Thursday, January 26, 2012

A Travelogue By Dad


Publisher Note: The parents of this blog, Bill and Tammy, came to visit their son Tommy over the  Chinese New Year. Bill wrote a travelogue of his experience. His wifeTammy thought it shouldn't be posted because of the rumors it might create. After review, we, the publishers of 'The Year of the Dragon,' have decided to post the original travelogue unedited.  We maintain that our educated readership can make their own decisions. 



When thou risest in the morning unwillingly, 
let these thoughts be present:
I am rising to do the work of a human being.
Why then should I be dissatisfied if I am going to do the things 
        for which I exist and for which I was brought into this world?
Or, was I made for this - to lie in the bedclothes and keep myself warm?

- Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, 161 - 180 AD

Dear Friends of Tommy,

I asked Tommy if I could post a few words on his blog.  I thought you might be interested in a father’s perspective on “waz-up” here in Hong Kong.


First, let me speak about Tommy.  Tammy and I came here with two major objectives.  Of course we brought some home made cookies and the Ultimate Frisbee Tommy requested but there were two main objectives. 


Our number one objective was to see and be with Tommy for a few days.  At the airport, as you can imagine, Tommy literally stood out above the crowd waiting to meet arriving guests.  The cardboard sign reading “The Pooles” was a nice touch but not really needed.  Tommy doesn’t have a beard and his hair is shorter, especially around the ears, than I’ve seen it in a long time; but, we recognized him right-off and he looked good.


We arrived at night so didn’t see much of Hong Kong on the way to Tommy’s apartment in the dorm here at Hong Kong Adventist College.  As for Tommy’s place, it is clean, cool (literally) and spartan (no pictures on the walls, no plants and a minimal amount of furniture).  Tammy and I immediately recognized that what this place needed was a woman’s touch and this leads into main objective number two for our trip.


The second main reason we came to HK was to meet and check out Tommy’s fiancee.  If this is news to you imagine what a surprise it was to us when after only a month away from home, Tommy told us over the phone, “When people ask how I’m doing, just tell them I’m engaged to a local girl and everything is fine!”  Now, knowing Tommy, we figured he was kidding but there is nothing like first hand “intel” to make sure.


As already mentioned the apartment gave no indication (pictures, flowers, cards, etc.) that there was a woman in his life; so, rather quickly we were able to relax and just enjoy being here.


Tommy is a good host and we’re enjoying ourselves; however, if you are going to come for a visit there are a few things you may want to plan for.  To begin, Tommy has three bowls but only two spoons.  Next, there is only one guest towel which hasn’t been an issue until this morning when Tammy told me she was going to shower first.  Another thing is the ants, but unless you are extra squeamish about this sort of thing (like Tammy), I don’t think you’ll be too bothered.  Honestly, they are so small and there are so few of them that I hardly even notice and my sleeping mat is on the floor.  Another thing, if you, like me, think ketchup can enhance almost any and every meal, you might want to bring some with you.  Finally, let me comment on the weather here.  There may be palm trees growing around HK but this is not Hawaii.  In anticipation of our visit, Tommy borrowed a space heater that’s not quite as large as a toaster.  The heater does an okay job if you put on your clothes, and a jacket when you first get up and then hover over the heater as if it’s a small fire.  More than once, in the early morning hours I’ve repeated to myself the above quotation by Marcus Aurelius (I learned this in an Early Church History Course I took while at Andrew’s University many years ago).  Most of the time while we’re out and about the town I’m not freezing; however, more than once I’ve found myself singing to myself the words of Liza Doolittle, “All I want is a place somewhere . . .”  My point in sharing all this is help you be prepared if you should come in the winter.  Actually, I think, given a choice, I would choose being a little on the cool side as opposed to the high heat and humidity that will come in the summer.


Hopefully, my bringing up the aforementioned points doesn’t come across as whining or complaining and I hope you don’t get the impression that the situation here is only one step away from a jungle hut somewhere.  HK is a marvelous city and there is abundant evidence of wealth and luxury.  For example, Mercedes and BMWs are as common here as are Chevys and Fords at home and when you mix in the occasional Maserati, Lamborghini , Ferrari, Lotus or Rolls, you quickly realize you’re not in Kansas (or Walla Walla) anymore.  


The tour books say the major religion here is “money-theism” and that shopping is a passion.  On our first day one of our first stops was at the Pacific Place Mall.  Now, at home a mall usually has some combination of the following:  Sears on one end, J C Penneys holding down the other end, Macy’s in the middle and multiple filler stores in-between.  Such was not the case at Pacific Place.  Here, it was one designer store after another, after another, after another with their windows so brightly lit and richly displayed that I decided I really couldn’t afford to even window shop in a place like this.


Once out of this mall, we wandered the parks, streets, churches, zoo, arboretum, etc. of downtown HK.  I can’t tell you how wonderfully stress free it is to have someone who knows the area to show you around.  It was a fascinating day in an intriguing city.


One of the last places we stopped, on our first day, was an open-air flower market set up in an area larger than a football field.  Buying flowers is part of the new year’s celebration and I think about one third to one half of HK’s seven million people were at the market - it was wall-to-wall people.  We took pictures but didn’t buy any flowers and neither was I tempted to buy any of the fast foods on a stick that different vendors were selling.


