A Cross-Cultural Family 跨文化的家庭

2008-11-10T23:12:00.000-08:00

我們還在這裏 We’re still here!

We’ve all been really busy over the last few months, but we’re still around. Maybe I should just continue with photo blogs like some others. I’ll have to think about it. Well, where do I start 怎麼開始寫? Maybe accomplishments would be the right place.

In the local public school our daughter attended just outside of Taipei, she received a score that was 3rd in her class in math 得了第三名. Remember that this was taken in Chinese. And I was worried that she hadn’t learned anything up to this point! Our little boy is able to do simple arithmetic problems, which is not bad for his age 他會做簡單的加法. Also, he has a girlfriend, many it seems. More on that in future posts.

The first photo was taken of our son at the pumpkin festival. The second photo is of my wife in front of a retreat high up in the mountains of central Taiwan 第二張是在台灣的天池拍的.

2007-12-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

The Days Before Christmas 聖誕節的前幾天

There are some things which have impressed me 給我最深刻的印象 this Christmas season. The first is that of my wife and daughter line dancing to Feliz Navidad. My wife likes to dance traditional dances with steps and does it pretty well 我的太太喜歡跳舞. As for me, I have never been that coordinated. It is “1, 2, 3, step on her toes 踩她的腳. 4. 5, 6, kick her in the shins 踢她的腳. 7, 8, 9 trip and fall over the chairs and fall into the couple next to me, etc.” Her workplace had a Christmas party and her coworkers agreed to dance for the workplace.

Another impression is that of our little son asking “is it Christmas yet?” “聖誕節到了沒有?” every couple of minutes. “No, it’s not December 25 yet, just a couple more days.” After another 20 minutes 過了二十分鐘, “is it Christmas yet?” Anticipation is a wonderful thing!

Another impression is that of our little son smearing peanut butter 小兒子把花生醬擦在壽司上 onto the vinegared rice and seaweed of a maki roll that we, a Chinese and American couple, borrowed from Japanese 日本 and Korean 韓國 cuisine. Now, that is a hybrid combination worthy of the child of a cross-cultural couple!

(The 2nd photo, which has nothing to do with any of this, was of our recent Christmas party where we somehow fed 25 people.)

2007-12-19T16:26:00.000-08:00

Milk Tea 奶茶 2

I don’t yet know much about Uighar culture 維族 except that they are a central Asian people group from a dry and starkly beautiful land. We returned to our pickup point at the late hour of 7:00 a.m. to discover a restaurant serving Mongolian breakfast food had already opened. That is where we enjoyed our first cup of Mongolian milk tea 蒙古奶茶.

Why care about milk tea 為什麼提出奶茶呢? Well, it’s interesting to me to see how cultures spread. Unlike Chinese, Mongolians drink milk tea and they drink it out of glasses 玻璃杯子 rather than tea cups. This is the same as the way Russians 俄國人 like to drink their tea.

In fact, it is the way my ancestors 我的祖先也是這樣喝茶的, who were Germanic peoples settled in Russia drank their tea. A group of Mongolians early in the Manchu dynasty moved en masse east 1000s of miles to around the Volga River 伏爾加河. With their wagon trains and ponies, paintings of these settlers made me think of the American West. After carefully looking at photos of my grandfather I suspect 可能有蒙古血統 that one of our relatives way back married one of these settlers.

2007-12-04T23:04:00.000-08:00

Milk Tea 奶茶

There is nothing quite like drinking steaming hot salted milk tea 冷冰冰的清晨喝鹹奶茶很舒服 that I am drinking in the chill of the morning. As I think I’ve mentioned before in this blog, I’m not a morning person 我不是早鳥 and so anything to relieve the strange combination of grogginess and super sharp awareness of the early morning feels really good.

I am drinking the milk tea we got in Inner Mongolia 內蒙古. We had just been kicked out of bed and gotten off the overnight train from our home in Beijing at Hohhot 呼和浩特市 at 5:00 in the morning. Nothing was open. It was cold, very cold. We eventually found a kindly taxi driver 有人带我們去who took us to a Xinjiang 新疆餐廳(Uighar) restaurant that was open. The Uighar 維族 peoples who are apparently early risers. We went to the restaurant you see in this second photo which served Halal food since the Uighars are Islamic回教徒 .

2007-11-22T12:21:00.001-08:00

We’re online again 電腦修好了

My hard drive is back and running. After having lost the use of my PC for a while due to some nasty malware problems 惡意軟體的問題, I realize just how dependent I am on it 很依靠電腦. I can live without television 不需要電視. I can live without the radio 不需要收音機. I can even live without telephones 連電話也不需要, but don’t take away my PC. Always back up. Always back up. Always back up.

Fortunately, all of my photos were saved so I’ll have some interesting things to share with you in the coming weeks. These are the crop of persimmons 柿子 we picked from our tree 我們家裡擇的水果. It doesn’t look like a big tree, but as you can see, it yielded a lot. Persimmons are wonderful fruits that last for a long time after picking. They are also good when they are dried. My wife peels the skin 太太喜歡剝皮, but as a barbarian I prefer just to bite into the whole fruit.

2007-10-30T23:43:00.000-07:00

Name Brands 名牌

I admit. I am not a name brand type of guy. 我承認,我不瞭解名牌 To me, my type of name brand is the equivalent of (for American readers) Payless Shoes and 99 Cent store. I just don’t see the point of them. Especially in fashion, name brands are exactly the same as some lesser known brand. My wife disagrees.

Asian cultures tend to be name brand conscious for public products that are shown to each other. As the economy of Mainland China has improved, it has jumped right into the name brand fashion craze. In this spirit, my wife was recently researching the best name brand eyeglass frames 太太研究了名牌眼鏡框, which I could not help her with since I did not even know there were name brand eyeglass frames.

My daughter’s ballet school has a group of fairly affluent Chinese housewives who are nice people and interesting to watch interact as a group. My wife was listening as they were discussing expensive name brand purses they had bought and what a good investment they were. “They can only go up in value,” one young woman chirpily said. “I’ve bought several.” 女兒芭蕾舞的班家庭主婦講說了人家應該把名牌皮包當作
投資來看 My wife asked her a question about which name brand eyeglasses were best and received a patient explanation of the kind a child might receive when asking the first time about table manners.

(Like Chevy Nova or "no go" in Mexico, the name brand in the photo needs a little more careful thought if they're going to market cross-culturally.)

2007-10-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

Air Pollution 空氣污染

We’ve been enjoying good old-fashioned sooty air pollution on both sides of the Pacific this year. Living in Beijing, we get day after day of air pollution that is common in a big city in a valley surrounded by mountains in a developing economy. Sounds similar to Southern California, doesn’t it? Actually, it isn’t too bad, a lot better than capital cities of some nations, but it could be improved. Some days are a little gray, but I have even seen beautiful blue sky 北京有時候也有藍藍的天空 on occasion as when we were at 潘家园 the wholesale tea marketplace. They are worried about pollution affecting the Olympics in 2008會影響奧運 and so have moved a lot of heavy industry out of the city, but the pollution comes mainly from automobiles at this point. …another similarity to Southern California which I’ll talk about in coming weeks so stick around.

Southern California is now also enjoying major air pollution because of an especially serious round of brush fires 火災. There are fires all around the LA basin, Orange County and especially serious in San Diego….our cell group at church has been praying for the people who have lost their homes. And now that the worst of the fires have died down, I can see in the media that finger-pointing season has begun 責備的時間到了.

2007-10-21T23:35:00.001-07:00

Grandfather’s 80th Birthday 爺爺80歲的生日

I’m getting caught up, well not really caught up but better than I was. This took place earlier in October.

My father seems as healthy as ever 還是很健康, having also had a child later in life than most in his generation so he now is enjoying grandchildren later in life than most in his generation. Our little son especially likes him 小兒子很喜歡他, making sure he sits by grandfather’s side while watching television.

The meal turned out quite well this year despite some initial worry about whether we could get the right type of lobster. Among other things, we had a large lobster and lots of raw sea urchin and steamed clams (龍蝦, 蛤蜊, 生海膽..大飽口福!).
It’s always frustrating when people make stupid expressions, especially when I am that person. In the one photo, I made a stupid expression 古怪的表情. In the other photo I took, my father (the birthday boy) was out of focus 在另外一張, 爺爺不清楚. So, instead of admitting my mistake for posterity I am cutting the two photos in half to show you.

2007-10-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

Time and Children 時間與孩子

Our children want to talk to us and come to us for advice about relationships with friends. Ah, the joys of home schooling 家庭學校的喜樂! Lots of people wish they would be a source of advice and influence for their children. The problem for most parents is time 父母沒有時間陪孩子. Their time with their children is miniscule compared to the time their children are at school with their classmates exactly the same age. I see so many people who are busy, busy building careers which means that there is only a couple minutes of “quality time” at best each day with children 幾分鐘所謂的‘品質時間’不夠. Gradually the only social influence that matters is from peers exactly the same age (and tv, internet, etc.). Those older and younger are invisible.

Is Chinese culture different? On the one hand, grandparents have a bigger impact on children’s lives since they spend time with them. Also, family businesses 家庭企業 lend themselves to the whole family working together. On the other hand, as a developing economy, much time is spent on improving lives economically.

The photo, which has nothing to do with this rant, is of my wife after she bought this silk shawl, that our daughter is wearing, from these merchants who come to her workplace. They sell name brand clothing 名牌衣服,鞋子,絲襪,帽子, 等 for a really cheap price, often the equivalent of US $1. The 2nd photo is of my daughter’s toes as she was sleeping.

2007-10-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

Today’s Qiao Household 目前的喬家大院

This is what the Qiao household looks like today. It is a really large household complex that looks somewhat like a maze 有一點像迷宮. There are also crowds of tourists there on most days so that it is easy to get lost in the crowds and that’s what happened. It was dry there and flat as land as well, not quite desert but close. Shanxi province is drier than Beijing 比較乾 and we could really feel that when we were there.

My wife wandered off to find the bathroom as we were getting to the bridal chamber 洞房 and it was a while before we found her again. After our tour, she did get a nice jade tea mug with the characters for Qiao Household carved into them 有’喬家’ 這兩個字刻在玉石的茶杯上. Our son had the easiest job as one of our fellow tourists pointed out. He was pushed up and around all the hallways in the stroller.

2007-10-12T00:05:00.001-07:00

喬家大院 The Qiao Family Household

We are watching an interesting historical drama, fiction based on history, about a famous business family in Qing Dynasty 清朝 China about 170 years ago 差不多170 年以前. We were recently at their household in Shanxi Province in China 在山西省太原市附近, visiting from our residence in Beijing. Though the personal stories in the drama are those of modern China, it definitely gives the viewer a flavor of the times and places in which it takes place. I find it interesting to watch how Chinese family 家庭企業 businesses actually operated in those days and to some extent still do.

Loans between businesses and taking in shareholders were important in raising the funds necessary for business ventures. This drama also gives a view into a different world from the Chinese overseas family businesses 跟華僑家庭企業不一樣 those in the west are familiar with. The protagonist in the story Qiao Zhi Yong 喬致庸, though he was supposed to be a third generation is really the founder of the Qiao family as a major business.

2007-10-07T23:43:00.000-07:00

You Can’t Say That! What we cannot say in Chinese / American culture 不可以這樣講!: 言論自由

A recent discussion about a person’s ‘offensive’ speech 得罪人的話 online got me thinking about things that can or cannot be discussed in Chinese and American cultures. In American culture, it is becoming increasingly difficult to discuss differences between groups of people. Due to the simple fact that there are many different types of people 因為有各種各樣的人所以提出不同的地方很難, real and perceived, it is very hard to make sensible public statements about observed differences between groups without someone making an issue of how “offended” he or she is. Don't even think about those CPA, doctor or economist jokes!

