Series: EU vs US: The recycling edition

Here it seems almost unfair to do a comparison, especially in light of the fact that regional differences are very stark.

But here is my attempt...

In the US (in the part where I lived) I would have to put the recycling (with carefully separated (1) paper in a paper bag) into my own personal bin and once a week I would put it out. The trash went out also in a trash can. Our trash can (a standard size) was much bigger (and for us, often empty) The recycling truck would pick it up (strangely dump everything that had been separated into one big thing (0)) and drive off leaving us with an empty bin. (1) we had little trash but a lot of recycling but if it didn't fit in the bin they wouldn't take it. (0) Lots of packaging though is NOT recyclable. Tetrapacks, for example, although marked with the symbol are only recycled in some places, and it's your job to know where. (0)

can be full of completely random as long as it has that symbol
(and your district collects it)

 US 2/5 (40%)

In the EU (where I live) there are huge bins on the street which means anyone can throw their recycling anytime, and into the properly marked container. That means you never have to have recycling lying around your house (1) and trash gets taken once a month, twice a month or once a week, depending on how much you pay and how much trash you have. if you want to have trash collection less often (to save money), they check on your bin for a few weeks before "letting" you have collection less often. (1) The plastic packaging bin takes every kind of plastic packaging. from shrink wrap to styrofoam. (1) I don't know what they do with it though, maybe burn it. (0) Two containers for glass - one white and one colored each recycled very efficiently. (2) large containers for paper (1) and large containers for metal (1) the smallest container is for trash (1) That doesn't stop people from dumping the wrong things in the wrong bin (0) recycling glass in the middle of the night which is very loud (0) or just dumping trash in a heap on the street (0)

typical scene

EU: 8/11 (72%)

EU wins hands down... in this case. there are parts of the us with no/worse recyclingsystems though, and parts of the EU with better techniques too.....

And of course if the people don't participate then it all doesn't matter.

Series: EU vs US: The paper edition

Paper is such a standard, basic thing that it would seem differences would stem merely from quality and not from regional standards.
Turns out that is incorrect...

The EU has chosen A4 (8.3X11.7inches) as its standard.
and the US has chosen 8.5X11inches as its standard "letter" size.
Nearly the same! but with some major differences.

If you cut A4 in half you end up with A3 .... which has the SAME ratio. that means, I can make one draft of a poster and print it on any size paper, A2, A1, A4, A3 ... etc, without changing anything. Whereas with letter paper, that's impossible.
EU: 1, US: 0

But standard paper use doesn't stop there. How about I would like to punch some holes and put some loose sheets into a binder? US has a 3 hole punch that holds in the paper nice and solidly on little rings. The EU has a 2 hole punch that allows you to carefully put the papers into a binder with gigantic rings which then allows you to easily rip them apart by accident, and then, when you are angry enough, on purpose. They are governed by an international standard, and are 80 millimetres (3.1 in) ... enough to leave 4.5inches of flopping un-tethered paper on either side of the whole.
EU:1, US: 1

I wouldn't be the first to beg the US to adopt a bit of metric system or ISO standards... but given the poor choise of hole punching standard, I say the outcome of this match overall, is a solid tie.

Series: Euro vs. US: The Bedder Bed Edition

So people keep asking me: Which do you like better? Europe or the US?

Hmm. That's not a fair question, since there are many factors to consider. Herewith I begin a series where I compare and contrast simple things. If I keep it up, maybe I'll score it.

First up, a pun: What's BEDDER?

When it comes to beds, Europe invented IKEA, so point 1 for Europe.

However, it also invented pushing two twin sized mattresses together and calling it a double bed. Ta Da.

I don't think Queen or King are a thing here.

So when you, of couple-land, share a bed, there is a fault line down the middle. Same with the covers. It got so bad, after just one week, that I sewed two twin sized quilts together, and then sewed two duvet covers together. Europe must have a good reason though: couples like Irma and Brian, with Irma always too cold and Brian always too warm. But still. We like to share, so share we will.

Altogether, I give the US 3 points (1 each for mattress, sheets, and blankets) and EU 1 for standardizing beds that fold out of couches.

