Greeting - beginning the 2018

2018 新型的問候信。兩欄的內容是1988年寫的。 A new style of greeting letter. Those in two-columns were written in 1988.
最近偶然發現回味舊信是很有趣也很有意的事情。就來試看看吧。當然要找出新的格式。Accidentally and recently, I found that reviewing old letters is interesting and beneficial. Just jump in and try. Certainly we need some new formats for this. 二零一七年的確是一個大的年，不只是因為它為二零一八年的聖路易蘇何族大事鋪路。 1997 was a big year not only for paving some changes in 2018 for the So & Ho clan in St. Louis.
It seems to be a thousand years since we sent the last greeting to you. 1997 was such a big year paving some changes in 1998 for the So & Ho clan in St. Louis.	上回寄出請安信到今天好像已經一千年了。事情變化不少。一九九七年的確是一個大的年，因為它為一九九八年的聖路易蘇何族大事鋪路。

麗津在忙著修繕幾間小房子跟籌備一些跟班旅遊的同時不費吹灰之力就發明了兩項新的東西，讓我們無論在家或是在外都平添生趣。她一直說後悔太慢退休了。她還是在安排每季的教會事工輪流表，不知道以後誰會接手。每主日，有大約三十個人在動手讓教會的主日活動繼續下去。雖然她沒有安排全部的人員，但，卻是最沒有人想去安排的事工。她的兩項發明（講不出是從哪裡學來的，就是發明。）包括滷蛋和愛心土豆。滷蛋就是素的滷蛋，是不是孟嘗君的廚師為馮諼發明的已經不可考了。想不到識獲的人真多，吃過的人都以行動讚不絕口。那些不起眼的土豆也是不斷被「安可」的點心兼旅途安慰劑。Amidst the busy chores of maintaining several small rental properties Letin managed light-heartily to invent a couple of new products that add a lot of fun and flavor at home as well as on the road. She regrets that she did not retire earlier. She continues to make arrangement of the schedule for church work rotation, not knowing who might be the next person to handle the task. There are around 30+ people working together to make the Sunday activities at the church going. Although she is not the one to manage everything she handles the tasks of scheduling the assignments that nobody wants to mess with. The two inventions, being called inventions for not knowing where the idea and techniques come from, include the lo-nng, soy-sauced egg, and the peanuts-with-care. The soy-sauced egg is cooked without meat and considered vegetarians’ food. It is unknown whether it was invented by the cook at Meng Chang-chun’s kitchen 200 year BC. The intelligent consumers are numerous and keep showing “like” with their mouths. The humble peanuts in plastic bottles originally for bottled water receives "encore” repeatedly and are considered placebo on the road.

Tina became a Boeing employee without doing anything. The McDonnell-Douglas she served in the past 18 years went through a friendly merger with Boeing. She resumes the responsibility of managing the facility of the Church building. In early May she has completed a successful campaign to clean up and fix up the yard of the church. She picked up a new task of supporting the young adult fellowship by attending and hosting their activities while continuing the responsibility of directing the church choir. She did see Tony in Taipei, December 1997.

麗津不費吹灰之力就變成波音公司的員工。原來她服務十八年的麥道公司與波音牽手合併了。在教會，她負責管理禮拜堂硬體設施；五月初成功地完成一次會友總動員的戶外大整理；除了繼續指揮教會聖歌隊之外，她也投入支援社青團契的活動。她在九七年底曾去看在台北的希三。

怡玲和女兒芳芳一家從看撒絲州的咖啡村搬到密蘇理州的首都借福孫市，忙了一年，終於喜歡上新的住家，不再想念舊州、舊村、跟舊家了。也不必再為「有魚的後院」費力傷腦筋了。以前來往兩地之間需要長期規劃。現在距離不到兩小時的車程說走就走。蘇何族仍然在剩路易打轉。I-ling and the family of her daughter Fawn moved from Coffeyville, Kansas, to Jefferson City, the capitol of Missouri, keeping them busy for the whole year. Finally they are settled and in love with the new residence, not dreaming and praising the old home and old village any more. They no longer have to worry about the “fishy” or “fishful” backyard. What took long-term planning for traveling between their home at Coffeyville and St. Lois becomes compulsive jump-and-go trip between J City and Chesterfield now. The So and Ho clans are still spinning around St. Louis, Mo.

A-leng has been responsible for the pulpit management in addition to the weekly singing in the choir. She worked full-heartily with Tina in supporting the young adult fellowship. Her orchids always bloom for four months, her garden in the front yard is the most fascinating one in the subdivision. Last year, She fell in love with a house and almost moved over. A-leng plans to join Fawn before Fawn gives birth to the second child to support the burden of taking care of two youngsters. After the move, A-leng will be relieved from the daily noisy honking from the neighbor’s driveway.

