myelenchus

My January and February

2010-02-15T21:54:00.015+01:00

Worked 21 days straight 12-15 hour days on this:

In the Haiti earthquake respone situation room

Then I packed my bags and a few days later arrived here:

I mean here:

Which is here:

Where I do this (much less photogenic of course!):

But mostly this:

and this...
And lest you think my life is glamourous you should know I have little opportunity for meaningful:
I miss my:

And I'm pretty sure I'm getting:

In my room...

2009-07-26T19:35:00.004+02:00

The traditional "this is my room" photo

... and the "this is the view out my window" snap...

I finally know where I am when I wake up yet I will be leaving in a few weeks...

Mombasa

2009-07-12T15:30:00.000+02:00

I had a little business trip to Mombasa and stayed for the weekend.

Mombasa has the regions only natural deep sea ports.

The famous Mombasa tusks (don't worry, they are fake, those would be awfully large elephants!)

Street-side sellers. Bought some yummy casava chips seasoned with chili and fresh lime.

Nakumatt is the local Target/Walmart like shopping center chain throughout Kenya. I am very happy to see a locally owned chain, unlike other countries which have either the American Walmart or the French Carrefour. I took this shot, because I enjoyed the minimalistic advertizing. Nakumatt = Variety. Enough said :)

Took this one for Dad. Masses of electric and telephone wires are not unusual in African cities.

Mombasa apartment living.

You can't just take pictures of the pretty stuff... this stuff is just as common.

Local adverts.

This is the "new" name of the main drag in Mombasa.

African ingenuity.

Travel by ferry anyone?

FORT JESUS

Fort Jesus is so named because the layout of the fort is literally in the shape of Jesus.

Portuguese soldiers made these wall paintings no doubt while Fort Jesus was under seige (for nearly 3 years). Not surprisingly the focus of their wall painting was ships at sea and men with puffy pants (Portuguese) fighting with Arabs.

Tiger Woods

2009-07-08T16:59:00.000+02:00

Matatus are minivans that are used like buses and are the primary form of public transportation. They drive fast and crazy, are crammed full of people and are usually named (as are some tuk tuks, buses, and taxis). On a recent road trip I wrote down the names of all the matatus we passed... just for fun... it's a great Africa road trip game :) These are the names I wrote down:
- Dear Mama
- Magic Storm
- Pirates
- NICE
- Mum Special
- Sound Design
- Twisted
- Redeemer
- Missed Call
- Hot Dollar "In God We Trust"
- Glory to God
- Good Hope
- LandLine
- X-large XXL
- Promise II
- Gods Will
- God is Real
- Reliable
- More Fire
- Papa Nasty

Also, along the way I saw a giant advert that said "Tuskers makes us equal". Tuskers is the local beer and it is an interesting statement considering the tribalism that plagues Kenya... the idea that somehow alcohol could solve issues of real and perceived inequality... sad.

Weekend with Maneaters

2009-07-06T20:26:00.003+02:00

Many years ago I was a fan of the movie Ghost and the Darkness a true story about two maneating lions that killed more than 150 people in Tsavo, Kenya in 1898 during the construction of the Uganda-Mombasa Railway.
Lt. Colonel Patterson (played by Val Kilmer and probably a good part of the reason I was attracted to the film at the time) eventually hunted and killed the lions and wrote a book which 100 years later was turned into a movie. He made rugs out of those lions but after his death the rugs were turned back into lions and are now housed in the Chicago field museum where I have visited them several times. The other part of the attraction to the movie was my fascination with Africa coupled with animal behavior. Now, more than 15 years later, I find myself in Tsavo... hunting maneaters. These are my photos.
Camping on lake Jupe in the southern part of Tsavo near the border with Tanzania. So near that my phone lost charge by bouncing back and forth, "Welcome to Tanzania", "Welcome to Kenya", "Welcome to Tanzania"...
This was the bull elephant that hung out near our campsite. This is the view from my tent.
Why did the elephants cross the road?
Hitchin' a ride.
Tsavo landscapes.
At the watering hole.

The animals in Tsavo were very lazy, we saw countless giraffes and a whole herd of elephants lying down. Lying down is rare for animals of this size as their hearts can't handle too much down time....besides, weren't they worried about the maneaters?
The famous Kingfisher.

Click on this one to see up close. It is gorgeous.
Usually what I look forward to most about camping is falling asleep to the sounds of crickets and waking to the sounds of birds. In Tsavo, these were the creatures I fell asleep to sounds of, and woke up to at 2am and 3am and 4am and 5am. Totally worth it though, it is a rare thing to be sung to by a choir of belching, bleating hippos!
The stealthy hippo.

Crocs!

The circle of life.
One car brokedown, and this was the local (not so local really, it took 5 hours for them to arrive) AAA that came to either fix or tow. 5 hours later they fixed it but we ended up leaving one car and half the group behind.

There were countless other animals, but honestly, I got tired of editing my photos so I will leave it at this... the only thing though...
after all that... no maneaters.

Next time.

Seffarig

2009-06-21T17:42:00.010+02:00

Karibu Kenya

2009-06-14T13:46:00.004+02:00

Between the grogginess of jetlag, the high altitude (mile high), and that funny deja vu feeling of living long-term in a hotel room again, I find myself waking, not knowing what country I am in. My head runs through possible options, Switzerland or perhaps somewhere else in Europe (no the bed it too big), India (no, I smell no spices and I am not sweating), Indonesia (no, I hear no call to prayer and my hotel room costs too much for too little). Until my mind finally settles on the idea that I am back in Africa.

It has been 8 years since I have been in Africa and I have finally returned. I wondered what I would recognize about it, having loved it so much but been away for so long. Oddly enough it was the smell that I recognized the most. The combined smell of burning garbage and wood being pre-burned to be sold for cooking charcoal. I've lived many other places where garbage is burned on the streets and I am learning that each place's burning garbage has a particular smell. So in some odd way, we are what we throw out, our garbage identifies us, just ask an archaeologist...

Nairobi is a sprawling city high up in the hills, though it has been only a few days I find myself feeling a bit isolated going from hotel to (outrageously expensive taxi) to office back to taxi then to hotel. I've been out once or twice other than this but don't feel like I am really getting a feel for the city yet, not to mention I have been warned severely about security issues (robbery, theft, carjacking) so I haven't made strong efforts to get out yet until I get a better lay of the land. However, these are the words I would use to describe Nairobi thus far: power cuts, water cuts, traffic, cheerful people, slowness, traffic, inefficiency (what is efficiency anyhow?), traffic, smiling people, chilly, mosquito free, gridlock traffic, thin air, and oh, did I mention the traffic?

It is odd and like riding a bicycle as some told me it might be but I do remember how to speak/understand Swahili better than I thought. Though I am not speaking it, I really enjoy knowing what people are saying about me :) I think I will do a little more study before I really get out there and speak it again.

So, having not been out much yet, this is all you get. A photo from my hotel room window. It will get more interesting. I have some trips to the field planned already so there will be more to come :)

Stopover in Amsterdam

2009-06-10T12:15:00.002+02:00

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

View from my hotel window

Dinner at an amazing Italian restaurant (apparently the Dutch aren't known for their own cuisine but rather for importing from around the world). Took a picture of the water because it was imported from Italy and I figured it was going to cost us, might as well get more mileage out of the water :)

Evening view of Amsterdam, notice the bicycles, if you are not careful walking the streets of AMS you may get run over by one of these... in Amsterdam bicycles rule the road (and the sidewalk).

And the best part of Amsterdam... reuniting with friends.

My Life Now

2009-05-30T03:38:00.005+02:00

A brief synopsis of my life January - May 2009:

SUDAN: A country wracked by decades of turmoil caused in part by this man...

Omar Al-Bashir: The president of Sudan since 1989 who, in early March 2009 was the first sitting head of state to be accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes by this organization...

The International Criminal Court: Founded by treaty - The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court - in July 2002. The official seat of the court is the Hague, Netherlands and the court generally only exercises jurisdiction in cases when national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate and prosecute crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crime of aggression. The court also only exercises jurisdiction where the accused is a national of a state party to the treaty, the alleged crime took place on the territory of a state party to the treaty, or a situation is referred to the court by the UN Security Council. A total of 108 countries are party to the treaty and therefore members of the court. Russia, China, India, the United States and the Sudan are not members of the Court.

The accusations made this guy... really angry. Instead of lashing out directly at governments he held responsible, he expelled humanitarian organizations funded by those governments by accusing he the organizations of sharing information with the ICC. These humanitarian organizations had provided vital, life-sustaining services to more than 4.7 million people in Darfur.

When most people think about Sudan they think about this...

and this...

But it is much much more complicated that any of that, so I try to focus on this:
Since 2003, conflict between armed opposition factions, militias, the Sudanese Armed Forces and ethnic groups in Sudan’s western region of Darfur has affected more than 4.7 million people, including nearly 2.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). According to the UN, violence has displaced approximately 317,000 individuals within Darfur and to eastern Chad since January 2008. The total number of deaths resulting from the conflict in Darfur was estimated by the UN in 2006 to be more than 200,000 since then the UN and human rights groups have indicated that it may be closer to 400,000.

In addition more than two decades of conflict beteen the north and the south compounded by famine and disaease has killed more than 2 million people, forced an estimated 600,000 Sudanese to seek refuge in neighboring countries, and displaced an additional 4 million individuals within Sudan.

HOW? WHY?
Because of some of this...

A little bit of this...

a lot of this...

and too much of this...

So what do I do about all of this?
I focus on this...

I use these...

but more like this...

...and I get to work.

Me & Hill

2009-01-23T14:26:00.006+01:00

It is my second week at work, and it is Friday "Jeans" day, when, with very little warning we are told Hillary Clinton is coming to speak to us.
It becomes standing room only and before long not even room to stand so my office makes their way forward to sacrifice themselves by sitting on the floor ahead of the front rows. She was late. My butt hurt. It was jeans day but I didn't wear jeans I wore a rugged skirt...not many positions to sit in, in rugged skirt. Not ever having been much of a Hill fan, I found myself thinking "this better be worth the butt pain... smile through it, smile through it" Here we are, waiting on Hill.... and waiting, and waiting....

