American things, good and bad.

Everyone who moves across countries and continents probably knows the feeling of "but this thing was better in place X". First year or two, you get stuck missing food and way of doing things from your previous home country, and talking about the things that were so much better back at home. Well, I know myself and I know that I will be doing this anywhere I go. So, I've been thinking recently about the aspects of America and California that I will miss one day.

• Customer service. You truly can ask for things the way you like them. Nothing is ever too outrageous a request, and when it is, suitable compromise is being worked with a smile. I've never felt that the friendliness of the servers was fake, and I'm getting too used to the speed at which food is being brought out at restaurants. Returns policies are really extensive (e.g. REI allows returns for a year!) and easy even when shopping online.
• Shopping online. Even when living in a small town where shopping options are limited, it's easy to buy whatever you might want just with a couple of clicks and the items arrive in a couple of days to your doorstep. I regularly buy shoes, clothes, cosmetics and electronics online, but I've also bought non-standard items like custom-made clothing, decorative fabrics and art supplies. 
• Friendliness and genuineness of people. Before to moving here, I thought that Americans are fake and no one can truly be that friendly, but I'm happy to report that I was absolutely wrong about this!
• Sense of community. As the social security system is minimal, people really look after each other. Also, Davis is such a small town that people readily organize small events themselves and everyone is made to feel welcome. Most extreme example of community efforts has been Burning Man and related events, where large groups of people come together to build stunning (yet temporary) art and welcoming community. 
• Opinions and open discussions. People are not afraid to debate, to exchange ideas and views, and I feel this is the best manifestation of the American freedom.
• Fruit. I don't think I will ever eat such delicious and cheap fruit as here in the middle of the Central Valley. Avocados, peaches, apricots, oranges, plums, nectarines... 
• Beer. American craft beer market has exploded in the recent years, and now the selection is huge and exciting. Yummy white beers, fruit beers (watermelon & apricot being my current favourites), ambers, brown beers, dark beers... and unfortunately a ton of IPAs.
• Weather. I love that I can wear a summery dress every single day of the year, including winter when addition of leggings makes you warm enough. And the continuous sunshine, oh the sunshine! It makes a huge difference to my energy levels.
• Technology. People are truly at the forefront of everything new, and new gadgets and technologies are adopted at staggering speed.
• Science. Also at the forefront of everything new. A lot of great science happens in California and people dare to dream up big ideas and big projects. Everything is done in powerful high-throughput. People speak up about where the academia should be headed, for example there is a lot of movement towards open access (but European funding agencies might be more supportive of this?) and people who actively promote the gender balance. Diverse role models exist.

And then a quick list of things that I will not be missing (just so that no one thinks that I'm totally in love with the US):

• Coffee. Either horrible or expensive.
• Lack of public transport. We are finally looking to buy a car, as doing the things we'd like to do has become difficult. It's impossible to go skiing, visit Bay Area (or even Sacramento) in the evenings or seeing the country without a car.
• Living to work, not working to live. Luckily I absolutely love my work and I have the freedom to decide what is included in it (e.g. mentoring, organizing events, conference travel, learning new things). But yes, I work longer hours than I have ever before, and my work has become an inherent part of me. Or maybe it's the fact I'm in academia and it happens eventually to everyone?
• Workers rights. The postdoctoral researchers have decent vacation days and health coverage in the UC system thanks to our union. I'm not jealous of the regular worker without guaranteed health benefits or sick days, and typically two weeks of (unpaid) vacation time. Maternity leave is minimal, three months in academia seeming to be the norm.
• Healthcare. Stories I've heard of healthcare even with good coverage are shocking, let alone the stories of paying for the insurance yourself or having a shitty one provided to you by your employer because you happen to be e.g. a grad student. 
• Legal system. All the weird stuff about suing and paying huge sums for damages, companies being treated as people, and a huge proportion of the population being the jail at this very moment make no sense to me.
• Traffic. How can there be so many frigging cars??

And now it's time for me to go and enjoy yet another sunny and beautiful day in Davis!

Food, glorious food.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Life has been very busy and travelling quite minimal, so blogging has been low on the list of priorities. However, we've been recently cooking a lot of new recipes, so I'd like to list some of the things I found really fun and delicious in the past year or so. Why haven't I cooked these before?!

• Falafels
• Tsatsiki
• Yorkshire puddings
• Gravy
• Cranberry sauce (modification of the recipe linked)
• Custard / Creme Anglaise
• Spanish rice
• Coleslaw
• Garbanzo bean salad
• Baked goat cheese salad
• Devilled eggs
• Bacon and chevre and mushroom pastries
• Tea & cream parfait(/sorbet?) with ginger sauce (no link - recipe inherited from an old clipping)

Om nom nom!

Wait, is it normal in Europe that it rains for two days?

Observation 1: American students are taught to insert a double space after a period when writing official documents. I have never heard of this and it irritated me heavily (working on a manuscript where some authors do this, and some don't). Internet agrees with me that this is something that was done in early 1900s when typing on a actual typewriter, and should never be done in modern world.

Observation 2: Apparently two days of regular rain is a "storm". I'm thinking this is a Californian use of the word, as people here are used to the eternal sunshine. Internet again agrees with me: rain on it's own doesn't constitute a storm - typically heavy winds (55+ mph) are needed, or alternatively some additional element such as thunder, hail, or even fire. This obviously came about from the fact that it rained for a week, although it still is not enough to restore water levels. The magnolias and fruit trees have started flowering.

Observation 3: Call for gender equality manifests in weird ways. Most typical is mocking people who ignorantly portray gender distributions based on current reality (e.g. of group leaders and lab workers or Nobel prize winners). I understand that people feel that using imagery like this might perpetuate the atmosphere of male dominance in sciences, but it could be turned around into a (positive?) rallying call for awareness and change (instead of shaming the ignorant).

Observation 4: I still don't understand what is and what isn't racism. There's a grant we're applying for to fund summer students to work with us, and it would be easily ours if we could show that we have identified minority students to work with us (minority = Native American, Black, Hispanic). How do you ask your students their ethnicity?! I'm still extremely baffled by this.

