Army Honor Guard

After completing my bachelor degree, I joined the military for one and half years. Since military service in Taiwan is mandatory and I don't think there would be any war during my service period or even in the next 10 years, I would not like to spend this one and half years for nothing; thus, I choose Honor Guard which is one of the toughest troops in Taiwan army. The main duty of Army Honor Guard are providing escort for heads of state on departure and arrival, performing on national events, guarding major military installations, and etc...One of the most important performances is the National Day performance, such as the Independence Day in U.S. Here are the videos on YouTube: 2006 NATIONAL DAY PERFORMANCE PART1 NATIONAL DAY PERFORMANCE PART2 It's the performance of the Honor Guard assembled of Army, Navy and Airforce, which required a huge amount of collaboration because basically these three troops are totally independent and located separately. Usually, the training time can last for almost three months trying to make this 270 man performance near perfection.


These two photos were taken when we finished our fundamental training. Normally, it takes rookies 3~4 months to go through the basic training, such as basic physical training(one of them is 200 push up every day), how to stand still and straight for 2 hours without any movement (sounds easy, but not easy to do), practice to force yourself not to blink as long as you could (when on duty, no blink is allowed when there's anyone looking at you), and of course how to play M1 grand rifle, which is used by U.S. troops during WWII and weight around 7 kg with full equipped. During the training, it was extremely torturing and exhausting physically and mentally, which I believe it well built me up and in some kind of way to help me deal with the challenges ahead of me in the future. Nevertheless, at the end of our military service, we all had a consensus that neither one of us would like to go through this again nor gave up this experience for anything!


After all the brothers in our echelon had passed final test, we had a special performance for our families and friends only in order to show the results of the rigorous training. It was not only for your families and friends to know what sort of life you had been going through as an Army Honor Guard, but also a kind of moment to make them be proud of you and being showing off a bit! I could never forget the feeling that we had once the performance was done. While performing, I was so concentrated that although all my families and friends were shouting out my name, I couldn't hear a thing; however, you can clearly feel all their eyes are on you because they are here for you. All my best friends were there for me, however after almost three years, now I realized that the thing I should be grateful the most was my grand mom was still healthy enough to be there to see his grandson executing the performance like a trained soldier, like a real man! I am so glad that I chose to join Army Honor Guard impulsively at that time. It is a life-time treasure for me without a doubt! Btw, here is another cool video of our small team special performance! I was not in there, but that was what we did!
Check it out...

My dearest grand mom!

My grandparents has been living with my families since I was born because my father is the eldest son and happily willing to take the full responsibility of taking care of them, which in my mind is the greatest thing that one could have accomplished as a son or daughter. My grandfather passed away when I was in junior high, but fortunately our dear grand mom is still being with us happily and healthily. She was the master of being healthy, and took care of herself very well. She read a lot of health-related books, and especially admired a Chinese Japanese, Doctor Chung. I still remember when my sister and I were young, she always said "Doc. Chung says...." which was pretty annoying for us at that time! And, we are very grateful that she was taking care of herself so well. There is an ancient Chinese saying, "Parents' health is children's fortune".


This picture was taken around three years ago when I was still in the military. I couldn't remember where I took her to, but I could clearly recall that this was taken when we were waiting for the shuttle bus. Grand mom used to like to bring us some snacks or some food (such as stinky tofu) that was used to be forbidden by my father. My sister and I loved that! My grand mom respected my father's opinions on which children should eat and which shouldn't, but sometimes when she was back to home, the surprises usually came along with her. We guessed maybe she also loved those "forbidden" food, too!! So, when we were waiting for the bus, I went to buy us some snacks although they were not forbidden by anybody, I just wanna buy her some sweet, and I know she loves sweet! While we were eating, she kept asking about do I have some for myself for at least five times! Yes, this is my grand mom! Always care about us, and she is our beloved grand mom!!


Two years ago, there's a sudden change for grand mom's health. Due to some misunderstanding, there were a couple of police officers knocked at our door, which put a serious shock on my grand mom and led to some change in her brain later on. In order to control those symptoms, doctor described some medication for her, which also brought a severe side effect to her and resulted in her lost of mobility. Last spring, before I went back in the summer, her condition was so bad that we never thought that one day she would get her health back again. However, the miracle, which is the only word able to describe this change, happened!

One week before my sister and I went back, doctor changed her description. Since then, she was more and more alerted day by day. I stayed at home for only three weeks; however, I saw a dramatically change happened on her body. In the morning that I left, she even could walk a bit with a little helps from others. After I was back to U.S., I heard from my parents that grand mom is getting better and better. Now, thanks for the never-give-up endeavors of her son and daughter in law, my greatest parents, she could walk for almost 100 meters already and is improving every single day. Even her doctor is amazed by her comeback at the age she has. Now, she is singing every day, having a great time with my parents. She is my cutest grand mom!!

They are my beloved families!

On the trip to the South

Well, I strongly believe that I have the best parents in the whole world! Yes, I know you have the best ones, too! This picture was taken when I went back to Taiwan for a visit in summer, 2007. We were on the trip from Northern part of Taiwan, where my families live, to the South to visit my little aunt, which is the far right in the picture. She used to live very close to us; however, she had to move to the South cuz she got promoted as deputy curator of National Museum of Taiwanese History. Congrats again, aunt! She is like a second mom for my sister and me.


My sister, my best friend!

Mn...we always fight like kids although we are not young anymore! She is my younger sister. Only 11 months younger! We are more like friends than brother and sister cuz our ages are really too close. She is so extremely mature, that sometimes I felt like I'm too childish. She is a great sister, and she is a brave young lady! She went to Germany to study piano when she was 19. Believe or not, when she went there, she couldn't speak Germany at all, but she still went for her dream without any hesitation. Now, she speaks perfect German, which is according to what her professor told us and rarely to be achieved by an Asian! She is still studying in Germany right now, for her second master degree...wow, I know!


Historical site

Although the title is historical site, the point for this picture is to bring up my another second mom, who is another aunt of mine at the far right in the picture. She lives with my
little aunt which means she moved to South with my little aunt, too! This picture was taken when we arrived the South while visiting some famous historical sites. She is a retired elementary school teacher, and enjoys her life now. She and my little aunt regularly travel to different places around the world for vacations at least once a year. I'd been with them once, and that was a great experience indeed!


Being serious!

I don't know why everybody in this picture has to be so laugh less! My father is a strict and serious father, and my mom plays the opposite role of him. I do get passed on some genetic characteristics from him, but I still remain some easy personalities from my mom as well. I really love the background of this picture. Chinese calligraphy truly demonstrates the culture of ours. The main idea of this ancient short article is about how a person should behave himself. There is a very famous quote from this article that I would like to try to translate: Before ruling the world, one should govern his own country well. Before governing a country, one should be able to keep his families well. Before having a family, one should develop one's personality well. Old Chinese article sometimes is hard to be explained in even our own language. I hope this translation is not too bad!