Visiting the Old Home

January 22 to Feb 3

Jenny and Soleil are now traveling in Guangdong Province in China  visiting relatives. The first few days we stayed with Jenny's cousin Mingying and her son Kenny in Dongguan. We visited the clothing inspection factory that they manage.  Soleil and I rented a tandem bike and biked along Song Shan Hu Park. We have gone out to eat pizza, Cantonese food, Taiwan beef noodles, and Cantonese dimsum. We took a train to visit my dad's youngest sister (小姑 Xiaogu) and her family in Guangzhou.

We got tickets to Guangzhou East train station because it is far less crowded than the main Guangzhou station. But still it was very crowded.  In Guangzhou my cousin Renji picked us up. We rode the subway, then walked through a market on the way to Auntie's house. We had dinner with her and two of her kids.
Here is a picture of the market we walked through and one of a park along the way. The Jiujiu (uncle) behind Soleil is my cousin.

A few days later we took a long distance bus to Shantou where my cousin Bangsheng and his family picked us up and took us to a different cousin's house.

We stayed with cousin Yili and her family for a few days. She and her husband had to work a lot while we were there. She says it is OK that she has to work now because in three months she can retire and be done with work completely. Women her age can retire at age 50, but people a few months younger than her have to work a few years longer. She is a sanitation worker.  Her husband works in a shipping yard. They have a son in his twenties and an 18 year old daughter in high school. Her name is Xiaoqi. She is a talented dancer and piano player. She also sings in a youth choir at church. Soleil attended a dance class at church where Xiaoqi was one of the instructors.

Here Soleil and her Auntie Yanshan are helping a street vendor peel ginkgo nuts.

Cousin Yili has two sisters, Yanshan and Yilin. Cousin Yanshan's daughter Yiyi hung out with us a lot while we were at my Cousin Yili and Xiaoqi's house. Yiyi has just completed her first semester of college in Dongguan, majoring in English. Xiaoqi and her cousin Yiyi took us to Zhongshan park were we went on slides and rides and tried out the dancing that the local ladies do for their morning exercise. We also took a pedal boat ride on a pond.  The boat had two mandarin ducks on it.

One night we went to the home of Cousin Yilin and her mom, my "second auntie". Second Auntie (二姑 Èrgū) is the second of my dad's three surviving sisters. All three of Second Auntie's daughters and their children were there, plus Cousin Yili's husband. Second Auntie doesn't see or hear all that well anymore. She spends a lot of the day sleeping.  But she did remember who I was when my cousins explained it to her.

Everywhere we go in Shantou we eat lots of seafood. Soleil has learned how to say "I like to eat shrimp" in Shantou dialect. Wa ai jiak hey! Mostly we use Mandarin or English though.

Soleil really loved all the aunties and jiejies (older "sisters") doting on her and peeling her shrimp for her. Sometimes they even gave her piggy back rides when she was tired of walking.

Here are some of Soleil's second cousins, Xiaoqi and Yiyi.

One day Yili's son Shute and Yilin's son Huángzhì joined us and we took a ferry over to the village of Kakchio, (Quēshí in Mandarin) where the Huang family lived when they were growing up. My dad had six siblings. Four of them are still alive now. I visited all of them on this trip, and most of their descendants.  All of the Huangs have moved out of Kakchio by now. Most of them are now in the city of Shantou. But when we were walking around Kakchio they showed me where they used to live, or go to school or church, or to the store. There are not many cars there because it is hard to get to and the streets are narrow and hilly. And you can't even see the houses the family lived in anymore because they have been torn down and replaced with taller modern buildings.

When my grandparents were alive, they and much of the family worked as servants for some Baptist missionaries from the USA. One of them assisted my dad in getting to the US for a college education. He has been in the US for over six decades now. All of the relatives are trying to convince him to move back to Shantou where there are lots of family members but he only wants to go back for visits, not to stay.

In Kakchio we hiked up a hill that had some interesting caves, springs, and viewpoints along the way. Like most Chinese mountains there were paved paths and stairs all the way. I think if they had the kind of more natural trails like we hike in the US, erosion would be quite a problem because of the number of people here. After that we took the ferry back to Shantou and ate another seafood meal.

