Tribe DGNY

Lisbon

2011-11-18T00:14:00.001+02:00

A jewel in Europe, why have I never heard of this amazing city??? Here are a few snaps...

Welfare?

2011-10-27T13:24:00.001+03:00

I'm often surprised but what words appear in roman letters here (instead of Cyrillic, which people here can actually read) not to mention word choice. I'm not sure what fancy shoes have to do with welfare...

Technology rocks

2011-10-25T08:49:00.001+03:00

I have had some cooking catastrophes while living here. One day I wandered into the kitchen to see flames shooting out of a small pot on the stove. The pot fused to the ceramic cooktop ( who knew you can't use ceramic with ceramic?) and of course I had to replace the top - that was expensive...
But I've discovered the answer! The timer! Ceramic might have flaws, but being able to set the timer AND HAVE THE BURNER TURN ITSELF OFF rocks.

iPhone app!

2011-10-25T00:34:00.001+03:00

Finally! Here are some Moscow shots...

The park in the Kremlin

The Metro is beautiful And complicated.

St Basil on Red Square OUTSIDE the Kremlin...

A Statue in a Metro station

Church inside the Kremlin. There are many churches inside the Kremlin.

Lenin out for a walk

Lenin, posing.

Another statue in a Metro station. Apparently rubbing the dog's nose is good luck.

Once a quarter...

2011-10-25T00:04:00.000+03:00

My online life is pretty much taken up with Facebook posts and Words with Friends these days...actually, blogger has really missed the boat with iPhone publishing - if I had an app I might be more apt to use it but it seems people prefer the tweet world...something to reflect on, except tweeting isn't about reflection, it's spitting out any old thought in a handful of words. That's not reflection, I'm sure of it.

I'm a runner now. Seriously! I'm slow, it's true, I only run just under an 8 minute km, but I finished my C25K program in September and have continued running at least 5 k a week. I know, it's nuts. Running is a funny thing. I want to say I love it, but really what I ought to say is I love *after* it. Just this morning my ankles were creaking and my neck was sore and ugh, I really didn't want to run. But my cleaning lady was at the flat so I had to be out and f*ck it, why ever not? I ran my little heart out and in no time at all it was over and I was picking up a lovely cappuccino from my favourite Israeli chain...

This fall is a quiet time for travel. After completely blowing the bank this summer and also booking a ticket home for xmas (I need to renew my driver's license) I decided to have a stay-cation for fall break. It's been a fantastic time so far, so no regrets there!

A few weeks ago I was in Moscow for a meeting, which was really exciting! I was raised during the Cold War era, so you can imagine my surprise on arriving in Moscow and finding supermarkets full of groceries, no one standing in line and frankly, nothing much (except for the Kremlin) to distinguish it from many other cities in Eastern Europe. The Kremlin *was* cool. The incredibly small (in both ways) Faberge egg collection is fascinating. The dead Czars not so much. The dresses of Czarinas stuffed to ACTUAL size was interesting. I was surprised to discover that the church in the Red Square is NOT in fact in the Kremlin. Hmmm, maybe I should post some photos.

I'm off to Lisbon next month for more meetings (jealous of my life yet? I am!). My sister has wrangled herself into the same meetings, so that's pretty exciting! I expect to be sipping port and eating custard with her to a ridiculous extent - which I can because did I mention I'm a runner now?

I've been a reading maniac, too. Latest book was REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. Yet another awesome book by one of my favourite writers. Earlier this fall I read The Hunger Games Trilogy - holy cow that was two weekends gone! I read the whole series and then turned around and read it again. Even writing that sentence I'm thinking maybe I need to read it again. It's hard to imagine how I could be so enthralled with something in the "teen lit" category but there you are, they're FASCINATING and ENGAGING novels.

We have a whole slew of new people at work - all are fantastic. None single. I might just have to start scouring the city for a man who showers. Seriously, showering and deodorant are not a high priority for the men in this country. But then I suppose if I did like the look of one, I could probably talk him into bathing - after all, I have a clean 14 year old!

Ahh, yes, the G. He's a giant. He has a deep manly voice and shaves. Sometimes I run into him at the bar. No seriously, the drinking age here is pretty much non-existant, so he can go to bars. I had the unfortunate experience last weekend of walking into the same one as him - of course the well-behaved lad that he is, he wandered over right away to confess his sins and declare he ought to go home right away. I think it might have been his first bar experience so no doubt now he'll think I'll be at any bar he goes to! Luckily he still prefers his xbox to pretty much anything else....

So there's an update!

She'll be a runner yet

2011-07-17T12:02:00.001+03:00

With time on my hands this summer, I decided to join a gym. It's ok, but a bit boring as I miss my old gym in HK SO MUCH! Realizing it wasn't going to sustain me, I decided to download a C25K app to my iPhone.

Couch to 5k is something that people have been talking about a lot over this past year. Basically it's a simple interval training program to help non-runners become runners. I had worried I wouldn't be able to do it as I've been pretty devoutly against running since forever. But with the app, it's SO easy! No thinking or negotiating, "Michael" tells me when to run and when to walk. My own music plays and the gps on my phone tracks distance and pace. I don't even hate "Michael" as much as I thought I might, his voice is gently commanding and really, when he says run you just do, is all.

I've just finished the first week of ten. That has me actually running only about 8 minutes of the thirty minute workout, but that's 8 minutes more than I've run in any interval.

What's interesting is that I love it. Well, the first ten minutes or so is rough, but the endorphins kick in after that and I genuinely enjoy the rest. I got me thinking that endorphins are the body's way of saying thank you and encouraging me to keep going. I'm also beginning to suspect that running feeds a primal need so basic I can't even put words to it. With each workout I enjoy it more and what's really interesting is that the feeling lasts all day - long after the endorphins have left my bloodstream. What other than satisfying a primal need could that be?

If you have been thinking about picking up running or if you have been scared off running from a lifetime of failed jogs staggering for air, I highly recommend giving it a try - you won't look back.

Revisiting the past

2011-07-17T11:50:00.000+03:00

I have been a devout ereader for about a year now. It all started with moving to a country where you can't get books in English, but the ability to carry an entire library in my bag quickly made me a devotee. The only thing is that my favorite authors don't seem to write as much as I read! So I've ended up turning to old books through gutenburg and this summer and reread the Anne of Green Gables series.

All Canadian girls read Anne- it's a rite of passage. As I went through and read the books, I was amazed at how well I remembered them (these days I can read a book and then a few months later pick up the same book and not realize I've already read it until I'm halfway through!). I was also amazed to find how much of my own identity is tied up with Anne's. In You've Got Mail, Meg Ryan's character says, "When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does." and she couldn't have been more right!

It has been a lovely gift to run into preadolescent me and to get to know her again. I highly recommend it.

Barometer drops

2011-07-10T12:58:00.002+03:00

Do you want to hide out in a dark room when the barometric pressure drops? I do. I can't believe how much a cloudy day throws me off!

Living normal in other places

2011-07-06T14:42:00.000+03:00

I know most people travel to see interesting things; I'm not like that. Oh, I see stuff, but it's only really by accident. When I get to a new city I like to find a place that feels right to hang out - my local, if you will - and do things I would do anywhere. Then I get a real sense of how the place is the same and familiar and how it's different.

In Antwerp, it's a bit like living in Vancouver. People are a little more fashionable although err on the side of comfortable. Lots more bikes, but the same pro-fitness views prevail. Amazing food. My gym is pretty typical.

It is making a nice break from the harshness of Kiev - things here are just softer and easier. People understand English or I can explain in French. Life is simple and I love it.

Antwerp reprise

2011-07-01T10:39:00.001+03:00

In Antwerp for the month, marveling at my luck to not only have an amazing job but one that allows me the luxury of such travels!

Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity | Video on TED.com

2011-06-13T11:09:00.000+03:00

Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity | Video on TED.com

I watch a few Ted talks a month and I've seen some incredible ones. This one is worth watching.

