Rachel's rants, raves, and other ramblings

What does it mean to "do good" anyway?

2012-01-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted in a months. Whatever. I have this issue which has been bothering me (not the reason I haven't posted...that would be grad school), so I decided I should try to get it down in words so as to organize my thoughts. This post is really all over the place and is very poorly written. Sorry. I don't have the time or will power to fix it up.

I came across a handout from (I think a Priesthood lesson at) church over a year ago and it said something to the effect of "on judgement day, it's not going to matter in the least what your occupation was in this life..etc". Sorry for the terrible non-quote. I take that to mean "do whatever you like in this life (for a profession). Just make sure you're a good person who is keeping their covenants". Am I misinterpreting? I probably would have forgotten this paper entirely, if I didn't encounter similar sentiments frequently in other situations (casual conversations, lessons, talks, etc).

Isn't it better to choose-for your profession-something that will help other people? Change and improve lives? Improve the world in some meaningful way? I know that not everyone can change the world, but isn't that something we should strive for? If we have the choice between becoming a celebrity chef and becoming a human rights lawyer, wouldn't it be better to choose the latter? Isn't it important to strive to maximize our potential for doing good? Do you really think that God doesn't care AT ALL about what you spend 40+ hours a week doing-for decades of your life? I understand that people can do good and improve lives in really any profession they choose. But this is not an issue of good and bad; it's a question of good, better, and best. Shouldn't we choose the best?

Also corollary to this issue is this other belief that we encounter a lot here in Calgary: the idea that your only purpose in life is to take good care of your family, provide for them, raise your kids, fulfill your church callings, and be a nice person. Doesn't our responsibility extend further than that? Whatever happened to "where much is given, much is required"? What do people think that refers to? Or are people so completely ignorant of the poverty that exists in this world that they don't realize how much they've been given? Do people not realize the great gift of education that we in North America have been given? Have we all turned a blind eye to our neighbors who don't have the same opportunities as us? Shouldn't we do something meaningful with all that we've been given? (MORE than just providing for our family).

Am I totally off base here? What are your thoughts?

The Power of Incentives

2011-09-19T11:18:00.001-07:00

Did I mention that 4 out of 6 of my professors this semester are economists? Well if you've ever been in an econ class for more than 20 minutes, you've probably heard an economist talking about the power of incentives. And he/she has probably used the example of seat belts in cars. Since the government mandated the installation and use of seat belts, the rates of accidents has gone up (though the number of fatalities from automobile accidents has gone down). The idea is that because drivers know they are less likely to die in an accident, they drive more recklessly. (Unfortunately this has consequences for the pedestrian who is not made safer by the seat belts, but is made less safe by the reckless driving). In any case, I was doing some readings for class last night and came across this. Enjoy.

"If you find it hard to believe that people drive less carefully when their cars are safer, consider the proposition that people drive more carefully when their cars are more dangerous ... If the seat belts were removed from your car, wouldn't you be more cautious in driving? Carrying this observation to the extreme, Armen Alchian of the University of California at Los Angeles has suggested a way to bring about a major reduction in the accident rate: Require every car to have a spear mounted on the steering wheel, pointing directly at the driver's heart."

Foreign Aid Rant

2011-09-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hmm I'm starting to see a trend with the rants. I'm really not an angry person...generally.

Last week I took a Social Work class, Social Policy. It was class 9-4 for 5 days. It was pretty intense and I'm glad it's over now (well the class hours anyway). It covered a VERY broad range of social policy topics - both international and domestic. Anyway, let's skip to the exciting part. The last day of class (which was Saturday-yech) we had group presentations about a topic of choice. The first group presented on foreign aid, and used the example of Haiti. Blah blah blah skip to the end of their presentation. A girl in the class raises her hand and asks, after the group's research, what, in their opinion is the best thing to do when you want to help. A group member jumps in and says (almost word for word) "The best thing you can do is get on a plane and go there and help." At this point my head almost burst. I was so outraged by this idiotic belief that it still makes my blood boil to think about it. Thus the rant. Unless you have a very specific skill which is in high demand, STAY PUT and DONATE. Even if you are a physician, an engineer, or another highly-trained skilled worker, you should probably only go in an acute crisis type of situation. Unless you have (or plan to build) a relationship with a specific place, stay of of what the aid-community appropriately calls aid-tourism. They have doctors and engineers and translators in these poor countries. Going in for a few weeks and then leaving won't help much. The money you spent on your plane ticket could be much better utilized by groups/people that are already on the ground.

