The Eve of Christmas, 2008

Been a long time since I blogged! Missed my birthday, missed American Thanksgiving. Ah, well!

I've discovered the joys of Face Book. I've re-discovered university friends and others from some years past; made friends with people world-wide and connected with some nieces & nephews whom I've yet to see and they're 27 or so! On this eve, I'm peeved, because I had to work and I am sick as well. Boo-hoo. Life's tough, eh. Better to work than not. Better alive with a cold than . . .

'Tis the season and I fear the stress of life has meant no seasonally joyous cheer. I am trying, however. Yesterday, I made rice and curry, a Christmas time favourite at our house. Truth be told it's a favourite anytime of year. I got a Christmas 'pud' from England, sent by a friend, with strick orders to douse it with Brandy and set alight. That'll be my next move! I will probably photograph it for my Flickr site.

I'm babbling. Time to set my cake ablaze!

Wishing you happy holidays and a wonderful 2009!

LankaBlue²

Peace to India

I am listening online to the BBC about the attacks in Mumbai. To those who have lost friends and loved ones, my deepest condolences! To my friends Ruby, Anne, Radha, Kabir, Manjoc, and others, I share your fear & anger at this outrageous behaviour.

The world has been globally touched by the actions of a few who seek to destroy, rather than talk, work for change, to rebuild. We have to be blind to say injustice does not exist. But to seek justice through destruction simply does not work. It only alienates. And I assume injustice--or a sense of injustice--is at the root of such acts. Even so, I can not understand the mentality that justifies this path of destruction and pain. How can one bomb a hospital or a train station thinking this will bring about resolution or sympathy for one's cause?

Fighting for peace? Maybe that's the problem concept. Think about!

LankaBlue²

Hello and back again!

Been a bit since I posted. New course of study for Dr Beth! More on that later.

My nephew by marriage married in October in New York. He's married a Chinese American, but she lived in the East for many years. And I find it wonderful that someone from the 'East' as has joined the family. I still feel the foreigner in the family after all these years. They are young and in love and beautiful together. They make a stunning couple, but what I love most about what they write and say, is their commitment to each other, to their common goals and to the future. I wish them well!

My travel schedule has stopped entirely! I am completing my post doctoral qualification for counselling psychology. The format is intense with terms running in eight week cycles with nine session per cycle. In a sixteen week traditional semester that's twelve graduate hours and lots of work! Thus far, I'm loving it!

My first course was--ta-dah--MCT. Multicultural Therapy. It was a fascinating look at the issues we all face when trying to understand the other, no matter who the other is. Culture is wonderful, but it can be so divisive! Learning the art of compromise, learning to live with one another cross culturally, understanding what we do to one another--the "micro-agressions", the "micro-insults and micro-invalidations" that we act out against one another--is amazing. And we act without considering the impact of our actions. That's the reason for this course. And while normally, in most programmes, the MCT course is a concluding course, it was our first course.

Good idea. Learning the perceptions of another's culture, even theoretically, is a first step. We live in a global world. No news there. But our global understanding needs to catch up with our economic interdependencies. Easier said than done.

Lanka Blue ² signing off--wishing you many new cross cultural adventures!

Update on Life

It's been pretty silent from this side of the pond. Sorry! Busy! Just completed my first term back at University to complete my qualification in counselling. It's been great, meeting new people, learning new things, sharing life experience. I miss my students. But I have joined Facebook and keep up with their antics as well! This will be short note, because as usual, I'm tired and bed calls!

Sweet Dreams. Lanka Blue²

Leiden, The Netherlands

I'm travelling these days is to Leiden where I am studying to complete my qualification in counselling psychology. I stayed at the beautiful (Van der Valk) Hotel Leiden last week. It is on the banks of the Rhine river which flows through Leiden. Leiden is a sister city (twinned) to Oxford http://www.oxford.gov.uk/community/Leiden.cfm So, these two beautiful cities are joined together.

Leiden celebrates the end of the Spanish siege of the town in 1574 every October 3rd. Everyone in the city queues for a city hand out of white bread and herring, which is eaten with the "hutspot", a stew of potatoes, onions, carrots, etc. Members of my class who reside in Leiden will be celebrating with one another, warming their toes, eating hutspot.

