EUROPE: Golden Rules for a Golden Thumb

I'm usually not one for boasting, but I must admit, if there's one thing I'm proud of in life, it's the total distance I've hitchhiked in the past 9 years of my life. Starting out with short distances in America at the age of sweet 16, I've now hitchhiked over 25,000 miles (over 40,000 kilometers) in 44 countries on 4 different continents (N. America, Africa, Europe, and Asia). So, while I'm 100% sure that there are others who've hitchhiked more, it's safe enough to say that I have experience in the sport of hitchhiking. This post is in response to a comment on my last post and to some of the questions I've received during my travels from those who are interested in trying out this method. I did post something similar to this a few years ago under the title "Golden Thumb", but in this post, I'll go into more details and divide my suggestions and experiences into regions. Today, I will just post about Europe. 

General Information: If you're a virgin to hitchhiking, Europe is the best place to try long or short distance hitchhiking for the first time. Hitchhiking is not illegal in any of the European countries (as long as you're not in the middle of a highway, of course!), the police in most countries will not bother you, and it's quite safe, despite what people may tell you. I know, I'm a solo female traveler who's hitchhiked from France to Estonia to Romania to the UK, all alone, and sometimes even with two truckers in one truck... although I must say now that for a first-timer, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS! Please, I'm a poor starving scholar, do not sue me. People in general will know that you're hitchhiking, so that will never be an issue, and depending on who you are, it'll be easy to get a ride.

The Rules:
1. Smile! I know this can be hard sometimes if it's -10°F (-23°C), it's snowing and you've been waiting for 2+hours in the cold. Still, no driver wants to pick up a grumpy, unfriendly hitchhiker! Looking friendly and cheerful will make the driver want to pick you up more. of course, you don't need to force a grin and look like some psychopath à la Jack Nicholson in The Shining (1980). 

Try to go for a natural smile/grin, just don't smirk... that's not very inviting either. 

2. Look/Be Clean! OK, I do understand that it's hard to look nice and beautiful while you're on the road. I'm not saying you need to look like you're ready for an evening ball with prince or princess charming. Just look like you don't smell... and won't mess up the driver's car. I've hitchhiked in everything from an old Soviet-era manual steering truck to a Porsche... I'm sure the guy who owned a Porsche wouldn't have picked me up if I looked like I hadn't showered in weeks, had mussed up, wild hair, and dirt all over my clothes and face. Even if it's not a Porsche that picks you up, any proud car owner would prefer someone who's not smelly. If you're a man who has a shaggy beard like Hagrid, shave it off.

If you love your facial hair, at least trim it neatly... but hopefully not like the Hitler-stache. 

3. Make/Have a Sign. Before embarking on your first hitch, it's best to figure out where exactly you're heading! Of course, it could be fun to hitchhike without any aim (although I've only done that once in the Balkans), but it's best to have a specific destination and know the specific route to get there. You should know the highway you should stay on and write them down. In Europe this is the best way not to get lost and to minimize time wasting. Here is an example of a sign I used to hitchhike to Luxembourg:

Note, on the top I have my destination city (Luxembourg). -> A4 is the highway name that I need to stay on and (METZ) is the town that lies between my starting point (Strasbourg, France) and my destination (Luxembourg, Luxembourg), which shows the direction in which I need to go. I also put the city name in Luxembourg in Luxembourgish to appeal to any possible locals and the polite W.E.G./S.V.P./Bitte all mean "Please" in Luxembourgish, French, and German, the three main languages of Luxembourg. The "Please" on the bottom of your sign is completely optional, but I feel it adds a nice personal touch of appreciation, so I always put it on there. This is an example of a good sign that helps both the driver and you! 

4. Know the Roads. Perhaps this is not as necessary for a group of 3 strong, young men hitchhiking (haha, good luck with that!) but if you're a female and especially if you're doing this alone, you should know the roads. Google maps is your friend. Love it, use it, and never forget it. For Europe, you can get road directions to and from any city in Europe. Let's say for your first time, you're hitchhiking from Paris to Brussels. Enter it into Google maps and voilà: 

It tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the route, take highways A1, A2, and E19. So on your sign you can put "BRUSSELS" or "BRUXELLES" (in French) A1 -> A2 ->  E19. For a nice personal touch you can add "Please" or "SVP" (S'il vous plaît). 

