May 21cover.indd 1
A publication of the Community Services Center Centered on TAIPEI 2021 Vol. 21|08 MAY 2021/4/27 4:07 PM
May 21 cover.indd 2 2021/4/27 4:07 PM CONTENTS May 2021 volume 21 issue 8
CSC COMMUNITY From the Editors 5 Salt Collectiv: Giving Back to Taiwan 8 May 2021 Center Gallery/ Book Club 6 May 2021 Activities Highlights 7 CREATIVE WRITING CSC Business Classified 30 Daisy’s House in the Arms of Merlin 11
OUTLOOK Beauty in the Broken 14 A Dragon Mom’s Bereaved Mother’s Day 16 Publisher Community Services Center, Taipei Editor Suzan Babcock PHOTOGRAPHY Co-editor Richard Saunders Advertising Manager Naomi Kaly Russ McClay 21 Magazine Email [email protected] Katia Chen 22 Tel 02-2836-8134 Nora Liang 23 Fax 02-2835-2530 Kenneth Dickson 24
Printed by Farn Mei Printing Co., Ltd. CULTURE 1F, No. 102, Hou Kang Street, Shilin A Tale of Fortune Telling and Tea 18 District, Taipei Tel: 02-2882-6748 Fax: 02-2882-6749 E-mail: [email protected] ART The Living Art and Styles of Bonsai 25 Centered on Taipei is a publication of the Community Services Center, 25, Lane 290, Zhongshan N. Rd., Sec. 6, Tianmu, Taipei, Taiwan Tel: 02-2836-8134 ENVIRONMENT fax: 02-2835-2530 Dr. Leaf & Container Gardening: The Basics 26 e-mail: [email protected] Correspondence may be sent to the editor at coteditor@ communitycenter.org.tw. Freelance writers, photographers and TRAVEL illustrators are welcome to contact the editor to discuss editorial and East Coast National Scenic Area: Hualien County 28 graphic assignments. Your talent will find a home with us!
Copyright 2021. All rights reserved. Material in this publication may not be reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner.
COT is printed on FSC certified 100% post-consumer recycled fiber. The paper is certified in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council which promotes environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world's forests. https://ic.fsc.org/
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 3
May 2021_p3-end.indd 3 2021/4/28 4:37 PM ai16190589199_COT_5.pdf 1 4/22/2021 10:35:21 AM
TIGER TOTS PRESCHOOL A LOVING PLACE FOR LEARNING
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
PRE-K AND KINDERGARTEN (LOCATED INSIDE TAS)
TIGGER'S (PRE-2S), 2S AND 3S PLAYGROUPS (TIAN YU CAMPUS)
GRADE 1 & 2 : AFTERNOON STEAM PROGRAMS (STARTING AUG. 2021)
North American Curriculum Engaging Outdoor Playgrounds Qualified Instructors Fun and Educational Daily Activities Low Student/Teacher Ratios Fun After School Enrichment Classes Gymnastics, Kidzsports, and Mandarin Playgroups Music Classes We’d love to introduce you to our diverse and incredibly special community of learners! Please call to arrange a visitation.
TYPA MAIN OFFICE: (02)2873-1815 www.typa.org.tw
WHERE WISDOM, TAIPEI FAITH AND SERVICE ADVENTIST UNITE IN EDUCATION AMERICAN SCHOOL Find out more about our excellence in education at
www.taas-taiwan.com
4 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 4 2021/4/27 3:51 PM COVER IMAGE: GREEN FROM Please send email submissions, comments, and feedback to [email protected]. by Katia Chen THE For more information, please go to our website at EDITORS www.communitycenter.org.tw Springtime in Taipei is one of the loveliest seasons of the year. It is a perfect time to be outdoors exploring or revisiting favorite neighborhoods with their funky teahouses, or a city park like COT Team Daan Forest Park for picnics with loved ones or friends. It is a time of being together at fun-filled gatherings, or in gentle solitude. It is spring… a time of renewal, new beginnings and hope. If you want some really great photo moments, get up early and head out to either the Dajia Riverside Park or the Xindian Suzan Babcock Richard Saunders Naomi Kaly KC riverside, where you will see teams of paddlers practicing for this Editor Co-editor Advertising Manager Graphic Designer year’s upcoming annual Dragon Boat Festival. coteditor@ [email protected] naomi@communitycenter. graphicdesigntaipei. communitycenter.org.tw org.tw weebly.com This month’s Photo Gallery features local residents who like to take photos and have learned the art of capturing the essence of Featured Contributors their subject, whatever that may be. Outlook contributions from Aly Cooper (Beauty in the Broken) and Ivonne VIDAL PIZARRO (A Dragon Mom’s Bereaved Mother’s Day) share intimate moments and experiences about motherhood.
Jenny Chang Kenneth St. John Dunn Nora Liang Adriana Ng Heather Gatley’s Daisy’s House in the Arms of Merlin is a Dickson memorable tale about her grandmother Daisy’s house, and the special place that it holds in her heart. Container gardening is ideal for those with little or no gardening space, and since having good soil is essential for the Writing, Photography and Art Contributors success of any garden, Dr. Leaf explains how ordinary kitchen Jenny Chang Nora Liang scraps can become a compost-soil elixir for growing herbs and Katia Chen Russ McClay Salt Collectiv Adriana Ng vegetables that are fit to eat. Aly Cooper Ivonne VIDAL PIZARRO At the Center, there is a lot going on. This May, we have cooking Kenneth Dickson Joseph Reilly classes (Indian Vegetarian Cooking) with Vaishali Meghnani, a St. John Dunn Richard Saunders Heather Gatley Rosemary Susa Saturday class with the famous Taiwanese chef Ivy Chen (From Dr. Leaf Grace Ting Market to Table), beginning at the Shi Dong Market, or a hike Amy Liang Bonsai Museum along the Jiantanshan Trail to Weijianshan with Dory Chung. These are a few of the many Center activities that we have Pick COT up at: planned for you. Be sure to register in advance if you’d like to join. Uptown: If you’re in the area anytime, please feel free to stop in at the Community Services Center, No. 25, Lane 290, Sec. 6, Zhongshan North Rd. Center for a cup of coffee or tea and good conversations. Sprout – No. 33, Sec. 7, Zhongshan North Rd. George Pai’s Beauty – No. 14, Tienmu East Rd. Downtown: Sue and Richard Ooh Cha Cha – 207, Sec.2, Nanchang Rd.
Accountant Monica Cheng COMMUNITY SERVICES CENTER Programs Manager Rosemary Susa Events Coordinator Joy Meglasson Coffee Mornings Coordinator Leslie McFarlane The Community Services Center (CSC) is a non-profit foundation. CSC provides Communications Pia Munk-Janson outreach and early intervention through counseling, cross-cultural education and Mandarin Chinese Teacher Gloria Gwo life skills programs to meet the needs of the international community in Taipei. Systems Manager Samson Debele CSC offers the opportunity to learn, volunteer, teach and meet others. Check out Ximena Lopez, Sofia Vintimila our website www.communitycenter.org.tw and drop by The Center to chat with us Counseling Interns about our programs. You can also email us at [email protected].
