favorite old man ever

Jason has to visit his grandma and grandpa on his father’s side today. We get dropped off at his uncle’s where gramma lives. The place is nice, and I take some family pictures for them – I can tell Jason feels extremely awkward around them. The backyard use to house a dog and a pet monkey – they both are long gone now. That is where MRT Design comes from, Monkey Rides ‘Tiger’. After about 30 minutes, a half a banana, some citrus fruit, and Taiwanese tea we travel without gramma to visit grandpa. It’s about a 30 minute drive out and can’t believe my eyes of the sites. Fields and fields of tropical vegetation, with slight smog hovering above. A few old factories, some still in use, others not.
When we get to grandpa’s, Jason is re-introduced and some awkward time, I am introduced and the tiny, shriveling, old man looks at me under his cloth baseball cap and says, “Hello, It’s nice to see you”…and everyone smiled and laugh. What a wonderful way to be greeted by the oldest Taiwanese man I have yet to meet. I step up and shake his hand with a gentle touch and a big ol’ American smile. We stand around, I listen and watch grandpa, always, like usual, completely overwhelmed by the language. I get a few endearing pictures of grandpa, hopefully some good one’s as well. I am told that he was recruited into the Japanese military during WWII, not by will. Taiwan has a long history with Japan, and I plan on researching this all much more when returning home. I am sorry to say farewell to grandpa, and he says, “See you soon”. I smile and hope to do the same.
His generation was taught English by the Japanese, my parent’s generation was taught by the Right Wing China party…the second of the two taught poor English because of worries of people communicating too much. Oh, good ‘ol China.
We drive to a very large temple. It’s absolutely gorgeous and the weather couldn’t be any better…shorts and t-shirts. There is a “cave” explaining Buddhism with statues and such. Much of it is electronic, with motion sensors to activate music, motion, or the giant rainbow behind the Buddha’s head. After walking through this cave, I realize my mom has been probably following the wrong way of thought. Perhaps when I am in Ohio, we can find a temple to visit – she would probably feel at home with the ideas of this Eastern thought.
Lunch and some other random stuff…you know…just driving around.