Happy New Year!

This was one of the quietest New Year's eves I have experienced in a long time. Ever since firecrackers were banned it has been a challenge for people to make adequate noise. Despite the ban, there are always a few crackers - you can still buy and use them outside the city limits. But it's risky, because if the mayor catches you, well, let's just say you wouldn't want that to happen.

Last night a helpful neighbor revved his motorcycle for awhile. A few kids ran around tooting cardboard trumpets. In the distance I could hear a low rumble as people banged on pots and pans, honked horns, banged on metal roofing sheets. But that was it. Soon it started raining and people retreated indoors.

I found out later that half the city had a blackout just at the stroke of midnight so maybe that is partially responsible for the lack of noise. But where were the mega-amplifiers that only the night before were keeping us awake with wannabe stars croaking, I mean crooning into the mike late into the wee hours? Where were the sound systems of the karaoke bars and hip churches that blast their music across the countryside? Why if one of those had been set up by my neighbor's motorcycle last night we could have had a fine earth-thrumming contribution to make! If you added fire and police sirens and my other neighbor's car alarm (mulitplied by hundreds) we could have had a royal din!

I guess we've got some work to do for next year....

On wobbly legs

As I get my still wobbly self to the computer to update this blog, let me assure you that I am still alive, and, a brief scan of the internet shows that the world has managed to carry on just fine without me the last few days.

I am recovering from a bout of some weird gastroenteritis that's going around. It hit me Christmas Eve and I spent the next two days flat on the floor with grog-inducing fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea hoping I wouldn't vomit too. Wednesday the fever broke so I sweat all day long but at least felt well enough to sit up part of the day and alert enough to read - in between trips to the bathroom. By evening I managed to get somebody to buy me a liter of Sprite and that went down well. Lost 10 pounds in two days - let me know if you'd like me to send you some bugs....

Now I am up and about, no more nausea, though after a trip upstairs my legs are really tired and crampy and I felt the need to sit and rest before coming down again. Combing my hair makes my arm tired, and holding a book makes my hand cramp. Amazing that as recently as last Saturday I was doing stair step aerobics and today I am so weak I would probably fall off the step!

On Christmas day my house helper stopped by to get some ice. I apparently looked so bad that she was afraid to go home so she and her roommate moved in for a couple of days. Very kind of them. Though of course since I certainly wasn’t in any condition to make any demands on anybody, they had plenty of time to watch VCD movies on my old laptop.

I’ve had my share of GI upsets in my life but this was the all time champion, definitely a new strain of whatever it was. And now freed of the fever, I would like to know more about the epidemiology of this bug. Was it contamination from raw eggs used freely in holiday cooking? Did anybody else get sick who was at any of the same events I was at? If so, what could have been the common factor? Not that I will ever know for sure, but I’m curious....

Christmas Part 2

December 25, 2006

Celebration is not unique to Christmas. Others celebrate at the end of the month of fasting. Others at their New Year with the dragon dance, and so on. It seems that ALL major celebrations involve to varying degrees, food, noise, lights, family reunion, gift-giving and decorations. So what is so special about Christmas?

Most people around here when pressed will tell you that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birth. And why is that so special? He came to save us from our sins.

But that’s where a lot of people now days get kind of confused. It’s not popular to talk about sin anymore. We all make mistakes, we have “issues” or “hang-ups” or problems. Most people see themselves as pretty good and not really sinners – that’s for the criminal types that commit murder, hurt children, rob, or oppress their people. We try to be good, most of the time, and after all nobody’s perfect. We compare ourselves with others and can always find somebody else who’s messing up worse than we are and so we assure ourselves that we’re not so bad. So really, what do we need a savior for?

What we forget though, is that God has revealed a coming day of judgment and He isn’t grading on a curve. God is not a post-modernist. From His perspective, man is NOT the measure of all things – He is.

The prophet Jeremiah said that the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick, who can understand it? The prophet Isaiah said that all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment. The apostle Paul said that nothing good lived in him, that is, in his sinful nature. For though he had the desire to do what is good, he could not carry it out. What he did was not the good he wanted to do but rather the evil he did not want to do—and he kept on doing it. He found this law at work: when he wanted to do good, evil was right there with him. In his inner being he delighted in God's law; but he saw another law at work in the members of his body waging war against the law of his mind and making him a prisoner of the law of sin What a wretched man he was! Who would rescue him from this body of death?

This sums up man’s dilemma. He doesn’t measure up. Especially since the measure is God, not man. And no matter how he tries, he can’t measure up, the evil is always there even in the midst of the good he tries to do. And what’s worse, his heart is so deceitful that he’s often not even aware of the evil he is doing. That’s pretty bad news.

But that bad news is precisely what makes the birth of a savior such GOOD news. Think about it.

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Christmas Part 1

If an alien came to my three worlds, what would he observe about Christmas?

World #3: In this country Christmas involves lots of lights, noise, parties, shopping. Some of the light displays are awesome – especially if you have lived many years with minimal or no electricity. Sound in this city is mainly music nowdays ever since the mayor banned firecrackers. In fact the residents have been rather in a depression for the last 3 years! They try other noise-making alternatives such as honking horns, blowing cardboard trumpets, turning up stereos, banging on tin roofing but none of it is as satisfying as blowing up a whole string of big firecrackers.The shops have extended hours and are full most of the time now with people buying clothes, food, gifts. Much of the gift-giving is downward: employers give to employees, businesses give to regular customers. Even the city government distributes buckets of rice, canned meat, oil, noodles, and soap to some of the poorest of the poor via churches.

If you ask people what they like about Christmas they will say they like the parties, the gifts, the lights, being with family, giving and sharing. Many churches have special events, cantatas, decorations, and sermons about Jesus’ birth.

World # 2: In the second of my worlds, Christmas is much less commercialized. There are exra lights – even if you have to make them yourself out of plastic soap containers, kerosene and coke bottle caps. Christmas trees often still use real candles (and so obviously don’t stay lit very long). Noise is not quite as noticable – but the boys in the village make bamboo cannons using kerosene and matches or little “bombs” made of shaved match heads which they pound or do something to until it explodes. (Due to the ongoing conflict in my region in recent years, these home-made explosives were banned a couple of years ago much to the dismay of the youth.) They too have more parties but they are more oriented around a religious service with a special snack or meal served afterwards. There is special music and some people try to buy new clothes. Long hours are spent making cookies (see last post). Nowdays there are more commercially available decorations (see post on ting-ting-ting) and there is some gift- giving, mainly at children’s parties. Otherwise gift giving tends to be upward, employees giving to employer, students to the teacher, and a gift typically consists of food – like a jar of beautiful cookies. There is a lot of personal visiting in people’s houses on Christmas and New Year’s Day and for a week afterwards and that is perhaps why gift giving goes upward. The boss will have a lot more visitors at Christmas than the average employee and so he will be very grateful for your cookies – he can serve them to his visitors.

