Tales from the Road of Life

The Greater Good Network

2009-11-25T11:40:00.003-05:00

I had originally wrote this as an e-mail to my friends and I just thought it was appropriate to share with those who also read my blog. -J

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Just thought I would let you all know about the Greater Good Network when you're considering your Christmas Shopping. By making a purchase at one of their websites, you are not only purchasing a gift for someone, but you are also helping the world.

Purchases made at the Hunger Site will contribute cups of food to help feed people, not only throughout the world, but here in the United States as well.

Purchases made at the Breast Cancer Site will contribute a portion of your purchase to help pay for a mammogram.

Purchases made at the Child Health Site will contribute money for provide health care for a child.

Purchases made at the Literacy Site will contribute money to provide books for children.

Purchases made at the Rainforest Site will contribute money to purchase Rainforest land and for its preservation of the land and also to help other wildlife preservation.

Purchases made at the Animal Rescue Site contributes money to help Animal Shelters with food and supplies, not only here in the US but in other parts of the world.

What I do is try to buy an item in each store (by clicking on the above tabs) in the area that I know that the gift recipient is interested in. So I would buy something for a Pet Lover at the Rescue Site, and then buy something else for a friend who is supporter of Breast Cancer from the Breast Cancer Site.

And I also try to buy from "Global Girlfriend" which in addition to supporting the various charities, they also provide women in 3rd world countries an opportunity to make products to help EMPOWER women by giving them a chance at having Financial Stability.

So in the card that I give to people with the present, I also list all the things that their particular gift has provided to the world. Like, "Your gift provided 14 cups of food to starving people, and gave a rape survivor a chance to gain back her dignity." I just feel like it's a feel good way to spread the joy and to remind people how really connected we are to people in the world through indirect means.

Anyway, if you think of it, take a look at it (you can get to the other sites by clicking on their tabs):

http://shop.thehungersite.com/

Happy Thanksgiving!

Trip Itinerary - Switzerland

2009-07-29T00:20:00.001-04:00

For those who might not know, I am going to be spending a week in Switzerland for my birthday. As fate would have it, I was sitting at my desk listening to WBUR, my favorite NPR station, and they mentioned if you donate, you could get a ticket to the Dalai Lama talk in Boston. Well, that got me really excited as I have been wanting to go hear the Dalai Lama talk...that's one of my "Things to do before I die" list. Last year when I checked his website out, he had no travel plans on the agenda so after I heard he was going to be in Boston, I headed to his website and lo and behold a packed calendar! I quickly scanned the dates and noticed he was going to be talking ON MY BIRTHDAY! Sweet! And then I saw it was going to be in Switzerland...not so sweet...especially after I took a look at my budget.

Seeing how I have strong Badger energy, well, I immediately started digging. After all, how often does one have something on their "Things to do before I die" list pop up on their birthday? So, after doing some digging, turns out I could do this trip for approximately $2,000...including a round trip plane ticket...but I'd have to camp, which was all set to go as one of my friends was going to go with me to help split the costs. Yippie! So I buy the plane ticket and then turns out that she couldn't go with me. Waahhh!

Well, I've already got the plane ticket, so I was going to go. I figured, if I could travel around Japan without knowing ANY of the language except "Thank you" and "Goodbye" that I could make it in Switzerland...I do know a little bit of German after all. VERY little, but more than what I know in Japanese anyway. haha So I'm good and then my sister and my other friends are freaking out because I'm going to go by myself and then out of the blue, my friend TE, calls me up to catch up. We have dinner and I let her know about my trip and she wants to go with me, so now I have a traveling companion and everyone is all relaxed again. ha!
The other night, TE, goes riding and meets this guy from Australia and turns out he lived in the city where the Dalai Lama is going to speak. So he kindly gave us a lot of tips and after we got to know him a bit he offered to call his friends that still live there and see about putting us up for the time we are going to be there because it was Black Fly season and we would be eaten up if we camp. Wow, now talk about a small world huh? Anyway, we're waiting to hear from him to see how this will go.

As my friend, MS, said, "It should all work out, either way; fate smiles down on an open-minded traveler! =)"

So here is the plan for my most awesome world adventure!

Saturday arrive in Geneva, Switzerland. Explore the city and try really, really hard not to go to sleep until 10 pm to help with the Jet Lag.

Sunday make our way to Lausanne via train, to either the camp ground or to the Aussie friend's place.

Monday we have to explore Lausanne, hopefully go to the Swiss Army Knife Store. I want their motorcycle knife. :o)

Tuesday & Wednesday - the Dalai Lama!! Yippie!

Thursday & Friday - ride motorcycles through the Alps.

Saturday, fly back to the US. :o)

No worries, I will be picking up cowbells for everyone. ;o) haha Except for my sister who gets Kinder Eggs. haha And yes, I will be taking loads of pictures.

Catch you all in a week!!

Oh my gosh! I'm 7 again!

2009-07-26T00:09:00.001-04:00

haha I was surfing You Tube and I came across...

VOLTRON! Defender of the Universe!

I can recall my sister and I rushing home from school so we could watch VOLTON! Defender of the universe!

Wee! What fun! haha

Drumming

2009-07-25T23:25:00.001-04:00

Does it seem like I'm spamming now? haha Like the moon, I have my periods of creativity and then of nothingness, so bear with me. ;o)

On the spur of the moment, I was invited by my dear friend SW to go to a introduction to Drumming in Asheville. So I happily accepted her offer and went with her.

Larry, the guy running the drumming tent, offers free drum lessons at the French Broad Food Co-op on Monday nights in Asheville and I think he also spearheads the Friday night Drumming Circle downtown Asheville. Really cool guy. He's the one with the cowboy hat.

Look at me, so very intent on making sure I was maintaining the beat. Which worked...until I started thinking. Which, as everyone knows happens to me all the time. So yes, I was very aware and so were the poor people around me as to how unable I was to keep a steady beat. haha

Anyway, it is a bit difficult to describe drumming so I went through the trouble of uploading a video clip on to You Tube of the Women's Drumming Troupe in Asheville called "Wild Bodema." Who performed for us in between drumming workshop demonstrations.

You want to talk about people having FUN! These women most definitely ARE! See, this is what happens when you have rhythm and practice a lot. And if you don't THINK. haha

If your drumming becomes too bad, they carry you off stage like this poor guy... ;o)

Remember to smile and laugh. Life doesn't have to be so serious. :o)

Festival of Native People

2009-07-25T21:32:00.001-04:00

I have wanted to go to a Native American Powwow for a while now, I thought that it would be really cool to see people embracing their Heritage. Well, I ended up missing the Powwow at Cherokee but lucky for me, the next weekend had something called the “Festival of Native People” and I think this was more along the lines of what it was that I really wanted to experience.

When I watched this advertisement on the Cherokee website, I really found myself emotionally affected.

I’m not really sure why, I just felt moved almost to tears by the video. I figured it must have been just seeing so many smiling faces as they were sharing their endangered cultural heritage. In fact, with many of the speakers, the leaders usually fathers, would talk about how proud they are to be able to share their culture with people who actually want to know about it, but also to have their own young people wanting to learn about their culture to keep it alive. I got teary eyed several times as these men would get choked up expressing how proud they were of their children wanting to learn the traditions.