Director Adam McMillan Volunteers Miyuki Boice, Gwen Harris, John Imbrogulio, Leslie McFarlane, John McQuade, Bunny Pecheco, Office Manager Grace Ting Lucy Torres
Counselors I-wen Chan, Katherine Chang, Hui-shiang Chao, Benefactors Bai Win Antiques Anne Cheng, Jung Chin, Chiao-Feng Chung, Cerita Hsu, European Chamber of Commerce Lily Lin, Miranda Lin, Emilie Ma, Kuang-Shan Wan Grand Hyatt Taipei
Consultants Anne Cheng, Tom Cole, Wendy Evans, Michael Mullahy, Premier Sponsors Concordia Consulting Mary Lagerstrom ICRT San Fu Global Counseling Admin. Joanne Chua
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 5
May 2021_p3-end.indd 5 2021/4/27 3:51 PM CSC
A percentage of all proceeds of items sold at the Gallery will go to the Center. Please remember that by displaying your items or shopping at the Gallery, you will be helping the Center to continue to provide valuable services to the international community. Gallery@CENTER MAY RACHEL SOUZA'S CERAMIC JEWELRY SAHAR SHAIKH
Rachel specializes in handcrafted ceramic jewelry. Her work features dynamic glazes with leather and metal finishes. Each item is unique and cannot be reproduced, Sahar's collection includes making it a one-of-a-kind piece of wearable art that necklaces, chains, hand- expresses your individuality. You can see her artwork at crafted silver jewelry www.ceramicadesigns.com. embedded with semi- precious stones, tops and DIGITAL ARTWORKS BY FUMI FURUTA tunics in cotton prints and silks and lightweight scarves in dazzling, vibrant colors.
BAMBOO END TABLE, LADDER AND TRAYS FROM GOLD BAMBOO ART CO. LTD
Fumi Furuta’s collections are rooted in inspirations from her personal experiences, embodying everything from the extraordinary moments that shaped her life’s trajectory to the beautifully ordinary experiences of her everyday life. Furuta’s Taiwan collection, particularly the Tianmu pieces, pay tribute to the vibrant, quirky and welcoming community that she loved while living here for four years. The Center seems the perfect home for this collection.
MORNING BOOK CLUB The Beekeeper of Aleppo, NEW BOOKS BY LOCAL AUTHORS by Christy Lefteri, 2020 Date: May 11th Never Forgotten - The Story of the Japanese Prisoner of War Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Camps in Taiwan during World War II Afra, an artist. They live happily by Michael D. Hurst MBE in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo until the unthinkable ISBN: 978-986-89430-1-8 Price: $1200 happens and they are forced to THE GOLDEN KHAN - flee. But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and they must embark on The secret to absolute power a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards by A. H. Wang an uncertain future in Britain. ISBN: 9574383156, Meeting location: BaiWin Collection/ 2 Zhongshan N. 978-9574383153 Rd., Sec 6, Lane 405 Contact Julie Hu at: [email protected] Price: $450
6 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 6 2021/4/27 3:51 PM CSC MAY ACTIVITIES HIGHLIGHTS Indian Vegetarian Cooking Have you ever wondered what moderate inclines and declines Thursday, May 20; Friday, May 7; 10 am - 12 noon: goes on behind the scenes of with ropes for assistance. There 10 am - 12:30 pm; $1,000 $1,200 a five-star hotel and how they are some wonderful views of Instructor: Helen Chen Instructor: Vaishali Meghnani seamlessly manage to keep the Xizhi mountains and Taipei With more than 200 years To expand your vegetarian everyone happy, comfortable City as we loop around the trails. of history, Bao An Gong is meal repertoire, join Vaishali and satisfied? Join Randy, the The route, mostly along well- one of the most important for a tasty Indian cooking hotel's General Manager, used dirt paths or wooden steps, temples in Taipei. In 2003, the class. On the menu are mung for our own personal is usually full of life and it’s not temple received a UNESCO bean pakoras (fritters) to start; introduction to the workings uncommon to spot magpies, Asia-Pacific Cultural Heritage vegetable korma served with of the Shangri-La's Far Eastern eagles, barbets, spiders, and Conservation Award. Bao An puri (a fried bread made with Plaza Hotel in Taipei. Included in lizards. There are several ways Gong is dedicated to the Taoist whole wheat flour and salt) as the tour is a visit to their pastry down the mountain and we will folk religious deity the Bao our main course; and semolina kitchen, housekeeping area, choose a trail based upon the Sheng Lord, a Chinese god halwa for dessert. loading dock, staff dining room, speed of the group. Once out of of medicine. Before Western Chinese kitchen and Presidential the mountains, we will go back medicine was widely accepted, SATURDAY AT THE CENTER! Suite. After our tour, we will along the small farm road and early residents of Taipei prayed From Market to Table enjoy a delicious lunch at the loop around the opposite side to the Bao Sheng Lord for good Saturday, May 8; Shang Palace, the hotel's elegant of Jinlong Lake before catching health and sought remedies for 9:30 am - 1 pm; $1,600 Cantonese restaurant, featuring taxis back to the Donghu MRT. their ailments. Join Helen for a Instructor: Ivy Chen some of their signature dishes Wear sturdy shoes with a good fascinating tour of this temple to This special cooking class and delectable dim sum. Lunch grip; bring change for shared learn how health and wellness begins at the Shi Dong Market included. Please note that there taxis, lunch, water and rain/sun have been long interlinked where Ivy will show you how to will be many stairs on our tour. protection as needed. in Chinese religious culture. purchase the best and freshest To complement this temple ingredients to prepare and cook Create a Beautiful Summer Hike and Bike: Jiantanshan to tour, we will also visit a nearby four delicious dishes of the Handbag Using Chinese Wenjianshan and the Riverside Traditional Chinese Medicine group’s choosing: one Knotting Techniques Park Path (TCM) shop. There we will learn meat/chicken, one fish/seafood, Wednesday, 3 Sessions May Wednesday, May 19; about Chinese medicine and one tofu and one vegetable. 5 to May 19; 12 noon - 2 pm; 9 am - 1:30 pm; $800 sample some local Taiwanese Then, stroll over to Ivy's house $2,400 Instructor: Dory Chung dishes prepared with TCM herbs. to create this wonderful lunch to Instructor: Naomi Watanabe Our meeting point of Jiantan Bring your EasyCard for the enjoy together. Space is limited, This three-session knotting MRT station is a very busy public bus ride to the TCM shop. so register early for this unique class offers you a chance to place, but right after we start Tasting included. Center cooking class. produce a beautiful, hand- on the Jiantanshan trail you made “sack” handbag, great for will feel like you have entered NEW DATE!!! May Mahjong Madness the summer in the city, or even a different world. From up on POW TOUR: In the Steps of the Monday, 3 Sessions - May 3 to the beach! Over the course of the mountain we will see Taipei Men of Kinkaseki May 17; 12 noon - 2 pm; $1,800 each class Naomi will teach you 101, the riverside park, the Thursday, May 27; Instructor: Danielle Lehman how to prepare the materials Ferris wheel at Miramar, and a 8:30am - 3:00pm $1500 Mahjong is a great social activity and produce the appropriate popular spot with locals called Instructor: Michael Hurst that challenges your mental knots, which are reminiscent the "Old Place,” where people It is not a well-known fact, but aptitude. Originally created in of macramé. Depending upon go to watch the airplanes taking in 1942, the Japanese began China, mahjong is a tile game your past experience and skill, off from Songshan Airport. bringing Allied POWs (Prisoners similar to gin rummy. In this you may need to do some of From Jiantanshan we will then of War) to Taiwan from three-session, hands-on class, the work at home in between hike to Weijianshan. The trail is Southeast Asia and held them Danielle will introduce you to classes. Samples of completed moderate, but with many stairs under horrendous conditions international-style mahjong, bags will be available at the in some parts. Later we will until Japan surrendered in 1945. which is one of the game's Center. All materials for the class descend down to the Dazhi area The largest of the six camps in variations. To help you continue included. and rent U-bikes, when we will Taiwan was in Kinkaseki, today's practicing on your own, she will bike along the river back to the Jinguashi. This fascinating, provide a take-home printed SATURDAY AT THE CENTER! Jiantan MRT station. It’s a flat full-day historic tour will take guide and introduce you to Hike to Neigoushan and easy ride. Please register for us from Ruifang to Jinguashi via a free app. After just three Saturday, May 15; 9 am - 2 pm; U-Bike use before joining this Jiufen along the route taken by sessions, you will surely be able $800 trip. Wear hiking shoes with a the POWs and will include stops to play independently and start Instructor: Jennifer Turek good grip. Bring your EasyCard, at the Gold Mining Museum or join a group This hike begins with a walk water, snacks, a cycle helmet (admission fee included) and around one side of Jinlong Lake. and rain/sun protection. the POW Memorial Park on the Behind the Scenes: A Tour of Wandering along a quiet road site of the camp. A portion of the Shangri-La's Far Eastern we will see many small farms Seeking Heavenly and the proceeds from this tour are Plaza Hotel on the way to the trailhead. Traditional Methods of donated to the Taiwan POW Tuesday, May 11; We will stop for a quick visit at Protection: A Visit to Bao An Society. Bring water, a packed 10:30 am - 1:30 pm; $1,500 Cui Lake then make our way up Gong and a Local Chinese lunch and rain/sun protection as Instructor: Randy Zupanski the mountain. This hike offers Medicine Shop needed.
