Visiting the Holy Land

I've just returned from a trip to the land that is considered holiest for several religions, Israel. Israel is another interesting destination that I never would have thought that my work would take me to and not necessarily a place I would have thought to ever visit on my own. It's a beautiful country with very kind and hospitable people. Similar to Cape Town, the climate and culture reminded me very much of my beloved California. My hotel was right on the beach so every morning I was able to wake up to a beautiful sunrise and crashing waves. I was also very glad to be back in warm weather again where I could wear short sleeve shirts and not worry about whether or not I had brought a hat with me. I spent most of my time in Tel Aviv but was able to get out to see Haifa, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem. I arrived late in the evening in Haifa so wasn't able to do much except see the view of the city and have a very satisfying dinner. I'd like to visit Haifa again some time and actually walk through the Baha'i Shrine and Gardens.

Although I was raised Roman Catholic, I have never considered myself to be a very religious person. Being raised Roman Catholic did mean that I spent many a Saturday and Sunday at church studying the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, therefore I was keen to see the places where all of the strange and miraculous events had occured. I decided to take a day off (considering I had to work on a Sunday) to visit the religious/historical sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

On my visit to Jerusalem we first stopped at the Mount of Olives to get a panaromic view of the entire city of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives is said to be the place where God will redeem the dead at the end of days so many Jewish people pay big money to be buried there. This gives them the benefit of proximity to be one of the first to raise from the dead and re-enter the gates of Jerusalem. From the Mount of Olives we headed to the old city which is the center of Jerusalem. The old city is divided into 4 quarters: Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. Jerusalem has great significance to all these religions considering it is where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son to God, Muhammed ascended to heaven, and where Christ lived, taught, and was crucified. The most amazing thing to me was how all these religions/cultures co-exist in such small proximity to each other and all share rights to the same religious sites. As a Catholic, I was blown away to be walking the same path that Jesus walked, touch the place where he was crucified and buried, and to see all the stories of the Bible come to life.

After spending most of the day wandering around Jerusalem we headed to Bethlehem. Here I have to admit that I didn't do very much research before coming to Israel. Bethlehem is a Palestinian controlled state where Israeli's are not allowed to visit. There is a huge border between Jerusalem and Bethlehem where our Israeli guide had to drop us off to be picked up by a Palestinian guide on the other side. Bethlehem is the only Palestinian state in Israel where tourists are allowed to visit because of its religious significance and pressure from the Vatican. Crossing over to Bethlehem was a surreal experience as you could easily see that there was a state of military activity and chaos that I didn't observe at all in the rest of Israel. Apparently the day before I arrived Israeli troops had kidnapped 2 men and the day after I left Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian policeman. It was inspiring to visit the Church of the Nativity where Jesus was born in a manger but I'm not sure if I'll be finding my way to Bethlehem again.

Finally I do have to comment on the cuisine in Israel. I was given fair warning that I would probably come back to London weighing more than when I'd left and I did my best to ensure that with 3 courses at almost every meal. Israel has a wealth of food options and I ate everything from Italian pasta to Asian noodles. I also had the freshest and most delicious hummus and falafels that I've ever tasted. I definitely hope I'll have another trip back to see more of Jerusalem and Haifa and to eat some more.

Just When I Thought It Couldn't Get Colder

I am now in Nurnberg, Germany where the car showed -1.5C (29F) when I arrived. Side bar - this time I got an Opel which isn't much better than the Skoda and the speed limiter was set to 200km/hr (124 mph), no fun at all. I don't have much to share right now except that Nurnberg is another quaint and beautiful European city. Spotlessly clean as I would expect of any major city in Germany with not even a hint of litter around. The one really nice thing about being in Nurnberg this time of year that almost makes up for the cold is the Christkindlesmarkt (Christmas market). Germans take Christmas very seriously (well they take most things seriously) so all major towns have a Christmas market leading up to the big day, however the Nurnberg market is one of the most popular. Vendors set up stalls in the town center and sell lovingly made (in China) ornaments, dolls, cakes, cider, mugs, etc. to the unknowing tourists. Nurnberg is also famous for its sausages so every other stall sells you three sausages in a bun for 1.50 Euro. I would have shown you a picture of one but I devoured mine before I could get my camera out.

