My Blog

I am home after visits to denmark, italy and england

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 18:08:09 -0400

DENMARK I was met at the Copenhagen airport and taken to south to Susan Greens farm. I shadowed the Green family life for a week which included Cecilie’s dance recital (5 years), Susan’s performance in a “Local Revue” making fun of current events, biking alongside the rake fields, jumping on the trampoline with Emmeli (2½ years) and watching Jesper (Susan’s husband) skin a deer he killed while I was there. The food included wonderful cheese and bread which had been missing in my Hong Kong life. This was also the place where I did the first half of my twelve hour time transition.

ITALY was spectacular. Carol (my sister) lives there in the summers and has an incredible house up on a hill in Umbria north of Rome. It is a rocky hilly terrain with towers at the top of the hills which were ancient places of refuge during times of attack. The hill town nearest her is Trevi which is close to Spoleto. I spent a week relaxing and sight seeing under her guide. She and Michael her husband speak fluent Italian and have many friends and favorite places they shared with me and then my family came and spent a week. The food was spectacular and plentiful. Zucchini flowers were in season and served battered and deep fried or chopped and part of a pasta sauce. Waiters in Italy train to become professionals at serving food and take pride in their job so at one point Michael and the waiter had a very long involved conversation about what would be served when. It was complicated because not all of us had ordered a before, pasta dish, and main course before the dessert course. The food was fresh and cooked to perfection. Carol promises to share the “ricotta cheese tart with fresh fruit sauce” recipe with me when she gets home. Our souvenirs from Italy include home made sausage and olive oil locally cold pressed and put into quart containers as we watched.

ENGLAND Hedley, Duncan, Jacob and I were traveling together once again as we flew to London. This was the last leg before home and filled with family and friends we wanted to see. Our niece Helen was getting married in the Peak District so we all headed up to Sheffield to stay in a stone cottage near the site to help set up. The north of England is rocky and full of great hiking hills and farms. Very scenic. We managed to eat lots of English food and visit a friend in Totnes. Totnes is the “alternate village” of England. There are many people living here who are working on developing viable alternative energy sources, ways of burying people, farming without hurting the environment or the people eating food. We had a big meal at a farm that served 6 course meals made from the ingredients they grow. Duncan and Jacob also wanted to see Stonehenge before we went stateside. The stones were smaller than I remembered them and fenced in now. It is hard to imagine how those stones were moved to this beautiful site.

Duncan, Jacob and I flew home July 1. We were met at the airport by a group of teenagers eager to see Duncan and Jacob and Randy and Grace who were eager to see all of us but especially me. Now having been home for three weeks and re-established a land line, cell phone, dish TV, internet, and got our two cars up and running and unpacked our 10 room house I am sitting in the high 90’s heat and humidity (not unlike Hong Kong) and seeing Willimantic (very unlike Hong Kong) and trying to be excited about re-inventing my life here. I can tell I look the same to my friends, I don’t feel the same and have had this amazing adventure but more than that a transformational experience that none of my friends here have shared. It feels like a gulf hard to fill. How do I talk about an experience that has no context for the people I am sharing with? How do I keep up the parts of Hong Kong that I loved like walking everywhere? If I did that here I would have to make a profession of it because everything is so far apart and there is no public transportation to fill in the gaps. I guess what I am describing is my version of culture shock.

I loved spending the year exploring the world with my sons Duncan and Jacob. It was a time of getting to know each other on a new level before they go off to college this fall. I loved all the new things I got to see and do and I am sure they will spill over into all of my relationships and ways I go about taking life on.

THANK YOU! To all of you who responded to this blog it inspired me to keep writing. I can’t thank all of the people at home enough. You helped make this year work for us. My sisters took on extra work caring for my mom, a friend took my cat, our tenants who cared for our home, our neighbors who moved grass and removed snow and kept an eye out, Kathy took care of our mail interface, putting smelly things in the cars to keep the mice out, started the cars, and took care of many details. Maryanne who weeded and kept her expert eye on my perennial garden and friends who dropped us off and picked us up at the airport, and made beds for us to drop into when we returned. The peace of mind this gave us is unmeasurable. THANK YOU!