During the break, we got a chance to go through the Native Arts and Craft tents. As we were walking through, the Apache performers, who were mostly teenage boys wearing the baggy jeans and hip-hop tennis shoes and backwards baseball caps, were stopped several times by people who just wanted to tell them how much they enjoyed their performances. These boys were just so amazed by all the attention they were getting. I overheard them say with disbelief in their voices, “Wow man, I can’t believe how many people have come up to us.” There was a bit of pride in that statement as well.

I found this to be another example of how just expressing your enjoyment or appreciation can really have a positive influence on others. A simple thumbs up from a stranger caused these guys to just light up.

Sometimes, it’s just the simple things that have the greatest impact on people.

Tribes represented were:

Cherokee-Shown here doing an audience participation dance.

Zuni - had a lot of really cool outfits so I'm going to show a couple from them.

Eagle Dancer with real Eagle Feathers.

Water Maidens, they were balancing pottery on their heads as they did their dance.

Just thought this was cool because it really reminded me of their well known Animal Fetish carvings. The guys in the Buffalo outfits are holding thunderbolts that you see on the fetishes.

Hawaiians - They performed twice. Once during the day and at the end. When they said they were going to do a Pele Honor Ceremony, I thought for sure that it would involve fire, but it didn't and I was sad, but still the drumming was incredible.

Apache - These are teenage boys I was talking about earlier. They were actually doing ceremonial rituals. This one was in honor of the sacred directions.

Totonac Pole Fliers from Mexico. These guys are amazing, they climb to the top of this VERY tall pole and then tie a rope to their ankles and slowly twirl down the pole upside down while the guy at the very top plays his flute. Wild!

Seriously, nothing else is securing them except for that rope on their ankle!

Git Hoan from British Columbia. I really liked them, they had a lot of really cool masks and really told their people's stories and songs. I liked that sprinkle of history into their dances. This particular one involves a horrible beast (looks like a mosquito) and the water maiden who is trying to warn the hunter, but he ignores her and ends up dying. Then she warns another man, who also ignores her and ends up dying and then she warns a woman, who listens to her and ends up killing the beast. See it pays to listen to nature people! ;o)

Inca Son from Peru. Their music was so relaxing that I got really sleepy during their performance.

Then it was the Hawaiians again. They did this really cool opening where the only guy blew into the shell to make a horn noise.

I honestly think that the woman's face on the left says it all when it comes to how they felt performing their native culture to such a receptive audience.

She was just absolutely beaming. Just had a HUGE SMILE on her face the entire time.

How blessed were the people in the audience to be witness to pure joy. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

Firewalk

2009-07-25T20:50:00.001-04:00

Let me tell you, ever since my dear friend, NE, told me about a firewalk she did, I’ve been wanting to do one. So for the past two years or so, I’ve been keeping my eyes out for a firewalk being offered in the area.

Well, as luck (or is it?) would have it, B&T went to go see a Native Elder, Rainbow Eagle, speak at a place called “The Garden” in North Carolina. Turns out they do a firewalk every now and then. Well, since B&T have heard me talk about my desire to do a firewalk they got all the necessary information to find out about making it a reality. Did I mention just how much I think that B&T ROCK?! They are THE BEST people you could ever hope to meet! I am so very blessed to have them in my community of friends.

As with everything in life, your intentions have everything to do with your experience. Everyone comes to a firewalk with whatever it is they wish to experience. I had thought about the firewalk so much that I wasn’t actually all that excited about doing the firewalk as in, I knew I could do the walk with no problems. I was more excited about being able to sleep in a Teepee. Yes, I am odd.

My intention for the firewalk was to see what sorts of feelings and emotions or thoughts that would come up right before being faced with the challenge of walking on fire. I figured that this would be very representative of how I handle challenges in life. Well, Spirit threw me a curve ball. I learned more about how I handle challenges in life with the trust exercises that we did before we did the actual firewalk. I learned that I have to think about what it is that I’m going to be doing and then once I commit to the activity, I have a little twinge of fear, but I go for it fully. If I get a chance to think about the activity for a long time, like I did for the firewalk, it’s like I’ve already done it, and I had no fear. Just bring it on so I don’t have to think about it anymore!

So the highlights.

Fire Ceremony. From the Lakota or perhaps the Inca tradition. We were given red square cloth in which we made an intention and then took a bit of ceremonial tobacco and placed it in the square. Then tied our squares into little bundles with red string, and held it up to our ancestors and to Spirit to acknowledge our prayers of intention. At one point, I noticed that I started folding my little bundle into a wonton shape, this made me grin and made me feel connected and acknowledged by my Korean ancestors.

Then right before the firewalk, we finished the fire ceremony by placing the bundles into the fire and “washing” ourselves with the fire. Yes, we actually placed our hands into the fire and brought the energy to our chakras and over our crown. Very powerful.

Falling exercise. This exercise was probably the most profound for me. On these metal folding chairs, we climbed on top of a 2” by 6” board and then fell back into the waiting arms of strangers. I kept looking at the board convinced that there was NO WAY it was going to hold me, I don’t care WHAT they say! And then my BFF, CC, goes up there without so much as blinking an eye. O_o

What was so cute was that once she was on the board you could see that she was now thinking, “What the <beep> was I thinking?!” haha Then she did it. I was so stunned by her determination and courage to go, that I went next. Once I got up there, I got to thinking about technique (my bad habit) and then told my brain to shut up, and then just fell backward.

This exercise told me so much about myself. I saw how I approach situations, how I react, and just how much stronger I am than I had previously thought. Just absolutely profound.

Running with eyes close. The next exercise was running in a field, trusting that you would be told to stop before you were injured by running into a tree or into the creek. Ha! Again, another realization about myself. I will go into something full force and will slow down if I think that I should already be at the end which will cause me to slow down (doubt myself) and that I need reinforcement. I also can’t run straight, I tend to run to the right. Haha

The firewalk, amazing, yet not at all scary. I got more out of walking across the fire with TM and CC. I didn’t feel heat on my feet and only felt the discomfort of walking across a bunch of loose pebbles. After the ceremony, we gave thanks to the fire, and when we kneeled down in front of it, the heat from the coals was incredibly hot. Which just reinforced that hey, you did walk on FIRE! Here are our dirty feet to prove it! Yeah, not as dirty as you would think it would be. We didn't take pictures during the actual ceremony because apparently that causes people to not be in the right frame of mind and they tend to get burned. So...yeah, I chose NOT to take pictures during the firewalk!

The night was capped off with me and CC sleeping in a Teepee. Everyone else either slept in the house or went home. It was absolutely amazing to lie there and look up through the top of the teepee and see the stars in the sky. I can still feel the peace that I felt as I laid there before drifting off to sleep.

I am really blessed!

2009-07-25T20:34:00.001-04:00

Holy smokes! In the past couple of weeks, I have been having such wonderful experiences.

I will break the events up into separate blog posts to go into them in more detail but I am sitting here and I am just completely overwhelmed by just how HAPPY I feel. I feel as though my heart is going to burst with joy.

Since I last wrote, I have experienced a Firewalk, the Festival of Native People’s at Cherokee Reservation, gave a talk at a local Metaphysical Group about “The Importance of Integrating Knowledge,” went and participated in an introduction to Drumming at a Festival, and I’m currently gearing up and finishing up the last minute details to a dream trip of mine…to see the Dalai Lama.

