Politics in Taiwan

The BBC recently published this article about a major protest in Taipei on Sunday. Earlier in the weekend we received an email warning from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT, aka the "embassy" here), just as a caution that this huge demonstration would take place, and that even non-violent protest can get out of hand. That being said, there seem to have been no real clashes with police like in the fall.

I wanted to take a minute, though, and offer my own reflections on the state of politics in Taiwan, after having been here for a little less than a year.

For those of you unfamiliar with Taiwan's political situation, there are two parties, the KMT (blue) and the DPP (green). KMT traces back to Chiang Kai-Shek coming to Taiwan from the mainland, following the the Communist revolution. Throughout martial law, the KMT held power. Only recently has the green party held power, though right now the former president, Chen Shui Bien, is under indictment for embezzling. This has definitely hurt the green party in terms of popularity, thus paving the way for President Ma's (blue) current pro-China agenda.

It has been interesting to talk to people about Taiwanese politics, as it is such a divisive topic for many. But despite my own peppering of questions, I try to refrain from interjecting my own viewpoint; instead I punt it off political questions as "a Taiwanese democratic responsibility that I support, no matter the outcome." I don't feel it is my place to come in and tell people how their country should be run or governed. My global views are far too anti-imperialist for such an outright throw-back to the white man's burden.

The one reflection, though, that has influenced how I would vote if I were Taiwanese is prevalence of the Taiwanese identity. I initially chose to come to Taiwan for the opportunity to study Mandarin. Beyond that, my interest in teaching abroad could have been satisfied in any non-western country. Looking back, I think I was expecting China Lite, or Westernized China. I was surprised to find, therefore, that many people speak not just Mandarin, but also Taiwanese. In addition to safeguarding priceless artifacts removed from the Forbidden City when the Communists in the mainland came to power, Taiwan also boasts a proud aboriginal culture. Daoist and Buddhist religion in Taiwan is unique compared with other parts of the globe. And that's not even getting started on food...

In short, I was surprised to find such a strong Taiwanese identity, as I had previously seen Taiwan as inherently linked to China. In fact, I would be remiss not to point out that many Taiwanese feel themselves (also, or more so) inherently linked to Japan, which colonized Taiwan from the late 1800s until the end of WWII. Taiwan is therefore not just one thing. It is this incredible mixture -- now including many immigrants from other countries like the Phillipines -- of people who arrived on this island at different times and for different reasons. And while there doesn't seem to be a consensus on quite what it means or should be to be Taiwanese, there is no mistaking this distinctive identity.

So when the day comes that Taiwan finds it in its best interest to unify with China, or to declare independence, I will be here to support that decision, no matter what it is. Because in the end, no matter what I believe, I have fallen in love with this small, complicated island. Taiwan is the nexus of numerous identities -- aboriginal, Japanese colonial, traditional Chinese -- that has created one amazing group of people.

My greatest fear came true...in Taiwan!

For those of you who don't know, I have a terrible fear of snakes. I don't know why, but there have been occasions where even seeing a rubber snake has reduced me to tears. I refuse to enter the snake house at the zoo, as even before the first Harry Potter movie, I had nightmares of the zoo scene.

So obviously, I made a great choice in moving to Taiwan. Rumor has it that during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan in WWII, they stockpiled a wide variety of species for testing and breeding purposes to try to make new "super-snake weapons." With the allies rapidly approaching, though, they released the snakes into the wild. The Taiwanese climate, which is a snake's paradise, led to a snake population surge.

While that story may be viewed skeptically, and even a cursory internet search reveals no definitive sources, there certainly are a lot of snakes here! And now, the scariest thing I can possibly imagine, has been reported on the island. Yikes!

Read: http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE54A5WL20090511?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&rpc=69

San Sing Sports Day

So professional sports aren't huge here, but Sports Day is. Track events, tug-of-war, cotton candy, sunshine. What more could you ask for? Here are some pictures from throughout the day.

