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I’m not Jewish and I don’t know many people who are Jewish. Heather on the other hand has many Jewish friends and so over the past year I have been introduced to many Jewish festivals and holidays such as Chunakah and Yom Kippur. I’m still no expert but I do know they serve Matzo (the unleavened bread) during Passover.
So when Heather was invited to her friend’s wedding (Jill and Mark) I was extremely excited to experience my first Jewish wedding.
There were a few firsts for me that day. It was my first time in a synagogue for example and my first time wearing any type of religious head gear. Yes that’s right I donned a kippa (or yarmulke) for the ceremony. I wasn’t sure whether I should wear one to be perfectly honest as I’m not Jewish but as a mark of respect for the faith I did, as did almost everybody at the wedding. Here I am in all my glory:
Smoke me a kippa I'll be back for the wedding breakfast....
He's a kippa....
To signal the end of the ceremony the glass was broken on the floor by the groom and we all shouted “Mazel tov!” (Good luck). As tradition the newly married couple get 10-20 mins alone for “Yichud” or togetherness somewhere in the synagogue whilst the rabbi stands guard outside. In some orthodox ceremonies this is the first time that the happy couple would have had alone and they take this time to truly be “together”, if you know what I mean. However, Jill told me she was finishing off her speech.
Jewish weddings are particularly joyous occasions with an emphasis on the dancing. The room erupted as soon as the bride and groom emerged from the yichud into the reception and immediately the band was playing. Then it was party time. A number of traditional dances ensued including raising the bride and groom on chairs and dancing around them. Here’s a couple of blurred photos of that:
Whenever we had to return to our seats for each course a part of me felt it was just getting in the way of the dancing. I had an excellent time and I almost felt I was in a movie at times.
So that was my first Jewish wedding experience. Dare a say it won’t be the last. Quite frankly that is a good thing.
Labor (sic) Day has been and gone. That is somehow the official end of the Summer. All those who have beach houses pack up and return to spend the weekends in the city rather than chilling out down the Jersey Shore (see last year’s post) or the Hamptons (read on). I was lucky enough to spend some time at a place called Montauk which is in the legendary Hamptons. (I’m a real New Yorker now that I have gone to the Hamptons. The last thing is to visit the Seinfeld restaurant to make my New York experience complete.) Montauk is located at the very easterly point of Long Island and about a 3 hour train journey from NYC. It is a bit of a ‘surfer’ hang out so I was going to fit in well, dudes.
A friend of mine, Steph and a couple of her friends had done excellent work securing a beach house for the Summer and so a few weeks back I headed down for a weekend. I had a choice of a few weekends and picked one when apparently “there were a few guys going” so we could talk about football (either one), beer and cars and such things we talk about. Getting closer to the weekend, Steph informs me that I would be the only male there as a few people had changed weekends. So it was me and the ladiezzzzz. Oh yeah.
I finished early on the Friday afternoon (and by that I mean I made sure my hours for the week were done…..of course) and headed to Penn station. I didn’t fancy driving. I spend enough time getting stuck in traffic during the week that I didn’t need it on the weekends as well. I had to change at Jamaica (Jamaica, NY not Jamaica the island in the Caribbean) and Steph gave me a great piece of advice that made sure I got a seat. Otherwise I could be standing for 3 hours which wouldn’t the best way to start the weekend. I also saw passengers with Tim Horton cups, randomly. Those Blog Followers will remember that Tim Horton’s is an iconic Canadian coffee place so that was random there was one in Jamaica (Jamaica, NY…) and I was pretty sure the cups were containing beer. I might have been dreaming however, so don’t take my word.
The train journey was uneventful and I arrived just in time to hit the town with the girls. The girls consisted of Steph, Carrie, Emi (Carrie’s sister) and Cricket (Carrie’s Mom) and Ellie. First stop was Navy Beach. A great little bar/ restaurant that was literally on the beach. Steph’s a regular and so we got prime spot outside, literally on the beach. Did I mention that it was really nice…..and on the beach! It is a perfect place to unwind after a hard week at the office.
The Saturday we hit the beach. No matter how much sun cream I put on I will still end up having these red patches where I have clearly missed areas. So that happened again, obviously. We hired paddle boards. I’d not heard of them before but it is like a surf board and kayak combined. Here’s Emi showing you how to do it:
Surf's up......kind of
Life's a beach. (Ooh I didn't just write that did I? I'm so sorry. Such a terribly overused beach-based pun)
After spending the whole time on the beach wondering if I would get sun burn or not it was time to head back to the beach house to prepare for the evening. I had noticed some bed side reading earlier and took some time out to brush up on my dating skills……..
You can't deny some excellent advice here. "Your date may be trying to conceal a telltale bulge" - and I am sure you will have some tales to tell if you find one.
Reminds me of Quinny at a halloween party in 2004.......
