Hello! Hello! Nice T-Shirt! One Dollar!

This will be an attempt to recap my day as well as provide a cost-analysis of living in China:

First of all, I am currently staying at Clark's place, which is on the 14th (and top) floor of an apartment complex in Beijing. One of his roommates has gone back to the States for a while, so I get his room...the place is GORGEOUS! Clark and I had never met before last night. I guess our mom's work together or something? Whatever...he's a really great guy and has been so kind and generous to me...it's just what I've needed after spending the last few weeks on trains and in hostel dorm rooms.

So today I got up late and decided to wander up to the Great Wall. One of my friends was going with a tour that her hostel arranged, but they were leaving at 7:30am and it was going to cost 180 yuan. Instead, I decided to take the local bus (route 919, 24 yuan return) and go solo. This did mean I ended up at the most touristy part, but in some ways it was nice not to feel like a minority again (on the other hand, I was pestered by souvenir sellers, using the line I put in the title, among others). However, in the end the whole thing, door-to-door cost me 55 yuan (including metro fair to and from) as opposed to 180.

First of all, let me say that the Great Wall is alot more steep and a rugged climb than I thought it would be. I'm glad I wore my boots!




Having only a few pringles, a hot dog on a stick and a bottle of iced tea (which is extremely popular over here...understandable, since the Chinese love their tea, however the Brits drink tea too and iced tea hasn't quite caught on over there in the same way, but i digress..) was really not the best diet to hike on, yet I managed. And I was certainly better off than all the Russian women who thought they could do it in 3 inch stilettos. Honestly now...

After climbing around for a couple hours, I caught the bus back and was starving (i didn't want to eat at the Great Wall cuz everything was tourist prices x 100). I ended up walking into a random restaurant on the way home and invented a new game. Basically, it works like this: go to a restaurant where you don't read or speak the language, and they can't speak yours and then you try to get something to eat. I pointed to someone else's rice and made the international sign for the chicken (flapping arms and 'bock-bocking') and yet somehow wound up with a bowl of noodles covered in beef. Nevertheless, it was a success. And the total cost? (For the huge bowl and two 500 ml bottles of iced tea) 11 yuan. That's $1.75 Canadian or about 80 pence. You couldn't even get one bottle of iced tea for 80p in the UK!

Last night I had a few drinks with another friend of mine...between the two of us we consumed about 2.5 L (just under 5 pints) and the cost again? 12 yuan. That's like 1 pound sterling. For 5 beers. Good beer too. Clark says that if you buy it by the crate (like to put in the fridge at home) it costs half that. Man, I love China!

One last semi-related tangential observation I have made about the Chinese is that they can fall asleep absolutely ANYWHERE. Here is photographic evidence:



Tonight I'm watching a bootlegged copy of Lost in Translation in preparation for Japan.

UPDATE: I think I was half-asleep last time I saw Lost in Translation...that and the fact that I couldn't appreciate the cultural differences and the traveller's mindset...at any rate, it is a BRILLIANT film...I can already relate to it on this trip in a billion different ways....

'Nuff Said

Beijing

Dear Taxi drivers and Rickshaw drivers of Beijing. Yes, we can both see that I am a tall male from the West with money. This does not mean that I am lazy and unable to walk anywhere. Please stop honking your horns and shouting at me EVERY time we cross paths.

Also, to the hawkers in Tiananmen Square: yes, your kites that look like they have Strong Bad printed on them are lovely, but there's no way I'm going to buy one cuz I'm not haulin' that shit around for the rest of my trip, therefore, please stop asking.

Other than these two grievances (oh, and the air pollution sucks) Beijing is an awesome city! Huge and really clean and really cheap. The food and beer is both delicious and plentiful...I'm loving it!

More Mongolia

I typed this whole thing up bupt i am\ at the worlds worst internet cafe...the com\pupters are bogged down by spyware/adware, the connection is crap and the keyborad is v
ery generoups (youp m\ay hav
e noticed it lieks to add letters) - they also seem\ to hav
e pupt 'hollaback girl' on repeat.

I will write som\ething m\ore legible from\ china (i arriv
e on the 23rd)


By the way, I hav
e a pictupre of m\e with a cam\el (they woupldnt let m\e get on thoupgh)

Mongolia

Made it to Ulaan Baatar...just barely.

Lots of good stories from the last train to come in the following days...

Siberia

Well, I am in Omsk, killing some time before catching my next train to Mongolia.

I had hoped to be able to type daily updates, but I can't even seem to manage to write them all down, so it's clear that's not gonna happen.

Moscow was phenomenal, although extremely large. It was also a lot cleaner than I expected. Omsk is in bit rougher shape, but it feels more properly 'Russian' - not because it's run down, but because it's less cosmopolitan and touristy. I mean London is 'British' but not the same way that somewhere like Swindon is British. Or something.

The train from Moscow to Omsk was good. I thought I would have lots of time to read and write but ended up spending all of my time hanging out with people in the cars beside me. There was a swedish couple, a guy from the czech republic, a russian man and a russian single mom (who was from Omsk and spoke english - extremely helpful!) We shared food and tea and beer and had a blast...I only hope I'm as lucky for the next leg! I'm feeling pretty positive about the trip. The way I have designed it, I never spend more than 2 nights on a train and I think that's a good thing. The swedish couple were doing 4 nights/5 days straight, and I think that would make me mental! So now it's two more nights on the train and then 5 nights in Mongolia. I will stay in the capital the first night, but I'm hoping to find a tour out to the country-side, and to get a picture of me riding a camel. Really, that's all I want from this entire trip: photographic evidence of me on top of a camel in Mongolia...everything else is just icing on the cake.

Speaking of trains though, the time zone thing is messing my body up. I crossed 6 time zones in as many days, with only a short break in the middle. My body is never sure when to eat, when to sleep, or what to do... Most of the time this is ok, since I'm just sat on a train, but still, it's a bit jolting to the system. I will cross 2 more into Mongolia and China, and then two more when I arrive in Japan.

Oh! One thing I would suggestif you ever plan on traveling in Russia is to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. I surely can't speak Russian for the life of me, but just knowing which characters are what has made all the difference in the world (especially traveling solo). For example, P = R, B = V, C = S, H = N, Y = U. There are lots more, but considering most of the English guidebooks use the roman alphabet, and most of the russian street signs use the cyrillic, its nice to be able to translate between the two. It also helps for basic words on menus and directions and so on.

Well, I still have two hours before my train leaves, but I need to go to the supermarket (cyepmapket) and get some food for the train, and then navigate the trolleybus back to the train station (thanks to my super-cyrillic reading abilities I have been using cheapo public transportation and not had to pay for a taxi once!) so I think that's it for now. I will update again from Mongolia, and try to upload some photos...possibly of me and camels.

From Russia, With Love

I'm in Moscow! I'm hanging out with Scots! Two of them are quite cute!

I leave on the train tomorrow evening for a 2 day trip to Omsk.

Sorry, I don't have a lot of time, that's it for now.

Kiss me goodbye!

Literally just a few hours now! Everything is packed and ready to go. I'll try to update as much as possible en route, but keep in mind I will be on trains for literally days at a time. Also, I'm not sure how it will work in China since they censor all the internet traffic.

Wish me luck, say a prayer and I'll see ya on the other side!!

Greenbelt, a la Rich

Although it does not exactly represent my own spirit or impression of Greenbelt, Rich has done a fantastic write up of his experience there and it is definitely worth a read.

EDIT: Suzie has added her thoughts, as well as a group photo (in which I'm sure I make my mother proud).

EDIT: Jim's piped up with his here. He's also got pictures at the bottom.

It is doubtful I'll ever actually post my own reflections...I've only got a few hours left (really) to pack all my stuff and then I'm on a train to Russia & beyond!

