On the Road

Hello from Dubai! I have spent the last week and a half in Cairo, Egypt, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It has been quite an experience and the differences between the two places are striking.
Once arriving in Cairo, I was immediately overwhelmed by the size of the city and the number of people there. Cairo is the second largest city in the world, with around 22 million people! It is a very dirty city with people everywhere, and what seems like mass chaos all day, every day, except on Fridays (Muslim holy days). It was cool seeing Arabic writing all over the city and hearing only Arabic as I walked through the streets. I was very surprised by the lack of English spoken in Cairo, with very few people able to speak any more than a simple greeting.
My trip started off well with my bag actually arriving on the same plane as myself. I should have known that something bad was about to happen, and it did. My second day in Cairo, I withdrew money from an ATM machine. However, the machine refused to give my card back. To make a long story short, I ended up having to cancel my card, and now I will have to hope that a new card arrives in Uganda pronto. Unfortunately, this setback prevented me from traveling down to Luxor to see more pyramids and the Valley of the Kings. I did see the Pyramids of Giza and the Pyramids at Saqqara, which were incredible and something that I have wanted to see my whole life. I got the chance to ride a camel through the desert around the pyramids, and that was a lot of fun. I polished up my bargaining skills and by the end of my trip, was receiving items for almost the cost that a local Egyptian would pay. I also befriended a kid from Cairo who took me around some of the areas of Old and Islamic Cairo, including entrance to several mosques. Since nearly 80% of the Cairo population is Muslim, at five different times each day, a person can hear the entire city praying out loud throughout the thousands of mosques of the city. It really is a beautiful sound. On the contrary, the rest of the days are filled with the nonstop honking of car horns (I named this "Egyptian music":). If you think drivers where we live are bad, just spend an hour in Cairo, and I can guarantee you that your perspective will change. To give you a better idea, as far as I could tell, there are absolutely no traffic laws in Cairo. This is shown on a three-lane highway when there are five or six cars spread across it, and also by the fact that my taxi drivers rarely spent time driving below 120km/h, while simultaneously passing a "60 km/h speed limit" sign and waving to the police on the side of the road. When bored, or just when the mood strikes, the drivers begin honking and don't stop until both hands are required for driving while talking on their cellphones. Cairo was absolutely crazy, and although seeing the pyramids was the fulfillment of a life-long dream, I couldn't wait to escape the chaotic hustle-and-bustle of that huge city.

Dubai is an absolutely incredible place. There is so much money here that it is a little mind-blowing. Dubai is over-the-top in every way you can imagine. This city alone has the tallest and most luxurious (7 stars) hotel in the world, the largest shopping mall in the world, and the tallest building in the world. Everything is brand new and the amount of building going on here is insane. This city reminds me a lot of Las Vegas without the casinos. All the cars here are new Mercedes, BMWs, LandRovers, Ferraris, and Porsches. It is kind of funny seeing a Muslim man in his headdress and robes, speeding down the highway in a Ferrari while talking on his new iphone.
I stayed with a friend in his apartment, a sweet place up on the top floor of a tall building near the water. I'll just say that it is a little different than staying at the hostel in Cairo. I'm afraid that I've been spoiled now before going to Uganda. We'll see.
So tomorrow morning I will catch a taxi to the airport and hop on a plane to Uganda. I can't wait! I wish you all the best and will report next from Kampala!

One Chapter Ending, Another Beginning

This last week or so has been a very emotional one for me. I took my last hikes in the mountains of southern Poland, said goodbye to the wolves that I have been following through the forest all these months, always a step or two behind, and also closed an important chapter in my life. I have done a lot of reflecting over the past week, about some of the experiences I have had here, about where I started and how far I have come, and of the subtle changes that my experiences here have brought about in me. There has been a lot of laughter and a lot of tears. This has been one long rollercoaster ride, but every climb and every drop, every turn and every redirection, every increase in speed and every slowdown, they have all been worth it.

