Matador Network's Blog, page 2176

Humans of Couchsurfing [pics]

My wife and I came up with the concept for the couchsurfer portrait project a couple of years ago. The first portrait for the project was taken in 2013. The ultimate goal for the project is to capture a couchsurfer in every state and to put together a book to encourage others to become part of the couchsurfing community.

The main reason I continue to shoot portraits for the project is because my best travel memories are because I decided to couchsurf instead of staying in a hotel or hostel. I’m astonished by how many interesting people there are in the world and how many similarities I have in common with all of the people I’ve met through the couchsurfing website.




1

Lauren Roche, Brooklyn, NY

What’s the one thing you intend to accomplish before you die?


"Publish a photo book, volunteer at an orphanage, bike across Nova Scotia and Puerto Rico and give birth to a cowboy."

2

Chris LaPointe, Brooklyn, NY

Have you ever traveled alone? What did you learn about yourself?


"Yes, I learned I am fully capable and adaptable. Traveling alone is difficult, dangerous, lonely, stressful, and totally worth it."

3

Donald, New York, NY

"For me life is worth living only if we are engaged with people.. I think the secret to happiness is always sharing whatever you have in life...the only way we can become complete human is to be connected to each other so relationship is the key....the Scripture seem to teach the same lesson "love one another as you love yourself"... I summarize my religious life in the writing of St. John's first letter "No one has ever seen God...whoever loves is born of God and knows God...whoever does not love does not know God because God is love".....so for me the secret to happiness is to share love."

4

Jocelyn Voo, New York, NY

"In the last few years I've almost exclusively traveled by myself. You're pretty much forced to reach out to strangers, and you'll meet so many kind and fascinating people, you never really feel alone."

5

Matthew Gnat, Cloverdale, CA

"I traveled solo for five weeks in New Zealand. I had planned on using Couchsurfing to only get situated in each area with the hopes of spending most of my time backpack camping alone. I was completely surprised as to how much that I would enjoy spending time with local hosts that repeatedly welcomed me into their homes, and making friends with other Couchsurfers. I changed the focus of my vacation because of these great experiences Couchsurfing."

6

Amy and Steve, Bandon, OR

What we have learned from couchsurfing community?

"We love being part of the couchsurfing community because of the unexpected and unique experiences that can only come from being open and trusting with complete strangers. Each time offers a rare opportunity to share ourselves, food, shelter and ideas with people that we would never have met except through couchsurfing. We love meeting the diverse and interesting people who are willing to share in this human experience, and feel that each encounter is a gift of new ideas, perspective and friendship. Sharing through couchsurfing is way cool and very rewarding."

7

Don and Kathe Miller, Chelan, WA

What’s one of your favorite travel stories?


"We went to Mazatlan in the early eighties. At the end of our trip, we took a cab to the airport. The driver drove way too fast on the freeway, dodging around cars at a scary speed. Suddenly, we heard a thump and the driver slammed on his breaks, then went at nearly the same speed backwards... on the fast lane of the freeway! We thought we were going to die! Finally, the taxi driver slammed again to a stop, jumped out of the car and ran around to the back of the car.... on the fast lane of the freeway! Then he jumped back in the car and tossed a dead bird on the seat beside him and started the car again, resuming his breakneck pace toward the airport. With dead bird feathers floating all over inside the car, he turned around, gave us a wide grin, and said, "Good to eat!" We dissolved into laughter. It was a wonderful end to our time there."

8

Danger Charles, Oakland, CA

What’s one of your favorite travel stories?


"My favorite travel stories are the ones where everyone was miserable but can look back and laugh. Type two fun. One I tell a lot is the time my family and a friend’s family decided to climb Mt. Ritter, and I got to be the guide. Ritter isn’t a mountain to underestimate, so naturally the trip turned into a 24-hour epic disaster that ended with me running some 12 miles of so, completely dehydrated back to camp to let our mothers know that we weren’t dead. It was the only time I vomited from sheer exhaustion. Miserable and absurd, but hilarious looking back on it."

9

Jessica "Superball" Kristine, Sebastopol, California

What have you learned from being part of the couch-surfing community?


"The world isn't as dangerous as "they" let on. Of all the people I've encountered in my extensive travels as a lone young woman, I've felt in real, immediate danger only twice--and those two times were well worth everything else I gained. Those experiences make good stories now! I would say that 99.9% of the people out there are either good or neutral, at worst inclined to rip you off. True maliciousness is very rare."

10

Ilana S., Santa Rosa, CA

What have you learned from being part of the couch surfing community?


