Well, no photos so far (they’re still to be developed!). Not much news either. Eva Mei is doing very well so far in her school. The weather has cooled off a bit, especially in the afternoon, especially when it’s cloudy. It’s not easy getting around Pingtung. We must drive just about everywhere, and driving takes a lot of getting used to around here.

We’ve discovered a few good restaurants, and there are plenty more, but we need to start eating at home more. There is a store here something like a “Walmart.” It’s called “Carrefour” and they have household goods, groceries (including much western stuff), and a food court. AND, and this is big, they have FREE PARKING!

There is a nice department store here, part of the Pacific Sogo chain. They also have a food court that includes all kinds of good Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cuisine, as well as a McDonalds and a Starbucks.

I haven’t started teaching yet, but it appears I’ll have my work cut out for me. Apparently, unlike what I’d been led to believe, most students will have limited English ability.

I’ll talk more about the academic stuff next time.

9/7/02

No academic details today. Instead, let me mention the typhoon. We really didn’t experience much bad weather down here. Pingtung lies almost exactly on the Tropic of Cancer. To the north, Taipei experienced quite a bit of rain and wind. Down here we had a lot of wind and, actually, the weather turned quite nice. Today was breezy and mild. I rode a bicycle over to the local 7-11. On the way there I thought to myself, “wow! Great bike! Going so fast!” On the way back I realized that the wind had been blowing me along, and now the bike was not so “great.”

We’ve felt three small earth tremors since arriving here. The one last night was the biggest and could rightfully be called an “earthquake.” In fact, it was a 5.5, and we felt our building sway gently back and forth for about a minute. It’s scary for someone who has never felt these things—you aren’t sure if it’s going to fade away or get worse. But Lillian tells me that the swaying back and forth is nothing to be afraid of. When you start to bounce up and down, look out.

I guess when Taiwan or Chinese citizens come to America they might fear seeing an American with a gun. But here, I think what they fear is to see an American with a car, specifically, driving one. For we Americans do silly things behind the wheel; things like yielding for pedestrians and waiting for traffic lights to turn green. I’m actually becoming a bit better at “driving Chinese.” Seriously, you really have to concentrate on everything in every direction.

Maybe I’ll talk about school stuff next time.

9/10/02

Yesterday we had lunch at the home of one of my new colleagues, the Director of the Graduate Institute in Elementary Education, Mr. Ching-Shiun Chang. We met his family and also some friends of his. Not only did we have a very good time, but I also got to meet the principal of an elementary school in Tainan.

Later in the afternoon, we ventured out and took a drive to Kaoshung, Taiwan’s 2^nd largest city. It takes about 45 minutes to drive what is actually a very short distance. This is because you have to drive through congested areas to get there. But it is worth the drive because it is actually a very nice city with wide streets, tall skyscrapers, and many restaurants and department stores. It is also a bit more “western friendly” than Pingtung, that is, there are more English signs and more people able to speak English.

Today was a rough day. The weekend was so relaxing that I think today’s dawn hit us hard in the face. Then there were a couple of things that happened that we weren’t quite expecting. One of these was an occurrence at a local “dry cleaners” the details of which I won’t relate here. The other involved our discovery of a roommate we didn’t know we had—a small lizard. Actually, I guess we knew he was around somewhere because we often heard him cackling from under a closet. But when he finally made his appearance, it was quite a shock!

9/11/02 – 9/12/02

Thinking about this anniversary. Listening to President Bush. Reliving the awful events of a year ago. I think President Bush summed up my feelings very well in his speech a little while ago.

I have met two other “foreigners” since coming here. One from San Francisco, the other from South Africa.

Classes begin on Monday. I will start out Monday morning teaching a research methods course. After that comes English. Tuesday is English again, followed by a course in Educational Administration, team taught with another one of my new colleagues, Professor Liu. Wednesday is free, then another English class on Thursday.

Lillian will begin teaching English and Childhood Philosophy at Tajen College (pronounced “da-ren”).

And here is something interesting: It has been pretty cloudy and hazy here. We seldom see blue sky. I knew there were some mountains off in the distance; I could see them outside my office window. But the other day the sky cleared and I looked out a different window. Off in the distance I was shocked to see some really, really huge mountains. I mean, perhaps 4000-5000 feet high, very jagged, looking a bit like “mini-Alps.”

9/16/02

Did I say 5000 feet? Make that over 9000 feet. The mountain, I mean. I checked a map. It turns out that Taiwan is famous for its rugged mountain range. The highest peak is over 13,000 feet, and this is higher than any other Asian mountain outside of the Himalayas.

I began teaching today. The first class this morning was research methodology. We have 8 doctoral students, all very bright. But we will still have to work out the language and cultural problem. By the latter, I mean a slight reluctancy among Chinese students to engage in discussion. But I think this will get better very soon. The second class was English, taught to 25 masters level students. This went pretty well, but these are students who have a pretty fair English speaking ability already.