Part of me is saying, “You know, in this economy, you really should be staying home and saving and paying off your bills.” And the other part of me is saying, “Shut the <beep> up, this is a trip of a lifetime! DO IT!” (Yes, not very higher self, but my higher self usually doesn’t mince words. Haha) As my good friend, TM, reinforced in his talk on Thursday, the point of life is to experience it.

And I’m almost overwhelmed with emotions, mostly an overflowing feeling of pure joy and happiness, at actually DOING things. LIVING!

Wow. How awesome.

Message of Butterfly

2009-06-20T18:36:00.001-04:00

One night, I was having a delightful conversation with BM&TM. In which we were discussing the topic of "Change." We observed that so many people are afraid of change that they would rather be in the living hell that they are in and would fight you tooth and nail against you in order to stay in their misery. Why? Because there is a certain level of comfort in the known.

Look at a lot of people repeating the same pattern of behaviors and then complain, "Why does this always happen to me?" Well, because they keep going back to the pattern of behavior that is known and has a certain comfort. How many of us know people who complain about having horrible boyfriends or girlfriends and yet continue to date various clones of their horrible ex?! It takes a certain kind of strength to break out of the cycle, to get use to something that isn't known!

I read an article by Nicholas D. Kristof in the New York Times called "Loss of Innocence" in which he purchased the freedom of two teen prostitutes in Cambodia and arranged it so they would be reunited with their families they were taken from as young girls. One of the girls willingly went back to the brothel who had kidnapped her in the first place, and one can only guess that the real reason was the fear of the unknown and all the new variables that came into her life at this new life.

When I think of stories like that I am reminded of a story that TM told me:

A person noticed a butterfly struggling so very hard to break out of the chrysalis. The observer watched as the butterfly fought and fought and felt a little sorry for it and then watched as the butterfly finally broke free and flew off.

The observer then came across another butterfly struggling out of the chrysalis. This time, the observer thought she would help and so she cut the chrysalis so the butterfly wouldn't have to struggle and could just fly away.

But, the butterfly could not fly and ended up dying. The struggle of the butterfly out of the chrysalis was important and part of the process of strengthening the butterfly so when it finally did break out, it would have the strength to fly off on its own.

Sometimes, when you are going through what seems to be hell, is just a time in which you are are developing the strength for a new phase in life. It's all a matter of perspective and perception. Unfortunately, most of us don't have the ability to see too far into the future, so we aren't able to see the immediate blessings of the situation we are going through at the moment and yet when we look back, we can see the gift of the struggle in our present situation and that it wasn't as horrible or as bad as we thought it was...

Sometimes, the rewards of the struggles have a habit of making us forget the pain and the struggles of the journey.

But the question is, "How do you know what the outcome will be until you are WILLING to try?"

Spiritual Engineer

2009-06-20T17:38:00.001-04:00

For those who don't know, I am what most people would describe as a Shaman. A Shaman is an ancient Siberian word to describe a person who is in communication with the spirit world and the plane in which we exist physically. There are TONS of different types of Shamans and there all are products of their experiences and their culture. So the most typical image of a Shaman for Western Cultures is the Medicine Man or Woman from the Native American Cultures. However, there are others out there, mostly in tribal cultures, such as among the Aborigines (Australia), Eskimo (Alaska), Sami (Lapland, Finland), Mongolians, Siberia, Mali (Africa), Peruvian (South American), and the list goes on and on.

On a personal level, after my trip to Korea to answer a lot of all consuming questions concerning my personal identity, I was informed that along the female lineage, my family had a lot of healers. As being a Mudang (Shaman) in Korea placed you in the very low social class, so my family started distancing itself from the title to avoid the stigma of being a Shaman. My mother tried to suppress this information from me, but through my cousin, I found out that one of my Korean Aunts is a practicing Mudang and that this was our heritage. Now this didn't necessarily make me automatically think that I was a Shaman, but rather it was picking up one Shaman book after another and realizing that I was already doing these practices but in my own ways. The intent to remove lost or attached spirit entities was there, I just didn't do things like walk up blade stairs to do it. ;o)

The picture below is a Mudang, who is about to perform the blade stair case ritual. In which she will walk up the blade step to the top platform. This is done as a way to frighten the evil spirits that are around because they can see how powerful she is by performing such a dangerous feat! I took this photo at the Andong mask festival when I was in Korea.

Based on what I had witnessed and learned about Shamanism, I was still very reluctant to call myself a Shaman, until one day, it just hit me that the title wasn't for me, but rather it was for those who did not know me. A place for people to start before they dove in to the information that I had to offer.

Although, I have to say, I rather like the description that my good friend TM offered up the term, "Spiritual Engineer." An engineer is someone who takes theories and use them for practical purposes. Well, I pretty much operate in the same way when it comes to spiritual matters, take these practices and use them to make our physical lives better. That really describes me very well. I'm a problem solver, that's for sure.

That's something I found rather frustrating about Psychology Research. It seems like they just begin the process, trying to pinpoint what the issues are, but then they don't seem to do anything with what they found. It seems like the information is then left and they start over to find other ways in which they get to the same "problem." Which it is good to get an idea as to what the various triggers are, but eventually you need to actually deal with the problem itself. Perhaps they look at the other side of the equation once you get past the Undergraduate stage, not sure, but frustrating for a problem solver such as myself.

Yet, the more I travel this road, the more that I am realizing that it's really the PROCESS that matters, not the end result. In other words, it's what you saw and did on your journey to XX, not you being at XX. Watch the movie "Up!" and you'll see the message there.

Labels?! I don't need no stinkin' labels!

2009-05-10T02:12:00.001-04:00

A topic near and dear to my...throat... is how I despise labels. I guess to be more specific, I despise how people use and abuse labels.

It is because of labels that I spend most of my life on this quest to figure out my self Identity. Being of a mixed race, I was often asked, "What ARE you?" Which, didn't bother me, except when asked in a rather rude way, as though I was some sort of freak or something.

This theme was brought up again when we were required to fill out government questionnaires in school which asked what Race you were. During this time, "Mixed" or "Bi-racial" was not an option so I would sit and stare looking at which ONE of those boxes accurately fit me. I asked my teachers which box and they would just shrug their shoulders and just say, "Pick one," or "Put down your father's race." I recall asking my father and he told me to pick, "White." Which to me, felt as though it was wrong, like it was somehow denying my Korean heritage and I always felt uneasy about that.

Through the years, the option to pick "Mixed" or "check all the boxes that apply" became allowed, which made me feel more at peace with myself. However, the guilt of having to choose between the two heritages was the primary motivator for me to study abroad in Korea several years ago. Which has turned out to be one of the most rewarding and enriching things I have ever done in my life, thus far, and I doubt I would have gone on this trip had I not been for my adolescent experiences.

Now don't get me wrong, labels are a great way to classify and discuss things in a quick manner, but there are those who will immediately disregard you due to a simple label, who would completely disregarding the individuality of the person or situation due to the label. It is as if they are so caught up in their static ideology, that they can't actually see situations as what they really are, fluid and ever changing. It is THIS abuse of labels that I have issue.

Throughout history great atrocities have occurred due to labeling abuses. Entire groups of people have used the "US vs THEM" labels to call for the genocides or abuses of people. The most obvious being "Nazi vs Jews," but you also have "Tutsi vs Hutu," "VRS vs Bosniak," "Taliban vs ...well, pretty much anyone who disagrees with them," "KKK vs minorities" and on and on and on.

