Plans…

Well, I shouldn’t have worried about NOT having a plan for my visit to Taiwan. My new best friend, Sidney Chang, has mapped out everything for me! Rev Chang is a retired Presbyterian minister (he used to preach at Tweedsmuir Church, across from my old house in Orangeville, and his kids went to my high school). Now he helps out the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) with translation, as well as teaching at various seminaries around the island. Today he focused his energies on getting me planned and prepped for my three weeks ahead.

On Friday Sidney’s taking me to Tamsui where I will stay in the Tam Kang Middle School’s guest house. That venue also happens to be the place my Dad and Aunt Ruth were born in the 1920s. I’m also taking a ferry across the Tamsui River to visit the former Happy Mount Leper Colony, which my grandfather helped to administer during his time in Taiwan. Then later that day I’ll be taking the High Speed Rail train south to Tainan for much of the weekend. After that I have a few days free, before spending a full day at the Mackay Memorial Hospital here in Taipei; my grandmother, Donalda, helped to set up the Social Services Department of the hospital in the 40s and 50s. I give a lecture at National Tsing Hua University on April 20, courtesy of my Joycean friend Professor Hsiao Yen-yen. The next day I head off to the eastern part of the island (Hualien) for a couple of days to visit the famous Taroko Gorge among other things. Then it’s back to Taipei for Easter Sunday and the PCT’s annual General Assembly meeting.

Whew, should be quite a ride.