Father's Day gift

August 8th is Father's Day in Taiwan, which reminded me of a gift my kids made me for a previous Father's Day—a photo collage full of heartwarming memories.

The poster-sized collage had been sitting in my closet, waiting for me to properly frame it. Today I finally got a frame at the mall, and now this precious gift hangs in my living room and brings a smile to my face every time I walk by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to life, back to reality

I got the news about my mom's passing through a phone call with my sister. After hanging up and regaining my composure, I boarded a train and headed for the east coast. Watching the surf is my mental therapy.

I arrived in Toucheng (頭城) and walked to a scooter rental shop.

After picking up my scooter, I drove to nearby Wai'ao (外澳) beach. I spent the afternoon and early evening walking along the shore, stopping periodically to sit down and talk to God, myself, the sand crabs—whomever. These one-way chats/rants were interspersed with crying jags and periods of staring blankly at the waves, becoming hypnotized by the constantly moving water.

Today my sister will scatter our mom's ashes in the ocean; she'll be joining my dad who passed away 25 years ago. It comforts me to know that anytime I want to visit them, all I have to do is find my way to the sea.

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The sunset this evening was beautiful.

During our very hectic summer teaching schedule, I only have time to cook on the weekends. Here's what I made tonight…

Despite my recent grief, life continues to be absolutely wonderful and amazing…

Goodbye Mom

My mom was truly the most selfless person I have ever known.

January 24, 1937 ~ June 30, 2012

 

There is so much I would like to write here, but I can't, not now. So, this blog entry will reflect something Mom told me many times, a truism that I hold dear to my heart:

"Simplicity is beauty"

Missing my kids

Mother's Day

A touching video of how one family was able to preserve some of their memories of their Mom/Grandma.

Yeah, I cried.

Why I don't update my blog

Because I'm lazy!!

Naw, my beautiful daughter has been visiting me over the summer, and I just don't feel like spending so much time on the Internet. Next week summer classes start, so I'll be very busy for a few weeks.

If anyone does read this blog, have patience. I'll update it (hopefully) soon.


Amanda and I at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂)

Amanda with a couple of cute students

Mahjong madness

Trip to USA Photos

Click here to see album!

Back from the US

I had an amazingly wonderful time visiting my family and friends. I've now been back in Taiwan less than 24 hours and already I miss my kids so much. Still trying to figure out how I'll get back into my former routine.

I have lots of photos to go through, and will post them as soon as possible.

Click on photo to enlarge.


In the meantime, here's a little video from my favorite city, San Francisco, featuring my son.

6.5 Earthquake in Humboldt

Eureka, California (where I'm from) was hit by a 6.5 earthquake today (Saturday 4:30pm their time). Fortunately, no one in my family was injured or suffered any major damage. I've heard that the mall had some damage and injuries, but I don't know yet about other areas.



Thanks, Michael, for directing me to this video, from a webcam at the Arcata plaza. The camera distortion during the quake is trippy.

Foul :-)

A student's poetry

One of my students, a woman my age, wrote the following. It comes from her bittersweet observations of her grandmother's aging process. I think it's a beautiful poem, all the more so since English is not her native language.

     If it could be allowed
     That one body be occupied by two souls--
     I hope the one with beauty, grace, and some kind of humor
     Leaves me first.
     Go ahead, my dear!
     You shouldn't be cooped up in such a body.
     And as for the remaining one
     I will learn to know your sadness.
     Let's begin from "Let me introduce myself."
          --Jessie

Christmas 2008

Ah, my first Christmas in Taiwan.

Despite what ultra-Fundamentalist groups preach about the sinful dangers of the Internet, I say thank God for it, as it allowed me to spend a wonderful few hours with my family back in the United States. I laughed and cried while opening gifts with Austin, Amanda, Chelsea, Mikayla, Theresa, Amanda, Brayden, Emily, Lori, Mark, Holly, April, Wade, Nana, and Papa. These people are my life.

I received some special gifts, including:

• A huge coffee mug with "coffee" printed in several languages, which I'm using as I write this, and...
• ...hazelnut flavored Coffee Mate (How I've missed thee!)
• Favorite chocolates (Almond Joy, Mounds, Junior Mints, and Lindor truffles)
• A Shrek Chia Pet ("Ch-ch-ch-chia!")
• A Humboldt County T-shirt
• A Christmas tree ornament that plays a recording of my kids' voices

Yeah, I got teary-eyed over that last one.

That evening Chyo treated me to an all-you-can-eat barbecue in 南崁 (Nánkǎn). It was cool because each table has a little hibachi and hot-pot bowl to cook your food. We ate ourselves silly on various styles of beef, chicken, fish, shellfish, veggies, and whatnot. By whatnot I mean items like 甜不辣 (tián-bú-là), which I'm still not sure what it is. As an added bonus, I tried fish fins and ostrich for the first time.

