Snoskred – Life in the Country

Hi there. I’m Ray Dotson. Some of you may know me from reading FreshBlogger.com where I usually (occasionally) blog. I’ve been so kindly asked to provide a guest post for Life In The Country and can’t say how honored I am to have the opportunity. Being a blog about living, and particularly about living from the perspective of a personal known to most out here as Snoskred, I thought I would write a little bit about living from my own perspective.

I live in the northern part of the State of Kentucky (it’s actually officially a Commonwealth, but there’s no real difference) in the United States. This is what the East and West coasters call ‘fly-over country’ because they consider it not worth stopping in, but only a part of the country they fly over when going from coast to coast.

Most people in the world probably think of the big cities in the USA when they think of America. Images of New York City or Los Angeles would come to mind first. Maybe they would think of all the wealth and prosperity and glitter in those bright, shiny places, home to celebrities and politicians. A lot of the people in the United States do live in these big cities and do live along the East and West coasts of this country.

However, there are many people who live in between and a great number of them don’t ever visit the coasts or see the big famous cities, other than on television and in the movies. I’ve read somewhere that a significant portion of Americans never travel beyond 50 or 100 miles from where they were born. I wonder if this is still true.

As for myself, I’ve traveled around the states a little bit, but I’ve never been to New York or Los Angeles and only briefly passed through Chicago. I live near to and work in a medium sized city called Cincinnati, Ohio. Some of you may have heard of it before. It’s a place with a peculiar sort of fame in that the great American writer Mark Twain once said that he’d like to be in Cincinnati when the world ends because everything happens five years later there.

What’s humorous about this is that it still rings true a hundred years later. It’s a city with several million people living within about a 30 mile circle, but feels like a small town in so many ways. Though I live across the Ohio River in Northern Kentucky, I was born in Cincinnati and lived much of my younger life there. Today, I work at a community college in Cincinnati and spend quite a lot of time in and around the city.

Cincinnati is an interesting place with quite a lot of history. It was founded at the end of the 18th century during a time of many bloody battles in this area between the native inhabitants and European settlers. Contrary to popular belief, many of the natives of this land got along well with the newcomers from across the sea, while many others fought tooth and nail for several hundred years. There were literally hundreds of tribes of people living here who split their allegiances between the British Empire and the American revolutionaries.

Like in those days, America is a place of many different tribes and allegiances. Most of us here in the United States, though, work hard for a living and take our two weeks of vacation each year, like many other people in the industrialized world. Well, except we seem to take less time off of work for some reason. I’ve often wondered if this has come from the Puritan roots of America.

The first settlers to this country were strict religious types who were fleeing persecution from the authorities in their native countries. Many others were criminals, indentured servants, and poor people looking for a new beginning. When they arrived here, I imagine a number of them were shocked at the harshness of this land.

In the first colonies, existence was tenuous. Starvation and disease took a great toll of those first generations. A lack of diplomacy combined with fear and desperation likely precipitated serious problems with those who already lived here. Sounds like fun, huh?

It seems that each country in the world has a sort of common characteristic that has developed over time due to the events that have formed them. Consider that the British Isles was invaded continuously by European tribes for hundreds of years. The population was almost completed wiped out by war and disease time and again in the Dark Ages. As a student of English Literature, it’s clear that the English language’s strange structure and plethora of irregularities stems from the influx of so many different cultures and languages.

In the United States, it’s the sense of rugged individualism that seems to be a defining trait. What this refers to is that ability of a person to stand up for his or her own beliefs and pursue their desires regardless of the opposition, whether it’s harsh weather, dangerous animals, or disapproving peers. I’m not sure if they teach this in schools anymore here, but when I was growing up, this was something that was taught with pride. These days, however, it sounds more like a pejorative in a world where individualism often is subservient to collectivism.

Don’t misunderstand this as being a talk about politics or diplomacy, but a sort of casual observation of American culture by someone born and raised here. A rumination, if you will, on the soul of America. Clearly, there are both negative and positive aspects to this idea of rugged individualism.

