Moving a Compost Pile

For the final 11 years of our sojourn in Taiwan we resided in faculty housing on the campus of Tainan Theological College. Those houses were built in the 1950s and 60s. Most were duplexes with front and back yards. In Taiwan’s cities, the garbage truck comes on a fixed schedule to intersections 4 nights every week. On two of those nights, it’s followed closely by the recycling truck. Garbage separation is strictly enforced. Kitchen waste is NOT to be thrown onto the truck, but put into barrels tied to the back bumper of the truck. 

Because I had that back yard (about 3×5 meters square) I was able to dig holes and sink plastic barrels (nothing over 30 liters) into the earth. The bottoms of the barrels were sawed out, and the lids were held down with bricks. My kitchen waste went out there. The bugs loved it.

We moved from Taiwan to America at the end of July, 2018. As soon as we had kitchen waste and table scraps enough to deal with, I uncovered the compost pile at the corner of the back yard of our employer-provided housing and re-started it (I discovered the shower curtain with which I’d covered it two years earlier and the bricks holding down its corners undisturbed under the leaves.). For the 11 weeks we resided in THAT house before moving to THIS house, I continued putting fruit peels, bread heels and other things into the pile. 

When we moved to this house I used pails, tarps and other things to move that compost with me. BUT, I put it in the wrong place here. There was a concrete-bottomed and wood-framed thing in the back yard that appeared to have been a kids’ sandbox. It was empty, so I began to fill it.  This spring I acquired two small bales of straw that went on top. But composting atop concrete is not a long-term thing to do. So, today I started to move it, just about 3 meters, but it’s a LONG 3 meters, because everything is rather wet. 

I made it about half way through. Almost all of the straw, got shifted. It’s wet but otherwise easy to move. The mud underneath, filled with watermelon rind, chunks of onions, eggshells and worms, that stuff is heavy. Like Annie on stage, I’m singing about tomorrow. 

David Alexander resides in Holland, MI after 39 years in Taiwan.

Image Credit: Photographer-Martha Swope, New York [Public domain]

Power Tools in Taiwan

Across the decades I spent in Taiwan, I only acquired one power tool, a drill. Once I borrowed a sander, but when finished I returned it. Here in Holland, Michigan I’ve acquired another drill (I left the Taiwan one behind) and a power “cut off” saw, but little else. That’s because I joined the neighborhood tool library. This week I’m using their portable table saw and an orbital sander. Borrowing, though it costs me $50 per year, is much preferred to owning. 

We moved into this house a year ago, in autumn. It wasn’t until spring that I paid any attention to the windows. In the back of the garage I found such screens as weren’t already installed and went around removing storm windows and putting them up. That’s when I discovered that some of the windows had passed the entire winter without storm windows, and that the screens in the garage were not sufficient to work cover all the windows. I also spent a lot of time loosening windows that hadn’t been opened for years. 

I borrowed a table saw from the tool library and cut wood for new screen frames. The power cut off saw I already owned got things to what seemed to be the proper lengths and widths. I assembled them poorly, tacked on screen, and went to install things. That’s when I learned the principle of “measure twice, cut once.” Some fit well, others poorly, and the last bunch not at all. 

Presently it behooves me to come up with enough storm windows for those places which remained uncovered last winter. I’ve once again borrowed the table saw, and today made lumber for new frames from stuff found in the garage. I’ll be more careful with measuring and assembling this time. I’m wondering what to use for glass.

Any suggestions?

David Alexander is learning how to reside in Holland, MI after 39 years in Taiwan.

Image Credit: https://www.needpix.com/photo/1023575/window-gray-sky-threatening-symbol-threat-grey-clouds-omen-free-pictures

Repenting of…Repenting for…

For some reason this morning I was thinking about borrowing something or other from a friend. That set off a cascade of memories, which led me to contemplate my needs to repent of, and to repent for. 

The year when I was 20 years old I dated a young woman who had two sisters. One day she suggested that we might go bike riding. I agreed, but confessed that my own bike was a rather cheap 3-speed with flat tires.  She really wanted to go for that ride, so offered that I could borrow her younger sister’s new 10 speed. I agreed. Her sister was not amused, but relented, only requesting that I not use the brakes too much because that would wear them out.

