How do we build our collaborative partnership

Today, I had a lunch with one of my coworkers who used to work at Foothills unit 32 as well, and we were discussing how to build a collaborative partnerships with your colleague and clients.

Some people think that having a collaborative partnership means that the nurse never disagrees with the person and always follows her wishes. However, it is not the truth.

Mount Royal nursing team-photo by Tracy

the nurse's professional knowledge and expertise are important in a collaborative partnership relationship. The person has her own thinking and the nurse too may have goals for the person. However, unlike the traditional collaborative partnership, in which the health care professional holds most of the power, in the new collaborative relationship the client and nurse shared the power together. It was one my experience that I wanted to share:


One day a mom brought her son to meet up with Dr.M. Therefore, I had to do an interview with them for safety issues why her son's knee got injured and whether her son got abused by his mom. Thus,  I tired to set up follow up schedules. After two weeks, I checked the son's health history, and I noticed that they never showed up for the rest of the appointments. 


I called the mom asked how come you missed out your appointments and checked how her son was now. She replied" because he did not want to come, [and] I couldn't force him ". 


I wonder how come the mom did not minimize her son symptoms for a time, skip appointments and delay seeking care. 


Eventually, the child's disease really flared up, and the son was not getting treatment but needed to be. Therefore, I had to set up the interview again. Paying no attention to what's happening felt schizophrenic to me. I could not ignore that the son was not well and was limping. 


However, I was certainly not going to say to the mom " Well why did not you phone ? I could not believe you waited so long to reply my phone call". In contrast, I said " Things did not look as good as last time, and I am actually a bit surprised that you did not let us know. I bet there are good reasons; could we talk about them ? "  She started to disclose more information to me that she was too busy with her job, and she was divorced. No one could really help her pay attention to her son. After built the trust relationship, she promised me that she would come to visit Dr. M. on time and came to talk to me. 


From a position of knowing the mom, I felt comfortable bringing my concerns up. I knew that it might be better that the mom discuss this with me rather than the with DR. M. who was going to say " Aaah! look at the knee, They are like cantaloupes! what's going on here". 

Images "ER's in Jordan's hospitals are the real pain" taken by Wael Attili

Building a collaborative relationship, not only does require you know how to "take care of " the paitents' physical wound, but also does require you "give your heart" to them and listened to what exactly happened, which could be mental illness as well.

Science-Do you the secret of Vitamin C?

Lately, I was using my Diet Analysis +  to analysis my daily intake. My daily intake of Vitamin C was 52.06 mg/day; however, a health amount for intake should have been 75mg/day. This concludes that I am lacking 22.94 mg/day in order to have a healthy amount and meet my daily recommend amount (DRI)

Image "fruit and vegetables" :Turnham green. Taken from geograph

Vitamin c is involved in some major functions in the body. It is used in collagen synthesis which aids in the formation of bone, cartilage and gums. It is an antioxidant which helps with detoxification and it improves iron absorption.

Since vitamin c, also called ascorbic acid, takes part in some very important body functions we need tone aware of what the possible symptoms of deficient or excess intake are. An inadequate amount could cause scurvy which is a nutritional deficiency caused by a lack of sufficient vitamin c needed to synthesize collagen.

Common indicators are weakness, delayed wound healing, impaired immunity, degeneration of skin, teeth, and blood vessel disruption.

A large amount of vitamin c may increase iron to an unhealthy amount and will result in damaged body tissue. Vitamin c is taken by many individuals who believe it prevents or cures the common cold or dance. However, there is still little research on this topic and it is not well supported by scientific literature.

There are certain groups of people that are more at
risk for vitamin c deficient. Smokers including passive, active and second hand all have a higher risk for vitamin c deficiency. The recommend dietary allowances for females ages 19-30 is 75 mg/day and for males is 90 mg/day. Therefore, everyone need to watch their daily intake.

photo "roast winter vegetables" taken from Image Index/ food and dining

Variety !! is the key. For example, you should consume at least one dark green and one orange vegetable each day such as broccoli, lettuce, sweet potatoes and winter squash. Secondly, choose vegetables and fruit prepared with little or no added fat. In addition, instead of drinking orange juice, we should have more vegetables and fruit. According to Canada food guide, we only allow to take 125ml which is only a half cup of orange juice per day.

vitamin c is an essential micronutrient required for norma metabolic function of the body. To maintain a health amount we all need to have a well-planned diet. Consuming fruits and vegetables are the best food source that we could gain vitamin C from. Remember! It is important to know that either taking high doses or inefficient amounts can be dangerous as well

Self-concept and stressors.