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 7
May 2021_p3-end.indd 7 2021/4/28 4:50 PM COMMUNITY
Giving Back to Taiwan
TEXT: ADRIANA NG IMAGES: SALT COLLECTIV
they were different. A Chinese family trying to fit into a different country, culture and language. How do you navigate between assimilating into a new culture, but still maintain your own heritage? I feel like this question is quite relevant with all the ever-evolving mixed cultures and diversity in the world now. I believe what got my parents through this transition was finding people who understood their situation. They wanted to feel accepted, and to belong in a place they might have not necessarily called home. I’ve reflected s a Chinese born in Canada, you have? on their experience and the challenges with a hint of Indian flare, My mom would often tell me, “Just that come with picking up everything I feel like my parents were be thankful for what you have, because and moving to a foreign country. How careful to instill three others probably have it worse off.” I do you make meaningful relationships? Aimportant values in me: 1) Inclusivity: believe this mentality came from being Conquer loneliness? I’ve found giving giving people an opportunity to raised and growing up in one of the back to community can really kill two feel like they are part of our family; poorest parts of the world, India. My birds with one stone. I’ve made some 2) Perseverance: working hard at parents witnessed extreme poverty pretty amazing friends and have an something despite the challenges first-hand and understand what it understanding that my actions can (and not complaining about it); and 3) means to live in conditions that were impact a community that is often Gratitude: are you thankful for what not the best. At the end of the day, forgotten in society. In SALT terms, we
8 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 8 2021/4/27 3:51 PM COMMUNITY
call this the marginalized. SALT Collectiv was started in 2017 by two of my good friends, James and Andrew, who just wanted to reach out to the community, but not really knowing how. After asking around, they got in contact with a local soup kitchen and the rest is history. It started with two people who wanted to make a difference and now we are a community with over a thousand people and we continue to grow today! I truly believe that if we all lived with the mentality of looking out for one another and being more accepting, this world would be a better place. Like my parents’ past experience, living in Taiwan has made me realize the importance of a good and healthy community, which in turn can provide someone a better and balanced life. often forgotten or unaccepted. We Now let's say you are in the same help prepare food for the homeless at boat as me, you're a native English a soup kitchen on the first Saturday of speaker with no friends, no family, you every month. We play with the kids to have a free weekend and you want to build relationships and to encourage volunteer. So what are your options? them, letting them know that people That is where SALT comes in to fill in care about them, even if they might that need. feel neglected at home. We throw a SALT is a place where you can find Christmas party for people locked up in foreign-friendly, likeminded individuals prison. who live in a place they might not Although our team is small, we are a necessarily call home, but want to group of passionate people with a heart give something back to the Taiwanese to serve. There’s something special community. This is a common theme and protective about the work we do we’ve heard from many foreigners in with these people. Our ability to give Taiwan. Being a part of a movement them not only a basic human need like like this in the city sets us apart. We food, but also connect with them with are a group of volunteers whose sole respect, gives them a sense of dignity. purpose is to serve people who are For example, our Haircut for Homeless
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 9
May 2021_p3-end.indd 9 2021/4/27 3:51 PM COMMUNITY
https://saltcollectiv.co/ https://www.instagram.com/saltcollectiv/ https://www.facebook.com/saltcollectiv
program brings together hair stylists which is a great problem to have. How to give the homeless new hairdos. then, do we manage so our volunteers Adriana is a There's something quite special about have a great experience and we can Canadian who seeing the smiles behind their masks aim to serve more food to the needy? has been living in and seeing them view themselves in a These are things we are in the process Taipei for the last different way. of working out. As most of us have full- three years. She We are gaining more traction in the time jobs, we are in desperate need has a background community after our biggest event of resources, monetary support and in business and a passion for of the year, #givingtreetw, where we administrative assistance. Our hopes education. Her interests include donated a thousand gifts to various and dreams for the SALT community travel, hiking, working out, and organizations throughout Taiwan. We’ve are to possibly own our own soup eating her way through any city that experienced a growth in numbers and kitchen, or even have our own van to she visits. Currently, she volunteers opportunities that we are still learning take groups of people out of the city as a PR and Communications to navigate. Most recently at our soup to visit various orphanages. For more Coordinator with SALT. kitchen, where normally only eight information about us (or if this article volunteers show up, we had 25! We has spoken to you), please contact us or now have more demand than supply, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Taiwan 101: Essential Sights, Hikes and Experiences on Ilha Formosa by Richard Saunders
Taiwan is a perfect illustration of the saying that good things come in small packages. In comparison with more popular tourist destinations in the Far East, Taiwan is very modest in size, but despite its diminutive scale, the island has an astonishing amount to offer the curious explorer. The two volumes that make up Taiwan 101 are the perfect guide for exploring the very best of Taiwan: not only the island’s finest hikes, but also its best historic towns and cities, brightest traditional festivals, unique Chinese and aboriginal cultural riches, and its little-known natural wonders such as eternal flames, mud volcanoes and badlands. Together, Taiwan 101 Volumes 1 and 2 present Taiwan’s finest attractions to anyone who wishes to get to know this island of kaleidoscopic charms, and comes with detailed information on getting around by public transport, and accurate GPS coordinates of nearly 800 fascinating places.
10 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 10 2021/4/27 3:51 PM CREATIVE WRITING
Daisy’s House in the Arms of Merlin
TEXT & IMAGES: HEATHER GATLEY
Rock Cottage, the house where Daisy worked for the Lady who was kind to her about her pastry.
turns cobalt and the powder blue and cotton clouds are up-lit by the falling sun, the semi-circular perfection of the hill has a spherical effect, so that The "fairy tale round hill" at one end of the village one feels contained within a glass paperweight on a giant’s desk. The view n a map it resembles the fish and chip shop, at least two sweet from the top is especially beautiful in arms and hat of Merlin. shops, a paper shop, and a beach shop the sunshine when the tide is out and It is a place where three with colourful buckets and spades the sandbanks are streaked gold. rivers pour their hearts and inflatables hanging outside, and This is the Land of My Fathers. It Ointo the Irish Sea which retreats and fills ice-cream for sale. Further along the is the only place I have ever had as a twice a day, the second highest tidal beach were terrifying swing boats and constant in my life. They say that the rise in the world. When absent, the happy children building sand castles; or average person moves eight times, but waters leave miles of sunlit sandbanks dogs to let loose, which would return I have moved at least thirty. Visiting and curious twists of rivulets, and a covered in estuary mud. The village had for the first time at the age of two, I broiling horizon where the hungry at least five public houses, and years came to consciousness in this Welsh waves wait to return. before, Dylan Thomas had supped at village. My Nanna had knitted me There is a castle on the peninsula them all, when he had visited “to get a matching red suit, complete with opposite the village, which ends in the messy.” Noddy hat. I held my giant father’s Iron Age fort that witnessed the arrival You can cross the tracks which once hand, or was carried on his shoulders, of the Romans and the Vikings and then carried black steam trains screaming a golden tunnel of light behind us, on the Norman overlords. A humpbacked ever westwards, onto a beach where our deserted beach. A brown and white bridge marks one end of the village, sinking beige sand falls steeply down to spaniel supped thirstily on a puddle of with tinkling streams of fresh water the river on which humble yachts and seawater and was promptly sick. “He’s where my father tickled trout. It has dinghies bob during the short months as sick as a dog,” said my dad. a fine Victorian school and a cliff-walk of summer. A few fishermen still hold I remember the small tragedies of a of aristocratic houses where once the licences, just as my forefathers did, small person, such as when the round villagers on the lower level doffed to row up the estuary at low tide and lollipop got stuck in the side of my too- their caps and banked their pennies. practise the ancient art of Seine fishing, small mouth. My grandmother eased An ugly but stately walled railway line hoping for a catch of salmon; or they it out, and then threw it onto the fire, runs from Paddington to the door of may walk out to the muddy banks much to my sorrow. I remember her the station signal box, which is now a and leave sticks and nets overnight to pride in the rag rugs she made, the listed building, along with the secluded capture dabs, their lonely silhouettes smell of Welsh cakes on the hob, and stationmaster’s house with its serrated casting shadows at dusk. the way dinner was always ready at 1 wooden trim. A fairy-tale round hill forms a pm, the thick mouth-watering gravy The station end of the village in barricade at the opposite end of the that she made from the meat dripping summer during my childhood was still village from the humpbacked bridge. that she had cooked expertly and something of a resort. There was a On summer evenings, when the sky slowly on the Rayburn all morning.
