In this visit, I spent most of my time talking to an ah ma from my weekly group. As the tables were arranged in a manner that was hard to hear from everybody, Juanjuan and our new friend, a high school boy, talked to the other two ah mas while I conversed with the ah ma that sat next to me.
This week, Juanjuan and I decided to focus on the Amis tribe's relations with other ethnic groups, as well as possible acts of discriminations faced by the tribe. However, I strayed from the topic and focused more on the topic of food. T
This week, one of the grandma shared more about her attachment and relations with Naluwan in Hsinchu. What’s interesting is that she mentioned despite moving from Taitung, she don’t face the issue of a loss of culture, as the people here, including the younger ones in Hsinchu still work in continuing to uphold the tribe culture and participate in tribe activities.
This week's communication was very diverse. Originally, we were supposed to scan photos, but our group of grandmas forgot to bring them, so we spent the entire conversation. Therefore, we also took this opportunity to further understand the grandmas' views on living on both sides of Taitung and Xiangshan.
When I sat down with my Ahma, she brought out a few stacks of photos from the past. Each photo held so many memories and stories, some she looked at and reminisced and smiled, while others she looked at blankly. Perhaps she couldn't remember the story behind each and every photo, or some photographs may have reminded her of certain moments in her life that she'd rather forget.
The sky was gray, and I felt a bit nervous. The train departed from Hsinchu Station to Xiangshan, and the scenery outside the window shifted from buildings to vegetation rich landscapes, which were very different from the urban area. The main building of Xiangshan Station is in a very traditional Japanese architectural style. The entire station is mixed with modern steel, cement, and classical wooden houses. After walking out of the station, most of the houses here are skylight or even bungalows. Although facing the main road, the traffic flow is not busy.
This week, the groups were regrouped, the interviewees were slightly different, and two more lively grandmas were added. During the interview, I discovered that the grandma Wen I interviewed last week is considered a senior figure in the tribe and was the first few families where the tribe began to live in the current place, so the other two will also mention it in the interview. A few words of "what happened to my elder sister before" gave me the opportunity to have a more in-depth chat.
We spent this week's class with the older generation of Cultural Health Station. As soon as we entered the classroom, we danced and exercised with the elderly. Afterwards, we followed the group list and met with our tribal families. Today, we mainly met with Grandma Wen, who runs a grocery store at home. Before starting to interact with the tribe's people, Scott shared several audio recordings of traditional music he had previously recorded with indigenous friends, and reminded us to chat with the tribe members about music related content.
I was seated with the same grandmas of the families I met last week and was also attached to a new grandma at the table. All three of them recounted their time whereby they went out to the sea to harvest seashells. They mentioned that the sea water level played an important role in determining whether they would go into the sea that day. It is only when the water subsides that they are able to see the seashells by the rocks.
這次主要聊的是阿嬤們的遷移旅程，我們主要訪問到的是一對姊妹，年齡相差兩歲，在小學的時候因為有仲介介紹，一同來到台北工作。
以下是他們的遷移過程：
台東-花蓮-台北（有仲介介紹台北的工作，但很多人受騙被賣到妓院）-桃園-台北-新竹
小學因經濟因素離開台東，搭巴士到花蓮，再搭火車到台北（大概民國57年）
當時台東還沒有電力，火車是日治時期建造的，補充煤炭（from 土城/基隆）的火車，到站也沒有廣播，很怕睡過頭
I arrived earlier than the other students and had some time to interact with Ivan and his family before the others arrived. I think the earlier dinner held at Ivan's sister's house made me feel more comfortable in the situation. I knew what was expected of me and I and those who met me then already had an idea of who I was.
