The Ghost of Corporate Future

October 24, 2009

I just finished an incredible trip to Eastern Europe! I would like to say thank you to my Grandpa Bushuk for organizing most of the details of my stay in Poland and Belarus.

My first stop was Poznan, Poland, where I stayed with Grandpa’s old friends Mr. and Mrs. Kaminski. Mr. and Mrs. Kaminski are wonderful people and they treated me really well. I ate an obscene amount of Mrs. Kaminski’s home cooked Polish food, including her delicious pierogies and galompki (cabbage rolls). I think her favourite line is “Please, eat, eat…” and I did not disappoint her in this category. Mr. Kaminski is still teaching university classes at the spry age of 82. They also didn’t shy away from dancing to Russian music or drinking metaxa!

In Poznan I had a chance to visit the University of Life Sciences where I met many of Grandpa’s former colleagues and students. Grandpa would never say this, but he is HUGE in Poland. It was nice to meet his old friends and hear all the good things they had to say about him. At the university, I met Joanna and Agnes (the daughters of Magdalena who works at the uni), and they took me on a tour of the city. Joanna and Agnes were great tour guides and their English is excellent because they spent the last year studying abroad in Lethbridge. We saw many of Poznan’s sights, including the St. Peter and Paul cathedral and the beautiful Old Town Square. The square is surrounding by buildings that are painted with large colourful murals. For dinner, we met up with two of Grandpa’s former postdocs, Wiktor and Alicja, and ate a traditional Polish meal of borscht (with kaldunny) and pierogies. The pierogies were the best I have ever tried!

After Poznan, I took the train to Warsaw (pronounced varshava by the Poles) and met up with Alek Sowa, another friend of Grandpa’s. Alek and I had a great time touring Warsaw together. We saw the ominous Palace of Culture and Science, which was erected by Stalin during the 50’s as a symbol of communist Russia’s control over Poland and the power of the Soviets. It is still the tallest building in Warsaw and is the topic of much heated debate. Many Poles have wanted to level the building since communism fell in 1989, but others see it as a valuable reminder of Poland’s history. Personally, I really like the building and hope that it stays.

Alek and I visited the Uprising Museum, which was extremely interesting. It chronicles the 1944 uprising of the people of Warsaw against the German army that had occupied their city. At one point, the Poles controlled three-quarters of the city and there was hope that they could take back what was rightfully theirs. However, in the end the German’s superior weaponry and military organization won out (most of the Polish fighters were not even trained soldiers). Also, the Poles had anticipated support from the closely stationed Soviet army, but it never came. After the Germans took back the city, they literally leveled it. As a result, Warsaw had to be nearly completely rebuilt after the war. The uprising is an interesting piece of history, as it simultaneously serves as a point of national pride and a point of tremendous sorrow and grief.

We also visited the Old Town of Warsaw, which I love! It has a very classic feel to it, and is filled with residences, small quaint restaurants, shops and museums. The buildings are painted with murals in the same way as the Old Town Square in Poznan. Of course, the Old Town is not the original, but it was built in the same spirit as the first old town, and I think they did a good job recreating it.

Alek and I also took a day trip to visit the beautiful city of Krakow. Unlike Warsaw, Krakow was largely untouched by the war and has many old buildings and streets that have been preserved. My favourite part of the city was Wawel Hill, which is home to Wawel Castle and Krakow Cathedral. This was the first castle I had ever seen and it did not disappoint. The castle is extremely large and each room is decorated in a grandiose way. The walls are covered in large tapestries and the roofs are done in elaborate paintings. One room had a spectacular painting which depicted the submission of the Prussian King to the Polish King. It had a lot of similarities to the painting of the coronation of Napolean at the Louvre, with the intense central action and the detailed characters in the background.

Krakow’s Old Town is very large and the buildings are beautiful, but I was disappointed by how exploited it was. I find it hard to get excited about an “Old Town” that is filled with Hard Rock Cafés and Lacoste stores. The Old Town in Warsaw has a much more genuine feel. We also saw the Krakow University. As the 3rd oldest university in Europe and the former school of Copernicus, it was a cool sight to see.

After Poland, the adventure really started with a trip to visit my family in Belarus. I had plans to meet Grandpa’s cousin, Mariya, at the Brest station. I had never seen her before and all I knew was that she would be wearing a white scarf. Thankfully, white scarves are not a current fashion craze in Belarus, and I had no trouble finding her! I was also greeted by Mariya’s daughter Helen, Helen’s god daughter Kate, and, of course, my wonderful interpreter Tanja. It was sort of strange communicating through an interpreter at first, but I was so thankful that Tanja was there. Without her, it would have been impossible to communicate with my family, as they only speak Belarusian (besides Kate). Tanja is currently studying to be a teacher and she proved to be the bridge between me and my family on the trip.

