World Wide Woman Wednesday, Episode X

Every Wednesday here at the Passport, we like to introduce a Colonist and discover what makes their world go around, and how far they are around it already.   This week, it’s Rebecca’s turn: pull up a chair and pour a glass of your particular poison.  Are you sitting comfortably?  Then we’ll begin. 

Let's start with the basics: where are you originally from?

I was born Sarnia, in southern Ontario, Canada, the town right at the very bottom of Lake Huron, across the St. Clair River from Michigan. My parents, brother and sister emigrated there from England when my siblings were toddlers. I am the first family member born in Canada, a true, first-generation Canadian. I guess.

My parents still live in my hometown, in the house I was raised in, and I shudder to imagine cleaning out 40-plus years of stuff someday.

If you could tell us just one thing about your home country, what would it be?

Pretty much everything you’ve heard about it is true: Canadians are very polite, we do say “aboot” (I’ve been gone 11 years and I still say it), we do love our hockey and just about every Canadian could name at least 5 Hollywood or U.S. news-media celebrities who are originally Canadian, it’s a weird thing we are very, very proud of (although we don’t claim Celine Dion, you can have her!). 

Oh, and we have no idea why Americans call Canadian bacon by that name. We have regular old bacon in Canada, that weird ham-like stuff is called back bacon.

Which country is currently blessed with your presence?

I live in Alaska, USA.

Dear lard! That's 2960 miles from home! What prompted your move?

My sister, who was living in New York state, introduced me to a friend of hers and we fell in love. We married and moved to Washington, D.C. for his job in federal corrections, then transferred to West Virginia (yes, everything you’ve heard about the Mountain State is also true!). Then he took a job in a bush village in Alaska for the adventure. We were only coming up here for 2 years, just to say we had lived here, but we fell in love with the state, the scenery and the people, and we’ve been here 7 years (we moved to Anchorage 5 years ago). I was working as a magazine editor for a small publisher until 2 years ago and my boss at the time allowed me to take my job along on each move, so it worked out extremely well.

How long have you been living in Alaska?

11 years, the same amount of time I have been married, although I started my job a month before the wedding (sshh, don’t tell my mother in law we were shacking up for a month before the big day!)

Which other countries have you visited?

England (to visit relatives), Guatemala (my brother lived there for a few years) and Mexico (obligatory college spring-break trip).

Where’s next on the list of places to see?

I am not a really huge foreign traveler, I tend to prefer seeing parts of the US and Canada I have not visited yet. We went to Hawaii last year and I cannot wait to go back, to a different island.  But some day I would love to see Australia and New Zealand (preferably when someone invents a hyper-jump plane or suspended animation techno logy so I don’t have to endure flying for that long), and I’d love to see Iceland.

OK, now for something with a little more juice: please describe a typical day in your life.

I get up at 6:30, let my dogs out and feed them then kennel them for the day (separation anxiety leads my younger dog to trash the house when I leave if he’s not restricted, it’s such fun). I make my son’s lunch, wake him and tell him to get dressed (he’s 4), have a shower as soon as my husband vacates the bathroom (we only have one, which is a challenge), tell my son to get dressed again, get dressed myself and do my hair and makeup while telling my son to get dressed about three more times (did I mention he’s 4?), feed the cat, grab leftovers out of the fridge for my lunch, threaten my son with torture if he isn’t dressed in 2 minutes, put my coat and shoes on, forcibly dress my son, and flee the house, usually 10 minutes later than planned.

After dropping him off at daycare, I drive about 10 miles through the city to work, watching for moose and bears along the way, which makes the morning drive challenging and exciting.

My job is mostly a desk job, editing articles submitted by freelancers and hopeful freelancers, researching and writing articles myself, and planning the magazine’s content with the of the team. But once or twice a year I get to go on cool and amazing adventures. Just last weekend I flew up to Kaktovik, on the Arctic Ocean coast, to watch polar bears. That was the coolest thing I’ve done yet for work. I have also taken a small-boat cruise, gone to fly-fishing school and been to several swanky fishing and hunting lodges (I love those trips because I come home with a freezer full of salmon).

After work I pick up my son, go home and make dinner for the family, play with my son, cuddle with my dogs and relax, except on Thursdays, when my son takes karate.

On weekends, we often go to our cabin about an hour north of Anchorage where we hang out and watch the fire and relax. I live a pretty slow, low-stress life and that is just the way I like it.

Look how gorgeous those eyes are!

What has been the biggest challenge to living in the United States?

Growing up in Canada, in a border town, watching American television, I was frankly surprised by the number of challenges I faced, and the number of differences between Canadians and Americans. I didn’t realize until I left how truly liberally minded Canada is. I mean, Canada legalized same-sex marriage nationwide nearly 5 years ago and most of the provinces had already legalized it themselves several years before that. And civil unions between cohabiting homosexual couples had been recognized, with most of the legal benefits of marriage, since 1999. And we’ve had socialized medicine since the 1950s.

After 11 years here I am becoming more used to American attitudes toward guns, personal freedoms, taxes, immigration, politics and religion, but some things still catch me off guard. Like the recent furor over the president’s address to children. I was not expecting that at all and I still don’t get it.

Tell us something you adore about your new home.

I love how Americans are so proud of their country and what it stands for, even when they don’t all agree. There is such reverence and ceremony around the flag and the national anthem and the military that I never really felt in Canada. I mean, people could be arguing and yelling and waving signs on opposite sides of an issue at a rally or townhall meeting, but the minute the national anthem comes on, they all stand, remove their hats, cover their hearts and fall silent. (hmmm, maybe we should play the national anthem every 20 minutes during healthcare townhalls just to remind everyone they are all on the same team?)

What's the biggest local news story in the USA right now?

Oh dear, it’s healthcare for sure, and I don’t understand the fuss. I grew up with a socialized system and I never had any trouble. Yes, you pay more in taxes for it, yes, the rich pay for the poor, and yes, you do sometimes have to wait for services, but not in an emergency. People don’t die waiting for essential services the way some would like you to believe. And yes, there are bureaucratic messes and f-ups from time to time, but so there are with HMOs and other providers in the U.S, as well. And I have never heard of a Canadian going bankrupt from millions of dollars in medical bills or people being refused care at  an Emergency Room and shipped to another location because they had no insurance. Everybody gets healthcare, no questions asked.

If Oprah comes good on the Women's Colony funding, and we could pay to ship you a crate full of stuff from home, which three products would you ask us to fill it with?

Crunchie candy bars, butter tarts and access to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (the CBC) on satellite television: there is nothing like Canadian comedy.

Who’s your secret boyfriend/girlfriend?

Tom Selleck. I have loved Tom since I was about 18 and even used to keep a framed copy of his cover of Cigar Aficionado magazine on my desk at work.

[Like this one?  You've got to love a man who can work a cigar to his distinct advantage.]

On my 23^rd birthday, a friend of mine approached a man who was the spitting image of Tom at a bar and told him to ask me dance. I had been drooling over him for about an hour and she decided to take action. He was 12 years my senior, chronically unemployed and unemployable, greatly depressed and depressing, and totally, horribly, completely wrong for me, but looked like Tom Selleck. We dated for three years.

Today, I am happily married t a man who in no way resembles either Tom Selleck or that ex-boyfriend, but I still stop in my tracks when I hear Tom’s voice on orange juice and RVing commercials, and I own all his made-for-TV movies on DVD.

All this talk of Tom is making me hungry. What's for dinner?

My husband loves my chicken enchiladas. I don’t like to brag, but he says they are restaurant quality. And I like them because they are simple to prepare and I can make them low fat and my husband doesn’t even notice.

Chicken Enchiladas

-   3-4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, boiled until cooked through, then shredded with a fork

-   1 can cream of celery soup (low fat is fine)

-   1 small can chopped green chilis (heat level to taste)

-   1 tub (8 oz) sundried tomato and basil OR roasted red pepper cream cheese spread (low fat is fine)

-   1 cup sour cream (low fat or non-fat is fine)

-   2-3 tbsp chili powder, to taste

-   Tobasco or your favorite hot sauce, if desired, to taste

-   8-inch tortillas (any kind will do, I like to use whole wheat to add some extra fiber to our diets)

-   1 medium can Old El Paso red enchilada sauce (or your favorite brand)

-   1 cup grated Mexican-syle or Taco cheese

Mix chicken, soup, chilis, cream cheese, sour cream, chili powder and hot sauce together with a fork in a large mixing bowl. Roll 2 large spoonfuls of mixture into each tortilla, lining them up in a large, deep baking casserole dish (9”x12” rectangular works best). Cover enchilada with sauce and sprinkle grated cheese over top. Cover tightly with tin foil and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, until sauce is bubbly, cheese is melted and enchiladas are hot throughout. Serve with Spanish rice and salad. 

Thank you, Rebecca!  Canada and Alaska are both high on my list of places to visit.  I also have to get in a plug for NZ.  From where you are, it's worth the trip.  It's even worth the 24 hours it takes to get there on a plane from London.  Trust me on this.   

You can read more about Rebecca at Don't Get Me Started.  In between battling her son's apparent desire to embrace nakedness as a lifestyle choice, and spotting Polar Bears, she is Senior Editor at Alaska Magazine.  As ever, use the comments section to ask your questions!  

If you would like to be interviewed for World Wide Woman Wednesday, and you are a woman who either lives in a country other than your home country, or who is not originally from the USA, simply email womenscolony@gmail.com and put “Passport Interview” in the subject line.  Please also tell me which category (expat, non-USA, or lard help you, both) you fall into.  If you blog, we’ll happily link it for you at the end of the post. Thanks for reading!

World Wide Woman Wednesday, Episode IX

Every Wednesday here at the Passport, we like to introduce a Colonist and discover what makes their world go around, and how far they are around it already.   This week, it’s Johanna’s turn: pull up a chair and pour a glass of your particular poison.  Are you sitting comfortably?  Then we’ll begin. 

Let's start with the basics: where are you originally from?

Germany: born in the Eastern part and somehow still living here.  I live in a beautiful city – it has a rich history, lies smack in the epicenter of Germany’s classical period, is – despite its provincial location - a hub for research and new technologies and, on top of all that, surrounded by scenic mountains and lush nature.

If you could tell us just one thing about your home country, what would it be?

Living in a place that once formed one of two countries sharing the same culture is fascinating and confusing at the same time. There are many childhood treasures (favorite kind of gum, cookies or chocolate) that I simply CAN’T relive, but the same is true for political oppression and being confined to this corner of the world.

Reunification did – at least for my 9 year old mind – happen overnight. Not knowing what all the fuss was about, my parents borrowed a friend’s car that year during fall break and went off to “Grandma and Grandpa”. With my brother being the only one to voice suspicions about the contradicting road signs, we were unlucky enough to be stopped in our tracks by hitting another car and were forced to turn around. No-one was hurt, and my mother (as opposed to my dad) was as fierce and relentless as only people can be who finally get the chance to travel where they want to go. So off we went – the next train swished us off to a bigger city, only to spend hours on the platform watching trains pass that were full to the brim with other GDR citizens on their way to the West.

Midnight came and we celebrated my little sister’s birthday on one of the departure platforms, singing her a song and giving her a little present. When we finally got onto the fifth train we managed to get two seats (for my mom and my brother) and a 5-inch-wide window sill, which became the resting place for me and my sister. We were propped against the windows, held steady by other passengers’ arms while slumbering. A couple hours later we passed the border, leaving fierce-looking guards and their German shepherds behind, only to be welcomed by good friends half a day later. The trip was a one-week impromptu vacation, but it felt like a miracle to a little 9yo-girl. And who knows what would’ve become of her if all of these events had not taken place?

Let me tell you one thing: You don’t want to live here – unless you like living in a country that is both blessed with a rich historical legacy and an ambitious look at the future. At the same time, that does not mean that ALL Germans would appreciate that and, even more, try to convey that to visitors and guests. Nay, the biggest challenge to anyone ever coming to Germany is getting through the average German’s hard shell of seriousness, pondering and reserve. You will have to invest a lot of energy and heart to get through – thereby proving that you possess the virtues of perseverance and ambition that are so much admired around here. But be sure that once you get through to our core, there will be no better friend to build and rely on. 

Which other countries have you visited?

Most of Europe (unfortunately still lacking Scandinavia), India, China, Chile, the US, Canada – in terms of continents, I have only 3 more to go (Antarctica anyone?).

Where’s next on the list of places to see?

Probably China (including Tibet), or Canada. However, if I were granted three wishes, one of them would be spent on “Exploring New Zealand”.

OK, now for something with a little more juice.  Please describe a typical day in your life.

Usually, I get up at about 6:30 or 7 a.m., enjoy a fresh coffee and some muesli for breakfast with my flat-mates and get carried away while sitting together.  Then I curse and hurry so as to get to work somewhere around 9:30 a.m. Since I work at a university and mostly do research, every day looks a bit different. I might teach a course for two hours, write a paper or analyze data. Other days might find me in the lab, talking to participants in my experiments and collecting data. At noon, I would join my colleagues and we would go to one of the cafeterias to have a decent lunch, before working on. Depending on the amount of work, my plans for the evening and other duties, I usually leave work at 5 or 6 p.m. My evenings are filled with lifeguard training, meetings with an international foundation that I belong to or just hanging around with friends. If nothing else is going on, you can either find me hanging out with my flat-mates and talking silly stuff or I might (not too often though) even turn on the TV and watch House, or CSI.

What's the biggest local news story in Germany right now?

During the last weeks, German media has been buzzing about the upcoming federal elections and concurrent terror threats.  Apart from that, there is also lots of talk about the economical crisis and, in this regard, the future of our economy. Germany’s military involvement in Afghanistan is yet another sensitive topic, as politicians still avert calling this a war rather than “police work”. Other than that, and on a much lighter note, the Oktoberfest-season (there are more fall festivals than just THE one in Munich) has just started and with that, there is plenty of advice on when, where and how to get the season’s best.

Who’s your secret boyfriend/girlfriend?

Emile Hirsch, but he’s rivaled by others, such as Johnny Depp or George Clooney. It’s universal, I guess.

 

[I don't know about you, Colonists, but I'd allow Emile to lead me astray in Alaska, and I wouldn't care if it meant having to shit in the woods.]

All this talk of Emile is making me hungry. What's for dinner?

How about a cold pasta salad that is easy to prepare and hard to resist? Come on over and feast on Italian pasta salad.

Ingredients

500 g pasta (suitable types are farfalle, fusilli)

aceto balsamico (plenty of that)

2 small jars of herb-marinated dried tomatoes

3 small jars of herb olives (if you get the dry-marinated ones, take those - they're way better than the ones that are filled up with sunflower or rape-seed oil)

a 100 g-piece of Grana Padano, 250 g arugula (on this corner of the globe known as Rucola) OR 250 g corn salad/lamb lettuce (my favourite!)

Preparation:

Prepare the pasta by boiling it in lightly salted water until they are al dente, drain; let cool for 10 min; put them into a big bowl and, while stirring them, add aceto balsamico until all of the pasta has changed its color to a light brown - careful with the vinegar: you would not want to add too much and have the pasta sit in excess fluid. Stir some more after another 10 min, since the pasta likes to get lumped up. Then cover the bowl and let it rest for a few hours (you can also prepare the pasta the evening before, then put it into the fridge until you prepare the other stuff).

Now (about half an hour before serving) chop up all the olives and tomatoes (do not use the oil they're marinated with) and add them to the pasta. Finally, sort and rinse the lettuce (cut the rucola into bite-size pieces), then let it drain. In the meantime, coarsely grate the cheese. RIGHT before serving, add the grated cheese and the lettuce to the pasta-mixture and toss it up. And there you go - enjoy your fresh salad.

Good combinations: If you are on the rustic side, freshly grilled chicken breasts are a great side dish. If you are more inclined towards the Mediterranean cuisine, add some focaccia and have a glass of good red wine with it. Salute! Granted, this is not a German recipe, but we Europeans do like to sample from all kinds of plates. ;-)

Thank you, Johanna!  My parents went to Oktoberfest, and reported their worst hangovers for over twenty years.  The video (oh, yes) makes for interesting viewing.  Having been to Berlin just after the wall came down, I also found the story of your childhood journey particularly fascinating. 

Johanna blogs (in English) at http://grinsmaschine.blogspot.com/, so hop over there and check it out.  She'll also be hanging out in the Comments section to answer questions.

If you would like to be interviewed for World Wide Woman Wednesday, and you are a woman who either lives in a country other than your home country, or who is not originally from the USA, simply email womenscolony@gmail.com and put “Passport Interview” in the subject line.  Please also tell me which category (expat, non-USA, or lard help you, both) you fall into.  If you blog, we’ll happily link it for you at the end of the post. Thanks for reading!

Urban Cowgirl is a regular contributor.  You can read more of her here. 

World Wide Woman Wednesday, Episode VIII

Every Wednesday here at the Passport, we like to introduce a Colonist and discover what makes their world go around, and how far they are around it already.   This week, it’s Lesley’s turn: pull up a chair and pour a glass of your particular poison.  Are you sitting comfortably?  Then we’ll begin. 

Lesley and her mother, at the Mall. I might consider my Mall more exciting if there were Carnival characters!Where are you from?

I'm from Trinidad and Tobago, the most southerly isles of the Caribbean: land of the humming bird, steel pan, calypso, and everything in Trini time.

Please describe a typical day in your life.

My day starts with the Russian roulette between my husband and me. Whoever gets up first or has the easier morning gets to go outside around 7:30am and feed the three dogs, tie them and let the workmen in.  We're doing home renovations.

On an office day, I'm rolling into town for 9:00am.  This is a late start as the work day here is 8:00 am-4:00 pm.  But since I can set my own schedule and the traffic from my valley outside of town is horrendous I start seeing clients at 10am.  I have a small private Occupational Therapy (OT) practice where I see working-age adults and elderly people.  I work with people who have dysfunctions due to things like stroke, joint replacement, and upper extremity trauma.  I see some individual clients and some groups, do some errands in town and start making my way back to the valley before dark hopefully.  Or I meet up with my husband for dinner in town and then drive back in together.  I don't like driving at night and my husband likes me doing it even less.

If it's an out-of-office day this could mean either a day where I'm doing paperwork and emailing from home or I'm seeing clients in their homes or at their workplaces.  In this case, I could be driving all over the country and going into a variety of environments.  I might be in a bank, or a factory or a suburban home or a nursing home.  My car is my office on those days. 

Some days I have after work meetings with other OTs: we are a small group and we mostly belong to the T&T OT Association (old website; new one coming: www.ttota.org).  There are only eight OTs in the country and so we do what we can to advocate for the profession and our clients.  For example, it's OT month in October so we're planning a car treasure hunt which will take participants around town and highlight good and not-so-good accessibility design in the built environment, among other things. 

On both office days and non-office days I spend a large amount of time at my computer after work emailing or Skyping with other Caribbean OTs in preparation for an upcoming professional conference. My clinical work takes up about half my time and the rest is spent on work related to advocacy and board membership duties related to OT services.  There is a similar dearth of OTs across the Caribbean and I'm pretty hell-bent on changing that.  Don't ask me why. 

In between I fit in things like dog visits to the vet, buying sand, bricks, cement … the renovations.  When I finally switch off at home, I'll settle down with my hubby and we talk and eat on our back deck or watch something like Hell's Kitchen (his favorite) on the computer.  We don't have TV (as that would be yet another screen!)  We're both night people so we end up dragging ourselves to bed by around 1:00am.  Whoever lost the Russian roulette to the dog duty that morning usually settles in happily in the comfort of not having to do it the next morning.

On a weekend day, we both sleep in as we're obviously sleep deprived by this point.  Doggies get fed later.  We putter around the house, doing some DIY projects or working/playing in the yard with the dogs.  Some cooking, reading, relaxing and a little exercise, running, biking, sailing and meditation gets thrown in there somewhere somehow.

If you could tell us only one thing about your country, what would it be?

We are rich: maybe too rich for our own good.  We produce oil and gas and for a small developing country we have a relatively large stream of easy money.  We are the third-largest supplier of methane to the US!  That's huge, for a country of 1.5 million people.  We had a couple oil booms (one in the ‘70s, then the ‘90s) and now we're dealing with the oil bust and global recession that always seems to follow.  We're not hurting as bad as other countries, yet, but the money was never really saved for a rainy day nor was the economy diversified either time.  We import way more food than any tropical island ever should.  We can't eat the oil, as they say, but our government says our recession is “a blip” and not to worry.  “God is a Trini” is the saying.

We live in a natural paradise with beaches, rain forest, rivers and exotic animals all around.  It's a great place to be if you love the outdoors.  The weather is fantastic, if you like it hot!  We have suffered from flash flooding lately but that has more to do with un-maintained drainage and out-of-control development.  The money from the oil boom basically went into one sector: construction.  So we also have new fancy skyscrapers in our capital which would be all right if there wasn't a foot of water coursing through the downtown after 15 mins of rain.

We also have more than our fair share of Nobel Laureates, beauty queens, Olympic medalists, and cricket legends.  Yet we can't seem to follow the simplest of traffic rules!  So the one thing I would say about my country if I could tell you only one thing?  We are a happy and talented people in a richly blessed country.  Disciplined and forward thinking?  Not so much.  I'm just saying it like it is. 

Which other countries have you visited?

I left Trinidad and Tobago in 1983 to go to university in Washington, D.C.  I returned to live in late 2003.  So for the longest while I was one of the many people of the Caribbean diaspora: “definitely going home …  one day”.  It took me 20 years, but I'm a curious type and I'm more of a traveler than a tourist.

I've been to the US, Canada, and Mexico: the early years away from home, mostly for university and short trips. 

France, England, and Spain: for more school, a year abroad in France (as if I wasn't already “abroad”).  And while I was in France of course I fell in love with, you guessed it, Spain!  So I had to go back and live there for a year. 

Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong China, and Singapore: when I lived in Japan as an EFL teacher.  I lived there for six years in total and had a great time as a single adult woman in a safe and civilized country, where I couldn't get arrested even if I tried.   I left looking for action and returned to the USA to go to grad school. 

Aruba, Suriname, Barbados, St. Maartin/St. Martin, and Venezuela: flash forward to the Caribbean years.  I've seen more of the Caribbean in the past five years since I've returned home, and that's really because I'm just trying to keep up with my husband who has seen more of it than me in his short time here. 

Three women having a damned good time! It looks like Lesley has fun wherever she happens to be.Where’s next on your list of places to see?

In November I'm going to Kingston, Jamaica for the Ninth Biennial Scientific Conference of the Association of Caribbean Occupational Therapists.  Say that ten times fast! (www.occupational therapyjamaica.com)

What's the biggest local news story in your country right now?

Today's paper reported that “Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, are expected to visit Trinidad and Tobago in late November. They have been invited for a state visit by President George Maxwell Richards, a release from the British High Commission stated yesterday. Her Majesty is expected to formally declare the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (hosted by Trinidad and Tobago) open on November 27.”

Who is your secret boyfriend/girlfriend? 

I'm attracted to the whole Rapso band called 3Canal but the “sweet man” singer, Wendell Manwarren, knows a thing or two about dancing in that Caribbean way in those tight pants.  Check out “Islands” on www.3canal.com.  It doesn't hurt that he also directs amazing theatre productions and writes conscious lyrics.

Photo by Georgia Popplewell[Wendell is so hot that he inhabits a cloud of steam of his own making!  And you say he can shake it, too?  Get me to TnT!]

All this talk of Wendell is making me hungry. What's for dinner?

Bhaji Rice

1 onion, chopped
4 pimento peppers, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
12 dasheen leaves (spinach) chopped
1/2 hot pepper
3 pieces pigtail (can be left out, still tastes great)
2 1/2 cups rice
2 tbsp oil
1 pk coconut milk powder (50g) or about 1 cup of coconut milk
salt to taste

Chop the pigtail into 1" pieces and pressure cook for about 10 to 15 minutes or until soft.  Saute the garlic, onion and pimento.  Add the chopped dasheen leaves.  Then add the pigtail and hot pepper.  Mix the ingredients so that everything is evenly coated with oil.  Add the rice, and coconut milk powder.

