Coiffing, Climbing and Free Beer

It’s AMAZING what you can find on the Internet! Even though I emailed several people and asked for hair salon recommendations, I did not get any responses. I decided to do an Internet search and found an English-speaking hair stylist not far from where we live! I found her in a Taiwanese forum discussion on haircuts, and this forum contained her email, website, phone number, and directions to her salon! Pretty awesome! She was definitely on the pricey side--$1000 NTs (ca. $30 USD)—which is the equivalent of what I pay in the U.S., but by Taiwanese standards, MUCH TOO HIGH. I know if I told people here what I paid, they’d be shocked! I think Taiwanese people are used to paying around $200 NTs ($6 USD) for haircuts! But this hairdresser I found, Diane, had many great reviews in this forum discussion and she has had experience cutting hair in the U.S. I decided it would be better to pay a little more and be happy with the results than to pay less and have to wear hats and scarves for the remainder of my stay here (this actually happened to me when I had a terrible cheap haircut—this is why I’m willing to pay a little more for a good haircutter).

Another wonderful feature about Taipei is how CONVENIENT it is to get around. Seriously--I don’t have a car, I don’t speak Chinese very well, I don’t READ Chinese AT ALL, I have the WORST sense of direction, and SOMEHOW I’ve managed to travel fairly easily all over the city—even to other parts of Taiwan! Diane runs her business from her home, and I found it without much difficulty. BUT I did commit a few errors on the way. One happened while I was wandering aimlessly at an intersection looking for her alley. I totally wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and suddenly I backed into something in the middle of the street that was VERY hard—it even hurt my foot! I was thinking, WHAT is this object doing in the middle of the street, and it turns out I had run into a man in a WHEELCHAIR! He looked at me like I was NUTS, and I was MORTIFIED—I apologized profusely! I mean, WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!!?? In the MIDDLE OF TAIPEI?? This could only happen to ME!! The other mistake was that I kept buzzing Diane’s apartment and did not get a response. Fortunately I had her phone number and called her, and it turns out it was the WRONG apartment! I was REALLY happy no one was home!

Diane is Taiwanese, speaks English fluently, has a Swedish husband, and he speaks fluent Chinese. She’s lived all over the place—the U.S., Sweden, and Thailand. VERY interesting and creative person! We had fun exchanging stories on being an Asian married to a Westerner. Yes, I realize I’m as Americanized as they come, but I DO have an unfortunate Asian masochistic streak in me—we Asians are INCREDIBLY hard on ourselves and extremely self-critical. As a result, this can cause us to be critical of those who are close to us—another Asian characteristic. We both shared laughs about our husbands’ common responses: “You ALWAYS think I do EVERYTHING wrong!” It has INDEED been a while since I’ve spoken to a fellow Asian woman who’s married to a Westerner! Anyway, the money was well-spent—I really liked the haircut! I’d really like to go back before I return to the U.S., but the problem is that she did such a good job, I may not have to!

The trip to the hairdresser was productive because I also found a couple of stores that sell reasonably-priced kids’ clothes. I have been having a VERY HARD time finding stores that sell kids’ clothes! Most of them are WAY over-priced—I wish there was something like an Old Navy here! Luke is in desperate need for long pants—I should have brought more, but I was thinking I could buy some here since I heard clothes were cheap. Well, apparently this doesn’t apply to children’s clothes! Anyway, I was VERY pleased that I found a couple of stores finally! I also made a stop at the Sogo Department Store because there was this MEGA SALE there, and the Sogo Department Store was so close to Diane’s business. There were extra police at the subway station and at the store because of this sale! This was during the day on a Friday, and it was INSANE! Sogo sells designer brands, and it seemed that prices were cut by around 60%. I only went because I had to experience this—I didn’t buy anything! It was like the Friday after Thanksgiving, only a little more NUTS!

