Yak Attack

Did I fall off the face of the earth?

No.  A few things happened beyond my control.  First, the government of my host country closed access to all blogs.  Then they closed access to all VPN's.  Then, I was encouraged to leave the country.  I did.  I came back to the States on a Sabbatical.  After 14 years in Asia, I had my first Sabbatical.  After 6 months, I decided that I needed to move back to help my parents who had health issues.  I moved back, went to court, as my renter was suing me for an unlivable house.  He had pretty much destroyed the house, had not paid rent for 5 months, ran the oil out of the tank, and pulled the thermostat off the wall.  Needless to say, he did not win the lawsuit, and in his 'negotiations', paid up and moved out, taking many things with him that weren't his, including the washer and dryer and many things in my locked storage room that he had broken into.  Breathe.  Take it one day at a time.  Then my father became critically ill.  I had the great opportunity to be his medical advocate, helping him to have some control over the quality of his life when the quantity was limited. 

So much happened in such a short time.  I really never had a chance to change cultures and centuries after living in Asia for a total of 20 years.  I have so many stories to tell, and so many photos to share.  So I am starting up my blog again, to share stories of a different life.  This is a time of healing.  A time of catching up.  A time of integration.  I hope you will help me integrate my thoughts.

Thank you!

Bonnie

Great Winter Adventure

During December and January, some friends and I took a winter trip through southern Qinghai and western Sichuan.  These are just a few of my photos...

Not a whole lot of snow, but really cold

Our first high pass (4824 m or 15,827 ft high)

same pass

same pass, new-to-me car :)

Nomad woman

Tibetan man carrying his child

Monastery near Shiqu

The long road ahead

Two women who were interested in what we were doing... (the daughter)

(the mother)

Chola Mountains

My former patient.  I treated him for 2nd and 3rd degree burns on both legs.  He only has scarring now, with no restrictions!

    

Mountains outside of Dege

Back in Qinghai

More yaks

Gazelle-type of Antelope

Moving day

Last morning sunrise at -22'F  (really cold!)

 

Yak Milk Soap Project

Several years ago, my friend Kathy gave me some of her goat milk soap.  I thought, "Wow!  This is really great!  I would love to have her come and teach the nomad women how to make soap -- from yak milk!"  Since yak milk has 8-12% butterfat, I thought that this could be really great soap, plus it could enhance the livlihood of some nomad women, give them an income, improve their situation, etc.  This dream became a reality this past month.  

The women who learned how to make yak milk soap.

 

The first training session. 

The women are eager to learn, and learned very quickly.

We always had three languages going (English, Chinese and Tibetan), and occasionally four (Mongolian) and even five (Dutch)!

Kathy was a great teacher!

Getting ready for lunch.

The women learned how to use a rubber spatula, as well as a stick blender.

They helped each other to learn and to remember, using good safety techniques.

They mixed the ingredients very carefully, and were very precise in all their measurements.  This was a very foreign concept to them.

 

Preparing juniper boughs to put in the 'Juniper' soap.

The women learned about good hand washing techniques, and also what soft, fragrant soap feels like.

"Oh, my hands are squeaky clean!"

"If it could get my hands clean, then it has to be great soap!" 

"It's so soft, I want to wash my face in it!"

Learning how to cut the soap.

"This is my first bar of yak milk soap!"  The smiles made it all worth while.

The very first bars of yak milk soap made by Tibetan nomads!

The very first bars of yak milk soap -- curing.

More soap varieties -- including Lavender, Tibetan Sky (with rainwater from the Tibetan Sky), Eucalytus, Mint, Holiday Spice and Juniper.

The entire Yak Milk Soap Project team! 

We really wanted to milk a yak, so on our last morning there, we left very early to go to the tent of one of the nomad women. 

She gave us lessons on how to milk a yak.

And we all got to try our hand at it.

This is such a typical picture of a nomad woman, milking her yak, in front of a black yak hair tent.  These black tents are being replace by white factory-made tents, that are lighter weight and easier to put up and take down.

Our friend, with a wooden bucket of fresh yak milk, which we actually had in Tibetan tea that morning.  Couldn't get any fresher than that!

Sweet!

My goat milk soap friends are back in the States, the nomad women have continued to make some good yak milk soap, and I am in my apartment catching up on emails and connecting with friends.  What difference have we made?  For right now, these nomad women have learned a new skill.  They have a new way of making a little extra income.  This is very important, since more and more nomads are being put into urban areas. 

What is the impact on the community?  More yak fat is being sold... more oils are being utilized... etc., etc.  The community economics can only improve when there is a new product sold.  What will the impact be in the future?  We don't know, but this project could impact these families and others for generations to come, and hopefully be one way to transform their lives.

 

 

SS: Cake

Cake 

“You can’t have your cake and eat it, too”.

This proverb basically says that you can’t use something up and still have it to enjoy.  Or, another way to put it... you can’t have it both ways. 

