Going home

11/21/2010

Clowning around on Saturday night

We had to get up very early Sunday morning to get to the airport with 2 hours to spare. We actually were there by 6:20 for our 8:50 plane. Susan was sleepy. I was surprised to see all the people who came to see us off. Besides Sylvia, Neil, Susan, and Mark, Aileen and Joyce and Ryan's parents (a student who had been at WTAMU) came. We had time for breakfast before the plane left. We had to go through security and immigration before we could leave. The trip to Tokyo took about 4 hours.
Sleeping beauty

The layover in Tokyo was about 5 hours, so we walked around the airport and looked in the shops. They really push duty-free liquor and jewelry. We didn't buy any. The flight on American took about 11.5 hours. There were crying babies nearby. We had 2 seats together; one on the aisle for Garrett and one by the window for me. There was not much to see outside.

In Dallas we really had to rush to go through customs, change the money, go through security twice and get to another terminal. Luckily there was a man in an electric cart to get us there in time. Dean and Doreen took us home, but Carl met us too.

Last day together

Today is our last full day in Taiwan. I love to be at the shore, so that was the plan of the day. We first stopped at a restaurant they like for a Japanese/Taiwanese fusion lunch. The place was in the country and had a great garden on the edge of a rice field. We had schnitzel with vegetables and soup with ears of corn. Ryan loved his corn on the cob. We also had Japanese quesadillas (figure that) and several other delicious dishes. We sat on low couches at a low table. Ryan and Neil were so comfortable they went to sleep after we ate. The waiters seemed in no hurry to get us out of there.

Ryan and Susan in the garden


View from the garden


Rice field


Bouganvilla in garden

We went to the western coast of Taiwan to see the beach. It was rather windy, but lots of people were out. The boardwalk had a fine view of the sea. We all enjoyed it. On a path below us families were pedaling carriages built on bicycles.


Bicycle carriages


The sea between Taiwan and China



Our last stop was at an entertainment beach. The dragon boat we took was not a good one--the tiller didn't work, so we had to be rescued off the rocks twice. We weren't the only ones. Susan played a game and got a bottle of bubbles; she and Ryan had a great time with them.


Paddle boats with dragon boat on right

Susan and Ryan and bubbles


We stopped for dinner in a sushi bar where the plates of sushi came by. You could pick up whatever you wanted. They charged by the number of plates we had in front of us. At the house Silvia brought out one of Susan's favorite fruits: a sugar apple.

Sugar apple

Susan read to me in Chinese and told me the story in English. Then she read to me in English. It is a wonder to hear her read. In Chinese she reads the phonetic symbols as fluently as she reads in English. The sound on the video isn't very good. We finished the evening with more Curious George. Ryan went to spend the night with his grandparents who had not seen him since Monday night, so that he wouldn't have to be awakened at 4 a.m. to go to the airport.

Folklore museum

11/19 Friday

Neil and Silvia had asked if there were anything else we wanted to see, so I looked on the Internet and found a folklore museum. Taichung is just full of museums. We were on our way back to Hsinchu, but stopped there first. The grounds were lovely. We fed the fish and walked in an old traditional home that had be rebuilt. I liked the doorways,

Doorways

Feeding the fish

Koi pond

We let the kids play on the grounds a bit. Susan found a bench that was just her size. Ryan liked the challenge of the steps. We had eaten another big breakfast at the hotel, so we had a late lunch when we got back to Hsinchu County. We had soups and dishes to accompany them.

Susan's bench

Challenge of the steps

Lunch

Mark came to take Garrett back to Taipei to see a few more people. I stayed with the family and played with the children. Susan and I finished our painting project. She read to me in English and in Chinese. It is a wonder to hear her. Chinese is a pictorial language, rather than alphabetic, and for ease of reading, uses phonetic symbols next to the word symbols. They allow for easy recognition and reading. She would read me a page in Chinese and then tell me the story on that page. I read her some Curious George stories which she could have read for herself, but we like to read together. We slept in a bed with big mosquito tent over us.

Taichung museums

11/17 Wednesday

Our main stop for the day was a museum of science and nature, so after a substantial breakfast in the buffet, we drove there to spend the day. We watched a planetarium show and a 3D movie that was scary. We didn't need lunch. Garrett spent some time in an exhibit of minerals.

