, there was a child and a man in the movie that could bring a different perspective to the average viewer.

Perhaps it was strange to think, but I wondered how people in the theater would have reacted knowing that there was an Iraqi in the theater with them. The optimistic side of me says no one would care. However, from the snickers in the audience when an Iraqi was killed, I'm not certain.

We've only had a few interested people inquire as to his life in Iraq. Before he had a state ID, we could only use his passport for ID. This was really the only way anyone would know. Sometimes he feels it necessary to tell people he's from another country(at least this is what he did in Korea). He told me that it wasn't because he wasn't proud but because it usually ended up in a long discussion. I can understand that.

Today I took Haydar to Fuddrucker's for lunch. While we were standing in line, a man was speaking Russian in front of us and a Japanese couple behind us was taking pictures of themselves. The first thing that crossed my mind during that moment was that I was happy to live in a melting pot. For people that can't see the beauty in that, I'm sorry.

If you haven't noticed, I have renamed my LiveJournal. Welcome. :)

We filed for Adjustment of Status (AOS) last week. This included and application for Employment Authroization. We hope to have that within a couple of months.

Last week I changed my name with Social Security and the MVD. Crazy...

We filed for Adjustment of Status (AOS) last week. This included and application for Employment Authroization. We hope to have that within a couple of months.

Last week I changed my name with Social Security and the MVD. Crazy...

Things I will strive for in my life (in no particular order):

1. Attend a prestigious graduate school (such as Thunderbird School of Global Management)

2. Figure out a way to get out of debt and live without it

3. To continue to travel the world with my new husband

4. To never give up on my dreams or settle for less than I deserve

5. To continue to have a happy marriage and hopefully, a family one day

6. To continue to challenge myself mentally and spiritually

7. To find a career that I am passionate about

Things I will strive for in my life (in no particular order):

1. Attend a prestigious graduate school (such as Thunderbird School of Global Management)

2. Figure out a way to get out of debt and live without it

3. To continue to travel the world with my new husband

4. To never give up on my dreams or settle for less than I deserve

5. To continue to have a happy marriage and hopefully, a family one day

6. To continue to challenge myself mentally and spiritually

7. To find a career that I am passionate about

As you may know, we had a small ceremony with just my best friends and parents to officially sign the papers since we needed to marry within 90 days of US entry. In October, we will have the big ceremony.

As you may know, we had a small ceremony with just my best friends and parents to officially sign the papers since we needed to marry within 90 days of US entry. In October, we will have the big ceremony.

I can't sleep... We're getting married in 11 hours! More updates Sunday.

I can't sleep... We're getting married in 11 hours! More updates Sunday.

We're getting married on Saturday, July 4th! Finally! It will just be a small ceremony with my parents and best friends. The October ceremony will be the big one. Still, it's very exciting!

We're getting married on Saturday, July 4th! Finally! It will just be a small ceremony with my parents and best friends. The October ceremony will be the big one. Still, it's very exciting!

It turns out that the money Haydar got back from his deposit on school never made it to the bank. This is odd considering we transferred it home. Now they tell us they never had it. Let's hope we can figure this out. It's a lot of money.

We are pretty much unpacked and set up here in Phoenix. Next weekend, on July 4th, we will be getting married in a small ceremony with only my parents and 2 best friends. The plan now is just to go out to a nice dinner and then my husband (hehe) and I will go to a resort for the weekend. In October, we will have a bigger ceremony with more people.

I have been searching like crazy for a job. I haven't heard anything back yet.

On the other hand, I introduced Haydar to a Korean guy who owns a Taekwondo school nearby and it appears that as soon as he is legally able to work, he will have a job. That's good.

Anyway, tomorrow my parents are throwing us a welcome home party. We have about 15 close friends coming by. It should be nice.

It turns out that the money Haydar got back from his deposit on school never made it to the bank. This is odd considering we transferred it home. Now they tell us they never had it. Let's hope we can figure this out. It's a lot of money.

