10 Futbols to Thailand

Hello, Wilson.
You may recall that in December I said I had two countries in mind for distributing more One World Futbols. Well, One of them (Cuba) is on hold, and the second (Cambodia) has been put on the back burner for now. But a third -- Thailand -- emerged as a possibility, and in January it became a reality. Now 10 more One World futbols are being kicked around in Thailand courtesy of our newest Team Wilson member, John Phillips.

I met John a year ago last August when I accompanied a medical team to the Central Highlands of Vietnam and he was a veteran transition specialist for Seattle Central Community College. The team had a couple physicians, a nurse, medical students and laymen (including me) and we  conducted clinics in three villages under the auspices of Seattle Colleges' Global Impact program.

John was our team leader. I took along nine One World Futbols. This was the first time that John had seen them, and a year later, while preparing for a trip to Thailand, he decided he wanted to be a futbol ambassador as well. Here's a photo of him presenting a ball to some locals.

My friend, John Phillips, presents a One World Futbol to representatives of a Thai village.

You'll probably notice that John is wearing a military uniform. John spent seven years in the Marine reserves, recently shifting over to the Army reserve. He has left Seattle Central to join the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs. John was part of a team of civil affairs soldiers from an Army Reserve unit assigned to Joint Base Lewis McChord, right next to Tacoma, WA.

If you are wondering who those other military people are in the photo, that's a good question. John was participating in Cobra Gold, a joint military exercise that has taken place in Thailand since 1980.

Cobra Gold is a month-long "combined arms exercise," meaning that military units from several nations take part. Represented in the exercise were India, Thailand, the United States, Malaysia and -- interestingly enough -- China.  And there was a humanitarian civil assistance dimension to the exercise. In this case, engineers were helping construct multi purpose buildings on six  school sites in northeast Thailand.

The Thai youngsters play soccer, but they hadn't seen a ball as durable as a One World Futbol.

Some parts of Thailand are quite developed. But in this case the team was traveling in rural communities where buildings could vary from ramshackle wood and aluminum siding to concrete, and not elevated. John's team visited two building sites and six schools. Several hundred families were served by the schools. Four schools received two balls each, and two more received one. The balls were presented to the school directors, with a boy or girl receiving the ball on behalf of the school.

Presentations occurred at all six schools.

Afterward, the unbreakables were field tested by some of the end users.

Well, Wilson, so far your campaign has resulted in balls being sent to  12 locations so far: Ecuador, Mexico, Vietnam, Burma, India, Peru, Morocco, Zambia, Thailand, China (via Hong Kong), the Crow Indian reservation and Italy (refugee camps).

I'm still studying the possibility of taking futbols to Cuba and Cambodia, and perhaps a third country. I'll get back to you on those.

Love,

Robert

Venice, and My Christmas Surprise

In this view of one of Venice's many islands, gondolas await riders.

Hello, Wilson.
It's Christmas Day, and I'm writing from Venice, the artsy swamp community in Eastern Italy. And I want to tell you about my Christmas surprise. I wanted to be distributing more One World Futbols this fall--to Cuba--but I got sidetracked by a presidential decree and a small cancer issue. But I made adjustments, and in my last posting I said I was planned to be making the distribution to two countries early in the New Year. Well, we have to revise that figure upward. I just learned that a former colleague has jumped into the game and now three countries are involved!

The individual is John Phillips. that's John in the photo below, creating a makeshift stadiometer out of blue Post-it note sheets that's he's sticking to a post in the community center of Mai Hich, a village in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

John Phillips builds a version of a stadiometer.

A stadiometer is the device they have in a doctor's office to measure height. We had to make our own in that village. We also had to teach people how to stand on a scale so that we could measure their weight.

John was the team leader for a group of medical professionals, medical students, and lay people who went to Vietnam's Central Highlands to conduct health clinics in remote villages. Here's a few photos of what went on there and another village, Cun Pheo:

Nurse Jennifer Hazard listens as conversation with patient is translated.

Some patients were seeing medical staff for the first time in their lives.

She's only 100 years old. Her son is driving her home from the clinic.

Some 8,000 young teeth were flourided one day in Cun Pheo.

I went along and distributed unbreakable One World Futbols to two villages, and that's how John found out about these marvelous balls that can be punctured a thousand times and still won't go flat. John took that photo of me, below, in the coolie hat and surrounded by a bunch of youngsters at a school attended by Thai immigrants' children. They had good use for soccer balls that never wear out.

Five futbols went to the Cun Pheo elementary school.

Well, like Victor Hugo said, "nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come." The mission to Vietnam was coordinated through the Global Impact program of three Seattle community colleges and John works with veterans at one of those colleges.  He could see first hand the value of a ball like that for the world's most popular sport. In January, the Department of Defense is sending him to Thailand, so John asked whether he could take 10 balls to distribute there! This idea is infectious -- in a healthy sort of way.