By contrast, in Chinese culture, differences between groups are discussed all the time 可以討論優點缺點和不同的地方. Maybe it is something cultural or maybe it is because there are not as many divisions among peoples. This is not to say that insults leveled at another group are ok, they aren’t and in fact people will go out of their way not to, but one it is my opinion that one is not as much at risk for an honest appraisal of differences as in the West. Now politics is another story, don’t talk about that. (Photo: Our son demonstrating his sleeping technique兒子在幫忙)

2007-10-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

My Car is Bigger than Your Car 我的車子比你的大

….or “my trash truck is bigger than his fire truck.” “我的垃圾車比他的消防車大! We never really change. From the time we are little toddlers we frequently compare ourselves with others to make ourselves feel good, or maybe to make ourselves feel bad. As adults we just don’t talk about it out loud. Little children, on the other hand, will say whatever they are thinking.

We visited friends whose son is the same age as our younger son 差不多一樣大. They played together well, but when we got home our son was comparing toys. He let us know that he liked the fire engine (hint for Christmas present 聖誕節的禮物) but that at least his trash truck was as big or bigger.

We received a nice gift there. The wife, who is from Taiwan, planted a certain type of Taiwanese Concord grape 巨蜂葡萄 that is really good tasting. I remember we had a great cup of fresh grape juice made from these grapes on a hot humid, Keelung evening 回想到我們在基隆的路邊攤喝了新鮮巨蜂葡萄汁, 真好喝! For one reason or another they did not want the grapes they had so painstakingly grown, so we thankfully and gratefully provided them a good home.

2007-09-30T21:32:00.000-07:00

Mooncakes 月餅

This year we have really done a good job of hitting the after moon festival mooncake sales. Some places offer ‘buy 1 tin of 4, get 1 tin free’ 買一盒送一盒. At the bakery where relatives of my wife work, it is buy ‘1 tin get 4 tins for free’ 買一盒送四盒.

Normally mooncakes are really quite expensive 一般來講月餅很貴, about as much as lunch at the better bakeries, but they are worth it. Some people compare them with fruitcakes, those awful things that are given as presents, and never seemingly eaten, around Christmas but there is no comparison. I like the combination of some sweet paste with salty duck egg yolk 鹹鴨蛋黃, sort of like potato chip cookies which sound bad but taste good. Next on my agenda is to try a fresh durian mooncake 新鮮榴蓮月餅 at that Vietnamese bakery and the chocolate ones (triple fudge??) from Singapore.

The first photo is of a lotus paste mooncake with a single egg yolk in the middle. The second is of some friends at our moon festival celebration.

2007-09-28T11:24:00.001-07:00

We’re back 回來了

It’s time to get started on the year. Thank you for all of you who have been checking back and asking when things will get started. I have found that there is a certain inertia to writing blogs. 不要再拖延! Starting is hard, but once started they are much easier to keep going. So, here we go. Clear off the cobwebs, eliminate the spam and start writing.

It is fall once again! Each season has its own special feel and character 自己的特色. The thing I like best about fall is that it is the harvest season. And this year, in addition to the really large harvest 豐收 of pomegranates 石榴, guavas 芭樂 and jujubes 紅枣, there are papayas 木瓜. Yes, as you can see our baby of the fruit tree family already has fruit and it is only the first year 今年春天! In the first photo you can see the size of the pomegranites this year by the perspective those sunglasses give.

2007-06-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

Home School 家庭學校

The type of school has a big influence on a child’s education. As most of you who know us already know, we home school our children. As with anything new, home schooling provokes a variety of strong emotions in the public, from curiosity and joy to fear and anger. Its popularity is a new phenomena 是這幾年才有的現象, but I feel that we are on the crest of new wave of educational change. Even in the short time we have been doing it, we have seen an enormous growth in the home school group we are a part of.

The main purpose of the schoolroom seems to have been socialization into society 主要是為了適應社會生活, whatever the prevailing norms were. With better overall education and disagreement about what the prevailing norms should be, more and more parents are taking control of their children’s education. 因為目前人家的教育程度夠高 , 所以越來越多父母覺得孩子的教育應該是在自己的掌握中. Home schooling is happening in the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and probably Western Europe as well so it is a fairly international phenomenon. We meet so many interesting parents doing interesting things, (back-to-nature types, parents of child prodigies, and cross-cultural Christian couples like ourselves) in our home school group. Home schooling allows us to give our children a good bi-cultural, bilingual Christian education.

I finally caught one of our 3 year old son’s girlfriends on video 錄像剪輯. Well, this two year old more likes to beat up on him and play with his toys, but she’s cute and it is fun to watch them interact.

2007-06-06T23:57:00.000-07:00

Fruit Everywhere 水蜜桃

This year we have finally been blessed with a bumper crop on our fruit trees 水蜜桃成熟的時間到了! 今年樹上的水果很多, 真是豐收! This is really surprising given the bad weather we have been having this year so far.

The loquat 枇杷 tree produced a lot of fruit in early spring and now our peach tree has just produced a huge crop of really delicious white peaches. That tree has a history. I originally bought another fruit tree for that spot, but to my surprise and dismay it only produced ‘male’ flowers 公花. That means that there must be female flowers and bees around for there to be fruit. Never being one to enjoy complexity in gardening,, I returned it and bought a self-fruiting “tropical snow” white male peach which I knew would be a favorite of my wife 太太喜歡吃的.

As you can see, well maybe it is a little hard to see, this tree has really grown into a monster 這棵樹長得很快, but it is well worth it. We have given peaches away to my in-laws, to my parents, to our cell group at church, to just about any friend who wants some and we still have baskets of ripe peaches lying around. My next project will be to mix fresh peaches with French vanilla ice cream 香草冰淇淋 for a home-made ‘peaches and cream’ flavor ice cream 水蜜桃冰淇淋.

2007-06-04T21:48:00.001-07:00

Bilingualism: Chinese and English 雙語的孩子: 中文與英文

How do kids really become bilingual or trilingual 怎麼樣才能夠給孩子有效的雙語教育? That is the questions faced by both cross-cultural and bi-cultural parents. The more I think, which is not too often, the more I realize how much of an influence social norms have on our children 環境很重要. It can of course mold their behavior and world outlook, but more important to this post, it can determine which language or how many languages they speak.

Sometimes it doesn’t even matter where they are raised. Friends of ours, American wife / Japanese husband 日本丈夫 / 美國妻子, are raising their son in Japan. They are reluctant to send their son to the American school there because the standard is to speak English only and regard Japanese as a language of “the natives.” Since children spend more waking hours at school than at school 因為上課的時間很久所以會影響孩子的態度, regardless of how much Japanese language training he got at home he would end up not really being fluent in the language because it would just not be the thing to do in his social circles. That is one reason why we home school 家校 our children and it seems to be working. Our children all speak Chinese with each other at home but they can speak English fluently as well 我們的孩子都是雙語的. We can carefully give them a blend of social environments, Chinese-speaking and English-speaking, young and old.

2007-05-31T19:55:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-10T23:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-08T23:18:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-04T23:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-05-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-04-29T23:03:00.000-07:00

Chinese Wedding Traditions 2: ‘Fun and Games’ with the Bride and Groom 鬧洞房

Last weekend we helped out in our friend’s wedding 朋友的婚禮. It was fairly elaborate with more than 200 people participating and more than 12 courses of food at the restaurant afterward. Our daughter was a flower girl 花筒 in the ceremony, walking up the aisle with the son of another friend of ours. That left me free to roam and take photos, testing the limits of this low light, high speed telephoto lens. As you can see by this photo of our younger son demonstrating a “bottoms up” toast 乾杯 with his glass for us, it works quite well.

At this wedding there was quite a demonstration of fun and games played with the bride and groom 新郎和新娘. The bride had to roll an egg 生雞蛋 up and down the groom without breaking it. Then she had to rub the hands of men lined up to determine which one was the groom. There were others, including the bride and the groom singing together and seeing how long the groom could stand on his hands 倒立. 鬧洞房 is an interesting tradition whereby the more intrepid members of the wedding party follow the bride and groom to their room. A group surprised this couple at their hotel room 大飯店的房間. There, in a wedding version of trick or treat, they pick out a certain number of further games and challenges, some of which can be downloaded 可以下載 on the web (email me if you want the link to 30 different types) for the newlyweds to complete before they will finally leave them to enjoy a peaceful evening. …or more likely fall asleep. This couple’s evening was over at midnight.

2007-04-23T01:08:00.000-07:00

Writers Coming of Age in East Asia 成熟禮故事

I have read quite a few “coming of age” stories 成熟禮故事 of Westerners who spent a year or two, maybe five, in some major city in East Asia 留在東亞洲國家的大城市. There is an account by Robert Twigger, who learned aikido through a rigorous course in the Tokyo riot police course. Next, I will read a similar account by Matthew Polly in China. I also read an account previously about a writer’s coming of age story in South Korea as well.

It seems as if the major cities of East Asia in the 1980s and 1990s were to young American and European writers 年輕的美國和西歐洲的作者 similar to what Paris must have been to a former generation in the 1920s像巴黎對1920時代的作者有那樣的環境. They were places where a new generation of writers were coming of age.

There was something about the environment that leant itself to that type of lifestyle. They were outsiders in a society that was very different from their own and there is a certain freedom to this. There were no expectations of behavior since they were not expected to fit in. Whether through martial arts or some other art form attractive to westerners, these expatriate writers could also participate in the culture. Cities such as Tokyo, Taipei, Beijing and Seoul provided an environment where expatriate life could flourish. Money was easy to come by through teaching English 容易靠教英文來賺錢, something that most were able to do. And there were plenty of places to spend that money on drinking, various types of esoteric lessons on culture and interesting, out-of-the-way places to visit.

2007-04-19T23:32:00.000-07:00

Birthday Video 生日的錄像剪輯

This is a video of my wife’s birthday surprise 使太太驚喜一下. We blew up balloons that are my wife’s favorite color, purple 她最喜歡紫色, and stuffed them in a closet by the door. She came home and after scaring her by use of party poppers, our daughter asked her to open the closet door. You can see her reaction.

This is my first attempt at posting video 第一次上載簡片 on this blog, so bear with me. I usually don’t like reading video on blogs for 2 reasons. The most important is that the reader cannot clearly see what is being posted 不清楚. Those freeze-frame photos that mark a video are blurry and extremely low resolution. The second is that these videos don’t always work on everybody’s connections, but this is a small file with good sound. Just click on the photo to get to the video.

2007-04-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

Former Ministry Partners and Friends 以前的同工

We got together with former ministry partners this past Saturday evening. The couple, a pastor and his wife from South India 印度南部, were in charge of an international ministry. They are going to India for a while.

For almost 50 years every Friday night there was dinner, worship and a Bible study 差不多五十年每一個禮拜五晚上一直 meeting for people from all over the world. Anyone was welcome, regardless of station in life, age, education or views. The host was a woman who was a very loving person. I never met her husband, he passed away before I arrived on the scene, but I got to know her quite well. She cared a lot about people 關懷 and would often stay up until 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m. to answer questions. I remember once a homeless man 無家可歸的人 arrived and was cursing to himself. She allowed him to stay there but said “XX, if you get ugly I am going to have to ask you to leave, but if you can control yourself you are always welcome here.” He quieted down and participated that evening.

That ministry is over. The woman has gone on to be with the Lord 搬家了, the house has been sold and the international ministry now takes a different form, but the legacy lives on in transformed lives throughout the world.

2007-04-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

Chinese Idioms 成語

For some reason, this past month or two have been incredibly busy. Starting tonight, we have 5 separate activities before Sunday evening, 6 if we count our daughter’s ballet class 芭蕾舞班 as an activity. Some are special, such as seeing a friend off who will be leaving for India for 6 months. Fortunately, I just found out that I can take an online course at home 可以下載課程, instead of spending my whole Saturday in class! Maybe I can do my course online when I am on my business trip but at the bargain hotels I stay at I better complete it at home.

