The Christianville Spirit: My Fascination with Europe

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Encourages

July 13, 2016-TCS # 504

Hej, Ciao, and Bonjour, My Readers. I am saying Hello to You in Three of My Favorite Languages; Swedish, Italian, and French. Funny, My Mom’s Side of The Family is both German and Italian. Personally, I like the Italian Side, The Food and Music side of them. But, Of Course, Who wouldn’t like Italian Food! If You didn’t, an Angry Grandmother would be after You. You-a No Like-a My Food?!

Anyway, on to This Week’s Newsletter. So, In My Newsletters in The Past, I have mentioned about wanting to Expat to Europe, My Fascination about Europe, All about Europe. So, I am sure that Most of You are wondering Why exactly. Well, There are quite a Few Reasons Why.

So, Let Me Explain. Now, I have to say, bearing in Mind, that to some people This is a One of those Oh-So-Sensitive Political Situations, But, I am going to make this more about The Fascination and Passion for This Part of The World. So, Here We Go! The First Reason is something that for Most of The World is most likely The Craziest Idea but If You see a Map of Europe, You would understand why. It is something called Schengen. As In The Schengen Agreement. What is that? Well, It is basically an Agreement named after a Town called Schengen in Luxembourg that is literally a stones throw from France and Germany. That is All! Just Kidding! There is much more! The Best Thing (or Worst thing to some people) is the fact that You can Freely Travel between Countries (in Europe, They refer to them as “Members States”) without having to Stop at The Border Crossing and Have Your Passport Ready. You just drive across The Border and Continue on, that is as long You follow the Rules in Imports and Exports. Now, The Police of The “Member State”, will check Your Passport at Your Hotel or Other Business. That is only so “Member States” can make sure that You are following The Rules. Now, The Best Part of Schengen (“Freedom of Movement”, Europeans say) is that You can Live in One Country and Work in another. For Example, You could live in France and Work in Italy and Vice Versa. Schengen covers Most Countries across Europe with the Exception of a Few. Now, There is an Option that You can Opt-Out of Schengen. Countries like The United Kingdom opted-out of Schengen but, Oddly, They have their own “Freedom of Movement” Condition in Their Area.  

One of My Favorite Youtubers, CGP Grey (Who explains Europe very well!) claims that because The UK is part of The British Isles and They are an Island, that they should not do Schengen. That is Okay though. So, The Next Reason, It ties together with The Schengen Agreement, in fact It kinda led to The Schengen Agreement. After World War II, Europe was torn a part and Europe needed to a way to come together via something that was then The European Community, now known as The European Union. So, Just so We are Clear, some “Member States” are not part of The European Union but, are part of the “Schengen Area” like Norway and Iceland. The People of The European Union came up with the Name, “Member States”. To Explain how Schengen and The European Union (or EU) work, is that it is like The “Member States” are sort of like Their Own US State, only with Different Flags, Road Signs, Country Sign, and Language. Basically, Crossing International Lines in Europe, to an American is like Crossing a State Line only with The Things I mentioned above, hence the Term “Member State”. When You do cross a Border, You see a Sign that has The Country’s Name in It’s Own Language usually with The European Union’s Blue Flag with a Circle of Stars instead of a “Welcome to “Member State” like The US.  

For My Favorite “Member States”, You would see The Following: 

Italia for Italy  

France for France,  

and 

 Sverige for Sweden.  

By The Way, I have Many More Favorite (actually, Favourite) “Members States” but, those are a Few Examples. After You see “Welcome” Sign, Then You see the Speed Limits Sign (A Speed for Inside “Urban Areas”, Outside “Urban Area”, and Motorways) usually The Speed of Motorways is about 120 to 130 Kilometers an Hour. (That is except for Germany’s Motorways or “Autobahn”)  

Now, The Whole Thing that I mentioned about Flags, Road Signs, Country Sign, and Language is a Fascination of it’s Own. It is Amazing how You can drive across Europe and See/Read Signs that are in Different Languages. Each Member State has it’s own Road Signs in Different Fonts AND Languages. Talk about a Road Geeks Dream, right there! Each Country has a Different Flag on top of that, and It’s own Country Sign to make it easier for Europeans to know what Country is What and By The Way, Some of the “Country Signs” are confusing. So, One Time I was googling pictures of Road Signs around The World, when I came across a Sign that had “Country Signs” and Capitol Cities of those Countries. As I explained one time about How Close Bratislava, Slovakia and Vienna, Austria are. I found a Road Sign Pointing to Those Cities and More. I will post The Picture of Them on My Newsletter. 

