Shouse Reports from Pingtung Taiwan, ROC.
Click here for most recent entries (since 4/1/03)
Click here for entries beginning April 2003
Entries from December 2002 through
March 2003
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3/8/03 (Link to separate page with new photos!)
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Last
Sunday we discovered that there was actually an “American community” here in
the area. We were invited to a Thanksgiving get-together at the home of an American
couple working here in Pingtung. I met at least 20 American ex-pats, most of
them working as English teachers, but many in other lines of work—an attorney,
a man who runs a sports and recreation business, and a few others. We had a potluck buffet with turkey and all
the stuff that ought to go with it including some pumpkin pie. It was really great fun! Most of the people
at the gathering have lived in Pingtung, Kaohsiung, or other nearby areas for
many years. We were the newbies. In a few weeks I’ll have some pictures.
In
the meantime, here are a few photos from last month. Here’s one
taken at the Core Pacific Mall in Taipei. Here’s one,
also taken at the mall, of Eva Mei and some strange friends of hers. Here’s one of
Eva Mei, always the bookworm, brushing up on some classic literature. And here’s a shot
of the girl hamming it up at the Splendor Hotel Turkey Buffet.
Bye
for now!
“Go
Go Chicken Will Make Your Love Complete.” Yes, that’s what the large
advertising sign said inside the local “Dollar$” department store. I don’t know
what they mean by that, but I’ll sure be on the lookout for some Go Go Chicken.
I’m
amazed at the amount of attention paid to Christmas here. There are trees, lights,
and decorations everywhere. Cashiers wear Santa hats. All my students know the
words to many Christmas carols. There are Santa lottery tickets. We got this
darling little artificial tree. It’s the kind of tree that looks kind of cheap
and tacky, but the kind that would make Charley Brown and Linus say, “Damn,
that’s an ugly tree!” No, actually it’s pretty nice. We made most of the
decorations for it. We used lots of stuff from around the house. Stuff like
aluminum foil, cut outs from magazines, a broken ballpoint pen, and even a
Juicy Fruit Gum wrapper.
My
mom (hi mom!) sent Eva Mei the Nicktoons Racing computer game. We finally got
around to playing it. Now I can’t stop. With repetitive motion syndrome and
carpal tunnel syndrome, my right arm has become like a bag of wet hamburger,
flopping around at my side. I’m considering putting a cover over my office door
window so that colleagues won’t see me playing. If they do, they’ll want their
own copy for their office. Fortunately, when the President came to see me
today, I was taking a brake and reading some important MSNBC news from home. I
told him that I was in the middle of designing a multi-media presentation. Now,
for those of you who know the President, I’m joking!
President
Lin and his wife have been so kind to all of us. Last weekend they took us to
the local driving range. Golf, that is. They have a very nice one here.
President Lin is a very good golfer, professional level, with many trophies to
his credit. Most of the time, I think, I hit the ball well enough so as not to
look bad. One out of every six shots was actually pretty good. Three out of six, however, killed some local
goats.
I
must go teach now. It’s the first night back in over a week. I forgot to
mention the beautiful anniversary ceremonies they had here this past week. It
was really very exciting, especially the dragon dance. Now, see, I know you’re
expecting a joke here, but in fact it was very cool. I also played tennis with
Ren Fu the other day, and did not embarrass myself!
That’ll
do for now, I guess!
PS!!
It’s 2 hours later. I just got back from class. We spent the second hour
singing. Well, maybe I did most of the singing. First we tackled “Jingle
Bells.” I went line by line over the words, explaining what each meant. You can
do a lot with that. For example, “dashing,” and “dash” have many meanings! To
run, to destroy hope, handsome and debonair, and that little thing in the
middle of some sentences – like that. You can explain what a “sleigh” is and
what it means to “slay” someone. You can explain what a “sled” is and what it
means to “go sledding.”
After
we sang “Jingle Bells” I taught them “Swingin’ on a Star.” Again, we went line
by line over the vocabulary, but I sang each line in that inimitable style of
mine. This is the class of older students (teachers and principals) who haven’t
used or studied English in many years, so they’re rusty to say the least. But
they seemed to like my singing. We sang it all together, and just like I
remember from 4th grade, the women all sang pretty loud while the
men mumbled into their desks. When we finished, there was just enough time for
me to sing “White Christmas.” I had a ball and got a round of applause (I guess
they don’t get out much!).
Bye,
again, for now!