The worst part of what she said was in response to my "I completely disagree 100%" was "I had a friend who went down to Haiti after the earthquake and she brushed people's teeth. They just needed hands to help out." Say whaaaaaat? Do people not have hands there? When I went to Haiti (for pure tourism, which they frankly need more of to pump money into their economy) everyone I saw had hands. I mean, there were definitely some new amputees post-earthquake, but really? She brushed people's teeth? That is just insulting. Do you really think people there are so stupid and incapable that they need you to go and brush their teeth?

We read Poor Economics for our class. It was a really interesting book (it was published earlier this year) and I really enjoyed it. My one complaint about it was that it tried the whole book to describe and define poor people. As if they are a different species. This student's view of emergency aid was right up the same alley.

I could go on, but my anger management coach is telling me to cool it.

Pyramid Scheme Rant

2011-08-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Alright, let's just put it out there. I HATE pyramid schemes! Here are my reasons why:

1. Often the products involved are not the best - otherwise why wouldn't they just follow the normal route of being sold in major stores? Hmmm??

2. I HATE these pyramid scheme parties. It's not a party. Let's just call it what it is. You're trying to get me to buy something so you can make a buck. Under the guise of being my friend. What a load. If I want to buy something, I will hop in my car, drive to the store (yes this is life in Calgary) and BUY it. Without the jacked up price of paying a toll to all the people that came before you in the scheme.

3. The focus of any pyramid scheme, and the thing that draws suckers in is money. Like that is the only benefit you gain from joining up. In my opinion, if all your 'job' (if you can even call it that with these things) can give you is money, you're missing the point of life.

4. They are all 'get rich quick' schemes where hard work is not only not valued, it is actually laughed at and looked down upon.

This leads me to say, what is WRONG with the world?!

And that's my rant for the day. I may have to continue it tomorrow...

Back in Black

2011-08-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

..or should I say Calgary. I just thought the 'back in black' line was catchy. We arrived back in Calgary 1 week ago. Or I should say, we should have arrived a week ago. Instead we arrived about 7 hours shy of a week ago. After a VERY long day in transit which involved dropping off a playpen during an expensive cab ride (one of Dave's pet peeves), delayed flights, missed connections [Craigslist anyone?], meeting up with friends in the T. (read T-dot) and getting home too late to get any food at the grocery store, we finally arrived HOME! Which inspired me to write a '101 reasons I'm glad we're home'. I'm not sure if I'll actually make it to 101, but I'll see how far I get. However, I was VERY sad to leave the east coast where I have lots of friends and family and so much to see and do.

In other news, our neighbors across the street, who were either running a brothel or a drug ring, have been evicted. It's much quieter around here these days. And lastly, for those who are interested to know, our Christmas tree is no longer in our neighbors' front yard. I have no idea how they got rid of it.

More to come on our recipe book and 101 list.

Recipe Book

2011-07-19T06:03:00.000-07:00

T-4 weeks and I'll be in school. The week of August 15, I'll be in school from 8:30-4:30 the whole week. Same for the week of September 5. Did I mention Dave is starting clerkship in earnest August 1? It's hard for me to imagine how busy we are going to be this year. In an attempt to simplify one area of our lives (and to avoid either starvation or eating out all the time), we are making a 2-3 week dinner rotation. This way, there will be no 'what's for dinner?' dilemma. We've come up with a list of about 10 meals that will be in our rotation, and I'm in the process of compiling recipes and corresponding grocery lists. Stay tuned for those.

No More Dance Aerobics

2011-03-22T20:19:00.001-07:00

So Thomas seems to be getting worse and worse when it comes to bedtime and sleeping. I'm sure we've probably done this to ourselves, but it has gotten to the point where you have to bounce him while walking around and patting his back, with his soother, sleep sheep, swaddled for like 45 mins before he will go to sleep. And that's after feeding him and bedtime stories. And I'm not doing it anymore. It's ridiculous. Does anyone have any wonderful suggestions of how to get him to go to sleep easier? He's 4 months old now and he still eats every 3 hours all night long - any suggestions on lengthening the time between feeds? Some people purport to have babies younger than him that sleep for upwards of 9 hours at a time. Are they lying? If they are actually being truthful, what is their secret? Is it too young for sleep training? We will be leaving in about a month and he's bound to be thrown off by all the travel and sleeping in new places, etc. Should I not even bother doing this right now?

How lucky am I?

2011-02-24T10:09:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was our anniversary. Seems crazy that it's already been 3 years...until I was looking at our wedding photos and we look a lot younger! Anyway, Dave took me out for a delicious Indian feast. (Kim watched Thomas) Great food with terrible service...which is a lot better than great service with terrible food, which is more of the norm here in Calgary. We then watched 'The Social Network' - which we actually watched at Dave's parents' house since they have a big screen tv, the movie was free, and we got free snacks and babysitting service too. Oh and every movie in this city either starts in the hour of 7 or the hour of 10 - so not very convenient times.

