Toastmasters & Yangmingshan National Park Volunteer Interpreters

Four Toastmasters from D76 decided to meet with Mount Aso visitors at the Visitor Center of Yangmingshan National Park (YMSNP) Headquarters in stead of attending the D67 Fallcon 2009 this morning.

After the glamour dinner party yesterday evening, Toastmasters Rio Imamura, Masaki Oshiumi, Yukio Horie and Teiko Uemura stayed overnight with me at my friend's hot spring house at YMSNP. Rio and Masaki retired for the night early after a good hot spring bath. Teiko and Yukio, the first timers to YMSNP, joined me and my friend for a night snack till midnight. Five of us had an early morning in the park, visited the famous Flower Clock and Statue of Philosopher Wang Yangming before we enjoyed a traditional Chinese breakfast at my friend's restaurant.

At nine, two dozen YMSNP volunteer Interpreters were waiting for nine Aso Museum Interpreters from Japan in front of the visitors center. It was the first encounter of YMSNP volunteer Interpreters and Aso Museum Interpreters. Both parties were excited because YMS and Aso are both known for volcano. Five toastmasters witnessed the meaningful event of one hour friendly gathering, followed by a visit to Small Fumarole, a scenic spot of volcano eruption and secondary hydro-thermal deposit.

D67 Fallcon Dinner Party

In stead of watching people play, I like to be a player on the ground. At D67 Fallcon 2009 Dinner Party, I was one of the players among many toastmasters, including four toastmasters from D76 (Japan).

I love Toastmasters, especially the semiannual Toastmasters conferences. If possible, I love to take the opportunity to bring toastmasters from different clubs together to excel on stage to bring happiness to the participants. This evening, we wowed a big audience of 800 toastmasters and friends at Zhong-shan Building with the debut performance of D67 Toastmasters Chorus.

I was proud that I took the initiatives to charter D67 Toastmasters Chorus in September. Having been busy coordinating the singing activities for the past two months, I couldn't feel happier for the historic move when 15 Taiwan Toastmasters Chorus members sang in harmony with four toastmasters from Japan on stage.

Read more about Taiwan Toastmasters Chorus from Toastmaster Rio Imamura, you shall share our joyful achievements. Learn more about the repertoire of Taiwan Toastmasters Chorus debut performance, Akatonbo and Amazing Grace.

D67 Fallcon 2009 Welcome Party

I had never sat next to a visually impaired person at dinner till tonight. What a great honor it was for me to sit beside D67 Fallcon 2009 Keynote Speaker Dana LaMon, World Champion of Public Speaking 1992.

Toastmaster Dana LaMon has a very different outlook in life from most visually impaired persons in the field of massage business in Taiwan. Dana became blind at the age of four. He got mathematics degree from Yale University, and law degree from Southern California. Dana joined Toastmasters in 1989, won the world champion of public speaking in 1992, and aspired to be a professional speaker in Toastmasters. Dana is blind, but he proves visually impaired persons can achieve just as much if not more.

When D67 turned to Toastmasters International for potential keynote speaker candidates at D67 Fallcon 2009, Dana was the first accredited professional speaker who answered the call. He responded in less than two hours when D67 Jame Lin placed the request on line. Dana stood out and won himself the chance to inspire Toastmasters in Taiwan for the first time.

Sitting by an outstanding Toastmaster and a world class motivation speaker at dinner, I watched him analyze the Chinese food with his fingers, I imagined him drawing the picture of a big table of mouthwatering seafood in his mind.

I couldn't help being curious about the life master deprived of visual capacity from childhood. Dana's sense of humor brought a full house of laughter. Dana's powerful recognition of people around him impressed us. In addition to many touching stories, Dana also demonstrated that blind is what he was, but not who he was.

One week before Dana came to Taiwan, I walked into Taipei City Library for Visually Impaired for the first time. I wanted to know more about the world of the blind, so that I could serve as a better interpreter for Dana's one-hour motivational speech "The Driving Force" at Taipei School for Visually Impaired to talk about what drove him achieve the things he did. Luckily I opened the door of the Parents Association of Visually Impaired. In the end, I bought one of the donated pianos at the Association. It was Dana who added a new dimension to my life in 2009. Thank you, Dana!

