Happy New Year

Os melhores desejos para Moçambique no 2014

What the real map of Africa looks like - it’s big!

Did you have any idea Africa was this big?

If not, this might be the reason why:

(If you can’t see the video, click here).

Back to bikes

I know I’m being a bit repetitive here, but I’m just obsessed with Amsterdam. I love the cities I’ve been living, but I wouldn’t mind spending some time in a place with so much water and bikes. Here’s another peek at how does living in a city with bikes looks like. Enjoy!

Unmasking African stereotypes in the media

Loved this recent article by Imran Garda: “Nine signs the journalism on Africa you’ve just encountered is trash”. It follows the spirit of the blog “Africa is a country” where it was posted:

The ‘African Skies’ even made it
into the titles of a couple of
movies, yikes!

“to challenge and destabilize received wisdom 
about the African continent and its people 
in Western media”

It’s ironic (or very, very sad) that they have to clarify that:

“The title of the blog is ironic 

and is a reaction to 

old and tired images of ‘Africa’. ”

With a lot of irony, Garda lists what he considers the worst nine stereotypes that Western media use when talking about Africa. Quite a range, including darkness and sunsets, issues with languages and accents, wars and dictators, singing and dancing. A funny article to show that Africa is not a monolitic reality, and definitely, definitely not a country.

The point of the article also falls in line with our previous postings on Africa as seen by the media (Spanish) and in campaigns (English), or in international aid (Portuguese).  For the whole article, go here.

Would like to have other perspectives? See what Africans from different countries have to say about themselves here, how a group of men are making fun of how the film industry portrays them, and how Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie brilliantly challenges that single story of Africa.

Moçambique visto pelos brasileiros

Viagem a Ponta d'Ouro, no extremo sul de Moçambique, nela fronteira com Africa do Sul. Praias e vida simples.

 

E o contraste com o luxo do Hotel Polana no Maputo, a feijoada dos domingos, e a influença dos brasileiros. Faltaram as noites de cinema clássico ao ar livre! Gostoso. Depois uma visita a FEIMA, a feria de artesanato, e uma conversa em changana. A estatua de Samora Machel na Praça Independença frente ao predio do Conselho Municipal, e lá pertinho a casa de ferro de Eiffel e o Jardim Botánico Tunduru (onde também fizemos uma jornada de limpeza). A noite, músic no Núcleo de Arte.

 

Infaltável nos fines de semana: atravessar em barco para um passeio por Catembe, com matabicho, saludos e visita as casas típicas. Uma visita breve pelo estúdio de TV e Mazioni na Praia do Sol.

Maputo vista pelos brasileiros - segunda entrega

Ainda mais vistas de Maputo: visita a um artesano, comendo matapa no restaurante Zambézia na Feira Popular, e um paseio em chapa partendo do Muséu. Quantas vezes caminhei por essa rua e passei por essa esquina!

 

E o famosisimo mercado Xipamanine... onde ficamos engarrafados no caminho a Associação Mostram o matapa previo a cozinhada, uma demostração de como carregar coisas na cabeça, e um pouco de moda moçambicana. Um paseo em chopela e uma breve visita ao paradiso que é o Dhow Cafe.

 

Ainda mais videos...

Maputo vista pelos brasileiros

Deram muitas saudades!

No primer vídeo, visitam o Museu de História Natural que fica lá perto do escritório, a feira de artesanato na Baixa (comprando capulanas), a esquina do restaurante Piri Piri (frente ao primer apartamento) comendo frango, e com o taxi passando pela esquina de casa!

  

Na segunda parte, visitam o mercado de peixes na costa. Carangejo! (a turma do escritório ainda deve estar a rir-se de quando eu chamei-lo di 'cangarejo'). E cerveja Manica (gostava mais da 2M). O Mercado Janet, lá na esquina de Vladimir Lenine e Mao Tse Tung. E a lindo CFM (estação central de trem).

Mais vídeos no próximo post.

If every adult had it that clear...

I’m thinking if there’s one good thing this generation did is having kids like these ones.

If you wanted to have a clear picture about what’s going on in terms of politics and society in Egypt, ask 12-year-old Ali Ahmed. I would vote this kid for president:

About the right of children (specially girls) to education? Find out about what 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai has to say. Here is her story: 

 
And what about our food, GMOs, non-patented seeds? Listen to what 11-year-old Birke Baher has to say:

I can’t wait for this kids to take over the world.
Feeling hopeful...

Are we finally becoming human?

These recent headlines... does it mean we’re finally evolving?

