tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86332725692041734862024-03-05T20:41:35.850-08:00Our Taiwan AdventureNancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-32617015220744966912012-03-17T08:06:00.000-07:002012-05-21T08:55:47.151-07:00"Beautiful Island"<br />
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3/17/12 Saturday<br />
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Kenting or Kending, however you say it, it must be Taiwanese for Hawaii! And no wonder, it sits on the same latitude as the United States’ island paradise. I cannot help make another comparison to the US by saying we arrived the seaside village of Kenting (my preferred spelling) via Taiwan’s National Highway 1 just as one in America would drive to Big Sur via the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) which is our US Highway 1. If you’ve ever driven either, you know the highway hugs the coast, and you travel for miles with a continuous view of waves, rocks, beaches and the ocean meeting the horizon. It was as magnificent here in Taiwan as any drive we have ever made on our own west coast.<br />
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We arrived at our hotel, the Bethlehem B&B, after searching high and low for street signs. We gave up hope that we could find the hotel by looking for an address, so we began looking for a place that hopefully resembled the pictures that were online. We spotted one possibility that was very similar to what we had seen that was up a tiny side street.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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When I got out of the car and went into the lobby I was convinced it was the right place. It looked exactly like the picture I had seen. But, “No,” the man who couldn’t speak English was sure I was in the wrong place and pointed somewhere “over there.” I couldn’t argue. What did I know? So off we went to look “over there.” And, surprisingly to me, there was another hotel that looked just like it on the main street! When we walked in the lobby and talked to the girl at the front desk, she pulled out her list of reservations, we pointed to our name and we had a room! <br />
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This was the cutest little hotel/B&B! It was, like the subtle theme of the village, Mediterranean style…more specifically Greek. It had stucco walls painted white with royal blue shutters and doors. Our room was on the third floor of the complex off the back patio where you entered through a charming little blue gate. The lobby there was decorated tastefully with brightly colored flowers and knick-knacks. They stood out boldly against the white walls and staircase.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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The outside wall of each landing had a window and was painted a different bright color. One was orange, one was hot pink, one was yellow. The stairs from the second floor up were painted the same royal blue as the window frames and doors. I need not continue describing this adorable inn because I have a lot of pictures of which I have chosen the best to post below.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">The back patio entrance to the breakfast room.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Lobby to the back complex of rooms.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">The Bethlehem B&B at night.</td></tr>
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This adorable place, though, was positioned amid Old China. I am not making any kind of statement. I have mentioned this before…a most wonderful place might not be surrounded by an equally lovely place. I want to be truthful about our experience. Next to the cute, clean patio where we walked up an alley and tiny street to enter, there was an old complex of tile-roofed traditional Chinese homes. They were in a u-shape all sharing the same roof that extended out over the walkway in front of the house. As is traditional, the wash was hanging outside the front door when we first arrived. There was a low, broken-down brick wall around this set of family homes with a large opening. Someone in this family obviously ran the beach business of “wave-running” because the jet ski and “hot dog” to pull behind it was stored in the large plaza area inside the walls of the property. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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No matter about the neighborhood. It was safe and quiet. We enjoyed our two nights at the Bethlehem B&B. We had a big, good bed, air conditioning (which we needed), American channels on TV, a bathtub (which I haven’t had in 3 months) and eggs for breakfast in the morning. The accommodations were perfect for relaxing. This was the purpose of our get-away to Kenting. Mission accomplished!<br />
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Of course relaxing didn’t mean soaking in the tub or watching TV all day. We did walk the beach. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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We also explored the interesting rock formations that covered the “beach” immediately in front of the hotel. When we got right down on them we discovered they must actually be coral. The designs in them were beautiful. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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This area is famous for a rock that tumbled into the edge of the sea and sits strikingly by itself. From the water, they say it looks like a sailboat, so they named it the “Sail Rock.” However, from the direction of the boardwalk people thought it looked like the profile of Richard Nixon. This idea was passed along so often that even the information sign describing its history says it is best known as “Nixon Rock.”<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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On Friday morning, we took a ride around the tip of the island to see the east coast. The east coast is quite remote. There is very little space to build between the ocean and the mountains. There is a road similar to the road to Hana on Maui that winds up and around and through this coastal area. At one point we stopped and got out of the car at an overlook. We walked through a meadow and through a path that was cut through a clump of yucca plants. We came out to another open space that was very unusual. The clay-like ground was worn smooth and hard but it had strange rock formations popping up through it. We continued on all the while the ocean was spread out below us.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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When we got to the edge of the cliff there was an information plaque that explained the geological phenomenon that was happening to form this ridge. The mountain we were standing on was made of coral. There are coral caverns within the mountain that will eventually collapse causing the edge of the mountain to drop down creating a shearing effect. In geological terms, this is called “slumping.”<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Aside from the absolutely breath-taking view from this overlook, we explored fissures in the ground created by earthquakes and “slumping.” We found a granite marker that had writing on it. It was flat in the ground like a grave marker. We know how they mark their graves and this was not that. I found it interesting, so I took a picture. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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We walked farther and saw another marker just like the other one only this one was standing upright. It appeared that the first had fallen during a “slumping” episode and the other is still as it should be. We surmise they might be warning markers.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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We continued on our drive. After quite a sharp descent, we were at sea level and driving along the coast, again. This time we stopped and walked through another path cut through jungle-like vegetation, only this time we ended up on a sandy beach with surfers in wet suits.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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There was driftwood on the sandy beach as well as a collection of rocks that had been washed up over the years. They were round and smooth, just the kind you see in Oriental rock gardens or used as a bed in an indoor water fountain. We made ourselves little rock “seats” to sit on in the sand. We sat there for quite awhile watching the tide coming in, then decided to head back to the hotel.</div>
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Later in the day, we drove through the Kenting National Forest Recreational Area. We drove through an arched entryway and followed the signs.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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When we got to the peak of the park, we could look down onto the little seaside village with the ocean rolling in on the beach. It, too, reminded me of some place we’d been before. It wasn’t till later that night that I realized that it wasn’t Hawaii or the PCH but it was Catalina Island.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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It was very warm…hot…in the middle of the day, but the temperature was pleasant after the sun went down. That’s when we took advantage of the beautiful view of the night sky and ocean. We could also see the lights of the huge resort around the curve of the bay that, again, gave the impression of the Mediterranean Riviera. It was a great spot to eat ice cream that we bought from the 7-Eleven across the street. (Again, I want to give an honest portrayal. It was beginning to sound a little “more” than what it was. It was just a lovely place to share ice cream.)<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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This was our “last hurrah” before setting our minds to packing and going home in four days. It was a fabulous way to end our time on the “beautiful island,” Formosa. The Portuguese had it right when they gave this name to the uncharted island that they found while sailing for Japan in 1542!Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-59665793520677777322012-03-17T03:01:00.000-07:002012-05-21T09:08:29.082-07:00A Pleasant Day in Goushung<br />
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3/14/12<br />
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We went on our weekly Tuesday day trip yesterday. We rode the HSR to Goushung. We took the MRT to the city center station and walked to the Love River where we had lunch at Outback Restaurant. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. The walk along the river is very pretty and peaceful. We ate on the patio at Outback, which overlooks the river. As we waited for our lunch, Don commented, “This is so pleasant.” While we ate, a group of little sailboats went by.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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The sailboats were still on the river when we left Outback, so we walked over to the river side to see what was going on. It was a school class learning how to sail: “running” up river to the bridge, turning around and then “tacking” down river. A few got into trouble by getting too close to the bridge and their sails got caught. A few others got stuck “lufting,” having a hard time catching the wind in their sails. Some of the young sailors did a few unexpected "bumper car" maneuvers. Those of them that were more advanced were able to keep a nice line, one behind the other, and tack back and forth across the river while sailing downstream. The sailing coach stood at the edge of the river calling out instructions to the class. There was a “life guard” in a kayak stationed some distance from them as well. He looked relieved once they all got away from the bridge where they had the most difficulty. They were very fun to watch on a warm lazy afternoon.<br />
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We had looked at our map and discovered a route to get to a ferry pier that would take us to an island on the other side of the harbor. We walked to the MRT station and rode the train to the closest stop to the pier. When we came up out of the subway tunnel we were in a very old part of town where the buildings were wall to wall and the streets were narrow like alleys. We would have wondered if we were in the right place except there was a young man stationed there at the exit to direct people to the ferry. “Go straight and turn right,” he said in quite good English. We went straight for several blocks past run-down buildings, parked cars, scooters and bikes and construction workers. We also had to cross a street that was being repaved. The steamroller operator just waved us on, and we gingerly walked over the hot tar!<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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As soon as we turned right, we could see the pier and the ferry. It was boarding time, so we bought <br />
tickets for NT$50 (about 60 cents each) and walked up onto the second level of the boat while dozens of scooters drove onto the first deck. Don and I found a bench to sit on outside so we could see the harbor and take pictures. The buildings upriver stood right on the water looking like Venice or Amsterdam. The engine started and off we went to the other side of the harbor to the island of Cijin. </div>
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It was a short ten-minute ride. We had a beautiful view of the big container ships docked at the Goushung harbor. We also saw a ship being guided by a pilot boat into the harbor from the open sea. The skyline of the big city was beautiful to see from the vantage point of the water.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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We knew nothing about this island other than we had located it on the map. When the ferry docked, we disembarked with many other passengers and realized Cijin must be quite a tourist spot. Right outside the ferry entrance were rental bicycles of every variety, scooters, and rickshaws. <br />
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There were street vendors selling everything from baseball caps and flip-flops to toys and trinkets. Further down the main street was the food section of vendors. Both sides of the street were lined with fresh seafood shops, some with tables set on the sidewalk for eating “in” and others sold take-home. When I say “fresh” seafood I mean “fresh” as in “still alive.” There were rows of fish tanks filled with a large variety of local catches. There were other displays of fish on ice. These were very pretty…seafood laid out individually in neat rows each surrounded by a mound of ice. The shop owners were very particular but speedy as they put out the latest arrival from the docks<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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This main street ended at the ocean, the Taiwan Strait…90 miles to Mainland China. The sun was shining brightly, and it sparkled on the water like diamonds.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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The beach had a boardwalk and a nice park area before the sand. The sand was black volcanic sand. We could see big ships on the horizon. The sun was low in the sky because it was after 4:00. It made for long shadows and a dazzling sea. There was a child (Asian) who was speaking English (!) to his parents. He said, “Oh, I hope we can see the sun set!”<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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We walked back to the ferry along the same main street as we had coming in. I’m thinking that in the time we were at the beach, people who live on the island had come home from working in the city. It seemed like more local activity than tourist on the way back. There were people eating their supper at the street vendors, people at the street-side temple and scooter drivers carrying satchels, I assumed from their jobs.<br />
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The temperature had cooled down so we rode in the cabin of the ferry on the way back to Goushung.</div>
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We decided we had had a very nice day and would go on home to Chia-yi rather than continuing on to Lotus Pond as we had planned. So we followed the same route we had taken from the HSR, to the Redline on the MRT to walking through town on our way to get to the ferry only in reverse. It seemed to go a lot faster going back than it did on the way in. We had walked probably 10 miles total on our little jaunt around Goushung, so we sat quietly on the train ride home being appreciative of the time we’ve had to spend exploring together these past few weeks.<br />
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<br /></div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-59410417944643946862012-03-14T02:50:00.001-07:002012-05-21T11:30:39.473-07:00A Lesson in American Table Manners<br />
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3/2/12<br />
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Around 6:00, we headed over to church for Bible Study/ English class. Class was very good. We read about Jesus not being accepted in his hometown. There were moments that it felt like they were truly understanding what was happening in the story. At 8:00, we all got up to leave because the students for the advanced class were coming in. Sharon from our Mon. night conversational class arrived. We were at the door explaining that we had only two Wed. nights left before we would be going back to the US. They were very disappointed that we were leaving, so I blurted out that we could have a party at our house before we go and I would cook them American food. Woah! That got a reaction. Sharon, who had already sat down for the 8:00 classtime, jumped out of her seat and asked if she could come, too! We had a hard time leaving for all the planning they wanted to do and the excitement that they could not contain. So we’re having a party next Thurs. at 6:30! I’ve decided on hamburgers and hot dogs, baked beans and potato chips, the All-American meal. After supper, we’ll play UNO. There will be about 10 of us. Yikes! What did I get myself into?<br />
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Last week at Bible Study/ English class, I had made the big offer to have a dinner/ party at our house on Thurs. night. After talking to Debbie about it, we changed it to Wed. The guest list had risen to include all English classes…Conversational plus both Wed. night classes. We had also invited Jerry’s wife and Happy and Pastor James. We were expecting 12 people. We borrowed tables and chairs from the church.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></div>
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I had planned to cook hamburgers and hot dogs. We went exploratory shopping at the RT Mart and Carrefour in Chia-yi City after church on Sunday. We found almost everything we needed except hamburger and buns. This was not going to work, so we switched the menu to spaghetti. We went shopping for all our supplies and groceries on Wed. morning. We needed to get paper products and some extra serving bowls and utensils. We found nearly everything we wanted at the RT Mart, but they didn’t have salad dressing. We went over to Carrefour where we knew they had 5 kinds of salad dressings. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
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</span>By 6:00, everything was ready for the party. Don went over to the church as planned and guided everyone to the house. Well, almost everyone. They lost Sharon for a bit, but she showed up after tracking her down on her cell phone. Clark and Jenny both brought friends with them, Eric and Mini. That brought the count up to 14 for eating. I was prepared with an extra table. The more the merrier, I always say!<br />
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The living room was quite crowded, but they wanted to see the rest of the house, so we didn’t spend much time all huddled in the living room. They were very impressed with the size and “beauty” of the house.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></div>
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We were going to wait to eat until Jerry, his wife and Happy came since he couldn’t get here till 7:00. By the time we had toured the house, Jerry was arriving with his family. I still needed to do a few things in the kitchen, so they all gathered in the living room again. It was truly packed. Sharon had brought several kinds of sliced fruit that we set out on the coffee table and I served orange juice, a common beverage for the Taiwanese to serve before or with a meal, and water. Debbie came in the kitchen with me as I cooked the noodles for spaghetti.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></div>
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When I was done in the kitchen, I had to get everyone’s attention in the living room in order to have them come to the dining room for instructions on what to do next. I had all the items for place settings (dinner plates, bread plates, salad bowls, silverware, etc.) on the buffet. I explained to them to pick up one of each item and bring them to the table. When they were all seated with their tableware, I showed them how to place each item on their place mat according to American table-setting tradition. They were very attentive and fascinated with this whole process. The Taiwanese have no equivalent to this. <br />
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Then we talked to them about thanking Jesus for our food before we ate and that this was done by the one who is at the head of the table, usually the father of the house, or he may choose to ask someone to say the prayer. Either way, you know he is done praying when he says, “Amen.” We covered it all.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
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Then I served the meal “family style,” starting with Don and passing to the right…everything being passed to the right. We talked about asking to have something passed to you if you wanted more. Again, we covered almost everything you can think of that might take place at the dinner table. For example, I told them that the napkin is big enough to set on your lap through the whole meal and you are expected to use it throughout the meal. I needed to tell them this because the Taiwanese have small squares of “Kleenex” in a pop-up box that is set in the middle of the table (maybe) that are used as napkins. They are smaller than the napkins in a dispenser at a soda counter. They often don’t use them at all and they never put them in their lap. When I showed them during the place-setting instruction where to put the napkin, they didn’t understand what its purpose was, but when I demonstrated its use, they nodded their heads and quizzically said, “Ohhhh.” That example explains how different it is to eat American-style as opposed to Taiwanese. I have to say, they were good sports and really wanted to learn. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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I think the biggest difference in the way Americans eat a meal and many other countries in the world, including Taiwan, is that we serve food only three times throughout the meal…salad, main course and dessert. The Taiwanese, as many, have multiple courses served throughout the meal. I have described this several times when talking about restaurants, so I won’t belabor the point. However, I think this was very foreign to our guests the other night to realize that once the food was served, that was all that was going to be served.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></div>
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Vincent came during the meal because he had a dinner to go to at the hospital that night. We were honored that he left his event early in order to get in on some of the fun at our house. Shortly, Pastor James came as well. He was just in time for ice cream, egg rolls and coffee.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></div>
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Note: Clark had brought “egg rolls.” They are a specialty “cookie,” like krumkakah, that are made in Chia-yi City in a shop in a little alley. I’m told you have to go to this shop an hour before it opens at 8:00am in order to get these delicacies before they run out. Debbie said we were very privileged to have gotten a bag of “egg rolls.” They were the best Taiwanese treat we’ve had! Thank you, Clark.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></div>
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We had had two tables together to make one big table for supper. When we were done eating, we cleared away the dishes and separated the two tables in order to play two games of UNO at once. We had taught the Wed. 6:00 class how to play UNO last week, but the others had to learn. It, of course, is such a simple game that they caught on very quickly. It’s a good way for them to practice their numbers and colors in English. It wasn’t long before there was laughing and shouting and good-natured rivalry was happening! They became quite a rowdy bunch! It was fun!<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
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By 10:00, they realized they needed to be going home. As they were preparing to leave, someone got out a camera…then another and another. We spent time getting in the group picture or taking the picture. It was such a wonderful feeling of friendship and fun. I felt like we had had a night like the hundreds, maybe thousands, of nights we’ve had with any number of groups of friends throughout our married life. Another proof that people are the same all around the world. This had to be one of my favorite nights in Taiwan! </div>
</div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-84577436793638559882012-03-12T03:34:00.000-07:002012-05-21T11:41:41.658-07:00A Day of Surprises<br />
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3/10/12 Saturday<br />
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We had a wonderful day today! We had planned to go to the town of Tainan to go to the performance of "Shen Yun," classical Chinese dancing. Last night we rode the train into Tainan just to have supper and saw an ad for the International Taiwanese Orchid Show taking place in a nearby town this weekend. After looking on the map, we decided to head out earlier than expected and see about the orchid show on our way to the dance performance. The orchid show was our first surprise.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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The orchid show was only 30 minutes from our house way out in fields where they grow them in green houses. We followed signs from the main road down country roads, through a small village and out again onto a county road and suddenly we came upon huge fields turned into parking lots. They were surrounded by dozens of green houses. We were directed into one of these and parked the car.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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This was another event that had thousands, if not tens of thousands of people attending. We melded into the crowd even though there was no event building in sight. We walked past a building with English writing on it that read Hao Mei Orchid USDA Certified. That seemed odd, but then I remembered something I had read about the US being a part of some kind of orchid “pact” allowing them to import and export with each other. Maybe that is why there is such a building in Taiwan.<br />
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We finally came to the huge venue where the show was taking place. We first walked into a building that displayed the orchids as it had been recorded by the Portuguese explorers who happened upon Taiwan in 1542: “The explorers decided to venture through the primal forest and came across giant tree trunks that had fallen down. They found fragrant orchids growing all over the tree trunks.” There it was before us: orchids covering old tree trunks, orchids cascading over the toppled branches, orchids covering the forest floor!<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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It was fabulous! I could never have imaged so many orchids!!!! Each room we entered was another display somehow connected with this original history. One room had tiny yellow orchid “balls” hanging from the ceiling. This was to represent how the orchid leaves were blown on the wind, spreading new flowers all about the island. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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There were many rooms to this main display. As we followed the path, we saw orchids of every color and size.<br />
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Then there were hundreds of them displayed in a series of green houses that were in an international competition. Outside, there were more displays and a park with statues adorned with orchids. In other buildings they were selling orchid "everything" as well as plants themselves. They were selling them for as little as $3.30! <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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This was "just a little side trip" on our way to our planned event. We did not have enough time to see it all!!!<br />
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Then we went on to the city of Tainan where we went to the Cultural Center of Performing Arts where we encountered a few more surprises. (Please read to the end to discover our last surprise of the day.)<br />
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When we went to the ticket counter, they were very impressed that foreigners wanted to see the performance. We bought two tickets, and a very nice woman who could speak English visited with us for a few minutes. Then the ticket lady broke in on our conversation and said she had better seats for us, so please exchange the original tickets with these better ones. We thought that was nice. We went to our seats and they were two of the best seats in the house! WOW! What a great surprise!</div>
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We bought a program from a very classic-looking Chinese woman in the lobby. She was wearing the traditional Chinese embroidered jacket and long skirt. Lovely!<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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The printed program was bi-lingual and explained the performances. There were 22 little vignettes of classic Chinese stories, 11 in the first half and the same number in the second half. Each of them lasted only 5 minutes or so. A Chinese man in a tuxedo and a Chinese woman in a simple flowing gown were the emcees. They came on stage between each scene and gave a short synopsis of what we were about to see. The man spoke in English and the woman spoke in Mandarin. There was no speaking or singing from the performers, only dancing. This was all about story-telling through dance. And they did it marvelously!<br />
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The orchestra was a combination of a classic Western symphony and old Chinese instruments. The combination was very easy on the ear. The Western instruments softened the “screechy” sounds of Oriental music, yet the music was very much in the style of traditional China. One act was a performance of an ancient instrument that sounded like a violin but the body of the instrument was a small box that sat on the player’s lap. The strings were attached to it and connected to the pegs at the top of a long narrow neck. Thus the bow was drawn across this upright instrument sitting on her lap. Either it is made to have a beautiful delicate sound or she could play it magnificently, but it had the most wonderful sound. The percussion section of the orchestra had a huge Chinese gong. The percussionist swung a large mallet that she hung at her side. She sounded the gong without looking at it standing behind her. She’d swing the mallet at her side like a pendulum of a clock.<br />
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“Shen Yun” originated on Broadway by Chinese performers in New York. Its purpose as stated in its subtitle is “Reviving 5,000 years of civilization.” As I’ve mentioned before in other entries, the Chinese culture was completely wiped out on the Mainland by Mao’s revolution. Taiwan and the Chinese that have lived abroad since 1949 have the only preserved culture of ancient China. It is a privilege for the Chinese people to be able to perform and witness their traditional heritage around the world, except in Mainland China. The impact of this fact was very evident on the audience.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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The dancing and costumes and music were so very lovely! So graceful! I don’t know how the Chinese women do this, but they can move from place to place without looking like they are walking. They glide, float, transport themselves with no effort. Wearing their long flowing skirts, one would almost think they have some mechanism hidden underneath to cause them to move so gracefully. The colors of the costumes were beautiful combinations of pastels. The picture I have included from the poster in the lobby shows the dancers in primary colors, but that was the exception. They put colors together that we, as Westerners, would probably not combine in one outfit, but they were beautiful and soft to the eye. I wish we would have been allowed to take pictures because I cannot portray the beauty of these clothes…men’s as well as women’s<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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The dance moves were also spectacular. The men were like gymnasts flipping and jumping in perfect choreographed sequences. The women were like a chorus line but more graceful and with more complex moves than any you would see done by the Rockettes in New York. Every dance used some kind of prop…swords, fans, scarves. In one dance, the woman were wearing dresses that had what they call “water sleeves.” Their sleeves extended long past their hands and were used like what we call now “ribbon dancing.” They would in one graceful movement ball their sleeves up into their hands and then throw them up in the air. They would flutter about and begin to descend to the floor and then with one sudden jolt they would whip them back into the air to make patterns with them. The men used baby blue fans as weapons, if you can picture that! They were very effective. The men would slap those fans shut all at once and the sound was like a clap. With them shut, they would extend them in an assertion of strength and power and then, snap! They would open them.<br />
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There was one feature in this program that was very modern and “Broadway”-ish. The backdrop was a screen that had scenes projected onto it. Sometimes it was just a background of mountains or sky, but sometimes it was an animated scene where one of the characters of the story was portrayed. In these scenes, the character would move from the screen onto the stage or visa versa. For example, there was a story of a Monkey King. The curtain rose on the Monkey King sitting in a tree eating a banana. When he rose to jump out of the tree, it appeared he popped right out of the tree onto the stage…actually, jumping up from behind a set of steps that stretched across the back of the stage. It was very realistic. The timing had to be precise.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The vignettes told stories of a soldier killed in battle and his wife taking his place, of apprentice monks getting into mischief while mopping the floors of the monastery, and of snowflakes in spring to mention a few. My favorite was called “Lotus Leaves.” The women dancers were dressed in dark pink flowing pant outfits with a lotus blossom atop their heads. They carried full-circle dark green fans that looked like lily pads when opened all the way. The contrast between the pink and green was striking. The choreographed moves were perfection. The message of the story was encouraging, “Behind the leaf of every lily pad growing in the muck and mire of the pond lies a blossom ready to bloom.”<br />
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Along with the ancient stories and philosophies, there were three scenes that dealt with the suppression of free speech and religion in China today. These were very moving. As with all culture, there was some mention of their religion. The closing story was a very graphic scene using the animated screen. It depicted Buddha saving the earth and defeating evil.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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Even though I have spent quite a bit of time talking about this event, I have to include what happened when the curtain dropped, the biggest surprise of the day. As soon as the curtain came down and the lights came up, the lovely lady that visited with us at the ticket counter came to our seats and asked to please come with her to be interviewed for the TV!!! Sure enough, that's exactly what she meant for us to do. We followed her to a room where there were others, as well, waiting to be interviewed about their impressions of the show. Our lady escort was very anxious about our being on TV and shuffled us to the front of the short line. We were ushered into a room and there a TV person with a microphone interviewed us in front of a camera! How funny is that! It was a day of wonderful surprises!<br />
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<br /></div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-39139561371156350752012-03-08T20:57:00.000-08:002012-05-21T12:09:35.763-07:00Sin Gang Township, Chia-yi County, Taiwan<br />
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3/4/12<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
On Saturday, Jerry took us to his hometown of Sin Gang, a small town in Chia-yi County that includes farming areas, several small villages, bike paths and very old neighborhoods.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span>Sin Gang is also the religious center of this central Taiwan region. Because of this fact, it has “support industries” that go along with their religious practices and rituals. One of those industries is the art of making incense sticks. Our first stop with Jerry was the Sin Gang Incense Artistic Culture Garden.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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We went to the tiny incense factory and watched a man making incense sticks as a TV cameraman filmed him at his work. The annual pilgrimage and celebration of the goddess of the sea, Matzu, is coming up in two weeks in Sin Gang, so there is a lot of talk about it and preparation for it. I assume this accounts for the TV documentation.<br />
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The incense sticks are made from thin bamboo. A craftsman stood at a tall table with a clump of bamboo sticks in his hand, as many as he could manage to get in his fist. Then he dipped them top-end first into a huge barrel of adhesive solution until they were submerged up to his hand. He pulled them up out of the solution and let them drain.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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Then, with the greatest skill, he tapped their bottom ends on the table, swished them in powered spices that were heaped in a huge shallow bowl. He whipped his bunch of sticks through the spices, yanked them up, tapped their ends and fanned them out. He did this sequence several times.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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Then he took his bundle of sticks and laid them on a big “cookie sheet” and popped them in the oven behind him. When they were done, he gathered them up and dipped the whole bunch about a quarter of the way up the stick into a vat of red dye. Then the bunch was laid out in the sun on a slatted drying table.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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The last step was to bundle and pack them. This process was beautifully and skillfully worked with the characteristic graceful movements of the Chinese. I enjoyed this very much.</div>
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We then went into the museum where we saw displays of Chinese culture as well as explanations of the significance of fragrance to life, religion, food and medicine. One display had small sensors to shake and smell dozens of natural aromas from flowers, spices and trees. We saw a piece of cinnamon bark that looked and smelled exactly like a cinnamon stick if it were unrolled and still curled at its edges only it was as big as a door! <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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The museum was beautifully designed with round “windows,” calligraphy wall hangings, wooden carvings and Chinese furniture. It was a lovely example of the “less is more” philosophy.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lamp shades in the background are made of incense sticks. The heat of the light bulbs activate the scent.</td></tr>
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We left the museum and moved on to one of the two revered temples in Sin Gang. It was ironic that when we got out of the car to walk to the temple, we turned one direction and were facing a Catholic church with a cross on its roof then turned the corner and saw a pagan temple swarming with people.<br />
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We happened to come to the temple just as a procession of worshippers were filling the street. Two men were leading the procession. One man had a box full of firecrackers and another man was carrying a large broom, one made out of switches…one we would call a “witches’ broom.” As they approached the entrance of the temple, the man with the firecrackers lit them off in a string of explosions that got louder and louder. The man with the broom swung it from side to side swishing the smoke from the firecrackers into the air.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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The last batch of firecrackers were so loud that we had to stop talking to each other and wait for them to subside. They were deafening. When the smoke cleared, we saw several men carrying ornate “gifts” in their hands. They formed a single file line as they entered into the temple courtyard. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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In the center of the courtyard was a huge urn-like structure on legs with a pagoda roof. This is a very common temple piece of “furniture.” I’m sure it has a name. I’m just ignorant of it. It is similar to what sits outside of the temples around town that is filled with sand and the people stand their incense sticks in it. Well, whatever this is, the men would pass their "gift" through this object. All the while the people were chanting. Jerry said they were “welcoming” the god into the temple. Once this ritual was done, it appeared that the crowd of people was allowed to go into the temple and do their praying and offering.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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There were alcoves here and there along the outer walls of the temple. Each alcove had a different god in it that took care of different problems for you. The alcoves were ornately designed and contained any number of things depending on the purpose of the god. However, all of them had a statue or some form that represented each god. I will explain three.<br />
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The first one we encountered was an awful looking god. I told Jerry he looked scary. Jerry said yes he was scary because he was the god of people who were bad on earth. People go to this god to pray for those who have died but were bad while alive. I don’t know if we weren’t asking the question in a way Jerry could understand, but we couldn’t get him to explain to us what the people were expecting by praying here…to free their dead ancestors from consequences of being bad? Don’t know, but there sure were a lot of people who came to that god and prayed. Their form of prayer was to bow with their incense sticks or put their palms together in the classic prayer position and bow three times. They didn’t stay long.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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There was also a god to pray to if you were in need of a good grade on a test in school. The student or the parent could offer this prayer. There was a panel with hooks on the wall where you would hang a wooden plaque of you name if you had prayed at this altar. Jerry said your name will remain there until the next year. The students had just completed their national testing a few weeks ago, so the entire panel was covered with names.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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The last alcove I am going to describe is the one that enshrines the god of business. The ritual taking place here was more concrete than the others. There was a large bowl of water at this altar which had a cabinet-like front to it and contained coins, like a wishing-well. At the top of the cabinet was a slot for you to deposit paper money. If you deposited 100 New Taiwanese Dollars, you were allowed to withdraw from the bowl 2 NTDs. These you would place in your home to bring you good fortune in your business. Another ritual at this altar was to leave food. There were egg cartons and fruit, for example. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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There was another alcove that was not dedicated to a single god. It was what I’ll call a “birthday” room. <br />
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The three walls of the alcove were lined with cabinets halfway up where there was a shelf with a money slot in it as well as a small cup of hot water. The cup that is shaped like a lotus blossom has verses on it from the writings of Buddha. Next to this cup was a small stack of tiny paper cups. Setting behind the money slot was a god for the sign under which a person was born. For example, Jerry was born during the year of the horse. Every birthday, he comes to this god, puts money in the money slot, pours water from the lotus cup into the tiny paper cup and drinks it. Then prays to the god.<br />
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At the front of this alcove is a tall collection of little Buddhas in individual containers, almost like a snow globe without snow. These have an arched top with a candelabra light bulb at the peak. When it is your birthday, you add your Buddha “snow globe” to the display. I don’t understand the significance of all these rituals, but they were in full-blown practice the day we were there.<br />
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Having seen all this, we were then winding our way down the other side of the temple court. There was a lot of commotion outside. As we exited, we realized the whole procession action was about to begin again, but this time there were more characters in play. There were men pushing and pulling some sort of golden sedan chair on poles. They were heaving it back and forth as if it were stuck in the mud and not able to get into the temple. Then suddenly they were successful and they entered the courtyard with this object.<br />
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There was very loud music playing and a man was beating a drum on a platform of a cart being pulled toward the temple. Behind him were more drums on a moving platform and then 4 or 5 giant costumed gods. Their outfits were ornately embroidered and were very colorful. These gods had masks and huge headdresses. It was very carnival-like, the way I image Rio to be.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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The procession stopped, and we watched a group of men gather around 3 other men who removed their shirts and were adorned by others with sashes about their chests. The men put green headbands around their foreheads and gave them some sort of sword. Jerry said the 3 men were receiving a god into their bodies and that this was "very special." Behind this whole ceremony came the painted-faced priests who preceded the carrying of another god.<br />
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One other ritual that we witnessed as we made our way from the temple was the burning of paper money. There was a large, ornate burning furnace outside the temple courtyard, as there is at every temple and sometimes completely separate, standing alone on the edge of person’s property or field. There was a young couple there peeling the yellow paper money off of a stack that they had bought from a street vendor and throwing it in the fire. The purpose of this is to send money to your deceased relatives. This is a very common ancient tradition.<br />
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The last thing I want to say about this scene is about the clothing of some of the people in the crowd. There were many people wearing vests. They appeared to be uniforms of some sort. There were several different colors…red, yellow, green, or purple…and several with logos and/or Chinese writing on them. The yin and yang symbol was very recognizable, but the others were not what I could decipher. You could see people wearing these, men and women, in previous pictures. Aside from the vests, there were people in very flowing outfits with capes, some with matching caps. <br />
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These were either purple or gold. I’m sure one had to be something special to be wearing these outfits, but I don’t know what. The remainder of the crowd was in street clothes. It looked like an odd mix of apparel to me…some very festive and others very casual. There certainty was no “dress code” for going to the temple.<br />
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I honestly don’t know if I am describing this with any accuracy. It was all totally foreign. I am just trying to describe how it looked to me. I reserve any analysis or criticism for another time and forum. I need time to process. At the very least, I will say I am glad to have experienced the reality of a “religion” that is practiced by millions of people that we share this planet with. I am glad I am able to realize that the world is so much bigger than our little corner where we live.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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As I mentioned, the town of Sin Gang has the temple support businesses. Another such business like the incense factory is the ceramic tile industry. All of the massive figures on the temple rooftops are made of ceramic tiles produced in Sin Gang. The craftsman of the factory decided to do something with this art that would beautify the village. He chose to decorate a cement bridge that spans a small street running along the old Beigang River Canal. He made ceramic Morning Glories to climb the sides of the bridge abutments and added a night sky on the underside of the bridge.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not shown, there is a moon in the dark patch above, which is the night sky.</td></tr>
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From what I understood of the story, it became so popular that he designed two other arrangements of local flowers, Chinaberries and Hibiscus, and attached them to the canal wall itself. These are very lovely and have become a popular spot for picture-taking. Lovely indeed!<br />
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This was quite a day of experiencing Taiwanese culture! It was eye-opening and necessary in order to understand the life-style of those we have come to care about here in our temporary “adopted” home of Chia-yi County, Tiawan.Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-58424218477847507172012-03-06T07:42:00.000-08:002012-05-21T12:25:45.360-07:00A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Museum...<br />
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3/6/12 Tuesday, or w3 as they say in Taiwan
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Don and I have designated Tuesdays as “Day Trip” day. Last week we went to the Salt Museum (though we turned back and went on Wednesday due to weather). Today we went to the Kaohsiung Museum of Shadow Puppets.
