No pictures to go with this post. Today I had a sad misadventure. I took myself out to lunch today. In the next booth I overhead a man proclaiming we must elect a President who understands that the whole world hates America. All I could think about is the fact I have done 32 Global Volunteer programs with the idea of making friends and developing long-term relationships with people in other countries. I also was privileged to be awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and spent 7 months in Hungary. Senator Fulbright pioneered what became the Fulbright Program after World War II because he thought there would be less war if people in different countries knew each other. It is not been my experience that people in other countries hate Americans, but at times they are mystified or disturbed by American policies.
This "hate" rhetoric associated with the political season in the U.S. makes me very sad.
And my blog is being read by people in more than 100 countries. I trust that means there is something here at least interesting and I have never received any comments that indicate a hate for America.
Thanks you all for listening.
And comments would be most welcome. Please let me know your thoughts.
Friday, February 12, 2016
Thursday, February 11, 2016
A cell phone adventure
Well, yesterday I sure did a silly thing. I grabbed my phone early in the morning to take a photo of the beautiful colors of the sunrise. After I looked at the pictures, I decided I didn't like them and so tried to delete them. At that point my phone just froze. I thought what would fix it was to take the battery out and then restart the phone. Well, I couldn't figure out how to get back off the phone -- a phone I've had only about 4 months or so.
So I went to T-Mobile. The technician showed the spot on the phone frame to use to take the back off the phone. He took the battery out and then replaced it and couldn't get the phone to start either. He walked over a counter and flipped up the top and inside was a computer as well as many USB cords. He ran my account and then ran diagnostics on the phone. What was wrong -- the battery was at 0%. Boy did I feel stupid.
So I went back to the car and plugged into the car charger I have for my phone. In just a four block drive it went from 0-1% so I knew the only thing wrong was the need to charge the phone.
My short drive was to a favorite restaurant. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and it seems traditional that many give up meat for Lent and so fish becomes a prominent feature on menus.
I had the fish sliders -- sliders being a word applied to small burger shaped sandwich.
This bun is about one-half the size of average burger buns. The sandwich was really good, and I'm of the opinion that eating this rather than a hamburger is not really much of a sacrifice!
Recently I read that Pope Francis said instead of giving up things such as chocolate or computer games, we should give up indifference to the needs of others. That indeed sounds much more difficult and probably much more useful than eating fish sliders instead of beef burger sliders!
So I went to T-Mobile. The technician showed the spot on the phone frame to use to take the back off the phone. He took the battery out and then replaced it and couldn't get the phone to start either. He walked over a counter and flipped up the top and inside was a computer as well as many USB cords. He ran my account and then ran diagnostics on the phone. What was wrong -- the battery was at 0%. Boy did I feel stupid.
So I went back to the car and plugged into the car charger I have for my phone. In just a four block drive it went from 0-1% so I knew the only thing wrong was the need to charge the phone.
My short drive was to a favorite restaurant. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and it seems traditional that many give up meat for Lent and so fish becomes a prominent feature on menus.
I had the fish sliders -- sliders being a word applied to small burger shaped sandwich.
Recently I read that Pope Francis said instead of giving up things such as chocolate or computer games, we should give up indifference to the needs of others. That indeed sounds much more difficult and probably much more useful than eating fish sliders instead of beef burger sliders!
Soup and Sort
For those who read my blog and live in different countries, no soup and sort isn't a weird American English idiom. I am sharing about a volunteer event I've in which I participated last winter and now starting again this winter.
I do a number of different volunteer activities for Mano a Mano International.
Mano a Mano works to improve the life of Bolivians, particularly those who live high in the Andes Mountains.
One activity, and the first activity of Mano a Mano when it began, is the collection of medical supplies that are being discarded or no longer of needed use. The supplies come locally or as far away as North Dakota and South Dakota.
Last winter two volunteers got the idea to start Soup and Sort. Volunteers interested in helping to sort the donated supplies come to the warehouse around 5 PM. One volunteer, who is an excellent cook, makes soup and brings it in a slow cooker. So that explains the soup part of this title. This week it was squash soup and very good. My small contribution to this event is to bring some cookies for a quick dessert. This week I decided to "bake" by shopping downstairs at the grocery store.
