A celebrity visit has Seychelles all in a tizzy. Folks jammed the arrival area of the airport hoping to greet and meet, or catch a glimpse of the arriving stars, and the highway leading into town was lined with cars full of waving people. In neighborhoods all along the route of the motorcade women in nighties emerged, hair not yet combed, kids in tow, and stood in the morning heat waiting. And the motorcade! Two fancy cars (we don't have limos here, but a set of matching BMWs serve the purpose), one for each celeb, were surrounded by police escorts in cars and on motorcycles... more

Continuing with the connections thread I started unraveling yesterday ...

WWOOF is an ingenious organization that lets keen gardeners put their heart, soul and back into organic farming by living and working in places they want to visit, and to do it cheaply. They have groups in many countries. Here's a bit from the Canadian branch:

Willing Workers On Organic Farms and World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.... more

One of the true wonders of this age we live in is the ease of connections between people. I've found many old friends I'd lost in the course of international moves, and made an astonishing number of news ones, thanks to the pervasive and sticky threads of the World Wide Web.

Discovering what can link one person to another, and another, and another, is simply a "Google" away, as just about any aspect of life that that folks might have in common can be found, listed, described on the super search engines ... hobbies, illnesses, religions, personal histories, goals, foods,... more

As any ESL student will tell you, English is a very difficult language. We may not have gender issues (in the language, that is), so keep it simple when it comes to nouns and articles, but we more than make up for that small mercy in spelling quirks, colloquialisms and sheer numbers.

Living in a country with three official languages is not too difficult, for me, because one of the languages is English. We get a number of folks here, however, who have only Spanish or Russian or Mandarin, and things are tougher for them. Sometimes they decide to pass on the French and Creole... more

There is a strong push by organizations, UNICEF is one, to keep orphaned children in their birth countries. Some feel that raising a child in a different culture, an unavoidable consequence by definition of international adoption, strips identity and robs an individual of a precious attachment to language, religion, societal norms, and so on.

Unfortunately, too often a life confined by borders of a country of birth becomes more of a prison sentence than an opportunity to be embraced by the loving arms of cultural identity, as documented by UNICEF itself.

Nearly... more

Like Mo on the Korea Adoption Blog, I, too, have been blessed when it comes to friends. From all over the world, of different ages, religions, ethnicities…species, even… treasured relationships have developed, been fostered and thrived year after year. No matter distance, my friends are my friends, and the longer I live the more friends I have and the more I treasure each one.

I’ve had the honor of being befriended by an orang utan, a couple of chimps, a giraffe and a lemur, as well as a number of dogs, cats and birds,... more

If you've completed an international adoption, somewhere in the process you probably sought out information on the Internet. There is a wealth out there, starting right here, and once you start looking, you just keep finding.

Once your child is home you will be busy, but may miss the cyber-contact you've become comfortable with ... addicted to. Post-adoption, you might choose to continue your immersion in the online adoption community. Tread carefully!

Opinions amongst adoptive parents, especially those voiced virtually... more

A response to yesterday's post about food and what things are called by people separated by a common language ... English, in this case ... comes from Australia:

What I want to know is ... what the h--- are those biscuits that you have for breakfast??? I know what normal biscuits are (the ones that you dip into a cup of tea), but for breakfast, with eggs, etc??? I have been confused about that one for years! Is it a piece of toast? Or is it a normal biscuit?

Now, this... more

Ever play 'name that food item' with someone from another English-speaking country? Oh! You should. It's a hoot, and can go something like this:

Them: Do you enjoy fried bread?

You: You mean French toast?

Them: No, that's gypsy toast.

You: Yes, but I prefer English muffins?

Them: You mean scones?

You: No, they're more like crumpets. I like them with jelly.

Them: You put jelly on crumpets? How odd.

You: Your jelly is my Jell-O, and no, I don't put that on English muffins.

Them: I prefer... more

In a perfect world, there would be no adoption. Every child born would be treasured by someone able to care for it and every person wanting to parent would be delivered of a healthy infant. Every father would be lovingly involved. Every pregnancy would be welcome. Food would be plentiful, shelter, cozy and available. Clean water would flow with abundance. The sky would be blue; the birds would sing, blah, blah, blah.

I may live in paradise, but it ain't like that. And wanting it doesn't make it exist, no matter how emphatic the wanting.

A question was posed... more