An evening walk

I had just a few minutes for a walk today after eight or nine hours of interviews.  The day went well perhaps because I might have been more coherent because of some uninterrupted sleep.  Truly people are great.  I met students today and I noted that they are the University's secret weapon for recruiting.  They are bright, charming, curious, interested and interesting, and every one has an amazing story on how they made it to this place.  It is transformational here which is a real draw of this place.

I went to a grocery store, something that I always try and do when I travel.  I can't think of how many students rolled their eyes when they saw that on my list of things to do, but you really can learn a lot in  a grocery store.  I stopped for that reason but I also needed bottled water and I was hungry for something salty, probably because it is has been in the high-80s/low 90s and i have been genteelly sweating my way through the interviews and through a suit and a tie.  I am a terrible traveler--I did end up with water but I also ended up with Pringles.  Yep, Pringles.  I have no idea where they were made as my (whatever the language the package is in) is a bit rusty, but they taste similar to what I have heard they taste like, and they are salty.  Mission accomplished.

The photos are street shots.  There are several of commerce that line (and fill the streets.  The street vendor would roast any of about a dozen different kind of nuts and seeds.  Tempting.  The children are my new friends who insisted on getting their photo taken.  Traffic was much heavier this late in the day and it showed in one of the photos.  The more rural scene is the future site for the University.  When fund raising permits, the University will move to the edge of the city.

Maybe more tomorrow, though I start home and rewind the long journey already.

Bangladesh, day two

I am human again…I slept for 8 straight hours horizontally, not in an airport waiting room or an airline seat really helped my cause.  I am still struggling as to which time zone I am in, but I think I am upright and functional at this point.

Plus I figured out hot water, and that is no small thing.  My prep yesterday for an interview with my supervisor and the campus forum was a bit rough, as I forgot about on-demand water heaters.  I remember them from England, but I did not make the connection.  I probably looked a little tattered as I showered and shaved in cold water.  I teased the search committee about setting up a series of challenges outside of the interview process to see how I did.  First there was getting here, and then there was the hot water and then…  Ahh, the simple pleasures of a warm shower!  It helped today.  My victory over water continued as I figured out how to make coffee.  It's instant but at some point coffee is coffee!  It is very black, strong, and there is enough sugar in it to make me wired for hours.

My early morning walk produced a few photos.  It was a short walk, I admit.  It isn't that I felt unsafe or anything like that, though watching for traffic is a bit challenging.  There is no look left or right before walking.  Instead it is a multi-dimensional chess game--look left, right, ahead, behind and then still walk confidently and fast.  And don't mind the horns--they aren't offensive weapons of road rage as they are in the US.  Here they are just like saying, "hey, best pay attention--I am a 20 ton truck (or rickshaw or CNG or bus) and I am approaching your blind spot at 30 kilometers an hour."  I also loved the sign.  There is no doubt that I am a bit a way from home, but it is good to know that I am not that far.

Things are going well--people have been extraordinarily kind and open.  No one threw anything at the open forum and actually it was really fun--it probably helped that the lights were out several times--they couldn't see me!  The dinner last night was tremendous.  I was taken to an Indian place that is, let's just say, a bit more traditional than the Star of India.  Fantastic food and four of us shared six dishes and walked away stuffed.  Total cost?  About $22.00.  I'll talk more about the economy and such, but being able to afford to eat out is not really a issue.

It starts again in 10 minutes so I am off.

Chittagong

I made it, and while I am not sure if it is morning, noon, or night, I made it safely.  I made it that way mainly because I had lots of help.  When I landed at Dhaka I was met by two officers who whisked me through customs and the visa application and then shepherded me through the rest of the night, even to the point of walking me to the departure bus to make sure I was on the right plane.  Truly, they whisked me through…I thought that only happened in movies.   It just shows great planning on the part of the staff.

I am not so sure that I would ever drive here…I have been in countries where traffic signals are suggestions but this brings controlled chaos to a new level.  But I learned that driving is best left to the professionals.  Interesting.