What really got me was the mantra I kept hearing from a certain group, "If you aren't FOR the war, then you're AGAINST the troops." Um...my father was a solider, I wouldn't want him killed or ANY service person killed. Seems to me, that being AGAINST the war is pretty much FOR the troops, but then again, they were just using a Straw Man fallacy.

So that got me wondering why this was besides the obvious, trying to dehumanize a group so it was psychologically "easier" to deal with abusing another living being. In my book group, we read Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" which has explained to me just how powerful the Ego is at driving people to do things they would never normally do, just to preserve their Ego or sense of self.

Amazon.com: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61): Eckhart Tolle: Books

ISBN: 0452289963
ISBN-13: 9780452289963

Which got me to realize I was one of those people who firmly believed that I was my thoughts and beliefs. I would viciously attack anyone who questioned my thoughts and beliefs, because as I wrongly believed, that these very things were ME. I refused to change my position on views because to change would to admit that I was wrong and that definitely was not allowed if I wanted to keep my identity as intelligent woman. As I grew older, I became more and more rigid and firm in my viewpoints...until I became enlightened.

A Bunny Trail:

I had been struggling with neck issues shortly after my 24th birthday, I had started seeing a Chiropractor and was beginning to become very discouraged as it started to look like I would ALWAYS be under the care of a Chiropractor. After a dark night of the soul, I began on a journey to find a way to heal myself. Fate lead me to a Reiki Open House in which I was introduced to the Japanese alternative healing art and what would be the beginning of my spiritual path.

I soon met other like-minded spiritual seekers and began reading all sorts of books about alternative medicine. My roommate at the time introduced me to Louise Hay's "You can heal your life".

Amazon.com: You Can Heal Your Life: Louise Hay: Books

ISBN: 0937611018
ISBN-13: 9780937611012

Once I read this book, things started to add up for me, and I was able to peel away at the layers of emotional hurts that I had been causing my DIS-EASE. According to Louise Hay, one of the issues dealing with my neck was my stubborn refusal to see other sides of an issue. (Ring a bell?)

Basically all of this stuff was just to point out the importance of being flexible and being willing to change and that it really is OK to change your mind. From what I am beginning to understand, only those who are able to change and adapt to the situation are the ones who will survive, those who refuse to change will be destroyed in one way or another. Heck, I've just described Evolution!

Learn from my and other people's mistakes! Don't get caught up in labels or rigid views which prevent you from adapting and growing, because it sure makes you a prime candidate for manipulation and a BIG PAIN IN THE NECK!

Tucson Gem Show - 2009

2009-05-09T23:29:00.001-04:00

For those who don't know, I am the official "Foot up Christy's butt" business motivator of Harmony Crossings, a metaphysical jewelry store. If you believe in Numerology, it's because I'm a Life Path of 8, but if you don't, it's because I'm logical and have some background in Business from the Wake Forest Summer It's All About Business Program and a couple of classes that I took at Virginia Tech and ETSU. ;o)

Anyway, because of my involvement with Harmony Crossings and also having several things just click into place, we ended up going to the Gem Show of all US Gem Shows, the Tucson Gem Show. Basically, the city of Tucson is transformed into several huge Gem Shows. They have pretty much everything you can think of in the way of Gems and Mineral Specimens.

As fate would have it, we have two wonderful friends, Moria and Lori, who were kind enough to put me, Christy, and my sis, up for the week. So in between buying things for the store, we sprinkled in various side trips. Which, we could not have done, without the kindness of Moria for trusting me with her vehicle. You rock chica!!

I would just like to say, how very fortunate and grateful I am with all these wonderful experiences I continue to have in my life. I mean, how often do you just say, "I'd like to go to the Tucson Gem Show" and have all these opportunities to make it become a reality? The key though, is actually seizing these opportunities. Not saying that you should seize EVERY opportunity, but the ones you REALLY want to take.

Yes, I'm one of those "woo woo" people who believes in the power of Crystals and other things that have been described as false by science. It is my belief that there are many things that science hasn't quite figured out yet and will prove later as technology improves.

The Gem Show is a mixed bag energetically. There are some places that have what I would describe as bad energy, which makes me immediately back out of the tent, and not even bother with looking at their merchandise. I'm not sure why I feel that way, but I trust this feeling and move on. For instance, this place here, did not feel good.

There are other tents where the energy feels really good and it's like walking into a party with a bunch of your friends. We went into another tent where they also had furs and it didn't feel as sad, yet the "product" (I hate to use this term for these animals) did not have a "massacre" feel to it.

Yes, I know it seems odd to see skinned foxes at a Gem Show but for some reason it ties in with a lot of Shamanic and New Age practices, which I just got to question a bit. As someone who resonates with Shamanism (this will be another blog entry in itself to go into the depth of all this), I really have to question the reasoning behind using furs and feathers obtained from a chop shop. Perhaps in the past, there was a legitimacy in using such things for they did not have alternative objects, such as a stuffed animal, to represent the animal spirit.

How is one honoring the spirit of an animal by using their fur that came from commercialized murder?

I think this is an example of where the spiritual message got lost in the dogma of the practice.

No-Thingness

2009-05-04T22:47:00.001-04:00

This is where I am in my life, in a state of "No Thingness." I've been in this state for several months now. Just in this state of where it seems nothing is happening, that nothing is really going on, it just kind of...is.

This is a somewhat surreal place. Where I'm going through the motions of life and yet, when I try to get a glimpse of my future, of where I will go from here, I can't see a thing. It is like being in this card, where everything is pitch black and I can't see a damn thing. I don't know what is up, or what is down. Just this floating in suspended animation.

Card V: No-Thingness from Osho Zen Tarot

This isn't a bad place, really.

Oh sure, it CAN be a bad place, but it's all in how you perceive this place that will determine how you will feel.

If I were to describe how I viewed life, I would say that life is a play in which everyone is the main character, and everyone that you know is a guest star on your show and you in theirs, and no one has an official script. Every now and then, you find yourself in your dressing room (No-thingness).

You have several choices while in your dressing room.

You can try to come up with some lines you will say for possible scenarios, knowing that this might be a futile exercise because you really have no idea what is going to happen when you do get back out there on the stage.

You could just worry yourself, pacing back and forth, growing more anxious as you hear the hammering and the saws of the crews working on the mystery set above.

You could consult someone who had a glimpse of your stage for some advice.

Or you could just relax and just take a nap, getting rested up for whatever might happen, trusting that your crew is taking care of things for you.

I have been in varying degrees of all situations and am now starting to relax into just trusting that everything is going to turn out just fine. Do I still get nervous when I don't hear or feel the crew above? Um...YES, but now I've realized that if I call out to my loyal crew above, I am usually greeted with a chuckle and assurances that everything is just fine.

Something amazing is on the horizon for me, this I am sure. What it is, I'm not sure, but it's going to be a fun ride. :o)

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

Joseph Campbell

China 2007 - Day 4: Forbidden City

2009-05-03T11:42:00.001-04:00

Our final day in China was spent at Tian'anmen Square (Gate of Heavenly Peace) area before we went could go into the Forbidden City. Prior to this trip, all I knew about Tian'anmen Squares was that it was where all these students were killed by the Government for wanting democracy. I was roughly 12 years old when this tragic event occurred and all I can recall about the event was a grainy video of a tank as it was about to run over a student protestor. I had no idea where we were until I saw a cheerful Olympics store stating where we were.

