tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67918007611284275102024-03-13T12:43:52.375+01:00Far From KansasI'm not from Kansas. I've never even been to Kansas. But, like Dorothy, I keep ending up very, very far from home.Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.comBlogger339125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-58651489481439373372023-07-04T18:32:00.001+02:002023-07-04T18:32:14.960+02:00Back to Belfast<p>I wrote this in February and then sat on it trying to decide it if it was what I wanted to say or not; whether or not I'd said too much. I haven't felt the need to change anything so I think it's finally time to hit the "Publish" button.</p><p><br /></p><p>I haven't even had time to process my trip to Belfast this past weekend (which was now 4.5 months ago) but I know if I don't write this now I'll be composing it in my head for two years but it will never make it to the page. As you can see (although I don't know if there are any "you" left out there since it's been almost two years since anything made it to this page) I seem to have trouble getting things out of my head and onto the page. I write things mentally all the time but never seem to get them here any more.</p><p>Ever since my visit to Belfast in 2019 I'd read some books and watched some movies and learned more but still felt like I had so many questions and wanted to go back. It's such a complex issue and it feels like the more I learn the more questions I have. If you haven't read the <a href="https://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-troubles-northern-ireland-is.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> you should probably do that first but real quick: the two sides are those who believe Northern Ireland should be part of the Republic of Ireland (predominantly Catholic) and those who believe Northern Ireland should be part of the United Kingdom (predominantly Protestant). The media lazily portrayed it as a religious dispute but it is so much more than that with roots that go back a couple hundred years. But anyway, when I say things like each side or both sides this is what I'm referring to. </p><p>And as a reminder, Northern Ireland is currently part of the United Kingdom. But the negotiations of how Northern Ireland will be handled since Brexit (because it is part of the United Kingdom but on the island with the Republic of Ireland and shares no land border with the rest of the United Kingdom) are still being worked out. The current British Prime Minister was in Brussels (capital of the EU) for further talks on the Northern Ireland protocol. But for the first time ever the most recent election has a very narrow majority of seats in parliament going to the party wanting Irish reunification.</p><p>When I found out that one of my favorite musicals, <u>Girl from the North Country</u> (go see it if you have a chance!!!), was making a stop in Belfast, I decided it was time to make a return visit. A friend who had never been to Belfast (or Ireland at all) and wasn't really familiar with the Troubles, but quickly went down the rabbit hole of interest, decided to go with me. And I'm glad they did. When I went the first time I really wanted to process what I'd just learned about and become fascinated with with someone else and I had no one. It seemed everyone else was like me and while they'd sort of heard the term "the Troubles" or heard about some bombs or something in Northern Ireland, they really weren't very familiar with it. </p><p>This friend and I come from rather different backgrounds and have pretty different belief systems but both felt that the reason we weren't more familiar with the struggles happening in Northern Ireland was essentially because it was a dispute between two groups of pasty white people which just isn't what gets people's attention. The more we talked, both before we went and after, we both had the same questions and lot of the same reactions and conclusions. But I'm getting ahead of myself.</p><p>I contacted the tour guide who took me around when I made the quick hop there from Dublin for a 2nd Troubles tour with a rather out-of-the-norm request. Having already done two tours of West Belfast to see the walls and the murals, what I was looking for was to just sit down and talk to people. </p><p>My ideal scenario was to be able to find a multi-generational family who would talk to me about their experience. Actually, two families; one from each "side" of the troubles. I knew this was a pipe dream. Next best would be one guide from each side at the table so that there could be a back and forth discussion. Unfortunately, as I was to learn, even that isn't really possible. I'll explain in a little bit. </p><p>What we were able to get was one guide from each side - separately - for time to just hear their stories and ask them questions. This was not a small feat. In order to get these individuals to agree to do this (as opposed to the standard tour information) we had to confirm that we were NOT reporters and that we would NOT be recording the discussions. We also made it clear that we were NOT there to pass any judgement and that we didn't come down on either side of the debate. We were just genuinely interested in listening to them share with us what they would and that we would not be offended by what they said about the "other side" or by things they may have done. Remember, the Good Friday Peace Agreement released all prisoners convicted of Troubles-related crimes including murders, arsonists, etc.</p><p>I'm not giving any specifics about the individuals or their personal stories that they told us. We felt very privileged to have been given the opportunity and for what they shared with us. Both individuals told us their stories, their backgrounds, how the Troubles impacted their families and their neighborhoods, how they personally left the groups with which they had been affiliated and why, and what the lasting impacts have been on their lives and families and neighborhoods since. The trauma and the scars, both physical and phycological, are deep and it's likely that a good portion of the residents of not only Belfast but Northern Ireland in general bear. </p><p>We had hoped to get time with the two of them together to ask them both some questions but we didn't know that even now, with the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Peace Agreement just two months away, they can't be seen talking to each other or on the "other" side of walls - in the opposite neighborhoods. It's still dangerous. This is what I alluded to when I said it wasn't possible to sit down with them both together for a discussion. Even if they were willing it isn't safe for them to be in the same place.</p><p>But we did, very quickly, when the first was handing us off to the second, get to ask them both one question and the response was both promising and heartbreaking. We asked them what the key is to really ending the conflict and moving past the divide since the walls are still up and the gates still close every night 25 years after supposed "peace." Both individuals said it has to start with integrated education. Without that they don't stand a chance. Approximately 93% of schools in Northern Ireland are segregated. But when asked if people would be willing to send their kids to an integrated school they both said that most people would not. That it would still be 3 or 4 more generations before this sees a resolution. </p><p>Not only education but pretty much everything is separate. There are separate doctors and hair dressers and pubs and shops and swimming pools, etc. One of our guides pointed out that on both sides of the walls you will see giant murals dedicated to people and groups and events that were paramilitary and, let's call a spade a spade, violent and responsible for many deaths. So if this is what people, and especially young people are seeing every day, how are they supposed to move on...move forward...move past this? Or are they just being constantly reminded that they are supposed to be angry?</p><p>Do they agree on anything else? We don't know. We didn't get to ask all the questions we had because there simply wasn't enough time and what they had to tell us was so compelling that we didn't want to interrupt them. We left with more questions than we went in with. </p><p>I did ask the "stay part of the UK" representative what would happen if another referendum was held and the outcome was to reunite with the Republic of Ireland. They said they would accept it. </p><p>I'm hesitant to go into what I took away from it because I want to remain neutral in case I decide to go and do this again. I do think it is easier to get stories from one of the sides than the other and also it's easy to see parallels between this and the American Civil Rights struggle, South African apartheid, and the Israel/Palestine conflict just to name a few. </p><p>But like any war, regardless of whether Northern Ireland remains British or eventually returns to the Republic of Ireland, there are no winners when lives have been lost, families and communities destroyed, and 25 years after the supposed "peace" agreement there are still miles of walls dividing neighborhoods and it's not safe for two former enemies to be seen together.</p><p>I'm not sure where to go from here. Do I continue researching and attempt to keep going back to talk to more people? Is it even possible to really understand something this complex as an outsider? Or do I let it go because it is difficult to get people to agree to talk and it's not like I'm going to solve anything. I don't know. I have a lot of un-listened-to podcasts on other topics because I've only been listening to podcasts about the Troubles lately (if you're interested, The Troubles Podcast with Oisin Feeney is very good and nonpartisan). We'll see what happens after I've had time to think through it all and figure out how I'm left feeling about everything. </p><p>Oh, and I found out that the cages over the back gardens on 2 of the houses mentioned in the previous post did come down and have stayed down so far. Can't count out little bits of progress.</p><p><b><i>I feel like this post is really vague and probably boring since it has no pictures and doesn't even tell an interesting story. Like the Troubles, this post feels very unresolved. Maybe that's how it should be.</i></b></p>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-3375129216693113962021-05-01T19:16:00.005+02:002023-07-04T18:28:32.969+02:00The Troubles - Northern Ireland is Fascinating<p>Is it just me or does your brain also block out 2020? For example, when I started to write this I thought, "Last year I went to Ireland." But it wasn't last year; it was 2019. Despite 2020 feeling like it had 27 months and each month feeling like it was 63 days long, when I think about things that happened I tend to skip last year. </p><p>It has taken a long time to write this because I feel like there's a lot I want to say and a lot that I should cover in order to give you as complete a picture as possible.</p><p><b><i>Northern Ireland</i></b></p><p>So in 2019 I went to Ireland and Northern Ireland. Did you know they are two different places? Northern Ireland is part of Great Britain. The Republic of Ireland is an independent country.</p><p>They split in 1921. Northern Ireland remained under British rule. Southern Ireland became a free state; now known as the Republic of Ireland. But 40% of those in Northern Ireland wanted independence from Britain so there's always been a large number of people who weren't happy with the outcome of that split. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yl8bh22j2_E/YHwv1JqAs7I/AAAAAAAAE_k/nhzZQyKiswsYe902brfKJNzNMTtuc8EIACLcBGAsYHQ/s757/UK.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="634" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yl8bh22j2_E/YHwv1JqAs7I/AAAAAAAAE_k/nhzZQyKiswsYe902brfKJNzNMTtuc8EIACLcBGAsYHQ/w335-h400/UK.png" width="335" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><b><i>EU/Schengen</i></b></p><p>How does that fit in with the EU and Schengen? Ireland is an EU member. Great Britain was up until Brexit. Neither are members of the Schengen zone. Schengen is what allows you to pass between EU countries without passport controls. It's also what makes people like me sad because no passport controls means no stamps in your passport when entering one Schengen country from another. So I don't have stamps for most of the countries I've been to :(</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZxEDaep7bs/YHw9XsWgoQI/AAAAAAAAE_s/g3qxdbV-X9ggZ1xMQfkdMyQsyeLn8-NzgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/schengen-map.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZxEDaep7bs/YHw9XsWgoQI/AAAAAAAAE_s/g3qxdbV-X9ggZ1xMQfkdMyQsyeLn8-NzgCLcBGAsYHQ/w512-h640/schengen-map.png" width="512" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;">This map is pre-Brexit as it shows the UK still in the EU. <br />[https://schengenvisum.info/wat-is-schengenvisum/schengenlanden/]</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><b><i>But What About Brexit?</i></b></p><p>Brexit is the nickname given to Great Britain leaving the European Union. There were two main reasons people voted for Brexit (that's very oversimplified and I've further oversimplified those here) although - in an interesting twist - the majority of Northern Irish voted to remain in the EU. </p><p>1. Economics. Leavers felt that being tied to the the EU (which includes countries whose economies are not as strong as that of Great Britain) was dragging down the British economy.</p><p>2. Immigration. The foreign-born population doubled in 10 years due in large part to the economic issues already mentioned. Jobs were hard to find in many countries and the open borders policy of the EU meant job seekers from hard hit countries moved to places like Great Britain. At the time of the Brexit vote, seventy-seven percent of Brits believed that immigration levels into the country should be reduced.</p><p>One of the bigger Brexit debates revolved around the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland remains part of the EU. The worry was that if a "hard" border went up between Ireland and Northern Ireland it would reignite tensions.</p><p><b><i>Back to Northern Ireland - The Troubles</i></b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Did you think the fighting in Northern Ireland was a Protestant/Catholic issue?</li><li>Did you think Sinn Féin was a person?</li><li>Did you think "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland ended in the 1970s or 1980?</li></ul><p></p><p>Northern Ireland is predominantly Protestant while the Republic of Ireland is predominantly Catholic and the conflict is often presented as a religious feud. But it's much more than that. </p><p>For several decades, the leaders of the Protestant, unionist majority (those who wanted to stay part of Great Britain), discriminated against the Catholic, nationalist minority (those who wanted to be part of a unified Ireland). The discrimination resembles the American discrimination against minorities (some past, some present) in many ways:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Gerrymandering voting districts so that Catholics always had fewer representatives.</li><li>Allowing only property owners to vote.</li><li>Discrimination in employment and social housing.</li><li>A Special Powers Act that allowed for detention without trial. Since the armed police forces were wholly unionist this was used to punish nationalists.</li><li>Lack of official recognition of Irish nationality in Northern Ireland. The Irish language and Irish history were not taught in state schools. The tricolour flag of the Irish Republic was illegal, as was the Irish Republican party, Sinn Féin (not a person, a political party). </li></ol><p></p><p>I can't cover everything about The Troubles here. It's complex and a lot depends on which side is providing the information. However, it's important to point out that the majority of people on both sides did not support the use of violence but the violence used by the minorities of both factions came to define the conflict. <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #222222;">3,500 were killed. Tens of thousands more were injured. Untold thousands were traumatized by violence. Thousands were sent to prison.</span> </span></p><p>Belfast is still a divided city. Literally. Both physically and ideologically. The majority of peace walls are located in Belfast, but they also exist in Derry, Portadown, and Lurgan, with more than 20 miles of walls in Northern Ireland. They divide the predominantly Catholic section of the city from the predominantly Protestant section of the city. Gates close at night. They have separate schools and community centers. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iU29SywlXYU/YI1naEu8aWI/AAAAAAAAFB8/fYxnzpzFWZ0Aeoh9ViH1TenpVkgND6S5QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9118wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iU29SywlXYU/YI1naEu8aWI/AAAAAAAAFB8/fYxnzpzFWZ0Aeoh9ViH1TenpVkgND6S5QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_9118wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #999999;">One of the gates that closes at night.