Taiwan: Chinese Language Class

OK.  Mandarin is hard.  Really hard.  Seemingly impenetrable.  But our teacher was great, and two of my fellow participants were practically my own private tutors.

The teacher, Glory Wang, listening to
individuals singing a Chinese folk song. 

      

What a horrible photographer!  

We'd been learning the names of fruit, and the school brought in the real goods for us to practice.  Here's a shot of a role play--four fruit vendors.  I was happy to be able to say, "that's too expensive" for one of my lines.

This was a common note-taking strategy for us all.  Take pictures of PPT slides and the board.  I took a picture of "chicken" for future reference--just in case I came across the opportunity to buy a chicken charm to improve my luck

How much does..... cost?  This was my "cheat sheet" for the selling-fruit role play. 

"Jill" in Chinese.  ji character = lucky, fortunate (just like the astrologer said).  er = child.  (no comments, please, the etymology of the character is 'child with an imperfect cranium'.  Note the separated head-like element at the top of the character) 

   

   

Taiwan: School Days

We arrived at the train station in Taichung to find Samantha from National Taichung University waiting for us.   We head over to the International House (our home in Taichung) and took a quick tour of the campus.  (I noted the locations of 7-11 for future reference).

We came to Taiwan to participate in the Chinese Language and Taiwanese Culture Camp, hosted by National Taichung University.

It's a two-week cultural exchange program offering Chinese Mandarin courses along with courses on varied aspects of Chinese culture (e.g., martial arts, calligraphy, Chinese painting, tea ceremony).  Its participants are from NCTU's sister institutions around the globe.  In the past most participants have been from the USA.  This year Deanna and I were the only ones from the US.  4 participants were from Korea and two from Indonesia.  Our fellow participants were lovely, energetic, and infinitely patient with us as our exposure to and skill levels at varied aspects of Chinese culture/language was well behind theirs.  For example, the calligraphy teacher, trying to make me feel better as I looked with amazement at their work, chuckled and said, "the Korean girls, they've done this before.  This is easy for them."    

The president of the university offering a welcoming speech. 

Our first day consisted of a tour of the university's archive room, a lovely welcoming ceremony, and our first class, Chinese Painting.


Our first stop of the day was a guided tour through the archive, or history, room.  The room displays and narrates the institutional history of NCTU.  Archive rooms must be common features of Taiwanese schools as we noted one at a k-12 school we visited later the next week.  On display were valuable paintings of a former faculty member.  Artwork and posters from current faculty.  Institutional artifacts such as past yearbooks.  Gifts from the NCTU's sister universities around the globe were also on display.  The guide made a point to tell us that we could open the cases to look at books, materials, etc.  The point was interaction.

Past presidents of NCTU.  The first four were Japanese soldiers as the university was founded during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan.

Note Deanna helping Grace turn on her camera.  Photos, photos, photos, I've never posed for so many photos, nor had so many photo taken of me during the course of a normal day.  Those of you who know me, know exactly how much I like to have my photo taken!  

4 of our wonderful camp volunteers (Isis, Dave, Samantha, Nicole) offering their own greetings as well as translating the welcoming speeches of NCTU's faculty and administrators.

An excellent lunch was prepared.  Note the chopsticks.  I was not too proficient.  Interestingly, at the closing lunch, there was a basket full of plastic forks (mainly, I suspect, because of the obvious difficulty I was having).  The folks in blue shirts were the camp volunteers.  They were constant, friendly, helpful companions, all students at the University.

In addition to Chinese Painting, we also were exposed to Chinese games and martial arts, tea ceremony, and a class on Taiwanese food.

 

Tea blossom from the Tea Ceremony Class

Taiwan: First Days in Taipei

Deanna and I arrived late Friday evening, July 1 after hours and hours of travel.  But no rest for the weary--we had a full day of touring planned for Saturday.

A classmate from Grad School lives nearby and he graciously fielded many a question from me and he was our guide for our first day.

Dragons are bearers of good fortune.  Or rather, they symbolize power, strength, and fortune, and they are associated with air and water. They adorn many a temple.

Offerings.  Sending wishes, spirit money to the heavens

Offerings to love deity. 

  

Matchmaker, matchmaker!  The global marketplace at work to help lonely bachelors find international brides. This one even promises that the bride won't run away.   (post a note below if you'd like to discuss the gendered implications of the global market place in the modern/postmodern world)  Next to the matchmaker is a small altar to the "mayor of the spirit world."  (see larger temple pic below).  There's a "real world" and a parallel "ghost world."   This altar is for the spirit who administers the parallel world--a mayor of sorts.  One way to avoid the negative effects of mixing the two worlds--when you enter a temple, go out a different door than the one you entered.  The ghosts can't follow you into the temple, but they'll hang around waiting for you to exit.  If you go out through a different door, you confuse them!                       

This temple is around the corner from the matchmaker and adjacent altar.  It's dedicated to the mayor. 

We visited several temples, all in 100+ heat and humidity.  I made time to stop off for a visit to a Chinese Astrologer who shared the books that had been passed down from Grandfather to father to son to determine one's "secret number" and prescribe ways to improve fortune.  My 'script?  It would be helpful for me to wear a pendant of a chicken (preferably of gold or jade) and obtain small ram figurines to place in my office for positive feng shui.   

We also visited the Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.  Click the learn to learn more, including its controversial renaming.  The history provides insight into Taiwan's recent history.  

 

Here's a glimpse of Taipei 101.  The second tallest building in the world.  Its style is inspired by bamboo.

Sunday we hired a taxi to take us on tour of the Northeast Coast of Taiwan.  Highlights were Bitou Cape and Yehliu Geopark.

Bitou Cape.

                  

This is the line to be photographed with "the Queen's Head" (see the figure in blue posing in front of a rock looking vaguely like the profile of a woman a Marge Simpson -do?).   It was more than 100 degrees, and even the shade of my umbrella wasn't cooling enough.  So we stayed in line long enough to snap this shot and then took a couple more photos from the other side.  It can be more interesting to explore the spectacle around a phenomenon than the phenomenon itself.   Speaking of umbrellas:  I brought one upon reading that summer rains are common in Taiwan.  It didn't take long for me to be using umbrellas as protection from the sun as is common--as evidenced in this photo.   This, combined with rapid development of the habit of making twice-daily visits to 7-11, meant I was well on my way to being an honorary Taiwanese. 

7-11's are WAY cooler in Taiwan.  And they are everywhere.  Every block.  Maybe 2 on a block.

 You can buy  BBQ Buns 

Tea Eggs   

   

and sweet potato milk.  Yummy.