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We looked it up online, and it looked like it would make a nice day trip. We were especially interested in it because Sarah had done a lesson on shadow puppets with her art class at the charter school. They talked about Chinese art, and then they made puppets. They worked their completed projects on a screen in the classroom.
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After reading about the museum online, we mapped out our route. The museum was marked on our bi-lingual road map. It seemed clear as to where it was. We felt confident that we knew what we were doing as we headed down the national freeway for our little outing. However, this turned into one of those days where we were at quite a disadvantage to not know Mandarin.
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First off, our Nissan car talks to us in Mandarin. This is normally not a problem because the only time we’ve heard the lovely woman’s voice is when we get into the car and she greets us with, “Ni hoa.” She continues with some other pleasantry or instructions, but it certainly doesn’t seem to be anything we actually need to understand. It hadn't dawned on us that it could become important to know what she is saying. <br />
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We had 40 miles to drive to the museum. Within the first 10 minutes, the lovely woman began to speak to us. We ignored her. Then she continued every several minutes or so to give us some kind of instructions. Don checked the dash warning lights. No problem. We listened to the engine for any rattles. No problem. She came on so often, we started trying to find a pattern in when she began to speak. Was she telling us that a car was passing us? No. Did going over bumps trigger her voice? No. Was Don speeding? No. Nothing went wrong with the car. Don didn’t get a speeding ticket. We didn’t adjust anything. But she did keep talking to us without our knowing what she was saying. It's still a mystery.<br />
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Once we got used to the Nissan lady talking to us, all went well until we made the second turn off the freeway into the Gangshan District of Kaohsiung or as we say, Goushung. The museum was not anywhere to be found in the area marked on the map. We tried several ways to make sense of it, but we were not seeing anything that looked like an area where a museum would be, no less the museum itself. <br />
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We decided when in doubt, go to McDonald’s. You can always find a McDonald’s and their managers are required to “know a little English.” We immediately found the Golden Arches and decided to eat before we asked about directions. We parked the car in front of the restaurant, ordered and went to the second floor to eat our lunch. While Don and I were eating and having conversation, we heard what sounded like some kind of announcement over the restaurant speaker. The only thing we could make out was, “Shi shi.” Don said, “Well, that must have been ‘Thank you for eating at McDonald’s.’” I said it seemed like an awfully long announcement to just say “Thank you.” Oh well, we continued with our conversation. A few minutes later, the manger came to our table and communicated to us that we needed to move our car. Ahha. That announcement was probably for the person blocking the delivery truck, which us!<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span>What did we know?</div>
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When Don went to move the car, I asked the manager about how to get to the museum by showing him my map. A bi-lingual map eliminates a lot of problems (the day in Goushung with Debb and Jaci taught me something!). The manager got himself a paper and pen, so I expected him to draw directions for me. But he suddenly had another idea. He went to one of his employees, explained to him where we wanted to go and told him to get on his scooter and escort us to the museum!<br />
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When we arrived at our destination, not more than a mile from the McDonald’s, the young man pointed and waved as we pulled into a parking spot. We no sooner had gotten out of the car when he came around the block, again. “Sorry, sorry. No park here!” Oh, boy! He pointed around a corner to a parking lot. We thanked him, nodded to him, “Shi shi-ed” many times and waved good-bye to him the second time. We were going to be lucky to get out of this little day trip without a parking ticket!
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We now were at the right place to go to the Puppet Museum, however, there was a complex of buildings surrounding a very nice plaza area. One building was clearly marked the Performing Arts Building. We needed to decide which of the other two was the puppet museum. We chose to go into the bigger of the other two buildings. It turned out to be the County Library! Obviously, we would finally get to where we wanted to go if we went in the one remaining building.<br />
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We did so. Yeah! We had made it…before the sun went down and without any parking tickets! Truly, our lack of language skills proved to be a problem today!
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However, it was worth the convoluted path we had taken. The Shadow Puppet Museum was very nice. It was simply decorated with displays. Some of which explained the history of shadow puppetry in China/ Taiwan.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span>Others described their construction, purpose and staging.</div>
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Shadow puppets are small figures made out of paper. In the old days they were made from leather. They are jointed in the arms and legs and head by knotted strings. They are attached to two sticks and manipulated behind a screen. In the past this was a white fabric. There is a light source behind the screen to project the figure as a shadow to the other side<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">. </span></div>
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This is a very old art, so the light began as candles and progressed with time to be electric light bulbs. Shadow puppetry was especially popular for entertaining the emperors of the dynasties in old China, but later it was used almost exclusively in temple rituals.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The puppet masters would travel from place to place and set up their stage on the back of carts. They would hang curtains and the screen across the front. All their puppets would be hung on strings behind the screen along with all the other supplies, including the light source.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanging puppets and supplies behind the screen.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The screen and curtains mounted on old carts for traveling shadow puppet shows.</td></tr>
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There was a display in the museum that showed step by step the method of making a shadow puppet. There were display cases of very old puppets.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These puppets were made of leather.</td></tr>
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At one point, a museum guide visited with us, and she talked Don into doing an interactive display. He stood in front of a computer menu projected on a wall. It took a picture of his face. When he chose to “continue” on the menu, his face was digitized into a shadow puppet on the screen, which happened to be Chinese woman! As he moved in front of the screen, the figure moved accordingly, just like a Wii!<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look closely and you can see that is Don's face in the puppet!</td></tr>
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Even though we had a little trouble getting to the Kaohsiung Museum of Shadow Puppet Art, we had a very fun day! It would have been a great place for Sarah to bring her class on a field trip!Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-46983756355015979482012-03-01T07:08:00.000-08:002012-05-21T12:43:41.933-07:00Taiwan Salt Industry<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salt flats of central west coast of Taiwan.</td></tr>
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2/29/12<br />
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We woke up on Wednesday morning and the sun was shining. It was a perfect day to go to the coast and see the salt flats. We drove on a beautifully modern “expressway” where we could look out over miles of dammed up land that had been salt fields for centuries until the 1970’s when they began to process salt through electrodialysis. We followed the map through small fishing villages starting at Dongshih and drove south through Budai and Beimen.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salt mountain in Budai just south of Dongshih.</td></tr>
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Then in the middle of nowhere there was a sign for the salt museum. We turned into a large parking lot with very few cars that was in front of a building in the shape of two pyramids. This was the Taiwan Salt Museum built to resemble the salt “mountains” of the past.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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There was a mountain of salt on display outside that you could climb to the top and overlook the old salt flats. <br />
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Inside the museum, we learned all about the process of solar drying (evaporation) seawater to extract the salt to be useable for three purposes: human consumption, industrial use and animal husbandry. It was labor intensive! First, the floor of the slat needed to be lined. There were two kinds of salt beds…mud floor and tile floor. The Japanese invented the tile floor where the bottom of the bed was lined with pottery shards and/ or tiles. These were laid by hand. And there were miles of them!<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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In contrast to the tedious, light work of lining the tile floor bed (which was always done by women), the mud floor bed was extremely heavy work being that it was compressed solid by a man dragging a cement roller over it. <br />
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After the bed was prepared, there was a systematic process of letting in the water and flooding these beds beginning in the biggest field which drained into several smaller fields and so on until it ended up in a small field that was more salt than water. In each of these fields, the water was raked and settled and raked and settled. <br />
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Then it was finally scooped into containers and loaded into a railcar on a track that ran along the salt flat. This was big business and was taxed heavily by both the Japanese government during occupation and by their own government after the war. This led to selling salt on the “black market.” Watch towers were built to supervise the salt fields by the "salt police." <br />
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All of this history was depicted by very life-like dioramas, as you can see in the pictures above.
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The museum also explained and displayed about salt processing around the world and other methods such as mining. It was very interesting. I have a greater appreciation for how salt gets to my table after exploring this museum.
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The museum also had a gift shop where we bought a few presents to bring home, including salt coffee. This was funny to us because Don adds salt to the coffee grounds when he makes coffee at home, something he learned in the Marine Corp. People consistently comment on how good the coffee is when he makes it. Then he’ll say that he puts salt in the grounds. Most people will think that’s strange, but they can’t deny that they think he makes great coffee. After more than 39 years, we realized while we were at the salt museum gift shop that the Marines probably picked up the habit of adding salt to their coffee grounds after traveling in the Far East. It’s a wonder what you can find out about yourself while traveling half way around the world.
