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Tales from the Man who would be King
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https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Oh-the-Things-that-I-have-Learned!-Part-1.aspx
Oh, the Things that I have Learned! – Part 1
2024-03-18T14:03:28+00:00
Rex Jaeschke
<p><span style="font-family:Tahoma; font-size:10pt">© 2024 Rex Jaeschke. All rights reserved.
</span></p><p>In my formative years, I lived in rural areas on farms with no nearby neighbors, and with siblings at least five years older than me who, for some years, boarded away from home during the school week. I learned how to entertain myself and I developed a vivid imagination. I explored, I experimented, and I found a way to earn money.
</p><p>I don't know when it happened, but at some point, at least subliminally, I realized that reading could lead to learning, learning could lead to doing interesting things, and doing interesting things could lead to a fulfilling life. I also recognized that no-one else—least of all, my parents—was going to help me on that path, so I'd have to go it alone. And I was in a hurry! While I went the formal education route, <span style="text-decoration:underline">I never shied away from investing in my own learning</span> outside any formal structure. And now, with access to the internet, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merry_Wives_of_Windsor">the world really is my oyster</a>!
</p><p>I've always been curious. I want to know what's on the other side of that hill, or what's around the next corner. And I'm always interested in the bigger picture, at the national and international level. This is reflected by the fact that I am a traveler rather than a tourist. I'm more than happy to discover things for myself rather than have someone lead me to them. I'm always asking questions and talking to strangers, especially if they have well-behaved dogs.
</p><p>I didn't always have confidence, but I was never afraid to make mistakes, even large ones, publicly! (As <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche">Nietzsche</a> famously said, "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger!") And especially not when I was learning and trying out foreign languages as I traveled. With respect to getting noticed, I've long claimed that being different is far easier than being better, and <span style="text-decoration:underline">I have no trouble whatsoever in being different</span>.
</p><p>I'm a life-long learner, but for most topics, <span style="text-decoration:underline">I'm not interested in becoming an expert</span>; I just want to know enough to have a basic understanding and to be conversant enough to discuss and ask intelligent questions, and to appreciate the knowledge and its impact.
</p><p>When did I first consciously set out to learn something? It was always there in some form, but I didn't really recognize it formally until I was in my early 30s. While I was waiting to get permanent residency (my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_card">Green Card</a>, that is) here in the US, I started researching topics that I thought I might learn and use as the basis of the consulting business I'd start once I could be self-employed.
</p><p>While I certainly learned a lot of things in the 25 years prior to moving to the US, the vast majority of what I have done in the 45 years since then is based on skills and knowledge that have been self-taught after my arrival.
</p><p>In this multi-part essay, I reflect on some of my areas of interest and experience, and what I've learned about them and myself along the way. And the learning is far from over; I set out to learn things small and large, on a regular basis, and that's one reason I don't ever expect to retire in any traditional sense. There is so much new and interesting stuff going on in my professional world that I want to learn, and if I can make money from it along the way, that's OK too, but that's not a requirement.
</p><p>Note that while there are "Lessons learned" in each of the sections below specific to that section topic, at the very end, there are some general lessons that apply to many or all topics.
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Reading for Pleasure
</strong></span></p><p>As far back as I can remember, I've liked reading. However, surprisingly, <span style="text-decoration:underline">it wasn't until I was 60 years old that I got a public-library card</span> and started borrowing books on a regular basis. (As I write this, in a typical week, I read 500–600 pages of fiction, along with 100–200 pages of nonfiction.) While I was in elementary school and high school, I borrowed the occasional book from the school's library. At the start of each school year, as my dad happily wrote out a check for school supplies, I bought all new textbooks and support materials, more than a few of which I kept until my late 50's. Later, I mostly <em>bought</em> books, especially those deeply discounted or second-hand.
</p><p>[A favorite cartoon of mine shows <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4gar_the_Horrible"><em>Hägar the Horrible</em></a>, the Viking <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/raider">raider</a>, with his son, Hamlet, who's a lover not a fighter. Hägar asks Hamlet why he is always reading. Hamlet replies, "Because books tell you things!" In the next frame, Hägar takes Hamlet's book and holds it up to his own ear, but he can't hear a darned thing!]
</p><p>Here in the US, we have a non-profit organization, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Free_Library">Little Free Library</a>, "that promotes neighborhood book exchanges, usually in the form of a public bookcase." I have a number of such bookcases in my town, and I see them regularly when I travel by car. In fact, I am so eager to get books that I carry spare books in both of my cars to exchange whenever the opportunity arises.
</p><p>For details of my reading history and book ownership, see my essay "October 2010: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Books-by-My-Bed.aspx">Books by My Bed</a>."
</p><p><strong>Lessons learned:
</strong></p><ul><li>I <span style="text-decoration:underline">love printed</span> books, and I love reading them. And while I do read a lot of reference material on-line, I have little interest in reading fiction or certain reference materials—think encyclopedic books or atlases—that way.
</li><li>When looking at prospective novels to read, I generally <span style="text-decoration:underline">reject</span> them if any of the following are found, <span style="text-decoration:underline">regardless</span> of the storyline: Chapters longer than 20 pages, very narrow margins, small font size, passive writing, or very long paragraphs.
</li><li>During high school, given the material, the teaching approach, and my very young age (I finished Year 12 a week before I turned 16!), <span style="text-decoration:underline">I developed a distaste for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature">literature</a></span>. More than 50 years later, I still feel the same way, and that's OK with me!
</li><li>When I stay in someone else's house and they have books, I always browse through them, looking especially at topics that are new/unknown to me. <span style="text-decoration:underline">It's good to occasionally read outside one's preferred genres!</span>
</li><li>I've become a <span style="text-decoration:underline">huge</span> fan of Wikipedia, and a regular donor towards its maintenance.
</li></ul><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Writing for Pleasure
</strong></span></p><p>I came to writing much, much later than reading! I've never kept a daily diary, and when I left Australia in 1979 and traveled in Asia and Europe for five weeks on my way to the US, <span style="text-decoration:underline">I never made any notes of that trip</span>. (Forty years later, my essay describing that trip, "June 2019: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Travel-From-Adelaide-to-Washington-DC.aspx">Travel – From Adelaide to Washington DC</a>," was written entirely from memory!)
</p><p>The first time I wrote anything personal that was non-trivial was a diary covering my 2-week trip across southern Chile and Argentina in 1991, at age 38. I wrote in a medium-sized, spiral-bound notebook, and I glued in all kinds of things like plane and bus tickets, postcards, receipts, and admission tickets. I continued this habit for about 10 years until I got my first electronic device with which I could travel, a Personal Digital Assistant (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant">PDA</a>) and, later, a small laptop computer (see my essay, "June 2011: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Just-Me-and-MiniMe-Traveling-with-Technology.aspx">Just Me and MiniMe: Traveling with Technology</a>). In 2023, I used MS Word's speech-to-text facility to transcribe my paper diaries into an electronic form, which I then linked many items to Wikipedia.