Observation 5: Voting with your feet is difficult if you delve into moral/politic considerations. I today learned that the bike shop I frequent in Davis is owned by a supporter of Proposition 8 (same-sex marriage ban). I agree with my friends - it's difficult to bring your custom to someone when they disagree with you on a human rights issue. But then, where do you draw a line? If you hear that a shop is Christian or Muslim owned, will you not shop there? Big companies and anything produced in China are probably also out of question. Should I avoid my favourite grocery store, Davis Co-Op, because I approve of GMOs and they probably don't? Also, even though the owner of the bike shop might think that not everyone is equal, I do. And I think he deserves to make a living with the well-run shop where I've always had the best service, regardless of what he thinks as a private person.

Yet another sunny day in paradise.

This winter has has amazingly sunny weather. Yes, there was a couple of weeks of freezing weather and the night time temperatures are still cold, but every day has been sunny and bright. And not so surprisingly, lack of rain has led to a severe drought (worst in the history, someone said). But Davis is still green, lawns get watered to muddy pits and water gets wasted... because water is still ridiculously cheap (at least compared to countries where I've lived before) and for instance, in the apartment complex where we live, water is included in our rent. So far the impact of the drought on our lives has been not going skiing in Tahoe due to lack of snow but I'm really dreading next summer and the real trouble; crop losses, water use limitations and increased cost of living.

Also, we've managed to get outside Davis a few times in the past weeks, and I've been baffled by the billboards around Sacramento. Firstly, it seems weird to me that atheism is something that needs advertising. Do people pick their religious beliefs from billboards? I guess using real people and their lack of belief expands the understanding that there are everyday people who do not have religion... something that is blatantly obvious to me.

Secondly, would you shop at a grocery store that advertises themselves only with a phrase "Where else can you have marshmallows for dinner?" Is advertising towards kids not restricted here? Are there adults that would choose that store because of them suggesting marshmallows for dinner? Does that not scream "this not the place where you should be shopping for food!" I just do not understand.

Happy Holidays and Season's Greetings!

The autumn has gone by in a blink with a lot of work done and many great evenings of fun with friends old and new. We had a great Christmas break, involving too much good food and a lot of board games, and on my part, some pondering about how Christmas can be politically incorrect in such a Christian country.

For me Christmas weather is definitely cold, maybe even white, so once again, it's been difficult understanding that it's Christmas when it's 20C and sunny. Also, I've found that Christmas decorations in public places are much more minimal here. I don't know if it's Davis or America in general, but the first Christmas songs I heard whilst shopping were in mid-December. Not September like in the Philippines, not October or November like in Europe, but so late in the season that I actually considered finding some Christmas music from the internet to fill the void in my life!

Christmas has been always close to my heart even though I'm not religious in any sense of the word. I love all the candles and fairy lights, the smell of the tree, amazing home-cooked food, the family getting together, spending a couple of days just with the family and enjoying each other's company, and there is still something elating about Santa's visit and all the thought that loved ones have put in preparing a celebration together. I guess that Thanksgiving plays that role in America's hearts, so there hasn't been a fusion of all cultures and religions to celebrate Yuletide together in the same extent as in Europe.

I started writing this post thinking that I'd comment on certain points, but after attempting to write about them I changed my mind about them. It's ok for me if people want to be considerate and call the vacation day on 25th Dec the Winter Holiday, because not everyone approaches Christmas in the same non-religious way that I do. It's ok that Americans don't get the Christian holidays off from work automatically, because they're Americans and work-crazy anyway (and politically correct to top it off). I appreciate the US trying to separate the Church and the State, but for me it would not start by making Christmas politically incorrect - I would rather see religion not interfering with e.g. holding a public office. In the same vein, here's an interesting story about non-Christian groups fighting for equal rights in this country.

However, it's the New Year now and I wish all my readers great adventures!

Dear Top Gear,

On my daily commute to work I suffer from the stupendously bad knowledge of traffic rules by cyclists. I get over this by dreaming of an amazing video, where the same type of driving is carried out by cars. It would include

• turning right just to fall over
• not stopping at a red light or a stop sign, regardless of incoming traffic
• not yielding to vehicles in a roundabout but diving into people already in it
• driving slowly side by side taking both of the lanes, chatting away
• driving on the pavement and not on the lane dedicated for your vehicle
• turning across two lanes without checking the mirror or indicating a turn
• all this without seatbelt or lights, in the dark, while texting a friend, listening to music and drinking a latte

And an extra one for the pedestrians near extremely busy bikeways:

• trying to cross a highway whilst staring at your smart phone

If you could make this video a reality, I would be eternally grateful.

Camping til the summer ends.

The late summer in Davis has been glorious. Returning back to the sunny and warm weather from already cool and rainy Europe in August was awesome, and I've had great opportunities to go camping with my lovely friends.

Canoeing and wine tasting in Russian River

As a jet-lag cure, we spent a weekend camping at Schoolhouse Canyon in Sonoma Valley. It was my first experience of camping in America, and I was stunned how nice the campgrounds were and how much camping gear people had. Huge tents, travel kitchens, the works. I had great time regardless of my jet lag (got to see the sunrise on a foggy river... probably the first in a long long time).

We had bought a Groupon for a day canoeing trip, and as the weather was around scorchy 40C, a day on the river was so pleasant and fun. I had no idea how to steer the canoe, but luckily my friends were more apt at it! Also, the same friend who kept me going straight, had prepared an amazing Greek-themed packed lunch for us to picnic on by the river.... (mmm I'm getting hungry thinking it even two months later!). 

The day on the river was followed by an evening in Healdsburg: some wine tasting, art gallery window shopping and some of the best tapas I've ever had at Bravas (I don't think I can even start thinking about those... I'm too hungry to write about them!)

Unsurprisingly, on the Sunday during the drive back to Davis, we stopped at as many wineries as we could. While I disagreed with the others on matters of taste for most of the day, we all absolutely loved Harvest Moon. Their wine tasting was somehow more personal and friendlier than any of the others, and the owner stopped by too to share his tales about winemaking. I really want to go back there next time I'm in Sonoma!

