Update 25/2: Do Dutch politicians read my blog now? Here's one that has just claimed 'it might be time to do away with allochtonous'. Too bad he manages to say it in a very uninspiring way. People on blogs are now talking about what to replace the term with. Helloooo! It needs to be scraped!
----The original post:
Sometimes I have to try to explain that Holland has changed. It starts when whoever I'm talking to says things like:' You are lucky. People in your country are really tollerant/free/open minded.'
A simple 'It's different now' usually won't do. And I find myself struggling to explain just how things have changed. 'It has to do with allochtonous and autochtonous citizens, you see...' And usually they don't. Because in English those (Greek based) words are only used in their original (and rare) scientific context. In the field of bacteriology for instance. Or demographics, which is where it came from in the Netherlands. Autochtonous people are from a certain region of a country. They have probably migrated there at one time or another, but they belong to families that have stayed in that region for generations.
Allochtonous ('allochtonen' in Dutch) people are the newcomers in such a region. Simpel as that. No problem. It probably generated some fascinating statistics used in urban planning during the 70's and that was it. Until the word 'allochtonous' popped up in the media and got all confused with the words 'immigrant' and 'illegal immigrant'. By now (ten or fifteen years later) 'allochtonous' basically means 'foreigner/stranger/colored person that doesn't belong here and causes trouble.' And it sounds completely politically correct. So much better than 'Gook' or 'Black' or especially 'Arab'.
For some reason almost everybody in Holland forgot that, when it comes to people crossing your borders, these are the only categories that exist:
1) Tourists: they come, get stoned and drunk, look at the windmills and the red light district, write a postcard and go home.
2) Expats: they come into the country at keep their foreign nationality and legally do work we won't or can't do (as well).
3) Immigrants: these guys and galls come in search of a better future for some reason or another and apply for and then (here's the kicker) become Dutch nationals. Get it? They are now Dutch where ever they came from. Even if some of them do keep their old passports. Remember that.
4) Illegal imigrants: they come in the country under the radar without being granted asylum or jobs and try to scrape by without getting caught until they are and get thrown out the country.
5) Asylum seekers: the grueling in-between-status you have while you wait for your new nationality or for your journey back to where you came from.
Of course there are also Dutch nationals becoming expats or even emigrants, but these are less relevant here. So there you have it: 'allochtonous' is not even an option. And even if it was: in one or two generation they are supposed to be autochtonous any way. Of course the problem is that the Dutch have not fostered or demanded any of the new Dutch to adapt to Dutch society in any way. And when that got out of hand we failed to reach out and include those people, like say...the city of New York. You are a New Yorker even before you get citizenship. Bad English and all. In Holland you get excluded and branded 'allochtonous citizen'.
What is more: it has given rise to a whole bunch of ignorance based xenophobic ideas and tendencies. On both sides. Because what will you feel like with your new Dutch passport if you are not welcome? Dutch? Of course not. You are going to feel more Turkish/Morocan/Somalian/ whatever. That's what you know and probably miss. This effect will take at least decades to wear off, especially if no one can fix this word so that it means what it should mean again. Or just scrap it. Fine by me.
Anyway: next time I can tell whoever I'm talking to, to just read my blog. Part of this expat farang (ironically the Thai version of allochtonous) actually hopes that he or she will still not understand...
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
There is such a thing!
Yesterday we wanted beef noodle soup for lunch. Of course we drove to the best beef noodle shop in Khon Kaen. It's the best because of good ingredients, the fine taste, the snappy service, but also because it comes with a great story.
This family place got started because the man of the house left his wife and went to live with his mistress. The woman was left with the kids, the (very nice) house, but no money. So she decided to start making beef noodle soup and sold it from her front porch to whoever passed by in the little Soi the house stood in. The soup was so good that before long she needed to convert the garden and front porch of her house to a seating area. That is still the area you get served your soup in today. By now however, the husband has returned to his wife and they and their costumers live happily ever after.
When we arrived at the house yesterday though, something seemed weird. The lay out was different some how. The porch was full of people as usual, but they were very surprised to see us walk in for some reason . I checked my fly. It was closed. And the menu/pricelist on the wall confirmed that this was indeed the right place. But we were soon met by an official looking lady who wondered what we wanted. Well: beef noodle soup of course. Laughter all around. The lady told us that today there was no beef noodle soup because they had just had a merit making ceremony. I looked around. The monks had already left but I could see the elevated mats they sat on and the bowls of food that they were offered.