Nice to see how Penn State clobbered Nebraska. I won’t say much about what happened to Michigan.

9/18/02

Hard to believe we’ve been here nearly one month. It seems like barely a year. Yesterday (Tuesday) was a huge challenge for us. Both Lillian and I had to teach in the evening. But Lillian must drive about 10 miles to get to her college. So, where does Eva Mei go? This was tough. We thought about letting her roam the streets, but quickly decided against this. Another problem involved trying to find time for Eva Mei to practice piano (she’s begun her lessons again). Tuesday is her long day at school (8-4), but we decided to pick her up a bit early and take her to the piano room here on campus. But then there is also homework for her to do.

How to fit all these things in before I have to go teach English at 6:00? And I haven’t even mentioned “eating dinner.” Lillian heated up some dumplings and helped Eva Mei with her homework at the same time. I go to class at 6:00. Lillian brings Eva Mei to my class around 6:45 and I introduce her to my students. First she’s shy, then she’s a ham. Finally she opens a book and reads silently. After class, the first thing she says is “daddy what were you talking about in there?” I really can’t answer her!

Lillian drives to Dajen at 7. Her class starts around 7:40. My second class starts at 8, but no one knows where the room is. This is a class in Educational Administration that I am co-teaching with another professor. Where is he? Finally we have a room. I introduce myself, the co-teacher takes over, and I leave. I’ll do my share of teaching later on.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to say that Eva Mei has been in my office since 7:45. I get back there around 8:35 to find her playing “seeker” on the Harry Potter Web Site. We play a bit longer and then get home around 9. She takes a shower and goes to bed. I take a bath and wait up for Lillian to come home. It’s about 10:30 or 11 before we get to sleep. Ten minutes later it’s 6:00 am and time to get up. At least it seems that way.

9/23/02

Here are some new pictures. (These will be added gradually, since it takes a long time to create these links from Taiwan to Penn State. The files are large so please be patient when downloading them.)

Seaside photo taken on road to Kenting

9/26/02

Yesterday was rainy, so today is sunny and clear and I can see the mountain again. It is Thursday morning here right now, but let me tell you about Tuesday, the day before yesterday. Tuesday’s are our most hectic days. Eva Mei has a full day of school and Lillian and I both teach at night. So, it’s hard to fit everything in. We were not helped at all by Lillian getting a flat tire while picking Eva Mei up from school. She called me at home and I said I would try to find a way to get there. At first I thought I’d have to ride the bicycle, but fortunately I was able to get a hold of Ren Fu, our friend and colleague. But right at the moment I came down to the front gate of our building, the air conditioner repairmen pulled up in their truck (the air conditioner – ah, that’s another story!).

So, here I am, the only English speaking person around, having to explain why I can’t stay to let them fix the air conditioner. I pause, I think, I try to muster up my best Mandarin. I say, “wo `te tai tai yo da mafang (“my wife has a big problem”). Ta ‘driving’ (and here I do the universal sign language for driving—moving my fists up and down like on a steering wheel). Ta `te tire go ‘pow’ (and here I point at their truck tire and say “POW”).”

My strategy must have worked, because instead of the blank stairs I usually get from people, these two gentlemen (a father and son) nodded their heads in sympathy. But the problem now was what should I ask them to do? I’m staring into space going “ummmm” and “hmmmmm” when Ren Fu drives up. Ren Fu was one of my students at Penn State and speaks excellent English. He explains the situation, we work out a solution, and then we’re on our way to rescue Lillian and Eva Mei.

Someone said “happiness hides in life’s small details.” Well, I was very happy to discover that Lillian had already been rescued by two or three good Samaritans, including one young man who contacted a mechanic to fix the tire. Much confusion remained, however. Ren Fu was going to take Lillian and Eva Mei back home while I stayed with the car. In the excitement, they nearly drove off without Eva Mei! I ran after the car, banged on the trunk, they stopped, and our “very concerned” daughter got in. As I walked back toward the young man, I raised my hands to my head and said, “Crazy day!” He smiled and said, “Maybe lucky day.” Maybe, indeed!

Tuesday evening’s “day care” arrangements included dropping Eva Mei off at her friend’s home, having her piano teacher meet her there, the two of them going to a campus building for a lesson, and then meeting me at my office at about 9:00. Oh, yeah. The deal was that Eva Mei would need to ride on her teacher’s motor scooter. Dad didn’t like this idea one bit, but finally agreed with the understanding that it would be only a short distance and that Eva Mei must wear a helmet. It is very common to see parents riding even two or three children on their scooters, often standing up against the handlebars, usually with no helmets.

Everything worked out fine, but I was so tired, hot, and dusty by the time I got home that I, well, I almost took a bath.

Here is a link to a picture of Eva Mei standing in the park outside my office/classroom building. It’s really a beautiful park and I’ll have more pictures of it soon.