From there, my musing extended to how shabbily I had treated that young woman in the relationship that ended in a poorly-done breakup. That led on to how much of a jerk I was almost throughout my 20s, and how much being a jerk characterizes much of who I have been and may still be. 

So I repent. I repent of jerkiness, I repent for the ways I’ve treated people “in” and “due to” my jerkiness, and I ask to be forgiven and given yet one more chance. 

Now what I need is a different model of how to go about being me, since “business as usual” has just been rejected for “going forward.” 

David Alexander resides in Holland, MI after 39 years in Taiwan. 

Image Credit: takomabibelot [CC BY 2.0]

Tickets in Hand

We recently sat down with a calendar for January 2020 and made plans to go home to Taiwan to cast our votes for president. It will be the first time we’ll have voted there. In recent weeks we’ve each been thinking in the direction of the trip. Char wants to spend at least two weeks, and thought we might stay through Chinese New Year, which will begin 13 days after the election. I find myself not wanting to be away from here for such a stretch,  which seems strange to me. Now, if it were mango season, I’d want to be there for two months! But it’s winter.

We were pleased that our favorite air line has a non-stop flight from Chicago and the price is well within reason. After we blocked out our dates (January 6th to 20th ) we only had to make a small adjustment, staying abroad until the 21st, to make all things come out well. A bit of back and forth with the credit card company and we have reservations confirmed and ticket numbers. We hit “print” on the computer screen and 10 full pages of stuff chunked their way forth.

One of the joys of making the reservations was using our Taiwan passports. We left Taiwan in 2018 using these, but entered the US on our American ones. This time we’ll leave the US and enter Taiwan on the Taiwan ones, but re-enter the US on the American ones. Juggling passports makes me feel like a spy or something. 

The thrill of being back in Taiwan will compensate for the hassle of flying there. The presidential race is shaping up to be a three-way thing, though that could change. One party’s candidate is a loudmouth moron populist who, with help from a foreign country, won his party’s nomination. An “independent” campaign by a big-city mayor keeps being suggested, and “he’s still considering whether to declare or not”. The incumbent president won her party’s nomination, but had to overcome a serious challenge by a member of her own cabinet. Their positions didn’t differ much, but he did have that attractive “Y” chromosome. 

Like most who will travel from around the world to cast votes at home, we’ve already decided for whom we’ll cast ours. So, though January 11th will be central in our thoughts, the entire two weeks will be our fantasy trip. We hope to see many friends during that time. 

David Alexander resides in Holland, MI after 39 years in Taiwan.

Unable to Wait

Two days ago I touhed the “publish” button on a web page. Some things ground around on the screen, and eventually a “Congratulations” message appeared. I was told that my e-book publication would be ready in 72 hours. Earlier today I couldn’t keep from checking, so went to the “shop for Nook” page, and found myself listed.

Now, if you’ve been reading current or even past posts on this blog, going back no earlier than April of 2019, you’ve already got ALL of the items included in the e-book, and you’ve got them for free.

Should you, however know someone who does not like to look at blogs, and should you need a gag gift for said person for an upcoming holiday, and should you know that this friend reads on an electronic device like an Android phone or a Nook, then, The book is HERE:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/leaving-taiwan-learning-america-david-alexander/1133825154?ean=2940160785431

Aren’t you glad you read free stuff instead?

David Alexander resides in Holland, MI after 39 years in Taiwan.

Image Credit: Photo by Perfecto Capucine on Unsplash

Elderkonzert

I made up that German, but I think you can probably figure it out without too much trouble. We attended some of these events, mounted by the Tainan YMCA, during our last few years in Taiwan.  The YMCA in Tainan had shifted some of its facilities and services to serving the elderly of the city, including the provision of daycare services for people with memory issues. But it had many activities aimed at older folks who were fully compus mentus as well.  Sometimes they’d mount a musical revue and rent the assembly hall at Tainan Theological College to hold the performances. We’d go because it was near, and because it was free, and because when it happened in the summer it was air conditioned. 

