There were so many blogs we meant to write; so many planned and partly executed; so many blogs we wanted to write about our new adventures in Las Americas. From the joys of arriving home and the reemergence of our business lives, to family, to new places we have never been. A blog is something that works as a semi-permanent placeholder; but this doesn’t work for us.

When we were in China we blogged like Julie in Julie and Julia, daily; and, we did it in spite of the great firewall of China. But, this is lost in intention. Here the blogs are not prepared. We have not been as determined to write behind the curtain and during the actual scene. Blogs put off are never as good. But, thankfully, they are demanding. They demand that they be published. This, of course, deserves the effort. They demand photo companions. We must deliver. Then, they demand you the reader to trace us at least this far again. So, we are writing about the rainforest and rivers and reencounters.

Read more...

China to New Orleans: mental health treatment issues that thwart democracy

One thing I have trouble doing is separating what I know about people and what I feel about them. I can understand whole peoples and how societies behave without being able to separate what I feel I understand from what I do not.

So, I read about different peoples. I keep up on news.

I read about China a lot. I do not know the makings, the inner workings, or the decision making process of how things get done in China. I would never propose I do. But, I am interested.

I do know that what I read about Chinese treatment of marginalized populations, of the mass poor, the least educated, of handicapped and mentally ill; it sounds deplorable. I am no expert on jails nor mental illness: Yet there must be some kernel of truth to these awful reports.

So, this blog is a conglomeration of articles I have compiled. It is a strange confluence of events.

Ultimately, what I have been discovering also is that where I live, New Orleans, and other U.S. cities have similar treatment of marginalized populations (especially mentally ill) as in China.
We have similar models of therapy. Therapy through incarceration means 'cleaning our streets' of today's mentally ill. These are the emerging trends of mental health diagnosis and treatment in our western world and in the east. (Are these trends offshoots of the privatization of prisons?) Hopefully, these are outlier trends which are justly in need of being challenged here in the USA. But, only the fact that these trends of incarceration as therapy exist is putrid evil to me.

Similarities with political repression and mental illness designations between China and New Orleans are scary!

We live surrounded by an epidemic of diagnosis and an utter dearth of treatment. And, we pass this tragedy off to our incarcerating powers when our lack of resource and will allows these our poorest and least confident amongst us to fall out from society.

How far are we really from diagnosing difference and political independence as 'evils?'

I see the same deplorable actions by local governments in my own community back home in the USA. In New Orleans, we already incarcerate insanity into jails. The mentally ill have a cell and very limited resources. Families are not encouraged to be committed and involved in finding a long-term cure for ill family members. Medications are inefficient and restricted due to costs.

A link to Nola.com about controversy around rebuilding OPP Jail was not a very helpful one in explaining the debate. 'Katrina Time' and OPP seem synonymous with Jail Expense Abuse.

This one is better:

The Incarceration Capital of the US
A struggle over the size of New Orleans’ jail could define the city’s future
By Jordan Flaherty
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jordan-flaherty/the-incarceration-capital_b_781150.html

But, as I started out saying, I have no first hand news. I have not been inside these places. And, I want to find less partialized news. I want more open access and exchange between peoples. Allowing reporters access is essential.


Democracy really does mean an opening up of channels of belief and communication between all peoples. It cannot work in isolation. If it is true that China routinely locks up politically assertive petitioning citizens to reduce participation, this is not helpful. It hurts world democratic health.

It was with great pain that I got through this interesting NYTimes series which you may have already seen on mental health treatment issues in China. The area featured in the article on the border of Vietnam is relatively near Changsha (about 12-18 hours by bus - China is very big!). This is where my grandmother was born and grew up. Her father a doctor; I have to ask myself - in conditions of sanity and treatment of the insane; how much has really changed?

I remember my grandmother's opinion about health care. All people deserved access, attention, dignity, therapy. Good Health care should be a national priority in the USA and in China.

Is it not still the case today that the way we treat the weakest, the most hopeless, the destitute, the least among us, is a perfect reflection of our society in terms of our general mental health?

A new NOLA.com article come out just after this blog was published seeking public participation in the shaping of this decision. Does the Sheriff really want informed participation and approval?

Read more...

Get Paid $30,000 to Have Three Kids!

Coming from a two child family, I was always amazed by large families. My best friend from childhood was eventually to become the eldest out of nine. The elder children were expected to help their parents in caring for their younger siblings and were responsible for household chores. The children grew up to possess exceptional tolerance and consideration and awareness of other people. One of the most incredible thing about this family was (and still is) the depth of the love for each and every child, and how carefully each child was raised to be caring, generous, responsible, and kind people. Although issues of overpopulation and dwindling resources fuel many debates against prolific childbearing, this amazing family shows another form of action and awareness. Which is the more responsible action? To be childless by choice or by sacrifice? Or to raise conscientious, educated, thoughtful, and engaged children. I don’t have an answer that is appropriate for all, but in most things, a balance is most likely the most appropriate solution.

As we travel, one of the first questions that people ask are, “do you have children?” Depending on where we are, our reply generates a variety of responses.

In China, where overpopulation is a major concern, many couples are allowed to have only one child. Exceptions are made for rural areas (when the child is a girl), ethnic minorities, and when parents have a child illegally (without the official papers that are mandatory for school enrollment, health care, etc), or when they pay a large fine to have another. I think that families who adopt the orphaned children of relatives are exempt from this law, as are families whose sole child dies before the age of eighteen. Twins are allowed.

cousins in Yangshuo, China

As a result of the restrictions on children, China is absolutely child crazy. Huge theme parks and playgrounds and toy stores and baby clothing shops are clear indications of how spoiled Chinese children are. They are overly cherished, but with just reasons…can you understand why?

Once past the age of menstruation, Chinese women are required to visit a doctor every three months. If at the time of the visit, they are found to be pregnant, they are heavily encouraged to have an abortion. Whether or not the woman is pregnant, she is heavily pressured to use birth control. When we told the Chinese that we didn’t have children, they were confused and hurt. Why wouldn’t a healthy couple, with obvious wealth, and no laws on childbearing, be bereft of children? It may have been a slap in the face.

In Ethiopia, we met large families with many children. Ethiopia still has a large agricultural and animal-raising culture; many hands make lighter work. I was amazed to see a three-year old shepherds, striding across a vast plain at the heels of immense and bright white cows with broad horns, occasionally whacking them with a stick. Children in Ethiopia (as well as in many other cultures) possess remarkable self-confidence and self-assurance - they are conscious of their valued role in the family.

a village of friends in Kemba, Ethiopia

There are several places in the world where overpopulation is not a concern; actually, the opposite is true. Population decline is impacting Japan, Russia, most of eastern Europe, and Italy. Other countries are not far behind. The incentives offered by the government in some of these countries is astounding. The Republic of Singapore offers parents $3,000 for the first child, $9,000 in cash and savings for the second; and up to $18,000 each for the third and fourth!

In India, the gender gap is immense. Sex-selective abortion, as well as female infanticide are critical issues that will continue to impact the population of India, and have created a huge population of missing women in Asia. boys do not require an expensive dowry to be paid out, nor do they leave the family to live with the in-laws. I couldn’t say that the worth of children is lessened in India than in other cultures; however, with a very large population, extreme poverty, low standards of health and cleanliness, life is more tenuous in India. Estimates predict that by 2020, there could be an excess of 25 million men in India, instead of a natural, biological gender balance. Similar estimates are predicted for China.

students from a girls school in Ahmednagar, India

I have a good friend who has made a choice not to have children; she feels that in this modern world, it is the most responsible decision. I appreciate her candor and honesty and recognition of how privileged she is to be able to see children as a choice, rather than a necessity or obligation or powerless consequence. Perhaps not the right decision for all, but ask yourself: do I have the power and the right to make that decision? Could I make that decision out of sacrifice? Not all people reading this blog can answer yes. Think on that and read more about Childfree by Choice.