For me, one of the highlights of the market and of the day was meeting one of Tommy’s students.  But before I tell you of this encounter, let me back up a minute and tell you how, as we started out in the morning, we crossed paths with the School Principal here at HK Adventist Academy.  Tommy introduced us and the principal proceeded to tell us how glad they were to have Tommy here.  But, if you think about it, what else could the man say.  Regardless of that, we believed him and thanked him and went on our way.


Now, back to the run in with one of Tommy’s students at the market.  Tommy had his camera up to his eye and was focused on something when I noticed a young girl reach up and tap on his shoulder.  Tommy didn’t respond immediately so she reached up and tapped a little harder.  Tommy lowered his camera and immediately started smiling from ear to ear and of course the girl was all smiles too.  Tommy introduced the girl to me (Tammy was off somewhere at that moment) and she introduced her mother to us.  Tommy told me the girl was in the eighth grade.  We chatted for a minute or two and then went our separate ways.  


As I thought about it, I thought, she didn’t have to do that.  When she saw Tommy she could have turned and gone another direction or just done nothing at all and we wouldn’t have seen her and would never have known she was there.  Do you see why this, more than the Principal’s kind words, said to me that Tommy is doing okay here - he’s making a positive impact.


But, as I reflect on this further, maybe this was more than just a coincidental encounter.  Both Tommy and the girl seemed quite excited to see each other.  And did I mention that she was very cute.  And as I think about it, traditionally, don’t Chinese girls marry at a young age?


This is probably just my imagination running away with me but I need to go find and have a talk with Tommy . . .  

Saturday, January 21, 2012

The Year of the Dragon (Part 1: Western D v. Chinese D)

There is a little dragon inside each one of us. This statement is true in at least two ways, there is both an actual "little dragon" inside each of us, a concrete noun, a living creature, a whole unit, whom you can read Dr. Seuss to, and play Bonnie Tyler to, and feed. There is also a "little dragon essence" in each of us, an abstract noun, an attitude, a fierceness, a spirit that gets fired-up at the sight of pirates.

The Year of the Dragon is coming. January 23 is the first day of the Chinese new year, at which point, we will no longer be in the Year of the Rabbit.

The Chinese dragon is very different from the dragons of western folklore. Western dragons are solitary, sharp, mean, and thick-skinned. They eat people, steal women, collect treasure, and live in all the wrong places. I mean, how is it that almost every adventure to save the world involves at least one tussle with a dragon? Why do they always live in between heros and victory? They're like tonsils: "Oh, you're sick? You've got a bad lung, so it looks like we're gonna have to take out your tonsils to get at the problem." Or, "Oh you snore? Tonsils!" Western dragons are always the problem. All the epics have it: The Hobbit, Chronicles of Narnia, Snow White, Shrek, World of Warcraft, Chocolate. Why?! Y'know!? Because western dragons are monsters; murder, kidnap, greed, and bad real-estate come with the job.* But the dragons in China are different.


Chinese dragons aren't monsters at all, they're inclusive. They are a kind of good luck charm, it's good to have one around -- think Mushu from Mulan. The legend one of my students told me, started the dragon back with an early emperor in China. This emperor was a good ruler, a friendly ruler you might say, and like most good, friendly rulers he wanted more people to experience his incredible leadership so he went to war with them. Empires back then used different animals to represent their clan, sort of like America and the Bald Eagle.  The kind emperor used the snake to represent his clan, but as he conquered/united more groups, he wanted to incorporate their totems into the imperial seal. So starting with the snake, he added a lion head, and some fish scales, and bear claws, and a tail. That's why the Chinese dragon is really good, it's a symbol of unity, and China.

The question we all have to ask ourselves as the new year approaches is this: what kinds of dragons are living inside us?



* There's been a recent trend that is changing the face of dragons in the west, more on that in Part 2.   

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Day to Day



Creativity! You absurd, you bird, you free bird, you poppycock herd, you terd!  Why is it you always hide and go when I need you to show? Yo, you and your bro, Getupandgo, energy, initiative, see it-start it and make it grow. Yeah, why is it you two slow when I need you the most? It's the down times, the staring-at-the-screen-times, the half-your-class-skipped-final times, the kicking-against-the-goad times, the low-light-can't-sleep times, it's these times, those times, this time, when I need you the most time.  But it's these times, sometimes, most times, when I throw up a pray for your ghost to hover over me, like she did at the beginning of time over the waters -- like a mother hen over her uncracked sons and daughters. I don't need a world, just enough to keep pecking, and night checking, and role taking, and plan making, to push past an off-tone, no tone, monotone sort of drone,

day to day.

I need creativity to give it a birth day work day good day kind of day feel, where the kids can hustle and cuss and put up all sorts of fuss, but the pushers and testers and stressers and stuff somehow can heal (them and me) and free us to be like birds who start our day chirping creativity. C'mon. Please!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Traveling Faith

Flying a kite in Shanghai. 

