Mother's Day Around the Island, Around the World

Mother's Day 2012, Tainan

Mother's Day is on the 14th of May which means I will have to treat myself again! Provided you want to treat a single Dad or Mom, or you want to honor your spiritual mother (or the mother of your child), treat them to one of the following specials below.

If like me your mama is across the ocean, don't fret, I just made a card with photos from Snapfish to send to my mom. I usually buy her a massage on Travelzoo, but I am thinking about adding something more humanitarian. Some ethical ideas  (assuming you know her taste) include buying handmade gifts from Ten Thousand Villages,  or Novica. If your mom is in the UK consider gifts from  the Ethical Superstore or Moral Fibers.  Supposing your mom loves scarves like I do,  buy her scarf from the Obakki Foundation which in their "Water for Scarves" campaign has already drilled 13 wells in South Sudan (500 scarves = 1 well).  Finally you can sponsor a healthy birth, emergency birth, maternity care in your mother's name through Maternity World or Pregnancy Twinning (both UK). The IRC's  Rescue Gifts offer sponsoring girl's education, school clothing, business training, food, as well as newborn baby kits and safe births.

Mother's Day 2015 Le Temps

Yilan

• Le Temps (Yilan City) French restaurant with imported ingredients, very accessible across from the train station. I ate a Mother's Day lunch special here a few years ago and assume they will offer something again this year. You must call for a reservation.
• Fulong Beach: Bring your mom to the sand sculpture contest, take your photo between May 8-15  upload, like the NECoast page and be entitled to win a prize draw.
• Artemis Garden (Yuanshan) Bring your mom to make her own perfume with pure essential oils grown  from herbs on the premises. They also have a Mother's Day Dinner for 6 people May 13th 3800+ %10 (18:00-20:00). Year round they offer a garden buffet (11:30-14:00) and afternoon tea (14:00-17:00 with live piano on the weekends (more info here).
• Hotel Royal Chiaohsi (Jiaoxi) offers 5 star hot springs with a view, a royal outdoors swimming pools and several restaurants, like the Zen Garden buffet for lunch or dinner- any day of the year is a treat.

Card from my daughter not too long ago

Taipei

• Flower arrangement with your mom and coffee at the Kidchen May 9th 11am.
• Taipei Children's Amusement Park will offer free admissions for mothers on Sunday the 15th as well as discounted tickets for extra activities, theater and gift bags (bags available until May 31st) for uploading photos on FB (more info here).

Mother's Day Pampering

• Pampering Package until May 31st including one night stay, traveler's massage, buffet breakfast, a youth serum (NT 5000 retail price), Mother;s Day cake and extra spa treatment for 10,500 at the Regent Taipei.

Lunch or Dinner

• Italian at the Bencotto (Mandarin Oriental) for 2,500 + %10 per person or try homemade lasagna at the Marco Polo (38th Floor Shangri-La) by an Italient chef.
• Both the Shangri-La and Mandarin Oriental also offer Japanese, Cantonese restaurants with Mother's Day specials as well.
• The Imperial Hotel offers dinner guests a special 8 set Bird's Nest and a bottle of French wine as a bonus during May 1st-14th.

Afternoon Tea:

• The Jade Lounge (Mandarin Oriental) offers British and Oriental teas with pastries (1,300 +10% per person)
• The Lobby Court (Shangri-La) offers free access to their health and fitness facilities with afternoon British tea.

Cakes:

• The Mandarin Cake Shop (Mandarin Oriental) "To celebrate Mother’s Day this year, Executive Pastry Chef Gregory Doyen presents “Maman D'Amour" to spoil all mothers with the loveliest treat! Made with vanilla sponge cake and seasalt biscuit, “Maman D'Amour” is topped with raspberry cream, raspberry coulis and different layers of berries. The cake is then garnished with a handmade chocolate carnation to symbolize a mother's uncodotional love." A 7" cake is 1,850 NT. To place an order, please call +886 2 2715 6789 or email MOTPE-CakeShop@mohg.com."
• The Cake Room (Shangri-La) "This matcha mousse cake with cherry jelly and grape fruit cream layers features a perfect combination of sweetness and sourness in six layers, providing both visual joy and gustatory delight.   The Cake Room now accepts pre- orders; orders must be made in advance."
• The Mother's Day Garden and cake basket (Regent Taipei) has a French pastry chef who created two cakes using fruit and vegetables. The first is  a vanilla sponge with raspberry and red bell pepper jelly, with a lychee and red rose mouse. The other cake is a hazelnut sponge cake covered with a tangy yuzu lemon mousse with layers of green apple and cumber jelly. The cakes by slice or 4 inch and 8 inch sizes bare reasonably priced. 

