JarJar Nixon's Blues Kitchen

It only took 36 hours to get back here in Saigon...flew from Santiago through Buenos Aires and Paris. I think Air France food is not as good as it used to be; they seemed to rely a lot on the odd-brown-meat-product-and-boiled-vegetable-substance recipe.

A couple of random thoughts about APEC:

--President Bush seems a lot taller in person than on TV. He charmed everyone when he spoke at the Embassy farewell for him--contrary to some of the jibes we hear about him, he spoke to us without notes, unnatural pauses, incomplete sentences or stray thoughts. As a public speaking teacher, I would have given him an A-.

--Compared with the TV news shots, President Putin is much smaller but appears a lot warmer.

--I had two weeks but only got through half of President Clinton's memoirs. His presidential period does not actually start until page 476 or so--but you certainly feel like you know him by the time you have reached that point.

--Wine is cheaper than the water in Santiago. The bottle of Evian in my hotel room was five bucks, but the Gato Negro at the neighborhood grocery was only $1.80.

--I wish McDonald's would start selling its empanadas in the Washington, D.C. area. (Or, better yet, I wish McD's would open a restaurant on Hai Ba Trung Street--if only to satisfy my son.)

After an exciting day (glimpses of Presidents Bush, Putin and Roh) I went with colleagues to Santiago's only jazz club (named the Santiago Jazz Club, of course) and heard a great traditional quartet (electric guitar, electric bass, drums and a very smooth alto sax) followed by a New Orleans-style stomp band (eight pieces, including banjo and trombone). A great little treasure in a very livable city.

There is a funny cartoon in today's issue of El Mercurio, the leading dailty here in Santiago. A bus driver is listening to the APEC Summit-visiting passengers speaking in Chinese and Japanese, and he mutters--in espanol--"Why'd I spend so much time learning English???" That really captures the position Chile is in--it has been a member of APEC since 1993 and is trying to integrate with the Asian-Pacific economy. They have treaties and agreements in place, as well as some of the world's best wine (and other products, of course) to export, but they realize that the 'soft' side of international business--the cultural and linguistic side--is at once the most important and the most difficult aspect of globalization to grasp.

The irony is that globalization would seem to demand that countries all over the world adopt English and become internationalized creatures, but actually globalization requires more local knowledge than ever before.

> Chile, as you may already know, has some of the best wines in the world. I hope to take home intact a nice selection from the vineyard I visited. I also just picked up a bottle of Chandon sparkling wine for only $10. It is about $25 or more back in the States (just in a store, not in a restaurant).
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> I'm reading Dune: Battle of Corin for a few minutes before going to work each day.
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> The hotel management kept trying to put me on the shuttle bus for the Vietnamese delegation this morning. Would have been funny if I had actually ridden it.
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> I had a very exotic lunch...well, at least for me from HCMC. Went to the local Ruby Tuesday and had a huge plate of quesadillas.
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> Filing centers are up, anti-globalization protesters are around (but I haven't seen any), everyone is getting psyched up for the big visitors. Someone called in a bomb threat to the subway system yesterday and they had to evacuate it. Students clashed with armored personnel carriers out at a university in the beach town of Valparaiso.
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Full story at:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Atlantis-Discovery-Claim.html


American Claims Discovery of Atlantis
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSPublished: November 16, 2004
Filed at 7:22 a.m. ET
LIMASSOL, Cyprus (AP) -- An American researcher claimed Sunday to have discovered the remains of the legendary lost city of Atlantis on the bottom of the east Mediterranean Sea, but Cyprus' chief government archaeologist was skeptical.
Robert Sarmast said sonar scanning 50 miles southeast of Cyprus revealed man-made walls, one as long as 2 miles, and trenches at a depth of 1,640 yards.

``It is a miracle we found these walls as their location and lengths match exactly the description of the acropolis of Atlantis provided by Plato in his writings,'' Sarmast said, referring to the ancient Greek philosopher.