</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's very little integration even now, more than 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement - the peace agreement signed in 1998 that ended most of the violence. Although there are hints that the desire is there among some in this younger generation. Some people send their kids to integrated schools outside of the segregated neighborhoods. There are some programs that try to introduce kids to the idea that maybe there's no need to be afraid of the "other" side. So they organize things like canoe trips for kids from both groups. The fact that this is happening in western Europe (as opposed to the middle east, for example), still today, between mostly white people, Blew. My. Mind! I had SO many questions!!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5LnFrqcG77A/YI1s-LTQpRI/AAAAAAAAFCE/cyqwW62Pc2sziCfJWfI9rC4Y_3FduKOgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9124wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5LnFrqcG77A/YI1s-LTQpRI/AAAAAAAAFCE/cyqwW62Pc2sziCfJWfI9rC4Y_3FduKOgwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_9124wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;"><i><b>These houses that back up to one of the walls have cages protecting their back gardens. You can see that the wall had height added. This was because Molotov cocktails liked to find their way over the wall. But the cages stayed. My guide told me that the house on the far end needs to have the sofit replaced, which would require taking down the cage, and was planning to leave it down. This is a small step towards accepting that the peace agreement might be lasting - after more than 20 years.</b></i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br />Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, saw the most fighting but there were over 10,000 bombings in Great Britain the 30 years of The Troubles. </p><p>When I visited Belfast, the downtown area was not much different from a lot of other cites. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-32MlRPxSxrQ/YI1-3cjRnZI/AAAAAAAAFCM/tds0dtlDawYTGAVRIFaW7shbypSvcAslACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9018wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-32MlRPxSxrQ/YI1-3cjRnZI/AAAAAAAAFCM/tds0dtlDawYTGAVRIFaW7shbypSvcAslACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_9018wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p>But hire a guide for a "Troubles" tour - Trust me on this! One of the things you'll learn is that part of the Good Friday Peace Agreement involved letting out all prisoners on both sides (those in jail for Troubles-related offenses) so even those who might have committed arson or murder were freed. Some of these individuals are now conducting Troubles tours. Yup. Your tour guide might be a murderer. They have serious first-hand knowledge of what went down rather than tour guides who just learned a bunch of stuff. In the height of the violence many young people had been born and grew up knowing nothing but cinemas being bombed, busses being bombed, literal fighting in the streets of their neighborhoods. So when their homes and families were under attack they fought. </p><p>I'm not defending them. I don't have a side in this. I can say I consider myself to be a pacifist but my home, my family have never been under attack so I can't say what I'd do. And I can't judge anyone. The British government certainly committed atrocities no differently than they did elsewhere in the world. But the Republicans were not without fault. I want to talk to people from both sides. </p><p>It was so fascinating and I wanted to know so much more that a few days later, after returning to Dublin, I took a bus to Belfast, met up with a guide, and spent a few hours with him before taking the bus back to Dublin (my parents were arriving the next day so I couldn't stay any longer). I could definitely see myself going back to Belfast if I could arrange to just sit and talk to people all day. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EoeVil8VtJA/YHxspBIebYI/AAAAAAAAFAM/SeUmm9lWcwccsaLbsVzETeTK2HA7wzongCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8997wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EoeVil8VtJA/YHxspBIebYI/AAAAAAAAFAM/SeUmm9lWcwccsaLbsVzETeTK2HA7wzongCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_8997wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #999999;">The "Peace Wall" </span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><b><i><br /></i></b><div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><i>Murals</i></span><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div>According to Wikipedia: </div><blockquote><div>Belfast and Derry contain arguably the most famous political murals in Europe. It is believed that almost 2,000 murals have been documented since the 1970s. <br /></div></blockquote><p>Some of the murals are directly related to The Troubles but many are not. My guide told me that now, in order to be allowed to put up a mural, you have to apply and submit your proposed mural to...I don't remember. A committee or a governmental entity...I tried finding the answer online but came up empty. </p><blockquote><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EWEqJtJruOc/YHx1wtjdepI/AAAAAAAAFA4/8emSB31S6dQRzfeBsf__OfGVAoDmGIL6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9004wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EWEqJtJruOc/YHx1wtjdepI/AAAAAAAAFA4/8emSB31S6dQRzfeBsf__OfGVAoDmGIL6QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_9004wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PH-TDD2MeA4/YHx1w2CBkGI/AAAAAAAAFA8/yYo_FSr8Xj4rYNV3Iyqw-POwdQjLYtQ9gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9103wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PH-TDD2MeA4/YHx1w2CBkGI/AAAAAAAAFA8/yYo_FSr8Xj4rYNV3Iyqw-POwdQjLYtQ9gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_9103wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2F37VoxCwf0/YHx1xEkd-mI/AAAAAAAAFBA/nE177HDu1dsDfvBvpWZCTk6Qx8Ukmzb2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9104wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2F37VoxCwf0/YHx1xEkd-mI/AAAAAAAAFBA/nE177HDu1dsDfvBvpWZCTk6Qx8Ukmzb2QCLcBGAsYHQ/w426-h640/IMG_9104wtmk.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JkRt1vGkGSQ/YHx15tdcWZI/AAAAAAAAFBM/pDDaWrA-qacGzQGLl630iTsLnYODWpI6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9110wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JkRt1vGkGSQ/YHx15tdcWZI/AAAAAAAAFBM/pDDaWrA-qacGzQGLl630iTsLnYODWpI6gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_9110wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FMLU4LYRDqI/YHx14ikbETI/AAAAAAAAFBE/GpelAx6lFnUmOM46bYCwAV1IAK0YkoAwQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9111wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FMLU4LYRDqI/YHx14ikbETI/AAAAAAAAFBE/GpelAx6lFnUmOM46bYCwAV1IAK0YkoAwQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_9111wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zO7UQJa5Bus/YHx15cNn_yI/AAAAAAAAFBI/D2fFvvEet1U39dwebtfezpKgJa3sPPg3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9112wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zO7UQJa5Bus/YHx15cNn_yI/AAAAAAAAFBI/D2fFvvEet1U39dwebtfezpKgJa3sPPg3gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_9112wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i0rPPU8T8WU/YHx18KhhvRI/AAAAAAAAFBQ/XoIJf-4a5s0fboiDAYjdoDqksm1v9gjLQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9115wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i0rPPU8T8WU/YHx18KhhvRI/AAAAAAAAFBQ/XoIJf-4a5s0fboiDAYjdoDqksm1v9gjLQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_9115wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><b><i>Derry/Londonderry</i></b></p>The site of the Bloody Sunday massacre (of the U2 song) was in the Bogside area of Derry (also known as Londonderry). 26 civilian protesters were shot by British soldiers. It is considered to be one of the most significant events of the Troubles.<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iDES_phdxL4/YHxvVPwO56I/AAAAAAAAFAU/0Lw5sqwqKycgA3S2W4DJnBGr6spC-Ty0QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9082wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iDES_phdxL4/YHxvVPwO56I/AAAAAAAAFAU/0Lw5sqwqKycgA3S2W4DJnBGr6spC-Ty0QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_9082wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t8fOtZap5EM/YHxvzifztqI/AAAAAAAAFAo/LyqVINyZpawHIxe8bG0BL1-Vj0Kxl5uzQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9084wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t8fOtZap5EM/YHxvzifztqI/AAAAAAAAFAo/LyqVINyZpawHIxe8bG0BL1-Vj0Kxl5uzQCLcBGAsYHQ/w426-h640/IMG_9084wtmk.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7RYCqCcqHos/YHxvztFtPYI/AAAAAAAAFAs/E891Sb7E_BorsvIhAbyqlAfBQZZ_TsB2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9085wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7RYCqCcqHos/YHxvztFtPYI/AAAAAAAAFAs/E891Sb7E_BorsvIhAbyqlAfBQZZ_TsB2QCLcBGAsYHQ/w426-h640/IMG_9085wtmk.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><i></i></b></div></blockquote><p> <b><i>Recent Violence</i></b></p><p>Perhaps you've heard about a recent spate of violence in Northern Ireland. According to the BBC and ABC News:</p><blockquote><p>Nearly 90 officers have been hurt in Northern Ireland's worst street violence for years, after sporadic rioting in several towns and cities since the end of March.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>Young people have hurled bricks, fireworks and gasoline bombs at police and set hijacked cars and a bus on fire during a week of violence on the streets of Northern Ireland. Police responded with rubber bullets and water cannons.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>Many of those involved in the violence were teenagers and even children as young as 12. They grew up after the Troubles, but live in areas where poverty and unemployment remain high and where sectarian divides have not healed.</p></blockquote><p>Why is this happening now? There are a few possible contributing factors (and here's why I explained Brexit earlier):</p><blockquote><p>Northern Ireland has been called the “problem child” of Brexit, the U.K.'s divorce from the European Union. As the only part of the U.K. that has a border with an EU nation — Ireland — it was the trickiest issue to resolve after Britain voted narrowly in 2016 to leave the 27-nation bloc.</p><p>An open Irish border, over which people and goods flow freely, underpins the peace process, allowing people in Northern Ireland to feel at home in both Ireland and the U.K.</p><p>The insistence of Britain’s Conservative government on a “hard Brexit” that took the country out of the EU’s economic order meant the creation of new barriers and checks on trade. Both Britain and the EU agreed that border could not be in Ireland because of the risk that would pose to the peace process. The alternative was to put it, metaphorically, in the Irish Sea — between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.</p><p>That arrangement has alarmed British unionists, who say it weakens Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom and could bolster calls for Irish reunification.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>Early trade glitches, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, led to some empty supermarket shelves, fueling alarm. Border staff were temporarily withdrawn from Northern Ireland ports in February after threatening graffiti appeared to target port workers.</p><p>There was anger that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who long insisted there would be no new checks on trade as a result of Brexit, had downplayed the scale of the changes wrought by leaving the EU. <i><span style="color: #999999;">[Remember - the majority of Northern Irish voted to stay in the EU.]</span></i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p>Unionists are also angry at a police decision not to prosecute politicians from the IRA-linked Sinn Féin party who attended the funeral of a former Irish Republican Army commander in June, despite coronavirus restrictions.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>Bobby Storey's funeral drew 2,000 mourners - including Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill - at a time when strict Covid restrictions were still in place, limiting the number of people who could gather in public.</p><p>Many people expressed anger at Ms O'Neill for failing to follow the guidance she insisted the public should follow - guidance which had led to loyalist band parades being cancelled last summer.</p></blockquote><p>This shows that despite the Good Friday Agreement being in place since 1998, the peace is still very delicate and tenuous. I wonder whether that house did remove it's back garden cage and whether it prompted any neighbors to do the same. I wonder how far this recent outbreak of tension will set back the very small steps towards progress the generation that came into existence after The Troubles had started to make. </p><p>I'm pretty sure this is the longest post I've ever written. I didn't write half of the thoughts I have about this. I feel like it bounced around a lot and doesn't do a good job of explaining anything really. There's just too much. It is truly fascinating to me. How many times have I used the word 'fascinating?' I'm not sure I can fully explain why. But if it intrigues you and you want to learn more, here are a few starters:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe</li><li>The Wind That Shakes the Barkey and The Miami Show Band are available on Netflix (depending on where you live)</li><li>I, Dolours is available on Amazon video</li></ul><div>I only spent a couple days in Northern Ireland (3 out of 11 days of my Ireland trip) but it was one of the most memorable, impactful (in terms of how the trip made me feel), made me want to go back for reasons different than any other place I've been.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><i>Have I made you want to go to Northern Ireland? Tell me about a place you've been that's made this much of an impact on you...whatever the reason!</i></b></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div>[Apologies if I got any of this wrong! I tried my best to get the facts right. This is a very complex issue and to present it in a couple paragraphs was very difficult. If you're Northern Irish, Irish, or British and you want to educate me please let me know!!]</div><p></p></div>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-50897251548297205282021-04-04T14:40:00.004+02:002021-04-05T10:24:18.423+02:00Stumbling Stones - Sundays in My City<p>Stumbling Stones, or Stolpersteine (<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #4a2500;">S</span><span style="color: #4a2500;">truikelsteentjes in Dutch)</span></span>, are something I just learned about despite being here for years and having probably walked past them numerous times without ever noticing. </p><blockquote><p>The <i>Stolpersteine</i> project, initiated by the German artist Gunter Demnig
in 1992, aims to commemorate individuals at exactly the last place of
residency—or, sometimes, work—which was freely chosen by the person
