Angry Birds Debate 2011

Toastmaster Jonathan Borock called me at 4:30PM, Monday, May 23rd, when he arrived in Taipei after the 2nd United Asian Debating Championship 2011 in Macao. In less than an hour, we met at the lobby of his hotel in Ximen.

For the following 5 and 1/2 hours, we had a pleasant Angry Birds Debate strolling around the Ximen District, purchasing five mascots of colorful angry birds and three green evil pigs in various sizes, drinking fruits smoothy at Sol Cafe' next to the Riverside Live House, playing angry birds games to decide who paid the bill, having traditional Chinese dinner, enjoying the lovely singing at the Cold Stone Ice Cream.

I met Toastmaster Jonathan Borock at D76 Fall Conference 2010 in Kumamoto in November. I remember him well because we went to Kentucky Colonel Charlie Nagatani's Country Music Club after the Fall Conference dinner party with two other Toastmasters. Jonathan was the only person who didn't drink among four of us, he ordered a can of Coca Cola.

I didn't know Jonathan Borock was a famous debater till I received an email from Toastmaster Fujino Kazue of Fukuoka Toastmasters Club informing me of Jonathan’s coming to Taiwan to give a debate workshop in Kao-hsiung. Then I received a mail from Jonathan himself inviting me to the 1st Wenzao Cup Taiwan University English Debate Championship in Kao-hsiung, May 14th and 15th.

Wow, I was impressed with Jonathan Borock's titles, PhD candidate of Kyushu Univertsity, President of NYC Debate, Fellow of Asian Debate Institute, Founder of Sophia Debating Society, First Lifetime Member of ICU Debating Society, and Ambassadorial Representative to Japan of Society for Associated Intertertiary Debaters (SAID).

Tuesday afternoon, Jonathan and I planned to meet at CKS Memorial Hall, but we failed to find each other. I hung around to see the dress rehearsal of Honorary Guards of the Tri-services march to the National Defense Music Band. It was magnificent and it reminded me of my honorary guard marches in high school four decades ago. The Military Tattoo in Taipei (MTT) will take place at the CKS Memorial Hall Sunday afternoon, May 28th, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China.

Wednesday evening, Jonathan asked me if I would be interested in attending his debate workshop at National Chung-hsin University Thursday afternoon, May 26th. 「Why not? I could always learn new tricks」, I answered, 「we can even have a half day tour of Taichung City before the debate workshop.」 「How about we meet at National Museum of Fine Arts at 11:30」, Jonathan proposed. I said, OK!

It was a frutiful day Thursday. I arrived at the National Museum of Fine Arts ahead of time and I didn’t miss Jonathan this time. We started our visit by taking a break at the Rose House on the 2nd floor. Jonathan ordered a cranberry milk tea and I had pickled pork knuckle for lunch. After recharging at the Rose House with a piano concerto in the air, we were ready to visit the museum. Then we took a Taxi to the National Science Museum. While Jonathan made a quick tour, I had my second coffee at the McDonald on the 2nd floor.

The debate workshop started at 5:30PM and ended at 8:00PM on time. After Jonathan talked about the merits of joining the debate society, we were divided into two groups. Sophy Chen and Jeff Tsai helped the beginners group of no debate knowledge. Jonathan worked on the group with previous debating experience. I was in the beginners group and learned many jargons and rules. Sophy, Jeff, and Betty gave a demo and five of us first timers were divided into three groups to state our motions in front of others in 3 minutes.

It really felt good to be back on campus with the young and promising college students. I was thrilled to see the students eager to learn the debate rules and enthusiastic about honing their debating skills. I was excited to see the development of the debaters and adjudicators in Taiwan.

Believing that the debate in English will not only help students with the presentation and persuasion skills, but it also enables students to have critical thinking and logical elaboration, I recommend the Toastmasters on campus consider the debating in English as the extracurricular activity of choice to to train the skills in active thinking, active listening and active speaking. In addition to the English proficiency, debaters need to cooperate with the teammates and the opposition teams to have their message conveyed in the most effective way.

After the debate workshop, we enjoyed a dinner at the Triangle Tea Shop till 10PM. Chung-hsin University has changed a lot since I was a freshman at the Department of Botany in 1973. I've never visited the Alma Mater since I changed my major to study the pharmacy at Taipei Medical College in 1975.

