Exploration 探險

I think a lot of us who are really bicultural love exploration. No, I don’t mean reserving that seat on the 2020 flight to Mars. I mean looking for and learning about new things, curiosity 有好奇心. It’s getting excited about the different and enjoying the challenge 喜歡這種挑戰 of sifting the good from the bad.

Last weekend we went with friends to a distant ocean side town 偏遠的海邊社區. He speaks a non-Asian language other than English, his parents’ native tongue, fluently. Since he spent a year and a half in South Korea 他在南韓待了一年半, he has an interest in Asian culture. As we were walking on along the shoreline cliffs he was telling me he loved to walk along the sometimes quite vertical alleyways of Seoul, exploring the local shops and marketplaces. I had the same experience when I lived in Taiwan during my studies. I loved climbing up the mountain trails and alleyways behind my apartment building 很喜歡公寓後面山坡的步道與小巷 to explore what’s behind the next bend. Who knows what we will find next?

The 1st photo is of...well, loyal readers know who that is. The 2nd photo is taken by my daughter from her perspective.

Thoughts on Time Across Culture: Chinese and American 我們的時間概念

Notice that these 2 photos are only tangentially related to time. The 1st is an old-fashioned time piece and the 2nd is of our peaches, 100s of which are ripening at the same time.

Time is something that everyone uses and yet each person seem perceives in an entirely different way. In my experience there are real cultural differences about the regard for time. For example, events in the United States generally start and end on time 一般來講, 在美國活動準時開始. It used to be that people were not allowed late into concerts or at least had to wait outside until a performance break 在外面等十分鐘或十五分鐘. I guess people in our generation arrive a little later, but the program still starts on time.

In my own life, I can see the differences especially clearly when invited to social occasions. If invited by Americans I know that especially for formal occasions, I must be on time or close to it and RSVP 請答覆 promptly or people will be upset 遲到家人會生氣. Wedding receptions are the same. With Chinese friends I know time is not that crucial which as a family seems to fit our time schedule well 比較適合我的時間概念. We often find ourselves late to almost every occasion. Wedding receptions for example, will often start at least an hour later than the printed time. But then again, they last longer and are a lot more fun too. We had the unique privilege of attending a Franco-Chinese (Chinese living in Paris 巴黎的華僑) wedding a while back. In a real mixing of cultures, the reception officially started at 7:00 but did not really start until 10:00 pm 遲到三個小時. Dancing started at midnight and was still going strong when we left at 2:00 am.

Free Toy Car 收到禮物: 紅色汽車

Sometimes the best things in life really are free. This week our children and I went to an electronics store 電器店 with thoughtfire mom and dad. I usually window shop for computer and camera equipment 看電腦與攝影的設備, thoughtfire dad window shops for high definition televisions 看高清晰度電視 and thoughtfire mom eats snacks with the grandchildren. This time though our little son went with me and spied a nice, unpackaged red toy car in the shopping cart. He picked it up and started playing with it as I was shopping. To his credit he did give it up to the salesperson as we were leaving. Since it was unpackaged I asked the salesperson how much it cost 問他要多少錢. He asked several people before coming to the conclusion that it must have been just a stray sample and telling us our son could keep it….a blessing of the Lord 神的祝福. Presents don’t always come on birthdays.

Our younger son loves all sorts of vehicles 小兒子喜歡各種各樣的車子. It doesn’t matter whether they travel on road or track. These cars were neatly parked together by him on our otherwise messy table.

Chinese Dumplings 餃子

You see these photos? I had to snatch these bowls from 4 hungry people, not including myself, to take them. It was a dangerous thing to do 拿走這兩碗餃子拍照片好危險!, so appreciate this post. The 1st photo is of dumplings boiled in water, so they are called 水餃 shui jiao. The 2nd photo is of fried dumplings called 鍋貼 or guo tie. They both have the same filling.

Calling this food ‘dumplings’ in English is doing them a disservice. When I think of dumplings I think of those lumpy, dumpy East or Central European things 東歐洲的餃子差一點 I used to eat when I couldn’t get some of their fine sausage. Chinese dumplings, most common in Northern cuisine, are an entirely different breed. They come in many different many different shapes, sizes, flavors and skins. It's best when the skins are made fresh daily. One of my favorites are those with real crab filling and a light, thin skin 螃蟹餃最好吃. Wontons or 餛飩 literally “swallowing clouds” in Chinese are also quite good. With such a good culinary tradition it is understandable that people can quite passionate about dumplings.

