adamyntium

Category: traveling

  • Adventures in flying, part 13

    Once again, I was off to Germany… home of good friends, heavy food, wacky long sentences, and Lufthansa, the airline whose plane I was unceremoniously squished into not like a sardine, but wurst.

    I had the foot-munching-tray aisle to my right, and a stupendously larger-than-life and dumber-than-devil-fossils young fella to my left.  To his left sat an acquaintance of his, seemingly of equal gelatinousness and dimwittedness. For the purposes of this entry, we’ll call them Slad and Elad, respectively if not respectfully.

    *  *  *

    Slad had no sense.  No sense of etiquette, culture, space, or time.  No sense at all, really.  And he was happy to share this nonsense with me, loudly… cheerfully interrupting the safety instructions which were actually melodious and fascinating in comparison.

    Slad:  HEY!
    Me: Hi.
    Slad:  THEY’RE TALKING GERMAN!
    Me: Yeah.
    Slad:  WHY ARE THEY TALKING GERMAN?
    Me: It’s Lufthansa, a German airline.
    Slad:  [A look even blanker than usual]
    Me: …And we’re going to Germany, so there are Germans on board.

    Only the first part had sunk in.  And barely at that.

    Slad:  LUFTHANGLE?
    Me:  Lufthansa.
    Slad:  YEAH!?  BUT THEY’RE STILL TALKING GERMAN!
    Me:  [speechless]

    About 30 minutes into the flight…

    Slad:  HEY?
    Me:  Yeah?
    Slad:  HEY!  UM, I SHOULD TELL YOU SOMETHING.
    Me:  You’re pregnant?
    [er, actually…]
    Me:  Yes?
    Slad:  SOMETIMES I GET TIRED.  AND I GO TO SLEEP AND, LIKE, LEAN TO ONE SIDE. [gesticulates in the most unfortunate of directions.  My direction.]
    Slad:  SO IF I DO, YOU CAN PUSH ME.  IT’S OKAY.
    Me:  [Nodding, once again quite speechless]
    Slad:  AND I CAN’T SLEEP WITH THIS ARM REST [pointing to the last barrier between the two of us].  SO I’LL MOVE IT.
    Me:  Uh, um… I…
    Slad:  [moving armrest] MRUMPH AAHHHH.

    It was about at this time that I chuckled inwardly and looked for the camera.  I had finally figured out what was happening; I was now the unwitting future star of “American’s Funniest Videos… in the Sky!”

    Except I wasn’t.  There was no camera.  On the stage that mattered at the moment, there was just me, Slad, and his up-‘til-now mute-and-slackjacked buddy.  The audience, if one considered it to exist, was likely amusedly credulous and undoubtedly happy to be more or less apart from the action.

    *  *  *

    Another hour later, I discovered that there was loving, needy-yet-giving part of Slad… which was manifested by his tender-but-firm nuzzling of his head on my shoulder, his hands in a further solid embrace upon my upper arm.  Adding to the unreality of the circumstances was Slad’s increasingly-window-rattling snort-snores.

    Temporarily frozen in a powerfully combimatic state of disbelief, amusement, and horror, I began to contemplate the most efficient and effective methods of extrication.

    Elad was also clearly experiencing a combination of emotions, but unlike me, was decidedly unfrozen.  In a quick flash, Elad grabbed one of the dirty-and-unsoft airline pillows and aimed to violently wack his compatriot-in-stupidity out of his amorous slumber.

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, Elad was bereft not only of speech and thought, but also aim. THWWWWACK! went the pillow into my face.  I was now, even more than before, very, very awake.  In contrast, Slad simply missed a snort-snore beat, which was replaced by a relatively mild gruntle before the rhythms of his sleep began anew.

    It was long past time for a heave-ho.  I pushed Slad to the left, causing him to flop onto Elad.  Elad—stunned at this apparently not-before-experienced leftleaningness of his duncetwin—did the only thing he knew how to do.  He shoved back.

    A soon-mostly-awake and thoroughly befuddled Slad was catapulted squishily into my lap.  Dimly ascertaining that he wasn’t where I wanted him to be, he grabbed my thigh with one hand and—with all his weight—gruntily pushed himself mostly upright.

