Well, I was finally motivated to throw together the first DISCOVER SOMETHING NEW letter since arriving in CZ. I hope you enjoy it (though the quality standard has definitely lost some steam). The last entry is a “quick and detailed” account of the most recent big steps in my life, and where I might be headed in a few days, and in a few months... Enjoy!
Wow!: The Japanese language has almost no plurals at all! 1 cow, 2 cow, 3 cow, 5,000 cow, etc! “I’d like 5,346 tomato, please.” This might not make such a big difference for an English speaker (“so you don’t add ‘s’ on the end, big deal..”), but for anyone who has studied a language like Czech where plurals nearly double the grammatical tribulations of speaking correctly, the lack of plurals is like a boon from heaven! 1 saké, 2 saké, 3 saké, floor!
What?!: From my limited reading on the subject, it has become clear that India is probably the most efficient nation on earth, simply because the poor allow NOTHING to be wasted. Our trash alone would be considered to be an affluence beyond imagination and survival for countless street-dwellers. ANY opportunity is turned into a niche for survival. There’s even an occupation for “hair-collector”, which is a man who travels around to barber shops and buys the discarded hair, which he sells at a meager profit to others who export the hair to international wig-makers. Have any of us ever thought twice before throwing away hair?!
World Problems: I don’t know how much coverage this is getting in most of the West, but I was shocked recently to hear about the riots in Kenya over the last two months. Kenya has been one of the most peaceful and successful nations of Africa for the last 25 years, and has been a leading example for other more troubled countries on the continent. But recent conflicts look disturbingly familiar, and in one way or another concern the very similar trouble that plunged Rwanda, Congo, Uganda, Sudan, and other countries into chaos.
Since Presidential elections in late December, which the opposition leader Raila Odinga said were rigged in favor of incumbent president Mwai Kibaki, over 1,000 people have been killed and 300,000 people displaced from their homes (according to the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/world/africa/06kenya.html?hp). The conflict is not only drawn along political lines but, like so many similar conflicts, along racial lines. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that in this part of the world ethnic and political lines are blurred beyond separation. President Kibaki is from the ethnic group Kikuyu, which has long dominated central Kenya and national politics. Odinga is Luo, perhaps the second most powerful ethnic group in Kenya that has a long history of squabbles with the Kikuyu. The political tension have sparked the long-festering racial tensions that still run strong through much of central Africa, but which Kenya has been able to mitigate, until now.
As negotiations continue between the two parties, political riots and chaos continue to give opportunity for settling old scores and venting racial animosity. Even if the two political leaders can make an agreement between themselves, there’s no longer any assurance that they can convince their followers to peacefully accept any compromise. Additionally, the tourism that has allowed for the country’s moderate financial success has plummeted, as already perhaps several billion dollars have been lost, and several billion more will likely be lost before tourists feel safe to return (NY Times). In a country that had a GDP of $17.43 billion 2005, that’s no small loss. Whether or not Kenya can again rise above this disaster has almost become a moot point, as the former role-model of central African nations has been badly tarnished.
One final fact that is completely unrelated but that might be interesting: In the late 1950s a Luo man (the same ethnicity as Raila Odinga, the opposition leader) born in south-west Kenya traveled to the USA as a foreign student, and there married a woman from Kansas. In 1961 they had a son, whom he named Barack Obama Jr.
Actually...: There is a strange tendency among the great international Czech heroes throughout history: they often are not completely Czech. Now remember that I’m speaking about the Czech figures that are well known in other countries, and often represent the Czech people in the eyes of outsiders. For example, the greatest leader of the Czech nation, Charles the Fourth (of Charles Bridge and Charles University fame), who was King of Bohemia as well as Holy Roman Emperor and led the Czech nation during its undeniable Golden Age of the 14th century, was actually only half Czech, on his mother’s side, and descended from the Kings of Luxemburg on his father’s side. The internationally best-known “Czech” author, Franz Kafka, was a Czech-born German, and all his literary work was in German. Arguably the internationally best-known living Czech author, Milan Kundera (“The Unbearable Lightness of Being” “The Joke”) really is Czech, but has lived most of his life in Paris, now writes in French, and has publicly declared that he will never write in Czech again. Josef Dobrovský, a major figure in the Czech national revival movement of the 19th century, was ethnically Czech but was born in Hungary, learned Czech as a second language, and wrote entirely in Latin and German. Not surprising for the time, but still! The most striking example of this idea came in 2005 when CZ broadcasted it’s audience-participation show called “the greatest Czech,” to determine the most popular figure from all Czech history and culture. The overwhelming winner of the nation-wide voting was Jára Cimrman, popularly known as a great playwright, poet, composer, teacher, traveler, philosopher, inventor, detective and sportsman from the 19th and early 20th century. The trouble is that, as everyone knows, Cimrman never existed, being only a fictional character in a series of popular Czech theater performances. So the “Greatest Czech” is fictional!
