Thanksgiving in Taiwan

When I left for Taiwan, I thought about what it would be like to experience my first Thanksgiving outside of the U.S.  The holiday has always meant the traditional things to me; surrounding myself with family, good food and of course football.  Fortunately with Slingbox, I knew I would not miss my football, but I resigned myself to not having my family or experiencing turkey and all of the fixings.

My kids and grandkids held a “Fakesgiving” celebration last Saturday; I assume to be able to have a sibling celebration and be able to attend spouses’ family celebrations on Thanksgiving Day.  They Skyped me and I was able to see most everyone enjoying the festivities.  That meant a lot to me. 

We went to Costco twice this past week and I look at the large turkeys in the meat bunkers, clearly targeting ex-pats or Taiwanese that have lived in the U.S. at some point and wishing to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  It didn’t appear that all of the components for dinner were available, however if you have turkey, you can always improvise.  We don’t have an oven in our house, so cooking a turkey was not possible.   I could grill it, however we have been unable to locate a grill in the stores; it is not a typical appliance in Taiwan and seasonal at best.  So I assumed no turkey for dinner this year.

My Fiancée told me several days ago that some colleagues at the work were planning to have a Thanksgiving get together.  Knowing that an American was here, they kindly invited us.  Originally the meal was planned for 5-6 people.  Within 2 days, the number of people attending increased.  By the time the Thanksgiving meal occurred, there were over 40 attendees, with everyone bringing a dish.  We brought pumpkin pie and tiramisu.  One of the organizers found a local restaurant that cooks turkeys twice per year.  Another person brought mash potatoes and gravy; the gravy had a distinct Asian flavor, using sweet and sour ingredients.  Most people brought traditional Asian dishes, including duck, kimchee, and pizza.  The spread was impressive and we drank Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese beer.  The turkey was cooked to perfection and it was the first time I ate a Thanksgiving meal with chopsticks.

The people attending work in various different scientific research and academic arms of the institute.  Many of the scientists had spent time in the U.S. during their post-doctorate studies. Most people recognized the names of the participants through e-mail and the institute’s newspaper; however a number of people met face to face for the first time.  The primary organizer took time to introduce everyone visiting from outside of Taiwan and then asked everyone to stand up and introduce themselves.   The introductions turned into speeches about the meaning of Thanksgiving and the thankfulness of meeting these good people and sharing a meal.  While I didn’t understand most of what was said, I could tell everyone was moved by the evening.  I gave my speech in English and it was well received.

I was able to watch my football, see some of my family through Skype, eat a great meal and most importantly, share Thanksgiving with new friends that truly appreciate the meaning of the holiday.  I was reminded of my childhood when my Mother would often invite people to our family Thanksgiving meal, which were separated from their families due to work, military and school obligations.

I hope everyone following my blog had a great Thanksgiving.

   

Chinese Massage

As a child growing up during the cold war era, I was always under the impression that the Chinese were the masters of torture.  The Chinese children grew up thinking the Americans were barbarians.  Years later, after Dick Cheney reinforced the use of torture as a primary U.S. intelligence tool, I think we know which culture got it right.  Or maybe not…

Less than 12 hours after arriving in Taiwan, I was taken for a Chinese massage.  When someone hears Chinese massage, they can have different views.  At the lowest level, massage parlors are prostitution centers.  Massages at reputable hotel spas can come with or without happy endings.  The massage I was treated to is called Tui Na.  This therapy is part of traditional Chinese medicinal practices.  Tui Na utilizes Taoism and martial art principals to bring the body into balance.  There are eight principals of traditional Chinese medicine with the emphasis on getting the Qi (energy) flowing throughout the body.  Tui Na dates back over 3,800 years to the Shang dynasty.

The massage therapy involves manipulation similar to a chiropractor in the U.S.  It also involves deep muscle kneading and pressing, and a technique called cupping to remove toxins from the body.