Finally she arrives.
She shakes many hands on her way up to the stage.
Hill shakes my hand. They put it on CSPAN.

Hillary looking rather stately.
Hillary speaks. She says she is going to get us the resources we need to do our job right. She says lots of things. She is well-spoken. A true stateman...er statesperson.
http://www.usaid.gov/press/speeches/2009/sp090123.html
(Umm yes, the actual handshakes are recorded on the video)

Hill handshaking. The People's Hill.

More handshaking on her way down from the stage.
Me handshaking again.
They put it on CNN headline news.
Am now regretting rugged skirt.

Inauguration

2009-01-20T22:49:00.002+01:00

My photographic journey of the 2009 U.S. Presidential Inauguration

January 20, 2009

0600 hrs EST - board metro at King Street Station bound for the district

M & I go over the map to determine our best route to the yellow ticket holder gate, and back-up route given that they continue to announce station closures

0800 hrs exit at recently re-opened South Capital metro stop

0825 Still exiting at South Capital Metro stop

0910 finally arrive at the end of the yellow ticket holder line... merged with the purple ticket holder line... right, that was a line and no it was not moving

People are still in good humor

T looks reasonably worried that we might not make it the full distance to the capital (seen behind her in the distance)

0955 Yes, we finally made it to our spots, and yes I am happy to be there but my frozen lips are having trouble cracking a smile...

0959 Obama arrives to cheers

1015 Obama gives Inauguration speech... he says he's humbled

FACES OF THE INAUGURATION

This is my favorite part, just looking at the people and capturing their reactions, this is where I got to really try my photography skills, rather than just stick my camera in the air and shoot as I had been in the huge crowds.

1055 The happy inauguration gang: We were some of the lucky few to receive tickets and the even luckier few that somehow made it through the madness to the capital lawn for the whole ceremony

A most important post!

2009-01-18T05:34:00.004+01:00

So, yes... I have moved countries (via visits to several other countries) visited all my family for the holidays despite snow storms, canceled flights and really really slow Amtrak trains... finished up my final report for grad school (all 65 glorious pages) and can now say that I am officially the owner of a brand spanking new MBA (and a whole lotta debt), and have started a new job... not just any job but a job that I am nearly certain I can say that I do and will love and in just two short weeks in that job I have exciting little tidbits about satellite phones, diplomatic passports, and what's going down in Sri Lanka or Sudan... and on an on... I could talk in more detail about all of that stuff but really now, let's get to the more important things in life... cookies.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-cookiescience19-2009jan19,0,1978857.story

Au Revoir Geneve

2008-12-22T23:03:00.000+01:00

A photo gallery of my last few moments in Geneva. A sad goodbye...I tried to soak up every last minute I had in Geneva in Late November early December... it was a city I dearly loved living in hopefully I will be back someday. (click to enlarge any photo)

Genevois art?

or perhaps just a representation of those in the banking industry?

your guess is as good as mine...

My favorite street corner.

IOMBA class of 2007/2008 last goodbyes... a moment together for the few that remain in Geneva before we embark on our next journeys in life... one day later I would do the same with the Washington DC contingent of IOMBA... hopefully more IOMBA reunions to come all over the globe :)

The Doha Round

2008-12-01T22:06:00.001+01:00

I realized as I passed through Doha for the second time that I never posted photos of my little Doha round (a day and and night and a day) that I did on my way to Indonesia in early August. So I thought I would post these with a few of my comments. They are not beautiful photographs by any means but it is such a different place from the usual places I encounter and they show what little I can of the 'round'.

My first view walking the streets of Doha... steamy... my camera never really took to the hot, hot, humid weather.

The market area... seemed mostly closed. I stepped in one shop that was open and the first thing they asked is what I was doing there and why was I not at the mall, I told the shopkeep I wanted to see Doha and he said Doha was at the mall.

I finally gave in and found my way to the mall (pictured here)... indeed, all of Doha was at the mall. I walked in and saw a KFC at one end and a KFC at the other... living in Europe it had been a long time since I had seen a KFC, but I hardly expected I the next time I would next run into such an American favorite would be in the middle east. Go figure...

The mall was full of western (European and American) brand shops like Esprit, Promod and Marks & Spencer, but also had some local shops like the one above. I was amazed walking around some shops I had been in only days previous in Geneva, they had the exact styles and fabric in their shops here except everything was long... long sleeved, long skirts, long capris.

A view of the mall, great for people watching...

The ice skating rink on the ground floor as seen from the atrium. Hard to believe I was out in that sweltering dust storm... no wonder the few people out on the street kept telling me I was nutty.

Under construction: Everywhere we went new buildings were sprouting, what an interesting time to be living in the desert.

Sacred Monkeys

2008-11-20T14:03:00.000+01:00

Sacred Monkey Forest, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Okay a few things about this adventure: I finally read my camera manual and was really enjoying taking a million experimental photos, I used to work with this exact kind of monkey from Indonesia the long tailed macaque otherwise known as Macaca fasciculari s and I really loved seeing them in the wild. It was also a gorgeous sunny day... all in all a perfect day in paradise.

It's a jungle out there!

...so tell the world how you feel

The Komodo Dragons guarding the sacred spring water (coming from below the cave)

Crazy little monkeys!

Cute little Monkey

What I can look forward to on the other side of the mirror at my next birthday...

Canine Yoga...it's all the rage

Some days feel like this for sure...

A wet monkey

Smoking is NOT cool kids! (not even incense)

The temple of dooooooom... (okay not really)

What I can look forward to in the mirror birthday-after-next

Another wet monkey...

How the monkeys got wet...

Ponderous Monkey

Zen

All photos are copywrited Reagan 2008 (c)

A mini me?

2008-11-19T09:35:00.002+01:00

Okay, dumb article but exciting NEWS! The worlds smallest primate, once thought extinct has been rediscovered in my own backyard!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081118/sc_nm/us_primate_indonesia

Rickshaw Idol

2008-10-31T08:07:00.004+01:00

I absolutely love this story... having been pushed and pedaled by many a rickshaw peddlers/drivers, I love that they are getting so much attention and the chance to do something that they love! What a beautiful story :)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7699861.stm

My own little man of the forest :)

2008-10-24T06:55:00.003+02:00

Various Views

2008-10-23T17:04:00.005+02:00

View of my room

View from my room

My usual view of Jakarta: from the back seat of a BlueBird Taxi

No New Comments... No new Posts ;-)

2008-10-21T03:13:00.001+02:00

Chocolate sprinkles & Rubber time

2008-10-05T15:31:00.002+02:00

Funny things about Jakarta...

-The chocolate sprinkle section in the supermarket can only be compared in size, volume and variety to the cereal aisle in the US... for those of you who don't know what that is like, think of the most overwhelming selection of your favorite supermarket product, be it pasta or fruit or shampoo then stick mirrors on both ends... yeah, they like their chocolate sprinkles... I think it is the only thing they got from the Dutch.

-"Chocolat" is the word for brown in Bahasa Indonesian... that must get confusing when you want white chocolate :)

- The minimum wage is 800,000 Rupiah per month. Today that is $84. But this town aint cheap so I don't know how that is done?

- 'Rubber time' or 'Jam Karet' in Bahasa... yeah, sounds like hammer time, but in fact it is how they describe time's stretchiness... I'll be there at 7-ish...boing! 9:30 boing... traffic jam, boing ... 10 see you at 10... Rubber time! And it just so happens that the part of the city that I live in is called "Karet"... yes, I live in Rubber... da na na na...can't touch this... Rubber time!

M&Melamine

2008-09-22T15:53:00.005+02:00

So here I am sitting in Jakarta, snacking out of a packet of peanut M&M's. I recently discovered them at a shop and longing for tastes of home have been indulging a little bit. When an e-mail from a friend here in Indonesia pops into my in-box with the subject "If you have these at home DON'T eat them!" attached is a list of foods to throw out. All these foods have been tainted by milk products from China where Melamine was added in the processing of the milk in order to add protein to milk that is diluted. Essentially milk producers are cheating. They blame rising fuel prices and tightening margins. As they justify their behavior more and more children in China fall ill, some reports stating as many as 53,000, and many die from eating tainted milk and baby formula. As I pop one more melts in your mouth not in your hand, taste of American goodness into my mouth I read the list and there it is... M&M's.

But noooo, these can't be made in china? I scour the package written in about a dozen different languages, I peel back the Bahasa Indonesian label that has been stuck to the package presumably to meet some sort of national standard and underneath it find the words... "MADE IN CHINA". I remember once buying and American flag for the 4th of July and finding those words on the flag and laughing at the irony. But as the last M&M was melting in my mouth, I wasn't enjoying the irony anymore. Spit, spit, spit!

I already have food stats pretty well plugged into my head as far as calories, protein, fiber, iron, calcium etc... Call me lazy, but I don't want to have to think about my food in more detail than this. I don't want to have to look at the back of the package and guess what all those "other" ingredients are (Asia is notorious for adding MSG to any and everything) or look at where it is made then look up that country's social, environmental and regulatory record. And what about Mars? At what level are they responsible or will they "these were produced by subsidiary X for subsidiary Y" us to death, just as the Chinese dairies justified their actions with fuel prices and profit margins?

Oh forget it! I think I will go eat an apple... grown without pesticides, but sometimes with pests (ie worms), without wax but always dirty, individually wrapped in a little Styrofoam net to prevent bruising (but probably very bad for the birds) and imported from Japan. Japan's apple farmers are suffering from rising fuel prices as well... they have tightening margins... hmmm... I think I will just go eat an apple and not think about it.

For my sisters...

2008-09-17T04:36:00.003+02:00

I just read this online (so it must be true right?)