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On our return trip from the museum, we turned off the road again when we saw a sign for a “Black-faced Spoonbill Reserve.” It was also in the middle of nowhere. But it was very nice with a boardwalk with spyglasses to look over the water to a sand bar that was covered with black-faced spoonbills. Very, very cool place.<br />
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The sun shone the entire day! The air was warm, but not hot. It was an utterly delightful day!<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-33833504388521670372012-03-01T05:48:00.000-08:002012-05-21T18:37:09.938-07:00Flavors of Taiwan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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3/1/12<br />
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I have been fascinated with the food of Taiwan, as you already know by my many accounts of restaurants. Looking through my array of pictures, I realized I have taken almost as many pictures of food as I have of temples. I decided that this must mean food is an important subject and I should dedicate one whole blog entry to it. Where to begin? I think I will first make a distinction between "indigenous food" and common Taiwanese food. These two cuisines overlap, but to the locals, they have distinctions. <br />
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Indigenous food is the food of the native tribes. They use food that is found within their geographical regions of the mountains. Of what I have eaten, this includes mountain rice in bamboo tubes. I felt honored that we had had this dish when I read in a magazine (bi-lingual, I must say), "There is a dish strongly recommended by gourmets for visitors interested in Taiwanese cuisine. If they haven't expereieced "zhutong fan" ("fan"=rice), rice in a bamboo tube, it means they haven't visited Alishan (the mountains)!" Eating mountain rice in a bamboo tube was one the most memorable experiences of our day in the Ali-shan ("shan"=mountains).<br />
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Another statement in the magazine says what we discovered to be true about what the Taiwanese like about their food. "They prefer plain flavors." This is what has caused me to remark, "There's nothing not to like about it. It has very little taste." <br />
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The article in the magazine also made this statement: "The Amis (an indigenous group) love soup; they believe the best way to use good ingredients, whether vegetables or meat, is to put them in soup." We have found this to be true, period. Whether indigenous or not, soup(s) is at every meal in every form.<br />
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Again, to quote the article, "Most indigenous foods come from the earth, especially the sometimes bitter-tasting wild vegetables." Again, we are either eating a lot of indigenous food or it is combined with our local dishes, but we've eaten a lot of bitter-tasting vegetables...also a part of every meal.<br />
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Considering the indigenous people groups have been banished to the mountain country for probably 200 years, the difference in low land cuisine is the abundance of seafood. I need not mention, again, the oysters of Dongshih. These are a staple in our area of Chia-yi. Also prawns/ shrimp, squid of many sizes and colors, and any number of large ocean fish. Seaweed is common and made into many varieties of food, including "seaweed" Lays potato chips. <br />
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Vegetables of many kinds grow in the lowland that are not of the bitter variety as in the mountains. They are common vegetables that we see in our produce sections in America. However, the carrots are gigantic and the cauliflower is thin, not full and dense. There are many radishes, gourds, cabbages, cucumbers and tomatoes along with bean sprouts, corn, onions and lettuce. All of these will end up in soup. The one thing that I can't get used to is putting lettuce leaves in soup.<br />
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I have already expressed my love of dumplings in at least one other entry so I will not repost a picture of this favorite local food. But, I'm also fond of green onion pancakes and prawns. I have also mentioned the prawns before, how they are served with their heads attached. After I got used to this custom I have come to regard them as an attractive dish as well as tasty.<br />
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A very common traditional meal in Taiwan is the biandang or "lunchbox." Don had biandang for lunch every day at the factory. We eat biandang for Sunday lunch at church. These are cardboard boxes with separations for the different foods of the meal. The main compartment is always filled with rice or noodles with some form of meat, such as a thin slice of pork, chicken, a chicken leg or fish along with a hard boiled egg or piece of tofu. The smaller divisions are filled with vegetables. These lunch boxes can be ordered from just about any store front eatery on any street in town. The box is secured with rubber bands and comes with a set of chop sticks.</div>
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Another very common food item is the "brown" egg. These are hard boiled eggs that are soaked in soy sauce and vinegar while still in the shell. I assume the soy sauce mixture seeps through the shell because when they are cracked and peeled, the whites and the yolk are brown. These are very popular. You may see a pot of "brown" eggs on the counter near the cash register of just about any convenience store anywhere in Taiwan.</div>
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I am going to conclude my discussion of the flavors of Taiwan by mentioning the street vendors. Taiwan is famous for its many food vendors. They sell soup and rice and piles of food. I must be truthful, I have not eaten from the street vendors, but they are an essential part of the Taiwanese diet and culture.<br />
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Note: I have not talked about Taiwan's most famous food group, fruit. That is because it is so plentiful and beautiful that I am going to write another page dedicated just to fruit.<br />
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<br />Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-70908767378339374342012-02-24T02:38:00.000-08:002012-05-21T18:44:22.712-07:00Random pictures of Household Items<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This does not sound like a very interesting blog piece. I should have thought of a clever title, but I didn't. I have taken pictures over our time here of things around the house that are different from what I have ever had in a house in the US, no matter what state we were in. Therefore, I found them interesting enough to photograph for "posterity."<br />
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This is the type of broom and dust pan that is used in every home. It is super light being made of aluminum, the brush is very thin and the dust pan has a handle as tall as the broom so as not to have to bend over, like the ushers use at the movie theater. I have not seen another type of household broom sold here in Taiwan. I'm actually missing my O'Cedar, but I like the dust pan.<br />
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This is the biggest tea pot ever! This is used to boil water for washing and rinsing the dishes, as well as making soup or instant coffee or tea. You can supply all of these with one full pot. The steam release is in the cover knob and can really sing!<br />
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This is the "socks dryer." You can hang a dozen pair of socks on this little contraption and take up very little space. The blue "rope" that is strung to the same hook as the sock dryer is my clothes line. It is made so that you can hang your clothes on hangers and slip the hanger hook into the divided spaces so that the wind won't blow them into a clump...which it will if you don't do something about it. I choose to use old fashioned clothespins but hangers really do save space. Everything in Taiwan is designed to take up as little space as possible. <br />
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I also use the clothes pole to dry clothes. It does have the issue, though, of the wind blowing the clothes smack together so that they can't dry as quickly. "Quickly" is relative, as I have complained before about the amount of time it takes to dry clothes in our humid air.<br />
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This is a rice bowl, my favorite dish in the cupboard. I don't use it for rice. I use it for oatmeal. I can make oatmeal in the morning and with the cover on it, the cereal will stay hot until everything else, including Don, is ready to eat. I also use it for ramen noodles. Boil the water in the giant tea pot, pour it over the noodles and flavor packets, put the cover on, let it sit for 3 minutes and we've got supper! A-tai is going to buy me two rice bowls to bring home! Yeah!<br />
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The orange hose is a permanent fixture in every bathroom of every house. It is, as you can see, attached to a separate spigot under the sink. It is for rinsing the floor daily and the water runs into the drain in the floor. (Note the water jug on the floor. I have a pitcher on the shelf above the sink filled with bottled water for brushing our teeth...including dunking our tooth brushes. I refill the pitcher from the gallon water jug on the floor.)<br />
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Almost all the door knobs in the house have these fabric covers on them. They could be for decoration only, but I think they may be for sanitary reasons. You can remove them and put them in the washer. I realize there are many cleaning products to spray door knobs to get the same effect, but I'm not sure if they are used. These covers are cumbersome because you can't get a good grip on the knob to open the door, so I'm assuming they have a practical purpose rather than decoration only. We've removed many of them for the very reason we couldn't manage to open the door efficiently. We'll replace them when we leave.<br />
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I love this feature in the closet/ dressing room. This is a sliding door that is hiding...<br />
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the balcony door! Slide it over the closet and you've got an entrance onto the balcony. Close it and you've got a solid wall. Very clever...and space-saving. Very IKEA.<br />
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The last item I am going to document is this little "shed"/ "cabinet" that shelters the gas tank for the stove in the house. It is outside in the very narrow alley. You put your hand into that open slot in the door that is at the exact height of the handle to turn on the gas. When you're done with using the stove, we were told to go outside and turn it off. Note the door next to the gas tank "shed." That is the neighbor's back door. We're all really close together!<br />
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These are household items that I have not used or dealt with in my houses in the US. They make life interesting.Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-85479682523737262822012-02-20T17:12:00.000-08:002012-05-21T19:03:43.767-07:00National Lantern Festival, Lugang, Changhua County<br />
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2/20/12
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Now I am going to tackle putting the experience of the National Lantern Festival into words.
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A little background: The lantern festival “season” starts on the 15th day after Chinese (Lunar) New Year and lasts two weeks. Thus, this year it ran from Feb. 6 until yesterday, the 19th. Originally, the lantern festivals were held at the city temples. People would parade from temple to temple with their lanterns. In 1989, these were consolidated into one annual national event to spare people from shuttling between them all. Even though there are two temples in Lugang, the actual festival took place between the two. Don and I never actually saw either temple during our time at the festival.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Main entrance. We actually exited from here because we entered from the street, not the shuttle bus parking lot.</td></tr>
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There are still a few local lantern festivals such as in Goushung. As the one in Goushung, they are smaller by comparison and do not run simultaneously with the national festival. There is one festival that takes place on the 15th day of the lunar New Year that is internationally known, separate from the National Lantern Festival. That is the Sky Lantern Festival in the small ancient coal village of Ping Xi where they launch thousands of traditional lanterns into the night sky, as we have all seen fabulous pictures of and consider this event as the lantern festival of China. This is a smaller one-day event even though thousands of people flood the little village for a glimpse of the spectacular sight.
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The National Lantern Festival covers a large area of the city in which it is held. In 2008, it was held in Chai-yi county among the blocks of government buildings and our beautiful civic park. This year in Lugang, it encompassed probably 2 miles from the South Lantern Area to the North Lantern Area with a few streets branching off to the two local temples.
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With that background, I am going to describe our own experience and observance of the National Lantern Festival in Lugang, Changhua County.
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We took the HSR to the city of Taichung, the closest HSR station to Lugang. Having looked on the map, we knew it was quite a distance between the two. We read online that a free shuttle bus was offered from the train station to the festival, so that was our plan when we arrived. We followed the signs in the train station to the shuttle bus area, but we were in for a big surprise when got there. There was the longest line we had ever seen waiting to get on the shuttle bus(es)! The train station is a very large building, covering at least one square city block. We walked out one door to get in the line and began to walk to find the end of it. I took out my camera and began to photograph this line because we could not find its end. We went around the first corner of the building and could see it wrapped around the next corner as well. Each time we turned another corner around the building, the line continued on. People were standing patiently with hundreds of people in front of them.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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They didn’t seem to think anything strange of this never-ending line. When we found ourselves winding around the 4th corner of the building and the tail of the line was now meeting the head of the line, I had taken 9 pictures of this line and never repeated a section! We decided to hail a cab!
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It was a good ride. Leaving Taichung, we crossed a river into Changhau City. This was a big city crisscrossed with a freeway system that looked like any other freeway system in America or Europe. We passed many, many “brownstone” complexes at an elevated level. Each of them, like ours, had stainless steel water tanks on the roofs to give warm/ hot water when heated by the sun…not a common occurrence in these winter months, though it was a beautiful sunny day yesterday. We were driving directly west at 4:30 pm. As the sun lay low in the sky it shone on those many, many water tanks making them look like soup cans lined up in rows. We also passed what appeared to be a “public” graveyard. I need more information on this subject, but I will add a picture I took in a “cemetery” near our house so you can see how different their burial sites are from ours in the US.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Traffic became very congested the closer we got to the festival area. Scooter after scooter passed by our cab…zoom on the right side, zoom on the left side. They were non-stop, again carrying as many people as possible. We would come to a full stop for several minutes at a time and then nudge a little farther. It was like being in rush hour traffic in LA or inching down Snelling Ave. during the MN State Fair. Those friends who are not from MN cannot imagine this comparison, but it is fair to say that the MN State Fair traffic and crowds can rival any big city event for its two-week annual run in August. The other accurate comparison would be Disneyland on Christmas Day. Lugang was expecting 5 million visitors to attend the festival over two weeks. The police were out in full-force trying to control the flow of traffic.
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The taxi finally turned into a city street and dropped us at a corner where the driver pointed in the direction of the festival. We stood on the corner getting our bearings for only moments when a tall, slender Chinese man asked us in English if we needed help. He ran to a store that had maps of the festival area, but returned saying, “No English.” He gave us a map in Mandarin showing us where we were. The rest was quite self-explanatory. We could see the main street that led between the two main areas of activity, the north venue and the south venue. The north venue was the center of activity. We marked ourselves on the map (like “You Are Here”) and headed from this crowded side street north to connect with the main street, which ran east and west.
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Because the Strait of Taiwan was a short distance directly west of us, we were hit by the cold sea wind as soon as we turned the corner onto the main street, Zhongshan Road. I quickly wrapped the scarf I had brought around my neck and put on my gloves. Aside from noticing the cold wind, we discovered we were entering what is called “The 1,000 Mile Dragon Gallery.” The street was closed to vehicles and became a massive pedestrian walkway. Block-long dragons hung overhead. Each block or two had a different version of a dragon. They were non-stop the entire length of this main street connecting the south venue with the north.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Shortly after we turned this corner, we saw a Chinese couple taking pictures, as everyone was. The wife was taking one of her husband with the lantern dragon over his head in the background. I asked, in pantomime, if she wanted to get in the picture with him. “Yes, yes!” “Shi-shi, shi-shi!” She then offered to do the same for us. Thus, Don and I have a rare photo of the two of us…at the Lantern Festival!<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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These dragons hanging over the street were fabulous! Each one was different, though all made from lanterns. There was an orange one and a pink one and a green one. There was one depicting the “dragon boats,” famous in this area.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicW4Cgr04QJyzimkLIq1zPfm6TRQBwZLK5WXJqaIPBNkJqld3aUbfIg0e6v5HyMZfB7hh3Z1Y_V5pTxa_Yq7GLRbO96qv-yCaEXumPQq8uSGiykoZVFrM678IGi7vExGNfvoPf-uJd2kI/s1600/IMG_1612.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicW4Cgr04QJyzimkLIq1zPfm6TRQBwZLK5WXJqaIPBNkJqld3aUbfIg0e6v5HyMZfB7hh3Z1Y_V5pTxa_Yq7GLRbO96qv-yCaEXumPQq8uSGiykoZVFrM678IGi7vExGNfvoPf-uJd2kI/s640/IMG_1612.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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There was one block that was hung with rows and rows of lights in shapes of fish and waves. The street was lined with food vendors and the local shops were open for business. There was street entertainment. We walked through this area when the sun was just about to set. As we walked, the sky drew darker and the lights began to turn on. It would be another hour before it actually got dark and the full beauty of the dragons would be lit up. But we needed to move on.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Move on we did. We turned toward the “Main Theme Lantern Area.” This main venue was bordered by displays of lanterns from all around the country that had been entered in the lantern competition. These were in the shape of flowers and dragons and children and their most famous landmark, Taipei 101. The winner of this competition would be crowned “Lantern King.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsEEMnKsNUX68LmqafbRPsb8Tea1BYCgoS7himcXX1KzzxdNRWvCPseUKdMiO9IGJRacn7ShL1LR56lMGhrnrp3q6j1FS7OtwGcT6QrjBXAL5hvlmxhV0TFZn44nUjKkpPvVzNWaZKWgk/s1600/IMG_1621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsEEMnKsNUX68LmqafbRPsb8Tea1BYCgoS7himcXX1KzzxdNRWvCPseUKdMiO9IGJRacn7ShL1LR56lMGhrnrp3q6j1FS7OtwGcT6QrjBXAL5hvlmxhV0TFZn44nUjKkpPvVzNWaZKWgk/s640/IMG_1621.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taiwan's Empire State Building...Taipei 101, 2nd tallest building in the world.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ibR5tQGpiPaWtBKJXiyu1vkurRUL-ZvCBpkuTaJFWZj0LcPd95xy9qnlNnvozSebOfG7Iw5vNVwUKi87l87KVAwof2YVDNBJPPudF6jd8duAltrTpNMaiumux6lAfqYx7DPjDFtVJ5o/s1600/IMG_1676.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ibR5tQGpiPaWtBKJXiyu1vkurRUL-ZvCBpkuTaJFWZj0LcPd95xy9qnlNnvozSebOfG7Iw5vNVwUKi87l87KVAwof2YVDNBJPPudF6jd8duAltrTpNMaiumux6lAfqYx7DPjDFtVJ5o/s640/IMG_1676.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another contest entry; taken later in the evening.</td></tr>