P.S. Be sure to visit Eva Mei’s web pages (here’s the older one and here’s the newer one). She has some exciting news about our band, EMS, and our CD, “Explorer Girl.”

9/27/02

On Thursday nights I teach English to a class consisting mostly of practicing teachers. They tend to be older and tend to not have practiced any English in a long time. I know many of them are very nervous about the class, but I keep telling them that I am the “most afraid person in the whole room, maybe the whole school!” They like the way I speak slowly and clearly, but I can see that many of them don’t really understand what I am saying. I get the blank stare or the nervous smile from most of the class. But I have them working in small groups and I know that each group has at least one “pretty good” English speaker.

So far, I have been relying on short items from Reader’s Digest, especially “Quotable Quotes.” I ask them to find quotes they like and discuss and write their explanations and examples. The “Q Q’s” contain many American idioms and old expressions. My sharpest English class is the one that meets on Monday morning. They are nearly all full time graduate students.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we are taking an overnight trip to the Kenting Park area. Here is a link that describes the place we are staying. It’s kind of interesting. (The site was down this morning, but this is unusual.)

Here is a photo of the view outside my office window.

10/1/02

Eva Mei scored a 98% on her test today. It was on Chinese writing. She had to be able to write the words and show the correct tonal symbols. We’re really, really proud of her!

This past weekend we traveled south to the Kenting area. We stayed at a place called Kentington Resort. When we arrived, we discovered that it had a “cowboy” theme. All the staff wore cowboy hats and bandanas. They had a beautiful swimming pool (2, actually), but that’s about all I can say in a positive vein. It was over-priced and the buffet was so-so. But Eva and I Mei got to ride bikes around the grounds and she got to ride a pony around the track.

We stayed in a small “villa” or cabin. They have this thing where in order to have electricity you must place your key fob in a special slot next to the door, E.g., no key in door, no air conditioning; no air conditioning when you leave the room. But we would have none of this. I found that the toothbrush boxes they provided make a perfect substitute key fob, and we had AC all the time.

We visited two nice beaches on the Pacific Ocean. The first was about 25 km north of Kenting. The waves were quite big and the water got too deep too fast for Eva Mei and I to swim in. But we got to see a bevy of surfers riding the waves. The next day we got to the beach at Kenting, right below Cesar’s Park Hotel. The water was beautiful, though the waves were quite calm. But at least we got in some good floating time!

Here’s a new picture of Eva Mei.

And here’s another one of Eva Mei and Lillian

10/3/02

These English classes I’m teaching; they can be fun, they can be frustrating. I’ve got three of them and there’s no pattern to which one will be fun and which one will be frustrating. The other day, for instance, the class that had been so disengaged the week before became very much engaged. All I was doing was reviewing their writing errors and talking to them about English words and expressions. I also had them share their papers with each other and try to correct their mistakes. Then tonight, the class that was very much engaged last week became rather disappointed in my teaching (I think)—even though we were doing the same kinds of things that had seemed to work before.

I’m really not an English teacher, you know. All along I told the people here at NPTC that I could not provide a “traditional” kind of English class. Instead, I would help students with their writing and try to make them feel comfortable using English. So now I wonder whether that will be enough to keep my students satisfied. Next week we will watch a film: “To Kill a Mockingbird.” It will have Chinese subtitles, so I hope it goes over well.

The heat and humidity won’t give up. We had a breezy cool day on Tuesday, but it’s hot and sweaty again yesterday and today. This weekend we are going to hang around the old homestead—no fancy trips to cowboy resorts. Maybe a trip to Costco or some place like that. Eva Mei now has the Harry Potter movie on VHS and has watched it twice since yesterday. Plus she got an e-mail from her favorite teacher back home. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks!

10/5/02

It’s another hot Saturday. We are having some trouble getting permanent residency status for Eva Mei. Without prs, she is not covered by the national health insurance. Without prs, she can’t stay in the country beyond Oct. 25. There is a mountain of red tape to cut through to get these things accomplished and it takes time away from us. The College is being helpful, but they don’t seem to understand the bureaucracy either.

I have lost nearly 10 pounds since coming here; mostly by sweating and not snacking too much. The good news is that all my old pants back in Pennsylvania will fit me now. The bad news is that they are all back in Pennsylvania.

Here is a picture of Eva Mei and her teacher.

10/10/02

Today is “Double Ten Day,” the day honoring the anniversary of the Republic of China. So, we all had a day off school. I get two days off, but Eva Mei and Lillian must work tomorrow!

Yesterday was a day that made us all weary, frustrated, tired, and hopeless. The details are not so important. They involve our ongoing struggle to obtain residency status for Eva Mei, to prevent us from being deported (“oh please don’t throw us in the briar patch!”), and to preserve our sanity so that we can concentrate on doing what we came here to do. Last night, especially, was emotionally dark and dismal. But we made a decision that today we would go to Kaohsiung to try to find some fun. We did.

