Trying to Celebrate the Holiday Season!

I ABSOLUTELY HAD to provide a picture of a cello teacher’s schedule on her office door at Chinese Culture University. As you can see--make sure you click on it so you can see it enlarged--for one of the students she put “fat girl” above her name in one of the slots!! See, I TOLD YOU—Chinese/Taiwanese are VERY open about that sort of thing! I COULD NOT believe that was on the outside of a door! You could probably get FIRED for this in the U.S.!!

On Christmas day, Lauren and Luke did half-days at school and then we picked them up, hoping to take them to the zoo. BUT the weather did not cooperate—much too windy, rainy, and cold! We just took it easy at home and went out to dinner at a new restaurant in our neighborhood, a buffet hot pot place called Shabu Sen. Over the week-end we went back to Hsinchu and stayed over at Auntie Yin’s house-- she cooked some great meals for us! So I guess she provided us our “holiday” meals!

Auntie Yin is quite an incredible person. She’s a long-time family friend and her biggest joy in life is helping others. She’s very strong-willed and is not afraid to do whatever it takes to help people—she’s not shy AT ALL and she’s VERY enthusiastic! When my brother, Ken, was 3, he had a life-threatening kidney infection, and Auntie Yin was extremely instrumental in helping my mom find the best doctor for him—she actually helped my mom save Ken’s life. Since she’s always going out of her way to do things for other people, she has friends everywhere and people always want to do things for her. For instance, when I mentioned that we were interested in visiting Hualien, she immediately got on the phone to call someone she knew who ran a hotel there! Her land-line and cell phones are constantly ringing and there’s a steady stream of people coming into her house—there was a full table for all the meals she cooked for us. Seriously, her house is bursting with life! While we were in Hsinchu, Auntie Yin’s neighbors, a young couple, Jessica and ??? (forgot his name—it’s Chinese!), took us to Judung, a town about 20 minutes from Hsinchu. Judung has a cool outdoor market area and we ate a wonderful local restaurant. We also visited the temple there—so far, unfortunately, we have not seen any temples, so we were really glad to finally get to one. Jessica and ??? are very nice and they seem to represent the new generation of two-career couples who do not want children. I’ve talked to more people about this and what I had written in an earlier blog was correct--it appears that women here are simply more realistic and just know that it’s simply too much work and stress to have a thriving career and a child. Many women have worked very hard to get high-positioned jobs and they simply don’t want to make the sacrifice. In addition, these young couples have become accustomed to a certain standard of living and they’re very fearful of the expenses of raising a child—they know they would have to make financial sacrifices as well. Unlike Americans, Taiwanese/Chinese people are extremely uncomfortable with any kind of debt. Now, the issue I’m wondering about is…what are the reactions of these young couples’ PARENTS? Any Chinese/Taiwanese people reading this will COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND what I’m talking about!! Chinese parents do NOT HESITATE AT ALL in asking questions like, “Why aren’t you married yet?” or “When are you going to give me a nice son-in-law?” (an ACTUAL question MY mom asked ME) or “When are you going to give me some grandchildren?” (ANOTHER question my mom posed to me!) So I’m POSITIVE these young couples are getting HARRASSED by their parents on a DAILY BASIS! So that will be my next charge—to find out how parents of these young couples are dealing with this!

We also took some pictures on the National Chiao Tung University campus in Hsinchu, one of the best universities in Taiwan. The university has a scenic pond area and John did a morning run there!

Since it’s a Christian school, Luke’s school had a Christmas program. Let’s just say this…..organization and efficient use of time was NOT a priority!! For example—even though the first group’s song was only 3 minutes and started at 7, the second group didn’t get going until 7:20!! But all the kids were really cute and Luke did OK. During Luke’s presentation, 2 of the children were crying on stage during the entire performance—totally hilarious! And for one of the songs, Luke happened to be next to Fu-Fu, a boy he sometimes fights with, so I was a little worried about that! In one incident at school, Fu-Fu pushed Luke and then Luke retaliated by BITING him on the FACE! Fu-Fu still had a mark on his cheek for the performance! According to Luke, Fu-Fu hits all the kids and is sometimes mean to everyone—I guess he’s kind of the class bully. BUT STILL—I was thoroughly humiliated by Luke’s actions! I had to run out to the store and put together an "apology" goodie bag for Fu-Fu—seriously, I was afraid Luke was going to get kicked out of the school or something!