Ryan and Susan at breakfast

In the afternoon we visited the conservatory and plant areas of the museum. I think everyone, including Ryan, had a good time walking in the gardens.

Funny tree

Big fish in conservatory

Tree in tropical exhibit

We had dim sum with Mae and Alan from Ylan. They came a long way to spend the evening with us. They drove from the east side of the island through the tunnel to Taipei, then took the high-speed train (about a 4 hour trip each way).

11/18 Thursday

After another wonderful breakfast we went to the Museum of Fine Arts for the day. There was a great exhibit on Hans Christian Anderson with some of his stories told and hands-on activities. We went to an art exhibit, but Ryan and Susan were noisy and tired of being inside.

HCA's Traveling Trunk story

Susan dancing with ballerinas

There was a children's library area in the basement with books in Chinese and English and a story area. A group of junior high kids were watching a film and then running around. There was a multilevel space with low shelves and bright paint. Ryan and Susan climbed all over it. Another area had puffy hexagon tiles fitted together like a rug. The third had steps for listening to stories or watching films. As we were leaving the kids who were there gathered to do an art project. I spent most of my time reading some new HCA books with wonderful illustrations.

Statue on grounds

Poetry wall with varied calligraphy

We hadn't been hungry for lunch, but we went to the hotel buffet for what Silvia called tea. I called it a main meal.

Susan and I made some plaster magnets from a kit and left them to dry while we went out for a walk and to the Sogo store. Later we painted some of them. We also went to a night market.

Taichung

11/16

Taichung means (tai) Taiwan (chung) middle.

We left for Taichung this morning around 10 and went to a wood sculpture museum in a town on the way. There was old work and contemporary. We couldn't take pictures inside.

Elephant sculpture outside museum
Postcards of carvings

Silvia had made reservations for a hotel called The Splendor. It is a older place, but comfortable, and with another spread for breakfast. We had eaten a substantial lunch, so we had a snack and shopped in a Sogo department store across the street. Garrett had clothes to wash down in the coin laundry for hotel guests so he did that while Susan and I read.

Taichung from hotel

Shopping in Hsinchu

11/15

We went by Silvia's book storage this morning. Her assistant was there along with a lot of books. I think that since Silvia has become a sub-ward leader (sort of like a city commissioner), she has had less time to spend on the shop. Having 2 children is also a distraction. She is doing some book fairs at local schools.
Books are sorted and labeled by type, age level, language, etc. There are 4 floors of books.

We went shopping at a store similar to Walmart called AMart. We mostly got food, but looked at a lot of things. You park in the garage on top of the building and go down a floor or so. When you have a shopping cart and want to go down farther, you get on an escalator ramp. You can go up that way too.

We went to an old temple and walked in the neighborhood. It was interesting to see what people do for a garden if they have no ground. One thing we saw was a sound trap used during the Japanese occupation. The stone pavement was hollowed out so you could hear the steps of anyone approaching.

Garden

Susan at age 6 (7 in Taiwan)

We also shopped at the night market in Judong and went to dinner in a restaurant given by Silvia's parents. Her sisters, one husband, and 3 nieces came too. We had a delicious meal and took some pictures. I desparately needed some clothes washed, so Silvia took them home with her.

Silvia (Szu-Fang), Susan, Ryan with her sisters Szu-Hue and Szu-Ing and nieces Janice, Karen, and Hannah (spelling questionable) The sisters with their parents and Ryan

Kate's wedding day

11/13/2010
We ate at the wonderful buffet again and packed our bags. We will spend the night at Kate and Chen's new house. One of her cousins, Dean, came to get us. Dean speaks excellent English and has been a student in Denmark. Another cousin Michelle also came, but I think she didn't speak much English.

When we got to the new house, we went up to our room on the 4th floor. The wedding party was on the 3rd floor for pictures in their bedroom. They were trying to get them to kiss. She had on her white dress and veil, and he had on a tux. They left for Chen's mother's house and we went over too.

Wedding picture with Kate, Chen, and his family

There was a lot of picture taking going on and some fireworks. We met Chen's mother and sisters. The sisters had been in school in New York and spoke English well. The mother was very kind, but couldn't talk to us at all.

