Darcy in Nepal:

We have established a pattern that Darcy makes sure we don't sleep in beyond 9:30 am on Sunday mornings.  She calls from Nepal about that time.

This morning she called from the town of Pokhara.  She had to go their to get her visa renewed.  She likes it there.  The hotel room has a ceiling fan.  It's marvelous.  The hotel room also has running water.  And, what's more, you can get hot running water.  She really likes Pokhara.  Shopping!  They have a mall - well sort of.  She's not looking forward to going back to the village.  Ok, she looks forward to working with the kids, but the village life style... not so much.  The heat and the water are the main issues.  Much of the water she uses - she has to carry to the house.  The water flows constantly out of a tube near their neighbors house.  The tube probably collects the water from a spring underground.

She has learned some things about herself through this experience.  One thing in particular is that she needs something to do.  She gets stir crazy if there's nothing to do.  The school was closed for 3 days and there was no work for her to do.  We talked about art, music and other pass-times, and she pointed out that she's learning native dances from one of her students who invited Darcy to her upcoming birthday party.  If you didn't know by now, it's becoming apparent that dance is important to Darcy.   "Everybody is happier when there is singing and dancing." she said.  The children will be sitting in a circle, one of them will start singing.  The others will join in and eventually somebody - girl or boy - will get in the middle and dance.  The dance just tops off the experience.  One Friday several weeks ago, she checked on the 6th grade students who had been cleaning their classroom.  They started singing and then dancing.  Darcy joined in with the dancing and eventually much of the school was croweded into that classroom to enjoy the singing and dancing.  I think the kids from Nepal would take a Whetten party to the next level.  We dance and we sing but we never dance to what we sing.

Another thing she has learned is that - with good preperation before you go to sleep - you can sleep peacefully through the night.  Here's how:  Before you get in bed, you need to carefully make sure the mosquito net is thoroughly tucked in.  Then you need to get rid of all the mosquitos within the net.  After that, if you hear a mosquito in the night, you can sleep peacefully because you know it's outside of the net.  One morning she found a very fat mosquito within the net.  The point of attack was not readily apparent until closer to noon.  She found 12 (twelve) mosquito bites on her foot.  Apparently, it was cool enough during the night that she slept covered by a blanket - except for her foot.

One of the other teachers at the school is thin and tall, like Darcy.  Ok, taller than Darcy.  They have become best friends (mitimy in Nepalese).  Her friend made it official with a serious ceremony where they take red powder and make a dot on each others forehead, and exchanged money and candy.  It's experiences like these that make the heat and other issues bareable.

If you want to see more of what it's like where Darcy is, go to Google Maps and look up:
Pokhara, Western Region, Nepal
If your run your cursor over the "Map" icon near the upper right corner, you can turn on the photos people have shared of the area.  You will see pictures of Annapurna.  Seeing Annapurna is counted by Darcy as one of the pleasing things about being in Nepal.

Darcy writes from Nepal:

Namaste! I've arrived in the village of Parewandara, in Lamjung district. If you're looking at google maps it might be easier to find another larger village called Pokhara. It was a six hours on three buses (the longest bus ride wa 5 hours) and 25 minute walk to get here so I'd be surprised if you can find it on google.

Kathmandu was not my favorite place. It was busy and dirty and just not pleasant. I did get to see a beautiful temple and some incredible government buildings, but I am very happy to be here in the village.

It's beautiful, cleaner, quieter.

I am staying with the founder of the school, and his family.

He and his wife speak English and are very caring. They have 3 chidlren, the oldest lives with her grandparents in another village to go to school there. The second is 2 years old, and the third is 2 months old. Her cousin also lives here, she's 18 and we share a room.

The house is simple and comfortable enough. Last night we went to sleep at 8:30pm and woke up at 5:15am. It was great! We had breakfast at 8:30 and I feel like it's been a productive morning already. Last night I met three of the girls who attend my school (Little Star) and we had a lot of fun playing. We caught lightning bugs, walked to a nearby temple, received a blessing from the Hindu priest there, and jumped and played game lots. You are right Mom, I love the children already. I think I just needed to get to the village and make myself at home to feel comfortable here.

[The school founder] and his family are very accomodating. They told me to ask if I need anything and that they would teach me how to wash the dishes (I asked for this). Their house is very open, I brush my teeth and wash my hair outside. We'll see what I'll do to bathe myself...

