Joburg and Maseru in a few pics.

Me at the 46664 concert.The Soweto Gospel Choir - great stuff.

Who doesn't need a few Namibian friends every now and again?

The view from some other seats at the end of the concert. I was in the front of the mass of people.

Me in the front of the mass of people.

Nice shot of Lesotho, most of the country resembles this to some degree.

My work's bus. All organizations here in Lesotho advertise themselves this way.

Work. Pretty idyllic looking - no?

Imagine them all saying "Abuti Jeff! Abuti Jeff!" or Mosa saying "Abuti Jep-ay," since his Fs aren't so good yet.

All the kids we've got currently.
Early X-mas at Baylor College of Medicine Pediatric AIDS Clinic. Too many kids, not enough bouncy castle. All cute.

Matlatse (or Matty, if we Amurricanize it) at the Pediatric AIDS Clinic. His face is swolen, but we don't know why yet. His liver isn't so hot now either as it's the size of a football. Given that he's only a few footballs large, that's a bad thing.

Matlatse giving me some lint he found on the floor. He likes to keep his play space clean.

Seasons greetings.

Food for thought! Courtesy of an organization I worked with in HK.

Since I missed Harroween as I was in Shanghai, and I'm sort of missing x-mas here in Lesotho.

I've been having a very rewarding time here working for Beautiful Gate and I've come to form bonds with a few of the older children. Nelali even said her first words yesterday and they were "Abuti Jeff" which is "Young unmarried man Jeff" in Sesotho. Everyone has a formal title here that denotes your age and married or unmarried status, sort of like Ms./Miss/Mrs/Master but you use them *all* the time. We spent the other day at the Baylor (College of Medicine) Pediatric AIDS Clinic. A south african business man donated food and toys for all the patients, or in reality anyone who showed up and knew what was going on. We spent the entire day sitting outside in a queue waiting to get food and presents, eventually we had to leave because our kids had missed lunch - and as the kid I was caring for, Matlatse, already has so many health problems eating properly is so important. He hasn't started HAART - highly active anti-retroviral therapy - yet as he's still being treated for acute renal failure and TB. He came to us by reference of the Baylor Clinic as they noticed his 14 yr old sister was bringing him in for treatment, but he continued to deteriorate. They discovered that both his parents were deceased and she was trying to raise him.

My only real qualm with the orphanage is that I feel the HIV+ kids don't get quite the amount of nutrition they require - namely they get fed the same as everyone else. Poz kids require 1.5-2 times as much as a normal kid, more if they have GI problems. I've noticed this with Matlatse particularly as he is so lethargic, and when he tries to speak it comes out as a faint whisper. He seems to be in great pain while he chews, or at least it's so much work that he has great difficulty doing it. Lunch is always soft foods like overcooked carrots, mashed taters, rice, or pap (maize meal) so he has no problem with that, and even feeds himself. However, the rest of the food is generally whole fruit and cookies. I've been trying to break it up the best I can for him to eat, and I always give him more than the others but it's so hard to tell if he's getting better or worse. The bo-me (older unmarried women) tell me he's much better than he was, but I wonder if he's reached a plateau. Only time will tell I suppose. Well, I'll post some slightly saddening pics in a few days..but for now you can all bask in ignorant bliss!

Jeff

The Highland Kingdom, again.

