Monday, June 24, 2019

I'm a white guy so let me tell ya 'bout Asia!

Twelve days after rain forced a cancellation, my daughter and I were able to take in a minor league baseball game. See below...

For Mother's Day last month, my daughter and I gave my wife one of those DNA testing kits (for this one, you spit into a kind of test tube, mail it off to the company and wait for the results. And not try to think that a private company now has a sample of your genetic makeup). Shu-E sensibly suggested that Amber provide the saliva sample instead, so that the results would reflect the makeup of both her parents. Those results came back a couple of weeks ago and to almost no surprise, they were as follows: my daughter is 49% "China"; 28% "England, Wales and northern Europe"; 22% "Ireland and Scotland"; and 1% "Philippines". That last one may look surprising, but it reflects the Austronesian makeup of most Taiwanese. The first Han Chinese migrants to Taiwan were almost all dudes, so it should come as no surprise that there was a lot of pairing up with the native aboriginal women. The only surprise for me, in fact, is that the "Philippines" figure wasn't higher (and by "Philippines", as a friend pointed out, the "1% matches the DNA of the majority of people who currently live in the Philippines", meaning that Taiwanese aborigines and Filipinos share a common ancestry). The test results also show just how much a child of the British Isles I am based on the DNA handed down by my ancestors. I still think pulling out of the EU is a big, big mistake, however.

It's all good fun, and not really meant to be taken seriously, except that when you share the results on Facebook, there will always be one or two earnest folks who feel compelled to interject with a "Well, actually...", followed by factual but dry statements that only a grad student working on their thesis or dissertation would find interesting. Things like "any country has numerous haplogroups and those haplogroups are found outside of those countries as well", no doubt written with sincere intentions of starting a reasoned discussion, but sucking the life out of the party nonetheless.

But then, while looking over the comments, I was reminded of a subtle, yet disturbing (though probably unintentioned) undercurrent - that of the white person taking it upon themselves to explain to other white people what it means to be Taiwanese (or Chinese, or Japanese, or Korean, or Thai - just insert the Asian ethnic group of your choice). For an example of what I mean, mosey over to a FB group or website in the Taiwan blogosphere, casually drop references to "Han Chinese" or "Chinese culture" or similar trigger words, then sit back and read the fireworks as the overwhelmingly Caucasian/Western commenters debate each other over the definition of "Taiwanese". Bonus points in particular go out to those white folks who direct their well-researched conclusions directly at recipients who themselves are of the Asian persuasion.

Which, of course, may one day include my offspring (or at least the 49% + 1% of her that isn't from "England, Wales, northern Europe, Ireland and Scotland"). In preparation for that day when a young white male from the New or Old World greets Amber with a confident "你好" and suggests going to a place he knows where they prepare "the best boba tea in town", I will suggest she read Orientalism by Edward Said. Though it's more than 40 years old and was primarily concerned with the Middle (as opposed to Far) East, most of Said's assertions (for example, that people in Asian societies are reduced to broad stereotypes that focus on their "otherness" so that they can in turn be "explained" to a Western audience) are still as relevant as ever. Reading the book while living in Japan opened my eyes and changed the way I consciously approached Asia as a Western observer (thanks Sean Jorgensen, wherever you may be these days, for loaning me your copy). Perhaps Said's work will help to prepare my daughter for when the aforementioned Caucasian gentleman tries to, say, "educate" her on Taiwan's place in the "great big wheel of migration out of (Southeast) Asia, into what is now coastal China, then to Taiwan", and how this contributed to her genetic makeup and who she is as a "Taiwanese", before inviting her to a "cool" restaurant he knows that serves "the most authentic 牛肉麵 in town". It's only a matter of time, I'm sure...

Meanwhile, back in the present, the clock counts down to the end of Amharic training and our departure to Addis Ababa. As the weather continues to get warmer, I at least seem to be slowing down, going out less often and doing fewer things of note compared to when we returned to this area last fall. But go out occasionally we still do, as when we had dinner one evening at my wife's favorite local Korean restaurant, Yechon:


One reason I may be slowing down is that on Flag Day earlier this month I became another year older (but not necessarily wiser). To "celebrate" the fact that I'm eligible for senior discounts at some establishments (as well as to observe Father's Day), my family and I went out for dinner at Mad Fox Brewing Company in Falls Church:


The Saturday between my birthday and Father's Day was a glorious one in terms of weather:



Taking advantage of the break between rainstorms, I dragged took Amber to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, our first visit there in almost seven years:



The museum has been in the news of late for the reopening of its dinosaur hall. It's certainly an impressive collection of fossils, though like most teenagers, much of Amber's interest in prehistoric creatures has diminished since early childhood:







A paleontologist (presumably) at work behind the glass, looking a little like a zoo exhibit:


Because a.) the museum is free; b.) it wasn't our first time to visit: and c.) having the advantage of living in the Washington, D.C. area, neither one of us felt the need to explore every room and exhibition (unlike that first time we went). The African Voices room had very little on Ethiopia - here my daughter points out the range of teff and other grains cultivated in the Horn of Africa:


Amber did take an interest in some of the gems and minerals on display, including the legendary Hope Diamond:


Flourite:


Looking down on the fossils room:


"Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt". Egypt is one of those places I hope to visit during our tour in Addis Ababa:



This suit of armor was a diplomatic gift from Emperor Meiji 明治天皇. It was presented to President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905 for his efforts in mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War:


Back outside on the National Mall:


Father's Day was muted this year as my daughter left that morning for a four-day trip to the Florida Keys that was organized by her middle school. She had a fantastic time, enjoying a variety of activities including swimming with dolphins, snorkeling over a coral reef and visiting a hospital for sea turtles:


Four young women at that awkward but still enjoyable stage in life, too old for unicorns and ponies but not yet old enough for boys:


Walking back to the bus stop after seeing off my daughter, I passed by this work by Richard Beyer, a sculptor from Washington state best known for Waiting for the Interurban:


I've been taking a lot of walks lately through the local cemetery:


This poignant statue sits atop the grave of a young woman who was killed in a car accident while driving back to college from her home in Falls Church. There are a lot of stores to be told in the various gravestones:




The cemetery is home to a lot of fireflies, but capturing some of them on video is a challenge, one I have a lot of trouble meeting:


Our area has been experiencing a spate of late afternoon downpours. These clouds were the harbingers of one of them:



Fortunately, though, the weather cooperated this past Friday when Amber and I made a return visit to Northwest Federal Field at Pfitzner Stadium in suburban Prince William County. A couple of weeks before, a game for which we had tickets had been canceled due to heavy rain, but we were able to use the rain checks for another game. This night's contest pitted the home team Potomac Nationals (a Washington Nationals affiliate), against the visiting Carolina Mudcats (a Milwaukee Brewers farm club):


Waiting for the game to begin:



The view from our seats. The Mudcats and the Nationals play in the Carolina League, a Class A-Advanced league in the Minor League Baseball organizational hierarchy:


Scenes from the contest:







Carolina triumphed over Potomac 6-2 (recap and box score). This was my first time to see a minor league game at this level, having only previously attended Class AAA contests in Sacramento and Tacoma. The stadium isn't far removed from a high school or American Legion facility, with few mod cons (and is a big reason why the team might be moving to Fredericksburg next season), but the small crowd was into it, and afterward Amber got to run the bases just as she did in Seattle last year. This was the National Pastime at its local level, a chance to take a break from the past-paced modern world, sit back with a hot dog and a beer on a warm summer evening, and watch a group of young men (including the umpires) pursue their dream of reaching the Major Leagues. Most of them won't make it:


