Category: Uncategorized

I’ve enjoyed getting to know Singapore in the first few days of our stay on the island. Orchard Road is the retail and entertainment center of an island, I feel, that is devoted to shopping. It is amazing that every train station we disembarked is basically a shopping mall. These are not small or run down malls, but comparable to the best Japan malls. Stations are a natural place for businesses because of the high pedestrian traffic, but Singapore has taken it to a new level. Besides shopping malls, the other big impression are the numerous apartment buildings. There is a lot of people here!

We are staying in the suburb of Kovan, in the north east part of the island. It is known for the high number of Teochew, 19th century immigrants from southern China. 77% of Singaporeans are Chinese, but I noticed lots of Indians, more so than in Kuala Lumpur. I have not seen as many Malays.

We went to Chinatown the other night (photo above). The traditional shop houses, which are buildings with a store on the first floor and the family residence on the second and third floor, have all been restored. We ate at a nice Thai restaurant, which was once an opium den in the 1800s when it was a popular recreational drug with the Chinese.

It is funny to see the graphic public service announcement signs in the train stations. Lee Kwan Yew’s strict rules are apparent everywhere, with $500 – $1,000 fines for smoking, eating/drinking on the trains, etc. After seeing other south east Asian cities, I see why he needed to be so Draconian to have a neat and orderly city. It is pleasant to walk and move around the city. The wide sidewalks are well-maintained, lots of palms and other trees planted for shade and beauty, and many little “national parks” interspersed throughout. It looks like Florida, but probably a little nicer because the lack of income inequality one sees in Miami.

We escaped the city a bit yesterday afternoon and went for a swim on the far north eastern part of the island near the airport. Changi Beach park was quite pleasant. The amount of planes landing in Singapore from everywhere was impressive. There were several big ships coming through the Johor Straits, the body of water separating Singapore from Malaysia. I imagine between the heavy ship traffic and land reclamation projects, the environment is quite degraded. It made for a nice afternoon. Changi village reminded me a bit of Ada Ciganlija, the inland “sea” of Belgrade.

I try to make a point of acknowledging those small moments in life that are meaningful, but happen so quickly or you think they are insignificant. Last night was a great example.

We were packing our bags our winter holiday in Singapore. It had been a super busy day at school and then a rush home and 2+ hours of cleaning packing. We were debating whether to take Christmas presents for the kids with us, leave them under the tree for when we get back in January or let them have them last night.

Oliver has been begging for a 3DS game system and the Pokemon Sun & Moon games for months. He eagerly anticipated the release of the new games on November 19. He was relentless, but we held firm. We don’t buy game systems for our kids because we feel they get addicted to them and do not do other things in their life. Since Oliver is absolutely obsessed with the Pokemon video series and cards, we broke down and got the 3DS and games. We were planning to take it with us and give it to him at Christmas. We gave Oliver and Ocean the books they wanted, for Ocean 3 books in the Dork Diary series and for Oliver, 2 books in the Magnus Chase series. When Oliver got the books, he was bitterly disappointed because he was expecting the 3DS. He was crying and saying that we didn’t love him. He wasn’t like a brat, but I felt, genuinely sad, thinking that we would never get him a video game. Yes, I am from the 1980s and still call them “video” games. He was on our bed inconsolable when I took it out of the suitcase and walked in the room. He sat up and I presented the game console, and the DVDs and he was in a state I never saw him like. I would describe it has half shock / half ecstasy. The look on his face and his reaction made all of the tears and months of hearing him moan and negotiate worth it. He was so happy, hugging us both!  It was so cool to experience his total happiness!

So it was a Christmas miracle that “santa” came early and brought Oliver exactly what he wanted, and something he thought he would never get.

I wanted to learn more about the American president-elect, Donald Trump. Our school library had a copy of Michael D’Antonio’s Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success. The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author did some long interviews with Trump and people close to him before losing access because he interviewed an enemy of Trump. He supplemented the interviews with research and the book is a very good and even-handed biography. The New York Times reviewed the book in September 2015 when it was published. I also recommend listening to the two podcasts the NY Times did with the author on the podcast, The Run Up.