It's sad that I've become so accustomed to cold weather that I don't know what to pack for my trip to 20C (70F) weather next week.

Rain, Rain Go Away...

My passport is being held hostage in order to get a visa so I haven't had much to write about lately. Only that it's been raining so much lately and I've never quite felt cold like this before. The temperature has been settling around 3C ( 37F) to 10C (50F) and with the humidity it's just been plain freezing. Be glad my fair weather friends in California. The days have also gotten extremely short since day light savings time and any ray of light is gone by 4:30pm. Some nights I feel so ready for bed and I realize that it's only 8pm but with the darkness makes it feel like midnight.

This week I am excited to celebrate Thanksgiving with some other Americans. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it's centered around spending time with the ones you care about, eating yourself silly, and vegging out in front of the television. I do really look forward to Christmas as well but it has gotten so commercial that it's hard to recall what you're supposed to be celebrating. Christmas is especially commercial here in the UK because there are no other holidays like Thanksgiving or Halloween in between so the ornaments and store decorations go up by early October. Thanksgiving will be nice though with my friend Tonya hosting a dinner Thursday night with a mixed group of people. I also have two good friends in town visiting so I'm happy to see them again. I'll be sure to take some pictures and let you know how the turkey turns out.

South Africa: Part Deux

The second part of my trip in South Africa took me to Cape Town for my final few days. This was probably the exact opposite of my experience in Johannesburg. To begin with, I had a uneventeful direct flight from London Heathrow to Johannesburg, this was not the case flying from Johannesburg to Cape Town. I left at 2:30pm for a 2 hour flight and about 10 minutes before landing in Cape Town our captain announced a slight change in plans. Apparently a plane that had just taken off left a few spare parts on the runway along with some fuel that now had to be cleared up so we would need to circle in the air for ~30 minutes. Then 15 minutes later the captain came back on informing us that this plane now needed to make an emergency landing at the Cape Town airport so there was no ETA for our landing. Finally it was decided that we had been circling for so long that we were beginning to run out of fuel and that we would need to land at the airport in George, ~400 km away. In George we were allowed to make phone calls and rearrange our arrival plans but we could not get off the plane. Finally the mess at Cape Town was cleaned and we made our way back arriving at 7:30pm. To top it all off we had the screaming child who wouldn't stop to take a breath for the entire 5 hour ordeal. Typically I do feel for these parents but today was just not the day. Apparently events similar to this have occured twice in one week now at the Cape Town airport.


Once we arrived we were told that we had to go directly to the hotel, drop off our bags, and head right back out for a go-karting event. After the events of the day none of us were looking forward to pizzas, beers, and go-karting but we were obliged to be considerate to our host. I've been go-karting before but never driven competitively against 16 other men made up of mostly Germans who pride themselves in driving at 250 km/hr (155mph) on icy autobahns and drifting through motorway exits. I myself have only gotten to 200 km/hr (124 mph) on the autobahn. They split us into 3 groups where we drove 2 heats of 10 laps. The drivers with the best time made it into the semifinal for another 15 laps for best time. Then it was down to 6 of us in the final where we were racing full out against each other and not for lap times. It was a daunting race where I inadvertently pissed off a few Germans by not allowing them to pass. Sadly I did not clinch the race but I did make it onto the podium with third place with a German in second and a Brit taking home the gold. Third out of 17 drivers isn't too bad I think. How the other Germans must feel being beaten by a girl ;-)