This is the city of my Leembruggen Clan. Leembruggen's still remain in the general area, around Den Haag. For those of us hailing from the East, our family started from Leiden in the 1600s and went out with the Dutch VOC to Sri Lanka and Malaysia and from there to Australia. We have remained connected despite the distance. My great Uncle studied medicine in Leiden. My cousin lives in Amstelveen. The Leembruggen family business of worsted wool was abandoned some years ago after a rather long, illustrious history in Leiden. The P Clos and Leembruggen factory can still be viewed from the Langegracht.

So, this Leembruggen returns to Leiden four hundred years later to study, to carry on in the family healing traditions. I am proud. I am a Leembruggen. I am Dutch. Woo-hoo!

LankBlue²

9/11

There's a 9/11 commemorative service in Amsterdam & I'm thinking the drive into A'dam is necessary. I was *deathly ill* when the planes flew into the towers; thereafter, busy fighting to stay alive. For the first time, I have had a chance to focus on this day, although it's in the constant memory of us all, precipitator as it was for the war against Afganistan & the flawed war with Iraq.

We should remember, if we don't, that this did not just happen to Americans, though it happened on American soil. The last I read, 82 different nationalities died that day. Many were practicing Muslims.

How do we redress all the wrongs of this world? How do we redress the wrongs done to the 'Other'? To Us, whomever the Other & Us maybe? I think the answer is with PEACE. With talk, not war. I am happy to hear more commentators say that the war in Afghanistan, the war with AQ can not continue: We must talk.

Idealistic? Wrong? Leftist liberal drivel? Maybe. But look where war gets us. Let's talk.

PEACE, baby. Peace for the sake of babies yet to come.
LankaBlue²

The Possibility

This is Yafo looking toward Tel Aviv.



Yafo is a mixed community of Muslims, Christians, Jews, Secularists and Atheists. Churches bells ring. The call to prayer echoes daily. Bands boom on Sabbat. The place is alive with commerce. The faithful gather around orange juice and falafel stands. The flea market buzzes.



Yafo--ancient Joppa--retains that languid 'feel' of the ancient near east. Nooks an crannies beckon exploration: Artist's quarters, St Peter's fish, palm trees. The Arab Hebrew Theatre. Jews, Christians, Arabs living side by side.



Napoleon walked these streets, as did St Peter and Jonah before him. The Israeli artist Rubin painted the archways and peoples of this city, saw it the 'doorway' to the Orient. Yafo, so ancient, so modern. The model city for the Holy Land?

Possibly.



LankaBlue²

Time Flies--Flies Time?

I'm beginning a wonderful phase of life. Unfortunately, I've no time to enjoy it!
I am Dr Beth, but need to complete my qualification in psychotherapy. I start--after many hurdles--next week. I am elated. But duties of the present--specifically a student dissertation--keep me from diving in. This is when resentment reaches it's peak, although I am very fond of the student writing the thesis. As he is following in the psycho-social footsteps of foremothers and forefathers, I shall not chastise his lateness at turning in the thesis. But his timing is, shall we say, less than perfect!

Grumbling over. I've not had time to upload photos from our near month stay in the Middle East, although I believe I have written about it in this blog. In my other life, I would love to be a travel writer, making my living by travelling. Maybe that's a pain of another kind--being constantly on the road. But as we seem constantly on the road, why not get paid for it?

I've got it! The travel-writing psychotherapist. Sounds like a job for me!
Cheers and Groetjes,

LankBlue²

More to Come

http://people.bu.edu/gipgap/bios.html

This & That

Can you imagine a sunset as beautiful as this? It is spectacular watching the sun descend behind clouds, kissing the sea, ending as a tiny red blip on the horizon line. We sat in the lounge mesmerised.

To be drenched in sun light after months of Dutch rain is really wonderful. We enjoyed every moment. We experienced a 20° temperature change which made for a few dodgy moments, but we did tolerably well.

