China etc.
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Scott lived in Japan as a missionary when he 19 years old.
Since that time he has been fascinated with Asia, and he has wanted to visit China. In early 2005, he got that opportunity with business trip for Johns Manville.
After visiting JM's plant in the Shanghai area, he flew to Beijing to meet some additional business contacts. While there he got to spend some time with two great families
-- the Torontos, friends from law school days in New York, and the Belnaps, friends from Colorado.
The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Ming Tombs and China in general were more impressive than this short account can describe. Scott came home and had "China" dreams just about every night for many months. Special thanks to personal tour guides Michelle Belnap and little James who showed Scott the Great Wall at Mutianyu. Other highlights were a shopping trip for antique jade for the girls and assorted antique weaponry for the boys. Barbara Toronto speaks Chinese and negotiates like a native. Scott and Craig Belnap got caught up while getting an ancient Chinese foot massage. A final note about China-- I can't help but think that this exciting country is poised for even greater progress than the last 10 years have shown. Scott also had a business trip to Europe in October and enjoyed getting to know JM's people and operations in Wertheim and Bobingen, Germany and Trnava, Slovakia. He spent some time meeting with some of the company's insurance underwriters in Zurich and Munich as well. While in the Munich area, Scott toured the Dachau concentration camp which is now a memorial to the thousands of victims of Nazi atrocities who died there. Dachau was interesting, but overwhelmingly sad. Scott felt an overwhelming sense of grief, shame and guilt that still lingers there. Slovakia is a wonderful country and a vibrant sense of possiblity seems to be everywhere. Scott especially enjoyed spending time with his JM colleague, Annamarie Velic and her family. |