In 2018 we attended a similar event at the senior citizens’ center down the block here in Holland, MI. We went because Char’s sister directs the hand bell choir that does part of the show. The handbell group is excellent!  The other groups do not shine nearly as brightly. Last year the Chorus was good, the Dutch Dancers were OK and the tap dancers less so, but the harmonica band was dreadful and didn’t know it, playing another and another song ad nauseum.  This week it was time for the 2019 gala. Because it’s just a short walk, and because we have a family connection, we attended, The bells were once again excellent (I have to write this, first because it’s true, and second because Char’s sister subscribes to the blog). After the final chord finished vibrating we rose, not to applaud, but to flee the premises.  

Though we’ll have no stories to tell about the 2019 event, we’ll likely go back in 2020. 

Image Credit: Tichnor Brothers, Publisher [Public domain]

David Alexander resides in Holland, MI after 39 years in Taiwan.

The Doorbell Rings

Doorbells in Taiwan don’t sound like the ones in Michigan. In the many places we lived during our Taiwan decades, it was almost always a tweeting bird sound. Last year, when we moved into our retirement home here, though there were two doorbell buttons, neither had any connection to the doorbell box on the dining room wall. Some years previously, residing in employer-provided housing across town, I had learned how to repair the non-functioning doorbell there. I refreshed what I’d learned there and managed to fix the one here, though not without drilling a couple of holes in the house.  

This is a long way ‘round to get to the rings we had on Wednesday. The first was a 10-year-old schoolgirl asking if we had any odd jobs she could do to raise money for her school’s new playground equipment. She had no school supplied information about the project. I was heading out, so I promised to have something for her the next day. In the morning I phoned the school. The secretary knew NOTHING about a fundraiser. When the girl came back in the afternoon, we inquired further; willing to support the project but needing to see a paper about it. She’s promised to return with it today.                                     ScottSteiner [Public domain]

After I went out the bell rang for Char. Cub scouts with an accompanying den mother were selling popcorn, for $20. Char demurred, then one of them said something about just give money and the popcorn would go to the heros. But he wasn’t clear about what he meant. The den-mother came to the rescue. Just give us money, and popcorn will be sent to active duty military personnel. That seemed much more practical. The cubs walked away with a twenty. 

When Taiwan got all “cyber-friendly” the regular at-the-door collections for power and water bills stopped. Nobody asking for cash appeared any more. Life there seems much simpler.

A Lot Less Tree, A Lot More Sky

When we resided in Jersey City in 1980, my wife, Char, had a job in Manhattan, across the river. Monday through Friday she hopped a bus on Summit Avenue through the Lincoln Tunnel to the Port Authority Station on the other side. She transferred to the 7^th Avenue IRT subway and rode north to 116^th Street. For several years before that, the IRT had suffered deferred maintenance. Many train wheels had flat spots, leading to a clattering roar as they moved along the tracks. Deferred maintenance of wheels and other parts of the system got so bad that eventually the only choice was to fix things or quit.

Trees don’t get flat wheels, but they do grow steadily, especially in the tropics. We moved from Kaohsiung City onto campus of Tainan Theological College in 2008. The only tree trimming work we noticed was cleaning up after a typhoon had broken something off or knocked something down. By the summer of 2010 many corners of the campus were severely overgrown. That’s when the “Tainan Theological College Chain Saw Massacre” happened on the “academic side” of campus. (Across the road on the “residential side” the sequel happened the next year.)

After the tree trimmers (some people referred to them as the tree butchers) and their equipment left, there was a lot more sky on campus, and a lot less tree. Though there were no stumps, many tall trunks were left with only a few few branches on top. These filled out within a year. Some faculty members with PhD degrees in fields other than forestry commented that the trimmers had done things all wrong. A new director of physical plant came to the school in 2012 and moved “trimming” from “deferred” to “regular” on the calendar. Te scholars complained about it every year. The trimmers came back regularly, and trees left untrimmed began to fall of their own devices during severe storms. One even fell across a scholar’s rooftop while he was out of the country.