Really, the true “big-name” international Czechs are a small group, perhaps limited to Jan Hus in the 14th century (John Hus, the religious reformist who spoke against the Catholic church in the tradition of Luther, 100 years before Luther!), and Vaclav Havel of today (the political reformer who protested the socialist rule in Czechoslovakia who became CZ’s first president). It’s interesting to note that of those two, one was burned at the stake and the other spent years in prison under torture. Maybe that has something to do with why there aren’t more in their company!
The Big Picture: A fascinating study was completed a few months ago, an attempt to create the first ever “World Map of Happiness.” Taking in data from all over the place (UNESCO, CIA, the New Economic Foundation, UNHDR, etc.) and synthesizing more than 100 studies of 80,000 people world-wide, a complete world map has been constructed. Of course it’s not perfect, but aims to quantify people’s subjective appraisal of their contentment, leaning on the adage that “if you think you’re happy, then you are, right?”
There are many really stunning results from this list, and I wish I could comment on every entry, but I’ll keep my remarks short and let you look at the list yourself. First of all, where do you think your country falls on the list? Guess before looking below. A number between 1 and 178, where 1 is happiest and 178 is the very fire of hell on earth, what number does your country have (see complete list at the very end of this letter)?
Well first of all, we’re all wondering which country is the MOST happy, right? And the winner is... Denmark! That’s right, cold winters, small size, and suicidal Shakespearean princes not withstanding, Danish citizens scored higher than any other nation.
Also, think about the popular notion of a happy country being a warm tropical island somewhere in the ocean... and now think about the weather in the top 10 countries... okay, Bahamas and Brunei are there, but isn’t it surprising that half of the countries have a latitude of southern Canada or higher?
This list also supports my steadily growing respect for Scandinavia. These countries of Northern Europe dominate the list (Norway is #19, still higher than most of Europe). If anyone’s interested (let me know!) I’ll do some research to find out why I think this is. Hey, you Northern Europeans reading this, why so happy?
Then we come to the other side of the scale. Out of 178 countries, Russia is number 167. Only 10 countries in the world are more unhappy than Russia, and all of those are very much the “developing world.”
But the most surprising score for me was Ukraine. I know several people from Ukraine, and they have always seemed to be a friendly, happy, and open people. Their score, 174. Perhaps the fact that all the Ukrainians I’ve met were living OUTSIDE Ukraine is a key factor...
Anyway, peruse the list and be sure to send me your thoughts and reactions. If you have some internationally-minded friends try playing the “guess the country’s happiness level” game. :-)
1. Denmark 2. Switzerland 3. Austria 4. Iceland 5. The Bahamas 6. Finland 7. Sweden 8. Bhutan 9. Brunei 10. Canada
Other notable results include:
23. USA 35. Germany 41. UK
46. Spain62. France
77. Czech Republic 82. China 90. Japan 125. India 167. Russia
174. Ukraine
The three least happy countries were:
176. Democratic Republic of the Congo 177. Zimbabwe 178. Burundi
Sources:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061113093726.htm
http://www.le.ac.uk/users/aw57/world/sample.html
Question: How would you respond to this statement: “Culture is only skin deep.” (email me your responses!)
On A Personal Note: “Night has already fallen. If you walk without a light it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will become lost, but you will not know if you are lost or not, and the trauma of the moment will come out the same...
To elaborate...
The most significant new event in my life is that in three days I’ll be taking my first trip outside CZ since arriving in September. So of course I’m excited about it, but I must admit that this trip isn’t exactly a pleasure trip, nor would the be destination my first choice if the decision were completely up to me. While I didn’t expect to be returning to the soil of the USA for several years, I’ll be in Boston next Sunday and Monday. The reason?: Attending the most inconveniently timed and placed interview in my life, hopefully ever.