I was reminded once again when talking to my wife that idioms are one of the richest parts of the Chinese language. One well-placed idiom can clearly communicate better than a minute or two of speech. Since they are based on rote memorization 一定要揹書才能記住, idioms are also one of the most difficult parts of learning Chinese for those at an intermediate level.

It is true that we have idioms in English as well. Most languages do. For example, it is raining cats and dogs 倾盆大雨, does not of course mean that cats and dogs are literally falling out of the skies. The same is true for ‘throwing pearl before swine’ 對牛弹琴 or any of the other animal idioms we have in English. In Chinese, there are many more idioms and they are used much more frequently than in English. I believe this is because Chinese has a rich literary tradition that is common to everyone through memorization in learning. If you really want to impress someone, use one of these 4 character idioms.

2007-04-11T00:22:00.000-07:00

Friends that Stay 留在這邊!

It’s always sad when we get to know someone, especially a really nice brother 兄弟 or sister 姐妹 in Christ, and then they leave for a job elsewhere. I understand, because we go back and forth to different places. Also, that is the nature of careers that sometimes span countries, but it’s still hard to say goodbye for the long term 捨不得. Well, we don’t have to do that with this couple. We are happy that the husband got a job not too far away so we will be able to visit them.

On other news with this couple, they have a new baby 兩個月 in this photo. Like most babies, she seems to look like the mother one week and her father the next week. In these photos she is actually looking a lot more like her grandmother 像她的外婆.

2007-04-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

Where to Live? Do Chinese and American Spouses Differ 住在那裡? 中國和美國人不同的想法

One of the biggest differences I have seen between Chinese and American spouses, that has been driven home by recent experiences, is where they like to live. This can make a big difference that can significantly affect happiness in the marriage 是婚姻滿意度的影響. A living space that can make one spouse happy can make another miserable 很慘.

American spouses tend to idealize living out in the middle of the countryside 遙遠的地方, away from it all, even if many cannot do so because of careers. Urban areas are often viewed as necessary evils at best, the source of noise, pollution and bad habits. That is I guess why suburbs 郊區 in the U.S. sprawl farther and farther as people seek peace and quiet while still being within (albeit long) commuting distance of jobs. Chinese spouses generally like to live on or near urban areas, where everything is convenient and where there is a lot of excitement and activity 熱鬧. Living in townhouses, condos or apartments are fine. Eileen Chang 張愛玲 expressed this preference in her accounts of living in Shanghai and the joys of apartment living 喜歡住在公寓裡. She felt that the sound of the passing streetcars was quite calming and reassuring.

I see this difference all the time. If the couple lives in the United States, the Chinese spouse wants to live in the Los Angeles, New York or San Francisco 大城市 where as the American spouse is eager to find that homestead deep in the mountains of Northern Arizona or grasslands of Kentucky 曠野.

2007-04-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

Sugar Apple 番荔枝

番荔枝, 釋迦, sugar apple, sweet sop, antemoya, cherimoya, or any of the other names that this type of fruit is called, it is good tasting. The flesh is a white creamy texture and it has a sweet perfumed flavor when ripe 甜度高. We got this tree-ripened 樹上熟的 specimen last weekend at a local farmer’s market and I took a photo of it before my daughter and I sliced it open and ate it. It’s an early crop.

To me, one of the joys of being in a place is the local produce since there is still so much localized genetic variety out there. We also saw locally-grown bananas which are better than the ones on the supermarket shelves of Western countries 樹上熟的水果比超級市場買的好多, but the sugar apple is more interesting and is associated with a special memory for me. I remember when I first lived in Taiwan enjoying a couple of these when I visited the rugged southeast coast. Taidong 台東 is the center of the commercial growing of the sugar apple in Taiwan. When they are in season there, we have driven through field after field to looking for a stand that will sell baskets of them to buy for friends.

2007-04-03T00:20:00.000-07:00

Crane 白鶴

One would think that with the numbers of cranes in almost every country in the Pacific Rim, I would be able to get a good photo of a crane somewhere. Cranes have a significance in Chinese culture. They are a very common symbol in Chinese paintings, symbolizing wisdom 智慧 or longevity 長壽. Next to flamingoes 火烈鳥, and plastic lawn flamingoes ruined that a little for me though I get nostalgic a little for them now, cranes are one of the most elegant birds.

For some reason that white 白鶴 or blue crane 藍鶴 with nice plumage is only just out of the reach of my rather limited telephoto lens. Well, that was until yesterday. We took a mini-vacation down in the south for the weekend and Sunday afternoon I went on a photo expedition. As you can see, he (unlike most humans, it is the male bird that is more nicely dressed up 一般來講公鳥比較漂亮) was posing not too far away so I could snap a great shot of him.

2007-03-30T00:26:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-28T00:47:00.000-07:00

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.)

2007-03-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-23T00:28:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-21T00:37:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-18T23:44:00.000-07:00

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.)

2007-02-25T20:33:00.000-08:00

Mud Volcanoes 泥土火山

I always love the end results of seismic activity: volcanoes 火山, tall mountains 高山, hot springs 溫泉, geysers 噴水泉, etc. even if I don’t enjoy the danger of earthquakes. (I’ve never been stuck in a volcanic explosion, so I can’t speak for them.) The regions that are “rims of fire,” (火和平的圓環) such as the Pacific rim and the Mediterranean, are so much more interesting than the boring, flat and often cold regions of the world I grew up in. I guess one has to take the good with the bad. Ok, enough drivel.

We visited mud volcanoes. There is mud burping and belching up from the geothermal depths of near the shores of an inland sea. There is supposed to be magma 熔岩 just a few thousand feet below the ground. It is quite an impressive site to see. In this first photo, I captured the mud bubbling up in the crater. In the other photo, you can see that thoughtfire mom has climbed to the lofty summit 母親爬到了泥土火山的山峰上 of another such mud volcano with her granddaughter. There was a lot of sulpher smell here, reminding me a little of the sulpherous fumeroles 噴氣坑 at Yangming Mountain 陽明山 in Taiwan.

2007-02-22T23:41:00.000-08:00

Dates 枣子

We got back from a recent trip to over the Chinese New Year the deserts of Southern California 南加州的沙漠 which I will be sharing in segments. This was one of our prizes of the trip, a 15 pound box of fresh Medjool dates for a very reasonable price 廉價. We’ll share 分享 with friends and family.

It is amazing to see all of the different types of dates grown, all from different parts of the Middle East. There are some that are very sweet 很甜. Others have a milder taste more like a fig 味道像無花果. Yet others have a dry bread-like consistency 濃度像麵包. We rushed to get back to the date palm grove where these were grown before closing time. Fortunately, we met up with a family from the Middle East who were there to buy 5 of these boxes 買了五箱, more than 60 pounds! They called inside and encouraged the lone person working there, it was a holiday, to open the door again.

2007-02-13T23:57:00.000-08:00

Papaya Tree 木瓜樹

This is the latest addition to our yard, a papaya tree! This one is a special kind that is self-fruiting and will bear seedless 無核的 papayas.

I have always liked papayas ever since I was a little kid. I remember we went as a family to Hawaii when I was about 8 years old. Every day for breakfast I had delicious fresh tree-ripened papaya 很喜歡吃新鮮的木瓜 with lemon juice 檸檬汁squeezed on it. I liked it so much that I came home with a box of papayas that didn’t taste quite as good because they were picked green.

As an adult and able to buy my own fruit in the stores, I discovered that I could almost replicate that original taste by buying the ripest 最熟的, almost rotten 差不多腐壞的, store-bought papayas but I realize they are not the same as those that are ripened on the tree.

2007-02-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

Restaurants 餐廳

Catching up on web surfing today, I noted a debate which I’m sure to be a day late and a dollar short on, but since the gauntlet has been laid down I’ll add my two cents about comparing Chinese restaurants in different places. A blog recently, you can find the link 連接 here, claimed that Taiwan Chinese food had lost its edge and was not even as good as that in America’s Chinese communities (he mentioned the San Gabriel Valley 南加州的聖谷 specifically.).

Chinese food in Taiwan is very good even if it is influenced by the regional Taiwanese taste. It is much better than in even the best areas for restaurants of U.S. Chinese communities like the San Gabriel Valley, with the likely exception of Cantonese food 廣東菜. Many immigrants to the U.S. are Cantonese and so that is a strong point for food, though they lag far behind Hong Kong or Guangzhou.

Even where regional Chinese food is influenced by Taiwanese taste 台灣口味, it is quite good. An example is a ‘Beijing duck’ stand near our house. The flavoring is a little different from standard Peking duck, true, but it was always freshly made and the quality (for a couple of $) was excellent. Seafood restaurants 海鮮餐廳 offering 20 or more types of live seafood are quite common (海產街).

I always use this quick and simple food test to determine the quality of food in a region. The more I find myself eating out when in a place, the better the food. In Taiwan, I found myself eating out almost every meal 雖然有廚房可是差不多每天都不在家裡吃, something I cannot say about that many places.

2007-01-28T23:44:00.000-08:00

Walking in Faith 依靠神

Christians always talk about "living by faith" which is easy when I can see ahead, but that’s not really faith 並不是信仰, is it? It’s not quite so easy when I have to rely on God when I don’t really see the answer.

Last week I had a request from a friend to translate 從中文翻成英文 for a Chinese Christian leader at a Korean crusade 韓國人的佈道會. Now let me say that I do speak Chinese and English pretty well (and am modest) but as I have said in past posts direct translation is an art that requires skill. I found out that he was a fairly famous leader, and a nice guy, so I put pressure on myself to do a good job. Then I found out that he had a fairly heavy regional accent in Chinese 東北的腔調, think of a non-native speaker of English trained in the U.S. listening to a thick cockney accent 倫敦老百姓的某种腔調. So, I prayed and worried, not necessarily in that order, throughout the night before. But I realized that as I felt that the Lord had given me this task to do, he would give me the strength to do it. I just had to trust.

The next morning I arrived at the hotel where the crusade was held and was told that, no we weren’t meeting here in a small room, we were meeting at the convention center 會議中心 across the street. So, I walked in to the meeting hall to the front of more than 1100 people who were waiting eagerly to hear the speaker. Our brave believer is shocked and prays intensely. There would be translation into Korean 韓國話 and into Japanese 日語 as well. ...more intense prayer. These translations would of course all depend on my translation into English first. ...even more intense prayer. I saw people I knew who said they really expected me to do a good job. ...tongue tied and more prayer.

I was thankful those 50 minutes flew by 五十分鐘很快就過去了and a meaningful translation was given. At least I could hear a lot of ‘amens’ and the audience said they were moved. The Lord was faithful.

2007-01-26T22:37:00.000-08:00

We’re Back! 回來了

We’re back for another year of fun and Photoshop at Cross-Cultural Family blog! Just thought I’d start the year off the right way with a short recap of our Christmas / New Year and some brief thoughts. This first photo here is of our Christmas Eve. We spent it with our home group 小組 at church going out to sing Christmas carols 聖誕歌 and reading Bible passages at homes in the neighborhood. These are the females of our group showing off the cake we sampled beforehand.

The next day we spent at home with my parents. This is a photo my father took. Our younger son is the one who got the most fun presents. Clothes are nice but I always like toys 玩具 better when I was a little kid. He got all sorts of trains to play with, but no trash trucks. For some reason, he loves trash trucks and points them out on the road whenever we see them, “trash truck, trash truck” but for some reason they’re just not popular as toys. His nicest train, a Thomas train, runs really well on a wooden track with just one AA battery 電池.