After 30 minutes of deep and painful massaging of the muscles, with the therapist using hands, elbows, forehead and other body parts, I was already in pain.  Then the spine and joint manipulation began.  Large hammers came out of hiding and soon I felt the thumping on my back, neck and butt.   Suction cups were placed on my back with a significant vacuum drawn, to cup the skin of my back and draw the toxins.  This left large bruise circles that reminded me of crop circles in the English countryside.   At this point the therapist asked me if Asian women were more delicate than American women-my response was certainly not when giving a massage.  The therapist explained that my body was pretty healthy, which made me wonder why I needed to go through so much pain, if everything was good.  The next day I was sore, so I remain confused why a healthy body needs the therapy to feel better.

I’m now not sure whether Dick Cheney or the Chinese are better at torture.

My Wine

My winemaking journey completed a major milestone.  15 years ago I dreamed of making my own wine.  We had taken a number of wine destination vacations and the thought of looking out our window at a vineyard, making critically acclaimed wine, and living the life of a winemaker in a known wine region sounded romantic.   As I later realized, romantic is often trumped by practical.

In late 2005 I entered the Viticulture and Enology program at the University of California Davis.  This is the school that has educated many of the best winemakers from around the world.  Good wine is difficult to make, even when you start with premium grapes and use sound winemaking techniques.  There is a great deal of bad wine produced, often by people that don’t fully know what they are doing.  Having the education before I began making wine was an absolute for me.  In my U.C. Davis class, I was the only student out of more than 30 that was not a current winemaker at that time.  This reinforced my belief that education was necessary and seeing existing winemakers obtain the same education that I was seeking proved that.  In December 2008 I completed the program.

2009 was my first vintage of Napa Valley Rutherford AVA Cabernet Sauvignon.  To learn more about why I chose this varietal and AVA, please visit my website.  If you don’t know the name of my winery, just Google my full name followed by winemaker and you should see it.

Today my 2009 vintage is delivered and safely in storage.  A friend of mine used her logistics expertise to help arrange the transportation from the bottling plant and saved some shipping costs; I will make sure she receives a bottle of my first vintage in gratitude. It will take at least 5 more years of aging in the bottle, before the wine begins to achieve its potential.  That doesn’t mean I won’t drink some now.

Australia’s most famous wine, and one of my favorites, is Penfolds Grange.  This wine was first made by Max Schubert in 1951 and six years later, after a number of negative reviews, Penfolds told Max to stop making Grange.  Max continued making it, hiding the barrels in the vast winery.  Several years later, an original 1951 was tasted again, and with additional maturation, was now a spectacular wine.  Penfolds told Max to restart production of Grange and he answered that he had never stopped.  The story illustrates that good wine takes time.  I was fortunate to visit the Penfolds Grange winery earlier this year.

My dream of 15 years was reshaped by the knowledge I gained and the practical side of my investment focus.  The only asset that is important to own is the wine.  Vineyards take 4 to 5 years after planting, fertilizing, pruning and constant care, before the first grapes are harvested.  There are great growers of grapes in Napa Valley; I don’t need to grow my own.  I also don’t need to own a processing facility that is used for 3 weeks each year.  There is capacity that already exists.  I don’t need to own barrel aging caves or bottling equipment.  All I really want to own is the wine.

Today I can hold a bottle of my wine and remind myself of the journey taken.

Preparation for the Move to Taiwan

I have been busy over the past few weeks preparing for the move to Taiwan.  The physical move will take place in two steps; I will leave next week to spend one month there, returning home for one month during the holidays, followed by the permanent move in mid-January.  The physical move requires that I plan what clothes and personal items I need to take in my luggage on each trip.  I could pay significant money to have more items shipped from the U.S. to Taiwan; however I like to believe that I have simplified my life enough to make the move with only several suite cases filled with my stuff.  Also, I need to take my golf clubs, camera equipment, computer and wine enjoyment apparatus.  These things make me happy.