So I won’t bore you with all the things that have happened this last week, but I will mention some of the more important things, and also some of the more humorous happenings and thoughts. So when it came time to leave my worksite for the last time, I was looking out the window of the place I have essentially called home for the past 11 months, up at the mountains that I have befriended during my numerous hikes. As I was looking out the window, only a few minutes from catching a bus and leaving that place for good, I saw a small dog run up to the fence of the yard. I immediately recognized this dog, a Labrador mix. I first saw this dog when I arrived here in February, and quickly named him the “Marking Machine.” He literally pees on every single thing he comes across, and he takes such pride in it and puts forth such an effort! Every time he lifts his leg to pee, he lifts it so high that he looks like he will fall over backward. It is hilarious! I fell in love with him and looked for him every morning as I would wake up and look out the window to see what the weather was doing in the mountains. Since returning here in September, I had only seen him once, at the very beginning of my return. I was starting to worry that maybe something had happened to him, but as other things started piling up, I also began to forget about him. However, this day, the last time I looked out this window, he decided to make his presence known and come say goodbye. He looked up at me through the window as he was doing his best to make sure all the dogs in the neighborhood knew whose fencepost that was. I hope he goes on to mark those fenceposts for years to come.

After saying my goodbyes to the mountains, to the place where I have been calling home, my hosts, and to my biologist friends, it finally came time to say goodbye to the wolves. It is always hard working to protect something that you never see, but I have learned that you just need to trust that your efforts are making a difference. I will miss these wolves and always trying to solve the puzzles that they leave behind. I hope that they have a future in this region and slowly gain more acceptance among the people here.

I then traveled up to Krakow, my home away from home for nearly the last year. Among all the cities I have been to in Europe, Krakow is right near the top. Not even considering how my life has changed during my time here, Krakow is an unbelievably beautiful city with a lot of character and history. Walking through the streets that I have come to know so well, memories rushed into my head without abandon. Every street corner, every tram and bus stop, every little shop, they all had memories tied to them. It was pretty emotional, especially the last walk I took through Market Square. On the way there, I stopped by the good old Orange Hostel, where I had spent every weekend for five months. I had become their first VIP member, received my own special discount there, had a bed reserved just for me, and had also made friends with the girls that worked there. Luckily, this time, as I stepped through the door, I saw one of the coolest girls I have befriended there. She knew right then that I had come to say goodbye. She showed me around the hostel, which has undergone some significant changes in the last two months. It was almost a completely different place, but not quite. I think the Orange Hostel and I both grew up together over the last several months. If anyone gets a chance to visit Krakow, please stay at the Orange Hostel, but please stay away from bed number 10 in room 6. That bed is special:)

So getting back to Market Square, I remember first arriving in Krakow and taking my first walk to the square. I was overwhelmed by its size and by Mariacki Church towering over the rest of the square. It is remarkably beautiful, particularly at night. Although it is overrun with tourists at certain times of the year, it still had a beauty that cannot be touched by any amount of people packed in there, and no matter what languages they are speaking.

I said goodbye to my friends in Krakow, who have been incredible and more generous and nice than I could have ever asked for. I hope to see them again, either in Poland, the U.S., or somewhere in between. The world is a big place while you are traveling, but a small place for meeting people. Life is funny, and you never know what your path will lead you to, and who may be traveling along a path to the same place. Life is beautiful that way.

After wishing Krakow a goodbye and giving it my thanks, I traveled to Warsaw. I only spent about a day and a half in Warsaw, so didn’t get to see much. The Old Town was pretty cool, while other areas had their own charm. I definitely noticed the difference between Krakow and Warsaw immediately—Warsaw is much bigger and is the commercial center. Warsaw was also mostly destroyed in World War II, so the old buildings found throughout Krakow are almost non-existent in Warsaw. That being said, Warsaw has areas where the Communist-era only seems like a few years ago. The square, dull, concrete buildings left behind are not esthetically pleasing, but they do add some character to the area.

After leaving Warsaw, I arrived in Berlin. Berlin is a really cool city. It is a little run down and shows some age, but there are awesome little cafes and shops all over the place, and there are also really cool, green parks scattered throughout the city. I really enjoyed just walking around and getting lost, completely without an agenda and no plans at all. I did see some of the remaining pieces of the Berlin Wall, particularly the section known as the “East Side Gallery,” with all its cool drawings and works of art giving the wall a special effect. I mostly just relaxed in Berlin and soaked in the atmosphere, preparing myself for the real adventure about to come my way.

So that is that in a nutshell. Tonight I am headed to Cairo, where I will be spending a few days, before heading off to Dubai. I will try to post another blog entry after Dubai, just before arriving in Uganda. I wish you all well and look forward to hearing what all of you have been up to as well. See you in Africa!