before he or she fell victim to Nazi terror, euthanasia, eugenics, deportation to a concentration or extermination camp, or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide. As of December 2019, 75,000<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">.</span> <i>Stolpersteine</i> have been laid, making the <i>Stolpersteine</i> project the world's largest decentralized memorial. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolperstein">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolperstein</a>]</span></p></blockquote><p>Stolpersteine can be found in 110 Dutch cities and at least 25 European countries. Most commemorate Jewish victims but there are also markers for Sinti and Romani people (then also called "gypsies"), homosexuals, the physically or mentally disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, black people, members of the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the anti-Nazi Resistance, the Christian opposition (both Protestants and Catholics), and Freemasons, along with International Brigade soldiers in the Spanish Civil War, military deserters, conscientious objectors, escape helpers, capitulators, "habitual criminals", looters, and others charged with treason, military disobedience, or undermining the Nazi military, as well as Allied soldiers. </p><p>There aren't any listed in my village or any of the nearby little villages so I decided to go to Maastricht where there are 225 according to <a href="http://www.maastrichtsegevelstenen.nl/oorlog2e.htm" target="_blank">Maastricht's Jewish Victims</a> website where each of the markers can be seen along with photos of many of the individuals. The photos I found particularly compelling because I couldn't help wondering about the personalities of these people. </p><p>We're still in "lockdown" here which is not truly a lockdown compared to our friends in France or Italy but most everything is closed except for essential shops (those selling food or medicine although you can schedule an appointment to go to a non-essential shop if you need a toaster or clothing or garden tools). So aside from going for walks or bike rides, I've been doing my part and staying home. Yesterday, though, I decided to go to Maastricht and walk around and see some of the Stolpersteine. </p><p>After looking through all the records and photos [All photos of people from the Maastricht Jewish Victims website mentioned above. I claim no rights to any of the photos of people. I'm crediting the source and using them only to humanize these humans (humanizing humans sounds redundant but I want them to be more than just victims.)], I decided to visit the oldest and youngest victims. I also wanted to visit a few whose photos intrigued me somehow. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-54R4dmWQCJI/YGmdz21mYmI/AAAAAAAAE9w/72vQF0UAwMcCUQJlDg06yr9AM_dXNqc7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s126/kaufmann-daniels.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-54R4dmWQCJI/YGmdz21mYmI/AAAAAAAAE9w/72vQF0UAwMcCUQJlDg06yr9AM_dXNqc7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s126/kaufmann-daniels.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="126" data-original-width="98" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-54R4dmWQCJI/YGmdz21mYmI/AAAAAAAAE9w/72vQF0UAwMcCUQJlDg06yr9AM_dXNqc7ACLcBGAsYHQ/w249-h320/kaufmann-daniels.jpg" width="249" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VCpZJO-sYTY/YGmdzpHWnOI/AAAAAAAAE9s/io7Om1zqSSEa41mZx304_elGNr8C2IumQCLcBGAsYHQ/s129/Os-Simon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="129" data-original-width="98" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VCpZJO-sYTY/YGmdzpHWnOI/AAAAAAAAE9s/io7Om1zqSSEa41mZx304_elGNr8C2IumQCLcBGAsYHQ/w243-h320/Os-Simon.jpg" width="243" /></a></div></div><br /><div>Paula Kaufmann-Daniels looks like a great aunt who would swat you with a tea towel while laughing about something you've done. She was murdered at Sobibor Extermination Camp in Poland. Simon Os looks to me like a lost member of the three stooges. He died in transport so his place of death is just listed as Middle-Europe. Paula's home is located too far outside the city center for the walk I did yesterday. I found Simon's address but didn't find the marker (and there are supposed to be 8 markers at that address).</div><div><br /></div><div>The oldest victim was Sophie Elekan-Wesly at 87 years old.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QeP5Cu0Fdf8/YGmf6j2706I/AAAAAAAAE98/4eNCvQemK3cKGOMJjn6zQaxsft12ABMOACLcBGAsYHQ/s129/Sophie%2BElekan-Wesly%252C%2Baround%2B1910.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="129" data-original-width="97" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QeP5Cu0Fdf8/YGmf6j2706I/AAAAAAAAE98/4eNCvQemK3cKGOMJjn6zQaxsft12ABMOACLcBGAsYHQ/w151-h200/Sophie%2BElekan-Wesly%252C%2Baround%2B1910.jpg" width="151" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WkVRmw-IDjw/YGmgulfiuHI/AAAAAAAAE-M/6EgU5AVvGB0_J6MgGHQWkqsOrr4-hc27ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0046wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WkVRmw-IDjw/YGmgulfiuHI/AAAAAAAAE-M/6EgU5AVvGB0_J6MgGHQWkqsOrr4-hc27ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_0046wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Joop Moszkowicz was the youngest at just 2 years old. His entire family was taken (parents and two older siblings).<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TqxhQHDZ2ME/YGmhSG4ELkI/AAAAAAAAE-U/nFBB8XdhbbY8uGT3SDHYG6X_m12VPMkYACLcBGAsYHQ/s128/Joop%2BMoszkowicz.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="128" data-original-width="90" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TqxhQHDZ2ME/YGmhSG4ELkI/AAAAAAAAE-U/nFBB8XdhbbY8uGT3SDHYG6X_m12VPMkYACLcBGAsYHQ/w225-h320/Joop%2BMoszkowicz.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-24tkGYLEc5c/YGmiAcAObyI/AAAAAAAAE-s/Q4bAGiUgYAozgJ0Z__i3W1fetG4pESiNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0048wtmk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-24tkGYLEc5c/YGmiAcAObyI/AAAAAAAAE-s/Q4bAGiUgYAozgJ0Z__i3W1fetG4pESiNwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_0048wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BS0v6RoXBoA/YGmhu8n_NeI/AAAAAAAAE-g/-m236BJYI1s-R6945vxoqKvhNZn-ZkNIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210403_153359wtmk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BS0v6RoXBoA/YGmhu8n_NeI/AAAAAAAAE-g/-m236BJYI1s-R6945vxoqKvhNZn-ZkNIgCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_20210403_153359wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><br /><div>If you notice there are only four markers for this family and not five, that's because one of the siblings, Max, survived Auschwitz. From the website, he seems to be the only one who was deported from Maastricht who did survive although I do not claim to have done any extensive research into this. The space above his photo where a picture of his marker would be just says "survived" and there is no year of death listed under his photo. That sent me down a bit of internet rabbit hole.</div><div><br /></div><div>Max went on to be come a rather notorious lawyer in the Netherlands; defending an infamous Dutch drug lord and the Heineken kidnappers. He has four sons who all also became lawyers; three of whom were later disbarred. He is still alive at age 94. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here are the rest of the markers I saw yesterday:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-65edSTi1Hes/YGmnGqv9x4I/AAAAAAAAE-8/vAHX7Ho8wE873bWn4AzNmWSd-E-IGomowCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210403_152411wtmk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-65edSTi1Hes/YGmnGqv9x4I/AAAAAAAAE-8/vAHX7Ho8wE873bWn4AzNmWSd-E-IGomowCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_20210403_152411wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YyQMB5Lp2Pg/YGmnEbnehEI/AAAAAAAAE-4/-RuQYr-mEe8GQS7-uLQNbjtHVG6mXt50gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210403_152637wtmk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YyQMB5Lp2Pg/YGmnEbnehEI/AAAAAAAAE-4/-RuQYr-mEe8GQS7-uLQNbjtHVG6mXt50gCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_20210403_152637wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fAFTIGctgJQ/YGmnJ-kG2XI/AAAAAAAAE_A/uax1detSDYwWsWFb1mXvU0TicawsYneAwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210403_153153wtmk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1932" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fAFTIGctgJQ/YGmnJ-kG2XI/AAAAAAAAE_A/uax1detSDYwWsWFb1mXvU0TicawsYneAwCLcBGAsYHQ/w604-h640/IMG_20210403_153153wtmk.jpg" width="604" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HVYlyxsAs10/YGmnOHf8N3I/AAAAAAAAE_I/gTssf4vAPCw3f8bWEMJdu-n3sjfFZ-AhwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20210403_155821wtmk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HVYlyxsAs10/YGmnOHf8N3I/AAAAAAAAE_I/gTssf4vAPCw3f8bWEMJdu-n3sjfFZ-AhwCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_20210403_155821wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div>I will definitely be noticing these more now when I'm out walking in various cities. I'll also be digging further into the life of Max Moszkowicz, the Heineken kidnappings, the Dutch Godfather, etc. </div><div><br /></div><div><i><b>Have you seen these where you live? What have you recently discovered in your neck of the world </b>(yes, that was intentional)<b>?</b></i></div>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-75632124178375207752021-03-14T17:29:00.001+01:002021-03-14T17:29:33.064+01:00525,600<p>I heard Dr. Fauci say there were 525,000 COVID-19 deaths (in the US) the other day. Obviously this wasn't an exact figure and with the rate of death still as high as it is, the number is now several thousand higher than that. But the Broadway-lover in me couldn't hear the number 525,000 and not immediately go to Seasons of Love from Rent. And almost immediately my mind started rewriting the lyrics. I'm not a song writer or a poet, obviously. My apologies to Jonathan Larson!</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>525,600 loses. 525,000 loved ones so dear. 525,600 memories. How do you measure, measure a year?</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>In lockdowns, in face masks, in clapping for essential workers.</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>In nurses, in zoom calls, in hugs we couldn't give.</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>525,600 families, how do you measure the year this past year in our live?</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>How about love and loss. How about love and loss. How about love and loss. Measure in tears. Seasons of P...P...E.... Seasons of vaccine.</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>525,600 loved ones. 525,000 no longer here. 525,600 memories. How do you measure how much we've lost this year? </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>In truths that We learned, or in times that We cried.</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>In bridges that we had to build to reach out when people died.</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>It's time now to be strong, cuz the pandemic isn't done, let's commemorate remember a year we lost family and friends. </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Remember the love. </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Remember the loss. </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Remember the pain. </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Measure in tears. </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Seasons of love and loss. Seasons of love and loss. </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">None of us knows what the final tally will be. Too many, that is certain.</p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>How are you measuring this past year?</i></b></p>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-78060774345106817672020-12-19T15:35:00.001+01:002020-12-19T17:21:43.707+01:00Oh, The Places I Didn't Go<p>To quote a fortune cookie (or, supposedly Confucius according to the interwebs), </p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><blockquote><i><span style="font-size: medium;">"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop."<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></i></blockquote><p></p><p>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,</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SafGu0rCq-0/X94DFEo_tZI/AAAAAAAAE7Y/3WEjC15Ms88kaC2-c0lIfyQXfm62q1ZAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/Oh%2Bthe%2Bplaces%2Byou%2527ll%2Bgo.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SafGu0rCq-0/X94DFEo_tZI/AAAAAAAAE7Y/3WEjC15Ms88kaC2-c0lIfyQXfm62q1ZAQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/Oh%2Bthe%2Bplaces%2Byou%2527ll%2Bgo.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copyright, of course, Dr. Suess</td></tr></tbody></table><p>should be rewritten as <i>Oh, the Places I Didn't Go :(</i></p><p style="text-align: center;">I didn't go on a train.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I didn't go on a plane.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I didn't go to London Town.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I just sat home and watched The Crown.</p><p>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 <a href=" https://nltimes.nl/2020/10/26/first-direct-train-amsterdam-london-departed" target="_blank">first direct train from Amsterdam to London</a> 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.</p><p>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. </p><p>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.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1xVDFbaOA7M/X94LOR75iCI/AAAAAAAAE7k/vXhBOQXDLCMAPLLHw2MGQ-mcvIfKvCnBwCLcBGAsYHQ/s612/IMG_20200801_082851.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="459" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1xVDFbaOA7M/X94LOR75iCI/AAAAAAAAE7k/vXhBOQXDLCMAPLLHw2MGQ-mcvIfKvCnBwCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_20200801_082851.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #999999; font-size: medium;">Public transportation was the only place face masks were required until 1 December when they became mandatory in all indoor public places (FINALLY).</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jlkKOOtfwmE/X94LOafY5iI/AAAAAAAAE7o/V3k-YElSbVA2Spv9NrPshuGESLrLN5VfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s612/IMG_20200801_112415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="459" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jlkKOOtfwmE/X94LOafY5iI/AAAAAAAAE7o/V3k-YElSbVA2Spv9NrPshuGESLrLN5VfgCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_20200801_112415.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><i>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!</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>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. </p><p>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.</p><p><b><i>Where didn't you go this year? Where are you hoping to go next year?</i></b> </p><p><br /></p>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-83501101012693634682020-12-10T18:19:00.003+01:002020-12-10T18:19:58.694+01:00Work From Home<p> 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.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i5YMRmsHmiA/X9JX1hRiUcI/AAAAAAAAE68/gVG7c-4sOGEhqf8m_YkwUnrLOfRpKbaYwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0030wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1308" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i5YMRmsHmiA/X9JX1hRiUcI/AAAAAAAAE68/gVG7c-4sOGEhqf8m_YkwUnrLOfRpKbaYwCLcBGAsYHQ/w408-h640/IMG_0030wtmk.JPG" width="408" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Tg6j7QPBCY/X9JYBVdnu5I/AAAAAAAAE7A/XNo8-CILJt0NwICPlKLotUfaKKQxc2-9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0032wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Tg6j7QPBCY/X9JYBVdnu5I/AAAAAAAAE7A/XNo8-CILJt0NwICPlKLotUfaKKQxc2-9QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/IMG_0032wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><b><i>How's your work from home going?</i></b></div>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-56972758048666797202020-12-10T17:49:00.001+01:002020-12-10T18:20:13.784+01:00The New Year is Nothing Special<p>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?</p><p>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. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eV54wyrRP7o/X9JI20AJD0I/AAAAAAAAE6I/8y8xzxih8CEhO_0bIOGj_Tf8guZayAewwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/funny-meme-about-new-years.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eV54wyrRP7o/X9JI20AJD0I/AAAAAAAAE6I/8y8xzxih8CEhO_0bIOGj_Tf8guZayAewwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/funny-meme-about-new-years.jpg" /></a></div><p>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.</p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SCC1SYUnqC8/X9JQy1sgzaI/AAAAAAAAE6g/u7JTZ5xmgjMKwVKugtuM1k6h0R_sVq5XwCLcBGAsYHQ/s403/new%2Byear%2527s%2Bcartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="125" data-original-width="403" height="165" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SCC1SYUnqC8/X9JQy1sgzaI/AAAAAAAAE6g/u7JTZ5xmgjMKwVKugtuM1k6h0R_sVq5XwCLcBGAsYHQ/w533-h165/new%2Byear%2527s%2Bcartoon.jpg" width="533" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>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?</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YtDotBII0G4/X9JMmYRAvRI/AAAAAAAAE6U/wIkc-B4G9EsKmMeFgIZ4Z6--4pvlIMDigCLcBGAsYHQ/s300/Now.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YtDotBII0G4/X9JMmYRAvRI/AAAAAAAAE6U/wIkc-B4G9EsKmMeFgIZ4Z6--4pvlIMDigCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Now.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-54634321037098135182020-04-11T17:14:00.000+02:002020-04-11T17:14:37.406+02:00The World Suddenly Got Really BigI'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).<br />
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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).<br />
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I previously wrote about one of the more <a href="https://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2019/06/on-bus-in-malta-sundays-in-my-city.html" target="_blank">difficult parts of expat life</a>. 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.<br />
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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). <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yZf_xXKQyXU/XpHavuKXcOI/AAAAAAAAEwo/6S0_5PaX1RM5fZglLpPzzLJRjCYjvtn5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/hug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="247" data-original-width="434" height="182" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yZf_xXKQyXU/XpHavuKXcOI/AAAAAAAAEwo/6S0_5PaX1RM5fZglLpPzzLJRjCYjvtn5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/hug.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[<a href="https://mmaengage.com/anniversary-wishes/i-wish-i-could-hug-you-right-now-quotes" target="_blank">Source</a>]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I have never felt further away and that includes being in Ghana on <a href="https://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2013/09/10-years-ago-today.html" target="_blank">September 11</a>, 2001 when I might as well have been on a different planet.<br />