Nursing Home Birthday Party

I joined a small community volunteers group in Hsin-tien three years ago. One of our jobs was to visit the Taipei Nursing Home to entertain the wheelchair ridden elderly every month for two hours. It had been a challenge for me ever since.

What could I do to change the moods of elderly? How could I involve as many elderly as possible? What kind of group activities would cheer up the elderly? What games would do good to rehabilitate the elderly for a little for a short period of time?

The first time I walked into the care center for the disabled elderly at the nursing home, I saw sad faces on the wheelchairs. Without too much of thinking, I tried my best to engage the elderly with various group games at once. It was such a sensation to see the sad faces turned into smiling faces. Shouldn't people feel happy more often regardless of the age? Shouldn't people feel contented when they walked on the last part of their life journey?

Two senior Toastmasters friends from Kitakyushu toastmasters joined us to bring joy to the elderly at the seasonal birthday party of nursing home. We sang one Japanese song "Akatonbo" and one English song "Amazing Grace" on stage of the big auditorium. We wowed every body by proving people were never too old to learn new tricks. We proved that people should not give up chance to entertain people to bring joy and to add color to life.

Being the first Toastmasters group of different nationalities to perform at the birthday party of the Nursing Home, we caught the attention from a big audience of 100 elderly. Old people can show up on stage. old people can sit in the audience. People can bring joy to people. People can be the source of delight and happiness if we believe in ourselves.

Thanksgiving Dinner 2009

The Thanksgiving dinner 2009 was special. It was a family dinner of Toastmasters singers of Taiwan and Japan. Toastmasters Rio Imamura, Scott Weaver, Frank Yeh, Helen Chen were first timers to my brother Jimmy's dinner party this evening.

Toastmasters Rio Imamura and Masaki Oshiumi just arrived in Taipei from Fukuoka this afternoon. They came to Jimmy's place before five to practice singing "Akatonbo" and "Amazing Grace". Even though I sent them the MP3 of both songs in advance, it was still a challenge for me to work with them and vice versa. Fortunately, we had an ample amount of time to sing again, again, and again, before our performance at the Nursing Home Birthday Party Friday afternoon.

Jimmy impressed a full house of Toastmasters with a big table of home made Chinese food. Rio was moved with the blessing to have a Thanksgiving Dinner at a Chinese family for the first time. He was interested in all dishes Jimmy prepared this evening. Rio might have thought Chinese also celebrate the Thanksgiving as the Americans.

After dinner, we had an intensive training on the articulation of Chinese lyrics of Akatonbo for Rio and Masaki. It was a joyful singing dinner party at Jimmy's. I'm thinking of inviting more toastmasters to sing at Jimmy's in the future. Maybe we can organize a small chamber choir of Toastmasters to meet at Jimmy's twice a month. It's thrilling to fill Jimmy's place with laughter and music.

Scorpion Birthday Party 2009

Toastmaster Lydia Lin invited golden ladies to her Karaoke lounge this evening. It became a rule of hers to host a singing party at her mansion to celebrate her birthday every November. Golden ladies loved to get together to give her all the best wishes for her happiness and joyance we could possibly offer.

Besides eating, singing, dancing, we took the opportunity to rehearse the two songs "Akatonbo" and "Amazing Grace" we were about to perform at D67 Fallcon 2009, November 28th.

Toastmaster Harry Fong, Council Governor 2000-2010, the better half of Lydia joined the second half of the party. He took many photos of the sexy eightsome and videotaped our dress rehearsal of the dinner party. My, my, in less than a week, we would stand up for our debut performance on stage. We had a lot to do (sing) this week.

The First Joint Rotary Luncheon

When Toastmaster Athena Lien, District Governor 2003-2004, invited me to attend the first joint meeting of Taipei Rotary club (English) & Tokai Rotary club (Japanese) at Hotel Royal Taipei, I felt flattered to participate in the significant event. I didn't know that there were two Japanese Rotary clubs in Taiwan, one in Taipei and the other in Kaohsiung, till this afternoon. It was indeed a delight to be a part of the versatile community in Taipei.

