can hi com

i went to a party at the canadian high commission yesterday and i can't tell you how exciting it was to see hockey sticks, a hockey jersey, and snowshoes on the wall! we are such geeks. but we throw a decent party.

the most memorable part of the evening was the bathroom. it was exactly like bathrooms are in canada! with metal stalls, soap in the dispenser, washing instructions in french and english, and paper towels. it was heavenly and germ-free.

i went to a child labour workshop this morning and there is some bad news about conditions on the tea plantations in kenya. i don't have any details (they have not yet been published) but it got me thinking that if a product is fair trade that doesn't necessarily mean that the workers are paid fairly and that children are not employed. it just means that the producer gets a fair share of the profit, if i am correct (and i am no trade expert, so perhaps i am wrong and correct me if i am way off) and not that the employees get a fair share of the profits. because how could anyone regulate that?

apparently there are some nasty multinational corporations in kenya that operate these tea fields, which makes more sense why they do not have tours of the tea plantations like my fam and i wanted to do while they were visiting.

if i wasn't feeling guilty enough for drinking coffee that exploits workers now i will feel sufficiently guilty for drinking tea that is picked by children. geez, i just can't win.

about those gorillas... i am still curious how much you would pay. leave anonymous comments if you like, but i am really interested to know what people think.