On a lighter note....Poop facts!

Now on a lighter note, someone for my birthday gave me one of those calendars the contain certain facts everyday, so I thought I would share with you a few facts about poop. Yes, you might say that I am obsessed with this issue as I have a very good diet and can find myself not going for several days even weeks. Enough about my personal issues, here you go: poop around the world: the amount of poop expelled per day varies from country to country. The average weight of stool in England is a 106 grams per day, while South Asians unload nearly four times that amount. This is due to largely a high fiber content in the Indian diet. Now if the Indians and other South Asians put this to work with this fact: After you flush down your poo, it ends up in a waster water treatment plant. There it ferments into biogas, a tremendous gas power resource. If biogas from the facility were captured and used to power a fuel cell, each person's poo could produce Approximately two watts of electricity per day. Now times that 3billion people in Asia/India and four times a day! Farting freedom,while most modern cultures shun those who pass flat us in public, a forward thinking ruler,Roman emperor Claudius (10B.C.) first legalized farting thousands of years ago out of concern for his subject's wellbeing. By lifting the ban of farting at banquets, he was in line with the prevailing notion that retaining flats could be harmful to one's health. I guess my grandfather thought he was Roman! Finally, how to say poo around the world: French, merde; German, scheisse; Greek, skata; Hungarian, vegbelsar; Italian, Merda; Japanese, kuso; Korean, Sheeba. Hint, do not name your daughters Sheeba! Tonight we are off to Bangkok to layover for pur flight tomorrow to Bhutan! Happy birthday Sandy! E