Anyhow, Mark Zuckerberg is the same age as us and was a classmate of all the people from my class at Stuy who went to Harvard. And now he's a billionaire. The youngest person to become a billionaire. It's easy to think for a second, wait - what did I do wrong? But then I looked around me and thought, he doesn't have anything. And I wouldn't trade my boys for anything in the world. How lucky am I?

We're not in Kansas (or NY) anymore

2011-02-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

Recent fb status update of a friend here in Calgary:

in great falls mt! shop til we drop time!

How sad is that? We live in a place that has worse shopping than Montana. Montana!

Living room update

2011-01-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

I realized I haven't posted photos of our living room since it was far from done. So here's the update!

A close-up of the bench that Stew constructed. I did the seats. Lots and lots of storage for junk underneath. The only problem is that the window is really drafty, so it's quite cold on the bench.

Here you can see our refinished buffet. It was in its 'before' state in my last post about our house. Big transformation. And don't you like our floating shelf? You can see the doorway on the left leads to the kitchen and the one on the right leads to the rest of the house.

By the time I took these 5 photos, Thomas was screaming...

Best. Commercial. Ever.

2011-01-17T23:14:00.000-08:00

For your enjoyment.

O Tannenbaum, O tannenbaum

2011-01-08T15:19:00.000-08:00

We finally got our Christmas tree out of the house on Wednesday night. Thank goodness because it was really starting to feel cramped in our little living room....and because I think the thing was a fire hazard. When Dave took it out front, he said it weighed about 4lbs...and it was a 6' tree. Real dry. Anyway, I had heard on the news that in the month of January, you could put your tree out with your regular garbage and the city would pick it up. So we put it out Wednesday night so it would disappear with our garbage on Thursday morning.

Well lo and behold, we walk our of our house on Thursday morning to find an empty garbage can and our dried out Christmas tree, looking as trashy as ever in front of our house. I don't know why they didn't pick it up. Very annoying. So we figured we would have to harass Dave's dad to come by and pick it up in his pick-up (appropriately named) and take it to whereever you take dead Christmas trees (the dump?). BUT lo and behold, we walked out of our house today and the tree was gone! Yay! But where did it go, you ask? Well as I mentioned in the post below it is super windy today and was all night. But up and down the street I looked and no Christmas tree was to be seen. Oh well.

As we were driving out of our neighborhood, we spotted it, in the front yard our our neighbors about 6 houses down. Is it terrible that I laughed and left it there?

July

2011-01-08T15:00:00.001-08:00

Well since I can't seem to find the video that I was trying to post with the last post (the upload didn't work for some reason..grr) and I was looking through memory cards from my camera, I figured I'd post about July, which I never did. Hey, I'm only 6 months late. Plus, on this cold dark wintry day with blowing snow and a expected windchill tonight of -29C, I can dream of warmer days...not that it was all too warm for most of the month.

So this was while Dave was in Haiti and I was 5 months pregnant. Jon, Meghan, and I went for a 'hike' in Nosehill park one Saturday when it was nice out. This park is right in the 'city' but you'd never know it from the photo above. Here's another one with me in my most athletic maternity gear...jeans and a tshirt! Can you tell I wasn't one for working out while pregnant...
Also notable in July was the Stampede - 'the greatest rodeo show on earth' or something like that. Too bad I didn't go to the rodeo or the show (it was 12C and blowing rain, so they cancelled the show we had tickets for - which I was very happy about actually because the thought of sitting outside in the cold rain for 3 hours in a coat that wouldn't do up over my belly was enough to make me cry.

However, Jon and Meghan and I went to the Stampede on another day (that day was about 14C and raining...). I had my first (and last) corn dog.
It was disgusting. We both threw them out shortly after this photo was taken. Why do people like those things?
Jon played a shooting game, but didn't win - though he got close. Meghan said he looked like a serial killer.
And I got my picture taken with a real RCMP - with my citizenship card! I'm a real Canadian now!
What a month!

Thomas says Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

...or something like that

What an educatory day. And I don't care if that's not a word.

2010-10-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

Life lessons learned today:
Never go to Safeway on the way home from work.
Always use the self check-out line.
Never expect people to give you a break (like letting you skip them in line with your 4 items) just because you look like you're about to pop out a baby tomorrow and your back is killing you.
Don't stay late at work. It's not worth it.
Do everything you can to live in a city where you don't have to drive. Anywhere. Ever.

