Taiwan must be a great quasi-nation if they have deemed it prudent to issue me a motorcycle driver's license. We took our test today and I think I scored a Fulbright record-high on the written portion (97.5, passing is 85 and most people hover around this mark). A passing score is good enough to drive a 50 cc motorscooter, but it also qualifies you to take the driving test which involves driving a straight line for 25m in at least 7 seconds (aka balancing at slow speeds), before then looping into a narrow course that involves a traffic light, pedestrian cross and railroad crossing.
I had practiced for the test on a 100 cc scooter which is powerful but maneuverable, but, of course, as I was practicing on the course before the test, that scooter died and I had to learn to ride the big, beastly 125 cc scooter in a matter of minutes. It turns out that I must be a natural, though, as I passed my test on the first try (you have two chances on the balancing and the very lenient judge didn't seem to notice when I put my foot down on the other parts of the course...). Either way, I am now licensed to own and drive my very own scooter!
In other news, I also received my placement today! I will be living in Luodong which is just south of where I am living now, and working at San Sing and Shin Zhong Junior High Schools with my cooperating teachers, Candy and Cathy. At San Sing I will also be working with my new friend Angus, who has spent the last decade in the U.S. studying. He is currently working at the school as part of his mandatory military service and will be helping me with the English clubs.
Ok, must get some rest before the big day tomorrow: buying my scooter and moving to Luodong. I'm sad to leave Yilan and the great friends that I made here (a lot of the other Yilan people are staying here because their placements are close by), but I am excited to try another city and start my routine.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The Taiwanese Music Master
During the very short time in which I have been living in Taiwan, I have had a number of opportunities to experience traditional Chinese music and Taiwanese generosity.On our very first evening in Yilan, we left one apartment in our complex to visit another and stumbled upon a recital at the music school in the first level of my building. We were invited to join the audience, given water cups and bags of fruit and treated to a great concert on traditional instruments like the erhu and pipa. (This was also our first experience as quasi-celebrities; Taiwanese people will often stare at us in the streets or take our pictures and the concert was no exception!) After more than an hour of incredible music, though, they called upon a man in the crowd with the most English to try to entice us to perform a song for them. Unabashed, we gave a pretty terrible rendition of "A Whole New World," which, despite it's resemblance to a bad karaoke song, was still received. Ann also was called upon to play the piano, which she did beautifully!
We stumbled onto our next musical discovery the next morning while on an exploratory expedition through Yilan. As we arrived at an intersection that looked markedly different than the rest, we came upon the Music House, an old building with incredible architecture that has been preserved by the government and now serves as a cultural space. The air conditioning certainly offered a great respite from the tortuous humidity, but the environment of the Music House itself was also an incredible find. After giving us a lengthy tour in Mandarin that Mandi translated for group, she invited us back later that day for a free concert.
After exploring some more, we returned to hear an incredible half hour of yangqin (Chinese dulcimer) music performed by the resident laoshi (teacher). He mixed tradition with folksong and performance with instruction. And though I couldn't understand most of the Mandarin, his gestures were so clear and his music so inviting that the language gap didn't even matter. Once he finished his performance, we were invited to try out the instruments. What he had made to seem so effortless actually involves precisely hitting the correct string out of several hundred with a teeny, tiny mallot. Even more impressive!
We went back to hear his concert again today and Laoshi generously gave us eight tickets to his concert in Taipei on August 20. When we offered to pay him for the tickets -- it would be worth it to buy tickets for this concert! -- the Music House matron translated that we came so far he would be honored for us to be there. That is the kind of generosity that is just so incredible here! (Related: Last night it was lightly raining as we walked to dinner. A woman stopped her car to give us an umbrella for our walk.)So if there is one part of Taiwanese culture (other than food) in which I feel well immersed already, it is music. There is just something soothing about sitting in the cool, bright rooms of the Music House and listening to a yangqin. As we sat today, Mary, Adam and I decided there could be no war if international peace talks were held in that atmosphere!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Sights of Taiwan: Week 1
Yilan group at dinner. L to R: Liz, Alana, Brett, me, Ann, Adam, Brittany, Mandi. Evie is the only one missing.... This is Mama's Vegetarian Kitchen which was recommended to us by last year's ETAs. The first time we arrived there we were presented with a picture menu that they had made of their favorite dishes! 
Bubble tea. A Taiwanese treat. You need a big straw to suck up the balls of tapioca at the bottom of the cup! 
The beach. Black, volcanic sand. Lots of surfers. Not a lot of swimming space, though, as the Taiwanese don't really swim. The girls also don't wear two piece suits since they are afraid of getting tan; we were quite a spectacle. While helping to drag in a fishing net, an old woman came and touched Liz's arm. 
