Home on the Range

Hello all.

It is with great pleasure that I declare myself a circumnavigatress! 

Most Affectionate Valedictions!

Kelsey 'World Traveler' Westphal

Wrapping it Up

12/11/08

Wow. 3 Days left. Costa Rica was a blast. We rented a 3-house little villa with 20 other people, right by the beach. There was a pool and scarlet macaws and coconut and starfruit trees and very cheap imperial beer and warm air and beautiful emerald hills and we lay in the sun and relished the end of finals and schoolwork and enjoyed each others company for the last port of the trip. We went on a canopy/zipline tour through the rain forest and the tour guides kept calling me Barbie and then we had so much yummy pineapple and watermelon and banana and then got delicious rice and beans in the downtown area of Jaco Beach. I ran on the beach and it was such a nice change after enduring the treadmill on the ship—not running in a closet with mirrors felt soooo good. We really had no time in Costa Rica. Two days were spent mostly in transit, the other laying out and eating and relaxing—but no complaints here. I think the relaxing thing is part of the whole Pura Vida mentality (correct me if I am wrong, Costa Ricans). Everyone there was so nice and welcoming, I definitely must go back.
        Last night was the ambassador’s ball. Everyone got all dolled up and the cafeteria made their first fully edible meal all trip! TOFU with vegetables, dumplings, sweet and sour soup, mandarin salad, and tables and tables of desserts and fruit. Plus one glass of champagne! There was dancing in the big auditorium which I tried but the ship was rocking and there wasn’t enough space for my hippie arm flinging dance moves so I sort of gave up. But I enjoyed myself nonetheless.
        I am really excited to come home. To have a window, a refrigerator, my FAMILY, my friends, grass to lay in, newspapers and non-syrup coffee, animals, trees, books to read…it is almost unreal. Christmas will be so lovely—I am going to be like Santa Claus with all the gifts I bought on this trip! I think this trip has made me a more generous person. I take myself less seriously, and have realized the power of just being nice to people as a rule of thumb. I have made such wonderful memories and friendships on this trip that I am so thankful for, but I realized how truly valuable my family and friends are back home.  Without their emails and love, I think the times when I was lonely or sea crazy or bored would have been unbearable. Time is fleeting and seeing the different ways everyone in the world finds a way to use theirs has made me want to squeeze every last drop of adventure and love out of my time as I can. MOM AND DAD---YOU ARE THE BEST. You have shown me the world and I cannot tell you thank you or I love you enough. ☺

Gahd

I am bored. The ocean is still blue. My work is finished. My lunch was 6 apples. Thank god we are getting an afternoon on land (honolulu) tomorrow...my brain is turning into silly putty! a thanksgiving picnic on the beach is planned, as is a hording of food at some grocery store for the next 9-day stretch (this one including finals! yaaaaay!) between here and Costa Rica. Costa Rica looks like it will be a grand finale, we rented a 3-house villa thing with a pool and waterfall right next to the beach and it is quite inexpensive--plus I bet they have AMAZING food that will slake my thirst for mexican food. It is getting bad---food took up all of my dreams last night! I woke up chewing my hair. Being in America will be a strange sensation tomorrow--not having to speak slowly and with my hands so people will understand me, being able to read the signs...and probably a lot of fat people. Japan i think has 6 fat people in total, and I only saw about 3. I don't know how a country with the most delicious food possible does it, but they do, and I give them a standing ovation (in my mind). Still waiting on those food emails!
-Kelsey

Music

Soundtrack to Travel the World:
Here are some songs I would never have survived being at sea without:

Cecilia by Simon and Garfunkel: this song was always a good one when I was feeling tired of being on the ship, missing land or just wanting to see my friends.

Lake Michigan by Rogue Wave: this song, first of all, is exquisitely crafted. It just gradually gets prettier and prettier and, in my mind, glitters like the sun off the sea on a warm day.

Snail Garden by Black Moth Super Rainbow: this band never fails to tickle the furrows of my brain with multi-colored mastery. Sublime!

Simple Twist of Fate by Bob Dylan: Nothing Bob does ever fails me, but this song seems to capture the beautiful transience of this trip.

