Flight Back

So I am officially back in the States. I left Taiwan Sunday morning and arrived in Memphis via Tokyo and Houston around 5 p.m. Sunday. ( Yes the time difference made Sunday a very long day for me). It was an uneventful flight, being old hat as it is. It really didn't seem to be too much trouble at all. As it stands now, I am doing well and preparing my things for moving up to Starkville, MS for my internship near MSU. It is a funny thing, because while I am doing all of this preparing sometimes I get hit with a 3 or 4 hour jetlag nap. It hits me like a brick wall and there is no stopping it. But, such is the result of long distance traveling. I don't mind it too much.

So this Semester I will be working at Garan Manufacturing and studying Mandarin heavily on the side. This means Grammar, TV Shows, and Books (well what little books I can get my hands on anyway). There won't be too many reasons to post that kind of boring stuff, so there will be an interlude between now and when I start my Spring Semester in Beijing (that is in the planning stages with MSU, let's hope it goes well). Feel free to check back periodically, as I might update everyone on that process.

To Wrap things up I will be putting up some final photos that I wasn't able to post before I left Taiwan. Some of them may be random but most will be from the final days of our Country Tour. I hope you enjoy them, and thanks for watching so far.

The Beach and Traveling

So we are currently traveling around the Island. We started from Taipei and have traveled south along the East Coast, which has really beautiful view and cliffs. From there we have taken some mountain passes through to the Western edge of the island. It is much more flat on that end but still just as beautiful. You would be surprised at how many fresh fruit trees are growing along the side of the road. Just as amazing are the views along every road of the trip. Maybe I haven't stressed that enough, but it seems like every five minutes we pass by another picturesque scene. I love mountains.

Really it has all seemed like a blur these past 4 days. We have traveled a lot and all of our events have seemed to blur together. Let me see if I can explain them so far.

Swallow Grotto- From the last post- Taiwan is known as an island with a lot of rain (twice as much as Seattle annually) Combined with mountains this makes for some intense rivers. One of these scenes is Swallow Grotto which is a 200 ft canyon carved by the river. It is gorgeous and has been my favorite so far.

Rafting- One day we too ourselves to a rafting adventure site. It was to be a 4 hour trip but due to the lack of seasonal rain the river was low. What was the result? The guides hooked us to their boats and tug-boated us through the rapids really fast. I submit that this is a much better way to do things.

Water Sports and the Beach- We stopped by a beach and took some rides on Jet-skis and inflatable rafts. It was really fun, but a couple of us got really sun-burned (not me though).

Visiting Cities- Most of our trip has taken us to some really neat cities around the island. Each has its own culture. It is really interesting to see the different cultural diversity. In the south there are much more indigenous tribes which make for a different cultural appeal. An example of this would be that most Native Taiwanese are Christian by decent, which is quite different from the mainly Buddhist mainland population, go figure. But still no matter where we go, we still get some very interesting looks, and yes it is still fun!

Oh, by the way. One might think that the events in this post sounds very far from educational to us students. But, again, we have had to use quite a lot of our conversational skills around town. We had some fun conversations with our rafting companions!

The East Coast and Swallow Grotto

We caught a couple of views from the swerving highway road. The road
wrapped around the mountain all the way along the East coast.

The sheer cliffs closer to Swallow Grotto made for some amazing pictures.
With the water being crystal clear and the clouds wrapping around the mountains,
it was perfect. 

GeoPark and JiuFen (Old City)

Since, Taiwan is an island there are a ton of beach front views to take in. In addition, there are also some really cool effects made by the ocean on the shoreline. One of these, attractions is the Geo park about an hour outside of Taipei County. Its main attraction is the erosion of different layers of sea-stone which results in these statue-like pillars. In fact, many have names like the "queen's head" or "donut." It was all very interesting, but most of it was sparsely enjoyed because we had such a heat spell that day. I suppose it was a combination of the lack of wind, the brightness of the sandstone, and the clear sun that made it so hot. It really didn't put us in too much of a mood to stand around and look at rocks. It was fun though.