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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. <br />
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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?!?!).<br />
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<b><i>What's the situation where you are? How are you coping? </i></b>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-47222188901224610872020-02-16T12:33:00.000+01:002020-02-16T12:33:16.524+01:00What the Dutch Do During a Storm - Sundays in My CityWe'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!<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VMinwf-kRlA/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VMinwf-kRlA?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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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). <br />
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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!<br />
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But kudos to those intrepid folks who were brave/crazy enough to tackle this.<br />
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<b><i>Would you give this race a try?</i></b>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-76503329238960408972020-01-01T12:54:00.001+01:002020-01-01T13:17:20.611+01:00Ziemassvētki (Winter Festival) in Latvia - Sundays in My CityLatvia 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! <br />
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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 <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2011/02/romania.html" target="_blank">Romania</a> and <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2011/02/bulgaria.html" target="_blank">Bulgaria</a> back in 2011 was further east.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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."<br />
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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!<br />
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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!<br />
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<b><i>What negative thoughts, failures, or fears are you saying goodbye to (or what positive thoughts are you welcoming along with the return of light)?</i></b><br />
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</i></b><br />
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</i></b><br />
<center>
<b><i><a href="https://byclaudya.com/category/sundays-in-my-city" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img alt="Sundays In My City" border="0" src="https://byclaudya.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/SIMC.png" /></a></i></b></center>
<i><b><br />
</b></i> <i><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">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. </span> </b></i><br />
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<br />Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-45177574782677703022019-08-24T07:33:00.001+02:002020-05-11T08:58:43.299+02:00Year In Review - 2019Last year was...<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><i><span style="font-size: large;">Another move</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-size: large;">A bunch of Broadway shows (but I didn't see them on Broadway)</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-size: large;">A few new countries.</span></i></li>
</ul>
<br />
I didn't travel a lot compared to most of my years abroad (reasons being job related), I crammed almost all of my travel into the last 3 months of the year, and I definitely didn't post a lot. I have this habit of composing posts in my head as I'm walking around places and thinking of things I want to write and facts I want to remember or look up and then once I get home I have so much in my head that it's daunting and I feel like just posting some pictures isn't good enough so then I end up not posting at all :/<br />
<br />
Here's a semi-brief synopsis of 2019.<br />
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<b>January</b><br />
I went to see La Befana. Italy's traditional holiday celebration includes the tale of a witch known as La Befana
who arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5th with toys
and sweets for the good children and lumps of coal for the bad ones.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uxz6MuQKgUU/Xre8eMIopnI/AAAAAAAAE34/Vuhy-vtuoGgt_A88LVp6YdiuIZhTyhWTACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8553wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uxz6MuQKgUU/Xre8eMIopnI/AAAAAAAAE34/Vuhy-vtuoGgt_A88LVp6YdiuIZhTyhWTACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8553wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>Broomstick...motorcycle side car....</i></span></td></tr>
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<b>February</b><br />
Once again...I packed up everything (Okay, let's be real, I packed nothing but my suitcase. A team of movers packed up everything!) and moved...back to the Netherlands. It's no secret that I love the Netherlands and when a position opened up there I pretty much forced my organization to move me there!<br />
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A two-day drive and I was right back where I started in 2010. In a lot of ways, nothing had changed. And in a lot of ways, A LOT had changed. Although mostly that was road construction and there had been a lot of road construction since I left in 2013. New motorways had been built where none had previously existed and the old routes I used to know had been closed off or rerouted and my brain melted a few times when a road that I'd driven hundreds of times was now a dead end.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>This makes it look like such a serene, picturesque drive. I don't know what happened to the picture of the long queues of traffic we sat in. There were a lot of those!</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>A shaky picture of the sign crossing into the Netherlands from Germany (I was not driving!)</i></span></td></tr>
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<b>March</b><br />
After 3.5 weeks in temporary quarters I moved into a house. The box spring for the guest bed wouldn't make the turn up the steps and so it now resides in the garage. My wardrobe went in through the bathroom window.<br />
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<br />
With my house a sea of boxes, I went to London very next day (this trip was planned before I even found out I was leaving Italy) to meet up with a couple friends from Italy. This began the year of me seeing more Broadway shows than any other year ever (or maybe all previous years combined?).<br />
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I saw Hamilton (for the 3rd time) with my friends. My flight out of Amsterdam was so late due to high winds that I had to go straight from the airport to the show and barely made it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g5tDEqO1NCw/Xref2Ifb2PI/AAAAAAAAEz8/ByJlRPPXxG0eWArwxsH_0hDRBvVEdtiWwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20190315_175051wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g5tDEqO1NCw/Xref2Ifb2PI/AAAAAAAAEz8/ByJlRPPXxG0eWArwxsH_0hDRBvVEdtiWwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20190315_175051wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>There's nothing that hasn't already been said about this show. I'll keep seeing it if I can. It's that good!</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OwX_IGqmoys/Xref0dRrM4I/AAAAAAAAEz4/2IuZ1Los_yEtiY1U240xbfJ9OTVl-vcYgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20190316_135911wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OwX_IGqmoys/Xref0dRrM4I/AAAAAAAAEz4/2IuZ1Los_yEtiY1U240xbfJ9OTVl-vcYgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20190316_135911wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>This show is everything!! See it if you can. I can't wait to see it again!</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jz2e3Pgbprs/XrefxoDxIjI/AAAAAAAAEz0/evDoxVneRRM0-fjyugeuUgqLNsfjSsYaACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20190316_190010wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jz2e3Pgbprs/XrefxoDxIjI/AAAAAAAAEz0/evDoxVneRRM0-fjyugeuUgqLNsfjSsYaACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20190316_190010wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>This show has a teenage Kinky Boots vibe. The best parts were the old lady sitting next to me who was seeing it for the 2nd time and the guy in the heavy metal t-shirt who was the first to stand and cheer at the end!</i></span></td></tr>
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<br />
<b>April</b><br />
Another friend from Italy came to visit. We met up in Amsterdam, saw Michelle Obama, then she came all the way down to where I live and spent a few days. While I was in Amsterdam I saw the World Press Photo exhibit for the 9th time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nqwTe-AwcK0/XrBWyra9_aI/AAAAAAAAExc/lram5Rz9mXIptP4qfH-ohw25cwJxiIRTACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8680wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nqwTe-AwcK0/XrBWyra9_aI/AAAAAAAAExc/lram5Rz9mXIptP4qfH-ohw25cwJxiIRTACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8680wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>I woke up super early (for no good reason) and rather than fight it I went out and took pictures. The streets were empty and it was perfect for getting reflection shots in the canals.</i></span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y73SjudAqjE/XrBWwFgYJxI/AAAAAAAAExY/5WKj3EvU8Ww-l_c8mKg0IGMH7A_8oWVLQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8702wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y73SjudAqjE/XrBWwFgYJxI/AAAAAAAAExY/5WKj3EvU8Ww-l_c8mKg0IGMH7A_8oWVLQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8702wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3FBRCnT_vV8/XrehRzLS7sI/AAAAAAAAE0U/ORU5oMVCEfkGaoy_GgMuqGOVWbgyb1QbwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20190417_220524wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3FBRCnT_vV8/XrehRzLS7sI/AAAAAAAAE0U/ORU5oMVCEfkGaoy_GgMuqGOVWbgyb1QbwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20190417_220524wtmk.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>She's a powerful speaker and a force for good in this world!</i></span></td></tr>
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<b>May</b><br />
I traveled to Bratislava, Slovakia, where I ate my weight in potato dumplings. I previously posted about my buddy <span style="background-color: #ffcc66; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2019/07/man-at-work-sundays-in-my-city.html" target="_blank">Čumil</a></span>.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dVI90wITw0s/XreqSV4gIBI/AAAAAAAAE3Y/1EqWGojVztQSpXFNw2XOBKrmTBx85ZMzACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20190524_184058wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dVI90wITw0s/XreqSV4gIBI/AAAAAAAAE3Y/1EqWGojVztQSpXFNw2XOBKrmTBx85ZMzACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20190524_184058wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9oDLhcwAHZc/XreqTHhKR9I/AAAAAAAAE3c/dk0JxHQ2gFsz7wfShfLSI2C2J9mnVvoxgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20190524_184222wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9oDLhcwAHZc/XreqTHhKR9I/AAAAAAAAE3c/dk0JxHQ2gFsz7wfShfLSI2C2J9mnVvoxgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20190524_184222wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>I couldn't eat it all and still felt like there was a 50lb brick in my belly. It was a slow, painful walk back to my room. I regret nothing1</i></span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-opmM_F4cg4E/XrBUEXCMBrI/AAAAAAAAExM/BjvsaC-y4HwzxhhUqlMINx93NP4AeFBEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8759wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-opmM_F4cg4E/XrBUEXCMBrI/AAAAAAAAExM/BjvsaC-y4HwzxhhUqlMINx93NP4AeFBEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8759wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>June</b><br />
The Women's World Cup took place in June - during a heat wave - and for the first time ever the Dutch women made it to the finals...against the US. I was torn in two! I would be both thrilled and devastated by the result.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lv7UyLqHXl4/XrepUlq6LyI/AAAAAAAAE3I/3L5n2CA2Zh803bdo-Ia-FxT72evCvBGCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20190705_171713wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lv7UyLqHXl4/XrepUlq6LyI/AAAAAAAAE3I/3L5n2CA2Zh803bdo-Ia-FxT72evCvBGCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20190705_171713wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kYIhSihcVts/XrepVE1EsJI/AAAAAAAAE3M/Bq2FU64VLkA-Gz6qZncwNTB7JbL5SNtVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20190707_170418wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kYIhSihcVts/XrepVE1EsJI/AAAAAAAAE3M/Bq2FU64VLkA-Gz6qZncwNTB7JbL5SNtVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20190707_170418wtmk.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>The US women won but the Dutch played so well! </i></span></td></tr>
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<b>July</b><br />
Despite having lived in the Netherlands for several years, I'd somehow never taken a bike trip. I decided to do one over the 4th of July weekend. It didn't go as well as I expected. Maybe I'll talk about it another time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jGDk6I8ssnY/XrBTfiRoFaI/AAAAAAAAExE/pe0Y8rmdIQosldhQhb0dSp4OdUpuV6iugCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8853.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jGDk6I8ssnY/XrBTfiRoFaI/AAAAAAAAExE/pe0Y8rmdIQosldhQhb0dSp4OdUpuV6iugCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8853.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>My bike wanted its picture taken with a windmill.</i></span></td></tr>
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<br />
Then we had another heat wave. We set and then broke records for temperatures this country should never see. There's no AC here. It was brutal!<br />
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I picked<a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2013/08/blueberries.html" target="_blank"> blueberries</a> in close to 100F temps!! I've posted about this (blueberry picking...we didn't have these terrible temperatures then) years ago. I love having this so close by!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S5fJbsK43jk/XreiJjEsNQI/AAAAAAAAE0g/TUUz65I6rTIHLyYJU8UUAZ-WK8vIhXi9ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20190712_105656wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S5fJbsK43jk/XreiJjEsNQI/AAAAAAAAE0g/TUUz65I6rTIHLyYJU8UUAZ-WK8vIhXi9ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20190712_105656wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<b>August</b><br />
Another repeat but <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-sister-cousin-and-gay-pride.html" target="_blank">Amsterdam's Pride</a> is really something to experience! It lasts about 1.5 weeks and this year the musical Fun Home was showing so I got to add that to my list! It was in Dutch so I also got to add seeing a musical in Dutch to my list.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i977z_4TMeE/XrBZC5XM85I/AAAAAAAAEx4/uaEfrOEmYJkKBItwAaoyw0L7Tz1BPJgrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8858wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i977z_4TMeE/XrBZC5XM85I/AAAAAAAAEx4/uaEfrOEmYJkKBItwAaoyw0L7Tz1BPJgrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8858wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-enmwZMrNick/XreihXW7ojI/AAAAAAAAE0s/HCnB62siAbEQpLhsuuRuhPaciT5Tt7DHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20190803_184441wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-enmwZMrNick/XreihXW7ojI/AAAAAAAAE0s/HCnB62siAbEQpLhsuuRuhPaciT5Tt7DHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20190803_184441wtmk.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>Gender bending barbies strapped to the front of a bike. I love Amsterdam!</i></span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UHen4oNjZjc/XreigI0kmZI/AAAAAAAAE0o/GxaXgEWit3Y8D9mkfMAk142kCRgQ1tZYACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20190803_221507wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UHen4oNjZjc/XreigI0kmZI/AAAAAAAAE0o/GxaXgEWit3Y8D9mkfMAk142kCRgQ1tZYACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20190803_221507wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<b>September - </b><b>October</b><br />
