Saturday, July 7, 2007

Seven Seven Oh Seven

It was the hottest day of the year thus far. It is 8:45 pm and the temperature according to the car thermometer is still 93. But life continues. The Saturday morning tennis match was again on the schedule. The characters were somewhat different because of injuries to two of the geezers, but with subs we blasted through three sets in a couple of hours and all in attendance went home whole. Scores do not matter when the blast furnace begins.

This evening Herb and I drove to Hampton where a new Buddhist Temple is being dedicated this weekend. The large Cambodian immigrant community has financed and built this temple on farmland between Hampton and Farmington about 25 miles south of St Paul. They are the remnants of people from Cambodia that survived Pol Pot, one of the last century's major mass murderers. They have settled in Minnesota and elsewhere in the USA. They are mostly farmers and supply much of the produce for the several farmer's markets in the Twin Cities.



It was an odd experience in the farm fields of Minnesota to be among a small minority of European Americans and be outnumbered by Asians. It was much like the experience of Japan in some ways. The people were friendly and the surroundings a little out of the ordinary. There were about 100 orange clad Buddhist monks on the premises talking and advising and taking their ease. And thousands of Cambodian Americans, some selling food, produce, and art work, some listening to the Cambodian dance music and some talking with family and friends.

Here's Herb next to a statue of a Buddha along with gifts to Buddha and to the monks. Herb and the monks were similarly coifed.



Venus Williams won at Wimby today, her fourth singles title there since 2000. I predicted Serena, but Richard Williams, their father (tousan), about two weeks ago, predicted Venus would win. He is a better prognosticator than this tousan. Tomorrow is the men's final between Federer and Nadal. My prediction is still Roger Federer. It should be an interesting morning.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an interesting way to spend a very hot day. SS

Gino said...

Not to be picky or anything, but I am the person who has spent time in Southeast Asia and most of those Southeast Asians living in Saint Paul and environs are Laotian.

Anonymous said...

True enough, there are a lot of Hmong people in St Paul (26,509 in 2003), but there is a significant population of Cambodians in Minnesota, too (Mpls./ St.Paul had 4,149 in 2000, Minnesota 5,530). The Buddhist temple in Hampton is Cambodian.

See link for MINNESOTA CAMBODIAN BUDDHIST SOCIETY.

Emily said...

So that was some exciting tennis this morning, no? 5 sets of greatness. And Roger cried at the end. I was not dissappointed.

By the way, did you like this ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AcbjxqWhrM?

Gino said...

Well OK then.

Anonymous said...

EmEm; It was a great tennis match. I predicted Roger, but really wanted Rafa to emerge. His injury didn't seem too serious, but it gave Federer some rest time and slowed down the Majorcan momentum. It was five sets and watching it used up a lot of time on a steamy morning in Minnesota.

I can't seem to get to the ad with your address. Send me a link or something and I'll look.

Emily said...

t.tousan - I'll be putting the ad up on my xanga shortly, so you can watch it there. The new version shown after the match had the correct number of titles, by the way.