A need for inexpensive housing led Carolyn Apel to the experience that started it all. It was the mid-70s and she鈥檇 come to Seattle quite literally as a refugee. After escaping from war torn Iran, she went to Vancouver, British Columbia, only to be told she couldn鈥檛 stay because she was a United States citizen. Seattle was the closest city of any size so she came here.
鈥淚 checked into the Y at first and started looking for something more permanent,鈥� Apel recalls.
And that鈥檚 how she found the boarding house on 19th Avenue N.E. She lived there a few years, and the owners, an elderly couple, said they wanted to retire, could she manage the house. Apel jumped at the chance to get free rent, but what she got along with it turned out to be more important.
The house, she explains, had always had student renters, but after 1980, when exchange programs with communist China opened up, it also had a certain number of professors from that country. With smaller stipends than European professors, they lived in boarding houses to save money.
鈥淲hen I took over as manager I decided to phase out student renters and rent entirely to these Chinese professors,鈥� Apel says.
And so began an adventure that lasted 10 years and led to seven books published in China.
鈥淚 learned so much about the Chinese culture,鈥� Apel says.
The boarding house was organized so that the group would shop together for groceries and have meals together. Thus Apel had ample opportunity to converse with the professors and find out about their lives in their home country. And, she adds with a laugh, because she could never chop the vegetables to her renters鈥� satisfaction, they did all the cooking.
Apel helped the professors with their English and edited the papers they presented while they were here. And since they had no money to pay her, she prevailed upon them to teach her Chinese.
鈥淚 can speak and read Chinese enough to get along and have fun, but I鈥檓 not at a high enough level to be a translator,鈥� she says.
So how did she wind up writing for the Chinese market then? It happened like this. Through her renters, Apel met a publisher, who showed her some books he was using in China to teach English.
鈥淚 told him they were boring,鈥� Apel recalls. 鈥淚 said even I could do better than that. So he asked me to write a sample story.鈥�
She did and he loved it, so she鈥檚 been writing books for him ever since. They consist of stories that deliberately use parts of the language their reader needs to learn. For example, there鈥檚 one book called American Idioms that incorporates common idioms such as 鈥渂reak out,鈥� 鈥渁ll along,鈥� 鈥渃ut in鈥� and 鈥渃ut it out鈥� into stories using simple language.
The publisher provides a Chinese translation for each story and illustrations by a Chinese artist.
鈥淭he stories are humorous,鈥� Apel says. 鈥淚 think people should have something interesting to read while they鈥檙e learning.鈥�
Apel has done a lot of her own learning under very interesting circumstances. A native of Michigan, she took a job in San Francisco immediately after graduating from Wayne State University because she thought California was the place where things were happening.
While working at an international engineering firm, she met many engineers from other countries and decided to go to Iran just because it would be an adventure. There, she learned Persian and taught English to Iranians, but the trip turned out to be more of an adventure than she bargained for.
鈥淲hile I was there, war broke out between Iraq and Iran,鈥� Apel says. 鈥淚n fact, I was in a border town having dinner with a local family when Iraqui troops attacked. We had to flee through the desert. I thought I was going to die because we had to leave without getting water to take with us or filling up the gas tank.鈥�
Fortunately they made it to safety, but Apel knew she had to get out of the country as soon as possible. She went to Canada, she explains, because of that country鈥檚 national health care.
鈥淚 was young, in my 20s and in and out of jobs, and I wanted to feel that I had some kind of security. I thought if I were in Canada where they have national health care that I鈥檇 be taken care of if I got sick.鈥�
But the Canadian government argued that as a U.S. citizen Apel had no standing as a refugee. That鈥檚 when she came to Seattle. But she hasn鈥檛 forgotten about the health care issue. She鈥檚 currently president of Health Care for All-Washington, a group that advocates for affordable comprehensive health care coverage for everyone.
鈥淚n the past I鈥檝e been stuck in jobs I hated, but I kept them because I needed health care coverage,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 decided that since I was forced to live in this country, I was going to fight for the things that affected me and health care was a big one.鈥�
Apel is quite happy in her current job, however. She鈥檚 an office assistant in plastic surgery for Harborview鈥檚 burn center, where her contact with doctors is useful in learning about health care issues.
Meanwhile, she鈥檚 adapting her Chinese books for the American market. Their simple language, she realized, makes them suitable as children鈥檚 books. The first of these books to be published is called Dr. Jones and Carolyn. It details the adventures of a nutty professor and his assistant.
The assistant character, Apel says, is herself. But she hastens to say that the misguided professor is not from the UW.