Culinary Epiphanies and Food in Nanjing

I like mushrooms! And I like eggplant too! Olives are still a no-go. I think...we haven't encountered many in china yet), but still! this is remarkable! Perhaps it is simply the fantastic variety, or the way in which these veggies are prepared in China, but my whole culinary world has just exploded.

Food has be the focus of many of our recent days; we are mad for the food we have been finding in both Shanghai and Nanjing - WOW!! As our ordering technique consists of staring at a long list of chinese characters and randomly selecting two dishes, we are consistently surprised by the delicious dishes that appear on our table. Our Chinese illiteracy has certainly expanded our culinary experiences!!

Thank goodness that the duck heads and pig feet seem to be of a higher caliber delicacy here (we usually choose moderately priced dishes). Most of the food we have been "ordering" ends up being mostly vegetables, with savory smidgens of pork or chicken, either mixed with noodles (all kinds!) or over rice. We have also been enjoying HUGE bowls (think "small pond") of savory soup.

Our first night in Nanjing we happened upon a Hui restaurant in the alley close to our first hotel (Hui are a Chinese ethnic group that practices Islam), which serves only mutton and beef. Here, a massive bowl of hot soup and noodles will only cost you about ¥6 ($0.80). We have eaten three meals there since, and plan to go again tonight. They serve a clear broth cinnamon-based soup before your entrée that is absolutely divine. The best part of this noteworthy noodle shop is your noodles are made to order in under a minute. Beginning with a ball of noodle dough on the counter, the cook cuts off a reasonable portion, then stretches, winds, bangs, stretches, winds, bangs, stretches, winds, snips and pops into the pot your perfect noodles. If you have ordered a spaghetti sized noodle, it is actually just one very, VERY long noodle that covers your plate, whereas if you have ordered more of a large linguini it is cut into manageable 6” long pieces. We love you noodle shop!!!



Some other food highlights thus far in China include:

* a street food item that we have begun calling "Chinese Pizza:" a crepe/omelet cooked with green onions and tiny bits of pork, and then slathered with a spicy, salty sauce before folded in half and served.
* incredible boiled dumplings of all kinds; the filling is unknown until that first anticipatory bite. A hot, sweet, bean curd dumpling was an unexpected and fabulous one!
* lamb shanks (see photos on shutterfly) at a mongolian resturaunt with Nan and Benson in Shanghai.
* dishes that have sichuan pepper, which is not hot like red or black pepper, but has an interesting numbing effect in the mouth.

Nathan is delighted by the Hunan-influenced dishes, which are spicier in flavor. He is looking forward with great anticipation to our imminent travels to the province (Changsha).

It's funny how I thought that our load would LIGHTEN as we traveled....we seem to be carrying more and more with each bite. :)

Still on the list is a "hot pot" restaurant and Nanjing BBQ, but I can sleep well knowing that tomorrow is another day.

xoxo

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Nanjing

Are you reading this? Then we have rejoined the ranks on the democratic side of the Great Firewall of China. Many thanks to a sweet girl from the couchsurfer network that clued us in to a proxy site. How I managed to decipher the instructions in Chinese....I'll never know. But here we are.

We are finally starting to groove into a Chinese rhythm; it has taken a few days. The differences between China and Japan are incredible: Japan is more focused on etiquette and manners and the formalities of life. China is bustle and fewer pleasantries and less reserved. Mind you, these judgments come from a girl that neither speaks nor reads either Chinese or Japanese.

On Sunday we managed to tear ourselves away from the sweet situation in Shanghai with our new friends Nan and Benson, and took a train to Nanjing amid a snow flurry. The train ride was fascinating: mile after mile after mile of construction. Everywhere you look, China is tearing something down and building a newer, taller, bigger version in its place. I know we keep mentioning this, but it is a constant wonder for us.

I love Nanjing. With a population that is about 10 million less than Shanghai, we are finding Nanjing much easier to navigate and explore. The city involves a bit more walking, as it only has ONE subway line, as compared to eleven in Shanghai. Yesterday we wandered all around the city, reaching lofty heights atop the 600 year old remnants of the Nanjing city wall. We explored the medical university area, gearing up for a similar experience in Changsha, and snacked on plenty of street food.

The last several nights we have spent at a basic hotel called the "Home Inn." It has a feature that we have experienced several times already in east asia: the electronic door card also activates the electricity in the room. When you enter the room, there is a small slot immediately located on the wall, where the card must be inserted before the lights, television, heat, etc can be turned on. Smart? I think so. Are you as careful to turn out the hotel lights when you leave as you are in your own house? I doubt it. The idea of energy conservation kinda falls down the tubes when someone else is cleaning your sleeping space and the hot water never runs out.

And speaking of energy awareness and conservation, we were delighted to look out over nanjing yesterday onto a sea of solar panels. Atop each 7 story apartment building were ginormous solar panels. And mind you, we weren't in a hoity-toity neighborhood, but rather, a lower-middle class neighborhood. Yeah China!! Show us how it's done!

lots of love to our readers, leave us a comment and let us know you are reading! Check out shutterfly account for photos, as this proxy site doesn't allow for uploads.

xoxoxo
brittany

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One way that we intend to peer back through time

Here in Shanghai building is going on everywhere.

We are staying in a superblock of highrise apartment buildings in the New District area far from the downtown. These structures are enormous, built on campuses of shared green space, a la Robert Moses. Like their American counterparts, building quality and material seems to be mediocre, ( the one where we are staying only opened last Summer and shows signs of decline). But, here, we are close to the people. Last night, as we arrived at our Shanghai Metro stop near Boxing Road, it was clear as ever that once you step off the tourist trail in China you become an instant pioneer of sorts. Unlike most of Shanghai, the Metro has maps and stations written in English making it highly navigable. Getting off of the Metro to connect to our bus, however, especially with Shanghai’s constant overcast sky, proves more difficult. As has become habit, we asked a group of younger persons for directions. They were immensely helpful trying to locate our bus, flagging down numerous taxis, (none of whom knew the address of the brand new street where we were going), then finally hopping in the taxi to guide us and the driver to our locale.

There are many questions we have been asking as to how China can sustain and support such massive growth, however. What are the values of China where cities are constantly being razed and replaced with new more expensive development?

