The ends of the earth

Okay, a couple more photos of the temple on this very bright, warm day. From two days ago.


















This's way outside the outer wall of the temple. The yellow things are the lanterns. Each one is way bigger than your head. And the crowds were, if anything, worse than the other evening, when we thought they'd be worst 'cause it was New Year's Day and we figured, like Christmas, most people would do this on the day. But no, it's a stream of people for at least a couple days.


















This's my favorite photo. I can't believe the smoke shows up so well. It's all from the incense sticks (of which you can see many) that people stick in there as part of the prayer-offering. This also gives you a faint idea that, no, the crowds haven't really diminished.

Marie pointed out that she just heard that this temple is a combination of Buddist and Daoist religions, which means praying to one god or many elements or god-like deities as your religion dictates. I'm gonna rely on my very scant knowledge of eastern religions and Wikipedia and claim Daoism (Taoism) is a little more like a polytheistic religion because it involves praying to elements to help with the path of life, and Buddism is more about asking a venerated person for enlightenment. But the point is, one temple, two religions, no waiting.


















This's a clearer shot of one of the altars, call it. It's a room which people pray to or at least in front of, but we've never seen anyone go in there.


















It has a large person-like figure in it, and someone has set up offerings in the room, but if I didn't understand the rules of giving food and offerings to the temples, the deities, or the universe in general, I really don't get it now, 'cause in the lower left of the picture, those are in fact...



















Choco Pies.

I have no problem giving Choco Pies as offerings, I was even telling Marie, imagine being a deity who likes Choco Pies but none are ever offered 'cause people think you're supposed to offer fruit and flowers, natural things of the earth. And this's not to make fun of anything, it's really just grappling with something completely unexpected and (as far as I can work out) illogical. It's just such a surprising thing to set up IN the altar-space for the deity-element. Especially since there are so many gorgeous flowers and fruits presented on tables; the Choco Pies just stand out as representative of a materialistic and industrialized society. Or maybe that's my western perspective screwing me up again.

But on to the ends of the earth, the earth being our island.


















This's in Danshui (dan-shuway) or Tamsui (tam-sway). This place is just amzingingly packed. This was down one of the streets, so everything was really compressed but it was literally staggering as you bumped into people with every step. Even for here, this's packed. I will never, ever have a problem with crowds in the States again.























The crowds were probably caused by so many people having a vacation and a warm day. It was high 60s, maybe even low 70s. Many are still wearing big, fluffy coats, but whatever.

I did want to mention, I felt bad about calling fifties cold, 'cause then I read about the ice storm affecting like 17 states and people are trying to survive without heat in sub-freezing temps. We're not nearly that miserable. We're not threatened, we're just uncomfortable. We're wearing long underwear, socks, and even sweats to bed recently. But thanks to the flat sheet from Heather, the clothing is for the cold bed and getting up in the morning, not for staying warm in the night. Try it. It's amazing how much heat a flat sheet keeps in.


















This's the real reason we came. They have this great boardwalk right next to the Danshui river which lets out into the Pacific ocean. You can get on a boat for a tour of the river, maybe even out to the ocean for 50 NT. We didn't go 'cause it was so hard to even walk a half mile or so along the boardwalk and then the line for the cruise was amazingly long.

This was worth it to see some of the place. The last time we went up there it was raining like mad and it was all we could do to find a specific restaurant, let alone walk the boardwalk. So, now we just need to find a happy-medium day.

Our next adventure was kinda like using an arbitrary point and learning to find our way around.

We've been to the ends of like four or five different points of the subway line. The Xindian line ends at the gorgeous riverside park with the long footbridge. The Muzha line ends at the Taipei Zoo. Danshui is the north end of the Danshui line. So we were thinking about going to Yongning, which is the end of the Nangang line. We've had good luck finding interesting things at the ends of these lines, but a couple (like the Nanshijiao line) end in industrial parks. Not good. So we decided to try for a specific place. Specifically, the Taiwan Nougat Museum. I am not making this up.

The station where we got off was just another urban collection of stores and traffic. Tho' Marie and I did decide that it seemed more suburban, for Taiwan, anyway. Fewer high-rises, wider streets, more green space especially in the middle of traffic. But it was still very commercial and as we headed for the museum, according to the map, it got very industrial. I think we passed an industrial sewage plant, and I know we passed a Nissan cargo truck dealership-maybe manufacturing plant.