Saturday was a day spent shopping in preparation for our upcoming departure. For lunch, we stopped in Fairfax's trendy Mosaic District, where we ate at the Jinya Ramen Bar. Jinya is emblematic of the problem with Japanese restaurants in North America. Not so much for the food (though a friend described the Karaage Ramen Bowl I had there as a "heresy") as for the presentation. Or, more precisely, the pretentiousness of the presentation. Too many Japanese eateries in this country are marketed as "concepts" aimed at the foodies and hipsters who are generally clueless as to what Japanese cuisine actually entails (sorry Anthony Bourdain). The result is prices in the $14-15 range for a bowl of what is essentially a working man's (or woman's) dish back in Japan, drawing in customers like the bleach blonde in front of us inquiring as to whether the outdoor table she had reserved was ready yet, or the couple in their anime アニメ T-shirts sitting behind me. I had the creeping feeling that some of the clientele present that Saturday afternoon would be more than happy to "explain" Japan to anyone willing to listen:


Curmudgeonly rantings aside, I wouldn't mind living in the Mosaic District, though there's no way I could afford to. As I often tell Amber, I don't like hipsters, but I like their lifestyles:


As one week comes to an end, and another set to begin soon, I face the prospect of temporary bacherlood, for my wife and daughter will be away for a few days, visiting my father and sister in the opposite Washington. Before taking them to the airport on Sunday afternoon, we had lunch together at Little Saigon. I have no idea how "authentic" the food is, because I don't care as long as the food is high in volume and low in price. Two conditions which "Chef Minh's Special Pho" satisfied:


The building with the clock on its facade is the Ban Thanh market in Ho Chi Minh City. A replica of it can be seen at the Eden Center mall down the street from Little Saigon:


Seeing off the girls at Dulles:


I'll leave you with this cell phone photo, shot from inside our rental car on Saturday afternoon on our way to the Mosaic District. This expensive-looking Mustang bore a temporary-looking license plate that read "U.S. Department of State" underneath the blacked-out (by my daughter) numbers. Assuming this is legit, I was left with two questions: 1.) Does my employer keep such sporty chick magnets in its motor pool and if so 2.) How can I get assigned one to drive around?:














Monday, June 10, 2019

Rainy Days and Wells


The photo above was taken this Sunday afternoon from the stands of Northwest Federal Field at Pfitzner Stadium in Woodbridge, Virginia. The ballpark is the home of the Carolina League's Potomac Nationals baseball club, the Class A Advanced affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Potomac was scheduled to host the Lynchburg Hillcats (a Cleveland Indians farm team) for an afternoon contest, but due to heavy rain the game was canceled (not postponed). Which was a shame as Amber and I had tickets to see the action. Disappointing, yes, but we'll try again in a couple of weeks (the tickets can be used for another home game). In the meantime, this post will concern itself with a few of the uneventful events that have occured in the week since the blog was last updated, but not before a brief rant. Feel free to scroll past the next four paragraphs...

This rant is brought to you by a post I read yesterday on the Taiwan History Facebook group page. The poster apparently is heading for Lisbon, Portugal for a week on a work-related trip, and wanted to know if there were "(a)ny Taiwan related-history things to check out" there. Finding the question a little odd, I replied that I was sure there were enough Portuguese-related sights in Lisbon to keep our poster occupied during the week h/she will be in the country. Apparently, though, mine was a lone voice, as the thread soon developed into an intense and somewhat bizarre discussion on the influence 16th-century Portuguese traders had on Japanese cuisine and language. Which got me to thinking...

...if you're looking to escape the problematic geopolitical issues of today, you might want to consider relocating to Taiwan. For aside from a few cosmopolitan, English-speaking acquaintances you might make in Taipei 台北, most Taiwanese are largely ignorant of what's going on outside of Greater China (the many competing news channels on cable TV devote precious little time to international affairs unless it involves something scandalous, shocking or just plain weird). Although many Taiwanese travel abroad, a lot of them do so as part of tour groups with little interaction with natives who don't work in hotels, restaurants or souvenir shops. It isn't uncommon to meet travelers who've just returned from Běihǎidào or Hànchéng (now known as Shǒu'ěr) and not realize that the rest of the world calls those places Hokkaidō 北海道 or Seoul.