</p><p>In 2012, I started thinking about all the places I'd lived. After a short while, I got so much information in my head that I started typing notes on my computer. A bit later, I thought that maybe, just maybe, I'd flesh it out into an autobiography. After sleeping on this idea for a few weeks—which allowed me to look beyond the romantic aspects of such an endeavor and for reality to set in—it still seemed like a good idea, despite the fact that I knew it would be a lot of work. It was, but it was worth it. It ran 125 pages, and covered the first 25 years of my life, up until the time I moved to the US. (More than a little of that diary has appeared in autobiographical essays on my blog.)
</p><p><strong>Lessons learned:
</strong></p><ul><li>I <span style="text-decoration:underline">love</span> to write, although it's all technical or about personal experiences. I've never tried writing fiction, and my writing rarely contains dialog.
</li><li>One early morning, while lying in bed in Germany, jetlagged, I came up with an idea for a series of short pieces, each with an accompanying photo, built around the travels of an inanimate object. I occasionally come across the notes I recorded at that time, but I have not yet turned them into anything concrete. That said, given the right motivation, I <span style="text-decoration:underline">might</span> have some fiction in me!
</li><li>Despite my early ruination with literature, on very rare occasions <span style="text-decoration:underline">I have written some credible poetry</span>.
</li><li>Despite having written many thousands of pages, <span style="text-decoration:underline">I have never, ever been interested in learning how to type</span>. I'm strictly a <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hunt-and-peck">hunt-and-peck</a> guy, which works for me. As a consequence, unlike some other prolific writers I've met, I've never suffered from repetitive strain injury (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repetitive_strain_injury">RSI</a>).
</li><li>One of my greatest takeaways about writing was from Strunk and White's well-known book, "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style"><em>The Elements of Style</em></a>." It was, "Less is more." <span style="text-decoration:underline">Don't write more words than you need</span> to describe a situation!
</li></ul><p>In 1995, during a 4-weekend university English course, I discovered written essays, and then went on to appreciate spoken and video versions thereof. I also found that I could write essays. In fact, when I started my blog in 2009, I adopted the essay form for each installment.
</p><p>My (extensive) experience in writing for publication is covered in the next section.<span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>
</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Writing for Publication, Editing, and Publishing
</strong></span></p><p>For the past 40 years, I've been writing for publication, either as a paid feature writer or columnist, or as the editor of formal IT specifications. Along the way, I dreamed up the idea for a new publication and was its founding editor, and later I was the editor and publisher of a quarterly journal. For details of these activities, see my essay, "February 2022: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Oh-the-Things-that-I-have-Written.aspx">Oh the Things that I have Written</a>."
</p><p><strong>Lessons learned:
</strong></p><ul><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">There is nothing quite like a deadline to get the creative juices flowing.</span> While sometimes struggling to get started on a piece, more than a few times it finally took off and was so long it had to be broken into two or even three parts!
</li><li>Following the adage, "<span style="text-decoration:underline">A picture is worth a thousand words</span>," in technical writing, I've found that a visual aid such as a not-too-long-or-complicated computer program, a table, or a figure can be the key to writing understandable narrative. While it might take a while to get the right illustration, once found, the explanatory text easily follows.
</li><li>A lot of people can write well but can't deliver on time. A lot of people can deliver on time, but their material is mediocre or worse. <span style="text-decoration:underline">It's a rare writer who can consistently deliver quality material in a timely fashion!</span>
</li><li>Books on the mechanics of writing often stress the need to write, rewrite, and rewrite again. I have <span style="text-decoration:underline">never</span> followed that advice (which, I think comes mostly from teachers of writing rather than from successful writers themselves). For a technical piece for which I have a deadline, I write it, I proof it once for content accuracy, and once more from an English-language perspective. The proofing stages might take place over some days, which gives the piece "time to bake." Then I ship it. If you look at things you wrote much earlier, you'll always find ways to tweak (maybe even improve) it, but is it good enough as it is for its intended audience?
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">The shelf life of a publication matters.</span> What goes into printed books can have a very long lifetime and can't be amended. However, magazines are "throwaway" materials; you read them the week they arrive or in the Doctor's office. Of course, having all kinds of publications online changes that, both in lifetime and the ability to make changes.
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">The choice of page-layout options is important</span> regarding things like font size, typeface, whether lines are right-justified, and whether bad line- and page-breaks exist. Though rarely used in most writing, nonbreaking spaces help to make writing aesthetically pleasing to read. (See my essay, "December 2011: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Making-Good-Looking-Documents.aspx">Making Good-Looking Documents</a>.")
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Understand and use your word processor's grammar- and punctuation-checking options.</span>
</li></ul><p>[Another favorite cartoon of mine is from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_(comic_strip)"><em>Shoe</em></a>, in which all the participants are birds, working in a newspaper office up in a tree. The editor asks a staff writer how his column is coming along, to which the writer replies, "It's all finished <span style="text-decoration:underline">except for the words</span>!" I can certainly relate to having an empty page not too long before a deadline.]
</p><p>See my essay, "April 2013: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Standards-e28093-The-Secret-Life-of-a-Language-Lawyer.aspx">Standards – The Secret Life of a Language Lawyer</a>."
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Coming to Grips with English Grammar
</strong></span></p><p>Having attended a 1-teacher school in my early years, with 28 students in seven grades being taught simultaneously, I never got a solid grounding in English grammar and punctuation. And by the time I got to high school, it was assumed that I had one. Unlike US liberal arts universities, in Australia in the 70's, one did a 3-year degree, specializing in one's major from day 1, with no general education classes (such as English composition).
</p><p>To me, grammar was an awfully dry subject to learn as an adult, unless one had a purpose, and for the longest time, I didn't. In any event, as a writer-for-publication, I had editors whip my submissions into shape. However, in 2012 (at age 59), I got into "formal English" mode, and started researching and writing about punctuation and grammar for my blog. (The 7-part series ran from <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/English-e28093-Part-1-A-Potpourri.aspx">June</a> 2012 through <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/English-Part-7-Adverbs.aspx">October 2017</a>.) I became so interested, I had to guard against having missionary zeal!
</p><p>Prior to that, I had at least some need to understand grammar when I started learning Spanish and German. It's challenging to learn the grammar of another language when you don't know the grammar of your own!
</p><p><strong>Lessons learned:
</strong></p><ul><li>I <span style="text-decoration:underline">love</span> the US university liberal arts model partly because of its emphasis on helping students to have better written and oral communication skills.
</li><li>I <span style="text-decoration:underline">love</span>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_T._O'Conner">Patricia T. O'Conner</a>'s "<em>Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English</em>."
</li><li>While ending a sentence with a preposition is frowned upon in the British-English world, it is not in US-English. That said, when I find myself about to speak in that manner, I often turn it around in my mind before I say it. And I automatically avoid that in my writing, at least as often as it makes sense. I'm reminded of the time <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill_as_writer">Winston Churchill</a>—a great writer and orator—was accused of ending a sentence with a preposition. He replied something like, "You are correct, Madam; that is something <span style="text-decoration:underline">up with which I will not put!</span>"
</li></ul><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Dabbling in Foreign Languages
</strong></span></p><p>See my essay, "November 2011: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/A-Little-Foreign-Language-Goes-a-Long-Way.aspx">A Little Foreign Language Goes a Long Way</a>."
