Conferencing in Kenting

The past three days, I've been at a conference in Kenting. In case you were wondering about my lack of blogging/emailing/calling, that's the reason. As you may remember, I also went to Kenting with Jonathan in October. It is sort of the vacation spot in Taiwan. But it's still January, and it was still a conference, so the visit wasn't all sunshine and beach. Though both played a role.

There's no need for me to describe the conference. It was a conference. Lots of things that are very interesting when presented individually become lost when they are presented one after another, Powerpoint after Powerpoint; though, I think the overall accomplishments of this year's Fulbright group are pretty impressive and certainly worth presenting. In addition to the presentations, there was a trip to the aquarium, some touring of an arboretum-ish area on a mountain, and some good quality beach time. There weren't any other tourists in the water with us, but the water was certainly warm enough for swimming. (The air, on the other hand, wasn't so warm for us running back to the hotel.) To think I went swimming in the ocean and got sunburned yesterday, and will be in freezing-cold Krakow next week with nought but a flimsy fluffy Carrefour "winter" coat... 真奇怪.

Anyway, this conference definitely made me appreciate Kenting's beauty. My visit with Jonathan was during the rainy season, and we were often too overwhelmed by figuring out where to stay or what to eat that we (or at least I) forgot to notice how amazing our surroundings were. This weekend, staying in the fanciest resort I've ever stayed in, feeling less of a need to take pictures and do everything, I finally realized why everyone loves this place.

Now, the pictures. Note: you can click on any picture to see it full-size in a separate window.

A group of high school kids oooh and aaah over the whale shark at the Taiwan National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium:

Our room at the Caesar Park Hotel:

The view from our balcony:

Sites from an arboretum area of Kenting National Park:
(a garden)

(banyan pathway)
(view from the arboretum)

I could probably look at this water all day:

Though, the landscape isn't too bad either:

Thank you, Fulbright Foundation, for all that you've given me, and for all that you continue to give.

Pain.

The perfect punishment for bad posture?

Seven evenly placed mosquito bites along a centimeter-wide strip on my lower back. I guess I shouldn't have hunched over and/or worn that Taiwanese-sized shirt for a whole 40 minutes during a meeting today.

It's "winter" (~72 Fahrenheit), aren't mosquitoes supposed to be gone by now?

A weekend in Tainan

This weekend, Dan, Dani, Nicki, Shana, and I ventured into the city of 台南, about an hour north of 高雄, led by Shana's host family. Tainan is the former capital of Taiwan, known for its beautiful architecture and numerous old temples. It had a pleasant old-town feel, and though it's also a large city for Taiwan, it felt much less like a city than dear old Kaohsiung.

Anyway, I'm tired and it's been a long day, so enjoy your favorite kind of blog post: light on narrative, heavy on pictures.

Saturday night, a nice alley/side-street (in black and white-- I was fooling with my camera settings):

The front of Shana's host father's favorite temple:

A nominee for my Taiwanese food hall of fame, 鱔魚米粉, for the categories "thing I least wanted to eat" and "thing that made me feel sick the longest:"

Sunday morning, scenes from the temple parade (switch to phone camera as my real one ran out of batteries):


The Confucius temple:


A very old tree outside the temple:

And a nice garden:

And those are the highlights from my weekend trip to Tainan.

I will also note, it was no colder than 55 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday night, and we found ourselves shivering in sweatshirts, hoods pulled up, and blowing on our hands to keep warm. Oh, Taiwanese winter...

A Landmark Occasion

Today in Kaohsiung, for the first time since I got here three and a half months ago, the temperature went below 80 degrees. All the way down to 66 degrees. Fahrenheit.

Kids are wearing ski vests over their gym uniforms. We didn't turn the fans on in class. I didn't sweat walking to the bus stop.

Of course, the same weather in New England would bring out lots of pasty skin revealed by shorts and tank tops, but here, I'm really excited that I can finally wear long pants and not want to die.

Here's to hoping this lasts!

Typhoon Holiday, Brother Birthday

Gchatting with Alex, one of our Fulbright leaders in Taipei:

Tsung-hsun: hi, katie

home?school?

me: Hi Alex

yes, we are all at home today

Tsung-hsun: good

enjoy your typhoon holiday

Movies I watched while stuck inside during the typhoon:

• Forgetting Sarah Marshall
• Waitress
• Lust, Caution
• 10 Things I Hate About You
• Miracle Dogs Too (on Taiwanese TV)
  
• She's the Man
  

Food I consumed while most restaurants were closed because of the typhoon:

• Leftover Pizza Hut pizza (cold, of course)
• Peanut butter granola bar
• Kiwi (1)
  
• Oreos (several)
  
• Coca-cola
• Chicken Teriyaki burger and fries from Mos Burger

Amount my sleep schedule was thrown off because of the typhoon:

• A lot

Things that will make October different after this week:

• Typhoons will stop coming through ... knock on wood
• Jonathan will be visiting Oct 4th-22nd
  
• English Village will be on hiatus 10/7 to 11/2, which means more free time on Tuesdays and Fridays
• It will be at least a little cooler here in Kaohsiung ... knock on wood again

Time to go to bed again. If you know my brother Steve, remember to wish him a happy 25th birthday!


(Steve, at my graduation, after a night of no sleep, probably glaring at my mother for taking a picture of him)

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!