怡玲在教會裡負責聖壇的管理，並積極參加聖歌隊。她也與麗津合作支援社青團契的活動，不遺餘力。她種的蘭花一年可開四個月，夏天裡前院的花是全社區最引人入勝的。去年她又愛上另一個新房子差一點就搬過去。怡玲計畫在芳芳生下第二個孩子前搬去與女兒同住，就近支援照料兩個孫兒。以後她就可以永遠避開每天早上從鄰居車道來的擾人喇叭聲了。

芳芳到底會在首都發展出什麼咚咚到現在還沒有眉目。知道她曾經在老家擔任過一個募款機構的董事長，誰曉得她會再出什麼招？相信下個「世廿」（廿年）會有令人一新耳目的報導。中志很快地又在新的都市與醫院裡「樂在其中」了。絲毫不會受到台灣的「一中」、「二中」、「三中」的干擾。密蘇里首都另一家台灣人竟然姓蘇，而且已經在那裡好幾十年了。There is neither sign nor hint on what Fawn might get into or get out of the capitol, Jefferson City. Who knows what she might turn into, based on the knowledge that she served as chairperson of the board of a fund-raising organization in Coffeyville for a while? Just believe that there would be surprising reporting on the subject in the next 20-year. James, named "central/focused wish” or “mediocre wish” has quickly find his fun and enjoyment in the new hospital. He, having a middle name “Chung”, is not affected by the controversies of “one Chung, “two Chungs”, and “three Chungs” in Taiwan. Unexpectedly, the other family of Taiwanese in Jefferson City has family name Su. They have been there for several decades.

Fawn attends the subdivision meeting for the Lin’s family with enthusiasm. She is going to deliver her second child this summer. For her, the most exciting tours was the impromptus visit to her mother’s home for shelter in St. Louis, forced by power failure caused by heavy snow storm. She also visited relatives in Taiwan for a visit that Little Tiffany could remember.

芳芳代表林家積極參與鄰里大會。預計在今年夏天增添第二個女兒。最驚心動魄的一次旅行是在去年冬天。由於下大雪引起大停電，被迫「疏開」到聖路易的娘家尋求庇護。她也回台灣走一趟，帶給「粉圓仔」一個「記憶之旅」。

栩婷（粉圓仔）廿好幾歲了，看不出幾十磅，繼續說純正的台灣話，看起來還不大像可以當眾飲酒的大人。比較少見面了，因為遠在華盛頓特別區念心理諮商研究所。2017年我們專程去看過她一次。她踏靠著11號跟「有沒」車過日子，利用人行道和手機跟全世界保持聯繫。在那邊她就像是個靠首都呼喚世界的人一般。以前喜歡聊「有的沒的」，現在出門坐「有沒ubô」。 Tiffany, the cute tapioca, is more than twenty now without showing how heavy she weighs, continuing to speak standard Taiwanese, not appearing to be old enough for drink alcoholic beverage in public. We get to see her less frequently than before because she has been concentrating on graduate study in clinical psychology in Washington, D. C. We took a special trip to visit her once in 2017. She depends on her vehicle-11 to move around and keep in touch with the world on the sidewalk using cyber phone. There she appears to be just like someone who calls the attention of the world from the District of Columbia. 「踏粉圓」（Ta̍h hún-îⁿ，bô lâng án-ne kiò i 沒有人這樣叫她）這位在上封信裡「待降」的小女兒已經大學二年級了。去年安排廿幾位同學幾在他們新家地下室過夜打破世界紀錄。她立志跟隨父親中志當外科醫師。她先從在醫院裡的餐廳當志工天天表演鋼琴讓醫療人員配午餐開始。她已經親眼觀察過手術無數次，越看越入神。每次見面我們一定要談談彈彈鋼琴。她是最佳伴奏。沒看過的譜也敢、也能彈，雖然她不是穿著譜長大的。 Daphne, (pronounced like “stepping on tapioca” in Taiwanese, but nobody calls her this way) , the to-be-descended girl in the previous letter, is a sophomore in college. Last year, she managed to host 20+ school mates to spend a night in the basement of their new home and believe it might break a world record. She wishes to follow her father and be a surgeon. She started by being the first and the only volunteer pianist providing piano music in the staffs’ restaurant in the hospital to facilitate the effect and enjoyment of the lunch of the medical teams everyday. She has observed in person numerous surgeries already and getting more and more hooked. Every time we meet we talk and play piano. She is the best piano accompanist daring to play the music she has never seen before, even though she did not grow up wearing sheet music.

