Dental appointments in Taipei/ Charles Chuang

Dental appointments in Taipei/ Charles Chuang It takes a long distance to travel to Taipei for the dental appointments. It was because that I had had 9 fallen teeth and 4 of them were the wisdom. It is very expanse to have a dental work done in the United States and I cannot afford it; therefore I must outsource the work to Taiwan like many other industry to China. Before leaving Houston, I decided to have the dental work done by my cousin who inherited his dad’s clinic at Wanhua, Taipei. My uncle had made a denture for his sister, my mother, long time ago and was still working when she died in July this year. He inherited a Japanese dentist, Dr. Furui, when the war ended in 1945 and learned the technology to make fake teeth. I have been informed that the fake teeth technology has been in force for more than 100 years. After I arrived my rental flat at Yunghe, I took a bus directly to Longshan Temple and walked to the old dental clinic on Kueiyang Street nearby another temple called Chinshan Temple. It was closed for that day; therefore I walked around the area. This is the first time that I come back since 1966. A young dentist took care of me the next day and diagnosed that he could only install a temporary denture for me because my stay in Taipei would be too short. I agreed and the nurse started to take X-ray at the back of the office. It was a technician’s office to make gold tooth etc. Now they grow some Japanese golden carps. I can see the fish swimming up and down. He started to fill two cavity adjacent to a fallen tooth, #29, at the lower level and extracted badly damaged one on the other side. The nurse scheduled me for the next appoint at the same location with the old dentist. After the old dentist inspected the wound, he was satisfied and decided to Install a permanent one. He set up clay material for me to bite in order to Make the fake teeth. He quickly cleaned the remaining teeth and asked me to go to his new clinic at Nankang, Taipei. After that he filled additional 9 cavity and made them looked pretty. He figured out all the cost and I paid them all on each appointment. There are two parts of fake teeth, one is #4 on the upper level, the other one Is the lower level with 4 fake teeth under a metal bridge and a curved platform. They are very easy to put on and take off, this is called in and out in the U.S. After receiving the new denture, it’s at the end of my time in Taipei. I had had plenty of time to test them, showing off to my friends at the dinner gathering. He is an excellent dentist and he can also do the dental in plant.

牙診/莊峻華

牙診/莊峻華 長途返台之主因為牙診，我有九顆落牙，其中四顆為智齒，美國牙診昂 貴，只好外包台灣牙醫，離美前我突然決定，尋找舊日萬華之親戚診所 ，因為先母過世時，一套假牙，仍舊健在，其長兄，我之母舅為製做者 ，其診所為其子，我之表弟繼承，從日治時代之古井齒科，到現在約有 百年假牙製做歷史。我到達永和後，搭巴士到康定路之龍山寺，沿康定 路走到貴陽街，然後步行到青山宮，診所就在近處。 當日診所工休，我在附近閒逛，翌日上午掛牌門診，有位年輕之牙醫，檢 查口腔後，認為裝永久假牙，惟恐時間不夠，可能可以作臨時假牙，就 是塑膠底盤，我同意後，開始照電光，電光室在診所後邊，過去是假牙 工室，打金牙套等，現在養上兩池錦鯉，群魚在池中翻騰不已。年輕醫 生，熟練補上兩齒，拔下一顆蛀牙，護士安排我下次門診時間，我就約 好老醫師，同樣在貴陽街老診所。 老醫師看到我拔牙傷口，復原迅速，覺定安裝永久假牙，於是開始咬模 型，上下兩層，清洗牙齒，然後約我到其南港後山埤新診所，此次門診 中，他就補平九顆老牙，磨損脫落處，並且將全部費用算出，然後約好 同一週三下午四點門診，都在南港。 假牙兩處，上層只有一顆，就是補上第四號落牙，醫生要我練習，拿上 拿下，然後再補咬一上層模型，大概是配合新製下層假牙。下層假牙， 有一金屬凹板，密貼在下層牙床上，有金屬橋架構，鑲上四顆假牙，也 很容易拿上拿下，我一直到離台週三門診，始取得此套，醫生交待勤加 使用，有問題務必在離台前，回來診所，我回永和住處，連續吃下幾顆 番石榴。 完成安裝假牙後，有許多飯局，後來返美途中，機上機下，威基基網球 場，我有描述不完之話題，老醫師之功力真是不凡，他也在紐約習得植 牙本領。