In the News Today

1.) Klein bids tearful goodbye to Alberta legislature
For those who don't know, Ralph Klein has been the Conservative Premier of the Province of Alberta (Canada's richest province, due mainly to large oil reserves) for the last 14 years.
During that time, he has:

• Opposed the Kyoto Accord
• Become good friends with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney
• Lobbied for a national referendum on same sex marriage AFTER it had already been passed
• Suggested that rather than give out welfare, the province should give unemployed people a one-way bus ticket to Vancouver (which is in British Columbia, the next province over)
  
• Threw a copy of the Liberal Health Care policy at the 17 year old girl who delivered it to him during the Alberta legislature, shouting "I don't need this crap!"
  
• And finally, one night he got rip-roaring drunk, went to a homeless shelter in Edmonton, verbally abused the people there and reportedly threw money at them. And he still got re-elected after that.

Well, so long Ralph. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

2.) Many Canadians not practising good hand hygiene: study
I have already partially shared my views about hand-washing in an earlier post. Now, I understand that there must be some scientific evidence behind all of this...and it's not as if I never wash my hands (just rarely). And yet, I stand by my testament that in spite of this lackadaiscal personal policy toward hand-washing, I tend to be healthier than many 'clean freaks' that I know/have met. I obviously can't extrapolate my personal experience to the world at large, however I think there is something to be said about building up one's immune system (so maybe I just spread the germs without getting sick myself!) As I have previously admitted however, I am not a scientist or biologist. Lastly, while we are on the subject, two lines tucked away in the middle of the article caught my attention:

"[The think-tank which did the survey] operates on a grant from Reckitt Benckiser, which makes home-cleaning supplies such as the Lysol and Dettol disinfectant products."

Call me cynical, but in a society based on our perverted form of capitalism, in which money is more powerful than absolutely anything else, does that not make this a foregone conclusion? What I mean is, the think-tank is not going to publish the results of a survey which are contrary to the commercial interests of its funders/investors. For example, Nike isn't going to fund a think-tank investigating sweatshops but may fund one investigating the positive effects of basketball on inner-city youth. Similarly, I doubt the funding for this group would last long if they discovered that the effect of products like Lysol and Dettol were really rather minimal. Therefore, I'm questioning the relevance and authenticity of such a study...

3.) Argos' lineman faces sexual assault charges
(Disclaimer: innocent until proven guilty, I know)
According to the article, Williams used to play in the American football league (NFL) until he "was suspended by the league for violating its substance abuse policy." It's nice to know that Canada provides a home for the drug-using rapists from the NFL :P

And on that final, cheery note I am off to a supper at Aziz to say farewell to my friends from hOME this evening.

Spidey

Having just watched the Spider-man 3 teaser trailer (I don't know what took me so long!), a thought occured to me:
Spider-man could (and perhaps, should) become the new James Bond. There is more material already existing than one could film in a life-time...a rich tapestry of characters and plots. You could have the main actor do 4 or 5 films in a row before passing the baton onto the next one. Heroes and villains can come and go. Studios can make millions of dollars.

I'm sure they'd love to make sequels as long as they're making money, but what I propse is why not drop the numbering system, and follow Bond's example. Just do "Spider-man: The Sting of Venom" or "Spider-man: Absolute Carnage," etc. etc.

I dunno about the die-hard fans, but I know that geeks like me would love to see the story continue to be fleshed out on the big screen.

The Big One

So the Big News, for those who don't already know or haven't figured it out, is that I'm going to be taking the Trans-Siberian railway after leaving England, before coming home. I somehow managed to convince my mom to let me use my student loan to fund this wild adventure. My passport has been sent off to an agency to arrange my visas, and I've already booked my train tickets from Oxford to Moscow. I leave on Sept. 8 and will return approximately six weeks later. I plan on stopping in Russia, Mongolia and China, then taking a boat to Japan for a week. I will return to Hong Kong and fly back home, briefly stopping in Oxford to pick up the rest of my stuff. So in order to commemorate the event I have added a countdown in my sidebar to the right --->
I promise updates as often as possible while I'm on the road/rails.

Onwards

I just got back from Greenbelt, which was fascinating and deserves its own post to fully unpack, however that's not what I want to address here.

On the way home, riding in the car with Jim, I was thinking about the end of Greenbelt, and the end of the summer and it really struck me for the first time that my time in England is at an end as well. Which then caused me to think back two years ago and to my first impressions of the England and its people. I thought about what a blank canvas I was then with regard to this new culture and how much I have learned and grown in 2 short years. And suddenly a feeling of panic struck me as though I didn't want to leave, because 'this is my home!' And it's true, it does feel like home, however I realized that feeling was less authentic than it seemed. I think closer to the truth is the fact that I am unsure of what is next for me, whereas my current position is known and comfortable. It was more of a gut reaction to change than an actual desire to remain in the UK. Having said that, I certainly will miss this country and the friends I have made here. I think this evening was the first time I began to mourn the eventual and inevitable loss of these people from my life.

More article titles

While I continue to delay my 'big announcement' (no, I'm not pregnant) here are some more amusing academic journal article titles I've come across since the last batch:

- The Effects of Altitude on Fruit Quality and Compression Load for Cracking of Walnuts
I'm sorry, but is it really necessary to write a whole article on this subject?

-Clinical and pathological findings of acute zinc intoxication in a puppy
Ok, this is probably something fairly horrific, but the thought of an intoxicated puppy made me giggle.

- The Future Won't Look Like the Present (by Stephen Hawking)
Oh really?? No shit Steve...I guess you don't need to come up with creative titles when you're a genius.

- Sphincter of oddi dysfunction: role of sphincterotomy
You didn't wanna see the pictures for this one...TRUST ME!

- Invading Iraq: The Road to Perpetual War
This one isn't so much funny as it is prophetic -- it was published in Dec. 2002...

- One Cow, One Vote?
Call me old-fashioned, but I don't believe that Bovine Democracy is the way forward. Besides, what would that make the opposition party?

- Blackjack in Holland Casino's: basic, optimal and winning strategies
This was another serious article! I read the whole thing, but it was extremely complex with tons of formulas I didn't understand! I guess the rules to Blackjack in the Netherlands are a bit different, and if you learn to count cards, you can get better odds than the house. Really, I was expecting it to say something along the lines of "stand on 17. double down on 11."

Finally, these last two were less titillating (pun intended) than I was hoping for:

- The Breast Journal
No joke, an academic journal published out of the States. Unfortunately all the pictures are just of cells and genetic odds and boring stuff like that.

- Cleavage Formation in Norway: The Contextual Dimension
This one had me really excited because, let's be honest, who doesn't enjoy some Norwegian cleavage?! Then I remembered it was a geological journal. Dammit!

Dreams...

...can come true.

That's all I'm going to say until I have more sorted out.

How Snakes on a Plane Change My Life

Yes, it may sound ridiculous, but I'm fairly certain Snakes on a Plane has changed the course of my future.

How is this even possible, you may ask?

Well, I had always planned to go to grad school, but had been debating in which faculty, what to study, etc. Having gone to see Snakes on a Plane yesterday with Brad and Jim, I realized that I really ought to do something with the theory of media, culture and/or communication.

Without going into it in too much detail, I honestly believe that Snakes on a Plane will go down as a significant film in the history of cinema. Sure, it's not going to win any Oscars or other serious awards, but that's not why it has secured it's place in the history books -- it has far more to do with the context of its release.

It embodies the arrival of 21st century postmodernity to the Hollywood system, and I think, will be remembered as the first film in which the democratization of the Internet really had an effect on a traditionally top-down method of film distribution. This movie is a symbol (and really the first, I believe) of a cultural shift that has been in the making for several years now. I wouldn't be surprised to see more of this, and to a greater degree, in the future. Snakes on a Plane pulls no punches, you know exactly what you're going to get from the title of the film. This honesty found a lot of favour among bloggers who immediately picked up on the absurdity of the concept and began promoting the film months before it's theatrical release. This alone is revolutionary, but even more interesting is the fact that New Line then went back and shot several more days of footage MONTHS after the production had wrapped, in order to accomodate the Internet hype. New Line also relinquished the rights for official merchandise (which is UNHEARD of) opting instead to promote fan-based creations. Anyway, I'll leave it at that, as I could (and probably now will) write essays about the fascinating cultural phenomenon that is Snakes on a Plane. As always, Wikipedia has some good background info if you are interested in reading any more.

