Ni-Wa-Wa (A Mud Doll)

Panai's Ni-Wa-Wa (A Mud Doll)
Tracy Chapman's Fast Car
This afternoon I went to a lecture with my Freshman English students. The speech was given by a famous producer of aboriginal music--Zhang 43, a stage/pen name he gave himself. Why does he use a number as part of his name? It's because that was how old his mother was when he was born.
43 has invested a lot of energy and money in aboriginal music since 1997. A lot of talented aboriginal singers were recruited by him and had their own albums sung in their own tribal languages. A couple of singers even got the "best singer" awards at the Golden Bell Award ceremonies, an award which is equivalent of the Amy Award in the USA. 
I'm a music lover, and I enjoy pure voice & simple melody. In 2000, I bought a CD of songs sung by Panai, an aboriginal singer from Taitung (the east of Taiwan). Unlike most other singers, Panai has a deep voice. If you like Tracy Chapman's voice, then you'll like Panai's because their voices share a lot of similarities.

Ni-Wa-Wa Ni-Wa-Wa, a  mud doll
She has a nose and eye brows, but she doesn't wink.
Ni-Wa-Wa Ni-Wa-Wa, a mud doll
She has a nose and eye brows, but she doesn't speak.
She is a fake doll, not a real one.
She has neither a dear father nor a loving mother.
Ni-Wa-Wa Ni-Wa-Wa, a mud doll
Let me be her father and her mother, so I can love her forever.

Native Taiwanese: 9 tribes in Taiwan

Good!?

The Logical Song
Having blogged for three weeks, I finally got the first response from a blogger today!!! I just couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted the message. One blogger read my post about one of my students and left some words--"You are really a good teacher." Surprised, I'm posting this article to respond to him/her.

As an independent person, I showed my independence since I was very little. Somehow, "being good" has never been one of my concerns. When I was a child, I was reluctant to follow my mother's advice or instructions. When I was an elementary school student, I refused to be the best student in class. I always tried my best to be the third or fourth best student. Then when I went to junior high, I no longer needed to try hard not to be the best student because I was not good enough to be one of the top students. However, I was very content with my own "status"--not good enough to be bothered or envied by others but good enough to have some freedom to enjoy my own life. By the time I went to high school, I became a mediocre student who had to strive for a good college. Three years later, I got into a university with prestige. During the four years in college, I tried so many new experiences except for studying hard. Therefore, I graduated from college with an GPA of 3 points. How did I look at myself at that time? I was quite happy with myself because I made the choice to be a HAPPY student instead of a GOOD student. I don't know why I just couldn't study for good grades. Grades didn't have any meaning or were never a motive for me to study hard. I enjoyed studying the subjects I liked such as Shakespeare and Spanish, but I decided to get a passing grade for the subjects I had no interests in.

Three years after I graduated from college, I taught English and Spanish in a junior college. I became a teacher who I had always dreamed of--someone who was serious about life and learning and could inspire students by sharing her own life experience. Am I a good teacher? No, I am not! Since I was not a good student, I can never become a good teacher. The reason is very simple--I refuse to be molded into a "good" teacher just like I refused to be a good student. What kind of teacher am I anyway? I would say I'm a teacher who is humorous, serious, demanding, devoted, and fair but firm. I enjoy sharing my experiences, both bad and good ones, with students. I always give my students challenging projects so that they can see their own potentials. I love to make them believe that each one of them should have dreams and that realizing their dreams is not a dream. I, a dreamer, have realized quite a few dreams--going to Spain to study, traveling as a backpacker in some European countries, and knowing some people. As a teacher, I want my students to know that everyone deserves a dream and many chances to make it come true.

Am I a good teacher? I don't think I am because I have no idea how good is good. But I'm pretty sure I am a happy teacher who always supports and encourages students to dream!

Morning Walk with MeiMei



Content MeiMei

Curious Meimei

I had a great weekend! Dan and I had a meal with my parents and Sis' family. 8 of us had a wonderful dinner. Then early Sunday morning I got up early as usual. In the dark I headed for Sis' apartment, which is only within 3-minutes' walking distance from Father's. I unlocked their apartment with the spare key they had left in Father's. Behind the door was MeiMei, wagging her tails to tell me how glad she saw me. Then I left Sis' with her dog on leash! On the way to our usual route, MeiMei was walking way ahead of me. To be more precise, she was dragging me! I had a feeling that MeiMei was walking me! Ha! A dog walks a woman?! Though I used the trick that Cesar Millan had showed in Dog Whisperer, it didn't seem to work. MeiMei is a dog which needs a lot of exercise, but Sis walks her only twice a day with 30-minute walking each time. Walking isn't enough for the hyperactive MeiMei, so whenever I take her out, she doesn't walk; she runs! Maybe she knows I have better stamina than Sis, so she wants to enjoy running.

