I have an hour in between jobs today. I wanted to stop home and recharge my phone before heading off to a special Saturday kindy session. As I crossed the river along the pedestrian bridge I noticed a group of girls, 5 of them, walking purposefully in my direction. They were holding out little plastic bags with cookies in them. "How much?" I asked. "35" they said. "30?" I said not sure of my Chinese numbers. "No 35." "OK. I want one."
The girls had on scout shirts, pale green. On their breast pocket was sewn the flag of Taiwan. They gave me a bag of 5 cookies. I looked at my bag. There were some shamrocks on it. Maybe they are a Taiwanese bootleg of Girlscouts and 4H. There was some English writing on the bag, "a present from nature". That sounded suspiciously euphemistic to me. I opened the back and it looked like the present the proverbial bear left for nature in the woods. I tasted a cookie. I was brown and sort of chewy. Not very good but obviously homemade so I will eat them.
But just in case anyone was concerned, these ain't got nothing on our girls' cookies. Then again, I don't know a single girl scout back home that can bake me a samoa either.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
how what
I bought a bag of peanuts. They tasted like garlic.
I bought a bag of pumpkin seeds. They tasted of coconut.
I bought some wasabi peas. They tasted sweet.
I bought a piece of cake. It tasted salty.
I bought a breakfast bun. There was a hot dog in the center of it.
I bought a small carton of cherry tomatoes at the supermarket. With them came a little plastic packet. It looked like a melange of salt and pepper.
I liberally poured it on my tomatoes. It was like sweet MSG.
I'm a little sick. I have a cough that sounds like a knife against a whetstone or a muffled cymbal. It rattles in my chest and occasionally it yields a satisfying green ooze. A full third of my kindy class have the same. At "sharing time" when we talk about the weather and our feelings, my coughs are echoed by theirs.
I've had this cough for a couple of days. Yesterday I figured a little chicken soup was just what I needed. Soup is offered with every meal here. Corn soup, fish soup, seaweed soup, wonton soup (pork broth), beef soup...but I haven't noticed any chicken soup. I went into work and before my evening class I asked where I could get some chicken soup. No one knew.
Class ended and I was marking papers. Teacher Tina came down stairs with a metal pot that had a lid on it. "Teacher Helen, do you like ginger?"
"Yes, I was going to buy some just after class"
"I asked my mom where to buy soup. She went to the market and bought a chicken. She made soup for you"
What?
I took it home. Simple. Chicken, and ginger. Not much ginger at all. The broth was a tonic. I feel much better today. I saved the bones and I'm now making more soup for myself. This time with veggies.
How do you repay that kind of gesture? Her mama made soup because some foreigner at work wanted it.
I bought a bag of pumpkin seeds. They tasted of coconut.
I bought some wasabi peas. They tasted sweet.
I bought a piece of cake. It tasted salty.
I bought a breakfast bun. There was a hot dog in the center of it.
I bought a small carton of cherry tomatoes at the supermarket. With them came a little plastic packet. It looked like a melange of salt and pepper.
I liberally poured it on my tomatoes. It was like sweet MSG.
I'm a little sick. I have a cough that sounds like a knife against a whetstone or a muffled cymbal. It rattles in my chest and occasionally it yields a satisfying green ooze. A full third of my kindy class have the same. At "sharing time" when we talk about the weather and our feelings, my coughs are echoed by theirs.
I've had this cough for a couple of days. Yesterday I figured a little chicken soup was just what I needed. Soup is offered with every meal here. Corn soup, fish soup, seaweed soup, wonton soup (pork broth), beef soup...but I haven't noticed any chicken soup. I went into work and before my evening class I asked where I could get some chicken soup. No one knew.
Class ended and I was marking papers. Teacher Tina came down stairs with a metal pot that had a lid on it. "Teacher Helen, do you like ginger?"
"Yes, I was going to buy some just after class"
"I asked my mom where to buy soup. She went to the market and bought a chicken. She made soup for you"
What?
I took it home. Simple. Chicken, and ginger. Not much ginger at all. The broth was a tonic. I feel much better today. I saved the bones and I'm now making more soup for myself. This time with veggies.
How do you repay that kind of gesture? Her mama made soup because some foreigner at work wanted it.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Be Modest and Grateful
The big end of the year banquet was held at the Taipei Convention Center. On a Sunday I had to be at work at 1:30pm. The previous Saturday I had had quite a late night. Ashley, Derek, Benji and I went to the night market and then wandered around the streets of Taipei. By "quite late" I mean, we had several small adventures until about 3am. So I crashed at their place in Taipei. Woke up at 8 and stumbled towards the train that would take me to the bus that would take me home so I could dress and go to work. On the way to the train I passed by then entrance of Taiwan Normal University. There were scores of students streaming in. Did I mention it was Sunday morning?
I got to my work. They put us on a short bus. The interior of the bus was decorated with strings of plastic flowers and grapes all of which had accumulated an oily dusty film so the grapes looked kinda mouldy.
We pulled up at the convention center. Straight away I'm pulled aside by my boss along with Mike, a tall Irish Catholic Canadian I work with. I knew this would happen. The day before (Saturday) as I was leaving work, one of the Chinese Teachers said "Teacher Helen. I can show you something?"
"Ok." Then she pulled out an Iphone and I watched a 50year old woman in a Hess uniform doing a cross between TaiChi and cheerleading. "Are you ready? Go! Banciao-Tucheng Hu hu shen feng! Bacnciao-Tucheng, Wo hu cong long! We are the heroes we are the best!" -rhythmic clapping interlude- "Banciao. Tucheng. Jiayo! Jiayo!"