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There were not only dozens and dozens of lanterns in this area, but all of the trees were wound with lights…we’d call them Christmas lights, but instead of Christmas colors, they were purples, pinks and oranges. It was a fairyland of lights. The wind was blowing so strongly that the branches of the trees were swaying, and that caused the lights to look as if they were twinkling. Don and I were oohing and aahing at this point, “but we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”<br />
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Because of the route we took in getting to this area, we found ourselves entering into the main theme area from a side walkway. The first thing we saw was a tall pagoda lantern…very, very pretty…<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLyyJDPAa5yr4jN61qtNEyIPVoUj9ItD3RIsi7nTUlrPOLZyxX3X9fX79u7gssXILBCDHbAY7dRqtcySukkBawdP1TXHLwDwOaBEXj_032VvKvHFNm0rauT72mn14Qy7tx9J50l7I8PBM/s1600/IMG_1624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLyyJDPAa5yr4jN61qtNEyIPVoUj9ItD3RIsi7nTUlrPOLZyxX3X9fX79u7gssXILBCDHbAY7dRqtcySukkBawdP1TXHLwDwOaBEXj_032VvKvHFNm0rauT72mn14Qy7tx9J50l7I8PBM/s640/IMG_1624.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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but then we turned the corner! There was an enormous stage (65yards x 22yards) with red skirting that held life-size scenes from Chinese culture. They were so…so…so…Chinese! This is what everyone in the world has in mind when they think “Chinese”! There it was…bigger than life! The sun was going down fast. The darker it got, the brighter the lanterns got. This was awesome! We forgot we were cold, we forgot it was windy, we forgot we were one (or should I say two) in a crowd of thousands. It was a sight that completely overwhelmed me! Here is some of what we were gazing on:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Ik0ZOqnAVPd3RyUX3ZN2ThNA4q2zFSIfhRa6IcKf-MMBt2NdfpF3htzaOa0_ldLJJrUV6uZSPULW8BpNlVIsM8PAM1a2WYbgAd9yX54mpIX3LK7mZhCos3N8Io0-3NaNHfAZAqMeAs8/s1600/IMG_1637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Ik0ZOqnAVPd3RyUX3ZN2ThNA4q2zFSIfhRa6IcKf-MMBt2NdfpF3htzaOa0_ldLJJrUV6uZSPULW8BpNlVIsM8PAM1a2WYbgAd9yX54mpIX3LK7mZhCos3N8Io0-3NaNHfAZAqMeAs8/s640/IMG_1637.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Confucius Temple</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzd7y9QDglP4BaAd0_DRcc5Fv27UlIkPREDXzF9rBLDOqrSkk4GwwQfLyGK9BDXljnHDJsSNA45ZcAG9qo7SFiSfji4_aFLH1lW3RmvOMeJNVo4NhiBXM7JSl6EImfrjKTua22gQEjLWw/s1600/IMG_1633.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzd7y9QDglP4BaAd0_DRcc5Fv27UlIkPREDXzF9rBLDOqrSkk4GwwQfLyGK9BDXljnHDJsSNA45ZcAG9qo7SFiSfji4_aFLH1lW3RmvOMeJNVo4NhiBXM7JSl6EImfrjKTua22gQEjLWw/s640/IMG_1633.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zhonghua Gate Castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpdv1z1XRoszAysCPcoDLV5XyhU9-2M-6i0bhdAnjHMzc5KbVL7jG8BqfOdo_jdCnAQrKVvJ4bHhB0TkVp54NlqqaklTTNr-tcU1TnfFN_YKael7cDs1nFoN3aPSSzsF_mf6wx3LjVAyI/s1600/IMG_1639.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpdv1z1XRoszAysCPcoDLV5XyhU9-2M-6i0bhdAnjHMzc5KbVL7jG8BqfOdo_jdCnAQrKVvJ4bHhB0TkVp54NlqqaklTTNr-tcU1TnfFN_YKael7cDs1nFoN3aPSSzsF_mf6wx3LjVAyI/s640/IMG_1639.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Women playing Majong.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40N5ernGWQEgBnjbGVMA3ekgENxBhdu7OiIeIKmh-Vwg5Ha2pDXw-M57BVOdoTVs8B_vGiVKBU-BcjoHzvBNjLG5PoDbWQEcIH8gK4eqXCYnDdiC1gDgHIxUio83QM-aM_T-plJNIwDg/s1600/IMG_0380.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40N5ernGWQEgBnjbGVMA3ekgENxBhdu7OiIeIKmh-Vwg5Ha2pDXw-M57BVOdoTVs8B_vGiVKBU-BcjoHzvBNjLG5PoDbWQEcIH8gK4eqXCYnDdiC1gDgHIxUio83QM-aM_T-plJNIwDg/s640/IMG_0380.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Temple Gate</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIsB3dcZuV9DD__NKcfR4DogThzu-ygamS15hnqejZWjjL55hSiLdqnQ39RT5hIEfF9kLSRQRxSHjH_IF087QVMtIrp-5-6dAoObajceVD-cpR-1a1wIdqOkVLO5_6h1Ij26hxwjGKQRs/s1600/IMG_1628.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIsB3dcZuV9DD__NKcfR4DogThzu-ygamS15hnqejZWjjL55hSiLdqnQ39RT5hIEfF9kLSRQRxSHjH_IF087QVMtIrp-5-6dAoObajceVD-cpR-1a1wIdqOkVLO5_6h1Ij26hxwjGKQRs/s640/IMG_1628.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Once we could pull ourselves away from that main display, we turned around and directly behind us was a pathway to follow through four "Welcome Lantern Pillars" and gate.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiqusrcJ-n4tiI0clh0LMZrMr0H36goj7cFpRw-LuCkxkdOP-hYxVQ8Xu_kyTz-ZedP9kLLOlGkh456WWybX2cf3BdeJtz1tmNbBZBHvYy1bLjozySjm1gBmVB5qr5uiWB7Y8zxEjUJmY/s1600/IMG_0382.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiqusrcJ-n4tiI0clh0LMZrMr0H36goj7cFpRw-LuCkxkdOP-hYxVQ8Xu_kyTz-ZedP9kLLOlGkh456WWybX2cf3BdeJtz1tmNbBZBHvYy1bLjozySjm1gBmVB5qr5uiWB7Y8zxEjUJmY/s640/IMG_0382.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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This pathway brought us under an enormous lantern that was shaped like a gourd. The word for “gourd” in Mandarin is a homophone for “fortune,” so the gourd has come to symbolize good fortune. This open space was called the “Fortune Gate Lantern Area” which led to the “Blessing Lantern Forest.” As one can imagine, it was rows and rows of trees and lattices hung with gourd-shaped lanterns.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLQ3s2EVaApKEPgYhV7TNSzObUJyjMOsCrQ1D_CdYX14xgj4TVw8ufLrU6lX1Q5WGxDm9orwnRo1P5QCPLUet1Gwzckl03oPomxGk-TrTxYtcSgWa7k_mCv8tqftGxtiqPSmwXj1SWRk/s1600/IMG_1650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLQ3s2EVaApKEPgYhV7TNSzObUJyjMOsCrQ1D_CdYX14xgj4TVw8ufLrU6lX1Q5WGxDm9orwnRo1P5QCPLUet1Gwzckl03oPomxGk-TrTxYtcSgWa7k_mCv8tqftGxtiqPSmwXj1SWRk/s640/IMG_1650.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fortune Gate Lantern</td></tr>
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In this area, there was one of the five “secondary” national lanterns, the “Bisi Bearing Fortune.” A bisi is a tortoise-like creature in Chinese folklore that loved to carry heavy things on its back. He did this with “diligence and without complaint,” as the story goes. The philanthropist of today is like bisi who can bring good fortune to others.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH5NWWujXEuC4ZTvya_nnN_B3zdaW631t3Ef3df0yt8BkcuNB6ZD2-KakvrS_-esgLWo_nlBYq-KQH4MNQmYd_rassGf9twaU2mkAgyLSrfvQPB09G16aSYvm9fAS1B_FwD0BSJhjS3o4/s1600/IMG_1649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH5NWWujXEuC4ZTvya_nnN_B3zdaW631t3Ef3df0yt8BkcuNB6ZD2-KakvrS_-esgLWo_nlBYq-KQH4MNQmYd_rassGf9twaU2mkAgyLSrfvQPB09G16aSYvm9fAS1B_FwD0BSJhjS3o4/s640/IMG_1649.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bisi Bearing Fortune</td></tr>
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We then moved into the entertainment open-air arena where there was a dance troupe performing on a huge stage before a huge crowd both in stadium seats as well as milling about a gigantic open space. The troupe was dancing to American pop music sung in English. They started out with “Puttin’ On the Ritz” and followed through the decades with songs like “Greased Lightning” and “YMCA.” During this performance, a laser show danced on the tall building bordering the stage. You could see the beam being shot from a top-story window from a building on the other side of the festival grounds.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crowd watching the dance performance at the Entertainment Square.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Full stadium bleachers also watching the dancers on stage.</td></tr>
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The dance stage was dwarfed by the centerpiece lantern of the festival, “Soaring Dragon in Radiant Skies.” The website describes this lantern as embodying “a dragon soaring across the world … abounding auspicious clouds and embracing virtue.” The soaring dragon was on a high pedestal and changed colors from inside its lantern body.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Soaring Dragon Over Radiant Skies" (from behind)</td></tr>
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We walked on to other displays before the dance performance was over. We could still hear the music clearly as we walked through another area of competing lanterns and through a grove of trees covered with lights. As Don and I walked arm in arm through this enchanted forest, we could hear that the hit song “Take My Breath Away” was playing over at the stage. I realize that song is arguably the most romantic song ever, but the title itself described the evening’s experience for me (and I dare say Don, as well)…it “took my breath away.”
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We took the free shuttle back to the HSR station arriving just in time for the 8:00 train back to Chia-yi. We sat on the train and said to each other once again, “WOW! WOW! WOW! We’re really in China!”Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-86874245363498196652012-02-19T06:50:00.000-08:002012-05-21T19:12:31.757-07:00Saturday Morning Errands, with a Detour2/18/12
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Saturday was a very fun day. We went out in the morning, ate lunch and rested for an hour at home. Then went to Taichung/ Lugang for the National Lantern Festival.
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Even though the Lantern Festival was the absolute highlight of the day, I am going to relate in this post what we did in the morning. First, we have carried on our tradition of going out for Saturday breakfast. Considering McDonald’s is the only place in town that we trust for American breakfast food, that is where we went. The girls at the counter have gotten familiar with us and try to use any English they know. They get very shy and humble when we compliment them on their skill with the language. They are very sweet.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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After breakfast, we set out to make our weekly run to the Giraffe Supermarket. As we were approaching the corner to turn into the market, we noticed a line of tour buses joining us on the main road. There were about 8 buses in all. We ended up at the stoplight next to them and read their name, “Hosanna Buses.” They had a cross and dove for a logo and a flame for decoration. We decided that we had no schedule to keep so why not follow them. Maybe they would lead us to some kind of Christian “convention” going on somewhere nearby.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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We followed them to Dongshih, and then we continued on to a small town we were not familiar with. We ended up going through a little village downtown area until we saw the buses all turning off the road into a driveway where there were policemen directing traffic. They pointed for the buses to turn in, but they pointed their traffic stick at us and directed us to move on. As we passed the driveway, we discovered that it was not a Christian convention they were going to at all. We drove around the block to get a look at what was going on. They had been dropped off at a Buddhist garden that was being used as a gathering place for these busloads of “worshippers” to parade to the local temple. They all received incense sticks as they disembarked the bus. Then the processional firecrackers were lit and the pop, pop, pop of them went on for several minutes. I got out of the car and took some pictures of the gardens, but I could not get close enough to see the people.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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I got back in the car and we headed back towards the main road to go back to Putzu. When we turned the car around we discovered that we were in a community that processes salt from the sea…remember that Dongshih is the oyster town and we were not far from there. We had read that there were salt flats and mounds in the area. Well, we found one of them by accident on Saturday. There were “mountains” of salt, taller and wider than the buildings next to them<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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After finding that amazing sight, we turned back onto the main road, but the traffic was now stopped by the parade of worshippers. They completely blocked the street and now the policemen were holding back traffic until they all got close enough to the temple to clear one lane for traffic to go by. <br />
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As we finally were allowed to creep past the crowd, we saw what has become a familiar sight to us…the people were filing up the right hand staircase into the temple, flowing through the temple and descending down the left hand staircase, all the while carrying their burning incense sticks. The smell of the incense was very strong in the car just from driving past the crowd.<br />
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It seemed ironic that “Hosanna Buses” were bringing Buddhists/ Taoists to their temple for pagan worship.
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We drove back to Putzu and continued with our original errand, grocery shopping at the Giraffe Supermarket. We’ve gotten familiar with the store so that we can find just about anything we want without too much hunting around. This was a quick run, in and out. Then it was on to the fruit stand by the “market.” We loaded up on fruit and headed into the “market” for a look around. It was already after noon, though, and the “market” was being disassembled for the day. We walked around several blocks looking for things to bring back to the US. I especially want to find some covered rice bowls. They work really well for oatmeal. I’m also looking for some tea sets. The shops around this area are all smashed together. Some are very nice and some are not. Like in Taipei, you have to walk the street and look inside to determine if the store might have what you are looking for. We found a “hole in the wall” shop that had just what I wanted! It was the jackpot! I plan on going back a few more times before we leave Chia-yi. What a fun Saturday morning just doing errands...with a little detour!Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-52151483619149576592012-02-19T02:07:00.001-08:002012-05-21T19:16:24.968-07:00Korean Dinner with 3M Asia<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3M Singapore, A-tai and Carl enjoying our communal Korean dining experience.</td></tr>
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2/14/12<br />
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3M Asia came to visit Singform last week. Because of this, I want to describe another restaurant! <br />
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Wed. night, Don came home from work and said we were asked to go to dinner with SF and the visiting Asians. We met the three men, one from Korea, one from Thailand and one from Singapore, at a Korean restaurant not far from our house along with Cherry, Johnson,Carl and A-tai. It was a very nice restaurant. It was another experience in communal eating.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The Koreans have their own style. We had two tables pushed together to accommodate the eight of us. Each table had a “grill” and a heater/burner recessed into the table, similar to the way a hot pot restaurant works. The grill was round and had burning coals under a concave grate. There were many plates of raw meat and fish that we laid on the grate to cook.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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The other heater was covered with a clever domed heavy gold “thing,” like an inverted wok with no handle. I will describe it. Its size fit exactly over the burner. Around the domed center was a little moat with edges several inches deep. When the dome was nice and hot, we took thin slices of meat and laid them on top of it to cook. Vegetables, including lettuce, were put into the “moat” and a pot of boiling water was poured over the meat washing it’s juices down into the moat with the vegetables, which could then be scooped out into a soup bowl.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
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Until I came to Taiwan, I had no idea there were so many ways to cook meat and make soup on a tabletop! We grilled large raw, which means they were black, shrimp on the grill and watched them turn orange. They were very good! Cherry showed me how to cook a thin strip of beef and eat it wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Also very good. We had a bowl of “rice” which means it includes pieces of pork, vegetables, etc. I like that, too. They served Kim chi, but I passed on it. Don said it was “real” Korean Kim chi, not too hot. I didn’t chance it. I can’t decide if Korean food is just tastier than Taiwanese food or if I am acquiring a taste for Asian food, but I liked everything I ate at that restaurant. That’s a first! It’s taken only seven weeks!Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-17397901984046820922012-02-19T01:04:00.000-08:002012-05-21T19:24:39.326-07:00Renewing our Visas<br />
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2/13/12<br />
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We had to renew our visas yesterday. We went to the county government building that is not far from our house. No one could speak English there, but they called a young military man in to interpret and help us. We were told that we needed to go to the immigration building a few blocks away.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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This young man, Paul, walked us over there. We visited as we walked. He had spent two years in Australia. His English was very good. He spoke for us when we got to immigration, and after some discussion between several people, we were asked to bring in another set of passport pictures. These we happened to have at home, so we left with Paul to go back to the original government building. As we walked, we apologized that we didn’t know where to go and that he had to walk us to and from buildings. He said, “Oh, no problem! This is my job. I am here to help foreigners. In my two years here, you are the only ones I have ever had the chance to help! We don’t have many foreigners in Chia-yi.” Cute.
