A Global Citizen

In the past week I have seen many articles concerning the influence of politicians service (or non-service) in Vietnam.  Most recently, Richard Blumenthal claimed he served when actually he did not.  During the presidential election of 2004 there was a big issue about the “swift boat” soldiers and to be honest, I forget what the controversy was and really do not feel like looking it up.

Being an American who has lived in Vietnam, I really cannot understand why (in what it would seem) in every political election we have to keep mentioning Vietnam and who did what there.  I am no academic on the issue but what I can tell you is that what happened there certainly was not good for either country and therefore do not understand why it would be seen as a political “badge of honor” for current politicians.

Perhaps it is a generational thing.  I was born just after the war and if I do my calculation right then these politicians must be around 50 years old.  I’m also a bit confused because when I listen to the music of their generation it would seem like many were against the war so why would it be seen as a positive thing to have participated now?  I understand the “service to country” aspect of it, but would it not be best forgotten as a very difficult period and time to move on?  What happened to the “Beetles Generation” and the message of peace, love and getting along with people?  When did it switch to “how good of a soldier were you?”

I don’t know the answers to any of these questions and from my experience I would describe the political climate as a sort of “bizarro world” in which participating in an awful war scores political points.  Could participation just be seen as neutral?  Why does advocating peace during that time not score any points?

Again, I was born after the war ended and can only relate my experience in Vietnam which might explain why I think all this “Vietnam” talk is crazy.

I lived there for a period of two years and would have absolutely no problem moving back should circumstances permit it.  I find the Vietnamese to be very wonderful people and extremely open and friendly.  In fact, the Vietnamese are some of my favorite people should I set about comparing people of different nations.  So, when I come back to the USA and have to listen to politicians try and score points off each other concerning a terrible war I get a little sick to my stomach.

There are some things I could write that would definitely not be very popular but this is not what concerns me.  I have a large amount of Vietnamese friends and to drag up all those painful memories would be a disservice to everyone.  So I’m just going to write a very quick summary from the things I have learned both from American and Vietnamese points of view.  If there are any academics out there please feel free to correct if I’m in error.

A Quick History Lesson – With things most likely not taught until university…

- The French were in Vietnam for quite a long time.  Colonialism is when a stronger country takes over a weaker country and uses the resources and population for their own benefit.  Some Vietnamese do well by this but I would say a large majority resent being subjugated by the larger power.  Ho Chi Minh often talked about racism and the unjust treatment many Vietnamese suffered at the hands of the French.  His principal aim was simply to get the French out of Vietnam and restore sovereignty.

Through his writings he eventually came to be seen as a leader and from what I understand was looking for ANY ally to help him drive out the French.  The following is cited from Wikipedia

“he petitioned for recognition of the civil rights of the Vietnamese people in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks, but was ignored. Citing the language and the spirit of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Quốc petitioned U.S. PresidentWoodrow Wilson for help to remove the French from Vietnam and replace it with a new, nationalist government. His request was ignored.”

Apparently, the western nations had no problem with an Asian country being under the thumb of another western nation so no support there.  The only choice Ho Chi Minh had was to turn to Russia and China.  I wonder what would have happened if his requests had not been ignored.  Perhaps it is safe to say things could have turned out to be completely different?

Time goes by and Ho Chi Minh returns to Vietnam to lead the independence movement.  He again PETITIONS THE USA FOR HELP and is ignored.  He even tried to base the independence on borrowings from French and American declarations as stated here by Wikipedia:

After the August Revolution (1945) organized by the Việt Minh, Hồ became Chairman of the Provisional Government (Premier of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and issued a Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam that borrowed much from the French and American declarations.^[13] Though he convinced EmperorBảo Đại to abdicate, his government was not recognized by any country. He repeatedly petitioned American PresidentHarry Truman for support for Vietnamese independence,^[14] citing the Atlantic Charter, but Truman never responded.

Time goes on and Ho Chi Minh finally drives out the French.  Yet, as a condition of the treaty the western powers decide to split the country with Ho Chi Minh in the North and non-communists in the south.  (Divide and conquer anyone?)

Then the Americans support the south and China and Russia support the north.  As stated by a good friend of mine, the Americans “sent advisors, then more advisors, then the advisors started shooting.”  American invades and I don’t think any more explanation is necessary.

