Barriers: Part 1

This weekend I went with my group to Cape Town where we each did a home-stay in the Bo Kaap neighborhood with a Muslim family. We were particularly excited because of the timing of the excursion: the first weekend of Ramadan. Friday night I was quickly welcomed into the home by my new family: a mother, her husband, their 5 sons, 2 daughters-in-law, 4 grandchildren, and numerous friends and cousins. Then at 6:17pm it was time to break the fast.

The food came out on many many many plates of doughnuts, samoosas, soup, pies, dates…more food than all of us together could possibly eat. Then the men went off to mosque for prayer and the second wave of food was prepared: chicken, salad, rice, and bread. All together this made for a wonderful feast. After the meal we stayed up getting to know each other, watching rugby, and playing dominoes. Vanessa, one of the other girls from the program, came over and we took turns learning the game. Finally it was time for bed as we all had to be up before sunrise for breakfast.

For those of you that don’t know, during Ramadan, Muslims do not eat while the sun is up. This includes even drinking water. The whole month is meant as a time of cleansing. After Ramadan the families will go out to get new clothes, and in Bo Kaap they put a wonderful fresh coat of paint on their houses (I’ll get back to that later).

A Semester Abroad

It's about time for an update on my travel adventures. While I was in South Africa, I got busy, was slow at uploading pictures, insert any number of excuses as to why I didn't update this blog. But now I'm going to start the process. Hopefully I'll finish in time for my next adventure: a semester in South Korea!!


Now, as much as I was making excuses, it's not as if I didn't think about this blog. I actually wrote an entire (lengthy) post. I just never organized pictures to go with it. So, bare with me as I start the process of adding it. I'll do it in pieces, though, since it really is that long!!!

Before I get into that, though, I'm home! I safely (with a fair amount of turbulence) made it home in time for Thanksgiving. I have spent the past two and a half weeks recovering, first from jet lag, and now from a cold that has persisted pretty much since Thanksgiving. I've been keeping busy with an internship, riding the train into Boston every day. It feels good to not be sitting at home all day every day...that would get pretty lonely. I finished my school work on Halloween (over a month ago at this point) and don't start up again until March. It's my final long break (hopefully) until retirement! But I am taking time to relax. I spent yesterday decorating my aunt's house with my sister and little cousin for Christmas. That was so much fun! And the rest of the holidays are coming up, then I pretty much get to chill out for a month and a half before jetting off to Korea!

London to Ibiza Straight to L.A., New York, Vegas, to Africa!

So it's been a while. I've been quite busy recently. I had a two month summer vacation in which time I had to unpack, pack, and leave for South Africa. Well, I am now here and settled in. I've been here now for two weeks and the experience has been ABSOLUTELY amazing!!
The first stop on my journey was a 14 hour layover in London. It was the perfect length because it meant that I could leave the airport and explore London for the day...with none other than my best friend who is currently in London to study and for an internship...As it was my first time in London, and first time seeing Parvati in a couple of months, I wanted to get as much out of it as possible. She took me around to some of her favorite spots in the city, we ate crepes in front of Big Ben, and got to catch up on our lives. While there I was able to see a couple of other friends (a whole group of them are in London for the summer) as well. All in all it made for a lovely day and layover.
Then we hugged good bye and I was back at Heathrow and off to Africa. It was really good timing, actually. I hardly had any jet lag because both flights were overnight and the time difference between London and Cape Town (where I flew into) is only one hour.
Upon arrival in Cape Town I had a driver pick me up (I am here with a program called CIEE, technically in Stellenbosch) and bring me to a hostel where I met one of the other girls in the program. There are four of us all together. Three of us are staying in the same dorm, Metanoia...I'll come back to that another day, though. Soon, I promise. So the first two weeks we spent getting oriented. We had a CIEE orientation and a Stellenbosch international student's orientation. Then we had a week of "first meetings" (first classes, that last maybe 20 minutes going over the syllabus. It's kind of like a shopping period) In all of this time I've been able to meet some really cool people from all over the world!