Backpacking in Ventana wilderness

Now that I had some camping experience under my belt, another couple of my friends managed to persuade me to go backpacking with them on the Labour Day weekend. We drove down past Big Sur on Highway 1 just before the Labour Day traffic. The first night we camped at Limekiln camp grounds, where we watched the sunset by the Pacific and used the appendix of my Game of Thrones book to light a campfire. The new camping mattress I had invested in was amazing, and felt rested starting the hike the next morning.

My friend had led me to believe that the hike would be really easy, and I had warned her that I swear like a sailor when I have to walk uphill for more than 10 minutes. I think both of us lied. In the end, it was an amazing hike (except for the flies) on a lovely cloudy day, and the views were stunning:

After 5 miles uphill when we reached our camping spot at Vincent Flat, I set my tent up under a huge redwood and promptly proceeded to take a lengthy nap. We had the best dinner ever (like the meals out in the wild tend to be), and the night was so dark and the forest was so full of sounds that I slept ridiculously well. I think that the large redwood in the middle of this picture is that I slept underneath:

Obviously the hike down was easy breezy beautiful, and I felt like I could go on for ages (but my leg muscles next day proved this to be a lie). We had a quick dip in the ocean before heading to Pigeon Point lighthouse hostel. This time we had some vacation traffic with us on the Highway 1, but we got to Pigeon Point well before dark - on time to book the last time slot for the hot tub under the stars. To prepare for the hot tub, we ate well at  Highway 1 brewery, and well, I was so amazingly relaxed.

(For people considering to stay at the hostel: There is some debate if I got bedbug bites there or not - both my legs were bitten and they still itch a month later. This was regardless of the annoying plastic sheets they used. Also, do take earplugs for dorm sleeping although I doubt the woman snoring like a war elephant will be there again.)

Symbiosis Gathering at Woodward Reservoir

After having tagged along my friends and practiced camping with their awesome gear, it was time for me and Boyfriend (who arrived here not too long ago!) to gear up for camping trips of our own. Tiny gas cooker, cooler, camping cups and plates, camping chairs... and we were all set to go to a festival!

So we headed out to Symbiosis Gathering - a mini-Burning Man of sorts: 10,000 people, amazing amounts of art and music, and all around good time. It was located on a peninsula into a reservoir, which made an interesting venue to explore and washing off the dust easy. I had amazing time meeting new friends, dancing out under the stars, enjoying the shows from circus to burlesque to psychedelic bingo, and hearing some of my favouritest artists out there to play sets. When can I go again? 

As we didn't bring a camera there, here's some good photos from Symbiosis.

Greetings from summer vacation!

Amazing summer in Davis.

This is a list of amazing things about spending summer in Davis:

Daytime weather (30-45C)
Nighttime weather (15-25C)

Friends
Barbecues
Boardgames
Breweries
Accordions
Swimming pools
Ice-cream
Fireworks on July 4th
Whole Earth Festival
Farmers' Market
Apricots
Peaches
Nectarines
Hikes
Bikes
Parties
Pool parties
Birthday parties
Barbecue parties
Run 5K parties
Eurovision parties
Movie nights
Shopping days
Road trips
Adventures
Lake Berryessa
Point Reyes
Napa Valley
Fine Dining
Dining
Picnics
Hot Springs


...there has been so many great weekends this summer! It's a pleasure looking back the past few months and realise how much awesome stuff has happened. Thank you goes to all of my friends here in Davis!

American Law.

Disclaimer: I actually have not read any law books ever, and all of what I'm writing here is based on hearsay, and no one should trust this as a reliable reference. Because, you know, it's America, and someone might sue me for incorrect legal council.

So this is my general impression of American law:

• Common sense is not expected from Americans. ("Putting this plastic bag on your head may cause death", "Warning: coffee is hot", "Do not leave the driver's seat whilst driving").

• If someone hurts themselves in your house, you have to pay for their medical bills.

• If you own some beautiful forest, or a piece of pretty but rocky shoreline, or even a simple greenhouse, it's an attractive threat. So when a drunk person climbs on your property and hurts themselves, they will sue you and win. To get around this, you can make your property much prettier by posting "do not enter" every hundred meters and you'll be covered!

• Instead of law expecting you to help someone in need (e.g. car crash), the law might cover you against the other person suing you for damages that you caused whilst helping.

So interestingly, you can and will be liable for things that someone else's stupidity caused to themselves... but don't worry! You can still legally shoot people (in self-defense, in some states).

Ramblings on American entitlement.

I've written about this before, but it doesn't cease to amaze me how the sense of entitlement is engrained in the American psyche. "I've gone through such hardships that I deserve to be happy / to get this job / to get somewhere in life". Even it's a country with it's famous dream being that anyone can make it to the top with hard work, the newer generation seems to think that they're entitled to everything, from behaving badly to amazing things just coming their way. 

It has been in the news that Chinese tourists have extremely bad behavior (including writing on hieroglyphs in Egypt), and the American discussion boards have exploded by the happiness of hey, we're not the worst. True that, Americans are awful tourists, with their entitlement to doing things American way wherever they go and with their freedom of loud speech. Where I come from, pride is a sin, not a virtue, and instead of confidently parading around declaring who we are, we shyly want to know what others might think about us. 

I was helping to run an outreach event at a local high school a couple of weeks ago, and two things struck me hard. Firstly, why would you put a bumper sticker on your car declaring how awesome your kid is at school? Proud much? How would this achieve anything else except your kid being totally humiliated? Secondly, do you not trust your young citizens enough not to lock them behind gates and barbed wire for the day of school? I understand if the 5-year olds are in gated areas for their safety, but high schoolers? Well, I guess that they are not expected to be responsible for their own actions (they're entitled to do whatever they want, so let's not expect responsible choices from them?), but moreover people from outside are also a risk in this country (another scary thing that I keep forgetting about).