I'm not really sure what it means. Banciao-Tucheng is the name of the district that my branch is in. Hu means tiger and it is going to be the year of the tiger in a couple of weeks. Jiayo means "let's go". Then she said to me "you will do this at the banquet. you will teach everyone dance."
"Who is everyone?" "Banciao-Tucheng". At least 600 people.
So, I was ushered into the corner of a corridor on the ground floor of the immense convention center. My boss started taking my jacket off me. I was given pair of yellow silk pants and a yellow silk jacket. I was introduced to the woman I saw on the Ipod, a big bald guy from another branch who looked like a skinhead genie in his blue silk pajamas, and a girl in yellow who towered over me in her three inch open toe heels. The woman used to study Bejing Opera. It is where her inspiration is derived from. We practiced our dance and our cheer. 15 minutes. Still none of us knew if we were to be on stage or not. We were taken up to our seats in the Mezzanine. We sat down. We were told that when the MC says "Banciao-Tucheng" we do our cheer. From the aisle. Maybe the theater seats 5 or 6 thousand.
It is huge. On stage was a banner that stretched from floor to ceiling. It read "Be Modest and Grateful". A Taiwanese man, a little hip hop, a little OC came out on stage and he bounced around and told some jokes that must have been funny but I don't know what he said. Then Huey the Hippo stumbled on stage. The Hess Hippo Huey. It is possibly the worst designed mascot ever made. It is awkward looking. He has no lower jaw, and I heard there are no eye holes for the person in the suit. Huey is blind. The MC hopped over to him and took his hand and led him to center stage. I'm not sure if Huey was dancing or having a seizure.
Then the spirit competion began. It got weirder and weirder. I tried not to look at the 30 foot screens that flanked the stage because sometimes the camera would settle on me in the throws of my discombobulated cheer.
The cheering was followed by two hours of awards, speeches, sing alongs and tribute videos to district managers. And Chinese zither music. That was cool. And a middle school recorder band. That was not cool.
Then dinner. lobster and abalone and sticky rice and pork and eel and scallops and shrimp and jellyfish and chicken and and and...
but of each dish I was lucky if I could grab a small bite off the lazy Susan that serviced the 13 people at my table. It was all tasty.
During dinner there was entertainment. On a stage at the top of the room people sang karaoke. The MCs also anounced raffle prizes and led some games. One game required a Native English Speaker and a Chinese Speaker to play a guessing game as a team. The MC would show one person an English word or phrase and they then had to explain the meaning of the word or phrase in English to the other person. Piece of cake. I volunteered along with Eddie a guy from my work. I'm pretty good at these things and watching the people go before me I thought it would be easy. <"Taiwanese people like to eat it. It smells bad."-"Stinky tofu".> "you put money in it and give it to people at new years"-"red envelope"> <"It is the subway in Taipei"-"MRT"> Then it was my turn. Eddie thought our chances would be better if he were the one to see the paper. "It's a phrase. It means you really have confidence. You say it when you have confidence. you can do it"-"ahhh.....a phrase?...'You gotta believe'?"- "no, You believe in yourself. it is 9 words"- "is it english?"-"YES" we fought for a little longer. We gave up. the answer "Where there's a will there's a way." That's 7 words Eddie! Not that knowing that would have helped me any.
The next day it was raining. I walked to work. It's funny how you take things for granted, your body, your bike, your car, your home, until something is wrong. Then the awareness of that piece of you becomes acute and worry sets in and reminds you of it every minute. My bike had been giving me some trouble lately and I was going to take it to the bike truck when the weather cleared. There is a man in a blue truck who parks on the side of the road. The back of the truck is full of bike parts and lights and tubes and stuff. He sits in the truck smoking cigarettes and reading the newspaper until someone rides by and needs something from him. He's fixed my tires and sold me accessories for ridiculously cheap prices. He fixes it right there on the side of the road and he is very thorough. Thursday was a beautiful sunny day. Great day to take my bike in. If only I had a bike. It was gone. Alas. Alack.
I got to my work. They put us on a short bus. The interior of the bus was decorated with strings of plastic flowers and grapes all of which had accumulated an oily dusty film so the grapes looked kinda mouldy.
We pulled up at the convention center. Straight away I'm pulled aside by my boss along with Mike, a tall Irish Catholic Canadian I work with. I knew this would happen. The day before (Saturday) as I was leaving work, one of the Chinese Teachers said "Teacher Helen. I can show you something?"
"Ok." Then she pulled out an Iphone and I watched a 50year old woman in a Hess uniform doing a cross between TaiChi and cheerleading. "Are you ready? Go! Banciao-Tucheng Hu hu shen feng! Bacnciao-Tucheng, Wo hu cong long! We are the heroes we are the best!" -rhythmic clapping interlude- "Banciao. Tucheng. Jiayo! Jiayo!"
I'm not really sure what it means. Banciao-Tucheng is the name of the district that my branch is in. Hu means tiger and it is going to be the year of the tiger in a couple of weeks. Jiayo means "let's go". Then she said to me "you will do this at the banquet. you will teach everyone dance."
"Who is everyone?" "Banciao-Tucheng". At least 600 people.
So, I was ushered into the corner of a corridor on the ground floor of the immense convention center. My boss started taking my jacket off me. I was given pair of yellow silk pants and a yellow silk jacket. I was introduced to the woman I saw on the Ipod, a big bald guy from another branch who looked like a skinhead genie in his blue silk pajamas, and a girl in yellow who towered over me in her three inch open toe heels. The woman used to study Bejing Opera. It is where her inspiration is derived from. We practiced our dance and our cheer. 15 minutes. Still none of us knew if we were to be on stage or not. We were taken up to our seats in the Mezzanine. We sat down. We were told that when the MC says "Banciao-Tucheng" we do our cheer. From the aisle. Maybe the theater seats 5 or 6 thousand.
