Why does the title of the blog keep on changing?

The title of our blog, as you might have noticed, keeps on changing. Leaving a trace of the changes reflects the changes in direction, obviously, but also shows how the overarching goal of our trip becomes clearer as we move along.

You would think we would know what we were doing when we decided to sell everything and leave. Well, kind of. We love Vancouver and it's probably the best place in the whole world for us to live, but we felt it was time for a change. A next step.

Fadi blames that feeling of restlessness on his Third Culture Kid (TCK) status and his last name, which in Arabic means "bird." I can't do the same: my last name means"earth" or "soil" in Latin; you probably can't get more rooted than that. In my case it probably has to do with my ancestors, who kept on moving from country to country. If the records are correct, the different branches did some major moving: Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil, Switzerland, France, Italy, Argentina. And ending up in Uruguay didn't help. Either the condition of "pueblo transplantado" (transplanted people, according to Brazilian anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro) of its people, or its open, barrier-less and windblown landscape makes it too easy to want to go out and explore.

But I digress. Regardless of reasons, our moving was just the next step from a change that began more than 10 years ago when we decided to make quality of life a priority. Since then, we have been trying to live our lives so that they match more closely our values and beliefs (more about that later here and here).

As we move along, we seek (or, as it turns out, we run into) people that help us learn more about alternative ways of living, sustainable transport and energy, bio-construction, organic and urban farming, garbage and recycling, and other issues that we care about, and we also get a chance to give these alternatives a try.  

Not a bad way to learn and grow. And not a bad way to end the year. Plus an appropriate posting for the end of the year.

Our New Year Resolution? Be greener :)

Happy 2012 everyone!

 

(For those in Vancouver, if you want to start the year on a green note and let Canadian government know that we want Canadian behavior to match Canadian image, join the rally on January 1st by the Art Gallery downtown. Ahhh. I miss Vancouver).

Cityscapes: why a megalopolis is, by definition, not pretty

I feel vindicated.

I’m reading Michael C. Boxall’s latest thriller “The GreatFirewall.” The action is taking place in Shanghai when I read the following comment about subways: “[Shanghai’s] subway didn’t smell like [a heady blend of vanilla, balsam and ambergris]. But neither did it have the roachy fetor  of New York, [...]”

My first thought: Thank you!

Since I commented on my not-love for NY, people have been jumping about how is that even possible, eeeeeverybody loves NY, because NY is sooo great. Apparently not linking NY is akin to not liking Paris. A cultural faux pas.

My take on the whole issue? People don’t really look at famous places for what they are, but for what they represent.

Kitchen Series #8 - Christmas Dinner Potato Salad

Before (ingredients) and after (prepared salad)

We would have never guessed we would spend Xmas with a bunch of ex-pats from Canada, the US, Chile, Italy, Thailand, and I don't know where else, in Punta Fría, up a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

The hosts asked us to bring some salads and we prepared a nice cold potato salad that would go well with a hot summer celebration.

Cold Xmas Potato Salad

Ingredients:

potatoes

red onions

olive oil

dijon mustard

honey

raspberry vinegar

Adobe dreaming / Construcción de casas de barro

I love how sometimes life has a way to tell you you're on the right track. I re-connected with a former colleague I hadn't seen nor talked to in years and guess what she said: "Pueden venir y ya de paso conocen mi casita en construcción. Te cuento que estamos al mango construyendo una casa de barro con nuestras propias manos". Yeap. They happened to be building their own adobe house. How perfect is that?

The structure already in place: wood, stone, mud on the walls, grass and a traditional quincho on the roof

Awaken your inner child: how to play with mud with a purpose

Casas de adobe. Ladrillos de barro. Bio-construcción. Vivienda ecológica. Hay quien sabe a lo que me refiero. Y hay muchos otros que, a la mención de barro, largan una carcajada mientras sacuden la cabeza y mascullan algo sobre hippies o tribus prehistóricas. En Uruguay, donde la construcción de barro y paja es lo que tradicionalmente se usó en el campo para hacer los ranchos, surgen miradas preocupadas y comentarios sobre vinchucas y taperas.

Un proceso eminentemente colaborativo

La construcción en barro es milenaria, pero hay un movimiento de vuelta a esta técnica entre arquitectos, incluso en Uruguay. Entre estos arquitectos está una amiga mía que es gran defensora de ese tipo de casas y que me viene comiendo el coco hace más de una década con los beneficios del barro: mejor aislamiento del frío, del calor y del ruido, más económico, más maleable y con mayor posibilidades creativas, duradero, seguro, agradable. Lógico entonces, que cuando ofrecieron un taller de ladrillos de barro en mi universidad en Vancouver, aproveché.

Musings on the simple, nomadic life

Scaling down in a consumerist society is not a simple, fast or in any way easy  process. I'm still trying to figure out this working-living-traveling thing and I'm feeling a bit confused. The living out of a backpack gets harder with age. Right now I just want a place of mine where I can leave my stuff. Can you believe I still have stuff?

Missing my office

The getting rid of everything was positive in one very specific way: you get to see what you really miss. So far: rice cooker, electric kettle & thermos.

Close second: yoga mat-second big computer screen-ergonomic keyboard-mouse combo. My hands + back + neck are suffering the lack of a proper office setting (hence the delay in posting).

In short, you miss what makes your everyday life easy and smooth,  food- and work-wise. I also realized most objects I owned were so irrelevant that I couldn't remember what they were even a few hours after I gave them up.