Older parts of the city are summarily being knocked down and rebuilt in more magnificent and denser forms. But, their have been some very small efforts at historic preservation. Some of old Shanghai is still preserved though. Known by old designations - the “French Concession,” the “Dutch Concession,” and so on; these were areas where countries essentially rented long-term a portion of city where expats could live under home country jurisdictions. Of course, with this early planned segregation, cultures of the ‘old country’ were maintained more exclusively so that today - 200 or so years later - you can still see fine examples of 18th and 19th Century European architecture, buy decent pastry or eat a modern haute couture

One way that we intend to peer back through time will be to visit the schools, YMCA type community centers, and churches begun in these communities to educate and acculturate offspring of tradesmen, diplomats, and missionaries living abroad, (who might otherwise not have know western systems, values, and social norms). We expect to find a mix of results and some lacking continuity between the 19th Century introductions of western thoughts, cultures, and traditions and the ways these are used and interpreted today. 21st Century modern structures, markets, and fashions have reached China in an avalanche of change which we keep describing in this blog. However, this was no accident and in fact may be linked in some ways to the upheavals of the 2oth century when despotic rulers, communist revolution, and the ‘cultural revolution’ all claimed massive change for China and thrust formerly peasant masses and indigenous communities to buy in to massive transformations of family life, industry, and culture. The praise that is heaped upon the current ‘progress’ taking place in China with its openness to market economics and certain capitalistic tenets of free market economies surprisingly may have shallow roots in its not so distant Marxist past.

As is commonly described, China’s window on history has many distant and bright panoramas. Nanjing, where we will visit for New Years, is described in Chinese literature and history as the ‘Capital of Ten Kingdoms’ - meaning that ten times beginning around 400 BC this city has been a capital to dynasties, kingdoms, occupying countries, and finally the Republic of China (1929). There are remnants of these dynastic kingdoms across the city in the high walls, moats, canals, monasteries, temples, cemeteries, parks and so on. If you only have a short visit to China, Nanjing would be an obvious place to land for a few days, each day could be as full as you could make it.

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Say hello to Shanghai!

We are stuck here behind the Great Firewall of China!! No facebook, no blogspot, and no valid internet links to any negative/questionable information about the People's Republic of China. But Brittany's mother has taken on the task of updating our blog (via emailed content)...THANKS!! We can also still read your comments, so keep them coming! Our shutterfly account is still accessible, so look at our photos: honeyserviceyear.shutterfly.com (password "travel").

DECEMBER 25, 2009

Now we are in Shanghai. The flight was smooth.  Thanks again JAL!

Since arriving in Shanghai, we were immediately excited by the building going on here. Our first impression of China is building, building everywhere. Highlights so far include arriving in Shangahi’s brand new Pudong International Airport, being passed by a MagLev train (literally in the blink of an eye), and sensing the incredible energy swelling around Shanghai Expo 2010. Shanghai will host its Shanghai World Expo 2010 beginning next Summer. We won’t be around then (we don’t think); but if our discoveries here during the next week  help motivate you to make the trip, do come! You won’t regret it.

Shanghai is a cosmopolitan and cultural capital of China. It has build eleven metro subway lines the last twenty years transporting close to four million people every day. The city is already adding another 4 major trunk lines to reach its outer rings.  We felt as is our plane ride had suddenly summoned the world of the 22nd century down to earth. Like Tokyo, it is modern and politically charged with real substantive opportunities and intellectual vigor. Today’s headlines, however, spoke to its growing pains and included a subway accident yesterday stranding thousands of unhappy commuters. This news coupled with our earthquake in Japan made very suddenly real our plans to visit areas recently affected by disasters. We are partly here to discuss the value of organizing communities over building core competencies of cultural resilience between government and citizens seems prescient. Mostly we learn. Following a major disaster a year ago in Schezchuan Province, China’s government responded rapidly and forcefully. Japan and the United States, in contrast, took weeks before effectively (perhaps?) assisting a recovery. China moved more swiftly.

In Japan we heard that long oppressed Chinese immigrants in Kobe and underground “Yakuza” gangs assisted community recovery efforts long before government’s slow wheels got moving. The news of total lack of coordination or advanced disaster response planning on a new subway line in Shanghai reinforces our belief that simplified solutions and community informing and engagement necessary to mitigate these types of urban ‘growing pains’ and may be used for lessening human suffering.

Upon our arrival on the 23rd, we took in the night airs walking through parks, visiting the financial district (now the financial hub of Asia), For food we stopped at a dough shop, (read: dumpling), passed ‘hot pot’ houses, split a fried rice with clear broth soup, and visited a fresh fish market. China gives new meaning to fresh fish and market places combining a zoo-type atmosphere with fresh sales. Rows of chickens lined the back of the market with vendors slamming them onto scales amid much squawking. Of interest also were pools filled with live fish, tubs of frogs, turtles, shrimp, and eels. Apparently the vendors will kill them onsite for you.

Our second night, we headed out to the New District area far from the downtown. These structures are enormous, built on campuses of shared green space, a la Robert Moses. Like their American counterparts, building quality and material seems to be mediocre (the one where we are staying only opened last Summer and shows signs of decline). But, here, we are close to the people.

Our hosts Nan and Benson in the New District of Shanghai have been amazing. We found them through ‘couch surfing,’ an internet tool for connecting travelers with local hosts. Our first night they took us to a fabulous restaurant with two of Benson’s coworkers from a university here (Chris and Hal - all from Australia). We feasted on Lamb shanks and other titillating delights from the Northwestern border regions of China. Our choices were tame - the menu offered such local specialties as  Camel hoof and lamb kidneys. Supper was stupendous…but the company even better.

Benson is teaching mechanical engineering. He has also had such interesting jobs as F-22 Maintenance Squad leader (“loading bombs and keeping ‘em flying”); and worn a kilt across China to promote the finest spirits in the Chivas Regal family of Scotch, giving talks on Scotch tasting in Chinese. Nan got an MBA in Kuala Lumpur, (where she longs to return), and was raised in Beijing. She is as kind as kind gets. Both of them have shared so much information and tips with us on China in general and Shanghai in particular. Staying in their home has been a real window into the ways the new Chinese middle class is choosing to live.

Wishing all of you Happy Holidays and all the love, joy, and excitement that comes with a new year.

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Say goodbye to Tokyo!

We are stuck here behind the Great Firewall of China!! No facebook, no blogspot, and no valid internet links to any negative/questionable information about the People's Republic of China. But Brittany's mother has taken on the task of updating our blog (via emailed content)...THANKS!! We can also still read your comments, so keep them coming! Our shutterfly account is still accessible, so look at our photos: honeyserviceyear.shutterfly.com (password "travel").

DECEMBER 22,2009

Tokyo - you were so good to us! Our good fortunes and luck this whole journey will have been blessed by the send off on the night before we left. 

Arriving in Oyamadai neighborhood, (a Come on Up house on the other side of Tokyo from where we had been staying in Sumiyoshi), we were running late. We were determined to get to the NOMAT’s Craft Arts Museum (for the exhibit titled: “A Power of Decoration - A Viewpoint on Contemporary Kogei“), and weren’t especially successful at navigating the subway….we ended up much further away from the museum than expected. On the way to the Museum, we stumbled upon, the National Gardens, a beautiful Shrine, and Nippon Budokan, where thousands of Tokyo young people were patiently lined up early to see ACIDMAN on his beautiful greed Tour. The Power of Decoration craft exhibit was AMAZING!!! Never before had we seen such Contemporary ‘craft work’ - especially the detailed intricacies in the ceramic sculptures.

