I’m going back to Seattle!

http://www.nerdseyeview.com/blog/?p=160
February 23, 2005

In this entry Pam Mandel reports about her seasonal return to Seattle she is gong to take up on March 1, 2005. Having been working a lot the preceding days and weeks, she considers her return more or lass as a holiday, a weekend off. Even if it is for a month (if I am not mistaken), and eve if it is a place she is/should be used to, she has to physically and mentally prepare for it. Why is this so? It is due to the discrepancies between Austria and US. She compares them in terms of bread, yogurt, smoking, cars …

Yogurt in Seattle is to fat. A decent loaf of bread can in Austria be purchased for a song, whereas in US for the same expanses one would go hungry. If I compare Austria and Croatia, the prices of a loaf of bread in Austria are extortionate. A loaf of white bread costs in Croatia not even a Euro, and the price of other types of bread is up to E1.5.
Yogurt in Seattle is to fat.

Concerning smoking, she is looking forward to the day when no-smoking sections are going to be put into practice, since she loads to feel like a walking cigarette whenever she gets out of a pub, pizzeria or whatsoever. I personally don’t smoke and don’t mind if one smokes next - we live in a democratic world after all. However, there are people who cannot stand when one smokes next to them, which is why I am a proponent of the banning thing in public places.

Next thing she hates about Austria, in particular about Aigen, are the “far-flung” grocery stores. The one within a walking distance does not live up to her expectations. I hold that this is the charm of small towns. Either you want to live in a bustling, dreary city, or embrace such towns with their merits and demerits, allurements and “repulsions”.

There is a thing that Pam Mandel and I have in common. We both miss our friends at home. Nevertheless, these days it is actually impossible not to stay in contact with your friends due to the ubiquitous spread of mobile phones and internet. Another thing is that you are never alone. Even in a foreign country you can make friends, although it is sometimes pretty tough. All you have to do is try hard and be determined. Te opposite of the aforementioned reminds me of my boyfriend, pardon, of my ex boyfriend. He was always grumbling that we have no friends to go out with. It is patently obvious that you won’t find friends staying at home most of the weekends and glued to the TV.

INTERESTING VOCAB:

dawdle: a) be bored
b) hang around
c) work hard
confinement: a) satisfaction
b) mood
c) imprisonment