Shark Fin Soup and More - Dec 8th

Tuesday, yesterday, started off nice and calm. Rayleen and I grabbed some breakfast at another Starbucks across the street from the hotel. They were serving Christmas Blend as the coffee of the day. Here is a real issue I'm having, you cannot get artificial sweetener for your coffee. So, if you ever travel this way, bring your Splenda, Nutra Sweet, or the pink envelope (can't think of its name, its been so long since I last saw it). Oh, yes, Sweet and Low. Rayleen didn't have an interview until later, so we took a walk around the streets of Taipei. We veered off down a few side streets and got a look at some really interesting shops of all kinds. Some of the pictures here show the way they display their food for sale. Some of it is so foreign to western palates, you'd have to be starving before you ate it.

Did I tell you the motor scooter rules here. I've included a number of photos. They line up and patiently wait for the traffic light to change and then their off like a standing still start at some dragster racing track. When you come to an intersection. You wait for the crossing light to tell you when its OK to walk. Once you get the OK to go, they have a countdown on a display screen that shows you how many seconds you have left to cross the street. They (walkers and drivers) are all respect full of the intersection protocol, but once the light changes, all bets are off. I don't know how these scooter people don't get killed. They drive so fast and are so quick that they actually bob and weave without any fear of getting hit. One last biker story, I'm walking back to the hotel. There is a herd of these scooters and riders waiting for the next light to change so can charge down the street, when off pops this young women from the back of her boyfriend's scooter (I assume it was a boy and girl thing) and she is not happy. She takes off her helmet and dumps it in his lap and starts walking away. I didn't stay to see the outcome, but it was the first sight of public anger display on this trip.

Rayleen suggested I visit the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall while she needed to take care of some admissions issues. Besides, she has seen it a good number of times already on past trips. So after blogging and catching up on my own preparations for the dinner tonight, I exchanged $20 of US for $637 of Taiwan dollars at the hotel reception desk, checked with the doorman as to the location of the subway, the number of stops to the Memorial Hall, and started off on my trip. Down the steps, and I mean down, down, into the underground I went. I went over to the fare collector booth and told the guy where I wanted to go. $20 for the first leg of the trip. I got my plastic token, but could not figure out how to get it into the turnstile. They had to come out of the booth (three of them) to help me figure it out. One thing these people don't do is stare at you even if you are a tall (now I'm just six feet, but I can see over crowds here in Taiwan)westerner with a baseball cap on (not many people wear them here - scooter helmets, yes, but baseball caps, no) that has no idea what he is doing. By the way, there are nearly no westerners on the subway. Once I got in, I was good to go until I had to change trains. I spotted an American looking student and he directed me to my next train. The subways are bright and clean. There are signs all over the place, but still if you are not sure of which way you are going, it can be a little confusing. Another observation: they have these automatic barriers that extend the whole length of the platform that remain closed until the train arrives and the doors open. It makes it tough to fall or be pushed onto the tracks. You'd have to climb up and over the barrier to get on the tracks. What a great idea! Even the subway cars are bright and clean. Their subway system is extensive and a pleasure to ride.

The arrival at Chaing Kai-shek Memorial Hall was more than I could ever have expected. The photos here don't do it justice. The Hall sits at one end of a huge square with the National Theatre and Concert Halls at the other end. I asked some people to take my picture in front of the buildings. I also climbed up the steps to get a closer look at the Memorial and caught the guard changing. It is awesome, but different. It is Lincoln Memorial like in grandeur. Very impressive.

I walked back to the hotel instead of using a cab or the subway and found it a bit longer than I thought. A good walk and a chance to get some exercise. I rushed up to my room, jumped into the shower and then into a cab to head over to our big event at the Ji Pin Restaurant. First Rayleen met with the parents to inform them on their child's performance at Brewster. Then we all had dinner together at one large table. I guess it is customary to have a group all sit at one circular table with a big lazy susan in the center upon which the wait staff place a number of appetizers. You just reach out and twirl the lazy susan until the appetizer of choice is in front of you. Now, I'm looking at them as they go whirling by and am very contented to put just one pork (at least I was told it wa pork) pastry appetizer on my plate and leave it at that. I had no idea what some of the appetizers were and just kept quiet while our parents were very cheerful and having a great time. They loved the food. I ran out of my cover when they started serving individual selections. The whole idea of eating Shark Fin soup was really tough. I'm sitting next to Shelly Lee and she is watching me carefully and suggests I add some vinegar to the soup. Whatever. Have at it. Well, to my surprise it wasn't that bad. Neither was the duck, nor the sweet back bean soup served for desert. There are so many courses served. They serve small portions, but a lot of them.

We had so many families there plus two alumni families that were right into the evening with everyone else. It was one BIG happy family. I've never been toasted or toasted others so much in my life. The red wine was flowing and no one seemed to not drink it. I got a chance to share our story on how we depend on our families and alumni to help offset the shortfall in our operating budget that is not covered by tuition (I didn't actually use these exact words). Another aside, we had some of our presentation translated into Taiwanese before we left. Some of the people in the room were impressed that we took the time to do that. I gave each family a blue folder with the proposal in it. Rayleen showed the visual presentation that included a good number of our Taiwanese students in it. A good night was had and we walked back to the hotel on a very lovely and comfortable evening. NO SNOW HERE! All the kids have shared the snow in Wofeboro story with their parents who in turn shared it with us.

A big thank you to Annie Wang who set the evening up. She is one of our educational consutants and she is great.

In closing, I just cant' get over how different things are here in Asia. It is a totally different approach to life than ours. As human beings, we do so much the same way: marry, work, eat, buy things, wear clothing, etc. It is the how and what that are so different.