The 1971-72 Global
Semester, Day by Day
Saturday, December 4, 1971
Our flight was delayed an hour so we did a lot of waiting
around. JAL is a good airline, almost as good as Thai. They
gave us good food as well as miscellaneous things such as a
tour guide of various cities. Taipei airport is very nice.
They even had those tunnel things to walk through from the
plane to the terminal!
Our hotel is nice. All I care about is the hot water. Our
window looks out onto a cement wall about one foot away.
Sunday, December 5, 1971
Today we spent writing Christmas cards.
Tonight we were invited to the Lutheran Student Center at
the National Taiwan University. It’s a fairly new building
and the inside is typical church youth room or Sunday
School: light blue walls, a piano, pictures of Jesus,
wooden folding chairs with Bibles on them. Mr. and Mrs.
Metcalf were there and so were a couple of Chinese
ministers, an American missionary couple, two old maid
missionaries, and a young Danish missionary woman. We filed
into the rows of chairs. None of us was looking forward to
a missionary type worship service and we were all in a
squirrely mood. Then they passed out Christmas hymnals in
Chinese and English and we became more enthusiastic. There
were about an equal number of Chinese students there. Then
we sang “The First Noel” and a couple of others and I began
to feel the Christmas spirit. One old maid missionary is
the real gushy type, the hand-holding, emotional,
overflowing-with-friendliness type. Very sincere but hard
to take sometimes. She sang just like Grandma and very
loudly. We had a hard time trying to keep from laughing.
The Chinese students sang a very beautiful Chinese song and
then expected us to sing. We weren’t prepared of course but
Jeff led us in “Rock My Soul” and we didn’t do too badly.
We had some good pastry, jasmine tea, salted peanuts, and
Swedish mints for refreshments.
Monday, December 6, 1971
We had some lectures at Soochow University. The prof
(Chihwang?) was an
important officer in WWII and once knew Mao. Of course, he
didn’t say much about that except that Mao is an
imperialist.
You have to be careful about what you say in this country.
Even the hotel rooms are bugged and mail is read and
censored. There is a suspicious little instrument on the
ceiling of our room.
We had our eighth major Narum
lecture today. This one was on Chinese thought.
Tuesday, December 7, 1971
We had a professor lecture on Chinese literature. His name
is Jen Tai and he’s 70 years old, short, squat, and speaks
like Winston Churchill, British accent and all! He’s also
one of China’s leading poets, studied at Oberlin and
Harvard under such profs as Whitehead, majored in lit and
philosophy, and represented China at an international
poets’ convention. He read some of his poems and translated
to us and also read some poems in Chinese.
{from Bill K.}
For lunch we went to a small,
neat-looking Chinese restaurant. Metcalf had told us we
could have noodles and some kind of meat for 25¢ so we
pointed to noodles and chicken on the menu. Then they
started asking us questions in Chinese which, of course, we
couldn’t understand. Then they laughed and left. Pretty
soon they came with some plates of peanuts, lettuce and
spicy meat, and then our noodles and chicken. We had
trouble with the chopsticks and we knew the waitresses were
laughing at us but we’re used to that by now.
We had to take the bus back on our own. It was raining. All
36 of us piled into a small bus that was already full and
stood up for an hour before we got off not knowing where we
were. Some Chinese people told us where to get off and then
we wandered down a street and by chance found First Company
and from there knew our way back.
Wednesday, December 8, 1971
Today Metcalf took us up to the ocean and along the coast.
It was a cold, gray day with a strong wind coming off the
sea. We soon reached a rocky coast with stormy,
white-flecked, aqua water pounding on the shore. The roar
and spray were a tremendous thrill for me who had never
seen the ocean before. We stopped at one point where a
fishing boat had run aground.
We drove farther to a U.S.
government recreation area. The picnic ground there was
very nice and had a lot of pine trees.
There were two huge, friendly
German Shepherds there and a big Southerner who told us to
make ourselves at home. We had ham and cheese sandwiches,
doughnuts, and Canada Dry soda for lunch and then we went
down to the beach.
It was an exhilarating
experience. After leaving there we drove along the coast to
a point with the most fantastic rock formations I’ve ever
seen.
From there we went to Keelung,
a large port, and saw the statue of the Goddess of Mercy
(Guan Yin) on the top of the hill.
Thursday, December 9, 1971
We had an excellent lecture today by Mr. Metcalf on
non-verbal communication. The other lecture today, at the
university (by Jen Tai on
philosophy), was unbearably boring.
We also had a
lecture/discussion for Narum's course.