Trini’s House Warming Party

At last, Trini announced her house warming party after three months interior decoration. Every golden lady was eager to see her brand new love nest. I was the first one to arrive at 11 o'clock Saturay, May 21st. While waiting for Trini to pick up Irene, I took it easy to powerder myself at the lobby. Then three of us walked to Building H through the central park in the middle of the apartment complex.

Right before we got on the elevator to Trini's warm house on the 7th floor, Irene received a long distance call from Michelle at the Ho Chi Minh Airport in Vietnam. Michelle was excited to get on the airplane on the waiting list to fly back to Taiwan to join the house warming party for the merrily chirping Trini.

Pamela joined us while we were still waiting for the elevator. No sooner than later Trini opened the door, I made a thorough inspection of her exquisite and cozy world full of books and furnitures. From the bedroom, the study room, the living room, the kitchen, the dining room, it was like a grand tour of a gigantic lego house.

Upon Trini's suggestions, I tried her state-of-the-arts toilette, with all fascinating functions. If I could have one like hers one day, I would spend all day long writing blogs sitting on the most pragamatic utility designed for human pleasure. After playing with all the bottoms on the wall in the avant-garde rest room, I joined Pamela and Irene to snuggle on the soft leather sofa wataching TV in the living room while Trini was busy in the kitchen. Ding Dong, the bell rang, there walked in Linda and Lydia.

Trini prepared a full table of food and drinks single-handed, stewed pig foot (紅燒豬腳), steamed sweet yam pork (粉蒸肉), homemade pickles. Pamela bought a bunch of traditional Chinese breads (蔥燒餅、蟹黃酥). With so many mouth-watering dishes in front of my eyes, I couldn't help but putting aside my ambitious diet plan to lose 5 kilograms I gained during the Regensburger Domspatzen Concert Tour in Taiwan, from April 28th till May 10th.

Time flies during the happy hours, eating, drinking, laughing, among golden ladies Toastmasters. In the middle of the noisy golden luncheon, Trini received a phone call from the creation center that the Karaoke room was ready for our disposable.

Three karaoke rooms at the big recreation center on the basement were fully booked. We were assigned to KTV-2 from 1PM to 5PM. After a couple of warm-up songs, I decided to take a recess reading my book in the hall, drinking my coffee latte for the afternoon. The karaoke room was freezing cold! I must take care of my vocal cord before I go to the recording studio with Hsin-tien Women Chorus Friday afternoon, June 3rd.

Linda and I had wedding parties to attend separately. We left before Michelle showed up. After the wedding party at Grace Hill, I returned to Trini's warm house late in the evening to see all golden ladies wait for me to come back for the slumber party overnight, to my surprise.

Pamela and I stayed to spend the night with Trini. While I showed Pamela how to wrok with the self-timer of her Sony, Pamela remembered the Smile Shutter function of her Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T200. Three of us in bed, partial nudity in purple PJ covered with purple velvet blanket, fell down laughing with exuberance in front of the Sony, waited for the camera to snap automatic pictures of us. We tried smile level settings from low, medium, to high, we worked out our smiles from grins, smirks, to guffaws. It was a joyful joke session without even having to tell jokes. We cracked many grins before we retired for the day, feeling exhausted exercising our facial muscles.

Sunday morning, three of us put on different hats for a group photo, me with a purple wide brim dressy hat, Trini with a fancy cowboy hat, Pamela with a white Yankee's baseball cap, before Pamela left for the brunch with her family at 9. I stayed to watch two films with Trini, The Hoax (2006) and Whatever Works (2009). When Trini proceeded to watch the third film, I said no more, despite the comfort of her living room. I proposed we took a break to see the real life of the world. We ventured to the old Sheng-keng town jammed packed with the tourists from China on Sunday afternoons. I got a Tamale for my husband before I got on bus 819 to get home.

Sixty German Friends and Acquaintances

One of my New Year's Resolutions of Year 2011 was to make acquaintance with 100 strangers. After the Regensburger Domspatzen Concert Tour in Taiwan, I added 60 Germans on my roster. Even before the end of the fist half of year 2011, I reached my goal in making friends and acquaintaces of one hundred! Hooray!

The 60 Germans are no ordinary people, they are gifted with beautiful voices. Whenever the Domkapellmeister Roland Büchner waved his two hands with an invisible wonder wand in the air, the choir produced instantly a mesmerizing pure human sound from the St. Peter's Cathedral in Regensburg!