Banner: If you haven't tasted our wine, you haven't been to Yilan. 
A random temple we stumbled upon. 
A biking man with a hat. (This one is for Kim. They actually are pretty popular here amongst those who seem to be biking peasants.)
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Moving In
Hi all! I finally have a chance to catch up on the past few days, because even though we've had quite a bit of downtime, I've either been exhausted and ready to just fall asleep or exploring with the other Fulbright kids.
I put up a brief post the other day just to share that we'd made it safely, but for a few more specifics, the flight over was actually pretty easy. I flew a tiny (delayed) Continental plane to Newark, where I connected to EVA Air and met up with other Fulbright ETAs also heading to Taiwan. Virginia, Nell, Alana and I are all part of the Yilan group in northern Taiwan, while the other three girls are in the Kaohsiung group in southern Taiwan. The flights were uneventful other than an hour stop in Anchorage where they ushered us off the plane at 3 a.m. into a waiting room, folded our blankets, changed flight crews and brought us back on the plane. I think they probably gassed up the plane while we were waiting, but to come back and find my blanket folded seemed like a wasted effort since I just climbed back under it anyhow.
We arrived unscathed, though, in Taipei rather early in the morning. Sadly we had to part ways before customs, as the Kaohsiung girls had a connecting flight and we had to meet the rest of our group. The lines weren't too long and as we were waiting more ETAs arrived (it is really easy to pick us out as we are the white college-age kids babbling in English in small groups). So after collecting luggage a large group of us exited en masse to find our hosts and the bus. I, of course, missed the large sign that said "FULBRIGHT" and stood there dumbly looking around until one of the other ETAs pointed it out. Yikes! Anyhow, we had to wait for a few other flights to arrive and were able to use the airport wireless network to check email and post "we're here safely" messages on our blogs (see last entry).
A little bit later we were on a bus headed into Taipei to our hotel. With a few free hours to spare, we showered and then headed out to explore and get a sense of Asia. A number of people had studied in China and were excited to be back in the same realm. I just walked around feeling this incredible lack of awe and wonder, mostly, I think, because this whole experience seems so unreal. I can't believe we're here for the next year!
We met for lunch at the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange, our Taipei headquarters, and then filled out a lot of paper work before heading for Taipei Storyland, a living history-type museum styled on 1950s Taiwan, and dinner at a traditional Chinese restaurant. We had so much food to try it was overwhelming. Then back to the hotel for a night of rest on a hard, asian mattress before leaving for Yilan in the morning.
Yilan is the county in which our group is based; I am living in Yilan City at least through the month of August, and there is another group of seven ETAs based in the other main city, Luodong. We set off by bus for our respective apartments -- Yilan is just an hour by bus from Taipei when you travel through the newly constructed tunnels that cut under the dividing mountain range. After what seemed like just a little while of driving, I was surprised to have Kelly, our fearless leader, announce that we were just a few minutes from Yilan City and our apartments.
My apartment, Yilan A, turned out to be the best stocked of all the Fulbright apartments. We arrived to find a whole bunch of stuff that had been left by previous ETAs, from holiday decorations to a Nerf football, to sheets and pots and pans to vodka. My room isn't huge, but it has a bed, wardrobe, desk, chair, bookshelf and, most importantly, air-conditioning. It is so hot and humid that it is incredible to have a cool sanctuary to return to. I also have incredible roommates to begin this experience with (Beth, Ann and Evie).
After some move in time, we met the bus to go shopping at one of the local superstores for any necessities we might be missing (fortunately, not many). The only things we really had to get were some emergency supplies for typhoon days -- food and water in case we're stuck in the apartment for a long time.
We went back to Yilan and Luodong for dinner, according to our apartment assignments, and each group had pizza which was a nice change of pace. Kelly didn't know the word for pepperoni, but just kept calling it American pizza. About half of our group is keeping vegetarian for one reason or another (religion, taste, health), though, so the veggie pizza was the biggest hit!
The Luodong group had originally planned on coming to hang out for the night, but never ended up showing up. Instead, as we walked outside to go visit Yilan J, the other apartment of girls, we discovered a music recital taking place right outside of my building. In Chinglish and gestures we were invited over to join the audience, given water and fruit, and treated to the sounds of traditional Chinese instruments like the erhu (a two-stringed Chinese instrument) and pipa (looks like a mandolin, but played upright). At one point the owner of the music school beckoned for us to perform as well and, as he wouldn't be dissuaded, we serenaded the audience with a very poor rendition of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. We're almost like mock celebrities here, being called upon to approve music selections (anything foreign), and having our pictures taken as we sit in the audience. I think we enjoyed the concert as much as they enjoyed having us at the concert.