We FINALLY made a trip to Yangmingshan! Yangmingshan is the most famous mountain in Taipei and was the summer residence of Chiang Kai-Shek. Actually, I go twice a week to Yangmingshan since Chinese Culture University is located there. But I still haven’t been to the Yangmingshan National Park, which is where I wanted to take the family. The bus drops us off about a kilometer from the park, and you take a hiking trail to the park. SOOOO, we didn’t actually do as much at the park as we wanted because the kids were pretty tired by the time we walked there! Plus, I didn’t want to tire them out so they could walk BACK to the bus station—I didn’t want to have to carry anyone! But the kids were real troopers and loved running about the hiking trails, and they really enjoyed themselves. Yangmingshan is BEAUTIFUL and a PERFECT place to go if you want to relieve stress. It’s serene, very scenic, and it’s like you’re in an alternative universe from Taipei—also great for hiking. I believe that I made ONE good call on this trip—I did NOT bring a stroller to Taipei, and I think this was the right decision. I really had to ponder that one. My feeling was that Taipei is quite crowded and the sidewalks are unpredictably bumpy and narrow—I thought a stroller would prove to be cumbersome. Luke is at a borderline age—Lauren has NO problem with walking, but I did wonder if Luke could handle it. Well, I think I made the right decision. A stroller on Yangmingshan would have been a pain and I found this to be true in many circumstances. I do see parents with strollers, even people with DOG strollers, but I don’t know how they handle it! And Luke has actually exceeded my expectations—he’s turning out to be a great walker!

We ended up going to the Taipei Main Station food court for dinner. I had to mention this because there were already Christmas trees there!! I did NOT expect this at all—I wasn’t even sure they celebrated Christmas here! So I HAD to take a picture of the kids next to a Christmas tree—how often do we get to see THAT in Taiwan?

We made ANOTHER trip to Carrefour—before any of you say, AGAIN, I MUST write about a couple of things I never had the chance to mention. I pointed out the overstimulation, right? Well, I want to elaborate a bit. When you go there on the week-ends, you can get tons of free samples. The people offering free samples are OBNOXIOUS! Many of them have handless microphones and TALK CONSTANTLY about their products, and they’re all talking simultaneously! Also, you can get free samples of alcohol—the HARD stuff! TODAY when we were there, you could sample WHISKY, SCOTCH, and VODKA!! You can get SERIOUSLY INEBRIATED at the Carrefour! I actually took a sample of Carlsberg BEER! Anyway, one of the pictures is of a skinny Taiwanese girl giving out free samples of alcohol at the Carrefour! Also at the Carrefour—SUSHI EXPRESS, which is where we ate! Sets of 2 Nigiri sushi only cost $1 USD—AWESOME deal! The sushi is ready-made and you grab whatever you want off of a conveyor belt. For the four of us, dinner was $13 USD—a STEAL!! I provided a picture of that as well!

Next up….my piano master class FOR SURE, John’s recital…..

In Pursuit.....

A big chunk off my plate—I performed my recital at Chinese Culture University! It kind of evolved into a lecture-recital! At first, they told me that I would perform a regular recital. Later, they asked if I could introduce each piece before I performed it. Eventually they asked if I could use Power Point since it would be helpful for those who didn’t know English—they’re REALLY into Power Point here! So I ended up frantically preparing a Power Point presentation! In all my professional experiences in Asia, I have found that everything morphs into something else, and all you can do is go with the flow and see what happens! In a week I will conduct a formal master class with some piano students performing solo piano repertoire. So far my primary teaching duties have centered on chamber music, and the pianists I have been working with have been in the context of chamber music literature, not solo literature. I’m getting the feeling that the pianists need more time with their solo literature and didn’t want to embarrass themselves by playing for me too soon—keep in mind they started school in the middle of September, and it takes at least a couple of months to get a piece ready!

Although the lecture-recital went very well, I usually find speaking and playing problematic. I prefer to do one or the other—perform OR talk, and I’m not too crazy about doing both. When I speak and play, it’s more difficult for me to completely focus on my performance and I’m afraid of getting distracted by talking and running the Power Point! In other words, I have to switch gears quickly, and I’m fearful that my performing will suffer as a result! But I actually had a terrific time—the audience was very responsive and seemed interested in what I had to say, which makes everything much easier! AND John was extremely kind enough to come to my recital and support me, which means I put him to work and had him change the slides for me! That helped IMMENSELY!!

The saxophone teacher at Taipei National University of the Arts, Kenny, arranged for John to give a saxophone master class at Shi Chien University this week. Kenny is extremely friendly and amicable, and has even invited us to his wedding in December! Anyway, Kenny offered to drive John to Shi Chien University and Kenny was lamenting that full-time saxophone jobs in Taipei were non-existent. As a result, he is an adjunct lecturer at 7 different schools—colleges and middle schools. He was also not pleased with the pay as an adjunct lecturer. So John is thinking, “ok, he’s probably going to be driving me in a Ford Escort!” Well, you can imagine John’s surprise when Kenny’s car turns out to be a LEXUS! MAYBE the pay as an adjunct lecturer is not that bad?