Kimono photos

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 11:58:42 -0400

Coming home the long way ‘round-Kyoto Japan first stop

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 10:36:48 -0400

Traveling in China has always taken guts and determination for me. A true act of faith in the goodness of humans. I often came back exhausted but enhanced and glad I had taken the free fall step into the unknown to do it. I came back changed but rarely did I have an easy time navigating the culture or the terrain. In spite of this I planned to come home via Kyoto Japan.

I chose Kyoto because it has never been bombed and has a treasure trove of ancient temples and shrines and sense of respect for the past. It is also smaller than Tokyo and seemed more manageable on my own. I was traveling alone for the first time since being in Asia and I got pretty nervous about it. We were a dauntless force as a group but I wasn’t so confident I could do it alone. I booked a Japanese style hostel with a room that consisted of a window, tatami mats, a mattress on the floor and a table about 6” above the floor. The doors were constructed of opaque glass panes held in wooden frames like sliding French doors. The common room had a huge flat screen TV, a kitchen, internet connection and two huge wooden slabs 6” above the floor for tables. The toilets in Japan were a delight and often had heated seats and a little faucet that detours the water going back into the tank to the top of the tank for you to wash your hands in. All a combination of high tech and eco friendly.

My favorite day in Kyoto was the day I had a personal tour with Katsuhiko Nakamura, a 69 year old man who took me off on bikes to explore his favorite parts of Kyoto. Kyoto has main streets and lots of small side streets which are perfect for biking. There is also a river and canal with bike trails. He brought me through the streets with the Geisha houses on them. We stopped at his friends Mr. and Mrs. Tokuda's house. They have a huge collection of kimonos for all seasons and occasions. They wear kimonos for special occasions like going into town or going to the theater. I was invited to dress in a kimono which meant I had to wash my hands before handling the clothing and then take off my jeans and put on some cotton pantaloons like my mom wore as a child. Then there is a plain under kimono which was wrapped tightly around my body and tied into place. Mrs. Tokuda would deftly pull the fabric around me. Then I chose the kimono I wanted to wear and she again wrapped it around me and pulled the bottom up and tied that in place and then covered the support tie with the wide waist piece. Then over the waist piece goes a decorative cord. I was given spit toed socks and a wooden sandal. There I was transformed both mentally and physically by this cultural ikon. Mr. Nakamura and Mr. Tokuda decided to take me for a walk all dressed up. I glided out and they were very impressed at my ability to walk smoothly in my new attire. We looked at the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts. After carefully removing the kimono and putting it on a bamboo stick for airing we had tea and bid the Tokuda’s good bye.

From there we visited a shrine and had Japanese noodles at Owariya. After lunch we visited various temples and shrines but the most spectacular of them was the Zen temple. We were the only ones there as it is not a tourist attraction. It had a raked sand garden with lovely plants and open air rooms facing the garden on three sides. We sat and just absorbed the garden for a while. We also visited the Fushimi Inari Shrine that has a series of red archways one after the other all the way up a mountain side. Each archway was donated by an individual or business.

I took the bus to the Imperial Palace and the Katsura Imperial Villa which is known for its spectacular garden. A few times I got lost trying to find something and when I asked for help the usual response was to take me arm and deliver me to the very spot. All again with not English/Japanese verbal communication possible.

The Japanese make it really easy to get around because their public transportation systems are well marked and well organized. The busses have a digital display board telling you in English/Japanese the name of the stops. I loved the slower pace of this city and the small size of it. The food waswas a bit harder to figure out. The restaurants and shops in Hong Kong tend to extend out into the street so you can see what they have while Japan functions behind closed doors. I did find an Okanamiyashi Restaurant. It is like a “Japanese pizza” or maybe a kind of pancake omelet. There is a hot flat metal cooking surface on your table. You choose the ingredients to put in your Okanamiyashi. I chose their house speciality. That meant that they put eggs, cabbage, shrimp, bean sprouts, and many other things mixed up with eggs and flour holding it together. It was fried like a thick pancake in front of me. The top had raw bacon placed on it. When it was cooked through on both sides the waiter smeared a sweet sour soy sauce on it, then squirted a decorative zig zag of mayonnaise over the whole thing and finally sprinkled dried fish shavings on top. Delicious.

Next stop is a farm one hour south of Copenhagen Denmark to visit Susan Helt Green who spent a year in our house as an au pair in 1995.

