Day Nine – Piercings and Tattoos

Today’s topic didn’t require any thought.  I needed an easy one.   I was probably around 11 years old when I got my first piercing.  Okay, yes, it was just a cute little pair of gold studs earrings, but I was only 11.  Through the years I added five more holes in my lobes and cartilage.  About thirty-five years ago, I added a navel ring, hence the email address and screen name, navel1ring.  One thing I learned, even though I kept it covered, small people as in my littles in kindergarten and grade one being about bellybutton high, somehow managed to get small hands on it.  When I had to take it out for my back surgery, I left it out.

On to my tattoos…I have been inked nine times.  My first tattoo was a few months before the navel ring.  I have always been a lover of the night sky.  I had a telescope as a child and followed the moon’s phases.  I wanted a tattoo that wasn’t always visible.  I also had decided I wanted only black ink.  The first tat was a quarter moon with a face on the big toe of my left foot.  This was soon followed by a sun on the top of my right foot, then by a shooting star on the top of my left foot.  This kept me satisfied for a while, but the tattoo needle was again calling my name.

I arrived in Beijing in August 2015.  I spent two weeks training and studying for a second TEFL certification with about fifty 20-somethings.  I was 53.  One night near the end of our two weeks (there may have been alcohol involved), a group of us decided we needed to commemorate the occasion with tattoos.  We discussed what each of our tattoos would be and off we went in search of a tattoo studio.  During our two weeks of training, we took some classes in calligraphy and learned to write some Chinese characters or Hànzì  汉字.  The first thing I learned to write was 福 寿 fú shòu.  It means happiness and longevity or a happy long life.

Now I know there are horror stories of Americans having Chinese characters tattooed on their body and they don’t mean what they thought they did.  I felt confident that I would be getting what I asked for.  福 寿 is also a typical greeting people put on their gates and doors for Chinese New Year.  Tat number four was the Chinese characters 福 寿 on the inside of my left wrist.  Number five happened about 2 days later before I would be leaving for my teaching assignment in Xiashan.  Some of the others wished they had gone with us so a couple of us said we would take them and along the way, I decided why not get another.  Number five is the Chinese characters 自由精神 Zì yóu jīng shén which means free spirit.  I had these put on my inside right forearm.

Fast forward to November 12, 2016, when I lived in Qingdao, China.  I stumbled across a tattoo studio not far from my flat.  One day I decided to stop in and check it out.  I liked the studio; the artists spoke English and I made a snap decision to add number six, an airplane to the Free Spirit characters.  Next up, February 21, 2017.  It was a snowy day in Qingdao and my friend Raffi and I were searching for something to do. I had been to Warren, Ohio briefly the previous summer and my friend Teri gave me a necklace.  It was a compass with the J.R.R. Tolkien phrase Not All Who Wander Are Lost.  I said to Raffi, come with me, I want to get another tattoo.  Next thing I know, I am face down on the table getting number seven,  a compass, and the words tatted on my right lower calf.  We followed it up with martinis at Latitude 36 Le Meridien Bar to celebrate.  I was also leaving Qingdao a few days later to move to Dong’e.

In  August 2017, I was back in Qingdao to go to the Beer Festival with my best bud Erwin.  I had gotten friendly with one of the girls at the studio who was studying to be a tattoo artist when I was living in Qingdao.  During this visit, she gave me number eight and my only tattoo that has color, a flower inside my right ear.  That takes care of Qingdao.

My ninth tattoo I got while I was living in Dong’e, but I got it in Bali.  February 2018 was my first visit to Bali.  While staying at Kenari House, every night when I went to bed, I would look up at the ceiling.  There was always a gecko directly above my face looking down at me.  I decided I wanted to commemorate my Bali trip with a gecko tat and number nine.  I walked into Ubud and met Ona.  On my left hand, between my thumb and index finger, he gave me my gecko.

My tattoos need to mean something to me.  Living in Poland now for over 4 years, I want to get something to commemorate my stay here.  I have it designed and will get it before the end of the year.  It will have the Polish Kotwica which was the symbol of the Polish Underground.  I want to incorporate it with the airplane on my right arm and the plane’s contrails will make a heart and lead to the Kotwica.

I also want to add a tattoo representing my love of Paris.  I plan to eventually get the Eiffel Tower tattooed over the scar from my back surgery.

There you have it…the history of my piercings and tattoos.  Peace Out!