As much as John has enjoyed conducting the band at Taipei National University of the Arts, he has found that SOME things are universal—the trumpet players talk too much! AND they give a BIT of attitude! For those of you who are not musicians, brass players, ESPECIALLY TRUMPET PLAYERS, are notoriously obnoxious—I apologize to any brass players out there, but hey—YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE. Musicians jokingly call them “brassholes!” So John has encountered this stereotype in Taipei as well! If this band were HIS band, he would absolutely know how to deal with this—he’d completely annihilate them! John is laid-back about everything--EXCEPT matters concerning music. You don’t MESS WITH JOHN when he’s in the process of preparing repertoire that means a great deal to him—he takes it VERY seriously and is ULTRA committed--more so than I am. SOOOO, when he encounters ANY type of obstacle during the pursuit of his musical goals, it IRKS him—it’s like he takes it PERSONALLY! BUT the problem is that he’s a GUEST—this group is NOT his! So he’s not quite sure how to handle this. He’d love to just throw them out during one rehearsal, just to make a statement! And they’re not really that bad—he just wants to nip this in the bud NOW! In addition, he’s not quite sure what is culturally acceptable! So right now he’s pondering his options…..and trying to find out what IS acceptable….

Auntie Yin delivered my mom from Hsinchu and my mom stayed with us in Taipei from Wednesday until yesterday—she just left for the U.S. My sister-in-law, Violet, was here visiting her family, so we decided we should all get together for dinner. Violet came up with the idea of meeting at Taipei 101, presently the tallest building in the world and perhaps the no. 1 attraction in Taipei. This building is considered one of the Seven New Wonders of the World and Seven Wonders of Engineering, and contains the world’s fastest ascending elevator. Taipei 101 has numerous shops and restaurants, and we dined at a Japanese grill restaurant in the food court. In the picture of the four ladies: me, Violet, her mom, my mom. Afterwards, John, my mom, and the kids went up into the building. We were allowed to explore the 88th, 89th, and 91st floors—the outside observatory was on the 91st. The views were absolutely incredible and the kids had a fantastic time! I tried to get a night shot from the observatory, but it came out a little blurry!

I decided to take advantage of my mom’s visit and assigned her to read through all of Lauren’s papers from school! In the U.S., I was CONSTANTLY OVERWHELMED by the HUGE amount of papers I’d receive from Lauren’s school. Well, as you can imagine, it’s even MORE OVERWHELMING when the papers are ALL IN CHINESE! I also arranged for her to speak with Lauren and Luke’s teachers so I could get a better idea of how things are going. It seems that things are fine, but as expected, Lauren does have issues with the language barrier. Two days a week, a student from the university tutors Lauren individually and helps with her homework. I try to do what I can, but I feel like a loser because I can’t do the homework! So yes, I feel a bit inept! But it seems Lauren is hanging in there with all those over-achieving Taiwanese kids! And the other kids just LOVE her—she’s a especially a hit with the older kids—they all want to play with her!

I also took my mom shopping for DVDs. One of the reasons she was very enthusiastic about visiting here was because she wanted to add to her collection of Korean DVDs. She and her Chinese friends in St. Louis are COMPLETELY addicted to them. My mom has been quoted as saying, “Those DVDs are my LIFE!” We tried a couple of places—an area called Guang Hua Plaza, which is an electronic geek’s paradise! We had a few issues getting there. After asking for directions about 5 times and being directed the wrong way 5 times—at one point, we crossed one particular intersection back and forth around 4 times—we finally found the place! You see, I thought it was just me—whenever I ask for directions, I always get LOST! I just assumed it was my pathetic Chinese. But even my mom, who speaks fluently, had a hard time!! So it’s not ENTIRELY my fault! Well, but then it is my mom and me…very similar to the blind leading the blind—we’re both pretty horrible with directions! Fortunately we found the area, and even though we found some DVDs, Guang Hua Plaza is really a place to buy digital equipment—it doesn’t appear to be a DVD place. But we also ended up finding some DVDs at Carrefour, the Taipei equivalent of Wal-Mart.

We had terrible weather this past week-end—very rainy and windy--so it was a mall week-end! We went back to Taipei 101 and browsed around some more and we also went to another shopping area called the Breeze Center. Both places were WAY out of our price range—mostly designer stuff—but they both had awesome food courts! Really, the food courts in the U.S. CANNOT COMPARE to the ones here! We did break down for the kids one time—they did have Subway one time! But at least I made sure to have something Chinese! AND another time we had hot pot! VERY tasty! One of the pictures is of Luke and Lauren looking exhausted after eating hot pot!

