November, where have you gone?

It seems November has come and gone without making an appearance on my blog. So here's what has happened since last I left you:

• I went to the Harvard Band 90th Reunion and got to see some old friends; Jonathan even flew in from Poland for the weekend, in part because...
• I turned 24;
  
• The Phillies were once again in the World Series, but thanks to uncapped salaries in the MLB, did not reach the same conclusion as last year;
• I got Windows 7 as a birthday gift from my brother John, and so far it is as awesome as all the commercials make it sound;
• Milo has started sleeping a million hours a day, so I no longer have a puppy's urgent bladder waking me up in the early morning;
• I bowled over 100 twice in one evening;
• Thanksgiving happened and I ate my weight in turkey and pumpkin pie;
• I attended my 5-year high school reunion, which was not as awkward or uncomfortable as anticipated;
• I finally ordered a monitor (TV) for my computer from TigerDirect's Pink Friday sale, so I can stop borrowing my Dad's.

I have a handful of half-written blog entries in my head about various unrecorded Taiwan experiences, but I'm finding it increasingly hard to write them out. Wrapping up those few last entries will really conclude my year in Taiwan, and as I still tell acquaintances that "I just got back from being abroad," it seems weird to let go of the experience entirely. There has been a real lack of continuity in my life since graduation. I spent a year in another country with another language and a new routine and a whole set of new people, then I abruptly returned to suburban Pennsylvania with a year of holidays and birthdays gone by, finding my friends with jobs and apartments instead of classes and dorm rooms.

Enough of that. I just wanted to say, I haven't forgotten about this blog or about the things I plan to write in it. I thought all I needed was to find the time to create (of which I have plenty), but as it turns out I still haven't found all the right words.

Sushi in the US? Very yes. Blogging? We'll see.

It's way more expensive, it's not as fresh, it has weird English names, and did I mention it's way more expensive? But my first experience at a sushi restaurant in the US was a positive one. For those not keeping score at home, I'd never dared to eat sushi until it was forced upon me in Taiwan, and I quickly fell in love.

Considering I've been home for over three weeks, there are still many foods on my to-eat list, and I have a great deal of unpacking left to do. Of course, the fact that I never unpacked from senior year of college doesn't make anything easier.

I should probably justify my latest prolonged absence. I wasn't only sleeping. First my laptop decided to stop turning on (again). Then the wireless internet decided to stop working, so even my mini laptop was useless.

The truth is also that I have no idea where to start. I have a lot of un-blogged stories and pictures that I'd love to share with you.

So let's start at the very beginning. Well, the beginning of this year, anyway. I never did write about what I did to ring in 2009.

At the very end of the first semester, the student teachers at Fu Xing got enough free time and outgoingness to introduce themselves. I had had no idea that there were a handful of other 22/23-year olds wandering the halls of Fu Xing, also without teaching experience. I got the chance to hang out with some of them a few times before the semester ended (they left Fu Xing after first semester). They ended up inviting me out for New Years' Eve.

First, we had dinner at Ikea. I had the Swedish meatballs.

Then we went to the Dream Mall (the "Times Square" of Kaohsiung?) for festivities and fireworks. We had to pose with the World Games mascot:

Then we met up with fellow Fulbrighters Billy and Dan.

I even ran into one of my fifth graders, Willy! No, it was not really cold enough to warrant wearing a hat (maybe 55 F), but I really wanted to feel wintery.

And then there were fireworks.

After the fireworks, we headed home in what I thought was impossible: a scooter traffic jam. But I was really glad to get to know Kenji, Ray, and Etty. Even though Kenji and Ray went back to Taipei at the end of January, Etty continued on as Fu Xing's new Taiwanese teacher for the second semester, and her classroom was right next door.

A very belated happy 2009!

The Jon visit, in summary

When Jonathan visited in October, as you may recall, he was here for over two weeks and we spent almost all of that running around Taiwan and Kaohsiung's famous spots. This time, as this was his vacation and I still had to work, we didn't do nearly as many interesting things. Or at least, we didn't do nearly as many interesting things that I haven't already done and blogged about.

We went to Lotus Lake...

..but this time, rented some C-bikes to ride around the bike paths that border the lake:

We took the MRT and I made Jonathan take a picture in one of the fancy MRT stops:

We walked around 西子灣 ...

...while wearing the colorful Taiwanese hats I bought... (Jon is pleased)

... and went to the British Consulate there...

...where I took a picture overlooking Kaohsiung Harbor in the same spot as the rest of the tourists.

We also ate 蛋撻 from KFC, drank fresh fruit juice and milk, went to a Canadian bar, watched all three Lord of the Rings movies in one night, and spent a lot of time with Milo, whose energy levels can only be matched by Jonathan's desire to run all the time. A good visit was had by all... especially Milo.

Take me home...

