Duck curry (not) in a duck!

I hope there are people out there on the internet who still read my blog. I haven't been very good at updating it. And some big things have happened since my last post. (BTW, in case the internet is wondering, I didn't get the job I interviewed for that I talked about in the last post. Oh well.) One of these days I'll blog about some of that other stuff.

Now for something completely different.

Last Thanksgiving, I took this really great trip to Chicago. I hadn't been to Chicago before. (Well...technically not true; I once spent about 3-4 hours walking around downtown about 10 years ago, and ate the best pizza ever; but I'm not sure the trip really counts.) So I planned this random trip. One really great thing about it was that I secretly met up with Scott (who was living in SLC at the time), back when we were in this kind-of-sort-of-I-don't-really-know-what's-going-on phase. (Well, I was anyway. Clearly he was past that phase, since he flew to Chicago to spend a few days with me.) This trip was actually pivotal in helping me move out of that phase. And all I was looking for was some good pizza. Then we got married in August. (See? I told you some major stuff has happened.) Anyway, that's another story.

The point of this post is that while we were in Chicago, we ate at this fantastic Thai restaurant and Scott ordered this:

It's duck curry! In a duck! Duck curry in a duck. This dish was so exciting and tasty, we still talk about it regularly.

Tonight we recreated the dish in our own kitchen. We followed a recipe for duck curry from the Pioneer Woman, including making our own Thai red curry paste. It didn't take as long to get it together as one may suspect. The result:

This was amazing. It was very flavorful and spicy, and although the fire in my mouth felt contained, I soon realized I was sweating through all of dinner. (I'm not even kidding. And it wasn't because we didn't have the AC on.) Scott was not sweating. He can take the heat better than I can. But we already knew that.

Duck curry in a duck!

Job Interview in New York

You won't believe this, but I'm blogging and it's not because I saw a bear.

I had a job interview about 2 weeks ago. I'm applying for tenure-track faculty jobs at primarily undergraduate institutions. Finding such academic jobs can be a rough, long process. This is the third year in a row that I've applied for jobs. Ugh. Anyway, the good news is, since I do have at least one more year at JMU if needed, this year job applications were somewhat less stressful. But still stressful.

Anyway, my job interview was at at SUNY-Geneseo. (State University of New York, the campus located in Geneseo, NY, south of Rochester about 30 minutes.) I had a skype interview with them a couple months ago, felt good about it, and was excited when I got invited back for a campus interview. The interview was 1.5 days, I met with a bunch of people, including all the physics department faculty, some of the department and university staff (provosts, deans, etc.), and students. It's a great department! I think I'd be happy there (aside from the weather....brr!!). We'll see what happens. I should know in a couple more weeks.

I flew into Rochester and rented a car. My interview ended on a Friday afternoon around 2 or 3, and my flight wasn't until the next day at noon. So I took advantage of free time and tried to see some of the area. Turns out I was only an hour and a half from Niagara Falls, so I drove there. That place is so, so, so cool. Go see it if you haven't!

Though it was so cold!!
 

I have been to Niagara once before, when I was driving from Albany to Austin. But we saw it from the Canada side, which is much better. But I didn't bring my passport on this trip (why would I have??), so I couldn't cross the border this time. :( But I was sorely tempted.

But I was glad that I got to see the New York side. I went over to Goat Island to get a better view of the main Horseshoe Falls (which was tricky, since it was getting dark) and found the statue of Nikola Tesla! Totally worth it.

The arch behind him is entryway to the first hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls. Go Tesla! Way to bring the world electricity!

And yeah, it started getting a little dark. You can't tell, but that's Horseshoe Falls.

And then my camera (aka, phone) died.

I was starting to get really, really cold, so I left and went to dinner at a local diner I found called "Mom's Restaurant." It was amazing! I ate two mugs of hot chocolate, tomato and macaroni soup, freshly baked bread, home fries, and grilled chicken with grilled peppers. Oh yeah, and a piece of chocolate cream pie. Wow, now that I've typed that out, it sounds a little excessive. But I did take leftovers out!