So it was all very foreboding, and twice Marie asked, "will we recognize the museum when we see it?" So it was very gratifying, after passing blocks of shut businesses in dull taupe colors, to turn a corner and see:


















The really funny thing was, this whole time we'd been worried about going in the right direction, 'cause the street signs way out there kinda quit using any semblance of English. But we'd seen a bunch of these cute little cows, and we'd had no idea what they were for.


















But when we saw this cute little guy in front of the cheerful bright, red building we put two and two together and realized they were markers to find this place.



















And because it's the year of the Ox, and that seems to be their mascot, Marie insisted on getting a kiss from the cow-ox-water buffalo. Actually, she first said I should get up there and get a kiss, but I said no. You want one, you get one.

The down side, we didn't actually get into the museum. It's still a major national holiday, so the place was closed up, but we were very pleased with ourselves to find the place, even if the company was doing everything they could, with the cute little cow-markers, to make the place easy to find. We overcame our illiteracy and found what we were after. Maybe in a couple of weeks we'll go back for the tour.

Finally, on our way back Marie took this photo of the truck dealership.


















It's just a riot to decipher these phrases, which are even spelled right and not technically wrong, I guess, but the marketing people are just cracked. I'm assuming this's talking about the dependability of the trucks. Marie was thinking it was referring to the dependence on the employees. Either way, this's not the way to say it.

So it's been a couple of fun days. It's been really great to stay up late, get up late, not worry about when we're going, just go when we're ready.

But I will say, the fireworks are getting on my nerves. We avoid most of the noise by going to bed late. At least they haven't really kept us up. But this morning at six a.m. some son of a motherless goat let off a string that lasted for two minutes. It's not even a party neighborhood, but it is a celebrating neighborhood, very religious or old school culturally. And apparently a working neighborhood where people, even on their days off, get up early enough to light massive strings of fireworks. Sigh.

But that's been about the only neighborhood problem. We only have a couple more days off, then back to the moderate but unbroken grind. Oh, well, we've spent a fair amount of money, so it'll be good to get back on the pay wagon.

Climbing on New Year's

Happy New Year, again. Even locally it's called Chinese New Year. I guess a billion people can't be all wrong. It's given us a week off, which's been really great so far. But it's the lunar new year, instead of the solar. I didn't get that until today. No, I don't know how it works. But it means that sometimes it's in January, sometimes in Feb. So now it's the year of the ox, and the year of the rat is done.

I have no segue for that. I thought if I kept writing, one would come to me, but it just isn't. So, with our big vacation stretching out before us, yesterday we went for a hike up Yang Min Mountain. Taipei is in a big bowl, surrounded by mountains on three sides (south is kinda open) and we didn't exactly hike up the side of the mountain, 'cause someone had already put stairs in, but we didn't take a cab up either. Not like hiking in the Cascades, but it's a pretty good lifting of the knees.
























This's where the fun starts. There're little signs on the steps telling you how far you've traveled. I forgot to get a shot, but after you get up the equivalent of a couple flights and you see a little plaque that says 100m you're thinking you're doing pretty good, until your guide-friend says it gets easier after 1,400. Then you start checking your watch for how late it is.
























Just to point out, this isn't hiking by any means, but these're rough hewn lumps of rock. They aren't flat and even like a board, and they aren't uniform like stairs, you take one, then you might decide it's easier to take the next two, then there's a really wide step, and so on. I spent a lot of the time looking at my feet, just to check my footing.
























I was trying to take a photo of the group as it came around this curve, but the gate is more important. I think this's near the half-way point, and we were making regular comments about living up here: groceries, coming home after a hard day at the office... but I think these were more farms than houses, but still, I wouldn't wanna haul fertilizer or seed up 700 meters of stairs.

The length was not well explained. I think it's like 1,400 meters linear, but then you have to rise 4 to 8 inches for every foot or so horizontal. That's a guess...


















But the views said we were rising pretty fast.

We started after cabs hauled us up to the trailhead, of sorts, which was at the top of a long, steep couple of blocks, but walking up wouldn't 've been like climbing stairs for a half hour, forty-five minutes. But it would've made the stairs a lot more difficult.


















At the top there was a long rough, dirt trail that wound around the top of the mountain. It had many vantage points for looking through the trees at the city and the valleys leading to it. This's Marie, Cat, Cyndy, and Fay (L to R).























