Talk to our friendly employees and do check our website!

I just accepted a job offer in The Hague. I am as excited as The Happy Goat (surely a bad omen). I was offered at a conference in Bristol. It's the closing dinner and some silly dancing with new to-be-colleagues. With a suitcase in hand, I rush to catch the 10:30pm train from Bristol to London, Paddington. Still in high heels, dressed up from closing dinner, I put the suitcase on a luggage rack and happily settle into my seat. Luckily I have all night in London, I'll just get to the airport and catch a few hours of sleep there. I stare out of the window, contemplating life in The Hague. Train is swarming with pimpled British kids returning home from parties. It's also swarming with one Suspicious Individual, also a pimpled British kid, who is eyeing me strangely. He sits behind me and I am convinced I feel tugging at my coat as if he was trying to get into my pocket or purse. He doesn't know however that he's dealing with the Worldly and Street-smart Traveller. I take my coat and purse and place them in my lap ostentatively, turn around and stare the Suspicious Individual down. That's right, kiddo. I know your game.

Suspicious Individual leaves, then comes back with a beer, then leaves again. At least five times. Each time he passes, we have a staring contest. I check my suitcase, it's still on the luggage rack.

British kids are loud and obnoxious, drinking beer and joking about. I am outdoing myself in giving them the evil eye, till I finally tire and drift to sleep. I check my suitcase, it's still on the luggage rack. We're in Reading, only one more stop to go.

Can't wait to get off and make it to the airport to get a few hours of sleep on a bench somewhere. We're arriving in Paddington, yay. People crowd by the door, I get my purse and a coat and go for my suitcase.... it's gone. I stare at the empty luggage rack in disbelief. Looking around in panic. I even think I see a glimpse of my suitcase in the crowd rushing away from the platform, but for some reason I don't run after it. Instead I search frantically for a train conductor. I find one and together we turn the train upside down, though it makes little sense.

Bitter and resigned, I go find police officer somewhere. Two nice chaps took me in to the train police station and started writing up the report. That's when it all actually started.

See, I was to catch a plane at 8:40 am....plenty of time, one would think. My train from Bristol pulled in at 12:30am. But this is Britain.

One of the nice police chaps tells me the subway doesn't run at night. He gets online and finds out that there is "engineering work" being done on the First Capital Connect line to the aiport. He prints out the schedule for me - the first subway leaves at 6:23am. Cutting it close, but doable.

At 6:23am, I am tapdancing in front of the platform 15 and 16, from which the said subway is supposed to leave. The grumpy employee that I pull out from the kiosk there tells me they don't open till 6:40am. A bit nervous, I consult the grumpy kiosk guy on the best course of action. He sends me to Farringdon station, assuring me there is no engineering work done today...after all, it's Sunday. The train comes at 7am.

At Farringdon, I run to the platform for the Lutton ariport. Closed. I go find another grumpy kiosk guy. There are no trains until 1 pm, but I am sure to catch a train from King's Cross....just one stop over. It's about 7: 20 by now.

King's Cross is a frikkin maze. I run from this end to that, finally find the appropriate platform. No luck. I find yet another, this time extremely grumpy kiosk guy and he says there is engineering on the line. I shove my prinout from the web under his nose, but it does not seem to move him much. Perhaps he was beaten as a child.

I must find a cab STAT. If I miss this flight to Vienna, I might miss my connection to Boston. I attempt to find a cab that takes credit cards. Aaaaahahahahahaha.

That only takes me another 20 minutes. Finally I find one that takes pity on me. There's a 15% surcharge, as if I care anymore. Total is close to 140 GBP. I am stoicism impersonated. With just a hint of a bitter aftertaste.

The cab pulls into the airport at 8:40 am. My flight has left. I call my mother and sob like a silly school girl. Back to stoicism impersonated. I buy another flight to Vienna, where my mom will meet me with food, clean t-shirt, and underwear. May god bless and keep my mother in good health forever and ever amen.

Upon my return to Boston, I started an immensely entertaining conversation with the First Capital Connect.

I emailed them to complain that a) the information I got from their website was incorrect, and that b) their employees have mislead me three times, sending me to wrong stations and giving me bad information. I wrote a long detailed treatise about what happened step by step, minute by minute, and how much it ended up costing me.

 This is the gem of a response I received:

We recommend that customers always check their journey times with National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950 before travel as timetables can change at short notice. Alternatively journey details can be checked on the internet at www.nationalrail.co.uk... The stations teams at manned stations are always happy to provide assistance with any enquiries.

Brilliant. They advise me to check their website and talk to their friendly employees. I knew it. I shouldn't have been so excited about the new job. The Happy Goat fate got me good this time.

what kind of birthday cards do YOU get?