The
deluge! That’s what we had yesterday. When I first woke up, around 6:00 AM, I
looked out the window and saw a sky the likes of which I don’t think I’ve ever
seen before. A long gray wrinkly cloud hung overhead like an arm reaching for a
giant bread basket across a 1000 mile long table. As the sun rose, the world
turned orange—orange and gray. The arm was still reaching and we seemed to be
somewhere under the armpit. Around 7:30, just as Eva Mei and I were leaving the
house, there was a loud boom of thunder. We walked downstairs and across the
creek to the parking lot, hearing more thunder but feeling no rain.
When
I dropped her off at school five minutes later, the sky was getting darker. I
told her to run straight across the playground and go right to her room. I
drove around the block, now with headlights on, and headed to a small
convenience store to get some newspapers. When I came out of the store it was
nearly 8:00, but the day had turned into night—imagine 10:00 PM on a Michigan
June night. Driving the few blocks back home, the cloud burst open into a hard
driving rain. People, bikes, motor scooters all scurried to find some shelter.
I parked next to the large tree that grows out of the middle of our parking
lot, deciding to wait for the rain to let up. After a few moments, I wondered,
with all the lightning and all, whether this was such a good place to be. I
didn’t want some old tree to put a large dent in the roof of the car,
especially since it didn’t belong to me!
After about 30 minutes, the rain let up just enough that I could make a
run for it with an umbrella. I hustled to our apartment gate, each step into
water that was nearly two or three inches deep.
An
hour or so later, the sun was out, the sky was clear, but the creek was
stinking more than usual. That’s what heavy rain does here. It makes the creek
stink. The sky was beautiful, though, and I could see every detail on the
distant mountains. Every detail. Amazing.
Regarding
winter in Pingtung. The temperature here has been in the 80’s. Last night I
used the AC again. But the mentality here is one of “wintertime.” Eva Mei’s
teacher encouraged us to dress her in “winter clothing.” The stores are full of
Gore-tex mittens and coats. Young women wear knitted caps and scarves. It’s as
if they really really want to have some cold winter weather here. I get stares when I go out in shorts, though
that may be because my legs are just sooooo good looking!
Christmas
is a bit commercial holiday here. Every store and restaurant plays Christmas music.
Cashiers in Santa costumes. The whole bit. But more and more Taiwanese are
bringing the holiday into their homes. Children expect a Christmas “sock” and
parents ponder what to put in them. Barbie Dolls and toy cars are popular.
We
will leave for Taipei by train on Christmas morning. We’ll spend three days at
the Far Eastern Hotel. So, to all my family and friends and to everyone else,
let me say that we miss you all very much, we miss having Christmas with you,
and that you can ship our gifts to the following address: (just kidding!)
Merry
Christmas to all and happy new year, too!
Roger,
Lillian, and Eva Mei!
It’s
hard to remember everything I wanted to talk about over the past few days. Let’s
see…. Well, first of all, the weather got quite cold here. In Pingtung we
dropped down into the lower 60’s. In Taipei, where we spent Christmas and the
few days after that, it dropped into the low 50’s and upper 40’s with rain and
wind. We had Christmas morning here in Pingtung. Santa was pretty good to Eva
Mei. After a bit of breakfast, we packed and boarded the train to Taipei. It’s
a five hour ride, the train is rather bumpy, and the scenery is only a small
notch up from what you see riding from Detroit to Chicago.
We
took a cab from the train station to the Far Eastern Hotel. It was all
decorated for Christmas and they had free cotton candy for Eva Mei. Our room
was on the 19th floor and we had a nice view—too bad it was so
cloudy and rainy. Lillian’s sister Shiang Yi joined us for Christmas dinner at
the hotel buffet. It was pretty good, with a lot of western, Chinese, and
Japanese dishes. I ate breakfast there every morning and probably gained some
weight.
Speaking
of food, we found a very nice “French” restaurant just a few blocks from our
house. It’s called La Gaullois. I have no idea what that means. It’s pricey and
the portions were a bit small, but it was a nice surprise. We ate lunch there
on Christmas Eve and I drank most of a bottle of Beaujolais Nuevo.
You
know, I think I had more interesting things to say a few days ago. Or maybe
it’s that they seemed more interesting a few days ago. I try to talk mostly
about the highlights of our trip, but sometimes what are highlights for me
probably seem mundane to people reading this. For example, it was a huge
highlight for me to see the Motor City Bowl live on ESPN while staying at the
hotel. I only watched a bit of it, but it felt good to have this connection to
home. Yesterday morning I got to see the game with Colorado and Wisconsin live,
and though I only watched a bit, I did see the overtime. It’s amazing what
small pieces of back home can do for your holiday spirit.