Mandarin Oriental
Shangri-La
Regent Taipei

Taichung

• Semi buffet at The Landis Hotel 5/14

Tainan

• Sweet Treats for Dear Mummy at the Shop (Shangri-La's Far Eastern) from 4/10- 5/30. Call to make a reservation.
• Afternoon English Tea at the Tai Landis Hotel or book your mom a room there for some pampering and inclusive breakfast buffet with their special Mother's Day offer 5/1- 5/31.

Kaohsiung

Mother's Day Jewelry Carnival (4/28- 5/1)

Tea Afoot in Jiufen 九份

I've been meaning to check out Jiufen 九份 since moving to Yilan, but the threat of swarms of tourists held me back. It's infamous for its historical tea houses and picturesque old streets that were the backdrop in such films as City of Sadness and Hayao Miyazaki's  Spirited Away 神隱少女.

Going during the 4 day Children's Festival/Tomb Festival weekend was guaranteed to be packed, but I live on the edge (joke). We hopped on a local train from Yilan to Ruifang that took about an hour.

The bus from Ruifang station was standing room only for us as we held on for dear life, speeding up the curving road to Jiufen. Our hotel was surprisingly easy to find on a climbing stone path that deviated from the old street bazaar chaos.

Pu-er 普洱茶 Princess

After checking in (YuanYee Homestay), around 4pm we gathered our courage and braved the currents of the crowds. I spied the famous old 九份茶坊  tea house and whisked my kid into the found refuge and quiet. It was a different world and time from the stampede of the old street. As you enter there is a row of boiling kettles on a long bed of coals, tea cups and sets, moss, a pond, waterfall and ceramics shop in the basement. I wanted to sit outside with the view, she wanted to sit on the antique wooden table, so we sat inside. (We ended up coming back again our second day after our hike, it was such a priceless atmosphere.)

At the start of the trail to Teapot Mt.

My daughter was in heaven. Our hostess explained how to make our tea according to tradition, soon my kid  was in charge of all the tea preparation. We were starving having not eaten since breakfast but we stayed at the tea shop til dusk, stopped at a noodle hole in the wall along the way for dinner and back to our hotel, played cards in our room. Living in Taiwan we had friends who regularly served us tea when we came over, we drink tea at home too (oolong, Chai, British style) so tea is important. We took a class on Korean tea preparation when we were in Busan and now here we were finally in Jiufen. Z quipped, "Mom can I have a new hobby of drinking tea?" An emphatic YES!

Post hike tea

My plan was to get up bright and early to take photos of the famous cross streets in front of the old Theater.  We had such terrible sleep from the young group across from us partying through the night, we didn't make it early enough for my photo opp. Instead we did make it early (first in line at the ticket counter) for the Gold Museum (formally the Gold Ecological Park) in Jinguashi 金瓜石. Just take the Jiufen bus to the end of the line. The museum grounds are extensive and require a ticket plus extra fees if you want to go inside one of the tunnels or pan for gold (which we did).

The blissfully empty shinto shrine

I was ecstatic being there before the crowds because it eventually was like a festival. I really wanted to see the Japanese relics of the old shinto shrine. All that's left were 2 stone torii gates, the foundation, some pillars and some stone lanterns. It was a nice 20 minute hike with an incredible view. We were the only ones there (for a while).

