Hey all!

It's 100 degrees, 150% humidity, and I'm wearing pants. I also take a rickshaw to work everyday. And I am in LOVE with India!! I miss all of you :)

Hey all,

Brianne's great wikipedia research reminded me that one of my PMMP goals was to get a group wiki started. I know we were talking about setting up a system for our CHAC groups, but until that gets going, Maria showed me this wiki-building site: www.pbworks.com. It's great! And free! It's like building a google group with the options of embeddable source code. I've been furiously loading pages with all the maps, tables, and google forms I can get my hands on.

Hello friends,

After riding with Nick this past weekend, I was inspired to finally write a post! If you didn't know already, I am in Philly (once again) for the summer. Many exciting things have happened to me since our last encounter. Here is a brief timeline:

1. I went to Moab, Utah and Mesa Verde, Colorado.
Summary: Amazing, see pictures for details.





2. I also went to New York City two weekends ago. It was also another great time. The highlight of my trip was walking 30 miles. I basically walked from lower Manhattan to the top and back. It was pretty incredible walking through the different neighborhoods and seeing the cultural and socio-economic differences. Here is an example:





Not even a 100 block difference!


3.I came back to Philadelphia. I guess the only other exciting event was the Manayunk Bike Race. The 156-mile classic remains the longest running and most important single-day cycling road race in the United States. In summary, it was awesome. About 300,000 people came to line up along the streets of Manayunk, Lemon hill, and along the river (Kelly drive and West river are closed off). It is basically the spring fling of manayunk. My friend's aunt has a barber shop by the Wissahikon station for the R6. I spent my time there hanging out with retired and active police officers watching most of them get slightly or completely inebriated.


I am also training for the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon. Hope to see you guys come and support me! I will be racing June 27th at 8:00 AM sharp.

See you soon,
Pete

Hello friends,

I know you have all been waiting anxiously by your computers for my first post from Cameroon. Well...The wait is finally over! I am writing from a cyber cafe near to where the volunteers share a house. We went to the graduation ceremony for the school yesterday and spent 4 hours listening and learning to the students as they went through each grade performing and presenting. It was long and tiring, but very worth it. Tonight if we have time we will update our blog http://upennuac.blogspot.com/ which I'm sure you will all follow enthusiastically. I hope everyone summer's are going well, and I hope I can talk to you guys soon! Talk to you all soon I hope.

Sam

Hmmm, that's weird, the bar with the "New Post" thing wasn't showing up on our blog. It's fixed now, but that was weird.

Anyway, now that my friends are back from their cruise that I wasn't invited on (it's actually okay since they took a Princess line, which apparently is filled with old people. I'm going on a Carnival one with young people in July!) we took a second mountain biking trip before I head back to Philly tomorrow. We decided to try a new place and settled on a dinky state park close to our houses. Little did we know, that dinky state park would whoop our asses.

Last time we went mountain biking we went to a large state park, with a few beautiful lakes, and lots of foot traffic. A well known state park, the place was well maintained with lots of people around. The biking was really scenic, the we'd got up huge hills to reach some opening in the trees which led to some view of the landscape or of the lakes. It was great.

This time, it was legit mountain biking. The hills only led to, well, more hills. We got really intune with nature as throughout our entire trip we saw nobody but ourselves. The trails were sometimes crazy, really bordering on more of a hiking trail, as there were so many (huge) rocks we were afraid we'd break all of our bones down some of those really steep hills before making it back. Oh, and there were like no trail markers. Thank goodness for the iPhone and its GPS, because for most of the time we were just plain lost in the middle of the woods. There were no clearings, just trees, EVERYWHERE.

In the process of being lost we stumbled into some other reservation, which apparently wasn't public, with signs all over saying telling us not to trespass for fear of arrest. It was actually really creepy, because someone over there built stone walls all over, for no forseeable reason. And again, we were all alone. We even stumbled upon an envelope enclosed in a zip-lock bag which was hanging from a tree. We were pretty afraid that we stumbled across a drug deal and that we'd find money in the envelope, but luckily it was just a riddle... Uhhh, that's not sketch.

Anyway, we're glad to be alive and out of there. We spent a good 2 hours lost in the woods, and are pretty tired from walking half of it since the trails were treacherous. Aaaand, we want to go back there next chance we get!

EDIT: Shoot, I always forget something! So pretty early on, KRad, the most experienced mountain biker out of the three of us, was leading the way quite well. And then he came across our first really steep rocky hill. And then he went down it... tumbling literally head over heels with his bike. He was alright, but it was hilarious because he literally did a flip. Thank goodness for helmets!

