Seeing green.

I tried absinthe last night. Here is a link to the description of absinthe on wikipedia (actually click the word "link" for the wiki description). I can't say that I saw any green ladies or green fairies. Maybe I didn't have enough, as you can see from the pictures it wasn't exactly smooth going down. Although after reading the wikipedia link I don't think we drank it correctly. I did have a great time though with a couple Latin American actuary students and Emma discussing world issues and cultures. Maya even taught me a dance from Equador for giving thanks while gathering maize(corn). Maybe I'll have to teach my dad that for next corn harvest!!! Maya also taught me the hard way that in her culture when someone offers you a drink, you drink it or run the risk of offending them, although I think she was just messing with me a bit.

I continue to feel very fortunate to be able to first hand learn others' world views and learn from them. Pictures of my first and last absinthe experience :


Okay.....I'm excited for this!










After smelling it-- not so excited.












Salude!!!











YEEEEHOWWWWW!!!










It still burns.....











Whew....get me some juice or something to get this taste out of my mouth.










Side Note:
You'll notice in a few of pictures I'm posting I got a haircut. That was certainly an experience-- getting my haircut by someone who spoke no English. Mainly hand signals and facial expressions where used. It was definitely an iterative process as well-- he would make a couple snips and question if that’s how I wanted it. The only thing we really disagreed on was that he was hell-bent on giving me a mullet! He even got out a magazine to show me that was the style in Switzerland. All I could do was shake my head and make the cutting motion with my fingers on the back of my hair. Once we got on the same page it went smoothly and he did a good non-mullet hair cut!