Settling In :: Friends

Title:	Ocho Rios 2
Author:	bthsideofthdoor
Date:	2009-12-23 @ 08:40
Security:	public

Week xx

Running: none
X-Training: 50 min. Spin, 1x; 20 min. elliptical, 1x
Strength Training: upper body+ core, 3x

The fitness facilities at the Riu left much to be desired. Half of the cardio equipment was broken. The strength equipment postively mediaeval. So I got in my usual spin class Monday and Tuesday strength workout before jetting off, then worked in one brief cardio session and two strength sessions in Jamaica. This week my training will be hit and miss as well. This morning I got in a good solid session.

Bartering and Tipping

Though the resort is all-inclusive, tipping is appreciated. We had the foresight to bring over $50 in one dollar bills and another $50 in fives.

By the third day though, I had realized something about the way you'd customarily tip waitstaff in the U.S. We had been leaving a dollar or two on the table, as you might at any buffet in the U.S. But I realized there's something terribly insulting . . . leaving it behind on the table implies it has little value to you BUT you expect it to have some value to the waitstaff (very arrogant) . . . and your time is also too valuable to wait and give it to the waitstaff directly . . . in essence, implying you're not too concerned with whether the person who served you actually gets it.

So by day three I had made a conscious effort to both thank and look the waitstaff in the eye as he/ she is filling the water, etc. and then when it was time to go, say something to the effect of "thanks for taking care of us" and shaking the person's hand, tipping as you'd tip the bell-hop or valet. When you did this you'd often hear "respect" in place of "you're welcome."

Should we go back (see below)--that's one lesson learned.

Now BARTERING is a whole different kettle of fish. Now, it's not like we don't negotiate in the U.S. but we generally only do so for big purchases--like buying a house or a car. And I quipped to my wife--"why do I want to waste time haggling over the price of a $10 bottle of rum? I just want to buy it and get out of there."

Again--you look at what this implies. I have so much money its not worth my time to bargain down to $7.

So in essence, you can appreciate that where such bartering occurs, it happens because even at the level of everyday pruchases, that money is valuable and worth negotiating for.

AND, even if you decided you wanted to bargain for everyday purchases in the U.S.--you wouldn't be able to. Because who would you be bargaining with? The teenager at the check-out counter? He has no authority to lower a price. You can't haggle because the transaction occurs with someone who has no power to negotiate on behalf of whomever actually is selling (owns) the product. And even if you tried it at, say, a farmer's market, it is likely the seller would also have the attitude--"that's the price, take it or leave it, I don't want to waste time bickering over the price of a pound of bananas."

Plus in the U.S., if you don't like the price, you go to another store in the same mall. If you got one place to buy coffee, fruit, etc. that guy's going to put the squeeze on you unless if you fight back.

A few more economic insights to follow in another post . . .

NEXT TIME:

So towards the end of the vacation, I asked my wife: "So if we came back--what would you do different?" Her answer mostly pertained to what she did and didn't pack . . . but in the course of our discussion, I discovered "coming back" meant taking another Caribbean vacation--NOT returning to Ocho Rios or even Jamaica.

And this opens another interesting question--and difference--between my wife and I. If I were to go to the Caribbean again--I would, at least, go back to Jamaica, if not right back to the Riu in Ocho Rios. She would want to go to a different island entirely.

Her view--we've been to Jamaica--now let's go somewhere else.

My view--we've been to Jamaica--but how much did we really see and do in four days? Now that we know what its like, what to expect, you can leverage that sense of familiarity to do things that are much more adventurous. Like for instance--taking a taxi into Ocho Rios proper to go to a reggae bar. Or renting a car for a day and driving up to Cayoba Gardens ourselves.

I've already discussed this theory of mine elsewhere. When I am in a unfamiliar city, I will go to the same place over and over. Realizing I can't see and experience everything in the city, if I go to the same place multiple times, I can at least feel like I've learned/ experienced THAT one restaurant/ bar/ park, etc.

Ditto the Caribbean--OK, you go to the Riu/ Cayman Islands, then Bahamas, then Nassau, then the Dominican Republic . . . but I find that to be just the "collect all 10!" mentality.

But I haven't given my wife's opinion equal time . . . one thing she did say that surprised me--how stupid it was that people bought "Jamaica" T-shirts for friends and relatives who have never been there to wear . . . the implication being, you shouldn't wear a Jamaica shirt if you haven't gone . . . it'd be like wearing a race T-shirt (e.g., New York Marathon) for a race you didn't actually run in. In other words, the "Jamaica" should not simply be equivalent to "Nike" or "Izod," it's more like "Toys for Tots 5K". Not a label or advertisement but a token that socially differentiates you as someone who has BEEN there, and DONE that.

Anyway--this is why Dean MacCannell's work on tourism is so valuable. You read THE TOURIST and you travel with a whole different set of concepts and expectations. Hopefully, once the dust settles, I can return to his work--my work on travel and utopia.

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Title:	Who let him back in?
Author:	bthsideofthdoor
Date:	2009-12-22 @ 10:28
Security:	public

Back in the United States . . . from Ocho Rios, Jamaica (hence the tanning). More accurately, back from the Hotel Riu/ Ocho Rios, since, like most first-time tourists to Jamaica, we only ventured off the resort for a one day, guided, group tour.

Ocho Rios is about 70 miles from Montego Bay. Maybe our most authentic contact with Jamaicans occurred at a rest stop on the way, at your run-down jerk-chicken hut/ bar, tucked among shacks and unfinished concrete buildings. The most adventurous thing I did was actually eat a "quart" of jerk chicken prepared off the resort. I'm willing to bet more than half the people on the bus figured I'd be sick that night--in fact, more than half didn't even get off the bus.

Our tour took us only a few miles into the interior. We were rushed through Cayoba Gardens, a 30 minute guided tour . . . then you have 10 minutes?! Drove around to get views of Ocho Rios . . . then to a pottery studio. Then dumped off at some duty-free shopping center. The proprietors of all the stores--Indian, not Jamaican--and they are all selling the same stuff--T-shirts, coffee, rum, and knick-knacky souvenirs. For which you are supposed to barter . . . (more on that later). The highlight was climbing Dunn's River Falls. This was not at all what I expected. I envisioned climbing up stairs along side the falls, unaccompanied, able to take pictures, more like a hike. Instead, we're climbing up the falls IN THE WATER, for which you need a guide. People take your pictures along side, another guy films you . . . all stuff you're pressured to buy afterwards. So as fun as that was--it was much more like an amusement park ride . . . whereas, if we had taken the dune-buggy trip (which sounds like an amusement park ride) we would have likely had more opportunity to explore nature.

We also had purchased seats for a short trip into Ocho Rios proper, another shopping area . . . but I was so put off by the vendors at Dunn's River Falls we bailed on that and it worked out in that, those were the last few hours of sun for the trip. By Saturday afternoon--overcast--and then at night and through Sunday, intermittent torrential rain.

Thankfully, we booked a suite and that gave us access to some more exclusive dining. The resort is all inclusive and so you need to be in a suite to get the gourmet meals. You can see how silly tourism is--the first night we had Japanese! We arrived too late to make reservations and they had some seating available. Of course, this is doubly-idiotic for us because you can get WAY better Japanese right here in Jersey.

And by exclusive--I mean--this resort was a lot more Spring Break-ish than I anticipated and those restaurants gave you a little break from that. I suppose I should know better . . . its Jamaica . . . all the old-time Jimmy Buffet wanna-bes are soused by noon, their kids soused by three, only because they slept-in three hours longer. And the sunburns . . . my god. Being from Cape Cod, you spot tourists by their being drunk and sunburnt. These are NOT beach people. I was able to confirm that no one attractive sunbathes topless at the beach . . . and I guess Europeans have no hint of self-consciousness about their bodies because you would NEVER in a million years see such stretched, hairy, rolls and folds busting out of bikinis and Speedos at the Jersey Shore.

Honestly, even when the house band was playing their Bob Marley set, you had to remind yourself you were in Jamaica and not just a Jamaican themed resort. You look out towards the interior of the island and you sense something is deliberately being hidden from you . . . and you'd need a trustworthy guide to show you what life is actually like there . . . or even just to know where you can go listen to the reggae the locals would listen to . . . you sense someone's trying to trick you into thinking you've seen and experienced the culture, even if only briefly, when you've only seen a simulation of it on Jamaican soil.

In a separate post I'll talk a little about what I learned about American culture and myself on this trip. Perhaps typical that an American would take from Jamaica truths about himself and HIS culture . . . and can sound self-centered, but it is rather an expression of humility and care . . . to leave claiming you learned anything deep about Jamaican culture would be to delude yourself . . . the contrasts give you opportunity to question the rationale behind some American practices (like tipping) . . . beyond that I would not even venture any sort of description of the culture or people beyond just a narration of what happened.

