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It started at splash! fest. I noticed that when you went to buy any type of drink that came in a bottle, you were given a chip back. Downing one of the best soft drinks Germany has to offer, 'Lift", an apple like carbonated juice, I had a stack of chips and no knowledge as to what to do with them.
Peeping the scene, I noticed some people bringing emptied bottles to the counter, along with their chips, and getting money back. Just like how they have it in the States, except for one huge difference...
They were getting Euro coins back.
So, let me break this down for you. In America, the most you can get back for recycling cans and bottles is around ten cents. Nothing, in reality. In Germany, you can get back 1 euro, on a drink that may have cost 2 euros. With the conversion rate, that's like getting $1.50 per bottle you return. That's a legit investment.
I found it so efficient because what starts happening is people clean up after themselves. And I admit to doing this too. I found myself with chips, and no bottles. I then proceeded to scour the area looking to return someone else's empty bottle for them. Thinking this was just at splash, Thomas told me at a waterfront bar, that it's just how they operate. It's seen as a good deed to leave an empty bottle out in a park or in a public area, because you know that someone who needs it will definitely find it, seeing how lucrative they are.
Getting almost a 50% return on a drink purchase sounds like amazing bottle service to me...
Enough said........can't get enough of this guy!
My brain is currently MIA. In preparations for MIA.
I've taken everything off my plate except for fundraising, beach, and brothers graduation for the next five days.
Of course, you can reach me, but I apologize in advance if the blogs over the next few days are reallll reflective, and I get all Confucious on ya!
A sista has been in deep need of a break...
Who out there is in Miami?
First Lady Michelle Obama and Beyonce teamed up to create the first in what looks to potentially become a number of remixes.
First Lady Obama lauched her "Let's Move!" Fitness Campaign, and the first of the songs are surfacing. Listen to how Beyonce remixed "Get Me Bodied" (a personal favorite of mine) for the new fitness program.
Side note: I'm loving this and it's targeting the population that needs it, through their own popular means. If you can't get them to you, bring it to them. This is dope. I love how campaigns like this, and Wii are making working out fun! I'm with it!
"EGYPTIANS CAMPED OUT IN CARIO. FOR AMERICANS IMAGINE THIS BEING THE RELEASE OF A NEW APPLE PRODUCT IF APPLE SOLD FREEDOM"
This is my current status on Facebook and also the view I have toward a particular foreign vs. domestic relationshsip.
Today alone, I have seen the Egyptians rally for change like a swarm of honeybees over tv screens. I have heard numbers that ranged from 250,000 to 2 million. The movement in Cairo has now been said to have spread to Alexandria. I can only feel for the people, and respect them for how selflessly and limitlessly they are willing to go for their change.
I remember being in my apartment in Japan, streaming Barack's spech from Cairo in the summer of 2009. I was invigorated, alive, and certain that seeing the world was the perfect supplement to my textbook education.
These are the moments that revolutions are made of. I've always admired how in foreign countries people will take to the streets for what they believe. In America we are complacent as much as we are fear-injected.
What do you stand for?
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
That's my question.
He's like a family member pissing me off right now. I love you, but I don't like you right now.
Art Basel is one of those amazing arts shows, that doesn't happen in New York City, so it pains every time I re-remember it. Pains me because I tend to remember it within a week of its happening. Just because I can't go, doesn't mean you can't. Here I am to inform you, and to swear by this site that I will do what needs to be done in order to get there for next year.
I mean damn, even if for no other reason, who doesn't want to get out of New York City cold (in December) to enjoy art on the beaches of Miami? (Hand raising.) The first time I heard about it, was sadly, when I couldn't attend to see my own video displayed there. 'Stress' was a part of the festivities three years back.
So here are the details....
Art Basel
Miami Beach
December 2-5, 2010
Tickets:
One-Day $36
Two-Day $60
Permanent Pass $75
Tickets also available through Ticketmaster
The official site with all the information is HERE!
Anyone who goes, hit the site back with your opinion on how it went!
1. Heated Toilet (Japan)
You don't know what you're missing in life, until you wake up on a freezing morning (in Japan) and sit on a toilet that is as well heated as the room you just stepped out of. Seriously! When your ass is warm, everything else truly just falls by the waistside. Best invention ever. If you're daring, like me, you'll learn to love the bidet as well.
2. Siesta (Spain)
Do I need to say more? Nap time, as an adult. In conjunction with this, the 35/hour work week would be a great addition as well.
3. Fish Spa (Cambodia. Thailand)
Craziest, weirdest shit ever, but so practical. Have hungry fish eat the dead skin off the bottom of your feet, in a big tank. If you're brave, just jump in. Give it a half hour and your entire body will feel like a baby's bottom....although you may be plauged with nightmares for life.
Remember my go at it?
4. Red Light districts (The Netherlands, Thailand, others I haven't yet visited)
Sex is sex. The more we look to hide it, the more dangerous (and alluring) it becomes. Red Light districts allow sex to live in a raunchy way, in it's own contained area. It's bought and sold with a person's own free will. In many countries it fuels the economy.
I would like to say that we could learn something from countries that I feel execute it well...like the city of Amsterdam. They are the blueprint of doing it, and doing it well. It's government run, the women are tested regulary and given health insurance. They are given safe places in which to do their business. The whole operation is regulated, and perfected as time goes on, in search of better safety and efficiency practices.