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We had parked the car on the street. When we returned, we had gotten a “parking ticket.” Oh, dear, without knowing, we must have parked in a restricted space. As it turned out, this wasn’t an actual parking ticket. Tagging your car on the windshield is their method of charging for parking, without a parking meter. A “meter maid,” if you will, tags your car when you pull in and every 10 minutes she comes around and marks another ten minutes on the ticket. Then you go to the 7-Eleven or Family Mart and pay within a few weeks. (We got this information from our students at conversational English class last night. After class, we went to 7-Eleven and paid our parking fee…33 cents!)<br />
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When we went back to immigration with our passport pictures, we were helped by a volunteer who wore a vest that said, “Interpreter,” on the back. I’m sure she can interpret Mandarin, Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese, maybe even Thai but not English. This interpreter did a lot of pointing. She was a very nice, friendly girl but not one word passed between us until she was done filling out our papers and we said to her, “Shi shi” (“Thank you”). <br />
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We moved on to a service window. It was exactly like immigration in LA where it was a set-up like the DMV…take a number, go to the window on the electronic sign that appears when your number appears. After handing our paper work to the man behind the glass, we stood at the window and watched him read through every instruction on his computer. He examined our papers very closely. Others came by to see how he was doing with his task. After 30 minutes or so, he stamped our passports with a visa allowing us to stay in the country until April 27. Again, they don’t get many foreigners.<br />
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<br /></div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-54445787039641203822012-02-16T19:25:00.000-08:002012-05-21T19:31:31.837-07:00Random Pictures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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2/17/12<br />
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Today marks the seventh week we have been in Chai-yi County, Taiwan. I decided that I have some pictures that are, as I titled this post, "random," but interesting. So here they are:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is a children's version of the Zodiac at a local park. There is one for each animal sign covering this huge open cement area. <br /><br />There are also tall statues of dragons and mythical creatures in that park, as in the picture below</span>.<br />
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If you or your business owns a truck in Taiwan it looks like the one in the picture below. These are every where on the road. I have not seen a truck that is not blue and does not look like this one. I can only assume it is the only model in the truck market. The only variation on it is that the bed might be covered or it may be a lot older than this one. They've obviously been selling them for a long time.<br />
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This picture was taken in the park by the Tropic of Cancer. It was a beautiful day in Chia-yi County!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Here I am with one foot in the tropics and one foot not! Funny...my left side didn't feel any warmer than my right!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Food has been a fascination to me, so here is another food item. Can you guess what is in these bags?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The picture above is of bags of mushrooms! I don't know if this is "Sam's Club" size but we have seen people walk away with one of these monster bags. Do you think you "can carry it on a scooter"? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Oh, yes, you can! They can and they do!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is a political billboard before the election in January. This woman ran against the incumbent president and lost by a small margin with 80% of eligible voters voting. On the ballot, if you voted for this candidate you would have marked the "number one" candidate, as indicated by the one in the circle. The men on the other side of the sign were running for other positions in the same party, DPP.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This was taken at Jerry's family farm in the mountains. Jerry's uncle, to the left, lives on the farm and runs it for the family. Next is Jerry and his wife and Don, of course. Behind them is Mike Kreager and Donnie Gray. Jerry's uncle is holding a small gift I brought as appreciation for inviting us to visit his farm. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(Notice the bamboo wall of the building behind everyone. In the mountains, everything is made from bamboo.)</span></div>
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Happy eating ice cream in the mountains. </div>
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(Notice the proverbial scooter and blue truck behind her.)</div>
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Here she is again. This time trying on a mountain rice harvesting basket...pick the rice, put it the basket strapped to your head. Happy is adorable and full of personality.</div>
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These are the elevated tracks of the HSR, High Speed Rail. It could be anywhere in the USA!</div>
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Food, again! These are dumplings. I have mentioned them several times. These were served in a bamboo steamer dish at Koa Chi in Taipei. Don handles them well with his chopsticks.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Food, again! One more time... but this is weirdly interesting. This contraption makes what they call "cookies"/"Oreos". (Taiwanese use the term Oreos as generic for cookies.) However, these are not what we call cookies. They are what we would call rice cakes. They were a popular snack at sidewalk vendors when we were in Tainan. This is what is happening in the picture: They put rice batter in the front of the appliance where a "press" comes down on it. When the press is released the cake is shot out of the contraption like a catapult, thus the "cookies" are flying through the air and need to be trapped in the cage. The weird thing about them is that they are flavored with shrimp! They are shrimp rice cakes!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That's all the random pictures for now. I hope you enjoyed this variety of unrelated pictures.</span></div>
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<br />Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-5248630304060112852012-02-15T21:19:00.000-08:002012-05-21T19:56:16.841-07:00Girls' Day Out in Goushung<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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1/31/12<br />
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I’m going to try to do justice to my “girls' day out” to Goushung. First, it was a day planned by my new friend, Debb. She introduced herself to us at McDonald’s one night. Then I had breakfast with her one Sat. morning and then she invited me and another friend, Jacie, to go on a day trip to Goushung. We are all teachers and within 2 years in age of each other. Jacie has been in Taiwan for almost 7 years and Debb for 18 months. Jacie is from Seattle and Debb is from the Cleveland area. Debb has visited Goushung many times and had a particular tour she has created for bringing visitors to the city, the second largest city on the island. Taipei being the first with just fewer than 8 million people. The island of Taiwan is the second most densely populated country in the world.<br />
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Note: Goushung, as most cities in Taiwan, has many spellings. On maps it is Kaohsiung. At the train station it is Ziaosing. But it is pronounced “Goushung,” so that is how it is spelled by the locals.<br />
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Note: Multiple spellings are a very common problem. One must be aware because if you have one spelling and expect to find it on a map or a bus schedule you may not be able to. Chia-yi is often written without the hyphen or with a “J” instead of “Ch”, which is phonetic but instinctively it is does not say it is the same city. We actually are considered to be a part of Putzu, which is spelled on signs throughout the city either Puzih, Putzu, Putzi or Phuzu. I want a job in our county to rewrite all the public signs with the uniform spelling of names. I’d also include in that job translating into proper English grammar instructions, advertising and general information. For example, the instructions on the package of the green onion pancake (which I love) that I fixed for supper last night need a better translator. The instructions actually said: “Adds a few drops of oil, put the pastry on the pot (flat-bottomed pan to be better) directly without defrosting, fries after both sides become golden color, extruding inward the both sides by using the chopsticks or the shovel, grasping the cake to assume fluffy.” I seriously think there’s a market for an English writer at that company! The city government has such a need, as well. Or should I dare say, the central government of Taiwan should also be looking for such a person. Actually, tourism is a brand new industry here so I’m sure they’ll get better at it.<br />
But I digress.<br />
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Goushung is on a harbor with the Love River flowing into
it. It is, as all Taiwan, modern and new
along with primitive and old. The two
are on top of each other. The river
itself is the focal point of the city and it, as I have read, has been under a
beautification program for the past 10 years.
It has paid off. It is lovely
with river walkways, flower boxes, boat excursions and restaurants.<br />
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Debb had a whole itinerary worked out for the day trip since she had been there many times. It included taking the HSR from Chia-yi to Goushung, transferring to the bus just outside the train station to be taken to Monkey Mountain where after climbing the mountain we could have lunch at the Subway sandwich shop nearby. Then we would take the Redline subway to Lotus Pond, walk along Love River and have supper at a steak house then return on the HSR. The only two things that actually went as planned was getting there on the train and getting back on the train. In between, we went to Monkey Mountain and Lotus Pond but not as intended.<br />
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We got off the train at the huge HSR station where we crossed the street to the main bus stop. Debb couldn’t remember for sure which bus to take but was not worried about it being that there is an information booth right there. As we have found to be true in our short time here, though, the attendant in the booth did not speak a word of English. Debb brought her to the posted bus schedule, pointed to bus 56 and asked, “Monkey Mountain?” The attendant did seem to comprehend but couldn’t reply, so it went something like “OK, OK.” Head nodding, then shaking the finger like, “No. No.” What do you do with that? So Debb politely nodded to her and “Shi shi” (“Thank you”). We decided we’d wait and see if bus 56 might come by and go to Monkey Mountain. We waited a half hour and no bus 56 came by. When bus 67 and bus 45 and bus 78 went by twice and were coming around again, we decided we’d take a taxi (taxi’s are cheap). We crossed the street to the taxi stand where the taxi “director” brought us to a cab. We said, “Monkey Mountain?” and showed them the English/ Mandarin map. The “director” and the driver said something that sounded like “zoo.” Debb said the zoo is next to Monkey Mountain, so we said, “Yes, yes. Zoo. OK.” The three of us get in the cab…me in front. The driver is saying, “Zoo. Monkey Mountain. Monkeys. Monkeys. Monkeys.” We’re thinking he’s got the right idea. We head out of the downtown area and over the river and into neighborhoods that don’t really look like they are leading to any public area, no less the zoo. Debb is in the backseat going, “This isn’t the way to the zoo. This isn’t the way to Monkey Mountain. I don’t recognize any of this.” Suddenly we turn down what looks like an alley and the driver stops along a curb that has 4 monkey statues sitting on the sidewalk<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">. </span><br />
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The three of us look at each other and say, “Well…there must be monkeys here.” We get out, pay the driver and he takes off. There’s nothing to do but head toward the area that is obviously being announced by the monkey statues. We didn’t go far and were at the base of the most quaint (Chinese-style quaint) set of shops you’ve ever seen going up the hillside on both sides of a stone staircase. Atop these old Chinese shops were monkeys! <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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Monkeys were on the stone stairs, on the rails, on the ground, in the trees. They were everywhere! We had found Monkey Mountain! Not exactly the one Debb had been to before but a monkey mountain for sure! She said this was way better than where she had intended to take us. We walked a good ways up the stairs and as we climbed we watched the community of monkeys. Many were grooming each other. Baby monkeys were chasing each other, tumbling on the ground and swinging from the trees. One of the monkeys grabbed onto Jacie’s sweatshirt as we passed by. There was a mother and baby on the ground, so I assume it was the daddy protecting his family. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My new friend, Debb, pointing to a monkey on the stone steps.</td></tr>
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At the highest point we walked to, we turned around to come back down, and we saw a panoramic view of the modern city spread out beyond the river while we stood among this old environment still inhabited by monkeys! </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;">We walked back down the staircase and looked at the shops.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;">They had all their fruits and produce in
cages so that the monkeys wouldn’t steal it.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;">
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;">We were all full of wonder at the hidden away spot we had just been to,
but then the wonder became realistic in that we had no idea where we were and
how we were going to get anywhere else.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;">
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;">We decided to wind our way out of this little neighborhood and get to a
main road where we could find ourselves on the map.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"> </span></div>
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When we turned down the local road to our left, we were in front of a huge Buddhist temple. This was of interest to us because most of the temples in Chia-yi are Taoist…colorful and ornate. This was gray cement, simple and serene. We walked across the very large courtyard and up the wide steps. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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There was a monk sitting at a simple wooden table to one side of the landing. He was bent over a book and obviously meditating on its content. He seemed oblivious to us. Jacie whispered that she’d been told that you never enter a Buddhist temple through the front doors…which these tall thick wooden doors were open. We were going to find a side door when the monk, without saying anything, motioned his hand to go around the side portico. Apparently he thought we were looking for a restroom because that is what was there, no side entrance to the temple.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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With the front doors open, though, we did see the inside. It had a huge Buddha at the front of the very large room with many rows of lit votive candles, very similar to a Catholic church. The open floor was covered with many red “hassock”-looking objects that I took to be “kneelers.” They were not flat on top but slanted so it looked to me that the person would kneel on the floor and lean onto this object. They were there for a purpose and that is my guess. It was a good opportunity to see the difference between a Buddhist temple and what see around our area. The worshippers in Chia-yi combine Taoism, Buddhism and folk religion, but their temples are Taoist.</div>
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Well, that was a distraction, but we really needed to figure out where we were. We walked to a city street and examined our map while we sat at an outside table at the 7-Eleven. From what we could make of it, we might not be too far from the river, which was our main landmark. We headed out down the street joking about being 3 old school teachers lost in Goushung! We walked a pretty long way and came upon a very large elementary school with a huge front courtyard and large steps all closed off from the sidewalk by a high wrought iron fence.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jaci and Debb discussing how we should get help outside the elementary school gate.</td></tr>
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There were two young boys at the top of the steps. Debb and Jacie called out to them, “Help! Help! Get English teacher!” They must have scared them because they left but didn’t come back with an English teacher. However, there was a guard at the gate who came out with the shouting. Again, there was the language problem but he hailed us cab and, we thought he told the driver to take us to the Love River. The driver did get us into downtown, but he took us to the closest transit station. We paid him, got out and started walking again. This time we had our bearings and knew which direction to go to get to the river. After, several blocks it was where we expected to see it. By then we were getting quite hungry and changed our plan to eat at a steakhouse from supper to what was now a mid-afternoon meal. Debb knew there was an Outback on the river, so we headed for it.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Along the way, we found another distraction. This weekend was the first of the “after New Year’s” Lantern Festivals and it took place here in Goushung. As we walked along the Love River on our way to Outback, we were able to see the lanterns on display from the past weekend. There are many lantern festivals, I’ve discovered. There is only one that releases traditional lanterns into the night sky like you see in pictures. Those are appropriately called “sky lanterns” and that festival will take place in a small town near Taipei on Feb. 6. The lanterns at most of the other festivals are large figures made with oilpaper stretched over a frame. The figures are made to represent the theme of the festival. This year in Goushung, the theme revolves around water creatures. We saw many kinds of fish, an octopus, a giant squid, a turtle and, though not necessarily a water creature, a dragon because it is the Year of the Dragon. These lanterns were on display after being judged in a contest. It reminded me of the ice sculptures for the Winter Carnival in St. Paul or the floats for the Rose Parade in Pasadena. These were not actually as big or as impressive as either of those, but they were very colorful and wonderful Chinese lanterns!<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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We walked on over the bridge to have a lovely meal on the patio at Outback. Debb had never had a Bloomin’ Onion! She loved it! We sat there for a long while resting and having “teacher talk.” Then it was time to move on if we were going to get to the Lotus Pond before the sun started to set.</div>
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We’d learned our lesson about trying to get around on our own. We asked the waitress at Outback to call a taxi for us! Minutes later, it arrived and took us straight to the Lotus Pond. This was not at all what I was expecting. I thought we were going to walk around a little pond with Oriental bridges and picturesque lily pads floating in the water. Oh, no, no, no. This was a partially man-made lake that had gigantic, wildly colorful figures from Confucian writings and folk legends. They call it an amusement park, but it had no rides. There were boardwalks that went all around the lake and to each of these huge figures.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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From the end where we started out, the first things we saw rising into the sky were two pagodas. Next to one was a dragon and next to the other was a tiger. Each of them had their mouths wide open so that people could walk inside of them. As was the case in the museum in Tainan, the “in” was to the left and the “out” was on the right. (That is opposite to Western flow pattern: “Always stay to the right.”) That meant that you went into the dragon’s mouth and out of the tiger’s. Inside these enormous animals were stairs that wound through the “belly of the beasts.” The walls inside were covered with murals of old folk tales. They were life-size and bursting with color. Some of the scenes were of Oriental sages and dynasties, gods floating on clouds, fishermen fishing, but then there were other ones that had angry monsters, hellish scenes and creatures with human distorted faces.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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We walked the boardwalk to several other of these “statues” that included another dragon that was big enough to walk into its mouth, more pagodas, more gods, and off in the distance was a huge Buddha…not painted and colorful, just gray rock.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><br />
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There were lanterns hung all around the boardwalk and down piers. There were several lotus ponds and the quaint little Oriental bridges that I had expected to see.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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A pair of “auspicious” lions guarded the entry to every attraction, bridge and pier. These lions are everywhere on the island…people’s homes, factories, stores, government buildings…I mean everywhere. They are generally large and made of stone. They usually are mounted on a base and the lions have their front paws on a large ball that represents the world. The one on the left of the entrance is the female, oftentimes with a cub between her front paws and the one on the right is a male with coins hung around its neck. They represent the roles in the family which are to provide children and wealth. During New Year’s they decorate them all with red bows around their necks, another “auspicious” sign. “Auspicious” is almost a theological word in the Chinese belief system. It is synonymous with “lucky.” It is serious business to them. Everything seems to have a good or bad, lucky or evil power to it…numbers, colors, animals, furniture placement, angles of buildings and rooms…on and on it goes. Such it is with the lions. They have been assigned the character of being “auspicious.” Let me leave that subject for another time. There’s so much to say.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the male "auspicious" lion decorated for New Year's.</td></tr>
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Lastly, as we left the park, there was a traveling Chinese opera being performed in a trailer with a painted backdrop and a little man off to the side with a wood block and hammer for sound effects and a little brass gong to signal scene changes. The costumes, make-up and hair decorations were fabulous. The music was not very pleasant, to be honest. There was no denying for those few hours at Lotus Pond that we were in the heart of Chinese culture!<br />
