Funny Photo Friday:

Ahhh, how I love a good Springbok burger.

In case you forgot what we look like... 2

These are from a University department trip to Cragside, a huge estate near the Scottish border that was the first house in England to have hydro-electricity (and electricity in general), a lift and a few other cool inventions. Very nice house museum + spectacular grounds + fantastic weather + lovely company = good day! For example, how can that green-shirted guy posing on a rock not be lovely to spend time with?

In case you forgot what we look like...

I think is another post that will get chocked up mostly because of mothers but here are just some random photos of us around Durham.

P.S. No idea why the formatting is weird... oh well.

In the paper today

About 380 days ago, Josh and I were riding the Jesus Bus from Inle Lake to Yangon, Myanmar/Burma. This bus was shockingly clean and new (maybe even from the same decade we were in), although the seats reclined roughly two inches at best. The amazing parts of the Jesus Bus, though, were: 1. the excessive Jesus decorations up front (The only Jesuses we would see in the country- most Burmese bus drivers relied upon their Buddhist faith and accompanying decorations for roadside protection) and 2. the solid mass of banana-leaf-like vegetation crammed floor to ceiling into the space of the last four removed seat rows (nice smell, those leaves). But the bus isn't the point of this post. I apologize in advance because there might not be a point, but I do want to mention something we saw on the 20-hour bus trip that was in the NYTimes today

Read the rest and find the penguins in Burma...
It might have been caused by another of the listofnames+money=approval checkpoints or a change in the riding sensation of the bus, but sometime around 1am or hour 13ish of the trip, Josh and I woke to the strangest thing. Instead of the endless expanse of typhoon-induced flooding from our first overnight trip or the typical rice paddies, impoverished villages, and semi-paved roads from every other one, we saw (and felt!!) the luxury of smooth asphalt. We were on a true divided highway, almost entirely alone, and perhaps on a set of the Twilight Zone. Suddenly our bus passed another paved, divided street at right angles to our own that disappeared straight off into the distance and was lined with evenly spaced, street lamps nicely illuminating the pavement for... no one. Street lamps! With light! At 1am! We had recently been in Mandalay, where electricity had an on again, off again relationship with humanity, and this seemed like an unnecessary luxury. We were in the middle of nowhere passing a deserted street that was wide, paved, curbed, and lit up. And we drove on by, back to semi-paved roads and Yangon.

If our guidebook hadn't been a year old, we might have known what we were seeing and snapped a few blurry photos. Instead, we still thought that Yangon was the capitol of Burma and this was some night-time, banana-leaf-smell inducing mirage. We now know that we were seeing the road to the capitol, Naypyidaw. Built in secret by the ruling junta, this massive capitol made the New York Times this morning. I have no idea why now, other than maybe the country and government has generated more American interest since the protests last year and the heart-breaking typhoon last month. Among other things, it says that Naypyidaw has a zoo, complete with air conditioned penguin exhibit, which is fascinating (in a sickly sort of way).

At the bottom of the page (at least when I looked at it) was also a link to an interesting editorial about humanitarian aid that did make me think about my own opinions of international intervention, aid, and conflict. It made me recall a huge hand-painted sign (even movie billboards were hand painted) warning foreign governments to leave well enough alone that just happened to be placed directly across from the American embassy in Yangon.

That's it.
See? I told you I had no point. And they give people like me a blog.

The first day of summer

Summer is here!

(or so they tell us)

Funny Photo Friday: Kangaroos

Saw these guys at a local festival recently... wow.













More wow...

Finally.

It appears we've been too busy figuring out our future to let anyone else in on the plans. So, without further ado, we'd like to announce that we are staying put. Yup, the appeal of fantastic television documentaries, 'cheers' and 'whilst', an unending beer selection, and a lack of co-pays is just too much to refuse.

To be honest, no significant employment offers came from the American side of life (admittedly, the search was not exhaustive), and we've decided it makes more sense to stick with two more-than-decent full time jobs rather than move to a state (and which one?) with no income lined up, especially as Josh is looking at a career that rotates with the planets (based on the academic calendar) and mostly needs to wait until next spring to look again.

This is not indefinite. We don't like it that much. (No, no, we are perfectly happy.) (More or less.) We plan to remain through the fall when Josh will turn in his dissertation and then stay through Christmas with the possibility of extending through the spring until it gets warm enough to camp along the Mediterranean. As plans were made too late to find tickets under $1300 apiece, we will be waiting until the second week in September to visit the States. (Please pencil us in.) Alas, this makes us very sad.

