Political Potpourri

On the Arizona shooting:

"I would like to visit America but I don't want to get shot."

When my friend told me this was the common opinion of the Japanese towards my native country, I laughed.  As did he.  How could these people be so misinformed?

And then I read a book about Asian perspectives of America.  (To make this experience even more surreal, try reading such a book in a place far removed from either of them -- I recommend Germany.)  I wanted to discredit the book - It's outdated, It isn't reporting accurately on the state of things in Japan, The incidents of crime are just hyped up by the media - all of these thoughts crossed my mind.  I even told my roommate over dinner after finishing the book and returning home that this book was completely false and almost laughable.

But then I realized that in my small town of Charlottesville, in the past two years there have been two national media-covered murders of Morgan Dana Harrington (I pass the plaque dedicated to her every day on my run) and Yeardley Love (I used to live on that street).  Plus there is that unexplainable crime spree that the city and university have experienced this past semester, making everyone nervous.

I thought about my friend who is from Blacksburg and how much she was shaken up by the idea that her small and friendly hometown suffered a massacre shooting 4 years ago this April.

The lectures I have given friends about going out alone at night and how we continually pass along those emails about ways to avoid getting attacked. The times I have had male friends walk me home or even drive behind me as I went home to make sure I got in safely.  The Friday night I spent riding a bus with my bus driver friend to make sure she stayed safe despite the late hours and the students returning drunk from parties.  --- All of these are second nature.  We watch our back and keep alert.

And then the Arizona shootings happen which shock even Jon Stewart into solemnity.  Have we just learned to accept violence as a horrific but all too common aspect of our lives?



On the Asian Cup 2011:

It's been exciting to cheer for my team - Japan Samurai Blues! - and watch them win.  However, as I looked at the teams participating, I started wondering why the rest of the world isn't sitting up and taking note.

North Korea and South Korea.  China.  Japan.  Iran and Iraq.  Kuwait.  Shouldn't this be a politically charged tournament?  Here we have a mix of cultures and governments and religions that somehow think coming together for a competition in soccer is a good idea.  And are successful in it.  Now granted, South Korea and North Korea haven't competed head-to-head yet.  And the heat Japan and Syria game was really nothing about outside politics.  But still, shouldn't we be trying to understand how Asia gets along with Asia before we try to figure out how America gets along with Asia?  I think the value from these lessons to be learned are incalculable.



On German opinion of US and Taiwan opinion of Japan and South Korea:

While in Germany I asked a friend there what the Germans thought of our President Obama and our government.  Her response was encouraging: "We really like the Americans but we feel that President Bush made you look too power hungry and desirous to conquer everyone.  We didn't like to see America looking so bad to the rest of world so we didn't like President Bush."  It definitely gave some insight to the criticisms America has been receiving from many other countries.

Meanwhile, I recently asked a friend if it would be okay if I cheered for the Japanese team since my loyalties tie most closely to Taiwan.  I know that Japan itself was once a formidable force and had China, Korean and Taiwan all under its power in recent generations.  By this point I have read a lot of books expressing the underlying anger that simmers under the surface between these countries and so didn't know if the Taiwanese people would even acknowledge the Japanese.  His response was interesting: "Taiwan has no complaints against Japan currently.  We do have some problems with South Korea though."  In the Asian games a Taiwan athlete was disqualified in Tae kwon do on decidedly unfair claims and so the whole of Taiwan was in an uproar against the Taekwondo President who happened to be a South Korean.  And despite the fact that I don't seem to understand why South Korea is at fault for this, it makes me realize that there are so many political thoughts and undercurrents that I simply have no grasp of.

America after all is so young and so small in the history of the World.  And yet, if America as a whole is in any way representative of my own personal feelings, despite its youth, despite its weaknesses, despite its personal battles, it is desirous to make a difference, to leave its mark and to truly improve this world that we live in and share.

Some Things We Never Outgrow

Dear Hasebe,

You probably made the cutest little soccer player when you were younger.  I can just see you with your little 3 feet tall self in tiny little clothes and cleats and socks that continue to want to sag down to your ankles.  Your parents probably loved watching you as you ran with the rest of the pack of kids around the field and cheered every time you kicked it.

Makoto at 11

And just like your little adorable self, you would grip your hand in a fist from concentrating.  But not in a normal fist with your thumb outside of your fingers.  Instead, with your fingers gripped tightly around your thumb.


Later, your parents will break you of that habit and tell you, "Putting your hand in a fist like that will break your thumb."

And you'll realize they are right and you'll STOP...

Exhibit A: Normal fist grip

 EXCEPT for when you are concentrating really hard as you kick a ball.

Exhibit B: Mako-chan fist grip

And again

Are you starting to see the pattern?

Has someone ever told him of this?

It's nice to see that some little part of you will always be six years old.