I had a great time in Belarus, and really enjoyed meeting our long lost family members (I met about 25 in total!) and learning about our family history. My main motive for coming to Belarus was to visit the village of Yakovichi, where my grandfather grew up as a young boy. His family left Yakovichi in the summer of 1939, just before the start of WWII, when Grandpa was 10 years old. Yakovichi is a tiny village, consisting of only about 20 houses. The house that my Great-Grandpa built is still standing today, and we took a trip to visit it. I have heard stories about this house and it was incredible to see it in person. I saw the famous kitchen furnace that Grandpa and his brother used to sleep on to stay warm. The house only has two main rooms, and would have been a humble place for a family of five. The current owner of the house is a really nice woman who has lived in it since 1950 and has kept it in excellent condition (the two of us are in the pic below, standing in front of the furnace). She was happy to host us and served lunch to all 13 of us!

After our visit to Yakovichi, Mariya took me to a stream whose water is said to be sacred. They have created a small hole for swimming and Mariya urged me to take a dip. The temperature was only 4 degrees outside, so I told her that I would only go in if she did, thinking that this would probably keep me dry. Boy was I wrong! Mariya was in her bathing suit and in the water before I knew it, so, naturally, I had to follow suit. It was freezing, but I survived! Mariya loved it.

Another highlight of the Brest visit was a big dinner we had on my last night, where I met many more family members. Naida and Angleina (two more of Grandpa’s cousins) cooked us a wonderful meal and we said “Nas Drovia” (cheers) many, many times. It was incredible to meet all of my relatives and get a chance to learn about their lives and tell them about mine.

In some ways, it was difficult to hear about life in Belarus because their economic conditions are unbelievably poor compared to ours. I was appalled to learn that the average Belarusian only makes 200 dollars per month, and that education only increases wages by an incremental amount. These difficult circumstances create a very tight-knit group of people and I was impressed by their strong sense of community.

My experience in Belarus was truly unforgettable and I look forward to staying in contact with all of my new family and friends.

I want to say thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Kaminski, Alek, Mariya, Nadia, Helen, Kate, Ilya, and Tanja for all of their support and help during my trip!

Next up is a tour of Italy!

-MB

Bonjour Europa!

October 13, 2009

On September 26, I said sayonara to Japan and hello to London. I was greeted by an obnoxious customs officer, who was reluctant to let me into the country and made me sit through 10 minutes of pedantic lecturing before he did. In London I met up with Minju, which was really great after being apart for 3 months.

We only had two days in London, but we made the most of it. We spent most of our time checking out the area around the Thames River, including the London Eye (seeing, but not riding), the Tate Modern, the Millennium Bridge and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. I also saw St. Paul’s, my first European church. I always thought that seeing churches in Europe sounded kind of boring, but St. Paul’s blew me away. It is huge and cavernous and seems to go on forever. It also had some incredibly detailed and intricate artwork. I was impressed.

We got our shopping fix at the overcrowded Camden Market and we visited Westminster and admired Big Ben as the sun was setting. We also visited Wimbledon, which is a quieter residential area of London. The only downside to London was that I found the Londoners to be quite rude (this was made worse by the fact that I had just come from Japan, the most polite country on Earth). Besides the people, I really enjoyed the city and was struck by how old it felt. The architecture has a permanence to it that you can’t find in North America. I will also be checking out London just before I fly back to Canada, so more to come then!

From London, we traveled to Lyon, where Minju is studying this semester at the Jean Moulin University. Lyon was nice because it gave me a chance to finally settle into a place. I unpacked my backpack for the first time on the trip! In Lyon, I had to come back to reality for a bit and I spent some time working on my grad school applications. Aside from working at the library, I spent my time touring the city with Minju and soaking in the French culture. Fresh baguettes and croissants became a daily ritual and I ate crepes and many cheeses that I had never heard of before.

Lyon was interesting because it operates nearly exclusively en francais. I had a chance to put my minimal French into action and luckily the locals were accommodating enough to put up with my horrible French accent. At times (most times), it wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done.

In Lyon, we spent a lot time hanging out near the beautiful Rhone river, which runs through the center of the city. We also spent time exploring Presq’ile (the downtown area) and Vieux Lyon (the old part of the city). Vieux Lyon is the France that I envisioned. It is full of small creperies, boulangeries and patisseries, and has many outdoor tables where people sip coffee, eat crepes, and, of course, smoke. The cobblestone streets and old buildings give the old town a very different atmosphere from the rest of the city. Another famous area of Lyon is Fourviere, where we checked part of a Latin mass at the Basilique de la Notre-Dame de Fourviere and admired two spectacular ancient Roman amphitheatres.

Minju and I also took a day trip to the tiny town of Perouges, which is a completely medieval city that was built in the 15th century. Perouges was really cool to see, and it is incredible that it so well preserved. The highlights were the town fortress and the lookout tower.

After soaking in Lyon, we headed to Paris for a 5 day whirlwind tour of the city. In Paris, I had my first ever Couchsurfing experience, and it was a great one! We stayed with a really nice guy named Mathieu who showed us the city, took us for beers (22 euro per pitcher…ouch!), took us to a small concert, and watched movies with us. It was a great experience having the opportunity to stay with a local and to experience some things that the typical tourist wouldn’t. For example, Mathieu took us to a great local outdoor market where we bought ingredients for dinner. While this might not sound too exciting, it was really cool to see the differences in how the French shop for groceries compared to Canada. In France, there is more focus on buying foods that are fresh and local, rather than buying things that are preserved and packaged. In short, it’s a much more environmental and healthy approach.

We made sure to visit the two iconic sites of Paris: the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. Despite the crowds of tourists, it was still amazing to see these symbols that are so commonly connected to France. I was impressed by the sheer size of the Arc and its beautiful stone carvings. The Arc leads to the Champs D’Elysées, which is the 5th Avenue of Paris. It is a beautiful street to walk down, as it is lined with well kept trees and has sidewalks that are nearly as wide as the road itself. In general, Paris is a great walking city since the distances between sites in the downtown are quite short. It was great to see the Eiffel Tower. We climbed up to the second level and took in the view of downtown Paris. The tower itself looks quite industrial up close and is far from pretty, but from a distance it looks beautiful. It was originally intended to be a temporary structure, but it stayed up and has become the most well known symbol of Paris.

We also did our best to get a taste of the city’s incredible art collection. We visited The Louvre, The Rodin Museum, and the Centre Pompidou, which is a modern art museum. I really enjoyed the Rodin Museum. The museum had a cool layout: the sculptures were on display outside in a beautifully maintained garden. I especially enjoyed The Thinker and The Gates of Hell. The Gates of Hell blew me away with their incredible detail and with the haunting feeling that they gave off. The construction of the massive gates would have been a huge undertaking. While the Rodin Museum was small and self-contained the Louvre was the exact opposite. We spent nearly six hours exploring and probably saw less than half of the exhibits. At the Louvre, we saw the Mona Lisa, which was cool to see, but I didn’t find it as spectacular as everyone makes it out to be. I actually found the massive painting behind the Mona much more impressive. My favourite part of the museum was a collection of large 18th and 19th century French paintings. We saw Minju’s favourite painting, “Liberty Leading the People” by Delacroix (the Viva La Vida album cover). I really liked “The Coronation of Napolean.” The event was important because it was the first time that the Pope did not crown a King, and marked a clear separation between Church and State. The Louvre was good to see, but at times the size of it was overwhelming. Pompidou was a fun museum and I really enjoyed it. As with most modern art museums, I didn’t like about 60% of the stuff, was indifferent towards 20%, and really liked the other 20%.

I also visited the Pantheon, which houses the incredible Foucault Pendulum. The Pendulum hangs from the highest point in the Pantheon (220 feet) and was used by Foucault in 1851 to demonstrate the rotation of the earth. It is the one of the most famous large scale public science demonstrations, so naturally I was excited to see it and think about it. The pendulum bob rotates by 11 degrees per hour, and because of its size, the rotation is clearly visible. The Pantheon also has a crypt which houses some of France’s most important political and intellectual heroes.

Some other highlights of Paris include visiting Notre Dame Cathedral, feeding baguette to the birds outside the Louvre, seeing the original Statue of Liberty at the Jardin du Luxembourg, walking along the Seine River, browsing Shakespeare and Company (possibly the best bookstore in the world) and visiting Montmatre and Sacre-Coeur. I really enjoyed our time in Paris. It is a beautiful city throughout and it is hard to find a part that you will not enjoy.

Special thanks to Mathieu for being such a great host!

-M

Volcanic Ambition

September 26, 2009

Dad and I spent the past two weeks traveling through Japan. Our time in Japan was spectacular and we were wowed by the people, the culture, and the natural beauty. The first thing that struck me about Japan was how civilized and dependable it seemed compared to everywhere else that I have traveled. I really appreciated the simple things: like being able to drink the tap water and not having trains delayed due to rock slides. The second thing was the people, who are incredibly nice, friendly, and polite to a fault. The Japanese were extremely helpful to us, and made our travels very enjoyable.