A Mexican friend of mine said that you you will find the truth about the nation from what sort of drugs are advertised on tv. Apparently in Mexico, the big money lies in cures for stomach problems (so the nation is all about spicy food?), but in the US, the ads are all about anti-depressants. And I've noticed that the entitlement reaches the mental health too; people feel that they deserve happiness and that it should just come to them without having to work towards it. 

I can see how the American society leaves very little space for a community feel, and how this leads to selfish behavior. Furthermore, the customer service culture where the customer is always right no matter what leads to weird expectations like "someone will tidy up after me if I leave a mess in the campsite/park/communal area". For me, putting my trash into the waste bin is a no-brainer, but just this weekend I saw a middle aged woman making a deal about how she's being a "good citizen" by putting her empty coffee cup into the trash. Honestly? 

I think this country needs a little bit more of personal responsibility. Most of the time what you get in life is what you put in yourself. You cannot always blame or sue someone when you make a mistake. You are not always right. When you promise something, stand up to it. Approach things with gratefulness, not entitlement. Care about people around you. Even though you're special and amazing, you're not the only one!

Having said this, Davis as a town has a community feel to it, and people seem to be very caring about their environment. I guess I shouldn't really jump into conclusions quite yet or draw generalizations about American psyche! Also, I might want to practice a bit more humility and stop being so judgmental against all thing American and stop being so proud of not being one of them… after all, the US is a wonderful and extremely successful country inhabited by some of the friendliest and greatest people I know!

Airtravel in the US.

Things that take me by surprise when I fly to places in the US:

1) All food and most of drink service is purchase-only. Even with major airlines. I'm too used to my free in-flight beer and snack!

2) Checking in bags costs money on all airlines.

3) You're allowed ridiculous number of bags in cabin. Oh your little suitcase and a huge laptop bag and a poster tube? Oh sure, bring in your pillow and handbag too!

4) Taking shoes off at security check no matter how light they are. Apparently even flip flops can have hidden pockets.

5) Short queue times to check-in and security check. Never stood in line more than 5 mins.

6) You're allowed to keep your bag at your feet on the security exit row.

7) The entertainment panel shows not very interesting shows and movies, and to get even that, you need to pay with your credit card (there's a swipe system attached).

Picnic Day & sunny spring days.

It seems that past two months just flew by without blog updates! Work has been keeping me busy and maybe a bit too stressed, and I did have my one cold of the year over the Easter weekend. March and April have been very sunny and pleasant, and I think spring might be my favourite time in California. The flowers on the many fruit trees lining Davis streets looked and smelled wonderful. Strawberries and asparagus have been in season. The weather has been sunny and warm without being too hot and exhausting, and there has been great days out with picnics, hikes, bikes, just spending time with friends. One great day like that was UC Davis 99th Annual Picnic Day.

Picnic Day is an UC Davis tradition where the university showcases some of it's aspects for general public and alumni, but it felt moreover a country fair with some of the animal shows. The queues for most interesting things were incredible, so we ended up just soaking up the sun and strolling through the campus, instead of spending hours in lines for Doxie Derby (dachshund race, video from 2009) or Chemistry Magic Show. For the afternoon, we sat down in the Arboretum for a picnic and the Battle of the Bands (video from this year), where marching bands from UCD and other nearby universities compete until the bands can't come up with a song to play that hasn't heard before that day!

I had a great day with my friends and campus activities were very much geared towards families. However I kept hearing that non-university affiliated locals dislike the Picnic Day as it jams the traffic completely, and because the student population goes absolutely crazy with drinking. I thought that it can't be that bad and people were exaggerating, but I did spot drinking games and drunken students already at 10am. However, we downtown area and didn't see the worst of it.

Today the temperature hit 30C and next week seems to be very hot, so I would be tempted to declare that summer has now begun. The sunshine and warm weather have been making me more energetic and happier, so I wish sunshine to all my readers too!

Land of the Free (restrictions apply, while supplies last)

The more time I've been in America, the more its ways baffle me. People here seem proud of their freedom, but I've felt that there are surprising limitations and double-standards. I feel that money and religion play a bigger role than elsewhere in Western world where I've lived, and these seem to set some serious restrictions to personal freedoms.

If America openly embraced itself as a Christian country, I would not have an issue with the religion. But claiming to have freedom of religion just does not align with making schoolchildren cite Pledge of Allegiance ("one nation under God") or printing "In God we trust" on your money. Or, like they're suggesting in Arizona, making high school graduation conditional to reciting an oath by God. I have not personally felt any sort of discrimination by religion, or any sort of push to Christianity. However, when the religion starts affecting legislation, I think freedom is lost. Examples of this are the difficulty of same-sex marriages, and decisions taken on women's bodies and futures by attempting, for example, to criminalize abortion after rape as "tampering with evidence" as in New Mexico.

How about the freedom to carry a gun? I've started to think of this as freedom to be afraid on the streets, knowing that anyone could be armed and go crazy about it (goes well with the freedom from mental health support in California). I do think that Davis is really safe and I don't need to worry about guns here, but still our safety training included a section on what to do if someone shows up with a gun. But here's a beautiful defense for gun rights from Alex Jones, absolutely worth watching, I'm sure it will convince anyone that we'd be safer if he'd carry more guns.

And then the freedoms that money brings! There is a freedom for billionaires to buy off media to promote their agenda, instead of freedom for individuals to obtain reliable news. So apparently Fox News provides the biggest chuck of news to Americans, but unfortunately Fox News feeds the masses bollocks about climate change and thinks Germany is sunnier than the US. It's no wonder this country is so backward at times if the "news" are blatant mind control by someone rich enough. I feel there should be a freedom to access news free of censorship and bought opinions (like these) on public TV in the style of BBC.

And I want to finish off by saying that there are many numerous things that America excels in, like freedom of speech. I've never experienced it elsewhere like I have in San Francisco, where anyone will start an opinionated debate with you on the bus. There are many countries that I've been to where I would not dare to publish this post due to government policing the internet for unwanted opinions, but in America (so far) I've felt safe to say what I think!

Los Angeles: cars and stars.