"There are so many generous, friendly, loving people from all different walks of life that we don't necessarily get to come across in our every day lives, but the CS community increases the chances of those connections. I also have learned that giving and sharing to yet unmet friends, brings invaluable gifts that I could have never imagined on my own."

11

Jill Turner, Oakland, CA

What’s one of your favorite travel stories?


"My first couchsurfing experience ever. My friend Kelsey and I arrived in Istanbul, and our male host clearly had not had a lot of contact with females in his life. In his efforts to constantly make us comfortable, he failed to realize that his anxious energy was making us UNcomfortable. In addition to normal and appreciated chivalrous gestures such as holding doors open and carrying our heavy luggage and offering us tea and snacks, some of his attempts at making us comfortable included: helping us take our shoes off (to our embarrassment); controlling our schedule so as to give us a very rushed and whirlwind tour of the sights, when we were sweaty and tired in the Istanbul heat; and later, filling a tub of scalding water and setting it at our feet in order to give us a foot bath and massage, which I endured so as not to humiliate him by refusing, and to protect Kelsey from this very unwanted physical contact. We laughed it off and were not deterred from the couchsurfing community, but damn, that guy was a piece of work."

12

Jordan Murphy, San Francisco, CA

"I’ve traveled alone before, more than once, and it was pleasant as there was no one that I had to fight with about where to go or what to do, or how I’m not doing something correctly. Having said that, two heads, when working together, are better than one. I definitely got lost a lot on my own. But getting lost is how one finds themselves."

13

Kimi Levoe, Ukiah, CA

Why do you have a couch surfing profile?


"I have a couchsurfing profile because I want to have faith in people. There is so much good in this world and in its citizens and often times I feel like people have a tendency to get scared and forget that."

14

Martina Steinmann, Oakland, CA

What do you believe is the secret to happiness?


"Compassion, chocolate and mastering the art of appreciation."

15

Bruce Schmidt, Occidental, CA

"I do not know the secret of happiness; that is why it is a secret."

16

Sumit Kohli, San Francisco, CA

Who has inspired you to be who you are?


"Actually a very relevant question. In 2000, I quit a corporate job as I didn't find fulfillment there. Shortly after, I travelled for two and a half months, about half the time on my own. During those two and a half months, I was awakened to other possibilities of lifestyle choices which have helped shaped the decisions I have made since."

17

Trevor Thompson, Santa Rosa, CA

Who has inspired you to be who you are?


"Henry Rollins, my hero. His books and spoken word albums convinced me to set out on my own and choose for myself what my version of success and happiness would be."

18

John Bachir, New York, NY

What do you believe is the secret to happiness?


"Freedom. Being brave enough to choose freedom over almost all other things in each life choice is something I am always working on. But it's easy to compare my life to those of others and be glad that I usually choose freedom. Of course, perhaps one day I will find I have too much freedom and not enough connections. They can't coexist at their extremes."

5 strange places I've written in

Photo: Jesse Wagstaff

“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”

E.B. White was right. There are no ideal writing conditions, and even if there are, they exist in our heads only, where thoughts grow, waiting to be cracked and explored. Without the stability of a familiar desk and comfortable chair, travel forces me to “be happy with whatever comes,” and has resulted in writing from some unusual places, namely:

1. Himalayan mud hut

Context: The muse doesn’t care if you’re on death’s doorstep with food poisoning, suffering third-degree frostbite, or living on a thin-aired moonscape. She will not worry about your feverish whines or irksome complaints over stomach parasites and the locomotive whistle of the tempest outside will soon silence the last of them.

Productivity rating: ☆☆☆

Altitude: 4,800 meters above sea level

Tools: Green Mitshubishi roller ball, trembly hands, bloodshot eyes, devil-may-care demeanor

Morale: Queen Latifah

Snack of choice: Thin air

Seating: Picnic table

Time: 4am

Mood lighting: A lone lightbulb hanging from the mud ceiling

2. Curbside at the Monkey House, Kathmandu

Context: I sat on the steps of the Monkey House in Kathmandu and waited for the Shaman to show up, the one who promised to bring us to his village for a Pooja (spiritual channeling ceremony).

Productivity rating: ☆☆☆

Background noise: Street-sweeping old ladies & dogs howling at the moon

Demeanor: On edge, yet hopeful

Snack of choice: Nothing

Seating: Concrete steps in an old courtyard in Kathmandu

Time: 4am

Mood lighting: The moon

3. Smelly cabin on the Caspian Sea

Context: The most challenging, from an olfactory point of view. Also, the slight sway of the boat left me light-headed and I spent a half-day experimenting with Mark Twain’s time-honored practice of writing while laying horizontally.

