Guard Your Heart

Having read about the swindle that 250 some university professors got involved in, I felt ashamed of them. Then in class I shared my disappointment, anger, and expectation with my students, who will graduate this coming summer. The title for this posting is from the Bible--"Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Proverbs 4:23)

Qyite a lot of examples in the Bible and in our daily lives have proved the fact that men tend to corrupt more rapidly and easily as they are getting old. King Solomon, the wisest man in the world, became corrupted and sinned against God when he was old--he had seven hundred wives and 300 concubines. King David, the king God loved the most, was Solomon's father. He was in love with a soldier's wife, so he sent that soldier to the battle field and took the soldier's wife. Because of the sin (adultery and murder) he committed, he had to pay the price. As for the ones who are still living, I think Chen Shui-bian is the best example. Where is this former president of ours now? Who would believe the most powerful person in a country would steal money from the country he was leading? The examples above remind us that we human beings are too vulnerable to fight against temptations such as fame, wealth, power, and sex.

However, we can overcome/beat corruptions by guarding our hearts. We can do two things to keep our integrity: First, we have to try our best to get away from all the temptations. For example, when taking exams, we should choose to sit on the first row where teachers can see us without difficulties. Don't sit in an area where you can't be seen easily. Second, examine our heart and mind regularly by meditating on the evil thoughts, bad words, or rude behaviors we have come up with. If something bad is detected, we should write it down to remind us not to say the same thing or make the same mistake again.
As your teacher, I think I should teach you important things as well as grammar. If I didn't teach you what I think you should know, I would feel I didn't do my job well. I may not see you again before you graduate from Tunghai, so I wish you all the best and hope that you can be decent people with integrity. Our country needs people like you!
As your teacher, I think I should teach you important things as well as grammar. If I didn't teach you what I think you should know, I would feel I didn't do my job well. I may not see you again before you graduate from Tunghai, so I wish you all the best and hope that you can be decent people with integrity. Our country needs people like you! (410 words)

Hugs

As a person who likes to “touch” people, I enjoy physical contacts more than many other women. It’s mainly because of two men, the ones I’ve loved most in my life—my father and my husband.

Father, a quiet man, doesn’t know how to express his love in words. I remember Father liked to hold my small hands whenever he walked with me. Sometimes when I was acting up, he would scold me. But after he did that, he would put me on his lap stroking me on my back while he was telling me why he was angry at me. However, I didn’t realize this was the way he showed his love for me until I met my husband. Like my father, my husband shows his affection and concern by touching me a lot. For example, when I am crying while watching a sad movie on TV, he would hand me some facial tissues and then pat me on my hand to comfort me. When I get angry, he would sometimes hold me into his arms to calm me down. When I go to bed, he would always tuck me in and kiss me “Good night!” However, of all the body contacts, “hug” is what I like most. Every day he gives a hug before I go to work. When I am embraced in his arms, I feel I am safe and fully appreciated and loved. What a wonderful feeling it is!

I believe that one hug carries more love and concern than one thousand words does and that we all can benefit from hugging each other. Let’s do it as often as we can to let our family and friends know how much we love them!

Linsanity

Having caught "Linsanity" for two weeks, I follow almost every NBA game he was in. Since I had never watched any NBA games before, I had a lot to catch up on. For example, how many players is each team allowed to have? What does "point guard" mean? In order to find out the answer to every single question I had, I did a lot of research. As a teacher, doing research is part of my job duties, so I have no problem with this "research project". I can all the information online. While watching games, I can ask my husband for help. Though he doesn't follow NBA, he is a loyal fan of the NCAA. His knowledge about basketball is far enough for me, the beginner of the NBA Knicks' fan.
I don't know how the real NBA fans look at me and many other Taiwanese people who started watching NBA games because of Jeremy Lin. I admit I'm not a real NBA fan, but I have watched more than one NBA game since I got "Linsanity". Within these two weeks, I know a lot about the NBA. I know what goal tending is. I also know the role of a point guard. More importantly, I've eye witnessed Jeremy Lin's humble side.
Jeremy Lin's Taiwanese blood has made every single Taiwanese proud of him. Jeremy Lin's unselfish play has inspired his teammates to play less selfishly. Though I don't know if  Carmelo Anthony can play as unselfishly as Jeremy Lin. I believe sooner or later Melo will change. See, this is a good example of "one person can change a group of people." Thanks to this good example, I pray I can be a good influence for my students!

