Month: July 2016

Yoga at Ohio City Farm, Cleveland, by Vision Yoga – Class Review

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This past week, from July 18-21, a handful Americans convened on Cleveland for the Republican National Convention (RNC.) Events of the RNC for me included some great live music, witnessing protests and stepping in to participate here and there, and at the end of the week a much needed outdoors, community yoga class.

There was a lot of stress and disbelief for me as a newly repatriated American. Tossed into the heart of Cleveland for the RNC was a little overwhelming, the most being hatred, homophobia, racism, and guns. It was an atmosphere that required deep exhalations.  Countless cops from all over the U.S. in the middle of tension on all sides. There was also a some good happening – people protesting and opposing the hate.

The whole thing had me shaking my head in confusion and disbelief which is why I was ever so grateful for a community class at Ohio City Farm . The class was the day after the convention ended (thankfully,) on Friday afternoon at lunchtime. At first I wasn’t sure if I’d attend since temperatures and humidity were high, but the class was in a far off corner of the farm, under a large, shady tree, in view of the Cleveland cityscape,  with a gentle breeze made the heat bearable.

The class was taught by a teacher from nearby studio, Vision Yoga, which is just a block away from the farm. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to visit the studio, but saw the storefront after grabbing a much appreciated post-class burrito. Based on their website, they have a lot of classes going on and are even offering a great new student and locals deal of 4 weeks at $40.

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Vision Yoga Studio 1861 W. 25th Street Cleveland, Ohio 44113

Getting There

The farm is easy to get to and is located just a short walk away from the historic West Side Market. Both are located just of of West 25th Street. The Ohio City Farm’s address is:

Stone Ct, Cleveland OH 44113

Follow this link for more detailed directions on how to get to the Ohio City area.

The Class

The farm class as mentioned before was taught at the far end of the farm, so be sure to give yourself about 10-15 minutes to find the spot and to fill out a waiver form if you haven’t been to Vision Yoga classes before. The class time is 12:15-1PM, just in time for a lunch break practice for those working nearby. It is a community class, or in other words, a donation class, so pay what you can and pay happily knowing that your money is going to a non-profit doing great things.

Community classes at the farm are every other Friday, so pay attention to Vision Yoga’s schedule to be sure that a class is taking place on the day you wish to attend. An organizer that I spoke to mentioned that she wasn’t sure if the classes would continue beyond August, but she and I hoped that classes would continue through September, as long as the weather cooperates.

The Refugee Response

The class that I attended was sponsored by The Refugee Response, an organization that works to help refugees settle into American life by offering English tutoring sessions; and something else that’s really cool – they employ refugees on the farm to work the land. Refugees from all over the world get to share their skills and gain a sense of purpose in their new community of Cleveland.

This is an awesome organization; if I were in Cleveland I would love to volunteer and get involved with them. If you’re local to the 216, then follow this link to find out how you can volunteer and help out. Maybe you can do your part by attending the next Community Class at Ohio City Farm.

 

Plastic Free France in Plastic Free July!

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Plastic Free July is an initiative that challenges us to say no and refuse single-use plastics for the entire month of July (and hopefully the newly strengthened habit will carry over into August, September, and every other month.) You can read more about the campaign on the official website here.

Examples of plastics to say no to for the rest of the month are plastic forks/knives/spoons, red solo cups, plastic bags at the check out, and straws. Shop smart by choosing items packaged as lightly as possible, and go to a farmer’s market and buy your produce there, have them place your fruit and veg straight into your reusable bag instead of using those pointless produce bags at the grocery store. Bonus! – you support local farms and eat healthier, local foods!

It doesn’t take me long to collect straws on my morning walks,.

What’s the big deal about single-use plastic anyway? Well quite frankly, it sucks. Sorry to be blunt, but there’s no other way to put it. These items of “convenience” are produced with oil (polyethylene) and other chemicals at very high temperatures (500 F), packaged and shipped out to stores, where they’re freely given out or are charged at a very low price, carry your items where you are going and then likely get tossed in the garbage.

If you’re raising your eyebrows thinking, “But wait, I recycle!” well then I am grateful that you take that extra step, and everyone should be recycling by now, it’s 2016 after all, but I’d argue that the energy used in transporting, cleaning, and processing the recycled plastic is unnecessary. Consider if instead we all used real knives and forks (or any other real, multi-use item instead of a single-use plastic one) and then washed them after use to be used again, and again, and again. Recycling is energy intensive, and although yes, it is better than tossing plastic into the trash or on the street; I don’t think that it’s the answer to all of our problems.

I’ve gone off on a tangent. This is not a post about why we should refuse plastic, no that can be found here  and here, and tips on how to cut back on plastics in your life are written here. No, this post is actually a celebration of an entire country banning plastic bags – an entire country! That country my friends, is France.

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This is what happened: starting on July 1, 2016 all shops and super markets no longer carry thin, single-use plastic bags at their check out. Instead shoppers are encouraged to bring their own, or buy heavy-duty bags that cost more than the typical 10 cents. Bags that yes, _DSC4495are plastic, but that are meant for multiple uses. Plastic bags generally have a life span of carrying your groceries from the store check out line to your car and then from the car to your kitchen where they likely get tossed in the trash, recycle bin, or in a designated area where they’ll sit with all of the other useless plastic bags that have come home with the shopping and that have no other purpose. It is a beautiful thing that France realized the waste and inefficiency and made laws to get rid of them all together.