According to the UN it's the 26th Least Developed Country, but even then most people seem to have everything they absolutely require - with the notable exception of health care. I've been having a wonderful time here despite the daily rainstorms (seems like a monsoon to me!) and the mean nuns. I've been staying at Anglican convents, and nuns really aren't the nicest people I've ever met. But how can you talk back to a nun when she says "I'm sorry you paid for dinner, but I'm just so tired today that I can't be asked to cook." Did I get a refund? No, but she showed me the kitchen and gave me free reign. Fair enough I suppose, and I made sure to eat my $3 worth and then some. I've been working with an orphanage here that caters to children from 6 weeks to 3 yrs. My daily duties include: feeding, playing, and cleaning them. I don't think I've yet realized that these kids are not orphans because their parents died, but because they were simply abandoned at some point in time. Most were left at Queen II Hospital here in Maseru, but others were just left on the street for no apparent reason. Few of the kids are HIV+ and most are in good health, so I've not quite figured out why they were abandoned other than general economic strain that it places on the woman. The orphanage used to have a wonderful success rate with having kids internationally adopted, mostly to Germany, Belgium, and Holland..but the Lesotho government has placed a moratorium on international adoption for the time being due to issues of child trafficking. As the center only cares for kids up to 3 and the moratorium is recent, it is unclear what will happen when these children get too old to stay there any longer. And in other news, I've been invited to a christmas party at a local Masotho (singular form of Basotho) colleague's house, so I won't be alone with the evil nuns. Kitty is also coming to visit me in India for her Spring Break and I'm planning to follow the Red Ribbon Express, a train covering thousands of miles in India from Dec. 1st 2007 to Dec. 1st 2008, doing HIV/AIDS education and testing in some of the poorest places. No spot on the train though, I'll be chasing it via public transport the whole way. Hope everyone did well with finals and/or is enjoying the holidays!

Jeff

Back in Africa

I've finally made it back to the region of the world I love the most - Sub-Saharan Africa. It's inexplicable to most people, and even to myself I can see no rhyme or reason to it. Why would someone want to work in a region that is fundamentally politically unstable, perennially at war, without potable water, rife with poverty, a myriad of parasites, communicable diseases, and the present absence of a viable infrastructure? Perhaps I feel that just my physical presence here is welcomed and my interest in most of a continent of people I've never met is appreciated. More often than not in China I felt as though I was a nuisance or an intruder - an outsider poking his nose where it didn't belong. Only in one organization in Hong Kong did I get fair treatment and open access to the majority of their services, the rest of China was far from a waste - but I should have been more critical of my time in certain places as in the end I should have left China after three months, not four. But in the end I did make it to the World AIDS Day Concert in Johannesburg in South Africa on time.

The 46664 (Nelson Mandela's prison ID #) concert was quite amazing and had a number of Zulu, Afrikaans, British, and American artists which incuded a sermon by none other than "superstar" Annie Lennox where she proceeded to cast a shadow of guilt on the crowd for not supporting HIV/AIDS work - a bit strange given that we were all at the concert whose funds were being donated to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. Mandiba, the Zulu name for Mandela, also gave a speech which is probably to be his last public appearance. At 89 and secretly to be suffering from Alzheimer's, I can't imagine he would be able to make another speech like that again. After Mandiba's speech, Akon performed - probably the musical highlight of the night. Each performer had the stage for 2-4 songs, with Peter Gabriel (why?!) taking the maximum allowed time. The only exception was the last artist, Annie Lennox..who seemed to go on forever. After 5 songs, none of which anyone seemed to know, a girl from Chicago I was with named Ramanda remarked "Jeff, you gotta go tell Annie that this song isn't 'Sweet Dreams,' I think she's confused." In the end we did get our "Sweet Dreams," but only after 7-8 songs of Lennoxian hell. The next day I made my way to a drag race.

The first thing I noticed about the event was that it was all Afrikaaners, descendants of the european settlers that came to South Africa as long as four centuries ago. Overweight, sunburned, blonde hair and blue eyed whites in wife beaters filled the stands of the slightly run down race track. The only difference between home and this little place in South Africa was Bud Light was replaced with Black Label and English with Afrikaans. Oh, and race relations were much poorer here as well as evidenced by the references to the "monkeys" working the bar. I was a bit shocked to say the least, but as segregation ended only 13 yrs ago in South Africa, I should hardly be. The races were uneventful other than that, one motorcycle made it over 185 mph. No accidents or deaths - where's the fun in that? The next day I flew to Lesotho.

