At the Vet's



The vet's male cat ... with face dye!

Today was not a good day. I had to take my precious kitty Aulait into the vet's, and going outside of our house (except when she darts out for a quick peek at the world) terrifies her. Once I walked into the vet's though, she calmed down and just sat quietly as usual in her little carrier, trusting me and never complaining. The vet laughed last time and said she was like a puppy and not a cat when she accepted the two shots without flinching, growling or showing any sign of discomfort. His male cat is very pleasant, but has a yowly voice that he uses every once in a while, so I'm thinking that he might not take vaccinations and other treatment so well. It kind of kills me to see this male cat with "blushing" cheeks, which I just don't get. I don't think it's attractive or even cute at all. I'm all for letting cats look and be like cats without transforming their appearance to meet my human standards and expectations of "beauty". Humph on that. I think a cat looks more elegant without all the silliness of ribbons, outfits, shoes, and yikes - face dyes! OK, I'm off the topic.

Aulait was greeted by a female dog that was recovering from her spaying operation, thus the need for the girlie to wear the lampshade contraption to keep her from licking her wound. Aulait as usual totally ignored the existence of a beast lower on her food chain, even though the dog came snuffling in her face as she sat on my lap. Typical. I got Aulait from a pet shop when she was 4 months old and she and a few other kittens and a medium-sized dog just wandered around as they pleased in the shop. Maybe that's why she "understands" dogs and so no longer "sees" them. She's totally fearless in that department to the point of being highly intimidating to the "lesser creatures" that can't fathom a fearless cat.

Aulait (7), my little queen

Anyway, the reason for taking Aulait to the vet's today was that she's been declining more and more and lately has seemed to be in a lot of discomfort. I've given her barley green supplements for almost three years now to help her manage her symptoms and recently her discomfort, but it no longer works, and there comes a time when a forever sleep is a merciful act. What a tough decision. My writing is different today. My world is different, but knowing that she won't suffer anymore is what I have to focus on. She was an incredible cat that held my hand when she slept or used my arm as her pillow. How incredible does that make a person feel? Pretty special and pretty loved! I think I made her feel pretty wonderful too because we bonded from the moment I brought her home. And I know this may be pretty weird to some non-animal lovers, or even animal lovers, but Aulait and I had 정 - "jeong", that strange and unexplainable interconnectedness that supersedes blood; it's a relationship identified in the Korean language but not in English, a relationship that doesn't require language but is based on some kind of unexplainable metaphysical connection with a person, or animal, and gives almost complete mutual understanding between the two. Imagine that! "Jeong" with a cat! For me, no problem! It was pretty special :)

Emart on a Holiday

Why do I go shopping on a holiday (yesterday)? It seems that when I have free time, I think about special kinds of foods and so end up at Costco wanting to get some avocados and asparagus ... and there on a Sunday (a work holiday) I once waited in a line that wrapped half-way around the perimeter of the store just to go downstairs to the grocery department! Or I end up in Emart because I'm thinking of cauliflower, aloe vera leaves, celery and thick bunches of parsley. And today, I not so brightly thought about walking for exercise to Emart to get some of my favorite vegies ... of course not thinking that everyone else has freetime to also go to Emart and get their vegies, meat and kill holiday time browsing. And yes, the place was bustling with people, particularly the grocery department! The place was so full, in fact, that almost all of the shopping carts were taken by shoppers! There's no way I'd use a shopping cart on such a day, and besides, I wanted to walk home for more exercise with the food delights, so I grabbed a little held-held shopping basket and wove my way between slow bogged-down shoppers. Once I grabbed my vegies and was fleeing upstairs to get some stationery supplies, the aerial shot of semi-madness in the dry goods area below demanded a photo. But I have to say, it was no parallel to the congested madness in the grocery department. Ugh!

Heh heh heh, upstairs was much quieter but still shoppers were parking in the aisles and just present. Another ugh. Even shoppers were lining up for the long row of "free" chair massages. I love Emart for their larger vegie selection and for their massage chairs :) and on a busy stressful day, a nice long massage is available. Of course the purpose is to get people to make a purchase but I already have a chair-back shiatsu massager so don't need another, but the leg, back and shoulder chair massagers sure are nice after a long walk to Emart!

