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White Lab Report January 2009

Editor: Keisha al'Benn

A special welcome to our newest White Sister Isarma!

We have also have a new Soul this month....congratulations to Elin!!

Welcome to our wonderful Guests Morwynna and Autumn and our newest Aspirant Kaileena

Bubble of the Month Several bubble experiments were conducted this month but none were that spectacular. The Popcorn Bubble tasted like Pepsi and corn and was rather soggy. The Brownie Bubble was chewy but the Blues ate them all before a proper analysis could be made. The Lava Lamp Bubble was too hot to handle. More experiments will be forthcoming....

Shoe of the Month Shoes of the month submitted by Morwynna....can you say sexy?!? Dovienya was overheard saying, "heels are dangerous, but so am I!"

Recognition of the Month We would like to award Kytheria Sedai for her tireless work in providing recognitions for each of the ajahs and companies....Great job!!

Natalya has kindly provided us with a quote for the month: Quote: "We are being logical here, not diplomatic."

A commentary about New Year's Resolutions--by Elin al'Nia

Quote: Laurie Taylor, writing in the Times Higher Education Supplement on the 8th January 2009, gives the definition of a New Year's resolution as "something that goes in one year and out the other". How cynical can you get?

This year, my resolution was going to be: become healthier and take more exercise. Unfortunately, I spent the New Year lying flat in bed with a bad back, suffering from the remnants of the cold and cough virus that's doing the rounds here so not much chance to be energetic and I screwed up the healthy bit too. In fact, winter’s so cold and damp and there are so many germs going the rounds that I really need lots of warm, comforting food and medicinal alcohol so diets and exercise are right out of the question. Hot toddies and curling up by the fire are infinitely preferable.

Actually, I always find the timing of New Year's Resolutions totally illogical. New Year comes a week after Christmas Day when I'm still munching and slurping my way through the several boxes of chocolates and bottles of wine that I'm invariably given, to say nothing of hoovering up the mountain of leftover food, munchies and snacks which I stocked up on before the holiday in case we had lots of visitors (who either didn't materialise or declined the offer of food as they have greater willpower than I have). I invariably resolve to lose weight each year and am immediately sabotaged by the said leftovers and edible gifts. After all, I can’t throw them away uneaten. Think of all the people in the world who are starving.

Perhaps it would be more sensible for me to make my resolutions at another holiday time, such as Easter. Oh, but there are all the Easter eggs available to eat and Cadbury’s Cream Eggs are in the shops (UK confectionary, extremely sweet and sickly, only sold January to Easter), too much temptation I fear. My birthday? Ah well, being a spring baby it’s traditional for my family to give me said Easter eggs (and aforementioned Cadbury’s Cream Eggs) as birthday persents and it would be rude to refuse them.

Summer might be a good time to make my resolutions, lots of sunshine, salads and opportunities to go walking. And out on the motorbike during the day, with regular stops at the bacon buttie and burger van and in the long summer evenings the walk invariably ends at the pub. The British pub and real ale being declining traditions which I feel obliged to support on patriotic grounds.

Well, there’s always autumn. What’s that? Ah, Thanksgiving (yes, I know that I’m British and we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving but I always feel that I need to participate in solidarity with my American sisters). Maybe not. And then it’s Christmas time, with its round of parties and family meals. Never mind, it’ll soon be New Year and a fresh start.

But what about the Christmas leftovers? *Sighs* Maybe Laurie Taylor has a point.

White Lab Report, December 2008

Editor: Keisha al'Benn

Welcome all to the much abbreviated holiday version of the White Lab Report! With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays we chose to keep our newsletter short and sweet this month.

December Birthdays
Our December birthdays include: Loira, Arcadia and Kyria....happy birthday ladies!

Bubble of the Month
The Bubble of the Month is Forest Green. It is rumored to include Green Water which may or may not have strange effects on the females of the site. It has a pleasant minty flavor and displayed healing properties on several victims, er, volunteers that suffered adverse reactions to the previous Red Bubbles.

Shoe of the Month
The shoe of the month is actually a Boot. With all of the snow many of us are experiencing, warm and functional footwear is a must. These are also cute and stylish!

The White Ajah would like to wish everyone a Wonderful Yule Tide Season: Merry Christmas, Happy Hannakah, Happy Kwanzaa, and a Grand Festivus for the Rest of Us!

White Lab Report, November 2008

Editor: Keisha al'Benn

Our first edition was such a hit we decided to do it again!