Green Expo Field Trip

"What are you doing next Wednesday afternoon?" the Dean at Xin Zhong asked.

"Teaching at San Sing. Why?"

"Come on our field trip to the Green Expo. We'll call the principal. You're coming with us."

So on Wednesday, I found myself boarding a bus with the seventh and eighth grade students, homeroom teachers and administrative teachers to visit the Green Expo in Suao.

The festival is currently being held at the Wulaokeng Scenic Area -- the same place where we went to the International Rain Festival in August. As everyone headed off the bus, we would our way through the exhibits of flowers, past pavilions illustrating tales like Cinderella, and under an arbor supporting pumpkin vines. Near the crest of the hill were a couple of pavilions that more closely resembled the county fair: the "Happy Cow Pavilion" which featured all things cow, including real cows. (It is the year of the ox, so the cow is really big in Taiwan right now!) The next pavilion was devoted to farming equipment from around the world, past and present. I was surprised to find that many of my students had never seen a tractor before. They were intrigued as we walked amongst them.

Wulaokeng is situated on a hill, so we worked our way up, sticking to homeroom groups. Sara, Cathy and I were with 203, Cathy's homeroom, as we went through the exhibits. We kept a pretty tight schedule up the hill, with Sara blowing a whistle every so often and announcing that our homeroom would keep moving to the next pavilion. The last stop (the base of what was a water slide during the Rain Festival) was the pavilion dedicated to Isaac Newton. After experimenting with some physics properties for a few minutes, Sara grabbed my arm and pulled me aside, looking for an exit. "Now we have a special teachers' meeting," she said.

We grabbed Cathy and headed out of the pavilion to the "teachers' meeting." We had closely chaperoned the students up the hill, only to seemingly abandon them at the top, leaving them to amuse themselves by dropping things and playing with gravity. So as we headed back down the hill, I was amused to find that our "meeting" actually involved the principal buying snack foods for the teachers.

We were soon joined at the food tents by a slew of students -- if there's one thing that the Taiwanese love, it is 小吃 of "small eats" -- and for the rest of the field trip we leisurely enjoyed a smorgasboard of snack foods.

The field trip was a particularly great experience, as it gave everyone a chance to interact outside of the more rigid confines of the classroom. We just spent time together, looking, eating, strolling and taking pictures. So while I appreciate that the Fulbright program brings us into the classroom, I also relish opportunities like this that take us out of the classroom. Because those are the interactions -- unscripted and unplanned -- that will probably leave a bigger mark on my students than a lesson about adjectives.

South Korea: Kimchi, the DMZ and Colgate Day!

I went to visit Allyssa in Seoul, South Korea for a long weekend. Here are some pictures from the top highlights of the trip, which included:

1. Seeing my best friend and celebrating Colgate Day by visiting a large, rainbow-colored poop statue!
2. Visiting the Korean War Museum and the DMZ. (I stood in North Korea! Or, rather, on the North Korean side of the Military Armistice Commission building.)
3. Attending an FC Seoul soccer game at World Cup Stadium. Boy, how I miss professional sports!
4. Meeting a lot of very friendly Korean people, including a man who helped me get a taxi and gave me cab fare after the subway closed down on me.
5. Soju and orange juice.

Other than that, the weather was very cold, necessitating that I wear two coats and a sweater all weekend! Apparently my time in Taiwan has softened me to the cold, winter weather...

Happy Birthday to...me!!!

I love my birthday! Far and away, it is my favorite day of the year. I taught my usual Wednesday course load, made a Mexican feast for lunch between schools, and was surprised with a huge cake by the teachers at San Sing. What a great day!

For the past few years, though, I have also used my birthday as an opportunity to try something new or visit some place special. Two years ago, a few friends and I sought out Abbey Road in the ultimate Beatles pilgrimage. Last year, Erin, Allyssa and I went to visit Big Norm, the world's largest pig (R.I.P.).