One of the frustrations I have been facing in my host country the past few years deals with the internet.  I was raised in America -- the land of the free.  In my host country, I don’t mind that they block porn -- great!  However, we have been having more and more restrictions on us over the years, especially since 2008.  The news comes and goes.  If one news site is blocked, there are usually others to look at.  Then they started cracking down.  First it was the blocking of all blogs.  Then various other sites were blocked.  Some cities were totally shut down from accessing the internet after some political problems arose.  Then Facebook and other social network sites were blocked.  At one point, we used internet proxies.  These were great, but we often spent more time looking for a proxy that worked, than the actual time using it.   We then all got VPN’s so that we could freely access the internet.  Soon after, all of the free VPN’s were blocked.  Then, in the search for access to the internet, we all got paid VPN’s.  More expensive, but the freedom to access the internet was worth it.  Unfortunately, this Spring, they cut off access to most VPN’s.  My VPN company was severely hurt by this.  Fortunately for me (and many of my friends), my company was on the ball and quickly set up some new sites with a totally different system.  All this to say, because of my internet restrictions, I cannot always get on the internet to post blogs.

So, living abroad has many, many advantages -- and a few disadvantages...  It is sad to give up freedom to help others who are less fortunate.  I guess we can’t all have our cake and eat it too. 

Curious

"I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

In reference to the death of Osama bin Laden, I posted the above on my FB page.  [One caveat before I start:  I am NOT a political person.]  While I do not condone any of bin Laden's actions, I am curious as to why so many people gleefully rejoiced in his death.  If it had been up to me, I would rather have seen him caught.  I would like to have seen him stand trial for what he did and face a jury.  I would have liked to see democracy in action -- not violence.  I would have liked for countries without democracy see how a democratic country works.  I think that the integrity of the CIA and USA has suffered because of the actions which resulted in bin Laden's death -- we stooped to a lower standard.   Was bin Laden a bad man?  That I do not know -- I am not the One who will judge him.  Were his actions bad?  Yes.  They were bad.  I would just have liked to see him stand trial, know the charges against him...and think about it before suffering the consequences for his actions.

What's for supper?

Where are all the English teachers???

A Woman's Touch

Doris Day stars in the 1953 movie “Calamity Jane”.  One of the many great songs she sings is “A Woman’s Touch”.  Oh, if only my apartment could be transformed so beautifully and so quickly!   But the reason I am writing about this is that a woman’s touch finally broke through another traditionally male barrier... duct tape!  YES!!!  When I first went overseas, the first item on the ‘packing list’ that was sent to me was “duct tape”.  The list had to have been put together by a man.  Ugly gray duct tape.  Yes, duct tape is very useful and handy stuff.  But not so pretty.  I always keep a roll handy no matter where I live.  Because it is water proof, flexible and super strong, it has been used on Apollo space flights.  In addition, The “Myth Busters” devoted two  episodes to duct tape by lifting a car with it, repairing and making a boat out of it, creating a duct tape cannon, building a bridge from it, preventing a parked car from moving off and attempting but failing to stop a moving car. They also tested the single strip break strength at 67 lbs!  

In mountaineering, one of the joys in making a first ascent of an unnamed peak is that you get to name it -- according to the Board of Geographic Names (there are limits, however, in the naming of it).  In Kyrgyzstan, there is a remote peak called, “50 Years of American Duct Tape”.  I wonder how much they had to use, and in what circumstances...  I know that I always keep some duct tape wrapped around my ice ax when climbing... (seriously).  Anyway, I am glad to say that a woman’s touch has finally broken through the barrier of a man’s product.  And now, we can get duct tape in many colors -- no more gray-silver duct tape for me.  So never underestimate a woman’s touch!

 

 

SS: Curious

For centuries, Tibet has been one of the places that the West has been most curious about -- a closed country high in the Himalayas, monastic-based rulers, the high barren and rugged Tibetan plateau, snow passes year round -- virtually inaccessible.  Foreigners were not allowed in.  Geography and feudalism kept people out.  There was no road leading to the Forbidden City of Lhasa.  The only people in and out were nomadic herders, traveling with their yaks, felt tents and sheepskin coats.  Tibet lay in secrecy until the military occupation of Tibet by the Chinese army in the early 1950‘s... I am not a political person.  Despite the controversy, many positive changes have been made.  I live and work among these people.  I think that they are as curious about us, as we are of them...

 

 

Sunday Scribblings: Harvest

The Barley Harvest

October is nearly over, so the barley harvest should be completed by now.  July was very hot so the barley probably ripened a little early.  I don’t know -- I have been state-side since early August (to return next week), so don’t really know how the harvest went.  I hope it was a good harvest -- heaven knows they need a good year, what with the earthquake and all. 

