Boxing in the Philippines

I knew I was in the Philippines when I noticed that one of the stewardesses on the Cebu Pacific flight was named Jolly.

I have a great time in Bontoc the last two days. Today I ran on the backroads and a total of 16 kids ran with me. They would get tired and then I would head back and groups would rejoin as they caught their breath. I am teaching the kids here juggling and they are teaching me Visayan. When I get tired of juggling, I play my flute, and then they start singing, but I tell them I only want to hear Visayan songs. I am determined to learn how to speak Visayan, and I am making some progress.

Last night I was tutoring Barbie in algebra when Judith came in on her motorcycle. It is Judith's class that I will be teaching Thursday and Friday in Libas. She told us that algebra would have to wait. There was something big going on in Bontoc that evening. Well, it was big. Bontoc may only have 100 landlines, but there were between two and three thousand people at the pavilion when we arrived. They were getting ready to watch five hours of boxing. This included 25 three round bouts. Let me tell you. Boxing is a big sport in the Philippines. People used to joke that a military coup was once called off because Manny Pacquio was boxing that weekend.

It was a great joke, but it was probably true.

This was only the second time in my life I had seen a boxing match live, and the last time was over thirty years ago. The bouts were all amateur, but as the evening wore on they got better and better. I could tell by watching that one of the referees had been a great boxer in the past. He truly had presence! By one o'clock the top bouts were being fought, and I could see how skilled these guys were. It is always great to see athletes or performers who are really good at what they do, and these boxers were. And the audience was educated about the sport.

Well, I have to go. Being here, feels like going back in time. There are few televisions. Most households don't have computers, and all washing is done by hand. One would be fooled in thinking these kids are deprived. In may ways their lives are far richer than the lives of kids in the city. The way they sing, the way they play, and the sense of adventure that they have is something that I remember from when I was young. And they still have it.

Rupees and Bhats

In India the rupee has a picture of Gandhi on it. In Thailand the baht has a picture of the king. The king is revered here. His picture is everywhere. People wear polo shirts with the monarch's emblam on the front. His name is Bhumibal Adulyadej, and he is among other things a jazz fan who has composed and performed a number of songs. He has been the monarch since 1946 and from what I have read he has done quite a bit for Thailand. I say this knowing that I need to do much more research including listening to the CD of songs that he wrote. And, of course, trying to learn them on my flute. ha ha

I will be leaving for the Philippines tomorrow where I will start by teaching at Bontoc High School then going to Libas High School. I am really looking forward to it.

I am continually thinking of things I would like to see in our curriculum about Asia and several things come to mind. For India, of course, learning about the life of Gandhi is really crucial. He did a huge amount for India, but he also had a big influence on America in terms of ideas about non-violence. For the Philippines, Jose Rizal is a national hero who students really should know about. His book Noli Me Tangere was the book for which he was executed, and it was the reason the Philippines fought for independance from Spain. Having students learn about Thailand's monarch, I think, would be fascinating because today monarchs are seen as such anachronisms, but this monarch really does seem to have changed the course of Thailand's development. In Korea the amazing leader to me is the king who had his scholars totally re-invent the Korean symbols for writing. This may not seem important, but it really lead to a much more logical way of communicating and allowed so many more people to become literate.

I will finish with a few funny observations.

In India the amazing thing to see is cows wandering through the streets including highways. In the Philippines one is jarred awake by the sound of roosters. They are used in cock fighting. In Thailand the amazing thing to see is the number of stray dogs wandering the streets. If you can imagine the Loop with a dog on each block you get the picture.
Throughout Asia, the really remarkable thing I have noticed is the number of open air markets everywhere. There is practically no unemployment here, and the presence of these markets is probably one reason.

Got to go. I have a chance to run twice a day now that I have left Bangkok and I am using it. Ha ha

Growing Too Fast

Thailand is a country that makes a lot of money on tourism, but the common refrain is, "You don't want to stay in Bangkok very long."

There is a reason.

Pollution

and another reason

Traffic jams

Like many cities in Asia and perhaps in the world, Bangkok has grown too fast, and when I sat on a bus that didn't move for over 20 minutes I thought it was unusual. It apparently wasn't.

We also take our grid system for granted. Not a good idea. Many people here can't seem to read maps, there are few street signs and today a taxi ride of less than five kilometers took over 90 minutes because the driver got lost.

But there are saving graces. The skytrain was wonderful and reminded me of Seoul, and apparently there is a subway system that is great too. In addition, there is a wonderful commuter boat ride on the biggest river that takes people to an amazing set of shrines.