Teapot Mountain

That little hike wasn't enough for me. I saw Teapot Mountain like a sandstone and shale crown across the valley and I was determined to check it out. My daughter was less enthused. After she panned for gold (and yes there were flecks of probably fake gold) and went inside the tunnels, she was so appreciative she hiked Teapot without complaint. We were both energized. At the top you can rock climb in the crags with a rope. The views along the way were exceptional. The path starts behind the bridge at the far end of the Gold Mining park, below where the air pumps are displayed.

So many nice views on the way up Teapot

You could drive to the last bit to the peak, there's a road and trail starting from the beach, driving would be cheating. It was only a 75 minute walk up and with several covered rest areas to admire the view, which she needed. We returned to the old tea house in Jiufen and sampled a different variety, sitting outside to please me.

We had better sleep that night and took our time the next morning. After our complimentary breakfast we decided to walk up Jilong Mountain 九份雞籠山. before checking out. The path begins not far from where we were staying just beside the cemetery. People were already cleaning their family tombs as we passed them. The hike up Jilong was crowded and unshaded. It was all steps. Fortunately for us the path forked and we took the longer route (go left). It was the right choice. We had supreme views of the sea, it was shaded and even better, was devoid of walkers. The top was also crowded but not massed, we could enjoy the view for a good twenty minutes or so munching on apricots. We decided again to take the long way back through the shade and with the views.

Quick hike after breakfast before checking out 九份雞籠山.

After checking out of our hotel, we went to the train station and bought a ticket to Houtong to check out the infamous Cat Village. The train was about to leave but so many bodies were smashed together, I don't think we could of possibly squeezed in, nor did we want to try. We'll save Cat Village for another day. I imagine its more of a tourist trap than even Jiufen. Yet, for being a notorious tourist trap, my daughter and I were rewarded with more excellent memories. It was worth giving Jiufen a chance.

There is a Remedy for Everything Except

My Grandma and my daughter

A month ago, I woke up on a mid March morning with yet again another solemn message from my Dad.

 My grandma passed. 

It was so soon after the tragedy of niece and ex sister in law (previous post). My father was exhausted emotionally, and physically from driving to New Mexico every other weekend. I saw all the photos of my brothers and cousins, aunts and uncles at her memorial and funeral. It was rotten being here alone. I couldn't afford a ticket or missing more classes when I'd only just return from Emma's memorial. 

We were closer to my paternal grandparents. She suffered her last years with undeserved pain, so in many ways, her death was also a blessing. My aunt and uncle were there with her at her last moments which is a beautiful solace for all of us.

I definitely got my love of travel from my grandma. She and my grandpa went to Europe and N. Africa more than once when I was a kid. She often told me she wished she was in the service so she could see the world. She was a wonderful independent woman, and a working single mom most of the time because my grandpa was often deployed abroad. She spoke her mind and was tolerant and kind. 

My grandma was hard working and observant of human behavior. She worked the night shift as a nurse at a mental hospital and then took care of 4 kids at home during the day. She hardly slept. I loved the stories of her childhood, the severity of being the eldest daughter of 11 kids on a ranch, of the abundance of nature during the Great Depression, how she met my grandpa (funny story). Her handmade tortillas and chocolate cake are legend. Her children loved her fiercely. 

Now Emma can delight in being with both her great-grandmas.

Z, Grandma, Grandpa and Emma

Family Nightmare and Celebrating Love: Rest in Peace Emma

Yesterday was her birthday. It's no surprise she was almost born on Valentine's.

My daughter and I were on the tail end of our amazing Lunar New Year holiday in Bohol when we got the horrific news. I had just woken up and stepped out of our jungle cottage in Anda to get some wifi reception when my Dad was typing me a FM message at the same time. His words were unbelievable. I must be dreaming. I texted back to him, "No! No!" and he replied, "Call me." I ran inside to the bed howling, my daughter next to me, "Tell me! Tell me!" I couldn't tell her.

Quickly, I was talking to my brother crying, "I can't tell her!" (my daughter). I commanded Z to get inside and all I could do was wail, "Andy I'm so sorry" over and over again, and "I love you." His voice started breaking up, choking back his tears. I said goodbye and then returned to my bed howling. I didn't care who heard. Later, the German backpackers came over and asked me if everything was ok. No nothing was ok. The whole world is in chaos.

