Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

I had an experience that made me reconsider a lot of things.  Because we had a few minutes that we could use to tour around, and because we had such a gracious host and tour guide (A Brother Chen, Branch President of the Jin I Branch) and because we had a Typhoon coming to Taiwan, we thought we would go down to the Beach and see what it was like.

Well, the waves were a crashing and the ocean, as Bonnie would call it, was very angry.  Julie and I went down to an area that we could tell had been wet, but wasn’t getting washed on.  We stood there watching the waves crash, seeing just how angry the ocean was.  It appeared to me that the tide was going out, so I wasn’t too scarred.  All of a sudden, a huge wave burst and I could tell we were going to get drenched.  Rather than stand there and take my punishment, my body screamed that the Ocean was Going to Eat Me, and my primal reflexes kicked in and I turned around, camera in hand, and started to run so I would stay dry (It didn’t hurt that Julie was trying to get out of the way too, and she was closer than I).  Well, someone in my brain forgot to tell my feet what was happening, and they didn’t work very well, and I ended up flat on my face, my camera taking the full brunt of the crash to earth.  Oh, I was so embarrased, and my body was not better for it.  I ain’t the man I used to be when it comes to running the 50 yard dash.  The ocean had my lunch and dinner that day.

The recent trip to Taiwan has been an Eye Opener in many ways.  For instance, in Taiwan, they have a McDonalds almost on every corner.  Well, maybe not on every corner, but in the big towns they have them sometimes no more than a block away from the last one.

This has been a big change in how I view fast foods.  When I was here 35 years ago as a missionary, then 30 years ago as a student, you couldn’t find an “American” fast food place.  No you can buy the real thing just about anywhere.  Of course, they have a few things offered there that aren’t quite “American” in any way, but you can also get the Big Mac, fries, a soft drink, and chocolate sunday, and if you weren’t looking at the people in the restaurant, or looking out the window, you would think you were in America.  Of course, I don’t know of many McDonalds that use 3 or 4 floors in the freestanding building, with some having a drive up. 

You also will find a ton of KFC, 7-11, and in Taipei we have seen Pizza Hut, Dominos, and even TGIF Fridays.  It would make my mom and dad really proud, and perhaps encourage them to come to Taiwan, if they knew that in Tien Mou a week ago we also saw a Sizzler.  Mom and Dad, I may get you to Taiwan yet.  However, with all of this change in fast food,  I am not so sure that this is a good thing.  More to come later.

Here I sit, in Philip Ho’s office room using his computer, looking for the last couple of hours over Tao Yuan before we leave to return to the states.  I am very sad to be doing so.  This has been an excellent experience.  The only bad thing that has happened I heard about this morning.

My good friend Clark DeWaal, had a heart attack on Thursday morning here in Taiwan and has been taken home to our heavenly father.  I am so sad, and wish that I could have been with him when he passed, so he could have had someone here who could have helped.  He was a good friend, particularly as we studied together here in Taiwan as students at National Taiwan University and the Kuo You Re Bau Language Center.  He was such fun, with his wife Lorraine.  I am sad this has happened before we left.  He passed while here in Taiwan on Thursday morning the 10th, while on a business trip.

In any event, I got up this morning, and prepared to leave for church after getting that bad news.  We went to Sacrament Meeting in the Tao Yuan 1st Ward and then Julie and I drove to Chung Li to see if I could find the Elders who said they had information on someone that I had baptized.  They had his address, we got it, and then we returned to Tao Yuan where we are finishing our packing and then we leave for America.  I am so sad.  This has been a wonderful experience.  Well, that is about it for now.

I am going to miss this place and this people.  We had a traditional Chinese breakfast this morning of You-Tyau (translated as oil stick, which means it has a ton of cooking oil), soybean milk (not the Americanized version with flavoring, but real soy bean milk), and sticky rice with meat.  It was so good.  This is the same meal that I had on the very first morning, after the very first night, when I first arrived in Taiwan as a missionary. 

This meal caused a flood of many, old, cherished memories to come back to my mind.  This trip has been a walk down memory lane for me.  I will never forget riding up on our bikes to the old street vending stand, watching a old looking Chinese gentlement, who had obviously seen a lot of better days in his life, fish out a you-tyau out of the vat of oil and give us a bowl of steaming bean milk, all on a street that wasn’t quite so clean and we sat there, next to the binjou, eating the oil stick and drinking the bean milk.  I wondered what it was that I had gotten myself into.  This time, the experience was much different. 