That evening more drinks flowed and we ended up at a place with a dancefloor. The girls boogied the night away and where not afraid of dancing with other party-goers. Even the DJ would duck out of his booth and dance with a lady of his choosing (although he had bad breath apparently) before heading back to the ‘turn tables’ (CD player). In this dance partner swapping Cricket later announced that she had her first ever dance with a lesbian. Something to tick off the list. There were 2 ladies dancing who were clearly ‘together’ and one of them pulled out some dance moves with Cricket. So clearly, fun was had by all and we headed home only richer from our experiences.
Me and the girls at Navy Beach - see we were literally on the beach. From Left to Right, Emi, Steph, Cricket (behind), me obviously, Carrie, Ellie.
On Navy Beach watching the sunset - you can see behind that the tables are actually on the beach. Not sure if I have mentioned that.
The appeal was obvious. Despite a few hours away from NYC I totally get it. It is a shame the Summer is over and I discovered this gem of an experience late in the day.
So farewell Summer and air conditioning units. Hello Fall and no humidity and beautiful colours. …..Hang on, I can’t end a post like that – it sounds a bit….well you know. Ummmmm, what to tell you? I had baked beans for dinner. Right, that’s your lot.
With everything back to relative normality (sort of) it seems strange to think of the freak week we had on the East Coast that included no less than two natural disasters. The earthquake that came first, of magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scale, did not do any major damage. I wish I could say the same about pursuant Hurricane Irene.
The earthquake was felt from North Carolina all the way to Toronto. I was at work at the time and felt my desk shaking. I thought a desk neighbour was being overly-aggressive in answering phones or replying to emails but after the first significant shake the whole office stood up and we all knew something was not quite right. Just then an even bigger shake came and people started to bolt for the exit, with our designated fire marshal the first out the door. I have never felt an earthquake before and it was a slightly unnerving experience. You are in a building which you suddenly think of as vulnerable as it shake back and forth and you hear the screeching of the window panes as they move around in their sockets (not a technical term). Luckily the only “damage” we had was skewed pictures on our walls.
So who would thought that in less than a week people would be talking about a Level 1 Hurricane making land fall on the east coast and working its way up to NYC. Watching weather channels it seemed that the weather system was homing in on NYC and it was only a matter of time before devastation was upon us. NYC Mayor Bloomberg announced compulsory evacuations of parts of Long Island and residents queued up for petrol, food and water with alarming alacrity. The transit system in NYC was shut down for the first time ever for a natural disaster as people feared the worst from flooding. The more laid back ridiculed such talks of disaster and dismissed them as media hype.
In Hoboken, Mayor Zimmer made plans for an emergency shelter (which ironically had to be evacuated after the storm passed due to flooding) and in the week leading up to it made stronger and stronger press releases, culminating in a call for evacuation of all residents in Hoboken. I made my own preparations. I bought soup and moved my car from a guaranteed flooding area to a multi-storey car park. I could relax. Many people left Hoboken, and I toyed with the idea. In the end I stayed and held fort at Rich and Gem’s with fellow Brit Suki, where we decided to get drunk and pretend nothing was happening.
We woke up to no power which we were anticipating. At least we had gas to make a cup of tea! The storm had passed without any major incident – although we hadn’t gone outside yet and the roof had started leaking in the apartment. after stepping in the water outside to assess the scale of the damage we heard of reports that due to felled trees there were live cables dangling in the flood water. These were unsubstantiated of course, but we didn’t step outside for a good few hours.
The sight that welcomed us from the front door
Just in case you don't know what a road looks like this is the same road the day before. Eerily quiet. Who said there was a parking issue in Hoboken?
Many cross sections were just flooded like this. I waded through a few to get home.
Slightly unnecessary?
Slightly futile? I am not sure that the offer of a onesie (apparently it is a baby thing - I had to ask) will not thwart the storm's devastation.
So when the hurricane hit it had been downgraded to a Tropical Storm and NYC came away relatively unscathed. Parts of New Jersey was not so lucky and the threat of flooding in many parts is still there, as the Passaic river continues to swell with inclement weather still prevalent. Many trees were felled and our offices were closed for over a week due to no power. Highways were shut do to collapsed roads and still not all power has been restored to all residents. Work colleagues have had basements flooded and water supplies contaminated. I consider myself lucky that all I had to deal with was no power for a few hours. Much of that was taken up with playing cards, scrabble and drinking anyway.
A few weeks ago (an indication of my recent lackadaisical approach to this blog. Hope to change that soon), I went and did what any thrill seeking 30-something male would do in the middle of Summer. I went to a beer festival. Not just any beer festival, a Belgian Beer festival. This was the second time I have made the trip to Upstate New York (and yes I had forgotten how far upstate it was) for this annual festival at Ommengang Brewery. For those sharp ones in the tool box, you realised that I went last year. As for the rest of you – keep up.