Farwell Banquets, Majong, the seven Day count down

Thu, 20 May 2010 10:37:22 -0400

My last week in Hong Kong was a flurry of farewell banquets. The special one for me was one that Amy Chan organized for the exercise group. It was done in true Hong Kong style, everyone paid $180HK to attend. A banquet room was reserved for a catered multiple course Cantonese dinner. I arranged to have a translator come so I could have actual conversations with the women I have seen almost daily for nine months but never been able to talk to. The idea of verbal exchange was pretty exciting for me.

They planed to play Majong all afternoon from 2 pm until 7 pm and then progress to the banquet. I was invited to come and watch them play this classic Chinese game that everyone knows and loves. I arrived about 4 pm ,given a seat and a tutor at a game with my two teachers. Majong is a betting game played by four people sitting around a card table. Each player has a drawer in their side of the table to hold their money and small personal items. The game is played with plastic blocks 1” high by 1’1/2 inches long by 1” wide marked with four suits. The blocks make a loud clinking noise as they are slid around face down on the table before each round. This is kind of like shuffling the cards I was told that this mixing the tiles firms up the flabby upper arms on women. I think they thought I could use this help. Each player makes a line of 17 tiles long and two high. I was amazed at how quickly those lines of tiles appeared. They patiently waited for me. Then the tiles are slid in one unit to form a square. One player throws four dice in the middle of the tile square and those numbers determine the way the tiles are distributed. Each person gets 16 tiles which you tip on one end so you can see the design and not the others. The game moves along quickly. I began to see patterns to the pieces and got a basic sense of the game in spite of having minimal English explanations. I was having a really great time playing but I pulled myself away to go home to dress for the banquet.

Matthew had arrived from the US and I knew that the women would love to meet him so the plan was to have Matthew, Duncan and Jacob come and be introduced before dinner. Hedley stayed with me during the banquet and he was the only man there. Each of the men in this family have purchased tailor made suits. Matthew’s was in process but the other boys came wearing their new suits for the first time. They were a real hit! I was also wearing my Elizabeth made fitted black dress for the first time. I had a chance to tell them how very much they meant to me and presented them with my gifts, a group photo button made in the US by Jeff Nygaard. He made them and sent them in time for the party. I also made them a CD with a photo collage and a video of them doing my dance. They presented me with a beautiful crystal “rice bowl” with “jewels” to put in it. It symbolizes wishing me plenty of food, money, work, love in my life. It is heavy and being shipped back with our other Hong Kong treasures.

We sat at two large round tables with turnstiles in the middle. There were about twenty people at each table. We ate typical Cantonese dishes and just hung out with each other. Mrs. Chan also presented me with a cassette tape with music for the dances we have been learning lately. I especially like the dance where we sew and another one called the Dali Lama Dance. I hope to bring the dances home and teach some of them and the music is essential.

A few of us danced after dinner including my teacher Mrs. Chan who is about 60. She told me a bit of her life story including her three attempts to leave mainland China to move to Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution. She and her brother swam across the water from Shenzhen China to Hong Kong. They were caught and brought back the first two times and succeeded the third time. He was 18 and she was 22 when they finally made it. They had no contacts there and just got jobs and made their way. She loves to dance and also studies Cantonese Opera. We are kindred spirits in spite of the fact that we cannot talk to each other. She was dressed in black dance pants with a 4” ruffle flowing down from just above her knee to the ankle. Upon closer inspection I also noticed a lace insert on the inner calf part of the pants made of lace. She is a classy Hong Kong style dresser!

While I am closing off one chapter of my life at a time In Hong Kong I suddenly have Alexander Technique work take off in the past month. I taught weekly at the PokFuLam Riding Stable to the teachers and experienced riders. I also worked regularly with the Hong Kong Harp Chamber. This combined with a few private lessons in my living room using my dining room table. The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts is interested in having me back so maybe I will return to Hong Kong for a visit in the not too distant future to work.

If there is one thing I have learned this year it is to live with the unknown. There have been more situations that I just “don’t know” what is going on and why than ever before in my life. I am thinking about the re-entry into my US life with things I am really looking forward to and also things I will really miss. I am left with the overwhelming experience of the kindness, generosity, and willingness to help of the Hong Kong people.