Pictures and more details to come :)

"Not" Breaking the Bank

So in my daily search through online articles, I came across this gem:

http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/609/dual-driver-earbuds-that-wont-break-the-bank/

The article features four headphones that it claims are within a reasonable price range. I wholly disagree. The lowest price for one of their headphones is $80, which to any normal person, on a normal budget, is outrageous!! I paid maybe $10 for mine, and they offer AMAZING sound quality. They aren't great for running with, but hey, they sound good so I'm not complaining. What astounds me even more is that Yahoo featured this article alongside the struggling economy article:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Gas-tanks-are-draining-family-apf-1869403252.html?x=0

about the seemingly ever rising gas prices. So it seems there are two categories of people being targeted: techies, or music buffs, or others with large amounts of disposable income, and the average American. Let's be real here, most of us fall into the second category.


In other news this weekend is Memorial Day. The day is meant to serve for remembrance of fallen American soldiers. It started back after the Civil War (no I didn't know this, I had to look it up), and expanded to the point of national holiday in 1971.
The other great thing about Memorial Day? It marks the unofficial beginning to SUMMER! Break out your white pants and beach blankets, it's bound to be a good one (I say as it's overcast where I am...)

Anyways, enjoy the weekend celebrations :)

Spring :)

It's only 10:30?! I feel like I've been up for forever already, as indeed I have; I've been up for more than 4 hours already. At least it is a beautiful spring day, though it smells like mulch everywhere on campus. Why am I up so early, you ask? Well, the royal wedding was this morning, of course, and the dining hall opened at 6am, so naturally I had to go! Seriously though, that's why I was up. To go to the dining hall at 6am.

I've had a fairly productive start to my day, but reality is setting in. A week from now I'll be finishing packing and going home for the summer...then it's off to South Africa!!! I've decided though that I want to go back to visit Romania after my semester ends. I look around my room and no way is it ready to have me move out, but I know that all of that will be changing VERYYY soon. I will also have to work in studying this weekend, YIKES. But at least I only have to sit for two exams; that will make the week much easier.

In other news, RaneeC LLC is now a legal entity. I am officially the co-CEO/CFO. This has been an exciting event over the past few days for myself and the rest of the RaneeC team. We are now working on all of the legal paperwork that is necessary to make this little entity a true success. We had our first official meeting this morning in the dining hall, and our little team is starting to grow. With some hard work and careful planning this summer we will be in an excellent position come the fall.

So needless to say, but I've been busy. I have actually been struggling to find free time with all that I have had to do over the past few months. Soon, though, I'll be able to give my updates on Malaysia. The quick blurb, however, is that the trip was amazing;
 I had such an amazing time and I will definitely try to make it back there some time in the relatively near future.

Happy birthday Michael and Joe!!!
"Spring is nature's way of saying 'Let's party!'" ~Robin Williams

On the plane

It's 1am and I'm flying over the Middle East somewhere near Kabul on my way to Malaysia. I've come a long way fom home at this point; I've now been in transit for over 25 hours!The turbulence has been bad at times. Apparently it's just a windy and rainy couple of days all around the world. This is the furthest I've ever been from home and I certainly have felt nerves. There were a few times before I left New York, then again before leaving Frankfurt hat I thought maybe this trip is a bit too much for me. But I've stuck it out and will be in Malaysia in about 8 hours (from when I originally typed this, on Saturday 12/3/11, it is now Tuesday, 15/3/11). I'm looking at the map of where I am and some time soon I will have to take a look out the window. We are passing by such huge mountains I am almost certain I will be able o see them from this distance! (I mean, it's the Himalayas, so what else could be expected?) The trip hasn't been bad so far. We are in economy class, but there's such  large group of us that we are making the trip more enjoyable just by entertaining each other. The food hasn't been too bad. The first meal on th Singapore Airlines leg didn't have a vegetarian option, and as it is a Friday during lent I had to just pick around the chicken. The servce has been good though. The flight attendants are really sweet and interested in how large of a group we are and why we are going to Kuala Lumpur. Right now it is about 1:20 Malaysia time (which I've been operating off of since we left Boston) that corresponds to 12:20 over in Boston.

