Rediscovering Baha'u'llah

I was thinking I should write more in this blog, in case someone reads it some day, but I didn't know what to write about. Now I have a long list of things to write about from my previous post.

I was feeling something missing in my life, that I associate with turning to Baha'u'llah. I don't know how to describe it, except with some phrases from His writings, like "'the shade of Thy protecting wings," "the sweet-scented streams of Thine eternity," "the crystal springs of Thy love," "the shadow of Thine everlasting providence," "the meadows of Thy nearness," "the fragrant breezes of Thy joy," "the heights of the paradise of Thy reality," "the melodies of the dove of Thy oneness," "the garden of Thine immortality," "the Day-Star of Thy guidance."

So, maybe it would help me to memorize that prayer?

I've felt this way before, and I always imagine that I need to get to know Baha'u'llah better. Once before I thought of it in terms of starting all over, as if I had just now discovered Baha'u'llah. This time, thinking about how I might rediscover Him, I thought of studying and practicing passages from His writings addressed to the "people of Baha." I started with The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, because I haven't read it yet. The passage I'm studying now, from a letter to Napoleon III, is:

"O people of Baha! Subdue the citadels of men's hearts with the swords of wisdom and of utterance."

(Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 76)

After reading the whole letter, and pondering that passage again, I thought it might help me to memorize some more of Baha'u'llah's writings, so I chose this from Ruhi Book 6:

"Say: To assist Me is to teach My Cause. This is a theme with which whole Tablets are laden. This is the changeless commandment of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future."

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 196)

That's from Tablet to Siyyid Mihdiy-i-Dahaji. I read the whole tablet, and found this:

"From the texts of the wondrous, heavenly Scriptures they should memorize phrases and passages bearing on various instances, so that in the course of their speech they may recite divine verses whenever the occasion demandeth it, inasmuch as these holy verses are the most potent elixir, the greatest and mightiest talisman."

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 198)

Exactly what I was thinking!

I also noticed this:

"In such manner hath the Kitáb-i-Aqdas been revealed that it attracteth and embraceth all the divinely appointed Dispensations. Blessed those who peruse it. Blessed those who apprehend it. Blessed those who meditate upon it. Blessed those who ponder its meaning. So vast is its range that it hath encompassed all men ere their recognition of it. Ere long will its sovereign power, its pervasive influence and the greatness of its might be manifested on earth. Verily, thy God is the All-Knowing, the All-Informed."

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 199)

Now I'm going through the Aqdas, memorizing each paragraph so I can ponder it all day long for a few days.

List of things to do now & later

* Things to do now
This list is actually a few weeks old. Some of this has been crossed off, but I'm posting it all here.

1. Rediscovering Baha'u'llah.
2. Rosetta Stone Chinese lessons.
3. Call someone in the US.
4. Call Charlotte.
5. Blog & email.
- Bard
- Fred
- Baha'i Studies project
- Erin
6. Dishes, laundry, sweep, mop.
7. Hold Aeryn
8. Online with Patty.
- VACU
- BofA <-> VACU
9. Help with meals.
10. Unpacking and organizing.
11. Insurance form.
12. Ubuntu.
13. Put stuff away from the supermarket.
14. Tintin.
15. Read heater remote.
16. Budget and expenses.
17. Fix sink stopper.
18. Make books.
19. English.
20. Report stolen phone.
21. Read staples receipt.
22. TV picture too dark.
23. See what's in the suitcases.

* Things to do later
1. Reschedule flights <= 7/29/2008. 2. Hotsync Palm. 3. CCB -> BofA.
4. Sometime list.
5. Financial file for Patty.
6. Verizon Wireless.

Comments

I just discovered that there were some restrictions on comments in this blog. Sorry! I've fixed that now.

Things to do

I also defrosted the refrigerator.

List of things to do today

At home
1. Call Charlotte.
2. Dishes
3. Sweep and mop.

In Qibao
1. Look for shoelaces, a transformer for the DS, and a street map of Qingpu.
2. Buy some more cereal.

At the Olympic Garden entrance
1. Get a Bank of China remittance form to apply for a demand draft for the $18 for the FBI background check.
2. Buy some more milk.

Looking for a hospital and finding Staples

We're frantically trying to learn Chinese, but for now we need a doctor who is familiar with American medical terms, who speaks fluent English, and most of all, whose receptionist speaks fluent English. Wednesday I asked Patty what I should look for next in my scouting outings, and she said Staples or Parkway Medical Services. Then she said it should be Parkway first.