Productivity rating: ☆☆☆☆

Altitude: (Mostly) sea level

Background noise: Thirty eager teenage Azerbaijani seaman trainees frisking on the rooftop manmade geyser and splashing water over my window

Demeanor: Feeble

Snack of choice: Not really by choice, since I’m on a ship with one cafe. Spaghetti, without the sauce.

Seating: Musky bed with sheets of questionable cleanliness and mild cigarette burnage

Time: Too long

Mood lighting: Sparks and ash from the chimney up top

4. No-man’s land on the Kazakh-Uzbek border

Context: Fortune smiled on me, when Kazakhstan suddenly decided to remove its visa requirement, but only starting July 15. And guess what? My visa in Uzbekistan expired July 14th. This transformed an otherwise commonplace border crossing operation into a midsummer midnight jamboree, like staying up to watch the New Year’s ball drop, only better, because I was entering Kazakhstan. I got to savor a few sweet hours resting among a slumberland of truck drivers in the fenced Uzbek-Kazakh no-man’s land nestled between the two economic giants.

Productivity rating: ☆☆

Tools: Black pilot V-ball, black Moleskine hardback knockoff (India)

Demeanor: Tired but excited (Kazakhstan!)

Background noise: Lots of snoring, some Polish small-talkers, & flicks of lighters (the guards smoke a lot)

Seating: Co-pilot seat in the car

Time: 9pm to midnight

Mood lighting: The romantic orange fluorescents hovering over the barbed wire

5. Soviet-era honeymooner’s suite (with doilies and lace)

Context: Fortune smirked some more, in the form of an offer in Dushanbe to sleep in a Soviet-era apartment, complete with a white-chiffoned kingsize bed fit for a honeymoon.

Productivity rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Demeanor: Cold war (within)

Snack of choice: Snickers bars, Russian vodka

Seating: Temporally and situationally-displaced wedding bed

Time: Before the Curtain fell

Mood lighting: Enough is enough

6. Moto-rickshaw ride through New Delhi

Context: I sometimes tried to get a few words in between the joltings and heehawings on my daily commute through the southern Delhi burbs.

Productivity rating: -☆

Background noise: A sea of honks, groans, grunts, haws, moos, and screams

Demeanor: Sharp-elbowed vigilance

Seating: A knee or toe

This post originally appeared on Continental Driftings and is republished here with permission.

The world's 18 most bikable cities

Via

Europe

Amsterdam

The “bicycling capital of Europe” tops many lists—including this one, it seems—as the most bike friendly city anywhere. Safe and extensive route networks, serious governmental promotion, and a bike culture that transcends class boundaries are all reasons why 40% of the city’s traffic moves on two wheels.

Barcelona

Barcelona’s Bicing program, one of many mass bike rental systems that have popped up recently in Europe and beyond, debuted in 2007 in the Catalonian capital. An annual Bike Week is held in late May to spread the word.

Berlin

Commuting Berliners are never lonely—400,000 of them pedal to work each day. City leaders still aren’t satisfied with this figure, and millions of euros have been allocated to encourage more cyclists to get on the streets. One result is a mapping website that helps you plot bike-specific routes.

Copenhagen

In the Danish capital, around a third of the workforce gets to the office by bike. By some estimates, that’s more than a million kilometers pedaled every day.

Cyclists in Copenhagen. Via

For an alternative and truly bike-friendly urban experience, check out Christiania, a neighborhood of 850 that, in addition to setting up a semi-independent government and decriminalizing trade in cannabis, has banned cars.

Utrecht

Amsterdam unfairly gets all of the credit for being the best cyclist city in the Netherlands. In terms of the percentage of journeys made on bike, that honor actually goes to Utrecht at a sound 50%. The city is also in the process of building the world’s largest bicycle parking facility. That mixed with the incredibly relaxed bike culture make Utrecht worthy of a spot on this list.

Paris

Paris gets a nod here for its creation of Vélib’, one of the world’s largest public bicycle rental programs. Twenty thousand stylish three-speeds are distributed among 1,450 rental stations throughout the city, available to subscribers at variable rates (rides under 30 minutes are free).

North America

Boulder

Denver’s little hippy neighbor to the north dedicates 15% of its transportation budget to improving and promoting bicycle travel. Nearly every major roadway has a designated cycling area, and they’ve even instituted a pilot program to get kids biking to school. This guy has created a very cool color-coded route map, complete with local attractions.

