Blog Reentry - Lessons from Abroad Practiced at Home

At this point in our returning, there is no doubt that we already incorporate new behaviors - now in our reentry - learned abroad.

We have new characteristics which we gained abroad last year. These are parts of ourselves reinforced or conditioned to draw out our urgency to do work on our own home continents - Las Americas.

We are still drawn to the connections which our experiences strike chords of in conversation.

This unfortunately already dims as the foreign gets blended with the shocks and learning curves in our own culture.

It is good to be home.

Some of what we were introduced to in our travels has new manifestations at home. For example, couchsurfing and blogsherpa. Both of these, a website and a blog, opened doors for us as we made acquaintance and broadened networks.

Our own websites for our honey service year @ shutterfly and blogspot dot com have worked for sharing photos and composition across the globe. There is facebook. There are others we will join; and, we aim to do more with utilizing the abstract engagement of social networks and other shared interests.

So, what next? How do we continue to draw out lessons taken from abroad to practice at home?

We are searching for the themes taken from outside our normative parameters of society which we can account for and be intentional about continuing. Whether this means new projects, shared ideas, or a slow filtration from our blogging into cyberspace, we are being met with impossible limits. It is in these new limits which we aim to plunge into.

Our story is a collaborative effort at writing about what pleases us, how we are learning, and what works.

Stay tuned.

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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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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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