some things nuremberg

here are some of my own personal observations and thoughts and opinions of nuremberg. it's not necessarily "german" nor do i want to classify or categorize everything german in a list. but this is the kind of stuff you probably won't see on a tourist book or wikipedia.

1. one of the best mexican restaurants in the city (and i say best very generously) is a restaurant called "enchilada". it's a great name for sure if you're in germany, but can you imagine a thai restaurant called "fried rice". at any rate, the food isn't exactly mexican. i mean, it's pretty much like finding a german restaurant in mexico. just not gonna be the same. but the atmosphere is lively and the drinks are still good. although the last time i went, i noticed that the corona was actually bottled in czech republic. hmmm. also, the tortilla chips are not tortilla chips. it's basically a bag of your classic doritos.

2. most traffic lights on an intersection do *NOT* have the protected left green arrow. this is increasily annoying me because you pretty much have to stand in the middle of the intersection every single time. i don't know why they don't have more of them.

3. the smallest paper money is 5 EUR. they don't have 1 EUR bills, but they do have 2 EUR coins and 1 EUR coins and of course 50 cents, 20 cents, 10 cents, 5 cents, 2 cents, and 1 cent coins. this can add up to a lot of coins. and considering that when i get home, i just leave all my coins on the table, i end up collecting a lot of coins. just last night, i realized i had about $150 worth of coins.

4. in a restaurant, the waiters are carrying a purse or if they take credit cards, they have this remote device that can swipe your credit card. this is pretty standard no matter what kind of restaurant you go - small cafe, mom and pop sandwich shop, or a full blown restaurant.

5. my favorite bakery/cafe/coffeeshop is this one called "der beck". it's a chain and you can find one in almost every corner. in fact, you can find a bakery/cafe/coffeeshop everywhere you look. if it's not der beck, it's something else. there are probably more bakery/cafe/coffeeshop in nuremberg than there are starbucks in all of the US. the funny thing though is that there's not one near my apartment here and that's probably because i live in a farm. anyway, my favorite one is on killianstrasse and i like it because it's big and they have two rooms you can sit in. the decoration is all new york and they even have frank sinatra's lyrics on one of the walls.

6. for the past year, i lived on a street called "schnepfenreuther hauptstrasse". everytime i have to fill out a form, i curse 28 times everytime i have to spell it out.

7. don't eat at this "all you can eat" thai restaurant in fuerth called the "golden rainbow". the food is terrible and they serve fake coca-cola. actually i dont know if it was fake, but it definitely wasn't coca-cola. also, the food made me so sick it almost ripped me apart. i went there for lunch and i actually couldn't even make it to the office. my colleague had to drop me off at the KFC because i couldn't hold it any longer. it's the worst feeling when you have to go and then you're in a car. i thought i was going to explode. random note: when we're young, we don't worry if we have to go. we just go. and we have diapers. and then the diapers get cleaned up. then at some point, we're taught "not to go" and hold it. and we learn this and mommies and daddies have celebrations when we do it right the first time. and then the celebrations stop. it's not that big of a deal anymore. then we get old and it's back to how it was when we were young. we just go.

8. there's a ton of history in nuremberg. the nuremberg trials were held here. hitler built this massive nazi party rally ground with a congresshall designed much like the colloseum in rome. you can find more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_party_rally_grounds

9. when you get a shopping cart, you have to insert 1 EUR or 2 EUR to get one. this ensures that you put the cart back. it's all chained together so it works really well - nobody has to monitor it. so if you don't have a euro, then you should get change. you could also insert plastic ones in there if you want. most people will have this in the car so they don't need to worry about carrying cash all the time. they still do have cartboys, but not nearly as much.

10. german men like to wear leather pants. i've seen at least half a dozen men wear leather pants IN THE OFFICE and they wear it with a normal buttoned up shirt. the tighter the pants, the better. and oh yeah, these are 40+ yr old men.

2009 goals

i know it's almost april, but better late than never. here are my top ten goals for this year.

