LLWorldTour

Traveling also feeds my fascination with languages, dialects, and various accents. After traveling all around the world, I became fairly proficient in Spanish and could get by with a modicum of French, German, Italian, Romanian, Turkish and even a tiny bit of Vietnamese.

Here is a list of languages I encountered and dabbled in while traveling:

• Spanish (for about 4 months of trip)
• New Zealand & Australian English
• Cantonese (in Hong Kong)
• Vietnamese
• Cambodian
• Thai
• English in Singapore
• English in Dubai
• Turkish
• Romanian
• Hungarian (learned one word…extremely difficult language)
• Slovak
• Polish
• German
• Dutch
• British English
• New Yawk English
• French
• Italian
• Arabic (in Egypt & Jordan)
• Hebrew
• Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian
• Swedish

Although I feel truly lucky to speak English as a first language and never had any problems mainly because so many around the world can speak some English, it’s always so much nicer and more respectful if, as a traveler, you can at least greet someone in their native tongue and it goes without saying that  ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ go a long way.

Gracias! Merci! Grazie! Toda! Shukran! Danke! Tack! Arigato! Paldies! Dziękuję! Efharistó! Mulţumesc! Spasibo! Tesekkurler!

Here is a cool vid that a friend showed me months ago. See if you can figure out where she’s from.

21 Accents

While I was home in New Jersey living once again with my dad and his new wife in my old childhood house, I helped them sort through 36 years worth of stuff (dare I say crap?) before they sell the house and possibly move to a lovely over fifty-five community where the grass is always green and nicely mowed.

So our house here in NJ is a lovely typical suburban split level abode circa 1972. And it hasn’t changed much since.  As I described earlier, my pink bedroom was nearly exactly as I’d left it 20 years ago. And the same could be said for most of the rest of the house, like the kitchen complete with yellow Formica countertops, yellow linoleum floor, and beautiful faux wood grain cabinets. But, now my dad would be selling and trading up for newer more contemporary digs. So I was helping him sort through all kinds of miscellany and junk, a lot of which hadn’t been touched in several decades.

Here are some fun items we came across in the garage…most of which went straight to the trash:

• Burpee seed catalog circa 1987
• Bicentennial commemorative 1976 hot plate
• A tiny Torah. Mazel Tov!
• Old plasticy table cloths
• Half used cans of WD-40 and Oil-in-One
• 20-30 plastic, cobweb-filled plant containers
• Dried up craft paints
• ‘Cleen! Brite-White’ white wall tire spray circa 1978
• 6-7 ice scrapers and various snow brushes
• Approximately 512 used golf balls
• 1 old red snow sled (a keeper!)
• An unidentified tool that looks like a ray gun from a 1960s sci-fi movie
• Drain snake
• Plutonium reactor (just seeing if you are paying attention)
• Coleus Plant seeds circa 1979
• One Headlight (The Wallflowers would be proud)
• 1 Styrofoam egg container
• Axe handle sans Axe head
• Metal Mailbox Letters
• 1970s hanging lamps
• Random bits of wood, glass, Plexiglas, skin
• 1 Hedge Trimmer
• Solidified Turtle wax
• Various balls of twine, rope, and electric cords

Besides most of this stuff that hit the trash before I could say ‘toss it’ we still decided to have a moving sale—the classic American weekend of fun—hocking old, dirty wares to old, dirty bargain hunters.

The morning of said sale, the darn garage sale groupies showed up around 7:30am. Our sale started at 9:00. They were circling like vultures, just waiting to score that coveted old Sinatra LP or misplaced antique.  The funny thing was these early birds all knew each other…it was like a scary gang, but scary as in ‘get a life’ scary.  I went out at 8:30am to say ‘hi’ and ask jokingly ‘what about NO early birds’ didn’t they understand?! I did relent and let them in at 8:50am…nice salesgirl that I am.