My parents had a trip to Ireland planned. This was an organized (not by me) group tour. So of course, I had to fly to Ireland to surprise them (I spent 1.5 weeks there and saw them when they arrived, just as I was leaving). But by now our family had done this enough that they fully expected me to surprise them. A hurricane hit the west coast of Ireland while I was on the west coast of Ireland. That was...fun? It wasn't. By far the part of the trip I enjoyed the most was Belfast and that deserves its own post and I will, I swear. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YVOYqXNWmTQ/XrejxivAJuI/AAAAAAAAE1A/voCA4Q-c4XYcUpE5inKkDEy90CTF8o3cACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_20191002_203049wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YVOYqXNWmTQ/XrejxivAJuI/AAAAAAAAE1A/voCA4Q-c4XYcUpE5inKkDEy90CTF8o3cACEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_20191002_203049wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>I went to the city of Limerick because I read that a certain bar held limerick readings on Wednesday nights so I planned my whole trip around being there on a Wednesday and then the limerick readings weren't happening :(</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h-qkNkfEPeg/XrBc_hst4hI/AAAAAAAAEyg/VHpKvnsLjFggoKeY-e__xKHzbT8RrUzmACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8921wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h-qkNkfEPeg/XrBc_hst4hI/AAAAAAAAEyg/VHpKvnsLjFggoKeY-e__xKHzbT8RrUzmACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8921wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>Gaelic is a beautiful language to listen to but it's a good thing signs were also in English!</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nOl-maf6jdA/XrBdAnpXMcI/AAAAAAAAEyk/xBMWAPtjQjszrilgbpgiQBk2lyKkunrCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8978wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nOl-maf6jdA/XrBdAnpXMcI/AAAAAAAAEyk/xBMWAPtjQjszrilgbpgiQBk2lyKkunrCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8978wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>The Cliffs of Moher the day after a hurricane (furthest north in the Atlantic ever) came through. It was still insanely windy and dangerous so I didn't go very far.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wBLLXg3nOt8/XrejxgfQLwI/AAAAAAAAE1E/CGowm3uAYK8Bjiyod6Urvp4Uc9zcG85JgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG-20191004-WA0000wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wBLLXg3nOt8/XrejxgfQLwI/AAAAAAAAE1E/CGowm3uAYK8Bjiyod6Urvp4Uc9zcG85JgCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG-20191004-WA0000wtmk.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>They closed the visitor center the day before because of the winds...trying to discourage people from venturing out along the cliffs. Several people warned me (before I got to the cliffs...one before I even got to the coast) about people getting sucked off the edge by the winds (not blown off, but sucked off by winds blowing in from the water and up the side of the cliffs) so I made sure to stay far from the edge (which wasn't really hard because I don't like being anywhere near the edge of things I can fall from anyway!).</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CmEuY2Pzg78/XrBdBSGh2fI/AAAAAAAAEyo/Z8wYLruOeUgaa4VLAMhznchkxnJNr7rlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8995wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CmEuY2Pzg78/XrBdBSGh2fI/AAAAAAAAEyo/Z8wYLruOeUgaa4VLAMhznchkxnJNr7rlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8995wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>On the island of Inis Mor two days after the hurricane.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p2o24-D6_S8/XrBdGCeptxI/AAAAAAAAEys/vNT1sfMZAGsdlmOEUh9wjMz3Huo92MaJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8997wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p2o24-D6_S8/XrBdGCeptxI/AAAAAAAAEys/vNT1sfMZAGsdlmOEUh9wjMz3Huo92MaJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_8997wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>The Peace Wall separating Belfast. The City still closes the gates at night. It's so fascinating to me that this is not something from history but present day.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t-aZu3k0QZo/XrBdU-ldFTI/AAAAAAAAEy8/KUII5luj_Igt8Cs-Owd8jmlp0mfGFIF8wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_9004wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t-aZu3k0QZo/XrBdU-ldFTI/AAAAAAAAEy8/KUII5luj_Igt8Cs-Owd8jmlp0mfGFIF8wCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_9004wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>The murals were so amazing to me that I traveled back to Belfast a 2nd time just to see more of them. This one is particularly relevant right now!</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i><br /></i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2KbtMBbunPE/Xrex47ZeWpI/AAAAAAAAE3o/MgR8WClA2OgcLA4XbGiRl37xjdFDFgvVgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG-20191015-WA0001wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2KbtMBbunPE/Xrex47ZeWpI/AAAAAAAAE3o/MgR8WClA2OgcLA4XbGiRl37xjdFDFgvVgCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG-20191015-WA0001wtmk.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>Mom and Dad...somewhere in Ireland</i></span></td></tr>
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Book of Mormon came to Amsterdam which upped my total to 5 Broadway musicals but I wasn't done yet!<br />
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<b>November</b><br />
My dear friends Nancy and Lisa came to visit. I did my best to give them the grand European tour in their 11 days and managed to get them to Germany, Paris, a river boat cruise from Maastricht to Liege (Belgium), and of course Amsterdam.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GGMv5fTiUVQ/Xrel-jm9-FI/AAAAAAAAE1k/RXghDU59KS8VMHlXAYgaT2ZbGTZC6K8xQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20191103_091836wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GGMv5fTiUVQ/Xrel-jm9-FI/AAAAAAAAE1k/RXghDU59KS8VMHlXAYgaT2ZbGTZC6K8xQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20191103_091836wtmk.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>Nancy and Lisa in Maastricht</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NDLZ1Xmofko/Xrel8fH94AI/AAAAAAAAE1c/654wpmcyk70alawaB7BTi8hZ9LT7bdqaACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_20191102_122709wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NDLZ1Xmofko/Xrel8fH94AI/AAAAAAAAE1c/654wpmcyk70alawaB7BTi8hZ9LT7bdqaACEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_20191102_122709wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>Half-timbered houses in Monschau, Germany.</i></span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J7BGa1ltrnI/Xrel9laTthI/AAAAAAAAE1g/hbMiTgCUeAMujV1JxFewb_Uqv691LeBrwCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_20191101_192512wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J7BGa1ltrnI/Xrel9laTthI/AAAAAAAAE1g/hbMiTgCUeAMujV1JxFewb_Uqv691LeBrwCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_20191101_192512wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>Visitors make you a tourist in your own back yard. I'd been to Valkenburg before but never to the train station. The Oldest Station in the Netherlands.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3I4rQWOIE1E/XremhUkm8YI/AAAAAAAAE14/SdigV_v5-cUATnR458veZozQDJv8g7vzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20191104_153358wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3I4rQWOIE1E/XremhUkm8YI/AAAAAAAAE14/SdigV_v5-cUATnR458veZozQDJv8g7vzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20191104_153358wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>So much has changed since the last time I was here. There are fences around the Eiffel Tower, unfriendly security and metal detectors and you can't walk up to it unless you have a ticket. Which is very sad for someone like me who loves to stare at the intricate metal work. I'm very glad I saw it years ago.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-POEB-hqxljM/XremfZ7GWmI/AAAAAAAAE10/1Cr4IVHg48UNL8KfisW24gIasb13TVUIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG-20191105-WA0010wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-POEB-hqxljM/XremfZ7GWmI/AAAAAAAAE10/1Cr4IVHg48UNL8KfisW24gIasb13TVUIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG-20191105-WA0010wtmk.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>I don't think of myself as a "cat person" but I went to a cat cafe in Paris and this cat decided I was his person for a couple hours. Most of the cats just ignored the people and everyone was jealous because they wanted attention from the cats and here I was with a cat in my lap as if it was my cat (sorry for the boob shot).</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DEXmLJpUUeE/XremxuiKeXI/AAAAAAAAE2E/aFmFs7f729kzvYWDj_7Sk8MIDzoaULlqgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20191108_112146wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DEXmLJpUUeE/XremxuiKeXI/AAAAAAAAE2E/aFmFs7f729kzvYWDj_7Sk8MIDzoaULlqgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20191108_112146wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>Another place I've somhow never been to before is Zaanse Schaans. It's so quintessential yet I think I was just saving it as a place to take visitors. </i></span></td></tr>
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I spent Thanksgiving in London seeing a whopping 5 shows in 4 days for a grand total of 10 for the year. It was fantastic and exhausting!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZPiiEC3B5wQ/XrenZSpn9zI/AAAAAAAAE2Q/u6h_cv7I87scTUVVhRl-NSVYkYckZfCkACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20191126_223505wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZPiiEC3B5wQ/XrenZSpn9zI/AAAAAAAAE2Q/u6h_cv7I87scTUVVhRl-NSVYkYckZfCkACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20191126_223505wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>Okay, not a musical. But it's still theater and all theater is a healing medicine to me and seeing this man live felt like a gift.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VCeOFuuoY8s/XrenZ9ruStI/AAAAAAAAE2U/LiCsYYuhmJkb1sAFbX7Pma-zofrh0QDEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20191127_135510wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VCeOFuuoY8s/XrenZ9ruStI/AAAAAAAAE2U/LiCsYYuhmJkb1sAFbX7Pma-zofrh0QDEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20191127_135510wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>The show was moving theaters because their old theater was in terrible condition. In the interim they were doing a staged concert. I'd seen the show once years ago and I've seen the 10th Anniversary concert video countless times so I expected this to be amazing and was not disappointed.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2thWsvE2D5A/XrenhzeKFpI/AAAAAAAAE2Y/Qdr5LjxSj2sZOHNsPTT5z94reEdM4d4yACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20191128_135554wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2thWsvE2D5A/XrenhzeKFpI/AAAAAAAAE2Y/Qdr5LjxSj2sZOHNsPTT5z94reEdM4d4yACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_20191128_135554wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>If you love the music of Tina Turner (and who doesn't?!?!) then this is the show for you. There was a VERY tall man in front of me so I had a really hard time seeing but I could hear it all and it was phenomenal!</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PuAT5h1TKu0/XrenYVRlgHI/AAAAAAAAE2M/MUYiXdqGPFAzobh1H_tAlOdgrzYMCVydACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_20191128_122813wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PuAT5h1TKu0/XrenYVRlgHI/AAAAAAAAE2M/MUYiXdqGPFAzobh1H_tAlOdgrzYMCVydACEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_20191128_122813wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>THIS! You need to experience this! The messages in this show...everyone needs to see and hear the messages in this show. I've been waiting years for this to finally come to London and I bought tickets the day they went on sale back in Feb. but then I still had to wait 9 months for the show to open. I saw it with a friend I made in Dubrovnik in 2018 who happens to live in London (for anyone who thinks I don't make friends....you're mostly right but it does happen occasionally ;-)).</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q7fivukxyUI/XrenjfbpTjI/AAAAAAAAE2c/ciWRzJMGIS0a71hUBWJRcmV3q59WsqIHgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_20191129_184821wtmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q7fivukxyUI/XrenjfbpTjI/AAAAAAAAE2c/ciWRzJMGIS0a71hUBWJRcmV3q59WsqIHgCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_20191129_184821wtmk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>The dessert course of my Thanksgiving theater week was pie baked with love and it was delicious! </i></span></td></tr>
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<b>December</b><br />
For my birthday I took a long weekend hop to Sicily for a little sunshine. It was chilly and a little rainy but that's okay. I got to practice my Italian...sort of...Sicilian dialect is very different from the Northern Italian I learned.<br />
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Then to close out the year I went to Riga, Latvia to celebrate the <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2020/01/ziemassvetki-winter-festival-in-latvia.html" target="_blank">Winter Solstice</a>.<br />
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<b><i>Stay tuned next time for a run down of all the places I WON'T be going in 2020 *SIGH*</i></b><br />
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<b><i><br /></i></b>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-30402280397249604042019-07-28T10:40:00.002+02:002020-04-11T22:19:26.772+02:00Man at Work - Sundays in My CityHis name is Čumil (which means "watcher") and he watches from a street corner in Bratislava, Slovakia. I fell in love with him.<br />
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He's one of several statues in the city. Due to his being so low to the ground, he's lost his head twice thanks to negligent drivers :o. Legend has it that if you rub his head and make a wish it will come true. That's why it's so shiny.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>This little guy didn't have a camera but mimicked taking pictures of his own :)</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6FuWYsAH6_4/XT1WtfbC63I/AAAAAAAAEsw/UJUWf9RZBTcMHAmCTLpzBK9392q0mtisQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_8751wtmk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6FuWYsAH6_4/XT1WtfbC63I/AAAAAAAAEsw/UJUWf9RZBTcMHAmCTLpzBK9392q0mtisQCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_8751wtmk.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><i>This little guy didn't seem very amused by being made to pose with </i></span><i><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;">Čumil</span></i></td></tr>
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Bratislava was a cute little city...perfect for a quick weekend get-away (but you can even do it as a day-trip from Vienna). It's still not super popular so it's not very crowded (except that I was there on the final weekend of the International Ice Hockey championships which were taking place in the city so it was relatively crowded...which was still not crowded compared to any popular European city) and it's really inexpensive.<br />
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The history of Slovakia (only an independent country (former one half of Czechoslovakia) since 1993) is super fascinating and surprising given the terrible history of the breakup of of its neighbor, Yugoslavia. Do the Free Walking Tour. Thoroughly enjoyable.<br />
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Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-86591934649077147222019-06-30T12:03:00.001+02:002019-06-30T12:03:05.648+02:00Muddy Fiets - Sundays in My CityPronounced feets (as if you made the word feet plural by adding an 's'...as if feet weren't already plural). Fiets means bicycle but fiets is singular so it should really be Muddy Fietsen but that doesn't sound like an English word made plural. I digress.<br />
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I've done posts in the past about bikes in Amsterdam (<a href="https://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-visit-home-sundays-in-my-city.html" target="_blank">here, </a><a href="https://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2013/10/photo-lesson-sundays-in-my-city.html," target="_blank">and here,</a> <a href="https://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2013/04/pas-opfiets-sundays-in-my-city.html" target="_blank">and also here)</a>. I can't get enough of them!<br />
