And so it begins...

Summer 2013, here we go! I'll miss you all :(

NYTimes Op-Ed absurdities

Hey,

Miss you all!

Will write more about NY soon, but saw this article and couldn't resist posing. This makes me cringe. So much. So so so much. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/is-algebra-necessary.html?pagewanted=2&hp

@Alex ... aw :( Wish we had overlapping times.

-Joy

Hi blockies!! I Miss you all!! Here is another update on my Colombian adventure.

But first, let me explain to you what exactly my work is. I have been working at ANSPE (La Agencia Nacional para la Superacion de la Pobreza Extrema, aka the National agency for the overcoming of extreme poverty). ANSPE’s job is to reduce extreme poverty, (duh) and they do so by sending 10,000 social workers around the country to report of the needs of the poor, and then finding/creating programs that meet those needs. I have been doing research, helping the agency with a couple of their projects (including a housing project and the Colombia branch of One Laptop Per Child) and working on some of their presentations. It’s interesting work, and it has been rewarding to work with one of the newest and most innovative government agencies in Colombia.

Now to my Cartagena trip!! (like 3 weeks ago, yikes). We went for 4 days (by plane), and it was amazing. Cartagena is by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever been too. It has beaches, yes, but the highlight is the Old town, which is one of the best preserved colonial towns in the Americas. Surrounded by a large fortress constructed in the 1600’s, the Old city makes you want to spend your life lazily strolling the colorful narrow streets, occasionally stopping at a café or shopping at a local store while people watching. It is absolutely gorgeous, and worth every minute.

We did various things while there, including walking around the Old city a lot, going to the beach, going snorkeling, visiting the numerous historical sites, and (of course) going to the Club Havana, which is where Hilary Clinton partied while she was here!!! It was absolutely amazing. Getting stopped by the police and being stripped searched for drugs, and following around prostitutes (NOT because we were interested, obviously, but because Sascha had a weird desire to document them on camera lol) made the trip even more fascinating.

The next weekend, we went rock climbing an hour away from Bogota, which was beautiful and another very challenging physical activity. We scaled over 80 feet of near-vertical rock wall, using only our hands and feet!

Last weekend we went to the Coffee Zone (eje Cafetero, about 9 hours away) which is a beautiful area. We visited a reserve that has some of the best bird watching in the world, saw an Andean bear, and went to the Valle del Cocoro, which has insanely beautiful cloud forest and an endangered palm tree which is the tallest palm tree in the world. Fortunately, there were no transportation problems on these trips haha.

This weekend we are heading to San Agustin, a 10 hour bus ride away. I cannot wait to tell you about it, as it has some of the best scenery in Colombia, and hundreds of carved heads (think Easter island) which were made 5,000 years ago by the Native Americans!

Both of these pics are from rock climbing.

I miss you all! Unfortunately, I have not been taking pictures with my own camera (because Sascha and Tony, the other Harvard students, take way better photos than me). That means that I don’t have many photos, and as soon as I get them from Sascha and Tony I’ll post them.

Love!

Hey Gang!
Just got back from our week off/social study project. I went to Huizhou in Anhui Province. Absolutely gorgeous. It's famous for its landscape and tea, both of which I got to fully enjoy. (I did pick up some tea for the room, so we will have fabulous tea parties next year--maybe even ones that can compete with our house masters'!)

in Huizhou I got to talk to farmers and some businessmen. As some of you know, I have an interest in migrant worker situation in China, and i read ahead of time that Anhui is one of the biggest exporters of migrant labor in China. So going there, I was expecting to interview people and have them sob about how they missed family members working out of province. And while I did see the remnants of their migration to cities--villages only having old people and young kids bc the 18-30 yr. olds are out working--I found that people's reactions were mostly positive.

They know that work in the countryside/farm doesn't really guarantee the best pay. So parents sometimes encourage their kids to go out and work. And the so called "left behind children" seem to be in good hands with their older relatives. The villages are so small that they become like a big family.

Families don't really worry about sending their kids out to work, because the kids always come back--to help keep up the farm, but mostly to take care of family.

It was a really rewarding trip, the people, scenery, food. but now i have to write a 2000 character essay! so, back to work! =D

i posted some picture, but i don't think my camera truly captured the beauty of this place. I guess, being a texan, i've always been a country gal at heart =p

The Errors Hardest to Condone in Other Countries are One's Own

Hey blockies!