Friday, December 10, 1971
We went shopping for shoes and clothes.
Our local lecture today was by
Edward Yang on the Chinese language.
Saturday, December 11, 1971
We went to the National Palace Museum. Marylou, Don, and I
wandered through room after room absolutely overwhelmed,
especially by the porcelains and enamelware. The museum is
beautifully constructed and set in the hills just outside
of Taipei. We went to a Mongolian barbeque afterwards. You
pile a variety of raw meat, vegetables, spices, etc., into
a bowl and then they quick-fry it and dump it back in the
bowl.
Sunday, December 12, 1971
We went with Marylou to the curio mart and saw some
beautiful but expensive scrolls and porcelain. Then we went
to the Taiwan Handicraft Promotion Center. There’s a pretty
park there, near the Provincial museum, with trees, ponds,
fountains, and pagodas.
Monday, December 13, 1971
Discussion of how we’re all
going to connect up our homeward-from-San Francisco flights
has become the common dinner discussion topic.
Metcalf lectured today on mythology. Also scheduled local
lectures by Chih Wang on religions in China and Elizabeth
Wang on Chinese Customs and Festivals.
Narum's ninth major lecture today was on Taoism and
Confucianism.
Tuesday, December 14, 1971
We went to Yang Ming Park today, up in the hills above
Taipei. It’s a pretty place with lots of paths, pine trees,
and waterfalls.
Marylou wandered around with
us. We found a maple tree whose leaves had turned orange.
That was a thrill for us since we missed fall at home.
The restaurant was expensive,
the waiters didn’t understand us, and they wanted us to pay
before we got our food. Another difficult experience.
We got off the bus at “Cove’s” bookstore and spent a couple
of hours there.
{from Marylou}
Wednesday, December 15,
1971
Today we went to the Historical Museum, Botanical Gardens,
and Art Gallery. They were all a big disappointment. We
stopped at Lung Shan Temple.
Then we went to the Foremost
ice cream place for lunch.
Thursday, December 16, 1971
Our lecturer today was Father
O’ Hara who has been teaching in China for over 30 years.
He’s very Irish and good humored. He also seems very
liberal for a priest.
We had three lectures at the National Palace Museum on
Survey of Chinese Art, Porcelain, and Jade.
Friday, December 17, 1971
Today we had lectures on bronze and painting.
Saturday, December 18, 1971
We have all been reading about
the Indo-Pakistan war and are thankful we got out when we
did.
Sunday, December 19, 1971
We have spent yesterday and
today writing Narum’s study questions.
Today nine of us, Mary not included, went to the local
officers’ club and watched an NFL game (Washington vs.
Dallas, played the last Sunday we were in India).
Monday, December 20, 1971
We left the hotel at 7:00 AM and drove to Lu Shan hot
springs. The road ended right out of Taichung and became a
dusty, narrow track.
We went over a suspension
bridge (we walked over and the bus went over
empty).
When we got to Lu Shan we had to cross a
suspension foot bridge.
We
were stopped today by a member of Chiang’s SS men who keep
tabs on all movement within the country.
The rooms at the hotel (Aborigine-owned) were straw-mat
covered and they fit just enough people in so there wasn’t
any walking room. We slept in sleeping bag type things on
the floor. The pillows were like bean bags but the rest was
very comfortable. The john was co-ed – one set of sinks
near the urinals and two cubicles, one for men and one for
women. The toilet was the bomb-sight type, flush but wet
floor and kind of smelly.
Mr. Metcalf had a Catholic priest come to talk to us about
aboriginal culture. He has been here for 18 years and he
has trouble speaking English now! He and some Protestants
are compiling a Bible in the aboriginal language and he’s
doing a dictionary. He had some aborigines come and sing
and dance for us. One old couple did most of it. The old
man had a tattoo on his forehead signifying he had taken a
head (these people were head-hunters until 50 years ago).
They were both tiny, wrinkled, bent, and good-natured
looking. The old lady had a scarf around her head and an
old sweater, black pants, and bright blue bedroom slippers
on. Her face was wrinkled like a prune. She and her husband
played some strange stringed instrument and then several of
them danced and had us join them. Several of the women sang
aboriginal, Chinese, and Japanese songs. They also did a
Japanese dance, synchronized and perfectly timed. Then they
wanted us to do something. Doug danced to Mr. Bojangles
(sung by Jim Staab who played his guitar) and did the funky
chicken.
Tuesday, December 21, 1971
We were up and off by 9:00 AM. Breakfast, to our surprise,
was scrambled eggs, bread, oranges, and rice gruel. The
ride back down the mountain didn’t seem half as bad as the
ride up.