I knew our readers would be pleased to see that the cause they supported continues to catch on. John has promised photos for a future letter.

Oh, about that cancer thing . . .

I mentioned cancer. It was just a little bitty cancer. It's pretty well gone, as far as we can tell. My prostate gland had been sending up smoke signals for 10 years, and when the smoke got thick enough, the doctors found the fire and put it out with a little bit of light they shone on it every weekday for two months. ("And God saw the light, that it was good") The doctors also gave me hormone shots that made me lose interest in girls for a while. Those shots also caused hot flashes and night sweats -- the sort of thing that middle-aged women have, only in my case they call it man-o-pause.

Well, I got over that. I call this the lucky cancer, because it's pretty easy to treat, once you find it. Half the guys my age have it and don't even know it.

Now you know one reason that I haven't been distributing some of the futbols that donors had paid for.  John's interest really helped me jump-start the distribution again. Thanks John! What a great Christmas present.

Here are a couple more photos from Venice, where I'm spending Christmas before I start the journey home. Wish you could have come along. Miss you. Venice photos below

Love,
Robert

Stairway to nice AirBnB. The suite could host 5 and cost 121 (dollors or Euros(?)) for three nights.

Buildings frame a small plaza.

The building at the end of this canal is actually on another island.

Somebody had a sense of humor.

Solitary boat in canal

This previously flooded bookstore is known for protecting books in a gondola.

Not-so-fortunate books were converted to a stairway to a view of the canal.

Masks in store window

Bridge of sighs: The name was an afterthought for what had been a route to the Inquisition.

St. Mark's Cathedral and part of Venice as seen from St. Mark's Campanile, a nearby tower

Confections: Tall cakes and orange peel

St. Mark's Square in evening with Campanile tower

Street at night

Eat your heart out, Chihuli! Venice is the place to buy art glass.

The ghetto

Origin of the term, "ghetto," is debated, but it may refer to the foundry area where Venice's Jews were first confined 501 years ago. When Shakespeare wrote "The Merchant of Venice," the ghetto was still fairly young, and perhaps his attitude reflected in the comedy was based on the attitude that created this enclave. This is where the world's first ghetto existed, and it is from this locale that the name was established.

There is a metal sign of apology in the Ghetto for the removal of Jews and their extermination during World War II. Part of it states:

The city of Venice remembers the Venetian Jews who were deported to the Nazi concentration camps on December 5, 1943 and August 17, 1944.

There is also this statement:

"...nothing shall purge your deaths from our memories.
For our memories are your only grave."
Andre Tronc Ancien Des Forces Francaises Combattantes
(Andre Trunk Former French Forces Combatants)

Giant minora in the Jewish Ghetto

Relief depicting round-up of Jews

Jewish ghetto relief of firing squad

Barbed wire at top of wall in ghetto

On a happier note:

That's not rust. Those are chocolate "tools."

.

One of first sights at night arrival

Gullible's Travels: Nuremberg

Hello, Wilson.

Yeah, I know. It's been seven months since I wrote last time. You may recall that, back in May, I told you I hoped to distribute more futbols in the fall. Well, that didn't happen. There was a small impoverished country that could have used them. Amazingly, it had a Special Olympics school, so I planned to take 10 there, and another 10 to an ordinary school that quite likely would have been short of supplies.

The United States has been squeezing this country for more than 50 years, and I thought they could put up with a little One World Futbol love, but the Tweeter in Chief decided to reverse policy and limit travel there.

Yeah, that's right. I wanted to take 20 One World Futbols to Cuba, study Spanish there for a month and share what life is like there on the ground. Well, it may yet happen. But in place of Cuba, I have two other target countries lined up for 2018, and if those plans come to pass, I'll share them with you.

Meanwhile, I am in Nuemberg with my son and his wife for the holidays. I traveled part-way alone, and It's been an experience. I have learned so much.

For example, I have learned that, if you're not going to take a debit card, you better at least have currency ahead of time. It was easy picking up Swiss Francs at the Zurich airport, but later on, currency became a problem and I'll tell you about that in a bit.

And it wan't so easy figuring out where my Zurich AirBnB was when I got off the bus at the indicated stop. So I slipped into a bar near the stop, buying a beer and listening to the locals chatter for a while. Then I asked the woman who had mentioned Mexico whether she spoke English, and she did, a little. She pointed out the direction to the gas station situated near the AirBnB and then asked me what I thought of -- well, you know who she was talking about. She made that little finger flick off the chin that Europeans make to indicate disgust, or whatever, and I walked off to the AirBnB, where I spent another day before heading off to Munich.

