Parting -- Redux

So, after a period of about three months, YT's extended visit in Taiwan has come to an end. My parents-in-law and I saw YT off at the airport this morning. I must say it does feel a little strange to say goodbye to her, then ride in the car with her parents back to Taibei without her. It just doesn't seem right. It's not natural, really, living with your in-laws while your spouse is somewhere else. It's like some strange vortex dragged YT off to the US and left me behind at her home, or by some bizarre case of mistaken identity we were switched at the airport. "Hey, you're not our daughter!" "Nope, I'm the long lost son you thought you never had, Ma & Pa!"

But to be honest, strange as it is, the parting doesn't seem so bad this time. I'm not going to say it's because it's happened before, been there done that, and we're used to it. It's not really something I want to be used to. The main difference this time is that I will be going back in about five weeks, which ought to go quickly (I think). It's also a set period, while last time we didn't know in advance how long it would be. Five weeks is a paltry sum compared to, as it turned out, four months.

It's also possible, of course, that the five weeks could drag on. I've enjoyed things here, and it has been a wonderful opportunity to know YT's family and cultural background on a much deeper level. I'm very thankful for this opportunity. It's like 19 years of annual 2-week visits crammed into one experience, and I get to know my neices and nephews while they are still young and impressionable. I think it will make all subsequent visits much more meaningful. Plus, I have my own references and memories when YT talks about her family or childhood. But, I'm ready to be back in the states. I've been here almost 8 months by now, but I've never really settled down 'roots' of my own. I've just been borrowing YT's. I'm looking forward to being back where things feel less... temporary. But hopefully it won't be much of a wait.

In the meantime, I'll still be scrounging around for the remaining participants needed for my data collection, and finishing the last month of my Chinese classes. And, of course, though hopefully only sporadically, I'll also be wishing I were someplace else.

Patiently yours, BB

Weekend Excursions

Well, it has been a while since I've written, and I'm sorry about that. But, I do have a good excuse. I've been busy. We've been busy. The last four or so weekends in a row, YT&I have been away (together) for one reason or another. First we went on an excursion with the family to MiaoLi (close to TaiZhong) and stayed in a B&B, the next weekend to Tainan, then after that to HuaLien with a friend of YT's and her husband, then next was camping in HsinZhu with the family again. Finally, this weekend, I have a bit of time to collect some thoughts, and write a post and upload some photos (though not necessarily in that order).

I could describe these experiences in wordy detail, but I think it's best to let the pictures do the talking. I don't think I can get more than 1000 words out of my fingers right now anyway, and you might not want a long exegisis to begin with. The photos have been hand-picked and arranged in a photo-album sort of arrangment, with captions (except for, as of yet, most of the HuaLien trip) to delight you all (maybe). There are also links to short snippets of video from the camping trip posted as well. In case you're wondering whether it's worth your while to view the pics, here is a brief sampling of what you might miss if you don't make the click. The servers are standing by now.

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Who is that person standing in the background on those rocks, you might be asking, and why are bystanders watching while Brian grimmaces and holds up a big wooden stick with goo at the end? Just click on and find out. You won't be disappointed. Or, at least if you are, I probably won't find out. Here are photos the of our time in HuaLien and from camping in HsinZhu.

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In case you're wondering about the B&B trip with the family, it was actually supposed to be the camping trip, but due to rain the camping didn't actually happen. We didn't take too many pics that weekend for some reason. Perhaps because the events seemed engineered primarily to entertain the kids. We picked strawberries, for instance, and we went to a DIY place to paint wooden figurines. YT painted a wooden cat, which was fun. I supervised and offered constructive (I hope) direction. He is named Oliver.

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The day after, we went to a very swanky coffeeshop in the area that had a great view of the surrounding hillside. They grow and roast their own coffee beans there, too. It was really a beautiful place, and I enjoyed sitting and reading my book while the others chatted and the kids played outside, or inside, or probably, both. I don't know, I was reading my book. We also went to a place where you can, potentially, make your own pottery stuff, but they weren't offering that option that day. It did have a really nice cafe and art museum, and the whole place had a great design. It seems like Taiwan has a lot of places like this if you know where to look. Very chique, very artsy, and very nice, and often not overly-traversed (though it depends on the season or day of the week).

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So, there you have my excuse for not writing that much recently, but I hope the pictures make up for it.

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Yours, BB&YT

Making news

You may not really believe this, but I made the news in Taiwan. Someone who has been helping me find people for interviews in Tainan (for my dissertation data) called a reporter-friend. The reporter interviewed YT & I for about an hour, though actually it seemed he did most of the talking. The article was in the paper, the 聯合報 (or United Daily News) the next day (Saturday 3/1). It turns out that it was originally intended to be in a local insert for the Tainan city area (longer, and with a photo), but then the editor cut it down to a few inches but pushed it up to island-wide distribution. It's not quite as accurate as I would wish it could be, on a number of levels, but what can you do. The reporter was very nice, and I enjoyed meeting him, and most of all, it's refreshing to feel that others may be interested in what I'm working on as well.

The link (in Chinese) is here, and my quick translation (as requested) is below. Before you ask, Taiwan-guoyu refers to a mixed variety of Mandarin heavily influenced by local dialects, and is traditionally associated with speakers with little education or low social status. Just to be clear, I'm still in the process of examining my data, and I never said that these attitudes have necessarily changed; however most of the people I've interviewed are not quick to admit (if they do at all) that they have low conceptions of speakers of this variety, as they may have in the past. There are other things worth clarifying, but I'll spare you the details. Anyway, if you're interested, here you go.

American [BB] has found that Chinese pronunciation is very interesting, lately he is in Tainan looking for people to interview, he is studying the Taiwan-area standard of Mandarin for his doctoral research; in the process he has found that Taiwan-guoyu is gradually rising, and is influencing standard Mandarin pronunciation.
34-year old [BB] was sent in 1997 by the church to Chongqing and Henan in mainland China for three years to teach English. He studied Mandarin just prior to this, but when he encountered the Sichuan accent he was totally lost, the standard "{bai2}" is pronounced in Sichuan as "{bai4}". [BB]'s doctoral research topic is "Research on the standardization of Mandarin in Taiwan". [BB] said that as local identity is rising, speaking Taiwan-guoyu is no longer shameful, and the Beijing accent of Mandarin is no longer strictly held as the standard.
What is Taiwan-guoyu like? [BB] has finished more than one hundred interviews, but everyone's answer is not completely identical, the most common example given is "wo3" is pronounced as "o3" -- and that is Taiwan-guoyu.

I guess that's it for now. The next quarter starts tomorrow, which means getting up early again for class. Time for bed. BB