Living Room

2010-10-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

Although it's definitely still a work in progress, here is our living room...we're getting there. In this first photo, you can see the house across the street (since we still don't have any blinds or curtains...) which is what our house looks like. Dave's dad and I are in the process of building a bench in this bay window. I think I've finally found the fabric to cover it in! :D

Our lovely Ikea 'book'shelf...still pretty empty.

Our free couch - not bad! Plus our avocado-green lamps.
We're in the process of refinishing this buffet - it's out in our garage for now.

Once upon a time...

2010-09-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

There are many things I love about Canada - stupid people are much less outspoken than in the states, we have $1 and $2 coins, I don't have to worry about doctor's bills, and it's not a bad thing to be a socialist. But one thing I really hate is the weather. Well, I shouldn't make such a sweeping statement...Canada is, after all, the second largest country by land mass in the world (although a lot of that is in the arctic circle and I don't think any of you would like the weather there anyway). But to be more specific, I hate the weather in Calgary. Summer didn't happen this year. We had one day that was 29 and another that was 31 (celsius, not farenburger as dad would say...you'll have to look up the conversion yourself because I am too lazy). Those were the 2 'hot' days of the summer and they happened in August. I thought perhaps that summer would come in September, but alas, it is supposed to snow on Thursday. No summer here. On top of having no summer, which is pretty depressing, what's even worse about the weather here is that it is completely unpredictable. It could be 75 degrees in January or it could snow in July. Or the opposite. No weather is outside the realm of possibilities. Montreal's winters were much colder and much much snowier, but you could count on those things. Winter = cold + snow. Summer = Hot + humid. Predictable. Once upon a time, I lived in a place where you could count on summer.

Maybe I'm just not adventurous...

Mormons and Muslims

2010-08-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

By now, I’m sure everyone has heard about the so-called ‘mosque at ground zero’. I first heard about this a couple of weeks ago when a Muslim fb friend of mine posted an article about it (at the very start of the controversy). I was surprised and annoyed by all the fuss then and have only gotten more annoyed and increasingly shocked/disappointed in the general public’s reaction to the proposed project since. I can’t understand why people can’t distinguish between Muslims and terrorists. The men who took down the WTC were terrorists. All the experience I have with muslims (through school and work) tells me that those men were not true muslims.

I recently read a blog post on Mormonism-unveiled which compared the building of the mosque on Park Place to our church building a temple on the site of the mountain meadows massacre. I still trying to decide if the writer is not from NY or if they just don’t have a brain. The site of the MMM is the middle of nowhere. If we were to build something there, it would be because of the massacre. That is a far cry from building a mosque on Park Place. If I began to list how many other things are within a 2 block radius of the WTC site, you’d be reading this blog for several hours. The people behind building this mosque are not building it there because of 9/11. They are likely building it there because they already own the property and there’s a need for a community center and prayer space due to the number of muslims working and/or living in the area. Anyone who believes that they are building it there because of its proximity to the WTC site is simply a paranoid conspiracy-obsessed individual. Or just straight up ignorant I guess.

Anyway, aside from the general public’s opposition to the project, which I find ridiculous considering people’s obsession with second amendment rights while seeming to ignore first amendment rights…or just relegating them to certain individuals, I’m more disturbed by members’ opposition to the project. And it’s not just because I expect more from members of the church (although I am constantly disappointed and should probably flush that expectation down the toilet). First, there is the 11th article of faith: We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. I don’t think it gets more straightforward than that…and I don’t know how you can justify opposing the project and claiming to believe this. Integrity, anyone?

But more than that, it’s the failure of members to see the similarities between Mormons and Muslims that really makes me sad. We have seen lots of opposition when trying to build temples (the Plainview temple which was announced but never built due to opposition from the community is a local example of that – thank goodness since that led to the building of the Manhattan temple – saweeet!). The entire church is routinely blamed for the stupidity of either a few members or for the actions of people who are not even members of our church , but of a church which others confuse with ours (ya’ll know what I’m talking about). Additionally, I often feel I have more in common with Muslims than with other Christians. Muslims I know believe in the importance of the family. They don’t drink, they don’t swear, they dress modestly, they live modestly, and their beliefs seem to really impact the way they live their lives. In a world where most people think you’re backwards for having any traditional values (like believing in the importance of virtue for example), I believe Muslims (especially Muslims in America) are Mormons’ greatest ally on that front. Anyway, there’s a lot more I could say, but if I wrote everything that was on my mind, I would never post this…it’s already been brewing for over a week…

Ch-ch-changes

2010-08-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

Well I am officially one of the lamest (if that is even a word) bloggers out there. Oh well. I will redeem myself one day. But I am not going to pretend that today is that day.