Since November is the month that Americans celebrate Thanksgiving I would like to begin by listing some blessings. I put out a call for extra special happenings in the past year that we are thankful for but the responses were surprising. Most of the ladies who replied were simply grateful for everyday happenings. I would like to include a quote by Wen Sedai:

Big blessings are fun, and I appreciate them, but they're generally not the ones I count at the end of every day or the ones that make me smile goofily when I'm daydreaming. :)

White Ajah Guests
Our current guests include: Viola, Zimone, Alatariel, and Kaileena

White Ajah Aspirants
These wonderful ladies are Aspiring to EnWhitenment: Arelai, Elin, Enya, Isarma, Sienna, and Dovienya

November Birthdays
Our November Birthdays: Aeryth, Alene, Bridonna

Bubble of the Month
Bubble of the Month: Red
Side effects include memory loss and minor explosions, I do believe Lyara Sedai did have to purchase a new dress and Liiane lost her nose. No one could be enticed to actually try them, this was only from the production of the Bubbles.

Shoes of the Month
The shoes of the month were provided by Lyara, she describes them as "illogically, awesome shoes....quite odd."
Glove Shoes

Bubble Award
We would like to give the Bubble Award to our own Dralyn Sedai for all of the hard work and dedication to her position. She is one who doesn't seem as boisterous as some, but without whom we could not exist.Chomp

Keisha Sedai's Meeting with Brandon Sanderson
Here is an abridged version of Keisha Sedai's meeting with Brandon Sanderson several weeks ago:

Brandon Sanderson is incredibly wonderful, awesome and seemed really easy going. He read an exerpt from one of his books and then signed books and did a Q and A. Much of this many of you may already know such as the NDS (non-disclosure statment) that he has signed that prevents him talking about MoL. What he did say was that we WILL be told who killed Asmodean!! :clap

He plans to turn in the first 400,000 words to TOR by December or January and then another 300,000 words shortly after that. Because of the length MoL he said he is about 80% sure it will be divided into two volumns one being released in November of 2009 and the second around January or February of 2010. However, he is writing it as one book and the speculation about the division derives from the fact book publishers tend to think two $20 books will make them more money than one $30 book. :blink

As far as the two prequels....he has not been approached about those but he said he is willing to write them if he is asked. The Mat and Tuon thing will probably not happen and to be honest do we really want it to? In my opinion I think we can let that one be.

He discussed how his writing style differs from RJ's stating that he is not as detailed oriented and Harriet has asked him to provide more details in some sections. He did say he is writing "more explosive and detailed action sequences" so it appears the detail will be there....just not on what everyone is wearing. Also he said his Point of View and Narrative style was different.

Mr. Sanderson stated that he felt like this "massive, enormous book" was more like seven books because he writes about the Perrin stuff and then the Rand stuff and then the Elayne stuff and so on and so forth.

All of my boys went and they each got a book signed and the younger two got signed posters too! In fact, we were able to purchase the second Alcatraz book that night even though it wasn't due to be released for several more weeks. It was a numbered copy and I think we may have to go buy another copy to read because these are going to be placed in a Keeping! :)

Brandon Sanderson talking about his books
Brandon Sanderson and Keisha

White Lab Report, October 2008

Editor: Keisha al'Benn

We in the White Ajah have come together in a shameless attempt to copy the Brown Ajah with our own version of a monthly newsletter. (Just remember imitation is the highest form of flattery) So pull up a chair, pour a cup of tea and enjoy some enWhitenment!

White Ajah Guests
Currently Guesting with us: Thalya, Willow, Rina, Torrie

White Ajah Aspirants
Our Newest Aspirant: Elin :joy

October Birthdays
Zhareen and Arelwen

Our New Soul
Congratulations to our new Soul!!: Isarma  :clap

Bubble of the Month
Fuchsia (yes I had to look up the spelling
Fuschia Bubble

Many thanks to our darling test subject Locke, he did lose his ears but they eventually grew back with only a slight tinge of pink.

Shoe of the Month
Xavaria provided us with the Shoes of the Month. A lovely Ed Hardy Highrise found at Zappos.com. Comfy enough to scuzz around in, fancy enough for a night out with your favorite gaidin.
Ed Hardy Highrise

Bubble Award
We will be honoring a special TV.net member in each issue. Chomp
This month the distinguished Bubble Award goes to Ninya Sedai of the Blue Ajah! [1]
Ninya goes above and beyond the call of duty in many ways. She is wonderful and talented and we lurve her!!

Elin interviews Amara Sedai
A special thanks to Elin and Amara for the following interview:

You may not know that our own Amara Danicek is currently undertaking volunteer work on the other side of the world to most of us. She has kindly taken time from her busy schedule to share her some of her experiences and answer some questions. I found her replies fascinating and am sure that you will too ...

What’s the background to you being in China? How long have you been there?