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These were probably fished out of the canal the day or two before (all kinds of things from trash to bikes and even cars end up in the canals and have to be routinely removed). Seems like Amsterdam is doing a whole bicycle cleanup with new signs and markings about where you can and cannot park your bike and where to go retrieve your bike if it is no longer where you parked it. Perhaps this is something they do on a somewhat regular basis but I've never seen anything on this scale.<br />
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<b><i>Do you enjoy foreign language words that sound like English words as much as I do?</i></b><br />
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Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-4167293269562386632019-06-16T11:00:00.001+02:002019-06-16T12:25:33.285+02:00On a Bus in Malta - Sundays in My CityI've been writing this post in my head for over 6 months. <br />
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I went to Malta last year over Thanksgiving. Malta is an island-nation off the south coast of Italy making it an easy weekend getaway when you're living in Italy. Once a British colony, they drive on the wrong side of the road (much like the Imperial system of measurement, something I think the few countries still doing it need to just rip off the band aid and switch!). Being located between mainland Europe and northern Africa in the Mediterranean, Malta has been occupied by numerous entities including the Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, French, and British; each leaving a mark on the cultural landscape. Maltese, the official language, is the only Semitic language in the European Union. <br />
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Malta is beautiful and the water is so amazingly crystal blue-green. Although, honestly, I didn't enjoy the trip all that much. Everyone said to go to Gozo (one of the islands) so I booked a tour but the tour I booked was so awful that it was a complete waste of a whole day. Not that Gozo was awful, just that the tour I was on didn't actually let me see any of Gozo. Worst. Tour. Ever. I had read that the public transport was great but I ended up on one bus that was extremely late and was so crowded that I stood for over an hour (although the ride was only supposed to be 30 min) and waited over 30 min for a different bus because it was also apparently very late. It was all just very frustrating and once I got to where I was going I was tired and didn't feel much like seeing what I went to see. <br />
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I'm not saying Malta isn't a good place to visit...just that my visit didn't live up to what I'd heard from friends but hey, I had perfect weather and beautiful views and delicious food so it wasn't all bad. Truly first-world problems.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><em>I should have just sat on my balcony and relaxed and enjoyed this amazing view.</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><em>The entrance to Mdina...also known as the Silent City.</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><em>Valletta, the capitol of Malta, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.</em></span></td></tr>
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Every expat has a list in the back of their mind of who/what warrants an emergency trip home. It isn't something we like to talk about but it's a fact of life. Immediate family...what about aunts, uncles, cousins...really close friends...your best friend's mom or kid?...hospitalizations, funerals? <br />
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What about weddings or other momentous big events? Birthdays, retirements, births? Those wouldn't be emergency visits but do involve expensive plane tickets and when you're flying that far you want to make it worth the trip so you need vacation time. Often these decisions aren't so easy. <br />
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I read a great <a href="https://misunderstood-book.com/2018/05/31/homesickness-and-the-price-we-pay-to-be-expats/" target="_blank">article</a> recently about the price we pay for this chosen life. The things we miss. It states, in part, "<em>Some days, I can feel those 12,500 kilometres in my heart. Especially when something happens to someone I love back home.</em>“ <br />
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I had two dads...kinda. Not a biological father and a step-father. But two men who were there when I was born...my father and his best friend, Skip. Skip had a distinctive voice and a huge laugh. I can still hear it. He gave me my first dog. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><em>Me and my first dog, Friday. My parents named him Friday to get back at Skip for giving me the puppy in the first place. Friday was Skip's nickname for me because I was born on Friday the 13th. My parents didn't want Skip to give me the puppy because they thought I was too young.</em></span></td></tr>
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So when I got the news while traveling in Malta that Skip had gone into hospice, I sat on a bus riding to the capitol and made the decision that he was one of those people who warranted a last-minute plane ticket home. I booked a ticket as soon as I got back to Italy. I was able to see him and I was fortunate that he was having a good day. He'd checked himself out of hospice and gone home (no one can ever say I didn't come by my stubbornness honestly...I got it from all my parents!). You'd hardly even know anything was wrong with him. I'm really glad I got to see him. Worth every minute of the journey.<br />
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<strong><em>What issues have you dealt with being an expat far away from home? </em></strong><br />
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Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-45168048020445693192019-05-19T12:08:00.001+02:002019-05-19T12:14:05.941+02:00It's All An Adventure That Comes With a Breathtaking View - Sundays in My CityThat song was in my head the entire time...<br />
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I've climbed countless towers (with countless hundreds and hundreds of stairs) and hills, often early in the morning for the best light, to get that "must see" view of the town square or the old town or the country side. <br />
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I've also had to decide whether that "must see" is really worth it. Who hasn't read about a "must see" only to find it somewhat disappointing. Or, read that the "must see" is disappointing and then having to decide if you'll feel like you missed something if you don't do the "must see" even if you know there's a good chance it will be disappointing (my recommendation...save your money and don't go to the Blue Lagoon in Iceland!!).<br />
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So, this brings us to the City Walls in Dubrovnik, Croatia. With numerous additions and modifications throughout their history, they have been considered to be amongst the great fortification systems of the Middle Ages, as they were never breached by a hostile army during this time period.<sup> </sup>In 1979, the old city of Dubrovnik, which includes a substantial portion of the old walls of Dubrovnik, joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The walls ring the city and are over a mile in length.<br />
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It was hot and crowded when I visited Dubrovnik. I had already read that if you want to walk the walls you should do it first thing in the morning to avoid the crowds. I was there when they opened and it was already warm and there were several other people waiting. NOTE: There is no shade! Wear your sunscreen!!<br />
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To get to the walls you have to climb some steep stairs.<br />
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Dubrovnik is the site of Kings Landing for those Game of Thrones fans so some of these views might look familiar.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><em>This city is so small and so crowded with tourists that it can be hard to remember that ordinary people live here (although it's getting harder for them to afford to do so because prices are being driven so high due to aforementioned tourists). Imagine thousands of people walking past your window every day...</em></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><em>Cruise ships. Dubrovnik has limited the number that can come each day but that just made the companies go to larger ships.</em></span></td></tr>
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<strong><em>Was it worth it?</em></strong> Well...<br />
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<li>There were definitely some amazing views! That said, it's not for everyone:</li>
<li>It's not for the faint of knees! </li>
<li>It would have been nice if it had opened earlier in the hotter months (hey, Dubrovnik Tourism Board!!) because it was hot and I started as early as was possible. </li>
<li>Definitely go early if you're going because by the time I was done I could see that it was packed for those just starting. </li>
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<strong><em>What "must sees" have you done? Which have you skipped? Which did you do that you wish you'd skipped?</em></strong><br />
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<a href="https://byclaudya.com/category/sundays-in-my-city" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img alt="Sundays In My City" border="0" src="https://byclaudya.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/SIMC.png" /></a></center>
Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-38239887920379932412019-04-21T16:16:00.002+02:002019-04-21T16:16:33.178+02:00Reflections - Sundays in My CityI was in Amsterdam for a couple days and I woke up at 4:30am and couldn't get back to sleep. So rather than fight it I went out and took pictures in the early light. There was almost no one out and about and it was a good chance to work on getting the good shots of the reflections in the canals.<br />
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Amsterdam remains my favorite city although it's popularity as a tourist destination is increasing, even in the off season, which makes me enjoy it less due to the crowds everywhere. So it was nice to walk around while everyone else was still asleep. <br />
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On one hand, I'm glad more people are getting to experience European destinations but cities like Amsterdam and Venice and Paris and even less-well-known cities like Dubrovnik are starting to suffer under the strain of coping with so many tourists. Venice is talking about limiting the number of tourist who can enter per day. Dubrovnik put a limit on how many cruise ships can dock each day (although that just made the cruise companies go to larger ships). I don't know what the answer is. I know it's not a simple solution. <br />
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<a href="https://byclaudya.com/category/sundays-in-my-city" target="_blank"><img alt="Sundays In My City" border="0" src="https://byclaudya.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/SIMC.png" /></a></center>
Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-5298492486090200352019-01-26T21:48:00.001+01:002019-01-26T21:48:48.237+01:00Preparing to Move...Again. Tips and Tricks and Lessons Learned<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm moving again. This will be my 7th move in 15 years (5 of those were with at least one dog and 3 of them involved crossing an ocean with two dogs)). I've learned a thing or twenty. </div>
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Mind you, I'm fortunate that a team of people comes to pack all my stuff, load it into crates and then on to a truck (possibly from there onto a boat) and then delivers all to my new destination. They will even unpack it (but sadly, they won't put it all away) if I want. If you're doing it yourself, more power to you and best of luck! Most of these tips and tricks and lessons learned will still apply.</div>
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This will be my first inter-Europe move. I'm heading back to the Netherlands. If you've read anything on this blog you're probably aware that I love the Netherlands (minus the weather) so I'm really happy to have the chance to go back.</div>
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First things first...Put on your favorite podcast or Broadway musical soundtrack or whatever gets you up and moving.<br />
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I recommend this (although be warned, it's hard not to just sit and watch it!!):<br />
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Some of these are things that should probably be done regularly but...<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">1</span>. </strong>Survey the fridge, freezer and pantry.<strong> </strong> Unless you're just moving across town, figure out how to use up anything that's open before you go. Movers won't pack open food. This might mean getting creative or making a family dinner where everyone is eating something different. Find people to bestow your half-used bottle of ketchup and open jar of capers to. Your local Freecycle group is great for this. I once posted, "Half-used and open fridge and freezer contents," and people wanted them. Don't assume they just need to be thrown out!</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>2</strong></span>. This goes for bathroom items and cleaning products as well. Use up lotions, shampoos, etc. If you need to buy laundry detergent, avoid buying the jumbo bottle if you only have 2 weeks left. Again, give away anything unused. </div>
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<strong>Pro tip:</strong> When you think that tube has been squeezed (squze, squozen) to the max, cut it open (but be careful because those cut edges are sharp!). There's more left in there than you think! This is just a good, in general, money saving tip!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><em>I filled those two travel-sized containers with what I got out of these "empties."</em></span></td></tr>
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">3</span></strong>. Plan to wash comforters, curtains, area rugs, dog beds... This might require a trip to a laundromat where they have those giant washing machines. If you have pets, many laundromats don't let you wash pet beds in their machines so you might have to seek out a place that does.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">4</span></strong>. Go through that basket of gloves and hats and scarves that sits by the door. It turns out I have no less than 15 pairs of gloves! I certainly don't need that many! <br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">5</span></strong>. Obviously sort through the closets, dressers, bins under the bed... No need carting along jeans that haven't fit for years or shirts with stains (although those make good rags for cleaning).<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">6</span></strong>. If you're doing an overseas move you'll probably have some stuff going into storage.<br />
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<strong>Pro tip:</strong> I found it really useful to get colored tags (I found red and green but any two different colors would work). I tagged everything that was going to storage Red and everything going with me Green. This meant I wasn't running around answering "stay or go" from the packers a million times. <br />
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It also forced me to really think about what I'd need during my years away and what I could do without. It helps to know things like 110V lamps work just fine with a 220 bulb and a plug adapter. No voltage converter needed. Taking your Vitamix might seem like a good idea (because you simply can't live without it) until you realize what size voltage converter you'll need and how much energy that will consume. <br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">7</span></strong>. Gather up all your important documents (passports, birth certificates, insurance policies, social security cards, titles, deeds...) and valuables (grandma's pearls, for example) and make sure those travel with you. Don't forget your pets. Get copies of their vet records.<br />