Image "upset red balloon" took from Doolepress  sketchbook

Have you experience a period of time that you feel you lost yourself? You feel upset, angry, useless and unproductive. Have you experience everything in your life was all messed up? You even started to hate and disappointed at yourself.  You tried to look through the mirror to seek the real "you "; however, you noticed that have walked too far away.

If you have all the symptoms that I have described, you had lost your positive self-concept.

Photo"self-portrait" by Kathleen Creighton, Photography. 

A positive self-concept provide a sense of meaning, wholeness, and consistency A healthy self-concept has a high degree of stability and generates positive feeling toward yourself. The components of self-concept frequently considered by Delmarlearning are identity, body image, and role performance.

Photo " refracted moments " by Dennis mojado.

Stressors affecting self-concept.

A self-concept stressor is any real or perceived change that threatens identity, body image, or role performance, and thus, a stressor challenges a person's adaptive capacities. The most important factor in determining an individual's response is the individual's perception of the stressor. 

The ability to re-establish balance is related to numerous factors, including the number of stressors, duration of the stressors, and health status (Source: from Hokenberry, M., Wilson, D., &Winkelstein, M. (Eds). (2003). Wong's care of infants and children(7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby). 

The normal process of maturation and development itself is a stressor. Changes that occur in physical, spiritual, emotional, sexual, and family can affect self-concept. Being able to adapt to stressors likely lead to a positive sense of self, whereas failure to adapt often leads to a negative sense of self. For example, I was stressed for the whole spring semester. There were a large number of things happened in such a short time. I was sick and no one was around me that could take care of me, one of my close family members had passed away and I could not catch up with all my studies. Therefore, I was super stressed, and I felt I lost myself identity. Hence, I have acted like someone that I never ever wanted to be.

Identity confusion results when people do not maintain a clear, consistent, and continuous personal identity. It may occur at any star of life if a person is unable to adapt to identity stressors. Under extreme stress, an individual may experience disturbed personal identity, estate in which the differences between the self and others cannot be determined. 

Therefore, we need to know when we should forgive ourselves 

As a result, we need to find a way to set ourselves free, and we have to admit that we are not perfect that we also made mistakes. Thus, we all need to give ourselves some personal time only care about ourselves, and talk to ourselves to seek the real us. Moreover, we have to realize what have done were wrong, and we have to learn from the past. Always remember to ask yourself who you really are. 

Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival is a China's traditional festival, which is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar year. Hence The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon; therefore,  the day is also called Yuan Xiao Festival in China.According to Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate

photo taken by Li, Chao (My roommate) 

Iantern Festival is also one of the biggest holidays in China. Several days before Lantern Festival, people begin to make lanterns which are made in the shape of different animals, vegetables, fruits and many, other things. 


While making lanterns people usually write riddles on lanterns. On the evening of Lantern Festival, all the lanterns are hung up in order to pray for the luck of the year. 

Photo taken by Li, Chao

The most interesting part is making " Yuan xiao". The shape of yuan xiao is round as snowball so that it has another name as " small round dumpling balls", and when you bite into it, the dumpling gives way in a soft but chewy manner.  In Chinese families, yuan xiao means "happiness and fullness" because all the families could finally gather together eating yuan xiao without worrying their stressful and overloaded job or thinking about other disturbing things. In contrast, they could chill and drink with their family members that they were too busy to visit anymore. 


In my memory, eating "Yuan xiao " was my favorite part of Iantern Festival. Not only does it have the sweet taste, but also it made me fell so warm that could be full around with my beloved ones, hearing their laughs, and sharing their happiness. In Chinese culture, we only ate 6 "yuan xiao " at 12 am on the Lantern Festival because it made by a glutinous rice flour which is hard to digest.  Secondly, "6" represents " a good luck " in Chinese culture; therefore, if you eat "6 Yuan xiao", you will have best wishes and good luck for the rest of the year.

