Confucian Temple Taipei

Monday, January 24, 2011

Happy New Years!

Happy New Years!

No that is not a typo. This year in Taiwan we have had several new year celebrations. We hope that it bodes well for the coming year. Since school was in session for the western new year and since Susan's class was on Friday, she worked on both Christmas Eve Day and New Year's Eve Day. Her students are a mixture of Taoist, Buddhist, and Chrisitian and many students celebrate the western Christmas and New Year Holiday with their friends and partners. She had individual consultations on their final papers during the week of Christmas. Students were required to meet for a 30 minute consultation on that week and papers were due on New Year Eve Day by 6:00 PM. Some students invited us for a traditional new year's hot pot celebration at the department of social work. We thought that it was interesting that students could do this in the school. We found out later that it was not officially sanctioned by the department or university. Everyone brought some kind of vegetable, mushroom or meat. There were vegetarian hot pots and omnivore hotpots.

Even men cook hot pot...

Hot Pot Heaven
The weather has been very cold for Taiwan and you could feel the warmth in the room - from the steaming food in the pots, the spicey Taiwanese pepper brew, and the warm interactions. One of the students, who had not yet turned in his paper, was not expecting to see Susan at this event. It was a bit uncomfortable for him until he realized she was not going to embarass him in front of the others. It is really fun to visit with students in these informal settings. They are very relaxed and because their anxiety is less their English flows more comfortably. Susan finds Taiwanese students friendly, motivated, respectful, and appreciative of faculty. In addition, they have a nice sense of humor once they feel comfortable with you.

Sunny North Shore

No we didn't eat the eel this day...
A colleague graciously took us to the northern coast for a day and it was great to see the ocean and visit with he and his son. We enjoyed the scenery comaradery and flying a kite on the beach, it was great! It made us a little homesick for our own grandsons who will be so much bigger when we return home. It was one of the few sunny days we have had this month.
...but, fish was on the menu.
We also enjoyed some very fresh seafood for lunch. It came from the ocean in the morning and could be seen swimming in tanks in front of the restaurant. It reminded us of our former favorite Hakka restaurant in Honolulu.


Brrrr! and Ahhh!

Beitou Version...

You've heard of shock and awe, this is the sound of us running to the hot spring and sinking into the water.

Weather has been cold so we have visited three hotsprings. Our favorite so far is Beitou - a public hot spring that anyone can get warmed by for NTD 20 or less than a dollar. (There are private and more expensive places, but this one is open to all.) We like this very much about Taiwan that rich and poor can enjoy the wealth of the island. To get to Beitou, you can take an MRT train to Beitou (about a 45 minute ride from out neighborhood)and walk about 10 minutes to the hot spring in the center of town. It is a beautiful spot. There are a series of three pools starting with the hottest at the top of the hill spilling down into the hotter pool in the middle and then the hot pool at the bottom.. The pools in the foreground are cold and colder.Young and old go and it is great to see the number of elders who are enjoying the heat to ease their older bones. We enjoyed it very much. When we left after dark we walked along the lantern lit street. It was beautiful and peaceful --we were at peace.

Jiaosi Version 

We also visited Jiaosi a small city in the beautiful county of Yilan. We went twice once with a colleague who convinced us the weather was just right to sample that hot spring and once with Doug and some friends. On the first visit, we also saw a beautiful waterfall and a flock of Taiwanese bluebirds eating papaya. They are strikingly large bluebirds with white markings along their very long tail. They were feasting on papaya and darting up and down the hill as we walked along the river back from the waterfall.

More about hot springs in a later blog...


We had a visit from Doug Cole, Claude's younger brother. He was a real hit. The Taiwanese heard his name as "dog" so I said that no he is not a rapper and they all laughed. Many older Taiwanese also have a good sense of humor even in English and, like Americans, tease you if they like you. I told them his name was Douglas. That was easier -- they all know Michael Douglas. He was stunned, awed initially and then had a very good time. He has white, very curly hair. The Taiwanese really liked it and many women asked to touch his head to feel his hair. He was amused, but I think enjoyed having the positive response to his appearance.