</p><p>My first foray into learning a foreign language was teaching myself German from a set of cassette tapes. I had no real purpose, it was rote learning, and I couldn't ask questions. It was not very successful! In any event, no-one seemed to actually use the recorded phrases in real life.
</p><p>My first formal course involved 30 hours of introductory Spanish over 10 weeks with three hours each Saturday morning. It went very well, and, soon after, I started traveling in Latin America to try it out. Next up, was a similar course in German, but it turned out to be taught in German with materials in German. I did OK, but only because I bought a supplementary German grammar book in English. I then went back for a second class in Spanish, but I didn't much care for the teacher's style, nor the teaching materials.
</p><p>Then just for something completely different, I set out to learn basic spoken Japanese from a book written in English and using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Japanese">Romaji</a>, a way of writing Japanese using a Latin script. And all without speaking it or hearing it spoken. It was quite straightforward, and when I was first able to actually use it, it went quite well.
</p><p>Over the years, I've looked a bit at Russian (Cyrillic alphabet), Greek (Greek alphabet), Dutch, and French.
</p><p><strong>Lessons learned:
</strong></p><ul><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">One needs to be realistic about the effort needed to learn a language as an adult.</span> Each week, can you learn and remember 20 new words and the basic conjugations of 5–10 new verbs?
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Almost all my language learning has been self-taught</span> by reading, trying it out, and asking questions. Most people who have learned a language don't use it that often, and as a result can understand more than they speak. I'm the complete opposite. <span style="text-decoration:underline">I can speak far more than I understand.</span> To get good at it, one must not simply learn the mechanics, <span style="text-decoration:underline">one must master comprehension (which I have not)</span>, and that requires lots of listening.
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">I don't do well at all in a language immersion class.</span> I need the materials and teacher to at least start in English.
</li><li>I don't care for language labs that involve recording and playing back one's voice. I'd rather be out there "living it and making my own mistakes."
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">I want to be able to communicate rather than be fluent</span>.
</li><li>When I started looking at Japanese, my first writing system that did not use Latin letters, I quickly decided that <span style="text-decoration:underline">up to a point,</span>
<span style="text-decoration:underline">it is OK to speak a language without being able to read or write it</span>. (Technically, that is being illiterate!)
</li><li>While German has three genders, Spanish has only two, which is still one too many! And so, when I discovered that Japanese has no gender, no articles, no plurals, and no verb conjugation, I was ecstatic. (Of course, they complicate things a great deal when it comes to reading and writing.)
</li><li>My German grammar textbook tells me, "<span style="text-decoration:underline">There are eight common ways to form a plural in German.</span>" Really? I don't even want to think how many <span style="text-decoration:underline">uncommon</span> ways there are!
</li><li>I like to be correct, but when one learns how to say in perfect Japanese, "I do <em>not</em> speak Japanese." that can confuse the listener.
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Those foreigners have words for everything!</span> Just when you think you know something, such as the words for <em>dog</em> or <em>flower</em>, you realize that you don't know the words for any breeds or species!
</li><li>Even if you learn only a few words and phrases (along with a few cultural gestures), when you use them in the right context, they can gain you considerable respect.
</li><li>No matter how much formal training you receive, in the real world, <span style="text-decoration:underline">people do not use the same statements and questions you learned</span>! You must learn the phrase patterns and be ready to substitute different nouns and adjectives (for example) in those patterns.
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">You need to stop thinking in terms of English.</span> Spanish (and some other languages) has the adjective after the noun, which is OK. Russian has no articles. Their rules are not stupid or wrong, they are just different!
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Not all written languages use an alphabet.</span> (Japanese uses <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji">Kanji ideograms</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kana">kana syllabaries</a>.)
</li></ul><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Travel
</strong></span></p><p>For much of the past 40+ years, I've travelled extensively, both in the US and abroad. (See the trip diaries and travel-related essays on my blog, many of whose titles begin with, "Memories of ….") As I am not a fan of cold weather, each northern winter I look to go someplace warm for a few weeks (think, Central America or the Caribbean). However, several years before the Covid pandemic, I just couldn't get enthusiastic about going anywhere, not even on one of the many free tickets I had in my frequent-flyer bank. It occurred to me that after two million air miles (see my essay, "May 2010: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Travel-e28093-Fly-Me-to-the-Moon.aspx">Travel – Fly Me to the Moon</a>") and 65 countries/regions, I'd had enough! That said, although I didn't get on a plane for three years after Covid hit, I have more than a few flying trips in the planning stages should I ever get motivated.
</p><p>Travel has greatly improved my language skills, my geography and history appreciation, my understanding of government and local conventions and customs, and it inspired my long-running blog series, "What is Normal?"
</p><p>For some details of my travel accommodation, see my essay, "December 2014: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Travel-Oh-the-Places-I-have-Stayed.aspx">Travel – Oh the Places I have Stayed</a>."
</p><p><strong>Lessons learned:
</strong></p><ul><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Normal is relative and changes every 100 miles (or 100 kms) in small and large ways.</span> You would do well to understand this regarding travel in your own country, let alone travelling to another. It's OK that your normal isn't the same as other peoples' normal; embrace it and learn from it! (See the section, "What is Normal," below.)
</li><li>When you travel, if you want things to be just like when you are at home, then <span style="text-decoration:underline">perhaps you should stay there</span>!
</li><li>Always have a Plan B, even for Plan B! (See my essay, "January 2018: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Having-a-Plan-B.aspx">Having a Plan B</a>.") This advice is applicable to life, in general. Don't ruin, or let others ruin your trip because you or they aren't flexible.
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Being in possession of an airline ticket is no guarantee you will get on that flight, or any other flight!
</span></li><li>For ideas of what I've learned about packing and luggage, see "January 2012: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Travel-e28093-Packing-and-Preparing.aspx">Travel – Packing and Preparing</a>."
</li><li>For my experiences with airports, see "January 2017: <a href="http://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/Travel-Airports.aspx">Travel – Airports</a>."
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Be prepared for unexpected wait times/delays</span> at airports, train stations, and such, and take along an activity (such as a book to read or a puzzle to do), especially when traveling with kids.
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Ranting</span> at a hotel desk clerk, an airline employee, or other such travel-related person who is just trying to do their job <span style="text-decoration:underline">won't do you any good</span>. (He says, having witnessed firsthand numerous such confrontations, one of which ended in the offending woman being arrested at an airport and her small children taken away by child-custody services!)
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Remember that you are an ambassador to your hometown, state, or country.</span>
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Always take some small sheets of aluminum foil with you.</span> It has a myriad of uses and takes no space to carry.
</li><li>When planning <em>any</em> trip, it's good to ask yourself, "How do I expect to be changed/improved by the experience?"