I was the youngest one in my whole family so that my grandfather loved me the most.  When everyone closed their eyes to pray for the best luck for our family on the festival dinner, my grandfather always gave me one extra "Yuan xiao" from his bowl secretly, and he had been doing this until I came to Canada.

At the beginning, I thought maybe he was too old to have too much sweet food so he needed to share one with me.
Recently, my grandma told me because your grandfather thought you were so weak ( because I was born prematurely) that he was scared that we would not be able to  rise you up healthy. Therefore, he always tried to give his " luck " to you, and hoped you could live in a healthy and happy life after you "eat " it.

My grandfather kept this secret for more than 20 years, and I was so selfish that took his "luck " away. Somehow, I think back right now, if I did not take his "luck" away, he would live longer? or whether I would suffer more pain and illness in my life instead of letting him go through everything for me?

Asian vs Indian

picture belongs to me

I believe that Asian and Indian cooking is not alike because of their variety of spices and cooking methods. Asian people and Indian people use the same type of food like rice, chicken, vegetables, beef and pork. But they cook it differently with their cultural spices and sauces. I think Indian food have more favours because they use a lot of spices like curry power, Indian gooseberry, mango extract, rose water and jaggery.


Indian:

Coconut rice is made with white rice in coconut milk or coconut flakes. A way to make this dish is to make the rice separately and then mixing in the coconut mixture (coconut flakes that are toasted in sesame or coconut oil and spiced with paprika, nuts, curry powder and leaves). This is a very nice mild and creamy dish to serve with spicy meats and curries.

Curry Chicken can also be called chicken curry, it is interchangeable. The ingredients in this dish include:
curry powder
masala powder
saffron
ginger

picture belongs to me

Asian:

Fried rice is made from steamed rice stir-fried in a wok. It is often cooked with other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables, green onions, soya sauce and meat. It is usually made with leftovers from other dishes.

My mom makes fried rice a lot. She usually makes it with Asian sausage with eggs and green onions. I like this dish because I get a bit of every food group. It is very flavorful and easy to make and not time consuming. I found a recipe online that I tried to make. It was very simple to read and cook. The end result was delicious; it had just enough salt and ingredients that went well with each other.

Soy sauce chicken is made from soya sauce and chicken. There are no additional ingredients needed, its very simple to make and yummy.

picture belongs to me

There are many places that serve excellent food in Calgary that some people may not have been or even heard of. I honestly think that the food here in Calgary are decent with affordable prices and are convenient to get too.  The top places I recommended are:

Indian

My absolute favourite dish in this culture is butter chicken. Butter chicken is also known as Murgh Makhani. It is full of flavours that complement the chicken well. I like it spicy with naan bread. Moti Mahal in Delhi was the first to introduce butter chicken. Maurya Finest Indian Cuisine is pretty good, they have huge pieces of chicken in your meal and its spicy. They have a heated stone in their kitchen where they cook the naan bread. Every naan breads made is fresh. There are different kinds of favours served like garlic, plain and herbs.

Namskar
202 16 Avenue NE
4032304447

Moti Mahal
1805 14^th Street SW
4032017336

picture belongs to me

Asian

Towa Sushi
The word Towa in Japanese means forever. The owner, Toyohiko Sato is dedicated in providing delicious sushi. Towa Sushi is famous for their huge portions of sushi they serve. Their menu has a variety of cold and hot cold, offering specialty salads and dishes including tempura, sashimi, and contemporary rolls. Towa is located on 2116 - 4 Street SW. Towa Sushi is one of my favourite sushi places because every bite you take you get a bit of the fish and seaweed. It usually will take 2-3 bites just to finish a piece of sushi. They have really good salads, which contains different types of sushi like scallops, salmon and tuna.

China Rose
228 28th Street SE

4032482711

Thai House
125, 555-11 Avenue SW
4032378828

Sikh Khanda

One of the most important religious symbols of Sikhism is the “Khanda” , basically the coat of arms for Sikhs. I did not know that the Khanda had so many meanings attached to it, I thought that it was just a symbol that my community and I recognized and followed, but I was wrong and did some research and the Khanda has more than one meaning to it. So I will break it down for all of you!

Khanda

image from Flickr Yahoo

The central double edged sword called the Khanda itself indicates divine strength, truth, freedom, justice and God’s creative power.