Had She Been Married to a Different Man

While watching Jeremy Lin playing Minnesota Timberwolves on TV, I happened to read the news about Whitney Houston's death. Shocked, I switched to Channel 6--CNN to double check the news. Yes, it's true--she died at her room at the Hilton Hotel! As soon as I knew the news was true, my first reaction was "Oh, no, don't tell me she died of drug abuse."  All of a sudden, Whitney Houston's death dampened the excitement of watching Jeremy Lin. After turning off TV, I turned on my laptop. Here I am blogging in my own valley.
Having lived for more than half a century, I have to admit my world is comparatively simpler and smaller than most others of my age. For example, I've seldom had the experience of feeling excited and then sad a minute later. I want to thank God for lack of this experience in my life. Only people who cherish simplicity and are blessed enough to be immune from such unbearable turmoils as destitution, divorce,  serious illnesses, or death can understand the lack of the experience of such extreme emotions is a blessing.  
Though nobody else should be responsible for whatever we do except us, I still think the ones we love or associate with may have an impact on us to a degree. "If Whitney Houston had not been married to Bobby Brown, maybe she would have had a different life." This is what I said to my husband. Right after that, I added, "I'm glad I'm married to a right man because our marriage has helped me change into a person I like better." Though Dan said nothing, I knew he appreciated my words.

The Shadowlands

When did I first know about C.S. Lewis? Not until I watched the movie The Shadowlands! I have to say it's a shame for me not to know anything about this great author earlier. Actually, what made me go to this movie was not C.S. Lewis but my favorite actors Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. Fascinated by Hopkins' acting in The Silence of the Lambs, I started following every movie he was in, especially the ones which portrayed the reserved British man. In the early 1990s, I got to see Howard's End, The Remains of the Day, and The Shadowlands. That was how I knew about C.S. Lewis. Though it was kind of late to know such a worldwide famous writer, it was never too late to start. 
As a Christian, I've heard quite a lot of sermons or read some articles which quoted C.S. Lewis' words, especially Nicky Gumbel's Alpha program. The more quotes I heard/read about, the more I wanted to know about C.S. Lewis. That was how I started collecting and reading his books. His writings about Christianity are so fascinating but hard to digest that I "chew" his ideas sentence by sentence. While reading, very often I have to regurgitate like a cow. For me, reading C. S. Lewis is time consuming but worthy of my time. So when I have time and mood for reading, I like to spend an hour of so chewing a few pages of his thinking. How wonderful it is to be able to read C. S. Lewis!

FM Station

As a free-lance editor, my husband works at home. Due to his quiet nature and sensitiveness to noise, he's led a secluded life. However, he knows it's not healthy to be a 24-hour homebody. In order to keep his sanity and privacy, he tries to do his daily exercise--walking on campus at night when the weather permits. Besides walking, he likes to spend some time at FM Station, a bakery which is across from the market in our neighborhood. He goes there 4 times a week, and every time he goes there, he orders exactly the same items to read with--a glass of iced green tea and a roll filled with creme. Then if the bakery is not crowded, he would sit at the same table reading for a couple of hours.
Every time before he goes, he asks me if I would like to go with him. 8 out 10 times my answer would be "No." Since I don't spend too much time at home, I want to enjoy being a couch potato when I have free time. How about the only two times when I say "Yes"? Only when I want to go to the market and when I want to please him, I would agree to go with him. 
To be honest, FM Station is a very nice place to spend some afternoons when it's not crowded. This bakery has only 10 tables in its right side--8 tables for two people and 2 for four people. Most customers are regular ones, who want to get away from their chores. It's not a fancy bakery and doesn't have comfy chairs, so young people or lovers don't go there.  Only housewives with their toddlers, middle-aged people, or freelancers like my husband would station there because of the low price of the drinks and rolls (3-4 US dollars). Though I don't like to go there, I enjoy their music a lot. Somehow the owner has his special taste about music--old Latin and English songs. Many restaurants play old English songs, but I haven't found another place which provides Spanish songs. Having spent two years in Spain, I LOVE to listen to songs in Spanish.  
Thanks to FM Station, my husband has a motive to stay outside for a couple of hours every afternoon. Long live to FM Station!

