culture
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Switzerland
Escalators, doggy hitching posts, and doors that close really, really fast.
Lausanne, Switzerland. End of day 3. (I think) Before I left the US for this study abroad trip, everyone told me the days would go by really fast- and I assumed they were correct. Time flies when you’re having fun right? Wrong. At least not this time. Things might begin ... read more
by Paula Harman
21 Feb 2010
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![<p><span style="font-size: larger;">Runner-Up</span></p>
<p>[Phapheng, Laos] While trekking through the forests of northern Laos, my sister and I stayed with families in minority Hmong and Khmu villages. Here, in the hamlet of Phapheng, we shared a meal of sticky rice and wild mushrooms with a family of 12 in their one-room home. Sharing food is one of the few experiences that transcends cultural, linguistic, and geographic barriers—all of us can recognize the warmth and fraternity that accompany the shared meal. This photo captures one of my favorite moments during my seven months of backpacking in Asia and the Pacific. Looking at it now, I can almost feel the humidity of the steaming rice and smell the earth floor and livestock.</p>
<p><em>Photo by Kevin Ummel</em></p>](http://media.glimpse.org/uploads/pvse2q/small.png)
![<p><span style="font-size: larger;">Runner-Up</span></p>
<p>[Phapheng, Laos] While trekking through the forests of northern Laos, my sister and I stayed with families in minority Hmong and Khmu villages. Here, in the hamlet of Phapheng, we shared a meal of sticky rice and wild mushrooms with a family of 12 in their one-room home. Sharing food is one of the few experiences that transcends cultural, linguistic, and geographic barriers—all of us can recognize the warmth and fraternity that accompany the shared meal. This photo captures one of my favorite moments during my seven months of backpacking in Asia and the Pacific. Looking at it now, I can almost feel the humidity of the steaming rice and smell the earth floor and livestock.</p>
<p><em>Photo by Kevin Ummel</em></p>](http://media.glimpse.org/uploads/pvse2q/large.png)
![<p><span style="font-size: larger;">Runner-Up</span></p>
<p>[Havana, Cuba] A friend from Puerto Rico asked me to track down an acquaintance while I was in Havana. My mission: To find the man with the largest collection of tango music in Cuba and give him my friend’s gift, a collection of CDs by Carlos Gardel. Upon arriving at the address I'd been given, I learned that the collector had died a year earlier. My stepson began visiting Havana’s tango clubs to see if he could learn more about the collector, and eventually met the Cuban music historian Felix Contreras, pictured here. We were invited to his home in Havana, where we talked for hours about Cuban music. Felix told us that the tango collection had been divvied up and sold, a fact that made him very sad.</p>
<p><em>Photo by Julie Collazo</em></p>](http://media.glimpse.org/uploads/sljOnW/small.png)
![<p><span style="font-size: larger;">Runner-Up</span></p>
<p>[Havana, Cuba] A friend from Puerto Rico asked me to track down an acquaintance while I was in Havana. My mission: To find the man with the largest collection of tango music in Cuba and give him my friend’s gift, a collection of CDs by Carlos Gardel. Upon arriving at the address I'd been given, I learned that the collector had died a year earlier. My stepson began visiting Havana’s tango clubs to see if he could learn more about the collector, and eventually met the Cuban music historian Felix Contreras, pictured here. We were invited to his home in Havana, where we talked for hours about Cuban music. Felix told us that the tango collection had been divvied up and sold, a fact that made him very sad.</p>
<p><em>Photo by Julie Collazo</em></p>](http://media.glimpse.org/uploads/sljOnW/large.png)