1. visit 10 new countries before i turn 34 in october. i've been handed a prime opportunity by practically living in europe so i'm going to take full advantage of it. i'm currently at 24 countries as i write this so getting to 34 will be interesting. and considering i didn't start til i was 31 years old, it kinda makes me laugh at the idea. you just never know where and how things happen. they just do.

2. bury myself in work. i've been kicked out of this country once and been pulled out of the project for political reasons but somehow, some way, i'm still here. hopefully, things will work out and we can actually achieve our goal.

3. bury myself in photography and try and learn new things. in 2008, i barely took any photographs that i was proud of and spent most of my energy in other things that left nothing for creativity. 2009 will change that.

4. save X amount of money. this will also be interesting, but i think it's possible.

5. spend more time with family and friends in the US. in 2008, i spent about 5 weeks total. that's not enough.

6. go to the gym at an average of 3x per week or 3 hours per week for the rest of the year. so far, i'm actually on pace.

7. catch up with god. he's got a lot of explaining to do and i have a lot to be thankful for.

8. completely stop smoking.

9. make shoot for change an official non profit organization. this one takes more work than i expected, but if i can just get the paperwork straightened out and written, then we can get the ball rolling.

10. to love.

tight leather man pants

i just saw a man wearing leather pants, which makes it now about half a dozen 40+ year old men wearing tight leather man pants IN THE OFFICE here in nuremberg. what is all the hoopla about these leather pants? are they trying to out-tight each other or what? and it's not like they're even biker dudes or trying to be gothic or anything like that. they're wearing a normal button-up shirt and normal shoes. from a fashion perspective, it's completely wrong. i mean, if you're gonna wear leather pants, you have to go all out. it's not an accessory like a watch or an earring. leather pants are one of those things that cannot be part of a normal ensemble.

but let's not even talk about fashion, let's talk about sanity! why are they wearing leather pants? i'm fortunate, at the moment, that none of my colleagues actually wear them. although it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't have them, but at least i haven't seen it. and what's funny is that i've also seen my therapist wear them. at least he changed before we started our session because there was no way i could see him after that. (another seinfeld episode - seriously they've covered all topics it seems like). but why was he wearing them? is that what he wears outside of our therapy? i would never imagine it. it's like seeing mister rogers wear them with his sweater.

so what is it about leather pants. is it warm? is it comfortable? it's certainly not cheap. can someone explain this to me?

love

This is what I think about love.

before the rain

today, after waking up, i did my typical routine as whatever typical might be for someone partially living/moving out of germany. first, i went to the gym, which unfortunately has taken a back seat to all the roadtrips i've been taking. but in the past few days, i've started going again. my mantra: "it's only 30 minutes. go." it works often!

after going to the gym, i went to my favorite Der Beck which is this chain store bakery that has better pastries and baked goods than any chain store bakery i've seen in my life. click here to see what i'm talking about (then click on the arrows where it says "seite" to turn the page).

i also like it that they have this running high definition video on how they make all their pastries. sometimes i just quietly stare at it for 15 minutes. anyway, i got some coffee and a krapfen (a jelly filled donut) which probably deleted my last three workouts after one bite. i wanted to actually eat it at the store, but i got too excited with my mix of deutsch and hand signals, so they packed it up "mit nehmen" or "to go". despite that confusion, i ate the donut at the store. one would never blog about getting donuts, but when you live in a foreign country, getting ANYTHING is always an adventure.

after that, i headed to the rental car place at the airport. i've been exchanging cars more frequently than normal. a friend told me that it's my way of coping with the breakup and that i can't make a commitment to one car. it's like the process of exchanging it and not getting attached. i thought about it for a while and thought "no" i'm simply trying to take advantage of my current situation, knowing full well that it could end without a moment's notice. but maybe there's some truth in what he said. but that's for another blog.

