One Last Fling

As you can see by the three pictures, my last fling included being surrounded by women, on an island no less, and some occasional guys thrown in for good measure. Last Tuesday and Wednesday I dazzled my students with my final lecture summing up the whole semester in 45 minutes or less and then handed out my open book, open note (but not open classmate) take home exam, due one week from then. I gave them a case study with some guiding questions to answer, told them the answer could only be 10 pages long, double spaced, 2.54 centimeter margins, and 12 point font. Given that they would be writing the exam in their second or third language, I allowed them to have an editor, not from my class, check their answer for correct grammar before emailing it to me by the deadline. I didn't tell them that the editor was as much for my benefit as theirs; I wanted to focus on their ideas, not their English skills.

Any way, I now had the rest of the week free while my students slaved away writing my exam. So I decided to take a 4 1/2 hour ferry ride from Kaohsiung Harbor to the Taiwanese owned Penghu archipelago half way to Hong Kong. Sun, sand, and beach. What more can one want for the last free weekend before I return to Maine? There are over 90 islands in Penghu, less than a quarter inhabited. I stayed at a bed and breakfast on the biggest island in Magong City (population about 53,000 with one McDonald's so it wasn't without amenities).

The trip started off well on Thursday. I got through the non-English speaking ferry staff gauntlet without much difficulty and even found my seat number, the only thing I understood on my ticket. I finished a book on Jewish history edited by a colleague of mine at Touro, something I have been wanting to read for months. Then the first glitch. I get off the ferry around 2:00 in the afternoon (the only Caucasian passenger out of around 200) and looked for the person from the bed and breakfast who was going to meet me. Nowhere to be found! What to do? Found an English teacher from the island waiting for another passenger who graciously called the b&b on her cell (mine failed a couple of days ago) and escorted me to an air conditioned waiting room where my hostess, Elle, and her friend Justin (also in the left picture) who runs a private school that specializes in teaching English, found me some 20 minutes later.

Fortune shined upon me. What a delightful person (the oldest women in the above pictures with her three teenage girls and some of their friends--yeah, I couldn't believe Elle was old enough to have a 17 year old daughter {Jennifer} either). Elle took me in like a member of the family. We stopped for a box lunch, took a quick tour of the city and then settled in to my room. After her girls came home we all went to a local beach where I swam and then headed home for a barbecue dinner.

Having pumped me on the tour about what foods I liked, her husband, Ku Pon, and middle daughter, Vivian, cooked up a storm in the alley way in front of her three story, attached house.She invited Justin as well so he could translate for us all. What a feast. We must of ate for three hours, finishing off a meal of all kinds of seafood (what I told her I liked and what the island is famous for) topped off by roasting marshmallows for dessert. (Ivy, the youngest daughter at 14 was the best roaster, but I did teach them my San Diego beach party roasting technique.) You really get to know people over dinner and I knew I was in good hands.

I slept like a log on my very comfortable mattress bed on the floor. Fortunately, the room had air conditioning as it was hot, but not as muggy as Kaohsiung. Friday's breakfast was an egg sandwich purchased locally and then I borrowed one of their bikes to go exploring while Elle picked up three other male guests from Taiwan. Glitch #2. I could not adjust the seat so the only way I could comfortably ride the bike was standing up. Then it started to rain. And then a lot of air decided to leave the back tire. Needless to say, my bike riding was much shorter than my bike walking.

After lunch that I purchased at the handy 7-11 that I easily discovered because you can see a lot of detail walking a bike, I returned to home base where Elle's van awaited us for the afternoon adventures. I met the three male guests and the female escort they had hired for their stay (don't ask for details) and we were off exploring. Swimming at a lovely sandy beach was one highlight, as was the modern windmills for generating electricity (Taiwan is ahead of us in harnessing wind power). The trip was

topped off by watching a lovely sunset from the western most cliffs of the island. Elle (her husband who does construction projects for the government was working late that night for a private client), Justin, his sister, Jackie, who helps run the English speaking school, and I had a late dinner at a local restaurant that specialized in traditional Japanese and Taiwanese seafood.