If my current itinerary works out, I'm going to be back in the US on 1 July, 2009.

These are the things I've had undeniable cravings for and cannot wait to eat:

• pancakes
• Cinnabon
• turkey club sandwich
• good bread
  
• brownies/cookies/banana bread
  
• brown rice (the family recipe)
• lasagna
• pizza (Taiwanese pizza doesn't cut it)
  
• cheese steak
  
• anything else that can be made in an oven

I'm not really an unhealthy person, but come on, how often do you crave vegetables?

Jonathan is currently visiting me in Kaohsiung, so sorry about the silence on the blog. Yesterday we were walking Milo through the Cultural Center by my apartment and there was this tea festival going on, vendors and performances and all. We had to stop and watch this one. Particularly relevant for Office fans:

A trip to the mountains

For Lauren's last (and only) full weekend in Taiwan, we took a trip with several other Fulbrighters to the mountains. 阿里山 is one of Taiwan's most popular tourist spots, particularly during this time of year when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. We got there right at the tail end of the cherry blossom season, which means slightly fewer cherry blossoms (but still as many tourists).

Anyway, because it was peak tourism season, we (read: Rebekah and Gered, our awesomely 辛苦 trip organizers) had to creatively put together the trip without actually staying in 阿里山. So we left early Friday and took the train to 嘉義, hired a driver to take us to 瑞里, and promptly napped on the "traditional Asian floor, as we said in HCAP-Seoul. (You get a couple blankets and lay them on a wooden floor and that's your bed.)

After a lunchbox lunch at our 山莊, we decided to go see the sites in the mountains and were off.

Lunchbox satisfaction level:

View from the balcony:

The forest/mountains were really pretty, and there was a lot of bamboo:

We hiked several kilometers to find a batcave (or "bat grotto," as some signs called it). Apparently all the bats have left the area because of tourism. Oops:

We then spent a lot of time looking for a waterfall. First we thought it dried up:

But eventually, we found it:

There were a lot of steps. We definitely ended up walking (hiking?) further than we had intended, which resulted in a long upward climb to the top:

But at least it was pretty along the way:

That night, we had a big family-style vegetarian dinner at the 山莊, saw some fireflies with some very enthusiastic young hotel guests, ate some roasted sweet potatoes, drank some floral tea, and went to bed by nine.

The next day we were up at seven (I opted out of the 4am sunrise trip). We had another family-style breakfast at the hotel, and when we weren't psyched about eating pickled radishes for breakfast, the 老闆 reassured us that we should try it even though it's not like "美國的漢堡." Then we were in a car to 阿里山 by 8.

Unlike 瑞里, 阿里山 was full of tourists and we were not full of energy. So we took a few trails, took some pictures of the cherry blossoms, saw some giant trees, and called it a day.




At 3pm we took the famous Alishan Forest Railway to our hotel in 奮起湖, yet another mountain town. The Alishan Forest Railway is the third most famous mountain railway... or something. I'm not sure. It was a very pretty ride though, and every once in a while we'd pass a crazed tourist snapping pictures of the train from the forest.

The train approaching the station at Alishan with cherry blossoms and mist... too much 特色!

Lauren and Katie aboard the Alishan Forest Railway:

Our stay in 奮起湖 wasn't entirely eventful; we found a good restaurant for dinner, hung out by the 7-11, and saw the staff of the hotel we stayed in exactly once from check-in to check-out. Then we were up and off at 8am for a long and nauseating busride back to 嘉義 where Lauren and I parted ways at the 高鐵 station. She headed off to the airport and I headed back to Kaohsiung.

And there ended Lauren's visit to Taiwan... Now that I've caught up with blogging, I'm headed out to 墾丁 for three nights and three days of Spring Scream. I never did the multi-day, camping-out concert thing back in the United States, so I'm sure I'm in for an experience.

Back on Monday!

An afternoon at Lotus Lake

Lotus Lake, or 蓮池潭, is one of Kaohsiung's more famous and more scenic attractions. I'd managed never to really go there until Lauren's visit prompted me to find something nice and also representative of Taiwanese (or more broadly East Asian) culture. My prior visit to Lotus Lake was in August when we were touring the various co-teaching schools, and Chiou Cheng Elementary is right by Lotus Lake. In August, however, Lotus Lake was totally dried out in order to make it deeper for World Games trials and competitions. So as you look at these pictures, imagine sports like competitive waterskiing, wakeboarding, and canoe polo taking place on and around these tranquil waters.

That's about all the description I can give. Lotus Lake: a lake with nearby mountains reflected in the water and picturesque temples set on and around it. Now take a look at the pictures.

The Dragon and Tiger pagodas:


Views from atop the Dragon pagoda:

(The land)

(The lake)

The Spring and Autumn Pavilions (I think?):

Me being Asian by a Buddhist deity:

Lauren stands by the least scenic part of the Confucius Temple at Kaohsiung (the rest of it was closed for the day):

And that's it for Lotus Lake! Up next: a weekend in the mountains. Stay tuned!

