Making History

I try not to use this blog for political purposes but today, I'm so proud to say I'm an American.

While in Pakistan I met several people who believed that America was ran by Jews. While in Georgia, people told me they didn't like Obama because he was black. While in Korea, I was often teased and harassed by my British friends because our radical president managed to drive not only Afghanistan and Iraq but also our own country into various states of civil and economic unrest.

But today, my fellow Americans have hope and have truly made a vote for change.

You don't have to agree with Barack Obama's policies. I only ask that you celebrate with me the momentous changes he represents. A country once divided over slavery, then again divided by policies such as "separate but equal" and once again by economic hardship defined in terms of "minority groups" has found a man to bridge those divides. Obama isn't just black man, he a force that shows we have changed and a symbol for the world to be more tolerant.

The declaration of independence states that "all men are created equal" and for the first time America is seeing equality not just in schools, not just in legal representation, not just in the work place, but at the highest reaches of our country--the presidency. In a world where wars across Africa, Asia and the Middle East are often waged along lines of ethnicity and religion, we now have a real, visible, tangible, audible person calling out amongst the world's leaders and showing them that these things can be achieved.

Here is a man, both white and black, both of Muslim and Christian heritage, raised both in wealth and poverty, at home and abroad. If you cannot celebrate his victory, at least celebrate who he is. Good luck, Obama.

Off and Pak-ing!

Pakistan was wonderful, a real treat and a nice escape from the craziness of India.

I rolled into Amritsar--the holy Sikh capital of the world--on Sunday and rolled right on out Monday afternoon. But Sunday in Sikh land was really nice too. While Delhi's wild honking has somehow made it's way this far north, the rude hawkers and touts have not and I found it relatively easy to walk down the street hassle-free. Amritsar is home to the beautiful Golden Temple where the original holy Sikh books are housed. It's completely impossible to describe in words but when I make it to Delhi tomorrow, I'll try to post a few photos. But the best thing off all is how Sikhs practice community--everything is free!! There are free dormitories for pilgrims and visitors as well as free meals at the temple kitchen (open 24/7). Yes! A FREE day! Upon arriving at 5 am, I quickly found the foreigners dormitory and put my stuff in a locker. That's where I met Tess, a really fun guy from Germany who was on his way out. We had a great time hanging out all morning and sharing a cup of Chai in celebration of some recent success in his pursuit of scholarships. Later that night, a guy from Canada joined me to watch the India/Pakistan border closing ceremony. Unfortunately all of my videos were accidentally deleted but hopefully the photos will accurately show the goofiness of this event. It's like a Charlie Chaplin film meets M*A*S*H. It was a fun day. The only draw back was the bed bugs... Luckily I slept in a bed without them but the other two people in my room were not so lucky--they woke with bites all over! Eeek!

Sunday afternoon I continued on to Lahore, Pakistan. It was an interesting day. Crossing the border was an experience to remember as I was the only one crossing. The place was virtually deserted save a handful of border guards. This particular border point is the only place foreigners are allowed to cross by land and it's often closed due to fighting over the Kashmir region, so making it across was momentous--few get to do it. And lucky for me, I'm an American! Chinese, Pakistani and India nationals can only cross by train which is always delayed by about 3 hours on both sides for custom checks!

Once I crossed, I was instantly impressed. Pakistan was LOADS cleaner. The people smiled more. The buildings were more modern with air conditioning. And my tuk-tuk driver was super nice; on the way to Lahore, he not only bought me lunch as a welcome gift but also stopped to help to people who's motorbike broke down. Indians just wouldn't do that (or at least not any that I met).

Upon arrival, I checked in to the Regal Internet Inn (basically the backpacker's first and only choice in Lahore) and was warmly welcomed by Malik and his groovy group. Some people had been living there for months, some had arrived just that day, but all of them were kind, interesting, intelligent, and really funny. There were people from Morocco, France, Australia, Germany, UK, and me. All sitting around the coffee table in a makeshift-living room up on the roof, we all enjoyed sharing stories from the road. It was just like a home and the friendly atmosphere was just what I was missing. Maybe it was the facilities or maybe it's the fact that you better be determined and a little "out there" to go to Pakistan, but they were the best bunch I've met yet. Later that night we all went to Food Street to dine on some truly delicious kebabs. It was amazing. I've seriously decided that Pakistani food is second only to Thai and not by much.