Medicaid service/ Charles Chuang

Medicaid service/ Charles Chuang At Christmas Eve dinner, a relative who is working with a senior care company describes her work with Medicaid. Her company’s patients are mainly Chinese spoken seniors. She mentioned several elders whose names were recognized during the past 30 some years in the community in Houston. I am so shocked that so many of them become poor and are qualified to Medicaid service. She said because that they got rid of their asset in order to be qualified. Yancy , my brother, discussed the Obamacare with me the other day that even Medicaid recipients were against the new national healthcare and our conclusion was that after joining Obamacare, they might have to pay some premium despite of free Medicaid. In speaking of money people gets disgusted. Some senior gets old and sick, they need help. They are immigrants and never have worked enough time to be qualified for Medicare. It is very expanse to have medical care in the United States; yet the nation provides humanitarian support such as Medicaid; therefore, many senior organize themselves to become poverty. They can also receive some food stamp and some kinds of welfare payments, yet they need to have a shelter, a house of apartment with an address in order to let senior care company to provide service. Otherwise , the homeless I witness at Waikiki cannot receive such welfare benefit. This company will charge $12 an hour from Medicaid, pays $7.5 to the provider , the senior care person; therefore $4.5 an hour is the company’s margin. It’s not high tech computer and is not Apple’s i-phone pay. It’s not huge profit, yet it’s a working opportunity, because of this opportunity, 300 immigrants get jobs. Because of the ethnic background, the providers are Chinese immigrants and I do not hear any from Taiwan. I like her work to help the weak in the community and I record it as a very meaningful way of life.

貧民保險服務/莊峻華

貧民保險服務/莊峻華 昨夜耶誕夜親戚據餐，有一親戚在一照顧老人之公司工作，該公司主要 服務對象是華人年老者，她提到許多位長者客戶，都是幾十年來，家戶 喻曉者，我甚為感觸，當年我所認知，有些都是經濟優於許可者 ，如何 如今均淪為貧戶？親戚曰脫產也，幾日前，峻嚴與我談起貧民反對歐巴 瑪全民健保，我們推論因為當今之貧民保險是免費，不同年收入，不同 程度之健保補助，如金卡等，一旦加入歐巴瑪健保，在聯邦補助額不確 定下，有些人需要交保險費，講到錢，英雄也氣短，也厭棄，嚥氣也。 有些老人有疾，需要人照顧，這些老人泰半是移民，不曾在美國工作，所 以老年後無法加入老人保險，美國醫藥費用高昂，但有人道之貧民保險， 此為有限之社會福利，因此許多人有計劃之改變成貧戶，可以領到貧民補 助金，可以有貧民保險服務，這些服務，仍舊需要居有屋者，否則看護者 ，無法提供服務，我在威基基看到之，無家可歸者，似乎無法享受如此政 府資源。 此看護老人公司，多半照顧華人，每小時申請貧民保險局$12，給看護者 $7.5，所以公司之利潤是$4.5一小時，不是電腦高科技，不是蘋果牌電話 ，不是一本萬利，但確是一工作機會，有三百位合法移民，因此找到工作 ，因為服務對象是華人，所以看護者，多半是來自中國之移民，台灣移民 比較有錢，大概無需吃如此之苦。 我深覺此姻親之工作，幫助社會弱勢，非常有意義，特別記述。

A dinner with two graduate students/ Charles Chuang

A dinner with two graduate students/ Charles Chuang On the plane from Los Angeles back to Houston, I ran into a young pretty girl from Anhui, China. She just arrives to the United States for her Ph.D. program at the chemical engineering, University of Houston. I have my admiration and respect instantly. When I was young, I attempted to change my major to chemical engineering and this particular university was my Waterloo. I regret it all my life. I encourage her to study hard and get her degree and after that most of the company would hire her. Tonight we invited both she and her fellow student to our dinner at a restaurant, I start to realize that current chemical engineering is involving high tech products and is very different from what I have thought of the traditional drafting, units process, and mechanic solid or fluid etc. Mr. Liu, a young man at his third year here, was from Henan, China, also from Chinese University of Science and Technology, explains that the engineering departments anxiously recruit students with scientific majors to their graduate study programs. He is a physics major while this Miss Liu, the girl I ran into, is a chemistry major from the same Chinese University. After 40 or 50 years later, the students of pure chemistry receive such Attention, I am so much impressed. There is a stiff competition in every field of the American business. Every business is looking for a person with ability. You can some time pay a little bit less attention to get along with fellow workers such as pleasing your superiors only if you have done a good job with your work. You can pursue your individual life and build your life time hobby etc. The wealth is within your reach in no time. Both of them are intellectual and should grasp this opportunity by working hard to get the degree as soon as possible. How to get along with people is a virtue and yet is not the step brick to knock on a job or a step stone to get into a job. This Ph.D. program is a rare brick and stone to enter the job market. Also a man with the same surname Liu, Emperor Liu is almighty to have so many children, was my old classmate at college. After finishing his Ph.D., he went back to Taiwan to work. Recently I ran into him at a party, he passed on a name card with a senior vice president title on it. Even in today’s industry, business still looking and keeping for able person. Some time I am wondering if I should work harder to keep my knocking brick opportunity 36 years at the same university.

