Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

Last night I learned that I have a severe case of this disease. I didn’t learn it from a doctor. I didn’t learn it from a therapist or some pundit, or a newspaper person. I didn’t learn it from a critic, or from a member of my family. I did realize it as someone at a reunion described a common malady that strikes anyone that has lived amongst the Chinese people, whether it be as a missionary, a student, or in some other way.

Last night Bonnie and I attended a reunion arranged by the Taiwan Reunion committee.
It was a nice event, but it was there that a speaker indicated that those of us who have lived in China (Taiwan) have fallen hopelessly in love with the people, their humility, and their culture. I then realized that I suffer from this disease. What else impels me to always want to return, to visit with my Chinese friends, to hear beautiful Mandarin spoken in my presence. I am hopelessly addicted and succumbing to this disease. I think we want to hop on the next plain out and get to Taiwan to visit our friends. I love these Chinese people.

We had some surprises when we went to Taiwan two years ago in August. One was the fact that the original Butter Coconut Cookies which I had come to love as a student in Taiwan with Chris and Bonnie as my compatriots, still existed and tasted as great as ever. Products are one thing that seem change over time.

The wide spread existence of Jyau-dz stands was another blessing and surprise. I had grown to love Jyau-dz (Cooked dumplings) as a missionary, loved them even more as a student, and then when we returned, they had lots of restaurants that served only them. It was my dream come true.

As a missionary and as a student, buses were our primary form of transportation and they were just crowded so badly that they were a real trial. Upon our return, they were not bad at all. Of course, there were more cars and other forms of surface transportation, but it wasn’t until I rode the subway that had not been there in 1972 that I realized where all of the riders had gone. That system was so efficient and nice that it got you across the city in 15 minutes rather than an hour. No wonder no one was on the buses.

Finally, the places people lived were very nice, very first world, and I no longer felt like I was living a step below my position as an American. Yes, there were many, very wonderful surprises when I returned to Taiwan after an absence of 30 years.

We had a number of disappointments when we went to Taiwan a couple of years ago. The first was, where did those soy sauce eggs go that I had come to love as a student at National Taiwan University. In that same vain, they used to have a number of very nice traditional sit down Chinese restaurants that served the real thing. Instead, we found few of those restaurants but a ton of fast food places, particularly American places like McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, 7-Eleven, and Starbucks. Things also were very expensive, and that was a disappointment as well. It was not a very disappointing trip, but there were some things that changed for the worse.

One of the traditions that exists in Taiwan that has spilled over into my very American home (with the exception of our entry room, which is very Chinese) is that we all leave our shoes at the door. There is an unspoken rule in Taiwan that you leave the shoes at the door, to keep the homes clean and to show respect to your hosts.

Likewise, my very Chinese/American wife requires that we leave our shoes at the door. We do that so that we can keep the house clean. In fact, she is very strict about this practice and doesn’t allow us to bring dirty shoes in the cars even. While most people have floor mats to cover and protect the floor carpet in your car, we have towels to cover the floor mats, to cover the carpet. I have asked my wife when we will have more towels, to cover the towels, to cover the floor mats, that cover the carpet. Sometimes, I think we have adopted the Chinese traditions to the extreme.

Going on the cruise for some reason made me think back to an experience that I had in Taiwan over 30 years ago.

I was involved in Scouting, in Taiwan of all places, as the Order of the Arrow Chapter Advisor. We had scheduled an ordeal ceremony for an area near Hsin Chu Taiwan where we were assured we could have open fires. The ordeal was to be on a Chinese military base that we had been given permission to use for scouting events.

The two day event was relatively uneventful until we were right in the middle of the induction ceremony, when two Chinese army guys stepped into the middle of our ceremony circle, and I had to, in my none to good Chinese, explain why we had campfires going in the middle of their military base. They couldn’t understand why we were costumed as Indians. They finally got the message, but not because of my language.

One thing for a westerner who grew up in the USA which is not natural to know is the art of haggling. We are so used to going into a store and having a price listed on the item we want and then we walk to the cash register, and pay for the item. That is just the way it is. That is just how things are handled.

Well, in Taiwan the art of haggling is alive and well. No one expects you to pay the price marked, and it can actually get to be fun haggling for something, trying to come to a price. It becomes a personal thing, where you actually are having a social interaction with the shop keeper or the more you haggle, the more they like it. I grew to love haggling with someone. It was a real fun activity.

I had an interesting experience about 4 years ago. I was traveling around the Orem area, and as part of that day I was stopping at the LDS Distribution Center to buy some items. It was April and they were announcing the new General and Area Authority Seventy leaders of the church. I had received an email from a good Chinese Member friend of mine, Ho Yu Chen, who had served as my 1st Counselor when I was serving as the Branch President of the Chung Li Branch in the Taiwan Mission in 1972.

The Ho’s were a terrific family that I had come to know when I was a missionary. They were my second family. I found them to be such special people, such loving people, and such people of promise. I loved them like I loved my own family. I had kept in touch with them over the years, and loved to hear how they were doing.

Brother Ho (aka Philip) had over the years become a very strong member of the church, being a Bishop, then a Stake President, and the rest of the family had done similar types of leadership opportunities. Brother Ho had sent me an email indicating that he would be in Salt Lake City for conference, only to be stopped in coming by the SAR virus that was ravaging Asia at the time. That morning, I heard President Monson read a somewhat familiar name. He presented the name of Elder Yu Chen Ho. It took me a minute to realize that my dear friend had just been sustained as an Area Authority of the church in Taiwan. I was excited to hear that my friend had been sustained to the leading councils of the church.

Over the intervening years, as I have met with him and his family, I have come to know just how inspired this call is. Brother Ho has come to be known by me as a true Area Authority of the church. He is indeed Elder Ho of the Seventy.

As some of you may know, we in the west have been suffering through a drought recently and have experienced very hot temperatures. I was sitting here at this computer just a few minutes ago and thought I heard drops. I looked over at the window, and what was I to behold but raindrops. A few, not too many, but actually a few rain drops. Will wonders ever cease in this desert. Many people around here, because of the green trees and the lawns, continue to forget that we live in a desert, but we do live in one, and rain can be a rare commodity.

Last year at about this time we were in Taiwan, where rain is plentiful, the people live in the subtropics, and everything is green because it rains so much. Ah, I miss Taiwan, but I also love Utah. What a dichotomy.

I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal today about the effort on mainland China to make sure that all of the signs that have been translated into English there are correct. Beijing has the Olympics scheduled for 2008 and they would like to make sure that it is correct.

Having lived in Taiwan for 3 years, I can say that some of the signs certainly were humorous. It is going to be too bad in some ways, because it was always a private joke that some westerners enjoyed when looking at the signs. I guess politically correct Chinglish is also in vogue now, at least on mainland China.

I am talking about the United States surely.  Well, not really.  I am actually refering to Taiwan.  There are tons of restaurants, particularly fast food restaurants that people visit every day of the week.  While there are also still street stands, that is not as prevelant as they were 30 years ago.  In any event, people are so busy, working tons of hours a day, that eating before you get home is a lot more common than one might think, and makes this nation a lot like the United States.  I was amazed by the mass of fast food places that were everywhere.  They were American, Chinese, and every other nationality that you can think of.  I believe that Eating Out is a national pastime in the island of Taiwan.