    *  *  *

    I looked around in desperation.  A couple sympathetic looks, but no empty seats.  I was tempted to tell Slad that there was a big case of beer on the other end of the exit sign, but I deduced that:
    1) He’d really fall for it.
    2) He undeniably had the heft to easily open or at least gleefully smash through the emergency exit door.
    3) I’d have even a more miserable flight at that point.

    So what could I do?  I rotated through the possibilities in my head:

    “Excuse me, but these guys are bear hugging and pillow fighting me!”

    No, no, that made it sound very warm and fuzzy.  And I was not feeling warm and fuzzy.

    “Pardon me, ma’am, but my seatmates are so dumb, I fear that they’re sucking brain matter out of me and it hurts.”

    An evocative and perhaps all-too-true observation, but also unlikely to result in a satisfactory resolution.

    *  *  *

    Slad: HEY!
    Me:  Hi.
    Slad:  WE ALMOST THERE?
    Me:  Not soon enough.  Not nearly soon enough.

  • Berlin boat tour photos and mini Canon SD700 camera review

    IMG_0282Earlier this month I had the pleasure of taking a river cruise of sorts through Berlin… including both the former East and West parts.

    I shot the photos with my new Canon SD700 camera (which I’m generally pleased but not thrilled with) and posted them on various services.

    See my Berlin boat tour photos on…
    – Flickr [ set | slideshow ] (strong community, many features, good privacy protection)
    – Fotki [ set | slideshow not directly linkable ] (handy admin features, nice hierarchical options)
    – Picasa Web Albums [ set | slideshow ] (smart pre-caching, great Picasa integration)

    You may note a few funky/overly-general tags (e.g., “Places” and “Geography” and such). This is because I’m having problems debugging a hierarchical-categories-to-IPTC-script. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, no worries; it’s only a minor annoyance and doesn’t affect the photos themselves :-D.

    I did slight editing (brightness, contrast, cropping, etc.) using Corel’s Paint Shop Pro X (trial version; I’m a paid user of version 8… and God what awful URLs!!!) and organized/tagged the photos using the incomparable and very affordable software called IMatch by Photools.

    My thoughts on my new Canon SD700 camera:
    – Startup time is wonderfully fast.
    – Very easy to use.
    – Feels comfortable, solid in my hands.
    – Outdoor photos are consistently good, even in lower light.
    – Zoom is great, even with movies.
    – Movies can be taken even in quite low light!
    – Battery life is amazing! I literally shot for hours a day always using the LCD, never once got a low battery warning!

    But…
    – The image stabilizer helps quite a bit, but still doesn’t allow for very-low-light photos.
    – Photos — even at the highest quality setting — aren’t as sharp as I’d like. This is my biggest complaint.
    – Battery/SD card door feels flimsy.
    – The damn thing is pricey (as “low” as $449 at reputable places).
    – I still envy the much thinner/lighter ultra-compacts that my friends have (even though they don’t take near-as-nice photos).

    * * *

    Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics, and I’d love your feedback and shoutouts and such either here in my blog comments and/or in the comments in the galleries themselves. 😀

  • Pre-Europe-travel grab bag

    WARNING:  Mishmash ahead.
    Haven’t yet packed, which means this is the perfect time to procrastinate with a blog entry.  Or something like that.

    I’m leaving tomorrow morning for a two-week work-related trip.  See details of that trip, plus enjoy some of my phone, camera, T-Mobile, and other musings below.

    My upcoming travels for May 29 through June 11

    • LONDON:  I’ll be attending the Search Engine Strategies conference in London, where Webmasters, marketers, advertisers, and others that care about making moolah on the Web will be hanging out.  You gonna be there, too?  Look for me and say hi!  :-D.  Oh, and just for the heck of it, feel free to check out my London 2001 photos and my London 2002 photos that I took during earlier (non-work-related) visits.
    • BERLIN:  I’ve gotten gleefully roped into a Google pan-European sales conference.  Time for me to learn about new salesy stuff in the company, and I’m looking forward to sharing info about Search Quality and spam fighting with sales-type folks.  Alas, every minute is pretty much accounted for, though, so I won’t have much free time to explore.  I’ve visited Berlin in the past (fascinating city!), but will look forward to spending more time wandering around nooks and crannies during a future trip.
    • DUBLIN:  Definitely looking forward to re-visiting Ireland!  I had a great time during an earlier visit… friendly folks, charming pubs… and now that the pubs are (at least in theory) smoke-free, I’m even happier!  I’ll be visiting Google’s European headquarters here, meeting up with some colleagues over laptops and possibly a pint or three.

