- 5 hours ago
John Lamorie spent his childhood traveling the world with his father, who was in the navy. After working more than 40 jobs across six countries, he met his wife Wu Lien-chun in Taiwan and has called it home ever since. The couple are pioneers of sustainable living in Pingtung’s Ligang District, where they built Taiwan’s first “paper concrete” farm from scratch — transforming recycled materials into an eco-education hub. In this episode of Hakka TV’s Home Sweet Home, we follow Lamorie’s life in Ligang and his deep connection to the land.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:11Hello and welcome to Inside Taiwan, where we take a closer look at the stories shaping the nation.
00:17I'm Laurel Stewart.
00:20Canadian-born, New Zealand-raised John LaMaurie spent his childhood travelling the world with his Navy father.
00:26After working more than 40 jobs across six countries, he met his wife in Taiwan and has called it home
00:33ever since.
00:34The couple are pioneers of sustainable living in Pingdong County, where they built Taiwan's first paper concrete farm from scratch,
00:42transforming recycled materials into an eco-education hub.
00:46In this episode of HackerTV's Home Sweet Home, we follow LaMaurie's life in Taiwan's south and his deep connection to
00:54the land.
01:01I think I said before, all the buildings have a name.
01:06And this one here we call the Bottle House.
01:10We have the Japanese house.
01:12And again, it's sort of like a Japanese design.
01:17I've got my sculpture.
01:19I'm very political.
01:21So I made, out of paper, made a sculpture with Taiwan, and I put up this sign.
01:29And every time a tour group came here from China, we would go and, you know, take pictures.
01:36And they said, hey, we want to take a picture.
01:37I said, okay, over here.
01:39So the people from China had to stand there with Taiwan is my country, you know.
01:43And this shows, you know, the main cities.
01:47Gaozhong, Tainan.
01:49This is Daomorli.
01:54Jade Mountain, and the other places.
02:09Hi, my name is John.
02:11My Mandarin name is Luoyohen.
02:13I'm a young Canadian guy that came here more than 25 years ago.
02:18I'm blessed to be married to a beautiful Taiwan girl.
02:22And together we are developing a farm here in southern Taiwan, Liu Gui, Gaozhong.
02:40I'd like to welcome you to Wu Hao Chao, the farm we bought about six years ago.
02:49We then spent about one year using a digger and making level and doing stuff and doing
02:57that kind of set up, put in the fences and all that, and then just started doing.
03:05The first thing was to do the farm shed.
03:08Everybody says, oh, you have a farm.
03:11What do you grow?
03:12And I said, we are a rock farm.
03:15We grow rocks.
03:19And we have the first building, like I said, was the farm shed.
03:24And it was basically just open, had a bed so we could sleep.
03:28And from there we then just, we have a little place for storing firewood and for my recycled timber and
03:41stuff.
03:42And we go like that.
03:44Oh, I got more paper crate.
03:46I got a bunch of kwaimu from old schools.
03:51So I just clean that up.
03:53People look at it and say, oh, it's just garbage.
03:55When I'm finished and make something, you think it's better than new wood.
04:00And most of it you can't buy, like kwaimu, you're not allowed to buy.
04:03And like, like I, I recycle everything.
04:06Glass, steel, wood, thai lube.
04:12We have a lot of wood.
04:13When we're sold, we need to buy everything.
04:16We always tell them that we don't have a trash.
04:20You have to buy everything.
04:22If you look at a bag, you should buy everything.
04:25And then we have wood.
04:26The most important thing is wood.
04:28The wood is made by wood.
04:30It can be built and replaced it.
04:34The farm shed.
04:36The door is made with recycled timber.