5. Know How to Communicate. Sometimes you might get into a car with a driver that doesn't speak your language and you don't know how to speak with your driver. As an aficionado of languages, I have been lucky in this department, communicating in a mixture of English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Italian, and Swedish, I can get by in pretty much all of Europe without too many communication difficulties. Still, even if you don't know many languages, you should at least be able to say hello, thank you, and perhaps a few key phrases in the language of your driver or one that your driver will understand. It also helps to hitchhike in a country where you know the language since instead of a silent 3-hour ride, you can have an interesting conversation or two. 

6. Decline Rides. Let's say you've been waiting for 3 hours and you're desperate. Or someone has gone out of his or her way to stop for you, while it seems only polite to accept a ride from every single person that stops, that does not oblige you to take the ride. It is perfectly fine to decline rides if you feel uncomfortable. I take risks, sure. I've hitchhiked with two truck drivers in on truck from Lithuania to Latvia, but they were colleagues of another truck driver who'd picked me up in Vilnius. My initial impression of them was good. They seemed to smile genuinely AND I could communicate with them since they both spoke Russian and I could get by with that language. I am not stupid with my risk-taking, though. In Slovakia, a car with about 5 Ukrainians stopped and offered me a ride. The initial vibe I got from them was negative. They didn't seem genuinely friendly and in a car with 5 males... hm... and I was a solo female... hm... probably not smart. I declined the ride. It was OK. In Estonia, a Turkish truck driver stopped, but he spoke no English, no Russian, no French... none of the language I knew and I knew not a single word of Turkish, so I declined the ride. It was fine, he wasn't offended and nothing bad happened. He moved on I got a ride from someone else. The point is, don't feel obligated to get into every car that stops. There are countless reasons to decline rides... the ride isn't going far, it's going off of the main highway, you get a bad feeling from the driver, etc. and it's all right to say, "Thanks so much, but I think my route is a little different from yours." Of course, that is one bad thing about having a sign, since you've already listed your destination, but in Europe, this has never been a problem. 

7. Hitchhike from Rest Area A to B. Rest areas, auto stops, service stations, service areas, whatever you call them, they are areas right off of the highway where you can get gas/petrol for the vehicles, a bathroom break, a bite to eat, a chair to sit on, and in some countries (like Germany) a shower! In Europe, these are the best places to hitchhike from. Once you get your initial ride out of a European city, ask your driver to drop you off at the rest area nearest the driver's destination. For example, if you're hitchhiking from Germany to Slovakia via Austria, an Austrian driver going to Linz can drop you off at the service area right before the Linz Ausgang (Linz exit). In most European countries there is a service area every 50 kilometers or so, and these are the perfect places to get off to get your next ride. From the Linz service area, you can get another ride perhaps right before Wien (Vienna) and get off at a rest stop before that city. From that pit stop, it's a quick jump to Bratislava! While hitchhiking is not illegal, it is illegal to hitchhike directly on the highway/freeway/expressway where cars cannot stop safely, so it's best to get rides from the service areas. They are easy to access and cars are slowly driving out of them to meet the speeding cars on the highway. When hitchhiking out of them, position yourself in a place where you can get the maximum number of drivers to see you, usually near the exit of the rest stop. I personally find this the best method. Other hitchhikers prefer to talk to random people and ask them for rides inside the food court or near the gas stations... but I prefer the traditional hitchhiking method, thumb out, near the exit, holding a sign with a smile on my face. 

8. Better Safe than Sorry. There are obviously some risks involved in hitchhiking. Even I, as fearless as my friends think I am, do play it safely. How? As a female hitchhiker, I NEVER hitchhike past sunset. OK, I confess, there was one time I hitchhiked at night... maybe two times. Overall, though, 99% of the time, I only hitchhike during daylight hours, especially when I hitchhike alone. I recommend this not just for solo female hitchhikers, but also solo male hitchhikers, or even those traveling with partners. You can always sleep in the rest area food court or some place where you can find a seat, curl up and catch a few Z's and start bright and early, as soon as the sky begins to lighten, the next day. Also, by safe than sorry, I mean stay sober and alert at all times when hitchhiking. I don't judge people who drink or engage in trying recreational drugs, but when hitchhiking this is probably the worst thing you could possibly do. Do not drink alcohol or take anything that might affect your judgement, even in the slightest. Also, always have some food and water with you while hitchhiking, as well as some cash. It doesn't have to be an exorbitant amount, but it should be enough to buy you a meal and a big bottle of water. If you're hitchhiking to meet a deadline or catch a flight, you should always have backup cash or card in case you're not going to meet that deadline and need to take an emergency train/bus/boat/plane/horse to make it. 