I had to tell my daughter her cousin Emma, who she grew up with her first 2 1/2 years and are forever bonded (they are 33 days apart) is dead. My ex-sister in law shot her and then shot herself. They both were dead. My brother found them the next morning. He currently is my new hero. All of us are still devastated. I feel like an amputee. This is now the new normal.

Emma and Z

In retrospect it was a saving grace to be on holiday when we found out, but I wished we were home. We didn't have to do anything, or go any where or talk to anyone- and we didn't. We canceled that morning's dive for the next two days and waited til our last day. It was just the shock of it, totally immobilized us. We sat on our jungle porch getting bit by slow mosquitoes or collapsed on the bed stupefied. When we did finally dive, we saw some green turtles which seem even more meaningful, considering it was Emma's totem animal.

I didn't read any of the media articles, not until my uncle showed me some of them when I went home for her memorial. They were all wrong. The put this ugly and untruthful spin that C---'s suicide was due to jealousy from another woman. The story went global. I had friends giving me condolences from around the world, which is insane to me because sadly this story of guns and mental health issues,  happens all too frequently. (It happened a week before, a mile away in the parking lot of a sporting goods store, a mother shot her two sons and herself in the car.)

Although we don't live at home and we've been in Taiwan for 8 years, its still devastating. My daughter Z and Emma are just 33 days apart. I have pictures of  C-- and myself putting our preggo bellies together (mine was significantly bigger). In other words, even in utero, they were destined to be close. I had assumed and was looking forward to them growing up to be remarkable women together, best friends. Even in utero, we were praying for Emma because her mom's behavior, past issues seemed to be there still. I don't want to trash talk C-- by any means; she had a horrible childhood, her and my brother had a short miserable marriage, the world's most insane divorce and an even longer, uglier custody battle most of Emma's life. I empathize with what must of been C--'s unimaginable suffering to do what she did, but now my brother is the one in utter torment. Ironically, she was staying with my bro, who was helping her get back on her feet when it happened. Emma's last week must of been her dream come true, both parents getting along under the same roof, both with plans to move to Hawaii. I still can't believe C--- did it.

The only positive development is how much the community, our home church, and my brother's friends and coworkers came together to support him and my family. Neighbors have been bringing my folks meals (although they both lost noticeable weight), money was raised to pay for me and Z's flights home, money was raised for Emma's funeral expenses. Everyone seems to be going through different stages of the grieving process at different times; sensitivity, empathy, seeking peace is in order. My daughter and another brother are extremely angry, I myself am still in shock and sadness, I think I'm afraid of my anger right now.


I'm inordinately proud of my brother for choosing to focus on the love that was Emma and not on the ugliness of her murder. He is using her whole ministry of harmony as a catalyst to be a better man. My brother explained it all in his memorial speech, that it was she who inspired him to volunteer dive at the Denver Aquarium. A beautiful manifestation of his healing was taking some of Emma's distraught classmates snorkeling at the Aquarium. He also said how Emma's favorite animal is a sea turtle and she is like a turtle, and its so true. I've seen her with my daughter and when they had a misunderstanding, Z would want to talk about it, clear the air then and there (I'm the same) but Emma would retreat, be alone, seek quiet with one of the dogs, she seemed afraid of even a smidgen of discord. I had to teach my daughter that people handle conflict differently, you can't force yourself. And because Emma was surrounded so much by conflict, not any of us adults cared to try and get Emma to talk it out. Kids moved on, they were playing again eventually.

What was especially difficult for my daughter is we left our recent summer visit immediately after they had a misunderstanding and us adults were minimizing my kid's need to find resolution. "Its ok, it will be ok when we come back next year." My daughter was so distraught, "I never had a chance to tell her I forgave her!" Honestly, we told her that Emma probably wasn't worried about it at all. None of us could remember when Emma was ever mad, and if she was, it came out passively. All Emma ever wanted was for everyone to get along. She was a wonderful older sister to her baby brother and younger cousins.That girl loved her parents more than herself, she literally died for one.