But this rant really concerns itself (as usual) with the resident Western expat population in Taiwan. For it seems the longer one stays in the country, the more one forgets that there's a larger world beyond the Taiwan Strait 台灣海峽. Some realize this and are fine with it - one acquaintance living in northern Taiwan freely admitted to me he wasn't interested in what was going on elsewhere and was happy with his life on Formosa. And I'm happy for him as well, as unlike some other expats, he doesn't obsess over the minutiae of Taiwanese politics that even most Taiwanese couldn't care less about (he probably wouldn't also want to seek out Taiwanese-related sights should he ever travel to Lisbon!). The risk of staying in Taiwan too long is that local politics in, say, Yunlin County 雲林縣 start to take on a greatly exaggerated importance. Or worse, that certain cultural/social characteristics that are shared with other East Asian countries begin to appear somehow uniquely "Taiwanese" (other than scantily-clad betel nut sellers or funeral strippers, it's hard to think of something that is unique to Formosa*); or that the special qualities of Korean or Japanese society are assigned Chinese qualities (e.g. "That's because of Confucianism!") or are addressed in only the broadest of Orientalist strokes.

I could go on ad nauseum (and I have in the past), but suffice it to say that after two long spells of living in central Taiwan (the first ending with a move to Yokkaichi 四日市 in Japan, and the second with a return to the U.S. and my present line of work), I know how easy it is to become the foreign frog at the bottom of the Taiwanese well. There is nothing wrong with carving out a life for oneself in the country (and Taiwan has a lot going for it - a relatively low cost of living, an excellent national health insurance system, low crime rates, 檳榔西施 etc), but my unsolicited/unwanted advice would be to get out of Taiwan periodically and explore the rest of the neighborhood that isn't China (Hong Kong excepted). And to enjoy Lisbon for what it is (or for that matter Shimonoseki 下関 in Japan, the subject of another similar query in the same FB group). Rant over and onto the week that was...

Often when my daughter goes to her weekly Go 囲碁 / 圍棋 club meeting, the two of us have dinner together beforehand. Amber sometimes chooses expensive hipster diners (she isn't paying, so why not?), and last week was one of those occasions. At least the offerings at True Food Kitchen were pretty good:


My turkey burger:


Her Grass-fed Steak Tacos:


Our Flourless Chocolate Cake:


Amber gets an idea of what interior design was like in the early 1970's at Ballston Quarter. Not coincidentally, she's started asking for a beanbag chair (I had one in my bedroom when I was her age):



The Clarendon War Memorial:


Last Wednesday I had to go to the Department of State building on C Street for a meeting. Afterward, I took some photos with my cell phone. This courtyard statue is imaginatively called Soaring American Eagle. 'Murica...:



The Great Seal of the United States:


Examples of gifts from other countries are displayed near the Great Seal. This circa 1967 brass hand cross comes from Ethiopia...:


...while Japan is represented by a deigo tree デイゴ wood lacquer tray from Okinawa 沖縄 (c. 2001):


"Watergate" was a word that was frequently heard when I was in elementary school, though I was too young to fully comprehend all that was going on at the time. Leaving the State Department, I walked over to the infamous complex (that's a statue of  Mexican president Benito Juárez in the photo below):



Standing in the interior courtyard of the Watergate complex. Unfortunately, it seems casual visitors like ourselves can't visit the "Scandal Room" that housed the 1972 Democratic National Committee headquarters (and was the target of Nixon's rather inept "plumbers"):




Continuing my tour of Washington, D.C. 1960's and early 1970's architectural landmarks (not one of the best periods in the city's history!), I wandered over to the adjacent John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, described by one critic as a structure "Albert Speer would have approved":


