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.