Exciting things happen when you're a work-study at Civic House over the summer. You search for lost documents on the G-drive. You find brownies in the fridge. You get to run errands all over campus.

And sometimes you find that the organization you've been working with for a year and a half is actually the name of an ancient Mayan rain god. Yep, Chac/Chaac/Chaahk is a rain deity whose "lightning axe [...] strikes the clouds and produces thunder and rain," according to Wikipedia. I actually found it because I was being lazy and googled CHAC to get to the website. Thirteen million other websites popped up, so I scanned through the first page to just see what other things could possibly be named CHAC, and voilà!

Here's the first site I saw: Gods from Mayan Mythology... CHAC.

And here's the Wikipedia article corroborating the story.

We clearly have some untapped power here.

Hi kids!

I hope everyone's having a wonderful summer wherever they may be. This has been a crazy last two weeks so I'll briefly summarize:

After moving out of Penn, I went down to DC with my mom to try and find housing for the summer. I had emailed a bunch of students via criag's list and had arranged to see two apartments. One guy I emailed, David, was in Cairo for the past semester and first part of summer so he emailed me back and said his roommate Neil would contact me. Long story short, Neil happens to be the best friend of the president of my sorority and I'm now living there. It's a great house if anyone wants to come to DC for the weekend with plenty of space: you'd be more than welcome! Things on the DC schedule so far- explore M street, visit every single one of the free smithsonian museum, go to I <3 the 80's nights in a park close by georgetown on friday nights where they show free 80s movies, free sangria every friday evening in the National Gallery of Art Sculture Gallery, and BBQ Battle, a Saturday where a couple of streets are closed off and you can sample all this amazing food and there's tons of street music and dancing...I'll let you know how I do on accomplishing all of this!

I started my summer job this past week which was INCREDIBLE. Wasn't sure I was going to like it- I'm interning on the hill with Congresswoman Nita Lowey and I've never really done politics before. But it's great. I basically do ANYTHING that needs to be done which includes answering phones and talking to constitutents and running things places via the underground subway system that connects the house office buildings to the captiol. I've talked to plenty of crazy people over the phone (some were very adement, for example, that people should be allowed to carry concealed weapons in national parks, a bill that's being debated this summer). And when Nita calls and us lowely interns don't recognize her voice and ask who it is we get the resopnse- "Itssssssss Niiiiita!" However, I think it's better than my intern friend whos congressman calls almost every day and asks if the congressman is in. When she says no, he replies "of course not, that's me!" Apparently it will continue until she can recognize him by voice.

Anyway, moving on to more chac interesting things, on Friday I got to put together a binder that was going to the House Appropriations committee on global aid. It included all of the requests that my (liberal) Congresswoman wanted for aid to other countries and grants to organizations that contribute to helping out the global world. That was my favorite task so far.

Also, even cooler, if anyone wants to come to DC on CHAC business, the National Building Museum is having an exhibit called Green Community that runs through October 25th. The first part profiles communities from Greensburg Kansas to Mendoza ARgentina and Masdar City, Abu Dhabi. Each, they site as an example of sustainable planning policy, design and technology in different ways. The second part looks at technologies like edible landscaping, solar power capture and water recycling. The thing I like though is that they incorporate past, more "traditional" ways to create sustainable communities as well like growing local produce and walking to work.

CHAC tracker love and hopes for a fun summer,
Laura

Okay, he wasn't really on a spelling bee.

But, right now the Eastern Conference Finals are on at the same time as the National Spelling Bee. And I gotta say, as excited I am for this Cavs vs. Magic game (mainly because I really want Cleveland to win, but they're down 3 games to 1) this National Spelling Bee is definitely much more intense than the game.

Laodicean, can you spell that!? That was the winning word.

I can't believe that Cleveland's blown a 23 point lead, a 16 point lead, and now a 20 point lead (they're down 67-63 right now after being up 30-10) in this series though. Anyone else watching?

EDIT: Shoot, I forgot to include this originally--http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/up/news/1823197/total_recall_pixars_winning_streak--Rotten Tomato's recap of how awesome Pixar is. I'm gonna make it a plan to watch my remaining ones from that list over the summer.

PAACH just sent out a Google calendar of summer events in Philly, including free lunchtime concerts, author book signings, free outdoor movies (I'll definitely be at those since that sounds awesome. Does anyone else have a drive-in theatre by their house? I love going to the movies there.), multicultural events, and other events. Most of the stuff on there is in Center City and is free. I'd be glad to accompany anyone to anything on there!

