Jangmi, Gigs, and Globalization

We had ANOTHER typhoon, Jangmi, this time hitting central Taiwan, and it was worse than the last one. We actually lost our power for a little while! On Monday, all schools and offices were closed! The winds were very intense and everything was cancelled for safety reasons. So the children were happy—they got an extended week-end!

John and I are simply IMPRESSED with our students. We are getting SPOILED! They have such wonderful attitudes, they work very hard, and they're so SWEET! During John's last rehearsal with the wind ensemble, John gave them a 10-minute break, and he was astounded that many of the students actually used that break to PRACTICE for the upcoming piece! But, please--our students back home--don't take this the wrong way--we adore and miss you!

Since John’s host university, National Chengchi University (NCCU) does not have a music department, he is being housed by the Department of Education. The dean, Dr. Jason, (one of the pics is Dr. Jason and us) had a retreat for the department this past week-end. As part of the retreat, John and I were invited to perform. This retreat was held in a large meeting room in the Arts and Culture Building, which does not allow shoes. In the Asian culture, it’s understood that you never wear shoes in someone’s house—as soon as you enter someone’s home, you put on slippers. This was the case in this room in the Arts and Culture building. So John and I performed in slippers! This was definitely a first! We brought the children with us, and Teacher Linda watched them while we were at the retreat—they were just one floor up. Luke and Lauren actually did very well, but at one point Luke got frustrated with Teacher Linda because he wanted to come see me and she prevented him. We heard him yell, “I’m VERY ANGRY WITH YOU!” to Teacher Linda, and I was thinking, uh-oh, please no meltdown, but he quickly got over it. Later Luke apologized to Teacher Linda and gave her a hug….but of course I had to blackmail him into it….

John and I actually went to a concert together for the first time in a very long time. Since John taught at Taipei National University of the Arts the day of the concert, I met him at the recital since it was about halfway between us. Greg, the Ph.D student, and K.C., that wonderful high school student, watched Lauren and Luke. This is awkward for me because I REALLY wanted to HIRE someone. Greg and K.C. refused money, and I felt HORRIBLE about this. Since K.C. and Greg have been around us so much, they're almost like our family here. So to offer them money to baby sit would practically be an insult—Asians commonly think this way. I would rather pay them so I don’t feel like I’m taking advantage of them. In fact, I requested to HIRE a student from NCCU to baby sit, but NCCU just wouldn't hear of it--they went ahead and got Greg and K.C. to help us. But the nice thing about Greg and K.C. is that they’re very sincere and absolutely do not expect ANYTHING in return, and they NEVER make me feel like I owe them anything—they’re extremely genuine. But I will ABSOLUTELY have to get them something really nice before we leave!

The reason we went to this concert was because of our connection to Kuo-Pei Lin, our staff piano accompanist at Clemson University. Kuo-Pei is from Taiwan, so she contacted me and told me her friend, a cellist named Celine, was giving a recital in Taipei. Celine contacted us and invited us to her recital--she also teaches at Taipei National University of the Arts, where John teaches. So naturally we accepted! Anyway, this recital was INCREDIBLE!! Celine and her pianist, Wen-Chuan Wang, were absolutely PHENOMENAL!! They should be teaching at the Juilliard School! What was astonishing was that Wen-Chuan was a doctoral STUDENT—I thought she was a professional or a professor! It was WONDERFUL to hear such a BEAUTIFUL recital! John and I enjoyed this concert IMMENSELY!! People who know me well know that I don’t gush over performances very often, so I really mean this—it was GREAT!

We did manage to get the kids out of the house right before the typhoon. Since it was raining on and off, we decided to check out the Taipei Main Station subway area since everything is indoors. I’ve mentioned this before, but Taipei Main Station has a gigantic food court and indoor malls. I’ve provided a couple of pictures of us at the food court, but the pictures do NOT do it justice. IT WAS HUGE. Take a typical food court in a nice shopping mall in the U.S. and times it by FIVE. We had fun just walking around the perimeter of the food court—it seemed like a mile! John estimates that there were probably 80 restaurants!

Afterwards, we ventured outside of Taipei Main Station—at that point it wasn’t raining—and had ice cream at a Cold Stone Creamery. Yes, the Cold Stone Creamery is quite common here—evidence of globalization! For the most part, as a family, we’ve avoided the Western chains, but I will say we have had ice cream (NOT HOT FOOD) at McDonald’s (it’s so cheap). The one chain John and I still frequent is Starbucks—they’re everywhere! We also see many chains such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Mister Donut, KFC, Barista Coffee, Burger King, and Ponderosa. BUT the ruling chain is DEFINITELY 7-Eleven! They’re on EVERY block, and you can do everything at a 7-Eleven—pay bills, add minutes to your mobile phone (they say that instead of “cell”), buy or add money to your MRT card, and buy convenience foods, even ready-made meals. A Taiwanese chain I’ve enjoyed is Come Buy—a tea place. Come Buy has a huge variety of tea drinks, all SWEET. The Taiwanese don’t snack much, but they do love sweet coffee/tea drinks, and many of them have this jelly-like substance. I’m really starting to love milk tea, which is served cold, and you can have it in many varieties. Usually when I get something from Come Buy, I get hazel milk tea, WITHOUT the jelly stuff (I’m still a little scared of it)!