Immediately a soberness came over me and I started to take in the surrounding area from a different perspective. The cheerful pre-Olympic decorated streets were ignored and I saw this wide corridor as a site in which thousands were running for their lives on that fateful June 1989 day. As I stood in the center of the Square, surrounded by armed guards with machine guns watchfully surveying tourists for any signs of trouble, I just took in the area. I had not known that Tian'anmen Square was surrounded by so many grand governmental buildings, Chairman Mao's Tomb, and the entrance to the Imperial City.

The guide told me, through my cousin, that to view Chairman Mao, you would have get there roughly around 5 am and wait several hours to see him for a minute. This was AFTER you got a ticket that gave you permission to be allowed to stand in line.

On the side closest to us, was the Great Hall of the People, in which there was a huge Olympics countdown clock.

There was a certain line in the Square that you could not cross that was heavily guarded. I'm not sure why they chose this area to block off, except for that it was directly in front of the opening to the Imperial City and the huge Chairman Mao painting but still there was a 4 lane roadway and a huge sidewalk in front of that.

If you are a map geek, you should totally check it out on Google Earth, although, they don't have it in 3D mode yet, but still gives you an idea of how HUGE the Forbidden City is in size. Before we actually got into the "forbidden" part of the city, we came across a military exercise being done in one of the court yards.

There was just so many people trying to get in and that was still with our set entrance times. So we were instructed to follow the Maroon flag. Notice again, the yellow glazed tiles above the entrance into the Forbidden City. From what I understand they replaced the jade for preservation reasons.

One of the interesting stories relayed to me was that at some point, an assassin tried to dig his way under the city to kill the Emperor. After that incident, the city was redone to where the streets were now 10 m (32 feet) deep in solid concrete. O_o The familiar gray concrete bricks can be seen in all the works done by the Ming Dynasty and the Forbidden City is no exception.

The architecture was really amazing throughout and it was interesting to note that things were very similar to what I had seen in Korea but a much LARGER scale. Holy smokes!

I had to take a picture of the royal staircase. The Emperor was only allowed to be carried up the stairway. Yes, it is that steep! I can't imagine being one of the servants having to carry the Emperor up that staircase!

During the trip, there was a family with two young children. The well behaved older son and the young daughter, who wanted to hang out with the older girls. I didn't mind the little girl hanging out with us although, I don't know how the other 20 something Korean girls felt about her hanging out with them. She was a delight and boy was she passive aggressive toward her parents, especially her mother, when told to leave us older girls alone. She sulked for several hours, being this ball of gloom in all family photo shots, not responding to her mother's attempt to buy her happiness with Olympic souvenir toys and favorite candies. Cherry would have NONE of that. I just laughed at this spectacle that had taken place for almost 24 hours (started in Day 3) and told her mother it would be an honor if Cherry could join me and Ji-Eun on the tour. Cherry immediately perked up and was a huge ball of light for the rest of the tour. She was so cute!

We also hung out with a Korean teenager, who was thrilled that I would want her to hang out with us and let her practice her English with me. Her comprehension and pronunciation was really amazing for a middle school student. I wished we got a picture of her! I have a picture of her brother, but not her. Strange. Anyway, she was a treat as well. :o)

Our China cousin had also given us an exotic Chinese fruit, called a Dragon Fruit. She said it was delicious, but we couldn't figure out how to eat it (we had no knife) and we figured we couldn't bring it back to Korea with us, so we gave it to the bus driver. Along with the various Chinese cookies and candies we picked up at a local convenience store. Talk about YUCK! The cookies all had a diesel taste to it. Isn't this the coolest looking fruit though?

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip. Had a lot of amazing experiences, even though a lot of it was under the careful eye of the Chinese Government and it was pretty obvious that a lot of the trip was designed so we only saw the positive side of China. Which, let's face it, who would should you their slums or their messy rooms or their "crazy" relatives? ha!

There was a lot about China that was an eye opener to me as far as my preconceptions of how China was ruled. I was expecting to see the physical presence of this Communist Iron Fist and was surprised to see it so infrequently. Where was this "scary" China I heard so much about it? Where just breathing funny could get you in jail? But, you know, truth be said, I would rather not find out.

That's it for our trip! Thank you for joining me!

China 2007: Day 3

2009-05-03T02:16:00.001-04:00

Early the next day, we were loaded up with a suitcase full of tea for our various aunts and met with our tour group at the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven was built by the Ming Dynasty to pay special homage to Heaven. Inside the Temple of Heaven is a huge park where local Chinese exercise and hang out. Mostly with a lot of older Chinese.

We got to see several groups practicing various styles of Tai Chi. Here's fan Tai Chi.

Here's Sword Tai Chi.

Then there were folks who did calligraphy, I wish I knew what they were writing out. This was all done with a type of sponge mop and water.

After a while Ji-Eun and I started trying to take interesting photo shots. You can only have so many peace sign poses. So I introduced Ji-Eun to these jump shots, which she really enjoyed doing, and no we didn't care that everyone else was looking at us like we were crazy. Oh and you can see the suitcase that was full of tea beside her. ha!

After much walking we finally got to the temple. Where I did my jumping pose. Did I mention that the Chinese have HUGE buildings?

We then got back on the bus and headed to some place where we got to ride on the bike taxis...

...to go see a man who was a Cricket fighting champion?

Yeah, I don't get it either but hey, it was a definitely UNIQUE experience.

What I thought was funny was how part of the tour was to show the Koreans how the Chinese was a bed culture. This was somewhat interesting to the Koreans, as Koreans typically sleep on the floor due to the floor heating system. My cousin just shrugged her shoulders as her family has beds too.

At some point we ended up going to two more of our sponsors, a textile store and a NASA foam pillow and mattress store. zzzZZZzzz

We then went to the Summer Palace, which was most famously known as the summer resort of Empress Dowager Cixi. Now what I didn't know was that this was the place that a Chinese storyteller spoke about when she came to the International Storyteller Center. So I missed out on the Stone Boat that she told her story about. Doh! Apparently instead of spending the money on her Navy like her counsel requested, the Empress built a stone boat to mock them. Well, I guess they had the last "We told you so" when the French came and burned parts of the Summer Palace due to the weak Chinese Navy. ha!

This palace has a man made lake surrounding it. It just boggles the mind how many men must have been used to create such a thing back in the 1750's. Geez! When we were there, it was so old that the Lake was frozen and people were skating on it.

Along the way toward the Palace, I ran into two elderly Chinese ladies who were selling post cards. I had avoided these street vendors before but I have a soft spot for elderly women trying to make a living, so I "haggled" just asking her to go down the equivalent of a dollar knowing full well I could have gotten it a lot cheaper than that but wanted her to have the money anyway. She just beamed, like she couldn't believe she actually sold one and then she went off to tell her friend. Who was also elderly and not in good health, so I also "haggled" with her and bought a packet from her. Then ran off before they could find more friends! ha! Ji-Eun remarked that I was really kind and I told her that I felt better knowing that at least tonight, those two women would be eating dinner. She thought about it and tracked down one of those old ladies and bought post cards from her as well. ha!

Ji-Eun posing on the Long Corridor after we got our post cards from the old ladies. The Long Corridor was a path in which only the Royalty and their attendants could walk, others had to walk beside it. So I made a point to walk the entire corridor. ;o)

Oh and here's a close up of one of the Yellow Jade protective spirits of the Palace Roofs.

