Night time walks. Savion Seife: Rasul

I just walked home in pitch black. It's overcast and the lamp light and various porch lights are all I had to go by. For good stretches I couldn't actually see my feet. I walked by large scary bushes and turned around dark corners and past alleyways. The dark is scary.

 But I wasn't at all scared. Nothing in this town gives itself as being unpredictable and I have never gotten a single hint that there might be something I should be careful or cautious about. When I walk around in this tiny town during the day the few people I see tend to be at least fifteen years older then me, at most possibly sixty years older and sporting hiking sticks (imagine lack luster ski poles) and rosy cheeks. The youngest people I have seen were a gaggle of kids heading off to middle school.

  And on the walk home I only saw one other person, a woman in her possible 40s walking straight down the middle of the road because not a single car was driving around.

  This town is tiny and it makes me feel really safe and cozy.



  When I would walk home late nights in Tokyo, surrounded by people or only surrounded by the sounds of people and their silhouettes on their curtains, I also felt safe. But still wary of my surroundings. At any moment I tried very hard to hear what was ahead and behind me even though I really didn't think anything could happen to me because Tokyo is literally one of the safest places for a young woman to walk around at night. Except maybe in Happurg. Let's instead say Tokyo is one of the safest cities. Actually I am sure that is the proper statistic to use. But you still hear stories about the crazy scary weird things that can happen to foreigners in Japan and how little they can do about it.

  Now if I were walking home in San Francisco I would only feel safe if I were in certain residential districts and knew where I was walking and how long it would take me to get there. If I knew my destination wasn't in an area I liked I would pay for a taxi. Or I would try to take the bus for the majority of the way (perhaps partially due to an unwillingness to conquer hills late at night. Or ever.)

  I like this little town I'm in.



  In other news hair update Savion Seife: Haarwaschseife Rasul http://www.savion.de/default/haarwaschseife-rasul.html

  I can not figure out what Rasul is, like, at all. But the soap is a pale brownish color and I think it is probably a powder, perhaps from some place like Morocco. My hair feels thicker and a little less smooth than the Sportler- und Reiseseife but that could be because I used a blowdryer today which I didn't use on the other soap. Will use it again tomorrow but I don't think it is my favorite. Though I did put my hair up in a loose bun and when I let it down I had badass curls, my hair never curls! It was a wonderful beautiful moment.

  Also I have a lot of hair. But it is very fine thin hair. But tons of it. So I bet if you had a different type of hair (oilier, dryer, thinner, thicker) it would react differently

Savion Seife: Sportler- und Reiseseife

I am spending the next few months in a tiny town a half hour train ride east of Nuremberg. A year ago this would be an idea I would have laughed at but somehow I ended up here and so far it at been a wonderfully wholesome and enjoyable experience.

  Family friends visited me in SF a while back and on the side told me that if I would like to come visit them and work for them at their organic soap company I am more than welcome, low and behold I took them up on the offer and have been working with them for the last three weeks.

  Making soap is not really something I foresaw myself doing but it has been very fun! Good soaps consist of a combination of various oils (from nuts and olives and other non animal sources) concentrated scents of your choice, and if you like you can even throw in lavender or cloves or other lovely textures.

  Here is a link to see what they have: http://www.savion.de/

  Their most popular products are their hairsoaps: Henna, Aloe, Goat milk, Sheep milk, stinging nettle, lemon balm, etc. (http://www.savion.de/default/haarwaschseifen-1.html)

  And of course since I work for them I figure I should test out their products!

  Review of two showers use of the Sportler- und Resiseseife

  Translation: Athletic and Trip/Journey Soap

  Hair still feels soft, on the second day it doesn't look as greasy as when I use Herbal Essences Moisture Madness shampoo and conditioner.

  Or course these soaps don't have conditioner and on the first day I put in some Argon Oil into my hair to flatten the crazy fly aways which made it look greasier than it would have. Air drying makes it look nicer than blow drying (again with the stray hairs of frustration)

  Though a bummer about these soaps is that you shouldn't brush your hair until it is properly dry to prevent split ends. Of course that might be a common rule for all showers and I just didn't know about it until now. Instead you are allowed to use a 3-5 pronged comb, and in my experience there are more knots that when I use Herbal Essences.

  However, I can't even pronounce most of the ingredients on an Herbal Essences bottle, and considering that at Savion Seife they use only organic products in their soaps and I can still read the ingredients list even though it is in German, that's pretty sweet.

  Though I should edit that statement: They aren't allowed to state their hairsoaps are organic, only to say they contain organic items. This is because one or two of the ingredients, oils of names I can't remember, are so expensive when organic that they would have to up their soap prices by an entire Euro. ($6.83 to $8.17) Since their soaps are already close to being luxury priced (or are they considered luxury at over $6.50 already?) they determined to have two of the ingredients be cheaper for the customers. They would love to use only organic items for the hairsoaps but they don't believe customers would pay for it. Good sound judgement call on their part. And besides, their soap is already ten to twenty times better for the environment than name brand shampoos and conditioners!

This makes me miss having long hair

Better Link

Here is a better link for the Northern Japan Earthqauke Relief Fund!

 

http://www.kokoro4japan.org/

 

=)

General Update

So yes, I haven't updated on anything in the last two months so I will make it as short and sweet as possible.

School: Decided to take a weird semester that my school made for the Japan returnees. This means I have close to no summer. But on the upside this is the first time I have been in San Francisco for the summer months.

Extra: I have been volunteering at the Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund twice every week (full working days!) Being able to help Japan and the people affected has been great, especially because I felt so completely helpless when I had to leave Japan. 

A month ago they calculate that they had raised over $2.6 million dollars. 100% of it went directly to the region most affected.

Link:   http://www.jcccnc.org/giving/documents/JCCCNCNJERFUpdate5-27-11.pdf

Link 2:  http://www.jcccnc.org/giving/index.htm

Unfortunately it seems like they haven't updated their website recently

Travel Pictures: Originally I was only 2 months behind in showing all my adventures....now I am close to 5 months behind. I haven't looked through most of my Japan pictures since I came back. I might soon though (maybe in a week)

Life: Life is good =) Having adventures in the city and meeting great people.

 

Much love

~Michelle

 

Now we can walk on water

Joke Time!

I just got this joke from a lovely lady, and I decided to share ^_^

 

A Homeless Man's Funeral 


As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral  
director 
to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or 
friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the
Kentucky back country.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a  
typical man, I didn't stop for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently  
gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and  
crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the  
side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I  
didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played  
out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends.
I played like I've never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers began to weep. They wept, I
wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and
started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never
seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for
twenty years."

Apparently I'm still lost..... it's a man thing.....