Spring Break 7

Kenting is beautiful.

Spring Break 6

Lizzy weds a coconut in Kenting















A beach in Kenting

Spring Break 5

This is a really cool statue of a Hakka leader
















Cynthia's family

Spring Break 4

We visited a tree that was 500 years old, and lit incense at the alter there.

























For Cynthia's birthday, I gave her an Emerson tshirt




















I introduced Weird Al to the natives. Cynthia's quote here: "He's so bizarre, but so great!"

Spring Break 3

While we were staying with Cynthia's family, they took us to a traditional Hakka (aborigonal Taiwanese) village


















We got to make Hakka tea (Liu Cha)out of green tea, penuts, black and white sesame and pine nuts.
 

Spring Break 2

Cynthia's family lives in a house built on land which had been in their family for several hundred years. Cynthia's great-great-great grandfather was the mayor of Taichung county, and other members of her family had been quite prominant as well. Here's Cynthia with some family journals, around 200 years old.














Here's a painting of Cynthia's great-great-great grandfather. The tree in the painting is in Cynthia's front yard. In order to become the mayor, he hd to lift two huge concrete blocks, which he's sitting on in this painting. The blocks now sit in Cynthia's living room. He also competed in a sport involving a big metal spear-thing (in the painting, by the tree). This is also in her living room.

Spring Break

Ok, so this is a bit retrospective, but in April for spring break I went on a trip to southern Taiwan with two exchange students, Lizzy and Anna, and a Taiwanese student, Cynthia,went on a trip to southern Taiwan. On the way we stopped to visit Cynthia's home town and then we continued on to Kaosuing and then Kenting, wich is almost the southernmost point of Taiwan.

Here's Lizzy helping to make dumplings




















The finished product (please note the nice, neat pleats made by Cynthia's grandmother, and the big, floppy folds made by me)















Cynthia's parents had this great VW van, and it had (and I hear this is actually quie common) a karaoke machine. While you sing, it shows different video footage behind the song lyrics, and during one song it started showing random shots of Boston. Interesting. 

Easter 3

A beautiful hilltop that made me think of Ireland















A temple on top of the hill
















Words to the wise... 

Easter 2

Alyssa















Me on a table at a bus stop















More of me

 

Easter

Since Taiwan is primarily a Buddhist/Confucian/Taoist nation, Easter is not widely celebrated. And since I had none of the usual cultural cues, I totally didn't even realize that it was the Easter saeson until it was Good Friday. Eek. But, I decided, it's good to experience different ways of celebrating Easter. So this year, on Easter Sunday, I went with two other exchange students, Alyssa and Erin, and a Taiwanese student, Kenplus, to go pick Callia Lillies on Yangmei mountain. It was absolutely amazing.


Amongst the lillies...














Alyssa














Kenplus














Erin

 

Questions...

I was just thinking last night about the questions people ask us here. We exchange students get asked a lot of questions. Like, A LOT. And the majority of them are reaaalllly stupid. To the point where I can only assume they're rhetorical.

FOR EXAMPLE:

SITUATION 1. I am eating lunch at the English Corner, I finish, collect my garbage together, and stand up.

QUESTION: "Where are you going?"

ANALYSIS: This is my most FAQ. Sometimes, it's reasonable, but EVERYONE asks it so gets really annoying. But a lot of times, they'll ask when it's totally 100% obvious where you're going.

SITUATION 2. It's a slow, quiet day at the English corner I have another two hours until my shift ends, everyone's stretched out on couches, I'm standing, staring off into space, yawning.

QUESTION: "What are you doing?"

ANALYSIS: All I can do is laugh. In this particular situation, I felt I simply could not answer the question. Instead I asked (while laughing), "what does it look like I'm doing!?" And the girl who asked the question started luching, because she realized how silly the question was. And I get asked this question ALL THE TIME!

SITUATION 3. My friend Alyssa calls "Wo ai ni!" (I love you!) to me from about 30 feet away one afternoon when she passes me on campus, just being silly, and then immidiately bumps into a prominent professor on campus who we are familiar with, and he asks her this question.

QUESTION: "What are you doing!?"

ANALYSIS: Totally different than "What are you doing?" This one, I think, is a strong taste of what it means to live in a shame-based culture. After a question like this is asked, it's followed by a long, unfaltering stare in which the offending party tries to explain themselves while getting embarrassed. Personally, I think it's a dirty trick BUT it's not my country or my culture, soo...

SITUATION 4. I climb into my bunk, ready for bed, and say good night to my roommate.

QUESTION: "You don't want to take a shower?" Followed by inquisitive look.

ANALYSIS: If I had wanted to take a shower don't you think I would've taken one!? That's how I answer in my brain. This one I believe is a real expression of curiosity, but questions like these often come at times I really don't feel like being questioned.

SITUATION 5. I'm at the English Corner, talking to students, and the topic of popular movies comes up.

QUESTION: "I saw 'Brokeback Mountain' but I didn't understand it. Could you explain it to me?'

ANALYSIS: This question actually comes up a lot. Other variations are, "Are there lots of gays in America?", "Do you think those people are normal?" and, my personal favorite, "Are... you normal?" They are totally befuddled by homosexuality, and there's an added twist that all of the four male exchange students are gay (and left-handed, incidentally). One journalism student interviewed me for an article she was writing on "gay people and how we should treat them". But I think it's great that they are willing to ask questions and learn rather than let prejudice develop from their ignorance.

Anyways, it's a quite major cultural difference I hadn't counted on at all. Go figure, huh?

Whatever!!!!

Am I still on Singapore!? For crying out loud! I have a whole spring break's worth of pictues to put up and I'm still on Singapore!? Well, I don't feel like putting the rest of them up... maybe I'll send around an ofoto album... or maybe I'll just make you tell me if you want to see them ;) So I'm lazy. Come way the heck over here and bite me. AHAAAHAHAH!!! Ahhhh.

Alyssa's fine, by the way. We don't know how the press got a hold of the story, but it was blown way out of proportion. She was burned on 30% of her body (not 90%, as many newspapers were reporting) and there's no scarring. She's back at the dorms now, eating my trail mix, scaring my roommates... Generally bringing joy into our lives. ;)

blaaaaaaah.

Can't wait 'till that Easter candy from Mom gets here!!!!!! Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, I can't. Help. Hellp me... Guys, no seriously... I'm convulsing! Frothing at the mouth! Guys.... guuuuys.....

Singapore, pt 3

Us out to coffe with Dave...













The Raffles hotel...

...Lunch (A Singapore Sling at the Long Bar,


where it was invented).



Dinner

Singapore, pt. 2

On Saturday, we took the cable cars to Sentosa and had a nice day at a spa. That is, it was nice until Alyssa got severe chemical burns over 30% of her body. But up until then , it was very nice.