I also want to note—Luke has been GREAT since that melt down! We’ve been walking an AWFUL lot, not just on the week-ends, but to and from his school, and he’s been a complete trooper--so far I’ve barely had to carry him. And he’s become a pro at getting on and off the escalators, busses, and subways!

Next up….John’s review of Fulbright candidates, more teaching, and PROBABLY more kid drama…..

Teaching, Taiwanese Identity, and Trends

In the photos--one is a picture I took from the bus on the way to Chinese Culture University, one is of John teaching at NCCU, and the others are pictures of the Chinese Culture University campus.

I’m really enjoying the students at Chinese Culture University! So far I’ve been coaching/teaching chamber music groups that are preparing for a performance at graduation.

Whenever I’ve been a guest professor, I’m FILLED with apprehension before I actually begin teaching. When you give lessons (not classes) as a guest professor, there is ABSOLUTELY NO OPPORTUNITY for preparation. Most of the time I find out what I’m going to teach right before the lessons, and many times they’re working on repertoire I have not played. Bear in mind that the chamber music and piano repertoire is vast—there are literally hundreds of thousands of pieces, and therefore it’s impossible to know ALL OF THEM—I know other musicians who are reading this know exactly what I’m talking about! In addition to this, I feel this large amount of pressure to demonstrate tremendous knowledge since I am a guest professor, and students from other countries believe that professors from the U.S. must be knowledgeable. In other words, I’m completely afraid of making a fool out of myself! My hugest fear is to listen to a student and have absolutely NO suggestions! The pressure is even more intense in Asian countries because the students are of VERY high quality. If the students were terrible, I’d have PLENTY to say!! I’m completely afraid I will be stumped! But I REALLY do love the challenge of working with excellent students. You really have to be on your game and I probably learn more from teaching excellent students than they learn from me! On the plus side, the students are usually receptive, open, and very eager to please—especially in the Asian countries--which makes my job much easier. AND as a guest, there’s no accountability in that I’m going to responsible for these students for a long period of time. If they don’t graduate or can’t get into graduate school, it’s not my fault!

The chamber music groups I was assigned to coach/teach were playing repertoire I was COMPLETELY unfamiliar with! Also, a few of the chamber music groups were not in my area of expertise—one was a woodwind quintet w/o piano, the other was a group of 3 trumpets and piano, an unusual instrumental combination. Quite frankly, John is much more qualified to coach these types of groups, since he is a wind player. I feel MUCH more comfortable coaching piano solo, or any duos/trios/quartets/quintets containing piano PLUS strings or woodwinds. The woodwind quintet is playing a piece I had never heard of! AND they did not have any music to give me to refer to, which also put me at a disadvantage. However, I ended up having plenty of ideas to suggest, and I had plenty to say for the other groups as well! I’m really having a great time, and I think I’m developing a nice rapport with the students. The students are TOTALLY ADORABLE!!

Chinese Culture University is located on Yan Ming Mountain, a tourist attraction. It is a BEAUTIFUL university, and the bus ride up the mountain is stunning! I was also able to practice there, and they gave me this wonderful practice room that contained a gorgeous black, mirror-finished Steinway grand! I could definitely get used to this…..

Taiwanese professors are under IMMENSE pressure to publish. The motto is “Publish or Perish.” Achieving tenure and promotion is an extremely difficult and convoluted process. According to what I’ve heard, and I could be wrong--Taiwanese professors MUST publish in Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) journals. I’m not very well-versed in these journals, but as I understand it, SSCI journals are considered the most prestigious journals in the world. HOWEVER, I’m not sure how these journals are chosen to considered SCCI, and it’s very likely that many esteemed journals are not on this list. Supposedly Taiwanese professors are obsessed about publishing in these exclusive journals, and many Taiwanese professors have had heart attacks because they’ve been unable to publish in these journals. I asked Greg, the Ph.D student, if writing a book would suffice for tenure and promotion, and he told me that only publications in SSCI journals would guarantee tenure and promotion. Also, the schools do NOT grant tenure and promotion—they RECOMMEND someone for tenure and promotion. Tenure and promotion is ultimately decided by the Taiwan Ministry of Education, a government office in charge of education, so you can imagine the bureaucracy. Needless to say, the process is highly rigid, uniform, and check-box-oriented. At National Chengchi University (NCCU), professors are regularly in their offices until 2 or 3 am, working on articles to publish in SCCI journals.