Later on in the day we got out of the heat by walking around this quaint little village market. It was much more developed than just a village, but because it is built on a mountainside, it seems much smaller. They had a lot of really good stuff there. All of the things I like: calligraphy brushes, good street food, nice trinket shops, and even a really nice tea shop. Our group broke apart to look for different stuff, so I was accompanied by two of the Universities secretaries. They were both very sweet ladies who didn't speak much mandarin at all, which was great because I got to practice speaking a lot. We walked around and I asked them questions about this and that. I was wondering about the price of goods versus their quality at varying markets (souvenir stuff.. you know), when we came upon that great aforementioned tea shop. I really wasn't looking to by much, but when we arrived they let us sit and try about 5 different types of tea.

Cooked Snail

Most tea is divided into sections Black, Green, and Oolong (high mountain). Each has its own flavor and I prefer Green and Black. Oolong is usually too bitter for me, but the Oolong tea at this shop was perfect. Some tasted very similar to honey. So I bought some, and am very happy with the choice.

Bike Ride to the Bridge

So, Randomly our teachers here at NTPU will decide to take us on trips according to our interests. Sometimes they will recommend an activity or two based on what we have said in class ie) The previous hiking trip to WuLai was facilitated by our wonderful teachers. So this time they decided to take us on a nice lengthy biking trip. They talked around the office and a couple of the more experienced teachers lent us some bikes from the school and headed us on out to a town by the riverside. It was in fact quite a little ways off. It took us about 5 hours to get there and back. As usual it was the guys who were up to such an adventure. We alongside our equally active teachers set off. And let me tell you it was quite a trip
    I really think that Taiwan has some of the most
beautiful countryside I have ever seen. However, due to the small bike paths, speed, and not wanting to die-I did not take many pictures of said Beautiful Scenery. You will just have to trust me! But yes, Apparently the local government has spent quite a pretty penny on building these bike roads. They go right along the riverside and are very well kept. In fact there are quite a few legs of the journey that lead us through onion, grass, and rice fields. All of which are irrigated by the parallel flowing river. I really think it is quite something. Eventually we arrived to the destination-city just in time for a few pictures and dusk to set in. So we then hoped on our bikes (Mine was way too small- go figure) and headed back.
      Speaking of things too small, we had a coupe close calls with
some trucks on those little roads. (well the parts that weren't strictly bike paths). Everyone was fine, but it sure was a an experience to meet a firetruck on a one way street..haha. Even so, we all really had fun and appreciated the ideas by the teachers.
     Speaking of Teachers, this is one of them to the Right. Lan Rae is a sweetheart and about the most patient and enthusiastic person I know. She has taught english for about 20 years and is on her 2 year of teaching Mandarin to us english students. She must really love teaching because she put us with a lot of our stumbling through the language.

Thanks Rae!!!

Bookstores and Some Good Coffee

The needle in the haystack. A simplified bookstore. 

Perhaps some of you know a little bit about the Chinese language. The first thing to be aware of is that there is no such thing as an all encompassing thing as a "Chinese Language". It is in fact broken up into different dialects that vary from region to region. The largest two are Mandarin (What I study) and Cantonese (which is spoken in Southern China). For all effective purposes here, lets just stick to Mandarin.  Even with this one dialect there are several differences from region to region. One of the biggest differences is the use of its written characters. In Taiwan they use older and more traditional forms of writing characters. However, on the Mainland (China) the written language was simplified due to the Cultural Revolution. This means that while these two spoken languages may be very similar (they are not completely identical) there is quite a bit of difference in their respective written styles. For example, the word for "book" is shū, which is written in China as  书 and in Taiwan as 書. Pretty different no? They are pronounced and used the same way but the forms are quite different. Now, I won't lie to you. Most of the simplifications are quite intuitive, but getting to the point, this distinction makes it quite difficult for me to read books published in Taiwan. Thus I have been on a search for a simplified character bookstore. It has taken be 4 weeks, but I have finally found one (with the help of my teachers of course). I bought a couple of well needed books and have made sure I remember where it is for return visits. 

