Rupinski family members and I pose for a photo.

Many of you who have been following my posts know that I took a trip to Poland last April. I contacted a Polish genealogist and traveled with her to Kolonia-Osiek, a small town northwest of Warsaw about two hours drive, where we met with a family named ‘Rupinski’. From old documents, we think that this family may be related to my ‘Repinsky’ family: it looks like our great-grandfathers were brothers.

We went to visit this family on the day after Easter, knocking on their door without announcement. We were received warmly and additional family members were called to join us so that, in the end, we were quite a few people gathered around the modest living room of Janek Rupinski. They were very curious to see me, and hear the story about my great-grandfather Josef who immigrated to the U.S. They had also been expecting me, hearing from gossip in the village that there was an American looking for Rupinski family!

This year at Christmas, I sent a card to the Rupinskis with a photo of my family. I received a lovely letter in response which I just had translated today:

Dear Cousin:

At the beginning of my letter I would like to express my happiness of the fact that you decided to look for your roots and find the family. It is too bad that it is so late (since the emigration of your ancestor — meaning “It is so long since the emigration of your ancestor”), but maybe it is the way it was supposed to be. It is good that you got interested in your family history, as it is an important knowledge.

Now I would like to describe my life briefly. About 20 years ago I started my own family and two years later our son Pawel was born. As it turned out, Pawel was disabled. Today Pawel is seventeen and there is not any chance for him to recover. My line of family ends with me, Janek, and my wife, Bascia. God put us to such an experience and he must have a plan for us. At home our parents help us a lot, which we appreciate very much. So far, they are feeling well.

Now, I would like to ask you to tell us about your life, your activities, your family, your children and grandchildren. We would like to know what do they do, where do they live. Please, send us a photo of your family.

Since we are a family, we would like to keep in touch with you and share our joys and concerns. So, if you would like to correspond with us, we are awaiting your response. We would like to keep in touch with our family over the ocean. Maybe with God’s help we will meet again and sit at the table together.

In our tradition on Christmas, we share a Christmas wafer and exchange wishes. We are sharing with you a Christmas wafer and wish you most of health, fulfilling your deepest dreams with the help of Baby Jesus. May God bless you and the entire family, which we know a little about. Please write back and stay with God.

Rupinski Family from Kolonia-Osiek

I have always tended to focus on the years when my family ancestors came to the U.S. — the height of immigration between 1880 and 1917. I was surprised and so saddened to read an account, transmitted through letters to his parents dating from 1623, that described a young man’s experience as an indentured servant. In the English colonies, about 750,000 men, women, and children arrived before 1700; of these, some 350,000 were African slaves, and as many as 200,00o were indentured servants. The author of these letters, Richard Frethorne, was deemed by law and social convention as the property of his master for probably a period of time ranging between four and seven years, in exchange for transport across the Atlantic and maintenance.

It is heartbreaking to read his letters. He suffered from scurvy and other diseases without any comfort from anyone. He was given a poor diet of peas and gruel — no meat. He describes his bread ration as a ‘penny loaf’ to be shared by four men. He works very hard and begs to be redeemed as an indentured servant by his parents, for he fears dying in this circumstance. His letter is well-written, indicating that this was a young man of decent education. His letters are also a rare and invaluable communication from those times, allowing present day readers to hear the desperation of his situation.

Great-Grandfather Nils Kukkola in Detroit

I compare his status as an indentured servant to my own great-grandfather who similarly enlisted with a mining company to come to the U.S. to work in the copper mines of northern Michigan. He was a hard-working Finn, from the north of Finland, used to frigid temperatures. His passage to the U.S. was paid by the mining company, and in exchange, he owed them a certain number of years of work to pay back his fare. He came with his brother, who was unhappy in the U.S., and went back to his home town in Finland after paying back his passage. My great-grandfather, Nils Kukkola, stuck it out and sent for his wife and daughter from Finland to join him. They worked together, Nils in the copper mines and his wife, Lisa, as a cook in a lumber camp. When Henry Ford started manufacturing cars by assembly line, they moved down to Detroit to work in the factories where they could make more money. They ran a boarding house for Finnish emigres in addition, where Great Grandmother Lisa Paavola was the star chef.

So many of our ancestors did the worst jobs in this country so that their American children would never have to do them. Their children would be taller than their parents. They would be better educated. And most important, they would be free for all of their lives.

I was curious about this and remembered that I had actually done testing with DNA Tribes, a group that assesses heritage through autosomal factors. Autosomal DNA testing is defined as a way to determine the ‘genetic percentages’ of a person’s ancestry from particular continents/regions or to identify the countries and “tribes” of origin on an overall basis. I went back to look at my results to see if there were any Indo or South Asian traces in my autosomal DNA.

I DO have percentages of DNA from North India, South India, Eastern India — but my largest percentages are from Arabia, North Africa, Levantine and Mesopotamia. DNA TRIBES remarks that Caucasian or West Eurasian populations are related to South Asian populations by virtue of their geographical proximity. European populations are descended almost entirely from Near Eastern populations. India contributes to the Near Eastern population at a rate of 21.8%. Thinking about these results made me realize that these are autosomal traces going back to the beginnings of time and the cradles of civilization for all of the world. Understanding this, I started wondering how unusual is it for anyone with European ancestry to have traces of dna from India or South Asia? Is it unusual at all? Perhaps most Europeans have traces of dna from these ancient civilizations.

Red chile peppers drying on the front porch of a teahouse.

All over Bhutan, we saw people drying peppers on their roofs! It provided us with ample colorful photo opportunities. Everywhere — we could snap photos of the drying peppers on the roofs or porches. We also saw merchants selling apples and vegetables on the roads, although I can’t say with any authority whether either of these are staples in Bhutanese diet although I read that these foods are part of the Bhutanese diet in warmer climates in the country. The nomads who live in the high mountains of the north depend on yak butter and cheese to provide them with important calories for staying warm. Having tasted ‘butter tea’, I am sure that I would perish in the highlands! Nepali dahl (lentils) is another food that is popular throughout Bhutan.

Roadside Apple Vendor

Remember that the Bhutanese people are Buddhist. That means that they do not kill animals. It does not necessarily mean that they do not eat meat, but what meat is found in Bhutan is most likely coming from India. Almost all of the meat that we were served, even chicken, was inedible. Beef or pork was so tough that it could not be chewed. The chicken was always chopped up in some way so that there were a lot of bones in it. I finally gave up on meat and ate primarily vegetables, rice, or noodles at every meal. Our meals were ALWAYS served with vegetables….especially cauliflower, broccoli and green beans. My over-riding impression is that this is a country where people eat to live; they don’t live to eat. Food was very bland and ordinary; meals were always the same. The bright spot in our day as tourists was the morning when eggs were sometimes served to order. I started eating two eggs every time I could, just to get some protein into my system. There were no sweets to remark on. If dessert was served, it was a fruit. I have to admit that I returned to the U.S. a couple of pounds lighter, probably from the combination of travel, bland food, and some heat deprivation. This trip was billed as a ’suitcase seminar’. The focus of the trip was learning about the country and culture, not spending time in luxury hotels and eating gourmet meals. On occasion we found hotels that offered wine. I have to say that the wine was terrible! Beer was a much more reliable choice if you wanted to have an alcoholic drink.

Hand-painted boxes discovered in a craft tent in Bhutan.

Probably the most interesting part of any tour to new country for me is experiencing the opportunity to see the local arts and crafts. I realize from my many years of collecting that I love folk art!

During one of our first days of touring, we visited a craft school where children were learning traditional Bhutanese arts and crafts. This was a good introduction to the array of items made in Bhutan. Traditional skills or crafts are defined as zorig chusum. ‘Zo’ means the ability to make, ‘rig’ stands for the science or craft, ‘chusum’ is thirteen — as there are thirteen traditional crafts recognized. Many of these practices have been gradually developed through the centuries and are often passed down through families with long-standing relations to a particular craft. We saw children learning to do traditional embroidery, called ‘tshenzo’, which means working with needle and thread on clothes, boots or appliqued ‘thangkas’ (religious wall hangings).  Other children were learning to carve masks, most often in the image of demons. Some were painting and drawing; others were working in sculpture.

We also visited a paper factory. ‘Dezo’ is the craft of making handmade paper, mainly from the Daphne plant and gum from a creeper root. While it was very interesting seeing how the pulp was boiled down and then transformed into sheets, I can’t say that I was very impressed with any of the end products. We were told that the workers were paid by the number of pieces that each one completed even though it was somewhat of an assembly line process. The woman who was smoothing out the initial sheets of paper from a tub of water looked like she had the most difficult job, with her hands in and out of water all day long. The sheets of wet paper were dried on large heated boards standing like over-sized ladders.

Young women doing traditional weaving in a local craft shop in Paro.

I regularly made the rounds of tourist stores featuring arts and crafts. One store we visited had a whole wall of young women working on looms, making traditional Bhutanese weavings. These weavings are mostly turned into ‘kiras’ — the traditional Bhutanese skirt for women. A kira is a length of fabric which is rolled around the body like a full-length skirt. It was in that store that I bought myself a traditional silk jacket worn by the Bhutanese women, along with the ‘under jacket’ which was a plain silk color to coordinate with the fancier top jacket — the collar and cuffs of the sleeves are pulled up and over the top jacket. I also bought a couple of smaller weavings similar to scarves in size.

My best find was two little painted wooden boxes. These wooden boxes are traditionally used for storing or transporting food such as butter or cheese. They are usually just plain colored balsam wood — but these boxes are painted in Bhutanese designs. I have them displayed on my bookcases.

Prayer beads are found in quantity in Bhutan. Many are new, but many are also old beads which I opted to buy. I have two sets that I will wear as they are — one is a string of turquoise beads and the other is a string of yellow/gold beads. I bought another two strings to take apart and use to make some authentic tribal jewelry. One set of beads is  made of carved yak bone and infused with turquoise and silver. The other is a string of dark beads with turquoise specks showing through.

Necklace made with Bhutanese prayer beads carved out of yak bone with added antique silver beads from India and natural stone.

The entrance to the King's hotel in Paro.

Our last stay in Bhutan took place at a spectacular hotel just outside of Paro, the capital city. We arrived, tired from our travels, to a truly luxury hotel. We were scheduled to climb to the Taktshang (Tiger’s Nest) Temple on our last day in Bhutan; this hotel would also be the site of our ‘Farewell Dinner’. The hotel was a beautifully built stone lodge with outlying support buildings consisting of hotel rooms, a spa, a tea room, and a fitness center. All the buildings were part of a sprawling park-like complex with prayer flags hoisted through the center walkways. The rooms were beautifully appointed — no expense spared. The gift shop was filled with beautiful handmade Bhutanese crafts. It came as no surprise to me that the hotel was owned by the King and Queen of Bhutan.

As the economy of Bhutan is intricately linked to tourism, investment needs to be made in hotels, roads, airports and preservation of tourist attractions. The governors of the country are leading this charge, along with promoting the concept of ‘Gross National Happiness’ which is aimed at preserving cultural arts and crafts, the environment, and the Buddhist principles that form the basic values of traditional Bhutanese life.

I think that it is no accident that this lovely hotel is close to the ‘Tiger’s Nest’. This temple, named Taktshang in Bhutanese, is probably the most important temple in Bhutan. It is a holy place, and visiting it is said to be important for every Bhutanese. A visit to the ‘Tiger’s Nest’ is definitely on every tourist itinerary. Guru Rinpoche, one of the three most important figures that are evident in Bhutanese history, is suppose to have had miraculous powers. According to legend and belief, he subdued a demon by arriving at the Tiger’s Next by a flying tigress and meditating for three months in the temple. Guru Rinpoche, referred to as the second Buddha, was born in what is now the Swat Valley. He introduced Tantric Buddhism into Bhutan in the mid 8th century.

The 'Tiger's Nest'

Every tourist wants to make this climb to the ‘Tiger’s Nest’ as the culmination of a visit to Bhutan. At 10,000 feet altitude, it is about a 2600 foot gain in altitude on the climb up. The path is well traveled by both tourists and pilgrims. It is wooded and picturesque. For any tour group, a trip to the ‘Tiger’s Nest’ is likely to be the last day of their adventure in Bhutan.

Lobby at our hotel in Thimpu.

Our accommodations in Bhutan ranged from very nice to barely acceptable. The first hotel we visited in Thimpu was as nice as any very good quality hotel in the U.S. or Europe. It was beautifully decorated and little treats would show up at our door in the late afternoon — cookies or hand-made chocolates. We had all the fresh water we needed, plus a mini-bar with snacks, and there was a lovely dining room where both dinner and breakfast was served.

When we left Thimpu, things went downhill. The first night after our sumptuous lodge in Thimpu, we stayed a what looked like an American roadside hotel in the U.S. We were staying in a town called Wang-Di. My room looked like a run-down Holiday Inn, with threadbare rug and scratched furniture, but it was clean. It turned out that quite a few of us, myself included, had no water — no water at all!  Not even cold water. That was only a one-night stay so those of us who had no water managed to go without for a day (and we had just stayed three nights in the beautiful hotel in Thimpu so we didn’t complain.)

We stayed in one hotel that was only partially completed. Light fixtures remained unattached in our rooms, some tile work was not complete — evidently they do not have the same laws in Bhutan that we do in the States regulating the use of facilities before a certificate of occupancy is issued. This night was just after our three nights in the hotel with the wood stove, so I did not complain because at least my room was warm and the bathroom was a serviceable upgrade from the cement one that I had been using! Also, there was a lively group of young people working in this hotel with lots of enthusiasm for entertaining and being helpful to guests. In my mind, this made up for spending the night in a construction site.

Group of young people entertaining us with Bhutanese folk songs and dancing at the hotel that was still under construction even though they were using it to host guests!

Perhaps my favorite hotel along the travel route was in Punaka where we stayed in wood-paneled rooms that reminded me of Michigan summer cottages. This was a simple hotel, with simple rooms and baths, but my room was toasty warm with a space heater.

Happy New Year to everyone and may 2012 bring you all many adventures!

Sharing the main road with delivery trucks and other traffic.

The infrastructure of roads and facilities is the biggest challenge to the growth of the tourist economy in Bhutan. Airports are limited and I learned that Druk (Dragon) Air only owns two planes. Only Druk air pilots are allowed to fly in and out of the main airport in Paro. There is a reason for this: on approach, the pilots have to fly low between the mountains and then turn in order to land on a single air strip that lays in the narrow valley of the capital city. There may also be an economic reason which would be having control of the business that brings tourists in and out of Bhutan. Our group was delayed for several hours on our departure from the country because of maintenance work that needed to be done on one of the planes before it could leave the airport. Basically, only the number of tourists carried on two planes are able to go in and out of Bhutan on any given day unless the trips are short. Our flight stopped in Sri Lanka on its way to Bangkok, but with the maintenance delay, getting to Bangkok turned out to be an all-day affair.

National roads — the ones that get you back and forth across the country — are very limited. There is only one main artery for traveling east to west, and roads mainly exist in the central region of the country. There are no roads going into the high Himalayas, and roads are more limited toward the agricultural south. The roads are paved, but very narrow and twisting across high mountain passes. There is continual maintenance being done on the roads, which are not new, so that in many places they are under construction. It is not unusual to find stretches of gravel, or places where the safety barriers have crumbled away.

Country farmhouse set in mountain pass scenery.

Most of the vehicles on the roads are small buses, whether tour buses as we were traveling in or small buses functioning as public transportation for the population at large. These small buses seem to be amazingly agile on the twisty roads, and I have to commend the drivers who could negotiate these difficult passes between delivery trucks and repair machinery. I have to admit that some of the views made me dizzy, and I preferred to sit in the middle of the bus rather than at the window. When the bus took a particularly sharp turn, I found myself instinctively swaying to the side away from the edge and closing my eyes, taking a deep breath and hoping for the best!

Scenery was spectacular. In one long day, we crossed over three mountain passes. On the way, we saw small farms, yaks loose on the road, countless temples, shrines and ’stupas’, people working in their fields, small villages. We were on our way to Bumthang — a bit further east than most tours to Bhutan go.  We were staying in the country close to two weeks so we had the extra time to spend visiting some sights located a bit further out of the ‘most traveled’ route.

Merry Christmas to All!

Inscription reading "Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product" -- written on the wall of a school teaching traditional Bhutanese arts and crafts.

As much as the concept of Gross National Happiness is promoted in Bhutan, there exists a clash between traditional values and modern development. We had the opportunity during our trip to meet an Bhutanese author, Kinley Dorji, who has written a book titled Within the Realm of Happiness. It is a collection of thirteen short stories, memoirs, and essays that represent a mix of childhood memories, travel tales and contemporary reflections on a rapidly changing populace. As Bhutan joins the modern world, Kinley Dorji provides sensitive insights into the dilemmas that the people, and society, confront every day.

If you remember from last week’s post about Gross National Happiness, Bhutan only started to change from a feudal system to a modern democracy in the 1950s. At present time, only sixty years later, Bhutan society is under more pressure than ever before from the forces of globalization, the invasion of commercial media, and the complex implications of development. These forces are tugging at the roots of the traditional values system that kept the Bhutanese society intact for centuries. Decades of spiritual practice and honest hard work is threatened by the forces of materialism.The real challenge is that Bhutan must control change and not be controlled by change.

There are rebels to the traditional values system. While there is a national dress code requiring the populace to wear traditional costumes in public, I noticed that many young people changed to jeans and modern western clothing in the evenings. There is a story in Kinley Dorji’s book about a young couple who convinced their parents to use the family’s savings to buy a television set rather than a diesel-powered rice mill. The television is set up in the living room, opposite the family altar, and its ‘glistening presence’ commands the room. From there, an upsetting tale is told about teenage girls dancing to gyrating music in front of an audience of twenty people who have never seen anything like this before. The evening ends with younger people drinking and watching films they don’t understand because the dialogue is foreign, but they are fascinated by the action. The older people go home because their sight is not so good and they prefer the outdoor dancing of their times. The clash of traditional values vs. modernization is obvious.

Old bridge that was moved from Eastern Bhutan to a new location that is more accessible to tourists.

The preservation of traditional values is also tied to economics. Tourism is the second most important contribution to the economy of Bhutan, the first being the sale of hydropower to India. Because of tourism’s contribution to the economy, it is important for Bhutan to preserve its monuments, temples, and unique ties to tantric Bhuddism. Seeing everyone dressed in national costumes and adherence to the ‘old ways’ helps keep Bhutan a unique tourist destination. In fact, we visited an ancient bridge that we later learned was moved from a location further east than its present location. Why was it moved? Because it was not accessible to tourists in its original location. Bhutan needs to greatly improve its infrastructure to accommodate more tourists. This includes both improvements in road systems and hotel standards.