What I am getting at with the history lesson is I find it amazing that Ho Chi Minh asked the USA to please add support in driving out a suppressive French regime only to be ignored, then attacked.  If the world had done the right thing and helped them gain independence then it would most likely follow we would have a very good relationship with Vietnam and avoided a war entirely!

Now, fast forward to this decade and my time spent there.  As I already mentioned, I find the Vietnamese to be some of the kindest, warm-hearted people in the world.  Yet, from history lessons I really could not connect why in the world we ever let a war happen?  I’m sure some will say for “this reason and that” but given that Ho Chi Minh asked numerous times for help just to get a colonialist power out of his country I find myself in a world that simply doesn’t make any sense.

Being that the only thing I knew in the beginning was about the war, I quickly found myself at the “War Crimes Museum.”  From the images and things I saw, let’s just say they were ALL BAD and when a current politician wants to flippantly bring up the war I believe they should do so with some of those images I saw right next to their stupid faces.

I also saw many of the lingering after affects such as what happens to people when they come into contact with agent orange and how it affects their offspring.  This is not good either.

But I no longer wish to write about that period but rather the Vietnam that exists today.  I only wrote those things to get some people to understand the horror of war, the inexplicable events that lead up to it and to remind people that the politicians who continually want to bring up the Vietnam,,, er excuse me, American war, are all idiots.

Vietnam today is a country that is focused on the future. They have a great amount of enthusiastic young people who are very excited to learn about the world and build Vietnam into a great nation.  I cannot tell you how many smiling young people I saw and how it really made me feel glad.

I also saw that America was also trying to heal the wounds and observed these developments.

1. Many US veterans doing wonderful things like building parks and schools.
2. The first direct flight to Vietnam from the USA since the war.  (United Airlines – I was at the party, think it was called “A Walk in the Clouds”)
3. US navy is allowed to dock at a Vietnamese port for the first time since the war
4. US companies setting up shop.

The Vietnamese view on the war is to forgive, forget and move on.  Why can’t the American politicians do the same?  My advice to you politicians is to get old quick and move out of office.  Let some people in who are not stuck in the ’60s and ’70s.

As a side note, I wish we could bring back my grand-parents generation so they could ground the entire generation of baby boomer politicians.

The title was just to get your attention.

I do not plan to get into politics at all with this post, (well maybe a little, I can’t help myself) but rather the VERY INTERESTING revelations I’ve had during my language studies.  These are the enlightenments which really made language learning fun and keeps the passion burning.  I am certain these will be as entertaining for you as they was for me.  The only difference is that it took me 10 years to learn these lessons and I’m going to show you in one blog post.

Further, these are FUN!  I wish my teachers would have pointed these things out from the beginning.  Academics often have a very serious talent for quickly making subjects boring.  :-(

As for speaking Amerikan, how much attention do people pay to their own language?  For most, it is just a bunch of sounds arranged in a certain order to express a thought.  But how were these sounds formed, where do they come from?  Can one language be “better” than another?

I don’t know the answer, I just hope this post will open a few closed minds to the joys of language.

I.  Kanji (The Chinese/Japanese symbols)

I’ll start with Kanji (漢字) as many might find this interesting.  Kanji is a picture symbol which represents an actual idea or physical thing.  Most of us would know what hieroglyphics are and Kanji is like that.  They can be put together to form a language but also have an actual meaning by themselves.

Learning Kanji can seem very difficult.  In fact, basic Kanji is very easy because they are just pictures.  The fact that there are tens of thousands of Kanji and they become very complex is what makes them difficult.  But exploring the basics, let me relate a few examples that are very easy.

a.) 人  -  This means “person.”  It is just a stick figure of a person.

b.) 大　-  This one means “big.”  It is the stick figure with his arms stretched out.

c.) 木 –  This looks similar to the top two but it means “tree.”  The bottom lines are the roots and the top are two branches and a top

d.) 本 – This means “origin.”  We can see the tree but there is a horizontal line at the bottom.  This line asks you to pay attention to a certain area which is the root.  It is drawn across one root and this root came from a seed.  Since a seed is the origin of the tree, this kanji means “origin.”

