Two seconds of friendship

A tour bus pulled up next to ours at a stop light just outside of Palma de Mallorca when I caught this moment between two little girls as they discovered each other.

Denmark: not all a bunch of roses.

Lately,  studies have crowned the people of Denmark as the “Happiest People in the World”. Now it looks as if the Danes have decided that there is something they are not so happy about. Foreign immigrants.

Today the Danish government and the Danish People’s Party have made an agreement on a new policy regarding foreign immigrants, and what to do about them. The new plan, which is nothing short of bribery, says that if a foreign immigrant who has come to Denmark as an asylum seeker or to seek family reunification, will receive 100,000 Danish Kroner, or around $20,000 U.S. dollars, if they pack their bags and go back to where they came from.  

The recent media attention on the country of Denmark (for example, Oprah’s show on women around the world) has focused on healthy eating, the welfare society, and how Denmark is at the top of the Pyramid of Civil Society, while the rest of the world is wishing they could get there.

One of the many flip sides to this false image  is the growing immigrant population in large cities such as Copenhagen and Aarhus, where immigrants have been responsible for numerous shootings and stabbings on the streets. Now it seems that the problem has gotten so out of control that the only way to solve it is to pay the “trouble makers” who can’t integrate themselves into society to go pick on someone else.

Did I mention that the Danish government paid these people to come to their country in the first place? Oh, yeah, I wonder if giving a complete stranger a living wage to come into the country as an asylum seeker, and then do nothing, contributed to the problem…

Armed students at UW… Get a grip.

One frustrated University of Washington student has had enough of getting robbed and beaten at school. Understandable. To solve the problem he decides to obtain a concealed weapons permit and strap a 9mm handgun to his waist, ready to blast someone’s head off if they try to rob him again. This makes me sick, and frankly, is another example of what is wrong in our country.

I don’t care if it’s our “right as Americans” to bear arms. This is a ridiculous way to try to prevent a problem. Should I have to be worried that I am going to get double tapped in the chest if I decide to argue with someone, or get angry for any reason?! I will NOT walk around fearing that  my life is possibly in danger at the discretion of some nut job who has a gun under his shirt and is looking for a reason to fire.

Needless to say: This is a part of America that I am not proud of. It is embarrassing.

POSSESSED!

Happy Halloween erry1. I created this image using the free open source software GIMP 2.6, which is pretty much a Photo Shop program that you can download for free online @ www.gimp.org. This kid on YouTube (GimpKnowHow) who is probably only 13 years old makes great tutorials on how to use the program, and I pretty much follow his advice and then learn that way.

How about the eyes huh?!

MALLORCA-Day 2: Palma Nova & Magaluf

Woke up this morning to a chilly breeze accompanied by the sound of a loud, rumbling motor. The air conditioner is a necessity in Mallorca to be able to get a decent night’s sleep in this heat. The only problem is that after 8 hours of AC on the ‘turbo’ setting, the air becomes frigid. It makes the 95 degree heat on the balcony an almost welcome change!

We decided to hit the beach again to try and add to the beginnings of a sun tan. Lying in the sun can be relaxing at times but it tends to get uncomfortable once the sweat starts dripping like a leaky faucet that won’t let up. After a few hours on the sand, and a frantic search for my girlfriend’s missing water shoe under the water we decided to retreat back to the hotel pool to escape the sand. After awhile the sand had found its way into everything.

Since our hotel lies directly between Palma Nova and Magaluf, we decided to go towards Magaluf to see what it was all about…and wow. When you walk into the streets of Magaluf you essentially leave Spain, and enter England. English Pubs and discos with neon lighting create a Las Vegas type atmosphere, when compared to Palma Nova.

Later that night I saw a news story on CNN about British tourists on vacation in Europe and their binge drinking habits. On average, Brits drink 8 units of alcohol a day, and Magaluf is the place to do it. When walking around you have to be extra careful when crossing the streets in order to avoid getting run over by a four-wheeler or dune buggy.

MALLORCA – Day 1

For the next 7 days we will call the Apartments Sol Lunamar in Palma Nova, home. A 20 minute drive from the main city of the island, Palma de Mallorca, Palma Nova is packed with Europeans who bombard the area for sun, beach, and a good time. So far, I am already entranced at the beach just by watching all the oversized sun-bathers waddle to and fro, exposing their brick-colored leathery backs to the sun. It seems like some people don’t know when it’s time to get out of the direct rays and give their skin a break!