Dave is in Haiti and has been for the past 5+ weeks. I moved on Thursday-which bled into Friday-which bled into Saturday. So yes, I moved 'by myself'. I put that in quotations because I had lots of help with the physical moving - thanks to my in-laws and a few good friends. However, it's a lot to ask someone you're not super-close with to pack or unpack your personal belongings. And since I've lived here for just shy of a year, I can't say that I'm super-close with anyone yet. So that part has been done by myself. Not that it is done. In fact, the unpacking is far from it. I leave tomorrow night to meet up with Dave in the Bahamas and I've resigned myself to the fact that we are going to return home to a huge mess.

That being said, I am VERY excited to be in our very own place. Well, we are renting, but no one else's stuff is in here! Amazing! Plus we finally get to use all of our beautiful wedding gifts. Plus we live within walking (and I mean less than 2 minutes) distance from several friends. Plus we can (read: I can) start to get baby's room set up. Plus we live 2 minutes from the bus that will take Dave to the hospital (it even goes to another of the hospitals in the city where he will have to work during clerkship). Plus we have a back yard. Plus a garage (not having to heat your car up for 20 minutes while you scrape inch-thick ice off of every surface and try not to freeze to death all while muttering under your breath that now you're going to be late to wherever you're going because you had to spend so long getting the car in a state to be driven is not to be underestimated). Did I mention I am VERY excited about this new place?!

So our kitchen is a sort of eat-in set-up. I say sort-of because it's pretty small for an eat-in. BUT we will make it work! Due to some design flaws (in my humble opinion) there are some unused spaces that I will just have to make useful. I've looked at some kitchen carts at Ikea and I may *MAY* just be able to fit this cart next to the fridge - thus increasing counter space by probably about 1/3 - and maybe even this cart next to the stove. All while hopefully squeezing a small rectangular table with 3 chairs into the corner. I don't need those carts exactly, but they are the cheapest ones. The cabinets in the kitchen are a light-to-medium wood and the countertops are medium tan color (photos to be posted next week, I promise). Any thoughts on how to finish the carts to make them usable and easy to clean? Also, should I leave space for a high chair rather than get a kitchen cart?

Calgary Temple Groundbreaking!

2010-04-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

So the Calgary temple, which was announced at October conference in 2008 has finally received approval from the neighbo(u)hood council or whatever and the groundbreaking date has been announced! May 15! Celebration! One can only attend the groundbreaking if you have a ticket. So this week at church, a sign-up sheet went around for those who were interested in obtaining tickets. The fields of information requested on the sheet were name, if you could drive there and how many spaces are in your car, and your desire to attend (ranked 1-5). What? Desire to attend? I put 4 for us. Coincidentally, so did Dave. I hope we get tickets!

Dual citizenship: win-win or lose-lose?

2010-03-01T07:49:00.000-08:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic due to the recent Olympics. I had a roommate in university who was a dual citizen of the US and Germany. When people would criticize the states, she would claim her European-ness. And when people would criticize Germany/Europe, she would claim her American-ness. It seemed like a win-win. You could always weasel your way out. And when it comes to moving across borders, it is definitely a win to be a dual citizen (although I’ve yet to experience this).

But I’ve recently come to realize that when it comes to living in Canada, being a dual citizen is more like a lose-lose. When I’m in the states (or just interact with friends/family that live there), I relentlessly get snide comments about living in Canada. The usual stuff – it’s so cold everyone lives 5 minutes from the border, they love curling and hockey, don’t know what baseball is, it’s winter 7 months a year, or their dollar is worth pennies – all of which is true (the dollar is worth about 95 pennies). And while in Canada, I’m definitely seen as a yank (partially because I don’t think Albertans consider Quebec to be part of Canada) and people feel the need to share their reasons for hating Americans with me. It’s grand. The really frustrating part is that I’m always seen as an outsider. I’ve been living outside the US for 6 of the last 7 ½ years…but I suppose I’ve moved too much to be considered an ‘insider’ when it comes to any of the places I’ve lived.

Fortunately, the only place I really feel like an insider happens to be the hottest city in the world: New York! What a place to know like the back of your hand (well at least some of it anyway)! So no matter where I’m living and no matter how much people put me down for being an outsider, I can always say quietly to myself – “wait, where are you from? I’m from New York. Beat that!”. Ha!

For Maryanne

2010-02-07T16:32:00.001-08:00

K, so I took some photos of 'our' house because Maryanne is always asking for them. Of course I forgot that blogspot puts each new photo at the top, so these seem kind of backwards. So first is our workout room which I am ashamed to say we pretty much never (ever) use...
This is the downstairs living room. There's a pool table behind where the photo is taken.
This is the view out the back of the house. You can't even see the houses across the way!

