Mine eyes have seen the glory of a hole-in-one

Everything now and then, a seemingly innocuous family outing on a sunny Saturday afternoon turns up a few surprises. Not far from where we live is a place called Upton Hill Regional Park, home to some batting cages, a miniature golf course and, in the summer, a water park (Amber had a good time there last year). Like many places in this area, the hill has a Civil War connection. The sign above explains how both the Union and Confederate forces used fake cannons in order to fool the other side, and there's a mockup of one such ersatz artillery piece in the background of the photo. What's more interesting, however, is that this very hill was the inspiration for Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic. It seems Howe was so impressed with a review of the troops she saw on Upton Hill that she went home and composed the poem which, when combined with the music to John Brown's Body, became one of the one of the most popular and well-known songs in American history. You can read all about it in this surprisingly detailed Wikipedia entry on Upton Hill. There's also this Northern Virginia Regional Parks page which has a short video on the Civil War history of Upton Hill.

You won't find me listed in Wikipedia, but you would've seen me this afternoon cutting a dashing, if hobbling, figure on the mini-golf links. Just another step in the rehabilitation process.

The demands of collecting dandelions occupied my daughter's attention following the family golf tourney (in which she bested her mother).

Going too far

I should've known better.

It's a safe bet that most, if not all, extended families have that special member. Said Relative (hereafter referred to as "SR") is probably a good person, having led a good life, working hard and being a good provider to their family. They no doubt have lots of amusing anecdotes culled from a long life to share with others. Unfortunately, over time they have also accumulated a life's worth of biases and prejudices arising from ignorance and reinforced with the stubbornness that comes with age. Back when I was much younger, my own SR would frequently employ the "N word" when talking about African-Americans, a fact which made my mother feel uncomfortable and which my father would try to explain away as the result of an upbringing in a southern state. Cut to the present day and the age of social media, and SR is out there, churning out a constant stream of rants and raves on a daily basis and "sharing" them with the rest of us through the good graces of Facebook. The "N-word" is no longer employed, but judging from the tone of SR's anti-Obama postings, it's pretty obvious his differences with the president are not merely over ideology (need I point out he's a birther?). As we all know, our chief executive is a closet Muslim, which brings us to another of SR's pet peeves - he's no admirer of Islam, to say the least.

Yesterday, I shared a Washington Post article on the difficulty some Americans are having in trying to categorize the Boston Marathon bombers. SR is one American not struggling when it comes to labels. He responded to my link with...well, I'm not sure what to call it (if the link doesn't work, consider yourself lucky). He's compiled a long list of "crimes" committed by "Muslims" (or "Palestinians", or "The Nation of Islam"), complete with ESPN-like stats, with little attempt made to provide further (as in crucial for understanding) details about the particulars of the case. The cut-and-paste job followed a self-penned commentary basically holding all Muslims, and Islam in general, guilty for the sins of the extremists. In SR's world, there are no Shias, or Sunnis, or Sufis, no disagreements over interpretations of the Quran and no differences in the way the religion is practiced in that long swath of countries ranging from Morocco to Indonesia (not to mention in other places in the world, including the U.S.). Islam is a monolithic entity that threatens the rest of us, and every Muslim, if not to be held accountable for the acts of the extremists, must at least be viewed with suspicion until the violence stops. And as SR once remarked when the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya was attacked last year, "force is the only thing those people understand". 

My mistake last night was in bothering to respond to SR. For facts, logic and reason do not engender a worthwhile dialog when someone else's prejudices are set in stone, and it's too late in their lives to think things over again. The result from SR was a constant stream of personal insults, bizarre analogies and just plain irrelevant weirdness. Alas, I let myself get drawn in, and I'm afraid I ended up responding, if not exactly in kind, then with snide remarks of my own that weren't really necessary. The best thing to have done was to have walked away and let the old man enjoy himself on Facebook. As I said before, SR is basically a decent and good man at heart, the kind of person you wouldn't hesitate to invite to gatherings of extended family members.

