The MatriArchitect

The mission of the Taiwan Fulbright is to create a world with a “little more knowledge and a little less conflict.” My official grant period ended on June 31,  and the final week of June ended with a culmination of requirements including a presentation, a video shoot, and a final review for the graduate students I was co-teaching at National Taiwan University.  We are now five days from our Taipei departure. In our final month, our mission has been to take in as much culture as possible. Xiamen, China was on our list of places to visit. I was determined to see the Tulou (round houses) in Fujian Province and Leila was determined to see The Great Wall. In Fujian, the round houses made of earth construction are listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, and they date back centuries. They are an architectural marvel and China has masterfully preserved these structures. Xiamen also happens to be near where Leila’s grandmother’s father lived. He was an educator that built a school just 30 minutes outside of Xiamen in a place called Tong An.

We arrived in Xiamen by ferry which was just a short 30 minute travel distance from Kinmen, Taiwan. This was both of our first times in Mainland China and we were disembarking on water. We spent the prior weekend in Kinmen, an area filled with military history and architecture so close to Chinese vernacular that it had a unique identity beyond other parts of Taiwan. It is the geographically closest point of Taiwan and China. 

Our our way to the round houses, we stopped in Tong An to see if we could locate the exact property of Leila’s paternal grandmothers roots. Leila and I (along with a guide) explored this small village that has yet to be absorbed into the metropolis of Xiamen. It had a feel of an informal settlement. My mother-in-law forwarded me photos taken a few years back when her brother visited. With this information, I was able to find the home and neighborhood. We went to the village center and they told us to speak with the elders. They would know the most about the family and the history of the family that lived there. Together we ventured out, looking for signs or evidence that matched the photo. Somehow we found it quite quickly. I saw a home that matched the architecture style of a building in the background. We turned right, and then right again and there it was, it matched the photo precisely. What remained of the homes was ruinous, just a few brick walls. As we wandered around the neighborhood taking photos, the first person we ran into was a young woman with two young daughters that were four and eight. It took Leila seconds to connect with her new friends. Their mother mentioned to us that the landlord of the area would be back shortly, and he would have more information. The oldest daughter brought out her butterfly collecting box and as I was taking photos, I could see the girls running around chasing butterflies. When the landlord returned, he introduced me to the community elders, all of whom had attended the school Leila’s great grandfather built. They mentioned that the school had been demolished and replaced with housing in recent years.

The next moment I turned around, the girls were enjoying popsicles. The elders invited us in for tea but we unfortunately didn’t have time. I told them that we would return one day. As we were walking away, Leila said to me in her inquisitive six year old voice, “I wonder when my great-grandfather was a little kid if he used to catch butterflies. She (referencing her new friend) was so good at it.”  In that moment, I thought about Leila’s travel experiences, and they way we had experienced the space so differently. Travel to her is more than a new place, a heritage site, or a delicious meal. I mentally replayed our travels, and realized, Leila’s strongest bond has always been with the people. (To give you a fuller picture, all of these conversations were fully taking place in Mandarin Chinese. Other than the tour guide, no one else spoke English. So Leila is fully immersed in her communication. Her Chinese has advanced to a point where she can converse easily with her peers. Usually the first question we are asked jointly, after we see shocked faces is, “where did she learn to speak Chinese?”)

When we were on The Great Wall, she found another young companion that matched her in spirit and mischievous nature. We were on a wall, but at that time it functioned as a unifying bridge. I hope Leila maintains this desire to connect. I could learn more from her to me more open to making genuine connections with strangers. 

As an African American with roots in the South, I can’t define my precise geographic ancestry outside of the United States, and my family can trace our family history back to the US 1800’s per census records. Our family reunion always places my paternal and maternal grandparents in rural counties in Mississippi. We are American with unknown African roots which for me the link of the unknown just makes firmly roots me in America. Leila can connect back to a place ancestrally with such specificity in a way that I likely will never be able to. She’s not fully aware of the reasons that this is the case. I’ve started to introduce the realities of war, the slave trade, and the children locked in cages at the US Mexico border as I write this. She is still in disbelief. It seems implausible. My parents live a 200 meters from where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The impacts of extreme racism and hate are actually terrifying to me, I can’t imagine the fear it would strike in a child.  Conversations about history are so important and necessary, but so difficult. But also know that being armed with accurate information is essential. My hope is that if someone tells her to go back to where she came from, she can clearly articulate the history of Indigenous people globally, and then discuss the way her family came to be American citizens. She will know that Americans with African or Asian Ancestry are no less American than those with European ancestry. 

After leaving Tong An, and traveling a little over two hours west, we arrived at the Tulou clusters. The location of the Tulou is isolated but often connected to principles of feng shui, which translates  from Chinese to wind and water. Even in site selection, these families, who ventured came from Northern China for safety reasons knew they needed to select a site that had the features that connected it to nature. In my research and observations of residential spaces across culture, the central courtyard has been an architectural tool to encourage communal living. I have observed these outdoor spaces used frequently in Ghana, Italy, and most recently in the round houses in Fujian Province. One individual round house would be set up for a large extended family. The round shape produces non-hierarchical spaces in a typical four story round house. The first floor would be used as bathroom and kitchen, the second floor is storage and 3rd and 4th floor was for living and sleeping. It makes sense that then services requiring water be on the first floor, and I could envision a large group of people retiring to the first floor beginning to cook. I imagine this was a shaded and communal feeling. And the balconies connecting each floor which allow you to engage visually with the activities on either floor where a social connector. Parents could be cooking on the first floor and see kids playing on the balcony above. Viewing this space, my imagination took me to a place of how people occupied the Tulou, and I’d look into reality to see my own child peeking around corners and zooming in and out of rooms with a childlike wonder. We blew bubbles from the top floor to see how far they could fly. We took time to experience the space. 

Towards the end of our trip to China and Thailand, Leila asked when we were going to Wakanda. She also later followed up by asking if she could place flowers on her grandparents graves the next time we visit Mississippi. I could sense her feeling of rootedness. Her narrative u folding in her mind. We also traveled to other cities including Bangkok, Shanghai, and Beijing where I created of hundreds of social media worthy photos, but nothing captures the feeling of what we experienced. It is not something you can photograph. I felt it in Ghana and witnessed it in Leila’s interaction with young girls throughout China. I am not sure what to call it, but it is the space between seeing a building in a photograph and walking through it, touching the materials, and smelling the air that surrounds it, sensing the history while meeting the people that occupy it daily. It’s being there, being in the moment, and experiencing a space and understanding it’s users. We have had many great experiences during our year in Taiwan, but this trip to China seemed especially different. Perhaps after being outside of our traditional comfort zone for almost a year has evolved the way we move through the world.

And finally, we could give you advice on how to catch a butterfly, but we never succeeded. These beautiful, metamorphic creatures evaded us every time. As we would come close, they would just fly beyond our reach. We will continue to admire their beauty from afar. What we learned is that we will continue to make friends, explore the beauty of nature and the built environments interactions within it, and continue to remain open minded to the ways in which all species navigate the world with kindness. 

Until next time,

TheMatriArchitect

 

Kelly K. Porter is a brilliant Regional Planner Manager based  in Austin, TX. He came to visit Leila and me in Taipei, and this month he is the guest contributor for the blog. Kelly was born to be  a transportation planner. When we were in Philadelphia, he showed me the many maps his family had gifted him throughout his childhood. Layered on these maps, he had sketched alternative transit routes. I imagined a 7 year old Kelly laboring over those maps, and I have witnessed him discuss the intricate details of transit systems, expressways, and main thoroughfares of any United States city you can name with friends, associates, and strangers.   

Guest Blog by City Planner, Kelly K. Porter, AICP

For full disclosure, this was my first time traveling to Asia.  And by far, the longest flights I have ever taken (15 hrs from SFO to HKG and 11 hrs from PEK to LAX). As with all travel, I learned a lot about the places I visited, but more importantly learning about myself, my place in the world, and my connection with the people that make the place.  To go from gentrified Austin by way of gentrified San Francisco, where the name of the urban redevelopment game is less about different groups cohabitating, but more of out-right erasure (less violent colonization), Asia was a breath of relatively fresh and authentic air. I say this because although there is evidence of a colonized past and somewhat imperialized present with a bit of white washing, largely the region’s I visited in Asia were all about maintaining and evolving there own uniquely Asian cultures, authentic, yet global.  This post will highlight this Afro-Texan Boy of Fort Worth’s first experience in Asia by my travels to Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Beijing. Also, a caveat, I am a city planner, a foodie, and a total nerd about both.

 

 

 

 

 

Ieo Ming Pei was a brilliant architect with a career that lasted over 70 years. He was born in Canton, China and eventually relocated to Shanghai before moving to the United States to study architecture. Leila had the chance to see her first I.M. Pei masterpiece in Taichung, Taiwan. Luce Chapel is a spiritual space on the campus Tunghai University. It was designed as a collaboration between Pei and Chen Chi-kwan in 1954. The project was delayed and eventually completed for a total cost of $125,000 in 1963. The original specified material was wood but they reconsidered given the humid conditions of Taiwan. They also adapted the design to adhere to typhoons and earthquakes inherent to the region. And some 60 years later, and after Pei is no longer with us, Leila and I witnessed several students celebrating graduations in a space designed by him. It seems as if we cannot escape this particular ritual. This is usually a quiet space, but we happened to arrive at one of the busiest times of the year. The campus has not built densely around the chapel, but continued to give it the breathing space it deserves. We pray quite a bit at the various temples that we have visited, and Leila often prays for our family and our country. I whispered to Leila, “Look, he designed the building to model praying hands. Do you see it?”  I told her she should say a prayer when we entered the building. It is brilliant. It is abstracted and figurative but not too literal. The way the light penetrates the building is awe inspiring. This was 20 years before the Louvre was completed but just as striking. Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe often said that “God is in the detail”.  Perhaps he was correct.  

 

 

 

The Graduate

Leila attended Ms. Lam Montessori, a Mandarin Chinese immersion program, in Brooklyn since she was two, and this year she was able to attend school at the original location in Taiwan. This year was a special school year for Leila because she was given the title of “kindergarten graduate”.  My husband and I learned quickly this  was not a superficial title, but one that came with responsibilities. Leila’s school curriculum is diverse. She is learning how to clean up after herself, how to cook, and her role as a leader in the larger school community.  She is also learning division and multiplication, how to read in English and Chinese, and African drumming. During the year, she was given responsibilities that included:

• Class helper (each Tuesday)
• Holiday Program Performance (School attends only kindergartners perform)
• Reading Mandarin Book to her classmates during story-time
• 7 km Ride bike
• 1.5 km Hike 
• School sleepover (independently making breakfast and taking care of herself,
• 200 meter relay race

What is more remarkable is that I had to support her in the above mentioned activities as a solo parent while teaching and completing research. I had to show up events with an abundance of  hugs, kisses, and love.  And of course it wasn’t just about showing up. The week leading up to the event I had to navigate Taipei on bicycle to find a way to procure appropriate clothing that ranged from hiking sandals to a graduation dress.  I asked willing parents to take videos for me while I took photos, and some days, I had to clear my calendar to be fully available for Leila’s school activities. Missing any of these events was not an option.  I had to be present with flowers, a big smile, a positive attitude, and love multiplied by two. It is true that if Leila had these events at her school in New York, I would have likely attended them all as well, but since we have been in Taiwan, I have noticed that the emotional support and nurturing that Leila requires from me is greater. Before moving to Taipei, this was a responsibility my husband and I shared, and this year it was completely on me. Leila has always been good at communicating her need for affection. When she was a baby less than a year old, if I was holding her with one hand, she would grab my other hand and pull it toward her own back.  While in Taiwan, Leila would randomly say, “Mom, I need a hug,” and I would stop whatever I was doing to embrace her.  Throughout the year, most events were attended by a diverse arrangement of parents, some Dads were regulars, but the Moms were a persistent presence. The graduation was an exception.  It was clear that this was the event of the year, and parents dressed up to celebrate the graduates for their hard work.  There was a two guest maximum and the room was filled.  During the ceremony, there was a father daughter dance, and I had to step in to be Dad while Leila and I waltzed together.  Leila would have never complained because she is very sensitive to my feelings, especially with regards to our life in Taiwan. In this moment, I knew she missed her dad, and I missed my husband. Feeling her sadness on this joyous occasion was difficult for me.  Her sadness was a momentary pause as she was back to her next dance number within minutes, and as you can see from the photo below, she is generally an exuberantly happy child, so I am very fortunate.  After the ceremony, I gave her a beautiful bouquet textured with her favorite colors, and we celebrated at her favorite restaurant.  When she replays this event in her memory, it is my hope that she remembers it with fondness. My take away is to continue to celebrate each milestone with as much enthusiasm as possible.  There was such a warm feeling in the room from all of  the parental joy.  I am sure the happy feelings reverberated to all of the graduates, and I can imagine that it must have such a positive impact on their perception of  school and learning.

The Bike Ride & Mountain Climb

On a cloudy Friday afternoon, the graduate parents met at Dadocheng and waited for our graduates  to arrive. It had threatened to rain that day, so we were all hopeful the weather would not disrupt the ride. We share a Line Group (similar to WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger but predominately used in Taiwan), and I could see the parents posting about weather concerns all morning.  The parents rented bikes in the location to prepare for the 7 km ride along with our children. There were families on tandem bikes, and parents with smaller children with rear seats. Overall, it was a enthusiastic display of parental and family involvement.  Those of us working had to take the afternoon off to be with our children.  In one of my early posts, I mentioned Leila could not ride a bike. We purchased her bike and begin to preparation last September. She started in training wheels and quickly progressed and was riding comfortably by October. Throughout the year we incrementally increased our distance. When I met her the day of the ride, she ran to give me a big hug, jumped on her bike, and joined her classmates riding around the park.  We rode together and she finished with ease, and it ended up being a really beautiful day.

The Sleepover

The same night of the bike ride, the kindergarten students were required to complete an overnight sleepover at the school. We went home after the bike ride, showered and took her suitcase back to the school. She joined her classmates with excitement. They were responsible for taking care of themselves. They had to arrange their sleeping bags, make breakfast, and clean up. We were asked to record a message for them before bed. Leila said mine was boring, but she thought her dad’s message was hilarious.  He wasn’t going for funny, and I probably should have gone with a lighter tone, but I have saved both recordings, and plan play them again for her high school graduation to see if her perspective changes.

The Relay Race

The relay race was scheduled on Leila’s birthday but was rescheduled because of weather. I would describe the event as the Ms. Lam Montessori Olympics. All of the kindergarten graduates from the five Ms. Lam Montessori schools would compete against each other. The rescheduled date was a warm day, a Thursday morning, and parents and children had a good time. There were lots of smiles and hugs. Leila ran hard even though her team was quite behind when she received the baton. She ran 200 meters and handed the baton to her classmate. I was proud of her even they though they managed to get last place. She asked at the end of the race where was her trophy. I explained that only the team that won received trophies.  She seemed fine, but I think she’ll keep that in mind the next time she is training for a race.

Beach Clean-up

The beach clean up was a school-wide event, so we were joined by several other families. Unfortunately, the beach was not conveniently accessible by mass transit, however, one of Leila’s classmates parents offered to give us a ride. Leila and I often have conversations about plastic and waste and to think of ways that try to find ways to reduce our waste. When the whale died off the coast of the Philippines, and marine biologists found 88 pounds of plastic in its stomach, I wanted to let her know just because we toss something in the trash, we really don’t know where it may end up. We spent 2 hours on a gray Sunday morning retrieving washed up trash and the trash that folks leave behind on the beach. Your actions have impact. I am sure each object we retrieved (hundreds of small caps for a bottled beverage) had a story.

