The most intense part of my day

I feel like I should share what is often the most intense part of my day: the drive home.

Life is surprisingly uneventful in Angola, there isn't much to do. Everything is quite expensive and generally a pain in the ass to do. So, we don't end up doing very much. However, I do have to drive home every day, and it is quite the endeavor.

So, it is broken up into 3 distinct parts: getting out of downtown, the long stretch and the white knuckle drive. Getting out of downtown is not the simplest of tasks, as not only do I have to back into bumper to bumper traffic where nobody wants to let you in, but then you have to navigate the "streets" here. I use the word "streets" roughly, because they are crap. Many of the streets in the city of Luanda were built by Chinese firms, and that means they were built really quickly and on the cheap. Therefore, after 3 years the road has fallen apart, giant potholes everywhere, water overflowing out of sewers. Just a mess. So I navigate these back roads, trying to avoid the potholes and all the people wandering around. Never forget that the people crossing the street can never break their strut, much to the chagrin of all the drivers. To cross a road, you just kind of stick out your bumper and make everyone stop. Pretty sketchy. This all takes about 10 minutes.

Once I manage to get into the long stretch, is where the work begins. It's bumper to bumper, if you leave the smallest space (30 cm), someone will start pushing in your lane. So you are pushed up against all cars, going up and down hills...in a manual transmission. Not fun. Also at the same time, the roads are crawling with police that pull people over for pretty much whatever reason they feel like. Avoiding eye contact here is key, as is looking like a confident asshole. The road is also full of people walking up and down and between traffic trying to sell everything from basketballs, dog chains, pieces of art, popcorn and stereos. This is about 4km, and it takes roughly an hour if I'm lucky.

Now comes the intense part. The white knuckle drive. After I get past the outdoor gym, the road opens up a bit and people start gunning it. You gotta keep up, because not only do you want to get home but someone will smash into you if you aren't going fast. There are giant semi trailer trucks, weaving all over the road, most of their turn signals or brake lights don't work, with tires looking like they are about to pop. There are the "taxis" which are essentially 20 year old Toyota minivans that are spewing black exhaust, full of Angolans, driving like utter maniacs, even if their turn signals work they don't use them. The buses that pull over on the right side every 500 meters or so, but insist on driving in the left lane, so they are essentially weaving in and out with regards to no one. And everyone else, just utter crazies. Half the people drive ridiculous speeds, weaving through everyone, never signalling, and honking/flashing their high beams at everyone, often times with brake lights disconnected. A quarter of the people (usually women) driving incredibly slow, and often side by side, and the last quarter who alternate between the two at random intervals. Most of this is on two lane traffic that opens up to 5 lane traffic, which promptly closes back down to 2 lane traffic.

This is not all though, no siree bob. Angolans have some death wish I think, and they start crossing the road everywhere, so you have to keep a keen eye for someone who looks like they are going to start their slow strut across a busy motorway. They have pedestrian crossing, but they are really just for show. If this wasn't all enough to avoid, there are random dead dogs, pieces of scrap metal, pot holes and god knows what else scattered on the road. Several places have giant semis that just pull out whenever, into the middle of speeding traffic, also Angolans will simply stop their cars in the middle of traffic. Oh yes, and police road checks to get bribes...I mean, "check your papers."

I have seen ridiculous shit here. Semi's jack-knifing across traffic, countless near misses, and just plain idiots abound. This is why I often want a beer when I get home.

African Rhythms

So here I am in Angola, quite a marked difference from Europe.

I'm not sure how to sum up the past couple of weeks here, but all I can think of is how it all seems a big contradiction.

Life here is hard in some respects. I awake at 4:30am and then drive to work, which takes at least an hour (on good days). The work is long, usually 11-12 hours, followed by a 2 hour drive home. From there, eat, relax for a little bit before getting into bed. Repeat until the weekend.

In other respects, life is somewhat easy. At my gated compound, everyone is super chill. We have a nice pool to relax by, good neighbours, and nothing to worry about. It is in a good area of the city, there are several grocery stores close enough to drive to, and a mall to go buy (very expensive) things at. A domestic life is achievable.

Obviously there are big differences. Everyday, I drive by many ghetto slums, families living in literally a one bedroom shack. On the road to work, there is a large outdoor gymnasium, located in the middle of two opposing lanes of traffic. Angolans are out here all hours of the day, running around, doing chinups, push ups, and generally socializing. The roads are full of guys walking up and down offering goods for sale. These vary between DVD's, tire pumps, and popcorn, and it might be all the same guy carrying those three. Anything you want, you can probably find it while driving home.

The people are for the most part nice, but it's hard to generalize about any group of people. I know I've seen some scary Angolan men, and some women who have looked at me with pure hate in their eyes. That being said, I've met some who just love to laugh and want to help me. What can you say?