I think many countries reach a stage when they have to decide who they really are. They come to a point of national cultural adolescence and the changes they go through can be tumultuous. The United States, being a relatively young country at not much more than 200 years old, has been going through something like this for several decades now. Think about the smart mouthed 13 year old as the 1960′s all the way up through the jaded 18 year old of the 1990′s. The next decade or two is about coming of age. Being legal. It’s an exciting, but scary time.

Though, I’m fascinated by the rest of the world’s cultures and have a great desire to travel all over this beautiful planet, I love living in the United States and I also love being an American. I’m not afraid to say it. There are mistakes that have been made, but mistakes are what people do best. Hopefully, we can all learn from our mistakes and make the future a better one, individually, as a society, and as a world full of people with fundamentally similar needs and desires. Without any commentary on present politics, the United States is still a great place to live, and despite some things people may hear in other parts of the world, it’s a very welcoming and tolerant place in many regards.

Ultimately, people will think what they want, but I hope I’ve given you a little perspective on a place you may know well or may not know at all. I welcome any comments and thank Snoskred once again for the opportunity to share my words with her readers.

Thank you Ray, a very appropriate post for Election Day here in Australia, where my country is currently deciding who we really are. We might be the same as we’ve been for the last 11 or so years, or we might think it is time for a change. Either way an evening of cheesecake and my favourite election analyst, Antony Green, looms ahead of me.

In many ways our country follows your country and we’re about the same age. But we get 4 weeks of holidays a year. And some lucky people among us get even more than that!

Remember, you can get out of your niche too – all bloggers are welcome. Just contact me.

This week Forest Parks has dropped by to get out of his niche. Enjoy!

I grew up in London, UK but recently I have finally made the brave step of moving across the high seas and now live in Montreal, Canada.

For years I had wanted to leave for a foreign land but always found excuses or ended up tied down to something. So to actually finally be somewhere new is still unbelievable.

When Snoskred gave me the opportunity to write this guest post, I suddenly realised that I had no idea what to write about. I knew an opportunity had been given to me to show some new readers my writings. The pressure was on to write something that was at least informative and entertaining enough for anyone who does not read my blog. Hopefully I have managed to do that!

So in line with some of the other guest posts and with the title of this great blog, I am going to write about this city and my time here thus far.

© Forest ParksI have visited Montreal a few times before, so it wasn’t a complete leap of faith and I was already familiar with the layout and general buzz of the city. Montreal thrives on it’s interesting mix of North American and French-influenced culture, as well as a large immigrant community and a very open minded artsy approach to life. This makes it a very vibrant city. Somehow the streets manage to perspirate both non stop excitement and laid back aromas, and it truly is a city that allows you operate anytime at your own pace and leisure.

Being addicted to blogging, I often find myself relaxing in downtown coffee shops using the ‘sans fil’ to connect to the net or relaxing on my bed at home in the leafy area of Westmount.

Westmount is only a 25 minute walk from all the buzz and is billed as the ‘English’ area, sporting English styled buildings with details of French-class, all set amongst rows of glorious maple tress and green parkland. It’s a cool place to walk around on a lovely clean, crisp autumn day.

When I manage to pry myself away from the evil MacBook, I can be found working in the trenches of Hurley’s Bar on Crescent Street, preparing food and making sandwiches for the many tourists and business peoples who frequent the lovely mock-Irish bar. Hurley’s is a great place to work. As one of Montreal’s more well known pubs, it attracts a large amount of clientèle. It can get busy, but with a great crowd of young (or at least young at heart) and enthusiastic co-workers, things always get done. Everyone gets on superb.

Strangely, I have found that I actually drink less now that I work in a Bar, but have been known to spend the odd inebriated night in the English styled Cock’n'Bull. It’s a great (and in Montreal terms) old pub with an endless list of elderly locals to chat with and hear unbelievable folklores. There is also a vibrant student crowd and interesting themed nights, such as Monday Craft Night’, keeping you entertained.

Bars and Restaurants are another forte of this ever talented city. Me and my partner Lara especially like walking over to the East side where all manor of different restaurants can be found. Just the other day we dined in a fantastic Ethiopian restaurant. Given no instructions and no cutlery, we found ourselves conjuring interesting ways to get the extremely pleasant food into our bellies, without ruining our clothes. This area also has some great Bars such as the grundgy hockey-hole: Barfly. Plus there’s a very nice little wooden affair, known as Yermad, which I think may be French for “Very Nice Little Bar” (I’m unsure on that translation. Maybe I should look it up!).

