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.

Farewells

It's currently Saturday-turning-Sunday. I'm leaving Kaohsiung early Wednesday. I lose my internet sometime between now and then.

I know I have many unblogged stories. Those things that I said I'd blog about back in September, well, I still remember them.

And the month of July, when I'll be sitting on my couch waiting for my employed friends to get off work, will be a perfect time to write those blog entries.

For now, though, unless I get simultaneously creative and bored of packing, don't expect any new entries. Never fear, though. I will probably continue writing about this Taiwan experience for as long as there are new and interesting things to write, so this blog is far from over.


Goodbye and thanks, Fulbright. Taiwan, you've truly touched my heart. Kaohsiung, well, I think I'll miss you most of all.

Some fun facts

I was going to take some of my own recordings of this stuff, but why do that when someone else has?

Fact #1: Crossing the street in Taiwan is way more fun than it is in the US.


Fact #2: If you hear a singing truck, it is not ice cream. In fact, it is trash. And if you don't live in an apartment building where trash is centrally collected (which I do), you are expected to run out and meet it with your properly-sorted garbage.


Fact #3: In Taiwan, I have come to like... or love... sashimi. Contrary to most of my food habits and principles relating to fish, I can't get enough of that raw fish on rice stuff. Fortunately for me, there's a chain of rotating sushi restaurants all around Taiwan where you can get a plate of sushi for 1 USD. So, eating until you're absolutely full costs up to $7. Fantastic.
Remember: not my video. Not my commentary. But it is from the same chain where I eat regularly.

A strange encounter

Today I convinced Dani to try shopping at my new favorite store, 光南. I've been raving about how this multi-floor store seems to sell everything, from shampoo to socks to digital cameras to DVDs to stationery to greeting cards to hair things to cell phone ornaments. Anyway. Dani and I approached the store around 3:30 to find that it was packed. Passing this off as just a Sunday shopping craze, we forced our way into the store.

As we were stuck in what seemed to be a line up to the second floor, we saw a lot of people coming down with the same CD in their hands. On the stairway, someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was my fifth grade student Charlie. We said hello, high-fived, and then I asked him why there were so many people. He said, "有明星." I asked who. He said, "潘瑋柏." The name didn't ring a bell, so we soon said goodbye to Charlie and pushed past the autograph/celebrity madness on the second floor. It wasn't until later when I saw a poster and recognized the music playing that I realized, 潘瑋柏 is a guy named Wilber Pan. Who's Wilber Pan? A Taiwanese popstar, rapper, soap star, and/or musician. Oddly enough, of the three Chinese-language pop CDs that I own, Wilber Pan is one of them. (The others are Jay Chou and Liang Jingru, or "Fish Leong"-- all recommended to me by a teenager in China in 2006.)

So anyway, the guy was only there for fifteen minutes to sign autographs, and Dani and I only bothered to catch a glimpse of him from across a crowded room. But I suppose this counts as my closest encounter with a famous Taiwanese person. That, and attending the same reception as Taiwan president Ma Yingjeou on 10/10.

PS: Turns out the guy is American-born and can't read or write Chinese. Perhaps he would've liked chatting with an English speaker who had actually heard of him. Next time...

The things you can buy for 一百塊

When I am at a night market, particularly 新崛江 in Kaohsiung, I am rarely looking for anything specific. (Though "funny t-shirts" is a permanent item on my shopping list.) However I often come home with at least a few items. But... I'm so cheap! And my salary is so nonexistent! How can I afford such behavior?? Here's your answer: almost everything I buy costs one hundred Taiwan dollars, roughly equivalent to US $3 (give or take a quarter, depending on the exchange rate).

So, the question is... What can you buy for 100 dollars?

Answer: Ridiculous handbags.

Answer: Colorful hats.
(...that you can make your boyfriend wear!)

Answer: Graphic T-shirts with bad English.

Answer: Multiple face masks to protect you from SARS, swine flu, or industrialized air.
Answer: Cloth or (p)leather belts of any color.

