This still just shows, that it’s NEVER too late, to realize, and start living your own dreams, from the Front Page Sections, translated…
Every Thursday morning at a little after six, the eighty-year-old Grandma Chiyo would show up, at the bus station on time, waiting, this, was the Thursday dates she’d looked forward to the most, waiting for the bus, and the bus ride would take a total of over an hour, but, she’s like a happy kid, going to school, looking forward to spending the time with her classmates.
Grandma Chiyo from the Paiwan Tribe lives at the tribal district of Old Mansion in Pingdong, being married to someone in the cities, she’d never forgotten this land she was born to, although close to her own home, there were, courses, offered, to the elderly public, but she’d rather, take the longer way, because the bus ride to school became, a console to her, missing her hometown.
and here’s the class of elderly…
Having gone to and from school to home and home to school for three years so far, Grandma Chiyo, when she was younger, she married, and worked alongside her husband, away from her hometown, a little over a decade ago, her husband passed away, she’d lived with her children in Pingdong, and, during the regular days, her kids were off to work, her grandchildren, off to school, it was just, her, alone, in the house. In order to fill up her spare time, she’d decided to take up courses at the care points in her own hometown community. Although there were courses offered in the city where she’s living, “I want to be with people from my hometown”. There would be gatherings of elders in the community center in Gulou every Thursday morn, offering art or singing and dancing classes, or courses on health.
Chiyo Tien also asked the man in charge of the Gulou Community, “Can I take part in it?”, toward this Paiwan Vulu (native tongue for “grandma”), wanting to attend classes with her tribespeople, the community welcomed her warmly, and, it’d helped motivated Grandma Chiyo’s thirty kilometer ride to school every single week.
For over three years, every Thursday morning, Grandma Chiyo would be on the very first bus out from Pingdong at 6:30, arriving at Gulou at 7:40, she’s often the first student in class. She’d attended the classes with glee, sang with others, and, after lunch, she’d taken the bus ride, back to Pingdong again, and every now and then, she’d, spend the night at her nephew’s place in the tribe too.
So, this, is how this woman continues to remain active at old age, she has that will to learn, and it’s her love of learning that drives her, as well as the need to stay close to her roots, and, this woman is going to, stay active for the rest of her life, what, a great way to age…
Life, the Obstacle Course 