This MB GLK 280 is now "Mercedes Benz Herbie".

the people at the rental car place have really gotten to know me. i like it too that everytime i walk in, i'm greeted with a warm "hello mr. grio!" and they really do mean it! they even gave me the "secret" email address and phone number that contacts them directly at their desk. and sometimes they call me when a "cool" car comes in to see if i'm interested. but today, it was simply exchanging it for another.

however, as i'm driving to the airport ready to exchange this car, i started to like this car. it seems to fit my current mood. it's sporty, small, and has a personality. i don't know if it was the black balloons or what, but i've started to like this car. i never thought a mercedes benz would do that, but looking at it, the car's kinda cool. like that vw bug herbie cool. i walked up to the rental car counter and i told them that i'd like to keep this car for a few more days. no problem they said. so mercedes benz herbie and i proceed to our next errand.

so i take the car and drive it back to the apartment. and as i'm driving back, i noticed that the weather was starting to change. the temperature dropped considerably and the wind was really blowing. i looked up and saw the clouds moving faster and faster almost like in a movie. taking some pictures crossed my mind, but i wasn't really into it at the time. so as i park the car in front of my apartment with the wind blowing like crazy, mercedes benz herbie told me to get my camera. really. maybe i'm delusional, but if you look at the grill, it really does look like it talks. ok, i'm delusional. 

nonetheless, i ran inside the apartment and grabbed my camera bag, jumped inside mercedes benz herbie and started chasing some clouds. we drove down the street where the cobble stones were and then headed to the park just across the main street. the wind was really picking up and it was getting colder and colder. as the clouds were moving, i started to get panicked because i didn't want to be too far away from the car in case it started to pour. 

you see, that's what happens the moment before the rain starts to fall. there's a sense of urgency and uncertainty, yet at the same time, peppered with excitement. the moment before the rain starts to fall is an incredibly profound moment.



it's like the moment before a smile turns into laughter or the moment before the laughter turns into tears. it's the moment before you break up or the moment before the first kiss. it's the moment before you say goodbye to someone at the airport or the moment before you say hello. it's the moment before you look at your child for the first time or the moment before you find out someone is dying. you add up all those moments and that's what life is all about.

for me, this week is encapsulated in many of those moments. in a few days, my time in germany could be over. instead of driving down the autobahn, i might be trading in mercedes benz herbie for a chevy malibu and driving to paris, texas instead of paris, france. it's not in my control and it's at this point that i can only raise my hands in the air and say, it's all yours, lord. and whether or not you believe in god, something out of your control will happen. as for me, i do believe in god and i've always believed that it's in surrender that one can find peace.

and i can pray to stay here and to keep my job here and to keep driving around europe until there are no more new roads to drive on. whether or not god answers that prayer is up to him. because as much as i'd like for him to answer my prayers, sometimes it's the "unanswered" ones that is what's best for you. you just never know how he'll answer. it's like the moment before the rain starts to fall.

lemonade out of black balloons

I was supposed to have a photoshooting this weekend in Vienna, but we canceled it because of the weather. We planned to shoot at a very old amusement park with a classic old carousel and our plan was a dark themed shooting with black balloons.

So we canceled it on Friday, but I had already ordered the black balloons. I picked them up anyway and wondered what I should do with them. At the same time, I had just picked up a different car, which was a Mercedes Benz SUV. The balloons were in the back and I didn't want to just throw it away without at least taking some pictures. But with the weather being rainy, I didn't know what to do. Finally, I thought that I could put the camera on the tripod and then put them both in the back of the SUV with the back door open. This way, the camera would be protected from the rain and there won't be a glass window in front of it.

Somehow, driving a black Mercedes Benz made me want to wear a suit so I thought that might look cool with the black balloons. I went home, wore my black suit with a black tie, and drove around looking for an abandoned road. The best shot would have been in the woods, but I already learned my lesson about parking my car on the mud. So the road I found turned out not to be so abandoned, but it did give me some time to take some shots in between cars driving by. I'm sure they were totally confused and wondering what a guy wearing a black suit and carrying black balloons is doing in the middle of the street in the rain, with a Mercedes Benz parked on the side of the road.