One Sign going Strait says

E-59 (called European Routes) to: 

“Wien” (Vienna, the Capitol of Austria),  

Then, on The Right side You have 

 E-60 West to Linz/St.Pollen with D.  

D means Deutschland (Germany)

and 

 E-60 East says:

CZ (Czech Republic),

SK (Slovakia), and

H (Hungary).

Further down, E-59, You will see a Sign that says The Following: 

“Wien-Centrum” (Vienna City Center),  

Prague-CZ (Capitol of Czech Republic),  

Bratislava-SK (Capitol of Slovakia), and  

Budapest-H (Capitol of Hungary).  

Another Sign I saw and Took a Screenshot of a Sign with 

Wien and E-60 with   

The Country Signs of H (Hungary), 

 SK (Slovakia),  

SLO (Slovenia), 

 and The easiest one, I (Italia).  

So, While We are talking about Roads, Europe has an Interstate-like System called The E-Road System. I found out yesterday that They are called European Routes. Think of it was an Interstate, only an Inter-Member State. Hehe, Get It? Anyway, These European Routes (or E-Roads) take you across Europe from One Member State (or Country) to Another. I could tell you how to get from Malmö to Milano, Italia. E-20 to E-45, E-45 to E-43, and E-43 to E-35 respectively. I could tell you what Member States too!  

Danmark (Denmark),  

Deutschland (Germany),  

Öesterreich (Austria),  

Suisse (Switzerland),  

and Italia (Italy),  

again respectfully. I will tell My Mom that and Her Head would Explode. Like What to Where?! And, Finally, The Final Fascination, You can literally drive on a Train to go from France to The United Kingdom or Vice Versa. So, The Fact that You can do that is just beyond Crazy! It is much shorter, I am told to drive onto the “Eurotunnel” versus going on The Ferry. Just remember, as They say to Drive on The Left in The UK and Right in France. In Case, You are wondering The UK and Ireland are The Only Ones in Europe  who drive on The Left. All in all, Europe is a Very Fascinating Part of The World and I really want to see it’s Fascinations before They are all gone. I am thinking that I might have to start a Go Fund Me account to help me do this! 

 
 

Thanks (Gracias and Grazie) for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Oh! The Places You can see in The World! 

 

The Christianville Spirit: My Stubbornness

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Encourages

July 6, 2016-TCS # 503

Bonjour, My Readers! and A shoutout to My PTLS “Brother”, Hugo! Bonjour, by the way, is Hello in French. I have to say that, Bonjour is one of My Favorite International Greetings. It sounds so Romantic and It Flows, between Bonjour and Brilliant (used in The UK) are some of My Favorite Words of Expression. They have a little flair to English. So, on to This Week’s Newsletter! Like We talked about a few weeks ago, with All the Gold Newsletters that I have written and Everything that I talked about, It never harms to do a few repeats, or at least Repeat The Message but, Maybe in a Different Way. So, I am going to do a Rerun on a Topic that I feel needs a bit of repeating. Even thought, I don’t want to and You will see why. This Topic is a bit Personal to Me because It relates to One of Those Oh-So-Annoying traits of PTLS. That Subject of course, is Stubbornness. I Love having PTLS, it makes me Unique, but They are Traits of PTLS that Let’s just say, Aren’t always Perfect. So, This Newsletter was written last year in June of 2015 (Refer to Newsletter 453). Enjoy!  

You Know, I always think that I have told you just about Everything about Me, but Sometimes, I forget those little things that seem silly to write about. But, In The Case of PTLS, I shall. Guys, I am Stubborn! Yes, it takes a Man to admit that but, I am not the Only One who is Stubborn. In Fact, Most of us PTLSers are Stubborn. We PTLSers like to do things Our Own Way and Often, at Our Own Pace and that is Okay, but Sometimes We need a bit of a Push to do certain things. Things that are Simple to “Typical” People but, is a bit harder with Us. You See, I probably would not be as far along without My Mom pushing me to do things. Now, just so We are clear, There is Pushing (meaning; Come On, I know that You can do it) and then, Help You Through. Then, There is Forcing (Meaning: You Are Going to Do This, Whether You Like It or Not!). So, We just need a Gentle Push. When I was Younger, My Mom pushed..Well, Let’s just use the Word “Encouraged”, it sounds better. My Mom encouraged me do a lot of things. Potty Training, One Day, My Mom frustratedly said, “Okay, Christian, You are going to Use the Potty because The Baby down the Street needs Your Diapers and You can not go in Your Pants”. Well, I looked at her funny, like I had No Clue what She was saying and then, Went to The Bathroom Successfully and Did not Pee in My Pants Ever Again. Except maybe Once, but I REALLY had to go at that time. My Mom told me that I had to eat without making a Mess, My Mom’s Friend, Steve told me that He was going to put me outside in The Rain (Jokingly) if I did not eat without making a Mess. And, I got a little upset and then, started eating cleanly without Any Scraps on The Table like I used to. Which shocked Everyone because They were Kidding, but My Literal Mind thought it was Serious. So, I made it a Rule to follow, not that I was afraid I was going to be put in The Rain each Time I ate, but Because I knew I was not supposed to make a Mess because It was My Rule. When I had to Tie My Shoes, I had My Mom do it for the longest time, because it was Easy and A Time Saver. So, One Day, We were leaving to go somewhere and Mr. Jeff told My Mom to go to The Car and He told me, “I’m going to Let You Tie Your Shoes, Take Your Time”. I, again got upset because We were in the middle of Leaving, Why couldn’t My Mom just do it and Off We go? “We’re going to be Late!” My Mom said and So I thought the Same Thing. But, I did it! While We are on The Topic of Shoes, One Episode of Mr. Jeff saying, “WHO GOT MUD ON THE CARPET?!” was Enough to Make Me take My Shoes off every time that I enter Someone’s House; I still do that to This Day. Now, My Mom did help me a lot with Sliding down a Slide. It was not that tall of a Slide, but in a Kid’s Mind, It was pretty tall! I tried turning around, Nope! Okay, Might as well Cry and Try to get out of It, Nope! I ended up enjoying The Slide after I went down it. After that, It turned into an Obsession and My Mom could not get me OFF The Slide, I Loved It that Much. Funny how that happens! Each Time that My Mom tried to get me to do something that I did not want to do, But it was good for Me, She would have have to Raise Her Voice, followed by Me getting Upset Crying and saying “You hurt My Heart!”, and Finally, I would get a Hug and then, I would do Said Thing. Also, I would do Said Thing and then, Hug Her. Even Today, that happens Every Now and Then, The Same Process and The Hug, only the saying now is “I’m Sorry Mom! I did not want to do XYZ! It just made me Feel Bad!” But, on The Other Hand, It does help me get past a Milestone. Of Course, There are Times when I pass it on My Own and My Mom is Extremely Proud of Me. Now, I am sure that for The PTLS Moms, It is hard to see your kid cry, but If The Reward at The End is worth it, than You must go through that process. Of Course, like I said before, If They truly do not want to do it, than Leave Them Be, but It might just be their Stubbornness. To Be Honest, It took a while for Me to get even This Newsletter on Routine because I was not used to writing so much and This is One of Those Times when I pushed Myself through it because I really liked it. So, I made My Own Routine. Mind You, that was Almost 10 Years ago when I was still in High School and It was a Good Way to keep me doing something after I was finished with High School, Today it just flows and I stick to My Routine, I make My Mom have to respect My Routine. I write This Newsletter Every Wednesday like Clock-Work. The Only Time I don’t is either because I am on Vacation (Company Vacation Time) or Something is Wrong with Me (Sick Time). All in all though, It took some Pushing in all the Progress that I have done and It is a Process too!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Don’t be Afraid to Give Your Kids a little Push to Encourage Progress.