Tiffany, 4 1/2, 40 pounds, speaks fluent Taiwanese without American accent, picked up a lot of new expression and talked like an adult lately. She likes to say, “let’s see”. She got into drawing so heavily that her mother could not supply paper and pencil quick enough for her hundreds of drawing per day appetite. She has consumed two Magna Doodle boards already. Fawn admitted that sometimes Tiffany could draw better than what the mother could.

栩婷（粉圓仔）四歲半，40磅，說純正的台灣話，最近多學了不少新的詞彙，說話越來越像大人。她會打太極拳似的說「再看看」。一年來，她嚴重地陷入畫圖癮。她母親已經無法應付每天上百張畫的紙與筆。她已經用壞兩塊隨畫隨擦的磁鐵畫版。芳芳甚至承認粉圓仔的畫功已經青出於藍了。

希三不知道吃錯什麼藥，去年開始花很多時間在翻譯歌詞，甚至改寫歌詞、改寫伴奏，推出「半桶音樂」，還包括「三手聯彈」、「兩支鍵盤」，說是給學過一點點音樂卻不上不下的「半桶師」在客廳裡玩的。還說是要搖醒「斯代叩」來推廣台灣音樂，營造台灣新文化與認同。製作多語聖詩投影片也越來越快、越多。看起來真的是有「時不我與」的樣貌。聽說是有假設2018是最後一年了。每個星期日錄製主日學曠野班的實況影音記錄擺在「呦凸」上。年底出現新的現象，就是會在半夜覺得睏，先去睡覺。然後在天亮前就醒起，穿著睡衣趕工。過年前，開始在三個費思簿帳號分別以臺、英、中三文分享，嘗試三語溝通。去年想過的「七十首度與最後的個人音樂發表會」大概無疾而終了。去年開始整理「聊天學」，或許以「聊天學與聊天術」為內容起草一本薄書也說不定。Not knowing what went wrong with his routine medicine, Tony started to spend a lot of time translating lyics into English, even re-writing English lyric for songs. He came up with ideas such as “half-bucket music", “piano music for three hands”, “music for two keyboards”, etc., claiming to be for those caught half way in the music learning, the half-equipped musicians with some ability but not good enough, to have fun in the family rooms or the living rooms. He also talked about reviving STYCO, St. Louis Taiwanese Youth Chamber Orchestra, for promoting Taiwanese music as a way to nurture new Taiwanese culture and identity. His multi-lingual slides of hymns continue to accumulate faster and faster. He seems to sense that time is not on his side. A rumor is that he works on an assumption that 2018 be his last year. He continues to make live video of the Wilderness Sunday School accumulating more and more clips in youtube. A new phenomenon started near the end of 2017 that he became sleepy near midnight and went to sleep earlier now, waking up before sun light and start working in pajama. Right before the New Year, he started to utilize his three accounts in facebook for postings in three different languages, Taiwanese, English, and Mandarin, trying to communicate in three languages. The dream to have a “first and the last personal recital in 70 years life” appears to end in nowhere. Last year, he started to draft and compile chatting related thoughts and theory. He might use “the knowledge and skills of chatting" as the scope of his first book.

Tony quit the teaching/administrative job at the Chang-jung University. His planning for taking an ulcer-leave did not work out. 5 days after leaving Chang-jung, he reported to the Garden of Hope Foundation in Taipei and jumped into a busy schedule helping with services for the sexually abused in Taiwan. He seems to enjoy every aspect of the Foundation, including management, direct services, and other activities. He returned St. Louis home in June, 1997, and the spring of 1998. During the month of April, 1998 he visited the Children Assessment Center in Houston. For four weeks he enjoyed the hospitality of Tina’s cousin (daughter of her mother’s 2nd sister) Le-hua and her husband (Dr. Liu). The life was so enjoyable with the Liu’s in Houston that he did gained some weight and was engraved with life-time memory.

希三辭去長榮管理學院的教書兼行政工作。本來想休息一陣子讓胃潰瘍緩和一下，結果離開長榮五天後就到台北向勵馨基金會報到，跳入一個為受性侵害者服務的忙亂生活週期裡去了。他似乎有些喜歡在基金會牽涉到管理、直接服務以及其他許多瑣碎、「有的無的」工作內容。他曾在九七年六月、九八年春天回聖路易家享受天倫之樂。四月裡他代表勵馨基金會考察休斯頓的兒童性侵害處置中心，受到麗津的表姊（二姨的女兒）麗華姊及姊夫的熱誠接待，不愁吃住四個星期之久。體重增加不少，終身難忘。