</li><li>To really engage with the locals, stay with host families or rent rooms in private houses.
</li><li><div>To learn a lot about a culture
</div><ul><li>Walk through a store or market and try to identify what everything is and how its name differs from what you are used to.
</li><li>Sit in a public place and watch everyone go by.
</li><li>Watch tradesmen at work. There are alternate ways of getting things done.
</li><li>Hop on a local train or bus, ride to the end of the line, and spend some time in the terminating village/area.
</li><li>Try to communicate with the locals.
</li></ul></li><li>While I'm a traveler rather than a tourist, each has its advantages and disadvantages. It's OK to be one or the other, or a hybrid of the two.
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Traveling completely around the world on a few, long flights, going east is tough</span> (I've done it four times.) I find it very challenging to pretend that each travel day is (sometimes significantly) less than 24 hours. Although I am in no hurry to do it going west, I suspect that would be <em>much</em> easier.
</li></ul><p>When someone says to you, "Why do you travel so much? We have everything we need right here, at home. We have no need to go anywhere else!", you might think it a lost cause to try and convince them of the benefits of travel. But if you are inclined to try, quote to them the following from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain">Mark Twain</a>: "<span style="text-decoration:underline">Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness</span>, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." (He is widely recognized as having written the first modern travel book, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innocents_Abroad"><em>The Innocents Abroad</em></a>.)
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>What is Normal?
</strong></span></p><p>I've written extensively on this topic. For the first blog essay on that blog series, see "<a href="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/post/What-is-Normal-e28093-Part-1-Getting-Started.aspx">What is Normal – Part 1: Getting Started</a>.")
</p><p><strong>Lessons learned:
</strong></p><ul><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Never say <em>never</em> about possible cultural differences and conventions.</span> For example, some writing systems go left-to-right, top-to-bottom; others go right-to-left, top-to-bottom; while still others go top-to-bottom, right-to-left. While I don't know of any that go bottom-to-top, I wouldn't be surprised. Afterall, it's just a convention!
</li><li><span style="text-decoration:underline">Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's silly or stupid.</span> Saying so just displays your ignorance and/or unwillingness to understand (and even appreciate) an alternate approach or viewpoint.
</li><li>I am <span style="text-decoration:underline">very</span> proud of never having been accused of being normal!
</li></ul><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Conclusion
</strong></span></p><p>Without a doubt, the biggest lesson that I've learned in my 70 years on this planet, is that my three worst enemies are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frustration">frustration</a>, <strong>frustration</strong>, and <strong>frustration</strong>! What are yours?
</p><p>See you in Part 2!</p>
2024-03-18T14:03:28+00:00
Rex Jaeschke
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Travel: Around the World in a Daze – Part 1, Milan
2024-02-18T15:44:05+00:00
Rex Jaeschke
<p>© 2008, 2024 Rex Jaeschke. All rights reserved.
</p><p><em>After traveling continuously on business for eight months, from late August 2007 until the end of April 2008, I gave myself most of the next four months off. (Frankly, I found that working was highly overrated!) Of course, all good things must come to an end, so there I was in September with duty calling.
</em></p><p><em>This time, I was off on a 14-day trip around the world (take that, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phileas_Fogg">Phileas Fogg</a>), taking in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan">Milan</a>, Italy, and then <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju_Island">Jeju</a>, Korea. Frankly, it would have been preferable to go west rather than east, but, unfortunately, that wasn't an option. There was one good bit of news, however; I was seated in Business Class all the way.
</em></p><p><em>Sound exotic? Want to trade places? Be careful what you wish for as you just might get it. Being wide awake in a hotel room from 2–6 am is no picnic, and neither is trying to stay awake and be productive mid-afternoon in a business meeting.
</em></p><p><em>Now, for a trip like this, one must prepare in advance. In my case, I had a 6-day "practice" trip, going west, to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokohama">Yokohama</a>, Japan, 13 hours non-stop each way. I got back from that little jaunt six days before this new trip started. So just when I'd nearly recovered from that big time-change, I was trading one direction for another. So, sit back, relax and join me for a whirl around the world.
</em></p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Preparing for the Trip
</strong></span></p><p>In the morning, I took care of some domestic chores, and got house guests Lis and Ivor breakfasted and off for a day of sightseeing in Washington DC. After lunch, I spent a few hours on business, and then casually tossed a few bits of clothing into my case along with my slippers, toothbrush, and razor.
</p><p>At 4:30 pm, my cab arrived, complete with a driver from Kathmandu, Nepal. Like me, he'd recently gotten U.S. Citizenship. We chatted on the way to the airport. It was a glorious afternoon, and we had the windows down. Things were rather quiet at United's Business check-in counter. I was offered an upgrade to First Class for the first leg for a paltry $650! I politely declined. (As it turned out, the plane was a Boeing 767, and First Class was only marginally better than Business as it had only reclining seats rather than convertible beds.)
</p><p>I moved through security rather quickly, and caught the shuttle to Terminal D. There, I settled into a comfortable leather seat in United's Red-Carpet Club, and sipped a tall cup of English Toffee coffee. Next to me sat a mother and daughter from Florida. They were traveling to St. Andrews, Scotland, where the daughter was about to start a 4-year university program.
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>The Flight Over the Pond!
</strong></span></p><p>At 6 pm, I headed to Gate 15, where boarding of premier passengers began just as I arrived, so I walked right on-board. I settled into center-aisle Seat 6C. The configuration across was 2-2-2. I had legroom to burn! Flight UA953 to Frankfurt, Germany, took off on time, at 6:53, and soon we were headed northeast. Warm nuts and drinks were served once we leveled off. I watched the movie "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception_(2008_film)">Deception</a>," starring Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman. It was time well spent.
</p><p>Dinner was served during the movie. First came some smoked salmon and salami slices with vegetable crudité and sun-dried tomato dressing. That was followed by a garden salad with a choice of two dressings. The main course was a selection from three choices: mustard thyme-scented chicken with warm horseradish potato salad; braised short rib of beef with red wine demi-glace, with potato pancakes and oven-roasted root vegetables; or Boursin lasagna, alfredo, and marinara sauce. I chose the beef.
</p><p>For the busy executive on the go, for whom time really <em>is</em> money, an alternative offer was "Express Dine – a 3-course meal served all at once at the time of one's choosing, to allow one to maximize one's time," don't you know. And while I'm certainly "on the go," I wasn't <em>that</em> pressed for time.
</p><p>Of course, nowadays, international business seats come complete with power outlet, but the last thing I want to do on a plane is work on my laptop computer. Dessert involved some vintage cheese, port wine or cognac, caramel tiramisu, and tea or coffee. I was so disciplined that I declined them all.
</p><p>Two and a half hours into the flight, we'd passed over New York City, Boston, and Bangor, and were headed out over the North Atlantic from the north coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Flight details were as follows: ground speed 574 mph, altitude 36,000 feet, outside temperature -61 degrees F, 1376 miles behind us and 2737 more ahead, tail wind 44 mph. Total flight time was estimated to be 7:36 hours.