For the long weekend of the Presidents' Day I did a trip to Los Angeles. I took the train (and a couple of Amtrak busses) from Davis to LA, and it was actually a very comfortable way to travel. The leg space, the free wifi and the views were a definite bonus. And not needing to go to the airport but travelling directly between city centres! The views were mainly flat farmlands, which are much vaster than I had realised, and then suddenly stunning hills just north of LA.

LA itself was just like in the movies, and everything revolved around movies. Spot movie stars here! See the famous movie theatres and hand prints here! Take a tour to see movie stars' homes here! This building featured in these films! Come and see the movie studios here! Eat ice-cream here and use our celebrity GPS system to locate where various movie stars are right now! I do understand that movies are entertaining, but honestly, movie stars are just people that are great at acting and filmstudios are where they work. What if tourists tried to spot you, your home or your place of work? I feel the celebrity worship has gone a tad too far here.

I spent a lot of my two days on hop-on-hop-off buses which was a good way of seeing a city built for cars. Quick impressions:

•  Hollywood Boulevard was more touristy and more run down that I had expected, and the set up for Academy Awards was in full swing. 
• Beverly Hills and especially Rodeo Drive were posher than I had expected, and maybe someone should tell Eddie Murphy that Beverly Hills Police Department was hiring. I liked how residential streets were lined by trees, each street with a different species than the others.  
• Santa Monica was beach and palms, and as I think I got a little bit too much sun sitting on the open top bus, I skipped walking on the beach. I also forgot to pack my sunglasses and sunblock with me - such a beginner's error for someone going to LA!
• Downtown LA was actually to me most interesting part - it had beautiful high-rise architecture and it felt like a real city compared to the surreality of Beverly Hills.

Interestingly enough, Wilshire Boulevard, is a point of pride to LA. It had the first traffic lights in the city as well as the first dedicated left-turn lane in all of US. The shops on the street were required to have sufficient parking for all their customers, and it's claimed that this street started the car culture in America that spread like wildfire. I find myself wishing that it hadn't, and there would be more pedestrian-friendly areas and public transport. The traffic in LA was awful, every street is wide and traffic jammed a lot of the time. I could not believe how many cars there could be in a city centre!

One of the highlights for me was the hostel I stayed at, the Orange Drive Manor hostel, and interesting people I met at the dorm. The reasons to come to LA/Hollywood seem to be acting, dancing, partying and taking photos! I suffered a little about having a top bunk (waking up felt a bit like this under their leopard-print covers) but it was the only spot in the room that got reliable wifi!

New York, California and Happy Holidays.

Happy and successful New Year 2013 to everyone! Let's honour the old year with a December-themed photo post!

New York, New York

I had the pleasure of spending a weekend in New York with my family. Stopping over there on their way to California was a fun move, as I got to see a bit more of the US as well and it breaks down their long journey nicely. New York was huge, and everything seemed so big after little old Davis. To get an idea of the city, we did a hop-on-hop-off ride around Manhattan and went up to 30 Rock to look at the views on our first day.

 View to the south from Top of the Rock. 

It was rainy and visibility wasn't great, but it made me understand just how big Manhattan alone is!

 Central Park from Top of the Rock.

 There was something fun about the architecture...

 ...even when buildings took a whole block and were made of gray concrete.

We barely saw the Statue of Liberty or had the stamina to sit at the top of the bus for good views, as the weather got colder and rainier when we reached lower Manhattan. There's always the next time to see all of that! We finished the day off with a delicious seafood dinner at Blue Water Grill. On our second day we debated visiting various museums, and ended up walking through the Central Park to the Guggenheim where black and white Picassos were on display.

 Upper West Side residential street.

The layout of the Guggenheim was very accessible - it's just a long spiral corridor.

We attempted some shopping on 5th Avenue, but the type of shops wasn't exactly what we were looking for. We ended up checking out Grand Central station and the metro system, which was an inherent part of visiting New York just like the yellow cabs. And let's not forget smoked salmon bagels and the New York Times crossword in the morning!

After a quick rest, we walked down the Broadway and to the Lincoln Centre. We had tickets for Nutcracker at New York City Ballet, and I really enjoyed the production. It was somehow more accessible and exciting than the previous versions of Nutcracker I've seen, so it was a good and Christmassy choice!


California road trip

My family spent a couple of days looking around Davis, but as it is such a small place, there is not much to see. But luckily in the area there are many many interesting sights, so we rented a car and had a week-long road trip planned.

Our first stop was Sacramento, the capital of California. It's only 20 miles or so from Davis, so it was nice to first do a practice day of road tripping and return home afterwards. The Capitol building was pretty, looked lot like the one in Washington, and was surrounded by beautiful gardens. We also did quite a bit of shopping at the Westfield Downtown Plaza.

 California State Capitol. (c) Boyfriend.

Next day the road trip proper began. We drove from Davis on the Lincoln Highway (Historic Route 40) to Napa Valley via Lake Berryessa. In the hilly forests there were a lot of lichen growing on the trees, and the views were stunning. In Napa we had the most delicious lunch I'd had in all of America at Kitchen Door: the beef carpaccio was the best I've ever had. From Napa we drove through the Napa valley -full of wineries- to St Helena for afternoon coffee. St Helena was a picturesque little town and reminded me of Mediterranean holiday towns. We finished our first day with a drive to Beltane Ranch, where we had booked rooms for the night. It apparently has been chosen as the "US's best vineyard stay", and we really enjoyed the homely atmosphere.

Lichen near lake Berryessa.

 Beltane Ranch in the evening.

Beltane Ranch breakfast area.

 Beltane Ranch vineyard.

From Beltane Ranch and town of Glen Ellen we drove to the Pacific and enjoyed the views from Highway 1. We had seafood lunch at Nick's Cove, which became a contender for the best lunch I've had in America. The oysters were delicious, and the eggs benedict with Dungeness crab was just heaven. I think my parents' presence allowed us to stumble upon the tastiest food in California!