Talking about the national music, Japanese have Enka, French have Chanson, Americans have Jazz. What do Germans have to offer? I shall say the German folksongs for chorus for sure, Am Brunnen vor dem Tore, Heidenröslein, to name a couple. Who in Taiwan couldn't hum the lovely German folksongs we grew up with in our childhood?

What impressed me the most about the Regensburger Domspatzen Concert Tour in Taiwan, it would be none other than the liturgical chant. I heard the angelitical voices from heaven, I saw the glow enwrapping the evangelical messagers on stage. I felt the bliss and the peace in my heart. It was simply sensational!

The repertoire of Regensburger Domspatzen's sacred music started with two songs of Hosanna filio David and O Domine Jesu Christe by Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) to pay the homage to the reputable choral composer on the 400 anniversary of his death, followed by Jubilate Deo omnis terra by Giovanni Gabriele (1554/57-1612) or Der Herr ist König by Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), concluded by three songs of Wir dein Anliegen auf den Herrn, Hebe Deine Augen auf (Knabenchor), Richte mich Gott by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847). The only regret I had was that not being able to listen to the motet by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594). Maybe that gives me a sound reason to pay a visit to Regensburg in person one day in the future.

Just think about it, I feel contented! Oh, my God. I am so lucky that I could be given the opportunity to escort the Regensburger Domspatzen in Taiwan who chanted for Pope Benedict XVI in the Sistine Chapel in 2005.

My German Experience

It was an experience to live with 60 Germans for a dozen of nights in Taiwan! Did I speak any German during the Regensburger Domspatzen Concert Tour in Taiwan, from April 28th till May 10th?

The answer was yes and no. Whenever I uttered the words in German, the little boys looked up at me with their puzzled eyes full of question marks. Immediately I switched into English. They still looked up at me with the same puzzled eyes of more question marks, but I felt more assured of myself, conveying my message correct! In the end, I spoke less than ten words of the German language, regardless of the painstaking three months cramming on German day and night!

A boy volunteered to teach me German, he reserved a seat for me next to him on the charter bus, he taught me how to pronounce sp and st in German, my stubborn mouth just didn't or couldn't follow orders. Sp was sp and st was st, I pronounced what I saw. Schp, scht just couldn't or didn't come out of my mouth.

There was more to work on the articulation of the German language, the double consonant sound of pf in the pherd, apfel, and so on. I must pronounce the first consonant lightly and stressed on the second consonant. I couldn't help but tangling the p and f in my mouth, and I got choked with two consonants in my mouth at the same time. But I promised the boy, I shall remember the know-how he taught me and practice at home from now on whenever I can.

The boy also volunteered to teach me the vocalization when he heard me sing on the charter bus and when he knew I sang in a chorus. What would have been a better place than a swimming pool? On the Monday morning of free time (hotel facilities), we had a date at the swimming pool on the 7th floor of Tahyi Landis Hotel in Tainan. He demonstrated the magic abdominal breathing in his swimming suit. He taught me how to articulate the five vowels, A E I O U, with the correct position of the tongue in the vocal capacity. I babbled like a toddler with frustrration and excitement. I promised the boy, I shall remember the know-how he taught me and practice singing the right way in the chorus from now on!

Dear F. K., thank you for your friendship! Thank you for the precious tutorial hours of Choral Music when you were in Taiwan. You will make a good Music teacher like Mr. C. H. when you grow up!

He is 12

All good things come to an end. Today we left the Hotel Tayih Landis where we stayed for six nights straight. All staff members gathered at the lobby to say goodbye to us, they saw us off in front of the hotel until our charter buses departed. I started missing the hotel the night before our departure, the ambience, the food, the service and the flower arrangement at the lobby. I shall definitely return soon!

Talking about the flower arrangement at the lobby.

Divine Mercy Sunday

I was all dressed up in my Bavarian costume for the morning Mass at the St. Josef Church on the second Sunday of Easter. The Octave Day of Easter is known as St. Thomas Sunday, because of the story "Doubting Thomas" in the Gospel(John 20:19-29).

St. Joseph Church in located within a walking distance from Tayih Landis Hotel in Tainan. In an old church, we had a special blingual Mass in Mandarin and in German to welcome the participation of RD. It was an unprecedented event for St. Josef Church to host the guests from St. Peter Cathedral in Regensburger.

On the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, May 1, 2011, Pope John Paul II was beatified on by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. Pope John Paul passed away in April 2005. The Divine Mercy Sunday was designed by him on April 30, 2000.