Endings and Beginnings

Today is a thoroughly lazy day here in Le Havre, sunny and chill, no agenda whatsoever. But it feels momentous, emotionally: it's our very last full day in Europe.

Tomorrow evening we board the freighter ship Coral and embark on a 10-day trans-Atlantic adventure, before landing in New York on the 15th of November.

It feels very final, boarding this ship. It feels like the end of our journey, and in many ways it is. Since February, we have journeyed through THIRTY countries, and after this we'll be in the USA building a business - so this is the last foreign soil under our feet for a good while. The end of our nomadic life... of staying in hostels & Airbnbs... of constantly planning for trains, planes, and ships. I'm genuinely going to miss all of that (to a degree), as well as the absence of work duties and the pleasure of expansive freedom laid at our feet.

But this is the beginning of so much, as well!:

1. We're about to experience 10 days of internet-less existing: days to mentally prepare for reverse culture shock after almost 5 years living abroad. Days to compose our reflections from the past 9 months and write them down with pen and paper. Hours to fill exercising, planning, star-gazing, conversing with captain/crew/co-travelers, and being blissfully unaware of American politics.* At least, that's what we're imagining! I'll be sure to write a full post of our trip after the fact, full of legitimate details.

*We didn't plan it this way, but I'm fervently grateful that we'll be literally in the middle of an ocean on Election Day. We voted from abroad a week ago so we've done our part, and when we land in NY on the 15th, 'Murica will have a new president. From our cozy cocoon of cargo crates, I plan on not 
worrying about the fate of my country for hours on end.

2. We have family and friends waiting in NYC, NY state, CO, and Atlanta that we're eager to see and spend time with again. The traveling doesn't really end until December 20th, which means we have an entire month+ ahead of us as nomads, still! This return to the USA is the beginning of renewed relationships and in-person hugs, which are my favorite.

3. And the most exciting and terrifying of all, this is the beginning of our next stage of life as we approach business ownership. We have a lot of work ahead of us, currently fueled by dreams and studies and plans and earl grey tea, but I am ready for it.

Leaving Europe will be bittersweet, but far more sweet with the prospects ahead of us.

Before I sign off for two weeks, I have one little gift for my mom. You asked for a photo of
Carcassonne, but I may have gotten a little carried away. ;) Let's go there together someday!

(http://youtu.be/F2rREMbazkkp)

Carpe cargo voyages,

Anna

P.S. Just want to throw out a thank you to all of you for reading through this. I hope you're enjoying this adventure even half as much as we are! ^_^

Nomad livin

(Written July 25th)

Hello from Mongolia, you lovely people!

(The story of our 2016 Victory Lap continues, albeit not in order - read this post first to catch up!)

I'm currently enjoying a brief, middle-of-the-hurricane moment of stillness here in Ulaanbaatar. Yesterday, we left the ecolodge in Murun where we were volunteering for 2 weeks, and tomorrow we start our trip through Russia on the transsiberian railroad.

                                                     Our home near Murun, Mongolia

Mongolia has been a dream country - almost as soon as we got out of UB, it became my second-favorite country on the Victory Lap so far. (I don't think anything can dislodge New Zealand from spot #1) The capital city is disappointingly hazy with pollution and distinctly lacking in the color green. But as soon as we got far enough away, I perked up with delight over the glorious scenery: rolling hills, craggy mountains, green fields everywhere, animals moving about in every corner of your eye... and horses. Horses EVERYWHERE.

                                                     Our host, Bat with his daughter


When I was young, I had a mild horse obsession, and I've never grown out of it. I vividly remember a moment in late elementary school or early middle school, when I was in an acting class and everyone was going around a circle telling their favorite animals. I wanted to sound cool for a boy, so I said "white tiger" was my favorite, and maybe even believed it for a split second. The sharing ended with my teacher, and she said, "I have always thought that horses are the most beautiful animals in the world." And I felt a strong mix of emotions: leaping agreement inside that I also love horses most, regret that I didn't say the truth right away, frustration over not being able to correct myself without looking foolish, and an unacknowledged resolve to never experience this moment again. Since then, I've never lied about favorites to impress anyone. I love the color green, I love tiny things, and I have always thought that horses are the most beautiful and majestic animals on earth.

All that to say, Mongolia is bursting with horsey eye-candy.

                      

And just general, breath-taking eye-candy everywhere:

We lived for 2 weeks at Harganat Ecolodge, a tourist camp that will potentially open for business next year. We worked every day for 6 hours alongside 6-8 other WWOOFers, weeding gardens, watering gardens, building rock walls, and designing rock wall art. Adam worked almost every day building a wall to keep out cows and goats from the ecolodge grounds:

                    This very wall, verily 

My work experience was particular satisfying, because the second day I was asked to design a snow leopard for the restaurant walls, which are covered in various traditional Mongolian animals & symbols. For a week I worked next to a lovely Belgian named Suzanne who was designing a wolf on the wall section next to me.

After 2 weeks, I had the satisfaction of completing both wall sections on the last day we were there. Whether it sticks around or not, I had a blast making Mongolian rock art! (What a way to earn one's keep for a couple weeks, eh?) 

                                   The chalk drawing done by the owners 

                                  My first sand attempt - drawing the outline and filling it in 

                               This was design attempt number 4 or 5 or so 

                       Work begins! We started every day by mixing cement, then setting the rocks

                                               LEGS... 

                             LEGS.... N HEADZ....

                                             Aaaand a snow leopard! Huzzah!

       DONE. Black night with pinpoint stars and a full warm moon shared between the 2 walls. 

We loved the scenery, and for the most part enjoyed the work, but the cool, fun people we met while there were the absolute best part.  We worked and laughed and ate and adventured and talked together, and felt incredibly lucky to be amidst a group of genuine, hard-working, enjoyable human beings. We hope to meet them all again in the future - maybe at our hostel!

                           L to R: The Netherlands, France, Belgium, USA, Japan, Norway!

                                          Our last breakfast on our last day

                                               Mealtime in the cooking ger

                                               Ketchup, salt, soy sauce, and tea were the constants ^^ 

We took lots of naps in our ger:

We listened to Hamilton the musical on repeat, ate a metric ton of meat and potatoes, and got to experience a local Naadam event - Naadam is the biggest festival in Mongolia, with celebrations and competitions held in every major aimag / city throughout the country, though most people go to Ulaanbaatar. We were in little Murun, in the Huuvsghul aimag, and it was a fantastic time!

                                       A dance performance with shamans and singers and more!

                                              Horse racing - all the jockeys are young kids!

                                   The most popular event is wrestling, though 

                                 Relatives of our host who spent summer in the gers next to us 

                                                        Yup. Camels are really dang TALL.

        It was like a county fair with games - this guys is trying to just hang for more than 3 minutes

                                         Waiting for the horse race to pass our group

There is nothing perfect about Mongolia, but that was part of what made it such a meaningful time for us. I think we were happier during those 2 weeks of constant dirt and spiders and discomfort than we were during the whole trip up until that point. 

If you have the chance to visit Mongolia, take it. You won't regret it.

Carpe Chinggis Khaan,

Anna