I don’t know when, but I VERY much want to take the family to Yangmingshan, and John and I are DYING to go to the National Palace Museum!

Next up….shopping for kids’ clothes, getting my hair cut, getting ready for John’s recital, my piano master class….MAYBE Yangmingshan???

Weighty Issues

John and I are having are greatly enjoying our students. We’re discovering teaching chops that we hadn’t used in a long while! For John, conducting the band has been a phenomenal experience. John used to be the assistant director of bands at the University of Milwaukee and gave up band after he became a saxophone professor at University of West Georgia. So working with the wonderful, disciplined, and responsive students in the band at Taipei National University of the Arts has been a fantastic experience, and he’s greatly enjoyed conducting on a regular basis again. At Taipei National University of the Arts, the orchestra, not the band, is actually the top group, but some of the students in the orchestra are asking John if they can also play in his group! One bassoonist actually came up to John and said, “Oh, you such good conductor! I would like to play in your group!” John believes this has been one of the best band conducting experiences he’s ever had. For me, I’m having a BLAST coaching chamber music groups! I’ve never taught in a department that had such an active chamber music program and I’m LOVING it. Just this past week, I was wondering if the students were benefitting at all from my work there, and then the other day, two groups sought me out and requested that I listen to them and give them suggestions! I ended up having awesome sessions with them! I just love it when students take the initiative and actually WANT to work with me, and John feels the same way! Hey, we’re musicians—we constantly need our egos stroked, and like to feel needed!

My sister-in-law, Violet, arrived last Sunday, and my mom arrived on Wednesday! Violet is here visiting her mother and sister, and my mom is visiting us and one of her dearest friends, Auntie Yin. Auntie Yin resides in Hsinchu, a town approximately 90 minutes away from Taipei. Hsinchu is the Silicon Valley of Taiwan. Before I was born, my parents and 2 brothers (Bill and Ken) used to live in Hsinchu and eventually moved from there to the U.S. Auntie Yin’s husband recently passed away and before he passed away, she had hired a live-in maid to help take care of her husband. Since her maid, Aleja, is still on contract, Auntie Yin decided to bring her maid to our apartment and help us out a bit! She and Auntie Yin cooked a couple of wonderful meals for us, and then she, Aleja, and my mom went to Hshinchu together.

OK, I have to relay a conversation between my mom and Auntie Yin! Bear in mind they were speaking Chinese and this is MY translation:

MY MOM: Did Aleja have enough to eat? She didn’t eat very much!
AUNTIE YIN: Yes, she had enough, she usually doesn’t eat very much!
MY MOM: Really? But she’s FAT!!
AUNTIE YIN: Yes, she is—that’s why she doesn’t eat much! She’s on a diet!

They had this conversation IN FRONT OF ALEJA!! Granted, they were speaking Chinese, and Aleja doesn’t know much Chinese (she’s Filipino), but STILL, I was worried she could have picked up on some of those words! So, there you have it, a HUGE cultural difference! Taiwanese and Chinese people are BRUTALLY BLUNT about weight issues, will tell you to your face if you’ve gained weight, and will even tell you if they think you’re fat! And people here don’t get insulted by this, they just agree and respond with something like, “yes, that’s true, I’ve gotten fat!” When we were in Chengdu, China, last year, my cousin introduced me to his 15-year-old son, right in front of him, by saying, “this is my son! He’s a little FAT!” When John heard that, he was completely shocked! Later I told John that Chinese people say stuff like that all the time and just don’t take it personally. The administrative assistant at Chinese Culture University told me that her husband likes to do mountain climbing. I was impressed and said that he must be in very good physical condition. She replied, “Oh, no, he isn’t—he’s quite FAT!” Americans would NOT be able to tolerate such comments! The word “fat” is practically an obscenity! In fact, people in the U.S. would rather be called obscenities than be called fat! In the U.S., comments like that will send a female of ANY AGE into therapy for the NEXT 10 YEARS!!

Since my mom was in Hsinchu with Auntie Yin, this past week-end we took the high-speed rail to Hshinchu to visit them and spent the week-end there. The high-speed rail is AWESOME! It travels at approximately 160 mi/hr and the ride is SUPER smooth—you barely feel like you’re moving. And it only took 30 minutes as opposed to 90 minutes by bus/car! The children LOVED it! Hsinchu also has a brand new station, and the building is quite futuristic-looking (see picture). My mom is having a blast in Hsinchu with Auntie Yin. Auntie Yin has a very nice town house with Aleja, the live-in maid, and they’re playing mah-jongg with some of Auntie Yin’s friends. I’m telling you, she’s living the life there! While we were in Hsinchu, we were again treated to some awesome food Auntie Yin and Aleja cooked, and Auntie Yin’s son, Willy, also visited with us. Willy is one of Bill’s childhood friends.

