I bet you wouldn't think it would be difficult to answer the question "Where are you from?" but for me it is. During my travels I am frequently asked this question. If I answer America I get the surprised response that you travelled from America for only a couple of days, or that must have been a long flight. If I answer that I'm from London there is surprise that I'm not speaking with a British accent.
There is a definite difference between where are you from and where do you live. For many people the answers to these questions are the same, but to expats like myself the answers are very different. In speaking with other expats they have encountered similar dilemmas when posed with the question.
It has gotten to the point that my answer usually is something along the lines of "I'm from the US, but I live in London."
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The Week In Review
I am back in the UK after 2 weeks in Barcelona. The Spanish classes went well and I hope to be able to continue them we'll see how that works out.
Highlights from the last week in Barcelona include:
Finally having a proper Paella. I got a recommendation from one of my teachers for a restaurant off the tourist path that specialized in Paella. I spent last Sunday drinking Sangria and eating Paella - fabulous.
Highlights from the last week in Barcelona include:
Finally having a proper Paella. I got a recommendation from one of my teachers for a restaurant off the tourist path that specialized in Paella. I spent last Sunday drinking Sangria and eating Paella - fabulous.
Visiting Plaza Espana and the Magic Fountain. Over the weekends during the evening they do a music and light show at the fountain. The place is packed with tourists but I still managed to get some good photos. All along the sidewalk on the way to the fountain there are people selling all kinds of stuff. This is not legal and every so often you see them pick up their blankets and run off. The vendors really have it down to science many of them have strings attached to the blankets with their wares with one end of the string in their hands. If the police come it is a quick pull of the string and everything is packed up and they're off.
Seeing a Flamenco. Loved the music and the dance.
On a sad note my G6, my point and shoot camera, died while I was in Barcelona. Not sure what exactly happened but the lens is dislodged which means that the photos are all out of focus. To repair it will cost between £150-175 I think that means a new camera is in order.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot
Remind me never again to complain about the cold weather in London. The weather in Barcelona this week has been more than hot, by the time I walk to my flat from the metro stop (only about 5 minutes) I am dripping with sweat.
Since Thursday I have been going out and about enjoying all that Barcelona and the surrounding area has to offer. Thursday evening I went out to Park Guell (pronounced whey) which was desinged by Gaudi.
It was intended to be a garden community but nobody ever bought any houses there so now it is just a large park. Going with the school I was able to learn a bit about the history of the park that many people wouldn't normally know. As this was supposed to be a private community a lot of the constuctions were designed to trap water, there were supposed to be a number of underground tunnels that all emptied out into the central area so residents could escape from their houses if needed. During the trip I was quite proud of myself as I could understand a lot of what the guide was saying when he spoke in Spanish - now I know that he was speaking slower than he normally would but it's a start.
Friday was a night tour of Barcelona with stops at La Sagrada Familia and some other structure that I keep forgetting the name of.
Here I spent more time taking pictures than listening to the guide. What I do know about the structure that after 100 years it is still not completed as you can tell by all the cranes around the building, estimates are that it will take another 30-40 years to complete. It is an absolutely amazing structure with all sorts of symbolism 3 different doors one representing the birth of christ, one his death and one his resurrection. In total there will be 12 towers 1 for each apostle.
Look closely at the towers you can see the names of the apostles written. Guess which photo represents his birth and which his death.
After getting in late on Friday I had an early start to go to Montserrat, probably one of the more beautiful, tranquil places I've been in a while. I could have spent days walking around, enjoying the scenery and taking photos. As it was we were only there for a couple of hours as there was a second stop at the beach. I know I've said it before but I'll say it again - I hate organized bus tours as you are on somebody else's timetable. I didn't feel like I had much of an option here if I wanted to see Montserrat the only way to do it was with the school.
Walked around the cathedral a little bit primarily to see the black madonna then it was a tram ride up to the top to get a birds eye view of the place. From here there are a lot of hikes you can do however with the limited time I wasn't able to do too many. I only walked down from the top. There were a couple of side paths off the main path down which I think the guide led the group down however I got separated from the group. 