Another matter I find intriguing is that Taiwan has one of the LOWEST birthrates in the world. Many elementary schools have closed due to lack of attendance. People do get married, but MANY couples choose to NOT have children. Women here are highly educated, very career-oriented, and believe that children will detract them from a successful career. Most women here work—the stay-at-home mom/wife is very rare. Also, there is NO home schooling—Taiwanese heavily believe in COMPETITION and do not favor one-on-one instruction. I found this VERY fascinating! Are they more realistic than women in the U.S. who strive to “have it all” (I include myself in this unrealistic category)? I’ve asked several people about this, but I’m not getting straight answers. However, it seems that modern couples are afraid of the costs associated with children, and they also feel they simply do not have time to raise a child.
Greg told us that young couples prefer to have pets, not children. Although this view is generally acceptable, there is concern that the population is aging too rapidly and Taiwanese government is putting into place financial incentives to motivate couples to have children.

Even though Taiwan is the Republic of China (R.O.C.), it is indeed a democracy with completely free press. This country is the size of Massachusetts + Rhode Island, yet it has FIVE 24-hour cable news channels. Like the U.S., it has conservative and liberal newspapers—even a “green” one! Also, many Taiwanese generally like to distance themselves from the Chinese. It’s OK to call the cuisine Chinese, but they themselves do NOT want to be called Chinese—they are absolutely Taiwanese, and very proud of their heritage. You CANNOT accidentally say that Taiwan is China—they get a little prickly with that! I’ve been trying to be very careful about this and I hope I don’t accidentally commit any faux pas’!

Next up….our maiden-voyage performance at NCCU, more teaching, outings, and a night out for John and me….

Outings=Tantrums

Good news! We finally got our Alien Resident Cards so John and I opened bank accounts here! We don’t have to carry all that cash anymore! Carrying that cash was causing me a GREAT deal of anxiety! I keep hiding the cash in my purse for fear that I’d lose it, and then I’d forget where I put it! I’ve already thought that I’ve lost my cash several times and have caused myself to endure several mini nervous breakdowns! I’m EXTREMELY relieved we can now keep our money in a bank!

I did a little exploring/shopping and had a very funny experience. I decided to browse at an inexpensive shoe store. The background music at this store was American rap, which I despise (I hope I’m not offending any rap lovers). Anyway, this rap music had EXTREMELY vulgar and PROFANE lyrics! I’m not a prude at all, believe me—my personal choice of movies and TV tend to be R-rated--but I didn’t think this was appropriate shopping music! No one in the store was reacting at all because no one understood it! It was COMPLETELY HILARIOUS and SURREAL! I was laughing the whole time, and everyone else was shopping very diligently, showing NO reaction! I guess what you don’t understand won’t offend you….

Since we were cooped up by the typhoon last week-end, we decided to make up for it and have a few outings this past week-end. One day we took the kids to the Taipei Zoo, which is only a short bus ride away. It was good AND bad. Good because I think generally the kids enjoyed themselves and the zoo is a really wonderful facility with tons of stuff to do. Bad because it was VERY HUMID AND HOT—the heat was literally killing me! It felt like it was 100 degrees! But the Taiwanese are used to this weather, and the zoo was actually pretty packed and busy. Some people were even wearing light jackets and long sleeves!

The Taipei Zoo also has an indoor mall area, and on another day we made a trip there. This indoor mall had a place called “Kiddyland,” which was PERFECT for the ages of our children! Kiddyland houses a TON of rides, including a carousel, a little rollercoaster, a mini-ferris wheel, a train, and other rides similar to these. Both kids had a terrific time—until THE ICE CREAM INCIDENT. Luke was behaving VERY well until we had ice cream—and then DISASTER struck! His ice cream melted too quickly which caused him to get a little upset, and then the ice cream started falling off the cone which led John to try to save it, and in the process, John accidentally poked a hole in his cone. Well, you would have thought that we had chopped off his arm with a chain-saw or something—Luke went absolutely BALLISTIC. He started SCREAMING and crying to the point that he was having massive hiccups. EVERYONE was staring at us! I kept threatening to take away the ice cream cone, but he was on a downward spiral to tantrum oblivion—he got worse and kept screaming “FIX IT! FIX IT!” We were stubborn—there was NO WAY we were going to reward this behavior by getting him a new cone! Finally we got SO fed up we just threw the ice cream cone away, which of course made him cry even harder. I told him we were leaving, picked him up, and dragged him to the bus, and all during this time he was yelling, “PUT ME DOWN!” again, drawing stunned stares! John was furious and mortified, I was COMPLETELY stressed to the bone and horrified, and Lauren thought it was HILARIOUS! That’s the ONE problem with public transportation—it’s so…. PUBLIC! You can’t just stuff your screaming kids into the privacy of a car and drive away! Seriously, we were ready to throw him into Taipei traffic! He actually calmed down right when we got on the bus (thank God), and was back to his angelic self, PATHETICALLY whimpering stuff like, “you don’t like me anymore?” and “I love you, Mommy! Please hug me!” This boy is going to drive me to an early grave …..when we got home, I was in MASSIVE need of a drink….