I was so sad that we would never have any more new adventures, memories with Emma. Then after the memorial, Emma's Mandarin teacher came up and introduced herself. She is from Taiwan, her husband from Yilan. She told me with tears in her eyes how Emma used to say she was going to visit me and Z in Taiwan. That about broke my heart because whenever we begged her to visit (like she could) she would just flash one of her gentle, enigmatic smiles. It was such a love gift to get some new piece of her, even after the grave. I believe she is in a better place but I still shed selfish tears for all the unfulfilled memories we won't have on this earth.

Early morning at the cabin, August 2016

My brother returned to work yesterday and had his own personal love gift. On their sound system they play some internet radio and for the first time ever some random Hawaiian song that was familiar to Andy and Emma came on the speakers. The whole place became hushed, and they turned up the volume cognizant that this was her. I think big loves are like that. They will leave us these trails of love gifts to help us in our distress of missing them. I look forward to the next one, maybe when I visit her ashes that are in Hawaii or Chatfield, CO (she has 2 places because she is double the love). Probably she will drop a few love gifts by surprise; either way, she feels so close, we think about her so much she is everywhere.


Every moment was a privledge
Miraculous blessing to our family
Mistrustful of discord
Mature beyond your years
Always calm and enduring

Birthday Spa Time in Wulai

I love it when its Friday the 13th, especially when it's my daughter's birthday! The luckiest date of my life! I took off Friday afternoon, pulled the girl out of school and headed to Wulai as my gift to her.

Wulai is actually closer than our trip would seem. Its only 17 km from Jiaoxi (our nearest hot springs), there's an aborignal trail we could hike on.

Unwilling to brave the cold rain, we took a bus To Taipei, the MRT to Xindian and a local 40 min bus to Wulai.

Our room with a view

 We stayed at a decent hotel only 200 m from the bus top and right by the bridge into the small Old Street. The place had a complimentary breakfast, unlimited coffee all day and a cat my daughter couldn't get enough of.

bus to Taipei

Our old Italian traveler friend Bruno was in transit between his Okinawa and Sri Lanka trip and met us there. He spoiled us with some gifts, including a hand mirror with our names engraved and a little artist's case with supplies for her. It was perfect weather for hot springs, freezing! We didn't make it to the crowded public ones across the river, but our hotel's public pools were indoors with open windows  right on the river banks, and were empty.

Two nights was too much time for Wulai and not knowing any locals. We took our time, ate as much Atayal food as possible, took the gondola to the waterfall, had Z do some weaving with an Atayal girl, and did some shopping. I had wanted  Z to do some aboriginal archery, where they make their own bows and arrows, but I had needed to make a more advanced reservation. I also missed  meeting a friend  who was going to show us his favorite restaurant, but by Sunday brunch we were eager to get back. Hopefully next time and also stop at Wenshan Tea Farm on our return to Taipei to buy some world class tea.

On the cable car to the waterfalls

All in all the girl was grateful for her weekend getaway, everyone appreciates a change of scene. yet she was equally grateful to be back in Yilan. I was too, I had to catch up on housework and laundry and prepare for Monday, she had to catch up on some Trollhunters.

'Twas the Season

 

Christmas in Taiwan is mainly a Jesus free event, so I have to make an earnest cultivation to keep the Christmas spirit in our own way. So surreal walking around shopping malls, or New Taipei County, with so much money spent on Christmas decorations, and yet no one here really knows the Nativity story. Its easy to be like Charlie Brown. We had decorated our Christmas tree in early November, which no American ever does back home (wait at least for Thanksgiving to end), but here no problem..

I used my teaching as an opportunity to cultivate some Christmas cheer. In my ESL classes I taught the classic Charlie Brown cartoon and in my Social Studies we learned some geography with Christmas Around the world.

Christmas is associated with the winter solstice, and in Taiwan it is tradition to eat sticky rice dumplings in red bean soup, which my school served at lunch. Yilan City got into the season with  displaying an interesting tree made from recycled plastic water bottles near the car parking across from the train station.