Chicago

Late during his 22-year tenure, Mayor Richard Daley became set on turning Chicago into “the most bicycle-friendly city in the United States.” It doesn’t appear to be all talk, either, as more bike lanes pop up all the time, and more laws that protect cyclists’ safety are passed.

Via

The City of Chicago website has all you could ever want to know about the city’s bicycle initiatives.

Davis

It’s said there are more bikes than cars in this small, northern California city of 65,000. Not only that, but its official motto is “Most bicycle friendly town in the world.” The entire month of May is dedicated to Cyclebration…and the list goes on.

Washington, D.C.

The U.S. capital is also one of the most bike-friendly cities in America. With its wide avenues, its ubiquitous bike lanes, its bike share program, and traffic congestion that makes biking a much quicker transportation option, it was probably inevitable that D.C. would eventually become a cyclist’s city. And because it’s a city of political types, there’s a super active advocacy group, the Washington Area Bicyclists Association, fighting for cyclists (and, of course, helping them network).

Ottawa

Canada’s capital claims the highest percentage of bike commuters in the country, if not the continent. Its 170km of paths make it easy to get from point A to B, though two-wheeled traffic is sure to drop between December and March. Visit the City of Ottawa website for more.

Portland

You were worried there for a second, weren’t you? No, I haven’t forgotten what most people consider the bike capital of the U.S. The only thing as impressive as Portland’s bicycle infrastructure (including a 260-mile network) and commuter stats (almost 10%, the highest in the country) is the camaraderie of its cyclist community.

San Francisco

The founding city of Critical Mass can’t be overlooked. Over the past decade, bicycle collisions have declined while the number of bike commuters has nearly doubled.

Add city initiatives like removing car parking to make room for bike parking, distributing “Watch for Bikes” stickers (to be placed on driver’s side rearview mirrors), and its fledgling bike share program, and you get one of the world’s bike-friendliest cities.

Elsewhere

Beijing

Debatable? Sure. But I wouldn’t call the city with probably the most bicycles of any in the world to be bike unfriendly.

Via

The sheer number of cyclists necessitates some pretty sophisticated infrastructure for the travel, storage, and repair of two-wheeled vehicles.

Cape Town

African cities aren’t the first I think of for bike friendliness, but Cape Town is doing its best to change that.

The South African hub is dedicated to creating cycling lanes, dedicated bike parking, and public commuter showers.

Bogotá

Bogotá’s transportation initiatives have been a model for change throughout Latin America, and its treatment of bicycles is no exception. Miles of safe, segregated bike paths and Sunday Ciclovía events (where main thoroughfares are closed to cars) make Colombian cyclists very happy.

Tokyo

The world’s largest city has been making some strides lately towards becoming one of the world’s great bike cities. It helps that driving has become prohibitively expensive in the Japanese metropolis, so biking is often a much more practical option for residents. Practical to the point where a staggering 14% of all trips made in Tokyo are made on a bike.

Perth

With more than 700km of bike routes and plenty to see along them, Australia’s fourth largest city takes it for Down Under. Find maps, recommended rides, and other cycling resources on the Perth Bike Maps webpage.

This article was first published on April 30, 2009.

8 idioms only Arabs understand

Photo: Hossam el-Hamalawy حسام الحملاوي

Traveling to Jordan or Palestine? Don’t be confused by these idiomatic expressions!

1. على عيني وراسي (‘ala ‘aini wa raasi) — On my head and my eyes.

This is a hugely popular saying in the Arab world, so if you ask an Arab friend for a favor don’t be surprised when they start talking about putting things on their heads and eyes. This means that they will absolutely do what you asked.

2. أكل إسفين (Aakala Isfeen) — He ate a wooden wedge.

This literally means that someone slandered or talked badly about him.

3. باعه بقشرة بصلة (baa’hu beqishra basala) — He sold him for an onion peel.

This is often used when someone throws away a relationship with somebody else, whether for a good reason or not.

4. حطه في دوّامة (hattathu fii dawwaama ) — It put him in a whirlpool.

This means something along the lines of “it totally shocked him.” It actually makes perfect sense when you stop to think about it.

5. حفف دمه (haffaffa damhu) — He lightened his blood.

This phrase means that somebody stopped clowning around or acting like an idiot. Conversely, saying that someone has “heavy blood” means that they are boring or otherwise annoying.

6. – كس يبلعك (kis Yibla’ak) — May a vagina swallow you.

Unsurprisingly, this is something that you say to people you are not pleased with.

7. عمل أبو علي عليه (‘amela abu Ali ‘aleehu) — To do a ‘Father of Ali’ on him.