New Years we spent at a prayer meeting at our church 跨年禱告會 that went from ’06 to ’07, sorry no photos of that. It’s nice way to ring in the New Year and orient our priorities with those of God. I got a first chance to carry the baby of a friend of ours. They are really light when they start out. The next day we took off for a distant hot springs where we stayed at a Korean hot springs resort 韓國人辦的溫泉. They had more than 15 pools 水池 of different types and temperatures. There are few things quite like swimming in a hot spring outside on a warm January evening with the palm trees waving and the moon and stars shining brightly down. This photo is of sunset in the area.

2006-12-19T23:58:00.000-08:00

Christmas Gifts 聖誕節的禮物

I am in the midst of fighting at the last minute to buy gifts 最後一分鐘 before Christmas. My wife has let me know, no live gifts this year. Some people just give up and give money, but I have always been a fighter. Or, some would say I am just plain stupid. I let you decide.

I have always tried to get gifts 意義性的禮物 that are interesting, represent something about myself and of course that the recipient would like. Given these complicated and conflicting goals, it is not surprising that I’ve had some spectacular failures 選錯了好幾次. Aside from mailing tropical fruit 後院摘的熱帶水果 from our yard that got smashed and jars of exotic honey that burst in mid-air, there have been some more concrete failures. The most memorable was a fish grill to someone whose taste in fish does not extend past the frozen fried fish sticks. Then, there is always the fear that someone will open up a present and say “uh, thank for the…uh….what is it?” 已經打開了禮物還是不曉得是什麼?

So, we come back full circle to these ease of giving money. That fits into the Chinese tradition of giving red packet 紅包, but I’ll save that for an upcoming holiday.

2006-12-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

Dance School Christmas Party 芭蕾舞學校的聖誕晚會

We just had the Christmas Party at my daughter’s dance school and this was the perfect opportunity to try out my new high speed lens 高速廣角鏡頭. It is the equivalent of a 100mm in film cameras, can take photos in low light and also do macro photography as well. Since I found a cheap price on sale, lenses don’t go down in price like the camera bodies, and the place gave me a good trade in value for my almost 3 year old kit lens I never use, I went for it. As you can see, it really gives sharp photos indoors with no flash 室內, 不用閃光 on a blustery rainy day. (with no heat indoors, but that's true everywhere here.)

In the first photo, my daughter is sitting down with the crowd for the endless rounds of introductions. I admit it was interesting to hear some of the stories. I learned that the only ‘foreign’ teacher, who I thought is American, is actually a Cuban 古巴人 who had danced in performance before with the other instructors, not surprising considering the close ties China has had with Cuba over the past half century or so. The second photo could be entitled anticipation 渴望的表情 that can be seen so clearly on the children’s faces as they are waiting for presents to be dispersed.

2006-12-14T23:50:00.000-08:00

2 things I learned last weekend 上個禮拜的啟示

Enjoy life as it comes, seize the moment. Life is enjoyable in the living. For someone like me who always plans ahead this has been hard to learn. Up to this time in life, I have always been one to plan ahead and to focus on that goal. I guess I have never ignored the moment, but seeing friends at the Christmas party 聖誕晚會 on Friday night talk about how long they have been in the Ph.D. program 從 1998年起 or how much times have changed, children born or growing bigger, made me realize that time is passing. This is a great time of life right now to enjoy. Our children are still young and enjoy the simple things, so carpe diem 佔領天.

In that spirit, photo 1 is of our daughter’s gingerbread Christmas tree 薑餅的聖誕樹 right before it was eaten by her little brother. The second photo is our little one intensely concentrating 很會集中精神 on his artwork. Quite amazing for a toddler!

Don’t take the blessings of the Lord for granted 不是理所當然, because they are good. Our family has been blessed with good children, a great relationship with my wife, a good house, good health and good stable sources of income that don’t eat up every minute of time. I see so many problems around us and sometimes have near brushes with problems in our own lives and so I am grateful for what we have.

2006-12-12T23:35:00.000-08:00

Friendship and Politeness: Chinese, American 友誼與禮貌: 中國,美國

If there is one thing that it is really hard for people to understand about other cultures, it can be found in navigating the shoals of friendship and politeness. In Chinese culture, spouses and friends do not need to be polite 不用客氣. In fact, frankness, arguing and even mild whacking can be seen as a sign of closeness 打情罵俏. Nothing bad is meant by it, in fact it is considered the sign of a healthy relationship. By contrast, politeness is for strangers suggesting distance.

It has for a long time been common to see Chinese women whacking their boyfriends as an expression of affection. This means she likes him. Although there are similarities as well, there are enough real differences 文化不同的地方 between Japanese and Chinese culture in this area that it can create clashes. A Taiwanese wife we know tells us that her Japanese husband always wants her to “be nice and polite” when arguing. A Japanese woman tells us that she when she calls a Chinese man pursuing her “crazy” 精神病!, it encourages him and doesn’t know why (crazy can be a term of endearment when a woman likes a man.) There is even an expression 撒嬌 that is hard to translate, but is a common expression of daughters to fathers.

2006-12-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

Guilin Inspired Poetry 桂林带给人家寫作的靈感

In our trip to Guilin we had a wonderful experience, the opportunity to visit the campus of the old Guangxi Teachers University 廣西師範大學. Unlike some areas on the Pacific Rim, with the fault lines, volcanoes and soft new mountains, Guilin has very old and hard granite mountains. They are not really high, but they are high enough and very steep. They can rise up almost anywhere in the city. In fact, mountains rise sharply right out of this campus, sort of a 世外桃園 feeling.

There is a mountain that we climbed up right toward the back of the campus 校園的後面. You can see the view from part of the way up in the photo here. It was very steep 陡峭 but there were steps and as you can see the view was definitely worth it 值得. Naturally, all of this beauty inspired poetry. Scholars from other parts of China have been coming here for more than 1200 years ago in the Tang Dynasty and carved poems into the rock waxing eloquent about their surroundings. Not too different from the writers 作者 and artists 藝術家 that seek out spots of natural beauty today for inspiration to live and work. That is one of the things I really love about China is the combination of a long history and nature together in many spots.

2006-12-07T23:22:00.000-08:00

病了 Bing le: Western and Chinese Medicine 中藥與西藥 2

We are taking turns getting sick from a stomach flu 腸胃性流行感冒. First my wife, then my daughter and now our younger son. I haven’t gotten it yet because I’ve been pumping my body with Airborne, which strengthens the immune system 免疫力. This is a Chinese medicinal way of treating illnesses, treating the illness by building up the system. This is a macro shot of a very tiny Chinese pill box that has absolutely nothing to do with stomach flu.

One difference I have noticed is that medicines must be taken. For me, I rarely if ever take medicines, but my wife and her friends will immediately take medicine at the first sign of sickness. (Of course this is also a male-female difference 男女不同的地方 in which it is said that men will only see a doctor when they have passed out or are nearly dead.) But on the other hand, if Chinese take medicines at the first sign of illness it is perhaps because they are not that bad tasting, even though they are supposed to be bad tasting. Chinese medicines also do not have a lot of side effects 不良的副作用.because they are not as concentrated as Western medicines. They are somewhat similar in nature to herbal remedies 草藥 here but much more highly developed.

2006-12-05T22:50:00.000-08:00

A Sendoff 歡送

We had a party to send off our good friend in the student fellowship. We have gotten to know her over a period of two years 認識了兩年多 and seen her grow in both her faith and her leadership abilities. Now, since her advisor is leaving for Singapore 新加坡, she will be leaving…at least for a couple of months. Since, as you might have noticed reading here for a while I don’t use real names, let’s call her Ms. Tech Ph.D.

Ms. Tech Ph.D. has touched many peoples’ lives. Various friends got up and told stories of how she met them at the airport or helped them out to get adjusted to life on campus 適應這邊的環境, find places, etc. She was always there to help, from set up to clean up and as an enthusiastic Bible study leader 每一次很樂意的幫忙. Now she will be in the land of really tropical weather, clean streets and fresh durian fruit. We’ll all miss you, especially your boyfriend.

(Note that these photos were taken indoors 室內 with an Olympus E300 and without a flash 沒有閃光. I like the natural colors.)

2006-12-03T22:11:00.000-08:00

Ballet Dancing Performance 芭蕾舞表演

Here is the famous ballet star, our daughter relaxing after her performance! She danced with her ballet school, doing a brief dance with a Christmas theme. There were ballet dances, Chinese dances and Spanish dances. Our daughter has always had a talent for jumping 女兒一直都喜歡跳來跳去. As soon as she could stand up she tried to jump. Then she would jump on our bed, jump on the sofa, jump just about anywhere she was so we thought that it would be appropriate to let her jump in ballet class. Fortunately, she does take it fairly seriously and so does really well.

Afterwards, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant 越南餐廳 for a feast of Seven Courses of Beef 七味牛肉. The second photo is of her taken here with my wife’s parents at that restaurant. Sounds like a crude name in English, doesn’t it? But actually Vietnamese food has all sorts of subtle herbs and tropical greens各種各樣的香草that make each course of beef amazingly fragrant and tasty. It was very reasonably priced but food where we live is all reasonably priced. Top that off with tropical fruit and some good discussion, and the evening turned out pretty well.

2006-11-30T23:40:00.000-08:00

Spending Money: Observations of Chinese and Western Differences 花錢的概念: 中國與西方

Sometimes little differences like shopping can have a big impact on a relationship. Typical example is the apocryphal 虛構的 story of the husband / wife difference in buying flowers. A husband buys a dozen roses for his wife and tells her that he got them for a bargain price. She’s upset and he doesn’t know why….differences in the value of money that can cause problems.

I have found that Chinese value bargains and seem to enjoy looking for the best product at the cheapest price much more than Westerners. When my wife finds a bargain, say a peddler comes to her workplace 去她的辦公室賣批發產品 and she finds a good looking pair of shoes 鞋子 for a dollar or two in American money or inexpensive socks 襪子 or some other item, she enjoys it and tells me about her bargain. Going out to a restaurant, she is very happy (me too) when we dine well for a cheap price. I am the same way, but I am by no means typical of Westerners. Both of us enjoy going out to markets like the one in the photo.

By contrast, in Western culture people just do not get as excited about that sort of thing…at best. No one seems quiet as happy as I do that I paid $3 for my pair of genuine leather name-brand looking shoes. At worst, in some social contexts it is considered a faux pas to talk about inexpensive prices, something that pegs one as lower class 沒有水準的人才會這樣. “You get what you pay for” probably sums up how people feel 一分錢, 一分貨.

2006-11-28T23:35:00.000-08:00

Beaches 沙灘

Just in case you didn’t already know, I’m not a surfer type and I don’t like to sun myself on the beach, but I love the ocean. There is nothing like finding a quiet spot by the ocean on a sandy beach away from it all and wandering around to the sound of the surf. Maybe I was also raised on stories of pirates 海賊 on tropical islands with beautiful sandy beaches so that inspires me as well. This is a photo of a beautiful beach we went to this past weekend. It is in a very isolated spot 遙遠的地方 that has many more sand dunes than people 沙丘比人多. Some of my favorite beaches are in Taishan 台山 and on Taiwan’s northeast coast between Iilan 宜蘭 and Hualian 花蓮.

It seems that the Chinese and in fact people in many parts of the world are not as crazy about beaches as Westerners. In the West, beaches are prized and the most expensive houses are right up on the beach where they can be destroyed by tidal waves 海嘯. There are people, surfers 衝浪的 and others, who build their lives around enjoying the ocean. That does not seem to be as true with Chinese. They go to the beach, but they do not have to possess it by living there. It doesn’t have the same allure as in the West, especially the isolated beach. People there are also not as likely to spend large amounts of time sunning 曬太陽 themselves on beaches as I pointed out in my post on differing ideals of beauty.