Answer: These sunglasses, or any of the others that I've purchased since I got to Taiwan.

Answer: This watch, or many others like it.

Answer: A USB-powered keyboard vaccuum cleaner?

So this, my friends, is how things like fanny packs, orange t-shirts, and neon pink hats happen. Remember this when you see me (and what I'm wearing) back home.

PS: Let this also be a catalogue for you of the many souvenirs I could bring back for you from Taiwan. Because with my salary, I can't afford much more. If you don't believe me, you can look in my neon rainbow-zippered wallet.

Hamburger Breakfast: A Dragon Boat Adventure

The past few weeks, many Kaohsiung Fulbrighters and I participated in the 端午節 festivities by forming our own 龍舟. We were competing in the foreigner division against the likes of full-of-giant-Germans 中山大學, the very European Wenzao University, and the International World Games team, to name a few.

Anyway, when I first heard about dragon boating back in the fall, and found out there was a drummer who kept the beat, I knew what I wanted to do. So as early as possible I "called" the role of 鼓手... after all, I have rhythm, and the boat wasn't really missing out by not having my rowing arms.

I can't speak for the rowers, but I had a fantastic time as drummer. The rowers were supposed to follow my beat, so I had to give them a steady and doable pace while also aiming to be competitive with the other boats. It was basically my job to bang a drum and scream. What could be more fun? Maybe the guy who got to sit on the front of the boat and grab the flag at the end, but then again, he almost fell into the not-so-sanitary Love River.

Our boat consisted of 20 rowers (half Fulbright, half Taiwanese friends), the drummer (me), a steerer/tiller (Chris, our Bureau of Education liaison), and a flag-grabber (Henry, a military worker at Ling Jhou English Village). We had a total of four practices that were about 45 minutes each before we raced, and as the practices were in the afternoon, we never got to practice with a full boat. So, we may have lost in the end, but I'm incredibly proud of our team. The first time we tried the full length of the course (500km), it took us over seven minutes. On our final race, we clocked in at 4:18. Not a technical victory, but a moral one. Plus, those Germans were huge.

Our team name was supposed to be something intimidating. We chose "Hamburger Breakfast." Why? Because Taiwanese people think that Americans eat hamburgers for every meal. So I frequently led the team in a motivational chant: What do we eat? HAMBURGERS When do we eat them? FOR BREAKFAST!

As I was actively drumming and screaming throughout practices and the competition, I couldn't take any pictures. But here are some pictures from Fulbrighter Shiela and Jo (from San Min English Village).

Warming up before practice:

An afternoon practice with a less-than-full boat:

Getting geared up for our first race, in uniform:

Rowing into place for our first race:

Maya got some great photos of our races here. Also check out her video:

Anyway, Hamburger Breakfast was certainly a positive experience. Drumming for the dragon boat was one of the most fun things I've done since coming to Taiwan, and I hope I get the opportunity to do it again someday.

I should include that our fantastic team t-shirts, courtesy of the design styles of Fulbrighter Gered, include our team name, all of our names, some great designs, and my suggested slogan of "Your Ass is Dragon." Ten points if you can name that literary reference :-)

My Big Break: A weekend to remember

At home, it is Memorial Day weekend. At home, people will get tomorrow off. At home, my high school friends are having their annual week(end) in Strathmere, New Jersey, and this is the first time in six years that I'm not there. It would be an easy time to feel homesick. But I haven't really had the time to think about it.

In Taiwan, we get next weekend as a long weekend (four days, in fact-- though does it really count, if you have to make one day up the following Saturday?). This weekend, the Fulbrighters and I were busy working from 9am-7pm on our Fulbright Kaohsiung project. The concept of our project changed (thanks to external forces) from an educational website to an educational DVD a few weeks ago. Since then, we've been scrambling to think of content, write scripts, and hire a film crew. So both days this weekend, we were at the Tai-Ping English Village filming our video (a great bonus of English Village is having your own private restaurant/airport/subway car for filming things).

