Something Old, Something New -- Part I

Time is a funny thing. It slips through your fingers whether you like it or not, and then when you look backward, you wonder why things look so different now even though you still feel like the same person. 

My time here has felt like that. When I disembarked in Taipei and smelled that familiar sweet/sour/mildew-esque odor here, the emotional memory attached to being a fledging missionary washed over me, and my spontaneous tears surprised both me and the children. Beyond feeling so gandong (Chinese translation: moved), it felt so strange to look around at my five children, and yet still feel 21. The vulnerability I felt this time around was just as real, but of a different strain, and it felt perplexing to process it. 

Though not as profound, since arriving in Taiwan I have had many moments that have felt both familiar and new in an odd sort of way. As one would expect, there are many things here that are just as I left them 15 years ago, but there are many things that are completely different, and reflect so many of the changes that nations around the world are experiencing, particularly as globalization becomes an increasing reality. With that in mind, I proceed with the first four major changes I have noticed here. (I will save the others for another entry, since there are so many):

1. I can now flush my toilet paper!

Ok, if you're like any typical westerner, the thought of not flushing one's toilet paper is completely gross. I thought so, too, when I first got on the island. Granted, Taiwanese are used to taking out their garbage every day, but the resultant smell that emanates from any bathroom as a result of having to throw one's paper waste in the garbage can was pretty hard to bear. I used to loathe having to use the restroom for this reason alone.

Because of this, I was so worried about having to deal with this with the kids. Beyond the squatter toilets, I apprehended this challenge the most, since I could just foresee the inevitable problem of overflowing toilets in Ama's house if the kids spaced this protocol. When I told the kids about the TP problem, they were seriously distressed.

"Why don't they do it like we do in America?!" Mr. Bitts asked me.

"Not everyone has good plumbing. The truth is, it is more typical for people in this world to not be able to flush their toilet paper. We've seen that in a lot of places, actually." I explained.

"Yeah, but why don't they all just come to America, then!?!" He insisted.

Insert an obvious chuckle here . . . Sigh. "If you only knew..." I thought.

As so, when we arrived last month and were told that the country had now figured out the plumbing issue by using more biodegradable toilet papers, I literally jumped for joy and clapped my hands in relief. 

Seriously, promise yourself the next time you're in the bathroom that you'll cherish the freedom to flush your toilet paper without consequence. Really. It's genuine blessing, I tell you.

2. General Cleanliness

The first time I saw this, I almost died. A Taiwanese volunteer street cleaning crew!

As a missionary, riding my bike in Taiwan streets and seeing garbage were synonymous with each other. At the beginning it really bothered me to see how casual Chinese people were about throwing their garbage wherever they felt like it. At times the resultant smell that emanated from the streams or vacant lots around us was overwhelming, and I had to make an effort to not inhale while I was riding through certain areas, for fear of my gag reflex. (Incidentally, I have found the same thing to be true of a lot of developing countries I have traveled to. The concept of diverting one's trash/waste is not always well established culturally, and it is a difficult thing to instill institutionally in such cases). 

Imagine my surprise, then, when I looked around on the streets to find little to no garbage at all. I kept looking for it, and though I could still find it in certain corners, it was such a significant difference I was blown away. Part of why this has improved so much is due in part to the next item that shocked me:


3. Taiwan is Recycling

Taiwan now has an unbelievably successful recycling campaign which has been hailed by other nations as a grand success. In fact, the country has reduced its per-capita daily waste by 57.5% in a little over a decade, a period which coincided with 47% GDP growth. 

The local recycling center -- recycling trucks everything from plastics to electronics to appliances here.

As one might guess, the accumulated garbage for 23 million people on an island the size of the Netherlands is a serious concern. Things were getting seriously out of control and the government had to figure something out fast. So, they put the financial onus on manufacturers and importers bringing goods into the country to be consumed, and created financial incentives for its citizens to recycle. At first this was not comfortable for everyone. In fact, Ama knows people personally who were tracked down and fined for not recycling certain items, (i.e. someone literally looked through their receipts and found their address . . . which is something I know Switzerland does as well.) 