I drove back to Geneseo, packed up my stuff. I left early the next morning and drove over to Palmyra, NY. I had made an appointment to go to the temple that morning at 7:30. It's a little under an hour drive from Geneseo. It's a super small temple, but really beautiful. Enjoyed the morning!

I found a local diner for breakfast just outside Palmyra. Sadly, the food was not particularly good, despite good reviews on Google. (Who knew it was possible to really mess up home fries?) Alas.

From there I had to hurry straight to the airport and catch my flight to Utah for spring break. I had a great trip to New York, if there is any news to share on the job front in the next few weeks, I will keep you all updated!

That thing they say about Virginia

I went to Utah for the holidays. I flew back to Virginia on a red eye flight from SLC. When I went through security around 11:30pm, there was almost no one in line. As I handed the TSA agent my boarding pass and drivers license, he looked at it and said, "Virginia, eh? So, is it true what they say about Virginia?" In this sort of awkward moment he created, I responded by being equally awkward, sort of bumbling and saying, "Oh, uh, well, yeah, I mean, I guess, I mean...." He then said, "You know? That thing they say about Virginia? That Virginia has produced more presidents of the United States than any other state." Oh. Yeah, that is true. Definitely not where I thought that conversation was going. I got a good laugh out of it. (And at the time acted like I knew that was exactly what the agent was talking about the whole time.)

Another Bear (and waterfalls)

Remember how I saw a bear a few months ago while hiking? Well, I saw ANOTHER bear on Friday. Although this one was almost way too easy of a sighting. I had just entered Shenandoah, just turned onto the Skyline Drive, and there was a little bear, meandering across the road. I tried to sneak up (not so easy in my car) so I could pull over and get out to take a good picture of him. But before I had a chance, other cars were coming too, and he scampered out of the road, over the fence, and into the woods. I only got one picture of him, taken from my car. But hey, better photographic evidence than last time! (Although the bear was considerably smaller than last time.)

This means I've seen three bears this fall!

Also, the hike I went on on Friday was part of my new Thanksgiving tradition (year 2 or it!) of going hiking on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Best idea ever. Although the 8.2 mile hike was a little steeper at parts than I expected, and while I did it in a respectable 4.5 hours, I was pretty tired by the end! But it was a good hike (Whiteoak Canyon/Cedar Run loop) and I saw something like 8 waterfalls. Here are a couple pictures I took of some of them.

This guy was fishing and wouldn't move, despite all the people trying to take pictures. Well, he gets to be in the pictures, I guess.

Another waterfall.

Adventures in Eastern Europe Part 2: Krakow

I arrived in Krakow Saturday night. Because my hotel was about a 60 minute walk from the train station, and I was now on the University's dime, I splurged and took a taxi to my hotel. It cost me a whopping $15.

The next day, Sunday, I went to church. I hadn't figured out public transportation yet, and my hotel was located about a 45 minute walk from church. Fortunately, my hotel had a free shuttle that went to old town 3 times a day, and the timing of the first shuttle was perfect. That put me about a 10 minute walk from church. The branch in Krakow was really, really small and met on the third floor of some office building. Only 9 people were there, including the missionaries and me. The branch was an interesting mix of people. It was just....individual people. There were no families, no couples, and no children. (Although I think 2 people behind me were sitting next to each other, maybe they were together?) People were friendly, and one of the elders translated the meetings for me. Because the branch is so small, they only have Sacrament meeting and Sunday School. No Priesthood/Relief Society meetings.

Because church was very close to old town, I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around old town. Unfortunately, the battery in my phone/camera had died (probably because I was using the scriptures on my phone during church?), so I don't have any pictures. It was also raining, though it did let up after an hour or two. Eventually I decided to head back. The hotel's return shuttle wasn't leaving for over an hour, and so I just ended up walking back to my hotel.