Now about the sort part of this title.Supplies come in all mixed up.
We literally dump a box of materials out on a table and begin to sort what's inside by several categories.
For example, diapers, underpants, and feminine hygiene pads all go into box 3. Once a box is filled, it is taped shut and the number marked on all four sides.
Filled boxes are loaded onto a pallet.
The next piece of processing is done one of the highly skilled volunteers counts the boxes and notes the categories of boxes in the group. Then a whole pallet of boxes is wrapped in plastic, weighed, and then marked with a number. This helps greatly when it comes time to load containers. One knows what is loaded into which container and what the weight is of the loaded supplies.
Mano a Mano also received wheelchairs, walkers, and crutches.
The same skilled volunteer makes sure to count how many objects are in each of these cardboard boxes, and again, the box is marked with a number and weight. When it comes time to load the containers for shipping, the pallets are loaded first to form a foundation. Then someone climbs up on the loaded pallets and begins to place the wheelchairs, crutches, and walkers into additional layers and in the spaces between the pallets.
Another of my volunteer activities for Mano a Mano is digitizing records. I've been through about 1200 paper records now and find people have given donations from $5.00 to thousands of dollars. Also the internet makes it possible to send donations from other countries. I've found records for donors, for example, from Germany, France, and Canada.
This above is my hint for any reader who is able to send a bit of donation. A $1.00 donation provides the shipping cost to send supplies valued at about $13.00. It is not often one gets that much return on an investment. See www.manoamano.org if you are interested to learn more and also there you will find a link for donations.
I've been to Bolivia. These supplies are going to places where people have nothing. These are populations that live on basically $1.00 per day. Mano a Mano has now built 155 clinics in places where never before that had there been a health clinic. And all of these clinics continue to function. The model used by Mano a Mano is that a village asks for help. This is not well meaning Americans coming into Bolivia telling the Bolivians what they need or should do.
In 2014 when I was in a Bolivian village I watched a father walking his little son to the clinic. The little one was obviously sick with some kind of respiratory infection. He just looked miserable. I asked what the father would have to do had the clinic not been there for his son. Answer: He would have to walk 20 kilometers out to the highway. Then wait for a trucker who might be willing to pick them up and then drive 3 hours into a larger city where there would be a clinic. And then of course they would have to make the return trip too. This all could might take two days, a hardship in itself.
That is what a difference a primary care health clinic makes in a village up in the Andes Mountains.
I do a number of different volunteer activities for Mano a Mano International.
Mano a Mano works to improve the life of Bolivians, particularly those who live high in the Andes Mountains.
One activity, and the first activity of Mano a Mano when it began, is the collection of medical supplies that are being discarded or no longer of needed use. The supplies come locally or as far away as North Dakota and South Dakota.
Last winter two volunteers got the idea to start Soup and Sort. Volunteers interested in helping to sort the donated supplies come to the warehouse around 5 PM. One volunteer, who is an excellent cook, makes soup and brings it in a slow cooker. So that explains the soup part of this title. This week it was squash soup and very good. My small contribution to this event is to bring some cookies for a quick dessert. This week I decided to "bake" by shopping downstairs at the grocery store.
Now about the sort part of this title.Supplies come in all mixed up.
Filled boxes are loaded onto a pallet.
Mano a Mano also received wheelchairs, walkers, and crutches.
Another of my volunteer activities for Mano a Mano is digitizing records. I've been through about 1200 paper records now and find people have given donations from $5.00 to thousands of dollars. Also the internet makes it possible to send donations from other countries. I've found records for donors, for example, from Germany, France, and Canada.
This above is my hint for any reader who is able to send a bit of donation. A $1.00 donation provides the shipping cost to send supplies valued at about $13.00. It is not often one gets that much return on an investment. See www.manoamano.org if you are interested to learn more and also there you will find a link for donations.
I've been to Bolivia. These supplies are going to places where people have nothing. These are populations that live on basically $1.00 per day. Mano a Mano has now built 155 clinics in places where never before that had there been a health clinic. And all of these clinics continue to function. The model used by Mano a Mano is that a village asks for help. This is not well meaning Americans coming into Bolivia telling the Bolivians what they need or should do.