Just don't invite anyone of the wrong color, political affiliation or religion to the party. Or if you do, keep them away from SR and/or try to keep the conversation away from anything that might set him off. Let your SR believe that having operated a business for 36 years means they are always right about everything, and peace will be maintained.

As you may have guessed from the photos above, I was in Washington, D.C. this afternoon. Only I wish I hadn't gone. Not because the Marine Corp Memorial isn't worth visiting - it is. It's just that the walk to there from the Rosslyn Metro station gets a little tiring when you've only just started doing physical therapy on your surgically-reattached ligament in your left knee. As I'm typing this, I'm sitting in an armchair with an ice pack on my knee as a result. One has to know one's limits. Still, the Iwo Jima Statue, based, of course, on Joe Rosenthal's iconic photograph, is an impressive sight, especially on a beautifully warm day like today.

I also limped over to see the Netherlands Carillon. This 130 foot (39.6 meters)-high tower is a gift from the Netherlands in gratitude for American aid during World War II, and the view from the top, when it's open, must be stirring. I didn't get to go up, but the flowers at ground-level, and the expansive lawn, made for a quite pleasant atmosphere.

UPDATE: Apparently, I inadvertently pushed a deep-rooted psychological button with SR (whose name, for the record, is Roger Hendrix), for a few days ago he posted another message on Facebook filled with nasty personal insults directed at yours truly. While I can take the venom (I've been called much worse by much smarter people) and elected not to respond in kind, a line was crossed - RH used a very offensive racial slur ("mail-order bride") when referring to my Taiwan-born wife, whom he has never met (in the process, he also insulted my father and my daughter). If this is how RH wishes to live out the last years of his life, so be it. I, however, will no longer have anything to do with him, ever again.

Things to do in Falls Church when you're alive

Amber rides her bad Hello Kitty bike

As anyone who has been anywhere near a TV at all this past week can tell you, things have been more than a little interesting here in the U.S. Now that the tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombings has apparently come to end with the death of one of the suspects and the arrest of the other, prepare yourself for the inevitable, and very American, overreaction to the events that have occurred since last Monday. Expect further restrictions and invasions of privacy in the name of "public safety", and if you happen to be a Muslim-American, prepare yourself for the veiled (and not-so-veiled) racism to come. Most disturbing are the calls by some to treat Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as an "alien combatant". Odious though his actions may have been, Tsarnaev is an American citizen, and if we let our fears take primacy over our long-established (and hard-fought) civil rights traditions, the terrorists will rightfully claim to have ultimately won. This was the week that also saw the death of yet another attempt to provide some sanity to our ridiculous approach to regulating firearms. Funny how those very same reactionary, racist elements in our society (including some extended relatives in my own family), who so proudly parade their misinterpretation of the Second Amendment as being in the defense of the Constitution against a tyrannical regime (an administration headed by an African-American president, in other words), are so quick to dispense with the Sixth Amendment because some nasty person happens to have followed the wrong religion and/or originally come from the wrong part of the world.

But that's America.

At least some 113 million people in this country hold a U.S. passport (according to an article I read the other day), which means a significant minority of the population has, in theory, the opportunity to travel abroad and see for themselves just how complex the world actually is, and perhaps someday change the way we look at our ourselves and our relationships with other societies. Or they could just spend their overseas vacations at Club Med.

In any event, all is quiet on the domestic front. My mobility is still relatively limited, but I am finding it easier to walk, even with the full leg brace on. I start physical therapy on Tuesday, and hopefully everything will continue to progress well so that we can leave for China as originally scheduled. I've spent a lot of time this weekend sitting in the armchair with my left leg raised up on a chair, watching a lot of baseball games on TV while attempting to study Mandarin. But this afternoon I had to get out, so I took my daughter for a bike ride through the cemetery next door to our apartment complex. This is one of those activities that could never be done back in Taiwan, or would at least have raised a lot of eyebrows, due to certain social customs and traditional beliefs (and the fact that Taiwanese cemeteries in general aren't cycle-friendly). In this country, a cemetery, with its well-manicured lawns and placements of trees and flowers, can be a peaceful place for an afternoon stroll, and Amber and I weren't alone (among the living, at least) while we were out there among the gravestones. Spring was clearly in the air today:

Amber enjoyed the small hills on the cemetery grounds, and the speed she was able to maintain:

But even among the dearly departed in old Virginia, there was no getting away from the Chinese language:

A spring in my step

It wasn't the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., but suburban Vienna, Virginia's Meadowlark Botanical Gardens made for a nice substitute as the Kaminoge family ventured out in search of the cherry blossoms on yet another beautiful spring day. For me, it was a chance to get some exercise and get off the disabled list following my recent knee surgery. A good time was had by all three of us as we made our way among the trees, flowers and even a Korean-style garden. Meadowlark seems like the kind of place that would be fun to stroll around in at any time of year.

Before visiting the botanical gardens, we had lunch at a bar-and-grill in Vienna. Next door was a supermarket, where I fueled up with a bottle of Cheerwine, Southern soda so sweet, too much of it will make your teeth hurt. I'm hooked.

At the gardens

The ruins of a springhouse. In the days before refrigeration, these were built over pools of spring water, and utilized the naturally-cool water to preserve dairy goods, fresh produce and other perishables for several days at a time, even in summer.

My daughter plays under a cherry tree in full-bloom

Amber shows off her petal collection

At the entrance to the Korean Bell Garden. At some point in my career I hope to be posted to South Korea, and I would welcome the opportunity to learn the language.

Amber relives her days as a child model in Taiwan

Unlike at many Japanese Buddhist temples, this bell was not meant to be rung

I had to sit down a couple of times today, but all in all it felt good to be moving around outside, brace and crutches notwithstanding.

Further proof that when it comes to composing photographs of blooming flowers, my wife is far superior.

Daughter and dad take a break

Mother and daughter hide among the sakura

In addition to flowering trees, there were plenty of birds about in the botanical gardens. I tried, but ultimately failed, to get a good shot of a singing cardinal. Pamela was much more successful with the geese.

At the visitors center, Amber poses with her souvenir, a House Finch (complete with birdsong) that she promptly dubbed "Nami-chan". My daughter likes to name her stuffed animals after herself.

Cherry blossoms / サクラ (桜) / 樱花

Spring is here, and Washington, D.C.'s cherry blossoms are in full bloom, but there's little I can do about it. Today, in fact, my surgically-repaired left knee has been bothering me all day, providing a convenient excuse for not hitting the 中文教科书. My wife, however, took a much-needed break from seeing to a demanding semi-invalid and Wednesday rode the Metro into Washington to see the cherry trees. Enjoy some of the photos she snapped yesterday morning as she joined the crowds admiring the flowers around the Tidal Basin:

Status update

That's me above, courtesy of my daughter's camerawork. As you can see, I'm ambulatory, and have been since Friday's surgery. Apparently, the operation went well, with a piece of my hamstring being used to reattach my left kneecap to a ligament that was worn torn many years ago. The short-term plan is just to rest at home for the next few days, with a return to FSI and Chinese classes set for this Friday. The stitches are scheduled to be removed next Monday, with therapy to start soon afterward. Hopefully, all will go well, and I will pass the exit exam at the end of May, and thus be on our way to Shanghai 上海 at the beginning of June. For the next few days, though, I'm just going to sit back and watch a lot of baseball games on TV. I'd be drinking a lot of beer, too, if it wasn't for the painkillers I've been prescribed.