The conference started on Monday and went through Friday. It was nice to catch up with friends and colleagues and hear about what people in our research community are working on. I gave a talk Wednesday morning, which I think went pretty well. Especially given how much I was still working on the data processing right up to the last minute! (Yikes!)

One of the excursions that the conference organizers took us on was to the nearby Wieliczka salt mines. These mines were in operation for hundreds of years, but aren't active anymore. It sounds kind of random, but this place was totally cool. The man made tunnel system is deep underground (over 100 m) and very extensive. We went on a tour of some of it, and were able to see many of the salt carvings that have been done.

To descend into the mine, we had to climb down 400 steps. (Don't worry, they let us take the elevator back up.) This is a view looking up the stairway.

Copernicus statue, made of salt:

They call these "cauliflowers," but they are clusters of salt growing on the ceiling.

There are several chapels in the mine. This is the largest one. It was amazing! There are salt carvings all along the wall that depict different scenes in the life of Jesus. They look three dimensional, but the dept is at most a couple inches. And all made of salt! So cool.

In this chapel, this is me in front of a carving of the Last Supper.

At the far end of the chapel, a carving of Pope John Paul II. They love him here in Poland (as you might imagine).

A close up of one of the chandeliers in the mine. The crystals are made from rock salt.

We had our conference dinner in a room in the salt mine, over 100 meters below the ground. Again, the chandeliers have rock salt for crystals.

We had plenty of time to check out the old town. Here's me in the main market square.

A church we passed (there are so many churches here), with statues of the original 12 apostles.

Yet another statue of Copernicus.

That week there was a Pierogi festival happening. (Pierogi = Polish dumpling.) They had all sorts of flavors and varieties to try. Here I am with a few. (Including a chocolate one with a strawberry inside!)

The castle not far from the main square, and so we walked down to see it. First we saw it at night, and then during the day. The coolest part was this fire-breathing dragon statue. Very impressive at night, albeit hard to photograph.

And during the day. (I have a picture of me in front of it, but the look on this kid's face was too great.)

Relaxing in Old Town with friends/colleagues from the conference. I don't know what I'm saying here, but it looks like it must have been really interesting.



On my last day, I had made plans to go to Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration camp from WWII, where approximately 1.1 million people were killed (mostly Jews). While I had originally just planned to go alone, since I didn't know who would still be around and/or interested, there ended up being a group of five of us that went. It was a very, very sobering and powerful experience.

The sign leading into the camp. The sign reads "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" which is German for "Work Makes You Free." (I got chills the first time I read that, just from the sheer evil of it.) The original sign was made by prisoners of the camp and was stolen in late 2009 (how someone stole it is beyond me...it's not small), and found a few days later in northern Poland, broken in pieces. This sign now there is a replica.

Bit closer up.

Pictures from the camp.



The part of the camp that was the most difficult and moving for me was the barrack in which they kept some of the personal belongings that were found after the camp was liberated. There are items that the prisoners had brought with them, but were taken upon arrival (with the lie that they would be returned.) This included suitcases (with names written on them, as they were instructed to do so, in order for them to be "returned"), shoes (including a separate display of children's shoes), eyeglasses, artificial limbs, and personal items such as shaving brushes and combs. The sheer VOLUME of stuff was overwhelming. For the bigger items , the display cases literally took up a whole wall (probably at least 60 feet long), being probably 5-10 feet deep with a mountain of stuff. Also found when the camp was liberated was large amounts of human hair, as the prisoners heads were usually shaved upon arrival and their hair sold. (It was a valuable commodity back then in making various synthetic materials.) Over 2 tons of hair was found, and you can now see it all. It was at this point that the message becomes extremely personal as you reflect on the PEOPLE that lost their lives and you realize that there is no way to possibly understand the scale of the atrocities that happened here.

We were also taken to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which is a nearby extension of the camp. This is where the prisoners would usually arrive. This is the main rail line into the camp.

An original cattle car used while the camp was in operation during WWII.

Site just behind the main crematorium where most prisoners were sent upon arrival. While I was in Israel two years ago, I learned that it is common Jewish practice to leave rocks on graves.