Plover Cove Duathlon: The unknown side of Hong Kong

Tue, 4 May 2010 21:20:56 -0400

Last weekend I went on a half hike half bike ride in a area north of where I live called the New Territories section of Hong Kong. One of the things that attracts people to stay in Hong Kong are the beautiful natural areas surrounding the endless high rises. There are hikes everywhere including very close to the most congested areas because Hong Kong is surrounded by mountains and it just makes it really hard to build in lots of places. Just like in Willimantic, the hard part is finding the trails in the first place. Our family is gradually increasing our list of known hikes.

Michael Hansen has made a business of leading people on fabulous hikes. Eleven of us recently met him at the Tai Po Market MTR station near the Starbucks and went out to claim our rented bikes. About 5 of the 11 were fit, young and dressed in biking gear including water back packs with plastic hoses draping forward for drinks mid-pedal. They appeared eager to be out of the executive office block That had me a little worried. Rina, Pam and I, all older but fit women were double their ages. There was also a few young males who weren’t very experienced bikers but their youth and determination made up for that. Michael certainly had a spectrum of people for the duathlon that day.

First we biked out of town along the Lam Tsuen River until it merges with the Tolo Harbor on Tai Po’s excellent flat bike paths. Cars in China don’t recognize bikes on the road. Ahead loomed a long steep climb to the Plover Cove Reservoir. Michael said he was walking up this hill which was a great relief to me since I knew I would not make it up pedaling. His pace walking however was a fast clip compared to mine. He offered a beer to anyone who could ride up all the way and at the top. He owed three people beer at lunch. We cycled through the small fishing village of Sam Mun Tsai, Bride’ Pool Waterfalls before parking our bikes near the village of Wu Kau Tang. We locked our bikes and entered Plover Cove Country Park on foot through mountain valleys, around old fields, along rocky shores of small inlets and past abandoned villages. This area offers some of the most scenic views in Hong Kong.

At the half-way point of the hike, in Sam A Tsuen, we benefited from the entrepreneurship of the Hong Kong people as we enjoyed a delicious lunch at a restaurant which is open on week-ends only to cater to passing hikers. This open air restaurant is literally in the middle of a bunch of hiking trails. No town. He brings his provisions by boat to the restaurant. He used to serve chicken from the ones that he kept free range around the restaurant until SARS and now that is illegal. The tranquility of this beautiful corner of Hong Kong is unsurpassed.

After lunch we followed the colorful shoreline for a while, before heading back inland past the ruins of Ha Miu Tin and Sheung Miu Tin to
recover our bikes at Wu Kau Tang. Most of the afternoon was the reverse of the morning's route back Tai Po Market Station.

I am pretty proud of the fact that I could keep up most of the time and was the oldest person on the trip to complete it. Pam isn’t much of a biker and took a taxi home after lunch. Taxis are very helpful here and will put just about anything in their trunk.

The total cycling time was 2.75 hours plus total hiking time 2.75 hours. It felt good and boy did I sleep well that night.

I am much fitter than when I arrived with all the walking plus the daily exercise class. I will have to make some changes in my life when I get back to keep this up. Maybe I can start a morning exercise class early before work, anyone interested?

Keep those comments coming to my email address: poisedforlife@gmamil.com

American Dance for Whampoa Women

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 06:13:25 -0400

I decided the best way to thank the Whampoa women for all the nice things they have done for me was to make them a dance, so I did. I hope they like it and will continue to do it long after I am gone. Making and teaching them the dance has turned out to be more of a cultural exchange than I expected. I spent quite a bit of time thinking and researching American dances that I might teach them.

I wanted a dance that would show some aspect of American culture and could be done on cement by older women. That means no jumping for one thing. The dances that came to mind were the Virginia reel, square dancing, and some contra type dances. A friend recommended the Electric Slide and I thought about the YWCA and Chicken Dance done in groups at weddings. None of them seemed of the caliber I was learning from them. At this point I decided I to choreograph one. I chose music I love to dance to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and a song with a clear and steady rhythm called My Girl Has Gone from the 1970’s. I used dance moves from that era and made it as symmetrical as I could. I was going for simple.