My classmate Rob with his classical
creeper look.

In other news, as we have been looking around our little town for new and exciting restaurants we have been surprised that the few unexplored ones are very good. One wouldn't think so, but there are quite a few good western style cafes hiding around town. These little Bistros have fresh baked goods and some very good coffee. It just so happens that the people in Asia love their sweets, and I (alongside my cup o'joe) completely agree. So a couple of guys and I have been hitting up these little cafes and enjoying some very nice and evenly priced treats.  

Now that Exams are over, (we finished the last of them this past Friday) we are having plenty of time on our hands. So, in the meantime before we go on our big trip around the island next week (Yes it is coming and I am excited) I expect us to take full advantage of some coffee and some warm conversations. 

Dumplings & Movie Night

Durian-The King of Fruits

Ah, yes. Durian, the most feared of all fruity culinary endeavors. This very fruit has been the bane of professionals like Andrew Zimmern.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75vm9ik5pjo

It just so happens that I am in pretty much the only part of the world where it is grown. Also, I LOVE trying new strange food. What a coincidence!

The Durian is about the size of a soccer ball and is very spiky, but actually very easy to open. Its one huge characteristic is that it stinks really bad. In most parts of Asia it is actually prohibited from being brought on the Subway because its stench is so freaking potent. I mean rotten meat smells better at times.

So me and a friend decided to try this experience for ourselves. After searching for weeks we finally figured out that the Carrefour down the street has been selling it the whole time. So, we brought it back to the Dorm and dug into it. You have to step on it to crack it first, then just peel it apart with your hands. the actual fruit has the consistency of mushy mozzarella cheese and contains a fairly sizable pit. When we opened it we could smell the stench even more, and with some self motivation we dug into it. And you know it wasn't half bad. Its taste is less intense than its smell and actually reminds me of creamy almond butter with some macadamia flare. We actually had it two ways. You can eat it raw or freeze it into a thick custard consistency. I like the latter better but both were fairly good. Actually everyone in our group tried it. I would eat it again. I recommend a try!!

自由廣場- Liberty Square

Wednesday we all took a little sight seeing trip after our classes. We usually do these trips in the afternoon by taking the bus to the Subway and then the Subway to wherever we want to go. It worked out that this time we went to Freedom/Liberty Square.

As some of you may know, Taiwan and China have a very tense relationship because of the cultural revolution in the mid 20th century. This resulted in a lot of very significant political events. [inform yourself:]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Cultural_Revolution

One of these events, was a portion of China fleeing to Taiwan.

Hence, the founding of Taiwan and the reason for this Liberty Square which represents the founding and 'memorialization' of Taiwan and its Government.

It was actually very interesting to see the importance placed on such events. I have to admit that I have felt this tension at times with the students and people here, but I feel it is understandable. I think that given the political situation, it is best for someone in my position to respectfully understand and accept that this is the way things are. It is certainly bigger than me.

熊空-烏來 XiongKong to Wulai Hiking trip

So the guys and I on the trip have a thing for hiking. We all really like it, and there really isn't a better place to do it in a weekend trip than rural Taipei. One would think that with all of the city life and the immense population of Taiwan that unspoiled hiking trails would be pretty slim, but oh how many there are. We were talking about this in class one day, when our teacher overheard us and immediately put us in touch with the University's hiking club. (BTW the professors always give such good advice). I had no idea the University had a hiking club, but we are the better for it. These guys are pros.

So we met up with them on one Saturday and took a bus to the outskirts of Taipei County. It is about an hour bus ride and there are some pretty wicked roads up the mountain passes. I always new that Taiwan was well industrialized, but I never new it had such a nice collection of unspoiled hiking trails. We arrived in XiogKong (the beginning of the hike)and it felt like a completely different country.