Today (September 26) in Holland, MI, the sounds of chain saws and a wood chipper fill the sonic landscape of the block upon which I reside. Men wearing orange shirts and helmets carry branches from trees past the side of my house from the backyard to the street. The power company has hired a tree service contractor to maintain its right-of-way along the property line at the back of residential lots. Since the last time this was done, apparently, several trees up to 10 inches thick have grown up and touch the telephone and power lines on the poles back there. Before winter storms blow in, and bring down wires, they’re cleaning things up in this part of town.

As I gaze out the upstairs windows in back, the vista opens up to the south and I see a lot more sky out there. It begins to feel like home.

David Alexander resides in Holland, MI after 39 years in Taiwan.

It’s Raining in Here

            The house where we lived on campus at Tainan Theological College from 2008 through 2018 was half of a duplex. It had two floors. On the upper one, long balconies ran along the front and back. The campus had many trees which, as tropical ones are prone to do, shed old leaves and grew new ones year-round. Falling leaves on the ground merely need to be raked. Falling leaves on the balcony need attention paid, because when there’s heavy rain, they clog the drain.

            More than once when rain fell and leaves did what they were prone to do, the balconies became shallow ponds several centimeters deep. Though they were sealed with a product that made them impervious to water, cracks had a way of appearing in the old building that allowed water to get into seams where floors met walls. On such occasions, drops would fall from the kitchen ceiling. Mopping took care of the floor, drain cleaning took care of the ceiling, and all was put right in a few moments. 

               On September 22nd at Hope Church here in Holland, listening to a lecture about our pastor’s recent Doctor of Ministry thesis, something similar to life in Taiwan happened. Water began falling from the ceiling in the room where about 50 people were assembled. It began from around a light fixture and spread. Since the weather was rainy, I immediately assumed that was the problem, a leak in the roof. I was wrong.

                 People scrambled, bringing plastic tubs and trash cans from the church kitchen to catch the flow. One guy familiar with the building diagnosed the problem, crawled into the ceiling and turned off a valve that supplies water to some air conditioning equipment up there. The flow of water stopped, the pastor went into an “in conclusion” mode, and while that was going on, a ceiling tile that had become waterlogged dropped into a trash can. 

               Life, which is interesting no matter whether one is in Taiwan or in Holland, MI, goes on.

David Alexander resides in Holland, MI after 39 years in Taiwan.

Tears in Our Eyes

Kaohsiung was our home for 25 years in Taiwan. Both of our children were born and grew up there. During those years as our work assignments changed we were part of a succession of different Taiwanese churches. We remained steadily part of the same English language church, though. Our children went to Sunday School and other “churchy” activities associated with it. When opportunities came to do things like read a scripture lesson during worship or sing in a choir, each was appropriately involved as willing.  After I was ordained to the ministry, each regularly received communion on the occasions when I presided. Kate sang a solo in a Christmas Eve Festival of Lessons and Carols in 1992. When Grant went off to live in a high school dormitory he became one of the lay readers at Our Lady of Guadalupe Roman Catholic Church in Taichung. When we attended there one Sunday, he led us through the Mass. Now, it seems, the circle has come full turn.

From September 13th to 15th we visited Kate in Boulder, Colorado, where she’s an assistant professor at the University. She’s a member of Grace Lutheran Church, and is on the rota of 4 or 5 people who serve as assisting ministers (leading parts of the liturgy and serving the Lord’s Supper). She was “on duty” when we were in church that day. When it was time for the Lord’s Supper, the pastor led the liturgy and prayers, and members went to the communion table in the center of the church to receive the sacrament. The pastor distributed wafers saying, “the body of Christ broken for you”. Kate came along behind with the chalice saying, “the blood of Christ shed for you.” Each of us reacted exactly the same way. Looking into her eyes and hearing those words, we were driven to tears of joy and choked up, unable to respond “thanks be to God.”  It wasn’t until after the blessing that we were able to say anything more than, “thank you”. 

David Alexander resides in Holland, MI after 39 years in Taiwan.