2006-11-26T23:54:00.000-08:00

Chinese Medicine versus Western Medicine: Honey 中藥與西藥

On Friday we went out to a bee farm, one of the largest we have seen. We tasted 品嘗蜂蜜 all sorts of honeys, some made from things I never thought honey could be made from. There are all different wildflowers, high mountain flowers, lychees 荔枝, longan 龍眼, cactuses 仙人掌, etc. My favorite was a type of wildflower honey you can see in this photo. It’s also nice to get away to farmland once in a while to relax and enjoy the peacefulness. There was not a car or a person around for a while.

We also bought royal jelly 蜂王漿 (2nd photo). It is very popular in China as a medicine for reducing cholesterol 膽固醇, with hormones 激素 for maintaining skin beauty and even fighting off some types of cancers. I admit that I am a skeptic about such things, but I have seen the effectiveness and in this case it is backed up by research. One of the biggest differences between Chinese medicine and Western medicine is that Chinese medicine works to cure by natural methods bolstering a whole system in the body. By contrast, Western medicine is focused on a specific cure for a specific ailment. That is why something like long-term consumption of royal jelly or treatment from bee stingers 蜂針 is a part of Chinese medicine.

2006-11-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 感恩節 2006

I normally write my posts more in English, so I’m going to switch this time for part of the post.

Thanksgiving seems to be a unique holiday 獨一無二的季節from the Americas, but maybe some of you out there can help me with this. There are other 'harvest festivals,' such as the Moon festival, but a Thanksgiving is only found in the Americas. We visited my wife's friends in Toronto right on the Canadian Thanksgiving加拿大的感恩節 in mid October and had a wonderful Vietnamese BBQ dinner with ice wine 冰酒 outside in a garden surrounded by flaming red and orange maple trees 楓樹.

This year, my parents came over for dinner and brought the turkey 火雞, stuffing火雞的餡, potatoes 馬鈴薯and pumpkin pie 南瓜餅 with them. We found a place nearby that sells live turkeys to be killed and plucked to order. My mother’s potato dishes are really good tasting as I guess is to be expected from someone of German descent.

You can see the results after the family thanksgiving dinner. Grandpa is there getting his hugs from a granddaughter and a grandson. Of course we cannot forget the family portrait minus the photographer.

今年的感恩節我很:

感謝信耶穌基督
感謝可以感覺到神在我們的生命當中
感謝有家庭, 妻子, 孩子
感謝有工作
感謝身體好
感謝可以去聖靈充滿的教會

2006-11-21T23:11:00.000-08:00

Small Painters 小畫家

Artwork has always been something I can appreciate but never really been able to do 一點都不會畫畫. For the most part, I cannot draw anything more complicated than stick figures. I did a self portrait a while ago for a class, but thankfully that has been long since lost….I think. On the other hand, I can appreciate art. Mostly, our children have been taught art by a teacher at a local art studio 畫廊的老師 or by my wife’s father.

These two pieces of artwork are from different artists. The top one is a spontaneous work done by our 3 year old son 三歲的兒子. You can see it is quite accurate for his age and done without any help.

The second is a self portrait 自畫像 our daughter completed not long ago as part of a home school class assignment. It does look like her physically but I can especially see her in the smile. That is definitely her smile. At least it is done on a better background than her earlier artwork. One night when my daughter was 4 I came home to find that she had painted a picture of herself and our family on the wall. She looked like a beautiful girl. Her brother looked like a Mr. Potato Head 馬鈴薯頭 and my wife and I looked a little like pigs 有一點像豬頭.

2006-11-19T23:21:00.000-08:00

Sha mian 沙面

This part of Guangzhou is different for several reasons. The architecture is European style 歐洲式的建築 from the pre-1949 days. In the first photo if you look carefully on the side of the wall, you can see writing on a plaque describing the building’s original inhabitants. (a good exposure I might add considering the contrast in light.) Since the area is old and there has not been a lot of redevelopment, there are a lot of trees as well, which makes for some nice shade 因為有樹蔭所以沒有那麼熱. The second photo is a typical street scene in the area, but very atypical for busy Guangzhou.

Although it is the area probably most visited by foreign visitors to Guangzhou, we have only gone here 2 or 3 times. The American consulate 美國的領事館 is here, probably the biggest in China since I believe it deals with the bulk of visa, status and adoption issues. Also, the famous White Swan hotel 白天鹅宾馆 is here. It is not new. It was a fancy hotel when my wife left China, but they have kept it up quite well. It is still quite nice with a dim sum buffet.

2006-11-16T19:16:00.000-08:00

Interracial Marriage in the United States 美國的跨種族婚姻

When I read articles attacking cross-racial couples I find it amusing. Sadly, they are quite common these days in some of areas of the media in the West. These ideologues have their names to label each type of cross-racial couple they don’t like. The labels serve to impose their own ideology 看法 and motives 動機 onto why these people of different race get together. So, I would have “yellow fever” and my wife would be a “sellout” in their terminology. They also have lots of supposed anecdotes 所謂的趣聞 to back up their prejudices. Of course some cross-racial couples are more correct than others, it just depends on which race or gender the writer hates more.

While these stories are slathered with a coating of fact and ideology, I believe that most of them arise from either envy or maybe a bad experience. Either way, interracial couples are much like same race couples, except maybe a little sweeter on the average 甜蜜一點. Romeo and Juliet, West Side Stories….there are lots of examples of couples who cross ethnic or other boundaries to become one, and they are stronger for having overcome opposition. Fortunately churches often seem to be at the forefront of cross-racial marriage, providing a supportive environment.

It’s all silliness to me because, regardless of race, they are all Americans. It is really culture and socialization that matters. That is why I still savor the memory of that white guy of Irish descent I met in Chicago’s Chinatown 芝加哥的唐人街 during college. His missionary parents died when he was just a baby before the revolution and he was raised by Chinese parents 他被中國父母領養的. He only left China and started learning English when he was 23 or 24才出國去香港開始學英文. His Chinese (Cantonese) was much better than his English. But for those who look at race he would not be Asian, just another white guy.

2006-11-14T23:58:00.000-08:00

Nightscapes: Evening in China 夜景

The beauty of the night. I admit that I am a night person 夜貓子. I firmly believe that if man had been meant to see the sunrise it would have been made later in the day. There is something about the cool and quiet of the evening that makes it a great time for exploration, quiet contemplation or prayer.

This first photo is of our dinner table last night. There was a blackout 停電 and so we lit whatever candles 蠟燭 were handy. The pumpkin one 南瓜的 was from my parents and the others were from a Christmas crafts faire held at our previous church where our children helped make candles手造的. Turning the lights out made for an intimate time around the table dipping bread into our beef and daikon 白蘿蔔stew.

This other photo is of a night landscape in China, the silver and gold pagoda 塔, near the center of Guilin. There is something fun about night landscapes in China and throughout most of the Far East. Whether it is neon or night markets 夜市, there is a reason to walk around after dark to see what is down the next street or path. It makes me want to explore on foot. I usually feel fairly safe 比較安全 or at least not as if I am taking my life in my hands as I might in some places in the world after dark.

2006-11-12T23:52:00.000-08:00

飲茶 Dim Sum

Dim sum is probably the most commonly known type of Chinese food in the West. If you live in a large coastal American city美國海岸的大城市, you know what I am talking about. They are the large restaurants with a lot of noise 熱鬧 and lots of good food going around on carts that people can choose from. But these restaurants definitely have a place in Cantonese society.

These restaurants are definitely used as a third place, where people can go out and meet friends. They serve the same function as coffee houses 咖啡店 in some places or pubs 酒吧 do in others. Space is at a premium so a small party will just get a half a table 自己的人數少就要跟別的客人一起坐. For special guests, or if someone really has a lot of money, they reserve a room. Apparently, they started out as tea houses, as the name suggests in Chinese, but later all sorts of appetizers 點心 were added so that they have become the banquet houses they are today. 餐廳的客戶

We like them though I admit that they seem too lively to be a place to take friends for a quiet conversation. The meal first starts with a choice of tea, as is shown in the second photo. Then the dim sum is ordered from a menu. One of my favorites is the 榴蓮酥, or durian crisp. This place that we took my parents out to is quite elegant, complete with these two throne-type chairs you see in the background.

2006-11-09T23:20:00.000-08:00

Chinese Characters Part 2: Why Written Modern Chinese is an Easy Language 閱讀: 中文還是英文容易?

And now to all of you who have put up breathlessly waiting for 2 days for the second part in this series, here it is and no I haven’t lost my mind in saying that Chinese is easy. After having studied Chinese for a long time, I recently fully realized that written Chinese was not a phonetic language是沒有字母的. “It took you years to figure that one out,” you say? Well, it took me years to figure out the implications of it. Most people of us with alphabets tend to think of languages with pictures in them as a crude throwback to the days of hieroglyphs. Not so.

First, as many of you may know, Chinese characters can be read using any pronunciation. So, the character for 林 can be read as ‘lin’ in Mandarin or ‘lam’ in Cantonese and ‘hayashi’ in Japanese. I’m sure there is also a pronunciation in Korean, but I don’t know it. The characters can be read in any one feels like since they are not an alphabet, so that they can be understood in different languages. I made my way through the Japanese rail system this summer using my rudimentary Japanese and an ability to read their Chinese characters, 漢字 you’ll remember that from my last post, called ‘kanji’ in Japanese.

Another reason Chinese is easy, once we get past the initial time investment, is that they use meaning compounds to make new words, specialized terms 專門術語 and the like. Unlike Japanese, which borrows sounds wholesale from foreign languages, ‘terebi,’ ‘ cupu,’ and the like, Chinese uses the character meanings to form words. So, that computer becomes ‘electronic brain’電腦, and television becomes ‘electronic vision’電視. That means that learning new words is much easier than with an alphabet-based language.

(This is my daughter's practice notebook as she is hard at work, once in a while, doing her homework.)

2006-11-07T22:44:00.000-08:00

Chinese Characters 漢字

For all of you out there who are hunkering down to study Chinese characters (or Japanese kanji) after a long night of heartbreak or glee from the recent elections depending on your political bent, there is light at the end of the linguistic tunnel. It is true that study of written Chinese is all downhill after the first 2000 characters 頭2000個字最難. A short note for tonight, but something I have thought about a bit as I have recently been in the midst of a spurt of studying and learning new vocabulary.

Chinese characters are really only combinations of a limited number of parts called radicals 部首. One part gives the meaning and another part suggests the sound. What this means is that after a while it becomes easier to remember a character because you can say to yourself, “hey, I’ve seen that character somewhere before, but it had a gold radical 金 rather than a wood radical 木 so this one must sound somewhat like it but it is a type of tree rather than a metal!” It is much quicker to remember characters this way than to look at them as the jumble of lines as it seems to the uninitiated eye. At this point I can look at an entirely new character and remember it without writing it down.

Another way in which they are easy is that Chinese words are meaning combinations rather than sound combinations like English 比英文生詞容易, which makes learning new words much much easier. Tune in later and I’ll explain.

2006-11-05T22:33:00.000-08:00

Girls' Birthdays 女孩子的生日

These are two photos from two very different birthdays of friends' daughters 朋友的女兒 we celebrated recently. Birthdays are rituals 儀式we celebrate that mark milestones in our lives. Of course it’s much more fun for parents to celebrate their childrens’ birthdays than to celebrate their own. It gives parents a chance to get together. The top photo is a 3 year old girl and the bottom is a 7 year old.

Needless to say, children think of birthdays differently 小孩子對生日的看法不一樣. Most of them our daughter’s age look forward to birthdays all year long and wonder why they can’t have 2 or 3 each year. They start off with running, screaming and jumping, preferably with as much noise as possible while the adults congregate in another place and talk. At one point, everything stops and everyone gathers for the blowing out of the candles 吹蠟燭 and cutting of the cake 切蛋糕. Then the real fun begins when all their friends sit on the floor ready for the opening of the gifts 開禮物, in open admiration of each present. I guess we all love gifts, though, there is something of that fun around Christmas time as well.

