A lame update!

WOW!!! I’m not even sure where to begin. My life over the last 2 months has been flying by with all sorts of changes. Currently I’m sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Moscow. But I will back up a bit and sum up the last 2 months.

After leaving Ireland I came to Krakow Poland to get ready for my upcoming rally race around the Black Sea. I arrived in Krakow to some of the worst rain they have had in 10 years. House and rivers were being flooded from the non-stop rain, which also sucked for going out and getting anything done. I am a person that needs constant sunshine, it’s a problem I have but at least I acknowledge it.

So after spending 3 weeks hiding out in my small little apartment in the old Jewish ghetto of Kazimierz, I decided to skip town for a bit and find some better weather. I trip to Moscow to see my girlfriend was the perfect answer. I spent 3 weeks in Moscow spending time with her and checking out Moscow (which I’m not a fan of), but after spending 3 weeks in Moscow all the things I needed to do before the race were starting to pile up. Back to Krakow I went to finish my never-ending to-do-list. It’s been 3 weeks since then and I can finally say that most of the stuff is done and for the most part I’m ready other then finishing the paint on the car and getting some spare parts and extra tires.

I am now heading back over to Moscow for a week before I leave for the race. We leave Krakow on July 25^th for destinations unknown. The goal is to make it around the Black Sea, but I just realized I have spent more money on spray paint then I did for the car… so if this baby makes it 200km I will be amazed. Here are some photos from the last 2 months.  SORRY for the really lame update, i just can’t pull it together to write anything worth reading:-)

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Dublin take 3

There are places in the world where you just fit in, places that feel right like a pair of nice fitting jeans, a place where your stride just has a special swagger to it, a place where you feel at ease. I think a lot of this is due to the fact of good friends, good food and good drink. For me Dublin has all of the above. This was my 3rd (irish says “turd”) visit to the land of lucky charms and not my last.

Having just spend the last 6 months living in India it was a bit of culture shock when i touched down here on thursday evening to freezing cold (8 degree) fresh clean irish skies.

I stepped off the place not only looking like an indian slum dog, but smelling like one too. It’s true you smell like what you eat. Spending the last 6 months eating curry, i now stink like rotten leftover indian take out.

First thing i did when i made it to Conor’s place was take a long long HOT shower to wash off the last 6 months. It’s sometimes strange how you can take the little things in life for granted. The feeling of hot water running down my back was purely magical, the feeling of laying in a soft bed with clean soft white sheets was something legends dream of.

Going out into town was a bit overwhelming. People all dressed up moving about in a busy city pace made me feel like i have been living in a cave wearing rags. I sort of felt like Tom Hanks from the movie cast away. Instead of being stranded on a remote island talking to a volleyball, i have been living on a beach talking to crows, monkeys and any other animal that would listen to my random thoughts/ideas.

It’s now been 3 days and i am starting to get used to being back into the western world, but before i can get too comfortable it’s now time to push on. I leave for Poland in a few hours. I will be spending the summer in Krakow Poland….. more on that later…. time to catch my flight!

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India

6 months living in India and I’m not sure how I feel, its hard to understand or describe this place. India is not a country, it’s not a place…. It’s a state mind. I think as an outsider “foreigner” you can never really truly get under the skin of India. There is just soo many crazy, strange, different, stupid, beautiful things here its hard to even scratch the surface.

This was my 5^th trip to India and the longest and I have to admit that India beat me this time. But I am not leaving a loser, I have learned a lot over the last 6 months. I now truly appreciate the western world for all of those rules and systems that I used to think I hated. Life without logic, reason and functionality is 100% pure chaos!

I’m looking forward to going to a print shop and having the order come out right and on time, I’m looking forward to having someone tell me they are going to do something and they actually do it! I’m looking forward to ordering food and getting what I ordered.  But most importantly I’m looking forward to something new, something challenging and something that’s rewarding.

But India wasn’t all bad and negative, during the last 6 months I have spent a lot of time really enjoying the outdoors with friends. I think the problem was trying to mix business and pleasure.

Anytime you leave a place there is always things you will miss and not miss. Here is my list:

What i won’t miss

- power cuts

- water cuts

- internet cuts (i pay $70 for “high-speed internet which works 40% of the time, and if its high-speed then i can walk on water and have 3 dicks!)