Roaming to Romania

Soon after arriving back in Graz (just in time for school to start!), I (Brian) took off again on a trip to Romania.

Why Romania?  To attend FIWE (Financial Independence Week Europe), a gathering of two dozen people interested in maximizing happiness, lifestyle design, anti-consumerism, minimalism, investing, frugality, and more.

To get to Romania, I took the complicated way.  Step 1) run to Jakominiplatz, the central bus station in Graz with a backpack and a guitar (the instrument is important later), 2) take a bus to the Vienna Airport, 3) pick up a rental car and another conference attendee, 4) drive through Hungary, 5) cross the border into Romania, brave narrow 2-lane roads with speeding cars and heavy city traffic to arrive Timișoara for the first part of the conference.

A cool conference T-shirt

The first part of the conference was filled with presentations, long walks between the hotel and restaurants, chats with other attendees, and late nights.  My presentation was on what I learned about life by living in the woods for a summer (or at least part of the summer).   The other presentations ran the gamut from hard-core investing topics (options investing, peer-to-peer loans, contrarian investing), to lifestyle choices and experience reports (being a digital nomad that travels all the time, running an AirBnB business, how priorities have changed since retiring early, running an online business).

Early mornings were filled with running (and talking), eating breakfast (and talking).  Each day had multiple presentations, but with time for walking (and talking), eating (and talking), and drinking (and talking).  The conference was small enough to get to know everyone there, but large enough to have a diverse set of view points.  There were people in all stages of life: new graduates, new retirees, mid-career workers doing all sorts of different types of work: full-time workers, part-time workers, self-employed freelancers, entrepreneurs, retirees.

Sunday, we were interrupted by a freak storm with winds up to 100km/h.  Many of the street lights and traffic lights stopped working due to downed power lines.  The next morning, we dodged downed tree limbs on our run along the river.

Devastation from a freak storm in Timișoara

On Sunday night, after a conference wrap-up / feedback session, I got out my guitar and held a sing-along for songs about financial topics that I'd written over the summer.  For example "What Do You Do With a Chunk Of Money?" (Tune: "Drunken Sailor", by the Irish Rovers) and "One More Year To Work" (Tune: "One More River to Cross").  I was glad that others joined in the singing, because my voice and guitar playing aren't good enough to be solo, they are best enjoyed while being distracted by your own singing.

The next morning, most of the conference attendees moved on to the "extra" part of the conference. Everyone took a train, except for me and my carpool buddy from Vienna.  We took everyone's luggage in the car, which ended up piled high enough to block the back window.  It was an exciting experience to drive out of Timișoara with not rearview mirror and half the traffic lights not working.

We arrived in the quiet, relaxing stay in Jimbolia, a town of 10,000 on the western border of Romania near Serbia.  North of the town, there are several lakes, artifacts decades of digging out clay to produce bricks and roofing tiles that can be seen in buildings around the town and across the rest of the country.

Brick church built with local materials in Jimbolia

The lakes officially provide a habitat for fish, fishing and beautiful views.  Unofficially, they also provide swimming.   One morning, I ran there with a friend and jumped in for a cool refreshing swim.

At the lake, dodging horses and stray dogs

Abandoned factory building in Jimbolia

On the way back to Austria, I stopped in Budapest for a few hours.  For several reasons: 1) I've never been to Budapest and had heard it is beautiful, 2) I planned to meet up with someone from an online forum I frequent, 3) another conference attendee was traveling there and asked for a ride.

A view of the Pest side of the river, from the Buda side

Budapest was great.  We walked around the city for a few hours, soaking in the sites.  I ran along the river, running in the second country of the day.  Leaving just in time, we traveled back to Vienna, returned the rental car, and I caught a bus back to Graz.

At 3am the next morning, I arrived back in Graz.  Tired from the journey, but happy and full of excitement about designing our life to be as we want it and maximizing our family's happiness.  I have a hypothesis that working fewer hours, leaving more hours for other endeavors will increase my family's happiness level.  The company I work for is supportive of experiments and will likely be willing to give it a try.  First step: reduce my work schedule from four to three days a week.

How are you designing your life to maximize your happiness?

