An email blog

Ok. so this was supposed to be an email, but my account decided to stop working. Luckily I was able to save this so I wouldn't have to type it all again. Ugh, Meghan is pestering me. I hope I get to talk to you soon. Here is my weird email/blog post. You owe me one. <3

My darling, Goodness! The past few days have been quite...well, I can't think of the word. If you will recall the inherent abilities of my father as tourguide and host, and then imagine the complete opposite, you have a good picture of what my mother is like. "Vacation nazi" has always suited her well. But I have been putting my foot down. Because, well, as beautiful and new as this place is, there really is not a whole lot to do. It it a tiny island. So, anyway, when we first got here my mom took us a small tour of the airbase. There is no real American military station here. We share space with the Portuguese army on their air base. So Meghan and I have to carry our passports with us everywhere and get special passes in order to get on base. It is, like everything else here, very small. There are less than 2000 American military personnel here, including their families. But you can definitely spot them. On the other hand, the towns and such are much more European and modern than I expected given the way my parents described it. There are lots of stores and tons of cafes. Plus lots of cobblestone streets. It seems that there is just run-on town after town around the entire coast of the island. As you move inland there are small fields segregated by old stone walls. I mean, as soon as you look away from the coast, that is all you see. It is very hilly and green. And there are lots of cows. As the Koreans love their pork, the Azoreans love their beef. Also, there seems to be a special culture not just for the Azores themselves, but also on each island. We are on the largest island, Terceira. They have this special, magical Catholic cult just on this island that center around these "spirit houses." They are tiny little houses that are built all over that house religious relics. As my mom was trying to explain, apparently most of them house at least one, if not several, crown and scepter. I think these all correspond to a saint, and at different festivals they are paraded around town. Catholicism freaks me out. It was also nice being here for the 4th of July. Being near Warren you may have experienced some of the fanfare that goes into a military celebration. It makes me want to barf. So my mom took my sister and I to the special celebration the Portuguese let them have on the airbase. It was nice I guess. There were children amuck. My mom is such a bitch though. The entire time it seemed like was her pointing out people she didn't like and why she was better than them. Although I did agree when she pointed out the entire family dressed in American flag polos. They were pretty douchey. My mom seems to have turned into your mother and I only lasted a day and half before telling her she is not feeding me near enough. While we were at the 4th of July celebration I felt really gross and ate two hot dogs in like 5 minutes. But then I had a chocolate covered frozen banana and it felt very Arrested Development-y and delicious. But then, the best part! The fire works show, I kid you not, started out synchronized with Ork battle music from the Lord of the Rings. It was intense and awesome and I couldn't start laughing. But actually, the entire event was pretty enjoyable. They had a band playing questionable music choices the whole night (a family event, and some of the songs they chose to cover were "Like a Virgin" and "Roxanne"). Earlier that day we had walked around the nearest "city," Praia. It was pretty and I saw a rooster! Immediately I coaxed it to become ambassador of the land for our dolphin excursion yesterday. We spent about 3 hours on a boat and did not see one dolphin. Actually, we didn't see any wildlife. Our captain was telling us that the water is beautiful and blue (which is it) but that signifies a lack of algae, so the whole ecosystem is pretty sparse. It was still a nice boatride though. My mom has a few more tours planned through the Outdoor Recreation program on base. Other than that, I don't know what she has planned for us. It is so goddamn cold! It is unseasonably chilly, which is awesome. Especially since we are on an island which means it is rather humid. So its that humid cold that makes you feel damp and cold on the inside. I hope it warms up. Yesterday is when I put my foot down on vacation nazi. After our dolphinless excursion we headed back home and my mom barely fed us. I was really tired so I went to lie down. Then Meghan and my mom wanted to go to the beach, even though it was barely 60 and rainy. And I said, have fun I'm going to stay here. My mom went into this rant about how it is my vacation and I can spend it however I want but she thought I was wasting it. And I said, great. So I stayed home and took a nap and I'm glad I did because I feel much better today. My allergies are super bad here, and I'm afraid its Topaz I'm so allergic too. :( Sad day. Today my mom had to go to work so Meghan and I just hung out here. We watched a little military television. Its awesome because all the commercials have been replaced by public service announcements centered exclusively on military members and their families. I'll have to tell you about some. But this is more what I had in mind for vacation: not doing a million things every day and just relaxing. Really, I fear what the nazi has planned for us. But I have stayed positive. I just hope it warms up a bit, it is absolutely freezing inside the house. I figured we'll do all the touristy stuff while Meghan is here. I think she leaves on Friday. She's into that shit. Who knows what will happen when it's just my mom and I. Good things? Well, I think I am going to go take a shower. I hope we get to talk some time. I don't spend any extended time on the computer because Meghan always wants to get on when I do and it's in the living space so I don't have any privacy. If we do end up talking it will be when I chance to see you. Unless you can tell me there is a time for sure you know you will be on and then I will try to get on. I hope the next two weeks go by pretty fast. I think I've spent enough time away from Laramie already. I don't know why I'm here for two weeks. Oh well. I think my mom is really excited we are here. It's a disconcerting feeling for me, but whatever. I'm just happy to hang out with Toto and Lily. Your Korean adventures sound very adventurous. I think about all the fun things we are going to do when we both are back. Not long now. I think about you all the time and how much more fun you and I would be having here. I love you, Kaitlin