A Carnival 公園的狂歡會

Thursday evening we went to a carnival or street fair that set up nearby. Tickets were cheaper the first night 第一天晚上, 票都打四折 and our children were happy to go on a couple of rides that were designed for their age group. I am not really a carnival ride fan, street fairs are more exciting, but it was fun. It is especially interesting to watch other people. Of course the excitement that parents of young children get from watching their little ones enjoy rides is nice to see. The rides for older children and adults are in some ways more interesting. I have never been a fan of the really rough rides. 1st photo 摩天輪, good ride. 2nd photo, bad ride.

I feel that if I want to suffer nausea, sickness and general physical punishment, I shouldn’t have to pay for it. There are plenty of free ways to do it (能夠免費收到痛苦, 何必付錢?). (I admit I have done so too many times. Not too long ago we were white water 漂流 rafting in Tai Shan 台山, our small raft almost capsizing 4 times and got stuck in a whirlpool 船卷進了漩渦中 with a raft of weight-mismatched high students –one really heavy, one really thin.) But strangely enough, it is fun to watch other people on them as they enjoy spinning around and being tossed up and down in stomach churning movements worthy of a torture and interrogation session….sin nature.

A Banana Flower, but Sorry No Bananas 有花, 可是沒有香蕉

You see this banana flower? It opened up wide so I could get a good photo of the stamen 雄蕊 here, but there have been no bananas. At least I think it is a banana, maybe some of you out there can correct me on this. We didn’t plant this tree, it has been here since I arrived, so I don’t know for sure if it really is a banana 可能不是香蕉. Our policy, well my policy is, if I can’t eat it…don’t plant it. To be honest though, bananas are a little too much hassle for me 可能是我太懶惰種香蕉. I am too lazy to keep hacking them down each fall to allow the new shoots to come up in spring so they can bear fruit, though if I do I am going to plant the blue colored ice-cream banana. It really does taste like ice cream 味道真的像冰淇淋!

Apparently one of our friends has the same policy with plants. We visited for their daughter’s birthday party and discovered their parents, from Anhui province 安徽省 in China, have planted cabbages and veggies all over the front and side yards. Quite good ones I might add since we stewed the cabbage they gave us.

Serving the Homeless 事工

Yesterday, we had a wonderful time organizing an outing of friends from church to go down to the homeless ministry run by Amy Wang 王愛敏 and supported by various Chinese Christian groups. We bought food and organized hot lunches to hand out to (炸雞, 沙拉, 吐司, 等) them. Since it was Mothers Day there were quite a few other groups down there handing out food in the daytime down there as well. I met and had a pleasant talk with a couple handing out flyers for an event for the homeless at their church. A couple who were home-schooling friends of ours joined us this time.
I have written about homelessness and culture in an earlier post so I won’t go into it in detail here, but I will say that the homeless ministry that Amy Wang and a small band of Chinese Christians run is quite interesting. Her ministry is grown from her faith in the Lord (Taiwan, Mainland China, Philippines) in the face of all sorts of circumstances 在各種情況下她都依靠神. She faced arrest for sharing her faith and led her would be captors to faith in Christ. The tents blew away from their moorings and she clung to them trusting God would not want her sharing of the Word interrupted. Most exciting is her really testimony of how she came to faith in Christ, from homeless to servant of the Lord 她以前也是無家可歸的, which I’ll leave you to read if you are interested

Mother’s Day 母親節 Mother and Child relationship in Chinese and Western Culture 母子關係: 中國與美國

Mother’s Day母親節 is coming up and it brings out some interesting cultural differences 文化不同的地方. It is my observation that the mother-daughter relationship is closer in Chinese culture than Western culture, not surprising. Daughters keep in touch, go out with their mothers regularly and respect their opinion. But despite years of attacks on mother / adult daughter relationships -“boundaries,” “control,” and other such psycho-babble I’m sure you’ve seen before. But still, these relationships still seem ok in the west 母女關係. The big difference is in mother-son relationships. Mothers and sons are very close in Chinese culture where as it seems almost a joke or almost a bad thing in Western culture…“separation issues”. Where as American culture is replete with images of the son who forgets to send a card once a year on Mother’s Day, Chinese culture is filled with images of the son who accompanies and obeys his mother 孝順的兒子. I guess I am a relatively “good” son by Western cultural standards 自己認為從西方的文化標準來看已經算不錯, 但是….. I keep in touch and go out with my parents at least once a week, though my wife’s viewpoint of me as a son is not the same…cultural viewpoint difference.

