20 DAYS LEFT

20 DAYS LEFT

It's the final countdown! (Oh, you know I had to...)



MORE AMERICAN CUSTOMS

Thanks to Chris and Corey, I've got a couple more American customs.

Sarcasm. Most cultures in the world don't have it - Americans use it almost daily. (For people unfamiliar with it, if the weather is dismal and you say 'What beautiful weather we are having' you are either a mental case or using sarcasm. Or a farmer needing water for his crops. I know some cultures (Japanese) have no sarcasm in their culture and the person I was using it on from that culture had more than a bit of resentment toward it. I'm not saying Americans are the only culture to use this, but we do use it quite a lot. Note, sarcasm isn't understood to be such via typing. This is why people type things like 'sarcasm on' and 'sarcasm off'. It is pretty much a vocal thing.

Hand gestures. Aside from the 'American bird' aka 'flipping someone off' which has become universal, we also use the "OK" hand gesture or the thumbs up. While the 'thumbs up' is pretty universally understood, the OK gesture is not. I know last time I was in Germany it meant 'you are an asshole' - so use that one with care.



PIRATES

Wow, what an odd story this is on real life pirates.



TOTAL RECALL (2012)

In a total WTF moment, I came across this - they are going to redo it? Already? Really? I mean the original was only made in 1990 for gods sake! Is Hollywood so bereft of ideas they are now remaking movies after only 20 years? Apparently so... Surprised they haven't messed with more classics actually.



MOVIE REVIEW - UNDERWORLD 2003

Rewtching this one. It was good though I feel that the series really (as most of them do) went downhill as the movies continued to be made. I watched it because I couldn't find my copy of Undercover Blues or Queen of the Damned. Both of which I like better than Underworld.



MOVIE REVIEW - THE 13TH WARRIOR

I have no fucking clue why this movie lost fifty million dollars. Not a clue. It's an interesting movie, well done and it even had some good stars in it. It just didn't seem to catch peoples interest in theaters. Personally, I give it 8/10. Worth catching if you haven't seen it before.



ROMANIA

I interviewed a dynamic guy named Chris about it. For some reason I can't figure out, I called it Hungary a couple times. Wow, my brain is fried. Anyway, he gave me some information about Romania (not Hungary). I'm going to put it here with my comments in [] after it.

Canadians get a better reception. If you say you're Canadian, you'll have an easier time than if you say you're American. [I've been saying for years I'd LOVE to have a Canadian passport to travel under. Unfortunately, it would cost quite a bit to get one and I just don't have those kind of funds.]

Hostels are more interesting. You meet people who are interested in the same thing you are (traveling) and can find out more information and get involved with more activities than staying in a hotel, though there is less privacy and such.

Eastern European people are more receptive to talking and such.

Bucharest is more westernized and not a good example of Romania. Sibiu (pronounced "Sib-you" is a smaller town and a better example of Romania.

You have to 'get mad' not to get taken advantage of (monetarily) on rates for cabs, hostels, etc. People in eastern Europe have a vision that all Americans live in the '90210' world. They're going to think I own a beach house and fancy car somewhere. [If only they knew how little money I actually had.] Check ahead of time (with other travelers and such) to find out how much things actually cost - including hostels. [I didn't know that they'd rip you off on hostels - knew about the cabs but not the hostels.]

Go to Ceauşescu's place in Romania to see what greed (and being an emperor) feels like. [I've seen the place in various travel documentaries and his famous last speech on youtube. It would be interesting.]

Outside of Bucharest, there are a lot of people who have never met an American. [All those who know me well and are reading this - please imagine their impression of America if I am the only American they'd ever met. Oh, my god.]

He was last in Romania five years ago and overstayed his visa by three months. After the police yelling at him for a couple hours, he had to pay $50 which he suspects they kept. [This tells me that - at least as of five years ago - bribery is alive and well there. I should be OK.]

Although they ply you with drinks (constantly) that are pretty much 'moonshine', any display of public drunkenness is 'taken personally' - you can lose friends and such over that. But at the same time, it seems they may want to 'get you drunk' for the experience. [Fortunately, for me, when I get drunk I seek bed rather than going out and yelling at inanimate objects. I do the yelling at inanimate objects when I'm sober just because I'm crazy.]

If a young punk comes up and talks shit to you, just walk away. He may have several friends lying in wait around the corner who are waiting to come and help beat you up. [Unless things really change for me when I'm there, I'm fortunately not the kind of person people are interested in beating up or talking shit to. I'm just the fat crippled guy. I'm hoping this is not a big problem and thinking it probably won't be for me.]

If you travel by a train, getting a first class ticket is worth it as otherwise you may be sandwiched in with people who may not like you. [With how much space I take up they may not like me anyway.]

Hitchhiking is safe. It is also a good way to meet people. Hitchhiking there is a culturally accepted thing. [Looking forward to it.]

Don't reveal how much money you have on you. [Always good advice.]

Couch surfing. [Chris encouraged me to look up information on couch surfing as it's a good way to meet up with people and get my feet wet in a foreign country. I'll have to check it out. Also, they may have other 'stay with a family' things. I'll check it out but honestly, my plan is to go to an area and look for people in coffee shops (not the ones actively looking for me) and ask them. But it could be another resource - I'm not sure how much internet I'll have in some of these countries.]

In Eastern Europe, traveling abroad is seen as an attempt to educate oneself and adventurous, not as being a vagabond.