By Taiwanese standards, Luke and Lauren seem to be considered good-looking. When Luke is not having a tantrum, they actually attract positive attention everywhere we go, and many times perfect strangers want to take pictures with them, as if they’re celebrities! This even happens on the subway! It’s a RIOT! So even though Luke completely humiliates me in public, much to my relief, people in general don’t seem to mind it too much—they just take pictures with him…..

We also made a trip to the Gongguan area, which reputably houses a great night market. Night markets are bustling places filled with restaurants, inexpensive stores, bars, and activities. You can get really awesome deals at the night markets. One person asked me about the bars in Taipei, and I have to confess since we’re in kid jail, we haven’t had much of an opportunity to explore the bar scene! Plus, our neighborhood doesn’t really have any bars, because we’re more on the outskirts of Taipei. The happening places seem to be more in the heart of Taipei, at the night markets, and we definitely noticed more of a bar scene there. Luke and Lauren did EXTREMELY well for our night market outing. This involved a bus ride and three subway changes, and the subways were PACKED! They loved riding on the train, especially Luke, since he’s such a fan of Thomas the Train.

John had his first rehearsal with the wind ensemble at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA), this past week and he thoroughly enjoyed it. The students sight-read the music extremely well—notes, intonation, and rhythm were good immediately. All he has to deal with is interpretation, which is an ideal situation. He found the students to be responsive and enthusiastic. A few had the blank Taiwanese stares we were warned about, but generally John had a great experience. The students even applauded him after the rehearsal was finished—DEFINITELY not a common occurrence in the United States! In the U.S., you’re relieved to not be hung on the flag pole after a first rehearsal!

Next up...my teaching gig finally..thought this blog was getting too long and verbose....

Prisoners of Typhoon Sinlaku!

We’ve experienced our first typhoon—Typhoon Sinlaku! Up until now, I barely knew what a typhoon was! I’m guessing that the only difference between a typhoon and a hurricane is that typhoons happen in the Pacific Ocean, and they’re not necessarily named after people. We were safe, but it was ultra windy and rainy! My main disappointment is that the Autumn Moon Festival was supposed to happen, and it had to be cancelled! I so wanted to experience an Autumn Moon Festival, which other than Chinese New Year, is supposed to be one of the most important events of the year! John and I were scheduled to perform for the on-campus festival, but everything was cancelled! Well, at least we ate some moon cakes—a common pastry eaten during this time. Lauren and Luke LOVE moon cakes!

We received emails from the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (Fulbright Taiwan), and Dr. Wu advised us to stay inside and read a good book! We have a DVD player, but we needed one more cable for it to work. The kids got a little stir-crazy, to say the least!

So I must say that I’m really enjoying MANY things in Taipei! I LOVE using public transportation, and I really enjoy walking the children to school. The teachers have been SO wonderful, and they sincerely seem to enjoy having Lauren and Luke in their classes. Also, there’s never television at their schools! And no mean children or bullying! John and I have found 2 awesome noodle/dumpling places that are EXTREMELY inexpensive. It’s wonderful being in an old-fashioned neighborhood in which we get our bread from a local bakery and buy fresh produce from local markets. We’re also drinking tea every day, and John has given up coffee for tea. Ever since he began drinking tea instead of coffee, he no longer has to take Prilosec! Poor John, for health reasons he's given up 2 of his favorite beverages--beer and coffee! The only thing I have not adjusted to is the abundance of motor scooters! The motor scooters SCARE me! They’re everywhere and appear out of nowhere! I’m COMPLETELY terrified that one will run over Luke or Lauren. I try my best to always stand between the children and the motor scooters, and I’m constantly holding their hands. During orientation, we were HEAVILY discouraged from using motor scooters. A speaker from the American Institute of Taiwan (AIT) told us there were numerous accidents and deaths from motor scooters and that Taiwan is a slippery country, which I’ve definitely noticed, especially when it rains. Motor scooter accidents happen when they slide from underneath the riders. We frequently see parents and children on motor scooters! But at least they’re wearing helmets!

One issue we have not conquered is our washing machine! We’re getting better, but it has been VERY trying. It’s actually a really fantastic machine—an LG Intellowasher—it cleans AND dries clothes—but apparently it’s much too intelligent for us! One hurdle is that the directions are in Chinese, but I doubt we would even understand how to use it if the directions were in English. There are billions of cycles, controls, lights, and buttons. Believe me, we’ve asked several people for help, but we’re still screwing up royally! John and I very technologically-challenged, and this machine is too sophisticated for us! We can’t even open the door sometimes!! When we do get the door open, it’s by SHEER LUCK, and we have no idea how we got it open! And then we think we’re drying the clothes, and after spending about 90 minutes trying to get the door open to see if the clothes are dry, the clothes are still sopping wet! This machine is totally kicking our you-know-whats! John is normally a very calm person who displays no temper, but this machine has almost driven him to the brink—I’ve never seen him so annoyed!