These are from Chyo's cellphone, so the quality isn't the best. Click on photos to enlarge.

All this food...	...plus this sizzling barbecue...	...equals happy tummies ☺

Christmas Dinner 2008 in Taiwan 吃到飽 BBQ

♬ Rocking around the Christmas tree ♪

Today I received a box of presents from my family in the US. As I unpacked the wrapped gifts, I felt an incredible bittersweet wave of love and homesickness.

Here is my meager attempt at decorating for Christmas. I considered putting some holiday lights around my statue of Buddha, but that seemed sacrilegious in a way. Just so he won't feel left out, I'll make sure to do something special with him for Chinese New Year.

I'm excited about spending Christmas "together" (through Skype) with my family. Only 5 more days!

Not a good day

Had an emotional meltdown today. Missing my kids, feeling older, terrified of dying, lack of confidence in my job, mom and sister shunning me, what-is-the-meaning-of-life questions, etc. Yeah, real mid-life crisis, complete with sobbing and not wanting to get out of bed.

I finally got up and poured out my thoughts on video. I considered sending it to those I love, just to let them know what's up. Fortunately, I thought better of that and decided to wait at least one day. After I watched the video, I felt a little better, I think because I was able to view myself from the "outside." I went to work this evening (thank God I had only one class today), and now, 10:00pm, I'm feeling better, but still depressed. At least I'm venting a bit here on my blog.

I really thought I was going crazy earlier today. Time does have a way of healing wounds. Well, that and a Smirnoff Ice. After class I had a nice chat with a fellow teacher, and he assured me that this is a normal culture shock experience, and that it would pass. In my mind I already knew that, but it was nice to get the positive feedback that I wasn't crazy.

Hopefully my feeling won't be so overwhelming in the morning. I'll see if there's any truth to Scarlett O'Hara's thoughts about 'tomorrow.'

How do you make a grown man cry like a baby?

Send him this Father's Day greeting
from half-way around the world
(August 8 is Father's Day in Taiwan).

An REM visitor

I just woke up a little while ago and had to jot down the dream I was having. I was having a conversation with my dad, my dad who passed away in 1987. He was sitting on the couch, and I was sitting on the floor with my back against the sofa. I was telling him about a TV show I watched about yacht building (I really did watch a fascinating program about that last night).

In the time it's taken me to make my coffee, I've forgotten most of the dialogue in the dream; however, I do remember that he spoke with his characteristically unhurried pace. At one point I remarked, "It takes almost three years to build some of those ridiculously expensive yachts; they couldn't be an impulse buy." My dad disagreed, "Of course they're an impulse buy," and proceeded to explain why. Although in my dream I must have been my age now, as he explained his view I felt like I was a teenager again, feeling a bit hurt that he disagreed with me, but at the same time having that childlike awe of a parent who has the wisdom of years.

My mom and dad had planned to buy a boat—not a yacht—and retire on it, which makes this dream even more poignant. He retired early at age 57, and for the next few months my parents spent much of their free time going to boat shows and wandering the docks, dreaming of their future. Tragically, nine months after retiring, my dad suffered a massive heart attack and died.

My father has been gone for 21 years now, but during our brief conversation in my dream world, it felt as if no time at all had passed. I miss you dad.

Guitar man

My son Austin has been learning the guitar for the past several months, all self-taught. He just sent me this video of a Switchfoot song he's been practicing.

Yeah, I'm a proud dad.

Some last thoughts

Three days to go until I board my plane for the 13 hour flight that I've imagined for so long.

It's silly, but I keep thinking in terms of "lasts" before I leave for Taiwan. This is the last weekday I'll be in the US for a while. Yesterday I watched "Survivor" with my kids at Chelsea's for the last time. As I write this, I'm eating leftover tom kha gai, the last time I'll be eating my favorite dish (in the US). Even though my kids and I have discussed our short- and long-term reuniting goals, both in the US and overseas, I still break down when I think in terms of "last time" for hugging them.

To counteract these bittersweet, emotional thoughts, I'm trying to concentrate on the many, many "firsts" I'll be experiencing once I'm overseas. Most of these firsts are conjectural, of course; I mean, I haven't even stepped foot yet in my new country. In the coming days and weeks, it remains to be seen which of my imagined visions of life in Taiwan were on the money, and which were wildly off the mark.

Below is the weather report for Fortuna and Taipei. Note that the current temperature and humidity levels, on the left side, are as of 1:00pm Fortuna time, but 4:00am Taipei time! Guess I won't have to worry about dry skin.

Response to my mom and sister