Pictures of my Christmas trip in Italy, and also pics of Warsaw and Berlin, can be viewed at

http://www.photoworks.com/members/Nathan_Owens

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a very nice and joyful Christmas and got to share it with the people that matter most to you. I hope Santa also brought you everything that was on your Christmas lists. I spent my Christmas in Torino, Italy. It was nice seeing some places in Italy that I had never visited before, but it was definitely not a normal Christmas for me. This year, without my family and those I care about around me, the 25^th of December was just another day. I spent the day walking around Torino taking pictures. The weather was beautiful, so that made walking pretty pleasant. I definitely had a cool experience on Christmas Eve. The friend I was staying with drove me up to a small village in the Alps, on the Italian-French border. At this village, we followed a live nativity scene, as it ascended up the mountain, through the old village. I think every person living in that village (probably about 200) was following the procession, and there was singing and dancing the entire way. We all stopped frequently for some mulled wine, punch, and other goodies being distributed by “innkeepers” and other people from the village. At midnight, we arrived at a small church high up the mountain, where we attended mass. It was really special and an experience I will never forget.

After Torino, I traveled to Aosta, where I spent a few days. Aosta is a unique region that borders France, Italy, and Switzerland, and is probably most famous for being in the shadow of Mont Blanc. The area is beautiful and there are castles everywhere you look. I visited three castles while I was there and also visited the ski village of Courmayeur, which was really nice, but also made me a little homesick.

After Aosta, I went back to Torino and spent New Year's Eve there. Unfortunately, I got sick a few days before that and didn't really feel like celebrating too much, so I mostly just reflected on the last year. This last year has been a year of firsts for me. Right before last New Year’s, I caught malaria for the first time (and hopefully the last!), I had to fly for almost 34 straight hours back to the U.S. from Madagascar, but then I got to spend Christmas at home, which is all I could ever want. I traveled to Poland for the first time and spent an extended period in Europe for the first time. I learned my first words in Polish, German, Czech, Norwegian, and Austrian. I fell deeply in love for the first time (and hopefully not the last time!), but then had my heart completely broken for the first time also (hopefully the last time, but I doubt it!). I met the wonderful people at Holy Cross Ministries and got the incredible opportunity to work as a teacher over the summer with the cute (most of the time) Hispanic children in Park City. I received my first recognition of “Scary Story Master” (sorry Mark, maybe next time:). I saw Stockholm, Oslo, Bergen, Prague, Vienna, Torino, and Aosta for the first time. I went hiking in the awesome Tatra Mountains for the first time and also had my first wolf reply to one of my howls! On a lighter side, I did my laundry in a cereal bowl for the first time (it took a looooong time), opened my first wine bottle with an axe (don’t ask me how, because I don’t know, and definitely don't ask me to try it again), and bought my first $12 beer (thanks Oslo). I saw my first live performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in a 12^th century church in Stockholm (I get chills just thinking about it!), ate rabbit for the first time in a Prague restaurant, visited my first European Christmas markets in Vienna, where I also tasted mulled wine for the first time. I drank coffee with honey in it for the first time (those crazy Italians!), bought and wore my first scarf (I am still unsure of how I look in it), saw Mont Blanc for the first time, and spent my first Christmas away from my family. I saw my brother move away from home for the first time and become the first member of our family to kick butt in the San Francisco Police Academy.

I met some incredible people this last year: the people at HCM, including Sister Mary Ann, Alma, Magali, Jesus, Miriam, Laura, and Molly, the biologists I have been working with in Poland, Robert and Sabina, my ex-girlfriend Ania (I know, but I was still lucky to have met her), Krystyna and Łucaś, whose home I normally stay in while working in Poland, Michael in Stockholm, Magnus and his roommates in Oslo, Kevin and Bashar in Bergen, Andrew on the train in Norway, Claude in Geneva, Alicja and Sabina in Krakow, Slaven in Prague, Lija in Vienna, and Andrea in Torino. Thinking back on it, I guess quite a bit happened this last year. Some times were incredibly happy, and other times were incredibly sad. But without sadness, we wouldn’t know what happiness is. Those sad times help us to really appreciate and savor those happy times.