It is pretty exciting to see the women do the dance as most of them have mastered the moves. It is really hard for them to do it without me because there is something about the rhythm that confounds them. If I am doing it with them they can easily be in the rhythm of the song. If I am not leading it is hard for them to stay in the rhythm of the dance. It reminds me of learning the Salsa. If I am dancing with someone who can feel the rhythm, I pick it up. It feels clear I think I have it and then when I try it on my own the rhythm seems to seep out of my body. It seems like they are having the same experience with my dance.

Because they were having a hard time learning the dance Jacob took out his new camera and made a film of me doing the dance. We put it up on You Tube. The women who can read English letters and can access the video love it and found it really helpful. You can access it at You Tube, “American Dance for Whampoa Women”. I hope we can film them doing the dance and put that up later.

I have chronicled many of the dances I have learned and Mrs. Chan has given me a few tapes with the music for nine of the dances and DVD’s of some of the exercise and TaiChi routines. I hope I can share some of the things I have learned with many of you when I get home. In the mean time I have hired a student translator who has come once and will come a few more times to class so I can ask questions and open an exchange between me and these women.

Amy the second group leader is organizing a Farwell party for me which feels very sweet and sad too. They asked me if I would remember them the other day. I replied in a very whole hearted manner that in fact, “I would never forget them”.

The tale of toilets in Hong Kong

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 03:49:17 -0400

Excuse me can you tell me where the bathroom is? the toilet? the WC? the rest room? One never knows which English word a Chinese speaker will know for the bathroom.

I wondered whether Hong Kong would be as full of squat toilets as places like Paris was in the late 1970’s. My first surprise about toilets in Hong Kong was the distance one must travel to use them. Shortly after we arrived we were taking a break from the Chinese side of life and sitting in what has become our favorite coffee shop,Pacific Coffee. I asked where the bathroom was and was given a key and told to go out side to the street and turn right and walk to the end of the block, open the door and I would find it. I walked out, turned right and walked and walked and did not see a single sign. I criss-crossed back and forth and decided there was only one door that was unlabeled and needed a key so I tried it. The door opened into a hall way so again without the reassurance of a sign I walked down the hallway as it zigged and zagged. I hoped this would not end up like Alice in Wonderland entering a maize and finding an the wicked Queen at the other end. After taking three or four turns sure enough on my left was a women’s bathroom. This was the first of many such journeys often long and convoluted to get to a bathroom.

I have, almost without realizing it, developed a kind of rating system for toilets. Fancy restaurants and malls have the cleanest, best supplied, all pedestal, not smelly toilets. For a toilet to get a good Elizabeth rating it must supply you toilet paper either in the stall or in the hand washing area, have running water so that you can flush and be cleaned often enough to not stink. The US regular toilet or squat style both work for me.

Sometimes the squat toilets are cleaner than the pedestal type. Many Asians think that sitting on a toilet seat is very unhygienic and prefer to squat. When confronted with a pedestal type toilet they raise the seat and squat on the body of the toilet. This makes the toilet muddy and full of pee. This can also break the seat. Sometimes women just squat over the seat and get it really full of pee as well. That is just annoying. There are women attendants at many bathrooms who clean regularly and the sit down toilets. I have noticed that the pedestal type are more labor intensive to keep clean. The others can simply be sprayed down.

If you have never used a squat toilet let me describe one to you. They are usually made from porcelain and have a hole in the middle and some ridges on each side to stand on. Most times you face forward and squat down trying to place yourself so that when you pee you are peeing into the hole and not onto the front or back of the squat area. I am not as experienced am many so as a precaution I roll up my jeans and take a wide foot stance. I have peed on my shoes more than once. The best squat toilets have rails that you can hold onto so you can relax into the squat instead of brace yourself there. Personally I like to kind of let my weight hang down from the hand holds. Nice back stretch. I am certainly glad I am flexible in my old age.

The other oddity about Asian toilets is that often they don’t want you to put paper in them. It seems quite gross at first but you get used to it. Rather than putting used toilet paper into the toilet bowl or down the hole of a squat toilet you place the used paper into a waste container with a flip up lid. The cleaners use tongs to remove the bags and papers that missed their target. The reason I have been told they do this is that the plumbing cannot withstand all that paper and clogs.

The oddest toilet I used was one in Thailand. I walked into the stall and wasn’t sure what to do. It was empty except for a canal of tile lined water running through it. The “canal” ran along the back wall of the booth. At first I was just perplexed. Then I realized that the idea was to face sideways and squat over the canal and pee right into it. I did have a wonder what happened when people pooped. No one did so I just don’t know.