9. Go with Your Gut. This rule isn't just for Europe, but it's for hitchhikers in general. The gut feeling you get when the driver first stops and rolls down the window, or stops and you open the door, you get creepster vibes, don't accept the ride. Trust me, you'll be surprised how many times your gut feeling is right. I ignored it a couple times and those couple times were the only times I had "issues" with my drivers. Luckily, nothing happened and I escaped, mostly unscathed, but it was when I was ignoring that gut feeling, which I should not have waived away.

My Top 9 European Countries for First-Time Hitchhikers (in no particular order)

1. Ireland

2. France

3. Czech Republic

4. Slovakia

5. Germany

6. Lithuania*

7. Latvia*

8. Estonia*

9. Slovenia

*If you speak Russian, I highly recommend these countries for first-timers. If not... perhaps other countries where English is more prevalent like the Netherlands, Denmark, or Norway would be better picks. 

My Top 9 European Countries to Avoid for First-Time Hitchhikers  (in no particular order)

1. Greece

2. Italy

3. Serbia 

4. Montenegro

5. Portugal

6. Ukraine

7. Croatia

8. Spain

9. Albania*

The above list doesn't signify that the countries are particularly dangerous for hitchhiking, but rather, the average wait times were longer, which could be discouraging to first-timers. 

*The only reason Albania is on this list is because most people expect you to pay them for the ride. Similarly, some drivers in Romania also ask you to pay. Usually this is not a problem if you tell the driver that you have no money before getting in the car in a language the driver would understand (learning some key phrases in Albanian for Albania or surprisingly French/German/Italian/Romanian for Romania). 

Wait Times (Lowest 1 -> 5 Highest) 

1. One Female

2. Two Females

3. A Couple

4. Two males

5. Groups of 3 or more. 

Additional Notes: Don't get discouraged if you have to wait for more than a couple hours when hitchhiking out of a city! This is perfectly normal and there's nothing wrong with you. City drivers, most of them, aren't leaving the city, that's the main reason why they don't pick you up. Getting out of the city in the hard part, everything will be a breeze after that. For instance, I once had to wait nearly 2 hours to get a ride out of Paris and likewise a ride out of Milan. Also, this should go without saying, but you should travel lightly, meaning no heavy suitcases or multiple bags. The best thing to have is one backpack, which should be visible to the driver. You should place the bag in front of you as you hold your sign and thumb out so that the driver knows exactly what he/she/they are getting into when they stop for you. 

DISCLAIMER: Hitchhike at your own risk and have fun!

Long Overdue Blog Post

I knew I've been a terrible blogger as of late, but I guess I just didn't realize exactly how terrible I've been. Looking at my last post, I can see how long I've neglected posting... for over 15 months, in fact. I suppose I've been corresponding regularly with my friends and family, so I figured I no longer needed to post since I honestly didn't think people other than the aforementioned read, or even cared about my random musings and trips. Then I checked my e-mail yesterday to find a message from someone who'd been reading my blog posts, asking if I would ever update it. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least. 

So, since it would be impossible to post about every detail that has happened in the past 15 months, I'll just try to make this as laconic as possible, giving you just the highlights and excising the foofaraw. 

February 2012
Continued with work and discovered these awesome Valentine's Day cards:

March 2012
Nothing particularly interesting except hitchhiking within the UK and ending my relationship with my much too young, but still legal, boyfriend. 

April 2012
I discovered the joys of making homemade hummus and pita bread. 

May 2012
My sister came to visit me and we went around the UK. 

June 2012
A few of my friends came to visit me and I played tour guide. 

July 2012
I turned a quarter century old and received some tickets to the London Olympics! Being a mature 25-year-old, I went to Thorpe Park to celebrate!

August 2012
Went to a few of the Olympic events and the closing ceremony, effectively crossing off something on my bucket list. 