Arranging the trip to Munich involved returning to the airport and taking a city train to the main train station, Zurich HB, -- which was enormous. I took time to stroll along the River Limmat, the outlet of Lake Zurich which flows through town. Before I left the station, however, I wondered: I have enough trouble remembering where I parked my Honda last night on Capitol Hill. How do people find their bicycles after they've parked them at Zurich HB?

The bicycles of Zurich HB

The homes seem to rise right out of the River Limmat.

Bread, cheese, wine: $35

While I was taking in the sights, I also was in search of some famous Swiss fondu. The Swiss aparently invented fondu for those cold nights when it was just too chilly go to out and kill something for supper. I ended up at Swiss Chuchi (Swiss Kitchen), expecting the experience of my life. But it was $35 for cheese and bread fondu with a glass of wine, and I think they make it just as good in Seattle. Filling, though.

I had difficulty finding Swiss Chuchi by the nature of the streets on the hill beside River Limmat. I stopped into a shop and a young woman told me it was down the way in a building with an unmissable landmark: A blue cow:

I had walked right past Swiss Chuchi without noticing it. This landmark made it easy.

Bus protocol

There's a procedure for taking the bus in Europe. There are machines to purchase tickets and other machines to stamp the ticket when you start using it. Silly me, I thought I could simply give the driver the money and he would print out the ticket there. Which he could have done. But he wanted the ticket. That caused a lot of confusion, because the bus was already in motion. I didn't know they had the ticket machine right on the bus. Finally he let me pay cash and I had the good fortune of sitting next to a former travel agent who had been to New York and spoke English, and who told me we had arrived at my stop. Which was very helpful, because it doesn't look the same when you come from the opposite direction. At night. And after a couple minutes, I realized I was walking in the wrong direction after getting off the bus. In the dark. In a strange city.

The next day I came within 5 minutes of missing my four-hour bus ride to Munich. The pickup point was a spot called "Silquai" and I stood around the stop, feeling uneasy, but I managed to ask whether I was at the right stop, and the friendly local said I wanted Carpark Silqluai, which was 100 yards away -- the place where this big green bus was just departing. By the time I got there it was departure time and the bus that was almost gone wasn't mine. That could have been bad.

A street name and address

Munich proved more of a challenge. The bus didn't stop at the main station, and obtaining clear directions in English to my new AirBnB was difficult. I elected to take a cab: Euros 19.5 via Mastercard (The bus ticket from Zurich to Munich had only been $25.) When the cab dropped me off I wondered whether it was the right location.

Street addresses aren't always easy to see. But the cabbie had it right, and Max, my host, was ready for me. That night I went out for dinner and found out that I should have gotten some Euros ahead of time. I had finished my chicken curry. When I called for the  bill was when I learned they didn't accept plastic. But they did accept greenbacks. Price: $26. That seemed a little high, and he ran the conversion rate again, putting the price closer to $17-18 US. Lacking the exact amount, I paid $20 and got a 2-Euro coin in change.

My $17 chicken curry disk (a large beer came with it). I didn't eat the cilantro. I hate cilantro.

But the next day, when I wanted to take the bus to the Ostbahnof (East Rainway Station) to purchase my tickets for Nurembeg, I learned that Bus 54 required a payment of Euro 2.70. My coin wasn't enough.

I gave up on trying to find a bank on the curving streets near the AirBnB I Googled a walking map on my laptop; wrote down the street names and the right-and-left turns and headed out, trying to understand the many signs along the way, such as the one immediately below. It appears to be some sort of warning about terrible fiery smells, although I didn't detect any:

Strange -- I didn't smell anything.

There were a lot of really classy old buildings. In the picture below, and from the way the onion dome has really settled,  I'm guessing this must be one of the older ones.

I think normally the onion domes are quite round. Age does that, I guess.

Most of the bikes in Germany seem pretty healthy. I think this must be what people do with them when they die. I saw more than one of these yellow bikes abandoned on their handle bars. Wonder what happened to this one?

I'm guessing that this was a rental that was left for dead.

This bike for transporting toddlers seemed to be in a lot better shape:

Did you know that German streets sometimes just hide? I lost my way when I couldn't find one, but then I stumbled across another one on my route --Pirnzregetenpl--as well as a couple young men who showed me how to find my next right turn at Niger Strasse -- because they had Google maps. And they showed me how to use it on my smart phone. Doh!

At the Ostbahnof, I was able to find a Western Union Station, where I purchased Euros with two $100 bills. They gave me Euros 142 in change; that involved an exchange rate of .75 and a fee. (Later, when I got back to the AirBnB I Googled Western Union's exchange rate, which was .85. Say, what?!?! But who ya gonna call?)

Time to eat. I found myself a high protein meal at the Ostbahnof by following the Rick Steves principal of eating where the  locals eat: Burger King. That's a photo of my meal, below. You'll notice that the Pepsi wasn't filled to the top. What you can't see is that it also tasted very flat.