I would say the culture is one of lifestyle, in so much as people don't enjoy working. Everywhere I go, it seems that people just look exasperated when they have to do any work. Not everybody of course, but no small number. In regards to the driving, there's a fierce individuality, a definite "Fuck all of you, I'm driving here, and driving the way I want to." It's taken me a little while to get used to.

The life is expensive, I don't know how people get by in the ghettos here. Food I took for granted in France is either ridiculously expensive or just not available here. Creme Fraiche is unheard of it, and that hurts me. Erin and I enjoyed a 15 dollar burger (each obviously), from a misnomered fast food chain. Let's just say that they do things different here. No prices were listed, and they didn't even appear on a screen, the only way us to know the total price was the lady saying it to us...in Portuguese. So, being the North American that I am, I just kept pulling out money until the cashier nodded ok. Then she gestured for us to go sit down, with just our receipt. After waiting 15 minutes, I wondered what the hell was up. Once again, being a dumb foreigner, I just went back in the restaurant waving my receipt and looking lost. After debate from the Angolan employees and yelling at each other, and they finally started to prepare our platter. Total time, around 20-25 minutes.

We did some driving around our area today, and it's damn confusing. Let's just say that it's not a good idea to use compounds as reference points, as one razor wire topped wall and gate looks exactly like all the rest. Also, there are no road names here, or they are at least not posted. To top it off, most roads are one way and you can't turn left in most places. The real kick in the junk is that if you run out of gas driving around aimlessly, is that the gas stations have at least a 45 minute wait because there are so few stations and so many cars.

There isn't too much else to say at the moment. I did get a chance to go to one of the beaches here and it was gorgeous. Being a bit of a fool, I forgot my camera. I'll remember it for next time.

We've been watching some interesting movies lately. We just finished Sunshine tonight, and if you want a good sci-fi movies, I highly recommend it. Also, Near Dark is a good vampire movie, not like anything else I've seen. It's quite...gritty, and not idealized.

I'll start thinking about my next post. Perhaps you'll get to hear about how Sonangol runs the country and more adventures of Erin and I.

I don't know how to begin, so I already have

My time in France grows short.  It's in my best interests to enjoy it as much as I can.

Life has a way of getting interesting when you least expect it.

I will soon begin my African experience with my lovely new wife.  I have no idea what to expect, other than that it will be somewhere in between the best and worst.  

Work has gotten very hard, when I return home, I have nothing left.  I feel utterly drained.  

I seem like the only person I know who doesn't like learning languages.  It's such a pain, I don't have any fun doing it.  Except when I'm drunk, then I enjoy bullshitting in French.

I'm really tired now.  I hope everyone is doing well.

It's been awhile

Aloha all, I've neglected my poor blog.  Time to give it some love.

I'm somewhat frustrated with the politics in Canada.  Specifically the Liberal and NDP parties, this coalition they have proposed is rather ridiculous.  It seems like a bit of a power grab my Dion just so he can put PM of Canada on his CV.  And I'm sure he uses a CV instead of a resume, dirty Quebecois.  Hell, people voted so he WOULDN'T be in power!  But as my friend Steve so eloquently put it, the left has no idea what to do economically right now.  They'd screw it all up ("economic stimulus" eh? that worked out real well for the Yanks didn't it...), and everyone would probably vote the conservatives in an overwhelming majority in an underwhelming voter turn out.  

What else pisses me off is the complaints about the auto industry lay offs in Eastern Canada. Reminds me of a former issue in the east, the fisheries.  They took and took, in the forms of unions negotiating and re-negotiating benefits and salaries, and now they're bitching.  GM has more capital in insurance, health care and pension plans than anywhere else, what does that say? Time to realize that automotive manufacturing is done in North America.  We cost too much.  

At least in oil, everyone I've met realize that it's a limited time only affair.  Get in while and gettin's good and enjoy it.  No one fools themselves that oil is going to last forever, or the industry.

I was reading about information and how we've reached the petabyte age.  Most people don't really understand how much a petabyte truly is, and that is one of the problems.  I was reading an article stating how in the past we could make analogies for the amount of information we had.  So we've gone from megabyte to gigabyte to terabyte to now petabyte.  This equates to using a file folder to a filing cabinet to a library to now.  On scales of magnitude, there is no analogy we can use.  There is just literally a cloud of information that we can use for pretty much everything, and it's changing how the internet (and thus the world works).  There is so much information that we can just use statistics for damn near everything.  Ever use google translate?  It's all just statistics, nothing more, and it works really well.  The problem with this is that with so much information, each piece of information less important.  There are billions, if not trillions, of web pages out there.  But who visits them?

I saw some pieces of shit tagging the metro tonight.  That pisses me off.  Graffiti is one thing, but just tagging is not much more than animals pissing to mark their territory.  I guess we haven't evolved that much.

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to Switzerland, enjoy:

Well that was nice, but...