I better get some sleep.  My interviews start at 4 or so, and I need at least a few hours to crash before then.  For those of you who are keeping track, I am 12 hours ahead of Chicago time, but I am not sure if that is after they stole an hour of your life this past weekend.

More soon--the photos are of my bedroom and then out of one of the 4 balconies.  Nice digs!

PS:  It seems I am very well connected here, so emails are welcome!

A quick take...

I don't have a great deal of time before I have to start the next leg of this adventure, so just a quick take on what I saw today.  The early morning sun was the pool here at the hotel.  It was in the low 90s today, not that I would be gloating…

The other photos are from the Grand Mosque--I have others that I will share sometime but they will take some work.  It is an amazing building and more amazing as a house of worship.  They say it can hold 40,000 worshipers so it is tough to get the feel of this place in just one or two photos.  It is awe inspiring.  It is so different, for many different reasons, from a St Paul's in London or Notre Dame.  It's bigger for one, but those cathedrals use light so differently than light was used in creating this mosque.  All for the glory…

Abu Dhabi Day

Well, most of a day.  After delays, contrary information etc, I did make it to my first destination  It is just a really long flight that was made a bit longer by extra time in an airport or two.  No matter, I am here.  Actually the flight wasn't that bad--I had an empty seat next to me so I slept some, and the movies were far better than the norm.  I caught up on my Oscar films and saw Gravity, Twelve Years a Slave, Nebraska and then Frozen.  Hey, Idebede whats-her-name won, didn't she?  I just couldn't remember what John said her name was.

Tomorrow I do have a day to wonder and wander.  I want to see the Grand Mosque, and a market--I hear the camel market is interesting.    Who knows?  Then later tomorrow night, it is on to Dhaka and then Chittagong.  But since right now I am not sure when it actually is, I am calling it a night.  Or a day.  Whatever

Adventures from the road

I am really trying to get to Bangladesh.  I know that this is an unusual statement but I really am.  I left at 5AM this morning to get to MSP, hoped to get to Chicago and hop a plane for Abu Dhabi, then Dhaka, and finally, to Chittagong.  So far it's been a bit rough, with poor weather this morning and that darn fog in Abu Dhabi.  I hate it when it is foggy there…

Whatever the reason, it will mean that I will have left at 5 AM on Friday and not reach my destination until Monday at about 8 in the morning.  Of course it does include almost 24 hours in Abu Dhabi.  I am not quite sure what one does in Abu Dhabi, but I should be able to find something to do.  On Monday and Tuesday, I was scheduled very tightly for interviews at a very interesting university in Chittagong.  I suppose I can still do the interviews though I am guessing that I might be a little toasted around the edges--I am a rough sell when I have had my Wheat-a-bix AND my 8 hours of sleep a night.  This should be interesting.

Whatever.  Two key points come to mind.  Travel is supposed to be an adventure and you are supposed to expect and relish the little adventures that come along with this.  So I will--at least I know that I have gotten a lot better about that in the last 20 or so years.  Secondly, all this reminds me of what I have said before.  Man plans, and God laughs.  Everyone should get a big chuckle our of this adventure.

In case you are following along...

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Date Departs Arrives Flt # Route Passengers Seat Term Fri, Mar 07 11:15 PM 10:45 PM (+1 day) EY 150 ORD to AUH Mr Jason M  Tetzloff   T5 Sat, Mar 08 9:25 PM 3:50 AM (+1 day) EY 258 AUH to DAC Mr Jason M  Tetzloff   TERMINAL 1 Thu, Mar 13 5:10 AM 8:45 AM EY 253 DAC to AUH Mr Jason M  Tetzloff     Thu, Mar 13 10:20 AM 4:25 PM EY 151 AUH to ORD Mr Jason M  Tetzloff   TERMINAL 3

Memory, and some other things I forgot...