It struck a particular chord with me because over the past year or so I've come to realise that as nice as having hair would be, I wouldn't trade it for the experience of losing it. I've learned more about myself and come to understand more about my own power from the experience than I ever would have imagined. I'm more me because of it and I like being me!

A year on

2011-05-29T14:50:00.000+03:00

This time last year I was packing up my life. I was hoping for a more interesting job and some travel...
I got both!!

On the work front I had an amazing year full of interesting challenges and best of all, got the promotion I'd hoped for. Next year holds new challenges and a great team to work with.

On the travel front, I've been to Antwerp, Paris, Nice, Prague, Singapore, Frankfurt, Rome, and Venice. Quite a bit more travel than I expected! Next year looks to be Antwerp, Vancouver, Thailand and Tanzania!

There were some surprises, too. I've spent three holidays with my sister, who is notoriously busy. I know it sounds a little cheesy, but reconnecting with her has probably been the highlight of my year!

The G turned into a man this year. It has not been an easy road, but being the mother of a 6'4" shaving deep-voiced gentleman has certainly made me realize I really can do anything I set my mind to.

So there you have it - jumping off the deep end to change your career and live in a very foreign country where you know nary a soul can indeed turn out to be the very best thing you can do!!

The One

2011-05-20T12:57:00.001+03:00

I just watched an amazing TED talk (aren't thy all?) about the next 5,000 days of the web. It's here.

Here's an awesome quote:

I have now gotten to the point where I don't even try to remember things, I'll just Google it. It's easier to do that.

We kindof object at first, saying things like "Oh, that's awful!".

But if we think about it, the dependency that we have on this other technology called the alphabet and writing, we're TOTALLY dependent on it.

We cannot imagine ourselves without the alphabet and writing.

What an outfit

2011-05-16T19:48:00.000+03:00

A two piece floral printed suit. I just had to take a photo.

In Roma!

2011-04-24T10:10:00.000+03:00

Probably the most amazing city I've been to - yet. Three generations
on tour again!!

Mama Bear has the memory of an elephant

2011-04-14T21:39:00.002+03:00

Have you ever had a run in with someone about your child? I have and I have a great kid so I'm sure everyone does at some point or another. I'm not sure everyone takes it as personally as I do. I'm almost pathological (not really, of course, and not to poke fun of the real nutters out there).

Something happened here in the fall where I spoke to someone about an incident my son was involved in and they went on to rat him out (and make him sound like an instigator when he wasn't). I'm around her often for work reasons and of course I'm friendly in that professional superficial way one can be without misrepresenting oneself. I do try to leave it in the past but honestly, when I look at her it just reminds me of that horrible day. I wish her all the best, it's not an evil or vindictive thing at all, I just feel like I've seen her true colours and they're not for me.

There was another such incident today. Well, a different sort of thing but nonetheless, there was a disagreement between me and someone about what to do about the G's adolescent approach to homework. The unfortunate thing is that she's someone I see a lot here and in some ways is my closest friend. Well, was.

I'm not sure how it will all shake down and if I will be able to spend time with her without remembering theawfulthingshedid. It's not something I can mind over matter, either. In this case, I'm not even sure I want to - again, I feel like I've seen someone's true colours and all I want to do is get as far away as I can. I'm super primal with this sort of thing: I can forgive a lot, but when something unforgivable happens, it's like a switch is thrown and the lights go out on the relationship.

Uncontained

2011-03-16T06:53:00.000+02:00

I'm headed to Germany next week for a conference, but that's not the cool part. My sister will be attending, too! A big part of why I decided to go overseas was that my job would be loosely related to my sister's and I was hoping we'd have more occasion to spend time together.

In this case, it will be us, sans children! Sans spouse! We have not spent a weekend alone together in more than a decade!

Of course, I am presenting at the conference, so this weekend it will be nose to the grindstone in preparation....

Disastrous

2011-03-14T19:20:00.000+02:00

I'm at a complete loss on what to post at the moment. I'm having
trouble pulling away from the terrible news from Japan.

So much sadness at the earthquake and devastating tsunami. So much
anger at the idiocy of building dangerous power plants on that most
exposed spot. So much worry that the radiation will end up riding the
jet stream and infecting my beautiful home country.

And then there's all the unrest in the middle east and wait, a volcano
erupting in southern Japan...

This is why I usually don't watch the news!!!!

Firing on all cylinders

2011-03-08T15:58:00.001+02:00

In the morning, I often do a sudoku puzzle. What I've found is that my brain is really on some days and some days it's on...holiday.

Over the past year or so I've had the nugget of an idea floating around. It all started when I was reading A Most Dangerus Animal. It is about war, but actually what I got out of it was one simple idea: that man has only become powerful because of community. That before we worked together, man was mostly a tiger and bear snack. When that fully trickled down in my brain, I thought about how much of my life had been about my own path and how little of it had much of a foundation in community, which, if you think about it, really doesn't make any sense. If we are only powerful together, why would my life goal be to stand apart?

It changed my life. I stopped thinking about where I was going and started trying to figure out how I could surround myself with community. Of course that led me to realize that as much as I enjoyed the companionship of some of my friends where I was living, it just wasn't the community for me. My people are nomads and these people, lovely though they are, prefer property over planes.

This past week, this idea grew a little clearer. Where before it was just something I was thinking about as a concept, I saw an amazing speaker who took it a step further (here he is on YouTube). He said if you are truly yourself, you will attract like-minded people. Not a mind-blowing concept, right? Except here's the thing: he also pointed out that if you are not your authentic self, you will attract people like what you're being, which in my mind means at THE very least, liars.

So if I told you my ex was a big liar, what would that tell you about who I was then? Inauthentic, at the very least. The reason why this was such revelation to me was that I've never really thought about keeping your own deepest most personal self to yourself as being a bad thing. I mean really, what's wrong with that? To be fair to me, I don't think I really realized what I was doing - I hardly understood what it meant to be me, let alone that I was being inauthentic.

But that very relationship did force me to begin to see myself, as has my alopecia and being a lone parent to my son. Every day my own authentic self becomes clearer and as it does and as I choose to really be in my own skin and true to it, I can feel myself finding more kindred spirits out in the world.

Putting the two pieces together, I had this wonderful ah-ha moment where I realized that I need to always be putting my most me, me out there so that I can build myself a community of people who share my passions. That's really different from just finding people to hang out with, which is just how I WAS living my life.

On the road...

2011-03-04T04:08:00.001+02:00

My new job comes with 13 weeks off a year. This week we are spending in Asia! Last night I went out to a fantastic posh dinner on another company's tab and then drinks, finally coming home at almost 3am.

Then I woke at 8am to jackhammers.

This combination of events is so quintessentially Asia.

Some things are just nice.

2011-03-04T04:04:00.000+02:00

Here's something I had completely forgotten about sleeping with someone: that moment when you're a little sleeping and a little awake and your other reaches over to you with a question that your body answers by kicking your mind awake to delicious butterflies and then, obviously, more.

Finally.

2011-02-25T21:30:00.000+02:00

Met a Very Fun Fellow last night who was passing through town visiting
one of my friends. In a fit of distraction we hopped in a cab together
and he stayed overnight. It was a mite awkward in the morning but
luckily the G is a freaking awesome kid and it was actually ok.

Anyway it was a one off but oh so nice to be back in the saddle again.

Georgian wine...

2011-02-03T07:24:00.000+02:00

One awesome thing about living here!!!

The G says

2011-02-02T21:03:00.000+02:00

Arhythmetic? What the fuck is arhythmatic? I'm totally going to fail.

A question of proportion

2011-02-02T18:05:00.000+02:00

I had a second HIV poke in a year yesterday, resulting in a nice
bruise. Gotta love these countries that believe they can save their
citizenry from expats by giving them yearly AIDS tests and chest
xrays!

Not my lunch

2011-02-02T06:42:00.000+02:00

There's an Englishman where I work who is very nice, at least I think
so but I can't understand a word he says. This was his lunch
yesterday. It was especially gross when it started popping on the
microwave....

Why I love Google and by extension, the internetski

2010-12-23T14:58:00.000+02:00

I'm planning our trip to Prague and wanted to make sure to go to an awesome pub we've been to on another trip. All I have is this photo and a vague memory that it's on the other side of the Charles Bridge.