So first off, the common quote upon which I based my title is apparently attributed to Piet Hein, a 20th century Danish poet (and mathematician, inventor, scientist, author, and designer) - thank you, internet.

Anyway, I'm having a really good time, and at some point I'll update you about normal things like my internship, places we've been (a lot lately! Uruguay last weekend and Iguazú Falls up north in the rainforest this weekend!), etc.

But for now...

There are certainly many aspects of Buenos Aires that are novel for me. But for a place that is thousands of miles away from home, I am perhaps most struck by the similarities between Argentina and the US - although maybe after going to India last summer, of course this seems similar by comparison.

The Argentine and American systems of government are nearly identical; a few of us visited a constitutional law class at the University of Buenos Aires (at 8:30 am...before work! I was proud of myself), and they even talked about the commerce clause. There is a heavy immigrant influence, particularly from a bunch of different European countries, and about 2% of the country is Jewish, just like in the US.

However, many of the similarities remind me strongly of some of the worst aspects of the US: genocide against the Native Americans in the past and the commodification of indigenous culture in the present; denial of the racism that permeates society; high income inequality (the Gini Coefficient here is really similar to that of the United States); objectification of women in practically all forms of media; I could go on. I think for me, the experience of being in a foreign country, where nothing is "the default," makes all of the societal flaws that I typically view as a part of life stick out like sore thumbs.

It is somewhat ironic that I'm writing these criticisms of America on July 4th, perhaps...but to quote Howard Zinn, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." And there's plenty of dissent here; people are super politically active, and there are protests all the time, sometimes even stopping large portions of the city.

I miss you all! Maya, you should post something before you leave! At this point...I will have to buy a plant in Buenos Aires and name it after you.

Sending love from the southern hemisphere <3

Hey beloved best blocking group in the world!




I started work two weeks ago--working in Dr. Chaochun Wei's lab, if you want to look him up (although not super crazy interesting website). Just learned some data compression algorithms and C programming language last week, and this week will start downloading human genomes using the unbearably slow Chinese internet. Final goal is to create a program that can quickly find the overlapping regions of one thousand human genomes.

Food is crazy good and crazy cheap here: at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University cafeterias, I eat for about 20 RMB (= less than $4 USD) per day and it's delicious and filling food--dumplings and noodles in soup, mushroom and beef fried noodle, hot pot with enoki mushrooms and lamb.

In free time, I've been running around with the other Harvard kids to see Shanghai and buy cheap stuff. We went to Tianshan Tea City this weekend--bought about one pound of an amazing, sweet, resonant fruit tea, and also bought a clear glass teapot and six glass cups for 30 RMB (= less than $5 USD)--get excited for tea parties (and not the political kind), y'all!!! Also went to the South Bund Fabric Market and got a thick winter coat--think trenchcoat style except in hard wool with a thick inner layering for warmth--tailored for me for 460 RMB (= about $73 USD).

Am loving the sights and getting to know the undergraduates here and seeing how Chinese science is done--lab work is a little tough to swallow for now, but I'm positive that something good will come out of this. No chance to play ukulele, as I didn't bring it all the way to China (sadly!) but am doing a lot of singing at karaoke with the other Harvard classmates. Soon we will explore other parts of China, like Hangzhou next week--excited!

Take care everyone! If you see me on @college e-mail, please Google chat me--I already "talked" with Rachel and Val! Will post more later!

Athletic Volcano Climbing (what has happened to me?) and other stories from Bogota

FIRST BLOG POST SO EXCITED
Hi blocking group! I’ve been in Bogota, Colombia for almost a month now. It’s been a crazy experience. Where to begin?


First, we got here to a super expensive orientation paid for by Harvard! There are 5 Harvard students here in Colombia for the summer(4 of which were here during orientation), and we were treated by royalty for the 4 days of orientation. We stayed in a super nice hotel (a nicer hotel than I’ve ever stayed in, and this is Bogotá!), we were taken to the University of the Andes (the best university in Colombia, which has a nicer campus than Harvard) and talked to some of the wealthiest and brightest experts in the field of political science/government/sociology. We met with more wealthy people at a fancy club, and then went out to the so-called best restaurant/club in the world, Andres Carne de Res (the place is an incredible work of art with insane music, so I’ll vouch that it’s the best party destination I’ve ever been to). Finally, we got a 6 hour bike tour around Bogotá’s more interesting areas with this awesome guide who seemed high the whole time (by interesting areas, I mean poor or historic areas, in contrast to the rest of our orientation), and a day trip to a huge underground salt cathedral (the cathedral was carved out of a salt mine underground). Phew!

