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Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
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10:17 am - I hate York part 14981.5
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It is my final year at York. This is what my classes look like.
Elementary Spanish (I figured I have to learn Spanish one day)
Visual Language (this is a York-Sheridan design course and I will probably be de-enrolled once they find out I'm not a major, fuckers)
Creativity and Cities in Urban Politics and Planning (I already took a course like this in Sweden, and I wrote a mammoth paper/magazine on Toronto & Berlin last year, so let's see)
Urban Planning and Practice in the Global South (because there was NOTHING. ELSE. And I like environmental/urban studies...but shit...)
Globalization and Indigenous Peoples (This is the last course I need for my International Development major. Not officially enrolled, but I talked to the professor who is jokes and Australian and he is very welcoming)
Courses I wanted to take and could not get in (for non-majors)
Print Media: Screenprinting
Time-Based Art: Introduction to Video Art – Production
York canceled a ridiculous amount of Visual Arts courses so it seems very unlikely that I will be able to take Screenprinting or Video art, which sucks because it's what I wanted more than anything else. I am sick of writing papers and I want to design things now, just like I have always been good at. Enrollment is closed off for pretty much every VISA course. These course descriptions explicitly state that they are for non-majors, but there's no chance for me.
Well, York, I hope you are happy in making my final year a living hell. I mean...I anticipate won't be that bad, but considering how much I pay to go to your freaking institution, and considering enrollment is DOWN this year because of the strike, I am NOT getting what I want. I can't wait to end our relationship and leave your stupid Facebook network, too.
EDIT: I JUST FOUND OUT I DON'T HAVE TO BE FULL-TIME NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!????????
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| Monday, July 13th, 2009
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9:39 am - Flashbacks to last summer/Dead letter marked return to sender?
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Sometimes I get this urge to listen to bad music that I once found pleasurable as a young teen. So, this morning I put Thursday on my iPod and just sang my heart out without giving a shit. Even though this music is not actually "good", it's just fun. Bad emo still holds a place in my heart, even though I tried to deny it back then.
Which brings me to my next point. Recently I read an article in AsiaLife, a magazine for ex-pats in Ho Chi Minh City, about a Swedish brand entrepreneur who started reggae nights in HCMC in hopes of introducing the genre to the Vietnamese. This would make them more tolerant towards different cultures and music (hearsay tells me that the Vietnamese are not too fond of black people...but you can't generalize). I hear reggae-influenced music every now and then when I go out, but nothing too crazy to winedown to. Still: progress.
So if this guy can do it, then why can't I? I want to introduce hardcore and skramz to Vietnam!!!!!
I hope my tone reads that I am being slightly comedic and arrogant cos I'm not that serious, but man, wouldn't it be awesome to see some Vietnamese punx go apeshit! Maybe, just maybe, there are some badass Vietnamese chicks and dudes starting up hardcore punk bands in their emerging middle-class parents basements. Or maybe the Việt Kiều (Vietnamese overseas) will bring it from places like Vancouver, Cali, and Toronto. Okay, at least have awesome rock'n'roll bands like Zoobombs play here, because I really want to hear something familiar besides the awesome 80s and 90s music that is "all over da clubs".
(Not my photo. Vietnamese emo kids a la Targét)
Oh and, I haven't listened to Ratatat extensively but they played here at the end of May. I would have loved to see some Vietnamese scenesters but I was at the beach on that weekend. I saw a guy wearing a Fantomas shirt the other night. He was a Westerner, though, so it didn't count.
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I have been thinking about the nice memories of last summer. Me and Susi bonding together in Berlin, reading issues of the Believer with Chiara in Rome, meeting up with JOSH E. LLIOT in Praha, introducing the Fahy's to Cheap Monday in CPH and Malmo. I miss that part of my life, and I hope it returns one day after I move away from this yellow fever I've been having about Asia (Sorry). Still, I'm going to visit Japan one day. I don't care what anybody says.
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In other news, I really need to do something? Like get involved with Spacing when I get back. It's hard cos I don't live in Toronto, but I am just very passionate about this issue and would dedicate my life to it (and also...species conservation, particularly marine). But how? Become an entrepreneur? A charity-case philanthropist? An unaccomplished activist? A utopian control-freak?
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
current mood: hungry for refriderated Oreos
current music: the imminent sound of construction
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| Saturday, July 11th, 2009
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10:24 am - Death and Depression
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First off, Martin Streek from Edge 102 died last week. This is the man whose Sunday Live To Air broadcasts taught me everything about 80s music. I grew up listening to him.
But here comes the killer. My favourite bookstore in the entire world (no exaggeration) is closing. Pages, Books and Magazines was one of the only great reasons to hang out on Queen West. It aided me through many days and nights of boredom with the best selection of books and magazines in the city at a price generally lower than Chapters. An independent bookstore for 29 years in the heart of Queen, it is now disappearing on August 31 due to skyrocketing rents. Gentrification gone too far. I'm so devastated about this. The worst part is that I won't be home to say goodbye. I can't believe it.
