People travel for all sorts of reasons, myself more than anyone. I travel to experience history first hand. I love to look upon landscape or buildings where historical figures have traversed or gazed upon. I love to experience a part of history as I walk through important hallways of power or fields of hard work. I love walking into restaurants that tourists are not familiar with and speak horribly the local language while hoping everyone takes me as a local. I just want to come across as inconspicuously as possible. However, beyond the history and culture, I’m also a fan of world sports and have even created a list of sporting events that are on a wish list.
This year, I’m actually living one of those fantasies – to attend a top league European soccer match. I’ll be in Germany later this year and I will see Kaiserslautern on their home pitch. The Bundesliga is one of the top soccer leagues in the world and to see two of its historic teams in action is an amazing opportunity. I’d like also to see a baseball game in Japan. If there is one country, outside of the United States, who has set new standards and represents the best of the sport, it is Japan. To see a game at the Tokyo Dome or the Nagoya Dome would be as amazing an opportunity as seeing the most sacred temple or the most beautiful mountain. I don’t understand the sport but how great would it be to see a cricket match in India as the national team played Pakistan or Australia? Or, what would it be like to watch a rugby match in France or Ireland? Or a footy match in Melbourne, watching the Essendon Bombers? I have some friends from the region so I’ve adopted the team.
The passion of sport can bring out the best in people as it typifies the best of character – perseverance, sacrifice and joy. As it portrays so much of what makes a people great, it is as important as a castle, a natural wonder, a hall of government or a concert venue. Now, my wife and others I know are not as enamored with the notion of going to exotic locales just to sit in a stadium, wedged between a sea of fans and trying to follow the action. My wife prefers the quieter and more serene environs of a museum or a park. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll hit those places eventually. However, the sport can capture the mood of a place, the temperament of a people.
If it is true that the purpose of the travel is to experience a place from within, consider this. One of the great thing about sports in general is that, within a stadium, ballpark or arena, caste and distinction disappear and in the joy of victory or the agony of defeat (yes, I stole that line) people experience it together. So, imagine being in a foreign port of call and attending a match. To those around me, I’m not an American but simply one of the fans. We will celebrate or bemoan our fate together, regardless of nationality.
I’m as proud of who I am as the next person but it is quite an experience to forget about yourself for a bit and see life through someone else’s eyes. That is what sports can do.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Friday, March 2, 2012
Friday, December 30, 2011
What I Wish We Had
Between my years in the military and my time schlepping students about Europe and Asia, I’ve experienced a great deal and seen many things. Some things I treasure and I think about often. When people ask me what I liked the most about a trip, it is a question like this that draws my mind back to unique cultural traits that, at the time, left me thinking, I wish we had this back home.
I sometimes experience different faiths and from time to time, I wonder why we don’t have certain things in my faith. One, how much better would my faith be if I could have the temples with mountains as a backdrop like the open spaced Shinto ones I’ve seen in Japan. When I visit these temples, I pray to my own God but what a beautiful way to experience him (or her). While serving in the Middle East, there was no more wonderful and sublime experience than greeting the day with the call to prayer (adhan) by the nearby muezzin. I can’t quite explain the experience but it filled me with a peace and a calmness that is not inherent in my typical mornings. I visited a Hindu temple once in Dallas and the smells and sights of the place beat the sterilized and carpeted suburbia of typical churches. Have you ever noticed that most churches, especially the Protestant ones, smell the same?
I wish Vietnamese restaurants were more ubiquitous than they are now. There is no more perfect food than a large, steaming bowl of pho. The combination of a perfectly constructed broth, noodles, greens and meat, with some bean sprouts and cilantro sprinkled on top is the kind of food that has brought people together in peace. I wish the most fervent wish that our Congress had a “president’s questions” time the way the British House of Commons have with their prime minister. Many of Britain’s former colonies have the same set up in their lower House but for some reason, we decided to be a bit more “civilized.” Can you imagine Presidents Obama or Bush having to rationalize their policies to a jeering, doubtful and questioning opposition? It would, overnight, restore interest in our political system. If you are not familiar with this, check out CSPAN on Sunday night and watch with rapt interest in Prime Minister David Cameron and his opposition parry and thrust. The most positive consequence is that it would foster a political class more capable of explaining themselves.