The East is the predominately French-speaking area. Its buildings and attitude reflect this, with winding staircases and a more grubby, weathered, but uber-cool feel. This, I guess is why it has become a big hang out for the many students that reside here.

© Forest Parks
Two huge Universities (McGill and Concordia) as well as endless technical schools, make sure that it’s impossible to take a snapshot of any area without pointing out a handful of these little scoundrels whizzing around between bars, bookshops, libraries, coffee shops and school. Montreal is infested with students.

A little further East still brings you to ‘The Village’. Sounds important, hey? Well, this is the so-called ‘Gay’ area. Here you can find (yep you guessed!) more bars and fantastic terraces to hang out (if there’s warm weather), not to mention some very flamboyant people. Full body spandex suits and hi-fashion punks are not uncommon here. It becomes a sight seeing exercise in itself. I love the openness and commend any city that is proud of its sexual diversity.

The flamboyance and obscureness is not restricted to one little area. All over the city you can see it, from homeless people displaying crazy signs like ‘Help me, my parents were killed by The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’. Or take, for example, an old man with full-on Hells Angels get-up, riding a pink bicycle, to a guy that tries to hold you up at ‘banana’ point and extract small change from you. I promise you the visual fun never ends.

© Forest ParksHowever, talking about the homeless situation moves me to talk about a darker side. Montreal seems to have an extremely high homeless population. At times it gets overwhelming and you find yourself detaching. They can be very offensive, hassling you for money, swearing at you. Sometimes they start to feel like seagulls that have built up the courage to swoop close enough to humans, making you feel extremely awkward. I am trying consciously to avoid these feelings. Winter is coming and I really can’t see how these people will survive -40 weather. I am having a hard time working out how even me, in my privileged situation, will have enough warm clothing and easy access to transport.

There is also a large Native population. The general attitude towards these First Nations People leaves me sour. In many cases, labelled as “Junkies” and “Drunks”, this downtreading and the systematic lack of opportunities, in my opinion, is really holding these people back from fully integrating and being accepted as they should be.

Like all cities, Montreal is not perfect. But this is one of the things that keeps it feeling like a dynamic and interesting place to be right now.

During my 3 months here, I really haven’t scratched the surface of this enchanting place. Spending most of my time downtown and in the surrounding areas, I’ve not ventured out to experience the whole island. I would love to do a 100 mile hike around it’s perimeter.

Life is interesting once again and the move out of my comfort zone has paid off.

Thank you Snoskred for letting me blog out of my niche.

You’re welcome Forest – it was well worth it! An excellent guest post. I do wonder why Montreal? Many Brits move overseas to places with warm weather – Spain and Brisbane in Australia are two that immediately jump into my head as places with a lot of Brits. No -40 degree days there. No snow. I tell you what though, if you’re looking for advice on how to survive cold winters Sephy will have a few ideas for you being as he lives in the snow belt of the USA.

It’s almost time for me to start stalking some guest bloggers again, which I will be doing very shortly! Before I come looking for you, why not volunteer? You can get out of your niche too – all bloggers are welcome. Just contact me.

This week regular commentor here at Life In The Country Kin is getting out of her niche. Enjoy!

Believe it or not I had chosen my topic for this post before Mr Howard called the election, but small town politics (both official and unofficial) is such a huge part of my town, that to discuss my life here without mentioning it would leave such a huge hole in the story, I may as well not tell it.

We moved here 5 years ago. From one tourist strip, to another. Our previous tourist strip had 200,000 people. Here there are just 5,000. While a fairly small community, it’s different to the “country” town 15 minutes down the road, where surnames are street names, and several generations have lived in the same house. My town is transient, full of backpackers and young people working their way around Australia. Retiree’s are also well represented. I mean where else would you want to retire to?

We’re never short of anything to do in town here. Apart from the Great Barrier Reef being on our doorstep, there’s a seemingly continual procession of activities that start in January, and only let up in December for all the Christmas functions.