The festival had a theme of the film Spinal Tap so there were various quips about “turning the fun up to 11” (If you haven’t watched the film that will mean nothing to you, but rest assured we all had a good laugh…..)
The premise of the festival is that after buying a ticket, 70 breweries big and small give you beer for 4 hours. That’s right, they give you as much beer as you like until it runs out. Temptation is a terrible thing and luckily my will power did not desert me then. I was inspired by stories of years gone by of people passing out by 7 pm and missing the evening’s entertainment. I do believe we had one unfortunate casualty this year who was clearly drawn in by the wonderfully tasty, cool Belgian nectar and retired (loosely and/or inaccurately used) early to bed. Or she was a lightweight. The day was absolutely gorgeous in terms of weather and so I wasn’t too worried when I didn’t have a tent to sleep in that night (planned) and had forgotten my sleeping bag (unplanned). In the car I slept with a hoodie and jeans on for warmth. It wasn’t the best night’s sleep I have had, but not the worst either.
So here are some pictures of the weekend.
I hope Rich is checking out Gem's pretzels.....
"Oops upside your head"? - Rich isn't convinced either......
Nice pretzels……..
Not quite sure what Ryan and Heather (different Heather) were doing here, but I seemed entranced like a moth at a light.
Pretzels at the ready and looking decidedly cool......now that's what I call a beer taster.
I took a picture of this so I must of liked their beer........
This summer has been not as bad as last year in terms of heat and humidity but that may be due to my levels of expectation and acclimatization. There was an extreme period of heat and humidity in July (100 deg F and 90% humidity) and my apartment does not have ‘Central air’ (i.e. proper air conditioning), partly (make that solely) due to the fact that I can’t afford a place with it. I have these window units that blow air around the room and supposedly make it ‘cold’. What makes it worse is that the apartment is like a sauna. I could probably put up some wood on the walls, bring in some hot stones and charge people to come in for a sweat session. It does beggar belief why outside is considerably less humid than my apartment. We have had a periods of rain and bad thunderstorms that have broken the bad weather which is surely welcomed. Breaking news, you have noticed that we had an earthquake. I have never experienced an earthquake and it is quite a scary experience. There was a small shake of my desk which was weird and then as it continued the whole office stood up in bemusement and then a bigger shake happened. The windows starting screeching and the whole building was swaying (I am only 3 floors up!). That’s when we all bolted for the door certainly not reminiscent of our fire drill a few weeks back. People were literally sprinting down the corridors.
Various tactics of staying a reasonable temperature include stripping down to my undies within seconds of entering the apartment; drinking copious amounts of water and water based refreshing drinks, such as beer. I have also made a nice little habit of making some delicious smoothies. Back in the good old Brambles days (being in the UK living with Quinny) we were always concerned with buying local produce, and quite rightly so. Here in the US, you can get fairly exotic produce from the States, or not far away which is great. As well as the old smoothie favourites of strawbs, raspbs, bluebs and banans (banans?) I have a guest fruit each week. I had my first ever, whole papaya other day. Also featuring, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon. This week I’ll be mostly eating……Mango. Oh I lead an interesting life. Not blogged for weeks and here I am talking about fruit. Rather that then blogging about parking tickets I suppose.
I have just completed back to back weekends in Canada. They were very different weekends in many respects but the air of familiarity of Newark and Toronto city airports is becoming noticeable. I don’t quite feel like George Clooney in the film “Up in the air” but I am aware of the amount of flying I do when I start to recognize people. Its not like I am on first name basis with anyone and they clearly don’t recognize me but it is bringing new meaning to routine. As well as Check-in staff, air hostesses, security people I have even recognized other travelers. This is not a complaint by any means. I am not whinging about this. I love it. I get to spend time in Canada with my favorite Canadian (apologies to all other Canadians reading this – I hope you are not offended that you are not my favorite but you understand).
They have tightened up security, especially at Newark. I do not know why the security people (and there is one in particular that is a major culprit of this) takes an absolute age to check boarding passes and passports before we have to strip down to bare essentials for the scanners (I am amazed that we are allowed to keep our trousers on as it seems everything else needs to be X-rayed. They have introduced a different type of scanning machine which I refuse to go in. It is just so that I get some burly security guy to pat me down and touch me in inappropriate places. The highlight of the trip for me.) It is especially infuriating when this process is holding up the security checking and we have to wait for over-officious people “do there job”. Just because you have a badge, it does not make you important. I was in the cub scouts and I got badges for helping old ladies and knowing how to tie different knots. So there.
My journey rarely goes smoothly. When it does, it is a dream. I can get from work (Short Hills, NJ) to downtown Toronto in under 4.5 hours. That’s not bad. It once took me almost that long to drive from Maidenhead to Sevenoaks on a Friday night after work. If you are ever going to do a long distance relationship then you I would recommend New York to Toronto. Obviously it is better not to do long distance but if needs must, then NY to TO is a good one.
