Sunday, March 22nd 1998

Hello from Don and Terri on the equator in Singapore, 10,000 miles from North America and just a few miles north of the equator, the line that divides the northern hemisphere from the southern hemisphere and that's meaningful at this time of the year because it's the vernal equinox. We all remember that when we studied that in high school geography. The vernal equinox, that's the time of the year when the time betweensun rise and the sun set is equal and Springs begins with the arrival of the sun above the equator, that's the official beginning of Spring in North America.

Our day began with a jar this morning as we received word this morning that Dick Eversole, my father-in-law, Terri's father had a little health incident. The health incident was a stoke that has taken him and Carolyn to the Scottsdale Memorial Hospital where doctors and Carolyn tell us that the situation is being monitored. We understand that Dick is resting well and we hope he's listening to this update and report and knows that, while we may be far away, we're both praying for him and following closely his recovery. He's been able to work through problems in the past and he's shown us some wonderful ability to be resilient and positive during health situations, something that many of us have yet to learn or experience. Our wishes, hopes and prayers are with Dick in the hospital, but we do want to assure family and friends that the situation is well in hand by an expert team of physicians at Scottsdale Memorial Hospital. Terri will be along in a moment to comment a little further.

We also have some good news from our extended family, the McCormicks. Melissa sends us an E-mail on behalf of Curt and Debbie to tell us there is a baby McCormick in the McCormick family. Brad and Megan McCormick in Tucson have received news of a child that's coming to their family soon, something that they've been hoping for and pursuing as a goal for the last few years. We received E-mail today that that is about to happen. Our congratulations to the beaming grandparents, we can feel the excitement all the way halfway around the world from Curt and Debbie and Brad and Megan. Congratulations to all the McCormicks and thanks Melissa for using technology to share that exciting news with all of us. Everyday we receive good news and we receive news that's not so good, but I must say that to be able to receive news at all is a real privilege. Speaking of that, we've had communications from Rick Kolstad who makes many of the digital services that we provide both in business and our family life possible and we thank Rick for that. We're going to be gathering information about the multimedia cities and the interconnection of high technology cities in Malaysia. What's happening here with information technologies exceeds anything that's happening in North America. We thank our nephew, Jeff Jones, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin this past December and has joined Kohl's Department Store in a training management capacity for his news and information in his E-mail, including the news about the hijacking of a truck in Mexico full of shoes destined for Kohl's. We hope that truck gets located and that problem gets sorted off Jeff. Jeff's commented that he's been listening to our updates and learning about international trade and the realities of global business don't escape him in his new responsibilities at Kohl's. I want Gary Nadolsky to know that we received all the information about Gary's business transactions and the information that he's passed along and we thank him for that. Our entrepreneurial associate, Tim Keyes and the guys at AIM Technologies in Austin, Texas sent along some good news about the business plan moving forward. The marketing services for major league sports begins with the opening of baseball and services to the Oakland baseball team on sight at the stadium there sponsored by AIM Technologies and many clients in the San Francisco Bay area that AIM is able to bring to this new technology. Other E-mails from Carol Rickenberg at Marian College about responsibilities involving the Marian Board of Trustees that Terri will respond to Carol about at a separate time. And to Mary Jones in South Bend and Carol Jones in Fremont, California, thanks for your good news and for being in touch by E-mail. I'm going to bring Terri to the phone this morning. It is Sunday morning in Singapore and we're about to depart at midday today by railroad train on the Eastern Orient Express and go inland to the Malaysian peninsula. So once again we're packing the bags, getting ready to move on our journey. Here's Terri.

Terri - Good morning from Singapore. It's been quite an adventurous morning. I've been back and forth to the airport already once today trying to make some decisions about getting to Arizona and make sure that everything is going as well as it can and make sure that my Mother and Dad are doing alright. After talking to both to them, they assured me that they're doing as well as they can and everything is progressing with Dad and he's making some remarkable improvements. I want to send them both my love and our love to our children and the rest of you, keep my father in your prayers if you would. I'd certainly appreciate that. I'm sure we'll give you another update from the Orient Express a little later. Here's Don.