So I looked at Google maps and found "the other side of the Charles Bridge"

I was thinking by the curve of the street, it's probably about where it says "Archibald at the Charles Bridge", but I wasn't sure. So I clicked on satellite...

Here, you can clearly see the trees that line the opposite side of the street! FOUND! It's an awesome pub, downstairs with arched ceilings and beer in gigantic mugs and delicious goulash. I'll take some photos when we go...

Snow outside

2010-12-19T09:39:00.001+02:00

Even more snow outside and all over Europe means loads of stranded and
rescheduled friends. Bah humbug!!

Why Encyclopedias as we knew them are a thing of the past

2010-12-19T09:36:00.000+02:00

A friend recently travelled to Oss.

I asked Google: where's Oss?

Here's what Wikipedia said. Here's what Britannica said. Nuff said.

A Snowy Afternoon Walk

2010-12-18T16:07:00.002+02:00

These are the two birds who sound like crows but don't quite look like them. Black ones with a funny beak and the others we call penguins!

In repose.

Super Zoom!

Footprints.

The Maid moves my shit

2010-12-13T21:33:00.000+02:00

Ok, seriously. I know I shouldn't complain - I live with a teenager and a maid is a necessity for making sure I don't always walk around to the crunch of crumbs on the floor.

But still. It drives me nuts how she puts stuff away in all these crazy places! Monday night is always like a game of hide and seek! Where's the frying pan? Who knows!

Hard seat

2010-12-12T18:25:00.000+02:00

You know, I used to think that having a fat butt meant at least that it would be comfortable to sit on hard seats.

Then I got a fat butt and discovered that fat just squishes aside and it's uncomfortable.

But now I have a rowing machine and as my butt diminishes, I've discovering that actually, my original ass-umption was correct - while not being ideal in many ways, a fat butt is more comfortable for sitting on hard seats than a skinny one. Just now I noticed that I can actually feel the seam of my underwear as I'm sitting here typing this. Owie.

Online booking and other delights

2010-12-12T09:38:00.000+02:00

I've just booked my xmas trip - we're off to Prague! We have somewhere to stay for most of the time, but the first three nights I booked a hotel. There's nothing like your own fitness center, HBO and yes, bubbly at the buffet breakfast.

Also exciting? Movies in ENGLISH. Here there are only occasional flicks in Engleski, so I'm stuck being a mad downloader. In Prague, they're very civilized with intermissions to pop down to the bar and get another Pivo.

Next trip after that is a toss up, but I think Egypt. Any suggestions? We're thinking it's the only time the hot-blooded G will be comfortable enough to enjoy the pyramids and I'm hoping we can find a beach resort for the rest of the time that will be hot enough for me to roast my pasty white skin!

I have a new fave booking process. I start at trip advisor and read what people say about places. Once I find one that seems ok, I use booking.com. They're really good - plus at the end they have a little button to add the reservation to my google account. I like this.

In contrast: smoked plum juice

2010-11-18T21:35:00.000+02:00

I recently tried this juice - smoked plum. It literally tastes like a log cabin with a wood stove and some plum juice. I drank the whole glass because I was told it was delicious, but an acquired taste. All I acquired was a VICIOUS case of heartburn.

New Beaujolais!

2010-11-18T21:10:00.000+02:00

I'm in Nice for a conference...what do you know, the new Beaujolais was released today!!! Delicious.

Google Translate Bots

2010-11-14T10:39:00.000+02:00

One of the things I love about Chrome is that when I come to a page in Russian (often), it offers to translate. This is how I discovered a local cinema that shows films in English!

While poking around Google help, I see they've also added nifty translation bots from chat! This means that it's basically like having a Russian friend - only one that's always available - so I type in a word and it just zaps back the translation.

DG: Thank you

en2ru: Спасибо

Super cool.

I've just been on vacation

2010-11-02T20:40:00.000+02:00

Guess where this is. We stayed one night and had excellent shopping. The shopping was an unexpected surprise as this town is better known of international politics.

Then we went to see a favourite friend and pickle my liver something fierce. We spent most afternoons at cafes in the sun under the church pictured here, drinking Leffe.

This photo was taken in another city of late better known for protests than anything else. It was lovely, of course. Found a lovely (read TINY with a small window looking at a wall) flat in the Marais for all of 70 Euros a night! The statues are atop an especially famous church known for gimpy-backed men.

This last photo is just because the gulls were so lovely. It was taken just next to the church above so guess the river!

An interesting marathon...

2010-10-16T13:11:00.001+03:00

The Marshrutka

2010-10-13T20:50:00.000+03:00

Every morning, I take a minibus to work. When I lived in Hong Kong, I took minibuses all the time. They were a little crazy, but fine. Here, they're mostly crazy, but fine. Here are some things about them:

They have two doors. You can get on in the front or the back, it's no problem.
If it's full, that's no problem, you just push a little and you can fit in. But watch your feet - when he closes the door, it might be on your foot and it could get cut on the bottom of the door.
When you pay, you just pass your two grivna to the person in front of you. They pass it along until it gets to the driver.
If I only have a five, I pass it forward and say, "Adeen" and I wait and then three grivna make their way back to me.
If I only have a five, but it's me and the G, I pass it forward and say "Dva", and I wait and then one grivna makes its way back to me.
When you are almost at your stop, you say "nhasta nokia" and he'll stop for you
There's no heat on the marshrutka. In winter, apparently the frost on the inside of the window gets so bad that you cannot see out.
There's no A/C on the marshrutka. In summer, it gets very hot and usually they open the windows.
In the fall, it still gets hot but they won't open the window because a cold draft is very bad for you. Apparently.
If there's traffic, sometimes the marshrutka will change the route a little, even if that means skipping a couple of stops in-between. Oh well to the people waiting at those stops.
At a main stop, the marshrutka driver might decide to wait until he has more people on the bus. Sometimes this is 1 minute. Sometimes it is 15. You must factor this into your travel time if you don't want to be late.
Sometimes there are a lot of people packed into the marshrutka and you you're sitting down but it's your stop. That's ok, you just gently push your way out. It's like being born, only every day.

Sticks in a hole

2010-10-10T10:10:00.000+03:00

There's a sink hole in the pavement at my bus stop from work. It's about 10 cm in diameter. Things drop in it and it's big enough for you to gt your legs stuck in it and deep enough to do some damage. Of course the city should do something about it, but the list is long, here, of things that need to be done, so nothing happens. I'm not even sure anyone would know who to complain to as post-communism tends to leave people with complaints but nowhere to place them.

The people here won't fix it themselves - they're sill quite entrenched in the notion that the government ought to fix things for them. But since they also don't want to get hurt - nor do they want anyone else to get hurt - so they tear off big branches from a nearby tree and use the hole as a twig vase, of a sort. I think it's a very clever solution.

Heaven

2010-10-08T20:07:00.000+03:00

Anchovies, capers *and* olives on one fabulous stone hearth-cooked pizza. Leffe. A slice of heaven, definitely.

2010-10-08T19:45:00.000+03:00

Hmmm, it's a good thing I don't like gin.

Wednesday reflections

2010-09-29T09:22:00.001+03:00

"If you don't take care of your body, where are you going to live?"

I've just found out I'll be headed to Seville in November for a workshop. I'm so upset about this, I can't hardly contain myself! Just looking at the wikipedia page, I'm going to have a lot of wandering to fit in! What a pretty place - plus paella and flamenco!

On being here, now.

2010-09-26T09:50:00.000+03:00

Out in the world there is this whole notion of "Be here Now". Books have been written. Discussions have been had.

Enter a yoga class, and this is a concept you'll hear over and over again. Why? Because it has legs. Humans are both blessed and cursed with memory. We're burdened with urges to store - things, love, time, people. In North America, Australia and the UK, people are so consumed with the past and the future that they grow fatter and fatter, storing every ounce they can on their physical person as they realise how transient the world around them is.