</p><p>I changed my palmtop computer from Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-5) to Western Europe time (GMT+1). As a result, I went from 9:45 pm Friday to 3:45 am Saturday in an instant. (My, how time flies!)
</p><p><strong>[Next day] </strong>I laid my seat back all the way—which was considerable in Business Class—and started counting sheep. Fortunately, I fell asleep almost immediately. Unfortunately, I was awake again in less than two hours. Ah, the joys of flying east overnight! By then, we were due south of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keflav%C3%ADk_International_Airport">Keflavik</a>, the airport that serves Iceland's capital, Reykjavik.
</p><p>As we flew over Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland, breakfast was served. It consisted of a rather large plate of assorted fresh fruit, a croissant with orange marmalade, and yogurt. I washed that down with three cups of quite decent coffee, taking in enough caffeine to counter the distinct lack of sleep. From there, we flew just north of Amsterdam, and on into Germany, passed Cologne and down to Frankfurt am Main (FRA), arriving more than 30 minutes early.
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>A Short Layover in Frankfurt
</strong></span></p><p>By the time I got settled into the Lufthansa business lounge, my eyes were getting heavy, which was not surprising since my body clock registered 3:15 am! I stocked up on some emergency rations and read some European newspapers. I was informed by a lounge hostess to allow one hour to get from the lounge through security and to my gate. So, I followed her instructions, only to find it took me 15 minutes. Don't you hate when that happens! Along the way, I got another stamp in my new U.S. Passport, and had to go through a security checkpoint.
</p><p>At my gate, B13, I saw no plane, nor, indeed, any place for a plane. Boarding was announced in German and then English. We went down a flight of stairs, out the terminal and onto several articulated buses. Then we drove at least a kilometer around the airport. I thought perhaps we were driving to Milan! Eventually, we came to a Lufthansa Boeing 737. Mobile stairs lead up to the front and rear doors. It was a 2-class service, and I was in Seat 3A, which was severely lacking in the legroom department. However, Business Class had few passengers, so I moved to a bulkhead row with more room.
</p><p>Flight LH3954 to Milan's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linate_Airport">Linate</a> city airport took off on-time at 10:55 am with safety announcements made in German, English, and Italian. At 55 minutes, it was a short flight, and I didn't expect much service. However, those of us up front got a full-service lunch. With <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktoberfest">Oktoberfest</a> coming up soon, lunch was a Bavarian affair with various cold cuts, kraut, gherkin, potato salad, cheese and bread, plus a small dessert and a piece of chocolate. It was very impressive. The flight attendant said it was best eaten with beer. There's nothing quite like being sedentary for 12 hours while regularly eating and drinking!
</p><p>Soon, we were over the Swiss Alps, which had a light dusting of the new season's snow. Then came some deep valleys with farms, large lakes (including Lake Lugarno) and occasional small cities. On approach to Milan, we passed over lots of farms, all neatly organized with lots of tree borders. Quite a few still had cereal crops waiting to be harvested.
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Arrival in Milan
</strong></span></p><p>We landed right around noon in very nice weather. The vast majority of the planes on the ground belonged to the Italian state carrier <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alitalia">Alitalia</a>, which was very close to going bankrupt. A bus took us the short distance to the terminal, and our luggage arrived very soon after, a welcome benefit of using a smaller airport. A few days earlier, a series of strike actions occurred in the local transportation section, but, fortunately, my flight and airport were unaffected.
</p><p>I picked up a city map from the information desk, checked out my transportation options and coaxed €100 from an ATM. (The exchange rate had become more favorable in recent weeks, but it still made things expensive.) I hopped in a cab and headed to my hotel downtown, some 5 km away. It was sunny with a light breeze, and people were out driving and shopping. I chatted with the driver who asked if I was in town for the big fashion show. Although he was serious, looking at my hiking trousers and boots, I thought that was pretty darn funny!
</p><p>After €14 and 15 minutes, we arrived at the hotel Mediterraneo at Via L. Muratori, 14. It was a relatively new building. I checked in and the desk clerk said that if I waited 10 minutes, he'd have housekeeping prepare me a room with a larger bed on account of my height. So that was a good start. The room rate was €203 per night, which included breakfast, and wireless internet service was available for an extra charge. (Hey, what do you expect for $300/night?)
</p><p>My room was on a corner of the 7<sup>th</sup> floor and was well appointed. It came with a small refrigerator, work desk, comfortable chairs, French doors opening out over a yard, plenty of storage space, and a large bathroom complete with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet">bidet</a> and telephone on the wall by the toilet. From the windows, I looked out on roofs of classic orange terra cotta tiles. It all looked, well, so Mediterranean!
</p><p>In the bathroom, I noticed a cord hanging down the wall by the bath, and thinking it activated the ceiling fan, I pulled it. As soon as I did, I noticed a small sign further up the wall, that said "alarme," and I knew I'd done something wrong. Sure enough, within seconds, the phone on the wall rang and the front desk was asking me (I suppose they were, as they spoke in Italian) if I'd had an accident in the bath. I politely informed them that everything was okay. (Considering how many accidents do occur in bathrooms, it seemed like a sensible idea; however, I'd never seen it before.)
</p><p>By 1:30 pm, I was fading fast, and contrary to conventional wisdom, which says to stay awake on the day one arrives, I hopped into bed and was sound asleep in seconds. More than 3 hours later, my alarm politely informed me that it was time to get up. An easy thing to suggest, but it actually took me 30 minutes to get into a vertical position. While the sleep was good, the 30 minutes after one wakes up can make it seem like a bad idea.
</p><p>I connected to the outside world, and, sure enough, email was waiting for me. One message was from a Japanese colleague, Toshiaki, who was just departing Tokyo's Narita airport, telling me he was on his way to Milan. Another from Hawaii told me that the U.S. Head of Delegation had been hospitalized and would not be coming to Milan this week. I hooked up my internet headset and made a few phone calls catching up with Astrid in Germany and Jenny back home. I had a selection of TV channels, most in Italian, but with several in German, one in French, and one in English, CNN International. There were also some music channels.
</p><p>Around 7 pm, I ventured out. It was a quiet residential neighborhood with an occasional shop and restaurant. I found a large supermarket where I took my time looking in every aisle just to see the differences in products, packaging, and advertising. Between my basic knowledge of Spanish, German, and a bit of French, plus the pictures, I was able to figure out quite a bit. At the checkout, the woman was quite patient and helpful as I sorted through a large handful of Euro coins to make payment. On the way there and back, I looked at the menus of several restaurants.
</p><p>Back in my room, I settled down to read and watch some TV while snacking on leftovers from my trip and cold drinks. Then I had a hot shower that was delivered via an extremely aggressive one-setting-fits-all massage shower head. That definitely left me feeling refreshed, if not bruised.
