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.

Racism.

In this post I'm going to tackle the difficult topic of racism. The basis of this post is that I was caught unaware of what constituted as racism in the US. As my ethnicity, nationality, sex, religion or sexuality has never prevented me from doing things I want to do, I might not approach the topic with the same sensitivity that someone with these experiences might.

Travelling the world makes it obvious that people behave differently in different countries, have different customs and cultures, and also look different. This can lead to stereotyping people, which often is a source of common humour ("An Englishman, a Scot and a Irishman walk into a bar..."). Stereotypes can sometimes help you to interact with people (e.g. because of the stereotype of Brits talking about the weather you know that it's quite ok to talk about the weather to a Brit), but occasionally, they lead to negative assumptions about different groups of people. And that's where the problem lies - no one wants to be unfairly judged because of their ethnicity / nationality / gender / religion / sexuality.

Although the First Amendment grants the right to even extreme opinion and religion here in the US (e.g. Ku Klux Klan and Westboro Baptist Church), the workplace remains extremely politically correct and racist comments can lead to immediate firing. At the university, I have seen numerous posters stating that we work in a "Hate-free environment", which is a sentiment I fully agree with. But what I was surprised about was what actually is perceived as racism or even "hate"?

Friendly jokes that point out differences between people are racist. Even if you told a joke about Mexicans to a Mexican person and he found it so funny that he went on to tell it to all of his Mexican friends who also loved the joke... you would still be racist.

Acknowledging differences is racism. Being different might mean that you are not equal. Reminding someone about the fact that their family is not originally from the US might make them feel like second class citizens. (I would not want people to think I was from the US. Also, if you look far back enough, the white Americans are not originally from the US either.)

Anything hinting at a difference is racism. Asking a Chinese-origin San Francisco-born person if they had a recipe for fortune cookies is racism. (Fortune cookies were originally invented in SF anyway!)

Hence, it seems, curiosity is racism. How do you ever learn about other people's customs and culture if it's racist to imply they are somehow different? I would definitely feel that people were being ignorant and unfriendly if I came from a different background to everyone else, and no one ever asked me about my culture.

And then the obvious follow-up question: What is not racism?

Ignorance seems to be the key to not being racist. They call it "colour-blindness", pretending that there are no differences. I find this quite problematic, because cultural differences do exist, and in my opinion, acknowledging them makes it easier to communicate and work together. Why can't we be different but still equal?

Also, positive discrimination is not racism. If everything is so much about ignoring the differences that might make people unequal, why are there grants for different ethnic minorities and women? Why do success of bigger NSF grants depend on having members of minorities being funded with the money? (Why could they not offer equal schooling for everyone so they actually would have equal opportunities?)

I find all of this very confusing. I believe in equality and equal opportunities, but ignoring the differences is difficult for me. I understand that there are people who do not actively choose the role of being different (e.g. travel) and people who have been teased or even bullied about being different. But still, acknowledging that we are all different is not hateful. I hadn't considered it racist before - for me racism is about attaching a value judgement to the difference, the most common of them being "people of my group are superior to others".

But when in Rome, do as the Romans do. At the workplace I will try and avoid trouble by avoiding saying things considered racist or hateful by the American scale. Because at home, it's my constitutional right to write these blog posts with my opinions on Americans and hint that they might be different to Europeans!

Red tape.

I've got experience from all the papers you need to fill in when moving to a new country to take up a job from a couple of countries now, and I have to say that America has been worst. First of all the visa. For Australia, the visa application can be done completely online, whereas the US visa required my employer to sign papers, fedex them to me so that I could take them to the embassy in person, which was a five star experience with lots of queueing, double security checks and a two-minute interview where I got asked the same questions as online. And now that I'm here, I cannot leave America (or rather, return) without having my visa-form signed by my visa officials.

Luckily enough, I have a fully furnished place to stay for the first two months here in Davis. Finding an apartment has been stressful, and apparently almost impossible outside the usual Davis annual lease cycle from September 1st to August 31st. The apartment complexes are suitably used to international people without credit rating coming to the country, so I didn't have provide extra references or deposit, as my appointment letter was sufficient to prove that I actually hold a job and have enough money to pay my rent.