Many women’s bathrooms give you a choice between squat and pedestal type toilets. They have little picture of one style or the other on the outside of the door. The hardest thing for me is to always remember to carry my little packet of napkins. They are very handy because many bathrooms do not supply paper. These little packets of “napkins” can also be used in small cafes that as a rule do not supply napkins. It is one of those womanly jobs to bring the packet of napkins when you go out.

The smelliest and dirtiest are the public toilets in China. No attendants, a few times the plumbing was disconnected which meant there was no water coming into the bathroom. Not only could you not flush but when a cleaner comes they would have to carry water in to clean the toilet. Occasionally there is a large barrel of water with a small plastic bucket and you are supposed to take a bucket full of water and do a manual flush. I have only used these for dire measures and unfortunately I have done so.

The fanciest toilet I used was in a wine bar in Hong Kong. The bathroom was ultra modern and tried not to look like a bathroom. The door to get in was so camouflaged that I had a hard time finding it. Low lighting, very romantic. Once inside it was hard to find the doors to the stalls and then when washing my hands the soap and towels were hidden into the design so successfully that I mistook the green liquid in a dish as the soap. After I had rubbed the “soap” all over my hands I realized that this green substance was the air freshener liquid and not soap. My hands stunk for days. Yuck!! That bathroom just didn’t work for me.

In conclusions the toilet story is the same world wide. No matter what kind of toilet we are talking about, no matter where you are in the world one thing is always true: women must wait. Men do not.

Hong Kong ideas, fish that make your feet soft, old rocks and how to attain beauty

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:41:07 -0400

Hong Kong people have many interesting beliefs. Some based on what seem like superstitions, others traditions and others for simply making money which is what everyone here values very highly.

Here are some examples of what I mean:
Cheese is bad because it is made out of stale milk
Used clothing is dangerous because it could be inhabited by bad ghosts
The number 4 is unlucky because when speaking Cantonese it sounds like death
Eating or drinking in public is unacceptable
Western eye lids have a double crease and are prettier than Asian one crease eye lids
The whiter the skin the prettier the girl
Small feet make a woman feminine
Tight fitting clothing is the norm but exposed flesh is not (except for legs)
Men with one long fingernail are well off financially
Eating snake flesh makes men stronger and women weaker

Being an outsider gives me quite an advantage in seeing the way people think about things in China. Beauty is an interesting topic and a very big money maker in Hong Kong. Whitening creams and procedures are advertised everywhere. The whiter a woman’s face the more feminine and thus beautiful she is. People living in the southern part of Thailand call themselves “ugly” people. It is not coincidence that they have dark skin. Our tour guide from there described himself as one of the ugly people. He said that the beautiful people were from the northern part of Thailand where they have whiter skin. People use sun umbrellas and remove dark facial hair and use products to look lighter.

Small feet is a sign of beauty which goes way back and may have a connection to the foot binding practice. This painful crippling practice went on until it was outlawed in 1949. I wear a US size 8 shoe and I cannot find shoes big enough in Hong Kong.

Small in general seems to gain beauty points for women. I was involved in a discussion with some college age women who said that bolemia is a big problem in Hong Kong. I am a size medium in the US and a size XXL and sometimes XXXL.

Poise and flexibility and in particular hand flexibility, being able to bend your and back toward your forearm also gives you beauty points. I do pretty well here.

Then we get into eye lids. Westerners have a double eye lid, who knew? But people of oriental race have a single lid. The double lid is considered more beautiful. As a rite of adulthood many Chinese mothers give their teen age daughters eye surgery which creates a double lid.

Western values have had a powerful influence on Eastern ideas of beauty. It make me sad. I think the Chinese people are very beautiful.

As a student of the Hong Kong and Chinese culture I decided to try some of the health and beauty treatments available here. Below is my accounting of them:

1)Feet.
“Foot massage” is done while sitting in an easy chair. First your feet are washed and then massaged from the knee down to the toes. It can be quite painful while it is being done but is very refreshing afterward. Many local people have foot problems. My theory about this is that the surfaces people walk on are exclusively cement and the shoes people wear and not very supportive or protective. I paid $68HK/hour.