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The sun was setting. We were all tired. We caught a cab to the train station, hopped on car 6 and rode 30 minutes home to Chia-yi. We waved good-bye to Jacie as she got on her bus and Debb and I got on ours. Debb and I got off the bus and walked the rest of the way home…with a small detour for her to show me where the post office is. What an absolutely fun day for 3 old school teachers in Goushung!<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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</div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-31213064988677770022012-02-13T20:22:00.000-08:002012-05-22T07:45:20.406-07:00Scooter Culture<br />
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I must talk about the most obvious form of transportation in Taiwan: scooters! They call them motorcycles, sometimes, but they are scooters. I’ve been told that Taiwan has the largest number of scooters per capita in the world: over 11 million scooters for a population of 23 million.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Modern roads have a lane for scooters. That lane may be separated on the right side of the road by a low cement barrier or designated by a painted line. There is also a “scooter box,” a rectangle painted on the street that is located ahead of the crosswalk marking where scooters can wait for the stoplight rather than being lined up in the lane with cars. Road rules do not apply to scooters. Drivers of other vehicles must always have a vigilant eye out for them. They can turn on a red light…including a right turn in front of a car in the lane next to them from a left lane or visa versa. They sometimes drive the wrong direction into oncoming traffic. They can weave in and out of lanes at will. They can share a lane with another vehicle…car, truck, bicycle, or another scooter. Scooters can be parked anywhere, including on the sidewalk.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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In modern parking lots, like at the HSR station, scooters have their own parking lots with very small spaces. The lanes in these parking lots are so narrow that there is barely enough space for the directional arrows. These scooter parking lots also have “handicapped” spaces. This strikes me funny, not that a handicapped person shouldn’t be accommodated, but that a handicapped person would be riding or driving on a scooter. I have seen this, though, and that is why there is a space for them.<br />
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There is specific “wear” for scooter driving/ riding. Like motorcyclists wear leather, “scooter-ists” have their own fashion…some of it for practical purposes, some not. From observation, I’d say half of them wear a helmet. We’ve been here in the “cold” season, so this is how a scooter person would dress: jacket is worn backwards, unzipped; hand-warmers are attached to the hand grips of the scooter; in addition, girls/ women wear what I call “arm socks,” knitted fingerless gloves that are elbow-length; and shoes are optional…no matter how cold it is, about 50% of scooter-ists ride wearing flip-flops. Then, of course, most wear a “flu” mask, which is wise because they are right there on the street breathing in fumes from every other motor vehicle riding along next to, ahead of or behind them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Typical dress for scooter-ists: helmet, hand warmers attached to hand grips, jacket worn backwards and flip-flops. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A package of "arm socks" at the Giraffe Supermarket.</td></tr>
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I must preface this next paragraph with reviewing the design of a scooter. The seat can hold two people; some seats have saddlebags. There is a platform where the driver places his feet, and there is a 2-pronged hook in front of the leg area below the speedometer. There is also another hook under the seat for smaller bags, as you can see in the picture below. Almost all scooters have a front basket.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Considering the construction of a scooter, I must say we have seen these simple vehicles carry some amazing things. Don and I started a game with each other called, “What Can You Carry on a Scooter?” We have been trying to outdo each other by finding the most outrageous load first. These are some of what has passed us while we were playing: “What Can You Carry on a Scooter?”:<br />
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· A family of four…in any configuration: with the 2 adults on the seat, one child standing on the foot platform, one behind mother on seat; all 4 on seat lined up front to back; or 2 children on the platform with 2 adults on the seat.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have not been fast enough with my camera to catch the families of four as they have passed by us, but this family of three was cute to me because the little guy in front is playing a game on his phone. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a mother with a baby in a sling on her front and the young boy hanging on behind.</td></tr>
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· A full-sized 8’ ladder slung under the arm.<br />
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· A load 5’ high and 3’ wide secured with ropes and steadied with one hand.<br />
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· Two people and a bicycle. The person riding was holding his bicycle under his arm.<br />
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· Crutches. I assume this man uses the handicapped space in the parking lot.<br />
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· Five bags of groceries…and any number of things…that can be carried by the 2-pronged hook. Depending on the load, there’s still an itty-bitty space for the drivers feet.<br />
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· 30 live chickens in two crates strapped onto the seat behind the driver.<br />
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· A propane gas tank.<br />
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· A handicapped family member. They rigged up a sidecar with a fold-up ramp and carried the person in the wheelchair all at once.<br />
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· A couple and two dogs. The dogs, an Alaskan Husky and a Chihuahua, hopped onto the platform in front of their master as if they owned the scooter.<br />
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· A roadside kiosk. Attach half of a converted old truck and mount it on the back.<br />
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And we discovered that with a trailer hitch, one can carry just about anything else!<br />
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“What Can You Carry on a Scooter?” has been a fun game, but we haven’t determined the winner, yet.</div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span></div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-22908421348546687032012-02-09T23:24:00.000-08:002012-05-22T07:50:00.617-07:00Interesting Things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A list of interesting things:<br />
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· Gas stations have attendants to fill up your tank; gas costs about $4/gal. (NT$306/liter).<br />
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· The shopping mall has underground parking in where there is also a car wash and tire store; the escalator from that level into the store is a “moving ramp,” not stairs---handy, since you would not be able to bring your cart full of packages down a regular stair-type escalator.<br />
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· Road construction crews use a mechanical flag waver---a mannequin dressed in work clothes and a helmet with straight arms holding flags that wag up and down; some are equipped with flashing lights on their shoulders.<br />
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· There seems to be a public education “quiet” campaign going on in the country; there are “Please be quiet” signs posted everywhere---in the buses, on the train, in the hotel halls, at McDonald’s. We saw a museum worker whose job it was to walk around with that same sign telling people to be quiet as they walked through the museum. These signs are everywhere.<br />
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· Speaking of public education, it appears to me that there is a campaign promoting milk. There’s an ad on TV of a pretty lady pouring milk into a cup, drinking it and licking her lips. Then in English and Mandarin it says, “I love milk!”<br />
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· Chinese writing; that’s it…Chinese writing is interesting to me; their “periods” are small circles that are placed in the center of the line, like our hyphens; when written in the traditional vertical style (they also write horizontally), underlining, of course, is also vertical---on the left.<br />
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· I hear very little tradition Chinese music; noticed it when it was playing in the HSR station in Taipei, the only such music I’ve heard in public.<br />
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· No bags are offered at the grocery store; if you request one, you pay.<br />
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· Restrooms are interesting; stalls are labeled as to which has a “standard” sit-down toilet and which has a “squattie.” The label is usually in picture-form. Oftentimes the sink to wash your hands is outside the restroom itself where it can be shared by both men and women. The TP may also be outside the stall or restroom, if provided---must be sure to bring it in with you into the stall or it’ll be too late; or there is no paper at all---must always have tissue with you just in case. <br />
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· Also, toilet paper at home is Kleenex---literally, made by the Kleenex Company and packaged just like a Kleenex box only made of plastic-wrap. There is a little plexi-glass “box” with a lid attached to the wall to contain it. You buy it in multi-packs just like toilet paper.<br />
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· The most interesting of all: swastikas on the chest of Buddha! Swastikas on lanterns and on signs above doors. Swastikas on windows of a Buddhist monastery. This I had to Google! Turns out, the swastika was high-jacked by Hitler from the Hindu religion. Who knew? Not this Westerner! It is a sign of “god universal.” It is an ancient “auspicious” symbol. I don’t care about its origin, it still gives me the creeps.<br />
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span></div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-47435386147918984832012-02-09T23:16:00.000-08:002012-05-22T07:54:29.139-07:00Farewell for Mike and Donnie<br />
1/20/12<br />
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Tuesday was Mike Kreager and Donnie Gray's last day at work. The SF crew took them out for lunch, and they invited me to go along. I am going to describe this restaurant honestly in one sentence because it was unique. We each ordered our own food, which we've never done before, and it was served to us individually! It had to be served on trays in order to accommodate all of the courses including bowls for the soup, the vegetables, the salad and then the main entrée. (That’s my one sentence. I realize it was two!) The restaurant was called Mi Lu, which means Small Deer. I mention that only because I can…I can pronounce it, spell it and know what it means!<br />
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Anyway, the SF people were very gracious to Mike and Donnie and were thankful for the work they had done in getting the machines installed. They praised them and gave them gifts. It was a wonderful send-off. It was especially sweet because Mike, in particular, did not want to be here. Everyone at SF appreciated him for his good work and rewarded him for it. With such a wonderful "good-bye," I think by the time they arrive back home the story will have morphed into a pleasant one. And we're glad about that!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mike Kreager and Donnie Gray heading for home from the HSR station in Chia-yi.</td></tr>
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With Mike and Donnie's work done, we are into a second stage of this project. Don now can do "his thing": working on communication, training the team, and putting an efficient process in place.<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></div>
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Things will change for us personally, as well. I will start cooking at home...a modified Chinese diet since there is no oven and American food (as in meat, bread and desserts) is hard to find. <br />
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Actually, this week is more like "limbo" than a "stage" because it is the week before New Years with only today and tomorrow left until the break. SF has decided to shorten the break from 2 weeks to only one. Once everyone returns from the holiday, the real work will start.<br />
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This is the end of this portion of our adventure. We arrived three weeks ago today.Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-78418312508452549192012-02-09T21:37:00.000-08:002012-05-22T07:58:55.015-07:00Biking Around Chia-yi<br />
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The sun came out yesterday for the first
time really...it's peeked out every so often in the 10 days we've been here,
but never for the whole day like yesterday. I rode my bike around the neighborhood because it was so beautiful out. I took my Kindle to the park
and read. I finished "The Phantom of the Opera." It was a
little strange but, at the very least, I can say that I've read the classic that inspired the musical hit. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trees hung with lanterns in the park where I read "The Phantom of the Opera."</td></tr>
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As I biked back home when the afternoon wind picked up, I stopped at the neighborhood Taoist temple to take pictures. I appreciate the temples for their architecture and brilliant colors. They are pagan, no doubt, but they are exotic and ornate and beautiful in their own way. My ABC Taiwan book explained a lot about what goes on inside these temples. One practice they do is to toss divining blocks on the cement floor. The purpose of these blocks is to receive "guidance from the temple god(s)." This occurs by asking a yes/no question..."should I marry so and so," "should I take such and such a job." Then you toss the blocks on the floor and, depending on the position of these specially shaped red rocks, you receive an answer. While I was outside the temple taking pictures, I could hear clattering on the floor inside, and I thought of what I had read. I could picture people tossing those divining rocks and hoping for an answer to their question. (I had to laugh when reading the book, though, because the author wrote, "Many people phrase and rephrase the questions, tossing and re-tossing the blocks until they get the answer they want to hear." I guess people are people. Christians pray and pray again hoping to get an answer they like. Taoists toss and re-toss the divining blocks. "Self," by nature, is very strong.) <br />
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Because the sky was so clear yesterday, I got some very nice pictures of the temple:<br />
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1/1912<br />
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I took advantage of another sunny day to ride my bike through the sugar cane fields across the street from our house. From our second-story "shower room," we can look across the cane field and see a new building that houses a physical education branch of the National Taiwanese University. I decided to go take a closer look.<br />
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There are small paved roads that wind all through the sugar cane fields. They double very nicely as "bike trails." After biking to the university building, I turned around and saw a panoramic view of our neighborhood. Buildings stretched for about a mile on the edge of this field starting with the Motor Vehicle building. I could see our row of "brownstones" and the shops down the street with the hospital rising behind them. It was a good perspective of the neighborhood. I took pictures:<br />
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<br /></div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-73082225999016773032012-02-09T00:16:00.000-08:002012-05-22T08:05:55.925-07:00A Walk in the Neighborhood<br />
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1/8/12 evening<br />
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I left the house in the morning with the guys when they went to work. We had run out of bottled water and shampoo. I had to remedy that situation immediately. Don dropped me off at the corner of the main road, Hwy 168, where there is a 7-Eleven. I bought my supplies and walked home. I took pictures of the neighborhood as I walked the six or so blocks back. I took pictures of our two landmarks that tell us where to turn to get to the house. On Hwy 168, we turn at the big new Chang Gung Hospital. Then we make a left turn onto Jisiang 7th street at the Chia-yi Motor Vehicle building. These two prominent buildings in our neighborhood make it easy to find our house. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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As I walked, I took pictures of the sugar cane fields. The sugar cane fields are everywhere in Chia-yi county. We’re told that the Japanese planted these fields during their occupation of the island from the early 1900’s till 1945 at the end of WWII. They are still owned by Japan and all the sugar cane is exported to them. <br />
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I also to took a picture of a succulent plant in a pot among many other pots outside someone’s “brownstone” driveway. Some of these complexes do not have a courtyard like ours, instead they have a driveway, covered or not, that is directly on the street and directly next to their neighbors’ driveways as well. They often partition their driveway from their neighbors’ by lining up flowerpots. This was the purpose of the potted plant that I took a picture of. I took the picture because it was a most interesting plant. It looked like any other broad-leafed succulent except that up and down along the edges of its leaves it had little buds growing out of it, almost like you might see on some cacti. It was unique and beautiful. <br />
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I also took a picture of a very strange tree. It had a bare skinny trunk and was about 8 feet tall with branches and leaves at the top, almost like a palm tree. The strange thing about this tree was that it had fruit, like gourds, growing out of the trunk…no branch, no leaf, just straight out of the trunk. It looked unnatural. I was told this is a guava, or bale as it is called in Taiwan, but it is not like the pictures of guava I looked at online. I don't know what it is. They are very common in Chia-yi.<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span><br />
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As I turned our corner, I looked with appreciation at the empty lot next to our house. That open space helps me to not feel claustrophobic being attached to this whole block of houses.<br />
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It was a "beautiful day in the neighborhood!" A wonderful morning for a walk from the store.<br />
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span></div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-56574158174519159042012-02-08T01:26:00.000-08:002012-05-22T08:13:16.651-07:00A Day at Home1/6/12<br />
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This morning at 8:30 I was expecting to go bicycling with Jesse’s wife and lady friends, but her mother was ill so she needed to stay home with her. I was looking forward to going until I went out on the balcony to check if Don's jeans were dry on the line/ pole and realized it was raining and cold. When Cherry called to say her sister-in-law would have to cancel I said, “Ok. Because it is raining and cold.” Cherry said, “Oh, no. It’s because of Mother.” And then she explained. I guess we would have gone biking in the rain otherwise. I definitely need to get a rain poncho. </div>
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Note: I had a cute conversation with Cherry when she called to make the bicycling “date” with me for her sister-in-law. Cherry said, “She speaks no English. Her friends don’t speak English either.” I said, “It’s ok. I’ll just ride my bicycle.” Cherry giggled and replied, “Yes. Just don’t say anything and follow them.” I thought, I can do that.
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Being that I ended up having time at home today that I had not expected, I decided to try to acclimate my ear to Mandarin by watching local TV. I watched…and listened…to what must be a 24-hour news channel because every 30 minutes or so the same stories would cycle through. I let several cycles go by trying to catch familiar phrases. Hopefully I was learning subliminally because not much was happening consciously. </div>
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While I had my ear on the news, I studied the calendar thinking I might be able to figure something out by recognizing repeated symbols. This was a very fun exercise. I can’t say that it made a lot of sense, but I did find a pattern. I started with the easiest symbols (+, =, “a teepee” and what I thought looked like a window with curtains) and advanced up to a few more complex ones. All the numbers on the calendar were made up of about 8 different symbols combined together differently. It made sense to me that it was like combining our 10 number symbols into ones, teens and twenties for dates, but I’m not so sure that’s what I could deduce. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Combined English/ Chinese solar calendar.</td></tr>
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What I did find for a pattern, though, is that the order of symbols didn’t start over every month, they ran continuously for the 29 symbols they had and just kept repeating, unless there was a red-letter day and then the symbols were completely different…probably naming the holiday. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">On reverse side, Chinese layout of lunar calendar (2011, Year of the Rabbit).</td></tr>
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After I wrote all the symbols, I liked how they looked on my paper…like I knew what I was doing. Of course I didn’t. It looked like Native American symbol writing or a code of some kind. Anyway, that was my self-directed culture lesson for the day.
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Oh, dear. I forgot I had clothes in the washing machine. This is a dilemma that one faces when there is no dryer. It is too late in the day for the underwear to dry outside. I guess the walk-in closet is going to have to look like a white jungle tonight. I’m going to have to get used to actually thinking about household chores instead of just doing them. (Not keeping my mind on them has consequences.)</div>
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Speaking of appliances, aside from having no clothes dryer, there also is no oven or microwave. We have a tiny toaster oven that fits 2 pieces of bread smack dab next to each other. There, also, is an appliance that we have not really figured out what it is. It’s above the sink below the cabinet and it looks like a microwave, but it isn’t. It has dishes in it. They are standing up on a rack that looks like a wire drying rack. It has a power switch, so it actually does something…not just store dishes. We haven’t turned it on because we are doing fine without it, whatever it does. Don thinks maybe some kind of drying or sanitizing appliance. We’ll get around to asking someone one of these days. For now, I just use the dishes, wash them, dry them and put them back.