The next day, every one slept late (as in 11 am)--including me! Shock of the century! The bed was just too comfy and clean! Then I headed out to see the Lahore Museum, the second largest museum in Asia. Too bad I only got to see one gallery of 20... Just 15 minutes after I arrived the power went out and never came back on. I waited two hours before the closed and locked the doors. It was rather disappointing. So I did the next best thing: I went to the fort. It was well worth the trip. Rebuilt numerous times since around 100 AD, the fort's present state is all that's left of Akbar's remodeling in the 1600's. Most of it's in ruins but I got some great photos and really enjoyed the emptiness of the 26 acre complex. (This month is Ramadan and Muslims are supposed to fast both food and water during the day which means most of them stay home and just think about eating and drinking.)

After the fort I went across the street to the mosque which can hold over 100,000 worshipers at a time! Wow! There I met a really cute old man named Sawamni who kind of tricked me into being my guide (as most will do) by telling me it was free, at the end though, after a long sad story about his house being swept away by a flood, he asked for a donation. I'm pretty sure the story was fake but he was just so cute I couldn't help it and I paid him more than his service was worth. It was just so nice to have someone to talk to, who smiled and laughed and joked with all the joy in the world. I have a great photo of him which I'll post soon. When we parted, he gave me his home made business card written on a piece of Coca-Cola cardboard box. It was adorable. While at the mosque, I also saw some interesting relics: hairs from Mohammad's mustache, Mohammad's turban and cloak, as well as Mohammad's walking stick. Very interesting... Though I highly doubt any of them really belonged to the man. lol. But I guess that it's not really whether their real or not that's important, perhaps it's just what they symbolize and the reassurance they give believers that maintains their value. It's also worth mentioning that while in Delhi at the National Museum I saw three relics of the Buddha: three pieces of his bones.

Then I went back to the Inn/dormitory and chilled out for the rest of the evening with some truly remarkable people. Malik--the owner--was Benezir Bhutto's Press Secretary (Bhutto is Pakistan's recently departed, former Prime Minister, beloved by most Pakistani's; her husband was just recently elected President there). We had some interesting talks and I really look forward to using him one day as a contact for a story because this man knows EVERYTHING and EVERYONE in Pakistan. Just love him. I also met a guy named Chris who writes for The Stranger in Seattle and is currently en route to Afghanistan as an embedded journalist. Good news for me because that's yet a second contact that I can use in the near future! Among the others around the coffee table were several young men who had recently been to Kyrgyzstan and offered lots of advise and pointers for traveling there.

But perhaps it was my conversations with the locals that were most interesting. Every conversation started like this:

Where are you from? --America.
Your country is attacking mine. Why do you do that? --Well, that's President Bush and no one likes him.
Then why is he your President? --Hmmm... Good question...
Do you hate Pakistan? --No.
We are not terrorists. Your country says we are terrorists but we are not. --I know. I'm sorry about that.

Can I just say here that the sooner Bush leaves the safer Americans will be at home and abroad. I met lots of people who are hostile towards Americans because of our President and the crap he says and the decisions he makes. It's really unfortunate that these days many American's choose to stay home out of fear rather than travel and spread goodwill because I see no other alternative to fixing this problem as long as he's in power. (An interesting side note: one guy told me that some teacher from his mosque told him 63% of our parliament was made up of Jews. I laughed and had to set him straight. He was really surprised to hear that not only do we have a congress and not a parliament, but that only one Congressman is Jewish and that's Joe Liberman--less than 1%. Just goes to show you how our actions have really influenced the way people think of us.)

But today it was time to go, so I met up with another guy from Germany who was crossing over to India today and we made the journey together which was especially nice because we could split the cost of rickshaws to and from the border. He wasn't really all that interesting to talk to and a little argumentative at times, but I think in the end he was happy to be with me as I knew what to do and where to go at the border as well as how to get a rickshaw at a good price and where to go once we arrived in Amritsar.