Ed is a Portal by Akron/Family: A rollicking good time, one I put on when I feel like celebrating everything!

Asleep for Days by Blitzen Trapper: The title describes what traveling for 3 and a half months makes me want to be.

There is no There by the Books: Makes me feel like someone is cleaning my soul with soft little cotton pads doused in liquid love. The Books are divine providence, I might as well put their entire discography on here.

Robots Got No Cadence or Balance by Prefuse 73: A dreamy little piano groove with electronic blips and ‘oooh’ ‘eeeh’ ‘aahs’ and a really sweet wall of beautiful violin strokes. Awesome.

Trudi by Donovan: This is a foxy jam, not really related lyrically to the trip at all, but Donovan never fails to lift my spirits when my cave—I mean room--- feels too small.

Fall in a River by Badly Drawn Boy: This one sounds like a troop of bohemian musicians dancing out of a mossy green forest at dusk. I miss trees so I listen to this when I want to climb one.

Blue Ridge Mountains by Fleet Foxes: Reminds me of Nicholas and is about traveling. And the band is just plain perfect!

Forever by Working for A Nuclear Free City: I’m using it on my slideshow when I get back—it is perfect for processing a flood of memories and images of wildly different things.  Plus it has a sitar, which is always two points in my book.

Secrets of the Sea by Billy Bragg and Wilco: A happy ditty that strums away the clouds.

Cabin Fever by the Brian Jonestown Massacre: This will probably play a lot in the next few weeks. Being on the sea is tiring (and a bit maddening), especially with only a day in Hawaii and 3 in Costa Rica to break it up until home!

We Sleep in the Ocean by the Cloud Room: Talks about escaping and traveling—connection?

My Yoke is Heavy by Daniel Johnston: my favorite song in the whole world. It was stuck in my head all of Tokyo and I was so glad. It makes me so happy!!! Just find a way to listen to it because it is genius.

Third World Lover by DJ Shadow: An Indian-spiced instrumental piece of ear candy.

Suddenly Everything has Changed by The Flaming Lips: because it has (but maybe not so suddenly)

Bombooji by Gong: I miss hippies, and this is my substitute.

Insects Don’t Eat Bananas by Joan of Arc: Short, badly sung, and about monkeys= fabulous.

Fool That I Am by Kula Shaker: For the more wistful of my days.

Food Fantasies

Breakfast:
3 gallons of coffee (real coffee...not the syrupy poison on the ship)
1 vat of vanilla yogurt
17 bags of craisins & granola
1 omelet with peppers, onions, pepper jack cheese and a whole bottle of salsa
An entire orange tree’s worth of fresh-squeezed orange juice

Lunch:
1 bean and cheese burrito (daschund-sized)
1 cask of horchata
Red Hot Blues chips
Fruit, fruit, fruit until I can eat no more!!!

Dinner:
1 baked potato with sour cream, green onions, butter and pepper
1 veggie burger (with 12 patties) with avocado, lettuce, onions and wasabi mayonnaise
Grilled and marinated vegetables (Dad style)
Pink Lemonade
MORE FRUIT!!!!!!!!

The food on the ship has gone beyond redundancy into being just plain revolting. I feel like I am in the great siege of Paris and they have opened up the zoos and started mincing baboons  and filleting zebras for lack of anything appetizing or edible left. The little cubes of cheese that used to trigger at least partial taste bud satisfaction are now nowhere to be seen, and the brief few days where they had varieties of tea other than British Dog Slobber, are long gone. I have resorted to fooling my body into thinking it is full with lettuce and going to bed early to ignore my pleading stomach. Trail mix dances through my brain, taunting me with its salty, crunchy elusiveness, and anyone who dares speak of Mexican or Thai food is risking being mauled. Honolulu’s supermarkets will be empty by the time I am done with them! I will be home so soon (25 days as of today) that I can stand it…at least for now. If anyone wants to send me lengthy emails describing every taste, aroma and texture of their favorite meal, I will nourish my brain at least in that way. I’m not even kidding, getting an email like that would at least provide some sustenance! Keep those emails coming, people! I’m still alive over here on the Pacific and want to know how you are doing!