I REALLY had an interesting experience reviewing Fulbright applications. We looked at over 35 applications and many of them were EXTREMELY impressive. We split up into 2 groups—John and I were in the more humanities-oriented group, and the other group consisted of the more business-type applications. It was VERY fascinating being on the other side of the fence. After reviewing applications, both John and I agreed that it REALLY helps to have a letter of invitation from an institution. John and I were able to secure letters of invitation when we applied for Fulbrights, but we were told it didn’t really matter. Well, right now I think it helps make a stronger case for your application. One impressive applicant, a neuroscientist, had THREE letters of invitation, and one was from Harvard. I don’t remember the other schools he had, but they were also excellent. I was lucky enough to even get ONE letter of invitation! Another interesting project was a proposal to do a bibliography on rare Chinese books at the University of Chicago—I REALLY liked that project. John and I were also impressed with a Chinese art history project--it was some kind of comparative study between 2 different Chinese bronze techniques. That particular proposal was extremely well-written, focused, and specific.

For MONTHS we’ve been dying to visit the National Palace Museum! We were actually planning to go RIGHT around the time Lauren got sick, and of course, we had to postpone our intended visit. The National Palace Museum has a permanent collection of over 650,000 ancient Chinese artifacts and artworks—it’s one of the most famous museums in the world. When I was in Taipei over 20 years ago, our hotel happened to be down the street from the National Palace Museum, so I went there almost every day! John and I were so excited that we FINALLY had the opportunity to visit this museum! During our visit, we found out there was a children’s wing, so we’re thinking of taking Luke and Lauren there on New Year’s Day! Provost Dori Helms wanted us to take some pictures in Taiwan with the Clemson flag--so here's one of us at the National Palace Museum!

One of the Fulbrighters, Amy, invited us to a karaoke party in her apartment building. I had never been to a karaoke party, so naturally we accepted. John, however, was a little afraid to go because he would prefer DEATH over singing karaoke! But Amy said it was definitely fine to just be an observer, so John was relieved to know that he wasn’t going to be pressured into it. Karaoke is HUGELY, HUGELY popular in Taiwan—it’s one of the most prevalent forms of entertainment. Karaoke bars are extremely common here, and most of the time, a group of people will get a special room at a bar and have their own little parties. The Chinese/Taiwanese culture is a dichotomy—generally, they are very modest and do not like to draw attention to themselves, but they’re COMPLETELY at ease doing karaoke! Go figure! I’m not sure why, but karaoke has not caught on nearly as much in the U.S. The Asians LOVE IT!! Anyway, Vivian, one of the assistants at the Fulbright office, got me to do a song with her! Yes, yes, I’m sure I looked and sounded quite foolish! It was actually a lot of fun, and the thing is, everyone is too drunk to really notice if you sound bad! I think that’s the point!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Next up…an eggnog party……visiting Kaohsiung…….

Happy Holidays!

Although the malls, some restaurants, and shopping areas in Taipei have Christmas decorations, Christmas is not really considered a big deal here. I think, and this is similar to the U.S., they try to use Christmas to sell stuff! However, public schools are open on Christmas day—yes, Lauren will go to school on Christmas—and it’s pretty much just another day! Although New Year’s Eve is celebrated in the Taipei 101 area with fireworks, Jan. 1 also is not such a big deal. John and I are going to be teaching straight until Jan. 6, the day before we leave for the U.S.—we will not be out of school at all. The BIG event here is Chinese New Year, which happens around Jan. 25—THAT is when everyone is out of school, and I believe it’s a 3-week break. I’m VERY bummed—I’m missing the holiday season in the U.S., AND I will miss Chinese New Year in Taiwan! I REALLY, REALLY wanted to experience Chinese New Year here! We’re SO disappointed!!

John got another big chunk off his plate—his band concert is over! John was VERY busy for this particular concert—we joked that Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA) was getting its money’s worth out of him! For the concert, the regular band music director, Chan, conducted the first half. John played a saxophone concerto with band, Chan conducted. John conducted the second half! Seriously, I could have never done what he did—I would have COMPLETELY focused all my energies into the concerto and would have NOTHING left for anything else! But everything went very well, and the students were very appreciative. And things are absolutely NOT winding down for us right now—John still has to teach at TNUA and NCCU, I’m still at Chinese Culture University, we have to prepare to leave AND get ready to teach in our universities in the U.S.! PLUS, we want to squeeze in as many activities as we can!

On the day of John’s band concert, John had to leave quite early in the morning. I left later with the children. So….for the first time, I took Lauren AND Luke ALONE on the bus and the subway. Whenever we’ve taken public transportation with the children, up until now, it’s been the four of us. It is MUCH MUCH MORE difficult taking public transportation ALONE with two CRAZY kids!! It’s totally like herding CATS! On top of all this, our subway line, the Muzha line, is currently closed for repairs on the week-ends. In order to get to John’s school, which is less than a 90-minute commute, we normally take the Muzha line, switch trains, take the Bannan line to Taipei Main Station, switch trains there, and take the Danshui line to John’s school. Since the Muzha line was closed, we were advised to take a bus straight to Taipei Main Station and catch the Danshui line from there. Since I knew the bus is slower than the subway, I left an extra hour—so basically I allowed 2 and a half hours to get to John’s concert. We STILL BARELY MADE IT ON TIME!! I couldn’t BELIEVE what a pain it was! The bus to Taipei Main Station was SUPER crowded—we were so lucky that people gave up seats for us! AND THEN the bus stop outside of Taipei Main Station seemed like a MILE away!! It was AWFUL dragging lollygagging kids—I held hands with both of them the whole time--through all the massively crowded sidewalks and streets to get to Taipei Main Station! If I had KNOWN the subway was THAT far from the bus stop, I would have sought other options—we really LOST a LOT of time because of the distance. Usually the bus stops are right outside the subway stations! AND THEN Taipei Main Station was extremely crowded! While we were fighting our way through the crowds, a woman’s purse HIT LAUREN in the EYE!! TOTALLY freaked me out, and of course Lauren started crying, so I knew it was bad because she rarely cries! I covered the other eye asked her immediately if she could see out of that eye, and she could, but she complained that it still hurt. BUT THEN a person who worked at the subway station came over to us IMMEDIATELY and asked if she could help! She was SO NICE and insisted that we come with her to the office and get some help for Lauren. I was pretty blown away by that—this would NEVER happen in the U.S.—people in the U.S. totally ignore you when something bad happens to you! (Didn’t a person just get trampled to death at a Wal-Mart in the U.S., and people STILL SHOPPED and just stepped over the body??) SO anyway, someone looked at Lauren’s eye and flushed it out with some water. Lauren immediately felt better and said her eye didn’t hurt anymore. I was VERY relieved and appreciative!!

During the concert, Lauren and Luke were well-behaved, but it was still a little nerve-racking for me because Luke was OBVIOUSLY restless! I had promised the children I would give them chocolate if they were “good” during the concert, and throughout the concert, Luke kept asking if it was over and if he could have his chocolate! So I could not relax. By the end of this entire adventure, my stomach was in a billion knots! I knew John had his stress to deal with, so I didn’t complain to him at all—but man, was I happy to have a glass of wine that evening!

After the concert, John’s band students made the HUGEST fuss over Lauren and Luke! They played with them, kept saying over and over how cute they were, how pretty Lauren is, and what large eyes they have! Even the male students played enthusiastically with Lauren and Luke. This truly demonstrates a large cultural difference between Chinese/Taiwanese people and Americans. When Taiwanese/Chinese people think your children are attractive, they REALLY lavish SO MUCH attention on them and COMPLETELY go OVERBOARD. The DOWNSIDE of this, however, is that Taiwanese/Chinese people don’t say ANYTHING if they think your child is “normal-looking.” We’re REALLY fortunate in that people think BOTH Lauren and Luke are cute. In the case of 2 siblings and only ONE of the siblings is considered “attractive,” I’ve seen MANY instances in which Chinese/Taiwanese people will LAVISH attention on the “attractive” sibling and COMPLETELY IGNORE the other. I think this can be very heart-breaking and emotionally damaging for the left-out child! How would you explain these incidents to the left-out child? So I greatly appreciate the attention, but on the other hand, I’m relieved that BOTH get the same consideration.

The video is one of John’s rehearsals. Unfortunately, the video of John’s concert is unusable. I apologize for my camera work—I was trying to be artsy, but instead it’s ANNOYING!

This past week-end we took the children to a Hello Kitty restaurant, a place known for its sweets. Hello Kitty is IMMENSELY popular here, and Lauren LOVES Hello Kitty! The restaurant is EXTREMELY girlie—it’s all pink with Hello Kitties everywhere, and Lauren said she felt like a princess in a castle! It’s also WAY overpriced—although the desserts are tasty, you’re pretty much paying for the experience and the atmosphere. I’m glad that Luke was too young to realize just how girlie the place is—I’m sure if he were older, he would have felt like a fruitcake there or would have REFUSED to go! Even John mentioned that the men’s room was pretty fru-fru—it’s totally in pastels and the Hello Kitty emblem is on the paper towel holder! But there were several young couples at the restaurant—I think many guys take their girlfriends there as a sweet gesture (ha, ha)!