So we arrived, late but happy….ready to rock it, Iron Chef style. Our race to prepare dinner’s main course OYSTERS and CLAMS, was momentarily hindered, however, by a realization that there was almost nothing to cook with: a saute pan, a pot, two knives and two cutting boards, and three small bowls. So we stirred and sautéed with chopsticks, used our pots in sequential order, and a tiny broiler (12cmx24cm). We made a creole version of Stuffed Quahogs (large clams)- broiled open-face in the tiniest little oven we had ever used.  The Oyster soup was a hit!! Only expecting ten guests at the “Come On Up” New Years party we still made a full eight quarts. Maybe fifteen people attended, if you include Brittany and me, but our glorious pot was finished quite early in the evening. The clams were also delicious.

One of the guests at the party brought Black Dragon Sake, the Emperor of Japan’s favorite sake and which is the only sake ever served to official State Guests of the Imperial Family!! Amazing. N has had the good fortune of tasting a 1933 Madeira, a 1986 Rothschild Bordeaux, a forty year old Blanton’s bourbon, fifty year old scotches, rums and tequilas; a 250 year old balsamic vinegar Black Dragon sake is as good as any of them.

To leave Tokyo we got up early and made Oyster Omelettes for our host’s executive assistant, our constant companion, Hoshi, (as well as a new found friend Mr. Ten ‘Fei‘, a young man from China attending school in Kyoto, commuting from Nara, having lived and gone to college in Toronto; and now in Tokyo to interview with such notable names as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS. Fei spent a couple nights indulging us in Chinese lessons: writing a cheat sheet - characters, their anglophonic translations and correct pronunciation. He left us with a page of key words and phrases, plus another of immediate technical concerns, (address of hotel and embassies in Shanghai, phrases to negotiate taxi transport etc).

We left in high spirits three hours before our flight.

It took a lot longer to get to Narita airport than we had remembered. But, thanks to the kind JAL staff, we were whisked through customs and escorted to our gate; where the staff took the time to arrange for us to sit together in the only seats left on a full plane. Again we marveled at the courtesy, efficiency, and friendliness of Japan!

Thank you Tokyo!! We love you! Special thanks to Yasuko and Hoshi for introducing us to daily life, neighborhoods, and community in Japan. The Come On Up shared houses were inspiration to us on so many levels. They inspire, they build community, they nurture cultural resiliency, and they are living proof that, given the opportunity, Japanese and expats will choose to learn and appreciate each other.

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Sustainability on Two Wheels

Have we mentioned yet that Tokyo is brimming with bicycles?

As strong supporters of bicycles ourselves, we are delighted to be in such a cycle-focused city. Though the first several days were perilous (bicyclists oftentimes ride on the sidewalk, and we were adjusting to the modified traffic flow of sticking to the left side of the street), we love the Japanese bicycle culture.

Everyone seems to ride one....and if their legs aren't long enough to reach the pedals, they ride in a basket either in the front or the back. Babies and grandma's and dapper businessmen: they all cycle. All the bicycles are basically the same - cruiser style with plenty of metal baskets anchored to front and back. Bicycle parking lots are commonplace, and although many people seem to own cars, they certainly don't seem to use them for daily transport.

Part of the emphasis on bicycles is certainly impacted by the cost of living in Tokyo, and in particular, the expenses of transportation. While the Tokyo Metro is efficient and widespread and a fantastic way of getting around, it is fairly expensive. We have been spending an average of $7 a day on the subway, and we try to walk as often as possible.Were we to be living in Tokyo longer than 8 days, we would certainly invest in bicycles.

Why bicycle, when you could drive a car instead?

1) Bicycles do not contaminate the air, or contribute to global warming.

2) Cycling is good exercise!!

3) Bicycles do not require much space. Six bicycles can run on a road with a width sufficient for just one car, and twenty bicycles can be parked in a single car parking space.

4) Bicycles are cost-effective. The price of a bicycle is one hundredth of the price of a car, or even less when purchased used. Bicycles do not need gasoline, and they are tax-free.

5) Bicycles are affordable. Compared with cars, bicycles are far more affordable for the billions of poorer people in the world.

6) Bicycles are resource-effective. A bicycle, which weighs only about 30lbs, does not use much in the way of raw materials.

7) Both grown-ups and children can ride bicycles.

8) Bicycles foster more social interactions than does the isolation of driving in a completely enclosed car.

9) Traveling by bicycle allows for greater awareness of other environmentally-friendly concepts.

Do you use bicycles as a frequent mode of transportation? Why not? Could you?

I came across a fantastic initiative that donates used bicycles to heathcare workers in developing countries: Municipal Coordinating Committee for Overseas Bicycle Assistance (MCCOBA). Recycled bicycles are dismantled, shipped, and then reassembled for donation. Imagine living in a place where a bicycle was considered more valuable than a car.

As the most energy-efficient form of travel thus far invented, bicycles are a perfect example of sustainability on a personal level...and you don't have to spend $500 (or even $1,350 on a bamboo bike). Going green shouldn't refer to the amount you spend on "saving the earth," though it so often seems to be the case. Are the terms "eco-friendly" and '"sustainability" already class-based? Do they exclude certain populations?

Are you a more conscientious person for buying the latest hybrid car? Or did you realize that your carbon footprint would be smaller over your lifetime by simply hanging on to the old one?

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We finished Service Project #1 - The Tokyo "Sumiyoshi" Neighborhood Garden

Part 1:

Our first project is completed. Today we planted a Japanese sized (read: small) planter bed garden in front of Come On Up shared house in the Sumiyoshi neighborhood of Tokyo. This involved selecting, buying, and carrying everything needed to grow our small plot on foot. We got soil, fertilizer, and plants from a market 10 blocks away. We pulled the loose grasses and roots and used them as a base fluff for building up space at the bottom of the pots for drainage and mulch. We mixed new soils and mulch with old, and planted our garden. Then we commandeered two flower pots that were left aside on the roof and planted extra cabbages in these. We used perennial plants which we had noticed in the neighborhood, purple flowers, a tiny white flowering shrub with blossoms scented with a spicy almost cinnamon aroma, and red and white ornamental cabbages. None of these plants will live long enough to offset a carbon footprint from the non-stop JAL flight from New York to Tokyo. However, you never can succeed if at first you don't begin somewhere. So, try, try again! The final step to our project was sweeping the street of all trash and spilled soil with an appropriately stooped small broom and dustpan. Japan is such a tidy and clean place we could have just as easily lost all the good will of our enterprising community service project by leaving a mess behind.