Japanfatuation

Whoever doesn’t believe in love at first sight needs to go to Tokyo…they will be exposed as the fraudulent non-believers that they are! Japan!! Japan!!!! My toes wiggle and my eyelashes bat coquettishly at the mere mention of the place. Not only did the album ‘The Lemon of Pink’ by the Books (a savagely good cd) synchronize perfectly with my entry into the country, but I finally was able to understand the language (to a degree), and the earth’s rotation graciously volunteered to incarnadine the fingertips of all the trees and send brisk whispers through the streets, with the smell of rice cooking and tea brewing at the fringe of every chilly gust. I can’t get this place out of my head. First of all, they have realized the blatant superiority of green tea as a flavor. Kit kats, ice cream, liquor, you name it and they have it green tea flavored. Also, TOFU! I ate tofu ice cream, a tofu latte, tofu in soup that, all hyperbole aside, kept a dopey grin on my face for 3 hours after its consumption. Even thinking about biting into that heavenly rectangle of wonder gets me salivating. The first day I set foot, in Kobe, the weather was sublime, and a group of about 15 kids and I hopped on the train to Kyoto for a field trip-esque excursion with my global studies teacher. We wandered around some Buddhist and Zen temples, visited a garden and a shrine, and padded through a mossy green forest and marveled silently at the majesty of the changing leaves. Mitzi’s mom, who is living in Tokyo at the moment, came and met us and we went out to dinner---I ate the aforementioned tofu that day, enough said. That night me and my ‘posse’ went out to caper through the streets of Kobe. I drew a very well-rendered inebriated octopus on the wall of this bar called ‘Sonic’, and requested songs from the DJ that were just too obscure, and was mildly disappointed. The subway closes at midnight and I was out past then, so my friend Brian and I had to get a taxi. For some reason, I always forget the word for boat (fune) and mix it up with the word for winter (fuyu), so here I am at 2 in the morning asking a very perplexed and very amused taxi driver to take me to the “big winter”…but I made it back safe and sound, to wake up the next morning and go OSAKA! So much color, so much style, so much noise and youth! Mitzi took us to a Mexican restaurant (one of the many foods I am craving with mounting agony) and we all were in throes of gustatory passion for the 2 hours we sat there and basically licked our plates clean. My group of friends has gotten to the point where we basically just eat each other’s food and just ask out of habit, so arms were crisscrossed and forks colliding like crazy in our dimly lit corner of the El Pancho restaurant. Jim and Rob’s is getting some serious income as soon as I get back into Ojai, that is for sure. I miss Mexican food like CRAZY!! So after El Pancho, we walked around the city for a bit, visiting a very pricey vintage/”thrift” store and taking pictures in this photo booth that was bejeweled and pink and sparkly and just ohhh so me! People watching in Japan is amazing. Everyone here has the coolest outfits, I don’t think I saw one person who didn’t look like they had planned their ensemble the night before. 5 different patterns and a kaleidoscopic color scheme seems to be the general rule for fashion, but they manage to make it work. Meaningless English phrases also seem to be a favorite. I bought a T-shirt that says “Kick Out! STUPID GLORY DAYS!” on it. I plan on wearing it weekly, if not more! Then from Osaka, we went to Kyoto, where we met Mitzi’s mom.
        Kyoto, lamentably, was only viewed at night and on a soggy, gray morning. We walked through the metro station (I won’t even go into the transportation system here…it should make the U.S. pale with embarrassment) and got dinner at a little restaurant where we all sat on the floor and they came out with giant egg omelets and slapped them on the sizzling black surface that took up the center of our table and kept the food piping hot the whole meal! We slept in a ryokan, a tatami-matted, narrow-staircased, paper-walled traditional Japanese inn. They kept green tea constantly at our reach, and boy did I drink a lot of it. I fell asleep really early, to a badly-dubbed Mission Impossible in Japanese. Woken up by the clicks of women’s high heels outside our inn (the tiniest sounds came through those walls), we all got up and fetched breakfast and then boarded the sleek, playpus-headed Shinkansen, or bullet train, to