| 100 in 1000 |
- Spend a week up a mountain learning to ski
- Visit Karoline's place in Moravia
Hold a conversation in Czech (only)- Drink 500ml of each of the following beers:
PilsnerStaroprammen- Budvar
- Velke Popovice
- U Fleku
GambrinusKrusovice
Respond to at least one GOARN request (WHO and MSF are
also acceptable)Travel across the AtlanticReturn to South America- Read a book to, or with, an impressionably aged child
- Participate in one NanoWriMo Challenge and come within at least 10,000 words of the goal length
Have my nose pierced- Have my next tattoo drawn
Purchase the perfect jeans (x 2 pairs)- Attend a spin class 3 times a week for 8 consecutive weeks
- Bake Viv's cheesecake
Make David's casserole Make David's Chicken Cashew-nut StirfryInvite 4 people who don't know one another too well to dinner- Ride from Vienna to Venice on a motorbike (pillion acceptable, those less desirable)
- Attend a book group for at least two books
- Go on a choir weekend (learn and perform difficult piece in two/three days)
- Visit Madame Tussaud's (in London)
- Take an architecture appreciation course
Join an all-girl group and sing a soloPublish in a scientific journal (top two authors)Cook a duck or other 'waterfowl'. Locate the Al-Timimi's from Doha Veterinary PractiseHave a pedicureMaintain a Brazilian (ouch) for three months.Find a trustworthy Czech hairdresser- Treat my inner-6-year-old twice a week (at least)
- Do the liver-cleansing diet properly (12 weeks)
- Don't eat out for one month
Find a flat and flatmate- Purchase one Joseph sweater
- Purchase one of the following pairs of
designer shoes (they MUST also be COMFORTABLE, and be able to be worn with 4
different outfits and 2 types of occasion): Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahniks,
Christian Louboutin (Ebay or 2nd hand are acceptable)
- Send 5 books to the booksphere and track them.
- Go hanggliding
- Read 10 'classic' books (from 1001 Books to Read before you Die)
Moll FlandersEverything is illuminatedMadam BovaryZen & the Art of Motorcycle MaintainanceCatch-22OdysseusOn the Road
- Run (non-stop!) for 5kms outside (preferably in a street race thingy)
- Send Christmas Cards on time
Make a collage/mural out of street lights on my wallBuy a bed, build it, and sleep soundly in itGo to AfricaHost an 'event' (classified as and when)Organise a 30th Birthday PartyWear a costume- Sing on stage
- Buy a painting that evokes memories of Prague (cannot involve queues!)
Learn a god-damned card game that stays in my memory (other than fish/snap)See sunrise. Be sober. Have woken for it. Excludes months Nov-Mar- Take a walk and flip coins at each intersection
Win something- Draft a will
- Take a roadtrip
Go to Italy already- Sea Kayak around Abel Tasman Park (NZ)
Get plantsTake a train to another Eastern European Destination (accession countries are acceptable) alone preferably.- Get UK to give me a provisional motorcyclists license and simultaneously get a 'card' license.
- Go SCUBA diving again - at least two dives lasting 30mins each.
Go to a dentist. *sigh*- Do a Czech Wine Trail. And live to tell the tale
- Make an 'outbreak emergency kit'.
- Go to bed prior to 11pm every night (inc weekends) for four consecutive weeks.
- Marvel over lack of tiredness
- Dine at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant (or Nobu)- preferably for free.
Bet on the nags- Do something for charity (applying and getting a 'red card' will count)
- Walk along the Champs Elysee
- Do 100 sit ups in a row
- Do 50 pressups (arms in tight)
- Make branston pickle (or nearest substitute)
- Cook something 'new' and 'adventurous' at least once a month
Find a mentorBe a mentorLearn what mentoring is all aboutMeet an online person in real lifeResist the flirt. Once. Just one night. It's okay if people don't immediately succumb to my natural charm. Really it is.Spend time at a spa (spa towns in the CR don't count)- Send a care package to someone
Get a Tata Bojs CD- Take a French/German/Dutch course and SPEAK THE DAMNED LANGUAGE WHEN I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES ME SOUND
LIKE AN IDIOT!
- Order new contact lenses.
Make a list of things I take with me when I pack for different occasions- Eat lobster. Prepared by someone else.
Back up the blogPut everything onto an external hard drive- Find a DDR mat and console and 'dance, I say dance!'�
- Go to the beach and lie on the warm sand. For an hour. (with sunscreen on, natch)
- Take and complete a course in either: Tango, Salsa or Flamenco
- Join the Municipal Library of Prague
- Move to another country
Go to a live concert of a band I actually like- Pay off debts (student loan excl.)
Send thank you cards for every gift I receive (other than the gift of happiness, blah blah blah).- Get an agent (literary or theatre)
- Go to a sports bar without cringing, by personal choice
- Ride a rollercoaster
- Hold a snake
Spend a day wandering around a museum (not art gallery!) |
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| Pheromones of Transience (not the same as Transient Pheromones!!) |
| Friday 16 June 2006 |
So Mum wins reader points, but so does Mark – who sent me the ‘offside rule explanation for girls’.
Now, there’s NO excuse for not being able to leap from my seat (except the presence of the table top, which may mean I can leap at a 45o angle to the world, but may result in either spilt beer or a bruised pelvis (both of which hurt), and yell “OFF-BLOODY-SIDE” or some such football associated expletive. What would I do without you Mark? (actually, I have seen this on shoewawa’s cup site (who ate all the bratwurst?) before, and for those of you with flash computers, click here for the visual explanation).
Managed to catch the last 15mins of the England-Trinidad&Tobago game last night. Which was fine, as that’s the only time anything happened!
Upon meeting people for the first time here, the usual expatriate-style questions immediately spring to your lips (turning you into an interviewer, albeit momentarily). Questions like, “Where do you come from?” (often obvious yet occasionally requires clarification and is a good place to start the search for ‘common ground’) and “How long have you been here?” (leads to a peculiar ‘integration’ pissing-contest, the grounds and rules for which are not written anywhere)
(c.f. the English set are the calculatingly disingenuous, “what do you do?” and “which school did you go to?” for reasons of salary and class comparisons)
The question “what are you doing here?” is often answered with a self-conscious I-know-I’m-a-cliché sigh and the words, “teaching English”, which begs the next question I find myself asking, “Why Prague?”.
I mean, sure, it’s gorgeous et al, but why here? And how long does the interviewee intend to stay here?
Are they running away from something?
I think the expatriate status has a lot to answer for. Perhaps I’m being unfair, people AREN’T running, and actually enjoy living from suitcase to suitcase, from one weird flatting situation to another, attempting to integrate – or at least learn how to ask for and comprehend directions. Maybe we’re high on the superglue that is created by massed enforced social isolation, but I wonder.
Why do we all do this? Why do we keep living this crazy ‘away from home’ lifestyle? What’s so good about ‘away’ that we can’t get at ‘home’? And if there’s nothing that’s PULLING us ‘away’, what’s PUSHING us from ‘home’?
Note: I’m not sure whether the situation is different for those brought up in an expat style (oil/military/diplomatic/aid brats, so to speak), because the transience and the ‘set of questions’ are, sadly, what we’ve become accustomed to. That superglue that forces the rapid development of strong friendships is now inherent in our ‘social behaviours’ and completely freaks out people who’ve not encountered expats before. But for those who are ‘away’ for their first time: why? Wanderlust? Then why ‘settle’ for a moment ‘away’.
And, most importantly, at what point do we who wander find a ‘home’?
Comments invited. As are links to sociology pages that cover this topic. |
posted by Nomes @ Friday, June 16, 2006   |
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