The world lost a great man two weeks ago.
Mark Gurecki was a charismatic, intelligent and unique man who will be sadly missed by many people, but most importantly, his wife Himiko, mother-in-law Obayashi san, his wider family and closest friends. I was proud to be among the latter group and his passing has left a sizeable hole in my life.
When I arrived at Taipei American School two decades ago, the superintendent told both Mark and I separately that he had employed a close colleague that would be a great professional and personal match. Such prescience! From the moment we met, we hit it off and our "bromance" went from strength to strength. On the surface, we had little in common: the naïve teacher in his first international posting and the wily veteran of ESL and multiple residencies in foreign countries. Let alone the brash New Yorker and the suburban Aussie!
We quickly discovered a shared distaste for incompetent management and "blowhards" of which there was more than a sprinkling at our new gig. We developed and nurtured a new approach to teaching English in the classroom, based on the writings of Stephen Krashen, of whom we were both disciples. After a year, I was offered the Chair of the ESL department K-12 and we moulded and developed the new approach into a lauded program in the next seven years. We even co-wrote several articles on this language acquisition model together.
Our professional partnership was almost incidental, however. From day one, we'd have lunch together with Cass in my room and after a year, we were joined by our other great mate, Marcus. These sessions were legendary and were typically prefaced by Mark blustering in, bursting with indignation and outrage at some real or imagined slight or act of incompetence (usually by a member of the administration!). After being thoroughly entertained by this and commiserating, the four of us would then get to the heart of the matter and more often than not Mark would go away pacified, always his booming laugh trailing him out of the room and up the stairs!
Marcus and Gurecki and I formed a firm band. We were three like-minded individuals both in and out of school. We regularly got together for beers and tall stories at a succession of venues starting with the Pig and Whistle, followed by the Green Bar and then for a blissful and entertaining few years, at Diamond Tony's on the sun soaked veranda. Later still, and for a while concurrently with Diamond Tony's, we haunted Tianmu's WooSoo bar and the nicknamed "Big Brother" in Chiyan, famous for their beer tappers and squid balls and even more famous for the infamous "Gurecki 5-0", Mark's 50th birthday party (more about that later). These Friday afternoon/evening/night venues were characterised over many years by a few common denominators: the three of us wholeheartedly enjoying each other's company, often joined by "guest artists" (other friends), an epic level of beer drinking, fantastic and memorable story telling and hour upon hour of belly aching laughter!
When Mark was about to turn 50 I offered to throw him a party ("Gurecki 5-0"). He wanted to go and experience paintball as well as utilise the WooSoo "Big Brother" for a private party. I asked him about the invitation list and he had an unusual approach. He wanted a "self selection" method: invite everyone and only the ones who really want to celebrate will turn up! It was a master stroke from the wise old master: the people who turned up were great, friendly and ready to party and celebrate...he had a knack for "reading the room".
We went to lots of bars and events together. We tolerated the odd school function together. The three of us had a few memorable longer road trips in Taiwan together, notably a driving trip in my car, "the silver bullet", to Damshui to eat Mexican and drink beers (of course!), a high speed rail trip to Hsinchu to watch an MMA tournament, and a classic overnight trip to Taichung to go drinking, eating and just to give "Circus Jesus" a trip round the island (Mark's idea!)
Nothing, however, compares to the ten or twelve years we spent, on Friday nights, down at Uli's German restaurant, or the "round table" as Gurecki called it. It was open early, allowing a mad dash from school at 2.35 and a sweet elixir in hand well before 3. It was here that we solved all the problems of the world and our lives, shared dreams and heartaches, helped each other, counselled each other, but most importantly laughed and smiled with each other, laughed and laughed and laughed! Mark, quite remarkably, never told the same story twice, and regaled Marcus and me with eye-opening tales of wonder from Mallorca, Venezuela, Caracas and Shanghai and everywhere in between! I was also honoured to be afforded membership of the Polish Nation by these two sons of Krakow! He'd speak about people he knew, revealing razor sharp analysis of their skills and foibles. He'd talk about his great love of reading, including titles over multiple genres and his latest biographies. We shared a love of fine art and he'd often refer to the European masters and his favourite English painter, William Turner. After my visits to Paris and other European cities he'd review my photos of the impressionists and comment on each. Mostly though, we'd talk about life and living: he was so full of life and "lovin' life" that it seems impossible that he's not still with us.
I visited him four times over his years in Japan and it would have been a couple more if it hadn't been for the awful Covid epidemic. His school is a credit to Himiko and him, they developed it and grew it so that now it has a reputation that is synonymous with its name "The Class". My times in their beautiful new home hold fond memories: he was so proud of what they had built and the "Pepper King" just loved his kitchen! The last time I saw him we were hosted so wonderfully in the full bloom of the sakura by the extended family: Cass and I will always treasure those memories, as well as nights like this!
When we were enjoying those halcyon days in Taipei, down at Ulis, we were always aware of Mark's great love for Himiko. They were a perfect couple and seemingly made for one another. In latter years during my regular and extended emails with Mark, although we continued to talk about the topics mentioned above, we always also talked about treatments and Himiko's involvement after Mark's diagnosis. She was a rock. It must have been so hard for her to support him through all the difficult treatments and interventions, but he was eternally grateful.
I'm going to finish this post with an excerpt from the last email Mark sent to me. It alludes strongly to Mark's love for Himiko as well as Mark's amazing fighting spirit.
I'll miss you mate, but at least the fight's over now.
"It sounds funny, but the Cat left me at 2:00 & I already miss her....
Will keep you in the loop. This helter skelter like email is how my mind is functioning right now, knowing I’m facing death square in the face once again. I kind of go into strategic denial, because it helps me suck up as much life as I can each day. You never ever give up when you are fighting cancer and do whatever you can to stay positive."