Babysitting

Hey,

Just read all your posts very nice to hear from you all. I would like to welcome Celicia our second New Yorker ... the more the merrier.

Yesterday I went to a party at my bank where hey were saying goodbye to the summer employees. It was held at a the banks cafeteria and it kind of sucked but since I was mostly with fun people I liked it alot. Ironically there where three summer employees in my department and two of us are continuing and the third one couldn't show up. I was in a good mood and the bear was giving good effect so the ladies at the department were really telling me how much they liked me which was nice but what was better is that there was this guy I was talking to with my boss and he offered me to talk to him when I had finished school. He wants me to work in the "front line" selling stock and pension plans. That was really great to hear because business students have had hard time to get a job.

Afterwards I went to a school party which was rather bad because it was in a very small place and far too many people. When it finished I went downtown and someone suggested that we'd go to the bank I used to work for where they were saying goodbye to their summer employees. When I came there we weren't allowed to enter since we were neither employees nor partners of one. But I was invited insite because one friend of mine who works at the bank was standing in the door. They were also giving al the alcahol you could drink for free. I met alot of people I know there amongst other Svana which I didn't speak much to because I was talking to another friend of mine and when I went to talk to her she was gone:(

Then I went to another place where I got in VIP because a friend of mine had a pass. When I came there I met this guy I was in group with in the school project two weeks ago he works there and is in charge of music. The first thing he sad was come here and invited me a few drinks. In the end I got a lift with this guy from Ghana who spoke very deacent Icelandic which is rather strange. The day after I didn't have anymoney so i couldn't pay for the bus so I walked for hour and a half until I got to an ATM.

Now Im babysitting my cousins (the adorable ones) and I get a six pack each time I babysit them (I would do it for free) so later tonight Im walking away with twelve beers.

Ble,
Úlli

Damn,
the spell check doesn't work

The obligatory summary

Right, so I survived Peru and Bolivs, so now it's time for the trip wrap-up. Bolivia is in the middle of a severe drought, even worse than their normally dry winters, and so everything is in a state of dust. Dust coating building, cars, my face, my tongue....you get the picture. I think the Bolivian transportation department will not be allowing me and my uncle back any time soon as every vehicle we rode in (bus, truck, car) managed to break down. We had numerous flat tires, shattered axles, burnt fuses, etc. We were briefly stranded in the middle of the jungle, and had to stand on one bus for 2 hours. I looked over and there was a kid pissing out the window while his dog and 2 cats ran wild. Another guy brought his live chicken on the bus and passed it around for other people to hold while he went and retrieved his corn and coca leaves for sale. I drank a buttload of mate de coca (very good) and nearly tried coca whiskey, but it wasn't quite ready. Met a 10 year old street beggar who knew the US presidents in order and the state capitals, but I told her to piss off when she started telling me all about how many of her friends could rob me blind without my knowledge. She proceeded to call me a "fucking mother." Traveling with locals is great because you pay nothing. Multiple times in Lima Miguel told cabbies, "Soy de aqui, no te creo." Then we would pay 7 soles (2 bucks) for 4 people and baggage from one side the city to the other. Hopefully I avoided malaria, but that is yet to be determined. I would like to go back again some time, but it's kind of depressing because the people are so poor. Anyway, saw Macchu Picchu, and Cusco, the ancient Inca capital. Had dinner at the home of the former Bolivian ambassador to the Soviet Union and the founder of the Bolivian Green Party. Pretty much treated like a diplomat, getting loads of wine and a new whiskey that is not on the market yet. He gave me one of his books as a parting gift, a book of Spanish prose. Managed to make it to 2 Irish pubs (Paddy Flaherty's in Cusco being one of them) though they were shit, locally owned, with no Irish beers--no draught beers period. The bartenders at Paddy Flaherty's were arguing about what part of Spain I was from right in front of me...they were floored when I told them I was from Chicago. Big up for my Spanish, I guess. Everyone and their mother made fun of my Spanish accent, mocking my pronunciation of nearly every word. Got snowed on in La Paz, then swam in 30 plus (Celsius) temps the next day in Chulumani. Stayed with one really poor family with no heat and no water, then stayed with a very wealthy family with servants and a 9000 acre (4500 hectare??) ranch with 400 head of cattle.
Classes started here yesterday, and I'm loaded with assignments already. Work, school, and boozing keep me busy.
Ulli, when I was home last my mom was telling me that a girl from my parish who I grew up with was playing with the US Women's Under 21 soccer team in Iceland. Just wondering if maybe you made out with her on the streets of Reykjavik.
Alas, lunch beckons and I retire.

Tim

The Smiling Face From the West

Ok guess who casually dropped by my street yesterday with his wife...BILL CLINTON

Oh yes I'm not joking. Hillary did want to come and hear about our energetic resources and Bill was on his way to Ireland to a book signing and he decided to pick her up. Since the prime minister lives in my street he with his wife decided to pay him a visit.

