Los Angeles... a large diverse city

We spent 5 nights in total in Los Angeles, this was the second leg of our holiday but was split into two parts as we went to Seattle for 2 nights to meet some Locks from Vancouver.

Athol had caught the flu on our trip from Las Vegas to LA so spent a lot of time in bed. We stayed at in Marina Del Rey which is a suburb close to LAX (about a 15 min drive) just South of Venice Beach, which is just South of Santa Monica. There is a beautiful marina.

Santa Monica was beautiful! The sunsets are spectacular. 3rd Street, which is the second road parallel to the beach road, is an awesome street. It has shops, cinemas, restaurants, musicians playing in the street, etc. just such a great vibe. Athol and I spent an afternoon with our niece and nephew, we took them to see Monsters Inc. 3D at the AMC cinemas in 3rd Street.

Hollywood was ok, it was not as glamorous as I thought that it would be. Hollywood Blvd has the stars on the pavements, shops, Graumans Chinese Theater (with the hand/foot prints of celebrities), restaurants, wax museum, etc. You can see the famous Holywood sign from the Highlands center. It is about a 30 min drive from Marina Del Rey.

Beverly Hills is very nice. Their streets are lined with large palm trees.

The famous Rodeo Drive is in Beverly Hills, this a where celebrities and very rich people shop. Ferrari's, Aston Martins, Bentleys, etc. are very common is this part of LA. We were on the look out for celebrities. Athol's brother saw Toby Macguire (spiderman) and Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) along Rodeo Drive.

LA is a large spread out city. A bit like Johannesburg in a sense. They don't have much public transport so is better to have a car. You can go to Malibu which is probably about an hours drive North West. Universal Studios is just North of Hollywood. There's Disneyland in Anaheim which is probaly about an hour or two South of LAX. Some parts like Venice Beach had very bad roads. So while some suburbs are great others are not so great. There is lots to do and see in LA but everything is far afar. I actually think Cape Town is more cosy and beautiful :)

Las Vegas... Disney for adults

We left to Las Vegas on Tuesday 18 December 2012 and stayed at the MGM Grand for 6 nights - this was the first leg of our 15 night holiday (Americans would call it a vacation) along the US West Coast.

We flew Delta Airlines via Atlanta (approx. a 3 hour flight from Boston to Atlanta then a 4.5 hour flight from Atlanta to LV). The time difference in Nevada (the state in which Las Vegas is in) is 3 hours behind Boston and 10 hours behind South Africa.

We met up with Athol's brother and the family who were on holiday here in the US, it was great seeing them after 6 months.

'The Strip' is the long main road in LV which is made up of grand hotels, restaurants, shops and casino:-
-New York! New York! is the Big Apple themed hotel with a mini Statue of Liberty, the NYC skyline and a rollercoaster

-MGM Grand is the big green hotel which is shaped in a cross

-The Palazzo is a fancy hotel with high end shops and had a big waterfall and Christmas display

-The Venitian is a beautiful Italian themed hotel with shops around a 'river' with gondola rides (you will even get serenaded by the rower). With fake blue skies and many shops/restuarants. Outside there is an icerink with a huge Christmas tree

-There is a mini Paris with an Eifel Tower (you can take an elevator to the top)

-These are only a few, there are tons of other hotels/resorts like Caesars Palace, Treasure Island (have a regular fire display), The Luxor, Mandalay Bay, The Flamingo, The Bellagio (have lit musical fountains), etc.

A Disney for adults!

There are premium shopping outlets nearby, which are a shoppers paradise.

North West of The Strip is 'Old Las Vegas' which is more old fashioned, a bit more run run and dingy but more like the Vegas we see in movies. Fremont Street is closed off for pedestrians only.

The LV airport is the only airport that I've seen with slots machines by departures/arrivals and by baggage claim :)

It seems LV is becoming a place for kids as well, there is lots for kids to do. For my niece's 8th birthday we went to The Adventure Dome which has amusement park rides, the kids loved it! I went on the indoor rollercoaster twice with the kids which was fun - there were 2 loops and it went in the dark for a while in the 'mountain'.

Food is generally expensive. Buffets are popular.

There are shows every night at the various hotels. Tickets are pricey, cheapest tickets are around $100 per person.

Hotels are cheap, you can get 4/5 star hotels for around $60 a night along The Strip.

LV is close to the Grand Canyon, if the weather was better we would have loved to go there. It is about a 4 hour bus ride one way so quite a trip.

So overall, I was blown away by the grandness of Las Vegas, it is like Times Square or Picadilly Circus on steroids :) there are so many lights and things to see and do. Even for someone like me who doesn't gamble and drink, this place is really awesome for a holiday even is you just walk around :) definately the Entertainment Capital of the World!

A walk down memory lane.... at MIT

Ok had some time for another post so thought that I take a walk down memory lane :)

Last weekend Athol and I went to MIT, where Athol did his MBA 1994-1996. We wanted to go to the shop where he did all his grocery shopping as a poor student (he used to buy milk and bagels to eat) and buy his favourite 'steak tip sub' but they didn't sell it anymore :( anyway, we got 'The Reactor' premium sub which was made up of sliced beef, mushrooms, onions and provolone cheese all toasted in a baguette, it was good! Here's Athol at Laverde's Market along Mass Ave.

We went to eat in the lounge where Athol slept for a couple of days when he arrived at MIT and had no place to sleep. He slept on one of the couches facing the window so that the security guard wouldn't see him. The one night, the security guard nudged him and told him to leave. The Catherine Stratton Lounge has recently been revamped so is quite nice now.

