"it"

last night, i wrote to my family: "i agreed to do something with my taiwanese parents tomorrow morning at 7 am and i have no idea what it is. it involves walking, carrying something heavy, and the maolin mountain area.... i don't think we're helping out... adam, this might be what you mean by "language barrier!" what to do when no one's around to translate? and pantomiming only gets you so far? and they can't understand your efforts to pronounce words from the little dictionary? you just say "yes. yes, 7:00 am. okay. i'll do it." and then you find out in the morning what "it" is."

so i was up and ready at 7 this morning. brother jun told me the plan: we were going to hike into a mountain area to deliver provisions. i was told to be careful with my bag, as it contained several pounds of fresh bean sprouts. loving it already-- taiwanese-style volunteer work! just drive to the trouble with a bag full of produce and hike on in. we piled into shu-shu's big rugged truck and hit the road, taking the long way to avoid impassable roads and bridges. our first sight of the troubled area was this:










twisted metal, a torn up riverbed, and a line of soldiers marching in formation as far as the eye could see. the road was closed, but shu-shu told the guards that we were carrying in food-- so they let us pass. we crept along behind the soldiers, trying not to look at the big chunks of missing road. we came to the maolin scenic area first: the tourist bureau had collapsed into the riverbed and soldiers were digging massive piles of dirt out of homes and businesses. we parked the car and joined the lines of soldiers filing up the river. at a certain point, the road was completely destroyed. we moved on, along with solders and other small groups of civilian helpers who looked like they'd been at it for hours (it couldn't have even been 9 am yet). we hiked past broken bamboo forests, a ruined village, and up into the mountains, to maolin village.

no electricity, no running water, kind of like a ghost town with some life left in it (dragon head, anyone?!). we headed straight for shu-shu's best friend's house. despite the circumstances, people seemed pretty content-- especially when we unloaded our bags, which turned out to be full of fresh greens, bean sprouts, roasted chicken feet, kaoliang (sorghum liquor from kinmen), betelnut, and onions. people were THRILLED. even for a couple of onions. they gave us taiwan beer and instant noodles (all they'd been eating for the past week), and told hunting stories. shu-shu also took me over to a municipal office to show me his art on exhibit.

on our way out, we passed more soldiers marching in, now carrying boxes of water and most unbelievable: bags chock full of chinese take-out strung over the ends of bamboo poles. all this talk about military helicopters and coordinated efforts-- when all you really need is a bag full of bean sprouts and some motivation to get past the rubble.
photos: taiwanese troops marching into maolin scenic area; bridges to maolin; riverside road through maolin; chilling with shu-shu's friends (and brother jun); incongruous photo of me interacting with shu-shu's art; taiwanese delivery guy; where the sidewalk ends