We are beginning a learning curve in terms of documenting our projects properly. We only have the 'after' to our 'before and after' images, therefore losing the power of transformation. Small project; but, with lots of lessons learned for the next one.

Part 2:

It could easily be said that another way we are always in service is our cultural ambassadorship for the United States, New Orleans, and our folks back home. As a chef from New Orleans, my whole adult life has benefited from being able to cook Creole, Cajun, Country French, Tex-Mex, BBQ, and, best of all, New Orleans food for people all over the world. Today at Tsukiji Fish Market we had a grand time admiring the fish, seafood, and crustacean of the freshest varieties from around the world. There was a beautiful grouper that I thought would make a fine cooked gift for our hosts New Year's party; but we settled on a kilo of oysters and some beautiful very large clams, (thinking the shells would make a nice addition to our tiny streetscape).

What else would make the perfect authentic New Orleans offering to a New Year's  party when you are trained in creole cuisine than our own holiday favorite, oyster artichoke soup? We bought our oysters and set off to the adjacent markets to find artichokes. Using our Point It book, we visited all the vegetable stalls we could locate and finally came to the conclusion that artichokes are rare in Japan in general and out of season, (or, out of stock?), during December. We found the rest of our ingredients at the Life supermarket in Sumiyoshi, but artichokes still unavailable, I am inventing a new oyster stew on the fly. The clams are steaming to be breaded and stuffed with an oily mayonnaise and pork fat base...

In the midst of our planning the greening of our small corner of the Sumiyoshi neighborhood in Tokyo, we started planning ahead to the subcontinent of India. Our friend Sara's family is from there and she offered to let us camp on her ancestral lands. We were looking on a Lonely Planet map for Amendnagar (where my great-great-great grandfather began the Maharashti Missions almost 200 years ago. Since we fly to Delhi, I looked for where these roads would meet and found a calling to go volunteer at Sevagram where Ghandi started his ashram dedicated to universal service in 1936. Here are the eleven vows that visitors are asked to live by there.

The Eleven vows of Ashram life at Sevagram

1. Truth (Satya)
2. Non-violence (Ahimsa)
3. Chastity (Brahmacharya)
4. Non-possession
5. Non-stealing
6. Bread labor
7. Control of palate
8. Fearlessness
9. Equality of all religions
10. Swadesi (the law of the neighborhood)
11. Removal of untouchability

When I visited Mumbai in 2007, I learned that my ancestors mission had brought a challenge to the courts that would remove the laws of untouchability whereby their religion, Christianity, would allow them to break bread and drink from the same vessel as the people they served. They also started women's colleges, medical teaching universities, and print press in Marathi.

The more we internalize and practice our collective benefits from service the better off we are.

When our family took Summer camping trips in my childhood my mother always had us search the woods around our site and pick up garbage, 'Always leave the campsite cleaner than you found it,' she says. This may be a mantra for our service. The first service project complete, we are off to Shanghai and seven weeks in China.

Do you know that Japan consumes most of the Tuna in the world year in and year out?

Want to see more pictures?

We have photos of Tuna auction, a tiny new green space, as well as many other travel photos at:

http://honeyserviceyear.shutterfly.com

(password is "travel")

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Backpacker Fashion

Let's face it, a backpacker lifestyle isn't exactly a fashionable one.

Two pair of pants, some long underwear (thanks mom..I wear them daily!!), two long-sleeve shirts, two t-shirts, two lightweight dresses, one pair of sneakers, flip flops, two cotton skirts, one pair of "fancy" flats, one hoodie sweatshirt, a pashmina scarf, and a long overcoat. Add this paltry wardrobe to 42 degree windy weather and and day after day of walking long miles through an enormous city, and you find yourself a less-than-fashionable backpacker.

For those of you who know me, you are aware that although far from a fashion queen, I like clothes. I like dresses and lofty heels and flouncy skirts and big jewelry. I like dressing up and wearing impractical things.

But I also love backpacking through far-flung lands.

And it's good for me. And it would be good for YOU! Think that you can't live without your multitude of different colored shirts? Or the skirt that has to be ironed before wearing? Or those flashy stilettos that you can't wear on grass or dirt? Or even without wearing a different outfit each day? Hit the road and carry it all on your back. Suddenly you realize that your camera, toothbrush, fast-dry undies, imodium, sunglasses, and paperback books trump the things that make you look good.

Don't get me wrong....a little part of me turns lime-green with envy when I see the tokyo divas in their patterned tights and fur stoles and gorgeous boots. And N was amazingly tolerant last night when I just couldn't resist a quick ogle at the window displays in Shibuya last night.

But I'm a backpacker and I'm on a journey to see the world. Not exactly a bum deal, is it?

Wear something a little sassy today...just for me.

xoxo

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Traveling Green - Hard to stay on Mission with 'greening' our diets

We gave ourselves a few constraints to green our journey around the world. We are using only public transit wherever possible; except for our transoceanic flights we are sticking to rail and bus; we are planting to offset our carbons (our first project will be rebuilding a house planter with perennials and vines outside our 'home away from home here in Sumiyoshi). We also are planning to eat at least three days 'at home,' using non processed foods. This is difficult. Not only will we not always have a kitchen; but, as we have already found in Japan while shopping at our neighborhood markets, even the obvious changes when you are not familiar with language, character letters, or even what we think of as obvious (the bread section, the fruits and vegetables, the seafood etc).

By example of how sometimes normal foods can be turned on their heads, this morning I saw a sandwich filled with soba noodles and seaweed. Language is always a barrier (one that we have overcome before), but not knowing cultural morays can add the extra burden. We have persisted. Our only meal 'out' so far this week was a lovely Japanese version of egg foo yung which we had at a small neighborhood restaurant. Fresh ingredients, mushrooms, cabbages, egg mixture, tofu and very small flavorings of meat were presented tableside and our lovely host prepared them on the grill, set into the table. So we cooked and ate and it was local, unprocessed food at a tiny local family run community restaurant; but, we are not counting it as one of our three days of home cooking.

This idea comes from a lot of sources we have been studying lately. Have you seen the movie "Food Inc"? Or do you know that 'organic farming is not a mom and pop business but takes place at the same scale and usually right next to and with many of the same multi-national corporate giant practices as regular produce only substituting organic fertilizers and natural pesticides and pest eating insects for unnatural ones, but often at a cost of a higher carbon foot print? Too bad that the last time we tried to travel with Peanut Butter the TSA saw to it to take it away as it falls in some category of potentially explosive pastes!! Otherwise we would have carried a 1.5 kilo jar with us because - you know what - Peanut Butter, as it turns out, is a tool to save the planet!! Mom was right way back when. Unfortuantely, besides the Aussies and their Vegemite, paste sandwiches are not catching on in the rest of the world. (My sister Stella and her husband Peter, who have taken on a lovely duty of managing our Hotel Oso Perezoso in Colombia this year, practically buy out Carrefour when PB goes on sale in Santa Marta!!).

