Top 5 Pet Peeves

Ok this is a funny prompt. Pet peeves: we all have them, some of us are more vocal about them than others. I’m quite vocal, in general, but here you go:

Talking animals in the media

People who don’t flush the toilet, or don’t flush well enough

People who Walk slowly in the middle of the sidewalk, unaware of their surroundings

 People talking during movies

 Putting the fork on the right side of the plate

Talking Animals. I really, really dislike movies, shows, commercials, etc in which real animals are taped and then dubbed with human voices talking for them. I never realized this bothered me until I saw this commercial asking for money to help save the donkeys in the UK:

It really bothered me, both because I felt bad for the donkey and because the voice over was really annoying. Then I realised that I just really dislike this form of ‘entertainment’ in general. An animated animal that can talk? Yes! I’m all about the Lion King and stuff like that, but when some idiot feeds an animal to make it chew, then another ‘actor’ talks for said animal? No thanks. Let’s get our kicks somewhere else please and leave the animals in peace.

People who Don’t Flush. This is something I have come to realise really annoys me from living in Mexico. The flusher works, so why not use it? And why not look to make sure that it HAS flushed? Nine times out of ten it is not the toilet that is malfunctioning, it is the user. What’s up with this Mexico?

People Who Walk Slowly. Oh. Em. Gee. The amount of times I have wanted to push a person into the street for dawdling/sauntering/ strolling RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A MAJOR PEDESTRIAN AREA. I can’t even count. In Edinburgh, it’s usually tourists, gawking at the buildings and quaintness as they walk along, forgetting that they are walking ON THE WRONG SIDE in the UK and then stopping abruptly to take a photo, causing the flow of traffic to stop or seriously bottleneck. In Mexico, some people just like to walk slowly, in groups of three, taking up the entire bloody sidewalk. Especially when I am out jogging and they aren’t paying attention to the fact that this is a running path, not a mall to stroll through. RAWR! I WILL knock you down one day people!

People Talking During Movies. I have friends who do this, and I hate it just as much when someone is talking to ME as when strangers are talking to each other and I can hear them. This is rude, flat out, and I WILL be that annoying person that tells you to shut up, then goes to get the management if you don’t. Want to chat during a movie? Stay home and watch Netflix. If you are my friend talking to me during the movie, remember that when I tell you to shut up, I am saying it with love.

Putting the Fork on the Wrong Side of the Plate. This grates me, and I don’t know why. The lack of social upbringing? The assumption that everyone is right handed and therefore the forks should go on the right side? The realisation that these people might also serve me wine in a mug and make me eat Top Ramen for dinner out of a paper bowl at a dinner party? Maybe. This is probably more me being snobby than anything, but I think everyone from a western nation that uses forks, knives, and spoons should know how to correctly set a table. It’s basic, it’s easy, it makes you look like a well-bred person. Say it with me folks: FORK-LEFT. KNIFE, SPOON-RIGHT. Thank you. (I tried to find a photo example of this on the Google and I couldn't find anything because it is just. that. wrong.) 

So there you go. My annoying pet peeves, Hey! Happy Friday! 

Kim x

A Book You’ve Read That Changed Your View on Something

I’ve been thinking about this throughout the day, and I have to say that although many books have had a huge impact on me, the one that sticks out the most is ‘Atlas Shrugged’ by Ayn Rand. Rand is an author who immigrated to the USA after the Russian revolution. She was staunchly anti-communism and in her writings created a philosophy called objectivism. This philosophy was dabbled into in her earlier works, but fully realised in ‘Atlas Shrugged’. You can read about the philosophy a bit more here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand). The basics idea is: ‘that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness (rational self-interest), that the only social system consistent with this morality is one that displays full respect for individual rights embodied in laissez-faire capitalism, and that the role of art in human life is to transform humans' metaphysical ideas by selective reproduction of reality into a physical form—a work of art—that one can comprehend and to which one can respond emotionally.’ (Wikipedia)

Atlas Shrugged is like a sonnet towards capitalism and a demonization of all social systems that allow people to lazily mooch off of the talents, hard work, and energy of the movers and shakers in our world. It is 100% anti-any sort of social programmes or any society that breeds leeches on the system through that society’s own neglect of the true reason the world keeps turning: the people who hold it up, the creators and maintainers of industry.