Other topics that will not be covered in this (already lengthy) blog are: discrimination against women/couples who choose not to have children; adoption; same-sex parenting; late life parenting; etc. Too many topics for one amateur blogger. I only write what I have learned and deduced from my own life and travels. But feel free to share your links or thoughts and add additional information as applicable.

I hope that this blog has given you a chance to think and reflect on your own positions of children. Each person is entitled to their own views and beliefs, but I believe greatly in the power of perspective.

Read more...

Bold Intentions and Good Eats

As backpackers, carrying everything on our backs, we aren’t big shoppers. We don’t find ourselves accumulating great stores of new things from new countries, and the things that we do collect are usually intended as gifts to bring to the new destination. Sometimes I indulge in some window shopping, but what is the fun of trying on strappy wedge sandals that you cannot justify purchasing? The Kashmir rugs, the kimonos, the paintings, the silk sarees, the hanging glass lanterns, and the baby burro remained far from the grasp of my eager hands.

However, one thing that we can shop for and purchase, is food!

At the beginning of this journey, while reveling in the successes of toasting Panini Sandwiches with an iron at our hotel in Washington, D.C., we made a bold declaration: during the course of our nine month trip, we would cook home-made food no less than three times each week.

Our intentions quickly fell by the wayside, for many different reasons.

Firstly, we had grown accustomed to the availability of guest kitchens and cooking facilities during our time in South America; this is not the case worldwide. We have cooked a total of about ten meals in our five months of traveling, excluding our newfound joy in preparing Indian-style Chai for guests and hosts. In addition to a deficit of kitchens, a lack of refrigeration options means that our cooking repertoire is limited to foods that we will prepare right away, and ingredients that will not spoil within our cooking time-frame, be it four hours or three days.

On our last day in Mumbai, Nathan purchased one of those coil-heaters to accompany the two kilograms of Chai tea that we managed to squeeze into my backpack. How lovely it would be to pop that little unit into the Nalgene bottle and make ourselves delicious tea! How exceptional to reduce our plastic consumption with the ability to boil our own water! Upon our arrival in Addis the next day, the heater exploded in my hands on the first attempted use. Nuts.

In many of the countries through which we have traveled, prepared food is much cheaper than un-prepared. It is cheaper to order chana masala and chapati, or a noodle bowl, or injera from the street or in a small restaurant than it ever would be to cook the same item ourselves, even if we did have a kitchen at our disposal.

Although our intentions of home-cooking sounded very relevant from the location of the Gaylord Hotel, I feel that we would miss so much had we stuck to this plan. If we were cooking for ourselves, we would be preparing foods that we know to enjoy, that we are familiar with, that we understand how to cook. If we had been cooking at home, we would be restricting ourselves from enjoying some rich and new culinary delights. I may not have ever realized that I like mushrooms! We would not know the wonders of ground-nut stew. And that creamy goodness of shiro. Sweet pasta with ice and coconut milk? How much we would have missed.

But the truth is, although we are far from our original and uneducated goal of home-cooking, we have been good eaters. But not just in our healthy appetites or ranges in variety, but also because we choose to eat normal food. We very rarely find ourselves at a chain restaurant, and NEVER at a western-based chain restaurant (unless we need to use the bathroom). We try to stick to the culinary style of the region and try new things. We usually do not eat in fancy restaurants, but choose instead to buy our meals from a local neighborhood restaurant. We try to patronize real individuals making real food…and we take our food purchases rather seriously. As travelers on a limited spending budget, with interest in adding to the local economy and supporting small business owners, buying meals from local restaurants makes everyone feel good.

Especially me and my stomach.

Read more...

Who Wants to Be Rich?

written by Nathan

All across the world we try and catch a little TV. Television (the tube) offers a glimpse into the culture we are visiting, and locally produced TV often showcases differences in taste - dramatic, comedic, newsworthy.

I first started noticing this, when I began to split my life between the USA and Latin America. In Colombia, there is no featured or localized weather (it is close enough to the equator that seasons are relative) - but all of news is national, with a focus on local stories and issues from across the country. Violence is more honest - dead bodies shown are occasionally on the midday news. In Latin America, the favorite show is the ‘telenovella’ our version of a soap opera. A must see to understand ins and outs of dramatic tension.

But, since we have begun this long journey round the planet, I have come more to understand a value of TV for the traveler. In public, or in hotel lobbies, it is a great way to begin conversations with your hosts about what common interests you share. In this case, football (soccer) or the Olympics were universally appreciated, no verbal language needed beyond exclamations. As we travel, natural disasters around the globe and the upcoming World Cup have captured the attention of many.

From China to India, From Ghana to Egypt, we have been amused, entertained, and educated with a worldwide phenomenon of TV success. 

You probably already know the show, either from friends, from watercooler conversations, or, perhaps you are a fan yourself: “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” It's a game show of odd trivia, hard facts, science etc growing ever more popular across our planet. The game show has spawned an Oscar winning dramatic movie, “Slumdog Millionaire,” and is syndicated across the world on Fox and other networks. It also has many immitators… soe closer than others to the real thing.

In Ghana, Brittany became slightly addicted to the telanovela “Second Chance,” dubbed in English. It was fun to attempt lip reading in Spanish, while following the gripping drama. How are Salvador and Isabel coping with the ongoing saga of their twisted lives? Only a return to Ghana will answer these questions.

While in China, we adored a hilarious show that involved people matched against tricky shapes cut out of a quickly moving wall...called "Brain wall?"

 

Another television highlight that we encountered was the live taping of a show that involved an obstacle course of pygmy goats, geese, pigs dressed in biker outfits, humans dressed as giant pandas, and a wheelbarrow filled with bowling balls. After running around the obstacle course and catching one of each animal, contestants had to shoot a Big Bad Wolf with an airgun and then milk three balls from the udders of a giant plastic cow. Very few people managed to complete the course, needless to say. I don't know that it ever aired, but I had to physically old Brittany back from entering herself as a contestant.

“Who wants to be Rich?” is the Ghanian version of ’Millionaire’. It has a slightly different set up, most do, but has the same smart-aleck host who seems to play for and against the contestants. Instead of two levels of break points for gathering certain winnings it has three.

Here was our favorite question from “Who Wants to Be Rich:”

“Which of these is a type of fruit?”
A) Hanana
B) Manana
C) Ghanana
D) Banana

We were all duly impressed when the contestant correctly chose D) Banana.

Seriously, the questions were embarrassingly simple at first. But they certainly elevated in difficulty as the show progressed. We were quickly lost as trivia pointed to Ghanian history and truly stumped with a question about the correct periodic table number for the element of Chlorine.

Who’s laughing now?

Read more...

What is This Stuff?

From hotel to hotel, from town to town, we trudge up and down hill and broken street carrying this stuff on our backs. We have become well-versed at flying into our destination city, finding a hotel and spending a few days exploring, and then leaving one of our bags with the hotel staff while we venture out for a week or two. Each time we begin our return trip to the second bag, we say to each other, “What is in that thing? What haven’t we needed for the last two weeks?” And we return, empty the contents in a heap, and try, for the umpteenth time, to cull our belongings. But our bags never really seem to lighten.