If you ask people what they like about Christmas, the kids will answer “Cookies!” Otherwise people say they are celebrating Jesus’ birth. They like the special events at church and they like the family time together because relatives who live far away usually make an effort to visit at this time of year.

World #1: In the first of my worlds it is cold so making a lot of noise has never been much of an option – who could hear it anyway when everybody is closed up in their houses? So maybe that’s why lights and decorations and gift-giving have become more prominent. There are special foods and a lot of people complain about putting on weight at Christmas time. Churches do have special services but since Christmas has become more of a cultural institution, most of the partying is not done in connection with church. In fact most parties are not at all religious. Gift giving is common at all levels – within the family, among friends, colleagues, even strangers and is both upward and downward. For many it has become a financial burden – yet maybe because there is a certain joy in being able to give, people still keep doing it. It has traditionally been the time of year for family who live far away to come “home” for Christmas and for many people this is the heart of Christmas. Being alone on Christmas day is thought to be one of the worst things that could happen and so inviting people who would otherwise be alone to celebrate the day together with your family is also a tradition.

Fresh thinking and fruits

I am lucky because I do not have many Christmas events that I must participate in. Some people are literally run ragged by all the parties, programs, and gift-giving they are involved in. My load is pretty small – getting Christmas cards sent out, making cookies, getting gifts for employees and other regulars in one’s life (like the sewing lady, the banana man, the egg lady, etc ), and only two known obligatory “events”. (Sometimes I am invited at the last minute on the holidays themselves so I also need to be prepared to have some small gifts and food ready to throw together at a moment’s notice.)

Sending cards out can be a bit of a challenge because you have to get them in the mail soon enough to have a chance for them to actually arrive before February. Otherwise you may as well wait and send out New Year’s greetings. Looking for cards is often a challenge too. There are some really whacky cards out there now. I don’t mean humerous, I mean weird. Like this one:

“Merry Christmas! Fancy 4 u place where is always all fresh thinking and fruits!”

Or this one: “Merry Christmas! The love is all around world and your dreams come true.”

Here’s another one I found a few years ago, I still giggle every time I see it. I mean, what is it?!





Today we are making cookies. In the second of my worlds you must make hundreds of beautiful, identical cookies so that you can artistically arrange them in big glass jars. Drop cookies are not acceptable because they are not beautiful. Cookies don’t have to taste good – and frankly often they don’t- they just have to look nice. The oven is typically a small tin box placed on top of a kerosene burner. It takes days to make enough cookies and you have to shut all the doors and windows lest a stray breeze make your fire uneven. So here, in the third of my worlds, we really have it good – we have a real oven and big cookie sheets, plus we can have a fan on! People here appreciate cookies because they don’t know how to make them. Even “ugly” drop cookies are appreciated because they taste good. (These people know what good cookies are!)

So, if you can't make cookies, may your season at least be filled with, er, fresh thinking and fruit!

Polygamy

In the second of my worlds there is currently some national debate on the subject of polygamy. The government currently forbids civil servants from having more than one wife. Some interesting quotes from today's national English paper:

A leader from the country’s largest religious organization said, "Not every man is up to being a husband, unlike women (who make good wives). Therefore, polygamy is nature's way of balancing the supply of women wanting to be wives, with the demand of men who are up to being good husbands." He also said, “every man is polygamous by nature.”

A female legislator said: "Polygamy is better than infidelity. Think of a 25-year-old widow -- she will need a husband to finance her children. If polygamy is banned, things would only get worse for her." (Is this legislator from Mars? I wonder how many marriages like that she knows of? I certainly haven’t heard of anything like that happening in my area. The second or third wife is invariably younger and has NO kids (or if she does they get left with relatives.) Sorry, it’s a nice dream, but it seems that men are not looking for other men’s kids to support.

Some say that outlawing polygamy would increase infidelity and prostitution. Others say it would be good to outlaw it because it is harmful to women and children. What would be really interesting would be to see some statistics.....

Unfixable Things

Have you ever had one of those unfixable things? Like a stereo that plays just fine at the repair shop but constantly clicks itself off at home? Or what about bats living under the 2nd floor eaves that leave lovely brown streaks aaaaall the way down the white walls, despite all efforts to get rid of them. (They LOVE light! Putting up a screen makes them even happier – they can hang from the outside plus go inside too!) Or what about a leak in the neighbor’s upstairs bathroom that drips or rains down into your dining room. You know, the kind that gets “fixed” with bubble gum and every now and then the gum gets knocked off or gets old and falls off and the leak starts again? Or the situation with another neighbor – every time it rains his garage gets filled with dirty water. Not just rain water, it comes complete with shampoo satchets, soap wrappers, rice, and other delicacies from people’s kitchens and laundries (though at least so far no TP!). It has been “fixed” many times, but yesterday they were out there again scooping water out in buckets.

In the grand scheme of things, what is the purpose of those unfixables? To build character? To bring in more income to the blood pressure drug companies? To ensure tenants don’t stay too long? To test creativity? To give you topics of conversation to try out at boring parties? How would YOU deal with it? Would you just enjoy your stereo whenever it intermittantly feels like playing? Or would you go out and buy a new one? Would you paint your house brown since you can’t get rid of the bats? Would you buy stock in the bubble gum factory since the leak seems to be unfixable? Or would you stock up on buckets? Or open a swimming pool? Maybe we should paint our dining room wall to look like a water fall. Then whenever it leaks again it would blend right in. But I still haven’t figured out what to advise the neighbor with the flooding garage...

The mayor is king

Mayors in this part of the world are quite powerful, almost like kings. The mayor of this town is well known for his strong armed tactics, yet the majority of citizens flock to the polls and re-elect him time after time. He is credited with turning this city around from being a syndicate-infested killing field 15-20 years ago to a fairly safe city today. He is probably most well known for his anti-drug campaigns. It is said that he once pushed an unrepentant drug lord out of a helicopter into the sea. He has also had an anti-smoking campaign - smoking is now banned in most public places. He has had a garbage campaign and as a result this city is one of the cleanest in Asia. He was annoyed at young upper class kids drag racing on public streets and threatened to catch them and tie them up naked in front of city hall. Since it is known that he does what he threatens to do, the kids believed him and the drag racing problem has ceased. He has banned firecrackers within city limits, and recently banned rowdy music and drinking in cemetaries.