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<strong>Pro tip: </strong>Take pictures of EVERYTHING. If you really have time, make an itemized list. Keep these records with you. A colleague of mine lost everything when the moving truck with all his stuff (except those super-important things he had in the car with him) caught fire somewhere in the mid-west. Imagine trying to remember how many sets of towels you have. And then multiply that by <em>everything you own.</em><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">8</span></strong>. Same goes for medications (again, don't forget your pets). Also, make sure you have enough with you to cover until you can establish a new doctor and prescription. Ask your insurance if you can get a 3-month supply instead of just one. Also ask for a vacation override. This allows you to fill the next month or 3-months without waiting.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">9</span></strong>. Think about comfort items. Will you be staying in temporary quarters (a hotel, someone's basement)? Do you have a pillow or blanket, a pair of slippers or favorite coffee mug that you hate being without when you travel? Once again, don't forget about your pets and anything that will make the transition period easier on them.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">10.</span></strong> Make sure you're wearing shoes!! I learned this the hard way. I don't wear shoes in the house because I don't like wearing shoes. The packers literally packed ALL my shoes. They had to go through the truck to find a box of shoes so that I didn't have to go barefoot! <br />
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<strong>Pro tip</strong>: clear out a closet and put everything in there that you don't want packed and carted off (those important documents, your suitcases, and at least 1 pair of shoes!). Lock it or put a big sign on it so that the packers understand that they aren't to touch the contents. <br />
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Having moved so much over the years I've gradually pared down how much stuff I have and I try to get rid of more each move. I'm far from being a minimalist but if we really look at what we have versus what we use/need... Moving is a good excuse/motivator to purge. Especially if you're doing the packing and hauling yourself. But even if you aren't.<br />
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There are plenty more things I've learned and if you have specific questions leave a comment. I do not enjoy the process of moving but it has, maybe, gotten a little bit easier after doing it so many time.<br />
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<strong><em>What are your tips, tricks, and/or lessons learned from big, or small, moves?</em></strong><br />
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<a href="https://byclaudya.com/category/sundays-in-my-city" target="_blank"><img alt="Sundays In My City" border="0" src="https://byclaudya.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/SIMC.png" /></a></center>
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<strong>NOTE: </strong>If you're moving overseas with pets, start the process early (minimum more than 30 days before departure). Go to <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/pet-travel">https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/pet-travel</a> and find a USDA certified vet (and hope the government isn't shutdown!). They can give you all the information you'll need and you will need them to do your paperwork. If you're going to an island (Hawaii, Japan, Australia) the process is way more involved (these islands don't have rabies and want to keep it that way) and you need to start a lot earlier (sometimes 6 months in advance)!!Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-9831363222872513862018-12-30T13:00:00.001+01:002018-12-30T13:08:38.304+01:00At The Top of the WorldTromsø, Norway is almost as far north as you can go (Magerøya is farther but this was plenty far for me) on land in Europe. It's north of the arctic circle and definitely the furthest north I've ever been. Why did I choose to go here in mid-December (as someone who hates being cold)? I wanted to see the northern lights for my birthday.<br />
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The sun doesn't go above the horizon from mid-November to mid-January this far north. There are about 2 hours of twilight but that's it. It's dark the rest of the time. I know people adjust but I would have a very difficult time living there. <br />
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We set off to chase the lights after suiting up in some serious cold-weather gear. Despite this gear, my toes were cold and we were still in the van. As I sat in the very uncomfortable, cold van, it wasn't lost on me that I'm very fortunate to have the means and ability to take trips like this. So I smiled to myself and wiggled my toes to try to keep them warm. Happy birthday to me.<br />
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Due to a storm off the coast of Norway, we headed inland to Finland where skies were clearer. After checking out a few possible locations, our guides settled on a frozen lake in the Lapland area of Finland just on the border with Sweden. It took us about 3 hours to get there and is inhabited by nomadic reindeer herders. The guides told us that although the reindeer aren't confined in any way, they all officially belong to the Sami people.<br />
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The naked eye cannot see as much of the color spectrum as a camera lens can pick up. Therefore, all the pictures you see of the northern lights are more brilliant than what we mere humans see. What we mere humans saw that night was rather underwhelming. The lights just were not very strong. I cannot take credit for these photos. They were taken by our guide using camera techniques that I definitely do not possess! That faint greenish glow is all we got (and what's in the pictures is more than what we could actually see).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><em>I'm not complaining that it wasn't anywhere near as cold as I feared (just a few degrees below freezing). The suits they gave us worked really well (and mine was only a little too big so I was still able to move around). My toes were cold and my cheeks are obviously red but I expected to be miserably cold and, thankfully, I wasn't.</em></span></td></tr>
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We did see an amazing number of shooting stars and constellations were bigger and seemed closer than I'd ever seen them. I've seen incredibly clear skies in places like Mali (where there's just no nearby light pollution so there are more stars than you could have imagined) but they all felt so much closer up there.<br />
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We stayed there for about 3 hours, I think, and then headed back; returning at about 4am. Not that 4am looks any different than 4pm. The guides do a really good job of trying to find the best location for viewing the lights but they can't control solar winds and atmospheric conditions. It's not uncommon to book an excursion several nights in a row in hopes of getting good conditions but I was so exhausted after just one night out like that that I am glad we didn't try it 2 nights in a row. I might go back again and try my luck another time. Maybe. It's definitely something that I still want to experience...maybe even more now that I was teased.<br />
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The town of Tromsø itself is cute (it would be interesting to see it in the summer when it's light enough to actually see!) and I had the most amazing vegan sushi ever! Seriously! I'd almost go back just to eat that again!!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><em>This is mid-day. We waited to go out until we had the most light.</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><em>I like the reflection of the roofs in the puddle.</em></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><em>We walked across that bridge and then took a cable car up the hill. It was really cold and windy!</em></span></td></tr>
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I'm not a big fan of winter in cold places and I'm disappointed that we didn't get dancing lights streaking and swirling across the sky but it's basically a crap shoot and we tried. We can say we saw...*something.* Better than nothing.<br />
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<strong><em>Have you seen the northern lights? Have you gone on an adventure that didn't quite deliver what you had hoped for?</em></strong>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-87597653832816222962018-11-17T13:44:00.001+01:002018-11-17T13:44:41.902+01:00Totally Worth It - Sundays In My CityDuring my short visit to Montenegro, this woman was selling some embroidered table cloths and such. I rarely buy things because, well, I just don't like having a lot of stuff. I asked her if I could take her picture and she said I could if I paid her 2 euro. "I have to eat," she said. 2 euro well spent!!<br />
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<br />Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-19626390366911366222018-10-13T12:56:00.001+02:002018-10-13T12:57:52.793+02:00Word of the Day: TORSCHLUSSPANIK<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<strong>TORSCHLUSSPANIK (German) - The feeling that time is
passing and the chance to do things is slipping away. Literally
'gate-closing panic'.</strong> </blockquote>
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I've known this feeling a number of times but didn't know that there was a word for it. I should have known. The Germans have a word for everything.<br />
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Living abroad but knowing it's for a limited time invokes this feeling a lot. I've written before about <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2012/10/finding-balance-and-day-trip-to-brussels.html" target="_blank">finding a balance</a> between normal, daily life and the desire to see and do as much as possible while I'm here. As I approach the end of my 2nd year (of a 3-year assignment) I start to panic! There are still SO many places I want to go and things I want to do.<br />
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My <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2017/11/not-year-i-expected.html" target="_blank">first year here</a> was rough and I didn't do as much travel as I would have but the time with the dogs is irreplaceable. The second year...<br />
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I took three trips to the US for training classes. I got to see my family, visit my sister, see some friends I haven't seen for 5 and 10 years, visit my favorite rescue...<br />
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I went to <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-marathon-in-athens-sundays-in-my-city.html" target="_blank">Athens</a><br />
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I met up with Mom and Gran in Lisbon<br />
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I stopped in Seville for a few days and fell in love with the city!<br />
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I took a last-minute whirlwind trip to London to see Hamilton (I'm going to see it again in 2 weeks but that trip has been planned since the spring). It was the first time I've visited London when it didn't pour rain :D And no one stole my wallet and passport so it still isn't my favorite place but I might consider releasing my great dislike of the city.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><em>Yes, it's as good as you've heard it is!!!</em></span></td></tr>
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I went to nearby Lake Garda...it's hard to believe it took so long to visit something so close<br />
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I finally made it to Dubrovnik and Montenegro</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><em>Montenegro (Spanish for Black Mountains)...interesting because Montenegro does not border Spain and was never under Spanish occupation or rule...is stunningly beautiful!</em></span></td></tr>
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My brother and his friend just visited and we went to several places in the south of Italy<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><em>First we climbed Vesuvius (there in the background) and then checked out the ruins of Herculaneum.</em></span></td></tr>
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I realize that sounds like a lot of travel but with so many options so close by it doesn't' feel like much. I am fully aware of how elite/entitled/spoiled that sounds.<br />
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I just signed a two-year extension so now I have three years remaining. But the list of places I want to go is looooooong! So I'm sure I won't be able to shake the feeling of TORSCHLUSSPANIK.<br />
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<strong><em>How about you? Do you suffer from torschlusspanik?</em></strong>Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-84866750557015251722018-08-19T17:19:00.001+02:002018-09-15T10:04:42.523+02:00The Good, The Bad, and the AugustThere are things I love about Italy. Pizza and wine are good and cheap! I was allowed to take my dogs in to get the pizza and the wine. There's no rush to finish your food and vacate the table. They will leave you sitting there all night unless you ask for the check. Italians will tell you that you speak Italian well even if you don't. They just appreciate that you try. Many "prescription" drugs can be bought over-the-counter. This is super convenient! It's a complex culture...men will live at home with their parents until they get married (because a woman has to take care of them) but they will also wear pink skinny jeans and carry a man purse. The definitions of masculinity are blurred.<br />
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There are things that I don't love about Italy. Most places are closed on Sundays (especially in small towns) which means I have to do my errands like grocery shopping on Saturday and if I'm traveling, well, Allorah! Many places close for riposa (basically the afternoon nap) including things like the gas station. Restaurants don't open until 7pm (or later!) and even then aren't ready to serve you food. It's my bed time before you can eat :( The train system is privatized so there are several companies offering train service which makes it confusing and the so-called competition does not make it more efficient. The Dutch and Germans have much better, cleaner, on-time service.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;">Weekday gas station hours (closed from 1230-1430). They are only open in the morning on Saturdays and closed on Sundays.</span></i></td></tr>
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<i></i><span style="color: #444444;"></span><i></i><span style="color: green;"></span><i></i><span style="color: #444444;"></span><br />
Italians know how to August! August is the month when most Italians take vacation. Who cares that there's an economy in decline. Close the store/gas station/manufacturing plant for a month and go on holiday! I'm not joking. Not everything closes for the whole month but plenty do. File this under "things I don't like." The gas station is closed for 2 weeks. The cabinetry manufacturer (I work in construction) is closed for the whole month. Your car breaks down...there's a good chance you're waiting until September to get it fixed (my friend is facing this problem right now)!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><i>Sign at the gas station.</i></span></td></tr>
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I usually don't travel in August because places are crowded, prices are higher, trains are packed, roads are traffic-jammed. But this past weekend I went to one of the local termes. According to the community's <a href="http://www.abano.it/en/Abano-Terme/Default.aspx" target="_blank">website</a>:<br />
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<i>Abano Terme, the most important and oldest thermal center in Europe, stands in a location at the feet of the Euganean Hills and in the center of the Veneto Region. Its name comes from the Greek, "a ponos," which means that it takes away pain.</i><br />
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According to legend </div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman"; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: 0.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #6d5b29; font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
Hercules and his heroic
companions set off from Greece
to defeat Geryon. Finally
exhausted and worn out after
having killed him, they were
restored by the miraculous
virtues of that hot water and
did not want to return to Greece.
Also attracted by the beauty of
the surrounding hills, they
stayed to live there. The hills
were named Euganean because of
the nobility of their descent.
The spring that had given much
relief to warriors was called
Aponon in Greek. Hercules
himself, in order to purge the
evil to Geryon, built a temple
in Abano in his honor,
permitting him to become an
oracle. As Suetonius wrote, this
legend was well known in the
Roman world; the emperor
Tiberius, one day when he was
travelling to Illyria, wanted to
listen to this famous oracle and
he got a peremptory response,
precisely to throw gold dice
into the spring, exactly where
Abano stands today, to be
advised about his fate. Legend
has it that the dice made the
water precious, giving it
special properties that can heal
various diseases.