So what do I hope for this next year? Well, I think it will be hard to top this last year, but it may happen. I would like to see my first wolf in Poland, but unfortunately time is running out. I would like to see my brother in a SFPD uniform. I would like to meet my new cousin (Congrats Tim and Alli!). I would like to visit Raphelle and Tim in their new house, reinforce my position as the “Scary Story Master,” finally graduate with my master's degree, visit Yellowstone numerous times, where my soul is renewed and my spirit is at peace, fall in love again, see everyone in my family filled with happiness, maintain and strengthen the relationships I have made this last year, and constantly be reminded of how lucky I am and of what is truly important in life. If all of those things happen, I will be one very happy guy. In fact, I will be very happy if just those last three things come true. I know I am forgetting a few things, but they will remind me in their own good time.

I wish all of you the happiest year imaginable, and may all that you wish and hope for come to pass. Thank you for making this last year one that I will never forget and that I will always look back on fondly.

Merry Christmas!

So the big day is almost here! I hope you have all at least started your Christmas shopping by now! I love Christmas time—not because of all the shopping and buying of all these things we don’t need, but because of the fact that it is one of the few times of the year where families make that extra effort to be together. It is sad that we need an event like Christmas to do that, but if that’s the way it is, I am glad Christmas comes every year.

Well, not much has happened since my last blog post. I have managed to get out on a few snowshoe hikes and still have my feet intact, so I am pretty happy about that. It has been well below freezing here for the past week or so, and it has been pretty cold up on tops of the mountains where I have been hiking. At least that means that I have had the mountains all to myself lately. It has been incredibly peaceful hiking and snowshoeing these past few days. It has snowed almost nonstop for the past 5 days or so, with just periods of a few hours here and there when it let up. The mountains have been hit really hard, and therefore, I haven’t had much luck tracking lately. When I went hiking today, even my snowshoe tracks from yesterday could not be seen, and yesterday I was sinking into the snow a good 6 inches or more! It seems that all the tracks are being covered in a few hours after they are left, making my job difficult. However, it has been great getting up in the mountains and breathing the fresh air. The valleys are full of smoke from all the furnaces and heaters running in the houses down there, so up high is an escape from all that junk. It has been so silent hiking lately. It seems that the only sound I can hear is the snow crunching under the weight of my boots or snowshoes, and the occasional tree unloading the snow off its branches. It has been great and I have enjoyed every minute of these last few hikes, and even the moments when I was totally lost because of the poor visibility, or because of my decision to take some random path through the mountains that I had never taken before, but felt like exploring:) I have been trying to do this much more lately, since I see my time in Poland soon coming to an end. I have been choosing ways up the mountains that I have never taken before, just to see what’s there. It has been kind of fun and has added a little more adventure to each day.

I have also been running each morning in the dark and snow. It has been incredible too and a great way to get the day started. The first few minutes are very cold, but then it becomes tolerable after that and actually rather enjoyable toward the end. The other day, as I was waiting for a car to go by before crossing the street, a perfectly-shaped snowflake fell on my shirt! It was the first “perfect” snowflake I have ever seen, just like all the ornaments and decorations. It only lasted about ten seconds before it started to melt. I guess that means that perfection never lasts, but we all have our moments of perfection. It is funny how sometimes we are more aware of small things like this than at other times.

As for my Christmas, it will be spent in Torino, Italy. I am flying to Milan in a few days and will then travel to Torino by train for Christmas, and then over to a region called Aosta, which borders France and Switzerland, in the Alps. It should be fun and I am looking forward to seeing some parts of Italy that I have never seen.

So here is what I want to say about Christmas. Let us remember two important things this holiday season: (1) Remember the less fortunate and the people that need a little love and friendship this holiday season, and (2) let's be extremely grateful for having each other and let's realize how truly lucky we are. We should really treasure the moments we have together and not take them for granted.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to attend to another Christmas tradition, courtesy of Clark W. Griswold. Merry Christmas everyone!