Went by cable car to the top of a small mountain yesterday and saw a HUGE statue of St. Mary. Then I did a very touristy thing and ate chimichangas (definitely not a Chilean dish) and tried Escudo, the local beer.

The papers are reporting that there will be big but peaceful anti-globalization demonstrations throughout the Summit.

Just a brief posting because I have to go to an APEC site. Went yesterday about two hours south of Santiago to a wonderful vineyard called Miguel Torres. Had a great tasting menu-style lunch that actually filled me up so much I could not eat again until this morning. Salmon in a summer roll style, filet mignon, all kinds of vegetables. Wonderful fresh air, very little traffic to/from.

I think the altitude is not super high--maybe a thousand meters--but we are
surrounded by pretty, snow-capped mountains. Last night I went with seven
other APEC visitors to dine at La Casa Vieja, a local restaurant with
moderate prices and wide selection of traditional Chilean specialties. I
had what turned out to be a pork plate--a huge sausage, a rib and a ham
roll, sided with a boiled potato. They had steamy home-made biscuits. I
nabbed two extras at the end of the meal and took them in home in my golf
hat. They came in handy when I woke--twelve hours later and well past
breakfast. I think I´m fully recovered from jet lag now. It also helps to
run--I did 5 k today and 3k yesterday, not exhausting, just short little
trots to get me in synch with the local time.

There´s a deadly drink called Pisco Sour. I had half a one and luckily my
neighbor (an APEC visitor from Tokyo) knocked it off the table by mistake.

Actually, it won't get hot till later next week when the VIPs begin to roll in. Some highlights of my Chile visit...

--I left Saigon on Tuesday night and got here Thursday afternoon. Accounting for the time difference, I actually spent FIFTY-TWO HOURS door-to-door. Overnighted in Bangkok, flew through Frankfurt, then to my surprise stopped over in Buenos Aires.

--Chile is cool and rainy. Santiago is a very modern city, lots of mid to high-rises, people look very prosperous.

--I spoiled myself with a McDonald's dinner last night. Well, here is my excuse: I only had 20 minutes before the start of a big meeting (we call them countdown meetings), and the hotel pastry cart looked totally inadequate, and a McD's was tempting me right around the corner. Nice thing is that I had three empanadas (cheese-filled delights) along my Big Mac and large fries. I'm not used to fast food, though: I had the saltiest taste in my mouth for about an hour afterward.

--OK, so I'll try Chilean food tonight, Friday.

--I got over jet lag very easy. I spent so much time flying that I just came out on the other end exhausted and ready to sleep all night.

--I think the President of Vietnam--or at least major members of the delegation--is going to stay in my hotel. I am sure I will not have a chance to meet them, but it would be a thrill to see them pass by in the lobby.

Hi--well, both of my classes have wrapped up. This is the last time I am going to teach Public Speaking--between now and next summer I will be focusing more on writing and marketing my novels. I'm sorry to miss the chance to hear all the speeches. Topics on Saturday included:

--Dare to bungee jump!
--Donate blood
--Care for lepers
--Don't forget your parents
--Get outta HCMC--move to My Tho

I'll still teach US Government, but only on a one-third basis.

Hey, I am going to Santiago tomorrow where I'll be working at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Will post blogs from there, I am sure.

We hosted over 300 friends and colleagues to our modest office for an election day open house. Among the attendees were a contact who rode his motorcycle for several hours from a remote western province; 40 students from the nation's only US Government class (many of you blog readers!); Vietnam's first post-1975 Fulbright alumnus (a prominent area professor); and more than 15 reporters from major regional dailies, some with national circulation. We conducted a mock ballot and held discussion groups with students, media and business people. I grabbed the microphone and provided unsolicited commentary off and on through the morning.

Perhaps the most striking exchange came a few days earlier, when a Vietnamese friend asked asn American friend how he voted overseas. My apathetic friend explained that he did not bother to vote; my Viet friend had a horrified look on his face and asked what the government would do to him since he did not vote. I told the American friend that here it is compulsory to go out and do your duty. America has freedom--the freedom to be apathetic!