Do you want to do something for the environment?

Here's a way to do something easy to help clean the air in Canada. Just check out this link. It'll only take 5 minutes.

Where should I go next?

Next summer will mark the end of my two-year posting in Chandigarh. I have submitted my posting preferences list for my next posting, so now it's in the hands of my Assignment Officer. Here are the choices I put down:

1. London
2. New York
3. Sydney
4. Paris
5. Warsaw
6. Taipei

So now my question to you all is this:
If it were up to you, where would you send me?

Diva Update

I have now used the diva cup for two full cycles (see previous posts) and I have to say that I am fully satisfied. I will be starting a new cycle soon and I am not hesitant at all about using it. I can confidently say that I recommend the Diva Cup without reservations!

If you're interested in helping the environment or just saving money, then I suggest you order one and try it out for two cycles. Then if you don't like it, then you can return it for a full refund, no questions asked. You have a full year to return it.

If you do decide to order it, then please post a comment here. It could help encourage others to try too. Go ahead... take one for the planet!

Where have you been lately?

create your own visited countries map

I've been to 27 countries, but there are so many left to visit... Build your own map at http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries

Indian photocopier

I photocopied some sheet music from my friend, Iris, the other day at this little shop in the market near my house. And boy did it take forever! The shopkeeper did all the photocopying for me because I guess that's how it's done here. The photocopier looked ancient with wires holding up the paper tray in a makeshift way. The printing was really light - probably to save on expensive toner. It reminded me of those old "ditto" photocopies we had at school - you know, the blue ones? (How did those copiers work anyway? I don't think I actually ever saw one. And why did they have to be blue?) The copies were really cheap though - just 1 Rupee per page (less than 3 cents). And you didn't have to pay for the ones where the copies got screwed up in some way (like being cut off).

By the way, if anyone wants to send me some sheet music here for my piano, then please do! I would love some good music, suited to the piano, to play. Or if you know of a good place online where I could order some, that would be great, too.

Musambi juice anyone?

Yummy! A glass of freshly squeezed musambi juice at your doorstep costs only 15 Rs a glass (37 cents in Canada). The musambi guy pushes the cart all around the neighbourhood just like the dickie dee guy used to do when we were young. It tastes almost exactly like orange juice, just a little less intense. Musambis are basically oranges that are greener on the outside and yellower on the inside. Normally the musambi seller provides the glass and you have to chug it on the spot so that he can have his glass back. But this time I had the foresight to bring some glasses from inside (and some ice cubes) so that we could enjoy them in the comfort of my house. Yum! Cheap freshly squeezed juice has got to be one of the best things about Asia.

Divadom: Days 2 to um... the rest!

*Warning: Post on feminine hygiene product.*

My apologies for the lapse in updates for all you eagerly awaiting the account of my ascent to Divadom. It was partly due to my usual difficulty updating my blog regularly and partly due to my apprehension at possibly giving the Diva cup a negative review. That had been my fear from the beginning - I want to turn people ON to eco-friendly products not OFF of them! Luckily, I'm a pretty honest ethical person, so you will get a true account from me - not like the false propaganda that I talked about in my previous post (don't get me started). So here goes:

After trying the diva cup for the first half of my period, I had the following thoughts:
- The end was still poking me which was rather uncomfortable and annoying (although not actually painful).
- My muscles down there (cervical muscles?) felt permanently tense (because they were holding this thing in place), which is the same complaint I have about tampons, but I don't think anyone else feels this way; it's just me.
- There was a teeny hint of an odour at times when I took it out, but usually nothing, which was a nice change.
- It was easy to wash out (you can basically just use water, but soap is recommended). I didn't worry at all about it not being clean - the silicone is quite inert, so there were no problems there.
- It never overflowed or anything like that.
- In the pamphlet, they recommend that you change it 2-3 times a day, every 10-12 hours. Sometimes I forgot about it and left it in longer with no problems (just that slight odour I mentioned before). This is a nice feature because you can wait to change it when you're back in the comfort of your own home. Although it would be easy enough to wipe out in a public washroom.
- It was still pretty gross. (I have a very low grossness tolerance when it comes to my period.) It was gross because to get it out, you have to stick your hand in to pull it out. However, it's not so bad when you get used to how to do it. You just bear down with your cervical muscles, which isn't very difficult at all, reach for the tip (which isn't far in) and wiggle it out, by trying to pinch the cup when you can reach it to break the seal, so that you don't get a suction effect. But in this way, you don't actually touch any of the menstruation part. However, when you try to empty it, the menstruation is quite thick (it's not just blood you know). Luckily the toilets in my Indian house have this weird spray thing that you can use instead of toilet paper (but I prefer the toilet paper so that you don't get your butt all wet!) I used this so that I still didn't have to touch anything to get it out. Barring that, you could use toilet paper to wipe it out.
- Putting it in again got a lot easier than the first time. However, this is the part where you might end up touching some menstrual "stuff". Yuck. But it washes off really easily. Still kind of weird though.
- Absolutely NO leaks! I wore a pantyliner, but really didn't need to.