Here are some of the luxurious items I sold throughout the day:

• A mini fridge (which was later returned as it was said to ‘not work’ even though it actually did…later sold it on Craigslist.com)
• My ‘Sew Perfect’ little girl sewing machine
• A small pocket knife
• A green glass dish
• An old transistor radio
• My old Soundesign small radio
• A plastic laundry hanger thingy
• The Hardy Boys books
• Couple other books
• A Sudoku coffee table set
• My brother’s old nun chucks. Some kid is going to attack someone with those soon. At least I made a few bucks.
• An old softball bat
• Random stuffed animals
• Assorted games
• A Nurf basketball set
• Barware
• Watches
• Several wall prints
• Frames
• 2 plastic storage boxes
• A never-used charcoal grill
• Old Sheets/bedspreads
• Brass candlesticks
• A silver ice bucket
• A glass jar for .25. (for the buyer to store her ‘fish food’)
• A beautiful never-used car shammy
• Car Seat Cover
• Basket of fake flowers
• Sunglasses
• Clip on Sunglasses
• Sports flip up sunglasses
• Outdoor Chair Cushions

This is it. This is what my life has come down to on a beautiful Saturday. Hawking lame wares to lame people. Ugh.

The last sale of the day? My Fiddler on the Roof Music box. Sniff, sniff. Goodbye Tevye! Just like him, I wish I were a rich (wo)man…and now I know that having a garage sale is not the way to achieve that.

But there is still stuff left if anyone is interested in a twenty-plus year old outdoor umbrella or a shoe horn shaped like a horse.

As a good friend of mine put it so perfectly: One man’s trash is…well, another man’s trash.

Well, technically with 26,000 people I’m not sure if you’d call Randolph, New Jersey a small town, but it’s my hometown and it’s the latest destination of a grand world tour and perhaps just as worthy of recognition as Paris or Hong Kong…well, almost.

Randolph Township’s motto? “Where Life is Worth Living.” It is a bit sad since the opposite would be ‘where life is not worth living’ - are we saying that’s the case if you lived just one town over in Rockaway or Denville?? Seriously, I suppose it speaks to this community’s abundant sense of pride.  Located in the north-central part of the state,  Randolph is a 21-square-mile township in historic Morris County.  As a part of New Jersey’s Highlands region, the land is full of streams, woods, hills and valleys and curving country roads. On a clear day you can see parts of the Manhattan skyline—about 40 miles to the east— from the most elevated bits of Randolph. Although, I don’t think I’ve actually ever seen this or know where to even go to find it.

Designated by the state as half suburban and half rural, some of the sections in Randolph include Mount Fern (where I grew up and my father still lives), Mount Freedom, Millbrook, Coleman Hollow, Center Grove, Ironia and Shongum Lake. I have brought some friends back home with me to Randolph over the years and I recall they were very surprised as to how rural, green, and wooded it was - old stereotypes die hard.

Randolph was originally settled by the Lenni Lenape native American tribe and later by European Colonists and Quakers.  In 1713, New Jersey’s first iron mine was registered and it was located in Randolph. Early Quakers were among those who discovered iron in the area and began to mine it, resulting in New Jersey becoming the country’s third top iron producer for a time.  The iron mines in the township supplied the Revolutionary forces with necessary ore for tools and weapons.  For the next 200 years the iron industry thrived, playing an important part in the development of Randolph.

During the late 1700s, Randolph was a supply point for George Washington’s Continental Army during their winter in nearby Jockey Hollow.  Local legend says Washington came up with Mount Freedom’s name after horseback rides from Morristown to the top of the mountain, where he would contemplate his next war strategies.

Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Randolph’s reputation for healthy water, natural beauty and clean air attracted vacationers from New York City.  During that era, 11 hotel resorts, 45 bungalow colonies, and summer camp and swim clubs– many converted from old farms– were built. Hotel performers included Frank Sinatra, Henny Youngman, Phil Silver and, yes, my grandmother, Esta Saltzman. She came here to perform at the old Saltz Hotel, on the corner of Sussex Turnpike and West Hanover Avenue, having no idea that one day her son would move to this very town to live for nearly four decades.  I became fascinated with these old relics of the past as a kid when I was just exploring the woods with friends. Now abandoned and mostly demolished, I happened to come upon them one day without even knowing what they were. I remember seeing old dilapidated bungalows and an old resort swimming pool formerly filled with happy, splashing vacationers, now filled with tires and junk.  Two of the largest resort hotels, Saltz’s and Ackerman’s, survived into the 1970s.

