Lull

Expect me not to write very much in the next little while.
There's a lot of catching up that I need to do on this blog (off the top of my head: Madrid, Normandy, Croatia, Stockholm, Paris, London, Prague, Scotland, Oslo among other non-travel related thoughts), but it's going to have to wait until I'm settled in a bit more. I've got to unpack and organize a bunch of things (and most of my belongings are floating on a boat somewhere in Atlantic right now - at least I hope they are) and get back to a non-Swiss routine.
I drove for the first time in a year last night. It was nice. There was no traffic on the 401 or 427, so that made it a lot less stressful. The darkness didn't effect my driving, but I was a lot more aware of it. When you're walking everywhere, sure it's bloody dark, but it's not like you're too concerned that you're going to walk straight into other objects. And while I walk pretty quickly, I think that I'm not walking fast enough to be able to change my path to avaoid things. In a car however, well, you obviously have to be a lot more aware.
The day after I got home, the jet lag sucked. I didn't sleep all night, and then slept from 9am to 6pm. It doesn't even make sense with the time difference. I was compeltely backwards. 6 hours isn't backwards. Coming from Asia or something would be, but not Europe. Last night was better. 3am to 8am. Hopefully I'll be fine from now on.

Tedious

I just finished going through all of my old posts to change the date so that it matched with the correct posting time since I've switched my blog settings to GMT-5:00. I get the feeling that I might have overchanged a couple of the posts from the very beginning of my blog, but there's no way of knowing for sure.
Oh, and if there was a faster way than to change each time manually, don't tell me. It could kill me. If I decide to move to a different time zone again though, let me know before I have to go through even more posts and change the time. I'll appreciate it a lot.

Shock

Well, I'm not shivering or needing to be in semi-prone position, but I'm back on Canadian soli and not really sure how I feel about it.
Three years goes by quickly, yet at the same time, I feel like I've aged lots.

I lied...

So when I said that I'd taken my last non-Swiss trip, I lied. I went to Liechtenstein today. Ha ha ha.

I thought they were a craze...

You know what I realized? I didn't see any "I'm not a Plastic Bag" bags while I was in London. I might have sat in the same underground car as one, but it was out of my line of sight. All I could catch a glimpse of was a really fat rope handle. That was my only clue, but I've seen many a bag with rope handles in my time, so I could be mistaken. This rope handle was quite thick, and for some reason, the owner looked like she could have been hard-core enough to wait in a long queue (love that word) at Tesco's. I'll never know.
Still, I'm surprised I didn't see more bags.

Last leg of the saga

I'm in Oslo now. It's my last non-Swiss leg of my travels before Canada. It's all a bit sad, but I'll manage. Anyway, here are a couple things that I've noticed so far:

- All children seem to wear Crocs. I think it was kinda big in Canada last year or something, but not at all in Europe. There were a couple places that sold them, but I didn't really see too many people wearing them. For some reason however, Norwegian children love them. Or maybe it's their parents that do and think that somehow they're very child appropriate.

- If you want to visit Scandinavia but don't think you have enough time to hit up the different countries, don't worry. They're really similar. So are a lot of the museums. I've seen plenty of viking paraphernalia and wooden houses to last me a lifetime.

- Denmark was bloody expensive. Finland was bloody expensive. Sweden was bloody expensive. Norway is worse.

- Everyone here seems to speak perfect English. I, on the other hand, do NOT speak perfect Norwegian. I wish I was more talented.

- Water in toilets has a slightly yellow tinge to it. I know why you're thinking, the last person did a number 1 and didn't flush. Not true. It's always yellowish, no matter how many times you try flushing.

- It's getting close to 11pm right now and it's light outside. It must really suck in the winter.

Big Brother (and all of its versions)

The American reality TV show is usually on in the summer, so in the past couple of years, I tend to let it be my show that I get hooked on...and then I have to leave again, before the final episodes. That always sucks.
Anyway, of course there are different versions of the same show in many different countries. I've become attached to two. Well, as attached as I can be knowing that I won't be able to follow them anymore.