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
There are multiple hotel and spa complexes with pools of varying temperature. Generally, getting into a swimming pool the temperature of bath water when it's 85-95 degrees outside is not my idea of a good time. But I needed a get-away and it's close by.<br />
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One of the things I love about the Italians is that, despite having some rigid rules about how to dress (no sneakers at dinner, you wear a coat because it's November whether it's 80 degrees or 20 outside) they seem to have no issues with wearing whatever you want while swimming. All types of bodies were on display and almost every woman, regardless of age or size, was wearing bikini. There was no expectation to cover C-section scars, belly rolls, back fat, cellulite... Men wore trunks or tight little shorts or speedos. Everyone walked/sat around as if their body was completely acceptable just the way it was. As it should be!! Seriously, that was the best part of the weekend for me. <br />
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I didn't take a lot of pictures because the rules said not to. Now, the rules also said no smoking was allowed but people did that. The rules also said no dogs were allowed but there were several. One rule that is strictly adhered to is the swim cap rule. Everyone must wear a swim cap. Even bald men!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><i>Everyone wearing their swim cap!</i></span></td></tr>
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<b><i>Are there peculiar rules where you live? Do people know how to August?</i></b></td></tr>
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<br />Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-44163678288028496842018-05-27T14:06:00.000+02:002018-05-27T14:25:29.405+02:00A Marathon in Athens - Sundays in My CityA few months ago I went to Athens, Greece for a long weekend. The weather was beautiful, the city was beautiful (and not super crowded...hint, go in February if you don't want to fight crowds! Also, if you go before easter, tickets for the monuments are half price!) but I'm pretty sure I walked a dang marathon while I was there (and the Olympic stadium was the last thing I visited which felt appropriate for the finish of my marathon). My feet felt like battered stumps after a couple days. Athens isn't for the faint of feet...or knees. It is hilly and uneven but the central area is small enough to be walkable...just make sure you wear very comfortable shoes!<br />
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I was going to be a good little blogger and give you info about each of the sites I visited but<br />
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1. I'm lazy<br />
2. You know how to use Google<br />
3. I have planning to do for my next trip!<br />
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So here are a bunch of pictures in no particular order...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><i>The Great Drain! No joke. I might be the only person to get excited about that.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><i>The Changing of the Guard seriously looked like it was orchestrated by Monty Python's Bureau of Funny Walks!</i></span></td></tr>
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Everywhere you turn is an archeological site and I would love to go back and see more. To learn about the origin of the marathon <a href="https://www.athensmarathon.com/history/" target="_blank">click here</a>.<br />
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Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-91745026370905466662018-04-08T10:33:00.001+02:002018-04-08T11:04:23.404+02:00What I Did Instead It's taken me quite a while to make myself sit and write this post. Mostly because it's still just raw and difficult. Back in November <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.com/2017/11/not-year-i-expected.html" target="_blank">I talked about </a>the difficulties of my first year in Italy. But Jack was doing well and I was looking forward to another trip with him to the mountains to celebrate his 6-month cancer survival and my birthday. He didn't make it. And my heart, which was already in a million pieces over the loss of Cheyenne, was suddenly in a million more.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><i>Oh how I miss that sweet face!!!</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: small;"><i>Our last walk. It was cold but clear and beautiful and perfect.</i></span></td></tr>
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I don't want to relive the whole thing but we had several wonderful days where he got to do all his favorite things including going for long walks, going for car rides and eating pizza. I was incredibly lucky to have him for the time that I did.<br />
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For the first time in over 13 years, there were no dogs in my house. I didn't know what to do with myself. But I had time off work already scheduled and it was use-or-lose. I couldn't just sit at home and I'm lucky enough to live in a place where I get travel easily.<br />
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I went to <b>Innsbruck, Austria</b>. The weather was highly uncooperative as far as the spectacular mountain views were concerned. At least, I hear there are spectacular mountain views. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><i>There are mountains there somewhere...so I'm told.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><i>So I tried going up the mountain and this is what I could see looking down. It was so thick that the cable car going further up was closed and all the skiers and snowboarders were just stuck waiting around in hopes that it lifted and they could go. </i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black;">I did have an amazing apple, beet, lemon tofu salad for dinner one night. I'd go back just to have that again! And maybe to get a better view next time.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><br />
</span> I went to<b> Modena, Italy</b>. It's a quaint little town with almost no tourist presence which was just fine by me. If you've seen Master of None, it's where the Italy episodes are based. I learned the difference between tortelloni (cheese inside) and tortellini (meat inside) and that you can easily pay over $100 for a small bottle of balsamic vinegar.<br />
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I went to <b>Garmisch, Germany</b>. I know it's very popular with Americans due to the Edelweiss resort but I honestly don't see what all the fuss is about. I also got food poisoning so that might have clouded my impression.<br />
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I dog sat for people wanting to take trips and I've fostered a few dogs needing temporary, emergency housing. It's getting more and more difficult to fly with pets and as much as I want to get another dog RIGHT NOW, I know I'm not ready. Traveling helps ease the pain of being in an empty house. <br />
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I hope to get back to blogging again. I knew that I had to write this post and I kept putting it off because I knew how difficult it would be. I promise that my next post will not contain sadness. I'm hoping that 2018 is little kinder to my heart. <br />
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I've been to the US twice (it was supposed to be one trip but a one-day government shutdown recalled me back to Italy and I had to go again) and I'm going next week. I've been able to see a lot of friends (one whom I haven't seen since 2008) and family and that's been great. Mom and Gran are coming to Portugal in June. I have tickets to see Hamilton in London in October (I WILL conquer my dislike of that city!). I'm already working on memorizing the soundtrack :D I'll be in Amsterdam again in 2 weeks (my return flight from the US happens to go through Amsterdam so, of course, I can't pass up the opportunity to spend a few days there). More adventures to be planned...stay tuned!<br />
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Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-6212792788699167312017-11-28T19:28:00.001+01:002017-11-28T19:28:30.186+01:00Because Pineapple on Pizza is WrongHold the pineapple and ditch the prawns - Italy pushes for pizza to be given World Heritage status<br />
In a campaign to save pizza from the indignity of being topped with
pineapple slices or slathered in mayonnaise, two million Italians have
signed a petition calling for the Neapolitan dish to be given World
Heritage recognition.<br />
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Italy hopes that Unesco, the UN’s cultural
body, will grant special status to Neapolitan pizza when its
intergovernmental committee on cultural heritage meets in Seoul next
week.<br />
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The Italians want official recognition that pizza-making is an art form that was born in Naples.<br />
Attaining Unesco status could help combat culinary abuses such as pizza
adorned with tinned sweet corn, prawns, chopped lettuce, “Ranch
dressing” and other foreign abominations which make Italians recoil in
horror.<br />
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“Neapolitan pizza has been officially recognized as a
‘guaranteed traditional specialty’ by the European Union since 2010, but
now the aim is to secure international recognition,” said Coldiretti, a
national food producers association.<br />
Pizza needs to be protected from what it called “food piracy and appropriation.”<br />
Abuses included using foreign, rather than Italian ingredients, the
association said, from “flour made from Ukrainian wheat, mozzarella made
from Lithuanian curd, Tunisian olive oil and Chinese tomato puree.”<br />
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The campaign is spearheaded by Naples’ association of pizza makers, known as “pizzaioli”.<br />
They want pizza placed on Unesco’s list of “intangible heritage”, which
includes food, drink, traditional songs and things other than castles,
palaces and natural wonders.<br />
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Italy has already won recognition
for a unique type of grape vine grown on the Mediterranean island of
Pantelleria, violin-making in the town of Cremona, Sicilian puppet
theatre and the Mediterranean Diet – the latter in conjunction with
Spain, Greece, Portugal, Morocco, Croatia and Cyprus.<br />
Intense
lobbying over the last few years had “created the right conditions to
achieve a historic result for a product that is a symbol of Italian
national identity,” campaigners said.<br />
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Italy maintains that pizza was invented in Naples at the beginning of the 18th century.<br />
The Margherita version was first created in 1889 and named after Queen Margherita of Savoy.<br />
Its ingredients reflected the national colors of the Italian flag red
from tomatoes, white from mozzarella and green from basil leaves.<br />
<br />
To make a pizza in the traditional Neapolitan way, a pizzaiolo, or
pizza maker, should use only durum wheat flour, sea salt, fresh yeast
and genuine mozzarella cheese from the milk of buffaloes, rather than
cows. The dough should be stretched by hand, rather than
flattened with a rolling pin, and then cooked in a wood-fired oven on a
stone slab.<br />
<br />
While the average Italian eats 7.6kg of pizza a year, Americans consume almost double that.<br />
The making and selling of pizza employs an estimated 100,000 Italians and is worth 10 billion euros a year to the economy.<br />
<br />
An online survey by an Italian cultural institute found that pizza is
the most recognized Italian word in the world, after cappuccino,
spaghetti and espresso.<br />
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<b><i>What are your feelings on pizza? Strictly traditional or anything goes?</i></b><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b><i></i><br />Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791800761128427510.post-29347091208956574442017-11-19T10:45:00.000+01:002017-11-19T19:56:04.680+01:00Not the Year I ExpectedThis past week marked the one-year anniversary of my boarding a plane with 2 dogs and starting a new chapter in Italy. I had the worst cough and cold that I'd had in many years which made the flight miserable. A doctor prescribed me cough medicine with codine but I suspect the pharmacist forgot to add both the codine and the cough medicine because it did absolutely nothing to help. We arrived in Milan and I struggled to find anyone to assist a very tiny woman with 2 dogs and 7 pieces of luggage (you needed a 2 euro coin to get a cart and I had none). Eventually we made it out (two very nice American women did help and I'm eternally grateful to them!) and a few hours later arrived at our hotel...exactly 40 minutes before my boss arrived to take me to lunch. The dogs and I spent 29 days in the hotel before moving to a house on my birthday (coincidentally, we moved into a <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.it/2010/12/house-for-my-birthday.html" target="_blank">house on my birthday</a> in the Netherlands as well). <br />
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The dogs and I settled in.<br />
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Some Peace Corps friends visited in <b>April</b> and we went to <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.it/2017/05/bologna-didnt-win-my-heart-but-this.html" target="_blank">Bologna</a> and <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.it/2017/04/caffe-pedrocchi-unique-coffee.html" target="_blank">Padova</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Having fun at the Padova Botanical Gardens</i></span></span></td></tr>
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My parents came for the month of <b>May</b>. It was great having them here!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">I made them pose with all the statues.</span></i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">They spent lots of time with the dogs.</span></i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">We went to Trieste (Italy), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Villach (Austria) on one trip.</span></i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">A beautiful day in Venice</span></i></span></td></tr>
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My Gran was supposed to be here in <b>June</b> but she canceled her trip. I was able to cancel most of our plans and reservations but one ticket was non-refundable so in I took a ride on the Bernina Express and <a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.it/2017/10/art-in-chur-switzerland-sundays-in-my.html" target="_blank">spent the night in Chur. </a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Glacial lake...still frozen in June!</span></i></span></td></tr>
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Then...well, then things got a little rough. Jack's spleen ruptured and luckily I realized something was very wrong and got him to the vet in time to have them remove it - along with 750 ml (3 cups) of blood - and he survived. However, the mass tested malignant and we went for a CT scan to see if they had managed to remove everything cancerous or if the rupture had deposited cancerous cells elsewhere in his abdomen. <br />
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While waiting for those results I took a quick trip to Greece in early <b>July</b>.<br />
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When I returned from Greece we learned that Jack had 3 kinds of cancer and he began taking a lot of medications. We have a great vet here and she's been wonderful managing it all.<br />
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At the end of <b>August</b>, Cheyenne had what I believe was a stroke and died on the first of <b>September</b>. It was, and still is incredibly painful. I am somewhat comforted by the fact that she lived an amazingly long life - 21 years!! - and that she didn't suffer a long illness or decline. But she was with me for over 13 years; she moved with me a total of 6 times and approximately 15,000 miles. Not having her is like not having a part of my body.<br />
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Jack, if you remember, c<a href="http://farfromkansas.blogspot.it/2016/02/where-have-i-been.html" target="_blank">ame to live with us</a> after Tex died and Cheyenne was extremely lonely. He was there for her then and he was there for both of us at the end, providing comfort at a very difficult time. <br />
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Jack has had ups and downs in his cancer battle. When he made it to 2 months after surgery the vet was impressed. When he made it to 4 months she was amazed. Some say that caring for a sick pet is no different that caring for a sick person. It can be physically and emotionally draining. So in <b>October</b> I took a little trip to my favorite place to recharge.<br />
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Last week we hit 5 months and Jack is doing well. So to celebrate that and our one year anniversary in Italy, and just to get away, we went to the mountains for a few days. Early in his treatment he would get tired very quickly. Now he's feeling well and we were able to take long walks UP and down some very steep mountain roads. When we weren't out walking, we sat by the fire - him in my lap and me with a book.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">He hates having his picture taken and refuses to look at the camera.</span></i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">We did try to see what this was but it turned out to be too far to walk and when we tried to drive there was a log truck in the road and the road was too narrow to go around it.</span></i></span></td></tr>
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It's been a difficult year with many highs and lows. I have no idea what the next year will bring - how much travel I'll get to do or how much more time I'll have with Jack. Obviously, caring for him is my first priority. I'm not planning any big trips right now although I do have two training classes scheduled back in the US in 2018.<br />
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Next month, for my birthday, I'm hoping Jack hits the 6-month mark! I couldn't ask for any better gift. <br />
<br />Dorothyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110216985264203811noreply@blogger.com1