DOW sells off home products division

Hi amber, So it appears they have sold their home products division, but are still creating havoc paying off politicians and using plastic materials that are harmful to us. I cannot verify this, but thought it was worth the read and something we should keep in mind next time we vote. Read below: Coke, Pepsi, Kraft, McDonald's, Wendy's, Intuit, Reed-Elsevier, and others have dropped their membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Click here to tell other firms bankrolling ALEC to do the same. Dow Chemical Company This article is part of the Center for Media & Democracy's spotlight on global corporations. Learn more about the threat drilling for methane gas poses to fresh water. Learn more about corporations VOTING to rewrite our laws. The Dow Chemical Company is a lead producer of plastics, chemicals, hydrocarbons, and agrochemicals. It is the largest chemical company in the U.S. and the second largest in the world. (ahead of ExxonMobil and behind BASF). Dow also makes performance plastics; including engineering plastics, polyurethanes and materials for Dow Automotive. Other products include packaging materials such as its Styrofoam brand insulation; fibers and films. It also makes performance chemicals like acrylic acid; commodity chemicals (chlor-alkalies and glycol) and agrochemicals. Its Hydrocarbons and Energy unit makes olefins and aromatics, raw materials for other chemicals. Dow also owns half of silicone products maker Dow Corning. [1] Dow subsidiary Union Carbide, was involved in the Bhopal, India later in asbestos lawsuits. [2] Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council Dow Chemical was a "Director" level sponsor of 2011 American Legislative Exchange Council Annual Conference, which in 2010, equated to $10,000.[3] Dow Chemical was also a sponsor of the Louisiana Welcome Reception at the 2011 ALEC Annual Meeting.[4] Dr. Daland R. Juberg, North American leader of the Human Health Assessment Group within Dow AgroSciences (Indianapolis, IN), spoke at the Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force meeting of the 2011 ALEC Annual Meeting.[5] About ALEC ALEC is corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. ALEC legislative leaders are tasked with a duty to get the bills introduced and passed; ALEC members introduce the bills in statehouses as their own brilliant ideas—without disclosing that corporations pre-voted on them with politicians behind closed doors at ALEC resort meetings. ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, and more than 20% become legally binding. ALEC describes itself as a “unique,” “unparalleled” and “unmatched” organization. It might be right. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site. Animal testing Dow does animal testing. Facility information, progress reports & USDA-APHIS reports For links to copies of a facility's U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Animal Plant Health Inspection (APHIS) reports, other information and links, see also Facility Reports and Information: Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan. [6] USDA AWA reports As of May 26, 2009, the USDA began posting all inspection reports for animal breeders, dealers, exhibitors, handlers, research facilities and animal carriers by state. See also USDA Animal Welfare Inspection Reports. Contract testing Dow contract tests out to Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). [7] Huntingdon Life Sciences is the 3rd largest contract research organization (CRO) in the world and the largest animal testing facility in all of Europe. Firms hire CROs to conduct animal toxicity tests for agrochemicals, petrochemicals, household products, pharmaceutical drugs and toxins. HLS has a long history of gross animal welfare violations. See also Huntingdon Life Sciences. Environment In October 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave Dow 60 days (until December 10, 2007) to present the agency with "a good faith offer demonstrating its willingness to conduct or finance a remedial investigation and feasibility study and design a remedy" for dioxin contamination of the Tittabawassee River, and perhaps the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay areas of Michigan. [8] Air pollution Dow ranked number 11 in the Political Economy Research Institute's top 100 air polluters in the U.S. for 2002.[9] Bisphenol-A Dow Chemical is one of the leading manufacturers of Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical that is used in the making of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Recent studies have shown that the BPA in common consumer products is leading to many serious diseases, even at a low level. Some such diseases are infertility, obesity, breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, thyroid malfunction, and attention deficit syndrome. Recent studies have also found links to genetic problems leading to chromosome abnormalities which can lead to miscarriages, Down's syndrome, and Turner syndrome, among other serious conditions. Some common products containing Bisphenol-A include household appliance parts, compact discs, sunglasses, eating utensils, paints, and reusable bottles. [10] See also extensive list at Bisphenol A in plastics - does it make us sick? A consumer guide Chlorpyrifos First used as a nerve gas in World War II, chlorpyrifos have most recently been used as indoor and outdoor pesticides. In 1963 Dow AgroSciences began manufacturing chlorpyrifos under the name Dursban, a product mainly used as a means of controlling cockroach populations in homes. Dursban was banned by the EPA in 2000, citing it as a neurological