Traveling forces trust. Even with diligence -- keeping bags out of the cab trunk and asking for bottled water -- to travel requires believing in people. It's a risk. And a backpack and an unfamiliar look are targets for hawkers and scams:

"Hullo! Hey!"
"Where are you from?"
"Where you want to go?"
"What do you need? C'mon, I got it!"
"You want weed man?"
"Taxi?"

It takes a thick Caucasian skin to walk through some markets. I say Caucasian skin because it makes blending in a lot harder in some parts of the world, and the height doesn't help either. The most aggressive hawkers I've seen while traveling, were in Egypt; everyone was your friend. Not just street vendors, anybody with a pocket book of English was more than ready to help with directions or give advice, followed by, "Hey man, small tip, c'mon I got eighteen kids and a camel at home."

When Tye and I arrived in Shanghai, there were two groups of college aged youths who invited us to an authentic tea tasting ceremony. They were super friendly. As we were bantering with one of these groups, a guy started sizing us up with a canvas and paintbrush. "We better go," Tye said. "I think this guy is going to paint us a picture whether we want it or not." We left. That night at our hostel, we found a warning on our lamp-stand, "TEA CEREMONY SCAM!!" It went on to explain how groups of young locals invite travelers to an "authentic" tea ceremony, give them all kinds of tea, and rack up a huge bill.

My first thought was: jerks. And then: what a lame scam, tea?! It could at least be something cool like ... I don't know, something besides "authentic" tea. And then I thought: okay, traveling again, gotta be skeptical, the people volunteering help probably want your kidneys (I guess black-market organ harvesting is popular in some parts of China).

When Austin and I were traveling in Cairo, we found ourselves following Mohammed to his buddies hostel. He told us his friend was a travel agent and could help us. He led us into this building that looked like it was straight out of Modern Warfare Desert Storm, sat us in a room with his friend who looked like a mafia boss donning a silk short sleeve and fat gold necklace -- also named Mohammed. He didn't speak so I started, "Hi, we're hoping to get some information about traveling in Egypt." No response. "Mohammed told us you could help us find out about some trains and stuff?" He leaned in, "No ... English." I was a little confused, how could Mohammed not know Mohammed didn't speak English? We made ready to leave when he said, "Just kidding,"followed by a Robert Shaw chuckle and grin -- definite mafia boss persona. We told him everything we wanted to do in Egypt, and without checking a computer or making any calls, he just pulled out a calculator and gave us a price.

Later that trip, as we were preparing to get off the overnight rail from Cairo to Luxor, I realized Mohammed could easily scam us.  He was 14 hours away with our cash, and we had no way of contacting him. We had no clue about where our next hostel might be, or what our next move was. We had no tickets, names, or receipts, we were trusting Mohammed to come through. And, in spite of my suspicions, he did.

At the end of my trip in China, down in Guangxi, my hostel host, Simon, took me to the night market on the back of his scooter. On the way he stopped at his friend's tea shop; I had my guard up, but Simon seamed trustworthy. Hanz was the owner, he was excited to practice English. He gave me the scoop on Chinese tea: no sugar, no milk, just water. Our conversation ranged from tea to travel to Christianity and balance to culture. Tea, I found out, was Hanz's passion. He opened this shop not knowing where the money would come, but he just wanted to share his joy with others. When I got up to leave, I expected a price. "Free," Hanz said. I looked at Simon and said, "no way. Well, can I buy something or something?" He translated to Hanz, and Hanz tried to resist, "Please, if you don't want to, you don't have to." I insisted, and I still have some loose leaf Dragon Well tea in my freezer.

Travel makes you vulnerable. Travel forces faith. Abraham was a traveller. It seems like everyone is out for travelers, but when a Mohammed or a Simon and Hanz show genuine kindness, traveling faith grows.



Genuine tea ceremony in Yangshuo. Simon on the left, Hanz pouring tea, Hanz's family on the right. 





Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Chrinastmas


Protecting the Forbidden City on Christmas Day. 
Over Christmas Holiday I traveled through China with Tye Davis. Our journey went like this:

Hong Kong to Shanghai flight, maglev train ride into town at 380 KPH; met up with Shaun, Lisa, Matt (teaching in  Kunshan). Short train to Kunshan, electric scooters and a terrible massage. Train back to Shanghai, buss to Huang Shan, "Yellow Mountain," 10 minutes late for cable car, hiked up in the dark, (7k 2,500vft (a defining moment), hotel at the top. Cable car down, suss back to Shanghai, overnight train to Xi'an (Terra-cotta warriors, Muslim Chinese food). Overnight train to Beijing (Forbidden City and Hu Tong (on X-mas day), Summer Palace, Olympic Blds (like the Bird's nest), Great wall). Morning, 5:00, taxi to airport, split ways (Tye flys to Guangzhou and then trains Hong Kong and then swims back to Michigan, I fly to Guilin). Short bus to Yangshuo, 70k bike through Yangshuo greater agricultural region, 8 hour bus to Guangzhou. Meet up with Lance, Andrew, and Ryan (teaching in Guangzhou (all these teachers are connected through WW)). Short train to Zhuhai, massages at midnight on new years. Ferry to Hong Kong.

We saw the highlights, but China is a big country.