Hiking 徒步旅行

Hiking is one of my favorite pastime activities, but not one I have really had enough time to do recently. It’s good to get away into nature 享受大自然 and enjoy a challenge. Though I like hiking, I don’t like skiing 滑雪 or rock climbing 攀岩. Thrill sports are not for me, including roller coasters 空中飛車 which I would end up screaming on.

I have done some serious hiking / mountain climbing 爬山 in several places on both coasts of the United States, in Taiwan and in Mainland China. Recently, we went with friends and their children up to enjoy the snow high up in the mountains nearby 在附近的高山玩雪 and bumped into another friend who decided to go up the same day and time…talk about a small world. This photo here I took in Tianhsiang 天翔, a little village high up in a valley in the mountains of the east of Taiwan. It feels as isolated as it looks in this photo, just as it did when I slept in a teacher’s hostel with co-workers just out of college.

Chinese/Western Attitudes Toward In-laws 岳父岳母, 爸爸媽媽

I’ll make this one quick since it is late, but I can sleep late tomorrow!!! If God had meant man to see the sunrise, He would have made it later in the day. I have seen that somewhere before……..well maybe not.

I have just been in correspondence with some new Chinese and Western cross-cultural couples and I can see one of the biggest determinants of success 中國西方跨文化夫妻成功的要決 is the Western partner’s attitude toward and relationship with his or her in-laws. If the relationship is bad it can be a source of great stress. Some Westerners have a very distant concept of relationship with the older generation. Closeness in this relationship is often labeled by psychobabble ‘experts’ as “control issues” or “separation issues.” This is probably the number one reason Chinese give for hesitation to be in a relationship with a Westerner.

On the other hand, if it is good 如果好的話, 能帶給人家幸福 then they can be a source of much support and a great source of cultural knowledge. I for one have enjoyed hours of good conversation with my in-laws about Chinese history, culture, various types of food, etc. (Notice the focus in this photo is not on us, but on the lettuce that is getting ready for 8 courses of fish.)

Chinese Wedding Receptions 婚宴

We have been really busy with weddings recently. These photos are from a friend’s wedding last week. He married a woman who seems like she will be a great companion to him in ministry. He himself is a really nice person and a great brother in Christ 很好的兄弟. Next month we have another wedding in which our daughter will be a flower girl 在新娘前撒花的女孩.

Receptions are a lot of fun at any wedding, which is especially true of Chinese weddings. Usually, one of the emcee’s jobs is to torture the bride and the groom and this wedding was no exception. They had to answer tough questions about each other and the prize was to eat a cherry together on a string at the same time 新郎新娘同時一起吃一個櫻桃. At least he didn't make the groom kiss the hands of several women blindfolded to guess which one was the bride's. The dinner at this wedding was very good Shanghai food. Even the dessert, a weak point in most Chinese meals was a well-done and healthy dish. The key at such wedding banquets is to pace oneself. It is all too easy to fill up on the first few dishes and miss the real delicacies, usually seafood, at the end. We had some guys at our table from the groom’s work, for example, who made the mistake of shoveling down lots of chicken and just missed having enough stomach space for the ‘8 gem’ duck 八寶鴨.

I am learning more about taking photos at weddings. This high-speed lens helps to capture portraits of people in dark environments like this restaurant and give a blur to the background that is referred to as bokeh. I wouldn’t want to be an amateur wedding photographer for pay like my father because it is too much responsibility and takes the fun out of it. But I do like taking photos and printing enlargements of the best for the newlyweds 選最好的幾張給新郎和新娘.

Returning from Overseas 2 從海外回來 2

Returning back also contains challenges culturally in addition to the financial ones I discussed in the last post so bear with me as I belabor this point one more time. Coming home seems like something easy to do, but often people don’t realize how much they have changed. Assuming someone has really made the effort to adjust to expatriate life 已經適應了留在海外的生活, he or she will have culture shock coming home and it will be all the more so because it is unexpected.

I hear so many little anecdotal accounts. One person doesn’t understand why he has to stand in line in the stores. Another doesn’t understand why clerks don’t greet him at the door of a convenience store 不懂為什麼要排隊. “Don’t I have to throw the trash into the truck that comes around my neighborhood daily?” Or for me every time I return, “I have to drive everywhere?” People feel out of place the first few weeks or even months.

Of course a big factor is personal connection. Those of us involved in cross-cultural marriages 跨文化的夫妻 while overseas, like myself have really adjusted. Same-culture couples will not adjust as much as expats so they don’t have to readjust when they return. I heard one pathetic story of a girl from a Western country who grew up in Taiwan, went to a local “international school” and could not piece together one sentence of Chinese 一點都不會講 by the time she was 18. She no doubt had no problem re-entering her home culture.

Returning from Overseas 從海外回來

I was just reading an article about Australians and Americans returning from overseas and having a hard time finding a job and I suspect readjusting to life in their home countries. They say that return culture shock is harder than culture shock going overseas 不同文化的衝擊比較大 and in no area is this truer than in finding a job. I remember when I returned from my first stint overseas in Taiwan 第一次從台灣回來, potential employers in the United States viewed it as a hole in my resume at best. Me: “Look at this experience I have in positions of responsibility outside of the United States.” Employer reply: “So, you did nothing for this part of your life.” At worst, they pigeon-hole by saying “I’m sorry, but we don’t have a position for those who have experience overseas” even though I had enough experience for a position and didn’t ask for anything international.

So, what is the solution? 怎麼解決這個問題? One solution is to work for a company from the country where you lived. American employers may be ignorant or envious of your cross-cultural communication skills and experience, but employers from that country appreciate them. I worked for a Chinese company in the United States for quite a while and learned a lot. The next, and most commonly-applied solution, is to go to graduate school 一回國就去念研究所. I have many friends who do that immediately upon return to the United States. It kick starts one into a career track and allows contact with a better class of employer who is more likely to appreciate expatriate experience. I did that and now have a career where I live overseas part of the year and in the United States part of the year.

The Desert 沙漠

Ok, the last post about our Chinese New Year trip and then I am determined to keep a regular schedule on posting. I loved being in the desert because it is different. It is different from what I am used to and by nature I like to explore. Of course the night sky is beautiful 沙漠的夜景很美. It is really easy to see lots of stars and the constellations shining brilliant in the sky.

One thing I discovered is that although there is a large difference between the temperatures in the day and the evening, because of the extreme dryness of the air it did not feel like such a big difference. Even though it was in the middle of winter it was very warm during the day, but it was pleasant 因為空氣很乾燥所以冬天的天氣很舒服. At night it was cool, not cold, but we didn’t even need to turn on the heat because a blanket was fine and no I am not one of Spartan types those who suffers without heat even in the frostiest of weather…for me, warm is good.

This time we also visited an inland sea that is well below sea level 海拔零下幾百尺 and a Korean hot springs resort with thoughtfire mom and dad. The first photo is of our whole group at the hot springs resort. The second photo is a bay along the inland sea. (That speck hanging in mid-air is not dust -for those of you Nikon and Canon DSLR users- but a sea gull that I can see clearly when I enlarge it many times.)