My high protein Double Whopper complete with fries and Pepsi flat.

I suspect that, due to the crowding on the trains, trams and buses, the German government is promoting lower carbonation in the cola drinks to prevent the swallowing of volitile gases, under a new policy called nichtderfahrt.

Well, that's enough for today. I'm sure I'll have more to share. I'll be spending Christmas in Venice.

Love to everyone.
Robert

A love story--tears and all

Hello, Wilson.
It's been a while. I've been distracted with life, but we still have about 70 balls yet to give away, and I wanted you to know that I haven't forgotten that obligation.

There's another batch on its way to Zambia this summer. Students at Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences, pictured with me, above, will be taking up to 20 balls there to deliver to African kids. And if things turn out as planned, I'll be delivering another 20 in the fall. But I want to see how that pans out before I say where that will occur. I hope to surprise you.

Right now, I want to tell you about the Zambia project.

This is the third year I've spoken to Academy students about the One World Futbol, and I was wondering what I would tell them this time. I decided to give them a dose or realism. So I started out talking about the corruptibility of power with a quote most people have heard:

And then I tried pulling up famous examples of power--"The Force," for example. It's a kind of power we've all heard about, and it's everywhere, according to this guy:

And so is gravity. It comes in great and lesser concentrations, but it is everywhere. Even a pencil has a bit of gravity.

Having said that, I dove into our history -- starting with how I decided to climb Mount Adams on my 70th birthday.

Mount Adams in southwest Washington.

 And how a documentary about refugee kids playing with balls made out of rags inspired a couple guys in the music business to create a virtually indestructible ball that got the attention of news personality Katie Couric, who was amazed that her knife couldn't flatten this ball.

A ball of rags; Sting and ball creater Tim Jahnigan, and Couric, with her knife.

Tom Hanks and Wilson's namesake in Castaway.

Naming my mascot

I told them how I  decided to dedicate my training to raising funds for this ball, and that you became my mascot and traveling companion. I also explained that I gave you a name from a famous movie--a name that almost everyone recognized immediately:


I talked about taking you with me to Germany, where I searched for traces of the Third Reich, a prime example of the corruption of power. I shared the story of how I introduced you to Valentine's day and the subject of love. And I pointed out to the students that love also is a power with a special trait --it is unextinguishable.

 The Nazi's tried to smother it; the Khmer Rouge tried to crush it. And it just kept coming back. In all sorts of ways.

Hitler's Dachau and the Pol Pot's killing fields could not extinguish this thing we call love.

What is it?

What is this thing called "love?"

Who knows? I can only provide examples: Catching someone who has lost his balance on a subway is an act of love. Telling someone they forgot their credit card at a counter is an act of love. And giving someone a One World Futbol is an act of love. All these acts are as tiny in love as a pencil is tiny in gravity -- and yet it is there.

I talked about the acts of love just last summer when medical teams fanned out from Seattle to provide health services in Peru, Morocco and Vietnam and delivering One World Futbols.

A volunteer prepares to fluoride a child's teeth; futbols to Thai children living in Vietnam.

Lost!

I told them how devastated I was I had lost you while Climbing Adams--about as bad as Tom Hanks felt, when he lost Wilson at sea.

And then I told them  how strangers had found you along the trail and bore you to the top of the mountain. One donor told me that, after she learned you were found and had made it to the summit of Mount Adams, she got all teary.  Geeze! I thought only Tom Hanks had that kind of power! I got braggin' rights!

Wilson topped a summit that was beyond my reach, and the story gave one donor the sniffles.

Refugees in Rome

And I told them about University of Washington students who joined me at a refugee center in Rome, where I distributed the futbols and they cooked meals and gave the Wilson campaign a theme song: Lean on Me.

At a Rome refugee center in Rome, simple meals were a welcome act of love.

Finally, I shared with them the story of a crippled classmate I encountered at a reunion who remembered I had carried her books 25 years earlier. (I had no recollection of something so ordinary. Why would I?) And I promised them that someday, 50 years from now, long after they had forgotten all about it, there would be an African who would share the story of the young people from Seattle who brought them these marvelous balls. . . The recipients will never see the sponsors who made that gift possible, and that serves as a testament to how far the impact of a kind gesture can reach.

Is there any power that cannot corrupt?

And I left them with a simple question: Does all power corrupt? Isn't it possible that there exists at least one great, magnificent power that doesn't corrupt?

I gave the students five futbols and said if they raised money for 10, I would give them five more. I am confident that they will be taking 20 to Zambia this year.
Love,
Robert,
and Blue

At Seattle Academy, I'm with instructors Gabe Cronin (on my left) and Melinda Mueller, who slips an ice pick into Blue. When the students saw Blue hold up to the ice pick, some eyes widened. They knew they were in for a great story.