September 2012
Ran my second marathon! My time was 03:51:06.18

October 2012
Confirmed to vote with an absentee ballot (via e-mail!) and fully immersed in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Elections. 

November 2012
Voted early and when the results were out, I was pleased, though not sure if my vote even mattered. Also celebrated Thanksgiving and ironically invited my British friends. 

December 2012
My Southeast Asia backpacking trip (+ the wedding!) I traveled around Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Singapore, hitchhiking along the way and getting scuba certified. I won't say too much about the trip since I did promise a terse summary of my past year and few months, but I must say this part of the world was amazing! I hitchhiked with a diverse group of drivers, sometimes on the back of motorcycles, met Spaniards at a restaurant in Phuket who introduced me to a diving school in Koh Tao, which got me a discount, but I had to learn how to scuba dive in Spanish with Spaniards! I met the most lovely woman in Singapore who was like my platonic soulmate, enjoyed the smiling faces of Cambodia, and tried the strangest fruit in the world, durian, in Malaysia. 

January 2013
Back to Europe and the cold for the holidays...

February 2013
The endless winter continues to torment me. 

March 2013
Ran my third marathon (and performed slightly worse than the last) at 03:57:29.19.

April 2013
Attempted to hitchhike to Cyprus, failed, and ended up spending time in Romania instead. 

I'll probably have to upload pictures some time, but I'm really lazy about that since once you have more than 3,000 pictures to upload, the task seems so daunting. That's it for the quick update for now. I'll try my best to be a better blogger from now on (but with hitchhiking, work, and studies, the task can be a bit much at times, so no concrete promises).

Superficial Politics

There are several presidential elections that are scheduled for 2012. Countries that will see a "new" (or not-so-new) head of state are the following:

• Taiwan* (Already held on January 14th - Incumbent Ma Ying-Jeou won with 51.6%)
• Finland (TODAY! and if necessary February 5th)
• Russia (March 4th)
• Hong Kong* (March 25th)
• France (April 22nd, May 6th)
• Mexico (July 1st)
• India (July)
• Venezuela (October 7th)
• United States (November 6th)
• Republic of Korea (December 19th) 

*Hong Kong and Taiwan may not be considered independent nation-states. Hong Kong will be electing the "Chief Executive of Hong Kong" since it is politically a part of the People's Republic of China.


That said, I can officially vote for only one of the above-listed elections, that of the United States. We can safely speculate that that current president, Barack Obama, will run again as the incumbent candidate. Republicans are currently holding primaries, with four candidates still standing after a handful dropped their candidacy as recently as this month (Jon Huntsman dropped out supporting Mitt Romney, Rick Perry dropped out supporting Newt Gingrich). 


Now, I was thoroughly disappointed with Barack Obama, as some of you may already know. He recently signed the new NDAA, which directly attacks the rights protected by our Constitution. Anyone, including American citizens, "suspected" of terrorism or any connections to such activities (worded VERY vaguely) can be held, without trial, at a secret location, INDEFINITELY. What ever happened to the Bill of Rights? 


My siblings and I have banded together this year in support of Ron Paul. Sure, it's a bit of a stretch/long shot since he's often ignored by the mainstream media and portrayed as a 'freak", but in reality, if you look past his physical appearance and funny-sounding voice, he actually makes sense. Of course, as with any candidate, no one is perfect, but I think Ron Paul would be the best option. Newt Gingrich would be worse than Obama and I'd much rather vote for Obama again than let Mitt Romney into office. Rick Santorum? No way... but if Ron Paul were to win the Republican nomination, as unlikely as that may seem, I would definitely support him. I chose Obama since he was the lesser of two evils (McCain-Palin I would NEVER support... ESPECIALLY because Palin was an incompetent joke) but I'm sorry to say, he really hasn't done too much to make the U.S. a better place. Change was only skin-deep. 


Which brings up a topic I've been ruminating over for the past few months. Americans really like to elect people who "look" like presidents. Come on, America, are you really that superficial? Think about it for a moment. The first presidential debates were televised in 1960 with Nixon vs. Kennedy. Kennedy, a younger, better-looking candidate won over the voters' support while those who'd only LISTENED to the debates (hence, couldn't see the candidates), were more likely to support Nixon. I'm not saying Nixon was the best president (Watergate!), but just to make a point. LBJ was after Kennedy, but only because Kennedy was assassinated and LBJ was VP. 