I had walked down a path to get a shot from the top and happened to stumble across some butterflies and birds eating at some flowers. I got rather engrossed in taking photos of them (surprise, surprise) and missed the meeting time by a few minutes. I quickly caught up with a few other people that were taking their time walking down so I wasn't too far behind and probably could have caught up with the whole group but instead enjoyed a peaceful walk down the mountain at my own pace with many stops to take photographs. And now for the photos that delayed my return to the group:
Since Thursday I have been going out and about enjoying all that Barcelona and the surrounding area has to offer. Thursday evening I went out to Park Guell (pronounced whey) which was desinged by Gaudi.
It was intended to be a garden community but nobody ever bought any houses there so now it is just a large park. Going with the school I was able to learn a bit about the history of the park that many people wouldn't normally know. As this was supposed to be a private community a lot of the constuctions were designed to trap water, there were supposed to be a number of underground tunnels that all emptied out into the central area so residents could escape from their houses if needed. During the trip I was quite proud of myself as I could understand a lot of what the guide was saying when he spoke in Spanish - now I know that he was speaking slower than he normally would but it's a start.
Friday was a night tour of Barcelona with stops at La Sagrada Familia and some other structure that I keep forgetting the name of.
Here I spent more time taking pictures than listening to the guide. What I do know about the structure that after 100 years it is still not completed as you can tell by all the cranes around the building, estimates are that it will take another 30-40 years to complete. It is an absolutely amazing structure with all sorts of symbolism 3 different doors one representing the birth of christ, one his death and one his resurrection. In total there will be 12 towers 1 for each apostle.
Look closely at the towers you can see the names of the apostles written. Guess which photo represents his birth and which his death.
After getting in late on Friday I had an early start to go to Montserrat, probably one of the more beautiful, tranquil places I've been in a while. I could have spent days walking around, enjoying the scenery and taking photos. As it was we were only there for a couple of hours as there was a second stop at the beach. I know I've said it before but I'll say it again - I hate organized bus tours as you are on somebody else's timetable. I didn't feel like I had much of an option here if I wanted to see Montserrat the only way to do it was with the school.
Walked around the cathedral a little bit primarily to see the black madonna then it was a tram ride up to the top to get a birds eye view of the place. From here there are a lot of hikes you can do however with the limited time I wasn't able to do too many. I only walked down from the top. There were a couple of side paths off the main path down which I think the guide led the group down however I got separated from the group. 
I had walked down a path to get a shot from the top and happened to stumble across some butterflies and birds eating at some flowers. I got rather engrossed in taking photos of them (surprise, surprise) and missed the meeting time by a few minutes. I quickly caught up with a few other people that were taking their time walking down so I wasn't too far behind and probably could have caught up with the whole group but instead enjoyed a peaceful walk down the mountain at my own pace with many stops to take photographs. And now for the photos that delayed my return to the group:
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Lost in Translation
This week I am studying Spanish in Barcelona, I am really wishing I had booked more than 1 week, I'm torn as to whether or not I'll be extending my stay here - stay tuned.
One of the things that makes me laugh as I walk around the city are signs advertising products or store names that have been translated from English to another language. The vending machine at the school has sandwiches which are translated into English. A student came and asked me what cranc was. Very puzzled by this I went to look - it was a crab sandwich. I can only guess that somebody knew that crabby and cranky were synonyms so therefore crank and crab must be the same thing.
Here are two examples I've come across in Barcelona.
Not sure why the change of name but this is obviously a Dunkin Donuts. One of the first I've seen while abroad. Starbucks are everywhere though. I overheard some of the students in the school talking about how they really wanted a Starbucks but there are none here. Personally I've walk by 3 on my way from the school to my apartment, not sure where these people are looking as they walk.
Not much to say about his just liked the translation of the movie poster.
One of the things that makes me laugh as I walk around the city are signs advertising products or store names that have been translated from English to another language. The vending machine at the school has sandwiches which are translated into English. A student came and asked me what cranc was. Very puzzled by this I went to look - it was a crab sandwich. I can only guess that somebody knew that crabby and cranky were synonyms so therefore crank and crab must be the same thing.
Here are two examples I've come across in Barcelona.
Not sure why the change of name but this is obviously a Dunkin Donuts. One of the first I've seen while abroad. Starbucks are everywhere though. I overheard some of the students in the school talking about how they really wanted a Starbucks but there are none here. Personally I've walk by 3 on my way from the school to my apartment, not sure where these people are looking as they walk.