On Buddhism and Buddha's Brithday

Today is Buddha's birthday ... well, at least it's Buddha's birthday in Korea. And because Buddha's Birthday along with many traditional holidays is calculated according to the lunar calendar, every year (and usually in May) the birthday is celebrated, and as a national holiday too. I'm a bit curious WHY Buddha's birthday gets celebrated as a national holiday though as Buddhism during the Joseon dynasty had little to do with it as a religion. I do know that it is a quickly growing religion now in Korea but would be very interested to know when it became celebrated as a national holiday and what were the dynamics in place that made it be accepted as a national holiday. It seems to me that a country would need to link their national holiday back to historical reasons or pressure from a sizeable population to create the celebration of a religion as a national holiday. Very curious ... although Buddha's Birthday seems to be celebrated in many Asian countries, but ironically, on different days!

In Japan, which accepted the Gregorian calendar in the 19th century, Buddha's birthday is celebrated on April 8th. And Japan is another country that has had little to do with Buddhism over the years so why does it also acknowledge Buddha's birthday as a national holiday? China, India and Tibet celebrate Buddha's birthday, but then India and Tibet were where some of the earliest known practices of Buddhism took place. That said though, Buddha's birthday in Tibet is usually celebrated in June. From what I am reading, there are three main types of Buddhism and these types may indeed affect when the birthday of Buddha is celebrated. It certainly affects how they are celebrated as each country certainly has its own interpretation of celebration practices.

The three main types of Buddhism are Southern, Eastern and Northern:

Southern Buddhism or Theraveda ("Doctrine of the Elders") Buddhism. It's mostly practiced in places like Sri Lanka, Laos and Cambodia. Hmm, I wonder what routes of cultural exchange took place and then disappeared to link Sri Lanka with Lao and Cambodia.

Eastern Buddhism or Mahavana Buddhism, which strives for the "awakened mind". China, Korea and Japan and in part other Asian countries practice this form.

Northern or Tibetan Buddhism, also known as Tantric or Vajrayana Buddhism.

Buddhism in Korea

Buddhism was introduced a few times to Korea over the centuries and many of those times, the introduction was by a varying branch of Buddhism. I believe originally the type of Buddhism introduced to Korea was from Tibet, probably transported via the Silk Road as there is evidence that the earliest Buddhism was not culturally transposed through China. Later types of Buddhism were, and the predominant type of Buddhism now is most closely related to Mahayana. In Korea, there are basically three forms of Buddhism. [Buddhism is like Protestantism in that there are many core beliefs but the various Protestant religions are the result of different interpretations of the Bible, and for Buddhism, the Pali Canon and whether other spiritual sources like tantras are used. The main type of Buddhism in Korean is Seon (Zen Buddhism in Japan is similar in origin), Jingak and then Won which is a new but quickly growing type.

In any regard, Korea begins its celebrations of Buddha's birthday a few days prior to the birthday and which culminates in a large lantern parade. A month if not sooner lantern are lining the roads and paths to hidden Buddhist temples and the temples yards are heavily draped with multi-colored lanterns. I'm sure the color of the lantern originally had some meaning, but what it is, I am completely unsure.

The Chogyesa, the largest temple in downtown Seoul, is the central area for celebrations on Buddha's birthday. It is here that the lantern festival starts and returns. The Chogyesa (temple) is quite an irony in itself for when the country refused to espouse Buddhism, the Chogyesa did have some kind of premises in the city, and even more ironically, almost next to the royal palaces! This has never been culturally explained to me.

Pictures of the Chogyesa in 2012 - and the celebrations around a central tree are very shamanic, but then Buddhism, Shamanism, Taoism are so entertwined from centuries of co-existence that shamanic practices woven into Buddhism should not be surprising at all.

 

Oops, missed 2011. Pictures in and around the Chogyesa in 2010.

 

Chogyesa in 2009 - a lot of white was used in the celebrations (and so I question the meaning of colors)

Electronic Market in Yongsan

Yongsan Electronic Market - source

Seoul has a fabulous electronic market in Yongsan. Just about anything a person wants in the line of electronics is there - computers, electronic dictionaries, fans, rice cookers and other kitchen equipment, audio equipment, GPSs - yep, you name it! I've been there a few times in the past - once to buy an electronic dictionary, another time to buy a region-free DVD player, and then five years ago to get a HP Pavillion computer with built-in panel for operating my music. Well, that computer in the last few months has been giving me troubles with the video player, and most recently when I try to watch video clips from YouTube or elsewhere, I only get to watch the first couple minutes before my low-visual memory warning comes on, and then KER-PUEY, the YouTube connection is broken. Next month I have an online class that requires watching long online videos, and there's just no way my unhappy Pavillion is going to perform ... so off I trotted to the Yongsan Electronic Market to see what they had.