toxin that was unsafe to children's health. It was the third organophosphate that the EPA banned from consumer use [11] The chemical was only banned from over-the-counter products; farmers still had access to the pesticide for their crops. This product, labeled Lorsban by Dow, is just as toxic and is having adverse health effects on farmers and their children around the world. Because pesticide use is not legally required to be reported, chlorpyrifos continues to be used without being federally monitored. In effort to prove that their chemical does not have the extreme impacts on children, they have performed unethical tests and hidden the results from consumers. According to Dow, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s report that 92% of children and 82% of adults showed traces of the chemical has a "tremendous number of errors and omissions". [12] In 2003, Dow was sued by the Attorney General of New York resulting in payments of $2 million dollars for advertising their product as safe, 8 years after a $732,000 fine for failing to report results of toxicity studies of their products to the EPA. [13] They have also done human testing on 60 paid people in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1998, paying them to swallow the tablets covered in chlorpyrifos. [14] Health effects blurred vision fatigue muscle weakness memory loss carcinogenicity reproductive/developmental problems birth defects[15] Bhopal, India The night of December 3, 1984 is the night thousands remember as the beginning of a catastrophe that has still not found peace. That night, thousands suffocated on the 27 tons of methyl isocyanate that leaked out of Union Carbide’s pesticides plant and filled the city of Bhopal, India with a white cloud of smoke that was impossible to run from. [16] At least 3,000 people were killed that night, several thousand more in the following nights, and yet more in the years to come. Twenty-five years later, the chemicals from the abandoned factory continue to seep into the ground and poison survivors and their children.[17] It has been claimed that it is the “unlucky” ones who survived that night and must suffer every day from the disabilities and contaminated drinking water. The fight for justice and compensation has been long and hard. In 2001 Dow Chemical inherited the liabilities when it purchased Union Carbide. Union Carbide left the factory desolate and destroyed, ignoring their lease agreement with the state of Madhya Pradesh, that the land, when returned, be in a ‘habitable and usable condition.’.[18] Dow ignored the Polluter Pays principle, claiming that the Madhya Pradesh government should pay for the clean up. The company asserts that the $300 million in compensation paid by Union Carbide in 1989, should be funneled into cleanup efforts, rather than to affected individuals; ultimately forcing the survivors to pay for the chemical clean up.[19] The catastrophe continues today. Napalm During the Vietnam War, Dow encountered boycotts against its end-consumer products because of its manufacture of napalm. [20] ZNet has this to say about Dow: "Saran Wrap -The thin slice of plastic invaluable to our lives. Produced by Dow until consumers were looking for Dow products to boycott. Dow decided to get out of consumer products for this reason -- they sold off Saran Wrap -- and since just makes chemicals that make our consumer products.[21], [22], [23] Purchasing agreement for gasified coal On April 27, 2009 Dow & GreatPoint Energy (a coal gasification company) signed an agreement that gives Dow the option to buy GreatPoint's gasified coal if the company reaches the commercial level. [24] If the two companies do decide to do business with each other, they will enter into a fifteen-year contract and Dow will buy gas from GreatPoint's first three commercial plants.[24] The press release states: "Dow is one of the country’s largest industrial users of natural gas and has over thirty years of gasification experience, having developed its own gasification technology, known as E-gas, and extensive chemical industry processing and technology scale-up experience… Daniel Goldman, GreatPoint Energy’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, who led the negotiations with Dow, commented, “having Dow as a potential major purchaser of natural gas further validates our technology and enables financing structures that will reduce our cost of production." [24] GreatPoint Energy CEO Andrew Perlman stated, “This potential gas agreement will also enable us to move forward with the development of large scale facilities in North America.” [24] In 2007, Dow worked with Citi Sustainable Development Investments, The AES Corp., and Suncor Energy, Inc. to put together a $100 million investment for GreatPoint Energy. [25] The investment was used to create a pilot gasification plant called the Mayflower Clean Energy Center, located at Dominion's Brayton Point station in Somerset, Massachusetts. This was the largest "green tech" investment of 2007, and "one of the industry's biggest venture capital rounds ever."[26][27] Political contributions Dow gave $$319,100 to federal candidates in the 2010 election cycle through its political action committee - 51% to Democrats and 47% to Republicans.[28] Lobbying Dow Chemical and subsidiary Dow AgroSciences spent a combined total of $6,640,000 on lobbying in 2009. $1,870,000 went to 8 outside firms for the parent company; $120,000 went to one outside firm for the subsidiary and the remaining amount was spent on in-house lobbying.