Experiencing Some Technical Difficulties...

Hundreds of thousands of you have written in to say that Episode 2 of Gateway Berlin Radio is not working when you try and play it.  Well, that happens when you have over 1 million people trying to access something on the web.  Anyway, we are on the case.  Hopefully that will be fixed.

In light of the last post about German/Chinese differences and similarities--I thought you might find it interesting to know that I am sitting at a Starbucks in Berlin right now watching a bunch of Germans of all ages doing Tai-Chi in the park.  Weird.  Globalization.

Some Differences..

PHOTO:  Marco enjoying a walk in downtown Berlin with his Father.

We are still waiting to get internet in our home...and cell phones...and quite a few other things.  We're about 5 or 6 weeks into our move to Germany and there's still a long way to go before our home is truly settled.  In fact, I don't think everything will be in place for another couple of months.  We had our first visitor the very morning after we spent our first night in our new home.  Our next visitors are scheduled to come in about 2 or 3 weeks or so---so the race is on to get things furnished and prepared for guests.

This is quite different than Hong Kong where within 3 days, you can pretty much have your home functioning and fully operational.  Even more than the United States, Hong Kong demands that things be done very quickly and efficiently.  Of course Germany is also known for its efficiency and organization--compared to the rest of Europe---but Hong Kong is in a league of its own.

There are lots of other differences and similarities between the cultures.  Both German and Chinese cultures like following the rules, like things to be well-organized, and expect a pretty high level of conformity.  Neither culture is known for its spontaneity or fun-loving demeanor.  They are usually considered pretty "Serious" people compared to Italians, or Middle Easterners or most Latin Americans.  It is the South Americans of European descent (Chileans, Uruguayans, Argentinians) that often don't have the same kind of Latin demeanor of the Brazilians, Columbians and "warmer" spanish cultures.

But there are lots of differences between Chinese culture and German culture as well (obviously), and plenty of differences between Germany and Hong Kong.

The most obvious one is the space.  Most Germans live in pretty rural areas with plenty of nature.  Berlin, which is one of the greenest and most environmentally-conscious cities in the whole world (filled with parks and gardens and land that is kept away from developers) is considered urban and non-green by most Germans.  Yet unlike HK, even the cities here have truly functional nature areas accessible to everyone.

And of course the speed of life here is so much slower.  People ride their bikes everywhere---and a trip to buy food may entail stopping off at a few quaint looking shops in the town square where you get your meats, breads, and pastries at different locations.  In HK, everything is done as fast as possible.  In fact, we are still in the habit of sprinting onto trains as if we are running "the Amazing Race."  That's HK style.

Marco is greatly enjoying all of the green space and parks.  I think he also really likes the silence of the neighborhoods.  No jack-hammers here----just the sounds of trees and birds.  I think he feels very relaxed.

The other day we were in a train station in Berlin and it was QUIETER than the inside of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.  It was full, but extremely quiet.  Silence is valued here.  In Hong Kong noise abounds because "loud is happy."  I just could not believe how incredibly quiet that train station was.

In fact, Americans can stick out like a sore thumb here.  Americans (like the Cantonese but not quite to the same degree) are a pretty loud people and are used to talking at a high volume.  Sometimes on the trains, you can hear Americans speaking way louder than everyone else and people look around and think to themselves:  "Man, those Americans are loud."

A big difference that is killing me is that Coke here is made with sugar (like it used be in the USA before they switched to corn syrup or whatever that is they use that's poisonous and totally bad for you).  I weaned myself off of Coke this Spring.  But I haven't found any drinks I really like in Germany.  So, I went back to Coke.  It's so sweet so now I'm going to have to get the coke monkey off my back again.

Well this whole diary entry was just to say that we are still waiting for our internet to get hooked up.  So we will try to continue posting as often as we can.  But it's not as easy to be online as it used to be. They told us it would take 3 days to get our internet or something---but I think here--it might mean 3 or 4 weeks or something like that.

But what I've noticed is not how dependent We have become on the internet---but how dependent EVERYTHING has become on the internet.  It's the way businesses and people and banks and everything else prefers to operate.  So even if you like life without the internet---and sometimes I do----nobody else does including the companies and service providers you have to deal with.  So life in this modern world is truly becoming dependent on access to the web to a ridiculous degree.  If the net ever went down or got attacked--a lot of us would be in trouble.  Everyone except the Masai---who, of course, would probably not be the exception because they would be made that they can't find out the latest cattle prices on their cell phone.  No joke.

Well, time to check my favorite websites while I have limited internet access :)

New Edition of Gateway Berlin Radio Now Up

Hey folks!  The latest broadcast (#2) of Gateway Berlin Radio is now online. GATEWAY BERLIN RADIO (EPISODE 2)

In this episode, host Patrick Nachtigall brings us a blast from the past.

