I lied when I said I'd be writing about mexicans and canadians, instead I'll be writing about things. Yes, very descriptive, but in short it'll be about how things are going out here. Lets start with the depthless necessities then shall we?
In my last post I said it took about four weeks before I saw any kind of rain. Well since then, the weather has alternated between sunshine and rain on a daily basis. I'm not talking about some sissy London drizzle rain here. It's a dramatic visual spectacle preceded by a low rumble of thunder, featuring walls of low hanging clouds that slowly drift over the entire sky. When it does swallow up your gaze, sheets of water pour forth in the darkness, occasionally lit by the muted light of the lightning strikes that crash through the sky like clockwork. Moments like this are peaceful and help to momentarily pull me out of the reality of my situation.
The reality of that situation is that I now find myself at the six week mark of the internship. At first the experience was of discovering somewhere new and meeting a new diverse group of people I'd be interacting with for the next while. Activities were planned on an almost daily manner and a grand time was had by all. Slowly things have slowed down due to the fact that we're all here to work, so from 8-5 everyday we find ourselves milling away on a computer doing the menial tasks that are generally associated with temporary hires. The project I work on is definitely interesting and allows me a week to travel at the end of the internship, which I'm grateful for. If I'd been tasked with developing a worthless unused feature - the final result of which I wouldn't see - like some of the interns, then the work would definitely be chipping away at my ability to ascribe a certain sense or purpose to my function.
That aside, a certain sense of tristesse has been coming and going in waves of late, resembling what I imagine MDMA is like, but with melancholy replacing the intense feelings of joy. I can't pinpoint the exact source of these feelings, but certain suspects come to mind. At the beginning of the contract, my closest friends from home have all been occupied with individual travel, school, and other priorities. However as we approach August, most have returned and their festive reunion, combined with arguably one of the nicest summers the city has seen in a while have, in all honesty, stirred up some feelings of jealousy at my inability to share in the fun.
This is not to say that I'm not having a good time in Austin. There are a lot of activities here in the summer to enjoy, however I suspect a lot of my feelings of isolation arise from my mobility situation here. I live and work in the suburbs of a great city, but without a car it's nearly impossible for me to be independent and do things at will. My extended stays in Paris and Singapore while on vacation may have corrupted my mind with the expectation that all major cities have easily accessible transport alternatives to cars. When I was in Singapore staying at PGP with Haomiao, we were a decent ways away from the city. Despite this, buses came frequently and the metro could bring you to any destination in short time. When this wasn't an option, taxis were an extremely cheap alternative, never costing you more than $15 SGD. Paris, where I stayed for two weeks and treated as a travel hub was also infinitely easy to navigate around. The city proper is massive but the metro network extended literally everywhere, and as long as you stayed within city boundaries, you were never more than 400m away from the nearest metro station. I could wake up on the weekend, decide that I felt like roaming the other side of Paris for the day, and do exactly that without depending on a car. New York, not unlike Paris is covered in subways and owning a car is the opposite as it is here. No one drives in NYC because you'd have to be insane to want to be stuck in gridlock and hunt for parking spots, its effectively a colossal waste of time to drive.
I live in a tiny 600-800 sq ft apartment with three other roommates. It's cramped as hell, and theres absolutely zero privacy. I'm never really alone but my complete dependence on them for transport has taken away one of the freedoms that I've taken for granted. I've never had to live or travel in a place where my two feet aren't a viable transportation option. Even out in the west island the buses come every 10 minutes or less to whisk you away onto the transit network. That's not an option here, and I can tell when I ask to borrow my roommates' cars, they're understandably reluctant to do so. I can suggest things to do with them, but if they decline, then I'm left disappointed at their reluctance to go out. Instead, I find myself at home, occupying myself with indoor hobbies to no great success. A person can only cook so much in a single day (I've become a pretty damn good cook if I say so myself), and my eyes can only stare at a book for so long before the urge to jump outside and do something kicks in. When I do, a long, empty, highway and a cactus pointing down the stretch of road remind me that, at least for the next few weeks, I'm still trapped.
Sunday, 15 July 2012
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Texas is large & name change
Hello ladies and gents!
You may have noticed I changed the title of my blog and the url, this was done to protect my online anonymity in the off-chance an HR rep from work stumbles across this. All should be well though :)
It's been a number of months since my last significant post, but I feel that perhaps my temporary residence in the foreign land of the United States would count as travelling. As such, you are about to be blessed with another one of my delectably random rant-posts.