It is huge. On stage was a banner that stretched from floor to ceiling. It read "Be Modest and Grateful". A Taiwanese man, a little hip hop, a little OC came out on stage and he bounced around and told some jokes that must have been funny but I don't know what he said. Then Huey the Hippo stumbled on stage. The Hess Hippo Huey. It is possibly the worst designed mascot ever made. It is awkward looking. He has no lower jaw, and I heard there are no eye holes for the person in the suit. Huey is blind. The MC hopped over to him and took his hand and led him to center stage. I'm not sure if Huey was dancing or having a seizure.
Then the spirit competion began. It got weirder and weirder. I tried not to look at the 30 foot screens that flanked the stage because sometimes the camera would settle on me in the throws of my discombobulated cheer.
The cheering was followed by two hours of awards, speeches, sing alongs and tribute videos to district managers. And Chinese zither music. That was cool. And a middle school recorder band. That was not cool.
Then dinner. lobster and abalone and sticky rice and pork and eel and scallops and shrimp and jellyfish and chicken and and and...
but of each dish I was lucky if I could grab a small bite off the lazy Susan that serviced the 13 people at my table. It was all tasty.
During dinner there was entertainment. On a stage at the top of the room people sang karaoke. The MCs also anounced raffle prizes and led some games. One game required a Native English Speaker and a Chinese Speaker to play a guessing game as a team. The MC would show one person an English word or phrase and they then had to explain the meaning of the word or phrase in English to the other person. Piece of cake. I volunteered along with Eddie a guy from my work. I'm pretty good at these things and watching the people go before me I thought it would be easy. <"Taiwanese people like to eat it. It smells bad."-"Stinky tofu".> "you put money in it and give it to people at new years"-"red envelope"> <"It is the subway in Taipei"-"MRT"> Then it was my turn. Eddie thought our chances would be better if he were the one to see the paper. "It's a phrase. It means you really have confidence. You say it when you have confidence. you can do it"-"ahhh.....a phrase?...'You gotta believe'?"- "no, You believe in yourself. it is 9 words"- "is it english?"-"YES" we fought for a little longer. We gave up. the answer "Where there's a will there's a way." That's 7 words Eddie! Not that knowing that would have helped me any.
The next day it was raining. I walked to work. It's funny how you take things for granted, your body, your bike, your car, your home, until something is wrong. Then the awareness of that piece of you becomes acute and worry sets in and reminds you of it every minute. My bike had been giving me some trouble lately and I was going to take it to the bike truck when the weather cleared. There is a man in a blue truck who parks on the side of the road. The back of the truck is full of bike parts and lights and tubes and stuff. He sits in the truck smoking cigarettes and reading the newspaper until someone rides by and needs something from him. He's fixed my tires and sold me accessories for ridiculously cheap prices. He fixes it right there on the side of the road and he is very thorough. Thursday was a beautiful sunny day. Great day to take my bike in. If only I had a bike. It was gone. Alas. Alack.
hahahha
February already.
Got an email from Megan about Maymont and illicit sledding and I miss home. I don't even really know where that is but it ain't here. Don't get me wrong. This place is great. I'm gonna stick it out till my contract is over.
Some kids are on the roof of the building just under my window shooting off bottle rockets. I can smell them. I want to get some of my own and go down to the river. I've never shot a bottle rocket. It is February 2nd. In the states it is my second favorite holiday. Groundhog's day. But that's just my Pennsylvanian chauvinism I guess. They eat groundhogs in China. That's how birdflu spread. glad I'm not in China.
Dog is illegal here. Eating it I mean. However it was only outlawed in the last 15 years or so. It was Chang Kai Shek's favorite food as well as his son and successor's favorite. They say if you are walking along a rural road and on the breeze you catch a scent that is for your nose like a siren's call, if you smell something that makes your stomach ache with desire and makes your mouth wet with expectation, then you are near an illegal dog stand. The way they cook it supposedly smells amazing.
Teaching is getting easier. I've got the hang of the material. I've got the method down along with the necessary cynicism. It helps that I genuinely like other humans. The kids like me even though sometimes I scare them. A lot of my kids are between the ages of 8 and 12. Last Saturday Judy brought a stuffed animal to class, a little golden retriever. She propped it on her desk. I was drilling the students and asking them questions. At one point Judy refused to answer the question. I asked it again. "Was Dad in the department store at 6:00?" Still she was silent. I grabbed the puppy and hoovered it it over my foot. "Answer the question or I'm gonna KICK THE PUPPY!" The class went into hysterics, both those of fear and excited happiness.
I know everyone by their English names. Howard, Winnie, Kyle, Joe, Ryan, Willy, Sandy, Vicky, Apple, Toyota, Bingo. Some kids like to change their names every other week. I knew a Howard that became a Ryan and last I heard he was Cherry or something. I know the Chinese name of only one of my students. A girl named Nicole in my kindy class. Gao Feng Long.
Teaching is alright but then at the end of each level (a level lasts maybe 3 months, sometimes 6 depending on the curriculum) there is a "Performance Day". These are, like everything else in Taiwan, taken sort of very seriously. Swine flu? No problem. Put handwash at the entrance to every building. Take people's temperatures constantly. Wear face masks. Take soap out of bathrooms when kids play with it. Don't wash hands when preparing meals. Cough and spit where ever you damn well please. Ignore personal space. China? forgeddaboudit. Bitch and moan. Buy a lot of guns and bombs from the US that you cant use. Continue to be seen as independent by Burkina Faso, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts, Nicauragua, Swaziland and Vatican City. Publish Chinese artists forbidden in China. then go to China's tourist convention and advertise as "the Taiwan Region". and then everything the new government is doing to open the floodgates. Laws? Easy. Laws are vigilantly enforced here, when they feel like it. So these "Performance Days"are very Taiwanese. So much hard work goes into them. It is a day towards the end of a level when the parents come. The children show off their new English skills and then the parents are convinced the lessons are working so they shell out more money for the next level.