And, since I know you are dying to ask, the blog? We'll keep it. We aren't overly excited about it turning into the more stationary sort; this isn't a blog about our day-to-day lives, but a chance to keep you up on where we are and how we feel about it. As such, we are still not in our native land, and therefore are perhaps still more able to justify its authorship than the average user. So, for now, it stays.

Two very June things

1. Find out who these amazing people are here. Definitely check out the photo gallery.


2. I put in £5 and my entry for the Euro 2008 tournament pool at work, and I, the American female, am currently tied for first. I have never been so interested in football/soccer as I am right now.

Stuff

Our blog is mostly about our experiences, encounters and interactions as we've taken off to travel and do a-typically American things. We don't talk about politics, religion, and many other parts of our lives. However, part of our experience in this last 1.5 years has been dealing with all our stuff. We have things in Iowa, things in Michigan, things in the back of a truck; we still have unused wedding gifts new in the box (going on five years old at this stage).
Read about more stuff...
I think the idea of all our stuff came into play vividly when we moved out of New York and filled most of a small moving truck and I thought, "We live in less than 300 sq. feet, how do we have so much crap?" right as a friend of ours, Anthony, came up and said, "Josh, how did you get so much crap in such a small place." I like to think that we weren't very materialistic, didn't buy more than what we needed (by much) but as I looked into that truck I knew I was wrong and there was bound to be crap in there I didn't need... or even really want.

Anyway, I've been thinking about our stuff as of late, due to the continually unfolding nature of our lives, all our unused/hardly used stuff when I ran across this flash movie around the same time and decided to share. The movie itself isn't amazing with stunning animation but is just a fairly straightforward story about our stuff. It takes about 20 minutes to run the whole thing, though you can skip around, and is worth a look if you have a few minutes.

This is the part where I'm supposed to add some witty and insightful commentary... but y'all can think for yourselves and what you think about stuff and this movie. Or watch it here in its original context.

Funny Photo Friday: Ice Cream

Biggest-home-made-ice-cream-sandwich-ever.

It's been years

Weeee!

Magazines

My family, husband included, chipped in to get the New Yorker magazine delivered here to 36 Albert Street. It looks the same, same size, same $4.50 per issue written on the cover (goodness, for a weekly! I did see an issue for about $12 in Thailand...). One change is the clear plastic bag it’s wrapped in, which I assume is there because they believe England is wet. But today this slip of paper fell out of the latest copy, as it tends to do every week, and it was the first time I noticed that it was indeed a site-specific issue. Weird.



Josh ordered a Patagonia catalogue (for drooling purposes), and the price list came in pounds, and EBay, Google, and Citibank automatically deliver us to “.co.uk”. I don’t think the world knows where to put us!

Appearing American

Megan recently found a travelog from a guy doing the 'grand tour' of Europe on less than 100 euros a day. While this blog was interesting in and on its own rite, there was a secondary conversation that spurred me thinking about the taboo subject of appearing American, at least within many Americans minds.

The whole conversation really revolved around the concept of wearing blue jeans while on the author's three month tour and the reaction of many readers of 'Oh how American!' Which also could be read as 'Oh how stereotypically American, how ugly American, how obtuse.' From there the conversation then spread out to other cultural clothing dos and don'ts. All of which involved the basic process of shedding American dress (and clothing identity as such) in order to embrace a European appearance. And I realised that as I read through the article, the (many) responses and opinions, that I'm not interested in 'blending in' any more, as such.

I'm not sure why this sudden revelation, perhaps its living abroad, perhaps its becoming proud of being an American, perhaps its finally just learning to not care what judgments other people have based upon my nationality. I'm still highly concerned to dress and appear culturally appropriate and unoffensive however, I'm less interested in things like... trying to get asked directions (a sure sign of clothing assimilation). I've suddenly become ok wearing a baseball cap in public, wearing my sandals when I want, and being ok as an American living in Brittan. I wonder if I've reached a new understanding and place of cultural acceptance, if I'm now ok breaking cultural rules and norms, as I see fit surely that marks some kind of change.

Although even as I write its not as though I changed my appearance much when we arrived, but at least I thought about it. Now... eh, now its another place I've lived and I'll dress as I like and as seems fitting.

