The Reunion-2012

Dinner at Rio

On top of the North Rim, Grand Canyon
Front Row: 孫芳德,鄭炳陸,蔡宗元,陳哲俊,陳呈祿
Back Row: 洪敏弘,張崴春,何瑜笙,牟在勤,胡宏良,林幸峰,洪家俊,陳正一

Every once in a few years since 1984, Taida EE64 held a reunion.  The classmates participated usually were less than 1/3 of the class. However, the number participated this year is 19, well over 1/3, though shy of 1/2.  It is about the same number as that of 1984.  With time goes by our aging, the predicted number will go down in the future. One thing notable is that most participants show up multiple times.  It means more than 1/2 of our classmates never show up in reunion at all. 

Nowadays, we don't really need to travel to see people physically.  In this Internet age, it is fairly convenient to contact people with email, video phone, social network just to name a few.  But I found that most participants don't even communicate each other in a regular manner. Everybody has a family or social circle that is enough for the daily life. There are three major groups of our classmate geographically, Taipei, LA and San Francisco. They, though live around within a few miles, seldom meet or contact each other.  But they all aware of the existence of the others nearby.  Is this normal?  I think the answer is yes. 老子 said, "雞犬相聞,老死不相往來".  To lead a simple life, this may be the superior way.  People have parents and children to take care. Usually it forms a close family knit and it is the norm of our society. All others are the next level of social network that supports us emotionally.  Then why do people travel and go to reunion?  The world consists of many kinds of people, our class is no exception.  The participants of the reunion usually are those who like to travel, meet people especially old friends and are generally in good health.

The reunion of 2012 was possible mainly due to the efforts of AJ (陳哲俊), Edmond (何瑜笙) and AhMO (牟在勤).  AJ is 行政院長, Edmond is like 交通部長, AhMo acts like 外交部長.  They were the invisible hands that made the reunion go smoothly.  To most of us, there were a lot of free rides.  We didn't need to worry about the itinerary although some of us were assigned as 值日 responsibility.  The real 幕後推手 were AJ and Edmond.  AJ took the responsibility in coordinating itinerary with travel agency, it is time consuming and need patience.  Edmond lives near Las Vegas and has been in those national parks before.  So he is instrumental in making the trip comfortable and interesting.  Many people like group guided tour, but they have to live with unfamiliar people in the bus. Some people like cruise, but they have to dine with unpredictable people in dinner room.  In our reunion, we are just a group of familiar bunch and share none of the drawbacks of the above.  So the mood of each day is relax and fun.

The unique thing of this tour is the tour without tour guide.  I have joined in several guided tours in Europe before and realize how important the tour guide is.  It may make or break your vacation depending on the quality of the guide.  So I sort of worried about the whole thing before the trip.  It turned out that we went out just fine without a tour guide. We might miss a lot of facts and information about the place we visited. However, it was minor comparing to what we actually have done.  We rehashed our good old memory and talked jokes about our professors. A few lawyer's jokes augmented the whole trip.  While we relive the past, we also enjoy the present and create memory for the future.

PS: For those who visited Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Antelope Canyon & Red Stone Canyon, you may like to listen to Dvorak's 'Symphony From the New World, 4th Movement'.  This masterpiece 最能表達美國壯麗的山川, 廣闊的原野, 雄奇的峽谷 和氣勢磅磚的河流.  在這曲子裡,宏偉的法國號和嘹亮的小喇叭再再頃訴這种心靈的感受. 不妨在夜深人靜的時刻,慢慢品嚐和欣賞.  Here is the one conducted by Herbert Von Karajan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCct_tSQ8WY&feature=related

The next link is the one with scenes from the Grand Canyon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MI5KCxHH_A&feature=relmfu