Birthday Wishes and Big Fish Dreams

  This week's blog is dedicated to my Dad.  Please be patient, because this one is a long one.  I think it will definitely be worth your time.

  I don't know how we do it, but it seems like we continue to pack a lot of life into each week.

Civilized or not civilized question for the week: Are you a civilized nation, if you are supposed to be like Vegas and you have a McDonald’s that closes down at night and doesn’t re-open until 7am?  Hmmmm!!!

TEACHING/SCHOOL:  This week at school was Taylor's week to shine.  She started the week off by giving a speech to the entire student body and staff.  Roughly there were 5000 people at the opening ceremonies of her sports week.  She did an awesome job and was not overwhelmed in the slightest by the large amount of people.  Cecelia and I were so proud of her.  She worked hard to memorize her speech, but they had the kids read their parts.  Cecelia and I stood with the teachers and staff.  When Taylor said the names of the Chinese students on the committee she was introducing, their was an audible sound of amazement.  Many teachers commented to us on how well she did with the Chinese.  Both Taylor and Claire are amazing at their sound pronunciation of the Chinese language.  I can't describe to you how difficult learning this language is for us adults. I commented to Taylor that I am not sure that I would have been able to speak to so many people without being really nervous.  She just shrugged and said that it was actually kind of fun.  This was nice to hear, since she was a little reluctant at first.  I can't imagine her ever being nervous about talking in front of anyone in Oakhurst, like Taylor needs an excuse to talk more.

Tay winning the 400

  After doing her speech, she then competed in two track and field events and three swimming events.  The difficult thing for her this week was that despite the fact that she is actually a fourth grader, she is in a fifth grade class and had to compete against the fifth graders.  She did well against the fifth graders, but to be fair we compared her results to the fourth grade times.  In the 400 she took first and won by two seconds.  In the 25 meter freestyle and backstroke swimming event, she beat the fifth graders and won.  Her swimming relay team got second place.  As far as her other events, she did pretty well and placed well in all of them.  On the final day of events, the afternoon was taken up by Cecelia and Taylor competing in parent/child events.  Cecelia and Taylor won four events.  They were rewarded with bars of soap and paper towels, both highly  prized in China

.

Taylor Phelps winning the Freestyle!!!!

  Cecelia had a nice week.  She only taught on Monday and Tuesday.  She did go in and work occasionally, but it was on her own time.  Paul and I had regular schedules and actually I was planning for mid - terms so it was a week of review.

ADVENTURES:  This week's adventure revolves around Paul's birthday on Friday the 26th.  Initially we were going to take him out to dinner for his birthday in Goungzhou and shopping for some clothes.  But, he decided that he didn't want to spend his birthday in Goungzhou and wanted to do something more exciting, so he and I went to Macau.  So, on Friday afternoon after school was out he and I rode our scooters to the South Goungzhou Rail Station.  From there we took the fast train to north Zhuhai and then a cab to the Macau border.

  If I haven't explained to you yet, Macau is called a SAR.  Hong Kong is also a SAR.  These two countries are actually part of China, but they act independently.  So when you go into these cities you have to cross a border leaving China and then another one going into Macau.  When you do this you get two stamps in your passport going each direction.  Macau is also the Las Vegas of East Asia.  It generates  five times the revenue that Las Vegas does and is bigger.  The casinos are spread over three distinct islands.  Macau is amazingly beautiful and has quite a bit of the historic Portuguese landmarks still remaining.  When you walk around the historic part of town, you get a very European feel.

  Anyway, when Paul and I got to town we made our way to a hotel where I had made a reservation.  Apparently there was an error in my online reservation, so we did not have a room.  Now you might think that this would put a damper on the weekend, but Paul and I look at every trip as an adventure.  So he and I wandered around to a couple of other hotels and found one that made us a great deal.  Initially, they had told us 800 Macau dollars per night, but when we looked at the room Paul talked them down to 650 a night.  So in US dollars that is about $100 a night to share a room.  So what kind of room do you get in Macau for 650 a night.  Paul and I ended up describing it as a Hostel Brothel Sorority.  It was a small room with two single beds with mattresses that were hard as the wood floor we stood on.  The shower and toilet were all one fixture and the window to the room was wall papered over.  The other thing about the hotel was that it was also a massage parlor.  Our room was the only one on an entire floor of massage rooms, which you would think wouldn't be a problem after a certain time of day.  But, apparently the massage studio stays open 24 hours a day.  More to come about the Brostel Sorority.

  After Paul and I dropped our bags off in the room, we walked up to The Grand Lisboa for dinner and gambling.  Paul was really enjoying himself at dinner, because he was having a steak filet with an amazing mushroom gravy sauce, veggies, drinking a beer with his good friend and brother (me of course) and listening to Foreigners song "I Don't Want to Live Without You".  It was hard to imagine that we were in Macau and not in Vegas.

  We then made our way to the casino floor and got totally hosed at the slot machines.  When we got back to the Brostel Sorority at around midnight, Paul thought it would be good to sit in the sauna and get a massage.  At two in the morning, we finished our man spa and went to bed.  Both of us had fallen asleep on the massage table, which was a good thing since we didn't get much sleep in our dungeon.  But who needs sleep in the Vegas of the east, right?

  We did get up at around 9 and headed out for breakfast at McDonald's.  Nothing like Macaroni, Sausage and Egg Combo to start your day off right.  We then did a bit of site seeing and at some of the old Portuguese landmarks.  We finally made it to the Wynn casino.  This was one of our main objectives, because it is the only place we have been able to find a good cigar.  A couple of Romeo and Juliet cigars for later in the evening and we were off to the casino floor.  Without much success at the Wynn, we headed to the MGM Grande to gamble and go to Octoberfest for dinner.  Again we just got killed on the gambling floor so we took our bruised pocketbooks to Oktoberfest.  On the way to Oktoberfest we walked by the most amazing seafood buffet that we had ever seen.  There was this glass that had racks of ice with seafood piled on top of it.  There were whole scallops, oysters, shrimp, snails, and sushi.  The final selling point to us was the piles of Atlantic Lobsters.  Oktoberfest then became an after thought.  There were other amazing things at the buffet and they were equally as good as the seafood buffet.  We stuffed ourselves full, topped it off with a nice Shiraz and then headed back to the hotel while smoking our fine cigars.  On the way, we stopped and enjoyed a water and light show at the Wynn.  It was an exquisite evening.  The city really comes alive at night, as you can imagine.  In the old Portuguese square we took some pictures with some friends and then headed back to try and get a decent nights sleep.  We had planned on getting up early the next morning and catching a train.  Paul also wanted to try to catch the Oregon Duck game that was going to be on early.

  We actually went to bed at a decent hour.  Right around ten, but sleep was not to be in the cards.  The Brostel was hopping.  We maybe dozed until around 12 and then the fun started.  Paul's back started to bother him so he got up.  Then the mother hen of the Brostel came up and started yelling at the girls that are masseuses there.  This went off and on for about two hours.  Finally I got up and was answering some email until about 3 am.  I told Paul it was pointless and we packed up and headed out to find a goof wi fi connection.  We were not successful at the first casino, so we walked up to the Grande Lisboa.  While at the Grande Lisboa we got some news that would change our lives forever.  Paul received a phone call from his wife Shannon informing us that our dad had died that evening.  We then spent the rest of the morning getting a hold of family on Skype to try and help take care of things.  It is probably an understatement to say that it is difficult to take care of business from the other side of the world.  Fortunately  for Paul and I, we have two outstanding brothers that are working to take care of business in our absence.

  Some of you may be wondering why I would save a piece of information like this for the end of the blog.  The reason is, because my Dad would have wanted it that way.  At no time in my life have I felt so good about someone passing away.  I know that may sound strange, but what I mean is that my Dad and I had a long talk before we came to China. He told me in no uncertain terms that if something were to happen to him while  we were away, we were not to come back.  My Dad was extremely proud of Paul and I for taking the risk to come here.  He was following the blog every week and was getting a lot of enjoyment out of our adventure.  My Dad must of had a premonition, because even as of a few weeks ago when we had a nice Skype conversation he reiterated the same instructions.  I feel comfortable that my Dad is in heaven with my Grandparents and Mother.  The next section is a tribute to my Dad.

SAM OETINGER:  To describe my Dad, I am going to give you first a brief synopsis of a movie called "The Big Fish".  "The Big Fish" is the story of a son that has a difficult time relating to his dying father.  The son feels that he never gets the whole truth from the stories his father would tell.  In the end when the Dad dies all the people that he told stories about came to his memorial.  They had been embellished a bit in the stories, but who they were was true.  So, my Dad was "The Big Fish".

  Growing up in our house was a rather interesting experience.  We were like rolling stones.  You can ask Wes, Paul and I and we will probably tell you different versions of how many schools we attended, but I know for sure that I attended 19 different schools before I graduated from high school.  Those 19 schools included a two and a half year stay at San Dieguito High School in Encinitas, CA.  Mike can tell you about the many schools he attended, but mom and dad had settled down a bit more for him.