Our technology stuff is fairly extensive, and we cannot bear to part with any of it. Two MP3 players (one which doubles as a jump drive), a 250GB hard drive, camera and charger and cords, laptop and cord, and tiny portable speakers.

Clothing is truly down to a minimum, a much easier task in warm climates. N has three t-shirts, two shorts (one are swim trunks), two pairs of pants, one long-sleeve lightweight parka, and a sweater. I have two skirts, three shirts (just bought a new one yesterday in the market!), a swimsuit, two dresses, a sweatshirt, one long sleeve shirt, and one thin tank top. We also each have a pair of flipflops and a pair of sneakers.

We carry two sleeping bags and a tent with poles. We have yet to use the tent, but we pack the darn thing EVERYWHERE in the hopes of having a chance.

The first aid kit is completely neglected…we haven’t pulled it out in months. But we carry it, ‘cause you just never know.

A large bulk of the things we carry are gifts for people we have yet to meet. Giving the stuff away is the fun part: we think of the people who have made impressions on us, have been humbly helpful in unasked for ways, seemed like they could use or appreciate what we have to give away, or otherwise made us happy in some small way.

Our gift giving began long, long ago in China, when we gave away the last of the items we brought from New Orleans: pralines and Cheeky Cookie Macaroons. We still carry around half a container of cajun spice, some bay leaves, and a few packages of Tabasco and Crystal hot sauce, for the next time we can cook for some new friends. We also have bags of Indian chai tea and spices to share.

In Accra, Brittany gave away the orange silk shawl I got for her in India to the sweet, beautiful woman who sells fried plantains. It still had some light spatter marks from the colored paints and powders we had been doused with during “Holi” festival in Hardiwar. She exclaimed in delight as we snacked on spicy, caramelized goodness.

Nathan gave away a hand-carved marble lion we bought at the waterfall Jabalpur, India. The lion’s feet had been broken in transit, but his regal torso was intact. When we gave it to Black Shanti to glorify his DJ studio in Asylum Down neighborhood in Accra; we knew he was also technical enough to have some super glue the feet back on.

There is a can of ‘Prickly heat’ powder purchased in Thailand which has been waiting for the right person (itch relief powder with a slight burning feeling is not the kind of thing you can hoist onto just anyone).

We still have the National Geographic ‘Crucible of History ‘ map (the archeological history of Old Jerusalem and the Middle East) we got from Nathan’s uncle in Philadelphia - who would appreciate it fully? We haven’t found the perfect person yet, but rest assured, we will.

Nathan brought his cellphone and charger, even though it was a terrible phone, even in the United States. He drove Brittany crazy with the background noise in the reception and an extremely muffled microphone. But we thought that perhaps we would get a SIM card in some country and use it. So, we carried it for months, until leaving it with the Chauhan’s. The timing of the gift was impeccable and made the burden of carrying it for three months absolutely worth it.

In Mussoorie, India, we gave away our two winter coats to the kind Chai seller who didn’t judge our two (or sometimes three or four) chai teas a day. He also got a bag of Brittany’s assorted ladies clothes for his wife and sisters.

We gifted a few of Ghandi’s books to our friends at Action Aid in Kemba, Ethiopia, knowing that we had found a perfect place to pass on his ideas and words.

But, even when the piles are sorted and we have given the fun stuff away again…our bags immediately refill with the next series of gifts which we are willing to carry for months, through the next fifteen or so countries, because we know that the perfect recipient is just around that next bend in the road.

Read more...

Country Road, Take Me Home

written by Nathan

Being from New Orleans, I always want the world bathed in Jazz. Jazz for me, is the sound of musical ambassadorship. It is the intellectual and cultural rigor of my country’s history. It is her gift to the world.

As a music-appreciating traveler, there are many tunes that make my toes start tapping, those both foreign and familiar: Chinese Pop, Bollywood soundtracks, Eastern African ancient hymns… most of all, what brings me home time and again though is Country. Country music goes great with beer and boots and dust and long drives with the windows rolled down. And, it turns out, country music goes great with a trip around the world.

From Japanese Cowboys clicking their boots up from the subway station toward Shibuya crossing, to the Chinese peasant listening to the crackle from an old tape player in Changsha, and from the wails of old Westerns in the ‘New Market’ of Kolkata, to the modern Country ballads belting from the streets of Muslim Mumbai, and even from the dank hollow of the “Cave Hotel” off Piazza in downtown Addis Ababa, country music sings its lil’ ole’ heart out. Neighborhood twangs play off the sheet metal rooftops spreading out around us in Asylum neighborhood of Accra, Ghana; country music brings us home. After a long day of bus rides to a small town, Debre Marcos, in the Ethiopian highlands not frequented by many ‘ferengues’, we found Dixie Chicks and Dolly Parton at a juice shop. We lingered after buying chocolate bars and water so that Brittany could sing along to “Wide Open Spaces.”

Country, Jazz, Rock and Reggae are four forms of musical cross-cultural harmony which we find everywhere in the world in various forms. Often, there’s a story behind why the person you meet loves each: a favorite movie, an old friend, a teacher, some long forgotten musical encounter. We used to joke a lot that ‘Red, Red Wine’ by UB40 was the most popular song in the world (that or “Buffalo Soldier!”).

“Country road, take me home, to the place, that I belong.” these words, sung by Toots and the Maytals, John Denver, or the Carpenters, could be a theme for all the travel we have done these past five months - while we find ourselves in cities, it is on the broken, dirt, cobbled, and riddled ‘country’ roads where we find home.

I felt so lucky to have found Country with my betrothed on the tiny pine tree lanes of Pearl River County, on our road trips through southern and western Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, or Northern California… I understand better now how Country music is another form of ambassadorship abroad. Its workingman’s tales and soft true blues, its kindness, its harshness, its poetry without vanity. Thank you Country! Thanks Merle, and Doc, and Willie, and Hank! We miss you all, we will treat you with the greatest veneration you are due when we come home!

Although we hear it everywhere, our personal country music collection is sadly small…please send some songs our way! If country just isn’t your bag, send us another one of your favorites: bittystarr@gmail.com.

Read more...

The African/Asian Universal Understanding

written by Nathan

In Asia and Africa, life is based on a fuller sense of universal understanding. Each is different, complex, and individualistic by interpretation. Each is complete in itself. Taken together, however, these universal belief systems and acculturations demonstrate core human values which we are all affected by. 

In China, we gained first hand appreciation of the wisdom of Chinese peaceful social cultural norms and their power to organize and direct large populations. The grace of Chinese interactions can be seen in its tea ceremony. The commonality of life’s necessity can be understood in a common enjoyment of green tea. 

Chairman Mao famously wrote proverbs including many which still are present in the work and family edicts of the Chinese. “A man tells his sons one morning: Sons, I cannot move this mountain alone with my hoe; but, together we can move this mountain.” And, they did. We have met many peoples who planted trees with the idea that they would never know its majesty, but that their grandchildren could enjoy the tree. And, the tree lives a thousand or two-thousand years and is used by a village and is revered. 

India balances China’s productivity with its long history of political reason and discourse. Much influence of British rule left many lingering educational influences. It is a gentler land of equitable dignity with total inequity of power. 

In India, Ghandi’s generation left a legacy of peaceful democracy. Both countries have had the least enfranchised benefit in socialist, capitalist, and communist forms. Both have newly combined wealth, existing powers, corporate military industrial complexes, democratic educational systems, raising enormous new middle-classes. All of these leave their marks as mass physical appropriation of resources accelerates. 

