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.

Kaosiung

Temple Garrett had taken pictures of when he was in Kaosiung in the mid 1950's--It had been moved and enlarged, but they said it was the same one.

11/12/2010

We moved to Kaosiung yesterday. Mark went to school early and left us asleep to get ready to leave. Mrs. Lee had given us some breakfast bread, and Joyce and Aileen, some cheesecake, so we fixed our own breakfast. We spent the morning washing clothes, packing, and updating our email and journals. I loaded all the pictures onto my flash drive for Mark. When he returned from his classes, we went to the high-speed train station. We had a small lunch in the station and went to get on board.

The train is very fast, clean, and comfortable. It took only 2 hours to get to Kaosiung, a distance of 156 miles. We waited at the station for Kate and Chen a few minutes and loaded our bags into their cars for the drive to the hotel.

This hotel is called Grand Hi-Lai Hotel, and it is VERY grand. I could tell the minute we walked into the lobby that it is not the kind of place we usually stay. The floors are marble with inset carpets. The walls are pieced wood decorations or marble or other things. There are crystal chandaliers and light fixtures that look like thin stone.

Our room had a bath with shower stall and deep tub, marble floor and lavatory. There is a small TV for watching in the tub. Further into the room there is a tea layout for fixing a cup and a closet. bedroom has a king-size bed, armoire, couch, table, desk and large luggage rack. When you step up to go toe the window, there are 2 chairs, a small and 2 exercise machines. In the closet we found slippers and terrycloth robes. Because this is a business hotel, everything is set up for businessmen and tourists.

We got coupons for use in the department store, Hello Kitty shop, bar, breakfast buffet, and a boat ride. The breakfast buffet is palatial! I think there must have been at least 100 dishes: oatmeal (which I NEVER eat), conge (rice porridge), dry cereals, huge grapes, grapefruit, bananas, star fruit, a fruit I didn't recognize, grated carrots and cabbage, pea sprouts, corn, some other veggies I didn't know, eggs cooked as omlets, scrambled, or fried, egg salad made with whole quail eggs, rainbow eggs (layered egg in different colors), egg and mushroom terrine, kim chi and some other pickled things, steamed buns, cold cuts, potato patties, sausages, bacon, ham, curried duck, vegetarian dishes and vegan dishes, croissants, danish, buns, French bread, breads with fruits and nuts, toast, muffins, several juices, espresso, several coffees and teas. I have left some out because of the sheer number of items.

We had dinner Thursday in a dim sum restaurant with Kate and her fiance Chen. Garrett did not feel very well, maybe allergies. They decided to take him to a medical clinic. The doctor diagnosed a common cold and gave him some medicine. The whole visit took only about 20 minutes with no appointment. The medicine took effect quickly and was very good.

11/12/2010 later

Kate took the day off from work so she could take us some places Garrett had visited when his ship docked in Kaoshiung. She picked us up about 11, and we went to the dock area of the city. We visited the harbor museum. There were models of the means of transportation of goods off loaded through the years. Garrett said he remembered lading by people and animals, no trucks. That didn't begin until 1962. The port has been completely rebuilt since 1964 and there is even a tunnel under the port. A man about Garrett's age who works in the museum told us that he had been in the Taiwan navy and had an album of pictures he had taken over the years.

We went on to another museum and saw 4 exhibits: poetry, puppets, inkstones, and the 2/28 event in Kaosiung.

(from the museum brochure--Inkstone was an essential stationery item in every Chinese studey room. The reservoir of ink was often made of durable hard stones with fine textures and carved with intricate patterns. Taiwan inkstones "Luosi" have the fine texture for the quick release of ink. It is nicknamed the "ink jade".)

It was raining, and Kate got a lot of phone calls all morning about what they should do for the wedding party which was to be held outdoors Saturday night. They finally decided to have tents, just in case. We had a noodle lunch and bought candy for the parties. We ended the afternoon in a very special way, a visit to a bridal dress shop.

At Taiwanese weddings, the bride wears several outfits during the parties. Kate had to try the dresses on after the final fittings, and we got to see the dresses. She explained that the dresses (which were rented for the weekend) and the photo sessions earlier were in a wedding package. She had 5 beautiful dresses: white, blue, peach, deep pink, and purple. All were strapless with dropped waists and sparkles. She looked gorgeous in all of them. Her friends were there too and had white dresses to wear during the first party. There were also tiny dresses for 2 little girls.

Kate was busy in the evening, so she took us to the hotel. We shopped in the department store attached to the hotel. We didn't buy much, but had some paper money to use there and finished the evening with Hagen Das ice cream.