My Fulbright Year in Taiwan

Stacy likes to go for a hike on Mother’s Day. Usually, that means going to the Fenner Nature Center in Lansing. This year, we have many, many more options for hiking. Stacy decided on a trail in Jiao Xi 礁溪, about ten minutes from our apartment in Yilan. The trail goes up a mountain, through a valley with a stream and many waterfalls, then back down the mountain. The weather was a bit humid, so we all got pretty sweaty. But the walk was great, the scenery was beautiful as usual, and there were not many people on the trail.

The head of the trail.

Not far into the walk, we started going uphill. Some of the terrain was pretty rough.

Cooling off by a stream in the valley.

In the valley.

Some of the trail was steep and rough.

We pay for them in the States. They're weeds in Taiwan.

Literally cooling her heels after the walk. Pssssssssss!

Evan (admiring my bald head after a run): The drops of sweat on Baba’s head are just like the drops of moisture on a cold beverage on a hot day.

Ian: So, according to the transitive property of equality, Baba is a cold beverage.

(High-fives ensued.)

My sons are bigger nerds than your sons.

This is what “schools” looked like 100 years ago. This is an old school on the outskirts of Yilan. From a distance, it looks like a temple.

In fact, up close, it looks like a temple, as well.

As soon as you walk in the front door, you see a shrine to Guan Yu 關羽, also called Guan Gong 關公. So far, this is a lot like typical temples.

But if you look at the right and left wings of the temple, instead of other shrines, you see tables and stools.

This is where classes were held. Not unlike church-based schools hundreds of years ago in Europe. This is the Chinese version of the one-room schoolhouse.

This is what elementary school was like. If you wanted to get education beyond the provincial schools, you had to take tests. There were several levels of test, that peaked with civil-service exams. Passing the top-level test was a ticket to a government job, usually as a provincial governor or court official.

Last semester, Ian did some volunteer work with a local social work group that works with school dropouts, keeping them out of trouble. He served as a role model, sort of like a big brother to the kids.

He was invited to join an outing with the group this week. They are biking from Hualien 花蓮 to Taitung 台東, along the southeast coast of the island. They left this morning at what Evan calls “stupid o’clock.” He will get back on Friday. It’s a good opportunity for him. He can spend some time with kids from the other side of the track.

Evan gets to be an only child for a few days. He doesn’t like it. 🙂

All hell has broken loose. The ETAs are in an active state of revolt.

Their gripes focus on their perceived lack of respect and support in the program. They feel that they came to Taiwan for an exchange program that would allow them to serve and to learn in return. Instead, they feel like they are under a labor contract and are treated like children. This has been going on all year. I’ve been trying to smooth things over when they got too hot. That has meant many meetings at schools with ETAs, LETs, and administrators.

Apparently, they’ve been unhappy almost since their first day in Taiwan. They feel disillusioned and disappointed, and feel like their year in Taiwan has been unproductive. Not a complete waste, but a year with many lost opportunities.

They also contacted ETAs from past years, and heard that these problems happened every year as far back as they can check. Apparently, there is an endemic problem with the program, and this year it just happened to come to light (why exactly, I’m not sure).

The ETAs finally had enough last week. They requested a meeting with the Executive Director of the Fulbright foundation in Taiwan, and presented him with a list of ways that the program could be improved. I’m happy that they have so many positive, constructive suggestions. Their list of “demands” include being able to work on improving the program, helping to form the orientation/training session for the next cohort, and holding information sessions for schools that are interested in applying for the program next year.

No one is asking for anyone to be fired. No requests for more money. No demands to go home early. What do they want? They want to work harder and do more.

There was a huge meeting this afternoon of all the LETs, ETA, the deans and principals of the schools, with the chief of the county’s department of education. The ETAs kept their part positive, focusing on the potential for the program. But, we have a lot of hurt feelings among LETs, a lot of indignation among the schools, and a lot of questioning of the value of having these trouble-making ETAs in the schools in the first place. We have some repair work to do.

I have not worked this hard in a many years This was supposed to be my sabbatical year! 🙁

I had to take this picture secretly, with full zoom and from a great distance, before they saw me.

Whiskey isn’t the first thing that comes to mind for most people think of when they think of Chinese cuisine, but Taiwan’s King Car company (which is based in Yilan County) has put a great deal of effort into developing a whiskey industry.

The product has won several awards (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7071737/Taiwan-whisky-beats-Scotch-in-blind-taste-test.html), despite being aged only three years (instead of the typical minimum 12 years).

How does it taste? Well, I’m no expert, but it tastes good to me. I’ll bring back a bottle to Michigan, and whoever is interested can join a tasting party. Is anyone interested?

A serious landslide buried a huge section of a major highway in the north part of Taiwan today. Several cars are feared to be buried. Rescue efforts are underway, but it looks hopeless.

Source: http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aALL&ID=201004250020

I finally finished reading the book “1949” 大江大海 by Long Ying-tai 龍應台. It took me about three months to get through the whole book (about 350 pages), but it was worth the effort. The book chronicles the turmoil that took place in China and Taiwan from World War II through the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. By the end of 1949, the Nationalists had won the war against Japan, but lost the civil war against the Chinese communists. They had to flee to Taiwan, which until 1945 had been a colony of Japan, and was populated by 8 million people who for the past 50 years had been told to be Japanese, not Chinese. Two million people from China thus had to try to find a way to get along with 8 million natives. Each side was burdened with different backgrounds, and came to the stage of 1949 from very different places. The book sought to describe the history, events, and experiences that led up to 1949. Just reading the book was emotional and heart-wrenching. I can’t even imagine living through it.

In an earlier blog post, I mentioned that my father-in-law was one of the mainlanders who came over to Taiwan in 1949. We recorded a bit of his history, and he has been writing his story down. Earlier this month, he visited his old hometown in China for Tomb Sweeping Day. Stacy typed up the first part of his autobiography, and we converted the text to simplified characters so that his relatives on the mainland could read it. Apparently, when they were reading it, one of Stacy’s uncles, who lived through the events as well, became so emotional that he had to leave the room.

In the preface to the book, the author says that history records that the Nationalists lost the war, but that she doubts that any war can have a winner. A common theme throughout the book was the human misery that results from war.

I’ll have to find something lighter to read next.

Weather has been hot this week. Low 77, high of 88. Time to breakout the summer clothes.