SERIES : Cultural ambassadors: USA (Cross-Culture Email Connection)

I am happy to announce that we have a second contribution from the USA for our series of cultural ambassadors, this time from the great lake area in the north. Our lovely fellow swapper will give us another insightful view on a country with a young but rich history.

• a description of what you eat for breakfast
Usually, my breakfast is some fruit and some water or juice.
The "typical" American breakfasts include eggs, sausage or bacon, toast and hash browns or pancakes.
I do not eat animal products, so my breakfast is not typical of my country.
Some people stop at a fast food restaurant to grab a quick breakfast.
McDonald's seems to be one of these most frequented places.

• a short description of a typical work day
Most people drive to work or take the bus (public transportation.)
As for me, I am unemployed outside of my home - so my workday goes something like this:
wake up, log on to the pc, feed my husband when he wakes up, (if we have to go to the grocery, we go then), maintain the house, eat something, do my crafts, prep dinner (or sometimes we go out), sometimes in the evening my husband and I may watch a movie together.
When he is not here (I am a military wife), my day goes something like the above - but sometimes I will skip dinner.

• a description of your favorite day off (weekend or holiday)
The weekends are pretty much lazy days around here.
When Jacob is not home, I sometimes take long walks and window shop.

• a short description of your country and its position in the world, including something you like about it and something you don't like
America is said to be the policemen of the world. I do not like this aspect, so much - but am proud of my husband for fighting for our country.

• a list of languages (optional: dialects) that are spoken in your country
English is the primary language.
Spanish is becoming more prevalent.

• a description of the most common ethnic minorities in your country and how they are viewed
Actually, Anglo-American people are quickly becoming the per capita minority.
Most of our neighborhoods around where I live are African-American and Latin immigrants.
In our areas, everyone seems to work toward getting along.
The biggest minorities that we have a problem with getting equal treatment lately are the disabled and the homosexual.

• a list of the three most important holidays of your country and how they are celebrated.
Most of the holidays celebrated around here are Christian based.
The two biggest being Christmas (the celebrated birth of Jesus) and Easter (the celebrated resurrection of Jesus).
Gifts and baskets are exchanged respectively.
On July 4th, we celebrate Independence Day with a big parade and fireworks.

• description of some national specialties/products
The United States exports from about $906 USD billion to $1.057 trillion USD worth of goods & services to the rest of the world annually.
Our main exports are:
agricultural products (soybeans, fruit, corn) 9.2%
industrial supplies (organic chemicals) 26.8%
capital goods (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers, telecommunications equipment) 49.0%
consumer goods (automobiles, medicines) 15.0%
Our main imports are:
agricultural products 4.9%
industrial supplies 32.9% (crude oil 8.2%)
capital goods 30.4% (computers, telecommunications equipment, motor vehicle parts, office machines, electric power machinery)
consumer goods 31.8% (automobiles, clothing, medicines, furniture, toys)

• a description of the role of men and women in your country
In our country, men and women are supposed to be equal under the law.
Both are potential house spouses; both are potential wage earners.
A woman does not have to be married to own property any longer, although that was so at one point in our history.
Still today, women generally make less than men at the same jobs (glass ceiling).
There is no specified role for men and women.

• a famous person from your country and what she/he is famous for
An example of an American Artist from my country is Chris Isaak.
He is am American rock musician who was born in Stockton, California in 1956.

• a type of craft that is typical for your country (doesn't have to be typical ONLY for your country)
Native American crafts include making dream catchers and peace pipes.
Sadly, the United States is one of the only countries who denies their Native heritage and culture for the most part.

• the role of religion in your country
Although the constitution was founded with Christian principles, our first amendment grants us the freedom to worship as we choose.
Religious freedoms are granted for every citizen.
There is no country religion.

Alright, for foreigners like me, I need to add some pics and videos for clarification. Hash browns? 

source

Ah, little patties from mashed potatoes. 
Many countries have these with slight variations. The Irish are very proud of their "boxty", us Germans like our "Kartoffelpuffer" and in India I had some spicy "potato tikki" that I still drool over. Over here, however, we don't eat these patties for breakfast, we have them for lunch with apple sauce (boiled apples either puréed or with some big chunks left in). Many Kids love it. How about your country? What's your potato patty recipe and how and when do you eat them?

Chris Isaak might also need clarification. He calls for a video. There we go:

In 1991 people were still wearing these giant bold color suits and Elvis hair? Wow, I really forgot.