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is only two days away. Living 150 kilometers away from my parents, I haven't decided when to go back to Taipei--a day before the New Year's Eve or the New Year's Eve? Normally, I wait until New Year's Eve to go back because that's the day my husband feels like going. However, he doesn't seem want to go with me this year. Used to his cancelling our plans at the last minute, I am not upset but disappointed. Since my parents are getting older, I don't know how many more Chinese New Years I can celebrate with them. I hope my husband and I can celebrate every single one we have. But going back to be with my family has been a torture for my husband, who is super sensitive to noise and human contacts. Therefore, during the past 18 years, I either go back to Taipei alone or go with him when he feels up to it. If I go back alone, I'll stay in Taipei a couple of days longer than when I go back with him. The longest time he can manage is 3 days and nights (New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, and Daughter's Day). We leave for Taipei in the late morning of the New Year's Eve and come back to Taichung in the early morning of the third day (the day after Daughter's Day).
Though I feel disappointed that Dan is not going back with me, I'm still grateful that I live in a city which is only 150 kilometers away, not three thousand miles away!

Intermediate English Grammar

Tunghai University is a college which emphasizes and is proud of its English programs. I was told that 30 years ago when Tunghai graduates went to AIT for the interviews to get their visa to the States, they could get their visa without any difficulties because of their good English speaking ability. In the 1980's, students in Taiwan could read much better than speak or listen, but those who graduated from Tunghai could speak much more fluently and better than others. Due to this reputation, Tunghai's English programs have had several features: the smalled size of the class and the whole English environment. Freshman English classes have no more than 35 students, and all the English teachers teach in English. Both the midterm and final exams include listening, reading, and speaking.
However, this so-called communicative teaching overemphasizes listening and speaking. Students' reading and writing abilities are getting worse and worse. Wanting to help students improve their writing and reading ability, I offered the elective Intermediate Grammar about 13 years ago.  It's a three-credit semester course, but students have to spend more than three hours a week studying grammar to keep up with me. Surprised to know students didn't have any sense about words or sentences before they took this course, but more surprised to see the huge progress they have made in a semester. By the end of the semester, everyone of my students are able to differentiate the structures of phrases, the types of clauses and sentences. Not until they can appreciate different styles of the sentence can they start appreciating writings with different styles. 
By teaching this course more than a decade, I've been more sensitive to the changes of the language and more aware of the logic of the English language and my own native language. I've been able to enjoy the subtlety of the word choices and the use of different patterns more than before. The more I teach, the more I realize I need to learn. I'm the one who ends up benefitting most from this course.

Family Day

As a busy career woman, I've tried to find a balance between work and family time. My husband is a person who highly values free time. He thinks we should do something entertaining in our free time, but the problem is that I don't have too much free time because I'm busy Monday through Friday. The only free time I have is Saturday and Sunday, so we both agree to have Saturday as our Family Day--the day for both of us only. Normally, on this day we go to the movies followed by a meal. Or we eat out first and then go to the movies. If there's no good movie, we'll just have an afternoon tea together. It all depends on how we feel or what movies are available. I enjoy doing all the activities mentioned above because doing those things can help me get away from my job. I enjoy my work so much that I even regard doing my job duties as my entertainment. For example, I love to work on handouts. Whenever I have some good ideas, I would go to my laptop immediately to type them up. Then I end up sitting in front of my desk in my free time. However, on Family Day I restrain myself from turning on my computer. Without computer, my life seems simpler because the day without computer seems longer. I can do many things such as reading, chatting, and listening to music with my husband. Thanks to this family day, I can have a quality life because I can work hard for 5 days and play hard for one day. How about Sunday? It's Sabbath! The time for me to worship God and rest!

