Pow Wing Chung!

Rock-Paper-Scissors.  It's a hand game two people play for the same outcome similar to coin flipping, drawing straws, or throwing dice.

When I was growing up in Bangkok, Thailand back in the 1960s, my first experience with what I later learned was Rock-Paper-Scissors was in the first school I ever attended called, at that time, Holy Redeemer School located off of Soi Ruam Rudee which was then a small extension off of Wireless Road or Thanon Witthayu.  Holy Redeemer School, now called Ruamrudee International School, was then a Catholic school which accepted English-speaking as well as Thai-speaking students.  The English speaking students had a separate area for learning from the Thais.  But when it came to physical education and games, and recess and lunch periods, we were all basically thrown together.  And being kids, we all got a long.

Being now part of the Thai culture and being as young as I was, I naturally learned the ways of the Thais, and eventually picked up some Thai expressions.  One of these expressions came in the form of preliminary choosing of sides in certain games at school or with the neighborhood Thai kids.  If there were more than two people in a game that needed side choosing, we all gathered around in a circle -- three or more of us Thai and English-speaking alike, and facing each other, would place our right hand inside the circle along with the hands of everyone else participating.  We'd then begin frantically waving them back and forth all chanting, "TEE Toe Pah TOO KAI Shy Auk!"  At the moment the word "Auk" was uttered our hands would either turned down or turn up.  This was how we chose sides. 

If there were only two of us, we'd play the Rock-Paper-Scissors game; only, we didn't call out "Rock, Paper, Scissors", we called out "Pow Wing CHUNG!"  Chung would be the word that would bring our choice of hand gestures out in the form of the tight fist, the two pointed fingers, or the entire outstretched palm, which, of course, look like a rock, a pair of scissors, or a piece of paper. 

My sister, Mary, and I grew up together in this culture, and for the first four years of my schooling at the Holy Redeemer School, we immersed ourselves in the Thai ways.  And for these first four years at the school, I played these two Thai side choosing games.  It was the most natural thing to do along with playing with the Thai neighborhood kids.

In 1964, I was pulled out of Holy Redeemer School and was placed in the International School of Bangkok, then located on 36 Sukumvit Soi 15.  This International School of Bangkok, or ISB, catered primarily to English speaking students, mostly American.  Thai citizens were not eligible to register at ISB.  Suddenly, there was no more Pow Wing Chung or Tee Toe Pah Too Kai Shy Auk. I felt like something had been taken away from me.  But I also felt like I had somehow come home.  This would become my first real indoctrination into the American culture in a foreign country. 

I learned fast to stop these expressions at this school.  Kids can be cruel.  But they have stayed with me until today.

When I see someone calling, "Rock, Paper Scissors", I still hear "Pow Wing Chung!"

Scaraboo

Scarabs.  Rhymes with Arabs.  But back in 1960 little did I know that this little beetle would turn out to be the icon of my passion.

In 1960, when we moved to Bangkok, Thailand from Madrid, Spain, the world seemed to offer abundance of excitement.  I nestled into this culture as if it were my own.  I was just starting to come alive in my own consciousness as I marveled at life around me. 

One of the things that my family would do was to go to the local Weekend Flea Market out in the middle of Bangkok proper.  It was an open air flea market that covered an entire football or larger size park.  At that age, everything seemed gigantic.  Some parts of that flea market were covered in tents, others were simply covered with the overhanging branches of large trees.  There, I remember strolling around hand-in-hand with my parents taking in all the smells of the live caged animals, the chatter of a foreign language, and the aromas of grilled outdoor food. 

The first time I saw the iridescent green and blue shiny wings of the Thai Jewel Beetle was at one of these rare outings at the Weekend Flea Market.  I was drawn to the allure of these moving jewels as they crawled about all over each other in a large box.  The man in charge of this box reached down and picked one up.  With the other hand, he took a black string and tied it around the large bug between its thorax and abdomen and then let the bug go.  As he let go this fascinating large shiny moving bead, it spread its wings and began flying around, still attached to the string in which this man held in his hand.  The man grinned at us with a toothless grin.  That day, my father bought each one of us a Thai Jewel Beetle.  It was on that day that I began a life-long romance with the beetle.

By the time I was ten, I had accumulated about a dozen of these beauties which I housed in a large fish tank.  I cared for them deeply and hiked about a quarter of a mile from our house on Soi Sawadii (Soi 31) across a large field to gather the small leaves from a remote bush that were the diet of these flying emeralds.  And then I would hike back carrying the leafy food for my lovely bugs.

Back at home, I would then take each beetle in hand, put the leaf in front of them, and watch as they chomped away at the leaf.  It was fascinating -- beetle in one hand and leaf in another hand.  Most kids have dogs or cats -- and I did too, but these flying shiny iridescent gems were different.  These flying shiny iridescent gems were beautiful.  But even back then, as I now recall my adoration of these Thai Jewel Beetles, I couldn't really understand then -- or now -- why I was so drawn to them.  After all, these were bugs, not warm furry animals.

In 1965, we moved to Soi Seang Mukda (Soi 43), and it was before the move that I decided to let these beauties go free.  I gathered up each beetle, put them all in a brown paper sack, and set off across that field toward the security of that leafy bush that was their diet.  There, I set each one of them free happily knowing that within their reach, there was plenty of food.  Except for the rare occasion back at the house when they somehow rolled onto their backs and made a loud buzzing noise with their wings trying to right themselves, to which I would let out a loud blood curdling scream, they were beautiful in the sunlight as I watched them crawl away to freedom.

But my love affair with shiny insects did not end with the setting free of these jeweled bugs.  The costumes I would later make for a dance I would later study often resembled the iridescent colors of the Thai Jewel Beetle.  And the dance I would later study would embrace a beetle icon of its own, a beetle called a Scarab, though not often seen as shiny as the one I fell in love with at the Weekend Flea Market in Bangkok, Thailand.  And unlike the Thai Jewel Beetle, which ate the leaves of a very specific leafy green bush, I would soon learn that the Scarab survives and lives solely on a diet of the dung dropped from the back ends of animals. 

My life long love affair with a beetle has been amazing.  After I returned to the United States in 1969, I discovered Ladybugs.  They were tiny little things, but in retrospect, I now see them as the five-year interim bridge that connected me from the Thai Jewel Beetle of my nine years in Bangkok to my 40 years later of study of belly dance and its icon -- the Egyptian Scarab.  

Today, a stylized likeness of the Scarab beetle adorns the dance floor of my little Egyptian restaurant, Al-Masri, in San Francisco taking up about a ten-foot square space.  And, although black is the most common color for a Scarab, they do come in similar iridescent hues.  The stylized drawing of the Scarab on my restaurant dance floor encompasses the hues of the iridescent green and blue colors of the Thai Jewel Beetle to which I was so drawn over 45 years ago.

The Scarab Dung Beetle was once worshiped by ancient Egyptians.  They saw the sun roll across the sky just as the Scarab rolls a ball of dung across the ground.  To the ancient Egyptians, both the sun and the ball of dung, in similar respects, gave life to the world as they saw it.  It is yet one more poetic reverence to the sanctity of life of which I can only guess the ancient Egyptians having.

I've always lived in awe of the beetle.  A survivor of millions of years, it continues to adapt and flourish, with more species being discovered every day.  It's a wonderful bug.  So, it is of no coincidence that, in coming full circle with it from my first encounter of this hearty dazzling insect back in Bangkok to the present more revered one of the Egyptians, I've adopted it as my dance academy logo.  It has played and continues to play a significant part in my life, representing my spirit and my livelihood both in my restaurant and in my dance academy.

I have great respect for the beetle in its various forms.  And for that, it's only fitting that I honor and embrace the beetle for many reasons -- some of which I've now shared with you -- and to dance on it in Scarab form in my little Egyptian restaurant, in celebration of life, beauty, and tenacity just as these hearty little insects in many of its forms so illustrate time and time again.


I have learned much from this amazing bug.

2013 and the Al-Masri Extensions

Al-Masri Egyptian Restaurant is my little restaurant located in San Francisco at 4031 Balboa Street.  I opened on December 17, 1999; so, that makes it over 13 years of being in business -- despite all the pitfalls and questionable decisions I encountered along the way.  Wow, how times flies!  And, although I'm the sole surviving anchor to this beautiful little 49-seat exotic eatery, my fervor remains steadfast as ever, harboring a vision that encompasses more than just a dining establishment.

As part of that vision, under the umbrella of Al-Masri, I opened my dance school, the Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance in 2004.  Out of that have come the most dedicated of students and best of friends I could have ever imagined having.  A curriculum I formulated is broken down into four semesters with a goal of one year learning this dance.  A key discovery to the expression of this dance, I called it the Egyptian Dance Code® (EDC®) and registered it with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  It's an exciting discovery, as well as infectious to all of my students, as they go through the initial four semesters of learning this dance using the Sausan Method, and evolving into potentially striking performers.  Several of my graduates now dance as featured dancers at Al-Masri carrying on a tradition of authenticity both in dance and performance.  Seven-Day EDC® Intensive Seminars, Weekend EDC® Workshops, educational videos, and so much more have come out of this dance school.  And as a result, brought about from all my accomplished the graduates, the Sausan Ensemble Egyptian Dance Company was born.

Recently, in December of 2012, I launched a new little extension of Al-Masri and called Bitchin' Baklava.  Already seen by thousands of people on the Internet and ordered by a few dozen of them, Bitchin' Baklava is proving to be probably the next hotest offering to the public.  The fillings are endless.  Just yesterday I cooked up a filling I call Sweet Piggly Pecan; a concoction of ground pecans, rehydrated golden raisins, and crispy bacon.  Scrumptious!  There are others that salute Valentines Day, Hawaiian flavors, the peanut butter and jelly in all of us, and a filling with some spicy jalapeño added.  Yes, flavors are a-happening!

There is so much to live for the year 2013!  Cooking classes, Egyptian inspired operetta performances, more intensive Egyptian Dance Code® workshops, language classes, documentaries, and quite possibly the publication of my book, Celebrating on a Scarab. Just waiting to get my new computer.

It's been a long journey from 1999 to now, with one huge deviation back in 2005 to 2007 which pushed me off a cliff out of which I've been climbing since 2007.  But I'm looking at a clear horizon and a starlit night sky with clarity and conviction.  NOW is my time.

So, take time to stop in Al-Masri Egyptian Restaurant, order some Bitchin' Baklava, watch my Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance graduates perform, and then, when it's published, go out and buy my Celebrating on a Scarab book.  Instructional dance videos on the Egyptian Dance Code® to come as well as a cook book or my restaurant's recipes.

Have a wonderful and prosperous New Year.
Hope to see you all soon at Al-Masri or under one of its extensions!
Comments always welcome!