A Fool’s Dream

QT and I took a roadtrip to the Badlands, which is quite a drive for us.  We did some hiking, sightseeting and wildlife viewing, and eventually pitched a tent on one of the bluffs (you can camp anywhere in the badlands with a few restrictions) and watched the fireworks from there.  At gas price @ $4 a gallon, I think we spent $300 just on gas for the whole trip.  I remember when I was on the road a few years ago, when the gas price was at $1.3x…I only spent $1,000 for a 3 week roadtrip that includes all expenses.  I am glad to see Badlands, and wish I have seen more, earlier and cheaper!

We went on a road trip over the July 4th weekend, and the weather was really great.  However, on the way home, we hit a heavy rainstorm and the car was basically swimming in the rain.  This spring + summer have been very wet — lots of thunderstorms and only a day or two sunshine here and there.  It makes me sad to think that climate change is making the weather unpredictable, and affect everyone’s life that lives on this planet.  There are people out there who thinks climate change affected by global warming is not real…I find that hard to believe.  Can’t you tell we have been hearing more and more stories about natural disasters?  Can’t you tell that the weather has been crazy everywhere?  The arctic ice is likely to completely disappear this year as they are getting very thin this summer - not 10 or 50 years later.

I hope the people who think global warming does not exist are correct.  I’ll be gladly admit that I am wrong.

I have family around the world and it has been nice that we traveled together to Japan, but most of the time, I communicate with them over the phone. Then, when VoIP appears, I tried Skype-to-Skype, the quality was OK, but it started to get worse and worse lately. I could hardly hear the conversation, and after a few times, I gave up.

I can’t remember when or how I found Rebtel, but a few months ago I started looking into this site. I was skeptical about the free calls, and how they work.  Not all calls are free, but the rates for other calls are fairly cheap and they are very helpful in instructing the user how to make the free calls.

Basically there are 30 - 40 countries that you can call for free (including many European countries), so you want to set up the phone numbers first and save them in your account (can be added later also).  Rebtel converts them into local numbers for you to call and can automatically send the numbers as SMS to your cell phone to store if you choose.  Then, email your friend that you will call at a certain time and ask the person to disconnect the call without picking up.  Your friend needs to have a phone that can see incoming phone number, and note that number (which will, magically, be a local number to your friend) then call back.   During this whole time, do NOT hang up the phone while your friend disconnects and calls back right away.  It should only take 10 seconds or so to talk to your friend again, and for free with no limits!!

As I said I was skeptical, but since Rebtel gives me 10 minutes free to try with no credit card number needed, there is really nothing to lose.  I signed up a while ago and have everything set but did not make any calls until today, when I need to call my boyfriend abroad as he is temporarily out of the country.  He is in one of the free Rebtel countries, so I gave him the instructions and tried this out.  The call was very clear, and I checked on my Rebtel account, it showed up as a ’smart call’ (what they call their ‘free call’) and $0 balance for the 16 minute conversation.  It will use the airtime and treated as a local call if you are using this on the cell phone, so it is better to do this on a landline.  They do let you register 5 different phones so that’s very convenient.

If you are interested in trying it out, please click on the button that says ‘Join Rebtel’ on the right so that you can get a 20 minute international call credit instead of 10 if you do not use the link.  Try it out and see it for yourself - I think this is going to be the next Skype!

My 30 days would be more miserable without my boyfriend’s support who fed me free food from time to time, so I’d like to give a big shout out to him here — Thanks QT!

I have written some thoughts on this challenge here and there, and would like to share some of my final thoughts: I am very, very glad that I had the chance to experience how it is like to live with a dollar a day (almost). From this experience, I got a deeper appreciation towards people who actually live on a dollar a day for not just 30 days, but months or even years.  I am very concerned about the rising food costs recently, because it is making the lives of everyone, especially this group of people, more difficult than ever.  I sincerely hope that this food crisis will be solved by the collaboration among countries and people - having basic food and clean water should be the natural right of every Earth citizen.

It was also during the course of this 30 days, that I realized that I could use this plan to help people in need/environment and to raise other people’s awareness to these global issues if more people are joining in.  I’ll definitely try this in a more or less similar format later.  If you are interested in doing this, or would like organize a small group of friends/families/coworkers to fund raise for any issue of concern, I’d be more than happy to share tips on doing this.

Thanks for reading!

Breakfast: 2 slices of organic oats bread, toasted $0.2

Lunch: Previous frozen stir-fried onions and minced beef (the dish was made in the first week of the plan), plus a few slices of tofu from last night $0.5

Dinner: My boyfriend treated me to a local Cajun food joint.  We enjoyed the half-off Happy Hour oysters, and shared a very delicious fried chicken dinner.  The breading on the chicken was very amazing - I’ve not tasted something like that before.

Breakfast: Skipped $0

Lunch: Leftover Indian Vegetable sauce and rice $0

Dinner: Fried Tofu and rice $1

Trader Joe’s Organic Tofu is at a great price and very silky & soft.  I wanted to make seared tofu but it wouldn’t quite work on soft tofu, so it ended up look like stir-fry tofu.  I added a little sesame seeds and garlic salt to go with the dish.

Brunch: 2 sunny-side up eggs with 2 toasts $0.3

Dinner: 1/2 pack of Trader Joe’s Indian vegetable sauce with brown rice $1

I bought a dozen eggs in the beginning of this plan, and I am not a big egg eater.  In order to finish up as much food as I can before I go, I’m probably going to try and use up as many eggs as I can - such as the brunch I made.  I put some butter in the pan, cracked 2 eggs, cover the pan with a lid.  When the eggs are ready, I put the toasts on the pan to soak up the rest of the butter.  Probably isn’t the healthiest breakfast, but  I rarely do this so I think it’s OK.

I was given a Indian sauce sample at Trader Joe’s when I went there to return some vitamins, and boy, it was delicious so I bought a pack.  It is very easy, just boil the water and put the poach in to heat it up when the rice is cooking away.  I still got another half for tomorrow’s lunch, yum!

Breakfast:  Scrambled Eggs with Soup (thank to my boyfriend’s roommate) $0

Lunch:  Japanese Fishcakes in a broth with Udon (thanks honey!) $0

Dinner: Chicken Dumplings $0

Breakfast: 1/2 donut provided by co-worker $0

Lunch: Rotisserie Chicken sandwich
$0

Dinner: Stir-fried Broccoli and chicken with rice, and salad on the side $1.25

I had dinner with my boyfriend and his new roommate, so we decided to put something together quickly.  I got the frozen Broccoli from a grocery store, and threw in the last bit of the Rotisserie Chicken with some ginger + soy sauce.  It turned out quite good.

Breakfast: Skipped $0

Lunch: Stir-fried tofu and beans, given to me by my boyfriend (thanks!) $0

Dinner:  Rotisserie Chicken sandwich, chicken leftover given to me by my boyfriend (thanks again!)  $0

Rotisserie Chicken is perhaps a good dollar a day meal even if I have to buy one myself.  I usually can get 3 meals out of it: I like the dark meat, so I’ll eat the legs and wings first.  Then I will tear the rest of the meat out, make a sandwich or two out of it (with Japanese Mayo, shown above), or stir fry with it.  The bones and meat that didn’t quite come out can be boiled in water, making a broth base for creative soups.