In Ethiopia, there is a mesh of peaceful religions. there is a pathway to families of shepherds and priests. Impacts on the 19th to 21st centuries are less. Religious belief is everywhere. Yet, Ethiopia experiences Africa’s history of ‘development through total impoverishment’ by behaving in acts of colonialism on its neighbors and its own diverse populations. The largest natural and human disasters here are entirely preventable, yet persistent. But, their overarching philosophies carry only worry from growing season to dry season and from day to day. 

Ethiopia being Africa balances the Asian history with its own biblical ages…history again stretches into sandy footsteps of time. Instead of social or economic capital, Ethiopia has practical experience and righteousness, carried with the pride of a lion heart. 

There are modern dilemmas facing all these grand countries that each hold origins and histories of the world. Each has been affected by dangerous physical development. Each has vowed to create a healthier, more sustainable natural world. All are vastly different. 

Ethiopia, India, and China need plans to achieve cleaner development while also increasing their living standards. What they don’t need are lectures on social thought or universal understanding. 

If we could mesh the economic power of unified China, the common cause and social decency of India, the proven spiritual agedness of Africa, with the practicality and rationality of the western mind, perhaps we could produce cleaner thoughts and science. 

Read more...

China Keeps Time with Trains

China keeps time with trains. What would I give to live near the tracks that cross China? On sonic whistle lines that prompt cities before dawn? China wakes to the train like waking an anxious rooster. The alarms rippling and resonating against pavements and the ticking street light transponders. Or, trembles midday without noticing the rumbling vibrations adjust her squat position in a countryman’s bent contemplation. Echoes distant murmurs fly repel on her mountainsides with the distance of a shepherd’s call.

Boxed, stained work yards grind forward at all hours like the clockworks of an organism telling nothing but speaking to nothing, to nobody, to nowhere like a universe within, the heartbeat of a city, hidden tucked, cloistered in brick, residues of soot and burnt oils.

There is now dim view for her humanity; those who view the humanity by her bustle. The windows are watching glassy-steel frames run by like an old movie reel, tested, forgotten, aged, recent but forgotten. Cells of time built to produce nothingness. Earnestness of simple purpose bears a fading whistle.

China’s train howls of its Awareness, Abstraction, Abdication, Amelioration.

The train howls and passes these four points of pride over her Class Consciousness.

China keeps time from trains…were that eternity might listen.

Read more...

Bent Reeds and Rusted Grasses

Bent and Rusted

Yards not
As filthy
Now
As when people
Lived
On them.

Now, steeled,
Less curious,
Slates,
Ties and granites,
Tendered
More silenced
Provided with
Full security,
Stern walls,
Weighted wire.
Bent reeds and rusted
Grasses

Winter
Stained in diesel
Roughed dusts
And fog
There are houses
For conductors
Engineer
Tenements
Railway men
Live amongst
Us here.

Behind
Guarded
Plots of vacancy

Read more...

The Fire

I.

A Chinese, an Australian, and a Spaniard walk into a Ball Room.

Each are the front-line managers for emergency and disaster response in a very populated, rather poor province of China. Every year, these managers are responsible for the organization of medical, disaster, and emergency response planners for an annual conference. It is always a joyful and convivial time filled with card swapping, networking, name dropping.

The Australian says to the Spaniard, “Did you know that in in our office of Regional and Provincial Emergency Response they have never had a fire drill? So, I asked them to look into having one; but, when we checked on the emergency exits they were all chained shut.”

The Spaniard stated, “We teach all about disaster preparation and response. We ask the community to participate and be involved in ways they have never been asked to do before in all of China. But, we can’t apply the same teaching in our own office.”

“Why is that?” the Australian asked. “The boss doesn’t like it for us to look bad.” the Spaniard replied.

The Chinese, who was listening closely, suggested they test participants and teach values of applied learning to bosses during their meeting. “Why don’t we have a fire drill here, at this very conference?“ he said.

The three NGO disaster experts made their plan.

II.

After lunch, when the many conference attendees reconvened, they passed their Spanish colleague, with his leg propped up on a chair. A Chinese friend was tending to his ankle, while the Spaniard grimaced in obvious pain. The Australian explained to the ogling crowds, “During lunch he was in an accident while crossing the street outside of the restaurant.” The Spaniard moaned; tears rolled down his face. Many people stopped by to sympathize and give advice.

After the conference-goers settled down in their big groups, a lazy, spacey wave of sleepiness blanketed the conference; people were tired. This was the third day of meetings and in good Chinese fashion, they had all feasted at a lunch hosted by the provincial governor. To address the predicted lethargy on day three, a local troupe of performers were scheduled to liven up the crowd with songs of legends and stories of the great resilience of the Chinese people in modern history. In contrast to the standard procedure of returning to their individual groups, the attendees were instructed to all meet in the same room for the performance, leaving their valises, purses, and other belongings at a coat check, so as to accommodate the large number of people.

Halfway through the second ballad a loud bell erupted with a sudden, screeching resonance. The hotel manager rushed into the room and yelled instructions through a megaphone: “There is a fire in the kitchen. Please remain calm, but exit the building immediately.”

Instincts were strong; people leapt over each other as they rushed from the room. Some groups stopped at the elevator. A hotel staff standing near the stairway yelled to them, “Don’t take the elevators, they are unsafe, you must use the stairs!”

Outside the group milled around in the street. Everyone seemed to be accounted for. A small older gentleman exclaimed with panic and shame in his voice, “Ricardo, our Spanish friend, where is he?” Several people tried to backtrack into the building. “You cannot go back,” the staff warned them. The crowd of brave souls rushed anyway.

At the bottom of the stairs was Ricardo, standing strong on his own two legs. “I am sorry to have fooled you,” he said.

III.

The fire was a drill, designed to test the responses of the conference attendees, all who were trained in disaster protocol, and who were responsible for passing their knowledge and education on to others.

At the end of the conference people were asked to review what they had learned, and fill out a survey. Overwhelmingly, most participants were compelled to write about the fire drill lesson. Most participants wrote about the lessons learned. They planned to change their teaching strategy in the future, and felt that real world practice would be a benefit not only to the community but to their team as well. Others were angry, and left feedback that stated that “It was wrong of you to trick us. Somebody could have been hurt. How could you trust the hotel staffs with our valises our laptops and all of our work could have been stolen!”

Some were shaken, some were embarrassed, some were grateful, and all (except the Chinese, the Australian, the Spaniard, and the hotel staff) were surprised.

IV.

China is a world of both lessons and contradictions. It can respond to disaster with massive force and mobility from across the country to provide aid. It can rebuild whole regions in almost the blink of an eye. But due to a hierarchical pyramid structures of decision making and policy development, China is unable to challenge assumptions of management. When the Chinese colleagues in the Provincial office wanted to apply the same standards to their office as they have begun to teach in small impoverished villages they were told that the systems they have work fine. Can we find similar qualities in our organizations?

Today, I visited a very different Disaster and Emergency Response Unit in Trat, Thailand. It is located in the most revered and trusted public meeting place in the town - a ‘Chinese Temple.’ They meet on the 20th of every month. The place is filled with all the necessary tools: historical photos and community archives of past emergencies, ambulances and rescue equipment, chairs and tables for everyday life and gatherings, and a stage for speakers and performance. Some of the meetings go on for hours, allowing time for food or refreshment, play-space for children, and time for elders to gossip, in addition to discussion of disaster planning and response.

Although sometimes just a drill, oftentimes the fire is real. How can we imagine ways in which community participation, especially in disaster planning, is encouraged in decision making, cultural resilience is nourished, and systems are scientific and responsive?

Read more...

Flavors and sounds and rhythms and chopsticks

A muggy, sticky, perfect morning in Thailand.....we are here and enthusiastically discarding our bulky winter layers.