Teacher Linda, her son, K.C., and her family took our family and Greg to Xindian, an area just outside Taipei, but only about 30 minutes from where we live. We ate at a WONDERFUL Japanese restaurant and afterwards, we took a walk on the riverwalk by the Xindian subway station. This area is very beautiful—it reminded me of the riverwalk in Savannah. There was also a suspended walking bridge, and this reminded me of the bridge in Greenville, SC. The children were pleased with all the Christmas decorations, so it was quite a picturesque night scene!

We want to wish everyone a HAPPY, HAPPY HOLIDAY!!

Next up…reviewing Fulbright applications, Luke’s Christmas program, trying to celebrate Christmas in Taiwan.....

Less than a Month to Go......

As each day passes, John and I get a little sadder! We keep thinking about all the things we’re going to miss in this under-rated island country! Really, one semester simply isn't enough time! We really should have tried to stay the whole year! I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but EVERYONE is VERY pleasant and helpful! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to depend on the kindness of strangers. This experience has made me much more aware of how foreigners must feel in the U.S.! I think I’m usually helpful to people in the U.S. who ask me for directions, but now I will make a special effort to make foreigners in the U.S. feel more welcome! And again, I have to mention Wanfang Hospital! I would take this hospital home with me, if I could! We’ve been bringing Luke and Lauren there for follow-ups, and AGAIN, I have to emphasize how AWESOME the care is there! I realize that the U.S. boasts the best medical schools and doctors in the world, but seriously, MANY things are done SO MUCH BETTER here, at least at Wanfang Hospital. They simply expedite everything much more efficiently and the hospital is extremely convenient. The doctors are very nice and SUPER-SHARP, and so far, generally appear to be less arrogant than doctors in the U.S. (OF COURSE, my brother is NOT one of the arrogant ones!) And the COST is simply SO MUCH less expensive than the U.S. Even though Luke and Lauren don’t have insurance here, it’s still INFINITELY cheaper than the U.S. WITH insurance. I’m REALLY sold on the national health care system they have here. This country has proven to me that it IS POSSIBLE to provide high-quality, service-oriented care for EVERYONE at a REASONABLE cost. And, Wanfang Hospital has dentists, opthamologists, family doctors, and gynecologists. They even have a Chinese medicine department. You can pretty much get all your medical care there, which is what we did—when we took Luke for one of his follow-ups, we were able to schedule a dental appointment for him as well. That SAME DAY. Right after his ear-infection follow-up, Luke saw a female dentist who spoke excellent English, and she was GREAT with Luke. She went through all the dental instruments with him, pretended they were all special toys, had Luke play with them and feel what they would do on his arm—VERY kid-friendly. And she even got him in the dental chair told him it was like a special elevator. Luke did EXTREMELY well and best of all—he had no cavities! The 2 follow-up visits for Lauren and Luke, dental appointment for Luke, and medicine ALL together cost less than $30 USD!! If they had health insurance, I’m sure it would have cost less than $10 USD.

John is going to take advantage of Wanfang hospital while he can—he’s already scheduled an appointment with an opthamologist and plans to make an appointment with a dentist!

While we were at Wanfang Hospital for the follow-ups, a couple of women came up to us and asked if we minded being in a video promoting the hospital! They wanted to feature foreign visitors! In return, they would get Lauren and Luke’s appointments pushed up. So naturally we said yes! I wanted to take pictures of this event, but the video camera was on, and I didn’t want to screw up the video with camera flashes! Of course, they adored Lauren and Luke and kept commenting on how cute they were (another thing I will miss—people here are VERY demonstrative when they think your kids are cute—we’ve all been spoiled by this). The manner in which we were asked to participate in this video was actually quite funny. A pretty woman came up to me and began speaking to me in Chinese. I totally didn’t understand her and was unable to come up with anything to say back to her. You see, many times when I don’t understand someone at first, I kind of BS my way through the conversation! I’ll say something back in Chinese that I know has NOTHING TO DO with what they said, and then they’ll look at me funny, and reword what they just said. Many times I’ll understand them after they reword what they said. But THIS TIME, I was at a loss—I couldn’t come up with any such sentence! So the pretty woman asked me, “You can’t speak Chinese?” And I said, “Not very well!” And then she just ran out of the room! I was thinking, wow, I hope I didn’t offend her by not speaking Chinese well enough! But then she came back with someone who could speak English. During this video, an English-speaking doctor conversed with us, and they filmed Lauren getting her follow-up care from Dr. Huang! I wish we could get a copy of the video!

