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My Life in Beijing

November 8, 2014 by Jillian Leave a Comment

Hello all my compassionate friends! I’m here in Beijing, week 3 of 52. I’ll be spending the next year here working with really adorable kids and exploring the culture and history. I thought today I would share some of my thoughts on Beijing, the capital of China, including my impression of how compassionate of a country it is – or isn’t… Here goes!

It reminds me of any big city I would come across, like NYC or LA, or my hometown (Dallas)
People here have no sense of body space (esp on the subway, bus, elevators, or really anywhere!)
There are sooo many restaurants and stores. There is a lot of shopping to be done! And most things are very cheap to purchase.
There is a very big foreign community here. I’ve seen people from America, Canada, Europe, Africa, and other places.
The Chinese seem to admire Americans and their lifestyle/culture and sometimes they like to come up and take pictures of me and my friends.
The outskirts of Beijing are surrounded by some beautiful scenery, esp the mountains.

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Why Shelter Dogs are the Best!

October 1, 2014 by Jillian Leave a Comment

Look at those eyes. Soulful, huh? And those cropped ears. Both features tell the tale of a hard life full of pain and sadness. Yet this sweet girl, Catherine, was always so sweet and outgoing. She didn’t let the fact that she was passed around from owner to owner, dumped at the shelter, unable to find her forever home, and goodness knows what else stop her from giving up. This is why shelter dogs are the best. They are resilient. They endure terrible, heartbreaking circumstances and yet they continue to overcome. And they never stop sharing their love. Most humans I know are incapable of doing this. For me, shelter dogs represent and embody true love. I never grew up with dogs or spent time near them, and honestly, at times I preferred not to be near them. I mean, the drooling and barking and jumping on me – no thanks. But after working at shelters and observing these dogs firsthand, I immediately fell deep into love with their personalities and their stories. I saw them as furry little people, each with their own quirks, likes, dislikes, needs, strengths, and weaknesses. And the fact that they were shelter dogs as opposed to coming from a puppy mill or breeder, just amplified these endearing qualities and made me love them even more.

This is Horatio, one of the shelter dogs that I fostered for a couple weeks. He was so skinny when I first saw him. And as the weeks went by, I noticed that he wasn’t gaining any weight. In fact, it didn’t look like he was eating at all. I decided to bring him home and see if he gained weight. And he did! And my two female pitties absolutely adored him. The first night I brought him home, I had to lift him onto the bed because he was too terrified to move, and my other foster dog, Pretty Girl, started rolling around and stretching out next to him to try to impress him. It was amazing to see her react that way because Pretty Girl came from a bad situation too and was very introverted, yet she connected with Horatio and he brought out the best in her. Poor Horatio was probably the most scared dog I’ve ever met. He was scared to go into my yard to use the bathroom. I’d have to walk him out on a leash, and then he’d be scared to come back in. I don’t know anything about his history, except that my shelter rescued him off the kill list at the city shelter. I’ve always wondered what horrendous things must have happened to him to make him so petrified. He flinched every time I came near him, even to pet him. And yet Horatio was always a gentle creature.

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Vegan & Gluten Free Banana Nut Scones

September 23, 2014 by Jillian Leave a Comment

Who doesn’t love a good scone? That’s one thing I missed when I switched over to a gluten free, vegan lifestyle. There was a bakery in Austin that had the most amazing chocolate chip scones and I miss them, but now that I have a foundation for plant-based scones, the possibilities are endless! I originally found this amazing recipe on CookieandKate.com and it was so delicious looking (and easy) that I had to try it. The scones came out great! I’ve tweaked the recipe so that’s it gluten free and vegan (original is not gluten free), added one minor ingredient, a couple of other small changes and bam! – scones that are yummy, healthy, and cruelty-free. I’ve made this recipe so many times – I’ve tried it in scone form, muffin form, and full on cake form. I have to say the scones are still my favorite.

First things first, toasting the pecans. It calls to toast them in the oven on parchment paper, but of course I never have parchment paper (sigh…) so instead I used coconut oil spray on the baking sheet and it worked perfectly. After 3 minutes, pull them out of the oven and chop them up. I don’t get too focused on chopping them finely, otherwise my OCD will kick in and it will take me an hour just to chop the pecans.

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Little Ways to Make a Big Difference

August 21, 2014 by Jillian Leave a Comment

I think most people agree that in general, we all like animals and we all want to help them. Working at animal shelters, I got to witness firsthand how amazing and kind some people can be when it comes to helping a cat or dog in need. However, I also witnessed that many people don’t know how to help or don’t think to in the first place. Unfortunately, humans have become so conditioned to believe that we matter more than our furry counterparts that we’re used to seeing animals lying in the road that were run over, we’re used to hearing about all the healthy companion animals that are “euthanized” in shelters every year, we’re used to hunting and killing animals for entertainment, and we’re used to eating animals without giving it a second thought. Kinda crazy when you stop and think about it, right? I mean, we’ve been controlling animals minds and bodies for thousands of years without ever really wondering what the true consequence of that is. We’re finally beginning to see some of those severe consequences.

What’s really going on?

Studies show that this current generation of children in America are the first that will shorter lives than their parents. That seems to sort of go against evolution… And it’s all due to the dairy, meat, gluten, and processed foods they are consuming. And it’s spreading across the world. Asia always had the lowest rates of cancer and heart disease because it’s a traditionally vegetarian area. But as soon as they began adopting Western eating styles, their rates of cancer and heart disease steadily rose.

Another scary fact is that we are running out of water, as well as farm-able land. Why? Because of factory farming. Eating cheap meat and dairy has become so popular that this world must sustain the billions of animals that produce this meat and dairy. That means water. Animals consume a lot of water. They also consume a lot of food. These animals are fed corn and grain (not what they’re supposed to be eating in the first place) and corn and grain need a place to grow. That means cutting down the rainforests and other natural habitats to grow these crops. Statistics shows that if we got rid of factory farming and instead used those resources to grow fruits and vegetables and healthy grains, we could easily feed all the starving people in the world. In fact, we would never have starving people. Oh, and animals on factory farms emit more methane gases than all the cars in the world combined.

That’s all the bad news. The good news is, we can do things in our daily lives to make a difference. And if everybody does little things that make a difference, then we can begin to reverse all the damage that’s been done and literally save the world. If we could save the world and also spare animals from the intense suffering they experience at our hands, why wouldn’t we?

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