Almost

Ok, I lied - no update yet.

I did, however, find the following on YouTube which is AMAZING. This was on tv ALL THE TIME when I was a kid...it doesn't get much more Canadian than this (dancing beaver included). If you saw me on the street and asked me to sing the whole thing, I could probably do it from memory.

Coupland at the Movies

Apparently, Douglas Coupland's first film is gonna be based on an original screenplay that he wrote entitled Everything's Gone Green and is debuting at the Toronto Film Festival. According to the CBC it's "a comedy about a 20-something trying to find his place in life." I can hardly wait! Also, in trolling IMDB, I found they're going to do an adaptation of his novel All Families Are Psychotic which I just finished reading 2 days ago during my lunch breaks at work, all the while thinking "this is one of the few Coupland books that would translate well into a film...."

Bad Blogger, Bad!

Yeah, I've been a crap blogger lately. Sorry folks. I promise something more meaty this weekend.

More lighter notes....

My job at the moment consists of estimating how much it would cost to digitise back issues of academic journals. This requires me to scan through a random issue of each journal and count things like graphics, tables, text, etc. On an average day, I get through about 15. So, here is a list of 100% real titles of articles I have found during the course of my work:

- Fatal methanol poisoning following home distillation of methylated spirits
In other words, killing yourself with your own moonshine!

- Activities in the Danish Year of the Brain 1997
When is the Danish Year of the Pinky Finger?

- Augmenting Effect of a Nonmutagenic Fraction in Soy Sauce on Mutagenicity of 3-Diazotyramine Produced in the Nitrite-treated Sauce
Umm, you're doing what with soy sauce??

- Fat Grafting: My Technique
Upchucking: My Technique

- Clinical and experimental uses of umbilical cord blood
Upchucking: My Technique: Part Two

- Road-kill on the information highway: repetitive strain injury in
the academy
Tee hee, I just thought this one was clever...

- Molecular analysis of the T-cell receptor ß-chain repertoire in
early rheumatoid arthritis: heterogeneous TCRBV gene usage with
shared amino acid profiles in CDR3 regions of T lymphocytes in
multiple synovial tissue needle biopsies from the same joint
Say what? And that's just the TITLE of the article! Imagine the content!

- Trauma Risks and Prevention Strategies for Snowboarders
Man, who writes about this in an academic journal?? I could already tell you what belongs there! "Don't twist your ankle, avoid running into that tree, etc."


- Ohio APNs: Lead Poisoning Knowledge and Practices
Ok, so that's 'lead' as in element 82, but the first time I read it I thought it was 'lead' as in 'the foremost' in poisoning knowledge and practices!

And finally, my favourite of them all, and the one that made me start this whole list in the first place:

- Management of Anorectal Foreign Bodies: A Cause of Obscure Anal Pain
This was a serious academic article in a surgery journal, complete with x-rays of people who shoved things up their ass that really didn't belong there. It also had tables to indicate methods of extraction (from lots of lube all the way to surgical removal!) as well as how many patients were 'known, practicing homosexuals' - isn't science fun!

On a lighter note...

Well, my last post felt rather serious, so on a lighter note, I finally uploaded pictures from the part of my last trip that I spent in Olympos, Turkey back at the beginning of June. They're up on Facebook, otherwise peep them here on Flickr.

Further Opinions on the Middle East Crisis

I walked down Cornmarket Street this afternoon in Oxford (the main shopping drag) and saw a group of people waving Palestinian and Lebanese Flags, protesting Israel's current military campaign. Having no connection to Lebanon, Israel or Palestine, and only receiving information through the media, allow me to share things from my perspective.

First of all, we have the Canadian Prime Minister saying that he doesn't want to send Canadian troops as part of a peacekeeping operation to southern Lebanon, saying instead that the "countries in the area should be responsible for resolving the conflict." Three days later, Bush and Blair call for a "multinational force to keep order in Lebanon." So kudos to our PM for totally missing the boat on that one. What else is new?

Meanwhile, Israel has been vastly stepping up their rhetoric. With audacious claims like "Wednesday's decision by key world powers not to call for a halt to its Lebanon offensive has given it the green light to continue," and "All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah."

All right, now I know that talking about the Middle East, and especially Israel, is a touchy subject, but I absolutely hate this mindset. Making declarations which are 'absolute' in order to further your own agenda makes me nauseous. Take the first statement for example - just because a group of people can't come to a consensus doesn't mean that they don't want to. It's like claiming that because a jury couldn't decide whether to give a convict 10 years in jail or 15 years in jail that he should be allowed to go free! He definitely should not be allowed to go free, they just couldn't agree on how to punish him. And the second quote is equally revolting. It is essentially Israel giving themselves permission to kill innocent civilians. What about people in southern Lebanon who don't have the money to travel anywhere else? Or the means? It does not automatically mean that EVERYONE is associated with terrorists. In fact, these are the exact claims that terrorists make themselves, i.e. everyone in The West threatens us, therefore you are all targets. Unthinking dogmatism has no place on this planet, least of all when it comes to ending peoples' lives. Furthermore, today Israel has rejected a UN-proposed 3 day truce which would allow time for humanitarian aid to be delivered. The reasoning for this was laid out by an Israeli government spokesperson as follows:

"There is no need for a temporary, 72-hour ceasefire because Israel has opened humanitarian corridors to and from Lebanon," Pazner told reporters.

"It is Hezbollah who is deliberately preventing the transfer of medical aid and of food to the population of southern Lebanon in order to create a humanitarian crisis, which they want to blame Israel for," he said.

This, despite the fact that Hezbollah has killed around 50 people in Northern Israel where as Israel has destroyed infrastructure throughout Lebanon and killed over 600 people, including 4 UN observers. Speaking of which, "The UN Security Council issued a statement voicing 'shock and distress' at the deaths, after the US blocked calls for harsher criticism of Israel." Now, I'm not anti-Israel by any means, and I certainly don't think Hezbollah was right in kidnapping Israeli soldiers. That said, it is blindingly obvious that Israel has the greater military might, and instead of using it responsibly, they flaunt it while continuing to act like they're the persecuted ones. That's just not right, in my eyes.

It's not all one-sided though. The Lebanese Prime Minister isn't helping a terrible amount by backing Hezbollah 100%. King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia has also threatened to go to war if peace options fail. And I'm fairly certain Iran and Syria wouldn't have a problem following him. If this were to happen, it would be interesting to see where the U.S., U.K. and U.N. stand in all of this.

*sigh* I just want people to stop killing each other.

Feel free to comment on this one. Like I said before, it's not like I've made up my mind on this issue (or any other, for that matter). I'm always open to new information...this is just the opinion I've formed from what I've been exposed to.

Listening Material

I am loving my new job! And they've agreed to keep me at least another week beyond this one, so that's good news!

The work environment is super-relaxed...it's all (or almost all) young people in jeans and t-shirts, and we're allowed to listen to music while we work. Therefore, I have been stocking up various podcasts to carry me through the next few days, but I also just realized that I can listen to some of my favourite radio stations from home over the internet! This includes much of the archives of The Ongoing History of New Music (I'm currently listening to The History of Selling Out) which will keep me entertained for HOURS! Since my job is quite repetitive, it's really easy just to 'switch off' and pay attention to other things!

One book

Thanks to Kyle for hitting me with this one, however in order to make it more interesting, let's assume that the Bible and my journal are not contenders...