Taking in a few more sights

Hello everyone! I have been trying to work hard lately, but it seems to be a little difficult for me at the moment. I managed to fit in a few weekend trips to two cities that I have wanted to visit for a long time—Prague and Vienna. I traveled by train to Prague, where I stayed for three days. I met up with an American kid I actually met in Norway and we met a few other people there too, so it was a lot of fun to have a group of us there to hang out and see some sights. It was a little cold and we did see some snow, but we managed to get out and see the sights anyway. Among the sites we saw were Prague Castle, which is the largest castle in the world and took over 600 years to complete, as well as the oldest synagogue in the world. Prague is a really cool city and reminded me a lot of Krakow, particularly Old Town Square. There was a huge church called Tyn Church that served as the landmark for the Old Town, just as Mariacki Church serves as the landmark in Market Square in Krakow. The castle was incredible and the cathedral built within the castle complex, called St. Vitus Cathedral, is one of the most amazing cathedrals I have seen anywhere. I took some pictures inside, hoping to be able to give you an idea of how spectacular it was, but I know that my pictures will not do the beauty of the cathedral justice. We also walked across the famous Charles Bridge at night. It is pretty cool, walking along the bridge and being surrounded by two rows of saints hovering above you, almost like they are leading you on to something better. Another unique thing that we were able to see was the largest book in the world, called the “Devil’s Bible.” When they say that it is large, they are definitely not kidding. The book weighs 165 pounds and is approximately 1 meter long. The book includes writings on everything you could possibly imagine, such as philosophy, religion, morality, law, medicine, nature, physics, etc. Legend has it that it was written by a Benedictine monk in the early 13^th century who had agreed to write the world’s largest book glorifying the Benedictine monastery, as a way of avoiding being imprisoned for life for breaking his monastic duties. However, around midnight, he realized that he was not going to be able to accomplish this feat, and sold his soul to the Devil, who helped him finish the book in one night. The book was opened up to its two most well-known pages, one page showing the City of God, while the facing page is a drawing of the Devil. The fact that these two pages were facing one another is supposedly to represent the duality and constant battles between good and evil, between God and the Devil. The “Devil’s Bible” is normally only displayed in Sweden, since the Swedish army stole the book from Prague Castle just before the treaty ending the Thirty Years’ War was signed. It was pretty amazing to see and I can’t believe that one person wrote that entire thing! He must have had a seriously sore hand after all that!

Prague was great and I made some new friends there that I hope to see again during my travels. Once I got back to Poland, I only had a few days there before leaving for a few days to Vienna. Unfortunately, I came down with a pretty nasty cold just after arriving back in Poland. Just my luck! I took it easy and basically didn’t do anything except relax for the few days I had there, hoping to recover enough to be able to enjoy Vienna.

I did end up going to Vienna and stayed with this sweet girl that lives in the outskirts of the city. The airlines actually did not lose my checked bag this time, which was kind of a pleasant surprise for me, since that now makes 7 out of the last 10 times I have flown that my bags have been lost. I guess the ratio is starting to even out a bit. Vienna was great and since it was the beginning of December, all of the Christmas markets were going. They are pretty awesome and I wish we had something similar to these back in the States. Maybe we do, but I don’t know of any and definitely not to the scale over in Europe. In Vienna, Lija (the girl I stayed with) took me to at least three different Christmas markets, each with its own little character. They were beautiful and definitely helped remind me that Christmas is around the corner. We sampled all kinds of punch and other drinks, and I ate some Austrian-famous weiner schnitzel. It was a great time.

Vienna itself is also a beautiful city. Sights are a little bit more spread out than in cities like Prague or Krakow, but they have a metro system that is really efficient and makes getting around pretty easy. I did manage to get lost a few times, but that was just part of the fun. I did see the graves of Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, and Strauss, which were all really cool. It was even raining when I saw them, so I was the only person there. There seemed to be a beautiful, soft melody playing in the background, or maybe it was just inside my head, as I sat there and paid my respects. Other sights I saw in Vienna included St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which was pretty magnificent also, the Hofsburg (Imperial Palace), and the Schonnbrunn (summer palace of the Habsburgs). The state opera house is an amazing building, displaying the elaborate architecture that makes Vienna famous. The Rathaus, or City Hall building, is also incredible, particularly at night when it is lit up, towering over the Christmas market in the square below, the purple and gold lights radiating through the crowds and casting a magical glow over the market. Vienna definitely has many sights that should be seen, and I only managed to see a few of them. I had hoped to make it to a performance of a Beethoven symphony, but ran out of time and figured my time would be better spent getting to know Lija (this was a good decision, because she is awesome), just relaxing and soaking up the atmosphere, and wondering around aimlessly (which I now consider myself an expert at!). There is a pretty good possibility that I may return to Vienna for New Year’s. There are some concerts of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, as well as a Viennese tradition of dancing the waltz! I have never actually danced the waltz, but have always wanted to try, and I think that it would be incredible to try it in Vienna, after seeing a heart-pumping performance of “Ode to Joy” in Beethoven’s own hometown (well, kind of his hometown). I’ll see what I can do, but it sounds exciting to me!