First, on the way, we saw one of those old women wearing the big sun hats, standing in the intersection, selling what I would describe as huge honeysuckle blossoms (a little bit bitter than the palm of your hand). It filled our car with an aroma that brought me back home, to my mom and dad’s back yard, the middle of June. My dad is cooking out, or we’re getting ready to go to a ball game, or have a big water fight. I guess aroma therapy works.

We drove for about 15 miles until we got to the intersection of Chung Chen Rd. and Hoping Rd. This is where you’ll find the President Department Store (or is it the Tatung Department Store?). We found a parking lot and went shopping. After a while we got hungry, and I remembered seeing the local T.G.I. Fridays over on Wufu Rd. We got in a cab and headed there. It was just like being back home. We had fajitas and macaroni and cheese and iced tea and we thought, “maybe we can make it here, at least for a while.”

After lunch we crossed the street to another department store (Tali). They had a substantial supermarket in the basement. And I’m walking along, and what do I see? Vernor’s Ginger Ale. I couldn’t believe it! Now, it costs about $2 a bottle, but I figure, “what the heck?” So we bought a bottle of that and a bottle of something called “Rat Bastard Root Beer.” What’s more, they had microwave macaroni and cheese!

So, we’re ready to face this place again, at least until the next emotional setback. Maybe there’ll be fewer and fewer. Bye for now.

10/17/02

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we will not be deported! Unfortunately, this is also the bad news!

Small things

Yesterday I heard this loud screech outside my office window. It was odd because I’m up on the 13^th floor. I looked out to see a large hawk or similar kind of bird holding on to the window grating. He continued to screech. We stared at each other, up close, for a few moments, and then he flew away. He looked like he wanted to come inside.

A few weeks ago when we were in Kenting, I double parked outside while Lillian and Eva Mei went into the McDonalds to get some food. I was in front of some kind of small family run “noodle stand” (I mean, I don’t know if they were selling noodles or some other kind of food). Cars were double parked all up and down the highway, and many people were trying to get into the packed McDonalds. The man running the noodle shop next door kept sending his young daughter out to the street to hand out handbills about his great food. But no one would take them, no one would visit his little shop. They just kept walking to McDonalds. His daughter would try to hand out a menu but people ignored her. She’d walk back to her dad, frustrated. He’d send her right back out again, and again, and again.

At T.G.I. Fridays, I found it interesting to watch and listen as the waitresses tried to explain or recommend the American dishes to the Chinese customers. I have to say that the food I ate there was much better than the food I ever ate at any Fridays in the US. It’s as if the people here, when given some “recipe” to follow, follow it better than we do back home. I had the same experience at Ruth’s Chris in Taipei. The food and service surpasses what I found in the US.

Oh, gee, here I am talking about trivia. Eva Mei and I keep wondering about what’s up with Halloween over here. I’m sure there’s no “trick or treating,” at least not that I know of, but we keep seeing Halloween costumes on sale at local department stores. Do people have parties? No one seems to know. Halloween is also Lillian’s birthday, but so far I’m just not sure how to celebrate either one!

I have not seen the mountain for nearly a month. It is impossible for me to understand how a 9000+ foot high mountain 25 miles away cannot be seen, even on a sunny day. Well, it’s not impossible, but it’s darned hard. I keep thinking of the Donovan song; “First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is!” Was he living in Pingtung?

Bye for now.

10/22/02

This past weekend we drove “up north” to Taichung, a city of about 1.2 million people. Taichung was near the epicenter of the 1999 earthquake that stung this island so badly. We visited a friend of Lillian’s, who lives in a large two floor apartment on the 16^th floor. She and her husband and three kids lived there during the quake and she described to me the terror they felt. Every piece of furniture, every appurtenance was falling down around them. She said she figured, “why run downstairs? It will all be over in a minute…” and she wasn’t talking about the earthquake. Their building did withstand the geo-assault and they were all ok.

Taichung is a gem of a city. I found it to be very cosmopolitan, very “international,” even very “laid back” compared to other cities here. We visited a couple of fine museums, strolled through a lovely botanical garden, ate at some delightful restaurants, and enjoyed some terrific night life. They have a pedestrian mall in one of their two “downtowns” where there was an outdoor bar (offering free whiskey samples) and a jazz trio. The weather was mild, the crowd was friendly. There were street artists drawing portraits, and for the first time we succumbed. Now we have a beautiful pastel sketch of Eva Mei, one that really captures her, especially her eyes.

I want to go back there, this time to stay at the Evergreen Plaza Hotel, eat steak at Ruth’s Chris, buy stuff at Tower records or at one of the half dozen high-rise department stores in the city, or maybe visit the “winter wonderland” building where, apparently, you can ski inside.

I’ve got to run teach class now. I’ve got lots more to say, but it will have to wait a while. Bye for now.

10/24/02

Something bit me. On my neck. Maybe when I was sleeping. I don’t know. Since Monday I’ve had this big Y-shaped blotch on my neck with little bumps. I tried putting aloe and other goop on it, but this had no effect. So, today for the first time, I decided to experience National Health Care in Taiwan.