At my daughter's school her principal became a candy throwing Santa on roller blades. How fun! Even my school gave us teachers our own Yule Log cake and coffee. Christmas is certainly becoming more of a modern tradition in Taiwan, even compared with 5 years ago. I just hope Taiwanese don't start getting the same Holiday Blues associated with this winter season back home, maybe its too sunny here for that. 

It just wouldn't be a commercial Christmas without Star Wars, right? We just had to see Rogue One on opening night, I enjoyed it more than she did, I felt like eight years old again. 

 

We met some coworkers and friends at Balagov's for a Ukrainian Christmas Eve lunch. It's our splurge in an otherwise thrifty Christmas.

Christmas day wasn't very magical for my daughter. Her gifts from grandpa and uncle hadn't arrived, and I didn't get her anything, having saved for our upcoming CNY trip. The morning started out decent with a sunny scooter ride to the nearby rock climbing wall with her classmates.

But her fun was short lived. With all the mats under us, she and I started wrestling as we do, and I might of accidentally given her a Christmas (mini ) concussion. She's getting too big for me to control her falls and thinking the mats were enough, I flipped her over too hard. She was unresponsive (but conscious) for a long, strange, minute, it was scary. Her friends were around snapping photos, so it was a very public, shitty Christmas morning. 




 Better to be safe than sorry, especially with Taiwan's affordable health care system, so she rested in the ER  until the doctor OKed us to go home. More mother guilt through the roof, I ruined Christmas. She still hasn't let me forget about it.

To make it up to her we went to the local swimming hole, a cold springs, for a wee refreshing Christmas dip. Eventually her gift from Grandpa arrived, no thanks to customs. 

As for the New Years weekend, we stayed home, Incredibly mellow, sunny, spring like NY weekend. We accidentally spent the last dinner of 2016 at the Australian Bistro for an unplanned steak, as traffic around Luna plaza forced us down that street and we were hungry and there was the rare parking spot right there. I relished the serendipitous surprise, as I didn't plan anything special to toast the passing year. 


She crashed at 10pm and I stayed awake watching documentaries on the Cambodian Genocide as fireworks went off, Luna Plaza's at my front windows and the sports park at my back kitchen windows. It was like a war zone. I tried to wake up my kid to watch them, but she was out cold. I did tons of yoga videos all though the weekend having joined a free 2 week membership at Yogaglo, while my daughter flew her Christmas drone around my head. I also caught up on some much needed Mandarin lessons from my daughter. Its divine to have time! 

We watched the Great Wall with Matt Damon in 3D, it was ok, superficial, awesome effects and costumes, but cheesy (Z loved it)- I'd rather watched Rogue One again. Our last night of the holiday weekend, we watched the Mauri film, "Hunt For The Wilderpeople" with Sam Neil and funny man Rhys Darby. Z couldn't stop talking about it,even up into bedtime, she wrote about it in her diary.

 She and I are still chewing on personal intentions for 2017. I think we are leaving it to Chinese New Year, when we have more downtime to just be, and not do. For now its crunch time for both us, the end of the semester exams and grades.

Dictator Worship: Ignorance is Not Bliss

The mindless cosplay photos of a private school in Hsinchu has sparked outrage from the international community, foreign educators in Taiwan and local government. If you haven't already heard, this beloved history teacher allowed his class to dress up as Nazi soldiers, with full on regalia and even a cardboard tank. This kind of freedom of speech isn't even allowed in Germany. Of course Israel immediately expressed it's outrage, and then Germany soon followed. This embarrassment came right on the heels of a global survey on ignorance where Taiwan came in 3rd.

For me personally, being a Social Studies teacher in a private junior//high school and having a kid in the public system for 5 years, I am not in the least surprised. I am surprised something like this didn't happen sooner. I do have to face the reality it could of happened in any school.

Why I know this to be the sad truth is in the beginning of this semester I had to go off on a teaching tangent for all 8 of my 7th grade Social Studies classes and explain the Holocaust with graphic pictures. Maybe 4 out of 100 kids really knew what happened. The reason why I had to explain, was I was teaching a reading about London's first mayor Sadiq Khan and his mistreatment by a Neo-Nazi opponent. No one knew who Nazis were, to my surprise.