    Other random stuff

    My losing streak continues, sadly.  In the last few months, I’ve had TWO cameras and TWO expensive phones stolen.  It’s almost enough to make me either become a luddite or hire a personal assistant to thwack me on the head when I’m being particularly absent-minded. 

    Luckily, insurance will (at least in theory) be covering most of the cost of everything but one of the phones… and in an almost unbelievably example of “the kindness of strangers”… a colleague in the Atlanta Google office learned of my pathetic plight and IM’d me, “Hey, I don’t really use my Treo much, would you like it?”  I said, sure, I’d consider it… what did she think would be a fair price?  But no, she said, she was happy to just give it to me.  And Fed-ex it to me next-day, just in time for my trip.  Wow!

    But alas, it didn’t quite make it here in time, and (understandably) none of my local friends just happened to have a spare tri-band phone to loan me.  So in desperation, I went to a T-Mobile store and, after learning they only had dual-band loaners, decided to just bite the bullet and buy a phone.  The salesman recommended a quad-band Motorola V188; it seemed pleasantly basic and small enough, and I figured $100—even with a required 1-year contract renewal—seemed fair.

    Upon arriving back home, though, I noticed that Amazon is selling the same Motorola V188 with the same 1-year contract for… negative $145!  That’s right, after the $35 new account fee, you get $110 cash back.  So I basically got gypped out of $210!  I’m pretty pissed.  So I decided to call T-Mobile and I got—as usual—a delightfully friendly and helpful rep (this is part of the reason why I generally do love T-Mobile and didn’t mind renewing my contract).  Alas, she said that the Amazon promo is, as it states, only for new customers.  I expressed to her that I felt this was sort of a slap in the face for existing customers (especially those loyal ones way past their required contract term).  After much time on hold, she offered to give me 30 free text messages (a value of $3).  I thought this was pretty laughable, but at this stage in the game (leaving tomorrow), I just didn’t have the time to argue.  The uber-moral of the story:  if you’re looking to get a new phone, especially one more pricey than the entry-level one I bought today, you’re likely better off going through Amazon.com and just porting over your number.

    Oh, and a few opening thoughts about this Motorola, compared to my Treo 650…
    – It doesn’t cradle as nicely between my neck and shoulder.
    – The speakerphone is decent.
    – I don’t like the non-recessed volume buttons… worried about them getting pressed when in my pocket.
    – There’s no “are you sure?” when writing a long SMS and accidentally hitting the cancel button.  Blegh.
    – It feels okay in my pocket.  Really light.  But I’d probably be more comfortable having a long and thin phone in my pocket.
    – It’s so weird to not have a qwerty keyboard for texting or Web surfing.  I already miss my Treo and can’t wait to get my replacement!

    *  *  *

    I also got a new camera today, the Canon SD700.  It is, admittedly, rather a splurge, but I don’t feel too guilty; I tend to spend money on the arts (music, theatre) and photography, and I guess everyone’s entitled to some guilty pleasures. 😀

    Online, on the low-end (but still from trustable companies) it tends to go for about $470 (with no sales taxes due up-front). At retail stores near me, it’s going for, well, retail: $499 (plus tax). Ouch. I found out that Frys (Tech Gadget Mecca for Geeks) in San Jose had it for $449, and while I’d normally never drive down to San Jose (about 90 miles round trip from my apartment) just to save $50… in this case, I already had plans to go to a BBQ at my friend Merry’s house in Mountain View, so it all worked out. They also had a reasonably decent 2gb SD card for $49, which I also snagged.

    Of course, the real cost of photography is in time. I still haven’t gotten around to processing the 1,800 or so photos from my recent trip to Australia and Singapore; at about a conservative one minute per cropping/fixing/tagging/titling/describing, that’s 30 hours out of my life just to post a bunch of photos. Even if I pick the top one-third to post, that’s still 10 hours of photofussing just for this one trip. Ack! Seriously, because of this (I know, it’s a little silly), I seriously considered whether I wanted the hassle of schlepping, protecting, using, and dealing with a camera + its byproducts. Nostalgia won out, though.