This year, Nell, Faith, Brittany and I went to Jiaoxi. Britt and I had yet to visit a hot spring, so we chose Chuang Tang where you can bathe in "flavored" pools of milk or lavender and other scents. We luxuriated from tub to tub, endured stares from the Taiwanese people enjoying their soaks, had our toes nibbled by the dead skin-eating spa fish, and napped on heated stone slabs with wooden blocks for pillows. Oh, we also got yelled at for trying to take pictures inside the spa. Heaven forbid.

After Wednesday, I was content with how my birthday had been celebrated and was prepared to move on with life. A few of us made plans to see a movie on Saturday and visit the night market afterward. It started to sprinkle, though, as the movie let out and gradually people started to drop away from the night market plan. I wasn't ready to go home, though, (it was only 730 pm!) so I became insistent that I would just go walk around the night market by myself. Others less prepared than myself needed to go home first for myriad reasons, but could not understand why I refused to back track with them. I, on the other hand, was getting mad that everyone was so insistent I go home, only to come back to the side of town we were already on.

Little did I know what was really going on. Finally, I got a phone call from Faith that Nell was really sick and needed some ibuprofen, but they had none. So I gave in and headed home with everyone else to get Nell some medicine.

As I opened the door to the apartment (Brittany had "lost" her keys), I was surprised to find the hallway crowded with all of the other Yilan Fulbrighters, plus Victoria from Kaohsiung. Someone popped a balloon as I swung the door open and everyone yelled, "Surprise!" I was so scared I started crying!

It turns out that I'm maybe the worst person to plan a surprise party for. Ever. All of the excuses intended to lure me home just made me mad at my friends. Why were they being so selfish in forcing me to go home and waste gas, when I was prepared to wander the night market in the rain by myself? I do what I want! I don't need to go home too, just because Brittany has to poop or Jamie has to get a pan out of our apartment or Beth didn't bring a raincoat or Adam wants to eat dinner at some restaurant by our house and THEN come back to the market. But while I thought we were trying to sort out what we were doing next, they were frantically calling to the apartment, trying to figure out how to get me home. It took six Fulbrighters, one good lie that tugged at the heartstrings and a bunch of lesser, crappier lies, to finally overcome my stubborness. But in the end, it was well worth it. What great friends I've made, who will put up with my obstinacy while just trying to do a nice thing!

You want me to teach...science?!

Lotus: What can you teach for the gifted class this spring?
Jill: I can teach anything! What do you need me to teach?
Lotus: Science.
Jill: Ummm...

So aside from the fact that science is far from my specialty, I ended up teaching English through science to a group of about fourteen students. This is not to say that it was a preposterous idea for me to teach science, but where to begin? And with few qualifications I had to do a lot of legwork to prepare.

Our classes ended up taking on more of a form of "backyard science." Here are a couple of pictures from our first class on the scientific method and paper airplanes. Unfortunately, most of the ideas behind the scientific testing of the airplanes got lost in translation, but I did teach them to say hypothesis and experiment, as well as encourage them to design and innovate an airplane for our contest. A number of planes were lost off the balcony (we were testing in a third floor hallway that opened into the track below), but all in all it was a fun class!

"Just an Ordinary Friday" or "My Students Perform a Lion Dance"

This morning, instead of going to school for my first two classes, I went to a ceremony at Luodong Vocational High School to watch my students perform a lion dance. Our area is apparently very well known for this particular dance, so a number of schools have lion dance teams. (We also apparently have a dragon dance rollerblade team, but I haven't had a chance to see them yet!)

The lion dance team is made up of about nine boys who practice mostly on their own. Sara, my coteacher, said that when the school has money they will hire a coach, but this isn't the wealthiest of schools so they are currently self-coached. In that regard, it was very cool to watch the boys perform as they were completely self-choreographed and rehearsed. Sara and the other teacher chaperoning the boys nervously bit their nails as these seventh and eighth graders performed synchronized moves and lifts. At the end they dropped scrolls from the mouths of the lions and ate (received) red envelops of a few hundred NT (about $10-20 USD) from the principal of the school.