Leaving China had a few snafus, a few hiccups, but we persevered.

Did you know that a tourist visa in China mandates that you leave every 30 days, even if you get a 90 visa? Nobody in Tokyo bothered to tell us. China wasn't pleased. 

Do you always confirm your reservation before your flight to ensure that not complications exist? We didn't and ended up having to pay for our own ticket from HK to Bangkok (which our awesome travel agency is going to reimburse us for), and we were totally stressed out (no reimbursement, but a learning experience).

Our last few days in China were tinged with anticipatory nostalgia for a country that we really grew to love and appreciate and (vaguely) understand. Wandering through Guangzhou one afternoon, we talked about how dramatically our comfort level had altered while we were in China. I being incredibly disoriented during our first few days in Shanghai: nearly everything was uncomfortable and foreign, especially when flooding my senses all at once. I remember feeling panicked the moment that someone opened their mouth and Chinese came forth; I was so anxious about not knowing the language that I froze, I was solely focused on the un-understandable. Gradually I stopped being so caught up in the unknown, and focused on the things that I could understand: smiles, body movement, intonation, context, and a few simple words. It was as though I had a sensory loss like deafness or muteness: with the deficit of one sense, my other senses strengthened.

It takes some time even just to start to understand the flow of people on the sidewalk, how to pay at the convenience store,what the toilet etiquette is. Flavors and sounds and rhythms and chopsticks are sensory gifts for western travelers, you just have to taste them, listen for them, feel them, and practice!!

I wouldn't say that I miss the hole-in-the-ground, trough-style toilets of China (the western-style in HK were such a lovely surprise), but I certainly managed. I assimilated. Several times, I was even appreciative and grateful.

Throughout our journey down China, we encountered many markets (see photos on our site). We love markets, especially the open-air, fresh food, local produce variety. Obviously, these come with a wide variety of goods, some more unusual than others. But the meat section gets weird, especially as animals are cured, preserved, sliced, diced, and usually displayed in very recognizable forms, usually completely intact, and oftentimes with heads attached. The cows and pigs and chickens were normal, comfortable, expected. The ducks and geese were fairly basic. Then we get to frogs, turtles, eels, hammerhead shark, goat, and yes, the horror of all horrors...dogs.* It was difficult. There were some markets where my stomach started heaving, my palms got sweaty, I was terrified of barfing right there in the midst of it. But I worked actively on my western aversion: I systematically desensitized my brain. I studied the market from a scientific point of view until my emotions moved back to second place. Please don't get me wrong - I'm not made of steel, but I found a way to come to terms with the scene, which allowed me to enjoy and appreciate China on a new level.

All in all, we miss China. We feel so lucky and blessed to have experienced such a land, and are ever so grateful to the many, many people who welcomed us with open arms. 

Now....on to Thailand...........

xoxoox

*I'm happy to tell you more about the markets and the contents within; however, I won't expound on these here for those readers who are faint of heart.

Read more...

Guide to China

CHINA FOR TRAVELERS

We spent six weeks (mid-December 2009 through February 2010) traveling through China: we entered in Shanghai and departed from Hong Kong. The following blog posting is a list of our experiences and takeaways. Please note that this is not intended to be a comprehensive travel guide, but is limited to our experiences and some tips that we think might be helpful for travelers.

China is very commercialized and brand-focused and westernized. The food found in normal, ordinary restaurants is INCREDIBLE, but we shied away from the higher priced menus: exotic foods are more expensive and not necessarily on our wish list, and the quality doesn’t usually increase with the price. Learn just a few characters, like those of noodle or soup, and you will be in good stead. We ordered blindly off of menus for the first several weeks and were so delighted by our results that we kept up the practice.

Currently China has a 30/60/90 day tourist visa available for Americans. However, when we obtained our visas in Tokyo, the office neglected to mention that we had to leave the country every thirty days, even if just to a border for a stamp. We didn’t know. So, we stayed for 45 days…China was not happy. Although the penalties were predicted to be very extreme (information from the local police station led us to expect 500y penalty each day over the 30-day limit plus a baseline fine plus paying for two new visas), we were lucky to get off lightly: no additional fines or penalties, just paying for two new visas, even though we were departing for Hong Kong the following day. How did we get off so lightly? It was a combination of luck, rambling in fast English that officials couldn’t keep up with, and maintaining an apologetic, humble, and grateful demeanor. It also helped that Nathan kept mentioning that his family was from Changsha.

Before you arrive in China, get yourself a copy of the fantastic “Point-It” Book if you don’t speak Chinese. It was absolutely invaluable throughout our travels, especially in China. The book is priced somewhere around $10 USD, can’t go wrong. The book has at least 60 pages of images: food, transportation, hotel details, colors, etc.

We learned right off the bat that tea is a staple in China, and it’s very easy to join in the fun! Head to a store and buy yourself a plastic or glass canister, then explore some markets and get a supply of green, oolong, jasmine, or pekoe tea. We travel with a nalgene bottle and it served as a perfect BIG tea canister. All of the trains have hot water, as do many offices, restaurants, hotels, and even bus stations. The boiled water is safe to drink and we became major tea enthusiasts in China. I bet that you will too! Along with tea, the hot water is perfect for ramen and bowls of soup, especially on the trains.

7 Days Inn was a great find for us. At an average of 129 yuan a night, they are pricier than the normal Chinese hotels, but certainly cheaper than many others. The consistency of 7 Days Inns was great, they are a chain with something like 266 hotels across China, with plans to develop more. Rooms are clean with big bathrooms, hot showers, bleached-white towels, cable television (which usually include one or two English movie channels), room heating unit, window that opens, USB internet cable in room and connected computer in the lobby, fairly helpful staff, and if you join the free 7 Days Inn Club, you stay seven nights and get the eighth night free. Plus, membership also includes a free box of milk every night before bed. Sweet deal.

In Hangzhou we had the great fortune of crossing paths with Jerry Chow: The Grassroots Ambassador of Hangzhou. Mobile +8613758255323, jerryzhouhangzhou@hotmail.com. Jerry is a super friendly guy, who speaks very good self-taught excellent English. He knows all the spots in the area and is an expert on China tourism. Honest and helpful and proud of his position. We were so lucky to hail a cab and unexpectedly find Jerry behind the wheel!

Some friends in Changsha took us to Hooligans Pub (Hua Long Chi #1), located in the midst of a major and very popular bar street in Changsha. Ben from Vermont runs this fun pub and can oftentimes be found there, chatting with customers and having a few pints himself! Hooligans is a great place to meet the local “English teachers” in residence and other ex-pats. Very large beer selection. Pricey.

Although we breezed through Nanning rather quickly, we did visit Lotusland Hostel (64 Shanghai Rd, Nanning. Tel#86-771-2432592), the one hostel in Nanning. Booking: lotuslandhotel@163.com. One of the best things about Lotusland is their assistance with travel to and visas for Vietnam. They don’t charge for the visa service, but help travelers with the application and submission. How nice!! Perfect typical backpacker set up: new and spacious common room with wireless and desktop computers. Big TV with movies and cable, books, and even some video games. Pay washing machine available for guest use. Helpful and friendly staff. 120Y with shared bath seemed a bit pricey, but the shared bath is super classy. Great Location.

WADA guesthouse: No. 212,Huanchengxi 1 Road, Guilin. Email: wadahostel@yahoo.com. Typical backpacker hostel in China, but, very good at it. Free maps, tourist info, wifi. Huge common rooms with bar, pool table, outside seating, library.