Then it was Nixon, who beat Humphrey. Nixon "looks" better as a president than Humphrey, right? OK, Humphrey was the VP under LBJ and since Vice Presidents are often forgotten, here's his picture. When Nixon resigned, Gerald Ford became president by default, so that doesn't count. Ford then lost to Carter anyway. Carter has a more presidential "look" doesn't he? After Carter, it was Reagan. Need I say more? Ronald Reagan was an ex-movie star! Reagan's VP, Bush Sr. ran against and defeated Dukakis, but then lost in 1992 to the younger, better-looking Clinton. 

Bush Jr. ran against and "defeated" Al Gore, but this one is iffy, since Al Gore did win the popular vote... but thanks to the Electoral College, he was unable to claim presidency. Then he won again in 2004 against John Kerry. You have to admit, John Kerry's prominent nose makes him look bird-like... and he wasn't that much better than George W. Bush anyway. He was just a tall, rich man (with dibs on the Heinz ketchup company). 


The younger, better-looking (at least, I think he's pretty good-looking for his age, though some may disagree) Barack Obama defeated the older, pasty-looking McCain (I didn't hate McCain as much as I hated his VP running mate, Palin... ugh). Now it's going to be Obama vs... ??? It could be anyone's game now! Gingrich (who looks like a pudgy, aged spoiled brat... but not only his looks but his political views/the fact that he's bought out by lobbyists/corporations puts him on my "don't vote for him" list) recently won the SC primaries. Rick Santorum (reminds me a little of Kerry, though as a conservative foil) won Iowa, and Mitt Romney (who *looks* like what Americans think a president should look like, but he's pretty much the same as Gingrich otherwise) won New Hampshire. Ron Paul is the underdog because he's the oldest and he looks the "funniest". He doesn't fit the Americans' image of what a president should look like. 


Which brings me to this blog entry's title, "Superficial Politics." Come on America, are you really that superficial to vote for a candidate based on his/her looks? Really? Pay more attention to what the candidates have to say. THE CONTENTS of what they're saying, not just the wrapping paper (superfluous styles/intonation/delivery, etc.) but the substance. If you base it solely on that, Ron Paul is definitely the best candidate. He ran in 2008 as a Libertarian, but he really is a Constitutionalist. He cares about his country and really wants what's best for the country. He's also the only person who hasn't been bought out by lobbyists or corporations. It doesn't really matter if it's a Democrat or a Republican in the White House if they're already sellouts to lobbyists/corporations. So choose someone who's really different!


Today's Random Video:

Sweden for the Holidays

I opted out of going to Ireland with my boyfriend this holiday and went the opposite direction, to Sweden.

As part of my conditional citizenship (since I've never lived in Sweden and the only reason I have citizenship is through my American-born, but Swedish-bred mother who lived briefly in Sweden in her youth), I'm required to prove my "significant ties" by visiting often. I could just get it over with and live in Sweden for a couple years, which would then no longer require me to visit often and I'm seriously considering this after my studies.

So Sweden in a nutshell:

I wanted to get to Sweden by the 24th at the very latest, so I decided to estimate a very comfortable 4 days to hitchhike there from England. Sweden was reached in 2 days, so the journey went speedily along with no problems, only issue being the ferry crossing from England to France. Did have to shell out some dough for that, but otherwise, it was smooth sailing.

Since it was so close to Christmas, I'd decided to dress up festively, donning a Santa hat, painting my nails green and red, dressing in a green dress over a red turtleneck sweater and some winter boots over my jeans. People who picked me up all commented on my holiday spirit (I used white poster board for my hitchhiking signs, using green and red marker to write the city and highway names). A couple people asked if I was going to the North Pole (all in good jest, of course) and a couple who picked me up wondered if I was hitchhiking home for the holidays. In a way, this was true. Sweden is as close to home as I can get at the moment. I do have extended family, 2nd cousins and the like, in Sweden as well as a couple close friends. Overall, the trip through continental Europe and to the German-Danish border was a breeze.

I did end up sleeping at a rest area in Germany, right on the Danish border, only because it gets so dark so fast in the winter months, only to wake up with the sunrise and start again. Swedes seemed to love my festive mood, and my Swedish (shameful, really) was put to the test. English was always an option, but I should really work on my Swedish more. I reached Stockholm by sundown and met up with my old friend Erik (who is my mother's cousin-in-law's brother's son) and we headed to Uppsala to meet his direct and my indirect family members for Christmas.