Camp Taiwan

Leila and I spent three nights and two days with the kindergarten graduates and parents at Camp Taiwan.  Leila climbed the rock climbing wall three times, participated in archery, zip-lining and her favorite and most greatly anticipated activity,  river tracing. It was a fun but exhausting weekend but good to know we could drive just an hour to the Northeast of Taiwan embedded in fresh air and a comfortable camp sites with many activities for the children.  I had the opportunity to get to know some of the families much better and connect children faces with families.  As I am beginning to connect and meet and grow more comfortable with life in Taipei, it all seems to be coming to an end.

Taipei Montessori School

From my observations, regardless of economics, Taiwanese culture considers education very important, and while the approach to education may not be universally agreed upon (traditional vs. progressive methods), it is universally expected that all children should strive to achieve. Leila’s school year was pretty amazing. Not only one did she make friends and become embedded in a new system quickly, the school was also instrumental in helping me navigate the language challenges. Ms. Lam Montessori is considered a private school and expensive by Taiwanese standards, and while I love it, I recognize that it is likely not economically diverse. Evaluating her experience in Taiwan, I couldn’t help but think about the United States education system. While away, I overheard complaints of decreased education funding and insufficient teacher pay, and in New York specifically, I learned about the problematic under representation of black students in specialized high schools in New York.  The way racism permeates the US school systems is unfortunate.  I imagine there could be positive shifts if our society believed that every child is capable of academic success.  Leila’s teacher often emailed me directly and sometimes on weekends.  In some cases, the teacher was communicating something in English that would have been difficult for me to figure out in Mandarin, other times, there was an adaptation issue. Having a direct pipeline to the teacher made me feel that the teacher was invested in Leila. My mother was an involved and engaged parent, so I learned from her example that it is important to be present and involved as a parent. But reflecting on my mother’s outreach, my mother was the one largely reaching out to the teacher, not the other way around. The relationship was more one-sided. In this instance, I felt that we were mutually invested and anytime Leila was having issues with understanding and adapting the teacher contacted me.  Leila and I had a fantastic academic year with an amazing teacher, so I do not want to transfer my isolated experience to all Taiwanese schools. However, my experience here has made me more deeply concerned about the failure of the educational system in America to educate all students regardless of income and race.  What if we eliminated bias from the system and started off with the premise that all children have the ability to excel academically? 

 

The Arrival

Culture is not static, but is architecture?

When arriving to Kucapungane after a seven hour hike, my first priority was resting. There was a shared space near the home where our group would be sleeping. It was a roofed area that was open on all sides and was positioned in a way that felt as if I was cantilevered over the mountain.  Peaking over the edge, I could see the structure was situated in a way that if I dropped something below it might be impossible to retrieve it. The common area was organized with a place to cook, dine, and casually gather. It is space that can provide protection from the rain, but still allow for 360 degree views of Beidawu Mountain (北大武山). This is where our group shared most of our meals. Taking a moment to sit on an actual surface, I observed the home directly across from me. While admiring the stone slabs, the proportions of the apertures, and the personalized objects surrounding; I glanced at the roof and noticed a small solar panel.  The Kucapungane settlement  has been in existence for an estimated six hundred years, and I was witnessing one of the most modern environmental integrations for energy collection. This solar panel represents the symbolic conflict within the Rukai Tribe to evolve while maintaining authenticity.  Efforts to preserve Kucapungane and teach younger tribe members historic building techniques, are important to tribal identity. Unfortunately, there seems to be a conflict between the modern and the traditional.  Once Rukai tribe members had access to “on-the-grid” comforts in successive relocated sites, preserving Kucapungane  as it was originally conceived historically has been challenging.  Culture is not static, people are not static, but there is an expectation that historic architectural sites should be.

The Solar Panel

Only Rukai members 40 and over have lived in the original settlement of Kucapungane and community members that have a strong memory of this place are aging.  In 1978, the Rukai Tribe made a decision to relocate to the base of the mountain. In 2009 after Typhoon Morakot, they were forced to relocate again.  The current settlement, Rinari,  sits at the base of the mountain. In 2017, the Kucupugane site was named a World Monument, and the government of Taiwan started to invest in the restoration of the Kucapungane settlement.  They have proposed to renovate forty of the over 20 homes over the next 10 years.  Each year, four homes will be selected from an application process that requires partial investment from the family and a requirement of a family member to participate in the construction process.  

What is the future of Kucapungane?  From my observations, three options remain a possibility.  It can be a space treated as a sacred heritage site that is frozen in time as a museum-site artifact, or it can be treated as a space for Rukai members to re-occupy, retrofit, and evolve as community members see fit, or it can be a combination of the two. The long term goals of the space are not clear, but the reality is that it will be difficult for those living with electricity and indoor plumbing to return. So, what does it mean if  you freeze a culture in time?  Is is subjected to cultural tropes that are outdated and fictionalized?  There seems to be a danger that exists with freezing a heritage in the memory of greater society. Especially a group of people that are continuing to evolve.  It is important to reconcile the ways that culture is not static.  The ancestors existed in the past, but they live in the now.   And in the now, many people want to access indoor plumbing and electricity.  The challenge of how they reconcile these competing factors continues to be an issue.

Indigenous Architecture & Site Planning:

The most striking element of the Kucapungane settlement is the creative site planning.  The way the homes are organized and settled into the mountain required intentional and thoughtful planning.  Even the spacing of the homes among each other are harmoniously consistent. Each home is linked by a common patio and that patio acts as a sidewalk connecting each building.  Imagine that to walk from home to home, you would have to enter your neighbors front yard. Imagine the ways that your relationships with your neighbors may be different if this was the approach to the design.  The shared patios is inlaid with slate. Some homes had a seating area surrounding the patio signaling that they were spaces welcome for a pause and others were just enclosures that signaled you should pass quickly through.  The architecture itself is in various states of preservation. There are homes that have been continually maintained by families throughout the years, and there are others that are in a ruinous state. I could clearly see the slate stacked walls have the staying power in the structural longevity of the space.  They remain peaking out at various heights. The size of the homes may vary based on the hierarchy and importance of the family. The range from 168 m wide to 250 m wide. When walking into the spaces, what I’ve noticed not only here but throughout Asian is the threshold height is quite low and the threshold is built so that you must raise your foot to step inside.  If you bump your head once, you will remember that in order to enter this spaces you must always bend down and lift your foot. The typical door height is below 5’4”. One could imagine that the time these areas were built the society was in general shorter, but it has also said that when you enter into the home you must humble yourself by bowing and the compressed structure makes this a physical requirement. You must bow before you enter the home. Once you enter, the interior material is a dark stone and the space has minimal windows.  In fact, when we slept in one of the homes, the morning was so evident as when the first person opened the door, light punctured the space like a shard.  The space had a total of two similarly sized rooms. There were twelve people total asleep in the house, and I think we were all so exhausted from the hike that sleeping on a stone slate floor in a sleeping bag seemed comfortable. We were lined up like sardines on the raised platform.  The exterior environment in the mountain is so pleasant. I can imagine the public exterior area was occupied more than the home throughout the day. The home serves the function for protection from extreme weather, some cooking, storage of  personal items, and sleeping.

Rukai Women

When in Rinari Settlement the Rukai women I immediately sensed the women are the heartbeat of the community. When visiting, I can also see that the older generation of women serve a critical function in the community with babysitting and taking care of the younger children. I imagine that in 1970’s version of Kucapungane, women would go to the weaving room (the tabelangane) to make the clothing, they would care for the children, they would clean and require the natural meat for the hunt, and tend to the farming.  Anything that would be needed as a purchased item would have to be carried in the (four-eight hour) hike. The logistical distance from the school, the healthcare, the grocery store are a barrier to any permanent re-settlement.

The Rukai community is organized around activities in the community churches. Within the Rinari Settlement, there are a total of four churches.  So, on Wednesday and Sunday many people are engaged in church activities. (The Ming Dynasty stopped the growth of Christianity in the 1860’s early following Spanish and Dutch colonization, but in the mid 19th century US and UK missionaries promoted Christianity.) We arrived on Easter Sunday, and were invited to a church event.  There wasn’t pageantry or special hats and dresses that I have grown to anticipate on Easter. Women and men were in work clothes and several church members were installing the new patio stone flooring on the exterior patio. This looked like grueling and intensive work.

Women and housing present an interesting issue. Like many cultures, historically Rukai women were unable to inherit property. This was also the case for the Rukai Settlement. So many of the places that are in Kucupagane, the women in the society have less input because in general, they don’t have ownership.  This creates a complexity in deciding the future of Kucupagane. Women may feel connected to the place, but they do not have any legal connection to the land.

The Tablegane in Rinari

The tabelgane (weaving room) is a women only space, and in Kucupangane (top of mountain) it is in a ruinous state.  They have re-built an example of this very particular space in the Rinari Settlement. The space is currently unused. When reaching Kucapungane, I realized that Tabelgane has a big problem. It does not fit the context. It was built in as a standalone home, not a rear retaining wall against a tiered mountain structure. Also, the front patio area and other contextual surroundings are missing. A building alone does not represent culture or the context of its history.  You can not transport a building to a place and insert the people and expect the building will be able to do the work but the beauty of Kucapungane is the intelligent site planning. This is missing from the latest Tablegane.

 

Japanese Colonization (1895-1945):

Throughout Taiwan there is evidence of Japanese culture, and this is also clear in Kucapungane. Japanese colonizers added a prison and a school.  The prison was quite small and the school was large, but the school proved to be a substantial shift in the culture. Rukai young people were required to learn Japanese and had a structure built dedicated to this purpose.    

     I am not a recreational hiker.  When I submitted my research proposal to Fulbright, I understood that indigenous architectural sites I was proposing to research would be challenging to access. The Tao site is on a remote island in southeastern Taiwan and the Rukai site is a 6-8 hour hike in the mountains. On Monday, April 25 I came to understand how difficult the Rukai Journey is to Kucapungane.  Beidawu mountain is nestled in Southeast Taiwan and stands at an elevation of 3092 M (10,144 Ft). A subgroup of the Rukai community settled in this area and  integrated housing into the cascading tiers layered in the mountain. It is an exquisite integration of nature blended with architecture. Materially they used the mountain rocks to create walls and structure and wood to create the roofing structures. The stone slabs are resilient, they stood the test of time and largely remain throughout in a ruinous state. The wood is long gone in most homes. The stone can be found in the mountain and in the surrounding area. The wood is the hardest material to acquire and the most difficult to maintain. It takes approximately 20 years to grow the tree you will need for a strong beam. And while the mountain is covered in trees, the trunk of the tree is not the strength and diameter needed to create a  strong enough beam. Since the tribe relocated the settlement in 1974 to have more access to modern amenities and economic opportunities, the site in Kucupagunae site in Beidawu mountains has been largely abandoned. In 2016, the site was declared a heritage site by the World Monuments Foundation, and since then, has been in a gradual process of restoration.  The majority of the tribe members currently live at the base of the site in Rinari settlement.  

     The natural landscape surrounding Beidawu mountain is gorgeous. I started the hike the day after Easter Sunday. When most Americans were completing their celebration rituals; I was beginning my Monday admiring God’s creations. As we started our journey, (5 students, co professor, teaching assistant, and two guides), I stared at the mountain, I took in the fresh air and took a vow to be present and mouthed beneath my breath,“This is crazy.” One of the students overheard me and giggled and added, “I also think this is crazy.” But, visiting this site is one of the reasons I came to Taiwan. Existing indigenous architecture is rare particularly with this type of historical context. So I extended myself beyond my comfort zone. Staring at the beauty of the mountain and the surrounding riverbed, I mentally confirmed that the most beautiful places in this world are natural landscape, and architecture has yet to live up to the what was created naturally. Mother Nature is brilliant. She will always be the greatest architect of all time. There are some spaces that have designed with the express intent to mimic nature’s aesthetic wonder – The Birds Nest in Beijing, Fallingwater in PA,  Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Lalibela in Ethiopia. They are beautiful in their own way.  Most architecture in US cities, towns, and suburbs, do not bother to make the effort.    

     The hike was quite difficult for me. I purchased over $1,000 in equipment from a hiking store. My instinct that this is a hobby for the economically privileged was confirmed.  Dr. Huang,  co-professor and experienced hiker was thorough on what we all needed. I packed a backpack that was 9 kg (19 lbs). I filled my water but not too much because I was nervous about carrying the weight. The first leg of the journey was walking along a flat but rocky riverbed. This seemed like a safe beginning. The mountain is massive and this walk begin to give me a sense of the scale. I looked up into the mountain to see if I could catch a glimpse of the settlement but I saw only trees and rocks. When we reached the end of the path to the beginning of the mountain, our group took a rest. I looked in both directions and could see no possible way forward. This was not the case, our guide with grace showed us how to navigate a series of rocks. I cannot confirm that it was with ease. I felt clumsy and awkward, but he helped us navigate the way safely. I can say that I survived un-scarred. The hike varied. I don’t know the technical terms, but there was rock climbing, walking along the edge of the cliffs with ropes on both sides, and paths made of stones that were nestled under trees. I imagined a time when Rukai people made these journeys with less manicured conditions carrying much heavier loads. I felt a consistent pinching in my right shoulder and was relieved anytime I could put down the backpack. I recently was advised to get a knee brace from a local physician, and I have had consistent metatarsal pain since running a half marathon last year. It’s likely that each of these ailments is linked from my body overcompensating in multiple directions. Being present also means being present with the pain which I have learned to ignore.

  The journey is an immediate connection with nature,  and I was aware that my actions had a very direct environmental impact. Our systems are convenient, but not necessarily environmental nor do they make you conscious of your consumption. When I produced waste, I had to find a way to store it. Human waste, water resources; I was hyper aware of everything. We were told we would not have access to shower but luckily our host gave us space to shower once we arrived. The shower was boiling hot water pot in a space with a cold water source. There was a bowl to combine them in the shower room. The water from the shower was piped from a nearby creek. Being conscious and aware of the systems that we take for granted is a step to beginning to understand how every action impacts the environment.

     I will unlikely take up recreational hiking. I admire the beauty of nature usually from a safe distance and return to indoor plumbing and my comfortable bed. This experience has created increased awareness, that it may take a little inconvenience (maybe even discomfort)  to create a more sustainable world. Leila and I are required to separate our food waste and learn the extensive recycling process when we moved to Taiwan. And while different and requiring an extra step, I think that composting food waste now feels natural. It was a at first inconvenient, but I think about the impact and the importance of connecting action to impact. The built environment is one of the greatest producers of waste, and I am certain there are ways that we can begin to divert and recycle waste in the construction process. When we reached the level walking path on our return, the group noticed waste everywhere. Someone had been at the site a night before and dumped trash along the riverbed. So after seven hours of hiking, they started collecting trash and began an impromptu waste clean up of the area. There actions spoke so highly about character, compassion toward nature, and approach to the environment. Next week, I will go into more detail about the Rukai Tribe, the challenges of the heritage conservation process and my thoughts about the site planning and architecture, but I felt that allowing space to discuss the process for arrival is critical to understanding the architecture.

Where was Leila?