This is the upstairs eat-in dining area. There's also a more formal dining room near the front door. We only use that if lots of people are over and we can't all fit at this table. I have a strange feeling that won't happen again for a good while.
This is the upstairs living room on the other side of the fireplace from the dining area seen above.

We will be sad to leave in June :( Especially because we will have to start paying rent...sigh...

Fundraiser for Haiti

2010-01-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

Dave and I have been helping to plan and sell tickets for a Haiti fundraiser event on Friday, the proceeds of which are going to Team Canada Healing Hands (www.tchh.org). TCHH is the group Dave's gone with several times to Haiti (as a translator)

It's a group of physiatrists, physical and occupational therapists, and other rehabilitation specialists. They work primarily with parents and therapists of disabled children to teach rehabilitative practices. Many of these children have CP, Lou Gerig's disease, Hydrocephalus, or amputations.

Team Canada Healing Hands also provides wheelchairs, walkers, and prosthetics in an effort to improve the quality of life for these children.

After the recent earthquakes, newspapers have estimated that there may be up to 200,000 new amputees in Haiti because of injuries suffered during the quake. Friday night’s fundraiser will raise money to buy necessary equipment to help these new amputees to cope with their disabilities. Doctors, PTs and OTs that volunteer with the organization pay their own way to get down there, so all proceeds go directly to supplies.

Wishing I could wake up from this nightmare

2010-01-14T10:51:00.000-08:00

I never thought that I would picture Haiti as it was when I visited and wish it could go back to that.

As you know, Dave and I had a lot emotionally invested in Haiti before the earthquake. He served his mission Kreyol speaking in Florida. He learned the language quickly. But he soon came to learn that to know a people, you need to know much more than their language. When he would write to me about frustrations he had with Haitians, I pushed him to figure out why he had been called to serve among them. I knew there was a reason. So he changed his attitude and opened up to a different culture. As he came to know the Haitian people, he came to love them. He learned their history, their expressions, and their stories. He learned that Haiti was the most productive slave colony in the 1700s and that the slaves there were abused far and beyond what was experienced in other slave colonies. He learned that Haiti gained its independence from France – who was the world’s superpower at the time – in the only successful Slave revolt in history. He learned that Haitians still celebrate their independence every January 1 by drinking soup jounmoun – a soup made with squash that was restricted to the French during slave times. He discovered the unbelievable generosity of even the poorest Haitians when he had 6 appointments with different families on Independence Day to share their soup with him. And as he learned the language and all these new things, he wrote to me about them. He often wrote a paragraph or two in Kreyol and I would do my best to write back in kreyol – he had sent me the missionary’s guide to learning Haitian-Creole that he had been given in the MTC. Living in Montreal, there were many Haitians around me, and between talking to them, learning from Dave, and listening to kreyol music, I started to know the Haitian people and also began to hold a special place in my heart for them.

Dave began to want to visit Haiti and see this country where many of his new friends were from. He wanted see what he could to help. Since he had become fluent in kreyol, he looked for a group for whom he could translate. He found the group Team Canada Healing Hands who is a group of physiatrists and physical therapists who travel to Haiti and train practitioners there how to rehabilitate children with disabilities of all different sorts. The group also takes much needed medical supplies and wheelchairs. They had a clinic and guest house in Port-au-Prince, but also travelled out to remote parts of the countries. After Dave’s first trip, he fell even more in love with the country and the people. He also began to realize just how desperate the situation was there. He committed to going to Haiti as often as he could to help there.

As soon as we got engaged, Dave started pushing the idea of going to Haiti on our honeymoon. It looked like a beautiful place, I knew it meant a lot to Dave, and I wanted to see what it was all about too. So in May 2008, after Dave had spent a week translating for doctors with Healing Hands, I packed my things and met up with him there. I landed in Port-au-Prince and went straight to the ‘domestic’ airport to fly to Les Cayes. We spent a week on beautiful Ile-a-vache and then headed back to Port-au-Prince to see the sights there for a few days. I was overwhelmed by the poverty and the constant commotion there. Sidewalks were used to sell goods, so people, cars, and scooters fought for space on the street. When people saw us (blan yo), they tried to find ways to help us so that we would have a reason to tip them. We were there just shortly after the food crisis of 2008, when people there resorted to eating mud fried with oil and salt. The price of rice had gone up worldwide and Haiti was one of the first countries to be affected by it. I could go on about the people of Haiti, the country’s history, and the hardships that people in Haiti experience every day, but that would take a looong time.