The interview is for the JET program (The Japanese Exchange and Teaching program: http://www.jetprogramme.org/). For those of you who don’t know that I’ve been seriously looking into teaching in Asia, I’m sorry I haven’t kept you more in the loop. This interview is the first concrete step in an already long process of trying to determine what the next chapter of my life is meant to be. I’ve been looking at spending a year teaching in Asia after this year in CZ, and slowly went through the possibilities in China, Korea, and finally several different sources brought the JET program in Japan to my attention. It seemed to fit. The main reasons are as follows: that for a variety of reasons Japan has become more interesting to me than other Asian countries; the salary for JET is about 5 times what I make in CZ, and having a little savings would be a nice change; JET is the only government-sponsored teaching program in Japan, so it’s more stable and reliable than most of the private language companies (English conveyor-belts, I call ‘em); JET places most of its participants in rural areas, which I feel would give me a more horizon-broadening experience than being in one of the massive cities (where most language schools are).
Those are the “pluses” in a nutshell, and I’ve already gone through an unbelievably rigorous paper application process in November (which ended by me sending more than 1 ½ pounds of paperwork to the Japanese embassy in Washington DC).
After sending in the application I had to wait 2 months to know if I’d been accepted for an interview, and I spent the time struggling over what my decision would be. I’d discovered shortly before sending off my application that all interviews were required to be in person, and in the country of residence, and there was no way for me to wiggle out of it. That meant flying back to the States just for a single interview, for a job I might or might not get, and then in August flying back again to catch the paid-for group flight to Japan. That would be a considerable price to pay when it would be possible to find other, less ideal programs in Japan or another country that could result in a similar experience.
So when I received an email a couple of weeks ago offering me an interview in Boston, I had to make up my mind quickly. The number of factors going through my head are too many to go into detail here, but of course the most difficult element was determining if this was God’s will. I’m struck again by the irony of how comforting it can be at time to commit your life in the hands of someone higher and wiser, and then how frustrating it can be at other times to stay consistent with that commitment. I’m honestly not sure that God wants me to go to Japan, wasn’t sure he’d want me to take the interview, etc. And while trying to finalize decisions before deadlines, I’ve struggled with the desire to stay focused on the plan of a God for whom “all time is soon.” I’ve been through this before, but somehow it never gets easier, except perhaps for the slowing growing trust that everything WILL work out, as long as I stay open.
Staying open is hard when you have to commit yourself to a course of action, and that was my difficulty. I didn’t feel peace about risking so much money and time on a single interview, but mainly didn’t feel peace about “my plan” in general. Two things happened to give me confidence to make a firm step forward. First of all I sent out a request for prayer to a few friends and family members, explaining the situation. The response was completely unexpected, when several of my family members (independent of each other) wrote me that they thought this was too important of an opportunity to pass up, and that they wanted to contribute to the cost of the trip to Boston and back. Their offers added up to a little more than the cost of the entire trip, including lodging and food! This was a strong sign to me, that if God DIDN’T want me to go to the interview, he really needed to work on his communication. :-/ I’m so grateful to those people, whose unexpected and selfless offers of financial help were probably more valuable to me as signs of direction than even the financial help itself (which itself was nothing to snort at)!
Still I couldn’t move forward until another step was made. I had to honestly let go of being “set on” going to Japan, being set on leaving CZ at all, and let God make the call. Once I was truly prepared to give that up, prepared to follow God’s plan in a different direction, and once I gave Him the unconditional opportunity to reject the interview, only then did I feel comfortable to go. It’s hard to explain, as these things always are, but once I was in a place where I felt honestly prepared to hear and accept whatever alternate plan God had, and when no alternate plan was forthcoming, I felt content with going to the interview. It doesn’t mean I’ll get the job, or even that God plans for me to go to Japan, only that he is okay with me going to Boston. The next step will be the next step.
So that’s where things are at for the moment. I’m looking forward to the trip just to get on the road again and see some new places. I’ll be stopping in Dublin for a day on each side of the trip (it’s about $800 cheaper that way!), and I’ve never been in Dublin or Boston, so that should be interesting. But it doesn’t change the fact that this is pretty insane, even for me. I’ll be sleeping in a different bed each night, be on a different plane every day, spending about $800 dollars, all for one meeting... and the real kicker is that once I’d bought my tickets and confirmed my attendance, I received a reply from JET saying “Thank you for you confirmation. Your interview will be on Monday, Feb 25th, at 11:40. Each interview will last about 15 minutes...” Yes, insane indeed. I won’t know the results of the interview until mid April, so around that time I’m sure there’ll be another round of soul-searching and guidance-seeking. I’ll just have to burn that bridge when I come to it!