This is largely down to the marvelous Porter airlines and the availability of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. Porter flies Bombardier Q400 (for the benefit of Nick). We cruise at about 22,000 ft and flight time is about 1h 15 mins. We get a snack and drinks on board and they market themselves as executive travel. We fly right onto the island on Lake Ontario which is 10 mins from downtown Toronto. The whole experience is fantastic. I flew Continental once (a good a cheap last minute deal) and it was horrendous. For starters you fly into Pearson airport which is a good 30 mins out of the city and that is if the traffic is ok. Continental fly out of a different terminal at Newark and check in is a nightmare. Normally at Porter I can be checked-in and through security within 20 mins and so turning up with an hour before the flight is fine. With Continental the check in queues were over an hour long. Security was insane and what made it even worse was because of the cheap flights my return journey was at 6am on Monday morning. That was not a fun morning. Probably why I haven’t done that again. It is worth paying a few extra cents for getting something so much better.
I am sure everyone is aware that last week was the 4th of July. I think I blogged about that last year. Well, it was also Canada day on July 1st. It was only fair that I do Canada this time around and so I had a long weekend there. Heather and I were kindly invited to Dave Allan’s cottage on Lake Muskoka. Dave is a very good friend of Heather and he had a small group to stay for a few nights.
Many Torontonians have cottages north of the city. The scenery and tranquility is mesmerizing and Dave’s cottage is on the quiet part of the lake – a secluded spot tucked away from the majority of cottages on the lake. It was good to get away and recharge the batteries with laughter, a couple of drinks, good food and good company. I have also found the best amazing new game. It is Dominoes with a twist. It is called Mexican trains and you play with a Full 12 spot domino set. I won’t go into the details as that would be boring (and we wouldn’t want that would we) but here is a picture of how it looks. I think we played it for the whole afternoon on the Sunday sitting on the deck, over looking the lake, sipping on a few beers. Wonderful.
Mexican Trains (don't ask me why it is called that. I played it for about 5 hours straight and I have no idea. All I know is that there is a button that you can press and it makes a train noise. you know - Choo Choo)
Dave is pondering his move
Dave and Kim sitting at the "Mexican Trains table" on the deck.
The view of the cottage from the lake shore.
Approaching Port Carling on the boat where we got some provisions. (For some reason the Canadians liked my use of the word provisions)
Lake Muskoka from the deck.....it's alright isn't it?
Sundown on Lake Muskoka. It is basically the same picture taken a few hours later. Don't worry we took Mexican Trains inside and continued playing.
This is a moose. I wasn't entirely sure of it's function, if it had one. But it is certainly eye catching.
….3,2,1 …..I’m back on the blog. I thought I would give everyone time to calm down after the truly entertaining, high-octane, roller coaster of a last post about tax hence my absence for some time. Thanks for those who told me that it was dull. I never said these things would be funny or interesting. It is just about my life. Can I help it that my tax return took over my life for 2 weeks? Maybe – I probably could have avoided a mad rush and the stress if I had submitted it in January. Enough I hear you say!
So I have been off the blog. Is it down to a lack of interesting things going on in my life? Possibly. Or that I have been a bit busy? Yeah I guess so. Or that I am just a bit unorganised and lazy? No comment. What has happened then in the weeks (months) since my last post? I’ll get the boring thing out the way first. Some of you will know I have been battling with a distance learning course for the last few years. With the move over here I put it on hold for a bit but recently had to finish it before the deadline. Well, I done that now. So that’s that. Told you that was boring. (See – its not all funny.) But that goes somewhat to explaining my absence and lack of adventures as I have been cooped up in front of a computer for a while.
I was also had the pleasure of the parents’ company. They were here for a week and I was ready to show them around town. We hadn’t even left the airport for the comedy gold to appear (apologies in advance here to my Dad). After our embrace at arrivals the obligatory trip to the bathroom ensued. Dad headed straight for the washrooms but clearly didn’t notice the sign above saying “Family”. As Mum and I were watching intently, a few moments passed and Dad was seen coming back out (as obviously those were locked) and went to look for the Mens unaware that we were sniggering to ourselves whilst watching his antics (I guess you had to be there).
I shouldn’t be too harsh on him. On the second day with a full itinerary planned we were about to leave to head into NYC when Dad “did his back in” getting up off the sofa. Unfortunately that was him laid up for the week and hardly left the apartment and didn’t manage to step on the New York soil. However, that allowed some quality mother and son time. I took my Mum out to dinner and a Broadway show where she “got the low down on the Canadian girlfriend”. All those questions she wanted to ask but doesn’t on skype. It was a great week (apart from the whole Dad back-thing). A chance for them to check I wasn’t living in squalor and to see my new home town and meet some of my new friends.