From Stinson Bay we took the scenic way through redwood forests to Muir Woods National Monument. The redwoods were still stunning and still awe-inspiring. I don't think their essence can be captured on camera, so I recommend anyone who has a chance to visit a redwood forest! And just after sunset we arrived to San Francisco and caught the beautiful city view with Golden Gate Bridge on the foreground just after heavy rain.

 Oysters at Nick's Cove.

 Bracken growing on a tree, and some redwoods to make us all feel tiny.

 Golden Gate Bridge just after sunset.

On our first day in San Francisco we checked out Lombard Street - previously the crookedest street in America before Wall Street gained that honour. The eight hairpin turns were easily navigated and we could carry on our journey to Berkeley. In Berkeley we went to NorthFace sales, had the best pizza in town at the Cheese Board and toured the UC Berkeley campus. We caught the stunning views over the Bay all the way to San Francisco from the Berkeley Hills before heading back. After getting bored in the traffic we decided to go and see the Hobbit and parked our rental car in a public garage. The movie was more or less what you'd expect, but our car wasn't - it had been broken into. A couple of calls later, we were set for a replacement car for the next day and a police report, but unfortunately we lost some very good photos from the Wine Counties with the cameras of me and Boyfriend.

 Winding section of Lombard Street.

Rest of our time in San Francisco contained a lot of sightseeing. Fisherman's Wharf, Height and Ashbury with "hippies" and beautiful houses, Golden Gate park, Alcatraz, Cable Cars, Chinatown, the usual San Francisco fare.

 Victorian houses in Height and Ashbury.

 Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.

 Oink, oink, oink! At Fisherman's Wharf.

After San Francisco we drove south. Our first stops were Palo Alto and Silicon Valley, where we checked out the campuses for Stanford, Facebook, Google and Apple. I had not appreciated earlier how widely everything was spread in Silicon Valley, or the long distance from the Stanford campus to Palo Alto and nearest grocery store. Then we returned to Highway 1 and Pacific views. We drove through Santa Cruz and to Monterey, where we stayed the night.

Hoover Tower of Stanford University.

 

Campus views from Hoover Tower, including the Main Quad.

 Facebook campus.

In Monterey we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium which was just plain stunning and left me wanting to go back soon. The best parts in my opinion were the jellies and the "open sea" pool feeding with plenty of fish, including hammer sharks, huge school of sardines and some turtles. The afternoon we spent driving the 17-Mile Drive with some more stunning Pacific views. We even spotted some whales spouting water! At the end of the drive we drove back to San Francisco and dropped my family off to the airport. Our wonderful Christmas vacation had come to the end, and we waved goodbye. Later that night it turned out that their flight had been cancelled, and after many hours on phone, the airline decided to bring up a new flight for them and in the end they got home safely just like planned.

Jellyfish!

 The Pacific Ocean.

 Views at the 17-Mile Drive.

More views at 17-Mile Drive.

Happy Holidays

As my family left a bit before Christmas, it was down to me and Boyfriend to start some Christmas traditions of our own. As the actual holidays crept on us very suddenly, we ended up decorating our Ikea lamp instead of trying to find a last minute tree. Our Christmas Eve was for two of us and a dinner with salads, couple of different types of fish, ham and a delicious sweet potato casserole. Christmas Day we had a pleasure to dine at a friend's house: the hostess cooked yummy baked brie, duck, and homemade ravioli, and the other guests contributed tasty onion soup and blackberry crumble. It was lovely to spend the holiday with people close to us.

Our Christmas lamp and a Santa's little helper that appeared with way too many presents.

Santa brought us a chocolate-making kit, so we made some chocolates! (c) Good Friend.

Having taken my winter break a bit beforehand, I worked through most of the holiday period. Still there were a lot of festivities; a huge board game night at our place, a friend's double birthday party (one to bluff, one to surprise) and of course the New Year's Eve. We celebrated with friends and Wii Rock Band, and to our surprise, near the midnight the thing to do was to switch the TV on to watch a recording from New York's midnight with the the ball drop. In previous countries I've lived in, everybody heads outside for the midnight to watch fireworks and open bottles of bubbly!

So the year 2012 ended on a happy note, and I wish that year 2013 will bring a lot of peace and happiness to all of my readers!

This time the copyright of pictures goes to me, my mum and my dad unless otherwise stated. As always with blogspot, click the pictures to enlarge.

Autumn in Davis.

A lot of time has passed since my last blog post, and a lot of nice things have happened.

Barack Obama won the presidential elections, which I watched with my international friends when all the Americans were puzzled by the idea of election night party. Proposition 37 did not pass, which I'm happy about - but it leaves me hoping that GM labelling will become a standard across the country without exceptions and with companies providing accessible info on the genetic manipulations done on their crops.

Excitingly, Boyfriend arrived to California for a couple of months. We've kept surprisingly busy - there are people to dine with, games to play, movies to watch, stuff to do all the time. Davis keeps delighting us with its friendly people as well as dining and entertainment options, and the fact that everything is very close - walking or biking distance away.

Boyfriend's been pleasantly surprised by the food selection at the local grocery stores Co-op and Nugget. Also, after seeing the wonderful movie Samsara and having a couple of conversations about animal welfare in America, we've started buying more and more humanely raised, free-range and local meat... which I realised that I had already been doing to some extent unknowingly, as I had found Nugget and Co-op meat much better quality than anything else available.

Thanksgiving was a great experience. As a holiday, it's something very American, and even there is a slight Christian side to it, it seems that it is celebrated in many households of different religions too. I've found that America is very diverse and there are not many traditions and celebrations between the different groups, but I haven't (yet) met anyone who wouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving in some fashion.

We had the pleasure of having a (vegetarian) Thanksgiving dinner with one of my colleagues and her extended family. I felt welcome to their holiday celebration, which after all is in the spirit of Thanksgiving (natives helping the newcomers through their first winter) and definitely something I want to learn from. The dinner was delicious and contained a lot of traditional American dishes that I hadn't tried before - awesome! Thank you to our hosts!