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 11
May 2021_p3-end.indd 11 2021/4/27 3:51 PM CREATIVE WRITING
Grandmother
There’s a life I had.”
The sun on the sand banks at low tide with the castle silhoutted on the opposite shore. Evan was the second of five sons. He took his wife to the family home with its long garden allotment and There was the syrupy happiness of life as best she could. underground well, and she was to look afternoon tea and a tin of peaches She moved to look after a Lady. The after his ailing parents for ten years: and cream; thinly cut white bread and first time she had to make pastry, she the hammering on the ceiling with the butter for supper before the safety of made a hash of it and was terribly broom; her own children coming fast sleep in the front bedroom. The sound anxious. The lady kindly sent the as well as this burden of angry relatives of trains rushing through the night, and message back to her that it was the to wait upon; and a poor labourer, the fear that my grandmother’s stories best pastry she had ever tasted. Daisy her husband, doing whatever work of witches flying over the water were was happy in the large stone house there was after World War One. What true, gave way to a magical awakening, nestling against the round hill. There strength he must have had, the heavy the special excitement of knowing I was was some connection with the big ice breakers in Iceland during that War, by the sea. house built by General Picton, who a member of the Lifeboat well into his Stories of her life in an orphanage had died at Waterloo. Even now, its seventies. undoubtedly were true: jam for tea walls hung with wisteria, the bowered But he was the second son, and the on Sundays; one brother killed down gate with the stone pineapples on the law of primogeniture meant that when a mine; another losing a leg on the pillars, the original window frames and the old tyrants, my great grandparents, railways; a vague memory of her father rocky garden, seem mysterious, leaving finally died, he was disinherited. His in a red soldier’s uniform; the sister who me longing to take a look inside and older brother, already father to ten lived at the other end of the village, and wonder where Daisy’s room was. children, moved to the cottage in its the story of how she met Evan. Sunday was her one precious day large grounds, and the only alternative Sara Jeffreys is hard to find in the off, and the chance to go to church was for Daisy, who had poured her life into earliest records as, even at five years the only leisure activity. A man, already caring for her in-laws, was to swap with old, she is recorded as “Daisy, a scholar” 40, became friendly with Daisy. She him and move to an old stone-mason’s in Aberdare orphanage where her was 19, a pretty girl with shining thick workshop. impoverished parents, who moved chestnut hair held up with tortoiseshell “It was 1927,” my father, Daisy’s first- between the mines of Somerset and combs. He told her, on a low red bench born, told me, “I can remember the old Neath in the 1800s, had deposited her at the base of the hill, that he was man now, banging his fist on the table, and her brothers and sisters, out of going off to sea again soon, being in the shouting, ‘I’m not living there!’ “ desperation. Merchant Navy. Daisy told him she was But Daisy was happy in the old stone Daisy was sent into Service in the thinking of going back to Aberdare. workshop. It was the first place she village at the age of 13 in 1912. She had “Come to Oban with me.” could call her own. She brought up five been found a place on the cliff, in a pink “Why would I want to do that?” children during the barefoot 1930s, house with a Louisiana balcony. A man “We could get married.” where they shot rabbits in the dunes used to come and call, “Jeffries, Jeffries, As simple and romantic as that. and sniped the occasional duck on the come out here. I’ve got something for She went to Oban. She became Sarah farmer’s pond. Daisy never went to you,” and threaten her with a shotgun Davies. the doctor. The children were born at if she didn’t come and see what he had At this point in her story, an home. She had a thousand home cures for her. There was no one to protect uncharacteristic deep, hard and bitter for ailments and minor injuries, and this young girl; with her rudimentary edge would alter her pretty Welsh could cook a delicious meal from the education, she had to make her way in voice, “But I wouldn’t do it again. most meagre of ingredients. She was
12 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 12 2021/4/27 3:51 PM CREATIVE WRITING
known as Auntie Daisy to the village were soaking in. Or you might watch daffodils, snowdrops and bluebells children for her kindness and sense of the bloody task of the fish being give way to summer’s foxgloves and fun, despite her bitter, ageing husband, cleaned, or be chased by the whisk as wild orchids, myriad weeds inhabiting who became more and more of a trial Daisy sang, “Ha ha ha, hee hee hee, I hedgerows grow in tunnels over narrow to her in his old age. see a monkey up a rhubarb tree.” lanes, the wind blows on the grasses in Daisy ran a sweet shop out of the When Daisy put on her hat and shoes the churchyard overlooking the distant front room in the 1930s, and continued and talked of the terror of old age and sea and light, Daisy seems to walk with long afterwards to sell pop, which surveyed her bandy legs, she would me. she kept in crates on a shelf in the take me up the village to collect her It is always a long and hard journey to front porch: dandelion and burdock, catalogue money. One night she took return. The house hates being left to its raspberry, orangeade or lemonade. She me to the bingo, where I won a full spiders, cobwebs and centuries of dust, was tireless in her enterprise, keeping eighteen shillings and sixpence and was and greets you with damp and dirt, lodgers during hard times, even though allowed to keep it. Once, we all walked taking four days or so to settle once her house was already full. arm in arm up the beach singing, more around you like an old cardigan. Daisy was childishly curious about “Ask your mother for sixpence to see Then I feel the solitude, and wonder new things. She ran a catalogue and the new giraffe, with pimples on his what drives this attachment. But I still delighted in the free gifts she earned whiskers and pimples on his… ask your return to Daisy’s house, for when I walk on commission: a frame for an iron that mother for sixpence…”. We laughed alone on that beach, or with those lived on the wall; nylon sheets; a golden and laughed. who understand, we can feel that we tea trolley and a gilded cabinet to Daisy would read your tea leaves, are kings of the world. I have never display knickknacks from exotic places. “You are going on a long journey,” and found a more beautiful place, never The first package tours abroad meant play (and often win) Spot the Ball in seen elsewhere the special light on the relatives brought exciting booty to the the local paper. She whitewashed the sandbanks, never walked amongst such parlour cabinet: A Spanish doll, a ship in garden walls and painted the upstairs wild flowers, and always felt a strange a bottle, a tiny Greek pot. sills from a high ladder. She could walk magical loneliness in Daisy’s house, in Daisy had some amazing objects up the hill in Carmarthen at speed the arms of Merlin. for children to enjoy. She never threw during old age, and went on her first anything away. There was a sort of flight when she was over 80. She kept mini ship’s wheel with a glass centre the allotment across the road, and sandwiching plastic fluorescent fish, sowed her bank with orange Welsh which could be plugged in to light up; poppies, or taught me how to sew there were glasses you could drink stocks for the summer. She especially from, over and over, the green or red loved gladioli. liquid disappearing