During my first week in Spain, a friend who didn't want to leave her bed asked me to go out and get her a hot tea, take away. "Un te para llevar, por favor," I said. They look confused.
What I got in return was a plastic cup of tea, the top covered in foil. Turns out it wasn't my Spanish, it was asking for tea 'take away' that took them aback.
Thinking I'd try my luck in a big city such as Barcelona, I asked for a pasta 'take away.' Again, I got a container with a flimsy piece of foil wrapped over the top. Needless to say the sauce would have spilled everywhere had my friends and I not decided to sit on a park bench nearby.
Who needs lids when you're in a country that actually sits down and appreciates their
food? Lids are for countries with worker bees who work to live and live to work. Australia, I'm looking at you.
Love, Noeline
xox
Thursday, 28 July 2011
The etiquette of borrowing money
Don't you hate it, how quick some people are to borrow money, and how slow they can be at returning it? The power play is reversed and suddenly we're the ones embarrassing ourselves as we try to find ways of casually reminding them of their debt.
Borrowers with no regard of paying people back as soon as possible tend to be the kind of people with little value for money – probably spoilt. What they don't understand is that their friend is compromising their own spending habits while they do without the money they lent. Even if it was just sitting in the bank, that's interest lost. If it was something substantially expensive like a concert ticket bought over the internet with a credit card, that's interest being charged.
You think it's an even exchange frozen in time. In reality they're losing more money than they lent you. And they probably value your friendship too much to bring it up and make you feel guilty about it.
That person did you a favour. It's not up to you to pay them back at your convenience. If you can afford to be shopping, drinking, clubbing and going out to dinner in the interim – then you can afford to pay that person back.
Love, Noeline
xox
Borrowers with no regard of paying people back as soon as possible tend to be the kind of people with little value for money – probably spoilt. What they don't understand is that their friend is compromising their own spending habits while they do without the money they lent. Even if it was just sitting in the bank, that's interest lost. If it was something substantially expensive like a concert ticket bought over the internet with a credit card, that's interest being charged.
You think it's an even exchange frozen in time. In reality they're losing more money than they lent you. And they probably value your friendship too much to bring it up and make you feel guilty about it.
That person did you a favour. It's not up to you to pay them back at your convenience. If you can afford to be shopping, drinking, clubbing and going out to dinner in the interim – then you can afford to pay that person back.
Love, Noeline
xox
Cultural Retardation
I was recently on a Busabout tour around the Greek Islands. Some of the people you come across are pretty cool, others just downright idiots. Let me tell you why.
One girl was pissed off that the Greek people she came across couldn't speak English 'properly.' "I'm going to be so relieved when I get to England after this," she said. She's one of those righteous ethnocentric people who expects people to speak perfect English when she's clearly the one traveling in their country. What makes it even worse is that people like her dislike immigrants speaking their native tongue whilst in Australia. Double standards much? I wonder, when was the last time she spoke perfect Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish or what-have-you to a tourist? Someone tell me, where's that good old Australian tolerance we preach we possess in such a diverse, multicultural society as ours? These people should be frustrated at them selves for not being able to communicate properly, not at the locals.
Also, there exists a kind of rivalry between the people who decide to go on a tour with Busabout or with Contiki.
With Busabout, you have the choice to hang around the tour group and join every single group activity offered. Others simply show up at every departure point to the next island before disappearing to do their own thing. This kind of flexibility attracts different types of people. There were party people, and people who wanted to relax. There were kids straight out of high school and people halfway through university degrees. There were people on a break from work, and there was even a newly-wed couple on their honeymoon.
Contiki, on the other hand, caters more to the younger 18-35 year old demographic. Clubs, bars and parties feature more frequently on their itinerary than on Busabout's, which is fair enough if that's what you're after in a holiday. But one day, the two tour groups happened to be waiting at the same dock, waiting for the same boat to take us to the next island. "The Busabout people are next to us," one girl said. "I wonder what they do," she continued. "Their tour doesn't offer much. I'm so glad I went with Contiki." And that's based on what observation? Just because we're not table top dancing in our short shorts and wonderbras spilling beer on other people doesn't mean we're not doing anything.