Our trip started in Hiroshima, where we visited the Peace Memorial Atomic Bomb museum. The museum is really well done. It has portions that focus on the historical background to the Hiroshima bombing, as well as parts that provide personal perspectives to the bombing. The effects of the bomb were horrific, and nearly half of Hiroshima’s population perished (140,000 of the 300,000). I liked the fact that the museum was not excessively pro-Japan, and took the opportunity to point out some of Japan’s mistakes made in WWII, particularly the invasion of China. Seeing the pictures of the barren wasteland left behind by the bomb was especially moving. The thought that one country would ever want to inflict this kind of damage on another country is disgusting. Hiroshima has tried to turn its negative history into a positive and has become one of the world’s strongest advocates for the banning of nuclear weapons. Below is a picture of the A-Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings that was left standing after the bombing. The city chose to leave it in this form to serve as a reminder of their past.



In Hiroshima, we also had the chance to take in a Japanese Pro Baseball game, which was quite a cultural experience. The Japanese love their baseball! We saw the Hiroshima Carp play the Tokyo Giants. Japanese baseball fans are crazy! They have a ton of organized cheers and they spend the entire game shouting them in unison. Many of the fans didn’t sit down for the entire game. For each batter, they have a certain cheer, as well as a cheer they do for every run scored. So much for the Japanese being quiet reserved people: these fans were rowdy! It was fun sitting in the heat of it all and soaking in the atmosphere.

After Hiroshima, we took the Shinkansen (the bullet train that travels at 270 km/hr) to Kyoto. If Tokyo is the economic and political capital of Japan, Kyoto is certainly the cultural capital. Dad and I spent two days exploring Kyoto by bike and toured many of Kyoto’s temples, shrines, and parks. We also biked along the Takanogowa River and visited Nijo castle, which used to be the home of the shogun of Japan. During our bike tour, I was amazed by the presence of baseball in Japan. We saw numerous little league and pick-up games going on. We even played for a bit with a group of university students. Below is a picture of our Kyoto sandlot team. Kyoto had a calm, serene feel, and seems like a very livable city.



After Kyoto, we left the rush of the city behind and visited the town of Hida-Takayama. Takayama was a nice small town, and besides a small touristy section, felt like a very authentic Japanese experience. In Takayama we had the coolest accommodations of our Japan trip: we slept in a Buddhist temple! The rooms were minimal—little more than two tatami mats on the floor—but were very nice. The temple also had a completely dark underground tunnel, in which you could go on a “spiritual quest” to find a key and make a wish. After leaving the tunnel, there was a helpful sign that advised us that the more money we donated to Buddha, the more likely our wish would come true! Takayama is surrounded by beautiful rolling mountains that are shrouded in tall, thin pine trees. In the mornings, the trees were engulfed in a white mist. We also visited a Hida Village, which displayed the old thatch-roofed houses that the Hida people live in.

From Takayama, we took the train to Mount Fuji, where we undertook the physical test of climbing Japan’s tallest mountain. Climbing Fuji was an experience that Dad likened to running a marathon: well you’re doing it, it’s painful, but at the end it feels great to have finished. We spent a night at the Fuji 5th station to rest up for the climb and get acclimatized. Our accommodations, the Sato Lodge, were really cool. Mr. Sato (Sato-san, as the Japanese say) owns a small cabin on the side of Fuji, and was a really kind host. Our room was a toasty 11 degrees, so we spent most of the evening hanging out by Mr. Sato’s wood stove, the only source of heat in the cabin. Below the 5th station, the mountain is beautiful and thick with pine trees. Above the 5th, it is a very different story. The mountain is extremely barren, and besides some low shrubs, there is no vegetation. It is covered with fine black volcanic rock and looks like the moon.

The next morning, we woke up at 4:15 and started our climb at 4:45. We started while it was still dark outside and the temperature was a fairly comfortable 5 degrees. At times, the climb was fun, as we scrambled up rocks, but on the whole it was an absolute slog. The path is covered in all of this loose volcanic gravel and it is tough to find solid footing. Also, the path looks the same for a lot of the way, making the climbing pretty monotonous. After climbing about 1500 vertical meters, we reached Fuji’s summit. The feeling of finally reaching the top was incredible! At that moment, we were at the highest point in Japan: 3776m. At the summit you can get a really good look into the volcano’s crater. Fuji hasn’t erupted in about 300 years, and thankfully it remained inactive on that day as well! The temperature at the top was probably just below zero, and we were able to soak in the summit view without being too cold.