It's late in the Netherlands and I want to write more about this trip but sleep calls. (Seems I only ever talk about sleep these days). I have more work to complete before I can enjoy gabbing on-line. I feel the pressure to get things done so I can enjoy a few days before the real grind starts up again.

So, happy sunsets and sweet dreams to you too.

LankBlue²

Yafo by the Sea

I wanted to share yesterday's wonderful experience at Yafo--Joppa--by the sea. Yafo is a mixed community of Christians, Muslims and Jews just South of Tel Aviv. We spent the day 'walk about' visiting the Ilana Goor museum.

The museum is a renovated hostel and also the artist's home. And what a home! She gutted the building in the 1970's and started to renovate, keeping those wonderful oriental and mid-east details. Archways and brick from a by-gone era frame the rooms which are tastefully furnished with the occasional Henry Moore, Giacometti and her own wonderfully inventive work. She is an intelligent and playful omni-artist. And she lives in this beautifully restored hostel. (I caught a glimpse of her with a colleague lunching under the shade of a palm tree).

The sculpture garden on the roof top is wonderful. There one can view the Sea, take in the face of an ever changing Yafo, hear the call to prayer. Property prices for a 40 sq metre flat by the sea is now over 4 million US$ at the current exchange rate. Two years ago when I was visiting the region, a young colleague told me she had bought a flat at a very reasonable price and I should do the same. If only!

Sleep still eludes at 5.16 AM local time, but common sense does not.I am off to bed. G'day! LankBlue²

Sleepless in the Mid-East

I am sleepy! It's 4.37 a.m. and the Mediterranean Sea laps the shore line outside my bedroom window.

It is hot! The sun is beating down at 32° C in the day. We seek shade in the hotel lobby, lounge or pool side. Travelling's been kept to a minimum because we are both sick. Great! But sickness has it's reward: Reading! Yes, superb, uninterrupted reading.

My friend Jennifer lent me Woolf in Ceylon, the tale of Leonard Woolf, husband of famous Virgina, who was a Ceylon Civil Servant. The book is by Ondaatje--not of English Patient fame--but his brother.

In WiC, Ondaatje accomplishes a three fold task. He presents a summary of Lankan history; writes about his own experiences in Lanka and interweaves these around the story of Woolf & his days in British 'Ceylon'. Ondaatje also has some great old photos of Lanka.

I love these tales. It makes me want to read Woolf's own words in his autobiography, Growing. It's great to read Ondaatje, but why not get the tales from the horses mouth, as it were?

The Hon. Wilhelm Woutersz, Foreign Secretary (Ret) & very civil servant, loved his outstation assignments in Ceylon. Unfortunately, my dear cousin died before he could complete 'the telling'. One can only hope he, too, left diaries and journals which may one day become Woutersz Abroad.

Hmm. I like that title. Sounds like a job for me to pitch into!
Good news. Sleep descends. LankaBlue²

Neither Here Nor There

For all my rosy-eyed glimpses of the Middle East, for all my wonderfully unique experiences—I realise they are sanitised. I view these countries through four & five star hotel picture windows. I’m driven by private chauffeur to exotic malls, to exotic places, to view this or that wonder, usually ‘done up’ for tourists Euros.

I try to get below the surface. I've ‘palled about' with an Abayah clad woman and her children; shopped the local market for spices, fruits and pulses, donned a Hijab so as not to offend. But most of the time, I am me, clad as I am in the Netherlands, presenting myself to the world as I am: Take it or Leave it. Two strange things often happen.

I am not considered ‘white enough’—unless strolling about with my genetically Swedish husband and his blonde-haired, blue-eyed aura. So, the ‘Expat Class’ views me, treats me, as the Other. And the Other doesn’t know what I am. I am not them, this is clear. And so, I am again eyed with, treated with, suspicion.

This “in-betweeness” is the story of my life. I love this neither here nor there, neither this nor that status. It allows me to float between cultural lines dug deeply into shifting sands. But often, it is troubling. There is no one inner place to call home. No outer place either. No one passport really fits me, though I have had four in this lifetime.