Trump is so different from people I know. He has devoted his life to making money and more importantly, being a celebrity. In this pursuit of, which the book title and Trump calls “success”, he has lied, exaggerated, cheated, insulted, bullied, and hurt thousands of people. I wouldn’t call this success, but I have much different values than Donald Trump.

Trump’s father Fred, was similar to him, getting his big break in real estate by exploiting loop holes in a government housing project, enriching himself to the detriment of American taxpayers and residents of the housing projects. From there, he continued to develop real estate. As a conservationist and lover of wilderness, I have a dislike of “developers” to start with. Fred Trump’s fathering style is also much different than mine. He bullied his son, sent him to a harsh military academy for grades 8-12 but reached his goal of instilling in Donald, an intense greed and ambition. Donald set his sights on building on his father’s developments by purchasing property in Manhattan. His father’s properties were mostly in Brooklyn. Donald is a third generation German immigrant, and Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich Drumpf, was also into real estate, getting his start by running a hotel in Alaska for gold miners in the late 19th century.

Trump has lived an incredibly full life. As you list his accomplishments, I am amazed that one person could do all that he did. From building huge towers in one of the most expensive cities in the world, to owning casinos in Atlantic City, developing golf courses, owning an USFL football team (New Jersey Generals), starring in a highly rated reality television show, owning an airlines, being a motivational speaker and “educator”, three marriages, father to 5 children, to now being president of the United States. Any of these in isolation would be considered a full life. However, all of these endeavors were marked with harming and destroying others, legal battles, bankruptcy, cheating, all because he wanted to “win”.

Despite appearances of fame, fortune and luxury, I think he is a sad figure. I don’t know how he can live with himself knowing the harm he has done to others. His lack of reflection I think is a defense against this. Some may argue that this is the kind of ruthless person we need as president, but I disagree. He is a man with no inner life, he is crass, rude and childish with his insults, I can’t believe that enough people voted for him to win.  I do hope he goes crazy and shakes up our political structure which is needed, I just hoped that it would be a better person doing it. I also fear an over reaction to world events that might harm the country. I keep faith in our democratic institutions

D’antonio’s book does well in explaining such an unusual person and some insight into the way he operates. It will be a fascinating four years of his presidency.

I wanted to put down for posterity, my experience of the elections this year. I was totally caught by surprise by Donald Trump’s win. All of the “experts” were giving him such a small chance to win that I thought it was a sure thing for Hillary Clinton.

We follow politics very closely in the Kralovec house due to my wife’s interest in US politics. She loves the primaries, the debates, the SNL parodies, the punditry, etc. Her favorite channel is CNN. Because of this, the kids and I knew of all the events of the long campaign in good detail. We also experienced the campaign for ourselves. Nadia, Oliver and Ocean participated in a rally for Bernie Sanders in the main city of Guam, Hagatna, while we there for spring break in March. We also soaked up the atmosphere of the democratic national convention in Philadelphia this past summer. We stayed in the same hotel at the democratic delegates from Connecticut and Georgia and walked around downtown.

My preferred candidate was Bernie Sanders. I liked that he was focused on the expense of higher education (the only candidate talking about education), universal health care and income inequality. He also voted against going to war in Iraq. Finally, he was the only non-millionaire in the race. Hillary Clinton has used her political connections to earn $23 million dollars last year. Sander’s wife filed their taxes for $200,000 in income. Hillary Clinton has lost touch with the daily lives of most Americans.

Every election is about demographics in my opinion. Trump won because rural, white, generally blue collar people could identify with him. The split between the entertainment centers of Hollywood and New York, the multinational corporations and business world of Wall Street and Delaware and the university educated with rural and middle class America has grown. White, non-college educated saw Clinton as part of that world, not part of their world. I want to talk about my personal demographic. I am from what the media calls the “rust belt”. My parents were democrats. They both believed in unions, being educators, and living in a state where the auto industry had powerful unions. You do not hear much about unions these days and the wages and benefits of most American workers has declined since my parents’ time. You need to have two people working to have a decent life, whereas before, only one person needed to work. I grew up in rural Upper Michigan so I totally understand the lifestyle and view of Trump supporters. I am far removed from that today, with advanced degrees and living an expatriate cosmopolitan lifestyle. I am not rich however, being a teacher, so still have a foot on both sides.  University of Wisconsin professor Kathy Cramer describes this divide brilliantly in this Washington Post interview.

