The Big Five-Oh

Believe it or not, this is the 50th post I have made in my travels! To celebrate the occasion, I've decided to upgrade the look of the blog, opting for a new color scheme and a background photo taken by yours truly. I hope it is a bit easier and more fun to read!

In my last post, I inferred that life is never dull in Oxford. Well, just to spite me, the last week and a half have been comparatively uneventful. Let it suffice for me to provide the following brief synopsis of the past few days before moving on to something ...well... different!

Since the University is currently out of term, the city has thinned out dramatically. The days are becoming much longer, and with Saturday's time change (yes, two weeks following the US), the sun is now high in the sky at the end of the work day. These two factors have actually had the influence of leading me to work late on several occasions, eagerly plotting and manipulating data via MATLAB. I swiftly realized that it is only marginally helpful to plot 400 data samples simultaneously; thanks to MATLAB's "rand" function, I have several plots of confused technicolor spaghetti. Not to worry, however, because statistics is on my side, and I was able to pick out a decent number of sufficiently representative samples.

Aside from lab work, I've also increased my cello practicing schedule. In just a few weeks, I have been able to learn almost the entirety of Bach's first Unaccompanied Suite for Cello (Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Minuets I & II, and Gigue) as well as the Bach Air on the G String and Saint Saens's "The Swan" from Carnival of the Animals. Yes, I'm preparing for a wedding... can't believe Tony and Christina will be tying the knot in just two short months!

Last weekend, I went gallivanting about the countryside, taking an afternoon trip to Bath with Kebleites Frank and Liam. The latter attended the University of Bath for his undergrad degree, so he showed us around, taking us through the Bath Abbey (we also went on a bell tower tour, which was amazing) around the Roman Baths, and throughout the city. We also spent a good amount of time simply relaxing with a million other students by the Royal Crescent, a former Royal housing complex turned into apartments. It was a beautiful day. On Sunday, I did a great deal of sitting around, followed up by my first trip punting! Basically, punts are gondolas (gondolae?) which are propelled with a pole instead of a paddle. Roos, Luke, and Radhika watched as I took the first shift at the helm, wobbly at first but then getting the hang of it. It's harder than it looks! Anyway, I look forward to a long summer full of fantastic punting, at which times I will describe in greater detail.

Perhaps the best part of the past two weeks was when my dance partner, Jenna, returned from family vacation. Naturally, we divulged in the obligatory 'catch-up-lunch' on Wednesday at the Missing Bean cafe, but have been dancing intensely since then. How intensely? To the tune of 6.5 hours over three days, requiring 14.6 miles of walking between Keble College and Iffley Sports Complex. Result: one new cha cha routine and one glorious new quickstep! I am incredibly grateful to have a dedicated, yet easy-going partner in Jenna. A better-suited dance tandem in Oxford I doubt anyone could find. Maybe that is a challenge :-) Anyway, we celebrated our practice sessions with a trip to the Blenheim Palace, home of the Duke of Marlburgh since the early 1700s and birthplace of Winston Churchill. Jenna and I really enjoyed the grounds, albeit chilly and requiring another 2.6 miles of walking. Whew!

Well, so much for the brief synopsis... now for the main event. For the 50th blog post, I thought it would be fitting to remember 50 random experiences from my travels to date. But first, some statistics (in engineering fashion):
Number of countries visited: 12
Number of posts: 50 (only 49 blogs included in the stats below)
Number of days between first and last post: 1428
Total number of words written: 46,249 (Austria: 9647; China: 13,795; England: 22,807)
Approx MS Word pages (end to end, 12 pt, 1" margins): 79
Total days on trips where I blogged: 266
Mean words written per blog and per day: 943.9 per blog; 173.9 per day traveled