But when there’s such a small community, it really requires a large proportion to be involved to make any kind of impact. Our family is and has been very involved in various community groups over the years we’ve been here. And the politics within community organizations will always be an issue, wherever you live. But it certainly makes life a touch more interesting when a member of your committee is married to the local mayor. And half your committee is actively involved in protesting against various “decisions” the local council has made.

See, our council seems to know exactly what to do to ensure maximum reaction from the community. An old car park in the middle of town? We’ll just build a resort on it, provide less parking for locals and visitors – oh and a few hundred pokies next to a family lagoon. What reaction did they think they were going to get?

Fortunately, a community so used to being actively involved in organising events was quite able to turn in a petition with 1,700 signatures from locals (remembering a town of 5,000), 3,000 objections to the development application and a protest march the likes of which our town has never seen (and our town has seen a few!!!). The developer formally withdrew the application this year (finally!).

Or my favourite – the airport that didn’t make a profit in 2001 (did any regional airport?), so we’ll sell it to someone who wants to close it down so we all have to travel another 30 minutes (total time = 1 hour) to the nearest airport. The actions against the foreshore development were repeated, and the issue ended up in the Supreme Court, which finally found there was no contract for sale and that our airport could stay where it was. Amazingly the airport is now turning a massive profit, and redevelopment works are underway a mere 6 months after this finding.

When I stop and think about these political events in our town, and compare them to our previous home, I can’t help but notice the striking differences. Petitions had similar numbers of signatures, despite the massive difference in population. Protests were all but unheard of. And if they did happen, they were something like restoring the local post office or banning skateboards on footpaths. Things that while important, don’t necessarily impact the entire community in quite the same way.

This hit home to me on Friday night as we made our annual pilgrimage to the lagoon for “Cracker Night” – the start of the October/November festival of choice – to realise that had the development gone ahead on the car park site, there would be nowhere to launch the fireworks from. I compared it to the Brisbane “River Fire” where 500,000 people line the banks of the Brisbane River, crowded, on top of each other, to watch fireworks and the crowd favourite – F1-11’s. We lay on the grass next to our town’s “swimming hole”, with kids playing in the water til late, and chatted with our neighbours who were sitting not far from us. And we watched a somewhat less impressive display of firepower.

Less impressive it might have been, but it wouldn’t have happened at all if not for the hard work of a community not afraid to take on their alleged representatives, and stand up and fight for their community.

With our impending move South to the Big City, these types of reflections are getting more and more common. I wonder if the things I’ve learned living here will stay with me, or if they’ll get lost among the sheer number of people.

Kin – I have no idea how I would cope moving back to the Big City now. A busy night at the local Chinese Restaurant is too noisy for me. I’ve become used to the peace and quiet of our new home very quickly. It happened so fast I can’t even remember what life in the city used to be like. I don’t know if I could handle it again. You’re a braver girl than I am, that’s for sure!

I have begun to see some of these small town politics in action myself since moving to a town of less than 5,000 and it is highly interesting to watch.

You can read more from Kin at her blog – Home Of Slightly Cracked Dreams. Kin is also one of those who listened to me about blog themes and installed one of the gorgeous themes from Pannasmontata Templates. It looks great Kin, Well Done!

And remember, you can get out of your niche too – all bloggers are welcome. Just contact me.

Today I have a fascinating guest post from Stephen Cronin – a fellow Aussie who is most decidedly out of the country.

I’m supposed to write about life in my country, so the first question is ‘what’s my country’? The answer is most definitely Australia, but I’ve spent most of the last 10 years living overseas. The last two years have been spent in China, but now it appears that in six months time, I’ll be taking my family home.

So instead of writing about life in my country, I’m going to look at what I’m looking forward to about life in Australia and what I’ll miss about life in China.

Life In Australia – Looking Forward

There are many things I’m looking forward to about living in Australia again. I can’t list them all, but here are some of the first to spring to mind.

The Outdoors Lifestyle

BBQs. Playing with my family at the park. Picnics. Sitting on the back deck watching the sun set. Fish and chips by the beach. Bush walking. Wide open spaces. The endless blue sky…

In Australia, we use the outdoors for recreation. In China, its used for living. Daily life happens wherever there is room. The outdoors isn’t approached in the same way. Recreation here centers around food and spending time with other people. That’s not a bad thing, but I miss the Australian approach.