Trains and Buses: When you are taking an overnight train, the bottom tier is the best. When you are taking an overnight bus, the top bunk is best. Trust me, I wouldn’t lie to you.

Read more...

This Blog is Spaceship Earth!

This blog is Spaceship Earth!! Needs work but, just like a good neighbor - that's what we do isn't it?

I am trying to blog. I am trying to blog but life gets in the way. Can you imagine how a mom feels two years without sleep after a baby is born? I can't. I can barely handle email; and, I blog late at night. Blog - an internet news, magazine, story, or topic.

Still I blog.

Brittany and I think of our blog as part travelogue, part research, part story telling, and, occasionally, a children's story. This blog post is all four combined. It is a story about diapers and how they can damage our really neat spaceship - spaceship earth! And this is a blog about what we have been thinking about and seeing and hearing, in CHINA. So you should listen, or, put a little better - honestly, if you can listen, thanks, and help us get this global rocket in ship shape. We need to clean up Space Ship Earth because we happen to have a lot of children on it. Well, we have more than that, hundreds and hundreds of millions, and we love children!!! 

My wife, BS(O)S letters mixed up sometimes, she just adores me, and she will let anyone know that Nathan loves little children. Must have been all the Quaker camp songs or kumbaya circles of the 70's! I love kids. I love them smiling, crying, singing, playing, talking, thinking experimenting - I even love them in their dirty diapers. I do. I love baby faces when they are screaming because they want to keep their dirty diaper on and the breezes and the cleaning are too much. And kids sense of humor is so easy to appeal to. Sometimes just not when you have to change a diaper. Just talk about something they know about or have experience with. Goo and Gaa! But you have to change dirty diapers fast - and that is our story. Diapers have overloaded spaceship earth and looking at this from the view of our 2 to 8 year old audience means a green bright future for you and me. We need kids ideas to fight global warming! 

So, if you have a kid nearby, (under 100 anyone can be a kid for our story, but only if you have a good sense of humor - do you qualify?) ask this and see what they come up with. It is sure to surprise you. Send us any answers: We want to get this figured out too. We need a real answer for how to get our best out of the diaper world. Space Ship earth can be fueled by dirty diapers! We can grow a beanstalk to the heavens in piles of decomposed and composted diapers! What else can kids think of?

Which brings me to our topic. Five Hundred, Hundred, Million, Million plastic diapers a year - just in China and groaning- O, I mean growing!

(This part of the story is where I am going to launch off the grimy, the gross, the overly candid and get scientific on you so buckle your space bra and stay with me here.…)

Five Hundred, Hundred, Million, Million plastic diapers a year is just a drop in the bucket. But it is telling us something. It is telling us something about why we need to love babies more. And,  it gives us a new way out. We can turn 'ugly-stinky-nobody-likes-them', dirty, dirty diapers into fuel for our spaceship! We can make diapers the first Zero Emissions (ZERI) super product designed by kids. My nephew Jonathan knows that there is one thing that big brothers will work really hard at, that's inventing solutions so that babies never have to smell really bad in diapers. This is not a scatological journey - hang with me, I am getting there...

Life in China is Baby positive!

Which is cool.

All I ever learned about China and Babies is that the country was trying to cut back. They were kind of harsh on the babyski, the babooshka was lowering in importance in China. Originally , I thought China was not very baby positive. How wrong could I have been? China began an experiment 30 years ago which is very interesting. They decided to have a one child law. They decided to make it a law to have safe sense. And by safe, I mean in the strictest sense of the word. Having unprotected sense in China means hot water for unprepared parents! OMG...

And, I know this blog has probably gotten to some of you because we are very China positive. Maybe too positive? We are probably wearing our China 'blinders' right? We are here, you are not, you are still reading...please do. It is about to get interesting.

China is about to start building cities to accommodate another 400,000,000 babies to be born in 20 years. They need to live in cities. 400 million children will be growing up and starting 400 million new families in China in the next 30 years. That is a lot of diapers!!!

So here it is - the awful rub: China is a country of baby lovers. China is CHILD OBSESSED. And, it is dangerous. I mean really dangerous. Their obsession may destroy them all and take us with them.So, it turns out that something I talked about in an earlier blog keeps coming back and haunting me. I described Julian Hill's phrase, he had invented nylon - which became plastics; Julian said, "Plastics will bury us all!" Now I don't think he meant bury us under the ground. I think he meant plastics will pile so high we will have to burrow through them like moles and mice and prairie squirrels. I think he meant that we are going to have to live under them and build roads and metro line subways, and boat canals and rocket ship launch pads around plastic and through them. Plastics, do not go away. They do not biodegrade like wood does, or plants do. 

I wrote earlier about how Japan has the kind of toilets the 21st century deserves. Apricot scented, warmed seats, sound effect disguises, more - and now eco-toilets with low water and eco-power that use grey water systems. These will be very important when we travel on rockets and go to planets where we have to save all water. 

In closing, I want to tell you about a toilet in India that scared a whole village because it was built 25 feet up, straight into the sky. After a Tsunami destroyed the small indigenous fishing village a 'vanity parade' of ooglers, missionaries, and those of mediocre skill, low ambition, and well-intended self-righteousness deigned assist
those whose lives and village needed urgent 'improvement.' The architects and professionals wanted to 'green' the fishing village.

Composting toilets are safer and ecological - a learning tool. Measure was given to center the toilet for equitable and common access. Engineers and architectural students contributed. Studies finalized and revised. The grand seven meter 'green' toilet was constructed like a obelisk, as compelling as it was useful. The architect left to much applause. He was so kind to visit and assist the village. A great feast was held. But, who knew? Nobody wants to climb up 7m. to post news to town of their grand constitution. When the architects motorcade turned away from sight the village came together, tore and hole in the bottom of the toilet and rebuilt, for street access of women and children, and without much humility, the lines to the top were men only. It turns out, green toilets, potash, responsible use of human waste has been here in Asia for millennium.

We can promise you that there will not be more stories of bathrooms and diapers on this blog. Unless something really crazy happens!

Signing off. Over and OUT.

NS

[For further Freudian readings on the wise use of detriment versus art - not wanting to get to Nobby O. Brown in an already 'filthy' piece above - our historical ending for European dissent rests under piled rubble between Greece and Italy before ancient capitulations toward current philosophy: Athens would destroy Sparta, who were artless heathen and spent life jockeying and canoodling in bushes.]

Read more...

Luck, with a Side of Black-Eyed Peas

Here we are in Guangdong province, home to a mere 90 million Chinese and the mega metropolitan super city Guangzhou (formerly known in the West as "Canton"). I am up early today to cook for our Milanese host Pietro and some of his friends. After an incredibly colorful shopping trip through Cantonese markets close to the old French Concession, I will be preparing black eyed peas and cabbage with ham, two of the "good luck" staples I grew up on in New Orleans (corned beef is also traditional, but may be harder to secure with only two days in Guangzhou). I am glad we are traveling with Cajun Shake, Tabasco and Crystal hot sauces, and bay leaves so that we may enhance our beans with goodness from home!

I certainly come from a tradition of food + good luck. My mother's pot of peas was her usual holiday party excuse to gather friends and  family and wish us all her best in year ahead. So, I am sharing the tradition in China. Chinese also learn much of luck and imbibe or indulge in the good fortunes or luck for festivity, medicinally, or superstitiously. The Chinese are thoroughly delighted that Brittany and I were married on September 9, 2009, and reiterate that the date indicates "love" and "forever." 