Another night during dinner, the girl I was sitting next to was relating her previous travels to her friends. "Guys, you have to go to Hong Kong, it's absolutely amazing," to which her friend replied: "I don't know, I don't really like Asia. There's nothing to do there. I'd rather just stick with Europe." WHAT AN IDIOT. But I guess if you're looking to be surrounded by more white Australians and dance in bars that play the same music as in Australia then yeah, you're right, there really is nothing do do in Asia.
I was traveling with two other friends and we were having a massive rant about exactly this. One of them concluded that there are four types of people...
1. Tourists: People who just want to see the major tourist attractions and monuments, and take photos in front of them.
2. Travelers: People who at least try to engage with the host society on some level – they will pick up some of the language, try the local delicacies and learn some of their history.
3. Sojouners: People who settle down and make a life for them selves in a country.
4. Wanks: People who have no interest in appreciating or respecting the culture. Like the people in the examples above, they want the rest of the world to speak perfect English, serve their kind of food and play their type of music.
Ugh. Some people have too little sense too much money on their hands. It disgusts me. Fuck immigration, we have bigger idiots in the country who shouldn't be let out.
Love, Noeline
xox
One girl was pissed off that the Greek people she came across couldn't speak English 'properly.' "I'm going to be so relieved when I get to England after this," she said. She's one of those righteous ethnocentric people who expects people to speak perfect English when she's clearly the one traveling in their country. What makes it even worse is that people like her dislike immigrants speaking their native tongue whilst in Australia. Double standards much? I wonder, when was the last time she spoke perfect Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish or what-have-you to a tourist? Someone tell me, where's that good old Australian tolerance we preach we possess in such a diverse, multicultural society as ours? These people should be frustrated at them selves for not being able to communicate properly, not at the locals.
Also, there exists a kind of rivalry between the people who decide to go on a tour with Busabout or with Contiki.
With Busabout, you have the choice to hang around the tour group and join every single group activity offered. Others simply show up at every departure point to the next island before disappearing to do their own thing. This kind of flexibility attracts different types of people. There were party people, and people who wanted to relax. There were kids straight out of high school and people halfway through university degrees. There were people on a break from work, and there was even a newly-wed couple on their honeymoon.
Contiki, on the other hand, caters more to the younger 18-35 year old demographic. Clubs, bars and parties feature more frequently on their itinerary than on Busabout's, which is fair enough if that's what you're after in a holiday. But one day, the two tour groups happened to be waiting at the same dock, waiting for the same boat to take us to the next island. "The Busabout people are next to us," one girl said. "I wonder what they do," she continued. "Their tour doesn't offer much. I'm so glad I went with Contiki." And that's based on what observation? Just because we're not table top dancing in our short shorts and wonderbras spilling beer on other people doesn't mean we're not doing anything.
Another night during dinner, the girl I was sitting next to was relating her previous travels to her friends. "Guys, you have to go to Hong Kong, it's absolutely amazing," to which her friend replied: "I don't know, I don't really like Asia. There's nothing to do there. I'd rather just stick with Europe." WHAT AN IDIOT. But I guess if you're looking to be surrounded by more white Australians and dance in bars that play the same music as in Australia then yeah, you're right, there really is nothing do do in Asia.
I was traveling with two other friends and we were having a massive rant about exactly this. One of them concluded that there are four types of people...
1. Tourists: People who just want to see the major tourist attractions and monuments, and take photos in front of them.
2. Travelers: People who at least try to engage with the host society on some level – they will pick up some of the language, try the local delicacies and learn some of their history.
3. Sojouners: People who settle down and make a life for them selves in a country.
4. Wanks: People who have no interest in appreciating or respecting the culture. Like the people in the examples above, they want the rest of the world to speak perfect English, serve their kind of food and play their type of music.
Ugh. Some people have too little sense too much money on their hands. It disgusts me. Fuck immigration, we have bigger idiots in the country who shouldn't be let out.
Love, Noeline
xox
Monday, 18 July 2011
Everyone makes mistakes, traveling makes you more prone to them.
Picture this:
- Getting an email from the hostel you thought you made a booking for for the next month saying "Tell us about your stay"
- Realising you bought non-refundable tickets online to a children's concert in a bull ring, not an actual bull fight.
