Questionable Foods....

The motto in my house growing up was: "You know what we call picky eaters in this house?" "HUNGRY."

I was taught from a very young age to try everything at least once, and if you didn't like it, fake it till you make it.... The first time we traveled to Europe, my mother basically threatened my sister and I saying that even if we didn't like something, we eat it with a smile and ask for more. That has worked WAY too well for some of these foods, but at least it has instilled a bit of adventure when it comes to food. I will try anything once. (I feel I should probably clarify that to not include living things because this will undoubtedly come back to bite me in the rear later....) 

Well, Japan certainly puts my theory to test. Everything you eat there looks ridiculously strange, and seeing as I don't speak any language remotely close to Japanese, it's all a gamble. I generally just look at the pictures and hope it's tasty! 

Well, as any gambler will know, eventually your luck will run out.... I've been extremely lucky with everything I've eaten so far, seeing as it all has been delicious, but one of my fellow flight attendants was not so lucky, and she decided to share that unluckiness with me.... 

It all started out when she wanted a simple sushi roll to snack on for the flight back. So she went for the simplest looking roll, one with beans and presumably pork. Unfortunately for her, we discovered it most definitely was not what she thought.... The beans were correct, although they weren't just regular beans, they were fermented beans.... And the pork wasn't pork, it was pickled plum.... 

If you've ever smelled wet shoes, you know the ones I'm talking about; the shoes that you probably should've thrown away YEARS ago because they smell so bad, and then you wear them through a thunderstorm because you know they have already had a good run, so then they smell like WET SMELLY GROSSNESS? Those shoes.... Well, in case you've never smelled fermented beans before, now you know the smell. And the pickled plum smelled like anything pickled, but was indistinguishable under the massive odor of the beans.... 

Being the good friend I am, I dared my fellow flight attendant to eat it, and she handed it right back to me, so we both decided to try something new under the basis of "How bad can it be?" Famous last words. 

Well, she cut it into pieces for us to taste and the fermented part of the beans turned into a sticky almost cobweb like substance stuck to the knife... Quite tasty looking.... So we counted to three and downed the foot-smelling-bean-roll.  

Unfortunately for us, one of our fellow flight attendants from Japan decided that was the time to discuss the fermentation process of beans and how they basically rot in their own liquid ALL WHILE THE ROTTEN BEAN ROLL IS IN MY MOUTH. I quickly went through all my options of how offensive it would be for me to either spit it out or puke on the spot, all while trying to keep my gag reflex in check and discovered it would be hell to pay if I chose either of those options.... Another flight attendant decided that would ALSO be the optimal time to start ribbon dancing with the fermented cobweb still attached to the knife.... And I repeat, the rotten beans were still in my mouth. In desperation, I grabbed for basically anything to help wash it down and was lucky enough to snag a can of coke to be the chaser for those foot-smelling fermented beans.... All the while, impervious to my distress, they are still discussing rotting foods and dancing with the remaining cobwebs of those beans.... Delicious right? 

I'm still unsure how the other flight attendant did with her own tasting of terrifying sushi seeing as I was ultimately focused with keeping my own down.... 

Now I know what NOT to buy at least.... But hey, I tried it once! 

Love, Alison

Bad Fortune Favors You....

Bad fortunes. I guess it's the luck of the draw....There are so many traditions to try ones luck.... Such examples are throwing coins in fountains, sticking your hands in questionable places, kissing stones upside-down, rubbing questionable appendages on statues, etc., and of course, trying your fortune. Well, there are quite a few stories connected with all the situations listed above... but the one I'm speaking of takes place at Senso-ji's Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan. 

At Senso-ji's Temple, such a thing is called an "omikuji" or "paper fortune." When you travel to Senso-ji Temple, you must make an offering and then take on the task of shaking a lovely metal box in the attempt to get a bamboo stick with your fortune's number out of the hole. While you're shaking the metal box, you're supposed to pray to the Gods and Buddha's for good luck in the coming year, but I guess I got a bit distracted and tried my dance skills out instead.... Anyways, the number on the stick corresponds to your fortune, which you then take from the box. 

I got "daikyou," which translated, means "terrible luck"... Figures, right? Well, in case the title isn't bad enough for you, there is also a description of everything you shouldn't do... Like travel, date, marry, have children, etc. ... And most endings for those were death... You get the idea. 