[29] Personnel & board Key executives Andrew N. Liveris - Chairman, President & CEO William Weideman - Executive VP & CFO David Kepler- Executive VP, Business Services, Chief Sustainability Officer & CIO[30] Key executives and 2006 pay Andrew N. Liveris - $16,821,542[31] Geoffery E. Merszei - CFO, $7,222,491[32] David E. Kepler - $4,289,395[33] Selected board members James A. Bell - CFO, Boeing Company Jeff M. Fettig - Chairman & CEO, Whirlpool Corporation Barbara Hackman Franklin - Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce under George H. W. Bush Paul G. Stern - Director, Whirlpool Corporation, Member, Council on Foreign Relations[34] Contact 2030 Dow Center Midland, Michigan 48674 Phone: (989) 636-1000 Fax: (989) 832-1556 Web address: http://www.dow.com http://www.biodegradables.com Articles & sources SourceWatch articles Animal testing Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth Chemical industry Community Advisory Panels Community Advisory Panels: Corporate cat-herding Dow Corning Huntingdon Life Sciences Michael Parker - former president Pedro A. Freyre Peter Sandman Precautionary principle Responsible Care - The chemical industry's sham "self-regulation" effort. Chemical accidents actually increased in number after the initiation of this program designed to help the Chemical industry avoid government regulation. References ↑ Company Description: Dow Chemical Company, Hoovers, accessed April 2010 ↑ Union Carbide Profile, Hoovers, accessed December 2007. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, 2011 Conference Sponsors, conference brochure on file with CMD, August 11, 2011 ↑ [American Legislative Exchange Council, 2011 Conference Receptions, conference brochure on file with CMD, August 11, 2011] ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, "Energy, Environment, and Agriculture 2011 Annual Meeting Task Force Meeting," speaker biographies and materials, August 4, 2011, on file with CMD ↑ Facility Reports and Information: Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan, Stop Animal Experimentation NOW!, accessed August 2011 ↑ Inside Customers, SHAC.net, accessed December 2009 ↑ Tony Lascari, "EPA to Dow: 60 days to talk cleanup," Midland Daily News (Midland, Mich.) October 11, 2007. ↑ The Toxic 100: Top Corporate Air Polluters in the United States, Political Economy Research Institute, 2002 ↑ "Bisphenol A in plastics - does it make us sick? A consumer guide," Friends of the Earth September, 2008. ↑ David Brown, Joby Warrick, "EPA Increases Risk Estimate Of a Pesticide; Agency Decision Effectively Bans Dursban From Stores," Washington Post, June 1, 2000. ↑ Cat Lazaroff, "Common Insecticide Found Highly Risky in New Review," Environment News Service 1999. ↑ "U.S. Will Use Once-Banned Human Tests," International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal 2005. ↑ Elizabeth Shogren, "U.S. Will Use Once-Banned Human Tests," Common Dreams November 27, 2001. ↑ "U.S. Will Use Once-Banned Human Tests," International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal 2005. ↑ "What Happened?," International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal November 11, 2008. ↑ Ellen Shifrin, "Bhopal: The Search for Justice," Basics Free Community Newsletter January 28,2009. ↑ Joe Jackson & Maeve McLoughlin, "Bhopal disaster: still waiting for the clean up," International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, November 20, 2008. ↑ "Dow's Liabilities," International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, November 11,2008. ↑ "Dow Drops Napalm", Time, November 28, 1969. ↑ Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, "Twenty Things to Know About Dow Chemical on the 20th Anniversary of Bhopal", Z Net, November 23, 2004. ↑ Dow Chemical Profile, Hoovers, accessed December 2007. ↑ Products and Services, Dow Chemical, accessed December 2007. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 "GreatPoint Energy and Dow Chemical Company Sign Natural Gas Sales Agreement", GreatPoint Energy ,press release, April 27, 2009. ↑ “GreatPoint Energy closes $100 million capital raise co-led by Citi Alternative Investments and Dow Chemical”, GreatPoint Energy press release, September 24, 2007. ↑ Martin LaMonica, "Where coal and clean tech meet", Cnet, April 13, 2009. ↑ Robert Gavin, “Mass. plant will make natural gas from coal”, Boston Globe, October 25, 2007] ↑ 2010 PAC Summary Data, Open Secrets, accessed August 2011 ↑ Dow lobbying expenses, Open Secrets, accessed April 2010 ↑ Company Description: Dow Chemical Company, Hoovers, accessed April 2010 ↑ Andrew N Liveris, Forbes, accessed December 2007. ↑ Geoffery E Merszei, Forbes, accessed December 2007. ↑ David E Kepler, Forbes, accessed December 2007. ↑ Board of Directors, Dow, accessed December 2007. External articles "Dow, Monsanto Ordered To Pay $62M Over Agent Orange", Associated Press, January 26, 2006 External resources Basic history of Napalm. The Bhopal Medical Appeal & Sambhavna Clinic, Bhopal International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal Students for Bhopal The Truth About Dow Dow Chemical Consumer Campaign by Beyond Pesticides The Dow Chemical Company's Website - the latest company written news, PR and information about all of Dows various products and subsidiaries. Dow History as written by Dow Dow Chemical Corporate News & Information Books Alastair Hay, The Chemical Scythe: Lessons of 2, 4, 5, 6 and Dioxin, Kluwer Academic Publishers, September 1982, ISBN 0306409739 Jack Doyle Tresspass Against Us: Dow Chemical and the Toxic Century, Common Courage Press, April 1, 2004, ISBN 978-1567512687 Categories: Global corporations | Water | Energy | ALEC Exposed | Chemical industry | Corporations | Environment | Animal testing | Huntingdon Life Sciences | United States | Human rights abuses

