A gift from Jumei our dear caregiver upon her return from Wuhan China. She got this very expensive Chinese medicine for me because, at 75, my knees occasionally hurt. Given with love but unnerving to say the least.

She also gave me an $80 bottle of Glenlivet Distillers Reserve Scotch Whisky and other tasty goodies.  She is very caring for both of us but the Tiger Bone Liquor is a bit of a jarring gift. 

 Despite saying that I will not buy stuff I would have to ship back to the states, I did buy this Japanese contemporary print called  A Balanced Life.  I interpret this personally as my needing to step ever forward and even though there are many plates aka issues whirling about, I must be the center that holds.   

 I have so enjoyed access to classic Asian movies. At TAS the head of AV, Glenn Wolfe, stocked a library of DVDs of most of the classics from Taiwan, Mainland, and throughout Asian and I watched and ripped everyone I could. They are in a stack of DVDs somewhere in the house in Door County. So now, thanks to YouTube which has almost everything one could want, I am resuming my videographic journey. 

I started with works by the director Zhang Yi-Mou who gave us House of Flying Daggers, Hero and earlier works like Red Sorghum, Rise the Red Lantern, To Live, and The Flowers of War. These are works that are very hard to endure because they describe the deprivation and misery that the Chinese people endured before, after, and during Mao’s reign.

They are at once admirable and pathetic... admirable because they persevered and kept some values in the face of horrific situations.....pathetic because the only other choice was to kill themselves. Not the greatest recommendation for watching these films but in a way, the cast light on why current Chinese and Taiwanese families function as they do.

     They often exist like a beehive all living together, communally sharing almost everything and certainly raising the kids as members of the small tribe.

     They have a family altar, have dinners together, and subjugate themselves to the elder parents. 

     Because of historical hunger, there is never any food left at the end of a meal which may have 5 to 10 dishes of different foods. If it is not consumed at the table, it is immediately packed for lunch boxes for the next day...but this is rare. There really is no waste. 

 Historical starvation also explains when there is nothing wasted from the animals or plants served for food. SO far, I think I have never eaten Chicken testicles, or pork anus but I have eaten intestines, livers, duck and pig blood in soup and candy, duck tongues and probably stuff I do not really want to know. I am not big on fish trimming soups either.  

Link for Beef Offal Soup with a 100-year history:   

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQCPpzYpZCU 

The point I want to make is that the Chinese culture has survived hardships we westerners really cannot imagine and still prevail against all odds.  And I urge you reader to share my task of separating a group of people from their government. The people are tender and basic under all the other stuff. And I love reaffirming that and moving forward with relationships based upon that understanding. 

The movies are a great teaching tool and emotional release.   Here are a few links 

Raise the Red Lantern   RAISE THE RED LANTERN | Full DRAMA Movie | Zhang Yimou | Gong Li | Streaming Movies 

To Live    TO LIVE | Full WAR DRAMA Movie | Zhang Yimou | Gong Li | Streaming Movies 

Hero Jet Li - Hero 2002 - Best Action Movie 2022 full movie English Action Movies 2022 

Red Sorghum   RED SORGHUM | Full WAR DRAMA Movie | Zhang Yimou | Gong Li | Streaming Movies 

 I live in a household where I am the only ne who speaks English.  Leihu the cat does not,  Carol can understand but cannot speak, and the two caregivers only speak Mandarin.  SOOOO instead of using google translate and making funny charade like gestures, I have found there really are Startrek like earbud translators.  40 languages, 93 dialects and 8 off line languages.   I have just started learning how to use them but my hopes are sky high.    Here is a link

https://www.timekettle.co/products/wt2-edge-online-voice-language-translator-earbuds

Of late, I have been describing my time here in Taiwan as a series of ‘Rabbit Holes.” Things just do not go the normal way I expect, and I suddenly find myself experiencing something that I do not expect or ever imagine.... for me this is ok because it fits my goal of metaphorically and in reality “Going to the end of every MRT train line and getting lost.”

 I am passionately addicted to the music of the Taipei Chinese Orchestra. I am thrilled to goosebumps with the sound of the timbral palette of Chinese instruments and the new sounds I have never heard in the concert hall. I also like the repertoire which includes some of the more traditional Chinese works BUT it is the gutsiest orchestra because they perform 21st century works with the composer often in the audience. These are works that would cause most USA concert audiences to leave because they are so unusual. I am usually the only foreigner aka white guy in the audience despite my efforts to proselytize to my fellow travelers.

 Last night I attended a concert with the orchestra, sheng and dizi soloist and a Chinese conductor who works in South Bend Indiana of all places and teaches at Northwestern University. He has comments by Pete Buttigieg in his bio. As I hoped, the music and performers were screamingly magnificent BUT the rabbit hole was the encore. Who in their right mind would expect the encore to be Thunder and Lighting Polka complete with a dancing conductor?????

 Here is a link for chinese instruments https://youtu.be/0esuSpyHmVc 

 Here is a link for the polka with chinese orchestra https://youtu.be/CzkTnWqEnOs

I am going to Revive the blog in 223

Well My My it has been a really long time since I have been here and so much has happened in our lives.....mostly good but some really really really hard. I think this blog is the way I want to communicate with friends and family rather than FB because I think I can control the audience. If you get the link to this, please check in about once a week or so and Iwill be faithful in putting up something which tells of our life here in Taiwan. Little did we know when we started this blog that over a decade later we would still be here and more in love with Taiwan and its people than ever.

Here are some random pics of us now and one when Carol was on top of the world or at least on top of the Sydney harbor bridge More Later