I’ve also been back and forth to a place called Canada. The last time I crossed the border I had a bit of a shock. Canadian immigration officers are a lovely bunch (unlike their North American neighbours, sometimes). So whenever I enter into Canada we have some usual banter:
Canadian Immigration officer: What is the purpose of your trip?
Me: I am here to visit my girlfriend.
CIO: Have you bought any gifts?
Me: Er….no. (Which always makes my think that I should have)
CIO: You are not a good boyfriend then……
Me and CIO: *laugh*
See – that’s a very enjoyable experience compared to some people I know who have tried to enter the US and got the third degree.
What happened this time was a serious line of questioning
CIO: (Usual opener) What is the purpose of your trip?
Me: (Usual response) I am here to visit my girlfriend.
[Then followed a number of questions and I have omitted my responses for brevity’s sake]
CIO: Is she Canadian? Where does she live? Are you looking for jobs this weekend? Are you considering relocating to Canada?
I mean – woah. Where did that all come from? Interestingly enough Heather got the same line of questioning next time she came to see me by US customs. We concluded that we must be flagged as potential immigration concerns due the amount of border crossing we are doing. Which very nicely leads me on to our day in Brooklyn a few weeks ago.
Brooklyn is a borough of New York City (There are 5 in all, although I like to think Hoboken is an unofficial sixth). It is only a hop, skip and a jump away from me – hop on the PATH train from Hoboken to Manhattan; skip down the road to a subway station and then jump on the L train to Brooklyn. It probably only takes about 45 mins in total which makes getting around in London look bad. (Oh yeah it is pretty bad, especially with replacement bus services – don’t miss them that’s for sure).
We headed into Williamsburg, a trendy hipster place with a bustling main street and made our way to Brooklyn Brewery. On the weekends they do tours and have a bar open to taste all their brews.
Tiara, our tour guide, explained the finer details of brewing the good stuff. I was a big fan of matching T-shirt and presentation materials. (Not sure you can make it out clearly on this photo)
Who said romance is dead in this modern era? A trip to a brewery is every girl's dream....right?
Good to see they don't leave stuff just lying about.........
Just in case you forgot where we were. (*whisper* we were in Brooklyn)
Look - actual Beer Tokens!! Tokens you can exchange for beer. Best idea ever.
After tasting some distinctly revolting beers (I should not have the special cask ale – it was stored in an old bourbon cask. Yes I like beer. Yes I like bourbon. No I don’t like them together) we wandered towards the waterfront and stumbled across a flea market. Apparently “cool” people are wearing spectacles without any frames in them although it did allow to bring out an old impression…..
"Hello, my name is Michael Caine" - not a lot of people know that
When Heather stopped laughing at me (that’s AT me, not with me), we followed our noses towards the food stalls. I felt very much like Homer Simpson as I think I actually uttered the word’s “hmmm, donuts” as we came across a delicious looking donut stall by a company called “Dough”.
We moved on to a bar in Brooklyn called Barcade. This is a bar which has a number of old school arcade games which allowed me to suitably impress Heather with my joystick capabilities. The bar has great beer too and we spent many a quarter playing the likes of Ms PacMan and other classic arcade games.
Heather in action on Ms PacMan
Barcade - where a mispent youth comes back to haunt you
Tax doesn’t have to be taxing, is the slogan by the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in the UK. In the US it’s obvious that the IRS hasn’t adopted this. It is more like: Let’s make it as complicated as possible.
Filing a tax return is not something I’ve ever done. The deadline was April 18th and so I explored the many ways I could go about filing them. I’m all for trying to attempt things myself so the first option is to do a bit of “do-it-yourself”.
My first question was why did I have to file a tax return at all. I don’t have to in the UK. We have a very good system of Pay As You Earn (PAYE). The government tax you according to your individual tax code and so the right amount is taken off your salary each month. In the US it doesn’t happen like that. Tax is withheld and then you must file a return to ensure you have paid enough. If you have paid too much, you get a refund. Yea!. If you have not paid enough, you have to pay more. Boo!
I consulted with a few expat friends in Hoboken who gave me good advice, as well as commenting that I was “cutting it fine”. To say I started panicking wasn’t quite accurate. When I started this process I had about 2 weeks until closing date. Surely that was plenty of time? Penalties are high if your tax return isn’t time. I was told that if you owe money then you are charged interest on that amount until you pay it back. So I definitely got my skates on.
In the US people have to file a federal tax return and a state tax return. I had a look on the IRS website. I started reading the information and was trying to find information for people who were not living in the US for the full year, and whether I would have to declare any of my UK income. I got confused pretty quickly and rang up the IRS help desk. I get through to a central switchboard and I got asked how they could direct my call. Well, I said I needed help on filing my tax return. I waited 45 minutes to speak with someone.