You can then understand why certain political parties quite like the idea. But this book is an amazing example of extremes as well, the extreme of going too far ‘right’ in your point of view; and how a real-life situation (communism in the USSR) can affect the mindset of a person.

The way the story is told, unfolding over 1100 pages of intertwining character stories, past and future, leaves the reader feeling completely in awe of the philosophy Rand created, and really understanding not only where she’s coming from, but why it’s a good idea as well. You feel a deep kinship for the main characters, crying over their pains and revelling in their triumphs. You begin to feel nauseated at the evils done to them in the name of communism or socialism. When you finish this book, you are emotionally drained, and unsure about how the future of our society is going to pan out. At least that is what the book did to me. And I have read this book four times.

Every time I read it, a few days after finishing it I start to realise again that objectivism just isn’t possible, that the world cannot work in the fashion Rand imagines, but MAN, does she know how to create a case for a pure capitalist world where every person must contribute to the society. She weaves an incredible tale, in which any idea you ever had about who is the ‘good guy’ and who is the ‘bad guy’ in our world gets turned onto its head. Overall, I think this book really helps you realise that moderation, politically, socially and economically, is the best way forward. You don’t have to agree with her, but you can’t deny that this book really is a work of art-her own objectivist art, selectively reproduced into physical form.

If you’re ever up for a challenge, I highly suggest reading this book. This is one of those books that by keeping an open mind when you read it, you can see where your own sentiments fall, and learn to understand yourself and what has helped to shape who you are a little bit better.

Kim x

Your Favourite Quote

This is a hard one, mostly because I love so many quotes. I collect them in files on my computer, although I hardly ever use them…I like finding little inspirational nuggets in small amounts of text, I suppose. I find the following three quotes especially touching.

"...if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts." ~Anna Karenina

This quote reminds me that there is no right way to think, or act, or love. We are all different, unique, but still so similar. When I read Anna Karenina, I literally stopped and wrote this down because I found it profoundly touching, the recognition that we all think and love a little bit differently, and that’s ok.

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." ~Nelson Mandela

Nelson was such an amazing man. I constantly force myself to face my fears, knowing that good things will come from it. Even when I’m afraid to put myself in certain positions, I almost always tell myself to get on with it. After the first steps, it’s always easier and you almost always get something good out of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Thanks for that reminder, Nelson!

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~Harold Whitman

This goes hand in hand with the courage quote. It can be hard to tune out the noise of the world telling you what you SHOULD do, instead doing what you WANT to do, in terms of job options and opportunities. Don’t be afraid to do what you love, it seems like the people who are infinitely more satisfied with their jobs are those that love what they do. I’m still working on getting there, piecing together the puzzle of what I really love and what makes me come alive, but I know that it’s getting closer.

And at that I’ll leave you. I went to Puebla today for work and I’m exhausted and slightly brain dead. I hope this helps you remember some of your own favourite quotes.

Kim x

Comfort Foods

I love food. I really do. I love trying new foods and cooking new foods and eating new foods. But there are definitely a few choice meals or food items that I tend to whip up or go out and buy when I need that special comfort that only a familiar, long-loved, or uniquely flavoured dish can provide. Obviously, this is dependent on mood, location, and availability. Sometimes you need to get creative to create a familiar comfort food, and sometimes you just have to go without and try to find a replacement. One of those downsides to living overseas, unfortunately. Certain things are just NOT the same or NOT available outside their country of origin. Peanut butter in Europe is so NOT the same. The mangoes, papaya and coconuts in Mexico are 1,000,000 times better here than in the US or Europe. The Bread in Mexico is so lacking in the French bakery tradition that is available all over Europe. And my beloved Wheat Thins are sadly only available in the USA, but somehow Ritz have made the leap into both Mexico and the UK…I don’t understand. Mmmm now I want some Wheat Thins…But I digress…

So, comforting foods. Many of these are from my childhood/life at home with my family.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese. Baked in the oven, no creamy cheese sauce or breadcrumb topping here. Just noodles, a few different cheeses, salt and pepper, baked until the top is crispy and the insides are gooey. Usually served with a sizzling baked bit of kielbasa and some mustard on the side. YUM! Just like my Mom makes. This is my favourite way to have macaroni and cheese and I make it a lot during the cold Edinburgh winters.