Right before turning virtually vegan for 2012, Christmas dinner in Sweden... let's just say that it's a good thing that was a New Year's resolution! Traditional Swedish julbord (Christmas table... basically a Christmas-version of smörgåsbord) is chock FULL of animal products: Swedish meatballs, herring, salmon, eel, buttered bread, cheeses, sausages, hard boiled eggs, ham, pork, bread dipped in pork broth, rice pudding, Janssons frestelse (cream-filled potato casserole with onions and sprats). Were I vegan, the only thing I could have eaten were potatoes, beets, some breads, and cabbage. Luckily, I wasn't on my vegan diet yet... and I stuffed myself to the gills. Seriously, I don't remember eating so much in my entire life. My stomach actually hurt after I finished my meal.

The feast didn't stop there. Swedes also celebrate the "Second Day of Christmas", known in other parts of Europe as St. Stephan's. My extended family doesn't stop there. They serve this type of food until the 13th day of Christmas (also known as Epiphany in other parts of Europe). Luckily, I was out of Uppsala and the fattening, animal-based foods by New Year's Eve. Back in Stockholm, I went out with Erik and some friends to celebrate 2012 then lazed about, working on vegan recipes and using him as a guinea pig for about a week before deciding to head back to England.

Hitchhiking back was somehow more gruesome than the way back in. Perhaps the holiday spirit was worn out and I was no longer dressed like Santa's helper. It still didn't take more than 2 days, but it felt like the wait times were longer in between the rides. Again, had to shell out some cash for the ferry from France to the UK, but made it back with no major issues.

So now I'm back (just got back last night, actually). Not particularly excited to start working again, but hey, that's life. I wouldn't say this trip to Sweden for the holidays was particularly eventful. Just saw family and friends... other than the fact that it was in Sweden, it almost felt like just a normal holiday. I quite enjoyed it. Hm... I'm beginning to wonder... at 24, I should be doing something more wild with my life, shouldn't I? Well, suppose that will have to wait until spring or summer.

12 Resolutions for 2012

Happy New Year!

Bonne année !

¡Próspero año nuevo!

새해 복 많이 받아!

Gutes neues Jahr!

Felice anno nuovo!

С наступающим Новым Годом!

Gott nytt år!

新年おめでとうございます!

Szczęśliwego nowego roku!

As I write my doctoral dissertation, I feel as though I should personally take action in support of things for which I feel strongly. The environment is one of them. It takes less energy to eat lower on the food chain and thus, I'm attempting to become... semi-vegan. I love meat, dairy products, custards and other baked products that require a ton of eggs... so completely giving up these things for the rest of my life would be quite difficult. Limiting consumption, however, will be feasible since I can exercise a certain amount of willpower. Thus, combined with a few language and travel-related goals, here are my 12 New Year's Resolutions for 2012. 

1. Limit red meat intake to 3 times a year.

2. Limit turkey ingestion to 3 times a year.

3. Limit non-meat, animal product consumption to 1 time per week (or less if possible).

4. Run at least 35 miles per week.

5. Complete at least 12 things on my "Things to Do Before I Die" List

6. Take the Goethe-Zertifikat C1 exam by the end of 2012.

7. Take the TORFL by the end of 2012.

8. Take the DELE by the end of 2012.

9. Take the CILS or the CELI by the end of 2012.

10. Take the TOPIK by the end of 2012.
11. Learn at least 2012 Kanji characters by the end of 2012. 

12. Visit at least 12 new cities in 2012 (countries would be better, but that's just wishful thinking).

Today's Random Picture:

Revelers cheer at midnight in Times Square on New Years Eve, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011, in New York. Some revelers, wearing party hats and "2012" glasses, began camping out Saturday morning, as workers readied bags stuffed with hundreds of balloons and technicians put colored filters on klieg lights. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

2011 in a Nutshell

Sadly, 2011 was not as eventful as 2010... which means I'll just have to work harder to make 2012 more exciting!