So more detail about the flights so far: our flight out of Boston got delayed by a couple of hours so by the time we got to New York we had enough time to check in and get dinner before we had to go through security again. The flight was iffy due to rain and wind (the wind is what delayed the flight in the first place) the flight to Frankfurt was also running late, but not by nearly as much. When we first got on the plane we played a little bit of musical seats which got me out of the back row. I didn't manage to get a window seat, but I'm okay. I slept for about an hour to an hour and a half on that leg of the trip. It was 8 hours, but it didn't feel like that long. I guess the concept of time is pretty lost on me right now and that would have a lot to do with it. Due to European regulations we had less than an hour to get off of the plane and go through security again. (we have now been through security 3 times). On our way to Singapore we have been served lunch so far. Once again there were limited options, but there was a fish choice (okay, fish on an airplane: not that great, but it was still Friday). Now on this leg of the trip we were able to shift around some more because some other passengers ended their trip in Germany. This has left me with Parvati on my right and an empty seat to spread out into on my left. We still have one more meal on this plane, then we switch to a new one in Singapore to get us to Kuala Lumpur where we'll meet up with Jim.

View out the window as the plane landed in Singapore

I'm really quite honestly excited to be in Malaysia, as much as the flights have made me nervous. The first day will be tough; first thing we're doing upon arrival is taking a bus tour of the city. Our hosts want to make sure we stay awake I suppose, which is getting mixed reactions from the group. It kind of makes sense to do that, though. The exciting activities start tomorrow with our trip to the Orang Asli village. We were going to give them gifts, but apparently that isn't good to do so we're saving the gifts for Monday at the Borneo Child Aid School.I really appreciate the fact that Jim has given me the credit for my t-shirt idea. He has been good so far especially since he has been over in India most of the semester and then left for Kuala Lumpur directly from there a couple of weeks ago.

Another part of the trip I'm really looking forward to is getting to see Sunnie again. Last I checked my messages she hadn't responded with the time she is available, but there is no way I am leaving Malaysia without seeing her! I've missed her the past three years and really never thought I would actually get to see her again. As soon as I found out that I had the opportunity to I got incredibly excited, especially since I am the one going to visit her!

...

I just looked around. It is too dark to see any mountains, though I'm still sure they're there. We are about to cross the border into India. The point we're crossing at is pretty much the middle of the western border. It is now 1:50, just 5 more hours to Singapore. I suppose I should try to get some sleep, though I'm really not too tired. If I don't though I will certainly be groggy and cranky when we land. So with that I'm going to say good night!

Platinum Award

Okay, so I completely made up the name of this post, but that is how this left me feeling. So here is why:

Over the summer I interned for the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts. Part of what I did there was set up a program for high school aged girls to learn about the process of running a business. The program was run this past weekend, and so I attended to see how it turned out and to help mentor the girls. First, the program was run quite smoothly. The guest speakers were great, right on key for high schoolers. Then there is the actual effect it had on myself and the girls. They were amazing. I saw them progress from strangers to companies, to team members to friends. That was certainly great to see. More though, they inspired me. They are all very hard workers, compassionate, and just wonderful individuals. They have bright futures ahead of them. It really touched me to be able to help them learn and become better individuals. What's more is how they expressed their appreciation. Their thank you's were heart felt. I truly felt as if my time spent with them this weekend had an impact. so while there might not really be such a thing as a Platinum Award, I left the weekend feeling as if I had achieved Platinum Status. I don't need a tangible award, plaque or recognition. I know that I now have the Platinum Award.

