New Zealand: Living in a Postcard!

After five weeks here it’s become easy to feel at home in New Zealand. Everywhere we go we encounter beautiful landscapes, friendly people, clean and usually picturesque towns and cities, well-preserved historic homes and public buildings of the style we love most (Victorian and Edwardian), excellent local food and produce, and an un-crowded, un-hurried pace of life. Jan says she feels like she is always IN a postcard!

Jan attended the New Zealand Lactation Consultants annual conference in Auckland and offered an all-day HUG Your Baby workshop that was exceptionally well received. She also met with Plunket nurses and educators in Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland, and spoke at a nursing school in Nelson, where I had the pleasure of going on a country “tramp” with David Mitchell, an experienced nurse educator who has done some excellent research on working with fathers.

Our “needs priorities” in terms of accommodation have gotten clearer to us as we travel. We need a “cooker and frig,” as we mostly cook for ourselves. Because we seldom rent a car, a decent grocery store must be walking distance from our place. We need a good Internet connection, something easier said than accomplished in many of the places we have stayed before we got to New Zealand. We’ve also found that we need two separate rooms, so that one of us doesn’t wake up the other when arising in the middle of the night to work or read. We like to have a bathroom with a tub, as Jan likes to soak. It’s a real plus when the place we stay has a gym for me.

We prefer to stay put for at least a week at a time, place our clothes into drawers and closets, and pack away our suitcases. For people who have devoted so much time, through the years, to homemaking, it takes surprisingly little to satisfy our sense of "home" on this trip. We spend a full day, at least five days a week, keeping up with HUG Your Baby projects and correspondence, as well as managing our travel plans and expenses. Jim always goes out for walks and exercise, but some days Jan never goes out at all because there is so much HUG business to manage. She can lose track of time, immersed in the work she loves.

We enjoyed visiting Friends Meetings in New Zealand. For a week we stayed in the Wellington Friends Centre’s fellowship hall, with a piano and full kitchen. We didn’t (much) mind putting away our beds (from their place on the floor) when gatherings were planned. We also attended Meeting in Nelson and in Auckland. In Nelson we were delighted to meet Joe and Beth Volk, who used to live in Durham when Joe had his office, as a field worker for the AFSC, in the Meeting House. Small world! Beth and Joe are traveling like us—but their retirement travels are planned to last TWO years! You can follow their blog. We were not able to make it to the Friends Settlement at Whanganui. But visiting that former Friends School will give us something to do when we come back again, one day. Hopefully by then the Friends Meeting in Christchurch will have risen from the rubble of the 2011 earthquake and the muck of this week’s flood.

As we travel I've been reading quite a bit. Most of my choices are travel-related. In New Zealand I read both of Eleanor Catton’s novels. She is awesome! The Rehearsal is a contemporary study of girls in high school, saxophone music and theater arts, and betrayals of trust. The Luminaries recently won the Man Booker Prize and is a big and beautifully constructed novel set in the days of the New Zealand gold rush. It's written in a glorious nineteenth-century style. As we leave, he’s finishing up James Belich’s fascinating, scholarly study, Making Peoples: A History of the New Zealanders From Polynesian Settlement to the End of the Nineteenth Century.

Jim has also enjoyed researching and writing the music for the HUG lullabies we are writing together. Tony Bowman is producing and recording them in North Carolina. We’ve learned as much as we could about Maori childbirth practices to include in our NZ lullaby. New Zealand has some great museums and collections to draw upon. We especially enjoyed Te Papa in Wellington, and the War Memorial Museum and city Art Gallery in Auckland.

Today we reach a natural “half time” break in our travels. Our next stop on the HUG Your Baby “international teaching tour” is the UK in April. Today, on Jonathan’s birthday, we fly from Auckland to San Francisco. It is about as cheap to go from NZ to UK via North America as via Dubai. So we will see sister Nancy and her family in California. (It will be a LONG day! Because of the mysteries of the International Date Line, we arrive in SFO BEFORE we leave AUK!)

We had to miss Nancy and KB’s wedding at the end of last year because of our travels, and now we can celebrate properly with them! After California Jan will fly to Durham to pick up her mom and bring her London, while Jim will spend a week with Dave in Chicago before flying to Heathrow.

This blog will resume in Europe. HUG Your Baby presentations are planned for April and May at conferences in Portsmouth, England; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Bologna, Italy. We will see Nancy and Kathryn, and Dave Smith and Susan Strozier, in England, before returning to Durham July 28, 2014.