Time too short, arrived in Hong Kong, tomorrow to Bhutan

My ten days was certainly not enough in the U.S. visited doctors, dentist, lawyers and friends! The best time back home was briefly catching up with family and friends, not enough time spent with them! The second best thing, my time at the Museum working on my photos, I always find this time so therapeutic and nourishes my spirit, I am so

looking forward to going back home and working on my prints some more. Ken and I went to our home in Colorado, the first time we actually spent a few days there together. While it was a very busy time for me, going to Denver everyday buying things for our home, I did enjoy my pre-sunrise walks, looking for critters and watching one of my

favorite things, the miracle of a sunrise! 

While on my flight back I watched a few movies and one documentary on the Bhopal disaster in India in 1984:
What kills me is that DOW a U.S. company purchased Union Carbide (another U.S. company) knew about this tragic act of neglect and has since been in litigation, while thousands of children continue to suffer and die because of what is most important to this company, PROFIT, no matter what the consequence. Listen to the b.s. that DOW
spews in their mission statement:
In every corner of the world, demand for sophisticated consumer goods grows. At Dow, we focus on providing solutions that improve products from the inside, out and outside, in. Dow's scientific and technological advances are used nearly everything we touch, watch and wear. From electronics to personal care items to apparel and even medicines, our solutions make great things more fun, comfortable and environmentally–friendly. Together, we make it simple to be simply better. 
What would you do if this was your child, sister, brother, mother, father? What would you do if you were the sole survivor in your family? What would you do if 25 years after the incident your children were still being born with birth defects because of contaminated water and soil? 
The blame also goes to the government of India that does not have the backbone to stand up and say their people have been wronged, better to fill a local politicians pockets with a bribe than to stand up for your people. I pray to God that the people of Bhopal are vindicated soon and are able to find some sense of peace. Think twice before purchasing a DOW chemical product. They earned 13.8 bn in the fourth quarter last year and they can't do the humane thing and clean their mess in Bhopal?

The Bhopal disaster (commonly referred to as Bhopal gas tragedy) was a gas leak incident in India, considered one of the world's worst industrial catastrophes.^[1] It occurred on the night of December 2–3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. A leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people. The toxic substance made its way in and around the shantytowns located near the plant.^[2] Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.^[3] Others estimate 3,000 died within weeks and another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.^[4][5] A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.^[6]

UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), with Indian Government controlled banks and the Indian public holding a 49.1 percent stake. In 1994, the Supreme Court of India allowed UCC to sell its 50.9 percent share. Union Carbide sold UCIL, the Bhopal plant operator, to Eveready Industries India Limited in 1994. The Bhopal plant was later sold to McLeod Russel (India) Ltd. Dow Chemical Company purchased UCC in 2001.

Civil and criminal cases are pending in the United States District Court, Manhattan and the District Court of Bhopal, India, involving UCC, UCIL employees, and Warren Anderson, UCC CEO at the time of the disaster.^[7][8] In June 2010, seven ex-employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by law. An eighth former employee was also convicted, but died before judgment was passed.^[1]

A great home welcoming!

I arrived at almost midnight on Mother's day! I had the best home welcoming, my daughter Lauren, my sister Ann, and my second daughter Hanna greeted me with signs, flags and hugs! The best ever! I have not been able to adjust with the time change and have had very little sleep, but the days have been filled with appointments and meetings!

I will be very busy the next few days with more meetings and spending quality time with my wonderful friends and family! I am so grateful for having an amazing set of friends that fill my heart with joy! A special thanks for my friend Barbara That has taken over baking my cupcakes for the pre-K babies and making sure they are remembered each month. For Sharon, bless you for taking in Fiona and babysitting her for me. And to all of my other friends that have taken the time out of their crazy busy days to shop and have lunch and spend time with me! You all are the fuel to my fire! Thanks!

I will be running for the next few days, but plan on filling you in with all the on goings of Hollywood!

So thrilled to be home, even if for a very few days. This is me with Godzilla in Tokyo!

ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD!

While I have enjoyed my time in Japan, I am not sure I love Japan, and that is okay.

Japan is clean, Japan is quiet, Japan is without chaos, Japan feels to me restrained and constrained. I know I complain about my Chinese friends, but they are out in the park in the morning doing the happy dance, doing tai chi, socializing in general, participating in daily life. Even though we have been invited to sit and have tea, and the people  bow and are the most pleasant I have ever seen, (not even a Southern Bell is as sweet), there is something missing in the Japanese culture. Thank God they have Karaoke and Harajuku girls (Harajuku (原宿 "meadow lodging")  listen is the common name for the area aroundHarajuku Station on the Yamanote Line in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan.