That’s the news for now. Take care everyone! I appreciate your prayers and support, and I’ll try to keep you informed. c:
Nations
1. DENMARK
2. SWITZERLAND
3. AUSTRIA
4. ICELAND
5. BAHAMAS
6. FINLAND
7. SWEDEN
8. BHUTAN
9. BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
10. CANADA
11. IRELAND
12. LUXEMBOURG
13. COSTA RICA
14. MALTA
15. NETHERLANDS
16. ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
17. MALAYSIA
18. NEW ZEALAND
19. NORWAY
20. SEYCHELLES
21. ST KITTS AND NEVIS
22. UAE
23. USA
24. VANUATU
25. VENEZUELA
26. AUSTRALIA
27. BARBADOS
28. BELGIUM
29. DOMINICA
30. OMAN
31. SAUDI ARABIA
32. SURINAME
33. BAHRAIN
34. COLUMBIA
35. GERMANY
36. GUYANA
37. HONDURAS
38. KUWAIT
39. PANAMA
40 ST VINCENT AND THE
41. UNITED KINGDOM
42. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
43. GUATEMALA
44. JAMAICA
45. QATAR
46. SPAIN
47. ST LUCIA
48. BELIZE
49. CYPRUS
50. ITALY
51. MEXICO
52. SAMOA WESTERN
53. SINGAPORE
54. SOLOMON ISLANDS
55. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
56. ARGENTINA
57. FIJI
58. ISRAEL
59. MONGOLIA
60. SAO TOME AND PERINI
61. EL SALVADOR
62. FRANCE
63. HONG KONG
64. INDONESIA
65. KYRGYZSTAN
66. MALDIVES
67. SLOVENIA
68. TAIWAN
69. TIMOR-LESTE
70. TONGA
71. CHILE
72. GRENADA
73. MAURITIUS
74. NAMIBIA
75. PARAGUAY
76. THAILAND
77. CZECH REPUBLIC
78. PHILIPPINES
79. TUNISIA
80. UZBEKISTAN
81. BRAZIL
82. CHINA
83. CUBA
84. GREECE
85. NICARAGUA
86. PAPUA NEW GUINEA
87. URUGUAY
88. GABON
89. GHANA
90. JAPAN
91. YEMEN
92. PORTUGAL
93. SRI LANKA
94. TAJIKISTAN
95. VIETNAM
96. IRAN
97. COMOROS
98. CROATIA
99. POLAND
100. CAPE VERDI
101. KAZAKHSTAN
102. MADAGASCAR
103. SOUTH KOREA
104. BANGLADESH
105. CONGO REPUBLIC
106. GAMBIA
107. HUNGARY
108. LIBYA
109. SOUTH AFRICA
110. CAMBODIA
111. ECUADOR
112. KENYA
113. LEBANON
114. MOROCCO
115. PERU
116. SENEGAL
117. BOLIVIA
118. HAITI
119. NEPAL
120. NIGERIA
121. TANZANIA
122. BENIN
123. BOTSWANA
124. GUINEA-BISSAU
125. INDIA
126. LAOS
127. MOZAMBIQUE
128. PALESTINE
129. SLOVAKIA
130. BURMA
131. MALI
132. MAURITANIA
133. TURKEY
134. ALGERIA
135. EQUATORIAL GUINEA
136. ROMANIA
137. BOSNIA & HERZE
138. CAMEROON
139. ESTONIA
140. GUINEA
141. JORDAN
142. SYRIA
143. SIERRA LEONE
144. AZERBAIJAN
145. CENTRAL AFRICAN RE
146. MACEDONIA
147. TOGO
148. ZAMBIA
149. ANGOLA
150. DJIBOUTI
151. EGYPT
152. BURKINA FASO
153. ETHIOPIA
154. LATVIA
155. LITHUANIA
156. UGANDA
157. ALBANIA
158. MALAWI
159. CHAD
160. IVORY COAST
161. NIGER
162. ERITREA
163. RWANDA
164. BULGARIA
165. LESOTHO
166. PAKISTAN
167. RUSSIA
168. SWAZILAND
169. GEORGIA
170. BELARUS
171. TURKMENISTAN
172. ARMENIA
173. SUDAN
174. UKRAINE
175. MOLDOVA
176. CONGO DEMOCRATIC
177. ZIMBABWE
178. BURUNDI
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
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