04:40and i had a window i think you see this window is the same so i just put like i
04:45built a door
04:46around the window and basically i class myself as a military brat or a navy brat my father was
04:55in the navy and in canada in the navy you move every two years or sometimes less so we went
05:02from
05:02one side of canada to the other to the arctic so it lived all over um we had there's five
05:09children
05:09in the family me two brothers and one sister four five three bra i left when i was 18. from
05:18the age
05:18of 18 i've been 45 countries around the world i don't know how many times lived in a bunch of
05:25different countries worked travel work travel work travel so i i quite enjoyed it the big thing like
05:33i'm into recycle and all that most of the places we lived in canada there was no stores no shops
05:41one
05:41place we got food once a year if you have something you never threw in the garbage unless it was
05:48completely useless completely destroyed so we saved everything so it's just i guess one of the things
05:57i say in the old days travel was in my blood now recycle is in my blood
06:04yeah people many times say oh this is this is like poly long you know how's that okay and
06:14the weight for that size and that volume is about the same as three bricks you pick up three bricks
06:24okay and that that's really heavy okay now if you hold this and for the same amount of volume
06:34i have to do a lot of i gotta really hold it so if i'm a building to hold the
06:42brick the building
06:43has to be very strong just to hold it now if there's an earthquake an earthquake is this kind
06:50of motion right but the steel on this side or concrete or whatever has to resist going like that
06:56so it has to be really heavy unless the building is like really really strong which makes it very
07:03expensive and expensive to build and expensive materials but if we build out of this now this brick is
07:12about the same volume but the weight i mean i forget how many grams it's only you know a few
07:19hundred
07:19grams that's like uh six kilo now if you make a building with this and there's an earthquake there's
07:28not much weight so it sort of it might do that but if it's a bit rigid it doesn't go
07:34anywhere because
07:35there's no so many times i'll be here or in in the morning on the computer doing facebook and somebody
07:44says oh my god did you feel that earthquake oh rats that's not fair you know all these earthquakes everybody
07:52enjoy it and there's nothing and people say yeah but what if it's a really big earthquake
08:01and this granted the building is either steel or wood but it doesn't have to be very heavy to hold
08:09this i mean there's no weight easy to support they said what if it's a really bad earthquake and the
08:15building falls down i said a little earthquake come this fall down hit you on the head you're dead
08:24this to fall down have to be a really big earthquake hit your head you get a headache so for
08:31me
08:32just just for that alone this is way safer than that
08:41i was building our our schoolhouse in damoli and i was going to be doing although i recycle stuff
08:49anyways wood and glass and steel um i hadn't done the walls of the building and an american friend was
08:58having we were actually having a couple beers for breakfast for lunch and uh he asked me what i was
09:04going to do and he said well why don't you use newspaper i just said hey look here have another
09:09beer yeah that's a crazy idea he said no no it really works you check it out so i i
09:15went in on the
09:16interweb and had a look youtube and went oh wow that's it's doable the way they showed it was pretty
09:24rough
09:25and but i figured it would catch on if i used that kind of concept but uh used it to
09:32build a
09:33conventional style structure and so um started doing that and 15 years later i'm still doing it
09:41improving it changing it and trying to get people to actually embrace the idea
09:50you know i i've had more than 100 jobs in my life and i've had in 45 different professions
10:00and one of my jobs was a male stripper a male stripper you know boom boom good money but um
10:12it's now a little bit different okay the building like i said is steel frame but in between it's not
10:20just paper cream bricks put the bottles in so you can you know different colors different size
10:25um shelley said oh you know i don't want to stay here you know no kitchen so i built a
10:31kitchen
10:32and again it's all recycled recycled wood so we sleep here and then work all around it's pretty simple
10:41sort of life
10:44many people have asked me why did i come to taiwan
10:48i've been teaching computers in new zealand for more than 12 years and computers are boring
10:55and i just wanted to change and uh a taiwanese friend said hey well why don't you go to taiwan
11:03and i
11:03went uh never even thought about it so i applied the next day i had phone calls from taipei hey
11:11when can you
11:11come so a couple weeks later sell everything quit all my jobs i had three jobs quit all my jobs
11:20come to
11:21taiwan my idea was to be here two years that was 25 years ago
11:28the place kind of grew on me and i like it so much i actually gave up my canadian citizenship
11:36to become taiwanese and so in 2017 i got my passport and then the taiwan id and um i'm prepared
11:45or i
11:46expect to die this is my home and this area here is definitely my home i i love it climate's
11:52great
11:53people are friendly lots of food interesting food and easy to from here easy to go anywhere you know
12:01beautiful god's country
12:20okay we're in busy high-speed rail station and waiting for my son and two grandsons to get off the
12:30plane
12:30from going and from taiwan hey little guy hey guys how's it going yeah yeah damn what happened to you
12:51yeah i doubled well i'm putting manure in your shoes or something yeah yeah
13:01hey oh good to see you at the same time didn't think it was going to be this time
13:07okay this is my first son mind you're the only one joshua this is now you say isaac or isaac
13:17as you wish all right and his name is as you wish and this is johan and johan
13:26has the same name as me except mine is my mandarin name anyhow welcome to taiwan i'm sorry no snow
13:52you
13:53you've experienced this life you'd find out you can see
13:56you can see you...