People work like crazy for these. We teachers, the foreigners and the Chinese teachers alike practice with the kids singing songs, writing speeches "My name is Peter. I am a boy. I like dogs. I do not like girls. bra bra bra...
One time I was on performance day when I first started. The Chinese teacher had taken control and she planned everything. First a group of boys would sing a song. Then some students would do a conversation and then one boy would dance. It was so weird. The boy, he must have been 13, began writhing around like Britney Spears to some Korean pop music. All the parents sat stone faced. The Taiwanese are always stone faced unless confronted with a silly foreigner. We're like can openers to their Campbell Soup personae. We really make 'em laugh.
This week I had four performance days. Different levels. One was an SA16 Level. that is the highest before the honors levels. So they were "graduating" from Hess. Cap n Gowns and everything. Of course it was conducted in the same basement where we hold all the events, class rooms, giant cockroaches (twice I've had to stop kids from playing with the giant cockroaches).
I didn't do much to prepare for this performance. I took over these girls at the beginning of level 16 but from level 11 to 15 they had a teacher from another school, a New Zealander. He really liked these girls and choreographed and entire show complete with a soundtrack from "highschool musical 2" and original dances. Kiwis are really sweet but really strange. Much like the fruit. Anyway as their current teacher, it was my honor to give them their "diplomas".
At the end they each were given a chance to speak. Three of them did. They thanked me. With tears in their eyes. I didn't even think they liked me.
Well they have all signed up for the Honor's level. I'll see them in May when the Honors level starts up.
At the performance day Teacher Fantasy asked me: "so Teacher Helen, will you help us plan the Christmas performance?"
"Christmas?" says I, "That's in December. My contract is over in August."
"Whaaaah? You don't stay????"
"Uhhh. It's January. I don't even know how to teach yet."
"You don't happy? You like it here? What is problem?"
"Errr. I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. It is January."
"Hnh"
Ten minutes later.
"Teacher Helen. You know. I tell you no Honors class until May. Actually it starts next week."
Ok. So I will see these girls next week.
Chinese New Year begins on February 13. I have a whole week off at which time I have to adapt Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night Dream" for my new batch of SA 16s for their performance. I've always wanted to direct. I would've preferred "As You Like It" but beggars can't be choosers.
Got an email from Megan about Maymont and illicit sledding and I miss home. I don't even really know where that is but it ain't here. Don't get me wrong. This place is great. I'm gonna stick it out till my contract is over.
Some kids are on the roof of the building just under my window shooting off bottle rockets. I can smell them. I want to get some of my own and go down to the river. I've never shot a bottle rocket. It is February 2nd. In the states it is my second favorite holiday. Groundhog's day. But that's just my Pennsylvanian chauvinism I guess. They eat groundhogs in China. That's how birdflu spread. glad I'm not in China.
Dog is illegal here. Eating it I mean. However it was only outlawed in the last 15 years or so. It was Chang Kai Shek's favorite food as well as his son and successor's favorite. They say if you are walking along a rural road and on the breeze you catch a scent that is for your nose like a siren's call, if you smell something that makes your stomach ache with desire and makes your mouth wet with expectation, then you are near an illegal dog stand. The way they cook it supposedly smells amazing.
Teaching is getting easier. I've got the hang of the material. I've got the method down along with the necessary cynicism. It helps that I genuinely like other humans. The kids like me even though sometimes I scare them. A lot of my kids are between the ages of 8 and 12. Last Saturday Judy brought a stuffed animal to class, a little golden retriever. She propped it on her desk. I was drilling the students and asking them questions. At one point Judy refused to answer the question. I asked it again. "Was Dad in the department store at 6:00?" Still she was silent. I grabbed the puppy and hoovered it it over my foot. "Answer the question or I'm gonna KICK THE PUPPY!" The class went into hysterics, both those of fear and excited happiness.
I know everyone by their English names. Howard, Winnie, Kyle, Joe, Ryan, Willy, Sandy, Vicky, Apple, Toyota, Bingo. Some kids like to change their names every other week. I knew a Howard that became a Ryan and last I heard he was Cherry or something. I know the Chinese name of only one of my students. A girl named Nicole in my kindy class. Gao Feng Long.
Teaching is alright but then at the end of each level (a level lasts maybe 3 months, sometimes 6 depending on the curriculum) there is a "Performance Day". These are, like everything else in Taiwan, taken sort of very seriously. Swine flu? No problem. Put handwash at the entrance to every building. Take people's temperatures constantly. Wear face masks. Take soap out of bathrooms when kids play with it. Don't wash hands when preparing meals. Cough and spit where ever you damn well please. Ignore personal space. China? forgeddaboudit. Bitch and moan. Buy a lot of guns and bombs from the US that you cant use. Continue to be seen as independent by Burkina Faso, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts, Nicauragua, Swaziland and Vatican City. Publish Chinese artists forbidden in China. then go to China's tourist convention and advertise as "the Taiwan Region". and then everything the new government is doing to open the floodgates. Laws? Easy. Laws are vigilantly enforced here, when they feel like it. So these "Performance Days"are very Taiwanese. So much hard work goes into them. It is a day towards the end of a level when the parents come. The children show off their new English skills and then the parents are convinced the lessons are working so they shell out more money for the next level.