I lodged a protest vote in Michigan for Bernie Sanders. I did so because I couldn’t get myself to vote for Clinton. I do feel that president Obama did a lot of good things, but not strongly enough. I feel Washington DC has lost touch with the middle class and both the republicans and democrats are too much influenced by special interest groups, lobbyists backed by rich interests, rich people, etc. Besides, I thought, according to everything I read, Trump could never win. In retrospect, I don’t think my one vote mattered anyway and even with Bernie Sanders, it would have been close. My Bernie Sanders t-shirt did and still does, generates lots of positive reactions in people. The structure of the electoral college favors rural voters and it takes an inspirational candidate from the democrats to overcome this. Clinton will win the popular vote but lose resoundingly in the electoral college. Is that right? It sounded to me that the Democratic National Committee rigged the system so Clinton would be the candidate. Bernie came from nowhere and just didn’t have enough time to overcome Clinton in the primaries. Would Bernie Sanders have been that candidate? In any case, I agree with Dan Carlin and believe that the dominance of the two main parties and the way they choose candidates needs to be changed! I want more of a choice and I want better candidates!

It is fascinating that the US elected such a crass, uncultured, shady businessman like Trump to run the country when we have so many hardworking, brilliant, caring people. I kind of hope through his craziness Trump blows up both parties and we have some other voices and interests being able to lead our government. It will be an interesting 4 years, although early signs indicate that he is appointing Republican dinosaurs and others like Newt Gingrich and his boys Giuliani and Christie. Not promising for progressives like myself.

Friday night Oliver and Ocean had the unique opportunity to perform with the Yamamoto Noh theatre group. Noh is an ancient (800+ years) form of theatre in Japan. The culture here is resistant to change and so many parts of their culture are preserved to the present day (e.g. see Sumo). It is awesome, in the original sense of the word, to participate in the cutting edge form of entertainment from the year 1200. It is like seeing the YouTube videos of today, 800 years from now!

The Yamamoto theatre of Osaka received a grant from the government to encourage exposure of Japanese culture to international people in anticipation of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Choreographers and directors came to our school and trained the students in the art of Noh. The performance took place in the Grand Front Osaka mall in front of several hundred people as well as shoppers and commuters passing by.

It is fascinating to watch a noh performance.  There is a band of percussionists that make strange vocalizations and strike their drums at odd times. There is a kneeling chorus singing in a low tone. The actors move about in tight movements, every gesture having meaning. Actors wearing masks can’t see through them, so they memorize their steps. They all use a deep, strained voice. You have to see it as it is hard to describe. It is a long way from Broadway. Yamamoto is a professional organization so the performance was top quality with great sound, costumes, lighting, etc. .

They used the students in a nice way to lighten the performance. The play was composed in 2009 and it is about conservation of water in Osaka. A traveller to Osaka (then known as Naniwa) is saddened by the polluted rivers and ocean of Osaka bay. Foreign birds (played by OIS students) come and with the help of the water goddess, clean the Osakan waters and everyone lives happily in a clean, healthy environment. Oliver said in Spanish about a waterfall in Sucre, Bolivia that we hiked to a couple of summers ago.

It was such an amazing experience and thanks to everyone who made it possible.

Asahi beer asked me to be the kampai taicho (toastmaster) for the traditional third inning toast at Friday’s Orix Buffaloes game against the Soft Bank Hawks at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka. It is a tradition/marketing ploy to get people at the stadium to buy more beer. My daughter Ocean was part of a delegation from the school taking part in a pre-game ceremony. The Osaka Tourism Board was promoting international tourism. There is a push in Japan to be more open to other cultures, especially with the Olympics coming in 2020. They wanted a foreigner to do the toast for this game. Usually it is a fan chosen at random. I got a free beer from Asahi and got to wear the taicho sash! It was funny to be asked to drink beer in front of the students I was chaperoning, but in Japan, drinking publicly is acceptable.