In Taiwan it’s quite common for people to wear surgical-type masks! As I mentioned before, Taiwanese are very fearful of the cold and GERMS, so many people wear masks, especially in the hospital. All the health care workers wear them. It’s also quite common for bus and motor scooter drivers to don them. So I had to get a picture of Lauren and Luke wearing masks—they wore them for their follow-up visits!

John teaches a music appreciation class at National Chengchi University (NCCU) and he wanted to do a live performance for the class. Since NCCU does not have a music major, they didn’t have a classroom with a piano, so he held that particular class at a local high school. This local high school is in a beautiful neighborhood surrounded by mountains, so it had great views. Anyway, Greg (the doctoral student who’s helping us, Shirly (John’s teaching assistant), and Teacher Linda came with us. John and I performed a few pieces together, and I did a couple of piano solos. Afterwards, Teacher Linda took all of us to a Western restaurant on the NCCU campus, and the food was actually quite good! I provided a picture of us and don’t forget to check out the video of John and me performing—really, it’s John’s show in this instance! Unfortunately the space ran out at the end! John was also asked to coach some student music groups at NCCU. Even though NCCU does not have a music major, the students have their own music performing clubs—they are completely student-run. EVERY department has its own choir—there are 32 choirs—and they were all preparing for a campus-wide singing competition. So John helped the Department of Education choir! He was greatly impressed with the students’ drive and their obvious commitment to their extra-curricular activities. One time on a Friday night, he encountered 6 trumpet students rehearsing ensemble music! Another time he heard a trombone player practicing Mahler Symphony #3 excerpts! All at a school with NO music major! And he’s found that the students at NCCU are VERY knowledgeable about classical music—they’ve initiated discussions on the composer, Lutoslawski with him, and one student even said to him, “Oh, when I was 13, my teacher thought I was crazy that I liked Schoenberg so much!” (Many undergraduate music majors in the U.S. have barely heard of Schoenberg and Lutoslawski, and the people who have heard of them, don’t usually appreciate them). John has also noticed that there is significant student camaraderie within the departments. For instance, the speech department and law school have baseball and soccer teams. The students at NCCU obviously take pride in their music and sports activities, and these activities play an important role in their social lives. This past week-end we were still being cautious with Lauren, but she was going very stir-crazy staying at home—she was dying to get out. Since she loves night markets and hot pot so much, we went back to Gongguan night market since this area has many hot pot restaurants! I had to provide some pics of that as well! Yes, we definitely frequent hot pot buffet restaurants! They’re SO convenient, and we can always find something the kids will eat! And of course, the kids just LOVE the dessert buffet—good for bribing the kids to eat well! Next up….John conducts and performs with the Taipei National University of the Arts band….….John and I are asked to review Fulbright applications (yes, this time I was also asked!)

OUT at last!

Lauren got out of the hospital last Friday! We were very overjoyed and so happy to have her back with us! She has already had a follow-up, and Dr. Huang is very pleased with her progress. She’s been out of school this week as a precaution and Dr. Huang will see her again on Monday—he believes she should return to school after that appointment. Lauren is still on antibiotics—in fact she’s taking four different medicines four times a day! On top of all this, Luke is recovering from an ear infection! He’s also on four different medicines four times a day! It’s been VERY interesting administering all this medication! I want to emphasize how excellent the care was at Wanfang Hospital! I really thought Dr. Huang and the staff were first-rate and was AMAZED with their efficiency! It was also pretty cool being at a teaching hospital—every time Dr. Huang came by to see Lauren, he’d have a herd of students with him observing, and of course, they COMPLETELY doted on Lauren! She, of course, LOVED the attention! She was almost sorry to leave the hospital!