13:56you can see you...
13:57if you don't find any ones you or anything you can see me
13:59if you don't find any other ones you don't like it
14:00you can see what you call a foreign option
14:02you can see me
14:04you can see me
14:04you can see me
14:24You know why she is Xiao Mama? Xiao is little. Her daughter went to Canada and went to school
14:35in Canada and she stayed with my mother for five years and while she was there she just
14:43became like part of the family. Her name is Stella. So Stella used to call my mom, mom. So if
14:54my mom is her mom, then her mom is my mom, but my mom is obviously a little bit older,
15:03so we go mom and Xiao Mama.
15:06Xiao Mama. You're the big brother. Your doctor .
15:11Shelly is our home. Obviously, I'm going to go balcony and we're out and there's a lot of things.
15:19For those children, they did the same thing. They did the same thing. They stopped working.
15:30They took the same time as we do the same thing.
15:33Yeah, it's a lot of people who have to eat food and eat food.
15:39Hello?
15:42Have you eaten enough?
15:46They'll ask you, they'll say, have you eaten your fill?
15:50Have you eaten your fill?
15:54How do you say Haka?
15:58Slow, slow, slow, old guy.
16:03Slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow.
16:10It's alright, I know only about two or three words in Haka.
16:17My Mandarin is terrible, but Haka is almost...
16:23In regards to my relationship with my wife,
16:26one as my wife, she holds a special place in our relationship.
16:32It's different from my son and so on.
16:36As far as conflict or friction,
16:42I guess one is a little bit the personality.
16:46I mean, we're slightly different and they say difference attract.
16:49The other is culture and with some of the things that have happened with us and between us and especially
16:58family and so on.
17:00I'm amazed at how strong culture impacts on people.
17:05The only, I guess the biggest friction we have is over my inability to speak Mandarin.
17:11And sometimes she just gets frustrated with that.
17:14And she will,
17:15Why don't you speak Mandarin?
17:18I say, well, I'm just plain stupid.
17:20You know, I can make all these excuses.
17:23I've explained hundreds of reasons why.
17:25I mean, in school, I failed Latin. I failed French.
17:28They failed me in English.
17:30I became an English teacher.
17:32Language is not my forte.
17:38For, when we bought the land, there was nothing here.
17:42It had been a rice paddy for about 20 years and then wasn't used for 10 years.
17:48And so we bought it. It was nothing.
17:50So we did a rotary hole and all that kind of stuff.
17:55The houses and stuff, nearly all of them are boughs of paper.
17:59And everyone has a name.
18:02And sometimes the name is a bit of a joke, but it's sort of the way we do it.
18:06Well, we started this like 15 years ago and we've become sort of famous.
18:12Like I said, we did like 40, more than 40, Taiwan TV shows.
18:17So everywhere we go, anywhere in the country, somebody will say,
18:21Hey, are you down morning?
18:24And I guess, I mean, we want to do that, get a change.
18:28But one of the big prime movers for me, personally, was the trouble we had with the illegal,
18:36and I keep saying all the time, the illegal stone factory next door.
18:41Spent more than 10 years in and out of court.
18:45Thousands of dollars after 10 years, honest, I was really tired.
18:50And my wife, Taiwanese, typical Taiwanese, don't want any trouble.
18:56And people do something, okay, they turn away or move, whatever.
19:01Me being me and also being a foreigner, hey, it's not right.
19:06Everybody knows it's right.
19:07Even the courts say it's not right.
19:09But it's just the way it is.
19:12Ya can sit down, sit down.
19:29So you're ready?
19:30Go.
19:39Yeah.
19:46You know what that means?