- Buying an expensive return ticket when you were only going one-way.
- Rushing to the bus station and making it just in time. There's two in town and turns out you're at the wrong one. Sobbing to the ticket-man who charges a fraction of the normal ticket price. A trip that was meant to take 2 hours ends up taking 6 because it just so happened the next bus going to the same place stopped at every god damn "pueblo" on the way.
- Accidentally locking you and your friends out of your hotel room. Reception is closed for another two hours. The bus that leaves for the restaurant for dinner with the rest of the tour group leaves in 1 hour. Oh, and we were all in our bikinis.
- Going to the bus station and looking out for the bus company you bought tickets for, only to miss it because you should have been looking out for a subsidiary of that company all along. Asking a bus driver where we could buy tickets, only to be let on another bus without having to pay. It's empty and no one else gets on. It's just you, the bus driver and your two other girlfriends. Wondering whether you've just been kidnapped for two hours before landing in Pamplona safe and sound for the Running of the Bulls.
- Not purchasing your train ticket online thinking you could just buy it at the window. They sell out and you end up having to spend an extra night in Barcelona, losing a night in San Sebastian - and having to buy a first class ticket because that's all that was available for the day after.
For the sake of making my friends and I feel better, do share your own stories if you have any!
Love, Noeline
xox
- Getting an email from the hostel you thought you made a booking for for the next month saying "Tell us about your stay"
- Realising you bought non-refundable tickets online to a children's concert in a bull ring, not an actual bull fight.
- Buying an expensive return ticket when you were only going one-way.
- Rushing to the bus station and making it just in time. There's two in town and turns out you're at the wrong one. Sobbing to the ticket-man who charges a fraction of the normal ticket price. A trip that was meant to take 2 hours ends up taking 6 because it just so happened the next bus going to the same place stopped at every god damn "pueblo" on the way.
- Accidentally locking you and your friends out of your hotel room. Reception is closed for another two hours. The bus that leaves for the restaurant for dinner with the rest of the tour group leaves in 1 hour. Oh, and we were all in our bikinis.
- Going to the bus station and looking out for the bus company you bought tickets for, only to miss it because you should have been looking out for a subsidiary of that company all along. Asking a bus driver where we could buy tickets, only to be let on another bus without having to pay. It's empty and no one else gets on. It's just you, the bus driver and your two other girlfriends. Wondering whether you've just been kidnapped for two hours before landing in Pamplona safe and sound for the Running of the Bulls.
- Not purchasing your train ticket online thinking you could just buy it at the window. They sell out and you end up having to spend an extra night in Barcelona, losing a night in San Sebastian - and having to buy a first class ticket because that's all that was available for the day after.
For the sake of making my friends and I feel better, do share your own stories if you have any!
Love, Noeline
xox
Friday, 24 June 2011
How to travel whilst continuing to live in your own little bubble
Imagine a gap of about 1cm. That's how close I came to booking a particular hostel in Portugal. Luckily, I met a girl in Budapest who had been there previously and stopped me. She warned that it was a hot spot for other Australians who swarmed there for the cheap drugs and alcohol, a lot of times ending up sleeping together.
"New girls would check in every morning and within minutes they were being checked out by the other guys in the hostel, based on looks. If you have white skin and blonde hair you were pretty much in."
And then I realised I knew a few people who fit this category. Australians who go overseas and party hard with other Australians without actually taking in any of that country's history or culture. And then they say that they love traveling. No honey, you love partying. There's a difference.
The only part about their culture you know is the extent to which they're compromising theirs to satisfy tourists like you. I've met some people and told them that my parents are from The Philippines. Some of them talk about how it's such a beautiful place with nice people. Is it really? I've been there twice and never been to the tourist resorts. The Filipinos I know, including my own family live in poor conditions. The shower is a bucket of water you pour over yourself. A hot shower means boiling a separate pot of water and mixing it in. To flush a toilet you manually have to pour a few buckets of water down the toilet bowl. Going to school means hoping to God you have relatives overseas who can send you the money. Or studying your ass off to get by solely through the few scholarships that are offered. People are nice because they're making do with what little they have. Not because they're swimming around as happily in their beaches as you are. The rest are nice because it's the only way you'll give them money.