A Little Piece of Heaven Part 1

So a while ago I got a craving for a cupcake and went in search of the BEST cupcake around. This past Sunday (2/13) I went to Sweet Cupcakes in Boston. It reminded me of that quest, so I thought I would share my review. I went with a friend and we split 3 cupcakes. We tried: Chocolate Raspberry, Boston Cream Pie, and Hot Cocoa (hint, I LOVE chocolate!!!) So here's what I thought:

1. Chocolate Raspberry
• Delightfully light raspberry flavor, though it could have come on a bit stronger. Over all, it was a good cupcake, but the most memorable part was wanting more raspberry. Overall: 3.5 out of 5
2. Boston Cream Pie
• It essentially tasted like Boston Cream Pie should. The cake was a little bit thick, though, and the chocolate was hard to get my fork through. Overall: 3 out of 5 for good flavor and okay texture.
3. Hot Cocoa
1. I was particularly looking forward to this one just because of my love of hot chocolate. It was a good cupcake, don't get me wrong, but I really didn't get the Hot Cocoa part of it. Overall: 3 out of 5.

I was under-impressed; I felt as if these cupcakes could fairly easily be made at home (though it would take baking skill, but I know plenty of people with that). I did not think that the flavors were outstanding enough to justify the price, though with so many choices, I would be willing to go back with a friend. Certainly not a must return to, though. But go ahead and give it a try yourself. They have many more flavors.

And here is their website:

http://www.sweetcupcakes.com/

I enjoy the music, though I wish it would continue throughout the site.

Trader Joe's

Seemingly everyone's favorite these days is Trader Joe's. I'll admit it, I do love their mango especially. What's amazing is that they are able to offer so many great deals. It makes sense that the items you can get the best deal on are those that ship well, operationally speaking. I don't often go grocery shopping, as I am a college student. This is the type of store I want to shop at, though. Prices fit for a budget. Quality goods. Sustainable and world friendly (and I do LOVE salmon :) ) So I found this article interesting.
http://shine.yahoo.com/event/financiallyfit/what-foods-to-buy-and-what-to-skip-at-trader-joe-s-2450975/

Pirates of the Caribbean

Those movies do fairly well depicting the habits of pirates. I mean, the pirates might not sail out of Tortuga, they might not be on a quest for gold, and they might not be cursed, but they exist. Not only that, but the pirates would clearly have advanced since then so it makes sense that they are not identical. They get a larger and larger bounty as time passes, and get smarter about how they are able to get their prize.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/09/AR2011020901421.html

The Generation of Encouraged Entitlement

My generation, Generation Y, the Millenials. Call us what you want, but you know who we are. I personally prefer the term 90s kids. We are the generation of always getting praised, as the article explains. But this isn't all bad. If someone does well at something, he or she deserves to be told this. I will grant the older generations the fact that they are right that we are overpraised. But perhaps we need a middle ground. If we stop handing out praise for everyday accomplishments and reserve the praise for the achievements that go beyond expectations. This would still allow people to get praise more often than when they score their firm $1million, but wouldn't coddle them into believing that they need to be praised for showing up on time.

http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.babson.edu/pqdweb?index=1&did=1257499861&SrchMode=2&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1221572276&clientId=5013

Saving the Tigers

Malaysia is one of just 13 countries left with tigers. The population of wild tigers is only about 3% of what it was just 100 years ago. Malaysia, along with the other 12 countries with wild tigers, headed by Russia's Vladimir Putin, is taking steps to protect the tigers. 

Malaysia is taking steps towards protecting its environment, as well as the environment of the world. I broadly say "environment" because every living and non living thing is part of the world's environment. It is essential to preserve our environment in order for there to be continued life on Earth.

