Perhaps Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey?

About King Richard of England. Not sure if the uncovered information will surprise you, but it surprised me.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 10:40 AM on July 15, 2008

Scotland is great, easily travelable, beautiful, and a lot of fun. You'll have a wonderful time. Swimming is fun, though really cold. Drinking is available everywhere and drinking in pubs is a great way to meet people.

When I was planning a trip through Scotland for myself and my parents, I got a lot from this book. It is not a super budget backpackers book, but it's not a luxury travel book either. It only does a few places instead of the whole of the country,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 12:50 PM on June 20, 2008

The last place I lived, all food was considered contaminated. So before eating anything, like a tomato or strawberries, we'd wash it in a disinfecting bath for 15 minutes. I used the iodine looking solution called "disinfectant for fruits and vegetables", and you could buy this in the supermarket because it was such a common problem. Not sure if you can buy something similar in NY supermarkets easily, but I'm sure you could find something similar in a camping store. Friends I knew... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 9:42 AM on June 11, 2008

There's this website, which is suggesting simply washing in purified water and, if you do use chemical disinfectants, only leaving it there for a minute or so. So if you go this route, I'd more research if you're freaked out by food safety. If you're not, though, I'd say wash 'em in a chlorine/water bath and enjoy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 9:47 AM on June 11, 2008

If you shop at or use items from a thrift store, people will assume it's because you are making a choice - a lifestyle choice of less consumption or a fashion choice of being trendy - instead of assuming that you are taking advantage of a social service provided for people like you because you are unable to sufficiently provide for yourself and buy new things.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 8:31 PM on June 3, 2008

My mother has always been a co signer on my accounts and my primary beneficiary. I trust her with my finances more than I trust myself. So for me living abroad more or less for the last three years, always moving around, it has made a lot of sense for us to set up a power of attorney. I went to a local attorney and he helped us draft a document that allowed her to sign all sorts of stuff for me. Now when I file my taxes and get my tax refund, for example, she is allowed to sign my tax return... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 9:32 PM on May 21, 2008

Book Forum is another good place to find interesting articles online (same idea as aldaily)
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 12:39 PM on May 17, 2008 marked best answer

Try the forums at Bootsnall; you might be able to find some people who have done something very similar. I'd start with the Around the World forum, but there are others that would probably have good info, too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 8:52 AM on May 17, 2008

I travel with this bag and I love it. I did a two and a half month tent camping trip by train through Europe once and it was a champ. The possible big surprise? It's not framed. Some people might disagree, but for me it's great to have the lightness and flexibility of an unframed bag. I could easily walk ten kms from the train station to the center to a campsite (it has great padded shoulder and stomach straps), I could easily stash it in the luggage compartments on trains and busses... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 8:11 PM on May 13, 2008

My least favorite stereotype:

I'm from the South (of the US) and people from other parts of the US are sometimes surprised that I can read and that I still have all my own teeth. We are not all uneducated down there.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 11:12 PM on May 3, 2008

Apologies if this has already been posted and I missed it. This has some more info about using "there's."
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 12:52 PM on April 30, 2008

When all of my friends were applying to serious jobs at the end of university, I decided I needed to explore a little first, for a lot of the reasons people have listed here. It usually doesn't get any easier to travel after you settle down, so if it's something you want to do, you should definitely do it now.

And I firmly believe that it's worthwhile, not just for yourself but for society. When I finished uni, I was a sort of adult, but I had no real world... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 8:18 PM on April 29, 2008

Or perhaps Gumtree? It looks like they have a few locations.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 7:16 AM on April 16, 2008

Also, just knowing how few Polish people seem to be on Metafilter (there's at least a couple living there, but still not many), my strategy would be to go to places where Polish people tend to hang out online and ask them. For example, I would go to couchsurfing and find someone who looks friendly and send them a message asking. Couchsurfers are friendly, more likely to be into things like furniture swapping, and many seem to genuinely like helping other people find their way around their... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 7:34 AM on April 16, 2008

I love Tulum, but I think that area is too far away for a nine day vacation.

I was just in Morelia and Patzcuaro in Michoacan recently and I really enjoyed it. It's beautiful out there. I definitely recommend it. Just a couple hours from the DF I think. However, I think the Monarch season should be well over by then. When I was out there in late March it was already a little too late. But there are lots of things to do around there besides Monarchs.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 9:39 PM on April 10, 2008

disclaimer: I have never lived in California.