Kaohsiung earns more tourist dollars because of American Fulbrighters...

Last week, my friend Lauren (also Harvard '08) decided to take her own spring break and visit me in Taiwan. This was very fun and exciting for me, as I don't get a spring break. So during her visit, I gave her a sampler of things essential to Kaohsiung City and my life there. Things like...

...eating 雪花冰 at Ice Art:


...taking a boat ride on the 愛河:

...getting all-you-can-eat 火鍋:

...going shopping at 新崛江, one of Kaohsiung's many 夜市s:

...hanging out with Chia-ling (and making peace signs in every picture):

...teaching some classes at 復興國小:

...and even stopping by the 太平國小 English Village:

Lauren and I also ventured to Lotus Lake, a place I hadn't been since August (when it was more like Lotus all-dry-and-smelly-because-it-was-dug-up-for-the-WorldGames), and spent the weekend in the mountains of central Taiwan. Blog posts on these adventures and more coming soon!

If you're coming to Taiwan...

Hang out with my newest friend who lives at the Taipei Taoyuan airport:


On a related note, my friend Lauren from college days is visiting this week. As usual, when I'm with an actual person, I spend less time with my computer. You can expect a blog or two about our adventures once she heads out of town. But a sneak preview: she has come to school (Fu Xing and English Village) with me every day so far, which means our post-work activities have mainly involved naps.

Long weekend #2: Kenting

I've been neglecting the blog lately. I have two excuses, but I won't bother to tell you about them. Instead, I'll do a mostly-pictures update of my second weekend trip when Jon was here. We went to Kenting, which is on the southern tip of Taiwan. The setting of "Cape No. 7," Kenting is the Taiwanese resort town. Except we stayed in a small inn, not a huge resort, so much of the weekend was spent figuring out how to get around and what we were supposed to be doing. Regardless, Kenting was a beautiful place to be, and thanks to a friend of a friend of a friend (remember what I said about how getting advice from locals was a necessity?), we did end up at some good restaurants and on an excellent snorkelling excursion.

And now, some pictures.

Jon overlooks the main Kenting beach:

A view of the landscape on the east coast of Taiwan:

The Pacific Ocean. Look really hard, can you see California?

A nice trip to the national aquarium:



And a great snorkeling trip by the nuclear power plant. Seriously. Once you swim through a few yards of trash, you get to an amazingly diverse and beautiful coral reef:
(our snorkel-guide had an underwater camera. Phew.)

I still have some other Jon pictures and stories, but they are smaller. This will probably be my last in the "Jon summary" series, as I'm getting way behind on blogging on actual current events. But I hope you've enjoyed these stories. All this and more could be yours, if you visit Taiwan, too!

Taipei: Kaohsiung of the north?

Now, back to those Jon stories. It may seem like there are a lot, but he was here for over two weeks, and this post will mark the end of week one. Granted, my getting sunburned on 10-10 meant that I got my usual sunburn-induced cold/cough in week two, so activity was substantially reduced.

Anyway, I will come out and say it, Taipei is not my favorite city. Though Kaohsiung is supposed to be more dense, Taipei feels more crowded with more traffic and scarier-looking stray dogs. The biggest lesson that I learned from going to Taipei with Jon is that, in Taiwan, it is really necessary to get advice from a local on where to go and what to do. For the times when we just wanted to wander and find things, we inevitably got lost and ended up eating McDonald's because it's all we could find. When we found something online or in a travel book, we ended up disappointed and not sure if we were in the right place.

But the three places that were heavily recommended by friends, the Palace Museum, the Taipei Zoo, and the Shihlin Night Market, were definitely successful ventures. The Palace Museum is a collection of everything from art to ceramics to old letters that were taken from the Mainland during the communist revolution. No pictures were allowed, but it was definitely a tourist-friendly and worthwhile trip.

The Taipei Zoo is at the end of one subway line, far outside center city; it's a sprawling zoo with plenty of different landscapes to accommodate almost every animal. A favorite exhibit was the koalas, though the pictures didn't come out great through the glass:

And then there were the elephants, that Jon's college roommate Benny apparently took care of for a summer:

And that big furry bear that Jon really, really wanted to take home:

We also went to the top of Taipei 101, seeing the whole city from 101 floors up:

Of course, going to Taipei 101 with a physics major was a little different. He was way more interested in the damper that kept the building steady. Here he is, posing with the "damper baby," with the big damper in the background:

The Shihlin night market was also a successful trip, with more food and people than we could ever take in:

And finally, a nice picture of one of those great monuments that we never meant to see while getting lost on our way to somewhere else:

And though I have hundreds of other pictures from the Taipei weekend, it's time to move on to week 2. Look forward to it!