Right before the camp was liberated by the Soviets in 1945, the Nazis knew they were coming, and so they used dynamite to destroy many of the buildings in Auschwitz II-Birkenau, in an effort to hide their crimes. The remains of some of these demolished buildings are still there.





A memorial at the far end of the camp, that included plaques written in multiple languages.

This is the English version of the plaque.


Visiting Auschwitz was definitely a sobering experience, and not one I'll soon forget. The tour and museum were extremely well done and respectful, telling the story that needs to be told, but not in an in-your-face, overly-graphic, depressing kind of way. It was extremely moving. I'm glad I had the opportunity to go, as I feel like it's something that should be seen. Being so close to it (it's about an hour from Krakow), I felt like it was my human responsibility to go.


Once we returned from Krakow, we spent some more time walking around the old town. Then back to the hotel where I gathered my bags and took a taxi to the train station to begin the next, and last leg of my adventure! Onto Prague via an overnight train!

I saw a bear!!

I've been a semi-regular hiker at Shenandoah since I moved here a year ago. (Though not nearly as frequently as I want.) I actually haven't seen that much wildlife in my hikes, although a few months ago I saw a deer. In the last few months, I've been really, really, really wanting to see a bear! Shenandoah has black bears. Supposedly.

Today was my lucky day! First of all, early this afternoon, we had an activity with the mid-singles group in the stake. We did an easy hike up to Blue Hole, this nearby swimming hole. This isn't in Shenandoah, but it's not far from the park. We saw a bear!! It looked like a teenage bear (if such a thing exists). I didn't have my camera though, but I was still excited to see one! It was well off the trail, but we got to watch it for a few minutes.

After the activity, I went to Shenandoah to do some more hiking. I hiked a 6.5-mile loop that took me past the Jones Run and Doyle falls. (Three waterfalls in total.) There were parts of the trail that were actually pretty steep. And it was so humid! But I had loads of fun.

The last 1.2 miles was along a relatively flat, narrow stretch of the Appalachian trail. I was about 0.5 miles from the end, when I saw it ahead of me....a BEAR! And it was an adult bear this time! It was on the trail, about 30 meters in front of me, at most. I totally froze when I saw it, as it sort of startled me, and I waited for it to make the first move. (It saw me too. However, it seemed much less impressed by me.) Once it started moving away, I tried to grab my camera to take a picture. I wasn't fast enough...

Honestly, I don't even know if the bear is anywhere in this picture. So not only is the picture kind of blurry, but I don't think the bear is even in it.

So I continued on my way, and the bear was out of sight. Though after about a minute, I thought, I have to go back and get a better picture! So I gingerly retraced my steps, in an attempt to find the bear again. It had crossed to the other side of the trail and I saw it through the trees. It was much harder to photograph now, and I had to zoom way in.

Despite the fact that this looks like a picture of Bigfoot, I SWEAR there is a bear in there.

No really. It's right there in the middle. A big, black bear!

Best hike ever!

Adventures in Eastern Europe, Part 1: Warsaw

Two years ago I traveled to Budapest and had a wonderful time. On that trip, I decided that Eastern Europe* is where it's at as far as interesting and (relatively) inexpensive international travels are concerned.

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to travel to Eastern Europe again, and it was great! Here are some of the highlights of the trip. The purpose of the trip (and really the only reason I can afford to travel overseas with any sort of regularity) is that I was attending a research conference in Krakow, Poland. And because I'm an expert at the side trip, I took two side trips.

I flew into Warsaw three days before the conference, and spent about a day and a half there. I managed to navigate from the airport to the downtown central station via the new train that opened just 2 months ago! It was a comfortable, smooth ride. And for the 20 minute ride, it only cost $1! (Hence you see what I mean about inexpensive travel.)

The first picture I took in Warsaw. This is the Palace of Culture and Science, which isn't actually a palace, just a building that the Soviets built as a "gift" to Poland in the 1950s. The Poles didn't like it, for lots of reasons.