     I have been plotting Leila’s childcare surrounding this hike for several months. While she went with me to Rinari Settlement at the base of the mountain, I felt the hike was too intense for her participate.  Many Rukai people mentioned children as young as 3 have completed the journey, but I know that with my own inexperience and her school schedule,  it would have been difficult for her to make the journey. I was very nervous about being away especially knowing that WiFi access in the mountain was inconsistent. There were times when I had very limited access. Between three babysitters, three friends, and coordination with one set of extra keys; Leila managed to have a good time. Everything that I am able to do as a working professional mom is enabled by a strong support system. I’m fortunate to be able to hire sitters and have friends that I trust to help me navigate my work schedule while my husband and I are in different cities. Since I don’t require a full time nanny, I have a more challenging time locating part time care.  So, I have managed to find several part time sitters that help me out from time to time. I am grateful for the women (the sitters and the friends) who enable me to do my job. I do not do it alone, and  I could not do it alone. I often reflect on Audre Lorde’s speech at a 1980’s conference when she criticized white women feminist scholars for having the privilege to attend a conference while mostly women of color looked after their children. I am a researcher and an architect and that is possible because I have a community of people that enable me to maintain my career. I also recognize that the ability to do this is a privilege. It was not included in my initial proposal, but being away from Leila had me often thinking of what it life was like for a Rukai mom.  I hope that in my future research on indigenous architecture that I can highlight not only the architecture but the understanding of the life and spatial perspective of the Rukai housing from the women’s perspective.  Indigenous architecture is not highlighted in the space of architectural history, and rarely is the experience of women addressed in architectural history.  As a mom that depends on other women for my career, I want to be sure contribute to and speak for women who have not had a historical voice – women whose experience has been erased.  

 

 

The last 30 days Leila and I visited seven cities, celebrated her sixth birthday, and started activities surrounding her kindergarten graduation. To say we have been busy is an understatement. Balancing work and motherhood while traveling is challenging and rewarding, but everyday I start the day by taking a deep breath and making an attempt to live in the fullness of each moment. Managing life in Taiwan has been made easier by my  conscious decision to choose to do what is best for us both in the moment.  Sometimes if Leila is tired, I let her sleep in and show up a bit late for school.  (I have even stopped judging myself for it.)  Or, when we are traveling, I have started setting limits. There is so much to see, but I understand how many places she can visit in one day and how this can even vary depending on the day. She has an impressive capacity to sit through lectures, graduate courses, and material that would be considered age inappropriate. In this regard, she has surprised me. I recognize that this time for us is so unique. She will have memories from our life in Taipei for years to come. Our experience has been mostly positive, but, sometimes, Leila has meltdowns just like a typical six hear old, and sometimes they happen in the middle of immigration in the airport. In those  moments, it feels as if everyone’s eyes are on us. We have been in a space over the past eight months where largely we are the only people that look like us everywhere we go. I have flashbacks from my childhood of my parents telling me that I could never misbehave or show emotion in public because well, I represent every black person in the world and I should not attempt to reflect poorly on my race. I understand where they were coming from. They grew up in the Jim Crow South, and the racial politics remain oppressive in America today.  And growing up in Mississippi, I was the first generation that attended integrated schools, so there was a lingering expectation that I had to be perfect — at all times. Not because perfectionism was healthy or normal, but because the “white people” around us could never see our vulnerability or weaknesses and they already assumed we were inferior. It made me feel invisible. I have made a conscious decision to let this dialogue rest  – even in my own head. I have let Leila know that in these meltdown moments that she is only representing Leila. – not every child from America, not every person of color in America, or every multiracial little girl in the world. She is allowed to feel what she is feeling. If you need to take a moment to cry or be upset, I will give you the space to do that, but she does have to understand that at some point we have to pick up and make it through whatever “this moment” is. I do give her space to feel what she is feeling. I do my best to listen patiently, even when I am exhausted or frankly, embarrassed. My philosophy on mothering has transformed and will probably continue to transform, and while I want to raise a respectful, kind, and strong “Leila”, I also want her to know whens she comes into a space she is representing “Leila” not a entire race, gender, or religion.  And anyone that doesn’t get that, well, that is their issue, not hers. THEY should expand the people they encounter OR avoid making assumptions about one group of people based on race, religion, sexuality, and gender.  I am not responsible for anyone’s limited capacity to understand humanity and neither is Leila.   

Taipei, Taidong, Lanyu, Rinari, Kaoishung Tokyo, Kyoto, and back to Taipei. This weekend Leila completed a 7 km bike ride with her classmates which was followed by an overnight sleepover at her school. Here are our photographs of highlights with descriptions of our 12 top moments from the last 30 days.

Happy 6th Birthday Leila!

Leila loves to celebrate her birthday. She begins the planning process the day after her birthday party from the previous year, and she contributes ideas throughout the year. Leila turned six on March 9. Originally, her school had a multi-school relay race planned on her actual birthday for all of the kindergarten graduates but because of rain it was rescheduled. Her teacher was instrumental in helping me plan.  She worked with Leila to create a guest list.  Then, she collected the emails for me, and finally, in the most critical step, she helped me translate the invitations into comprehensible Chinese.  She even helped me select a place that was popular with the parents.  I have to say from a execution perspective it was the most stress-free party. The venue provided the food, entertainment, and play space. Leila and I showed up only with the cake and gift bags, and she had a great time!

Taitung to Lanyu

In this photograph, Leila and I are sitting directly behind the pilot on a flight from Taitung to Lanyu. After Leila’s birthday, I scheduled a flight to this southeastern Taiwanese city. Weekends are prime travel times for us. I make efforts to maintain her school schedule as much as possible, so we had to make use of our Saturday evening and Sunday after her birthday.  From Taitung airport, we were able to access the daily (and limited) 12 seat planes to Lanyu that are so vulnerable that they could be canceled for its rainy, and unfortunately, it rains quite a bit.  Luckily we had sunny weather and no canceled flights.   Sadly the balloon bracelet in the previous image had to be thrown away at security.  

Orchid Island

Lanyu/Orchid Island is a beautiful place. There are not large resorts or developments. It is mostly a natural island off the southeast coast of Taiwan.  What I appreciate about the approach to the land is that is is not punctuated with tall buildings. There isn’t a building that could compete with the beauty of the mountain and the coastline.  Its only fitting that the indigenous tribe decided to place their buildings underground.  

Indigenous Architecture at Lanyu

Yami people in Lanyu were known for creating homes below ground to withstand the intense typhoons. The homes are surrounded by a tiered retaining wall constructed from rocks. The roof line sits below the retaining wall. There is a setback of approximately 5-6’ from the retaining wall to the edge of the home. The retaining wall has drainage pipes that are linked within. When I entered the home, the roof line was so shallow, that I could only sit within the space. The interior was a dark wood interior and decorated with personal items. 

Pintung County, Taipei: NTU to Rinari

This semester I am teaching a class at National Taiwan University with Dr. Shu-Mei Huang. Five students were selected to travel and explore heritage and conservation of the Rukai Tribe settlement at Kucupagane. Next week, I will be hiking 5-6 hours with Dr. Huang and students to the top of the photographed mountain. The original settlement that is currently being preserved has been listed by World Monuments Foundation.  The homes in the mountain have been estimated at 600 years old. The Rukai people relocated from the top of the mountain in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The site they moved to was destroyed by Typhoon Morakot in 2009. The settlement of Rinari, at the base of the mountain,  is where they currently live. Leila also joined me on this trip. She spent most of her time sketching. She was determined to have drawing competitions with my students. If you look at the photo closely, you can see that she is walking with the group.

Pintung County, Taiwan: Indigenous Architecture Rukai Tribe

Rukai architecture has a defining characteristics of stacked slate walls the frame the home. The structural integrity is maintained without mortar or mastic and is stacked strategically.  The slate is sourced from the adjacent mountain, cut, and organized. The coloration and variety adds to the interior and exterior aesthetic value. 

Kaoishung, Taiwan:  National Kaohsiung Center for the Fine Arts

On our return from Rinari, Leila and I made a quick stop to Kaoishung, so we could see National Kaohsiung Center for the Fine Arts designed by Francine Houben of Mecanoo Architects.  The design was inspired by Banyan trees found in the region.  Notice how the wall and the floor are continuous.

Kyoto, Japan: The Golden Temple

Japan was our travel choice for Spring Break. Kyoto is the original capital of Japan which means it’s embedded with beautiful temples and historic architecture. One photo couldn’t possibly describe it. Leila and I spent four days exploring. We saw monkeys, the bamboo forest, and many temples. This city certainly deserves its own post and a designated research architectural fellowship. But, for now, here is the golden temple. I selected this photo because it is a beautiful integration of  of landscape architecture and architecture.

Tokyo, Japan: Sakura

Leila and I took the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo and arrived in 2.5 hours with plans to spend our weekend in Tokyo. Tokyo is a metropolitan city. I looked at all the things I wanted to do and reminded myself that I couldn’t do it all. I know we will be back to visit Tokyo. The one thing that is so special about this particular time is that Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) are in full bloom, and everyone I spoke to who had been to Japan commented that our visit overlapped with the beautiful bloom. Luckily when we arrived Tokyo, we went to Yoyogi Park and were surrounded by these beauties.

Tokyo, Japan:  Chuo and Koto

Fun is necessary. We balance museum visits with kid activities and this is one of them. Leila bounced, rolled, drew, and shopped!  When I was just “the architect” I traveled with intensity visits 2-3 museums a day. Now, I’ve been forced to slow down – in a good way. Hearing her genuine laughter makes my day and I get to experience the city as a mom.

Taipei: Graduation Bike Ride at Dadocheng

Leila had responsibilities as a kindergarten graduate – one of which is a 7 kilometer bike ride. The parents rode together with the children. She was excited, prepared, and maintained her endurance throughout. Inserting fitness into school is beyond cool – especially at this age.  I hope that she continues to understand the importance of continuing an active lifestyle.

Taipei: The Sleepover

Leila completed her first overnight sleep over. This means we are closer to the end of my Fulbright year than the beginning. When her teacher first told us about the sleepover, it seemed so distant. Now, we are making mental and actual preparations for our New York return. Everyone said the time would pass quickly, and it has. As we are planning our final months, it feels surreal.

 

 

 

 

 

“You can leave Hong Kong, but it will never leave you.” 
― Nury Vittachi, Hong Kong: The City of Dreams

Walking Tour – Shek Kip Mei – First Public Housing Hong Kong

Hong Kong Baptist University – Seminar

Walking Tour History of Hong Kong Shopping Malls

Walking Tour – Hong Kong History of Suburban Development 

Public Transit – Hong Kong (Accessible, Clean, & Efficient)

Bus to the Ferry:  Front row seat

Hong Kong & East Asia Pacific Regional Travel

When visiting Hong Kong over 10 years ago, I was immediately struck by the number of skyscrapers and high density buildings punctuating the skyline and the seamless and efficient integration of  mass transit into urban life. My recent return I was able to take a deeper dive in understanding the urban planning footprint. There are no urban settlements or indigenous architecture remaining in Hong Kong. Dr. Lachlan Barber, Associate Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), was instrumental in organizing a seminar on behalf of my research and was also able to organize walking tours so I could get a quick and clear understanding of the spatial and cultural history of Hong Kong. My first visit to Hong Kong was as a tourist; this visit was as a researcher. Hong Kong’s approach to affordable housing was what I found most fascinating.  Almost 50% of the residents in Hong Kong live in public/subsidized housing. The statistic was so startling, I wanted to understand it in comparison to Taipei and New York where affordable housing occupants are less than 1% and less than 5% of the populations. Hong Kong’s approach toward affordable housing is not perfect, but just judging by usage numbers alone, their approach is much more progressive than both Taipei and New York. Look closer for a deeper dive.

Affordable Housing Stats: Hong Kong : New York : Taipei

                                      AH Residents                  % of Occupants                    % of AH Stock

Hong Kong                 3.3 million                             48.8%                                          44.7%

New York                    421,400                                    4.9%                                            8.2%

Taipei                             18,360                                      .68%                                           .6%

 

Taipei, Hong Kong, and New York are listed among the top 20 most expensive cities for housing in the world and each city has issues, of varying degrees with affordable housing. As the price of real estate continues to escalate, the need for affordable housing increases. Each city has a different response to providing affordable housing. While there are different degrees, that the issue is prices continue to increase more rapidly than incomes, and the supply of affordable housing can not keep up with demand.

Hong Kong

When many people from Mainland China migrated to Hong Kong in the 20’s and 30’s to escape Japanese occupation; the city received a population influx.  Post World War I, the country was in a recession and couldn’t build housing needed to accommodate the new residents. New residents occupied space informally by building informal settlements.  These settlements resulted in a massive fire, which led to the first government built affordable housing in 1953. Ship Kap Mei is now a museum/hostel that you can easily access throughout the city. Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) has created evolving . Now, the housing is built by the government and the average wait time for public housing is 6-10 years.  The majority of buildings are located in the new territories and are included in the high density look and feel of the city. While of the cities listed, it has the highest percentage of stock and population participation, it still requires a significant time to access. While rented space is somewhat accessible, there has also been little progress made in providing affordable access to home ownership

New York

A brief history of NY public housing funds its origins in 1934 with the establishment of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). At the end of 1935, NYCHA dedicated its first development, called First Houses, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Robert Moses famously had the goal to clear all urban tenements and promoted high density residential buildings.The majority of NYCHA developments were built between 1945 and 1965. Unlike most American cities, New York, the largest public housing system in the US, depended heavily on city and state funds to build its housing, rather than the federal government. This has created issues. With most recent reports in the last year, NYCHA, responsible for 176,000 apartments in 2418 buildings, continue to struggle with maintenance issues. NYCHA public housing  is in crises. The buildings are struggling with basic maintenance – lead-paint hazards, mold, heating failures and and chronic mismanagement. Is this an issue of mis-management or a lack of funding?  I’m not sure, but it is hard to conceive that in New York; we have failed to get this right. Now, we have occupants living in conditions that are unfit for occupation.

Taipei

Because of Taiwan’s various occupations, it’s development of affordable housing policy has been delayed. Currently, Taipei has 6000 public housing units and only .068% of the population occupying these units. While New York and Hong Kong were creating affordable housing policies, Taiwan was recovering from Japanese colonial rule and adjusting to KMT occupation and martial law.  The urban planning of Taipei was largely neglected during this period since Taiwan was ruled under martial law from 1949-1986. During KMT this time very little attention was paid to planning initiatives and most investment went toward military investment. The plan was to build a strong military to return to China to take over the communist party. This is largely a result of the resource distribution during KMT rule. The military settlements that were created in the 1950’s and 1960’s (two of which I’m researching Toad Mountain & Treasure Hill) are included in the public/subsidized housing that was created in the history of Taipei.  These were largely created because of the population influx of 1.5 million people as a result of the Civil War in China. In 1975, Taiwan published a “Public Housing Act”, but it largely was not executed because lack of skilled labor to construct new buildings, difficulty in acquiring land, and overall lack of organization. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was established in 1986 and the current President, President Tsai, has established initiatives for affordable housing.

Hong Kong Public Housing adjacent to market rate housing

New Developments (displacement issues)

Biking not encouraged  

 

New Places with My Favorite Girls

I should have known, when LaToya shared her longing to return to indigenous settlement research, that within a year she would be on the other side of the world with a Fulbright Fellowship, Leila in tow, and us celebrating my 1st Chinese New Year in Asia .

The reality of my vacation was so much more than I could’ve imagined, Taipei, Taiwan – their adopted home; Hanoi, Vietnam – cultural excursions; and Palawan, Philippines – sun, sand, and cocktails.

I was in awe of their adjustment to Taipei in less than 6 months, Leila is celebrated among her Taiwanese classmates, LaToya’s comprehension and careful pronunciation of Mandarin, and their mastery of trash collection(see earlier blog post).  Best of all was experiencing their favorite places, restaurants with yummy dumplings and noodles, sights that offer majestic views of the city, their “central park”, and night market with the stinky tofu.

 

 

On to our Girls Trip…. Hanoi, Vietnam. Our boutique hotel was in the heart of the city with a balcony overlooking the crowded streets. We explored those streets by bus, on foot, and even cycle rickshaw to visit museums, temples (including Confucius), Hoa Lo Prison – “Hanoi Hilton” during Vietnam War, and oh can’t forget the water puppet show. We enjoyed scenic excursions down rivers, up mountains, and through caves. And our inner foodies loved every meal, snack, and morsel.  Our visit ended with a magical send off, we arrived at the airport at the stroke of midnight for Chinese New Year.  No, we didn’t lose a glass slipper, but there  were plenty of fireworks.