Now, let’s do my favorite

a.) 大 – You know this one already.

b.) 羊 – This means “sheep.”  How the heck did they get “sheep” out of this?  Well, just draw the outline of a sheeps face around the bottom half and the two pointy things on top are the horns.

c.) 美 – This one means “beautiful.”  The sheep is on top and the kanji for “big” is on the bottom.  Therefore, one would think it means “big sheep,” but no, somewhere along the line someone thought a “big sheep” might be beautiful and so that is what it came to mean.  Perhaps a larger sheep could be sold for more money which is beautiful?  I don’t know, I’m really reaching here.

-On a political side note, Kanji was imported into Japan from China.  Chinese/Japanese relations have been less than friendly for as long as one can remember but from reading “The Tale of Genji” (源氏物語) we see that 1000 years ago the Japanese aristocracy considered Chinese writing was superior to Japanese.  Just don’t point this out to any Japanese today (@.@)  It’s a great read and perhaps the most famous novels in Japan.  Genji was a playboy and got all the girls!

Back to Kanji, now you will never forget any of the above Kanji.  See!!!  Wasn’t that easy?  Now just learn 10,000 more and you’ll be fluent.  :-)

The interesting fact about this is that in Japanese class they would just have us memorize the Kanji as a whole and tell us a certain kanji means a certain thing.  Yet, one day, a Chinese classmate pointed out the origins of the individual pieces which made it really easy!!!  I was amazed to learn that the Japanese cannot do this but the Chinese can.  So, at the bar that night I informed a Japanese friend of mine about this and was making fun of him.

Yet, he promptly turned the tables on me which brings me to my next point

II. Deconstructing English

What my Japanese friend was so kind to point out was that we English speakers cannot do this the English language!  Many English words (especially the difficult ones) are constructed by combining various “parts.”  This really becomes apparent if we understand the Latin root of the word and if one has studied say French or Spanish (or Latin) then even very difficult English words become easy.  Let’s do an example.

1. Con – In Spanish, this means “with,” or “together.”   A variant is “com.”  Now that we know this, anyone can understand the meaning of the following words:

a.) Combine
b.) Construct
c.) Computer
d.) Conglomerate
e.) Congeal
f.) Conflagrate-  This one some people might not know.  Yet, if we understand what “con” means then we can come very close to guessing the meaning
Con – with, together
Fla     —- Flare, Flash, Flame
Ate – A past action (as a suffix)

2. Mal – In Spanish this means “bad.”  So in English we can figure out the following

a.) Malediction
b.) Malfeasance
c.) Malicious

- They all mean something a little different but the basic meaning is something “bad.”

Going off track a bit, what are the origins of “good” and “bad?”  My favorite explanation comes from Nietzsche in his “Genealogy of Morals” He argues that the high ranking people consider “good” simply succeeding or perhaps doing something worthy of God (A connection between Good and God here?) Whereas “Bad” is not achieving, doing something unworthy of “God.”  Here is a quick excerpt:

“On the contrary, it was the “good people” themselves, that is, the noble, powerful, higher-ranking, and higher-thinking people who felt and set themselves and their actions up as good, that is to say, of the first rank, in opposition to everything low, low-minded, common, and vulgar.”

But I do not intend to go down the rabbit hole of philosophy.  So going back to deconstructing words my last example is the following:

3. Mort – In French it means “death.”  This time, instead of trying to understand what each word means, let’s just concentrate on how these words make us feel.

a.) Morticia
b.) Mortgage
c.) Mortuary

Therefore, if you have to take the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) then instead of just trying to memorize everything, just learn Spanish or French and it is easy as pie.  (metaphors are a whole other ball of wax – pardon the pun)

Finally, once we really get into the origins of the English language we can see the various influences each invading tribe (of England) had on the language.  Saxons, Romans, Germanic tribes all contributed to the English language and therefore made it a complete mess in terms of linguistic purity.

III. Country Names

One of the most fascinating facts I learned is that the origin of country names simply come from the name of the tribe of people who lived there.  Or, in some cases, a symbolical meaning.

1. England –  Eng Land.  The land of the English
2. Germany – In German it is Deutschland.  Deutsch Land – Land of the Deutsch.
3. Pakistan – “Stan” means “land.”  - Land of the Paks
4. Afghanistan – Land of the Afghans
5. Turkmenistan – Land of the Turkmen (and so on with all the other “stans”)

It changes a bit when we get into East Asia.

1. 日本 – Nihon (Nippon) This is Japan in Japanese.  The English people couldn’t say “Nihon” but they tried and came close.  Over time this it eventually just became “Japan.”