Hiking with Adults versus Children

Hiking with adults and hiking with children are very different.  Let me tell you about two recent hikes: one with adult friends and one with Felix.

Planning

Adults: 3 weeks in advance, we created a Doodle to determine a date that worked for everyone.  Several trail suggestions were muted and we eventually decided on Rote Wand.

Children: I wanted to go on a hike with Henry.  Henry was excited about the hike yesterday.  Today, he decided he didn't want to go.  He wanted to go on the "second hike" after someone else had been on a hike alone with me.  Felix was very excited to go instead.  We got on the bus to Gösting. There are several familiar children-friendly hikes there.  Felix decided he'd like to hike up the Plabutsch to Mauser Most. At the top, Felix asked see Thalersee.  

Pictures

Adults: A few pictures were taken--mostly at the summit, during breaks and when a herd of ibex mountain goats crossed our path.

Herd of ibex crossed our path

Taking a break, adult style

Children: Felix liked to take many pictures.  Here's our first pictures, waiting for the bus:

A typical Felix smile

A wild mountain man is wandering around the city

Felix can use the camera to take pictures of anything "interesting".  Here are the most interesting things to him as we approached the hiking trail:

Felix's "Interesting Things"

The peak
Adult: A short break at the top is usual, enough time to get a few pictures and soak in the view.

The cross at the peak "Gipfelkreuz" -- almost all Austrian mountains have one

The stunning view

Children:
A long break at the top is necessary, in order to play, eat, and gather strength for the trip downhill.

A playground in the sky

Climbing the walls with Graz in the background

Length
Adults: 2 hours for a 7km hike with 450m of elevation gain.
Children:  6 hours for a 6k hike with 400m of elevation gain.

Post-hike
Adults: Go to a beer garten for a post-hike Radler (Austrian half-beer half-lemonade beverage).  I fall asleep in the car on the way home.
Children: Play in a playground at Thalersee.  Felix falls asleep in the bus on the way home.

palm sunday

post more post more
ok ok
i will.

today was fun because of so many things: friends family food walking talking baking

nina was over for coffee and theodore made dinner (and included cool ingredients like radish greens and sorrel and herbs). nina also took a lot of pictures of my kids being total monkeys.

she caught us talking the neighbors who were walking by.

felix monkey

theodore and henry monkey

nina

we went for a walk to the easter market which was competing for attention with a big construction site where they are redoing the entire downtown tramtracks

"if you slack, no track"

got back in time to have dinner with manuela and read bedtime stories and talk till late and decide to maybe start a 365 project so i don't forget everything i ever did.

timimoun part 2

We were very well cared for in Timimoun. Our hosts made sure to get us a sightseeing guide for the area. There are very few tourists to that particular spot on the globe, even though there is much loveliness and history to be found there.
The next morning we had to prepare for our concert, on the way we did a lot of sight seeing.

Before the rehearsal, we were each presented with a colorful scarf, printed with "Souvenier d'Timimoun" We gave CDs in return.
During the rehearsal, we all were standing outside in the glaring direct dessert sunlight. Klaus was getting a terrible sunburn, until one of the public officials took Klaus's scarf and tied it as a turban around his head. We decided together that we would perform that way, despite our concert starting when the sun was down again

. 

The craziness from the day before in the desert led to us being on TV, and us getting special coverage. our concert was a smashing success, despite the power outage.

About the power outage: It delayed our concert by about one and a half hours. There were some reactions we slowly absorbed. One was from the Berber Tribe. "Why do the Europeans need lights to play?" another was from the officials. "The French put in the electricity, that's why it doesn't work."

The Berber tribe we played with us UNESCO protected, and is truly an amazing living proof of traditions being shared orally. They were so easy to photograph because they were so beautiful. One of the ladies was wearing hello-kitty style shoes beneath the typical dress.

they listened to us play the Radetzky March with confused "this is music?" looks, then clapped dutifully. we tried to play along with them. at least we could follow their complex rhythms a little bit. the concert we played side by side, alternating between our groups, and sometimes with us playing along. the audience roared. screamed. jumped up on the stage. took selfies with us. afterwards interviewed us. took more pictures.