However, I needed to pay my deposit and my first rent with a cheque. My bank (see below) didn't give me any personal cheques, only temporary ones. The temporary ones are not good enough, so I had to go and buy a money order from the post office. Money orders cannot be paid on credit, and as my American debit card was blocked (see below) and my international debit cards somehow check as credit here, I was forced to bike quite far to get cash (and pay all too much for withdrawing from an international account) to buy the money order. Oh America, the promised land of paying with a card, except for rent. And oh Davis, the promised land of cycling, where everything is so near but always so far if you don't have a car.

When it came to opening my bank account, the bank was understanding and willing to hold my money for me without any extras but without monthly fee either. However they completely forgot to send me my proper debit card (to replace the temporary card given to me when I opened my account), and then when I inquired about it they blocked the card I had. It took me a week to get the debit card with my name, and a realisation that not all of my mail is reaching me when the pin code never arrived. Luckily the pin code can be re-set at the bank with an ID and a signature, something that could not be done in Europe. However, I have grown to dislike Bank of America and how their service is so sugar-coated but useless. Also, they have the slowest website in history, making internet banking much more difficult than it should be. I'm considering changing banks as soon as I find the energy for it.

So the postal system is happy to deliver a variety of letters that have previous tenants' names on them, but not mine. I've tried to rectify the situation (by adding my name to the post box with large letters), but I've already lost the trust on the postal service here. Also, to send international parcels, you need to fill in the customs forms online (including the weight of your parcel!) before going to the post.

Phone company (AT&T) wasn't too enthusiastic with the services I wanted, but agreed that I could have a pre-paid sim card that I cannot use for international calls or texts. It really makes me miss the Australian phone company (Vodafone) who gave me the best pre-paid sim card ever - it couldn't distinguish between calls within Australia and outside of it! It's never been so cheap to call home!

For obtaining my health insurance I listened to various people's advice for a couple of hours and applied online. Seems to be in order, except the confirmation will be by post (I really wish this one comes through).

So for the things I need for my new apartment. To get electricity and gas, I need to fax the company. And I need to pay a bigger deposit as I don't have the social security number yet. To obtain a social security number, I need to go and visit an office that is open only six hours a day, only during work days, and is located in Sacramento. To get to Sacramento is only 15 minutes by car, but by public transport, I hear it takes two hours to reach that office. Somehow I haven't found the motivation to do all that quite yet. And also, depending the source of information, I might or might not be eligible for one.

For getting internet connection for my new apartment, I tried to shop online, but one of the two big providers (Verizon) didn't think they could provide my location and told me to call them, and the other one (AT&T) had ok prices and options, but required either social security number or a driver's licence number to shop with them online. And obviously buying from their shops the deals are $20 more expensive per month. Awesome. I really need that social security number.

It's not that things just require me going back and forth, and without a social security number (which I might not be eligible for) some of it just seems impossible. But also everything is worded in a very difficult language. My lease was 46 pages long. It turns out that I really need to take a renter's insurance, as if someone hurts themselves in my apartment, I have to pay for their medical bills. It's one crazy country with that respect.

And then there's obviously the consideration to buy a car, and to get a Californian driver's licence, but that can wait until I have all of the above sorted.

California fashion.

I've never been especially well dressed or fashionable, but I have to say that in California it's different. The dress of choice in Davis is t-shirt and shorts, for everyone, everywhere. At university, a lot of the students, the postdocs and the professors happily walk around in things that I'd wear for the beach. I guess I'm used to seeing people dressing with a bit more formality in academic environment. In my previous labs there's always been a certain level of formality or fashionability; women who wear beautiful skirts and tops, and the men, especially faculty, who wear shirts with collars.

I just find it baffling when I see professors shuffling away in flip flops. I don't think I have seen a single collared shirt. And last week, a postdoc from the lab next door was panicking because he got an interview for a real job and he needs to buy his first suit ever.

Maybe my first university was a tad too big on the formality, but really, a postdoc who does not own a suit? How about old little me starting at a new university worried if I've got enough formal wear if I got only a black pant suit and two cocktail dresses! And how about all the students from various European universities who own at least two different suits, a dinner jacket (tuxedo) and a tail coat (white tie) for academic dinners and their thesis defense!

So shock and horror, what I wear - simple cardigans and tops and summery skirts (or jeans, the aircon is not my friend) - is considered formal! But it it so nice wear dresses and skirts in this hot weather! And as I'm not backpacking anymore, my wardrobe is bigger and I actually can choose what to wear each morning! Maybe California will change me and I'll revert into wearing just t-shirts and jeans in no time and maybe I give up wearing my pretty leather pumps for more comfortable trekking sandals... we'll see! 

