The title of this blog relates to the first 6 keys on the keyboards here in Belgium. That, combined with the fact that all numbers require a SHIFT (as does the period), the parentheses are separated by four other keys and do NOT require a shift, etc, etc... means that I adamantly reFUSE to blog until I get to a more keyboard-friendly place!
So, I am storing up info about Brussels (which I loved) and Brugges (which I adore, and where I currently am) and will blog about them soon!
Frustratedly,
Janine
Monday, October 6, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Amsterdam
For the last two days, I have been in Amsterdam. I loved Sweden, but I think Amsterdam has to win out (but only by a gnat's ass, as my mother would say) over Stockholm just because of the incredible cuteness of it.
As with Stockholm, the public transportation system here is fantastic. It has been SO easy to get around here, and get around we have! In a very short time, we have seen the Van Gogh museum, the Anne Frank house, the Sex Museum (fascinating!), had a canal tour, eaten WAY too much food, and spent some time in the red light district. I have to say, the Dutch have the right idea when it comes to deciding what to legalize; the sex workers are clean, open, and seemingly drug-free. It's just a business, like any other, and because they can be on the open about it, they can make their rules to remain disease-free, they are regulated and get tested regularly, they pay taxes, and they rarely are messed with by their clientele. Best of all, they have no need for pimps.
Of course, also in abundance are "coffeehouses," which are really places to buy and smoke dope. Again, it seems to work here, The use of illegal (harder) drugs in Holland is lower than most countries, and they aren't wasting their jail space on people who simply want to smoke pot (unlike the U.S., where 700,000 people were arrested in 2006 for marijuana - and we all complain that our courts are overloaded? Come ON, people, let's get our heads out of our bums!) Yes, Mom, I went into a coffeehouse and no, Mom, I didn't buy anything. We just wanted to see what it was like. Basically, imagine your flour and sugar canisters at home filled with pot and out on the counter for people to look at and buy; it's that way here with pot.
There are so many bicycles here that I have to look out for bikes much more than cars. Everyone rides them, and rides them FAST! Also, there are really cool kiddie bike seats for the fronts of bikes as well as the backs; again, I have pics and will upload them when I get home.
I am fascinated by the longevity statistics here and in Sweden. In Sweden, for example, the average lifespan is something like 80 years; that is far above most other countries, and certainly above the USA. HOW do they do it, considering the incredibly relationship they seem to have with cheese, cream, and eggs??? It has to be the exercise they all get, biking and walking everywhere. That's all I can seem to come up with for an explanation. In any case, I have become quite fond of having some bread and cheese for breakfast every day. I hope to God that my walking around all day is working off some of the food, because I have been pigging out! Oh well, I am on vacation and I can start eating better....tomorrow.
OK, I am off to bed; tomorrow, I go to Brussels on the first official "train" leg of my trip. Meanwhile, in a few hours Joe Biden and Sarah Palin will match wits. Well, in Palin's case, i think only one wit. She scares the heck outta me, that one. I was never really on the fence, but if I had been, my mind is made up, now. Obama for President!
Ta-ta,
Janine
As with Stockholm, the public transportation system here is fantastic. It has been SO easy to get around here, and get around we have! In a very short time, we have seen the Van Gogh museum, the Anne Frank house, the Sex Museum (fascinating!), had a canal tour, eaten WAY too much food, and spent some time in the red light district. I have to say, the Dutch have the right idea when it comes to deciding what to legalize; the sex workers are clean, open, and seemingly drug-free. It's just a business, like any other, and because they can be on the open about it, they can make their rules to remain disease-free, they are regulated and get tested regularly, they pay taxes, and they rarely are messed with by their clientele. Best of all, they have no need for pimps.
Of course, also in abundance are "coffeehouses," which are really places to buy and smoke dope. Again, it seems to work here, The use of illegal (harder) drugs in Holland is lower than most countries, and they aren't wasting their jail space on people who simply want to smoke pot (unlike the U.S., where 700,000 people were arrested in 2006 for marijuana - and we all complain that our courts are overloaded? Come ON, people, let's get our heads out of our bums!) Yes, Mom, I went into a coffeehouse and no, Mom, I didn't buy anything. We just wanted to see what it was like. Basically, imagine your flour and sugar canisters at home filled with pot and out on the counter for people to look at and buy; it's that way here with pot.
There are so many bicycles here that I have to look out for bikes much more than cars. Everyone rides them, and rides them FAST! Also, there are really cool kiddie bike seats for the fronts of bikes as well as the backs; again, I have pics and will upload them when I get home.
I am fascinated by the longevity statistics here and in Sweden. In Sweden, for example, the average lifespan is something like 80 years; that is far above most other countries, and certainly above the USA. HOW do they do it, considering the incredibly relationship they seem to have with cheese, cream, and eggs??? It has to be the exercise they all get, biking and walking everywhere. That's all I can seem to come up with for an explanation. In any case, I have become quite fond of having some bread and cheese for breakfast every day. I hope to God that my walking around all day is working off some of the food, because I have been pigging out! Oh well, I am on vacation and I can start eating better....tomorrow.
OK, I am off to bed; tomorrow, I go to Brussels on the first official "train" leg of my trip. Meanwhile, in a few hours Joe Biden and Sarah Palin will match wits. Well, in Palin's case, i think only one wit. She scares the heck outta me, that one. I was never really on the fence, but if I had been, my mind is made up, now. Obama for President!
Ta-ta,
Janine
Stockholm
Oh, I have been so bad about blogging, and now I find myself two entire cities behind! I will try to catch up....
On Sunday, I was driven by Carina, Per, and family to Stockholm (thanks, Carina, YOU ARE AWESOME!) after a great visit with them all. I was staying in the IPA house in Rissne, which is a suburb of Stockholm. The price was definitely right (it was only 37 Euros per night!) and it was so incredibly simple to get the metro into Stockholm each day to see sights. As had been my experience already in Sweden, the people in Stockholm were so unbelievably friendly and helpful that all I had to do was begin to look confused and someone would approach me to ask if I needed help.
So, let's see....we took a canal tour (I had never realized how much WATER there was in and around and through the city!) and saw the Grand Palace, Skansen park, and some other sights, but the best sightseeing adventure was the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a ship commissioned to be built in the 17th century, and it sank on its maiden voyage before ever getting out of Stockholm. This isn't really all that fantastic, I guess, but the museum was astonishingly cool. Once again, I have to say that Rick Steves' travel books are the bomb. Anyway, I also finally got Swedish meatballs while in Stockholm - I actually went to the grocery store and bought them and the sauce mix myself, and cooked them up in the guest house. So, my Swedish culinary wishes were all granted (but still nothing compares to the food I had while with Carina and Per...nothing).
My other "wish list" item for Sweden was to buy a warm sweater; in fact, I deliberately didn't bring one with me, and the jacket I brought is more water-resistant than warm. So, I looked around in Stockholm and ventured into some little shop that sold wool sweaters. Now, these aren't fuzzy wool sweaters, but dense, wonderful, intricately designed wool sweaters. The price tags were jaw-dropping, but I tried one on anyway and it fit and I had to buy it. I wore it the next day and, even though our breath was visible, I couldn't feel anything on my upper half other than torrid heat. I actually almost had to remove the dang thing, it was so warm! I have been appreciating it ever since. I shall have to add a picture of it once I get home and upload pics.
Speaking of uploading pics, I am LOVING the Epson viewer that I bought before I left the states. It allows me to back up my photos every day, and then look through them and weed out the obviously bad ones. Maybe I'll only have two thousand pics when I get home instead of three thousand!!! hahahahha
Last but NOT least, I received an email from my lovely daughter today informing me that she has procured employment for herself for when she gets back home from her trip to Copenhagen (remember, SHE is why I am here in the first place - to see her speak at the Association of Internet Researchers conference on October 16). Sara will be working for a non-profit in the city, the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Yay, Sara!