If we look at the Kanji we can see the true meaning:

- (日)  This is just a a drawing of a sun.  It used to be round but was squared off over time then a line was drawn through it
- (本) – Remember this meant “origin?”  Therefore, Japan means “The origin of the Sun” or translated more properly “Land of the Rising Sun.”

It seems to me some translator along the way took some liberties with including “rising” in there but it does sound better

2. 中国 – This means “China” in Chinese.  The meaning is “Middle Kingdom” because since China was so powerful, they considered themselves in the center of the world.  (and still do!)

- 中 – This Kanji means center.  It is a square with a line going right through the center.

- 国 – The square is the land and (玉) means jewel or Jade.  I could be a little off so please correct me if I’m wrong.  I’m guessing if we deconstruct the Kanji for “country” then it would be a jewel in a “land,” if that makes any sense.

3. Vietnam (越南)

This one takes some explanation.  First of all, in ancient times, Vietnam was called “Au Lac.”  It was also known as Lac Viet.”

I have trouble finding out where “Viet” comes from.  My guess is that it was the name of their tribe.  When we look at the Kanji above the first one (越) means “Viet” and the second one (南) is pronounced “nam” and is the character for “South.”

Therefore, my theory is that the Chinese called the country the “Viets in the South.”

IV. Mentality Change

The question is, does language form our thoughts or is it the other way around?  I would argue that our language is what gives structure to our thoughts.  Therefore, when we think in English we also “reason” in English.  In the English language there are biases and limitations to what we are able to conceive.  If we desired to be “rational” it would most likely be beneficial to dispense with any spoken language and just “speak” in mathematics.

When we learn another language, we are also learning a completely new “mentality.”  The way one thinks about things changes along with the language.  It is true that we can “translate” with great accuracy but there are subtle changes to the meaning.

Perhaps a decent example would be something I just saw on Youtube.  This guy downloaded and uploaded a video file 1000 times.  Eventually, you cannot make out anything in the video as it is so distorted.  The same would happen if one tried to translate an idea into another language and then continued on from the second language to others and repeated a number of times.  Eventually, the original meaning would become completely lost.

I’m not sure if I can think of a super great example to demonstrate but I’ll give it a go.  I won’t use English/French/Spanish because they are too close on the linguistic tree.  Instead, let’s do English/Japanese.

-  English – I want to eat spaghetti
The stress of this sentence is on “I.”

- Japanese – Spaghetti tabetai – Spagetti wants to be eaten
The stress is on the Spaghetti

-Of course it is translated “I want to eat spaghetti” but really the focus is taken off the person who wants to eat the spaghetti and put on the spaghetti itself.  And the real kicker is it could mean “Do you want to eat Spaghetti!!”  All you have to do is change the inflection at the end as in a question.

“Spaghetti tabetai?”  - Do YOU want to eat spaghetti!!!!!

In fact, we basically have to guess who it is that wants to eat spaghetti since the pronoun (I, You, He, She, It, We, they) is completely missing.  When I first started learning my mind would beg me “WHO WANTS TO EAT THE SPAGHETTI??? I NEED TO KNOW!!!”  But over time, we learn to infer from the context who it is that wants to eat the Spaghetti.

It just goes to show that the people who invented “English” which just happen to be the English are very self-centered bast…. er, people!!!

The Japanese on the other hand are very sensitive to the feelings of the group.  Therefore, the language revolves around building consensus and it is very rude to say things in a straightforward manner.  (although it can be done).

Why are the Japanese like this you ask?  Well, one theory is that they have very little arable land and therefore cooperation was necessary to ensure the survival of the village.  So, in order to minimize conflict they structured the language to be very polite and get along with each others.  Guess it all makes sense why the English fought so much against themselves and each others.  Maybe if they spoke Japanese they would have fought less? !!!  HA!!

But, I’ve gotten off track.  The point of this, um, er, point, is to simply show that mentality changes in other languages.  Therefore, just because we have reasoned a problem out in “Amerikan” doesn’t mean the rest of the world sees the issue in the same way.

Damn, there I go with politics again.

V.  Language Changes

I have never really gotten along with Grammar Nazis.  In school, they teach us that grammar is static and cannot be changed.  Therefore, if I said, “Spaghetti I want to eat” and argued with the teacher that it is perfectly correct, I would have gotten detention.

