Certified

Officially a certified TESOL teacher. I just completed a TESOL training course: three weeks, six hours a day. This course was provided to me for free by the private school that I teach at. Only three teachers at the school took up this incredible offer. The three of us were the only foreigners out of a group of 14 people, mostly professional teachers. The course was great. I learned a lot about conducting a communicative interactive language learning environment. I am excited to continue teaching post this education.

A Recommendation

Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals

I was reading this book while traveling with my family and I couldn't resist the constant urge to share with them. I thought of it as sharing my excitement, they might say otherwise. I realized this book is a personal undertaking that I highly recommend for anyone who wants to further their education on food politics. This book has continued to help me think about eating more responsibly: an important conversation I believe we should continue to discuss.

Eating Animals is an incredible expose on the current state of our disconnected world that allows for factory farming. Factory farming in the U.S. accounts for 99% of our meat, including fish and eggs. Our land, animals, and living environment have become hidden wastelands for unnatural unsustainable grotesque food production. I know it's not just factory farming that jeopardizes the planet's livelihood for profit. There are too many corporations to count without feeling ill. However, this book struck me because I like to think about health. And let me say the over drugged, antibiotic-fed, feces covered animals we eat are not healthy. Not to mention that factory farming accounts for more energy consumption than all the transportation in the world. Just like oil, meat prices are artificially low which perpetuates the exploitive industry. According to Safran Foer, " taking inflation into account animal protein costs less today than at any time in history" (109). I would go on for longer if I still had the book with me but I've passed it on in hopes that it will keep moving.

It's easy to ignore these realities when our food shows up in the supermarket neatly packaged. Maybe we don't want to know, but I don't want ignorance as bliss. As an individual who wants to live mindfully and support politically and environmentally savvy sustainable groups, organizations, and companies, I vote for my friends and family to check out the evils of the factory farming industry.

Brooks-Salzman clan in China

Photographic overview of a special family trip---

We began in Beijing:

Kunming, Green Lake Park:

Overnight train to Lijiang, Yunnan:

Tiger Leaping Gorge: (Aramie, Dad, and I hike/climb by ladder straight down to the gorge)

Shangrila (Songzanlin Tibetan monastery) :

Back to Lijiang:

Shanghai, one hour boat trip on the Huangpu River:

Shanghai Dim sum:

Hangzhou with Mom: tasting famous Longjing tea

Wuzhen:

Suzhou, I.M. Pei designed Suzhou Museum:
Suzhou garden: