Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Blog reflection #1
In “Looking for Abdellati,” Tanya Shaffer begins with an enigmatic but powerful sentence: “Here’s what I love about Travel: Strangers get a chance to amaze you.” (AWPT 3). Consider how this is true not only for Shaffer in her tale but also in the other readings in the course so far. Select two moments from other readings that either amaze the story teller, or amaze you, and explain what is astonishing / surprising / amazing about that moment. Write with the critical insight of a well-schooled reader, and with the enthusiasm and courage of a good traveler. Post your work on the class weblog as a comment (Due for Friday's Class)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
ahh the alchemiest what a great book
are we allowed to post comments not related to the question??
Shaffer is correct in stating that strangers indeed amaze us. In her travels, even though she mistakes another Abdelati for her friend Abdelati, the stranger's family welcomes Tanya and Miguel in as their family. Even when realizing that these travelers were at the wrong house, Abdelati's family continued to let these guests stay at their house. I was impressed by their response to allow Tanya and Miguel to remain with the family, because most people would have asked the guests to leave. In addition, the guests also exchanged contact information with the family they had just met.
In "Special Delivery," I was surprised when Lindsy and Pamela were greeted by Gina's family in the airport. Gina's family had a huge sign welcoming Lindsy to Italy and also entertained their guests the entire day, showering them with gifts as well. Not only did Pamela and Lindsy sightsee, they also made lasting friendships, and I wish that I would be able to create lasting friendships whenever I journeyed to a foreign place.
In "Mysteries of Life," Anne Lamott was awed by her story when a few seals came to her son Sam, after he, disappointed, was pulled out of the water. Miraculously, seals started swimming up to Sam and Anne. She had hoped that some miracle would occur and wash away Sam's sadness, and her wish was fulfilled. It was a astonishing experience that the seals came to Sam, after he had been looking forward to the experience for some time. This story was a vivid description of an especially heart-warming experience.
Just as Tanya Shaffer has said, when traveling, especially to different cultural societies, strangers you meet can indeed amaze you. In "The Boatman's Gift," Pamela Michael tells a story of her trip to Luang Prabang, where the Laotians amazed her. Knowing that the country had been politically suppressed and gone through violence for decades, Michael was surprised to find that "the Laotians seem to bear little ill-will toward anyone...tolerance, forgiveness, and compassion summed up in the oft-heard verbal shrug, baw pen nyang," or no problem. The optimistic characteristic of the Laotian appeared more obvious to Michael when she found out that her camera's batteries are dead. The boatman, seeing her in distress, offered her a surprising approach of looking at life. "Don't worry," he said, "your eyes are not dead." Sometimes, with a little adjustment in perspective, our problems are not actually there.
Complete strangers also amazed Lindsy van Gelder in her trip to deliver a postcard in Grappa, Italy. In her story, "Special Delivery," Gelder said that she "didn't volunteer to deliver the postcard because [she] wanted to make new friends in exotic foreign lands." However, surprisingly she and her Italian postcard recipients, Gina's family, became good friends within one day they met. Their friendship is particularly special in today's world, in which it is harder for strangers to trust on one another. Most importantly, their friendship was able to overcome the language barrier, even though neither of them were fluent in one another's language.
Shaffer's observation that "strangers get a chance to amaze you" in travel is not only true in her story, but also true in "The Boatman's Gift" and "The Alchemist" as well. In "The Boatman's Gift", Pamela Michael is shocked when a boatman surprises her with a statement so simple yet so wise. By telling her that "[her] eyes are not dead", the boatman amazes Michael and opens her eyes to a new insight on adventure and life.
In "The Alchemist", I was particularly surprised that Santiago was able to transform himself into the wind. Not only was I shocked that the act of turning oneself into wind has to go through so many different people and elements of the earth, but I was also amazed at Santiago's brave transformation throughout his journey.
In “Looking for Abdellati,” Tanya Shaffer begins with an enigmatic but powerful sentence: “Here’s what I love about Travel: Strangers get a chance to amaze you.” The truth of this quote can be seen in two instances from The Alchemist and A Woman’s Passion for Travel as well. In The Alchemist, a stranger that amazed me with his actions was the eldest chieftain at the oasis which Santiago spent several weeks waiting. After Santiago had a vision that the oasis would be attacked by the tribal warriors, a council was held and this eldest chieftain decided that the oasis should prepare for battle. I was surprised by this action because of the large amounts of trust which the chieftain placed in the premonitions of an outsider, the boy. This deep trust in a stranger was both shocking and unique.
Another instance when stranger amazed me was in A Woman’s Passion for Travel. In The Boatman’s Gift, Pamela travels to Luang Prabang through the dangers and difficulty. When she arrives she is overwhelmed by the beauty and serenity of the area, and, more specifically, the monks. In order to capture these sights Pamela constantly takes photographs of all that she sees. However, her camera breaks before she is about to set sail to the famous Pak Ou Caves. At this point, I was surprised at the boatman’s reply to Pamela’s frustration. He stated a powerful yet true observation, “But Madam…your eyes are not dead.” (28) This statement suddenly changed both Pamela’s and my view of the situation. It is very true that we often times are so overwhelmed by technology and other distraction that we do not have the time to appreciate the beauty of a situation with our own eyes. The simplicity and cutting truth of the boatman’s saying was a pleasant surprise.