Shiang-Jeou found out the location of a dermatologist. We showed up (no appointment needed), gave our information, and waited maybe 10 minutes to see the Dr. He looked at my neck, opened a book to a page showing two photos: one of a red blotchy rash, the other of a small insect, something like an ant with an attitude, about 1/3 cm long. I was given some cream and was out the door in a total of 15 minutes and about 100 NT poorer. (100 NT is about $3 U.S.)

Students view “To Kill a Mockingbird”

I’ve been showing this film to my English class students. I found what is probably a bootleg DVD copy of the film with Chinese subtitles at a department store. It cost 99 NT (see above). My students were skeptical at first when I told them we’d be seeing a b&w film from 1961. But I think they’re whistling a new tune now. One of my classes was visibly (and audibly, judging from the sniffs I kept hearing) moved by the film, especially the 2^nd half and the ending. The other classes also, but perhaps in somewhat more subdued fashion. I am asking them to write a one page paper about their thoughts and feelings after viewing TKAM, and I decided to have them write in Chinese. Can you imagine trying to express yourself in a 2^nd language—one that you, maybe, just ain’t that good at?

The issue of bootleg DVDs

I’m all for ‘em. Well, no, I’m not for counterfeit copies of new Hollywood films. But what I am for are the DVD copies of old movies that you can’t even get on DVD in the U.S. Or, if you could get them, they wouldn’t have Chinese subtitles. Here’s a list of what I’ve purchased, all for less than $3 U.S.:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Mister Roberts

Twelve O’clock High

The Cain Mutiny

The Mouse that Roared (Yes!! Haven’t seen this in maybe 30 years!)

The Four Feathers (the old version, of course)

The Boy with Green Hair

Lifeboat

Strangers on a Train

All the King’s Men

The Desert Fox

I also found a collection of old Felix the Cat cartoons and one other old film the name of which escapes me for the moment. I dare say that I’m not taking any money out of anyone’s pockets by buying these films. The geniuses in the U.S. video industry don’t have the sense to put titles like these out for sale.

And one other thing that annoys me

Why won’t companies like Amazon.com, etc. ship items at a reasonable cost? And why won’t they ship items like computer games, software, etc? And why won’t Amazon.com.jp (it’s Japanese division) come up with an English language web site? And why can’t I get a hold of the Andy Griffith show on video here in Taiwan? Oh, I know I’m being ridiculous. My parents and my sister’s family just sent us boxes of Sponge Bob and other cartoon videos. Can you believe that we even look forward to watching the commercials?

Bye for now.

10/31/02

Happy birthday to my wife, Shiang-Jeou, happy Chiang Kai-shek day, and happy Halloween! Yep, it’s all three today. The fireworks have been going off outside my window. Well, at least they were. They’ve stopped now. Not much love for the old guy down here in south Taiwan. As for Halloween, all the stores seem to sell costumes and decorations, but there’s no sign of any trick or treating. We will go to Kaohsiung today for Shiang-Jeou’s birthday lunch, probably back to TGI Fridays. I have to teach tonight, so we’ll have to be back fairly early.

The weather here has become much nicer. It’s hot today, but mostly we’ve had lower humidity and temps in the upper 70’s to mid 80’s. No rain to speak of. But I can’t say that the air is any cleaner.

Even last weekend, when we drove to the nearby Maolin mountain area, the air was smoky. I guess it was mostly from locals burning stuff. The Maolin area is quite beautiful, though, with white water and those dangly, bouncy pedestrian suspension bridges like the kind we saw in “Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom.” I had to cajole Eva Mei to cross the first one. I said, “well, I guess I’ll just have to go by myself!” To which she said, “no daddy! I’ll come too!”

So, we all crossed the bouncy bridge. Eva Mei was a bit nervous. I said, “hey! It’s just like the one in that Indiana Jones movie we saw!”

“But that one fell apart and came crashing down!” she replied.

“Oh, that hardly ever happens,” I explained. “Only once every few weeks or so.”

Across the bridge was a trail that led to another village, a waterfall, and a place called “Love Valley.” Well, at least that’s what the sign said. We opted to turn around after being hit by large bugs and seeing what must have been mountain lion poop.

We drove further, stopping here and there, finally taking a walk at the village of Tona. It’s an Aboriginal village, lined with small vendors, many barbecuing and selling strips of pork. We bought a couple of what looked like a cross between a stuffed grape leaf and a tamale. Not too bad, good for our health, said the proprietor, though it could have used some sauce. Up a hill we found the local elementary school—very modern looking with posters at the gate encouraging the children to learn to speak English (they begin teaching it, in many schools, as early as the first grade). Nearby, there was a covered basketball court with a small stage for speeches or concerts.