Other 'green' ideas we are reinforcing for ourselves in Japan are heat-on-demad water heaters (which we used already in South America), the human energy harnessing of community gardens, and bicycles as a primary source of daily transportation. we would also love to take home in our backpacks an eco version of the Japanese toilet - warm water bidet, flushing sound camouflage, apricot scented air freshner, and a warmed seat.

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Photos

A few photos from Japan....


You can see the rest of our travel photos by visiting our Photo Travel Site (password is "travel").

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"After you travel around the world, Uncle Tetan, the only place left will be the BLAST OFF to outer space!"

My seven year old nephew Johnathan has the flu. And he is really worried about H1N1. I called him before we left New York for Tokyo to tell him about our trip; but, his focus was a miserable fever. "I went t the doctor's office and there were lots of sick people coughing, and I did not want to get H1N1," he told me. "I am so scared. I just want to blast off into outer space."

Seven year old Johnathan thinks a lot about going to outerspace, just like his dad Noah, my brother. Johnathan reminded me of a conversation I had with Noah when he was still in college, "I'll bet," he said tome, "that I can visit space in my lifetime."

Noah and Johnathan think about science a lot. Johnathan's Mother Sharyl is a stroke scientist and researcher. Dinner table conversation can flip between the icky, the scary, the far out, and the sublime.

I got my nephew back down to earth by offering him the most tantalizing elements of our flight to Asia. First, that we were flying around the world and that our first stops were going to be Japan and China. "Oh my god," Johnathan exclaimed, "You are going to Japan and China and you are traveling around the world," long pause while he gathered himself, "After you travel around the world, Uncle Tetan, the only place left will be the BLAST OFF to outer space!" Promptly he had returned us to the pressing subject at hand. So, I offered Johnathan another tantalizing tidbit of travel temptation, "And guess what else Johnathan," I asked, "when you fly to Japan you get to fly over the Arctic."

"Oh my GOD!!" Johnathan gasped, You are going to fly over the North Pole!"

'Thank goodness for National Geographic Young Explorer,' I thought. And thanks to Christmas stories of Santa Claus, Rudolph, Frosty and the gang - I had his full attention.

One of the best attributes of travel is we separate from the day-to-day, the hamster wheel, the mundane. We gain perspective on what is important to us; and, when we find a special place, we remark to ourselves who would love it,why,and we bring our loved ones and their memory with us. My other niece and nephew, Abigail and Isaiah, both under two, will not miss that their uncle has absconded with their brand new Aunt Brittany for lands and peoples across the planet. Johnathan, however, can place us on his globe.

When I was a child all my grandparents, aunts and uncles, had lived and traveled abroad. My parents met in Germany. My mother's father courted my grandmother on a long trans-atlantic passage (she could not escape). When my father's parents returned from Africa and points beyond, they always brought some cool gifts representing the cultures they'd visited. Travel is infectious. Meeting new friends, exploring new places, and bringing our loved one's memories along with us all make the world smaller, more reachable, easier to unscramble, and more sympathetic. Brittany and I hope our time away can plant seeds for future generations to want to see the world in new and innovative ways. While we are so excited for our trip - Johnathan's plan to escape H1N1 by blasting off to outer space reminded us how the farthest places to reach are often reachable.

Footnote for Johnathan - Planes are SO COOL these days. On our plane across the top of the world, traveling more than 6000 miles from New York City to Tokyo, Japan there is a camera underneath the nose of the cockpit beneath the front of the plane. It is called a 'bird's-eye view' camera. It never fogs, even when the temperature outside was 80 degrees BELOW ZERO!! This camera is really cool. It takes a video of everything you are flying over. Because it wass winter, a lot of thee time it was just cloud tops. But, guess what?!! When we flew over the Arctic Ocean it was clear for hours and we could see the whole frozen ocean and the massive ice flows of winter with all the big cracks in them 40,000 feet below our plane. Of course, when you are flying that high you can't make out any polar bears, arctic fox, caribou, or musk ox, but it was fun for us. We really wish you had been there with us!! Lots of love to our nephews and niece from people who have flown across the top of the WORLD!!

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Tokyo is building 'Super' Levees

When Katrina sent a 35 foot (11 meter) wall of water over Waveland on the Mississippi Gulf Coast levees surrounding New Orleans were overtopped and collapsed.

Tokyo, where we are now visiting, has its history of floods. Mumbai, [where we will visit Hume Churches and Maharashti Missions in March 2010, (missions begun by my great great grandfather)], also has had many floods. Tokyo, Mumbai, and New Orleans are all cities built on alluvial plains created by river deltas. Many coastal port cities have historically been developed at or below sea level across the globe. What was it then, after the flooding caused by hurricane Katrina that caused so many in the US to suggest that New Orleans should not be rebuilt because of its propensity for flooding? What do you think?

Sacramento, California, Lower Manhattan, the National Mall in Washington DC are but a few examples of cities in the US on the edge of enormous flooding disasters. But as we begin to contemplate the rise of seas globally, what will happen to port cities? How do we prepare?

Unlike New Orleans, Tokyo had begun to rethink its development in terms of flooding and put in place long term comprehensive flood plans before catastrophic flood disasters occurred in the modern climate change era. Tokyo is building 'Super Levees.' "Japanese cities are quite susceptible to floods. Most populations and property, and therefore most damage, concentrate on alluvial plains." Japan is the disaster capital of the world. Flooding, Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Typhoon, Volcanoes, and Terrorism are all part of the disaster mitigation planning going on here. In Tokyo, neighborhood maps include safety zones where people are protected from most forms of disaster (human is the most unpredictable). What is it in Japan that makes good city planning so doable? While the disasters are surely motivation enough, what we keep discovering is that the answers run deeper to the fundamental organizational qualities of the Japanese.

The other morning we had an earthquake here in Tokyo. No body was too shook up about it. Then today at Imperial Palace, some of the most delicate displays had wire strings holding them in place. For what? Earthquakes no doubt. In Japan, even the Emperor is planning for disaster.

Want to learn more about how effective levee protections are planned and built?

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Blogging while traveling is rather difficult.

There is so much to write about, so little down time, and the motivation for sitting in front of a computer is fully trumped by our desire to explore and experience and engage.

so....here are some brief snapshots:

It is nearly 5am right now in Tokyo. I am still curled up in a fantastic sleeping bag that my mother got for us (two matching ones zip together for super cozy nights), atop a futon in a traditional Japanese room. The floor is covered with bamboo matting and sliding paper screens cover the windows. We have been fortunate to stay with a Miss Porter's alumni that lives in Tokyo; she graduated two years before I did. She has spent the last several years creating a successful model for shared housing in Tokyo: Come on Up. Yasuko was generous enough to offer us a room in a recently opened "Come on Up" house, right off of the Sumiyoshi subway line.