People work like crazy for these. We teachers, the foreigners and the Chinese teachers alike practice with the kids singing songs, writing speeches "My name is Peter. I am a boy. I like dogs. I do not like girls. bra bra bra...
One time I was on performance day when I first started. The Chinese teacher had taken control and she planned everything. First a group of boys would sing a song. Then some students would do a conversation and then one boy would dance. It was so weird. The boy, he must have been 13, began writhing around like Britney Spears to some Korean pop music. All the parents sat stone faced. The Taiwanese are always stone faced unless confronted with a silly foreigner. We're like can openers to their Campbell Soup personae. We really make 'em laugh.
This week I had four performance days. Different levels. One was an SA16 Level. that is the highest before the honors levels. So they were "graduating" from Hess. Cap n Gowns and everything. Of course it was conducted in the same basement where we hold all the events, class rooms, giant cockroaches (twice I've had to stop kids from playing with the giant cockroaches).
I didn't do much to prepare for this performance. I took over these girls at the beginning of level 16 but from level 11 to 15 they had a teacher from another school, a New Zealander. He really liked these girls and choreographed and entire show complete with a soundtrack from "highschool musical 2" and original dances. Kiwis are really sweet but really strange. Much like the fruit. Anyway as their current teacher, it was my honor to give them their "diplomas".
At the end they each were given a chance to speak. Three of them did. They thanked me. With tears in their eyes. I didn't even think they liked me.
Well they have all signed up for the Honor's level. I'll see them in May when the Honors level starts up.
At the performance day Teacher Fantasy asked me: "so Teacher Helen, will you help us plan the Christmas performance?"
"Christmas?" says I, "That's in December. My contract is over in August."
"Whaaaah? You don't stay????"
"Uhhh. It's January. I don't even know how to teach yet."
"You don't happy? You like it here? What is problem?"
"Errr. I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. It is January."
"Hnh"
Ten minutes later.
"Teacher Helen. You know. I tell you no Honors class until May. Actually it starts next week."
Ok. So I will see these girls next week.
Chinese New Year begins on February 13. I have a whole week off at which time I have to adapt Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night Dream" for my new batch of SA 16s for their performance. I've always wanted to direct. I would've preferred "As You Like It" but beggars can't be choosers.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Year of the Foreigner.
Megan who? I've been in Taiwan 4 months. For the past three months, I've been living in SanSia, eating in Sansia and sleeping in Sansia. I've been soaked in this new life so thoroughly and so consumed by the tasks at hand that I've had no time for reflection or fear. Then last night before falling asleep I was in a memory walking down a sticky, soot covered lane with Megan. We were hungry , lost probably, scared and uncertain and anxious. In my memory my head was spinning with plans and hopes and trepidation. It seems like so long ago.
I tried to think of a way to calm down. My kindergarten students like to pet my arm hair. It soothes them. I tried petting my arms but I really don't have that much hair on them. They also like to pull at the hairs and I knew this wouldn't be calming to me so I put my thoughts to my schedule.Thursday, kindy, -must make up a color by numbers project for them-then go teach at the Sansia branch-then go back to Bei Da for a parent teacher event.
The trash is piling up in the apartement. The trash truck only comes at 5:30pm and I won't be home for it until next week. Maybe I can sneak some into the dumpsters of the college campus tonight.
When Julia was here she wanted to try to take the trash out. We made sure to be home. At 5 pm we were in the apartment drinking tea. The air was thick with anticipation (or old banana peel). at 5:30 the music from the truck came into my windows. I said "Go! go! go!"and she went down 6 floors, out the door and around the corner chasing the slow moving truck so she could toss the bags into its great metal belly. I was so proud of her. The first time I tried to do it, my trash was taken from me by a bunch of my neighbors in an alley. I felt cheated. When Megan tried it, she missed the truck at first but an old woman materialized and snatched the bottles from her.
Friday I will teach all day, 8AM til 9PM. Saturday I have work from 7:30am until 12. Then I have to find my way to Taoyuan to celibrate the birthday of someone I hardly know but whose expatriot status binds us.
Sunday is usually my day off but I have to attend the annual company end of year dinner. The dinner is being held for all of the employees in the Taipei area. Thousands of people. It is in Taipei and my branch is renting a bus. I am not allowed to decline the bus ride. I am not allowed to decline the invitation. We leave Sanshia at 1:30. We will arrive at the convention center around 2:30. Check in starts at three. Then there are a series of spirit building events. Branch cheer competition, motivational speeches. Karaoke which you have to sign up for in advance. More speeches about morale and team building. A group song. Apparently we will all be singing "Learning to Fly". No one thought to give me the lyrics or tell me our branch cheer, so I will just pretend. Then dinner is served at 7pm. The banquet ends at 9pm. So by this schedule it seems I have been robbed of my day off. I asked the people at my branch "Do i have to go back on the bus with you?" I really upset people by asking them that.
Teacher Fantasy said "and we have to wear a dress".
Oh, "ok," I said, "I'll dress up". Now I need to find a nice red and gold tie.