You guys can find the calendar here: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=d501fs79up44kh0quf9sh01gc0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

I am currently sitting in my apartment in Paris eating a pastry before I have to head to class. I have been in Paris for 4 days now and really really wish I knew some French! I have learned a few words and ordered for the 1st time without pointing this morning. This trip is making me appreciate my language so much more.

Before coming to Paris I spent just under a week in London with another architecture student. London was the shit! It was great to be in a foreign place but still be able to understand people. We waited to long to book our Eurostar tickets to Paris (the train through the chunnel) so we decided to take a ferry instead. Not as simple as it sounds... To get from London to Paris we ended up taking 4 buses, 3 trains, 2 cabs, the metro, and a ferry. Oh--and we got stuck in Lille, France one night and had to spend the night in the sketchest hostel because we got kicked out of the train station. To make things better I got so drunk on the ferry that I forgot I had my ticket for the next train and spent forever trying to convince a lady (who only spoke French) to print me another one.

My apartment in Paris is not bad at all! There is the best bakery at the end of the block which we have gone to at least once a day. The ladies are no longer upset that we cant speak French and are helping us learn how to pronounce everything we purchase. Also, there is a little little wine and cheese shop just across the street which we frequent.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer wherever they are.....

So Jon Kole handed me down the Barackcycle for my riding (and commuting to DRL) enjoyment, and I am PSYCHED. Okay, so he didn't really hand it down to me, he gave it to me for 20 bucks and a few stipulations, but that's beside the point. I have a ROCKIN, SOCKIN, bike, and I'm quite excited to travel around Philadelphia and everywhere around in it.

Pete, you now have a wingman.

In fact, I'm so excited that my friends decided to go bike riding a couple times in the past few days, one of which was mountain biking at the nearby Lake Minnewaska. It was my first time mountain biking ever, and I'm probably really bad at conveying my enthusiasm for the trip over blogging, but from that experience mountain biking definitely has a shot at being my second favorite hobby (next to snowboarding). It's got the speed and downhill excitement of snowboarding, with a bit of sightseeing mixed in, and a whole lot of fun sweat-equity (read: going up hills really suck but is awesome when you get to the top). In fact, I really want to get a legit mountain bike now and travel around to different places to bike around. AND it's a summer sport, so I don't have to choose between that and snowboarding.

So thank you, Jono, for giving me your bike and inspiring me to take on a new hobby. It's cardio-tastic, yet not nearly as difficult as running, and infinitely more fun. Who knows, maybe if I like it enough I'll take on the great wonder that is bike and build too.

I'll end this post with two remarks: JAI HO (because that song's stuck in my head) and be sure to follow Jon's trip across the U.S. here: http://jonkole.blogspot.com/

EDIT: Oh wait, actually one more thing. You'll see in the FIERCESOME pictures following (admit it, fierce is an understatement, just look at my bright shirt and short shorts) that I'm wearing a helmet. I'm actually quite glad I wore a helmet that day. Not because I almost ran into a tree or because I fell off my bike, but because at the very end of the day, as we were packing the bikes back onto the roof rack of the car, I dropped the thing on my head. Yeah, go helmet!...

Hey all,

Who is going to be in Philly this summer? At least tomorrow evening when I will be there for the night and will be celebrating my 21st?

-George of the Jungle

Ian, why is our city so stellar - and WB´s copyright laws so stinky...

Anyway, I was supposed to get back to Philly this morning but I managed to miss my flight in an embarassing episode of dawdling in suburban Buenos Aires. On the subway ride back to Juana's, I was at least entertained by a guy breakdancing to Little Bow-Wow (on a moving, crowded train - imagine it!). So, I am at the airport now after arriving incredibly early, and to pass the time I decided to splurge on $5 internet. My time in BA ended up passing very quickly - while I am exhausted, it was nice to get away and have to worry about navigating a new culture and language rather than worry about classes and gbm agendas.

