Israel, Palestine, Italy And More

There is a man I'll simply call Norm, who likes to travel and has a grand imagination, the perfect candidate for my project. I've never met him or spoken to him. The magnets are passed to him through middlemen, like my son and the girl who was Norm's assistant. The following are responses after a couple of his travels:

"Your magnets have made it to PALESTINE, ISRAEL, and Sweden! Now, the stories : )

My boss, Norm, gave the first magnet to a bus driver in Israel who collects neat things from tourists and places them all over the front of his bus. Norm said he selected him because he was incredibly interesting and helpful to he and his wife.

Norm did not set out to go to Palestine, but he somehow managed to make it over. He gave the other magnet to a shepherd that was guiding his flock in a field. The shepherd was a member of the Shepherd's Church.

Norm sends his apologies that they did not make it to Egypt.  Norm is going to Europe in June/July and would like to take more magnets. He really enjoyed the challenge of finding neat people to give them to. He and his wife spend a month in Italy with her family and then spend the rest of the time traveling around. I believe they are going to Bosnia, Croatia, and the surrounding nations.

My assistant gave one to a lovely shop owner in Sweden. The shop owner placed it on the fridge in her store. The owner wants more information on your magnets if you would like to provide her with it."

And this from Norm, himself:

"Laura gave me 4, but one broke on the trip.

The one with a cat on it, was given to a German woman who lives north of
Munich, who has a large cat called Puccini (like the musician).  Reason
is that they live close to Salzburg Austria, and the lady (and cat I
assume) love the music festival there.

The remaining two I gave to a young lady who lives near San Daniele
Italy (where the famous prosciutto comes from).  The young lady had
just (a couple weeks) had twins.  Therefore, I gave her two one for each
twin, saying that this way she could tell the twins apart, since the
designs were different."

Later I was told that Norm took some to Australia where he gave one to someone starting a new business. His theme for that giveaway was 'hope'.

Dominican Republic and Honduras

Through a third party, I managed to send magnets out with the leaders of some of the spring break service projects involving students of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. Below are responses sent by a couple of the project leaders:

Dominican Republic:
I led a Service Trip, which included 12 students and myself, to La Romana, Dominican Repbulic where we worked at the "Hogar Del Nino" school (http://www.hogardelnino.com/).  I gave a magnet to Inexis Zapata who is the Volunteer Coordinator at the Hogar.  She helped me set up the entire trip and helped me find lodging, food, and transportation.  Without her I do not think our trip  would have happened.  I also gave a magnet to four girls (Sara Vicenzi, Diane Tobio, Jade Franco, Hilary Marck) who graduated from Stonehill College in MA and are spending a year volunteering at the Hogar.  They were our day to day contacts and they also showed us around La Romana when we were not volunteering.  It was nice having Americans around that were able to help us out as well as show us around.  Please let me know if you would like any additional information.  Thanks.

Honduras:
I brought a magnet on a service trip to Honduras with 13 Eckerd College students. The magnet was given to the guard at SOS orphanage. Our service work there included purchasing a new roof, cleaning, and painting the guard casseta at the entrance to the orphanage. The teachers in Honduras were on strike, so a majority of our time was spent with the 150 children age 4-18 who resided at SOS. We tried to provide some form of structured activity for the children by putting on plays and translating them from English to Spanish. After a week of hard work we hugged the children goodbye and left the magnet on the fridge of the casseta.

Osaka, Japan

Mari was raised in Japan but married and moved to the states. She and her two sons visited her family over the new year holiday and then some. She took a few magnets and left them with her friends. The boys didn't want to give any to their friends because...well, boys just don't do that.

The highlight of their visit was the New Year's celebration, but not the old Japanese new year that was a sailor's holiday and ruled by the tides, usually taking place sometime in February. This was the usual January 1st celebration we are all familiar with. 

Ozonira is a special miso soup with rice cakes in it that is eaten during the week of New Year's. The traidition is that one should eat a rice cake in this soup for each year of one's life. Taro and Shogo don't have much to worry about here, but the older folk can take comfort in the fact that more than one rice cake can be in each bowl of soup.

In the week prior to the actual holiday, the house is cleaned until it is spotless, top to bottom. At the same time the traditional meal is being cooked, enough for three days. The meal is  packed into a 'lunchbox' of stacking trays and served over the first three days of the new year so that with the idea that nobody should have to work on those days. Even many of the
stores close. Specific symbolic foods are served
to bring about good luck, prosperity, good health, growth, and other good things for the upcoming year. At the stroke of midnight, it is good to eat soba noodles for good luck.

 

Another interesting tradition has to do with sending New Year's greeting cards. If they arrive early, the postal service holds them (but not the other mail) and delivers them all on New Year's Day.

Beginning about an hour befor midnight on New Year's Eve, people gather at the local temple to ring the bell. They stand in line and each ring one time when their turn comes. The tradition is 180 times which represents all the human shortcomings such as anger, jealousy, and on and on. Ringing the bell clears the slate so that people can start out clean for the next year, a renewal.

Then there are bonfires, neighbors greeting neighbors, saki, and genreal celebration. When I asked Mari if there was a parade, she said they are always having parades for something in Japan.

Osaka Castle



 

Istanbul Again!

Rhea Ormand is an artist of note in my small town. She teaches art at the local college and paints. Her murals grace the walls of several local businesses. She also gardens and her yard is another example of her creativity. Over spring break, she treated herself with a trip to Istanbul, Turkey and took with her three magnets.

At the Blue Mosque there was a service of some sort being held, surprisingly, in English. At the end, the Imam invited anyone to go into his office for discussion or to answer questions they might have. Rhea went in. She said they had an amazing conversation about world religions.

When asked about her favorite thing in Turkey, Rhea answered that she had a wonderful time dancing at the Greek ruins of Troy. As for cultural attractions, she highly recommends the archaeological museum in Istanbul, the best in the world.

Word for the day: Enshalah!  (if God wills it).