What’s more, is that starting on January 1, 2017 in France plastic produce bags found next to the fruit and vegetables will go from being plastic (the norm) to being paper or a compostable corn-starch plastic. A lot of waste is going to be saved in France not just in the shops and super markets but also in the weekly markets and night markets that are still alive and thriving in  almost every small town and village.

France gave up plastic bags in 2016.
Vive la France!

Thank you, France! What an inspiration for all other cities and countries to aspire to. In my most optimistic dreams the U.S. will follow suit one day, and I will anxiously be awaiting that day.

*Note on Photography: All photos were taken on the ground near Bordeaux, France by my accommodating partner, Ben Lear.

Help-X vs. Wwoof

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This has been the longest gap between posts for me since karabemisyoga was started back in 2014. I have been busy relocating (temporarily or permanently – )not quite sure) back into American life after living abroad for 4+ years. My trip in India and through Europe has sadly come to an end, but it has inspired posts such as this one, a comparison of two popular working holiday/work exchange networks. There will be more posts by me inspired by my travels, my practice, and my “new” life here in the U.S. Now for the article:

Why Help-X is Better Than Wwoofing

A previous post written was about Help-X, a network for hosts and helpers to find each other world-wide; hosts find helpers to do all sorts of work on their land and helpers find hosts in all corners of the globe to stay with and learn from while on their working holiday. As mentioned in that article, there are two other popular online networks out there: Wwoof and Workaway. You can have a look through all three and make your own decision, but having used both Help-X and Wwoof before (I’ve never used Workaway but met volunteers that have with success) my preference is Help-X. Here’s how Help-X and Wwoof compare.

Help-X vs Wwoof12973276_948152778637309_6591640561992555165_o

Location, Location, Location

  • Help-X One word – international. When you join the Help-X network you get access to farms, hostels, home-stays, etc. in cities and rural sites all over the world. You can search for a host in the Americas (North, Central, and South;) Europe, Australia, Asia, and pretty much everywhere else. As long as a host exists in a country then you can find a place to work with Help-X.

 

 

  • Wwoof On the other hand, in order to search for hosts using Wwoof you must join each individual country at a cost that would add up if you were planning to wwoof your way around multiple countries. You can bundle small, neighboring countries together which helps save on cost, but still if you compare the three countries of one said bundle: Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Belize for $33 to getting access to hosts around the world with Help-X for only $22, then the choice is pretty simple.

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Price Comparison

  • Help-X Membership comes in two types for helpers. You can join for free by creating a profile with your details. With a Free membership you will be able to browse partial profiles of hosts, leaving out the contact information which is how you start communication to organize a stay. However, hosts can contact you if you are a desirable helper. The second membership is Premier membership which gives you more power to view hosts’ full information, photos, reviews, maps, and more. It costs 20 euro ($22 USD) to upgrade to Premier membership. Membership lasts for two years and covers all continents. You can also join Help-X as a couple. Couple membership costs $29 USD for two people for two years.

 

  • Wwoof To be clear, I’ve only wwoofed once in Korea and have never joined the network in another country. The reason why I didn’t use it more is the cost. Wwoof membership in Korea is 50,000 won ($42 USD)/per person/per year. When my boyfriend joined and messaged a host he received acceptance; in the contact email he explained that it would be him and his girlfriend (yours truly, of course) coming to help for a week. A few days later he received two more emails, one from the host explaining that he had to cancel the arrangement on orders from Wwoof Korea and one directly from Wwoof Korea which canceled his membership and explained that he could not contact a host on behalf of two people without the second joining Wwoof Korea independently. Basically, they wanted me to pay 50,000 won and send a separate email although we were coming and volunteering together as a unit. It makes sense business wise for Wwoof, but it left a bad taste in my mouth about the organization which is clearly after money. In the end my boyfriend smoothed it over and we were able to volunteer without me creating my own profile. One point for the little guys!

 

Reviews

  • Help-X Reviews can be written for hosts by helpers and for helpers by hosts. This is useful for all involved because as a host it’s important to find reliable, friendly, hard-working helpers. Likewise as a helper it’s wise to choose carefully where and with whom you want to spend a few weeks with living and working together. When it comes time to choose where to volunteer, be sure to browse multiple profiles, take a look at supplemental websites or Facebook pages, and write thoughtful initial contact emails to each individual host you are interested in rather than copy and pasting a generic message to multiples.
  • Wwoof Again, I must state that I have not myself used Wwoof’s online network being put off by the price, but I have heard that their review section leaves you wanting more. I can’t say much here due to lack of real experience, but I will state that I overheard two veteran hosts complaining about the Wwoof system for an array of reasons, one of them being the lack of reviews.

 

Wwoofing is a similar network to Help-X and is something that my boyfriend and I were considering doing back in 2011 until we opted for Help-X, a decision that I very happy to have made. Others are equally happy with Workaway. Hosts that I have stayed with recently have had profiles on all three networks, so odds are that you won’t miss out whichever service you choose, but I would argue that you will miss out if you go with Wwoof if having a variety of hosts in countries all over the world is what you’re looking for.

By no means do I  wish to bash the organization or write with hate. I have had only the one negative interaction in the past and can’t use that to judge other international Wwoof networks not associated with the Korean network. To clarify, this piece is to help travelers out there making a decision about which network to go with and I hope that it helps in that decision.

For more on the subject, have a look at this article by our very own Amy Steele, written about Voluntourism for Busan HAPS magazine’s June 2016 issue.