We are thinking of how to celebrate Mother’s Day with 2 sets of mothers, not including my wife, with 2 sets of cultures. We will take our my mother-in-law to a Chinese-style Korean BBQ 韓國烤肉 restaurant that serves up lots of dozens of types of fresh meats in BBQ. I am looking forward to that! Then we will take them to a special Mother’s Day outreach 外展 at our church, featuring one of my favorite Chinese Christian musicians, Amy Sand 盛曉玫. The next day we will take my parents to a French restaurant run by people who know how to do it well. A Vietnamese-Chinese couple who lived and studied in Paris for many years knows how to make French food 法國餐 well at a decent price. They don’t offer much choice, but they do well what they do.

Daughter’s Birthday! 女兒的生日

Recently, we celebrated our daughter’s birthday 3 times 三次! The first time was at our small group at church 第一次是在我們教會的小組 on Saturday night, where we bought at chocolate cakes at Beard Papa and a crème brulèe at a local French bakery. Beard Papa is a bakery chain from Japan that specializes in puffs 泡夫. They do a good job at puffs, not as good as the all-you-can-eat puff chain our friends in Taiwan visit, but good enough. For me though, chocolate is the only sweet I like. When we were living in Guangzhou, every time I would get off the subway station 地鐵站 at the Tian He 天河 area I would get a piece of chocolate at the Papa Beard in the station. She beat her little brother to the job of blowing out the candles.

The 2nd time was with grandpa 爺爺 and grandma 奶奶who like most grandparents like to spoil their grandchildren. They brought over several presents and we went out for dim sum 飲茶. The 3rd time was in the park with her home school friends. No cake or presents but she had fun with her friends anyway.

Taiwanese drama: Reaching for the Stars 台灣的連續劇: 真命天女

We have started watching the Taiwanese drama, Reaching for the Stars 真命天女. The actresses are from the Taiwanese pop group S.H.E. who also sing the songs in the soundtrack for the drama as well. This group is popular in large parts of the Chinese-speaking world. I have run into their posters 到處都碰到她們的海報 in several cities. They are fun to watch in action and the plots of their dramas are always a little complex with lots of subplots 情節很複雜. Three women born in the same year, month and day in very different circumstances in life are reaching up through what life can throw at them to ‘reach for the stars.’

I really liked their former drama, the Rose (蔷薇之戀, which actually had a theme of redemption at the end, with lots of complex emotions, surprising developments, good songs and beautiful scenes of an estate on Yang Ming Shan 陽明山. I heard from a friend in the entertainment industry that the director is a Christian 基督徒 and I can see the influence.

Boy 男孩子

Here he is, a little pocket sized photo of our son. He has 3 girlfriends 三個女朋友 who seem to really like him in as many months and he’s only three years old 三歲. He must have that charm like his father.

The first one I liked. She is a classy two-year old 文靜的女孩子 from Northwest China who seems to enjoy listening to him and taking quiet walks hand-in-hand…I kid you not. Her parents are that way too, the kind of people you like as good friends. The second is a cute two year old, but too boisterous 很調皮. She runs over to him, whacks him and tries to play with his toys 欺負我們, but he still likes playing with her. The 3rd is a four year old who just arrived from Taiwan. She likes leading him around by the hand and seems to be able to successfully boss him around, something his older sister has never quite managed…but no older women!

I like to tell this story so I’ll tell it here on the web. When we were in Taipei and he was sitting on my lap on the subway 我們坐地下鐵路的時候 I would hear a lot of young women say “how handsome!, how handsome! 好帥啊! 好帥啊!” They were talking about me naturally enough…I think…maybe…well, ok probably not.