I was talking to a friend the other day about running. We were talking about how no matter how much you run, take a couple of weeks off and it's like you have not run in months, take a year off and you might as well have never run at all. You can't store exercise. It has to be replenished constantly.

What's more, if you do the same exercise over and over again, it stops being as effective as your muscles become more efficient, more lazy, not to mention the wear and tear on joints from repetitive actions.

I think we ought to take this lesson into other areas of our lives.

Speaking of which, yesterday I walked all over this gorgeous city. Here are some lovely photos for your enjoyment.

Every square has a statue, most are more pensive than this one...

Marshrutkas. How I get to work. They make the minibuses in Hong Kong seem safe, clean, and in excellent repair.

Sophia. I have a bazillion photos of this church but I just can't stop. SO PRETTY.

Look at these bugs! The light was too low to get a really good shot but their markings are so like an aboriginal mask, no?

PRETTY!

Streets in the older section of two. Steep and cobbled.

They say it might snow October 1st. Seriously. It makes me get out all the more, knowing soon enough I'll be in hibernation...

Mid-September

2010-09-19T16:59:00.001+03:00

The other day, I was in a taxi that got a traffic ticket. He'd come to a line of cars turning left and decided he didn't feel like waiting a couple of lights. As I was in the back seat in agony with lower back spasm and on the way to the clinic, I quite agreed with his decision. The car had no shock absorbers and I was about to volunteer to walk if it was going to take any longer!

Anyway, as soon as he rounded the corner, there was a cop right there, pointing a baton at him. He made a universal sound of disgust and pulled over. I made sure to keep my head down and not watch - in a culture rife with machismo it's best if the ladies don't watch when egos are in question.

The lower back is getting better, slowly. All spring, my back had been fabulous, truly wonderful, and utterly resilient with all the moving and lugging of boxes with nary a twinge. Of course I've been carrying on much the same here, with one minor (read: major) difference: in Canada, I was doing 20 minutes of yoga a day. Here? Zero. Lesson learned? No yoga, no lifting.

Speaking of yoga, I'm slowly getting back (heh) into it. At the moment I have to be extremely careful so just a few minor stretches, but I'm back on the daily wagon a 100% convert. I've also started teaching yoga again! I have two classes a week. One is hatha/yin - a gentle stretch class designed for people who just want more flexibility. The other is a power vinyasa - intended to be a workout. My students are all colleagues and are such keeners, it's SO MUCH fun to teach them!

Today I went to a store to get a USB stick and when I started to babble at the salesman, he got all shirty with me and said I ought to ask if he spoke English before talking to him as obviously his language is Russian. It was actually kind of funny given that I'm used to speaking English and gesturing, not expecting the person to speak English at all but for them to guess what I'm on about based on the things I'm pointing at and the pantomime I'm carrying on! I am mostly speaking for myself so I don't lose track of what I'm trying to get across! Of course I apologised profusely and deferred to his advice on sticks (heh) which stroked his ego just enough for him to think I was delightful. (Too bad he wasn't better looking as he was quite easy to bend to my will!)

Later on, I decided that a big stick wasn't the only thing I needed, so I bought a DVD player that has a USB jack and plays DivX movies. The process of purchase was hilarious - the salesman didn't speak a word of English and I can only say things like "thank you", "until we meet again" and "please/you're welcome" so we basically spoke in technical terms:
Me: I need to play DivX movie on USB with HDMI пожалуйста
Him: это только USB один JPG
Me: Oh, hmm, do you have one that will play DivX movie on USB? (Gesturing at all the players)
Him: Da...

You get the picture. It didn't take long and I'm very happy with my $50 DVD/USB/Karaoke (heh) player. It's particularly handy as the G was getting sick of me taking over his laptop and using it as a media player for the TV. I've found some classics: just this morning we watched "Reign of Fire", one of my all-time favourite movies. I'm such a sucker for disaster films! Dragons, floods, tornados! Powers of the Earth! Wahoooooooooooooo!

Life here is exercise. Seriously - we live in a 5th floor walk-up so up and down. The buses jostle and bump all over the place - I hadn't noticed until my back went out, but it's CONSTANT core work just to keep upright! We walk almost everywhere. When we first got here, I noticed every hill but these days the conversation just carries on.

On top of that, the G is playing on the soccer team (a first for him, he's usually impossible to get on the field!!!).

But the G and I aren't satisfied that it's enough exercise and at his request (he believes he'll be an Olympic rower and who am I to quash his dreams?) we've just purchased a rowing machine. Yes, that's right, in a few short days the Kettler Favorit will be in our living room and the G and I are aiming to row around the world. I think we'll track our distance in a Google map...

What else? We have a little vacation coming up in a month. Antwerp to the the lovely Ms N, then Paris to enjoy the end of fall along the Seine and then a quick visit with the family F in Rotterdam (and a stop at the flagship Ikea!!). Ah, the life of an expat. Loves it.

Life stinks

2010-09-11T11:07:00.000+03:00

A friend of mine died in a senseless car accident.

Not a close friend, but someone I liked and was in contact with over FB. New mother, happy wife, lovely person all-around. She will be hugely missed, no doubt most by the 10 week old little girl she left behind!

I'm saddened and incredibly angry.

One the job testing

2010-08-26T20:20:00.000+03:00

This job requires an HIV test. The good news about that is you know your colleagues (and in fact the entire expat community) get tested every year. Of course one can't account for the intervening months, but still, it's nice to know we're a pretty clean bunch.

I was talking to one of the US Embassy lads the other day and he promised me that there are more expats here than just school teachers. Of course much like in HK, the girls here are gorgeous. Then again, UNLIKE HK, there are a delightful number of gorgeous men as well. Must get that gym joined. Another week and I should know my schedule...tap tap tap...I can't wait to box again.

Inconsolable

2010-08-26T06:37:00.000+03:00

The G has some new shoes and can't seem to get the laces done in a way that both looks cool and keeps the shoes on. I'm so glad I'm not a teenager.

Eloquence and Emmas

2010-08-24T20:43:00.000+03:00

I'm reading PD James. I don't know why I don't more often, it's just filled to the brim with perfect quotes and lightly stated depth of emotion. Here's one that struck me:

"I have health, a job I enjoy, enough food, comfort, occasional luxuries if I feel the need for them, my poetry. Given the state of three-quarters of the world's poor, wouldn't you say that unhappiness would be a perverse indulgence?"

I'd also like to know why Emmas are always so lovely. If I'd been named Emma, surely I'd have spent my life pursued by good-looking, intelligent, and emotionally stable men - perhaps some even possessing all these qualities at the same time!

Stinky clothes

2010-08-22T10:55:00.000+03:00

Smoking is everywhere in this country, but I didn't think it was that bad until this morning when I went to pick up the jeans I wore on Friday night. Seriously, yuck. It's a good thing I don't have any hair or I would have woken up on Saturday morning puking instead of just with a thunkathunkathunka in my head.

Favourite thing about being an expat? Events at Embassies. Ahhhhh, I so missed this life! Went to see the Tri-Nations yesterday at an Irish Pub. Didn't end up watching the game (we were told the wrong time and after 2 hours on hard Irish chairs, my rather fragile post-drinking on Friday self just wanted to go home and have a nap) but it brought back good memories and I'm looking forward to the 6 nations ages from now (I'm assuming the Kiwis won yesterday).

Bears and Women

2010-08-20T07:09:00.000+03:00

Last night I had a massage and a pedicure. The massage was crazy good. Totally different than any I've had before. He literally shook all the flesh OFF my bones on my entire back, neck, shoulders, arms, hips. It wasn't the most relaxing in the sense that I was being tossed around the whole time but WHOA, I've got movement in muscles that have been sitting idle for some time and afterwards I was in an utterly Zen state. I'll be going back, fo sho.