Like it or not, the program is getting people to recycle--including very old people who have never made it a priority in their lives until recently. After encountering just how thick Chinese tradition can be, I have great respect that this program has successfully taught them to recycle so effectively.  In fact, Ama's neighborhood houses over 100 families, and here is the daily result of all of their waste. Guess which one is the receptacle for recycling...

What was your guess? Turns out the relatively small metal box Sassy is standing next to adequately holds all of the basic daily garbage for the neighborhood. The much larger dumpster in back houses the recycling. Here's another view. Incidentally, the bikes are part of what will be recycled as well:  

And then behind the dumpster, you will find this clever little number:

"What is this?" you may ask. 

This is actually my favorite part . . . Every garbage area is required to have one of these, which is meant for any leftover food, etc. Anything that can still be eaten will be routed to local pig farms as feed, while the rest is composted. Isn't that smart? I think it is such a great idea. 

The upside to this (and the aforementioned #1, 2, & 3) leads me to the next change...

4. Hardly Any of These:

I cannot even look at this picture without shuddering. Did you know that after the atomic bombs hit Nagasaki and Hiroshima the only living things left afterwards were cockroaches? Cockroaches! I'm not joking. I also just found out that these nasty little buggers can live for a week after losing their heads, and that the only reason they die is because they starve to death. Dis.Gust.Ing!

Of all the critters I have ever encountered, I think I hate cockroaches the worst. They are so dirty, so nasty, and so ungodly, I cannot overemphasize my disgust with them. 

In fact, my very first encounter with them has been forever burned into my brain. After being in the mission field for just a day or two I went to use the bathroom, and as I sat on the toilet I suddenly saw some of these suckers run out from underneath the toilet seat, as well as on the floor behind it. I have never leaped off a latrine more swiftly than I did in that moment, and the accompanying scream could have shattered glass. 

Thankfully, by the end of my mission I learned to cope with them a bit more effectively, but I never got used to hearing their clacking feet (mind you, these are big suckers) run past me on the streets at night, or to hear an occasional crunch of their abdomen when you were lucky enough to actually crush one. (Shudder, shudder, shudder.)

With this in mind, you can now appreciate my unbelievable gratitude at the fact that since I have been here I have only seen . . . (drumroll, please) . . . ONE COCKROACH. That's it. Only ONE and it was dead!!! (Insert great celebratory noise here.)

Truly, to spend an entire month in Taiwan and only see one cockroach during my time here is beyond miraculous. Just ask any of the people I served my mission with. They will tell you. Granted, people here are telling me part of the reason is because we haven't reached the summer time yet, and also because Taipei has many more roaches than Central Taiwan. But, I don't care what they say. I know a miracle when I see one. 

Serendipity

One of the things I enjoy most about traveling is how often one can just enjoy dumb luck at times . . . Moments where somehow the stars seem to align in your favor and you get to unexpectedly enjoy something rather unique and wonderful. Wednesday night was a good example of this. 

Every Wednesday and Thursday the big kids have only a half day of school, which presents the opportunity to go see something special. Benefitting from the marvelous hospitality of the Taiwanese, we went with a few of the kids' teachers to see some special things in a town about 20 minutes away. They'd hoped to see a traditional Chinese puppet museum, but it was closed for remodeling. We did, however, get to see another traditional home built during the Japanese occupation, which has since since been turned into a cultural storytelling/art center for children. 

An example of the artwork there. 

Here the kids sit out in front. 

While this made for a lovely afternoon, we wondered if in lieu of the puppet museum we ought to go visit a nearby town that has a 300+ year old temple. We thought, "Why not?" and headed out. Little did we know what awaited us. 

As it turns out, the months of March and April in Taiwan are special because this is when they celebrate the birth of Matzu, the patron goddess of Taiwan. During this time a huge pilgrimage to all of her respective temples takes place, and it results in all sorts of celebratory devotion and performances in her honor. 

While the main pilgrimage (which will pass by us in little YuanLin -- yay!) has not fully gotten underway, other performances and ceremonies have begun to warm up to the actual event. Lucky for us, the town we chose to visit last night--Beigang--has one of these aforementioned temples dedicated to Matzu, and apparently we hit it on one of the very best days of the year. In fact, as we were riding into town we drove past another miao we were intrigued by a gathering group of performers dressed in vivid ceremonial costumes.

So, of course we had to stop . . . And then the party really got going. It included traditional Chinese firecrackers:

Drums:

Dancing:

And we even got the most killer Chinese Lion Dance! 

Click on the link below so you can watch it. I promise it's awesome!

Click here to view the Lion Dance

They even had a baby Lion dancing, performed by what was likely a five-year-old child.

Then, as if that wasn't enough we also got fireworks -- in true Chinese fashion. Oh yeah!

But wait, this was just part of the night. We also got to see the amazing 17th century Chao-Tian Temple. (For more fascinating information about the temple, click on this link for a great article on the subject. It was published by the Huffington Post last year, and does a great job explaining part of the religious practices and significance.) 

View from above. 

View from the front . . . fuzzy, but still gives you a flavor. The next one shows you the gigantic statue of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy. 

We also saw some leftover lanterns from the Lantern festival. 

By the end, the kids were so acclimated to what was going on around them, they wanted to stay and watch the broadcasted Chinese opera. The locals didn't seem to mind. 

All in all, we went home exhausted, mystified, and grateful for our good fortune. Perhaps Matzu had been smiling down on us after all. 

Eggs and Seeds

Last week Sassy got an ear infection -- a really bad one, in fact. Unfortunately for her, she had fluid oozing out of her ear for days, which resulted in some midnight tears and calls home to a longtime friend and pediatrician. In the end, we were incredibly grateful we didn't have to locate a hospital and that things arighted themselves with a cocktail of recommended antibiotics, (thank Heaven for modern medicine!), but it did result in a couple of missed days at school. By the time she could finally go back last Tuesday she was terrified to go back by herself, and insisted I attend class with her. So, immediately after I returned from biking Coco to preschool, I took my vulnerable first grader by the hand and walked to Ciao Sin Elementary School. 

Sitting at the back of the room I smiled with nostalgia. Between the colorful walls, the little desks, and the nurturing twenty-something teacher, this seemed to be the ideal picture of a first-grade classroom. Sassy's classmates all buzzed with 6-7 year old energy, and their eagerness to help her touched me greatly. One little girl even told me that she noticed Sassy didn't have a pillow for nap time, and so she would bring an extra one from home to help her. Another girl who sits next to Sassy proudly introduced herself to me after I noticed her instruct and help my daughter with cleaning up her area and her backpack, in keeping with the decorum of the classroom. 

As a side note, I find it interesting that for every 50 minutes of class instruction, the children are allowed 10 minutes of recess, which is easily done since all the classrooms open right onto the commons/play area:

The children also clean their own classrooms regularly. 

Meet York, my new friend.

After a couple hours or so of Chinese instruction, the children attended English class next door. 

Here Sassy helps demonstrate how to form the letter "S" with her arms.

After spending the morning with her I decided to go back and check on the baby, since he was at home alone with Ama. Sassy was resistant to this, and made me promise her I would return after lunch. So, after making a reappearance at home in order to feed Buggas, I revisited the school again for a brief window in order to comply with my promise. This time, however, my window of time would be brief since I needed to get back to relieve Ama, who had a doctor's appointment. 

This time, as I sat at the back of the classroom I smiled at the children who were just beginning to awaken from their post-lunch naps at their desk. I thought it was so sweet. Just then their teacher, Ms. Lin, started class again and turned on a projector, with a little cartoon for all the kids to watch. As it came up I laughed at the chosen title written in English, "The Birds and the Bees." . . .

"That's so funny." I thought, "I'm sure they don't know what that phrase really means. So classic Chinese."