We drove onward. The road became more rugged with signs imploring drivers to change lanes away from the cliff so as to avoid falling rocks. We saw one of those diamond shaped hazard signs with a picture of rocks falling on top of a car. Later on the signs became more ominous—one with a picture of a car flying off a cliff. So, we turned around and headed back home, about a 45-minute drive.

I’ll have more pictures soon. I have a 36 exposure roll in my camera, and it takes some time to use them all up!

Bye for now!

11/1/02

So, of course you’re all wondering, “what did they do yesterday? What did they eat? What did they buy?” Well, I’ll tell you. The afternoon’s festivities began with a trip to Careforre to buy candy for Eva Mei’s classmates. Then Lillian visited Eva Mei’s class about 11:45 to hand out the candy and tell the kids about Halloween in the U.S. School lets out at noon, and so we then drove to Kaohsiung. My driving and navigation skills are becoming, well, outstanding. I zip along the roads as if I was born here. Now, don’t worry, I’m being safe. But you must realize that it is the duty of every Taiwan driver to pass the car in front of him. There are prizes waiting up ahead for those who finish first. Oh, but don’t get me started on Taiwan drivers….

We made it to Friday’s right about 1:00 and, lo and behold, we got a parking place right in front of it! We go in and all the wait staff are dressed as vampires, angels, and whatevers. Eva Mei ordered grilled cheese, I had fried shrimp, and Lillian had some kind of pasta with shrimp. We also ordered onion rings—two orders. Eva Mei told the waiter, in perfect Mandarin, that it was her mother’s birthday. “Mei wen ti,” he responds, with a smile and a “shhhh,” a smile, and his finger to lips. The food was great and when we were done the waiter brought Lillian a free cheesecake. I tipped the guy, even though tipping doesn’t exist in Taiwan.

Next, we walked to the nearby Da Li Department store where we headed straight to the basement market (“La Marche”). Here I purchased the following items: one bottle of Vernors, one bottle of Orange Crush, one bottle of something called “Rat Bastard Root Beer” (each one of these costs 85 NT, nearly $3 U.S.), two cans of Guinness (these cost 45 NT each!), two small cans of Hormel Chile (no beans), a jar of Chi Chi’s Salsa, a can of Hormel Corned Beef Hash, and a box of Quaker Oat Squares. No spaghetti sauce was purchased today because we can get that in Pingtung.

So, now you can all rest easy, knowing our shopping list. After that, we drove home and got all the bird and bat dung washed off the car. Home, nap, followed by 8:00 English class. Oh, wait. Our friend Ren-fu brought over a birthday cake that his sister Linda (who is a student back at Penn State) bought for Lillian. We even lit a candle and sang that song you sing at birthdays…oh, what’s that called again?

Oh, right. “Mei wen ti” means "no problem," “don’t worry, or “never mind.”

Bye for now.

11/10/02

One of the tricks to surviving and really “living” in a foreign country, I think, is to be able to continue to do many of the things that you did at home. Now, sitting and watching TV—that’s easy, but it’s not enough. You have to be able to go out into the streets and neighborhoods and claim them as your own. We’ve struggled a bit with this concept. We managed to capture little islands of comfort throughout the city—Sogo Department Store, Carrefour, the nearby supermarket, McDonalds, etc. But we never filled up the spaces in between. After a few failures over the past couple of weeks, I think we took some big steps yesterday.

We began by parking our car downtown. Not in the Sogo underground lot, but instead a few blocks away. Then we proceeded on foot. We headed down Chong Cheng Rd. away from Sogo. We passed small clothes stores, cafés, book stores, and other small shops until we crossed Ming Shen Rd. There we spotted a “Foot Locker” type store selling all kinds of athletic footwear. I needed socks and bought a couple of pairs on sale. Then we headed down one of the alleys – into “the market” where temporary vendors sell all sorts of food and merchandise. It was turning into a happy day—a bit of an “Eastern Market” mentality came over us.

Eva Mei spotted a stand selling “pearl tea.” What do you suppose that is? Pearl tea is cold sweet tea with milk, sold in a “go-cup” with a straw, and with one additional secret ingredient. It has little balls of – I don’t know what – maybe gelatinous cornstarch that are just small enough to flow through the straw. These are the “pearls.” You swallow some and you chew some. I kind of feel like I’m taking in rabbit poop when I drink pearl tea, so I don’t drink much. But Eva Mei loves it.

Anyway, the more we do this kind of thing, the less “foreign” the street feels, the less isolated we feel.

Later in the evening, we went to our new friends’ house for a hot pot supper. This is the family of one of Eva Mei’s school friends. (You can see her in the recent picture taken along the Taiwan Straits.) They are very nice people and the father speaks fair English. They have a huge lovely home in the “Hakka Village” area just outside Pingtung. We ate and watched TV and laughed and listened to music the way we might with friends back in the U.S. Life can be “normal” here. There is nothing to fear. The only limits are inside our heads.

Here’s another picture, and another, and another!

Bye for now.

