Soleil's Travel Vlog #2 - Miscellaneous Clips

Here is the second video in my "Taiwan Travel" vlog series. These are a bunch of clips on my camera roll in no particular order. 

~Soleil Huang-Dale

Soleil's Travel Vlog #1 - Road Trip to New York

Durning our trip I kept myself busy by filming and editing short vlogs. Here's a little insight on what our trip was like:

~Soleil Huang-Dale

From the Pine Tree state to New Bamboo

 We have waited patiently for a chance to return to our beloved community in Taiwan.  Zhubei, Hsinchu to be precise.  Our friends and colleagues have kept us connected and eager to return and now we are making our way back!  

Our extended summer at Grandma Jane's home in Sweden, Maine has included many of our beloved New England activities.  During the warmest days we swam and kayaked in Keyes Pond at the end of the path through Cathedral Pines planted by Grandpa Ray Gibbons and family back in the 1930s when they arrived here.  Some of those pines were cut last winter to cover costs of updates to the farmhouse that we've been making over the past year or two - solar panels, a heat exchange unit, the new front walk and this fall an emergency generator.  So our summer has also included chainsaw work on the slash left by the loggers.  We've put away quite a lot of fireplace wood for Grandma's winter stay in Maine.

Soleil went to camp with Concordia Language Villages again this year, but it wasn't in Minnesota.  She spent 6-8 hours a day upstairs at the farmhouse online with friends and counselors learning a lot of Mandarin Chinese to get ready for grade 9 in Taiwan.  She also refined her cooking skills with several favorite Asian recipes - scallion pancakes, tomato eggs, and the beloved bubble tea (milk tea with tapioca balls).  Following camp she went on to bake raspberry and apple pies and apple crumble in partnership with Jenny.  Mmmmm.  We are lucky that she likes the kitchen!

Jenny was the only one to spend the summer working as she completed her job at the Fryeburg Library at the end of August and her work on an online Reading Music course for Mountain Top Music Center in early September.  On our shared "off days" we got in several regional hikes that included Grandma at 84 and Kathryn Krupa, a second cousin enjoying her retirement from teaching art in Michigan. Kathryn was also a willing participant in our family games which happened whenever nothing else was planned.

Greg spent much of his time at the Fryeburg Academy gardens, in online meetings or binge watching our family Netflix subscription.  He also took an online American History course with FA colleagues that kept his mind off the wait.  There were also many things to do to prepare for a year abroad and thanks to friends at home and in Taiwan it got done.

We don't have to tell you that 2020 has been an unpredictable, dizzying and anxiety filled year.  We don't expect history to pause while we are away, but we hope a more distant view of the turmoil in our country will help us rest for the future while doing what we can with friends and colleagues in New Bamboo to build a better world for us all.

Thank you Grandma Jane.  Thank you cousin Kathryn.  Thank you Fryeburg friends.  Thank you neighbors, new and old, around the world.  We are on our way.

Year of the Dog

This is Soleil's scholarship entry for Chinese camp this summer.

Year of the Dog

This is Soleil's scholarship entry for Chinese camp this summer.

Chinese New Year

This is Soleil's Chinese New Year video.

我為你們介紹春節。

Personify Anything (by Jenny)

Personify Anything

by Jenny

How do you feel about handrails on escalators? Perhaps you don't think about them very often except when you are on an escalator.  Anyway, I bet your first reaction to my question is not, 

"Oh, I love escalator handrails; they are so cute!" 

Well, one thing I have learned in Taiwan is that it is possible to personify anything and make it into a character. Often its a super cutesy colorful giant statue you put in front of your business so that you can sell more of whatever it is you sell. Sometimes it is on a billboard or poster to spread whatever message you need to spread.  And if I remember correctly, somewhere along my travels, (either in Taiwan or Guangdong), I saw a personified escalator handrail with eyes and hands and feet and all.  Its purpose in "life" was to convince everyone that they should hold onto the handrail when riding the escalator. I probably should have taken a photo of it for you, but I would have had to let go of the handrail to do so.

Meet Grandpa Bamboo.  He promotes travel by rail in Hsinchu County.  He is part of a family of characters that includes Little Brother Rice Bucket, or Zhú Tǒng Dì, pictured beside Grandpa Bamboo below, and Auntie Wild Rice Shoots, a.k.a. Jiāobáisǔn Āyí, who is in the bottom center of the photo below.

It is possible to cut a section of bamboo into a tall cup shape, then cook rice in it.   The rice would pick up some of the bamboo flavour. That is what Little Brother Rice Bucket is. 

Close up of Auntie Wild Rice Shoot

Doesn't she look more innocent than wild?

Sometimes it is not entirely clear what we are personifying.  Any guesses?  The sign just says, "This is where you get the train to Liujia or Neiwan."

This was at a western style restaurant in our neighborhood. 

Do you associate onions with being smart? Chinese people do, because onion 蔥 and smart 聰 are both pronounced cōng (tsong) in Mandarin. I'm sure all the children who attend this kindergarten are far smarter than those of us who went to regular kindergartens, the kind without personified onions.

And while we are on the subject of food that walks, talks and smiles, here is a black soya bean.  He's even got a drink, made from... one of his ancestors, I suppose.

I asked the people running this drink shop what this thing was, a piece of fruit? an animal?  They weren't too specific.  They just said, "He's Bingo," or "He's our mascot."  Yes, but 它到底是什麼東西？！ They couldn't say.  

Maybe someone should let Bingo know that DaYung doesn't sound too promising to English speakers. Most of us would rather live long than die young.

A drop of oil at a gas station

Personified drop of water on our water bill

What is this, the Eggman?

A giant plum and Mr. Lu

Pineapple people at a breakfast shop

 

Pole stands decorated with characters of themselves

An expo building

Damper baby is a personification of the damper at Taiwan's tallest building, Taipei 101.  The damper keeps this 101-story building from swaying in the wind.

 Roller skating Pepto Eggman Cowboy helps with shuttle travel.

One of the most alarming personifications was a caricature of a nuclear reactor doing all sorts of human activities including playing with human children and having babies.  It was printed in 52 different drawings on a deck of playing cards given out to children who visit a hydro dam.  The people who gave us a tour of the dam were very much in favor of opening the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant which has been built in northern Taiwan.  I took photos of the playing cards.

This personified condom and personified birth control packet teach us that, "Two forms of birth control is the safest and most effective prevention."

 

Personified toilets and squatty potties, of course. Wee!

So apparently you can personify anything in the world, including the world itself.