1. Secret Story. This is the French incarnation of the show. It's a little different than the Big Brother goal (be the last one standing and win one million dollars). In this one, everyone has a "pot" along with a "secret". Each houseguest is supposed to try to figure out other houseguests' secrets. If they guess another person's secret correctly, they get the money in that person's pot. They can guess the secret whenever they want, however, if they guess incorrectly, they loose their pot to the houseguest whose secret they did not uncover. Examples of secrets that have already been uncovered are "I was born a woman" and "I'm a triplet" (the other two siblings that were switching in and out of the game so that there was only one triplet in the house at a time, entered into the house after the secret was revealed so that all three were playing). A secret that was yet to be uncovered was that there was a married couple amongst the houseguest. Along the way la voix assigns secret missions to the houseguests to add money to their pot. For example, the married couple was to kiss each other on the lips in each area of the house within a certain allotted time. Keep in mind that there are houseguest hanging out everywhere, and it's not like they can just snog in front of them. There are team missions that they complete to also win money, prizes and food. Each week, the houseguests nominate two other housemates for eviction and the public cast the deciding vote.

2. Big Brother (UK). This one's really similar to the American version. At least from what I can tell. In the couple of episodes that I caught, I didn't notice anything glaringly different. The last episode that I saw had a British actress enter the house pretending to be a contestant who was recently voted out of the Australian Big Brother house and immediately transplanted into the UK house. If the houseguests figure out that she's a fake, they get some sort of food prize. Great. I'll never know if they got fed. I guess I could check the internet, but it's not the same.

Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a new TV show to get hooked onto soon.

Relapse

I couple months ago, after the prompting and encouragement of some of my students I quit cracking my finger knuckles. I continued to crack my wrist, hip, ankles and toes (cracking my back was even kept to a minimum) but what I thought was the worst (my fingers), I managed to quit.
Cracking my finger knuckles is a nervous habit. I can feel the urge coming, but it's almost impossible to suppress it. Sometimes it's like an out of body experience. I really don't want to crack them, but my body doesn't listen to my mind, and I can't help myself. I was an addict. I felt a sense of release after cracking them. I guess I can relate to others who have some sort of addiction.
Recently, I noticed that I've started to crack my knuckles again. I'm not exactly sure why, but I vaguely remember the air pressure changing a lot around that time, and my hands feeling stiff, so I wanted to crack my knuckles. Maybe I've been more stressed out recently, what with all the changes that are going on in my life right now.
I hope that I have the self control and the motivation to quit again (and forever).

Cabaret

Making the most out of being in London, I watched the super famous show, Cabaret. I vaguely knew the overall vibe of the show and of course knew of many of the songs, but I didn't realise how, ummm, well, I don't know how to say it nicely.
I did like the songs, the singing was good, but the dancing wasn't too impressive. I thought that this show would focus more on it, but I guess I was wrong.
The story line really didn't leave you walking out of the theatre feeling good about, well, things. Maybe I should have looked into the show a little bit more before going to see it.
I was glad that I went though. I mean, I can say that I've seen the production. The guy at the Tkts booth was right. It really just depends what you're into. Some people will either really like the show or not. I would say that I'm leaning more towards the not side. Sorry.
I did enjoy the "host" though. He did a great job. I think it was even the understudy that night. He did a great job. I wished he'd done more because some other parts of the show were pretty boring.
I think part of the problem was that the audience wasn't into it. I don't know if it was because the theatre was so large and there were quite a few empty seats (disappointing for a Saturday night) and I wonder if some of them were tourists who didn't have English as their first language or were thrown off by the German that was spoken from time to time. The audience just didn't seem really into it. Perhaps they were exactly like me, but it really started off badly. At the beginning, I was ready for a great show, but it just seemed like the other audience members were stone faced right from the get go. No one was willing to play along with the host. I felt badly for him, but I was way too shy to yell out because I could tell that no one else would join me.
Anyway, I'm just hoping that it was this specific production of the show that wasn't good and that other ones would be so much better. I would rule out going to see Cabaret, but I think maybe that you should just really look into what it's about and stuff beforehand.