John had a terrific visit at Taipei National University of the Arts. He has a long commute as well—about 90 minutes. His is a little easier than mine in that he’s pretty much on the subway the whole time. I need to explain this a bit—John’s original Fulbright proposal was to teach at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA). When John was selected to be a Fulbrighter, there was a housing issue—TNUA was not able to provide housing. Dr. Wu saved the day by getting National Chengchi University (NCCU) to serve as our host university and provide housing, and in return, John would teach a music appreciation class and serve as an artist-in-resident at NCCU. NCCU is a very excellent school and community, but it does not have a music major. So John is teaching at both NCCU and TNUA. Anyway, he found TNUA to be a lovely campus and the faculty and students there are amazingly cooperative and friendly. He’s really looking forward to teaching there—he will start conducting the wind ensemble this week. John starts teaching at NCCU this week as well. The NCCU people have also been PHENOMENAL. Greg, the Ph.D student has been GREAT, and Teacher Linda and Shirly, John’s teaching assistant (can you believe he actually has a teaching assistant—this is the first time he has one) have also been INCREDIBLY helpful and have taken wonderful care of us. I have no idea what we would have done without the assistance of Greg, Shirly, and Teacher Linda.

NCCU is a first-rate university and many, many people want to come to school here. Greg also told us that it's very expensive to live here because people want their children to go to the NCCU-affiliated schools. So our kids are very fortunate!

Lauren and Luke have settled into a schedule and are sleeping well (knock on wood). Luke is even taking naps! Luke really reminds me of Brett Favre—when he’s doing well, he’s incredible, but when he’s doing badly, it’s DISASTROUS! Just like Favre, we never know which Luke will show up! But both kids seem happy here and are adjusting very well!

One of the pics is an image of Taipei from the MRT. I also wanted to provide a picture of John's office door with his given Chinese name--hopefully my Chinese-reading family can tell what it is.

Next up….more on my teaching gig, John’s first wind ensemble rehearsal, Taiwanese vs. Chinese....

Schools

I was right about Dr. Wu liking John—John has been asked to be a reviewer of applications for the Fulbright Foundation here. Dr. Wu told him that there were some music applications and he needed John’s help in evaluating them. So if you’re a musician, this is a good time to send in an application to Taiwan! Seriously, I thought that was pretty cool, and I’m happy John has this opportunity!

I finally tested out my commute to Chinese Culture University. I wanted to visit the department before I begin work next week. Door to door, it took about 90 minutes. It actually wasn’t so bad—started out on the bus, got to the subway, then back to a bus. Subways are EASY for me, considering how directionally challenged I am. I’ve navigated subways in almost every city I’ve visited—Barcelona, Vienna, Beijing, Paris, Montreal, London, Kyoto, and NYC! Subways are wonderful because they stop in the same place every time, each stop has a name you can recognize even if you’re a foreigner, a voice on the intercom actually says the stop, and if you miss your stop, you can always get off, cross over to the other platform and come back. PLUS the MRT in Taiwan is wireless, so if you have a smart phone, you can do tons during your commute! Busses, however, are another matter! I am TERRIFIED of busses! There are NUMEROUS nameless stops, and the rider has to initiate the stop—the driver may not necessarily stop where you want, unless you let him know about it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pressed the button too early and have added blocks to my walk for fear of missing my stop. Also, if you want to go to the other side and go the other direction, the stop may be in an entirely different place and not correspond with where you were originally. You really have to know a town well to take the bus, and you have to depend on the kindness of strangers—I’m always having to ask for help from the locals and bus drivers.

That being said, I had no trouble getting around on the subway, and in order to get to Chinese Culture University, I had to change to a bus at a subway stop called Taiwan Main Station. This, of course, is a huge station that’s practically the size of Rhode Island. Taiwan Main Station has a giant food court and indoor mall! When I got off the subway, there were like 50 exits! I had absolutely NO IDEA where to go. I randomly exited and asked a ticket person how to find my #260 bus. OF COURSE she barely knew English and I had no idea what she was saying. I did, however, have “Chinese Culture University” written in Chinese so I showed it to her, plus I knew how to pronounce it since I practiced saying it about 100 times the night before. She told me to go out on Exit 4, so I did. When I reached the outside, I just about freaked out! There were vehicles EVERYWHERE, on all sides of the train station, and the area was so HUGE, I totally panicked! I finally found a #260 stop, but when the bus arrived, the driver told me it was the opposite side. Unfortunately, the opposite side seemed about 3 miles away! After some aimless and confused meandering I eventually found the right stop and found a nice older woman who was going to the same place. She actually walked me to the university and asked a student to help me find the building.