When I came home, they were doing a photo shoot in the tunnel to my courtyard. I hope it was for fashion not a porno. But speaking of gorgeous women, this city is FULL of them. They all have their girls half out and often wear see-through clothes. Well, not all the women. It's mostly the under-35s. The rest look like matronly women everywhere. (I would argue how beautiful the women are in a place should be judged by the middle aged ladies. I mean everyone is pretty when they're 25, it what you look like when you're 50 that really says something!!!). Anyway, one of these days I'll perch at a cafe with my camera on the table and see if I can get a ladies of central Europe series for you! The men are not as distinctively gorgeous, but they all have that sturdy Aryan thing going. Might be nice for a shag but really, I'd prefer mind meld first, which requires some shared words - спасибо and пожалуйста not really being enough to communicate much more than, well, please and thanks.

For your amusement, here's a hilarious story from back home: Black bears found guarding BC pot farm.

Sweat and Statues

2010-08-17T20:24:00.000+03:00

It's bloody hot. It's been almost 3 weeks of 35+ weather. The G and I are so strung out on the heat, it's just crazy. I'm fine in the heat when I'm lazing by a pool, but getting to work and sweating like a pig all day really takes it out of you!!!

Last weekend, we did a little boat trip down the river. It was a tiny bit cooler on the boat, but rivers are not like oceans - it isn't much cooler when you're on them. All the same, here are a few shots I took.

Some especially important places here. Note the sword on the statue - apparently when they first made it, the sword was higher than the church next door so they chopped off the tip. Can you guess the role of religion 'round these parts?

Some people relaxing along the beach. This was at about 6pm - apparently it's packed all day.

I love the contrast of old and new - this wasn't a great shot by any stretch - I was just quickly capturing whatever went by. The light also wasn't that great - the church is a vibrant green with shiny gold.

The week is looking up - Thursday is ladies' night, we're going to a local spa for pedicures and massages. We'll be drinking, too. I think I'll bring Stella Artois - seems only right to bring her along for a Ladies' night, no? Then on Friday we have an Embassy thing - kids allowed - so perhaps a chance for a broader group of mates for both me and the G.

The thing I really want to know is this: when you lose weight, why does it come off the bottom of your bum? I mean seriously - a belly *and* no padding on hard chairs?

A little bath

2010-08-16T21:20:00.000+03:00

I had a super long day today. I have to confess, I'm a little on the low side at the moment. Settling into a new everything is never easy and over the past few days, it's all been a little rough.

On the parenting front, I was promised that the G would have activities last week and in fact, there was one little outing - so 4 days out of 5 he sat home playing video games.

This week promises to be about the same. Of course the G doesn't mind, he quite likes to stay home and play video games. But the problem is that I get home completely wiped (it's still F$*$&#^ing hot here - 35++ every day and NO A/C at work!) and don't have the energy to cajole him out of the house and into the heat (where he doesn't want to go anyway) to at least get a bit of exercise. So Deej scored a fat zero on parenting this week, which is funny because I took this job because I thought it would allow me time to be a better parent. Ha HA, joke's on me.

The kid thing also bleeds over into the social aspects - un-kidded people don't usually ask the people with kids along for drinks, but the "families" don't think of the G and I as a family, so we don't really get invited along for anything. There's one couple that has been exceptionally lovely to us and invited us for dinner (and we'll have them 'round as well!) but for the rest, when people are sitting around over coffee in the morning it seems like the families are getting together in the evenings and the singles are going out drinking and the G and I don't quite fit in either direction. It's just what I didn't want, to move a kadjillion miles away to only be MORE isolated! It's not a new challenge, just the same old struggle in a new city.

I'm still not sure about the social aspects in terms of friends, either - I think there will be enough going on that I can join in on and my colleagues seem fun, anyway. They're a nice bunch of people but I haven't met anyone I feel too much of a connection with. I'll keep getting to know them, though, and hopefully someone will turn out to be a kindred spirit. I have some ideas on some activities I'd like to get involved in - I'm just waiting to see what my budget will be like before spending all my money!

Anyway, by the end of the day, I was ready for a bath and decided I'd try out our new jacuzzi tub. What a surprise that was! I was expecting nice, relaxing bubbles and it turned out to be this INSANE jiggle machine that just whumps you around! I'm certain I lost a few pounds but once I got used to it, it was relaxing in a weird torturous kind of way....sounds like my theme of the week: MY LIFE: fabulous, in a weird, torturous kind of way!

First week at work - two days feels like a month

2010-08-10T20:34:00.000+03:00

I'm bone tired. Every morning I wake before 5am. I get up and putz around until about 7 when I awaken the Kraken. Once it has shape-shifted into the G (usually takes a shower and breakfast) we (or I) head out to work. It's orientation time for a gang of us, so our days are spent sitting around in sweaty spaces (we're in a heat wave, most days go over 40, with high humidity) waiting to sign forms or get HIV tests or do some other bureaucratic nonsense that has very little to do with the work.

Amazingly enough, when I head home after "work", I'm exhausted. But no sleep for the wicked, the G needs care and feeding and then I make myself stay up until at least 9pm.

Tomorrow we have a dinner invitation, it will be interesting to see if I can stay awake!

Anonymizer? Looking for technical advice.

2010-08-07T08:26:00.000+03:00

So I can't buy a damn thing online from here. It's very tedious. I can ask my Mum to buy things for me from Canada, but then I get no immediate gratification and of course there's all the email explaining what I want.

Is there any way I can change my IP address so it appears I'm coming in from some other location? Is there a site that will do this for me? Any and all advice appreciated.

Kobolove

2010-08-06T07:25:00.001+03:00

I bought an ebook reader a month or so ago. I had figured it would come in handy living where I'd be living where there are almost no books in English available at all. I definitely wasn't wrong about that!

Anyway, it sat waiting for my attention for a month. Finally, right before I left, I bought John Irving's newest missive (I love him, I really, really love him.) and over my first weekend here, I read the entire thing all ebook-y and everything.

But then I had a couple of novels I'd brought with me to finish up, so I read the first (a small paperback by Ruth Rendell), which it turned out I'd already started and I finished up in an afternoon. I had a mounting feeling of irritation but I couldn't quite place it. Then I picked up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (it's a rather large book, even in paperback) and it all became clear. Once you go over to the dark side of ebook reading, you never return. Books are so clumsy! You lose your page! They're heavy! They're hiding places for old dust and cat hair from your Mother's cats!

Dear Kobo,

I love you.

Yours faithfully,

Deej

Sex sex all the time

2010-08-06T06:57:00.000+03:00

Before I moved overseas, I had a very serious discussion with my Mum about when I ought to start keeping condoms in the house.

One might argue I ought to have them already, but a glance through my posts reveals quite quickly the Sex Sahara that is the quaint little town where I have been residing the past few years.

In the end, we decided that I ought have condoms around earlier than the G is considering making use of them so as to not imply permission by their presence. I would go further to say that I think he ought to imagine he's actually sneaking one!

Anyway, I needn't have wondered, as my flat came equipped with a small supply. This box of "silk" was our first discovery, on the first day, hidden in the back of a cupboard in the living room.

I started to wonder about what exactly this flat was used for before we moved in. My curiosity was piqued when the landlord was here and I asked him for the safe combination. He opened it up and LO, it was chock full of Euros! (it's a small safe).

Hmmm, why does someone need a box of condoms and cash?

Yesterday, I was surfing the 1,300 TV channels and discovered many channels I'd just as soon they'd left off. Seriously, ick.

The (hopefully) final discovery was in the dresser in my bedroom (I'm strangely consoled that the romping was going on in my bed and not the G's). Chocolate and condoms.

So there you have it, I live in an ex-den of shag.

Where to begin?

2010-08-04T08:33:00.001+03:00

It's over 30 degrees most days and with the humidity, lots hotter. We have AC, so as long as we stay home that's not a problem, but when new to a city it's nice to wander, no?

I think so, but the G not so much. It's a bit like living with a mule. What's more, an adolescent male needs exercise! Without it, he gets more and more ornery, but getting him out isn't nice either. I'll be glad when school starts and he has more purpose.

The flat is newly renovated. I thought it was fabulous until yesterday when we visited one of my colleague's flats - they have a spectacular view! We look at buildings across the courtyard! They have a well-lit stairwell! We walk into a pitch black courtyard! Ah, envy, will you plague me my entire life?

