Elsie

Dear Most Excellent Ones,
As many of you know my youngest daughter Elsie spent time in Hong Kong this summer from end of June to August 25.  She came along with a friend, Rianna, and the two of them lived in my apartment and worked at the tutorial centre that I work very parttime at.  Elsie and Rianna ran an English summer camp, tutored various kids individually or in pairs, and Rianna also taught swimming.  There were some challenges along the way but the young ladies overcame them and did such a good job that the owners of the tutorial place were begging them to come back for next summer.

On top of that the girls found time to swing dance, go to young adults group at church, church on Sunday,  Disneyland, Oceanpark, various markets, hang out with friends, eat, shop, and go to a beach or two.  They also let me treat them to seafood at Sai Kung.  No problem.  Elsie also slipped away for a few days in August to attend her friend's wedding in Norway!  No way!  No Norway!  So all in all in Elsie had quite the time.  She also will be joining me and Eli this Christmas and we will celebrate on Boracay in the Philippines.   Pretty exciting life for a 22 year old.

So I am happy for Elsie and many people this summer confirmed what I have know for years.  My daughter is beautiful.

 Rianna and Elsie.

Me and Elsie.

Elsie touching her future meal.

Goodman campus where Rianna and Elsie taught English.

The tutorial school's logo.

Mango cake.  Celebrating a job well done.

Waiting patiently at the bus stop for the trip to the airport.

Elsie chilling on the sidewalk of Kowloon.

Have a great week everyone!

Love adios and peng on!

Dirk

Poverty

Hello Most Excellent Ones,
One of the most startling things about Asia is the disparity between the rich and poor.  I have seen mansions worth millions, cars worth hundreds of thousands, clothes worth thousands, and then literally around the corner or across the street I have seen poverty.  Shacks, run down bikes, and rags for clothes.  In China I bought a pancake type snack for about five cents Canadian at a vendor whose establishment was nothing more than a pile of bricks and a pan over a fire.  Across the street was a modern gleaming mall with a KFC offering breakfast for about 10 dollars Canadian.  While the 5 cent deal was a little sketchy it was actually quite good and I splurged and bought myself another.  I ignored KFC.  Another time I left my well guarded and beautiful resort in the Philippines to go for a jog.  I had not gone more than 10 feet when a little girl in rags and holding a little money purse starting running with me and singing, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."  The UN should mandate a rule that all children in the World get three meals a day, decent clothes, shelter, and an education.  No kid  should have to beg.  Needless to say I gave my singer, could not be more than ten, a few cents, which is all I had.  I could go on and on with heart breaking story after heart breaking story about the poverty here in Asia.  I am thankful I have what I have, I am thankful for the food I can purchase, I am thankful for the funds I have at my disposal for travel, I am thankful that I am here getting daily perspective on what is really important in life and what true wealth is.  I have learned that despite the great poverty here in Asia most people have deep and tender ties with their families.  They work hard to take care of each other and despite the lack of material possessions they still find time to smile, laugh, and be with each other.  In a way many in Asia, despite their lack of material wealth, are more wealthy than us North Americans in terms of family bonds and time to be with one another.

Something to think about.  Amen.

A street scene in rural China.

Kaiping, China.

Kaiping, China.

Kaipng, China.

Bangkog, Thailand

Bangkog, Thailand.  Crazy telephone wires.

Home in Bangkog, Thailand.

Cheng Chau Island, Hong Kong

Cheng Chau Island, Hong Kong

Kowloon, Hong Kong.  On the roofs of many buildings in Hong Kong and Kowloon there are literally hundreds of shacks built helter skelter on top of them.  Very illegal, but no one has the heart or moxie to remove them.  Hong Kong's slums are on the top of buildings!  This can be seen from my nice apartment complex.  Rich, poor, middle class, it is all a big mumble/jumble in Asia.

Well dear friends have a great week! 

Dirk
 

  

Kind of Different

Hello My Dear Most Excellent Ones,
I am back where I started June 30.  The 14 hour trip back to Hong Kong was not too bad.  I bought myself one of those blow up neck brace thingies and that helped me a lot.  While the best part of my tour, by far, was spending time with people, I did see and experience some great things.  I also saw some rather, "different," things as well and so without further ado I present some of these for your viewing pleasure.  Please note I had to cull the following pictures from several 100, unlike my father who has to cull pictures from several 1000.  But the old man inspired me to get into photography and for that I am grateful.  Ok enough preamble.  On with the show.