* Costa Rica will close its zoos and free animals (Costa Rica cerrará sus zoos y liberará a los animales)

* India declares dolphins non-human persons, bans holding them in captivity

* European Union reaffirms ban on animal testing for cosmetics

Mozambique: a matter of perspective

*

There's a couple of ways to see it:

Pessimists would say that Mozambique is at the bottom of the pile

What an optimist would see is that the only way is up.

I prefer the latter.


* The data provided is about:
population / children under 18 / aids / infant mortality / maternal mortality / poverty 

O fim do lixo?

(2013-07-29) Uma nova empresa começa a partir de hoje a fazer a recolha de resíduos sólidos na zona de cimento da cidade de Maputo. Trata-se da ECOLIFE, um consórcio que conta com a participação da MOZABANCO e a Mota Engil.
 
A recolha de lixo vai conhecer uma nova dinâmica, pois passará da ENVIROSERV, passará a contar com a ECOLIFE. Esta se concentrará na zona urbana e a primeira se ocupará da área suburbana.

“É necessária a colaboração de todos os munícipes. A título de exemplo, os cidadãos devem respeitar os horários estabelecidos para a deposição de lixo nos contentores. Os proprietários de estabelecimentos comerciais devem contratar empresas particulares para recolher o lixo que produzem e não depositá-lo nos contentores públicos devido a enorme quantidade de resíduos que produzem e que acabam por lotar os contentores de lixo”,

O horário estabelecido para a deposição de lixo nos contentores é das 15:30 às 19:00 horas.

A ECOLIFE vai alocar 1100 contentores nas ruas da capital e contará com 9 camiões envolvidos na recolha de cerca de 200 toneladas de resíduos sólidos produzidos por dia na zona de cimento da cidade de Maputo.

A firma tem um período de um mês de tolerância para se organizar, esperando-se a partir de Setembro esteja a operar em pleno.


Leia a notícia toda aqui.

Agricultura urbana: esta vez en Perú

En este artículo y video se muestra como una comunidad en Perú transformó la basura en un oasis de agricultura urbana.

En este video más extenso, entrevistan a participantes de la iniciativa "La Lombriz Feliz" y cómo han llegado a ganar el Premio Nacional de Ciudadanía Ambiental el año pasado.

International aid: A matter of perspectives / Ajuda internacional: Uma questão de perspectiva

 

(esquerda) Os meninos na America são obligados a passar 8 horas sentados nas aulas, depois eles são drogados quando movem-se ou fazem barulho demais, e sua principal fonte de diversão é a televisão.

(direita) Isso é horrível! Deveria-mos pedir doações para eles.

Agricultura urbana: el ejemplo de España

Otro ejemplo, esta vez, en España. Lo lindo de este video es que también muestra las propiedades terapéuticas y los beneficios sociales de la agricultura practicada de esta forma.



Puedes ver otros ejemplos en Cuba y Canadá.

A better world #20: quit the serious face and laugh

Brian, 40+, carpenter, UK

“Only take 
the serious things in life 
seriously, 

laugh at the rest.”











To find out more about the work Brian does take seriously, check his lovely wood work and photography.

A better world #19: destress and relax

Julia, 40, coach, Germany

My approach to making the world a better place is to help busy professionals to de-stress with Mini-Retreats. Mini-Retreats are moments of relaxation you can enjoy while waiting at a red traffic light or while washing your hands. They don’t take any extra time and make a world of a difference. Mini-Retreats positively impact how your day unfolds, what you accomplish, how you make decisions and how you treat people around you. When people tell me “I think of you when I relax at a red traffic light,” I take that as a sign that my legacy is already on its way. My vision is a world where we all make self-care a priority. This creates a solid foundation for taking good care of our planet and all fellow-beings.

For more information visit: www.juliajames.ca



Mein Weltverbesserungsbeitrag besteht darin vielbeschaeftigten, berufstaetigen Menschen zu helfen, Stress abzubauen mit Hilfe von “Mini-Retreats.” “Mini-Retreats” sind Augenblicke der Entspannung, die Sie sich goennen koennen waehrend sie z.B. an einer roten Ampel warten oder Ihre Haende waschen. Fuer “Mini-Retreats” benoetigen sie keine extra Zeit. “Mini-Retreats” haben einen positiven Einfluss darauf, wie Ihr Tag verlaeuft, was Sie erreichen, wie Sie Entscheidungen treffen und wie Sie Ihre Mitmenschen behandeln. Wenn mir jemand sagt “Ich denke an Dich, wenn ich an einer roten Ampel entspanne,” dann sehe ich das als Zeichen dafuer, dass mein Vermaechtnis schon auf dem Weg ist. Meine Zukunftsvision ist eine Welt in der wir alle Selbstfuersorge als Prioritaet erkennen. Dies bildet die Basis dafuer uns gut um unseren Planeten und unsere Mitwesen zu kuemmern.
Fuer weitere Information besuchen Sie bitte: www.juliajames.ca

Agricultura urbana: el ejemplo de Cuba

Documental en tres partes del desarrollo de la agricultura urbana en Cuba como respuesta a la necesidad de alimentar a su población.

