Excerpts from Letters to Mom in italics.
16 October 1965
I meant to ask you the past two letters about the color and print of the silk. Glad you told me. I haven't really priced any silk but Jimmy my tailor showed me some silk. I didn't know what color you wanted and he said he could cut off snips from every color so you could choose. Now I won't have to do that. I got the color picked out. CiCi said she'd make you a dress if I got the measurements. She used to work with a sewing machine, and she doesn't have anything to do all day except sleep & get pretty for me. So, let me know what you want made or to do it yourself. I got the silk picked out. I don't know if the flower print on it is too big, but my opinion in such matters is untested.
Aunt Adele writes a pretty good letter, huh? [Apparently, the son relayed the aunt's letter to Mom.] What do you hear from me? [Translation: Do relatives share my letters with you?] The same old stereotype stuff? Your last letter took about 4 days - I'd say 4 or 5 is average. Unfortunately, that letter of appreciation won't help getting me promoted. I still expect to get out July 67 & go to school.
Once you asked about sending you a houseboy. I got one & he's $37.50 a pay day (twice a month), is pretty lazy or slow. If I tell him something to do that he doesn't want to do, he'll smile, nod his head yes & not do it. I've been after him to dust everything, but he doesn't know the meaning of the word. I even take his hand and show him. My shoe shines are improving though, maybe he's trying to blackmail me to get off his back & incidently [sic] my own area he dusts. Threats to fire him haven't helped either. Oh well.
The new CMAA even used one of the many Navy linguists to relay instructions to no avail. Yes, there were linguists, cunning linguists and even more "cunnilinguists" on board. Fehr, no fan of pantomime, felt like Steve McQueen's character Machinist's Mate First Class Jake Holman in the 1966 movie The Sand Pebbles trying to teach a Chinese apprentice how to maintain the ship's engine. Many of the scenes in that 20th Century Fox production by Robert Wise were filmed in Taiwan and the nearby port of Keelung. Several of the Sand Pebbles stars and staff would drop by the Navy Club in Taipei. Steve saw Candace Bergen and one of the male co-stars there during a break in the filming. Apparently, it wasn't worth writing home about.
The houseboy's name was Wang. The linguists would kid him calling "Wang Bumang." In romanized script omitting the tone accent marks, "mang" means busy and "bu" is a negative prefix. Taiwan was still under martial law and the linguists on occasion would tune in a mainland radio station. Wang would clasp his hands over his ears, shake his head "no" violently and run out of the barracks. Listening to any Communist Chinese radio station was one of many offenses punishable by death.
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The Navy guests inhabited the old Air Force digs constructed back in the 1950s. Fehr didn't notice much; many of the Navy barracks he had bunked in had been worn-out firetraps. Besides as CMAA, he had a small, private cubicle to himself. The two Navy barracks were made of corrugated aluminum aligned in an "H" shape with the head and showers in the center. With the exception of two tiny cubicles at one end opposite the day room, it was the open bay variety. Although it was a bit primitive by Air Force standards, the swabbies were happy to be ashore and there were never any complaints about the accommodations.
I meant to write Uncle Shun but I haven't gotten around to it - so many distractions. Chinese is getting more difficult & harder to study, too. My hold baggage hasn't arrived yet. It was sent 4 August & may take as long as 130 days - or worse, it could get lost. Horrors! It's still warm days but more windy & chilly at nite. I use a blanket & don't need a fan to sleep.
It's evening & I'm up on the hill - one of the rare occasions. It's a bad time of the month [An oblique reference to the menstrual cycle?] & I haven't been getting an abundance of sleep anyway. Guess I'll take a shower, study a little, n read a bit from the latest Newsweek 'for I crap out.
Are the kids still misbehaving? Silly question! Oh, do you ever see or hear from Progin, Tony, Paul, etc?
P.S. I get homesick for Germany, now & then!