The grossness and discomfort were giving me serious thoughts about quitting but I had told myself that I would at least try it for one full period. So I made an adjustment to improve the experience. As recommended in the manual for this "poking" problem, I cut off 1/4 inch off the tip and that solved that problem quite nicely. Also, over the last half of my period, that clenching feeling was gone! I guess I got used to it? Or maybe I was just positioning it better? This was a really nice development. The grossness was still there, but I was getting used to it, as well as being able to avoid some of it while getting better at the whole thing. And I managed to improve at inserting and extracting the cup, so that became a simple process.

So now that my period is over, I am feeling more optimistic about the whole thing. I'm going to give it one more cycle before I make a final decision and give away all my tampons and pads (I stockpiled A LOT for my posting - just ask my housemates and anyone who visited the bathroom while I was doing my inventory!)

Although the diva cup is a little more gross than the alternatives, it is much more convenient, way cheaper and it makes me less self-conscious because nobody can tell I have my period (i.e. no more wondering about the smell, trying to inconspicuously take a pad/tampon out of my bag and go to the washroom with it, trying to make used pads inconspicuous in other people's bathroom garbage cans, or worse, figuring out what to do when someone doesn't have a garbage can in their bathroom (you cruel cruel insensitive people!).)

But best of all, I won't be leaving a huge mountain of used pads and tampons in a landfill as my legacy to the Planet Earth. It feels really good to reduce my impact on the planet. And isn't that worth a little grossness?

The Death of the Crocodile Hunter

Okay, okay, I realise I'm probably the last person in the world to have heard that Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter died. But I have an excuse this time - I'm isolated in Chandigarh!

I used to watch his show all the time and marvel at his crazy stunts, as well as learn tons of cool facts about ferocious crocodiles, poisonous snakes and deadly spiders. The best was one segment where he got bit by a small snake by the side of the road at night. (He got bit quite often, it seemed.) He had his flashlight out, rapidly flipping through a book when he found the page he was looking for. "Yess! NOT poisonous! Woohoo!" he exclaimed (or something to that effect).

The only reason I could watch his show at all was because I knew that if he had actually died during filming, I would have heard about it on the news long before the show aired (although that theory doesn't seem to be that good, in retrospect).

He actually lost his dog, who was on the show for the first few seasons, on a show when he fell into crocodile-infested waters never to surface again. What was his name? Sueeee! Or something like that?

It's sad that he's gone. He did a great deal to inform the public about the less "cute" creatures of this planet.

Jim's Manifesto

There is a line between public relations and propaganda - or there should be. And there is a difference between using your skills, in good faith, to help rescue a battered reputation and using them to twist the truth - to sow confusion and doubt on an issue that is critical to human survival.

And it is infuriating - as a public relations professional - to watch my colleagues use their skills, their training and their considerable intellect to poison the international debate on climate change.

That's what is happening today, and I think it's a disgrace. On one hand, you have the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the largest and most rigorously peer-reviewed scientific consensus in history, advising that:

climate change is real;
it is caused by human activity; and
it is threatening the planet in ways we can only begin to imagine.

On the other hand, you have an ongoing public debate - not about how to respond, but about whether we should bother, about whether climate change is even a scientific certainty. ...

Check out the rest of Jim's manifesto and Jim's Desmog Blog. The latest post is an interesting one about the PR technique called Astroturfing where PR companies create fake "grassroots" organisations to promote their own interests.

Day 1 of Divadom

*WARNING: POSTING ABOUT FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCT*

So it's nearing the end of Day One of That Time of the Month. This morning, I put in the diva cup. It wasn't too difficult but I had trouble following the last part of the directions because I think I may have pushed it in a little too far. The last part of the directions says that you should pinch the cup and rotate it one full circle to make sure it's in place. If it rotates easily, then you're good to go. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a grip on the slippery little sucker! I pulled it out a little to try and get a better grip, but with no luck. Since, as usual, I'd left myself too little time to get ready for work, I ran out of time and just put on a pantyliner and hoped that the cup would work.

So far, no leaking, no smell, no mess, no nothing. I'm impressed! Of course, I can't be sure yet that my period has actually started, but it's usually pretty regular. The only bad thing so far has been that the stem at the bottom has been kind of poking me - I think because I pulled it out too far.

Next step, to try taking it out. Stay tuned, or not, if this is too gross. I won't be offended. ;)