Athol came to Boston in 1994 with vitually nothing - a few dollars and some clothes - with no money to pay for tuition and no place to live!

He eventually convinced MIT Housing to let him sleep in a vacant dorm room until the student arrived. So he sleep in a dorm called Ashdown (they have changed the name of the building since) with a room mate. Here is Athol outside the window of his dorm.  He also eventually convinced a professor to create a scholarship especially for him so that he could study at MIT. He agreed to give Athol the scholarship depending on his grades every year. When deciding to come to MIT Athol had had a full scholarship from another American university which he had turned down to come to MIT.

Ashdown was just along Memorial Drive so he had a view of the Charles river and walked along the river everyday to get to the Sloan Building (MIT's business school). What a beautiful view! It was a lovely winter day, so we were enjoying every little bit of sunshine :)

We walked along the river up to the Alfred P. Sloan School where Athol had studied.

They have since built a big modern building next to the Sloan School.

We also walked to the MIT dome, this was the very place where Athol graduated in 1996.

Athol was also very fortunate to have a host family when he was here. They helped him where they could, they also gave him some linen for his bed as he was using his t-shirt as a pillow case and his clothes as a blanket! :)

Athol is such an inspiration, it took a lot of guts to come to MIT with no tuition and place to live. He has accomplished so much in his life and I am so proud of him. It was great to see where he lived and studied back then, a great walk memory lane with him :)

12.12.12

December, 12, 2012 or 12-12-12 will be the last date of its kind - when all three numericals in a date are the same - for the next 88 years. The next time this will happen is on January 1, 2101, or 01-01-01.

So I though that I'd dedicate this post to my 'lasts' for this year. Especially since the world is meant to end on 21 December 2012 according to the Mayan calendar :)

Today was my last tutoring session with Tina, today we discussed Christmas and New Year. We will continue our sessions next year in January.

On Monday was my last Mandarin lesson for the year, I will continue classes in Feb/March next year. For now, I will use my Rosetta Stone software which I've neglected because I am always busy with classes.

Last week Tuesday was my last Government & Politics of China class. I will have to look and see if there are any other interesting courses which I can audit for the next semester. I struggled to get a class to audit this past semester. As a Harvard spouse, I am allowed to audit classes however it depends on the lecturer and I discovered that many lecturers do not allow auditors or classes are oversubscribed especially at HKS and HBS. Athol will be doing 'J-Term' (i.e. January Term) 7-18 January 2013. Students can do a course during J-Term, it is an intense 2 weeks with lectures 9am-5pm every day with homework and readings. It counts as a course so most students will be doing this even if it probably is the coldest time of the year. Students needs to do a total of 8 'half' courses for the year.

Athol finished off lectures last week Friday and is now busy writing his final papers. He did 4 courses this semester - Social Capital, Human Rights, Public Narrative and Global Governance. He will be taking a course on Persuasion in the J-Term. Then he will need to do 3 courses in the Spring Term.

This will be my last post for the year. This year has flown by so quickly, but what an amazing time we have had so far in the US. Can't believe that we've been here 6 months already.

Next week we head off to the west coast - Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Fransisco - for a much needed break from the cold (although we have been very lucky with the weather, not too cold yet! keeping my fingers crossed) and to meet up with some family.  Looking forward to our Christmas in LA and New Year in San Fran :)

How Boston differs to South Africa.. part 6

Schools
-In the USA, there is Elementary School (grades 0-6), Middle School (grades 7-9) and High School (grades 10-12). Whereas in SA, there is Primary School (grades 0-7) and High School (grades 8-12)
- Here 'college' means a bachelors degree and 'university' means a postgraduate degree whereas in SA 'university' means bachelors and postgraduate degrees
- Public schools are free here. Mandarin is taught in Elemantary Schools
- The school year begins in September and ends in May/June. Whereas in SA, schools open in January and close in December. American schools don't tend to close over the Christmas break, their big break is in the Summer when they get off about 3 months to enjoy the sun
- Here the private universities like Harvard and MIT are the top universities in Boston, the public universities like UMass follow. This is in contrast to SA where the public universities like Wits and UCT  are generally better than the private ones (obviously some exceptions)
- At Harvard students are graded either A, A-, B+, B, B- where A is like our A in SA but their B- is like our E
- An MBA is much more expensive to do here, at Harvard and MIT tuition is about $60k for the degree (ie. R400k) whereas in SA they cost around R140k
- Online learning is becoming popular. BU offer an online MBA. MIT and Harvard are contemplating offering online courses in the future especially with the advancements in technology nowadays
- The majority of lecturers have Phd's
- Lecturers have TF's ie. teaching fellows who assist the lecturers with teaching, marking, etc.

Tax
- In different states they have tax free weekends.  In Massachusettes tax is about 13%. They have a weekend once a year in Aug, that is tax free on high value school/medical items bought

Tipping
- 15-18% in USA. Some restaurants charge 28% if more than 6 people. In SA, tipping is generally 10%, sometimes for large groups it is more

An evening with two great writers

It is not every day that one gets to see two Pulitzer Prize winners, one of which is also the recipient of a Nobel Prize for Literature. Last night, I was fortunate to attend two great literature events.

The first was the 2012 Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard which took place at the Sanders Theatre. The speaker was Toni Morrison, who spoke on the topic of Immortality. She won the Nobel Prize in 1993 and in 1988 the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved. On 29 May 2012, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I was honored to be in her presence and hear her speak.

The second was a book launch and poetry reading by renowned poet C.K. Williams, which took place at The Castle at Boston University. It was great to hear some of his poetry. His poetry is simple and easy to understand and is about everyday human experiences and observations. He is a great story-teller.

Two great writers in one night!