Summer 2005

Park McArthur (Art, '07)

My time in Taiwan was very special! Most of the time, I traveled in a group with Becky Nolin, David Crane, and Henry VanWagenberg, but for a few days I went out with my high school Chinese teacher (Li Mingan) and her daughter (Jeffie) who were visiting family in Taiwan. I couldn't have asked for better local tour guides/historians. The pictures above and below are from an area near the Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kaishek) Memorial Hall. This complex features a thoroughfare framed by two traditional style buildings: an opera house and a theatre. The walkway houses a blown-up aerial map of Taiwan which tourists may step on and locate grey, gridded cities and dense green mountains and jungles. Leading up to the Memorial Hall, which sits at the end of the walkway are dozens of colorful plaques with information about Taiwan's culture, history, and environment. The picture above is of me and my teacher's daughter by a pond near the Memorial Hall. We bought fishfood to feed to the koi that are as big as cats. Riding on the MRT, we saw schoolgirls sit down across from us in yellow uniforms. My teacher exclaimed "That was the middle school I went to!"