I wanted to use my remote control to take the shots, so I wouldn't have to run back and forth. However, the battery on the remote was weak and it wouldn't take the shots. So I had to use the timer instead. I must have run back and forth 20 or 30 times. Working by yourself, in the rain, while carrying half a dozen black balloons is not exactly the ideal working condition. But I did it. With each passing car, I pressed the button, ran a few meters down the road, and tried to pose with a somewhat interesting look just before the camera would take a picture. It was work! And the balloons in the rain with some light wind aren't exactly the best props to work with.

I setup the camera to autofocus but I learned quickly that it was hard for the camera to pick me up because of the balloons. So after a while, I decided to set the focus manually and then run to the spot where it was focusing. Of course this took some time and my patience began to run out. At some point, sanity starts to set in and I was wondering what it was that I was doing in the first place! But I just needed one or two to look "cool" so I continued.

Anyway, sometimes you just have to do crazy things like that. Even though it was raining and we canceled the original shooting, it was good for me to do something spontaneous. I did what I could with what I had at the moment and made lemonade out of black balloons.

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You can click on each image to make them bigger. These are some of the funnier ones:









Some of the cool ones I think. The "dots" you see are raindrops. Click on the first two images to see them up close.

magic

I was driving around looking for some good locations to photograph and I found this awesome looking hill that I just had to check out. The road was totally paved, which was good, as I was already leery about anything resembling mud or snow. As I was driving up the hill, I noticed that the road was no longer paved so I actually decided to stop. But somehow, some way, I had a brain freeze and decided that I would try an Austin Powers maneuver and get this BMW 525 turned around on this small road. As you can see in this picture, there was no possible way that could have happened.



I walked down the hill and down the road towards the nearest petrol station. As luck would have it, and I mean serious luck, the lady actually spoke very fluent english. She was in her mid 50s and it is incredibly difficult to find anyone who speaks english, let alone someone who's a little older. You just don't find it. And most importantly, she was very kind and extremely helpful. She listened to my story and worried and laughed with me and she called every garage/tow truck/car service around the neighborhood. And when she couldn't find one, she called the surrounding towns. She said that we shouldn't call ADAC (similar to AAA) because it's more expensive. She said it should be our last resort. At first I disagreed with her, but I appreciated her thoughtfulness nonetheless.

This small petrol station was owned by her and her husband. Their son, about my age, actually drove up to the hill to check out the situation. He and his father came back with weird looks on their faces, wondering what it was that drove me up that hill and into the mud. They laughed also and were very kind. Finally, the lady found a person who had a truck large enough to pull the full size sedan out of the mud. Within a few minutes, the truck pulled up to the petrol station. The guy was probably in his twenties, very eager to show that he could pull the car out of the predicament. The car was about 500 meters away from the petrol station so the son actually came with me to help with the english translation. When we drove up the hill, the tow truck driver just looked at me with disbelief. At first, we didn't know how to do it because with the way the car was positioned, the best place for him would have been on the grass. Unfortunately, that couldn't happen because it was also very muddy.



After analyzing the situation, the son and the tow truck driver decided to just try to do it slowly. They were so careful with the car and made sure that they minimized whatever damage could happen with the car. The way this was positioned, you can easily see that we could at least scratch the car. To minimize this risk, the tow truck driver took off his jacket and wrapped it between the rope and the car. It's not even my car and I was greatly touched by what he was doing. After getting everything secured, it only took a few seconds to pull the car out of the mud. The son told me to give the tow truck driver 30 EUR, so I gave him 50 instead.

When we went back to the petrol station, the lady was smiling, after realizing that we had pulled the car out of the mud. They told me that many people have done the same thing, although not for the sake of photography. I asked for their business card as I had very little cash with me and told them that I am extremely grateful for their kindness and that I would send them something instead. They said that if I'm ever in town again, I should stop by and they would show me more of the area that I can photograph (albeit not in the same way as what just happened).

What I've learned in the past few weeks is that every now and then, we all could use a little help. If you're stuck in the mud, you need all the help you can get. Hopefully, you will find people to help you. What I've learned is that sometimes all you have to do is ask. Maybe you won't find it immediately, just like it took us 20 phone calls to finally find someone who could help me. But if you don't ask for help, you will never get it. And everyone needs a little bit of help sometimes. It doesn't matter if you are unemployed or have a six figure salary, it doesn't matter if you're driving a $60,000 car or a used '84 Toyota Corolla, and it doesn't matter if you're healthy or heartbroken. We could all use a little bit of help.