Parte 1

Parte 2

Parte 3  

 

Amanhã no ICMA - noite de poesia, música e troca de livros

Em parte organizado pela minha amiga Lúcia, amante de livros e promotora da leitura. Levem livros usados para trocar e donar.

Se puede

Me gustó lo que Jorge Martínez dice sobre que “se puede”. Mucho para aprender por parte de todos.

El video es de 2010, me gustaría saber en qué quedó el proyecto. Si alguien sabe, cuente.

A better world #18: support the teachers

A better world #17: time to disarm

A better world #16: fair trade

A better world #15: friends?

A better world #14: equal access to education

A better world #13: more technology

A better world #12: recyle and gender rights

A better world #11: free higher ed

A better world #10: smile

A better world #09: keep the diversity, bridge the economic gap

A better world #08: redistribute

A better world #07: respect and tolerance

A better world #06: educate for peace

A better world #05: we do need more education

A better world #04: imagine there's no country

A better world #03: downsize

A better world #02: protect mother nature

A better world #01: get to know each other

What would you do to make the world a better place?

Happy Earth Day!

Some  years ago, when I was studying sustainable development and the Earth Charter Initiative, I did a small study where I asked different people what would they do to improve our world. 

In the next days I'll be posting some of the answers I collected, which I recorded in their native language and script besides an English translation. For each, I added a close up photo of the person, their first name, age, occupation, and their country or countries.

Below is the premise. I invite you to join and contribute with your own 2 cents. You can comment below or send the info to hisandhersustainabletrip@gmail.com and we'll post it for you.

What would you do to make a happy earth day truly happy?

Crítica a la cobertura de la visita de la Reina de España a Mozambique

Reproduzco aquí un artículo que critica la perspectiva que presentan los medios cada vez que hablan de África, un tema que ya habíamos tratado cuando hablamos del peligro de una historia única, un ejemplo de ello y una tomadura de pelo a esos estereotipos.

La reina dadivosa y el buen salvaje (o cómo no hacer periodismo). 
Por Yolanda Polo. Publicado el 17/04/2013 en El Diario de España.

El relato predominante sobre África se sitúa entre el buen salvaje y el salvaje a secas. Pobres incapaces que necesitan nuestra ayuda y supervisión o simples bárbaros que se embarcan en espantosos conflictos que ni siquiera pueden compararse a nuestras civilizadas guerras. La semana pasada, coincidiendo con la visita de la reina a Mozambique, tocaba airear el primero de estos relatos.

Muy a menudo siento que los medios de comunicación toman a la ciudadanía por tonta. La Casa Real vende la visita de la reina a Mozambique como un viaje de cooperación y van ellos y lo compran. Y no sólo lo compran, sino que además lo hacen bajo esa conceptualización del buen salvaje intelectualmente menor que necesita de nuestro apoyo para salir adelante. Fíjense que aún en tiempos de crisis somos solidarios y lo demostramos enviando a la reina como adalid de nuestras buenas intenciones con “los negritos”.

Para alimentar este discurso no pueden faltar las historias de niños y niñas, a ser posible huérfanos y si son fruto de una violación y abandonados aún mejor. Pobres, necesitan nuestra ayuda. Por supuesto, no puede faltar un toque de folklorización tan necesario en estos casos: la música, imprescindible, porque ¡mira que baila bien la gente africana!; y por supuesto la artesanía (nada de arte, como diría Galeano, que son pobres). Y así, las imágenes que nos llegan son protagonizadas por una reina dadivosa que visita orfanatos, baila danzas junto a las mujeres y compra en los mercados tallas de madera. Lástima que sólo de refilón se mencionaran las 'nuevas formas de cooperación con Mozambique' que comienzan a realizarse.