The morning Doug left for the airport, we left on the train to travel to Hualein for the Fulbright Mid-Year Confernece. We had the Mid-Year Meeting in a lovely hotel in Taroko Gorge. Claude had some down time. Susan had to present her progress report and listen to others. We had visited Taroko earlier in the fall not knowing this meeting would be held there. It was a lovely spot - spectacular views and warm rooms. It was great to hear how everyone's year was going. Most are doing very well. Those senior scholars who only had one semester fellowships are feeling like the time is too short. It very much fun to see how the English Teaching Assistants (primarily recent BA graduates from all over the US -- mostly small colleges and universities) are growing and changing and becoming fluent not only in Mandarin, but also Taiwanese and some of the indigenous dialiects of the students they teach and coach in English.

That all for now. Hope you are well and staying warm. We are trying to do the same.

Susan and Claude

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Holidays in Taiwan

Yes, Mom, they do have panetone in Taiwan...

Although we were a little apprehensive about celebrating the holidays without family and friends from home, the holidays here in Taiwan were memorable. Many beautiful flowers and light displays in the shopping centers around town. It is funny to see such western icons as Santa Claus and hear stories of Taiwanese Christians continuing this Western tradition with their children as well as celebrating the birth of Jesus. One colleague's daughter was Mary in the Christmas pageant at their church.

Christmas Tree at 101



 Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Dinner
We were invited by a friend to spend Christmas Eve with her Buddhist Tzu Chi group. We had a tastey vegetarian dinner, learned about the good work the group is doing world wide to assist disaster victims and received a blessing for a good coming year from a Buddhist master. It was interesting hearing the Buddhist elder speak, she alluded to "silent night, holy night" and the desire of all people for peace. It was a very different evening. We wondered how many priests in our own religion would have made this connection. It was a totally peaceful night and great to be spending it with friends who were so committed to peace and working to improve the environment.


Christmas Day

Prelude to dinner...
For Christmas Dinner we made a traditional Italian seafood meal - Cioppino.  We were able to even find prosciutto in Taiwan and had delicious Taiwan mellon spikes with prosciutto wrapped around. The chicken broth did initially elude us -- people thought we were crazy looking for "chicken water." In the end, Claude purchased a chicken and we made chicken broth from scratch.

The guests - Taiwanese friends, my teaching assistant, and a post-doc from Georgia in the former Soviet Union - seemed to enjoy the food. In the typical Taiwanese style, everyone brought something to make the evening special - we had a variety of dessert from the delicious pineapple cakes to special Alishan Mountain Tea served in a traditional Taiwanese tea ceremony by our friend. It was a great evening.

That steaming soup tastes good on a "cold" night!




New Years Eve

On New Year's Eve we were invited by students to eat a traditional hot pot with them at the Department of Social Work. This is sort of like stone soup Taiwanese style -- without the stone. Everyone brought something to go into the pot. Because we had vegetarians and omnivores eating there were several pot bubbling. As the evening went on different things were added to the pots that people brought. It was delicious and fun. We have not tasted anything that we really don't like.

All types of vegetables and meats -- sliced very thin were cooked in the hot pot. It made the broth very delicious. This is an important activity in the culture here and our Italian and Danish roots feed right into those important activities. All are equal in contributing to the goodness of the food and we all eat together. As you can see, we had a great holiday even though we were very homesick for our family and friends -- especially those grandsons!


Other events...

Susan and Red Heart Director
We know that you are probably wondering if all we are doing is eating. Actually, in addition to teaching, Susan has made a connection with a local NGO that provides support to families of people in prison and assistance in transitioning from prison back into Taiwanese society.

Red Heart
The Red Heart Association is a Buddhist organization that was founded  to assist disaster relief victims in China and was asked to take on this work with ex-prisoners about 10 years ago.

Susan is also hoping to find out more about a program in Taiwan that allows mothers to keep children with them in prison until they are three years old. Little research has compared outcomes of these women and children with women and children who are separated when the mother is incarcerated. From colleagues we understand that rehabilitation is becoming an important focus of Taiwanese prisons.

We hope that all of you have a good new year filled with blessings and the courage to pursue the road less traveled. It the words of Robert Frost, "it has made all the difference" for us this year. 

Claude and Susan