Add a little water and simmer over a medium fire for 20 to 30 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid the rice sticking.  Add salt to taste.

Thank you, Lesley!  Now I can hear the warm tradewinds calling to me, and I have to sit here at my desk watching the drizzly drear out the window instead.  My daydream to Trinidad was lovely while it lasted. 

Colonists, Lesley has no blog (I imagine she doesn't have time) so have at it in the Comments section! 

If you would like to be interviewed for World Wide Woman Wednesday, and you are a woman who either lives in a country other than your home country, or who is not originally from the USA, simply email womenscolony@gmail.com and put “Passport Interview” in the subject line.  Please also tell me which category (expat, non-USA, or lard help you, both) you fall into.  If you blog, we’ll happily link it for you at the end of the post. Thanks for reading!

World Wide Woman Wednesday, Episode VII

Every Wednesday here at the Passport, we like to introduce a Colonist and discover what makes their world go around, and how far they are around it already.   This week, it’s Carla’s turn: pull up a chair and pour a glass of your particular poison.  Are you sitting comfortably?  Then we’ll begin. 

Check out this beautiful family!

Let's start with the basics: where are you originally from? 

Dearest husband and I grew up in northwestern Montana, on the edge of Glacier National Park.  We met in high school (corny, but true) and gave up the mountains for the fields of corn in Iowa at Luther College.  After graduation we headed to the bright lights and big city money and glamour that teaching brings in Minneapolis.

Which country is currently blessed with your presence?

We are currently shacking up in Beijing, China: land of gray skies, big buildings, and public expelling of bodily fluids.  

Dear lard! That's 5,700 miles from home! What prompted your move?

That’s a long story.  In 2006 we moved to Arusha, Tanzania to build and run a school for AIDs orphans.  Seriously, before that our combined out-of-the-US experiences were Tijuana and Banff, Canada.  It was life-changing in every possible way and I don’t think we’ll ever have anything that will match life there.  Hard to believe that spotty electricity, extreme poverty and hardship, and an armed robbery involving eight men with machetes could provoke feelings of bliss, but there you have it.  OK, maybe not the robbery part.   Sadly, our NGO valued a whole lot of things that did not include education (go figure, as it was an education NGO) and we felt we couldn’t stay and count on employment.  Returning to the US was just not what we wanted to do, so we threw our hats into the international school ring and decided to take the first place that would hire us both.  Beijing Huan Ying Wo Men!  (Beijing welcomed us).  And here we are, for now.

How long have you been living in China?

We’ve been here since August, 2008.  We have a 3 year contract, but I have learned my lesson—no promises. 

Which other countries have you visited?

Aside from our rambles along the US borders, we have visited Tanzania and Kenya, Egypt (I find it hard to believe we will have a trip that will match that one), and Northern Thailand.  Three kids and school schedules complicate travel at times!

Where’s next on the list of places to see?

Our wish list  includes Italy, as much of Thailand as we can get, Angkor Wat and the Killing Fields in Cambodia, the “American War” in Vietnam, New Zealand by camper, Bali, Tibet, and wherever else the good  Lord takes us.

And sadly, for whatever it’s worth, I may as well admit that I have a not-so-secret desire to see all the Disneylands.  And I wouldn’t say no to a trip to the Magic Kingdom.  EVER.

OK, now for something with a little more juice: what has been the biggest challenge to living in China?

The sheer size of Beijing—we’re just not big city people and Beijing is, well, BIG.  Also,  the pollution.  The language barrier is much greater here and navigating the city is much more difficult.  We go along and then find ourselves becoming seriously annoyed by Chinese people being Chinese (the nerve of them!) and that’s a good reminder that we’re out of whack and need a break or an attitude check.  Because truly…what a fantastic blessing to be able to experience life in other parts of the world!  The lives we live, wherever that is, are a series of decisions and tradeoffs…and it’s working for us.

In Tanzania it was the occasional feeling of not being able to get away when you needed a break.   Even getting away for a break was hard work.  After the first year that faded, but it was very hard—at times  we didn’t have water or electricity for two to  three  days,  I endured crowds of desperately poor people every time I stepped out of my car, and there was the  lack of  so many conveniences. No wonder people gathered for drinks every afternoon!

Tell us something you adore about your new home.

The rent is paid by our school!  I love that we live in a compound five minutes from our school with lots of friends for our kids to play with and other teachers and parents to hang out with.  It’s safe for bike riding, pet walking, and hanging out.  I guess we are in the “expat bubble” but we have a large number of Chinese, Hong Kong, Taiwanese, European, Australian, New Zealand, and Korean families in our compounds, so it’s definitely not all white—very diverse (ethnically, if not economically).

What's the biggest local news story in China right now?

Possible lead poisoning scandal, the arrest of the rioters in western China,  and (for expats) how to get around the government blocks and access Facebook and YouTube.  H1N1 is still a big deal here, with schools being closed (including international schools) and quarantines.  The upcoming 60^th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China is a HUGE deal.  Go anywhere on National Day (October 1) and you’ll be reminded that there really are a billion Chinese.  And they’ve decided to come to wherever you’ve decided to go that day.