The weather has been varied, a lot of sunshine over the Thanksgiving weekend and beautiful trees in autumn colours. A large storm front went past Northern California this weekend, some power outages and fallen trees due to this, but mainly just a lot of rain. Here's a picture of a typical residential street in Davis (copyright belongs to Boyfriend):

Election rally.

On Tuesday I had an opportunity to go and experience a real, all-American election rally, as Bill Clinton came to visit UC Davis to endorse four Californian congressional candidates. A few thousand students and staff of the university gathered to listen what he had to say, and some of the aspects of this event really surprised me.

After an hour of waiting in the bright sun, we were first greeted with the flags of USA, California and the University (not sure of the third one, didn't pay enough attention). And then everyone pledged allegiance to the flag. I found this a bit surprising, the same way how I was surprised in Thailand about standing up for the national anthem before a movie starts in a cinema.

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Apparently, the allegiance to the flag is pledged at the start of every school day. And some people think that this is a great way of teaching patriotism to children. In my opinion, the country just should be run well enough so that its people would feel proud about it. I guess coming from a country with a clear national identity, patriotism and pride in one's country are not difficult to conjure, but in a melting pot like USA the national identity is not as clear and the patriotism has to come from elsewhere.

And then there are still countries where the flag is really not a thing to be paraded about, saluted or pledged allegiance to. For example Germany, with it's dark past in patriotism taken too far. And England, where the Union Jack has symbolises far-right wing politics, whereas the English flag is happily displayed in cars and windows during the World Cup.

In addition to pride in one's nation, the pride in one's university seems rampant here. Much more than in Europe, people wear their university's colours (t-shirts, college shirts, hoodies) just about everywhere. And during the election rally, when any of the speakers mentioned Aggies (a term for UC Davis student, deriving from UCD's agricultural background), the student population cheered wildly. I just can't see this happening in Europe - but why? Are we just so reserved, or do we play down our enthusiasm, or are we embarrassed to go to university? Or do we just not feel that we need to identify with our alma mater?

After the flags, there were speeches from the president of the student union, as well as president of Davis College Democrats, and it was funny to follow the crowd's mood. Everyone was expecting President Clinton to speak, and every time the next speaker was introduced as the president of... Davis College Democrats, the crowd would start to cheer at "president" and boo when they realised it was someone else than Clinton.

Really good coverage on who was speaking and what was actually said can be found in the Aggie, including photos and a video of Clinton's speech. Other news articles include one in Sac Bee, with some good photos.

In California, they're not voting only for a president on Nov 6th but also for a senator, representatives, state senators, state assembly members as well as ten propositions that would change California state legislation. All the speakers brought up the importance of being registered to vote (this can be done with your smart phone!) and then actually voting (for a democrat). The speakers also offered their opinions on how to vote for propositions 30 and 32, and some rallyers were carrying "Right to Know, No to Prop 38"- banners.

I think I like the proposition system. I've felt often that voting in many countries bears no difference and that the results are leaders who are exactly identical to each other, but still I always vote. Voting on propositions really gives the power decision to people, and if I was allowed to vote here, I'd make sure to read up all the issues and talk to people about them. Furthermore, propositions can be started by anyone with a sufficient number of signatures on a petition. I guess the biggest downsides are voter apathy/lack of knowledge, as well as voter persuasion by big companies' marketing. But probably big companies can similarly campaign decision makers to their side in Sacramento and Washington.

President Clinton finished his speech saying "God bless you all", and this was greeted with a lot of cheering. This is yet another thing that confuses me, the link between the church and the state. In Europe, if you ended your speech with God's blessings, you'd be considered off your rocker. State and religion don't mix in the Western world, except in this country of extreme political correctness where Christmas is called Winter Holiday to avoid offending non-Christians. Well, I have nothing against Christian values, especially if they would mean that taxes would be spent on supporting the poor and the sick!

Health and safety.

First of all I would like to point out that this is my 100th blog post! Yay!

This time I've got a variety of observations to share, and they start from San Francisco. I did a day-trip there a couple of weeks ago, and just like last time, managed to walk down the wrong streets in the absolutely worst area (Richmond) after dark. Nothing bad happened, but I remembered once again that the land of the free indeed requires some bravery to walk outside instead of driving a car everywhere. The other people who were on the street seemed crazy, homeless, drunk or criminal... and the way how they behaved really made me scared for my life. This is something I've never experienced in Europe or Asia.

Returning to Davis after San Francisco was such a bliss - my beautiful home town where I can walk and bike and be safe after dark! Except that all the students are back for the new academic year, and Davis is full of people who don't know how to bike. Campus is full of cyclists who can't operate the roundabouts, do not seem to be able to read the signs that say "yield" and never signal when turning. A friend of mine was in a bike accident today, someone talking on phone crashed into her. Inspired by this I went and finally bought myself a helmet.

Interestingly, the law enforcement also scares me. This is probably because in movies American policemen are always tough and out there to get people. There seems to be legislation against everything; no drinking beer in a park, or even in front of your house if you live in an apartment complex. No loitering, no this, no that. However I've been assured that the police in Davis are nice, and not all of them pepperspray peacefully protesting students.

Also, I'm not always sure if the legal system is on the side of an individual, as you can be held responsible and sued for a variety things. Like someone visiting my house and accidentally slipping and hitting their head... yes the medical bills would be mine to pay. Which neatly takes me to my next topic: healthcare.

I had a minor health issue, so I went to test out the healthcare system. I would've got an appointment for the same day, except as a new customer (patient?) I had to book a longer appointment which weren't available until two days later. No problems there. At the clinic I filled in a lengthy background questionnaire as well as answered a multitude of questions to the nurse and the doctor about my eating and exercise habits etc. They checked my vaccination record and decided to give me three more jabs. They did a general check up (eyes, ears, lungs, stomach, blood pressure), the minor health issue was taken care of, and the doctor addressed the variety of symptoms I had indicated in the form I had filled in (stress, stiff neck from working on computer, tiredness). So all in all very positive experience, and it cost me only measly $10.