Tradition holds that when you receive a poor fortune, you are supposed to tie the fortune to one of the iron posts to seal the fate within the temple instead of carrying it with you... Odd, but hopefully that works. Honestly, I nearly burnt it in the incense cauldron just to be sure, but my friend was against that... 

So, what do you do when you get a bad fortune? TRY AGAIN!!! I got "regular fortune," so basically everything is OK to do, it won't be great, but you won't die.... I guess I'll take it! 

Better luck next time? 

Love, Alison 

EARTHQUAKEEEEEEEEE!!!

Fun fact: I live basically directly on top of a fault line, and travel to a place that is also directly on top of a fault line, so I guess it was only a matter of time before I experienced an earthquake of some sort....

I grew up in the mountains of Colorado. Basically the only natural disaster I ever had to worry about was a blizzard..... While kids in schools had drills for earthquakes and tornadoes, we had fire drills... that was about it. Surprisingly, we did have a forest fire next to the high school, but it was after school hours when we were evacuated, so the whole fire drill thing was never exactly put to real life use.... Anyways, I digress, point being I never was taught what to do in a disaster.

In college, the first time I heard the tornado sirens, I had zero clue what they meant... So while everyone else was taking cover, I was waltzing around outside casually making my way to class. Since then, I've learned a few things. Like not to go outside during a tornado... Earthquakes were still outside my realm of reasoning considering I had never experienced one.... Until last week....

I was hanging out in my hotel room in Tokyo getting ready for my flight back to the US of A, blow drying my hair when I heard things start to move. Well, in my jet-lagged state, I initially thought someone was breaking down the door to my hotel room until I realized everything was moving. My second thought was that I wasn't on a plane so it clearly wasn't turbulence... and the third thought was that I wasn't drunk, so after all that, I realized that naturally, it must be an earthquake. I happened to be texting my sister at the time, so I lovingly interrupted our riveting conversation about me shredding two pairs of pantyhose to terrify her by texting "Holy Cow! EARTHQUAKE! What do I do???" Because panicking by yourself is never fun, so texting others while in a foreign country to make them worry about you is always better. (Sorry Jill...)

Well, the man who got on the PA system at the hotel was also panicked. While he was shouting instructions in Japanese and then English, you could hear people yelling in the background also panicking. Overall, definitely a good way to calm people down... My mother's reaction was to send me instructions on what to do in case of an earthquake... two days later...

So, I survived a 5.6 earthquake in the center of Tokyo. Hopefully, it's not a repeat experience, but I now have the official recommendations from the CDC on what to do just in case. (Thanks Mom...)

Love, Alison

Ugly Stepchild Moments....

If you are a human in the 21st century, you should know the story of Cinderella. And if you know me at all, then you know my life revolves around a variety of Disney moments, or at least moments I relate to Disney.... Anyways, we all know the story of Cinderella who gets stuck caring for her horrible stepmother and equally horrible stepsisters, and while they are as hideous on the outside as they are within, Cinderella is the one who becomes the unwanted ugly stepchild. Well, I believe that we are all handed a variety of ugly stepchild moments.... Also known as those challenging moments where we are placed into a situation so uncomfortable we start grabbing air or random strangers to try and claw our way out.

In my job, the likelihood of an ugly stepchild moment is very real. The people, places, and situations I deal with on a daily basis change dramatically and chances of everyone getting along 24/7 in magical harmony, is just that, fantasy. When you have 14 people that have never met or worked together before, trapped in a piece of metal hurtling across the sky at 500mph all working to ensure 300+ strangers get along for 12 hours and make it to the final destination safely, tensions can run a tad high. Well, a recent experience I had was with one such crew. We had a few new people that were still learning the job, and while that is wonderful, it also creates a bit of added stress on the rest of the crew... But that in no way makes it acceptable to point out such a situation and repeatedly draw attention to peoples lack of knowledge and experience... This situation is known as an UGLY STEPCHILD MOMENT. 

The recipient of this particular ugly stepchild moment was an AMAZING sport. There wasn't a moment on the flight that there wasn't a smile on his face, even if it was a bit strained at times. He dealt with all of the senior people on the flight literally yelling at him non-stop and held it together in tremendous fashion. I volunteered to assist for a few minutes, quite literally got my head bitten off, and quickly made my exit. How that kid held it together for 12 hrs is BEYOND me. 