We are pretty much unpacked and set up here in Phoenix. Next weekend, on July 4th, we will be getting married in a small ceremony with only my parents and 2 best friends. The plan now is just to go out to a nice dinner and then my husband (hehe) and I will go to a resort for the weekend. In October, we will have a bigger ceremony with more people.

I have been searching like crazy for a job. I haven't heard anything back yet.

On the other hand, I introduced Haydar to a Korean guy who owns a Taekwondo school nearby and it appears that as soon as he is legally able to work, he will have a job. That's good.

Anyway, tomorrow my parents are throwing us a welcome home party. We have about 15 close friends coming by. It should be nice.

We didn't have any problems at all. We are having a blast and unpacking like crazy.

Talking about waiting til the last minute... I just now received the tickets for our trip. My boss still has to come over and give me the rest of the money she owes me. Today we transferred Haydar's money home and cleared out my bank account.

We've been shipping boxes, packing and cleaning like crazy.

In 24 hours, we will be starting our journey. We will get in a friend's car and head to the Yeosu/Suncheon airport. We will fly to Seoul, shuttle to Incheon International Airport and arrive 11 hours later in LA. Then, we have to get the cats and Haydar through customs/immigration and start the 6 hour drive back to Phoenix. I can't wait to be home.

There's a SLIGHT possibility that it will be too hot tomorrow to fly with the cats. It's supposed to rain. Let's hope it does.

Since I thought it would be my last day, I had parties for all of my classes. Here are some of the pics...

The problem:

Video Card

Minimum: 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0 (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 or above / ATI Radeon 9500 or above / Intel GMA 3-series or above)

You Have: MOBILITY RADEON 9000 (MOBILITY RADEON 9000 AGP (0x4C66))

FAIL: Sorry, your video card does not meet this minimum requirement.

Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card

Video RAM: Required - 128 MB , You have - 32 MB

Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes

Pixel Shader Ver.: Required - 2.0 , You have - 1.4

Dell Support:

10:28:16 PM Agent E&A_Rep_Lea

Oh, I see. It doesn't show that the graphics card of your Inspiron 8500 can be upgraded, Cassandra. I apologize. I will check if we can do something with the speed of your system, a moment please.

10:28:35 PM Customer Cassandra Walker

So what am I supposed to do? Buy a new computer? That's ridiculous.

10:30:06 PM Agent E&A_Rep_Lea

I have to say yes to your question.

Yay! Sims 3 is out! I downloaded it from BestBuy.com but it didn't work. It kept giving me a Shader Model 2 error and told me to upgrade my video card... not so easy on a laptop. After much searching (and many tries), I finally found this torrent. It's just a case of adding a couple of dll files and the Swiftshader.ini file into the same directory as the game. C:program fileselectronic artsthe sims 3gamebin. It worked! However, the game is running REEEEEAAAALLLLY slow. Now I'm off to find a way to fix that issue.

Anyway, my boss called me once again to say that the tickets should go through sometime tonight or early Friday morning. If I don't get them, I'm supposed to call her. We'll see. Hopefully, this will all be done soon...

Yesterday I sent an email to my boss about the issues she left unresolved. She called me from the States today. She said her credit card was maxed out but that we would get tickets tomorrow. She also apologized for never telling her husband that he was supposed to pick up a paper for Haydar. She said we would get it this week.

I've been applying for jobs like crazy for the past 2 months and haven't gotten one call back. I've been trying everything I can think of to get a foot in the door and nothing's working! It's just a bit stressful knowing I am walking into house payments without a job! Ahh!

So the ex-Korean president committed suicide. Crazy. People seem to be in shock around here.

In other news, I started taking diet pills. I only have 3 weeks left and I figured I'd give it a shot. I went to the doctor and she told me I was like 20kg overweight. That's 44 pounds! That didn't seem right to me so I looked it up. For my height, I should weigh between 135-170 pounds. Right now I'm at like 183. I didn't realize it was so much. Anyway, according to things I found online, that's only like 5kg overweight... not 20kg! The doctor says I should be able to lose like 4-5 kg by the time I leave. That would make me happy. Dropping 40 pounds seems insane. Anyway, I'll try the health kick for awhile.

