February19
I’ve gotten a lot of help and gifts of opportunity in my life, from family, friends, and random people I’ve met along the way. I love Kiva because it is a way to help others with a goal they are working towards, and it lets you see a face behind the bundle of loans.
Who have I loaned too?
I joined in September 2007, and since that time I have done 481 loans. Over time you get your money back so the number of loans you do just goes up and up. Just make sure to give money each year to them too to keep this running.
The country I’ve loaned to the most is Iraq at 13.3%, because I am trying to rebuild that country after we partially broke it for the second time. In second place is Pakistan, because I think people there are awesome, and need more opportunity. Ditto for a lot of the countries in my top 20.
Click the images to zoom in :)
Some other cool stats:
67% of my loans are to females, 33% to males.
I’ve loaned to 56 of 84 countries Kiva operates in.
If you are interested in trying out Kiva just click here, it is only $25 dollars to do your first loan!
February11
Lindsey found an awesome coastal walk for us :)! We took the train up to Menton, walked along the coast all the way to Monaco, through the entire kingdom of Monaco (it wasn’t a very big kingdom), and to Cap Mala where we caught a train back to Nice. It was beautiful an awesome day to spend in the sun. We ended up walking about 12 miles :)
I especially love the stairs leading down to the sea in a few of the pictures below. I’ve had this story in my head for a while about a kid who lives in an underwater cave off the coast with an old wise giant octopus, and the stairs really seemed a cool touch for that.
February11
I was shocked and saddened to learn that Jon Stewart is going to be leaving the Daily Show later this year :(. Here is his video sharing the news.
I’ve been watching the Daily Show for a long time, and over the last 12+ years Jon Stewart and the show have rebuilt my faith in the political process. I won’t go into too many details as it is unimportant, but I was really into politics when I was younger, and I wanted to work in government. That feeling turned into disgust and disbelief as I learned more and watched what has occurred over the years. Over time Jon Stewart helped me to better understand our system, and served as a hero, someone who shed a spotlight on the big problems, abuse, hypocrisy, and corruption. Jon Stewart consistently stands up for the little guy, and he calls out big money and those with undue influence. We need that, and we need that on a national scale. It is a sad state of our current media that he is the best news show on TV when he is also on the comedy channel.
When I try to explain to people in other countries who Jon Stewart & The Daily Show are I explain that he is a saint, and probably the most important person in our country for exposing the corrupt parts of the political process. We don’t really have a working media IMO, he is the sole bastion of what the media should be doing and investigating.
I am hopeful that he is leaving a new generation behind who have a similar purpose and comedic style, specifically Colbert and John Oliver. I am hopeful they will find someone to continue his very important work.
This is a very sad day :(
February7
We landed in Nice, France! And, it is nice… that will never get old :). We will be here for a few months, and then moving over to Croatia. All part of our long honeymoon intermixed with work, grad school applications, and side trips. Work has been crazy busy, and hopefully as I get free in a few weeks I will feel like writing some longer updates :).
The only suprise so far has been how few yoga classes there are in a city of 200,000. I was hoping to do Yoga about 2 to 4 times a week, and it is hard to find a location that has yoga more than once a week :(. Oh well, I guess I will have to start smoking, wearing black, and drinking espresso.
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