At the same time, I have pretty much decided that my current project for California Volunteers will be my last gig in Sacramento. I'm tired of driving, and spending the last 6 weeks on forced unemployed status (thanks to our completely dorky governor, damn him!) has made me realize how much I love my city. I just want to be HOME at night, and ride public transportation during the day. Sacramento can go to hell (oh wait, it's 117 degrees there sometimes int he summer - it already IS hell!) :-)
OK, off I go. Love to all my friends and family.
Cheers,
Janine
On Sunday, I was driven by Carina, Per, and family to Stockholm (thanks, Carina, YOU ARE AWESOME!) after a great visit with them all. I was staying in the IPA house in Rissne, which is a suburb of Stockholm. The price was definitely right (it was only 37 Euros per night!) and it was so incredibly simple to get the metro into Stockholm each day to see sights. As had been my experience already in Sweden, the people in Stockholm were so unbelievably friendly and helpful that all I had to do was begin to look confused and someone would approach me to ask if I needed help.
So, let's see....we took a canal tour (I had never realized how much WATER there was in and around and through the city!) and saw the Grand Palace, Skansen park, and some other sights, but the best sightseeing adventure was the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a ship commissioned to be built in the 17th century, and it sank on its maiden voyage before ever getting out of Stockholm. This isn't really all that fantastic, I guess, but the museum was astonishingly cool. Once again, I have to say that Rick Steves' travel books are the bomb. Anyway, I also finally got Swedish meatballs while in Stockholm - I actually went to the grocery store and bought them and the sauce mix myself, and cooked them up in the guest house. So, my Swedish culinary wishes were all granted (but still nothing compares to the food I had while with Carina and Per...nothing).
My other "wish list" item for Sweden was to buy a warm sweater; in fact, I deliberately didn't bring one with me, and the jacket I brought is more water-resistant than warm. So, I looked around in Stockholm and ventured into some little shop that sold wool sweaters. Now, these aren't fuzzy wool sweaters, but dense, wonderful, intricately designed wool sweaters. The price tags were jaw-dropping, but I tried one on anyway and it fit and I had to buy it. I wore it the next day and, even though our breath was visible, I couldn't feel anything on my upper half other than torrid heat. I actually almost had to remove the dang thing, it was so warm! I have been appreciating it ever since. I shall have to add a picture of it once I get home and upload pics.
Speaking of uploading pics, I am LOVING the Epson viewer that I bought before I left the states. It allows me to back up my photos every day, and then look through them and weed out the obviously bad ones. Maybe I'll only have two thousand pics when I get home instead of three thousand!!! hahahahha
Last but NOT least, I received an email from my lovely daughter today informing me that she has procured employment for herself for when she gets back home from her trip to Copenhagen (remember, SHE is why I am here in the first place - to see her speak at the Association of Internet Researchers conference on October 16). Sara will be working for a non-profit in the city, the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Yay, Sara!
At the same time, I have pretty much decided that my current project for California Volunteers will be my last gig in Sacramento. I'm tired of driving, and spending the last 6 weeks on forced unemployed status (thanks to our completely dorky governor, damn him!) has made me realize how much I love my city. I just want to be HOME at night, and ride public transportation during the day. Sacramento can go to hell (oh wait, it's 117 degrees there sometimes int he summer - it already IS hell!) :-)
OK, off I go. Love to all my friends and family.
Cheers,
Janine
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Smörgåstårta
I just had the most amazing food. You can check out the definition in Wiki here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sm%C3%B6rg%C3%A5st%C3%A5rta
Basically, this thing was a huge cake-like structure made with layers of Swedish flatbread with many different fillings: liver pate, leek and curry paste, ham, creme freche, shrimp, eggs, tomatoes, dill, kiwi, and who knows what else. It looked incredible, sounded interesting, and tasted so damn good that I ate three pieces of it, had dessert, then promptly fell asleep on my hostess' couch (how embarassing!). Oh yeah, speaking of dessert, it was some sort of chocolate cream cake with fresh whipped cream, and a cardamom-cinnamon cake. This added to my food-induced couch coma. When I woke up, everyone was just laughing at me. Ah well, worse things have happened. :-)
So, today is my last full day with Carina and her family. In addition to going for sleep-inducing food at her mom's place, we also went to a soccer game to watch her son, Andreas, play, and we went to the local castle to get some pictures and a history lesson.