Of course some bans are easier to enforce than others. It is illegal to give to beggers, but, well, obviously this is not strictly enforced. It is illegal to sell pirated CDs but as soon as the police stop patrolling the pedestrian bridges, the sellers return. It is illegal to urinate just anywhere. Of course you cannot police a whole city's urinating habits but at least I have observed guys being a LITTLE bit more discrete about it. This month begins a traffic campaign. Starting today if you want to turn left you are to get in the left lane. If you want to turn right you are to get in the right lane. If you want to go straight, stay in the middle lane and if you don't you will regret it. We can expect that at least for the month of December this will be enforced. But old habits die hard - why not get in the left lane to go straight, especially when the center lane is backed up? To tell the truth, traffic in this city generally moves VERY well. Especially when you consider how very few traffic lights there are. In fact it seems that the more traffic police there are on the streets, the more snarled traffic becomes.

I hope that one of these days the mayor can figure out a way to stop the teen aged gangs.....

ting-ting-ting

Remember those musical greeting cards? You open them up and a small disc embedded in the card starts ting-ting-tinging Happy Birthday or Jingle Bells or something. Some Asian entrepenuer began inserting those ting-ting-tings into Christmas decorations. A few years ago I was in the village in church. The pastor had gotten some ornament with lights that he attached to the pulpit. He'd turn it on during the church service and just let it ting-ting-ting through the whole service. I guess he thought it was just super cool. It drove me crazy. I am sure that I was the only one in the congregation that knew that every tune it played was about Rudolph, or white Christmases, jingle bells, etc. Not exactly fitting for the local climate not to mention the sermons being preached. I avoided services as much as possible that trip. Upon returning to the third of my worlds I discovered that "musical" decorations were on sale here too.

Now my neighbor has put up a whole string of Christmas lights - "musical" ones - ting-ting-tinging outside my window. Did they think to put the ting-ting-ting INSIDE their apartment so they could enjoy it? Oh no. They put it OUTSIDE so I could hear the ting-ting-ting reverberating between the buildings. Not only that, they typically turn it on and then go out for the evening! What's worst of all is that it is a cheapie. It plays only one or two lines each of Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Here Comes Santa Claus, We Wish you a Merry Christmas and then starts over again. Over and over and over and over.........

Am I going crazy?!!! I am considering going over there one of these evenings soon and unscrewing a lightbulb....and if that doesn't work I have scissors.... >:-)

(No, don't worry. you won't see headlines saying I was electrocuted cutting wires. There are other more culturally appropriate ways of trying to deal with it. You know, the third party approach...)

Lamp shade hats

Yesterday I went to a graduation. I've managed to avoid them for a long, long time but finally one came along that I just couldn't say no to. This was someone receiving a master's degree in business administration. She wanted me to go along as the "parent". You see each graduate is allowed only one guest. It is usually a parent or sibling or aunt or uncle. But in this case none of her family was available so I got the honors. Literally. I was given a green ribbon with "PARENT" written down it to stick on my blouse. And my friend had to wear a yellow one saying "GRADUATE". (I suppose that was just in case someone wondered if she was really a graduate or whether she just always wears long baggy black polyester gowns in the tropical heat.)

It was the kind of cultural event where everyone pretends to know what to do, but actually, I think not everyone did know. I wasn't the only one watching everybody else to try to get some clues. Kids were selling ribbon and flower garlands and corsages. Hmm. Maybe we're supposed to buy them. Yes indeed as it turns out. They are a necessary part of the ceremony. Fortunately the kids were also selling little cloth and bamboo hand fans because all the pre-ceremony standing around was done outside in the sun.

About 1:30 we were finally lined up and marched single file into the gymnasium. We had to all walk to the front and then circle back down the other side to our seats. Masters and PhDs were first in and sat near the front. There were probably over 500 grads all together. Undergrads had colored cords strung through their gowns along the yoke front and back. Masters had wide satin borders down the front of their gowns, colored according to major. They also wore square black boxy hats with long fringe all the way around. Looked a lot like lamp shades.

Extra guests filled the bleachers way up in the balcony. Not sure what they could see from up there. It was pomp and circumstances as a university leader solemnly paraded in with the college emblem on a stick. All the staff paraded in behind him in their colorful graduation regalia. Some intrepid boy scouts stood at attention across the front of the stage holding various flags. Peppy march band music was piped in from somewhere.

And then we waited. And waited. It turned out that a major donor to the university was going to be given an honorary PhD in humanities that day. He is a very wealthy man, owns the national airline and a big brewery in addition to other businesses. But even he couldn't get the plane to arrive on time. So we all had to wait 45 minutes for him and his party to arrive. Those boy scouts deserve a badge - they stood there at attention the entire time and didn't falter or faint.

Finally Mr T arrived and the shown was on. He was awarded the first degree and all his honors were read out. Then he read a speech in English. It was very disapppointing - he's either not a very good reader or he needs new glasses. After some other speeches, the grads and "parents" had to stand and award each other with the corsages and garlands/leis. You would have been really embarassed if you hadn't bought some because your poor grad would have been the only one without one. And you would have been the only "parent" without one. Then some more speeches. Then the grads and parents had to stand again and the poor parents had to try to figure out how to put the "hoods" or whatever they are around the shoulders of the grad and stick it in place with straight pins. These hoods are more colored satiny stuff with weird projections and protruberances. I think I finally got it on more or less right but no guarantee I could do it correctly a second time! Even the undergrads had these "hood" thingys so it was quite colorful.

Then we had to line up by departments, two by two. As two intrepid people read out the names of each and every grad and their "parent", groups of 6 pairs of "parents" and grads had to go up front to a line of colorful university staff handing out fake diplomas. It was kind of like going forward to take communion - the staff stood behind a long table and on our side of the table the space was divided into six sections so that each pair of us went up a step to stand in one of the sections before one of the staff and recive a rolled up fake diploma. We got a guy with a cool purple fringy hat. We both shook his hand and then backed down off the step and paraded back around to our seats.

This took awhile as there were several hundred grads but finally it ended. Then they had everybody but the masters change their tassle to the other side of their hats. (The lamp shade hats didn't allow for moving the fringe anywhere.) They made the grads all stand and give an oath of loyalty to their alma mater, sing the school song, plus a school "victory" song. And then they were pronounced graduated and some nets on the ceiling full of balloons and confetti were opened and all that stuff floated down on top of us. That was kind of cool. After the emblem on a stick and the staff paraded out, the rest of us were allowed to leave.

Of course you have to hang around awhile and take pictures of your grad and all their friends and the "parents". But finally it's time to leave and you wend your way slowly out to the main road and join the rush hour traffic trying to find transportation home.

I am grateful graduations don't occur every week!

Smoke and haze

Imagine living in a city where instead of a dry season you had a smoke season. Imagine for over two months having the airport closed due to low visibility. And not only the airport. Sometimes the roads into town are also closed, even river traffic has difficulty due to poor visibility. Imagine having to frequently use headlights to drive around town in the daytime. Imagine school being cancelled for days at a time because the smoke is so thick that there is a real danger of children being hit by cars on their way to and from school. Not to mention the air quality in unairconditioned schools. People who can afford it leave town for the season. But most must stay.