5. Healthy Eating/Portion Control (umm...everywhere outside America)
From personal experience, I lost fifteen pounds in five weeks while living in Paris. It is what jump started what is now a fifty pound weightloss that has been kept off for two years. Still eating baguettes, and pasta for dinner, the pounds fell off, much to the work of portion control and food that was free of preservative and full of nutrients. I can't talk enough about foreign menus. They put our American foods to shame. The compare and contrast of health value would shock and awe.
Even their junk foods are made of fresh rice, vegetables and fruits. Their sweets tend to hold less sugar than ours, and from the outside looking in "Yes, America you're fat." More importantly, we're unhealthy. I remember being surprised that vending machine candy packets in France were half the size of ours. I had the nerve to feel like I wasn't getting enough product for my money.
More what, Evita? Fat. Sugar. Calories. Cellulite. What?
Or how I was pissed walking into a Japanese Mos Burger for the first time and watching them weigh my fries to make sure everyone had the exact same amount, and a healthy portion? I'd kill for some Mos Burger right now. You have no idea!
America, we eat too much crap! In terms of priority, this is definitely number one.
Evidently this chick doesn't realize that we live in a world of YouTube and viral streaming...and good for it.
Backstory is that the postman, who did more than keep his cool, was fired. He was fired. This video is posted as a way to garner an investigation into his firing and holding this 'woman' accountable for her actions. I will say this much. I hope this goes viral and blows up all over the internet. 114,000 YouTube views and counting.
People have even resorted to putting all her contact info on YouTube. Though I'd never do that, personally, I can see why. You reap what you sow...damn, this hurt my heart.
I had this up as a status about a month back. The realization of everything I've done in 2010, alone. We're officially in November, and the mirage of what has made up all these moments in 2010 is humbling, exciting, even tiring. Home feels good. It feels right, right now. The world did me good this year, and as per usual to Evita, the traveling was extreme. Never half assed...
Japan: New Years in Tokyo, and the Nomad•ness episode to rep it. Niigata and saying goodbye to life long friends and children I taught. Started off the year with a ton of goodbyes, but have been adamant about keeping in touch.
India- Late Feb into March; Three cities and a desert in eleven days. Stephanie, Melissa, and I hit the ground running in India. Holi Festival and our lives are changed forever.. Nomad•ness epsiodes and some of my favorite travel photography. Running your fingers across the Taj Mahal is out of this world.
NYC: April into August; Home sweet home, for what was supposed to be a substantial amount of time. Until an opportunity presented itself.
China: End of August; two days in Hong Kong rummaging around, getting reused to Asia. Then stranded there for four days while trying to reach home again a few days before Halloween.
Thailand: September to November; home for what would end up being two months. From the streets of Bangkok, to the country of Saraphi. Chiang Mai temporarily replaced the concrete jungle.
Cambodia: The place in Asia that stole my heart. Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm were the catalyst, and the city of Siem Reap is what kept me there past my border run, for sure. So much to see, experience, and the art...oh the art. Many back alleys there reminded me more of Europe than any Asian country I'd visited before. I'll be back.
Burma: Oh Visa-Run, how you loved us so...
Gratitude for being able to live out dreams, and for those who helped support it.
Sarah Silverman
Many celebrities have been speaking out, in different forms, on the recent influx of suicide deaths by homosexual children in the United States. Its been something that has really shaken many people up, and been the catalyst behind things like the "It Gets Better" campaign.
For some reason, I dug the shortest video I saw the most. Above is the post that Sarah Silverman did. It addressed America, dead on, about its own internal shit.
A few days ago, i was having a conversation with someone in Thailand and really gave this South East Asian country a lot of credit. Thailand is known for the lady boys population here. Namely, the fact that they make up a big portion of the prostitution population.
Yet, and still, I give Thailand all the credit in the world because they openly accept this fact. You can see a trasvestite working as a clerk at your hotel, as a conductor/waiter on your train, behind the cashier at the supermarket. They are fully integrated into the community, for what they are, people. If anyone is making fun of them, of giving them a hard time, it's usually foreigners, because we aren't used to this.
Thailand may be a developing country, yet in that regard, they may be more developed than the United States. For that, I tip my hat to Thailand.
Suicide is never the answer.
A new documentary is coming out that takes a much needed look, and analysis, into the broken education system of the United States vs. that of other developed countries. I will definitely be putting my money to this film, and catching it in theaters upon my return to the States. Word...pass it on.
Here's some info, fellow travelers on an opportunity to travel the highways of America, get videotaped along the way, and win some cash and prizes. Apply for the official application HERE!
The program will run from July 11 through August 28, 2010. Over the course of the program, we’ll launch three road trip teams on different routes each week. Each team’s mission is to interact with people along their assigned route, capture interesting stories of unique personalities and places throughout their journey, and upload their stories to the program website.
As each team files content from the road (written stories, photos, videos, etc.), web visitors track their daily progress, comment and vote for their favorites. Each team competes against one another to create the most compelling stories and win cash prizes. The team with the highest number of votes for that week will be awarded the weekly prize of a $500 Amex Gift Card.
In addition, each week, the team with the most compelling overall content (as determined by judges) will receive a $200 Sears Auto Center Gift Card. Select teams may also participate in additional segments of the road trip beyond their designated segment for an opportunity to win more prizes. Web visitors will also have the chance to win daily for their participation.