They seem to have power outages often here so I don't know when I'll email again. Hopefully I'll get my sim card today and give you a call.

Love you lots!

Dw

Michelle in Korea

I'm turning this post over to Michelle.
Curtis is allowing me to use his blog to share my adventures in Korea. 
I arrived in Korea September 7th and was very happy to see my second daughter, Darcy, at the airport.  True to Whetten form there was a prank in the works as she greeted me with a sly smile.  She informed me that we didn't have to take the bus home; that two men had offered to drive us in their car and she had accepted because she didn't want to deal with luggage on the bus.  I was a bit alarmed.  Really?  Then she introduced me to Bro. Sutherland and another missionary.  Sigh.  What a relief.  They were very nice and drove us and a large sleeping pad all the way to Darcy's apartment, which was quite a ways away from where they live.  It turns out that this is the way church service happens in Korea.  The members are spread out but very willing to serve each other. 

Rather than post the 60-something pages of my Korea Memoirs, I will post a few pictures and tell you about them.

The Korean people work very hard at preserving their cultural arts.  Traditional foods are an important part of the culture. 

Darcy's employer, Nan, and her supervisor, Colin, took us out to dinner at a famous traditional restaurant called "The Korea House".  It's a VERY nice traditional Korean restaurant where you take off your shoes and sit on cushions at a low table.  They brought out a gazillion small dishes with small portions of soups, meat and side dishes like kimchi.  Everything was delicious.  I ate fish cakes, potato cakes, radish, jap chae, shrimp, eel, rice, kimchi soup, rice cakes for dessert, a pear slice for dessert and dried octopus for dessert.  I can't believe I ate the shrimp, eel and octopus without flinching, but I DID.  And they were good!

After dinner, we enjoyed the performance of traditional music and dances.  It was beautiful and interesting and entertaining.  At the end, the performers asked Darcy to join them on the stage to dance while playing a hand-drum.  She did a great job.



Michelle with some of the performers

 Nan and Colin are very kind and gracious.  Darcy is very fortunate to work for them.  They complemented Darcy and said she is a favorite teacher at the school.  The way they treated me was an indication to me of how much they appreciate Darcy.

I'll write more about her other friends in a later blog.
Michelle

First Fall Scenes from the North Georgia Mountains

Every fall Michelle makes a pilgrimage to Hudson Apple House.  The original intent was to buy apples for canning.  The trip has evolved into something else.  How would you describe an event where you meet with old friends that you have not seen in a long time and listen to funny stories and sometimes poignant ones; you relax in the comfort of not worrying about what anybody thinks of you - they take you as you are.  These friends are what we've come to love about the south.  Earlier in the week, a co-worker  asked me why we did not return to San Diego.  "It's so nice there."  Indeed there are some nice things about San Diego - but there are not nearly as many good people like our friends who run Hudson Apple House, and as you will see in pictures below, it's not nearly as beautiful as the mountains of north Georgia.

After visiting with our friends, we wandered around the fields and took some more pictures.

Clarissa took our picture in this same spot (facing the opposite direction) in October of 2010.

 The following picture was taken by Josh in 2010, as I examined interesting rocks in the road to the barn.  This is included just for the contrast in my hair.  I'm still wearing that same hair cut.  In fact, it has not been cut since my appendix was cut out.

Artsy picture taken by Clarissa in 2010.

Clarissa at Hudson Apple House, 2010.

I never ever imagined my daughter would be so drop-dead gorgeous.  Yeah, that's right, click on her picture so you can see for yourself up close.  And how did she end up being so kind and nice too?  And sensitive?  And knee-slappin' funny?  And self-reliant, and... and... well, it must be because she's married to Josh.  Thanks, Josh. 

OK.  Back to the present.  As we were wandering about this year, we met Cici, the beautiful Belgian horse and Roxy, her foal.  As soon as we saw them, we started walking towards the fence.  As soon as they saw us, they did the same. 

I love the blond mane and tail with the dark coat on Cici.  Roxy, to the surprise of her owners, turned out to be a "pinto" as they say where I come from.  Here they call her a "paint".  I was pleased to see how docile they were... except Roxy likes to nip people.  Once that had been established, we got along just fine.

Here Michelle is counseling with Roxy about her nipping problem.

See ya!

FAMILY REUNION, BEAR LAKE: 2011

Once upon a time, Jean and DeeAnne had 10 children.