Three Questions

Have you ever been praised by others? What praises did they give you?
Having been a teacher for more than 27 years, I talk and act like a teacher even when I interact with others. I don't like that at all, but I don't know how to change the way I look, talk and act. Every time when I chat with sales employees while trying something on, they would ask me "Are you a teacher?" Feeling disappointed, I nodded my head and then asked them why. The answer is always "You look and talk like a teacher." However, the second question-- "Are you a Christian?" can always make me happy.  Surprised at such a question, I would ask why. Then people say I look like a Christian. Wow! What a compliment! As for the third question, I have to say it's quite rare because only one person asked me this question--"Do you have a daughter?" I met this guy's wife in the cafe Dante on campus. We have a habit of having our breakfast in Dante. At first, we just smiled at each other. After seeing her several times, I decided to chat with her. That was how we became acquaintances. Her husband is a businessman working in China, so once in a while I could see him in Dante.T One day he invited me to sit at the same table, and it was only the second time I saw him. After chatting for about 20 minutes, he asked me, "Do you have a daughter?" Wondering why he asked me such a blunt question, I replied, "No, I don't have children." Then the guy said, "What a pity! If you had a daughter, I would want my son to marry your daughter. You sound like a good person, so I believe if you had a daughter, your daughter would be a good girl, too." This is the best compliment I've ever heard.

New Year's Resolutions

It's hard to believe I haven't blogged for a week. In other words, this post is the first one for Year 2012. Being swamped with grading students' final papers, I postponed my daily blogging until today--Jan. 7. Well, it's never too late to start something we have always wanted to do, right?
I was too busy to think of New Year's Resolutions until today, so I'd like to write about a couple of them. First, I hope I can continue to blog every day. Daily blogging is a blessing from God because it takes time and mood to do so. If I can blog every day it means that I have both time and mood. For example, I had more free time last month, so I could post 24 articles in December. The first two weeks of this month is the last two weeks of the fall semester. I've been so swamped with all the job duties that I posted my first article today. I've been in good mood but haven't had free time for blogging. In a couple of months, I'll have my yearly depression. It'll last half a year. I'm afraid I'll be too depressed to blog. That's why I said being able to blog daily is a blessing from God. I pray that I can write even when I'm depressed. Second, I hope I can finish reading the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Having been a Christian since 1991, I haven't finished reading the whole Bible even once. It's not because I don't like to read the Bible but because I prefer the New Testament to the Old Testament. I've read my favorite books such as Romans, Corinthians, Philippians, and James numerous times, but when I tried to read through the Old Testament, I would always skip Numbers and Deuteronomy. I pray that God can strengthen me and help me finish reading the Old Testament.
These two resolutions may not sound ambitious to others, but they mean a lot to me. Hope I can post my reflections on the Bible at least once a week. I hope that I can have these two goals fulfilled by the end of Year 2012!

16 words of encouragement

2 Corinthian 4:8--"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair."
What an uplifting message this Bible verse has conveyed! Apostle Paul's faith was epitomized in this verse. As we know, life is full of so many 'surprises' or 'accidents'.One thing for sure about life is that we'll run into trouble from time to time, but the frightening part about these troubles is that we never know what kind of trouble we'll encounter and when we'll face it. However, Paul reminded us not not to feel distressed during our difficulties. He also indicated the weakness about human nature; that is,  "the more hardships we go through,the more confused we may get, and the less faith in God we tend to have." Once again Paul taught us that no matter how perplexed we'd get, we'd never be in despair.
Dear Lord, thank you for your word of encouragement. May these 16-word reminder be in our hearts encouraging us when we feel low or when our faith is beginning to fade!

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol is the book (simplified version) I've required my Freshman English students to read in the fall semester. Normally, it takes me an hour to introduce the book, including the background (Victorian Era) and the author. Then I'll give my students three weeks to finish reading this 57-page level 3 in the Bookworm series. By the time students finish reading the book, it's December. Then I'll show the movie starring George C. Scott around mid December. This has been in my syllabus for the fall semester since I started teaching at Tunghai in 1993. In other words, I've watched the same movie more than 15 times since then. I love the movie so much that exactly the same spot of the movie can make me cry or laugh year after year.
I can tell if people enjoy the movie from their answers to the following two questions--"Do you believe that people can change no matter how old they get?" and "Do you believe that there're ghosts in the world?" If both of their answers are negative, I can conclude that they won't/don't like the story. As for myself, I firmly believe that people can change regardless their old age. It's true that the older we get, the less flexible we may be; however, as long as people get tired of being the same people, it's time for them to change.
This morning my husband, Dan, told me that he had finished watching the DVD of the movie last night. Then he said he still had hope although he's 63 years old. I know what he meant when he said he still had hope--he could become a better person like what Scrooge turned out to be!

Do you believe you can change?