Tal vez esas nuevas formas tengan mucho que ver con el petróleo y el gas que se han descubierto en el país. Hubiera sido interesante y periodísticamente responsable indagar sobre este asunto. Curiosamente, esos mismos días, la ONG Justiça Ambiental acusaba al gobierno y a las compañías extranjeras de violar sistemáticamente los derechos de la población. También la Asociación Académica para el Desarrollo de las Comunidades Rurales denunciaba que el G8 'convierte África en una plataforma comercial para las grandes multinacionales del negocio agrario y la industria alimentaria'.

Lástima que también se perdiera la oportunidad de explicar los datos que unos días antes había publicado el CAD y que situaban a España como campeona europea de recortes en cooperación. Una pena que no se explicaran las graves consecuencias que tales recortes tendrán sobre el trabajo que se viene realizando y sobre la vida de miles de personas. Los artículos mencionados en los enlaces anteriores pertenecen a esa prensa que se autodefine como seria. Resulta cuanto menos sorprendente que al compararlos con los publicados por Hola -revista caracterizada por la superficialidad de sus contenidos que no dejan de ser meras anécdotas- la diferencia entre unos y otros sea casi inexistente.Tal semejanza deja clara evidencia del carácter vasallo de un periodismo supuestamente independiente y profesional.

[A continuación, una] historia contada por Mia Couto, escritor mozambiqueño:

Un mono estaba asomado a un río y vio un pez dentro del agua. Y se dijo: este animal está ahogándose. El mono metió la mano en el agua, cogió el pez y lo sacó.  

Y el pez empezó a agitarse. El mono se dijo: qué contento está el pez. 

Y cuando el pez murió, el mono se dijo: lástima, si hubiera llegado antes.

[Esta historia] sirve para ilustrar el neocolonialismo maquiavélico que impera. Los relatos predominantes que sitúan a los países africanos en inferioridad con respecto a occidente se construyen precisamente para justificar intervenciones externas en asuntos que les son propios. El periodismo no puede convertirse en vocero de esos discursos del poder. La responsabilidad ética y profesional obliga a ir mucho más allá de la realidad oficial, a contrastar fuentes, a indagar. Y, por supuesto, obliga a hablar con las personas de la calle, esas que no salen en los grandes titulares pero que son quienes mejor pueden describir la realidad del país, sus necesidades y sus propuestas. Ellas, y no otras, son las verdaderas protagonistas; nadie puede hablar en su nombre. Cualquiera que haya visitado recientemente Mozambique y haya hablado con sus gentes sabe que existe un gran malestar social con ese tipo de desarrollo que hemos exportado desde aquí y que está generando enormes desigualdades. La sociedad civil mozambiqueña está denunciándolo. No contarlo como periodista no sólo es irresponsable, sino que además es cómplice de delitos presentes y futuros.

Viví en Mozambique en 2003 y 2004. Entonces era el tercer país más pobre del mundo, según el Informe de Desarrollo Humano. Regresé allá hace un par de años cuando todos los indicadores internacionales hablaban de una economía que crecía un 7,2% anual. Encontré un país en el que el modelo capitalista se había instaurado de manera impúdica en la capital: centros comerciales, hoteles de lujo y enormes coches convivían con barrios enteros en los que la situación apenas había cambiado. La desigualdad era enorme. El maldesarrollo se había instalado en la ciudad y con él, sus malas prácticas: horarios laborales interminables, enorme subida de los precios de productos básicos, salarios minúsculos. El interior del país continuaba igual que décadas atrás, incluso peor porque el acaparamiento de tierras por parte de capital extranjero afectaba ya al 21% del terreno. El descubrimiento de petróleo y gas en el país había atraído a las empresas extranjeras en una suerte de tonto el último en busca del beneficio. China pisaba con fuerza y construía infraestructuras con sus propios trabajadores a cambio de saciar su imparable sed de materias primas… Flávia, una buena amiga de Maputo, me dijo entonces '¿sabes?, me gustaba más el Mozambique de antes'.

Quien quiera informarse sobre lo que ocurre en Mozambique basta con leer alguno de los brillantes artículos de Mia Couto o Paulina Chiziane, consultar alguna de las ONG mencionadas en este artículo, leer periódico Verdade o tan sólo escuchar la música del rapero Azagaia.

Feliz Día de la Bicicleta / Happy Bike Day!

Dejando de lado la historia de cómo surgió el Día de la Bicicleta, festejemos a la gente que opta por usar bicis bajo viento y marea, y a veces, literalmente:

A apoyar la iniciativa para reciclar en ciudad de Las Piedras, Uruguay

Una nueva iniciativa busca fomentar la separacion de residuos orgánicos de residuos reciclables en los domicilios de la ciudad de Las Piedras.