The ‘Chakkar’ which is the inner circle means the oneness of God and humanity, basically meaning that there is only one God and that humanity is also one because we are all of God’s creation.

The two ‘Kirpans’ which can be called the crossed swords represent the balance a Sikh must place on spiritual ambitions and social responsibilities.

Benefit Gala: Cultural Evening and Development and Peace

The Benefit Gala represents development and peace for a cultural evening of ethnic food and performance. The movement started in 2011 and it has been a great success so far. The event took place on Saturday June-16-2012 in Saint Cecilia's Church in Calgary. The event was to raise awareness and fundraising for organizations dedicated to development and peace.

Development and Peace is an organization that addresses the root causes of injustice and poverty by respecting and empowering people and communities in the "developing" world. The organization addresses these causes through emergency relief operation such as drought in Africa, floods in Philippines and many others.

It also included dance performances from around the world and some of the most delicious food I have ever tasted. Each dance performance represented a specific country and the traditional dances each country has.


Photo by Jasmin
Brownies representing India

Photo by Archana
Brazilian martial art dance Capoeira



Events like these promote a better understanding of various cultures and traditions while promoting a broader  cause of helping the needy.



Unusual festival around the world

Every country has that one unique festival that defines their culture the very best. I recently read about five unusual and interesting festivals around the world.

The Chap & Hendrick's Olympics is an annual event held in July in London. The festival involves sports such as the Three Trousered limbo, Cucumber Sandwich Discus and Pipe Smoker's relay, in the hope of winning a coveted gold cravat.  

Photo by FaceMePLS

Holi - The festival of colours which is also an annual festival held mostly in the northern part of India. Holi was originally a festival celebrated to mark the victory of Prahalad over Hirnakashyap (The symbol of evil). Now a days Holi is celebrated more as a harvest festival. As a symbolic representation of the burning of evil, on the eve of Holi large bonfires are lit. it is celebrated by smearing different colours on each other.

Tomatina is held on the last Wednesday of August. People all around the world join to celebrate this festival. The festival is held in the town of Bunol in the Valencia region of Spain, thousands of people participate to fight a battle where over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets.

Photo by Mike Pennington

Up-Helly-Aa which takes place on the last tuesday in January every year in Lerwick, Shetland. The festival involves marches, visitations in a torch-lit procession and the burning of a galley, followed by performing and dancing in halls throughout Lerwick.




Monkey buffet is held in Thailand as an annual festival to promote tourism. It involves giving fruits and vegetables to the large monkey population in Lopburi Province north of Bangkok. It is described as one the strangest festivals. These unusual festivals makes you wonder about the many others that we have never even heard of. I look forward to hearing about any other unusual festival around the world.

Flooding in Bangladesh

Photo by United Nations Photo

Bangladesh formarly known as East Pakistan is situated in South Asia and it is bordered by India, Burma and the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh is know as one of the worlds highly dense populated country with over 120 million people. Based on the birth rate of Bangladesh it is said that the population can double in the next 30 years to 240 million people. 90% of poeple live in rural sectors where poeple survive through farming and fishing.

90% of the land is situated on a vast alluvial delta formed by the Bhramputra river where the flat countryside rises ten meters above sea level. Every year, Bangladesh looses hundreds of lives through flooding. The climate and deforestation are the main reasons of flooding. The flooing is both a curse and blessing, it destorys crops and endanger the lives of people and animals but at the same time because of this annual flood it brings fetility to the soil which brings them rich crops thorughout the rest of the year without using any fertilizers.

Bangladesh is very beautiful country but I could never imagine living in place where it floods every year through out the monsoon season. Loosing everything you have worked hard for the past year and worring about your family members can be very hard. It makes me so greatful to be able to live in a place were there are no dangers of flooding.

Khalsa Code of Ethical Conduct

These are some points that reflect what baptized Sikh men and women and even children must obey. There are some points here that I, myself obey as well, even though I am not baptized.

-          A Sikh will only worship God. We do not set up any idols or statues of Gods, Goddesses for worship and also we do not worship any human being.

-          We only believe in one holy book which is the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, however we can study other religious books to gain some knowledge of other religions.

Guru Granth Sahib Ji (the holy book)

image from Flickr Yahoo

-          Sikh’s do not believe in castes, magic, omens, amulets, astrology, ceremonial hair cuts, fasts, sacred thread, graves and traditional death rites.