Last Sunday Ashley came into Sansia. We went on an amazing hike through the nearby mountains. We saw dozens of waterfalls,amazing and big. We saw orange orchards tucked away in the hills. We climbed slippery paths with the aid of ropes fastened to trees. We walked along rope bridges that I'm sure Indiana Jones would approve of. We skirted along narrow paths that hugged the mountain. One wrong step and you are looking at a very steep and uncomfortable fall through the redwood and bamboo forest. The trek was especially dangerous when other hikers wanted to pass. and then their friend wanted to pass. then the man with the baby on his head. then the octogenarian grandmother. Jeeze! Grandma was skipping along the trail like nobody's business. Taiwanese are really fit.And they travel in packs. At the most spectacular of the waterfalls we met a man who was there with his family. He lives in Yinko, a town near by but has a villa in the mountains here. He told us to recruit 6 friends so we would be 8 people and come for a Saturday night as his honored guests. He would give us SanBeiJi (three cup chicken) and drug free vegetables (organic?).
He wanted to kidnap us then and there and take us to "lunch". Ashley was willing but I put my foot down because I still had lesson planning and was a bit tuckered out and I know that in Taiwan a Sunday "lunch" lasts well into dinner. Instead we returned to Sansia and in the street market we found a woman selling second hand clothes for 2US$ (80NT) a pop. Ashley and I went nuts buying.
Then we found a stall full of new clothes that were very nice but obviously seconds. I bought a black jacket for the banquet. it will go nicely with my gold oxfords.
So yes, time moves very quickly here. I awaken on Monday and I go to bed on Friday not knowing what happened to Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. In reality it hasn't been so very long and with that in mind I'm adjusting quite well. There are occassional moments where I feel displaced. When I was with my kindy kids at the zoo last week, people we passed were taking pictures of me, pointing at me. I saw one kid tug his mothers sleeve and say "big nose foreigner". True, we were near the elephants and elephants are not native to Taiwan but i don't think elephants are called foreigner.
I might have miss interepreted but....One time I was at City Hall waiting for my dad to finish talking to his Judge and I sat in the chairs that face the judge's bench. There were other people there waiting for their case to be heard before lunch recess. There was a boy near me and he turned to his mother and said "big nosed honkey".
Today I was leaving work for lunch. The secretary asked how I was. I thought I'd be clever and use one of my new phrases "wo mi lu le" (I am lost). She looked surprised and i felt that my chinese was impressive. She said "You are reindeer?" putting her fingers on her head like antlers.
I tried to think of a way to calm down. My kindergarten students like to pet my arm hair. It soothes them. I tried petting my arms but I really don't have that much hair on them. They also like to pull at the hairs and I knew this wouldn't be calming to me so I put my thoughts to my schedule.Thursday, kindy, -must make up a color by numbers project for them-then go teach at the Sansia branch-then go back to Bei Da for a parent teacher event.
The trash is piling up in the apartement. The trash truck only comes at 5:30pm and I won't be home for it until next week. Maybe I can sneak some into the dumpsters of the college campus tonight.
When Julia was here she wanted to try to take the trash out. We made sure to be home. At 5 pm we were in the apartment drinking tea. The air was thick with anticipation (or old banana peel). at 5:30 the music from the truck came into my windows. I said "Go! go! go!"and she went down 6 floors, out the door and around the corner chasing the slow moving truck so she could toss the bags into its great metal belly. I was so proud of her. The first time I tried to do it, my trash was taken from me by a bunch of my neighbors in an alley. I felt cheated. When Megan tried it, she missed the truck at first but an old woman materialized and snatched the bottles from her.
Friday I will teach all day, 8AM til 9PM. Saturday I have work from 7:30am until 12. Then I have to find my way to Taoyuan to celibrate the birthday of someone I hardly know but whose expatriot status binds us.
Sunday is usually my day off but I have to attend the annual company end of year dinner. The dinner is being held for all of the employees in the Taipei area. Thousands of people. It is in Taipei and my branch is renting a bus. I am not allowed to decline the bus ride. I am not allowed to decline the invitation. We leave Sanshia at 1:30. We will arrive at the convention center around 2:30. Check in starts at three. Then there are a series of spirit building events. Branch cheer competition, motivational speeches. Karaoke which you have to sign up for in advance. More speeches about morale and team building. A group song. Apparently we will all be singing "Learning to Fly". No one thought to give me the lyrics or tell me our branch cheer, so I will just pretend. Then dinner is served at 7pm. The banquet ends at 9pm. So by this schedule it seems I have been robbed of my day off. I asked the people at my branch "Do i have to go back on the bus with you?" I really upset people by asking them that.
Teacher Fantasy said "and we have to wear a dress".
Oh, "ok," I said, "I'll dress up". Now I need to find a nice red and gold tie.
Last Sunday Ashley came into Sansia. We went on an amazing hike through the nearby mountains. We saw dozens of waterfalls,amazing and big. We saw orange orchards tucked away in the hills. We climbed slippery paths with the aid of ropes fastened to trees. We walked along rope bridges that I'm sure Indiana Jones would approve of. We skirted along narrow paths that hugged the mountain. One wrong step and you are looking at a very steep and uncomfortable fall through the redwood and bamboo forest. The trek was especially dangerous when other hikers wanted to pass. and then their friend wanted to pass. then the man with the baby on his head. then the octogenarian grandmother. Jeeze! Grandma was skipping along the trail like nobody's business. Taiwanese are really fit.And they travel in packs. At the most spectacular of the waterfalls we met a man who was there with his family. He lives in Yinko, a town near by but has a villa in the mountains here. He told us to recruit 6 friends so we would be 8 people and come for a Saturday night as his honored guests. He would give us SanBeiJi (three cup chicken) and drug free vegetables (organic?).
He wanted to kidnap us then and there and take us to "lunch". Ashley was willing but I put my foot down because I still had lesson planning and was a bit tuckered out and I know that in Taiwan a Sunday "lunch" lasts well into dinner. Instead we returned to Sansia and in the street market we found a woman selling second hand clothes for 2US$ (80NT) a pop. Ashley and I went nuts buying.