Raise your hand if you never expected me to take residence in a place typically viewed to be about as ass-backwards as the developped world can get? *Raises hand* I desperately fought for other opportunities closer to home for the summer, but nothing significant ever materialized. I was disappointed at being unable to spend the summer at home, which as many of you know is the the highlight of a long and mostly cold year in the city. But fear not, they said Austin is fun, full of things to do and generally a liberal oasis amidst the most conservative state in the US.
And boy were they right, Austin truly is an oasis. That's not to say its even close to what i associate with being a liberal, but they're a generally more accepting group of people here. Their party district is on par with crescent/st-laurent in terms of madness, but man cops are dicks here. I've only been here 4 weeks, and I've seen double digit arrests for public intoxication, most of whom weren't really doing anything wrong apart from stumbling a bit. Not only that, but they were arrested with what could be construed as excessive force, they didn't resist but were brought to the ground and pinned by 3 cops whilst the other cuffed them.
The alcohol laws here are kind of bizarre, you can drink whilst floating down a river in an inner tube, but the moment you step onto land, theres police there to arrest everyone, and I mean EVERYONE seen with a container holding alcohol in it. The tubing itself is fun, the water is a cool 20C all summer long, and you just float down it lazily for a couple of hours and pack a cooler full of drinks to keep yourselves entertained.
Oh I forgot to mention its hot here, dry and ridiculously hot. This is my first experience with dry heat, and although I can say that I prefer this over humid hot, the absolute temperatures it hits here (think consecutive days over 40C) are enough to literally kill you if you find yourself outside somewhere without shade. On a more amusing note, it's been four weeks since I arrived, and it was only a day ago that I witnessed rainfall for the first time. Never thought I'd miss rain, but damn the heat to hell, I have no idea why some european colonists would choose to settle in a place with rattlesnakes, a summer that can cook human flesh in a couple of minutes, and virtually no water. No wonder the spanish empire failed at establishing some useful territories.
Ok, onwards to the fun part, AKA my observations about this place and subsequent negative commentary:
My god, les gens sont gros. From a distance you could mistake them for slow moving tumbleweeds. Thats not to say there aren't thin people, but I believe Texas is one of the top 10 fattest states in america, thereby making it one of the top 10 fattest places in the world. Their lifestyle habits here are just not conducive to being healthy at all.
Allow me to elaborate, the population of Greater Austin is just under 2million, from my observations, the highway network here consists of THREE north-south 4-lane highways, two east-west highways, and a ring road to bypass the city. You can't exist here without a car, everyone drives, even if its to go to the store that's literally one block away. Fuel prices are under $1/litre so no one really bats an eye at the cost of fuel. I dont think I've seen a single city bus yet, so public transit is non existent. And to imagine that I live about as far from downtown as i do back in montreal, where the buses come frequently and only take 45m-1h to reach the downtown core.
Then theres the food, Every week we have meetings with our mentors and go out to eat lunch somewhere nearby. EVERY destination is a chain or a franchise of some sort. The amount of fastfood-derivatives is astounding. I've asked local interns on whether the concept of small non-franchised restaurants exist and they were hard pressed to name more than a few. Portion sizes are the equivalent of a newborn texan baby. You could feed yourself for an entire day on 10$ worth of fast food from this place.
Back home, when you go to a grocery store, the fresh produce, boucherie and poissonerie sections account for about 1/2 the floor space. At our local grocery store in Austin, about 1/4 is for fresh produce, the rest is pre-prepared meals, frozen meals, you name it. It's no wonder people aren't healthy when you give them options like that.
Well, that sums up some of my first impressions of Texas. Next time, I'll talk about canadians and mexicans.
You may have noticed I changed the title of my blog and the url, this was done to protect my online anonymity in the off-chance an HR rep from work stumbles across this. All should be well though :)
It's been a number of months since my last significant post, but I feel that perhaps my temporary residence in the foreign land of the United States would count as travelling. As such, you are about to be blessed with another one of my delectably random rant-posts.
Raise your hand if you never expected me to take residence in a place typically viewed to be about as ass-backwards as the developped world can get? *Raises hand* I desperately fought for other opportunities closer to home for the summer, but nothing significant ever materialized. I was disappointed at being unable to spend the summer at home, which as many of you know is the the highlight of a long and mostly cold year in the city. But fear not, they said Austin is fun, full of things to do and generally a liberal oasis amidst the most conservative state in the US.
 |
| Yes, I'm aware of how redneck this looks. |
The alcohol laws here are kind of bizarre, you can drink whilst floating down a river in an inner tube, but the moment you step onto land, theres police there to arrest everyone, and I mean EVERYONE seen with a container holding alcohol in it. The tubing itself is fun, the water is a cool 20C all summer long, and you just float down it lazily for a couple of hours and pack a cooler full of drinks to keep yourselves entertained.