Me: I need help with filling in my tax return.
IRS: ok, how can I help you?
ME: Well, I need to know I how file my taxes as I earned foreign income and would like to know if I have to declare it.
IRS: Oh, well we have a special department to deal with that. I’ll put you through.
Another 45 minutes and I get through to someone else. He needed to assess whether I was a non-resident alien, a resident alien or both in order to help me. For 5 minutes this guy asked me a bunch of questions including when I arrived in the US; if I ever worked for any International organizations during the last year; my shoe size and whether I thought teaching Creationism had any place on the mainstream school curriculum or that it should be left to religious schools and that evolution should be kept as the main theory for our existence but really shouldn’t everyone be free to make up their own minds and find out for themselves through healthy debate and life experience. (Ok, he didn’t really but he might as well have as he asked me everything else it seems).
I was told I had a dual tax status as I was a non resident alien for the first 183 days I was here in the US. I would have to fill in 2 forms dividing up my income for when I was a non resident alien and a resident alien. Not wanting to suffer unnecessarily I opted for an accountant to to it for me. There are other options such as a company called H&R block or online software to do it yourself. I went for the safe option.
After a mix up with the address of their offices (for which I take only a small percentage of the blame), I was about 45 minutes late for my appointment. I dutifully explained to him my dual tax status but he said that didn’t sound right. In the end it turns out that I didn’t have dual tax status due to the physical presence test, which I passed. So pleased to know I have a physical presence. I was also pleased to find out that I get a refund as I paid too much in tax and incidentally have already received most of it back, which is nice.
I looked into taking Spanish lessons before I left. I even bought some Spanish grammar books to work on. I downloaded some podcasts with “Johnny Spanish” (I don’t think that’s his real name) and his able companion Christina (I’m pretty sure there was more between them than just being work colleagues). My idea of being practically fluent before landing in Buenos Aires didn’t materialize. Such a shame as I had the best intentions and award winning Spanish learning podcasts to help me. I got as far as mastering the phrase “Do you speak English?” (Hablas Ingles?) and a few other standard phrases. We got by ok but with the help of gesticulating hands, guesswork and plenty of Spanglish.
The weather again threatened to ruin best laid plans before we even stepped on a plane. Heather and I had planned to meet at JFK in New York as she had to get a flight from Toronto. But as I woke up that morning a big storm was working its way across America. Heather’s flight got canceled and as it was March break she would not be able to get to Argentina until 3 days later. However, a very helpful woman who works for American Airlines managed to find a first class ticket to Buenos Aires (BA) for her, leaving that evening. Heather landed a few hours after me in BA and I got to hear about how wonderful the flight was and how well she slept, and that she drunk champagne and the service was great. It was not comparable to my experience in Coach. That whole episode was put in perspective however, when I had a Buenos Aires taxi driver tell me about the devastation in Japan which had occurred when I was in the air.
Our first lesson was in dinner times. Restaurants don’t open until 8pm and as we sat in Don Julio’s in trendy Palermo at 8.15pm on our own we realized that there is a culture of eating late. Very late. We got used to this towards the end and ventured out at 9pm for food one time. The food was excellent. Steak and red wine is a staple for dinner so I was a very happy bunny.
BA is a great city and even better that I met up with old school friend, Joel. He moved there a few years ago and works as a free lance journalist and TV/Radio producer. He gave us a good lesson in Argentine culture and history, although disappointingly he could not provide us with an answer to whether apartment buildings have laundry facilities in the units themselves or in the apartment buildings. (Heather’s question, not mine). He took us to a River Plate football game which was an incredible experience. South American football is a sight to be seen. Joel introduced me to an Argentinian drink, Fernet. It is made from herbs and spices and tastes quite bitter.
Despite the smile on my face, Fernet and Coke is not my drink of choice
Heather and I also met up with a friend of my brother – Bella, who also went to our school. She lives in BA and runs art classes for kids. She showed us to a couple of local restaurants in Palermo. We all met up one night for a few drinks.
School Reunion (sort of). L-R Marianela (Joel's fiance), Joel, Bella, Heather and my good self. The first ever photo that makes me look tall?
Off to Patagonia we flew. We stayed in Bariloche, a rather peculiar town that was more Swiss than Argentine. One think that struck us was the genuine kindness of the Argentine people. As clueless, non-Spanish speaking backpackers a lady with a baby took pity on us as we disembarked the bus. We wanted to head to the trekking information place to get final details but had no map and no idea where to go. This lady said she was going exactly there and escorted us there. We just saved ourselves probably a good hour of aimless walking around and asking many people “hablas ingles?”