Kay is the administrative assistant for the Western Music Department at Chinese Culture University. She has been my main correspondent over the summer and speaks English well. I also met Dr. Peng, the chair of the department. Even though school hadn’t started, there were students doing playing examinations--our term in the U.S. would be juries. When I asked a piano professor why they were having playing examinations this early, she told me in broken English, “these are extra examinations for the BAD!” I chuckled at her bluntness--totally sounds like something my mom or dad would say! I took that to mean that these examinations were for students who didn’t do very well last spring! Kay told me that by the time I begin work, the university shuttle will be working. Chinese Culture University has a free bus for its employees that goes to Taiwan Main Station, which will be VERY convenient. I will definitely take advantage of this, but I’m also glad to know how to take the city bus, too.

The video is of Lauren reading Chinese! And one of the photos is of Lauren, the principal, Teacher Linda, the principal's son, and us. Lauren REALLY likes her school so far and the Chinese language isn’t bothering her. She's doing so well there, it's SCARY! I'm waiting for something bad to happen! I’m thinking that the reason why Lauren has been OK with all the Chinese is because she’s in her own imaginative world and thinks Chinese is some kind of special language in her alternative universe! But, according to her teacher, she seems eager, raises her hand often, and seems happy. Lauren’s school goes from 8-12 and I’ve also enrolled her in the after school program. The after school program really IS a program--they actually try to teach the children something, unlike my day care in SC! AND, the after school teachers help with homework, which is great, since it's in Chinese! Luke is in a Chinese-language day care named Haw-Sheng, a Christian school. Many NCCU faculty use this school, and supposedly this place has a long established reputation, and they’ve worked with international students. Plus, the price was very reasonable! My other option was the Taipei New Zealand School. This school is REALLY excellent and very impressive, but it’s very expensive! The enrollment fee is over $1000 USD! I may have considered it if we were to be here for an entire year, but for 4 months, I thought it was a bit too much! The day care also expects us to buy bowls and utensils from them, and bring them back and forth, so again, the emphasis against waste. I think this is a GREAT concept! And I've been remembering to bring a tote bag everywhere so I don't have to use plastic bags!

Next up...our first performing gig at NCCU, Autumn Moon Festival, and John's visit to Taipei National University of the Arts...

Apartment, Trash, and Trains

John and I do not start teaching until the middle of September, but Lauren has already started school and so far she likes it! Luke has started his day care, and I will write more about that later…stay tuned…

The pictures are of our apartment—the inside of it and the front of our building. The one of the street is nearby our place, so you can get an idea of our living environment. As you can see, it’s QUITE DIFFERENT from Clemson!

Our major order of business when we arrived to our apartment was SHOPPING. We needed linens, pots and pans, dishes, trash cans, toilet paper, hand soap, FOOD, etc.! Greg, a Ph.D student from the education department at National Chengchi University (NCCU), was assigned to help us! Greg is Filipino, but he reminds me of my brothers in that he can speak Mandarin like a Chinese native and English like an American. He showed us how to take the bus, and Luke had the time of his life—he had a mini-tantrum when we had to get off! Greg took us to the mother of all stores in Taipei, a place called Carrefour. This store is like a super Wal-Mart on CRACK. It had EVERYTHING, including a food court from hell! The escalators are flat so you can take your shopping carts with you! It was INSANE, I’m telling you! But, in contrast to Wal-Mart, the food selection was of high quality, and the meat and fish looked unbelievably good.

After this completely over-stimulating adventure (the annoyingly loud music at Carrefour was driving John and me crazy—it kept playing this melody over and over again, and it sounded like poorly-written Mozart, and it was super-crowded), an administrative assistant at National Chengchi University, Linda, and her family took us out to a Thai restaurant. It was such a relief to have someone else order all the food, and the meal was awesome! Linda’s son, K.C., mostly spoke with us since he had the best English. He will graduate from high school in 2009 and his plans are to attend a university in the United States. K.C. told us he attends school from 8-5 and stays at the school studying until 9 pm, and this is a typical day for him. However, he seems to have also found time for other things--he’s travelled with friends to Europe, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the U.S. He just finished taking his major exams—I guess they’re the equivalent of our SATs, but these exams in Taiwan seem to be more of a dire type of situation. I’ve been hearing that in Taiwan, from middle school onward, students face tremendous pressure on these standardized tests—they pretty much determine their future FOREVER, and this is difficult for the parents as well. Julie Hu, the American woman married to the Taiwanese drama professor, raised 3 children in Taiwan, and she told me she could only handle the Taiwanese high school pressure once. Her oldest child, a daughter, went through the entire Taiwanese system and did very well, but it just about killed Julie. Her sons ended up going to high school in the U.S. and stayed with relatives—she couldn’t go through all that again!