It's funny because I went up that hill to see what magical picture I could find. I'm always searching, at least in the past few days, to help me paint my current situation and to find that scene that best describes how I've been feeling. And even though I may not have found that picture up the hill, I can definitely say that I still found some magic.

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You can find more pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=220653&id=653050323&l=74022
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lunch in stuttgart

I decided to have lunch with a colleague who lived in Stuttgart. He's actually been a pretty cool friend so it was nice to visit with him. This week, he was working from Stuttgart instead of Nuremberg so it was a good excuse for me to take another roadtrip. It's a "short" 2 hour drive to Stuttgart so as I was looking at the map, I decided to take a detour and take the scenic route.


Total distance: 603km (375 miles)

My first stop was Heidelberg where there's a famous castle. This town was really interesting with all the old buildings and squares and bridges. Unfortunately, for me, the weather was a bit foggy so I couldn't take all the pictures I wanted to take (or what I saw on the internet). For example, there's a shot of a bridge with the castle right behind it, but I couldn't get it done because the fog covered the castle. In fact, I couldn't even find the castle. I eventually found it by following the signs that say "schloss". It also helped that it had a picture of a castle right next to it. Random thought: in Deutsch, there's "schloss" and "burg" which are actually two different meanings. One means castle and the other one, I think, means fortress. I'm not sure about fortress, but it could also be palace. I know that one of them is more of where people live and the other one is where they battle and stuff like that. Perhaps one day, I'll know the difference.

So I followed the signs to the schloss and since it was all uphill, I actually drove up there. There were houses right next to the schloss as you're driving up. I'm sure those were million dollar homes because of the view and it's right next to the schloss. If people asked them where they lived, it wouldn't be hard to find at all. "We live behind the castle, you know."


Schloss @ Heidelberg.

After taking some pictures of the schloss, I headed towards Stuttgart to eat lunch with Frank. We had lunch at Ochs 'n Willi which was a "typical" German restaurant. When I was driving towards Stuttgart, I wanted a schweinebraten (which is like a potroast), but when I walked in the restaurant, I saw someone eating a schweinshaxe, which is pork and it is crispy on the outside. Just looking at a schweinshaxe will give you a heartattack. But it was perfect and it totally hit the spot. I do have to admit that it rocked me pretty good and I could still feel it six hours later.


Schweinshaxe.

Before dropping Frank off, he showed me the Porsche Museum. The building is incredible and so I decided to stop by before heading over to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. I didn't plan on actually going inside the museum, but I was attracted to the gift shop. Unfortunately, their selections were pretty lame and I couldn't even buy a teeshirt. They did have this really cool poster on the wall, but they weren't selling posters. Once inside though, I decided to get a ticket (8 EUR) and check out the museum. They had every Porsche ever built and it felt like a giant toy store for me. Next time, I'd like to go to the Mercedes Benz museum. I'm sure they have better selections in the gift store. So now you know Porsche and Mercedes comes from Stuttgart. And BMW is from Munich.


Porsche Museum.

After Stuttgart, I went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Several people have recommended going there and I could totally see why. All the buildings inside the castle wall felt like an original. The architecture made me feel like I walked into a postcard or a Hollywood set. I knew they were genuine, but my mind and eyes weren't believing it. The only thing that was strange was that it was empty. Nuremberg at 5pm has more people walking around so it was weird to see this town empty. So after a while, it also felt a little lonely and depressing. I almost felt like that Will Smith movie "I am Legend" where he was the only person remaining. After feeling that way, I decided to go back to Nuremberg. =)

