Survival Skills
March 15, 2008
Survival Skills
by: Steve Gillman
Survival skills just for backpacking? Why not? For ultralight backpackers like myself, skills replace gear, and therefore weight. If you spend any time in the wilderness, it also just feels good to know you can deal with whatever comes up.
Survival means staying warm and dry, hydrated, uninjured, and finding your way out of the wilderness. Of course, eating is nice too, but not crucial if the situation is just for a few days. Here are some survival skills you can learn easily.
Easy Survival Skills
1. Put dried moss or milkweed fuzz in your pocket as you walk, so you’ll have dry tinder to start a fire, just in case it’s raining later. Cattail fuzz works well too, and you can experiment with different materials.
2. If it looks and tastes like a blueberry, strawberry, or raspberry - it is. There is no berry in North America that looks like a blueberry, strawberry, or raspberry, and can hurt you from one taste. Take a taste, and just spit it out completely if it doesn’t taste right.
Lightweight Backpacking
March 14, 2008
Lightweight Backpacking
by: Steve Gillman
Lightweight backpacking or ultralight backpacking certainly enable you to travel more miles in a day. I can easily go farther in my running shoes, with my fifteen-pound pack on, than I could with heavy hiking boots and a forty-pound pack. That isn’t all, though. Going light also means more comfort, more freedom and even more safety.
Disadvantages Of Traditional Backpacking
Less freedom. It isn’t easy to take a side trip up that hill, just to see what’s there. Do it without your pack, and you have to go back the same way to get your pack.
More tiring. It’s clearly more tiring with a heavy pack, and you probably won’t enjoy yourself as much when you are tired.
More Injuries. Blistered feet, sprained ankles, sore muscles, and back and knee problems are just some of the common consequences of too much weight on your back.
More hassle. Removing and putting on a heavy pack quickly becomes a chore. Some backpackers start to leave it on during rest stops, just so they don’t have to deal with it.
Culture Shock & English Teachers in Japan
March 13, 2008
Culture Shock & English Teachers in Japan
by: Kevin Burns
Moving halfway around the world, to a culture as foreign and difficult to penetrate as Japan’s is difficult for anyone. If you become an English teacher here, you will probably have to deal with a Japanese boss and staff with different cultural values from your own. This can lead to a feeling of paranoia in some cases; isolation and disillusionment.
To a great extent, leaving your friends and family and going to Japan to teach English engenders some of the same feelings as that of teenagers rebelling from their parents in the West. Teenagers rely on their parents, yet resent and rebel against them. Of course they complain to their friends about them too.
Foreign English teachers in Japan must rely on their Japanese bosses for: their work visa, in some cases their apartment, and of course their salary. Some teachers come to Japan with virtually no knowledge of the country. Childlike, they ask questions about Japan that many six year old Japanese know the answers to. The new teacher can feel embarrassed at times having to ask such basic questions as how do I use the Japanese toilet in my apartment? Can you open a bank account for me tomorrow? How do I get home from the school? To someone used to being independant, it is an uncomfortable, flashback to the teenage years.
Vacationing in the Hamptons
March 12, 2008
Vacationing in the Hamptons
by: Kathy Buyer
Located on the North and South Fork of Long Island the area known as the Hamptons is one of the most popular vacation spots in New York. The Hamptons has a deep rich history that goes back to the 1600’s. Like many other New England colonies it was originally farmland, over the years it port of trade, Revolutionary War staging point, refuge for artists and poets, and favorite vacation spot. There are even legends the infamous pirate Captain Kidd visited its shores and left buried treasure still waiting to be found.
If you’re looking for treasure in the Hamptons there’s no need to get out your shovel and start digging, just take stroll through any of its quaint towns and shops and you’ll be rewarded. Many of the towns in the Hamptons such as Amagansett, Bridgehampton, and Quogue are filled with historical landmarks, museums and other cultural centers. To get the most out of the Hamptons you’ll need to visit during peak season which runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day. During this time every town and village will have artist’s exhibits, traveling museum exhibits, and photography and music concerts.
Calakmul and Kohunlich
March 11, 2008
Calakmul and Kohunlich
by: Dr. Sheri Rosenthal
Calakmul is an incredible Mayan site and home to a protected biosphere reserve in the Southern Yucatan area. It is estimated that this city reached its peak between 600 and 800 AD. The area is filled with important ruins and extends not only through the southern corridor of the Yucatan, but also through Guatemala and Belize.
There is a magnificent main square in Calakmul, which was a magical space for ceremony and ritual. It is said that the square represents the primordial sea and the surrounding pyramids represent the sacred mountains of the Mayan Gods. The tallest pyramidal structure towers approximately 55 meters in height. This is a wonderful area to create your own ritual and ceremony.
Also of great significance is the ball court. Here a battle of life and death played out between two men representing opposing Gods. The game was played similarly to soccer where one scored points with a rubber-like ball by shooting it into a hoop that was aligned sideways. This ceremony had great religious meaning for those who lived here.