</p><p>So, what was I doing in Milan? I was there to chair a 4-day <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plenary_session">plenary</a> of committee ISO/IEC JTC 1/<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC_JTC_1/SC_22">SC 22</a>, or, more simply, SC 22. This committee oversees the so-called ISO standardization of computer programming languages such as COBOL, Fortran, Ada, C and C++. From 1999 until 2007, I attended these plenary meetings as a U.S. Delegate, being U.S. Head of Delegation for the past eight years. Last November, I took over as acting chair for one year, and, this coming November, I'll start a full 3-year term. As chair, I'm no longer part of a National Body delegation, so I have to be impartial. We meet once a year, typically in September. Last year, it was in Singapore; this year in Milan, Italy; and next year, in Delft, The Netherlands. We try to rotate between locations in Europe, the Americas and the Asia/Pacific region, depending on offers to host. It's my job to find new hosts.
</p><p>By 10 pm, I was starting to fade, so I pulled the heavy drapes closed, put in my earplugs and set my alarm. As I turned out the light, the clock on the TV read 22:22; an omen, perhaps. I'm sure I was asleep before 22:23. The travel experience thus far was good; no lost luggage, no delayed flights, some decent food, good service and I met some nice people. After the constant exposure to Italian, I was getting into the mood, and my hands were moving around "eager to get talking." It had been more than 10 years since I was last in Italy (in Milan, in fact), but all those useful words and phrases started coming back to me. Things like "prego," "grazie," "buon giorno," "ciao," "arrivederci," "Mama Mia," and, my all-time favorite, "What's a da matter with you Luigi?"
</p><p><strong>[Next day] </strong>Some 5½ hours later, I was wide awake, so I got up and got an international news fix while eating some emergency rations of cheese and crackers with cold whole milk. Just the thing for a growing boy. As is usual, more emails had come in overnight, including a message from Toshi that he'd arrived safely and was ready to meet me at noon to play tourist. Another colleague told me he was several hours away in Padua, but would arrive later that same day. I did a few logic puzzles on my computer (where "few" can sometimes translate to "no more than 100") to get my little gray cells stimulated, and then worked on this diary.
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Out and About!
</strong></span></p><p>I tried to sleep again, but no such luck. At 11:30 am, I left my hotel to walk the 20+ minutes to Toshi's hotel. It had been two years since we'd last met, at a conference in London. He had been up for some hours, and had already toured the main downtown area, which included the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Cathedral">Duomo</a> (cathedral). So, we walked to a large castle and gardens, preserved for several hundreds of years. The weather was wonderful, sunny with a light breeze. We walked and talked, then sat and talked some more. Then we strolled through a whole street of food and craft stalls stopping for a cone of delicious hazelnut ice cream.
</p><p>By mid-afternoon, I was fading, so we walked back to our respective hotels. There, I took a 3-hour nap, but felt worse when I woke up. At 6 pm, I met Sally, the Secretariat of my committee, who lived and worked in the heart of New York City. We went in search of dinner, but found that most restaurants were not open for another hour. However, we found one that had set up an outdoor cooking area, so we sat outside and ate there. The food was passable.
</p><p>Back in my room, I made a few phone calls and played a lot of games on my laptop while listening to some albums of music (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Winehouse">Amy Winehouse</a>, you rock). Lights out at 10:45 pm.
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Meeting Day 1
</strong></span></p><p>I slept for five solid hours, but, at 4 am, was wide awake. I caught some international news while snacking. From then through 6:45, I tried sleeping again, but mostly just lay there. Day broke around 6:30. At 7:30, I was seated in the breakfast area, and Sally joined me.
</p><p>At 8:30, we headed off to the local office of the Italian Standards Organization, UNI, a 15-minute walk away. Once again, the weather was pleasant. Many of the conference attendees were already there when we arrived. To allow delegates to find the meeting place, I delayed starting until 9:15. Six countries were represented; Denmark, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, UK, and US. Delegates from China and Germany were also registered, but failed to show. The group totaled about 20 people.
</p><p>Mid-morning, we broke for coffee, tea, and juice, and then continued until 12:15 pm, when we broke for lunch until 2 o'clock. Having had a big breakfast, I stayed in over lunch working on a resolution I'd discussed with various delegates earlier that morning. Mid-afternoon, we had another break. This year's meeting agenda was somewhat slimmer than those of previous years, so we got through a lot of items. So much so, that it looked like we might finish a day early. We broke for the day at 4:45, and Sally and I walked back to our hotel stopping to buy some groceries along the way.
</p><p>At 6 pm, I walked to McDonalds for a light supper while sitting in the glorious sunshine. Nearby, I bought a travel pouch from a street vendor as mine was wearing out from constant use. Back in my room I caught up with world news and email and worked on this diary. By 7:15, I was fading. Lights out at 8:30, asleep at 8:30:05!
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Meeting Day 2
</strong></span></p><p>I slept soundly until 2 am, at which time, I snacked, watched some world news and handled some email. I also phoned home, as it was a convenient hour (8 pm, EDT). At 3:30 am, I went back to bed hoping to get more sleep, and, surprise, I slept until my alarm went off at 7:15. Soon after 7:30, I was eating breakfast. At 8:30, Sally and I headed out. It was quite fresh out and a bit colder than the day before. In any event, we got some vigorous heart exercise during the 15-minute walk. Automobile traffic was steady, but not too busy, especially as we didn't have to cross any major roads.
</p><p>We had invited a guest from Geneva, Switzerland, to speak, and he arrived at the start of the day, so after a small amount of administrivia, we spent the morning with his presentation and resulting question and answer session. That was followed by a 2-hour lunch, and a short afternoon session. Members of the resolution drafting committee then met to refine the text of the resolutions we'd agreed to thus far.
</p><p>To the onlooker, it might seem that we spend a lot of time on breaks, and long lunches and dinners, and we do. However, it has been my experience that a lot of important business gets done during such social settings. People run ideas by each other, and they get to know each other. And those who develop a personal relationship with each other are more inclined to behave more civilly towards each other when in conference mode.
</p><p>I walked back to the hotel in the late afternoon, and the sunshine was very pleasant. I worked a bit while some classical music from Vivaldi's "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Seasons_(Vivaldi)">Four Seasons</a>" played in the background. It was altogether quite civilized.
</p><p>Just before 6 pm, I walked to a hotel nearby where I met our invited guest. As we visited a number of restaurants in the area, we found none were open until 7, so we sat in a park and chatted. We'd met once before, when I was in Geneva earlier this year, but only briefly. After 7, we made the restaurant rounds again, and settled into a small place. More than 4 hours later, we had covered a lot of personal and business ground while managing to not eat or drink too much. I walked back to my hotel. Lights out around 12:30 am.
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Meeting Day 3
</strong></span></p><p>After five hours of solid sleep, I was wide awake, although I did try for more. I was down at breakfast by 7:30 am, and off to my meeting. We'd made such good progress that we were a day and a half ahead of schedule, so I proposed, and the attendees agreed, that we'd finish at lunchtime that day. Those who could change their travel plans did so, while the rest of us planned to take a bit of time off and/or work from our hotel rooms.