As everyone in the world breathes a collective sigh of relief, as the smoke of this recent American voting session clears, not everyone has come out a winner. Specifically, the gay and lesbians in California got screwed, in a bad way. Somehow, they manage to protest the resolution of proposition 8 in style:


I think this video of Keith Olberman is fairly succint, and quite moving:



I think this is just a sad state of affairs, especially for such a modern state as California. As the evidence pours in, it's becoming increasingly obvious that groups such as the Mormons have played a significant role in this. I just can't get over how and why religious groups are so concerned in the affairs of everyone else. Why are they so concerned with what other people are doing in the their private life? Stupid is as stupid does I suppose, so wake up sheeple.

Other things that I've been noticing lately:

If I'm going to quit my bad habits, I have to replace them with good habits. That may make me somewhat of a boring guy.

Men in France (and everywhere I guess) are really obsessed with their chest, arms and abs at the gym. I guess those are what you can see in the bathroom mirror before work.

I've been completely addicted to Battlestar Gallactica, it's getting out of hand. I always said that I'd never watch it, but as soon as I started (on a very boring weekend in August), it has been slowly spiralling out of control. I highly recommend it to sci-fi geeks.

I'm heading to Geneva soon with the lady for a nice winter vacation. We plan to sleep restfully in our wood filled room, enjoy hot chocolates and fondues, and walk among the (hopefully) snow covered parks in Switzerland. I think it will be restorative.

Oh yes, and this picture made me "happy-sad" this morning:

The United States of France

Hello all,

It has been on my mind for the past couple of months, how much France reminds me of the US. Well, more to the point, how French people remind me of Americans. Both parties would throw up their hands and complain, and this is one of the reasons why they are similar.

Other reasons:
- Both secretly want the others way of life, and end up traveling to each others countries.
- Both are fiercely nationalistic, but will be self deprecating about their country (you're not allowed to be though)
- When you move to either country, you have to assimilate to the culture
- Both like to talk a lot without backing it up
- Both can be obnoxious tourists
- A lot of people (for each) have only traveled in their respective country, and consider themselves well travelled.
- Both love Canada, but know nothing about it

There's lots more I've found, but can't remember at the moment. Don't worry, they aren't all negative.

There is one thing that really inspired this for me though, it was Friday at the bar. I was invited by some French people to go out for drinks, and of course I'm going to join them. We went to a bar surrounded by all these American people. Ok, whatever. Anyways, I was listening intently to the French conversation, but I realized it was really boring. Just kind of discussing nothing, going over minor, minor details that I personally didn't care about in the slightest or would have thought to discuss as talking points. So, my ears wandered to all the English conversations going on around me. And after two minutes, I realized the same about those ones! This hasn't been the first time for either case as well.

Now the point of this isn't to demonize French people and Americans, because there are good people I've met of both nationalities. I just find it funny how that when they both fall into their natural groups, they have so many damn similarities. I feel that Commonwealth countries have stronger ties in culture than I initially thought. Brits, Aussies, Indians, Malaysians, South Africans, and Kiwis are all people that I have generally got along with quickly, or we share the same ideas of culture and conversation. We end up talking about similar things, and in a similar fashion. It's strange how these things happen.

In any case, life is good otherwise. UFC 89 was very entertaining and I'm glad I got a chance to go see one live. Not a whole lot on my mind right now. Just lots of geophysics, aaaaaand fighting.

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Now playing: Venetian Snares - Szerencsétlen
via FoxyTunes

Getting it together

Been a little while, but it's been a busy few weeks. What with parents, friends and a girlfriend all coming to Paris and me running back and forth to London, haven't had a moment to sit and reflect. Or walk and reflect, as often happens in Paris.

About the American elections, I think everything that could be said has been. I guess my only thing is that I would honestly like to meet someone who will vote for McCain. Not to convince them otherwise or anything else, just to actually see this mythical beast. Everyone I meet, American or otherwise, is completely sold on Obama. One interesting study I have read recently that relates is that people will cling to their values despite being presented with evidence that completely contradicts what they believe. So what does this tell you? When someone presents you with something, and it's true; question yourself.

Click!

This fucking disgusts me. I've never liked the idea of Dubai and this further cements it in my mind. People are sacrificing their morals for opulence, and in one of the worst possible ways: building shit. There is a price to making or spending your money there, that being your humanity.

Back to the gym on a hopefully stricter schedule. I can see how it is hard for professionals to keep on a program, life gets in the way. And the French in the gym...good lord. For a guy like me, I need some concentration to lift. When I have a group of guys standing around and damn near yelling in their conversation, it's quite the distraction. I suppose though if they've never really worked out before, they wouldn't know...

I'm actually going to see UFC 89, hell yes! Here's hoping Chris Leben KO's Bisping in front of his countrymen and thus forcing me to chuckle under my breath. I also hope Brandon Vera comes ready to fight, not just get a decision.

Download this new Girl Talk album, it's very good: Click!

I'll try for another update soon. We'll see how that goes.

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Now playing: Girl Talk - Play Your Part (Pt. 1)
via FoxyTunes