Como saben los que vienen siguiendo nuestras busqueda de una vida mas sustentable, el separar los residuos es una de las formas mas faciles de disminuir la cantidad de nuestros desechos.

Aplausos por la iniciativa de Las Piedras y a colaborar. Para mas informacion pueden ir al blog del programa Las Piedras Recicla o a su pagina en Facebook.

Y al resto de las ciudades del pais, a ver si se suman a la iniciativa.

So, what's the best technology ...

That is often the question I get when entering a discussion about sustainable, green, or alternative energy technologies.

Windmills in eastern Uruguay

The answer ... well, it depends.

It depends on the context in which the technology will be applied. Most likely than not, it would be a combination of wind, solar, and water. For example a city's electrical power plant could be supplemented by wind farms, solar farms, and perhaps tidal or micro-hydro (think mini dams) power generators. None of these technologies by themselves will contribute 100% of the time.

Dr. John MacDonald, co-founder of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) and Day4 Energy, pointed out during a presentation at the GreenTech Exchange forum, that the estimated time at which we will not be able to meet energy demand worldwide with traditional energy sources (coal, gas, petroleum) would be between 2012–2015 (pessimistic view) and 2030 (optimistic view). Much of the energy demand is related to the development and growth of the BRIC countries, so energy demand will continue to grow. We can curb the energy demand, just not enough ... we would only delay the inevitable.

To reach a sustainable state we need to reduce our energy consumption while increasing our energy production. This would mean replacing some of the traditional energy sources with alternative ones.

So, what needs to be done to allow alternative technologies to take hold within the energy production cycle? A couple of things: 1) develop system management software capable of responding to the energy demands within a city and selecting the appropriate power generator, and 2) develop systems to store the generated energy.

One company that is contributing to this solution is REV Technologies. They noted that fleet vehicles spend about 80% of their time parked in a parking lot. Their idea: convert these vehicles to electrical cars, store the grid energy in their batteries, and dump it into the grid when the power company needs it. The client earns revenue from selling the energy back to the power company and the power company can meet the demand without installing another power generator.

Another area of development in power generating technology is in fuel cells (FC). They have advanced far enough to be considered viable in a business sense. In fact, many of the major automobile companies have FC models ready to be produced. But they still face two problems: one is infrastructure — where do you go to fill up on hydrogen? The second is the catalyst used in FCs: platinum. A very small amount of platinum exists in the world and therefore, it's an expensive resource. Yet, so far, it is the only element that can catalyze the reactions within the FC and other important industrial chemical processes. Therefore, for FC to really hit the market we would need to replace platinum with an economically viable catalyst.

What I'd like to point out is that we have a long way to go before we can stop using the traditional energy sources.

So, what do we do in the meantime? Science will continue to discover new technologies and materials that take us closer to a sustainable state. But we need to modify our behavior as a collective: we need to take greater responsibility with regards to how we use energy and demand that measures are taken at a regional, national, and global level to modify our unsustainable use of energy.

At an individual level we can have a direct impact in the choices we make, from minimal details in our everyday life to considerable changes in our lifestyle. From the construction of our homes and use of public spaces, the selection of appliances, whether we use a car or public transport, take our own shopping bags instead of using more plastic bags ... the list goes on. After all, we can have all the technologies that would help us manage our energy use in a more sustainable and efficient manner, but it won't matter if we don't understand or choose to use these technologies.

Bikes instead of cars in urban centers / Bicicletas en vez de autos en centros urbanos

Because a video and actual examples are worth a thousand words:




Video in English con subtítulos en español

Pickled wild mushrooms: sooo yummy!

After picking the wild mushrooms, it was time to wash them carefully. Then, boiling the mushrooms 3 times (each time changing the water) to get rid of the bitterness. And then, the pickling.

Some basic ingredients are enough (cc) OSJ

I like adding other veggies: in this case I had onions and bell peppers, carrots are also good. Some other flavors from the garden: I had rosemary and bay leaves. Peppercorns and coarse salt are good additions too.

I cut everything in thin slices and put it to boil in a pan with olive oil, vinegar and water in 3 equal parts. Just enough to cover everything. About 5 minutes and it's ready. Let it cool down.

Everything chopped and ready for the pan (cc) OSJ

After it has cooled you can store them in glass jars. In the fridge, they probably last up to a month or more. I'm guessing on that, because we always finish them before that. They're that good.