While I was here, I looked at two really interesting local development models. The first one was a banco communal - known in English as a "village bank". They are pretty widespread in South America. Essentially, a group of community members (generally women) come together and receive loans from a not-for-profit organization. The not-for-profit gets money in the form of loans from a conventional bank, which they then lend out to the women at a higher interest rate to cover their administrative expenses (the justification for this is that the women wouldn't be able to receive a loan from a conventional bank). The women can in turn lend the money out to people in their community (often to men) at an even higher interest rate. On the one hand, this creates what is called a "grupo solidario", a communtiy where everyone trusts each other and keeps each other in check. It also empowers women and allows for more money to flow in the community to fund entrepreneurial activities. On the other hand, however, it is recreating the problems of conventional economy on a community-level (interest, indebtedness, etc.). One rather idealistic person I interviewed said that it is turning the women into "little capitalists". However, it was neat to talk to the women and hear about how paricipating had made a big impact on their economic situation and personal relationships - it was also cool to see a lot of younger women, daughters, etc. getting interested and participating.

The other model I looked at is trying to recreate the economic system. Before and during the economic crisis in Argentina in 2000, provinces started issuing their own currencies to try to curb inflation. In addition, at one point over 6 million people were participating in informal barter clubs where they used local currencies (wootwoot!) to exchange goods and services. At the time, many people participated out of desparation, and after the economy improved, the movement died down. Some of the founders of the barter clubs, though, still see the movement as a way to make economy more social (the weekly or biweekly meetings of the groups that still exist are pretty neat - everyone knows everyone else and absolutely loves participating). One flaw, though, is that initially the clubs were meant to encourage production (i.e. someone who bakes could exchange cookies for a sweater made by a knitter), but the clubs have now become sort of a flea market where people bring assorted goods they have bought or that they had lying around the house (I guess this is still a form of recycling, though). Some production does still take place - I exchanged a package of yerba mate for some delicious homemade pastries, and the clubs do seem to have really helped people who are out of work. Actually, it sounds like with the current financial crisis more people are participating than have been in the past few years.

I had some major takeaways in terms of analyzing not-for-profits, too, which you guys might find interesting - when they were starting up, a lot of these different barter clubs had arguments over philosophy, and while the fact that they largely fell apart can be attributed to the improvement of the economy, it also sounds like there was some corruption in a few groups, rising distrust over the fact that there was no oversight, and competing personalities in leadership that prevented progress from being made. The clubs that have survived are in the hands now of some really incredible female leaders - they operate independently in the communities, and most of the participants don´t know about the hierarchical movements that lead to their creation. I guess this speaks to the benefits of having decentralized projects. Also, there was formerly some connection between the person running the village bank that I visited and one of the founders of the local barter clubs. There is now a "riff" between them where they practically don't talk because there were arguments over their differing philosophies. One of the people who was involved in the barter clubs I think rightly pointed out that there needs to be more collaboration between groups and movements. Every development project is going to have pros and cons, and it would be ideal if people could take aspects of different ideas and apply them to different communities. There is no recipe that is going to work for everyone, and it is a shame that people get so engaged in certain development philosophies and creating the "perfect model" that they lose their willingness to change. I guess this makes me think of CHAC in some ways - a) because we are dealing with administrative elements that are to some extent comfortable with an old model (to their credit, they want to make sure the new one will work) and b) it would be great if in our new constitution, we could develop a structure that will allow us to be as flexible as possible with different group's needs and work - a structure that is less rigid, I guess.

It was great hearing about the impact that both groups have made, but I continue to be disillusioned in that it seems like sweeping government changes could do a lot, too (as in the U.S.). Argentina is a very disparate country - the downtown areas are very posh, but there is incredible poverty in a lot of the outer neighborhoods where these groups are working. There is a great deal of corruption and lobbying that takes place (as in other parts of the world, too :)). A lot of Argentines are fed up, too - I went to the University of Buenos Aires and saw a huge gathering of communist students - who later took to the streets calling for a communist vote in the upcoming elections. On the other hand, the village bank I looked at is staying low-key and is trying to work with the government. Argentina has had such an interesting, volatile history, and there is so much going on, that I am definitely going to keep it on my radar :).

Anywho, that was a whopper of an e-mail, but hopefully it was semi-interesting, and it was nice for me to reflect before I watch movies and pass out on the plane.

Looking forward to seeing those of you that are in Philly soon!!

Julia

I was taking my annual trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and guess what was standing right at the entrance? It was the Ford Angelina that Harry and Ron stole to get to Hogwarts in Chamber of Secrets movie!

They had a whole exhibit of props and costumes from the movies. I saw Harry's glasses, a wax Dobby, and I got to SIT in HAGRID's CHAIR. It was sweet, but Warner Bros. wouldn't allow photography, hence the picture of me pointing to the car, instead of the one of me with a quaffle fake-flying Harry's firebolt that the security guard made us delete.

Only one more week until I get back to Penn. Until then, more pictures of the car: