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Rose George: Let's talk crap. Seriously.
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After six days of work in a row and a shopping list of things to do for work, a day of shopping, pant suits, great friends, new faces, and massages were in order.
Love those Swedish girls.
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For the last few weeks I’ve been struggling with productivity and motivation. A lot of it has to do with a constantly changing routine but I’ve also noticed that I’ve changed over the last little while.
Being back here, I’ve noticed that I act different. Though part of it has to do with not having a support system and another part is due to having a stupidly comfortable couch, I am less inclined to go out, explore, and meet people in comparison to before. Although in one respect it’s a good thing, as I’m getting more comfortable with being alone, it’s also bad. For two weeks of every month I am going to have to be alone. It’s nice to think that Hanoi is just prep for how overwhelming I last found Quang Binh, but being in Hanoi is also when I have two weeks to see people. The other problem with staying in is that I’m incredibly unproductive when I’m not tirelessly busy.
Getting a routine is incredibly important to my productivity. In university, I worked 20 - 30 hours a week while participating in 40ish hours of extra curriculars, going to classes and keeping grades. I know I don’t want to replicate that sleepless model again, but that’s also how I get things done.
So this week I hope to create a routine that does just that. Vietnamese classes twice a week at lunch, yoga class twice a week after work with friends, taking advantage of free concerts and movies in the city, and creating beloved ‘to-do’ lists are just what “the doctor” ordered! Hopefully by keeping myself busy in Hanoi, I will get myself into a routine that I can try to replicate in Quang Binh by doing online courses and informal English lessons at night and travelling by myself or with friends on weekends.
Hopefully this new model of keeping busy will ramp up my productivity and get me back to the way that I normally am. In two weeks, I’ll also be reunited with my camera, which should help with the part of me that loves to explore!
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Fresh Fish
The morning’s catch is spread out on tarpaulin and sold by weight to those who come to crouch and sift through the shimmering carpet of tiny fish.
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"Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in."
–Andrew Zimmern (via the-wanderlustproject)
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Saigon has been struck by a trà chanh epidemic.
Anyone with a bare plot of sidewalk has set out a few wooden stools, a chalkboard and a black light advertising cups of green tea infused with lime juice and plenty of sugar.
These spots also tend to sell fried cheese stocks and pork pie nuggets. I’d avoid any such snacks.
The tea is indescribably refreshing—the perfect antidote to the heat.
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If grandmothers around the world had a rallying cry, it would probably sound something like “You need to eat!”
Photographer Gabriele Galimberti’s grandmother said something similar to him before one of his many globetrotting work trips. To ensure he had at least one good meal, she prepared for him a dish of ravioli before he departed on one of his adventures.
“In that occasion I said to my grandma ‘You know, Grandma, there are many other grandmas around the world and most of them are really good cooks,” Galimberti wrote via email. “I’m going to meet them and ask them to cook for me so I can show you that you don’t have to be worried for me and the food that I will eat!’ This is the way my project was born!”
The project, “Delicatessen With Love”, took Galimberti to 58 countries where he photographed grandmothers with both the ingredients and finished signature dishes.
He acted as photographer and stylist during each shoot with the grandmothers, taking a portrait of both the women and the food they made for him.
From top to bottom:
Inara Runtule, 68, Kekava, Latvia. Silke (herring with potatoes and cottage cheese).
Grace Estibero, 82, Mumbai, India. Chicken vindaloo.Susann Soresen, 81, Homer, Alaska. Moose steak.
Serette Charles, 63, Saint-Jean du Sud, Haiti. Lambi in creole sauce.
The photographer’s grandmother Marisa Batini, 80, Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. Swiss chard and ricotta Ravioli with meat sauce.
Normita Sambu Arap, 65, Oltepessi (Masaai Mara), Kenya. Mboga and orgali (white corn polenta with vegetables and goat).
Julia Enaigua, 71, La Paz, Bolivia. Queso Humacha (vegetables and fresh cheese soup).
Fifi Makhmer, 62, Cairo, Egypt. Kuoshry (pasta, rice and legumes pie).
Isolina Perez De Vargas, 83, Mendoza, Argentina. Asado criollo (mixed meats barbecue).
Bisrat Melake, 60, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Enjera with curry and vegetables.
this is a beautiful series- kendra
(via gnarlysnarly)
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"I beg young people to travel. If you don’t have a passport, get one. Take a summer, get a backpack and go to Delhi, go to Saigon, go to Bangkok, go to Kenya. Have your mind blown, eat interesting food, dig some interesting people, have an adventure, be careful. Come back and you’re going to see your country differently, you’re going to see your president differently, no matter who it is. Music, culture, food, water. Your showers will become shorter. You’re going to get a sense of what globalization looks like. It’s not what Tom Friedman writes about, I’m sorry. You’re going to see that global climate change is very real. And that for some people, their day consists of walking twelve miles for four buckets of water. And so there are lessons that you can’t get out of a book that are waiting for you at the other end of that flight. A lot of people — Americans and Europeans — come back and go, “Ohhhh.” And the lightbulb goes on."
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"The only one you need in your life is that person who shows you he needs you in his."
–Oscar Wilde (via rainydaysandblankets)(Source: onlinecounsellingcollege, via rainydaysandblankets)