Next stop, Palawan, Philippines to a private resort island.  Although the villas were sold out for Chinese New Year, we had infinity pools and beaches to ourselves every day until sunset.  We literally wore our swimsuits to breakfast because our entire days were spent in sun, sand, and water, with occasional breaks for refreshing cocktails from our favorite bartender. Leila’s fav was the Palawan Sunset.

 

As I scroll through the many pictures that will never be posted on social media, I must say, this is my fav pic of the trip.

Of course there’s a story behind it.  I was lounging pool side while watching Leila enjoy having the pool all to herself.  She gets out of the pool with a serious look on her face. I figured she was focused on getting a towel to dry herself. Instead, she climbed on me, while dripping wet, and we both burst out laughing. Throughout this trip, the three of us explored, learned, relaxed, and most of all laughed.

A recent study concluded that going to new places with your favorite girls extends your life expectancy.  Please drop me a line if you know a doctor that writes Girls Trip prescriptions.

 

 

 

10 Photos 10 days (Lunar New Year)

VIETNAM

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Aldous Huxley famously said, “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” As an American traveler,  I’ve heard many people speak of the many countries that are worthy of tourism, and what places are romanticized as ideal. I’ve come to realize that within those very suggestions there is layered implicit bias. When Tam (maid of honor, travel companion and decades long friend) decided to visit Taipei for three weeks, we knew that we wanted to travel beyond Taiwan to celebrate the Lunar New Year.  I had been told by many locals, that the Taiwanese spend the holiday celebrating with family so Taipei would be relatively quiet. Deciding where we would visit was largely determined by the the places between the two of us that we had yet to visit.  She had been to Japan, Bali, and Singapore. I had already visited Hong Kong, Bangkok, and South Korea.  We also wanted to remain generally in the region and travel toward warm weather.  As a child, I heard the country Vietnam always in the context of War. So when we decided to visit Vietnam, I had to release my own preconceived notions. Hanoi has an urban energy surrounded by  frenzy of scooters, tall buildings, and a density of people. However, just an hour outside of the city we  traveled to Halong Bay.  The natural landscape was absolutely stunning. We spent the day on a boat taking in the natural landscape throughout the bay. We also explored Sun Sot (Surprise) cave and were even visited by a family a monkeys.  (I’m pretty sure that was the highlight of Leila’s day.)   

French  Colonial Architecture – Hanoi, Vietnam

At first glance, I could immediately see the French Colonial Architecture throughout Hanoi. Stylistically, it reminded me of New Orleans.  While visiting, we stayed in the “Old Quarter”. While you can see the beauty in the architectural fenestration, I was also deeply aware that the presence of European architecture also represents colonization, erasure of culture, and annihilation to anyone who disagreed.  French colonist came to Vietnam in the 1886 and established a council to “turn Hanoi into a European City’.  There are French styled villas, tree lined boulevards with traffic circles, beau arts decorative motifs, and interior courtyards.

St. Josephs Cathedral, Hanoi Vietnam

One of the first structures designed and constructed at the direction of French Colonists was  St. Josephs Cathedral in 1886.  The church was designed in the Gothic Revival style to resemble Notre Dame in Paris.  The cathedral is located in the Old Quarter in Hon Kiem Lake Square.  The original site was a Buddhist Temple Baoh Tien Pagoda. French colonist demolished the previous temple to build St. Josephs.  The square multi-colored flag in front of the temple is usually displayed in religious space.  This is a space that we happened upon on one of our walks throughout the Old Quarter.  It is fascinating that French Colonists first built a church.  It is a reminder to me how Christianity has been used over and over again as a tool to reinforce cultural oppression and genocide.

Hoa Loa Prison – Hanoi Vietnam

We continued to learn about the dark side of French colonization at Hoa La Prison. Shortly after the French Colonist began construction on St. Josephs Cathedral, they started construction on Hoa Loa prison so they could jail Vietnamese residents who resisted colonization.  The museum shows how women and men who fought for independence during French occupation where tortured and executed (guillotine not photographed but present). I was a struck by a quote from Comrade Ngo Gia Tu, ” . . . I’m determined not to accept any action that is assigned to me. I’m not the one who founded Communism.  Communism was created by circumstances or by the oppression of the capitalists in the world that harms the interest of workers and peasants!”  Ironically, this is also the same prison that housed American POW’s  during the Vietnam War.  It is often referred to as the Hanoi Hilton.   The photograph above shows the American POW’s that were located here during the war including late Senator John McCain.  

Climbing 1000 Steps – Ninh Binh, Vietnam

We traveled outside of the city to Ninh Binh Vietnam, and Leila and I climbed 500 steps  to access this breathtaking view.  I mention this as a reminder that although Leila sometimes appears much older, she is only five and sometimes, I ask so much from her.  She is an adventurous spirit ready to tackle any activity that comes her way. We went to several places in Vietnam, and some places that were not so exciting for a five year old. She was with me every step of the way although not photographed in many of the museum photos.  Our travels givers her access and an introduction to history, culture and geography in the spaces where they took place.  This is valuable access that I hope will be shape her understanding of the world.

PHILIPPINES

Hotel Not Accessible by Car – From Busuanga Airport to Sunlight Eco Tourism Island

Our trip to Palawan was a test in patience. From the airport, we were picked up and taken 45 minutes away to the dock.  After boarding the speed boat, we had an additional 45 minute ride to our hotel. Once we arrived on the island we all immediately sensed that all of the drama of the journey was immediately worth it.   We had an island to ourselves.  There were other patrons but the space was so generously allocated that we had moments of seclusion.

Infinity pool + White Sand Beaches

This pool is equivalent to heaven for Leila.  The past three years, swim lessons have been a consistent activity in her Saturday schedule, but since we moved to Taiwan it was one of the activities that I eliminated from her list so that we could maintain some balance.  While in the Philippines, she lived in the water during our visit.  After breakfast, she went directly to the pool and remained there until sunset.

Beautiful Sunrises and Sunsets

According to John Berger,  ‘The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.” Our individual villa with personalized balcony gave us easy access to breathtaking sunrises each morning and star gazing at night.  Leila and I often say when we watch the sunset, that we are sending the sun over to wake up our friends and family on the other side of the world.  The sun is our global connector.  We imagine that when we are saying goodnight to the sun that our friends are saying good morning at the same time.

 

Finally Relaxing and unplugging

It took several days but I finally allowed myself to relax and unplug.  Thanks to a spotty WiFi connection, I was forced to disengage and it was absolutely worth it.  I returned to Taipei energized and ready to begin the semester.  Rather than documenting every moment, I decided to live in the moment.

Settlement Near Cebu Airport 

On our return, we had a lengthy layover in Cebu and decided to get lunch at a restaurant just beyond the airport.  Seeing this settlement located adjacent to the river with access to beautiful views of the mountains immediately brought me back to my research on urban settlements.  The restaurant attempted, with little success, to obstruct the visual access to the settlement by applying translucent glass.  The contrast is striking, and I’m certain that the reality beyond the tin roofs and the dynamic roof lines is a fascinating story about resilience.

 

“Acts Without Effort” 

Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Maria, Hurricane Harvey, 2010 Earthquake Haiti, Wildfires, & Typhoons. There have been a number of natural disasters throughout the world that continue to impact millions of families. When I entered architecture school in 2005, Hurricane Katrina had just landed in New Orleans.  As a result of the aftermath of the Hurricane many academic institutions rushed to create design competitions and charettes to begin to find potential solutions to address the immediate housing needs in communities post disaster. But, it seems that after the disaster subsides, the interest in this type of work disappears. It’s not glamours and it isn’t associated with Capital “A” architecture. After the Taipei Earthquake in 1999, Hseih Ying-Chun began to refocus his practice.  His work has evolved from a corporate practice to a focus on creating a post disaster reconstruction system. The system designed by Hseih is made from lightweight steel system that can be easily assembled by local inhabitants with simple tools. In his TED X Talk, Hseih states that he has invented a system of architecture that allows for long-term durability. Leila and I recently took a two day trip to Kaohsiung so that we could see the exhibit “Acts Without Effort The Societal Architecture of Hseih Ying-Chun.”  To follow up on our visit, we conducted a follow-up interview about his practice with current employee Shao-yi Chi.

“We wanted to encourage local people to join the reconstruction . . . . The bes therapy is activity. House-building takes a lot of energy as well as a lot of cooperation.  Being involved in such an activity helps to eliminate teh suffering caused by the disaster.” Hseih Ying-Chun

QUESTIONS

When did Hseih Ying-Chun decide to be an architect? What created the shift in his practice from focusing on construction techniques?

When Hseih entered University, he was a physics major. He was later assigned to architecture department because of Taiwan’s practice of major distribution. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, Taiwan experienced an economic boom and Hseih was able to get a significant amount of experience.  He became a builder and contractor and eventually was promoted to the lead engineer. His experience in construction processes began at the beginning of his care, and shifted to design practice over time. After his work in construction, he applied for the Taiwan architecture license exam. Before disaster recovery work, he focused on  many factories in Taiwan that were developing micro-chips. These spaces have high technical requirements – particularly with vibration. His practice was based on many obsessions with techniques and details before disaster.

Are there any issues with shipping materials to rural areas post disaster? Is it possible to adapt the construction practices to local materials?

The issue of delivery is advantage to the system. The steel frame components can be assembled on site with hand tools.  His 2016 project in Nepal, had many transit issues. There were dirt roads and all structural members were limited to 6 meters in length. In this case, they were connected in the middle.  The length had to be limited and the connection joint was modified. The core value of the system is skeleton and infill. There are a range of materials that can be used for interior cladding.  In some instances, local cultures have used mud, earth, bamboo, wood, and stone for cladding.

Can you discuss your issue with the housing built in rural areas and expand on why it is problematic to the environment? This is has also been an issue in the United States with the creation of McMansions.

The phenomena we see is strongly rooted in history.  Expansion of new houses during plentiful economic times has something that has been going on for ages. People who earn money want to build house and pass along to their children. Many people that live in rural areas work in construction in cities, and they learn symbols of wealth associated with space.  They begin to implement those strategies although in some cases they aren’t contextual to the rural environment and don’t use construction techniques that will endure typhoons and earthquakes. In Earthquake Sichuan 2009, the houses that were adapted from the urban settings to accommodate idealized aesthetics did not survive the earthquake, but the traditional housing and indigenous structures survived.  Brick and concrete houses by in large collapsed.

How did the open system develop and do you think this system is transferable to other regions?

This system was developed after the Taiwan Earthquake in 1999 near the Sun Moon Lake area.  The system started as few steel members. That was the beginning of this system and we have plans to expand globally. We have considered Chendu, Saudi Arabia, and Philippines. Bamboo or engineered timber can also be used rather than steel.  

What role does gender play in the disaster recovery work?  The spatial needs of men vs. women vs. children. How is this addressed?

Sustainability is core value. We have noticed that work that was completed in indigenous community in China and Taiwan elevates the role of women especially in times of disaster. Women hold important roles in disaster time as a critical force binding the community. In many cases, women are the main participants for organizing and  rebuilding the communities.

In your TED talk you reference “Polyphonic” music and the importance of “participation”.  How did you come to this conclusion and are there other references to architecture and polyphonic music?

Many analogies can derive from this idea of Polyphonic music and the importance of participation.  The system itself requires the group to work together to rebuild the community. Dwelling and housing relates to anthropology, architecture, and social studies. Music is one of his analogies and it is important to connect within this system where a community is devastated that everyone has a role in the rebuilding.

Are there any construction techniques that you borrow from indigenous architecture within rural Taiwan that have informed your practice?

One structure inside the exhibition room is the frame. Studies from Japanese anthropologists have drawings from this time to see how indigenous communities lived. They use those drawings as an inspiration and used this framing for an exhibition. The room for sleeping has an area of elevated bedding, and we re-create this area in the floor plan layout. The structural system referenced past indigenous structures and incorporated this into the logic of the steel frame structural system. In a way, they attempt to insert history into the house.  

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR – The Dadvocate (Len H. Kamdang) 

“They don’t really do play-dates here in Taipei like they do in Brooklyn,” Latoya explained to me in advance of my holiday trip to Taipei. I had asked Latoya about the social scene for parents and their children. There are many obvious and dramatic differences between Taipei and Brooklyn: language, food, architecture … just to name a few. But of all the social norms that differ, oddly the one that stuck out to me the most is that parents don’t really do play-dates in Taiwan.

It’s especially odd because I don’t even think that particular difference is necessarily cultural. In most places, kids have their own extended families.  Families spend time with each other on weekends. Brooklyn has an unusually high number of families who don’t have a strong local family support network. My parents live in Asia. Latoya’s parents live in Memphis. For us and many of our friends we just don’t have that much family in New York. Consequently, play-dates have become a sort of pillar of social existence for kids in our social circle. Kids get along and parents seem relatively normal? Let’s get a play-date on the calendar. Parents seems really cool and have kids the same age as ours? We should do a play-date. Leila makes a new friend at school and wants to get together on the weekend? Play-date. From the parents’ perspective, the kids occupy themselves for a couple hours. The parents chat, they laugh, they politely debate the thicket of educating school-aged children in New York City. In its highest form there’s some decent wine or interesting beer and something delightful to munch on. What’s not to love? What do you mean they don’t do play-dates in Taipei?

In all seriousness, something I’ve worried about as Leila adventures on the other side of the world is how she will adapt socially.  People frequently ask me how it is being away from my wife and youngest daughter for a year. It’s difficult. I won’t lie. I know people ask Latoya how it is to be raising Leila all alone in Taipei without her husband. Without question, that’s even harder. But leading up to this international journey, I think we’d both agree that we’ve asked the most of Leila. There are American schools in Taipei where American kids can learn with other American kids. Leila does not attend one of those schools. She goes to a Taiwanese school with Taiwanese kids who, for the most part, only speak Mandarin. That’s not to say we completely threw her off the deep end: she actually attends the mother school of her Montessori school back in Brooklyn. We knew she was comfortable taking classes in Mandarin – in fact, her teacher this past year did not even speak English. Still, I worried before she left: how would she adjust to speaking only Chinese on the playground with other kids? That’s has to be a huge adjustment. On top of that, she wasn’t going to get to see her dad every day. It’s a lot to ask of a five-year-old.

If you don’t know Leila, one thing that becomes immediately clear upon meeting her is that she is social. She loves meeting people. She loves talking to new friends. And she loves being in the mix. How was Leila going to do in a new country with kids from a different culture who don’t speak English? I often thought of the play-date as our ace in the hole for making friends. Leila loves them just as much as me. Yet, as we’ve video-chatted over the past few months, I was a little surprised that how much less concerned Latoya has been about Leila developing a happy social life. She’s repeatedly dismissed my concerns, “You don’t have to worry about Leila…she’s always going to figure out how to make friends.”

I was excited to spend the holidays in Taipei with Latoya, Leila, and our Memphis based family over the holidays. In my first visit in September, I was interested in seeing the sights and doing all the famous experiences. This time, I hadn’t seen my wife and kid in three months. I only really wanted to spend time with them, to observe their adjustment to living in another country. I wanted to experience their Taipei life.

I’m happy to report that Latoya and Leila have fully integrated into their neighborhood. Everywhere they go, they seem to know people, and the locals are really happy to see them. When we walk by the fruit stand at the counter, the lady running it always waves and offers Leila a piece of dragon-fruit or an orange. By her school, there’s a street bao (bread) vendor who waves excitedly at Latoya and Leila when they walk by. My first day there, I walked Leila to school and the bao lady ran out, hugged Leila, and she said something to her in Chinese. I did not understand it. As we continued on the way to school, Leila whispered to me “she calls me her little princess.” For her part, Latoya has been studying Mandarin with a private tutor daily and she’s getting good at it. She does all of the talking when we go out. Everyone seems pretty amused to encounter this family where the Chinese dad barely speaks, the black mother from rural Mississippi speaks functionally, and five-year-old high-energy firecracker is totally fluent in Mandarin. Leila absolutely recognizes that she speaks the most Chinese and she loves it. She loves speaking and making friends with everyone. If you didn’t know, Leila is social.