Fish eating away the dead skin. You sit and dangle your feet into a fish tank and have these tiny fish eat away the dead skin. Duncan found it rather uneventful. I found it very stimulating to have these fish chomping on me and not all together comfortable. 200 Baht for 20 minutes

2)Skin
Nails. Shenzhen China is known for it’s cheap body treatments so when my cousin was here we tried a few of them. We got our nails and feet done for $25 yuan. As is the custom in China we were then presented with many many extras we could add on as we went along. Most of them we refused but we did add on a few. My cousin was a great companion because she is really good at talking to people so we had a great conversation with the people who were working on us. She decided to have her nails buffed for an extra $80 yuan so I did it too. I had never done that, it leaves your nails shiny without polish. My nails are beautifully shiny but very thin because they removed so much of my nails. Live and learn!
Facial hair. Elaine who is the queen of Shenzhen spa treatments was with us and when they asked me if I wanted a string treatment on my face. I was perplexed. Elaine said she gets this done regularly and it is really great. I had no idea what it was but with her urging I thought I’ll try it. That cost an extra $30 yuan. They take a waxed string and sort of saw the strings over each other and catch the facial hair in the string and pull up and remove the hair. I thought it would shape my eye lids but they kept going and did my whole face. Margaret decided to try it too. She agreed just before they got to my upper lip which has some strong hairs on it. That hurt! Our faces were numb for a few days after ward. My cousin was told how great she looked afterward because she had dark hair and her facial hair was gone so guess what--her face looked whiter and to them this was a good thing. We had discovered yet another way to look whiter. Our good deal nails deal turned into multi-treatment experience for $135 yuan. Margaret and I decided that we were no match for them.

3)Body massage
Acupressure massage. I have received this from blind therapists. One is fully clothed and lies on a table. The therapist places a cloth over the area he is working on and exerts pressure along the acupressure point lines. The Chinese believe that they are not doing you good if it does not hurt. This is the gentlest form of massage I have found here. Our whole family has tried this. Very relaxing. $200HK/hour
Tai massage. We did this every night in Bangkok. This is very physical for the therapist. They use their hands, knees, elbows and probably other body parts I am not aware of. You wear a loose cotton shorts and shirt. They stretch and apply pressure and move your limbs about. I have not had someone walk on my but close to it. I found this quite freeing because my joints were actively stretched and opened up. 200 Baht/hour

I don’t know if you will recognize me when I return to Connecticut with a hairless face, painted nails, massaged feet, bleached hair, and who knows what I will submit myself to between now and then in the pursuit of beauty.

Note: 100 Baht equals $3US. $100HK equals $12.50 US. 100 yuan equals $15US

Buoyancy of a lemon? A new dance and Hong Kong weather

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 06:45:01 -0400

Where does the buoyancy of a lemon come from? My soon to be engineering student twins Duncan and Jacob love to figure out the way things work. It is a pleasure to be around their curious minds, computer savvy and high energy. The ten month stint in Hong Kong is quickly coming to an end and I will miss their company as much as this Hong Kong life.

My daily exercise/Tai Chi/Chinese dance class continues to be my social center. This week Elaine helped me translate the local Dim Sum menus, Betty translated Mrs. Chans’ explanations of the new Tai Chi sequence we are learning, and Amy Chan invited me to join her for ballroom dancing on Wednesday afternoons. These women have made this year in Hong Kong extra ordinary. To thank them I decided to choreograph a dance for them. They embraced the idea and have been learning my moves to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles song, My Girl Has Gone. It is an interesting cultural exchange because they find the fluid hip and torso movements really foreign. It is hard for them to find and stay with the slow rhythm without those oozing moves to fill out the beats. I on the other had have had to hold back the size and quality of my movements as I learn their dances. I have learned many new hand and arm gestures as I learn their traditional dances.

The weather in Hong Kong continues to be extra ordinary. August had the hottest temperatures on record. December had the coldest temperatures on record. March produced the first day in recorded history of 100 percent humidity with no rain. The pavements were water soaked. Then last week the pollution reached records almost double anything previously seen. The particle index of 233 is considered extreme pollution. The index reached 500 for two days and it could have been higher they don’t record higher levels. This was caused by a sand storm coming from the Gobi Desert. The southern part of China where much of the tea is grown has been suffering a drought. This does not bode well for climate change being a good thing.