Now I MUST write about the trash! In Taiwan, you cannot leave trash outside for pick-up or you will be fined. There is a set time for pick-up every night except Sundays and Wednesdays, and you have to listen for this obnoxiously loud music—that’s the signal that the trash truck is coming. This music reminds me of the ice cream truck. As soon as you hear it, you have to run outside with your trash and dump it into the truck. The trash people encourage you to recycle and to separate food from your trash—they actually have a special place for food, and they feed it to animals. There is usually someone from the neighborhood that grabs everyone’s recyclables for himself/herself so he/she can sell it! This trash pick-up turns out to be a community event! Everyone is outside at the same time, and I noticed people were socializing! Also, you get to see everyone in your neighborhood!

I also want to add, now that we're on the subject of trash and recycling, Taiwan is very pro-recycling. I noticed people here hate waste and try to make the most out of everything that's thrown away--note that they try to feed leftover food to animals. People are heavily encouraged to bring their own bags to shop, and if you need a bag from the store, you're charged a small amount for it. I've been trying to change my habits about this and now I'm bringing a tote bag everywhere so I don't have to ask for a bag!

The MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) here is AWESOME!! It’s REALLY clean, convenient, and it goes both underground and above ground. John and I are living in Muzha, which is a suburb of Taipei. I guess you could compare it to living in Brooklyn and commuting to Manhattan. We’ve already used the bus and taken the MRT a few times, and I hope to be getting the hang of this soon!

Next up…my visit to the place where I will work, Lauren and Luke’s schools…..

Stomach Issues and Orientation

We didn’t get off to a good start for our first breakfast in Taiwan—Luke threw up at the breakfast table! After returning to the hotel room, he threw up 2 more times. On top of that Lauren was also not feeling well and it looked like she was about to follow suit. Eventually both recovered and ended up okay. In spite of the stomach issues, we were able to sample the local cuisine. I’m finding that if you eat at the totally local places that are completely non-westernized, you get better food and prices. The only problem is that these places are completely Chinese with Chinese-language menus. My only saving grace is to find places that have a couple of pictures of their food, and I can usually go from there. The deals are incredible if you can survive the language barrier in these restaurants. We had a lunch for 4 that was under $10 USD and a dinner for 4 that was approximately $5 USD. These were not fancy places, but they served food that I love—dumplings and soup. I’m pretty terrible at ordering food, though. At one restaurant, John wanted a vegetarian meal, and I had NO IDEA how to articulate this. I ended up telling the waiter in Chinese that John did not want beef, did not want chicken, and pretty much named every animal I could think of. The waiter finally got it and John ended up with a seafood dish, which was perfectly fine with him.

Since John and I are Fulbrighters, we were required to participate in a 2-day orientation. The two people that I’ve had the most contact with from the Fulbright Scholarly Exchange (FSE) in Taiwan are Dr. Wu and Julie Hu. They have been incredibly helpful in getting us settled, clarifying our duties, suggesting schools for our children, etc. Dr. Wu has been the director of the FSE in Taiwan for almost 30 years. My big surprise at the orientation was the discovery that Julie Hu is white American woman. I felt racist, but the whole time I’ve been emailing her over the summer, I had pictured a Taiwanese person. It turns out she married a Taiwanese drama professor who graduated from Indiana University. This would explain why her emails were in perfect English. The first day of the orientation centered around logistics—how to get our Alien Resident Card (this made me think of the old Sigourney Weaver movies), how to get around Taipei, places to visit, etc. The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) also did a presentation and it turns out the AIT is an excellent resource for Americans in Taiwan—they help you do absentee voting, help with visas and passports, and do what they can to keep Americans safe. The second day focused on the Fulbrighters learning about each other and getting to know one another. I was VERY impressed with the Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs). The ETAs are recently graduated students who are assigned to help teach English to elementary, junior, and high school students. These kids are first-rate, articulate, warm, and extremely bright. Virtually all of them had studied abroad at some point during their undergraduate career. I’ve really enjoyed talking with them and getting to know them. Everyone, including John and me, had to introduce ourselves and talk about our projects. I honestly do not enjoy doing this kind of thing, but I think I did OK! John did a fantastic job! He is a very quiet person, but when he’s given the floor, he always shines! Even Dr. Wu commented on how quiet John is, but when he’s in front of people, he could tell that John enjoys the spotlight!

During the orientation, other Fulbrighters who have been lecturing here gave us some excellent tips in dealing with Taiwanese students. The prevailing conclusion is that Taiwanese students always have an expressionless blank stare and that we should not take this personally. Supposedly this is a defense mechanism—they want to attract as little attention to themselves as possible and hate being put on the spot. Taiwanese students also do not enjoy debating or having to consider many answers for one question. They prefer some kind of resolution and they need to have one right answer. They also feel very uncomfortable critiquing each other and despise any kind of situation that involves conflict or confrontation. And this I found amusing—many times if you give them a good grade, they will tell you that you graded too leniently and did not deserve that grade. THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN THE U.S.! As you may know, many students in the U.S.have delusions of adequacy! Another thing I found endearing—Taiwanese students adore their professors and want to be close to them. It’s completely acceptable for professors to eat lunch with students, and supposedly students sincerely care about their professors and truly want to get to know them.