Tomorrow, I am off to Stockholm to continue my adventures. The weather has been wonderful so far (although there were some dark clouds today and it was getting colder than it has been) and everything has gone wonderfully well. I don't know how much internet access I will have from this point forward, but will try to blog as much as possible.
I must go now, as Carina is ironing my laundry and I am feeling marginally guilty.
Be well!
Janine
Basically, this thing was a huge cake-like structure made with layers of Swedish flatbread with many different fillings: liver pate, leek and curry paste, ham, creme freche, shrimp, eggs, tomatoes, dill, kiwi, and who knows what else. It looked incredible, sounded interesting, and tasted so damn good that I ate three pieces of it, had dessert, then promptly fell asleep on my hostess' couch (how embarassing!). Oh yeah, speaking of dessert, it was some sort of chocolate cream cake with fresh whipped cream, and a cardamom-cinnamon cake. This added to my food-induced couch coma. When I woke up, everyone was just laughing at me. Ah well, worse things have happened. :-)
So, today is my last full day with Carina and her family. In addition to going for sleep-inducing food at her mom's place, we also went to a soccer game to watch her son, Andreas, play, and we went to the local castle to get some pictures and a history lesson.
Tomorrow, I am off to Stockholm to continue my adventures. The weather has been wonderful so far (although there were some dark clouds today and it was getting colder than it has been) and everything has gone wonderfully well. I don't know how much internet access I will have from this point forward, but will try to blog as much as possible.
I must go now, as Carina is ironing my laundry and I am feeling marginally guilty.
Be well!
Janine
Friday, September 26, 2008
Nyköping
I am currently in Sweden, where everything is green and gorgeous. To put it in a perspective that my friends can relate to, it's a lot like the Tahoe area, except with more green meadows between all the stands of pine trees. I have been blessed with great weather since I got here, it's about 70 degrees during the day and about 40 at night.
I am staying with Carina and Per and their two children, Andreas and Emma. Carina lived with me for a year about 19 years ago, when my kids were tiny. We have kept in touch over the years, and she was thrilled to have me come visit when I told her that I was going to be in Scandinavia this fall. Carina is a CADD drafter (and many other things in her company! and Per is a plane mechanic. Andreas is 6 years old and Emma is 3. They are both beautiful and really bright. Andreas is pretty quiet much of the time, but Emma is a serious talker. She reminds me completely of Alec at that age. She has been teaching me some Swedish words in exchange for English words. I regret to say that her retention is about 100% while mine is near zero. I am getting old....
The area where Per and Carina live is a smattering of homes (maybe 130) about an hour outside Stockholm. More than half the homes are summer houses, so not too many families live here year-round. It is quiet and idyllic, with a lake a couple hundred meters away. There are deer and wild pigs in the woods. The sky is blue like I've never seen it, and there are so many huge stars at night - I am enthralled.
Sara, you'll be happy to know that I have taken pictures of some food as well, Carina made some sort of pork loin wrapped in bacon and stuffed with garlic, butter, tomato puree, and green onions that was to die for. Oh yeah, and topped with a cider sauce (I even took a photo of the sauce ingredients, so I can try to recreate it). We need to have a cooking fest when we get home!
The coast here is so different, too. Sweden is a land of islands, and so the coastal areas are full of channels and inlets, with no crashing waves as we know them. We went hiking yesterday on the coast about 15 miles from here, and it was great. I also visited a town called Trosa, where canals go through town and people have a house AND a boat. It all looked like something off a postcard.
So, we are off to buy converters for the Nintendo DS Lites that I brought for the kids (the chargers are, of course, built for 110V currents). I hope that everyone back in the states is happy and healthy. Be well, my friends!