I found approximately where the address should be on the map, and took the metro to the station nearest that location. There was a very appealing shopping area nearby, so I decided to explore it a little. One of the first places I saw was Staples. Actually, it's Staples/UPS. I went in to look around a little, and I asked about an adapter plug. We bought a dual-voltage hair dryer before coming here, but we can't plug it in because the plug has one prong wider than the other, and none of the receptacles here, and none of the adapters I've been able to find here, are made for that. Staples does have them, but the cheaper one was out of stock.

I saw the name of the hospital I was looking for on my Shanghai map, so I went there, forgetting that I had an address and not noticing that the hospital on the map was on a different street. It was a long walk from the metro station, so I decided to practice using buses. I spent ten or twenty minutes deciphering the signs at the bus stop to decide which bus to take, and still got on one that didn't go where I thought it was going. I had to get off and walk about as far as I would have without the bus, about twenty minutes. Good thing I was riding the bus for practice and not to save time.

I went into the hospital and looked around. No English anywhere. Most places have signs in Chinese and English. Not here. Strange, for a place where I thought I would find English speaking health practitioners.

I finally found an information desk and used my phrasebook and the guide book from the school where Patty works to try to explain what I was looking for. They told me to go to building 38. At building 38 I found out I was at the wrong hospital. The nurses explained where the other hospital was, and while I was walking there, I remembered I had the address! It turned out to be just a few blocks from Staples.

Shopping list

1. markers
2. shoe inserts
3. cleaning products
4. neutral shoe polish
5. fan
6. shampoo and conditioner
7. balm for mosquito bites
8. mosquito coils
9. ice cube tray
10. cloth napkins
11. sugar bowl
12. vaseline
13. wire brush
14. Goo Gone
15. passport protector
16. magnifier
17. caulk
18. nutcracker
19. pocket notepads
20. agenda
21. map of Qingpu
22. battery for electronic dictionary
23. tables for computers
24. coasters
25. light bulbs
26. small file box
27. seam ripper
28. funnel
29. toilet bowl cleaner
30. plug adapter for hair dryer
31. printer paper
32. glass cleaner
33. CD-Rs

List of things to do later

1. Find out about supplemental insurance.

2. Update our address with all our accounts.

3. Give our mailing address to people who want it.

4. Get our medical records in the US released.

5. Send photos to people who want them.

6. Mail license plates to the Department of Motor Vehicles for partial refund.

7. Study documents related to my projects.

8. Organize our photos.

List of things to do now

1. Convert Patty's RealPlayer files from old CDs to MP3 for her iPod.

2. Fedex signed letter to the Credit Union asking for my replacement cards to be sent to my China address.

3. Wire some money to our Bank account in the US.

4. Buy a stepladder to use to replace our light bulbs.

5. Call Charlotte.

6. Read phone manual, which is all in Chinese.

7. Add minutes to our cell phones.

8. Rosetta Stone Chinese lessons.

9. Set up printer.

10. Help Patty with her needlepoint.

11. Put together the booklets that Patty printed out for her Kindergarten class.

12. Find a way to get a cashier's check to send with her fingerprints to the FBI for a background check, required by her employer.

13. Go through all the stuff I threw in the top drawer when I unpacked, that needs to be taken care of.

List of some current activities and interests

1. Sweeping, mopping, dishes, laundry

2. Private English lessons with videos and skits
- listening, speaking, reading, writing
- moral and spiritual issues
- harmonious society

3. Scouting for outings with Patty
- line 9 bus to other metro station
- supermarkets and other stores at Xujiahui and Zhongshan Park
- buses to Qibao and back
- Doctors

4. Learning Chinese.
- preschool writing book
- children's stories
- Tintin

5. Cards.
- Bank of America: check 9/30
- VACU: fax request for cards with signature
- Bank of China: check 9/24

6. Moving.
- call Lee Tanner
- fingerprints
- to-do lists
- clean up and organize floor and drawers

7. Internet projects

8. Working with Chinese people and government.
- read about harmonious society and religion
- learn about desertification control and related initiatives (agriculture and forests)
- Sheshan Mountain

Aeryn was born last night!

Aeryn was born last night!

Lost Wallet and Cards

A few minutes after the taxi brought us home Tuesday night, I discovered that I didn't have my wallet. I might have had it on my lap in the taxi. I looked all over where we got out of the taxi, and along the way where we walked to the apartment.

A Chinese debit card, two American debit cards, an American credit card, two phone cards and about 700 rmb ($100).

I didn't know which taxi company it was, and I didn't have the license plate number. I went to the guard house at the entrance where we came into the Olympic Garden apartments, and using another wallet and lots of arm waving, I got my point across that I had lost my wallet and cards, but I didn't know what they could do about it, and apparently neither did they. I tried to suggest that the driver might bring the wallet to them if he found it, but I don't think the message got through.

