Author: egasparr

I have been trying to figure out what things to do while stuck at home. After making a list of things to do I decided to cooking would be a fun thing to do at home.

Tonight I decided to cook for my family. As my first dinner, I made lemon salmon, asparagus, and white rice. As I have been nervous about my new eating habits that may not be ideal, I have been cautious about my food choices. Yesterday my mom and I went to the grocery store together where we could barely find toilet paper. The only rolls we could find were in the defect area of the store. In addition to this “hard to find” purchase, my mom has gone back to Jewel three different times in order to pick up fresh chicken. 

As I intend to explore new food options to cook I have decided that I will explore cooking food from other countries. Since our class is focusing on Middle East countries I have researched recipes that I could make for my family. Through this research I noticed that couscous and other rice were common eaten dishes. I found multiple recipes consisting of of these dishes with chicken. Some included bowls, wraps, and salads. I am planning on trying many of these and posting about them later.

As cases of COVID-19 have been increasing rapidly by the day I questioned how countries our class studies have been effected. In the past week countries such as our own have been tragically affected by this virus. As everyone would love for life to return to normal many have taken precautions to limit the spread of the virus. Specifically in countries with high populations of Muslims have used their own religious practices to fight against the virus.

An article states that many Muslims practice “ritual purity” before praying. This consists of bathing, washing hands and faces before prayer. Experts say that these practices may be what is needed to stop the spread of the virus.

Having these practices of cleansing often may be decreasing cases without Muslims taking extra practices. In addition Muslims have been cleansing with hand sanitizer in addition to water to remove more germs. In addition many mosques have stopped holding services in order to promote social distancing. My own Catholic church has done the same, stopping Sunday mass for the next two weeks in order to stop the spread.

Our world is rapidly changing with this virus. Besides these religious practices, everyone must focus on stopping the spread of this virus so our lives can become normal once again.

During the Lion Dance practice today, our dance instructor incorporated the switching of the tail and head positions in the dance. As I mentioned in earlier blog, holding the lion’s head during the dance for long periods of time takes a lot of strength. This need for strength for long periods of time is tiresome. Even though I assumed I would be able to hold the lion for a long period of time, I learned quickly I would not be able to hold it without for a long period of time.

Today, Kwan (our instructor), taught us how to switch from the head position to the body position. We were able to do this by passing the head off by the head turning and the body staying stable. Through this technique, we were able to switch positions to save energy.

Even though we are still working on this technique, the group has gotten much better at the lion dance through our practices. Kwan has been made many comments complimenting the group about how many improvements we are making. As we have learned a new technique each week, I have felt that I have been able to improve on other techniques, ultimately improving all aspects of the lion dance.

Through our China unit I noticed many Eastern values that could go along with education. My new Eastern internship placement, “Catalyst4MBA”, located in Tokyo, saw the need for connection between MBAs and top-tier organizations. The company values the level of higher education and how that effects job placement. As I have learned that respect, correlated to success, is a key value in China. I have noticed this respect value in correlation to the rest of the East as this company is focused on that aspect. The company CEO, Damon Mackey, claims that having a higher level of education is beneficial for all parties involved, growing companies to be better.

I have noticed similar values of education in the West. The higher education someone has, the more likely employers will value and want their work. In addition many MBA programs offer internships that will further education to hands on experiences, making new graduates ready for the workforce.

To juxtapose this, respect is not taken as seriously in the United States as it is in Eastern countries. A common theme in the United States is to be yourself even if other people do not embrace your values or ideals. There is a range of views and lifestyles here, which is not always accepted by everyone. This creates smaller amounts of respect for individuals with differed values, showing that respect is not values as highly as other factors in our country.

In my last blog post I discussed that my ICR lion dance instructor, Kwan, bought a drum to create background music for our dance. I noticed that this drum is far different than normal drum sets used in American bands. A standard modern kit contains a snare drum, (typically mounted on a stand and placed between the player’s knees). Also, there is a bass drum, played by a pedal operated by the right foot, which moves a a drum beater to create noise. In addition the set includes toms, a hi-hat (two cymbals mounted on a stand), and cymbals. These drums are played with two long, wooden sticks.

In contrast, the drum that Kwan brought was singular and very heavy. The dense drum has a thick wooden base and thicker layer on top. Listening to this drum over a normal drum set is quite different. A rock band drum set has much crisper of a noise, banging the different drum parts. A Chinese drum has much more base, creating a heavier noise. Overall I found this differentiation between the two drums interesting as it shows music preference between cultures.

During the lion dance ICR practice this week our instructor, Kwan, brought a traditional Chinese drum. This drum gave a background beat to our dances, especially during the beginning and the end of the dance.