Willy drove us around Hsinchu and showed us where my parents and brothers used to live and where my dad used to work before he studied in the U.S. My mom says that Hsinchu has COMPLETELY changed—much more developed and urban with many, many buildings. It’s still not nearly as large as Taipei, but it is definitely a thriving city. However, the area where my family used to live is quite suburban-looking with many trees and areas of green grass, very UNLIKE Taipei. Also, my family used to live in the same neighborhood as Cho-Liang Lin, the internationally renowned Taiwanese violinist. Practically all the houses that used to be there are gone, including my family’s house, but Cho-Liang Lin’s residence is still intact and is considered a landmark of Hsinchu. In the pictures—the one of our family in front of the apartment building is where my parents’ house used to be, the one of us in front of the brown house is Cho-Liang Lin’s former residence. The group photo is of our family with Willy, Auntie Yin, and my mom. The pictures of my mom and our family are at a university close to Auntie Yin’s house—National Chiao Tung University. National Chiao Tung University is considered the most prestigious research university in Taiwan and is renowned for its excellence in electrical engineering, computer science, and management.

Since Auntie Yin is still mourning her husband’s passing, my mom decided to stay in Hshinchu for a few more days to keep her company—she will stay with us in Taipei later this week. Also, she seems to be having too great a time there--we decided it would be more fun for her if she stayed there a little longer!

Next up….my recital at Chinese Culture University, dinner with Violet’s family….

Errands and Education

We were told that children do not celebrate Halloween at the public schools, but at cram schools (more on this later)! Shirly, a graduate student at National Chengchi University, has been our mediator between Lauren and Luke’s teachers and us. She promised me we would find a way to take Lauren and Luke trick-or-treating—they may have to go to a cram school to participate. So part of this past week-end was devoted to getting them ready—we had to get costumes! This meant we had to make a shopping trip to the Taiwanese equivalent of Wal-Mart—the Carrefour store! I have to confess—John and I make a run there an average of once a week! Since the kids are INCREDIBLY PICKY about what they wear, we had to bring them along to choose their costumes! Lauren, or course, opted to be a princess! The selection for boys was pretty BLEAK! At first Luke, the Litigator, didn’t like ANYTHING, but he FINALLY got very excited over a ladybug costume. As soon as we got home, the children wanted to wear them immediately—see the picture! AT LEAST in Taipei, they don’t start selling Halloween items until around the middle of October, unlike the U.S., which practically starts in AUGUST!

Our main adventure this past week-end was a visit to the National Taiwan Science Education Center. The building was quite architecturally interesting, and the Taipei Astronomical Museum, which is very close in proximity, was also very distinctive (see picture with the children and me—the Taipei Astronomical Museum is in the background). I’m afraid we did not get as much education as I hoped—the National Taiwan Education Center houses an indoor inflatable play area named Bouncy Town, and Luke and Lauren ended up spending most of their time playing there! But they had a great time, John and I were able to take it easy, and they got good and TIRED, which caused them to fall asleep easily that night!

In the Asian culture, achieving academic success is crucial, and this goes back to Confucian values. These values emphasize hard work and the belief that education is essential to the future of children. Parents in traditional Asian societies regard academic achievement as one of the critical factors that impact their children’s potential career development. If Asian parents can afford it, they will financially support anything that will ensure academic and career success for their children.

That being said, as much as I’ve enjoyed living here, there’s NO way I could live here permanently—only because of our children! Even though I grew up with traditional Chinese parents, I could not stomach the pressure for my own children—I’m a wimp! The competition to get into a prestigious high school and university is severe—I couldn’t handle it! This pressure begins in middle school, when children have to begin studying for entrance examinations. The high school a student attends determines his/her options for college. If the student does not attend a prestigious high school, attendance at a good university is unlikely. Reputable Taiwanese universities only want students who attend reputable high schools. Basically, your entire career success is practically decided in middle school! This is a major difference between the Asian and American cultures. In the U.S., everyone has a chance to attend a prestigious university no matter what background he/she has or what high school he/she has attended. Also, in the U.S., you can achieve success late in life—a person has several chances to fail and try again. Even an ex-convict can become a lawyer! This is unlikely to happen in Taiwan! And I will say that even though my parents are traditionally Chinese, my dad definitely adopted these American beliefs. When I chose music as my career, he was the one who told me if I put my mind to I could succeed, but even if I didn’t, I could always start over—that it was never too late!

