19 December 2020

Oh, The Places I Didn't Go

To quote a fortune cookie (or, supposedly Confucius according to the interwebs), 

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." 

This was the year we all stopped going (at least those of us who did not wish to further exacerbate a global pandemic). So one of my favorite books,

Copyright, of course, Dr. Suess

should be rewritten as Oh, the Places I Didn't Go :(

I didn't go on a train.

I didn't go on a plane.

I didn't go to London Town.

I just sat home and watched The Crown.

I can't compete with the great Dr. Seuss so I'll stop embarrassing myself! But I didn't take any theater trips to London and I certainly didn't take the first direct train from Amsterdam to London thus cutting out the hassle of airports. It ran empty because non-essential travel was (still is) not allowed. In fact, I only saw one show here locally back in February. It was called We Will Rock You and it was based on the music of Queen.  It wasn't spectacular but if I had known it would be the only show I'd see this year I probably would have enjoyed it more.

I also didn't take a train trip to Berlin and Poland this year either.  I've been to Berlin once in the early 90s and I haven't been to Poland at all yet.  I didn't go to Georgia (the country, not the US state). I didn't go to any sunny warm or extreme northern location for my birthday. 

I did make one trip to Amsterdam to see the World Press Photo Exhibit for I think the 9th or 10th year now. It didn't open in April as scheduled and I thought I might not get to see it this year. I'm glad I did but even though they limited the number of people who could be inside at a time and even though they marked off spaces in front of each section to keep people distanced and even though maybe about half the people were wearing masks (they weren't required) it still caused me anxiety and I didn't stay long.

Public transportation was the only place face masks were required until 1 December when they became mandatory in all indoor public places (FINALLY).

To see Dam Square so empty was very strange. This was August. I've been there on a crappy weather day in January and not seen it this empty!

So what are my plans for next year?  I don't know yet. It seems too soon to start making plans.  Hamilton in London announced that performances will start again in May 2021 and tickets will go on sale on Monday (2 days from now).  I would love to be traveling in May and would love to be sitting in a packed theater (although now I'm not sure what that's going to do to the anxiety I already had in crowds before this all started) cheering as the curtain goes up and the music starts. But I'm not booking anything just yet.  Certainly not anything non-refundable! I definitely hope to see a bunch of shows. I hope to make that Berlin-Poland trip. I'm assuming a half-year max realistically for travel; if we're lucky.  

This year has been such a whirlwind of scientific achievement and science denying that makes my brain want to curl up in a corner and rock like RainMan.  I think we all need to hang tight, give the science a little time to work its science magic, and then ease back into travel. The planet enjoyed us all staying home this year and I don't think we should carbon-assult her too hard too fast (although I'm sure we will) once we're set free.

Where didn't you go this year? Where are you hoping to go next year? 


10 December 2020

Work From Home

 I've been working from home, like millions of people, since March. Like most people, I didn't expect it to last very long and so I didn't set up a very permanent work space for myself.  But after many months of working from a temporary setup in the main living area of my house I couldn't take the disruption any more and I took steps to make a more comfortable, less invasive work space for myself. This space just so happens to have a better view than when I had my back to the front window.







How's your work from home going?

The New Year is Nothing Special

Today is Thursday. No one expects magical things to happen tomorrow. The last day of May was on a Thursday this year and no one expected the next day to suddenly bring forth clarity and relief from the world's ills.  So why do people think that flipping the calendar from December 2020 to January 2021 will somehow make things better?

The calendrical new year is such an arbitrary thing yet it's given such huge significance. It's not based on any observable astronomical event like the solstice or saturnalia which would at least make some sense. Yet people celebrate it as if they personally played a part in the earth making another successful trip around the sun.  They make plans starting in the "new year" as if the coming Friday will be any different than tomorrow.  

So many are saying that they can't wait for 2021 because 2020 has been so awful. Hey y'all...There's no difference between midnight tonight and midnight three weeks from now.  Thinking that there's something special about the new year and waiting for it is the kind of thinking that's holding you back.

 


 

If you're waiting for an arbitrary milestone to make a change, give up a bad habit, start that novel you've been saying you're going to write, reframe your thinking into something more positive...tomorrow is as good an arbitrary milestone as any.  It's one year from a year ago so it's technically a new year.  Stop waiting! Stop putting it off.  Why put off your novel, your happiness, your betterment another day?




11 April 2020

The World Suddenly Got Really Big

I've been to a few places, done some stuff, seen a sight or two...met some folks along the way. I have had a a couple of small-world encounters that made my head spin.  I have two degrees in engineering but I think statistics is (are?) a form of torture that violates the Geneva convention (and my English skills, apparently).

I would like someone to crunch the odds of me leaving Ghana and traveling to northern Thailand where I would meet a random traveler who had come from Europe where he had had met someone (at the running of the bulls in Pamplona) who I knew in Ghana (it's difficult to convey that story in a single sentence).