It was pretty professionally done. The cameramen were concerned enough about noise that they wouldn't allow us to turn on fans or air conditioning in the small, windowless rooms where filming took place, and in late May in Kaohsiung (90+ degrees mid-day with high humidity), you can imagine how fun this was. But we pushed through it, we recorded all twelve scenes + vocabulary/grammar segments + self-introductions. Now it is in the hands of the film crew, until they give us back a version we can subtitle and approve.

So, it's not how I've normally spent my Memorial Day weekend, but it is certainly a weekend I'll remember. And if I ever forget, I can just watch the DVD. Someday, you might be lucky enough to see yours truly dancing the Hokey Pokey or playing the role of ambiguously-aged teacher Miss Cooper (the easiest to pronounce of my family names, and a tribute to the other [former] teacher in my family).

I only took a few photos, and they were all during the elaborate birthday party scene where I played 'girl who gave birthday boy a T-shirt and is also holding a camera.' I think it will give you an idea of what my weekend was like, though.

The camera crew:

Setting up our scene in the English Village restaurant:

Voila, a real-looking birthday party:

My head is still spinning from the craziness that has been the last few weeks, but I have a feeling things will stay rolling until I leave. Now, I should get to bed... our first dragon boat race is tomorrow!

Trip to Eastern Taiwan!

Sorry folks, I've been a little short on time lately thanks to (1) co-leading the Fulbright Kaohsiung project and (2) drumming for the Fulbright Dragon Boat team. More information on that is forthcoming.

So last weekend, the twelve members of my Fulbright group all went on a trip to eastern Taiwan. Our primary destination was Rueisuei, which is known for rafting and hot springs. We did both. So Friday afternoon we took two trains for 4.5 hours to get to Rueisuei.

The pretty train ride:

We got to the hotel and relaxed in the hot springs. What are hot springs? Basically a murky, unchlorinated, "natural" hot tub, and very popular throughout Taiwan. Sorry, no pictures. Then we tried to find a restaurant and settled on hot pot. I had milk hot pot, which was a first for me (though I later heard that milk is a specialty of Rueisuei). It mostly just tasted like fish.

Saturday morning, we were up bright and early to get driven to several mystery locations before finally ending up on the bank of a river with life vests and helmets, where we joined what appeared to be a high school or college graduation trip on a big rafting adventure. My proudest accomplishments from the day were not falling in and not getting sunburned. Long shorts, a hat, and SPF 55 sunscreen are my friends!

A man took our picture and sold it to us afterward. I'm the one in the back with the hat and sunglasses :

After a day of rafting, we took the train to Taidong/Taitung, a major city on the east coast (which is generally not very populated). We wandered the city, had a nice family-style dinner, and discovered there wasn't much else going on in Taidong on a Saturday night.

Sunday, we took a ferry to Green Island. Of all the places I've visited in Taiwan, I think Green Island was my favorite. We only had a few hours on the island, so we rented some cars and drove around to see the sights (the island is so small it takes 30 minutes to drive the whole thing-- and has one paved road, so no getting lost!).

Green Island is about a 40-minute ferry ride from Taidong. It is where they used to ship pro-independence political prisoners during martial law. We tried to drive around the old prisons, only to find out (after getting some dropped jaws from the guards at the gate) that one of the prisons is still quite active:

Some pictures of why I loved Green Island:

Then Sunday afternoon we rushed back to Taidong to get the 4pm train to Kaohsiung. There were no seats left. Oops. Fulbrighter Kate and I had a really comfortable ride on the little space between the last seat and the wall:

And the weekend was followed by one of my more exhausting weeks in Kaohsiung. But as I said, more on that later. I'll be home in less than six weeks... but I have so much left to do!

台灣加油!

In my random internet surfing, once again having its pervasive tune stuck in my head, I tracked down the video for the Kaohsiung World Games theme song. If you're curious:



Two things strike me about this video.

First, of all the landscapes and scenic spots shown in the video, I can identify and have been to about 90% of them. I'm not quite sure I could say that for a corresponding Philadelphia video.