As a result of this competitive environment, many Taiwanese students attend cram schools. Several types of cram schools exist, but the purpose of these schools is to prepare students for entrance examinations or improve skills students feel they need help with. Students preparing for the TOEFL examination can also attend cram school. K.C., the wonderful high school student I mentioned in earlier blogs, has a sister in middle school who is preparing for her entrance examinations to high school. She finishes regular school at 5:30 and attends cram school from 6:30-9:30 almost every day. These cram schools are lecture-oriented, revolve around rote-memorization, and completely “teach to the test.” Also, many of these schools are expensive, but as mentioned earlier, Taiwanese parents willingly pay these high tuitions if they know it will help guarantee success for their children.

Another significant difference—graduation rates in Taiwan from universities are around 99%. I get the feeling that college is not as high-pressured as high school. Even though students work hard, they do not feel they absolutely have to have the highest grade. All the pressure seems to be in high school and getting accepted to a good university, and once they’re in, they pretty much know they’re going to graduate. It’s the opposite in the U.S.—not so difficult to get into an average college, but harder to graduate—I believe U.S. graduation rate is around 60%? However, Taiwanese college students still completely freak out over exams. For instance, John is teaching a music appreciation course, and he was advised to change his “exams” to “quizzes”. They will only tolerate 2 exams—the mid-term and the final. If you have additional exams, they will panic and drop the course!

American universities are highly regarded here. Many professors at National Chengchi University and at Taipei National University of the Arts did graduate work in the U.S., and many of them attended reputable American universities and conservatories. In a previous blog, I mentioned hearing a cello recital, and the cellist in that recital graduated from Peabody Conservatory, an excellent music school. I’ve also met Taiwanese professors who have graduated from UCLA, Indiana University, and University of Michigan—one had a Fulbright from Harvard. In the Asian culture, the prestige of a university is very important and people frequently judge others according to what school they attended. Dr. Wu also informed us at the orientation that the Taiwanese hold colleges in low regard—they only want their children to attend universities. When Dr. Wu discusses potential schools with Taiwanese parents interested in sending their children to the U.S., if a school only has the word “college” and not “university” in its name, they won’t even consider it!

We’re also preparing for relatives who are coming to visit! My sister-in-law just arrived—she’s visiting her mother and sister--and my mom arrives this Wednesday! We’re greatly looking forward to seeing them!

Next up….my mom and sister-in-law in Taipei….

Alternatives, Animals, and Adventures

We received our national health insurance cards about a week ago! As some of you know, Taiwan has universal health care. Another plus: it includes Chinese medical treatment! I’ve decided to take advantage of this and try acupuncture. Again, some of you may know this already, but for about 10 years I’ve had issues with my neck and shoulders. About a year and a half ago, while in Beijing, I fell down a half-flight of cement steps, further aggravating this condition. Fortunately nothing was broken, but it was a long recovery that required physical therapy. I do consider myself recovered from this fall, but my right shoulder and neck have never been the same. This also can be attributed to having children—as much as I love them and wouldn’t have it ANY other way, they have DEFINITELY added MORE TENSION AND STRESS to my life! And it didn't help that during my recovery, against medical advice, I kept lifting the children. I’m thinking that this is the time and place to try other options!

Greg, the PhD student, took me to his doctor, who has treated him for headaches. This particular doctor does reflexology and acupuncture. Greg was my translator and the doctor seemed to completely understand what I needed. AGAIN—I barely had to fill out any forms! I was treated immediately, and after the doctor promptly inserted 8 needles into me—the neck and shoulder areas, my hands, and my feet—I laid on a table for the treatment to take effect. Later, Greg relayed to me that the doctor thought I was VERY tense and should come for treatments EVERYDAY! And he also told him it was obvious I’ve had this tension for a long time. Greg immediately said, “no, she can’t come every day—she’s a professor, she’s too busy” to which the doctor nodded, understood immediately, and said, “ok, she should come twice a week!” YES!! I’m in a country where PEOPLE ACTUALLY THINK PROFESSORS WORK!! WHAT A REFRESHING CHANGE THIS IS FOR ME!! The entire session, including several doses of some yucky-tasting powdery Chinese herb medicine, cost a little over $3 USD! I could get used to this, that’s FOR SURE!