Today, Randolph’s 24 historic landmarks range from the centuries-old Liberty Tree to the Friends Meeting House founded by Quakers in 1758, to the circa 1924 Millbrook School, which is now used as office space.

Even though, development has continued, Randolph still has many acres of open space and parkland. And old farmhouses, mills, and historical churches dot the landscape reminding us of its heritage.

Within its 400 acres of parkland, Randolph has soccer and basketball fields, tennis courts, skating ponds, a theatre, and a cross-country skiing trail.  A biking and hiking trail system also traverses 14 miles through five parks and 2,000 acres of open space.

I have to admit, as a kid, I didn’t appreciate all that Randolph had to offer. I found it ‘boring.’ There was ‘never anything to do.’  All the ‘cool things’ were in other towns. Sure, it is still a sprawling suburb with no real town center, but now that I had time to hang out there again as an adult over the last three months I appreciate it much more. It’s a beautiful, green, historical town and I was lucky to grow up there - even if I had no idea until now.

What famous (or quasi-famous) people came out of Randolph, New Jersey??

• Klaus Peter Loebbe - retired chairman and CEO of BASF Corporation.
• Dale Baumwoll - children’s author
• George Parros - professional hockey player for the Anaheim Ducks.
• Gary Rizzo - sound re-recording mixer whose credits include Office Space, Munich, Clerks II, The Prestige, A Bug’s Life, Batman Begins, The Incredibles (for which he was nominated for a 2005 Academy Award in the category Best Achievement in Sound).
• Hayden Schlossberg - screenwriter of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.
• Oh…and Lisa Lubin? Emmy award winning producer and professional traveling vagabond? Well, maybe someday.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

Ever since I was a kid, just going around the ‘next bend’ on my bicycle, I have always loved the adventure of travel - the unknown, something different, something new. And I feel the same way today…even though now the ‘next bend’ may be on another continent. I have been extremely lucky to continuously feed my passion for travel. Many out there share my passion while others do not.  But, why do I love it so much?

I love the excitement of it all–feeling like an explorer–discovering a new land, a new language, new money and all the little challenges that go along with it. When I travel, I am more spontaneous and don’t live for the future or the past…just in the moment.  Being impulsive and saying ‘yes’ to nearly everything is part of the fun.

I love the rush. Habitual runners get off on the kick-in of endorphins that give them that extra boost they need to keep going. I get the same jolt from a day of travel or an unexpected side trip to a new and undiscovered land (for me…not for all mankind) that I hadn’t planned to visit.  Traveling seems to give me a near constant adrenaline rush.  After a few years of uninterrupted travel, I became quite addicted to this feeling. Traveling can be a challenge, but to me, a fun challenge that I enjoy conquering time and time again.  Plus it sure beats having to vacuum, pay bills, or shop for toilet paper.

“…so many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day, to have a new and different sun.” -Chris McCandless - “Into the Wild”

World travel broadens your mind in so many ways. You meet new people, share new experiences, and let down your guard much more than when back at home caught up in the mundane day to day routine of life that we think is normal.  I get to see how the world lives. I see the sun and smiles in Israel that go way beyond the CNN clips. I learn about the differences and embrace the similarities. I am not there to complain at how it is ’so different than back home,’ but rather to appreciate these dissimilarities.  Just because something is different does NOT mean it is wrong and in many cases it can even be better.  And, the people I meet get to know a bit about me, my world, and my background which can help dispel some other stereotypes as well. And now, some headlines I may have not noticed in the past, grab my attention. I’ve been to these places and have experienced their generosity. Now I’m much more interested and aware of what is going on there.

I love the logistics. I like landing in a new place and trying to figure it all out myself. Where to get money. How to speak the language. How to go from point A to point B. How to pack my bag right so I don’t go insane after packing it for the 135^th time. Well, okay, maybe I don’t love that mundane task, but I still figure it’s better than all the tedious chores I left back home when I decided to travel. It all actually becomes easier and easier as it goes and gives you the sense of confidence that you can do anything. If I can plop down in an airport amidst the chaos of Cairo or hubbub in Hanoi and manage to get myself into the heart of town and find a place to stay, all the while, not getting ripped off and keep my sense of humor, then I am certainly not really worried about being able to go anywhere, anytime.

I love the simplicity of it all. My only job is to go somewhere and figure out how to do it. My to-do list is rather short: figure out the exchange rate and get cash out of an ATM, figure out a few key words in the native language, figure out transport to my lodging and around town, exchange books (find English used bookstore), do laundry every 2 weeks or so. Because I travel for longer periods, occasionally I also have to:  get a haircut and buy new clothes to replace ratty, holey old ones.

Everything you own is with you in one bag. You only have a few pairs of pants or t-shirts, so getting dressed each day is an easy task. The more we have, the more it seems to weigh us down. Your life isn’t complicated by all the nonsense that is back home. But, guess what? If you really need a new shirt or shoes…you can buy it anywhere in the world. There is not much we actually really need and I think in this mega-consumerist society, we too often forget that. You need food and you need shelter…that’s about it. I enjoy some love, laughter, and happiness too…but that’s free and takes up no space in my luggage.

I love meeting new people all the time. In no other time in my life have I met so many people and made so many new friends in such a short time.  The world is full of friendly, generous people. Sure, every place has its share of nitwits too, but as a traveler, you seem much less likely to meet them.  Maybe because people want to help you or maybe because you just don’t know some people long enough to uncover their schmuck-like tendencies. Since the nature of travel is to keep moving, these folks never become boring…because you simply don’t know them long enough to discover their flaws or get sick of them.

I love the freedom. I experience a great feeling of independence from traveling. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want. I can sleep in. I can stay out late. It’s all up to me.

All this also shows me how easy it would be just to live somewhere else…anywhere else really.  Staying in each place for an extended bit of time taught me how I could make friends, find work, and find a flat all rather easily.  Things that I would have to do if I was living there anyway-so, in many ways, for all intents and purposes it’s as if I was living there already.

“Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open roads
Healthy and free, the world before me.
The long brown path before me leading
wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good fortune,
I myself am good fortune.
Henceforth I whimper no more,
Postpone no more, need clothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries,
querulous criticisms.
Strong and content I travel the open road.”
-Walt Whitman, from: Leaves of Grass

For three nights, I stayed with animation guru and filmmaker, Francesco, and his brother in a great, old stone house on the outskirts of the beautiful and vibrant University town of Bologna.  Francesco was the perfect host. He had me at Buongiorno. Not only was he gracious, friendly, and easy going, most importantly, he cooked me some tasty meals and literally did not let me lift a finger or clear a dish. I was spoiled. This dish was simple, rustic, and just plain delicious!

Francesco’s Sicilian Pasta

Pasta
Sardines
Raisins
Onions
Pinenuts
Olive Oil

Sauté onions in hot olive oil to a light brown.
Then add sardines (and/or mackerel), pine nuts, raisins, salt & pepper.
You can also add a little bit of white wine and herbs.
Sauté everything for a few minutes, adding a little bit of water if the sauce gets too dry.
In the meantime, cook pasta and drain.
You can use indeed any kind of pasta, but Francesco suggests Garganelli or Tagliatelle.
Toss sauce with pasta and mangia!

They say art is subjective. But apparently the Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is full of pieces so bad that they have been unanimously deemed ‘bad art’ hence their motto: Art too bad to be ignored.  Sounds actually a bit more fun and interesting than some other museums I’ve been to and probably a great curating job. Since 1994, MOBA has been true to their mission: to bring the worst of art to the widest of audiences. In fact, the museum was founded when the above painting, Lucy in the Field with Flowers, was fished out of the trash. If you are up in Somerville or Dedham, Massachusetts…check out their galleries.