A
part of me wants to take up space talking about the problems they seem to be
having with school reform in Taiwan. Years ago, some of the education policy
makers over here came to believe that Taiwan’s students were under too much
stress due to heavy emphasis on testing. They came to perceive that schools
were placing too much focus on memorizing facts and skills, but not enough on
critical thinking, creativity, and the arts. So, there has been a shift toward
– and this is the best way I can describe it – making the schools a bit more
like those in the U.S. The policy makers in the national ministry of education
have attempted to introduce new kinds of curriculum and instruction into the
schools.
But
problems seem to have resulted from this. First of all, the teachers aren’t
always sure how to teach the new curriculum. Second, the parents don’t seem to
trust the new curriculum. Their mistrust was reinforced by some recent test
score results suggesting that 7th grade students have slipped in
math and in Chinese writing. With parents’ confidence in schools waning, they appear
to be increasingly putting their children in private academic programs after
school and on Saturdays. So now, there appears to be more pressure and more
unhappiness for Taiwan’s children.
Another
interesting problem with the national school administration here seems to be
one of “bureaucratic momentum” – the tendency for bureaucracies to continue to
use their old tools when implementing new programs. For example, the idea was
that you could de-emphasize the focus on traditional subjects by introducing
new ones; that is, children would not feel such stress over math and science,
if they could also learn about art, music, creative drama, and other kinds of
subjects in their schools. So, at the national policy level, these subjects
were introduced with the idea of helping Taiwan students become more “well
rounded” and creative. But just as everything looks like a nail to the man with
a hammer, every new curriculum looks like something to be tested in a system
that has relied on standardized tests for so long. Thus, there are new tests,
new cram schools, and new and increasing stresses for students.
Now,
on to another topic; the use of rat poison and insecticide as weapons of
economic warfare. You may well wonder, “What is he talking about?” Consider the
fact that since we came here last August, there have been three cases (two in
China and now one in Taiwan) of people poisoning food in order to gain an
economic advantage over a competitor. The first case involved a “snack shop”
owner in China who poisoned another snack shop’s food with arsenic. It led to
the deaths of dozens of people, including many young students. You have to
understand that in China and Taiwan, people depend on these small “hole in the
wall” type operations to provide meals, especially breakfast and lunch.
Sometimes they are just a wagon or cart in front of someone’s home. Well, this
particular Braniac figured he could beat the competition by poisoning its
customers.
The
next incident of this type involved the head of a school in China who broke
into another nearby school and spread rat poison on some food. Again, the idea
was to cause scandal to the competing school and thus create new customers for
his own. The same thing has just happened in Kaohsiung where someone made
scores of people sick by infecting a seafood restaurant with bug killer.
I
mean, you really have to wonder what these guys are thinking. Especially since
they tend to confess their crimes right away! It’s like they thought of this
“brilliant” idea, did not consider the consequences, but rather figured “just
do it!” and worry about the consequences later on. Lillian has noted to me that
this is the way Chinese people often think of things, at either a personal or
social level. She thinks it accounts for the way Taiwan moved toward school
reform. Someone at the top gets a “novel” idea and says, to the effect, “just
do it! We can fix it later on!”
Well,
this is really long, isn’t it? Maybe I’ll stop here for now. Why haven’t there
been many pictures lately? Because I’m slowly running out of server space and I
have to think of new, more economical ways to display photos. I’ll work
something out soon, cuz I’ve got lots to share!
Bye
for now, Happy new year!
Well
happy New Year again! In about eight hours it will be 2003 here. Actually, it
will also still be the year “91” here, since Taiwan officially measures its
years in terms of the origin of the Republic of China. That aside, let me tell
you about two interesting experiences I’ve had since yesterday.
First,
we were all invited last evening to a steak dinner get together by the members
of the “1st level” master’s students’ class. It was great fun. Most
of the students are young women in their 20’s, and I can’t complain about that!
But the best part was when they began playing the party games. They divided up
into two teams, creatively named A and B. There was a list of games and a list
of “punishments” for the losers. The first game involved seeing which team could
collect the most leg hair on a sheet of plastic wrap.
Now
this may not seem like great fun to you, but it was. People were trying to pull
hair off my legs, and that passes for “exciting” when you get to be around my
age. Team A lost, and one of its members’ names was picked out of a box to
receive the punishment. The chosen woman had to kiss another woman through a
sheet of plastic wrap. It gets better.