Kudos to him for being the ugly stepchild and having the strength to rise above it with a smile on his face the whole time. He even got on the flight back home to deal with it all again about 24 hrs later... We may have bought him a couple beers and played "Let It Go" several times in a vent session before the flight, but at least he was still smiling when we made it back home. It was really was a true Cinderella moment. Just remember to "have courage and be kind."

Love, Alison

Hello World!

HELLO WORRRRLLLLLLDDDDD!!!!!!!! I can now say that, seeing as I am now an International Flight Attendant! That is both terrifying and amazing at the same time. I'm actually getting paid to travel around the world, eat delicious foo, and stay in fabulous hotels. Yah. My life is cool.

So with all that excitement and my transfer to the international base in March, I then had to wait two gloriously long months of being on reserve and getting picked on by scheduling before actually getting an international trip. See, when crew scheduling calls you, it's both terrifying and awesome at the same time. Partially terrifying because my phone ring is absolutely heinous and Darth Vader pops up on the screen, and partially terrifying because they can call you at any time of day regardless of your life or plans or appointments and send you literally anywhere in the world, and your only response is "Yes, Okay. Thank you so much," even if it is a red-eye turn to the other side of the country and you're functioning on zero sleep. YAY! But, it can also be awesome because they can send you anywhere in the world. Understand the terrifying, but potentially awesome nature of the scheduling beast??

Well, this month is the lovely month of May, and I finally, FINALLY got to go somewhere cool. TOKYO, JAPAN. I've never been to Asia, and have basically always wanted to go. So, I was super excited and my first reaction was to tell my family. My mom was super excited! You wanna know her response? "Oh honey! That is so exciting! You'll be the first in the family to go to Asia!"...... Well, just so happens, my sister is adopted from Korea..... and got engaged in Hong Kong last year..... Both are kind big things.... And she was in the car when I told my mom, so her facial expressions were absolutely fantastic. I'll let you just picture that for a minute.....

Anyways, I survived working my first international flight, and made it to TOKYO! I understood absolutely nothing, bought all the food that I had zero clue what it actually was, and had a fabulous time. And guess what, I get to do it all again next week!

Life is truly fantastic sometimes.

Love, Alison

The Hills are Alive With THE SOUND OF MUSIC!

Throwback Tuesday to when I was in Salzburg, Austria:

SALZBURG!!! The birthplace of Mozart. Naturally, as a classically trained pianist for 13 years, I'm in HEAVEN. Actual heaven. It's Mozart!!! And it doesn't hurt that it's also the home of The Sound Of Music, aka one of the best movies EVER. So yes, Salzburg is heaven for those of you that are wondering.

Well, I decided I wanted to do everything, and visit everything, so naturally the first part of that list was doing The Sound of Music Tour. For those of you that know me, you know that tour groups are the most dreaded aspect of traveling. Piling onto a bus with 50-odd strangers and being herded from place to place sounds like actual hell to me, HOWEVER, when it's the only way to see all of the scenes of one of my favorite movies, SIGN ME UP!

I will admit, I was subtly surprised.... It was actually fun! Part of our lovely tour group seemed normal, as normal as Sound of Music fans can be... while quite a few were clearly looking for where they last left their brains and several poor souls had zero clue what they signed up for, which became even more apparent when they began blasting the soundtrack for us to sing along to.... Obviously, I was part of the semi-normal, singing-at-the-top-of-your-lungs crowd.

Since I was there by my lonesome, I offered to take pictures for a few of the people in front of the wonderful scenery. One such group was a lovely group of doctors from New York. I took their camera, and being full on Disney-brainwashed, wrapped the camera strap around my wrist (you only have to drop some strangers camera once...), and the girl in their group freaked out and demanded to know why I wrapped the camera strap around my wrist twice. Turns out, she had also been Disney-brainwashed on a Disney College Program in 2010 as a Photopass Photographer! Well, obviously we became instant friends, and after the tour they invited me back to their hotel to grab a drink.

Little did I know they were staying at the 5-star CASTLE on the top of the hill overlooking Salzburg! So yes, we did have a few drinks. At a castle. In Salzburg. And it was FABULOUS.

I can now say, I got tipsy in a castle with doctors and golden statues of jaguars while singing The Sound of Music soundtrack.

Love, Alison