I’m here as a volunteer English teacher through an organization called Worldteach. I will also be volunteering at some orphanages as soon as the paperwork is done. I’m in the province of Hunan teaching at a school in a factory town called Tianxin and it doesn’t get much more real China than this. The school I am at does not have a library so I’m currently trying to help them acquire some books since most of my students are too poor to afford English books. I’ve been here for almost three months now and I’ll stay for one or two years.

Are you inspired to travel some more?

I’ve always loved to travel and to get off the beaten path so I think this experience hasn’t so much inspired me to travel more as confirmed my belief that I’ll be quite happy as an expatriate.

What was your initial reaction when you first arrived?

I was pretty numb when I first arrived with how overwhelming everything was. I don’t think it really hit me until I left Changsha for my placement site and was on my own. I love it here but I definitely get days of “what was I thinking?”

Have you any funny stories about your stay?

I’ve got quite a collection of stories. You’ve got to laugh at things here to keep up your mental state. Here are two more recent ones though:

I was travelling for Golden week to Nanjing with another volunteer. We were pretty bored there so we decided to go onto Shanghai the next day. We didn’t want to wait in line at the train station (which could take 4-5 hours) so we were trying to hunt out a ticket agent. We saw a westerner and approached him to ask if he knew where one was. Unfortunately, he was only visiting but turned out to be a French Canadian circus performer. To cut a long story short, after helping him get dinner we snuck into the circus with him, pretending to be performers ourselves and got to meet carnival folk from all over the world.

A more typical story here is that my hot water and been broken for over a week and my toilet has never really worked and so I was waiting to hear from my liaison on when it would be fixed. Mrs. He texted me while I was chatting with Andra, but she did not mention a thing about the water heater or toilet. Instead her text proudly proclaimed: “ the school has decided give you kitchen yard.” Very confused, I asked Andra what a “kitchen yard” might be. She guessed it was a garden where you can grow herbs and vegetables for cooking. My immediate thought was “why does the school think I want to garden? I don’t even have hot water or a toilet!” Sure enough, Mrs. He was knocking on my door about ten minutes later carrying bed sheets, a pot, and a kitchen cleaver. “See,” she said, “new kitchen yard!”

What do you think are the biggest difference from home? And what similarities have you found?

Hygiene and basic manners differ so much here! Little children have slits in their pants and just do their business whenever and wherever they are. People, especially middle-aged men, spit and smoke everywhere, even under signs saying not to. The old people here cut and push in line so you have to be prepared to protect your ribs and be ready to elbow back if you want to get anywhere.

The students here are the same. Our idea of the perfect angelic Chinese student is totally false. They are kids like anywhere and some of them are better behaved than others. Even the most studious student here won’t do a thing you tell them if they think they can get away with it! Really, I think the everyday interactions between people are the same. You really see this if you are a foreign teacher because the kids feel like they can come talk to you about stuff and so end up hearing a lot about fights with parents and friends, unrequited crushes etc.

What do you think the West could learn from Chinese culture?

There is so much we can learn from each other! For one thing, connections mean everything to the Chinese and so they are really loyal to their friends and families here. They don’t just throw things away here. I think that these are things the west really needs to relearn for the sake of society. Furthermore, the respect that families have here for the elderly is outstanding! It is really touching to see the grandparents playing with the children all the time, or teenagers willingly helping their grandfather or grandmother go to the store. People in the west are too afraid of their own mortality and so shy away from the elderly; it’s a shame.

What’s the best thing that you’ve found? And what don’t you like?

I think the people here are the best thing I’ve found. I cannot even begin to express how helpful and friendly everyone here is. They are truly grateful that I’ve come here to teach and go out of their way to invite me to things and make sure I’m part of the community. I’ve only been here for a little while but I’ve already made quite a few close friends.

I don’t like the pollution here. I’m living next to ZhuZhou which, depending on the source, is considered the 13th most polluted city on earth. That’s why it is so important for these kids to learn English so they can have a chance at going to University or at least getting better jobs so they can get out of here.

What’s the food like?

The food in Hunan is famous! It is really potent stuff! Every dish here is laced with hot peppers and other spices, not to mention copious amounts of oil. If it moves, they eat it here. I’ve already eaten some crazy stuff: stinky tofu (which smells like a goat pen), thousand year old egg, entire frogs, turtles.

Have you found any good shoes there?

I’m sure there are if I were to cut off my toes to make my feet fit. Honestly though, I’m living on $300 a month so I don’t really have any extra money for shoes so I don’t even look.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers? If anyone would like to know more about my trip or see pictures they can check out my blog at: Amara's Blog

Also, if anyone is interested in helping or volunteering themselves here is the website to the organization I’m working with: World Teach They do work in developing countries all over the world.

Many thanks, Amara Sedai!

~Interview by Elin al'Nia