Language changes over time and an easy way to understand this is trying to read “The Canterbury Tales,” by Geoffrey Chaucer.  (eow rædan þes?).  I picked it up for a read and it seemed as though it was in a different language.  Here is just one sentence.

“Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne.”

The grammar is not in the order we think it should be and just forget about understanding most of the words.

So, fast forward to today, the language will continue to change and one thing I would like to see is to drop “a” and “the” completely from the English language.  If we think about it are these necessary?  Asian students have a terrible time with them and I do not believe they really add any value to the sentence.  It doesn’t matter to me if you are “going to the store, “or “going to a store.”  In either case, “store will be visited!”

VI. The Sanitizing of English (Well, American English anyway)

I have noticed a trend in the past two decades of using certain phrases to “sanitize” or make less harsh the true meaning of an action or idea simply to make it more acceptable to the masses.  This was started by the politicians and instead of trying to justify the action as it actually is, they just changed the words to make the action more acceptable to the masses.

1. Boots on the Ground –  Increase in soldiers
2. Battle for hearts and minds – No longer war and death but instead something that would seem positive
3. Protecting my freedoms – Now, any military action is supposedly justified by this statement.
4. Loss of Life – Usually murder but just sounds so much better this way
5. Collateral Damage – Again, killing
6. Shock and Awe – Drop a big bomb on someone that kills many

and finally one that is not sanitized but is really active in our lexicon lately.

7. The FIGHT against (input here) – It seems that just about everything needs to be “fought” against nowdays.  From a linguistic perspective, it would appear that we are a very aggressive culture.  I don’t suppose “the collective solution” or “the path towards a peaceful resolution” hold as much power as “FIGHT.” If I were to try and list everything we are supposedly fighting against, I wonder if just about everyone and everything would be an enemy?

Well, it is late and I can think of no other things I would like to share.  Therefore, I’ll leave off with a final political point which I simply cannot resist doing.  For those of us who insist on everyone speaking only English, I’m afraid we would have to erase the following words and come up with “English” equivalents.  To show I’m a good sport, I’ll even offer some suggestions

1. Spaghetti – Thin strings in sauce
2. Taco – Meat in a shell
3. California – Land of the weirdos  (ROFLROFL)
4. Sushi – Raw fish on Rice
5. Hamburger – Meat paddy

Ok ok,,, I won’t leave off on a political point but rather a fun one.  And I’ll even stick with the food theme.  Let’s translate from English to Japanese to the Kanji literal meaning

1. Breakfast – Asagohan  - 朝ご飯 – Literally — “Morning Rice”
2. Lunch – Hirugohan – 昼ご飯 - Literally – “Afternoon Rice”
3. Dinner – Yuuhan – 夕飯 – Literally – “Evening Rice”

- AND if we make things even more complicated, Lunch, Dinner and Supper can mean different things in England.  Or is it Britain.  or is it The United Kingdom?  LOLOLOLOLOL

That’s all for now.  Ya es todo, Sayonara

I’ve been reading an increased about of chatter concerning the Arizona Immigration law and how many people are in support of deportations.  The amount of vitriol has reached an amazing level and therefore I feel a response is required.

It suddenly occurred to me that I’ve seen something similar to this before.

If folks are serious about deportations, then that involves the police going to a family’s house and forcibly removing the occupants and shipping them off, women, children and all.  This requires force.  Certainly there are many reasons we could think of for people to be deported and I wonder why stop with just the illegals?  In fact, this has been demonstrated by a recent Tea Party rally,,, er maybe Pink Floyd (I couldn’t tell the difference) in a movie that was made.  No further explanation is needed, I’ll just post the video.

Estoy bromeandoooooo.  La verdad es que yo odio lo que esta pasando aqui en los EEUU.  Parece que la intolerancia ya es muy alto y muchas personas no estan pensando con claridad.  Este video es solamente para demonstrar lo que puede pasar si seguimos este trayectoria.  Es una cosa bien triste no solamente para los deportados pero para los EEUU en general.

*Note to those that used translation programs:  あなたたちはばかですよ！

I was recently asked why I created this blog and what I hoped to gain out of it.  This really got me thinking and I’d like to explain my thoughts with a post.