I was planning to go there this week for a workshop, but was informed today that the workshop has been cancelled. The area covered by smoke is steadily decreasing as the rains finally begin to fall. But this city is right in the heart of it and so far the particulate matter in the air is still well in the dangerous zone, and the airport is still closed.

According to the local news, the government is renting two water bomber planes from the former Sov.U. The planes can scoop up 12 tons of seawater and fly in to the worst of the fires and dump it. Friday the pilots said they were were disappointed because they had not been able to get to the worst burning places due to poor visibility. Saturday one of the planes slid off the runway in a neighboring city and is now awaiting repairs. It was thought that poor visibility was the major contributing factor to the accident.

The smoke is the result of farmers and plantation owners burning the land off every year as a cheap and convenient way of clearing it. Because there is so much peat, the peat continues to smolder long after the surface fire has gone out and only a period of substantial sustained rainfall puts it out.

Update on D

D has been out of the hospital for over a month now. He is doing very well, though he still has drainage from the major knife wound in his abdomen. The doctor says some internal stitches are infected but the body will eventually reject them (or was it eject them?) He is eating well, no more fever. He would like to play basketball but the doctor says to wait. He still wears only elastic waisted pants because of the wound and he still walks a bit bent over, but he is alive and on the mend.

Enough funds came in to pay for all his medicines. His aunt was able to get the mayor's office to pay for his hospitalization as he is technically an orphan. His extended family was finally able to get a loan on their coconuts (4 families' coconuts). The terms are that the lendor gets to harvest the coconuts for five years and the family gets a loan of $480. By the time the loan came through D was out of the hospital, so it was decided to use part of the money to pay off the mango orchard loan. So now they have the use of the mango orchard again which should help them pay off the coconut loan. If they are lucky and careful, they might be able to pay off the coconuts early. Of course they would have to add extra because the 5 years of harvests was the interest...

Toenails

How to cut your toenails with a machete. In case you ever need to know.

Wild bus rides

While in the second of my worlds last month, I travelled on a chartered bus 3 hours each way, up and over the mountains and down the coast a bit to a culture contest. It was one of those little busses designed in some industrialized Asian country that never made it in the home country and so was dumped on the market in a less fortunate country. It's the kind of vehicle that looks kind of cool on the outside, streamlined glass the whole length, but totally ignores passenger comfort on the inside. There were about six rows of seats, some so close together that even the tiny natives of this area were hard pressed to get their knees behind the seat in front of them. The little section of the window that actually could be opened was at about waist height - not very useful for anybody who was car sick or even just wanting a little air. As mentioned in my July post on Putting on a good face, the incidence of motion sickness in this area is VERY high.

To save my knees, I sat in the back seat by the door. There was 6 centimeters of space for my feet before the meter deep drop off into the stair well. An inexperienced rider would have been thrown off the seat into the stair well every time the driver braked, which on the narrow, twisting road was quite often.

Soon after beginning the climb up into the mountains the bus got very quiet. The only thing you could hear was the "kkkkkkkkkhhh!" of people clearing the backs of their throats trying frantically not to vomit. People were soon vying for plastic bags and taking turns standing in the stairwell so they could get air or at least barf out the door. The driver's assistant had left the door open but had helpfully put a grab bar across the opening which later on was very helpful to those so overcome by nausea they barely had the strength to stand. One guy would hang his head out the door hugging the door because he was so sick. I was afraid he would get whacked by a tree branch or even lose his grip and fall out. I decided then and there to NEVER pass a bus on the shoulder.

When we arrived back in the village people quietly got off the bus, some immediately squatted down at the side of the road, others lay flat on the floor of the nearest structure. Those who could still walk gathered their things and went quietly home. Those who had remained by the side of the road were all recovered by the next afternoon.

I am very grateful that I do not get car sick. They joke about it but it can truly be a terrible thing.

Egg salad pizza anyone?

Back in the third of my worlds. After all the smoke and gloom in the second of my worlds, it was great to see the blue sky and fluffy clouds and green, green vegetation of this place. My cough cleared up quickly.

My head and heart have had a chance to calm down too.

A trip to the local mall was a bit disorienting as Christmas stuff is out already with a few nominal chains of paper pumpkins thrown in for Halloween. The problem with the Christmas season starting so soon is that by the time Christmas really arrives you are heartily tired of it.

The reason for the trip to the mall was that a friend was visiting from the second of my worlds so I took her out for pizza. I wanted to show her what real pizza is like - I don't think what they call pizza in her world really qualifies. I mean, should pizza taste like egg salad sandwiches? Or tuna and mayo sandwiches? Now I like egg salad sandwiches okay and I don't mind tuna sandwiches, but I see no reason to call it pizza! I am talking about a well-known pizza chain. No wonder all those poor folk down there pour hot sauce all over it! They would probably love real pepperoni if they could get it but instead the best they can get is pizza with canned hotdog slices. Yeeech!

When is enough enough?

October 16, 2006

Today another preacher was shot to death in broad daylight on the main road of the city. He was shot in the head between 8-9am while out shopping with his wife. Though some may see it as part of religious conflict, I am not so sure that it is. Who has guns? The people do not, not of any religion. Only the authorities have guns. Only someone with official protection could shoot somebody in broad daylight on the main road and not get caught. This was an assassination. That preacher was dangerous to somebody big, somebody with a lot of status and a lot of money. Perhaps because of his knowledge of that person's corruption in general or collusion in the inter-ethnic conflict a couple of years ago? Perhaps because of his willingness to appeal to the UN for what many perceived to be the unjust trial and rushed execution of three men last month? Or simply because somebody benefits from keeping the conflict going?

What was the first response of the local govt? Did they do something useful like search the local police and army barracks for fired weapons? No, they set up roadblocks to check cars and motorbikes coming INTO town for sharp weapons. Hmmm. Are they really that incompetent or is it on purpose?

Today was another hot, dark, and gloomy day as smoke covers the face of the earth, as if even God Himself can’t stand looking at the rottenness in this place…

Justice

October 14

Justice. People complain that things aren’t fair. The government isn’t fair. The courts aren’t fair. The village head isn’t fair. The teacher isn’t fair. Life isn't fair. But do people really want justice?

A number of years ago some friends were indirectly involved in a community issue and were accused of various offenses. Upon investigation it was found that the accusations were not true. Nevertheless the highest government official involved said in no uncertain terms that he was not concerned with what was true or false, but with public order and so wanted my friends to leave the area. Some see the government in this region as placating certain groups rather than being concerned with justice per se. A recent example was the execution of three men sentenced to death for their involvement in 3 years of inter-ethnic violence in this area. Many people felt the whole trial was unjust as the judges and witnesses were constantly threatened and intimidated. It was also seen as unjust because the parties instigating the conflict have never been tried, and very few from the other side of the conflict (non-natives) were ever even arrested, let alone tried or convicted. And no one has been tried for any of a long series of bombings, shootings, and beheadings that have followed in recent years aimed at the native community It seemed to many that these three men were being made the scapegoat for the entire conflict, though it was apparent to any reasonably impartial observer that the three could hardly be the masterminds, being uneducated farmers who weren’t even native to the area, tied only by religion to the native group.