Because of all the gravel, the climb down was tricky and, as much as walking, we slid down the side of Fuji. It was quite a relief to finally reach the bottom. At the 5th station, we met up with Scott Morita, a friend of Dad’s. With Scott, we spent the night at Hakone, a famous vacation spot near Tokyo. In Hakone, Scott introduced us to a Japanese tradition: the onsen bath. Onsen is a natural mineral hot spring bath, and is one of the most treasured parts of Japanese culture. For us, it was the perfect therapy for our exhausted legs.

After our Hakone visit, we went to Tokyo, where we spent our first two nights at Scott’s place. Staying at Scott’s was a great experience because it gave us a taste of Japanese living and showed us a quiter, less-touristy, side of Tokyo. There was also the additional perk of indulging in Mrs. Morita’s incredible Japanese cooking. The rest of our time in Tokyo was spent with Dad’s friend Derek, and the two balls of energy known as Reese and Spencer.

I really enjoyed Tokyo and its permanent buzz. The size of the city is mind-blowing, and it has at least five different areas that could legitimately lay claim to being the “downtown.” Sometimes simply walking down the street ends up being a cultural experience, as Scott, Dad, and I found out as we waded through the streets of Harajuku.

One of the highlights of Tokyo was watching a sumo tournament with Derek and the kids. I expected Sumo wrestling to be more of a fad than anything, but I loved the experience. The Sumo matches take place in a big 10,000 seat arena, which was nearly sold out. The actual sumo match is quite quick—they rarely last more than ten seconds. There is an incredible amount of tradition and ceremony involved in Sumo fighting. Before the grand champions start fighting, they make a special entrance to the ring and do a cheer. This is followed by another special entrance by the yokozunas, the best fighters in each division. Before each match, the sumos go through an elaborate routine where they throw salt in the ring, and have multiple stare-offs with their opponent. The preamble creates quite a buildup for each fight. There is a lot more skill involved than I expected and we saw matches won using many different moves. The matches were really exciting and before I knew it, we had been there for 3 hours and watched over 25 matches. I would go again in a heartbeat.



The life of a sumo is an interesting one. They wake up at 5am and train hard doing agility, strength and toughness drills until about 830am. At this point, they eat a huge “special sumo meal” and then immediately go to sleep, for maximum weight gain. That can’t be healthy. For the rest of the day, they do some more light training and then usually go out at night, where they are treated as celebrities. The sumos are a complete contrast to the rest of the Japanese, who are the slimmest and healthiest people that I have ever seen.

Another highlight of Tokyo was the Tsukiji fish market, the world’s largest seafood market. Every morning at 5:30am there is an auction for the day’s catch of fresh and frozen tuna. Most of the frozen tuna are caught in Europe, immediately frozen with liquid nitrogen and then shipped to Japan. The buyers spend the half an hour before the auction assessing the fish. To see them in action is fascinating, as they are able to judge a tuna’s quality by looking at a small piece of flesh that is exposed on the tail of the fish. At 5:30 the madness of the auction began, with the auctioneer selling the tuna at breakneck speed. For me, it was completely incomprehensible but was still fun to watch. He must have sold 50 individual tuna in less than 5 minutes. After the auction, we walked around the market gawking at all the exotic types of seafood being sold. The volume of seafood that the market turns over on a daily basis is unbelievable. Everything in the market is fresh, and, presumably, most of it gets sold before noon each day.


Some other highlights of Tokyo included seeing Shibuya, Tokyo’s busiest intersection, walking through beautiful Ueno Park, playing with all the latest gadgets at the Sony Building, satisfying my inner geek at the Museum of Science and Nature, jogging through the Imperial Palace, touring the Fuji TV building and learning about Tokyo’s history at the Edo-Tokyo museum. My favourite part of Tokyo was the Yanaka district. Yanaka, along with the Imperial Palace, were the only parts of Tokyo that were not destroyed by the bombs of WWII. Because of this, Yanaka feels completely different from any other part of Tokyo. It has small, narrow streets lined with shops, temples and houses. It was interesting simply observing Yanaka’s locals engaging in their regular day-to-day activities.

Japan was my last stop in Asia, and now I will head to Europe to see what France, Spain, Poland, Belarus, and Switzerland have to offer! I’m sad to say goodbye to Asia.

I would like to say thank you to Scott and Derek for all of their hospitality, the great dinners, and the great times.

-M