Flying into Lesotho from South Africa on my tiny propeller driven plane went off without a hitch - the first thing I noticed upon descent was how the country looked exactly like a greener version of the American Southwest. After landing I realized this country's main airport was about half the size of Bowman Field. It has one airstrip and the total size of the terminal was surely no larger than 10,000 sq. feet, which of course was a bit of a shock after being in Hong Kong's new airport which is the largest building in the world.

As some of you may know, my family has been fostering two children from Lesotho for more than two years. I've been staying with one of the families of these two kids in a village outside of the capital city. The other day I went to the mountains to visit a Canadian NGO called "Save Lesotho," I'm not sure if Lesotho needs saving..but the work they do is good nonetheless. At the moment I'm shopping around for work as it were, but I've already found people respect me much more here than they did in China and I can tell I do know enough about the field to make meaningful suggestions on how to better run their services here. Well, that's enough for now - hope everyone has good holidays & new year.


Jeff

Working in China

I never thought that the portion of my Watson in China would be a never-ending stream of disappointments. I have learned a lot here, but doing much more than talking to a handful of the leaders in China's battle against HIV/AIDS has been troublesome. I learned less directly about the epidemic (as it is largely not known by those in the field anyway) and more about how portions of the Chinese government are surely in part responsible for tying the hands of the Chinese Center for Disease Control, local, national, and international NGOs.

We have some of the same problems in the US; however, the almighty Public Security Bureau - police - and Chinese FBI equivalent seem to run far more rampant in this land. I learned in a Chinese anthropology course at Reed taught by the venerable Charlene Makley the cultural concept of guanxi (关系). It could be seen as networks or connections but that is an inadequate and reductionist definition. The end result of guanxi in my work is that nepotism or other social "obligations" take precedence over allowing HIV/AIDS organizations to do the work that MUST be done. Another cultural hindrance the Chinese must rectify with HIV, a disease inextricably linked to social stigma, is admitting they have a problem and thus "losing face."

This concept is called mianzi or lian (面子or 臉 ) - one of a perception of moralilty and one is of prestige, but both can be extended from the personal to national level.Guanxi, mianzi, and lian are either obstacles OR great tools depending on how HIV is viewed within a social context in China. Eliminating parts of other cultures to mimic a Western model would certainly make it easier for Westerners to work in this society though it is unethical and ultimately likely to be more trouble than its worth. Changing part of a culture, especially things embedded like guanxi, mianzi, and lian - is impossible.

As it stands now, a province or municipality loses mianzi and lian if it admits that it has a high rate of HIV or even if it has a high proportion of HIV-related organizations registered. The same things happened during Mao's Great Leap Forward when provinces inaccurately reported the amount of grain produced if it was below the target set by the national government. Oh, at that time there were also periodic cullings of people who didn't live up to the standards set by the Chinese Communist Party, but the comparison is still analogous. The end result of misreporting? The deaths, by starvation, of 10% of people in some provinces. Many survived by fleeing to Hong Kong and Macau, then British and Portuguese holdings, or eating the corpses of the deceased dead. Unchecked HIV would not cause those same problems, though as a nation China would lose much face internationally if it's epidemics go unchecked, given the level of resources the government has at it's disposal. Learning from your mistakes is a good thing, China, I promise. Let's take a look back, take a look forward, and do what needs to be done.

I'm arriving in Johannesburg on November 29th - I can't wait!

Working

My anti-AIDS Superhero outfit. I'm trying to fly, apparently.
-FCUK Safely Shirt
-Dual Anti-AIDS Propaganda wristbands.
-Three Red Ribbons
-Innumerable condoms.

British Humor...

I've got two new albums of photos just waiting for you (all) to peruse through.


by lookdamnit


by lookdamnit

The photo in the previous post was taken at the top of the tallest mountain in Shandong province; however, it's only about 1/4th the size of Kili and has steps the whole way up. The view was still quite amazing at sunrise.