I will say, first time I've gone through Customs since 9-11 (I don't count crossing from Canada into the U.S.) and what a scary experience. God forbid someone brings any dope or copies of the Koran into the U.S. And its so scary I'm almost wondering if I should delete that observation!

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Title:	Winners!
Topics:	contest
Author:	devarae
Date:	2009-12-20 @ 09:04
Security:	public

Originally published at devafagan.com. You can comment here or there.

Thank you to everyone who entered my Bookish Cheer giveaway. The winners are:

Ghosts: Livejournal user stuff_on_a_stik
Fairies: Ying Lee

I’ve sent emails to both winners, but if for some reason they don’t go through, you guys can email me at deva at devafagan dot com with your mailing addresses.

I wish I had copies of these books to give everyone who wants to read them! If you didn’t win, I encourage you to see if you can get them from your local library, or even order a copy of your own!

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Title:	Re-reading
Author:	devarae
Date:	2009-12-19 @ 10:53
Security:	public

Originally published at devafagan.com. You can comment here or there.

I don’t re-read books very often, especially books that are not childhood favorites or comfort reads. There are so many books out there I haven’t read even once I have a hard time justifying reading anything twice, even if I loved it. But last week I did re-read a book that I originally read not two years ago: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner.

And I loved it. I’m really glad I re-read it, because the experience the second time around was truly different than the first. I’m trying to refrain from spoilers, so without going into details, I will say that this book really made me consider something I hadn’t thought about as a writer. That is, what makes a book remain engaging (or even become more interesting and rewarding) on a re-read? It’s not something I ever really considered when writing my own stories, although now that I consider them from that light, I like to think there are aspects of all three that would reward a re-read. But what an interesting challenge, as a writer, to think about what one can do to make a story appealing not just the first time around, but the second and third and twelfth.

What do you guys think? What books do you re-read, and why? What do you hope to get out of a book when you re-read it? Are you looking for a reiteration of the original experience, or are you hoping to discover further details you missed and additional layers of meaning?

For me it can be both — with comfort reads it’s mostly about reliving the same beloved tale over again, but I do love it when I find new reasons to love a book, as I did with The Thief.

And on a completely unrelated note: I have all the entries in now for my holiday book giveaway, and I’ll be drawing the two winners later today and posting the results tomorrow if all goes to plan. Thank you everyone who entered!

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Title:	2010 Writing Resolution #1: No Guilt
Author:	devarae
Date:	2009-12-17 @ 21:29
Security:	public

Originally published at devafagan.com. You can comment here or there.

I’m a big fan of taking stock of things at the end of each calender year, and I love dreaming up lists of goals for each new year. In my own personal vocabulary, a goal is something that you can easily measure and check off when you have done it. Something like “write a new book” or “run in a 5K race”. A resolution is more amorphous, more ongoing, like “be a more understanding friend” or “enjoy nature more”. So generally speaking, I go for goals rather than resolutions. I’ll be posting closer to the end of the year about my goals for 2010. This year, however, I’ve also got three writing resolutions.

Here’s the first: I will not feel guilty about sticking to my own writing process.

There are so many different ways to write, a whole spectrum of possibilities, and one of the things I’ve been recognizing lately is that understanding one’s own process is one of the most important keys to success as a writer. And yet, just yesterday I was talking with a writer friend about how we both like to take a relatively long break (I will take anywhere from a month to two months) between projects. And we both commented on how easy it is to feel guilty over that (especially when there are other writers out there who seem to plunge right into their next project within days or even hours of finishing the previous one).

I’ve been on a writing holiday since mid-November when I abandoned NaNoWriMo. Over the last month I’ve spent the time I would have spent writing on painting our library, reading, Christmas prep, and watching Project Runway (among other things). On the surface it doesn’t look like I’m doing anything remotely like writing. And maybe I haven’t. There’s a voice in my head that likes to hiss at me that I’m lazy, that I should be writing every single day.

I think these breaks revitalize my writing, like a good night’s sleep. They give my back-brain time to synthesize ideas and work the still-mysterious-to-me alchemy that produces characters who can make my plot outlines come alive. And even if that’s not true, I’ve still been producing one new book per year, even with those breaks. And I’m happy with that. I like that pace. It works for me. So why the guilt?

I think there’s an innate dangerous quality to the human psyche that makes us doubt ourselves if we feel like we are doing something “different”. But seriously, we need to get over that instinct because we are ALL doing something different.

So that’s my resolution: no guilt over writing the way I need to write.

What about you guys? Do you ever feel like you don’t write “the right way”? That you ought to change your process?