If Oprah comes good on the Women's Colony funding, and we could pay to ship you a crate full of stuff from home, which three products would you ask us to fill it with?

Books, books, books. They are hard to get here and  so expensive.  

Magazines:  Real Simple,  InStyle,  Cooking Light,  People,  Better Homes and Gardens *sigh*.

I guess that’s it.   I won’t mention the fact that we returned from the States in August with 300 pounds of over the counter meds, tampons, blue jeans, shoes, chipotle seasoning, and my favorite shampoo.  

OK, Oprah can send along a bunch of cash.  Reference the Disneyland thing (or any other trip, really, I’m not picky) above.

Who’s your secret boyfriend/girlfriend?

Hands down, Hugh Jackman.  It’s just so awkward knowing what to do with our respective spouses.  Awkward.  And our daughters share the same name, which would be confusing.  As for dearest husband the first only one, he’s not that much for looking, but I’m guessing that Evangeline Lily (Kate Austen on Lost) would fit the bill.  She’s got a lot of spunk and probably would be up for long bouts of hiking and camping.

[The Colony regularly worships at the altar of Hugh, so instead let's take this opportunity to admire the perfect combination of buff muscle and femininity presented by Evangeline Lily.  Yeah, she looks like she can handle herself.]

All this talk of Hugh and his partner in objectification, Evangeline, is making me hungry. What's for dinner?

Local recipes include:  cow lung with black cold fungus, donkey penis in a blood sauce, bullfrog, and golden retriever.  If we’re in the mood for Chinese we head out for flash fried green beans with sprinkles of something like bacon,  steamed broccoli with garlic, sweet and sour pork, spicy chicken and peppers, and dumplings.  A dessert favorite is toffee apples—apple pieces breaded and fried and then drenched with toffee syrup, served with bowls  of cold water to dunk the toffee in so it’ll harden.  Yum.

But the current favorite, cooked by Xiao (our wonderful ayi) is a Cantonese pork tenderloin.  Since she cooks it while I’m at work, no pictures, sorry!

Ingredients

3 tbs. hoisin sauce

3 tbs. catsup

6 tsp. minced garlic

3 tsp. sugar

1 kg  (2 pounds) pork tenderloin

Line a pan with foil.  Mix hoisin sauce, catsup, garlic, and sugar.  Put tenderloin in the pan and baste with sauce.  Cook at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until the center is at 170 degrees.

Sauce

3 tbs. soy sauce

3 tsp. rice vinegar

3 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. chili oil

¼ cup cilantro, chopped

1 ½ tbs minced garlic

Stir ingredients.  Cut tenderloin across the grain into thin slices.  Spoon sauce over the meat and garnish with cilantro.  The sauce is spicy so we add it ourselves since we have a spice-sensitive child!  Great with brown rice and asparagus with a soy glaze, or steamed broccoli.

Thank you, Carla!  I'm in awe of your dedication.  I'm also envious that you call the doorstep of Glacier National Park home.  I drove the Road to the Sun several years ago, and turn by turn it took my breath away.

Carla blogs here, where you won't find any photos of her.  She is a ghost mom, orchestrating the fun but mysteriously absent from any actual documentation.  I encourage you to check it out!  Colonists, as ever, if you have questions, post them in the comments section.  

If you would like to be interviewed for World Wide Woman Wednesday, and you are a woman who either lives in a country other than your home country, or who is not originally from the USA, simply email womenscolony@gmail.com and put “Passport Interview” in the subject line.  Please also tell me which category (expat, non-USA, or lard help you, both) you fall into.  If you blog, we’ll happily link it for you at the end of the post. Thanks for reading!

World Wide Woman Wednesday, Episode VI

Every Wednesday here at the Passport, we like to introduce a Colonist and discover what makes their world go around, and how far they are around it already.   This week, it’s Penny’s turn: pull up a chair and pour a glass of your particular poison.  Are you sitting comfortably?  Then we’ll begin. 

Let's start with the basics: where are you originally from?

Australia.  Specifically, Canberra (our capital city for those who may not know – so many people seem to think it’s Sydney!).

Which country is currently blessed with your presence?

Austria (Vienna) – not a big move linguistically but a very big one culturally!

 This week, I have mastered The Gimp. Behold! I can do Art. -- UrbanCowgirl

Dear lard! That's 9,887 miles from home! What prompted your move?

My husband was offered a job here and we decided it might be nice to live in Europe for a while. We have two daughters (12 and 9) and we thought it would be a great opportunity for them to see some of the world and learn about different cultures.

How long have you been living in Austria?

3 years and 3 months so far

Which other places have you visited?

Oh, wow – are you ready? Since moving to Austria we have visited – London, Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Bratislava, Budapest, Paris, Rome, Milan, Venice, Tallinn, Riga, lots of Austria, parts of Belgium, St Petersburg, Krakow, Dubai and Chapel Hill, NC (odd but true!).