They have the most wonderful parks in China, but they are cultivated to the nth degree and lack the natural feel of Australian parks. Likewise, they have some absolutely stunning scenery, but the nature itself often comes second to making it an event for visitors. It seems that having been there is more important than having seen it (people are more worried about getting the photograph in front of the sign, than actually stopping and taking it all in).

The wonderful environment we are so lucky to have in Australia is one of the things I miss most. Getting back to nature and enjoying the outdoors lifestyle is at the top of my list of things I’m looking forward to.

Driving

I love to drive! I’ve been driving for almost 20 years and it seems like the car becomes an extension of you. Take it away and it feels like something is missing.

Here in China, I don’t have a car. There’s no need for one. I can walk to work in fifteen minutes, to the shops in ten minutes. If I need to go into the city, which is 30 minutes away, I can take a bus (they run every 3 or 4 minutes and only cost 35 cents) or a taxi ($3.50). Most weeks I’ll spend less than $5 on transport. Compare that to your petrol bill!

But although its great for my wallet, I really miss driving.

So when I get back to Australia, I’m going to drive, drive, drive. I’ll drive to the shops, I’ll drive into town, I’ll drive around the block! Not good for the environment, I know, but hey, I just saved the planet from 2 years worth of car pollution!

Hot Christmas

I’ve been enjoying cold Christmas’s for quite a while now. While that’s a great thing, especially when there’s snow (just like in the movies!), I do miss the hot Australian Christmas.

Cold ham (off the bone), salad, ice-cold beer, cricket in the park, watermelon. I could keep going. These are what I grew up with at Christmas time and as great as a White Christmas is, there’s always something missing.

Open Internet

Obviously, being a blogger and web developer, access to the Internet is very important to me. So the fact that many popular sites are blocked in China is very frustrating for me. Sites blocked include Wikipedia, BBC News, Flickr, Technorati, wordpress.com, blogspot.com.

Until Snoskred recently switched to a hosted WordPress site, I couldn’t even access A Life In The Country!

There are ways around this of course. I can get to pretty much any site I like, by using TOR or a web-based proxy server, but it’s inconvenient and slow.

So being able to turn the computer on and access any site I like will be one of the great pleasures of being back in Australia.

A Return To My Career

I’ve been teaching ICT here in China, but teaching’s not my profession. Whilst teaching can be rewarding and I’ve really enjoyed it, I’m ready for a change. A return to my career beckons.

I’ve spent 13 years in the software industry, most of it in management roles and I miss it. I miss the office environment, working on projects, the pressure of business, the feeling of being involved in something. I even miss meetings!

Of course, I may say something a little different if you ask me in a years time, but for now, I am really keen to get back into it.

So if you know of any great jobs in Brisbane from about May next year, let me know!

Life In China – What I’ll Miss

Living in China has been a great experience for me. In many ways, I don’t want to leave. These are some of the reasons why.

The Dining Experience

Food is very important to the Chinese. It has to be fresh and it has to taste great. If you’ve never tried real Chinese food, I can assure you it is far superior to the food you get in Chinese restaurants in the west. In fact, there are very few dishes here that I recognise from Chinese restaurants in Australia.

For those not familiar with Chinese dining, each person does not have an individual meal. Instead, many dishes are placed in the centre of the table and you help yourself to a little of everything. This solves my problem of wishing I’d ordered what the person next to me had!

Compared to Australia, eating out here is very cheap. Chicken and oyster mushroom fried rice (enough to fill me up) is $1. I’d be hard pressed to cook at home for less than that. For two people eating out in style, it normally costs less than $10.

While there are some dishes I won’t miss (chicken’s feet!) and while I’m looking forward to some of the options I’ll have in Australia, on the whole, I’m losing out.

Vibrancy

The minute I step outside my door here in China, there is something going on. There are people everywhere, whether they are working, shopping or just taking a stroll. There is always something interesting (often unusual!) to see.

Although Australia is noted for it’s outdoors lifestyle, this only applies to our recreation time. The average Australian (myself included) spends most of their time indoors.

I was struck by the difference the last time I was back in Australia. It was middle of the day, in Australian suburbia. I stepped outside and I couldn’t see any one. They were all at work, at the shops or inside their houses. I stood there for 5 minutes. Nothing moved. It was static, lifeless … dare I say, boring!