The
next game involved collecting the most gray hairs. Now, there were really only
two people in the room with gray hair. One was Professor Liu and the other,
someone we all know and love but who is not me, shall remain nameless. This
time team B lost and its punishment was, well, let’s say very Japanese. The
selected loser had two plastic clothespins attached to his earlobes. These were
connected with a rope. Someone (actually, they asked Eva Mei to do this) goes
up and pulls the rope. Big ouch. I fell sorry for the guy (and so did Eva Mei).
The
next game lasted for quite a while. It involved shouting out basic
multiplication facts in rhythm while clapping hands. It’s much harder than it
sounds. There were many losers. One had to kiss Professor Liu through plastic
wrap. Another had to eat garlic. Another had to eat (very) bitter melon. A guy
and a girl had to burst a balloon with their backs to one another. A splendid
time was had by all (we had to leave around 8:30).
Next,
I am now experiencing Taiwan’s national health care. I’ve had some bad calf and
thigh pain for several months and recently I’ve developed some numbness in the
heel on my other leg. So, Lillian made an appointment for me at Pingtung
Christian Hospital. We go, register, then it’s up to the third floor. We walk
into the Dr.’s office (it’s literally an “office”) and stand for a few minutes
while he talks to other patients (not much privacy here).
He
speaks with me for less than one minute and says I have some disk irritation
and that I will get an x-ray and an MRI. We go downstairs for the x-ray, which
takes about 15 minutes all together, then back to the Dr.’s office. He looks at
the film, says I have good bone density (whatever that means), and that I will
get an MRI in one week. We go back downstairs to sign up for the MRI and find
out that we can get it tomorrow. Back
upstairs for some medicine and we’re out the door. The whole experience took
about one hour.
So,
friends, tomorrow will be the first time I ever had an MRI on New Year’s Day.
Oh, wait,…there was that other time…but that was in the “mock-up” dr.’s office
I occasionally set up in my basement. Anyhow, happy New Year again. And be
careful with alcohol. But if you must drink, don’t drive. But if you must drink
and drive, be very very careful. But if you can’t be very careful, then at
least use caution while being careless. Better still, take a cab. But if you
can’t get a cab, try walking or riding a bicycle. Think of the energy you’ll be
saving, not to mention the exercise. I’m Wilford Brimley.
Bye
for now.
Islands
of civility, sanity, and support; I guess that’s what family and friends are
supposed to provide. Because out there all around is a sea of incivility,
neuroses, and thoughtlessness. Like in war, sometimes you gain an island and a
new foothold. Unfortunately, you also occasionally lose one and, when you do,
your morale takes a hit. In a nutshell, we tried calling someone yesterday to
wish them a happy new year. But we were met with a blast of icy words –
apparently we had committed some unforgivable slight. But instead of allowing
us an explanation, our friend quickly hung up on us. It’s impossible for us to
imagine how whatever small error we may have committed would lead to such a
vindictive. For those of you with great curiosity, let me just say that it is
very unlikely that you would know the person in question.
Anyhow,
this put a bit of a pall on our Happy New Year day. Nor did having had to
undergo an MRI help any. Nor did another event, which I am about to explain.
Around 1:00 we headed off to our surrogate Wal-Mart, Carrefour. The first stop
was the food court on the top floor. It was quite crowded, and while Lillian
got something from the cafeteria line, I took Eva Mei over to the McDonalds,
the one that for reasons unknown serves no beef of any kind. It took us about
10 minutes to get Eva Mei’s chicken sandwich happy meal, and as I stood there
with her, I noticed that the noise coming from the children’s play area behind
me had become louder and older and was now at a roar. I picked up our tray and
turned around to see pandemonium. People were screaming, crying, and rushing
around. A man was holding and shaking a child whose body appeared limp. A woman
was sobbing and people seemed to be holding her back. People standing close by
were engaged in fierce discussion, gesturing and arguing with very serious
faces. Others standing further back stared fearfully at the scene.
As
Eva Mei and I tried to get across the court to where Lillian was, the man took
the child to the elevator, still shaking him, still trying to revive him. If
you can imagine a sort of “horror meter” where 10 is the worst, I was feeling
around 8.5, enough to send cold water through all of me, forcing the warm
through my eyes. Lillian saw me and the look on my face and I tried to explain
what had just happened, though I had not yet figured it all out myself. Later,
she found out that an older child had grown impatient with a smaller child
blocking his way on one of the climbing toys in the play area. The logical
solution, apparently, was for the older boy to pick up the younger one and drop
him off the top platform. The logical solution, I guess, in a land where some
people see no problem driving through red lights, pushing their way to the
front of lines, etc.