However, I have moved a lot. I finished university in 2005 and since then have lived and worked in four different cities. Incidentally, it's also been four different countries. It's really really not as hard as you might think. Especially if you decide that it's okay if you're a little less comfortable than you might be if you lived in your home town the rest of your life.

My immediate thought... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 9:12 PM on April 10, 2008

A final note. If you do all this research and decide that no where in California is actually the place for you, don't necessarily give up on the idea of moving. Do you want to explore a little bit before settling down in Texas by default? You should! Research other places. Big city / small town? What kind of weather?* There are lots of cool places in the US. Seattle? Portland? New York City? Chicago? Miami? All of these are possibilities.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 9:18 PM on April 10, 2008

I live in a Spanish speaking country in a place with very few US / Canadian tourists. I am very light skinned. I don't speak Spanish fluently, but I can certainly get by in all day to day situations, as well as carry on most conversations. Also, my Spanish (flawed as it is) is usually five times better than the English of waitstaff and shop clerks. Yet, the waitstaff and shopclerks try to speak English to me 50% of the time. When they start speaking to me in English right off the bat, I get... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 9:45 PM on March 30, 2008

Another thought: if you want to help out someone who you think might not speak perfect English, you can try to speak more slowly and enunciate. Not yelling and frenzied pointing, but try to use clear and direct language at "radio speed" (slowed down for clarity but not so that anyone would hear and think 'wow, that's slow'). It can be really frustrating trying to speak with mumblers and people who use crazy slang.

A couple examples of things you can clarify... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 8:43 PM on March 31, 2008

Another EFL teacher in a foreign country. My "going to the gym" has two parts.

The first is reading Metafilter. It's very true that if you start to lose vocabulary and even fluency if you aren't stretching yourself in the language regularly. Metafilter helps keep my English fluency at a good level. You guys make me break out the dictionary more than I care to admit.

The second is learning a second language myself. During my... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 11:22 PM on March 28, 2008

Queretaro is nice, with a lot of nice architecture. I know there are universities and also dedicated language schools here that offer short and long term language learning. If you want more Queretaro-specific information, definitely let me know. I'll be happy to do what I can (my private Spanish teacher teaches courses at a university and also a private school and has a pretty good idea of the scene).

But, Qro is fairly expensive compared to the rest of the city.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 5:23 PM on February 15, 2008 marked best answer

(the story of a woman at my last place of work)

Graduated high school, skipped college, got married, had a kid, got divorced. So, at 24 she was in a pretty tough place. She tried a few random jobs just to make ends meet (fast food, online travel agent, temp work, generally making probably 20,000/year with no benefits). But these were really not enough to support her and her kid. So she started working on marketable skills in her free time,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 1:46 PM on February 2, 2008

A little late, but still wanted to chime in. Can't comment specifically about IT career changes (although I think the poster would be super suited for it!), but I'm also considering a career change right now and I've been reading a book that I had always thought was going to be really square but has actually been really helpful: "What color is your parachute?"

It has the perfect mix of 'trying to figure out what you want to do' with 'once you know, this is how... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 7:57 PM on January 7, 2008

Every move I have made in my working life* I have made with absolutely no job offers or even possibilities. And it always works out just fine. You will want to check out your potential situation before committing just as much as they will want to check you out.

*Admittedly, it's been a fairly short working life. But there have been four moves, each with a new job found once I got there. I have no regrets and, unless I was high up in a particular... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 11:48 PM on January 4, 2008

I don't have any first-hand India experience, except for some cursory job-searching I did for myself in that region.

The best ways I know to find out about ESL opportunities both appear to have nothing on India. I'm not sure if that means that there's not a lot of jobs or there are a lot of jobs but no interest. I'd tend to imagine that if there were a lot of jobs, there would be postings for them somewhere on the internet (but I can't find any; just a couple at... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 2:22 PM on December 9, 2007

I've done gone and did a search on India in the General Asia Forum at Dave's. Most of them are pretty outdated (like 2005ish), but possibly still relevant.

Northern Indian job possibilities

Question about salary, indicating that most English teaching jobs there are in call centres (which is definitely a possibility for you, but would probably be in a bigger city).

2004 thread saying there are good job opportunities,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 2:35 PM on December 9, 2007

I think these entire albums are great, but I've chosen my favourite songs from each to help you along.