And now 50 random incredible experiences... in no particular order...
1. Belize: swimming into a cave with a flashlight in my mouth (proving Maglights are waterproof)
2. China: walking through a bad part of Nanjing while trying to reach the Yangtze River (oops...)
3. Ecuador: mixing concrete in the dirt street for our Habitat House (bucket line assemble!!)
4. Austria: learning about Turkish football (soccer) fans during Eurocup 2008
5. Belize: sketching plans for the TCGA to build a cacao bean drying facility
6. China: eating at 'the noodle place' (a name both extraordinarily vague, but sufficiently descriptive)
7. England: getting to see Stonehenge (it rocked)
8. Austria: seeing the graves of Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, and Brahms all side by side
9. Ecuador: delicious fruit (esp. bananas and papayas)
10. France: running into an old classmate from high school on July 4th next to the Mona Lisa
11. Ireland: St. Patrick's Day in Dublin
12. Austria: learning what 'old' means (context: St. Stephen's Cathedral, 14th c.)
13. Netherlands: Kinderdijk windmills
14. China: walking on the Great Wall
15. Austria: kebabs, wursts, and black pepper salami sandwiches for lunch every day
16. China: being served two Peking Ducks just for myself to eat
17. Austria: seeing the Sound of Music in German
18. Ecuador: while everyone else talked in Spanish, communicating with a nun in German
19. Belize: snorkeling in the most incredibly clear water I have ever seen
20. Ecuador: driving through the Andes (possibly the most dangerous experience I have had)
21. England: seeing an original King James Bible and the Codex Sinaiticus
22. Netherlands: going to the MC Escher museum and the Van Gogh museum
23. China: getting thermal scanned by men in Tyvek suits to determine whether I had H1N1
24. China: not seeing the sun for over five weeks
25. Austria: Vienna Philharmonic in the rain at the Schonbrunn Palace
26. Belgium: accidentally finding the statue Mannekin Pis
27. Czech Rep: modern art on 'Museum Night.' (over urinals: "This is art." "This is not art." etc..)
28. Hungary: seeing the communist statue museum (including Stalin's giant feet)
29. Netherlands: cycling around Texel Island, semi-lost, looking for the North Sea
30. Ecuador: standing on the Equator
31. England: standing on the Prime Meridian
32. Austria: history, art, and architecture
33. China: engineering, government, and economics
34. Belize: the world's most amazing tortillas (made by hand, naturally)
35. Austria: setting a standard for visiting cathedrals
36. France: crepes at the Eiffel tower before a concert in Notre Dame
37. England: attending Oxford University (this caught me off guard today)
38. China: witnessing a culture of extremes
39. Belize: learning how people with few material possessions can have all the joy in the world
40. Ecuador: getting dizzy at 9000 ft elevation
41. Austria: being introduced to heavenly gelato
42. China: first meal off the plane in Shanghai: cross-sectioned duck slices, complete with head
43. England: being blown away by Les Miserables in the West End
44. Ecuador: realizing people around the world are - by and large - the same
45. Austria: realizing the significant influence of the US around the globe
46. Netherlands: realizing how many famous people are Dutch
47. France: realizing that the French don't necessarily hate Americans
48. China: realizing one must learn to laugh when confronted with challenging lingual differences
49. Belize: realizing I can lead an international team of volunteers
50. England: realizing I now have a truly international network of friends

As you can see, it has been an incredible ride so far. Each of these experiences has defined my journey and helped form my perceptions of the world. Keeping this blog, however, has allowed me to remain connected to my roots, always providing a road home, and -importantly - always reminding me to remember the path by which I have come. Here's to the next 50 posts!

CULTURE CORNER
x, xx, xxx, xXx, etc.
In the United States, many youth and young adults end certain messages with a cute xoxo as a symbol of either friendship or affection. Personally, I had always thought that the 'x' corresponded to a hug and an 'o' to a kiss. Well in England, x's are the name of the game; as I learned this week, it is not 'o' but 'x' that marks the sign of the kiss.

Interestingly, messages sent in the UK are routinely tagged with one of the combinations given above (completely omitting the aforementioned 'o's ". Girls to girls.... girls to guys... guys to girls... and least often guys to guys. Nonetheless, here are a couple of messages from different en masse threads I have received this week:

"8:30 acland foyer for anyone who fancies the trip xx"

"I'm going home but I'll see you next week! X"

"Alright x"

Upon inquiring at evening tea about the purpose of the x, it seemed as if some debate enshrouds the issue. In the end, it struck me that the high frequency of x's deems them to be relatively trivial, a simple gesture of friendship (sort of like kissing cheeks in certain cultures). Interestingly, one member of the conversation spoke up, saying that an old female friend had been slightly put off because it was not his habit to reply with x's in his messages.

While I continue to investigate this topic, I have yet to 'x' a message... When the jury comes back with a verdict, perhaps I will decide whether or not to assimilate this interesting cultural practice into my messages.

Words of the Day
Niche (pronounced: neesh): n. a location, job position, role, etc. that is particularly suited for a specific object or individual. (Not to be confused with niche (pronounced: nitch), which is a location, job position, role, etc. that is particularly suited for a specific object or individual; American)