To do an “Abu Ali” or “Father of Ali,” on someone means to boss them around. I have never met anyone who knows who or what Abu Ali may actually be, but if you know, please comment!

8. لعب الحديد- (l’aba elhadeed) — He played iron.

Possibly evidence that fitness culture isn’t taken very seriously in the Middle East, this expression is used to mean “he lifted weights” or worked out.

6 portraits of German travelers

Photo: Neil Hester

The secret is out: German citizens are allotted an unparalleled amount of paid vacation. You can spot them in Gran Canaria’s more-German-than-Spanish supermarkets, buying dense bread, or hiking Split’s too-sunny coast, slathering sunscreen onto white legs. But let’s take a look beyond the Birkenstock sandals and obsessive recycling.

1. The Planner

Enter Magda: plans every aspect of her vacation in Istanbul, including transportation maps, city walking tours, restaurants reviews, and lodging. Pencils in some ‘free-time activities’ for Tuesday afternoon, explaining why spontaneity is better when planned. Overwhelmed by deviations to the plan or the inherent uncertainty of the local lifestyle. Aghast at the lack of bus timetables. Can have fun only in the form of structured achievement. Most likely to ask: “Isn’t there an app for the transit system?” or “What do you mean you don’t know when the bus will arrive?” Approach this German with a complete lack of agenda and watch chaos ensue.

2. The ‘Gadgeteer’

Enter Manfred: brings a portable espresso machine and milk frother to eastern Italy’s waterfalls. Hikes with a solar-powered, self-generating Wi-Fi hotspot and a 21-function wristwatch. Tours the Lamborghini factory and discusses fringe technical concepts on end regardless of idyllic mountain town surroundings. Most likely to offer you a multitool at the perfect moment. Approach this German with an appreciation for a heartwarmingly nerdy — and utterly emotionless — passion.

3. The Old-Timers

Enter Heinz and Dagmar: book their annual retirement-life getaway to Ibiza expecting a reenactment of their restorative Mediterranean holiday of the 1980s, a time when West Germans were doing well, and the Spanish islands hadn’t yet been discovered by thousands of college students now partying there every spring break. Quietly shocked at the display of tasteless youthful fun, they persevere through the drugs and debauchery in awkward discomfort. Most likely to listen to the 8 o’clock news with the volume cranked up all the way. Approach this opa and oma during obligatory state-holiday visits and be prepared to look through endless old photo albums and warm up to daily adult naptime.

4. The Preconceived Experiencer

Enter Christoph: landing at O’Hare with his father, Christoph embarks on his post-bachelor, fatherly bonding eastern-US road trip merely to confirm his pre-formed conceptions of ‘America.’ Missing the rugged beauty of the American West whilst trapped on the interstate, these Germans instead tour the Motel 6s and drive-through windows of the Midwest. Upon their return, they dryly conclude what everyone already expected: Americans are overweight, blissfully ignorant, and entirely too friendly. Most likely to falsely affirm that all German women own dirndls. Approach with a wide berth or headphones in.

5. The Perfectionist

Enter Leopold: expects everything to live up to flawless standards, including at crumbling youth hostels, haunted dive bars, and Albuquerque’s rowdy party street. This German is deeply shaken by discrepancies within the system and dismisses New Mexico’s ‘land of manaña’ sense of time to matter-of-factly interrogate the information-desk attendant for the precise schedule of the Breaking Bad tour. Soothed by a fine cigar, Leopold easily lapses into lengthy conversations about how best to pack a suitcase. Most likely to respond defensively to a harmless question. Approach with decent foreign beers and a mockingly severe demeanor.

6. The Taste-Tester

Enter Ann-Katrin: crosses the Strait of Gibraltar to try on another life without relinquishing her own. Wearing a khaki sunhat, this German arrives at the Port of Tangier for a well-prepared, three-week trek. Inhabits the role of the carefree traveler but just can’t shake the feeling that her sensible lifestyle is missing. As the ‘voyeur’ of adventuring, Ann-Katrin may get dusty but never dirty, just as she might taste the Moroccan couscous while privately hankering for the rye and dinkel of her home. Most likely to pack a sandwich (or five). Approach with caution: the Taste-Test Traveler might soon make you miss home.

Free college degree, passport needed

Photo: Ken Colwell

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, tell your parents: it’s financially irresponsible to not study abroad. At a time when the average debt load of the American college student is $29,400 and when the country has $1.2 trillion of student loan debt as a whole, one country has decided to go the complete opposite route by offering free education not only to their own citizens, but to foreign students as well.

The catch? You’ve got to learn German. And live in a country known for its insanely good beer. So basically, there’s no catch.