One can almost see government officials dithering over this case – if they didn’t carry out the execution the non-native ethnic group was threatening to burn the provincial capital down. That ethnic group is known for having volatile tempers, for taking “vengeance” not against the offender but indiscriminantly against anybody at all related by blood, religion, or geography to the offender. On the other hand, if they did carry out the executions the native ethnic group would certainly be angry. But the risk of the native group burning down the city was almost nil because that group was of a different religion and their religious leaders would preach against taking vengeance. So it seems possible that the decision to carry out the executions may have been driven more by the concern with “public order” rather than justice.

Even at the local level, justice is often not done because of a concern for public perception. I was at a contest a couple of weeks ago for reading, poetry, singing, etc. The participants were from 10 different villages. When the prizes were awarded many people were surprised that some very good performers had not gotten any prize and others who weren’t as good got trophies. I later heard people comforting each other by saying, “Well, maybe it’s good to distribute the prizes to as many different villages as possible so that people will still want to come next year. If they didn’t get any prizes, maybe they would lose heart and not participate.”

So do people really want justice? Or do they really want vindication of themselves? As the first of my worlds slides further and further from a justice system based on absolutes, will they see more and more decisions made catering to the perceptions of the majority or at least of those most likely to cause public disorder?

What is justice? Around here the answer seems to be that only God knows.

Hazy Fasting

October 13

So here I am in the second of my worlds again. As expected, this world has been wholly consuming with almost no news of the outside world(s). The usually crystal clear sky has been at best very hazy, at worst downright opague. The next island over has apparently been enveloped in forest fires for the last month. When the winds blow a certain way, we get it here too. Last week we had a couple of very overcast days – overcast with smoke. Some flights were cancelled. Today the mountains are again not visible – even though they are only 5 km away. I was in the process of recovering from bronchitis but it seems to be coming back. Sigh! (Ooops, shouldn’t have sighed - cough, cough!)

It is the month of fasting here and things have been rather quiet. Although it may not be exactly orthodox teaching, most people in this area see the month of fasting as a time of atoning for sin. Traditionally their culture demanded sacrifices to atone for wrong doing and as this religion spread, people still felt the need for atonement. So for many, fasting has become the way to atone. It is a time to reflect back on one’s life and to renew religious commitment. The end of the fast is the time to restore broken relationships, a time to kind of start fresh and try again to be good. It is a community thing, people are urged to be especially good and pious this month and there are religious services every night. School kids are on vacation. Politicians also try to gain kudos by publicly exhorting people to avoid violence, corruption, and bad deeds this month. (Though sometimes one wonders if they realize the unspoken implication – that it is okay during the rest of the year just don’t do it this month????)

Off again

Tomorrow I will be heading off again to the second of my worlds. This time I will be in a location where it is highly unlikely that I will be able to get on the internet. No newspaper, no TV, not even a radio broadcast worth listening to. Even my cellphone doesn’t get a signal much of the time. It is quite refreshing, actually. And as experience has shown, life in the rest of the world goes on anyway. I may miss a month’s worth of the details, but no doubt there will be more earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, bombs, wars, and the PTB will continue their shenanigans. When I emerge in a month, I can read the condensed versions, if I’m still interested.

Meanwhile the local news in the second of my worlds will be all consuming. Undoubtedly I will hear all the latest gossip - who had a baby, who’s getting married, who died, who’s playing around with black magic, when the irrigation will be turned off again, and all about the most recent flood/earthquake/landslide….

Living in a tranquil city

D is doing better. He was moved out of the ICU 5 days ago and has had all tubes removed except the IV. He is eating rice porridge now and starting to take some medicine orally. His family is relieved as oral medication is much cheaper. Today his matted, blood crusted hair was cut, revealing a lice infestation. Wonders of government hospitals. There is no TV in the ward but with 100 other patients plus their watchers, it sounds like it would be difficult to be bored. What is more disturbing is that at least one teenager is brought in with stab wounds daily. Not all of them make it. I guess the surgical staff here must be getting pretty experienced with stab wounds and, almost as frequent, gunshot wounds. My illusions of living in a tranquil city are disappearing…

International pharmaceuticals, are you listening?

Back in the second of my worlds for a couple weeks, I came across a medical crisis which also shows poignantly the dilemma faced by many poor people every day.

17 year old D was attacked by a group of teenage gang members a week ago. He was in ICU at the government hospital for several days with 13 knife wounds in back, head, side and abdomen. He is actually from a rural area but was in the big city staying with his aunt and uncle. His uncle is a carpenter and sometimes D comes to town to help him on a project. He and 4 younger teens were attacked by a gang of teenagers around 7pm, though none of them are involved in a gang. The other kids managed to escape and run home and report it. D wasn't so lucky. He was held by 4 boys while another stabbed him repeatedly with a knife, leaving only when he finally collapsed.

He was brought to the government hospital and was in surgery for 12 hours. His intestines had eviscerated and were damaged. He's been cleaned up and sewn up but because of the damaged intestines was not able to even drink water until yesterday. He has been on strong antibiotics to prevent infection. His extended family is trying to pool their resources but they have already been stretched financially by a series of deaths recently and the only way they see is to mortgage their farm - which could potentially destroy their livelihood, and probably still wouldn't be enough.

Even tho the hospitalization may be nearly free, medicines are not. The first day alone they spent nearly a month's wages ($60) on IV solution, antibiotics, pain medication, tetanus shot, and injectable paracetamol for fever. A recent decision was made to exclude stab wound victims from government assistance for medicine. Perhaps nation wide most stab wounds are aquired in drunken brawls and thus somewhat the victim's own fault. But some of them are innocent victims, like D and like a 14 year old brought in yesterday.

D still faces 2-3 weeks more in the hospital assuming there are no other complications. D's family is faced with hard choices. They can get a loan on their farm for $1500 payable in 5 years. But they must immediately pay the first year's interest of $380. If, at the end of 5 years they have not repaid the $1500 principle plus the $1900 interest, they will lose their land. Last year they borrowed $280 from a neighbor who in turn now has the use of their mango orchard. The money was borrowed for the funeral of D's cousin, killed by a runaway truck. In a year's time the family has not been able to repay that loan, how would they be able to pay an even bigger loan? Meanwhile, the harvest this year from the orchard has been worth over $2000. They could also get a loan of $280 in which the lender then gets the entire harvest of their coconuts for two years - and longer if they don't pay it back. And how will they earn money to pay it back??? And what if someone else in the extended family gets sick? The cycle goes on and on.....

