Hotel on the corner of Bitter and sweet, reflections

Relationship

His head turned to the left as her did the same, and a simple kiss found a home between their lips. When he opened his eyes, hers was beaming back at him. He hugged her one more time, then let her go- walking backward, waving, trying not to smile too broadly, but he couldn't help it. I love her.

This is a very touching part of the book. Henry has gone all the way from his home in Chinatown, to Camp Harmony in the inlands to help the school chef with the food. There, he finds Keiko and the

y decide to meet by the fence. Henry is standing on the “Visitors” side, while Keiko is on the Japanese side. This moment reflects the differences between the two of them, which are so marginally small that they almost are unnoticeable. Nevertheless, these differences are the reason they are separated in the first place. This is a turning point for Henry. Previously, he had seen Keiko as a friend. Now, he realizes that he is in love with he

r. Later, he looks at her in a different way, which we can read out of the following quote from the book:

Henry had thought about Keiko off and on through the years- from a longing, to quiet, somber acceptance, to sincerely wishing her the best, that she might be happy. That was when he realized that he did love her. More than what he'd felt all those years ago. He loved her enough to let her go- to not go dredging up the past.

The record is a very important factor in their relationship. They went to a club and listened to Henry’s friend Sheldon and Oscar Holden. This was their first “date”, even though they went as friends. The record is for Henry a reminder of what he and Keiko have. Later, when Henry’s father condemns their relationship, Henry tells us about how important that one record is:

At least we have the record, Henry thought. A reminder of a place where people didn't seem to care what you looked like, where you were born, or where your family was born. When the music played, it didn't seem to make one lick of difference if your last name was Abernathy or Anjou, Kung or Kobayashi. After all, they had the music to prove it.

Theme

Keiko halted and looked at Henry. (…) "You are Chinese, aren't you, Henry?" he nodded, not knowing how to answer. "that's fine. Be who you are", she said, turning away, a look of disappointment in her eyes. "But I'm an American."

This statement also states how Keiko looks at herself. Later in the book, she says: "I don't feel very giving, or grateful. Just angry," Keiko said. "I was born here. I don't even speak Japanese. Still, all these people, everywhere I go… they hate me."

This proves once again that Keiko does see herself as an American citizen, and not as Japanese. However, her own patriotism towards America could not save her from the same destiny as the other Japanese people at the time. She and her family were deported to the Camps together with many other Japanese people. Henry tells his son Marty about it later. He describes the incident this way: "during the war, the Japanese community was evacuated, for their own safety, supposedly. They were given only a few days' notice and were forced inland to internment camps. (…). They could take only two suitcases each and one small seabag (…) so they stored their valuable belongings in places like this hotel (…) What was left in their homes was long gone by the time they returned. (…)"

Again, this shows the reader the huge gap between the two destinies, and how far apart they are at this point. I recomend this book for the interesting themes and conflicts, although it was a little hard to get into in the beginning.

The picture can be found here: http://reading-randi.blogspot.com/2011/02/tanker-om-bok-jamie-ford-hotel-on.html

Moliehi Sekese

Today, our class had a visitor from Lesotho. Lesotho is a country in the Southern part of Africa. It is surrounded by South-Africa, and it is one of the worlds’ smallest countries. They do not have many resources, and they are very dependent on financial help from South-Africa. This makes the country one of the poorest in the world, where 49% of the population is below poverty line (1999). HIV and Aids are common diseases, leading to a low life expectancy. There are 700 primary schools in Lesotho. Out of these, 18% are urban schools, 8% are semi-urban schools, while 78% are rural schools, situated high in the mountains. In the raining period, these schools are closed due to obstacles on the route to school. Only 4% of the 700 schools have a computer laboratory. Nonetheless, there is an initiative to integrate ICT in the education.

Our visitor was Moliehi Sekese. She is a teacher Mamoeketsi primary school, a school with 700 students and only two lap tops. They didn’t have electricity until one year ago, so

the computers were charged from her home. She teaches math, science and English, and she believes that the use of technology creates better and more motivated students. In the curriculum it says that one teacher should only teach 56 students at a time, however, in Moliehi’s class there are 100 students. The classrooms are very small, with a lack of desks, chairs and textbooks. Also, the ceiling is not isolated, making the rooms very cold. Many of the children do not have enough clothes or shoes for that matter, making the learning situation very difficult. However, this does not obtain a dominant obstacle for the children, who come to school every day. They do this because they know that it is their only chance of getting a better future trough education. The only resource the learners have is their teacher. In addition, all the subjects are thought in English except for their native language.

Moliehi Sekese also talked about the turning point in her carrier. She initiated a project at her school which is called the “Indigenous Plants Project”. This project involved data gathering, discussion, and outcome. Moliehi contacted the parents and asked them if their children could borrow their cell phones. These were used to take pictures and send SMSs to Moliehi of their findings. The theme was indigenous plants. After individual searches away from school, they tried to find the same plants in close distance from the school. They discovered that many indigenous plants were very rare there, and that the plants close to the urban areas were collected and sold at the market. The class decided on making flyers to inform the local community of this. Inspired by a trip to the biggest botanical garden in Lesotho, the class decided on making a botanical garden outside school, which contained many of these plants. The children also planted some of these at home, because they were eatable and healthy. This project made Moliehi award winner in Africa, making her the representative for Africa in Brazil. Here, she won the award for “the educators’ choice”. This made her project and her students’ situation known, leading to her coming here to us in Norway.

Listening to her presentation made us realize how lucky we are here in Norway. We have food, clean drinking water, clothes, textbooks, and computers. Her story made an impact considering going to school. Her students showed up even though the class room was cold, and the learning environment was not ideal. She encouraged us to go on with education, and use it to make a difference. John Lennon wrote a song called Imagine. This one encourages us to stand together, and together, we can make a difference. We think this song has some of the same values as Moliehi Sekese.

Last, we would like to thank her for your time with us, and her wise words.
“Use it Profitably, learn it Effectively”.

“You may say

I’m a dreamer.

But I’m not the only one

I hope some day

You will join us

And the world

Will live as one.”

Picture: http://www.fao.org/fi/oldsite/FCP/en/LSO/BODY.HTM

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDw9vtLiMz

Co- Writer: Eline