Only in Texas, Y'all

I am officially back in the U.S. of A. for a my first visit since moving to Seychelles in June of last year. I spend a fair bit of time in Seychelles explaining to a very international crowd that Texas is not in fact full of cowboys and no, everyone does not ride horses to work. What is one of the first things I see? A cop on a horse in a mall parking lot in Houston.

Thanks for living right up the stereo type Houston (or The Woodlands to be exact).

I also spend a decent amount of time trying to convince people that Texas is not full of thousands of gun-toting Republicans driving their over-sized pick ups at high speeds down massive highways. What do I see on the drive from Houston to New Braunfels? These guys....

Bumper stickers say: "Obama's vision for American is NOT my AMERICA" and "The Second Amendment, America's First Freedom."

The second amendment is that little amendment to our constitution in the Bill of Rights about the right to keep and bear arms. It causes at least half the country to get all worked up about because everyone here obviously needs to own multiple weapons to defend their territory against trespassers. In fact, you can even buy this at the local gas station...

Yes, those are rhinestone encrusted purses hanging underneath those signs.

Speaking of gas stations (or petrol station for you Brits), we stopped at a little gas station here in Texas known as Buc-ee's. Now, when I lived here in Texas and drove all over the state, I'd stop at Buc-ee's to fill up on fuel and snacks and never thought twice about how big it was and all the crazy stuff inside. However, after living abroad for 10 months, defending this great state and trying to tell everyone that no, everything is NOT bigger here, I realized that it is a big, fat lie. Everything is SO MUCH BIGGER HERE, completely over the top and absolutely ridiculous. Thank God, because where else in the world can you pose next to a human sized beaver, buy 20 different kinds of jerky, grab a kolache, purchase a shirt that says "if it harms the beaver, I'm against it," pick up a cooler underneath multiple deer heads, buy a 52 ounce mug of soda (that's 1.5 litres for you metrics), get a pro-gun sign for your lawn, and fuel up your over-sized pick up truck? Only in Texas, y'all. It's good to be home..........for a little while at least.

 

Kolache: /kɵˈlɑːtʃi/ (also spelled kolace, kolach, or kolacky, from the Czech and Slovak plural koláče, sg. koláč) is a type of pastry that holds a dollop of fruit rimmed by a puffy pillow of supple dough.^[1] Originating as a semisweet wedding dessert from Central Europe, they have become popular in parts of the United States.

  

A related dish is a klobasnek or klobasniki, which often uses similar bread but is filled with a piece of sausage. Purists assert that these are mistakenly referred to as kolaches.^[1] They may also contain ham and cheese, sausage, jalapeño slices, and resemble a "pig in a blanket"

Yes, I am standing next to a human sized beaver.

Jerky, jerky and more jerky

Because we all need 52 ounces of soda on road trips

Jalepeno, cheese & sausage kolache

Weekend Activities

After another tough week at work...

My office

...I spent the weekend doing a few of my favorite things. 

Snorkeling with crazy creatures...

I accidentally startled this guy in the sea grass, I've never seen a porcupine fish actually puff up before!

...running down the road from Cap T to the Bus Stop

Approximately 2.4 miles with terrible views along the way

And of course, exploring the island by bus and on foot, ending up on Takamaka beach (not to be confused with the rum) for a nice lazy beach afternoon. 

Takamaka beach

Love the spacious bus stops here!

Another Week at Work....

Sunrise from my window

Another rough week at work here in Seychelles, starting with taking volunteers on the Pitcher Plant Hike Monday morning to ending the week officially driving the boat on my own (still with some adult supervision, obviously) on a gorgeous, flat, calm, sunny afternoon. Tough life here in Seychelles, I tell ya!

Panoramic view of Victoria from the top of the Pitcher Plant Hike

Pitcher plants

Looking out over Victoria, the port and the new wind turbines

Charlotte and I on the top of the rock

Baie Lazare

I've been a bit busy the past few weeks prepping for my first fund raising event happening next week and haven't left base much, but I did manage to take a little trip to a new beach down south last weekend with two of my workmates. One of the many great things about living here is the bus system. I love the local buses, they fly around the crazy winding roads, most of which run right along the beaches so the scenery is quite nice and the local crowd on the bus is always interesting.  Five rupees, approximately 50 cents, will get you almost anywhere on the island so long as you get on the right bus. You can just hop on a bus and cruise around until you see a beach you like, get off and go explore, which is what we did. Sometimes I forget that I live in a gorgeous tropical holiday destination and need to be reminded that the Seychelles is in fact, the most spectacular place on the planet (I know, I am a bit biased). But I'll just let the pictures of the beach at Baie Lazare speak for themselves.