I'm all up for people who want to relax rather than sightsee - as long as they admit it. Nothing wrong with it, heck I went to Ibiza. Just don't try to act all haughty and cultured about it.
Love, Noeline
xox
"New girls would check in every morning and within minutes they were being checked out by the other guys in the hostel, based on looks. If you have white skin and blonde hair you were pretty much in."
And then I realised I knew a few people who fit this category. Australians who go overseas and party hard with other Australians without actually taking in any of that country's history or culture. And then they say that they love traveling. No honey, you love partying. There's a difference.
The only part about their culture you know is the extent to which they're compromising theirs to satisfy tourists like you. I've met some people and told them that my parents are from The Philippines. Some of them talk about how it's such a beautiful place with nice people. Is it really? I've been there twice and never been to the tourist resorts. The Filipinos I know, including my own family live in poor conditions. The shower is a bucket of water you pour over yourself. A hot shower means boiling a separate pot of water and mixing it in. To flush a toilet you manually have to pour a few buckets of water down the toilet bowl. Going to school means hoping to God you have relatives overseas who can send you the money. Or studying your ass off to get by solely through the few scholarships that are offered. People are nice because they're making do with what little they have. Not because they're swimming around as happily in their beaches as you are. The rest are nice because it's the only way you'll give them money.
I'm all up for people who want to relax rather than sightsee - as long as they admit it. Nothing wrong with it, heck I went to Ibiza. Just don't try to act all haughty and cultured about it.
Love, Noeline
xox
From Budapest
Sorry for being MIA recently. In the past two weeks I've...
- Graduated with a diploma from my host university in Spain
- Moved out from the student residence into an apartment with three amazing housemates (who knew living with three boys would be cleaning than living with one other girl)
- Went out almost every night celebrating San Bernabe, a week long medieval festival in my town commemorating when they resisted French occupation, living off wine, bread and fish when all other food supplies were cut off
- Finished a two thousand five hundred word correspondence assignment for my uni in Sydney
- Bid farewell to all my closest friends in Spain as they head back home to their countries
- Started my three month holiday vacation around Europe, during which I will probably forget a lot of the Spanish I've spent the last six months learning.
I'm currently writing from my hostel in Budapest where luckily enough I've managed to find some Mexicans and a Colombian who I've been able to speak Spanish with. Score! So far I've learnt how to say 'no mames wey,' 'que chido,' and 'jodido.'
OK, I'm out!
Love, Noeline
xox
- Graduated with a diploma from my host university in Spain
- Moved out from the student residence into an apartment with three amazing housemates (who knew living with three boys would be cleaning than living with one other girl)
- Went out almost every night celebrating San Bernabe, a week long medieval festival in my town commemorating when they resisted French occupation, living off wine, bread and fish when all other food supplies were cut off
- Finished a two thousand five hundred word correspondence assignment for my uni in Sydney
- Bid farewell to all my closest friends in Spain as they head back home to their countries
- Started my three month holiday vacation around Europe, during which I will probably forget a lot of the Spanish I've spent the last six months learning.
I'm currently writing from my hostel in Budapest where luckily enough I've managed to find some Mexicans and a Colombian who I've been able to speak Spanish with. Score! So far I've learnt how to say 'no mames wey,' 'que chido,' and 'jodido.'
OK, I'm out!
Love, Noeline
xox
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
How to forget things
I’m somewhat good at forgetting things. You're probably wondering from what issue of Reader's Digest it was ever a good thing to be forgetful. But I like to think of it as a self-defence mechanism. A self-defence mechanism from the pain of remembering. Of remembering bad things that happened and good things that don’t exist anymore.
If I tell myself to forget something, most times I will forget it. And it’s a good feeling when, one day, I struggle to remember the thing I successfully forgot. I might see something, touch something, smell something. It’s stimulating me, and I know it’s supposed to be reminding me of something, but I don’t know what. All I know is that I’ve blocked it out for a reason.
I realise while writing this that what I do sounds pretty freaky, if not psychotic. But for anyone curious enough to know how it’s done, read on.
Maybe strong people run away from things too.