19:49See you tomorrow.
19:52And we go.
19:58You know that song?
20:03That's someone that doesn't tolerate bullies.
20:07And he stands up for what he believes in and will let people know what he thinks.
20:13And so that's just something that Dad's been like since forever.
20:20I don't know enough about the context here to know whether it's how threatening it really is.
20:28That definitely seems concerning.
20:31Yeah, I've been kind of watching from the sidelines to hear the news.
20:35I know Dad can take care of himself.
20:38He's been through some interesting things and places.
20:42So I wasn't that worried, just a little bit concerned.
20:55Okay, now what we're going to do is we're going to go about 1.8 kilometers.
21:03This is a road goes up to Sandping.
21:07And part of its pay, they just did it up.
21:11Two years ago we had like a typhoon, but just really made a big mess of all the roads and
21:17so on.
21:18So they just sort of done it up.
21:20And then this year we had a little bit of a typhoon.
21:22So they cleaned up the roads.
21:27I got a little bit of a dude.
21:30Now my father's daughter's daughter's daughter's daughter's daughter's daughter's daughter's daughter's daughter's daughter's daughter.
21:33Now I was the doctor's daughter.
21:39He was her daughter's daughter's daughter's daughter.
21:43So my daughter's daughter barely got a lot of advice.
21:47Actually when I was 7th月14th of 1st, we had a huge increase in the day for 1st,
22:05Shelly's stroke for both of us was a big blow and actually a bit of a wake-up call.
22:11Our life basically went on hold for quite a few months.
22:15I've done a lot of research, I talked to doctor, friends, what have you, and one of
22:20the things I want to do is get her out, you know, keep her in the hospital, go see this
22:23and that.
22:24I said, no way, that is not the solution.
22:28And I really had to fight for it.
22:31And so I took care of her and after a couple of months, friends and medical professionals
22:36said, you're a pretty good nurse, John.
22:39In some ways it's brought us closer together and it's made us rethink a little bit of our
22:46future.
22:47So there's where we're going.
22:59No, it's not a barking deer.
23:04It's a really small one, but it's brown colors, the right color of a barking deer.
23:17a little bit.
23:20Yeah.
23:22What is it?
23:25Twins it, twins it.
23:28I know, I tell him, look, don't be so tall.
23:32Oh, that's better.
23:35Oh, that's better.
23:35Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
23:38Oh, oh, oh, oh.
23:40Yeah.
23:42It's urgent, and it's urgent.
23:45And he's sort of like his mummy.
23:49And he's like me.
23:53He's blow your hand-er.
23:57This is Wadidi.
23:59I'm a little crazy.
24:03You're all right.
24:06We're all in this. We do muscle.
24:10All from here.
24:11We're all walking three miles.
24:12We're all at the same time together.
24:14I don't know how much it is in my life.
24:15I don't know how many friends and friends.
24:19But when I was talking about Zheng.
24:21I mean, we're having some fun.
24:22It's not like that, it's like a joke.
24:24It's like a joke.
24:27It's like a joke.
24:28Yes, it's like a joke.
24:30It's like a joke.
24:31It's like a joke.
24:32Let's go.
24:36Okay, bye-bye.
24:38Bye-bye.
24:41It's either an animal or an animal.
24:43Josh, can you just stand there?
24:47Grab the old lady.
24:49Ready, one, two, three.
24:52Do the stick.
24:56Okay, man, come on.
24:58You go up ahead.
25:08I look at that and I see a house.
25:11Yeah, and furniture and all this kind of stuff.
25:15But I haven't found a decent way to make a bug proof.
25:21There's a company in...
25:22Is it bug proof because the termites don't eat the bamboo?
25:26Well, not just the termites.
25:29There's all kinds of beetles and stuff.
25:31That eat bamboo?
25:32Yeah, they grow in for the plant sugar.
25:39And so the two ways of treating it.
25:42One, it's a two-step process.
25:44They steam it to like cook the sugars.
25:49And then they smoke it.
25:51All you'll do is you'll twist the whole thing.
25:54When I was a boy, we spent half our time in the outskirts of Canada.
26:00The Arctic up north of Alaska, west of Alaska.
26:04And growing up, I was always interested in animals and plants and trees.