I had a good think about it overnight and taken in balance I really love our flat (one family arrived last night to NO flat, the landlord having pulled out at the last minute! Who am I to complain?!?!). Besides, this is a safe city and our little courtyard offers us a degree of privacy and quiet you don't often find in the middle of a city of 3 million. That's right, we'll call it "privacy" instead of "creepy dark corners".

It has some lovely features. A jacuzzi tub in the bathroom, a built-in mini dishwasher with the same front as the cupboards, a sofa bed in the living room for travelling friends, fantastic built-in cupboards with shelves for storing everything, east *and* west-facing light (it's unbelievably light, all day long streaming in the windows), a hidden safe (behind the only picture on the wall of the flat; I had been wondering why the one picture and then in the piles of manuals and papers, I stumbled across instructions for a safe - AHA!), huge beds for both of us and my absolute favourite (I know, I'm so superficial): self-closing drawers in the kitchen.

I've been to the new place of employment and had a tour and met some of my local colleagues. I've heard interesting things about my boss that may or may not make my job exceptionally interesting (read: frustrating) and I've got my hands on (in fact, using right now) my lovely new little macbook. That's right, I'm all about the pommes this year. Serves me right - after buying my shockingly expensive unlocked iphone and the subsequent clandestine romance we've been having, it was only natural I'd cheat on my Dell so blatantly!

Last night the G and I joined a crew of my new colleagues for dinner. They were a fun crowd but of course I got a little corned by the youngest, a girl in her early 20s who well and truly is certain she's an expert on all things and spends every conversation blathering on about what she's "like". I found myself politely nodding away wishing I could stab toothpicks in my eyes instead. Later, as I was chastising myself for being such a judgmental cow, I realised I must have sounded much the same when I was 20 so I decided I ought suck it up, turnabout being fair play and all that. (A note to anyone who knew me in my 20s, thank you thank you thank you.)

Today, a man is supposed to come and do the internet. This is the third day this was to happen, things here definitely happen when they will and no amount of fretting will change it. I'm looking forward to not having to pirate a signal off my neighbour, so far all my skype chats with my Mum have been marked by lots of hangups!

So that's the news from the very center of Europe. Photos will come if the man does, if you know what I mean.

At the tail end...

2010-07-23T16:54:00.000+03:00

My work is moving offices at the same time that I'm moving out of the country. I'm doing a bunch of the coordination but handing most of it off after a "little" move today. It's very strange to be both moving at home and moving at work!

Today should be the worst of it - coordinating two different moving companies at two different locations, and that's just work! On the personal front, I'm going to book into a hotel for Sunday-Wednesday nights so that the packing just HAS to finish at my apartment and I'll still have a few days of buffer to tie up loose ends. Every time I think I'm just about finished here, a new thing pops up and reminds me I'm not finished yet.

At a more philosophical level, I feel like my brain has been overfull with details for months and I can't wait to hand over my flat keys and exhale the lot. This is really happening!

Late night musings

2010-07-20T07:25:00.000+03:00

My mom spotted the tiniest patch of real hair on my head the other day. The first in over 4 years, so it was pretty damn exciting but at the same time, unnerving as it's easier to batten down the hatches and cope with what you've got than to be wishing so hard on such a tiny patch.

I should really like to have hair again - I wouldn't trade my health or my happiness or my son or my family or friends or really anything else, but like the cherry on top of a lovely sundae, it would be awfully nice.

I'm having a bit of a vulnerable day - I have so very much to do and time keeps on ticking.

Now we know

2010-07-16T15:48:00.002+03:00

Apparently scientists have proven that the chicken came first.

How will we explain a paradox now?

Weekends

2010-07-13T00:36:00.000+03:00

In-between frenetic bouts of packing and sloughing off stuff, we've had some lovely weekend adventures. Here's a lovely bench we happened upon. What a place to contemplate life's mysteries.

The Phizzzzzzzzzzzz

2010-07-10T16:43:00.000+03:00

Yay, some quality summer reading!

My sister's foot

2010-07-10T16:36:00.000+03:00

My sister lives overseas and comes home to Canada with her kidlets every summer. On the day before they headed home, she broke her 5th metatarsal. How lame is that? Utterly, actually. The G and I met up with them at their teeny cabin with only an outhouse up the hill and on a narrow winding trail through the woods to potty. I might not have enjoyed the process, but I kept reminding myself that she has to do the whole routine on crutches, putting no weight on her foot! Gaak!

We've since returned to civilization and I continue to admire her sheer strength and tenacity. Her hands are sore beyond words and she has to gimp around getting her two adorable kidlets sorted. We help where we can, but she gets the super mom prize, hands down.

Best fish and chips ever

2010-07-05T06:50:00.001+03:00

Two baby crows in a tree!

2010-07-02T18:09:00.001+03:00

That's right, we're all Africans

2010-07-01T17:37:00.000+03:00

I heard about this the other day from a fabulous South African friend (her people migrated out of Africa to get blue eyes and pales skin and then returned, ill equipped for the weather! No wonder they set off again fro Canada.). Waves of immigration based on DNA, how cool is that?

Devoid of furniture

2010-06-30T18:07:00.000+03:00

We've done it! It was a major push last night, but we said goodbye to the last things that would have been insane to lug down the stairs of my building! Our elevator will be replaced starting next week, so I'm delighted to have finished almost a full week in advance. Now my apartment is covered with piles of stuff to be sorted and decisions to be made.

Next on the list is finding out the optimal dimensions for bags for the plane, acquiring them, and then filling them up with our remaining belongings! If all goes as planned, the G and I will be living out of a pair of small suitcases within a couple of weeks, ready to jet off to Europe!

Secret allergies

2010-06-29T16:11:00.000+03:00

I just started being allergic to something about 5 years ago. It wasn't really clear what it was and I've spent the intervening time cutting out foods form my diet in the vain hope that I might find some magical combination that would either a) identify the culprit or b) make me magically feel better.

The assortment of things that cause a reaction is motley - wine, pizza, tomato, potato, pork products, deli meats, some breads, some fruits, some veggies, maybe meat, some packaged foods, sometimes chocolate...and the reactions vary in severity from a peeling chin and eyelids (seriously! it's like my face was dipped in acid and has to lose a layer or ten!) to strange acne on my neck to hives on my limbs to headaches.

Over the past few years I'd nailed it down to the what and have managed to pretty much avoid it all. Last weekend, I had one glass of wine (I NEVER drink wine as it's the peeling face reaction) and I decided to look into sulphites. What do you know, that whole list of seemingly random things suddenly doesn't look so random any more.

Here's the thing - I feel an overwhelming sense of relief. For all this time, I was thinking my body had gone nuts. SO MANY reactions to so many foods! Some of them fresh fruit and veggies! How could I link them? Well, I finally have and now I understand the connection and can stop searching. I've never been so glad I said yes to a glass of wine.

What is this bug?

2010-06-28T07:45:00.000+03:00

We thought it was a tick, but I looked on Google and they don't really look like this. Anyone know what it is?

By the way, how awesome is my camera? This was on super macro.The fabric is my tent, which has a weave fine enough that you wouldn't normally notice it.

A weekend in the middle of the week

2010-06-26T17:39:00.000+03:00

This week I volunteered to be a chaperon on the G's school trip. We went to one of the Gulf Islands (Pender). It was truly beautiful. This was the parents' site - normally you're only allowed a couple of tents on a site, but the park rangers went easy on us!

I wish I'd taken a photo of the park rangers - all French Canadians, eh! Hilarious people.
The kids kayaked and hiked and disc golfed (?) and woke each other up in the middle of the night but it was sunny and gorgeous and honestly, I had way more fun than I expected! This is a lovely blue heron - especially lovely because it wasn't the raven the cawed us awake on the first morning at 5am. CAAAAAAAW! CAAAAAAW!

We did lots of beach combing, which is fun for kids and grownups alike. I have no idea why, but take a sunny day and put a gang of people on a nice rocky beach with lots of little things to discover and hours just pass in an instant! If you look at the big version of this photo, you might even be able to make out the mighty Olympic Range in the distance.