After the orientation we have been left pretty much to our own devices, since I’m staying in an apartment with a Bogotá professional who doesn’t have much time to hang out (which is great lol). Our first weekend, three of us went to Popayan, a small colonial city a 14 hour bus ride away. Needless to say, it was exhausting. We left Friday night from Bogota, got there Saturday morning, walked around the town the whole day, and at about 10 at night decided that we wanted to go to go CLIMB A VOLCANO at a National Park nearby the next day…

So the next morning, we woke up at 3:30AM to take the 2 hour bus ride to the volcano. The bus scaled about 3,000 of elevation feet on a dirt road, and deposited us about 2 kilometers from the Park entrance. It was 6:30 AM.  We climbed to the entrance, ate breakfast, and then realized something- we were dressed in shorts and t-shirts, and converse sneakers… and it was 50 degrees, and the summit of the volcano was SNOWCAPPED. We begged the park officials for some jackets, which they kindly gave us. Nonetheless, we were still clad in shorts and converse sneakers for an absolutely brutal 7 hour hike.

And BRUTAL it was. All in all, we scaled over 7500 feet of elevation on our own two feet. The maximum elevation we reached was just over 15,000 feet (taller than the highest point in the continental United States) before we gave up and turned back. We were about 200 feet of elevation from the top, but we were completely frozen (remember, in shorts), soaked to the bone, and fighting off frozen winds of about 50-60 miles per hour, with gusts reaching significantly higher. When we asked our awesome guide, he said he had reached the top for the first time when he was 9 YEARS OLD! AND HE IS ONLY 16 NOW! Absolutely crazy.

When we finally reached the “base camp” we were completely exhausted. We ate, rested, and sunbathed (I completely burned my legs, they are STILL peeling) before hiking back down to the bus stop at 5 PM…. 10 MINUTES TOO LATE! The last bus had missed us, and we were stuck in the middle of nowhere, in a dangerous area, with no way of getting to town to catch our bus to Bogota (which left that night at 8PM). Before long, some half-broken jeep came along, and he offered to take us to the nearest small town, where he said we might be able to get another bus or taxi to Popayan. We hopped in…for 5 minutes, and the jeep broke down!! Fortunately, another car passed and took us to the small town (called Puracé, after the volcano we climbed). When we got there, we were informed that the last bus had left and we could buy a small private car to take us. By this time, we were very nervous. It was about 7PM, in a small village, in an area that has been known for guerrilla activity, in a place we were explicitly told not to visit. Private cars are super sketchy! We talked to a shopkeeper, who called a friend who apparently had a car to offer us. We waited for 25 minutes, and then, in front of us, a bus arrived heading to Popayan!!!! We were saved. We made it back in time for the 11PM bus back, and we got back to Bogotá at Noon on Monday, safely (and utterly exhausted).

Needless to say, it was an interesting trip. The next weekend we went to Villa de Leyva, which is a beautiful city 4 hours from Bogotá, and we decided not to climb volcanoes this time, so it was much more docile. Last weekend we explored more of Bogota, (including the insane Gold Museum, which is world-renown, and the Botero museum, after Colombia’s most famous artist), and this weekend we will spend 4 DAYS IN CARTAGENA!! Cartagena is one of the most beautiful beach cities in the world, and we got a beach house for FREE from a friend!! I’ll tell you all about it when I get back :D

(Popayan, or the White City as it's called)

(A view of the road from halfway up the volcano. We did nt follow the road, but treked up random paths...)

(We passed through several different ecosystems on the way to the summit, eventually reaching the one where nothing grows...)

I have tons of other stories, but I am writing this at work so I should get back! This reminds me; I’ll let you know what I am actually doing for work in my next blog post.

Buenos Aires - food!

Hello lovely blockmates!

I hope you are all having wonderful summers. I've been in Buenos Aires for two weeks, and it's really great. There are so many aspects of my time here that I want to tell you about...so I think I'll just start with the most delicious of topics :) In the future I will write about more serious themes such as history, politics, and my innermost secrets. Except for the innermost secrets part, because this blog is public so that would be awkward.