Also:  Remembering Emmy Lou , checking out strange but true headline news from around the world in the “Around the Horn” segment.  In the In-Depth segment: we look at the city of Singapore with our guest co-host and summer intern Jael Tang. Finally, a World-Cup Roundup with Greg Dorr.

To Listen Go to the Gateway Berlin Radio page or the front page at three-worlds.com

GBR - EPISODE 2

In this episode, host Patrick Nachtigall brings us a blast from the past. Also:  Remembering Emmy Lou , checking out strange but true headline news from around the world in the “Around the Horn” segment.  In the In-Depth segment: we look at the city of Singapore with our guest co-host and summer intern Jael Tang. Finally, a World-Cup Roundup with Greg Dorr.

Right click to download the podcast: Gateway Berlin Radio / Ep. 2

Thanks!

We live close to a large lake named "Wansee."  It's big enough that ferries go across it and there are 6 hour boat tours offered of the lake.  Yesterday we took one of the ferries out and crossed the lake and walked along this path with our good friend Rod Stafford.  We've walked down some roads together---some pretty, like this one in Berlin, and others not so pretty.

We sure appreciate all of you that are supporting us here at Three Worlds.  Thanks.  Internet will be a bit hit-and-miss as we wait for installation in our new home.  But we will be up and running soon and it may not seem any different.  Hopefully the latest episode of Gateway Berlin Radio will be posted in the coming days.  Stay tuned.

The Return of "the Talker."

A photo of our new home in Berlin, Germany. There are 4 families in this building and we're on the second floor.

Some of you that know Marco, know that he is a talker.  If you've only seen the shy Marco, then you haven't spent enough time around him.  The other day Marco and I were running some errands the other day.  We had a lot of things to do and, as usual, Marco had a lot of things to say.  He talked and talked and talked.  In fact, he talked for 100 minutes straight without stopping.  I mean, there was barely a pause for breath the entire time.  It was amazing.  Sometimes I listened, at other times I observed as an outsider and was just kind of amazed, at other times I tuned out, and at other times I was laughing.  It was 100 minutes non-stop.

At one point he stopped and said, "wow, this mouth of mine doesn't stop."  But then he was immediately back into it.  Topics covered were Star Wars, of course, famous monsters, what his monster movie "the Return of the Creature of the Pacific Ocean" will be like, how the  make-up will be applied, and the differences between the Asian school system and the Western school system.

I love my boy.

Gods & Monsters

My little monster in front of the train station a couple of blocks from our new home.

If you had told when I was in Jr. High that in the year 2010 I would be flying in a jetson's-like spaceship and having robots doing my housekeeping I completely would have believed you.  If you had told me that in the year 2010, I would be living in Germany and watching the 1958 movie "the Blob" on my laptop computer with my 7 year old son---because HE WANTS TO WATCH "the Blob"----I never would have believed you.  Alas, things in the past are not that different from things in the future.

Marco has been really interested in monsters lately.  His problem is he doesn't want to see scary monsters which leads him to ask me to find monster movies from the 1930's, 40's, and 50's. So all of a sudden--out of nowhere---I'm becoming an expert on old Dracula films, Frankenstein, the Blob, and Jason and the Argonauts.  Man alive, kids throw such curve balls at you.

We watched Jason and the Argonauts the other day.  Ever since Marco was very young, I've shared with him other religions' myths.  This is a child that grew up walking past Buddhist statues, Hindu Temples, Muslims prostrating on the ground as they pray to Allah---and we have both always wanted him to understand the world around him---not run from it in fear.

Ever since he was young, he could identify key ideas in myths and link them to Christianity.  Whether its Star Wars or an ancient Greek myth, he finds the parallels and can contrast/critique it against Christian ideas.  I've always felt that if our ideas are so strong and true, then they shouldn't cower in fear in the face of other religions or beliefs which is why I wrote my first book Passport of Faith: A Christian's Encounter with World Religions; the book I am still the most proud of.

The religious stories and myths that people tell do help them makes sense of the world and often reflect past events.  The Ancient Greek myth of the minotaur (half man half bull) and the maze where he killed his captives reflected the suffering that the Athenians had suffered under the brutal invasions of the dominant Cretans that captured Athenians and sacrificed them.  The minotaur story was a way of demonizing their enemies and asserting their power through story.

Even a monster as goofy (but super-cool) as Godzilla helped a society understand its past and form its future.  Godzilla was a monster created as the result of nuclear radiation.  This giant lizard creature comes out of the sea and wrecks havoc on Tokyo--making trains and buildings look like pathetic little toys.  He inflicts massive carnage on Japanese cities.  What's up with that?  Well, he entered the Japanese consciousness less than a decade after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were completely disintegrated by American Atomic bombs.  Godzilla was a way for Japan to deal with the trauma of having two cities completely obliterated.  Think of how 9/11 has scarred the United States.  Now imagine Houston and Denver just disappearing from the Earth in a blink of an eye.  That is something that needs to be processed.  And that's what Godzilla did for Japan.  In following movies he became a defender of Japan against other terrible, destructive monsters.