-          If one is baptized in the Sikh community they must wear the five K’s. I wear one of the five K’s which is the ‘Kara’ a steel bracelet. The ‘Kara’ shows self-control.

-          The Khalsa will pray to God before starting any work, and this is the usual prayers.

-          We can learn many languages but we must know how to speak Punjabi and be able to teach our kids.

-          Every male should add “Singh” after his name and every female should add “Kaur” after her name. Singh means lion and Kaur means princess. So my name is Jasmeen Kaur Sidhu. Basically Singh and Kaur act as our middle names.

-          Drugs, smoking and alcohol are strictly forbidden for Sikhs that are baptized and also for none baptized Sikhs too.

-          Baptized men and women can not pierce their ears or noses. I am not baptized so therefore I have my ears pierced.

-          Sikh’s are not allowed to have connections with those who kill their daughters. Killing females is strictly forbidden in Sikhism.

-          A Sikh must be living by honest labour and should be generous and help out the poor and needy and thinking at all times that whatever is given to them is given by the Guru.

-          Sikhs should never steal or gamble.

-          There is so restriction on the dress of a baptized Sikh except for a turban and ‘Kachera’ (long shorts worn underneath). The clothing should be simple and reserved.

-          When we see another Sikh we both greet each other by saying “Sat Sri Akal” which means “the God is the ultimate truth”. Or we say “Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh” which means “The Khalsa belongs to God, Victory belongs to God” (Khalsa is a community of Singhs and Kaurs, in other words the people of Guru Nanank Dev Ji)

Definition and describtion: Papad

Photo by Archana
Deep fried papadum 

Photo by Archana
Uncooked papadum

Many people have asked me what that cruchy circlicular thing Indian's eat. After thinking about it now I know what they were asking me about. Papad or papadam, is a flatbread wafer used as a side dish in Indian cusine. There are so many variety of papadams, some are plain, and others are seasoned with spices such as black pepper, chilli and cumin, but every single one tastes as good as the other.

Papadam is generally made of flour of rice, lentils, potatoes, chickpeas, or black gram. Papadam generally take up a circular shape. It can either be large or small, if it is made into large softer wafer it can be used as a wrap. The papadam can be heated in several ways. It can be deep fried or it can be roasted, and my grandmother makes the best roasted papadam in the world (just saying).

Photo by SoRMuiJAi
Papadum with rice and curry

You can either eat it with rice and other curry or dipped in chutney or as chips which is what i usually do. Papadam doesn't really have a specific taste to it but once you have had it, it can be very addictive. So the next time you're at an Indian resturant try out the papadam and remember it's a side dish and not as main course.

Importance of ‘Vaisakhi’ in Sikh Religion

‘Vaisakhi’ is an ancient harvest festival in Punjab, the northern state of India. The word Vaisakhi has been copied from the month Vaisakhi being used in the traditional Indian calendar. Vaisakhi marks the Indian New Year’s time and also a time to harvest wheat crops. People celebrate Vaisakhi before the next few months where they will then have to harvest the wheat and begin sowing the fall crops. Celebrating Vaisakhi is also another way of thanking the Lord for the plentiful crop and praying for good times ahead.

To celebrate Vaisakhi people buy new clothes, and enjoy by singing and dancing and eating traditional food such as jalebi’s, samosas, and many more. Some of the traditional dances that take place during Vaisakhi are 'Bhangra'  and ‘Gidda’ danced by both men and women respectively. These dances are very easy to do but really energetic and can be danced by the beat of a ‘dhol’ which is an Indian drum.

 

'Dhol'

image from Flickr Yahoo

Vaisakhi is probably one of the most special days for the Sikh community and also one of the most colourful days too. Vaisakhi was created by the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji to mark the foundation of Khalsa Panth (community of Singhs (men) and Kaurs (females). Another celebration of Vaisakhi is the ‘Nagar Kirtan’ also known as the Sikh Parade which happens once a year in the month of May during the long weekend. The Sikh parade is led by the holy scripture known as the ‘Guru Granth Sahib Ji’ and then followed by thousands of Sikh people. Anyone is allowed to participate in the Sikh parade. People come out during the Sikh parade to do ‘Seva’ which is volunteering to offer free food and doing any other voluntary work and of course to enjoy the day.