Don - To finish out this report, we have some observations to make. We want to encourage those who might have an interest in looking at the density factor, the population to the amount of square kilometers of Hong Kong and Singapore and to compare that with the United States. I think once you do that, you can understand the real estate, the economic and the social climate of this part of the world contrasted to our lifestyle in the United States. We know a little bit about that, but rather than tell you what we know, we'd like for you to take us up on the challenge of looking up the density factors of Hong Kong, Singapore and the US, that is the number of people per square mile or square kilometer and then we'll comment further as to what the meaning of that is. Outside the window of our hotel, there's a new opera house/theater under construction here in Singapore, just like the opera house in the harbor of Sydney.

The front page of the newspaper here in Singapore, which is 80 pages, features news about reforms to local education. It's interesting that Sunday's newspaper headline story would be about changes to the way that the school culture is organized. The headline says, "Less Chalk and Talk and More Project Work for Students", and it goes on to make some terribly, terribly interesting points that learners, because they must develop a passion for continuous learning, because they must be independent and innovative thinkers and communicators, and because they must be able to articulate their ideas confidently, they are changing the core curriculum of the school system here over a period of time because they say that students in the past have been focused on merely being exam smart and not being learners, creators, and communicators. And so they're making some fundamental changes between now and the year 2001 focusing on open book exams, more project work, field trips, experiments and they're making some very focused changes to the teaching methods, the examinations and the curriculum here in the school system. Tremendous emphasis on the value of education here and the significance of information technologies. I would say that this culture has these things sorted out and figured out a whole lot better than what is the case for us in the United States and there are things to be learned from other people around the world.

Just one comment about water. I mentioned in our last report that water was an issue for this part of the world. We noticed today that the president of France has warned that worsening water shortages could pose a threat to world peace and he makes the point that there could be water wars in the new century as a result of the depletion of water resources. So water, which we take for granted in the Midwest and the United States, is becoming increasingly an issue throughout the world. This article goes on to say that water consumption was doubling every 20 years, while 50% of water in main cities leaked away and a quarter of the world's population has no access to clean water. A quarter of the world's population, no access. So something that we should be thankful for and not take for granted. We have much to be pleased about in our part of the world, but we also have to be aware of our need to learn, adapt and change. That's one of the benefits of travel is to gain that insight and that understanding.

With that, I think we'll wrap up this report. We urge Brenda to post our itinerary here on the schedule so that our phone numbers and locations can be known to our family members who need access to that information. I think that completes this update because we have been advised about going on too long and now you know our circumstances, which we'll summarize. We're in Singapore. It's the middle of the day on Sunday, still Saturday late in the day in North America. Our day has us departing Singapore and boarding a train for the next 24 hours to go inland to the Malaysia peninsula and we'll be getting off the train this time tomorrow and going to a resort city which we'll learn about and tell you about when we get there. We'll be in Malaysia for a few days and boarding a ship to come back to Singapore across the straits of the Sea of China in this part of the world. As we look out the window there are some 50 or more container ships at anchor in Singapore. Terri tells me there are 800 ships, the horizon is full of ships. There is an extraordinary, highly automated 24 hour a day container operation right here just off the main downtown area in Singapore. A lot of goods and services moving through one of the world's largest seaports. Many of those goods reaching us in North America.

Singapore thinks of itself as sort of a Boston of Asia, as it relates to their commitment to education and higher learning, as well. In that regard, I know that Harvard Business School has consulted the leaders of Singapore, which is a colony right on the tip of Malaysia, for the last decade and really has guided them in focusing on public policies and I think from that, has flowed the emphasis on information technology and the understanding of how significant education is in the development of future generations. Well that's enough for now and we just want to share with you these insights so that you can gain from our experience and participate in the learning. We're glad you can along for this update. Until next time, this is Don and Terri saying good-bye from the equator, Singapore, halfway around the world, 10,000 miles from North America, where it's a warm and humid day here as we continue on our journey. Thanks for coming along and so long until the next time.

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