We went a couple of days later around the house and there were mushrooms everywhere: we picked enough to prepare a pot-full of mushrooms and have enough now for a few weeks.

Pot-full of wild mushrooms! (cc) OSJ

A few jars to eat and share (cc) OSJ

They're super on bread or crackers, and have tried also with a tomato salad.


Any other tip on mushroom picking, preserving or eating? Please share :)

Foraging for wild mushrooms: a child's game

Rembember the giant monster mushroom in our first year of blogging? That was the last surviving mushroom at the end of the season. This year, we're here at the beginning of mushroom season (with all the rain, it began early) and we have the happy surprise to get a handful of them right on our door step.

Talk about a local 100-mile diet, this was more like a 10-steps diet!

Home-delivered mushrooms, courtesy of Eucalyptus tree stump (cc) OSJ

I'd been reading about the behind the scenes of wild food foraging and mushroom pickers back in Canada when a bunch of little mushroom buds popped up in front of my door. Time to call the nephews for some food-appreciation class.

I've found that the    alleged yucky-factor of veggies disappears when kids have a chance to see the whole process, from the little seed that sprouts to when they pick the fruits. Involving them in the production of food generates some sense of ownership and pride in collaborating to provide food. Or something like that.

So, after helping them 'discover' the mushrooms and waiting for a couple of days for the mushrooms to grow to an edible size, we picked them by cutting, not uprooting, so that they would grow again next year.

Then, off to processing (coming next)!

Enough for everyone to get a taste (cc) OSJ

Cutting carefully and leaving the smallest ones
to grow a couple of days more (cc) OSJ

Slow down: thoughts on stress & the glorification of busy

Just sharing excerpts and related thoughts on slowing down...

“Big cars, shiny jewelry, expensive clothes, McMansions – [are] all designed to establish our status and all tied to our drive for reproductive success.  Stress is just the latest in this long list.  Being stressed shows the world just how in demand we are, how important we must be, how busy we are gathering resources for our tribe.  Trouble is, stress is killing us.” Stress is preventing “from maximizing our happiness and optimizing our life satisfaction,” writes Andrew Shatte from meQuilibrium.

"These humans really don't get it: slow is sexy"

But, where is all this stress coming from? Tim Kreider explains it in terms of the glorification of busy. Busy is “the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing,” “a boast disguised as a complaint.” But it is a self-imposed busyness: “work and obligations [people have] taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they’ve 'encouraged' their kids to participate in. They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.” Worth reading the whole article on the Opinion Pages of the New York Time.

Someone who knows how to take it easy

Perhaps it's time for bit of reflection and trying to slow down? I know I need to remind myself all the time to do just that. Time for some meditation.

Yoga on the go: making space and time in your head

A mat, a laptop, internet, and
yoga on the go! (c) OSJ

As a nomad, I've found it difficult to give myself the time and space to practice yoga. I recognize it's more of an issue of not being able to keep with habits while on the road (everything changes all the time! you don't know how tomorrow will look like!) than actually finding a physical space or some free minutes.

I got inspired by my friend Julia, who always makes a priority to create the time for her Qigong. I remember her telling me how she went a nearby park to practice.

Far from any yoga class, but thanks to internet and an My Yoga Online service provider, I decided to take advantage of the lovely settings and mellow Fall weather, plopped my mat on the patio, and had a literal sun salutation yoga session.

You can see the yoga class  here:

ROCK as ONE

You can check previous attempts to do yoga while on the road or, actually, on the sea.  

Upcycle styrofoam into print art material

(CC) OSJ

Styrofoam packaging drives me nuts. I don't know what to do with it after I used whatever it held. And sometimes I simply can't avoid it: it seems to be everywhere! So, I was happy to find this use as a block for printing.

Because it doesn't require the very sharp carving tools traditional used for block-printing, Styrofoam-printing is a perfect art project for kids (as you can see can here and here and pretty much anywhere there's a website for crafts+recycle+kids). Any round-pointed thingy would do as carving tool (I used the other side of the brushes), although if you want finer detail, you would need something thinner.

(CC) OSJ

(CC) OSJ

You can play with colors or materials to get different results. I changed the type of paper, but here they changed the color combination.

Most websites show foam rollers being used to spread the paint, but I imagine dabbing with a sponge would do the trick as well. I used a thick brush, and I can guess kids would have fun applying the pain with their fingers as well.

The Styrofoam printing blocks can be saved and used later to experiment with different techniques or to combine them in bigger pictures.