Three days and two nights over and we're home again, in desperate need of showers and a comfy bed. Oh, that's right, I sold mine so I'm on camp mats again but at least not in a tent!

The packing continues

2010-06-19T17:17:00.000+03:00

Who knew you could accumulate so much stuff in a few years? Lots of junk, really. I've also been going through old, old boxes. Things I packed away after uni. It's hilarious, the books I thought important? Gender this, leftie politics that! HA! Look how that turned out!

I've also bought a scanner and have scanned in 600 and counting photos. It takes hours! I still have negatives for posterity, but the scans are pretty cool. Here's my best China shot, taken in Fuli (outside of Yangshuo, which is outside of Guilin, which is in Southern China). I took it in 1994, when tourists had their own currency in China and you could only visit a handful of cities and unless you had a little red teacher book like I did, you had to stay at a major hotel and eat horrible strange improvised western food and see a washed out version of the real China.

Robin and a Hummingbird

2010-05-29T18:56:00.000+03:00

I love robins. Their call is a quintessential spring thought.

This little gal (I think the guys have brighter red necks) was amazing. She's tiny - that yellow flower on the feeder was about the size of a quarter!

Her wings were either tucked in or moving so fast I couldn't see them. My camera, however, could. Beautiful, no?
Last night I saw a crow pin and eat a sparrow. It was horrible. I still love crows but maybe a little less than before.

My evening

2010-05-18T07:54:00.001+03:00

I discovered why the box full of old photos and negatives was so heavy. It also had a dozen old textbooks. Ones I thought would be especially important to me in my life, like Bruno Latour's "Science in Action" or literary Theory or of course, The Canterbury Tales.

So I'll find a place for those, no doubt the donation box. I also tore up a good hundred photos. Why did I keep bad photos? I can see why with digital ones, but seriously, all the weight and room prints take up? I've torn up 6 shopping bags full in the past 4 days. That's a lot of tearing up of old memories.

Then of course my yoga - I decided to do 90 days of yoga in a row. Amazingly enough, I'm on day 15! I've been doing the Ashtanga Yoga primary series, but the David Swenson abbreviated 30-minute version. Enough to stretch your whole body, not enough to drive you mad doing it every day. I'm also sleeping incredibly soundly and waking without pining for more sleep. This might be due to the sun streaming in my room or the yoga. Not sure. Or maybe it's the piles and piles of junk I've been getting rid of. If only my furniture would sell....

First ducklings of the season

2010-05-17T04:23:00.001+03:00

Best mango ever for breakfast

2010-05-16T18:36:00.001+03:00

I went for a bike ride to the store and picked up these lovely mangoes. So delicious; pure liquid gold.

The Last Lioness

2010-05-10T07:12:00.000+03:00

As you may have figured out, I do tune in to Nat Geo on occasion. It all started with Cesar (the Dog Whisperer), but since my PVR is set to record him, sometimes I'll turn on the TV and it will still be on Nat Geo and I end up getting sucked in. Last weekend, it was all about volcanoes (very interesting stuff, btw), but this weekend was an amazing piece about the "Last Lioness", an incredible story about a lone lioness who sought out the companionship of humans (humans who never fed her a thing, btw, not even scraps).

What amazed me even more than the story itself was my overwhelming empathy for the poor lass out there on her own - how isolating to live out your days completely alone, with nary a peer to talk to, let alone curl up with. I'm such a sap, I even cried (and not for the wildebeest she tucked into). Anyway, lucky girl isn't alone anymore; they brought in some studs from a neighbouring park to be her mates. Hope springs eternal!

Blah blah blah gorgeous best place on earth etc.

2010-05-08T17:35:00.000+03:00

When a place is this beautiful, all pictures turn out perfect.

Just an afternoon on the water

2010-05-03T17:57:00.000+03:00

Out for a walk yesterday, my Mum and I saw these sailors rounding the buoy! It was pretty cool to watch. There are actually Olympic sailors training here - they could have even been in this shot! Who knows!?!?!

I wouldn't have enjoyed being out on the water yesterday - it was actually quite cold. We keep hovering around 10 - too warm for a wig, but too cold to be truly nice. In contrast, my *new* locale has been hovering around 14 AT NIGHT and getting up nicely in the 20s during the day. I'll take snow if I get warm spring, summer, and fall in trade.

Smells even better than it looks.

2010-05-03T02:58:00.000+03:00

A bird for Moth-er

2010-05-03T01:56:00.001+03:00

He made a very distinct call after we passed him without taking note; I think he wanted his photo taken! Very striking rust-coloured eyes - isn't he lovely?

On the cherry tree

2010-05-03T00:30:00.000+03:00

The G and I were walking this evening and look what we saw!!! I got to use the macro on my camera, EW! What you can't see is that the wind was blowing like crazy and we were worried they were all going to fall on us! EW! We were squealing like a couple of little girls. But fascinated at the same time.

I couldn't get a good close-up because it kept moving, but this one give you an idea...

Eagle Cam rocks.

2010-05-02T16:52:00.001+03:00

I can't believe they already have a baby! http://www.hancockwildlife.org/index.php?topic=raptors_victoria1#new-camera

Stubborn is just another way of saying willpower

2010-05-02T16:18:00.002+03:00

You know how they say that your best quality is often your worst as well?

I'm sure it will come as no surprise that I'm utterly stubborn. But Cesar said something in a show I was watching recently that really struck me. He has a particular gift of seeing the best in everyone (my superpower is seeing the WORST in everyone) and in this case, was pointing out that being stubborn is actually a good thing as it indicates that there is a huge amount of willpower available, if you can only tap it.

That got me thinking about how it's all just a matter of how you approach things. Every time I give up and say, ugh, I have no willpower (face covered in chocolate cake crumbs, mwahahaha!), I just have to recognize that I have not tapped my stubborn side the way I need to. Get stubborn about chocolate cake, Deej!

She tweets, oh my.

2010-05-02T08:43:00.004+03:00

I decided to tweet a little. Not a lot, I don't think, but now that my exile is approaching an end, I'm looking forward to having more to talk about and thus, perhaps even twitter. I'm still figuring out the logistics. My accomplishment for the day will be having made blog posts be tweeted. Well, it will be an accomplishment if this one is added.

Now I just have to figure out all the @so-and-so and #whatevertagiskuhl semantics.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a way to make tweets come in as blog posts, so if you know, tell me. Of course that might cause an infinite loop. Oops, that would be bad - can an infinite twitter/blogger loop cause some kind of gap in the space|time continuum? I don't really care if it does, I just wanted to use a word with a double u (w! geddit?).

Less than 100 days 'till I go. Almost booked my tickets today only I'm not sure, should I spend 2 weeks in Europe before I arrive?

Pee time

2010-05-01T23:38:00.002+03:00

At work, the gents' is right next to the ladies'. I can often hear guys talking in the gents - no specific words, but their tone suggests an amenable chat. We chat on occasion in the ladies', too, but we aren't standing next to one another, holding onto our lady parts. In fact, for women who aren't good friends, usually once the stall door is closed, that's the end of any chatting.

It makes me wonder, though - does it make a difference in other ways? Are the lads at work more bonded because they've stood together at the urinals?

Rise and rise again

2010-04-28T04:29:00.004+03:00

The ad for Robin Hood is showing up before every film. I don't know how they could possibly call it the "untold story" considering it has already been done so very many times.

I do love the rise and rise again until lambs become lions bit, though. Funny, I'm sure I've heard that a kadjillion times in my life, but only by the ads GROKKED it. How is that possible? I don't know. But I know this: a lamb can become a lion but it's a lot of getting up with skinned knees.

I'm terribly persistent - when I get an idea stuck in my head. Some have even called me stubborn. I've never thought of it as rising again, but often that's exactly what it feels like. I'm in that spot at the moment, where I'm just dusting off and getting ready for another go and most of me is excited - feeling like this next adventure is built on all that came before it, feeling as though my bags are packed with enough experience to finally feel equipped. The rest of me, of course, is shitting bricks.