Actually, we did try to go out early this afternoon, following my morning appointment with the orthopedist. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom in Washington, D.C. and today being absolutely gorgeous, my wife really wanted to drive down to the Tidal Basin area to see the sakura 桜. We were hoping that as it is a normal Monday today, there wouldn't be too many people out and about, but we couldn't have been any more mistaken. With nowhere to park, we ended up driving around the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin, just long enough to get a good idea of what Washington is like around cherry blossom time. With Amber back in school tomorrow (she has the day off today due to a teachers' "professional day") and with yours truly not requiring any special attention, I'm hoping Pamela will utilize the Metro tomorrow, and get out and enjoy the flowers. If she goes, she should get some better shots than these ones I took from the back seat of our car:

Well, excuse me

http://wjxu.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/pidgin-english-in-old-shanghai/

What you can see in the photograph above is the Bund, a strip of Western-style buildings that is supposedly definitive of Shanghai's  上海 skyline. I say "supposedly", because here it is the beginning of April, and we should've already been in Shanghai for two months. Unfortunately, due to the fact that my Mandarin Chinese studies haven't progressed as quickly as expected, it's going to be early June at the earliest before we can step foot on Chinese soil. What follows are seven lame excuses reasons, OK, excuses as to why we're still here in Washington, D.C.

 http://panasiaworldholidays.com/4-days-3-nights-shanghai-tour-package

Excuse #1: It's my knee

This is the main reason why I'm not taking the exit exam on April 12 as originally scheduled. Tomorrow I'm going to have surgery done on my left knee, the one that has bothered me for 28 years and which I re-injured back in late February. Specifically, the doctor is going to take part of my hamstring from my left leg, and use it to reattach the ligament I tore back when I was in college. If all goes well, I won't have to worry about the kneecap popping out of its socket anymore. On the other hand, I may have to get an artificial knee somewhere down the line as a result of the arthritis that has developed from all those years of a partially-fastened knee rubbing against the cartilage. In any case, because I'm going to miss at least a week's worth of classes post-operation, the language department at the Foreign Service Institute feels I'll need more time to make up for the time I'm going to miss. Or so they say. Which brings me to the next excuse:

http://www.silkroadcollection.com/shanghai-and-zhuhai-2007.html

Excuse #2: I'm a slow learner

It's official: I'm a special-needs student. According to the head of the Chinese language section in an email to the person who decides on my assignments, the real reason I need more time following my knee surgery is that I am "a slow learner". The director goes on further to express his lack of confidence in my ability to pass the exam even with the additional study time, which makes we wonder if I was meant to see the message in the first place (I was Cc'd). After all, the same person told me to my face a few weeks ago that I was making great progress and that he was confident I was going to attain the required level of proficiency on the exam. Perhaps the ego-deflating email was an attempt at "tough love", that I would see this as a challenge and work even harder to master enough of the language in order to pass the test. All I can say is "fat chance of that happening". Just ask my first wife: she could tell you that constantly pointing out all my numerous faults didn't have the desired effect. Criticism is only constructive when the person on the receiving end doesn't take it too much to heart.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/china/8274057/Shanghai-A-short-break-in-Chinas-old-French-Concession.html

Excuse #3: It isn't my fault, it's theirs

In some respects, the Chinese language section is similar to a Taiwanese driving school in that the curriculum is more focused on getting the students to pass the exit exam, instead of producing competent Mandarin speakers. The program does wonders cranking out people who can discuss nuclear weapons proliferation in decent Chinese, but who would probably be lost in a traditional Chinese night market. But in reality, this excuse of mine is especially lame. The teachers have been uniformly good for the most part, and people are coming out of the course learning to speak the language. I could make a good argument for there being more job-specific content in the curriculum (the consular-themed lessons have been pitifully short), but in the end, if I don't pass the exit exam, the fault will be all mine, not theirs.

 http://www.yangtzeriver.org/yzgallery/shanghai-pictures/jing%27an-temple/

Excuse #4: I hate the Chinese language

"Hate" is too strong a word, but I really don't like Mandarin Chinese, aka 普通话, aka 國語. I never have, and I never will. My Japanese isn't particularly good, but I enjoy that language. I'm not afraid to make mistakes when speaking, the grammar is extremely complex but still interesting and I love studying kanji 漢字. In many respects, Chinese should be an easier language to learn, as the grammar is easier, the sentence structures are more similar to those in English and, unlike Japanese, the characters generally only have one way to be read or pronounced. But for me, Mandarin is a chore, something to endure and persevere, which certainly isn't the best approach when it comes to learning.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_Pudong%28Shanghai%29.jpg