Joyce and Aileen arrived to take us shopping for a while. We went to a big department store near the train station, so Lan Li and Ally met us there when they arrived. We bought several things and had a snack before leaving for Kate's house to get dressed. Joyce and Aileen went to find a hotel, and Lan Li and Ally went to theirs. We knew all four of them in Canyon; they were in Garrett's tutoring group and came to our house many times. Aileen is a kindergarten teacher in Hsingchu and Joyce works in the business office of the school and teaches one class in a university. Lan Li and Ally live in Taipei. Lan Li works in PR and arranges events; Ally is a lawyer.

The wedding dinner was at 6, so that meant it would start about 7. We got there just after 6, and Chen's mother showed us to a table. We later moved to a different one so that there would be room for the 6 of us. I took pictures of what we ate. There was fish and soup and vegetables and beef and other seafood and noodles and a little rice. We ended with fruit and pudding. During the dinner, Kate started in her white dress, changed to the blue, then to the peach.

There was a mistress of ceremonies and some musicians. Several games took place and Garrett even got a prize. At one point most of the people at the main table got up and went to each table in turn (about 45 tables with 10 per table) to drink a toast to the newlyweds. One time the bride and groom came in, they brought candies and cotton candy for the children. When the dinner was over, everyone passed by the bride and groom who were passing out candy and having their picture taken with groups of guests.

First course

Abalone
We went back to the new house and took a tour of it as many of the other guests were doing. It is a really wonderful home on 6 floors with garage and storage on the bottom. The second floor is the main public area with a big L-shaped kitchen, dinings area, living room. There is a small patio outside the living room and a storage room and utility room by the kitchen. The kitchen has stove, oven, microwave, dishwasher, island, refrigerator, and some glassed-in cabinets for Chen's Starbucks mug collection. The livisng room has a huge TV and places for displaying their treasures.t

Starbucks mugs

Living room

The third floor is their suite. The doors were closed, so no one went in. The fourth floor had our room and a small TV room, 2 baths, and a room I couldn't find a use for. The fifth floor was similar to the fourth, but had a balcony. The sixth had Chen's office and a pool on a patio. The house has an elevator, marble floors and crown molding painted with designs. The windows slide open and there are individual a/c units in most rooms. Chen's mother planned and built the house.

Traditional Chinese furniture

11/14/2010

Kate woke me up to say there was breakfast in the kitchen and that she was going to have her hair and makeup done. We showered and went down. Chen's mother came in a few minutes and asked where Kate was (I guess; she doesn't speak English). I pantomined makeup and she went upstairs. Chen came down in a few minutes. I told him if I had a patio outside like his, I would eat breakfast there every morning.

Bonzai on patio

Joyce and Aileen came to get us for a little sightseeing and to get our luggage before the wedding lunch. We went to Lotus Lake and the Confusius temple. Aileen and Joyce explained what the temple was for as we walked through it. He is revered as a teacher and philosopher and later as a government official who believed in justice and equality.

Confucius temple

We had some trouble finding the restaurant. It had 3 floors with a wedding party on each. There were lots of people there, friends and relatives of the bride. I don't know how many tables there were. The six of us were joined by another WT graduate, Hank, and Kate's university advisor and his wife. Garrett got to make a little speech when we were introduced.

Garrett making speech

With Kate's professor and his wife

This party was similar to the groom's party: 3 dresses, toasts at the tables, lots of food, candy. Kate wore the peach dress first, then the pink, then the purple. She looked beautiful but was very tired. We left with Joyce and Aileen after the picture taking.

Meat and seafood course

With Lan Li and Ally

Pink dress

Purple dress

The four of us drove to Hsingchu; the trip took about 5 hours, some in extremely heavy traffic. We stopped once at a roadside traffic stop: gas, shops, restrooms, etc. We had coffee and some little Twinkie things. We stopped at Costco in Jhudong for pizza and ice cream, then went on to the train station to meet Neil and Silvia.

They brought us here to a hotel near their home and stayed to visit a while. Susan has grown taller and had her hair cut. She is still as pretty as ever. Ryan is walking and a very busy little boy. He played with everything he could get his hands on: telephone, remote control, waste basket.