Camp Walters 2017

Camp Walters 2017

Each year the Walters clan gets together on the waters of Crooked Lake in North East Indiana.  These are my parents, siblings, siblings-n-law, nieces, and nephews.  We were missing Nehemiah (sister's husband) this year b/c of limited vacation time at his new job.  We couldn't have asked for better weather all week!  No rain!  Also, there were no major injuries!  That is almost miracle material with the number of small mischievous humans running amok.  A great time was had by all!

More content from Camp Walters 2017 coming soon...

Zoos

I've been to three zoos since arriving here. The Sriracha, Dusit, and Saint Gabriel's College zoos. The Sriracha zoo was much most entertaining because we posed with apes and tigers and watched crocodile and tiger shows. I visited Sriracha with some seminar leaders from India.
The Dusit zoo started out slow with the most confusing zoo map ever but eventually became entertaining as well with some cool bears, tigers, and the most wrinkled orangutan I've ever seen. We were a little disappointed though. No Giant Pandas. Giandapanda was clearly advertised on the walls outside Dusit zoo, but nowhere to be found within.
Saint Gabriel's College has a small zoo at their academic/recreational center with a few attractions including ostriches, peacocks, and a black swan. To our horror we found out some Thai kids threw rocks at the Ostriches causing them to freak out and trample one of the baby ostriches. Not cool!
I'm looking forward to going to more zoos or even more preferably, wild life refuges. I wonder if Pi from Life of Pi would be upset with me for visiting zoos?

Found this in draft form - might as well post, right?

Meeting Min

I met Min 4 years ago. He commented, via Flickr, on some of the pictures I took in Burma while studying abroad in 2006. Since then, we've chatted online fairly often. Now he's a graduate student at ABAC Hua Mark campus, in BKK. He also runs an online business; flashband.net. Today was the day I went to ABAC to meet Min. Tyler and I hopped on bus 99 and cruised through BKK to get to ABAC. Min picked us up at the bus stop and we went to C Building to meet some of Tyler's friends teaching at ABAC. Then I went to Min's house and met his family. Needless to say, it's great to finally meet Min.

Here I go!

My first post from Thailand! This will be a public journal of sorts. But you only get the PG rated stuff :-P

I'm here. In Bangkok, Thailand. Specifically living on the campus of Saint Gabriel's College, the primary/secondary school in which I teach 6th grade Math in the English language. School hasn't started yet because of the political situation. The government informed schools to not open until Monday, May 24. We'll see if they push it back again.

The red shirt protests have been going on in Bangkok for 2 months. Only today did the protest leaders surrender to police and encourage their followers to go home. They did so after the military cracked down on their main camp in the 'heart' of Bangkok. Arson and looting have ensued. The government called for an 8pm curfew tonight so the streets are now completely empty. No cars, no people, no noise but the insects. Rather eerie for Bangkok. I can't hear a thing from my apartment's roof. Quite peaceful actually. A stark contrast to the gunfights and arson that are happening in the red zone. I can still see the smoke rising from Central World, the second largest mall in Asia. But I can't hear more than the crickets, and occasional bat flying overhead...

Update: The curfew has been extended for the next couple nights. Nothing burning anymore downtown.

That's all that's happening on this first post, but get excited!, there will be plenty more to come.

Here's a video from my apartment's roof;

I Love the Whole World

Boom de yada!

Laugh out Loud

http://www.akenini.com/imagesfun/mini_animations/80.gif

Laughing Babies

The best ever:

http://www.saynotocrack.com/index.php/2008/04/25/the-laughter-of-babies/

President 2008

I need to get on my horse when it comes to the 2008 presidential election. In four months we will be electing the leader of our country, which is (IMHO) the most influential country in the world. Thus we will be electing, arguably, and again, IMHO, one of the most influential people in the world. We owe it to ourselves to make an educated decision. The least I can do is research the candidates to the best of my ability before making a choice. If you have any opinions or research you'd like to point me towards, feel free. In fact, feel encouraged. This should be a communal process. If anything, we can learn about what's important in each others lives and how BO and JM presidencies would affect those areas. I am about to get an education in American politics. Wish me luck.

格里高利华特斯

apparently this is what my name looks like in pinyin. pronounced - "ge li gao li hua te si"
no wonder i never heard anyone pronounce my name with r sounds...

The world I know 2.0

Click to Play

Song is The world I know by Collective Soul.
(Version 2.0)

Peace.

Who is singing this song?

Anyone know the reggae artist who is doing this cover of Bill Withers' 'A Lovely Day'?

Rebecca this song is off one of your CD's. Any idea?



Sorry it's not a video, but I uploaded it like one..

Do we baby children?

I think we baby children too much. Instead of conversing with them as little people, we treat them as if they wouldn't understand our 'adult talk'. It's as if we talk down to them. Children can engage in thoughtful conversation if you give them the chance and use language they understand. What a perfect time for children to learn and understand the importance of thoughtful conversation. Wouldn't this have a positive effect, all around, on their development?

Change of direction

I decided I'm not going to make this a blog focused centrally on pictures/video/travel stuff. Initially I thought about doing something to that end. But it becomes just another place to post stuff and I'm already doing that on flickr, blip.tv, and facebook. So this blog is reverting to being about me and my life and anything that seems interesting to me. So there's a little change in direction for you...

Americans vs Vietnamese: FUTBOL

Click to Play

We won. They let us beat them, then tried to bring out their all-stars for the second game, which we bet on. We showed them the meaning of American-Sized. Watch Tyler step up and play the hero in this one.

Monkeys drinking our water (Cambodia)

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The little monkey moves aside for a larger monkey, while two other monkeys play at our feet. There were many more monkeys around us eating, sleeping, playing, or grooming.

Work and Religion (Burma)

While riding my bike along in Bagan, I saw this common scene of field work. The backdrop temple and pagodas represent the Theravada Buddhist religion practiced here. The number of temples and pagodas in Burma is overwhelming, yet Bagan is in a league of it's own with hundreds in view from one location.

Potala Palace (Tibet)

Until recently, home to the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. This photo was taken from the rooftop of our hotel in Lhasa.

Angkor Wat (Cambodia)

The Angkor region in Cambodia was the seat of power for the Khmer empire; the largest continuous empire in South East Asia. Angkor Wat, initially constructed as the capital city of the Khmer kingdom, is the largest temple in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site. First Hindu and now Buddhist, the temple has become a symbol of Cambodia, even appearing on it's national flag.

The Forbidden City (China)

The Forbidden City served as the home of the emperor and his household, and the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government. The world's largest surviving palace complex, The Forbidden City is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, listed as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

HaLong Bay (Vietnam)

We spent the day on the water at this beautiful UNESCO site, HaLong Bay. Highlights included walking through a cave, buying lunch at a floating market, and general R&R on our boat.