While visiting Hunan province, we learned of salted meats and buried salted-duck eggs which, while eaten all year, were prepared in larger quantities in preparation for Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). I can guarantee our readers that in Hunan and Changsha, all varieties of spicy chilis, chutneys, dried or relished peppers, garlics, pickles, kimchi, and the like are also being prepared this time of year to share with family and honored guests (just writing this, my eyes water, and I can feel the pleasant and familiar burns along the gullet!!). 

Medicinal wines, strong rice wines, fruit wines, and distilled moonshines are also always produced and aged for the holidays in Hunan, as well as for most of southern China! These wines are part of the many thousands of years of Chinese Medicinal History and usually have roots, herbs, barks in them as well as assortments of odd animals and their parts (scorpions, frogs, and snakes are oftentimes drowned into the liquid). 

I'm not sure that Pietro cooks dishes with auspicious measurements or lucky ingredients in mind, but we certainly have nothing short of pure and delicious luck in meeting him. Pietro has a "private kitchen restaurant," and hosts both private dinners and catering services to anyone lucky enough to know of Amici Miei. Last night he treated us to home-cooked porketta, lasagna, pickles, chutneys, spicy homemade mustard, fresh italian bread and sicilian syrah! We have given him a package of some spicy Cajun Hot sticks jerky….the last of our gifts from Louisiana (Zachary, LA). 

We are fine, off to cross border to Hong Kong in next day or so, very sad to be leaving China....but excited still to keep encountering the world!!

Lots of love from Canton!!!

Read more...

Improving tourism and the touristic experience

As we become global citizens and see our lives intertwining with our peoples around the planet we want to become more respectful, better stewards, economically just, and culturally aware. Whenever onetravels to countries as far apart from our homelands, as China is from the United States, this may seem more daunting. This should not prevent one from traveling and taking on this challenge.

Brittany and I often have talked about the pain we feel when we visit beautiful regions in the world that have been exploited and inexorably altered by the power of touristic influences. In early experiences of travel, most backpackers rely heavily on guide books to help them navigate new cities, countries, and hard to reach areas. These books, (Lonely Planet, Footprint, Rough Guide etc), help reveal special places often recommended by other travelers experiences. However, there is a corollary effect to tourist and guidebook recommendations. After 'making the guide' influx impacts of new tourism on remote indigenous, culturally unique, environmentally pristine, or ethnically sacred territory often destroys exactly what made each great. Edward Abbey made good descrition of how this occurred in the development of USA National Parks in his book Desert Solitaire. New Orleans native, Mark Plotkin, draws a similar comparison to missionaries, drug companies, and tourist impacts on the last remote tribes on the planet in his ethnobotanical memoir Shaman's Apprentice.

I have lost track now of how many times I referred to those of us who began hostels in Colombia in the last 10 years in the following way,"We are in the tourism business; but, we do not want any more tourism." Tourism, it seems, is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

How can we behave differently as tourists and guides to mitigate the negative effects of too much tourism and facilitate sustainable travel?

Here are some ways of building positive touristic experience:

As the tourist:

1. When you reach the end of the road, keep going.
   In Latin America the tourist trail is referred to as the Gringo Trail. Travelers go to the same spots other travelers have gone before. As travel increases, tourist businesses develop to meet increasing demand. To reach nonimpacted areas all one has to do is go 2 km from any tourist route. Generally, one will find that one is welcomed as an honored guest, helped more eagerly, and given a more local and complex view of the area one is wanting to visit.
2. Respect local customs and yourself in the process.
   We are always ambassadors for the people who come after us and for the lands and people from which we have come. Lacking knowledge or language skills is not enough of an obstacle to being dignified, polite, and generous of spirit. Across the planet, observing how locals interact, treating people the way we hope to be treated, and engaging our hosts with thankful and joyful honesty opens doors for others to follow us.
3. Keep your game face on - and put your best foot forward.
   Travel is difficult, fraught with unexpected events, sudden changes, and uncomfortable new challenges. While one may feel overwhelmed, tired, or bemused in the moment, hold on to what is usually at the root of why we come in the first place: This place interests and intrigues us; and, while we may not be 100% at ease in every moment, our previous experiences (and the wealth of those who have experienced travel before us) all point to the overwhelming majority opinion that negative and uncomfortable memories are erased and our positive memories have staying power. We remember smiles and pleasant differences.

As the tourist developer:

1. Think 'green' locally, act globally
2. Behave outside the Box
3. Make your tourism unique
   Most parts of the world where tourism begins start off when someone recognizes that others would like to visit a place we have fallen for completely. Starting a business in this condition only insures that copycat businesses will follow and replicate your success. Not only does this present an annoyance and undercut your hard work's achievement, it utterly ruins the sacred place you aimed to share. Generally, if you have any business principles or memory this will force you out figuratively or literally.

Emerging Trends in Tourism: Ecotourism and Sustainable Development

In earlier blogs, we have discussed ZERI or Zero Emmissions Planning Ecotourism, Volunteer Tourism, and Zero Carbon Tourism are new ways travelers seek to fully engage new peoples, lands, and places while allowing their footprints to fade ecologically into the sands of time. Allowing tourists to take increased responsibility for their impact changes behaviors between locals and visitors. This also enhances the overall experiences of visitors and hosts.

The future is here, how do we embrace it more fully?

Read more...

Connect the Dots

Sitting in a McDonald's in Guangzhou, on an early foggy morning, after a very uncomfortable overnight bus ride from Beihai, I reflect on the five weeks that have passed since our arrival in Shanghai. Our first foray into this American chain restaurant, for anything more than a bathroom, seems a fitting end to the last twelve hours.

I watch the now-familiar "only-child" syndrome play out before me: a boy no older than five has double fistfuls of plastic straws; he is entranced by the lever-mechanism that continues to spit out one after another after another. The McDonald's cashier is delighted, the father is buying a set of two plastic toys that emit songs at a haze-shattering volume, and my coffee cup is empty again. 

My mind wanders to visiting McDonald's as a child: the happy meals, dipping hot greasy fries in soft-serve ice cream, paper placemats with games and puzzles, and the seemingly endless pit of hollow plastic balls. The memories are as vivid as the visits were infrequent. 

Do you remember McDonald's placemats with games? I recall mazes, coloring, connect the dots, and maybe even the occasional geographic or historical fact.

Our journey through China has been like a game of "Connect the Dots." Each learned experience or insight is a particular point that, when combined, creates a constellation of dots. Points can be connected by a line(s) to form an image - but the image shifts and morphs depending on the number and pattern of points, and according to the influence of personal perspective. At four points, the image is a rock, though you might see a moon. At ten points, I see a lantern, twenty-five a rabbit, one hundred and twenty a tiger, and so on.

"If Chinese conversation always sounds like an argument, place a dot at E6."
Check.

"Are bottom sleepers a terrible idea on an overnight bus? If so, place a dot at B2."
Check.

"If KFC's in China are as common as Walgreen's in the United States, place a dot at 3A."
Check.

"If you can order nearly anything off of a menu at a Chinese restaurant and be wowed, dot at D1."

Check.

"Can overly spicy food in Hunan province give you digestive turbulence? E1."
Check.

"Do smiles and unexpected generosity abound in China? C5."
Check.

"Does stinky tofu really taste as delicious as they say? D4"
Not sure...maybe I'll add that point today.

The image changes every hour, every day, every minute. This truly is an amazing gift discovered through travel and exploration. And guess what, if you can't ever connect the dots to an image that you recognize, then ask someone else. They are sure to have a suggestion that adds yet another dot.

xox
brittany

Read more...