As you can see, one of the pictures is a map of the United States. During the orientation, Dr. Wu wanted each of us to tell everyone where we’re from and where we are now. The red stars represent where we’re from, the yellow stars represent our present institutions. As you can see, I was the only representative from Missouri and South Carolina!

Children were welcome to the orientation, but this was definitely an adult activity. Lauren and Luke rose to the occasion behaved superbly. They basically stayed in another room and various people would help watch them. I also brought a ton of videos for them to watch—they’ve definitely had enough of Charlotte’s Web! Luke finally redeemed himself after putting me through the ringer during the past week! He still has his moments and is still the king of drama, but at least he didn't completely humiliate me at the orientation! The end of the first day of orientation concluded with a nice reception and the second day concluded with a wonderful dinner at a restaurant in the 44th floor of a building. The view was phenomenal, but I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I could have since Luke was running wildly about and Lauren was narcoleptic...

Next stop….moving into our apartment…..

We're in Taipei, Taiwan!

We’re here!!
We arrived safely in Taipei! It was a LONG plane ride—we flew from Greenville-Spartanburg to Newark, where we had a 4-hour layover. The flight out of Newark to Taipei was supposed to be at 11 pm, and it was delayed about an hour. This was especially problematic because our son, Luke, was pretty cranky at the Newark airport. In fact, he was pretty cranky a LOT of the trip, and STILL IS! He’s completely exhausted and jet-lagged. He won’t sleep when we want him to, and he sleeps when we don’t want him to! As I’ve told many of our friends, when he’s great, he’s great, but when he’s bad, well, let’s just say I wonder if he has 3 sixes hidden on his head! On top of that, ever since he was born he’s had an Oedipus Complex (we call him “Ed” for short), so he’s been especially draining! Lauren did extremely well—occasional whininess and moodiness, but outside of that she was pretty awesome.

Fion, a college student, met us at the airport. She’s extremely pleasant, speaks English well, and has already offered to baby sit our kids during the Fulbright orientation.

My first miscalculation was an ATM withdrawal at the Taipei airport. For some stupid reason, I expected the ATM to show everything in USD, but of course, everything showed up in NTs (Taiwan dollars). Since there was a line behind me, I choked and withdrew $500. I thought to myself, “surely $500 will be enough for a while,” and after I was finished I actually figured it out and realized I only had about $15 USD. Our second mistake was that we left John’s large suitcase of clothes at the airport! We didn’t even realize this until we were at our National Chengchi University (NCCU) apartment, after a 1-hour van ride.

The original plan was to go straight to the hotel and stay there until Sunday—after Sunday we’d move into our apartment. The Fulbright orientation is close to the hotel, so we were advised to stay there until the orientation. During our van ride to the hotel the plans changed—we would instead go straight to our apartment, unload some luggage, and then go back to the hotel. John and I were in favor of this idea because we were very curious to see the apartment. It turns out the apartment is really nice! It’s a recently renovated 3 BR 2 BA with a nice kitchen and very conveniently located. We have a 32-inch LCD television with HBO, Cinemax, CNN, ESPN (this is especially important since we want to keep track of the Green Bay Packers and the Georgia Bulldogs), and wireless Internet access. We’re really looking forward to urban living and taking public transportation—this lifestyle will be drastically different from our situation in Clemson, SC! But I’ve always wanted to experience this kind of living and I’m thrilled to be able to walk everywhere and not have to use a car. While I was retrieving our left luggage at the airport, John was able to check out NCCU and Lauren’s elementary school, and he was really impressed. The elementary school is an experimental school that’s associated with NCCU and is supposed to one of the best in Taipei. We’ll soon check out day care options for Luke, which are also supposedly excellent.

My main concern at this point is my commute to Chinese Culture University. NCCU is our home base since they are providing housing and schooling for Lauren. However, my teaching duties are at Chinese Culture University, which I just found out is over a 90-minute commute! I knew it would be long, but I was hoping for about an hour. I don’t have to go there every day, fortunately, but I didn’t know it would be that long! Oh, well, welcome to city living! I’ve been acclimated small-town living for the past 10 years, I have to keep telling myself people who live in big cities do this all the time.

My other concern is cash. Not lack of cash, but carrying SO MUCH. The Fulbright foundation here pays us completely in cash. When we arrived, Fion immediately gave us about $60,000 NT (ca. $2,000) in white envelopes. A former Taiwan Fulbrighter, John Labadie, told me that when you get these envelopes, you feel like you’re committing a drug deal, and he was completely right! People who know me well know that I rarely carry cash because I lose everything all the time! My colleagues at Clemson University laugh at me because I lock myself out of my office at least once a week.

The climate has been mild—mostly cloudy and rainy. My Chinese is pretty limited, but I’ve already found some of coming back to me. It’s amazing—when you’re forced to do something, your brain finds a way to survive! But when I ordered dinner this evening, I was VERY lame…..