The Keynote Speaker Kumiko Hirano (平野久美子), a Japanese Journalist, talked about the Japanese engineer, Shinpei Torii (信平鳥居) who constructed the first ecological dam in Taiwan. Hirano-san published her book "水の奇跡を呼んだ男" in June, 2009. I was impressed by her intensive research on the underground dam in Ping-tong.

Born in the south of Taiwan, I knew many Japanese engineers devoted their lives to the development of the Chia-nan Plain. Hirano-san inspired me to study more about the basic infrastructure lay by Japanese during 50 years colonization period from 1895 till 1945.

After the joint Rotary meeting, I was lucky to buy the last copy of Hirono's book with her autograph. Buying the book gave me the motive to explore more history about the wartime in Taiwan. I should make it one of my goals in 2010 to finish reading the book and hopefully to see the dam with my own eyes.

The long-time-no-see Toastmaster Scott Weaver was at the joint meeting. How nice it was to have two dear old toastmaters friends at the same meeting. With Athena's consent first, followed by Scott's to join the singing performance at the Nursing Home Friday afternoon, November 27th. Thank you, Athena! Thank you, Scott!

Mamma Mia

I was the first one to arrive at the 7th chorus lesson this evening. Conductor Chi-ling's daughter-in-law opened the door and two of us chatted about everything, from her family in China, her mother-to-be experience, to her everyday life in Taipei.

The substitute conductor Chang Hsin-ting was the second one to arrive. I thought she was Pianist Yi-hwa, I kept playing piano, talking at the same time. Conductor Hsin-ting is a young and friendly high school teacher of arts and humanity. We became instant friends. Without wasting any minute, I asked Conductor Hsin-ting to comment on my solo of "Akatombo" and "Amazing Grace" in both voice parts. It was an awesome opportunity to sing. I exerted my every effort to articulate the lyrics of Amazing Grace.

At 7 o'clock, we began a series of vocal skill practice for 20 minutes, followed by singing "Fireflies", "Akatombo", and "Amazing Grace" again and again before the intermission. Only eight members showed up at the 7th chorus lesson in the rainy day. It was Ron's lucky evening to be surrounded by nine beautiful ladies singers, including the conductor and pianist.

Soprano: Green Chen, Kate Hsu, Michelle Liu
Alto: Maggie Chiu, Gina Fu, Lydia Lin, Sherry Li
Tenor: Ron Chen

After the intermission, we attempted Mamma Mia for the first time for 20 minutes. As we were more occupied with the coming two performances in the coming week, we were less interested in learning any new song at the moment. We told Conductor Hsin-ting we were about to perform "Akatombo" and "Amazing Grace" on stage at the Nursing Home Birthday Party Friday afternoon, November 27th and at D67 Fall Conference Dinner Party Saturday evening, November 28th. Conductor Hsin-ting was generous to give her best effort to coach us to sing both songs A Cappella. Conductor Hsin-ting was pleased and impressed with our voices, so were we.

After Conductor Hsin-ting's valuable input this evening, we became more confidence of our vocal skills. We became more assured of ourselves singing in harmony in public. Now we need to memorize the lyrics of both songs by heart.

The Taste of a Beginner Conductor

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.- Hilary Cooper

Michelle arrived at 7 o'clock with a box of Tiramisu. Jimmy prepared a full table of ham and cheese sandwiches, fruits, corn on the cobs, drinks. While waiting for Bill to join us, Jimmy, Michelle and I started practicing "Amazing Grace". When Bill arrived, the warm evening of Chamber Choir of Four began. We sang Akatombo and Amazing Grace again and again, until all of us four could memorize the lyrics by heart and sang in harmony!

Amazing Grace John Newton (1725-1807)
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, 奇異恩典 何等甘甜
That saved a wretch like me. 我罪已得赦免
I once was lost but now am found, 前我失喪 今被尋回
Was blind, but now I see. 瞎眼今得看見

When we've been here ten thousand years, 將來禧年 聖徒歡聚
Bright shining as the sun. 恩光愛誼千年
We've no less days to sing God's praise, 喜樂頌贊 在父座前
Than when we've first begun. 深望那日快現

Soprano: Michelle Liu
Alto: Sherry Li
Tenor: Jimmy Li
Bass: Bill Wan

Michelle and I recorded Akatombo in Mandarin for Toastmasters Rio Imamura and Masaki Oshiumi this evening, so that they can practice in Japan. I'm so excited that D67 chorus will join hands with toastmasters from D76 to give two consecutive performances at Nursing Home Birthday Party Friday afternoon (11/27) and D67 Fallcon 2009 Dinner Party Saturday evening (11/28). How meaningful it would be if we could take our breath away as well as others on two important occasions before the end of 2009.

