Our first few days

I want to report my personal observations not only about Taiwan, but also about our Group Study Exchange Team from Tennessee to Taiwan.

I have the very best GSE Team ever! Despite an exhausting flight from Tennessee to Taiwan (with layovers the total trip was about 27 hours or so), they arrived in good spirits and were very committed as we commenced the activities of the first day despite incredible jet lag. The District Governor had all local Rotary Club presidents at the airport to greet us even though we were over an hour late (meaning our flight did not arrive until about 11:30 pm local time).

Our first day started with breakfast at the home of Smiley and Modern, our first host family. They were very gracious and took great care of us.

Upon departure from their home, we went to the Yi-Min Temple in Tou Fen City. This was followed by a relaxing tour of the Tai Po Reservoir and a break at the Beipu at a Hakka Tea House. Here at the Hakka Tea House, local tea was made by grinding various seeds and spices together.

That evening despite sheer exhaustion the Team actively participated in a dinner and reception by the District Governor for our GSE Team. We were a little disappointed that our host families did not allow us to make a slight detour to change clothes and dress up for the occasion, but the District Governor said that there was not problem. In fact, he was offered to find me a tie if I was too self-conscious. We were able to meet another incoming team from California and the outgoing team from District 3500 in Taiwan to District 6780 in Tennessee. They fed us well.

The next day, on March 17, we toured the Da Hu countryside. This area is famous for its strawberries. We not only were treated to some strawberries, but were invited to an area that made various strawberry items like strawberry sausage, strawberry popcorn and strawberry wine. We went out and picked some of the strawberries, and when we visited the town hall, were given even more strawberries to enjoy. We were again provided a huge lunch. We later visited a couple of tea restaurants owned by local Rotarians. At one location, we were able to do a little carving in bamboo which was later provided to us as bamboo cups with our names engraved.

We attended our first local Rotary Club meeting on Tuesday night. It was a joint meeting of two Rotary clubs from Tou Fen. I could not have been prouder of my team. They each gave their respective presentations in Mandarin. I know they were nervous (I was nervous when having to speak as well), but they did a splendid job. I spoke with one of the both of the club presidents separately and they both expressed what a great job the team did with their Chinese presentations. One club president told me that having the team present like this was much better than having each team member do a presentation in English and then having an interpreter try to translate what they have said. We enjoyed yet another large meal and were toasted numerous times.

Thursday March 18 found us at the Concord Charity Foundation. This was an impressive organization. The founders make all of the cups for Starbucks worldwide. They used part of their money to establish this foundation which prepares 1000 meals for the elderly and disabled each day. It is cooked and delivered by volunteers each day. The local family member in charge is one of the club presidents.

We later that day went to the Nanzhuang fish conservation area, which again has Rotary ties. That evening we were again offered a large supper.

I guess you have noticed that the Chinese are always feeding us large meals. We have noticed that we will have to make a conscious effort about how much we eat at these gatherings so we won’t all weight 500 lbs by the end of our trip.

On Friday March 19, we visited the Kwan Yuan Paper Mills. The name is a little misleading. They actually recycle paper, as well as old tires, shrub clippings, scrap wood, metal, etc. They provided some traditional Chinese food for lunch as well as some Pizza (meaning Pizza Chinese style). The afternoon was filled with a visit to the Porite Factory. The president of the local Porite factory is the past district governor of this district and was very gracious when giving us the tour. After the tour we were provided yet another very large supper.

I will provide additional details of our trip later. I'll try to provide some photos as well.