Every Sunday, young people dressed in a variety of styles including gothic lolita,visual kei, and decora, as well as cosplayersspend the day in Harajuku socializing. The fashion styles of these youths rarely conform to one particular style and are usually a mesh of many. Most young people gather onJingu Bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge that connects Harajuku to the neighboringMeiji Shrine area). This is how these people relax! Japanese are the first to travel the world and explore, but try to visit them, you need a PHD to read to the subway rails, and pray that your taxi driver speaks English, and forget about getting a menu in English. And do not even think of not having fish or sushi three times a day! My God I would never be able to eat fish three times a day like the Japanese do! It is no wonder they are always trying to fish in someone else's territory. Today, Starbucks saved me, there was no way I was going to have todays breakfast, fish, salmon, paste, tofu, some other stuff and rice! Yipes! What happened to a plain old muffin! I know I sound so American, and it is probably the first time in sixty countries that I have visited that I am turned off by food. Today we finally heard one horn honked after five days, everything in Japan is QUIET! Tomorrow I go home, on mothers day to be with my baby (of 19 years) to be around friends and loved ones. To eat Cuban food and to sleep in my bed. I am counting the hours, I have never looked so forward to going home!

Happy Birthday Ileana! I love you!

Good night! E

Clarification on students and amino acids

Let me just clarify that the amino acid issue happened in Xiaogan, somewhere in China, not Japan. I think the U.S. needs to take a look at what the pressures the Eastern world places on its children. This incident was for national college exams, can you imagine what they do to the children that are testing for schools abroad. The U.S. universities  should not focus solely on the almighty $, and focus on educating our children as well. What I am trying to say is that over 30 % percent of the student population comes from abroad and universities accept them because the pay a full tuition most of the time aside from being bright. Well, as I write that, are they brighter than our kids or are the just more disciplined? Are they pushed beyond beyond limits? What does this do to a persons psyche? Why do they have to be  number one all the time and what happens if they are number two. I do not think that all of our children need to go university either, I think trade schools need to be reintroduced to U.S. schools as a viable option for our youth. Not everyone needs a PHD. We know that today not much can be done with a Bachelor degree, so why attend schools that are not state schools and start life out in debt. In the U.S. we need to do a better job of educating our children in primary schools. I remember one time I met these kids from Spain and they know more about geography and world history than most seniors in high school. I do think we coddle our children too much, I think we need to find a balance in life which both parts of the world East and West are missing.

A little bit on the frivolous side.....

Today I am going to start off with something completely ridiculous, but maybe worth giving it some thought to, and that is the shitter, the loo, the potty, the toilet, the w.c., the what ever you want to call it. This is my second experience visiting such a sophisticated contraption, I thought I would never call a toilet sophisticated, but my ass has had the privilege of sitting on a Toto that is warm to the touch, oscillates, vibrates, pulsates, blow dries, and much more! This toilet raises the lid when it sees you coming, it is warm as I stated before, it has half flush, full flush and even makes a trickle noise when you sit to help you go! This toilets aims towards your pipi or your posterior, you just have to push the control panel and it does everything for you. This thing even has a deodorizer!At first, I thought okay this is a bit much and I wasn't too sure about the warm toilet seat, but now I must say that I am growing fond of my new friend and I will miss it dearly when I depart tomorrow.
Now for a more sobering thought, what would you say if your child's high school had an I.V. hooked up to your child high school, juiced up with amino acids during the preparation for fiercely competitive college entrance exams. No lie! This is what happened the other day, a government subsidised program for these kids.
Really?????? WTF is wrong with these people?!!!!!!! I would really be pissed off, these children were not tested before, did not know what type of reaction their children were going to have, and what psychological implication does this leave on a child?
Lastly, is this one of the reasons Japan is so different from China?  Read below?

Tokyo, a huge contrast to what I have been living

Today was my first full day in Tokyo, yesterday we arrived to the Peninsula Hotel and the old Japan that I remember slapped me in the face when the two valet attendants and taxi cab driver opened my husbands door and took the luggage out of the trunk and left me sitting there, and I had to open my own door! Welcome to Japan! I walked for over five hours today while Ken was a a meeting. Tokyo is a difficult place to navigate, all the signs are in Japanese and almost no one speaks English, so you get lost and then you find you way again. While walking through the park I watched hundreds of folk listen to an orchestra and then sing along with them. When it finished they all got up in an orderly fashion and walked out from the bandshell.  For a city that has 12 million people, you feel like there are 12, it is so quiet, no horns, no loud voices, and no trash anywhere!  Such a contrast to China, the Japanese are refined, they do not burp, the do not pick their nose in public, and they do not push and shove. They are so civil! I thought so much of Amber and Nicki today, I went to a wood block printing store and the inventory was incredible, full of old masters prints. I then went to dinner with Ken in this small traditional home style restaurant where the pottery was beautifully imperfect! Huge bowls and platters slightly off and ever so gorgeous. I am looking forward to another day of pounding the pavements tomorrow. In the first photograph the kids were cracking up that I was taking their picture.