Barley is the staple food in Tibet.  Barley is highly adaptable to rough climates and has a short vegetation period, so it can be cultivated at 3,500 meters (nearly 12,000 feet) elevation, whereas many other crops are difficult to grow at this altitude.  Toasted barley flour, tsampa, is the main staple of the Tibetan people.  It is mixed with yak butter (usually rancid) and salty tea (this is an acquired taste), until it is about the consistency of cookie dough.  It is then dipped in salt, or sugar -- and sometimes a little cinnamon or other spices if they have them.  Tibetans eat this at least once a day, and often twice a day.  It is very nutritious, although they still need fruit and vegetables to supplement for a balanced diet, which most of them do not have.  Barley is also used for making barley beer (chang), and a much stronger, harsher alcohol ("Bai Jiu" in Chinese) which is very much like a raw ‘white lightening’.  Barley’s cultural importance is reflected in that it is also used as a unit of measure:  8 barley grains are equal to a finger-width, or ‘small measure’.    

Tibetans usually hold a harvest festival a few days before the harvest to celebrate it.  The Harvest Festival lasts about three days and is where the Tibetans walk around the field, wishing for a good harvest.  Sacrifices are offered to gods in the hope of receiving a good harvest.  People dress up in their best holiday clothes, carrying colorful flags, some carry barley stalks, and some may carry white “khada” or prayer scarves.  There is singing, banging on drums and dancing.  In some areas, they may even have horse races, yak races, and singing and dancing contests.  Of course, there is a lot of barley beer drinking!

When it is time to harvest the barley, everyone helps, as the harvest takes place with intensity.  The barley is collected in small bundles, and placed on yaks or horses.  The same technique has been used for many, many years.  Small tractors are used in some areas these days, which makes the harvest a little faster.  Drying, threshing and winnowing usually take place on the flat roofs of houses in some areas of Tibet, and on the ground in others.  

People are learning new and better techniques in how to harvest and store the barley flour.  In the past, and still in many places today, it was stored in gunny sacks, in damp storage rooms.  Who knows how many rodents got into it!  In some areas, people got really sick from this, especially with myco-toxins forming on the barley.  Once I treated a woman who had lost both legs to ergotamine poisoning.  Both her parents and two siblings died from it.  Her remaining brother was really sick, but made a full recovery.  The ergotamine poisoning cause both her feet to feel like they were on fire (ergotamine poisoning’s nickname is “Saint Anthony’s Fire”).  This is because of the constriction of the blood vessels which can cause dry gangrene.  Then, this was complicated by the fact that she put her feet into cold water during a harsh cold winter, developed severe frostbite, so she got a double gangrene, and both legs had to be amputated.  Not an easy disability for a young woman on the rough Tibetan plateau.  

Another project I worked on was dealing with a disease called “Kashin-Beck’s Disease”, or more commonly, “Big Bone Disease”.  This has many environmental factors behind it, including high altitude cold climates, lack of selinium in the soil, high iron oxides in the water, and myco-toxins on the barley.  People with this disease end up mainly with large joints and short limbs, and a variety of other symptoms.  I still wonder how much of it was environmentally induced, and what part did the person’s own health play... Because of these diseases and others, newer, cleaner ways of storing barley are coming into practice.  In some places they are starting to build humidity and temperature controlled rooms out of concrete.  This should help significantly in reducing the terrible disabilities that I have seen in the past.  So much still has to be done in these areas of Tibet.  Whether the diseases affect one family, as in this case of the ergotamine poisoning, or 2.5 million people like Big Bone Disease, I would still like to be able to help these people.  Unfortunately, some people in authority don’t think that these are significant problems, so just ‘relocate’ the Tibetans.   

Regardless, I am hoping that the barley harvest was good this year.  I am hoping that all areas of Tibet had a bountiful harvest, and that all people will have enough tsampa for the year.  

 

Upside Down

What do you do when your world is turned upside down? How do you cope? How long does it take to get turned right side up again? There is disorder... chaos... confusion... things are not as they were... or were supposed to be. Some things are supposed to be upside down -- like a pineapple upside down cake. Apparently when I was a kid, this was one of my favorite desserts. Now, I am sure ice cream is my favorite dessert. When the US stamp is upside down on a letter, it is supposed to signify that the country is in trouble. Why are we not seeing stamps upside down now? Maybe it is because so many letters are in mass-mail envelopes so there are no stamps. I don't know. I just know that right now my life is full of chaos, disorder and confusion. Things are not what they should be... not as God intended. I know that He is not the author of confusion. So why is there so much right now? One of my favorite things as a kid was to hang on the monkey bars upside down. I loved that. And I loved twirling upside down and in circles on the monkey bars... at least until I was ready to throw up. :) I know that some people like the gravity traction units, where they hang upside down to let gravity open their backs up. Well, there are a lot more techniques that are a lot faster and more effective than that! (I hope you are reading this, Bret!) Bats and possums are good upside down. Houses are not. I have a map somewhere that is "Australia's view of the world" -- so it is an upside down map. Cute! At least someone has a sense of humor. I don't have one anymore. My world is upside down, and I am not in Australia. Some things should be upside down, like pineapple upside down cake and bats and possums. Maybe I just fell through the rabbit hole, so my life is upside down and not much makes sense anymore...