</p><p>The main business of the morning was to take the wording of the resolutions the drafting committee had produced, and to modify that wording to get the most consensus from the National Bodies present. While unanimity is preferred, the chair (me) determines if or when consensus has been reached. (For example, a 4-to-2 split would be considered consensus.)
</p><p>I adjourned the plenary around noon, at which time a US delegate gave a short technical presentation to those who wished to stay. After that, the delegates said their goodbyes and departed. Three of the four Japanese delegates asked if I could join them for lunch, and I agreed. One of them was a long-time colleague; I met the other two for the first time at this meeting. We had a most enjoyable time. The €10 set menu was cheap and included two substantial dishes and non-alcoholic drinks.
</p><p>I walked back to my hotel in glorious sunshine, but once I saw my bed, I remembered how short of sleep I was, so, at 3:15 pm, I lay down for a "quick" 3-hour nap. And when my alarm sounded at 6:15 pm, I set it for yet another half hour of sleep.
</p><p>At 7 o'clock, Sally and I went to another hotel to meet some others for dinner. Friend and colleague John had brought his partner, Vicki, and they were having a vacation. We ate a variety of Italian dishes. Given the very low prices of the pizzas, I assumed they wouldn't be very big; however, when mine arrived, it hung over the sides of my very large plate. It was most enjoyable, but a struggle to complete. Over two hours, we covered a lot of topics not the least of which was the up-coming U.S. Presidential election. Back in my room, I handled some email and watched an Italian variety show with lots of singing, all in Italian. Lights out at 11 pm.
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>An Unexpected Free Day, Sort Of
</strong></span></p><p>I was awake at 5 am and got my world news fix, which, mostly involved the meltdown of the U.S. financial system. Senator McCain had suspended his campaign and wanted the first debate postponed, and had urged Senator Obama to do likewise. Given McCain's weakened position of late and his less-than-stellar ability at public speaking, my initial reaction was that his was a diversionary tactic to try and make him look more presidential without having to debate. As such, I was very happy when Obama responded that he was not inclined to postpone the debate. After all, a president would have to handle multiple non-trivial events at the same time, so why not deal with the financial crisis <em>and</em> have the public debate?
</p><p>I worked a while on this diary, and then planned the day's business activities. With an unexpected free day, I would be able to take care of most, if not all, of the action items I'd taken on as a result of the plenary. I had a leisurely breakfast, sipping hot tea with honey while working on an especially difficult Sudoku puzzle.
</p><p>Back in my room, I settled into work until about 11 o'clock, when a petite chambermaid came to clean my room. She was ever so sorry to interrupt me, but after a series of "pregos," "grazies," and smiles, we agreed that she could come in and clean and make-up my bed. While she cleaned, I pulled on my boots and went for a short walk in the sunshine to pick up emergency rations at the supermarket. I took care of all the major food groups: whole milk (<em>latte intero</em>), apricot juice (<em>albicocca</em>), salted peanuts (<em>arachidi con sale</em>), and chocolate with hazelnuts (<em>cioccolato al latte con nocciole</em>).
</p><p>I worked until 2 pm, snacking along the way. Then I darkened the room and lay on the bed without setting the alarm, to give me a chance to well and truly catch up on sleep. For the next four and a half hours I drifted in and out of slumber, and when I awoke for good at 6:30, I felt the worst I'd been all week. So much for catching up! What's more, I'd caught a cold from the draft coming in my open window. Don't you just hate that when that happens!
</p><p>Well, the best cure for tiredness is disciplined hard work, which I did for nearly six more hours, stopping for the occasional snack break and TV news fix along the way. At 12:15 am, I sent my last email, spoke to Jenny back home, and turned out the lights.
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>A Very Long Travel Day Begins
</strong></span></p><p>I was awake at 4 am, which excited me not at all. I soon got back to sleep but was awake again at 6. And despite further efforts to stay in bed, I was up, showered and down for breakfast at 7 o'clock. Although the food selection was very good, and the staff friendly, after six days, it was getting rather repetitive. And to complicate matters, I was stuck on more than a few clues in a crossword puzzle. Don't you just hate that when that happens!
</p><p>Back in my room, I packed my bag, reorganized my computer bag, wrote in this diary, and did a bit more work. It was to be a big Travel Day: taxi to the Milan airport, plane back north to Frankfurt, plane west to Seoul, bus to the domestic airport, plane to a resort island, and, finally, bus to the resort hotel, with a change of day tossed in for good measure and some eight time zones to cross, a number of meals in flight and snacks in airline lounges. Is that something to look forward to, or what? (Still want to change places with me?)
</p><p>I took care of some last-minute business email—the sun never sets on Microsoft—browsed some business news websites, and put on my long-distance traveling clothes, which looked remarkably similar to those I wear on short trips. There were my L.L. Bean hiking pants with zip-off legs, heavy socks and separate sock liners, loose-fitting shirt and jacket, and my trusty hiking boots, which were showing signs of serious wear.
</p><p>At 10:15 am, I was at the front desk checking out. I pretended to faint at the size of the bill, but it was as expected; no nasty surprises or fines for pulling the emergency cord on the first day. Within minutes, my taxi appeared, and I was on my way to Linate airport. The sun had finally appeared. The driver spoke quite some English, so we chatted during the 15-minute drive down tree-lined streets. The fare cost €15, and I gave him my loose change as a tip. He protested, but took it anyway, and said that he should pay me for the English lesson.
</p><p>I had arrived rather early for my flight, and planned to sit in the business lounge. However, the lounge was through security, but the check-in desks were closed until 11 am. So, I chatted with a young American woman who was also waiting. She'd tripped and broken her ankle some three weeks before just as she was about to leave. The doctor put a cast on her leg and prohibited her from flying for several weeks, so she had an unexpected extra-long stay.
</p><p>The 11 am-time came and went, and around 11:15, a couple of Lufthansa staff ambled in, chatted with each other for a while, and, eventually, decided to deal with the long line of passengers, but only on their own terms. After all, this was Italy! "Are you in a hurry? Well, that's your problem." "You got a problem? I don't want to hear about it."
</p><p>Although I was flying beyond Seoul, I made sure my bags would be unloaded there, so I could hand-carry them to the domestic terminal, especially as I wanted to catch an earlier flight, if possible. Security was very lame. Twice I walked through the detector, and twice it beeped. The security guard simply shrugged his shoulders and waved me through.
</p><p>Yes, there was a business lounge, but one run by a contractor for a number of airlines. It was comfortable, but had only the basics on offer. I passed the time reading several European newspapers. I made a cup of tea, but, unfortunately, the temperature of the so-called hot water was about that of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnat">gnat's</a> urine, which, as everybody knows, is certainly nowhere near boiling (fortunately for the gnat).
</p><p>At 12:25 pm, I went off to Gate A4, a short walk away. Our bus arrived, and, after a few minutes, we went up the stairs of a Lufthansa Boeing 737. Once again, I had been assigned Seat 3A, but as Business Class was almost empty, I moved to 1A for the extra legroom and better view out the window in front of the wing.