Oh I forgot to mention its hot here, dry and ridiculously hot. This is my first experience with dry heat, and although I can say that I prefer this over humid hot, the absolute temperatures it hits here (think consecutive days over 40C) are enough to literally kill you if you find yourself outside somewhere without shade. On a more amusing note, it's been four weeks since I arrived, and it was only a day ago that I witnessed rainfall for the first time. Never thought I'd miss rain, but damn the heat to hell, I have no idea why some european colonists would choose to settle in a place with rattlesnakes, a summer that can cook human flesh in a couple of minutes, and virtually no water. No wonder the spanish empire failed at establishing some useful territories.
Ok, onwards to the fun part, AKA my observations about this place and subsequent negative commentary:
My god, les gens sont gros. From a distance you could mistake them for slow moving tumbleweeds. Thats not to say there aren't thin people, but I believe Texas is one of the top 10 fattest states in america, thereby making it one of the top 10 fattest places in the world. Their lifestyle habits here are just not conducive to being healthy at all.
Allow me to elaborate, the population of Greater Austin is just under 2million, from my observations, the highway network here consists of THREE north-south 4-lane highways, two east-west highways, and a ring road to bypass the city. You can't exist here without a car, everyone drives, even if its to go to the store that's literally one block away. Fuel prices are under $1/litre so no one really bats an eye at the cost of fuel. I dont think I've seen a single city bus yet, so public transit is non existent. And to imagine that I live about as far from downtown as i do back in montreal, where the buses come frequently and only take 45m-1h to reach the downtown core.
Then theres the food, Every week we have meetings with our mentors and go out to eat lunch somewhere nearby. EVERY destination is a chain or a franchise of some sort. The amount of fastfood-derivatives is astounding. I've asked local interns on whether the concept of small non-franchised restaurants exist and they were hard pressed to name more than a few. Portion sizes are the equivalent of a newborn texan baby. You could feed yourself for an entire day on 10$ worth of fast food from this place.
Back home, when you go to a grocery store, the fresh produce, boucherie and poissonerie sections account for about 1/2 the floor space. At our local grocery store in Austin, about 1/4 is for fresh produce, the rest is pre-prepared meals, frozen meals, you name it. It's no wonder people aren't healthy when you give them options like that.
Well, that sums up some of my first impressions of Texas. Next time, I'll talk about canadians and mexicans.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Exception to the rule
Ahoy there,
It seems like I only post when I'm traveling, which makes sense, cause I have a lot of things to say about what I'm experiencing and seeing. That's not to say I don't a lot to say when I'm not traveling - just that there's people here that I can talk to in person instead of over the internetz. Anyways, I don't know what I'm writing about, its 4am during finals period, I'm not feeling particularly motivated for the exam I'm about to write so I'm writing to you instead.
Caramel and Chocolate clearly belong together.
Thursday, 7 April 2011
SINGAPOOOOOOOOOORE
Today is April 7th. It's been a long time since I last wrote. I was too busy having a great time in Singapore. I hope that's a good enough reason for you all.
I arrived in singapore on the friday the 25th of march at around noon. After getting settled in and getting a sim card/MRT card, I made my way to the NUS campus where Haomiao lives. This is where i found out there were parties almost every day for the next week.
Singapore is located 1 degree north of the equator, so as you can imagine, its hot all the time. Daytime highs are around 35C and night time lows are around 28C. You'd find yourself taking at least 2 showers a day. Sleeping simply involves putting the fan on a less noisy level and lying on your bed uncovered. I love it, it takes a while to get used to but the heat is oddly satisfying, at least more so than winter. That's not to say I don't like seasons, having no change in seasons must kind of suck.
Clarke Quay, Singapore
Anyways, I don't really know what to write here about singapore, i saw a lot of the people i met a week earlier at the full moon party. We had barbeque with Haomiao's familia out here, and went out a lot. One of the clubbing events was at the top of swissotel - a skyscraper - from which you have a great view of Clarke's Quay where all the bars are located. Nearby you can see the amazing Marina Bay Sands hotel (which looks like a boat ontop of 3 skyscrapers). This is one place I have to go to in the future, a room costs around 300$ but you get access to the infinity pool on the roof. Some of the NUS students went and showed us photos and it's breathtaking.