2006-11-02T21:57:00.000-08:00

Tai Shan Hot Spring 台山溫泉

I have taken photos in all sorts of conditions with my weather-sealed Zuiko lens but humidity is tough 如果很潮濕, 攝影比較辛苦. We went out to this hot springs in Tai Shan and as you can see the humidity was quite a challenge. It made a nice photo in this lavender hot springs pool.

There were 40 different pools 水池 altogether and each pool had a slightly different set of temperature and or herbs or minerals. The temperature differences were natural but the medicinal herbs were placed in there. My favorite whenever I visit hot springs, though, is the large pool. They are always warm but not hot. I just don’t like swimming in cold water 不喜歡冷水 so it’s fun swimming in these large hot springs pools late at night. There are also the hot rocks that as you can see are nice to lie down on to dry out.

We also went other places, like this coastal spot and a small village near the hot springs where we had the Tai Shan台山 dish 黃鱔飯 or yellow eel rice. I reluctantly went white water rafting 漂流, for some reason popular on tours right now, and as you can see I didn’t even kill myself in the process. We started in a bus traveling to the top of a hill in a downpour 傾盆大雨 that signaled the beginning of a large storm, traveling like prisoners to the POW camp…well, maybe more like kids to a summer camp but since I am more risk averse to death and injury I’ll set the tone here. We were with a large group of college students 大學生 and a family from Korea 還有一個從韓國來的家庭. I figured if they could do it, I could as well. My older son and I were in one boat. We went down one at a time being pushed out of tough spots by guides along the way. One time we were trapped in a whirlpool with the guide’s boat before being smashed out by a third boat with the heavy set kid who liked to use his helmet as a water gun. Almost 20 rapids and 3 serious water fights later, we arrived at calm waters where we rafted our way to 2nd place!!

2006-10-31T22:51:00.000-08:00

How Did I Get to China? 為什麼流在中國

It's an interesting question that was asked on a discussion board I was recently reading. Why do people leave everything, pack up and go from home to another country in the world 離開故鄉? More specifically on this site, they were interested in how did people decide that they wanted to live in China? On resumes lives seem to be a tidy progression from one logical step to another, but reality is often much different.

I always did have an interest in China, but I was interested in many parts of the world. I certainly loved my course in Indian civilization 印度文化課 in college, and the dinners made by the husband and wife team that taught the course. They brought their whole family over to India for a year at a time every couple of years during their sabbatical year. I also took a year of Spanish 西班牙語, but I made a decision not to pursue it further though I really enjoyed my Peruvian 秘魯 instructor.

No, for me it was opportunity and laziness. My last year of college I applied to an internship program overseas teaching English and got accepted for a year contract一年的合同in Taiwan. I had an opportunity for a two year position 兩年的合同 in Japan, but having taken a semester of Chinese and being commitment phobic 承諾恐懼 at the time, this was not an option for me. It was either the internship in Taiwan or accept a position with a major public relations firm in Chicago. Not quite ready for the American corporate world yet, and more subzero winters, I decided on Taiwan and the journey that would change my life quite .

2006-10-29T23:27:00.000-08:00

Short Stories 短篇故事

Well we attended a fundraiser 籌款餐會 for our church to raise money for producing video clips of short stories on DVD, the web and television. Nothing like a good story, everyone loves them. Story telling 講故事, being a bard is certainly one of the oldest professions in the world and the only way the happenings of a peoples were transmitted before most people were literate. Traditionally, the best teachers are also good story tellers, as we Christians know from Jesus teaching his disciples.

These 15 minute videos 十五分鐘的剪片, they vary in quality but some are really very good, give the extraordinary stories about ordinary people. If you click here, you can see some 請聽我說, My Story. You probably don’t know them personally, but they can tell you the story (sometimes complete with video visuals) of how their lives and the lives of people around them were touched. Some have gone to remote areas of the world, some have had a close brush with danger and death, yet others have had really unusual experiences in their careers that they would like to share. But the nice thing is that they are all verified and true 都是真正發生的故事.

Before the meeting, I met an old friend I knew as a single guy 單身的時候, the only white boy in a Chinese-language choral group. It was a difficult time in my life, but they really made me feel welcome. We practiced hard, arrived late, left late and traveled around together quite a bit in those days. With his sense of humor and his no-nonsense attitude, this guy was especially fun to be around. I later moved on, got married. When I returned years later most of the people I had known at that time, including him, were gone.

By now I had almost forgotten him. At the line for food a guy came up to me 排隊拿菜的時候 and said “do you remember me?’ I said yes hesitantly and smiled, because I remembered the face, just not where I knew him. By the time the right neural pathway had fired and I remembered fully who he was, he was gone. Well, I can’t live in the past, but it’s nice to have a reminder every once in a while.

2006-10-26T23:32:00.000-07:00

Life of Eileen Chang 張愛玲的傳記

I think the most interesting stories come from a good observer of the lives of everyday people. We don’t need to live dramatic lives in order to have something poignant 令人家感動 to share with the rest of the world, just close observation and simple language to describe it. Having said that, some peoples’ lives are really dramatic and can come alive as a great story in the right hands. That is true of this drama we are watching about Eileen Chang 我從海上來.

It is a very well done drama 連續劇, that is done at just the right speed to give a feel for the times and how people were actually experiencing their lives without rushing viewers through. It starts with the scene in this photo where she is walking alone through the northern New England winter to a writer’s colony all the way out in the middle of the forest. There the story of her life, a prolific author 多產的作家 with a loyal following, slowly unfolds for the viewer. I won’t try to describe the whole story, but from other material I have read it seems pretty accurate.

Eileen Chang was a recluse 孤獨, especially toward the end of her life, the Greta Garbo of the Chinese literary world. The way it is portrayed in this drama, she seemed to have some of her mother’s loner personality. They do show her rejecting a relationship with her little brother 不理她的弟弟, 但是 but on the other hand she was (from what I have read) a devoted wife 忠實的太太 to both of her husbands. She was also good friends with a non-Chinese woman from her days in the university in Hong Kong.

2006-10-24T23:34:00.000-07:00

Our Home in Guangzhou 廣州的家

Some people think of houses or specific buildings or even a piece of land when they think of a home, but I agree with those who say that home is where you make it. It is the sound of a family moving around, making noise or even just perhaps a place where you come back to where you don't have to move on. It's that feeling that everyone needs 歸屬感, whether they live in a 5 bedroom house or a room with a bathroom attached不管是山莊或小房間.

Well, these are some photos of our home in Guangzhou. In the first photo, our children are playing with a toy doctor's set 玩具聽診器 we bought for our daughter in the living room. It was a nice place and very clean. We have a daily ritual at the end of the day of climbing up the stairs, taking a shower one after another and then sitting down to slice up whatever fresh fruits are in the market (新疆西瓜, 山竹, 黃皮) for a late night snack. Read some bible stories and watch some Mandarin or Cantonese drama / cartoon before heading off to sleep in the night.

Toys are very cheap in Guangzhou and it is fun shopping around in their toy district 海珠廣場. We also bought radio-powered toys for our sons. Our little one got a radio-powered car and the older one a radio-powered helicopter 無線電控制系統, which you can see in the 3rd photo. The 2nd photo is a hand-held shot taken at night near the Pearl River 珠江 in a nearby district. No one can say Olympus DSLRs don't take good photos in low light!

2006-10-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

Trails 步道

This past Saturday we just went on a short hike to a birding area around here. The weather was warm, in the high 80s and as you can see there was a clear view. The first photos is of a peaceful lotus pond 荷花池 there, reflections in the sunlight. The second photo is of what are probably the remains of a car crash 60 or more years ago 六十多年以前車禍的殘骸.

I have always enjoyed hiking on trails. Probably it was the exploration of it 好奇心. Sometimes one never quite knows where they are going. These types of trails are more fun to go on near cities where it’s hard to get really lost than out in the wilderness. I still prefer trail signs and to know where I am going in real wilderness 曠野 where getting lost may mean days of wandering. I can still remember thinking I was going gradually going downhill on a mountain range, when I came upon a 10,000 foot marker 海拔一萬尺的招牌 and realized we were actually hiking upward.

We really enjoy hiking in Taiwan. It has some nice trails all over the island and surprisingly few wild animals 野獸 ready to rip apart unwary hikers. The mountains in the center of the island, such as 玉山 and 阿里山 or farther north such as 合歡山 are green and have quite a bit of biodiversity as elevation increases.

2006-10-19T23:51:00.000-07:00

Guangzhou Countryside 廣州城外的鄉下

I know you are saying, enough of this boring text! I want to see photos! Well, I am going to to take you through some of our photos in steps as we have lived in Guangzhou for a while recently. The first is of the countryside outside of Guangzhou. Think of a long time ago when you used to go fishing 釣魚 or a walk in a park 在公園裡散步 on a lazy summer day.

Well, when my wife was little she used to go to the countryside outside of Guanzhou with her grandmother 外婆 and meet her uncle there. Her uncle took then took her this little girl on a boat through the waterways 小運河to his house. She has fond memories of these times and so one weekend we went back to visit and he took her (well, us this time) on a boat ride just as she had remembered it.

It was relaxing. After the din of traffic and noise of Guangzhou, it was a relatively peaceful place 平靜的地方. In fact, in some places, the countryside close to the coastal cities is actually nicer to live in than the cities themselves. The houses are quite big and some have courtyards. Others have gardens where people grow vegetables. There are also waterways that ring portions of the community.

2006-10-17T23:58:00.000-07:00

Fall Harvest 秋天的收穫

Fall has many different implications. It can represent decline or increasing darkness, but in many cultures it is a time of harvest. The best time of the year. I can remember from my childhood, back to nature types would store vegetables in jars for the entire winter I guess in imitation of what people had to do for survival in earlier times. There are also the various harvest festivals. The Moon Festival 中秋節 that just passed is one. Thanksgiving 感恩節 is a later celebration of a harvest and the Harvest Festival 豐收節 that is celebrated at churches in the place of Halloween is yet another. In past times, people were really happy that they had enough food for the winter, but even today there are some things like pumpkins that just aren't eaten at other times of the year.

That's certainly true in our yard as you can see in these photos. It has been a long season for all of our fall-bearing fruit, 1 and 1/2 months, but it is almost at an end...maybe a week or 2 more. Then no more for a whole year. Two baskets of strawberry guava 草莓番石榴 can be seen in the below photo to the left. There are also yellow pomegranites 石榴 in the basket to the right. In the photo above, there are jujubees 紅棗 in the basket to the left that have already been eaten.

2006-10-15T23:04:00.000-07:00

Mythic versus the Real 神話與真理

This is one of those great photos that happens almost by accident. We were about to rush out the door and I thought that the females 美女in the family looked so beautiful this evening (not that they don't usually look that way) that I should take a photo of them. Fortunately I didn't use flash, just high ISO. The afternoon light 下午的陽光was perfect. It comes streaming in from the background and almost seems to glorify their beauty and parody the mess in our living room 變成諷刺性的照片.

Another thing to notice though is the photo in the wall in the background. That is a real staged (faux) photo 全家福 done in Taiwan. People pay to try on different sets of costumes and take family portraits. If you look carefully, we almost look like a family of movie stars or perhaps influential people out of a "Who's Who" guide. I guess all of us like to pretend that for a while, to try on different costumes and roles. 真正的我們... The reality, and why I like this accidental staged photo best, is always quite different as the warm glow of afternoon light highlights us for the flawed people we are.