For this trip, I drove an Audi TT Coupe, and let me tell you, that car is SWEET. I don't think I would buy one, but it was definitely fun to drive. The other cars I've driven can go the same speed, but this little car WANTED to go fast. It reminded me of our dog, Bailey (in his younger years), when he would pull on the leash and it felt like he could literally pull your arms off your body. That's what the Audi TT was for me. Fortunately, there was a strip of highway during the roadtrip where I could actually unleash the car. And when I pressed on the gas pedal, the car just took off. The acceleration was like butter. It wasn't even trying at all. It felt like it was born to do that. The cool thing too is that, unlike the other cars I've tried, this Audi TT was hugging the road. The faster it went, the harder it grabbed the road. You could almost feel the car lowering to the ground. The rear spoiler also would come up as you went faster, which was actually my favorite part. For a short duration, my top speed actually reached 250 kph (155 mph). Welcome to the German Autobahn.

For more photographs, you can click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=220126&id=653050323&l=3f137

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german flea market

i don't really know the difference between a flea market in the states compared to the one here in germany. but considering that this is my first time actually selling something in a flea market, it was an interesting experience. i had a few items to sell and mainly it was nicole's stuff that we were trying to sell. in preparations for moving out of this apartment, there were tons of things we needed to get rid of. nicole's already sold a bicycle (70 EUR), a sofa bed (also 70 EUR), some winter tires and wheels (FREE), and a pretty ugly white closet/sideboard thing (FREE). i would have actually PAID someone to come get those tires and closet so it was good that someone took them. of course, we still need to sell our kitchen (on ebay).



some things i noticed about the flea market:

1. they have portable toilets available just like you'd find anywhere else, but you actually pay 30 cents to use them. there's a guy outside who takes your money and after you're done, he goes in there and actually sprays and wipes the toilet AND floor. he doesn't empty out the toilet or anything, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. he also sold some snacks on the side =).

2. there are some professional merchants at a flea market. you can tell based on their setup and their products and how they go about it. they have things to hang their clothes, prices on their products, and also a lockbox for their money. and they also have a table cloth on top of their table. on the other hand, you can tell we were first timers based on the fact that we only had a folding table, a ziploc bag for our money, and we used grocery shopping carts to display some of our clothes on hangers. not sure if there's such a thing as a ghetto flea market stand, but after today, i'd say we just defined it.

3. it cost us 12.50 EUR to have a 2.5 meter table, but they found out our table was actually 3 meters so they charged another 6 EUR. you could pay more to have your car there with you, which considering the weather, i would have done it. but i didn't know about it. we were in a "METRO" store parking lot, which is a lot like SAM's wholesale club in the states. they're closed on sundays, much like all other stores in germany, so this is when they have flea markets. funny thing is that we live about 2 minutes from this place and not once did i even know this was happening on sundays here.

4. we were there starting at 6:30am to get the "prime" location spot and there were already tons of other merchants setting up. we got a pretty good location in the front. the market actually opens at 9am, but there were already many people wanting some of our stuff. i had a rice cooker for sale. of course i wanted top money for it so i started out with 20 EUR. most of them just gave me the WTF look. some probably even said it in german, who knows. but the market didn't open for another 2 hours and i figured these were the 'professional' negotiators. i wasn't afraid of them though! i stood firm. i said 20 EUR, they said 10 EUR, then i said get out of here!

then they would ask what the "final price" was and i would say 20 EUR. they would leave in disgust but the more they wanted to lower the price, the more valuable that rice cooker became. some lady even said, "well the store right here sells it for a lower price, you're crazy!" so i said, "that store opens on monday so why don't you just buy it there." it probably would have made more of an impact had i said it in german, but it made me feel good nonetheless.

5. i had an H&M suit that i wanted to sell for 15 EUR. lots of people were interested. but they wanted it for 10 EUR. in some ways i think it's all the negotiation and the game. i wasn't playing that game though and was adamant at my prices. maybe i don't understand this flea market thing, but an H&M suit for 15 EUR was already a steal. it has pants AND a jacket and the dry cleaner tag was still on there!! and i only wore it once for a shooting (and the only problem i have with it is that it's purple when photographed, but looks black when not).

