Month / June 2013

by mirvaonthemove

Weekly Wednesday Video: Making pupusas in El Salvador

Continuing with the food theme (live Korean octopus, anyone?), let’s travel virtually to El Salvador this week and learn to make pupusas! As you may know, pupusas are stuffed corn tortillas that are a staple food in this tiny Central American nation, and they are delish. Wish I could have one right now, complete with tomato sauce and curtido (spicy fermented cabbage).

Picture 8

Traditionally pupusas are made with beans, cheese and/or pork, but my favorite was this jalapeno and cheese version I encountered in a hip San Salvador eatery during my March visit.

Picture 4

Want to learn how to make one of these yummy things? Check out this video from San Salvador, filmed at the apartment of my Couchsurfing host. On the screen you’ll also be able to spot my friend Mira, the sleepiest traveler of all times.

While this video teaches you the right technique for molding your pupusas and placing the cheese into the center, to find out the actual recipe you’ll need to click here. Buen provecho!

Have you eaten pupusas? What do you think?

by mirvaonthemove

Weekly Wednesday Video: Mongolian talent show

And…. I’m back! Yep, the little break I took for my birthday ended up turning into two weeks due various time suckers occupying my days in New York, but now it’s time to go on with the Weekly Wednesday Video series.

Today I’d like to take you all to Mongolia, a vast and isolated Asian country I got to visit with my dad during the Trans-Siberian train trip last fall. Unfortunately our time there was reduced to just five days due to China’s Golden Week celebrations messing up train schedules, but we did get to experience a few cool things. One of those was the 55-minute performance of the Tumen Ekh ensemble. The entertaining talent show features typical Mongolian throat singing, wildly twisting contortionists, folk dancing and funky masks.

The show was highly recommended to us by the Sun Path Hostel‘s manager Doljmaa (pronounced “Deutsch-ma”), so we couldn’t miss it – even though we almost did. We only had about ten minutes until show time when we hopped into a taxi outside the guesthouse in Ulaanbaatar. Despite encountering major language issues, we got our point across to the driver and magically made it to the theater just in time.

And I’m glad we did! The show was definitely one to remember. Here’s a short recap of what to expect if you ever get to attend a Mongolian talent show.

Have you been to Mongolia? Any interest in going?

by mirvaonthemove

Happy Birthday To Me!

I know what you are all thinking… where’s the Weekly Wednesday Video??!! Yep, you were probably all holding your breath in excitement…. and here I was feeling guilty that I didn’t find the time to post one this week.

But then I realized… this is my BIRTHDAY WEEK! June 4 was the actual D-Day, but here in New York the party still continues. Thus I think it’s perfectly justified for me to take the rest of the week off from my blog duties (that’s the least I can do to celebrate, right?). See you next week!

Picture 8

 

by mirvaonthemove

Young Professionals – the United Nations Needs You!

Are you young and ambitious? Have you always dreamed of working for the United Nations in exotic lands but just didn’t know how to go about scoring a job with the mighty international organization? Here’s your chance!

The application period for the Young Professionals Programme (YPP) and its annual entrance examination starts today! If you are 32 or younger this year, hold at least a bachelor’s degree and hail from one of this year’s 63 participant countries, you are in luck.  Between now and August 2, you can submit your application to be considered for jobs in administration, finance, legal affairs, public information and statistics.

To learn more about what you may be getting yourself into, check out my article on the YPP program that I wrote a few months ago for the UN-centric website Passblue.com. And good luck!

Picture 1

Have you applied for the YPP program before or are you planning on applying now?