 

New Zealand: A Braver New World?

New Zealand’s South Island, where we’ve been for three weeks now, is a fabulous place to visit. It’s probably an even better place to live and raise a family. New Zealand is one of the best countries in the world for mothers and babies. The nurses and volunteers of the Royal Plunket Society have seen to that for more than a century!

The landscape is strikingly beautiful here. Parts of the South Island—such as the enormous Fiordland National Park in the southwest—are vast and mysterious. Hollywood has discovered that NZ makes great sets for fantasy films. We got a little taste of this awe-inspiring beauty on a boat trip through Milford Sound (technically a fiord).

For several days we stayed in Te Anau, a lakeside community. We moved on to Queenstown, a larger community on another, impossibly blue lake. It's a ski town (now in the off-season), not unlike Aspen or Breckenridge—only the mountains, the trees, the birds are not what a North American expects to see. Queenstown is an antipodean version of an Alpine paradise.

The New Zealand landscape is wide-open. More sheep than people live on the South Island. It’s peaceful to meet their ovine gaze and watch them graze, or to see them dotting distant hillsides like dabs of paint. Some herds have had their haircuts; others are waiting for the summer shearers to find them.

Not only is New Zealand’s landscape appealing; its society is too. New Zealand was fortunate to be relatively recently settled (both by Polynesians and then by Europeans). European settlers who came here were determined to avoid human exploitation (of slaves, as in North America, or of convicts, as in Australia). It's not an accident that New Zealand women were the first to vote.

As recently as a couple of decades ago New Zealand was widely regarded as a classless society. Now editorials, talk shows, and blogs bemoan the widening gap between rich and poor in New Zealand, its growing child poverty, the declining quality of its public schools, and a host of other social issues that mirror problems the US has in spades.

Nevertheless, New Zealand seems (to Jan and me) to be much better off than America currently is. It’s hard to find a piece of trash, or a homeless person, anywhere. Rivers and oceans are absolutely pristine. Healthcare is virtually free. Local food is proudly grown, sold and purchased. Roads and infrastructure are well maintained, with thoughtful provisions for cyclists and the disabled. Public toilets, beaches, trails ("tracks"), and picnic areas are plentiful and spotless.

People are friendly and happy in New Zealand. Where folk feel safe and cared for, open spaces make open hearts. Everybody wears bike helmets here—and a smile. The society is proudly multicultural. Maori place names and cultural practices are valued and embraced, even though people of indigenous backgrounds are reported to still fall behind their counterparts of European descent on most measures of well-being.

We are told, however, that ostentatious materialism continues to draw more derision than admiration in New Zealand. Kiwis appreciate hard work, but not greed—or gain at the expense of others. Back in the gold rush days fortunes were made by newcomers, and that was okay because it took plenty of hard, dirty work and self-sacrifice to grub out a “bounder” [i.e., a homeward-bound ticket]. I read all about the South Island’s gold rush days (and a great deal more) in a fabulous novel, The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, the youngest writer ever to win the Man Booker Prize.

In Dunedin, where we lived for a week, we could not believe how well preserved its many Victorian and Edwardian buildings are. Jan and I are suckers for the architecture of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Dunedin is truly magnificent in this regard—Savannah’s equal, if not its better. Not only the city center but also the residential suburbs feature block after block of gems. We’ve never seen so much leaded glass in one city. (Dunedin boasts that it’s the fourth largest city in the world in terms of area!) There’s even a castle out on the Otago Peninsula, on the way to the albatross and penguin sanctuaries.

Dunedin also offers, for free, its magnificent Botanic Gardens (150 years old!) and a newly renovated, beautifully presented “Settlers Museum.” Like San Francisco, Dunedin is a hilly city. (It used to have cable cars, and still has the world’s steepest street.) It was a challenge for Jan to manage on her TravelScoot, but she soldiered onward, and upward, and (scariest of all!) downward.

The weather suits our clothes and skins here in the New Zealand summer. It can be rainy and windy, or sunny and bright—all in one day! Layers are needed. But it’s neither too hot, nor too cold—now or hardly ever. New Zealand is just right. That’s how it was planned, and that’s how it seems to be!

Relaxing on Waitangi Day, I watch Lake Wakatipu sparkle below, craggy peaks scratch the sky in the middle distance, and a faint half moon pierce the blue sky overhead. A thought I've had before comes to mind: If Al Gore had won that election in 2000, would American be as far behind New Zealand as we are today?