"Toy giant Mattel estimates that Barbie owners have staged over 10 billion Barbie and Ken weddings."

First of all how they come up with that sort of estimate is beyond me, but really what got me thinking was the fact that my sisters and I, must have contributed to say... at least one billion of those Barbie/Ken weddings... yes those were the days and it helps to have had three sisters, lazy summers, and plenty of visiting female cousins and friends. Yes, our Barbies and Kens had very active social lives. Barbie and Ken had their little tiffs, especially when our brother's (much shorter) Luke Skywalker action figure entered the picture and tried to break Barbie and Ken up... but in the end there was always a Barbie and Ken wedding. What we forgot to act out was the Barbie/Ken Divorce, The Barbie goes to grad school and becomes highly indebted, The Barbie desperately (okay maybe not desperately just yet) searches for a job, The Barbie wanders the globe in search of something?, and the Barbie lives happily everafter with her dog... I suppose getting to the wedding was enough for our fanciful little girl imaginations and now it is up to our adult imaginations to finish the story...hopefully with as much style and blissful happiness as in those lazy summers...

Yes, yes, I promise I will quit these silly tangents and get back to the matters at hand such as, where the heck I am living and what I am doing and all the little quirky things about my life now...like chocolate sprinkles... I was just enjoying this moment down memory lane.

What time is it?

2008-09-08T10:17:00.002+02:00

News that makes you go Uhhhhh?

2008-09-08T10:12:00.005+02:00

Indonesia & Bird Flu Fiasco... (click Here)

Alarm as Indonesia thumbs nose at West over bird flu

Mount Bromo - Tengger - Semeru National Park - East Java

2008-08-20T17:49:00.016+02:00

Sunrise Just after the partial lunar eclipse (which I didn't get a picture of... my lens just isn't happy with so little light... sorry... it's in the memory card of my mind and it was an unexpected surprise)

Sunrise on Volcanoes: Mt. Bromo is the steam pot in the foreground, last time it exploded was in 2004, now it is just a pot of steaming sulfur and ash... after the sunrise view we drove down then hiked up the 276 steps to the rim, to take in some sulfur... breath deeply... Aaaaaaaah

Mt. Semeru: The highest mountain in Java

The Legend: According to a local folk tale, at the end of the 15th century princess Roro Anteng from the Majapahi Empire started a separate principality together with her husband Joko Seger. They named it Tengger by the last syllables of their names. The principality did prosper, but the ruling couple failed to conceive children. In their despair they climbed Mount Bromo to pray to the gods, who granted them help, but requested the last child to be sacrificed to the gods. They had 24 children, and when the 25th and last child Kesuma was born Roro Anteng refused to do the sacrifice as promised. The gods then threatened with fire and brimstone, until she finally did the sacrifice. After the child was thrown into the crater, the voice of the child ordered the local people to perform an annual ceremony on the volcano, which is held today. Another version has the child throwing himself in after the mother refuses.

Motorcycle Mania! It was motorcycle weekend at Mt. Bromo, hundreds upon hundreds of motorcyclists flocked to Bromo to struggle through the ash all the way up to the view point.

Nature's Feng Shui

View looking down from half way up to the rim of Bromo: given that it was Indonesia's national day, it seemed very appropriate that this lone horseman was draped in the national flag

Local landscapes

Independence day games: the pool was full of fish and the kids had to catch them with their hands and throw them in buckets as fast as they could... it looked like a lot of fun!

Independence day smiles :)

Just Arrived in Jakarta...

2008-08-06T15:10:00.003+02:00

Just arrived in Jakarta after... (six reasons I love travel, really, I don't mind these things, I feel it's all worth it in the end)

1) being forced to leave one bag behind in Geneva or pay $500, and this was their "special price just for me" (in a hurry... so who knows which bag I ended up with and what will be in it when I arrive) One lesson learned: five star airline means five star hidden prices.... I don't have a five star pocket book and offend the five star check in staff when i refuse to pay five star baggage fees.... five star just ain't my thing...

2) I ran full speed to catch plane to Doha (after baggage fiasco) only to get on the plane and sit on the tarmac for 1.5 hours

3) a dusty, humid, hot, hot, hot day in Doha... wondering where all the Qatari's are out there on the street... they were all at the mall, eating at Applebees... ummm yeah, not excactly the cultural experience I was looking for, but very enlightening nonetheless...

4) When leaving Doha, not only did the Qatar Airways baggage Natzi's weigh my hand baggage and reject it (even though I had come from Geneva with the same hand baggage, they made me check my carry on, but luckily didn't try to charge me $500 like when I checked in in Geneva with two bags) I learned this was only because they didn't know about my original bag because they had lost it somewhere in Doha, it still wasn't located when I boarded the plane

5) 11 hours of woman puking on me (literally, the flight staff had to ask her to quit sleeping on my tray table so they could set my food down, she was non-responsive.... I felt for her, I did, I let her sleep on my shoulder, but oh the smells, the sounds and the thoughts of my upcoming illness...Oi!)

6) Prayers were answered, luggage found in Jakarta, ride picked me up... now at the hotel and vewy vewy tired.... ZZZzzzzzzzz

Will fill in the gaps later.... ZZZZZzzzzz

P.S. does anyone know how much 2 million Indonesian money is? (yes, I've lowered myself to calling it Indonesian money, so unclassy I know, but im tired, jetlagged and even wikipedia feels like too much effort right now)... yeah... and this many zero's and my mind gets all boggled... maybe they can just take off a few zero's or something... well I hope 2 million isn't my life savings because I just took it out of my account, but the ATM let me do it so it must not be too much... see I've been traveling so much lately I've overlooked some of these details, well actually I did have the exchange rate written on a post-it-note with the precise amount I should withdrawl when I arrived... only it dissapeared in the baggage fiasco and there was no way I could remember a number with that many digits...so I just pushed a number on the ATM that looked good and 2 million sounds cool... I don't think I've ever had 2 million of anything!

Last night at VC

2008-08-03T16:59:00.000+02:00

It's hard to believe that I lived at Voie Cruese for 13 months! This is the last night... with my classmates, flatmates, neighbors & friends... a quick impromptu get together and snap shot amidst the chaotic packing... days we will always miss :)

The Dombes

2008-08-01T17:10:00.000+02:00

July 2008. Four women trek out on their own into the wilds of France to experience fine french cuisine and take in some the lush French countryside and exotic wildlife... this is their journey...

Setting the stage: nearly two hour drive from Geneva to the Dombes, found the perfect quaint little town, where next to the stone church with steeple we find the perfect little restaurant with tables set out back under shady canopies with a view of the green cow pasture and the wilderness beyond...You are about to witness four women partake in four hours of carnage... I mean four hours of fine French cuisine...

Round One: whet your appetite with cured ham atop slices of melon drizzled with something or other... it was kind of sweet and sticky... the melon was great but the ham a bit strong and knowing what was ahead of us I couldn't eat but only a small fraction of a piece. Celine saved the day when she suggested that we wrap the ham up in a bun, wrap that in a napkin and put it in someones (my) purse... these sorts of things are never embarrassing to students, having lost all our pride, but usually frowned upon in fine French restaurants... even if they are in the country-side... we did it when no one was looking.

Round Two: a duck pate garnished with cream sauce and escargots I tried them. I will try anything at least once.

Round Three: Drumroll please...... .... ... ... FROG LEGS!!!! Ok. Someone got the terminology a little mixed up because these little guys were not just frog legs, they were frog arms and frog bodies... basically all the frog but for the head. Can't see it from here?... take a closer look...

How 'bout them frog legs? Okay they were very fried and very garlicy, and one has to pick through the little bones and I'm not a fan of eating around the bones, especially with memories of 9th grade biology class and what we did to frogs back then... but as I said, I will try anything once. I was done by frog number three, but Celine reminded me that that is why we came and I couldn't wrap them up and take them in my purse... so I ate lots more, it seemed like they were breeding in the pan, I just couldn't get to the bottom.

Round Four: Roast Chicken with the loveliest sauce and the most devine mushrooms known to man (and I am not a mushroom fan, though after this I was considering getting a pig and doing a little truffle hunting myself). And in the far corner these little corn cake things that I forgot the name of. I liked those. Mmmmm.

Round Five: Fresh homemade yogurt. Also called wet cheese (as opposed to the dry cheese down below) It was very, very good.

Round Six: Dry cheese. Now I am a cheese lover like anyone else, but this cheese was a little too French for me. They were all moldy. Like hair growing off of them moldy... it was so against everything that is programmed into my ape brain to eat something that had gone off to that point. If you are French I apologize but I think eating rotten food is an acquired taste.

Round Seven: Dessert! Look at that... Need I say more...

Counting... We've been eating for over FOUR hours... I now have SEVEN animals in my stomach... THERE IS A ZOO IN MY STOMACH... speaking of zoos, we better get to parc des oiseaux before we don't have time to see all the wildlife, afterall, that's what we came for, the fine French cuisine was just an afterthought, or a forethought or whatever...

Four lovely ladies at the bird park... what an adventure this is going to be!

Things I learned from the birds #1: If you have an itch, scratch it.

Things I learned from the birds #2: Hate looks an awful lot like love "mommy those flamingoes are in love"... um no. Those are two males fighting over one female. Gotta hand it to those birds the numbers are sure in the ladies' favor...

Things I learned from the birds #3: If you are cute and you know it then your face will surely show it... if you've got it, use it!

Things I learned from the birds #4: If you see three goofy birds on a log... take a picture.

Lesson learned: Three goofy birds on a log here...

Ummm a photo shoot gone wrong... and we were doing so well!

Of course this is how we are used to seeing Celine...

Until she learned that other people can take pictures of her too...

She also learned that her camera can take pictures of others as well!

And that other peoples cameras take pictures of other people too... this was the highlight of the Kirstin photo shoot.

The Michal photo shoot... isn't she lovely!

Yes, yours truely hamming it up for the camera (obviously I am used to being on the other side of my camera) and yes, the ham is still in my purse.