Two notes:
Our prime minister was rushed to the emergency room and had some tumors removed so he's staying at home for the moment.

That the prime minister of Iceland lives two doors down says more about Iceland than it says about how rich my family is.

Then Bill took a walk town and was very casual saying hi to everybody and in the end he said he loved the country (what would he have said if he hated it... I wonder).

Yeah, about the Iceland-Italy game:) I had to watch it a school because I was the team leader in this project and we were very being schedule. They had attempted to go for a record which was broken in 1960's when Valur (a local team) played Benfica with worlds greatest player Eusibio and there showed up 18 thousand I think (which is similar to Chelsea playing Crystal Palace I think). Anyways, the attempt was a success and 20,241 was in the crowd. But about the game itself I was seeing the best of Iceland after horrific match against England 6-1 (6-200 per capita:) and I was just happy because of that. Well they scored to beautiful goals mostly due to great play from Gylfi Einarsson then the rest of the match was good and Italy didn't deserve anything more than they got. Their excuses were that they didn't have their best team but a team with Nesta and Buffon is suppose to win Iceland any day.

Speaking of many Icelanders getting together, Saturday there was culture night and the estimate is that 100,000 people showed up. That is more than third of the nation!!! Beat that America ... Where everything is biggest.

Now I'm going to go and watch Barca play AC Milan and I hope it'll go well... but...

Hasta la proxima,
Úlli

Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

Hey,

Right now Im babysitting my two cousins, they are both a sleep and have been since I came. Their dad just went out on the town so he got me to watch his kids. He's paying me with a six-pack and I get to study:D The bad thing is that Im not really in the mood for reading right now so Im just bored. Its an interesting book though called just Entrepreneurship, wouldn't read it for fun though.

Yesterday I had a terrible day at work I found myself in the situation to tell a girl she shouldn't be calling her ex while seeing another and she got really pist. Also I was going to go on a date but it fell through because the girl forgot her phone at her work. So at 11 at night I decided I was going downtown and get drunk with one of my cousins. It was really fun refreshing, though I had bit of a hangover it's allright.

The girl I was suppose to see just sent me an sms and I'm hoping she'll come over doubt it though.

Well not much to say .... so for a change you'll get a short post from me.

Luego,
Ú

p.s.
The computer doesn't allow pop-up so I can't spell check.

p.p.s.
Just read the post through... its rather boring:(

WARM IN ICELAND!!!

It has been so warm these past three days, now we are talking an hour lunch brake (we are suppose to have only half of that) and I have never felt so bad with being at school. Anyways there is this Icelandic team playing against Dunfermlaine in the Eurocup and the fans wrote an article about their experience. Here it goes:


Once Dunfermline had qualified for this season's UEFA Cup it was the fans dream that they would be drawn to play somewhere warm and sunny. Little did they guess that Iceland would provide the answer, in fact many of those who travelled will be lamenting that they left their sombreros at home.

The National Stadium, Rejkjavik Wednesday evening The Iceland Express in-flight magazine carried stories of geothermals, Icelandic summer collections featuring fleeces and information on Summer jazz near the Lækjarjata where guests would be offered a blanket 'to keep warm if the weather is not up to the job'. The fans travelling on the 12.15 out of Stansted had a big cheer for Captain Steven Williams when he announced that the weather in Reykjavik boasted clear skies and a temperature of 26°C.

All the concerns about hypothermia were well dismissed by the record setting temperatures that the Pars flew into. The island appears to be benefiting from the remnants of an American hurricane and fans and locals enjoyed the afternoon basking in the sunshine while lapping up the benefits of Iceland's Blue Lagoon.

Instead of packing pullovers, slipovers would have been more appropriate and the concern about the Iceland precipitation would have been better concentrated on sun protection.
The world's smallest city sees plenty of midnight 'sons' but Davie Hay's advance party of dedicated Dunfermline supporters looks set to have one whale of a time, perhaps at the speciality restaurants, but more likely at the likes of Club 22 and Nellie's Cafe who both promise discos till 6.00am.

First views of Iceland showed ice-capped mountains and possibly glaciers and when on the ground the terrain looked almost lunar. The Iceland UEFA tie will be one small step in the Club's hopefully giant leap to restore their European pedigree.

Ú

Tired at work

Hey ya'

For the last week I've been as busy as Adam. I began school on Tuesday when we began a course called Entrepreneurship and Internal Marketing with an American teacher who is just simply great, and he has begun 11 businesses and is an expert in his field. Its been really fun to get such a great teacher. The bad thing though is that we have school four times a week for three hours each time. In addition to this we have to do a rather complete business plan. Ok I still have to work at least 8 hours so time for this work is limited. Also we can not do any research because we are all busy at business hours, and no interviews can be made. So for that reason we can not use the idea that we want to. Also in addition to the business plan we do cases and I was until 1:30 in school doing it, showing up at work at 7:30... You do the math.