On Saturday, I took a local ferry with Justin (who had not been) to two other islands of the archipelago, Cimei and Tongpan. I wanted to go to Chimei because that is where our office manager, Janet, was from (Tongpan was thrown in as an extra). The scenery was spectacular as seen by the pictures. And I got to eat abalone (see picture) which is being aqua farmed on Cimei and can no longer being purchased at restaurants in San Diego because of over harvesting.

We returned to Magong by 2:00 so I could take the ferry back to correcting final exams at 3:00. A great last fling.

Betty and I thank you all for reading our blogs. This is the last one about our adventures in Taiwan. We enjoyed writing them and enjoyed more your kind words about what we wrote.

Progress on Two Fronts

Three neat things happened to me on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week. On Wednesday, one of my female students who is studying hotel management and tourism asked me if I could help her get an interview for a job at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. I have hooked her up with a friend who knows someone in the Marriott chain who is now reviewing her resume, after heavy editing for correct English. I really felt good about that.

And on Thursday afternoon, while I was preparing my final two lectures for next week, three of my students plus a friend knocked on my villa door and said the surf is up. Some storms had come in from China and kicked up some four foot waves on the NSYSU beach. I had been trying to get some of my students to try body surfing and this time they came seeking me out. Needless to say, off we went and we had a ball. The same thing happened the next afternoon with three different students, this time with six foot waves, the biggest I have seen here. I was the only one to catch the big ones (three) before I became scared that without fins they were too big for me and I might be tossed into the rocks nearby. They even let me ride behind them on their motor scooter to get to the beach which I have been wanting to do, but I forgot to take any pictures!

Conclusion? It took almost four months to get my students to ask me for help and I saw them every week. It takes awhile to establish trust and a lot of that came from informal interactions (hiking, tennis, wine and cheese party, plays, etc.). Living on campus made all these things much easier. I worry how I will achieve a similar outcome when students are finally admitted to our doctoral program at Touro and I teach part of my courses virtually. I am not sure I can substitute cyber educational experiences for the benefits that come from face to face interaction. We'll soon see. 16 more days, but who is counting.

PS. Update on the war. The other side got more reinforcements. Two more lizards showed up after I euthanized one of them. I did knock the tail off of one and chased the other out the hole in the window, so no sign of either for three days. However, I have noticed an increase in moths and spiders since I have upset the ecostructure of my villa. Fortunately, one of my students who has been following our blog gave me reinforcements as well--roach traps. After initially killing a 1/2 dozen, I have not seen any of them for three days as well.

From Dragon Boat Racing to Mountain Climbing

Besides all the usual stuff like teaching, tennis, cooking, cleaning, etc., four pretty cool things happened this past week. At least a third of my students entered the Kaohsiung City Dragon Boat Races and won in their class. They had been training for six weeks. I watched their race on the Love River each of the three nights. They raced three other dragon boats, provided by the City, each manned by a 20 member male crew plus 2 female drummers to keep the beat, plus an experienced helmsman provided by the festival organizers. I claimed full credit for their victory as I taught them all about successful teamwork in my classes!

The second cool thing that happened was that a typhoon hit the Taiwan Strait this week (and not our campus or our island) and that meant that the surf was up at the campus beach: 1/2 meter crests with shoulders and the beginning of a curl. I was in heaven. As the only one riding waves, I drew an audience on shore and even a couple of locals came out for some lessons. What fun, but the next day the surf sucked again!

Thirdly, on Sunday morning three of my students and I climbed the mountain behind the dormitory. It was much harder than expected as we had to use ropes to go up and down sections

over the coral rock. My students were very kind to me and made sure I didn't lag too far back. After our 8:00 a.m. climb, we all came back to my villa for a hearty Maine breakfast of orange juice, sausages, and blueberry (unfortunately not Maine's) pancakes topped by melting butter and maple syrup (again, unfortunately not Maine's). Great time and even wore shirt from Boothbay saying "Old Men Rule".