Geesh! We came here to see wildlife... turns out we ARE the wildlife!

Speaking of Hands

2008-07-30T13:24:00.000+02:00

Did you know that according to recent research not only does the human hand have over 150 types of bacteria on it, but women have a greater range of different types of bacteria and up to 400 times the amount of bacteria as men (such as Enterobacteriales the same family of bacteria that has Sallmonella and E-coli). So I guess it is the girls that have the cooties after all!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7705608.stm

Hands

2008-07-28T04:49:00.003+02:00

A last look at Europe... on top of the Eiffel Tower at night :)

I have always had a fascination with hands. I think hands can say a lot about a person. They are a symbol of what we do with our lives. They can do horrendously evil things and they can do good and kind things...I have always looked at my hands and asked myself what good I do with them, and when I die I want to be able to look at my hands and say that I have done much good with them. These are photos I took at the Louvre on my quick trip to Paris in July.

Quinoa Black Bean Salad

2008-07-25T19:01:00.001+02:00

Okay it is not normal for me to post this, but I made this salad for the second time for a baby shower last week and it was a real hit. Not to mention I LOVE IT! ... we didn't have black beans so I used Red beans and it still seemed to work great.

Thought I should share :)

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

Serves: 8

This substantial salad offers a healthy balance of vegetables and protein. It provides a wide range of textures, colors, and seasonings.

INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 cups quinoa
1-1/2 cups canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1-1/2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1-1/2 cups cooked corn (fresh, canned or frozen)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 tsp. garlic, minced fine
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped fine
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/3 cup olive oil

DIRECTIONS
1. Rinse quinoa in a fine sieve under cold running water until water runs clear.
2. Put quinoa in a pot with 2-1/4 cups water.
3. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 20 minutes or until water is absorbed and quinoa is tender.
4. Fluff quinoa with a fork and transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool.
5. While quinoa is cooking, in a small bowl toss beans with vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Add beans, corn, bell pepper, scallions, garlic, cayenne and coriander to the quinoa. Toss well.
7. In a small bowl whisk together lime juice, salt, cumin and add oil in a stream while whisking. Drizzle over salad and toss well with salt and pepper. Salad may be made a day ahead and refrigerated, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving.

NUTRITION INFO
Calories: 277
Fat: 11 g
Carbohydrates: 39 g
Protein: 8 g

In Recovery...

2008-07-14T01:49:00.005+02:00

This could take awhile...

I WISH! actually with the extra jobs i've taken on, it's more like this...

Graduation day!

2008-07-05T01:43:00.001+02:00

What we do when we should be studying for finals...

2008-06-30T23:58:00.004+02:00

And...

EURO 2008 and the First Goodbyes...

2008-06-23T00:00:00.007+02:00

Geneva's symbol of EURO 2008

At night the ball lights up and appears to be floating above the city... someone said "it looks like a UFO" I said, "No, it looks like a UEFA!"
(I really should take that joke to WIPO)

Grad Class Lac Leman Cruise

The Goodbyes begin... :(

Köln

2008-06-17T21:30:00.004+02:00

Good friends, Sauerkraut by the plate, German folk music and Euro 2008... Fabelhaft!

Trekking the green Swiss Hills

2008-05-30T16:08:00.012+02:00

Hiking in the Hills of St. Cergue

Check the warning sign about how to deal with cattle while hiking through the pastures... despite the urge to laugh, pay special attention, it may actually come in handy... (click on photo to view larger)
Hike through the pastures & the Hills--little gates between pastures for easy trekking
Houses in the Hills of St. Cergue

Lunch at the top
A view from the top: Lake Geneva in the distance

"Laureen why won't your camera take this cute picture of you guys in the grassy meadow?" ... "Oh, I think the timer button got pushed, here hand it to me I will fix it... click.. ooops!"

Instead why don't you take this cheesy picture of me pointing at what we decided was a heart shaped rock... because those are just the sorts of things silly girls do... at any age... yeah...
How exciting, the poster really was important... this angry bull cow was caught charging some utility men out on the pastures checking the phone poles. They were mighty embarrassed to be caught by a group of girls and insisted the bull didn't like their bright yellow uniforms. The bull sure made a loud ruckus then proceeded to try to take down one of the phone poles... meanwhile I got a phone call on my mobile, someone requesting for me to come in for a job interview... guess I will have to explain why he heard a bull cow moaning in the background.

In the tiny little village of St. Cergue... apparently the most important destination in either direction, not parking, not the hospital, but the Boulangerie otherwise known as the pastry shop, go left, go right, either way you will run into a Boulangerie

And yes, even Indiana Jones is alive and well in the tiny tiny town of St. Cergue in the hills of Switzerland... congrats Clint on your role in the film... a group of 15 of us went last weekend and loved it, lots of fun! ... so proud of you!

Girl for Sale

2008-05-23T17:51:00.001+02:00

For Sale:

Highly Educated
Highly in-debt
Fun-loving, happy with a good sense of humor
Professional when necessary
Smart, but not too smart
Interested in doing work that she can love, something that is intellectually stimulating and involves helping people around the world to build better lives for themselves especially when they find themselves in circumstances that are less than ideal
Will live anywhere she can keep her dog and have a moderately active social life, with some professional travel
Price is always negotiable, but not too negotiable (see point two)

I made this!

2008-05-05T23:35:00.001+02:00

Took the picture, made the poster, planning the event... and all in my spare time, Phew! No wonder I never have time for blogging ;-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ______________ !

2008-04-30T10:03:00.000+02:00

We're happy to have you in our family!

Love,
Your Auntie :)

Lake Bugs!

2008-04-19T13:52:00.001+02:00

A panoramic view from the bell tower of the cathdral in old town Geneva (I love this city!) see the Jet d'eau (giant water fountain) in the distance on Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) Lovely!

After a long week, a long day at school and a late night of school events, I finally got some sleep! Awoke to a spring day (the weather has been indecisive, one day winter snow! the next day spring summer warmth!) so I decided to take advantage of it and go running. Lately it has become apparent that sitting in a classroom 8 hours a day for months on end has not been good for my body. It seems that as soon as I get into the classroom my circulation slows, my digestion stalls, and my body goes into a sub-coma... it's a little frightening really and makes me wonder if perhaps this intense one-year MBA thing isn't so good for the health! We've had a slightly lighter schedule and although that extra space has been filled by job hunting activities, I've been trying to make running more than a once weekly event as it has been the last half year or so. I've always enjoyed running... it more of a jog for me, but put me in some nice scenery with my ipod and it is as much exercise for the mind as it is the body. Unless I have a 5K planned, my regime essentially consists of running until all the thoughts in my head quit coming, then running back home with a quiet head... it's lovely!

With my roomies on a Sunday afternoon walk along my favorite lake (Photo taken in January)

So today I am running along thinking about my life as it stands... you know, the usual... money... going it completely on loans is scary and not wanting to go into unnecessary debt I took the bare minimum in loans, only the bare minimum turned out to be less than the minimum when the exchange rates blew my plan! So I find myself thinking how much longer can I survive on what I have? and naturally following that up with questions about how and when I will find the right job. Last night we had a big event where we met several people in the "industry" who are our career ambassadors of a sort and try to fit us with the right people/organization/ position etc (if one can be found). I had a couple of interesting leads including one position that requires going into countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and other areas with groups of insecure populations and training citizens, police and other security personnel about civilian protection. It sounds fascinating and right up my alley but I find myself asking, do I want to return to the field 100%? Do I want to go back into the field? Do I want to stay in Geneva or go back to the states? Does it matter what I want or do I just take whatever paid position comes along? I took this course to give me choice, but there will be a day (very soon) when the well will run dry and I will have to take whatever opportunity is in front of me. I am thinking these deep thoughts as the trail turns and weaves a path along the lake and I notice people coming my direction on the trail waving their hands in the air curiously. I notice others on the lawn jumping and doing what looks like a little dance... and everyone looks a little blurry, cough, cough! I realize the blur is really the swarm of little white bugs I have just run into, and that I have swallowed perhaps a half dozen of these little creatures. LAKE BUGS! I run faster, hoping to run out of the swarm, but it turns out it was not simply a swarm but a swarm of swarms! I begin laughing as I see more people coming my direction doing all sorts of hand gestures some look like tai chi, even karate to fend off the little creatures and they laugh as heartily as I wildly wave my hands in the air for the same purpose. I cough and spit and give in saying to myself that I had been trying to find some cheaper forms of protein anyhow. I love running along this lake and I begin to appreciate even these crazy little lake bugs and the laughter they have allowed me to share with all the people along the trail. My thoughts wander back to where I will end up next... so much is behind me now, and there are so many ways ahead to go, so many opportunities, so many choices ahead of me how will I know which one is right? Where will I end up and will there be a beautiful place to run... perhaps with lake bugs? And with this thought, I know it's time to turn around and run home...spiting, coughing and flailing my arms all the way.

Part of the trial I run along the lake

Easter Adventures...

2008-04-06T22:49:00.001+02:00

Sion Castle

Happy Easter Bunny in Sion hotel Easter Morning :)

Mural on wall in Ancient Church in Sion

Fire Hydrant in Muren
Sign in field in Interlakken

Goofing off in Zurich

Nearly missing our train to the airport in Zurich

Bohemian Birthday

2008-04-05T19:48:00.001+02:00

If one has to turn 30... one might as well do it in Prague :)
I have some Bohemian Blood in me so it seemed like it was about time I made it to Prague!

The Easter Market in Prague

Our favorite Easter Market treats... dough with orange flavor, wrapped onto iron rods rolled near hot coals then slipped off the rods and rolled in cinnamon and sugar... YUM!

The Famous Astronomical Clock... crowds gather round waiting and craning their necks up to its faces...Just before the hour the clock makes a bit of noise and if you are lucky you can see each of the twelve apostles passing by the windows...

That is if you are not too distracted by the skeleton pulling the cord that marks the hour... Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong, Dong!