I arrived in Hong Kong about a week and a half ago from Ji'nan, Shandong (eastern mountain) province. HK has quickly become a city I could actually see myself living in..with the other two being Boston and San Francisco. Hong Kong is composed of over 250 individual islands, with all of the major ones linked by a subway called the MTR. I've heard that over 70% of Hong Kong island is subtropical primary forest (even though I am technically in the tropics..). Quite a feat for a city of 7 million..but it isn't really of their choosing. The southern half of the island is very mountainous with the tallest peak being about 1500 feet above sea level..from sea level, of course. As far as direct Watson related stuff, I've learned quite a few things about HIV in China on the whole since I started.

There are four major regions of HIV infection in China, all with different epidemics that seem fairly unrelated. Southwestern China (Yunnan & Sichuan provinces mainly, for Sinophiles), is directly on the border with Burma, a large producer of heroine. The border is heavily forested and isn't tightly controlled on other side..thus heroine flows into China relatively freely. While trafficking heroine is punishable by death, the police are too easily bribed and so traffickers often get off. The police in China even have the power to be judge, jury, and executioner in such cases. Westerners have even been executed for trafficking narcotics, though not in the execution style I just described. Most of the HIV+ people in the SW are migrant workers, commercial sex workers, intravenous drug users..or all of the above (traveling minority [read: do not speak Chinese] prostitutes with no education). Universal education is *just* reaching Western China, though it was promised initially over 50 yrs ago! Most of these minority groups are being thrust into the Chinese world market and are utterly socially helpless for the economic development that is coming more rapidly then we can buy lead painted toys. However, the SW is relatively geographically and economically isolated as compared to the East. Sichuan province produces over 10% of China's food, ensuring it will be increasingly connected to the rest of China as the western infrastructure develops further.

Hubei province - central China - home of the fabled foible of the Chinese CDC, the paid blood donor scandal. An untold number of citizens were infected through poor hygiene practices and even the mixing of common blood types (A+ blood from person 1 with A+ blood from person 2..for example) that were then given to people in need of transfusions. While quite tragic, Hubei province isn't a significant factor in future infections as most of those who were infected were not a group that, historically, spreads HIV any more than the common person.

Eastern China - mainly Shanghai, Beijing, Ji'nan, and surrounding provincial capitals..home to millions (4 million in Beijing or 25% of the population) of male migrant workers, the wealthiest Chinese outside of Hong Kong. By far the most developed and with the financial capitals of Beijing and Shanghai, combined with the political epicenter in Beijing make for high-traffic, high risk, cities. In these cities my sources estimate as much as 40% of sex work is solicited by males for males; however, more often than not those male sex workers are not gay, they simply have no other option. Remember those migrant workers I just mentioned? If I went to any public Chinese park, any day of the week, usually right before and after dinner time as much as 10-20% of those in the park are there to find work in the form of prostitution. The vast majority of these workers are men. There are five types of moneyboys (male sex workers) as far as I can tell.

• Migrant workers, often straight, and very poor..engage in sex work on the side as supplemental income. They often have sex with wealthier, married, Chinese men and have little control - or knowledge of - any STIs. Condoms are too expensive, and knowledge of how to use them is limited to the very well saturated upper middle class gay Chinese. Oh, and there's no sex ed in school in China, if there even is a school.as in the west. Even if they had them, I'd say they would have the same power dynamic as a poor female sex worker i.e., no agency with which to negotiate. They need the money for their next meal. Drug use seems to be non existent in this group.
• "True" moneyboys. Middle class young gay men (16-30). Totally freelance, and work full time in sex work. They have no bosses, charge exorbitant sums of money, and are highly mobile. Remaining in cities only a few weeks at a time, at most..they move to where the clients are. Very well educated about HIV/STIs, they insist on condoms and generally get their way as they do not need the money, they want it, and can turn down clients who want to bareback (bb). International and domestic clients served.
  