On my one free day in Cape Town I was taken around to a few of the local wineries in the Stellenbosch wine region. I was very excited to go as Stellenbosch is a major up and coming wine region and never again would I probably be able to see these wineries first hand. The climate, scenery, atmosphere all reminded me so much of Sonoma and Napa Valley. It isn't quite as isolated though as you tend to drive through dodgier parts of town to go between some of the wineries. We visited Meerlust Winery, started in 1756, which had a great Bordeaux blend called Rubicon. My tour guides were very excited to share the Rubicon wine with me but unbeknownst to them I had tried two bottles the night before so I knew I was in for a treat. Following Meerlust we headed to Rust en Vrede Winery (Rest in Peace). They call in an "Estate of Mind" which I thought was really cute. They had a nice Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon but their Shiraz was unimpressive. Finally we went on to Neil Ellis which I had dragged my guides off the main road to see as a friend is in love with their Sauvignon Blanc. The setting at Neil Ellis was just superb at is in deep in the valley with the mountains all around, small lake beside, and lily pond. Unfortunately they did not have the wine that I was in search of as they only produce it for export but I was able to try a couple other very nice Sauv Blancs and Chardonnays. They do make some excellent white wines. At this point we were fairly drunk and my guides had made late lunch reservations so we headed out. Lunch was at La Petit Ferme which is a restaurant, winery, and hotel in the most picturesque spot in the French quarter of Cape Town. We ate out on the open all-weather veranda and I gobbled up a 3-course meal starting with a grilled pear salad, hoisin marinated roast duck, and finished with a warm apple tart topped with vanilla ice cream. I'm getting sick just remembering how much I ate. The best part about La Petit Ferme was that the 3 of us each had a 3-course meal with a bottle of wine for $75.


All in all I had a once in a lifetime experience in South Africa from "roughing it" in the safari to wine tasting in the valley. Honestly with the distance from the US I probably would never have considered traveling there on my own so I am so glad I was able to take this opportunity to have an amazingly different experience. At the end of it I was glad to get home as a week away for me does get really exhausting. When I returned to London I was missing home a bit and needed a recharge of Americana so I headed straight out the next morning to my local (and only) Whole Foods. This was my first time in the Whole Foods London and what a spectacular store it was. The Brits didn't know what hit them. I ended up doing my typical goofy homesick thing, every time one of the staffers with an American accent helped me my reaction was, "Oh my gosh! You're American? Where are you from? Canadian huh, same difference. Can we be best friends?" There you have it, I guess you can take the girl out of the safari but you can't take the safari back in hand carry, or however that saying goes ;-)

The First 90 Days (yes I’m stealing the title)

For the non-Alterans, when you start a new job at Altera you are given a focal review after your first 90-days on the job to ensure that you and Altera are meeting each other’s expectations so here is my 90-day review. I’m absolutely amazed that I’ve already spent 3 months living abroad. I say living abroad because I feel as though I’ve spent more time traveling across the continent than actually spending time in the UK (and especially London). Over the last 90 days I’ve traveled to 17 different cities (19 if you include London and High Wycombe), been to 3 continents, logged 26.956 air miles, been on an African safari, seen 4 celebrities, called home 12,562 times, spent more money at Selfridges than I will ever make, lost some friends, and gained some new friends. In between all that I did do some work as well ;-)

Ro asked me about a week ago where my happiness factor was on a scale of 1 to 10 and he was nervous to hear that after nearly 3 months my answer was 5. He’s been having a great time during his ex-pat tour of duty so he was a bit taken aback to hear that my rating was so low. With everything that I’ve been through over the last 3 months I felt that my rating was realistic and fair but his reaction got me thinking. We’ve had very different experiences in moving to the UK. Ro has packed up and moved countries and states before in his life and he came to the UK with his family and a pre-established network of friends. I moved on my own with my closest relatives (whom I haven’t seen in about 5 years) living in Germany and no previous friendships to speak of. The friends that I do have here now I’ve had to beg, borrow, and steal from my friends back home. Also the MO for most ex-pats is that we work very hard and travel most of the time so trying to spend time together with all of our crazy schedules is a major challenge. We are also very different personalities where Ro admittedly does not become too attached and takes a very easy-going approach to life. I have a strong need for stability, consistency, and direction and am very attached to my friends, family, and lifestyle back home. I also still have lingering ties to people and places back home that probably keep me from fully integrating into life in London. Therefore I still think that a rating of 5 is decent for my current mindset and state of affairs. I also feel that from here I can only go up.

Although it hasn’t been that long yet, I definitely feel that my mindset has started to shift. I always understood that there were different cultures and lifestyles but I don’t think that I could fully appreciate it until now. I don’t just mean the culture and lifestyle in the UK or London either. I’ve gone from seeing the most extreme displays of wealth and privilege to the most poverty stricken and desolate of people and places. Although I still spend a good deal of my time in stressful contemplation and frustration, I do think that I’ve learned to have some patience and understanding and am starting to try and live one day at a time. With all of the dramatic and sweeping changes that have passed all I can say is what a difference a day or 90 days makes. We’ll just have to wait and see what’s in store for me next.

Call of the Wild

This week I’m traveling as far as I will probably go while based in the UK. I am spending the week in South Africa split between Johannesburg and Cape Town. After traveling for nearly 24 hours I arrived at the first part of my adventure in South Africa which was spending a couple days on safari in the Madikwe Game Reserve at the Motswiri Lodge (about 4 hours outside of Johannesburg). If you ever get a chance to go on safari, I’d definitely suggest doing it as there is no other experience like it. Being this up close and personal with the wild animals is a very humbling experience. Immediately when we arrived at the Motswari Lodge we dropped off our bags and went for our first safari drive as the time was getting late and it was beginning to get dark. As we drove out we saw our first herd of elephants walking along side the rode. Later we saw some impalas and wildebeests. Due to the lateness of the hour we were only able to stay out for a couple hours before heading back to the lodge. When we returned we were greeted with fresh towels and glasses of sherry and were led out to the veranda to have the first of several delectable meals. All the food for the lodge is made from scratch on-premises and can easily rival many of the hotels in Europe.

The next day we had an early morning with our first safari drive starting at 5:30am. Although I was very reluctant to get out of bed it was worth it to see the sunrise and the wilderness wake up. We spent most of the morning on the hunt for lions but ended up seeing mostly impalas, wildebeests, and zebras. After about 4 hours we headed back to the lodge for breakfast and some rest. Since the evening safari drive didn’t start until 4:30pm I was able to take a nap, take a bubble bath, shower, and read. It’s amazing how calm and serene the setting is. The lodges are just amazing and very reasonably priced due to the exchange rate. I had my own separate free-standing villa complete with four-poster bed, jacuzzi tub, and enclosed outdoor shower. The surroundings of the lodge are so quiet and natural. There was even a watering hole where elephants and monkeys came up next to the lodge for a drink. I actually had one of the monkeys peering over from a tree while I was taking my morning shower, a bit of an eerie experience.

Since we didn’t see any lions on the morning drive, our ranger, Ranger Kevin (Kati I have a picture of him just for you), was on a mission to find us some action. He’d heard that there was a pride of lions feeding on a wildebeest kill at the northern end of the reserve so we made our way there as quickly as possible. On the way there we ran into a herd of elephants that included a baby about 1 month old. This was really the only time I felt as though I was in any danger. The mother was very protective of her young and watched us for some time before she decided to charge the vehicle twice. We had to quickly make our way out of there by driving through some brush. On the other side of the brush we ended up finding ourselves right in the middle of the herd which is where Ranger Kevin informed us was the last place you want to be. We then had to find another route around the herd and was able to safely continue our journey to find the lions. After some more driving and a few false alarms we finally reached the area where 2 lions were feeding on a wildebeest . We followed them for a bit and they led us to a large open area with a watering hole where we found the rest of the pride. There were about 7 lions at the watering hole resting and playing and I just couldn’t believe that we were just sitting there less than 10 yards away. Our presence didn’t seem to bother them at all so we stayed and took photographs until the clouds rolled in and it seemed that thunder and lightening would soon be upon us. We managed to make it back to the lodge before any rainfall but we had a bonus lightening show on our way back. When we returned we were treated to a BBQ over an open fire which seemed appropriate as November 4 is bonfire night (Guy Fawkes night) in the UK.