The article I found on CNN.com (the first one I posted here) is about the action taken to protect the tigers. The other two, also from CNN are background stories from November.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/26/paper-proper-land-management-could-triple-asian-tiger-population/?iref=allsearch

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/11/19/tiger.summit/index.html?iref=allsearch

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/16/hunters-nabbed-with-slain-endangered-siberian-tiger/

I think it is wrong that poachers hunt down tigers. They are majestic animals and have been my favorite for a long time. I don't think the maximum sentencing of 3 years/$20,000 is sufficient. I believe poachers should be prosecuted as harshly as murderers.

Mosquito Execution

The article I found for the week 1/23-1/29 is about a health concern for Malaysia. In December and early January there was an experiment done on mosquitoes. 6000 mosquitoes were released into a controlled area of Malaysia to reduce the number of mosquitoes that were bred over the time period. The purpose of this experiment is to try to find a more effective manner by which to eliminate as many mosquitoes as possible. The reasoning for getting rid of the mosquitoes goes beyond just their annoying tendency, however. They pose a serious health risk as they are active all year round and have been spreading an increasing amount of Dengue Fever in recent years. There are arguments against the experiment, however, citing environmental and potentially worse health effects. It is natural that there would be objections to this experiment. One specific example that struck me was the idea of a mutant mosquito (now, I picture a GIANT killer mosquito, although I’m sure that’s not what is being referred to here…) So long as the proper research has been done in advance, anything to get rid of the pesky little things is welcome to me anytime.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012507360.html

The other article I read for the week of 1/23-1/29 is interesting due to the fact that it is about inspiring the youth of Malaysia. One of the things I really am interested in is about this trip, and simply in general as well, is education for youths. I think it is vitally important that children be introduced to reading at a young age. Far too often reading is left to the school system to teach and school systems aren’t typically well equipped to best teach literacy because the children are learning at such different rates. But anyways, I was pleased to see the Malaysian government taking an active role in its education system by encouraging creativity.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/1/21/nation/20110121205937&sec=nation

Religious Tolerance in Malaysia

It is interesting to me that while Malaysia is considered a tolerant nation it has banned an entire sect of a religion. To me this is not religious tolerance. They do have their reasons for the intolerance though. I would want to look back into their history of religious tolerance and the acts of Shiites. What I would hope to gain from doing so is more insight as to the reason behind banning the Shiites, whether it is based off of past cases of disturbances or if it is a preemptive precautionary measure. I also noticed that Judaism was not mentioned. I was not sure if this was due to a non-existent Jewish presence or if the Jews are also persecuted there. So I did my research. There are only about 100 Jews in Malaysia according to Wikipedia. The CIA World Fact Book reports that 2.3% of the population declares its religion as “other” “unknown” or “none” as of the 2000 census (which I don’t quite know how a person could not know his or her religion, but apparently it is an option). I feel like this Malaysia course is really going to open my eyes to the state of the world. It is one thing to read about oppression, third world, ethnic disputes, etc. but it will be quite the drastically different experience to be in Malaysia having grown up here in New England.

So here’s the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/AR2011011401126.html

Well, while I was on the CIA WFB website I figured I would read some more about Malaysia. The education life of a child is expected to last 13 years with males at 12 years and females at 13 years. I found that intriguing. I would expect it to be the other way around, so props to Malaysia for that. I also found that while at birth a child is more likely to be male, an elderly person is more likely to be female (females have a longer life expectancy by 6 years!). Finally, only 5.1% of the population is below the poverty, which is less than half of what we have here in the U.S. That is an impressive figure and quite unexpected.

It cold and snowy here with a storm about twice a week. I love it, but a lot of people are complaining (especially those from Cali or Florida)

To begin with...

Per request of RaneeC a couple of months ago I am blogging. I am starting with opinions on articles I have to read for a couple of my classes. So there will be a good amount of current events on here, especially relating to Malaysia, as I will be going there in March.

I am incredibly excited for my trip to Malaysia. I have NEVER seen the Pacific Ocean, been to Asia, or been west of the Mississippi. I am looking forward to spending a little over a week there, as well as getting to reconnect with my dear friend Sunnie who I have not seen since she went home to Malaysia in January of 2008.