Tourists! Crowds of people at the Easter Market, a view from the top of the Astronomical clock tower

Inside the largest castle complex in Europe... or was it the world? This is the cathedral.

One of the stars of the show (Cathedral) Good King Wenceslas' tomb... yes that would be the Good King Wenceslas of Christmas Carol fame.

Now it happens that anyone who has seen five or more Cathedrals in Europe has likely seen them all, or that is how it will feel upon entrance into the familiar cross shaped, gothic styled, vault ceilinged refrigerated building. I went in on the decision to try to find what was special about this particular Cathedral (besides the Good King of course) and what I found were some of the most stunning stained glass windows I've yet seen and the sun was in full cooperation to highlight such stunning pieces of art.

Some of the many church steeples in the Prague skyline... notice how pregnant that sky looks, luckily it never rained on us, I was convinced if I carried my umbrella it would not rain, and rain it did not! The sky did look ominous sometimes though which actually just added to the ambiance of the city.

In front of the Prague branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (yes, that's what the sign says in Czech).

The Prague "night" shot

On the Charles Bridge :)
Below: view of the Charles Bridge

In King Wenceslas square (that's him up there on the horse... really nice guy)

The UN Lottery

2008-02-26T21:05:00.002+01:00

My hand is stiff and cramped into a nearly close fisted position. I just returned from 7 hours of gruelling testing. Okay well the test wasn't exactly that long but add in the two block walk to the UN, the administrative procedures (which are many) and the walk home and you have seven hours of bliss. I have to admit though that the venue made it surreal, and worth the experience... perhaps.

This afternoon I removed myself from my room that I had locked myself in for study and walked about two blocks up to the UN. Yes, I didn't even have to leave my neighborhood but once I entered the gates and walked up the flag lined road, I was as lost as though I were in another country. Around 200 of us, wandered our way through the maze that is the UN compound in Geneva and found our way to the UN General Assembly Hall where we showed our passports, signed a document and were given the pleasure of sitting for the some odd hour exam, under the shadow of the giant gold plated seal of the UN that was secured high on the wall of the vaulted room. We picked up the ear pieces attached to the tables in front of us as instructions were given in French and English (where I was happy to think that I could understand about 30% of the French). And there we sat, hunched over our exams for the next handfull of hours, imagining the thousands of other test takers going over the same exam in locations all over the world today.

Sometime back last October, I became aware of a recruitment exam for the UN, about say, 5 hours before the application for the exam was due. I neglected my studies for that day and rushed the application in, not really knowing exactly what I was applying for. A few weeks ago I was cleaning out my email in-box and found the email confirming my application and assigning me a number. Having never heard back from them and really having forgotten all about it, I just assumed it had all come to naught. I decided to figure out what it was I was missing out on, only to find on their website that I was listed as having been convoked for the exam in Geneva. I did a little more research and discovered that out of the hundreds of applications they receive only 40 Americans had been convoked to take this particular exam... The countries selected for the exam as well as the occupational groups are based on countries and occupational groups that are under represented in the Secretariat. Which means although this exam is available to me this year, it may not be the next. So I've won the lottery! Well not exactly, this was just round one. The UN National Competitive Recruitment Exam is the UN's only recruitment mechanism for new-entry permanent career appointments within the UN Secretariat. Of those who take the exam a very small number will be invited to interview in New York and of those even fewer will be offered a position. So I am playing the UN lottery. But happy to have made it this far.

So how did I do? It is hard to really evaluate how I did, between the intensity of classes right now, studying the last few days for the exam and then seven hours of hand cramping essay writing (12 essays in total... and who writes with a pen anymore anyhow!?), it is really difficult to say, its all a blur. But I have to say I much prefer writing essays than any other type of exam and I can say I wasn't terribly stumped by any of the essay questions, and was able to manage my time and answer them all. So who knows. Maybe in 5-10 months I will have good fruits for my efforts, if not I will continue in the job hunt and be happy to have had the experience.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

2008-01-26T02:00:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday!
This short message is serving as a place holder, to let you know that your birthday present is on it's way (a blog update...I know it's not that exciting but it's the best I could do and it's dedicated to you)... within the next 24-48 you will find a totally new blog post in honor of the day of your birth.
I hope you have a good Birthday, sorry I can't be there to celebrate!
Love,
Laureen

one plus one is eleven right? 1+1 = 11?

2007-11-21T17:02:00.000+01:00

MATH!!!!

All I can do is find a way to laugh, laughing is my only resource for such topics, yes this is the topic that makes me freeze, gives me the deer in the headlights look, sweaty palms, fuzzy head, and nightmares...I have lost a scholarship I desperately needed and my pride over this topic... what is left but to find a way to laugh about it :)

Yes this is what I've been up to...

Yes, I am a Math Atheist!

And my personal favorite!...

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Cow Bells...

2007-10-21T23:36:00.002+02:00

Welcome to Gruyeres... the land of peaceful rolling pastures, enchanting Castles and Happy Cows :)

Gruyeres Castle surrounded by happy Cows... yes look closely that is not a tree but a bush of flowers strapped to the cows head.

After finishing the last of three final papers and suffering from this disturbing feeling that my laptop has been surgically attached to me, I decided that I needed to head out of town for a day. What do you think of when your brain feels like mush and every thought you have seems to spill our of your head as though it is full of holes?… that’s right Swiss CHEESE! Gruyeres to be exact, the home of the famous Gruyere cheese, and an enchanting castle on a hill surrounded by pastures full of cows with giant bells around their necks and flowers on their heads. All this only two hours away by train… isn’t Switzerland lovely!

I love train rides. All week long my thoughts are scattered going from thing to thing in rapid succession, taking detours or simply hitting dead ends. But there is something about a train ride, with the scenery whipping by, that allows me to take one thought and to follow it wherever it goes, all the way to its end as if it were sharing the same iron rails as the train.

View from the Gruyeres Castle

Happy cows make happy CHEESE! Rows and rows of Cheese! Gruyere of course!

The Rest of the Story...

2007-10-03T10:58:00.001+02:00

This blog entry is dedicated to my sister Lyndy who turns 24 today...Happy Birthday Lyndy! You've been begging me to update, and I've been waiting these three months just for your BIRTHDAY!

No, I did not float away in the Monsoon....

I'm sucking on a Ricola coming down off the high of having finished my first final... or is it a low... it was a tough one, a group paper and it was a killer but it is over and I have 15 minutes before I start the next of three finals due this week. Finals you say? ... so this is where I have to give the rest of the story... to rapidly fill in the gaps of the last three months.

Month one July:

A beautiful month in many continents... from India to Germany to Switzerland... yes July is a beautiful month!

After kissing muddy RAIPUR goodbye I made my way solo down the subcontinent to HYDERABAD: easy, fun, lively city with tremendously good shopping compared to where I had been living... 4 quick days, a cooking class and a visit to the mysterious GOLCONDA FORT and I was zipping out of Hyderabad and onto my new life in Switzerland, but not without a stop in FRANKFURT: to grab my visa and get completely confounded by their train system... but I was not the only one, it seems their method of finding and rounding up foreigners... the bermuda triangle of trains tracks... Aaaaahh Frankfurt... once I caught my 130 Euro train, I discoverd that I had only paid for a "space" on the train which meant after 48 hrs of travel I had to sit on the floor.... when I asked the conductor how one could pay so much and not get a seat the conductor responded firmly "Iv you vant seat you must pay for veservation... Vis is Geeermany!" ... VIS IS GEEEERMANY! Ironically a seat opened up just as we were crossing the border... I have to say, the scenery really improved when I got to SWITZERLAND!
GENEVA: Oh I remember you Geneva... bright, clean, fresh, orderly... in the seven years since I last saw you, you haven't changed much, but how will it be to call you home? After so much moving around the last few years it might take me some time to call you or anywhere home. The first test... six weeks of FRANCAIS Class! But lucky me, I found a bosom friend in a Norwegian classmate and those six weeks were packed with shopping trips, field trips, hiking trips and supermarket trips. In only six weeks I managed to taste all and narrow down my favorite chocolate, yogurt and bread. A considerable feat given the vast of the selection. I even discoverd the Ovalmatine bar... a chocolate bar that is packed full of 12 ESSENTIAL vitamins and minerals ... finally a Chocolate bar that is healthy... I think I will eat one every day!

As July crept into August we had adventures in MONTREUX for the jazz festival, VEVEY, Chateau de Chillon, NEUCHATEL, ANNESY FRANCE, SALEVE Mountains, ZURICH (twice), and the Geneva fete for Raclette and the most spectacular firework show I've ever witnessed... we did happen to learn some French along the way as well. We learned the imporant stuff, like the words for ice cream "glace" and chocolate "chocolat" and student discount* "escompte d'etudiant". But I had to pass on some of the field trips when only two weeks after arrival I found a job, which ended up keeping me rather busy. I had to work hard to keep up on both French and the Job (working on EU immigration policy) but all the hard work was rewarded with a trip to ROME ITALY the last week of August. Who in the world would have imagined that one could have such a good time traveling alone! What a memorbale trip. Roaming around Rome, the Collesium, the Pantheon, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel (where I got kicked out... see traveling alone really can be a gas), Italian pizza, St. Peters Basilica, the museums, the Opera (thank heavens for STUDENT DISCOUNTS*) the Roman Forum, the Palladium, the gellato, the Italian men leaving love notes under my door (again, a plus for traveling alone ;-) ... I moved from Rome to NAPLES and onto the aromatic and stunning ISLAND OF CAPRI (yes after the pants but I didn't see anyone wearing them, perhaps they went out of style there decades ago and we are all just really far behind in fashion) then to POMPEII where I became completely lost in the ruins of the past, frozen in time... a whole civilization, a giant city, well endowed with infrastructure, highly organized, elaborately decorated and oddly void of any landmarks to prevent me from getting lost and causing me to change the name from POMPEII to the LABRYNTH-PEII. So I only had time to see MT. VESUVIUS from a distance and not climb it... next time... and there will be a next time, because I AM IN LOVE WITH ITALY!