Bus tour Oahu Island/ Charles Chuang

Bus tour Oahu Island/ Charles Chuang One day I decided to take a bus tour Oahu Island. After tennis I prepared a Little bit myself and took off from the University campus via Waikiki and Ala Moana Shopping Center. There are two routes, 52 and 55, to circle the island. Every route would take about two hours to finish the circle, only certain portion of the island. I the first coming bus,55, toward east and northeast direction. After passing Chinatown, the bus ran directly to Pali Highway, if I were not mistaken, there was a big Taiwanese Government Office on this highway and the director’s residence was just next to it. I have my love to Hawaii, no more the the scenery, looks like the old memory Of Taiwan, especially my home town Puli, Nantou. Pali Highway, 61 Highway at Hawaii Pacific University, turned northwest to 83 Highway. I had driven rental cars five or six times to circle the island on my previous trip. Now I took bus tour for the old memory. 61 Highway separates certain portion of Oahu Island where some buses could reach. There are some pretty villages where I have not had the opportunity to Visit, yet circling 72 Highway and the beach from highway that I was very familiar with. There is a Bellows Air Force Station and nearby luxury homes are difference in structure with another part of the island. After entering 83 Highway, the bus immediately on the north shore. Other Than Waikiki Beach, most of the island beaches scarcely have tourists. Local residence are against the new development, they insist to maintain the old environment with no high rise building. Originally I planned to buy some nuts and coffee at Macadammia and yet I changed my mind. I got off at Matsumoto grocery for a bowl of Azuki Icy, a kind of sweet red bean with honey. I discussed an old sign on the door step with a Japanese tourist family. The old grocery is located at an old sugar plantation near the famous Sunset Beach where many advanced surfers gather. Actually I missed a Philoppino fruits stand near the Turtle Resort Center. There are many stands now. There are some development at the island with the old historical villages. I believe that I can be a good tourist guide. The bus turned south, passing by an old Army barracks where was the story of a film, From here to the eternity, also passing by the Dole Plantation. An old American lady recommended me try another coffee factory on the roadside. I went to that factory for a bag of Hawaiian coffee the next day.

與兩位研究生飯局/莊峻華

與兩位研究生飯局/莊峻華 我在洛杉磯轉機回休市，巧遇一位美麗之中國安徽小姐，剛來美國攻讀 休大化工博士，令我肅然起敬，我在年輕時曾圖改行化學工程，在休大 翻船，引為終身遺憾。談話中，我鼓勵這位劉小姐，專心讀書，等到完 成學業，美國公司必然爭相聘用，今夜兩位研究生，應我們邀請，前來 飯局，始知其所追究學問，都是電腦產品，高科技範圍，與我想像中之 傳統工科，基本製圖單元操作有異，另一位劉先生，也是合肥中國科技 大物理出身，解釋其研究主題，回答我疑問，提到化工系，令人體會現 在工科，急需有純理科背景者，可以暫時擱置流體和固體力學等，馬上 進入研究，這位劉小姐也是中國科技大化學系出身，四、五十年後，基 本理科學生，終於受到重視，我內心有多少感觸。 美國競爭劇烈，各行各業，講究真材實學，有時候可以稍微忽略作人處 事，可以不用奉承迎迓，只要把份內工作搞定，許多私人生活可追尋， 許多嗜好可以培養，金錢在其中矣。兩位都是聰明才智者，應該打鐵趁 熱，一氣呵成，作人處世為個人修養，可以幫忙事業，但非敲門磚，必 需有得其門而入之機會，此為休大化工研究所，化工博士，只有少數出 類拔粹者，始能脫出。 也姓劉，漢高祖真行，我大學同窗，劉秩齡博士，艾美斯愛阿華州大 博士畢業後，回台灣工作，一直到現在，名片上是副總經理，老當益 壯，近代企業界，仍舊需要如此幹才，我在回想中，我是否把握住，當 年休大化學系，給予我難得之敲門機會？我又夫復何怨？下次將帶家兄 前來飯局，享受長江後浪推前浪之美憶。