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…..