I must say that although seeing these new places is absolutely incredible, even more incredible are the people that I have met along the way. From Magnus in Oslo, to Andrew on the train from Bergen to Oslo, to Slaven in Prague, and then Lija in Vienna, I have definitely been lucky to find new friends everywhere I have traveled. I thank all of you guys for enriching my experiences and giving me memories that I will never forget. As far as I am concerned, just meeting you has made these trips worthwhile, and I thank you for being the people and the friends that you are.

So now I am back in Poland, trying to fit in some hard work before leaving for Italy for Christmas. I still have this damn cold that won’t seem to go away. It is more annoying than anything, but I do hope I can finally shake it in the next few days. I am really in the Christmas mood after wondering through all those Christmas markets, and my thoughts always turn to family and friends when I think about the holidays. I don’t want to write so much about that now because I want to write another blog post before Christmas, but I am so thankful for all of you and I just want you to know that. Okay, work is calling, so I best answer, at least for a little while. I hope this finds you all well, and I look forward to talking to you as the holidays draw nearer. Oh, before I end this, I want to send out a quick congratulations to my buddies Stephen and Kylie, who both passed their master’s defenses these last few weeks—way to go! I am jealous of both of you. Also, I want to point out that my brother, Dan, passed a major physical exam in the San Francisco Police Academy that would have left most of us crying out for mercy. He is one bad dude and it is always nice to have someone like him in the family! Good job bro! Okay, I do need to get to work now. I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving and wish you all an even better few weeks leading up to Christmas. This is Nate the Skate signing off for now. Ciao!

Pictures from Prague and Vienna can be seen at: http://www.photoworks.com/members/Nathan_Owens

That sounds like a commercial, doesn't it?

Back to Work, snowshoes included

Hello everyone. It is time for a few updates from Poland. Well, I am back in the work mode (well, sort ofJ Unfortunately, it has snowed like crazy here for the past 5 or 6 days, so there is a ton of powder out there. That means one thing—snowshoes. Normally I really like to snowshoe, but only for a few hours at a time, since they tend to really rip my feet up, no matter what I do. I had my first snowshoe outing a few days ago, after a night of crazy snow. I picked a loop that would be about 18 kilometers to survey, since I had to cover a lot of ground and I only have a week to do it in this area. I thought it would be manageable, especially since I had been regularly hiking 25km a day for the last few months. Yeah, well it was snowing out when I started and only let up for a few hours in the middle of my trek. There was much more snow than I expected, all of it was powder, and I had to break trail for the whole 18 kilometers. I had to go over one mountain, and then descended all the way into a valley, and had to climb out of the valley back up and over the mountain on the other side. My snowshoes absolutely killed my feet, and now I barely have any skin left on my heels. The combination of having to break trail in powder mostly 2-3 feet deep, the long, steep ascents, and the horrible pain my feet were undergoing all made the trek much tougher and longer than I had expected. I ran out of food with about 2 hours to go, on a long ascent up to a peak. I tried to take my snowshoes off numerous times, just to relieve my feet for a while, and also because it was pretty cold and the snow was forming ice on the bottoms of the snowshoes, essentially turning my snowshoes into 3-4 pound weights that I had to drag uphill. Unfortunately for me, the cold had also frozen the bindings shut on my snowshoes, so it was impossible to get them off without cutting the straps. Since they aren’t my snowshoes, that wasn’t really an option. About 1.5 kilometers from the top of the peak, I felt myself getting very, very tired and my body starting to go to sleep. Probably most of you have experienced this feeling before, when your body starts to shut down and go to sleep as a protective mechanism when you are really pushing hard. In some cases, it is good, but in a case like mine, going to sleep is the last thing that I wanted to do. I knew that if I went to sleep, there was a slight chance that I would never wake up again because of the snow and the cold. I really had to dig deep and force myself to just take one step at a time, no matter how slow it was. I knew it would be getting dark in about an hour and a half, and that there was a good chance I would have to finish in the dark. I was honestly starting to wonder if maybe I had made a serious mistake that could cost me my life. While I was trying to dig myself out of a hole in the snow I had fallen through, I started thinking about my options and about what I would do if I could not muster any more strength to continue. I scanned for possible shelters I could make, about anything I could eat, and entertained all those survival instincts. Finally I decided to try to keep going. So for the last hour or so of snowshoeing up to the peak, I basically had to yell at myself in between every step not to go to sleep and to push forward. It was so crazy! I literally had to fight from not falling asleep between steps! I have never experienced anything like that before, and I hope I never will again, because it is a seriously scary feeling. Just letting your body go to sleep would be the easiest thing to do, and your mind knows that and tries to convince you to let it happen. However, I was still able to think rationally for a few moments at a time and told myself that going to sleep was not an option. I finally spotted a mountain shelter on top of the peak and knew that there was a good chance at least one person would be there and I could buy a candy bar or something to give me enough energy to get off the mountain. At first, I looked up every few steps to hopefully see the shelter getting closer, only to be disappointed that it actually seemed to be getting further and further away. Then I remembered what I had first experienced in triathlon during the swim leg, especially when you are doing a long swim to a place way off in the distance: don’t continually look up, expecting to see it coming closer. Just keep your rhythm and trust that it will be closer with every stroke, even if you can’t tell by just looking. So that is what I did, I just put my head down and focused on putting one foot in front of the other, not thinking about the shelter or how close or far away it was. I knew that if I kept putting one foot in front of the other, it was a physical certainty that I would arrive at that shelter. Oh, it was so incredibly hard. In all honesty, I think I probably would have stopped if I hadn’t learned to be extremely patient and to deal with discomfort and both physical and mental fatigue through my triathlon training. It is kind of weird to say this, but I actually think that training for races might have saved my life.

