Best advertising ever?!

This was one of the most interesting things I saw in Tallinn, Estonia... Each morning as shops opened around 11am, shop ladies put out these "mannequins". Handmade with knitted wear, I found these advertising ploys to be amusing and strange. Does it make you want to walk into their shops? 

Doors in Estonia

Tallin, Estonia has a beautiful medieval old town that has been kept in pristine condition. One of the things that struck me about Tallin was the intricately decorated doors.

The other side of the world

My mom is a 10 hour time change away. My grandparents 9. My in-laws are a 7 hour time difference from us. My best friend 6 or 4, depending on day light savings in the northern and southern hemispheres. I've got friends or family in all 4 hemispheres and all 6 inhabitable continents. I'm always on the other side of the world from someone I love.

My husband teases me for the name of this blog. Maybe it sounds obvious. A quick google search probably results in 10 other blogs with the same exact name. But it fits me. When I wake up and check Facebook in the morning, all my North and South American friends have posted. When I come home from work, all my European, African and Asian friends have posted. Someone is always online. Someone is always awake. Someone is always asleep. Someone is always on the other side of the world. And that is cool. (Except when I need to call my mom and it's her middle of the night.)

I like being on the other side of the world because it means that no matter where I go, someone is always there. And it means that someone is always on this side of the world too.

Travel is fatal.

The longer I'm away from my home country, the more places I go, the more people I meet and the more conversations I have... this rings more true: My world view has changed and continues to change.

My view of myself. My view of my country. My view of religion and wealth and stereotypes. All these things have changed because I chose to travel. I have lived new places. I've had new jobs. I have worked with people from all over the world.

And I'm so grateful I did! Because these experiences have made me more open-minded, more accepting, more hopeful that people all over the world are really the same. We're all people - wanting the best for those we love, wanting peace and love and hope. And I am proud to be a person on this planet who has experienced the fatality travel brings.

Odd Bathrooms

I sat in the bathroom in the Chicago airport and the first thing that popped into my mind... People can see me doing my business! My mother-in-law recently sent me an article: Odd Things About America that Americans Don't Realize. One of the things on the list was "odd bathroom stalls". The gaps between the door and the stall allow anyone to take a peak of you doing your business. As I sat there, I watched people pass by, wash their hands and walk into other stalls. All from the crack in the bathroom stall door. And I realized... that's only in America. In the rest of the world there are no bathroom stall gaps. They actually make the doors to give you privacy. In a country that likes their rights - the right to guns, bashing the president and most recently marijuana - it seems very strange that Americans don't seek the right to privacy in a public restroom. Maybe it's because they're free. They may be less private, but you can go to the bathroom for free all over the country. (FYI - Most bathrooms abroad coast a euro or so to use.) Maybe that's what keeps people from complaining. Or maybe Americans just don't know it's odd. Or the fact that we call it a bathroom - who is taking a bath in public?! America, your public bathrooms are odd, but I can't complain about the availability and convenience, even if people can watch me wee.