Dreamcatchers are also not necessarily well known outside the U.S. For those of you who haven't seen dream catchers before, it is a traditional talisman in some Native American tribes, such as the Lakota. 

source

The Native Americans create these delicate objects to prevent bad dreams. Depending on the legend, good dreams are let through the hole in the middle whereas the bad dreams are caught or the other way around. I had great fun creating a dream catcher in school when I was little. It is quite complex but yields a wonderful result. If you'd like to make one yourself here is a link to an original tutorial by a Native American. Or, for those who prefer video tutorials, here you go:

Something bad Germany and the US share is that apart from the above mentioned exports these two countries are also amongst the biggest arms dealers in the world. This is mostly hidden from the population. One of my friends works in a shipping company and one day told us in surprise that there was a shipment of 300 transport tanks to a middle eastern country. It was not in the news, not anywhere in the media. This creates in my opinion a very hypocritical diplomatic position. Sell weapons for peace...

To end with something nice, pictures of a 4th of July parade are on the first contribution from the USA, check the "ambassador" of the north east of the US, quite interesting. Comparing the two is also very insightful. 

I am very thankful for this great personal review of our fellow swapper. 

Also check out the other contributions if you are interested:
Brazil
Norway
Italy
Netherlands

Easter and Update

All of you who celebrate Easter, I hope you had a nice one.

So, what do we do in Germany? My family used to have a big Easter breakfast (without guests, just my sister and my parents). After that the kids would search eggs in the garden, or, if the weather was bad, inside the house. Today my future hubbie's parents and my mom were visiting our grandparents and my sis was on holiday, so we organized the breakfast for whoever was left (not much, let me tell you...) I did some last minute watercolor egg painting and we had rolls and a walnut ciabatta I had prepared and eggs, different kinds of cheeses, sausages, smoked salmon, jam and a lot more. In the picture you can see our dining room table after the breakfast. All the books you see there are cook books... I have a little obsession.

So, what else is planned after one month of this blog? We have a few more contributions of the cultural ambassador series (cross culture email swap) which I am working on right now. I have worked a little on the layout as well and will have to start thinking about a header soon. I am also preparing my second tutorial, still something Japanese, I can tell you. And then there are all the little topics that come to my mind. Oh, and some travelling experience. If there's anything specific you'd like to see or contribute, don't hesitate to let me know.
Thanks to all my readers for your interest and comments, I hope you'll enjoy future contributions as much as I do.

Yours,

Charlotte

The best skin color in the world - tanning, whitening, or what?

In Germany and many western countries a healthy tan (not the overdone "coin-mallorca" one) is regarded as quite attractive. I guess the reason is that it means you have the money to go on holiday to a nice and sunny destination. Historically, being tanned was often not regarded attractive because it signified that you belonged to a lower class. Only farmers and street merchants had to work outside where their skin would get darker from the sun. To appear more "noble", people even practised skin whitening by applying (often lead-based) powders.
Today, on the other hand, there is a whole tanning industry at work providing us with a more or less fake tan. Tanning spray, self-tanning lotion, showers, tanning beds... I know there are also people out there who tan for health reasons and I'm not talking about that.

Source

The text under "self tan" says "wonderfully even tan without sun".
When I was in India, the situation was absurdly reversed. Darker people were regarded much less attractive. My pretty bland skin color over here was suddenly regarded very nice. This shows also when you look at posters of Bollywood stars: with some you can hardly tell they are not white.

source

There is no difference for Indian men or women. I was quite surprised when I heard that Sharukh Khan was promoting skin whitening cream for guys. The mechanism is simple but effective: dark = unpopular and stupid, fair = popular and smart. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad, have a look:



So, cappucino/very light brown is the answer for everybody? Nope, that'd be too easy. Here's an ad for snow white. Not as funny, but interesting:



It might have been a coincidence but on my tour through the north of India my driver was of a very dark shade, his sister with a university degree as a teacher on the other hand was a lot lighter. My driver and I had trouble communicating as he barely spoke English and I almost no Hindi. I understood, however, that he repeatedly talked apologetically about his own dark complexion and told me about his pretty sister.
I wonder how much of that is coming naturally as a desire for what is rare or has a certain luxury connotation (being able to afford holidays or belonging to the ruling class) and how much is industry, getting us to feel bad so we buy stuff we wouldn't otherwise.
After all this I enjoyed hearing about the operation beautiful campaign where you leave affirmative messages in public. I found one of the handwritten "you are beautiful" notes once and it really made my day. Have a try; I will start taking some post-it notes with me from now on, so I can add a touch of feel-good here and there (as a teacher having post-its is always handy anyway).
I also like this charity project that helps young black girls explore beauty through photography. I think there needs to be a bigger effort to counteract the influence of advertising.
My reader "Onelovelygurl" was so kind as to remind me of the Dove campaign to show more natural women in advertising. Of course, these were also digitally manipulated, but it is a step in the right direction.