An Acer! I had one years ago and loved it! This looks like everything I need ... but had to look around more.

Another Pavillion ... pretty much everything I want too.



Really sweet gaming computer - awesome sound, built-in keyboard for operating music ... but lousy button arrangement (with on/off button next to delete, and I just know I would constantly be turning off the computer by accident).

I ended up walking out of there with a HP Probook - the sound is pretty good, the keyboard is nicely laid out for touch type, and it had the features my IT Manager older brother suggested I get. Also it's fast and falls kind of under the category of a gaming computer, which I don't waste my time on, but good anyway, because I want speed! The only thing the Probook didn't have that bro suggested because I don't upgrade often was a core i9. I didn't see a single computer in the whole market that was core i9, so I asked, and all I got were puzzled expressions. No one in that high-tech place had yet seen or heard of the i9. Well, that said, I only asked 3 salesmen. The core i7 is the current top computer there in the market.

Some interesting facts I gleaned from the salesman I purchased from was that of course big computer sales are seasonal and the month leading up to Korea's two biggest holidays - Chuseok and Seolnal - sales are usually between 200 and 250 computers sold a month. Otherwise, his particular computer kiosk might only sell 100 - 150 a month. It was nearing the end of a Sunday when I made my purchase, and another man was finishing his purchase of a hot little computer with a pink keyboard (he was buying it for his girlfriend!). Anyway, I was the third (and last) buyer from the salesman for that day, and the kiosk was holding some kind of event. For the first three people who made purchases from that stall, there were unannounced prizes. [I still scratch my head on unannounced events. How do they up future sales when people buy computers so few and far between and returning to the same stall is unlikely as people buy products based on what suits their current interests/needs? But anyway, holding "events" is very popular in Korea.] My prize as third purchaser was a DVD drive dry disk cleaner set. Absolutely useful!

The guy was really friendly and helpful. He's worked for 8 years in that kiosk, loves his work and loves meeting and talking with people. Though with less English ability, he was more communicative than many other salesmen I saw and offered a lot of free tips on choosing a computer to meet my specific needs, and even though he had more expensive models, he even recommended a cheaper model than the one I purchased as being the one to satisfactorily be very suitable for me. I opted against that computer because I'll be using the computer for a lot of online videos and want speed in downloading ... this is probably a reaction from my tired HP Pavillion but still, I want a computer that's snappy. I upgraded the computer to a 8 GB, and he installed the programs to my specification, told me about HPs programmable keys so I could still have my music operating options at a touch, and on the Probook even loaded a generic anti-virus program that he says is much better than McAfee, which he said over and over is "Trash". I'll test the generic program out. He showed me the type of pages to avoid that smelled of virus (very helpful tip) and then wished me well.

Big smile! I think I got myself a snappy computer ... so bring on the online video course!

Play: Our Country's Good

Another exemplary play put on by the Cut Glass Theatre! The play Our Country's Good written by playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker has threaded hope through her 10 collected plays, including this play. Our Country's Good is a play satirizing the first convict settlement on Australia's burning and bleak shores in 1788. The fictionalized story is of the convicts in the settlement who are to put on a play, which is felt to develop the humanity of their criminal souls and for the officers and guards to also dig within themselves for behaving with human ethos. This historical play is saturated with social realism toward rehabilitating the socially oppressed and nurturing the poverty of altruism among the officers in the settlement. The mood in the colony is one of exploiting and abusing power; the criminals (most who are there for petty thefts which was usually an act for survival) are brutalized, debased and even one is to be hung for perceived theivery. Some of the convicts agree to put on the play, the officers are against it, people go mad and a hanging of a convict cast member is scheduled. The play is threatened and when the officer in charge of organizing it and training the "actors" is ready to call quits, the members realize that the play has made them feel a sense of delight and given them a second chance for some kind of success on the empty Australian land. The play Our Country's Good concludes with the convicts going out to begin acting the play they have put together for the entire convict community. Only the preface to the play is heard, but it is a preface stating that all men (and women) are important and can claim the hope of a new beginning ....