as you tipped them I was newly married when she lay up; a mug with a cat in front, whose dying, and she said to my husband: tail would fall off “in an earthquake”; a “Who’s going to look after my house?” jam pot from Devon, with a tiny spoon Only when we tried to live there which went pleasingly through the ourselves did I discover just how hard lid that had a nick taken out of it. An a life it had been, living in such a place. alcove in the wall with shelves and a Sometimes the tide seems to rise right glass door housed the Toby jug and a outside the window, the moon lighting weather man and lady. When the lady a slow motion of dark undulation. Or came out too often, signalling rain, in autumn, the last lights of the sun then the strangely fascinating button streak upwards in spangles of orange, A photograph of the author in a lane above the box was brought out; or we played turquoise and teal. Winter nights are village. dominoes, or draughts with Uncle Dai’s the coal black of Under Milkwood, special set. These precious items were often locked in with howling wind and Heather Gatley is a retired English kept in the cupboard of the ugly dresser driving rain, which, during the day, literature teacher who likes to write made from the wood salvaged from a continue in low brown clouds that puff about her travels. You can read more shipwreck, from which my grandfather past the window, making you draw of her work in the online magazine had helped rescue sixteen people one the curtains and put the lights up high Memoirist.org She was born in Cyprus stormy night in the 1920s. at noon. When the “nights above the and has lived in Singapore, Peru, The kitchen and back shed were dingle” are starry, the Perseid showers El Salvador, Switzerland, Germany, veritable treasure troves: a rusting flit down the frosty darkness, and the Spain, The Netherlands and Wales, mousetrap with a row of cruel loops outline of the hills and castle form a and now lives in Taiwan. She has that could catch six mice at a time; safe silhouette. Sometimes the silence four chapbooks of poetry available many lathes and hammers and saws; descends like a pall, after the lonely on Amazon.co.uk: Indigo Sky (about a giant sieve for sieving the soil, or cries of the rooks are stilled and their Wales); Tombs of Gold (England); Last washing the cockles which were always shadows have settled on the woods Boat to Brienzersee (Europe) and The spitting at you from the tin tub they above. In the springtime, as the Cliffs at Qingshui (Asia)
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 13
May 2021_p3-end.indd 13 2021/4/27 3:51 PM OUTLOOK Beauty in the Broken
TEXT & IMAGES: ALY COOPER
he end of March marks two years since we brought our now-eight-year old son home from China. From a strictly social media perspective, one may get the incorrect perception that we are living a Tromanticized Cleaver-esque lifestyle. (For those that know us, you can stop laughing now). Despite trying hard to put “real life” captions with these photos, if you are a scroller, you are definitely not getting the full story. We ALL know that pictures capture a moment in time. Not the day. The smiles last only minutes (or seconds!) not hours. The brotherly love is embedded deep, not outwardly demonstrated constantly. That’s just the thing though. Those moments? Those moments…. those seconds captured in time are everything. They capture pure joy, growth. Pictures capture physical evidence that we can look back upon to see where we were and how far we have come. no part in. So, while motherhood is tough, motherhood with Motherhood is tough. There is no “right “way to do things. trauma is different level hard. Each child is built differently, requires different approaches, If my words have any impact at all I want them to land words and actions. With this being said, on year two of our upon the ears of the mother who is struggling...weeping son’s entry into our family, I have felt pangs of anguish and outwardly or inwardly... to the mom who is rejected by her weariness because I’m still desperately trying to figure him kiddo and feels love, but not always like, and a million hurts. out. To bond, attach, meet his needs. For him to believe that To the mom who knows that being liked and loved was not this is forever. To fill in those years of early developmental the mission...but is tired. Emotionally exhausted. To the stages that should have been abounding with my effusive mom who lays in bed in the morning with her eyes “pretend” embraces, cuddling and nurturing, but instead are blank and closed, mustering up the energy to begin anew, but is rife with memories I know nothing about and have played dreading what may happen throughout the day. To the mom waiting for the other shoe to drop. To the mom who prays daily for the pieces of that shattered little heart to be put back together. To the mom who feels deep-rooted shame that she is not connecting with her child, and is not sure she can fake it, till she makes it yet again today. To the mom who is balancing ALL the therapists, wondering and half-hoping that there is some unknown diagnosis that will explain all this, but knowing the truth of deep-rooted trauma that has sunk deep into the marrow of her little one’s bones. Do not feel isolated my sweet mama. To the core of my being, I feel you. You are seen. While these sentiments may rub raw to some and resonate with others, I rest in the peace of knowing that this is not the end of the story. When I think of my son, I am reminded of the Japanese term Kintsugi. This is the term used when broken objects are repaired using gold, silver or platinum epoxy. By using these differing adhesives, the broken object is turned into something new - and many times is more beautiful and unique than the original. Our son, when he arrived to his new family, was like a beautiful fragile vase that had been dropped and carelessly thrown into a box without any thought; delivered to us in thousands of pieces. As a family we stared at these shards in
14 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 14 2021/4/27 3:51 PM front of us. The thought of trying to piece this heirloom back together was daunting. Overwhelming. Somedays I wished I could slap epoxy on the pieces and just put him back together already. Sigh… I know. Are you laughing too? Delicate pieces need a gentle touch (which is not exactly what I’m known for). They need patience (another area that I would not necessarily list under my shortlist of strengths). Time. Like a puzzle, each piece has its own home. This is not a race to the finish. Over the last two years, as we were handling and cutting ourselves on the jagged fragments, we knew that this was not a task to handle alone. We called in our village. Yes. Our people. They surrounded us, loved us and gently put their arms around us as we all worked together to piece this sweet boy together. Each person in our village has different gifts, differing epoxy that they use when tending to the heart of our son. The result is colorful and magnificent. Little by little we are beginning to see glimmers of the vase’s form take shape, and my son’s unique personality and talents beginning to emerge. The splinters of his broken beginnings are turning into something beautiful. His once lifeless, dull eyes now spark and glimmer with emotion. Happiness. He is learning how to navigate this strange new concept of family … and love. So, in those moments, those seconds of joy … will I take the pictures and show the world the priceless human he is turning into? You better believe it.
This story is one I have experienced on my journey alone. I am not putting words in the mouth of my child or any other adoptive parent https://mymodernmet.com/kintsugi-kintsukuroi/
Aly Cooper is living in Virginia with her infinitely patient husband and three memory-making sons. She is sustained by faith, coffee, getting outdoors and finding humor in the crazy.
