Week 1: A beautiful country, a new old ukulele, and a fuzzy pet algae

In this post you can read about my first week of traveling, some initial fears, my arrival at Dong Hwa University in Hualien, what I am doing related to Deep Ocean Water research, the generosity of others, and how I am currently drifting about without a home.

A big Ni Hao to everybody out there!

Taipei, Taiwan

Today is my first day in the town of Hualien (pronounced Hua-Lien, not Hu-Alien), set between mountains and ocean, on the sparsely populated Eastern part of the island (there’s less than ½ a million people on this side of the mountains, and nearly 23 million on the other) and I am happy as a clam. I will be spending most of the next two months here, but don’t yet have a place to live or a reliable mode of transportation.

Despite all this, I actually feel relieved right now: I had some initial fears that have been calmed by practicing patience and accepting the generosity of others.

Leaving Flatland aka Texas aka Home Sweet Home

Since you last heard from me, I left Dallas to fly through Tokyo to get to Taipei, Taiwan, and spent a week there. For those of you unfamiliar with Taipei, it is the super densely-packed capital city. Ruth and her brother Enoch also arrived around the same time, and we went to stay at their grandma’s empty apartment. Most of the week was spent announcing our arrival and paying our respects to numerous relatives, and eating wonderful food.  Our only troubles were getting accustomed to the humidity and fixing our internet connection. We visited the Drinking Water Museum of Taiwan, full of technical details and history about various pumps, water meters, pipes, etc. One night we went to a very busy night market, where Ruth got her fill of chicken-butts-on-a-stick, I had little-sausage-wrapped-in-big-sausage, and we swapped jokes with a blind masseuse. At night I spent what little free time I had preparing for my rapidly approaching volunteer placement at National Dong Hwa University in Hualien, and I grew more and more apprehensive as the week went on.

Fire Hydrants at the Drinking Water Museum of Taiwan

Doubt crept into my mind. I started feeling like I had hardly a connection in Hualien, and if things fell through, I’d be in trouble without a good backup plan. It dawned on me that I knew little about the work I signed up for, and feared it would have nothing to do with my original goals. Then I worried about this blog, and how people might be disappointed. My last minute research to find alternative opportunities came up empty. Turns out the country has a very solid clean water infrastructure – though there are some places needing improvement, and The Soil and Water Conservation Bureau is on top of it. Volunteering with them requires at least a year’s time, and there was little else to be found. So I began to sweat.

Then Ruth my angel helped me to think more openly. She pointed out how this could be a great chance to focus intensively on improving my Chinese before going to China to work with an NPO, especially with reading and writing, which takes time. I still had the Dong Hwa connection, and it behooved me to at least find out what they had in store for me. And even if there was no hands-on humanitarian type work, maybe I could still contribute and learn something relevant, and of value. So with that mindset, we traveled to Taitung via train for the weekend, before we’d have to split up.

Taitung is in the Southeast part of the island, and it is probably the place I would live if I lived in Taiwan. With so many outdoor activities and extreme natural beauty, I would never be bored. Ruth will be there for the next six weeks working in a hospital and mobile clinic. Finally free of the crowded big city, we wanted make use of my international DL and hit the open road, so we went to rent a car. While looking for a good price, we were shown a binder with the cheapest car being listed at NTD$2,100/day (NTD$32=USD$1). We told the guy about how someone told us the price was only NTD$1600, and without missing a beat, he said “Of course, I just hadn’t given you the discount yet!” Sneaky sneaky. So we got the car at last, and got to spend all day making many stops driving up through the valley, and back down along the coast. There was one geological site called "Water Running Up" where a stream of water really seemed to flow up a hill. My pictures didn't show this very well, so you'll have to just see it for yourself.