Before, I get into the specifics of this blog, I think it would be beneficial to take a very brief look back on the history of the internet and how we got to this point.  It is hard to imagine that the internet is only just over a decade old but has changed so much.  I’d say the internet really went mainstream around 1996 and before long AOL had taken over a great portion of how people would connect.

In 1996 we would all log in and visit random websites but really were searching in the dark.  We would type in a term, get a bunch of pages and just click away with abandon.  Then along came AOL which put everything in one particular spot which we could use as our starting point.  I think it really became popular due to the “chat room” functions and allowing people to start communicating with each other.

It looked something like this:

This worked well for a few years but as connectivity became easier, AOL lost it’s edge.  Then came the portals such as Yahoo which offered the same thing but more bells and whistles.

Lycos, Google, AOL, Geocities and so on  fought for market share and then the dotcom crash happened and the internet really had no new super interesting new applications for a while.  Then Google takes off but we still had no great way to communicate with each other.

At this time I created a new static website but again, there was very limited functionality for people to interact.  It was also very cumbersome to continually try to update static links.  So, I switched to Movable Type which made things easier but still there was not much interaction with the readers except for a comment or two here and there.

The first website I can really think of that allowed people to connect after the chatrooms would probably be classmates.com.  You could look up your old friends but it was still not very interactive and all you could do was read their information.

Then came Myspace.  At first, people were a bit reluctant to put their personal information and pictures online but in time it started to take off.  Just when it was reaching it’s peak the whole Facebook phenomenon happens and over a period of about three years it seems like everyone is on it.

This brings us to today and the current issue is the privacy settings engulfing Facebook at the moment.  If we think back, it wasn’t long ago that people were mistrustful of the Facebook as a whole and not sure if they should put pictures and personal information up or not.  Now, FB is trying to bring together many other aspects of the web into their fold and the privacy issue starts up again.

Now, for the interesting part of this post, where will the internet go next?

If we look at what Facebook is at it’s essence, it is simply a way for friends/acquaintances/family and so on to connect with each other.  That is why most people signed up and the way they want Facebook to remain.  Yet, the internet is ever changing so now we have businesses wanting to use Facebook for commercial reasons, applications to be able to expand their usage and even companies trying to understand more about their employees.

Yet, it would seem the users are more comfortable with keeping the circle of “friends” kind of tight and for Facebook to remain true to it’s original intentions.  To skirt around this Facebook created “Facebook connect” which you can see on the left sidebar of this blog.  The purpose is to pull in other aspects of the web into the FB “hub.”  Some people don’t mind this at all and some take issue with it as they do not trust the dreaded “third party” monster.

But, if we look at what people are doing on Facebook, many are sharing articles, expressing their opinions and trying to use it for more than just a simple “hello, how are ya,” to their friends.  It would seem that many users want it both ways but to always retain their privacy but also pull outside information into their closed Facebook network.  It will be interesting to see how this all plays out but it is my bet that the internet will start marching towards more of a blog type “starting point” for individual users instead of centering everything simply around a network of friends. This network is just a small part in what can be done in the internet so that begs the question, what among all the applications of the internet use as an acceptable launching point for users?

Further, the framework of FB isn’t very conducive to building a complete profile that one might want to create due to it’s spartan, controlled design and the fact that things we post will eventually disappear into the void as time goes on.  The comments we post to friends, articles we share and things we write ultimately go away!

Again, FB at it’s essence is just a way for people to keep in general contact with each other.  Yet, we all have other interests we would like to develop but FB is just not the best platform in which to do so for reasons mentioned.

This is where I think blogs can play a major role.  It allows people to be more expressive without the fear of clashing with their own “real life” friends.  There also may be things that you would want to allow anyone to read which is not possible in FB as the network is closed among friends.

In the case of this blog, my interests lie in international experiences, cultural studies and world news.  I realized that I had a major network of international people that thought along the same lines and many of which were expressing these opinions in a limited way through FB.  They would post some topic, garner a few comments and then it would soon disappear.  The FB format just isn’t suited to developing ones interests the way a blog can.

Now if we look at a blog, it’s strong point is that it can bring together people to discuss and communicate on a certain interest but lacks the general social network that is very easy in FB.  We now have Google Friends and FB connect but Google Connect isn’t very popular and people are perhaps afraid of connecting with their very personal and private FB accounts.  There has to be a happy medium somewhere.