Love, Noeline
xox
If I tell myself to forget something, most times I will forget it. And it’s a good feeling when, one day, I struggle to remember the thing I successfully forgot. I might see something, touch something, smell something. It’s stimulating me, and I know it’s supposed to be reminding me of something, but I don’t know what. All I know is that I’ve blocked it out for a reason.
I realise while writing this that what I do sounds pretty freaky, if not psychotic. But for anyone curious enough to know how it’s done, read on.
“It goes like this: first you establish a screening image. I used white noise, both audio and video: a field of violent static, filling my entire field of view; like a TV with no antenna, with a loud hissing wash of sound… Now think about the thing you want to forget - but as soon as it comes up in your mind, flip to your screening image. Focus on [it]; make it really loud and thick; don't let the thought underneath surface… Most likely the thing you want to forget will float back up into your head. Immediately flip to your screening image again, and hold it until you get distracted. It gets easier each time… it starts to become a habit. As soon as the thought starts to form in your head, you will find yourself reflexively flipping to the [screening image]. You will still need to exert a little willpower to keep the thought underneath from floating up, but… the static [image] instead comes pretty quickly.”
- Forum respondent on Meta Filter
“The trick to forgetting then is not to not think about it, but to give our mind a new path to follow.”
- Forum respondent on Meta Filter
Maybe strong people run away from things too.
Love, Noeline
xox
Saturday, 4 June 2011
That awkward moment when you realise you were their second choice
"He came to see her, but her boyfriend was there, so he came after me instead"
"Funny that he’s kissing her because he’s been chasing after you all day"
"If he likes her why did he even bother kissing me? I know that if she wasn’t here he’d be with me right now"
"The next night my flatmate asked me 'So… what happened between you and him?' and I was like 'Yeah he's such a nice guy!' and then he was like 'He has a girlfriend you know. So maybe he's not that nice' "
Maybe that’s what people do, rank people. They take what they can get depending on whether their top preferences are (a) there at the present moment, (b) in the country or (c) with their partner.
Love, Noeline
xox
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Brad VS Jen
I’m at the stage where a lot of people my age have had, or still are in long-term relationships. Being 21, a good number of these couples started out as high-school sweethearts. They’re either married, or talking about getting married. They’re either planning to have babies together, have already done so or are currently expecting.
And me? After almost five and a half years, I’m starting from zero. As I started picturing my life without him, I realised that he and I will forever be subjected to judgement by anyone who ever knew us on a scale of Brad Pitt VS Jennifer Aniston.
I was one of those people who thought it only happened in Hollywood, until I witnessed it for myself at a party recently. He walked into the room with his new partner, and heads turned towards Maria* who was standing at the other side of the room. "I feel so sorry for her," people said.
One person ends up marrying the next person they find, raising a beautiful family in a beautiful house.
The other one will have strings of failed relationships, usually with assholes, oftentimes into their thirties, and sometimes into their infertility. They’re the one people look at and think 'poor thing.' They’re the one people feel sorry for, the one people worry about. "Do you think she’ll ever find anyone else?" I don’t know.
But amidst everyone's assumptions, whose to say she's the unhappier one? People can be in a relationship and be unhappy too. No one ever congratulates you for being single and independent. No one admires people who have the strength to admit that they're not ready to settle down.
Love, Noeline
xox
And me? After almost five and a half years, I’m starting from zero. As I started picturing my life without him, I realised that he and I will forever be subjected to judgement by anyone who ever knew us on a scale of Brad Pitt VS Jennifer Aniston.
I was one of those people who thought it only happened in Hollywood, until I witnessed it for myself at a party recently. He walked into the room with his new partner, and heads turned towards Maria* who was standing at the other side of the room. "I feel so sorry for her," people said.
One person ends up marrying the next person they find, raising a beautiful family in a beautiful house.
The other one will have strings of failed relationships, usually with assholes, oftentimes into their thirties, and sometimes into their infertility. They’re the one people look at and think 'poor thing.' They’re the one people feel sorry for, the one people worry about. "Do you think she’ll ever find anyone else?" I don’t know.
But amidst everyone's assumptions, whose to say she's the unhappier one? People can be in a relationship and be unhappy too. No one ever congratulates you for being single and independent. No one admires people who have the strength to admit that they're not ready to settle down.
Love, Noeline
xox
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)