A daisy

One of my last year's Freshman English students stopped by this morning. Actually, she  stops by my office regularly--every Thursday morning after she finishes her Spanish class at 10:00.
While I was teaching her last year, this petite girl didn't get my attention until the second half of the fall semester. At that time, I was asking the class to do a one-month News English project. I divided the class into 6 different groups with each group focusing on one of the areas I assigned--Europe, North America, Asia, China, Taiwan & Latin America. This student was the leader of the group of Latin America. During each class meeting, she had to make sure all her teammates could finish their oral reports in time and then she assigned one member to report back to class. After class, she needed to compile all the news reports that her group had got from different resources such as BBC, NPR, New York Times, Washington Post, China Post, or Taipei Times. In a word, the workload for group leaders was way too heavy for those who had only been in college for two months. What impressed me most about her was that she never complained about the heavy workload; instead, she was always one of the first two group leaders to send me their electronic file of the compiled news.
This tiny diamond was shining even brighter in the second semester. In the final project, studetns were required to interview one teacher in their field, she gave one of the best presentations I had ever seen. Christina, this cute law major, told the whole class why she interviewed the Dean of Law School. While giving her presentation, she had such a solemn facial expression and spoke in such steady voice that I could not help having goose flesh for a few seconds! After the final exam, I calculated students' grades and decided to give her the best grade I'd given to any of my Freshman English students--89 to show my recognition of her efforts!
Today, on Thanksgiving Day, she stopped by my office as usual, but this time she didn't stay long. She stopped by to hand me the Thank You card to show her appreciation of me, a teacher who's been willing to hear her out. In her card, she wrote. "You're as good as one of the teachers I had in high school because you both knew how to inspire students. My high school teacher inspired me to dream with hope and passion. As for you, you've been like a coal which has kept the fire of my dream burning!"
Who says students can't encourage teachers? What this young woman wrote in her card encouraged me to keep inspiring students!

Christina

7

It's Thanksgiving tomorrow, but I was invited to a Thanksgiving party given by one of colleague friends this early evening. When it comes to making friends, I'm very selective. I have my taste about friends, and most of my friends share at least one of the following characteristics I like--having integrity, being natural, intuitive, or fun. Having been a career woman for 27 years (9 years in Keelung and 18 in Taichung), I've worked with more than 80 other teachers. Of all these 80 colleagues, 10 have turned out to be my friends. That's why I call them "colleague friends"--when I first knew them, they were my colleagues. Then we end up being friends. The three I knew when I was teaching in Keelung lost contacts with me years ago. As for the 7 whom I knew in Taichung, I've cherished them since the first day we became friends.  Knowing friends are one of the blessings God gives me, I never take my friends for granted. I love to spend some time with them; I offer my support without delay; I am always ready to share their moments of happiness or sadness by laughing or crying with them. Most important of all, I keep them in my prayers. Whenever I pray for them, I feel soooooo close to them, especially those who haven't known God yet. After all, friends and family are what I value and cherish most in the world.
Yes, I have 7 colleague friends around me! Number 7 is significant in the Bible because it symbolizes completeness. I know God wants me to reach out to more people, so He gives me these 7 friends. I am grateful to God for them, who have treated me much better than I deserve!

Up in the air! Happyyyyyyy!!!

Money & Honey

If you don't have money, then you don't honey. The more money you have, the more honeys you will have. Honey, honey, honey! Money & Honey is the title of a pop song in the Philippines. Director Jasmine Lee borrowed the title for her documentary--a story about four Filipino women who worked as helpers in a nursing home in Taiwan. It took Jasmine 13 years to record the hardships and growth of these four Filipino women.
The Philippines used to be one of the richest countries in Asia in the 1960's. However, one tenth of their population is working in foreign countries, and  in Taiwan you can see these foreign labor workers everywhere. I'm a Christian, and as far as I know some churches even have English service to meet the needs of this population. Because of my dark skin, very often I am mistaken for one of them depending on who sees me. If an Indonesian sees me, she thinks I'm an Indonesian. If a Filipino sees me, I would be considered as one of them. How do I know? By the friendly smile on their faces when they see me. When I see them, I always smile at them. This is what I can do to make them feel "at home". But how can they feel at home in a place where their families are not around. I know I'll never feel at home in such a place!

Chez Pierre

I have several circles of "gourmet friends"--in these circles each person takes a turn to buy the group a meal. Last night Olivia, a member of the Dim Sum group, took me and Dan to Pierre for a change. Pierre is a French restaurant owned by a Tawanese man who went to Paris to learn French cuisine. Chez Pierre is located in an old residential area of Taichung where there are no other restaurants. When you drive on that street, you can't miss it because of its eyecatching Greek blue exterior.
The best dining area is its right alcove where there are only three tables. If you dine in there in the summer, you can have a breeze wafted to your table. If you dine in there on a wintry day, you can have some "background wind music" while enjoying your food.
As for food, I have to say everything served in that cozy restaurant is tasty, especially their dessert creme brulee. I, a pasta lover, order the exactly same dish every time--seafood pasta with tomato sauce. On average, I go there only 6 or 7 times a year, so I never get tired of eating the same thing. When I ordered the pasta last night, I asked the lovely server Zhi-wen to tell the chef (owner) to make my pasta a little bit tougher (chewier). Then it turned out to be perrrrrrfect--the noodles were chewy, the sauce had natural sweetness of tomato, and the colors of the various ingredients made the pasta even more appetizing--emerald green snow peas, creamy yellow baby corn and pure white squid lying on the top of the  spaghetti dipped in the light red tomato sauce.
Dining at Pierre is always wonderful because I go with friends who enjoy the food and my company. Years ago I read an article about "gourmet friends". The author said that it was hard to have friends to talk to/with, but it was even harder to have friends to eat with because everyone has different taste. Well, in Chez Pierre you can always have your taste buds tickled no matter what your preference is--lamb, duck, steak, salmon, or pasta. How about those who are on a diet? My observation is that they don't need gourmet friends! They can live "happily" by just calculating the calories of food. As for myself, I can't live without good food and good friends!

Yuan Dong Street



Salmon with Pesto mashed potato