But as the cartoon continued, it turned out the joke was on me. Narrated by the voice of a little girl, photographs of she and her family appeared, with a subsequent question, "Why am I not in all the earlier photographs with my parents? What happened? Where did I come from?"

As this all began to unfold, I still naively thought, "Surely, this is not what I think it is. Surely, this country which has always been so conservative--at least when I was here before--would never show this sort of a film to first graders. I mean, wouldn't I have received a note or something? Wouldn't the teacher have said something?"

At that point, cartoon sketches of a male and female body with their differing genitalia came up on the screen, with all the accompanying first grader gasps. None of them could have matched my inward shock, however. 

"Oh-kay . . . This is actually happening. Wow!" 

My thoughts started racing. My eyes flashed between the teacher, all these little first graders, and Sassy, wondering (or rather hoping) that perhaps she might not really understand what it was she was seeing. When she turned towards me with raised eyebrows, I laughed at my stupidity. I mean, what kid can mistake cartoon breasts?!

While my thoughts swirled the video continued. By this point it pictured little "eggs," happily enclosed within the woman, with accompanying tailed "seeds" within the men . . . both of which are words Sassy is well-versed in. Oh boy! There was no getting around it. She was receiving her first talk on the subject--in first grade and in Chinese . . . Man, would she have stories to tell about this one!

Quickly, as the film progressed, I surveyed the situation. With both of the boys we have given the talk at the age of 8, when we felt that they were individually ready. Thankfully in this case, I had been having feelings that perhaps Sassy was ready to learn about it a bit earlier, otherwise I would have been much more panicked. However, it didn't change the fact that I didn't know how this subject was really going to be taught, albeit Asian-cartoon style, and that I felt it was most appropriate coming from us, her own parents. 

Meanwhile, the child narrator started into questions about "How do the little happy seeds get to the egg in my mom?" As the child entertained the possibility of the "seeds" traveling across a rope drawbridge from the man and the woman, I knew I had to act fast. Not wanting to make a scene, or give Sassy the impression that the subject was anything to be ashamed of, I tried to strategize on the best way to handle this whole thing. I surveyed the difficulty I would face in trying to extract Monet from her chair, and out of the classroom for a moment. 

Within seconds, there it was . . . a very specific sketch of a male's you-know-what, all with the intention of showing the kids exactly how the seeds make it to the egg. 

"Sassy!" I whispered with urgent English whispers, "Come here. I need to talk to you." She turned just in time. 

We quickly opened up the door and stepped outside. Though Ms. Lin looked upward in surprise, at that point I didn't care. 

I knelt down so that my eyes were level with hers. "Honey, have you ever wondered how babies were made?" I asked, "Is this something you've ever been curious about before?" Reluctantly, she nodded. 

"That's okay. That's totally normal, and it's something that you can always ask me about, and that I'd like to talk to you about sometime."

"This is weird, Mom." she replied.

"I know," I admitted, "This isn't exactly what I expected today, either." Looking down at my watch I realized I had to leave right away to get back to Ama. I took a deep breath in and out, saying an inner prayer, and asked her, "Honey, would you like to stay and watch the rest of the film?" (I figured that by this point the most critical part was probably past . . . "It's up to you." I reiterated. 

Looking around her, her expression cracked me up. "Well, I kind of want to stay . . . I think."

So, with a continued prayer in my heart I opened the door for her to go sit back down, while I quickly walked out of the school. As I passed each first grade classroom (of which there are several), I could see the same cartoon being shown in all of them. Compared to typical American kids, these Chinese kids were tiny, pretty immature, and I was blown away by the fact this was systematically happening like it was. It really blew my mind. What killed me even more was that I couldn't stay to see what kind of "damage" I would be dealing with later. 

_______________________________

[Note:  I have to say that I did not have my camera with me when I went back to the school, and was so mad at myself for this! I kept thinking about how badly I would have loved to snap a couple shots of the video, as no one would have believed this was really happening, not to mention it was the funniest visual version of the Birds and the Bees that I'd ever seen. I kept thinking about how my friends from my book club would roll with laughter over this one.]