So I'm back in Amritsar and currently wasting time on the internet. It's 6 pm and my train leaves at 9:30 (supposedly--these things are usually late) but I figured a little update would do well to fill the time gap. Tonight I'll travel by train to Delhi and then check in to a hotel in the morning. And then, around 2 am Friday, it's off to the airport! I can't wait to go to Kyrgyzstan! Though I hear the food is nothing special, the scenery is and that home stays are totally the way to go. But the best part will be seeing MY best part: Jeremy. I miss him terribly. He's currently in Kazakhstan and will meet me in Bishkek on Saturday.

Until we meet, I'll be chilling out pool side in my glorious escape from the sub-continent heat! Yikes!! I've been sweating like mad! How much water does Kortney drink a day? 7 liters. Wow. And the most amazing part is that even though I'm drinking about half of my body weight in water, I only have to use the bathroom about once a day. That means I'm sweating A LOT.

Keep reading! I'll be posting photos soon with perhaps a few more anecdotes from my sub-continent adventures!

Pure Madness

Mad Cow mania is all over Korea. Since the first week of April, Koreans everywhere have been ready for war over President Lee Myung Bak's decision to reopen beef imports with the United States. The out lash has been significant. We're talking Vietnam War protest significant. In fact, in many ways the fall out resembles war: candle light vigils, beef boycotts, protests with over 80,000 people in attendance, barricades around The Blue House (Korea's White House), and even resignations of top government officials. This is no small matter.

The US has had two case of mad cow disease total. The first case occurred in December 2003 and was not even a US born cow; the cow was imported from Canada. The second case of mad cow occurred in September 2005, however, that cow was deemed a "downer" long before the disease was detected and was never deemed suitable for consumption. In addition, it was determined that the 2005 cow was born before the 2003 feed ban, therefore not a product of current regulations and procedures. Not a single case has been reported since.

In addition to new feed regulations following the two cases, in December 2006, a South Dakotan laboratory isolated a gene necessary for Mad Cow disease and ultimately created away of producing cows with out the gene, theoretically making an artificial immunity.

But these facts make no difference to South Koreans. They are beyond rational and instead believe American beef is unsafe and unsuitable with all the fervor, devotion and blind acceptance of a cultic following. They are even convinced that people of Asian decent are more susceptible to the disease than any other people group in the world (a notion with no scientific evidence). Koreans also believe that cows over 30 months old are more likely to carry the disease--another notion with no scientific evidence. It seems to me that the general populace of Korea would rather base policy on urban legend than on fact. Never mind that millions of Americans and people all across the world eat American beef everyday and go on living normal, unaffected lives.

The April deal President Lee made as part of a new free-trade agreement allowed all imports of American beef to resume, minus a few parts such as brain matter and the spinal cord (prior to the first case of American mad cow in 2003, South Korea was the US' number three importer of beef). However, the deal was destined to fail.

With unprecedented anger and fear, the Korean people have swayed their government. Most want the deal to be scrapped all together, keeping the trade routes closed. Some have agreed to compromise and ask that the government ban certain parts and all cattle over the age of 30 months. The government agreed to the later but anger and resentment remain.

In the wake of recent protests, Mr. Lee's entire cabinet has resigned in order to save face for their party's leader. But the people are still unsatisfied. Despite the resignations, despite the facts, despite the re-worked deal, many Koreans are still calling for President Lee's resignation.

Lee, who is still within his first 100 days of his first presidential term, now finds himself in a very precarious position. When elected, he was elected with an overwhelming majority of votes; in my province he received 70% of the voted. Now his approval rating is below 25% and he's revered on the same level as George Bush. As a result of lost confidence, Lee has been forced to scrap numerous plans from his campaigning days such as building a large shipping canal across the peninsula, east to west. (I should add that this was a ridiculous idea in the first place.)

It seems that the Korean president's position is in danger. It's not just the old people protesting--it's everyone, from ages 3 to 70. Even my students hate their new president and have drawn numerous cartoons of him in my class which often speculate whether his political madness is beef related.

In the meantime, backlash against Americans has begun. I've heard several stories in the last week of Americans being yelled at and spit on due to the beef controversy.