Love,
Me

Clean Floors and Cleaner Floors

My roommate scrubbed our floor down the other day.  I helped for a few hours.  Of course we had been cleaning our floors all semester but we wanted a deep deep clean.  At first it took us a while to figure out how to get the dirt off the floor.  Then when we figured it out, we had to use that method over and over.  The progress from one section to another was noticeable with a line of dirt demarcating where we can already cleaned and where we had yet to work.  It was so satisfying to see the progress.  But after a while, the whole floor was cleaned and there is no more line of progress.  You look back hoping to see a sparkling white floor and instead you see something that is still dingy and in need a clean.  Meanwhile, your arms ache and your knees are red and raw from kneeling.

I wonder if life is like that.  We work towards becoming better but as soon as we get closer to 'better' we forget what we were like before and we only see ourselves needing another cleaning.

Playing catch up with our continually improving expectations can be exhausting.

Perhaps we should be kinder to ourselves and know that sore arms and knees are signs that we are doing our best even if we can't see it.

Love,
Me

East is East and West is West and Never the Twain Shall Meet...

...But there is neither East or West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of the earth!

~Rudyard Kipling

Dear Deutschland,

Amid all of cultures that I have blood ties to, I can honestly say the one that I most identified with was yours.  Never mind the Scottish last name and the Irish first name.  Kindly disregard the French Poseys or the English Blakemans and Taylors as significant parts of my genetic make-up.  And please overlook that my German-speaking ancestors actually came, more or less, from Switzerland.  Deep down, I still always felt that the majority of my culture and heritage was German.  The stories, the names, the traditions that most traveled down to me through the generations had ties close to Germany.  

So it was with great anticipation that I came to your fine country.  I kept thinking to myself, "Here I go, returning to the land of my fathers."  

Shamefully, I admit that when I saw myself returning to Germany, I imagined that people would even say, "Wow, you are so like us, I almost didn't recognize that you were American."  (This is shameful because they are the almost exact words that someone told my friend in Taiwan - words that broke my heart when I heard them - words that told me that I would never be anything but a 'white girl' to those whom I considered friends and family)  

You see, in Asia, where my heart ties run as deep as any blood ties, while I fought that and still fight their view of me, I understood it.  My roots weren't actually rooted in Eastern culture; my genes didn't have ties back to ancient China.  No matter how hard I tried I would never be one of them.  

But not in Germany, I proudly told myself.  I am German.  And as I looked around your country, I literally saw the family resemblance - so much so that one dear woman I came into contact with had features remarkably like my great aunt.  And how did you view me?  When my sister - who appears very German - introduced me, the reactions were varied but similar in strain, "You? German?  No!"  "But you look English not German"  "Your sister?!  Impossible...impossible.  No, really?"  You saw me as an outsider - as someone who never could have roots in your land.  It was a shocking wake-up call to say the least.  

Haha.  Serves me right for my conceit.  

Humbled.  

Curiosity soon got the best of me and I wondered how Makoto fares in your midst.  So I eagerly looked around with the eyes of someone who doesn't belong.  I marveled at the people who looked Asian in ancestry who spoke to each other and others in flawless German.  I watched others interact with them and saw no indication that they saw them as outsiders or not a part of their culture.  Despite my few halting words in German and my sister's fluent German in an American accent, not one person blinked or smiled as though it was anything out of the ordinary.  

I could see Makoto making his place in your society - And fitting in -  despite his non Western European ancestry and his steadily-improving-but-not-perfect-yet German.  I thought about how he considers you to be his second home and how his love for you grows deeper the longer he remains in Wolfsburg.  And I understood it.  I could see it.  

And I wonder, if I were to come to live with you permanently, would you be as welcoming and kind to me as I feel and know you have been to Makoto and to Uchida and Kagawa?

Yes, definitely.

Love,

Me  

2010 Das Quiz

I'm currently watching a game show in German...Did anyone else hear about the bear in Colorado that drove a car into a bush?  I feel so out of the loop on current events... :)

Love,
Me

P.S. My love for Hasebe and Wolfsburg only draws blank stares.  My like for BVB and Schalke 04 makes everyone nervous.  But my knowledge of Bundesliga impresses everyone despite my non-knowledge of German. 

I'll be Home for Christmas

Lately...

I have made a Super Junior man cookie.  Please note the fabulous Asian hair.

Enjoyed some pre-Christmas snow

In the past week...

I have driven to Culpeper, to Richmond, to DC/Baltimore...

 And to Charlotte, North Carolina.

That's over 1200 miles...

 While in Charlotte, I found this sign depicting energy drinks quite amusing,

 And I saw a great light show at the Charlotte Speedway (actually located in Concord)

 Where we laughed at horse-drawn trees...

And got to drive on the actual Speedway track going as fast as we could so we didn't fall off the curve in a mini-van.

It's nice to come home.

Merry Christmas, friends!

Love,
Me

Once upon a Dream

Dear Sub-conscious,

Well played, friend.  West Side Story meets Buttercream Gang?  What more could a girl ask for than to have a dream where she has a run-in with a rough and tumble gang whose leader takes her side and serves as her protector?  The rest of the gang penitently following hoping to gain the leader's forgiveness as we marched through the streets was a nice touch.  But your timing in having the entire gang dance a hip hop dance number in unison in the streets and finish just before the alarm went off was absolute perfection.  This might make up for the previous sock folding blunders.

Love,
Me