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Published: October 24th 2007
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Relaxing in the Park...
...and watching the riding lessons. Some of the most interesting things happen around here, just by serendipity. Lao-puo is often tied up with her Chinese studies on Sundays and (not wanting to disturb her) I explore the neigbourhood. Can you imagine what would happen, in a Canadian park, if someone dragged an old lounge chair and just left it there for his own use? Well someone did, and I enjoyed my beer in comfort. While I was at it, I snapped a few pics of a lady teaching her little guy to ride a bicycle. The interest lay in the fact that she chose the riding-double method—forbidden when I was a kid. No wonder Chinese people seem to have a natural ability on motorbikes.
Riding style, by the way, seems to be gender-specific. Do you remember the old rhyme from when we were kids? Every generation in my family gets it and does it. The fun lies, of course, in bouncing the tacker on your foot harder and harder with each new line.
This is the way the ladies ride
ta-tree ta-tree ta-tree.
This is the way the gentlemen ride
gallop-a-trot gallop-a-trot
This is the way the farmers ride
hobbledy-hoy hobbledy-hoy hobbledy hobbledy hobbledy
I Don't See the Idea.
Maybe the weight over the back wheel is supposed to increase stability. -hoy
It’s kind of like that here. The women float by like little gazelles on their whirring 50 cc’s, and the young turks roar by with loud mufflers. Being a yokel at heart, I generally obey the speed limit so everyone passes me. I marvel at the fact that I can be the first one at a stoplight, yet the twenty-fifth to set off. I suppose it’s because I wait for the green, and then look both ways before going.
Ho hum. Yet another memorable weekend. During the workshop last month in Sansia, I befriended a couple from South Africa now living in Taitung, and they visited Hualien over the weekend. Mike and Moira arrived on Saturday morning, snagged a nearby hostel and a rented motorbike, and spent two days hanging out with us.
We had a blast! Lao-puo and Moira got on like a house on fire, and Mike likes beer and jokes as much as I do. We had some good serious discussions, and a lot of fun. On Saturday we did the usual “Hualien by Scooterback”. Lao-puo can take video with her digital camera, so we will film the area for those who cannot
In a Few Short Years...
...the kid will ditch the old lady and have a babe on the back. come here to see it. Yesterday we saddled up and rode up to Taroko Gorge.
I have often referred to the odd things blocking the motorcycle lane along the highway. Yesterday took the cake! The latest was a water buffalo tied to the bumper of a pickup truck, swaying her ten-ton bum along Hwy 9 like she was ambling her way to a weight loss clinic.
Taroko is magnificent under any circumstances, but from a motorcycle it is absolutely out of this world. I viewed the concept of winding tunnels with considerable trepidation, but two bikes riding together made it a lot safer. The rain held off until we were about twenty minutes from home.
We had some good meals and some good laughs, and we’ll look forward to visiting Mike and Moira in Taitung in the near future.
An amusing thing happened at the Monday morning outdoor assembly this week, and it was more evidence that we all influence kids even when we might not be aware of it. The pavement was wet from recent rain, and I was not clear whether there would even be an assembly. In other words, I was late, and
Waving to Paul...
...as we drive by. Lao-puo is a lot more comfortable in her car. I seldom drive it. Oddly, I feel safer on the motorbike in traffic. arrived just as the national anthem and the flag-raising song were being played. When the music came on I stopped in my tracks and stood at attention.
The music and the lyrics to the national anthem are quite stirring, and Chinese is a beautiful language for singing:
Sānmín Zhǔyì, wú dǎng suǒ zōng,
Yǐ jiàn Mínguó, yǐ jìn Dàtóng.
Zī ěr duō shì, wèi mín qiánfēng;
Sù yè fěi xiè, Zhǔyì shì cóng.
Shǐ qín shǐ yǒng, bì xìn bì zhōng;
Yì xīn yì dé, guànchè shǐ zhōng.
Not having a clue what I was singing, I had to look it up—which I did some years ago. The national anthem is not a bad vision for a post-imperial China.
The three Principles of the People are our foundation,
Using these, we will establish a nation.
Using these, we advance into a state of total harmony.
Comrades, be the vanguard for the people,
Without resting day or night, follow the Principles.
Swear to be diligent; swear to be courageous.
Obliged to be trustworthy; obliged to be loyal;
With one heart and one virtue, carry through until the very end.
Some of the boys were slouching, and one kid was even picking his nose instead of saluting during the anthem. My colleague (the retired major) laced into the student body afterwards with an incredible fist-and-boot verbal tirade. Winona was translating for me, and she quoted him as saying, “even the foreigner stands straighter than you, and shows more respect!” I wonder, how many of the kids were muttering “if Teacher Doug is so wonderful, why was he late for assembly in the first place?”
My trip home from school yesterday was the train ride from hell. I can usually get a seat, but for some reason the train was very crowded and we were packed in like cigars in a box. There was something wrong with the engines, and we could not do the usual speed. Halfway home the conductor saw me standing there leaning on my cane, and mercifully he punted an oaf out of his seat and let me sit down. The little boy in the seat in front of me was as sick as a dog, coughing his lungs inside out. Then he honked all over his mum, and in the crowded train the stench would wake the dead. By this time we were in Ji An, only 3 km from Hualien. The fresh air on my scooter ride home restored my good spirits, and we had a nice dinner of barbecued pork. It comes with all the rice, soup, juice and tea you want, and four kinds of vegetables. 55NTD each.
I included a couple of pictures of the waterfront park in Hualien City, near the foot of Jung Shan Lu.
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