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What a fun process... I'm still just beginning to get a sense of the culture around here in all its nuances. And I've re-negotiated my contract such that I'll be getting a lot more free time in the new year, not a mention a month's vacation in January, albeit not paid. But that's ok, I'm not just here to save money or pay off loans, as it turns out thousands of other western recent university graduates are. The language barrier - and it is a big one - is invigorating in the sense that I feel less and less obliged to bother with the thoughts of others, because even if I knew what they were thinking, I'm unable to ask, or understand any answer. Not that I'm not polite, in fact quite the opposite. If anything I've become more polite in a culture that, while containing the same rowdy drunks and idiot teenagers as any other, is on the whole very value-driven and respectful. It sounds odd, but I enjoy the isolation provided by not speaking the language. Th...

The Top Seven Losing Ways, inspired by John McCain: 7. Disillusion your base: Make sure that the right-wing evangelicals who elected your party's presidential predecessor by voting in droves have virtually no interest in you as a candidate. A good way to do this is to take a relatively middle-ground stance on all their biggest cultural hot button issues like abortion and religious rhetoric. 6. Be very, very old: Make sure to run for president while on the verge of losing mental capacity. 5. Offer contradictory political messages: Use logically self-contradictory phrases like 'conservative reformer' and 'maverick with republican values' to describe yourself. Make sure to keep your potential voters very, very confused. 4. Tell people things are going great when they clearly aren't: If the economy is facing a worldwide depression, be sure to proclaim its fundamentals are strong anyway. Offer no apparent reason or justification for the statement. 3. Spend much less ...