The flight that I took left DC at 3pm and arrived at Frankfurt around 6:00am. I barely slept on the flight (since it felt like it was in the middle of the afternoon/evening), and so I had a killer time getting over jet lag. But I was determined to (a) get over jet lag, and (b) get all that I could out of my short time in Warsaw.

So upon arriving, I walked from the train station to my hotel (only about 15 minutes). It was a beautiful day, and fun to be in a new city that I had no idea where I was going, and I definitely don't speak Polish. (But had maps, don't worry.) Although speaking of, during my time in Warsaw I was approached by three different people, asking me questions in Polish. I took it as a compliment, as I figured it probably meant I looked like I knew what I was doing, and didn't look like a tourist. (Although I've about concluded that traveling alone makes it really easy to not look like a tourist.)

I was able to check into my hotel right away, despite being early. Once I got in, I REALLY wanted to take a nap, but my time was limited! So I dropped my stuff off, got my maps and list of things to do organized, cleaned up a little bit, and then set out on my way.

First thing, I found lunch. I bought a chicken kebab from a street vendor. It was delicious. The woman who sold it to me didn't speak much English, but enough to make sure I got chicken instead of lamb. And she taught me how to say "Thank You" in Polish, which I forgot within about five minutes. Turns out, Polish is one of those languages that does NOT stick in my brain.

I walked over to the Museum of Warsaw Rising, which was all about the uprising of the Polish people in 1944 in an attempt to stop the Germans invading from the west and the Soviets invading from the east. It didn't work. The museum was interesting, and I learned a lot about the Rising, but also about the Polish people in general. They're very resilient.

A big hammer and sickle in the museum:


One of the centerpieces of the museum, runs from the main floor to the above floors. It represents the heart of the Rising and of the people, with the numbers being the dates the Rising occurred over. If you get close, you can put your ear against it and hear the heartbeat. It's kind of creepy, but in a good way.


After the museum, I walked over to Old Town. One of the most interesting things about Warsaw, I think, and a true testament to the resiliency of the Polish people, is Old Town. During WWII, most of Warsaw was totally destroyed. They rebuilt the city, particularly the Old Town, to look exactly as it did before the war, based on old photographs and paintings. So while it looks old, it's actually been built relatively recently!

There is a statue of Copernicus, who was from Poland. The rings around the statue base are different planets, with the sun in the center.

Saturn, part of the Copernicus monument.

Close up of Copernicus:

I ate way too much of this in general:

The next day I explored the beautiful Lazienki Park, which is Warsaw's Central Park. (Though much smaller, of course.) It's a beautiful green space in the middle of the city.


One of the centerpieces of the park is the Chopin statue. Unfortunately, it was closed off for construction, so I couldn't get very close to it.

Zoom in of the statue:

Every Sunday they have a Chopin concert in the concert near the statue. I wish I could have gone, but I had to continue on to Krakow Saturday afternoon.

Next I walked over to the Palace of Culture and Science. They have an observation deck on the 30th floor, to get a great panoramic view of the city.

Poland co-hosted the Euro Cup this summer, and so they had decorated parts of the city to welcome the other European countries, including this outside the Palace of Culture and Science.

The tallest building in Poland.

Panoramic of the city. At this point, most of it looks like a regular, modern city! (In the far background of this photo you can see the stadium that was used for the Euro Cup.)

I then gathered my bags, went to the train station, and bought a train ticket to Krakow. The train ride was express and was only about 3 hours. I didn't know there were assigned seats, so I actually sat in the wrong place at first. Fortunately, the person whose seat I was sitting in was really nice and spoke excellent English, so they were able to help me find the right seat. (Which was, of course, many train cars up. Gah.) But I made it!

Next installment will be my time in Krakow!



* Although the friend I spent time with in Budapest, a native of that city, would argue with me that Hungarians do not consider their country as being in Eastern Europe, but rather being in central Europe. That's another discussion for another day.