Look,
I know it’s unfair to characterize the people here this way. Boorishness and
ignorance are everywhere, and this land has a full share of kindness,
thoughtfulness, and civility. But as I said before, we find these things on
small islands scattered throughout a perplexing sea of trouble.
We
decided to just go home after that, rather than do any shopping. Rented some
videos. Ate some chips. Drank some whiskey. Blobbed out for the rest of the
day.
This
morning, Lillian and I went back to Carrefour. On the way, a guy on a motor
scooter made a dramatic and foolish left turn right in front of us. I had to
slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him. Why was there a small part of me that
wanted to hit him? Is this really a “just do it” society with a “worry about the
damage later” mentality?
Correction.
As of Jan. 1 it was officially the year 92 here in Taiwan. Forget that lunar
calendar stuff.
Bye
for now
A
couple weeks back, my friend took me on an all day trip to the top of a nearby
mountain, about 9000 feet high. Tomorrow, I get to recreate that journey for
Lillian and Eva Mei. We’ll travel the South Cross Island Highway from here to
Taidong. The road is narrow, winding, and treacherous and temperatures at the
top of the mountain can drop below freezing. There are frequent rockslides.
Monkeys may appear out of nowhere, at least according to the road signs. Large
buses certainly appear out of nowhere, and I’ll need to pay careful attention
to those roadside mirrors they put up at every turn. That’s right, there are
large mirrors erected at each blind curve that allow you to see what’s coming.
They have these same mirrors at many of the intersections in Pingtung. But the
way people drive, I thought that they were put there so you could check your
hair or makeup while you were driving.
Anyhow,
it’s a dangerous mission. But, armed with maps, blankets, and a few “road
beers,” we should be ok. Just kidding about the road beers. It would be foolish
to take alcohol along on our trip. There are plenty of roadside carts and
stands along the way where we can get it for a very reasonable price.
If
you want to learn more about Taiwan’s South Cross Island Highway, visit your
public library. Or, just forget the whole thing. Or, click here. We’ll
spend one night in a place called Wulu, which can either be translated as “woo
woo woo!” or as “deer in fog.” Actually, no one translates it the first way.
There’s a hot spring there. The second night we’ll head for a place outside
Taidong called Chirben, which is also a big hot spring area. Taiwan has so many
of these “hot springs” that you can’t toss a dead cat without cooking it. The
third night we’ll stay at the truly wonderful (truly!) Police Hotel at Kenting.
Within short walking distance of some very beautiful beaches, the Police Hotel
is the place to stay for that “special touch” of relaxation. “Easy your life at
Police Hotel!”
No
more teaching until the second week of February. Then it’s all downhill after
that!
I
just got back from a luncheon given by my doctoral students. The highlight of
the affair came at the end when President Lin performed a series of magic
tricks. I’ve seen him do this before for Eva Mei. He’s a master of the slight
of hand, with coins, cards, and handkerchiefs. It was amazing to watch him make
coins appear and disappear right in front of my eyes. I asked him if he could
do this with his budget!
Bye
for now!
We
had a nice trip around the southern part of Taiwan. The drive to Wulu was
exciting. The weather on the way to the top of the mountain was gorgeous. We
saw an actual monkey climbing through the trees. When we reached the top the
temperature was a balmy 4 degrees Celsius. That’s about 40 in dog years. The
last tunnel you go through before you reach the peak is quite spectacular. It’s
not paved and is full of deep ruts and potholes. Nevertheless, a bus full of
college students passed through it just before we did. On the other side of the
tunnel you’ll find several snack wagons selling soup, corn on the cob, boiled
eggs, etc. Eva Mei ate two eggs and would have eaten more except the man
selling them said that two eggs was enough for any little girl.
We
goofed around here for awhile then headed down the mountain. For the first 15
minutes, everything was great. We saw several waterfalls. But all of a sudden
we hit the fog. For about the next 90 minutes, we crept along about 5-10 mph,
with me staring at a about a foot of thin white line on the right edge of the
road. With Wulu about 40 km away, this would take forever unless the fog
lifted. The road twisted and turned like knives in the hands of cartoon sharks
and I was amazed by all the drivers passing me and whipping off into the thick
cloud ahead.
The
fog lifted about 20 minutes before we got to Wulu. Here we found the Chief Spa
Hotel, much nicer than you might expect to find in this mountain area. This is
an area populated by aboriginal peoples and we saw and spoke with many. We
followed a man and his wife on their motor scooter to the Wulu village school,
behind which lies a park with two large (100 mm?) cannons. The cannons were
built in Russia around the time of WWI and apparently were captured by the Japanese
in WWII, then hauled to this area to “pacify” the natives during the Japanese
occupation. Now they are the centerpiece of a small village park.
