Lives in the Lotus Blossom Chapter 05: Ashley Lo Wen-chun

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From time to time, I will feature in “Lives in the Lotus Blossom” people who live in the Lotus Blossom—Hualien. Sounds logical, doesn’t it? There are so many people around here who have captured my esteem and respect that there will be no shortage of material.

I’ll start with my newest colleague Lo Wen-chun (Ashley Lo). She has been away from Guangfu JHS, working on her masters degree in English Literature.

Ashley started being interesting as soon as she was born, by the very choice of her name. I expressed astonishment when she told me that it was not her parents who chose the name Wen-chun. Instead, they consulted a fortune-teller. Evidently, this a common practice for many important occasions and decisions—including the selection of an auspicious name for a child. Her name (not translated exactly) has to do with “mastery of literature”, so maybe Ashley’s choice of major was a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There is a very strong value placed on education in traditional Confucian thought—and Taiwan (for all its modernity) remains a very traditional place. So. Mastery of Literature becomes an English teacher.

Ashley loves dance, and in fact chose her English name in admiration for a ballerina who did a performance in her senior high school a few years ago. Ashley studied ballet in university, among other things.

My colleagues are full of surprises—Ashley wants to learn square dancing—in addition to her existing interest in ballet, jazz, and aerobic dancing. We spent part of last week’s English lesson for teachers learning some of the square dance moves. A la main left. Dos a dos. Star Promenade. She surely has the natural moves—as well as an interest in the French origin of the square dance terms. And in the English slang arising from the terms—a la main left being a contemptuous reference to someone (usually a boss) making a series of stupid mistakes, and dos a dos being synonymous with playing pattycake or beating around the bush.

Kids are the same the world over. I remember, in grade seven phys ed when dancing was on the teacher’s torture agenda, having been grossed out by the idea of actually touching a girl--let alone hold hands with one. Ashley said her classmates went one better—the boys would wait until the girls whose hands they would soon be expected to touch were looking their way, then expectorate loudly and ostentatiously into their hands. I guess they figured that the squeals of horror would be worth the punishment when the teacher saw them—or when the girls peached on them. One or the other event was certain to occur!

Ashley comes from Yilan, a coastal city on the East China Sea about two hours by car north of Hualien. There have been a few changes over her life in the place (some good and some bad)—most notably the new highway to Taipei. There is a lot more tourist and weekend traffic now with the city folk coming over, and Yilan is generally busier now. People opposed the new highway, just as they now oppose the new freeway the government wants to put in from Yilan down to Hualien.

When I asked Ashley about her family, another difference between western and Chinese people came to light. If I asked any western people about family, the answer would be restricted to spouse and children. There is much more of a concept of extended family over here.

Ashley’s dad is blind, and he makes a living as a masseur. This is a traditional occupation for blind people over here. They are as strong as horses from all the workouts that they do.

I feel truly blessed to have so many wonderful colleagues in far-away Formosa.

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Photos

Beautiful Downtown Guangfu!
Check it out. A breakfast restaurant that fits in the back of a half-ton, set up in front of a gas station. While you're at it, check out CPC (China Petroleum Corporation). Jo Er is premium gas (92 octane) and it's NTD 27.8 for a litre. That's only 86.6 in our money. I run my motorbike on jo wu (95), but that is no hardship because it only has a 4 litre tank that lasts a week anyway.

The School Bus Just Arrived...
...and the kids are straggling in. Some come all the way from Hualien, on the 0600 train with me.

Ashley Lo Wen-chun
There is a poster to her left exhorting the kids not to smoke, and to her right is another advert for something they are supposed to do--or not. I don't fire on all cylinders as far as language is concerned over here.

It's a Good Thing that Ashley is Chinese...
...otherwise, passers-by would be saying, "That girl is awfully nice to her dad."