26:10And then coming here, of course, there's a lot more different stuff.
26:15And I'll see a critter and I go, what is that?
26:17We have the interweb now.
26:20So, oh, what is that?
26:22Take a picture and...
26:24Oh, really?
26:25I just discovered this really ugly looking bug.
26:30And it eats cockroaches.
26:32And one just went in the house the other day and went,
26:33Oh, I know what you are.
26:35God, I don't like you.
26:37So, yeah.
26:39And we have a couple of friends that are into that.
26:42We have a Taiwanese couple.
26:45And when they come with us and we hike up the mountain, they say,
26:48that plant can be used for this, that tree, that insect.
26:51So, yeah, just one of the many things I'm sort of like interested all the time.
26:58Should I open it?
26:59Thanks, Yungeng.
27:01One- Tutaj.
27:11Goodbye.
27:18What is your life going with?
27:20I don't know if you experience it before.
27:21How many of you are stronglyized by Maya.
27:22You're not thinking about your life.
27:22I'm thinking of a lot of people who are lucky.
27:22If I've never seen a lot of flowers, I'm thinking about my life.
27:24I'm thinking of a lot of people who are lucky.
27:24I've never seen the same kind of them.
27:25I really thought of myself as long as I'm thinking.
27:26What is my life?
27:26What is my life?
27:27Say, I'm a Taiwanese person.
27:47The first time to cook the cake.
27:54What are you making?
27:56A cake.
27:58A cake.
27:59A cake.
27:59A cake.
28:00A cake.
28:01It's a cake.
28:02It's a cake.
28:04You can eat them before they eat.
28:08They eat them?
28:09Yes.
28:11We cook the cake and add vegetables.
28:16I met Shelley, I guess as a friend of dad's,
28:23in the second or third trip here.
28:28Like everyone else that I've met in Taiwan,
28:30very, very friendly.
28:33But as I got to know her through subsequent visits,
28:37I found her to be extremely patient to put up with my father.
28:41Yeah, I think Shelley is definitely being a great member of our family now.
28:47I really think of her as being part of the family.
28:51I was really lucky to meet Shelley 20, almost 25 years ago.
28:59I used to go swimming every morning and I was the only sort of foreigner.
29:04Everybody's interested, who's this guy and what have you.
29:07But nobody spoke English.
29:09But Shelley spoke some English, so they would talk to her and she had to go and ask me some
29:13questions.
29:14So anyhow, one morning, go to go swimming and I go diving into the water.
29:20As I, in the water, as I come up, I went, oh my God.
29:26I'd lost so much weight that my bathing suit had come off and was floating in the water.
29:34Shelley happened to be swimming by and she came over and she said, I think this is yours.
29:39And I said, oh, thank you, thank you.
29:42And she had a big smile.
29:43I said, oh, well, look, after you've seen what you've seen, you're going to have to marry me.
29:50And she went, and so on.
29:52But that was sort of the first time to really meet each other in the swimming pool.
29:59I felt like I was a friend.
30:02I felt like I was a friend.
30:02I wasn't a husband.
30:03I felt like he was a friend.
30:06I felt like he was a friend.
30:06Because I was my husband.
30:09I didn't have any new ideas to talk to him.
30:13I felt like he was a good friend.
30:18After we got married, we never were apart more than one day.
30:22For years and years and years, we never were apart.
30:25If we go do something, we always, you know, spend the night together.
30:29It's just like that.
30:32It's so romantic.
30:37All right.
30:38Okay, so you can turn the water on.
30:45When we're making the paper creek, we use paper,
30:49bauzi, cement, shui ni, and shui or water.
30:56And the ratio is one part cement, one part bauzi or paper, and 15 parts water.
31:10We put the, soaked the paper.
31:14All right, hang on.
31:16You said earlier about the mass of it.
31:18Did you, had you previously weighed it when it was dry?
31:20Yeah, yeah.
31:21I mean, the cement and the paper are dry weight.
31:24Okay.
31:24Okay.
31:24And then you.
31:26But why, why, you gotta be careful between mass and weight.
31:29Yeah, yeah.
31:30Well, I got mass.
31:31Yeah.
31:31That's why I say weight, because it's not by the mass.