That night Shute drove us to a seafood restaurant to meet up with 大姑. Dàgū is my dad's oldest sister. She has two sons. They are quite a bit older than I am. One of them already has grand children. One of the grand children is just a few months younger than Soleil. So Soleil got really confused when the other girl called her auntie (姑姑 Gūgu) instead of older sister (姐姐Jiějie). Then I had to explain what a generation was and that even though they were the same age they were of different generations. I admit it is confusing.

Next we spent a few days with my Cousin Bangde's family, including visits to 饶平青岚地质公园RaoPingQingLang Geopark, and a hot spring resort.  His parents and brother's family were with us part of the time. Our other cousins must have tipped them off because shortly after we got in their car, my Uncle Guangyi gave Soleil her favorite vegetable, raw cucumbers and raw carrots.
Cousin Bangde has a son Keven, with whom Greg and I traveled when Keven was a teenager. Now he is in his twenties and has been studying in Australia. His sister is now in California.

Cousin Bangsheng has a daughter just a few months younger than Soleil, so they played together.

Every place we go is decorated for Chinese New Year.  We also saw many potted mandarin orange trees as symbols of luck, and the word 福 fú as a decoration to bring blessings. We ate fish so that there would be plenty of everything in the new year.  These are all based on homonyms. 年年有餘 niánnián yǒu yú. "Every year there will be plenty." The word for "fish" sounds like the word "excess"  or "plenty" and the word for "luck" sounds (a little) like the word for "mandarin oranges." This is the year of the horse. So another common saying is "馬到成功", or "horse brings success". The adults gave laisee to the kids. Those are red envelopes of money to celebrate the new year.  Not surprisingly, Soleil likes this custom. But even more, she loves playing with all the relatives. She played a lot of games with her uncles and cousins. On the bus ride from Shantou back to Shenzhen, where the airport is, she asked, "Can we come back again and see those same people?"

We said goodbye to the relatives and took a bus to Shenzhen where we visited a theme park called Window of the World, which features smaller replicas of major tourist attractions from around the world.
Here is Jenny at Manhattan, the Washington Monument, and Mount Rushmore all at once.

Did I mention China has a lot of people? Here are just a few of them.

We came back to Taiwan the next day. 

Democrats and Republicans in Asia

Remember when the USA was just a young little country with grand ideals?  Shaking off the shackles of Imperial England and starting what they considered a superior form of governing: by, of and for the people?  Only 248 years ago.  Not that long in human history really.

This year is Taiwan's 103rd birthday.  One hundred three years from the founding of the Republic of China by Sun Yatsen (孙中山).  His picture still hangs in many prominent places around our schools.  He is considered father of the country, although he never lived in Taiwan.  He started the Republic following the defeat of the last imperial rule in China.

 Born in 1911, the Republican Army, led by Gen. Chiang Kaishek, fought alongside Mao's Communists to overthrow the last emperor.  Once their campaign was successful, however, the Republican Army split from the Communists.  Turned out they were only partners of convenience.  They then started an even bloodier civil war that weakened China further and left it vulnerable to Japanese invasion.  The Kuoming Tang (國民黨) "Republicans" finally  left China in 1949, rousted by Mao's ever expanding People's Red Army - red is a lucky color in China.  Gen. Chiang shipped his troops and his government to Taiwan, recently regained by China from Japan as a result of WWII concessions.  Dr. Sun had died by this time but the ideals of a Republic remained with those who departed communist China.

Taiwan became the home of the Republic (R.O.C) in exile, led by Gen. Chiang.  I was shocked to find out though, that this man, who is most responsible for the establishment of Taiwan as an independent state, is not well remembered at home.  In fact, he and his army are responsible for elimination of 30,000 Taiwan natives who opposed his martial law.  This mass slaughter of native residents led to nearly 40 years of autocratic rule which included Chiang's son.  This country, which I used to think was one of Asia's earliest democracies, in truth, held it's first popular vote to elect a president in 1996.

Today, the R.O.C. government looks a lot like the US government - executive, judicial and legislative branches; popular election of the president and a representative congress.  It also has a similar two-party structure to its democracy identified by two colors.  Sound familiar?  Unlike us though, their colors are Blue: The Kuoming Tang (KMT) led coalition and Green: The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) led coalition.  And the major point of division between these camps rests in their relationship to and reunification with mainland China.  In talking with colleagues and friends however, the voters have about as low an opinion of their government here as Americans do back home.  There may be no martial law, but there's enough corruption and cronyism to keep the news media in good business.