I previously wrote about one of the more difficult parts of expat life. This is my fifth time living abroad.  I can't say that I really thought about needing to go home for an emergency when I was 16 years old but most 16 year-olds wouldn't.  I did think about it during my time in Ghana and while it was possible the logistics were a bit trickier.  The most frightening thing was a Peace Corps SUV pulling up to your site unscheduled.  This was before the time of cell phones (at least in Ghana) so if there was a real emergency the Peace Corps would send someone to you.  I only got an unexpected visit once and it was not an emergency (it was a program director visiting volunteers (not from my program) who stopped by to drop off a package). I was in the classroom teaching but I saw the vehicle pull onto the school compound and went running out of the class in a panic.  Logistics were also difficult when I was in Afghanistan because there just weren't flights in and out every day.  But  normally you can hand over a credit card and be on a plane from western Europe to the US in less than a day.

This is the first time that's not an option.  It's terrifying. It's nerve wracking. It's heart breaking. I have never wanted to hug someone more in my life (and I am not someone who generally wants to hug people). 

[Source]
I have never felt further away and that includes being in Ghana on September 11, 2001 when I might as well have been on a different planet.

In an age where we can fly to any corner of the world at almost a moment's notice (okay, maybe you need to plan ahead to get a visa for a particular country but the flight options are there), the COVID-19 pandemic has made the world suddenly feel as big as it must have felt to the early explorers when it took them years to make the same journey that we can now do in a matter of hours. 

Whether you're in a lockdown situation or a place that's doing a less-than-stellar job at handling this pandemic, I hope you are safe and healthy and staying home as much as humanly possible. If you're a front-line worker, THANK YOU!  Check on your neighbors. Don't hoard toilet paper (I really don't understand this one and it's thankfully not a thing where I am). Wash your hands (why weren't you doing this already?!?!).

What's the situation where you are? How are  you coping? 

16 February 2020

What the Dutch Do During a Storm - Sundays in My City

We've had a couple storms hit here that are big enough to get names.  Last weekend was Ciara and this weekend is Denis.  Winds of 120km/hr (75mph) and driving rain last weekend (yet to be seen how this weekend clocks but Denis is supposed to be less intense than Ciara).  You might think this would send everyone indoors but not the Dutch!




It should be noted that the event had to be shut down eventually due to the high winds (the time clock blew away and the bike truck threatened to tip over). 

As a bike commuter, I can tell you that there's almost always a head wind here no matter which direction you're going and even if you're not on the coast!

But kudos to those intrepid folks who were brave/crazy enough to tackle this.

Would you give this race a try?

01 January 2020

Ziemassvētki (Winter Festival) in Latvia - Sundays in My City

Latvia still celebrates the Winter Solstice!  I'd been searching for a Winter Solstice celebration and was surprised to find that many cold, northern places have Summer Solstice celebrations but I wasn't finding anything for the winter.  I was surprised as I would think places with long, dark winters would want to celebrate the point where the days start getting longer. Well, since I hadn't yet been to Latvia I was happy to hear that they have a true, public Winter Solstice celebration so off to Riga I went!

Riga is a small city and it was not at all crowded which I greatly appreciated!  The entire population of Latvia is less than 2 million.  This was my first trip to the Baltic states and my first former Soviet country.  I had thought it was the furthest east I've ever been in Europe but when I double checked the map I realized that my trip to Romania and Bulgaria back in 2011 was further east.




Celebration of the Winter Solstice (which occurs somewhere around the 21st of December) long predates the modern christmas holiday and many of the current christmas festivities (evergreen trees inside, yule logs, etc) have their roots in Winter Solstice traditions. Even though Latvia did eventually succumb to christian invasion, it didn't give up its ancient rituals such as celebrating the Winter Solstice like many other cultures did.

On the evening of the Winter Solstice in Riga, there were songs (sung in Latvian, old Russian (I was told), maybe other languages I didn't understand?), some dancing, people wearing masks, logs dragged through the old town while chanting and singing and then set alight.















The log dragging/burning tradition was explained so: "The merry-makers will drag a log from one homestead to another, gathering all misfortunes from the past year.  Afterward the log will be set ablaze, and everyone will be able to burn away his/her negative thoughts, failures, fears."

What I like so much about the Winter Solstice celebration (as compared to the ubiquitous red-suited man bringing toys) is that it isn't about STUFF.  It's not about obligation, going into debt, annoying-as-hell music for a month+.  It's just about celebrating the end of the longest night of the year and welcoming the return of more daylight.  Saying goodbye to negative thoughts, failures, and fears?  Sounds good to me!

Even though I couldn't understand any of the words that were being said/sung, I appreciated the ceremony and the ritual of the celebration.  And I applaud Latvia for holding onto its traditions!

What negative thoughts, failures, or fears are you saying goodbye to (or what positive thoughts are you welcoming along with the return of light)?




Sundays In My City

N.B. Any negative comments about the evils of celebrating a "pagan" tradition or anything about devil worship or how we're going to hell or basically anything along those lines will be immediately deleted.  My blog, my rules.