Germany has offered incredibly affordable university education for quite some time now — before the tuition became free, the average cost was around $630. Germany had already banned tuition fees until the ban was lifted in 2006, a move that was so unpopular that many states banned tuition and fees on their own. The last state to fall in line was Lower Saxony, which announced it would no longer charge tuition earlier this year. Dorothee Stapelfeldt, a German senator, explained that they struck down the tuition fees because they “discourage young people who do not have a traditional academic family background from taking up study.”

Naturally, for foreign students, a big issue is not knowing the language: most courses are taught in German, so fluency in this relatively difficult language is essential if you want to attend school there. There are some programs that are taught in English, but many students prefer to attend German language programs before attending school.

Germany is not the only place where Americans can study for a significantly smaller amount of money than they can in their own country. Finland doesn’t have tuition fees, and many of their courses are in English. Public universities in France only cost around $200, and Sweden offers PhDs for free. Norway also covers tuition of foreigners, as does Slovenia. And Brazil only charges small registration fees, though it has fewer programs in English.

American students who not only want to get an affordable education but also want to immerse themselves in another culture, then, maybe ought to think less about expensive study abroad programs and more about studying in a country that offers affordable tuition.

Free education, however, isn’t totally free. Germany, like many of the other countries listed above, has much higher tax rates than countries like the United States do. But if the education of the populace is seen as an investment rather than a product to be sold, this makes sense, and the United States model of driving an entire generation into crippling debt is probably not the best one.

For travelers, the expansion of the ideal of free education is a dream come true. I for one may well have been interested in studying German in high school if I knew it could save me the amount I had to pay in US tuition, and I would have been able to itch that wanderlust a little bit better. Hopefully at some point the US follows suit, but in the meantime, young American travelers who want to see the world can now do so — while getting a degree under their belt at the same time.

What happens when you date an Aussie

Photo: Sérgio Bernardino

WHEN I WAS GROWING UP, I thought all Australian guys had sun-kissed skin, blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, and lived their lives on their surfboards. And then I found myself dating an Australian who, for the most part, really couldn’t be fussed going to the beach. He didn’t even like the sand all that much. Each summer I’d be up and ready for the beach, swimmers on and sunblock spread thoroughly (re: not wearing enough for Australian sun), and he’d want to go the mall or to the hardware store.

I was flabbergasted. An Australian who didn’t want to go to the beach?! It seemed like blasphemy, but such is the case when you grow up with some of the world’s most beautiful beaches right at your doorstep every day.

Not only did I learn that not all Australians live their lives at the beach or surfing, but they also don’t use the word “shrimp”…which ruins every American attempt at pretending to be an Australian by saying, “Throw another shrimp on the barbie, mate!”

Here are some other things I learned from dating a True Blue:

1. There is no time more sacred than footy time.

That amazing realization you had at work that day about how yellow is actually your favorite color? It will have to wait; keep any and all conversations to a minimum when footy is on.

You: So excited to hang out with you tonight! xx

Your Boyfriend: Footy tonight!!!. Woo hoo!!!!!

2. Chicken is a vegetarian meal.

I remember pleading for a gradual re-introduction to red meat before I moved to Australia, and I soon learned that I’d have no choice but to love it. Australians love their steak, their snags, their rissoles, their lamb, their meat pies — the list goes on. And on those rare occasions when we didn’t eat red meat and instead went with chicken, I would always hear, “So we’re going vegetarian tonight are we?”

3. Seeing a huntsman spider doesn’t warrant a blood curdling scream.

I remember the first time I saw a huntsman spider. It was the biggest, hairiest spider I’d ever seen, and it was sprinting across the bedroom wall. I screamed like I was being murdered. I may have even blacked out for a second. But a huntsman — though it’s basically the size of a small child — is harmless (duh!), so screaming is totally and completely unnecessary.

More like this: 9 things Americans can learn from Australians


4. Kangaroos are pests.

I was — once again — flabbergasted. Kangaroos are pests? But Australians aren’t all too fond of kangaroos. They tear up gardens and farmland in the countryside, and they make nighttime driving dangerous. Whatever. I still think they’re awesome.

5. You’ve gotta embrace the bush.

No, I’m not talking about your bush. I’m talking about the great outdoors. Some love going for hikes or bike rides, and some may love trips “up to the farm,” but if you’re dating an Australian, you’ll learn you’ve gotta get your hands dirty once in a while.

6. Quit your whinging.

There’s no whining or whinging when you’re camping out in the bush or when you don’t want to watch The Footy Show after just watching hours of the actual footy game.