    * * *

    Anyway, I probably better get packing. I’ll try to blog some stuff while I’m away, but it may be a few weeks ’til I’m bloggily back.

  • Helpful numbers to save in your phone!

    I invite you to go grab your cell phone / mobile phone / home phone whatever and program the following numbers into it:

    – 1-800-555-8355 (“555 TELL” — TellMe)
    – 1-800-373-3411 (“FREE 411” — Free411)
    – 1-888-392-7563 (“EZ ASK ME” — AskMeNow – Initial signup on site required)
    – 46645 (“GOOGL” – Google SMS beta – Google via Text Messaging)

    NOTE: One or more of these numbers may be U.S.-only… sorry 😐

    For details on each service, read on…

    TELLME
    I’ve been using this service for ages, and it’s really gotten me out of some tight jams!

    Via interactive voice menus, callers can easily get weather reports, serious and entertainment news, movie info, and much more. But the butt-saving features I’ve particularly appreciated are TAXI and DRIVING DIRECTIONS. The former will connect you (free of charge) with a local cab company, and the latter gives you step-by-step spoken driving directions between any two points in the U.S. (powered by “Microsoft MapPoint Technologies”)

    Supposedly, TellMe is ad-supported, but I have yet to hear any ads on the service.

    * * *

    FREE 411
    Tired of paying $1.25 and up to your greedy mobile or landline phone company for directory assistance? Then you’ll especially love Free 411! Not only does it find residential and business phone numbers for you, it also connects you free-of-charge (even to long distance numbers!) This service is apparently ad-supported (e.g., ask for Dominos Pizza, get a 15 second ad for a competing pizza place), but I’ve never heard any ads during the 3-4 times I’ve used this service.

    Voice recognition is pretty decent, but the one time I stumped it, I was transferred to a human operator who was able to promptly get me the number I requested.

    Frankly, though, I do wonder how sustainable this is. Will enough companies really pay to have folks redirected to them? If people are asking for Smith Window Washing services, will they really be so easily swayed towards a competitor? I have my doubts. But in the meantime, I’m happy to use this very convenient free 411 service!

    * * *

    ASK ME NOW

    Need to know the capital of Wisconsin? Or find the phone number of a particular Citibank branch? Sure, if you’re near an Internet-connected computer, you could probably quickly and easily find this info yourself. But what if you’re busy or not near a computer? Yes, I have a Web browser on my Treo phone, but it’s slow, the screen is small, and it’s generally just a miserable experience trying to navigate Web sites with it.

    Well, Ask Me Now is indeed a viable alternative. You call their number, leave a message, and 1-3 minutes later, you get back text messages with the right answer. Or at least AN answer. In my minimal testing, Ask Me Now gave me the right answer to “What is the Capital of Wisconsin?” but gave me the wrong answer to “What is the phone number of the Citibank branch located on Diamond Street in San Francisco?” The person (apparently located in the Philippines) who answered my query clearly just quickly googled for the answer and didn’t bother checking on Citibank’s Web site, since the correct answer is available in the latter, not the former.

    This service costs 49 cents per query, billed to your cell phone account. Supposedly you can get free ‘automated’ answers, but it’s not clear to me what qualifies as free and not-free, even after looking on the company’s Web site.

    * * *

    GOOGLE SMS
    Another option is Google’s SMS service. Text message GOOGL (46645) to get driving directions, movie showtimes, weather reports, price comparisons, and more.

    I’ve found this service to be both wonderous and frustrating. For instance, when I asked it [What is the capitol [sic] of wisconsin?] it replied back “Did you mean CAPITAL…” and gave me an appropriate Web page… when I would have preferred for it to actually include the answer, not just a link, in the reply. Additionally, when I asked it [Phone number for Citibank on Diamond St in San Francisco CA] it replied unhelpfully: “Looking for map of [query]? Unfortunately map information is not available through Google SMS.”

    I had better luck with other queries, such as [weather 91360] and [what is the population of belgium].