I love this very condition, sometimes. I do not feel bonded—beholden—to one particular country, one particular place. I wish there were a ‘World Passport’ which mandated multiple cultural experiences and stays. The label ‘third culture’ isn’t sufficient these days, though it’s a good try. Maybe ‘pluri-cultural’ is a better term as my doctoral advisor once suggested.

If you want to read my dissertation research on this topic, have a look at Dissertation Abstracts International (ISSN 0419-4209), Humanities & Social Sciences, Vol 57 (9-A), Mar, 1997, pp. 3811. I am told there is a ‘persistent link’ to this record at http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=1997-95005-095&db=psyh

Good hunting! LankaBlue²

The Stuff of Love

If you are from Sri Lanka or South India, perhaps you recognise the food stuff to the left: Poppadom or Papad, Cucumber Sambol, Spring Onion Mallung, and meat curry. This is the staff of life! From freezer to oven to table, in two hours, amidst exam marking! Now, that's the stuff of love! We are celebrating our anniversary.

My North American husband loves our food. (I claim Rice & Curry though a Dutch Burgher!) He's visited my wonderful Island home, but sadly during seasons of war. My family had a fit at the thought of his helicoptering to Sigiriya for the sake of those lovely maidens. The Maidens are 'to die for' but the family wanted no RPG explosion on their conscious. Understandable. He opted for a trip to the Dehiwela Zoo--not really comparable, but a compromise. Lanka's changed since my last visit. After visiting almost yearly in the 80s/90s, it's been hard to stay away so long. May peace come to our Emerald Isle someday soon.

Maybe we were all better off when we were 'Ceylonese'. At least we shared our island home, or so it seemed. Maybe that's easy for me to say as my family and I were the last of a dying, colonial class. We did have it good for awhile--a long while. But I pine for Lanka, still. A Lanka I left as a wee one, but came to know again in my adolescence and adulthood. She is the same warm, loving place, full of light, sunshine and beauty, with wonderful people, if only we could find the way back to one another. I am at heart an idealist.

LankaBlue²

"Salaam Aleikhum"

“Salaam Aleikhum”. “Aleikhum Salaam”, I reply.

He gestures, palms upward, to a multi-coloured tent. All that’s missing is beige-white desert sand. A brilliant orange, green and white-frond overhang beckons. Cardamom coffee, pale as ale, percolates in a copper pot plucked from Aladdin’s cave. The pot sits on a coffee table-stove made of inlaid hardwood resting atop four brass-camel legs. Next to the coffee pot, a round wooden box of palm dates.

I sit in a comfortable niche, next to a bronze camel and brass lamp. In one swift motion, my host pours coffee into a small, porcelain cup which looks like a tiny inverted tulip, painted white with a red-gold rim.

I prop the pillows behind me. He smiles and places before me a plain white serviette. The box of plump, juicy-brown dates with yellow stem-ends follows, then a crystal ash tray for the date pits. The Persian carpet of pale pink and dark blue wool contrasts the simple geometric-patterned fabric of red, white and black which grace the walls and couch. The smell of the cardamom coffee fills the space. "The tent faces south but is left open East as a sign of welcome", he says. The desert comes to me.

I know this is Bedouin culture, sanitised. The chap serving me may well be Pakistani not Bedouin Qatari. But no matter. In this Oasis calm, amidst the bustle of Doha City life, the hospitality & heart of Bedouin tradition descends. There is an aura about my host—he is the genial Gastgaber who greets us, one and all, from New York, Nieuwegein or Nagasaki.

My Dutch Students

This was the last day of our Psychology of Religion class. These are my faithful Dutch students. We've had a really interesting time discussing what psychology has to say to religion; what religion has to say to psychology. Our last session was on Religious Coping and Mental Health. There's an amazing amount of data--studies and the like--linking religious coping mechanisms to positive physical and mental health outcomes. These second and third year students are busy conducting surveys, gathering data, and explaining results. May sound dry, but they were engaged, curious and questioning, not willing to take things at face value. And they are sometimes amazed at the results, particularly when they differ from their expectations. Here are some fine budding social scientists. Watch out for them!

Crowned Crane

Ungrateful? Moi? Good friend Joy just listened longsufferingly to my thirty minute harangue. Okay, good friends do that for us, don't they? Joy and I have known each other an eternity, almost!