I’m from Joisey? Are you from Joisey?
What exit?

Let’s get two important things out of the way right now. I am originally from New Jersey (pronounced New Jer-zee by just about everyone here). And, while there are some major highways (the NJ Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway, and US Interstate 80) that run through our little state, New Jersey is still known as the garden state for good reason: a large portion of it consists of expansive rural areas, beautiful wooded acreage, and farms. In fact, half the state is still woodlands and it is home to more than 9,800 farms covering 790,000 acres of farmland. No, you don’t really see this on The Sopranos - well, unless Tony or one of his boys are dragging someone into the woods by their ankles. Got it? Good.

You know it’s a special state when it’s only one of two in the entire nation where you cannot pump your own gas. That’s right - all gas stations are full service and full service only. Eric DeGesero of the New Jersey Fuel Merchants Association said New Jersey requires full service gas stations as a way of creating jobs, limiting accidents and assisting the elderly. And there are no plans to repeal the full service requirement.  After living elsewhere, it seems a bit snobby and lazy to just sit in your car while someone else scurries about tending to all your fueling needs, but then again, I haven’t been here in winter in a quite some time. Of course, we all get out of our cars in the frigid Chicago winters to fuel up so maybe New Jerseyans are a bit pampered.

New Jersey, the home of renowned Princeton University, is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, to its east the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean. Delaware borders New Jersey only on the southwestern side and Pennsylvania lies to the west.

Inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, the first European settlements in the area were established by the Swedes and Dutch in the early 1600s. The English later seized control of the region in 1664, naming it the Province of New Jersey. The name was taken from the largest of the English Channel Islands, Jersey. Our little state was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution and it was an important site during the American Revolutionary War; several major battles were fought here and we learned about them over and over and over in grade school. So much so, that I think our knowledge of other major wars was quite limited. Today, New Jersey has the highest population density and the second highest median income of any state in the United States. Several New Jersey counties are ranked among the highest-income counties in the entire nation.

I was born and grew up in Northwest New Jersey, or the “Skylands.” It is known as a wooded, rural, and mountainous area…and was often a surprise to my friends who visited me here expecting it to look like Newark, a big industrial city near New York City. They were not disappointed by its beauty, curvy wooded roads and rural colonial feel. The rest of the state is filled with lakes, the Appalachian Mountains which create a wide area of hills and valleys in the entire north region, the pine barren forests in the south and the miles and miles of coastal beaches running all up and down the east coast–locally it’s simply called the Jersey Shore.  In fact, Cape May, at the southern tip, is the oldest seashore resort area in the United States. It has the second largest collection of Victorian-era homes in the nation after San Francisco and is the only entire city in the country to be named a national historic landmark. Yes, there are some cities and lots of industry near the Hudson River and New York City area.  But the rest of the state is plenty green.

New Jersey is one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse states in the country. By percentage, it has the second largest Jewish population after New York; the second largest Muslim population (after Michigan); the third highest Asian population, and the third highest Italian-American population of any state according to the 2000 Census.  All this translates into some fun people and some damn tasty food at every turn.

Once I left the state back in the early 90s, it was only then that I finally started to appreciate it for its beauty and everything it had to offer. I defend my home state early and often and although I love my adopted hometown of Chicago, there has always been a piece of my heart right back here in New Jersey.

Some fun facts:

New Jersey has the lowest rate of depression in the United States found by a study from NAMI National Alliance on Mental Illness (Is this because they are all rich or because no one has to pump their own gas??).

New Jersey is the birthplace of many modern inventions such as: FM radio, the motion picture camera, the lithium battery, the light bulb (thanks Thomas Alva Edison), transistors, and the electric train. Other New Jersey creations include: the drive-in movie, the cultivated blueberry, cranberry sauce, the postcard, the boardwalk, the zipper, the phonograph, saltwater taffy, and the ice cream cone.