I called Daniel in Korla, and he and Lillian made some phone calls and found out that there are pictures of every car that goes in and out of the apartment grounds. They found out the license plate number and called the taxi company. Two days later we're still waiting for some news from them.

I called my banks to report my lost cards. Unfortunately, some of the lost card hot lines are 800 numbers that I can't call from China. Fortunately I have local numbers that I can call and be transferred to the hot lines. Unfortunately, that's expensive. Fortunately, I can call for 2 cents a minute with Skype. Unfortunately I needed to make more calls after I reported the lost cards, to get new ones, and my Skype credit is running out, and I won't be able to add any until I get the new cards! Fortunately, I might still have enough to make the calls I need to make.

Yesterday I went to my branch office of the Bank of China to ask for a new card. Fortunately some people work there who speak enough English to help me fill out the forms, which are in Chinese with no English translations. Unfortunately, I had to sign forms I couldn't read.

Next challenge: How to find the nearest police station so I can report my loss to the police, and how to explain why it took me two days (or will it be three or four?) to report it.

Tutoring

Daniel and Patty are both working full time at the French School. I've volunteered to wash clothes and dishes, and sweep and mop the floors. Daniel is still doing the cooking, when he's here. This week he's in Korla with Lillian and her parents, waiting for Aeryn to be born, hopefully while he's there.

My other job besides housekeeping will be private English lessons, including lessons with some people Lillian was teaching before. I used to help junior high and high school students with their math in Martinique, but I have virtually no experience teaching English to younger children. I have one group ages 9 and 10, and another, older group. Next week I'll be starting with someone younger.

I've been thinking about my vision, goals and strategies, and my head was spinning. Finally I thought of something simple (for me) that I can do with all levels until I think of something better. I've downloaded some educational videos from the Internet Archive called "Learning to be Human" by the Learning Corporation of America. I'll play each video a little at a time and have the students try to understand what people are saying, and write it down. Then we'll act it out, and discuss it.

That will provide practice in listening, speaking, reading and writing, and some first steps in spiritual and moral training. It will also tie in nicely with the harmonious society that's being promoted by the Chinese government.

Community service and development

One project I wanted to continue after moving to China is working with children on neighborhood community service and development.

One of my strategies for learning Chinese is to read children's books in Chinese, and look up words that I don't know in a dictionary while I'm reading. One day I sat on a bench outside near our apartment and started reading. Some women came by and watched me for a while and tried to talk to me. I couldn't understand anything they were saying and they couldn't understand anything I was saying. I pointed to the preschool writing exercise book I was working on, then I pointed to me.

One woman had a toddler with her, and I tried reading to him some of the words I had learned. He started picking up leaves and stones off the ground to give to me. His mother seemed to be enjoying the show, and brought him back several times to play with me some more.

Learning Chinese

One of my strategies for learning Chinese is to read Tintin and children's books in Chinese, and look up the words that I don't know, while I'm reading. That's a lot harder than you might think. It isn't like using a French-English where you can find the word in alphabetical order. A Chinese-English dictionary is in alphabetical order of the Pinyin form of the Chinese, which you can only guess if you already know how the word is pronounced. Chinese writing is composed of pictorial characters like Egyptian hieroglyphics. Each character is a syllable, and you can't guess how it's pronounced from the way it looks.

For example, one character is a box with a line going down through the middle. The Pinyin form is "zhong" which sounds almost like "jong," only you curl your tongue way back for the "jong" instead of putting the tip just above your teeth. Now if I didn't know that already, I would not be able to guess that the Pinyin for a box with a line going down through the middle is "zhong," and I wouldn't know where to look in the Chinese section of the dictionary to find it.

Chinese-English dictionaries have stroke indexes, where you can find a character by its shape, with the Pinyin form next to it. Then you can look it up in the main part of the dictionary. I was just starting to learn that when someone offered me an electronic dictionary. Unfortunately electronic dictionaries don't use the same stroke index system that the paper dictionary uses. There's a graphical input method for traditional Chinese, one for simplified Chinese, and another one that works for both.

One system is called Wubi, abbreviated "WB," one is called "Cangjie," abbreviated "CJ," and the other is called "CKC," abbreviated "ZH." Darned if I know why!

Finding our way in Shanghai

Contents:

1. Daniel and us and Shanghai.

2. My scouting expeditions.

3. The Day Patty and I Did Shanghai by Ourselves Without Daniel and We Had to Walk a Mile Out of Our Way in the Pouring Windy Rain.