Second, almost all of the comments (in Chinese) say something along the lines of "Kaohsiung has really progressed!" One (presumably) Kaohsiung local even says how he is filled with emotion and tears come to his eyes when he watches the video. As someone who never saw the Kaohsiung of before, I cannot relate to how much the city has changed; I can relate, however, to how much the city impresses me now.

Storytelling Competition

Or should I say, storytelling/showing/dancing/singing/costuming/setdesigning competition. See my friend Vicky's post for her apt rant on the latest English competition my students endured. Vicky's complaints about the competition differ in detail but reflect my feelings in general.

About three weeks ago, I was told to write a seven-minute story about "making dreams real" that students would be able to memorize and recite. So I tried my best to come up with something that, I thought, ended up being a pretty good story. Not performance, not play. Story. After roster-changes and writing-changes galore, my final three team members were handed the final version of the story four days before the competition. We added in props as late as an hour before. When they went up on stage, I was nervous for them. So many changes, and having to memorize it all? Thankfully (unlike for Reader's Theater) there was no time minimum, so we didn't have to worry about them speeding up because of nerves.

But they didn't! I sat in the second row, recording with my camera while trembling a bit out of nerves for them. And they did it perfectly. There wasn't a forgotten line, and any word left out still kept the story intact. And the moral was delivered perfectly: "Don't wait for a magical wizard to show you the way. Love your family, work hard, respect others, and watch your dreams come true!" I was brimming with pride and confidence for them.

After all was said and done, we got one of the 4th place awards. I'm not going to complain, because I know some teams didn't place at all. But in a society where it seems like the predominant educational philosophy is "first place or bust," I have no idea how to explain why my students didn't do better. I just hope that they are proud of their hard work and accomplishment, and don't resent us too much for not giving them stage directions and head-to-toe costuming.

Anyway, here are the kids that will always be first place to me: Marvin, John, and Mina read "Andy and the Wizard."

Getting political

Taiwan has a very interesting political situation. Aside from the obvious ambiguous status in its relations with China, the domestic politics can get pretty intense.

This article describes one of the many recent antics of the two rivaling parties. I kind of wish congress got this hilariously personal... or at least had article titles with such stupid humor.

So click and be merry: Man who snatched wig will have toupee.

No school tomorrow?!?

I can't remember when my last day off of school was. It must have been senior year of high school, at which point it was probably just another day I had to spend working on college applications (or not working on college applications, but spending the entire day feeling like I should be).

But now, here I am, late September in Taiwan, and thanks to typhoon Jangmi, I don't have school tomorrow. Though "Typhoon Day!" doesn't quite have the same ring to it as "Snow Day" once did.

Not to mention that listening to 100+mph winds and torrential downpours is not nearly as fun as sledding in the neighbor's backyard. But at least there's that same feeling of cozy warmth and protectedness as you sit inside and eat carbs of all shapes and sizes, watching the world fly by outside.

A sample from my cell phone camera just now (at more of a lull, when I dared stick my precious phone out the window to capture it):


So now I can spend the rest of my night watching 色,戒 and making name tags for my students. Goodnight, all!

Culturally Confounded in Taiwan, Chapter Two

The continuing saga of Taiwanese confusion.

Chapter 2: Free Stuff
Now, don't get me wrong, I love free stuff. Who doesn't? Well, maybe my mom, when my dad brings it home from business trips and/or garage sales. But for the most part, free stuff is fun. And in Taiwan, it seems to come in inexplicable times and ways.

In our first weeks here, my roommates Dan and Dani decided to go to the nearby computer store and buy some electronic dictionaries. These weren't cheap (about $200 USD each), but certainly on the cheaper end of the kind of merchandise sold in the store (laptops, LCD TV's... think Circuit City without the movies and music). When they finally made their purchase, the salesman threw in two trinkety "UFO Alarm Clocks." Because... you can't use your Chinese dictionary without having blinking lights to wake you up in the morning.