The Cure: Bloodflowers. track 2 Watching me fall.

Television: Marquee Moon. track 4 Marquee Moon.

R.E.M.: New Adventures in Hi Fi. track 1 How the west was won.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 7:41 PM on November 26, 2007

One boyfriend knew that I really liked to eat fresh fruit and yogurt in the morning. We hadn't necessarily talked about it, it wast just something he noticed. Well, one morning he noticed that we were all out and he also knew that I'd be working long hours that day. So he stopped at the store and bought some fruit and yogurt (and my favorite, kind of expensive brand, too). He didn't need anything at the store; he just stopped for my stuff. And he didn't make a big deal out of it. In fact,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 8:03 PM on November 13, 2007

stevil: You can find SIM cards at any mobile phone store. To the best of my (slightly outdated) knowledge, the major companies in Britain are O2, Vodafone, Orange, and T-Mobile. There are some stores (like Carphone Warehouse) where you can buy a SIM card for any of these companies. Or, if you know which company's SIM card you want, you can go directly to their store and buy it from them. There are tons of storefronts all throughout Britain. And then when you want to "top up" (or... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 8:21 PM on November 7, 2007

More food in Cleveland:

Lola in Tremont is one of the top five restaurants I've ever been to (surprising in Cleveland, no? but true...). Pricey, but amazing.

For really good breakfast/lunch food, I love Tommy's.

If you like Ethiopian food, Cleveland has a great restaurant. I'm always really excited by this because I can't get it in my area and I love it. But YMMV.

For other... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 3:03 PM on November 4, 2007

Brilliant, shanevsevil. Thank you. This has been driving me crazy. I really should get into the about:config page more.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 12:32 PM on November 4, 2007

all via a friend of mine living in Melbourne

Bryce Courtney is always a reliable author; he's had a few books published since 2003. Not considered literature by "the establishment", however immensely popular. Recommending Colleen McCullough's Angel Puss, set in 1960's Sydney. Morris West: great Australian author, but he passed a way about 8 years ago, and most of his books were either of an international or religious flair.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 3:30 PM on October 27, 2007 marked best answer

If you don't want to stay in hotels, you could try looking for hostels. There are some great hostels all over and you can often find two beds in one for less than the price of a mid range hotel. Hostels and coaches will be great if you really want to see some cities, museums, nightlife, etc. Any moderately sized city in Ireland, England, Scotland will have a few hostels to choose from (exception from personal experience: Limerick. all listed hostels closed up, but reasonably priced b&b's... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 2:47 PM on October 27, 2007

I used to have trouble with low blood pressure, and I'll second much of the above. The main things that would cause me to go dizzy were getting up quickly and going up stairs (possibly the exertion?). One of the worst times I passed out, my hands had been in an ice bucket (serving sodas) for about ten minutes, so I'd add "keep your extremities fairly warm" to the list of do's. Also, cutting out caffeine completely (I had been drinking two cups of tea every morning and an iced tea... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 12:22 PM on October 16, 2007

I never had been much of a mystery person, but I've really started to get into some writers lately. To me, mystery or thriller is the definition of page turner now. So here are some of my favourites.

Agatha Christie is amazing. But don't just read the Poiret or Miss Marple stories. Those are good, but the really great stuff comes from her adventure / spy novels. She traveled around the Middle East with her archaeologist husband, so her depictions of Middle Eastern... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 8:23 AM on September 24, 2007

personal anecdote:

backpacker here who often washes sweaty clothes while on the road. things like quick dry underwear (really thin, lightweight, small, nylon) are really easily washed in this way. laundry detergent does work better than body soap but body soap will work. anything bigger or made of something like cotton is a different story. body soap and hand agitation just doesn't cut it. when in a pinch, i've washed cotton clothes in the shower with body soap, but... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 10:12 AM on August 29, 2007

There's that famous Manu Chao song "Me gustas tu" that has lyrics in Spanish and French. His albums can have five different languages in them (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, English come to mind), although not always in the same song.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 6:39 PM on August 27, 2007

I'd like to nth all those saying that they didn't know what it meant to be an American until they'd traveled/lived abroad. There is something, some quality, that generally ties Americans culturally. At this moment I still can't put my finger on what it is (friendliness? saying what you mean - well, sometimes?). But I know that whenever I travel abroad, I recognise this thing in other USians, and they recognise it in me, and we don't recognise it in others. Obviously, there's more that unites... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 8:26 AM on August 17, 2007