All let go

2010-04-26T04:30:00.003+03:00

So, I went through and tore up old journals today. Even the shag list. Well, the shag list until I was 29. For some reason I stopped writing them down after that - I guess after a certain number you can't keep pretending they're all special!

I also ran across a whole ton of unsent letters. My GOD I used to prattle on and on. Blah blah blah I need, blah blah blah I want, blah blah blah, I love, BLEAH.

The last 4 years on my own have taught me so much about being on my own, but they've also given me a lifetime of clarity on the times I have been involved: nothing is ever changed by blah blah blah. If you don't like it just the way it is, it ain't.

Scattered

2010-04-21T08:13:00.001+03:00

I have so many list of things to do and yet I continue to plop down in front of the telly every night. It's so ridiculous. I just want to BE there, it's so frustrating to wait.

Who's the grownup?

2010-04-15T06:39:00.002+03:00

Many of my peers are having their kids. Must be the benchmark 40 approaching but it seems a shocking number of people I know have under 2s and the rest, under 10s. An amazing number of them live in madhouses where the kids rule the roost. They're always worried that their children might be mad at them. They're exhausted because the kids are still running around at 10pm in their undaroos.

Seriously?

Kids need parents. Not friends. Not pleading adults who have surrendered to their mighty authority. Kids need safety and security and these things come from them KNOWING that the adults are actually in charge. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.

No animals here

2010-04-14T17:49:00.003+03:00

After reading an article on increases in baldness in japan with the introduction of red meat and more animal fat in general, I decided to go mammal/bird-free for a month or two (no meat, no butter, no cheese, no eggs etc.). It's been a few weeks now and actually, it isn't that bad. I'm eating lots of fish and shrimp for my protein (I'm allergic to soy). No change in my hair, although I wouldn't expect that for at least a month.

What I have noticed is that it turns out, "coffee breath" isn't so much coffee breath as MILK in coffee breath. Also, coconut butter is a nice replacement for the regular kind for sweet things and of course olive oil does fine for the savoury. Margarine has long been banned as there are none without soy. Ick.

Less is sometimes more

2010-04-13T05:06:00.003+03:00

No doubt skewed to support the legislation, still, a 39% reduction in hospitalizations for upper respiratory infections since the beginning of the ban on smoking in restaurants and bars in 2001 is definitely something to write home about.

I can say from my experiences here that smoking here is pretty much obsolete. Only the very dregs of society still do it, except for the occasional cigar at a wedding or something like that. I'm not big on government interference, but in this case, I just can't help but agree.

Of course, I'm about to move to the land of smokes everywhere. So much for my pristine lungs.

Roman Holiday

2010-04-11T19:10:00.002+03:00

I've been catching up on the classics. This morning I watched Roman Holiday. What a timeless film! That Audrey is just lovely, but hubbahubba, they don't make the gents like they used to! So nice to see a tall leading man. Gregory Peck reminds me of all the stories my Mum has told me about what California used to be like.

I was talking to one of our vendors the other day about my move and she said, "Oh, and so many good-looking guys! It's a great part of the world for handsome men. Good teeth, too, over on *that* side."

Well, I hope so.

Wig no Wig

2010-04-09T16:22:00.002+03:00

Loads of excitement going on with my new job. I sent a photo for my employment visa without a wig (what I do for official stuff, 'cause let's face it, that's what I look like!) and they didn't recognize me. So then I had to explain why I looked so different during the interview. That was fine - they're really some pretty easygoing people and anyway, they hired me 'cause I'm freaking good at what I do and loads of fun, not because of my hairstyle. The only thing is, now I have to take a photo with a wig for the employment people.

That sounds like no big deal except I suspect it's in order for them to give me a visa. Eek! I hope I have not gotten myself into a situation where I'll have to wear a wig all the time or be stopped by the police for looking different! Anyway, I won't know until I get there, so I'm going to ignore this one until I get there and figure out the lay oh the land.

time for more Dragons...and a movie update

2010-04-04T19:47:00.004+03:00

We're off to see How to Train Your Dragon for the second time. It's a lovely movie, I'd recommend it for anyone of any age. Maybe not Fumier because of his allergy to children...

The other night, we watched "The Blind Side". It's really a fantastic film and one definitely to watch with your child who has always had a bed and a Mum who badgered him into doing his homework. My G loved it. It really went easy on the American rah-rah stuff and instead focused on family. A nice change for a sporty film.

Last weekend, I watched Up in the Air. I really enjoyed it, although I didn't really buy the twist. Well, the twist could have been possible except for the conversation after. But I did think the "What's in your Knapsack" was worth a little reflection. Right now, I'm deciding what to put in mine - we will travel halfway around the planet with only excess baggage on the plane. What will we bring? I've already started emptying the cupboards, but now with the elevator news, my deadline has been stepped up and I plan to be living "simple" from the end of April....

Elevator repairs

2010-04-04T07:17:00.002+03:00

So it turns out they're going to replace our elevator. The funny thing is that it may be sometime in May/June and takes 6 weeks. Not a big deal, right?

Well....it also means that I have to get all my big furniture out of here before that or pay extra to have someone lug it down the stairs! ACK! I had planned on being ambitious about emptying my flat, but this puts a whole new wrinkle to it!

I also had a letter from a recruitment company the other day, looking for someone with experience with an obscure software product that I actually have worked with. It seems everyone conspires to get me out of here sooner than later! really must book my tickets out...

Not so Green...

2010-03-27T16:45:00.002+02:00

Carbon credits. They're all the rage. Are they a good thing? Should you try to balance your use of the planet with the damage you're doing?

I'm not a fan. I think it's a load of hype and while I do think that organizations that are trying to come up with healthy ways to create energy ought to be funded by investors, I am very much against guilt-based investment.

Which is not to say that I think anyone ought to tromp around the planet a-la-godzilla leaving a swath of wreckage. But there are ways to create balance in your life and the world around you without creating an industry to "manage" it.

One thing I will not miss one bit about living here is the green guilt. It's as pervasive as the rain and frankly, more depressing.

True Colours

2010-03-27T16:34:00.004+02:00

So I was in the office the other day and two colleagues were discussing a training session in Toronto. Apparently someone from the Yukon had flown in especially and they were impressed at the distance someone had come for a class. The conversation moved into the subsidy of flights from our Northern realms. Here's a snippet...

DG: I don't think my tax dollars should pay for every person up there to fly south once a year. If they don't like it, they shouldn't live there.

Commie Colleague: Oh, but if you lived up there, you'd understand why they have to get out once a year.

DG: If they don't like it, they shouldn't live there. I can see an employer paying for people to come and go in order to make them to live there, but why should everyone get a free ticket out and why should I have to pay for that?

Commie Colleague: But it's a mental health issue!

DG: If they don't like it, they shouldn't live there.

Commie Colleague (aghast): But don't you think the government should take care of people?

DG: No.

Commie Colleague: WHAAAAT? That's un-Canadian!

Mwahahahaha....

Couples are exclusive

2010-03-14T18:09:00.003+02:00

One of the things I hate most about being single is that you don't get invited to couple things. I don't really understand why couples feel the need to only have even numbers - but I suspect it's to protect their own. After all, bring a happy, contented, sex-hungry and history-of-petty-arguments-free person into the mix and all the significant others are naturally going to radiate towards them, no?

Alas, I suspect it's much simpler than that - it's all about even numbers.

Well, coupley people, how about next time you throw a dinner party, hockey afternoon or just all go out together, why don't you invite TWO single people to come along?

When to buy a new gadget

2010-03-14T08:44:00.002+02:00

My phone here is an archaic piece of junk (brand new in Dec, btw, top of the line from my provider) - they're SO backward in North America when it comes to phones. They also favour the flip phone. In about 2000 I thought they were fun a la Star Trek but that was 10 years ago...

I'm planning on getting an iPhone at some point soon - as much as I'm not in love with the text input, it's otherwise a fabulous toy (I have an iPod touch and love love love it) and the apps can't be beat. I was about to buy (via HK, btw, so I can get it unlocked) when a friend passed me this link. A very useful site for deciding when to buy Apple products!