Urban Farms beneath the towers of Technology

Hsinchu, where we live, is widely known as the "Silicon Valley" of Taiwan.  It is home to a lot of tech companies and well-paid engineers.  You may have heard of some of these brands - ASUS, Logitech and Acer to name a few.  Jenny's university specializes in engineering and technology as well.  

But between the high rise apartment buildings and along the river trail below the luxury towers, Zhubei's original residents are working their own low tech revolution.  Small community garden plots and even a rice paddy here and there offer a moment of respite from always looking up and counting floors to the sky.  Instead, our focus turns to simple daily work and nutritious food raised by neighbors and feeding our need for a connection to the earth.

Jenny's sister has shared some healthcare tips for city residents like us who suffer from countryside melancholia.  She says we need more time with our feet on the ground - down on the first floor, walking barefoot on the grass.  Today we took her advice and had a picnic breakfast in the park before church.

Here are a few photos I've taken of the urban gardens populating empty lots in our neighborhood. Below those are two videos Jenny took along the riverside bike path during the rice harvest this fall.  The second one has a brief narration that refers back to the first.

The Luxuries of a Pencil Box

What do you need for school?

Markers and Crayons:  I have two boxes of markers and one box of crayons.   One box of markers is small and one big.   

  

Erasers, Pencils and Rulers:  There are many erasers in Taiwan and many different shapes.  I have an eraser shaped like a girl's head, shoes, a cracker sandwich and Winnie-the-Pooh.  There are many different decorations on the pencils.  One of my pencils, the pink one below, you can pull out the lead and there's another new lead under it.  This pencil lost it's cap.  These three rulers you see in this picture.  One of them you can trace circles and the other two you can trace shapes.  In Taiwan they use centimeters (cm) to measure.

Pencil boxes:  I have 5 pencil boxes.  I brought two from Maine, a purple bag from Mama and a pink box from Ms. Powell, my first grade teacher.  My friend Joanna (陳運如) gave me a Sponge Bob pencil case!  I bought two pencil boxes in Taiwan.  One that is a zip open dog.  And one that has Butter Lion on it and many luxuries.  See the video below for details.

A Windy (but not White) Christmas

Merry Christmas from Taiwan

Zhubei is a windy city and that is especially apparent in cooler weather.  Riding my bike to school can be a challenge in the morning when gusts of 20-30 kmh rush between high rise apartment buildings and threaten to blow me into traffic.  This last week as I read about the snow and ice storms crossing the US, I was grateful that all we had to deal with here was rain and wind.  Numerous friends and colleagues in their down parkas, have asked me "Are you cold?"  I usually tell them that it feels like autumn here not winter.  Most can hardly imagine temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

While you make your homes cozy and warm for the holidays we want to send our greetings to all of our friends for this Christmas season.  Wishing you the best through even the most difficult times.

Recitation Contest

There was a recitation contest at my university on November 27.  Greg posted this video he took of my performance at the contest.  I will put the speech here in English and Chinese in case you want to read it.  Contestants could pick any text we wanted and read it in Chinese.  I wrote my own on the topic of Redesigning People. I had to shorten it quite a bit to fit it in under the three minute limit.  The contest was for foreigners who are learning Chinese. Students from four universities were invited, but since it was held at Chiaotung University, the university I attend, most of the contestants were from there.  There were three categories of contestants: beginners, intermediate/advanced, and overseas Chinese.  I was in the second category and got first place.  I won an instant camera that spits out film and develops it on the spot.
Below is the full original article in two languages.  And below that is the shortened version in Chinese that I used in the contest.
If you scroll all the way down, you will see a seven-year-old artist's rendition of the redesigned person.

He's holding his teeth. And there's a good reason why his belly is so big.

The first Quarter at National Chiaotung University

These pencils were long when I got to Taiwan but I've studied them down to little stubs.

Hello! It's Jenny here, remember me? You haven't heard much from me because I have been too busy studying these past few months. But now that mid-term exams are over, I am taking the time to update you on how my studies are going. First, how did I choose this university where I am studying?