My Fiancée’s neighbors own their businesses and appear to have ample free time to golf.  They are anxious to get me out to their clubs and gamble.  The Chinese love to gamble.  I enjoy their company and wine cellars, and look forward to reciprocating the hospitality they have shown so far.  However, gambling on my golf game will not be part of the reciprocation.  The only thing in golf that is important to me, is hitting my drives as far as I can.  Nothing else matters and nothing else should.  I will bring the golf clubs on my first trip over.  On my second trip, I am meeting my Fiancée in Kyoto Japan for a vacation, before going to Taiwan.  Hauling my clubs around the air and train terminals of Japan won’t work out too well, so the clubs definitely go on the first trip.  The only problem is my flight from Hong Kong to Taiwan is on a small regional carrier that doesn’t appear to provide any concessions to their baggage rules for golf clubs.  I am choosing to take my chances and pull out my platinum frequent flyer card for a sister airline, if a problem arises.

My camera equipment goes wherever I do.  I purchased my Nikon SLR more than 5 years ago, adding lenses as I went.  Admittedly I am not a very good photographer, compared to the serious hobbyists, however I am getting better and it provides enjoyment for me.  I will write more on my photography in the future.

My latest computer was purchased with the move and extensive travel in mind.  It is a very small netbook, with beefed up memory, hard drive and a full 64 bit operating system, which is hard to get on netbooks.  It is so small and light, yet fully useful; I don’t understand why someone prefers a tablet over this product.  At my Fiancée’s urging, I have purchased Slingbox.  I setup the hardware at the U.S. home utilizing a standard HD cable box with DVR, and download the software on my netbook.   I can watch my full array of cable channels anywhere in the world that I have internet access.   I can upstream to a large HDTV with HDMI and utilize the DVR function.  I have been testing it for a week and it really works out great.  This was one of the most concerning challenges I faced; how do I watch my beloved football team in real time.

In addition to the physical move of stuff, there are many other considerations.  While I don’t have many bills to pay, and I pay everything I can electronically, remaining in touch with all service providers while my U.S. mail is held at the post office was a concern.   I have all of the providers setup in my netbook Outlook with usernames and encrypted passwords.  I believe I can manage the U.S. house from the other side of the world.  I have a very good lawn care provider that has been cutting my grass since July and he will also take care of snow removal.  He sends his invoices via e-mail and I trigger my bank to pay him.  Various other services will be handled the same way.

Obtaining all of the documents to prepare our income taxes early next year, without the benefit of the U.S. mail had to be thought through.  Most everything is available on line.

I had a security system installed to detect entry, low temperature and smoke.  In addition, I have neighbors and family watching the house when we are not there.   I was concerned about my cleaning lady accessing the house and correctly disarming and arming the system as she came and went.  She struggled to open the garage door with the four digit pin on the keypad.   This has resolved itself; she had been charging me for more hours than she worked, and we agreed to end her service.  I need to get someone in occasionally to clean and I will work to figure that out when I return next month.

I have been dumping houseplants, though the best ones are available to good homes.  I have a friend coming over to hopefully take a few.  The vegetable garden has been rototilled and replaced with wildflowers that should provide color next summer.

Many people deal with having multiple houses and the issues I described.   There are many other things that I have managed recently to make the move effective.  I believe I am ready and have found some level of liberation that I am able to travel the world, live anywhere and yet still run my life.  Simplicity, a good netbook computer, and my wine enjoyment apparatus are important to this liberation. 

Marriage in Taiwan for a Foreigner

I have put an extensive amount of time into researching the requirements for a foreigner to marry a Taiwanese citizen in Taiwan.  The process is confusing and the information available on line and through official Taiwan sources is conflicting.  In part the issues are language and translation related, but more likely cultural.   I cannot use my western mind to comprehend an eastern view towards marriage.  We think we largely have it figured out and we are targeting a December marriage.  I thought I would share some of the information I collected so far.

Some of the issues revolve around several topics, with each having specific requirements to be completed within a specified time window, in either the U.S. or Taiwan. These topics include visa type and timing, my health, my criminality, my current marital status and my bank account.

