Not From Around Here

See, I really am happy

notfromaroundhere — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:32:58 +0000

Today I had a brief opportunity to catch up with one of my professional friends, you know, the people you know only through work but with whom you eventually develop a casual friendship based on your jobs. Even easier these days with facebook and blogs. This one is quite amusing because I live in her home country and she lives in my home state. I had last seen her before Christmas, and I was delighted to hear (after being falsely accused last week, much to my chagrin and hurt, of being uniformly negative about my life here) that I seem happy and settled compared with 9 months ago. I topped off a 12 hour work day with a stop at one of my favorite little holes-in-the-wall (and not a Barclay’s cash machine), a tiny restaurant with six tables, that is simply called “Restaurant”… I guess I had forgotten about it when I was ranting about all the chain places in my neighborhood. Even better, a new place opened on the same street this week and it’s Korean food! I can’t wait to go, definitely won’t be able to wait until my sister’s next visit. And I swear, I am not just happy because I am flying back to the US in three days time for another conference, Maine this time. Lobster bake, I am ready for you.

What I love about England in the summer

notfromaroundhere — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:23:01 +0000

Anyone who knows me well, knows that although I never had a problem with Minnesota winters (you can always put on more clothes) I had a real problem with Minnesota summers (you reach a limit where you can not take more clothes off!) The heat, the humidity, the bugs. The weather swings that can cause so much change in 24 hours that you have to check the weather on a twice-daily basis. The likelihood of getting caught somewhere in clothes that were good for yesterday’s weather and are utterly diabolically wrong for today’s.

Although I have bugs here, I also have the following ten-day forecast:

Partly cloudy every day

High-low for each of the next nine days:

76-56

75-57

77-59

73-56

72-56

73-57

72-56

73-57

So bottom line, comfortable temperatures, sunshine, and no need to actually check the weather forecast on more than a weekly basis. I’m in heaven. Could someone please remind me why the English complain so much about the weather???

Clamping down on visitors

notfromaroundhere — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:49:52 +0000

The Economist reports that Britain is tightening the visa-waiver rules, essentially rescinding the visa waiver programme for countries it has decided pose threats. I’m guessing that this will be part of a growing trend, that the age of free and easy entry into countries like the US and the UK is likely over. I’m not sure that I think it’s a real problem either; introduction of a registration system like the Australian ETA (electronic travel authority, essentially an electronic visa that you can apply for over the internet) does not seem to me to be particularly problematic. The process is virtually painless (with the exception of the money charged to your credit card) and it can be done nearly instantaneously. I know that people always argue that business travellers need to be able to go places at the drop of a hat, but I suspect the age of spur-of-the-moment international travel is probably over. And it should be. If you really need to talk to someone in a distant land at the drop of a hat, just do what the rest of us international types do, and video conference over skype or any other video chatting service.

On friendship

notfromaroundhere — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:19:25 +0000

I realized this week that it was fifteen years ago last month that I graduated from high school back in Minnesota, back in the US. Now it’s impossible to guess on that day where you will be in fifteen years (and I don’t think I would have ever guessed England!) and who you will still know or talk to. So it is with great pleasure that I have to send my love and greetings to the girls from my graduating class who are still among my best friends in the world.

Maintaining a friendship across 20 years and a number of different states and eventually countries is not easy. We’ve drifted in and out of contact, and in and out of closeness over those years. In some ways, many of us have changed and funnily enough we’ve changed in ways that have been similar, such that we are close friends now only because we have all changed. Our circumstances differ, we are all in different places, different circumstances, but we are still friends.

Obviously this requires a great deal of understanding and patience. It’s not that we never argue, don’t disagree, don’t fall out, or otherwise feel the same about all things and never challenge each other. But we do have some degree of tolerance, of appreciation for the friendship, such that at the end of the day, we still love each other. This is an amazing thing, a very good thing (ha, Martha Stewart!).

I think if I had been asked 20 years ago whether I would still be friends with my female friends from junior high school at this stage of my life, I would have guessed “no”! My tomboy nature meant that I had more male friends than female ones, but interestingly the boys have mostly disappeared. I also had many friends from the years above us, and again I suspect that if asked I would have thought that the people in my own graduating class were not my most likely long-term friends. It has thus been a pleasant surprise to find that I was utterly wrong.

Nothing is better, when navigating the difficulties of a foreign country, than realizing that you do have a support network, even if they are a (seemingly) million miles away. Common backgrounds and interests, shared experiences, these are all things that somehow start to matter.

And it is not as though there are not new friends, new people in my life. There are, both from my time in England and before. My life is enrichened and my spiritual happiness enhanced by the friendships I have made since my teenage years. This is not at all to be discounted, and in day-to-day dealings some of the “new” interlopers are more important to me on a daily basis than the old stalwarts from my youth. But the big picture is pretty. Friendship is a treasure, and life is an adventure. As we go around the world, as we navigate difficult circumstances, we realize just how much we value the familiar.