Isn't that just so cool?

China 2007: Day 2: Ming Tombs

2009-05-03T01:29:00.001-04:00

After the Great Wall, we loaded up and headed to the Ming Tombs. Pictured is a quick photo I took from the bus as we were headed toward the Tombs.

It was during the Ming Dynasty that Beijing was declared the new capital of China, and a lot of the more famous landmarks of China were constructed. They were the ones to begin construction of the Great Wall, the Imperial City and the Forbidden City within it.

These folks really knew how to build BIG. As I was walking this LONG open area to the entrance, I happened to notice the pagoda at the top of the mountain above the Tombs. I can only guess that it's some sort of guard tower to watch over the Ming riches. I thought it would be pretty cool to go see that tower and I was told that the tower is actually A LOT farther away than it looks. Apparently it is a 4 hour drive there and several more hours to hike up to it. O_o That pagoda must be HUGE if it looks like a 3 story building from where we were standing. I also want to point out that entrance roof is made entirely out of Yellow Jade. Jade was reserved for royalty, and was considered a protective stone. Yellow jade in particular was believed to preserve the body after death, and was used a lot at tombs.

Once we got inside the Underground tomb of Emperor Wanli and his two wives. We saw an assortment of red boxes, which contained the Emperor and his wives various things needed for life on the other side.

Apparently, this tomb is one of two tombs in China that have been excavated and due to the botched excavation procedures, China refuses to excavate anymore tombs unless it is for rescue purposes. Apparently a lot of the silks were destroyed due to exposure and being dumped into a temporary room that was leaky and wet, just destroyed them. On top of that, during the Cultural Revolution, the Tomb was broken into by radicals and the bodies of the Emperor and his wives were taken up to the surface and then burned. So needless to say, the Chinese Government is all about leaving things alone.

The "entrance" to the tomb (it is now the exit for tourists) was discovered in an ancient text that mentions something about a special stone and then the exact distance in which they needed to go before they could uncover the entrance to the tombs. Once they found this spot and started digging, they found the royal entrance. Which had this little guy up on the ceiling:

Now, I have an affinity for dragons, especially due to being born in the Year of the Dragon. An interesting factoid is that you can tell where the dragon is from based on counting the number of toes it has. The Chinese Dragons has 5 toes, Korean Dragons have 4 toes and the Japanese Dragons have 3 toes. Also, a dragon is not a truly powerful one if it does not have an orb of some sort in its hand or mouth. In this tomb, you can see that the Dragon is the protector of the tomb and is not afraid to show you the Power that it has either.

After all this, we made our way back into the city to do our required going to stores who have sponsored our trips so we could have this great experience at such a cheap rate. As you can see, there was a lot of construction being done in preparation for the Olympics.

And here's a shot of the Bird's Nest Stadium.

Then we headed to our first sponsors, a Korean owned Jewelry Store. Where they had a lot of impressive things, I especially liked the solid Red Jade elephant. The constant go-go-go of the trip was really wearing on me at this point and I was just overwhelmed with just how tired I was. So I just sat there wanting very badly to climb back onto the bus and sleep but being forced to listen to this guy talk about his product. You know it's bad in your own language but try sitting through one in another language! O_o They let me stay in the back room and put my head down on the table while the others looked at jewelry.

We were then shuttled off to another place. I thought this pedestrian walkway was rather beautiful. This apparently was part of the Olympic Village area.

Anyway, our next vendor was a Chinese Tea company. So we sat through another infomercial about how great Chinese Tea is...in Korean. ha! Here is very old and very expensive Chinese Tea. Apparently tea can be just like very fine wine and improves with age. You too can own one of these levels at $500,000! I'm not sure I like tea that much!

We were instructed before hand NOT to purchase any tea as our China cousin was going to provide us with tons of it when we meet up. So we didn't but everyone else did. It was pretty interesting to see this little Chinese girl speak very fluently in Korean and then as we walked by other rooms, I would hear these other Chinese girls giving their talks in German and French. That was really interesting.

Then we ended up at the Beijing Aquarium, which was ok. I think what was more interesting was watching the employees changing the signs within the guest shop from Chinese over to Korean for our group. At this point, I was getting to feel a lot like this guy here:

I think the most interesting fish that I saw was the Pig Fish.

And we headed to our next infomercial at a reflexology spa. I was informed that we couldn't participate as our China cousin was now going to pick us up and bring us to her place for the night. Ji-Eun was really upset about missing out on the reflexology, so our cousin offered to take us to one in Koreatown. In addition to getting medicine foot baths, we also got shoulder massages. The girl working on my shoulders took a lot of breaks, which made me kinda laugh as I know N could totally relate!

Before that, we did go to a Korean Restaurant where the workers were all Chinese. I was told that these girls were not allowed to go past a certain amount of schooling based on their social status. Our waitress had asked my China cousin what language I was speaking and then once she was told I was American, I felt her scrutinizing me the rest of the time while I was there. Needless to say, I was on my best behavior. Although, it's not like I'm never NOT on my best behavior when in other countries.

That is definitely one thing I have learned on my travels abroad. You may be the ONLY person from your country that this person has ever met and they WILL base every opinion they have about your country based on your actions. And if they have met an "ugly" American, I can only hope that my behavior will cause them to take pause and decide not to write off an entire country based on the ugly behavior of a few. :o)

China 2007 - Day 2: The Great Wall

2009-05-02T23:46:00.001-04:00

So groggily we woke up and made our way down for Breakfast and then on to the bus to be driven somewhere. Yes, talk about an adventure not knowing where you were going! ha! Poor Ji-Eun had to put up with my snoring all night and slept most of the ride to our destination. Which she told me was to the Great Wall before she covered her eyes and slept.

Now that it was in the daylight, I got to see the non-touristy locations of Beijing from our bus window.

Now, I don't want you all to get the wrong impression. Based on all the places we drove around in Beijing, I would say this is not a typical area of Beijing. I guess if anything this would be the equivalent of taking a picture of a slum in the US. Although, I'm pretty sure our slums are paved, but I guess they have other things to worry about than paving parking lots and shoulders.

After a long, long drive, I managed to get a glimpse of our destination through the front bus window.

It was REALLY COLD, but we were prepared! I had long underwear under my jeans and tons of layers. My China cousin had warned us before hand so I made sure I was wrapped up!

We cheated and rode a Gondola up to the top, instead of walking the 2 hours to get to the top. Maybe next time...maybe...maybe not.

Ji-Eun was really scared the entire time, just freaked that the gondola would break and we'd plummet down into the valley below. So I distracted her by having her read the various graffiti inside the capsule and trying to figure out what countries the writers were from.

She was fine once we got onto solid land.

The thing about the Wall is how STEEP the wall is in a lot of areas.

Yes, those handrails do have a purpose! And no, I'm not shooting this from a strange angle either. It IS that steep. I can't imagine riding horses up this, especially in the winter! Based on what the tour guide told us, the wall is supposedly wide enough for 5 horses to run side by side along this corridor. I don't know how that is possible especially with some areas narrowing in for staircases. Plus the horses must be really small. I could see 4 WELL TRAINED horses, maybe.

The view was amazing though.

The construction of this amazing landmark born out of necessity is absolutely amazing. Especially when you think about the obstacles they had to overcome, with the weather, terrain, and just getting supplies up there, WITH the additional threat of the invaders this wall is designed to keep them out!