31:34It's actually by the weight.
31:37I think our family relationship is based, I guess, perhaps on a certain amount of independence.
31:44Especially since I left home at 18, even when I was traveling, when I was 15,
31:50there's an aspect of knowing that they're there somewhere on the planet, not necessarily with us.
31:56It wasn't such a huge deal because he, you know, he has his life here.
32:04He's not really directly involved with our life in Canada.
32:08I'm just really glad to have been able to find an opportunity this week to be able to travel and
32:15see him here.
32:16Let's just make sure it's centered if it's not.
32:17Okay.
32:18No, no.
32:28Yeah.
32:28When we first start, it's quite shaky.
32:31So if somebody's riding in the back, it can be a little bit.
32:34They have to make sure they either hold on.
32:38But today, I try to make sure I had softer paper so it's easier to mix.
32:47What we're doing here is actually just a natural progression.
32:51We moved on.
32:52There are different reasons that we've basically stopped being totally involved or immersed in Da Morli.
33:00But what we're doing here will be an extension of that or actually a progression on that.
33:07We've had people coming here and doing activities on recycling.
33:12I'm now doing some other aspects of recycling and we still have groups coming here.
33:17I want to finish this place a little bit more and then we'll emphasize that.
33:24And my wife is doing her bit as well.
33:26We do activities in the community, in the Liu Gui area.
33:31Everybody knows U Hao Chao, where it is.
33:34Somebody says, oh yeah, we live down near U Hao Chao.
33:38So we're now the point of reference.
33:40Whereas in the past, you know, something else will be the point of reference.
33:44So we're not expanding.
33:46We're just shooting out.
33:49Tearing the same load but in a slightly different direction.
33:54You know why we do the bottle?
33:56Why?
33:56Well, actually, the main reason I do it is inside is air.
34:05Can you watch make it lighter?
34:07No.
34:08We use it for insulation.
34:10Oh.
34:11So the paper creep block with just solid has a certain amount of insulation.
34:16But if you put a dead air space, that's what we call it, inside the brick, then it's even better
34:28insulation.
34:32I've actually been in communication with a few different people that have been to our place.
34:39And I've heard of one or two people doing some elements of what I teach.
34:48When I first started, I thought I'd be able to teach and reach quite a few people.
34:53After now so many years, and fully understanding that people just can't get their head around the fact it's different.
35:02I've just come to accept it.
35:04But it doesn't stop me from trying.
35:06I've actually worked out some more ways to demonstrate what I've been trying to say, to illustrate it.
35:13Because people, oh, yeah, okay.
35:15And they go away.
35:15Well, that was interesting.
35:16What did you get from it?
35:17Oh, it was interesting.
35:19But what did you get from it?
35:21Oh, it was interesting.
35:22And that's it.
35:23I want to be able to sort of get past that.
35:26So they say, yeah, well, this idea that the seismic load or the structure or just even the recycle that
35:34you can
35:34look at this amount of newspaper.
35:37Wow, it's a house.
35:39Amazing.
35:40If I can get people to go from that to that, I'll be very happy.
35:44But if they don't, I'm not unhappy.
35:47It's just the way it is.
35:48I'm just going to keep on doing my thing.
35:58Now.
36:00Yeah, well, we're taking, yeah, we're taking out.
36:07Is that okay?
36:07Okay.
36:11Swinzi, urzi, swinzi.
36:21It's all right, but here many of them, the glass is not very good.
36:32They come for my birthday.
36:36Oh, no, no, no, please, oh, oh, oh, very, oh.
36:46Yeah.
37:01That you see her's?
37:05Yeah.
37:06From theskins, she was...
37:09as we can see here,
37:14we would vote for the Dungseu but the Dungseu
37:17because we will start meeting the Dungseu,
37:20and we will always be in one of the Dungseu and three of the Dungseu.
37:26Howlsang.
37:28Howlsang.
37:29Good job.
37:30Howlsang.
37:32Howlsang.
37:37So the first time I came to Taiwan was just at the end of my university studies.
37:45I had been in Canada for about seven years.
37:49On that trip, I came to visit Dad for a week.
37:54And it was, yeah, 2000, so it was just not long after the earthquake.