Lemuralia, the day of the Larvae

Ovid notes that at this festival it was the custom to appease or expel the evil spirits by walking barefoot and throwing black beans over the shoulder at night. It was the head of the household who was responsible for getting up at midnight and walking around the house with bare feet throwing out black beans and repeating the incantation, "With these beans I redeem me and mine" nine times. The household would then clash bronze pots while repeating, "Ghosts of my fathers and ancestors, be gone!"nine times.

It's also the day when I officially become wiser and more respectable each year. Just my luck to share this day with larvae. Throw some beans over your shoulder for me... Or have a burrito.

One little, two little, three little cockroaches

Another repost, as I have been treacherously blogging elsewhere for some time...

Hyderabad, 2007

I am attempting to upload something to my work website for umpteenth time, when electricity goes out again. I should have known. It's 4pm, it happens at around that time every day. Everything you're working on is guzzled by the innards of the computer, never to be released again. I try again after it comes back, everything takes forever, it's like swimming in molasses. Not that there's anything wrong with swimming in molasses if that's what you like. By 8pm I give up, I am also hungry as hell, and there's not much to be had in the dorm cafeteria- I should have come earlier. Florina talks me into going out to eat. Fine. Yay even.

We set out, walking against traffic on a dusty road. Why no sidewalks? Oh, that's because this is supposed to be a highway, she enlightened me. Dust is in my eyes and nose. If I mastered anything during my four stays in India, it's the staring. You can stare at me for as long as you please, I won't wince. I, the street-smart worldly traveler, know better than to stare back. If I go about my way and pretend I walk on this side of the road every day, even though they could probably count the amount of white people that passed through here on fingers of one hand, I'm fine. Almost normal.

Anyway, we pass a Muslim wedding, where we don't go, because Florina explains to me that I could only give well wishes to the bride. The groom is kept separate. They will meet tonight. In the bedroom. For the first time. Oy vey. I remind myself to thank heavens for my good fortunes every day.

We get to the "hotel" – which is a shack on the side of a road. That's what they're called. Tonight they have biryani or roti with curry chicken and/or chicken tandoori. So easy. No need to crack one's brain with what to pick from the menu. The place is dimly lit, metal tables have been wiped, that's obvious. What were they wiped with though is not. I don't wanna know. Two girls out alone, one of them white as a wall - we call attention of all the men around. No women anywhere in sight. And I see far. Food arrives on metal plates covered with newspapers. Rajeshwari Jewelry House is the best around, it announces. Talking to Florina I notice a decent sized cockroach on the wall behind her. I wish I didn't. Soon enough a small one comes to greet our roti on the table. Waah. My street-smart and worldly composure is tatam, as we Slovaks say (literally translated as "thethere" or "gogone". Don't ask). I cannot talk or listen, I see and imagine them everywhere. Turns out that what I first perceived as patterns on the walls were all cockroaches. Within seconds everything on me itches and chicken tastes fuzzy as if I had million hairy cockroach legs in my mouth. Collecting last bits of dignity I employ all my remaining concentration on maintaining some sort of a sane facial expression. I'm aiming hard to appear casual and in good spirits, but it's a real stretch. I pull out stories about touring Gypsy villages in Eastern Slovakia to assert to the public (Florina) that I've been places and seen many things and remind myself that I have experiences under my belt and something like this cannot shake me. So what if I eat a cockroach. It's protein. Shudder.

After the lovely meal we get a sweet paan– beetle nut and coconut and cherry and whatnot wrapped in a beetle leaf. I never liked them too much, but I'll take anything to keep my mind busy. We walk home, most casually of course. After I say goodnight to Florina I high-tail it to my room, get two buckets that are there and go fetch warm water (there's only cold in the faucets and the weather is cold now. Well, cold for a cold shower that is) and give myself a good scrub. That's the kind of a heroine I am. Somewhere in the distance, a dog howled. (Many, actually. And there are sirens. What the BLEEP is going on?! O`1h well, time to go to bed.)

Fat bastard, little dog, and civic action

Repost from elsewhere...

It is hard to leave New York. I was determined to get on the bus at 6pm. But spending the afternoon at MoMa with Michaela, I lingered. From 6 became 7, then we made dinner out of it, with more friends.

Finally I got to Port Authority at 10pm, joining the red, white, and blue snake of people baseball-hatted with Red Sox hats. Damn, nobody informed me that Red Sox played the Yankees today, which means half of Boston is trying to get back along with me. A little frog-eyed pug was prancing up and down, panting, looking up at everybody with his puggly eyes. We wait. And we wait. Apparently one bus has come and gone, we are the leftovers that have to wait for an extra bus to be sent.