We should know for sure tonight what's going on with our plane tickets. Apparently, my boss only reserved one ticket at the good price and we are waiting to see if we can get one more. If so, that would be great. Getting more and more excited... now I just wish I could find a job!

My last day of work will be June 9th and we will fly out June 20th. Yipee!

Is it impossible to teach acceptance of diversity in Korea? Korea is the most xenophobic society that I have ever been exposed to. Not only is there no physical diversity (everyone has the same color eyes and hair), but there are also a VERY limited number of foreigners and mixed-race Koreans.

When I show a picture of a black person to my students, they all assume that they must be from Africa. A friend of mine told me it was hopeless to try to teach anything along diversity to these kids. They just wouldn't get it.

I thought about Jane Elliott, a 3rd grade teacher who performed an experiment on racism with her class after Martin Luther's King death.

"On that day, a Tuesday, she decided to make the blue-eyed children the superior first, giving them extra privileges like second helpings at lunch, access to the new jungle gym and five minutes extra at recess.[2] She would not allow blue-eyed and brown-eyed children to drink from the same water fountain.[4] She would offer them praise for being hard-working and intelligent. The “brownies” on the other hand, would be disparaged. She even made the brown-eyed children wear ribbons around their neck.[2]

At first, there was resistance to the idea that brown-eyed children were not the equals of blue-eyed children. To counter this, she used a pseudo-scientific explanation for her actions by stating that the melanin responsible for making brown-eyed children… also was linked to intelligence and ability, therefore the “brownies” pigmentation would result in lack of these qualities.[2] Shortly thereafter, this initial resistance fell away. Those who were deemed “superior” became arrogant, bossy and otherwise unpleasant to their “inferior” classmates. Their grades also improved, doing mathematical and reading tasks that seemed outside their ability before. The “inferior” classmates also transformed – into timid and subservient children, including those who had previously been dominant in the class. These children’s academic performance suffered, even with tasks that had been simple before.[4]

The following day, Elliott reversed the exercise, making the brown-eyed children superior. While the brown-eyed children did taunt the blue-eyed in ways similar to what had occurred the previous day, Elliott reports it was much less intense. At 2:30 on that Wednesday, Elliott told the blue-eyed children to take off their collars and the children cried and hugged each other. To reflect on the experience, she had the children write letters to Coretta Scott King and write compositions about the experience.[2]"

I wish there was a way to introduce this concept to Korean students. However, I'm afraid my friend might be right. You can't expect to move boulders with one person in one day.

A couple of weeks ago I posted an MP3 player for sale for 200,000 won. A couple of days ago, I received this message on Facebook:

Re:hello Seller,

I saw your item as i was browsing on facebook Classifieds and have read the condition carefully,i will like to make purchase of it immediately for my husband who was recently transfered to West Africa(NIGERIA) for work,actually he is celebrating his birthday so i just decide to get him this as a gift,get back to me if the item is still available for sale.I am willing to offer you $400.00 for the item,including shipping cost via USPS Express Mail to west Africa,will be paying you through PayPal because it's the safest way to pay online.i await your responds(gift2duff@uymail.

com)

regards

I sent him back the email and said to send me the money to my PayPal account. Today, I received 2 emails. One from the buyer:

Hello Cassandra

Thanks i have just send the money for the item into your paypal account

so this is the shipping Address are below..................and

i want you

to ship the item and the Via usps priority registered mail, Ok

Name..........Adewale Adefamoye

Address.........26,Adedoyin Road Lawanson,

City.........Surulere

State.......Lagos

Country......Nigeria

Zipcode....... 23401

i will like you to post the items tomorrow and get back to paypal at

onlinetracking.post@consultant.com with the tracking number for

verification and get back to me with the tracking number...........