7. Not all Australians surf.

Sadly, ladies, it’s true. Not every single Australian is a surfer.

8. You learn to love — or endure — cricket.

Seriously, what kind of game goes on for days and days and days? But when you’re dating an Australian, you’ll learn to nod when he tells you some really (I mean like really) obscure score, and you’ll learn to live with this never-ending game.

9. Bledisoe, The Ashes, and State of Origin are no joke.

Footy game, cricket match, footy game. Life stops for such events, and you’d better hope Australia (and in the case of State of Origin, your preferred team) wins, otherwise your boyfriend will be one unhappy sports fan.

10. Long words won’t work.

Afternoon (arvo). Suspicious (sus). Flip flops (thongs). Devastated (devo’ed). Darling (darl). Spaghetti bolognese (spag bol). Chicken schnitzel (chicken schnitty). Alexandra (Al). The list goes on.

11. It’s all about Triple J

The only station on in your car ever (if it’s not talk radio about footy of course) will most likely be Triple J. And come Australia Day (one of the holiest days of the year), your entire day will be in synch with the Triple J Hot 100, or a countdown of the 100 best songs that year.

12. He’s true blue.

By the end of your relationship, you’ll learn that your Australian boyfriend is a true blue (and if you’ve ever dated an Australian, cue the True Blue drinking song in your head) always and forever.

Check it out: The US States Map is here!

WE STARTED OUT BIG with our #Travelstoke World Map, and after the overwhelmingly positive response our Map Team has created an awesome new addition: a map where you can show off your travels within the United States!

We’re super pumped about this hot new map, so go ahead and click on the image above, or this link to build your own US States map. You’ll receive a link through your email that will allow you to edit your map later on (add us to your address book so it doesn’t end up in your SPAM or Promotional folders). Then share your travels with friends and family on Facebook and Twitter, and start planning your next baller road trip across the USA!

Countries where AIDS is deadliest

Back in the 1980s, the global HIV and AIDS epidemic was one shrouded in stigma. By the time then-president Ronald Reagan gave his first address about AIDS, the epidemic had killed 20,849 people.

Approximately 35 million people around the world today live with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, according to a 2013 report from UNAIDS, the United Nations project aimed at fighting the epidemic. The group estimates that 19 million of those infected do not even know they have the virus.

Monday marks World AIDS Day, an annual event since 1988. The public health holiday promoted by the World Health Organization aims to combat the spread of AIDS and HIV with public information campaigns.

While 70 percent of new HIV infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa, the disease is still very much a worldwide problem. In the US, the number of new infections has declined, but the CDC estimates there are 1.2 million people living with HIV in the US.

In the US, it’s believed about 14 percent of HIV-positive people don’t know they carry the virus. UNAIDS announced a new project on Friday that sets a goal for at least 90 percent of those infected with HIV to be aware of their status — and for 90 percent of those people to be receiving regular treatment — by 2020. That’s an ambitious target, as the UN acknowledges: In the Asia-Pacific region right now, for example, less than half of high-transmission populations with HIV (sex workers and intravenous drug users) are aware of their HIV status.

Despite huge strides in the fight against AIDS, it’s still one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, along with tuberculosis and diarrheal diseases. Using data from the World Health Organization, we’ve created these maps to show you where it’s still the top infectious killer. Click on the map below to see an enlarged version.

 

Africa:

Asia:

Eastern Europe:

South America:

By: Simran Khosla, GlobalPost

This article is syndicated from Global Post.

Upstate New Yorkers are hardcore

Photo: [bastian.]

1. Our snowstorm ‘emergency’ kit is made up of beer and snacks.

We should be heading to Wegmans and stocking up on milk and bread, but what we are really going to need is beer, pretzels, and toilet paper. Who wants to drink a glass of milk after shoveling your driveway for five hours? I only grocery-shopped in a state of panic once, and it was before my very first adult WNY snowstorm. I even bought jugs of water, just in case.

After surviving the first storm, you realize that it is only snow and it will probably melt next week anyway, just as another band of lake effect begins to cross Lake Erie. It’s a never-ending vicious cycle. You can give into the panic, or you can ride it out sipping an ice cold Blue Light. You can create extra fridge space by using your back porch that is covered in snow.

2. Don Paul keeps us super-prepared for the next ‘snow party.’

Local weatherman Don Paul predicts, and we act accordingly. In western New York, lake-effect snow is a sneaky little trickster. It can dump six feet of snow on West Seneca, but only 6″ on Amherst, which is a little over 10 miles away. However, you never know who will get hit the hardest so you prepare for the worst (being stuck in your car on Highway 90 for 90 hours) but hope for the best (a snow day with not a whole lot of snow to shovel).