At the beginning and end of the dance, the lion dancer bows three times. During these bows, the lion shackles (shakes back and forth). After seeing Kwan do these bows, I felt that this would not be that hard of a dance move. The move was in fact hard because the head position must bend and hold the lion sideways in order to complete the bow. Doing this bow three times is tiresome, using all of your upper body strength, core, and legs.

Kwan would rumble the drum during the bows and then hit the sides very loudly in order to show that the bow was complete. The drum, pictured below, was brown and worn on the top. The sides of the drum are painted black and there is two red and yellow ribbons draped around the sides. In addition to this, gold holding rings are placed to the sides of the drum, creating detail.

As many know, the coronavirus is an outbreak occurring across Asia, specifically in China. Even though this deadly disease is starting to become common knowledge in our culture, many associate the name with a popular beer, (Corona beer). Even though I believed that many took this association as a joke, research has concluded that many have searched for a linkage to the virus and the beer. Since the virus began to become widespread in  January, online searches for the phrase “beer coronavirus” went up by over 3,200% across the globe as “corona beer virus” sky rocketed by 2,300% (Duprey).

Besides people truly believing the virus and beer are linked, many have taken this linkage as a joke. Many have taken to social media to express this relation, tweeting and creating the hashtag #coronabeervirus. On a meme themed day in my sorority, my friend wore a corona t-shirt and wrote virus under the word “Corona” on the shirt. Many took pictures of it as the confusion between the beer and virus is amusing.

I questioned how the virus’ jokes have effected victims physically and emotionally. If I was in their shoes I would feel disheartened by the jokes that had come with my illness. Should media stop the overbearing content on this virus as it exploits individuals suffering?

In Ha Jin’s book series, “The Bride-groom”, millet porridge is a dish served for dinner in “Saboteur” (Jin 8). I have never heard of this dish before and I decided to look it up in hopes the dish gave more context to the novel.

In the story, “Saboteur” the characters indue many hardships throughout their day, dealing with police force and spilled tea. I learned through research that this dish is Chinese “comfort food”.  If I was in the characters position in the story, I would want a dish that brought comfort to me such as mac and cheese. I would compare millet porridge to mac and cheese, warming a consumer up and filling them.

The dish is prepared in an unexpected way. First, ground-up millet is soaked in hot water to becomes softened. After this the millet is placed in a boiling pot of water changing its consistency. The millet and water combine to make a oatmeal-like texture. Finally, the millet porridge is seasoned with salt and pepper, creating a simple dish. In some pictures I saw online, I noticed the recipe varied, adding vegetables such as carrots and lentils. I questioned if I would enjoy this dish as I am a fan of similar dishes such as oatmeal and quinoa.

Attached is the recipe: https://youtu.be/1KpqOPc29Ys

In my ICR, IACA, the group got together on Monday night and was taught the lion dance. We started out the practice watching videos of professionals doing the dance. Kwan, a retired man who is apart of the IACA, told us that these dancers have been practicing and working together for many years. After this he showed us a video of amateurs doing the dance and what we would be learning.

He took out the lion suit and I was bewildered by how many moving part there were on the suit. There were many strings in the head to move the eyes and ears. He showed us the basic functions and the two simple parts to the dance, the back and the front.

After this he gave us a chance to try out the dance in the suit. We took turns doing the front and back positions. I was in awe that the head on the suit was so heavy. Kwan took turns timing us to see how long we could do the head position. I thought I would be able to hold the head up and do the position for about 10 minutes, when actually I was only able to do it for one minute.

After this he taught us how to move the head in a specific way, shaking it. He called this tactic “shackling” as the head pops up and down and shakes around. We practiced this technique walking forwards and backwards with a “cheerleader” who held a “pom pom” to guide us. In later lessons we plan on expanding the movements and  learning the moving parts on top of the head (moving eyes and ears). Overall, I had a lot of fun at our first practice and am excited to learn more parts to the dance. 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted the lives of many killing over 1000 victims to this day. As many believe the virus has not peaked, this virus’ impact could get much worse.

Earlier this year I applied for the Butler in Asia program. After many essays and interviews I was accepted into the Shanghai program. My group was notified about two weeks ago that there might be a change in my program as the virus may not be gone by May. Yesterday I was notified that my program was canceled due to China remaining at a Level 4 for the US State Department Travel Advisory and a Level 3 for CDC Warning. Thankfully the Center of Global Engagement was able to redirect my program to a different site (Tokyo, Japan), but I was still disappointed by this outcome (even though Tokyo will be awesome). Even though I understood fully that Butler could not personally do anything about this problem, it is sad that so many lives are effected by this new virus.

A cruise ship passenger in Asia contaminated the virus, passing it onto other ship guests. The ship was not allowed to dock in any country, stranding people for many weeks. A handful of healthy American citizens were on this ship as well, unable to come back home. As of today the American’s have been allowed off the ship and have been quarantined in a hospital. This virus has impacted everyone in a series of ways, making me question how much worse this virus will get.