The western facade of the Kennedy Center is inscribed with several quotations from JFK related to the arts:



That same side also overlooks the Potomac River, Theodore Roosevelt Island and the Rosslyn, Virginia area. This helicopter flew by at fast speed while I was admiring the view:



And every couple of minutes a jet would fly overhead as this area lies in the flightpath of planes landing at Reagan National Airport:


My daughter and I were talking a walk through Howard E. Herman Park in downtown Falls Church late on Friday afternoon when we passed by this, um, "interesting" work of art called Humongous Fungus. The truly interesting part was that according to the explanatory sign, it was created with the help of local first-graders:


I've been going for strolls through the nearby cemetery after dinner, taking advantage of the later sunlight hours (still nothing compared to how it is in the Pacific Northwest or Lithuania), and after discovering that fireflies have begun to appear among the graves. Alas, while the lightning bugs are plentiful, their population isn't dense enough to capture on video. Also, many of them seem to disappear once the sun has set (unlike the ones I encountered in Taiwan). So move along, folks, there's nothing to see in the photo below:


With a car rented for the weekend, I took the vehicle for a spin on Saturday morning by driving out to Gravelly Point, a patch of green located along the banks of the Potomac within the National Park Service's George Washington Memorial Parkway. There are views across the river to some of Washington, D.C.'s landmarks, including the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial:


The real attraction to Gravelly Point, however, is that it lies north of Ronald Reagan National Airport:


Normally, planes coming in to land at Reagan National descend right over the park. Saturday, however, was windy along the waterfront, which was probably why the jets were descending from the opposite direction. Though not quite as dramatic, this meant planes passed close overhead as they took off for various parts of the United States:


After returning from Gravelly Point, the family and I went out for lunch in the Mosaic District in nearby Merrifield. The Mosaic District is a pleasant outdoor shopping mall which mixes a long shopping street with several blocks of expensive-looking condos. I like the concept of having restaurants and stores within easy walking distance of residences, but at the same time the complex feels like a privileged enclave hidden from the surrounding strip mall and industrial area. In fact, it reminded me of a white suburbanite version of Hong Kong's legendary Kowloon Walled City. Our choice for lunch was a trendy Thai eatery called Sisters Thai:



Kudos to the interior designer(s), who avoided the usual kitschy-Thai trappings typically found in such establishments. And bonus points for including a copy of the Ramones' Road to Ruin album on one of the upper shelves. See if you can spot it below:


Saturday afternoon was spent intensively shopping for Amber's upcoming school trip to Florida. While we were at the Tyson Corner Center mall, my daughter drew my attention to the Superdry outlet there. I'd never heard of this British clothing company (my first reaction upon seeing the name was to wonder what was the connection to a particular Japanese brand of beer); I had to sneer when Amber showed me the Wikipedia entry reading "the company's products include meaningless excerpts of Japanese text generated by machine translation". Who buys this shit? One of those 30 million plus Western hipsters who will travel to Japan this year, wondering how they can go to Kyōto 京都 and have an "authentic" experience getting "off the beaten track" while simultaneously avoiding the "touristy" places filled with visitors exactly like themselves? Don't get me started. And if you're wondering about the meaning of the phrase pictured below, 極度乾燥しなさい is what Google Translate assures you is how to say "extremely dry" in Japanese!:


Sunday afternoon was supposed to have been spent taking in the aforementioned minor league baseball game (see the start of this blog post):



Among those who have played for teams calling Prince William County home are a ballplayer who should be in the Hall of Fame (yes, despite the steroids - like Roger Clemens, he would've been a shoo-in for Cooperstown regardless had he not felt the need to enhance his already stellar performance), and a star who should go in on his first ballot five years after he hangs up his spikes:




And so the week ends on a wet note. It's back to work tomorrow as usual. Until next time...


*Note to the literal-minded: I'm exaggerating, of course