In the Bible, there is a story about a funny, strange prophet named Jonah.  It was written in a time of insecurity. As always, Israel was surrounded by hostile bigger powers and these foreign peoples were demonized.  But as is often the case with the Old Testament (Jewish literature), what looks like a typical, traditional story is actually subverted and taken in a completely different direction.

The way the story should go is that the prophet Jonah should go preaching to the people of Israel to follow their God.  Instead God asks the prophet to go preach to the evil people of Ninevah.  But they are not the chosen people and they are evil, so Jonah flees.  As we all know, his attempts to escape are futile and he is even swallowed by a whale who pukes him up on a beach.  When Jonah finally gets to Ninevah, the people actually obey him (as opposed to Israel which often does not), and Jonah then pouts about it. He's NOT happy that people listened to him and will be saved from destruction.  He was hoping for a Godzilla-like ending, a Tokyo-smashing finale.

The attempt at creating myth to demonize the other is totally subverted in the Jonah story.  And that is often how the Bible works--it parallels the ancient myth structures and then completely takes it into a different direction.  And of course, they are often far more layered than traditional religious stories and myths.  For instance, Jonah very obviously foreshadows the arrival of Jesus who also will spend 3 days in the belly of the Earth before having his message widely accepted by Gentiles, thus bringing the act of God's redemption for all peoples into a more concrete and expansive phase.

Marco now will be living in a city with every kind of religion imaginable--and lots of people that completely ignore religion.  So we (he and I)  learn about Gods & Monsters and the way they point toward a deep, human need to understand truth and have a concrete moral compass upon which to base one's identity and choices.  So there's a place for Perseus, Medusa, Jason, and Godzilla.  We don't demonize because that would be violating the spirit of the Book of Jonah.  We are not called to run toward Tarshish with our fear, and condemnation, and demonization, but to go toward Ninevah with a great message--a hopeful message.

Now if only we could find deep, existential meaning in the ideas, philosophies, and behavior of "the Blob."

Our New Home from Above

Yesterday we signed on a new home.  It's in the Berlin suburb of Nikolasee.  It's a gorgeous area, full of green areas, parks, lakes and lots of lovely things to remind you that nature is all around.  All three of us love it.  If you look at the picture above, our home is where the yellow tack is located.  Just above that is a green "S" which is the train station and the location of the town's cute downtown center.  It looks like a college campus.  Although it looks far on this google photo, the distance from our home to that train station/center of town is a 3 minute walk.

To the left of the photo is a picture of  the large lake Wansee that even has beaches.  That is about a 10 to 15 minute walk and the Nikolasee lake is just 5 minutes past the "S" in the center of the town square.  Just to the right of the yellow thumb tack is a large park which you can see if you look closely.  So on our bicycles we are about 5 minutes away from two large lakes and a park.

After living for the past decade in a place with 35,000 neighbora and not even insects to go collecting with Marco, we are feeling pretty happy to have nature in our lives again.  Psychologically and physically it's a very important thing---and spiritually also.

Care for a boat ride on the small lake by our house?  It's only 9 Euro for 4 people.

More photos of the small lake by our house.  It would have been even prettier from the other side and with a decent photographer.

Here's where Jamie and I can take walks everyday if we want.  Does someone want to come over and baby sit Marco?  We'll miss Grace, Lolo and Louh Ge not watching Marco.  Well school starts soon so...

So Long Jael!

On Thursday it was time to say "goodbye" to our Gateway Berlin Intern Jael Tang.  For those of you that listened to the Gateway Berlin Radio podcast, you got to hear from Jael as she helped co-host the show.  Jael was here for nearly 3 months and traveled all around Germany learning about the different kinds of churches and ministries that exist in the Church of God here.  I know she absolutely fell in love with this place---it's kind of hard not to.  She was sad to go and we were sad to see her go.

She did a fantastic job of integrating into the culture.  Coming from a place like Singapore, you kind of have to learn to navigate different cultures----something we explore in the upcoming Episode 2 of GB Radio.  She had a great spirit about being involved and was willing to help out anyone.

She's also a cheeky one----a little smart aleck---so she fit in real well with this Three-Worlds/Berlin team.

Jael was also a good jeh-jeh (big sister) to Marco while she was here and he was sad to see her go.  Jael will go back to the Anderson University School of Theology and finish her Master's degree.  Of course she is welcome here anytime.

Thanks for setting the bar so high for future interns Jael!

When Music Was Good

Let's go back to 1980 when I was a kid---and African-American music was still super awesome.  I loved this song as a kid and still love it now.  It's too bad that so much African-American music is now dependent on computers and technology doing away with a lot of the beautiful voices, harmonies, and great musicianship. I have a whole rant about this that I promised to go into at Chinatimesonline.com but I may save it for an episode of GBR.  It's a sad thing that we've lost musicianship from R & B.  It's a big deal.  At least to me.