Since I’d had enough of an adventure the day before I decided to forgo the morning drive the next day for some extra sleep. We’d also seen 4 of the big 5 (elephants, lions, leopards, giraffes, and rhinos) so it wouldn’t kill me if I never came in close contact with a leopard. After breakfast we packed up and headed back into Johannesburg. In the evening we went to a restaurant called Carnivore where we were able to eat quite a few of the things we’d seen the day before and then some. The menu included antelope, wildebeest , crocodile, ostrich, venison and warthog in addition to the standard pork, chicken, and beef. The meat was served in a similar fashion to a Brazilian churrascaria where the waiters come to your table with humongous chunks of meat on a sword and slice it onto your plate. I’d have to say that warthog was my favorite.

Hopefully I'll be able to get the pictures up soon so keep an eye out on the side bar. I'm signing off for now and will hopefully be able to write again in Cape Town.

British Customer Service Soapbox

Let me start out by saying that in general I'm not a complainer and think of myself on the whole as a pretty tough chick. However, there have been two institutions in the UK that have both brought to my knees, banking and telecom. I'm just at the point where I can't hold my tongue any longer and dealings with both of these institutions have made me seriously consider going back home. Whenever I mention the concept of customer service in the UK I am promptly corrected that it is the lack of customer service. Since most of my woes with the banking industry are over now, I won't harp on them too much. Due to a high level on money laundering in London the banks do not want your money and will refuse to open a bank account for you unless you provide proof of residency, proof of employment, blood sample, urine sample, DNA testing, hair follicle, retina scan, letter of reference from HRH Queen Elizabeth...you get the point.

My real gripe is with the unruly, unconscionable, fat, dumb, and happy monopoly known as British Telecom (BT). You may think that not having a landline isn't a big deal, however, British Telecom has got everyone by the you know what because you CANNOT GET BROADBAND or EVEN DIAL-UP without first renting a BT phone line. Doesn't matter how you try to get the broadband (cable, satellite, terrestrial) no one can give you an internet connection without going through those greedy b*st*rds first. The following list of events will give you some insight into what I've been dealing with for nearly a month now. None of this is fabricated or exaggerated.

• Sept 29 - Move into new flat.
• Oct 3 - Call British Telecom (BT) to setup a phone line, on hold for 30 minutes. Must hand over all of my personal details so that someone will ring me back in 48 hours.
• Oct 5 - Follow-up call to BT, on hold for 54 minutes. BT apologizes that I have not been called back and promises I will get called within the next 24 hours. They cannot do anything at this point because I have not gotten the call back which assigns me an order number which is my only identity at BT.
  
• Oct 6 - BT rings back with my order number. Am told my new phone line will be initiated within 6 working days because it takes them that long to flip a switch at the central office.
• Oct 10 - BT rings me while in Holland to say that they've called the phone number currently assigned to my flat and someone is living there who is not moving out. I tell them that that is my correct flat # from what the estate agent has assured me. She suggests I look at (but not open) the mail from the previous tenant to see if I can match a name. I tell her I'm in Holland so it's not possible so she'll ring me back if she needs anything else.
• Oct 18 - Return from my traveling and ring BT since my phone line is still not working. On hold for 36 minutes. BT picks up, the line drops. Call BT again, on hold for 42 minutes. We can't get consensus on my flat since BT says is flat #3 while my mail all says first floor flat. Due to the confusion they must establish a new order for a brand new phone line assigned to the first floor flat. She makes an appointment for an engineer to come on October 26.
• Oct 25 - BT sends me a text message that there is no line to take over at my premises and to call BT for further instructions. Call BT, on hold for 1 hour 2 minutes. I am told that a new line must be setup since one does not exist now (What the heck? Isn't that why I had an appointment?). Line drops. Thankfully she calls me back but they've made an appointment for me for November 7 when I'll be out of the country. She must transfer me to another department to change the appointment. "All lines are busy we cannot proceed with your call." URGH!!! Call back, on hold for 53 minutes. They can change my appointment but nothing is available until November 13.

This does not include the countless times where they have not picked up, dropped the line, or transfered me all over the company. Come November 13, we'll see how they choose to screw with me next. Sorry for all the ranting but this is seriously ridiculous.