Well, to end the story, I made it to the shelter and there was one lady there. I bought three Snickers bars and a large Coke and finished it all in probably under 2 minutes. I continued in the dark down the other side of the mountain to the place where I was staying. After getting safely into my room, I took my shoes off, only to find that the place on my leftt heel where I was sure to find a blister, did not have a blister. Instead, there was just this gaping hole in my heel, probably ¼ inch deep and the size of a quarter, where my boots had completely worn away all the skin. No wonder it hurt so badly! Needless to say, I took the next day off to recover and let my feet heal a little. Unfortunately, they didn’t get much of a chance to heal, because the day after that I had to go out again and I ended up doing a 21-mile hike/snowshoe until dark again. My feet are starting to rebel against me and I can’t say that I blame them. I am looking forward to this weekend, so they will get more than a few days off.

Well, that’s enough about that stuff. On a lighter note, I have been staying in a town called Szczyrk, which is one of the most popular ski destinations in Poland, and where the Polish Olympic training facilities are. Luckily for me, I was able to go exercise in the Olympic training facility. Now, when I say the “Olympic Training Facility,” it probably isn’t what you are thinking. It is the equivalent of a small Gold’s Gym or something back in the U.S. Anyway, I got some good treadmill runs in (despite the feet killing me, I had to take advantage of having a place to workout) and some good weight workouts. One funny thing is that I tried to go into the swimming pool and the Jacuzzi to just relax, and I was wearing my tight-fitting swim shorts, like the ones most of the Olympic swimmers now wear. Well, the people at the entrance told me that I wasn’t allowed in the pool or Jacuzzi. When I asked why, they replied that I had to be wearing a speedo! Now, I have never worn a speedo in my life and don’t intend on ever wearing one. Some people have the speedo look and can pull that look off. I don’t believe that I am one of them and really don’t care to find out either. So, reluctantly, I obeyed and stayed out of the pool and Jacuzzi. Speedo? Are you kidding me?

Okay, I don’t want to take up everybody’ day, so I think I will stop here. Anyway, it has been an interesting week or so. I have enjoyed staying at the place I am now, and have been staying with a very nice family. The mother has actually cooked me dinner every night, which has been amazing, and far better than the pasta, rice, hot cereal, or whatever I would have thrown together after a day of hiking. One more day of hiking to go before a nice little break is upon me. I hope everyone is doing well and I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. Eat some turkey for me!

Scandinavia Travels

Hi everyone. So it has been a pretty crazy few weeks since my last blog entry, so I will try to fill you all in on what’s been happening. Work is going pretty well, although I have been very busy and traveling a lot. It is starting to wear me down a little and I wish I could stay in one place for longer than 4 or 5 days at a time. It seems that the only time I finally have time to relax is spent moving from one place to another. Hopefully that will change when winter comes.

Well, speaking of traveling, I have been doing a bit of that lately. First, I went up to Krakow and spent a few days there. It was a little weird and a little difficult, with it being the first time I have been up there since my goodbye with Ania. There was quite a bit of emotion going through me, but I am glad to say that it wasn’t all negative, and there were times when I felt good about things. I knew that I would have to face those demons sooner or later, and everyone knows that I am not one to put things off until later if I can do them today. So, hopefully any future visits to Krakow will be easier now.