1. One book that changed your life:
Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club (admittedly I saw the film first)

2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Nancy Shaw, Sheep in a Jeep (I must've read this book hundreds of times! I'm 24 years old and I can still recite the first few pages from memory)

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Various Authors, The Encyclopedia Britannica (Is that allowed? It would certainly keep me busy. If I had to choose just one volume, it would be 'S' - cuz it tends to be the biggest, and most interesting. Alternatively, How to Survive on a Deserted Island: The Illustrated Edition or some such would probably be useful as well.)

4. One book that made you laugh:
Douglas Coupland, JPod (most recently....I also considered using The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)

5. One book that made you cry:
Erlend Loe, Naive. Super (it's funny and really touching...I highly recommend tracking down a copy)

6. One book that you wish had been written:
Jesus of Nazareth, In My Own Words

7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (Who knows if it would have changed history at all, but it certainly didn't help things. I should mention that the runner-up in this category is The Da Vinci Code. Let me clarify that this has absolutely NOTHING to do with the subject matter of the Da Vinci Code, indeed the only reason I continued to read the damn thing was BECAUSE of the subject matter...no, my beef is with the fact that Dan Brown is a HORRIBLE WRITER and in my opinion he does not deserve the success he has been given. I would have LOVED to have read these ideas constructed and construed by someone with talent.)

8. One book you’re currently reading:
Philip Pullman, Northern Lights (or 'The Golden Compass' as it is titled in North America...as my farewell to Oxford)

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Catch 22, Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, Slaughterhouse V, etc. (There's a lot of modern classics I've yet to hit)

10. Now tag five people:
Quite honestly, anyone I've linked to in my sidebar over there --->
is more than welcome to consider themselves 'tagged'

Snakes on a Plane!

Well, nearly, according to this BBC story.

Need I remind everyone that it is also less than a month now before we are able to view that fantastic film in its entirety.

Kyle, I'll get to your one-book deal later tonight once I've put some more thought into it.

A Shortie

I'm really enjoying my new job, spending time with friends and doing my best to avoid the heat. Also trying not to get too stressed about where I end up next. I am upset about the Middle East however.

Thank you, Wikipedia...I don't know what I'd do without you.

The World in Pictures

RE: Lebanon

Someone pointed me to the front page of yesterday's Independent. It's pretty clever.

Our Darling Prime Minister

Since our PM was in Russia for the G8 meeting, he decided to stop by Cyprus and fly home a few Canadians who were fleeing from Lebanon. A noble gesture.

According to this story on the CBC, one lady gave Harper a list of complaints about the shoddiness of the evacuation procedure. His response?

"She said Harper told her to outline her concerns in an e-mail to the federal government."

Ok, I realize he's a busy guy, but seriously, that's the best you can do? He's lucky I wasn't on that plane...it would have been a miserable 12 hour flight for everybody :P

Step by step

I have been delaying this post because in my mind, if I don't acknowledge the situation publicly then I am less accountable when it comes time to make a decision. And yet, a decision has to be made, so I might as well share it with you folks.

The point is this: I have 6 weeks or so left on my UK working holiday visa and need to decide what to do next. I know it's really not that big of a deal, and yet I keep making it into one inside of my head. I want to make a good decision, where ever I end up -- and I'm afraid of committing to something I don't like, as has happened in the past. I know I shouldn't let those fears cripple me, and I guess they don't, but they certainly affect my decision-making, at least, moreso than they have in the past. *sigh* At any rate, I'll let you folks know what I'm doing as soon as I do.

On a less stressful note, I've had a great week, and randomly spent the last few days in Paris. And you can't go wrong with Paris in July. In fact, it's hard to go wrong with Paris at any time of the year. Oxford is looking all right too, and I will enjoy the last few weeks of summer that I have here. It will certainly be difficult to say goodbye...

Brett, enjoying some Pimm's & Lemonade while
punting up the Cherwell river in Oxford.

The whole crew in front of Sacre Coeur on top of
Montmartre. From L to R: Me, Cassie, Brett and Brad.

En France

A demain, je vais aller a Paris pour trois jours parce qu'il est Juillet (le bon meteo!) et je ne sais pas quand je vais avoir une autre opportunitie (?) pour visiter France.

Thank goodness for the CBC

I'm really glad that articles like this get printed (or posted...electronically...whatever).

The article explains how the family of the soldier wants everyone to know that he was disillusioned with his duty in Afghanistan and then in true Canadian fashion, finishes with the following quote from the Defence Minister:

He added that despite Boneca's death, morale remains high.

"Morale of the troops in Afghanistan is literally fantastic, as it is back here in Canada."

Right.

While we're on the subject, I'd like to point out that while doing some research for this post, I discovered that Canada's Minister of National Defence previously worked as a lobbyist for several major companies in the defense industry.

This is rather ironic, considering how much the Conservative Party campaigned with their platform of government accountability. In fact, their own website states that "The Conservative Party will stand up for tough new lobbying rules and an end to the revolving door that allows former ministers, political aides, and top bureaucrats to turn around and lobby the government." But it appears they have no problem with former lobbyists becoming cabinet members and then handing over contracts to the companies they used to work for, eh??

More Social Commentary

Yes, the Italians won the cup and yes, the headbutt by Zidane was disgraceful.

Walking home last night, Cornmarket St. was filled with a large group of Italians waving flags and singing songs, it was kinda cute.

And so ends my World Cup blogging, onto something more interesting.

I've been following this discussion on the BBC website...instead of rehashing it, I'll just copy and paste the first two paragraphs:

"Tory leader David Cameron will call for greater understanding of teenage “hoodies”, saying that they are trying to "blend in" rather than appear threatening.

Hooded tops are seen by some as a symbol of social disorder and have been banned at some venues including the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent."

Now what fascinates me is this:

In Canada, the US and Australia we don't have NEARLY the same prevalence of CCTV as there is here in the UK. In fact, I remember being freaked out the first time I went to London and seeing the 'You are being recorded" signs everywhere (and now I'm more disturbed by the fact that I seem to have grown accustomed to it!). Simultaneously, while we have our fair share of youth crime, there is absolutely no stigma in youth wearing hoodies. It's just what kids wear!

So in this discussion, there are all of these comments about how hoodies should be banned because they help to hide your face from CCTV cameras while your commiting a crime. Now, I'm not claiming that Canada, the US or Australia necessarily have better penal systems than the UK (they might, I'm really not familiar with them at all) but I find it interesting that in this CCTV culture, the answer seems to be "let's catch them on camera so we can punish them" rather than "let's look at the causes of their criminal behaviour, and prevent that from happening in the first place."

So in a political sense, I don't know if this will help Cameron or not...he'll alienate a lot of his traditional base who think hoodies are evil and that those who wear them are scum, and yet he might appeal to more moderate conservatives. But who else are the hardcore right-wingers going to vote for? I guess they could throw their support behind fringe parties like UKIP and BNP, but that would ultimately just give more power to Labour and Lib Dem. Interesting...

In closing, I'd like to share a picture (from a previous post) that I took in London a while back:

PostScript

I just read this awesome story on the CBC website and thought it would make a suitable follow up to yesterday's post. Here's the first two paragraphs from the article:

"A 26-year-old Montreal man appears to have succeeded in his quest to barter a single, red paper-clip all the way up to a house.

It took almost a year and 14 trades, but Kyle MacDonald has been offered a two-storey farmhouse in Kipling, Sask., for a paid role in a movie."

If ever there was a case for the Internet revolutionizing human interaction, surely this is it!

A World in Flux

I have to admit, I didn't find out about the July 7th bombings last year until 3pm when my mother called me from Canada (I was still asleep in bed).

From all that has, can and will be said about the events, I think one of the most interesting articles to come out of it is this one.

It's about how July 7th was really the first time that the mainstream media accepted 'user-generated content' over professional journalism (largely because it all occured underground and they couldn't get 'professionals' on to the scene). I think this is fascinating, however what interests me even more are the cutural and technological circumstances which were necessary to make this a reality.

What I mean is, if there had been a hypothetical accident when the London Underground first opened in 1863 and you wanted to document it with a camera, you would have had to haul one of those old, big-ass suckers down there to take pictures. Then you would have had to physically develop the photos, send them to a newspaper to publish, which would then be distributed in the local city/county. Whereas these days, almost everyone in the UK has a mobile phone and almost all of the phones have crappy little cameras in them. Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection could then upload these photos for the world to see. It's the persasiveness of technology, and global reach of the Internet which fascinates me.

In fact, I'm interested to see how the institution known as 'the press' will change over the next 50 years. Obviously there is still a need for some sort of centralized distribution system (the argument against the scenario I described above is that there are so many websites, how would anyone ever find the pictures and the person's description of them?) and I don't have anything against professional journalists (someone who's trained to relay events is probably better at doing so than someone who's not trained) however I think there is real potential for a paradigm shift -- a dramatic, far-reaching one.

On a similar note, I recently realized that I belong to the last generation which will remember life before the Internet. It's crazy to think that the worldview developed by the next generations will be so deeply entrenched with global connectivity and information at their fingertips. It's a fascinating time to be alive...

I hate Italians.

Ok, so that's not true, I just wanted a provocative headline. I'm sure that there are many, many lovely Italian folks.

It's too bad none of them play for their football team :P

Ok, that's probably not true either, but you get my point.

I have no problem acknowledging that Italy was the stronger side tonight and probably the better players, I just think that if they actually spent more time playing the game rather than rolling around on the ground, they would have scored before the last 3 minutes of extra time...

In doing some reflection, I think what bothers me about their style of play is the inherent injustice. The rules are there to create an equal playing field for all teams, so that they can compete purely based on ability. Now philosophically speaking, I have no problem breaking rules if it is the only means to an end result of equality (e.g. the Civil Rights movement in the states) but if you're breaking the rules in order to gain favour for your side (at the expense of another) well then that pisses me off. I guess I see Italy as the 'big business' of international football - they exploit the system at others expense in order to profit.

Come on France!


Now in news that actually matters and has some sort of affect on the world, apparently North Korea has test-fired some missles which would be capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Considering their dictator's questionable mental stability, that doesn't bode well for the existence of humanity. The future isn't looking too bright in Palestine/Israel these days either. Kinda puts a couple of football games into perspective, doesn't it?

Too Much Text

In looking through my last few entries, I realize that I've gotten largely text-based again. So in order to offset that a bit, here is a lovely picture of the beach I was on in Turkey one month ago today.



*sigh* Sure do miss that place...

I guess now that I have a couple of days off, I should try and put up more of my travel pictures like I've been promising to do for a while...

Heatwave!

Well, according the BBC, the south of England will be experiencing a mini heatwave for the next few days. It's too hot to do anything! Especially work, so it's a good thing I've quit ;)

Man, my Canadian blood just can't handle this weather...I suppose it doesn't help that I sleep on the 3rd storey of the building (that's the 2nd floor for my British readers)

I think I'm going to spend the next few days chilling out and drinking beer. Like I said, it's too hot to do anything else. Maybe a dip in the river.

A note for my British mates (or rather, my mates living in Britain, regardless of your cultural heritage) - I was in The Works in Westgate today and saw two really good books for cheap. The first was 'In Praise of Slow' which I know both Jim and Matt have raved about and it can be had for a two pound piece. The second was 'Bono: In Conversation...' which I bought in Norway (for a ridiculous amount of money!!!), have read and recommend highly! Hardcover was four quid. Pick one up before they're gone!

It's a good thing I'm not a betting man...

So Argentina, Brazil and England -- all teams who I thought could possibly win it -- are now out!


On the one hand it's nice that I won't be surrounded by flags and ridiculous England props now, but on the other hand it's too bad...I'd like to be in a country when their team wins the World Cup, it would be a huge party.

So now the 'World' Cup is between Germany, France, Italy and Portugal. Right. 4 countries that border one another (ok, so Portugal doesn't really, but they might as well) and 3 of them are G8 nations. What an 'international' competition...

Which made me wonder, what factors are necessary to make a good team? Surely a country with a population of 80 million will have a greater selection than one with only 8 million, but by that logic, India and China should be dominating. Therefore, there must be something within the countries that influences it as well....programs or funding or something. But it can't be all wealth, cuz the USA has both a significant population and a lot of cash, but they came in last in their group this year. So maybe it has something to do with how much people are exposed to the game when the grow up, and how much emphasis the home country places on the sport? I dunno, discuss.

Whoa Nelly!

Well Matt said that someone had to blog about it, so I'll take up the challenge.

To quote him directly, Matt said 'Nelly Furtado went from "I'm Like a Bird" to "I'm Like a Prostitute!"'

Three incontrovertible pieces of evidence:

1. Her new album is entitled "Loose"
2. Her first single was entitled "Promiscuous"
3. Her latest single is entitled "Maneater"

'Nuff said.

Well Ghana gave it their all, but just couldn't put it past Brazil. To be honest, I'm not too surprised. That said, I think Ghana showed a lot more class than many of the other teams in the World Cup. I don't know if it was because they were playing the reigning champs, or because they had nothing to lose, but they were the most congenial players I've seen so far. Almost all of them helped up the Brazilian players they tackled (whether the Brazilians wanted to be helped up or not!), they congratulated the Brazilians on good plays, and rarely spent time rolling around on the ground in theatrics. That said, there were a couple obvious dives, particularly towards the end in an effort to get a penalty kick which didn't reflect so well on Ghana, but on the whole I found them to be much classier players than many of the European teams. I also watched the France v Spain game last night, and although it was exciting, any time someone went down there were screams and anguished faces and appeals to the officiators, regardless of the degree of contact (I guess they've never read about the boy who cried wolf). I know it's a part of playing the game, but I'd rather they just get on with it... even Henry, who is a player I usually respect had a questionable fall which led to France's second goal. But look at me, talking about football as if I know something about it! Then again, sometimes the outsider's perspective is the most helpful...

Since I'm doing assessments late at work tonight it means I didn't start til 1, which allowed me to have coffee with Matt at Blackwell's earlier in the day. It made for a good beginning to the work day, and made me think that maybe I should try and organize some sort of breakfast meeting sometime this summer. I was also looking forward to coming into work today, mostly because our Internet access is down at home and it meant I could e-mail and blog :P

That's about it from here...more this weekend (if not before) as England take on Portugal in the quarter finals...

Come on Ghana!

Well this being the first World Cup I've ever followed, I can't say what it's been like in the past however this year it seems less like the 'World Cup' and more like the 'Western European Cup with special invites for Argentina and Brazil to tag along'

That said, mighty Ghana is still in contention (after being the USA 2-1!) Now, they have a big obstacle in front of them today, namely Brazil who were favoured to win the whole shebang, but I have faith in the mighty African nation!

You never know what could happen, and it would be a huge upset if they took Brazil down! In fact, it wouldn't even matter if they made it to the finals - Ghana knocking out Brazil would be a World Cup victory unto itself! And with that, I put my support behind Ghana! Go Black Stars!!!!

Next Steps

So my time in England is coming to a close. I have about 2 months left on my UK Working Holiday Visa, give or take a few days, which has been leading me to think about the next step I take.

I have really enjoyed the last 2 years here, and feel that they have been (with the exception of my early childhood) the most formative years of my life so far. I have learned so much about myself and the world around me that I couldn't ever have hoped to learn by staying in my native country, and for that I am thankful. I have also made some lasting friendships and connections with countries across the globe for which I am also very thankful. All that said, I feel like my time in England has been very much about me. Which isn't a bad thing at all, in fact, I think it was necessary for my personal development in many ways. That said, I feel like whatever my next step is, I should be contributing more than I'm taking away from it. Or at least as much as I'm taking away from it. Which again, to mitigate, isn't to say I haven't contributed here in England, but on the whole I feel as though I've taken away more than I've put in. Which, to reiterate, isn't a bad thing for now, but it would be a bad thing if I continued living my life that way. Is that enough disclaimers for you? I guess it goes back to that notion of 'seasons' and I think I'm moving into the next one.

Therefore, I am weighing several options when it comes to what I do next. I don't feel like publishing them all in a public forum such as this, but if you ask me privately I'd be glad to tell you all the different possibilities that I am considering. There's many different factors to take into consideration: I love Europe but I miss my friends and family, I think I should go to grad school but maybe not yet, etc. etc. Regardless of the outcome, I will be sad to leave my community in England but at the same time am looking forward to something new. Jim said in his talk at hOME last night that he heard that those who go through change more often are more likely to see it as a good thing (whereas conversely, those who don't, tend to see it as a negative thing) and I thing there's something in that. I suppose I've gone through enough now that I look for the positive aspects in making such a transition.

I'd like to close with the theme song from Who's The Boss? (which you can listen to here) I never particularly liked the show, and I'm sure the song was written by a bunch of suits trying their hardest to appeal to a middle-America viewing demographic, however I think there's something slightly ironic and painfully po-mo in adopting it for my own circumstances:

"There’s a time for love and a time for living.
You take a chance and face the wind.
An open road and a road that’s hidden
A brand new life around the bend.

There were times when I lost a dream or two.
Found the trail, and at the end was you.
There’s a path you take and a path untaken
The choice is up to you my friend.

Nights are long but you’re on your way
To a brand new life,
Brand new life,
Brand new life around the bend."

Sunday Nights

I'm full of all kinds of thoughts, ideas and opinions which I considered writing about, but instead I'll just share this one:

I love the last few hours before going to bed on a sunday night. I have for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure why, I guess it's a bunch of factors really...the excitement of the weekend has died down and the busyness of the week to come has not yet begun. Being an introvert, it's usually the only time I get for personal reflection during the weekend (though that's my own fault really). It's typically the day of church services, so often (although not always) I've also had some sort of spiritual experience to process. The world appears calm and quiet and it just seems like for a few hours everyone is really laid back and chilled out...it's easily my favourite time during the week.

One Love, One Life

Let's get together and feel all right.

A Photo Op and Nothing More

Odd to think that I was walking around up there exactly one month ago today.


Apparently, according to Mr. Bush, Iraq and Hungary have a lot in common. Right. I'm sure Iraqis are looking at Hungary - of all places - with jealous eyes, saying to themselves "Y'know, one day we could be just like them!"

My favourite quote however, is this one:

But, he said, Iraq's democracy was still under threat from "determined enemies".

"Defeating these enemies will require sacrifices and continued patience, the kind of patience the good people of Hungary displayed after 1956," he said."

Right, well, it took them another 34 years before Hungary officially shrugged off the USSR and became a Republic, so what does that tell you about the state of Iraq? *sigh*

The BBC article also points out that despite being an official member of the EU for the last 2 years, "the good people of Hungary" are still unable to travel to the US without a visa while older members of the EU are. Which makes it pretty clear what the American government REALLY thinks of Hungarians... Basically, the trip is all bullshit...hell, the man's whole presidency is bullshit...

World Cup Fever

Come on Angola! You can do it! You just need to beat Iran by 3 points to qualify! I have faith in you!!!

16:25 - Way to go! now if portugal scores one and you score one, you're in! Go AnGOla!
16:39 - Oh dear, I think that about does it...well Ghana, it's up to you now....

Thank You!

I've believed it for a while, but now I have proper, scientific backing! So there!

It should be noted that my lack of hygiene is due more to laziness than principle, however for a while now I've perceived that folks who are obsessed with keeping clean and taking medicine tend to be ill more often than those less fussed by it. Up until now I didn't have anything to back my own observations, but you can be sure I'll quote this study the next time someone brings it up!

And while we're on the subject, let me tell you why I think that washing your hands after peeing is ridiculous:

a) If I touch my elbow, you wouldn't expect me to wash my hands when I was finished. Therefore, why, after touching a different part of my body (arguably, the part I keep the cleanest!) should I be expected to wash my hands?
b) Men, at least, should be able to complete the process without getting urine on their hands, however even if this were to occur, urine is a sterile liquid! According to wikipedia (the grand authority on all things in this world), urine can be used as an antiseptic in the absence of more traditional methods. An antiseptic is a substance that prevents the growth and reproduction of various microorganisms on the external surfaces of the body! In other words, IT HELPS TO CLEAN THINGS!

Which is not to say that washing your hands is a bad thing. Certainly they get all kinds of junk on them throughout the day. But y'know what? I shower...it does a pretty good job of cleaning my entire body! I really believe that the concept of washing your hands after taking a leak is a social construct which is a hang-up from ancient days when certain practices were considered 'unclean.'

So, there you have it. More than you wanted/expected to know about me this morning. Let the comments begin.

PS: Let it be stated that taking a dump is an entirely different matter altogether.

Monday morning

I've only been at work for half an hour and I've already heard 2 of the songs from the list I made on Friday - it's ridiculous!

10:00 Update - Make that 3 songs...

10:30 - 4

British culture

I came into work this morning and had a really awkward discussion with my female co-worker about the World Cup match last night. Not awkward as in 'uncomfortable' but more as in 'neither of us have any idea what we're talking about.'

e.g.:
"Did you watch the match last night?"
"Just the last 35 minutes."
"Oh, that was the best part! I guess..."
"Yeah. Oh, hey, I'm really surprised they got that 2nd goal."
"Oh right. Yeah, that was unexpected."
"Yeah. So I guess they're moving on to the next round."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Huh."

In other news, we have been listening to BBC Radio 1 at work on a daily basis, which at first I thought was really nice, but after a week I'm already sick of their song rotation. So today, when I have a spare minute (I actually have stuff to DO today...) I will list the songs they play far too often. Here is the beginning of the list, off the top of my head - expect it to grow throughout the day:

• the new Jack Johnson single
• the new Snow Patrol single
• the new Streets single
• the Mylo remix
• the Michael Jackson remix
• the Hawaii Five-O theme song remix
• the monster song
• the Is It Any Wonder song
• the Come On Over Valerie song
• Chili Peppers - Dani California
• World Hold On (the one with that annoying whistle in the beat)
• Don't funk with my heart
• Fall Out Boy
• The I Like the Way You Move song

INTERMISSION: I went to the new Fopp in Oxford during my lunch break and found that Douglas Coupland has just released a new book!! Even though my ass is broke, I put that £9 on the credit card and am looking forward to reading it. It appears to be very untraditional and super creative...I can't wait! Ok, on with the list:

• the Light Up, Light Up, Light Up song (NOT Snow Patrol, the other one)
• the Is It Any Wonder song AGAIN
• Chemical Brothers - Galvanize

Ok, so I got busy at work and couldn't add any more songs, but let me say that I heard all of the above AT LEAST two times today, not to mention previous days. Man, it's brutal. And in better news, I'm a couple of chapters into JPod and I'm LOVING it!! I'm sure that anyone would enjoy it for its existential themes and its unique-ness, but it is totally geared towards the computer geek and he references all kinds of stuff from Baldur's Gate to Nigeria E-Mail Scams. He even spells one word in ASCII! Amazing. I can hardly put it down...in fact I might even finish by the end of this weekend...

150 minutes

Only 2 1/2 hours left to go today....I'm 'ducking out early' to watch the England World Cup match, simply because its an acceptable excuse to leave early.

The Pensky File

I feel like George from that episode of Seinfeld where he gets a new job and is assigned to the Pensky file. Essentially, he takes all week moving it from a paper folder to an accordion-style folder. That's me. That's my job.

Read the entire episode here.

Narcissism

For those of you who miss my beautiful face, here's a bunch of pictures of me (and possibly some friends) over the past month or two. I'll post non-me pictures in the next few days.
















Looking over this assorted gallery, I'm somewhat alarmed by the number of things going into my mouth...