I am reading River Town by Peter Hessler. It is a wonderful book to get a feel of the Chinese culture. He was a peace corp worker in Fuling, a tiny industrial town along the Yangyze River in the late 1990’s. He lived there two years and learned to speak Chinese so he was able to penetrate the culture below the surface. I also recommend Socialism is Great by Lijia Zhang. She is Chinese and lives in Beijing but grew up as an aspiring author with a legacy of working in a government factory.

Thailand and many Buddhas later

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:38:26 -0500

NEVER GIVE UP

no matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country
is spent developing the mind
instead of the heart
Develop the heart
Be compassionate
Not just to your friends
but to everyone
Be compassionate
Work for peace
in your heart and in the world
Work for peace
and I say again
Never give up
No matter what is happening
No matter what is going on around you
Never give up

...His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Jacob bought this banner when we were in Bangkok, Thailand. It was nice to be in a warm place with a slower tempo than Hong Kong. The currency is called Baht: 33B to US$1.00. Our money went a long way. We arrived at the airport and were transported to our hotel in a neon pink taxi. Our taxi was decorated with pink stuffed animals. It was like being in someone’s personal living room. We were joined on the road by bright green, purple, red and orange taxis. We arrived in the evening and strolled around our new neighborhood. Again as is common in Asia there were many small food stalls lining the road. Set back in the storefronts behind them were many Thai Massage and foot massage places. In Hong Kong we have been hesitant to try these because we are never sure if they are covers for prostitution or what they are advertising. There were also many tailors who would make custom clothes in 24 hours. We decided we liked the look of one of the Thai massage places. They each have a huge front window with six black easy chairs lined up in a row. People stop in and ask for a foot massage and sit on the easy chairs or Thai massage and go upstairs for that. Jacob and I had foot massage and Duncan and Hedley had Thai massage our first night. We had our lower legs and feet massaged and then our shoulders and neck briefly at the end of the hour. Then we were served a cup of tea. We paid 200 Baht ($6) plus a small tip. This became our nightly ritual after a day of sight seeing- glorious.

Our first day there Hedley gave a talk on Zinc at the Madihol University which has an excellent Nutritional Sciences Department. Harold Furr an old friend works there was our personal guide. He arranged to have two English speaking students guide Duncan, Jacob and I (while Hedley gave his talk) to the Friday market. It was hot. We moved through the market with a strategy of maximizing the shade. The Thai people are very generous and believe it is important to be good hosts which means we were offered many tastes of food during our market visit. We enjoyed the way one of the vendors made a very thin pancake. He would take a handful of dough and brush it onto a fiery hot flat griddle. It would leave a thin layer which he would cook just on one side and then fill with a colored sugar string floss (kind of like our cotton candy but in strands). Yumm. Duncan and Jacob found T-shirts with original designs on them for their friends and I bought a straw hand bag. We also drank fresh coconut juice from a green and thick skinned coconut. We were told that the coconuts we eat in the US are “burned” on the outside to sort of cure them and take the moisture out of the outer skin. We drank the juice and then ate the meat.

The next day the college arranged for us to have a personal guide and free admission to the Grand Palace which houses the Wat Phra Kaco/ Emerald Buddha, a complex of buildings and monuments and Buddhas. We saw more Buddha's than I knew existed. Ninety five percent of the population is Buddhist. The shrines and temples are elaborate. We had a wonderful tour guide who could give us back ground information. He pointed out that the walls are painted with stories explaining the history of Thailand. He showed us how to bow to the Buddha. You kneel down and bend forward and place both hands flat on the floor up and down three times. We also went across the street to see the “Sleeping Buddha” which is a huge gold reclining Buddha with a building surrounding it just large enough to enclose it. We bought a cup full of tiny coins to throw into a metal drum to receive a blessing for each coin tossed into the long line of metal drums. The first University of Thailand was a Massage University. We some sculptures of massage and also instructional drawings of pressure points, one set for women and another different set for men.

No trip to Bangkok is complete without a ride on an elephant. Two abreast we rode on an elephant. It was lovely sitting up high and rolling along with the gait of the elephant. I took my shoes off and felt his rough skin. The Thai love the elephant. When I asked why they love them so much I was told that the elephants helped to build the country and the people feel very grateful to their help.