I am writing this post from Switzerland, where I am visiting some of my family. It is always incredible to see familiar, friendly faces, and this time is no different. I am loving every minute of it and know it will be tough to go back to Poland after all this. Before Switzerland, I visited Stockholm, Olso, and Bergen (west coast of Norway). Scandinavia is pretty incredible, I must admit, although it is very, very expensive (especially Norway). In Oslo, a hamburger costs the equivalent of $15 and the cheapest beer will set you back about $12. A 6-inch sub from Subway is a steep $11. Oh yeah, and a chicken quesadilla at TGIFriday’s will cost you 40 bones! I wonder what the heck those crazy Scandinavians eat and drink when they go to a soccer match?

Stockholm is absolutely amazing and one of (if not the) the coolest cities I have been to. It is just a very classy city with some amazing sights. It is incredible because it is basically several islands within a giant archipelago, each island having its own little character. It is a clean city and has a really nice old town area, with narrow, cobbled streets and small shops lining the sides. The buildings are all very colorful, with bright yellows and oranges. It really is beautiful when the sun is out. Among the sights I saw were a 17^th-century warship that sunk in the archipelago and was raised a few decades ago, as well as an amazing art exhibit with the works of Alexander Roslin. I was also able to go to an incredible concert in this 12^th-century church, hearing a symphony and choir perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. I have always wanted to hear that symphony performed live, and this did not disappoint. I think that the hair on my arms is still standing straight up from the power of the performance! I will miss Stockholm and hope that I can get back there someday.

Oslo was also very cool, although nothing like Stockholm. I did rent a bike for a day and just cruised around the city taking pictures, which was a lot of fun, especially after running around to all those museums and sights in Stockholm. I did manage to get to a Viking ship museum, which was awesome and definitely something that I will never see anywhere else. They actually had 3 original Viking ships on display. Man, those Vikings knew what they were doing when they were building ships. I also went to a museum displaying the ship used by Fridtjof Nansen to help him become the first person to reach the North Pole. It was cool because I even got to go on board and check out the living quarters. I like adventures and all, but being on a ship like that with thirty or so other guys (not to mention, very smelly guys), for a period of two or three straight years, might just cause me to go insane and jump into those icy waters. Those guys were real explorers.

Bergen is a really nice place because it is the gateway to the fjord region of Norway. However, it is a lot like Seattle in that it rains there like crazy, damn near every day of the year. Unfortunately it rained the whole time I was there, and not just a drizzle, but an absolute downpour with wind too. It sucked because I really didn’t even get to walk around that much, it was so miserable being outside. I did find an old cathedral school, from the 1100s, where I listened to a trio of performers play some medieval music from the 1300s, with a wooden violin and two wooden flutes. It was pretty awesome. As for the scenery, from what I saw, when the sun does show up, Bergen must be an incredibly beautiful city, right on the coast with a big mountain right behind it.

The train ride from Bergen back to Oslo is dubbed the “most scenic train ride in the world” by several different travel magazines. It really was incredible, passing through glacier terrain and fjords almost the entire time. It was similar to the train ride from Luzerne to Interlaken in Switzerland. The mountains were amazing and it was awesome passing through a bunch of little towns along the fjords. I really wish I had the time to get off and explore some of those little settlements and meet the people that live in those little cabins in the middle of the mountains. Life there must be very simple, but hard too. It would be incredible to listen to some of the stories they have to tell.

I met and stayed with some cool people along the way, including a Finnish kid living in Stockholm, a native Norwegian in Oslo, and an American in Bergen. I also met an Italian kid living in Bergen right now and a law student from Texas on the train ride back to Oslo. They were all great and we had some good times. It is great to meet new people and make some new friends while you are traveling, because in my opinion, that is really what traveling is all about. The places you go are awesome, but the people you meet are even better. I have been incredibly lucky in both the places I have been able to go and the people I have been privileged to meet.

Well, that just about sums it up for the last few weeks. Of course I could write a lot more, but I don’t want to take up everybody’s day. Besides, I will see all of you soon, so I can tell you more then. I will post some pictures in a few days when I get a faster internet connection, so look for another email soon. Take care back home and let me know how you guys are doing. This is Nate the Skate signing off.