The town is bizarrely riddled with chocolate shops and Alpine looking buildings. We stayed for a night and headed off on the trek. We started in a small skiing village Villa Catedral and spent 3 days walking in the Patagonian Andes. We stayed in remote refugios for 2 nights with rather basic amenities. I cannot do this part of the trip justice with words but will leave you some pictures. (It’s also partly that I would bore you senseless with details of the trek and it is not my aim to be boring. I do try to be entertaining, you know. Besides, pictures are better. More pictures are on facebook.)
Refugio Frey
Tricky river crossing - Go Heather!
We hiked down into the valley and over the ridge in the distance. That was after climbing for 2-3 hours.
Day 2 was a beast. We were walking for about 7 hours and as we were starting our final ascent it started raining and a nasty wind picked up. The descent was worse as we had to negotiate unwelcoming terrain of scree and loose dirt and with the conditions worsening it got a little scary. We were glad to see the Refugio and warmed up in the main room swapping stories with fellow trekkers. The next morning incidentally the mountains were all snow capped and temperatures dropped to well below freezing.
In the refugio that night we were chatting with an Argentine gentleman over dinner. He spoke good English because he tells us he decided he wanted to learn English and went to America many years ago. (Canada had rejected him). He was one of the kindest persons that I have ever briefly met. I wasn’t feeling too good and he offered to fetch me an array of things from painkillers to toilet roll from his own personal supplies (Too much information?). We had passed this gentleman on route to the refugio and thought he was going the other way as we didn’t see him at Frey the previous night. We were shocked to see him at Jacob then that evening. He had apparently got lost and spent the night by the river but could not get his tent up so he slept rough outside. This man was 78 years old. An absolute legend. He was hiking for two weeks in the area. Heather asked him what his secret was and this came the reply. “I have been married 48 years old and I have had no sexual relations with my wife for the past 18”. This apparently gives him all the energy he needs. Not quite sure what his wife thinks of it all.
Our final day we followed the river down out the valley and ended up with an extra 5km to walk to get a bus. Other trekkers had told us that hitch hiking was socially acceptable in the area so Heather and I agreed we would flag down any passing motorists to get a lift. Within 10 minutes of walking along Route 79 a couple from Rosario stopped and offered us a lift. They were also tourists and seemed just as bewildered as us that they had picked hitch hikers. They asked us what hostel we were staying at and we sheepishly got them to drop us off at our rather nice looking hotel and spa.
The last part of the trip was frustrating. Our flight to Iguazu Falls, a spectacular waterfall, was canceled leaving us with a few more days in BA. Passengers were literally on the tarmac about to board the plane when we were all called back into the terminal. The rumour was that Argentine air space was shut down due to one Mr. B. Obama being in the air. No matter. It just gives us an excuse to come back.
…….me! That’s right folks it has been a year since I landed on these shores seeking new experiences and opportunities. You’ve all missed me, right? ….right? ok, moving on, it has been a year of ups and also of downs. A time of reflection perhaps? The major highs and lows have been documented on this blog, but some just haven’t made it on due to not having time to update the blog. Yes, I have a life and a job that sometimes gets in the way. So this is an opportunity to go over some of the experiences that didn’t make “the cut”.
I was very fortunate to be invited to play golf with my bosses last summer at the ridiculously ostentatious Trump National Golf Course (http://www.trumpnationalbedminster.com/). My boss won a silent auction for a round at the Old Course complete with lunch and caddies. Yes, I had a caddie to tell me how to play the course. I didn’t want to tell him it wouldn’t make any difference as I have little control over where the ball goes, but after spanking 3 perfect drives off the first 3 tees he seemed to think I could actually play. After all I had just parred the first 3 holes on this course, rated in the top 100 golf courses on the planet. Needless to say the rest of the round wasn’t that great. Let’s just say there was a lot of water. For me the most nervous aspect of the day wasn’t the golf but the tip etiquette. Everything was “free” except that you had to tip people. Now, being an Englishman, we don’t really do the tip thing. My motto is that if its free, then its free? Non? The valet was the worst though. I got all flustered as a queue of cars were behind me and I didn’t know whether to take my clubs out, change my shoes. I had to take everything out I needed for the round as my Mazda was driven away somewhere. (Could the guy even drive manuals?) So by the time it came to the golf I was so pre-occupied by the realization of where I was I didn’t overthink my swing. Obviously that lasted 3 holes and the course (and my head) got the better of me.
The course was amazing. I took a few pictures as it was too good not too. Unfortunately I was playing a four ball, better ball, being paired with someone who had only played golf once before. So the first 3 holes took about an hour. We were 3 up however which was a bonus, but it would turn out to be the longest game of golf of my life. We (sorry, that should read I) lost on the last hole as eventually, having been ahead for practically the whole game my bosses Stephen and Peter sinked a putt to win. I tell them its because I don’t want to annoy my employer and so I let them win.
Peter teeing off
My approach to the green....
I've hit the big time!