• Brothel-eled moneyboys. These are str8 men who I believe transitioned from the first category of migrant workers to a more permanent situation as full-time moneyboys. A familial structure exists in these brothels with the "mother" (pimp, a male) taking care of the "sons" (moneyboys). However, the mother doesn't tend to care too much about sons as bb sex is fine, as long as the client pays a premium. Moneyboys here are often uneducated about STIs/HIV and are difficult to access as the mamasan (pimp/mother) shields them from NGO access.
• Masseuse turned moneyboy. I know very little demographically about these guys, but I know they only exist in big cities. Relatively cheap as compared to the more high class moneyboys, as they often are just a masseuse with the occasional sex client. Not all massage parlors allow this sort of thing, in fact few do due to legal repercussions.
• Not really moneyboys at all..but let's just call them young gay men who will accept a bit of money for sex. The logic is a bit reversed in China when it comes to pay for sex. In the West most people think "I'm not a commodity to be bought, I won't accept money." These young Chinese boys, especially for older western men, love the idea of someone wanting to pay to have sex with them..it's a big ego boost. Not even supplemental income for these guys, it's just good fun with a little money added. They have a lot of power in sexual situations as the money is just an added bonus to what they already wanted, though knowledge of HIV is still very low. Perceived risk is even lower - no good.

I'm just learning about the epidemic in Guanzhou/Shenzen (iPod city..all 100 million+ iPods made here)/Hong Kong and I will be going to NW China, more heroine action but from the former Soviet states via Afghanistan.

As it stands now, NW, SW, South Central, and Eastern Chinese epidemics all appear to be from different sources..but what's going to happen when China develops an effective infrastructure, Hong Kong becomes more integrated into China, and the emerging middle class begins to encounter all of these populations? Boom.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but...

I think this one is worth ten thousand.

Click on it for a larger version.

Found in Wal-Mart. Looks like Orlando bloom as Legolas and J-Lo as scantily clad twins have teamed up for an awesome movie called "Fire Dragon Island Breakout Of." Can't wait to see this blockbuster

Natural? I think not.

For all my Reedie friends out there who thought China had no PBR.

The "gate" that keeps you from going to North Korea. And yeah, those posts..there is no fence in between.

Muslim guy with his freshly baked cake and fake iPod.

The extremely endangered Manchurian (or Siberian) Tiger eating a live chicken at the wildlife center in Northeastern China. You could even buy a whole cow and feed them if you liked.

More to come later, enjoy this little media extravaganza.

The Three Squeal Dish:
They bring you a live rat just about to give birth
and cut open it's stomach (1 squeal), then you grab the baby rats with
your chopsticks (2 squeal), and then you eat them alive (3 squeal!).

Delicious, no?

Lions, Tigers, and Japs - Oh my.

Witty yet very un-PC, I know..but if you'd seen the things that the Japanese did during WWII to Chinese, Soviet, and British POWs, you might be saying the same thing. But lets backtrack a bit.

I've been in Harbin, the capital of a province nestled unncessarily close to North Korea and Russia. It's home to the world's largest Siberian tiger park. I checked it out yesterday, after a cab, two buses, and a three-wheeled electric "taxi" finally got me there. The park's goal is to increase the population of the critically endangered Manchurian/Siberian tiger. Last year it boasted 80 births, and with only 300-500 in the wild..it seems to be succeeding in creating more tigers. However, it isn't at all preparing them for release into the wild. You can't exactly rehabilitate captive bred animals by allowing park visitors to buy live game to hand-feed the tigers, can you? At the end of the tour you are allowed to take pictures with a Siberian tiger skin or a tiger cub, neither of which I did out of silent protest. They also had various other big cats, such as Lions, Ligers, Panthers, and Jaguars.