Here are some basic stats from the rather uneventful year of 2011:

New Countries Visited: 1

Countries Lived in: 2

Items Completed on my list of Things to Do Before I Die: 3

International Flights Taken: 4

Mountains Hiked: 5  

Exams and Papers: 6

Bottles of Alcohol Imbibed: 7

New Cities/Towns Visited: 8

Fiction Books Read: 9
Skype Calls with Mother: 10
Guitar Chords Memorized: 11

(Approximate) Distance Hitchhiked: 4,581 miles (7,372 kilometers)

(Approximate) Total Distance Traveled: 17,719 miles (28,516kilometers)

I hope your year was more eventful than mine!

Today's Random Website: 

TIME Magazine's "The Top 10 Everything of 2011"

Merry Christmas!

I've long neglected this blog, for which, I apologize to anyone who reads/follows it and to my friends and back in the States. Lately, I've been pretty terrible with keeping in touch and updating people in general. Blame it on my first year as a doctoral student, work, research, and social expectations.

Currently I hail from Sweden, where I'm spending my Christmas holidays. I will most likely be here for a combined total of 2-odd weeks before heading back to England. Getting off of a Skype-date with my family (mother and younger siblings), I feel oddly at ease with the fact that I'm thousands of miles away, celebrating Christmas my with distant Swedish relatives. Perhaps this new level of comfort is due to this Christmas being the fourth Christmas away from my immediate family members?

Whatever the case, I'm completely content and don't feel very homesick at all this year. In any case, I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!!!! I should go back to helping prepare the julbord (Christmas dinner basically), but I'll be sure to try to update you on my holiday travels!

Today's Random Picture:

I want to do this one Christmas!

Athletes dressed as Santa Claus jump on the Mediterranean sea as they take part in the Copa Nadal in the northern Spanish port of Barcelona, Spain Sunday, Dec 25, 2011. The Copa Nadal (Christmas Cup) is a traditional swimming competition that takes place in Barcelona every December 25th, where participants swim 200 meters in the open sea in the port of Barcelona. (AP Photo/Emiliio Morenatti)

Liberation Day

I haven't updated this blog in a while. I know, I'm a terrible blogger, but when your schedule is as busy as mine, it's really tough to find the time. I've officially been in Korea for a month and a half and needless to say, have been finding some cultural aspects to be shockingly different and my lifestyle seems to have changed a little. Before getting into those details, I will just give you a quick overview of what life has been like for the past forty-five days. 


Weekday life is fairly uninteresting. Aside from work and the classes I teach, I attend Korean classes that are offered for free to all foreigners at the university every day. Progress has been made in areas of speaking and listening, but my writing (my handwriting is absolutely atrocious) and reading (it takes me a long time to read a sentence and understand it) still need a lot of work. As for grammar, I seem to have developed a strong handle on that, but vocabulary is what is really lacking. My limited vocabulary limits how much I can speak as well as how much I can understand. For instance, advanced or technical vocabulary is definitely out of my league. When I try watching the Korean news or reading a Korean newspaper, I understand approximately 10% of what is said or written, the other 90% being completely mysterious, garbled, and alien to me. 


Weekdays are a little more interesting. Nearly every weekend (so far), I have managed to travel to other areas of Korea or do some hiking. The list isn't spectacularly impressive, but it's still quite a few places (Namwon, Gokseong, Cheongsando, Seoul, hiked up Mudeungsan and Jirisan). This weekend being a 3-day weekend, I'd wanted to go to Jeju or  Busan, but there was a little incident. I fell down the stairs of my apartment and had to go to the hospital. Luckily I didn't break or fracture my tibia, but I did do a significant amount of damage to my muscle. Strictly ordered by the doctor not to move around or do any exercise, I'm confined to my room and bed for the time being. Thus, I'm a little bored and then this blog came into my memory. 


Today is Liberation Day in Korea, the reason why I am not working on a Monday. Koreans celebrate their liberation from Japanese occupation, which happened at the end of WWII in 1945. That's quite interesting, actually, the Korean-Japanese relationship. Japan annexed Korea in 1910 and occupied the country for 35 years until the Allies shooed them away. Older Koreans generally have anti-Japanese sentiments. This I can personally vouch for since my paternal grandfather was Korean, thus my Korean last name despite my 1/4 Korean background. He was actually captured and "sold" by the Japanese to a sugar cane plantation in Hawaii in the late 1920s. My paternal grandmother, who was an ethnic Mongolian (her history is actually astounding as far as I know - my mother says I'm most like her in that I love traveling and learning languages) was also shipped off to Hawaii during this time. So, I suppose it's not a huge surprise that my paternal grandparents did not have a favorable view of the Japanese until their deaths. 