Source

One of our most famous women magazines, BRIGITTE, now only uses "real people" as models. Many of them are still almost as thin as models, but it looks a bit more healthy on the whole. Some people complained that no one wanted to see "ugly" people showing off fashion (they were still really pretty and had makeup and all, they were just not skinny size). What do you think?

Do you know about any campaigns that make a change by supporting inner beauty ?

SERIES: Unravelling Foreign Craftiness: KIRIGAMI

Oh, I get the "being a noob"-feeling smacked in the face so often since I've started blogging a month ago. Now I have accidentally deleted one of my best posts (as I thought I was just deleting duplicate copies). I have a backup, but all your lovely comments are lost. I am soo sorry and sad. You're probably not going to make this mistake, but let me tell you, always check which version you are actually deleting. I also have to redo all the links :-( So here is the recovered version:


Part one of uncovering foreign craftiness will feature Japan. Some of you might know Kirigami already. I'll give you a little portrait about the craft, some resources to get started and my own experience when I tried my luck. I used to do kirigami a little as a kid (cutting snowflakes...) but apart from that I didn't have a lot of experience. Then one of my swap-partners and first blog followers was so sweet to send me a kirigami starter kit. Also see the next post for a tutorial of a kirigami window hanging.

Craft

Kirigami

source

source

History and Role in the Country
As you could have guessed, the first part of the name "kirigami" means "to cut" and the second "paper". Cutting the paper is often combined with folding the paper.
I couldn't find a lot about the history and role of kirigami. Several sites mention that kirigami goes back a long time and was used to create offerings for the gods in temples. It later became recognized as an art form. Today many primary school children learn it by cutting snowflakes or making paper doll chains.
Artists on the other hand create amazingly complex designs as you can see on this page (that is also a good starting place for information about kirigami).

How it is done
There are millions of ways to do kirigami. You can fold the paper first and then cut away shapes to create symmetry or even fold in between. It completely depends which project you'd like to do. Have a look at what you get when you search for kirigami in flickr. Amazing variety, isn't it?!

The snowflake is a good place to start as the complexity is only determined by your skill, it doesn't take too long (not like an altered book project), the ingredients are cheap and the results are very interesting designs. And you won't necessarily end up with a snowflake as my how-to shows...

Here's a tutorial of how to create the basic snowflake:



Here's a more complex one (although the background music makes is quite annoying after this long winter...). As you can see, there are different folding techniques. 



Ok, but what do you do with all the snowflakes you created? This designer's site has some awesome and stylish products made from kirigami designs. He makes them from fabric or uses the designs as stencils.
Aren't these coasters nice:

 source

If you are in a place that has internet but no paper, this site has a game that lets you cut snowflake designs (with straight lines). It is also nice practice at times.

Here's a video that shows you how to do a three dimensional christmas tree with star on top by combining folding and cutting. Not really in season, but it's lovely.

Beginner's review
Difficulty: 
Totally flexible. When you start with the snowflake even kids can do it and at the same time there is no upper limit. The complexity of the design will reflect your skill. If you aim higher and attempt some pop-up shapes or architecture, the difficulty increases significantly. Beware as you can become frustrated if you aim too high.

Equipment:
You only need good paper scissors and paper. My scissors had a round point which was helpful as it didn't get caught in the details I had already cut. A sharp point is probably better for details though. Use thin paper for snowflakes so the multiple folds don't get too bulky. I used thin origami paper. You can use different colors so you'll get more than just white snowflakes.

Fun factor:
High. It was fun to do something I've done as a child but now on a more advanced level. Also, cutting snowflakes doesn't take long and the end result is always a nice surprise. So five stars for fun factor!

How to make your own chai

Ek cup chai krapya. That's how you order chai in India, not "one chai latte elephant vanilla decaf, please". True, the sweet, made-from-concentrate chai you can get at coffee shops and the like taste nice and when I'm shopping I also sometimes get one on the go. But that's not the real deal. Also you can't get it when you are at home with  some close friends and need something to accompany a great conversation or soothe the mind.

I will share my tried and true recipe with you, but first some clarification.


Chai is a wonderful word that is used in different cultures for "tea". I know of Iran and India, but there are more, I am sure. In Germany we use the word "Tee", like the English word. What we mean by it is simply tea leaves brewed or boiled in hot water. In the Middle East and parts of Asia tea is often combined with milk and spices. During my time in India I fell in love with Indian chai. It was the most common drink apart from water, I'd say. Every time my driver stopped somewhere, he offered me a small glass/plastic cup (about 100ml) of the sweet hot chai. It is in essence black tea brewed with milk and water and added spices. The combination of spices is what influences the quality of the chai. It is very difficult to get the combination just right so that neither ginger, cinnamon nor cloves are too dominant. Whenever I drink a cup of a perfectly harmoneous blend, what comes to my mind is the word "serenity". Good chai never fails to calm me down.