Last weekend, I went to a local cosmetic-y store (think CVS without the pharmacy) to buy sunscreen and maybe one or two unnecessary impulse buys. The total was not more than $15 US, but still, the woman grabbed a loofah from out of nowhere and said "送給你." Why did I get a loofah? I don't know. Why did the woman before me in line, who spent way more than I did, not get a loofah? I don't know.

And finally, convenience stores. Particularly during the first month, I seemed to get random discounts left and right at the Family Mart downstairs (initially deemed the "blonde discount"). And when I didn't get discounts, I'd get tiny stickers with cartoon characters on them that are supposed to go... somewhere. Think of it as something like McDonald's Monopoly, except you don't have a Monopoly board and you (probably) don't win a million dollars if you fill it up. You only get a million dollars from your receipt. Duh.

This whole experience of randomly and inexplicably getting free stuff is kind of like when you get ExtraBucks and coupons with your ExtraCare card at CVS. It's great when you get $4 off your next purchase, and bizarre when you get 50% off something you've never heard of... and who doesn't love that feeling of not knowing what's coming at the end of every purchase?

PS: I realize this is coming right after the first "chapter." I actually wrote that last night and forgot to post it. Oops.

Culturally Confounded in Taiwan, Chapter One

Over my past nearly-two-months in Taiwan, I've come across a few baffling "what the..." revelations about Taiwanese culture. These things would happen to me or around me that were totally unlike what I'm used to at home, but I would have no idea why. These aren't those "people eat snake meat" or "take your shoes off when inside" type things that you either notice quickly or people take you aside to tell you. No, these things are much more subtle than that, and you can go on living with it for two months before you realize what exactly is going on.

Chapter 1: Receipts
Business cards are a very popular thing in Asia right now. You meet someone somewhere and talk to them for more than three minutes, and you will walk away one business card richer. The way that you exchange business cards is rather formal; it is customary and polite to accept business cards with both hands while slightly bowing (at least nodding your head). This is one of those things that's pretty easy to notice, and I know this was explained to me before I went to Asia for the first time.

Now, Katie, why did you make the heading "Receipts" if you were just going to talk about business cards? Well, every time you buy anything-- from a can of Coke at the 7-11 to furnishings for your whole apartment at IKEA-- the cashier will formally hand you your receipt. They don't ask if you want one, and act somewhat surprised if you don't take it. I always assumed this was just an extension of the business card behavior... someone hands you a piece of paper, however trivial, and you politely accept it and move on with your day.

But nay! Apparently, at the top of every receipt, there is a 10-digit numerical code. These codes are all lottery numbers of sorts. A certain government website updates with new numbers every month, and you can win a prize if you have the winning number. But you have to be able to produce the whole receipt. Which means keeping all of your receipts for at least a month. This behavior is to encourage people to want receipts, thus encouraging companies to keep track honestly of their transactions. If you ask me, though, save me the clutter and save the world the paper, I'm not winning the lottery any time soon.

Now as proof, even 麥當勞 is serious about its receipts. (As a side note, I only go there for the 冰旋風. And maybe sometimes fries.)

In case you're in the area...

Alternate title: Cultural Imperialism, ahoy!


Green dot near bottom/left/center = our apartment.

Addendum: see this page for information about 7-11 in Taiwan. It is basically the most ubiquitous chain around, with at least 4 within a 5-minute walk from our apartment. Not only can you buy snacks there, but you can also pay your bills, fax/print documents or pictures, and buy tickets to local events and attractions.

Katie 老師 and the mooncakes

So, I'm writing this at the end of my first two days of classes, my first two days being called "Katie 老師." Because I'm not yet familiar with the students' ability levels, how a class here should run, etc., Susan ran the class and then had time for 外國老師 introduction and open questions. For some classes this lasted a few minutes, but in most of the classes this took almost the full 40-minute period. As a 22-year-old, it's hard to believe how distanced I am from the major interests and preoccupations of elementary school kids. For example, I haven't really thought about my favorite colors, animals, sports, movies, moviestars, or foods in quite a while. Between that and cultural differences, I had to make up a good number of answers on the spot that were at least mildly true, and also understandable to students in their first, second, or third year of a rather infrequent, un-rigorous English program.