'Nagar Kirtan' Sikh Parade

image from Flickr Yahoo

Lastly, Vaisakhi is also celebrated to remember those who suffered and died during the massacre of innocent Sikh’s by the British Empire. This happened during the independence movement to free India from the British rule. On April 13^th, 1919 there was a rally that was being held by innocent people who were trying to fight for their freedom in Jallianwala Bagh which is near the Golden Temple where thousands of people died and many of them wounded. This attack was placed by British Indian army soldiers who where under the command of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, all exists where closed where the rally was, keeping the innocent people trapped and that’s when the soldiers opened fire killing unarmed men, women and children who were trying to fight for their freedom and rights.

Image from Flickr Yahoo

'Jallianwala Bagh'

This is the place where soldiers opened fire on all the innocent, unarmed men, women and children. You can see the gun shots through the bricks when up close. Now it is a peaceful place for visitors and tourists to visit. 

Lakes

Lakes, they can be used in so many different ways, whether it's going for a dip, or going out on your boat and trying to catch some fish, it's fun any way you slice it. Then there are some lakes that you just want to site on a bench and stare at because of it's sheer beauty. It's crystal blue color and calm waves crashing against the beach can be very soothing. I have seen a lot of lakes and some are definitely more memorable then some others, Lake Minnewonka comes to mind as does the Spray lakes which are up in the mountains after a very long hike and are just an amazing thing to see. Lake Louise is always a beautiful lake to see, nested  nicely within the mountains but one of my favorites is lake Osoyoos in the Southern interior of British Columbia, one of the warmest places year around in Canada, the lake isn't too cold and is also a very nice lake with beaches surrounding it.
I did some research and found some really gorgeous lakes, all around the world, and to my surprise there were Canadian Lakes on some lists, well I'm not to surprised. The usual culprit of Lake Louise was there but also Lake Peyto which is located in Banff national park. Then of course there is the great lakes in Ontario and surrounding area, which may not be the prettiest lakes but definitely gives tons of opportunities for fishing and other such activities.

http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/12-most-beautiful-lakes-in-the-world,6009/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/06/most-beautiful-lakes_n_751662.html#150822

My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding

One of my favourite shows that I love watching on Sunday nights is My Big Fat American Gypsy wedding. I love learning about gypsy culture, and what I find so fascinating about Gypsy culture is that it is so hidden

Ever since I was little I had known of the word “Gypsy”, yet I had no idea what that meant, and if Gypsy people actually existed. Well, thanks to TLC, I have learned that yes, Gypsies are real, and they like in The United States as well as Brazil, Portugal and the UK.

One of the things that I find interesting about Gypsy culture is that they are part of a white cultural minority in America, which is something that is very rare.  Taking a look at a Gypsy person, first glance you would have no idea that they are part of a minority group different from main stream culture. Although but once you learn about the Gypsy way of life you quickly realize their culture is far from ordinary.

One distinguishable characteristic of Gypsy culture that sets them apart from the rest is early marriage. Gypsy girls are expected to stay virgins until they marry, and they usually marry between the ages of 16-20. The women are expected to stay home and take care of the children, while the men go out to work. Gypsy people are encouraged to marry only other gypsy people, and girl are not a loud to talk to boys unless at special events such as weddings and birthday parties. The girls must also be chaperoned by a male relative when going out to big evening events.

A lot of people may look at the Gypsy lifestyle and think it’s a little bit old fashioned, but I guess that is because many people cannot relate to this way of life. Surprisingly the old fashioned lifestyle that gypsy people choose is nothing out of the ordinary in a lot of other cultures. It may seem a little backwards to some, but it works it works for them.  

Source: Slippy at: http://www.geograph.org.uk

Source used: The UK Sun: The Life of a Gypsy Community

Global News Cast: Honour Violence Awareness Growing

So this Global news cast was on a couple weeks ago, and I must say it really aggravated me. Basically the news is trying to make people “aware” of honour violence among ethnic communities.