But these are such small parts of the overall transportation system...

I wonder why transportation isn't studied more in math, science, and social studies classes. It has so much to do with global warming, the way people spend their time, health conditions, and even happiness---note that my favorite part of the day is running to school and even better running home...

Bye for now

Tai Yang Restaurant

You may never believe this, but I am putting in a recommendation for a restaurant where you should go if you get to Bangkok. It is a place called Tai Yang located near the Ibis Siam Bangkok Hotel on Ratchapralop Road.

Why am I recommending a restaurant? Well, the food is really good--A Roi is the word for delicious here-- but the main reason is that I prefer restaurants where I know the people. In Hyde Park, Pizza Capri and Cedars are the two places that I love. I know the owners, and it is so much like the past when people were less anonymous. Well, Tai Yang is a restaurant where I have been going every evening, and the owner, Pornphet Saekow, each day teaches me a new Thai phrase. The tables are marble slabs placed over Singer sewing machines with foot pedals. I remember when my mother had one of these Singer machines.. Eventually the sewing machine companies in Thailand advanced beyond the foot pedaled machines, and the old ones here were recycled as restaurant tables.

The place is simple and airy. I first became friends with the people there when there was a torrential downpour. There are books about Buddhism placed around the restaurant, and when I asked about Buddhism, Pornphet told me about the Buddhist way of life. As she described it, it was a way of life where people slow down and become less obsessed with time and possessions. With the crowding that I see in Bangkok and the huge tourist trade I can see how one can try to avoid this kind of life.

Yesterday, I met Lika who is an editor of textbooks in Thailand. It is fun trying to communicate with someone when both people have just a simple understanding of the other person's language. I know maybe ten Thai phrases, and although Lika knows much more English, it was really a puzzle how to say things. So I got out my flute and my tennis balls. There were not many people there so I showed them how to juggle. ha ha. Then I played two pieces that Danny and I composed. Music is a universal language like math, and it is so much easier than memorizing long lists of vocabulary.

It is interesting to see how people manage in places like India where the average student has three languages to master. Apparently people learn how to pickup phrases that are needed. English is definitely the universal language that is emerging, but this seems like such a ridiculous choice with the many problems that exist in our language.

Got to go.

The Influential Harry Fee

When I was little I had a neighbor named Harry Fee. He was always getting me in trouble. I remember particularly well the time he suggested I fill a paint can full of kerosene and throw in a match. The way I remember I just threw the match in without lighting it, but I also remember a huge fireball. I remember quite vividly even today. But I know that there was one time I got him in trouble. We lived four miles from school, and one day I remember looking at the steps to the bus and the green grass near the parking lot and suggesting to Harry that we should walk home.

And we made it.

Well, we made it half a mile when Mrs. Case, the first grade teacher picked us up and drove us home.

These two things happened when I was six.

But I have never lost the love of walking and running. So on my first day in Bangkok I ran and walked for 3 hours. Well, almost all of it was walking. The running was in a beautiful spot named Lamphini Park. It is a beautifully manicured place, and along the way I heard a group of people chanting and dancing to drums and singing "Hare Krishna." I passed another spot where people were practicing martial arts and two other pavilions where students were reading as a teacher read aloud to them. Nearby there were high rises that seemed not much different from North Michigan Avenue. There are cars everywhere, and as I write this I can smell the exhaust. Traffic is fast here, and although there are motorcycles and scooters right now it seems much like the traffic I would expect in Chicago.

On the way to the park I passed through some great market areas. Jay has spoiled me so I really want just to eat vegetarian food, but the street food is great to smell and look at. And the pineapples and mangos are delicious. I think the word is a roi. Remember to roll the 'R.'

Occasionally I look up above these markets and see housing that looks tiny. I have no clue how the real people live here. Bangkok does have an overwhelming look of a city that lives on tourism. India had its Hindu temples and Islamic mosques, but I seem to see so many Buddhist temples here.

Last night I had dinner at nice restaurant that is located halfway in the open, and there was a torrential downpour. I ended up talking with the owner practicing what little Thai I know. Sa Wat Dee Krup and A Roi. That's where I learned the pronunciation.

