“It is not fit that every man should travel; it makes a wise man better, and a fool worse.” -William Hazlitt
I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted but I have a few good excuse. Or, actually, three of them. First a short trip to Graz, Austria; then a crazy road trip with my Dad to Belgium and France; then a relaxing week-long vacation in Lisbon, Portugal.
You can see more photos on my Picasa page.
I stopped by the local organic grocery store on my way home from work the other day and, as I was browsing for brown rice, I overheard people speaking in English. Specifically, American English. 
It was three women, in their mid-thirties, discussing potential purchases. Hearing English, even American English, isn’t wholly unusual. Delft has a big university and there are a lot of internationals here. However, these women clearly weren’t students. Nor were they especially accustomed to life outside the US.
As I moved on from rice to white beans, I heard them discussing how the grocery store doesn’t accept “cards.” This is pretty standard Dutch business culture. Essentially no one, outside of big hotel chains and Ikea, accepts credit cards. Typically most places accept “pinnen,” the Dutch equivalent of a debit card, and cash. As an American who is used to swiping everywhere and as a person who is loath to carry cash, I understand the frustration. However, when in Rome and all that…
When I joined the check out line, I found myself behind the trio. They were discussing (loudly, of course) how weird it is that a grocery store doesn’t accept credit cards. The first woman was rung up, paid in cash, and then stared at the groceries that had accumulated on the belt. She looked at the teenage cashier and asked “Oh, do I have to bag these myself?” The kid, confused (because you have to bag your own groceries in every fucking grocery store in Holland), assumed she was asking about purchasing a bag and said “Yes” and pointed at the bags for sale. The woman, who thankfully wasn’t utterly clueless, realized that not only must she bag her own groceries, but if she wanted a bag in which to put them, she must buy one.
Aside from the stereotypical boorish American behavior, what I found most frustrating about this situation was the utter lack of observation these women engaged in. Others had checked out ahead of us. There were other checkout lines. Simply watching what everyone else in line was doing would have given a clue as to how you should behave.
Americans seem to assume that everyone else on the planet will do things exactly as it is done in the homeland. They seem to lack understanding that norms may be different in other parts of the world and you will be expected to abide by them.
“I’m coming home
I’m coming home
tell the World I’m coming home.” -Dirty Money “Coming Home”
It’s official. I will be back on US soil from Sept. 22 until Oct. 4. I’ll be spending the first weekend in New York City where the wonderful and fabulous Andy Mac has promised a concert. Then I’ll be heading to Baltimore to stay with my brother and (soon to be) sister-in-law. They are getting hitched on Oct. 1.
I’ll be making a trip down to DC at some point, so I’ll keep you DC peeps updated.
“Austria, Switzerland and parts of Belgium speak a different sort of German.” -Colum Joyce
I just got back from my trip to Vienna and Linz. The “vacation” was nice. I managed to read four books and let my Google Reader get completely swamped. I have to be honest, however, I wasn’t especially impressed with the country.
I thought I would love it. Anthony Bourdain went and he had a great time, despite not liking Austria before his visit. There’s the Vienna Circle! Popper! Wittgenstein! It’s the home of Gustav Klimt, whose artwork I like. Beethoven wrote some of his great works there.
And yet I described it as “Austria is to Germany what Canada is to the US.”
I LOVED Germany. Before traveling there, everyone said that I would hate German food. I LOVED German food. People said the cities were ugly and “Soviet looking.” I thought the architecture was fabulous, both the old and the new.
Austria, on the other hand, was kinda meh. There were some cool buildings, in particular several churches which were really neat looking. Most of the buildings were extremely bland, crammed together with very narrow sidewalks in front. The food was also meh. I ate several times at highly regarded Austrian restaurants and was rather unimpressed. The food wasn’t bad per se, just boring. The best meal I had was at an off-the-beaten-path Italian place which served some amazing gnocchi. The only Austrian “meal” I was impressed with was lunch at the Nashmarkt, which consists of dozens of little stalls where you can purchase all sorts of snacks.
I was unimpressed by the culture. The cafes were dull, with similar menus and very little atmosphere. The fashion was… well… it looked like Wal-Mart had taken over as the major supplier of clothing. (I’m attributing some of that to the endless supply of Italian tourists.) I actually saw more than one older (by which I mean 70+) woman in some sort of stretchy animal print. Tee shirts with rhinestone writing were also especially popular with the older ladies. Austrians seemed very, very pushy, especially on public transit. I actually got elbowed by an eleven-year-old girl getting onto a not very crowded train.
On some positive notes, the country landscape is beautiful. The view from the mountain top above Linz was breathtaking. The Ars Electronica museum in Linz was a lot of fun and I’d highly recommend it, especially if you have kids. As I said before, the Nashmarkt in Vienna was a lot of fun as well.
The only other redeeming quality? Lots of Starbucks. I totally got my iced chai latte fix.
“No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.” -Elbert Hubbard
Because I’m European now, I’m going on holiday and heading over to Austria for a few days. The internets will be slightly quieter but I’ll still be popping in to see what’s going on.
Not your every day, run-of-the-mill ginger.
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