We went to a fast food stand in the best tradition of McDonalds, and they mass produced it and got it to us.  We sat, we ate, and we enjoyed.  Maggie Ho, who was with us got us the best and we really enjoyed the event.  I am going to be oh so sad to return to America.  This trip has reawakened my desire to come back, with Bonnie, as a couple missionary and live here for a while. I am going to love seeing family and friends again, but I am going to really miss this place.  This has been a wonderful experience.

Just learned this morning while eating you-tyau and bean milk for breakfast that I have two more male responsibilities in addition to those just elucidated.  They are, in no order of importance,

4-Open bottles for helpless females

5-Break food items in half that need to be split among individuals for eating.

Now, my day is complete.

We went shopping today in Ying Ge (specializes in porcelain) and Taipei (specializes in just about everything).  Bonnie was in her element.  She was having a blast and I am sure it was a fun day for her.  I described to all those assembled that my work and glory was to:

1-Go out hunting for, finding, and then killing the item she wants to buy.  This I call the hunter role for the male.  The female of course is the berry gatherer.

2-Pay for the things she wants to purchase

3-Carry the things purchased

Well, it was a fun day, and I got to carry a lot of things.  That was a fair description of this day in Taiwan.  It was a fairer description of the ultimate shopper.

I have been having trouble shaking a thought that keeps running through my mind each time that I take a taxi here in Taiwan.  The thought, born in missionary times when the taxis were less regulated is, “Taxi Drivers are the Enemy”.  Back in those days, they were less regulated and some times would try to seperate our money from us.  They would also drive insanely fast and dangerously, so much so that the Mission President banned us from using them as much as possible.  With a few exceptions, this trip has been different.  The taxi drivers are considerate, have drived with sense, and use the meter when taking us places.  I have been very impressed with everything I am seeing in this country.  Things are so well run.  I have decided, despite old habits, that “Taxi Drivers are Not, the Enemy”.

I haven’t been swimming for a while.  Wouldn’t you know it that it would take going half way around the world, at the Formosa Grand Hotel in Tien Hsiang, Taiwan.  I went swimming there and it was really neat.  We, the three of us, were in the pool, watching the clouds move among the mountain peaks that surrounded us.  It was really quite a unique experience.  I swam, and thought of where I was swimming.  This is a wonderful world on which we live.

I have had a sad experience on this trip.  One of the first things that I became familiar with when I came as a missionary was a drink called Chi Shwei.  It literally was “air water”.  It was a little like 7 up, but had more bang for the buck.  Well, I came back, hoping to have a bottle of Chi Shwei.  What I found was a lack of it, and if anything, the only stuff they have is 7 up, which just isn’t the same.  Oh, my heavens, how could this happen.  How could such a noble drink as Chi Shwei depart this land of opportunity.  Surely there was room for everything, including a ping of Chi Shwei.  Oh, I don’t know if I will ever recover from this disappointment.

I have had a lot of time to reflect on the changes that are overcoming this land.  When reflecting on what is happening here, it also makes me realize that it is happening in reverse.  Let me explain.

As a missionary, living here 35 years ago, to find an “American place”, a place where one could buy American goods or eat American food, was a real challenge.  For instance, we had to go to the American military complexes to get a hamburger and a shake.  Going to such a place would become a holy mecca for those who had been on island for a while, and while loving things and food Chinese, longed for an occassional hamburger.

30 years ago, as a student in Taipei I thought and felt that things really had not changed all that much.  We found a few more “American” things, but in reality, it was still pretty much “Chinese”.  We got hooked on Chinese food, came to love “authentic” Chinese things, and loved Taiwan for what it was.

Now, coming back 30 years later, much has changed.  It is harder to find something, whether it be food, paintings, etc., that I would consider truly authentic.  Fast food has become predominant.  You see McDonalds here, but what is truly interesting is the fact that the regular little stands that many people frequent now has a mesh of Chinese and other country items.  There is not much that is untouched by this phenoman.  Why?

Well, undoubtedly American’s have visited enough that the demand for American goods and services for example would require a free market to introduce those items for availability.  However, I think just as influential is the fact that many Chinese have been overseas and have developed a “taste” for things foreign, and therefore the impact of fast food is evident, and things foreign.  Of course, Taiwan has not been exempt from a faster life style which has changed things considerably.  Therefore, while we have vastly enjoyed this trip, I have also been frustrated by the difficulty in finding the old Taiwan I loved, and by the Globalization of China.