Christmas party

This week is Christmas week, one of the most important weeks at Tunghai University. Since Tunghai is a Christian university, Christmas is the most important day for our school. On Christmas eve, thousands of young people will flock into the beautiful campus of Tunghai to participate in all the different activities, both secular and Christian. As a Christian teacher, every year I schedule a Christmas party for this week--PowerPoint presentation of Jesus' birth followed by the appreciation of three Christmas carols (Mary's Boy Child, Away in a Manger, and Silent Night). Then students can do their favorite activity--gift-exchanging & reading the Christmas card out loud in public. In order to build the atmosphere of love, students have played "Little Guardian Angel" for 2 weeks prior to Christmas party.
But before they start this activity, they have to learn two ways of appreciation--hugging and hand-shaking. I didn't know what hug was until I knew my husband in the States. Once I experienced hugging, I fell in love with it. I've shown my love by hugging people ever since I realized how wonderful it was. I hug my friends when I see them off at the airport or train station; I welcome their arrivals with big hugs; I give my gal friends a warm & comforting hug to let them know I'm on their side; I hug my sisters in Christ when we are asked to greet each other in church. Hugging is one of the best things that I've learned from American society


Anna & Grace hugging each other



Lillian & Andy shaking hands

 In order to let my students know how to hug, I have to show them several times. Then I'll show them how to shake hands. I want them to know how to behave socially appropriately. Once everybody knows how to hug and shake hands, they start to exchange their gifts. The procedure is as follows: one person comes to the front with his/her card and gift. Then he will ask the recipient of the card to come out. After the person stands opposite him, he opens the card and reads the words out loud to that person. Then the card recipient gives that person a hug or shakes hands with him to show  his appreciation. After everybody gets to read his card and exchange his gift, it's time to open all the gifts. Then its' time to share their presents if the gifts are candies.


Handmade card by Jay

 How long does the party last? Two hours! The things done during these two hours may touch some students' hearts. Actually, all these years what I've heard from my students is that it's the first Christmas party they've ever had. I'm glad I can give my students this wonderful experience by sharing God's love with them and by organizing a series of activities to help them learn how to care about others.


Timmy reading the card to Ellen out loud



Magnificent 7

"When like-minded people are together, any occasion is a celebration."

I have been working at Tunghai University for 18 years. How many friends have I made? Since I'm a Christian, I like number 7, the number of completeness. However, if I count my friends carefully, I doubt I have this many. Let me count them one by one.

Friend No. 1 is Qizhang, the only adult male friend I have. Though he's 11 years younger than I, he is as sophisticated and wise as a 50-some-year old person. I guess his expertise "drama & Shakespeare" has resulted in the way he is. Every time when I talk with him, I forget our age difference. As the only male friend of mine, he's the only source I have when I want to find out why I have some problems with men, especially my husband.  I can never understand why some men sometimes behave in some ways that confuse me although I have read books about the differences between men and women. I have to say this friend of mine has helped me know more about men, especially why men or husbands want to be respected by women. He's not only a bosom friend but a good person to eat with. When I feel like having some beef noodles, he's always the first one I ask to eat out with. He's my beef-noodle buddy.

Smiling Qizhang in a "dou hua" store 

Friend No. 2 is Daisy, the TA in the Foreign Language Department. Born in a farmer's family of a small village in central Taiwan, she's very different from me, a city woman. Unlike me, she feels quite awkward when she speaks though she has her sense of humor. However, somehow I can see all the good qualities in her--sincere, low-key, and responsible. I don't remember why I liked her the first time I met her back in 1993. Though we've been friends for over 15 years, we seldom get together to have a meal. She just doesn't like these social gatherings. Then how do we communicate with each other and keep our friendship? Via email! Fortunately, I love to email people. Besides emails, we sometimes give each other some gifts. She gives me several bottles of homemade wine--sweet red wine every year. As for me, I give her a small bottle of perfume with the scent which can remind her of the days she spent in Missouri. Of all the friends I've made at Tunghai, she's the only one whom I don't hang out with but always keep in my heart.