Pizza. I’m sure you all know that my Dad has to have his homemade (sometimes ordered in) pizza every Friday. I can’t handle it every Friday, but sometimes I really crave a good homemade or restaurant pizza, and I’m sure I can thank Dad for that one. Although I prefer my pizza topped with loads of veggies and no meat, maybe getting crazy with some caramelized onions, butternut squash and blue cheese, which is where Dad and I differ.

Grandma’s Spring Rolls. Something my Grandma Sigmund always made, a recipe I believe she picked up in Asia when she lived overseas. I prefer my spring rolls baked, the way my Mom always made them, as opposed to Grandma’s penchant for frying them, but the filling of spicy sausage, Chinese cabbage, bean sprouts, soy sauce and fish sauce is always the same. This is one of those things that makes me re-think my newly minted vegetarianism…

Homemade potato bread. Also a Grandma and Mom-thing. SO flipping delicious you wouldn’t believe it. Toasted with butter or peanut butter, it’s the best breakfast or snack ever!

Mjaddara. This is courtesy of my lovely friend Yara, a Lebanese comfort food that she made for us once when we lived together in Edinburgh, which I love to make and eat in the winter. Lentils and rice cooked together with sautéed onions, cumin, salt and pepper. Topped with more sautéed or fried onions, served with labneh (Lebanese strained yogurt) and a salad of cabbage and tomatoes dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. It is amazingly delicious, and a great contrast with the salad.

Banana Bread or Carrot Cake. I stopped eating sugar back in September, now only eating it once every blue moon. But if there is ever a crap day where I feel the need for some sugary comfort, I’m usually craving a good carrot cake with cream cheese frosting or a warm banana bread with chocolate chips. Also childhood favourites that have stuck with me through the years, and carrot cake is almost always my birthday cake of choice.

So there you go. Many of these foods are family faves. It’s funny how certain things and tastes we have never change over time, while others do. And certain foods can bring you back to a different time and place, usually with happy memories attached. Which is probably part of the reason they are called ‘comfort foods’ (although I think the direct correlation of carbohydrate to comfort must be scientific fact). The funny thing is, I have not been able to make almost all of these items during my time in Mexico. I have no oven in my flat here (I know, it’s ludicrous!) so Mjaddara, made on the stovetop is the only homemade comfort food I have. The sacrifices we make for fieldwork…

All I can say is that I am definitely looking forward to some of these foods when I go back to Cali for my short layover before heading back to Scotland…Hint, hint Mom and Dad. ;-) 

Kim x

Discuss some of the things on your bucket list

I’ve never actually written a bucket list. There are things I know I want to do in my life, but I never physically sat down to write them. So I guess this is my chance!

I want to:

1     1. Live in at least 3 more countries

2     2. Become fluent in Spanish

3     3. Skydive

4     4. Do a road trip across the USA

5     5. Write a book (and be published)

6     6. Visit every continent (sans Antarctica. I’m not bothered with that one)

       7. Go into Space

Those are the major ones I can think of just now. I’m sure you can’t help but notice how dominated my list is by travel and travel-related items. I can’t help it, it is who I am. Haha! So, notes for discussion:

I discussed before my desire to live in a few more countries. I want to really experience a few places, and I feel like you need extended amounts of time in a country to really understand the culture and the lifestyle. So, I might as well live in a few more places and (hopefully) get paid for it instead of doing extended vacations. Unless I win the super-billions-lottery, in which case I’m sure I won’t care about not working.

Spanish fluency is something that I really, really want now. As I get closer to leaving Mexico and my Spanish is good, but stuck in a rut since I don’t have much time for learning new things. I tend to just practice what I know, sloooowly getting better. I know I’ll need a longer period of time in a Spanish speaking country to gain fluency. Another reason for #1 on this list.

Skydiving just looks really cool. Waaay better than bungee jumping!