I read two very interesting books this past week.  Both were by Tan Twan Eng, The Gift of Rain and The Garden of Evening Mists.  They are recent books by a fairly new author, though their succes belies that--both books have made several prestigious lists, even pretty short ones

Tan set both books in Malaysia, specifically Penang.  In these books the area is lush and green and, well, complicated.  A crossroads of sorts, Penang is peopled with Chinese, Malays, Indians, and of course the colonial British, to name just a bit of the ethnic diversity.   WWII and the legacy, both good and bad (if you can be that concrete)  of the Japanese and the Japanese occupation play a key part in these novels.  Certainly the impact (and the memory of those years and peoples) are still felt and seen today and this era dominates the characters in these books even though the books themselves are set decades later.

The historian in me wants to simplify and catagorize these novels--are they historical?  What is the characters' point of view?  Was it all accurate?  This is pretty easy to do, but other than determining whether or not the novels would be good texts it accomplishes little.  For the record, I think that either of these books would be easy to teach from.  They are rich with examples  and they are entertaining enough for an intro class.  Well, maybe...I apparently have a high threshold for the less interesting, but I think that these would work.

But what were they really all about?  I could put them in a time period, a region, a point of view, a general topic.  They were post-WWII post=colonial Southeast Asian, conflict driven books about the resolution of WWII-caused conflict.  But what were they really about?

What they were really about was memory and memories and the impact of both of these things.  In someways the books lead you to think that memories and memory are but a template for what your life long after will be, indeed must be.

Hmm...I am older, I have lots of memories of what I was, what I did, the people in my life and my actions throughout these past 50 years.  Is that what I am to be, what I must do, and who I must be?   But if this is true, what of will? Can't I take a new direction and skip the roads, taken and not taken but templated in my memory.  Or have my memories pre-ordained or already caused my future? 

While I am probably not going to change my last name to Arminious but I have to believe in some level of self-will in imagining my future.  Very certainly I will be carrying along my neatly packed matching  suitcases of baggage wherever I will go, and it will shape and affect my future. But I can carry my baggage along any road I choose, traveled or not.

End of a very short trip

I am at the Sheridan (international) airport, waiting for a flight back to Minnesota.   The airline's plane (yes, you read that right) is in the hanger being fixed--on an earlier flight, it started down the runway and one of those pesky propellors just stopped.  Now, Bud or Hank or whoever from the local Shell station is trying to fix it for my flight.  I am sitting in the, er, reception area listening to stories of people who have been waiting from a few hours to a day and a half to get out here by plane.  The airline, Great Lake Air, is interesting.  It is also called "Great Mistakes Air" and "Amateur Air" by local frequent fliers.  I am not optimistic at this point.

 I was here interviewing and I had a great time.  People were nice, the Colleges were good and absolutely beautiful, and the position would be challenging and definitely would push and help me grow professionally.  Plus this place, like so many places in the West, has that extra paycheck of being in an absolutely beautiful part of the world.  I am hopefully, wishfully,  optimistic at this point.

Before I left Minnesota I bought a little point and shoot camera for my travels--of course you can never have too many cameras and at this point in time I did not have a smaller camera.  So I needed one, he rationalized to himself and others.  If nothing else, it shows that all you need is a good camera.  Whatever.  Here are a few of the early results.  The scenic shots are within 10 minutes of Sheridan, and the signs are from the

Wy...

It was a beautiful day--it started very snowy but by this afternoon it was just a stunning day.

Snow, again and still...

We have been blessed with more evidence that winter is still here, and are we lucky!  Yeah, that's the word, lucky.  Since it was warm yesterday and very cold today, it really is a winter wonderland/skating rink.  Even the main roads are slick.  I made it out, albeit with a helpful parking lot push.

Yesterday was pretty, if you like this kind of weather and scenery.  I took my camera out and found a few photos.  I have taken pictures of some of these trees before in the fog.  It was a lot different look with this much snow.