Sadly, just a guest (at least they spelled my name right)
The other fantastic event I missed writing about was Caitey’s wedding. My cousin Caitey got married to a farmer in rural Ontario, on a farm. The ceremony was in a corn field and the reception and party in a barn. It was on a scorching hot day and was simply amazing. The girls got a ride on a combine harvester and an actual cow got into the wedding photos. The wedding cake was farm and tractor themed. Did I mention the wedding was farm related? It was where I met Heather. She thought I was the bus driver when I came to pick up guests at her hotel. (There was an organized coach and I was given the authority of getting everyone on board, not of driving the bus). I made that pretty clear later on the dance floor when we were dancing on into the night.
Me, Ben, Storm and a cow....at a wedding. Random.
So on to more newer events: I feel like this is only relevant for my English readers as I would guess we were all watching the Superbowl. (Apparently it was the most watched Superbowl in history. If you think about that, it isn’t surprising as generally populations tend to increase year on year)
The great American event took place a few weeks ago now, if you didn’t know. The final game of a long Football (American) season culminating in an extravaganza of merriment, entertainment and generally things over-the-top. There were talking points not just about if Aaron Rogers could show the way for Green Bay or whether the Steelers Ben Roethlisberger could steer his team to victory. There was quite a large focus on what celebrities were there (Jennifer Aniston, Hugh Jackman, George W Bush, Ron Howard, John Travolta). Owen Wilson even got some pre-match press for “catching a ball”. Imagine that. Someone who is an actor, catching a ball. Whatever next?
The half time show was also “big”. I mean big. It’s an event in itself. The Black Eyed Peas (thats the pop group, not the food) pranced around a stage for about 10 minutes collecting what I can only assume was a rather large fee. Nice work if you can get it. Christina Aguilera managed to start things off with a bang as she forgot a line of the National Anthem and made up some lyrics. Another big talking point are the adverts. You could even go online to vote for your favorite advert of the broadcast. It was as much about those things as well as the actual sport itself. American Football seems to be a perfect sport as it has enough breaks and stoppages to be filled with adverts and all things nauseating and annoying. Oh yeah, the Packers beat the Steelers in what turned out to be quite a good match. (and yes, I do know the rules thank you).
That’s Vermont to the un-Americanized of you. Ah, yes. The Green Mountain State (As my Dad would say, ver- meaning green, mont meaning mountain. From Greek or Latin or another ancient language. Thanks for that). Vermont is also home to Ben and to Jerry and their ice-cream. Unfortunately those are all my Vermont based facts before turning to Wikipedia. By land area it is the 43rd ranked state and is the second least populated state. All very interesting but does it have sick slopes for skiing and snowboarding? Yes it does. Cue road trip to Vermont over Martin Luther King Day weekend for a beer fueled, fun-time having, snow induced holiday.
There were 17 of us (including 2 canines and a pregnant women) in 2 separate vehicles that left on the Friday night and headed back Monday. The funniest episode was not Keaton getting the van stuck in a small ditch filled with snow. Not even, the fact they purposely gave a Brit (me) to order takeaway pizza just to see if I could do it, and then allegedly ran a book to see if I did it or not. It wasn’t even the fact that it was ridiculously cold there. The thermometer registered about -15 (Fahrenheit) on the Saturday morning before we hit the mountain. Was it the fact that I could have bought a gun or a dead-animal hat at the grocery store? No, but that was funny. It was the sight of a slightly tipsy (understatement alert!) Rich being introduced to the infamous beer drinking game flip-cup and being unable to place the cup down the right way for it to be flipped that tickled me the most. It was probably one of those “you had to be there” moments but if you have followed the blog since the beginning I showed how to play the game flip cup. It isn’t hard but Rich kept getting it wrong. He was on my team and I still found it funny.
There wasn't a flash for this picture. The light came from Carrie's ski pants.
Rich wanted to make sure there were no "scary monsters" underneath the van before we set off.
Everything you need for a "Vermont breakfast"
Whiskey - Guns - Ammo. Say no more.
This was Singleton’s Store. It was a sort of grocery/accessories store. The accessories being guns. It was an intriguing place, not because I could have bought a gun if I was so inclined, but because the lovely man in the picture (the owner Henry Singleton no less) tried to interest me in a 45. I only knew what this was due to my teenage days playing Wild Bunch on the ZX Spectrum. He was such a lovely man that when I asked him to take a picture he went and got a bottle of whisley to put infront of the sign. What a lovely man. I politely declined the offer of purchasing a gun but engaged in a conversation about VT’s gun laws. I could have purchased a rifle right there and walked out the store. With hand guns it was different. I would have to wait a few weeks whilst the paper work was sorted out. Damn bureaucracy. Gets in the way of everything. I’ll just have to deal with my “problem” with rational thought and gentle persuasion instead.
No other word than "dashing" describes this better......
An Englishman In New Jersey 