My marital status is widower/single and I am available for marriage.  This seems pretty clean and should represent no problem, except Taiwan requires that I prove I am single.  That is not as easy as it may sound.  I can prove I was previously married; I have a marriage certificate.  I cannot easily prove I am single, because my local jurisdiction does not hand out single certificates.  It is similar to proving that I have not eaten avocados during the past month, which for the record, I have.  Fortunately the Taiwan government has a solution.  I can go the U.S. consulate in Taipei and have a completed Affidavit Regarding Marital Status notarized and of course exchange money.  This is not logical to my western mind, since a married person can go pay money to “prove” they are single.

My Fiancée told me that I need a criminal record to get married.   Again this is not logical to my western mind and fortunately or unfortunately based on the statement she made, I came close to successfully having a criminal record in my youth.  She then corrected herself and said I need to have proof that I have no criminal record.  That makes more sense to me.  After some phone calls and internet searching, I found out that my state justice department provides a notarized criminal background check, once I complete a form, obtain full fingerprints from my local police department and forward money and forms to begin the process.  I mailed everything to the state on Thursday afternoon.  Not surprising, my state which is populated by very efficient people of northern European descent, completed the background check and I received the certificate on Saturday in the mail.  That is crazy efficient.  Now my Fiancée is slightly disappointed that she is not marrying a bad boy, like she desires.  To offset my perfectly clean record, I am growing a beard and taking up cigarette smoking.  I also need a criminal background check conducted in Taiwan; hopefully my time there so far doesn’t disqualify me for marriage.

I can write about visas for many pages.  The short story is that I need to have a free 30 day landing visa when I arrive.  I will leave on the 29^th day, so all is good.  This is the only thing in the process that I pay no money and it is obviously an oversight by the Taiwan government.   I can obtain a visitor’s visa for $140 USD plus forms, pictures, trips to Chicago and other hassles.  The visitor visa is good for 60 days.  The key to each visa type is the application for an Alien Residency Certificate or ARC.  You cannot get an ARC on a landing visa, but if you use the visitor visa, it must be done within 15 days or arrival.   I cannot apply for the ARC until I have a marriage certificate and I am added to the local household, which requires notarized forms and the exchange of money. 

The health certificate actually makes sense to me.  I need to obtain a completed and notarized form that states I have no STDs, tuberculosis and other issues.  I didn’t realize TB was still an issue, but I’m pretty sure I will be able to obtain the certificate.  I can have my local doctor complete the form or have it done in Taiwan.  I will use a doctor in Taiwan, so I don’t have to have the U.S. form translated, notarized and exchange money.  I will be required to have the form notarized in Taiwan, and exchange money, but I can avoid the translation. 

I need to prove I have a bank account with a minimum level of money.   No problem, except I must have this translated, notarized and exchange money.  The purpose of this bank account information is to prove I have enough money to pay for everything else in the marriage process.

While looking on line for information, I found one man’s blog titled Taiwan Marriage for Foreigners.  He is an American from NY and is wife is Taiwanese.  I found his story slightly useful and comforting.  I also used the Taiwan National Immigration Agency website.  This was not very useful or comforting. The website included little cartoon figures; Asians love cartoon figures.  I assumed the FAQ section of this website would deal with some of the most relevant issues foreigners would face.  Included in their top ten FAQs are some cut and pastes:

A pregnant foreign caretaker gives birth during the validity of work in the R.O.C. and the biological father of the child…    I wasn’t sure if this referenced a Taiwanese man impregnating his hired help from a foreign country.

A foreign spouse married to 2 nationals with household registered in the Taiwan Areas separately has applied for residence of relations for 2 times and…    Since Taiwan doesn’t allow polygamy, I was confused by this.  Also, reference my comments on proving that I am single above.

What I haven’t mentioned is that all of these requirements have expiration dates.  Some certificates are good for 90 days and others have 15 day lead times.  Coupled with 15 day within landing requirements on 30 day visas, and the Chinese desire to marry on a lucky day, such as the 8^th, planning a Chinese marriage is difficult.  I haven’t even mentioned planning wedding receptions in three different countries.

Everything is coming into focus.  My Fiancée is stressed by the process, but I know she loves me, since we are still moving forward.