What did You Find Surprising About Iowa?

- asked Aunty Irene.

Me:
Firstly, it was incredibly surprising to find out that I had family in Iowa.
Secondly, I guess I was surprised at how cosmopolitan it is. (But I’ve already written about that)
Thirdly, I guess most of my life is pretty surprising, so I could say everything, but that wouldn’t be very informative.
Fourthly, the hamburgers are really good. I’m not even kidding. I had good hamburgers courtesy of Irene, The Machine Shack, Steak and Shake, etc. And not to mention Whitey’s, which is also Uncle Wilky’s favourite, evidently.
Fifthly, it was very surprising that Melissa was around. And also going off on an adventure involving midwest > northeast. And she showed me the Prairie Lights Bookstore, which was delightful.

Baby Bunny by Isabel Bloom

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
— Albert Einstein

Here are some things I really enjoyed in Iowa:
1) I got to ride on a tractor! Also, a definite bonus was that the old tractor driver let a young airforce pilot do the driving, and we got an extra-long ride!

Iowan Tractor Ride from JHu on Vimeo.

2) The light in the evening is breathtaking. No wonder David and Nathaniel are both photographers.
3) Their Target, which is a SuperTarget, was SuperGood. I can anticipate that living next to a SuperTarget would be SuperBad for my wallet.
4) I got to see Irene’s house growing up and meet the couple living there. And I got a rock with a fossil in it from the backyard. Now THAT doesn’t happen to you every day.
5) They have two very good dogs.
6) Isabel Bloom statues are eerily similar to the stuff my mum does
7) Irene’s dad learned German, and had a little book with flashcards in them. One of the books is a story book written by this guy who was a world traveler and suffered from something called “wunderlust”, with which I am increasingly familiar
8 ) Bridges of Madison County and Mississippi Solo
9) I felt like Indiana Jones in the basement, except this was real treasure
10) Whenever your suitcase is too full, it is time to leave a book behind, which I can revisit later. I believe in the conservation of matter and energy – therefore, nothing is truly lost.

The library lizard shrugs off its library skin
- Irene Hope

Ancestral Land

Wong

Wai Ching             &              Yau Wai

Feb 1 1945                              Sept 13, 1914

Mar 17 2002                          Mar 26, 1982

Parents of Irene

Going back to Midwestern Roots

…. I did not know I had.

How is it possible that one house in Iowa built between 30 and 13 years ago with an extension that was envisioned with cutting edge software to determine all the views should closely resemble in spirit a house built in 1993-4 in Singapore to the uncanny extent of including

1) a koi pond, with little Japanese stone lantern
2) a patio deck overlooking said koi pond
3) two dogs who rule the house as their demsene
4) treasures/trash from travels around the world but especially southeast asia
5) 30 years’ worth of packrating in the basement, which is an ever-expanding entity that causes the youngest daughter in particular some anxiety
6) 1900 photographs of Asia in 2004, the last year my family lived in Singapore
7) the most beautiful views from Faber Garden apartment, the place I spent 1/7th of my childhood
8 ) chicken masala with egg noodles
9) a map on the wall of the eldest son’s circumnavigation of the globe
10) two ivory staffs my grandfather left when the mother of the house was 13 or 14
11) a photograph of my great-grandfather, Wong On, with 5 children – we still can’t establish which 5, and his wife, whose eyebrows are perfectly symmetrical
12) three beautiful grown children, one of whom married a Thai, the other who married a half-white, half-Korean, and another who is single in Minneapolis who loves movies and books and hanging out with friends and has a half suitcase full of shoes

At dinner we sat down, and I said, truly, all of you are of my people. Then we went out for ice cream at this place called Whitey’s. It was SOOOOO GOOOOOOD.

Life is mysterious and astonishing and wondrous strange, as usual. Or so they say.

During Chinese New Year 2004 we met. I was too much of a self-absorbed 18 year old to remember much of that CNY, but we did, here is the photographic evidence.
Photos (c) 2004 by David Hope.

Cousins, Long-Lost No More

Today at the end of a very wonderful day cooking for the Goetzes, I received a phone call from Iowa from Irene and David Hope, my long-lost second cousins (or in my parlance, uncle and auntie). Irene is the daughter of the brother of my paternal grandmother (the one who grew up in Hawaii, then Canton, Hong Kong, Malaya and Singapore). She has three children: Nathaniel in Wisconsin, Erin in Minneapolis, and Lauren in Ames, Iowa. Now I have places to visit in every state down the Mississippi until I reach St Louis, Missouri, where I will meet Darell.

I’m meeting Erin tomorrow for breakfast before I head off to the Schaeffer Institute, L’abri, in Rochester, Minnesota. God is Good. Life is hard, but good. And already outside the storms are beginning to gather.