The captain of the ship figuratively 'bound' by ontraining wraiths and spirits. Gloom threatens the first convict settlement even before the arrival of the convicts.

An officer and one of the convicts - her role was never clear hinting at what (if any) crime she had done, but she clearly did not desire to be in Australia and was forever yearing for something to fill the dread loneliness of whatever it was that haunted her.

An assignation of a captain and convict ... driven by loneliness and distance from more 'attractive and compatible' prospects. 

Play: Yellowface

The Probationary Theatre put on the fascinating and very political play Yellowface, a play by David Henry Hwang. The comedy is actually a mockumentary garishly illuminating the farsical act of Broadway (and other American theatrics) casting Caucasians to play the parts of Asians with the aid of make up and eye tape. The play is a satire of the ridiculous double standards used in the casting systems and portrays what happens when America's best known Asian rights activist and playwright accidentally casts a leading actor for his latest play ... with a Caucasian. Once the error has been discovered, the man has been hired and so with millions poured into the advertising of the production, the producers make desperate attempts to 'hide' the truth from the general public and pass the man off as an Asian. In doing so, the definition "Asian" gets questioned and takes on more and more of a complex meaning.


For more on Asian racism in America, check out this web site.

 Some useful production notes for understanding the background of this political piece:
(info taken from the play's brochure)

About the playwright, David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang is a prominent Asian American activist and playwright best known for the play M Butterfly, a deconstruction of Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly. The play is also loosely based on news reports of the relationship between a French diplomat, and a male Chinese spy/opera singer who purportedly convinced Boursicot that he was a woman throughout their twenty-year relationship in order to gain information for the Chinese government. The play premiered on Broadway in 1988 and made Hwang the first Asian American to win the Tony Award for Best Play. The play Yellowface is semi-autobiographical.

The Miss Saigon controversy
In the London production of Miss Saigon, white actors playing Eurasian/Asian characters, wore eye prostheses and bronzing creams to make themselves look more Asian, which outraged some who drew comparison to a "minstrel show". When the production transferred from London to New York City, the Actors' Equity Association (AEA) refused to allow Jonathan Pryce, a white actor, to recreate the role of the Eurasian pimp in America. This ruling led to criticism from many including British Equity, citing violations of the principles of artistic integrity and freedom. Producer Cameron Mackintosh threatened to cancel the show, despite massive advanced ticket sales.

Although there had been a large, well-publicized international search among Asian actresses to play the lead, there had been no equivalent search for Asian actors to play the major Asian male roles. Pryce was considered by many in Britain to have "star status", a clause that allows a well-known foreign actor to recreate a role on Broadway without an American casting call. After pressure from Mackintosh, the general public, and many of its own members, Actors' Equity was forced to reverse its decision.

Wen Ho Lee
Dr. Wen Ho Lee is a Taiwan-born Taiwanese American scientist who worked for the University of California at the Low Alamos National Laboratory. In 1982 Lee was recorded on a wiretap speaking with another Taiwanese-American scientist who had been accused of espionage. In December 1999, a federal grand jury indicted him on 59 counts of stealing secrets about US nuclear arsenal for the People's Republic of China. His name was leaked to the press before charges were laid. Lee was denied bail and placed in solitary confinement for 9 months. Lee later filed a civil suit against the government and the 5 media outlets that leaked his name.

Legacy of Guilt, the book

 Carol Zanetti writes her memoir of growing up poor - from a New York ghetto to living on the road - being sexually abused by her stepfather, and thus lost in a tight protective cocoon of silence and fearfulness. In her book Legacy of Guilt (2007) she writes honestly and painfully of her nightmare years as a child which was dominated by her sexually abusive stepfather and then procedes to analyze herself as she makes the same mistakes as her mother by slipping through one awkward marriage earning a child and immediately marrying another man who fathers two more children.