 

Normally when traveling in Europe I tend to downplay my identity as a tourist as much as possible, (e.g. by not wearing a fanny pack, talking loudly as we Americans are sometimes known for…you get the idea.) But this time it’s different. When in Palma Nova, you are there to blitzkrieg the hell out of this vacation destination in full force as a foreigner and fly back home with no regrets.

As I am here with my girlfriend, this trip won’t get too rowdy… It’s about the weather, the sights, and the ‘not-in-school-yet factor’!

Levi Johnston, get the hell outta here!

This guy is a world class d-bag.

The former boyfriend of the daughter of a failed vice-presidential candidate. Who gives a shit?! Trying to go from a hick in Alaska to a Hollywood wannabe and then getting multiple  interviews on shows like the TODAY Show and Larry King Live.

“Hey Levi, get a life,  a real job and quit trying to milk whatever type of ‘fame’ you think you had during last year’s election.”

Numbers as Colors?!

As long as I can remember I have associated numbers with colors. I really have no clue as to why this is, but it seemed natural to me and couldn’t imagine numbers any other way. Apparently I am not alone!

This occurs in 10% of the population and is closely related to the phenomenon called “Synesthesia”. Synesthesia  is when two senses share the same information. In the case of numbers as colors, it may be used as a memory stimulus when doing mental calculations. I am by no means a math whiz, but now that I think about it, I have unconsciously used my own number-color associations when learning the number systems in different languages.

Here is what the numbers 1-10 look like in my head:

I cannot explain why my brain chose these colors to correspond to their respective numbers, but this is it! Also, any combination of these numbers would keep the color associations. For example, I ’see’ the number 574 as red-blue-green.

If you have any sort of number-color associations leave a comment and let me know how they differ.

American food in Denmark

The Danish supermarket ‘Super Best’ recently dedicated an entire half-aisle in their store to imported American and British groceries. In theory,the concept is awesome; offering some of the comforts of home to those living abroad. Unfortunately in this particular case with Super Best, there are 2 major problems: selection and price.

Selection: Whoever the product manager is at this store must be a complete moron. Some of the items are jars of pickled eggs, microwave popcorn, frozen bread, microwaveable chili, baked beans, canned corn. Why the hell would they think that people want to buy bread that has been frozen and flown to Denmark, or canned corn flown all the way from America. One might as well buy the same product locally, and save money and cut down on carbon emissions from transportation.

Price: The pricing is unbelievable. Maybe this is why whenever I go in to the store, the shelves are still fully stocked and nobody has bought anything. Some of the items that are actually worth buying, for no other reason than being available only in the UK or USA are listed below. Would you fork over the cash for these items? (I have converted the original price in Danish Kroner DKK, to US Dollars for perspective).

• French’s Yellow Mustard (small bottle) – $4.01
• Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner (1 box) - $5.73
• Aunt Jemima Pancake Syrup – $16.23
• Jif Peanut Butter (smallest jar) – $10.50
• Froot Loops cereal – $8.59

…any takers?!

Captured American soldier

The latest American to become a prisoner of war is  23 year old Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl from Idaho. This news brings back the feelings I had right after the September 11th attacks; feelings of anger and powerlessness. I was too young to join the military right after 9-11 but was so mad at the fact that there were people in the world that generalized their hate at all Americans.

After watching how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have played out I can see that joining the military to “kick ass” and get revenge doesn’t work. But for some reason to see a young soldier who could just as easily have been my buddy from back home, captured and scared for his life pisses me off.

Just imagine if the Taliban posted a video of Pfc. Bergdahl being waterboarded. Ya, the U.S. waterboarded prisoners, which doesn’t give us much credibility when it comes to POW treatment. But if the militant group holding our soldier captive decides to execute him…what happens then?

Should we head to the recruitment office and beef up our forces in preparation for chaos? Or do we just mumble a “That’s too bad”, and move on, hoping that our military can shift the responsibility to Afghan forces asap.  In the immediate future it seems that all we can do now is hope Pfc. Bergdahl gets released safely. I fear that his death would add fuel to a smoldering fire…