Tokyo!! Soaring through the country side, I mentally ran up every hill and leapt at every low-lying cloud, knowing that I would soon be on the water for almost 20 days, with only a hurried Thanksgiving in tourist-clogged Honolulu to break up the monotony. Arriving in Tokyo, the sun was listless and only let a few rays weakly seep through the grey clouds. This may have been why my visit to the Harajuku district (of which Gwen Stefani so colorfully sings) was mostly fruitless—only a smattering of furry costumes and gothic regalia, but still enough to make it worthwhile. After a tofu burger and some miso soup, we went to Shibuya station, where flashing comic billboards and neon signs lit up the sky like the aurora borealis above the endless herds of humans crossing the streets. The weird thing about Tokyo is that even when it seems like there are two thousand people in one tiny little square, it is still silent. Put the same amount of New Yorkers or Indians or French in the same situation and it would be bedlam! Everywhere I went the Japanese were so polite and self-contained, which was an interesting contrast to their off-the-wall style and adoration of gaudy, self-aggrandizing Western media. That night we went to this club called Gaspanic, where drinks were painfully overpriced, but I got to boogie the night away with a Japanese man in what looked like a plumber’s one-piece suit, and his companion, an arm-swinging black man in striped overalls. We got back (Chris, Scott, Emily and  I) to the subways on the very last run, at midnight, and returned to our hostel. The lightning fast internet was heaven for Chris and I—we stayed up until 3 in the morning talking to friends and uploading pictures and freaking out about how rad Tokyo was.
        The next day was THE BEST DAY OF MY ENTIRE LIFE. I woke up to the sun (oh glorious golden orb of joy!!) at 7 in the morning, and felt it in my every limb that things were going to be perfect. I got a cup of coffee downstairs with the hostel owners, showered (towels cost money so I used my purple bandana instead), and everyone eventually got up and we rented BICYCLES!! Mine was orange and had a basket AND a bell…I was so in love. We had to wait around for Mitzi, Drew and Kristin to get to our side of Tokyo from Mitzi’s mom’s, so we rode around the bicycle rental place ringing our bells and “Top of the morning to you”-ing, probably giving the owner a headache and causing considerable confusion amongst the Japanese businesspeople. Once everyone was together, we flew through the streets of Tokyo, a perfect temperate day with frayed clouds lacing the horizon and the wind making rusty whirlwinds of fall leaves on the sidewalks. A forty-five minute stop at a supermarket with about thirty aisles of everything I love and more gleeful bicycle cruising led us to a gazebo type structure at the edge of a park, where we all parked our bikes, sat down, and unpacked our exploding grocery bags of sushi and chips and mochi and banana chips and enormous (the size of grapefruits) Fuji apples and other delectable snacks and just sat and feasted. First of all, riding bicycles is probably one of my favorite things in the world to do. The fact that I did it in Tokyo, during fall, on a beautiful day, and then got to eat the best sushi and eat real Fuji apples that haven’t been frozen and ruined in a cruise-ship freezer for months…I was in heaven. Every time I hear bicycle bells from now on, my eyes will glaze over and I will probably be in a nostalgic reverie for a few hours. And the day wasn’t even half over! After consuming my weight in sweetened rice and tofu, we pedaled around more, stopping at a really eclectic flea market and a little souvenir boulevard, then went back to the hostel. After a cat nap and some general laying about, we hopped on our bicycles again, and rode, bells-a-jingling, across town to a karaoke bar. We got our own private room and ‘Happy!’ Beers and sang at the top of our lungs for hours. I was really surprised, they had Radiohead and Peter, Bjorn and John, and Bjork and quite a bit of non-mainstream music. We all thought the walls were soundproof, so we just sang as loud and as ear-piercingly as we could, but (this I discovered several days later), you could hear everything in the hallway! So what I thought was a private, one-on-one screaming of ‘Ocean Avenue’ with Chris was heard by all of Tokyo!
So my conclusion is this: I love Japan. I LOVE JAPAN. Marry me, oh land of tofu and chopsticks and hello kitty!!! Why did I ever leave you?!

Hello Panda!