I have one good thing to say in this entry: My name "Pea" translates to "Ärt" in Swedish. If that isn't good, I don't fucking know what is!!!!
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| Thursday, July 9th, 2009
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10:17 am - So many tings gwan...
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So, in case you haven't read my blog in the last 5 minutes (why isn't it set to your default homepage?), I will summarize how my life in Vietnam has been going.
Last week, my internship company shut down all fourteen of its international offices (Turkey, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, India Brazil, Mexico, and more!) but luckily the Vietnam office stayed open. The Vietnam office will look for alternative funding from the government and national companies. The Canadian government primarily funded the company. It's a non-profit. Harper decided that international education and gaining skills isn't a priority in times of economic turmoil. My fellow interns in Mexico and Singapore have lost their internships and my university is trying to find them something new. I guess I am lucky.
I went to Hoi An, central Vietnam, the day after I heard the offices were closing. Ever since then, I've been in a totally lazy mood. There is nothing to do at work. I am not motivated. I don't know what my boss wants. I work on branding the company, but if the company no longer exists, what am I going to do? He's in Canada right now and isn't the best with email although he tries. I'm not even sure if our company is going to the capital, Hanoi, for an education fair at the end of July. Flights are getting expensive each time I look, and I am expected to pay for my own way there. Not to mention, spending time in Halong Bay and Sa Pa.
Hoi An was wonderful. A dream town, almost, in a developing country. I got a lot of clothing made because Hoi An is renowned for silk and dressmaking. I had $90 lost and/or stolen from me as well...which is always fun! I saw a lot of ancient Cham and Chinese culture and I went to the beach which was surrounded by mountains. I REALLY need to go back to the beach, I love vitamin D.
Vietnamese coffee is so delicious. Torontonians, please check out Pho Hung on Spadina/Dundas for probably the best Vietnamese food and drinks in the city!
Ho hoooo. So tired and bored. Wishing Jamie was here to explore with me...or at least a friend who is as adventurous and crazy as me.
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| Monday, July 6th, 2009
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2:31 pm - Sedmikrasky
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SEDMIKRASKY The only Czech movie I ever saw, and it was awesome, so awesome that Czech Republic banned it in the 1960s. I've never mentioned it to anyone, it was kind of like my little (new wave) secret. Girls in unconventional roles in 1960s cinema = one of my favourite things (i.e. Audrey Hepburn). Especially these two wreckless & hopeless girls. They are fiercely annoying yet satisfying to watch.
current mood: inspired
current music: prince - when doves cry
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| Thursday, June 25th, 2009
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2:42 pm
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I have some friends from France here in Saigon. They are a reminder to me that I need to practice my French, yet I am in Vietnam, thinking about Sweden, and thinking about traveling Asia in general, and on top of that, I'm taking Spanish next year. I'm screwed, aren't I?
Shall summer 2010 be the summer of Francais? J'explore offers interesting free 5-week language courses for students all over Canada. My eyes are on Victoria and Vancouver, two places I am interested in being (particularement dans Vancouver despite l'obsession avec Sverige). I gotta do this next summer.
My mind is full of thoughts right now. Extreme thoughts.
Extreme thoughts of wanting to do extreme things.
But don't get me wrong, J'explore is far from extreme.
Blog update can be found here:
http://vietpea.wordpress.com/
http://vietpea.wordpress.com/
http://vietpea.wordpress.com/
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| Sunday, June 21st, 2009
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10:44 pm - Ugh.
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Dear 80s fashion:
PLEASE GO AWAY. YOU ARE REALLY UNFLATTERING AND TRASHY.
This has been the creme de la creme of disgusting 80s revival:
Like, really? Who thought this was a good idea.
85% of 80s revival sucks. 10% is ok. 5% is really good. I can't wait for this trend to be overrrrrrrrrrr.
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| Saturday, June 20th, 2009
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7:15 pm - Why am I not in Sweden?
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As much as I love Asia and everything, everyone knows I am head-over-heels-fuck-me-in-the-ass in love with Sweden. Last week my roommate from Sweden was telling me that tuition is free FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS. Honestly if you don't have your bachelors or masters or a diploma yet, get that shit in Sweeeeden. No bullshit or anything. No citizenship. No EU crap. No waiting around for years until you are eligible for free tuition. That shit is F-R-E-E. I can't tell you how many programs I've come across that I'm in love with. Yes I did secret research last year after studying in Copenhagen. The programs are in English, too.
Obviously private institutions and academies might cost. There was an art academy in Goteborg that I was obsessed with for a good year that had tuition for internationals. But publicly run universities and colleges = no tuition. NO TUITION. NO TUITION!
I need to go back to Sweden so fast...ughhhhh...I can't wait to graduate from York. Enrollment alone at York is an annual pain in the ass, seeing as most of the courses I need are blocked. I'm wasting my life with York sometimes.