1. The first organized baseball game was played in Hoboken, NJ in 1846.
2. New Jersey has more diners than any other state or any place in the world: more than 600
3. New Jersey’s State House is the second oldest still in use (Maryland has the oldest).
4. New Jersey was known as the “Pathway of the Revolution.” Over 100 Revolutionary war battles were fought on New Jersey soil.
5. New Jersey has more horses per square mile than any other state. The United States Equestrian Team is headquartered in Gladstone, NJ.
6. The properties in the United States version of the board game Monopoly are named after the streets of Atlantic City.
7. It’s the first state to sign the Bill of Rights.
8. The first professional basketball game was played in Trenton, NJ in 1896.
9. New Jersey has 127 miles of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.
10. New Jersey is home to more than 9,800 farms covering 790,000 acres of farmland.

Some Famous New Jerseyans:

• Bruce Springstein
• Jon Bon Jovi
• Frank Sinatra
• John Travolta
• Tom Cruise
• Bruce Willis
• Brooke Shields
• Budd Abbot
• Whitney Houston
• Jack Nicholson
• Martha Stewart
• Jon Stewart
• Jason Alexander
• Zach Braff
• Danny Devito
• Michael Douglas
• Kirsten Dunst
• Ed Harris
• Derek Jeter
• Laryn Hill
• Queen Latifah
• Jerry Lewis
• Kelly Ripa
• Joe Pesci
• Dennis Rodman
• Meryl Streep
• Anne Hathaway

My father recently married his sweetheart of the last five years. A few of my friends joked and asked me if I was walking him down the aisle. Considering he has yet to be able to do this for me, it may be my only aisle-walking experience - except going up and down the aisle on one of my many airplane flights.

It was a fun and happy weekend full of family, laughs, and more Chinese Buffet! Growing up, our family was pretty small and we didn’t get out all that much and then I moved away. It is really fun to be back home now for awhile - to hang out with my dad and get to know my new and expanding family. My gift to them was a wedding album, but this was not your usual sticky page photo album. Instead it was a really nice bound coffee table-type book filled with photos I took at their wedding. Here’s a very cool website called Blurb, where I downloaded the software to design and create this book. It’s very cool. Check it out. You can make your very own book or even buy the one I made if you want pics of Carol and Jamie for your very own coffee table!

Carol & Jamie

The Wedding

By Lisa Lubin

Book Preview

“Goin’ to the Chapel…”

“…and we’re gonna get married.”

Our new expanded family!

Congratulations Dad & Carol!

Texts from Last Night

I am not a fan of texting, but this is just plain funny. Here is a website of peoples’ random texts. You can send in funny texts you made or received. It is most likely that the majority are ‘drunk dials’, of course.  It’s always good for a few chuckles to start your day.

Here are a few from today:

(803): Operation extremely regretful is in full effect

(617): Where were you when I was single???
(1-617): Still in diapers.

(917): i just had sex. the condom broke. we’re sleeping in to separate beds. And im in Albany

an alcoholic with a meth problem.

(617): I cannot find my penis.

(609): this is amy. the small petlike person from the women’s bathroom at the reef.

(202): He’s so far in the closet he’s in Narnia

(213): Gonna be late. Someone jumped in front of our train

(619): Moving to Utah. Got sick of alcohol and have a severe wife shortage.

(917): omg. I had the wrong window open and I accidentally posted my credit card # on twitter
(310): What’s your twitter name

I don’t know about you, but I find this much more useful and interesting than Twitter.

Almost exactly one year ago, I created this post: Don’t let the bed bugs bite.

It was a fun photo essay showing most of the ‘beds’ I’d slept in during my travels around the world. Well, I still haven’t slept in my own bed since September 2006 so now it’s time for a second installment.  I’ve slept in trains,  on air mattresses, in dorm room bunk beds, on futons, in kids former bedrooms, under mosquito nets, with a few friendly kitties, and a few friendly humans.

This time you may notice less hotels and hostels and more homey looking beds and couches thanks to Couchsurfing. Oh, and for the record, I was never bitten once by bed bugs. Time to start counting sheep…baaaaaaaaah.