Daisy at work

Friend No 3 is Weijing, a woman who is 17 years younger than me. She was a part-time teacher when I first met her. She was very witty, the wittiest woman I'd ever known. Of all the characteristics she has, I admire her for her knowledge of and passion for food. In other words, she's a gourmet. Though I enjoy good foods, too, I will never do things she has done. She does a lot of research online to find out where she can eat delicious food. She will take all the trouble to some shops to get the items she wants. Anyway, she's an adventurer when it comes to food hunt. She took me to several restaurants to try new things. Though only a couple of them impressed me, I still like to eat out with her. However, she's become the type of the people I like less--cautious people ever since she took the full-time position of TA in our department. Knowing she has to be very careful and diplomatic when she deals with teachers, I totally understand why she has to be cautious. But somehow chatting with her about business is no fun anymore. Fortunately, we don't talk business often. Instead, we talk about her daughter and good food, the two topics I'll never get tired of. Though she's a lot younger than I, she has two qualities I don't have--she apologizes and accepts apologies without delay! I have to say I have a lot to learn from her!

Weijing under the weather

Friend No. 4 is Chia-Hui. Though she's one year older than Weijing, she's more like a child than Weijing. She's almost 40, but you can't tell her age from her face and the way she talks.Often times she is mistaken for a graduate student. She always wears smile on her face, which makes people feel warm and happy when they see her. However, I can see the childlike side of her and find it so lovely that whenever I interact with her, I either act like a mother or react to her like a child, too. In my eyes, she is a mixture of some extremes--feeling proud but looking modest, looking/acting like a child but worrying like a mother, and behaving well but being ready for some mischievous surprises any time. She's the second "7-11" person I know--living on the snacks sold in that convenient store. She never orders boxed meal for lunch! I don't know why I like her so much. Maybe she and I have one thing in common--There's a child living in us!

Jiahui

Friend No. 5 is the oldest friend I've ever had. She's almost 70 years old. Though she's 70, she doesn't look that old because of all the exercises she's done--tennis, swimming, and walking. Before she got retired, she was a like a godmother to all of us colleagues. She's very generous and enjoys people's company, especially men's. Fortunately, she's single; otherwise, her husband would be very jealous. Olivia is also my husband's best friend because they both are tennis fans. When any of the 4 tennis matches starts, they always exchange their information with each other. Olivia prefers my husband to me, but I never mind being a Number 2. I accept my position because of the guy I love--my husband.

As for Friend No. 6, I'm not so sure of who should be because I would say two people share the half of No. 6 Friend. Susan can be counted as the first half. She is kind in nature, and she's a cancer, who loves family and enjoys being at home. Susan has a very soft heart, so she has so many friends, which causes a problem for me. Because of all the connections she has, I've tried to keep distance from her. I'm afraid she may disclose whatever I confide in her. If she didn't have so many friends, I would enjoy sharing more with her. I love her hearty laughter, so genuine and amusing! The other half of Friend No. 6 is Eliane, my next-door neighbor in the dorm. Eliane is the same age as I, and she's like me--we both love children and enjoy playing with kids.

My last friend, Friend No. 7, is Theresa. She is very different from the other Taiwanese women in many ways. She loves and is very good at Taichi. She is a Buddhist and visits different temples on holidays. She has a green thumb and plants a lot of flowers. From what I have described, you may think she is a traditional Taiwanese woman. Ha! You're wrong. She had taught English in America for 15 years before she came back to Taiwan in 1990. She speaks English beauuutifully and she's very Americanized. I mean she thinks and acts like an American. When we are together, we just joke about a lot of things and ourselves. She likes to talk about her research with me. What an odd topic for me, a person who would do anything in my free time except for research! However, I am interested in most research topics she's done. By reading her paper and listening to her, I've learned a lot of knowledge. Oh, BTW, though she's my friend, I liked her mother better than her. Though this old lady passed away a couple of years ago, she'll be in my memory forever because the one she loved has been and will be my friend! 

Tunghai Dairy

Tunghai University, the school where I've been teaching since 1993, is famous for its dairy products because we have our own farm. Actually, this tiny dairy shop is not as famous as the Luce Chapel, the most well-known building, designed by I. M. Pei.On weekends or holidays people all over Taiwan will come to this school to take a look at this famous church. While walking around the huge campus, some of them will stop by Tunghai Dairy, which is located near the farm.
This tiny shop is run by the president's wife, Anita Cheng. She has put a lot of efforts and time on this store. For example, the  model cows displayed on the shelves are the cute cows from different countries. Whenever she travels, she'll look for cows and bring them back to Taiwan.
The store sells a lot of healthy stuff in addition to the dairy products. I'm one of the regular customers who buy multi-grain bread and mackerel fish.
If you have a chance to come to Tunghai, please stop by this cute store to try some delicious food.

