Excerpts from Letters to Mom in italics.
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The picture # one [not shown] shows a table that contains sliced meats, vegetables, greens, oils and condiments. The object is to stuff as much as you can in the bowl, heaping it up and balancing it till you get to the fire. There it is cooked on the grill manipulating the ingredients by a pair of giant chopsticks. The stuff really tastes good. I had five heaping bowls full. George, the bonafide Mongolian proprietor, charges NT 50 ($1.25) for all you can eat. He figures if you eat less than four bowls full, he profits.
We also had plenty of liquid refreshment. [Beer in Chinese is pronounced "Pee Joe," honestly.] Fireworks are readily available here and extremely inexpensive. Needless to say, many different kinds were set off during the course of the evening. Pretty good party all in all!
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On to a new subject, but first sit down for a cup of coffee, or a sedative. I expect to be home for about two weeks on or about the end of September. That is about the end of the good news as far as you're concerned.
The end of last month I shot off a letter to Fort Mudd (Meade) requesting a tour in a controlled billet in Vietnam. As it stands now, I'm tentatively scheduled to relieve a first class AG (good omen?) about October. Our billets are secure as humanely possible, being located in the base camp of many U.S. Marines. We ain't lost nobody yet.
Why? Kinda difficult to explain. I guess the cons greatly outnumber the pros. The hardest obstacle was giving up CiCi and telling her. We've really become quite attached to one another. Anyway, don't go imagining all sorts of terrible things; I'll probably be safer there than having the daily hazards of Taipei traffic (and life ((married?)) with CiCi).
22 April 1966
CiCi speaks good English but can't read or write English. She knows the alphabet & can spell words. She can write if I spell out the letters etc. It sure is quite a difference going from the western alphabet to Chinese characters. At least when studying French, German, Spanish etc, the same alphabet is used.
[AG2 Fehr was told in Chinese I class of the proliferation of Chinese dialects, yet they all use the same set of characters for reading or writing, for instance, a newspaper. People anywhere in China could read and understand that newspaper, but if it were broadcast on the radio, any segment of the audience fluent in only their own dialect would not understand the announcer speaking in Mandarin. Thus, the character based language in the past had advantages and disadvantages. In addition, Steve was informed that it was difficult to devise a mechanical typewriter in order to duplicate the numerous character sets. It more resembled a piano. This problem further slowed the mechanical transmission of knowledge. Today, the digital form has probably overcome that mechanical divide. The resulting explosion of available information bodes well for long term prospects for greater tolerance.]
02 May 1966 [Written on back of Mother's Day card]
I'm on unsure ground talking about patterns. I mentioned this to CiCi and she said to get your measurements because it only costs a couple bucks to have a dress made. OK? Send Betty Jo's along too, please. Sorry, it just wouldn't look good on Bob. I'll need all sorts of measurements for a tailor made dress, so don't spare the statistics.
CiCi wants me to grow long hair vice a crew cut. I don't want to 'cause the weather is hot. Gretchen wanted me to cut it short so I couldn't make out with the Fräuleins who would mistake me in long hair for a kraut! Can't win.