- picture courtesy of www.cabaret-the-musical.co.uk

Avenue Q

A trip to London = nights out in the Theatre District!
After seeing this show win a bunch of Tony's when it first came out on Broadway (years ago) and being slightly intrigued by the fact that that it starred puppets, Avenue Q has always been in the back of my mind ever since. Well, then after seeing that it was playing in London, and hearing friends rave about it, I decided to go for it and see the show!
HILARIOUS!!!
I thought that I would be distracted by the "puppeteers", but as they were dressed in dark grey and their faces/expressions only added to the puppet's performances, they really weren't a distraction at all.
The plotline is simple, a puppet character moves to Avenue Q and the obligatory events happen. Love. Life. Stress. You know, all the typical things that are necessary for any good show.
The songs were so appropriate to daily life. I almost don't want to tell you much more, because it was the shock of what they were singing about (and some of the, errr, physical representations of it) that made it so funny.
Ha ha ha...I'm just laughing thinking about it. Oh, by the way, I don't think this should would be suitable for young children. Don't let the fact that there are puppets in the show fool you.
The man sitting in front of me (who seemed to take himself WAY too seriously) said something about the production being "over-produced". What the heck does that mean? And how would he know, he was too busy cuddling with his lady-friend. And it's not like the show was a cuddle-worthy show. His whole family seemed a little pretentious if you ask me.
Back to more interesting things, the performers were amazing at working with the puppets. Everything was so natural, and really lifelike. Very very muppet-esque.
I think I would love to be in a musical. Assuming that I could sing and dance and act of course. I realized that I want to try everything. They look like they're having so much fun onstage and I want to join them.
Anyway, the point of this is that if you ever have the chance to see Avenue Q, GO!

- picture courtesy of www.avenueqthemusical.co.uk

Alegria (June 27th, 2007)

Am I lucky or what? While in Paris a couple weeks ago, Cirque du Soleil was in town touring with Alegria.
IT WAS AMAZING!!!
Just as good as the other show that I'd seen, if not better, I was on the edge of my seat the whole show.

My favorites of the night (in no specific order):
Power Track - I love watching tumblers. Their timing is superb, and I can't believe how precise they are with everything. If they're a little off, ouch!
Aerial High Bar - Potentially my top top favorite. I've always been in awe of this apparatus, but I have to say that this act didn't have as much variety as I'd hoped. It was WAY too short. I was really surprised as how quickly it finished, and I'm sure it's not because I was in awe so time passed quicker. It really was a short act. I think that they could have done more with it.
Clowns - The clowns with Cirque du Soleil are always hilarious. The number that required audience participation is great for a laugh, although they seemed to pick the wrong person this time around. He didn't seem as willing to play along.
Russian Bars - Another top top favorite. They do some amazing stuff. I always wondered what material the bars are made out of. They are so flexible, but obviously very sturdy too. I'm always partly scared that they're going to break as the performer lands.

The performers are so talented. I wonder what their daily lives are like? I wonder if it's anything like the horror stories that for some reason are in the back of my head about the circuses from long time ago. I would hope not. I hope that the performers (including the musicians - haven't said very much about them, but they're amazing of course!) do enjoy it, because if they don't already know it, the audience loves them! It really is a privilege to watch them.

It was a fantastic evening. I've told myself (again) that I'm going to make the most of Toronto and really try to get out there more often. Participate in more events and attend more concerts and/or shows. I heard that Cirque is coming to Toronto in the summer with a new show. Anyone interested?

- picture courtesy of www.cirquedusoleil.com

Royal Botanic Gardens At Kew

I would love to have a beautiful garden. I would love to have fresh cut flowers all the time. I finally made it to Kew Gardens. Here are some of my favorite photos of the outing. It was a wonderful day.

Tour de France 2007 - Prologue

As someone who doesn't really know anything about the Tour de France, I was surprised to learn that it doesn't take place only in France. This year, it started in London, which I realized when I was there and stumbled upon the Prologue.
The part before Stage 1, this would be a timed race that the competitors (seeded) would complete in around 9 or 10 minutes. Each would leave the starting gate in one minute intervals.
Just one thing before a barrage of pictures from the race. I lucked out and found a spot 150m from the finish line (I didn't even line up super early in advance, although a bunch of other people did - I was really lucky) right across from the seats for people associated to sponsors of the event. You'll see that most of the seats were free. I really hate that the die hard fans have to line up really early and sometimes end up with crappy seats when there's a this whole section of seating being wasted on people who don't even care to show up. Reminds me of something...oh yeah, the Olympics! It really isn't fair. These people get the best seats and I don't think that they even deserve them.
Enough of me ranting, here are the pictures...