    * * *

    YAHOO SMS
    Despite multiple attempts, I could not get this service to work. I kept getting an “Invalid…” message, with instructions relating to Y! Messenger, after even using the exact queries listed on this page. Bummer. Any Yahoo people out there wanna help me figure out what’s going on here? I’ve heard good things about Yahoo’s mobile offerings and perhaps there’s just something small / obvious I’m missing?

  • My review of Song Airlines (Delta’s low cost subsidiary)

    My former colleague, Mark Jen, recently wrote about his rather positive experience flying Song Air, the discount wing of Delta Airlines… and this reminded me that I hadn’t gotten around to the review I had planned to write last month.

    The background:
    I was searching for an inexpensive flight to New Hampshire to attend a Lindy Hop dance camp, but quickly discovered that there seemingly ARE no discount flights from San Francisco to New Hampshire, much less Burlington, Vermont. So, figuring I could at least catch a musical, visit some friends, and stay in a swanky hotel, I decided to fly into the more-discount-flight-options city of New York, NY. As it turns out, my friends were out of town, the musical was so-so, and the hotel was a disappointment. But I digress.

    In the end, the cheapest AND most time-convenient flight available was from Song Air, so — at around $325 after taxes — that’s what I booked.

    On-time performance and stupid airline behavior:
    My plane was an hour late getting out of the gate for reasons I don’t recall. We were actually all sitting on the plane for that hour, and since this was a red-eye flight, I figured no sweat, I’ll just catch some shut-eye in the meantime.

    Ah, but no, that’d be too logical. The stupid crew had other ideas, blaring really lousy alternative music crap through the main speakers during the entire waiting period. More specifically, they were playing stuff from a new album by The Wallflowers, with whom they apparently have some dumb distribution deal or something like that. How do I know? In their promos, they bragged how Song wasn’t just an airline, but also a record label. Oh joy. Just what I want. In an industry where airlines can’t even manage their flight schedules or other core aspects of their business, I want to see lots of footage of their execs and such hobnobbing and doing recording deals with lame music artists.

    Well, fine, I’ll just request a pillow from the crew, maybe two, to press up against my head so the music’s less loud and I can sleep. Ah, no pillows on board, even for a red-eye (I was told that they’re too expensive to clean and store).

    In-flight entertainment (for the trip home):
    Strikingly mediocre… really a disappointment. Sure, they’ve got lots of TV channels, but no guide to help you see what’s on. You have to slowly and repeatedly scan through all the channels to get an idea of what’s being shown.

    Trivia game? Sure, but not very well implemented. And pretty lame questions, nearly all about entertainment-and-sports oriented stuff (no science, no history, etc…) Oh, and no prizes. You’d have thought they could have thrown in a free beer or $1 off a sandwich to the winners, eh?

    Movies? Yep, but you gotta pay. I think it was $5 a pop. What a rip.

    Music? Sure. But EVERY fricking time I navigated to the music screen or one of a few other sections, I got a 1-2 minute stupid Song Air ad that could not be skipped or stopped.

    In the end, listening to my MP3 player and reading a book ended up being much more efficient and pleasant.

    Food:
    Well, when they say that they’ve got honestly tasty food, they’re actually not kidding. The jerk chicken sandwhich I ordered was indeed delicious! Only downside: $7 or $8 (I forget), and it came with NOTHING else. Not even a cheapo bag of potato chips. So in the end, the sandwhich made for a scrumptious but not very filling appetizer. The salad my seat neighbor ordered (for the same price) looked a bit more filling… and, according to her, was also really tasty.

    Overall…:
    Compared against other airlines, Song Air was a reasonably priced option… especially given my relatively late (a few weeks in advance) booking, so I suppose I shouldn’t be quite so harsh in my evaluation. But — despite the fewer multimedia and food amenities — I still think Southwest is a more comfortable and friendly airline overall and if pricing between the two were similar for a given flight, I’d take Southwest. Actually, I’d probably pay $100 more to go on a European or Asian airline if they were available, because their flights are typically WAY better than any American airline I’ve ever flown… but I guess I’m not very likely to get an Air France flight from SFO to NYC anytime soon, eh? Bummer.