Fortunately for D, several sympathetic people have donated enough to cover a couple of weeks of medicine. If enough donations come in, perhaps the family will not need to hock their farm. But D is just one example of the dilemma facing many poor people every day. (International pharmaceuticals, are you listening?)

Ode to Go

People are always interesting. But certain people are noteworthy. Take Go (not his real name). Go is around 30-35, thin, kind of scrawny guy with chronic stomach problems. He comes from one of the more remote areas of this country. Go has absolutely no self-esteem problem. He is one of those people who are always right and will insist on their point no matter how much evidence to the contrary. Of course I did not know Go at the beginning of this project four weeks ago but I did notice early on that he was very good at provoking debate. I would patiently listen to his comments, thinking I must have missed something crucial to understanding what he is trying to say, because I couldn't believe anybody could be so ignorant. Surely he was trying to communicate something else...

What was even more interesting though, was the reaction of the other people in the group. They figured him out long before I did. They quit arguing with him while I was still taking his comments seriously and still trying to explain to him.

I find people like Go fascinating. Did their mothers never try to correct them? Did't they tell them not to be a know-it-all, not to always assume they know everything? Or did their mothers try, but to no avail? I feel embarassed for such folk - they are so bold to insist that they are correct and yet seem to have no clue as to the breadth and depth of their ignorance.

(Hmmm, as I think about it, maybe from God's perspective we are all rather like that. Claiming in our ignorance that things are a certain way and refusing to look at the contrary evidence... )

Fresh traffic?

An interesting aspect of living in a large congested city is laundry. Everybody has to do it somehow so it’s not at all uncommon to see laundry draped around. Clothes dryers are still pretty much unknown, though nowadays one probably could buy one somewhere. Many of the buildings in this area have flat roofs with a room or two built on top with space outside for hanging clothes. I washed clothes yesterday afternoon. It was VERY warm in the little room where the washing machine is kept. But out on the roof was a glorious breeze. So, while waiting for the machine to fill (most are not automatic, and water pressure on the 4th floor isn’t the greatest) I could stand outside in the shade and cool off in the breeze. It’s also a good vantage point from which to observe the neighborhood so it wasn’t too boring. The machine has a spinner so the clothes are fairly dry when you pull them out. I hung them up in the breeze and two hours later they were dry. When I gathered them and took them downstairs I took a big whiff of the dry, still warm clothes. Ahhhh! Nothing like the smell of fresh traffic….

Avoid offending if you can

The other day we had a discussion around several case histories of interpersonal conflict between members of the same team or working on the same project. The point of the exercise was to get people to discuss conflict resolution, how they would go about it appropriately in their culture. I was astonished that in each of the 4 cases the unanimous decision was to separate the two offended parties, give them new job assignments, transfer one or both, fire one or both. They always recommended that a third party be involved. They saw a difference between personality clash and moral or money issues. Yet in no case did they think that a resolution or restoration of the relationship was possible.

In one case where someone was accused of misusing funds I asked if the party in the wrong would publicly acknowledge that he was wrong. Again the answer was unanimously “no”. The closest to a public apology would be in the case of a violation of traditional law where the offender was deemed guilty and fined. By paying the fine, the issue is considered finished. It is understood as the same as a public acknowledgment of guilt. But apology? Apparently not possible.

I wonder if the case histories go too far? Each of them describe a work situation which ended in some sort of open conflict – either an argument in front of others or an open accusations of wrong doing. Was is that open conflict (in front of others) which made the group unanimously declare that no restoration of the relationship was possible? What if we instead asked how they might intervene and help the two parties resolve matters BEFORE it got to the state of open conflict? Does this indicate that open conflict is to be avoided at all costs? And should it occur, it is invariably fatal to the relationship?

What was also interesting is that the group we asked was made up of people from various ethnic groups around this country, all attending the same course. It seems astonishing that they would all think the same way. Or were they reluctant to discuss the topic for fear of offending others in the group? Makes one really think about the extent one needs to go to to avoid offending someone else.

Malls

It's always interesting to visit malls in capital cities. You see another slice of life that maybe isn't so apparent from a bus window. You see people wearing the latest fashion - currently for women that means tight low cut pants and tight short blouses of asymmetrical design. So it's especially interesting to watch how these upper class folk try to stare at the foreigners without being obvious. The mall I was in the other day has a lot of mirrors and if you walk at just the right speed and location you can stare quite easily without seeming to. One particular attraction was a family from somewhere in the middle east. The papa was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt and short pants. The mama was covered from head to foot in black, including a veil across her face leaving only her eyes showing. A teenaged daughter was also covered in black but her face was showing. An 8 year old girl was wearing a sleeveless top and short skirt, no veiling for her. The locals were extremely interested in this sight and I could hear comments speculating that maybe unmarried women didn't have to cover their faces, after all how could an unmarried girl find a husband if he couldn't see her face? Who would marry a girl sight unseen? They were also very interested to watch the woman in a restaurant having to transport spoonfuls of food up under her veil to eat. Must get a bit messy at times.

Malls have become a sort of recreation site in large cities which don't have much in the way of public parks. They are big, airconditioned, and of course have everything from clothes to food to grocery stores and rides for the kids. Malls are where you can find the bizarre and unique too, for a price. You can also find internet cafes to post your blog from.

Thou shall not kill

One of the things that has always amazed me about Asians, at least those who live in big cities, is the ability to live cheek and jowl without killing each other. I suppose it would help if everybody liked the same kind of music, and if everybody was not on the same schedule. I have desk in a big bright room. I share the room with 6 other people. It is incredibly hard to concentrate at times what with phone calls, people coming in and out to discuss everything. Good thing I am staying just down the hall and can work early and late. Finally got a couple of nagging projects finished today. It just takes persistence I guess.

But I am having to stay up later to get some quiet uninterrupted time, at the same time I can't sleep later in the morning because once people start getting up slamming doors, singing in the showers, etc, well, you get the idea. I wonder if anybody ever fell asleep while teaching a class?
Don't get me wrong. I am not at all bored, just sleeeeeepy. Got up even earlier today to go to church. It was a very interesting event but even so I had trouble not dozing off.

I boarded a city bus to get to an internet cafe. Too bad I didn't have a camera - to take a picture of me sitting sideways. Some of the seats are so close together that barely anybody's knees would fit behind the seat in front of them. I am glad the trip wasn't longer, on the other hand, it feels SOOOO good to finally get off and walk. The driver's assistent did a good job of packing every seat full. He would hop off at intersections and sort of direct traffic till the bus got through Then he'd hop on again. Must be a tiring job.