Nathan is still sleeping; he is determined to stay "asleep" until at least 6am. Though we were both hyper-anxious about the time change and jet lag, the process has been incredibly smooth. We slept very little on the 17 hour flight to Tokyo (N didn't sleep at all), and I demanded that N's watch be set to Tokyo time as soon as we boarded the plane. The first night in Japan we slept almost through the night, then pushed hard the whole next day, remaining outside and walking and walking and walking. I am awake at this early hour simply because after a delicious miso soup dinner on a cold night, I curled up in my sleeping bag to read my book....you know how the story ends. You blog when you can.

Yesterday morning was spent at the Chinese embassy submitting our visa applications. Although our original plan was to secure our visas while in Washington DC last week, we realized that nearly all embassies are based on districts, and as residents of the Gulf South, we were required to go to Houston for our visas. Wham, Bam, no thank you Ma'am. We opted to try out the embassy in Japan instead. Although very chaotic, we achieved success and go to pick up our visas on Monday.

A great deal of our time in Tokyo has been spent wandering: studying the map and the compass (yes, I bought a compass for this trip) and meandering through the densely compact city. We also have been using the very convenient subway system, and are enjoying the cultural and sociological insights we gain through observation of public transportation. We are amazed by the kindness, honesty, and helpfulness of the Japanese culture. Each time we find ourselves stumbling, a kind stranger magically materializes and extends a helping hand.

I have some awesome photos to share, but can't seem to find the camera cord, even with the help of my trusty headlamp. They will be added later.

xooxoxo
b

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Konichiwa y’all!

Oh. My. WE ARE HERE! We have landed and the international part of our journey has begun!! Yesterday afternoon (2am EST) we landed in Tokyo, Japan at Narita Airport.

Oh, and by the way, I HEART JAL. Our seventeen hour flight was honestly the most relaxing day that I have had in months. I was warm under a downy blanket, my seat turned into a bed, I had a personal 14: television screen on which I could watch movies, play games, learn languages (keko is “cat” in Japanese), and listen to music. I drank gallons of water (while Nathan indulged in good scotch and sake), and we both really enjoyed the fantastic western/Japanese food menu from which we could (and did) order at any time. Let me note that although we purchased standard economy class tickets, we finagled an upgrade to business class with smiles and charm and telling them that we were on our honeymoon (also, they ran out of economy seats while we were at the ticket counter). The price of this one fantastic, business-class JAL flight was nearly comparable to our entire round-the-world ticket.

Both leading up to, and during the flight, N and I strategized about our jet-lag plan. I followed the lead of the airline: after take off, they served a big meal, then closed all of the windows, passed out ear plugs and eye masks, and everyone passed out….including me. I woke up 2 hours later, groggy and discombobulated, and proceeded to watch three movies consecutively (we both loved Julie & Julia). N stayed up THE WHOLE TIME. We were going for the time change….cold turkey.
After the simple customs process at the airport, we were swept into the Japanese public transportation system. Of course, there were one or two hiccups and few heated moments, but what can you expect after a 17 hour flight, a time change of 14 hours, and arrival to a country where we don't know the language? Amazingly enough, it only took us about 1.5 hours (the airport is about 30 miles outside of Tokyo) to reach our hotel: the fabulous Hotel ParkLane, in the Nishikasai neighborhood. We dumped our bags, had a quick glass of sake, and went exploring.

We wandered for over an hour, ogling the variety of drinks, vices, and objects that are sold from street vending machines, noting the popular karoke bars that we plan to return to, watching the bustle and flow of the neighborhood, and admiring the compact spacial living here in Tokyo. About the time that the ground started feeling bouncy and I was convincing myself that I was fluent in Japanese, we accepted our exhaustion and went back to the hotel for a hot shower, ambien, and blissfully cozy sleep.

Our hotel room is intensely compact; we are quickly assimilating to lavish livin’ in 150 square feet. I am already obsessed with the planning and design of these small and completely functional living spaces. So many take-aways for our compact hotel in Taganga, and for future projects!

The task list for today includes starting the China visa process, contacting a MPS alum in Tokyo, exploring, eating, and finding internet to upload this blog. Oh, and wishing my darling sister Piper a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

oxox
brittany

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We Love Food: Week One

During the course of our journey, Nathan and I will be trying to prepare at least three days of food at home. Assuming that while traveling we will eat only two meals a day (with plenty of snacks in between), this equals six meals each week. In our goal of six meals a week, we will also be including meals that are cooked/prepared by someone else in their home.

1. Saturday: Before we left New Orleans, we put together lunch-to-go, using up the contents of our mini-fridge. Nathan made an amazing salad using my mom's zucchini relish, a little creole mustard, mayo, celery, and lots of delicious leftover turkey from a family holiday dinner at my aunt Tamar's house. And we had Tamar's incredible cashew stuffing and cranberry sauce on the side. You know that the people on the plane were jealous!!

2. Saturday: Delicious homemade chili...thanks Sara and Monica for the amazing treat! The cornbread muffins and cornbread croutons were the perfect side.

3. Monday: While in downtown DC we stopped by CVS for some food. We were fairly unsuccessful, but left with 2 packs of ramen noodles (these were turned into a cozy soup by running hot water through the coffee maker in the hotel room) and tortilla chips and salsa. Combined with a ton of leftover fruit from breakfast, this was a barely satisfactory meal, but the price ($6) was pretty great.

4. Wednesday: We had delicious granola and fresh fruit at Sara and Monica's house.

5. Thursday: After realizing that CVS was a bust in the food department, we went to Whole Foods the next day. We made sandwiches with baked chicken and greens from the salad bar, a partial block of cheddar, a few panini's, and leftover salsa with a hefty dose of tabasco. I grilled the sandwiches using the hotel room iron. We had fruit salad on the side.


6. Friday: Another amazing homecooked meal at Sara and Monica's: yellow curry chicken with papadums (fun and exciting food!!!). Thanks for keeping us fed and happy this week! We always love spending time with you.

***Please note that we occasionally whetted our voracious appetites with small bites of DELECTABLE and almost-available-for-online-purchasing...CHEEKY COOKIES!

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We Love Food!!!

incredible bento artist Reiko

During the course of our journey, Nathan and I will be trying to prepare at least three days of food at home. Assuming that while traveling we will eat only two meals a day (with plenty of snacks in between), this equals six meals each week. In our goal of six meals a week, we will also be including meals that are cooked/prepared by someone else in their home.

Why?