Maybe
the highlight of this area was the long suspension footbridge behind the hotel.
It’s one of those bouncy bouncy Indiana Jones type bridges, spanning about 500
feet across the gorge and hanging about 1000 feet over a white water river. Eva
Mei and I tackled it first, and I have to say I was a bit nervous about it. But
we walked all the way across. On the way back I noticed some huge spiders had
built webs over the bridge. The first one was a bit larger than a silver
dollar, and Eva Mei was a bit worried about walking under it. “It’s Charlotte!”
I said. We saw a few more of these, but near the end of the bridge I paused,
held Eva Mei by the shoulders, and whispered, “now don’t be afraid, but look up
to your left.” There, in a large web, rested a spider the size of my hand. We
moved on, but we came back the next day to take some video.
The
next day it was on to Taitung, or actually Chirpen, or Jrben, depending on how
you wish to spell it. Chirpen is a famous hot spring area with several hotels
ranging from small and dingy to large and not so very dingy. Our destination
was the Police Hotel. Although it was closed for remodeling, an employee was to
take us to another hotel that had been arranged for us. It was very nice, but
we apparently were “ghost guests,” that is, we occupied a room that was not
really under the jurisdiction of the hotel. This is hard to explain and it took
us a while to figure it out. But basically it meant that we had no phone, no
hotel information, none of that fancy stationary you get, etc. The hotel had a
spa, but we opted to go to the Japanese hotel next door, a very nice place,
though the name escapes me right now. They had a beautiful set of warm-to-hot
spring pools with jet massage showers surrounded by a bar and several private
spa rooms. We got the private room and I ordered some hot saki. It was
extremely relaxing, in fact, I got that rare feeling you get when you feel
you’re exactly where you are supposed to be—one with everything!
The
next day we headed south for Kenting. For about the first one-third of the
trip, you drive along the coast, high up on the side of a mountain overlooking
the Pacific. This was beautiful. At some point the road turns inland and you
begin driving across a mountain range. The road twists and turns overlooking
beautiful valleys, but you can never drive fast enough to suit the guy behind
you, who continually insists on passing despite the blind spots and oncoming
traffic. It took us about 3 hours to get to Kenting, where we stayed at another
Police Hotel. Eva Mei and I headed to the beach. The water was like not too bad
for Lake Huron, but too cold for the South China Sea. The waves were fine for
me, but a challenge for Eva Mei, so we restricted ourselves to ankle high
wading and the building of sand castles. This beach is famous for coral and
there was a great deal of both the dead and living variety.
Walking
through Kenting is like walking through any touristy beach town. There are tons
of shells, t-shirts, and other trinkity gifts for sale. There are pubs and
restaurants, noodle wagons and small hotels. You hear music coming from
everywhere. This is a dramatic change from 13 years ago when we first visited
here. At that time there was really nothing except maybe 5 or 6 small shrimp
and noodle shacks and the brand new at that time Caesar’s Park Hotel. We ate at
a pub called Amy’s which served us up some really very good pizza.
The
next day we drove down to a place called Maubito (“mao-be-toe”), which
translates into “Cat’s nose head.” Here you find beautiful coral reefs and a
trail that lets you meander about into places where you feel totally secluded
from the world. You’d think you were on the moon, except for the ocean down
below you. There are tall coral and rock formations with caves and treacherous
paths. We wandered for about 30 minutes before getting caught in the rain. At
one point we encountered a cave that natives had converted into a temple and
they were burning offerings to God. It seemed to be sort of a
Christian-Buddhist combo thing.
Now
we’re back in Pingtung, but we’ll leave for Taipei later this week. From there
we’ll visit Singapore. We’ll be away from Pingtung for about 2-3 weeks. How
will they get by without me? I mean—and I haven’t told you all this yet, but
I’m an official AIT Warden. AIT stands for the American Institute in Taiwan.
This what the US calls its embassy here, since it can’t really have an embassy
because it can’t admit there’s really a place called Taiwan, etc. etc. etc. A
“warden” is a person who “wardens” over whatever Americans happen to be living
in his/her particular area of wardenship, which in my case is all of Pingtung
County. Although I’m not technically authorized to carry weapons, let’s just
say that I’ve got a little friend I call “Ol’ Roscoe” that I brandish about
from time to time whenever it appears to be necessary. Anyhow, the other day I
got this e-mail from the AIT asking me to share some important information with
Americans living in Pingtung. It concerned a heightened terrorist alert for American citizens planning
to travel to the Philippines. So, my first thought was to immediately get on
the phone. My second thought was that I had no phone numbers. My third thought
was, “yeah, right, as if anyone is planning on traveling to the Philippines!”