Road trips are fun. And I haven’t seen SO much of the USA. I love to visit new places, but haven’t had the chance/time/inclination to visit so much of my own country. Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Niagara Falls, Boston, Washington D.C., Savannah, New Orleans, some bits of Texas (Hi Aunt Kathie!), etc. And so many places I don’t remember/remember well and would love to see again, like the Grand Canyon, St. Louis, and Charleston. I need a car, a playlist and a buddy, and I’ll be good to go!

Well, I do love to write. And I have a few random thoughts and treads of ideas for novels. Hopefully one day, after the dreaded thesis is FAR behind me, I’ll be able to sit down and focus on writing something non-anthropological and fun! I really look forward to stretching my creative muscles some more!

Visit every continent. Like a road trip across the planet. Except probably spread out over many years. I have been to North America, Europe, and Africa, but there is still so much to see and do! Next I have my sights set on Asia, hopefully at the end of 2015 as a graduation present to myself…

Who DOESN’T want to visit space?!?! It is such a fantastically unknown, scary, yet temping place. To see the planet from SPACE, the stars, the unfathomable void, to experience weightlessness, complete silence and the knowledge that outside your bubble of a spaceship there is no physical way you can survive. What a humbling, beautiful, life-changing experience. Thanks to Sir Richard Branson I might get to do this sooner rather than later. Woo-hoo for Virgin Galactic!

So that’s it for now. I’m sure there are more bucket-list type things that I’ll come up with as I go along, like learning to make my own puff pastry or something ridiculous like that. But the aforementioned are the big ones, the ones I think about often enough to have on the tip of my tongue.

Until tomorrow,

Kim x

February-Gone!

Ok, I know that February is a short month and all, but the past four weeks seriously flew by! I have been so incredibly busy with work, this blog, trying to see friends and keep my sanity that it really does feel like February went in the blink of an eye. I definitely think that this will be the case for the rest of my time in Mexico as well, trying to get enough done while still attempting to enjoy myself.

I started the month by going fully vegetarian. Many of the healers I work with recommend a fully vegetarian diet to their patients as the first step in regaining health, and one of the best ways to maintain health over time. As a good anthropologist (sometimes) who follows the research method of participant observation, I decided to give it a go and see how it felt and whether I noticed a difference in my health. A month in, and I’m still going strong. I never ate loads of meat to begin with, but had been eating more here since it is a huge part of the diet in Mexico (one of the struggles the healers have is getting people to change their diets). So although I felt myself craving it a bit the first week, after that it was easy, and I find myself more and more disliking the idea of eating, what my informants call, ‘los muertos’ or ‘the dead’. I have decided to stick with the vegetarian lifestyle, although if at some point I feel the desire to have some meat, I will. I think my skin is doing better though, which is nice. Maybe I’ll see more long-term effects as time goes on, but I can tell you that the two healers I work with are 65 and 71 years old, and I would definitely have thought they were both at least 8-10 years younger.

February was bookended with two theme parties. At the beginning of the month, my friend Renée threw herself an amazing ‘English Garden’ party, complete with croquet, gin and tonics, the Union flag, and fish and chips. It was held in the rooftop bar of a hotel in the centre of Mexico City, and it was a LOT of fun!

 

Me and the birthday girl Renée

Ammal and Renée-English Hunter and 1940's glam!

Getting our Croquet on! 

There was also a Great Gatsby themed event for Internations to send February off. Internations is a group of expats and ‘internationally minded people’, and most major cities around the world have communities. We get together to meet, mingle and have fun a few times a month. The Gatsby party was held in a great bar in Polanco, one of the nicest parts of town. We loved getting dressed up and seeing how dapper and dandy everyone else looked!

 

As Gatsby as can be!

I also went on a day trip with my two girls Ammal and Renée to the town of Tepoztlan. It’s a well known city for the ‘healing energy’ and ancient pyramid high up a mountain beside the town. There was a great street market on, and we wandered around, getting some tasty, fresh-made tlacoyos (blue maize dough filled with beans, topped with whatever you want. I got nopales (cactus) and cheese) and quesadillas (squash blossom filling-yum!). We also got our tarot cards read, me by an old Mexican man who happened to speak English, which made it a lot easier for me! There’s nothing really esoteric or magical about tarot cards, it’s more you using your subconscious to sort out your own feelings, and interpret the cards you choose in whatever way you want. But it’s fun, nonetheless.

