Tag Archives: Mandarin

The Road to Diamond, Day 59: The World in LAX

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Posted by on in collaborating, Entertainment, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

January 26, 2025, Los Angeles- The cacophony over the competing loudspeakers in Tom Bradley International Terminal did not faze me, or any of the polyglot group of passengers gathered in anticipation of the 13 hour flight from LAX to Hong Kong. Simultaneous announcements, from various airlines, could be heard in Mandarin, Korean, Spanish and English. Tagalog may have been in there somewhere and for good measure, one of the resident larks could be heard chirping away.

I busied myself with Rebecca Solnit’s “A Book of Migrations”, which detailed her sojourn across Ireland, with tie-ins to England, the North American Atlantic Coast, Mexico and her native California, specifically the Bay Area.

She deals with both abundance and deprivation, loquaciousness and wary taciturnity, joy and misery. I see mostly anticipation here. A few of us are taking advantage of the one working bank of USB ports in this area of TBIT.

Earlier, American Airlines deemed it necessary to check the wheeled bags of everyone in Groups 8 and 9, to their final destinations. So, I will see my laptop next, in Manila. A spare charging cord is making this post possible, in partnership with Boingo Free Wireless.

And now it’s time to board. Next time you hear from me, another crossing of the Pacific will be in the rear view mirror. Life is sweet.

A Split City

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 25, 2024, Manila- Stepping off the light rail car, at Fifth Avenue station, I spotted an ornate Chinese temple and adjoining pagoda. I was in Caloocan, the Philippines’ fourth-largest city, and the only one that is split by a neighbouring community. In this case, Quezon City, the largest city in the country and its former planned capital, has split Caloocan into the greater northern segment and a slender southern area, by way of the former’s aggressive annexation of land in the 1930s and again in the 1950s.

It is in southern Caloocan that the Chinese structures are found. The Taoist Temple, named Thai To, and its pagoda, lie to the south of the Fifth Avenue Light Rail Station. The outer gate of the complex was open, but the doors to the structures were not, so I confined my curiosity to their exteriors. I know from having lived in South Korea and visiting Taiwan that temple visitation involves serious protocol.

Thai To Taoist Temple and Pagoda, Caloogan South (above and below)

Crossing back to the main street, I noticed another old Mandarin-style building, on the north side. So, crossing over, I found Ung Siu Si, at the north end of a small area of shops and warehouses.

Ung Siu Si Temple, Caloocan South

Two older Chinese men, who had been lounging outside, got up and moved away, as they saw me approaching. A nearby security guard chuckled at their wariness, but no one had a problem with my photographing the building.

This was the extent of Caloocan South’s Chinatown remnant, save for a few small cafes with signs in Mandarin. I spent the rest of my solo afternoon at Co-Lab, a pleasant coffee shop, frequented by university students. It is ever a feature of my sojourns to seek out such haunts, and while away an hour or so by journaling. Co-Lab, also called The Coffee Project, is not far from Ola!, or from the Baha’i Center, so I will visit there again, when K and the sister-friends are busy with projects, on a given day.

Tomorrow, though, I will wrap this second stay in Manila and head southwest, to Palawan, for a three-day visit. It is the home of two of the sister-friends, who have been so important to our day-to-day activities.

Smacked Down, Rebound

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Posted by on in Alternative Careers, Education, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Service Activities, Striving

November 21, 2017, Prescott-

I was told that I am unqualified to work with international students.

This, after 5 years of working with Korean students, albeit 25-30 years ago, at the university level.

I have to remember, there are two types of unqualified:  Under, and over.

The people running the corporation that minds these students prefer housewives and unemployed retirees, so I am underqualified, in those respects.  They also prefer people who speak Mandarin, and I am definitely not filling that bill.

Getting smacked down by people of other points of view stings only as long as you let it.

My rebound is my writing, so I need to stop making excuses and set the time aside to put one or two books together.  Even if sales are initially spotty, the money that comes in will equal whatever might have come from this other position.  Besides, who knows?  Circumstances in my life show signs of changing.  Life might well have gotten in the way of working for the corporation.  Everything happens for a reason.