So,
there you have it. It’s not all fun and games here. Happy Lunar New Year to
everyone!
Bye
for now.
Back
at last! Hi again to all. Too much happened over the past month to describe it
all. I just have to summarize. We spent three great weeks in Taipei and
Singapore. First Taipei. It’s not as clean and pollution free as you would like
it, but the little town grows on you. With its subway and numerous shopping
areas, it can be a lot of fun. Crowded as all get out, and after a while you
wish the people would all get out! The crowding is especially a problem on
holidays. Try walking into one of the major department stores, say Pacific
Sogo, during the aftermath of the New Year’s celebration—you will experience
true human gridlock.
So,
the fun stuff can also turn into a problem, and here’s another example. There
are food shops and stands everywhere. This adds to the city’s color, no doubt,
but it can be disconcerting. You want to walk down the sidewalk, but it’s
blocked by a noodle wagon. You may want to look at some jewelry or shoes in a
shop window, but you have to do so standing next to a shop selling “stinky
tofu” (and it really does smell bad to a westerner).
But
despite all this, I really do enjoy roaming around Taipei.
During
the New Year holiday period, the sound of loud fireworks was nearly constant.
And by fireworks I don’t mean those little Dixie Boy things. I’m talking cherry
bombs and rockets! They sell strings of firecrackers that are as loud as cherry
bombs and sound like rapid cannon fire going off. They go off all night, all
day. And Lillian says that it’s not nearly as bad (or good, if you wish) as it
was when she was young. Oh, and by the way, fireworks are illegal here.
Singapore
is like a dream city. You walk around in a humid 85-90 degree heat, seeing
people of nearly every race you can imagine, speaking English, Chinese, Malayan,
“Singlish”, and other languages. So you have this feeling that you are truly in
“the world’s city.” You begin to crave Enya music, especially “Only Time,” for
it captures every flavor and feeling you’re experiencing. You’ll visit the Long
Bar at Raffle’s Hotel, drink Slings and toss peanut shells on the floor. The
Chinese bartender speaks to you with a British accent. You want to drink more.
You want to stay here.
Off
the southern coast of Singapore lies Sentosa Island. It’s really a jungle isle,
with numerous hotels and tourist spots. There are dozens of freighters and
tankers parked out in the strait. You can imagine them as either an invading
navy, or as aquatic-mechanical onlookers waiting to join in the surrounding
fun. You can see Sumatra from here, as you stand on the southernmost point of
the Asian continent.
Eva
Mei and I wanted to visit the “musical fountain” we’d been told about. Based on
the name, we figured it was some kind of “musical fountain” (we’re got a real
handle on inductive reasoning). Well, we rode the monorail to the appropriate
station and followed a crowd along a garden path past numerous small fountains
that we at first thought were going to be musical. Soon we see this gigantic
statue off in the distance (the “Merlion—a lion with a mermaid’s tail, maybe
150 tall) and realize that the fountain we’re looking for is equally massive.
We file in to a large amphitheater with perhaps 2-3000 other spectators and
wait for the 7:40 PM show. While sitting, I’m realizing that there’s no way Eva
Mei and I are going to make it back to the hotel on the puny monorail we rode
to get here. When the show ends, I’ll have to grab her hand and struggle
through a massive crowd of people—and I have no idea how to walk back through
the jungle roads and trails to our hotel. I suggest to Eva Mei that we leave
early, but she’ll have none of it.
Understand
now that I’m expecting some water to shoot up, some lights to flash, and some
toot, toot, tootie music to play. But when the show starts, we are both dazzled
because it is a master performance of water, laser images, and sound. Animated
figures appear in the center and both sides of a huge transparent liquid
screen. Dreamlike characters emerge up out of the water and float into space.
Hidden underwater cannons shoot bursts of flame into the night sky. It was
awesome in the dictionary sense of the word. When the show ended, I grabbed Eva
Mei’s hand and followed a crowd along a path and up an embankment. We simply
followed a road and soon saw signs directing us back to the hotel. We were the
only ones walking that way, however, and we felt like we were indeed walking
through the jungle at night.
Well,
this is plenty for now. No sense telling you about all the work ahead,
teaching, etc.
Bye for now.