More on what people do to earn money

Haven't been able to access the blog because the place I am staying blocks a lot of stuff, This is from August 3:

In a mega-city there are seemingly an infinite number of ways to make a living. One man makes a living, and a very good living, looking at city maps to see where small roads are. He then looks for places where a road is planned and not yet build. Then he goes and checks it out. If the land is indeed not already built on he just takes it and builds something there and then sells it. Since land costs in this city are very high he makes an extremely good profit. Pretty slick, eh? About a block away is a narrow, three story high church building built within the last couple of years on such a piece of land. Next to the building where I am staying is another small piece of land which apparently falls into that same category. He has recently put up a fence around it, threatening those nearby (including the owners of this building) not to interfere or he will send his thugs to cause trouble. Comforting thought.

One popular way to earn a second income after one’s regular day job is to sell food. By late afternoon the streets start filing with push carts, bicycles and motorbikes, and temporary road-side stalls selling things like bread and cake, noodle dishes, fresh vegetables, ice cream, meatballs, and all sorts of other cooked foods. Yesterday on my little jaunt down the side street there was a guy on the side of the road with a frying pan on a burner frying batter-dipped chicken to sell. A little ways down from him was a tent where somebody was selling fish and rice dinners. Today we were working late so went down to see what the breadseller on a motorbike had today. He still had about 6 half-loaves of sliced white bread and two of sliced green bread. (Yes, bright apple green bread.) He had smaller breads filled with things like cheese, chocolate, bananas, peanuts. There was one kind that had a raisin or two in it too.

Last week the newspaper ran a story about a certain lane on one particular major road. That lane has a reputation for being full of nails causing tire punctures and so drivers avoid it, thus causing the rest of the road to be quite congested. When police finally went to investigate, they found several kilos of nails scattered for quite a distance on that lane. They have been going out early in the morning to sweep that lane – and continue to find several kilos more nails every day. They suspect that someone is trying to make a living, either because they have a tire repair business nearby or because they hope to benefit by robbing stranded cars. (See? All it takes is a little imagination…)

Chaotic mess

Outsiders coming to a large Asian city for the first time often see it as a chaotic mess. This city, in the second of my worlds, is no exception. You could easily get motion sick just by standing still and watching things whiz by! But if you look carefully you will begin to see the layers of organization that really do exist.
Traffic looks chaotic, and sometimes gets into horrendous snarls. Yet, most people do manage to get where they need to go by the approximate time that they need to be there – most of the the time. The chaos somehow works. Just around the corner from where I am staying is a narrow lane that manages to carry busy two-way traffic. Somehow pedestrians, bicyclists, push carts, motorcycles, passenger vehicles made from motorcyles, vans, cars and small trucks all mange to make progress down this lane even in the dark. I am sure that accidents do happen but considering that this little scene is repeated street after street all across this metropolis every day all the time, there are relatively few accidents. For those of us who come from smaller, slower places, it is truly miraculous the way this vast interweaving of people and vehicles moves along all day and all night, day after day, week after week, and year after year.
There are worlds with in worlds. Yesterday I went to a nearby mall complex, I think it is the tallest mall in the city having 7 or 8 floors. I was able to do all my errands there, such as get cash from an ATM, buy medicine, get a phone card for my cell phone, and buy some groceries, and that was all on the same floor! But tonight when I walked down the busy little lane around the corner I found that I can also get cell phone refills and some medicines, right there. (If it were daylight I could probably see further down the road and might find more…)

So how does the situation in the Middle East affect me? When you are between three worlds it can be kind of dizzifying. It seems that in the first of my worlds people are seeing a carefully controlled and orchestrated series of intense visual images and intense talking heads, most of whom seem to have the same opinions and the same recommendations. People who don't take the time to search the internet for alternative views will probably eventually be persuaded, though surely a certain number must be cursing all parties involved because they are forever fighting and causing problems for the rest of the world.

Here in the third of my worlds, the biggest concern seems to be getting this country's workers out of Lebanon safely. A very practical, down-to-earth concern. A few returnees have been interviewed by the press and the general consensus is that they are glad to be away from the bombing and most are not interested in going back - ever. Other than that, the major headlines have to do with domestic issues with the middle east mess taking a definite back seat.

Next week I will be going to the second of my worlds. The vast majority probably know little of the conflict. If they know anything at all it probably falls into the category of general background noise. After all, the folk in the Middle East have been fighting forever, so what's new? But for a certain segment of the population, their news comes from sermons. Some are also able to access news from the internet. A few days ago it was announced that a group was planning to go to Lebanon to help their brothers in the faith, dozens from nearly every country in southeast Asia. Whether it will actually happen remains to be seen since nobody has any money for the trip, but it does show a growing anger and frustration with what is more and more widely perceived to be the ongoing harassment of their faith. Stay tuned....

What will you do for money?

When you live in another country long enough, it starts to feel like home. There are many things you like about it and some of the things that were difficult or strange at first become everyday and even enjoyable (except durien, of course.) But there also are a few things that can still be disturbing even after years.

In the third of my worlds, one of the things that I find distressing is women. Don't get me wrong, women in this country are not particularly oppressed as we commonly think of it. Many women are in government, running businesses, they are doctors, educators and the like. Women are vocal and women make the world go round and are the glue that holds family and community together. (I have smiled more than once as I hear a woman on a rampage over the back wall screaming at her man. The male voice eventually subsides while her voice rat-a-tats on for another quarter of an hour. I think an unspoken rule here is "Don't argue with a woman who's in a rage.")

What distresses me is the way some young women "prostitute" themselves for dreams of money, or for their families' dreams of money. The two main ways are by "marrying" foreigners and working as overseas contract workers. Let me share a few stories to try to explain.

Yesterday Ramona, a 26 year old school teacher, married a foreigner that she met over the internet. They had never met until he arrived two weeks ago to arrange a visa for her to accompany him back to his country. On the day of the wedding Ramona's mother discovered to her horror that the dress she had just bought for the wedding didn't fit. I mean, it really didn't fit, she couldn't even close the top. So she had to make a run to a local department store leaving all the guests gathering at the location. Ramona's groom-to-be had a temper tantrum threatening to get on a plane and leave if Ramona didn't come out without her mother and get on with the wedding. Poor Ramona's mother. She was already horribly embarassed at being the cause of the delay and then for the son-in-law to show so much disrespect in front of the guests, well, it doesn't bode well. Somehow he was calmed down and the wedding did proceed two hours later. They left today for his country. All I can say is that I wish Ramona well.

A friend of Ramona's, Daisy, will also be marrying a foreigner she met over the internet whom she has never met. Daisy, who is 20, will be getting married next month and will meet her fiancee a few days before the wedding. Unlike Ramona, Daisy didn't even finish high school. She finds it difficult to speak English. But she is convinced that God has given her this fabulous opportunity to marry a foreigner and have lots of money and move to his country. Her family is poor and lives in a remote village. They are very excited about the wedding. Again, all I can say is that I wish Daisy well.