Thailand: Political Troubles, Thai Style

Bill Bryson, the humorous travel writer and popular polymath, once said, “I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses” (in Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe).

Next to recreational drug use and paying for sex, politics is the most slippery slope an ignorant traveler can venture upon. That is why Jan and I, when asked by locals for our opinion of their political scene, usually say, “We don’t know enough to have an opinion.” This is no false modesty on our part. Truly, we are remarkably ignorant of other nations’ current events (and even founding histories).

So we generally try to avoid the subject of politics—except to notice things in other countries that put our American political system to shame. A few of the superior political ideas and practices we have encountered so far include: compulsory voting (in Australia and Thailand); the constitutional right to affordable, high-quality health care in Thailand; and mandatory retirement (at half salary) for Indonesian teachers who reach age 62.

But when we arrived in Thailand two weeks ago, politics was literally in our faces. Bangkok’s streets were thronged with protestors, the government was shut down, the nation’s first female prime minister was reduced to tears, and—of more immediate concern for us—a HUG Your Baby class had to be called off!

Friends at home and abroad were emailing us, concerned for our safety, although we have never felt any personal danger in Thailand (or anywhere on our travels so far—except from monkeys). So we started reading The Bangkok Post (Thailand’s English-language newspaper), trying to discover what was at issue in this Buddhist democracy. We also had conversations with some of our Thai hosts, who were eager to help us—and watch us—understand. Through this research we’ve collected enough information to hazard an opinion about what’s up, politically, in Thailand.

The latest round of Thai political protests are set against a very long and wide backdrop, of course. Thailand and Brunei are the only two countries in the ASEAN region that were never colonies of a European country. For this reason, both countries have powerful royal families that are much loved by the general population (although younger adults tend to be less devoted monarchists than older citizens).

The current king of Thailand (whose birthday, celebrated just as we arrived, is the nation’s biggest holiday) has ruled since 1946. He is now 86 and is wheelchair-bound. In his younger days he may have been able to knock heads and bring opposing factions to the table. That’s not likely to happen now.

Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932. Remarkably, women have voted in Thailand since 1897! Democracy has a long but fragile history in Thailand, and it is very much up for grabs as the protests mount.

Contemporary Thailand has at least four major political parties, but the two most quarrelsome are identified by the color of shirts their vocal followers wear. The “Red Shirt” UDD (United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship) is a populist movement whose chief concern is justice and opportunity for the rural poor. Yingluck Shinawatra, from the allied Pheu Thai party, became Thailand’s first female primary minister in 2011, following a landslide election that international monitors judged to be free and fair.

The “Yellow Shirt” PDRC (People’s Democratic Reform Committee) is the party that has engineered the protests. This party’s leadership are wealthy, educated, Bangkok people, who think that the current government is corrupt. The PDRC party line is that, from its rural (and Northern) power base, Thailand’s elected (but corrupt) officials are raising the tax burden on the prosperous and well-employed residents of the capital city, with the aim of redistributing wealth, unsustainably, from the rich to the poor.

Comparing the Yellow-Shirt protestors to the American Tea Party activists may be too simple a comparison, but the similarities are, in many respects, striking. The Yellow Shirts think the current government needs to be radically reformed, and they are perfectly willing to throw sticks in the spokes of government. The protests you see on TV are actually anti-democratic, not pro-democratic. Those engineering them not only resemble the Tea Party. They also resemble the members of Thai elite whose fascination with fascism led the country to side with Japan in the early days of the constitutional monarchy.

The PDRC is “Democratic” in name only. Its leaders aren’t calling for another election they know they would lose. Some of them want the monarchy to return with a new constitution. Others want an appointed committee to rule (even though almost half of the Thai Senate is, according to the current constitution, already appointed rather than elected). The scariest voices in the PDRC urge a return to military rule, but so far the military is shying away from seizing power.  

But democracy is fragile in Thailand. The Bangkok police and the Thai military both have a history of heavy-handed responses to internal conflict. To its credit, the big protest we witnessed on Monday, December 9 (in which more than 150,000 citizens flooded the streets of Bangkok), was remarkably peaceful. The police gave the protestors the access they wanted to public buildings, and the protestors gave the police what they wanted, peacefully clearing out afterwards.

