United Statesian

Eco products in Spain that are better for Chemical Sensitivity sufferers like myself Dear citizens of the world, I started to write this post last year while suffering from pneumonia. It was a bad experience, but I actually suffer more when I have an allergic reaction to chemical products. Unfortunately, I am very sensitive to chemicals in cleaning products, air fresheners, perfumes, paints, etc. Some doctors label it "Chemical sensitivity". My "allergy" is not fully recognised and the only treatment seems to be to avoid chemicals as much as humanly possible. As long as I avoid chemicals I can lead a normal life. It is not as easy as it sounds, especially when you are travelling or living abroad as an expat which is my case. The picture above of products is thanks to years of searching throughout Spain for products that would not affect me as much as popular brands. They are actually cheaper than the more "chemical" brands. Now, after moving to Israel, I h...

Ethics book on top of a recycle bin...green irony? Dear Citizens of the World! While walking through Tel Aviv on my hunt for a new home, I saw this garbage bag sitting on top of the recycling container. A few Ethical questions came to mind: Isn't it ironic that this student decided to photocopy the Ethics course book instead of buying the original? Would you fail the course because of this? Is it Ethical to recycle it...wouldn't it be better to reuse a few times before recycling it? --It honestly does not look like it has been read. Would it be Ethical to reuse an Ethics book without paying royalties? Would the environmental ethics outway the economical, property-rights ethics? The bag of recyclable materials was deposited on top of the container...no effort was made to put it inside--even though there was plenty of space. How ethical is this half-ass recycling? Just some food for thought. What do you think? The United Statesian

View of Jostalbreen Glacier from Gryta on a cloudy day Dear Citizens of the world! There are a fare share of odd "coincidence stories" in my travels, but this coincidence was just plain weird! We were nearing the end of our trip in Norway and decided to do a hike to a peak behind Stryn. There are great views of the surrounding lakes, mountains and glaciers, but it is not on the tourist route, thus it was deserted. We were enjoying the fact that we had the mountian to ourselves and we were about half-way up the climb to the peak when we heard a mobile phone ringing. We could see for kilometers in every direction and nobody was around. We started to search for the source of the sounds when they sudenly stopped. After a few moments the ringing continued and we found the mobile phone under a boulder! Happy to retrieve their mobile that was lost on the side of "Gryta" mountain . We called the last number in the phone and talked to the owner who had lost the phone the day...

Classic vs Modern "McCulture diet " Dear Citizens of the world, In my last post on the fallas of Valencia I talked about the prettier and noisier side of the Fallas Festival. This post is about the satyr and parody that most of the Fallas sculptures do so well. Many are like seeing a 3-D newspaper caricature. Obama was one of the more popular topics. One big difference would be that there is no censorship and there is a lot more nudity and crude racial stereotypes that you would not see in a United Statesian version. Super Obama! ... watch that hand... Critique on the USA, but with a large Coca-cola advert behind it... Caricature on recycling... the first one on the left is recycling silicon ;-) Caricature of a Spanish politician.. . O ne of my favourite...gotta love his smile What's he looking for?... Ahhh... the key ;- ) One of the cruder ones...Usain Bolt? Local traditional clothes -- mothers and their dolls... Hope to see you again soon! The United Statesian

Man squatting outside the Big Goose Pagoda -- Xian, China Dear citizens of the world, This post is about one of those cultural tidbits. Countries are beginning to look similar with the same shops (Walmart), cafes (Starbucks), fast food joints (McDonalds). However, there are still many things that can differenciate cultures or even shock while traveling. My travel companion was astounded to see so many people squatting in China. Chinese people squat to rest, read a newspaper, talk on mobile phones, take pictures, and to use the WC but Westerners only associate squatting with bowl movements. Researching the topic I found another post on squatting with a link to a page with the benefits of squatting . A fellow United Statesian posted (a technical) " Seven reasons to squat ." I have to admit that I am not so good at squating (lack of practice); however, it is an important skill for travelers. Lack of knowledge can even lead to injury! My "squat story" happened on my re...

After reading Chris's most recent blog " Lost in translation " I decided to continue the conversation on translations that could be added and expanded. The true problem with translations comes when no cultural equivalent exisits... Bad English or just avoiding copyright problems? There are thousand of cases of mis-translation that have made me laugh and cry over the past sixteen years as an expat...but I will limit this post to the most recent signs I had the time to photogragh during our three-week, whirlwind tour of China and HK. Future posts should bring more anecdotes and bad translations - part of the fun of being an expat; you always know that there will be a chuckle around the corner, or in the toilet... Signs do not need to include bad English to be of interest - differences in culture are usually enough to make a sign interesting: A dog toilet...Hong Kong style: Perfect English, but not the type of thing I would see in Madrid: "Entrance to the right". ....