11/19/02

We flew to Taipei this past weekend with two primary goals (we academic types never have just plain old ordinary goals—always “key” goals): to see “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” and to eat a huge meal at Lawry’s Prime Rib. Mission accomplished. First, here’s the lowdown on Lawry’s. The place is located in Taiwan’s biggest shopping mall, something called “Core Pacific City,” or something like that. Inside, the mall looks like some scene from Star Wars, with a huge beehive-like center section, surrounded by a dozen or more “rings” containing various stores. Inside the beehive are an auditorium, 5 or 6 floors of Mitsukoshi (a popular Japanese department store chain), and two floors of Eslite, a popular book store chain. The whole thing looks very much like a space station, with long escalators connecting the rings with the central core.

Anyhow, Lawry’s was just like I expected. It was Lillian, Eva Mei, Lillian’s sister, and me. We pigged out on bread, salad, prime rib, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, etc. It was quite elegant—chilled salad forks, the whole bit. No surprises. This was Thursday night.

This brings me to the Harry Potter film, which Eva Mei and I saw early Saturday morning. No surprises here either, since I had already read the book. Watching it was very much like having a nice meal of meat and potatoes. No real suspense, just a lot of familiarity. Enjoyable nonetheless. But I must go back to Friday night for a moment.

On Friday night our friends Betty and Peter took us out to dinner. Betty and Peter work for the National Police. She teaches at Central Police College and he is a high official in the Taipei police force. We were joined by their son, Kevin and two other couples (sisters and in-laws of Betty and Peter). It was a Chinese banquet and I need to describe it to you. On the table first were small appetizers; a small bowl of hot pickled cabbage and another containing peanuts and dried salted minnows. A little later we were served a dish of beef and noodles, some fried shrimp (“with head”), and some sliced beef stomach with ginger sauce.

I’ve eaten shrimp “with head” many times, but never beef stomach. But it was no problem. Why? Because the meal is also accompanied by something called Gao Liang, a very strong liquor made, I think, from sorghum. We drank lots of it, and that’s why I could stand chewing the very chewy beef stomach. Later we had roast chicken (they saved the chicken butt for me) and roast duck stuffed with “eu toh” – that’s a paste made of taro root and it’s very good.

We had some other dishes, all very good, but I’ve forgotten most of them because of the many glasses of Gao Liang (not to mention the beer chaser). We had a ton of fun and laughter and we all talked about getting together again.

The following morning, Betty and Peter drove down to where we were staying and kindly offered to take Eva Mei and I to the theater. They also wanted to take us to lunch (more on that in a moment). Betty has a new minivan, something that is becoming much more common in Taiwan these days. So, we all piled in and headed uptown to Warner Village Cinema. I think Betty and Peter were not in agreement over which way to go. Finally, I said, “I though you cops knew where everything is!” Har, har, har.

After the movie, we begged off the lunch. It meant driving another 35 minutes further uptown, sitting for two hours (because you can’t just “eat” when you eat), then being driven for an hour back to Lillian’s sister. As it turned out, a Taipei city councilman was assassinated right around lunch time, right around the restaurant they had wanted to take us to. There’s a city election coming up, and I guess they take politics seriously here.

Remember when I mentioned the sketch we had made of Eva Mei in Taichung?

Click here to see a photo of it.

Bye for now.

11/23/02

Tomorrow is Eva Mei’s birthday. I guess it won’t hurt to say here what she’s getting. First, maybe today we’ll let her open the video we got her—“Monsters Incorporated.” Then tomorrow, she’ll get some little Harry Potter coins with a book to keep them in. The book is a special Chinese edition, with “Harry Potter” written in Chinese on the cover. She’s also getting some Harry Potter erasers. Then there’s the “Harry Potter Cookbook,” a set of Harry Potter steak knives, and the Harry Potter Mosquito Gel Repellent. After that, she’ll be receiving the “Harry Potter Guide to Good Dental Health” and the “Harry Potter Knows When to Report Bullying to a Responsible Adult” coloring book (published, of course, by the National Education Association).

More about driving in Pingtung

I wish I could videotape, for all of you back in America to see, the sight of Taiwanese hauling their families around on motor scooters. Picture the following two images I have actually witnessed: 1. A father holding an infant in his left arm while steering his scooter with his right; 2. A family of five, all riding one motor scooter (father driving, mother in back holding an infant, and two small children standing between the father and the steering column). It is very common to see helmetless women driving scooters with helmetless children standing in front of them.

More about teaching

I worry about teaching English. In fact, I’m more of an “English appreciation” teacher than an actual teacher of English. I am not drilling them in speaking, proper grammar, or in anything one typically associates with language instruction. We practice English, but not in any real systematic way. So, the other night I taught them how to play “Twenty Questions.” I figured it would be a good way to help them practice speaking. We did an example together in which I told them what the secret person, place, or thing was (it was butter). When I thought most everyone understood the idea of the game, I picked a new secret (Sun-Moon Lake—a popular travel spot in Taiwan), and called on a student to begin the game.