In 2014 when I was in a Bolivian village I watched a father walking his little son to the clinic. The little one was obviously sick with some kind of respiratory infection. He just looked miserable. I asked what the father would have to do had the clinic not been there for his son. Answer: He would have to walk 20 kilometers out to the highway. Then wait for a trucker who might be willing to pick them up and then drive 3 hours into a larger city where there would be a clinic. And then of course they would have to make the return trip too. This all could might take two days, a hardship in itself.
That is what a difference a primary care health clinic makes in a village up in the Andes Mountains.
Thursday, February 4, 2016
There's an App for that!
People often think Minnesota is a terrible place to live because of snow in the winter time. Well, I'd rather live in a place that knows what to do with it than one of the places that is rather totally unprepared to deal with snow.
This has been an easy winter actually. However, a snow storm moved further north than expected this week and we had a very messy Tuesday. I took the photo below around 4 PM in the afternoon before the snow had even ended. My balcony overlooks Robert Street. This is one of many streets classified as a snow emergency route which is plowed 24/7 until the snow ends and the street is cleared. Streets such as this are continually plowed so there that vehicles such as ambulances and fire trucks can move through the city.
Clearing streets in an old city is more difficult than in the suburbs. The houses in the suburbs all have garages and so it is easy to clear a street for plowing. In the city there are many apartment houses that were built before everyone had cars. In these areas there is no where to park except on the street. For four years I lived in an apartment complex that was 21st century, but there is only one parking spot in the garage per apartment. So if there were two people in an unit with cars, one person had to leave the car on the street -- again a problem for snow plowing.
So to get around this a snow emergency is declared. In St. Paul a snow emergency begins at 9 PM at night. From that time until about 6 AM the next morning the east side of north-south streets are plowed. Plowing continues too on the snow emergency routes. The next day the east-west streets are plowed as well as the west half of the north-south streets. To help residents and visitors know where it is OK to park, the streets that are half-plowed at night have signs, on the correct side of the street, that say "Night plow route."
A snow emergency is announced every way possible -- e-mail, radio and TV announcements, phone messages-- to make everyone aware of need to move their cars from areas that are due to be snow plowed. And now for first time, beginning this week, there's an app for that.
To get information one puts an address into the map part of the app. Then the streets pop up and one can see what streets are OK for parking, outlined in green, and what streets are yet to be plowed. The map below shows the center city about 12 hours after the snow has stopped. One can see they are all outlined in green so parking is legal -- and since it's the center of city -- also if one pays for the parking place.
And the photo below was taken about 24 hours after the one at the very beginning of this story.
Wow! It is 5 PM and the sun is still shining. Spring will soon be coming. The building in the 9:00 position is Regions Hospital. The multi-lane roads is the intersection of I-94E and I-35E.
Addendum: Turns out this was the 5th largest February snowfall in the Twin Cities area.
This has been an easy winter actually. However, a snow storm moved further north than expected this week and we had a very messy Tuesday. I took the photo below around 4 PM in the afternoon before the snow had even ended. My balcony overlooks Robert Street. This is one of many streets classified as a snow emergency route which is plowed 24/7 until the snow ends and the street is cleared. Streets such as this are continually plowed so there that vehicles such as ambulances and fire trucks can move through the city.Clearing streets in an old city is more difficult than in the suburbs. The houses in the suburbs all have garages and so it is easy to clear a street for plowing. In the city there are many apartment houses that were built before everyone had cars. In these areas there is no where to park except on the street. For four years I lived in an apartment complex that was 21st century, but there is only one parking spot in the garage per apartment. So if there were two people in an unit with cars, one person had to leave the car on the street -- again a problem for snow plowing.
So to get around this a snow emergency is declared. In St. Paul a snow emergency begins at 9 PM at night. From that time until about 6 AM the next morning the east side of north-south streets are plowed. Plowing continues too on the snow emergency routes. The next day the east-west streets are plowed as well as the west half of the north-south streets. To help residents and visitors know where it is OK to park, the streets that are half-plowed at night have signs, on the correct side of the street, that say "Night plow route."