Shaffer's statement of "Here’s what I love about Travel: Strangers get a chance to amaze you." is not only accurate in the tale depicted by her, but also displayed numerous times in "The Alchemist". In "Looking for Abdelati", Shaffer is trying to find her good friend Abdelati and spend her last day in Casablanca with him and her friend Miguel. What occurs instead is simply awe-inspiring. She accidentally goes to the wrong house where she is then greeted, cleaned up and treated like a member of the family. Even after finding out that they are at the wrong house, the family still invites them to stay for dinner. This "amazement" is slightly different, yet similar to that experienced in "The Alchemist".
In "The Alchemist", the main character Santiago is constantly being amazed by the knowledge and kindness of all the people he meets. The crystal store owner takes in Santiago, gives him a job, and a place to live just because Santiago cleaned some of his glasses. Another character who amazes Santiago as well as myself is the alchemist himself. For someone who had the ability to transform lead into gold as well as have eternal life, he was extremely humble. He helps Santiago find his Personal Legend only after meeting him and seeing his determination. Shaffer's thought of "Here’s what I love about Travel: Strangers get a chance to amaze you." is right on and is portrayed perfectly in her retelling of "Looking for Abdelati" as well as Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist".
As stated by Shaffer, one of the many joys and traveling is the opportunity for strangers to us. The hospitality and kindness of others in foreign lands is often very new and unusual to American travelers, as this type of kindness and openness to others is typically unheard of in the United States. In America, not only are people very cautious of making themselves vulnerable by taking strangers into their homes, but people also rarely go out of their way to help strangers. However, as presented in "Looking for Abdellati", Tanya and Miguel and welcomed into the home of a stranger's family, even though, as it turns out, it is the wrong family. Even after the travelers realize their mistake, the stranger's family is more than willing to remain hospitable to Tanya and Miguel, and even helps them to find the "correct" Abdellati. Such hospitality and openness to others are rarely found in America, and make traveling outside the country even more exciting.
Another instance of amazing hospitality of foreigners to almost complete strangers is presented in "Special Delivery." I found it amazing that, although Gina had never met Lindsy before, she is thrilled of her arrival and treats her as though they are family. Even though Lindsy and Gina are connected only by a letter that Lindsy is delivering, this simple delivery sparks a relationship between the characters. Gina's openness to strangers is astonishing, as it is something you rarely see within America.
I was also amazed of how friendly the people of Lao are to foreigners in "The Boatman's Gift." Even though the Laotians live in poverty, formed through decades of violence, they seem to be relatively happy people, especially when it comes to foreigners, as demonstrated by the boatman's kindness to Pamela. It amazes me that even impoverished people can find hope in everything.
When travelers explore the world, there are always something amazes them. Shaffer is amazed by warm-hearted strangers who make her feel at home; Anne Lamott is amazed by the emergence of seals which give her and Sam courage to finish their expedition. Sam is not a strong swimmer, who has difficulties swimming back home. When he is about to lose faith in himself, some seals start swimming up to them. Sam cries out because of the amazement, and he believes this might be the presence of God to help me. Sam regains his confident which is essential to his completion of expedition.
In “The Alchemist”, I was surprised by Santiago’s excellent ability of managing crystal store. In order to find his treasure, Santiago has to earn enough money for his journey by working for the crystal store. Santiago believes that, “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” (40). Wishing to start his travel to Egypt, he has to come up with some good ideas to help the store get profit. Even though Santiago never manages a business before, his ideas turn out to earn a lot of money for the store. With enough money, finally he is able to start finding his treasure.
What amazed me the most about the strangers in Paul Cohelo’s The Alchemist were the relationships that developed between Santiago and the foreigners he came into company with while he was on his quest for his personal legend. Santiago embraced everyone he met on his trip with a trust that was at times naïve, but at the same it was refreshing to see someone be optimistic and not so cynical about the unknown. For example, the Englishman, whom Santiago met before the caravan set off to cross the Sahara, was not so friendly towards Santiago at first, but still Santiago was able to cultivate some sort of friendship with the man which allowed the Englishman to broaden himself and expand his ideas and thoughts. It seems that Santiago was able to help others realize their personal legend through his search. Another example was the crystal merchant and his accepting change in his business that eventually lead him to be more prosperous.
In Passions, the moment of clarity that Catherine Watson experienced through watching a stranger blew my mind. She did not even know this young man in anyway, but at the same time she felt “a rush of inexplicable tenderness for the boy—the man, the child, all the ages he had been and would be” (AWPFT 14). This intimate emotion she feels helps complete what Watson had called her “pilgrimage.” The fact that she was able to experience this with someone not familiar shows the universality of travel, and the ability top affect peoples’ lives without knowing a shred of information.
In The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, Santiago is extremely naïve about the strangers he encounters. Astounding me the most was his encounter with the gypsy, who it seems he should confide little to none in. We as the reader are made aware of his father’s negative view on gypsies as well as his initial doubt in the gypsy, but somehow Santiago is able to listen to her reading. Not only does this amaze me because of Santiago’s background, but also because the gypsy is a complete stranger that knows nothing about him, but somehow she is still able to tell him his future. On Santiago’s part, this encounter is more than naïve, but even reckless. However, Santiago is also able to produce an intelligent relationship with another stranger he meets—the crystal merchant.
Santiago, in need of money, approaches the merchant’s store and beings brainstorming ways to improve it. Santiago confides in the merchant to pay him for his advice to get on to Egypt. With no clue whatsoever about managing a business, Santiago’s dream for travel drives him to success at the store and allows me to be slightly more optimistic about strangers and their will to help others in need.
Post a Comment