Have to go soon. By the way, I had to stay over for twelve hours at Calcutta, and I discovered that there was a dorm at the airport. For about $17 dollars I got a room which included a roommate, M.D., Arfan Ali, who was a Senior Vice President of the Bank Asia LTD in Dhaka. He told me of the problems of lack of infrastructure in the area where he works. He comes from a small village an hour from Dhaka where he helps out children who go to the mosque there. He invited me to come teach there. If I keep breathing in fumes here in Bangkok, I may take a train to Dhaka to get a little change of pace teaching. Ha ha. Just joking. But it would be great to see what Bangladesh is. It is, I am told, the most densely populated country in the world with about 147 million people. The water problems seem like something I should investigate.

Bangkok and "Billions of Entrepreneurs"

I have arrived in Bangkok. After India it just looks like another American city. I had such a wonderful time in India and Korea, that it will be hard for any other country besides the Philippines to meet my high expectations. On the last day in Bangalore Jay took me to meet Vishwanath S. who is from the International Rainwater Catchment Systems Associates. This visit was really great, and Jay and I are thinking of ways that we can get the school in Bangalore to work with Ancona on a water project. Water will be a major problem in the world in the next couple decades, and it is important that people start thinking about it. The ideas I got from this visit were really profound. I will have to write more later.

After that visit we saw a green architect, and this was equally fascinating. The ideas I am getting from these discussions are really worth discusing with my students and other students I meet. Being around Jay and her husband is like being around Reshma. It is truly fun to be able to think!!!

Ashok suggested to me a book that one of his friends just wrote, and at the airport I got it. It is called Billions of Entrepeneurs. It deals with the economic boom that is taking place in India and China. When I read the first paragraph, I felt like he had just stolen an idea that I have had for the last few months. Ha ha. The ignorance that Americans have of Asia is monumental, and it really needs to be remedied. Jay and Ashok were in the US for at least fifteen years, and although they really love India, they really love the wilderness in America and the efforts Americans do try to be fair. We also are capable of making very rapid changes in America, and I am sure if we see ourselves going in the wrong direction, we are capable of turning things around.

Sambhavi, Manasa and Jayashree

ZEUS: This blog is being written by a committee of youngsters.

SAMBHAVI: Sambhavi is five years old and would like to say that Zeus juggled at her school and at her home. Sambhavi and her sister study at "Namma Shaale" - a Montessori school whose name translates to "Our school" in Kannada. Their mother Jayashree teaches yoga at the school. He played the flute for us, and my classmates called him the "juggling man". Sambhavi's cousin Sanjeev will be in her sister's class next month. Sanjeev, as most of you know is Reshma's son, and he is coming to Bangalore from Chicago.

MANASA: I am Sambhavi's sister. My name is Manasa. I am seven and a half, but that is almost eight. I learned about parabolas from Zeus. Zeus said anything that is thrown forms a parabola. He showed us how to play the flute. We blew across a water bottle, and I could make the sound of a flute. He gave us each a juggling ball and three tennis balls. And we got a big wooden drum. He and Dad will later get us a wooden flute. At school my classmates and I had a class of juggling and flute playing. We came home and played chess and monopoly, and Zeus videotaped my sister doing Indian dancing.

We had a big party at our school to honor Zeus. We had cake too.

JAYASHREE: I am Jayashree - Manasa and Sambhavi's mum and I wont tell you how old I am! I loved cooking for Zeus. He loves to eat and it was worth every bit of my effort. I cooked him dishes from North, South, Western India. No dishes from the Eastern part this time. He will have to come again. I hope Zeus has gained a little weight. He's been playing the flute so often I'm going to miss the live music over dinner starting tomorrow. We hope Zeus visits again. It has been such a pleasure for all of us. And...I am practising the very basics of juggling too.
Tomorrow I plan to take Zeus to visit an amazing group that has been building completely sustainable houses out mud brick houses and with rain water harvesting built in. He is looking forward to it. We've had some discussions on Gandhi and non-violence which I've enjoyed a lot.

ZEUS: The Naama Shalee School is really beautiful, and it has been great fun teaching there. Everyone knows me, and everyone knows about parabolas which by the way are pronounced as pair a bow las in India. The part of Bangalore where we are staying is so much less congested than the big cities we have been visiting although I have not really seen the central part of the city. This is really a part of the booming India that we have been reading about. I am really getting more impressed with how diverse this country is. Almost all the students here are learning three or more languages, and in this area most people are Hindu but there are lots of Christian churches too. By the way, did I mention that almost every house has a "God Room". That is the way it was described to me by one of the older students. Men here are much less likely to wear turbans. I have been listening to lots of Indian music, and it really is so much different from anything I have ever played or heard before.
Got to go. Tomorrow evening I am off to Bangkok.