We must have looked really disappointed, because half a second later we were sheparded to a table and another split second later that table was full of food. Not just any food: the good stuff. Thick massaman curry, seafood cooked inside a coconut, Thai sour and spicy salad...you name it. 'Special menu today.' We ate and ate and ate and then asked for the bill, knowing that there full well that there wouldn't be one, but resigned to at least make a contribution or donation to what ever this merit making ceremony was for. Our friendly host and her grandmother (who had cooked most of the food) wouldn't hear of it. 'Never mind: we have just made some free extra merit'.
So there you go and there you have it. Western thought/philosophy update your textbooks or throw them out: there IS such a thing as a free lunch. Confirmed, noted and filed under realities shattered.
Off topic: there is also such a thing as free picture viewing on facebook. No signing in. Just looking and clicking and saying ooooh and wooow and awwwwww. Here are my new photo albums:
Testing out my new camera: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37584&l=77d74&id=626245873
Oldies but goodies: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39911&l=7f278&id=626245873
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Djeez: more Bamboo?!
Irony: a lot of you are asking breathing advice from a guy who's recovering from a bout of acute bronchitis (I'll be fine, no worries). Bamboo breathing is apparently just as illusive as any form of meditation. But help is on the way. I -being a just as much a restless westerner as anybody- have found a way to make bamboo breathing even easier for restless westerners.
In Zen training (get that book you guys) Katsuki Sekida, takes the reader through a bunch of phases in order to accomplish this bamboo breathing. All I have done: put those phases in a sequence. And what do you know: they enforce one and other. So here's how I do it:
1) I sit down in the proper way: quiet, straight, centered.
2) I start my Bamboo sequence. The big breath out and in followed by four normal breath cycles. One thing is different though: I breathe out trough my just slightly opened mouth (but in trough the nose). This promotes the tension you want in your abdomen. It makes you stronger. I do this about three five-breath-cycles. And I count every out breath and in breath: out>one, in>one, out, two, in>two etc.
3) I continue the Bamboo sequence. But instead I breathe in and out through the nose, like everybody says you should. Meanwhile I'm still counting my breath. the same way. This promotes purely the mental focus you need. I do this about three cycles as well. Or as long as I need to get in the right frame of mind. You'll know when that is.
4) Still Bamboo breathing, but now I no longer count anything, although I some how 'keep track' of the Bamboo cycle though. But it flows it's natural course. And mentally I concentrate on a word, syncing it with my breath. This can be any word or mantra or even a Koan if you're up to that. I have picked 'Mu' (the Chinese word for nothingness) just out of convenience and I guess out of some weird sense of tradition :) Repeat the word over and over silently or voiced like pushing at a door that is stuck a little. That will also build the right kind of tension in your abdomen. You do this stage for as long as you want or can.
In that last stage is where you might feel like you are 'clad in heavy armor' as the Zen poets describe it. An 'off sensation' which is hard to put into words. You are looking through your own eyes, but it feels like you are looking out of a window. This is the start of deep concentration. What happens next is impossible to put into words. For me especially, since I haven't really gone far beyond that. When I know more, so will you :)
In Zen training (get that book you guys) Katsuki Sekida, takes the reader through a bunch of phases in order to accomplish this bamboo breathing. All I have done: put those phases in a sequence. And what do you know: they enforce one and other. So here's how I do it:
1) I sit down in the proper way: quiet, straight, centered.
2) I start my Bamboo sequence. The big breath out and in followed by four normal breath cycles. One thing is different though: I breathe out trough my just slightly opened mouth (but in trough the nose). This promotes the tension you want in your abdomen. It makes you stronger. I do this about three five-breath-cycles. And I count every out breath and in breath: out>one, in>one, out, two, in>two etc.
3) I continue the Bamboo sequence. But instead I breathe in and out through the nose, like everybody says you should. Meanwhile I'm still counting my breath. the same way. This promotes purely the mental focus you need. I do this about three cycles as well. Or as long as I need to get in the right frame of mind. You'll know when that is.
4) Still Bamboo breathing, but now I no longer count anything, although I some how 'keep track' of the Bamboo cycle though. But it flows it's natural course. And mentally I concentrate on a word, syncing it with my breath. This can be any word or mantra or even a Koan if you're up to that. I have picked 'Mu' (the Chinese word for nothingness) just out of convenience and I guess out of some weird sense of tradition :) Repeat the word over and over silently or voiced like pushing at a door that is stuck a little. That will also build the right kind of tension in your abdomen. You do this stage for as long as you want or can.
In that last stage is where you might feel like you are 'clad in heavy armor' as the Zen poets describe it. An 'off sensation' which is hard to put into words. You are looking through your own eyes, but it feels like you are looking out of a window. This is the start of deep concentration. What happens next is impossible to put into words. For me especially, since I haven't really gone far beyond that. When I know more, so will you :)
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