When her children were small (all under the age of 7), Lew Zanetti, her second husband who was domineering and abusive wanted to return to South Korea where he had worked in the army. This time he felt a "spiritual" burden for the Amerasians of and following the Korean War, so he wanted to fight for them and preach salvation (although he refused to belong to any religion). He spouted convincing lies to convince her ... South Korea is a developing country, it has many work opportunities in the young government, and so he pushed simultaneous government officer-missionary return to Korea. What he didn't say was that he very much loved the autocratic male-dominated Confucian society, and the "respect" given to foreigners, especially men, and that he lived on hopes and dreams of success on his terms, and so he plunged his wife and three boys into primitive country life in or near Daegu. Lew didn't work. Carol had to care for the kids, and their money dwindled quickly. At one point when they were eating ramyeon almost every meal lepers in the community took pity on them and made a substantial "heart" gift of 144 carefully wrapped eggs. And Carol and the kids could get nourishment again.

Lew was frequently gone on "business" trips, spending money, rarely making it, in his fight to get the Korean government to recognice the problem of the Amerasians, the "dust of the streets", the "no-names" a.k.a. the "fatherless". In short, Lew was fighting to expose the shame of Korea. Meanwhile, Carol and the boys lived in poverty without any of the conveniences that foreigners in Korea were known to have. She and her boys (and Lew when he was home) shared part of their rental hanok with a group of Amerasian youth, ages 17-26, who would be trained in reading, writing and skills once the government would allocate funding. Carol had been sold on the idea of serving others but quickly realized that Lew had sold her on another of his glib shemes again, but this time at his family's expense ... and when her one year was up, she fled to Seoul, begged an office for a loan to get her and her boys out of there, and three days before she and her boys flew back to the States, the Third Tunnel (the Tunnel of Aggression) which was more than a mile and a half long and carved through solid bedrock was found which linked North and South Koreas and which could be used to transport thousands of troops per minute from the north for invading South Korea. [Tunnel of Aggression was discovered October 27, 1978].

When begging for the loan, the office already knew who she was. Carol realized that even though for the whole year of Lew trying to raise awareness with the government but with the government only returning silence, they were in fact known, watched and Lew's progress and channels of communication were being documented. The office was very impressed that she had stuck it out and lived in such penury and hardship for the year. After Carol left, Lew did get invited to Seoul by the Korean Minister of Social Affairs and he was asked to write a thesis on the Amerasian situation.
A couple of years following the treatise, a technical school was finally a reality, but when there were an estimated 3000 Amerasians in South Korea at that time, age and other factors were enforced to cull them down to only 1500 of them to be considered as prospective students for the program. The South Korean government didn't want to pay for the education, training and support of "foreigners" so impoverished Korean youth were also added to the program.

The majority of the book is not about South Korea or the Amerasians, but about Carol herself. Her missionary attempt in South Korea, however, was what made her realize her own "guilt" about not speaking out about her abuse, her guilt at not being the "spiritual person" who could unconditionally serve Amerasians, and guilt about many things. All of this "guilt" she traces back to her abuse by her stepfather. But ironically, her year of penurious service did help her expiate some of that guilt and come to see it for what it was, a burden in her life. Her experience and interactions with many individual Amerasians allowed her to open up and be able to turn over a new leaf, go back to the States, and claim her future.

Cross-referencing Materials:

"Kids Who Live As Non-Persons: Children of Americans left in Korea to wander between two worlds, unwanted by either", an article in Parade Magazine, July 6, 1980 by Hank Whittemore. The article was about an Amerasian who actually wasn't an Amerasian but a completely Caucasian boy secretly born of two soldiers while on duty in Korea and abandoned when they left. Reason for abandonment: pregnancy meanst an automatic discharge (from the US forces) in 1954. Their "son" Jimmy grew up taunted and hated as any Amerasian.

Father Keane, an American clergyman, almost single-handedly maintained the only orphanage in South Korea for mixed-race children and young adults. He also would make trips to the US to lobby for legislation and for changes in the immigration laws. Father Keane had also been trying to pressure the South Korean government long before Lew. Evidently the axes were chipping the tree, because funding did finally come and eventually immigration laws were changed.

"The South Korean government paid for Lew's room and board in a nice hotel while he wrote a long treatise outlining his efforts and ideas for the future. The South Korean government apparently had no idea how to deal with Amerasians who, it must be remembered, were  foreigners in their eyes. The government had no idea what kinds of programs were needed or how to reach these young people. Lew's document was the basis of a proposal that eventually brought in a grant for $11 million which was allocated for programs that would benefit both Amerasian and Korean youth. That, and subsequent grants and efforts, were a direct result of Lew's treatise." p.250