Excited to be here! And by the wall colour behind us! 

Market stalls, tarot and aural readings on offer

Mexican Tarot Cards

One of the small towns many churches

The three of us also planned a trip for my birthday-we’ll be heading to lovely Playa del Carmen for four days to help celebrate my fabulousness and as a sort of send-off, since I’ll be leaving Mexico shortly after. I really, really want to go NOW though. The beach is calling me...

So all that, plus other random nights out, work interviews and going to natural medicine conferences and generally just being too busy…no wonder I’m exhausted and surprised about how fast time is flying!

Hope you've enjoyed your weekend!

Kim x

What do you think about dreams?

Dreams are amazing. Flat out. I could just leave it there, but I’ll expand for the sake of writing. In this case, I’m talking about the dreams we have while sleeping. I think we can all agree that having dreams, as in plans for your future, is a good idea. But dreams we can’t control? Those are some fascinating lil’ buggers! Do you remember your dreams? I am a ridiculously light sleeper, and as such I tend to remember my dreams quite often. Different people and situations play across my mind’s eye from night to night, almost always new and entertaining. I very rarely will have a ‘repeat’ dream, and I also very rarely have bad dreams. What I do have are reminders of different people and places that I may not have seen in a while, or spoken to, or been able to visit. Or new situations that seem wondrous and weird with people I don’t know. The other night I dreamt of friends in Edinburgh, and we were in Edinburgh. A few days before, a guy I knew in High school who I haven’t seen since. I’ve dreamt of my dead Grandfather, my dead cat, people I have never met who I feel very connected to in my dream, and other family and friends over the years. My brain likes to mix it up, stop me from getting bored!

And sometimes I get cameos by famous actors or characters from books I’ve read. Some of my most memorable cameos have been David Tennant (as The Doctor), Benedict Cumberbatch (as himself), and Fred and George Weasley from the Happy Potter series. Those are always the best dreams, when you get to be the star of your own movie or book series inside your own head. J

On a less tangible level, I think what I love the most about dreams is how little we understand them. Why do we have them? What is their purpose? I read a book by an anthropologist who studied Mexican traditional healing, and he learned how to go into the underworld through his dreams to recapture the souls of people who had been bewitched. When the souls got captured in the underworld, the people became physically ill. He was able to learn how to do the lucid dreaming of the shamans to reclaim souls, and control where he travelled during his nightly sojourns into the Mexican underworld. It was a fascinating study. I think the idea of being able to control your dreams is really cool. Maybe someday I’ll try to learn how to do it. I know that lucid dreaming is a thing that many people around the world have attempted and claim to be able to do. Is that the purpose of dreams? To enter a world that exists but can only be reached through dreams?

Or do our dreams connect us to other people living here on earth? Science tells us that it is impossible to create (aka imagine) in our dreams. Everything we dream is an amalgamation of things we have seen and learned before. So when you dream of a stranger, you have actually seen that person before, maybe just in a crowd, for a fleeting moment, but your brain held onto the image and one day supplanted it into a storyline for your night time enjoyment. So it’s weird to think that somewhere, people who you don’t know are also dreaming of YOU as an unknown stranger in their own dreams. What sorts of things are you doing in other people’s dreams? Who can know? How does this connect us as humans?

Also, do you ever wonder if the people you dream about are also having the same dream? And you are meeting in the dream plane of existence to act out this story together? Maybe only one person can remember these dreams, and so the other people just forget the dreams, either upon waking, or sleep so deeply that they don’t consciously remember dreaming at all. Are there dream rules that are looked over by some sort of Dream Fairy? If so, dear Fairy, I request more Benedict Cumberbatch dreams, please! 

Or are our dreams solely a way to connect with your subconscious? Your brain, regurgitating random bits and pieces of the debris that we mentally collect on a daily basis from the media, our lives, and our imaginations? Helping you weed through the static and figure out problems, or helping decide what knowledge to hold on to, and what to lock away for good?

Who knows, but I do know that I look forward to remembering my dreams on a regular basis. Mostly to recall the silly things that can happen, but also to allow myself to wonder, and to think that maybe, just maybe, my dreams might be something bigger than they seem.

Kim x