My Fulbright Year in Taiwan

Dad’s birthday began in Hualien. We were visiting Taroko Gorge. We were invited to Stacy’s parents’ house in Tainan, so we had to travel from Hualien to Tainan. Here’s the route that we had to take:

Why couldn’t we just go straight down, instead of up and then down? Because of the central mountain range in Taiwan. The mountains are so high, and so geologically unstable, that it’s impossible to make a highway across the mountains.

Here’s what Taiwan looks like from space. All that green in the middle is mountains.

We took a train up to Taipei, then took the high-speed rail down to Tainan. By the way, the second leg took less time than the first leg, because of the speed of the HSR.

Dad also likes the train system in Taiwan. The trains are well-run, cheap, and comfortable.

It was great seeing the parents together for the first time in 13 years.

Stacy’s sister Dingmei 定梅 arranged a special birthday dinner for Dad. So many dishes!

We ate until we almost exploded. Then, to take us over the edge, we went back to the parents’ house for birthday cake and a special Chinese birthday “longevity peach” 壽桃, which is really a steamed bun 包子 formed in the shape of a peach.

The next day we were still stuffed and wiped out, at least the men folk were…

Happy 75th, Dad!

My mother is trying to remember a new word.

Mom: Ian, I would like to give you a “panegyric.”

Ian: Be my guest.

We visited the National Center for the Traditional Arts 傳藝中心. It’s a showcase for traditional Chinese handcrafts, set up like an old Chinese city.

Walking around the shops was tiring. Ian and my Dad rested on seats carved in the Aboriginal style.

There’s a lot of hands-on stuff to do there, including traditional toys. Stacy and Evan liked the two-person shoes:

Ian showed off his skills at throwing a top:

In addition to crafts, the performing arts are also featured at the Center. We saw an opera dramatization of the Journey to the West 西遊記:

Also at the Center is a house belonging to a scholar who lived during the Qing dynasty.

Every time I visit a place in Taiwan, I’m reminded about how much I don’t know about Chinese culture and history. I always learn a lot, but there’s just so much to learn. For example, there used to be a separate number writing system for business accounting. Who knew? (in my defense, Stacy didn’t know this either. But still..)

We walked a LOT that day. And were very tired at the end of the day. But it was great.

My parents came to Taiwan for a visit. We have been showing them around Yilan. They love the bike trail, and getting around on bicycle.

I’ll tell you what’s worse: an academic conference that is held at a beautiful oceanside resort, which you can’t enjoy because you’re sitting in a conference room listening to people talk about their research on meditation and the intersection of Western and Chinese philosophy, that’s what’s worse.

Bitter? Me? Nah….

Stacy is helping Evan with his math. She doesn’t like him to write unnecessary details.

Stacy: Why did you write that number?

Evan: I’m writing that down for dumb people.

Evan is in a special music class at school. Every student plays an instrument. In addition to private lessons at school, they also have special music classes in addition to the regular academic courses. On Friday afternoon this week, the class had a recital. Everyone in the class performed on their instrument.

Evan was chosen to be one of two MCs for the first half of the recital. Before each performance, he had to introduce the student, the piece that the student would perform, and say a little about the piece. All in Chinese.

The teacher wrote out what he was supposed to say, and Stacy helped him prepare. He was super nervous (wouldn’t you be?), but he did great, of course.

There was a great variety of performances. Several students performed piano and violin. One student performed a piece on timpani, one on xylophone. A few kids played Chinese classical instruments. My favorites were the suona 嗩吶, which Evan characterizes as an “assault oboe,” and the pipa 琵琶, which is played like an upright mandolin.

Evan played a piece on piano during the second half, and performed flawlessly.

Watch a video of the performance:

We are so very proud of Evan. He’s fitting in amazingly well. All of his classmates like him, and he’s learning a lot.

We went to a fun hot pot 火鍋 restaurant for dinner last night. If you’ve never had Chinese hot pot before, it can be described as a cross between soup and fondue. You have a boiling pot of soup in front of you, and during the course of the meal, you add raw goodies to the soup, picking them out when they’re done, dipping them in sauce, and eating them. At the end of the meal, you can drink the rich soup that you’ve gradually made through cooking your goodies. It’s a fun way to eat, and it’s popular in Taiwan in the winter.

At this restaurant, everyone makes their own hot pot. The pots are embedded in the table in front of you , and you can control the temperature of the heater under the pot. They start you out with a soup stock, and give you a large bowl of vegetables, tofu, and other goodies. You choose what kind of meat you want. The menu had the usual boring choices of pork, chicken, lamb, beef, and seafood. What caught my eye was “ostrich.” Then I saw “alligator.” Now I had a dilemma: what to choose?

I decided on the ostrich, and Evan tried the alligator.

The consensus at the table was that the alligator tastes better than ostrich. Ostrich tastes like a cross between chicken and beef. Alligator is like very tender chicken. But both are tasty. We give them two thumbs up!

Yes, it does snow in Taiwan, but only high up in the mountains. We’re experiencing another cold snap here in Taiwan this week. Although in Yilan we only have lows in the 40s, on Jade Mountain 玉山, the highest mountain in Taiwan, it got cold enough for snow. Beautiful, isn’t it?

Photo from the China Times, 1-14-2010.
http://camera.chinatimes.com/PhotoView.aspx?fid=8386&pid=101804

Ian has decided to change high schools. His current high school  doesn’t have the music or athletics that he likes, and the academic parts are beyond his language level. Evan discovered that the high school in the neighboring town of Lodong 羅東 has a music class, which is run like the class that Evan is in. There are a lot of music classes, and the class size is small, too (less than 20 students).

Changing schools is a big deal. Just getting into high school usually requires taking an entrance exam, and the music class requires extra qualifications as well.  For most people, it would be impossible to transfer into the class in the middle of the school year. That’s where being a Fulbright scholar has its perks. The Fulbright foundation pulled some strings and got us in the door.

When we visited the high school, the principal brought in the music teachers, the English teachers, the counsellor, and a few others to talk with us. The principal is a very energetic, enthusiastic guy. Ian sat in on classes for a week, and decided that Lodong is a better fit for him. So, starting next semester, he will officially enroll in the school.

Evan continues to do very well at FuXing Middle School. His math teacher reports that Evan is all caught up, and doesn’t need any extra tutoring in order to follow the pace of the class (the math was hard enough, plus the language barrier was an additional hurdle for him). I can’t honestly say that he’s enjoying school, but he is being a super good sport about everything. He still hates the school lunch. Luckily, there’s a little convenience store in the school. Every day Evan buys a steamed bun 包子 for a snack. We know how bad lunch on any given day was by asking how many buns he had to buy. A one-bun day is average, but if it’s a three-bun day, look out! 🙂

We only have one more week of school until winter vacation. The last day of the semester is Saturday the 23rd (final exams), but I have to go to a mid-year conference out of town, and I want to bring the whole family, so we will start our vacation a little early. The kids’ last day of school will be Tuesday the 19th. The second semester starts on February 22, which is a grand total of 31 days off. The winter break covers Chinese New Year as well as a semester break, which is why it’s so long. The kids are looking forward to some downtime. My parents will come for a visit, and we will do a little traveling around the island.