37:58And, you know, at that time the HSI wasn't around,
38:02so I had to go from each of the buses.
38:05And Dad, he wasn't living in a big place.
38:08It was just, you know, huwei, really quite relatively small.
38:14It was just really friendly, everybody saying hello to me.
38:19And I was impressed by how quickly Dad was able to meet people and make friends.
38:27And, I mean, he is not embarrassed easily, so it's not much effort for him to just,
38:33even if he doesn't speak the language, to, you know, go into a place and say,
38:38hey, this looks interesting, tell me about it.
38:41I mean, like, that's, I guess, how he's been able to learn so much in this time.
38:45But, yeah, those were my first impressions were very friendly people and a welcoming place.
38:53So, again, not too surprised that he was interested in coming here.
39:27May, don't look, don't look, don't look.
39:38We're headed out to Taichung, to a university there.
39:42We're going to do a talk about paper house.
39:48So, I brought some stuff.
39:50We're going to do some engineer-type examples and a bit of a talk, a bit of theater.
39:58Hello, Taichung.
40:00Welcome to the world of paper.
40:02You know, that kind of thing.
40:25My black shirt, the black pullover.
40:29Oh, the, the, in the luggage.
40:33Oh, the luggage.
40:34Good.
40:35Aren't you a good girl?
40:40Okay.
40:58Hey, guys, thank you so much for joining us today.
41:02Thank you so much for joining us today.
41:11Okay, this, this is a brick they normally use to make a house, yes?
41:20And this paper crete is smaller by volume than two bricks.
41:32People ask me, you know, what's the difference?
41:34Because I was teaching, you know, in New Zealand for a number of years before I came to Taiwan.
41:40And is there a difference between the students, the East and West, let's say?
41:46There is, and there's a decided difference between this, the way the students have to, basically, I guess it's the
41:54expectation.
41:56They are put under a lot of pressure, especially from their parents and their family.
42:01West, they are too.
42:03But the expectations in the West are, like, more, to me, more realistic.
42:10And they give, the students in the West, Johnny, have more freedom.
42:15And with the more freedom they get in and they can absorb what they want and what they don't want.
42:20In Taiwan, my experience is the students get there and we, they are taught what I call a Confucian heritage
42:29culture method, which is the teacher is the font of all knowledge.
42:35The student is an empty vessel.
42:37The teacher comes in, pours their knowledge into this vessel, and the student comes away educated.
42:44My experience that, one, it doesn't work.
42:46And, two, to be able to increase the interaction with the, between the student and the teacher, to me, is
42:55really, really important.
42:57My teaching style ends up being almost diametrically opposed to the way teachers do it.
43:04But part of its personality, too.
43:07And, like, the students today, they're good, they're all shy, they're first year, going to make a mistake.
43:14But you can still engage them.
43:17Takes a little bit more energy on the part of the educator.
43:21But in the end, to me, it's worth it.
43:23I see when they come out, they all, none of them are going, oh, God, that was so boring, you
43:28know.
43:29Nearly all of them come out and they're talking about what happened or what they saw or what the other
43:33student did.
43:35Wow, to me, that's, and I only spent an hour and a half with them.
43:38If I was spending a year with them, and that, to me, they'd be way better students.
43:43Hey, everybody gotta give Crystal a big hand.
43:45It's really good.
43:46Way to go, Crystal.
43:50Yeah.
43:51It's a key ring.
43:52Happy birthday to you.
43:55Oh, my God.
43:59Happy birthday to you.
44:03Happy birthday to you.
44:07Oh, thank you.
44:08And then you go, for he's a jolly good fellow.
44:11Oh, that's me.
44:13Everybody just put your glass down.
44:15Yeah.
44:16Okay.
44:16Okay, everybody touch hands.
44:18Okay.
44:20Okay.
44:21Okay.
44:22Okay.
44:23Okay.
44:23Okay.
44:25Okay, thank you.
44:27Okay.
44:29Oh!
44:32Oh!
44:33Oh!
44:34Oh!
44:35Oh!
44:35Oh!
44:36Okay, now we're going to do the wish.
44:42I wouldn't be at this birthday if it wasn't for my wife, so she can help me.