Although her Memphis extended family also made the trip for the holidays, I made it a point to spend as much one-on-one time with Leila as I could – both to try and give Latoya some relief but also so I could observe Leila privately. I wanted to see how she was making the adjustment socially and see if she was happy. One day, on the way home from a movie, we were on the train and Leila saw a boy her age watching her play Super Mario Brothers on her Nintendo DS. It was raining out (it’s rainy season right now, if you are reading this close to posting time, assume it’s raining in Taipei) and the train was pretty crowded.

Leila leaned in to whisper in my ear: “Baba, I’m going to go ask him if he wants to play with me.” With that she slid off her seat and sat next to the boy. As the train continued along, I watched Leila explain Super Mario Brothers to her new friend. I could only make out some of the words: tiao! (jump); mogu (mushroom); gui (turtle); and huo (fireball…I think?). They were having a pretty good time. For months, I’ve worried about her going to a new country. I worried how she would do speaking to her classmates on the playground. And now here was my child telling me she wanted to go up and talk to random kids on the train. All of my fears turned out to be unfounded. Leila will always figure out how to make friends.

On one of our final days, I told Latoya that I wanted to take her parents to Din Tai Fung – a famous restaurant in that began in Taipei that is famous for their xiao long bao (soup dumplings). As Latoya explained to her parents, it’s a bit of a tourist destination, a little overpriced, and the wait times can be excessive.  In that sense, Latoya’s mother compared it to Rendezvous, the famed barbecue joint in Memphis. The food is undeniably delicious though. Although we did our best to get there early there was no escaping the crowds: there was a two hour wait. Latoya decided to take her mother to a spa, Leila and I opted for a walk in the neighborhood together. More baba-daughter one-on-one time for Leila and Len.

We soon happened upon a playground teeming with kids running around and having a good time. Leila’s eyes immediately lit up. A playground filled with happy children in any country is her catnip. We spent some time playing on the monkey bars but she soon got bored with me. “Baba, I’m going to make friends with those kids and see if anyone wants to color with me,” she told me confidently.  “Okay, have fun” I told her…And then I sat back watched with great interest while she went to work.

Although my Chinese is shaky at best, it’s good enough to understand that this is literally what my daughter told these kids: “Hi, that’s my dad, he doesn’t speak Chinese, do you all want to go sit over there next to him and color with me?” While that was perhaps a bit embarrassing for me, I couldn’t help but marvel at Leila’s friend game. She has no fear. Here she was out in the middle of Taipei on a playground where she didn’t know anyone and she marched right up to a group of little girls to introduce herself.

I watched as they continued to laugh and play together. I honestly couldn’t follow everything they were saying. But it warmed my heart and I understood why Latoya was so relaxed about Leila’s social life. Before long, Leila brought her new group of friends over and asked if they could have the art materials she had brought with her to occupy herself in the restaurant. They gathered and started drawing portraits of each other on a bench next to me.

As it got closer to the time we had to report back to the restaurant, Latoya returned. She was completely unsurprising to find Leila coloring with a group of little girls she had just met. Latoya politely introduced herself to their parents and told Leila it was time for lunch. Once the kids stopped playing, the mothers exchanged social media information with each other. They explained that they had recently enrolled their children in English lessons. What an opportunity it would be for their daughters if they could play with their new American friend and speak some English. Each of the kids introduced proudly introduced themselves with their “English” names: Lily, Iris, Alice. The moms suggested it would great if Leila could come over sometime so the kids could continue their friendship. They also expressed interest in learning more about Latoya’s research. They talked about getting something on the calendar soon. In that moment, I came to a realization: as much as Latoya is in the midst of her own journey of scholarship and cultural exchange – Leila is as well.

I need not have worried. Leila will always figure out a way to make new friends. As the mothers wrapped up and began making their way out of the park with their daughters, Leila came running up to me and gave me a hug. “Baba, those are my new friends, they asked their mommies.  We’re all going to have a play-date soon.”

 

The Matriarch – Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  Along with the New Year, I’m also celebrating  my seventh year wedding anniversary.  The significance of the New Year is written into our wedding vows as a time that our family reflects and looks toward the future.  I couldn’t have imagined seven years ago that we would be completing this annual ritual in Taiwan.  My first four months as a  U.S. Fulbright Senior Scholar has been trans-formative, but the  flip-side of this venture is that I am spending time away from my husband while taken on the role as primary parent while living in Taipei. This 11 month research and teaching endeavor was possible because I have a husband that is open minded enough to support my career and research efforts. I am fortunate because my husband realizes that in the context of life-long partnership eleven months will only represent a fraction of our relationship.  When I announced that I received a Fulbright and that I would be moving to Taiwan with Leila, some people scratched their heads and wondered how a husband would be able to survive without his wife for 11 months. It says something about our society since no one ever questioned my ability to do the same thing with a more complex variable of learning a new country while parenting a five year old. It was a judgement on the capabilities, behaviors, and needs of men. (It is amazing that we have such low expectations for their behavior, yet we still allow them to lead countries. ) I am hoping that in this generation and future generations that we can continue to move forward on issues of gender equity and perhaps raise our expectations of men. I’m grateful that my husband is leading the example of what it means to be a supportive spouse. Happy 7th Year Anniversary!

Since my last post on December 15, I fully entered the Christmas season, hosted family in Taiwan, and continued to advance my research agenda. Being a mom in a new country and establishing a routine has come with unforeseen challenges. Leila and I have learned to navigate the healthcare system, the family-centered culture, and the language. The culmination of being the Matriarch and Architect came together in the most wonderful way in the recent weeks when Leila had her Christmas program at school, and we followed up the afternoon with a visit to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Early Saturday morning at 9:30 am, we woke up to attend her Christmas performance. The school rented a sizable auditorium and each of the graduating kindergarten classes in the school performed.  Leila sang and danced. I had noticed in the approaching weeks that she had been practicing. She performed with her classmates and was as outgoing as ever but mostly, I appreciated the village of parental support. The auditorium was filled with enthusiastic parents, grandparents, teachers, and administrators. The school enrolls students two-six year old but only the graduating class of kindergartners were performing. Not only was there a performance of school children, but they also had two other groups perform for the students as well.  You could witness each child’s joy as they exited the stage. The younger classes learned the importance of supporting the older classmates. It made Christmas (which is not celebrated as a national holiday in Taipei) feel very special for Leila, but also another example of how education and young people are truly treasured here in Taiwan. When the conversation is not focused on lock-down drills or maneuvering the system to make sure that your child gets into the few good schools, your energy can be shifted to other things more dedicated to the nurturing of the children.  Having universal access to good education and a society truly focused on making sure that all children (not just a select few) are educated feels right.

During the last blog post, I wrote about the Indigenous Justice Classroom and my visit to the Taipei Biennial. On the same Saturday of Leila’s Christmas program, we also made a trip to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Leila and I have been to numerous fine arts, cultural, and history museums, and by far, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum is the most child friendly fine art museum that Leila and I have attended to together.  There is a large area dedicated to hands on activities for children and it is open and accessible daily. These spaces allow the children to create artwork, learn how some of the works are created, and begin to implement some of the strategies used by artists. She spent hours designing a custom wall and taking part in activities that allowed her to draw and create. We also returned to the indigenous classroom. She felt at home and sat down and painted rocks with the featured indigenous artists.  She was in a zone. Her Chinese is so fluid that she can communicate seamlessly, and that afternoon she hand painted four rocks to be included in the exhibit.

These events are a break from the norm of our usual day.  Other than our trip to Korea, we have our routine and we execute. I’m currently a single parent in Taiwan and being alone in Taipei has enlightened me to some unexpected aspects of being the sole nurture for Leila daily.  On the positive side, my daily hugs and kisses have increased exponentially. I’m not sure if she grew more affectionate because we are not close to family or our closest friends, or if the general affection that she spreads around daily has been focused on me or perhaps, it is a combination of both.  I would say that it is remarkable to get so many hugs and kisses in one day. I think its something she genuinely needs and I force myself to pause to make sure she is getting it. The second thing I noticed is that she calls mommy 100% of the time instead of whatever the split was when we were in Brooklyn. My brain has certainly recognized this shift. I am the person. There is no other caretaker, no other parent . . . there is just me.  Sometimes the answer to all of the “mommy” inquiries is, “You’re going to have to learn how to do “xyz” for yourself if you want it done now”. So, the result is she has been forced to be a more independent and/or patient person. She realizes that I cannot cater to her because I am just one person.

Mentally, I think there has been some benefit to understanding I am fully responsible for her.  My therapist and I discovered that my reaction to trauma and combating racial microaggressions in my daily life in New York (and perhaps since I was a child) is to seek order. The mental awareness of knowing what I have to do each morning is comforting even if it means it is 100% on me. There are no expectations to what degree my husband will contribute on any particular day. So waking up to knowing I have to do it all has been somewhat liberating. When I get out of the shower in the morning in Brooklyn, it is a guessing game. Some days my husband is on top of it and Leila is fully dressed and ready to go, other days, she’s still in bed.  This mental inconsistency I find to be draining. So learning that it is not the actually “what” or “how much” I have to do, but I find comfort in knowing exactly what I need to do each day. The guessing game activates my trauma. His freedom to decide his participation each day has been my greatest stress. I think that’s a valuable lesson for me. It doesn’t matter that he has actually helped 3 of the 5 days, the unpredictably is really unhealthy for my mental disposition. Who knew that learning it is not the ‘how much’ but the consistency of ‘the the what’ would be a part of my self-learning about myself and my marriage.

Leila always comes first here in Taiwan.  If she is sick, all else stops and the negotiating of who leaves work is not necessary.  It’s always me. I am 100% responsible for those needs. I beat myself up for falling behind or not achieving what I should be achieving with my Chinese study and research. I set high expectations for myself as a parent, architect, and in my efforts in navigating Taiwanese culture.  I’ve been in Taipei now for four months with my daughter, and I’ve learned much more than I would have ever expected — about parenting, marriage, and myself.

The Architect  – KMT Inspired VS Indigenous Architecture

I’ve written about in previous blogs that Taipei’s architecture is not harmonious in its execution.  I have interpreted this diverse building styles to be influenced by multiple layers of cultural influences throughout Taiwanese history. Beyond this, the overall urban planning strategy shifted directions between Chinese, Japanese, and KMT occupation.There were two significant waves of Chinese Migrants.  The first wave was before Japanese occupation (1895-1945) when the Qing Dynasty (1683-1895) occupied the island, and post Japanese rule when KMT (Nationalist Party) came to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War.

World War II ended in 1945.  America entered World War II when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. China and America were allies against Japan. At the end of World War II, Japan was required to leave Taiwan.  Japan’s surrender was aligned with the drop of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.  When Japan left Taiwan, the new KMT regime paused the urban planning strategies that were already in place. After World War II, China was in a Civil War from 1945-1949. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by Mao Zedong and Kuomintang Nationalist Party (KMT) led by Chiang Kai-Shek could not agree on the final direction of China. At the end of the Civil War CCP (supported by Russia) occupied mainland China and the KMT party (supported by the United States) departed to Taiwan in 1949. They were mostly from the Sichuan Province. When KMT left for Taiwan, they mostly saw their presence as temporary.  There was no effort made to a long-term urban plan for Taiwan, but the urban planning strategies implemented by the Japanese were immediately stopped.

One of the architectural results of the temporal architectural culture is the Military Dependents Village.   Initially, there were over 800 villages built rapidly during the late 1940’s and the early 50’s to deploy housing for the influx of KMT residents.  They were usually built on the hillside to offer protection from any potential intruders. There are over 150 settlements remaining. The two settlements that I have been researching, Toad Mountain and Treasure Hill are a result of the post-World War II history and Japanese occupation.  Over 600 settlements did not survive. They were built with varying degrees of longevity in mind and some have been reconstructed with more durable materials. So, why are Toad Mountain and Treasure Hill uniquely different?

Toad Mountain was established in 1739 as a conduit for transportation for the Qing Dynasty. As a land mass, it doesn’t follow into the same categorization as the KMT settlements that were established after 1945.  This area already existed as a military area. During Japanese Colonization, the Japanese set up experimental farms and began agricultural modernization projects. In the 1950’s, the US Air Force invested in the area with MT to create an Air Force Combatant Command.  The residents built homes along the contour of the hill lines. The original residents were Southern Min People, but eventually integrated Taiwanese, Chinese, Hakka, and Aboriginal cultures into the fold of the space. National Taiwan University of Science and Technology attempted to tear down the military settlement in 2013 but there was some resistance.  NTU, NGO, and Good Toad Studio revolted against the erasure of this historical marker. Toad Mountain was designated a “cultural landscape” by the Department of Cultural Affairs in July 30, 2014, and was fully preserved from demolition on January 13, 2016.

Treasure Hill was established in 1945 as part of the KMT occupation.  It currently represents a blended community of artists in residents and the original occupants.  It had a similar experience as Toad Mountain since it also faced a threat of demolition in the late 1980’s.  The current residents formed an NGO and worked with National Taiwan University Graduate Building and Planning Institute to preserve the settlement. The occupants were military veterans fleeing China after the Civil War with intent for a temporary transition that shifted to a more permanent occupation.

Both settlements represent architecture and space that was highly influenced from Chinese culture as both inhabitants were migrants from China.  I’ll continue to compare and contrast the informal planning settlements of Toad Mountain and Treasure Hill with indigenous architecture.  The second phase of my research will expand into this realm.  The first societies that occupied the island of Taiwan have a different vernacular style and use of materials than the military settlements. In particular, I will be exploring the architecture of the Rukai and Lanyu areas.  While in Sun Moon Lake, my family and I went to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village. Within the village, they dedicate space to the re-construction of indigenous societies throughout Taiwan. Within this space, I was able to get a sense of the scale, materials, and spatial arrangements of the tribes that I will be visiting in Southern Taiwan in the Spring.

I will be teaching a course with co-professor Dr. Shu-mei Huang at NTU called Heritage and Community Development in Indigenous Context.  The course is structured as a workshop and will be regarding the restoration of four houses from the Rukai tribe. There is a long term re-building plan to preserve the existing housing of the residents.  

Life in Taipei – Nelson Family Visit

Leila and I  were fortunate to have family visit us for the Christmas Holiday.  My two nephews, my parents, and my husband came into town just before Christmas.  There are Christmas decorations throughout the city, and you can certainly purchase presents any time. There are a number of Christian and Catholic churches also.  However, the Taiwanese government does not recognize Christmas as an official holiday, so all of the schools were open and most people were required to go to work.  Even Leila attended school for the first time on December 25.  We are eternally grateful for being able to spend these days with family so that we could have the gift of time with family on Christmas.  Leila was the only person to receive physical gifts.  We enjoyed a special family trip to the beautiful Sun Moon Lake.  All directions regardless of angle are picturesque.   

I mentioned in my earlier blogs that having a working knowledge of Mandarin is very useful and understanding and reading characters are primary in truly integrating into the culture.  The greatest challenges of hosting visitors in Taipei is  navigating food and language. The difficulty in language  there became a challenge of communicating with cab drivers and restaurants. Also, I found that even when local Taiwanese people spoke English, they spoke with an accent that was difficult for my parents, who live in the South where everyone speaks English at a slow pace, to decode English if it was layered with any sort of accent.   I try to be very patient with everyone because I know most peoples English is much stronger than my Mandarin and the languages are not similar.  We learned to navigate this. With my broken Chinese, I could communicate instructions to the driver and everyone was able to coordinate easily with cellphones and google maps upon our arrival. 