We, humans, can accomplish amazing things if we put our minds and resources to the task. :o)

China 2007-Day 1

2009-05-02T22:40:00.001-04:00

Let me just say, if you EVER want to go on a trip where you see EVERYTHING in a very short amount of time, go on a trip with a Korean tour company. O_o Sure, you won't have a clue as to what they're saying or what is going on but you sure will see A LOT!

Our tour began with our tour guide who was born in China to Korean parents. I'm sad to say that I don't know her name. She didn't speak any English either, but because I was American, she made a point to get me things that she thought I would like. Which was very kind and thoughtful of her.

Being a transportation engineer, I thought their toll gates were really cool because it actually reflected their culture. I mean look at the comparison between Chinese, Korean, and American toll gates.

China

Korea (Picture from Google Earth)

America (Jersey Turnpike Picture from Google Earth)

Who the heck designed these last two toll booths? Engineers?! haha. Even as an engineer, I know that just because things are "modern" doesn't mean that they have to be completely functional. I'm all about adding some ART and beauty to functional things.

Now, don't think I'm don't know the real reason why the Chinese toll booth is so decorative. When you have very limited entry ports into your country in which foreigners enter, you are going to want to give them a very good impression of your country as soon as possible. So you're going to want to spend the extra money prettying up functional and yet boring pieces of property as an advertisement for your country.

However, I think this brings up an interesting (well, to me, anyway) social commentary. In the engineering world, we rarely, if ever, get a client that comes to us and says, "I would like you to make this functional, environmentally friendly, and beautiful." No, rather, what we get are people who come to us that say, "Do the minimal possible so we can save money."

I believe that there are times when being completely functional can be detrimental to the soul. As humans, I believe we are inspired by beautiful things, which is why so many of us spend a lot of money to surround ourselves with beautiful things. Yet, what does it say for a society in which there are cookie cutter buildings? Sure, they're functional and cheap, but do we really want a society of concrete blocks? During my time in Korea, I found it rather depressing to be surrounded by boringly uniform apartment buildings that had a couple lines of paint on the otherwise plain concrete exterior. Where is the art? Where is the culture, the originality, the uniqueness of our towns and cities in the every day buildings? At times, I feel like our societal personalities are being sacrificed for the sake of the bottom dollar. There has to be a way to combine both.

Anywhoo, back to the trip. So the first place we are brought is to a Chinese circus. I don't particularly enjoy circuses, and was feeling rather drained so I kind of slept through most of this performance. I was told by my cousin that it was like the circus we saw in JeJu.

Then we went to dinner, where we had Peking Duck. OHMIGOD, how yummy!! Served Chinese style. In which you have a very large turn table in the center and very long chopsticks for you to grab what you wanted off the table. The people at our table took pity on me and indicated to me that I should use the soup spoon to scoop the pesky soft tofu onto my plate. Every time I attempted to pick some up, I would squeeze it too hard and it would split in two. I think they also got tired of waiting the several minutes it took me to grab ONE piece of tofu. haha Like the JeJu trip, they did not speak or ask about me with my cousin until the next day. They were trying to figure out why I would look at them blankly when they said something to them. ha!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Seriously, find and track down Peking Duck when in Peking (a.k.a. Beijing), you will NOT be disappointed. Yummo!

We later went to this area where they have the street vendors that have all the odd things to eat. Like scorpion and crickets on a stick. Ji-Eun and I stuck to the safer fruit stick.

At this place, which I don't know why we were there, is where I finally saw my first Chinese Guard. He graciously allowed me to take a picture with him.

I guess this was the "Western" district as there were a lot more guards and what seemed to be high end Western stores. I went into a bookstore called, "Bookstore for Westerners." This bookstore had a lot of books in English, mostly about China. I picked up several books about Chinese Medicine and Ji-Eun picked up books about Chinese painting. When I returned to Korea, my relatives rolled their eyes and commented that I was definitely my mother's daughter with all these books that I had accumulated while overseas. ha!

Then around 11 or so we got back to our hotel where we were told that we needed to be up by 6 to start our day. O_o

China-2007: Westernization?

2009-05-02T21:23:00.003-04:00

So finally, I have taken the time to sit down and write about my trip to China. Can I just say how SURREAL it is to take a tour trip to a foreign country in a language you can't understand?! Thankfully, most of the signs in China were written in English and the Koreans were the ones wondering where they were. LOL! Yes, the tour guide spoke Korean and Chinese, but no English, except for the little bit she picked up from Sex and the City. ha! So needless to say, I spent most of my time looking for signs in English or poking my cousin to have her explain to me what the heck was going on and where we were going!

Before going on this trip, I had my preconceptions as to what this trip would be like. I figured I would be seeing a lot of guards with machine guns and very few Western products. Boy, was I wrong! I think I saw more Officers with guns in England than I did in China. Yeah, go figure. And all those people out there who think that America is a gun crazy country, I would like you all to know the first time I saw a machine gun in real life was at a British Airport in my early 20's and I grew up with a parent in the US Army!

So the first sight to greet me at the Beijing airport was:

Yes, that's right Ladies and Gentlemen! STARBUCKS!

And to add to surreal mood, the areas of China we were visiting we saw the following common sights:

AND

These are DEFINITELY sights that I did not expect to see in China. Weren't the Chinese Government tracking down Christians and killing them? And yet, here is Mr. Claus greeting me on the door of a Chinese pharmacy.

Granted, Christmas Décor doesn't always indicate Christianity. After all, one could argue that it is rather a celebration of materialism and entitlement, rather than a celebration of a poor, persecuted infant child of God. Which could be the route the Chinese have taken, they don't necessarily recognize the "Christ" in Christmas. However, since I don't know any Chinese people to ask without possibly causing unintentional harm , this will remain a mystery for now.

Another sight that I found rather surprising was the number of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) restaurants in China. I was told by my tour guide that there was more KFC's in China than there were McDonalds. Apparently, the Chinese really love to eat Chicken. I really wanted to eat at one to see what their menu looked like but alas, our trip did not allow for that. Koreans with their "fast, fast, fast."

A shift

2009-05-02T21:23:00.001-04:00

I have decided to take a time to reflect on certain aspects of my life and one of the pieces specifically has been my travel blog. During this reflection, I have come to realize that I haven't really been doing what I had intended to do with this travel blog, which was to focus more on my perceptions of my trip rather than just a reporting of what it was I did on my trips.

So from this point forward, I intend to write more about what my perceptions and reflections are about the places that I have visited. Hopefully, this perspective will allow for you to think in ways that are different than what you are use to thinking and maybe, add some knowledge into your own life.

Namaste. Sanskrit for "I respect that divinity within you that is also within me."

My Next Kiva Loan

2009-04-23T10:13:00.003-04:00

I went back to the Kiva website today and there are a couple more people to whom you can give loans. At the time there were approximately 5 groups and out of the groups, I chose to support Ms Tsend-Ayush Lhagva.

Tsend-Ayush Lhagva is 59, married and the mother of three daughters. Her family lives in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia. Two of her daughters are university students. In 2004, Tsend-Ayush started running a shoe making business. She makes traditional Mongolian shoes and sells them to local customers.