Here are some other reasons:
- We love food.
- Cooking/preparing your own food gives you a better awareness of exactly what is nourishing your body.
- We like a good challenge.
- Traveling the world didn't sound like quite enough excitement.
- Nathan is a fantastic chef.
- Brittany loves raw veggies and fruits.
- Although not always the case, home-prepared food is cheaper.
- Preparing food ourselves will increase our level of food consciousness.
- Home-prepared food is oftentimes better for you.
- More reasons to interact with the local culture and people.
- We love markets and experiencing new foods.
-We love cooking and eating with other people!

It's amazing that so many people are hungry in this world, when you stop to think about how food is better enjoyed and appreciated and savored when shared with others. Spend a few minutes of your time at Free Rice, increasing your vocabulary and donating rice to the UN World Food Program. It is totally addictive.

What are your favorite easy-make meals? What if we don't have a way to cook or to refrigerate? Stay tuned for the next blog installment: easy grilled sandwiches in a hotel room.

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DC Photos

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Journey Awards

I came across the Journey Awards online and thought the theme and content to be rather relevant! Sixteen short films each give an visual and audio interpretation to identical text about life as a journey.

Which will you vote for?

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Gaylord and Saints

Well, here we are at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center outside of DC, watching Anthony Bourdain on the Food Network. After the slightly stale bagels at the continental breakfast, the camel carcass is looking surprisingly good.

Yesterday we had a fantastic time with our good friends Sara and Monica: a lazy morning was followed by watching the HIGH DRAMA saints vs. redskins game at Nellie's, the local sports bar.

walking to Nellie's

Many thanks to Sara and Monica for the fabulous CHICKEN PURSE! Be sure to check it out at all future Jazz Fest's.....it will certainly be a staple.

What a game!!! 12 -0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GEAUX SAINTS!!

New Orleans truly deserved this and EVERY win...we are proud of our Saints!

Several bloody mary's and beers later, we scurried home through the freezing cold to eat delicious neighborhood pizza, model flourescent colored wigs, and enjoy their warm and cozy home.

Right now we are focused on two projects: using the Miss Porter's network (where I went to high school) to locate contacts in east asia and in africa, and getting travel visas for China, India, and Ghana. The former is going swimmingly, the latter is more challenging than expected.

It appears as though we may be securing the majority of our visas while we are in Tokyo, which will unfortunately dramatically cut into the eight days we have there. Our pre-departure New Orleans projects certainly consumed the majority of our time leading up to this adventure; we are now already paying the price. However, I'm sure that no one reading this blog is surprised...we are oftentimes flying by the seat of our pants. It usually seems to work well for us, but certainly increases MY stress level.

more updates later..

oxoox
brittany

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Full Steam Ahead!!!

like old ships a-port having their guts cleaned, all the busy work of being on dry dock, we scurried like wharf rats, seahags, quaker captains, and families who have been long away from one another - as we put our house in order - but today we are off!! Tokyo in 12 days, Shanghai for Christmas!!

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"Point It"

Have you seen these travel books?

My godmother Alison and her husband Matt gave us a "Point It" book for our wedding...it is completely fantastic. Each of the 63 pages is filled with small and collaged images that span a huge range of potential travel needs. It is basically an image dictionary.

Who needs the spoken language when pointing will do the trick?

There are pages for colors, for transportation, parts of the cow (!!), electronics and technology (including a cassette and vhs tape), a few pages for animals, and lots and lots of food. perfect.

"I'll have one of these, and two of these, and a bar of soap on the side please!"

Honestly, I cringe at the thought of having to express myself through pointing; traveling through countries and cultures without as illiterates will be a new and humbling and dramatic experience.

After a total of more than 9 months (not consecutive) in the country of Colombia, I have grown accustomed to the blissful state of "literate enough." Although far from fluent, I can limp through some semblance of the beautiful language; I can get by. I can get my greedy little hands on the right kind of crispy burned cookie at the corner store and not be overcharged. I can find epsom salts in the open-air market, although the directions from the third pharmacy instruct me to "walk down this block and look for the guy who sells herbs." This journey will take us far from the cultures and people we know....I am anticipating the learning and growth and discovery that travel brings.

Thanks for the awesome gift Matt and Alison!

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looking for a symbol for our journey - at this point we need to be fierce dragon gods that can brutally thrash some of the work we have to get through

At this point we need to be fierce dragon gods that can brutally thrash some of the work we have to get through what it takes to leave home. This can be metaphorical or more. For me, the metaphor works. This really cool sculpture from the Yale in China collections reminds me of how I have always seen China in my past, fierce, mighty, traditional, ethnic, mystical, whimsical, folkloric, and familiar... we will visit the Teaching Hospital in Changsha where my Grandmother was born and where her parents taught and lived for much of their lives.

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getting ready to set sail Saturday..

in the 19th Century my family really did set sail. As we take an 'airliner' not a steamliner this Saturday we will be meeting friends and family on the East Coast and having these 19th Century type of family send offs. Also, like my relatives who left New England and the Mid-Atlantic almost 200 years ago we want to do service in our journey. we will not be traveling under the auspices of a University or Church but under our own steam, encountering people as they are, as we are, but meeting them in areas of the world that are affected by disaster - we believe we can create an exchange on resiliency and come back with new gifts for our home in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast as we all work together to understand and learn from each other in the 21st Century and build a better world for future generations. Maybe your family has crossed on similar paths? Maybe your own journey left you wanting to give back more? Maybe you know people who are in service around the world? Reach out to us, send us your blog, links, stories - THANKS!!

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Tokyo anyone??

The only hitch so far is that to start our trip we will no longer begin four blocks from the White House circulating among histories, anthropologies, embassies, and artistries from around the planet but huddles in a diferent kind of american mecca - Gaylord National Resort and Spa on the National Harbor in Maryland across from Alexandria by ferry... weird. sounds like fun?? maybe. It is basically a hug atrium MALL in a master planned, new construction condo community connected to NOTHIING!! So, we huddle and wait. It is the opposite of what I will be teaching so should make for an interesting model "Community Engagement: Increasing your Community Voice, Power, and Knowledge of Decision-Making." This place is a residence which nobody chose, is not organic, has no 'base' other than what an owner/developer, planner/architect, and government thought up!

But, as a mecca for conventioneering and new development it should be an interesting jumping off point for finding my own family history and beginning the journey as a new family with my very understanding and accommodating wife (who I had promised the Mayflower Hotel of Farragut Sq~!).

My U.S. ancestors who came over from Europe - well some began in New Sweden, while others began in Maryland. My grandmother's family who were Baptists, came from Maryland - and my mother and her siblings still manage 'ground rents' in many older parts of town that have been leased to 'owner tenants' for 100 years. Nice long income stream of nineteenth century rents... I learned more about this years back when I was at another NeighborWorks conferences with people from Baltimore who were more familiar with the history of these 'rents' than anyone in our family ever was...

While we are in the DC area our undefeated New Orleans Saints are playing the Redskins, (plenty of Irony in that one that could be blogged about forever). I sent the shout outs for wintry bleacher tickets; but, as yet, our 'miracle' tickets have not come through....

