YOB: # 30. Have an International Dinner (Part 2)

By Lara

I honestly don't remember how International Dinner got on the Year of the Birthday List. I know that I must have suggested it. As you have already read, Beth would never have suggested that. I think I envisioned multiple guests each bringing their favorite international dish for our sampling pleasure.

Obviously, it didn't work out that way.

I think my order at the International House of Pancakes consisted of a hamburger and mozzarella sticks. I don't think there is anything less international about that meal. I just wanted it to count because I was feeling anxious about getting the list finished.

Once I realized that the list wasn't going to get finished anyhow, I relaxed a little bit. That didn't stop me from wanting to get a little bit further into the 30 items. I had planned to take Beth to a Japanese Steak House. After all, Beth has been to Japan. Surely, she would like something there, right? Apparently, the only thing she liked in Japan was goyza. Also, I started having flashbacks of people with giant spatulas throwing food at me.

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YOB: # 30. Have an International Dinner

By Beth

I'm a big fan of food. Probably why I'm not a size 2, but hey, looks aren't everything, right? Right? I can be bribed with cheesecake, or chocolate. Or chocolate cheesecake. Or cheesecake dribbled with chocolate syrup. Or chocolate cheesecake yogurt (it exists, trust me). Or…well, you get the point. Food is great, there are so many flavors, textures, spices; enough to explore for a lifetime. I really wish I could be that guy, Guy, from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Not the hair, just the taste-testing.

Funnily enough, though, I get nervous around foreign food, I was almost an adult before I tried Chinese food. See, I had a bad experience with food overseas when I was quite young. I remember it like it was yesterday….(cue the wavy flashback screen with the wobbly music). It was late winter of my 5th grade year of school. I hated 5th grade, was a 10 year old girl trapped in a 14 year old's body. Don't even ask. So I was looking forward to going to Israel with my family and our church group for 10 days. Any time out of school was okay with me. My parents had been several times, leaving my brother and I behind with various relatives, family friends and strangers. This time we were old enough to go. I was excited, it would be my first time out of the US, there would be foreign boys there and I'd get out of school, did I mention that? It is only looking back now that I can appreciate the places I went and their Biblical significance. I'd love to go back.

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YOB: #8. Go To Ireland (Part 2)

By Lara

[Here is the continuing story of Lara's account of YOB: #8. Go to Ireland. Be sure to go check out Part 1, and Beth's version, as well.]

IRELAND DAY 3 - We went on our day trip on the third day. The brochure was vague regarding where we were to be picked up, but we eventually got on the correct bus.

Apparently, Dubliners do not like to leave their homes before daylight. We were walking towards the Dublin Tourism office around 7:30 and the streets were practically empty... on a week day.

So. The day trip. The first stop was Glendalough. I LOVED Glendalough. It was beautiful and haunting. We saw some wild goats. The upper lake, the waterfall, my prayer rock, and the green road were all things that imagination are made of. I enjoyed the lower lake and the ruined monastery as well. Most of our tour group hurried off past the truly beautiful things in order to get a cup of tea before re-boarding the bus. Beth and I lingered. It was wonderful.

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YOB: #8. Go To Ireland (Part 1)

By Lara

After consulting my list, I see that I only have two more completed items from the Year of the Birthday list to write about. This is a big one, though. Ireland. Prepare yourself for a "too be continued" situation. Seriously. This is a long story.

Beth and I were supposed to go on a tour of the whole country of Ireland last summer. Due to lack of participation, the tour was cancelled. We decided to make our own plans to stay in Dublin over the Thanksgiving long weekend. We spent a lot of time researching the least expensive means of getting to and staying in Dublin. We made reservations.

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YOB: Letterbox Retrieval

By Beth

You will recall that the very first thing we did in the Year of the Birthday was to plant a letterbox in Susquehana State Park on January 1st. The plan was to pick this letterbox up on December 31st but knee surgery, kidney stones and mountains of snow prevented us from doing so. Since I was visiting Lara this past weekend for a tatoo party and the weather was decent we made our way to the park to, finally, pick up the letterbox. Our happy jaunt into the world soon took a sinister turn though.

The park was much more crowded this time around, the small lot where we parked was nearly full. The path was also much narrower due to an increase in vegetation since January. We started down the path, eager to see who had found our letterbox over the past year. On the path was a giant beetle. Seriously. It was huge. Naturally, I took a picture of it, not thinking anything of it. I wanted a picture in my scrapbook, that's all. The beetle, however, turned out to be a top of the line, robotic guard (similar to the fly in Get Smart, the one Agent 23 destroyed) and the flash from my camera set off a silent alarm, alerting CIA spies to our presence.

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