Yogurt (original flavor, my favorite)

Milk with the best quality but highest price (US$3 dollars)

Cranberry Ice Cream

Ice Cream

Yogurt Ice Bar

Model cows on the wall

Model cows on the shelf (do you know where they're from?)

Model cows with cute postures

Colorful model cows

Calves on a Cow & Cow with wheels

Words of C & E

Having worked as a teacher for more than 27 years, I've learned one thing from this profession- offering words of comfort and encouragement to the needed people. At first, I offered them to my students. Or I should say I have been trained to encourage or comfort students who I knew were in need. How do I know if they needed some encouraging words? Well, when students don't do well on exams or perform poorly when they give their oral presentations, I know how they feel and are ready to offer my words of C & E. Most of the time, students feel better after I say something warm or uplifting.
Since I do this so often to my students that I find out I will do the same thing to my colleague friends. As soon as I know who is low in spirits, I would sent her/him some pep talk to encourage her/him. I also show my concern about my friends' family--their children or spouses. Last Thursday afternoon I happened to know the husband of one of my friends was in low spirits. I was concerned about him because his wife is my friend. I thought of doing something but didn't take actions because I was busy that day--I went to pick up the birthday cake for my husband, bought McDonald's combo for his lunch, had lunch with him, went back to my office to meet with my grammar students, and had dinner with the "birthday boy" in the evening. By the time I finished my day, it was late at night.
Early next morning I got up with a desire to write a letter to my friend's husband. Then I spent an hour typing up a letter to encourage him. I haven't heard from him since then, but I believe he will feel less bad, if he didn't feel better. Nobody would feel worse after reading some words of C & E!

Little Guardian Angel (2)

My Freshman English students participated in the activity Little Guardian Angel this week. The two classes I'm teaching are very different in nature--my social science-majored students have been more interested in playing this game than my science-majored students.
Last Friday (Dec. 17) almost every student of my social science students prepared a treat. They put all there treats on the table and wait for me to "deliver" them. Amazed at the things they got, I took pictures of these treats. Then I delivered the treats like Santa Claus did. While students were waiting to come to the front to get their treats, I watched those happy young faces. Feeling touched, I was glad I thought of this activity for them to do. They all needed to learn how to show their concern about one person!
Though my science-majored students didn't seem to show the same enthusiasm for this activity, I could still see some changes in them. Though most of them are reserved and shy, some them showed some emotions on their faces when they received some treats.

An orange--the fruit in season

A note written by Wei-shan's Little Guradian Angel

Soy bean jello--the most popular snack for kids

Tunghai Milk produced by the univeristy

Now let me show you what treats Taiwanese college students got.

One of the five occasions to celbrate--Dan's birthday

December 15 is my husband's birthday--one of the 5 occasions we celebrate every year. Though he is 63 years old, he sometimes acts like a child. For example, long before his birthday approaches, he will talk about how to celebrate it. Then we'll get into several discussions about the restaurant where he wants to celebrate his birthday. Besides this eating event, he will give me some hints of what birthday present he wants to have. He's a bookworm, so books are always the best gifts for him. However, most of the books he's wanted to have are not available in Taiwan. I have to order online--Amazon.com and ask them to mail the books. It sounds easy, but the problem is that he won't tell me what book he wants until a month earlier. By the time I know what book he wants, it doesn't leave me enough time to get my order done and then get the book mailed to Taiwan. For the past few years, I used the strategy--I ordered the books for him to read for a year and had them send to my former student who has worked in the States for years. I wait until she comes back to Taiwan to visit her family. She would carry all the books I had ordered. I remember one year I got carried away because I ordered more than 20 books from different websites. After I realized I had ordered way too many books, I told myself not to do the same thing again.
This year's birthday celebration went very well. I made a reservation at Pierre, the cozy restaurant which serves the best pasta in my neighborhood. When I made the reservation, I asked the owner if she could play the music of "Happy Birthday". She said they didn't have that kind of music but promised they would prepare something special for my husband.