1. Daniel spent many exhausting hours with us, going places he never goes, doing things he never does, going out on limbs that kept breaking off, to help us learn to go where we want to go and do what we want to do.

2. While Patty was at work, I practiced going some places where we might go together. Imagine trying to get on the right bus or metro line, and find out how much to pay, and get off at the right stop, and find the stores you're looking for, and buy stuff, without being able to understand what anyone says or read any of the signs!

3. Last Friday Daniel left to spend a week in Korla where Lillian is. She stayed there when Daniel and Patty and I came to Shanghai. Aeryn might be born this week, a week ahead of schedule. We're hoping and praying she comes while Daniel is still in Korla.

Saturday Patty and I went to Qibao Ancient City to buy a craft kit she saw there Friday. Then we ate lunch at McDonald's. That was pretty easy because I've had a lot of practice going to Qibao. It's just a five minute bus ride, after we take the shuttle that goes back and forth through the Olympic Garden apartments where we live, west of Shanghai.

Then we took metro line 9 in to Shanghai. Line 9 is a new line that hasn't connected yet with the other lines. It currently ends a mile or two from the nearest of the other lines. There's a bus that goes back and forth between the two lines, but for various reasons we decided to walk. We found a huge book store on the way, and decided to look for a phrase book and a book on the Wubi input method to help me use my Chinese <-> English electronic dictionary.

I knew enough about the electronic dictionary to look up "phrase book" in English and show someone the Chinese translation. He went away for a minute and came back with a book of idioms. I was wishing I had a phrase book. I said "Hello . . . Nihao" and "Goodbye . . . Zaijian," waving my arms back and forth. Then he understood, and took me to a section where I found the phrase book I was looking for.

About halfway to the other metro station, rain started pouring down and blowing all over the place. We ducked into a convenience store and bought a snack and a drink. After a while it let up a little and we went on. A block away from the metro station the road was closed for construction of guess what - the new metro line. We had to go about a mile out of our way on some side streets, in the wind and rain, to get to the station.

The rest was easy compared to that, although we did have a little bit of a scare when we couldn't agree on where to catch the bus back to Olympic Garden after we went to Carrefour. If we missed that bus we would have had to pay maybe 60 Yuan ($9) for a taxi. We finally did find the bus, though.

Shanghai

Shanghai is huge.

So here we are in Shanghai. We arrived four days ago, after spending a few weeks in the west of China with danio and Lillian and her parents.

I would like our experiences in China to help reduce stereotypes and prejudices about China, in the US and the rest of the world. I'd like to use my blogs for that purpose, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Part of it might be talking about our daily life here, but I'm not good at that. I'll try.

I'll start by talking about our life in Korla, in the west of China. In each post I'll just talk about one or two of our experiences there.

Patty had both knees replaced in May, and she's still using a cane to walk. The city buses in Korla don't have machines for the bus fares. There's a person on each bus who collects the money from people after they get on. Almost every time we rode the bus, either someone spontaneously got up and gave Patty a seat, or the person who took the money asked someone to give her a seat. Often someone offered me a seat too.

Another thing I'd like to mention about China is the theme and the mascots for the 2008 Olympics. The theme was "One World, One Dream." We've seen it posted everywhere. We saw it when we came to China in December. There are also five cartoon mascots, one for each of the Olympic rings:

- Beibei, a blue Fish
- Jingjing, a black Panda
- Huanhuan, the Olympic Flame
- Yingying, a yellow Tibetan Antelope
- Nini, a green Swallow

Together, the names spell "Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni," which means "Beijing Welcomes You."

For more information see The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

I'd also like to mention China's efforts to help stop the spread of the deserts. More about that later.

Next: Inventing our own sign language at the post office.

A funny thing happened on the way to China

----

Contents:

1. How we almost didn't get visas in time.

2. How we got visas in time.

3. Why we left at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning, drove for an hour, slept two hours in a Motel, and drove four more hours.

4. How we didn't get into Canada on the first try.

5. Why we were driving to Canada, in our own car.

5. How we took two more days to get to Quebec City.

6. Why we drove all night, and took six hours to drive 180 miles.

----

1. How we almost didn't get visas in time.
- The French School of Shanghai applied for a work license for Patty's work visa in time to have it before her first day of work August 26, but not before our planned trip to spend a few weeks with Lillian and danio and Lillian's parents in China before then.
- The round trip tickets that we bought, before we knew how long it would take to get the work visa, have us returning in December, four months after our arrival in China. For a single entry visa we would have to change the dates to some time in August, and there were no seats available. We would have to apply for a double entry tourist visa. My phone call to the Embassy was not encouraging, and I did not see the encouraging response to my email until three days before our planned departure for Quebec.