Hej då,
Janine
I am staying with Carina and Per and their two children, Andreas and Emma. Carina lived with me for a year about 19 years ago, when my kids were tiny. We have kept in touch over the years, and she was thrilled to have me come visit when I told her that I was going to be in Scandinavia this fall. Carina is a CADD drafter (and many other things in her company! and Per is a plane mechanic. Andreas is 6 years old and Emma is 3. They are both beautiful and really bright. Andreas is pretty quiet much of the time, but Emma is a serious talker. She reminds me completely of Alec at that age. She has been teaching me some Swedish words in exchange for English words. I regret to say that her retention is about 100% while mine is near zero. I am getting old....
The area where Per and Carina live is a smattering of homes (maybe 130) about an hour outside Stockholm. More than half the homes are summer houses, so not too many families live here year-round. It is quiet and idyllic, with a lake a couple hundred meters away. There are deer and wild pigs in the woods. The sky is blue like I've never seen it, and there are so many huge stars at night - I am enthralled.
Sara, you'll be happy to know that I have taken pictures of some food as well, Carina made some sort of pork loin wrapped in bacon and stuffed with garlic, butter, tomato puree, and green onions that was to die for. Oh yeah, and topped with a cider sauce (I even took a photo of the sauce ingredients, so I can try to recreate it). We need to have a cooking fest when we get home!
The coast here is so different, too. Sweden is a land of islands, and so the coastal areas are full of channels and inlets, with no crashing waves as we know them. We went hiking yesterday on the coast about 15 miles from here, and it was great. I also visited a town called Trosa, where canals go through town and people have a house AND a boat. It all looked like something off a postcard.
So, we are off to buy converters for the Nintendo DS Lites that I brought for the kids (the chargers are, of course, built for 110V currents). I hope that everyone back in the states is happy and healthy. Be well, my friends!
Hej då,
Janine
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Paper Chase
I am sitting in the Stockholm airport, waiting for a train to take me to Nyköping to see my long-time friend Carina and her family. Since I last saw Carina 19 years ago, she has gotten married and had two adorable children. My adventure begins with her family, and I can't wait to get there!
This is the farthest I have ever traveled alone: San Francisco to Chicago, Chicago to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Stockholm, and now the train. It's proving pretty easy to get around, and I am good at asking people for help (always have been, it's a blessing [for me] and a curse [for everyone else that I bug]).
I must say, the people in Sweden are phenomenally nice so far. I went into a convenience store in the airport where I could get a printed copy of the train ticket that Carina had reserved for me, and the proprietor told me that he could do it for me, but there was a 20 kronor charge (that's about 3.50 USD) and I could print it for free from a kiosk upstairs. Nice guy. He said, "It's easy to use the machines and if you can't do it, then I just get to see you again when you come back down here to have me print it for you." It was, indeed, easy, and now I sit here at an internet cafe, ticket in hand, and will board my train in about another hour.
People in Germany? I have no idea; four hours in the airport and I don't think I heard more than three people even speak! It was like being in a library. This does NOT bode well for me and my loud, ever-present voice. Ah well, perhaps they are just bored with life and need a good, healthy dose of Janine!
But onto the paper issue....folks, you there in the US do NOT appreciate one of your greatest resources: toilet paper that is kind to your bum. The paper in Stockholm is rough, but the stuff in Frankfurt was downright abrasive. I could have taken some extra squares home to scour my sink. It occurred to me, whilst sitting on the toilet here in Stockholm, that I should collect a t.p. sample from every place I go, and put them all into a sort of "loo roll" scrapbook after I get home from my trip. But, I just can't bring myself to create such a scatological masterpiece, so I will just say it here: next time you go to the john, say a prayer of thanks to the toilet paper gods.
And now, I am off to find the train. I hope you all are happy and healthy, and I will try to blog as much as possible whilst here.
Kramar,
Janine
This is the farthest I have ever traveled alone: San Francisco to Chicago, Chicago to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Stockholm, and now the train. It's proving pretty easy to get around, and I am good at asking people for help (always have been, it's a blessing [for me] and a curse [for everyone else that I bug]).