August very quickly shifted into September and in a matter of 24 hours from returning from Italy I had to move apartments, meet my new roomates and attend the first day of GRADUATE SCHOOL. I loved my roomates at first hello. They hail from Portugal, India and Mongolia and aparently that is the perfect mix for a lot of laughs. My classmates are almost equally as delightful. They come from about 20 different countries and have very impressive backgrounds. I feel completely at home among them and academically they will keep me on my toes. The course starts with a bang! Classes 8 hours a day for the first six days including Saturday. Group presentations within the first few days, impossible volumes of readings... let the sleepless nights begin! Well the stress was becoming evident in my life as in the frame of one week I lost my new cell phone, my student card (bye bye non-existant student discount*) my passport, my laundry card, and an 8 foot long rug... yes, I said an 8 foot long rug. I think duct tape might be the only solution to stress in my life, duct tape and a backrub, cuz darned those pinched nerves are getting pretty regular! Well I must have convinced people I was cute because I got my passport back, found my student card, bought a new cell phone but got my pre-paid credit moved to the new phone, someone got me a new 8 foot rug (how sweet) and my lovely roomates are letting me borrow their laundry cards (although maybe that is not as altruistic as it seems... perhaps they don't like how I smell when I don't do my laundry...hmmmm) bye bye duct tape :)

So this brings us up to Ricola and finals... I got my first cold last week but a classmate encouraged me to put two bunches of fresh sliced garlic in honey, to let it sit for a day, then to put the honey in hot water and drink it like a tea, either she was playing a mean trick (on my roomates who have to live with me!) or she really had something up her sleeve... it turns out it was the latter because my cold seemed to just dissapear, obviously frightened by the garlic I was asphixiating it with. Now I just use Ricola becuase this is Switzerland and it is my first cold and it only seems appropriate that I eat some Ricola now. Cold or no cold, I refuse to give into winter... I still wear my sandals and toering... I WILL NOT GIVE IN, IT IS NOT WINTER YET!

So, now I must move onto final #2...

...hope you have enjoyed hearing the rest of the story... now I am going to put this garlic drinking, ricola sucking, brain dead head to bed :)

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYNDY, I hope you enjoyed this one installment just for YOU, YOU, YOU!

* I usually don't qualify for student discounts as most discounts are for students 25 and under, us "old" students are doubly penalized first for being old and then for being old AND a student... or poor poor me :( ... but on rare occasions I can convince people that I am still cute enough to get the student rate :)

PHOTO GALLERY:

(will do separate Gallery for ITALY photos in near future)

Geneva Ode to Jet d'eau ("water jet" pronouced 'jedt oh')
Jet d'eau
Oh, oh, oh
how high does your water go?
oh, oh, oh
Jet d'eau
you are my favorite water flow
Oh, Jet d'eau

This one STANDS ALONE! No, I am not playing with my food, that really is a giant fork in the lake... VEVEY, SWITZERLAND

Chim chiminy, Chim chiminy... the rooftops of Neuchatel, Switzerland

Zurich by moonlight (without a tripod)
Annecy, France (Okay, so maybe I need to get a tripod ;-)

FINALLY! HEALTHY CHOCOLATE! Only in Swtizerland

The perfect Castle: Chateau de Chillon, hanging over a misty lake offset by a steely mountain landscape... hauntingly beautiful.

GRAD SCHOOL! where adults live like paupers, act like teenagers (yes, the leaders of tomorrow??), work their brains dry for no pay, and hope for the day when they can land a "real" job to work off their newly minted mountains of debt.

How do I end up so lucky to have such delightful roomates! Mix a little US, Portugal, Mongolia and India and you have a recipe for lots of laughs! :)

Monsooon!

2007-07-04T14:38:00.000+02:00

Yes, we have certainly experienced the monsoon here. With the heaviest recorded rainfall in 48 hrs in the last 100 years. It cancelled plans, cut power and cased my flip flops to nearly float away (as well as my bed and all my belongings ;)...

First an odd reddish hugh is cast over everything... (my camera took a true color exposure... this is really what it looks like)... the wind picks up, birds fly away and water buffalo mooan out to their young and begin moving.

Then the lightening begins, like flashbulbs across the sky, followed by claps of heavy thunder and large swollen rain drops, that ploop, ploop at first inches apart and finally in a heavy pour. At this time we know to go check the drains, which very rapidly become clogged and caused rivers of water to come cascading down the stairs from the flat roof and into the second floor, creeping right into my bedroom where my floor mattress just soaks it up like a sponge! What do we do???

We sweep it out of course!

And when that doesn't work we fill buckets with water and throw them over the balcony....

... and when that dosn't work we put our mattresses and things on tables and chairs and play in the water for awhile... say till about 4 in the morning... nothing like and all night puddle party! :)

Then the next day we watch the aftermath from the balcony.

Replay about four times and you have my last few weeks!

Baranwapara and stuff...

2007-06-15T08:42:00.000+02:00

Baranwapara Sunset

The Wild Dogs of Baranwapara

Just a mini-updated here...

Its been pretty busy, mostly writing trying to get this big report done. I went to a wildlife park called Baranwapara with a friend last week just before they closed it for rainy season. It was pretty amazing and more amazing because the Monsoons were just starting and the sky was heavy with charcoal clouds, it made the forest seem mysterious. All of a sudden a giant Antelope came running through the woods at us, we jerked to a stop and realized it was not one but two, and they were being chased by a pack of wild dogs. Quite a sight! But one that will only be saved in my memory as you can imaine it is impossible to catch that on camera. We ran into the pack later (they had not caught the antelope) and caught some photos of them then. I was very glad to have my telephoto lens! I was told that more people see Leopards than see wild dogs and that we were very lucky to see them, even our guide had not seen them before. Funny since I had the same experience in Tanzania, we almost immediately ran into a pack of wild dogs in the Serengeti and were told it was exceedingly rare. I suppose if I were native american I would be told that wild dogs were my animal guides. We also saw wild Bison... Beautiful creatures! The night following our wild dog sighting the clouds became heavy and the wind picked up. Before we knew it the power was out but the ground was lighter than day all night long as lightening made constant strikes through the sky. The bullfrogs came out and took turns keeping the night alive with their music. Oddly enough I thought they sounded like livestock. Most of them sounded like giant Bull cows and a few others sounded like bleating sheep. A moment when I wish my camera could record sound. A very memorable experience!

I have been sitting in front of the computer writing so much and I think the sleeping on the floor is not helping, but I have had a horrible pinched nerve for two weeks now. Then I clumsily slammed my finger in the car door while getting out to take a picture of statue of a 9 headed 24 armed man on the way back from the wildlife reserve. There was no electricity in the village where it occured so no ice, but I was taken to the village doctor who kindly cleaned and wrapped it up for me. After that all my pictures turned out crooked since it was my trigger finger that was damaged. Now my finger is fat and colorful but I am happy to say that it is back to doing it's job of typing! It is the end of Mango season and they are all soft and mushy. Lychee's are coming in season though and they are a beautiful fruit! The rains have lowered the temp, to an wonderful bearable 94' but the added moisture has invited the mosquitoes back in swarms and armies. And everyone is planting their first round of rice paddy. A friend (the one who took me to the wedding) came over yesterday to show me his toe. Aparently he was walking down the street not too far from here and a car avoiding potholes somehow managed to NOT avoid him and ran over his leg. It was dark and it wasn't until he turned on his mobile phone (everyone uses them as flashlights) that he realized that his little toe was missing. Yeah, grody! And he told me this story in unflinching graphic detail! So once he found his toe he wrapped it up and took it home. Eventually he went to the doctor to get it stiched back on and now he has a nail through his foot to keep it on. OK enough of that, but these are the realities of life... Uuuuugh! When I asked him if the driver stopped he said no, but it was probably best that way because everyone on the street would have drug him out of his car and beaten him. I guess that is how it is done here.

Well I expect to be finished with all this writing that i have been doing by this weekend, then it is time to wrap things up, eat some more of my favorite Chili Paneer and leave India. So much has happened here that I couldn't write about but I will fill in the blanks at a later date. My life on the other side of the pond is already getting into gear. Visa's are ready, apartments secured, bills paid and all I need to do is arrive with great expectations for a new life (and lot's of European chocolate!... and jogging ;-)

The man who resulted in my crushed finger... it looks like maybe he can spare a finger ;-)

In the Village...

2007-05-29T21:01:00.000+02:00

Down in Dantewada

2007-05-20T21:46:00.001+02:00

Baby Dog

2007-05-15T14:40:00.000+02:00

After a week and a half of a horrible illness (likely some sort of food poisoning from eating rubbish off the street) Baby Died yesterday. We tried really hard to save him, the vet came several times, we gave him electrolytes, special food and water, but he couldn't keep anything down and he was in so much pain. Today we buried him in a peaceful place at a friends farm.