A little story, last year in May I said to myself "Ok Úlli now your going to get a girlfriend before you leave for BCN". When nothing had happened I called it off in late July, guess what happens in the second week of august... I meet this wonderful girl but in the end due to my departure it didn't work

I've known for sometime that this project would be difficult and I wouldn't have any life during it. Ok but I've been looking for a good girl to hook up with. So the only thing we could do before deciding on the idea was to write background description and since the teacher is American we decided to do these descriptions a little over the top on Icelandic standard. So I'm talking to my friend on Thursday and say "In the description I'm so great I'm thinking of hooking up with myself" and my friend says "Well you chose the weekend for it"... Ok I went out Friday and guess what happened....

that's all,
Úlli

Hasta la pasta

Just getting ready to leave for Bolivia in a few hours. Wanted to say bye to everyone, and I'll miss the Internet. Expect a full report upon my return. Glad to hear Vegard took some wood in the ass in Mongolia, too.

Tim

Barack Obama!!

Well, I just got back from a speech and meet & greet session with Barack Obama, candidate for Illinois' seat in the US Senate. He's absolutely amazing, and he's taking the American political world by storm. He was virtually unheard of when he won the Illinois primary in March (this basically means that he was chosen as the person whose name goes on the ballot on the Democrat side), but he still beat the other 6 candidates by over 30 percentage points. Then he was asked to deliver a speech at the Democratic National Convention last week in Boston, and man did he deliver (speech available for free on iTunes, along with all of the other speeches). He had the US abuzz for several days, and then I found out while at the pub last night that he was speaking at my uni this morning at 8 in a very intimate setting. I got up early and went, and I was not disappointed. He's witty, well-spoken, and represents the America we aspire to be yet often come up short of. His father is from Kenya, his mother is from Kansas and he grew up on the south side of Chicago, and for those of you not from the US, just take my word that that's not your everyday combination. He rose from a "dodgy" neighborhood to attend Harvard Law, and he now teaches constitutional law at the University of Chicago, one of the top 5 law schools in the US. He's black, he's white, he's educated, he's working class and he's white collar. Many are predicting that the Democratic party is just priming him for the presidential nomination in 2012. It's about time we had an immigrant president, a black president, a president from Chicago (not Texas)! Sorry to write so much about American politics here, but Ulli loves it. I know you guys have probably never heard of Barack Obama, but you will. A Democrat from Illinois when meeting with President Bush a little over a year ago had to explain (speaking very sloooowly and cleeeearly) that the button she was wearing said "Obama" and not "Osama," to which Bush replied, "I've never heard of him." She quickly advised him, "You will, Mr. President, you will."

Sidenote: A woman in my hometown, the wife of a policeman, currently has 2 kids under age 7, and is expecting quintuplets. Her husband is about to ship out to the war in Iraq, a war we shouldn't have been in in the first place. It's families just like these all over the US that are suffering for George W. Bush's mistakes.

(This message has been sponsored by the frustrated ravings of Tim French, and is in no way affiliated with the Democratic Party)

Tim

Monday night

Halló

I'm sitting here in the middle of the night checking out pictures from BCN and figured I hadn't bloged for a while. So I can't sleep have something in my throat and am about to work 8 hours and then go to school for something like 4 hours. Oh yes its first day of school but I still have two weeks left at work it will be hectic couple of weeks and Im almost counting on getting sick. The reason why I start now is that they have this class that we only take for three weeks and get full credit for it and I owe some. The course is called entrepreneurship and Internal Marketing and is thought by a teacher my school stole from IESE (reportedly the best business school in Spain situated very close to ESADE). Hope it will be fun.

I got a part time job at the bank I've been working at this summer which is very nice because it looks very well on a CV. The downside though is that I'm rather bored with it. I did tell Tim in an email the full story about big names in Icelandic business being my bosses and that I got great recommendations now but it was rather boring so I'm going to skip to something else.

Today (Monday) is an Icelandic day of called Traders Day-of. This is the biggest traveling and party weekend around here. Many people leave town to go camping with perhaps thousands of others and its a blast. The onces who stay at home try to have more fun than the once who left and I was one of them. I went partying on Friday, Saturday I had a bit of a cold on Friday and on Sunday my vocal cords just gave up and I could barely come up with a word anyone could hear.

Just before I came home I went to a sport bar to watch Chelsea-Milan with a friend. He had invited a friend of his who's girlfriend kissed me on Friday and we danced all night (She kissed me... To be noted). How do you handel situation like that?

Also I'm going to Hungary to visit my cousin who studies medicine there I'm also hoping to visit Adam and Edgar on the way back. It will be a 10 day trip with five days in each country. I'm going to call A tomorrow from work (its free there:D).

I think that's it for now.

Later