Global News Cast: Honour Violence Awareness Growing

My goodness, so many things I can say about this news cast. Firstly, what is the point? The story that they introduce the broadcast with was from 2 decades ago. So basically they’re just bringing up old news, because it’s a slow news day and people just eat this kind of stuff up. Honour based violence is, “normative” in these cultures? What the heck? People who are willing to kill their own kin are obviously mentally unstable, and an act like this is not normative in any culture.

The young girl being interviewed has to worry about the “burden” of holding responsibility of the family name? What? Are you serious? I am from an ethnic background, and I have to say, my family name is not something I ever worry about, and for most girls of a Muslim/any other ethnic background, this isn’t something to worry about. The news cast made it seem as if girls from an ethnic background have to be so super careful, or they’ll end up being honour killed by their family.

Its funny how news cast like this one try to pretend to be culturally sensitive and helping people out, when really their sending an indirect racist message. Because in the end they have a bias point of view, and no matter how many ethnic girls they get to speak out against it, in the end, people will continue to connect honour killings with certain religious/cultural groups because of dumb news casts like these.

If police are going to waste valuable resources on issues like these then they might as well be on the look out for cannibalism, since I heard there was at least 2 cannibal incidents last month. Were just lucky that some sort of middle Eastern/Indian/Pakistani culture were not apart of these cannibal incident, cause then maybe they would have to give it a title like Honour eating’s or something. What the heck is an honour killing anyways? Isn’t it not just domestic violence that ends with death. If your going to label the motive than are people who kill out of love committing romance killings?

Lastly, this story became even more controversial because they decided to film students from the Calgary Islamic School without permission from the school or the children’s parents. Kids can’t even go to school these days without having to worry about news reporters spying on them for footage to connect to a story about a triple homicide from 2 decades ago. 

I am in no way condoning Honour Violence, or trying to downplay the severeness of how horrific it is. This is a problem, and this does happen. Although, I thought this newscast was very unprofessional, and did more harm than good.

5 Cities to visit!

There are so many cities in the world, some better then others, some with more negatives then positives. There are some cities that are a must visit, for their sheer beauty and abundance of things to do in that city. I found a list of the "Top 29 Cities" and have decided to go through them all and pick which 5 are the best to visit, of course in my opinion. Now it would be worth noting that two Canadian cities made the top 29 list, the cultured city of Montreal at number 24 and coastal city of Vancouver at 16 both of which definitely are two of the the more good looking cities in Canada. Moving on to my top 5 of these 29 cities, I narrowed it down to about 8 then cut it down to my 5 in what was a challenging process.

5. Copenhagen (21)

"Home to the best restaurant in the world -- and some of the hottest people, too"

- http://ca.askmen.com/specials/2012_top_29/21-copenhagen.html

The name of the restaurant which was actually voted as best restaurant in the world it Noma, with it's Nordic cuisine if you are planning a trip to Denmark capital,  make sure you get reservations. Not only are the Scandinavian people aesthetically pleasing but so to is the architecture, with the Tovoli building and gardens being one of the more memorable ones. Also the water front is an excellent place to go, it has lot's of place to eat and drink and it gives you that small european city feel. Copenhagen definitely is on my list of place to go.

4. Shanghai (5)

"It's the showpiece city of the world's most fascinating superpower"

http://ca.askmen.com/specials/2012_top_29/5-shanghai.html

Just looking at pictures of this Asian city makes me want to go there, the skyline is definitely beautiful site to see. The financial district is a definite eye-popper, Shanghai still holds some of the olden style Chinese structures, including temples, markets and traditional gardens.  It will also play host to several events ranging from sports to food to the arts. Shanghai has it all, whether it's day and you want to take a river cruise or enjoy the lively night life it's a definite place to go.

3. Mumbai (2)

"It's an adventure of a lifetime"

http://ca.askmen.com/specials/2012_top_29/2-mumbai.html

Mumbai has been growing non-stop and before 2012 is was hard to get around the city, but now it has metro rail and a monorail which are brand new, making adventuring around this beautiful city much easier. Full of festivals year round there is always something to do, Mumbai is almost a mix of Shanghai and Dubai, exploding with new things to do and try.

2. Rio Di Janeiro (3)

"It's preparing to be the most watched city in the world"

http://ca.askmen.com/specials/2012_top_29/3-rio-de-janeiro.html

Why you may ask? Well put aside all the usual festivals and events, as Rio is gearing up for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. It will be center stage and allow to show all of it's beauty, other then it's gorgeous beaches. All that is in the future though, the hear and now is just as good, those beaches are some of the best, and with rainforest's surrounding the city there's always something to do.