I got this nine month Huayu Enrichment Scholarship to study Mandarin, paid for by the Taiwan Ministry of Education.  Greg had been accepted in a program for foreigners to teach English under the auspices of the Taiwan Ministry of Education.  After applying to three other universities in Taiwan, and then discovering that Greg's program didn't have teaching positions for him nearby, I chose National Chiaotung University in Xinzhu.  Greg could get a teaching assignment near Xinzhu at two Junior High Schools and I could attend the intensive Mandarin study program offered by NCTU's Mandarin Language Center. (There were lots of teaching positions for him all over Taiwan and lots of universities for me, but very few of them were near enough for us to live together as a family.) Along with my applications for the scholarship and for admission to the universities, I submitted a history of my previous Mandarin studies and time spent in China, and a study plan.  I also checked their online course list to make sure the university had intermediate and advanced Chinese courses for foreign learners.

Here is what happened after arriving in Taiwan.

We arrived in Zhubei in mid-August. It is within communing distance of NCTU in Xinzhu, and of Greg's jobs. I hadn't heard much from NCTU other than that I'd been accepted. So I called to see when the placement test was and when classes started.  That's when I found out there wasn't a placement test because the intensive Mandarin study program that I applied for does not exist for intermediate or advanced learners of Chinese.  It is only for beginners. Despite all the investigation and application materials, the woman at NCTU I had been communicating with by email, just assumed I was a beginner in Chinese.  She said they don't always offer all the courses listed on the website. They do have a limited selection of intermediate and advanced classes but they don't have a formal intensive program for this level.  

I asked the Ministry of Education to transfer me to another university but this isn't allowed if I want to keep my scholarship. So I'm at NCTU.

The intermediate and advanced courses I am taking now are meant to be for foreign students who have had an intensive year of Chinese study but are now in a degree program in some other subject area such as science or technology and only need one or two language courses to keep improving their Chinese.

So this semester at NCTU I am taking six different Chinese courses at various levels from the Mandarin Language Center.  Some are too hard for me, one is too easy, and several are at the right level.  I also take a calligraphy course from General Education (regular courses that Taiwan students take).  Plus I attend two tutoring sessions a week and a bi-weekly Chinese Circle where we are supposed to practice conversation. (Sometimes we do converse and sometimes we just listen to the teacher lecture. It depends which teacher is in charge that week.) I also have recently started attending a weekly tutoring session led by a volunteer teacher.  This is a very heavy course load, way too much, actually, when you add it all up. But I need to take a certain minimum number of course hours to fulfill my scholarship requirements.  

In the Chinese courses the teachers mostly just march through the textbook in a very traditional Asian teaching style.  We learn grammar patterns and long lists of vocabulary words from a dialog or text.  We do workbook exercises at home and take dictations in class.  Most classes are predominantly teacher-centered. I'm familiar enough with the Chinese education system, so this was no surprise. I do have one teacher whose teaching methodology is more student-centered and interactive, and I appreciate that. But generally speaking, we are not using the type of teaching methods ACTFL recommends: three modes of communication, the 5 C's, having students reflect on the learning process, goal setting, performance indicators, etc.

Since I am taking so many courses, there is a lot of material to be responsible for at a time.  Most of the teachers introduce the dialogs, vocabulary and grammar in class but there isn't time to practice these in class.  That's why I do a lot of preview before the class is taught and a lot of follow up to practice outside of class.  Also, the work study students who serve as tutors and the volunteer teacher are great because they don't introduce new material.  I ask questions about what I've been studying and they help clarify. Occasionally we practice with the material but there often is not enough time for that.

I hope next semester I can take fewer classes and do a more thorough job of mastering the material I am studying.

Although the study conditions are not ideal, the good news is that this year I am finally getting to do some serious study in Mandarin.  This is something I've wanted to do for many years now.  So I am working very hard and making the most of it.

One cool thing about my classes is that I have classmates from all over the world: Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kiribati, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, France, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Holland, Thailand, Paraguay, Canada, USA, Burkina Faso and probably a few others I'm forgetting.

In the next blog I'll let you know about the two contests I took part in at my university in November.