Traditions lost, identities, people assimilating.

Amber, asked me if the people were dancing, the answer is yes! And it is such a lovely sight to see. We saw them in the mornings at the park and in the evenings at the plaza dacncing to their folkloric music. I could have sat and watched all day! Several women and only one man, we're keeping their tradition alive. The disheartening thing to me is that the way of dressing, the language and I imagine the family component are being lost to the westernization of China. The worst part of living in Hong Kong is that it is a concrete jungle and with the exception of a few temples and the signage you would think you were in any big city. Nothing makes it special and unique, unless you want to say that it is special because it has the most sky scrapers in the world. What I admire so much about the Naxi and the Bai people is that they have existed and thrived for over three thousand years. The sad part is that in maybe five to ten years time, their language will no longer exist, their way of writing and their dress will disappear and all too quickly be forgotten. The U.S. has done the same thing with their immigrants, families were ashamed to speak, Italian, Spanish, or any of the hundreds of languages and traditions that were brought to the U.S.. The kids trying their hardest to assimilate and become "American" as quickly as possible and forgetting who we are as people. The one thing I am grateful for is I know my country's music,food and traditions and some of those have been passed down to my daughter and hopefully to her children. This is part of what makes us so beautifully unique. This has truly saddened me to think that all of our history through out the world will one day disappear and we will all be "vanilla"! At the airport now off to Japan! Good morning!

Japan, Kyoto here I come!

This will be a first for me to spend more than a day in Japan, I am looking forward to see how I react to this country that I have had an aversion to for some time. I am not sure when or where this began, if it was the many male passengers in Miami that did not want a female to wait on them, or if it was when I was flying on Japan airlines in first class and was always tended to last because I was the only woman. The thing with Japan is that hardly none of the people speak English, and I will have no tour guide, so this will be a challenge I am sure! But, having said all that I am certainly looking forward to my trip and to the beauty of Kyoto.

Sick as a Hong Kong Dog

Today I woke and an hour later I was in terrible pain! I was in my room, on my bed dying, getting ready to call any ambulance that would come on a Sunday morning. Then I started searching for pills to help with my terrible pain. I
have had this pain before, I get this heat and cramps at the beginning of my stomach, I get nauseous and feel like vomiting  with chills. After a half hour and a pill I finally threw up! What a relief, temporary, but a relief. I then took another pill and prayed for the pain to go away. I am not sure what it was, if it was a week of heavy foods while my mom was visiting or if it was food poisoning.  I am glad that it is over! I still have some ache, but nothing compared to this morning. We went to the movies this afternoon and saw The Exotic Marigold Hotel with Judy Dench and a caste of fabulous actors.  I loved the movie,  the fact that is was in amazing India and the message the
movie contained. The movie actually contained several messages, one: you live your life a certain way and think you know the people around you, but you really don't, sometimes you really don't even know yourself. The other is that there is hope at the end of the tunnel, that maybe just when your life is over as you know it, something  changes and there is a new beginning.  Today there was an article in the paper Chinese women seeking middle age foreign men, and Chinese women willing to pay $5,000 (about $500.00 U.S.) to meet foreigners through speed dating. The fact of the matter is that there are many Asian women dating or married to "white" men. Very rarely do you see a "white" woman with a Chinese man. One article said that men and Chinese in general do not do casual dating, the other possibilities, white women do not necessarily want to be with a man that is shorter and weighs less than them. Lastly the article stated that it is still frowned upon in society for a Chinese man to marry outside the culture, and that men usually do not marry foreign women because when the men marry Chinese, they are the ones that are "wearing the pants" sort of speak. I think all thoughts make perfectly good sense to me. The only thing I am uncomfortable about  is that most of these women are very young compared to the much older gentlemen they are with. One week until I go home!