2006-10-12T23:39:00.000-07:00

Meetings 開會

Meetings are a part of our lives, especially where we work and they come in all shapes and sizes. The best meetings are those that are swift and action packed. I attended one of those recently. The moderator had a brief and dramatic talk by an outside speaker. (Blood and guts talks or films 恐怖片 like Red Asphalt that they have in U.S. traffic schools are also appreciated.) Then we got down to the business of dividing out the work and we were out of there. Congratulations and my heartfelt thanks非常感謝.

The worst are long and drawn out meetings. You know, you’ve been to them before. They are the ones where people are droning on and on just to hear themselves talk自己喜歡聽到自己講話. “Excuse me, but I have another good idea that will never be put into practice and no one is interested hearing, but let me take the next 45 minutes going it over in detail.” I’ll read the paper version later in a tea or coffee house thank you very much.

I suppose in this respect all cultures have them. Chinese and American firms both have them. The Hong Kong firm 香港公司 I worked for was pretty good about meetings. We only had meetings when serious work had to get done, such as the VP laying down the law of the land for us about something. I have heard Japanese firms 日本公司 are notorious for long and grueling meetings where internal power struggles 內部鬥爭 take place and lots of time is wasted, but I mercifully don’t have first hand experience with this.

2006-10-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

中秋節2: 包餃子 Moon Festival 2: Dumpling Rolling

On Saturday night we met with our friends from our cell group at church and had a dumpling rolling party before our weekly meeting. Dumpling rolling is one of those things I have never been good at. 我笨手笨腳. One will be big, another small. Sometimes I'll put too much filling in and sometimes too little....but the ones I rolled were all eaten up. Like sushi rolling, I'm just not coordinated enough to do it well, but they do taste good when I make them. You don't want me as your brain surgeon, but maybe I can mash potatoes or taro your next catering event!

The meeting was great. We had a good time of sharing 分享 of bible verses and stories, going over last week's message 信息 and prayer 祈禱 that just seemed to fit together with what was happening in our lives. Bad things such as a death in the family and good things such as births have happened to those in our group, but through it all we are trusting in the Lord and people in our midst are coming to faith in Christ. This no doubt was what the 1st century church experienced.

In the first photo here you can see one of our experts wrapping the filling of pork, shrimp and other ingredients into the dumpling skins 餃子皮. His hand is moving so quickly, it blurs in the photo....no, actually that's what happens at low shutter speed no flash indoor photo at night. I like the colors better than when I use a flash. In the 2nd photo, some of us are taste testing the results. Can you find the crude paste-in of the photographer tasting a moon cake? The third photo is of the moon cake slicing after the meeting.

2006-10-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Moon Festival 中秋節快樂!

Yes, I know it’s a day or two late but we just celebrated the Harvest of the August Moon 八月, by the lunar calendar 月曆 that is. It was October 6 by the solar calendar 日曆. Traditionally, families get together from all over during this holiday, dress up and have dinner together. The roundness in the moon serves as a symbol of the wholeness of the family as it gets together. It serves a very similar function for the family that Thanksgiving 感恩節 does in American culture, as a celebration of the harvest.

In the olden days, people got together, got drunk and admired the moon while composing poetry. These days people get together, get drunk sometimes and certainly admire the moon but there isn’t as much of the composing of poetry 詩. They say the moon is at its biggest in several years this moon festival.

Of course the most visible symbol is the moon cake 月餅. They have been compared to the fruit cakes given out at Christmas but they are much much better. I can still remember the artificial neon glow fruit on top of those things…yech. My favorite moon cake is the standard red bean paste with a single salted duck egg yolk 豆沙單黃. The one in the photo here is lotus paste with egg yolk (click for larger size), but close enough. I also like durian fruit moon cakes sent by friends in Thailand and I have heard rumors of rich chocolate ones from Singapore.

Stay tuned for photos and an update of our Moon Festival weekend tomorrow.

2006-10-05T22:53:00.000-07:00

Chinese and American ideals of Beauty and Skin美與皮膚

There are many differences in ideals of beauty between cultures. In fact they even change in cultures over time. One of the biggest differences in beauty I have seen is related to skin.

Americans and Western Europeans like to tan skin. A pale person is considered a sickly person. Tanning 曬太陽has long been considered a sign of health and beauty. The fashion now is for as much skin to hang out as possible which means that people are getting tanner than ever.

With Chinese, whiter skin is better. Some attribute this to lingering effects of colonialism 殖民主義 or Hollywood 好萊塢 or some other such nonsense, but there is no evidence to suggest that is true. Women will avoid going out in the sun and go out of their way to lighten their skin. My wife regularly rubs watermelon 西瓜 on her face which she believes will whiten it. That part is fine. I believe that too much exposure to the sun is definitely bad and that Chinese women have nicer looking skin because they avoid it.

However, even freckles 雀斑 are considered bad. I told my wife that freckles are considered a sign of beauty in some places, but she just does not believe me.

2006-10-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

Life and Death 死與活

Life and death are hard to understand for little children. Our daughter is fortunate that she still has both of her grandparents 爷爷,奶奶,外公,外婆who are alive and well. But she had her first taste of death with the passing away of a goldfish her friend had given her on Sunday evening.

She brought a "friend" over for our daughter's goldfish and we put him into the bowl. He seemed to be doing well for a while, but passed away late the next morning floating on the top of the bowl. Unfortunately, the deceased was tossed into the garbage can by mistake, but I helped her make a marker to stick in the ground outside for her fish. The 2nd photo is a closeup of the 1st where her writing "魚(fish) friends with (heart) 魚 (fish)" is clearer. At least we could help teach her a little something about the grieving process.

2006-10-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

侮辱 Insult

What a topic you say, but I was just thinking about this tonight. 外在: In the West and especially in the United States 美國 any mention of a person's physical features is considered an insult提出外表容易得罪人家. We don't dare talk about about anything relating to a person's race. But then again we don't talk about someone's weight or their hair or other aspects of the appearance for fear of offending the person. But appearance matters a lot in the U.S. in how we are actually treated by others.

By contrast, physical features are commonly talked about in Chinese culture. It is not an insult to comment on someone's weight, their hair or even their skin color. There are common nicknames for people that would be considered quite insulting in Western culture. 燒餅頭 'Bean cake head,' 'darky' and even 'Fat Fat' 肥肥 are quite ok. That is why I can stock up on my tubes of "White Man" Toothpaste in Taiwan whenever I need it, but would be hard pressed to find a Western manufacturer who would select this same brand name. But my observation is that, despite open talk about physical appearance, it doesn't matter as much in how someone is treated in Chinese culture as in American culture.

內在: With personality, the roles are reversed. This is where the Chinese are more sensitive than Americans. In some parts of America, "hey stupid," just means "hi." It certainly is ok for newspapers to comment on someone's personality, more so than to comment on their apperance. In Chinese culture, it is not acceptable to comment negatively on someone's character. That is why my wife was so insulted when a neighbor said she was stupid like a pig 笨豬 when she was little. It didn't seem insulting to me and I told her that pigs seemed quite smart, but somehow she wasn't buying it. It would be the same insult as someone saying a little girl in the West was as "fat as a pig."

2006-09-27T23:55:00.000-07:00

手寫板 Chinese Language Palm Pilot

My wife has just started using her new toy, a Chinese type of palm pilot 手寫板 she bought in China. It allows her to write Chinese characters on to the screen which are transformed into code in the PC (that actually looks a lot nicer than the one on the left...with rainbow color characters.) We bought it in the 海印 Electronics District in Guangzhou for a good price, around $7 US.

My handwriting is not very legible in either English or Chinese, so I prefer entering Chinese characters using the keyboard. (a doctor's handwriting!) Software allows me to enter the characters using either pin yin or the radicals 部首.

2006-09-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

Birthing traditions Chinese and American 寶寶來了!

The newest member of our home group at church has arrived! And he is very well-behaved. He doesn't cry much or even seem to frown. After waiting the appropriate month for 作月子 (there is really no appropriate word for this in English), the mother brought the baby out for a first viewing.

His cousins, daughters of the mother's little sister were giving this foolish photographer snapping photo after photo the "look," so I wisely stopped after I got a couple of good ones.

The Chinese have a tradition of mothers waiting at home for one month after birth to restore their health and give time for the baby to strengthen. The mother's mother will make all sorts of special soups and foods for the new mother. When families are separated by an ocean, there are月子中心 that are set up to care for the new mothers and their children. Some of them are quite elaborate and customize their care depending on where in the Chinese world the mothers come from. Mostly, they give the mother a chance to rest up in a peaceful setting during that 1st month. So, the date after that month, 滿月, is actually quite an important milestone.

Having said all this, our friend relied on family and friends mostly. I know my wife brought a Cantonese-style vinegared pig foot 醋豬腳, which tastes quite good and is something she ate after the births.

By contrast, most of my American friends seem to focus on getting back to work quickly, whether to a job or household work. The emphasis seems to be on a quick return to self sufficiency. Many jobs require going back to work 3 weeks after a birth and I can remember mothers bringing their babies out for us to see as soon as a week after birth. I can still remember a joke by a friend that he had to reserve a slot for his daughter in a local day care center 托兒所 before she was born. It is similar to the differences in worldview noted by earlier commentators between Japan and the West. The West views babies as dependent, a bad thing, and have to be trained to be independent as early as possible.

2006-09-20T23:53:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Cake 巧克力蛋糕

Our youngest one loves chocolate, so for his birthday we got him a chocolate cake. He went through 3 steps to get a messy face. Blow out the candles 蠟燭吹掉, go face down into the cake. Then pull up the face and pose for the camera. Next year we should prepare a birthday party for him sometime and invite all of his many little friends over, but this year we just invited my parents and had a seafood dinner.

Good chocolate is something found in many cultures. Chinese in general do not like baked goods ,such as chocolate cake, as sweet as Americans do and on this I agree with them. I loved the chocolate cake in a bakery on Shi Da Lu 師大路 near the apartment we lived in Taipei. It was rich and just a little bit bitter tasting 半苦半甜的巧克力. I also like dark 60-70% chocolate that can be found in some places in the world.

2006-09-17T23:16:00.000-07:00

Fishing 釣魚

My apologies for the lapse in posting. I know that several of you have emailed asking when we are starting again. We've been away for pretty much all summer and I've been finishing some projects. But we are back!!

I'll gradually fill you in on some of the things we did over the summer but first things first. We caught our first fish! Two trout 兩條鱒魚which we pan fried that very evening.

I know some of you out there are thinking, no problem! Fishing is easy. "I've done it with my (usually fathers) since I was 6 years old." Well, I didn't. Not that we didn't do many things together when I was little, but it just wasn't in the history of our family.

We learned 2 things about fishing. It takes patience, whether fishing for prawns蝦 in the night markets 夜市 of Taiwan or large ocean fish out on the deep sea. We also learned that we need to go where the fish are. I had to put that pole right in the middle of a school of fish before they would bite, but they did bite.

2006-06-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

Expatriates in China 流在外國

I recently finished a book called Foreign Babes in Beijing 洋妞在北京, which is one of those books that, with the title and the cover, are a little embarrassing to read around others. I’m not one of those who refer to women as “babes” and the photo on the cover gives an entirely different impression from the book’s content. I had to explain to my wife that, no I was getting into reading porn. (All this has nothing to do with these photos which are a test of my DSLR's software update on an upcoming storm.)

It’s a book about a woman, Rachel DeWoskin, who played her part in East-West relations as the ‘wild foreign woman’ in a Chinese television drama 連續劇 by the same name that she later gave as the title of her book. It was interesting to me because we are of the generation of Americans who could move over to the Chinese-speaking world after graduation from college to start our careers and form life goals. Our generation was the first one that has been able to do so because of expanding economies and reduced restrictions.