Anyway, I was originally nervous to come here as a vegetarian, because Argentina is known for its beef/steak (parrilla), and peanut butter is rare (though I have obtained a jar, after a long and arduous search!). But I need not have feared! Croissants (medialunas, or half-moons - the European influence is strong), ice cream/gelato, quiche (torta), empanadas, and pizza (there is a large Italian population) are especially popular and quite tasty. Rarely does a day go by in which I don't eat something with Dulce de Leche: cakes with dulce de leche in the middle, dulce-de-leche flavored ice cream, dulce-de-leche on fruit, etc. My host mom (I live with a really nice host family, 2 parents and 2 kids) bakes professionally, so needless to say her home cooking is quite good as well. I tried a new fruit, a "quince," in cooked-inside-pastry-form. A lot of food is just sold on the streets, especially at fairs - and there are a ton of fairs here, with outdoor music performances and really beautiful art.

I must say, however, I don't know what vegans would do here...

The hardest part of living in Buenos Aires is getting accustomed to the meal schedule - Argentines usually eat dinner around 9:15 or 9:30, whereas I often went to Annenberg around five...

There are also different table manners. My family eats fruit (apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi, etc. - no summer fruit because it's winter here) with a fork and knife, and I am starting to learn how to do so, which makes me feel quite elegant. Val (and everyone else) - when we set up our fancy fruit spa, our fruit must be consumed in the proper manner; I will demonstrate how to do so when I return. At the same time, though, people are not expected to wait until everyone has food on their plate to start eating, nor are napkins necessarily placed on laps.

Also, Becky and I found kosher food! (Nick, you might appreciate this.) We went to the Jewish part of the city and looked at books that were written in Spanish and Hebrew. Then we went to a restaurant and ate hummus (and Becky ate chicken, I think). It was great.

There is a Chinatown in Buenos Aires, and I have yet to go, but I'm looking forward to it! Buenos Aires is really fascinating in that, like a lot of American cities, there are a bunch of immigrant groups, so lots of cultural heterogeneity to explore :)

Can we Skype with each other? I want to you guys and hear how things are going!

Love to all!!!

studying and such

so yesterday was our first full day of class--wooh! pretty tiring. from 8 to 12 we have class, then lunch, then individual section after that. then homework.. but it's actually been pretty fun. i feel my chinese improving already (i find myself wanting to insert chinese into this post). the kids are really fun, and most of them are laid back. oh, and i forgot to tell you guys before!--i'm basically an old lady. I went to 2 muscle doctors before i left. one told me i had sever tendonitis in my wrist, so i wear a wrist thing. the other one told me i had a meniscus tear, but they didn't have time to do an mri, so they just gave me a brace. but regardless i treck on! my wrist isn't too bad. i just can't do any exercise on my knee.  anyway, i'm enjoying myself..so far!

Dallas!

This post is dedicated to Alex Foote.

I arrived in Buenos Aires this morning! I'm horribly sleep deprived (I couldn't sleep on the plane), so I apologize if this post is incomprehensible. I will say lots of things about Buenos Aires later (short view: it's awesome), but now I will write about my six or seven hours in the Dallas-Fort-Worth airport!

I wanted to leave the airport and go out and explore Alex's hometown, but Becky was opposed to this plan, citing the hassles of going through security a second time and other reasonable things. So instead, we went to a lot of Texas-themed stores in the airport We tried on cowboy hats and belts, saw cowhide purses, found Texas postcards that called New England "damned Yankee-land,"and even stumbled upon a shot glass with the "Don't Mess with Texas" logo - and a rifle for a handle! I have pictures of these items and experiences which I will show you later.

On a completely non-ironic note, Texas/Southwestern jewelry is actually really beautiful.

Then, we found a yoga studio in the airport! Between two terminals (B and D, which for some reason are next to each other). The studio included an instructional video, so we did an hour of yoga. People walking by laughed at us, but that was OK. Then we just made piles of mats admired their squishiness, and then almost fell asleep doing relaxation. It was great.

We also rode the airport sky-train-thing (which runs without a driver: wait what?) around in circles for a while, to admire the Dallas skyline from a (very far) distance. And we talked with friendly Texas people.

All in all, a great airport experience :)

Miss you guys!