However, my health insurance costs my employer way more than that. Like, more than thousand dollars a month. People here seem to think that it is a benefit, something extra that you get, and not a deduction on your salary. I view it as a lot of money being paid in the pockets of an insurance company and to private healthcare system, which is convoluted and makes healthcare more expensive. Apparently the percentage of GDP spent on healthcare in America is 17% whilst in Europe the figure is 8-10%. And yet European countries tend to rank ahead of America on most measures of health, such as life expectancy.

I do understand that people here complain about the taxes when they do not get anything of direct value for it; suboptimal schools, the roads, the police and firemen, a massive war, some science. Well what if the employers did not pay that incredibly high amount of money towards insurance but instead paid it to the individual, people could afford higher taxes. Unsurprisingly I expect a lot for my taxes; good schools, accessible healthcare, and social security system that supports every member of the society (including the sick, the young, the old, the students and the unemployed).

And with the presidential elections coming up, I don't think either one of the presidential candidates would even dream of offering everything I'd want. California is a strongly Democrat state, and I somehow would love to meet someone who's supporting the other side to hear their justifications and more about their opinions.

I guess I'm really lucky being offered healthcare benefits by my employer. For that I can thank the University of California Postdoc Union who have negotiated us great minimum salary, 25 vacation days per year and the healthcare benefits.

I can also thank the Union for the free beer and snacks last Tuesday, and an opportunity to meet someone who's applied for a job on Koh Rong (one of my most favourite places in the world, remember?) to study the underwater life and help setting up Cambodia's first marine national park. It seems that Cambodian government is attempting to do some good after the marine life has been wrecked by legal and illegal fishing (they sold the fishing rights to Thailand and were surprised when the Thai fishing fleet came and emptied the waters). It's a shame that Koh Rong is planned to become a five-star destination with airports and all, but at least they're attempting to conserve some of that amazing nature.

Farming and GM.

California has been referred to as the breadbasket of the USA, and it really shows here in Davis. When you reach the edge of the town, there are farms as far as you can see; tomatoes, sunflowers, peaches, nectarines, apricots, figs, walnuts, almonds, and the list goes on and on. UC Davis started as UC Berkeley's farm site, and has since grown into a university with world-class research on topics related to agriculture. The Farmers Market is hugely popular and lovely weekly event, with local farmers selling their produce and during summertime people gathering to picnic in the central park on Wednesday evenings.

Recently there has been a lot of discussion in the air about GM crops, as a suggested California law Proposition 37 would require all GM products be labelled with a warning. I'm under impression that this type of labelling is required in Europe, where incidentally no GMOs are farmed (to my knowledge). In the US huge numbers of grown crops are transgenic and it is no secret. Although warning labels are not currently required, if you know how to read the little stickers on the fruit and vegetables in the supermarket, you will know if the product is organic, conventionally farmed or GM.

Just like in Europe, a lot of produce here is understandably marketed as "organic" and "locally grown". "Fair-trade" I've noticed much less than in Europe, and conversely "natural flavours" is a big one here. However, many fully artificial chemistry-lab creations are marketed with words that make you think you're eating real strawberries or real milk. Which is not too far off from Europe some years ago: a documentary I saw about a British supermarket showed them selling cheese slices which contained less than 8% milk. As this is not cheese according to EU regulations, they simply called them "slices" and packaged them in wrapping that made you think of cheese!

EU regulations are pretty tough though - blueberries picked straight from the forest are not organic, because their growth conditions are not monitored and anyone could've dumped anything there. Nevertheless, I think it is good to have strict definitions for labels, because I really like to be able to trust the information I'm given about the product.

Anyway, back to Proposition 37. Not so surprisingly a lot of big companies resist, but completely unexpectedly, so do I. I know I cannot avoid eating GM here in the US, and it doesn't bother me. I know if I was dead-set against consuming GM products, I could always walk to the Davis Co-op and buy everything organic from there. Also, I'm already fed up with the meaningless labels that Proposition 65 from 25 years ago has brought us: every single product and place is labelled with "might contain chemicals that are known to cause cancer in the state of California", which would be usable information if it was not written on everything. For my pleasure, I recently found a label that actually mention what these chemicals are and tell me how to get further info!

Also I've understood that the reason for certain individuals investing into Proposition 37 is their business plan is just simply to sue everyone who do not label their produce correctly. Because the legal system here is about as ridiculous as the urban legends going around Europe tell us. I had to take a renters insurance, as if someone hurts themselves in my apartment I might be liable for their medical bills. I just don't think this state or this country needs any more badly worded laws, like Prop 65 which does not require identification of the cancer-causing agents or information on how to avoid them, or more regulations which will allow individuals making a big buck suing other individuals.

And then there is the whole topic of GM itself! I actually don't think GM plants are bad at all. Yes, they need to be tested before mass consumption, and yes, they need to be implemented smartly. But if you consider that herbicide-resistant GM crops are sprayed earlier on in the growth and hence less herbicides are needed compared to conventional crops, it means GM crops are better for your health (less trace herbicides) and the environment.

Also the realities of life should be considered. Growing organic and even non-GM conventional crops is more expensive, and not everyone can afford buying organic. A big portion (I've heard 40% quoted) of organic produce goes to waste, as it doesn't conform to the appearance that buyers or shops want. Obviously organic farming does not have equally large yields, and if the land area used for farming in the US was used only for organic, this country would go hungry! I really hope that increasing the crop yields by GM will keep the farmed land area from expanding and allow us to have some real nature around us.

My main problem with American (and some European) produce is that a lot of it is simply tasteless. I want my tomatoes, potatoes and berries have a lot of flavour. I don't care about them going soft and mushy, as long as they taste right! This problem with a lot of the modern varieties comes from conventional breeding. In many cases the traits that the breeders select for are unfortunately not the taste, but for instance the transportability and shelf-life, or even colour of the fruit (reference), but maybe in some cases, it's possible to bring the flavour back with GM to the varieties that have been bred to perfection otherwise?

Edit Sept 30th: An interesting post about recent GM research and a couple of recent papers that are causing waves. Also, here's what the opposers of Prop 37 say.