My experience in Singapore left me feeling like an idiot. I've always known I love asian metropolises, but I chose to go on exchange to a tiny town in europe. What on earth was I thinking? Everything about Singapore/HK/Shanghai/Tokyo plays to my tastes. Food costs nothing, weather's warm, the setting is more adventure-centric than museum-centric, and excursions don't cost an arm and a leg. Oh the things I'd do for a time machine. Mistakes have to be made I guess, else I wouldn't have known just how much I identify with asia had I not come to europe. Speaking of mistakes, my flight back to paris was at 1am on Friday Apr 1, and... i missed that cause I'm an idiot and thought it was the night of friday. The best part was I only realized in the middle of dimsum on friday. When I got to the airport, they told me i could either rebook for the 4th, or leave the same night and wait on standby in Sri Lanka (HAHAHA im not that stupid). 3 extra days in Singapore? I'll take it! I even tried to change my paris->mtl flight to singapore->mtl with no luck.
Anyways, I don't dislike europe, the pastries are to die for, and the sights are beautiful. But it's a much quieter continent with tourism focused more on "observing" than "experiencing". I just have a hard time dealing with the cost of living, the retarded amount of urban sprawl, and the early closing hours here (shit's NEVER OPEN HERE, while nothing ever closes out east). I'm busy stuffing my face in Barcelona currently, and will continue to do the same in Paris before i head home.
Crossing my fingers for an internship. Need money to buy RX-7. That baby will be mine!
Monday, 21 March 2011
Amusing things in asia
Asian food in asia is amazing, as you would expect, i've been stuffing my face full of curries and other thai food of late, not to mention the amazing mangos and pineapples that are everywhere. However one of the other food highlights of asia might be a little unexpected: it's McDonalds. Good old mcdo and KFC in asia are DELICIOUS. Those of you that have been here know exactly what i'm talking about, not only is everything crispier, its also tastier, and i wish we could get those regional specialties back home. Mcdo serves spicy crispy chicken wings here... it's so freaking good i could eat it everyday (...i did for 4 days straight).
Also, in asia you'll see tons of street carts serving food, typically they'll get you sick the first few times you have them. But after you evacuate your bowels a couple of times and adjust to the bacteria zone, street carts are the cheapest, and sometimes the best food you'll get out here. NYC streetcarts are shit compared to this, skewers actually have taste, and cost like 20cents. Ok, the cleanliness part might be a bit off putting, but you can guess your way around the good carts. Some carts you should obviously avoid, unless you have a death wish:
Speaking of sushi, im friggin excited to be headed to singapore later this week. Ending 'trips' in large cities has become a de-facto tradition for me now. Can't wait to have sushi and dimsum and everything else that i can't have in thailand. Also theres the bit about visiting haomiao & fan, who i already met with at full moon party. Full moon party was insane, easily 20k people on a beach hopping up and down to techno. You can find long stretches of guys taking a piss in the ocean, people doing the nasty in the ocean itself, and tons of fire dancers. At one point, we found someone who was waving a canadian flag, which led us to a huge group of canadians all singing the anthem, which attracted even more canadians. It was definitely a unique experience that had to be done at least once. Probably wouldn't go again unless i'm with a lot of friends though.
Anyways, i'll end this post with a funny picture of what the stray dogs here do. They're literally everywhere on this island, and because its so hot and they're furry (duh), you'll find them in 7-elevens doing this:
Also, in asia you'll see tons of street carts serving food, typically they'll get you sick the first few times you have them. But after you evacuate your bowels a couple of times and adjust to the bacteria zone, street carts are the cheapest, and sometimes the best food you'll get out here. NYC streetcarts are shit compared to this, skewers actually have taste, and cost like 20cents. Ok, the cleanliness part might be a bit off putting, but you can guess your way around the good carts. Some carts you should obviously avoid, unless you have a death wish:
Speaking of sushi, im friggin excited to be headed to singapore later this week. Ending 'trips' in large cities has become a de-facto tradition for me now. Can't wait to have sushi and dimsum and everything else that i can't have in thailand. Also theres the bit about visiting haomiao & fan, who i already met with at full moon party. Full moon party was insane, easily 20k people on a beach hopping up and down to techno. You can find long stretches of guys taking a piss in the ocean, people doing the nasty in the ocean itself, and tons of fire dancers. At one point, we found someone who was waving a canadian flag, which led us to a huge group of canadians all singing the anthem, which attracted even more canadians. It was definitely a unique experience that had to be done at least once. Probably wouldn't go again unless i'm with a lot of friends though.
