Trips!

Tom, my boss, is not exactly the definition of office propriety. Nevertheless, he means what he says, so I took it in good measure when he told me this morning that I LOOK FIT!

Over here, by the way, "fit" can mean hot, or it can mean healthy. I'm gonna take it as the latter.

He actually asked me if I've been working out--if you believe it, it wasn't in a lecherous way--and he said I'm looking much fitter. You know, (sigh) it's not a conversation you'd have in a US office. Things are very PC at home, where fear of offense keeps people from saying things on the offchance they'd be misconstrued.

Here, things are different. Your boss can tell you your hair is flattering or even attractive. Your boss can mildly come on to you after a few drinks at an office gathering, and you will implicitly know to think, "it's not him talking, it's the drink." And all this can happen within the context of your boss being a very nice and likeable person, of high moral fibre, who has a very nice wife and family, and is altogether very successful. It's hard to explain, because we really, REALLY demonize men who treat women that way in the States, whereas here women seem to tolerate it to a greater degree, and take men to be creatures who are able to manage the country but aren't able to manage their...little men. And it's all just part of the deal for women here, part of the deal they accepted when they began to join the workforce.

So in a way, things are 40-50 years behind here and as a result, my boss told me I looked fit, but really it was a compliment, and I took it as a compliment, and it's hard to explain, but it is what it is.


NOW. I have to tell you about my vacations I've booked. And they're good. Reeeeal good.

My 25th birthday is coming up in May, and in celebration of a quarter century on this planet, there is a whole month of goooooooood trips planned. Now, most of them have nothing to do with my birthday, and some were planned by people who don't even know my birthday, but please, don't take this away from me. This is my birfday.

Itinerary is as follows:

April 17th: Aran Islands

April 23rd: Venice

May 2nd: Barcelona

May 15th: Amsterdam
In the next 6 weeks I will effectively double the number of trips I've been on in the year I've been living here. This could very well be the best 2 months over here yet! Then in June Kara comes over, then in July I come home for a visit and a weddin', AND I get to see Elisa even!

You guys, is that not the best 6 weeks of weekend activities you've ever seen? I'm so excited.

Now, to make a little money for those many, many trips...Good Thursday!