Taiwanese Tidbit #9

Any American would find the Taiwanese sense of danger a little too extreme. They will tell you that drinking cold water when you are sick or wearing short sleeves in 60 degree weather is "dangerous," or to "Be careful!" if you are pumping and swinging high. And yet they will put families of four on one little scooter. Or they tell their kids, "Don't go in the water - it's dangerous!" Well, the water is only dangerous if you don't know how to swim. And ironically enough, in this country surrounded by water, a large majority of the people don't know how to swim.

I was in a restaurant called the Surf Shack in the south of Taiwan yesterday, and they had a newspaper article on the wall from the Taipei Times in 2008. It gave an explanation why many Taiwanese people don't know how to swim. A political science professor from Soochow University said that the older generation had been raised to dread the ocean because the Chinese Nationalist Party (the KMT) regime had deployed barbed wire and gigantic cement blocks along the shores to turn the beaches into military bases during the Martial Law Era (post World War II - 1987). People were not taught how to swim, while recreational beaches were only open to a select few.

Interesting, no? It's fascinating to me how the study of history will explain so much about a culture.

Dumpling Dinner

When Tammy and Lorin were visiting in June, our dearest friend Gloria invited us
to make homemade dumplings with her and some friends. Delish. And so much fun.

鹿港 Lugang

Rewind to June 2008. Tammy and I got subs for our Tuesday classes and spent a delightful rainy day in the nearby city of 鹿港 (Lugang). We purchased traditional hand-painted lanterns and fans, and enjoyed the charms of this old Taiwanese city. We were walking out of a store when we saw a cute couple walking down the street, hand in hand. They looked back at us and asked, "Where are you from?" (in English). We began talking, and they asked where we were going. We told them we were going to visit an old well that was featured in our guide book. So they said, "Oh, we know where it is...we'll show you." We just began chatting, and they took us to the well. After learning about the well and taking a couple of pictures, they asked, "Where do you want to go now?" They offered to show us more of their city, an invitation we gladly accepted. After showing us around some more, they asked, "Are you hungry?" We told them we were, and they told us they wanted to show us their favorite noodle place.

at the noodle restaurant

After treating us to lunch (can you say generous?!), they said, "Sorry, but we need to go. We need to pick our kids up from school. But...do you want to come home with us?" Tammy and I exchanged a "Why not?" glance and replied with an enthusiastic, "Sure!" So we got to go to their home, meet their cute kids, and eat dinner with their family...it was incredible.


A day we would never forget. Tammy and I had to get home, and as if they hadn't already shown us enough kindness, they took us to the train station, helped us buy our tickets, reviewed with us how to take the train (they told us, "Okay, you're in car three. So you count the cars...one, two, three. One, two three. You are in car three." They were too adorable.), and waited with us to make sure we got on the correct train. :)

About a month later, Tammy and I were devastated to leave behind the amazing experiences we had shared in Taiwan. We didn't know for sure that either of us would return to visit our friends in Taiwan (though we hoped with all our hearts that we would), and we certainly didn't dare hope that we could do so together.

Fast forward to June 2010...dreams come true! :)

We were able to visit 鹿港 (Lugang) together and see our family.

We ate lunch at the same noodle restaurant.

We found the picture that the restaurant owner had taken of us two years previous.

Jane took us to meet her calligraphy teacher, and showed us what she'd been learning.

They took us to a cool glass restaurant, where we saw all sorts of glass sculptures:

Tammy and I took pics of each other through this
awesome, huge kaleidoscope with a mirror inside.

And so we enjoyed a delightful day with our Taiwanese family. A dream come true! :)

A Must-Listen

Go here and listen to #13 (you'll have to scroll down a bit), an interview with an absolutely incredible man named Gary Ceran. He is living proof that we can go through extremely hard trials in life and yet overcome them and experience true happiness and joy. It's definitely worth your time. It's life-changing. Seriously.

(You can also download the free podcast on iTunes. Just go to the iTunes Store and search for Gary Ceran.)

親愛的朋友

All together again. :)
June 20, 2010

Graduation Numbers: June 2010

These are the spiffy dance numbers that the "other" Whitney :) choreographed for us to do at the graduation ceremony back at the end of June. (Yes, that's how behind I am.) We had lots of fun learning them and performing...it was especially fun to perform for our students, who just got a kick out of it all. Good times, team. :) Thanks again, Whit!

It's catch up time.

I have tons to catch up on from the past few months. So here we go...

These are some of my favorite students from last semester.

These little boys always kept me laughing. So very, very cute.