Anyways, i'll end this post with a funny picture of what the stray dogs here do. They're literally everywhere on this island, and because its so hot and they're furry (duh), you'll find them in 7-elevens doing this:
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Consumer ABUSE
So back in bangkok, where its muggy and smoggy and you can't really see the sun, sunblock costs like 3usd for a nice sized bottle.
Down here on Ko Tao, an isolated island, a small 100ml bottle will cost you 12USD minimum.... so im just going to try and get dark slowly so i dont need to buy it. Crossing my fingers i don't catch on fire here. It's seriously hot.
Hope you're all jealous muahhahaaahah.
:)
Down here on Ko Tao, an isolated island, a small 100ml bottle will cost you 12USD minimum.... so im just going to try and get dark slowly so i dont need to buy it. Crossing my fingers i don't catch on fire here. It's seriously hot.
Hope you're all jealous muahhahaaahah.
:)
Sunday, 13 March 2011
Quick update
So for those of you who are wondering where I am, i'm in bangkok right now. I came down to thailand for the diving and to visit some friends on exchange in singapore so it should be a fun and relaxing couple of weeks.
I know it sounds mental that i'd leave europe... to come to asia, but according to my math, its cheaper for me to come here for a few weeks than to stay in europe. Living costs in europe are prohibitively elevated, plus who could turn down a chance to enjoy the sun, beach and cheap food?
Anyways, on my last day in Rome, this really sneaky brazilian fucker waited for me to go brush my teeth before nabbing 200euros from my jacket pocket. I only realized once i got back to paris and wanted to buy something to eat. I figured it was him and not one of the other ppl at the hostel cause he gave off a sketchy vibe, I felt like he was watching my every move. At least he was too retarded to steal my passport, i'd much rather give up 200euros than to lose that. What goes around comes around, he'll probably have a nasty encouter in the favelas or something...
On the way to asia, i had a layover in Dubai, and oh my god is dubai ever beautiful. From the plane at first all you see is the sea, then these strange man made islands, and then all of a sudden you see a city that doesnt look like it belongs in the desert. Not only that, but the burj khalifa more than doubles the nearby skyscrapers in height. the buildings are all on one main street, so from the sky you just see a row of tall structures, and then its just sand huts. It's too bad i don't have time to exit the airport and look around. Even in the airport, you could see and smell the wealth, there were emiratis circulating about on segways, and a huge fountain/waterfall in the airport!
Lastly, I don't really hate bangkok as much as i did last time, maybe it's cause it was my first destination last time around. It still isn't anywhere near my preferred cities, its a sprawling megacity with 11 million people and some serious sanitation issues. However, it's close enough to asia to make me feel comfortable right now. It's an odd thought that despite how similar europe is to canada, I still feel like i have an easier time navigating and doing things in asia.
Anyways, no pics in this update, maybe there'll be some in the next one!
I know it sounds mental that i'd leave europe... to come to asia, but according to my math, its cheaper for me to come here for a few weeks than to stay in europe. Living costs in europe are prohibitively elevated, plus who could turn down a chance to enjoy the sun, beach and cheap food?
Anyways, on my last day in Rome, this really sneaky brazilian fucker waited for me to go brush my teeth before nabbing 200euros from my jacket pocket. I only realized once i got back to paris and wanted to buy something to eat. I figured it was him and not one of the other ppl at the hostel cause he gave off a sketchy vibe, I felt like he was watching my every move. At least he was too retarded to steal my passport, i'd much rather give up 200euros than to lose that. What goes around comes around, he'll probably have a nasty encouter in the favelas or something...
On the way to asia, i had a layover in Dubai, and oh my god is dubai ever beautiful. From the plane at first all you see is the sea, then these strange man made islands, and then all of a sudden you see a city that doesnt look like it belongs in the desert. Not only that, but the burj khalifa more than doubles the nearby skyscrapers in height. the buildings are all on one main street, so from the sky you just see a row of tall structures, and then its just sand huts. It's too bad i don't have time to exit the airport and look around. Even in the airport, you could see and smell the wealth, there were emiratis circulating about on segways, and a huge fountain/waterfall in the airport!
Lastly, I don't really hate bangkok as much as i did last time, maybe it's cause it was my first destination last time around. It still isn't anywhere near my preferred cities, its a sprawling megacity with 11 million people and some serious sanitation issues. However, it's close enough to asia to make me feel comfortable right now. It's an odd thought that despite how similar europe is to canada, I still feel like i have an easier time navigating and doing things in asia.
Anyways, no pics in this update, maybe there'll be some in the next one!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)