I Made a Mistake

I took my lunch down to the river today, and sat there watching the fish, birds and boats. What a terrible idea! I thought of my friend Matt who's working at a summer camp in Northern Canada and after that I could hardly drag myself back to the office.

It didn't help that I ran into one my Polish friends at work this morning - and actually, I don't really know this girl very well, but she is the flatmate of one of my better Polish friends. So she asked what I was doing and I told her that I worked here now. She replied very insightfully (imagine the following with a Polish accent):
"You know, I don't think that this work is for you. I really cannot see you at a desk in such a small space. But at least it is better than the coffee shop, yeah?"

And dammit, she's right...oh well. For now I need the cash and will take it. However we shall see what further developments arise...

Back to work

Well it's Monday morning, my first day on the job alone. And I mean ALONE. Like, I am literally the only one in my office.

I got a little freaked out this morning at the lack of structure (I knew I was gonna be the only one here and had no idea what I'm doing) and I seriously considered bailing -- it wouldn't have been too hard to call up the agency and ask for a new placement -- but I'm so glad that I didn't!

I came in, turned on the computer, turned on the fan, turned on the radio, and got to work! There was a big pile of slips of paper (still is, as a matter of fact) with a note asking me to sort them into their various classes, and I've been doing it since I got in! We'll see if I can stretch it out until lunch time....

I do like the relaxed environment - I've never earned money more comfortably in my entire life! And it's nice that they aren't looking over my shoulder and breathing down my neck, however I'm worried that come the end of the week there is going to be stuff that I was supposed to do and didn't, just because no one told me! I guess in that case it's not really my fault, but still, I want to make sure all my bases are covered, so I better ask around.

With Kyle leaving the UK and heading back to the States in a week or so, I seriously considered going back to the coffee shop for the summer, if only for the social element. However now that I'm seated comfortably behind a fan and in front of a computer with internet access, and earning £2 more per hour than I would at the coffeeshop, those thoughts seem foolish.

Well, someone just came in and asked me to change the printer ink, so maybe I should go figure out where that's kept...ciao!

A Sunny Sunday in Oxford

I saw some kids with a lemonade stand today and was going to buy a drink, but then decided against it so as not to encourage Capitalistic tendencies within them.

I'm such a jerk.


(Pictures are coming...just around the corner, I promise)

Some good advice

Here is a secret nugget of wisdom I really shouldn't be sharing...

The two best times to go grocery shopping here are:

1.) Valentine's day evening (it's all single guys)
2.) During a World Cup match in which England is participating (everyone is at home or at the pub)

of course, this presumes that

1.) You don't have a partner to share Valentine's day supper with
2.) You don't give a rat's ass about England in the World Cup

Knowledge is power.

Summertime

I like to come up with long, interesting and complex posts while I'm walking the streets on my way to somewhere else - however when the time comes to actually sit down and pound them out, I often find the inspiration somewhat lacking.

At any rate, I start a new job tomorrow. Yes, TOMORROW. Even though I just got back to Oxford YESTERDAY. It's for the best, I suppose. I've realized that, as much as I hate to admit it, I need routine (the trick is, I need the routine to be self-imposed, not other-imposed) and the longer I go without working, the harder it will become to change into a routine which involves a regular job. The time period for this placement is listed as 'ongoing' which is good, although it sounds like I will be dealing with people, either in person or over the phone, which is part of the reason I left the coffee shop in the first place. On the plus side however, I will be earning £7/hour, which even with the exchange rate, I believe is the most money I've ever made at a job in my entire life (insert overeducated/underemployed comments here).

In other news, one of my flatmates apparently moved to Germany while I was gone....go figure. He is to be replaced with two Polish girls sometime next week. I hope they are funny, outgoing and friendly. Attractive wouldn't hurt either.

I guess that's about it from the world of Langford. Summer is in full swing here (which is nice, considering I was still wearing my leather jacket when I left the country) and World Cup fever has swept the nation. I know I'll get lynched for even suggesting it, but I would love it if England lost the final to some small-time country like Paraguay or something...these colonists need a big piece of humble pie :P

O-town my Hometown

Back in Oxford, safe and sound.

Unfortunately since I didn't pay my broadband bill while I was away, they cut off my internet access. Thankfully, I got a hot tip from Matt that a cafe just a block away (Mango's on Cowley, for all the Oxfordites) has free WiFi! I imagine I will spend a good chunk of time here in the next few days...

Tonight its dinner with Kyle, then tomorrow it's lunch with Matt.

Pictures soon, I promise promise promise.

The Best Place on Earth!!!

After many hours on a night bus, switching buses two more times, and waiting at a coffee house in the middle of nowhere, I finally made it to Olympos. And boy am I glad that I did!

This is exactly what I needed after crazy traveling from big city to big city. Everyone here is so chilled out and relaxed...there's lots of different options, but pretty much everyone just spends the day on the beach, or lying in a hammock. Beer NOT optional.

I've met some awesome people here and had such SUCH great times. Yesterday, 9 of us rented a boat for the afternoon and were taken around the Med - stopping to visit sandy beaches, swim in caves and we were even served a fresh fish lunch on the boat! There's also lots of ancient Greek ruins to go exploring through near the beach, as well as these eternal flames up on a mountain that come out of the ground - it's a natural phenomenon of a mixture of gases that burn and it just looks like a camp fire coming out of the ground - crazy. Anyhow, I've only got one more night here tonight, then late tomorrow (1:20 in the morning!) I fly out of Antalya and into Gatwick. I'm so sad to leave, but it's the right time to do it.

I wanted to post pictures here to make you all jealous but the connection here is dead slow, and I can't be bothered to waste all that time uploading when I could be, well, in a hammock drinking beer.

Club Med

Well I finally booked my flight 'home.' I'm leaving from Antalya early in the morning of June 7th and flying into Gatwick.

I have already decided that I am going to take another trip to Turkey in the future and spend much MUCH more time looking around. This made my next move much easier, since before I made that decision I was going to try to cram in a ton of stuff before leaving, but now, I have a new plan:

I was supposed to spend tonight in Istanbul - but I asked for a refund and instead am taking a night-bus to Antalya. Don't get me wrong, Istanbul is very beautiful, but I'm sick of big cities, the aggressive carpet salesmen and shoeshine guys, and so on. As well, I haven't really met any great people at the hostel here, whereas the rest of my trip I've been really lucky with that each day.

But won't Antalya just be more of the same, you ask? Well possibly (I really don't know) but I'm not going to stay there. Instead I found a pamphlet for a place called Bayrams in Olympos, 90 minutes outside of Antalya. It's on the Mediterranean and they rent out log cabins to sleep in. I figure a good way to end the trip would be to go there and chill for a few days and see what it's like - swim in the Med, climb up the mountain, lay on the beach. Then, if I want to take a couple days in Antalya, I can, go do that or else I can relax til the end of the trip and then head in the day of my flight.

So there you have it....a relaxing end to a crazy adventure! Or so I imagine - who knows, maybe the craziest is yet to come!!

Good morning Bulgaria

Turkey is AMAZING! Or rather, Istanbul is amazing. Or at least, the parts I have seen so far today.

The Turkish border, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired.

Our night train arrived at around 3:30 am this morning, and unlike in Europe where the officers come through the train, here you actually have to get off the train and go into the customs & immigration station. Now, because Turkey is keen on joining the EU, European citizens don't need a visa, they just get their passports stamped, however nationals from places like Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada need to buy a Visa at the station.

No big deal - or so one might think. Recently, Turkey pulled its envoys to both Canada and France after our countries officially recognized the genocide of the Armenian people committed by the Turks in the early 20th century. The Turks claim that the deaths were casualties of a war for independence, that the rates were much lower, and that Turkey suffered just as many losses. Now, I honestly don't know enough to comment one way or the other, however what I DO know is that the cost for a Visa is now 3 times higher for Canadians than it is for Americans. And did I mention that they don't accept credit cards? And that there isn't a bank machine? And that the staff doesn't really speak english? Basically, if you don't have enough money you get stuck there at the Bulgarian border until the morning when you catch a local bus to the nearest grocery store to get some cash out. That would be a shitty deal.