Lastly, I was asked to speak at the local church English service at 4:00 p.m. yesterday. Little did they know what they were getting into. Unlike our contextual Bible Study methods used at the Congregational Church, they study the Bible thematically focusing on new testament verses that relate to the theme for the day. I like the thematic approach less because you can pull out verses that you like to support whatever point the author is trying to make. Anyway, I tried to take their theme of "The Living of a Serving One: A Life Hidden with Christ in God" and suggested that three verses from the Old Testament the author didn't cite might additionally help understand the theme. I pointed to Deuteronomy 6:5 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might" and Leviticus 19:18 "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" as two ways to be a serving one (and of course Jesus' answer to what is the greatest commandment). And I pointed to Micah 6:8 "And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God" as helpful to understanding a hidden life. They thought my comments were interesting!

PS An update on my war. One more dead cockroach found this week and a little more poison

down the drains. Stopped another ant invasion. No more lizard poop as I knocked out the source with my trusty broom. And my enemies brought in reinforcements (see picture of the two inch help just for Michelle's pleasure).

Hairspray in Taiwan

Weekends are tough around here in this paradise. Tennis each morning at 6:00 a.m. with my wonderful Taiwanese fellow tennis players bringing me lychee fruit (a small, bite size morsel grown on a local tree that needs to be peeled and has the consistency of a pear-see picture), oranges, and bananas to make sure I don't fade away to a shadow (fat chance!). Swimming in the ocean each afternoon in 78 degree water. Attending the English service at a demonstrative church Sunday afternoon where they asked me to speak next week (boy, do they not know what they are getting into.) Spending half a day writing and sending my consulting reports back to Maine (what a wondrous world we live in that has the technology that allows me to do this). And celebrating my standoff in my private war (lizard not to be seen and one dead cockroach found!)

But the most fun was walking down the hill Saturday night and attending the University production

of Hairspray. I arrived 15 minutes before curtain call expecting to walk right in to the 2000 plus modern theater with a orchestra pit that has a hydraulic lift. Wrong. The lines of students and locals stretched for a couple of hundred yards in two directions. To say the least, my well laid plans to meet and attend with some of my students went out the window. Now, being a single I did find a seat in the balcony and congratulated myself for getting in.

I must say, having seen Hairspray on Broadway and the Maine State Theater, I was a little apprehensive on how an all Taiwanese cast was going to portray a civil rights issue in the US in the 60's with no black or white actors and while speaking and singing in their second language. And what role would black face acting play in their production, a sensitive issue in the US.

My worries were unfounded. From the overture by excellent musician, I was treated to an energetic and entertaining college student production of an American musical. The dancing was superb and most of the dialogue and lyrics were easily understood except when English words had sounds not typically used in Chinese or when the sound system didn't work in that part of the stage. (Having trouble trying to master some of the unfamiliar sounds in Chinese, I vow to be more patient with those who are trying to master some of the unfamiliar sounds of English.) Taiwanese playing blacks and white subcultures was not problem; the whole musical was a celebration of integration including women playing men and men playing women. Wigs and dark stockings distinguished races. Differences were celebrated on many levels, all sensitively done.

I came away with a greater appreciation of how participating on a dramatic team that works hard for a common goal, just like participating in team sports, can teach invaluable life-long lessons about team work. Dramatic productions will become part of my examples I use in my management classes about how to develop one of the skill sets demanded by modern employers in this global economy.

War!

I have declared war. I know it is a drastic step, and I don't take it lightly. I am sure many of you who read my Christmas missive (thanks Suzi for your backhanded complement about the blog!) are surprised that I have given up my preference for negotiations, but the other side is impossible. And it is a war I can't win, given the eons of history that prove my foe can outlast me. But I must fight anyway.

