Sunday, August 29, 2010

Summer Vacation - Part 2- The Beach

We spent most of our vacation in Sunny Beach. Our hotel was in the center of the resort and right on the beach. The view on the balcony was very nice and it even wasn't too noisy.
We were spending lazy days having drinks on the beach, reading books and magazines, chatting with our friends and sometimes swimming, when we weren't too lazy for that :D








Summer Vacation - Part 1- Varna

I was waiting for the end of the summer to take a whole week vacation at the seaside. It was so hard to stay at work and just waiting while all of my colleagues were taking their vacations and telling how amazing it was... finally my time came (and unfortunately it's already gone).
After sushi dinner and cocktails in Sofia, we left for Varna early next morning. We had very mice view from our hotel:

We enjoyed the beach there first, but we couldn't resist on the malls. We saw "Inception", (it was my second time to see it) and we couldn't miss the shopping. I have a very nice red jumpsuit.

We didn't take many pictures (I don't think the mall is a nice place to take pictures of) and we didn't have enough time to see much of the city as we were there just for a day.
We liked the main street very much and the location of our hotel.
The night in Varna ended in a bar with live music.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Why Free Women Marry Prisoners

It is not easy to determine why any women would want to marry someone who is incarcerated for life or waiting on death row. Some say it is a thrill for the women, while others compare the fascination with that of a celebrity obsession. This article will lay out some of the theories of why women seek out love behind bars.
Throughout history, women have seemingly passed up the "good guy" for the "bad boy". This is one reason women may seek out love behind bars. They may feel the inmate is strong and is able to protect her because he is "dangerous". The worse the guy is, the more attractive he may become to a woman.
The psychological aspect of women who marry men behind bars is very complex. Often times, the women who seek out these inmates suffer from a variety of psychological problems. They are often depressed and have poor self-esteem. They seek out the unconditional love of someone who has less than them to make themselves fell validated.
Women become fixated with these men because of the popularity the media gives them. As we all know, the media is quicker to release coverage on a serial killer than on good things in the world. When the media makes a celebrity of someone women become obsessed with these men in the same way they would be obsessed over a rapper or actor. The difference between women being in love with a killer and a celebrity is they may one day receive a marriage proposal from an inmate, whereas with a celebrity they can only hope for an autographed picture.
Sometimes people would just rather give these women benefit of the doubt for marrying a convicted killer or rapist due to the nature of the crime and the case which was presented in court. A lot of these women sincerely believe these men are innocent, as a result of being fascinated with the case from day one. Also, these women feel sorry for these men and believe that even while they have been sentenced to death or life, they should not remain alone.
These women feel they cannot find love elsewhere in the world or they may feel that it is better to be married to someone who she does not have to deal with everyday at the home. I often wonder why these women would not want the comfort of a husband at home. I could not imagine never being able to be kissed or held by my husband, but for these women, it is more of a connection between two minds rather than the physical.
Whatever the reason may be for women falling in love with inmates, they seem to be happy with the arrangements. No matter how bad the crime, prisoners keep finding someone who loves them in alarming numbers. I believe there will never be a definitive answer to why women choose to marry prisoners, but I do know that those who do make that choice deserve their shot at happiness as well.


Link to original article:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/137315/why_do_women_marry_prisoners.html?cat=41



Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Killing Daughters In Order to Survive

A few days before India's 60th Independence Day celebrations, government officials in Punjab, one of the wealthiest states of India and also the birthplace of Bhangra music, discovered dozens of female fetuses dumped in an unused well in a town called Patran.

A quack, formerly serving in the Indian army, and along with his wife, was running an illegal maternity clinic where, assisted by a team of nurses, he 'helped' expectant parents determine the sex of their fetuses and aborted the female ones if the parents so desired. The fetuses were secretly thrown in the well.

Allegedly, this killing of would-be girls had been carried out for a number of years.

Killing female embryos is an unacknowledged practice in Indian society. Everyone knows it is a crime and perhaps morally wrong, too. There are many who do not fall for it, but still it is acceptable. Just be quiet about it, please.

It is also true that many Indians love their daughters as much as their sons, yet the birth of a girl is an undesirable occasion in many families. Girls are seen as a burden on the household, a bundle of shame, and a thankless responsibility. They are perceived as offspring who, unlike the sons, would not carry on the family's name. Instead, a great amount of money would have to be arranged for their wedding dowries, which would benefit the homes of their husband's families.

The main reason for the widespread female foeticide and the continuing prevalence of female infanticide in parts of India was the dowry system, which although long prohibited by law, continues to play a significant role in Indian society. Dowries and wedding expenses regularly run to more than a million rupees ($35,000) in a country where the average civil servant earns about 100,000 rupees ($3,500) a year. Added to this the low status of women in rural India, where they perform the menial tasks of the family such as carrying water and firewood and seeing to feeding the animals, and it is clear where the roots of the discrimination spring. About 41 percent of Indian girls under the age of 14 do not attend school, said the report.

The oleander plant yields a bright, pleasant flower, but also a milky sap that, if ingested, can be a deadly poison. It’s one of the methods families use to kill newborn girls in the Salem District of Tamil Nadu, a part of India notorious for female infanticide

According to a recent report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) up to 50 million girls and women are missing from India’ s population as a result of systematic gender discrimination in India.

Original links to the materials:

http://rupeenews.com/2008/04/15/indian-girl-infanticide-female-foeticide-1-million-girls-killed-before-or-after-birth-per-year/