- indian drivers

- indian drivers that love to flash their high beams at you to almost make you crash

- indian drivers that drive with no lights at night because they think its better on gas

- driving on the wrong side of the road

- road hazards including: cows, water buffalos, sleeping dogs, dogs humping, people, people sleeping in the road, monkeys, chickens, pigs, the one legged guy down the street and the guy with no legs on the skateboard

- ants in my bed, ants in my food and ants in my pants

- coconuts falling

- crows

- mosquitoes

- the humidity

- fire crackers

- indian food (for a bit)

- hindi music that my neighbors blast at all hours

- the fact that the maximum you can withdraw from the atm is $200

- indian tv

- indian cell networks

- headphone parties

What i will miss

- indian food including: chicken tikka masala, cheese naan, seafood biryani, seafood fried rice

- fresh calamari at turtle beach

- anything cooked at dropadi

- my black enfield

- random motorbike rides into the jungle

- the beach

- the sun

- frisbee (getting pretty good after 6 months)

- old monk

- karan & Jess

- Coffee (not the drink, the dog)

- Loveheart (although loveheart is dead, so i guess i would miss him anyways)

- Rocky

- coconut & pineapple boys

- my monkeys

- my roof

- my hammock

- the ocean breeze

- coconut man

- gosh the beach guru that lives in a cave

- watching the trains go over the bridge near my house

- my maid

- the fat cow down the street that i call big girl (which looks like the actor Michael Clarke Duncan if he was a female cow)

- and probably the most important…. the pure beauty of this place!

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Getting Ready for Summer!

Only 4 weeks left in India before i head to Europe for the summer. I will spend most of my time in Europe promoting/taking part in my rally race the Black Sea Run and hopefully a little sight seeing. The Black Sea Run starts in Krakow Poland on July 25th!

Here is My 2010 proposed country list:

Ireland
Poland
Sweden
Spain
Portugal
England
Ukraine
Russia
Georgia
Turkey
Bulgaria
Romania
Hungary
Slovakia
Austria
Czech Republic
Germany
USA
Columbia
Venezuela
Ecuador
Panama
Costa Rica
Nicaragua
Cuba
Brazil

Posted by Jimmy under Europe, Photos, Projects, Thoughts, Travel Tips, Uncategorized, Updates | Comments (0)

Time, Energy & Logic

I’m starting to wonder if I should start worrying about my energy or the lack thereof. I’m finding that living in a hot tropical jungle can really take the life and energy out of you. The heat is becoming intense, to a point where you avoid any sort of outdoor or physical movement during the mid days sun.

Also I’m finding that the Indian food as much as I love it is packed full of things that make you fat and gives you zero energy. After eating you barley have enough energy to find a good shady spot to lay your head for the much needed mid day nap. I sort of feel like a bear that’s hibernating from the winter, although I’m doing it in a steamy jungle rather then a cold dark cave.

Also dealing with everything Indian in terms of “trying” to start a business or work in India is proving the most life draining/maybe someday rewarding experience of my life. I have run multi million dollar projects with less stress then one week of work here. For me the biggest problem is nothing ever really gets finished or at least finished in any way close to what you set out for. Time seems to stand still; things just take forever and for no reason at all. Trying to figure out why is even more challenging, something that has sent the world’s brightest minds to metal institutions for trying to understand the ways of India.

I come from a world where pride, honor and your word mean a lot. People here will make promises with no intention to actually follow through they just say it because they think that’s what we want to hear. I mean they “try” to do what they say but it seems they have not a care in the world if they promise you something and never deliver. They even go as far to say 100% tomorrow, but all tomorrow brings in 100% let down! In every country I have ever been to if this happens they will do their best to explain why it didn’t happen, but here there’s no explanation its just normal. But I’m not trying to sit here and say why this country is better of worse then others… I am just trying to paint the real picture of how “I” feel India is as a functioning country.

Other foreigners here would think I’m crazy for saying this but they are looking at it from a touristy vacation spot, which of course you avoid all this stuff when sitting on the beach with not a care in the world. But living and working here is another story, so maybe I need to start looking at this place the same way I did 5 years ago when I fell in love with it. A place that’s full of color, life and a place where truly nothing makes sense to our foreign eyes and while the rest of the world continues to become the same, India will push on into the future as this wonderful crazy country that’s says NO to logic, NO to reason, NO to time…. But yes to being 100% different!

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