b'made our neighbors and friends envious, and we took joy in sharing these treasures with them. On a trip to the United States, Father returned with a compact refrigerator, a luxury at the time. Since Dr. Kes clinic lacked one, he often used our refrigerator to store vital medical supplies that required cooling. The young students who came to Taiwan with the school were far away from their hometowns and had no local connections. They sometimes came to visit Father and enjoy some homemade meals during the holidays. Terry Liu, who later married Janie and became my eldest brother-in-law, was one of them.Adapting to Natures ForcesTaiwan, as an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, hosted a climate and natural environment distinct from that of mainland China. After experienc-ing and learning how to deal with the violent nature of typhoons, the seismic tremors that shook Hualien from October to November 1951 presented yet another new and startling experience for our family. During this period, the region was struck by a series of powerful earthquakes, including two that registered magnitudes exceeding 7.3.During one of these quakes, my elder brother, Pan, who was four years old, had just left the barber shop with Li Lao Ban. As they walked, the ground beneath them began to heave and sway. Unaware of what an earthquake was, Pan watched in naive amusement as cyclists tumbled off their bikes onto the shaking streets. It wasnt until Li Lao Ban scooped him up and hur-ried to safety that the gravity of the situation began to dawn on him.Meanwhile, at home, Tammy, just a few months old, lay in her wheeled crib. As the quakes vibrations coursed through our home, her crib began to glide across the floor. It moved from one side of the room to the other and back again, all while she giggled in delight, blissfully unaware of the danger of the chaos unfolding around her. My mother, witnessing this, rushed to secure the crib, her heart pounding with a mix of fear and relief at my sisters innocent laughter amidst the tremors.29'