A new contest

I woke today to another day with sub-zero temperatures, the 47th day since November that this has happened.  It seems to be some record, though only one a Minnesotan might be proud or happy about.  Actually, I think that 1959 was colder, and the 1980-81 winter close but it has been a while since winter has been so bitter.  Local schools will be going until the second week of June for sure to make up for snow and cold days, I am sure the "old-timers" like me will tell you young whipper-snappers about the "real" cold winter of 2013-14!

Since enjoying this kind of winter seems to require indoor activities, I have been reading as much as I can and expanding my little brain.  I am a bit focused on the East, as in Japan, right now and have read widely on this topic.  The internet is an amazing thing, isn't it?  I was thinking about Japanese poetry and its various forms.  I have seen poems in the "Tanka" format and I appreciate their depth beyond the more common haiku format.  Of course in the hands of a true master,these 31 syllables can tell a whole story.  The form usually is 5 7 5 7 7, or just 31 syllables.  Often the poem is done as part of a competition, for either the whole poem or the poet will complete the first 17 syllables and then a competitor will complete the last two lines or 14 syllables.  Basho, the 17th century master poet,  excelled at this and his haiku still inspire mora lines.

Below area two by a lowly, lowly imitator.  The contest is now open!  Enter by either submitting a whole poem in this format or as the first hokku to be followed by the 7-7 mora verse.  Prizes are yet to be determined but I am sure that they will be significant.  All entries will be published providing they aren't obscene.  My last poetry contest inspired someone in that direction and he was disappointed that I didn't publish it--thus the disclaimer.

The cold winter’s blast

Scouring land and man, too.

All shiver, the norm.

The sun weak, unsustaining,

unthawing, cold.  Blast winter.

Trees shatter, frozen

The sound sharp, the night too cold

Branches asunder

Sun shines with but faint warmth,

it failing as night begins

Good food, bad game, but nice light

I a watching a miserable football game and I am more than disinterested.  I am not a huge Peyton Manning fan but I do respect him and his team, and listening to them being shut out is disappointing.  It seems the best defense is perhaps better than the best offense.

I have to say that I ate well this weekend.  My house still smells of rosemary and mint from the very slow roasted beast that I made yesterday.  I would tell you what kind of beast but I would feel very "baaa-d" and couldn't tell ewe.  None-the-less, it was very good.  I browned it and then slow roasted it with lots and lots of rosemary and mint for 6 hours on low heat.  It fell apart and the richness of the roast was warm and filling, and the flavors and aromas  filled my house.  I served it with  fairly decent risotto that I made with woodland mushrooms, vegetables,  and even more rosemary and mint. It was complemented with a saucy yet deep box (hey, I am unemployed and on a budget!!!) of cab.    Plus I have lunch tomorrow!

Tonight I ramped up my vision of Superbowl food.  I had them slice some bacon very thin, so thin you could almost read through it.  I then wrapped figs, dates, prunes, and apricots with this bacon and roasted it.  With slim slices of real parmesan cheese and crunchy crusted bread, it was a treat.  I have heard that bacon is basically the duct tape of food, and this confirmed it.  The crunchy salty super thin bacon around the sweet fruit was a real treat. It wasn't perfect--I have some ideas for next time, but it very certainly was much better than a bag of Doritos and a can of cheese or "little smokies" in ketchup that you have to eat with tooth picks.

Lastly, there was nice light for photos.  I bought tulips just to remind me that spring will come sometime.  It will be awhile but it will come.  

In my continuing orgy of reading  I am re-reading James Clavell's Asian series.  They were written in the 1960s and 70s and the are a good, if unsubstantial read.   I have read more than 3,000 pages of his.    I think that I could be Japanese and treasure the simplicity that is sometimes revered.  I am a long ways from attaining any type of "wa" or approaching the religious goals of the Buddha or becoming Zen-like.  Still, tulips can provide a path towards simplicity and peace.  I hope.