And as a quick fashion side note, San Francisco seemed to be the home of hipster. I like the style in tiny doses, but when everyone dresses the same, it just loses it's edge. And surely the trend should be over by now?

Davis, my new home in America.

This blog was meant to be a travel blog, but now I've gone and settled down for a few years. So what to do? Can I keep writing to a travel blog if I'm not actively travelling? But I'm not exactly in my home country either, so does it count as travelling? I figured that I'd quite like to have a place where to write about my experiences here in USA, and all of the travelling and sightseeing I will hopefully do over weekends and vacations... so this blog going to stay alive!

After Bangkok I went home and visited as many friends as I had time for in four weeks. I also got my American visa and figured out all the paperwork... which was surprisingly easy in the end. I even had time to watch most of the European Football Championship matches with my mum and dad and have a bit of summer holiday at home. For someone who loves to travel, I love being at home ridiculously much! And then I packed up my room at home (not that there was much to pack up) and came to California.

I've been living here now for three weeks and I've settled in really well. My new hometown is Davis, which is a pretty little university town located in the middle of massive fields. Davis is supposedly the most bike-friendly town in the States, and I have to say that the quality and number of bike paths is impressive. The town itself is also small enough for cycling everywhere. According to wikipedia Davis is also the second most educated city in the States just after Arlington, Virginia (where e.g. the Pentagon is located). It seems that recycling is really fashionable here, as is locally grown and organic foods. The independent grocery store Nugget seems awesome although I haven't yet had a chance to shop there properly (as there is a Safeway just across the street from where I live). Politically, Davis is pretty liberal and people who I've met are friendly and more aware of the world outside the States than I would've expected.

Davis is just one-hour drive away from Berkeley and one-and-half hours from San Francisco. The Bay Area tends to be very cool and foggy, which I've noticed both times I've managed to get that far, but Davis is far enough to have incredibly sunny and hot weather. The daytime temperatures have been 30-40C and luckily during the night the temperature drops below 20C. I have to say that the acclimation to the heat that I still have from SE Asia is very useful here - I actually enjoy the heat and do not need to resort to taking a siesta! 

Sacramento, the capital of California is just 15 minute drive away from Davis, but I haven't managed to visit it yet. Supposedly it should offer nicer dining and shopping than Davis... however there is a lot of restaurants in Davis too. Other interesting things near Davis include Napa and Sonoma Wine Counties, many national and regional parks with redwoods, and Lake Tahoe for hiking and skiing. I'm really looking forward to exploring the area more! At the moment it has been quite busy with work, hunting for a flat and all the other things that need sorting when moving to a new country. And I need to buy a car before I really can explore!

The thing that has helped me most for settling in however, has been the people that I work with. I really enjoy their company, and luckily they've been inviting me to do fun things with them. They even found me a place to stay for the first two months. How much easier than this can it get?! Speaking of fun things, there's actually a pool-side barbecue party organised by my housemates about to start right now!

Top tips by Dr Pepper.

To wrap up this trip, here's some recommendations for SE Asia. I'm likely to have missed something exciting and/or obvious, but these are the ones that came to my mind this time as the places I enjoyed the most.

Top places by Dr Pepper:
Broken Heart Guesthouse, Koh Rong island, Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
Kong Lor cave, Thakek, Laos.
Scuba diving in Koh Tao, Thailand.

Top temples to see by Dr Pepper:
Angkor archeological park, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
White Temple, Chiang Rai, Thailand.
My favourite Buddha, Old Sukhothai, Thailand.
(Bubbling under: Cao Dai temple at Tay Ninh, Grand Palace in Bangkok, Historical park in Ayutthaya)

Top places for food by Dr Pepper
Vientiane - French, Japanese, Italian, Indian... food heaven in the middle of Asia.
Hoi An (expensive and delicious) and Hue (traditional and delicious).
Penang - endless varieties of noodles, and top notch street food in Chinese, Indian and Malay styles.

Then I've got a long list of travel tips (hidden under the "read more" link) for unexperienced travellers - this is more or less my attempt to pass on what I learned during my travels. I'm not trying to say that it is a dangerous world out there, because it really isn't - SE Asia is very safe and friendly as long as you don't behave stupidly. These tips could be called sensible precautions to minimise any unnecessary hassle and to maximise the enjoyment.