Taiwan is known for having very delicious food.  There are specialties here that are made unlike any other place in the world  – stinky tofu, xiao long bao, beef noodles, bubble tea.  The Asian food available throughout America is not quite the same as the food that you would get in Taiwan. (I think that New York and San Francisco are exceptions.)  In Taiwan, there are restaurants that cater to American and European tastes but they tend to be more expensive and not as good as  the food they are attempting to replicate.   

The city is easy to navigate as a group of seven. We never had a problem getting a reservation.  We were able to hail cabs with ease.  Fulbright has a goal of cultural exchange, and my parents who are Native Mississippians got to experience and see Taiwan for the first time with a more personalized perspective since Leila and I are residents.  My nephews that are of mixed cultural backgrounds (Moroccan and African American) seemed to be more pliable with navigating language and food.  Other than the pork restrictions, which is fairly dominant in Taiwanese cuisine, they were open to trying different foods.  As children, they spoke Moroccan Arabic pretty fluently but as they entered school they gradually lost more of their ability to speak and understand the language. What they still have is the facility to pick up spoken languages pretty quickly.

As I’m heading into the second half of my visit here in Taiwan, I have several more visitors that will be coming to Taiwan.   I think Leila and I will improve in our ability to be cultural ambassadors.  We hope to introduce our friends and family to Taipei and greater Taiwan in a way that feels safe and comfortable and hopefully they will leave this place with more understanding of the way it works in the context of the rest of the world.

 

The Architect

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) is currently hosting its 11th Biennial. It started Nov 17 and will be running until. The theme is “Life-Support, Living, Survival System” which interrogates the museum as an Ecosystem.  Mali Wu and Francesco Manacorda are co-curators.  Beyond visual artists, they have also included NGOs, activists, film and documentary makers, architects and other non-visual artists, in an effort to create a cross-disciplinary dialogue. By presenting non-traditional creatives in the museum’s galleries, the curators aim to enhance the discussion and the exchange of knowledge, responding to the diversity and possibilities of ecology.  There are 41 dynamic works.  A few that captured my attention are described in more detail.

Jeffrey Hou & Dorothy Tang:

Plant’s Eye View of Taipei literally interprets the way that plants perceive space in Taipei.  Within this exhibit, each plant has a life story. Rather a plan is existing as a tree-lined street, a decorative plant for a entry area, or an unwanted “weed”.  Plants continue to adapt to their urban environments and certainly in Taipei shape the visual space of the atmosphere. This exhibit was born from work at Treasure Hill International Arts Village in Taipei in summer 2018. Under the direction of the artists, and working in collaboration with ecologists and , a group of students from several countries in the Asia-Pacific region each imagined themselves as a plant species. This work was re-interpreted by the biennial.  

Huai-Wen CHANG+MAS (Micro Architecture Studio)

Micro Architecture Studio has created a spatial construction on the second floor facade which tracks the movements of the wind.  Museum in the Clouds is activated from the interior and exterior of the building. The project is ongoing beyond the biennial and interacts with the weather station on the museum roof that records micro-climate.  The museums weather station documents micro-climate data around the museum, including light, wind, rain, temperature, heat radiation, ultraviolet light, wind flow velocity, wind direction, and rainfall. It also receives remote data on air quality and information on pollutants in nearby rivers.   When temperature and humidity reaches a certain level, there is a mist activated that forms a cloud over the museum that clues the immediate area. In the evening, the lighting system responds to the air quality by showing a variety of illumination colors. These colors communicate the current quality of air varying from “perfect” to “stay indoors”.

Indigenous Justice Classroom

Indigenous Justice Classroom is a collaboration between documentary director Mayaw Biho, musicians Panai Kusui, Nabu Husungan Istanda, indigenous Taiwanese creatives, and people from all ethnic backgrounds that mutually care for the land.  ‘Indigenous Ketagalan Boulevard protest’ in 2017, was initiated by the Indigenous Justice Classroom following the announcement of Taiwan’s new ‘Regulations for Demarcating Indigenous Traditional Territories.’ These regulations enable the exploitation of indigenous territories by corporate interest, stifle existing indigenous culture and damage the environment. The protest set up camps in front of the Presidential Palace on the Ketagalan Boulevard. They were evicted by the police a hundred days later and relocated to the nearby NTU Hospital MRT station. Over six hundred days have past since the protest began and the exact number of days is displayed in the exhibited artwork photographed below.

The social movement is recreated within its exhibition at Taipei Biennial.  The physical tents from past protest camps pictured below hang from the ceiling, protest quotes are displayed on towels,  a circle of rocks is emblematic of customary rituals, and an indigenous woven lily form represents housing structure. 

The Matriarch

Grandparents day at Ms. Lam Montessori was December 5. Leila’s grandmother was visiting Taiwan for her high-school reunion.  The coincidence in overlap with Leila’s schedule was to her great benefit. Leila had a grandparent able to attend. The circumstance for us.  She may have been the only students without a grandparent present if her grandmother was not in town, and it is moments like that make you feel a bit more isolated.  (Although grandparents day in NY also presents complications for our family.) She was ecstatic and my mother-in-law enjoyed seeing her interact with the class.

Life in Taipei

Christmas is not a major holiday in Taipei.  Leila’s school calendar has her scheduled to attend school on Christmas Day, and the holiday schedule shows the school as closed on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.  There are Christmas events throughout the city. You can visit Santa, purchase a Christmas tree, or see holiday lights. I assume that these events are designed for expats. I haven’t gone out of my way to attend.  The reality is, I actually don’t mind. I am not missing is the consumer pressure to purchase gifts. Last year during this time, I was searching for the perfect gifts during lunch breaks, and searching online to make sure that I could find the perfect item. Leila’s received so many gifts some Christmas’s that I could see the actually fatigue in her body language from opening them.  Her list this year was so simple. It included items such as a candy cane or a Hershey’s kiss. We continue to say that Christmas is not about gifts, but more and more, it seems to be about gifts. And perhaps because I’m not inundated with the messaging, I feel less pressure to equate giving someone a gift with Christmas. Leila and I are so fortunate to have family visiting us throughout Christmas, so we get to experience a holiday together in a new place.  It really is for us about seeing and spending time with family. This in actuality is the best gift for us.

The Architect – Taipei to Busan

I was invited by Dong-Eui University in Busan to expand the conversation on gentrification.  As it happens, displacement is happening throughout the world as real estate prices are rising exponentially.  In Taipei for instance, real estate prices have rose 70% in from 2005-2014. And with this rise in real estate, the income has not risen at a similar rate. It’s not enough to say who cares and let the markets continue to rise at unsustainable rates.

American Indonesian Exchange Foundation supported the trip  to Busan with the goal of encouraging the exchange of ideas within the region, and this trip was educational for me, but also I  spoke to the students and faculty at Dong-Eui University about my research.. I learned that Busan faces similar issues.  I learned that they also have a team currently investigating the role of gentrification in the city of Busan. I delivered a lecture in English and my former classmate, Jin Kyu Kang, translated the lecture into Korean.

My interest in applying for the Fulbright Scholar program, started with the co-creation of a course at Pratt Institute, “Productive Collisions” with co-professors Jack Travis and Jeffrey Chen.  The course has three goals which include an interdisciplinary approach, student awareness, and facilitating design to generate understanding. My lecture framed gentrification as it has occurred in Brooklyn and begin to explore the ways the “Productive Collisions” course has approached educating students about social issues surrounding Pratt Institute.  As part of the lecture, I introduced them to the work we are doing with Reconnect Brooklyn in the collaboration Productive Collisions.

With the translation included, the lecture lasted over two hours and was followed up with a conversation and student and professor questions. In many ways, our concerns are more similar than different, but more importantly, as academics I believe that architects and designers should be in many ways involved in these conversations.  Design strategies can be used to create solutions. We share a planet and the planet in many ways revolting against us with rising sea levels, wildfires, and extreme shifts in climate. Coincidentally the weekend we were in Busan the global climate report was released in America. Architects and urban planners have to be invested in solving these issues.

Busan to Seoul

We took the high speed rail from Busan to Seoul.  The travel time was 2 hours and 15 minutes and the amount of distance traveled was 325 km/505 miles.  Within hours, we transformed from a coastal city to the metropolitan of Seoul.  Seoul is a city that loves design.  You can tell by the way the residents are dressed and by the look and feel of the city.  There is great attention paid to the aesthetic of the urban environment.   I am certain there must be a historical context, but unfortunately, I  haven’t been able to fully understand the history.  We did start our visit with historical structures of Jongmyo and Gyeongbokgung Palace.  You can see a brief description below and a few images from our trip.   We finished our trip with one of Zaha Hadid’s last projects, DDP.  With a budget of $446 million, this project is the essence of the Starchitect Architectural movement.  The scale is grand, the materials are innovative, and as a building (beyond programming), it is a cultural attractor.

Jongmyo 

Jongmyo is a shrine based on Confucian principles dedicated to the spirits of the former Kings and queens that once ruled Korea.  The structures are simple wood structures that intentionally lack adornment. It is on UNESCO World Heritage list (1995).

Gyeongbokgung Palace  

Gyeondgbokgung was established in 1395 by the Joseon Dynasty that ruled Korea from (1392-1910). It’s situated adjacent to the mountains.  The literal meaning is “brilliance and fortune”. The palace was destroyed in 1592 by fire and was in ruins for 270 years until 867 when it was restored by Heungseon Daewonggun.  The restored palace suffered more damage between (1910 – 1945) during Japanese occupation. In 1990, Japanese structures were removed and the palace was restored.  

Dongdaeum Design Park (DDP) – Zaha Hadid’s Final Public Project

This building exudes Zaha Hadid’s style.    A 338 SM cultural center sits in the garment district of the city. This building is striking and the scale is monumental.  You can wonder throughout this space for hours. It is programmed as a space for public art display.  It is impossible to capture the building from just one camera shot.  It is dynamic and complex and if you have an interest in architecture,  you should see this building.

The Matriarch – Leila Loves South Korea (too)

Leila’s most challenging and impressive feat is that she sat through a two hour lecture I delivered at Dong-Eui University with minimal fidgeting or disruption. She acted as the photographer for the day documenting most of the lecture and when I finished she walked up to me and let me know that I did a good job.  This is the same Leila that will also throw a tantrum about ice cream, but in fairness, we had a pretty detailed conversation about our trip and the importance of it. This was a test run for us and that if she was unable to travel and sit through the not so entertaining parts of the trip, we would likely be unable to make other similar trips.

Leila and I both know very little Korean but managed a correct pronunciation of “thank you” before we departed.  Leila’s social personality makes her an ideal traveler. She is often meeting children on the train, in the park, or any public place when she is in her element.  When she’s tired, we have to completely shut down our schedule for the day until she recuperates. The weather is 20 degrees Fahrenheit cooler in Korea, and on Saturday morning,we woke up to snow.  Leila has expressed her love of the seasons and when I mentioned that she would likely not see snow in Taipei, she was really upset, so to wake up to this surprise in Seoul made her day. We visited, the Thanksgiving weekend (which is not celebrated outside of the U.S.), but obviously a very important holiday on our calendar – a time to be with family and friends.  Seoul has a different look and feel than Taipei.  There are several shopping malls. The building feel intentional and the historic spaces are given space to breathe from the more contemporary architecture.  

Life in Taipei

The scale of Taiwan is comparable to the size of the state of Indiana.  Within two hour flight time North, you could potentially be in Japan or Korea.  A two hour flight south places you in the Philippines. Directly West of Taiwan is Mainland China and Hong Kong is also a 2 hour flight just East of Taiwan.  Taiwan is also an ideal location for visiting other countries in Asia relatively quickly. The closest flight from the United States, is an 8 hour trip from Hawaii. Flights within the region are from $100- $300 US dollars.  Leila and I have taken several trips in Taiwan beyond Taipei, but this is our first time outside of Taiwan.  We have more trips to come and we are so fortunate to have friends and family throughout the region.  

 

The Matriarch – The Honeymoon

The stages of culture shock are honeymoon, frustration, adjustment, and acceptance.  Technically, Leila and I are still in the honeymoon phase since we have been in Taipei just over two months.  I’m curious if and when we will hit the “frustration” phase. My most dramatic cultural shift to date was my move from Nesbit, MS to Washington, DC. I moved from a rural area to an urban environment, and I had to adjust fairly quickly.  I was a Freshman in college and the shift in cultural was in a way invigorating.  The differences were the differences I needed.  Mississippi remains an extremely marginalized space for black people, and at the time when I moved to DC, it was popularly celebrated as “chocolate city”.  I’m curious if the transition from a global, diverse urban environment like New York, will pose the same challenges. I lived abroad in 2000 for a summer in Florence, Italy to study environmental design.  The time period was not long enough to warrant culture shock, but toward the end of my stay, I vaguely remember feeling nostalgic for American culture.  In particular, I missed the sounds from my favorite music.   Ipads and Ipods had not been invented and music streaming services were not ubiquitous. Times have changed pretty dramatically. In a way, the world has become much smaller. I can feel connected to what my friends and family are doing through social media. Leila and I can pull up our personal music lists on Spotify for our impromptu dance parties. We can use Whats App to immediately speak to our friends and family (although the extreme time difference does present a challenge).  Technology has the ability to draw us closer since we are geographically distant.   

I have been watching Leila closely to see how our dramatic move will impact her.  I am not writing this blog as a working mom that has all the answers, but as mom that is doing my best to figure things out.  There are some days that self doubt creeps into my psyche and I question myself– especially the week when we were inundated with multiple doctors visits and found out Leila had Scarlet Fever. Was it the right decision to move my daughter so far away from friends and family and everything familiar?  Can I give her everything she needs over the next eleven months?  As a working mom, I’ve struggled with feelings of guilt.  My work schedule in New York was difficult.  Since Leila was two, she has been in pre-school from 8:00 in the morning until 6:00 evening.  With a bedtime between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm that left very little time for us.  The most dramatic difference in our schedule  is now I pick Leila up from school at 4:00.   We spend afternoons at the park.  We go on adventures after school to new places, and we spend time really talking, reading, and drawing.  There are times that I do remind her that my schedule in Taipei gives us so much more time together and my work schedule is very different than in New York.  But of course, with that, I also want her to understand that there are trade offs.  I am hopeful that when we return in July that she will recognize, understand, and appreciate these trade offs. 

The Architect – Sacred Spaces in Taiwan

Some of the most famous architectural spaces on earth are spaces for prayer and worship.  St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome (1626), Notre Dame in Paris (1345), and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London (1708).  When the Chinese migrated to China during the Qing Dynasty rule, they also brought the architecture of Buddhist and Taoist temples with them.  Leila and I had the chance to visit Longshan Temple and Bao’an Temple and Garden. General impressions include color and material similarities, and both are layered with similar iconography as well as  identical site plan layouts. The symbolism of the dragon appears dominant in both as well as the traditional Chinese vernacular architectural roof line. Both temples are now located in the midst of the bustling city and directly adjacent to the buildings commonly seen in the urban landscape in Taiepi.  Baoan Temple has a much larger site. It is designed with an extended garden area beyond the temple. In reading on the history of Chinese architecture, there is a very detailed and precise rules for space planning, and this is deeply embedded as a cultural practice. Most buildings were designed with bi-lateral symmetry and balance was important to the architectural and life philosophy.   Even the way that space itself was measured was meticulously written into law. Westerners may understand this practice as Feng-shui.

While these are both historic buildings, they were not flooded with tourists but crowded with local residents visiting for a ritual prayer.  Many people are lined up to collect their incense, light them with strategically placed fire pits, and then pray to the discrete areas aligning the temple.  There were also tables filled with offerings for the ancestors.