A snow emergency is announced every way possible -- e-mail, radio and TV announcements, phone messages-- to make everyone aware of need to move their cars from areas that are due to be snow plowed. And now for first time, beginning this week, there's an app for that.
To get information one puts an address into the map part of the app. Then the streets pop up and one can see what streets are OK for parking, outlined in green, and what streets are yet to be plowed. The map below shows the center city about 12 hours after the snow has stopped. One can see they are all outlined in green so parking is legal -- and since it's the center of city -- also if one pays for the parking place.
Addendum: Turns out this was the 5th largest February snowfall in the Twin Cities area.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Doing Nothing but Cooking on a Cold Weekend
Last week I wrote about volunteering on a cold day. Sunday, January 17, I can say it was a day with nearly nothing on a cold day. When I woke up that morning the temperature was -12 (-23C). This weather was highly expected and forecasted in the weather reports. On the day before I picked up my older daughter. When we returned to my building we braved walking across the parking lot to the grocery store and picked up some things to get us through the weekend.
I made a salad and took wild rice soup out of the freezer for our supper. We watched TV during the evening. I had a knee injection earlier this week, and spent a couple nights with insomnia as my reaction to the kenalog med. Last night was great-- no insomnia and no pain. Didn't get up until 9:30.
We had brought cinnamon rolls home yesterday after having a late breakfast at a restaurant. They were easy to warm up for a quick bite with coffee and orange juice. Then I put together a quiche.
We enjoyed that about noon along with some fresh fruit. When I put this same picture on Facebook, four people asked for the recipe.
During the afternoon I went exploring in the closet for some craft items I need for a project. When I moved into this apartment in 2014 I put boxes on closet shelves just too quickly get things put away, spent the next 9 weeks in Poland, came home to two cataract surgeries which was followed in March 2015 by bad arthritis pain. I really didn't remember where I put what hoping I had labeled boxes correctly. Found half of what I need. Just now getting back to doing things like craft projects. I will plan a trip to a craft store sometime when the weather warms.
We spent the afternoon watching movies on TV. Noticed out the bedroom window I could see birds flying -- an odd view from the 6thlevel of a building on such a cold day. I went out to my balcony windows where I could get a better view. Quite a surprise -- I found a whole group of eagles soaring about. I wonder if they have to fly to build up some body heat on such a cold day.
For supper we made a chicken recipe I got when volunteering in Romania. And it was cooked in one of my Polish dishes!
We did enjoy this and also had apple crisp for dessert later in the evening.
On Monday, January 18, which is a legal holiday in the United States, we just enjoyed leftovers. A relaxing weekend in a warm place with good food is the best way to spend a cold, cold weekend. And I hope the weather forecast is right -- this is the only one for this winter.
I made a salad and took wild rice soup out of the freezer for our supper. We watched TV during the evening. I had a knee injection earlier this week, and spent a couple nights with insomnia as my reaction to the kenalog med. Last night was great-- no insomnia and no pain. Didn't get up until 9:30.
We had brought cinnamon rolls home yesterday after having a late breakfast at a restaurant. They were easy to warm up for a quick bite with coffee and orange juice. Then I put together a quiche.
We enjoyed that about noon along with some fresh fruit. When I put this same picture on Facebook, four people asked for the recipe.
During the afternoon I went exploring in the closet for some craft items I need for a project. When I moved into this apartment in 2014 I put boxes on closet shelves just too quickly get things put away, spent the next 9 weeks in Poland, came home to two cataract surgeries which was followed in March 2015 by bad arthritis pain. I really didn't remember where I put what hoping I had labeled boxes correctly. Found half of what I need. Just now getting back to doing things like craft projects. I will plan a trip to a craft store sometime when the weather warms.
We spent the afternoon watching movies on TV. Noticed out the bedroom window I could see birds flying -- an odd view from the 6thlevel of a building on such a cold day. I went out to my balcony windows where I could get a better view. Quite a surprise -- I found a whole group of eagles soaring about. I wonder if they have to fly to build up some body heat on such a cold day.