In the last blog, I forgot to include another observation concerning style of dress here—NO hoochie mamas! The women here dress stylishly, but modestly, MUCH more so than the women in the U.S. Obviously the Britney Spears culture has not taken over! And so far I have not seen any tattoos in the small of the back, very common in the U.S. Honestly, in the U.S., sometimes I don’t know how the male college students can concentrate in class! Oops--I take that back—I spotted ONE hoochie mama on a subway the other day and it really attracted my attention because I had never seen one here until then!

I MUST comment on the dogs here! There’s DEFINITELY a dichotomy—unleashed mutt dogs vs. pampered princess dogs. As I’ve mentioned earlier, in lieu of children, many young couples have pets instead. These young couples tend to favor small, purebred dogs, and they OBVIOUSLY spoil them. They’re usually leashed, immaculately groomed, and sometimes they’re even in STROLLERS! Yes, here in Taiwan, some people actually use special strollers for dogs. The unleashed mongrels seem to be on their own. BUT, they have collars, so SOMEONE must own them. They’re all over the National Chengchi University campus, and they pretty much roam everywhere. To their credit, they’re VERY well-behaved—they rarely bark, and they don’t try to jump on anyone or get in anyone’s way. They’re also quite skilled at crossing the street—they do a better job than I do! I honestly HOPE I don’t see any get hit by a car—so far I’ve been fortunate in that I have not witnessed any such tragedy! I do see quite a few cats, but they don’t roam around as much. The weirdest cats were a few that were obviously shaved. They had plenty of fur and all, but the body portions were considerably shorter than the head portions, so they resembled little lions! Maybe the owners wanted to keep the cats cooler? Or maybe they’re just having a little fun with them? I’ve had cats, so my first thought was, HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO SHAVE THEM? Any cat owners reading this would COMPLETELY understand what I mean…..

With the children, we made a small excursion to a place called The Living Mall. The building looked very unusual (see pic—one of the buildings is shaped like a ball) and this place was very kid-friendly. Anyway, Luke and Lauren enjoyed themselves—there was an outdoor playground, and inside the mall, there was a play area that contained little rides. You needed tokens to pay for these rides, and it was pretty inexpensive, but man, totally OVERSTIMULATING. Luke and Lauren enjoyed themselves, but it was OBNOXIOUSLY LOUD! And of course, since this was a mall, it had a very extensive food court, which we took advantage of!

Our day trip this past week-end was to Danshui, a small town north of Taipei. It’s completely on the other side of town from us, and it’s about a 70-minute subway ride. Danshui is on the coast and very picturesque (see pictures), and this past Sunday the weather seemed so beautiful we thought it would be a great day to go. Well, apparently EVERYONE IN TAIPEI had the same brilliant idea because the subway was COMPLETELY PACKED all the way to Danshui, which is the last stop on the line! And Danshui was VERY crowded! AND it was HOT and HUMID! We were sweating bullets, and there were people wearing long sleeves and sweaters!! But it is definitely a very lovely area—the ocean looked beautiful and many people were riding bikes along the coast. There is a huge walkway with billions of restaurants and shops along the ocean. We decided to take a ferry to Tansui Fisherman’s Wharf. You can just IMAGINE Luke and Lauren’s excitement; they could barely wait in line! The wharf was also gorgeous and the walkways were even wider than the ones in Danshui, so it didn’t seem as crowded. Luke and Lauren really enjoyed walking on this really cool white bridge (see picture). We also enjoyed the local Danshui snack food—fish ball soup and rice noodles! And Luke was GREAT!! He didn’t barf, pee in his pants, or have a meltdown!!

I have to mention that it’s SHEER LUCK that I’m able to get to these places w/o reading any Chinese! I still have NO IDEA how I got tickets to the ferry boat, and how we knew when to get off the boat. I’m TOTALLY winging EVERYTHING, I’m telling you!

Next up…my sister-in-law’s and mom’s impending visit…..

Not Doing as the Romans Do.....

Rules for Taiwanese and Chinese Drivers

• Road signs and crosswalks are arbitrary. Follow the traffic lights only when necessary—if you can get by without stopping at a red light, GO FOR IT!

• Rarely yield to ANYONE, even people who are crossing on a green pedestrian light. HONK if the pedestrian is moving too slowly. Honk even more if the pedestrian is absent-mindedly text-messaging or checking messages on the mobile phone.

• Leave as LITTLE space as possible between you and oncoming traffic when making turns.

