adoption issues

in case you havent heard, a boy adopted from russian by an american lady was sent back to russia by himself because his adoptive mother decided she could no longer parent him. this, of course, has created a super huge international conflict with russia temporarily suspending adoption to the us.
what this lady has done is irresponsible and terrible. i dont care how bad your kid is, i dont care if he threatens to burn the house, or that he is a terrible kid and you have no patience left in you. no adult sends a kid across the ocean by himself, with a note. i mean, yes, the airlines people were going to take care of him adn give him crayons, but that is not, in any way, the appropriate thing to do. however, to suspend adoption to the us altogether is not cool, since there are so many families in the process of becoming a parent to a little kid. my biggest problem with the whole situation is that russia itself is not big on adoption. there are a ton of orphans, most of them abandoned by their alcoholic parents, others taken away from drug-addicted or HIV+ mothers. and these kids, although cared for by the orphanages the best they can be, remain largely in orphanages, some of them really suffering with congenital things, like fetal alcohol syndrome or hep B. russians are not big on adoption. only recently has there been a new movement to adopt kids and take them out of orphanages. this new trend is spear-headed by celebrities and segments are featured on popular tv shows. but this is a hugely new phenomenon. for years, under the soviet rule, orphaned kids remained in orphanages, and adoption happened only when you absolutely, absolutely could not conceive or when something terrible happened. even then, you moved to a different city and hoped that no one around, including your adopted kid, knew that the kid is adopted. that was a shameful thing. but now, this thing has gotten all these russian officials angry. how dare stupid americans disrespect and abandon our russian children. and yes, that was a bad thing to do. but you dont care about your own kids, havent ever. so why are you now making this huge deal out of it, demanding sanctions, and more importantly denying other loving families a chance to have a kid?
russia has a history, though, i think, of making a lot of splash over issues that they themselves care less for. in early 2000s, Putin donated a ton of money to the Global AIDS Fund to 'fight AIDS in africa', while thousands of HIV+ people in Russia remained without treatment and largely marginalized due to their status. when asked about the state of HIV care in Russia, Putin responded that Russia did not have a problem with AIDS (at the time Russia had the highest rate of new infections in all of europe). maybe it's a big country syndrome. if something happens to an american abroad (ala amanda fox) we all rave about human rights violations, ignoring our own history of such. i'm not trying to dump on russia, or russian politics. i just think it's sad that a kid got dumped by his adoptive family adn many others are left in limbo waiting for their little kid to come home.

food-y like thoughts

i'm not a foody, really far from it. mostly, because i dont eat meat adn i think to truly be a food critic you need to be able to taste various fleshy things. but i cook for fun, sloppily and usually undersalted, and i watch a lot of cooking shows. so top chef masters got me thinking.
i am amazed by gourmet grilled cheese crazes. i like grilled cheese, but i think sometimes it has gone too far. while i am a fan of throwing an occasional tomato or prosciutto slice for added kick, i feel like once oyu start adding too many things it stops being a grilled cheese. when does it become a regular sandwich? well, maybe not regular, but a panini. isnt that what it is: a grilled cheese sandwich?
so i dont eat meat..not a big deal, to me. i can generally walk into any restaurant adn find something i can consume because pretty much all places serve at least a side salad. unless, of course, you take me to a steak house, but that would be just cruel. or to chili's. chili's has very limited vegetarian options. even their 'side salads' come with bacon. i have a rule about ordering things: usually you can make things vegetarian to my taste even if they contain a protein by asking them to make it without that protein. but once oyu have to start removing 2, 3,4 things out of your salad--taht's a problem. but i think people freak out more about it than necessary, everyone gets very concerned over what alex is going to eat. and while it's true that i would not like to chew lettuce and especially pay large sums of money for it. but my food preferences are not like an allergy. peanuts won't kill me, although i dislike them. bread won't cause diarrhea and i wont age instantaneously if my food is heated first. this really only becomes a problem when traveling.
first time i went to germany i lucked out: my landlady was a vegetarian adn she introduced me to stores in berlin that actually sold tofu and soy products. i'm not actually big on those. i very (very) rarely buy tofu and soy products and fresh produce is so great in germany, you have tons of options for cooking. going out is another story. while vegetarianism is definitely picking up, germany is a big sausage eating country (no sexual connotation) adn traditional places will serve you hidden meat in your veggies...or bread as i once discovered. eastern europe is worse. here i am an anomaly. i get weird questions and looks and people panic adn dont know what to do with me. suddenly, the hearty meaty soup is out of the question adn the spread of various salamis is a waste. and it creates this commotion, that i'm going to die or something, just because i dont eat a particular thing. just serve me everything else and stop worrying, but no, that's too weird.
where i do die is central asia. here, vegetarianism is not an anomaly it is just unheard of. when i'm there, i lose weight, rapidly. this one time, my colleague adn i sat down in a cafe. the waitress stopped by to tell us the specials: kebob, steak, lamb chop. 'do oyu have anything vegetarian?"-my colleague asks. 'yes, we have meatloaf'. she was totally serious.
but i digressed. i wanted to talk about foodies. whenever i watch something like top chef, i always wonder if my palate is off. because the food the make is amazing and i think if i were to taste it, it would be pretty good (barring the meat thing). but of course, competitors get hammered with criticisms of this adn that, the textures adn the consistencies. maybe it's because i am not trained. maybe if i was a critic i would be able to criticize and poo-poo others' food liek that too. how do i get that job?