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The last 30 minutes of that Turkiye-Austria game were so exciting. That save at the end, just before the final corner play, wow.
Yesterday I found out that there is a 100 m tall flag pole with a giant ass Finnish flag in a town in the south of Finland, and apparently this was the largest flag in the European Union until recently when a bigger one was hoisted up in Bulgaria. Finland and Bulgaria seem to be in full ’Murica mode. Only place I’ve ever seen those giant ass massive giga turbo flags has been in the States.
I think us and Bulgaria should have a giant flag off, keep one-upping each other until both countries are just a giant flag.
A bunch of Canadians on reddit were complaining about a huge wave of Indians coming over on reddit. After some looking around, apparently, the Canadian government allowed like a tripling of international students going to Canada. It’s apparently a great way to get permanent residence since Canada allows you 3 years after graduation to get sponsored by an employer (it doesn’t need to be a high prestige occupation either). There’s so many coming over, it’s put more stress on the Canadian housing market.
In the US, we only allow international students to stay and work for a year after graduation (you can apply for extensions in some cases) only in their field of study. There’s no guaranteed permanent residence either at the end of it. Honestly, I haven’t heard of too much resentment towards international students here besides some gripes from a few masters/PHD academics and the tech industry. The general public is much more worried about the southern border.
The general election is tomorrow and despite being a political nerd I’m so checked out of the whole thing.
It feels like the campaigns have been going round in circles for weeks, with the same topics, the same arguments, and the same questions and answers coming up again and again.
The poll numbers have barely shifted since it was announced. It’s been the least enlightening, least interesting campaign I can remember – the result is a foregone conclusion but it doesn’t seem to be one that many people are too excited about.
Maybe it’s because I’ve already voted by post, so nothing that is said now by any candidate will change my decision. But normally I’d be interested anyway.
Especially as we’re likely on the edge of what will be an absolute political tsunami, a historic (and potentially unprecedented) wipeout for the oldest political party in the world.
But I just can’t get interested in it at all.
Was in Puglia last week for holidays. A few thoughts.
* IMO Puglia has the best food in all of Italy. Granted I got a bit tired of eating Orrechiette but I was pleasantly surprised at how good the food was. On that note, their wines are pretty bad (to me).
* Coperto is annoying but it is what it is. Specially if they charge it for getting drinks. On that note I guess Puglia doesn’t follow the Italian custom of giving something to eat with the Apero? Like crisps or olives?
* I’ve long mentioned my strategy of using French verbs with Spanish nouns to be able to communicate with Italians. This didn’t work in Puglia. Found that interesting considering it’s worked relatively well elsewhere in the country.
* The beaches are top notch but there is a definitely a huge bias against tourists (which there weren’t many).
* Speaking of the beaches, the Italian beach etiquette of the area/sand in front of the rented chairs belonging to the renter is still crazy to me. My daughters were building a sandcastle and the lifeguard made a beeline to them asking them to move because that area was for the renters. WTF… they’re 8 years old doing what 8 year olds do in the beach.
* On that note : Variable pricing based on the proximity to the water is also kind of crazy to me.
* My wife and I were talking that maybe Italians are totally fine being nickle and dimed with everything because it’s kind of built into their culture. For example, the structure of meals.
* All in all a fantastic place to visit and highly recommend it.
There’s nothing better than waking up on a hot morning, sweaty, getting dressed with half an eye open, sauntering to the beach and dunking yourself in the cool sea. I am convinced that humans are kind of amphibian.
I picked some purslane for lunch. It’s now high season and it grows everywhere. Purslane cacık is far superior to the cucumber version in my opinion. It’s just chopped purslane (some like it blanched, but I like it raw), yoghurt, little garlic, and lots of ice. Best cold soup on a hot day.