I cannot possibly stop this theme without commenting that, much to my surprise and delight, one of the best friends I have made in recent years is my own sister. I’ve blogged about her before, and we embark on adventures as much as we can, given our different locations and situations. Just as with my non-blood related friends, we have our ups and downs, but at the end of the day the book on my shelf called “no friend like a sister” rings far truer than I ever could have guessed. She has a few years until she hits the 15 years from high school milestone, and I wish her as good of luck as I have had with the friends made in those days.

Americans have this tradition of Thanksgiving, celebrated in November, when we verbally and spiritually commemorate the things we are thankful for. I am a few months from that, and blessed to have celebrated it last year with other Americans displaced as I am from the homeland. But the spirit does live year-round, and so today I am thankful for my friends.

Observed at the grocery store

notfromaroundhere — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:58:37 +0000

Two critical observations from my local Sainsbury’s tonight.

On Cheese. They did have some slices of something that looked like American cheese. As in, it was yellow and in a package of individually wrapped slices and called “Cheese-flavoured slices” which I thought was very amusing. They also had something shockingly scary-looking called “Dairylea Nachos” which I bought just for the heck of it. Full report later, but I’m guessing it will be nothing like American nachos. For one, the cheese is the wrong color!
On Hokies. Sainsbury’s is for some reason channeling the Virginia Tech sports teams with their odd new color scheme for the uniforms.
Hokie logo
Sainsbury’s has always been about the Orange but for some amusing reason they have switched the uniforms from UVa colors (dark blue and orange) to the Tech colors (maroon and orange). Can they possibly know here the ramifications of this loyalty switch given the intense rivalry? Are they trying to show much delayed solidarity for the victims of the Tech shooting? Inquiring minds wish to know.

Artwork on American consumerism

notfromaroundhere — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:21:07 +0000

Regardless of how you feel about the politics of what’s being said about the US’s consumerist culture, the artwork shown here from Chris Jordan is really cool. I admit, I have always been Seurat-obsessed and this use of every day items to create the same effect is amazing. My favorites are the barbie dolls and the soda can Seurat, of course! Have a look.

Trickery for a good cause

notfromaroundhere — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:31:55 +0000

I managed to trick my beloved nonagenarian paternal grandmother into staying on the phone with me for nearly an hour tonight, which was a new record in my nearly two years abroad. Her post-depression era tendencies are to cut off conversations at 15 minutes or so because of what it must be costing; it was a very good night to keep her chatting and distracted for a much longer period of time. The money, of course, means nothing to me compared with the opportunity to chat with her. She is about the only person on whom I spend any long distance phone call money, since the rest of my world is dominated by email and chats (audio and/or video) on skype and other awesome new technologies. My father tried to intrigue her with video chatting once, but it was a bit strange for her, so I stick with the phone. But I will be on a high for the next 24 hours after having the opportunity to chat with her for so long, the time flew by and she must not have been paying too much attention. I feel slightly devious but not really guilty. And that’s a good thing. I can afford to chat with her as much as the time difference permits; since she is home in the day when I get home from working a late evening, it works beautifully. And I will be ‘home’ in Minnesota (for the State Fair!) in less than six weeks and I vow that in this visit I will not waste so much time gallivanting about town such that I barely get to see this most precious gem of a matriarch.

Burritos in the UK!

notfromaroundhere — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:32:23 +0000

A few (or more) months ago, a tiny little Mexican food joint opened in my neighborhood. It was written up favorably in the local paper and I kept meaning to check it out, but I had not yet managed until today. It’s a take-out joint, there is no seating area but a few stools against a counter in the window. I was walking home from work tonight after a little incident (pipe burst leading to a steady drip and potential overnight flooding in my office) had delayed my progress. I realized it was the perfect time to try a little Mexican take-out, especially since I have been so suffering in the UK from a lack of vegetables California-cuisine style. I am delighted to report that my burrito was awesome, full of veggies, rice, jalapenos, pico de gallo and home-made fresh guacamole with some amazing cheese like nothing I have seen in the UK. Being me, on arrival home with this warm parcel in my hand, I immediately dumped it onto a plate and skipped the tortilla to eat the contents with a fork. But I am much cheered by this development. I do work long hours and the evening meal alone is often the hardest for me, not to mention the least good in terms of vegetable content. My burrito tonight, clocking in at less than five pounds (dollars, not weight, although the thing was heavy too!) might just help out with a bit of a culinary revolution for this starved American girl. And after growing up in a country where Mexico was on the border and the food was a ubiquitous part of the local consciousness, I have to admit to being pleased to find this little establishment–I feel as though it would be worth paying double just to make sure it stays in business with its menu of tacos, quesadillas and nachos not to mention the burritos!