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Title:	Another Circus…
Author:	devarae
Date:	2009-12-15 @ 08:28
Security:	public

Originally published at devafagan.com. You can comment here or there.

I don’t read a lot of picture books, though I occasionally page through my own childhood favorites or read with my friends’ two-year-old daughter. But when I saw that The Children’s Book Cellar in Waterville ME was hosting an event with Chris Van Dusen, author and illustrator of THE CIRCUS SHIP, I knew I had to be there. Firstly, because I have a current obsession with circuses. And secondly, because I’ve long wanted to visit The Children’s Book Cellar, which is one of two (I think?) dedicated children’s bookstores in Maine, and is run by the marvelous Ellen Richmond.

Accordingly I ventured forth on Saturday after Thanksgiving with my mom and dad (Bob was working). The store itself was bright and colorful and welcoming: perfect for a children’s bookstore. And I found lots of great books featured on the shelves. Here are two I was particularly happy to see:

Kate Messner’s lovely contemporary middle grade THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z and Kate Coomb’s middle grade fantasy THE RUNAWAY DRAGON (currently on my to-read list).

We roamed around the store for a bit as dozens of other patrons lined up to get copies of THE CIRCUS SHIP signed. We ended up meeting Chris Van Dusen’s very charming wife, and my parents discovered a number of mutual acquaintances (the Van Dusens live in the same area we did when I was a kid). Eventually there was a reading, which seemed to enthrall the kids (and the adults) who were on hand:

I was reading along in my copy, so I could get a close look at all the fantastic illustrations. I have always loved best those sorts of illustrations — the ones rich with little quirks and hidden details. The story itself is also utterly charming, and it was fascinating to hear Chris talk about the (sad) real-world inspiration (a ship of circus animals that was lost off the Maine coast) and how he wanted to turn it into something joyful with a happy ending. I love seeing how writers play with reality, shaping it and turning it into something new that feeds our dreams.

So if you are looking for a picture book to give as a gift this holiday season, I highly recommend THE CIRCUS SHIP. It’s colorful, fun to read, and uplifting. Plus, Chris was a warm, generous and just plain nice guy. Thank you Chris and Ellen for a wonderful and inspiring book event!

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Title:	Contests!
Author:	devarae
Date:	2009-12-15 @ 07:34
Security:	public

Originally published at devafagan.com. You can comment here or there.

Four ways to win free stuff!

ONE: My holiday giveaway is still open until midnight December 18th. You can win one of two prize packs of books: fairy-dusted (SPELL HUNTER and EYES LIKE STARS) or ghostly (SHADOWED SUMMER and GIVE UP THE GHOST). Comment here to enter!

TWO: Stephanie Burgis is giving away an ARC of her forthcoming fantasy A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK over here. I am very very excited about reading this book as it sounds like just my sort of thing, but I’m not entering the contest myself since I plan to wait and get my own copy. But I encourage any of you who love historical fantasy to hurry over and enter!

THREE: There’s just one more day left to enter Megan Crewe’s end of the year giveaway (which includes a copy of FORTUNE’S FOLLY, yay!). You can do so here.

FOUR: It’s the very last Debness contest over on the Debut 2009 community that has saved my sanity more than once this crazy debut year. The contest runs for only one day, so hurry over for your chance to win a bag full of nifty swag from dozens of debs. Click the icon below to find out more!

Find Out What's In The Bag And Win It Today

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Title:	File Under "Do'h!"
Author:	bthsideofthdoor
Date:	2009-12-14 @ 08:12
Security:	public

Week xx

Running: 4.5 miles (Sn-1.5m warm-up then 5K race @ 26:30)
X-Training: Spin, 50 min. x1; elliptical 20 min, x2
Strength Trainging: upper body+core, x2, core only, x1

Toys for Tots 5K: I took it easy, 26:30 is about an 8:30, 8:40 min./mile pace. But I made the mistake of looking at the results this morning. In my age group, the winning time was 23:15! Which even yesterday, I could have sluaghtered had I went all-out. And to add insult to injury, third place in my group was 26:15!

The field was huge--almost 300 people. Where were all the good runners? The ones that wipe the floor with me when I actually TRY.

No matter what I do I seem to place 4th or 5th.

I'm positive during the Winter Series I'll run 3, sub-22 minute races and not place in any of them. And the two I don't go to, the winning time will be 24 minutes.

DO'H!

Well, the point is really: a.) my quadricep feels fine (about 95%) so I can start running again soon; b.) piles and piles of toys for the "tots" were donated.

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