Feeling a bit guilty, I thought, "I have so much for which to be grateful". Not in the least for Joy. But also for my life, my world, my experiences which are so rich.

So, why this photo? It's part of my joy--small "j"--part of my rich experience. I've seen the Crowned Crane in her native habitat, Tanzania. I've seen her in a lovely, green-pooled Oasis in Bahrain. What a privilege! This slender lassy turned her head and winked at me, just so. I was there, camera at the ready. What a joy, large "j".

May your day be filled with joy, both large and small.

LankaBlue²

Dead in the Bed!

Not sure what accounts for this sleeplessness--it's 3.20 a.m. I have been up for two hours now, working on papers, study guides and updating materials for what seems to be a never-ending academic year! Our terms--known as blocks--last until early June. Then there's marking and make up exams which students are allowed to take until August. It seems like I teach year round!

To-day my Oral Communications class made their persuasion speeches. It took some persuading to get certain students to move from information mode to persuasion mode, which rather intrigues me. I should think speaking to persuade, on a passionate topic, would be interesting. It certainly was for me in my Oral Com's courses. But then, I like to take on the issues. Rabble Rouser! Okay, this said, it's off to bed. I realise I emailed students the same material--twice. No excuse now!

Veined Beauty

When floating through the air, she appeared completely white, without pattern, without design.

She alit, tucked into lilac nectar, revealing her true colours: white and beautifully veined- green, a marvel to behold.

She rose again in silence, fluttering away at the speed of white.

Good Things in the Garden

Digital cameras are wonderful for close up work. Takes all the guess work out of lighting, F-stops, the works. Or not. Sometimes those bits are fun to fiddle with.

It is Pentecost or Whitsuntide. A holiday with sun! Not complaining about Dutch rain. Our world is lovely and green. But we get on average three weeks of summer sun. It's 30° C today and it's hot in our semi-city location. A real treat!

May your days be warm and bright and my all your Christmases be white!

LankaBlue²

"And I'm Mr Dr Beth", Sam said with a smile.

This is 'me mate', Sam. I'm told he never smiles. Well, here he is, grinning from ear to ear as we land in Qatar. We are ready for a new adventure, if only for a few days!

We have been travelling the Middle East for the last seven years and we love it! I sat in the business lounge speaking German with a Romanian married to an Italian managing an Emirate firm. This is the Middle East: Expats from everywhere. In every combination.

The call to prayer. The smells of the spice Souk. Emerald green sea, pale blue sky. White sand dunes. Baba ganoush. Stunning women in Abayah. Dashing men sipping cardamon coffee boiled in brass pots. This is the Middle East.

Burger King. Bennigan's. Versace. Mercedez. This, too, is the Middle East.

Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, The Holy Land, Egypt and the Emirates. Soon Oman. The Lebanon, we hope, though things look a bit dismal now. One day, God willing, Iraq, a land of incredible history and beauty.

What treasure troves. What incredible diversity, hospitality and generosity. What turmoil and distress. The world in microcosm

Only once an unpleasant word, with a Saudi, who thought I should know my place as a woman.
I do. It's along side you, dear sir. I'm Dr Beth.

Two Beautiful Women

These are two of my students in Oral Communications and Introduction to Psychology. They are super students. Bright, intelligent, lovely women from Kenya and London. Tomorrow, a glimpse at my Dutch students, equally lovely, bright and intelligent!

My English Division Students

This is my second year teaching in the English programme. It has been a wonderful experience meeting young women and men from mainly Africa and the West Indies. I feel a very real kinship with these students because we have such "pluri-cultural" backgrounds.

We are often British born colonials, with indigenous passports; or we've married into another culture and are naturalised 'something else'. We had early British education, but later American, German, Dutch or another academic experience. We speak at least two languages, usually more and we love to explore the world around us.

This background makes for lively class room discussions! For all we share, we can be very different. A Nigerian, whilst sharing a pan-African sentiment is still Nigerian, not Ghanaian, Kenyan or South African. And, as I am learning, African men and women, like all men and women, think differently. We are united by many things, yet appreciate our uniqueness.

My students want to get the best education possible and return home to rebuild or direct the building of their countries. Some have now emigrated to the Netherlands and work within their own ethnic communities. Some are looking ahead to other fields of endeavour, both geographically and educationally. They continue to evolve.

I am proud of them. And proud, that in some small way, I am helping them toward their goal.
They're a fine looking group, too!

Why I love Teaching!

One of my students just emailed me with questions about the survey she devised for our Psychology of Religion class. She's 'into it'! And I love it. What greater joy can there be than helping another person discover the joys of research? To help them discover 'data' that can shake the world? Yes, really. I know she will provide another new 'bit' of knowledge about human experience, psychology and religion. And it is my great privilege to help guide her along the way. As Steve Irwin would say: Woo-Hoo!

Here's where I work http://www.vuamsterdam.com/about_the_VU/index.cfm
Tomorrow, I'll take some photos of my students to show you what a 'fine group' they are!
Toodles!
LankaBlue

Umm. Good!

Here's a recipe for the culinary-challenged.

This might be a Betty Crocker brain child originally. But as it comes from my mother, improved by "moi", I can't say for certain. As "Dr Beth", I have no problem citing my sources. So, Ms Betty, if the original be yours, I credit you.


This is my Banana NutCake Recipe.

Ingredients

Bisquick™
300 grms (or same amount self rising flour)
Walnut Oil
50ml (you can use a combination of oils if you like)
Eggs
2 or 3 depending on size (larger, only 2)
Walnuts (crushed)
50 grm
Chocolate
50 grm (Zartbitter-Bittersweet, crushed)
Vanilla
A splash, maybe 1/2 teaspn
Bananas
3 ripened
Ginger
1/4 teaspn
Cinnamon
1/4 teaspn
Nutmeg
1/4 teaspn
Maple Syrup
to taste, maybe 1 tablespn

Key issue: Liquids combined should not be more than 75ml. If the mixture looks too "wet", add a bit more flour ;-)

Baking Instructions

Combine dry ingredients. Add liquid ingredients. Stir. There might be a few lumps, but that's okay. Spray a bunt pan with non stick cooking spray. You can use a baking tin, but what a pain! (And I don't know the size). Besides, a bunt pan allows you to creatively add raspberries or strawberries in the centre if you wish.

Bake at 180°C or 350°F for about 65 minutes. But check this! Cooking time, as you know, varies with the oven and I have a convection oven. It takes about 60 minutes in mine.

After cooking, let it cool. Turn out on a lovely platter or kitchen cutting board, if your singificant other can't wait to tuck in.

Do try this. It smells divine. It tastes great with an afternoon 'cuppa'. Enjoy!
From LankBlue² to You.

Day Two

You will note, I have already changed my blog format. What's life about if not change? Day two of blogging and my life's not changed one iota ;-) Late last night, things whirled through my brain to write down today. Come daylight, gone. Ah, well.

I am procrastinating. Work calls (When doesn't it?). If I can upload the photo of our new balcony decking, I will. Oh, joy, I hear you say? Too right!

Oops. Battery's dead. Now I'm really procrastinating.

Have a great Sunday. More later, I promise ;-)

Getting Started

Here goes . . . after an age, I'm blogging. It is a beautiful day outside--sunshine all over the Netherlands, a rare thing indeed! Best of all is the bird song outside our balcony. We live next to a canal and the weeping willow is packed full of local birds like the Ekster, the Spreeuw, and the grote bonte Speecht. Beautiful! We set up a feeder as well. Never thought I would actually use those binoculars!

This is the last day of Spring Break at the College where I teach. Sammy (my significant other) is recovering from surgery; I am recovering from an intense term of Oral Communications and Psychology of Religion. I have both English and Dutch students this term which runs until 5 June. They are a joy. Really! I'll post some snaps of my students later. The English division students are from Africa and the West Indies mostly, with lovely accented English. I am not teaching in Dutch, not yet! My Dutch students have excellent English language skills. I do, however, read their essay and papers in Dutch and provide them with a Dutch exam. A lot of work!