After about an hour of waiting, it comes. We stuff ourselves on the bus like sardines, and resume waiting. We wait ten minutes, twenty, nothing happens. Suddenly the bus terminal security comes and inquires after a "dog in a plastic bag". Apparently someone complained about a dog on board. A young girl steps forth with the little pug, who is fortunately not at all in a plastic bag. They take her off the bus. Bus is murmuring with disapproval. My neighbor, a young slim woman but with a voice of a hurricane, stands up, pointing at a big grouchy man with thick glasses.

"It was him. He complained. The girl just spent her last money on the ticket and now she'll be stuck in New York because of the fat jerk. The dog couldn't have bothered him, he was at the back of a bus, in a bag!

A young man assumed a role of a negotiator. Any way we could accommodate both? If you sit in the front and the girl with the dog in the back? No. The fat man wouldn't have it. He's allergic, and we should all leave him alone. He won't have the dog on board. More people pitched in with persuading and commenting. The jerk proceeds to insult everyone. All my inclinations to reconcile the masses went down the drain when he referred to the Rutgers basketball team in connection with my neighbor. I was perfectly willing to let anyone shred him to pieces then.

"Wait what I'll do to you when we get off the bus in Boston!" said the fat jerk to the negotiator.

"Are you threatening me, sir? Did everyone hear that?"

"Yeah! We all heard him, get him off the bus!" bus roars.

Negotiator went to get the security. By now the bus is two hours late. Security comes back and asks the man to step off the bus. He won't. We are asked whether we want to proceed to Boston with him, since we're so late already, or call 911.

"Call 911! I don't feel safe with a racist on board!" someone exclaims.

I try to convince the jerk that it's not worth his or our time to be holding everyone up, but he won't budge. "It's a matter of principle!" he exclaims. I roll my eyes, and step outside for a smoke. Finally the police comes and they drag him out during wild cheering of the bus.

In the meantime, the girl with the pug was displaced. A group of volunteers sets off in search of her. When they emerge victoriously, holding the pug up above their heads, his feet sticking up in the air stiffly, another round of hollering ensues. Finally we start for Boston. We'll get there around 4am. Ack. As I drift to sleep, the negotiator is passing around his phone number. He's having a barbecue tomorrow, and wants the whole bus to be there. I have to do this Greyhound thing more often. There sure is more action than in the last James Bond movie.

Happy Goat on skis

I am a Good Skier. Always have been. Why, I skied before I walked.

That is why I was determined to get some skiing in this winter, even if I go alone. I signed up with Boston Ski and Sports Club, and off I went to Sunday River.

On the Day D, I took a cab to the bus. I was as excited as the Happy Goat from the proverbial Slovak fable that went dancing on ice.

This Happy Goat loves steep and loves speed. The Force is with her. Trouble is, they don't do mountains here the way they do them in Slovakia. Here, they believe in the Mogul. Those wicked things are everywhere, especially since it's been snowing for 3 days in a row.

The Happy Goat assumes the position and pummels downwards. She's stopped in her tracks by 3 feet deep snow. With a still excited grin on her face, the Goat is detached from her skis and propelled 5 meters up into thin air.

Repeat 130 times.

By the time the Happy Goat realizes the approach might be at fault and not the skis, she is wet throughout, collecting 130 scoops of wet powder under the shirt and pants and socks and underwear.

This Happy Goat at least didn't break her neck like the proverbial Happy Goat that went dancing on ice due to extreme happiness. She was just sick for two weeks and pulled her shoulder so that she still cannot move it well 3 months later.

So, remember what happens to the Happy Goat. Do not get overly excited. It can cost you life.

Back in the hood.

I tried them all. Just as other cyber adolescents, I was lured by the new hip kids on the block. My love affairs with myspace and facebook were much like the real life ones. Hot, passionate, all consuming, devoted, unconditional, and.....short-lived. Leaving behind a taste of annoyance, obscure hurried shame, disappointment, and that nihilism feeling that nothing really matters as we all muddle through just to survive, and all else is a lie to cover up the fact that all we'll ever amount to is a few pounds of rotting flesh and a heap of bones. I will get cremated, of course.

Thus I'm back to this hollow willow (another Slovakism, I imagine. You figure it out, use some cross-cultural imagination), because "writing so as not to die or perhaps even speaking so as not to die, is a task undoubtedly as old as the word itself."

I've no news of import. I got engaged and disengaged, got a job for which I'll be moving to The Hague, wrote some chapters for some books, played in few theatre plays, nothing out of the ordinary. Just marking my territory here after the winter sleep.