For supper we made a chicken recipe I got when volunteering in Romania. And it was cooked in one of my Polish dishes!
We did enjoy this and also had apple crisp for dessert later in the evening.
On Monday, January 18, which is a legal holiday in the United States, we just enjoyed leftovers. A relaxing weekend in a warm place with good food is the best way to spend a cold, cold weekend. And I hope the weather forecast is right -- this is the only one for this winter.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Volunteering on a Cold Day
What do I mean by a cold day? Sunday was almost the first cold day of the 2015-2016 winter in the Upper Midwest. That is what made it feel even colder.
This is what the Weather Channel showed early Sunday morning. -9 in Fahrenheit is about the same as -22 in the Celsius system.
Every morning I get a text message from the meteorology service of Minnesota Public Public Radio. Below is what it said yesterday.
But this was a day for a volunteer effort to help people who have a much more difficult life than I do, even on a very cold day.
At my church we hold a "re-gifting sale" early in January. People bring things they have that are new or very gently used. They are sold at a discount with proceeds going to Mano a Mano. Mano a Mano seeks to help people in Bolivia who need health clinics, schools, water reservoirs, and help adapting their agricultural methods to the coming changes caused by climate change in Bolivia.
The term, re-gifting, may be unfamiliar to readers of this blog who arrive from other countries to this page. Today I happened onto a Facebook page that says this is a term that came from the Seinfeld TV series. It means giving away a gift one has received to another person because one doesn't want the gift. Of course, in a real gifting situation one has to make sure the person who gave you the gift doesn't know you gave it to someone else. In this case, we bring things to the sale.
On Saturday evening my older daughter helped me carry down things from my apartment to the garage and we loaded up the trunk. I had things given me by two friends to take along in addition to the things I wished to donate.
We got up early on Sunday morning and grabbed a cup of coffee and a muffin. Then we set out, planning to arrive just after the 9 AM church service had started. I wanted the crowd to disappear form the door, so I could pull up very close to a door to unload all this very quickly. We were successful and even had the great courtesy of another woman arriving about the same time to help us unload and take all this up one level in the church building using the elevator (yes, I know it's called a lift in many other versions of English).
Once we had everything delivered we took off for breakfast and then I took her home. When I returned during the 11 AM service, I could see many things I had brought had disappeared, purchased by those who had attended the 9 AM service. The co-coordinators of the re-gifting sale were counting the money and already the sale has produced a bit more than $300. I don't know what the final total turned out to be because the sale didn't end until after the 4:30 PM afternoon service.
To the right is part of the sale table -- everything from candle holders to a baby blanket.
And what a good idea -- taking things one doesn't want and use -- and turning them into money and giving them a home with someone who wants them.
And maybe here I should explain more. Example: I took two children's books, brand new that I had always intended to use for teaching English. But I've had these for nearly 5 years -- and these are books that can age -- one was Anne of Green Gables and the other a children's book about Ella Fitzgerald. Both of these books are ageless, and now apparently in the hands of children who will enjoy them.
If any reader is interested in learning more more, please do click on the Mano a Mano link above. Donations are welcomed at any time of the year. Presently I'm helping, as a volunteer, to take paper records about donors from paper to an electronic form. I was surprised and gratified to find that in addition to donations from people in the United States, donations have been received electronically from donors in Canada, France, Germany, and Costa Rica.
Every morning I get a text message from the meteorology service of Minnesota Public Public Radio. Below is what it said yesterday.
At my church we hold a "re-gifting sale" early in January. People bring things they have that are new or very gently used. They are sold at a discount with proceeds going to Mano a Mano. Mano a Mano seeks to help people in Bolivia who need health clinics, schools, water reservoirs, and help adapting their agricultural methods to the coming changes caused by climate change in Bolivia.
The term, re-gifting, may be unfamiliar to readers of this blog who arrive from other countries to this page. Today I happened onto a Facebook page that says this is a term that came from the Seinfeld TV series. It means giving away a gift one has received to another person because one doesn't want the gift. Of course, in a real gifting situation one has to make sure the person who gave you the gift doesn't know you gave it to someone else. In this case, we bring things to the sale.