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 15
May 2021_p3-end.indd 15 2021/4/27 3:51 PM OUTLOOK
A Dragon Mom’s Bereaved Mother’s Day
TEXT: IVONNE VIDAL PIZARRO IMAGE: WEB
MOTHER’S DAY: A HOLIDAY of poor worth. Mother’s Day is celebrated on various days of the year, Emily Rapp penned an opinion piece in 2011 in the New depending on the country. In 1914, Woodrow Wilson York Times, “Notes from a Dragon Mom,” in which she proclaimed Mother’s Day as a national holiday to be observed described the world that bereaved mothers and those on the second Sunday in May. However, a little research into mothers with a child diagnosed with a terminal illness inhabit. the origins of American Mother’s Day proved to be rather Rapp explains that a dragon mom is someone who has lost surprising and troubling. In the early years of the 1900s, a child, but not the ferocious love, loyalty, and dedication Anna Jarvis worked to institute a national Mother’s Day to to that lost child. She accurately describes dragon moms as commemorate her mother and her work in West Virginia. scary, as very few know how to engage with them, and most Infant and child mortality rates were high in West Virginia and do not want to. After all, these mothers have gone where few Anna Jarvis’ mom educated women on how to care for their emerge from. These mothers are feral in the love they have children. While Anna’s mom brought a dozen children into the for their children - both dead and alive. world, only four survived to adulthood. As a single, childless woman, Anna worked tirelessly to honor her mother and her INTERNATIONAL BEREAVED MOTHER’S DAY mother’s request for a day to commemorate mothers. Upon MEMORIALS her mother’s death in 1905, she worked to create a holiday What remains unclear is how to recognize International that quickly became commercialized by flower, card, and Bereaved Mother’s Day. There is no pat-and-dry method. A other merchants. To this day, the carnation is associated with dinner, flowers, or chocolate seem off the mark, more fitting Mother’s Day; the exact opposite of Anna Jarvis’ intentions. for a traditional Mother’s Day celebrated on the second She tried to undo the holiday to reclaim its original sentiment Sunday in May in the States. Some may consider personalized as she grew older, but became undone herself. A hoarder and jewelry with the child’s name, but the intimacy of a jewelry recluse, she was institutionalized; members of the flower and present, on top of the nature of this personalization may put greeting card industry paid her medical bills. some off. A tree, a plant, or a garden may better suit a non- While for many, Mother’s Day is celebrated with a expat. There are a few suggestions to consider: reservation sought months in advance at an overpriced, 1. Affirm her identity as a mother and to celebrate her lost overbooked restaurant with overextended service, those child or children. who have lost children are once again at a loss. There is no 2. Spend time with her: no one better understands the name for those who have lost a child. Those who have lost a fleeting nature of time and appreciates its value. parent are “orphans,” and those who have lost a spouse are 3. A well-crafted, handwritten letter may be more poignant “widows,” but there is no word for the parent who has lost and better received than a stock card. a child. Their existence, in this way, is unspeakable. Those 4. Take a moment to ask and listen to her. who have lost a child and have other children with them feel Although many may think they should not bring up the lost a need to honor the lost child. How can those who have lost child’s name as a courtesy to the mother, it may actually be a child participate in Mother’s Day to honor the experience of quite the opposite as children are never far from a mother’s being a mother as well as to honor the lost child? mind. In fact, many mothers may not want their child to be forgotten. Quite the contrary, bringing up the child’s name INTERNATIONAL BEREAVED MOTHER’S DAY FOR THE may be the present she needs most. DRAGON MOM If the loss is recent, a mourning mother may need to All moms, especially grieving moms, need a day to seek comfort and support, whether from family, friends, an memorialize their time as a mother to these lost children. online friend or group who have had similar experiences, In 2010, Carly Marie Dudley, who delivered a stillborn or professionally. The grieving mom should be given the child, created International Bereaved Mother’s Day, to be time and space to do something in honor of the lost child or recognized on the first Sunday in May, for those who have children, perhaps making a special place for remembering lost a child or children, regardless of the child’s age. They them in the home. For example, a literary mom may feel more may have experienced great difficulty in conceiving the comfortable composing letters to herself from the point of child, survived a miscarriage, or delivered a stillbirth. These view of her own best friend, or writing letters to her lost child. women are mothers to the children they hold in their heart, not just their arms. Some may have lost the opportunity to become mothers and may mourn this loss as well. In Ivonne VIDAL PIZARRO, PhD on International Bereaved fact, there is a term for those children who are born after a Mother’s Day will be lighting candles and incense with her mother has had a miscarriage. Those children are “rainbow husband and two teenagers. Her youngest, her son, was babies,” as those who suffer a storm are granted a rainbow. diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) in Again, some mothers never bear witness to the rainbow. For October of 2016. He was treated, fell into remission, and left all these mourning mothers and their lost children, Mother’s this earth a few months shy of his 7th birthday, days before Day may unearth negative feelings of pain, being alone, and Mother’s Day 2017.
16 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 16 2021/4/27 3:51 PM JOIN US AT THE CENTER'S COFFEE MORNING MAY 13, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TAIWAN’S COMPLICATED AND FASCINATING HISTORY
JORDAN BROWN
COFFEE MORNING IS SPONSORED BY No. 25, Lane 290 Zhong Shan North Rd., Sec. 6. 290 25
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 17
May 2021_p3-end.indd 17 2021/4/27 3:51 PM CULTURE Centered on Taipei is celebrating its 21st anniversary and is pleased to present this special Anniversary article
A Tale of Fortune Telling and Tea
TEXT & PHOTOS: ST JOHN DUNN
s I step into 1960-something waiting for my turn. I find it interesting under threat by pirates. They wished I forget I live in a modern that advice of an intimate nature is to establish themselves and their city with one of the tallest openly shared with everyone in the family trade in the Manga area (now buildings in the world. The room and I am thankful that I am last more commonly known as Wanhua). Atime-scuffed walls are painted off-white. in line - my consultation will be more The location lent itself towards trade There is a small shrine up against a wall private. as there was easy access to ship that has numerous certificates and old Mr. Lin Zong-Yo’s family have helped transportation on the Tamshui river. family portraits hanging above it. The people answer pressing questions for However, the tightly knit community smooth concrete floor is foot-worn a little over one-and-a-half centuries treated them as outsiders so they and polished by a volume of people, and he is the family’s sixth generation ultimately settled in Dadaocheng who over the years, have come to this fortuneteller. instead. In a strange twist of fate, fortuneteller looking for answers. His family were originally traders years later Dadaocheng became I am seated on a traditional Chinese from Keelung, but they relocated more beneficial to traders when the bench with a number of other seekers to Taipei after their business came first railway between Keelung and Dadaocheng was completed in 1887. The Lins built the very first house on Dihua street in 1851. It was built in the traditional Minnan architectural style - a style that has become synonymous with old Taiwan. Any visitor or foreign resident will recognize the style by its courtyard, red bricks and sloped, red-tiled roofs. This particular house however was more of a tall rectangular shape with three distinct sections. From dawn to dusk the household doors were open for trade. Given the isolated location of the family house, the doors were barred after sundown for safety reasons. This didn’t stop them from trading though - buyers could shout out their orders and place money into a basket lowered from one of two small widows set high up on the front wall. A little later the purchased goods would descend from above.
18 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 18 2021/4/27 3:51 PM CULTURE
Times changed and the family came They have deep-rooted relationships into hard times. In 1860 they had to with local tea farmers and select tea sell the warehouse portion of their leaves based on the flavor it will give homestead. In Chinese culture losing and not on the fame of the tea farm. land or family property is a substantially They are adept at their art and use all dark omen and they sought the advice methods to produce award-winning tea. of a fortune teller. The advice given For example, they sometimes choose could only have been powerful and tea leaves that have been eaten by something in the exchange changed insects as the insect’s residue produces the family’s perspective forever. They decided that fortune telling was a way to help people and perhaps a good way to prosper. They studied the art and by 1864 they had established the Lin Wu-Hu Fortune Telling House. Over time they became well known in the region and their advice was highly sought after. During Chinese New Year the first thing residents would do was go worship at the well known Xia-hai City God Temple. Worship was closely followed by a visit to the Lins to see what fortune offered. In the 1980s the fortune telling business was moved to a more “modern” house built in the 1960s. In 2009 the aging 164-year-old family house was restored to its former glory and registered as a heritage site. Recently, the front part has been leased to two brothers who are well- established Taiwanese tea merchants, whilst one of the now 130 Lin family members resides in a closed-off back portion. The brothers have made great efforts to maintain the original look and feel of the house, and the store is a pleasure to visit.
