“What do you mean, you don’t know?”  I ask Alice, my interpreter.  “I don’t…  Well, I know a little,” she says.  “My elders taught me about some of the history here in Tiananmen Square.”  “It wasn’t taught in school?”  “No.”  “Seriously?”  “No.”  “Do you know of the famous photograph called “Tank Man?”  “No.  What is […]

I’m in China, but I’m thinking of my grandmother who owned a large apple orchard in northern Michigan.  She worked so hard on the farm for many years, and our family vacations were spent visiting her orchard at harvest.  My mother brought home bushels of apples to can, jar or freeze for the winter.  It […]

“Her name is Jing Jing,” Alice, my interpreter says.  “It means Crystal in English.  Her grandfather told me that he brings her here, to the park, every day.  They sit under these trees while she plays.”  I look at the little girl while Alice and the man continue their conversation.  I walk slowly toward Jing […]

“You need to give him your right hand,” Alice, my interpreter tells me.  I extend my right hand for the man who is about to read my palm.  I stumbled across his business and came in without an appointment.  I don’t know anything about his credibility, but I’m curious and open to what he’s going […]

Listen to those lovely birds singing…  I snuggle into the pillows a little deeper…  It’s so peaceful lying here…  Wait a minute.  There aren’t birds chirping outside my hotel room window here in Beijing.  I sit up in bed, feeling confused.  Where am I?  Oh yes…  How could I forget?  I’m in Bali, about to […]