Viva la Sweden. Not fucking around. This is legit. LEGITIMACY PROVEN HERE.
In other news, Chiara is in the garden of (Sw)eden right now and all of her observations make me miss it so so so much, especially Malmo where I have met some of the coolest people and where I have attended a tres creative university (Malmo K3).
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| Monday, June 15th, 2009
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10:34 am - My weekend
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| Friday, June 12th, 2009
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9:27 am - Ohhhhhhh my life!
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May 31, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Cum Laude in Evading Bandits
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
One of the great failures of American universities is that they are far too parochial, rarely exposing students to worlds beyond our borders.
If colleges provide credit for dozing through an introductory Spanish class, why not give credit for a “gap year” in a Bolivian village? If students can learn about microfinance while sitting comatose in 9 a.m. lectures, couldn’t they learn more by volunteering with a lender in a Bangladesh slum?
So with summer starting, it’s up to students themselves to self-educate by setting off on their own. I hold my “win a trip” contest precisely to encourage such trips — I’m just back from visiting five West African countries with a University of South Carolina student. Yet when I encourage students’ wanderlust, questions invariably arise: Will I be safe? How do I avoid robbers and malaria?
In response, here are 15 tips for traveling to even the roughest of countries — and back:
1. Carry a “decoy wallet,” so that if you are robbed by bandits with large guns, you have something to hand over. I keep $40 in my decoy wallet, along with an old library card and frequent-flier card. (But don’t begrudge the wallet: when my travel buddy was pickpocketed in Peru, we tried to jump the pickpocket, who turned out to be backed by an entire gang ... )
2. Carry cash and your passport where no robber will find it. Assuming that few bandits read this column, I’ll disclose that I carry mine in a pouch that loops onto my belt and tucks under my trousers.
3. Carry a tiny ski lock with a six-foot retractable wire. Use it to lock your backpack to a hotel bed when you’re out, or to the rack of a train car.
4. At night, set a chair against your hotel door so that it will tip over and crash if someone slips in at 4 a.m. And lift the sheet to look for bloodstains on the mattress — meaning bed bugs.
5. When it gets dark, always carry a headlamp in your pocket. I learned that from a friend whose hotel in Damascus lost power. He lacked a light but was able to feel his way up the stairs in the dark, find his room and walk in. A couple of final gropes, and he discovered it wasn’t his room after all. Unfortunately, it was occupied.
6. If you’re a woman held up in an isolated area, stick out your stomach, pat it and signal that you’re pregnant. You might also invest in a cheap wedding band, for imaginary husbands deflect unwanted suitors.
7. Be wary of accepting drinks from anyone. Robbers sometimes use a date rape drug to knock out their victims — in bars, in trains, in homes. If presented with pre-poured drinks, switch them with your host, cheerfully explaining: “This is an American good luck ritual!”
8. Buy a secondhand local cell phone for $20, outfit it with a local SIM card and keep it in your pocket.
9. When you arrive in a new city, don’t take an airport taxi unless you know it is safe. If you do take a cab, choose a scrawny driver and lock ALL the doors — thieves may pull open the doors at a red light and run off with a bag.
10. Don’t wear a nice watch, for that suggests a fat wallet and also makes a target. I learned that lesson on my first trip to the Philippines: a robber with a machete had just encountered a Japanese businessman with a Rolex — who now, alas, has only one hand.
11. Look out for fake cops or crooked ones. If a policeman tries to arrest you, demand to see some ID and use your cell phone to contact a friend.
12. If you are held up by bandits with large guns, shake hands respectfully with each of your persecutors. It’s very important to be polite to people who might kill you. Surprisingly often, child soldiers and other bandits will reciprocate your fake friendliness and settle for some cash rather than everything you possess. I’ve even had thugs warmly exchange addresses with me, after robbing me.
13. Remember that the scariest people aren’t warlords, but drivers. In buses I sometimes use my pack as an airbag; after one crash I was the only passenger not hospitalized.
14. If terrorists finger you, break out singing “O Canada”!
15. Finally, don’t be so cautious that you miss the magic of escaping your comfort zone and mingling with local people and staying in their homes. The risks are minimal compared with the wonders of spending time in a small village. So take a gap year, or volunteer in a village or a slum. And even if everything goes wrong and you are robbed and catch malaria, shrug it off — those are precisely the kinds of authentic interactions with local cultures that, in retrospect, enrich a journey and life itself.
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I haven't done any of these things. I do not believe that Vietnam is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, otherwise there wouldn't be so many foreigners here. Although I do agree most with #1 - never carry all of your cash and passport in the same spot. At first I found this article scary as fuck, then I realized that it doesn't really apply to me. I am being as safe as I possibly can. Now that I look back on the article, it's kind of funny. Those horrid and extreme experiences make up for a lot, like that one time in Guyana for me...
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