During our last couple of days at Wanfang Hospital, we were down to 2 patients in our room, but the room is still divided into quads. I naively thought, OK, good, not as many people are here, so we’ll have more privacy and NOT SO MUCH bathroom traffic. WELL, I was TOTALLY wrong! The other patient, a boy who looked to be around 7 or 8, had the LOUDEST FAMILY you could imagine! And, HIS ENTIRE FAMILY LIVED AT THE HOSPITAL with him, in his tiny quad area! His parents, grandparents, and little brother!! This space is BARELY enough room for Lauren and me! I have NO IDEA where they slept! The grandmother was especially VERY loud and BOSSY—Lauren kept asking me if she was MAD about something! And she spoke a dialect I did not understand—I wondered if she was Cantonese, since the Cantonese language can sometimes sound a bit angry. I mean, they used the room like it was a living space—they ALL ate and showered there! The first night they were there, John stayed overnight with Lauren, and he was pretty annoyed with them because they kept him awake! He warned me about them before I had to stay overnight the following night with Lauren. And yes, he was right, the night I was there, ALL of them were there, except the father. So I was thinking, maybe the father had to work at night…and SURE ENOUGH around 2 AM he came bursting into the room, saying something REALLY LOUDLY! I actually found the whole thing VERY amusing—they reminded me of a Taiwanese version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding! When Lauren and I were trying to fall asleep, we were both giggling at them, we found them so funny! I actually found their closeness kind of REFRESHING—you would not commonly see this kind of open closeness happen in the U.S., I don’t think. I hope people don’t mind me saying this, but from an Asian perspective and from a person who grew up in a VERY open Chinese family (we all lay it on the line and everyone knows what each other is thinking—believe me, my parents NEVER hesitated to share their opinions with me)—but American white families can be just a little uptight!! Go ahead and argue with me on this…I don’t mind….(John promised me people would not be offended by this comment!)

Soooo….life goes on. John and I are continuing to teach through all this, and at the same time we’re taking turns watching Lauren since she’s out of school until Dr. Huang gives her the get-go. No huge outings, we’re taking it easy so Lauren and Luke can recover. Lots of takeout, though—I provided pics of our favorite places. One is a picture of a dumpling meal—my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE restaurant. LOVE their fried and steamed dumplings! And the other is a picture of my favorite Thai restaurant! We do much takeout from them, too! I also provided a picture of me doing “percussion” with Lauren—Luke wanted to join in! Don't forget to check out the video at the bottom--this was taken the day after Lauren got out of the hospital! She and Luke are counting in Chinese!

I had the wonderful opportunity to judge a piano concerto competition at Chinese Culture University. This competition was unusual for a few reasons. All of the contestants played the same concerto—in this case it was Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3. In the U.S., most concerto competitions allow everyone to perform whatever they want—they do not all have to play the same work. Another aspect I found that differed from competitions in the U.S. was that the participants performed the concerto in its entirety. When I’ve judged competitions in the U.S., I’ve rarely heard the entire work—we hear part of the piece and skip contestants around. For this particular competition, there were 5 participants, so I heard the Beethoven Piano Concert No. 3 FIVE COMPLETE TIMES! The concerto is approximately 35 minutes long! Needless to say, I don’t think I’ll be listening to this piece for a while—I’m a little Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3ed out! But it was VERY INTERESTING to hear 5 different approaches and interpretations of the piece! We were instructed to rank the 5 performers, 1 being the best, and the person with the lowest score won.

I have to confess, even though everyone played very well and the level was high—I was not “blown away” by any of the performances. I did end up picking the winner—I believe 4 of us chose her to win—but for me, she won by default. She just didn’t do anything totally objectionable, which is why I picked her to win! HARDLY a ringing endorsement! These competitions are so TOUGH—IDEALLY you want to choose someone who is a solid performer, but at the same time is musical, expressive, exciting, and imaginative. The person I REALLY wanted to win, who I thought was by FAR the best pianist technically and musically, just had too many problems in her performance—she really let her nerves get the best of her. It was pretty heartbreaking, actually! And there were others who were more musical than the winner, but they had TECHNICAL issues—bad pedaling, bad sound, messy scales. The person I chose to win was actually boring, but she performed solidly with a good sound and good technique. She just didn’t have much personality! So I was bummed out that my favorite pianist in this event could not pull it off…very disappointing, indeed! But what a nice opportunity for the winner—she gets to perform the concerto with the school orchestra!

I’ve discovered that Taiwan is the OPPOSITE of Wisconsin! In Taiwan it’s hot most of the time, so when the temperature is 65-70 degrees, people consider that ARCTIC weather, so the attire is heavy winter coats and scarves. In Wisconsin, it’s cold most of the time, so when it’s 65-70 degrees, people consider that LAYING OUT weather—people actually don SWIMSUITS, shorts, or flip flops! I’ve mentioned earlier how the Taiwanese are VERY fearful of the cold, and this has come out in full force. It’s DECEMBER now, and it’s around 70+ degrees! I think the weather has been GREAT!!