“Ask a question!” I said, smiling an encouraging smile to the young woman. After of few moments of what looked like sheer fear, she responded with, “How old are you?”

Trying to hold back laughter, I suggested that this question would not help the class discover the “secret.” Fortunately, other students came to the rescue. Speaking Chinese, they explained the game to the student. I had hoped that she would come back with the usual “is it a person, place, or thing” question, but after another few moments she asked, “Does it eat?”

Now I guess that’s not a bad question. Think about it. Anyhow, we went around and around the class, about 25 questions in all. They knew it was something big and wet. When I finally told them the answer, they all groaned.

In Taiwan schools and throughout schools in much of Asia, college classes select one student to be the class leader. This person takes care of announcements and assists the teacher with errands, communications, handing out papers, etc. Each time I end my classes and am about to leave, the class leader jumps up and begins speaking in Chinese to the class. I believe he is saying something like, “O.K., enough of that. Now we will practice our real English lesson!”

It’s my turn again to teach the course in Educational Administration. So, I’m showing movies for four weeks. Last Tuesday it was “12 O’Clock High” with Gregory Peck.

Why?

That’s what the College Board of Review asked me at my trial on Wednesday. They didn’t buy my explanation at first (that it demonstrates a “rational systems” view of leadership). But when I told them that it would help the class learn English and to teach it to all of Taiwan’s primary school students, they all smiled and told me to keep up the good work!

So, next week it’ll be “Mister Roberts” (illustrating a “natural systems” view of leadership and also helping to spread the use of English among Taiwan’s elementary school students).

I will now remove my tongue from my cheek and show you a couple more pictures. Here’s one and here’s another.

Bye for now—And Happy Thanksgiving!

11/28/02

And speaking of Thanksgiving, here we are. Some of you may wonder why the happiest sounding messages here all seem to deal with food.

We struggled for a few days trying to come up with a T-day plan. First we were going to find a restaurant serving turkey in Kaohsiung. This failed at first, because while many places had “turkey dinners to go,” we couldn’t find a place that would serve us a late lunch or early dinner (I teach tonight, so we couldn’t do anything after 5:00). I was getting really bummed out. The sad feeling one can get from missing a holiday—especially Thanksgiving—has a way of sneaking up on you. You didn’t expect to get so sad, and then you do.

But let me digress. Last weekend was Eva Mei’s birthday. On Sunday we took the commuter train to Kaohsiung along with another family (friends of ours with a daughter who is from Eva Mei’s school). We ended up back at good old T.G.I. Friday’s again and ate basically the same bar food we’ve eaten there before. Then we walked over to Da Li Department store and I discovered that they have a kids amusement park up on the roof. So Eva Mei and her friend got to ride a lot of rides. After we were all done, we sat outside and waited for the bus to take us back to the train station. The weather got quite chilly and I could have used a jacket. Who’da thunk it would get chilly in the tropics? Later on, back home, we all shared cake and sang that song—what’s it called? You know, the one you sing on birthdays? Anyhow, we sang it again.

The next morning, I got sick. I went to the office, ready to teach, but found that my head and bones and stomach were aching to the point where I just wanted to go home to bed. So I did. I stayed in bed all day. On Tuesday I was feeling better, but was now so homesick that I didn’t know what to do. I desperately wanted a Thanksgiving. But how?

Lillian helped me out a lot and told me we’d figure out something. This led to plan B—cook something ourselves at home. We’d get potatoes, vegetables, and some kind of bird. We found some places that had roast chicken, and we even found a place that would sell us one without the head. But then I remembered how good the fried chicken was at the Carefour Food Court. Seriously, it’s one of the three best fried chickens in the world (1 is my mom’s, 2 is Harold’s in Chicago, and 2 (it’s a tie) is this little Chinese cafeteria on the top of Carefour).

That was the plan—home cooking—until this morning, when we discovered that the Splendor Hotel in Kaohsiung was offering a turkey lunch buffet. The Splendor is a high-rise hotel near the river. It’s the 12^th largest building in the world, about 90 feet shorter than the Sears Tower. The restaurant was on the 39^th floor and we had a beautiful view of the largest and busiest harbor in Asia.

But when they say “turkey buffet,” they mean it—I think they had one turkey. By the time we got there all that was left was a bit of the breast, a wing, and what the Chinese call “the butt.” It was plenty good for us, and they had a lot of other swell food as well. And cakes and pies and Hagen Daas and fruit (“fruit—yeah, right! Like I’m gonna eat fruit!).

But I’m still homesick. This is going to be a tough few weeks ahead. Because there’s a reason for that song about no place like home for the holidays. No matter how you try to recreate the feeling, no matter how much fun you have, you’re always remembering what it’s like to be home with family and friends. Aw, gorsh, I’m gonna get all teary-eyed and sentimental (with the emphasis on “mental”).

See ya next time!

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