It seems to be assumed that marrying a foreigner will make you a lot richer and you will have money to share with your extended family. I had a 20 year old neighbor, Peachie, with a three year old daughter. She had a foreign "husband" who supported her and his child. They had met in a bar when she was 17. He would show up about twice a year for a few weeks. He had a family in his own country and so they couldn't legally "marry". He was 60 years old. When he wasn't there her house was full of relatives who came and enjoyed sitting around eating for free and watching televison and not having to do anything . Peachie also eventually found a local boyfriend who along with the relatives, would get kicked out temporarily whenever the "husband" came. Peachie eventually got smart and moved into a smaller place that would hold fewer relatives and started saving money for the future.

When Joseph, a young attractive foreigner moved to town for a couple of years, the girls in his church youth group quickly determined who was going to be the one to set her hat, so to speak, for Joesph. (I think Joseph had no choice!) Coached by her mother, Lina made herself available to show him around town, to accompany him on errands. She visited his apartment, shopped for him, cleaned, arranged for his laundry and generally became indispensible. When Joseph left, Lina went with him and they were married there. Last I heard they are still together, both working.

But it is not only marrying foreigners. Another avenue is to be an overseas worker. I do not know how many thousands or tens of thousands of women and men go overseas every year to work in foreign countries. Most claim it is because they cannot find work here, or at least they cannot find good wages here. Many women work as domestic helpers.

Connie is a college graduate. She got pregnant her last year of college and married the father, a young man from her home town. He is a hard worker, a farmer, and owns his own land. But he did not finish high school. Connie feels acutely that neighbors laugh at her because she went off to the big city to earn a degree to be a teacher and now is just a housewife like them. Connie would get up at 4am to do the washing and get it hung up before daylight to avoid having to see the neighbors. Connie signed up to be a domestic helper in the middle east, telling every one that she is doing it for her 18-month old daughter's future. Connie went and has been there now for 2 1/2 years cooking and doing laundry for a family of five in the Middle East. Her mother is raising the daughter and hopefully saving the money Connie sends back.

Lira is also a college graduate. She applied to work as a singer in Japan, pleased that she had passed the audition. The company advanced her fare to the capital city. When she arrived she discovered that the job would also involve strip dancing in bars. She was upset but didn't have money to go back home. Indeed, every day the company "advanced" them a small amount of money for food that went onto their bill. So their debt to the company continued to increase. Other girls who were also initially reluctant, decided that they had no choice but to go ahead and agree to do the strip dancing because they had no money to pay off their ever-increasing debt and were too ashamed to ask family for help, especially since their families back home were so excited about all the money that they hoped to receive. Luckily for Lira, a former employer advanced her the money to pay off her debt and return home.

Another woman I met had worked two years as a domestic helper overseas, faithfully sending as much money back home as she possibly could, at great personal sacrifice. She was devasted upon returning home to find that the two brothers she thought were going to college had frittered away the money for other things and were not in school, that her family had not used the money to improve the house but had spent it on other things.

Rita, mother of seven, had gone to work in a clothing factory in the middle east for two years in an attempt to get cash for her childrens' future schooling. Upon arrival, she found she was only paid per piece of rather complicated sewing and her actual income was no better than she would have made at home. She was devastated but had signed a contract so she worked her two years and came home with almost nothing.

Of course for all the Ritas, Connies, and Liras, there are others who find that the work they do overseas is reasonably tolerable and they are able to save money. For all the families that fritter away the hard-earned money sent to them, there are many who do use the money wisely, for childrens' education, for home improvement, for starting a small business. For all the Ramonas, Daisys, Peachies, and Linas, most women who marry foreigners do seem to find at least some degree of financial benefit and some also find happiness. I guess those success stories are why young women continue to try those avenues.

But I still find it distressing to think of what some of these women will go through for their dreams of money. I guess there is nothing new under the sun....

Karaoke

A few years ago I was stranded for several days at a hotel with a number of other passengers. We were waiting for an ancient plane to be repaired, the one that was scheduled to take us to another world. At night in the hotel dining room there was a television set playing a video with all sorts of old American songs in English. A bouncing ball would highlight the words on the screen. To my amazement most of the passengers seemed to know all of the songs and would sing along with gusto. I wondered where they had learned all those American songs? That was my first introduction to karaoke.

Since then, I have discovered that karaoke is rapidly becoming a cultural feature of southeast Asia. For those who do not know, karaoke is a term applied to any of various types of mega amplifiers attached to a microphone. (There may also be a video like there was in the hotel, but since one usually can't hear it, I can't be sure.) Parties of any sort seem to demand a karaoke and renting out karaokes is a big business. Party attenders take turns trying to sing using the microphone. It is not at all uncommon to be able to hear these wannabes for blocks. It is usually true that the singer needs the practice, but one wonders why they think the entire region wants to hear them practice. And should jaded neighbors, unable to sleep all night complain, they merely receive the innocent reply, "Oh, well, you see we had a party," which of course explains everything. Naturally the young teens feel that it is wasting an opportunity if they don't take advantage of the presence of an ultra humongous amplifier, so the day after the party you get to hear it all over again until finally, mercifully, the rental truck comes and picks it up and peace descends once again.

These mega amplifiers have many uses. In some parts of southeast Asia, the electronic band has now become a fixture at weddings and birthday parties, and even in churches, not to mention discos, bars, and the like. These giant amplifiers can broadcast the band to the next province. It is an amazing experience to be standing outside at night looking at the Milky Way galaxy spilled across the clear star-studded black sky, to the background noise of a wannabe band wafting over the rice paddies....

Putting on a good face

This first story probably falls in the category of gross, but clearly demonstrates the universal tendancy for people to want to put on a good face.

In this neck of southeast Asia, roads are not usually straight, even on flat ground. When going up in the mountains this is even more true because in addition to the uneven surface you now have curves too tight for big busses, plus potholes, cracks, gulleys, and residue from landslides to maneuvre around. Added to this is the fact that there is a HIGH tendancy in the local population towards motion sickness. Need I say more? Anyway, one day Udin was riding on a minibus and was seated next to a very attractive young lady. Imagine Udin's anxiety when he began to get carsick. I mean REALLY carsick. What to do? Well, Udin came up with a most face-saving solution - he swallowed it again. Neat, huh? No fuss, no mess. The attractive girl never knew.

BetweenThreeWorlds

BetweenThreeWorlds was started July 22, 2006. A friend recently commented that she feels like she is between two worlds. She was born in an isolated community in the mountains in southeast Asia but her family and many neighbors were moved to a new village in the lowlands two or three decades ago. She has finished college and can use a computer but daily interacts with family who can't read, don't speak the national language, still plow with cattle, trim their toenails with machetes, and cook on wood fires. She is a Christian but also knows and hears a lot about the spirit world and the machinations of others who fool around with black magic. She loves spaghetti and pizza but can chow down boiled bananas with the best of them! So I, who am between three worlds (at least!) thought it might be fun to put some stories out.