Like a Stone Cut Out of a Mountain

 

 

 

 

When I first visited Ellen's famiy in Meinong in 2005, there were rumors about a new LDS chapel being built nearby. While driving around town, we stumbled upon this ginormous (for Asia) new jewel standing tall in the city. I thought this was a temple at first, with the large steeple and majestic form. We learned that it is large enough to support three wards, which is interesting since at this point in time, there is only a small branch there. "If you build it, they will come" seems to be the philosophy. The church definitely stands out amongst the older buildings of the area. The sign at the bottom is a warning to any construction crews that tobacco, alcohol, and betel nut are not to be used while working at the site. 

Scenes from Meinong, Taiwan

A rice paddy near Papa's home in Meinong.

This is a Pitaya (dragon fruit) vine.

Sunset

Trip to Taitung, Taiwan

On the southeastern coast of Taiwan sits the town of Taitung. We traveled down to Taitung to visit our friend Sho Sho, who just delivered a baby boy, the same day we arrived! We loved Taitung, with its gorgeous views of the eastern Pacific coastline. That's Grandma Chang holding Rayley. Is it me, or does Rayley look like my sister Lacey? I definitely see a resemblance.

Flowers of Taiwan

 

 

 

 

Here are some pics from Taiwan. The top shows a pic of our family in one of many flower fields near Papa's house in Meinong. Many people around Taiwan travel to Meinong around Chinese New Year to see the various flowers. The next two pics are of orchids from Papa's orchid farm. Finally, I just stuck a pic of Rayley and a cat in here for the heck of it.

Thanksgiving pics up before Christmas!

So some people have been bugging me to post some pics of the Thanksgiving festivities held at our house. Here are pics of most of the worthwhile activities that went on, although one particular event will not have any photos associated with it, to protect the viewers of this blog. Here among the pictures is a picture taken from the Muir Beach overlook, just north of San Francisco. We were originally trying to visit the Muir Woods National Monument, but were going to be too late for entry, so we took a detour and found this place, right at sunset. It is truly a breathtaking view. The picture of us in front of the Sacramento Temple was taken on the day that Rayley was blessed. The picture on the top-left is Rayley is trying to make friends with Benji, the only other asian-american baby in our ward. The other pic is my parents holding Rayley at the Muir Beach overlook. 

The Resun Asian Kids are smarterer than American kids

We have all heard and seen the stereotype about Asians being better academically than the rest of us. Typically, kids over in China, Taiwan, Japan, or Korea are 2-3 years ahead in math and science than similarly aged kids over here in the U.S. This has always puzzled me, since I have spent time with kids in Taiwan and Japan, and they did not strike me as particularly smarter than kids here in the U.S.
Ellen and I had a good long talk about these stereotypes, and she shed some serious light on why kids perform better in Asia, especially in math and science: beatings

Corporal punishment was once pretty common here in the U.S. When my folks where in school, the principal really paddled kids butts if they screwed up. When I was a young lad, the principal had a paddle, hanging on his wall, in plain sight of all the adolescent troublemakers eyes. I never knew the feel of Mr. Melican's paddle, and my classmates who went down to his office often, told me it didn't hurt. I suppose they got worse beatings at home than what the principal could dish out. Well, I'm here to tell ya that NOTHING here in the states compares to what students get in Taiwan.
When Ellen was in school, kids were literally beaten across the face, wrists, knuckles, legs, etc until the bled. Ellen told me in all seriousness how she would get struck across the face for failing a test.
"If we had a math test with 10 questions, I would get hit on my hand, leg, or butt for each question I missed, by the teacher."
Wow. Here in the states, if a kid messes up on a math test, he gets a tutor, or a special committee is formed to help him gain confidence in math, he's placed into an afterschool program, or he is coddled over to the shop class or "industrial arts" program. We have sissified legions of Americans whereas over in Asia, millions upon millions of kids learn what "compulsory" in compulsory education really means. How are we supposed to compete with that?

Trunk or Treat

Just some pics from another ward's Trunk or Treat we crashed this week. We just wanted to show off our cutie, "The Office" style of course :)

She is supposed to be a pea pod, and we decided to complement her with our groceries for the week.