We have about a month left—I CANNOT believe how quickly time has gone! I’m already sad because I will MISS SO MANY things here! And there is still so much I want to see! I truly wished we could have stayed the entire year! I mean, just when we’re getting used to everything here—we even have a GREAT doctor for the kids—it’s time to leave! But this has caused me to reflect a bit and I’m realizing EVEN MORE that I REALLY DO NOT HAVE ANY IDENTITY!! I mean, I’ve ALWAYS known this, but this experience has made me realize JUST HOW MUCH! You see, in the U.S., even though I was born there, I don’t look “American,” and I’ve had several instances in which people were shocked by my manner of speech—the fact that I DON’T have an accent. So I really do not BELONG to any kind of majority, ESPECIALLY in Clemson, SC! But HERE, I actually LOOK like the majority—I’ve had several instances in which Chinese/Taiwanese people have stopped me to ask for directions, and I have to sheepishly say in Chinese that I’m American and can’t give them good directions—but STILL, I do not belong!! The only way I can feel like I belong to a large collective is to be in a country of ABCs—American-Born-Chinese! Of course I have no solution for this feeling of being a little “lost,” but I do find it fascinating and enjoy contemplating this! Another factor I want to point out…at the risk of pontificating on race issues…is that I’ve seen more couples with Asian men paired with white women here than any other place I’ve been to. In the U.S., it’s a bit more common to see couples like John and me, and it seems that Asian guys in the U.S. tend to be with Asian women—I really don’t see many Asian men with white women there, aside from my brother, Ken, and his wife, Janet! Anyway, I just find that REALLY interesting! I always enjoy making these kinds of observations! OK…ENOUGH of this boring racial stuff….

Next up…our visit to a local high school…..

Wanfang Hospital

We’ve had QUITE a bit of drama! Lauren contracted pneumonia and is currently at Wanfang Hospital in Taipei! At the beginning of last week, on Monday, we received a call from Lauren’s school in the afternoon informing us that she had a fever. We took her straight to the doctor and he said it looked like she was starting a cold, so he prescribed her antibiotics, acetaminophen, and stuff for cough and cold. Over the next couple of days, I noticed that she didn’t improve much! And she still had a little FEVER! So on Thursday we took her back and the doctor prescribed more medicine. Well, Saturday night was AWFUL—Lauren was coughing SO hard she couldn’t sleep AT ALL, and it was concerning me SO MUCH I had to take her to the ER at Wanfang Hospital the following morning. They did a chest X-ray, and the ER pediatrician told me she had pneumonia and should be admitted immediately, and that she should stay 3-5 days MINIMUM! Of course I totally FREAKED OUT (outwardly I did not, but INWARDLY I SO TOTALLY WAS FREAKING OUT) and proceeded to get her admitted! So HERE WE ARE, hanging out at Wanfang Hospital! She’s been doing better, but she still has quite a wet cough! At least, so far, her fever is gone—we’re keeping our fingers crossed! I’m TRYING SO HARD NOT to go CRAZY with WORRY!

Wanfang Hospital is only a 15-minute bus ride from our apartment, and it is a subway stop, so it’s VERY convenient to get there. It is also a reputable hospital with the most up-to-date cancer treatment, has every department you can imagine (NICU, cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery, overweight department) and is a research and teaching hospital, so I felt confident taking Lauren there. One of the walls in the lobby lists all the groups and people who have visited and observed the hospital—it has had visitors from over 60 countries. The staff has been UNBELIEVEABLY considerate, pleasant, and FAST. When I took Lauren to the ER, she was seen IMMEDIATELY, her X-ray was done promptly, and she was admitted right away—I barely filled out anything. I scarcely had time to call John to tell him what was going on, everything moved so quickly. I also hardly had enough time to prep Lauren for the IV—I had to give her a quick explanation because they were so quick in getting stuff into her! (Uh, let me add—putting in the IV was NOT FUN!) Lauren’s pediatrician at Wanfang Hospital is Dr. Huang, and he happens to be the doctor of Cheryl’s son—Cheryl is the American woman who had us over to her home for Thanksgiving. The doctors all speak English—not extremely well, but well enough to get their explanations across. However, the nurses and staff do not speak English as well, but they are so nice and sweet, that more than makes up for it.