A lot of the questions were basic, but many were really strange, and I can't imagine an American elementary school student asking them. In both cases though, I had fun, and the kids had fun, and I hope they learned something. I should note-- Susan translated for them. If they knew how to ask all of these questions and understand the answers in English, I don't think they'd need me.

So, here are some fun examples from my two days of questioning...

First, what you'd expect from a kid.

• What is your favorite color? (green and orange)
  
• What do you like to eat? (牛肉麵 and pizza)
  
• What sport do you like best? (baseball)
  
• Do you have any brothers or sisters? (two older brothers)
  
• What's your favorite animal? Why? (I like fish because they are pretty and quiet)
  

Second, what a lot of people ask me here.

• Why did you want to come to Taiwan? (it is pretty, the people are friendly, I want to learn Chinese)
  
• What did you study in college? (linguistics)
  
• How do you like Taiwan? (I like it a lot)
  
• What do you want to do when you go home? (I don't know, maybe become 美國的總統)
  

Third... Are you trying to ask me out?

• What's your sign? (Scorpio for zodiac, Ox for Chinese calendar)
  
• Do you have a boyfriend? (yes, he is in America) ...and lots of follow-up
• Why aren't you married? (I am too young)
  
• Do you have children? (I am too young)
• Why are you so pretty? (thank you)... not throwing that in to boost my ego... they basically think anyone western-looking is beautiful/handsome.
  

Fourth... um, what?

• Why is your hair yellow? / Why are your eyes blue? (I was born that way, everybody looks different in America)
  
• What is your blood type? (O, I think)
  
• Does America have more trash than Taiwan? (Some places have trash, some don't)
  
• Do you come from a broken home? (My parents live together in Philadelphia, where the Phillies play!)
  

So, yeah. That was basically my first two days of class, meeting all of the students and having a Q+A with Katie 老師.

The fourth grade class was particularly endearing. One of the girls asked during the Q+A, "Does Katie like to eat 月餅?" Not really knowing what they were, I said yes. Later, during my last class of the day, a troop of 4th graders lined up outside and presented me one by one with mooncakes that they had made... somehow... in the hour since I'd seen them. So adorable.

Here is a picture of the ten mooncakes they gave me yesterday:

And a close-up of one:

Now, because the Moon Festival is coming up this weekend, everyone is exchanging mooncakes like there's no tomorrow. As far as I can tell, the Moon Festival is something like a Taiwanese Thanksgiving, in that you gather with family and eat a lot. My roommates and I have all accrued a massive amount of mooncakes. I'm happy to say that the little handmade mooncakes from my students are far superior to the expensive packaged ones given from school faculty... though maybe I'm biased.

To conclude, here is a picture of all the mooncakes in our apartment so far (most are still in fancy boxes). And just think... the Moon Festival isn't even until Sunday...

Addendum: I guess I should tell you what's in a mooncake. So far, we've had taro, red bean, egg yolk, some meat-flavored thing, and a good number of unidentifiable substances. We've heard that some have things like coffee, fruit, or chocolate inside. I guess we have until Sunday to find out for sure.

Live from Taipei: A Disclaimer

I'm currently blogging from Baby Laptop in my hotel room in Taipei... leaving on the HSR (High Speed Rail) in a matter of less than 12 hours. Because I haven't uploaded any pictures and don't feel like typing anything on the tiny keyboard, I'm just writing a quick but necessary blog post.

As many of you know, and the blog indicates in more than one instance, I am in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on a Fulbright Fellowship to teach English. This program is sponsored by the United States Department of State and run by the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange in Taiwan. I am grateful to the Fulbright program, US State Department, and FSE for the opportunities granted to me, but I need to say that in this blog and in any other communications you have with me about my program here, the opinions and observations expressed are my own, and not affiliated with or endorsed by any of the aforementioned organizations.

