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Warning: I am about to do something unprecedented on this blog. I am about to talk about SPORTS. But what can I say? There's just something about international sports that interests me infinitely more than drooling over every move of whatever Hometown USA team you happen to idolize. Of course, it's not like I drool over the World Cup either. In fact, I missed the game today when the Czech Republic kicked our sorry arses. For that matter, it's not like I even know the players or all of the nuances of the game either...so I guess I make a pretty lame fan. I suppose I just like the excitement, the international scope of it, and the competition that it drives us all to (Sam was gloating all day today while Yoshi hung his head after they watched the Australia/Japan match together). And of course I like guys who play soccer!
But really, I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell a story from high atop the world in the totally chill city of La Paz, Bolivia. Back in the summer of 1998, I was there for a month, staying in a hotel/youth center across the street from the University where every World Cup game was broadcast to a crowd of students that was clearly beyond the limits of safe and acceptable room occupancy. But who cared? It was the Word Cup and they were absolutely wild over every game. It was fun to be there at that time, but also crazy just trying to get in and out of the hotel. One night when I was about to walk in, the guy right in front of me was so disoriented by the chaos that he actually walked right through the sliding glass door! It must have been cheap glass though, because he walked completely through it without a scratch and all of the glass fell out. While everyone who saw what had happened was in an uproar, I realized I couldn't get around any other way, so I just walked through the door after him!
Anyway, one day I was downtown with a few other American friends when all of a sudden I saw a microphone at the end of my nose and a well-dressed man standing before me, rattling off something in Spanish. When he stopped, clearly it was my turn to answer. "Como?" I mustered. Then, straining to understand, I realized he was asking me who I thought would win the World Cup. By this time, I'm pretty sure the USA was already out of the picture, but all of a sudden I was awash with American pride, raised my hands and shouted, "Los Estados Unidos!!" (The United States) and my comrades started shouting too. The newscaster just shook his head.
The end.
Hmmm...this title could be a bit misleading. I'm not planning on becoming a geisha anytime soon, but rather when my time of late has not been consumed with job hunting, it is being educated in the ways of geisha...via novel, documentary and blockbuster film. I think I'm actually over the phase now, but it began back in the fall when I picked up Memoirs of a Geisha at Barnes and read only about half of it before I realized that I needed to just put it aside for a day that would not be consumed with books of a less entertaining nature. The movie came and went in theaters with mixed reviews, but still I was determined to first finish the book. This past week, I finally had that chance, and fortunately, we have our own skinny resident Japanese guy to give his perspective.
Ying jumped on the bandwagon briefly as well and rented a documentary on geisha before we watched the film. The whole topic has heightened my sense of women's issues worldwide and has made me realize, again, that I need to delve more deeply and faithfully into women's issues from a theological perspective before I'm done with seminary. I don't have any especially deep thoughts to share at this point, but from a purely educational standpoint, a few things to note on geisha:
1. Geisha were originally men a few hundred years ago, who developed the trade as a type of entertainment business...they were not jesters nor courtiers, but neither were they prostitutes of any sort.
2. "Geisha" means "artist" and this is how they view themselves; as artists trained in music, dance, conversation and social entertainment...the pastime for the elite Japanese businessmen to enjoy.
3. Women somehow made their way into this occupation, and eventually took over completely, running the trade top to bottom with no men involved whatsoever.
4. Geisha never were and still are not common prostitutes, and are not trained in sex in any way, yet sex is still a factor. At one time, a geisha's virginity was auctioned off to the highest bidder, and if she could secure a wealthy sponsor, it was understood that she would be his mistress. The sale of virginity no longer exists today, but the sponsor/geisha extra-marital affairs still do, and again are seen as a privilege of the elite in Japan.
5. Geisha do not marry if they are to remain as geisha throughout their lives. Traditionally, geisha were young girls who were sold or forced into the profession because they had no other choice or chance for survival. Today, they still do not marry, but they choose to become geisha of their own free will.
6. The western world typically thinks of geisha as prostitutes because after WWII, many non-geisha Japanese girls would dress up as geisha and sell themselves to US soldiers. Even today there are "cheap" geisha who are not truly geisha and who provide a different kind of entertainment than true geisha.
The strangest part of it is the justification given for the men to enjoy this lifestyle: they were forced into unhappy arranged marriages (though not so much today), so of course they didn't talk to their wives and of course their wives didn't treat them as masters of the universe as the geisha did, and besides, the wives had to see to the house and children, so naturally it would be better for the husbands to spend their evenings with their friends and geisha at the teahouses (a fancy word for nightclub) after a long day at work. And if they sponsored their own personal geisha, they could enjoy the rest of the night with her as well. One woman in the documentary actually said something to the effect that of course she would be disgraced if her husband slept with a prostitute, but for him to have a relationship with a geisha (a half-wife of sorts) was actually honorable! This was a modern, well-to-do woman! Sadly, perhaps I do see why this is not a bad solution compared to potential alternatives, but...well, I'll stop here for now.
On the job front...lifeguarding maybe at a fitness club (I just want the free membership), maybe some on-campus stuff (not lifeguarding, unfortunately, unless we dig a pool sometime this year...but if I do get this campus job, let's just say all you WTS kids will want to be my best friend), and I am headed towards a promising career in the security industry! At least for this year. I start training next week.
That's all for now. Why am I still not tired?
Incredibly, I am now a Red Cross certified lifeguard! Not sure how that happened...I went into it thinking that there was no way I would pass, but last night I passed both the written and practical exams. So much for that positive thinking stuff...in fact, I think I go into most things in my life on a whim, just figuring it's worth a shot...rarely do I start anything with utmost confidence. Maybe I should come up with my own self-help theory and make a fortune. But anyway, actually going through the certification course has been a bit bittersweet in itself, because the last conversation I had with Tim was about lifeguarding...so for that reason alone, it felt good to pass the test.
Well, it's been a crazy past few weeks, which has been a fitting end for this crazy year. Funeral - Graduation - Wedding. And of course all the usual chaos of exams, relatives visiting, end of the year celebrations, people moving out and new people moving in. As Josh C. put it, for the graduates this year, the celebrations have been bittersweet, bookended literally by death and now life...a sobering reality check which isn't altogether unhealthy for seminary grads...and it was truly a blessing to all of us when they awarded Tim's degree to him posthumously at the graduation ceremony. We went from mourning the loss of a brother one week, to some pretty crazy dance floor exhibitions at the wedding reception the next. Even the Edgars were the first ones out on the floor:
And here's a real picture of the wedding...Mr. and Mrs. Lu:
Oh, and Sandrine caught the bouquet, that is, after she wrenched it out of the hands of the little girl in front of her:
Needless to say, Tiffany and I were both completely wiped out before even got to the "retreat" down at the shore, but it was great to spend a whole day with the kids, and we had fun, as you can see:
But the real kicker was when the rest of the WTS gang came down for Memorial Day and we spent the day relaxing on the beach while getting burnt to a crisp (some more than others) before heading back to Philly. Pile of Westminster students...does this picture seem, well, a bit strange to anyone besides me? (photo by Josh) It was pretty chilly on the beach and we were all so tired, so...
And my ol' buddy Stew was at his beach house, so I introduced the gang to him (photo by Yannick, aka Lobster):
Ophelia, the luxury beach car (photography skills of Yoshi-san):
One of those great summer thunderstorms is rollin' in, so I'd better get offline...but man, having this digital camera is GREAT! I gave Charis and Sandrine a hard time for taking over 2000 pics EACH in Israel, but at Grace and Lu's wedding, I took almost 1200 pictures in one day!! This is going to be a great summer.