My thought with this blog was to first, pull together my international friends who like to write and give them a forum to do so.  Then add the social network functionalities and see what happens.  As this blog is on the internet and not closed in any way, (it is not constrained by the FB parameters) it could eventually attract more people who find this subject matter to their liking.

So what is happening is this:

1. People have their social network on FB
2. With blogs we are starting to be able to connect a close network (FB) with a certain interest (blog)
3. Other websites, businesses are  also jumping on the FB connect idea with limited success.

So the question is, will the user “starting point” remain Facebook or will it eventually shift to something else?  In other words, is FB the center of gravity around which every other aspect of the web revolves or will something else come along and pull FB out of it’s orbit?

One interesting site that combines blogs and social networks is Ning .  This is a very cool idea but as of yet I don’t think it is very popular.  Also, it has been rumored that they will start charging a fee for the service in July which is anathema to many internet users.  Yet, I am able to add this blog to the service and should Ning take off in popularity this would be a very good solution.

In closing, the reason I created this blog was simply to bring together “international people” and give them a very easy forum to express and share their opinions, cultural experiences, takes on international news all from their own unique perspectives.  Currently, FB just isn’t suited to the task and it remains to be seen if another service will gain the popularity FB has.  In either case, I’m sure whatever solution does emerge, I’ll be able to link this blog and continue building a community of smart, interesting, international people and this excites me.

Today I was reminiscing on the things I really missed in foreign countries that I just cannot find in America.  There were things I really missed about America when I was abroad, but I have been back awhile and am now taking them for granted.  So, my mind longs for these things and in case there are any who can bring them about let me list them here.  Please feel free to add comments if you can think of any others.

I.  From Japan

1. Techno Toilets

-  The toilets in Japan are far superior to those in the USA which basically have not changed in the past 100 years.

These toilets have:

a.  Heated seats
b. Bidet – Water to wash and can control the stream – Why don’t we have this!!!  This is so civilized!!
c. Running water sound when you sit- This is so people cannot hear you do your business!
d.  Half flush/Full flush – Water conservation

2. Take shoes OFF!!! (genkan)

- In Japan everyone takes their shoes off when entering a home.  I have never understood why we do not do this in America.  We walk around all day long outside but then walk on our beautiful carpets with our shoes that have stepped on who knows what outside.  Ever since I came back from Japan I simply cannot wear my shoes inside the house.

3. Public Transportation

- In Tokyo, for the most part, I simply needed my green Suica Card nestled inside my wallet and I would tap my wallet on the sensor to enter the metro (or bus) and again on the way out.  I didn’t need any complex agreements with any bank or financing agency either.  To recharge I simply stuck it in the machine, added money and the transaction was finished!

Contrast that with my first experience in San Francisco.  The Muni requires exact change and bus operators do not give change.  Therefore, you need to have exactly $1.50 to ride the bus!!  This was very frustrating as from my time abroad I had it built up in my mind that the USA was the most technologically superior country on the planet.  The muni experience crushed that fantasy pretty quick.

4. CoCo Ichibanya

- This is the best curry restaurant in the world.  Someone please start a franchise here in the USA and I will be your biggest patron.

II. Spain

1.) Siesta

- In America we do not have a siesta.  This is one aspect we really should have borrowed from southern Europe in that one gets to take a nap in the middle of the day!  We start out as kids in Kindergarten with nap time but unfortunately this privilege is soon ripped away from us.

I once had a debate with some business people (late 90’s) and they were telling me that Europe was falling behind because they weren’t working hard enough.  My argument was “falling behind on what??”  From our puritan English roots the American life has always been to work harder.  I have nothing against working hard but I have to admit I’m partial to working smarter, not necessarily “harder.”

Anyway, we work hard to get money to buy stuff.  Until recently the plan was simply to buy as much “stuff” as possible then retire.  I thoroughly believe that the path to happiness is not in how much stuff is acquired but rather how enjoyable life is through experiences, friends and family.  I’m also pretty certain that many people like sleep and what better way to refresh yourself and take care of your health than by taking a nice stress-free nap in the middle of the day!

If we think about “stuff” vs. sleep let us also consider the enjoyment we obtain from spending our time doing these activities.  If we accumulate a massive amount of stuff, we have to devote time to using the items we have purchased.  Now, if we ask ourselves if doing these activities are more enjoyable than sleep I think we might not be able to come to an easy conclusion.