Many thanks go to Bill, Jimmy and Michelle for a lovely and wonderful chamber of choir evening. I enjoyed singing and conducting for the first time. I learned to look beyond the differences and find a way to guide people to voice out in harmony. It was fulfilling!

Blissfulness in front of Eyes

心事數莖白髮，生涯一片青山。空林有雪相待，古道無人獨還。 張繼 歸山　

Lydia was very kind to invite me to her mansion to practice the alto part of "Amazing Grace". She sang the holy spirit song at Toastmaster David Chen's funeral with more than a dozen Toastmasters last July.

Upon the invitation of D76 Toastmasters, D67 chorus would sing "Amazing Grace" at D67 Fallcon Dinner Party in honor of Keynote Speaker Dana Lamon, DTM, the World Champion of Public Speaking in 1992. Lamon says, "when I was four years old, an event occurred that changed my life. I became blind. But I didn't choose to live a life in self pity or self imposed limitations, because I understood that this life is the only one I have and I've got to make the best of it."

As much inspired by Dana Lamon, Lydia and I practiced singing hard nonstop for two hours. Being a member of YMCA Oratorio Choir for more than two years, Lydia gave me a lot of singing advice. I found myself become a better singer each day. After the morning singing practice, Lydia and I decided to reward ourselves with a good lunch at Hotel Westin. To our surprise, Westin was packed with patrons today.

At half past one, we finally got a seat at Gion Restaurant. We were told there was a special autumn campaign now, spend NT$1,000 and get a coupon of NT$500. Our shopping spree nerves were immediately tickled and we ordered two mini full course of luncheon at NT$1,480 per person. The food was superb, the ambience was serene, with a touch of Gion atmosphere. We also ordered an extra cup of hot coffee to complement our meal. What a luxurious day at Westin on Lydia's scorpion birthday.

It was after three when we drove out of Westin. On our way back to Lydia's place, we saw many purple trumpet flowers blooming on the wall and fence in the sun. It was too beautiful to miss, we got of the car, took a bunch of photos before we ran for family chores on separate ways.

When I got home, I noticed for the first time that the purple trumpet flowers also bloomed at the back veranda of my apartment! Wow, what an afternoon! I see the blissfulness right in front of my every eyes!

A Diva Was Born

I stood tall and soloed O Sole Mio with all my strength in front of D67 chorus members before we ended the 6th chorus lesson this evening! What a rewarding singing night when Conductor Chi-ling complimented me by saying, "Sherry, you sang like an Italian!"

At 6:30PM, I rang the bell of Conductor Chi-ling's studio, I was the first member to arrive, Pianist Yi-hwa was there. I grabbed the once-in-a-lifetime chance to attempt O Sole Mio, I could memorize the song by heart. No sooner than later, Yi-hwa played the piano, I uttered the first word "Che" courageously, continued the first half of the famous Italian folk song with joy, but when it came to "Ma", the highest key of the entire song, I choked up and had to do it again. After I completed the whole song, Conductor Chi-ling joked, "Sherry, you sang like a Taiwanese!"

At seven o'clock, we started the 6th chorus lesson on time, but more than half of the chorus members were absent. Lucky George was the only male vocal this evening. Conductor Chi-ling decided to coach each chorus member the vocal skills. It was an unexpected vocal lesson. Every member was called upon to voice out and Conductor Chi-ling gave each chorus member specific directions for personal improvement.

Soprano: Jorie Wu, Green Chen
Alto: Marian Hsiao, Maggie Chiu, Lydia Lin, Sherry Li
Bass: George Yen

Singing is like speaking, we use our body as an organ, if not more. It's more than obvious that we won't sing unless we exercise our organ as often as possible. There is no short cut to master any skills. If we do not hone vocal skills on daily basis, our organ won't function the way we wish. I'm determined to practice singing everyday either with a group or by myself. "Singing for Fun" is my new motto!