On the minus side, Wanfang Hospital is not as clean as the hospitals I’ve been to in the U.S. It’s NOT dirty by any means, but it’s not in the immaculate condition I’ve been accustomed to. The lobby looks great, but the rooms are just OK. BUT, then, I’ve been lucky—whenever I’ve had to stay in the hospital, the hospital was always brand new, so that has been my only hospital experience. The problem is we are in a quad—right now, three kids to a room separated by curtains--so we’re ALL sharing the same bathroom. The bathroom gets cleaned RARELY, so it’s not in the best condition! I finally had to ASK to have the bathroom cleaned! It LOOKS like there are private rooms that seem to be much nicer, but since the children do not have medical insurance here (however, John and I are fully covered), I had NO idea how much it would cost, so I made the decision to go the cheaper route, especially since she has to be in the hospital for so long. I was also influenced by my medical experiences in the U.S., where I frequently got ZAPPED by unexpected costs, so instinctively I went with the cheapest option! I just found out it will end up costing about $60 a day, and that includes drugs and doctor visits. So, actually, even w/o coverage, it’s CONSIDERABLY less expensive than the U.S. I also JUST found out from Auntie Yin that I can save the receipt and take it back to the U.S. to get reimbursed by my own insurance company (but who knows if my insurance will honor it), which I also did not know when I had to make a quick decision.

Lauren is receiving IV antibiotics and nebulizer treatment 4 times a day, which according to my brother, Ken, a doctor, is standard treatment for pneumonia (it REALLY IS handy having a brother who’s a doctor). We also have to administer “percussion” treatment. After Lauren gets the nebulizer, we have to pat her back on her right and left sides for 15 minutes—we have to do this 4 times a day! Since we’re sharing a room with other kids, it’s actually pretty funny listening to all the back-patting going on! Lauren LOVES the percussion treatment—it really relaxes her and she says it really does make her feel better, so we don’t mind doing it at all!

It’s been interesting to watch the other families in our room. One of the kids looks like he’s about 3 or so, and his grandmother has been the primary caregiver thus far. His father and grandfather come in and out (there doesn’t seem to be a mother in the picture), but the grandmother stays here 24/7 and has been doing virtually everything. Another child looks to be about 7, and he’s had many members of his family visiting, but so far his father has been the constant force.

John and I have been working in shifts and we’re taking turns staying with Lauren at night, and we have not left her alone—we want to be sure she doesn’t accidentally pull the IV out. Luke, of course, doesn’t really understand what Lauren is going through—he just gets ANGRY when I can’t stay with him at home! And of course, he’s had his share of one-liners. In the hospital lobby last night, out of the blue, he VERY LOUDLY blurted, “MOMMY, I’M NOT PLAYING WITH MY WEE-WEE RIGHT NOW, I ONLY PLAY WITH MY WEE-WEE IN BED!!” (We’re teaching him all the names, but apparently he seems to like this one…) I was MORTIFIED….but no one seemed to care because no one understood what he said! In fact, right after he said that, someone walked by and commented on how cute he was!! So here’s an instance in which the language barrier was a distinct advantage…..

Another thing cool about Wanfang Hospital is that it’s centrally located, so it’s walking distance from many stores and restaurants. Starbucks and 7-11 are actually housed in the hospital lobby, which has been SO convenient! We’re giving Lauren a break from Chinese food and we’ve gone TOTALLY Western this week! So we’ve been to Starbucks numerous times—Lauren loves the sandwiches and sweets there—I think we should buy stock in Starbucks we’ve been there so much! Oh—I forgot—Lauren does NOT have to eat the hospital food—it’s OPTIONAL. So we’ve been bringing in our own stuff or going out for meals, which is nice since it gives us an excuse to get out of the room.

I can’t EVEN BEGIN to express how STRESSFUL this has been! I think this has taken 10 years off my life! Lauren was a day care baby, so she’s been sick NUMEROUS times, but she never had to go to the hospital. I CANNOT BELIEVE that the FIRST time she has to stay in a hospital, it HAS TO BE while we’re in Taipei! I would freak if this happened in the U.S., but the fact that we’re in a situation that’s SO unfamiliar, where we’re far from our regular doctor and navigating the language barrier, well, that has added an ENTIRELY NEW dimension to this already nerve-racking experience! I’m trying VERY hard to hold it together, and John has been amazingly calm. Lauren has been a total angel! I frequently take her around the hospital in a kiddie wheelchair, and every time we go out, people comment on how cute or pretty she is! They all ask me if she has an American father because of her features. BUT, because she’s so small, some people have actually asked me if she’s 3 years old (she’s SIX)! It’s been SO DIFFICULT for me to watch her go through everything! I would give ANYTHING for this to be happening to ME instead of Lauren! I SO HOPE she recovers quickly—I’m STILL VERY worried and FULL of anxiety!

The pictures are mostly of Wanfang hospital--the one of Luke alone is at the Starbucks. I apologize--one of the pictures is up twice, but the connection at the hospital lobby is so slow, I didn't want to deal with it again and edit this....

Next up….HOPEFULLY good news about Lauren….I’m keeping my fingers crossed…..