Funny Photo Friday: Prince Bishop River Cruiser

Ahhh, the great sights of Durham... its Cathedral, Bar and Toliets.

Josh makes the pancakes in our relationship.

This post has little to nothing to do with England, Asia, "growing up", traveling, etc. but the inedible black object I am gnawing on is prompting me to write and post anyway.

If I had to choose one pet peeve (Brits: pet hate) about myself it just might be my attention span. I sometimes call myself "easily distracted", but that probably gives the wrong idea. It's not that I can't concentrate on something, more like the opposite. If something else catches my eye (and something always is), my eye will stay there, along with my whole head, body, brain... until the task is finished or until I remember that there was something else I was doing.

I'd like to think I am a decent multi-tasker, but maybe this indicates otherwise. Still, I think part of my academic strength and skill as an architect is due to my ability (personal necessity, more like) to study and understand all the options before taking a direction in a way that many people are not able to manage (including my husband). This is partly why shops with too large a selection are overwhelming. I also don't like the fact that there might be another store within walking distance that might sell the same thing for 10p less. (Durham has way too many pharmacies, for example.) Maybe that's just being cheap, but it does prove that my brain at least attempts to take it all in at once. This also (vaguely) relates to why I am always running for the train or turning up my nose at arriving early to a movie (yes, I'm making excuses, Josh). My brain wants to be occupied at all times, and while a fairly patient person, I hate idly waiting- I'll find something else to do.

I am sure I can think of other self-peeves, but this one is the most pressing as I stare at the inedible fire hazard the left-over pizza I put in the oven, oh say, a blog post, an email, and a clean sink ago, has become. That's why Josh makes the pancakes in this relationship, and I make the 3-hour stew.

Continuing our cultural experiences, welcome to Eurovision!

So when I first heard about Eurovision I thought the idea of a European singing contest a rather funny one. Turns out that it was originally conceived as a way to unite Europe after the grand ol' time that WWII was. The concept was a singing contest with one entry from each country and then each country would vote for a winner (and you can't vote for your own country). Like I said... just kind of funny. Read the rest...

Adding to my bemusement about Eurovision is the recent controversy that has sprung up around it because of the way voting occurs. Voting has never been along pure talent lines, as regional friendships and politics have played a part. So for example if, during a given year, the French and the Spanish are getting rather buddy buddy then one would presume that they would have a tendency to vote for each other (or at least a higher tendency). However, this has become mildly more problematic as of late due to, within the eyes of many folks in the UK, the emergence of Eastern Europe (sometimes called 'New Europe'). The problem is that many of these countries tend to vote for each other, leaving the baltic countries voting for other baltic countries and many of Russia's former territories voting for the old mother land. All of this has prompted many to call for an end to UK participation in the song contest (mind you, they came in last this year...) because the voting is biased and unfair (and everyone agrees it's all just rather silly).

We had honestly forgotten to watch the show, but we were flipping through things after watching a movie and saw that it was on, catching a few acts and the final voting. Now I'm not a big fan of singing contests, American Idol, Pop Idol, and its many other variations sit a little bit higher on my interest scale than watching water drip from a tap, but I did enjoy this, and it is due solely to one man. The UK broadcast takes the traditional show (fully and completely edited and jazzed up for tv) and then adds in a man commentating on top of it. Now, the commentary had the flavour of an English Mystery Science Theatre 3000, said in a hushed tone over the existing broadcast. So, as countries like Belarus, Serbia, Estonia, and Latvia chime in with how they are distributing their votes, this man politely whispers snarky comments about them, their politics, or life in general. It all felt quite English, dripping with sarcasm, irony and some wit, and he himself seemed to acknowledge just how silly the whole competition is (mind you, he was also sore about the UK coming in last).

But he was ripe with some great lines including 'oh hurry up, will you' or 'just tell us the scores, please' when some long winded presenter got carried away in the excitement of the moment. Or when a presenter showed up with a grubby white shirt and loosened tie, he politely declared, 'glad to know he dressed up for this.' My favorite moment, though, was when the colour commentators were back stage and referred to the back stage as 'having a great party here!' He simply stated, 'Ahhh yes, the kind of party I wouldn't go to on my deathbed.' These were all declared just above a whisper with a tone that indicated that it was far from a polite answer, but it was funny. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole show altogether (it felt rather kitch for the most part), but I'd gladly watch again as long as that man is there making comments; he was awesome. Who knew something called Eurovision could be so much fun?