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 19
May 2021_p3-end.indd 19 2021/4/27 3:51 PM CULTURE
and charts. He moves to a shrine and asks the God Gueguzi for guidance and advice. Three special coins and a small tortoise shell are cast in front of me. We begin to talk. There are no mystical musings, mutterings or mumblings. I find him direct and what he has to say comes in point form. At the end I thank Mr. Lin and step out of 1960-something into a hot day in 2015. I muse on the advice given. Most of what I heard is information that a unique and delightful taste. his explanations and enjoyed a number I already know or could figure out The older brother, Lu Li-Zheng, is of different teas in the old house. I by myself, but it does speak to my well known in the tea trade and has don’t know much about tea, but the tea character and to where I am. As I walk been on many TV programs and in he offered me had depth and a host of down the old street I take his words as numerous paper publications. He looks nuanced flavors - delicious! confirmation that I am on the correct the part with his traditional beard and Behind the teashop is a courtyard path in my life. clothes. He has a deep gaze and that garden and beyond that the house particular Chinese presence that is is closed off to the public except for exuded by men who know they have Saturdays when visitors may see St. John has lived in mastered their trade. He manages the another room and hear stories of the Taiwan for more than production and export of tea from family’s history. ten years and calls Yinge, the pottery town. In another room a short way away the island home. The His younger brother Lu Li-Xien and a little later other fortune seekers unexpected cultural maintains the store in the old house. have left and it is my turn to consult adventure around the He is friendly, unassuming and has with Mr. Lin Zong-Yo. The Lins practice corner, an interesting a comfortable manner that leaves a Confucian style of fortune telling. tale told by a stranger visitors both relaxed and interested in Mr. Lin asks for my full name, my date and the hidden places in the mountains their wonderful tea. On more than one of birth and the time I was born. He are just three things he loves about this occasion I have spent time listening to consults a book packed with numbers corner of Asia.
The teahouse and old family residence is located at 156 Dihua Street, Section 1. If you want advice about your future ask the tea merchants for directions (it’s about a 5 minute walk from the teahouse). Fortune telling is only performed in Chinese.
There is an official FB page & guided tour offered – http://zh-tw. facebook.com/Lin5hu Allison Liu: 0921-935469
20 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 20 2021/4/27 3:51 PM PHOTO GALLERY
Tea pots by Russ McClay
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 21
May 2021_p3-end.indd 21 2021/4/27 3:51 PM PHOTO GALLERY
Kinmen by Katia Chen
22 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 22 2021/4/27 3:51 PM PHOTO GALLERY
Spring by Nora Liang
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 23
May 2021_p3-end.indd 23 2021/4/27 3:51 PM PHOTO GALLERY
Unless you’ve been living in a cave temple for the past year in the Central Mountains, you’ll realize that we’ve all experienced a myriad of consequences from the Covid-19 pandemic. But one way or another, we’ve managed to retain our sense of community despite the detrimental effects of social distancing and the fears that the pandemic has engendered everywhere. In adversity come humanity, kindness and connection. This gallery reminds us of the many ways that we’re connected to each other: whether it’s through celebrations, arts, events, rituals, and tourism. So let’s celebrate our togetherness, our community spirit, and our interdependence. They are, after all, what make up our society: Taiwan.
“Coming Through” by Kenneth Dickson In the 90’s, Kenneth Dickson bought a camera to take photographs of his travels around Taiwan. Many years later he’s using his umpteenth camera and needing a bigger disk drive. Some of his photographs are available at http://www. lookthroughthelens.com. Welcome.
24 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 24 2021/4/27 3:51 PM ART The Living Art and Styles of Bonsai Murraya paniculata TEXT: JENNY CHANG IMAGES: THE AMY LIANG BONSAI MUSEUM over 100 years old
reating a bonsai is an evolving and never-ending artistic process. Having a keen eye for nature is a bonus. Being able to reflect on the growing habits and developing styles of trees will influence how your bonsai will develop. CBonsai may be upright, slanting, coiled, with a twisted trunk, be the literati, weeping, exposed-root, twin-trunk, the cascade, straight-line or raft, windswept, broom, forest, tray-landscape style, rock planting or root-over-rock style.
THE UPRIGHT STYLE Bonsai with a straight trunk are in the formal upright style. Bonsai with a slightly curved trunk are in the informal upright style. The trunk of an upright-style bonsai should be thick at the base and tapered Podocarpus costalis towards the top; it should be round in diameter and without marks. With the 70 years old upright style, the first main branch on the lower portion of the trunk must be thick and strong. The ideal starting position of the first branch is approximately a third of the way up the trunk. The rest of the branches should alternate in an orderly spiral pattern. The branches closer to the top of the bonsai should be closer together and vary according to the width of the root-base section of the bonsai. The entire bonsai tree must form an asymmetrical triangle, and no branch should be allowed to grow below the first third of the trunk. Each root-base will have a wider side. On this side the branches should be long and short on the narrow side of the bonsai. Suitable tree species for upright-style bonsai are cryptomeria, Hinoki cypress, needle juniper, common jasmine, orange and pine. The upright-style bonsai is one of majestic beauty, and looks best in an oval or rectangular pot. 羅漢松介紹 羅漢松在中國傳統文化象徵著長壽, 中文摘要 守財, 寓意吉祥. 這棵是台北市最壯最雅的羅漢松— 「盆栽」作為一門獨特的藝術，與其他的藝術有著相關而相異的特質。盆 AMY LIANG BONSAI MUSEUM 的鎮 栽是立體的畫、無言的詩歌、活的雕塑、活的古董。 殿之寶 一棵盆樹，從選擇素材開始，培植根幹、整理枝業，到創作完成，在經歷 這棵樹約110CM 高, 根盤:四方展根, 這一段嘔心瀝血的培育過程後，面對那展示於盆中的樹石美姿，創作者心 雄霸有傲然之氣勢. 幹:粗大挺拔雅氣,符 中的喜悦與滿足，實是筆墨所難以形容！然而一般的藝術家完成一件作品 合3:6:9 黃金比例. 枝: 第一枝在整樹約 後，「創作」的動作便告終止，而盆栽藝術的創作，不僅是永遠不會終止 1/3處出枝,最協調. 葉: 生意盎然, 典雅 的，還延續了自然界的生命點滴！ 古意老狀態. 盆栽的四大要點這棵樹復合了盆栽的 讓我們來了解盆景的基木樹型有哪些？ 黃金比例, 是世界上非常難得的最佳羅 盆景可略分為直幹、斜幹、曲幹（模樣木）、蟠幹、懸崖、文人樹、垂 漢松. 擁有它是傲世奇寶, 健康, 快樂, 發 枝、露根、叢生、雙幹、連根、風樹、掃帚、合植、栽景及附石等。 財集於一身.
直幹 根盤平整呈放射狀，有力地向四面八方展開，幹筆直的樹木叫「直 幹」，幹略有彎曲變化者稱「變化直幹」。直幹樹幹的條件，由下粗往上 Shih-Pei Chang (Jenny) 漸細，力求幹圓而無傷口。直幹的樹型，下方必要有一粗大而有力的主 is a Taiwanese financial 枝。第一枝的出枝點以樹高的三分之一處為最理想，其他枝則前後左右螺 consultant and a passionate 旋交互出枝，有層次；枝與枝間隔愈上端愈窄，隨根盤左右長短變化，幹 bonsai artist, and certified 正面樹高三分之一以下最好不要出枝，更能顯出巨木相；整體樹觀成不等 in Taiwanese Horticulture 邊三角形，根盤長邊，出枝長，根盤短邊則出枝短。適合的樹種有杉、 Therapy. She is the Chairperson of the Taipei 檜、杜松、七里香、松等，是最令人感到莊嚴、雄偉、挻拔、穩重的樹 Bonsai Association and CEO of the Amy Liang 型。盆缽以橢圓形、長方形淺盆較合適。 Bonsai Museum.