Indian Wedding

2007-05-09T21:04:00.000+02:00

Scrappy-Doo

2007-05-06T19:28:00.000+02:00

Yes, even here, I end up with doggies. Two puppies born in September. Even though they are “village dogs” (unowned, dirty, diseased etc…) Myself and a neighbor about three doors down feed them. And they are a highlight to everyday. The larger female we call Josie Grosie (as she used to have a bad case of mange but is doing much better now). The little one, who though the same age, is almost 1/3 Josie’s size we call “Baby”. I am thinking of re-naming him “Scrappy-Doo” after Scooby’s smaller yet feistier side-kick. This little guy cracks me up. He is so tiny and scrawny. His little bones stick out everywhere and when you feed him, his little belly blows up like a water balloon. But this guy is all EGO! He thinks he is a big fella and I have been walking down the street and seen him try to take on a giant village dog. He barks, he growls and snaps his teeth and you can’t believe so much noise could come out of such a little creature. But it doesn’t seem to matter how much I feed him… he just won’t grow and these past few days I even think he is doing worse (I will take him to the vet tomorrow to get him de-wormed). When I first met these little pups, I resisted the urge to get attached to them. Several years ago when I was living in Tanzania, I had a village dog named “Scruffy” that I became very attached to, and one day while I was out in the field doing research, I came home to learn that the mini-bus driver had run him over, maliciously. The other villagers who saw it said that he appeared to have done it on purpose. Why? No reason, sometimes cruelty begets cruelty and the lesser creatures, the helpless are so often the victims. So I know with something as vulnerable as this little dog, in a world that is already so difficult…I know I don’t want to get attached. But as time has gone on, and they sleep under my feet while I work, getting up every once in awhile to frighten me by licking my toes (yikes), as they excitedly walk with me to the store or wag their tails so hard at me in the morning that it looks like the little one will flop over with wagging, I have become attached. I turn them out at night and hear them fighting with other village dogs and every morning when I open the gate I half expect to not see the little one. Every time I feed him I fear it will be the last time. Their mother was attacked by another village dog last week, she had a deep cut in her front leg, I went out to help her, but knew I couldn’t she is much bigger and when and animal is in pain, I know what their reactions to touch usually are… being that they aren’t vaccinated, it was too dangerous. I watched her that day as she limped around. But I have not seen her since. These puppies may now be motherless. Why in a world with so many difficult things, when the work I am doing with people can already be so difficult, why is it that a little dog becomes a symbol of the struggle and even of the acceptance I must have of struggle, loss and disappointment. I suppose I have learned to accept the harsh realities of life, without protecting myself, without avoiding loving something, even when I know it might hurt me or I might lose it. Is this progress? Well “Baby” thinks so, he is quite enjoying all the attention!

ANTS!

2007-05-03T19:09:00.000+02:00

Ants... I spend half my day (and night) flicking them off of me, yet they are possibly the most amazing creatures on the planet; they are industrious, cooperative, organized, efficient, quick, strong and with have some sort of unexplainable group intelligence... it's almost enough to make one want to be an entomologist. I was in the kitchen and nearly leaned on this wall of ants. They looked like they were moving house as half of them had larvae on their backs, and it was on this wall that they got together to vote on where their new home should be? Gross or Amazing... I am not sure which.

P.S. Yeah... isn't the Kitchen a Beauty!

The Indian Rooftop

2007-05-01T15:05:00.000+02:00

I have discovered the Indian rooftop and in so doing have slowly begun to soak in the rhythm of life here. What a wonderful place the Indian rooftop. Without peaked roofs, the roof is used as an additional level. I go up in the day and find it is a few degrees hotter, and in the night a few degrees cooler. From the rooftop I can see all around our little village in the suburbs of town. If I go to one side and look down at the ground I can see ours and our neighbors garbage strewn about and pigs rummaging though the piles (I can hear them doing this through my window when I wake in the morning). In the afternoon they will take a break and sleep in the garbage while their piglets suckle. It took me awhile to figure out how my garbage was getting down there, until one day I caught the lady who comes to clean, going to the rooftop and dumping it over the edge. Sometimes I stand at this edge of the roof and examine what exactly our neighbors have been consuming and throwing away, hey, I’m sure they do the same thing to us, besides, I can’t help it, it’s the anthropologist in me. From the other side of the roof I can see the construction of houses across the street, houses with yet more rooftops. The construction team appears to be 60% women, who carry the sand and cement on their heads and dump and form as directed by the other 40%. There are giant sand piles that they are using it mix with the cement, and I can see two boys in clothes that looked as though they were recently clean playing in the sand and I imagine the sound of their mother’s voice when she sees them return from whatever errand the sand pile distracted them from. Nearby I see about 5 village dogs sleeping in the construction rubbish pile. In the distance is a marshy area where water buffalo soak and more pigs rummage. The Water Buffalo are my favorite part of the days here. They walk by the house twice every day, out to the water in the morning then back in the evening. There is usually someone walking behind them, but they have the air of having done this walk so many times that they really pay him no attention. In their walk is an easiness, even a wiseness, they are large and their leathery backs are black and glossy, yet they are pleasant and seem to walk at their own pace in life. Sometimes in mid-day a few will wander off and do their own thing in other parts of the village. No one seems to mind and they always find their way back to the herd. I always stop to look at them when they walk by. One morning as they were walking out to the marshy field, I paused to watch and started saying to myself out loud how much I loved the Water Buffalo. Almost as if on cue, the Buffalo in front of me relieved himself of some moist and smelly cargo, and I was forced to rethink my position on the Water Buffalo. Before I had a chance to turn away and move onto other things in life, a village woman came and excitedly scooped up the manure and put it in a bag. No doubt to form it into patties and dry and sell as fuel for fire. Aaaaah the circle of life.
In the evenings when it starts to cool a bit (if a one degree decrease is actually considered cooling) I go up to the roof. I see women taking in the clothes that were drying, husbands and wives walking back and forth across their roofs, children flying kites, or the lonesome kite that has been tied to the clothesline that is flying itself. It is in the evening when I am inspired to become more active and exercise a little bit on the rooftop, doing lunges or wall sitting, anything to attempt to keep fit. I am sure I am putting on a show since I have seen people wave to me from the ground before, but it is much better to exercise on my private roof than to try to run through the village (especially in this heat). My favorite thing to do on the roof top, is to go up after dark. It is wedding season and there isn’t a wedding without fireworks! During a few hours in the night you can not go up to the roof without seeing two or three different firework displays in several directions. I feel like I am at Disneyland every night, only without all the rides. When the fireworks are over, I love to lie down on the big beam that combines our two roofs into one (exactly the width of my body) and listen to the sounds, the music from a party, the crickets chirping and look at the stars (while swatting mosquitoes). Aaaah peaceful.

How I live...

2007-04-30T15:18:00.000+02:00

Some of you have been asking...

-Mattress on Floor

-Giant floral Mosquito net strung up to tiny window and hooks on wall, and finished off with my carry on suitcase for support.

-jerry rigged fan (i.e. I had to put the wires into the wall instead of a plug) overheats and blows warm air and dust into the net (see the brown dust mark on the net)

-Basic, Dusty, Hot...

Am I too old for this?

Dirty Feet

2007-04-20T08:59:00.000+02:00

Warning: this entry is not for the faint of heart or stomach :)