We ate lunch at the Evergreen Hostel, a nice hotel on Sun
Moon Lake.
From there we drove to
Taichung, a modern city, where we stayed in a nice hotel.
After dinner tonight we went
to the local Navy Exchange for banana splits and fresh home
milk. Great!
Wednesday, December 22, 1971
Today we drove a cliff highway through the high range of
mountains. We went to a
maximum of 9000 feet before descending. Several of
us ate at an open-air Chinese place for lunch.
About 4:00 PM we came to
Tiansiang at the beginning of the Taroko Gorge.
We are staying at a youth
hostel. It’s new and they’re still working on it. It’s
U-shaped and has a courtyard in the middle with
poinsettias, trees, and flowers. There is a pagoda up above
on a cliff and a suspension bridge goes over to it. We had
a good hike around by the river. It’s so restful to just
sit on the rocks with just the sound of the rapids.
Metcalf says that in a decade Taiwan will
be the tourist destination of the Far East. When it does,
Tiansiang will be the main attraction.
All 33 of us are in 3 rooms here … co-ed by necessity. The
rooms consist of a raised platform on which there are straw
mats and bedding. With 11 in each room there is no walking
room at all. Dinner tonight was Chinese of course. (There
are 60 Chinese students here in addition to us.) One dish
was potatoes and chicken. However, the chicken consisted of
feet and backbone with little meat.
We had some good laughs before going to bed at 9:30. We
slept pretty well too. Doug snored and woke me up once but
that’s all.
Thursday, December 23, 1971
Today was another long and hairy bus ride. We were up at
5:30 again. We had Chinese breakfast: rice gruel, peanuts,
dried pork, duck eggs boiled in soy sauce, and steamed
bread. It wasn’t too bad actually.
The road through the Taroko Gorge runs along the bottom
though a lot of tunnels that are just hacked out of the
rock.
We turned onto the Cliff highway that runs along the edge
of the ocean. The mountains come down nearly vertically,
then there’s a small ledge for the road, then it drops down
to the water. It was scary to look out the cliff side. The
bus tires were only 1 or 2 inches from the crumbling edge
of the ledge.
We were glad to see Taipei
again.
Charlie Chen, the hotel manager, had a special
pre-Christmas dinner and dance for us. We got all dressed
up and went down to the restaurant. It was all decorated up
for Christmas and had fancy place settings and even cute
cloth napkins. We quickly noticed the wine glasses. They
came around and refilled our wine glasses several times.
After the soup there was stuffed whole crab, then turkey,
cranberries, green beans, stuffing, then bread pudding and
then oranges! Plus hot chocolate made with real milk for
once. The service was excellent. They gave us rolls and hot
toast too. Of course, Charlie was eating with us so that’s
why the service was so good. Afterwards, any who wanted to go were
invited to go up to the 8th floor night club, free of charge.
We had our first burglary tonight. Ellen, who had lost her
camera in Bangkok, had her new camera (plus exposed film,
lenses, etc.) stolen by a burglar who came in through the
window of the room she shares with Melanie. Melanie lost
$120 in travelers checks. The police took fingerprints from
the suitcase, which hadn’t been broken into, but not from
the window sill and they took footprints from the floor
where everyone had already walked.
Friday, December 24, 1971
We went to Metcalfs’ to present our journals we have been
writing for him. They have a nice house and they fed us
well. We had to take the bus out and back. It was really
crowded. On the way back a bunch of school kids got on.
All school children wear
orange hats to identify them and make them visible to
motorists. We were singing Christmas carols so when
we finished a song, they sang one. These kids were going to
school at 11:00 PM! This country operates on a 24 hour
basis. All of the shops were still open too.
Saturday, December 25, 1971
The guys gave each of the girls 6 red roses for Christmas.
We gave them candy and cookies. Marylou and Marty put them
in stockings and stuck them under the guys’ doors at 6:00
AM. Unfortunately, the floor boys stole most of them. They
gave most of it back though when confronted but they acted
sort of sheepish and we knew they didn’t think it was for
them. We were really upset. Charlie Chen made them replace
the missing candy so everything turned out pretty good
anyway.
We had a delicious dinner at the MAAG Officers’ Annex, a
fancy restaurant and bar. They even had slot machines
there.
Sunday, December 26, 1971
Today was really quite hot until it got cloudy this
afternoon. There was a nice breeze from the ocean too.
I hope we’re not too much overweight. JAL wants us to come
early and we’re worried that they’re going to weigh our
hand baggage.