I must say, the people in Sweden are phenomenally nice so far. I went into a convenience store in the airport where I could get a printed copy of the train ticket that Carina had reserved for me, and the proprietor told me that he could do it for me, but there was a 20 kronor charge (that's about 3.50 USD) and I could print it for free from a kiosk upstairs. Nice guy. He said, "It's easy to use the machines and if you can't do it, then I just get to see you again when you come back down here to have me print it for you." It was, indeed, easy, and now I sit here at an internet cafe, ticket in hand, and will board my train in about another hour.
People in Germany? I have no idea; four hours in the airport and I don't think I heard more than three people even speak! It was like being in a library. This does NOT bode well for me and my loud, ever-present voice. Ah well, perhaps they are just bored with life and need a good, healthy dose of Janine!
But onto the paper issue....folks, you there in the US do NOT appreciate one of your greatest resources: toilet paper that is kind to your bum. The paper in Stockholm is rough, but the stuff in Frankfurt was downright abrasive. I could have taken some extra squares home to scour my sink. It occurred to me, whilst sitting on the toilet here in Stockholm, that I should collect a t.p. sample from every place I go, and put them all into a sort of "loo roll" scrapbook after I get home from my trip. But, I just can't bring myself to create such a scatological masterpiece, so I will just say it here: next time you go to the john, say a prayer of thanks to the toilet paper gods.
And now, I am off to find the train. I hope you all are happy and healthy, and I will try to blog as much as possible whilst here.
Kramar,
Janine
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Comings and Goings
I have been in school full-time for the last month, earning my certification to Teach English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). It was a good way to use my time productively while waiting for the damn legislature to get a budget enacted so I can go back to work. It was also an eye-opener, because when I left college at the age of 20 I pretty well detested going to school. Now, I am incredibly sad that I don't have to get up and go to school Monday.
The last month has been revelatory in a host of ways. In addition to packing in a ton of information related to teaching, I somehow rediscovered myself (yes, it sounds cliche, but I cannot think of a better way to describe it). I made some new friends; I cemented relationships with a couple existing ones; I found a new love; I refound the joy for life that I had lost over the last 4 1/2 years; I was so busy that I only could find time to sleep about 6 hours per night, but I didn't mind at all; I traveled all over the city for a month and only started my car four times; I talked to random people on the street and on Muni; I realized that the world really is a fascinating place.
The downside to this is that it truly IS fascinating and now I want to learn more about it. I am dying to go back to school full time and finish up the degree I never got. OK, well, finish up the degree I hadn't even thought of getting (I was a business major when I left school - now I want to study something fascinating like anthropology or linguistics). Could I take a year or more off work and finish up my schooling? Probably. Would I have any money left afterwards? Probably not. Do I have to decide now? No, thank god.
So, a huge thanks to all of my friends and family who supported me in this endeavor to enrich myself. In so many ways, this has been one of the best months of my life. All I can say is: YAY!
The last month has been revelatory in a host of ways. In addition to packing in a ton of information related to teaching, I somehow rediscovered myself (yes, it sounds cliche, but I cannot think of a better way to describe it). I made some new friends; I cemented relationships with a couple existing ones; I found a new love; I refound the joy for life that I had lost over the last 4 1/2 years; I was so busy that I only could find time to sleep about 6 hours per night, but I didn't mind at all; I traveled all over the city for a month and only started my car four times; I talked to random people on the street and on Muni; I realized that the world really is a fascinating place.
The downside to this is that it truly IS fascinating and now I want to learn more about it. I am dying to go back to school full time and finish up the degree I never got. OK, well, finish up the degree I hadn't even thought of getting (I was a business major when I left school - now I want to study something fascinating like anthropology or linguistics). Could I take a year or more off work and finish up my schooling? Probably. Would I have any money left afterwards? Probably not. Do I have to decide now? No, thank god.
So, a huge thanks to all of my friends and family who supported me in this endeavor to enrich myself. In so many ways, this has been one of the best months of my life. All I can say is: YAY!
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