The earthquake that has hit Haiti has destroyed much of the rudimentary infrastructure that was previously there. The destruction and loss of life there is absolutely heart breaking. Anyone who has seen the news coverage can see that. But take a minute to put yourself in the shoes of people in our country who have family and friends there who they can’t get in touch with. And then take a minute to imagine being there – to walk down the street and see dozens of bodies lining the street, to see your capitol building, your house, hospitals, and shops destroyed, to wonder where your husband or wife or kids are, if they’re ok…I could go on and on. It reminds me of 9/11 – when I was walking uptown away from the fallen towers, no phone calls were getting through, people were gathering around cars that had their radios on, and rumors were flying – that there were bombs at Grand Central, the Empire State Building, that there were more planes headed for the capitol building, and on and on. That was scary. But most of the city was fine. No bombs were detonated, response teams were already searching for survivors, machinery was on its way to start removing the rubble. In Haiti, much of Port-au-Prince was destroyed. Street after street is lined with fallen buildings. Roads are blocked by the rubble and there are no emergency response teams moving in to help. As my classmates and I walked up West Street, ambulance after ambulance, fire trucks, and police cars raced down. The streets of Port-au-Prince are quiet. There are no screaming sirens from vehicles rushing to help. On top of that, the aid groups that are there are running out of supplies and resources. The Red Cross reported running out of medical supplies this morning.

It is incredibly frustrating to be here in Canada. We wish so much we could help to alleviate the suffering there. Dave could be of help if he were there now – translating for countless people who are there who can’t effectively communicate with the people there (it’s a bit painful to hear some news reporters’ French – which most Haitians don’t really speak anyway), but he can’t miss school. I don’t think I personally have much to offer in the way of assistance, but there are ways everyone can help.

I think the most immediate need is medical assistance and rescue teams/support. For aiding in medical assistance, I would recommend donating to Partners in Health. It was started in the 80s in Haiti by Paul Farmer to serve a fairly remote area of Haiti – Cange. Paul Farmer is a physician and a critical medical anthropologist and has done tons in the way of increasing life expectancy for people in the region of Cange and lowering the cost of treatments for TB worldwide. He’s done so much more that I can’t even begin to list here, but if you want to know more, read Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. It will change your perspective on the world. See more on the PIH website for updates on what they’re doing to respond to the crisis. You can also donate there. http://www.pih.org/

Of course other great organizations to donate to include Medecins sans frontiers (Doctors without Borders) at http://www.msf.org/ or http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/, the Red Cross at http://www.redcross.org/ or http://www.redcross.ca/, or the LDS humanitarian aid at http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/.

What has happened in Haiti is sad beyond measure. Please keep the Haitian people in your thoughts and prayers, and please please donate as generously as you can to one of these reputable organizations.

This is me in front of the National Palace - the equivalent of the White House - which has now been destroyed.
This is inside the National Cathedral, the roof of which has completely collapsed.
This is the Marche en fer (Iron Market). I haven't heard anything about what's happened to it, but I can only imagine...
This is on market day in the 'big city' of Madame Bernard on Ile-a-vache. There are no cars on the island - people travel mostly by handmade sailboat, horse (on very small horses), or foot.

Home?

2010-01-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

On my way to work this morning, I drove under an overpass as a bus drove over it. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and for a split second thought it was the subway going over the Manhattan bridge....sigh....

Check out The Balcon!

2009-11-16T11:10:00.000-08:00

So excited to announce that my dear friend Emily's website of beautiful wedding dresses is finally up and running! Yay! And she even named one of the dresses Rachel. Check it out!

thebalcon.com

Oh and did I mention that she made my wedding dress and fabulous faux fur cloak?!

Sometimes running from the problem seems like the best option...

2009-11-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

I have been following American politics on and off from abroad for the last 2 years. And I have to say that this op-ed in the NYT describes an example of the most infuriating aspects of 'politics' in the states. (And I must add, the most embarassing part of being an American living abroad.) i.e. people blatantly lying and saying stupid things based on these lies. C'mon people, stop - you're embarassing yourself and you're embarassing me!

Day in Banff

2009-11-14T09:08:00.001-08:00

To celebrate Dave finishing his first unit (first of 7), we went to Banff for a night and day. Now, I'm pretty sure that I'll always be an east coast girl, but living less than an hour from this is pretty nice. More photos on facebook.

Happy birthday, Momma!

2009-10-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

Mom turns 55 years young today! And it's world teacher appreciation day! How appropriate! How did we never know about this before? Maybe it's a sign, mom. Maybe it'll make you more excited about your job!....? Well I guess that's it for this...don't know what else to say...but I think you look very nice in this photo...

I will write more tomorrow about other exciting happenings of the day (and take some photos of where we live, Maryanne), but today is about mom!