  • Pricey hotels… sometimes you DON’T get what you pay for

    A few weeks ago, I decided to splurge and book a night at a “four star” hotel via Priceline so I could get a good night’s rest before taking a long bus ride to Swing Out New Hampshire.

    If this Hilton Hotel in Manhattan is four stars, I’d hate to see what a one star place is like.

    Okay, so I got at least the ‘bare minimums’:
    – A clean room
    – A decent shower
    – A relatively comfortable bed

    But beyond that… I fail to see why anyone would pay an arm and a leg to enjoy the “four star’ness” of this hotel.

    Here’s the skinny on my Hilton hotel stay:

    • The check-in folks were helpful but not all that friendly.
    • My room completely lacked any interesting d?cor or character. Worse yet, there were no blinds to keep out the sun, making a mid-day nap after a red-eye quite unpleasant.
    • I gritted my teeth everytime I went to and from my room due to the fricking elevator TV screen blaring CNN’s Katrina disaster coverage. I hope you’ll forgive me for digressing for a moment… but CNN is to a thoughtfully informed citizenry what spam is to one’s diet. We may think we want it, we may even think it nourishes us, but in the end it makes us feel bloated and sick. CNN is just a teensy tiny bit less evil than Fox, IMHO. Both are Infotainment and Shock Schlock masquerading as news and real debate, and having the former blared in the Hilton elevator made me want to shatter some glass and/or shout “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!“
    • $1.50 to place a local call, $2.50 to call Directory Information, $5.25 for half a grapefruit, and $5.95 for hot oatmeal (no, I wasn’t stupid enough to actually rack up any such expenses).
    • $20 for one day of Internet access, despite being assured via their corporate number that Internet access was complementary. I successfully contested the charges.

    Yes, I know that the sort of charges mentioned above are typical for “high end” / business hotels, but beyond the possible “because people on corporate expense accounts don’t flinch,” I fail to see WHY this situation exists. Usually when I pay substantially more for a particular level of service (e.g., Business Class on an airplane), I expect not only a higher level of amenities, but also more complementary perks, not fewer.

    Contrast this Hilton experience with my evenings spent in a Best Western, which typically costs less than half what I paid:
    – Free breakfast
    – Friendly service
    – Cheerful, if somewhat kitschy room d?cor (not to mention actual window shades)
    – Free Internet access
    – Affordable in-hotel dining

    And mind you, it’s not just the Hilton that deserves slogging, IMHO. I stayed at the uber-trendy Hotel 71 in Chicago a while back on company business, and was thoroughly unimpressed with that place, too. Uncomfortable chairs, sterile styling (though I suppose that’s quite a matter of personal taste), no hot tub or swimming pool, and a concierge that was no more helpful than those I’ve dealt with at budget hotels (who often seem at least more eager to please).

    I don’t care if I win the lotto tomorrow. Next hotel stay, I’m being a cheap-ass bastard… and I’m sure I’ll be rewarded for it in more ways than cost-savings.

    * * *

    Related links:
    – New York Times: “If Parks Offer Free Internet, Why Can’t Pricey Hotels“?

  • Delightful, quirky travel journal – have a look

    My Australian friend Alicja has been keeping a charming blog (with pictures!) detailing her travels around the world. Since I haven’t had time to write much interesting stuff lately, I’d like to send you on over her way. I was particularly amused by her ruminations on America :-).

    Oh, and hey, please don’t forget to come back here eventually!

  • Big, Friendly Austin, Texas

    It figures that in Austin, Texas, even the graffiti is big and friendly.
    how-are-you.jpg

    Edited on January 11, 2003 to add:
    Wow, little did I know that this picture above was the soon-to-be-famous Frog Mural!

  • A fascinating look at Morocco

    My friend Abeth, who is American with Egyptian heritage, recently spent many months teaching and traveling around Morocco, and with her permission, I’ve decided to share some of her observations with you.

    As I’ve noted before here, everything you see (aside from quotes) on BLADAM is my own writing unless I note otherwise, and I do hope you don’t mind the occasional ‘guest columnists’ 🙂

    And now… on with Abeth’s comments!
    —

    […]
    I’ve been writing bits and pieces of final updates in my head for a while now but have not been disciplined enough to sit down and get it out to where you all can share the joys of my contemplation. So, here I go. . .