Potato & corn soup

Pierre home-made hot roll

Seafood pasta with tomato sauce

At 5:30 we arrived at the restaurant. Then about 10 minutes later we started enjoying the first dish of the meal--a hot home-made roll with potato corn soup. After that, we savored the delicious salad--lettuce with cheese dipped in oil sauce. While having the meal, Dan and I were chatting happily. Then our entree came--my favorite seafood pasta with tomato sauce and Dan's favorite salmon with pesto paste. My pasta tasted perfect! Dan loved his salmon! After the entree, we were served two small cup of sour milk with figs in red wine. Having no idea what it was, I asked the server Zhi-wen what it was. Then she told us that it was Pierre's treat for my husband's birthday! What a wonderful gesture! My shy and low-key husband looked so happy and surprised that he thanked the server several times. Boy, that dessert was the best dessert I had ever eaten. I'm a gourmet and have eaten so many delicious foods in Taiwan and some foreign countries, but I had never eaten such tasty dessert before! When I went to pay for the meal, I asked the owner if I could talk to the chef, the owner's husband, in person. Once again my husband thanked the chef and the owner for their thoughtfulness! He said this birthday celebration was one of the most unforgettable ones in his life!

A Feast in Taipei

It was time to go back to Taipei to visit my father this past weekend. I left Taichung Saturday afternoon. In order to make my husband feel he was also important, I suggested we go to the movie "The Ides of March" before I left for Taipei. After the movie, I drove back to Taipei on my own. The movie was OK. Acting was good, but the profanity was beyond my tolerance level. Sometimes I wonder if Americans really talk that way in daily lives? How come the ones I know seldom use foul language. Well, I don't really know too many. The ones I know are my colleagues. There're about a dozen, and only two of them have this bad habit. Besides the profanity, I think the weakest part was the plot. After all, George Clooney is a better actor than a playwright. After the movie, I went back home to load my car. I was away for only two days, but I had tons of things to carry. Well, I never travel light anyway.
It was dinner time when I arrived. After I wolfed down my mother's specialty--"Da Lu Noodles", I touched my tummy contently. About 20 minutes later, I crawled into my room in the basement and fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow. What a wonderful feeling to be able to sleep in Father's home!
I got up around 5:00 next morning and waited until the sky turned brighter. Then I drove to get breakfast for the family--Sis' (4 members), my parents and me. I stopped at three different places for the food-- traditional soy milk store for Mom, Sis, and my brother-in-law, McDonald's for the two nieces, and sandwich breakfast shop for my father. Then I delivered all the breakfast I bought for Sis' family to her apartment, hoping they could have some luxurious "room service". After breakfast, I suggested we have Pizza Hut for lunch. Since only one person disliked pizza (my mother), we were all in favor of this suggestion. Mom called my brother and asked his family to come over for lunch. At 11:00 I arrived at the nearest Pizza Hut and ordered the food. Everybody liked to eat Hawaiian pizza, so I had no choice but ordered one and a half pizza with that topping. As for the other half of the pizza, I ordered my favorite one--Pepperoni, the only topping I care for. In addition to pizza, I ordered a brownie cake, chicken wings, and cheese omelet rolls. What I ordered was far enough for 7 people--two nieces, Bro, Brother-in-law, Parents, and me. Once again about four hours after we ate breakfast, we sat together to eat lunch. While watching Father enjoy his pizza, I felt I was the luckiest person in the world. I'm 55 years old, but my parents are still around and functioning well. My siblings live near my aged parents. Though I'm 150 kilometers away from them, I can still visit them every other weekend. I thank God for all these blessings every day.
Knowing Father likes to eat "Steamed Rice with Duck", one of the famous dishes served in a restaurant near Taiwan University, I decided to go downtown to get it. On my way to the restaurant, I stopped to get "red bean soup with sesame glutinous rice dumplings" for Mother. With all the food I bought, I took the bus back home. Though it was only 5:30 PM, Father had been waiting for his favorite food since 5:00. There he was sitting at the dining table enjoying his dinner. My eyes were red again. I still remember when Father came back from China three months ago, he was very sick. He's had dialysis for about 2 months, but his appetite seems to come back. I'll try my best to buy the food he likes to eat as long as he tells me what he wants to eat. I almost lost him, and I'm going to cherish the opportunities I'll have to make him happy.