Then we found a stall full of new clothes that were very nice but obviously seconds. I bought a black jacket for the banquet. it will go nicely with my gold oxfords.
So yes, time moves very quickly here. I awaken on Monday and I go to bed on Friday not knowing what happened to Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. In reality it hasn't been so very long and with that in mind I'm adjusting quite well. There are occassional moments where I feel displaced. When I was with my kindy kids at the zoo last week, people we passed were taking pictures of me, pointing at me. I saw one kid tug his mothers sleeve and say "big nose foreigner". True, we were near the elephants and elephants are not native to Taiwan but i don't think elephants are called foreigner.
I might have miss interepreted but....One time I was at City Hall waiting for my dad to finish talking to his Judge and I sat in the chairs that face the judge's bench. There were other people there waiting for their case to be heard before lunch recess. There was a boy near me and he turned to his mother and said "big nosed honkey".
Today I was leaving work for lunch. The secretary asked how I was. I thought I'd be clever and use one of my new phrases "wo mi lu le" (I am lost). She looked surprised and i felt that my chinese was impressive. She said "You are reindeer?" putting her fingers on her head like antlers.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
the twelve days of christmas
Are Christmas trees still up in shops and restaurants in the US?
They are here. People here have a penchant for Christmas lights and tinsel. I wonder how long they will stay up. The bus drivers have taken off the Santa suits and I'm glad. It was a little unnerving being shouted at by an angry Mandarin Santa Clause. (I don't know when to swipe my card because each bus is different. I get shouted at a lot.)
Today is January 7. My mother always drilled into us how the 12 days of Christmas don't begin until the 25th of December. Yesterday was the Epiphany. In the states there aren't many remnants of Christmas at this time except half priced Christmas candies in the drugstore. Here the music that gets piped into stores has returned to the general "elevator" genre, but the garland and lights are all still there. It kind of reminds me of home. Not America home, because in most of America trees and decorations come promptly down by New Years, but my mom's house home because we often didn't dispose of the tree until Easter. This morning a girl in my kindy class gave me a candy cane.
The candy canes here piss me off. Red and White. ok cool. Tell me why it tastes like strawberry!
Red white and green. ooh delicious peppermint in my mouth. NO. fruity sweet.
Pink with red stripes. Cinnamon. well, if i have to eat the Cinnamon....Cherry! Why is it cherry.
I was in an elevator and I swore I smelled a yankee candy cane. It was just me and an old man in the car. I inched closer to him and inhaled deeply. He got off at the next floor with a frightened look on his face.
My sister has returned to the US. Everywhere we went, cabs, restaurants, bars, on the top of a mountain cliff at the northern tip of Taiwan, in the seedy bushiban basement of my school, on the subways and busses, walking down the street: All Julia heard was "beautiful" "You are beautiful" Ni shi fey chang piaoliang. "You are very beautiful".
Its like one of those 1930s movies when some western starlit ends up on a tropical island inhabited by italians in grass skirts smothered in grease paint. They are so taken with her beauty that they carry her around for a month and then feed her to a volcano.
She was flattered at first. Then she started to get annoyed. Then she thought it was a cosmic joke. Of course, it is true. She is very beautiful, but the reactions of the Taiwanese to her exotic beauty bordered on ridiculous. It was also funny that not once but twice when people asked where she was from and I told them "Ta shi Meiguo ren" (USA is called Meiguo-Beautiful country) they then pointed at me and "Ni shi Eetali ren" (you are italian person). Twice!
On Sunday, Julia and I went to Keelun to a geopark along the coast of northern Taiwan. There is an area of sandstone that has been erroded by wind and water and the Dali-esque landscape is a popular tourist destination. It is like Monument Valley in miniature and some of the stones (if looked at from the proper angle) resemble things in life. There is "Mushroom rock" "queen's head" "Faerie's shoe" "Tofu"...
And next to the park is a small hike on a well maintained path that winds up a cliff to overlook the Pacific. As we walked and wound our way up the path we stopped to take pictures at and overlook. I family was up there and the were staring and smiling at Julia. Later when we were leaving the park we met the same family.
They spoke no english but he asked if he could take his wife's picture next to Julia. Then out of politeness they took another picture with me in it.
Then he began talking to us so I translated for Julia.
He says you are very beautiful.
He says he is an open parkinglot. No, he wants to know how we got here?
He wants to know where we are going.
I told him "We are going to Taipei"
More translation for Julia:
He says he is a bus driver no he says we shouldn't take the bus. no, he says he has a car and he will drive us.
I said to Julia (Let's take the bus we came on. ) she agreed that would be best. I had to work in the morning and didn't want to get kidnapped. again.
They are here. People here have a penchant for Christmas lights and tinsel. I wonder how long they will stay up. The bus drivers have taken off the Santa suits and I'm glad. It was a little unnerving being shouted at by an angry Mandarin Santa Clause. (I don't know when to swipe my card because each bus is different. I get shouted at a lot.)
Today is January 7. My mother always drilled into us how the 12 days of Christmas don't begin until the 25th of December. Yesterday was the Epiphany. In the states there aren't many remnants of Christmas at this time except half priced Christmas candies in the drugstore. Here the music that gets piped into stores has returned to the general "elevator" genre, but the garland and lights are all still there. It kind of reminds me of home. Not America home, because in most of America trees and decorations come promptly down by New Years, but my mom's house home because we often didn't dispose of the tree until Easter. This morning a girl in my kindy class gave me a candy cane.
The candy canes here piss me off. Red and White. ok cool. Tell me why it tastes like strawberry!
Red white and green. ooh delicious peppermint in my mouth. NO. fruity sweet.
