Happy holidays from the Van Auken / Emery family!
We hope this finds you happy and
well. The past year has been busy for us but relatively uneventful: Oliver
turned 2 in April, in June we made it back to the east coast to visit Newell
Ann's family, in July Van's parents made their annual visit to the northwest,
trailer in tow, Clara turned 5 in August and started kindergarten in September
... and also in August we got some very exciting news. Whenever we mention
it, people ask us the same questions, so this year instead of a holiday letter,
we are giving you the Van Auken - Emery family FAQ: Frequently
(oh-so-frequently!) Asked Questions:
What are your plans for next year?
As I said, in August we got exciting news. Newell Ann was awarded a Fulbright-Hays
Fellowship to do a year of dissertation research in Taiwan. So, on January
17, 2003, our entire family will board an airplane and move to Taiwan for
a year! That's right, we're going to pack up into 4 carry-ons and 8 checked
bags and move ourselves to Taiwan for a year: mom, dad and two kids.
We will get there in time to celebrate Chinese New Year on February 1.
Taiwan! What exactly are you doing over there?
Newell Ann will be doing dissertation research at the Institute of History
and Philology, Academia Sinica, a post-graduate research institute in Taipei.
She is working on some discovered manuscripts and comparing them with a traditional
text that is very similar (a little like comparing the Bible and the Dead
Sea Scrolls).
Where are you going to live?
We don't know yet. We plan to rent an apartment. The research institute has
arranged lodging for us for the first week or two of our stay.
What about Van's job? What will he do in Taiwan?
Van has been working for Verizon since April 1999, first as a data technician
and now as a sales engineer. He loves what he does and he is very good at
it, and will miss his friends and co-workers at Verizon. As he told his boss,
this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our entire family.
In Taiwan, Van will spend a lot of time with Clara and Oliver helping them
make the transition. He hopes to learn Chinese - and in fact, has already
started listening to tapes and is picking it up quite well! He may find some
part-time consulting work just to keep from being bored but we don't plan
for him to have a regular or full-time job - instead he will teach himself
three computer languages on his trusty Linux box.
What about the house? The dogs and cat?
We have a housesitter - a trusted friend - who will take care of our house
and dogs and cat while we are gone.
Where will the kids go to school?
See "where are you going to live" - don't know yet. There are a lot of different
options but we need to get there and explore them in more detail before making
a decision.
When are you coming back?
Right now we are planning to return on January 16, 2004.
Newell Ann, are you ever going to actually finish your PhD? Then what?
Yes, I will finish my PhD - but only because I get next year 'off' to work
on my dissertation! The past few years I have held a position as a predoctoral
lecturer teaching Classical Chinese and another course at the University
of Washington and I have also written two papers for publication and
presented conference papers unrelated to my dissertation research.
It has been difficult to make any progress in my dissertation because of
other obligations. This coming year, I plan to do nothing but dissertation
research: no teaching, no conferences, and no other papers. When I
finish I hope to find a faculty position teaching Chinese language and literature.
Are the kids excited about going to Taiwan?
They are very excited and talking about it. One of their favorite games is
to play 'going to Taiwan' (though most of the pretend is about the travel,
the going there, rather than what happens after we arrive). Clara is apprehensive:
she knows it is going to be very different and that she will miss her friends.
Oliver doesn't entirely understand what 'going to Taiwan' means. When we
get in the car to go somewhere, sometimes he asks, 'We going to Taiwan today,
mama'? Both of them can count to ten in Chinese and know a few basic
phrases; Clara has nearly mastered eating with chopsticks and Oliver does
as well as any Chinese 2½ year-old.
Are you excited?
Van and I are slightly overwhelmed but still extremely excited. I lived in
Taiwan for 2½ years over a decade ago and I have never stopped missing
it; Van visited me there twice and had a great time. Up to now, it
has been a huge adventure already: getting my Fulbright application in, the
suspense of waiting and waiting and waiting to see if I'd been funded, then
setting up my affiliation with the research institute, finding a housesitter,
getting our visas and plane tickets, international health insurance, figuring
out how to get access to my fellowship funds once we're there, finding out
about school options for our children, temporary lodging, who would meet
us at the airport, and on and on and on - yet we've been taking it one little
step at a time and one little step at a time everything is working out just
fine. If we look at the big picture, it really is utterly overwhelming, but
instead we just do one little bit at a time and everything has been falling
into place beautifully. I am confident that the trend will continue once
we get to Taiwan. While the work we've had to do in preparation has been
stressful, it is fun to be working on a project together with Van, and we
both believe that this year is going to be a great experience for the two
of us working together as partners and also wonderful for our entire family.
What's your address? Other
contact information?
Our permanent mailing address remains the same. We will pick up mail there
when we return in 2004:
1521 Silver
Lake Rd, Everett, WA 98208
In Taiwan, you can use the following
address:
[c/o] Ms. Newell
Ann Van Auken, Junior Visiting Scholar
Institute of History and Philology,
Academia Sinica
Nankang, Taipei 11529
Taiwan, ROC
Since this is Newell Ann's school/work
address and people may not know Van's last name, you must use Newell Ann's
last name ('Van Auken', not 'Emery'); otherwise we will not get your mail.
Our e-mail addresses should remain unchanged:
Van: [email protected]
Newell Ann: [email protected]
We plan to send out a newsletter periodically (e-mail us if you'd like to
be included on our list!) and to post photos of our daily life on our website
http://www.vanemery.com/priv8/family.html
.
What else has been going on - a whole newsletter with no brags about
your kids?
Ah, so glad you asked! Our kids are so much fun, we enjoy them more than
we could possibly begin to say. Clara has been in a co-op kindergarten at
a local school, where all the parents are required to volunteer regularly
in the classroom. The opportunity for regular interaction with the teacher,
kindergarteners and other parents has been a fabulous experience for all
of us and we hate to leave. Clara has recently taken off with reading:
Dr. Seuss Dr. Seuss and more Dr. Seuss! Oliver is too young to go to kindergarten,
and but he has been going to Kindermusik one morning a week. He loves it,
comes home singing all the new songs.
This summer our family did a lot of hiking together in the Cascades. It has
been a long time since we've been able to do much hiking, because of the
ages of our kids. Both are real troopers. Ollers mostly rode in his carrier,
but Clara managed to hike 3 miles to the top of Mt. Pilchuck and then 3 miles
back down. And before her 5th birthday, too -- wow! They are fun and adventurous
kids and we think that the upcoming adventure in Taiwan will be nothing but
good for them - and for their parents too!
Our family
wishes you all the very very best in the Year of the Sheep!
May you enjoy health, happiness and great good fortune!