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 25
May 2021_p3-end.indd 25 2021/4/27 3:51 PM ENVIRONMENT
Centered on Taipei is celebrating its 21st anniversary and is pleased to present this special Anniversary article
Dr. Leaf & Container
Gardening: ’m a foodie. I like to eat, but I’m also a bit picky, ‘cause my food has to be “clean.” I’m not talking about water-washed clean, but soil-grown The Basics andI pesticide clean. Lately, with all the news of people coming down with food allergies and having to pop meds to get well, I decided that I didn’t want TEXT: DR. LEAF IMAGES: WEB to join their ranks. This may sound like a long way to go before getting to the point as to why I started container gardening, but it’s the truth. It was out of necessity, so that I could maintain my health and have properly grown herb are perfect for placing larger containers and produce choices. for gardening, water and kitchen scraps Did I mention that I live in downtown for compost. Taipei? My apartment is in one of those A couple of years ago, I visited the Tzu older buildings with bars on all the Chi Tanzi Complex in Taichung. There, windows, but fortunately has enough I was able to observe how they went room to place small pots. I also have about creating compost from kitchen a small protected balcony which gets scraps. As I entered, I saw around early morning and noontime sun along twenty volunteers busily working at with not too much wind or rain during a different locations corresponding to the typhoon. On the roof of my apartment different stages of compost preparation. building there are several spaces that Some volunteers had spread the
26 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 26 2021/4/28 4:38 PM ENVIRONMENT
buckets, contents of donated kitchen the compost container is filled. The scraps, on stainless steel counters. final top layer being more rice husks. Armed with scissors, volunteers were The containers are left uncovered in a quickly sorting and cutting the food secure spot out of the elements. scraps into small, uniform pieces. At the Tzu Chi Tanzi Complex, they Others were rinsing the scraps. had containers with faucets to help Air circulation is necessary for the drain the moisture that emerges while composting process, for it aids the the compost is maturing. I did not have microbes in quickly breaking down the this equipment, so I improvised and kitchen scraps, which are then placed created my own drainage system to into containers that allow the maturing allow the daily compost runoff to drip compost’s liquid to drain off. Once the into a container just for the liquid. liquid finishes draining, the compost Another use for this compost liquid is ready. The liquid is also used. is for unplugging drains! Nowadays, Volunteers explained that brown sugar pipes beneath kitchen and bathroom is added to the liquid, which is allowed sinks are often made from plastic. Harsh to mature for about four to five weeks. chemicals will quickly eat their way Mixing one part of this liquid to three of through these plastic pipes, creating water makes for rich liquid fertilizer and quite a mess, in addition to harming the soil conditioner. environment. I use the compost liquid Microbe boosters and rice husks are full strength, and despite its natural and also added for fiber to the compost gentle composition, it does the job. kitchen scraps. These are all mixed together, then the compost material is layered, starting with a foundation of only rice husks, then a mixture of microbe boosters and rice husks, Dr. Leaf is a concerned citizen, whose followed by the cleaned, cut kitchen mission is to promote easy ways to grow scraps. This process continues until herbs and vegetables that are fit to eat. COTquaterpageAdsFA.pdf 1 11/04/21 16.09
Lina Lo, PhD, CPCC, ACC Personal and professional development coach
C working with expats to master their constant transitions through roles, cultures, and locales. M [email protected] www.coachworkslive.com Y www.linkedin.com/in/linalo202009/
CM As expats, we are spread out all over the globe with many have parents in one country, children in another, our workplace in a third, and family MY members holding different national passports. In the era of Covid-19, the majority of us are now sheltering in place at home, working as CY professionals, being caregivers, teachers, and cleaners all rolled into one. Separation and inability to travel add to the worry, stress, isolation, and CMY anxiety. How to maintain a positive mindset?
K Let’s co-create a space Clarify what matters now Identify what’s possible
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 27
May 2021_p3-end.indd 27 2021/4/27 3:51 PM TRAVEL
RICHARD SAUNDERS EXPLORES TAIWAN'S LESS-TRODDEN PATHS
East Coast National Scenic Area: Hualien County
TEXT & IMAGES: RICHARD SAUNDERS
or most tourists (local and foreign alike) Hualien County basically means Taroko Gorge, and while that mighty chasm is rightlyF regarded as one of the greatest tourist attractions in Taiwan, it would be a mistake to ignore the county’s other two protected areas: the East Coast and the East Rift Valley. The beautiful East Coast National Scenic Area, established in 1988, stretches 168 kilometers between Hualien and Taitung cities, and features some of Taiwan’s best beaches, panoramic viewpoints, lushly wooded (highway 11) can be done in a day, National Scenic Area is formed by the coastal slopes, bizarre rock formations, it’s better to allow at least two, which mouth of the Hualien River on the impressive waterfalls, and even a couple gives more time to stop and enjoy a southern fringe of Hualien city, crossed of important prehistoric sites. few of the many fascinating places and by highway 11 (the main coast road). Although the 165 kilometers of coast experiences on the way. Once across the river the road clings road between Hualien and Taitung The northern edge of the East Coast to the coast, heading south. The city
28 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 28 2021/4/27 3:51 PM TRAVEL
spectacular stretch of the route. Along with Fubuzhizi, the finest scenery along the Hualien half of the National Scenic Area is undoubtedly Shitiping, a few kilometers further south, where a large coastal park has been laid out. This place is popular with tour groups and gets busy when a few buses pull up. It’s also a bit over- developed, with surfaced roads and paths, a campsite, and fences aimed to prevent visitors clambering onto the rugged rock outcrops on the foreshore itself. However, the view northwards, along a long and pristine sweep of coast backed by steep, lushly wooded cliffs, is one of the highlights of the entire east coast road.
is soon left far behind and the road is bounded on one side by the blue sea, and on the other by steep, forested coastal hills (the northern extremity of Taiwan’s Coastal Mountain Range). Three kilometers south of the bridge, the Hualien Visitor Center sits above the road, commanding fine views north back towards Hualien city and south over an expanse of blue ocean and (mostly) unspoilt coastal hills, although the Farglory Resort right next door (with its Ferris wheel and cable car) impinges on the view a bit. There’s a small exhibition space giving an introduction to the scenic area’s main sights and a film; if time is short you can According to legend, any Amis warrior safely give it a miss unless you want to wishing to become a village head once use the toilets there. had to vault across this fearful chasm Heading south the coast road passes with a bamboo pole! through a sequence of tunnels and The finest scenery along the entire heads inland, losing sight of the sea East Coast National Scenic Area begins for a while, to glimpse it once again at just a few kilometers later, at Baqi Niushan, where a narrow side road on Viewpoint, on a hairpin bend in the the left beside an aboriginal-style rest road at the 32 km. point, from where pavilion drops down to a beautiful and there’s a magnificent view over the long secluded beach beneath the wooded stretch of coastline southwards across Richard Saunders is a trained cliffs. Three kilometers later, Number the lovely sandy bay of Jici Beach classical musician and writer who Eighteen Bridge across the Fanshuliao A few kilometers further south the lived in Taipei from 1993 to 2018. Stream looks nothing special from the road bypasses the once formidable He has written several hiking road, but stop (there’s a parking area obstacle of the Fubuzhizi (“father and guide books (available at the beside it) and look over the eastern side doesn’t know son”) Cliff by simply Center and in bookshops around of the bridge into the narrow depths boring a long tunnel through it, where Taipei) covering the whole of of Fanshuliao Gorge. A short path a recently constructed pedestrian Taiwan, and its offshore islands. leads down to the parallel (and lower) walkway fixed into the sheer cliff face old bridge for an even better view. gives a uniquely thrilling view over this
www.communitycenter.org.tw MAY 2021 29
May 2021_p3-end.indd 29 2021/4/27 3:51 PM CSC BUSINESS CLASSIFIED
#14 Tienmu E. Road | Telephone 2871-1515 | [email protected]
HammerROC Handyman 阿兜仔幸福商行 裝修師傅
Taipei • 台北• Taichung •台中 0988-817-160 HammerROC Handyman @hammerrochandyman 中文 English • timheebner
30 MAY 2021 www.communitycenter.org.tw
May 2021_p3-end.indd 30 2021/4/27 3:51 PM May 21 cover.indd 3 2021/4/27 4:07 PM May 21 cover.indd 4 2021/4/27 4:07 PM