The Romanians are a passionate people.

Speak softly there. [I'm fucked.]

If you are relaxed and take up a lot of space (ie spread out) it can be seen as arrogance. [Interesting.]

Sex tourism is pushed. [Also interesting but I have noticed that most of the 'you have violated a major cultural taboo' things in other countries involve women. I will be cautious.]

As a side note, he thought one of the most interesting countries he visited was Israel. [Due to the huge problems that you run into when you have an Israel stamp on your passport I don't know if I'll be hitting this country soon. All of their neighbors fucking hate them.]

And on a totally unrelated to travel note we did discuss that many relationships often are a 'human crutch'. I put this in only because I think it's a great turn of phrase Chris came up with.

In conclusion, I'd like to thank Chris for his interesting views on Romania. I look forward to getting there and checking it out.

DEEP INTO THE HEART OF CHARLEY

Col. Kurtz: "I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream; that's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor... and surviving."

That's been going through my mind, as of late.



GERMAN STAMMTISCH

In Germany, the 'stammtisch' is 'the usual table for the regulars'. Well, it actually has a lot more connotations with it than just that. Sometimes, it is on a special day for special reasons - like the 'philosophy stammtisch'. Other times, the locals eat there (as a group) so much that they put up a brass plaque that can not only denote the table as a 'stammtisch' but might even include the names of the regulars who eat/drink/hang out there. Another definition might be the 'high table'. If you are in a German speaking country and get invited to a 'stammtisch', this is seen as an honor. If you try to sit at a stammtisch - even if the rest of the place is packed and that table is the only empty one, look forward to being relocated.

Anyway, at one of the local eateries they have a German stammtisch (and apparently a French one as well) from 6 PM till whenever - usually 7 PM when a not very good musician takes the stage and attempts to drive off the customers. It worked on me.

Anyway, from talking to the various German speakers (all of whom spoke much better German than I did - sigh) I discovered that if they spoke simply I was able to follow about 40-50% of what they were saying. Not bad. If my other language skills (Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish) were up to that level, I'd be pretty happy indeed about it. I've got some podcasts of those languages (well, not Chinese - I'm not that frigging slick) on my player ready to go. So, later I'll work on them. Probably after I get out of Germany.

They don't make any Czech podcasts (does nobody care?) so I'll work on picking up a few phrases when I'm there.

Studying a language when you're surrounded by people who speak it - and no English - is much easier. Any language.



THOUGHTS AFTER THE TOUR TRIP

I'm starting to think I should consider working my way down to Turkey after we get done with Prague and such. I was looking at the other countries and it seems that some are part of the dreaded 'Schengen Agreement' (which spells good things for most casual travelers and doom to a loafer like me) and others look like they're a huge pain in the ass. [In case you have missed previous mad rantings I've done about the 'Schengen Agreement', it allows you to go visa free into any of the countries that are in it. Most of Europe - for all intensive purposes - is one big country for this. After 3 months in this new, giant country it's 'get the fuck out of our big giant country' time and you've got to get out. That's where Turkey comes in. It (fortunately) is not in the 'Schengen Agreement' and doesn't seem to be too difficult to enter. Might be a little light bribery required, not sure.

Keep in mind, these are just speculative thoughts. One thing I'm going to be doing is talking to a lot of other travelers, police, embassies, whatever and finding out more information when I get my feet on the ground in these other countries. I just wanted to come up with a rough outline of 'what should I do'.

Hell, I might find the Czech Republic so inviting (and hopefully, cheap) that I stay there (and bug Jana - poor Jana) for awhile. I might be phoning her up from small outlying towns and saying "How do I say 'extra food for the fat man please'?" And other useful phrases. Who knows. Might end up having to make a last minute dash for Turkey and hope I don't get turned away from the border. That would be a bummer. But we'll see. It should be a fuck of a lot more interesting than sitting around my dust filled cold apartment bored out of my mind writing a blog.



INDIA

I was reading up on India and it looks as though they're offering an interesting deal. You can get a 10 year visa. Yes, TEN years. Apparently, you can go in - stay for 3 months, be out for two months and then go back in. On the same ten year visa. It's $150 but it might be worth it to kick around there for awhile to save a little bit of money up when I start working the Asia side. We'll have to see.



TWO NOTES ON THE BLOG

First, if I have anything negative to say about the country - and I'm in one of 'those' countries - you know what I mean - then I might have to wait until I leave it before giving it a negative review. Don't know. I'd hate to blog and then find out that their 'president elect for life and death to anyone who doesn't like it' is a fan and reads the blog. That would be socially awkward. As would the firing squad.

Second, if nobody hears from me for a couple months, it means I'm dead. And you know what that means - "AVENGE MY DEATH".



RE-WATCHING TOTAL RECALL

Fun movie with some good Schwarzenegger action. Happy times. Blocky cars, really big tracker units - very 1980's in feel but very nice with the special effects.



VALENTINE'S DAY

Well, for those who thought it was just a 'Hallmark Holiday', apparently this is not the case. It's been around for a long time. Apparently, it use to be a fertility festival. Go figure. I'm betting plenty of couples are practicing it on that day without even realizing it.

What a lot of people may not realize is that FEB 15th is just as big of holiday. I call it 'cheap candy they couldn't push the previous day on people who were too stupid to buy it before Valentines day'. So, get ready to go shopping on the 15th.