Longshan Temple is founded in 1738 and contains the God of Mercy.  The name originated from the Fujian province in China where a similar temple was historically located.  The temple houses deities from Taoism and Buddhism. The Longshan Temple was erected during the Qing Dynasty rule, but the architecture is not original to that period of time.  The new temple rebuilt during Japanese occupation in 1919 and designed by Architect Wang Yi-shun. The dragon columns in the front area are the only bronze columns in Taiwan. The temple is flanked by two towers — one for bell and the other for drums.  Double eave roof lines are consistent throughout most of the structures. Wang introduced some western techniques into his design. He added Corinthian Capitals on some ornamental columns.

Images Longshan Temple

Bao’an Temple Garden is known because it is the only temple in Taiwan to receive UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conversation.  The temple itself is dedicated to Baoshen Dadi, the Emperor of Health worshiped in the Minnan region of China.  Built in 1742.  Baoshen was a doctor that saved many people from a local health scare.  Bao’an temple 5 renovations in the last 200 years. The 1919, the temple was renovated by two architects. Rather than select one architect for the renovation, they divided the building in half and let each implement individual strategies for the renovation.   If you look closely, you can see that the building is not identically symmetrical.

Images Bao-An Temple

Life in Taipei – Cost of Living

Food and coffee prices in Taipei are sometimes unbelievably low.  Lunch on National Taiwan University campus costs approximately $1.75 – $2.50 USD and a latte at a local coffee shop is around $2.50. There are expensive restaurants and if you’re seeking specialty cuisine or a famous tourist destinations, it is likely you’ll pay a premium.  The popular night markets that have historically used informal spaces to sell food and beverages are inexpensive and very popular. Leila and I live close to Shida night market and have our favorite places. Again, we can pick up a meal and a bubble tea at the night market for less than $5.00 USD.

Imported beers and wines are equivalent to the U.S. prices. You can easily pick up alcoholic beverages at 7/11 but wine and cocktail offerings are not so common in Taiwanese restaurants.  While in New York, I’d typically have a glass of wine (or two) with dinner. In Taipei, the offerings have been either non-existent, questionable quality, or when the quality increases, the price increases substantially.  When my husband was visiting, he managed to find a New York style bar with a mixologist, specialty cocktails, and English speaking bartenders. Since I am traveling with Leila, I have not had a chance to explore the Taipei social scene, but my observation has been if there is a heavy drinking scene in Taipei, it is not that visible.  

The housing prices are disproportionately high when compared to the average salary of a Taiwanese resident.  A two bedroom apartment in the Da’an District ranges between $1.2 million – $1.8 million. In short, if you owned a coffee shop; you’d have to sell 72,000 lattes for a 10% down payment on a home. Affordable housing in Taipei is a major urban planning issue, and the housing prices have grown increasingly unaffordable driving some people further away from the city center.  

 

 

 

The Architect – Taiwanese Architectural History

During this period we are now investigating the architecture built during the Qing Dynasty.  This period lasted from 1683 -1895. The Lin Family Mansion completed around 1847 falls during this period.  The preserved architecture of Taiwan includes several temples. Since this period represents a few centuries, we will be spending a longer period during this investigation.   We had a brief departure back to Toad Mountain where we attended a public exhibition. Returning to Toad Mountain, even with the expanded context of Taiwanese architectural history was enlightening. I was able to see the spatial constructions with a different perspective.  It was our plan this week to visit the Mengia Longshan Temple that was built by Fujian immigrants in 1738. However, because Leila came down with an unexpected illness; we had to put our visit on pause. There comes a time when the matriarch roles supersedes the architects and this week was one of those weeks.   

The Matriarch – Nurturing Leila

    Leila and I had to have our first experience with the healthcare system in Taiwan.  Now, we are both fine, but she encountered a virus that resulted in a fever and mysterious rash.  Health insurance for me is immediately covered as a Fulbright scholar in Taiwan’s universal healthcare program.  Leila’s coverage will begin after six months of residency. Unfortunately, she needed medical service before the six month time period. Another small issue is that we were both covered under my husbands family plan and in the interim, he happened to switch jobs, so at this time Leila is not covered under his plan.  Actually, none of this was a huge problem for us. Leila had a total of four doctor’s appointment in the past weeks,and I paid for her uninsured appointments out-of-pocket. The appointments ranged from $30-$50 for each appointment. This fee also included the necessary prescriptions. The pharmacy is located in the doctor’s clinic and when we checked out, we paid and retrieved our pharmaceutical needs in the same building within minutes.  When we arrived to the appointment, I came with several books, an Ipad, and crayons and activities. When going to the doctor, especially without an appointment, I’ve learned to anticipate a long wait. For all four visits, we waited no longer than 10 minutes. The system’s advantage is its efficiency. Each time we entered the office, the waiting room was completely full.

Life in Taipei – Language Challenges

My Mandarin is improving, but not to the extent that I can have a conversation about allergies, history of skin sensitivities, and medical history.  When I first took Leila to the doctor, I noticed a rash on her skin. It was extremely unusual because she has no allergies of note nor has she ever broken out before.  It was pretty strange. I dropped my commitments for the day, and immediately took her to the clinic that was in the neighborhood on Tuesday morning. The first diagnosis was a doctor who spoke very little English (still much better than my Mandarin), but had a nurse translate for us in the appointment.  He was so apologetic for his English skills that I started to feel badly. She was given a topical treatment, and we were told if there wasn’t improvement by Thursday we should return. I took her back to school assuming it was an allergic reaction. Wednesday, she went to school and by noon, I received a phone call about a fever.  We returned to the same clinic. We saw a different doctor. Her diagnosis was still that the rash and the fever were unrelated. We were prescribed a fever reducer and continued the allergy treatment for the rash. Thursday, we proceeded with this treatment, but Friday, when we woke up with the a spreading rash, we went back to the doctor.  We were diagnosed and re-prescribed an antibiotic. We finally started to see some progress on her health.

    There are so many variables at play in our experience that it is difficult to draw any conclusions.  I’m grateful that all of the appointments were affordable since we do not have health insurance. I believe the incorrect diagnosis was maybe a result of a system where doctors are seeing a high quantity of patients daily, and a result of me not being able to communicate so clearly about Leila’s medical history and symptoms.  

    As a professional mom, I really felt it this week.  I had to put any work on hold and my priority became making sure that my daughter was well. Between naps and doctor’s appointment, I was able to fortunately work from home and am glad this is an option available to me.  The largest limitation was the inability to visit sites, but in other very positive news; Leila became an actual bike rider without training wheels, and she managed to do this with a fever. 

Learning Mandarin

我們家在大安捷運站附近。早上我的女兒去學校上課。我的女兒週末早上常常去踢足球。他早上八點開始上課到九點結束。踢足球很有意思, 但是他不喜歡看比賽。週末早上, 我去台南學建築,房子,和大樓。我和我的女兒坐公共汽車到高鐵. 我在網路上買車票. 在高鐵 , 我們看多本書。高鐵有快，又舒服，跟很好喝咖啡.我們坐計程車到安平古堡去. 計程車很非常貴. 我們參觀安平古堡 . 我們在台南從中午十二點玩到晚上六點。我們每個週末都沒空最近我們忙.我們喜歡參觀台灣 和我們喜歡多照相.

The Matriarch – Taiwanese Architectural History

In my continuation of colonization and migrations impacts on architecture, Leila and  I made a visit to what is now Fort Anping Tainan, Taiwan. The Dutch and the Spanish overlapped in their occupation of Taiwan but eventually the Dutch needed Spanish Formosa (see last weeks blog), and they fought for it. The Dutch let the Spanish know that there was no possibility of co-existence.  Tainan is approximately 310 KM south of Tamsui and located on the South West coast. The Dutch & Spanish occupied different regions of Taiwan at the same time.  In 1642 when the Dutch realized the Spanish location at the northernmost point of Taiwan had prime real estate with access to modern day Northern China, Korea, and Japan, they made it their mission to take Fort Formosa by force. And with the growing Dutch East India Company, the Dutch were willing to fight to grow their business. Taiwan was a targeted location because the Dutch were unsuccessful in establishing trade posts in Mainland China. In 1624, they actually tried, and the Ming Dynasty was too powerful.  And, to give you context, both Tamsui and Tainan both had thriving independent cultures that were self sufficient. The narrative that indigenous cultures need to be saved by colonizers is a myth.  If anything, when the Dutch arrived to Tainan in 1624, they immediately upset the ecological balance with excessive hunting and fishing. Taiwanese people are fairly congenial, I imagine that when the Dutch arrived, they didn’t pull out the swords immediately. The Dutch were ousted by the Qing Dynasty, Koxinga, in 1662. (The Qing Dynasty took over from the Ming Dynasty in 1636) The treaty basically said you can take your personal belongings and your slaves. We will keep the goods you’ve accumulated from trade and the fort, and we aren’t paying you for anything in it. In return, you get to live.

So, the site is a bit misleading.  What you see upon arrival is a Fort that has been re-built with Japanese, Chinese, and Western influence. The site is the original site of the Dutch Fort Zeelandia, but the only original area of the fort is semi-circle of bricks located on the East side.  During Japanese rule, Fort Zeelandia was in complete ruins and fully deserted and the Japanese decided to invest in its preservation and beautification. The brick walls surrounding the fort were built by the Japanese, using a Japanese architectural style, in 1896. In 1930, the Japanese built a Western Style exhibit space for cultural remembrance. The scouting deck was built in 1945 to monitor surroundings post-Japanese occupation, and in 1975, the tower rebuilt during the time we will consider Modern Taiwan. This site represents much of what led me to this particular investigation of colonization and migration. On one site, in a city in Tainan,Taiwan, there are five different architectural cultural influences — Japanese, Western, Ming (China), Qing (China), Modern Taiwan, and The Dutch.  How can you have harmony in architecture when the cultural mix of styles is so different? For additional images see link.

The Matriarch – Making Friends

My daughter is an incredibly social person. She is energized from being around people, and is always looking for ways to connect. At her school, she’s acclimated quickly and has started to make friends. She even finds ways to meet people in our neighborhood on the playground. It’s an admirable quality but so far from a personal priority for me. Even if I had time, there is a real sense (from my perspective) that there is a  “family-first”. I’ve spoken with two different moms that had a regularly scheduled weekly dinner with their parents every weekend. The “play date” seems low on the priority list. During holidays, it seems that Taiwanese residents make seeing family a priority. To make up for this shift in social time, I decided to enroll her in some weekend classes where she can meet up with friends. As for me, I grew up in a relatively social isolating place, so the idea of placing my social needs on the back burner has been a part of my modus operandi for quite a while.

Taiwan Life – High Speed Rail

Leila and I took the Taiwan High Speed Rail to Tainan over the weekend and it was glorious.  After her Saturday morning soccer class, we went to the train station and headed South to Tainan. We were home before bedtime.  This trip by car would have taken us 8 hours round trip, but on the Saturday train, we were in Tainan just under two hours. This saved us from an overnight stay, and I was able to make the trip easily on the weekend. A round trip ticket to Tainan is approximately $60.

The Architect  – Spanish Colonization, Fort San Domingo, and Aboriginal Resistance

This week Leila and I traveled 45 minutes North of Taipei to visit Tamsui  where the Spanish Formosa, a former Spanish colony is located. Formosa is a Portuguese name that was given to Taiwan by Portuguese sailors in 1544 meaning “beautiful”.  Tamsui lives up to its name.  There are mountains surrounding the convergence of the Tamsui River and the Tamsui Strait. The native plants and flowers are robust.  The Spanish colonized this area of Taiwan in 1626 in an effort to bolster trade.

Marco Polo popularized the desire to trade in Asia with his accounts, Book of the Marvels of the World. In late 1400’s Spain was aggressively seeking to find a quicker route to China from Europe in search of spices. Christopher Columbus certain that if he sailed West, he would find China a shorter route to China, mistakenly ran into what is present day North America.  This mistake in route delayed the exploration to China for another one hundred years.  The Spanish did not reach China until 1520 when Magellan landed in Cebu in the Philippines.

In 1626, the Spanish arrival in Taiwan was met with immediate rejection by the aboriginal culture.  The original Fort San Domingo built in 1628 was made from wood. Tamsui aboriginals defended the land and burned the first Spanish fort down.  Just as the new Spanish Fort was being constructed, the Dutch threatened a hostile take over and eventually succeeded.  The viceroy of the Philippine commanded the troops to withdraw from Tamsui.  The Dutch renamed the fort, St. Anothony and began to increase trade routes and build the Dutch East India Company.  Spanish Formosa  is now preserved as historic site.

While walking through Tamsui, you can see evidence of European architecture.  If you compare the Spanish architecture to the Vernacular architecture of the Lin Family Mansion and Garden it is quite different.  Spanish Formosa is uniquely situated in Tamsui as a neighborhood that is a confined area, but stands out from the context of Taiwan.  The Spanish and Dutch occupied these areas as colonizers and the British leased the site from 1868-1972 as a consulate and ambassadors residence.   In each instance, the European nations transferred a style of architecture directly to Taiwan without adapting for context.  The visual evidence of colonization is strong as the architecture presents a strong contrast to the architecture of Taiwan.  You can see more photo documentation of the neighborhood from our visit.

 

The Matriarch – You can protest & complain, but you must also vote.

The process of voting absentee from Taipei for the United States election has not been so convenient in Taipei.  There are a few steps before you can return your ballot and it requires in the state of New York at a minimum of two – three international mailings per election.  This means a post-office visit, locating a printer,  navigating a printer/computer that may be set up with settings in Mandarin, and paying for international shipping.  The computer and printer in my office is set up on A4 paper and the ballot will not print as required by New York State. So, I’ve had to locate another printer on campus to print the ballots with the appropriately sized paper.  There are two separate mailings required for federal and state, and the federal ballot was only made accessible since October 4.  I’m a highly motivated voter, but I imagine, with the level of inconvenience, that many people will not participate in the process from abroad. I’ve mailed my ballot, but it took several steps.

I’m also embarrassed and disappointed to say that I missed the primary because it aligned with my recent arrival, and I couldn’t manage to make all of the above happen in the first week that I arrived.  Voting in general should be easier. Many nights after working a full day and picking up Leila from school, I’ve had to run into the local elementary to vote in the pouring rain before making her dinner.  I’ve also woken up an hour before work and tried this process in reverse.  I’ve run into more than a few people, who have decided to avoid participating in this cumbersome process because (they  live in a state where the election, “really” doesn’t matter”), or they think a specific candidate will already win.  Or, they are still waiting for a ballot to be mailed since every state has its own process.  With elections being so close, every vote does count and the absentee turnout has the power to predict some of these close elections.

Life in Taipei – Culture of  Niceness

My Taipei observation this week is about the people. There have been several incidents of genuine and authentic niceness that have  stood out on my visit.   Taiwanese locals have join goodness to Leila and I at most every opportunity.  We’ve been lost and looked at a map too long, and a stranger will walk up, declare that they speak English and offer to help.  I’m in the process of learning Mandarin, and most people are very patient as I make attempts with my broken grammar and unfortunate pronunciations as I try to figure out the language. Even when I first arrived, most people were apologetic if their English wasn’t strong enough, if they couldn’t help me in a situation, where we couldn’t communicate. (I recognize that people in the United States would not offer the same courtesy for tourist or visitors.) 

Taipei is a city of of over 2.5 million people, but in my neighborhood, there are local businesses and the people who work there, who interact with Leila and I daily that give you a sense that you are from a small town.  Every week, Leila and I purchase fruit from the same fruit stand near our corner.  As we were dumping our trash one evening, we placed our weekly fruit order, and let the group from the fruit stand know that we’d be returning to pick up the fruit on our way back home.  Leila and I ended up getting sidetracked and found an art store and lost track of time.  When we returned home, she had already left for the day, but gave the noodle stand on the corner to give the fruit to us when we had returned.  We stopped by the next day to give her the money for the fruit, but again, this doesn’t really happen in New York.  This is not an isolated incident.  I left my pen at the Family Mart on National Taiwan Universities campus, when I returned the next day, the cashier gave it to me.  I didn’t even realize I even left it. And, if you need an umbrella, there is a stand in the subway station with a group of umbrella that says, “please take one.” 