Tragic Earthquake Shakes the World: Thoughts from China

For the last two days we have been rocked with the tragic news from
Haiti. Of course, we want to be home tending to the hurt and loss in
our dear Caribbean. The people of Haiti have suffered so much; they
are the last ones who need to experience more disaster.

Images here are horrible. Our prayers and work will shift to digging
out more information from Sichuan Earthquake in China to try and give
some comfort and aid to our Haitian compatriots and those who work
feverishly these next weeks and months and years to support them.

When disaster of such magnitude strikes, it is impossible to
understand. In the case of communities as impoverished, as damaged by
generations of corrupt governments, and with poor education, class
discrimination, and underdevelopment, suffering is more acute, more
palpable.

In China, a central government responded with massive convoys of
assistance, full military resource, and direct oversight by the most
powerful decision-makers the country had. Every province took on very
specific and targeted roles in assuring rapid deployment of aid and
community specific redevelopment activity.

As was our experience on the Gulf Coast of the USA after Katrina, and,
as is likely to be the case with Haiti, there is an absence of local
and national comprehensive response strategies. Worse, the human
restoration approach will not be put in place due, at least in part,
to: (1) competition over limited resources not to be delivered en
masse for humanitarian relief; (2) prioritization of government and
corporate toward infrastructure and other big projects; (3) a 'gold
rush' of grafters, contractors, and top heavy NGO-bloated
bureaucracies, (4) lack of existing community-based planning or plans,
(5) resistance to community engagement or historical analysis of
community needs and existing asset maps.

If the world community could seriously endeavor to combine elements
from the rapidly centralized recovery in Sichuan, China, with the
urban practices and democratic engagement principles developed but not
fully implemented following Katrina, Kobe, 2004 Tsunami or other
disasters, Haiti would likely recover faster, healthier, sustainably,
and democratically. The rush to pull injured, dead and dying from the
heaps of Port-au-Prince's hellish collapse will most likely be
followed by a rush to exploit resources and manage communities towards
increased marginalization, displacement, and disenfranchisement of
impoverished masses. Monopolization of power, corruption of class
structures, expanding political oligarchical powers, and resource
deprivation will likely force more suffering on Haiti, her neighbors,
her supporters, and the world-community at large. Looked at in this
way, the urgency should be upon all of us to urge a disaster recovery
for Haiti which transmutes new standards of cultural resiliency,
humanitarian environmentalism, economic sustainability, healthful
democratization through community engagement, and participatory,
inclusive, and equitable planning.

Read more...

Hangzhou Happiness

We have landed in Hangzhou, after one missed train, and arriving rather late after inadvertently getting on the slow (three hour instead of 1.5 hour) train to Hangzhou. But, all worked out well. Our newest friends, Jessica and Martin, picked us up at the train station (the generosity is overwhelming) and immediately took us to a FANTASTIC hot pot restaurant. Individual hot pot was served, and we chose from a row of nearly 30 sauces in which to dip our American beef and Chinese mutton. Ahhh...glorious night.

Today we spent the day wandering Hangzhou with Jessica: our fearless tour guide, translator, and friend. We wandered Hefang Old Street, ogling the pashmina scarves, fortune candies, and Nepalese jewelry. Nathan bought a fantastic pair of chopsticks with an engraved rooster...I have yet to find my perfect pair. The search is more fun than actually deciding on a pair. :)

Tonight, the four of us cooked an "American" meal: pork chops in a creamy sauce with pasta, raw cucumber and tomato salad, garlic bread, and steak with mushrooms on the side. Our feast was seasoned with cajun spice that we travel with, eaten with chopsticks, and washed down with BIG snow beers.

Now we sit in the warmth of Jessica's lovely apartment with three laptops spread out in front of us, listening to and trading music. Although we began our journey with our 250GB hard drive nearly empty, our stay with Benson in Shanghai left us with tons of new music. Combined with an eclectic mix from our desktop (from Eminem and Toots, to the Stones and the Gladiators), Martin is really rockin' out. As are we all.

Along with themes of universal cuteness, food, and big smiles, music once again proves itself to break through the language barrier. We all bob our heads to the same beat.

much love from Hangzhou.

xoox

p.s. check out http://honeyserviceyear.shutterfly.com for some new photos from Nanjing and Shanghai.

Read more...

Watching and Learning Doesn't Always Work

China is a whole new world. On the first day of the new (western) year, while we wandered through the beautiful botanical gardens of Sun Yat-Sen, I came across a bright yellow platform, raised about five feet off of the ground, with a steep set of wood stairs leading up from the ground. Being who I am, I obviously had to climb to that nominal height, certain that a particular view, incredible sight, or mysterious vantage would be made clear. Nope. Nothin'. But I have joked from that moment on that it was in this moment, atop a yellow plane several feet from the pine forest floor, that I really GOT China.

But really, I don't. At all. That's not to say that you can't enjoy or appreciate or love something that you do not fully understand.

Sometimes the best way to understand or to learn is simply to watch. Had we visited the Botanical Gardens during a warmer season, perhaps the purpose of this strange yellow platform would have been illuminated. However, the cold weather meant that we were the only crazies around.

As owners of backpackers hostels in south America, and on a long journey ourselves, I so often see travelers rushing, ticking off items on their checklist with great efficiency, and building a store of impatience at cultural items that don't fit into their schedule or assumptions. I always tell them, "slow down!! In your hurry to see everything, you are missing it all!"

In my opinion, much more valuable is time spent sitting and waiting and watching the world go by you instead. Our first day in Tokyo, we were famished and loopy from jet lag and desperate for food. Finding a small restaurant, we had to quell our hunger pangs and graciously let a woman in front of us in line. If you know Asian culture at all, especially Japan, this involved much bowing and insistence and embarrassment for both parties. Using our very embarrassed "line-cutter" as an example, we learned that to order food, one must order from a vending machine (using photos), which then spit out a series of tickets, which then you presented to the restaurant waitress. Voilà, soup and noodles (and ??) were enjoyed just a few moments later.

Last night, our method of watching and learning didn't go so well.

With only two days left in Nanjing, we opted to veer off course from our favorite (and AMAZING) Hui noodle shop, and check out another place instead. We walked in: big beer cooler, incredible-looking dishes of meat and vegetables on every table, people laughing and drinking and scarfing down fanciful dishes that were cooked on grills right in the middle of the tables. The waiter showed us to a table....WOW, that food looked good. He handed us a menu. Um....here we go again. Nine pages of Chinese characters, all with different prices, and no photos. We pulled out the "Point It" book, with our high hopes already sinking. Soon we had a crowd of five waiters hovering around our table, while curious customers also occasionally popped over to see what the hubbub was about. Meanwhile, I was sinking lower and lower into my bamboo chair. We tried, oh how we tried. We pointed to eggplant and beef and onions and lettuce. But somewhere along the way, we realized how futile our efforts were going to be....the image of our table festooned with glorious dishes was rapidly fading. Oh how I anticipated that savory meal. But our illiteracy denied us this exceptional experience and we bowed out, as gracefully as possible. my face blushing deep red.

We ended up at a noodle shop across the street, ordered randomly from the menu, and were delighted by our noodles and wonton's when they arrived.

After arriving back at our hotel room after dinner, I flipped on the television, praying for something in english, or something off-the-wall with costumes and dancing (the latter has been much more prevalent). Instead, I found a program that was most likely called, "Western Dining 101." In the show, a Chinese businessman sat at a table, and showed viewers how to use a knife and fork to cut up a steak. He ate with great relish, and then daubed his mouth with a ginormous cloth napkin.

Well, I guess that everyone has something to learn, right? What is on your "to-learn" list?

xoxo

Read more...