To round out my recollections, there is a set of peculiarities I’ve seen in other countries I’d like to see more of in the U.S. In Japan, they have holes in the streets that shoot up hot water when the streets are covered by snow. I also like the Japanese stores with parking on the roof. In an attempt to save space, Japanese businesses (like a grocery store) take advantage of all the space atop the building. Genius. I once visited a roof top bar and pool in Manama in Bahrain. We have these spotted throughout the U.S. but not nearly enough. I love the bakery specific shops in Germany and France that allows one to grab fresh bread without going through a massive Target or Wal-Mart to get to it. The only bakeries we have are the doughnut and kolaches places which, though fine food, are not the same. Additionally in Germany, they have figured out a way to limit urban sprawl. Their communities are tightly packed and complete with the various services needed without pointlessly tearing up landscape.
It should be said that I love the United States. I feel it is the greatest country in the world and certainly, the most beautiful. However, my travels have allowed me to experience how other cultures have attempted to solve common problems. Some things I like and would love to see in the U.S. and other things the Americans do better. I have more exploring to do. I want to visit India, Mongolia, Ethiopia, Peru and Iceland, among others. I have so many places I want to visit, I may not have time for a future family. That said, I might not have time for a job.
I sometimes experience different faiths and from time to time, I wonder why we don’t have certain things in my faith. One, how much better would my faith be if I could have the temples with mountains as a backdrop like the open spaced Shinto ones I’ve seen in Japan. When I visit these temples, I pray to my own God but what a beautiful way to experience him (or her). While serving in the Middle East, there was no more wonderful and sublime experience than greeting the day with the call to prayer (adhan) by the nearby muezzin. I can’t quite explain the experience but it filled me with a peace and a calmness that is not inherent in my typical mornings. I visited a Hindu temple once in Dallas and the smells and sights of the place beat the sterilized and carpeted suburbia of typical churches. Have you ever noticed that most churches, especially the Protestant ones, smell the same?
I wish Vietnamese restaurants were more ubiquitous than they are now. There is no more perfect food than a large, steaming bowl of pho. The combination of a perfectly constructed broth, noodles, greens and meat, with some bean sprouts and cilantro sprinkled on top is the kind of food that has brought people together in peace. I wish the most fervent wish that our Congress had a “president’s questions” time the way the British House of Commons have with their prime minister. Many of Britain’s former colonies have the same set up in their lower House but for some reason, we decided to be a bit more “civilized.” Can you imagine Presidents Obama or Bush having to rationalize their policies to a jeering, doubtful and questioning opposition? It would, overnight, restore interest in our political system. If you are not familiar with this, check out CSPAN on Sunday night and watch with rapt interest in Prime Minister David Cameron and his opposition parry and thrust. The most positive consequence is that it would foster a political class more capable of explaining themselves.
To round out my recollections, there is a set of peculiarities I’ve seen in other countries I’d like to see more of in the U.S. In Japan, they have holes in the streets that shoot up hot water when the streets are covered by snow. I also like the Japanese stores with parking on the roof. In an attempt to save space, Japanese businesses (like a grocery store) take advantage of all the space atop the building. Genius. I once visited a roof top bar and pool in Manama in Bahrain. We have these spotted throughout the U.S. but not nearly enough. I love the bakery specific shops in Germany and France that allows one to grab fresh bread without going through a massive Target or Wal-Mart to get to it. The only bakeries we have are the doughnut and kolaches places which, though fine food, are not the same. Additionally in Germany, they have figured out a way to limit urban sprawl. Their communities are tightly packed and complete with the various services needed without pointlessly tearing up landscape.
It should be said that I love the United States. I feel it is the greatest country in the world and certainly, the most beautiful. However, my travels have allowed me to experience how other cultures have attempted to solve common problems. Some things I like and would love to see in the U.S. and other things the Americans do better. I have more exploring to do. I want to visit India, Mongolia, Ethiopia, Peru and Iceland, among others. I have so many places I want to visit, I may not have time for a future family. That said, I might not have time for a job.
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