DeWoskin talks about foreign expatriates who either loved China or who hated it. I agree with her that there does not seem to be a middle ground. Either people seem to love their experience and hang around with mostly Chinese friends or those for whom everything is annoying and who hang around the expatriate bars and clubs. Those who loved it were transformed by the experience. Those who hated it came home after their tours of duty and resumed normal lives in the West, thinking little or not at all about their overseas experience.

In some ways, DeWoskin lived the life of her drama character in Beijing. Reading this book made me think of another book I had read last summer about another American woman, Emily Hahn in China to Me, who lived a similar lifestyle in a bygone era of pre-war Shanghai 上海. A colorful though not always likeable character, Hahn is involved heavily and personally with some of the major characters in China of that era. It was an incredibly rich world with a former generation of expatriate Americans, our grandparents’ generation, many of whom loved China just as much and were just as sophisticated or adventurous as we think ourselves to be today…maybe more so.

2006-06-27T23:24:00.000-07:00

Organizing 整理

Space is always difficult. People have their own mental mapping of how to put things. That is why although as a family we share a common space, but each one of us has a little bit of space that is inviolate. If someone moves what I have put in one place, as happens all too often with 7 pairs of hands 七雙手 around, I cannot find what has been ‘reorganized.’ I never quite know where the item will turn up, a toy box, a bag with “my things,” etc. Moving 搬家 complicates the situation even more.

Packing 裝行李 seems to be something that women need to control. (In Chinese culture, the woman is the decisionmaker in things regarding the home, but I suspect this is true to a lesser extent in American culture as well. ) Some of you will no doubt correct me about your personal situation, but for almost every couple I have known in every culture the man stays out of the way while the woman packs......very much as I am doing right now as my wife packs. I have my personal things that I need to pack accordingly, but the rest is my wife’s decision. Women often know exactly how they would like space to be arranged and how it should be reconstituted once the family is at their destination. Men are for moving all the boxes and suitcases once they have been packed.

2006-06-25T22:58:00.000-07:00

Pacific Surf 太平洋的海浪

Got these great pictures of the waves off of our coast. There is a storm a bit out and it sent huge waves crashing in, which unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of but I did get the tail end here. Ah the Pacific Rim, volcanoes 火山, tall mountains, blue waters, surrounding the beautiful Pacific ocean that to me is so much more fun than the Atlantic Ocean I grew up around.

Speaking of the Pacific Ocean, we just went to a Hawaiian restaurant 夏威夷餐廳. It was very authentic with lots of hungry expatriate Hawaiians there as well. Strangely, we always feel right at home when we are in a Hawaiian environment. Most of the people in the islands are mixed race in one way or another and they have a very laid-back friendly attitude. Multi-lingual family with children stamping all over each other while wolfing down hearty portions of lau lau (用芋頭葉子包的, 裡面的馅是焗豬肉) and saimen 麵…no problem. We even got their delicious strawberry coffee cake made there, they started as a bakery in Hilo, to take home and star in our photo.

2006-06-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

Hapa混血

I just saw a streaming video film on growing up hapa. To its credit, the video deals with the subject of mixed race children in a balanced and non-political way.

The name always rings of Hawaiian夏威夷 and Japanese日本 cultures to me. I think of the many wonderful mixed race peoples on those beautiful islands and memories of beautiful scenery. But many people, at least on the Pacific Rim of Canada and the United States, apply it to mixed Asian and White children.

Our children are of course mixed race and there are always a variety of reactions of people to them. In Chinese culture, they are viewed as ‘beautiful,’ which I won’t argue with, but that is their perception of mixed race children in general. In American culture, they are seen more generically as Asians亞裔.

Most of the time though, there is no reaction 沒有反應 in either American or Chinese culture. They are just treated like other children in a setting. Both our daughter and our older son seem to easily play with children of different races and cultures. When she brings up the subject, our daughter refers to herself as being from both cultures rather than thinking of herself as ‘mixed.’ I was happy because that is the way we would like them to think of their background, as having the choice of two cultures.

This is our little one, only 2 1/2, posing for an official photo I took. It was hard to get him not moving or smiling.

2006-06-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

Baby Shower 嬰兒送禮會

We just recently celebrated a Chinese-style baby shower with our friends from church, though baby showers are not really Chinese custom. Americans celebrate a baby's arrival before he or she comes. We throw a party, set up an account at a local store to let people know what we need and end up with many crates of diapers 尿布and useless knick knacks anyway. The idea is to celebrate and help the new parents to prepare for the coming baby.

On the other hand, traditional Chinese culture celebrates babies one month after they are born 滿月. In fact, mothers do not often even go out until after the month, but I'll talk more about that in a future post. There is a big feast and everyone comes and celebrates the newborn.

On this occasion, we had all sorts of group games 遊戲, including tasting dabs of baby food to guess the flavor 味道. A good friend of mine did well (2 out of 4) on this. There was also measuring the size of the future mother's stomach with pieces of toilet paper and other challenges.

2006-06-18T23:43:00.000-07:00

Father’s Day 父親節

Father’s Day can also be written as爸爸節 or Ba ba Jie, which is a homonym for August 8th 八月八日. We went down to the ocean on a beautiful Father’s Day with my parents and my in-laws to have seafood by the harbor. It sounds like a nice idea and so seemingly 1000s of other people had exactly the same idea.

But strangely, I liked the experience. Maybe it was the challenge. First is the task of finding a table. We waited like vultures in a certain area by the water for the first table to open up. It is part sales technique and part good old-fashioned patience. Finally, a woman who spoke no English at all (my parents discovered this) had pity on us and decided that we were the ones worthy to inherit the table as they left. Then we got our fresh BBQd fish, octopus 花枝 and oysters 蠔 and sat down by the water for the show.

There are always a variety of sea life. We have seen sea lions海獅 and porpoises 海豚. This time it seemed to be bird life. We saw pelicans 鵜鶘 and a type of bird which is rare to me and hopefully someone out there can identify.

2006-06-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

Homemade Ice Cream 冰淇淋

It's one of those things that people don't do much of anymore, but it is well worth the time especially on a hot late spring evening. We made vanilla ice cream with the fresh vanilla we bought on our cruise destination. Making ice cream requires a little planning ahead, all the heated ingredients need to cool down and gel before they are put into the ice cream maker. The ice cream maker itself needs to be put into the freezer for a while. The flavor when it is finished is much better than anything I tasted in a store.

One nice thing about ice cream is that it is popular around the world, with some allowances for differences in flavors and types. The ices 刨冰 with fruit, beans and sugar cane juice 甘蔗汁 are one of my favorites from the Chinese speaking world.

For those of you regular visitors, I'll try to update on a more regular basis but busyness with writing kept me preoccupied the latter part of this spring.

2006-04-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

Wife's Birthday 生日

It was my wife’s birthday 太太的生日 and this was her birthday cake, a big thick slice of jackfruit 波羅蜜 with candles. In this second photo you can see what looks like a giant violet that is growing wild in our backyard. Maybe some of you out there can identify it better than I can and let us know. In the third photo you can see another wildflower, my wife celebrating her birthday.

Chinese do not make as big a fuss as Americans, with some exceptions. For one thing, counting can be different. Though they count by the Western system as well, one can be as much as 2 years old at birth. Other things about birthdays can be different. Cards 生日卡 are a good example. They aren’t that common or important, which is nice if you are lazy or forget to send out birthday cards like me.

There are certain birthdays that are more important than others. For example, the 60th birthday or the 1 month birthday are more important than they might be in Western culture...well, I guess we don't have a 1 month birthday but I'll talk about that in a future post.

On a personal note though, I just do not understand my family’s taste for ice cream cakes 冰淇淋蛋糕. It seems that everyone I have ever been related to likes ice cream cakes and I don’t! I’m a purist. It’s either ice cream (preferably pumpkin, rose, banana or French vanilla) or cake that isn’t too sweet, not both. But since my birthday isn't coming up for a while, that isn't going to be an issue.

2006-04-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

Easter 復活節

We had a wonderful Easter service at our church. Now I’ll bet you are wondering why I am writing this more than a week after Easter. Well, I like to sit on things and think about them a bit before I comment. As you can see I didn't take any photos at the service so I had to do something as dumb as take a take a photo of a photo of it...which does look kind of interesting with the crinkles.

Easter in Western cultures seems to be a time when a lot of people go to church who don’t normally go, hence the term ‘Easter Christians.’ Pastors do their best sermons 信息 and try to lead people to Christ or at least attract them to come back in the future. There are usually not a lot of spaces in pews, even in churches that normally have quite a few. There are even sunrise services which, not being a morning person, do not often attend.

Among Chinese Christians, I notice there is not the same variation in attendance. Of course the pastor gave a great message about the resurrection and we had a wonderful flag dance / singing by one of the choral groups, but they were just as crowded as they normally are. We also had more than 30 baptisms 受洗 just in our service!
They normally have very good attendance and I did not notice really that much of a difference. …maybe a little bit more overflow, but not much more than usual. That is probably because there is no secular tradition 沒有這種習慣 of Easter in Chinese culture as there is in Western culture where people who otherwise would not darken the door of a church suddenly dress up and attend.

2006-04-23T22:20:00.000-07:00

Idioms in Language 成語: 英文與中文

This is a photo of my daughter's homework. She will memorize 揹書 several poems from the Tang 唐and earlier in the Three Kingdoms 三國 period. She really seems to like the stories involved in the learning of the culture, though we have explained to her that the 4 Famous Beautiful Women 四大美女from that time period are quite a bit different from today's ideal of beauty.

The use of idioms, sayings and literary allusions are quite a bit different in the Chinese language than in English. Idioms are used in English, but not that much. It would be a little strange for someone to keep bringing up idioms in conversation. Needless to say, literary allusions are rare in spoken English except for references to popular commercials.

In Chinese, idioms 成語(4 character sayings) are quite common. They neatly summarize a feeling or a script for some situation. There is even an idiom game 遊戲 that is similar to that geographical place name game in English. Two teams form and a team must come up with an idiom that starts with the same sounding character as the ending one thought up by the opposing team. It's a popular icebreaker in our church house group meetings.

2006-04-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

Table Manners 餐桌禮儀

Table manners differ quite a bit across cultures but, as you can see in these photos, toddlers’ eating styles are about the same wherever they are in the world 手忙腳亂. In the first photo, he is in the thick of eating 吃冰淇淋. The second photo shows the messy results and you can see that he is proud of it. A few minutes previously it was up to his eyes but I didn’t have my camera battery charged so he happily demonstrated for me again.

I’m not going to talk about differences in utensils 餐具, just the importance of utensils and decorum. In Anglo cultures, decorum is really important. Remember how your parents told you not to play with your food…well, mine told me that. Especially in formal circumstances, eating the correct way is very important in Western culture. I remember eating at this formal French restaurant, the ones where there are 8 different spoons and 7 different forks and knives each with a specific use. My father put his fork down in the wrong place and a waiter came by and sternly put it in the correct place…upon which my father put it back in the wrong place. If you say to yourself “that doesn’t happen that often”….think about that interview lunch you might have with your employer. Why are they taking you out to lunch, eh?

By contrast in Chinese culture, the use of utensils is not that important. As I have said in other posts, it is the food that is important. It’s not that there is no decorum at all. For one thing, food at a Chinese table is at the center of the table for public use 共用的. Unlike the Western table, each person does not have their own individual plate with their own individual portions. Sooo, at a formal occasion, people are expected to be polite by serving those next to them before taking a spoonful for themselves. It is only later, after others are full and perhaps drunk, that one can surreptitiously shovel half of those tasty morsels onto the plate.

A book I read previously is the memoirs of a son writing about his Chinese widower 鰥夫 father and his children who remarried an English wife. They generally got along well together but mealtimes were a real change. What used to be a noisy, tasty free-for-all dinner became a polite formal occasion with finger sandwiches. It was a really funny account of these cross-cultural differences in table manners from the viewpoint of (at the time) a little boy.