Matriarchal Naxi and Bai Women in Yunnan

While we were traveling in the Yunnan province we encountered several tribal minorities, but  two minority tribes the Naxi women and the Bai women drew me to them. The Naxi women are matriarchal, they keep custody of the children and the men do not live with their family. The women are in control of the money and raise their children. When the children turn 13 the women tell them who their father is. I find this fascinating, so much of the Western culture thinks that it is necessary to have a mother and father to raise children right.  We have witnessed that this does not always work, with the divorce rate being 50 % of all marriages ending in divorce. This tribe has been in existance for thousands of years and it seems to work for them. There are only 300,000 thousand left and the customs and their way of writing (using pictographs) is quickly diminishing.  The Bai are known for their architectural skills and the style of their homes. They also have some of the most colorful costumes and head wear in China. The more and more I travel I am aware that the women are the ones that carry society. I asked my guide, why is it that the woman does all the work and the man just sits and observes.  All the guides say the same thing, the men are lazy and like to drink. They take their birds to the park, drink and do little if nothing. She also told me that women have wised up and now control the money in the family. Also women now are waiting to get married and have children.  I think women in the west are now waiting to get married and have children for similar reasons. Not that men in the U.S. are lazy, but women are finding out that life does not have to be Ozzie and Harriet. Who are we as a society to say that a husband and wife are the "only" way to raise children. I hope my daughter realizes that she must be independent and love herself first and fulfill herself before committing to anyone else. My mom is in town, and we walked around Central yesterday and then went to dinner. Hong Kong is humid! One of the locals said it feels like a monsoon is coming, the stickiness and the humidity is ridiculous. No photos today I posted too many the other day. I have ten days before I am home! Yes! Today I am going to find a place to print some photos and send to this lady in the mountains that wanted her granddaughter to have something to remember her by. Ken painted her, as you saw in one of the photos yesterday and I promised to send her photos. The catch is, that I cannot write Chinese and she does not have an address, so I have have Ken's secretary write the address and I will mail to my guide that will go on tour again at some point to the mountains and take the photos to my beautiful old lady. Ok one photo same one because I love this viejita. :-)

Yunnan, a beautiful part of the "Old China"

Ken and I took our first trip to China together and we visited a small part of the Yunnan province. Beautiful landscapes with mountains, rivers and lakes. We first landed in Kunming and stayed in the City one night. We visited Yuantong Temple which was under renovation. We stayed at the Green Lake Hotel which was fabulous! The next morning we took an early flight to Dali, home of more than fifty minorities.  We went to Erhai lake and went to
see the cormorants fish. This was an amazing sight to see how these birds catch the fish. We also went to see the Three Pagodas that has a history of over 1,800 years. It so happened that we were there on Buddhas birthday and I was able to join the procession and had the privilege of bathing the Buddha with all of the worshipers.  I was overwhelmed by this experience, I was overcome with emotion and I had to fight to contain myself. The Old town of Dali is lovely, the Bai ethnic group  paint their houses white and then paint the corners or center with beautiful Chinese brush paintings. The next day we drove three and a half hours to Lijiang. Another beautiful town, the difference being that this town suffered a major earthquake in 2006 and the Chinese government decided to rebuild the city and it looks as if it were hundreds of years old. We stayed at the Crown Plaza hotel where EVERYTHING in this hotel was perfect!

The only thing wrong with Lijiang is that it is a tourist trap and sells the same thing over and over again and at inflated prices!  The best part of our trip was visiting the Yak Meadow of Jade Dragon where I met a 78 widow. This lady was from the Yi ethnic minority and we had a wonderful time, so much so that we were scheduled for a show and missed the show to visit with her. The lady had asked Ken for one wish, to paint her so that her grand daughter would have a memory of her when she passed.  The next day we went to Baisha and I walked the streets after lunch and Ken sat and sketched. I was walking down one of the streets when this old lady grabbed my arm and pulled me in to her home. There she offered me a tangerine, tea and sun flowers, and we chatted via sign language. I then decided I need an interpreter so I called my guide to come and help me. I had the best time visiting with this old lady. I believe these simple encounters with these folks are the most enriching part of my life here in Hong Kong.