Personally, I never had anything against a group of people since, it was history and the present-day Japanese don't have anything to do with WWII and the atrocities committed during their occupation of Korea. Likewise in Korea, the younger generation (my age contemporaries and those younger) are not as anti-Japanese as the prior generations. Japanese media and culture have infiltrated the Korean media and culture and vice versa. While all popular culture is being exported and imported between the two countries, of course, as with every nation, there are some bigots and xenophobes. There are still some people with anti-Japanese sentiments even among the youth and likewise there are anti-Korean sentiments in Japan. I personally remember when I was staying with a Japanese host family for a month as a 17-year-old, there were protests by the Japanese Yakuza every weekend, announcing their hatred of Koreans living in Japan and telling them to go back to Korea. Such protests don't seem to exist in Korea, probably because there isn't a significant enough Japanese community in the major Korean cities, but some people seem to hold some hostile feelings toward their neighbors to the east. 


Still it's not all terrible. There are many Japanese and Koreans alike who appreciate each other's culture and strive for peaceful cooperation. Fortunately, those with a more positive attitude seem to be the majority. While the Japanese-Korean relationship may not be as peachy as that of the Anglo-American one (Americans can still celebrate independence from the UK on July 4th and still get along quite well with the Britons), hopefully, it will be close to that eventually. So, I wish a "Happy Liberation Day" to all Koreans out there and remember, it's better not to hate. Forgive, but don't forget, and everyone would get along better. 


Today's Random Picture:

Educational Reform

We had a class discussion in my American society and pop culture class about the educational system in America in comparison with that in Korea. It was interesting to note how vehemently antagonistic the students' attitudes were toward their own education system. Apparently, despite ranking quite high internationally, there are (as expected of any country) some shortcomings. 

Korea, as a nation, or perhaps, Korean mothers, are obsessed with educating their children. Often, women get married, have children, and become housewives, unlike the developed countries of the "West" where women return to the workforce soon after childbirth. Since the women have no work, they devote their lives doting (or perhaps obsessively monitoring) their children. These days, women only have one child... maybe two children... so they devote all the extra time and money on this(these) one (or two) child(ren).  Not only do the children go to school, but they are socially compelled to attend complementary schools in the afternoon, called 학원s (pronounced: hogwuns). At these 학원s, students study everything privately from English to History to Science to Math to Art. You name a subject, there will be a 학원 for it. 

Kids tend to attend not just one type of 학원 either. From what my students tell me, they attend at least three of these 학원s unless the family is really financially strapped for cash, in which case they will usually send their child(ren) to English 학원. In middle school, students usually go to these 학원s right after school, which end around 10:30p.m. They return home circa 11:00p.m. and do their homework until early morning, barely get five to seven hours of sleep and go to school the next morning. 

High school isn't really better. The students don't (they are not allowed to) go to 학원 after school since they are forced to stay in school until at least 10:00p.m. Some students are known to stay in school until nearly midnight. They go back home, do some homework, get barely five to seven hours of sleep and go to school early the morning after. The question is... is it worth it?

While Korea's rapid development over the last few decades is astounding, I can't say that the 학원s are helping all too much. The average Korean child spends 15,548 hours studying ENGLISH before entering university. If you count the other subjects that students are forced to study at the 학원s, the number would be even ridiculously higher. For English alone, Korean families spend approximately $15,000,000,000 on private education (학원s, tutors, camps, intensive courses, etc.). Despite all of this time and money, the Republic of Korea ranks at around 90th in terms of national average TOEFL scores (77/120).

There are some students with outstanding English skills, but I realize now, although some of them may be able to speak understandably well, understand almost everything, and read more advanced text, in terms of writing ability, even at the university-level, they are still somewhat lacking. They may know all the grammar rules and terms, yet they don't quite know how to implement them into their writing. Perhaps the way they teach English is flawed since, after 15,548 hours of studying one language for several years should surely be enough to become an expert in said language. It's an interesting topic and cultural difference perhaps, a culture that I am still in the process of learning.

Today's Random Picture: