Tuesday, April 20, 2010

8 April 2010: ORD -> PDX

Totally don't remember her name.  Older (sixties?) woman who works in biomedical consulting and started extensively traveling for work in her forties.  Last business trip was to Denmark, but most recent memorable trip was to Korea, where she ate raw octopus and an assortment of fried insects.  Wants to travel to Africa with her sister, who lives in Eugene, OR, for her next big, personal trip.  Currently lives in a Chicago suburb and studied chemical engineering as an undergrad, way back when.

Headed to Portland for her daughter's birthday. Daughter (environmental engineering, Northwestern) spent two years working in the Peace Corps as a water engineer in Nepal, where she was incredibly frustrated that the local villagers didn't help out in implementing cleaner delivery systems.  Plane Buddy was amazed that when she and her daughter tried to play catch with the villagers, the children did not reflexively catch the ball or duck out of its trajectory; rather, they let balls hit them and fall to the ground.

After Daughter returned to the States, she bought a pickup truck, packed all her belongings, and headed West to find a place that felt like Home (Chicago wasn't doing it for her).  In less than three months' time, she was robbed a couple of times while she slept in the truck, but she finally settled in Portland and has been there for 15 years.

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