1. London (1)

"Sport to food to fashion, it's the center of the world this year"

http://ca.askmen.com/specials/2012_top_29/1-london.html

London is usually one of the most popular places to go but this year it has the 2012 Summer Olympics making it even more of a  hot spot. It will also be an abundance of the arts thanks to the 2012 London festival. The city will burst and you will see art, performance and creativity throughout the city. With it's rich history it still gives that old British feel, and the people are usually very welcoming.

There you have it, my top 5. Now there are still a ton of other places I want to go, like Sydney, Australia or Rome, Italy and surprisingly niether of which made the top 29 list. Anyways that is all for now, share your fav 5 if you want to.

From Osama to Sam

Source: Freefoto.com

My cousin Osama is a doctor and he just moved to New York for a really good job opportunity; except Osama now goes by the name of “Sam”. I understand why Osama changed his name; of course no one wants to be associated with one of the most evil men that ever lived, especially in New York.

Now I guess Osama is one exception I can handle when it comes to people changing their names to sound more western, but for the most part it really bothers me. I don’t even know why it bothers me so much, people should be aloud to do whatever they want and make their own choices but I rant about it all the time anyways

People change their name to more western sounding names for usually two reasons- to seem more integrated or because their western sounding name is easier for people to say. Mohammed becomes Moe, Moussa becomes Moe, Mahmoud becomes Moe, Belal becomes Bill, Salwa becomes Sue. Now how can you tell me that these ethnic sounding names sound nicer than these one syllable boring names. Your name is essentially your identity, and I really think by changing it you aren’t embracing your identity and culture.

Now my name is Fadia, and I’m pretty sure that isn’t really that hard to say. Yet people are always messing it up. I get Fatia, Fadima, Fatima, Nadia, Faddy- the list is endless. Now even though people are constantly saying my name wrong or mixing it up with other “fat/fad” names, I would never change it. People will always find a way to mess up your name no matter how easy it is to say, but I do not feel the need to accommodate for random strangers who can’t remember it when they first meet me. 

In the end I people have the right to do whatever they please, maybe they really do believe that Moe sounds better than Mohammed? I’m just throwing an opinion out there. If you guys have some thoughts in regards to this subject let me know! Do you agree? Disagree? Thank You!

-Fadia

Why I wish I was born Asian

There are so many things I love about Asian culture, but before I start I must make a disclaimer. I don’t really have any sources; most of what I am saying comes from random psychology texts books I have read over the years. So forgive me if a lot of the things I say are wrong and please correct me. I also must point out by Asian, I mean oriental people, not just people who live in Asia

Here in western society we value individuality, independence, leadership and standing out from the crowd. One of the main general reasons I like about Asian culture is that it is collective. Asian people value the whole collective group before their own individual needs. I think societies and families do a lot better when other people’s needs are thought about as well. When you just think about yourself, you may flourish in life while others may struggle. When you think of the whole, the whole becomes stronger and together more is better than one

I am a very shy person. Being shy is not a trait that western society values. Western society values people that are outspoken and stand out from the crowd. I believe I read somewhere (I’ll try and find some sources if I can) that Asian cultures value shyness. In Western culture people who shy usually are the “weird” ones in the group, while in Asian culture people that are loud are the weird ones in the group. I love this way of thinking because for so long I always hated my shyness. When I read that other cultures value shyness I realized its okay to be shy, and now it’s a trait that I actually like about myself. Source: Patternsof shyness in East-Asian and European-heritage students

Now this last reason is basically just generalizing people into groups; basically stereotyping. Sorry if I offend anyone, but Asian girls have the best style. I have yet to see an Asian girl that doesn’t have perfect hair and doesn’t know how to dress.

Anyways, let me know if this was very offensive or not. I’d love to hear your feedback!

I'm basically the old man in the back

Source: http://www.brucebriscoe.com

-Fadia

Will you stop to hear ?

In Washington, DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About 4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without exception – forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while.

Steve is a Musician took by 棕熊

About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:

*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
*If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: 

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made — How many other things are we missing as we rush through life??" -This is the origianl Youtube video.