3. We are the ultimate judge of how other people deal with snow.

I grew up and now live in East Aurora, a small town southeast of Buffalo. I moved to New York City after college and remember my first “snowstorm.” It snowed maybe six inches, and the entire city was IN A STATE OF PANIC. The bodega shelves were empty. The subways were shut down. I was sitting at home laughing my ass off because six inches of snow is child’s play to a girl from western New York.

4. Driving bans do not stop us from living our lives.

You can’t get out of your driveway because your car is buried under five feet of snow? Has Orchard Park/Depew/Lancaster instituted a driving ban? No problem, just break out the cross-country skis, snowshoes, or snowmobile. Since we live in the Arctic tundra six months a year, most of us will have some sort of winter recreational gear. It’s how we stay sane in those long, cold winter months. Personally, I prefer cross-country skiing at Elma Meadows to the middle of Oakwood Ave in East Aurora. Those skis come in handy when you are craving an Elm Street Bakery cinnamon bun and the sidewalks are not plowed yet.

5. We remember what it’s like to live without the latest in snowstorm-emergency technology.

When I was young, I had to wake up and watch the endless scroll at the bottom of the TV screen, waiting to see the name of the Nichols School was closed for a snow day. If I missed it, I had to wait for the whole thing to repeat again. In the meantime, I would psych myself up (“Nichols has to close! Look at how much snow Buffalo got overnight!”) and get that adrenaline pumping (“If we don’t have school, I get to watch the Price is Right today!”), which means there is no chance of you going back to sleep.

Now that I am a teacher I just “wake up” to a text message. I use the term “wake up” loosely, because all I am really doing is opening one eye, confirming the text is indeed from the East Aurora School District (and not my mom asking if I have a snow day) and then I go right back to sleep. Keep in mind that the University of Buffalo will never close so you are wasting time refreshing WGRZ’s Closing Central and you may as well get ready for class.

6. Seasonal Affective Disorder means nothing to us.

We are pros at mentally preparing ourselves for snow on the ground in October and that it may last until May. In 2006, we got hit with a crazy storm in the middle of October, which has been dubbed such titles as, “October Surprise” and “Thundersnow.” As a kid, you always had to have a warmer, backup Halloween costume that incorporated a snowsuit and boots, in case it snowed. It has snowed on my husband’s birthday, April 21, and it has snowed on Mother’s Day at least three times in my lifetime. It’s a good year if we can go four consecutive months without any snowflakes to be seen.

7. We’ve got shoveling down to a science.

Northern parts of New York State are constantly getting dumped on, but you’d never know it based on the way we power-shovel. We don’t really shovel to get anywhere, rather just to stay ahead of the storm. That way, when we want to get chocolate chip waffles at The Original House of Pancakes, we don’t have to shovel through six feet of snow. My husband skipped all of his workouts this last week because he was too tired from shoveling every day for 3+ hours, but I am so thankful that when we finally were able to leave our house, we only had about a foot of snow to clear away.

8. Everyone’s car trunk looks like a prepper’s basement.

As a teenager, I used to get so annoyed when I wanted to leave the house and my mom would list off all the things I needed to have with me in the car. “Honey, do you have: a hat, gloves, snow pants, boots, blanket, shovel, granola bars, water, and a fully charged cellphone?” One time my mom insisted that my friend borrow a pair of boots to wear home because she was wearing flip-flops in January. No one ever runs out of closet space because anything we’d otherwise toss just gets added to the trunk pile for us to use in case we’re unlucky enough to get snowed in to our cars.

9. We’ve had so many huge snowstorms, we’re running out of things to call them.

Social media only makes it worse. Everyone around northern New York has heard of the Blizzard of ’77, but I doubt that would have made a trending hashtag. The October Surprise was good, but what happens when the next October storm rolls around (and it will)? There are only so many times you can declare a “Snowpocalypse” before it gets a little “boy-who-cried-wolf.” And let’s be honest, every November around here is a “Snowvember.” Still, anything’s better than the lame “Winter Storm Knife.”

10. In the face of winter’s wrath, Buffalonians live up to their “City of Good Neighbors” motto.

Last week there were more stories about neighbors helping neighbors than anything else. In fact, a group of over 200 people dubbed the Shovel Brigade Mob helped dig out more than 400 driveways, sidewalks, and streets in South Buffalo. The Buffalo Bills even offered to give fans free football tickets and $10 an hour to shovel out Ralph Wilson Stadium. Now that’s true #Buffalove, and we’re proud of it.
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