Not much to say about his just liked the translation of the movie poster.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Car Chat
Here are some random musings about cars and driving that I have accumulated during my travels.
You'll find no surprise that men and women see cars in very different ways. In talking to a coworker about being picked up at the Beijing airport his first question was what type of car was it - Audi, Mercedes, Rolls. I had no idea, that was irrelevant.
There's only one time when there's traffic in Beijing - from morning to night.
License plates in the UK are yellow on the back of the car and white on the front of the car.
The UK has different licenses for automatic and manual cars, additional tests are needed if you want a license that allows you to drive both types of cars. If you have the wrong type of license and get into an accident your insurance will reject the claim.
In Barcelona on a 6 lane highway I noticed that the 3 middle lanes had light indicators above them with either a red X or a green arrow. The lanes themselves were also painted with large arrows in the center going in both directions. To address rush hour traffic the lanes switch directions at various times the lights above the lanes indicate whether traffic is going in the direction you are travelling or not.
Taxi Time
With all the time I spend in taxis I have found it interesting that different cities mark their taxis in different ways. Below see if you can match the city to the taxi.
Beijing, New York, London, Hong Kong, Milan
Yellow
Cream
Black
Red
Various colours but bumpers are gold along with gold stripe around
You'll find no surprise that men and women see cars in very different ways. In talking to a coworker about being picked up at the Beijing airport his first question was what type of car was it - Audi, Mercedes, Rolls. I had no idea, that was irrelevant.
There's only one time when there's traffic in Beijing - from morning to night.
License plates in the UK are yellow on the back of the car and white on the front of the car.
The UK has different licenses for automatic and manual cars, additional tests are needed if you want a license that allows you to drive both types of cars. If you have the wrong type of license and get into an accident your insurance will reject the claim.
In Barcelona on a 6 lane highway I noticed that the 3 middle lanes had light indicators above them with either a red X or a green arrow. The lanes themselves were also painted with large arrows in the center going in both directions. To address rush hour traffic the lanes switch directions at various times the lights above the lanes indicate whether traffic is going in the direction you are travelling or not.
Taxi Time
With all the time I spend in taxis I have found it interesting that different cities mark their taxis in different ways. Below see if you can match the city to the taxi.
Beijing, New York, London, Hong Kong, Milan
Yellow
Cream
Black
Red
Various colours but bumpers are gold along with gold stripe around
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Better Late than Never
At the beginning of July I headed to Disneyland Paris for my quarterly team meeting. Spent the day doing normal business stuff then we headed to the park for fun. It was all a bit surreal to me, it was like I stepped through a space machine and was transported back to the US. Everything in the park was American, I can only assume that is for branding purposes they want all of the parks to look and feel the same. As a result you enter and are walking down Main street, USA (although you're in Paris) all the restaurants & bars in Disney Village reminded me of those at Downtown Disney in Orlando: Rainforest Cafe, Planet Hollywood, a Chicago style steak house, a country western bar, disco, and a sports bar.
Going on a weekday evening there weren't many queues at all the longest wait we had was 20 minutes. This enabled us to hit all the high-speed/action/roller-coaster type rides there and go on Space mountain 3 times. The speed with which we got through the park was probably helped by one of my co-workers who knew where everything was so we were able to quickly go from 1 attraction to another.
Over dinner we had an interesting conversation about housing. In France apartments are sold or rented not based on the number of bedrooms but rather the total number of rooms (excluding kitchen and bathroom). For example an apartment with a living room and bedroom would be listed as a T2. Some apartments in France come with what is called an "American Kitchen" this refers to a kitchen that is open to the living room but with a bar or island separating the two.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Yes I'm Still Alive
Just a quick post to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about my blog. I know it's been weeks since I posted which was a combination of being on holiday (or vacation depending on what country you live in) and then getting sick while on vacation. A week of sleep and being on antibiotics I am now feeling better. Getting sick while on vacation is never a good thing, I think it was my bodies way of telling me I need to slow down a bit. Luckily it's summer time and Europe slows down. Not a lot on my plate over the summer so I should be able to get back to my old self shortly.
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