That's all for now. Tomorrow is a free day, so hopefully great adventures await!
Peace,
Jill
I put up a brief post the other day just to share that we'd made it safely, but for a few more specifics, the flight over was actually pretty easy. I flew a tiny (delayed) Continental plane to Newark, where I connected to EVA Air and met up with other Fulbright ETAs also heading to Taiwan. Virginia, Nell, Alana and I are all part of the Yilan group in northern Taiwan, while the other three girls are in the Kaohsiung group in southern Taiwan. The flights were uneventful other than an hour stop in Anchorage where they ushered us off the plane at 3 a.m. into a waiting room, folded our blankets, changed flight crews and brought us back on the plane. I think they probably gassed up the plane while we were waiting, but to come back and find my blanket folded seemed like a wasted effort since I just climbed back under it anyhow.
We arrived unscathed, though, in Taipei rather early in the morning. Sadly we had to part ways before customs, as the Kaohsiung girls had a connecting flight and we had to meet the rest of our group. The lines weren't too long and as we were waiting more ETAs arrived (it is really easy to pick us out as we are the white college-age kids babbling in English in small groups). So after collecting luggage a large group of us exited en masse to find our hosts and the bus. I, of course, missed the large sign that said "FULBRIGHT" and stood there dumbly looking around until one of the other ETAs pointed it out. Yikes! Anyhow, we had to wait for a few other flights to arrive and were able to use the airport wireless network to check email and post "we're here safely" messages on our blogs (see last entry).
A little bit later we were on a bus headed into Taipei to our hotel. With a few free hours to spare, we showered and then headed out to explore and get a sense of Asia. A number of people had studied in China and were excited to be back in the same realm. I just walked around feeling this incredible lack of awe and wonder, mostly, I think, because this whole experience seems so unreal. I can't believe we're here for the next year!
We met for lunch at the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange, our Taipei headquarters, and then filled out a lot of paper work before heading for Taipei Storyland, a living history-type museum styled on 1950s Taiwan, and dinner at a traditional Chinese restaurant. We had so much food to try it was overwhelming. Then back to the hotel for a night of rest on a hard, asian mattress before leaving for Yilan in the morning.
Yilan is the county in which our group is based; I am living in Yilan City at least through the month of August, and there is another group of seven ETAs based in the other main city, Luodong. We set off by bus for our respective apartments -- Yilan is just an hour by bus from Taipei when you travel through the newly constructed tunnels that cut under the dividing mountain range. After what seemed like just a little while of driving, I was surprised to have Kelly, our fearless leader, announce that we were just a few minutes from Yilan City and our apartments.
My apartment, Yilan A, turned out to be the best stocked of all the Fulbright apartments. We arrived to find a whole bunch of stuff that had been left by previous ETAs, from holiday decorations to a Nerf football, to sheets and pots and pans to vodka. My room isn't huge, but it has a bed, wardrobe, desk, chair, bookshelf and, most importantly, air-conditioning. It is so hot and humid that it is incredible to have a cool sanctuary to return to. I also have incredible roommates to begin this experience with (Beth, Ann and Evie).
After some move in time, we met the bus to go shopping at one of the local superstores for any necessities we might be missing (fortunately, not many). The only things we really had to get were some emergency supplies for typhoon days -- food and water in case we're stuck in the apartment for a long time.
We went back to Yilan and Luodong for dinner, according to our apartment assignments, and each group had pizza which was a nice change of pace. Kelly didn't know the word for pepperoni, but just kept calling it American pizza. About half of our group is keeping vegetarian for one reason or another (religion, taste, health), though, so the veggie pizza was the biggest hit!
The Luodong group had originally planned on coming to hang out for the night, but never ended up showing up. Instead, as we walked outside to go visit Yilan J, the other apartment of girls, we discovered a music recital taking place right outside of my building. In Chinglish and gestures we were invited over to join the audience, given water and fruit, and treated to the sounds of traditional Chinese instruments like the erhu (a two-stringed Chinese instrument) and pipa (looks like a mandolin, but played upright). At one point the owner of the music school beckoned for us to perform as well and, as he wouldn't be dissuaded, we serenaded the audience with a very poor rendition of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. We're almost like mock celebrities here, being called upon to approve music selections (anything foreign), and having our pictures taken as we sit in the audience. I think we enjoyed the concert as much as they enjoyed having us at the concert.
That's all for now. Tomorrow is a free day, so hopefully great adventures await!
Peace,
Jill
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