I don’t know how immigrants survive in the suburbs. I’m not looking forward to it and I grew up with it. Life won’t seem as rich.

Freedom

Yes, you read that right! I’m going to miss the freedom of China. There are problems (see Internet section above for example), but in some areas the Chinese are freer than we are in the west.

This is especially noticeable in the workplace where, in the west, we are bogged down by a multitude of regulations. Health and Safety, Equal Opportunity, Bullying, Sexual Harrasment. All of these are good things, but they are often taken too far. This can make the workplace over-complicated and less enjoyable. At worst, it increases stress and even impacts on people’s quality of life.

Another issue relates to children: These days we tend to overprotect them, which I think limits their growth. Children have to be given some freedom to try things, take risks, make mistakes, learn from them, etc. Many of the things I got up to when I was a kid just wouldn’t be allowed these days, because parents are protecting their children, but these things helped me become more capable and confident.

Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be cautious, but I think we are too cautious and it’s gotten to the stage where it has a negative impact on our lifesytle. I also believe we are over-regulated (whatever happened to personal responsibility by the way?).

In China, it’s the opposite. They aren’t cautious enough! There isn’t enough protection in place for employees. It’s probably like Australia was 40 or 50 years ago. But people are generally more relaxed and less worried than we are. Living here has been a breath of fresh air.

I believe there should be a sensible middle line somewhere between the two. In Australia, fear plays too important a role in our lives. I’m not looking forward to that aspect of life in Australia.

Chinglish

China is full of signs (and t-shirts) with English writing. Unfortunately (or fortunately), there are often errors with the English. These are guaranteed to bring a smile to your face and often leave you laughing.

I can never remember the funniest examples, so I’ll point you engrish.com or flickr’s chinglish pool if you have some time to spare and want a good laugh. The only example I can remember is “Please respect the fragrant meadow” (Keep off the grass), but there are many which are much funnier.

A side note: I’ll never forget when one of my students – quiet, studious, conservative – started wearing a t-shirt with chinglish proclaiming that she was a hot porn star (or words to that effect). She would have been horrified if she knew what it meant.

Sadly, chinglish being slowly eradicated here, especially with the Olympics coming, but you still come across the occasional unexpected surprise that will brighten your day.

Education Environment

While I much prefer the style of education in Australia (in China they still learn by rote), I have concerns about the environment. By that I mean drugs, violence, sex, etc. It seems each week brings a news story which makes me think twice about putting my children in that environment.

Here in China, the bad students in my classroom are the ones who don’t do any work or fall asleep in class. If you call them on it, they apologise and are embarrassed!

The bad students in Australia? Well I finished to school almost 20 years ago and we were a lot worse than that then. What’s it’s like now, I have no real idea, but if the stories in the media are indicative, it’s a lot worse.

Like any father, I’m worried about what my children will face at school. Part of me thinks I’d rather raise my family in China, where youngsters still have respect for their elders.

For all the negative things about China that you’ll read in the western media, there are things that the Chinese do better than us. The sense of family and respect instilled in youngsters is one of them.

The Final Word

There are many other things I’ll miss about China and many things I’ll enjoying back in Australia – these are just some of the main ones. It’s going to be a big change for our family and we’re looking forward to it, but there will be some sadness too. The world is a great place and it’s good to experience as much of it as we can.

Stephen has worked in the software industry in Australia, UK and USA for 13 years. He is currently living in China with his family, where his ‘day job’ is teaching ICT and his nights are spent blogging and developing websites. You can read more from Stephen at his blog - More Than Scratch The Surface

This post was so interesting to me. I’ve never lived out of Australia for a long period of time – the longest I’ve been out of the country has been 6 week trips. There are so many amazing IT jobs in Australia. Looking on seek.com.au IT is always the category with the highest amount of advertised jobs – it currently has about 10,000 more jobs available than any other category – the next highest category is accountants. It seems we do not have enough qualified people in Australia to fill both these job categories – so there will surely be something great out there when you return, Stephen. 

Get Out Of Your Niche has quickly become one of my favourite features here on my blog. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do! And remember, you can get out of your niche too – all bloggers are welcome. Just contact me.