I think the coolest part about watching the dance, though, was seeing my students taking part in their traditional culture in such a competent way. This isn't to say they were the most coordinated of dancers, but for middle school students to take such an interest in something so traditionally Taiwanese was very cool. I'm so used to seeing them in English class where everything they learn is literally foreign. Many students are not successful in that environment, but some of the students who struggle the most in English were so dedicated to the dance that it cast them in a light of success.

Taroko Gorge

While my mom was in Taiwan, my host mom, Janet, offered to take us to Taroko Gorge. So off we went with her son and husband to see the "Grand Canyon" of Taiwan. It was really beautiful, and, despite the nice weather, not too crowded. Here are some pictures from the trip!

Taiwan in the News

It's been a while since I've gotten any updates on here, so that's going to be my goal for the next few weeks. Expect new posts to be backdated (my favorite feature to preserve the chronology of the blog!) to when I wrote them in my head, but did not type them on my computer. I normally write when I drive or am falling asleep or take a shower...all of those really convenient times to think, but not to transcribe. Unfortunately, I've had little time to transcribe in the past few weeks (three weeks in SE Asia and before that the end of school and before that Christmas/New Year/Chinese New Year holidays). New posts coming soon, though!

In other news, Taiwan was in today's Washington Post. Read Taiwan, China Negotiating a Landmark Free-Trade Agreement. If you want to talk about it or ask any questions after you've read the article, leave me a comment or send me an email!

Taipei Lantern Festival

My mom is here! She came in on Thursday night and we spent the weekend in Taipei checking out such highlights as the botanical gardens, the Chienkuo weekend jade market and the famous jadeite cabbage at the National Palace Museum. Taipei's Lantern Festival is also going on this week, so we had the chance to see that while we were visiting Taipei 101. Although I am rather partial to the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Yilan (see Taiwan Lantern Festival comes to Yilan!), this was still a very cool display, nonetheless. How can you top the lantern of Taipei 101 with the real Taipei 101 in the background? Or a lantern tribute to Cape No. 7 with all of the band members cast as Oxen? Classic!

The coolest section, though, was probably the student lanterns. They seemed to follow a theme of recycling, using all manner of reclaimed items to make these great pieces of light-up art. Some looked like used water bottles glued together, while others represented cityscapes in reused shampoo bottles or, my favorite, a peacock in used bottles and CDs.

Taiwan Lantern Festival comes to Yilan!

That's right! One of the coolest festivals in Taiwan was held in Yilan Sports Park this year. I went on opening night which was jam-packed with special performances (see the video of the dragon dance) and special ceremonies. President Ma spoke, and then in a flurry of anticipation, the main lantern, designed to somewhat resemble an Ox (this is the year of the Ox), was lit. Fireworks galore.

The lantern festival is very large, with different sections of lanterns in different styles. The main lanterns are huge (probably three stories tall), but there are also smaller, artistic lanterns made by prisoners (keep them busy?), as well as sections for lanterns made by students throughout Taiwan at all levels from elementary school to university. I found the two lanterns that San Sing Junior High entered into the contest, but unforunately when I found where the Xin Zhong lantern was supposed to be, only the label was still there! The lantern had disappeared!

SE Asian Adventure: Malaysia and Singapore

SE Asian Adventure: Cambodia

SE Asian Adventure: Phillippines and Thailand

Taichung and Sun Moon Lake

After New Year's in Taipei, Mandi, Nell, Virginia and I boarded a morning bus to Taichung, a city on the west coast of Taiwan. We were hosted by friend's of Mandi's parents who are professors in the English department at Tunghai University. They graciously showed us around the campus and put us up in their house and a room in the guest house on campus.

Unfortunately, almost as soon as we got there I became sick with a stomach bug I picked up from the babies at the orphanage. The result was a steady diet of water and bread and plain rice, as well as a lot of sleep in the guest room and on car rides and any place else I could manage. So my first memories of Taichung are tinged by stomach pains and a fever. (We went to a small village and saw a man's private museum and attempts at preserving local Aboriginal culture and language. Very fascinating from a professional stand point and gave me some ideas for some future research.)