How did I get into this situation? Well, it came to a head last night after coming home from a concert inaugurating Kaohsiung's new 35,000 seat stadium they built for the World Games that

they are hosting starting July 16th. It is architecturally beautiful as can be seen in the pictures. They invited the Pittsburgh Symphonic Orchestra to kick things off and the orchestra was magnificent in their rendering of William Tell's Overture accompanied at the appropriate times with celebratory fireworks. I felt like a kid again listening to the Long Ranger on the radio. So accompanied by our office manager and friend, Janet, the evening started off well. But I digress.

I get home last night and what do I find on the bathroom floor but another big cockroach on its back, dying I might gleefully add. These aren't small cockroaches I might add; these invaders are at least two inches long and ugly. This discovery would have been OK except earlier in the day, as I was cleaning the the strainer in the kitchen sink, I discovered another cockroach (I assume) trying to eat the garbage from underneath through the holes in the strainer. Obviously, it had come up through the drainage system, the way they invade my abode as I had previously discovered. I immediately sprung to action and attempted to drown the sucker in a steady stream of water from the spigot. It fought valiantly as it tried to hang on to the sides of the drain, but I prevailed and celebrated my victory. Later, I realized it was probably Pyrrhic, as I flushed it down the drain from whence it had come.

Well two cockroaches in one day was too much. I had dreams that these creatures would come in under the cover of darkness and crawl all over me as I slept. This was unacceptable, so I declared an unwinnable war.

As I teach in my graduate classes here, I had to develop a plan. But what would be my objective so that I could have a measurable outcome? I decided seeing no cockroaches in our villa for a week would be an acceptable start. How could I best accomplish this objective? Duh, keeping them outside! So I looked around for the enemies' likely entry points and I discovered we have nine drains in the house (in each of the two bathrooms there is one in the tub, one in the sink, and as I previously explained one in the floor; in the kitchen there is a drain in each of the two sinks; and there is a drain for the wash machine in the laundry room). So I have put poison in each drain. I don't care if there is an invasion of cockroaches in every other room in the dormitory as long as they leave me alone. I know they will outlast me in this guerrilla warfare, but if I can hold them off for four more weeks, I will declare victory and go home.

My apologies to Dostoevsky and any additional advice on how to fight this battle will be greatly appreciated.

Why You Were Lucky You Didn't Come Visit Us in Taiwan?

On a slow weekend I want to share with you 10 reasons you made a good choice to not visit us in Taiwan.

10. I walked outside Saturday (today is Monday morning) only to see a truck marked Animal Control Department. Wrongly assuming they were after the stray dogs or monkeys, I soon found out they were spreading white poison all around each dorm to keep out the ants. Appropriate response in this humid climate, but animal control! (See picture above.)

9. Killed another cockroach in our villa. Found out they come in from the drain on the floor in our bathroom. Why is there a drain on the floor? Because there is no curtain surrounding the tub where I shower and water naturally gets on the floor. (See picture with drain to left of bath tub.)

8. Because ants as well as small moths get into our villa, despite my best efforts, they are followed by lizards and spiders who want to dine. The lizards, et al, come into the villa through the slightly opened window in each room. Why is there a slightly opened window in each room? Because each room needs an air conditioner to deal with the heat and humidity and the retrofit construction just put the drain hose of each air conditioner out the window. Logical?

7. Anyway, I thought I should co-exist with the lizards and spiders as a natural solution to ants and moth problem. That is, until I found out that the lizards are so well fed they leave small deposits that I have to clean up. Part of Sunday was spent with a broom trying to scare the bejeesus out of the lizards so they would exit where they came from. (See pictures with my duct tape solution which only partially works.)

6. For health reasons, according to the Taiwanese, hot meals should be eaten only with hot drinks. I don't like coffee and tolerate tea, so I go thirsty eating out in the student cafeteria.

5. Contrary to rumors, I actually work here which I did most of Saturday and Sunday. Finished a consulting report and corrected student papers. Correcting student papers takes much longer here because the English writing skills of my international students need Betty's editing expertise. (See pictures of my typical filing system and I have recommended that the University open a writing center.)