Basically its a gigantic failure of the KMT controlled curriculum, that never really resolved Taiwan's own murky history, coupled with a complete adoration of only studying Chinese history in depth. A recent editorial explained this best in the dictator worship of  Chiang Kai-Shek. I first came aware of the lack, utter vacuum of Taiwanese history books when I was in Tainan. My then private kindergarten was more of a project based school and the unit we teachers were given to teach for that month was Taiwanese history. I had to make my own timeline poster and did swaths of research because there was nothing for kids, other than a really cool comic series that was too difficult for them to read. I had parents thank me because they got so much out of it, as they confessed that they learned absolutely zero of their own history. So much is still unknown from the White Terror days of martial control. In 2012 Ma officially apologized on behalf of the KMT for their persecution of democratic activists. Yet classified documents from that era still cause military police to break into citizens' homes. Many from the KMT believe declassified documents should be destroyed rather than being made public. How's that for reconciliation and healing?

Its easy for me to sound judgmental from my American perspective. For my generation, all of us kids had grandfathers who survived WW2. Both of mine served (Navy and Airforce). I grew up watching movies that glorified Allie soldiers and vilified Nazis. I clearly remember watching PBS with my mom on a Saturday night, I was maybe 7 years old and we watched graphic historical footage of Nazi concentration camps. Those image are seared in my brain forever. So even in the lack of a school's responsibility to educate, parents must be that safety net. How the parents of these kids allowed that is proof of their own lack of a decent education. Likewise, The Diary of Ann Frank (安妮的日記) was required reading when I was a student. My elementary school also had a camp survivor come to our school and describe to us kids about her ordeal. She showed us her tattooed number, and recalled how easy it was for society to slip into evil. We kids venerated her like a saint, as we all knew how fortunate not only to hear from an eye witness, but meet a survivor that was able to go on with her life. At the same time, America has yet to fully acknowledge their own genocide of Native Americans, and continues to misuse Native's images in national sports and names of places. So I acknowledge that I am not coming from a place of moral high ground, but the Jewish Holocaust should be required in every curriculum.

The past 2 days I have been bringing up the Hsinchu incident with my students, just to inform them. Basically they read the Holocaust in about 2 paragraphs, so they might know what happened, but have zero clue of the significance. Their humanity wasn't touched.

Having lived and worked in Germany, I also was able to visit Dachau, and I was also able to see how many local, small camps were absolutely everywhere. If Taiwanese could travel, if these private schools could take a field trip, go there. I'd suggest Taiwan follow Germany's example and teach the Holocaust at a young age, but I had too many young German friends who admitted to be totally desensitized to what happened, and even defensive (that wasn't "me") from having too much history crammed down their throats. I doubt Taiwan would go that far, but it must have a more inclusive world history curriculum.

My foreign coworkers decided that at the very minimum all the grades should watch Schindler's List (辛德勒的名單), and my manager will suggest it at the next meeting. This might not seem like the best answer, or response to their collective ignorance, but its a start. In spite of the local and global outrage, the Hsnichu students started getting defensive, and some jerks in the Taipei MRT  were walking around in Nazi uniforms. I don't see this going away until the culture has a radical shift, a look in the mirror of their own dictator worship.

Defaced Chiang Kai-shek, Green Island

So all I can do is shed light in my own little sphere of influence. I will teach Genocide as a unit next semester in my 7th grade Social Studies classes. I actually tried last year with my 9th graders. I had this long unit on Colonialism and Slavery as an introduction to modern Genocide. But then I taught a long unit on Gender and another unit on Racism and the year was over. I won't make that mistake with my 7th graders. Its an art, balancing substance, quality, making sure they get it (in a 2nd language) and quantity (there are so many themes). Transitional justice and transformation happen in our little everyday interactions. I'm reminded what a privilege and responsibility it is to teach and to have so much creative control of my own curriculum.