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Ok, now I’ve really got to get up to the balcony and get those clothes out of the washer. The longer I procrastinate, the less time they have to dry.Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-8366973112555028672012-02-08T00:40:00.000-08:002012-05-22T08:20:53.692-07:00Exploring Putzu<br />
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1/1/12<br />
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Sunday, New Year’s Day, was a very pleasant sunny day. Don and I, Donnie and Mike went for another ride into Putzu. We thought this time we would park the car before we got into the traffic jam like the other night and then walk into the market area. We were pleasantly surprised that there was very little traffic, so Don continued on. Too far…suddenly from nowhere, there were the same cars, trucks, bicycles, carts, and pedestrians as there were Fri. night. Luckily, someone was pulling out of a “parking” spot and Don was able to pull right in behind him. </div>
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We began to walk down to the street where it was obvious the market was. There was shack upon shack with every kind of wares one could think of with people walking, biking and scootering in and out and around. Suddenly, a scooter turned in front of us and disappeared into a maze of “shops.” We decided to follow. We found ourselves in the actual heart of the market. The stalls were so close to each other that no sun could get through between their ram-shackled roofs. In this labyrinth, people were selling fruit, fresh slabs of meat, fish, vegetables, clothes, purses, and shoes. A butcher was hacking up chickens. They were selling china and silverware, belts, coats, hats, household items and supplies. This place was a Mexican market on steroids!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The happy chicken butcher; very common for Taiwanese to flash the "peace" sign when having their picture taken.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The jewelry maker at the market</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The vegetable sellers outside the market</td></tr>
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We left the market and bought fruit at a much nicer fruit stand down the block in a better shopping area. All the fruit was washed and displayed by its kind in rows with individual bags to put them in like any grocery store. We bought bananas, apples, grapes and pears. </div>
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We then walked on to shops along the street that again were selling anything one would want. Had we not been in the “real” market first, we would have thought this to be an exotic experience, but now it appeared somewhat tame and normal. Yikes, that’s saying something about what the human mind can do by comparing! Everything’s relative!
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We spent some time in a very fun store that was obviously an educational store…”teacher store” in Don’s terminology. It was full of “cool” stuff including many 3M products. We walked by many dress stores and shoe stores. I tried on a fall coat that I was tempted to buy but decided to wait. FYI It fit perfectly! It was an XL! <br />
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After our day of shopping, I now know where I will go when I’m ready to buy. I will go to the “real” market to buy china and silverware, the shoe shops “on the street” to buy dress shoes and the “teacher store” to buy stuff for the grandkids.
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We had walked until we were hungry. Mike is having a hard time with the Taiwanese food, so for lunch we were going to find the Dominoes Pizza shop we had passed earlier. We thought we knew how to get there, but, alas, we must have passed it because we were soon almost back to our neighborhood.<br />
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Not to worry, there’s always McDonald’s. As we got out of the car we saw people flying kites in the field across the street. We went in and ordered, and then watched these fabulous kites through the window at McDonald’s as we ate. They were so fascinating that we walked over to the field when we were done eating and watched the kite masters fly these monstrous colorful kites. It reminded me of pictures of the Albuquerque Balloon Festival. <br />
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There were 2 giant pandas, several different sized octopus, a bird with a wing span of at least 9 feet, a few that had tails that were a city block long, a giant squid, a huge wind sock type that twirled like a cement truck tumbler, and a humongous circle that had to have had a thousand strings attaching it’s rim to the single line of string . The rigs they had for the string were like bicycle tire rims. </div>
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During the time we were watching, the wind picked up to a velocity that the kite fliers could no longer control them, and they began to wind them in. One of them was sitting on a post at the park and reeling that kite in like a deep sea fisherman pulling in a marlin. Actually, he lost control and it came down in the field. Those kites were quite a sight to see!
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<br />Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-67227538406576193392012-02-07T23:39:00.000-08:002012-05-22T08:24:36.591-07:00Getting the Lay of the Land<br />
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Friday (still our first day in Chia-yi) after our lazy Susan restaurant experience, A-tai gave Don the keys to the car and house, and we were free to fend for ourselves. We went back to the house and unpacked, then we (Don and I, Mike and Donnie) decided to take a little drive around the area. We didn’t go far, at first. We went around the block to a neighborhood grocery store. Then we walked around before getting back into the car. There are nice wide streets in our neighborhood and shopping area. There wasn’t much traffic. The main streets are controlled by traffic lights. Everything seemed unexpectedly orderly, except the mass of shop signs that we couldn't read.<br />
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Having gained some confidence, we ventured further away. Soon we approached Putzu City and the traffic was a little more congested. And then…hold onto your hats! We were in the midst of the “market” area at 5:00pm! There were cars and trucks and bicycles and scooters and pedestrians and carts going in every direction. And they were right next to each other. Only inches separated motor vehicles from bicycles and walkers. There was absolutely no sense of having “rules of the road”. <br />
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The sun was going down and we were amidst a mass of moving humanity! I don’t know how Don got us out of there without knocking someone off his bike or sideswiping another vehicle of any variety…but he did! Once we managed to get out of that crazy market area, we were back in the land of sane driving…as if we hadn’t just escaped with our lives moments before! I have to say, that scene was much more what I was expecting to be living in rather than our quiet neighborhood.<br />
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After that mess, we are thankful for our little quiet corner of Chia-yi!</div>
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We needed a little nourishment after such a harrowing experience, so we stopped at McDonald’s just blocks away from our house. Donnie and Mike had discovered it that morning before we arrived from Taipei. It’s a beautiful McDonald’s. It’s brand new… opened on Christmas. Apparently everyone knew of it because it’s busy every time we go by. Locals are even taking their pictures in front of it.<br />
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We went home from McDonald’s and called it a night. We slept hard and comfortable! Thus ended our very first day in Chia-yi County, Taiwan.Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-22356629157227170242012-02-07T01:33:00.000-08:002012-05-22T08:37:08.205-07:00A-tai introduces us to Chia-yi<br />
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1/1/12<br />
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A-tai came to pick us up on Sat. morning at 9:00am to take us on a tour of the area. The first thing A-tai showed us was the building that marks the Tropic of Cancer. It looks like a museum, but we didn’t get out of the car to explore it because of the rain. There was also a "bridge" that followed the actual line of the tropic latitude. Very cool.</div>
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A-tai then took us to a popular place on the edge of town that used to be the sugar cane factory. Now it’s a historical place that explains the industry with a museum and outdoor activities. It also has a little open-air store like Tom’s Farms in CA or the Apple Orchard in MN that sells many products. Its specialty is ice cream. We didn’t go in the museum, but we did get ice cream.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Factory floor at Singform</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsreg_-OB_Tmth5j3LRS8wS9IWYzNVkAm1-ZFpYWfGsA2LOs5Ek10OKE-rw7zryBUzBv6f7z257n32Xqlbcc0ifaSMHVTANHPTtr3dKw3jQLBcY-BuWRB7foP_92FgD3RfDrTpVCFkCac/s1600/IMG_0062.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsreg_-OB_Tmth5j3LRS8wS9IWYzNVkAm1-ZFpYWfGsA2LOs5Ek10OKE-rw7zryBUzBv6f7z257n32Xqlbcc0ifaSMHVTANHPTtr3dKw3jQLBcY-BuWRB7foP_92FgD3RfDrTpVCFkCac/s1600/IMG_0062.JPG"> </a>We then went to SF where A-tai and Jane showed the guys around the plant, and I tagged along. I got to see them coating the carpet with the vinyl backing. That was a process that Harry outsourced, so I had never seen it done. It was very interesting! The guys walked around the prospective area where the machines will be installed and talked about their concerns and plans. It is going to be a huge project. Mike was quite overwhelmed. He doesn’t want to come back after Chinese New Year, so that means he and Donnie need to be done with their part of the project in 3 weeks. It really does seem impossible. Time will tell. The men were all about the job they had ahead of them, while I enjoyed watching the making of carpet matting. </div>
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Once everyone seemed satisfied they had seen everything they needed to see, we hopped back in the car and went to have lunch at a local place where they make good dumplings, a favorite Taiwanese dish. This time Jane did the ordering. Apparently you choose the number of dumplings everyone in your party wants and mark it on the order slip. Jane and A-tai said they eat 20 each. Based on that, I said 10 for me. The other choice to mark was beef or pork. I chose pork. In all, they ordered 100 dumplings, some beef and some pork! While the dumplings were being made by the lady of the establishment in the kitchen at the front of this sidewalk restaurant, we went to the condiment counter to choose the kind of sauces we would like with our dumplings. Soy was the only one I recognized and the only one that didn’t look spiced with peppers. I filled my tiny saucer with soy sauce while the others made several selections each. </div>
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When we returned to our table, we had no sooner sat down than a waitress came with a heaping communal plate of cooked vegetables. I would call them generically “greens.” I did recognize one that I was curious about. We had seen it at a street vendor the day before. When whole, this vegetable is shaped like a large cucumber but its peeling is rows of “bumps”. On this platter, there were cooked slices that were obviously from this vegetable because they had those very distinctive bumps. Ironically, I looked up at the TV in the restaurant and there was a lady demonstrating how to cut, core and slice this vegetable. I tasted it. It didn’t have much taste, but it sure looked cool. I think I now know everything about this vegetable except its name.</div>
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I took A-tai and Jane literally when they said they were taking us out for dumplings, thinking that the dumplings would be the meal. Then the plate of vegetables was brought out. Next came the soup. I drank the broth of the soup and left the tofu pieces that looked like chicken. You can’t fool me…anything that looks like meat and is chopped in perfect cubes is tofu, not chicken. <br />
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Finally, the dumplings arrived on 2 huge platters; one beef, one pork. They were bite-sized dough wrapped around a piece of meat and boiled…dumplings. I dipped some of mine in the soy sauce I had gotten from the condiment counter and also ate some plain. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Donnie Gray; dumplings are white, piled on the far platter.</td></tr>
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I ate almost the entire 10 dumplings that I had ordered. They were good, and I felt good about liking them. Apparently the beef was not as good as the pork because there were many, many left on the platter at the end of the meal. Dumplings are a very common Taiwanese food…and I like them!<br />
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A-tai had been a wonderful tour guide today introducing us to all of Chia-yi county!</div>
</div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633272569204173486.post-83435488251754267392012-02-07T00:41:00.000-08:002012-05-22T08:48:43.838-07:00Our Taiwanese Brownstone<br />
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1/2/12<br />
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Now I will describe the house:<br />
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I would explain the house we are going to be living in as a Taiwanese “brownstone.” It is the most popular residential structure in this area. They are large complexes of row houses. Each home is one room wide and 4-stories high. The exterior is white brick mortared in such a way as to have the horizontal line be prominent and the vertical line be nearly unnoticeable.<br />
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The house has a “courtyard” at the front entry of the house. It opens directly onto the street. The courtyard has 5-foot walls with an iron gate and is covered with a green fiberglass roof. There are windows above the wall that connect with the attached roofing structure to let in light. Apparently the roof is optional because many of the houses do not have a roof over the courtyard, and there are a few different styles of those that do. Half of the courtyard is used as a garage to park a compact-sized car, thus there is a garage door next to the iron gate.<br />
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The floor of the courtyard is made of terra cotta ceramic tiles. The courtyard accommodates several things such as bicycles and the shoe cubby. A black granite step leads to the beautifully ornate thick brass entry doors… a “screen” security door and the inside door. This I cannot describe. I will take a picture.<br />
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The living room is immediately inside the front door. It is a square room that is about 18’x18’. Because the house is a single room wide, the entire house is no wider than 20’.<br />
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Each room, then, is either one behind the other or one on top of another. The layout has the dining room behind the living room with a powder room off to the side. Behind the dining room is the children's playroom/ den to the left and the kitchen to the right. The playroom is wider than the kitchen., thus the kitchen is quite narrow, 4' of floor space and then the cabinets.<br />
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The stairway landing on the second floor has 2 doors, one to the left and one to the right. The door to the right opens to the master bedroom. <br />
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There is a sliding glass door on the far wall of the master bedroom that is situated facing the street. It opens onto a narrow enclosed, believe it or not, shower room with a wooden plank floor, 2 wooden slatted sidewalls and the 4th wall is the outside wall of the front of the house. That wall has 4 lattice windows that are divided into 24 panes each giving the effect of a rice paper room divider. You can look out of these windows and see the courtyard roof below and the sugar cane fields across the street. It has roller shades for privacy. One slatted wooden wall has shelves and the other has the water faucet, hand-held showerhead and small shelf for soap. There's also a tall white chair for sitting while soaping down.<br />
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There is an actual bathroom off the bedroom on the opposite side of the room. It is narrow. Remember that the total width of the house is 18’…the 18 feet for that part of the 2nd floor is taken up by the stairway landing and the bathroom. Immediately inside the bathroom door is the toilet, lined up next to it is the pedestal sink which is next to the open shower (a drain in the floor and another hand-held shower head).</div>
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Then there is another door that opens to the walk-in closet/ dressing room. It is a good size room lined with closet space. It also contains a full-length mirror and a loveseat. This room has 3 doors: the one from the bathroom, one from the stairway landing and then one that leads out to a utilitarian balcony. This area is where the washing machine is, the washtub, the clothesline, the air conditioner and all the other kinds of stuff that often ends up in a cleaning closet along with plants sitting on old shelves and cement blocks. The balcony is covered by a green fiberglass roof that is similar to the one that is over the courtyard.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span></span><br />
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Note: I mentioned a washing machine…very nice new top-loader…but I did not mention a clothes dryer…because there is none, hence, the clothesline, or more accurately, clothes pole. The balcony is the area of the house that again resembles that of a NYC brownstone because each neighbors’ balcony is only feet away. You can look down the block from the balcony and see everyone’s wash hanging out to dry. <br />
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To review the floor-plan: main floor has living room, dining room, playroom/den, kitchen; 2nd floor has the stairway landing and going in a circle starting to the right there is the master bedroom with the shower room, the bathroom, and the walk-in closet. Off of the closet room is the balcony.<br />
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The interior décor is very simple, all neutral colors, all shiny tile floors, and granite stairs. The furniture is nothing to write about. The living room furniture is a set but the rest of the furniture, of which there is little, is mismatched. This could be accounted for by the fact that the house had been owned by Johnson, the CEO of SF, who recently moved into a new house and left this one to be used as a temporary residence when needed. I’m sure it is furnished with whatever he didn’t want in the new house or replacements from who-knows-where. The most attractive décor feature of the house is its indirect lighting. There are many choices for lighting in each room…overhead, lamps, and a number of indirect lighting designs. For example, the living room has a marble wall that is suspended away from the structural wall. Behind it is lighting that will give off plenty of light but it is soft.<br />
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The opposite wall of the living room is recessed and the lights can shine out of its edges, as you can see in the first picture I posted of the living room. The dining room has similar choices, as seen in the picture below (the door in this picture is to the playroom/den and the kitchen is to the right).<br />
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A unique decorating feature in the house is the door valances. Most of the doors inside the house have a valance hung from a tension rod on the outside of them. When you open the door from the inside of the room, you, in my case, walk under a valance. In Don’s case, his head is caught in a valance. We had to gather up the one on our bedroom door after the first day so that Don could walk out of the room without having to brush his hair again. I’m not sure what that’s about. Take a look at the picture and see what you think.</div>
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Note: I described only the main floor and the 2nd floor of the house even though I originally said there are 4 stories. Mike and Donnie are “living” on the 3rd floor and Mr. Lai lives on the 4th. I haven’t been to either one, so I cannot account for them.<br />
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We are so thankful to be living in a house while we are here in Taiwan, and a lovely house indeed. We already have a feel for the neighborhood and average life in Chia-yi which I know we wouldn’t have if we had had to stay in a hotel. What a fabulous opportunity!<br />
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</div>Nancy (and Don) Glewwehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07794967238262374435noreply@blogger.com0