</p><p>Flight LH3955 took off, on time, for the 1-hour trip north to Frankfurt. Soon after, we were over the Swiss Alps and then Germany. Once again, a very nice lunch was served, complete with chocolate mousse in chocolate syrup and, yes, with two pieces of chocolate on the side. That took care of three of the major food groups.
</p><p><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><strong>Another Layover in Frankfurt
</strong></span></p><p>On the ground, we were bused to a terminal, which was, of course, nowhere near the terminal I needed next. On the way, I saw planes from Morocco, Iran, Portugal, Cyprus, Australia, the U.S., Germany, Lebanon, Singapore, South Korea, Kuwait, Canada, Thailand, Japan, Turkey, Denmark, Croatia, Italy, China, Israel, Tunisia, Poland, Brazil, and Qatar. And I saw another half dozen planes whose tail insignia I couldn't identify. In the terminal, the main flight board showed 100 different flights departing in the next three and a half hours. FRA certainly is an international hub, not to mention a small city.
</p><p>As I had three hours to kill before boarding my next flight, I took my time getting to Terminal C. Then it was through passport control and security. Once again, the alarm went off, and, this time, my U.S. Passport was found to be the culprit.
</p><p>I located the Lufthansa Business Lounge, right next to my gate, and was welcomed outside the entrance by a smiling hostess, who immediately noticed my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussia">Prussian</a> bearing. She checked my documents and noticed I was a Star Alliance Gold member. As a result, she invited me to the First-Class lounge next door. Well, that hadn't been my plan, but I relented just that once. And guess what, I was the best-dressed hiker in the whole lounge, fresh from Milan with the latest in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunge_fashion">grunge</a> fashion!
</p><p>Not having eaten or drank for at least 45 minutes, I made the rounds of the kitchen area. (After all, it would be a shame to be in the First-Class lounge and not take advantage of it.) The <em>hausgemacht</em> (home-made) turkey soup looked so inviting I just had to try it. And after I loosened my belt another notch, I sipped several cups of milchkaffee. On offer were complementary wines from Austria, Italy, Germany, France, and South Africa. (Meanwhile, those poor people in the Business Class lounge had to make do with only three choices. "Let them eat cake, I say!")
</p><p>The lounge windows were well insulated, so while I had a bird's eye view of the traffic on one busy runway, it was like watching a silent movie. And my fellow lounge mates were subdued, probably because, like me, they were in transit waiting for the next long haul. An interesting oddity was that all the external gates were carrying advertising for the Royal Bank of Scotland, one of Europe's largest banking conglomerates. It just didn't look right for a German airport, but, I guess, that's globalization in action.
</p><p>While I was working on this diary, I overheard two people talking in a familiar accent. I asked them if there was an Aussie reunion in the lounge. The man was with Siemens pharmaceuticals ordinarily based in Australia, but currently living in Shanghai, China. He was on his way back there. The woman was also in the medical science field, working for a Boston-based company while working on an MBA degree. She lived less than 10 miles from me in Northern Virginia. She'd been installing an instrument near Munich, and was on her way home to Washington DC. We exchanged travel stories over drinks until their flights were called. By then, I was 30 minutes away from boarding myself, but when I checked the monitor, my flight had been delayed 30 minutes. Apparently, our plane was late arriving. Don't you just hate that when that happens!
</p><p>At 5:40 pm, our flight was called, and I went down the stairs to find, yes, another bus waiting. We took the scenic tour of the airport, finally pulling up alongside a behemoth 4-engine <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A340">Airbus A340-600</a>. After some time, an agent came on the bus to tell us that the plane was still being cleaned, and we'd have to wait on the bus 15 minutes. We waited for that and more, and then two large busloads of passengers leaped out like sheep released from a pen, and raced to two narrow mobile staircases. No priority boarding there today; it was every man for himself. Once we were seated, the pilot said the good news was we were all ready to go. The bad news was we'd lost our air traffic control slot and would have to wait another 15 minutes. I saw a pattern developing.
</p><p><em>Stay tuned for the second half of the trip, to, in, and home from South Korea!</em></p>
2024-02-18T15:44:05+00:00
Rex Jaeschke
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Signs of Life: Part 34
2024-01-18T23:34:44+00:00
Rex Jaeschke
<p><span style="font-size:12pt">© 2024 Rex Jaeschke. All rights reserved.
</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt">From time to time during my travels, I come across signs that I find interesting for one reason or another. Sometimes, they contain clever writing, are humorous, or remind me of some place or event. Here are some, mostly from a trip to Australia.
<table style="border-collapse:collapse" border="0"><colgroup><col style="width:936px"/></colgroup><tbody valign="top"><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife1.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">Yes, you read correctly, <em>poo</em>, as in <em>poop</em>! Fortunately, no poo was actually included.
</span></p><p>
</p><p><span style="font-size:12pt">Like a good Aussie, I "gave it a go" and it was quite tasty!</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr style="background: white"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife2.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">When you are driving on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_Highway">Barrier Highway</a>, you can indeed be "a long way from anywhere," as this sign shows. And although the distances are in kilometers, that's still a bloody long way!</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife3.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">And speaking of driving in remote areas, it can be a long time between drinks!</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 16px; background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife4.jpg" alt=""/><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife5.jpg" alt=""/><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife6.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">Some interesting additions to signs west of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Hill">Broken Hill, Australia</a>.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife7.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt"> Perhaps this place is run by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Bunch">aging outlaws</a>!</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife8.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt"> As they say, "<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whatever_floats_your_boat">Whatever floats your boat</a>!"</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife9.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt"> Well, I've certainly heard of the term "Every <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom,_Dick_and_Harry">Tom, Dick and Harry</a>," but I'm thinking these guys are not just anyone!</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife10.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">When you are really hungry, there's nothing quite like a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral">feral</a> feast!
</span></p><p>
</p><p><span style="font-size:12pt">BTW, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quandong">quandong</a> is a fruit found in the Aussie desert.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife11.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">Just the place to catch up with the local news.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife12.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">An unusual name for a wine-producing company. According to the founder, "I want to create wines that are a tribute to the strong women and men in my family. With five matriarchs and their amazing rogue husbands it isn't hard."</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife13.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">This <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renmark,_South_Australia">Renmark, Australia</a>, business rents houseboats.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><span style="font-size:12pt">Ah, now I see where I went wrong!<img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife14.jpg" alt=""/></span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife15.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">Of course, James makes hand-crafted rings and other jewelry.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife16.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">That sounds quite serious!</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife17.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">More words of wisdom.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr><tr><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"><p><img align="left" src="https://www.rexjaeschke.com/PersonalBlog/image.axd?picture=011824_2334_SignsofLife18.jpg" alt=""/><span style="font-size:12pt">He never was famous like his older brother, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lone_Ranger">Lone Ranger</a>.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 22px; background: #acb9ca"><td style="padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 11px"> </td></tr></tbody></table></span></p>
2024-01-18T23:34:44+00:00
Rex Jaeschke
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