Whistler Back In The Saddle
March 10, 2008
Whistler Back In The Saddle
by: Carrie Haggerty
After winning the Olympics and realising that Whistler, B.C. may have one of the nicest mountains with some of the best skiing, snow boarding, snow shoeing conditions in all of Canada. Whistler has always been a great escape from the everyday whether you are local or you travel great lengths to get here. It has been consistent and always a rush to go up for a great ski getaway. The last two seasons we have seen a dramatic difference in the conditions, where did all the snow go? Now all points seem to pull toward the massive warming of the earth due to green air gas emissions and global warming.
I believe the tides are finally changing for our little whistler village, with our slopes opening up early and the snow has just kept on going. With the snow going like crazy so early in the season I can imagine that this is going to be one of whistlers best seasons in quite some time. So what next? I guess the influx of snow and the great conditions are going to bring their fair share of tourists, skiers, snow boarders etc. This means that if you are looking for a place to stay when you head in to Whistler Village the time to book is now.
3 Ways the France Riots Still Affect Foreigners in France
March 10, 2008
3 Ways the France Riots Still Affect Foreigners in France
by: Liesa Blond
The France riots in the suburbs of Paris, France spread throughout France and caused a curfew to be enforced for over two months from October 2005.
There were images of cars burning in the international newspapers and newscasts everyday for weeks.
It was an interesting and sometimes unnerving time to be living in France. My car wasn’t burned, but I was very aware of the mounting frustrations and distrust between the French haves and have-nots.
As a foreigner in France, you need to know that for so many French people you will be resented as a presumed rich foreigner. This seems to be the okay for French people of all backgrounds (not just the angry poor people) to charge you a “special” higher price for goods (including houses) or services, cheat you, and pretend not to notice when others are cheating you.
So, what are the 3 ways the France riots still affect foreigners in France? You need to know that
1. France is a land of equality for all French men. Read: If you are not French, then it is not equal for you. This goes for rich foreigners and poor people who are not originally of French descent.
The Three Kings in Spain
March 9, 2008
The Three Kings in Spain
by: Susan Pedalino
So the tree and its trimmings is back in the loft, you’ve trawled the sales with a fine tooth comb and all that’s left are mismatched pairs of shoes and banana yellow coats, you have probably even broken at least one of your resolutions. Well, how do you fancy a bit of “groundhog day”? Imagine if you had to do Christmas again, this weekend!
Whilst everyone in the UK is detoxing and seeking psychiatric help, those die-hard Spanish are going for it again on the 6th January.
This is the Feast of the Epiphany, when the Three Kings arrived in Bethlehem. Those lucky Spanish children not only receive a couple of gifts from Santa but also wake up on the sixth to find even more presents from Los Reyes (the Kings). Surprisingly, in the popularity stakes the Kings far outshine the man in the red suit as can be seen at the processions in every Spanish town on the 5th.
Stop! You’re Both Right
March 8, 2008
Stop! You’re Both Right
by: J Square Humboldt
Cyberspace has certainly shrunk the margin of error …
Colloquialisms used to take quite a while to become embedded in a local vernacular. For example, the Americans expunged the British from the colonies in 1789, but based upon personal letters exchanged between the two countries which have been noted by historians, it took until the 1830s before comments were made noticing a distinct difference in accents between them.
Local dialects will always be a fixture in geographical cultures. However, as more and more of us traverse both cyberspace and the real world, basic pronunciations are becoming a bit of an issue.
I just noticed this again in the world of sport, when a national broadcast featured the recent darlings of NCAA basketball, Gonzaga University from Spokane, Washington. The locals there insist that the name be stated as ‘Gon-ZAEG-ah,’ but inevitably, sports announcers from elsewhere defer to ‘Gon-ZAHG-uh’ until corrected by the locals.
Bhutan: A Magical Kingdom
March 7, 2008
Bhutan: A Magical Kingdom
by: Dr. Sheri Rosenthal
Many people have never heard of Bhutan, the country that values Gross National Happiness over Gross National Product! Bhutan is a landlocked little country roughly the size of Switzerland. It is bounded on the north and northwest by Tibet, with India touching its remaining borders and Nepal a bit to the west. Virtually the entire country is mountainous, peaking at 24,777ft. North to south it features three geographic regions; the high Himalaya of the north, the hills and valleys of the centre, and the foothills and plains of the south.
For centuries Bhutan has remained isolated from the rest of the world. Since its doors were opened in 1974, visitors have been mesmerized by the beautiful and pristine country and the hospitable and charming people. The best time to visit is October and November and during major festivals. The climate is best in autumn, from late September to late November, when skies are clear and the high mountain peaks are visible. It’s not unusual to experience rain no matter what the season, but I recommend avoiding the monsoon season, June-August, when buckets of rain come down.