44:53Thank you, everybody.
44:57Always happy.
44:59To be young again.
45:01Young again.
45:03Jonah.
45:04He's curious as a kid.
45:07Yeah.
45:08And active like a young man.
45:10And wise and like an adult.
45:13So, he's a good friend.
45:16He's a good friend.
45:16He's a good friend.
45:18He's a good friend.
45:18Oh, wow.
45:19Wow.
45:21Wow.
45:21Wow.
45:21Wow.
45:23Wow.
45:26Wow.
45:27Wow.
45:27Wow.
45:27So, you know
45:27Wow.
45:28Okay.
45:28My wife is a Taiwanese woman, and she is a young woman.
45:34She is a young woman, and she is a young woman.
45:39So today I want to thank John.
45:42He lives in Taiwan very well.
45:46He can always connect with this land.
45:51Thank you very much.
45:55Although John does not work in art work,
45:59but because he has created a form of shapes.
46:04So in his building, he has this kind of beauty.
46:08And I think that art can bring to life in the world
46:11is a real part of the life.
46:17And I hope that John can keep his life in the world
46:23to forever forever.
46:26John, happy birthday!
46:28John, happy birthday!
46:46Ni hao, ni hao!
46:49Everybody okay?
46:51Number one, good.
46:58Okay, I'd like to welcome you to I Ling U.
47:02First thing people say, what's I Ling U?
47:05I Ling U is the address, and it happens that the building is I Pai Ling U Ping.
47:13And we just thought, hey, we'll just call it I Ling U.
47:16We don't call it a coffee shop or whatever.
47:18But that's ideally what it's going to be.
47:21And usual is my paper crepe walls, recycle windows.
47:27Because I like to do the stained glass, I put in some stained glass.
47:31So I've changed that.
47:32There's going to be four of these.
47:34So I've got one done, ready to do three.
47:37And in here, as usual, I do my recycle, some recycle windows.
47:43The dark wood is from a bye-bye table in someone's house.
47:49And that's pieces there.
47:51There's a piece up there.
47:53The tiles come from the roof of my wife.
47:58So they'll be like that, you know, do a typical sort of tile roof.
48:02The idea is that when you come in here, you're in a little village courtyard.
48:09So that's going to be decorated like a shop, a different place there.
48:13Over there will be two or three more shops.
48:16And the roof is going to be different.
48:21Because it's I-ling-oo, I want to show the transition of the area in 105 years, I-pai-ling
48:30-oo.
48:32Somebody asked me if I'm satisfied with my life.
48:35I'd actually have to say no.
48:37And to me, it's like saying, are you content?
48:42And I'm not content because there's so much more I want to do.
48:46If I was content, okay, okay, I'll be here and just sort of die.
48:51I'm not. I'm not content. I'm not satisfied.
48:54Do I have a goal?
48:56My only goal is to live longer and do more.
48:59They say, well, what do you dream about?
49:02Live longer, do more.
49:04What kind of thing?
49:05Oh, I have no idea.
49:08Whatever happens, my mantra is carpe diem.
49:13Seize the moment.
49:14On the bottom of all my emails and stuff, the thing at the bottom is always carpe diem.
49:20Just seize the moment.
49:21If something comes up, hey, you want to try that?
49:23Oh, okay.
49:25Just, that's how I live.
49:29This actually shows you our past, present, and future.
49:35We have an idea what we want to do, and we'll go for it.
49:41We've done that all the time.
49:43And I'd actually like to thank my wife for encouraging me, supporting me, and stopping me from being crazier than
49:51I have been or could be.
49:53Okay?
49:59Grandad John, stay young, stay safe, and never stop being a child at heart.
50:04I wish you have an interesting time in the near future, and that all of the challenges that you can
50:12encounter, I'm sure you will be able to overcome them.
50:17You are my only one.
50:19I am your only one.
50:20That's why I hope in the end of our life, in the end of our life, you will be safe,
50:28and healthy, and healthy.
50:31That's why I love you.
50:45Thank you for watching Inside Taiwan.
50:47You can catch more of our stories on the Taiwan Plus website or our social media.
50:51I'm Laurel Stewart.
50:52Take care.
50:53See you next time.
Comments