Last night, fortune smiled upon me. It was getting late, and in the morning, I had to be at Dong Hwa University, which is 30 minutes from Hualien City, which was 3 hrs away from Taitung by train.  After arriving, I would have to locate a hostel, stay a few nights until I could sort things out, and in the meantime take buses to the university. This is what happened instead: Just as I was about to leave for the airport, Ruth’s hosts (hospital director and his wife) had friends over, and coincidentally, they were a couple from Hualien and were going to make the drive after dinner. So they offered to take me along, allowing me to return the train ticket and save some money. We had a nice dinner, full of lively conversation, and then Ruth stayed, while I left with the couple I had just met. When we got to Hualien, they didn’t let me go to the hostel, and put me up in a bedroom vacated by their son who is in college. Ever since, they have taken good care of me, fed me, and driven me wherever I’ve needed to go. Now I’ve got a home, am saving money, and will stay here until I can find a place to live, which hasn’t been easy, since nobody wants to rent for less than 6 months.

National Dong Hwa University in Hualien, Taiwan

At Dong Hwa University today, things went well, validating Ruth’s voice of reason back in Taipei. Until the professor returns, I have a graduate student responsible for me, Jason, and he is a serious fellow, helpful, and very thorough. We slowly discussed, (using much translating, hand gestures, and explaining), the Deep Ocean Water situation in Taiwan, and I found there is potential here for me to learn much, make a meaningful contribution, and provide help to people (though they won’t see it immediately). Here’s how I understand it so far:

The US, Japan, and Taiwan have been trying to harvest deep (>200m below the surface) ocean water, and they are the only countries with the unique geography required. With deep ocean water being very cold, effectively unlimited in quantity, nutrient rich, and devoid of photosynthesis or any sort of bacteria growth, there are many uses. Take a basic 2-stage system for example.

First stage, the water can be used for:

• more efficient aquaculture (can farm more seafood with this water)
•  power generation (thermal energy conversion using the temperature difference between layers of water)
• algae production (1. to perhaps reduce global warming by mass producing since plants breathe CO₂, or 2. to make fuel - similar to ethanol made from corn) See picture below of a gift from Jason.
• agriculture (can use cold temperature to grow cold season crops and veggies)
• leisure/tourism (used in swimming pools and hot springs, in place of chlorinated freshwater)

After, or during, the first stage, the water can be passed to a Second stage for:

• extraction of minerals (for table salt, cosmetic products, or  pharmaceuticals)
• drinking water, made through desalination

My pet, growing in Deep Ocean Water

In reality, the government is looking to create efficient multistage systems, to make the most of the large upfront cost, so they need more information. My job seems to be to find the information and the hard data to support it by reading research papers and contacting the appropriate people working on this from different angles.

I also went to the Humanities building to meet with a Chinese Language professor introduced to me, to see if he could help me find a good tutor for my stay here. His warm, cozy department office could not have been more different than the one I had just come from in the Engineering building. He assigned one of his graduate students to me, who should be able to teach me for at least a couple hours a day! And for practice material, he gave me some great colorful pamphlets he and others made, highlighting different aspects of Aboriginal villages to raise awareness, and possibly stimulate their economy. I plan on visiting at least one per week, if I manage to get some wheels!

Speaking of wheels, I need to find some fast. There is no extensive public transportation on this side of the island, and it is too expensive to rent a car. A bike would be nice around campus, but not good for traveling between villages. It seems a scooter is my best option, but renting one for a month would pay for itself. So today I’m going to go try and buy a secondhand one, to either sell later or pass off to my brother Mark to take care of or sell (he is actually on his way to Taipei, and doesn’t know this yet). I’m worried they won’t sell to me because my license only covers cars. Then again, this is Asia… where it’s silly to worry about things like that. I’ll let you know what happens.

I also need to find a home. As gracious as my new hosts have been, I won’t want to overstay my welcome. It would also just be much easier to not have to travel from Hualien City to campus each day.

Another fortunate thing happened! I was going to bring my ukulele on my trip to play and practice, but decided not to because I had no room. When I got to Ruth’s host family’s house in Taitung, we found a 20 year old one covered in dust and it was given to me! I’ve ordered some new strings from Taipei and should be strumming away in no time.

The generosity I’ve found here from relatives, acquaintances, strangers, and people at the university, has been remarkable. It gives me faith in people, and belief that I am on the right track. I just have to stay patient and humble.