Excuse #5: Taiwan has scarred me for life

As anyone who knows me well can verify, I didn't enjoy living in Taiwan. It isn't that it was a bad place. Actually, while there I met a lot of very nice people (marrying one of them, in fact), and I enjoyed traveling around the island and hiking on its hills and mountains. But the lifestyle and culture didn't really suit my personality, and I had a lot of humiliating experiences, particularly when it came to attempts at communicating with the locals. So many humiliations that eventually I came to a point where I did my best to avoid unnecessary contact with people, preferring to be left alone. Needless to say, this couldn't have had a good effect on my language-learning abilities. In retrospect, having worked so hard to get away from a Chinese-speaking culture, I shouldn't have turned around and asked for my first overseas post to be in one. I might've been better off either learning a new language from scratch, or serving in a place like Ghana or Trinidad where English is widely-spoken. Oops.

http://www.isidorsfugue.com/2012/07/scenes-of-china-southern-hongkou.html

Excuse #6: I'm just not perky enough

Maybe I should be studying Russian. Students of the Russian language seem to be much like me, realistic and cynical, under no illusions about what kind of country and society Russia really is. They may, in fact, love the country and its people, but it's a hard-earned admiration and respect. Compare them to the average Chinese language learner, who is just so excited about learning Mandarin because they get to be going to China! They're going to see the Great Wall, and hold a panda, and eat all that good food, and soak up all those (mythical) 5000 years of history! Do Russian learners get motivated by reading Tolstoy or feasting on beets and cabbage? 

The problem with all this perkiness about all things Chinese is that it can do more harm than good. I've met many a Sinophile who willingly allowed themselves to be blinded by the richness of all that culture and history to the point that they started believing one of the world's most authoritarian (not to mention bullying) regimes can't be all that bad. Having experienced an un-sheltered existence in China Lite (aka Taiwan), I'm under no illusion about the ugly realities of a Chinese society.

Perkiness, however, certainly is a big plus when it comes to mastering Mandarin. So gosh, golly and gee whiz, I'm going to do my gosh-darndest to study hard so that I can get a swell score on the exam. Then I can live and work in the Exotic Orient!

In a large and comfortable American-style home, while my child attends an elite, Western-style school. 

 http://www.ericsiuart.com/html/newsletter/0808-10.html

Excuse #7: I'm making it too hard for myself

There's absolutely no reason why I can't learn enough of the language in order to pass the exit exam. In fact, the vocabulary and grammar is already there, and I do think I've made a lot of progress in listening and reading, though there's still a lot of work to do, especially when it comes to the former. And I am most definitely not a slow learner. But I have to admit I'm too afraid of making mistakes in front of others, even though I know that's the only way to make progress. I realize I have to swallow my pride and speak in sentences that make me sound like a kindergarten student, no matter how hard I want to impress my 老师 with all those incisive and thoughtful insights into East Asian culture gleaned from having lived and worked in Japan and Taiwan. I've got to stop thinking of the final exam as a Chinese Sword of Damocles hanging over my head. As the Japanese would say, I've just got to gaman 我慢, and eventually I'll get through this and on my way to Shanghai, the Pearl of the Orient. 

Oh, wait, that's Manila, isn't it?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yvesandre/4746041966/

So let's look on the bright side. In addition to getting a better knee, I've got some more time to knuckle down and do what it takes to get started on what I hope will a long and fruitful career in the service of my country, and for my family (especially my daughter), an opportunity to broaden horizons and open up minds.

Trust me, I can make it.

But next time, I'll bid on a place like Seoul or Bangkok, language-designated posts where I might just feel perky about learning Korean or Thai.