but some items were going for 3 EUR and people would negotiate 2.50. it's like, really? 50 cents? this lady wanted to haggle for a box of puzzles and she didn't want it for 3 EUR. she said maybe it's not complete. i told her we bought it brand new for 20 EUR so even if it wasn't complete, she's still getting a bargain. that probably wasn't a good idea because she left after i said that. anyway, she came back a few hours later and this time, nicole talked to her. nicole made her feel "important" and was giving her the "wow, you do this 1000 piece puzzle by yourself?" the old lady was all smiley and stuff. she actually bought the puzzle, but somehow she still weasled her way into getting it for 2.50 instead of 3 EUR. and then she had the audacity to ask us for a bag to carry it in!

we were there between 6:30am and 1pm. i could have used a little bit more sunshine and warmth. standing there for that long will freeze your butt off. the guy next to us actually had some really cool things. he used to be a photographer so he had all these old OLD cameras. i wanted some of them, but i figured i shouldn't cause i'm at a flea market as a SELLER. no need to add new junk when you're trying to get rid of some already. but after a while, i finally caved in on this awesome camera lighter =) between this camera lighter and a few pastries and cups of tea and what i actually sold, i think i netted about fifty cents total. nicole, however, was a pro for sure. she even sold the gloves she was wearing for 15 EUR. we were both a little skeptical but the funny thing is that everytime we left our gloves on the table by accident, people actually wanted them! overall, she netted about 100 EUR (appx $130) for selling some of her clothes. and she even sold the rice cooker for 13 EUR after she threw in a few boxes of puzzles.

now if we can just move the kitchen...

what is international?

i have to write this before i forget it, but i've been wondering about the definition of international. i mean, i know what it means, but it's weird because if you're in the US and someone is in europe or in asia or australia, then it feels like that person is international. but canada is a different nation and you don't call people who travel there "international". or do you? how about mexico?

so if you're in europe, then you're considered international. even from a work perspective and on your resume, you can put that. but what does it really mean? and for someone who actually lives in europe, are they considered international? take someone from germany and they travel to greece or italy, are they considered international? they should be based on the definition, but the connotation is that they're not.

and what's even crazy is that it's all based on borders. it's some sort of man-installed "imaginary" line that says this part is germany and this part is switzerland. yes, you have border patrols or whatever, but ever since the schengen agreement, you can easily drive across different countries in europe with no problem. even someone with a US passport can drive wherever he wants with no problem.



this whole concept of borders is driving me crazy. i mean, consider an apartment with doors and walls. that's basically an "inter-room" apartment. maybe you need to knock or maybe you don't, but there's still a border. you can basically have borders everywhere you go or with anything you have. intercloset, intergarage, interdrawer, interanythingyouwant. where does it stop? and why are there borders anyway?

some people consider the US to be the melting pot with so many different cultures living in one massive body of land, but if that's the case, then europe should be called the mother of all melting pots even if it is barely the size of texas. i mean, it's wild. forget going to "little italy", you can actually go to the REAL italy if you want. you want spagetti from italy, just drive a couple of hours and you're there (if you're in germany). and even germany and austria who "almost" speak the same language (inside joke there), they are two different countries and YOU KNOW you're in a different country. much like in new york or san francisco, you know you're in a different neighborhood. even between mesquite and dallas and plano or between seattle and wenatchee, you know you're in a different place. so everywhere you go, there's always some sort of border and some sort of imaginary line between what you know and what you're familiar with compared to what you don't know. some people can't even cross the street or get out of their house. if they eventually crossed the street, then they might as well be traveling internationally.

here's another thing on my mind. if you took all the people in the US and all the people in europe and you swapped them, what would happen to those countries? what happens to those cities? would venice stay the same? would iowa or kansas or ohio be the same? would people be the same?

are our personalities formed based on our physical environment and location? i mean, there are some places in europe that are amazing, but at the same time, there are places in the US that are just as amazing. or just as crappy. maybe it's the history that's different. what happened in the alps didn't happen in the rockies. there are buildings in europe that are older than the US itself.

but what would have happened if all lands were together and there were no oceans in between? like everything was driveable and you could take a roadtrip to japan or iceland or australia. again, would those countries be the same. would we be the same? and how different would it be?