S. S. Fehr's Letters to Mom

Excerpts from Letters to Mom in italics.

Pedicabs

23 November 1965
Glad to hear Joe Sloboda called. I'll probably get a ribbing letter from him about shipping over. Can't wait to hear from him. We sure had a lot of good times in Germany!

I'm going to go through your last letter and make comments and answer questions. I got a postcard from Uncle Dick. Good to hear Grandpa is doing so well - his picture reminded me of Chancellor Ludwig Ehrhard from Germany. Don't blame him for not resisting Grandma's cooking. [The cholesterol-laden Pennsylvania Dutch cooking continues to bury many a good man. And they sopped it all up with butter bread; "Eat your plate empty!"] Tomorrow, Thanksgiving, I made reservations at the "63" club for a turkey dinner. Am taking CiCi too, and it doesn't cost a penny 'cause I'm a member. No, I haven't signed up for Chinese Two. Don't believe I will either. No, I am not taking CiCi to Japan! In fact if they found out I was cohabiting [with a foreign national] I'd lose my security clearance in a minute! The less said the better. No, nice thought, but don't send Gretchen a card. She moved away from Zwei, anyway.

Didn't fire the houseboy. He's not a ball of fire - I guess just marginally satisfactory. The defector [Note: The Gimo paid a bonus or bounty reportedly in gold to any Red Chinese pilots who defected with their jet plane for the propaganda value.] landed nearby, I think within 30 miles.

It is starting to rain more often now. During the day the temperature reaches the 90's & dips to the 30's at nite. Ought to be a lot colder in PA. Last time I described the more seedy aspects of Taipei; this time I was going to write about the other face of Taiwan. Guess I'll have to postpone that till I know what I'm talking about.

Movie District

Steve enjoyed evenings hopping into a pedicab with CiCi close to his side for an adventure downtown regardless if it were to the movie district, to the market stalls, or just to sightsee at one of the temples. Alone in Taipei's traffic in a frail pedicab was like being adrift in a busy harbor clinging to an innertube. But you felt the evening breeze, saw more, and yes, even smelled the aromas wafting from the curbside woks. Can't experience much if you zoom by inside a kamikaze taxi. If it rained, a drape pulled down to keep you dry. Steve always tipped those hardworking pedal pushers with the muscular calves well.

About a mile or two to the southwest of home were several districts that seemed to run together. There were crowded street-side market stalls selling every type of food, fish and dish imaginable -and for pennies you could eat a meal and continue down the line. What an oriental smorgasbord! Unoccidentally, Chinese culture believed that food contained the magic elixir of life; it did not reside in some fanciful fountain of youth. That constant experimentation in Chinese cuisine over the millennia brought bountiful benefits to billions. Blackened-eggs, buried a hundred years? Yes, Steve tried one of those delicacies too. CiCi and her wide-eyed round eyes often stopped to shop.

Divining Wooden Shells

Nearby was a Buddhist Temple that Steve was at first apprehensive and reluctant to enter. She encouraged him. He felt like an invading infidel, but not for long. A clean-shaven head adorning a saffron robe appears. The Buddhists were very friendly. The deity carvings, the gongs, candles and aroma of the incense envelop all. The spotless hardwood floor gleams. Now it is serene, cool and peaceful. What are those special folded paper offerings? Sometimes all alone; no monks are in sight. Just observing, trying to comprehend. Silence - just fading ambient sounds. Trying to inhale the moment, the atmosphere. An old monk returns ignoring you. Are those wooden bones he is casting? What is the purpose? Is he reading or divining something? Mysterious!

On another occasion Steve suggested he and she enter the temple. CiCi, a devout Buddhist refused. She could not; it was the wrong time. Wrong time? She was unclean now. Ah so, the menstrual cycle. Another instance of male rules unquestioned, ingrained in the religion and culture. There were young boys with shaved heads, grooming for the monkhood parading single file carrying empty rice bowls. No need to put out signs declaring no women need apply.

The arteries of the market were narrow serpentine alleyways lined and pulsating with different types of merchants. Herbal medicines here and Snake Alley there, where pre-Viagra remedies were skinned alive and unknown parts fed to anxious old men hoping to improve their virility. Yes, one time Steve did eat snake meat in a tiny restaurant. But he wondered with a bit of angst about the fate of the caged monkeys in one of the stalls. Then one day he focused briefly upon this blackened mass that resembled a baby seated upon a dinner plate.

The alleys were fun to explore. There were birds in bamboo cages, hopefully sold as songbirds. Turn a corner and find fine silk, brightly colored dresses or embroidered goods for sale There was more than just dry goods; keep strolling for stalls of tropical fruits, pineapples, flowers, every species of marine life and the pungent odors of countless dishes. Market seemed to teem with more life at night - it was cooler and more alive with throngs of shoppers.

CiCi informed Steve it was an insult (and ignorant) to pay the initial price offered. Goods and products were not labeled with price tags; one always haggled at least a little bit up front. Perhaps, the most important phrase in Chinese is "Tai Gway," (too expensive) usually preceded by a compliment such as, very nice, but "tai gway." The shopper will always receive a counteroffer. A later ploy is to pretend to reluctantly leave. Then a satisfactory deal can be made. Knowing how to count and armed with conversational phrases, Steve enjoyed wandering the stalls in the market section. Another life-saving phrase devoted to instructions for the taxi driver was "slow down." The helpful Navy linguists would confidentially tell new guys the phrase for "faster, faster" to get the taxi driver to slow down.