Doha, Qatar.  A sculpture of a woman with her veil and scarf made of pots and pans.  Hmm

A bird bath located on the grounds of a German palace near Heidelberg.  Lucky birds.

I tried throwing a coin on top of this post stuck in the middle of a canal in Hamburg, Germany.  I missed. I assume getting a coin on top gets you a wish. There must be thousands of Euros just under the water by the base of the post.  Hmmmm I wish I could get some scuba gear and go for a dive by that post.

Does that guy in the middle look familiar?  The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany used to be a very serious place, with East and West German guards ready to shoot people down.  The wall was also very visible.  Now it is a fun, peaceful place with seriously kitchy attractions.  Hurray for kitch!

 Wild Schweine und ein paar Frishlinge.  Wild pigs and a pair of "fresh ones."  How appropriate for some children that you know.  Near Stuttgart, Germany.

Annika (I think) my aunt Burga's "baby" taking a bath in a mud hole.  Great…. Near Berlin, Germany.

Touring Berlin on sedgeways.  Hmm

Seen in Tubbingen, Germany.  The sign says Goethe (a famous German writer from way back) barfed from this window.  Yep quite the highlight seeing that.  And you thought Germans were not funny?  There you go, they have great humour.  Hmmm

For forty bucks you could have been on a zip line for 10 seconds at the Calgary Stampede this summer.  What a bargain!  Calgary Stampede=waste of money.  That is my humble opinion.  Although I do like the corn dogs.

Everyone behind the corral is allowed to drink beer. Those who are not must wait in line to get in the corral.  The beer corral was crowded like a pig pen.  I tell you the Calgary Stampede is a little weird.

Seen on a trail in Glacier Park, Montana.  Bears and Mountain Lions to worry about.  Great.  Still was a great hike however.

One of the biggest, but friendliest dogs I have ever seen.  Calgary, Alberta.

Young mountain sheep licking salt off the road in Kananskis country, Alberta. Yum.

At the Vancouver airport.  A scuba diver feeding fish in a massive tank.  Bizarre but interesting.

Back in Kowloon.  A welcome sight when you consider Hong Kong is 80% Buddhist.

Have a great week everyone.

Love adios and peng on!

Dirk

Stay Young At Heart

Hello Most Excellent Ones,
I had the privilege this week of hiking with the Wise in one of the most spectacular settings I have ever seen.  The Kananskis Country, which is about an hour from Calgary is a mountain park famous for its beauty.  It is well deserved.   The Wise were my parents Helga and Alf, and their hiking friends,  Fran, Maureen, Craig, and Derwin.  Or DerVin in German.  All these fine folks are retired and remember the 1950's fairly well, which is not a very subtle clue into how old they are.  I wasn't even born till well into the 1960's, which made me a babe amongst this group.  I am not exaggerating by stating that if you added up all our ages there was about 500 years of life experience amongst us.

Now the Wise could have had their excuses for not hiking that day.  Too dangerous,  one lung, bunions, bad heart, history of cancer, out of shape, balding, tender old skin, bad knees, sore hip, headache, have to wash my hair, have to watch my TV show, busy eating jello, I am old, old, old, old, old etc.   Instead this group got out there and marched up and down Alpine meadows, over rocks, across streams, through trees all the while exclaiming their joy in being together, getting excited about Alpine flowers and rocks, and marvelling at the amazing mountains.  Although I was the youngest and am pretty fit I had to work pretty hard to keep up.   The Wise reminded me of my kindergarten group in HK.   When one of them sees an ant crawling along I basically have to shut everything down for a while because everyone wants to join in the wonder of it.  So it was with this group.  Oh look at this flower, look at this rock, wow look at the view, on and on it went.

So there it is.  The Wise proved that if you don't lose that kindergarten wonder for life you will live well.  Not necessarily long, but well.  So stay young at heart my friends.  Stay young at heart!

Love adios and peng on!

Dirk  

The Wise.  From left to right:  Derwin, Craig, Fran, Maureen, Helga and Alf.

With Alf and Helga high up in the mountains.  Alf took 300 pictures.  I took about 50.  Alf wins the Gold Medal for picture taking.  As usual.    

Gaining elevation the hard way.

In an alpine meadow.

Picking our way through a rock field.

Dangerous, but fun.  The Wise have a great sense of adventure.

Some views.  Awesome.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.