That being said, because I am here on basically a mini-diplomatic mission, don't expect my blog to become politically controversial. I'm very interested in the politics here and have had several dialogues with Taiwanese citizens about these issues, but it is my duty to stay relatively distanced from any activity that would go against the Fulbright's diplomatic mission of cultural exchange.

Thanks for your reading (or skimming to here), and please, look forward to much more interesting blog posts later.

(Five dollars to anyone who can guess what was in our Fulbright conference/orientation packet...)

我的日常生活

I remember from my earlier Chinese classes, one of the most common topics for essays (aside from 自我介紹 ) was 我的日常生活. So, true to my Chinese Ba/Bb roots, I thought I'd make a post on some of the things in my daily life here that are far different from my daily life at home (Berwyn, Cambridge, or otherwise). I've broken it up into a few categories...

Food
Because of the size and (lack of) appliances our kitchen has to offer, in addition to the fact that eating at restaurants is very inexpensive, we have yet to cook a meal for ourselves. So far I've taken to eating most of my lunches and dinners at a restaurant right next to our apartment building. Though she has a more extensive menu, I've only gone for 湯麵, 乾麵, and 餛飩麵. Until we officially exchanged names and phone numbers, I referred to the young woman working there as "Noodle Lady." The other day when I got 乾麵 for the third time in a row, she gave me a hard-boiled egg "on the house." I'm not sure whether she was trying to be friendly, or gently reminding me to vary my diet.

But more on "Noodle Lady" another time. Spoiler? She is a great friend who has been immensely helpful in my settling in here in Taiwan.

A common form of food is the 便當, which is what they fed us for lunch every day of orientation. Every 便當 is different. I could explain it to you, or I could just show you a picture. This picture is of the best meal I've had here, from a vegetarian buffet one night. In the large compartment there is white rice and some sort of tofu, and on the right there are green peppers (top), lima beans (middle), and corn/carrots/eggs (bottom). Few can relate to my deep appreciation for lima beans... but trust me, these were amazing, thus earning it the "best meal" title.



Finally, in an effort to save the environment and guard against unclean restaurants, most people carry their own set of chopsticks around. Here is my chopstick carrying case:



Transportation
Because the traffic here is dangerous and Kaohsiung is currently spending a lot of money on new public transit, our program directors are strongly advising us against buying scooters (the most popular mode of transportation). My roommates and I all bought bikes to help us get to and from our schools and other places in the area. While Dan went the fancy new road bike route, and Dani and Vicky got some nice standard mountain bikes, I decided to go in another direction. I wanted a foldable bike so that I could take it on the MRT (subway) or buses for free (can't do that with big bikes). Again, a picture is worth a thousand words, so instead of explaining the ridiculousness that is my bike, here's a picture.

Folded:


Unfolded:


Yeah, this thing doesn't even have gears. Also, the basket has an elephant on it. In case you couldn't tell.

Also, the seemingly "Asian" thing to do is to wear one of those facemasks around to protect yourself from airborne disease, or pollution, or something. Though I initially thought this was ridiculous, after riding around on the back of Susan's scooter I realized that not getting stuff in your face as you ride in traffic has its perks. Alas, I bought a facemask:



(The little pink dachshunds on it are an homage to my two dachshunds back home.)

The Little Things
It's really, really humid here. So every closet, cabinet, and hamper needs some sort of dehumidifier. I hung a dehumidifying pack in a small closet when we first got here, and after a month, it was basically a Ziploc bag full of water. It's a little hard to tell but... on the left there's the bag I just removed (flat on top, full of water on the bottom), and on the right there's the new bag (full of dehumidifying stuff on top, empty on the bottom):



Also, I have a fish. This is not unlike my life at home, my summer apartment, or my dorm room, really, but um, it's a different fish? His name is T-Rex.




Well I hope you all enjoyed yet another glimpse into my Taiwan life. Sorry for the post of novel proportions... we're going for a Fulbright conference in Taipei tomorrow, so this post, like my very first, is just another effort to avoid packing.

Talk to you Sunday, when I get back from Taipei!