  Anyway, the reason that we moved so much was because my Dad was trying to do the best he could to provide for his family.  I know this, because he and I didn't exactly see eye to eye on certain things and during a rather tumultuous time in my early adult life we had our very first heart to heart that changed our relationship for ever.  You see, I was much like the son of "The Big Fish".  My dad had told me so many stories I didn't know what to believe and I blamed him for a lot of things that happened while growing up.  It was at that time that he told me about what he had tried to accomplish while I was still living with them and apologized for not helping me more with college and all of the responsibility he had heaped on my as a young boy.  I realized then that the man wasn't afraid of hard work and was always looking for the next best thing to help him with supplying for his family.  When my dad got involved in the movie industry the stories he told us were way out there, but for the most part true.  I will never forget when we moved to California from Eugene, OR.  The six of us drove during the summer in a Chevy Vega station wagon with no air conditioning through the Central Valley to meet this guy named Chuck Norris in Hollywood.  I will never forget the day that I met a young Chuck Norris.  My Dad had been hired to promote this movie called "Good Guys Wear Black".  I am convinced to this day that if wasn't for my dad's hard work, Chuck's career would not have gotten off the ground as fast as it did.  Now, don't misunderstand me, Chuck Norris was going to be a big star no matter what, but because of my dad's hard work his career took off like a meteor.  I remember driving with my dad out to the most obscure towns in the middle of the Central Valley and Mojave area to deliver the film cans for the movies at some podunk drive in theater.  Those damn film cans were heavy, man.  There were times I hated lugging those stupid things around.  From that point I kind of lost track of what my dad was doing in the industry.  I was experiencing the angst of those teenage years.

  Occasionally I would get involved with what he was doing.  We got invited to go sailing on Thanksgiving Day out of Corona Del Mar on some rich guy's 60 ft. sail boat, but I don't remember who it was.  Over time as I was beginning college and moving out on my own he would tell me about some thing he was doing, but ignorantly I felt like he was just flaunting money and throwing names around.  One time, while he was working in Utah he came into L.A. for a meeting and asked me to meet him for dinner.  We met at some restaurant called The Brown Derby.  He was excited about our meeting, but I was still pissed at him for breaking his promise about helping with college so I didn't really appreciate what I was experiencing.  When I finally grew up and became my own man, proud of my accomplishments for the sake of me doing them and understanding where he came from I started to experience some of the great people he had told us about.  I had heard stories about Burt Reynolds, Dom Deluise, Jerry Reed(The Waterboy).  One day I went to visit mom and day in Vegas.  We were sleeping in a motor home in the parking lot of some casino and Dom Deluise comes banging on the door to play a practical joke on my parents.  I couldn't believe it.  My mom had a special relationship with Michael Landon up until his death from cancer.  Finally, all of my dad's stories really came to life when Cecelia and I moved to Oakhurst.  We were looking to relocate and my dad set us up to meet a friend of his that lived in the area.  We arrived in Oakhurst and were shown around town by Richard Keel.  If you don't remember Richard Keel, he was best known for his role as Jaws in the James Bond movies with Roger Moore.  He was larger than life.  He put us up in a bed and breakfast in Ahwahnee, introduced us to the principal at Wasuma and treated us to dinner.  He was a huge part of why we moved to Oakhurst.  The thing that most impressed me about Richard Keel was that he wasn't just an acuaintence.  He and his wife genuinely spoke about the friendship that they had with my mother and father.  I had never heard any stories about my dad working with Richard.  Richard shared a few amazing stories about my dad.  When my mom passed away, the Keels sent a note of condolence.

  So you see, to me my dad used to just tell tall tales and I didn't believe him.  He would always embellish everything to make it sound important.  Even as he got out of the business and moved to different things he would always make everything sound so much bigger than it really was.  We used to tease him about how he should become a tour guide because of the great stories he could bring up off the top of his head.

  Recently I was with a group of men that could talk fondly about what they had in common with their dads.  I felt envious because even now I have felt like what ever I have done in my life has come from my own efforts, through my faith in God, and hard work.  I would never attribute any of that to my father.

  That changes from this day forth.  In thinking about my dad, I give him credit for giving me the drive to look for the next thing that will help my family.  I thank him for being "The Big Fish", because I am one of his "Little Fish".  I may not embellish as much as him, but I do exaggerate and have a creative mind.  This blog is a perfect example of that.  Finally, I give him credit for instilling a work ethic in me that helps me to work hard and be proud of my accomplishments. In his nearly 70 years of life, he experienced quite a few amazing things and I appreciate that wonder of discovery that he and my mom shared with us.  Why do you think my family is living in China and experiencing this right now?

  Thanks Dad for giving us the ability to take risks in life.  I love you and am happy that you had the opportunity to have two loving women in your life.  You were lucky to have Mom and Chris to share your life with.

  Finally, as I was snuggling with Taylor tonight before she went to sleep she asked me if I was going to be alright.  I told her I was great, because I believe that her grandpa is in heaven with my Grandparents and his wife.  She said that she had seen two butterflies together today and that they looked like they were dancing for joy.  When my mom died and we had a memorial for her, a huge swallow tailed butterfly landed on my head and stayed there for a long time.  Since then, we have always associated that butterfly with my mom.  You can make your own connection for what Taylor and Claire saw today.  I know I have my own conclusion.