I haven't talked much about the war in Iraq because I mean, what can I add that you don't already know or believe? But now that war has begun it really affects our life here in Taiwan, maybe a little bit differently than it affects everyone back home. First, let me say that those of you who know me will not be surprised to learn that I support the war. No need for me to explain why, but if you do wonder why, I'd just ask you to read or listen to any of Tony Blair's recent speeches (like here, for example), or visit columnist Andrew Sullivan's web site (here).
By the way, reports are coming out that the guy on TV the other day was a Sadam look-alike. Our Pentagon analysts have narrowed down the possible impersonators to three:
Every morning I walk about a mile to a nearby convenience store (yes, a mile is "nearby," relatively speaking) to buy copies of the three English language Taiwan newspapers. The two young men who work there greet me each day with a rousing "good morning!" practicing their English. Occasionally I also bump into a woman from the Philippines who is working in Pingtung and who goes to the shop to practice her Chinese. She asked me how I felt about the war and about being in Taiwan while it was happening. I skipped the first question and answered the second. "I feel very safe here," I said. One of the guys behind the counter says, "safe!" making an umpire's "safe" sign with his hands. The woman said, "he means 'no danger'," which made both of the young men smile. They gave me some extra candy for free.
Speaking of safety, as I've mentioned before, I serve as a volunteer citizen warden for the US State Department's Taiwan section (known as the AIT). They send me various travel warnings and cautions from time to time, and there has been of spate of them lately about the war and about SARS. Yesterday wardens were invited to attend a meeting in Kaohsiung with AIT and State Department representatives. We were told that they have no knowledge of any organized threats to Americans living in Taiwan, but that we all should remain alert. We were told, for example, to be watchful about individual actions against Americans, e.g., some person who is very upset suddenly lashing out--most likely verbally--against an American. One of the wardens then described how two of his employees were -- I guess "accosted" is the best word -- by a uniformed individual, wearing a gas mask, and sporting what looked like an automatic rifle while driving home in Kaohsiung. As they sped away, they noted that there was some sort of camera crew filming the incident. The State Department official wanted to hear more from the warden later in private, but speculated that it was probably a stunt using one of those BB shooting fake weapons that are available everywhere here.
Did I mention that there were Taiwanese soldiers armed with machine guns outside the AIT building where I attended the meeting? I guess that's the closest I've ever been to a soldier armed with a machine gun.
We get a lot of news here on television. The Taiwan news stations have provided focused coverage of the war. They show the CNN and MSNBC feeds, they have Taiwanese war experts explaining what's happening, etc. Unfortunately for me, the American feeds are brief and often covered up with Chinese narration. But I get a lot of news over the internet. As I type this, for example, I'm listening to WLS in Chicago.
We have tickets to fly to Beijing in a couple weeks, but we'll wait until the last minute before deciding whether we'll actually go.
Basically, we're all fine and we hope you are too! Bye for now.
Hi all. We've got this decision to make; whether or not to take our planned trip to Beijing (by way of Hong Kong) this coming Friday. We've heard all the warnings about SARS. Believe me, there are two things on the news right now--the war and the SARS, and most attention seems to be on the latter.
On one hand, we know that people are getting this illness in Hong Kong and mainland China. 58 new cases in Hong Kong in the last two days. More cases in southern China and some in Beijing. I've had pneumonia twice in the past 6 years and I know it's awful. I don't want it again, especially over here, and I'd hate it even more if Lillian or Eva Mei got it.
On the other hand, only a tiny percentage of people are getting the illness, mostly it seems to come from medical facilities, and by now most everything is closed up in Hong Kong; schools, banks, etc. They've sanitized the airport and the airplanes. Few people are passing through the airport. I'll be few people will be on our plane. We'll be staying at a friends (large) house, not in a hotel. Our friend tells us not to worry. We may not have another chance to visit China for a very long time. This was going to be one of the highlights of our trip. We won't be going out into Hong Kong, just passing through the airport for about two hours.
As of right now, we've decided to go. The money we spent on tickets isn't a factor. If by this coming Wednesday we find that things are just getting crazy, we'll cancel. Otherwise, we'll be in China this time a week from now. Many of you may be saying, "They're nuts. There's no way I would go right now." But then look at it this way; we're already in a country where they've apparently got over a hundred cases of this illness and you don't see us flying home, right? If we had a trip planned to Taipei (where most of the Taiwan cases are), we wouldn't cancel it, right? (Just say "right".)
So many people around here are wearing masks, mostly of the cloth variety, which, I believe, have no protective value whatsoever. But they look pretty cool, so maybe we'll get some.
We'll be fine. Bye for now.