4. Now that Betty is back in Maine (well actually she is flying today to be with Mom in California for two weeks while Mom is recuperating), I cook and you want to miss that.

3. The waves now suck at this time of year. In fact, Saturday I decided to go to the campus beach with no lifeguard in search of waves larger than six inches. The search reminded me of when I was a teenager in Southern California looking for the best surfing beaches. Just like then you had to be innovative to get to a beach that was not populated by a bunch of tourists. So down I go 201 steps, walk along a six foot wall by the beach looking for an opening, finding one by going under the fence where it crosses the gray water drainage ditch, only to see three wedding parties taking pictures on my private beach. How these beautiful young women got there without ruining their wedding and brides maid's dresses, I'll never know. The waves still sucked and I had to climb back up those 201 steps to get home.

2. The weather is getting sifling. I am playing tennis at 6:00 in the morning and it is still 86 degrees with 90% humidity.

1. The steps!

So now are you glad you didn't come and missed this wonderful experience!

Baseball in Taiwan

As you can see went to the baseball game last night in Kaohsiung (Thurday, May 14th) with eight of my European students (we had the makings of our own team and were featured on the large television screen a couple of times, most likely because we were the only Caucasians there plus my students are very good looking.) For most of them it was their first time at a ball game and it was quite an experience. I spent most of my time explaining the rules of our national pastime, which are not easy to understand, particularly the first time. But we did have time to down a couple of beers (legal drinking age here is 18) and eat a corn dog on a stick, along with some caramel flavored popcorn and ice cream. Game time for the three-hour +, 2-1 (Kaohsiung lost), well played game was 6:30 so we got home via the subway at a very reasonable hour.


Some impressions:

*great seats on the first base side (home team side) for about $9.00.

*game very well played; no errors, two home runs.

*players very talented but not quite as big as players in US.

*not a very big crowd; attendance not announced.

*didn't have a seven inning stretch.

*field immaculately manicured; foul lines 309', center field 400'; seats about 15,000. (see picture)

*three major differences: teams corporately sponsored for advertisement purposes, but less ads than at US ball fields

*and each team had a co-ed cheer leading squad accompanied by drums, trumpets, and sticks to beat (see pictures); most of the fans had these plastic sticks and beat them enthusiastically in time to drums while cheering their heads off; each cheering squad and fans were most courteous to each other, unlike Yankee-Boston fans. (Some of my students really got into it and cheered right along, just like my wife would do if she were here.)

*and the vendors walking around the stadium selling beer were all young, scantly dressed, cute-as-a-button women.

*a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Played tennis and swam in the ocean again this morning (Friday) at 6:00. The human backboards wore me out in the humidity and 83 degree temperature, but we manged to eke out a 6-6 tie. Again, the evidence is that the elderly Taiwanese are all going to outlive us all. This is an exercising nation. On the way down to the courts there were small groups stretching and practicing tai chi; another 100+ were swimming in the ocean; another 20 were playing tennis, two of which I found out were 82 and 80; another 50 were walking the track and/or doing calisthenics; and another 40 were doing laps in the Olympic size college pool. And all before 8 A.M.

After doing laundry this morning (yes, I didn't get soap bubbles all over the floor) and practicing my Chinese, I am spending the rest of the day catching up on my University of Maine-Darling Center consulting responsibilities. They have created a cool website to help science students and teachers thinks more like ocean scientists do using an educational tool called concept mapping and real time streaming data from the ocean. (http://cosee.umaine.edu/cfuser/index.cfm)As the outside evaluator, I am helping them conceptualize the accompanying training and the effect of the project. I am enjoying interviewing the scientist long distance and trying to find out the scientists' perceptions, along with the perceptions of the users of the website and training. We are constantly trying to improve our product. The annual report to NSF for this three year project is due the week before I get back, so it will be interesting to see how we do writing this continents apart.

Until next time.