Today I took a visit to a former Japanese Special Military Zone, Base 731. From 1939 to 1945, it was a research center for germ warfare. 3,000 people died there over six years through various experiments involving frostbite, small pox, pneumonic plague i.e., bubonic plague, and trial by fire. Physicians would infect people with pathogens or expose them to extreme heat/cold to see how their bodies reacted. Now I'm off to a happier place, Dongdan. It's directly on the border with North Korea and, if I'm lucky, I'll get to buy some smokes for a North Korean soldier at the "one step across," point where only a stream seperates the two countries. As there is no fence, I could easily help the poor guy out.

Until next time,
Jeff

Rock the Wangba

Wangba = internet cafe. I've got almost 5 hrs until my train leaves for Haerbin, the very most NE part of the Middle Kingdom. I may make it up to the Chinese "siberia," though it has no permafrost. My time here in Shenyang was informative and productive. I managed to learn a great deal about high risk groups here. In the end, I didn't conduct very many interviews but I'm feeling more and more like here in China I'll have to just settle for a Watson, as opposed to a research project. In the end I'm supposed to be on a Watson anyway, right? In case you were trying to figure out what my life in BJ was like, here is a good friend's account of his time there. We spent three weeks together hanging out and getting pisht in my off-time.

Shamelessy copied from my Beijing roommate's blog:

"I'll miss wandering down the hutongs [small traditional Chinese streets] looking for food and seeing all the familiar faces of people trying to sell me things or exploit me in some way (bottle-man, cookie-man, dog-man and bottle-mao to name a few) and sitting on the steps outside the hostel drinking pijiu [25 cent beer] and baiju [chinese rice wine, 120 proof, ~5 cents a shot] until 7am in the morning. I'll miss the boy who makes me 'Chinese hamburgers' (which, coincidentally, taste like a McMuffin) followed by the two girls in my favourite Internet cafe who always look disappointed to see me despite the excellent business I've provided (perhaps because they never succeed in their attempts to rip me off). I will really miss the loud woman who always shouts "harrow!" to me when I walk past her restaurant and underhandedly tries to persuade me to dine there tomorrow." - Dave

New Meats

Rabbit - Good.
Frog - Better if it wasn't boiled.
Squid Tentacle - Not terrible, not great either.
Snake Skin - Very good spices. HORRIBLE texture. 50% failure rate on swallowing the skin after putting it in mouth. An arabic guy and I managed to ingest it, but only after a little heaving first. The key to eating snake skin? Not chewing! Snake scales, hair, finger nails, and the exoskeletons of arthropods are all made of a protein called chitin. Our digestive enzymes in our stomach and lower intestines cannot hydrolyze the bonds in chitin i.e., when I shit next it'll be like a snake sloughed its skin off inside me. Woohoo!

Mao Zedong's Revenge

So yeah, I was taller than my door frame.

Virtual soccer!

Creepy fake robots to scare children. Doesn't the little girl look so happy?

Enormous photo of Mao.

Much like Montezuma's revenge, if that means anything too you. I won't be any more explicit than that, but I've only been eating Western food the past few days to avoid unwanted complications to my already fragile GI tract. How many boneless chicken's feet can one eat before your lower intestine revolts? Other than that, I started my illegally copied DVD collection with the first season of Heroes, Transformers, and 28 Weeks later..all for less than a dollar a DVD, argued down from well over 2 per DVD. I guess all those arguments with the manager of a used car lot really honed by bargaining skills.

AND, I'm finally leaving the nitrogen dioxide waste-heap that is Beijing! I'll be heading to the Shenyang, Harbin, and Dalian - once a beach vacation spot for party members, now home the Chinese Naval Academy and a few ferries to Korea and Japan if I decide to jump ship early. If all goes to plan, I'll be conducting focus groups of 8-12 members of overlapping high risk groups. So..men who have sex with men that are sex workers, drug users, prisoners (highly unlikely I'll get access in China), or migrant workers. All made possible by my newly hired interpreter and my nifty iPod attachment that acts as a digital audio recording device. I get to look forward to 20-40hrs of train/bus rides over the next few days. Exciting, right? Well, at least I end in Dalian..or possible Tianjin that have some nice beaches to relax on for a day or two.