You need:

So, here we go:

Homemade Masala Chai 

Black tea (Nice quality and/or organic preferred. First or second flush are good) no tea bags!

Milk (anyone tried soy?)

Same amount of water

Ginger, sliced (about one small thumb size, like 3 cm/1 inch)

2 Cloves

A cinnamon stick

4-6 cardamom pods (slightly crushed so the tea can get inside)


 
1. Fill a medium sized pot (mine fits about 1.5 liters) half with water and half with milk.

2. Fill a tea egg/sock/filter with 2 tablespoons (not heaped) of the black tea. Add the spices (you can also put them straight in the water, they are easy to pick out). Add to the pot.

3. Heat and simmer for about 1.5 hours, tasting occasionally whether the spices are getting too sharp.

4. Add some sugar to taste and enjoy.

Too much effort? Believe me, it's worth it.


 
Funnily enough the recipe is from my favorite Indian restaurant over here in Bremen. The people here are super friendly and the atmosphere is very relaxing. Check here for some local interculturality, if you want. You can see the owner on the website, who I've known for quite a while now and who was so sweet as to share his recipe with me. Although the restaurant is called Bombay he is not from Mumbai. Not all Italian restaurant owners can be from Venetia either, right?! So much for cultural stereotypes.

Bringing home recipes from your holidays can be so great or such a disappointment. My family often brought home wine and cheese (Pecorino) from our holidays in Italy only to discover that they had tasted soo much better under the Italian sun. Other recipes become family favorites and remind everybody of the wonderful time everybody had. Here are two really nice examples by prominent bloggers:

"Yes and Yes" has a wonderful collection of her favorite recipes from her travels around the world.

Check "Sweet Paul" for a wonderful travel story and a hearted recipe. (Hello Paul, I just bought Ricotta yesterday and am going to prepare your dish right now. Thanks so much!)

Let me know if you try the chai recipe yourself or if you have any questions. What is "tea" in your language?

Featured on one pretty thing!

Wahoo! I am so happy that Rachel of "One Pretty Thing" has linked my tutorial on her site.

This is sooo amazing. I have followed her blog for weeks everyday. It is like a giant craft book for free. And she posts every day. Twice. How amazin is that?! Check it out.

SERIES: Unravelling Foreign Craftiness: KIRIGAMI tutorial

Kirigami Window Hanging

When the spring cleaning is done and the windows are nice and shiny again, it is time for spring window hangings. I'll use my recently unravelled kirigami skills for this little project. It only takes about 30 min. plus a little extra for petting the cat if you have one.

1. Fold the paper along the guidelines in the videos of my previous post. Draw the design on your folded piece of paper if you want to. As you can see I used a very basic square folding technique and still the end result is quite nice. If you want to have a window hanging that is pretty from both sides you have to be really careful with pre-drawing on the paper. That's why I didn't do it.

2. If you don't draw the design on the paper, have some style elements in mind. I was thinking vintage floral tapestry for spring, which gave me enough inspiration to cut away. Just start somewhere. Leave some of the folded diagonals standing, otherwise your design will fall apart. You can cut away much more than I did, though. If you don't cut away the upper left corner, you'll get a less-snowflaky and more square design.
My first tip: Don't do sharp u-turns with your scissors, it will leave marks on your pretty paper. Rather move at tight corners from two sides. And always hold together the layers of the paper close to where you're cutting.

3. Now my second tip: Immediately cut away a little outside every shape you cut. You can see in the picture above that I cut about 1,5 mm / 1/9th of an inch around every leaf and blossom. This is a huge help as it will prevent shapes touching, which looks bad. It also keeps the distance between shapes roughly equal which helps you to create a lacy quality in your design. The width of this margin will determine the intricacy of your design.
Some recommend not moving the scissors but only the paper. I never manage to stick to rules and it also didn't work when I got to the inner parts of my design. I held my paper like this, carefully bending away parts to be able to access the others.

Now my future hubbie let in the neighbor's cat and since I'm a complete slave to cats I didn't move anymore and had to shoot pics from where I sat.

What happens when the paper shifts? Try to align the layers again. If you are in a tight spot continue first and correct the mistake somewhere else.

4. Cats always pick the spot that is the center of attention, don't they?! At least it is hiding a huge pile of paper und it.
Time for unfolding, carefully as not to raise the attention of the cat with its potentially devestating claws. Press the folds flat with your fingers. I was too much of a sissy to iron my design.

5. Now for the last step just run the whole thing through the laminating machine and cut around it. You can stick it to the window as I did or punch a hole and hang it. Please don't mind the ugly winter gardens... Nice spring project instead of the ole' snowflake.