Thursday, January 31, 2013
Sad Javi
Monday, January 28, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
James Cham (the elder)
Last night after dinner, Tia Elena was reminiscing about our grandfather (James Cham, who I was named after):
- He was taught Kung Fu by *his* paternal grandfather, who was well know in Guangdong for his skill. He also happened to have been married to a part-Dutch woman (the reason men in our family can grow reddish beards) (way to go Great-Great-Grandfather!).
- GGG was one of the village elders, and died because he fell off a boat and drowned while fighting river pirates (!).
- Our grandfather left China for Malaysia when he was 16, travelled to various places in Asia, Jamaica, and ended up in Panama while on the way to Peru.
- According to Tia Elena he was a dandy, dating quite a number of women, but unable to marry them due to economic reasons. Eventually he managed to save enough to send away for my Grandmother. He was doing well with an Abarroteria (a grocery store, what else?), but lost it when fascist President Arnulfo Arias banned Chinese from owning businesses.
- Because of his skill, he worked as a debt collector or couriering money around Colón (a dangerous city). Local judges were used to people being brought up before them that had been beat up by him ("it's that Cham guy again"). He might have served time for an incident eventually. He told my Tia Elena he gave it up because he thought Kung Fu was not compatible with Western ways of thinking. She also thinks it might also be because he hurt somebody so badly.
- He was well known enough that Tia Elena remembers a few times US Army officers would come looking for him looking for people to train them in martial arts, especially at the height of the Korean War.
- He tried to teach his eldest son Uncle Eustace, but gave up for 2 reasons: Eustace learned enough to go out looking for trouble, and ended up getting his head cracked by somebody with a stick. And also because Grandfather believed you had to have the discipline to get up at 4am to train, meditate and punch targets enough times so that your knuckles would break and re-heal harder. My Uncle unfortunately didn't have this discipline.
- When my eldest cousin Sheila came back from College with belts in Judo and (something else), my Grandfather said, "show me." Sheila wasn't going to try to beat up her Grandfather, by then in his 70s. He insisted. Sheila recounts she couldn't even touch him, he moved so fast.
Family lore is awesome.
- He was taught Kung Fu by *his* paternal grandfather, who was well know in Guangdong for his skill. He also happened to have been married to a part-Dutch woman (the reason men in our family can grow reddish beards) (way to go Great-Great-Grandfather!).
- GGG was one of the village elders, and died because he fell off a boat and drowned while fighting river pirates (!).
- Our grandfather left China for Malaysia when he was 16, travelled to various places in Asia, Jamaica, and ended up in Panama while on the way to Peru.
- According to Tia Elena he was a dandy, dating quite a number of women, but unable to marry them due to economic reasons. Eventually he managed to save enough to send away for my Grandmother. He was doing well with an Abarroteria (a grocery store, what else?), but lost it when fascist President Arnulfo Arias banned Chinese from owning businesses.
- Because of his skill, he worked as a debt collector or couriering money around Colón (a dangerous city). Local judges were used to people being brought up before them that had been beat up by him ("it's that Cham guy again"). He might have served time for an incident eventually. He told my Tia Elena he gave it up because he thought Kung Fu was not compatible with Western ways of thinking. She also thinks it might also be because he hurt somebody so badly.
- He was well known enough that Tia Elena remembers a few times US Army officers would come looking for him looking for people to train them in martial arts, especially at the height of the Korean War.
- He tried to teach his eldest son Uncle Eustace, but gave up for 2 reasons: Eustace learned enough to go out looking for trouble, and ended up getting his head cracked by somebody with a stick. And also because Grandfather believed you had to have the discipline to get up at 4am to train, meditate and punch targets enough times so that your knuckles would break and re-heal harder. My Uncle unfortunately didn't have this discipline.
- When my eldest cousin Sheila came back from College with belts in Judo and (something else), my Grandfather said, "show me." Sheila wasn't going to try to beat up her Grandfather, by then in his 70s. He insisted. Sheila recounts she couldn't even touch him, he moved so fast.
Family lore is awesome.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
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In all the excitement about Javiercito, we are trying to also make sure our first-born doesn't feel neglected. As a bribe, Javiercito...