    I’ve had quite a few people ask me to tell them stories about Morocco. I’m not very good with the general question–my mind goes blank. Or I horribly share only the things that were difficult for me in living in such a different culture than what I’m used to. I don’t need to harp on that. You know the outdoorsy/active/independent woman that I am and suffice it to say that there wasn’t much outlet for my interests where I was living. But I learned through it (things that I’m still trying to digest and assimilate) and am quite glad that I did go. I had experiences overseas that I never would have had if I had stayed in my beloved SF [San Francisco] bay area. I’d like to share some of those with you now if you will so indulge me. . .

    Commonplace experiences in Morocco which you don’t see everyday back in the States. . .

    One of my last days in Casablanca I was walking home from the public pool on one of the main thoroughfares and was able to witness the king’s entourage come into town towards his palace. I even saw him waving from one of the dark Mercedes! And the woman beside me on the street blew him a kiss after he passed. Then, as most of the other cars had passed, she began to cross the street, to the consternation of one policeman standing nearby because he had not yet given us the signal. Instead of listening to him and getting back on the curb she argued with him (wish I could understand the arabic). Now, here in the States, we wouldn’t THINK of talking back to the police unless we wanted to get further into trouble. But that was a regular occurence there (when pulled over or told to do something, etc). And this woman won. A second police basically hushed his colleague and waved her on.

    Basically, everything is up for discussion and debate. It’s funny to be back here where we don’t haggle prices, we just ACCEPT THE TAG. Now, I’m not a big haggler. It’s not my cup of tea. But I had so much fun watching my brother haggle in arabic when he came to visit or my roommate so smoothly and humorously make her price offer seem like the most reasonable thing in the world. I believe it is an art form, this ability to mentally price something and not yield to anything other than that ideal.

    Oh, wait, you can’t debate having to eat TONS OF FOOD when you visit someone for a meal. The first course comes, a pastilla (chicken/nut/pastry thing that is sooo good) and I eat half and am full. But, that’s FAR from the end. Next comes a tagine, or two, or three (hearty meat/vegetable or fruit/oily dish). Maybe a salad or something. Bread thrown at you to help you eat these other dishes. And if you take the slightest break you will be happily commanded to “Eat, eat!” and probably have more pushed your way. Then maybe some fruit and cake or ice cream or some other sweet course. Don’t forget mint tea! Believe it or not, I never got sick of it. It’s a soothing ending to a big meal but could also be consumed any other time, like when shopping for carpet! My brother, Kameel, and I spent a long time–a couple hours, I believe–carpet shopping one day out in the desert and were treated to the mint tea hospitality. We walked out with some good deals after much haggling and just plain chatting over many cups of tea. . .

    We drove through the mountains from there–some beautiful scenery. Needed a bathroom break (all the mint tea perhaps) so stopped at a little cafe in some Berber village where a beautiful rosy-cheeked teenage girl was manning the counter and keeping her brothers in check as well. She was a kick to talk to (well, Kameel had to translate for me as she didn’t speak French, just Berber and Arabic). She was convinced Kameel should change places with her–let her go back to CA and do his accounting job and he could stay and work in the fields in the mountains where the sun just never goes away (this seemed to irk her greatly). Now, the one thing I couldn’t figure out was how she worked out there in the very pointed heels she was wearing. ‘Twas a mystery to me. But, oh she had a lot to share about all the things she contemplated out there, and how much she wanted to be elsewhere. Unfortunately, we really couldn’t help her with her desire to escape. But we did have the chance to provide taxi service through the mountains for 4-5 others. . .

    We picked up one man who sat stiffly in the back, clutching his belongings, dressed in traditional djalaba. He was quite serious and didn’t seem too interested in Kameel’s and my efforts to start a round of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” The young woman we picked up, on the other hand, pretty much laughed at everything we said and did. She was helpful in trying to communicate with the stiff older gentleman, too. When Kameel asked him where we should drop him off and he didn’t respond right away, she shoved him and yelled it again in his ear. Now, we’re talking about a little woman about 5 ft. tall. She was small but spitfire. We introduced her to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and she was absolutely thrilled! “Give me a thousand of these!” she said emphatically in arabic. Ah, yes, another convert!!!