More British grammatical adventures

notfromaroundhere — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:12:29 +0000

I have come to the conclusion that a big difference between American and British grammar in daily practice is in the Brits’ tendency to abbreviate. The discussion on “port of last departure” versus (the more specific but longer) “airport of…” yesterday, the “can I help?” statement, the “Big Issue, please” phrase and others. It is as though the Brits are okay with leaving a word off since it is somehow implied, and it is this that confuses me since I’m not a Brit and therefore am not used to this convention.

The latest example came to me today when cooking lunch. I worked at home this morning and was saute-ing some broccoli–I recently discovered that I am more likely to eat a healthy meal if I do it this way around than if I work 9-6 and come home too tired to bother cooking. Thank goodness my job is outcome-driven and there are not formal hours! Anyway, the package of broccoli florets from Sainsbury’s had a sticker on it with the words “Best of British” and again I made that puzzled face. I checked the dictionary and it did not help, unless one wanted to defend my new theory of words implied. As a noun, it can refer to people or the language. Clearly neither of these is broccoli. Therefore it appears to be being used as an adjective but with the noun being modified mysteriously missing, and therefore only implied. I personally would probably have made the stickers say “Best of Britain” but that’s just me… What could the noun be? Best of British-grown farm produce or something, I assume. I guess I see how that does not roll off the tongue. But it is an odd one, and similar in construction to “Can I help?” with the “you” implied. There were several times last week when I had to get one of my fellow travellers to explain a word from British, and I have noted that there is usually at least one word that is different in each sentence when comparing British and American English. However, This truly is a peculiarity of grammar, not word choice per se.

The thing I find most odd about this is that it is a very casual, informal and almost slang type convention, while other things in British language are almost archaic. Yesterday I spent an hour debating with an editor who was working on an article I had written. They wanted to capitalize the word “nature” in the middle of sentences, when I was talking about engineers doing biomimetic things. It took several minutes for me to even track down the reason for this rule, which came down to this rule: “Common nouns may be capitalized when used as names for the entire class of such things, e.g. what a piece of work is Man.” I managed to argue that I was not referring to all of Nature and therefore did not need the “N” but it did take some time. I can’t imagine having this discussion with an American editor. The good news is that I learned something, although one could argue that the likelihood of my ever using this new capital letter rule is fairly low.

Alright, I’m ducking now, waiting for the response to this one.

I’m back but it wasn’t easy

notfromaroundhere — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:49:30 +0000

Warning to all who enter the UK, they have changed the “landing card” forms to make them more extensive, which means that on entering the UK you now have to provide much more information such as passport number, place of passport issue, and most puzzlingly, “Port of Last Departure”. I was surprised when the landing cards were not handed out on my flight into London from Salzburg yesterday, but then was less surprised when I saw they had changed the landing cards–perhaps the plane did not have them. I was then slightly dismayed, and eventually amused as we all stood in the arrivals area discussing what on earth was meant by “Port of Last Departure”. Leave it to the Brits to ignore the rule about forms for general use being at an eighth-grade reading level. We were pretty much all Americans, and thus native speakers of the English language, and since we could not figure it out, I can only imagine how confusing this one will be to true foreigners. Even more puzzlingly, they now also ask for your flight number, which means if they really want to know where you just came from, they are being redundant. If they want to know where you will leave from when you go back to your own country, “last” for “final” instead of most “recent” well, who knows what they want. Since “port” is technically a place for receiving ships and cargo, and has been appropriated for use in the “airport” sense, I think the language choice for this one is extremely poor.

I do admit, for those who I know will start to complain about my ranting when the US entry procedure is even more onerous, that these forms now do far closer resemble the ones that are filled out even by US citizens on entry to the US, which I will be doing again in a mere twelve days (yes, I know I travel too much!) However, I still reserve the right to be annoyed at being asked the same stupid questions by immigration every time I enter the UK, since I have a visa to live and work here and yet that doesn’t seem to actually confer any sort of status difference from the throngs of tourists entering on a visa waiver. Of course, I was not asked anything on entering Austria (typically it’s fairly straightforward going into most of the EU except the UK) but on leaving they asked where I reside after seeing all the stamps in my passport.

I have three new stamps (into Austria, out of Austria and into the UK) from this trip, added into my increasingly crowded passport, and I anticipate having to sort out additional pages in the next year. With my sister moving to China and a friend spending a year in Russia, I can anticipate some interesting trips that will require visas. All of my companions on the trip to Bavaria had EU passports, which means my stamps were the envy of the group–some of them had no stamps at all since they had travelled only within Europe. I, on the other hand, have stamps from each of the ten (I think!) EU countries I’ve been to plus Singapore, dozens of entries into the UK and a few random stamps when entering the US. My sister and I are already plotting our next adventure, with the rule that we will go somewhere that neither of us has been before. This turns out to be slightly tricky, as our lists of EU countries visited are remarkably non-overlapping, but I think we have it narrowed down to a few good choices. But my next few trips are just to the US and my sixth or eighth time in Germany, so not much more interesting for a while.