The question is: What do the Thai people want? And they clearly seem to want the Shinawatras—Yingluck, if not her popular but exiled brother, Thaksin (a Ph.D. telecom mogul, now living in Dubai and London). The political power of the Shinawatra clan is what the Yellow Shirts fear. They hate Thaksin and his sister as much as the Tea Party hates Obama: enough to ruin the country in pursuit of their political agenda. If the Yellow Shirts succeed, watch to see if the North secedes.

Of course there is an alternative to civil war. The ballot box still holds power in Thailand. Unfortunately, that is precisely the power the current protestors hope to trump.

Malaysia/Brunei: At Home and at Peace in Muslim Lands

The Call to Prayer (adhan, or azad) wakes us up in Malaysia (where we stay directly across from the country’s largest mosque) and in Brunei (where we recently stayed with an exceptionally kind and generous Muslim family).

What remarkable and moving words: “Allah Akbar.” God is great. Now THERE’S a thought to keep in mind—at least five times a day—especially when the muzzein who intones the Call is so powerfully present, and beautifully precise with his pitch and phrasing! Morning prayer includes the notion that it is “better to pray than to sleep.” Most days, at least, I’m aligned with that sentiment.

But I need to pause here. God and “Allah” do not denote the same Reality, at least not according to a recent ruling of the Malaysian Supreme court. And in Brunei yesterday (the day we left), that country’s Supreme Court decided to phase in implementation of Shariah law, which includes in its arsenal of penalties to its Muslim citizens (only): amputation of hands (for stealing), stoning (for adultery), and caning (for abortion).

People in the USA (a nation founded through an anti-monarchial, democratic revolution) may believe that it’s a civic right—duty, even—to stand up, speak out, and organize when they feel their government has taken a wrong turn. I hear that’s what’s happening in North Carolina right now. But protest, however peaceful, has never been a path to change in Brunei. Decisions of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (one of the world’s wealthiest men, whose family has been in power for 600 years) are final.

Jan and I have talked a good deal about emerging political realities, both in America and abroad. We’ve concluded that HUG Your Baby's focus is, and ought to be, personal and educational rather than political or religious on this year of international teaching. After all, we travel in the wake of both Hillary Clinton (2012) and John Kerry (2013) as we bring what we can offer to this remarkable part in the world. 

However you approach it, the pan-Malaysian world is wonderfully multicultural. Over here it’s not the African and European people who are most conspicuous (as in North Carolina’s history); the Malay and Chinese cultures figure most prominently. Indians, Europeans and indigenous groups are in the mix as well, just as Latinos, Asians and Native Americans play active roles in North Carolina life today.

Malaysians describe their country as a “melting pot” of Malay, Chinese, and Indian cultures. While each of these groups has its distinctive holidays and customs, individuals from all three backgrounds work, learn and live together harmoniously. Public buses play the “One Malaysia” multicultural music video, to build national pride. We, as Americans, felt nothing but a warm welcome everywhere we went in Malaysia. Indeed, the Malaysian flag looks like an Islamic version of the Stars and Stripes!


Through HUG Your Baby, which has been exceptionally well received in both Malaysia and Brunei, Jan and I have been blessed to meet so many kind and generous, caring and devoted people of both Malay and Chinese ancestry. (When these two cultures merge through marriage, the product is called Baba Nonya—literally, “men / women”—or Peranakan). A marvelously varied, truly world-class cuisine has been one outcome of such cultural intermingling.

Both countries are majority Muslim, and Jan and I have witnessed a religion of peace and love at work in the lives, families and communities we’ve gotten to know. People appear VERY calm and happy—and regular prayer is a big part of what keeps them centered. Before Bakar would pull out of his driveway to take us to Ripas Hospital, he always whispered a prayer. Every kid in Brunei learns this practice in Driver’s Ed class, he told us. Very reassuring for passengers, parents of new drivers, and other drivers too!

People here are also uncommonly generous—upholding another of Islam’s Five Pillars. A religion of peace and love lives in the hearts of the nurses and doctors we have met, clearly visible in both the care they give their patients and the welcome they have given us. With an excellent, modern system of universal health care, Bruneians pay a dollar for a doctor visit. The USA has much to learn!

It’s a complicated world we ALL inhabit—or it should be. How dull life would be if everybody thought the same, acted alike, and lived in exactly the same manner! How much LESS GREAT God would be (I, for one, currently believe) if each human being reflected only the same, simple Truth. A world of differences is a more wonderful world, don’t you think?