And one, IT SEEMED, from Paypal:

Notification of an Instant Payment Received from duff james(gift2duff@uymail.com)‏

From: dufforri04@hotmail.com on behalf of Service@PayPal.com (online._tracking@accountant.com)

You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as junk

Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2009 1:38:38 PM

To: casswalker@hotmail.com

Dear Cassandra Walker,

You have an Instant Payment of USD $400.00.00 from Duff James

(gift2duff@uymail.com)

----------------------------------------------------

Payment Details

Purchased From:Cassandra Walker,

Transaction ID : 3W492537HE3468708

Item Title Quantity Price Subtotal

IRiver PMP MP3 and Video Player 1

$400.00

USD

Shipping & Handling via USP Mail 3- 4Days Delivery to 23401 :-

(includes any seller handling fees) $00.00USD

Shipping Insurance (not offered):- ----

Total: $400.00

USD

Delivery Information

Address: Adewale Adefamoye

26,Adedoyin Road Lawanson,

Surulere,

Lagos,23401

Nigeria.

Address Status: Confirmed

Important Note: This PayPal® payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED"but will not be credited to your account until the shipment reference/tracking number is sent to us for verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller.

Below are the necessary information requested before your account will be credited.

Send tracking number to us or email us through this mail online._tracking@accountant.com and our customer service care will attend to you. As soon as you send us the shipment's tracking number to us for security purposes and the safety of the buyer and the seller,the money will be credited to your account.

**PLEASE NOTE**

Once item has been shipped and the tracking number sent to us,

You will receive a "CONFIRMATION EMAIL" from PayPal® Team informing you that the Fund has been credited

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for using PayPal!

The PayPal Team

Sensing something to good to be true, I logged into my Paypal account by going to the website outside of the email. There is no deposit. I have since forwarded the email to the Fraud Department at Paypal. BEWARE!

There were several fishy moments with this...

Number 1, they offered me more than I posted the item for sale.

Number 2, the email said "From: dufforri04@hotmail.com on behalf of Service@PayPal.com". That means he just changed his replyto email in the email settings.

Number 3, he didn't provide a phone number.

Number 4, the part that said, "This PayPal® payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED"but will not be credited to your account until the shipment reference/tracking number is sent to us for verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller."

Number 5, the buyer's Facebook profile has been deleted.

Your results:

You are Deanna Troi

Deanna Troi 75% James T. Kirk (Captain) 70% Beverly Crusher 65% Will Riker 60% Mr. Sulu 50% Geordi LaForge 50% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 50% Mr. Scott 45% Uhura 40% Jean-Luc Picard 40% Worf 40% Data 36% Chekov 35% Spock 24% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 15% You are a caring and loving individual.

You understand people's emotions and

you are able to comfort and counsel them.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Test

We went and saw Star Trek tonight. Coooooool. Reminds me of how much I liked watching the show back in the day. I think Haydar got sick of me quoting lines, though. LOL

It was great seeing the new actors playing young old actors. Did that make sense? Sylar as Spock... that was unexpected. It was a good role for him.

I'm getting so excited about going home! We;re talking less than a month now! I should have the final date tomorrow, but I think it will now be June 6th. AZ, here we come!

So... now it appears we might be leaving early June instead of late June. My replacement teacher wants to come at the end of May and no later. Let's hope I can swing a good deal.

On Saturday, Haydar and I were driving around town on the scooter looking for something to do. I suggested going to the bus station and going to Yeosu, the beach town 20 minutes from us. Two $4 tickets later, we were on the bus. I texted a couple of people I new there and was invited to a beach party. We picked up some drinks and McDonalds and hopped in a cab for the beach. We arrived at about 6pm.

Everyone was sitting around eating BBQ and chatting. After a few minutes, I found myself in a blissful state. Haydar and I were sitting on the beach watching the waves hit the shore. Next to us were kids running around in the sand. In front of us were people playing badminton. Next to them were a couple of people fishing. Behind us, I heard discussion of Tolstoy and the Fountainhead. It was exactly what we needed.

When it got dark, the guys made a huge bonfire. We played a frisbee game that was all about throwing a disc through two poles with hitting off the paper cups on the top of the poles. Soon, a poker game was started up next to the fire. After the game, we all sat around the fire. One guy played the guitar and another played the harmonica. Everyone joined in singing random songs. It was beautiful. A group of Japanese tourists brought us over plates of watermelon for us to enjoy.

It couldn't have been more perfect.