The relative affair/Carlos Pueblo

 The relative affair/Carlos Pueblo

It is very interesting that I picked up my medical travel to Taiwan to have my dental work done by my cousin Dr. Chen for the second time in 11 years. It is a relative affair as a matter of fact. He is the second son of my late uncle, another dentist, the senior Dr. Chen who is the elder brother of my late mother. The elder Dr. Chen is very kind to host both my elder brother Yancy and myself to stay with his family when we both attend senior high schools in Taipei, Taiwan. He provided us a place to stay in order to attend the best senior high schools in the capital city; therefore, we could eventually pass the college entrance examinations to enter University of Taiwan for Yancy and Taiwan Normal University for myself. We have always appreciated this opportunity and the kindness of their family.

It is still very common practice for parents in rural Taiwan to send their children to Taipei to have their education. This is like a good school district in the United States. Parents don't like to take any chances at all. They are all anxious to send their kids to the best school to receive the best preparation for college. Our uncle has saved some funds for my Dad during those years while we studied in Taipei. Before I left Taiwan in 1975, my Dad had mentioned that he paid back the loan for our seven siblings schooling with a half of his retirement fund from his employer, the Taiwan Sugar Corporation. He couldn't complete another half of his children's schooling and fortunately Yancy picked it up while he started to work in the United States.

My dentist arranges my visit to his elder sister who is Yancy's age and also my alma mater at Taiwan Normal as a journalism major. She describes those years when my mother was always bringing our elder sisters to Taipei to ask her Dad's help of some kind with her kids' education in Taipei. I am aware that these are very true and appreciated very much. I wish that I can do it like her Dad and my uncle nowadays. We don't have those kinds of relatives. We are all much better off than before. Taiwan is much more prosperous than our time in our childhood.

We like to measure our family's success by counting how many medical doctors generated inside our family because medical doctors are better paid jobs with high respect in the society. After three generations, there are 4 in my uncle's family and 4 in his sister, my mother's family.