On day in July, they were all together in the foothills around Bear Lake, Idaho.  Why Bear Lake?  Because the mother's father was raised in George Town, which is near the north end of Bear Lake.

Over time, (a long time) the whole family grew to look like this.

The newest addition to the family, Whitney, is sitting next to the patriarch.   The Bruces are missing (Julies' husband and Lorenas').  Also missing are Lorena's Joseph, her oldest two girls, Jesse and Mary; and Darcy is in S. Korea.

One day the Georgians went for a drive under the paradigm of "I wonder where this road goes."  It turned out perfect.  We saw a golden eagle.  I took lots of flower pictures and we eventually found a beautiful view from the mountain behind the hill that served as a back drop to the first picture on this blog.

 This picture shows what I miss while living in Georgia.  While our trees are beautiful in Georgia, they cover everything and we never get vistas like this one!  Matt is missing from this picture because he was on the lake.

Peter and Joseph are facing backwards, Matt is driving.  Thanks to Clark for providing the teenagers' toys.

The picture below shows Lorena's youngest daughter on the far left, Conals oldest daughter in the middle and Angies oldest daughter on the right. 

Outdoors above, Indoors below.

I don't know what Matt and the St. Georgians are playing, but at the big table they were playing Pitt, and yes, it got very exciting.  At the far table, a game of Dominion is being set up.  Dominion - in my opinion - was the most fun new game at the reunion.

Clarissa and her Dad getting ready for the frisbee throw from Ced.

The volleyball game between the Whettens and the Jordans.  Jordans won :(

Volleyball was officiated by Ced.  I liked the way he laid down the rules and there were no exceptions.  Not even Grandpa got a second chance to serve.  And don't mess with the net!

Not shown in these images are the table tennis game put together by Joshua, or the Risk Games.  I don't have any pictures of those.  It's late.  I have to wrap this up.

A year from Spain

The transition from March to April marks the 1 year pre-anniversary of our trip to Spain.  Let me explain that more clearly.  We are planning on being in Spain at the end of March and beginning of April 2012.  As a teaser, my good friend Paco sent me a CD with pictures of Galicia, the province in the North West corner of Spain.

For many centuries, pilgrims have been walking from all over Europe to Santiago de Campostela in Galicia, where they believe the apostle James is buried.  Paco and I will be either biking or hiking the Camino de Santiago in Galicia.

It would be fun to hike the entire Camino from France to Santiago, but I might not be in shape for that just yet.  I know our budget is not and I know my responsibilities at work won't allow it.  Let's try this out and maybe later do the rest.

Michelle is not particularly interested in walking for three or four days.  Paco's wife, Idoya, has graciously agreed to host Michelle while we hike.  They will meet us at an Inn for lunch and then at the next one for dinner and to spend the night.  When I say Inn, I mean the real thing.  They are not like anything we've seen in the US, since they've been around since before the US existed.

Paco is an excellent photographer - I'm honored that he let me show these to you.  His CD also included pictures of the Picos de Europa in Northern Spain.  I'm reserving those for now.  Picos de Europa are the most beautiful mountains in Spain.  Some time soon, I hope to spend a couple of weeks there.

What's going on?

Time between posts is evidence of life's increased complexity.  In March and April I served as part of the logistics staff for Wood Badge Course S9-101-26.  Wood Badge is the highest level of training for volunteers who work directly with the youth in all of Scouting (i.e. Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, Ventures, Explorers and Sea Scouts).  It was a great experience:

1. The content of the course has been useful to me not only as the Cub Master of Pack 521, but also in my responsibilities at Motorola Solutions and - most importantly - in my responsibilities at home.  In a separate entry I will share more details of how the contents of the course has affected my life.
2. The volunteers who attend Wood Badge are the cream of the crop.  These are people who are willing to sacrifice their own comforts and time in order to become better for the youth.  The concept of "magnifying a calling" is internalized in them to the point that they're confused as to why everyone doesn't do this.
3. The leaders who present Wood Badge are the creme' de la creme'.  These men and women - all volunteers - are the working embodyment of the principles taught in Wood Badge.

Here is a picture of the Staff.

This course took place at Camp Rainey Mountain in north east Georgia.  The name is right.  It's in the county that receives the most rain in all of Georgia.  Fortunately for us, it was not a serious problem.  It kept the dust down and kept us honest as Scouters: no sloppy tents.

I tried to download the picture with the participants... but it took so long I gave up and cancelled it.