_______________________________

Thankfully, Sassy breached the subject again a couple days later when she was gathering laundry with Jamin.

She brought it up when she commented, "You know, if my mom hadn't had a miscarriage, our family would have six kids." 

"That's true," Jamin responded. "Sometimes the mom's body isn't ready to give birth, or the baby isn't healthy, and Heavenly Father knows that it's better for it to wait for later."

"Well, I know where babies come from now." Monet boasted, "They showed me a video about it at school."

"Really?" Jamin responded, pretending to not already know. "What did you learn from it?"

"Well, . . . it starts with a mommy egg, and a daddy seed, and you have both of them to make babies. And then you get these little guys with tails and faces . . . And then they take the seed to the mommy egg . . . And then they have to get to the mommy egg, and they have to go all the way and they have to look for it, and then once they find the mommy egg, they circle around it and make a bubble.  . ."

"And, how did the seeds get to the mommy egg?" Jamin asked, waiting for the pivotal answer.

"Well, . . . I don't really know. Mom took me away to talk to me for something right then." 

. . . Please insert a giant sigh of relief here, along with a "thank you" for whatever angel arranged the circumstances for me to be there at just the right time and place. Seriously. Explaining human sexuality to my kids in the proper way and with the proper context of family and the gospel is really important to me, and here Sassy almost had her first introduction to the subject completely without my knowledge. Talk about a close one.

Thankfully, knowing about what happened, I was able to later ask the Sass whether or not she had any other additional questions regarding what she saw. I was prepared for a heavy discussion, but fortunately the only thing I got was, "Well, how does the mommy's egg eventually crack open once it's all cooked?"

You've got to love seven-year-olds. :)

The Weekend in Review

Time has been rushing past me at breakneck speed, and between all the social invitations attached to Li-ling's return and the other things we've been wanting to share with the kids, I feel like I can barely make it from one thing to the next, much less write about it. There are a long list of entries I'd like to write--including recording a surprise "birds and bees" talk in Sassy's first grade class on Tuesday (yikes!).  In the meantime, here is a brief collage of our last couple of days. Warning:  do not view if you have a queasy stomach. 

Trying out Chinese calligraphy at a local museum.

Outside the museum. It was a remnant of the Japanese occupation here during the early 20th century.

Bitty's attempt at Spiderman.

The kids love watching the koi.

A temple dedicated to Confucius. I also found out what the round doorways represent at the Chinese temples . . . The principle of no beginning and no end, and particularly with regard to families across the generations. Interesting, yes?

Lovely artwork at the Confucian temple everywhere. 

Coco with a real goose egg. The vendor was sad when we opted not to buy.

We passed countless pineapple plantations.

Pineapple cakes are a classic Taiwanese treat (that I love!)  Here we got to visit a famous pineapple cake factory.

Enjoying the pineapple slush.

Buggas meets his dinner.

Getting to wrap potstickers with one of my favorite friends from my mission. Lin Yuan Bo came all the way down from Taipei to say hi. It was so awesome to see him again. He's such a light!

On a hike yesterday, with unique Chinese calligraphy art. This shows a meshing collage with a message akin to "Bless our Family."

On our hike yesterday. The photos don't do it justice, but it was lovely!

We saw this after we walked out of our amazing lunch. They were getting this bad boy ready for a large business dinner that night. 

The kids' first introduction to an Asian night market. Notice the delectable duck heads here in behind the Big-O.

Squid skewers anyone? 

I had to squat down behind these chicken feet because Buggas kept reaching for them.

Do you notice what the boys' ice cream is sitting in? Hint: consider the answer while squatting.

Candied strawberries. These are awesome! 

Games at the night market. 

Mr. Bitts shows off his new friend that he won from the ring toss. He is now obsessed with this guy!

And in case you were wondering, we really are in the land of Hello Kitty.