There is an element of congeniality in everyday interactions. Even if Leila is playing with a child’s toy on the playground and is enjoying it, the Taiwanese parent insists that she take it.  The people here seem to be working very hard to make sure that we feel welcome and this has been a pleasant surprise.  Before we departed for Taipei, the most common prediction that I heard about our future journey is that the food would be good and the people are very nice.  Even with having this expectation, the actual experience has far exceeded my expectations on both accounts.  

The fruit stand next door had to close early before we returned from dumping the trash. She gave the noodle guy our fruit so that when we returned we’d have it.  No one asked for money. It’s the honor system. We’ll get it tomorrow. And, if you need an umbrella, there is a stand that says, oh it’s raining and you forgot your umbrella, just take one of these.

 

The Architect – What are the impacts of colonization & migration on Taiwanese architecture?

When I was in high school, I took a World History class in hopes to get a broader perspective of history.  I was one of two African American students in the class. When we reached the Chapter on Africa, the teacher completely skipped it and moved on to the “Middle East”.  We requested a meeting with the teacher to ask why she would skip an entire continent. She was polite, but conveniently said that she skipped it because the Chapter was outdated.  It likely was, since the entire book was outdated, but it was difficult to understand how she could teach a world history class and leave out part of the world. Unfortunately, architectural history and art history have also been taught with a very limited lens and scope.  For the pre-requisite for the Master of Architecture degree, I had to take two Art History courses and while in graduate school, I had to take an additional two Architectural History and Theory courses. Most courses would make mention of Egypt, then Greece, Italy, and the remainder of Europe. Colonization and migration impacts culture, social systems, and architectural space. I am a contextualist, and I seek to understand the context for which spaces are created.  In visiting Treasure Hill and Toad Mountain, I became increasingly aware that I needed a better understanding of the architectural history and spatial and social forces of Taiwan

The city of Taipei has a unique tapestry of architectural styles, and throughout Taiwan, there are a variety of building representations.  My sense is that diverse cultural variables have impacted the look and feel of the city. This was of particular note as I was walking through Treasure Hill and Toad Mountain and noticing very stylized spatial conditions. What guided the decision making? The cultural context from where they migrated or the current context in which they lived?

Taiwanese indigenous cultures date back to 3000 BC and there are currently over 800,000 indigenous people living in Taiwan currently.  In 1628, the Spanish built a fort in Northern Taiwan that was eventually taken over by the Dutch in 1642. In the 18th Century the Han Chinese migrated to Taiwan and Hakka’s from the Fuijan and Guangdong province of China.  (Separately, the Fujian province is known for a very particular style of Chinese vernacular architecture.) In 1662, the Dutch were driven out by the Ming Dynasty, and the former was defeated by the Qing Dynasty in 1682. In 1895 after, the Qing Dynasty turned over Taiwan to Japan. In 1945, the Republic of China ceded Japan.  This is a condensed view of history to illustrate the vast potential for cultural impact. Even in the layers of colonization, cultures such as China, Japan, and migrants from China also contribute to the aesthetic.

From the  collage below, you can see that within one neighborhood there are a variety of styles.  In the coming weeks, I’ll be featuring a building from each period of occupation. This week’s spatial exploration was built during the Qing Dynasty.  I toured the “Lin Mansion & Garden” located in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The style is characterized as Fujianese style.  This style can be characterized with red roof tiles, brick walls, and centralized courtyards.  The Lin Family migrated from Zhangzhou, Fujian province in mainland China in 1784. The family built wealth through rice trading, and eventually real estate. The estate currently is partially open to the public for tours and viewing.  Rather than walk you through with extensive descriptions, I’ll let you view the photos below.  Since Leila is my co-researcher on weekends, and her attention span has a a time limit; we only toured the exterior. I’ll be returning for the interior perspectives in a follow-up visit.

The Matriarch + Life in Taipei – Moon Festival 

On September 24, Taiwan celebrated the Moon Festival and Leila enjoyed a day home from school.  The city was quiet. Most of our friends had left to celebrate with extended family since it is a very family centered holiday.  Just after Moon Festival, we were invited by a Taiwanese Family for a moon cake making event at Kuo Yuan Ye Museum of Cake and Pastry. The family that extended the invitation also has a daughter very close to Leila’s age, so they immediately became best friends. The moon cake is a rich pastry with a red bean paste inserted inside.  If you have the main two ingredients, it is pretty easy to assemble the cakes. While the cakes were baking, the venue had an interactive museum-like tour that was followed by an area where the children could play games.  

The Architect – What will happen to Toad Mountain?

Toad Mountain is a settlement located between Wanlong and Gongguan district in Taipei.  Similar to Treasure Hill, it is a short fifteen minute walk from the National Taiwan University Campus (my host institution) and also like Treasure Hill, it is also a settlement for military dependents. Toad Hill was likely resurrected earlier but occupied by military inhabitants beginning in the 1940.  As time has progressed, Toad Mountain is has found itself situated on highly profitable real estate in direct proximity to National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST).   In 2000, the Taipei City Government allotted parts of Toad Mountain NTUST.  The campus was growing and needed more space to house students. NTUST went as far as to sue two households for illegal occupation even though the stipulation states that all residents must be properly relocated if any development plan is to be completed.  In 2011, NTUST requested that the Ministry of defense bulldoze the 39 dormitories left vacant by villagers in 2011. A grassroots movement formed and the Toad Mountain art festival was created to raise the profile of the village. While Treasure Hill has been re-developed, Toad Mountain’s fate remains unclear. There is no current plan for the preserved land.  It still remains to be seen what will happen to the inhabitants and the overall settlement. Approaching Toad Mountain spatially, it felt more as if I was walking on a private property where Treasure Hill is available for public use. And recently, the published material on Toad Mountain has decreased. To find more details on the progress of this project, I am going to have to conduct additional interviews and connect with the advocates for maintaining and preserving the settlement.     

  

The Matriarch – Writing our own stories

Leila’s school in Taipei offers some English, but is primarily a Mandarin immersion environment. I could have enrolled her in an International School where English was the dominant language, but I decided it would be best to primarily immerse her in Mandarin learning. Since she started school in Taipei, I have been working with her at home on English literacy. Leila and I have completed workbooks together and other small tasks, but never worked in a more structured learning environment than usual.  The new declaration this week is that she is not a fan of the small books with the simplified vocabulary, but I’ve found that we can work for hours if she is engaged creatively. Last week, since I was receiving so much resistance about the stories that she has been reading, we started writing our own stories. The best part is She doesn’t actually consider this “work”, and she can sit for hours thinking of stories about all sorts of topics. She draws photos of the narrative and then articulates the story and I help her with the words. In the evenings, at bedtime, we compare the stories she creates to the stories that we are reading and dissecting the characters, the plot, and the narrative arc.  (Last night, while reading her own story, she admitted that some of the storylines didn’t make sense. ) It has been a learning device that is more enjoyable for both of us. And, when we returned to the simplified books to review them, she could easily get through them because the vocabulary she using to develop her own books is much more challenging. She has a creative spirit and I feel fortunate to be able to nurture it while we are here.

Life in Taipei – Sexual Assault & Pick-pocketing Panic Button

I recently had a Sexual Harassment Prevention training here in Taipei that was executed by the Fulbright  program. The last one I attended was over 20 years ago for my first job after college. At the end of the session the presenter asked for questions, and very few people participated. There was an awkward silence, and the session ended. When I went to get water during our break, I noticed an informal session by the water cooler. There was a smaller gathering of women having a separate (honest) discussion just moments after the training.  It seemed obvious in that moment that the large group format was intimidating and and the topic would have benefited from a smaller discussion group. It wasn’t that people in the group had little to contribute to the conversation, it was more so that the format had created a space that it was difficult to share or ask questions.

Architecture is a creative, progressive profession that prides itself on being a  system rewarded by strict meritocracy so the there is an attitude that discussing discrimination and sexism is a waste time.  Unfortunately, it is just as needed in our profession as any other and avoiding the topics have led to continued problems on race and gender.  In Taipei, on public transit, I’ve noticed “sexual assault” panic button on all public buses in Taipei. It seems that an issue that is not being addressed is that most people do not feel that they have a safe space to report any issues (witnessed or experienced) without fear of being attacked or penalized. I suppose this issue has less to do with Taipei in particular and more to do with global issues involving reporting assault.  I don’t necessarily believe a button is the answer but perhaps there needs to be more discussion on safe spaces for people to report/discuss any issues. Our society has been a failure to sexual assault victims as we can see #whyididntreport stories are numerous and trending on twitter. Maybe the question shouldn’t be, why people wait to report; but what systems do we have in place that individuals feel safe to report.

 

 

The Architect – Informal Settlements + Indigenous Architecture

Informal settlements and indigenous cultural space privilege the pragmatic and thrive on innovation. Insurgent public spaces were shaped throughout history and are the foundation of spatial improvisation and creativity. I have a strong desire to translate strategies of impromptu place making into design practice. I am intrigued by what happens when sustainability is a necessity for survival rather than a financial incentive. There are opportunity for architects, designers, and planners to document, preserve, and acknowledge the experience of communities with modest means. Over the next ten months I will research cross-cultural, transnational, interdisciplinary, community centered, socially and environmentally sustainable design goals while also observing and documenting indigenous place making and overlooked communities in Taiwan. In particular, I’ve selected two urban settlements to compare in the Fall (Treasure Hill and Toad Mountain) and two indigenous communities for the Spring. The two indigenous communities  are Pongso-no-Tau/Lanyu and the village of Kochapogan in Pingtung. This week, I’ll be providing an overview of Treasure Hill.  I will focus on research in Fall 2018 and will be proposing a course for Spring 2019 with my co-researcher Dr. Shumei Huang. 

What is Treasure Hill?

Treasure Hill was built in the late 1940’s as an illegal settlement in what is now the Gongguan neighborhood in Taipei. It was created by Kuomintang Military, anti-aircraft war veterans of the China Civil War, that fled to Taiwan. They were members of the China Nationalist Party. They settled in an area that was designed to protect the city’s southwestern side from a potential Communist air attack. The soldiers stationed and eventually built homes adjacent to their anti-aircraft equipment. They married local women, started families, and settled in Taipei permanently. During this period, there was a housing shortage throughout Taipei, so the military veterans did they best they could to create what is considered a basic need – shelter.  Because of the illegal and impromptu housing status, the residents did what they could to make the environment sustainable. They recycled and filtered grey water, tapped into the cities electric grid for minimal electricity, composted organic waste, and re-used waste whenever possible. They lived in this area from the 1940’s to the 1980’s with little resistance from the government, but eventually, there was a threat to demolish the housing.  In 1989, there were protests and demonstrations by academics, students and citizens highlighting the lack of access to affordable housing and housing discrimination. An NGO and a group of scholars at National Taiwan University, (NTU) stepped into to work on developing the community as a settlement preservation area. The conversation was relevant to NTU since the settlement is in close proximity to the campus. It took many years of conversations and debates before any decisions were made on the land. After deliberation , the settlement was preserved for original inhabitants and artists in the 1990’s.  It was officially designated as a historic site in 2004. It was renovated in 2007 by the Taipei’s Department of Cultural Affairs. It reopened in 2010 under the management of Department of Artist-in-Residence, Taipei Culture Foundation. Only 22 original of the military veterans moved back into the community. It’s unclear how many relocated willfully and how many were displaced.

 

Why is this interesting?

1. Perhaps the solution to sustainable environment do not require complex engineering or expensive equipment but at a minimum the introduction of passive design system that work within the contexts of the natural environment.
2. Protest led to protection and preservation of a historical community but its unclear statistically how many residents were displaced.
3. As an academic institution and prominent landowner in Taipei, NTU advocated for the option of preserving rather than demolishing for market rate housing.  They chose to advocate over preservation of history and affordable housing over potential increase in real estate value of the land.

I’ll be documenting the history of this settlement in a Case Study and will be comparing to another similar settlement in Taipei called Toad Mountain.  Next week, I will follow up with a similar description of Toad Mountain.

The Matriarch – Being a Mom in Taiwan

Leila’s first week of school was pretty incredible. We live approximately six minutes by car, 27 minutes by bus, and 29 minutes walking. After I drop her off from school at 8:30, I can get to my office at NTU within 15 minutes.  I am also able to pick her up from school at the pick up time of 4:00 pm. The 4:00 pm pick up time is actually brilliant. I can easily work a 7 hour work day and then can personally pick up my daughter from school. I don’t have to stress about after-school or hiring someone else to pick her up.  We can spend our afternoon together, eat dinner, and once she goes to bed; I can continue my research from home. I did not have this flexibility in my New York work schedule, but it feels like a more humane work schedule. It breaks up the work, allows me to spend quality time with my daughter in the evening, and it is overall much less stressful.

Leila’s first week of kindergarten was filled with multiple activities such as field trips, library visits, and class helper duties.  The teacher met with us and explained that this year is a big year for her filled with responsibilities and expectations. She will be graduating from kindergarten and in Leila’s school that comes with a few requirements. Every Tuesday she is the designated class helper. She will be selecting a book of her choice and presenting and reading it to the younger students and acting as the assistant to the teacher. Len and I were both surprised to learn that one of the other requirements for kindergarten graduates in her school is to  complete a 7 km (4.3 mile) bicycle ride just North of the city next April. So, Leila does not  know how to ride a bike without training wheels. I imagine that if we were diligent and spent time in our neighborhood park and teaching her the essentials of bike riding 101, she would know by now, but alas, she does not. Last week, we went to the bicycle store and purchased a bike (with a basket) and this week Leila has been cycling to school. I eventually have to work with her until the training wheels come off.  Initially, I was a little overwhelmed by the thought of my daughter riding a bike for 4 miles, but I’m increasingly more comfortable. Maybe, she can actually do this?!? I started by run/walking along side her trying not to panic in the chaotic city traffic scene.  I recently purchased my own back, and now we ride together.  Although there are scooters and cyclist everywhere, and the traffic seems a little scary at times; the city has created bike lanes and to our walk on school we pass a handful of cyclists. The school is 2.2 km (1.3 miles) from our home and we are working toward removing the training wheels.  Hopefully, by April she will be prepared for her bike ride.  

  

Life in Taipei  – Recycling and Composting

Each week, I will discuss a personal aspect to living in Taipei and the ways that it is unique. This week I want to address the way the city deals with trash.  There is a complex system for trash here in Taipei which ultimately leads to cleaner streets and more awareness about your personal trash usage. Taipei residents are given a specific time and place for trash disposal and a list of what goes out on each day in the various categories of recycling.  Our time is between 6:18 and 6:30 pm. The days are Monday – Saturday, but what goes out each day is very specific.  All discarded food is completely separated and placed in a bin for composting. And since, organic trash and subtropical climate don’t mix, we were advised to place food/trash in the freezer to avoid attracting ants or other miscellaneous insects. The plastics and paper are sorted separately and no soiled paper/plastics can be included with the rest of the recycling. And, you are required to purchase a specific blue recycling bag. And to eliminate the use of plastics, if you go grocery shopping or shopping at a convenience store, you either have to bring your own bag or purchase one.  Len, Leila, and I made a group family trip to the trash bins on Friday evening. It is a site to behold. You can see all of your neighbors venturing out bringing their bags and physically engaging with the items they must discard. The benefit is no one ever sits trash on the street or the curb for pick up. It is inconvenient, but on the other hand, it makes me very very conscious of the amount of trash I consume in a week. It also makes me wonder if the trash and composting was influenced by the military veterans that settled in 1940’s in Treasure Hill.