Inane studies

2009-10-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

And no, I'm not talking about getting a degree and then not being able to find a job...although that can definitely feel applicable at times

Ever wonder why some studies are even conducted? "Eating fast food positively linked to obesity!" No kidding! The latest, reported by the NYT, "At-home Moms Rate Themselves Higher Than Working Moms, Survey Finds". The 'rating' they're talking about is rating themselves on how good of a mother they are. I don't have kids, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but isn't it obvious that you're going to feel that you're being a better mother if you see your kids for more than 2 hours a day? I realize a lot of people probably feel this peaks after you spend a certain number of hours with your kids - i.e. after that, the more time you spend with your kids, the worse of a mother you become (haha). But seeing as only 13% of mothers think that them working full time is what's best for their kids (a breakthrough!), it seems there's somewhat of a concensus on the issue.

Another breakthrough: stay-at-home mothers tend to be younger than mothers who work. No kidding! Maybe that's because they stay at home when their kids are young (and they are young) and go back to work when their kids are a bit older (and they are a bit older).

Anyway, despite the inanity of the study, it's nice to see an article which (in my opinion) sheds at least somewhat of a positive light on staying at home with your kids (if you ignore the stay-at-home-moms-are-less-educated-than-moms-who-work bit, which I'm sure a lot of feminists take as if-you're-educated-you-would-never-waste-your-life-staying-at-home, although I think the real reason is that the type of job you'd have if you, say, had a university degree is much more flexible and understanding that the kind of job you might have if you're, say, a high school drop-out - not that the two are mutually exclusive!).

What breakthrough study do you have for us next, NYT?

Happy Fall Equinox!

2009-09-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well fall has really arrived. The leaves here are quickly changing color...and all falling off. And it seems to be happening very quickly. We've had beautiful weather so far this month - much warmer than usual. This week it's supposed to get up to almost 90 again (31). Yay! But even though I'm sure it'll be getting cold soon enough, I've decided fall is pretty great. The leaves changing are beautiful, as are the cool days (especially when you live in a desert-y area like Calgary, so it's nearly always sunny) - and then at the end of it is my birthday, Dave's birthday, and Christmas! (not in that order). Plus, I might be able to get 2 thanksgivings this year - the benefit of being an American living in Canada. Though I must say, American Thanksgiving is far superior to Canadian. Sorry, Canada, it's true. That's what you get for putting it on a Monday.

I also have new things to look forward to. I'm starting a 4-week women's squash club at Mount Royal College/University(?) on Wednesday, which is also when I'll start driving to work. I'm also starting an interior design continuing ed class at UofC starting in October. yay!

Anyone else have anything new and/or exciting planned for the fall?

Free thought, anyone?

2009-09-09T11:40:00.001-07:00

This week's quote of the week is brought to you by Shanneen Barron of Colorado, on hearing that Obama would be delivering a back-to-school speech to students: "Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me. I'm an American. They are Americans, and I don't feel that's OK. I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now"
This quote is a real roller coaster of emotions for me.

First, there is laughter. What does that part in the middle about being American even mean? Am I the only one who thinks that's hilarious? Then there's confusion - wait, what is she actually trying to say by that? Then there's disbelief - did she say that she's *scared* to be in the US with Obama as president? Then there's irritation.

And finally there's depression. Are people in our country so scared of ideas that are different from their own that they would keep them from their children? If this were a question of showing something obscene or of questionable morality to elementary-age children, I could understand the uproar. But this is a speech from our president. Cause guess what - even if you didn't vote for him, he's still your president (same as when W was OUR president for 8 years - like it or not - and trust me, living abroad for 5 of those 8 years was a 'not like').

Now a lot of people would say that it goes both ways - that crazy liberals would have the same reaction if, for example, a similar speech by W had been broadcast on the first day of school last year, but I don't think so. What do you think? (see, cause I - whom many conservatives I'm sure would call a liberal socialist [I'm 1/2 Canadian - it's in my blood ha] am open to ideas other than my own)

1 month since we left Scotland

2009-08-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but one month and one day ago, Dave and I (with help from Dave's parents and Shalea - thank you!) were furiously cleaning every last surface of our house with a toothbrush...and many other implements. I've never seen a rental property so clean. And the next day (between 3 and 5 in the morning) we left.

Here we are walking up Arthur's Seat for the last time. And yes, Dave is wearing a kilt.

I will have to post more about all the fun we had cleaning and moving back across the pond. But it's late. So for now, goodnight.

Finally joined the blogging club...

2009-08-26T12:23:00.001-07:00

So after months of deliberating over a name for my blog, and not coming up with anything better than this, I decided to finally take the plunge and committ to this blog name. So, welcome! Much to come about my new life in the west, my husband in medical school, and my first time working in Canada. :)