2.) Neighborhood Cafés

- By this, I do not mean a sterile Starbucks.  Starbucks sells a cup of sugary syrup and everyone is a stranger in Starbucks.  I’m talking about a European style café where you can order a wonderful, plain espresso and actually meet with your neighbors to discuss the issues of the day.  Starbucks is killing this tradition even in Europe and I find that a shame.

III. Vietnam

1.) Company Outings

- I highly doubt we would be able to replicate this in America.  Not that we cannot replicate a company outing mind you, but rather the sheer enthusiasm and joy I found among the young workforce during their outings.  These young people were so happy to be able to go on a vacation on the company dime that I saw nothing but smiles from just about all of them.

At least once a year Vietnamese companies organize an outing to fun places like the beach.  They all pile in a bus, wear the same caps and shirts and even sing songs on the way there!  I had the privilege to participate in one of these and they asked us to get up in front of the bus and sing a song.  Unfortunately, not being used to these things I couldn’t think of a single song I knew by heart!!  I guess I was just a bit stunned at the request because surely I could have pulled out “Puff the Magic Dragon” or at least some other kid’s song but my mind was a blank.  Even if I had mangled the lyrics I’m sure nobody would have noticed but I had nothing.

These young people were just so happy to be going with their company on a trip it really warmed my heart.  Back here in America I just really think this could not be replicated.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

2.) Joy of life

- This may sound a bit corny but I have to say that I visited some VERY MEAGER homes in small villages during my time there.  In every case, the inhabitants always welcomed me with a smile and offered me something to drink.  These people have been through SO MUCH in the past couple decades and I could not understand what made them so cheerful!

- In the USA I think our focus has been too much on obtaining money.  We get the money, buy a new toy and then realize there are others who have more money and more toys.  So we obtain more money and more toys but then look up again and see we still do not have enough.  It’s an endless cycle.

Perhaps we should all take a lesson from these people in their villages and ask them why they smile so much?  Again, I don’t mean to sound cheesy about all this but this is something that really impressed me and is what I took away from my visits to their villages and that is that.

IV. Mexico

1. Family

- I found in Mexico that extended family is still very important.  In the USA we have our small nuclear families, many of which remain close.  However, in Mexico I found that the family bond is much greater and still a source of security.  There are hugs, kisses and a general sense of closeness I really admired.  Even outsiders really feel welcome when visiting a Mexican family if they understand the culture well enough.

The following is a bit of an exaggeration but gets the point across well enough (And yes, this family is Greek, not Mexican but it is close enough)

To further illustrate the point, there is a quote in this movie in which the Greek father uses an analogy to describe the American grooms parents.

“There like toast. My daughter is engagged to a person with parents that are toast. No honey No jam just toast, dry toast.”

This is a cultural aspect one can find in Greece, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Philippines and now that I think about it, just about every hot country near the equator.  I guess we are just a bit more formal in the USA.

*As a side note, on the other end of the spectrum we would find Japan.  I asked my wife what she would do when her mother comes out from the airport after not seeing her for a year.  The dialogue went like this:

Me: So are you going to give your mother a hug?
Wife: No
Me:  Really, that is sooooo weird!!!
Wife:  *shrugs*
Me:  But you’re excited right?
Wife:  Oh yes!
Me: So are you just going to bow a lot with a big smile??
Wife:  *Realizes the cultural difference and laughs until tears come out.

V. Britain

1. Tea Time

- In the USA we have breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Where I ask, in the history of the USA did we drop TEA TIME?

To be honest, I was never a fan of tea until I dropped into a Chinese tea shop in SF Chinatown.  I had more than a few samples and when I came out I was FLYING HIGH!!  I honestly didn’t know tea could do that and have switched from a morning coffee to a morning tea.

I remember there was a scene in The Lord of the Rings which alluded to this cultural difference in that Aragon (Viggo Mortensen) must not be an Englishman as he doesn’t know what “second breakfast is.”

Again, an exaggeration but I ask you in all seriousness, would we not all be better off with a second breakfast or at least Tea Time?

VI.  France

1. One month of vacation

- Yes, I understand we in the USA are hyper-capitaliste but would it not benefit us all to take one month of vacation?  Last time I checked, I had one week.

Well, that is all I can think of for now.  Be sure to add your comments if there is anything you may miss from your experiences abroad.