We got up early on Sunday morning and grabbed a cup of coffee and a muffin. Then we set out, planning to arrive just after the 9 AM church service had started. I wanted the crowd to disappear form the door, so I could pull up very close to a door to unload all this very quickly. We were successful and even had the great courtesy of another woman arriving about the same time to help us unload and take all this up one level in the church building using the elevator (yes, I know it's called a lift in many other versions of English).
Once we had everything delivered we took off for breakfast and then I took her home. When I returned during the 11 AM service, I could see many things I had brought had disappeared, purchased by those who had attended the 9 AM service. The co-coordinators of the re-gifting sale were counting the money and already the sale has produced a bit more than $300. I don't know what the final total turned out to be because the sale didn't end until after the 4:30 PM afternoon service.
And what a good idea -- taking things one doesn't want and use -- and turning them into money and giving them a home with someone who wants them.
And maybe here I should explain more. Example: I took two children's books, brand new that I had always intended to use for teaching English. But I've had these for nearly 5 years -- and these are books that can age -- one was Anne of Green Gables and the other a children's book about Ella Fitzgerald. Both of these books are ageless, and now apparently in the hands of children who will enjoy them.
If any reader is interested in learning more more, please do click on the Mano a Mano link above. Donations are welcomed at any time of the year. Presently I'm helping, as a volunteer, to take paper records about donors from paper to an electronic form. I was surprised and gratified to find that in addition to donations from people in the United States, donations have been received electronically from donors in Canada, France, Germany, and Costa Rica.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Mundane Adventures
Life is not always travel and fun. Once in awhile the mundane things must be done -- and today, the first business day of 2016 was a indeed a mundane day.
First, I had a dental appointment. I knew I had a chipped crown and wanted to start any repair so it would not spoil my plans for going to Poland as a broken crown did last year. Good news, yes there is a chipped crown but it doesn't have to be fixed. But the dentist decided to do a fluoride varnish to keep my dental status as healthy as possible, this effort to help me manage the inflammation bothering my knees. Because of the varnish I couldn't eat or drink for one hour. Breakfast around 10:00 AM now seemed a long time ago, now that it was 1:30 in the afternoon.
So I adjusted my plans and went to do some shopping first at Target. Needed to get some things and walking around shopping counts towards the goal of walking at least 30 minutes everyday. Long lines at the check out because only 4 lanes were open.
And then finally I got to lunch at 3:15.
Walking about felt cold today. Winter may be arriving!
I searched out the address and hours for a nearby library branch, but when I got there I found no place to park. So I headed for the Dayton's Bluff library match feeling confidant I would find a parking place there. Got there and selected books. When checking them out I noticed books I had returned last week were still associated with my account. The desk attendant took the titles and said he would call the Highland branch -- where I left these books -- and figure out what had happened.
I am already distressed when people trash public employees. Our world turns nicely because so many of them do a very high quality of work.
So mundane!
First, I had a dental appointment. I knew I had a chipped crown and wanted to start any repair so it would not spoil my plans for going to Poland as a broken crown did last year. Good news, yes there is a chipped crown but it doesn't have to be fixed. But the dentist decided to do a fluoride varnish to keep my dental status as healthy as possible, this effort to help me manage the inflammation bothering my knees. Because of the varnish I couldn't eat or drink for one hour. Breakfast around 10:00 AM now seemed a long time ago, now that it was 1:30 in the afternoon.
So I adjusted my plans and went to do some shopping first at Target. Needed to get some things and walking around shopping counts towards the goal of walking at least 30 minutes everyday. Long lines at the check out because only 4 lanes were open.
And then finally I got to lunch at 3:15.
I searched out the address and hours for a nearby library branch, but when I got there I found no place to park. So I headed for the Dayton's Bluff library match feeling confidant I would find a parking place there. Got there and selected books. When checking them out I noticed books I had returned last week were still associated with my account. The desk attendant took the titles and said he would call the Highland branch -- where I left these books -- and figure out what had happened.
I am already distressed when people trash public employees. Our world turns nicely because so many of them do a very high quality of work.
So mundane!
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