    You surely get all kinds as you travel throughout the country (or even just in Casablanca). It’s really interesting when you see older mother-looking women dressed in traditional garb and covering the head, walking arm in arm (a typical walking position–even for men, holding hands is another option) with what looks like a daughter who is dressed in the latest hoochie-mama European skin tight fashion. So what is acceptable and what isn’t? That is something I still haven’t figured out.

    I was told I couldn’t skate along this one street near the beach because I did “slalom,” the police explained. However, an entire 4-person family can ride on one moped with one helmet between them. A boy can grab onto the back of a big truck and hitch a ride, or maybe hold onto the edge while on a bike, whichever suits the fancy. The employees of Marjane (the equivalent of a supermarket/small Target) skate throughout the store to get their work done. Or, if you have problems getting your car out of a tight parking spot, you always have the option of getting about 4 men together and physically lifting the vehicle to scootch it a little bit to the right (yes, I witnessed this myself and couldn’t stop laughing after we finally got in the car and drove off). Only, Morocco. . . Merci, Maroc! C’etait super!

    Where else can you witness a conversation occuring in the three languages at the same time? So, though I am not returning to Morocco, there is a piece of it in my heart forever. In particular are the wonderful children I had the privilege to teach this year (even as they taught me) and the amazing people who helped me get through a tough year of adjustment. There are sure incredible people (Moroccan and otherwise) to be found in Casa.

    As for what I’m doing now, well I’m back in the SF bay area for the month of August. You can reach me on my Mom’s cell phone at [number] or at this e-mail address. My next step in September is to get my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certifcate through a month-long program in Greece, specifcally the island of Crete. Then, who knows? I will look for a teaching position, probably somewhere in Greece, but my options are open. . . wherever I am, I hope I’ll get to see some of you!

    If you read all of this, I must thank you for indulging me. There is still a lot I’m in the process of digesting about my trip. I learned a lot about myself and life. And, as with evey mind-opening experience, I learned that I have a lot to learn. I send out my love to you, my fellow students in this school of life! Keep in touch. . .

  • I can breathe clearly now, the smoke is gone

    In a shock to smokers and anti-smoking advocates alike, Ireland’s government has announced a ban on smoking in pubs, effective January 2004.

    This is, from what I understand, a first throughout all of Europe. Indeed, I selfishly wish other European countries that I frequent (such as Germany and Sweden) would join Ireland in banning smoking in public places, because I’m sick of having to deal with it while having a pint with friends. The sustained ickiness of eating in a smoker-friendly restaurant was made all the more clear to me when I had a scrumptious six course meal in Paris with friends last summer. I was surrounded by historic ambience and beautiful women… only to have the experience largely tainted by the intense smell and taste of smoke over the course of an otherwise pleasant three hours.

    Of course, I’m rather spoiled here in California, which banned smoking in all public places (including bars and restaurants) years ago. But to me, the restrictions — whether mandated by law or by the establishment owners themselves — make perfect sense.

    Can you imagine a world in which it was legal for people to walk by and spit in your food? Or for someone to grab you by the neck and stick your face 10 inches from their car exhaust pipe (while the car was running)? Didn’t think so.

    Why, then, do people find it a violation of THEIR rights when they’re required not to smoke in public? I realize that there’s a long history associated with smoking, but hey… folks didn’t think anything ill of slavery for many centuries either. Luckily, we evolved.

    Beyond the whole public-courtesy and legal issues, I still am perplexed as to how — in a modern country like Ireland — 30% of the people still smoke! Indeed, throughout my European travels, I’ve been both amazed and saddened to meet so many amazingly articulate, intelligent, and attractive people… who think nothing of lighting up a cigarette. True, a few did at least grimly acknowledge or even apologize for their “nasty habit,” but others smoked with a nonchalance that one might have while straightening a tie or looking at a watch. Just part of everyday life for them, ho hum.

    I consider myself libertarian on many issues and ultimately, I would have preferred for the free market to stomp out smoking… making it inconvenient, unwanted, uncool. Sometimes, however, the free market is apparently impervious to common sense, common decency, and even critical behavioral changes that would add billions of dollars to the nation’s GNP. It is times like those in which I must reluctantly but appreciatively applaud lawmakers for making choices that society is too short-sighted to make itself.