The hike was particularly interesting because we didn't bring any TA's, ergo I was the most experienced Mandarin speaker in the American group and few of the hiking club members spoke much english. The result was a good bit of gesturing and patience on both ends. I would count it a blessing, because up to this point I had not been able to stretch myself as much as I would like. It is in these kinds of situations where the only option is to buck up and go with what you have that you really feel like you have grown. I would definitely say that after the hike I felt more confident in my language ability. (In the classroom there is a little too much pressure to be grammatically exact, but on the trail anything will do!) Plus, we made some really good connections with the students at NTPU. They were all hilarious and really fun to be around.

So, the hike itself was unbelievably gorgeous. I had never seen a forest that fresh and new before. The trails were quite small and tricky at some points, but that made it feel like we were in the thick of it even more. The first half of the hike was up hill all the way. We were sweating quite a bit and had to take multiple breaks, but we clipped along at a pretty good pace. We stopped at the summit for lunch (jerky and bean trail mix) around 2 1/2 hours in. Then just as we were getting ready to go down the other side of the mountain, we heard thunder. And let me tell you, the second half of the hike was anything but dry. It was a huge thunderstorm. It was amazing. I loved every-bit of it. I had my electronics put away in ziploc bags and was free-styling it without any raincoat.

Actually I would have to say that I preferred the thunderstorm part of the hiking trip even more than the semi-dry part. It seemed to make the trail really come to life. In fact, we went over some pretty shaky bridges that were even more spectacular due to the huge amount of rushing rainwater underneath (10 hikers had already died this year by being swept away in the rapids further downstream). Also, we came to find out that some of the cliff trails had already eroded away, thus letting us do some very interesting free style climbing...haha. Then, we would come up to these huge openings in the canopy that let us look out on the rain steaming up from the surrounding valleys. It was some of the most eerie and stunning scenery I have seen in a long time. [Neither a picture or a paragraph could do them justice; I guess you will have to come see for yourself]

It was supposed to be a 7 hour hike from XionKong to WuLai, but we completed it in under 5 1/2. Our team was booking it, And I am proud to say that the americans were leading the pack...haha. We really had a great experience and there were some definite advantages to hanging out with the hiking club.

Shilin Night Market, Fisherman's Dwarf, Indigo Dying

Well, it has certainly been a very eventful week. It seems like we have been taken to every corner of Taipei by our Teaching Assistants. However, by this time we have been using the MRT (Subway) for so long that it seems pretty natural to just hop on and go wherever, even if we still do get the strangest stares. -I mean can you imagine a 6'4" blonde american not sticking out in asia. It is actually really funny. I make faces to the little asian kids and wink at everyone else...haha- But, now the city feels natural, we have always felt safe, but I guess we just have a more sure footing now.

One of our key places to visit is the Shilin Night Market. It is an outdoor vender's paradise. Crowds are packed and stuff is cheap and fun to look at. Most shopping starts at around 8:00 but the crowd really doesn't show until much later. They have everything, witty t-shirts, dress clothes, great street food, and even stinky tofu (a personal fav). It really gets interesting when we ask the vendors for a specialty item like asian looking button down shirts, and they take us back into an alley way to their storeroom. I know kinda sketch right? But we really enjoy the night markets. There are actually several around the city. They are a place to see the people and really feel that action of the culture. Plus we always get to experience the zero personal space that asia is so well known for. Hey, I don't mind, I can see pretty clearly from up here.

Sidenote: In the markets or in the busy subways our favorite activity is to play "spot the foreigner." Simply put we try to pick out the white guys in the crowd. They are a rarity over here. And, of course, whenever we see one we always get the "What the heck are you american students doing over here" look. I love it. haha.

One of our most recent trips was to the Fisherman's Dwarf in the very northern part of the Taipei suburbs (and by suburbs we always mean larger cities than anywhere near Starkville). Located by the mouth of the most northern river in Taiwan, Danshui -淡水- is a really old fishing town from way back in the day. Actually it used to be a fort for the spanish armada when they occupied Taiwan. Since then the city has swapped owners like any good colonized nation. Anyway, the riverfront has a lot of really neat shops and street food vendors. This place usually caters to Japanese tourists who are always eager to visit their little brother to the south. As a result, most things have that Japanese flare.

Now the city has been transformed into a weekend get away and a "lovers spot" due to the romantic views. There are plenty of boat rides offered and there is still a big fishing industry.

Our group took one of these charter boats around the bay towards this foot Bridge ---->

which is the destination in Danshui. I am not sure why exactly but it does look pretty at night. So, we hung out here for a little while with our TA's and shot the breeze about culture and pickup lines.

Most cities in Taiwan have an old district that has been there forever. The streets are tight and there are little shops everywhere. Needless to say most of these Old Streets-老街- have been transformed into a place for preserving the old customs of the Taiwanese people.

Friday we actually got to participate in one of these old traditions by going to an Indigo Dying shop. These lovely Bandannas are the results of our handy craftsmanship.

So the indigo dying process is actually pretty fascinating. The workers at the shop walked us through the whole process of picking, fermenting and soaking the indigo leaves. Then we each got to make our own special designs and try a hand at soaking them. The trick to a deep dye is to repeat the process (soaking and aerating) over a dozen times. We had a lot of fun, and the shop keepers where really old and cute and supportive.

Later we all got to go look around the old street of Yingge, a well known pottery town. They had a lot of ceramics that I would buy in a heart beat if it wasn't for having to lug them back on the plane. Generally, like most old streets, we really enjoyed ourselves and had a good look into the past alongside our Taiwanese companions.

Makong Mountain Tea

So a couple of days ago we got to go take a gondola ride to the top of one of the mountains that surrounds Taipei City. Once, we were at the top of the mountain we took our time hiking down some really spectacular zig-zag trails that wound through family owned mountain orchards and crop fields. We saw some pretty amazing views and saw

some new fruits that I had never heard of before. We could see every thing from this side of the mountain. Pic.#1 is a view towards the Buddhist temple on the opposite mountainside. These kinds of temples are spread all over Taiwan and are a mix between Buddhism and ancestor worship.

All along we were headed to a local family owned tea field halfway down the moutain. It was beautiful with several fields that all had fresh tea of various varieties ( lets leave it at various because I could not begin to pronounce all of their names!) We were at the tea farm namely to get a hands on experience of a tea farmer. So they threw us out into the mountainside field and told us to get to it. We picked tea for about 15 minutes. The trick is to get larger leaves that have a fresh light green hue to them. That way when they dry they will be flavorful and large enough to handle. By the way, all of the westerners were terrible at this tea picking thing. We couldn't get the right sizes or speed. Most of the these proffesionals can pick premium tea leaves for 8 hours a day and have over a dozen kilos of tea. We didn't come anywhere close to that.

Afterwards, they took us into the shop and showed us how to dry and ferment the tea. Overall it is a much more simple process than I had previously thought, but there is also a lot of technique that could take years to master.

Much to my delight they then took us into their dining room and let us have all of the award winning tea that we wanted. Let me tell you, there isn't much like receiving a cup of tea from the man who picked it. Bar none, The best tea I have ever had.

So yea it was a fun day, and we got to have a really good time making friends with the locals. We even got some funny pics of some group members in the local tea picking costumes (see above pics..ha)

Taipei 101

So we finally got around to visiting the Tower in Taipei. It is officially the 2nd largest Skyscraper in the World. It has 101 stories and is the highlight of the Taipei skyline. It looks really huge in comparison to the rest of the city. I guess that has to do with its surrounding structures being so small. Anyway, we went at night and had a really fun time seeing all of the city lights and crazy views.

It is built to look like a piece of bamboo with multiple layers, which look really cool when they are outlined with lights at night. If you wanted to know. These blue lights in the first picture can change to whatever color at random, which is pretty sweet when it takes you by suprise.