On our second day in Taichung, though, we went Lugang, a small town that was once the second largest city on the island. The harbor gradually silted up, though, and thus development and trade moved away from the village. It is a great place to visit, though, as the architecture is very beautiful and it has retained a lot of traditional flair. (Even the area where I live, which is arguably the most rusticated of all the counties in Taiwan, is still rather developed. Lugang, on the other hand, has retained a lot of traditional architecture.) We spent the day wandering around through temples and up and down the main street. My stomach mostly recovered by the end of the day, but I also came across one of my new favorite Taiwanese foods, 麵茶 (rice tea). Above is a picture of a door frame surrounded by signs for Chinese New Year, Nine-Turns Lane which is said to have gotten its name and characteristic shape so people could escape from pirates back in the town's hey day as a shipping town, and an engraving on a wall in the Tianhou temple. This temple, dedicated to Matzu, is one of the oldest temples in all of Taiwan. If you look closely at some of the engravings like this one, you will notice that some of the meaner characters are wearing clogs: they represent the Dutch who colonized and exploited Taiwan (and especially the Lugang area) around the time the temple was built.

The next morning we awoke early and, after a quick breakfast, got on a train to head to Sun Moon Lake where we were spending the rest of our trip. The weather was beautiful, especially after the windy coldness that we met in Taichung. We took a train to Shui-li, a little town on a river, before climbing on board a bus to Sun Moon Lake. It was nice to just sit in the sun by the river in Shui-li and share stories with each other.

The weather was just as nice in Sun Moon Lake, so we decided to rent row boats and head out on the lake. In fact, they turned out to be the jalopiest boats you could possibly imagine. They helped us into the boats and directed us out into the lake, but warned us not to stray far from the marina. We ended up being two of maybe five boats out there, but what seemed like a great adventure turned into a rather frightening enterprise as we tried to maneuver the rickety old boats around and through the wakes of the huge cruise boats that were pulling into the same marina. Plus after about a half hour on the water, Nell and I both had to pee in the kind of way that is only made worse when you are completely surrounded by water. We managed to bring our boat into the dock and went to find a bathroom. Virginia and Mandi, though, who decided to stay out a little longer, were not as lucky. They got stuck in whole bunch of other boats as they tried to dock, and we had to go help them as none of the employees of the boat enterprise seemed too concerned or helpful.

We stayed at the Teacher's Hostel which was actually a very nice hotel that gave us a discount for being teachers. Our room overlooked the lake and the sunset was just beautiful. The whole area, in fact, was well worth the trip. It was such a nice break to be some place sunny and somewhat warm, as Yilan has been very rainy and cold lately!

新年快樂 (Happy New Year!)

Welcome to 2009! I rang in the new year in Taipei with a bunch of other Fulbrighters. Jamie, Dan and I headed into Taipei after school was out and met up with Faith, Mandi, Beth, Nell, Britt, Virginia and Bonny near 101. The whole area was closed off to traffic, and by 10 p.m. people were already camped out on garbage bags and blankets in the middle of the road. We got some food and light up headbands and then pushed our way into the crowd near the stage.

A number of artists performed, including A-Mei and May Day. We were dancing and having a great time, but Taiwanese crowds are interesting. No one else really moved or danced. Sometimes they would sing along. Most of the time they would stand quietly or watch us or imitate us. A-Mei especially, though, put on an incredible show! I don't know how people could stand there and not move!

At midnight there was a countdown, but instead of a ball-drop, fireworks went off of Taipei 101. It was very cool to see, but gave the slightly-frightening illusion that the building was exploding! I'd never imagined such a spray of fireworks, though, from a building.

After we went to a nearby restaurant for some mozarella sticks and cocktails, and then called it a night on the floor of an office in Taipei that a friend was kind enough to open up to us since all of the hotels were booked!