• Pass other vehicles at will, on any side possible.

• NEVER allow the vehicle to gradually accelerate or decelerate. In fact, NEVER let the vehicle coast naturally—that’s for WIMPS. Constantly apply the gas and brakes. And make sure to brake suddenly without actually screeching.

• For bus drivers: The more your standing passengers seem to be losing their balance, the better job you’re doing.

Okay, but in defense of Taiwanese drivers, they NEVER lose their temper and stay cool and collected at ALL times. Losing your temper is considered a sign of weakness here. If a professor loses his/her cool in front of students, he/she will lose respect. Also, the reason why people here can get away with this type of driving is because EVERYONE thinks exactly the SAME way, and they all COMPLETELY understand and ANTICIPATE what everyone else is doing. However, when these drivers move to the U.S., then problems arise. They apply these same principles in the U.S., not realizing that everyone else will think they’re crazy for driving in this manner! And they don’t realize that people in the U.S. do not understand what they’re doing and cannot anticipate their moves. Hence, the “bad-Asian-driver” stereotype is perpetuated!

The “double 10” (10/10) holiday is similar to our Independence Day, and celebrates the end of the dynasties in China. As I mentioned earlier, the Fulbrighters were invited to attend a reception at the Taipei Guest House hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in celebration of 10/10. According to Dr. Wu, we were considered VIPs, and VIPs we were! The president of Taiwan was even there! The Taipei Guest House is a beautiful facility—the pictures do not do it justice. John and I had a great time and it was nice to see to catch up with the other Fulbrighters and exchange experiences! Dr. Wu is in one of the pictures--he's the one in between John and me!

Because of the holiday week-end, subways were even more crowded than usual! Lauren and Luke LOVE the subways. Really, if all we did was ride the subways all day, I think they’d be perfectly satisfied! We decided to venture out to Miramar Entertainment Park, which houses a gigantic Ferris wheel. The pictures include the children on the Ferris wheel and views of Taipei from the Ferris wheel. We also made a trip to the Shilin night market, one of the largest night markets in Taipei. It was SUPER crowded and we were terrified we would misplace Luke and Lauren! I discovered that Shilin is DEFINITELY the place to shop—should have begun my personal shopping there! We also found a restaurant that serves hot pot, one of my FAVORITE foods! For those of you who are not familiar with Chinese hot pot, it’s Chinese fondue. You heat up soup on the table (see the picture), put raw food in, cook it, and then ENJOY! Two types of soups are served—one is spicy, the other is not. Anyway, the mistake we made at the restaurant was that we didn’t realize it was buffet style. We were just sitting at the table for several minutes waiting for someone to take our order, and finally someone came over and explained to me that we were supposed to get the food ourselves. We didn’t see the food—it was in another room! We must have looked pretty foolish just sitting there! But I really enjoyed getting our own food because I didn’t have to order in Chinese! The buffet included ice cream for dessert, which pleased the children. I’ve enjoyed 2 flavors in Taiwan that are not common in the U.S.—green tea ice cream and red bean ice cream, which happened to be at this restaurant!

I realize that we obviously do not look Taiwanese, and our way of dressing brings even more attention to this trait! We consistently under dress, meaning, we’re about a season behind! We’re still dressing like it’s spring/summer, everyone else is dressing like it’s fall/winter, simply because it’s no longer 90 degrees. But it still HOT!! AND HUMID! It’s still 75-80 degrees, and it FEELS hotter because of the humidity! I'm wearing sleeveless and short-sleeved tops; everyone else is wearing LAYERS with LONG SLEEVES AND JACKETS. Some women are wearing TIGHTS and PANTY HOSE! NOW I understand why my mom always nagged me to dress heavier when I was a child! There’s NO WAY I can dress like that right now! I’ve noticed that when I see other Americans, they’re dressing like me, too, so I guess we’re not totally crazy! I KNOW Lauren and Luke’s teachers are thinking we don’t dress our kids warmly enough—they’re the lightest-dressed kids in their schools. Their classmates are practically wearing winter coats! Definitely, Taiwanese are fearful of being cold!

My leftover summer tan also distinguishes me from the others. Taiwanese HATE exposure to the sun, and think tans are VERY unattractive. When it’s sunny, many women use umbrellas to shield themselves. I’ve also noticed that many face creams—acne and moisturizing—contain “whitener.” They equate tans with working-class people, people who have to work outside for a living, so tans are considered undesirable.

Next up….alternative medical treatment…..