2. How we got visas in time.
Thursday, July 10, two days before our planned departure: I drove 110 miles to the Embassy and applied for a double entry visa. The person who took the application said that they would have to do some checking, and the visa could not be ready the same day even if I paid the fee for same day service. On the way back home, I got a call from the Embassy saying I could pick up the visas, but it was to late to get back there before it closed. I drove back to the Embassy the next day, Friday, and got the visas.

3. Why we left at 3:30 in the morning, drove for an hour, slept two or three hours in a Motel, and drove four more hours.
Because of my two trips to the Embassy, most of the packing I had planned on doing Thursday and Friday had to be done Friday evening and into the wee hours of the morning. The apartment was stripped, and we had planned to drive an hour or two Friday before stopping at a motel. Even though we were up all night and didn't leave until after 3:00, we decided to do that anyway. I had to drive slowly and take breaks. By the time we got settled into the motel we only had two or three hours left to sleep before checkout time. After that, I wanted to travel at least a few hours before stopping at another motel.

4. How we didn't get into Canada on the first try.
We thought we would drive our car to Canada, and if we couldn't sell it or give it away there, I would drive it back to New York, sell it, and take a bus back to Canada. Monday, July 13, at the border to Canada, we found out there was no legal way I could sell it in Canada, and if I gave it to anyone, the taxes and duties would cost her way more than the car was worth. Even though I said I would drive it back to New York to sell it, we were turned back because the customs official had no assurance that I wouldn't leave it in Canada.

5. Why we were driving to Canada, in our own car.
We were going to Quebec city to spend two weeks with Charlotte before flying to China. We were driving because we had way too much stuff to bring on a bus or a plane, with all the stuff we were bringing for Charlotte and her children, and all the stuff we were bringing for Lillian and danio and their baby-on-the-way and Lillian's family. We were driving our own car because Hertz, Avis and Budget all said they had no one-way cars available for the dates of our trip, and we thought we could sell it or give it away in Canada.

5. How it took two more days to get to Quebec City.
After we were turned back from Canada, we drove back to the nearest city to look for a motel. There were no rooms available because of the Fishing Tournament, the Iron Man Competition and the Mayor's Cup. We had to drive 80 miles farther south to find a room. In the morning we had to drive 80 more miles south, to Albany, to rent a one-way car to Quebec City. Then we parked the rental car next to our car, transferred all our stuff to the rental car, found someone to buy our car, and took a taxi back to the rental car.

6. Why we drove all night, and took six hours to drive 180 miles.
We got into Canada late Tuesday night. We were already two days later than we had planned, and Charlotte was climbing the walls. We decided to just keep on driving, but I had to drive very slowly, and I had to stop several times to take a break and drink some coffee.

Next: On to China!

I've been working on a list of things to remember, for moving to China.

1. Stop utilities.
2. Address change.
3. Forwarding.
4. Plan trip to Fort Wayne.
5. Shipping and storage estimates.
6. Study materials about China.
7. Records and archives.
8. Stuff to sell and give away.
9. Accounts.
10. Realtor.
11. Luggage limits.
12. Plane reservations.
13. Car title for transfer.
14. Finish setting up Patty's laptop.
15. Buy my laptop.
16. Plan trip to Quebec.
17. Visa.

Patty had both knees replaced May 6, and I was practically living at the hospital the next four days. There was even a bed for me in her room! Then she went to rehab for a week and I spent all my evenings there after work. Then she came home, and since then I've been working half days and spending most of my time at home taking care of her and helping her with rehab exercises. Besides that I've been setting up her new laptop, and we've started getting ready to move to China in July.

Patty and I went to China in December, to spend a week with Daniel and his wife and her parents. For a story and some photos, see Patty's blog (under links at right).

Some time in the last two or three years I learned that I'm a performance artist. I use my own life as a medium for my art.

I just learned I'm not the only one who calls it art!

PERFORMING LIFE: THE WORK OF TEHCHING HSIEH
http://www.one-year-performance.com/intro.html

"Hsieh is an artist whose medium of expression is not words or sounds or paint, but his own life."

At last! I know who I am! Yay!

I try to shape my life to express what I see envisioned in the writings of Baha'u'llah. My works are small, infrequent, feeble, primitive, unpopular, not very appealing, and seen by very few. Still, it is art, from my heart, and maybe it will make Him smile.

"Then He smiled at me, pa rum-pa-pum pum
Me and my drum."

That hope is what I live for.

Jim

My life is my drum

Today I decided I want to help organize the Internet to facilitate networking among people working to spread peace, justice, beauty and kindness.