A few photos..

Valued squirrel? The nightmare before christmas store?

E=MC...great physics for a bridge really.

A rose garden, quite nice.

The "one legged" food, so tasty.

Never knew I'd find a chicken head in my food!

A nice Chinese Hu tong (old alley way)

So yes, I know I've been quite bad about posting to this blog, but I've had quite an exciting three weeks.

I've encountered all the normal traveller's woes thusfar, from horrible French roommates to dog's being skinned in the street for tourist (not Chinese) consumption. Let's start with Beijing. Officially a municipality in the Chinese government's eyes, Beijing has managed to cram 15 million Beijing-born and bred Chinese, 4 million migrants from rural China, and 1 million ex-patriates - Amurricans, Brits, Ozzies, Kiwis, Frenchies, and the like - into a place considerably smaller than Jefferson County, Ky. With an inefficient public transit system, steamy hot days, the poorest air quality in the world, and Chinese women that are so afraid of the sun that they must carry a fricking parasol 14 hrs a day that more often than not hits me in the face due to my superior stature, Beijing has been a treat!

No really, it has been..those are just the woes of China's capital city. The Chinglish (Chinese-English) has been quite hilarious at times due to the euphamistic nature of Mandarin. For example, America directly translates to "Beautiful Kingdom."

A typical chinese menu:
roast duck of Beijing
Rinse the meat of Beijing
Wheat Joss-stick Cow Willow
Fried Peanut
Korea Form Dog Meat
the temple explodes the chicken cube (my personal favorite)
the meat mixs the bean curd
Fragrant and hot soil bean silk
The meat fries the mushroom
Mountain wild vegetable
The beef braises the persimmon
fries Huang's flower fish
on the ant tree
the cooking pot beef braises the turnip
the stem butns the cow shredded meat
Grass fish (with pickled cabbage) braised in brown Sauce, with Squirrel

Sounds tasty right? Much of it is, but I did find an entire chicken head in a dish I ordered recently. The Chinese rate main dishes on a "legs" scale. Let me explain.
Four legged food such as cow, pig, and mutton are the worst.
Two legged food such as chicken and duck are better. People are only on the menu in Guandong province.
One legged food is much better and is limited to types of fungus.
No legged food is great..like fish. Crustaceans are not no-legged, but shrimp are.

Fortunately Tofu (or doufu as they call it) is readily available at every eatery and vegetarian options are easy to acquire so to as not eat the odd squirrel or brain of some farm animal.

Other than avoiding ingesting unwanted types of food, I've actually been doing my project as well. I've toured countless brothels, parks, and saunas interviewing male sex workers (money boys), the mama-san ("mother" of the money boys), and I can say with a high degree of confidence that the male sex workers have it much better here in China than their female counterparts. Male sex workers have a degree of organization here that I've never seen before, and the fact that every city has huge brothels for only men is something that Amsterdam can't even boast. Pretty impressive considering that prostitution is illegal in China. Some mama-san have even consolidated their businesses so that they have a monopoly on the MSM sex trade! I'm planning to head down to Shanghai later to have an entire group of money boys tested as they are drug users, prostitutes, MSM, migrant workers, and prisoners simultaneously..I just have to know what their infection rate is...I'd like to figure out if high risk behaviours are additive or if the most risky behaviour (drug use) from a physiological standpoint takes precedent. I've had meetings with numerous international NGO directors and am planning to head to NE China in a few days to begin my real work..no more schmoozing with MSF and UN officials. Fun, and my new ecco shoes (thanks gramps!) and gucci belt (thanks dad!) came in handy for those things, but I'm ready to just get into the thick of it.

Until next time,
Jeff