Russ and Melody’s Taiwan Tea Farm
"Boh tea farm" by Dustin Iskandar is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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Daniel Nardini reflects on strategic prudence and international resolve through the lens of friendship and personal courage.
As my close friend Russ looked over the rows of tea plants stretching out into the distance on the mountain, he knew that he and his Taiwanese wife Melody had had a good growing season. Not too much rain and not too little.
As the tea leaves looked ready to harvest, he and Melody had already hired the personnel they were going to need. They and nine other people were going to spend the next three to four weeks picking the tea leaves, drying them out, and packaging them.
Because of the intense sun, everyone had to wear protective clothing to cover their skin from the sun's rays. While this is common sense, sometimes the clothing can make a person feel hotter. Russ explained to me that if the temperature was 90 Fahrenheit, the extra protective clothing could raise the temperature by five degrees for every worker in the field. Hence, people had to take frequent breaks and stay hydrated to avoid heatstroke. The average temperature at this point was anywhere between 90 and 100 Fahrenheit with 80 percent humidity.
Once the tea leaves had been picked, the drying process could take as much as a week depending on the temperature. Also, the tea pickers had to watch out for snakes. Taiwan has a lot of venomous snakes, and their bite can be nasty.
The best tea grown on the farm by far is Oolong tea. Taiwan is famous for it, and it is a major export. Russ and Melody also grow black tea. Tea farms in Taiwan do turn a profit, and for Russ and Melody this means that they will have some extra income for their retirement.
My friend Russ was born and raised in Virginia, to a single mother whose husband had died when Russ was a boy. Despite the poverty and hardship he, his mother and his six brothers and sisters had endured, Russ did his best by working hard and helping his mother with the chores around the home. He joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany as a signal corpsman in the 1980's before being accepted to the College of William and Mary. He graduated with a bachelors in anthropology, and he was accepted for work as a foreign English teacher at Hess Language School in Taichung City (where I met him).
Russ had met his girlfriend and soon to be wife Melody at Hess Language School where she had worked as an administrator. They got married in 1994 and have been together since. Russ worked at Hess for 25 years until he retired, and Melody inherited the tea farm from her father who was too old to tend to it.
Russ has lived in Taiwan for 33 years, and he will most likely remain in Taiwan to the end of his days. He has come to love the people he has known for all those decades, and for him there can be no other life. That is why it was such a terrible shock to see one day Chinese missiles flying over Taiwan before landing in the ocean.
Like almost all Taiwanese, Russ is afraid of war coming to Taiwan. He fears a possible Chinese invasion or blockade of Taiwan if the United States and Japan do not show any resolve in helping Taiwan and in coming to its aid if it is attacked. Taiwan has been an independent state since 1949, and the island nation has built up a democratic base and high standard of living for its people.
Taiwan, according to Russ, is without question one of America's most reliable allies and friends in Asia, and in many ways America's defense of Taiwan and its democratic way of life will ensure that a totalitarian state like the People's Republic of China will not become a threat to the United States if Taiwan is kept safe and remains free and sovereign. Russ pointed out that if Taiwan should be conquered by China, then China can use Taiwan as a base to attack and maybe even take over the U.S. territory of Guam (note: the Chinese military has stated that Guam will be the next target).
While working as an administrator himself at the school, Russ took Taiwanese student groups to Guam since Guam allowed visa-free tours from Taiwan then. Guam is just a little over 1,000 miles away from Taiwan, and a Chinese takeover of Taiwan would put Guam perilously in danger. By keeping Taiwan safe, Guam and other American territories would also be safe.
Even though Russ is getting old, and he has health concerns such as a bad back, bad knees and stomach issues, he is more than ready and willing to defend Taiwan no matter what the cost. For Russ, protecting his wife Melody, her family, the tea farm they own, his quality of life, and the freedoms Taiwan has is all worth it. Russ has a clear reason why he is willing to fight and die for Taiwan; it is his home. As Russ looked out at the tea fields on the mountain, he felt satisfied that this was a good harvest.
Daniel Nardini lived and worked as a foreign English teacher at Hess Language School in Taiwan from 1990 to 1994. He met his wife Jade in South Korea, and they have been married since 2002.
Nardini worked at Lawndale News in Cicero, Illinois, for 20 years, and at The Fulton Journal in Fulton, Illinois, for two years until retiring in 2020. He holds a bachelors in anthropology and history from Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, and a masters in European and Asian history from Western Illinois University in Macomb. He has published six books: South Korea: Our Story; The Day China Cried; My Taiwan, Seoul, and Guadalajara (Mexico) Memoirs; My Italian American Family, Rural Taiwan, and Lawndale News Memoir; My South Korea Photograph Memoir; and My Taiwan Photograph Memoir.
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