When she began to run her retail business, she had many competitors who were running similar businesses. To attract clients, Tsen-Ayush focused on quality and price. Her shoes were cheaper than others and had higher quality. Her working capital has increased from 200,000 tugrugs ($1.00 USD=1450 MNT) to 500,000 tugrugs. Her daughters are always helping with their mother's business when they have free time.

Tsend-Ayush sells shoes from home and dreams of owning her own shoe shop. She requests a loan to buy raw materials.

If you feel incline, you can go here and help someone help themselves.

How cool!

2009-04-21T17:39:00.003-04:00

Ok so now that I got my loan back, I went back to Kiva to share the wealth and do you know that there have been so many people loaning money that they have run out of people to give loans to?!

That is so very incredible! Amazing what $25 can do for people.

Kiva Loan is repaid!

2009-04-21T17:31:00.005-04:00

I just got an update letting me know that my Kiva loan has been repaid and they sent me and everyone else who contributed a "Thank you" video from Awa Guèye. According to the nice e-mail I got, it said Ms Guèye is speaking in her native language, "Wolof."

I can only guess that she is probably discussing what was written in the e-mail sent to me:
Awa thinks it’s a real advantage to her business to have been able to
obtain credit. In the beginning, she had no money. But now, after
several years of working, she’s been able to obtain a canteen for her
daughter to run, and bought a ticket for her oldest child who emigrated
from Senegal.

Recently, she’s been selling mandarins. She had some trouble with this
business, and had to sell some at a loss, but has been able to pay off
her loans nonetheless.

Isn't that just so cool?! I was part of helping someone help themselves. Wow, I wish I could share how happy I feel for her. I feel blessed and grateful to be a part of something so beautiful.

Dreams

2009-02-18T23:49:00.001-05:00

I know it's been months and I still don't have the pictures from my China trip up. This just has shown me how important it is to blog things as events happen otherwise, you end up finding yourself living in the past instead of focusing on the present. So as a typical Engineer, I have been conducting some research as to how to make things a little bit more efficient and what I've decided is to invest in a Netbook, which will have to wait until after I get my tax return and buy new tires for my car and put away money that I owe my parents. Priorities.

No, I haven't figured out which one I will get. Yes, I've checked out the various reviews and consumer reviews, and the HP Mini 2140 looks more along the lines of what I might get. I think I would prefer the Sony P-series (seen to the left) but seeing how that's $400 more...but then again the built-in GPS might actually be helpful...Ok sorry, went off into dreamland.

So why the Netbook? It's a mini-computer that just has the basic necessities for what I need for blogging my various trips. At 9 inches, they are SMALL and LIGHT, which is a definite plus when traveling. It has Wireless Internet capabilities and ports to allow for direct uploading of photos into it and has word processing capabilities. They usually come with Webcams so that's good if I should decide to video my blog instead of typing it out. ;o) It's all about convenience. The more convenient it is to blog, the more likely I'll do it, otherwise there are other things that will take up the space. As evident by the lack of my China trip being uploaded nor my Tucson Gem Show trip being blogged.

All of this is in anticipation for my motorcycle trips that I am currently planning. I'm so very stoked about this trip. No I don't have a time or date picked out. That all depends on how many vacation days I have available at work and the work schedule or being blessed with awesome luck. BUT I WILL go on this trip.

I think all motorcycle enthusiasts have a dream of touring the US on their bikes. Well, I'm definitely no exception. I've been collecting various towns and places to add to my map program for this ULTIMATE trip. The two places that I want to go so badly is up in the Badlands (Dakotas) and around Monument Valley (Navjo Nation). During my trip out to the Tucson Gem Show, I met up with a relative of mine, who grew up on the Navajo Reservation and was also a Park Ranger in one of his jobs. He has offered to give me a local's guided tour of the area. Needless to say I plan on taking him up on the offer.

So you might be wondering why I'm posting such an odd entry. It's because I have a theory that dreams that are voiced are more likely to come true than dreams that are kept to oneself.

I DREAM of this driving this road...

And I WILL! Just you watch!

Inspiration...

2008-11-10T08:56:00.003-05:00

...can come in unusual places.

"The best times of your life have not yet been lived."
Fortune Cookie

It's true, isn't it? Each day that you wake up is full of possibilities, full of choices. You chose to get up and go to work today, when you could have chose to call in sick and sleep in or just play hooky.

But, there are some who claim they don't have a choice, they HAVE TO go to work because they need to pay their bills. Yet, isn't that a choice? You could have just as easily chosen not to go to work and the consequence of that choice is that you don't get paid. Granted, some choices are forced choices, but still they are a choice. It really boils down to you CHOOSING to travel down a path that has the highest probability of a foreseeable outcome. However, there is still a chance that while you chose to go to work you might get there to find out like the DHL folks that you no longer have a job.

All of this ties into this passage that I read the other day which has really caused me to re-evaluate how I'm "living" life.

From Osho: Take it Easy, Volume 1 Chapter 13

A man who lives through conscience becomes hard. A man who lives through consciousness remains soft. Why?--because a man who has some ideas about how to live, naturally becomes hard. He has continuously to carry his character around himself. That character is like an armor; his protection, his security; his whole life is invested in that character. And he always reacts to situations through the character, not directly. If you ask him a question, his answer is ready-made. That is the sign of a hard person--he is dull, stupid, mechanical. He may be a good computer, but he is not a man. You do something and he reacts in a well- established way. His reaction is predictable; he is a robot. The real man acts spontaneously. If you ask him a question, your question gets a response, not a reaction. He opens his heart to your question, exposes himself to your question, responds to it....

I have always prided myself for being the ultimate planner and now, I'm not so sure this is really how I want to go through life. This will require changes in thinking and being and a whole heck of a lot of faith.

Brought tears to my eyes...

2008-10-21T21:27:00.004-04:00

I read this CNN article entitled "Commentary: Congolese rape victim learns to smile again."

Reading the article was just heart breaking and yet, it was inspiring to me and just brought home something I've been noticing more often. It wasn't the "stuff" that made Jeanne smile, but it was the emotional connection to another person.

Through my eyes, I have witnessed so many people, children especially, who equate love with material things and yet they feel empty inside and aren't sure why. The $200 doll in a financially strapped family is suppose to represent "love" even though the parents prefer to watch TV than go play, talk or just interact with their child. The post secret with the Tiffany's receipt for a million dollar ring and he secret written on it saying that she still doesn't believe that he loves her.

Then with all these lawsuits, it seems people are now afraid to touch each other at all! We have fathers who are afraid of even touching their child because someone might think it's inappropriate and bring them to court. We have friends who are afraid to hug except for the hugs that has a lot of distance between them or an open arm for fear of being labeled homosexual.

So now, people around me communicate though several sterile electronic mediums, forgetting how healing it is to be touched by another human. And I'm not saying in a sexual manner. Although, if that's the only way a person is able to get real human contact, then perhaps makes sense that sex addition is on the rise.

So I wonder, are you able to recall how it feels to get a hug from a friend? Not one of those half-hugs, but a great big bear hug? It feels wonderful doesn't it? It lets me know that I'm not alone and that someone really does care about me and my well-being. I feel Dayle did this for Jeanne, a woman who believed that she was unlovable and so damaged that no one besides the hospital workers would want her to claim her as family.

I have no doubt that this simple act of kindness will give Jeanne strength to continue living and be one of the good memories she will call forth to aid her in her darkest hour. And when you look at the scene, it is all so very simple. One human caring about another.