I am moving to Mexico to teach English and I am also required to "certify" my university degree. Since Mexico and the US (and Latvia) are parties to the Hague Convention on Legalization of Foreign Public Documents (more here), what that means is that Latvia wants someone in your home country to say that the document means something. It's a little fuzzy to me why they do it they way they do, but what I had to do was get my university degree notarized (the notary had to say that I was... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 4:03 PM on July 28, 2007 marked best answer

I was in a rush earlier, so I wanted to check back in with a little more research.

As I noted above, Latvia was a party to the 1961 Hague Convention, so in order for Latvia to recognise a document from another country it must first be apostilled. Like exogenous said, the whole process is basically meaningless and it would be very easy to create a false document and yet pay for it to go through this bureaucratic process and it would come out the other end looking... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 9:52 PM on July 28, 2007 marked best answer

I spent some time living with a family in Bohemia and they made their own dill pickles from the cucumbers and dill in their garden. When the cucumbers were ripe, the dill had gone to seed quite nicely and was covered in lots of yellow flowers. That was actually what they were looking for and they picked their dill at the same time as their cucumbers and put that in their pickling jars. Boy, those pickles tasted amazing, too.

So, I wouldn't worry too much about it... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 3:48 PM on July 28, 2007

Tater tot casserole. I put a layer of shredded yellow cheese between the meat and tater tots for that extra je ne sais quoi.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 7:25 PM on July 23, 2007

I'm a USian who has spent some time traveling around the UK. Most of the time, I was very happy to use the train. For example, when I lived in Edinburgh I would regularly hop down to London on a GNER and it took only a few hours and it went by beautiful scenery and was never more than 40 pounds. They would serve me tea and I would read a book and watch the fields roll by. When living in London, I often traveled into the countryside, including some fairly remote seeming parts of northern... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 7:16 PM on July 23, 2007 marked best answer

My dad grew up in Tampa and Stuart in the 50s/60s and he ate a lot of peanut butter and honey sandwiches as a kid. I think they were more popular than pb&j in his circle. He didn't recognise the term Choke Daddy, however.

Incidentally, he also grew up eating peanut butter, banana, and mayonnaise sandwiches. He wants me to recommend them to you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 2:29 PM on July 22, 2007

I have really good luck over at Dave's ESL Boards. Try doing a search for your question there. Also, Boots N All has some stuff on TEFL. Both have lots of good general plus Corea-specific info and discussion.

Good luck to your girlfriend.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 9:24 AM on July 20, 2007

at my line chef job, i always went outside with the smokers and when someone once asked me why, i told them (quite honestly) that i just needed the break from work sometimes. everyone seemed to accept this pretty quickly.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 6:21 PM on June 28, 2007

It's only about an hour down to Key Largo and Pennekamp State Park where's there's pretty awesome snorkeling. You're also close to the Everglades, which is completely different than most things I've seen and really neat. What about an airboat trip to see some alligators?
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 8:18 PM on June 21, 2007

And this might just be me, but I really like driving through Big Sugar land between Miami and Lake Okeechobee. Miles and miles of cane as far as the eye can see plus a really interesting mix of old Florida cowboy culture and Mexican/Central American culture (and food!).

One caution about camping: I try to avoid camping near water in Southern Florida this time of year. There are swarms of mosquitoes dense enough to use as a blanket and big enough to carry away your... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 8:26 PM on June 21, 2007

I work at a bank here in Florida, and I just spoke (unofficially) with one of my compliance officers here. She is the one responsible for deciding who can and cannot open accounts with us.

I asked her about your situation, where you have a Delaware based corporation, no official Delaware office, live in Australia, yet would like to open a US based account for your business. She said that as long as you have a Employee Identification Number*, you would be welcome to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 11:58 AM on June 18, 2007

I can really empathize with the exhaustion you're feeling right now. When I go through a really emotionally/spiritually stressful and/or exhausting experience, sometimes my body just needs to rest and process for awhile before I can pick myself up again. Don't fault yourself for that. You'll probably be glad later on that you let yourself recharge.

But it sounds now like you're ready to move on, quit hibernating, and create something new.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mosessis at 6:10 PM on June 12, 2007