So today was the day of dirty feet. It seems appropriate that feet should be dirty really, since I think they are the most unattractive and utilitarian part of the body. So I don’t mind so much that they are dirty, because they are useful. (That is also what makes a foot rub/wash something special, because someone is willing to take that ugliest and dirtiest part of another’s body and do something to make it better… how selfless a footrub is!) Today however, my feet became the kind of dirty that is less dirt and dust and more foul and disgusting. I guess you could say I had untouchable feet and at the end of the day if I could have taken them off of me and left them behind I would have. (this brings me to another concept/question I have often thought about… how can humanity consider one group of people to be untouchable, or to desire to cut that group off? Is it like trying to cut ones feet off and expecting to continue to walk without pain… is it too idealistic to think of society as a whole like one big organism and that if/when we attempt to segregate, cut off, or abuse any group of people we are ultimately harming ourselves?) so… onto my story.
We were asked to go down south to provide a consultation to an NGO that works on tribal and indigenous issues. We set out at around 6am. The roads are surprisingly good in India, albeit narrow. (India does not have a monopoly on narrow roads however, I remember when I lived in Norway the roads were often so narrow you would have to pull over to let an oncoming car go by, and I have encountered many narrow roads in other countries in Europe as well, perhaps it is only in the US where we expect to be able to fit two hummers side-by-side on every American road) What I mean is that the roads are all paved in India, which is quite nice. It allows for higher speeds which also results in higher blood pressure, but we are able to go 150 KM in about 3 hours which isn’t half bad. There is a lot of honking and beeping, and swerving and rapid accelerating or breaking, it feels a bit like toads wild ride, or like a video game, dodging people, cows and dogs, people on bicycles, motorcycles, cows, rickshaws, cows, Sumo TATA’s (HUGE TRUCKS), little cars, cows, water buffalo, cows…. Did I mention the cows? Well, for the past 5-6 days I have had a bad stomach. Nothing major, just a flopping fish that turned into a flopping brick in my belly… just upset. So I have been drinking a lot of water and about 2/3 of the way to our destination I was a bit overripe for a Loo. Luckily our driver was stopping to get petrol anyhow so I asked if there was a toilet. Mohinder asked the petrol attendant in Hindi if there was a woman’s toilet, and he was very specific about it being a woman’s toilet. The attendant emphatically nodded his head and took me and Lisa (from UK) over to the toilet, as I walked in I noticed that it clearly was not a women’s toilet but had only a tile floor, tile walls a drainage hole in the base of the wall and a urinal about 3.5-4 feet from the ground. I backed out of the room thinking maybe he had taken me in the wrong room, but he was insistent that I go back in and close the door, he kept saying the same thing over and over in Hindi and pointing for me to go in and in English to “close the door”. He was very insistent, and well, so was my bladder. I will not go on to explain any more, except to use one word which should summarize the dilemma and explain the beginning of my dirty feet day… “splash” I came out a few minutes later thinking how I would have been better off on the side of the road than in a tile chamber and grumbling about how that man must not have had sisters, or a wife or I wouldn’t even be surprise if he didn’t have a mother! Because, although what kind of toilet is used makes no difference to a man, it makes a HUGE difference to a woman. It is not a matter of taste or opinion, it is not a woman’s way of being high-maintenance, it is simply a matter of ANATOMY!
We got back on the road, went through a quaint little town that had green flags strung all over it, apparently the decorations of a Muslim holiday, and finally we arrived. We took our shoes off, as is polite, at the front of the building and we were warmly greeted, asked inside, offered breakfast and then handed a giant stack of papers. As we went through the papers we realized, we had A LOT of work on our hands. They had not asked us for a consultation on their organizational structure as we thought, but rather to come and write two grant applications which were due the following day. Thank goodness I have done this before, but I would never dream to do one single application, let alone two in just one day! I wanted to get straight to work when I saw how much needed to be done. They began by sitting on a mat on the floor and discussing the organizational structure and applicable laws of the public and private sectors, the UN, International NGO’s, Domestic NGO’s, civil society, International Human Rights Law etc… As I wasn’t sure how this applied to the grant applications and have sat through many a classes on these topics (and look forward to many more in my graduate program), I endured it for awhile but was happy when I got my hands on one of the grant applications and snuck off to a computer to get it started. It became apparent that we were going to be there awhile. It had to be in Rome the following day, and every minute would count, I found myself checking time zones and calculating every minute. It turns out that the extra half hour in the Indian time zone was going to come in handy! I recruited one staff member to come sit with me and explain their programme and projects for the purpose of the grant. His English was very difficult to understand as was mine for him I think, so it was a slow process. They had some of it pre-written on a piece of scrap paper but as I have found thus far, Indians, when writing in English have a tendency to use strings of big words regardless of their meaning, in order to make something sound educated or professional, until the reader looses all meaning of what is trying to be said. It was quite a process and we went from tangent to tangent eventually making our way to center and getting some good headway on the application. The announcement of lunch was a welcome break! I asked for a toilet at this time and was lead out to the courtyard, on my way a group of monkeys in the trees above were pointed out to me and I stopped awhile to watch their antics, the woman who was escorting me looked up at them and pursed her lips as though trouble had just rolled into town. As we got closer to the closet with the toilet on the other side of the courtyard, I realized that since my shoes were at the front door and I was now in the back of the building that I was going to be expected to go into the toilet bare footed! I looked down at my bare feet, and down at the floor in the toilet and took a big gulp, held my breath and ran in, leaping last minute over a track of little red ants just inside the doorway. Thoughts of an army of chanting germs went floating through my head, especially considering the fact that it was a squat toilet and the floors there are always affected by… well, “splash”… of every kind. When the chanting germs gave a big HOORAH after I stepped in, then I was certain that holding my breath or closing my eyes was not going to change the condition of my feet when I left the toilet closet. Please give me some latitude, I had a double major in Microbiology at University, so I do have a scientific knowledge of what was really on the floor in that room. And this is one of those cases where it is better to be ignorant…but I was not. I also think that since I have only been here for a week and a half, that my sensitivities are still high. Give me few more weeks and I will be dancing around the toilet barefoot without a second thought :) As if my imagination wasn’t enough trouble for me while I was in the toilet closet, those crazy little monkeys began to throw green mangoes on the tin roof that echoed loudly and really just made me laugh at the whole situation… I would be laughing much harder at the crazy little monkeys just an hour later though.
All 12 of us, 9 from the Tribal peoples NGO and 3 of us from ours ate on a giant rug on the floor, the food was good as usual, and I ate my first chicken since arriving in India. A few bites tasted yummy, but then I realized I didn’t miss meat all that much. With so many interesting things to do with vegetables and so many interesting vegetables to do it with, I have not been bored eating the local fare. My goal of learning how to cook Indian food, may unfortunately, never come to fruition. They rarely cook the same thing twice and I am never around when the cooking is being done, not to mention I’m not sure I could ever find all these ingredients outside of India… there is still time though. After lunch I was escorted back out into the courtyard to wash my hands in a big cement water trough that was used for all water purposes, from washing dishes, to washing clothes and hands. Having finished my washing I stepped back and felt something moist spread under my heal and up through my toes… removed my foot and realized that I had just stepped squarely onto a large fresh pile of Monkey Poo. Yes, I just said Monkey Poo and that makes me laugh. I was laughing then too, but I had Monkey Poo on my bare foot… what can one do but laugh, in a moment like that, on a day like that, when every disgusting thing imaginable would encounter my feet. Monkey Poo. There I said it again and feel rather like a child for doing it, but if you have to have it on your foot you might as well get full use of the phrase… hey at least I didn’t use it as the title ;-)

P.S. Yes, we got the grant proposal done late, late at night and almost sent to Rome…I say almost, because in the exact moment we sent it via email, there was a powercut. I just had to think of the Monkey Poo to make myself laugh again, washed my feet and called it a night.

6th-7th Century Hindu Temple

2007-04-18T14:08:00.000+02:00

6th-7th Century Hindu Temple (scaffolding for preservation work)

Family carved at the front door of Temple

Elephant on Temple (like gargoyles all around the edges of the temple)

Monkey Montage

2007-04-18T08:36:00.000+02:00

For those of you who know me well, you know that I love all animals, but monkeys and apes in particular. My background in Anthropology opened many academic doors to primates and primatology, but I also once had a job where I worked with primates, and have lived in several countries where they are prevalent. I've even visited Gombe stream, (the place where Jane Goodall did her studies on Chimpanzees), where I spent several days tracking Chimpanzees that I knew by name through the jungle. I love how human they are. They have such similar reactions to each other as humans, and although I am sure it is open to debate, even similar emotions to humans. And yet they are still animals, unencumbered by the complexities of the human mind and the layers added by culture and society. Although they express some things differently (a smile means fear rather than happiness etc.) once you learn the differences it becomes very revealing to watch them interact. I've seen them eat, sleep, explore, mate, fight, build, groom and nurture each other. When watching them I can see our root emotions, the most natural and sometimes basest parts of human nature in all it's ugliness and beauty. I could watch them all day long with such delight. So it made me very happy to find them so soon here in India. A troop of Macaques mostly moms and babies. I love the babies and how in a short span of time, just like human children, they can go through every emotion in the book. Think of how often you have felt these emotions... and you probably looked the same too! :)

CAUTIOUS CURIOSITY

GLEE!

FEAR/MEANNESS

INSECURE

VICIOUS/AGGRESSIVE

EXCITED

CURIOUS/ADVENTUROUS

PLAYFUL

Ode to my Mazda3

2007-04-17T03:32:00.000+02:00

Ode to my Mazda3

You were a wonderful car, my Mazda3

you will be missed, terribly

When I had nothing else to call my own

you, my Mazda3, became my home

I'll always remember the many miles we did roam

...from Kirtland to Palmyra and DC to LA

then right up the ole West coast

to Seattle we made our way

your turning radius couldn't be beat

you ran so well, in rain and snow and sleet

what a joy! shifting you was so much fun

and opening the little roof to enjoy the sun

you got great gas milage so money I did not burn

and you held your value and gave me my money in return

You were a highlight to the most horrible year
don't be surprised if I happen to shed a tear

So enjoy your new life if you can

because my next car will likely be a tin can!

NUMBERS # # # # #

2007-04-16T04:06:00.000+02:00

Numbers:
7 --> the number of consecutive days I’ve traveled to major cities
Day one: Seattle
Day two: Chicago
Day three: Frankfurt
Day four: Kolkata
Day five: Raipur
Day six: Sirpur
Day seven: Bilaspur
Day eight: EXHAUSTED-PUR
25 --> the percentage of surface area of my body that is covered with bug bites (mosquito, ant and spider)
50 --> the percent of time in the day that I spend itching the bug bites
3 --> the number of creepy crawlies that greeted me this morning
1 --> the only welcomed creepy crawly--- a Gecko hiding under my bath towel
98.5--> the hottest temperature it has been thus far in degrees Fahrenheit
89.5--> the coolest it has been in degrees Fahrenheit (only in the middle of the night)
12 ½ --> the number of hours different from the time zone I came from to the time zone in India (notice the HALF hour… yeah)
9 --> The number of Mangoes I have eaten in the first 5 days
12 --> The number of neon palm trees I saw lining the streets of Bilaspur

The Mokeys of Sirpur... oh yeah and the Temples :)

2007-04-12T08:00:00.000+02:00

The Streets of Kolkata

2007-04-10T08:00:00.000+02:00

Are you flying Brahmin Class or Untouchable Class?

2007-04-08T14:43:00.000+02:00

I’ve had several days of flying on an airline that I had many miles on. Because of my miles they have me registered as a premier member and by some stroke of luck they decided to upgrade me on all flights. I remember at the beginning of the flight they announced that people in Economy class were not to come up and use our bathrooms and were not to move up into our extra seats. For half a second I imagined myself sitting smugly thinking about how I had paid more and so I didn’t have to feel bad about those poor cramped people in the back who had to wait in line for the Loo. But the irony is that I had used my miles to fly and I didn’t, in fact pay for my ticket at all (unless 150,000 miles with this particular airline is considered payment enough!). For two of the longest flights I happened to have a whole row of five seats to myself. It was wonderful, and was the first time I have ever really slept on a flight. But I did see some people from back in Economy peeking through our curtain to see just how good we had it up front. It got me thinking about classes. Growing up in 20th century America’s giant middle class, it is really only on commercial flights that we get a taste of the past and of what many other cultures accept as quite normal (that is not to say that it doesn't still exist to some degree in the US). Classism, stratification, the “have’s” and the “have-not’s”… The dilemma of the haves and the have-nots has always existed. It is human nature I suppose to separate “us” from “them”, to find differences either seen or perceived in the person in order to justify differences in treatment or situation.
It is especially ironic that I am thinking about this on my way to India. A country that has social stratification down to a science, from the Brahmin’s to the Dalits or untouchables, their system of “us” and “them”, “haves” and “have-nots” is so ancient, so deeply ingrained it seems almost natural. It will be interesting to see what I can learn, maybe it will make me more accepting of the fact that my return flight will likely be in economy class… with the “have-not’s”.

Elenchus...

2007-04-02T14:09:00.000+02:00

Method of Elenchus or Socratic Method: A method of philisophical inquiry applied to the examination of moral and ethical concepts including the virtues of piety, wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice. The practice involves asking a series of questions surrounding a central issue, and answering questions of the others involved. Socrates claimed that the chief goodness consists in the caring of the soul concerned with moral truth and moral understanding, that "wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the state", and that "life without examination [dialogue] is not worth living".

This is my elenchus, my questions, my examination of a life worth living.