After Mary-Land, we will do a two day family tour of New Sweden and her capital Philadelphia. The clans Freeman/Ogilby/Shroyer/Clothier/Barnwell will all have drinks and supper at Uncle David and Aunt Ellen Freeman's home in New Town Square, PA. This will be a delight my aunt is not only a very accomplished chef, (her husband David the ultimate host!), but they have lived in the mainline area all of my life and travel internationally extensively - so we will plumb them for family history, travel tidbits, and delicious local flavor.

Brittany's Uncle David and Aunt Katrina Ogilby will be joining us Saturday evening for cocktails. It will be a real pleasure to introduce and meet so many members of each others' family in one fell swoop. We are hoping many cousins on both sides will join us. When they do we will update our blog with their news and ideas!!

Tokyo anyone??? From Philly we go to NYC, then Tokyo. When I was younger I visited Tok, Alaska where they had been fighting million acre fires. When the army got there they felt they were getting close... It could not feel very much further away as we prepare to leave NOLA. Luckily, we keep serendipitously running into people with knowledge, ideas, contacts, and memories to share. Just yesterday, I heard from an old friend Kevin Jones who gave me the best 30-second to-do list for Tokyo I could have imagined...

Anywhere on our journey, we would love to meet you, meet your friends, your family, or encounter past histories and adventures. We will be there 8 short days before we fly to Shanghai for XMAS and begin a journey through China. Hoping to hear/see you soon!

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In just over a month....

Sitting here in the verdant yard in New Orleans, it seems hard to believe that our Honey Service Year will begin in just over a month! It's amazing that with every item we cross off of our punch list, 3 more are simultaneously added.

Now that the itinerary is finalized, we can start to truly plan our activities, accommodations, and events! As a lover of all things holiday (minus the commercialism), I am certainly looking forward to international holidays and events. Growing up, my family took several trips (almost always to tropical destinations) for Christmas: the Dominican Republic, Belize, and Puerto Rico. Don't judge...my grandfather was a sailor and loved getting the family together. We were always happy to oblige in his whims....

Last year, our christmas was spent with great friends at the Hotel Oso Perezoso, in Taganga. Perhaps it would be the perfect location for YOU and YOUR family this year?! Nathan's sister and her family are currently managing the hotel and would be happy to set you up with a private room and bath, with a ocean view for a mere $12 a night, breakfast included. Do I need to twist your arm further?! :) Oso (bear) + Perezoso (lazy) + Hotel (with hammocks and parrots and cold beers) = your perfect vacation!

Ok, back to focusing on OUR plans for a less-than-tropical Christmas.

After a week in Tokyo, we will fly to Shanghai and then make our way overland to Hong Kong. Christmas in Shanghai!! Although the chilly december weather will undoubtedly throw us for a loop, the "water villages" around Shanghai are especially intriguing...and to folks from New Orleans, will probably feel vaguely familiar! I am really looking forward to a day trip to Tongli or Zhujiajiao, which sounds vastly more appealing than the (perhaps more elegant and restored) Zhouzhuang.


Plus, Tongli just happens to also boast a Sex Culture Museum. Facinating.

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Tickets!!

Tickets are purchased!!

New York to Tokyo: December 15th, 2009
Tokyo to Shanghai: December 23rd, 2009
overland from Shanghai to Hong Kong
Hong Kong to Bangkok: February 3rd, 2010
Bangkok to Calcutta: February 20th, 2010
Calcutta to Delhi: February 24th, 2010
overland from Delhi to Mumbai
Mumbai to Addis Ababa: March 25th, 2010
Addis Ababa to Accra: April 21st, 2010
Accra to Cairo: May 13th, 2010
overland (eurorail, etc) from Cairo to Dublin, by way of Turkey, France, Spain, and north Africa
Dublin to New York: September 2nd, 2010

We would truly appreciate any contacts or suggestions you may have for these countries or areas. Also, please figure out where YOU'D like to meet us along the way!

love,
brittany

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Calling all family members!!! - (Hume Family) ***Mumbai 2011 - 2013

Mumbai 2011 - 2013 is depending on how you look at it, coming to a 200th birthday of the Hume Missions in Mumbai (lots of locals and others still know it as Bombay). We will be 'in service' in Mumbai planning for more family and friends to help the Hume Missions reconnect, reinvigorate, and build another two centuries and more of helpful, meaningful, inclusive and equitable justices and collaboration between all peoples. I was priveledged immensely to vist these diverse missions in 2007 and was swept up in the vivacity, complexity, and humanity that is Bombay! We want to use our blog, our service, and our connecting of cultures to encourage you to follow us virtually and to join us for a return in 2013 to support this big anniversary.

Other areas where we plan to meet on a mission of service and exchange include, Tokyo and Kobe Japan, Changsha and earthquake affected regions of China, Indonesia, North and West Africa (yet undetermined) and France. Would you please begin to think of our travels in contacts, dreams, ideas, or work relationships; and, when you have down-time send us any thoughts you have.

We are following the paths and footsteps of others before us as we venture out to the world as a new couple in a new partnership for new beginnings abroad. Thank you for all you are doing in keeping us in your hearts as we walk off jetways into these new encounters.

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Planning the itinerary

It is very challenging to purchase tickets that include airports AND dates for 10 months from now. We haven't actually purchased tickets yet....but this is what our itinerary will probably look like:

nyc to toyko to shanghai to hongkong to bangkok to calcutta to bombay to delhi to addis ababa to accra to cairo....and railing from there up through turkey and europe to dublin and home.

Do you have recommendations or ideas or contacts or suggestions? Now is a great time to pass them our way. We are seeking volunteer and service service opportunities, as well as a chance to meet up with friends and family abroad. And we would happily welcome any "fun" or "honeymoon" related suggestions as well! :)

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One month married!

Many thanks to all the fantastic and amazing folks who contributed to our wedding. It was the best. day. ever. honestly.


Now we are in the throes of organizing our lives here in New Orleans and Mississippi, planning our big honeymoon, oh....and enjoying married life a bit too. :)

Our biggest project right now is purchasing our around-the-world flight tickets. Airtreks seems to have the more comprehensive packages, but it is SO difficult to pick destinations and dates! Our current plan is to leave New Orleans during the first week of December, spend a week or so in Washington DC, and then head around the world from there.

check back soon to follow our progress.......

xoxoxo
brittany

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Welcome to our world...can't wait to see yours!

In November, 2009, we embark on a service tour of the world. We will combine our honeymoon with a year of service, lending our skills, enthusiasm, talents, and passions to the places and people we visit.

Our current world tour includes China (specifically Changsha), India, Africa, and a brief stay in Europe. We look forward to experiencing new ideas and cultures, and connecting with family, and both old and new friends.

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

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