Where’s next on the list of places to see?

We’re hoping for a trip to Istanbul later this year and on my wish list I have the Alhambra Palace in Spain, Malta, Amsterdam, more of England, Florence and Tuscany – oh the list is endless!

OK, now for something with a little more juice: what has been the biggest challenge to living in Austria?

I guess the biggest challenge is the most obvious one – the language barrier.  I have tried (Lord knows how I’ve tried!) to learn German but even after three years it is very hard to make myself understood (understanding others is easier is than speaking). 

Even yesterday I had the experience where I asked for three (drei) bread rolls and the shop girl packaged two (zwei) – I had to ask several times to get her to understand what I wanted – and I was holding up three fingers, standing there with my two daughters and rolling my ‘r’s for all I was worth – pronunciation is the killer!

Many, many people here speak at least some English but I would so much prefer to be able to speak German – the language barrier has kept me from getting involved in the community and I think that’s a shame.

Tell us something you adore about your new home.

Oh, I love so much about living here! But probably the first thing that springs to mind is the seasons and how they are so clearly defined and how wonderfully the change of each season is celebrated here.

I love the fact that here (as opposed to in Australia) Easter is actually in the Spring – so all of those rabbits and eggs and the whole ‘new life’ thing with baby chickens and lambs makes way more sense in Austria than it does back home.  I love the Easter markets and the beautiful hand decorated (real) eggs.

I love how Autumn is celebrated with Harvest Festivals. I love how cold it gets in the Winter and how it is possible to have a White Christmas. I love wandering around the Christmas markets, enjoying a hot Punsch (alcoholic but very yummy).

 

I love how the Austrians love their Summer – they are the most sun-worshipping people I have ever seen and for an Aussie that is saying something!

Yes, I think it’s the seasons I love the most.

What's the biggest local news story in Austria right now?

I don’t keep up with the news so I’m not sure if I can tell you what the biggest story is – and of course there’s my language issue so I’m not sure if what I’ve decoded from the TV and the papers is actually the story at all!

There are two things that keep coming up at the moment – one is  problems with right-wing political parties and the views they have (eg. anti-Islamic, sometimes quite racist views) and the other is that Austrians are opposed to new EU regulations to ban incandescent light bulbs in favour of the energy saving variety and are hoarding the soon-to-be-illegal bulbs.  (Note to self – go to store and buy incandescent bulbs – our apartment is fitted with some old fashioned light fittings that wouldn’t look right with those new-fangled bulbs!).

If Oprah comes good on the Women's Colony funding, and we could pay to ship you a crate full of stuff from home, which three products would you ask us to fill it with?

Vegemite

Tim Tams (a really yummy Australian choc coated, choc filled, choc biscuit biscuit). 

Aussie meat pies and sausage rolls  

Who’s your secret boyfriend/girlfriend?

Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt (I’m nothing if not conventional in my tastes!).  Although when I was (much) younger I kind of fancied the actor who played John Boy Walton!

[Shhh don't tell anyone, but you're not alone.  There's a reason I have boxed sets of seasons 1-4 of The Waltons.  And if you're listening, Oprah, I'd like season 5 too.  In the meantime, I'll make do with this picture.]

Local celebrity – well, Hermann Maier, the Ski Champion is not bad!

All this talk of Richard, and his partner in objectification Hermann, is making me hungry. What's for dinner?

 

Vanillekipferln are gorgeous little crescent shaped biscuits. They are very easy to make (even easier for me as I have a Vanillekipferln baking tray so don’t have to handmake each crescent!) and they are traditionally made at Christmas time. 

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup unsalted butter

¾ cup icing sugar

150g ground almonds (I use ground hazelnuts)

½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1 large egg yolk (can add more if needed) 

Vanilla sugar or icing sugar to dust over cooked biscuits. 

Fill a container with the icing sugar and scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean into the sugar. Place in an airtight container at least overnight. 

Make a dough from all of the ingredients. Use the butter at room temperature and make sure there are no lumps of it in the dough. Place completed dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours. 

Preheat over to 200 degrees Celsius 

Make the Kipferln – take a piece of dough and shape it into a crescent shape (roll a bit in your palms), place it on baking paper and bake until golden brown. (10 minutes for small kipferl). 

Dust kipferln with vanilla sugar or icing sugar flavoured with vanilla. Can be stored in an airtight container.

Thank you, Penny!  Somehow I'm in the mood for Christmas, and it's only mid-September.  I know exactly what you mean about the seasons, too.  Colonists, Penny is another non-blogger, so have at it in the comments section!    

If you would like to be interviewed for World Wide Woman Wednesday, and you are a woman who either lives in a country other than your home country, or who is not originally from the USA, simply email womenscolony@gmail.com and put “Passport Interview” in the subject line.  Please also tell me which category (expat, non-USA, or lard help you, both) you fall into.  If you blog, we’ll happily link it for you at the end of the post. Thanks for reading!