Practice Mahalo

After a two month hiatus from blogging, I am returning with recollections--recollections of the two month hiatus from blogging. I do not feel like my vacation was a "whirlwind" or that it "flew by." Actually, eight weeks of vacation feels exactly like eight weeks of vacation when entire weeks are defined by a specific activity, reunions, and locations. This is the second entry of journal "highlights"--here is the first entry. These are excerpts from what I wrote while I was in Hawaii. More soon, friends and family!

Waving

01/06

I woke up about 24-hours-ago, but not a minute has moved on the clock. As the airport P.A. says, "Mahalo for your cooperation," I indulge a hot cup of $2 Starbucks and an invigorating second chance on the day. I'm excited to be surrounded by diversity and English; adrenaline and caffeine will need to power me through the remaining twelve-to-fourteen hours of the day. I took a two-hour nap on the plane, but I couldn't sleep more (despite hitting international coach jackpot with an empty row).

There are no knock-off "Beats by Dre" headphones.

Women bare skin while reading a newspaper on an outdoor bench in a garden in the middle of the airport.

Golf clubs spill onto the baggage claim belt.

*

The first drive after six months was refreshing: the azure gleam of the ocean, humpback whales spouting, sheer cliff-faces, coves, slow speed limits, and lowered windows.

Fish tacos.

Clouds billow into the West Maui crater as if they were volcano plume billowing out. Palm fronds whisper softly in the breeze.

As my eyelids start to feel heavy at just 2 pm, I check into the condo my family has rented for the week. A cleaner is there, so I leave for a quiet cup of iced coffee.

So many board shorts.

***

Confertzel: Interfaith Love and Marriage in Relation to Parents

In a recent conversation with two students I tutor, one student, John, bluntly asked: "Do you believe in--" He then paused to look-up a word on his phone's dictionary, "--God?"

This is a difficult topic to address regardless of a language barrier; to explain one's conceptions of "God" to someone who does not even know the word for "God" is a mental exercise in its own right.

John did not intend for the conversation to veer into philosophy, though. He quickly followed my simplistic answer with a story. John had recently proposed to his girlfriend: He showed me a silver band as validation and explained that modern Chinese custom is to use the engagement ring as an opportunity to exchange what Westerners might view as a "Promise Ring"--a non-diamond ring that signifies commitment but carries substantially less gravity. And given different economic standards, I am not surprised that the practice of giving a diamond ring (much less a three-months-salary-worth ring) is a rare occurence in China.

In any case, John's parents were not nearly as thrilled with his decision to propose to his girlfriend of fourteen months. According to John's mother, John "must" marry someone who believes in "God." John's girlfriend does not. (On a saddening side note, John's grandmother disapproves of John's girlfriend because she is not as pretty as John's cousin's wife. Therefore, John's grandmother and the rest of the family will "lose face" if he marries his girlfriend.)

"What can I do to change my mother's mind?"

Obviously, I advised honesty about his love. But I cautioned him that there are many details about the situation that make it so only he can truly find the "right" answer. I advised him to take into account the balance of tradition, legacy, familial love, independence, his own love, and his girlfriend's love. Then I asked him if he believed in "God": "No."

While I was out...

I suppose I should have expected that I would not have been able to live-up to my expectations to have posted at least one entry while on my whirlwind three-and-a-half week tour of the United States. Still, I am disappointed in myself for not writing just once. I barely even wrote in my personal journal. And I find that when I procrastinate [or avoid prioritizing] my written reflections, I tend to forget the pithy phrasings and descriptive language to which I sometimes dedicate hours of internal editing.

Alas! I have forgotten some of the whimsical and some of the refined observations on America and my American interactions that all seemed strangely familiar.

Flatirons, CO

Pilipin

Everybody! Pose like a Chinese schoolgirl!

This post is a continuation of the last--my recent series of lazy rehashing of my journal.

01/27:

My thoughts (especially those I deem worth writing) have slowed. Is this a sign of relaxation? A shift in mindset due to current state and prospective jobs? Or an indication of having processed my anxieties to a point of acceptance?
*
I pass-out to power ballads blasting on a bus between Clark and Manila. When I wake, it's to a dingy city covered in filth, billboards, box buildings, and few green things. During our brief walk to get bi-bim-bop, our senses are assaulted by honking cars, neon, whispering drug dealers, and self-advertising prostitutes.
*

01/28:

Street vendors and hustlers walk the aisles of our bus as we slowly drift through Manila traffic with the coach door open.

Children wearing only underwear sit on our fast-craft pontoon and beg while the sun beats on their tanned skin.
*
Thin beaches. Coves with bangkas. Perfect sunsets. Drunken admissions and mosquito net riggings. 

Beyond Those There Mountains

Ladies and Gents,

I have returned to Ann Arbor, Michigan. I am living with my girlfriend, Caitlin, and enjoying time with good friends--who work at places like this. I am currently writing international community health courses for International Medical Relief (the organization with which I teamed to go to Haiti and Ethiopia). Soon, I will compile briefing packets for upcoming I.M.R. missions. This is paying the bills, but I am looking for some more work to fill my hours, to pad my bank account, and to instill myself with a sense of purpose when I can so easily spend my daylight hours wasting away with Netflix instant and "Lost" marathons.

I recently returned from a week in Colorado with my parents and Caitlin (C). We were blessed with fortunately sunny and warm weather, even when we took two days in Keystone--where we received a half-off discount on lift tickets because of an executive chef we met at a sleigh-ride dinner in a valley ranch once used for gold mining and lettuce farming. Speaking of food, the week was filled with childhood classic eateries as well as recent additions to the Zwiebel Family Favorites:

-Fish tacos at Wahoo's
-Pad thai at Saigon Terrace
-Garden burger sliders, carrot-ginger-cumin soup, and chorizo omelette at Root Down
-Pad see yew at Wild Ginger
-Colorado style mountain pizza pie at Beau Joe's in Idaho Springs
-Chicken shwarma at Saj
-Chicken curry wrap and tea infused ice cream at Dushanbe Tea House
-Butterscotch fudge ripple, heath bar based, dulce de leche, espresso-based-chocolate-covered-espresso-bean, etc ice creams from Likk's
-Scallion pancakes at Jade Garden

A visit to the Denver Art Museum here, a tour of my childhood hot-spots there. Though C got a little ill towards the end of the trip--as per usual--we both had a wonderful time with my parents. No drama. Except when we played Cranium. Lots of laughter there (e.g. my dad shouting chest hair for a sensosketch of corsage or me trying to hum "Sexual Healing" to C). Good drama. Oh! And the drama of watching my 8th grade musical--in which I played Henry Higgins of "My Fair Lady." Man. I sure do maintain a painful tone deafness throughout my years.

Now that I have returned to Lady Ann, I am resettling and discovering my perceptions of the city have shifted. I am, obviously, no longer focusing on the "college town" side of the city; instead, I am taking in the city as a conduit to pursuing my passions and living a sustainable, happy lifestyle. So far, so good.

For the future, I am awaiting a reply from Princeton in Asia (my first choice) about the coming fall's fellowship prospect. I should know by Tuesday. I have been accepted to the American Jewish World Service Fellowship in India, which I am very excited about. Also, I have been accepted to teach English in Shenzhen courtesy of the Chinese Bureau of Education. There may be some tough decisions ahead, but the good news is that I will be on an enriching program abroad this fall.

Hooray!



This too.