So, I had exactly 43 euros on me, and that was it. I knew it would be expensive, but I didn't think it would be more than 40. It was 50. Thankfully earlier I had met a Spanish guy named Diego and his girlfriend Carolina and they offered to give me the difference, so I was in the clear. Except that there were 3 other Canadians there (including a guy and his 80+ year old mother) who didn't know they had to have currency at the border and were gonna get stuck. So between me, the Spanish couple and 4 Danish guys, we gathered up enough euros for them to all get a visa and got them across! Because who wants to be stuck at a train station in Bulgaria at 4 in the morning?? We sorted out who owed what once we got to Istanbul and then went our separate ways. All in all, quite the international co-operation!

Anyhow, now I'm here and I'm safe, and it's beautiful and the Turkish people are awesome. I have tons more to write but I think I'll save it for next time.

All the rage in Romania

Today I played a few rounds of "Catch the Falling Senior Citizen" - it's apparently a very popular game in Romania! The way it works is you get on a public bus shortly after church has been let out and wait for it to pick up a senior citizen. After the senior citizen has climbed the steps (but before they've reached their seat) the driver of the bus then GUNS it, causing the old biddies to lose their balance and go flying backwards. I played 3 rounds today and won 2 of them. I felt really bad for the one I missed, he could have seriously hurt his hip or something. But there you have it, just another day abroad.

Today I also visited Dracula's castle with 2 Californian girls that I met on the bus. Now I'm hopping on a train back to Bucharest to hang out with them tonight.

An evening of good company

Last night I hung out with 3 beautiful girls (i refer to both inner and outer beauty) - 2 french, 1 portuguese as well as a guy who graduated from my university a year before me. Freaky. It was a blast though. One of the french girls has been living in Bucharest and working with kids, so she showed us around town and ordered food in Romanian for us, very helpful! I slept in today and hung out with my Canadian friend some more, but they were all headed to Hungary tonight, so we said our goodbyes. I think I'm the only one staying at the hostel now (don't worry Matt!) but who knows, there's still the hope that a group of 4 Swedish girls might arrive later tonight!

Tomorrow I think I'm gonna head to Brasov for a couple nights, check out the town and go see Dracula's castle - after all, when in Romania....

Just in time!

According to CBC they're giving Dracula's castle back to private owners at the end of this week! Better go check it out while I still can!

Of Hungarian Night Trains and Romanian Train Stations

Well, I took a night train from Budapest to Bucharest last night. I went for the cheap option in which up to 6 people could be slept in the same compartment, however it was just me and a sketchy Romanian man. He had a greasy ponytail and a 'stache, along with coke bottle glasses - had I been a solo female I would've been a bit freaked out, but he was nice enough. He spoke a little bit of English, so we talked a bit, and since there were only two of us, we went to bed right after we crossed the border (and time zone!). It wasn't the most comfortable sleep I've ever had, but it was better than I expected. When I awoke all my valuables were intact and my bag was still there (which is good cuz the lock on the door was broken!) so it all worked out. I had a sandwich for breakfast that I made earlier and then it was on to Bucharest!

When I first got off the train I was hassled a bit by a guy named David. At first I thought he was just being friendly (how naive!) but I realized when he didn't leave after convenient breaks in the conversation that something else was up. I think he was trying to get me to take a rip off taxi to the hostel, and then he even offered to walk me there, but I told him that I was travelling alone and didn't need any help. He wasn't too pleased about that (I think cuz he wasted 10 minutes talking to me beforehand) but he did leave me alone. That caused me to flee from the train station rather quickly though, as I didn't want to be harassed any further, which is a shame because that's where I tend to get maps and internet access and whatnot when I first arrive somewhere. Thankfully I had already booked my hostel but I hadn't written down the address - which in hindsight is rather stupid, but I figured I'd just hop on the internet when I arrived and figure it out. Note to self: don't do that again! I wandered around the streets of Bucharest in 31 degree heat (hey, at least it wasn't raining!) for 30 minutes with my bag on my back, sweating like a maniac. I couldn't find an Internet cafe for the life of me - unhelpfully, there is a chain of currency exchange places here called Amanet, so everytime I saw a big sign with 'net' on it, I thought I had found one, but I was wrong. Then there was another place that I thought might be an internet cafe so I wandered in and instead, it turned out that it was a Ford dealership. That was closed. Go figure.

At any rate, eventually I decided to head back towards the train station, figuring that there had to be something at least nearby, and if need be, I could bravely venture back in - but I didn't have to in the end! Eventually I found this place, which is the basement to a convenience store across the road from the station. It's nothing special, but it's cool (temperature wise) and will be a good place to kill time before heading to the hostel - the address, of which, is now in my possession!

Buda + Pest

Well my second adventure has begun. I am safe and sound in Budapest after a 10 1/2 hour train journey (delayed) and wandering through the rain to find a hostel (took a couple of tries).

I was put into a room full of yanks, but I'm all right with that - they seem to be friendly folk.

I think the plan is to spend the next 2 days here then take a night train to Bucharest on the 23rd/24th. More updates as they occur...

Embarking...again

Well it's our last night here in Prague. Tomorrow we're headed to Frankfurt where my mom will fly back to Canada. Originally I had booked a RyanAir flight back to London Stansted...after having arrived in Swtizerland however, I realized that our rail passes are good for another 3 days after my mom leaves. They can get me as far as Bucharest, and since I don't have any particular reason to get back to the UK immediately, it seems like a waste not to use them. And so I embark on a new adventure...

On the road again

Wow, so much to write, so little time.

I'm in Lauterbrunnen at the moment - a small town situated between two snowcapped mountains, just outside of Interlaken in Switzerland. The weather today was gorgeous (after much rain in Geneva) and we spent the day walking and taking in the view.

The conference in Geneva was freakin' FANTASTIC! So much to say about that, but another time. I think it's off to Venice tomorrow, followed by Innsbruck, Vienna and Prague - that's the provisional plan at least. We could end up anywhere really. As long as I'm in Frankfurt by the 21, it'll be ok. Eh, and even if I don't make that, it wouldn't really be a big deal.

I would love to upload pictures, but unfortunately I'm using a coin-operated internet terminal so I can't access the physical machine. Next time perhaps.

Love you all,
Chris

embark

I have just now come to the conclusion that 'embark' is quite possibly one of my favourite words of the english language. It is filled with such hope, excitement and adventure.

Tomorrow is my last day temping in the office, before embarking on a journey to Amsterdam early friday morning with Kyle, Brad and Patrick. On Sunday morning I will be embarking on a further journey to Geneva where I will be meeting my mother. We're going to spend a couple days there at an Emerging Church conference featuring the likes of Brian McLaren and Jason Clark before traveling a bit through Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and finally flying out of Germany.

I'm always excited to travel, but that notwithstanding, I feel like I'm embarking on a grander journey as well. It's like this trip through Europe will be the break before the final leg of my time here in Oxford and the UK overall. When I get back, it will nearly be June, leaving me just 3 months remaining on my UK visa. Combined with the nicer weather (finally!) and the fact that I will most likely have a new place of employment when I return, it's as if a new chapter is about to begin. On second thought, what an outdated metaphor. Mayhaps it feels more like a new blog entry is about to be posted. How's that for postmodern? :P

Catch ya from the continent...

Courage.

Wow. I don't know how it happened but someone arranged for Stephen Colbert to speak at the Whitehouse Correspondents Association Dinner. President Bush is there and gets his ass handed to him (among others). Amazing. (For those who are unfamiliar, Stephen Colbert hosts a talk show in the US where he pretends to be an extreme right-winger but in doing so, takes every chance to make fun of them in the process).

See it here.