Pink with red stripes. Cinnamon. well, if i have to eat the Cinnamon....Cherry! Why is it cherry.
I was in an elevator and I swore I smelled a yankee candy cane. It was just me and an old man in the car. I inched closer to him and inhaled deeply. He got off at the next floor with a frightened look on his face.
My sister has returned to the US. Everywhere we went, cabs, restaurants, bars, on the top of a mountain cliff at the northern tip of Taiwan, in the seedy bushiban basement of my school, on the subways and busses, walking down the street: All Julia heard was "beautiful" "You are beautiful" Ni shi fey chang piaoliang. "You are very beautiful".
Its like one of those 1930s movies when some western starlit ends up on a tropical island inhabited by italians in grass skirts smothered in grease paint. They are so taken with her beauty that they carry her around for a month and then feed her to a volcano.
She was flattered at first. Then she started to get annoyed. Then she thought it was a cosmic joke. Of course, it is true. She is very beautiful, but the reactions of the Taiwanese to her exotic beauty bordered on ridiculous. It was also funny that not once but twice when people asked where she was from and I told them "Ta shi Meiguo ren" (USA is called Meiguo-Beautiful country) they then pointed at me and "Ni shi Eetali ren" (you are italian person). Twice!
On Sunday, Julia and I went to Keelun to a geopark along the coast of northern Taiwan. There is an area of sandstone that has been erroded by wind and water and the Dali-esque landscape is a popular tourist destination. It is like Monument Valley in miniature and some of the stones (if looked at from the proper angle) resemble things in life. There is "Mushroom rock" "queen's head" "Faerie's shoe" "Tofu"...
And next to the park is a small hike on a well maintained path that winds up a cliff to overlook the Pacific. As we walked and wound our way up the path we stopped to take pictures at and overlook. I family was up there and the were staring and smiling at Julia. Later when we were leaving the park we met the same family.
They spoke no english but he asked if he could take his wife's picture next to Julia. Then out of politeness they took another picture with me in it.
Then he began talking to us so I translated for Julia.
He says you are very beautiful.
He says he is an open parkinglot. No, he wants to know how we got here?
He wants to know where we are going.
I told him "We are going to Taipei"
More translation for Julia:
He says he is a bus driver no he says we shouldn't take the bus. no, he says he has a car and he will drive us.
I said to Julia (Let's take the bus we came on. ) she agreed that would be best. I had to work in the morning and didn't want to get kidnapped. again.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
new years eve
The best Christmas present ever. My sister Julia has come to Taiwan. She arrived on the 26 of December and will stay until January 6. She brought a camera for me so pictures will come soon.
I only got to see her for a day and a half so far. I had to go back to work on the 28th. She's been touring the island.I think she went the Hualien on the eastern coast.
Tonight after work I will go see her. Tonight is December 31, Western New Year's Eve. My plan is to meet her at the hotel where she is staying, the Shangri La. I'm giving myself 2 hours to get there.
I hope I make it. Some weathered expats and locals alike have been telling me horror stories. A few years back when the Taipei 101 building was constructed, city officials thought having a New York style count down would be a good idea. At the stroke of midnight, fireworks come shooting off the top of the tallest building in the world.
Sounds kind of cool. I'm sure it will be a great show considering these people are experts with pyrotechnics. Firecrackers go off 24-7 here. Yesterday I thought there was an explosion at the construction site next to my school but really it was just the employees of the new Family Mart across the street celebrating their grand opening.
Instead of tying tin cans to the back of the newly weds' car, a string of fire crackers is tied to the bumper and they drive off in a noisy cloud of smoke and fire.
So people love fireworks here. They also love Taipei 101. They also love having a day off of work (which is rare). It is going to be crowded.
Last week one of my older students asked what my plans were for New Year's and I said I might go to 101. She said: "but if you fall down people stand on you".
One of my coworkers told me that there were so many people in Taipei last year that cell phones stopped working. Another coworker told me that a friend of hers was on the train for 2 hours because first she couldn't find a train that wasn't packed and then she couldn't get off the train because it was too crowded.
I'll be heading into the city at the worst time, between 7 and 8pm. This is gonna be fun.
I only got to see her for a day and a half so far. I had to go back to work on the 28th. She's been touring the island.I think she went the Hualien on the eastern coast.
Tonight after work I will go see her. Tonight is December 31, Western New Year's Eve. My plan is to meet her at the hotel where she is staying, the Shangri La. I'm giving myself 2 hours to get there.
I hope I make it. Some weathered expats and locals alike have been telling me horror stories. A few years back when the Taipei 101 building was constructed, city officials thought having a New York style count down would be a good idea. At the stroke of midnight, fireworks come shooting off the top of the tallest building in the world.
Sounds kind of cool. I'm sure it will be a great show considering these people are experts with pyrotechnics. Firecrackers go off 24-7 here. Yesterday I thought there was an explosion at the construction site next to my school but really it was just the employees of the new Family Mart across the street celebrating their grand opening.
Instead of tying tin cans to the back of the newly weds' car, a string of fire crackers is tied to the bumper and they drive off in a noisy cloud of smoke and fire.
So people love fireworks here. They also love Taipei 101. They also love having a day off of work (which is rare). It is going to be crowded.
Last week one of my older students asked what my plans were for New Year's and I said I might go to 101. She said: "but if you fall down people stand on you".
One of my coworkers told me that there were so many people in Taipei last year that cell phones stopped working. Another coworker told me that a friend of hers was on the train for 2 hours because first she couldn't find a train that wasn't packed and then she couldn't get off the train because it was too crowded.
I'll be heading into the city at the worst time, between 7 and 8pm. This is gonna be fun.
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