So we got up the tower by way of the world's Fastest elevator. That is 85 stories ( 5th - 89th which is the observation deck) in 35 seconds. It was pretty sweet and made my ears pop multiple times.

So we got to the top and saw these amazing views of the city. Even though it was pitch black outside, we could still see for miles because to the size of the city.

Sidenote: Taipei is huge!! Plus it is the cleanest city I have ever been in (I've been in quite a few). I really don't think I even register how huge it is; around 7 million.

Sidenote: During our tour around the city earlier in the day, we had a chance to go to a sports complex, which caters to the dense city population. Randomly we found this really fun rock wall about 6 stories tall, and I got a free climb out of it.

Weekdays

So we are finally getting to the real class time around here. It has certainly been a wish of mine to get down to business and get some grammar patterns under foot. We are in in two groups. 3 of us (me included) are in the intermediate class, while 4 of us are in the beginner intermediate.

I suppose the placement test that we took did a pretty good job of placing us where we should be. Now, the issue is just buckling down and getting these lessons done. I will say this, and my other level classmates will agree with me, they mean business when class-time starts. We have 2 Teaching Assitants in my class and they help us converse strictly in Mandarin, which is not easy for me because my ears aren't quite trained yet. But I am where I need to be and our teachers are very capable. Simply but this will be exciting and hard all at the same time.

Meanwhile, on the street, our group gets into all kinds of interesting situations. One of the staples of the day is where we are going to eat. SanXia, where we are, is full of restaurants. Thus I love this place. We can have HotPots ( to your left ), beef noodles, tofu, and street food. It is all really good. However, I have yet to try a few things. We are still on a mission to try stinky tofu, we might get to that this week; and we have yet to try durrian. Durrian is a really stinky fruit that few are able to stomach, but you know me. I say go for it. I'll see if I can't get a nice record of that expedition for us soon.

So, I really like SanXia. It is technically considered the suburbs, but it is certainly a large city by our standards. The school campus is very pretty and the people are all very nice (Even when we make awkward situations trying to order food). All in all, I think it is top notch and would recommend a visit.

<= Street food that is dirt cheap and really worth a try.!

Over the Weekend

So, have I mentioned that the Student assistants at our University are amazing, because they are. They have showed us around a lot and have really taken us to some really cool places.

Speaking of which, may I present to you some very interesting pics from a restaurant that we went to. It was an Italian restaurant in Taiwan that was really good, go figure. I had the oyster alfredo with pesto sauce. Killer!!!

To the left we have Stella who is very sweet and likes to smile a lot. To the right we have Simon who knows a lot and gets asked a ton of language questions by yours truly. I am sure I have asked him more than 30 a day, but he is very patient and really likes being with us. In fact we share a bit, sometimes I get to help him with some finer English grammar points.

Sidenote: Elevators in Asia try to eat you. More than one of us has had these people-eaters close on us. I think we just turn it into a game. This is part of the crew. We have, from L to R: Stephanie, Rob (picking his nose apparently), Tiffany, Daniel (he's Crazy), and Me. We live on the tenth floor and have some pretty stinky elevator rides together.

After a romping day in Taipei, part of the crew and I went to this Carrefour in SanXia ( which is technically where our university campus is). I freaking love Asian super markets!! Everything is really cheap and really fresh. I am talking fresh Salmon, fruit, kimchi... you name it. *See side note #2 * By the way though I am sure you realize that Taiwan might be cheap, it turns out it is way cheaper than that. You can get a book, haircut, or cavity-filled each for around 3 bucks. Ergo I am the new owner of some nice Chinese literature. These next 5 weeks should be some kind of fun.

Sidenote #2: This is what we call HeiRen Toothpaste. It literally means Black Man Toothpaste. I think the asians just really like their smiles. If you get a chance look up the you tube video... it is the strangest thing you have every seen. Oh, they do in fact have White Man mouth wash. It is a world experience around here...haha.