This's what they're looking at. I don't know exactly what it is, but I'm pretty sure it's a temple. It looks like a really big temple surrounded by small houses, right? But it's actually a medium-size temple with many small shrines around it. I'm not sure, but they could be shrines of ancestors that people have put there. I'll have to get back to you on that.


















It was, unfortunately, a really foggy day. Fortunately, it was only fog. It was around 55 F, so we were near the dew point, but I'm sure we're going back up there before long (read: before summer) when the sun's out.


















This's the whole group, including Fay's dog, Runner. How apt for a dalmatian. (How do you tell it's January in Taiwan? I'm wearing a scarf!)

Cat's been sick, that's why she's wearing the mask. You can buy those things EVERYWHERE in Taipei. That's kinda the local answer to the smog and pollution problem, I guess 'cause people can't get decent catalytic converters for scooters or I dunno what, but it does make me glad we're not living here long term. I can tell those things would barely make a dent in your intake of pollution. I think Cat was wearing it 'cause it was chilly and she didn't want to breathe even kinda cold, moist air.


















This's a Japanese temple, which's up on the side of the mountain as we were coming down. This's a whole history lesson in itself, about how the Japanese have colonized the island several times, and there's a lot of pop and historical Japanese culture here. I couldn't tell a Japanese temple from a Taiwanese tea house (well, I probably could, you'll see in a sec). I just liked the view and the ornamentation of the building.


















This's the shot I really wanted. I'm getting almost good with this digital camera, finding a setting that tricks enough light into the system, assuming I have time for seven tries.

This's how I know the difference between a Japanese temple and a Chinese tea house.

















That's right, the tea houses have signs. And this one just happens to be the Sun shine tea house. That was pretty funny. It's also a hot spring, which can be a little tricky, to stay in the mood for tea and good food in spite of the sulphur smells when you walk up the stairs, but hey! Free soak in the hot tub with your meal. We didn't ask about details tho'. That was silly.


















But this was the view from the deck. We sat outside, 'cause we'd been hoofing it for more than an hour, so outside was pretty nice. There were New Year's fireworks off and on in the evening in the distance. And they even played American jazz most of the evening: Sinatra, Krall, a couple others I couldn't name.

I suppose it's not very Chinese, but it felt like the Christmas evening we hadn't had yet. It was very relaxing and the lights and the view were comforting. It reminded me of being in Arizona for Christmas, 'cause it gets cold sharply after dark, so that was familiar, too.


















Fay and Marie after the meal. Did I mention I found a new setting on my camera? I have sepia tone, too. Black and white does make photos more interesting.

I don't think it was after ten when we got home, maybe eleven, I don't remember, but the New Year's celebration was still in full swing.


















This's actually from the afternoon, before we left to go up the mountain, but it's never like this. Our area is a busy place, but it's not a major place for people to come in droves, except for one thing, the Long Shan temple, which in Chinese is approximately the dragon mountain temple. It's very old and very large.


















This only gives you a faint idea of the size. The entire temple is one inside another, inside another. This's inside the main walls, but outside the building itself. I won't claim to understand much. We just watched. This orb, for instance, people walked under it, one at a time, to pray. For what I have no idea but prosperity, health, and happiness are favorites.


















This ox-man is next to the orb in the temple courtyard; the courtyard was so big I couldn't take a photo of both of 'em together. And this's here as a representation of the year of the ox, I believe. We didn't see anyone praying to it.


















This archway here, is the opening to the main temple. This's inside the building behind the orb and ox. What really surprised us was the complete lack of structure. People came, prayed with incense, lighted candles, put food out, stood around, talked, bowed, stuck the incense in a massive iron caldron... there was no sense of organization. Everyone (and there were a lot of everyones) was one their own schedule.

I'm not quite so focused on the Judeo-Christian system as to think they needed organization, but it was really eye-opening. People came, prayed, and then they'd leave. I didn't really follow anyone through their time there, we just wandered around trying not to be too obvious about looking, unlike at least one other blonde who just stuck her camera in the main temple room, but there was a Taiwanese gentleman walking around with a camcorder, so who knows what they think of us.

I watched several different people but only for a bit at a distance. The popular system was to have palms pressed together, as in prayer, with many lighted sticks of incense held between their hands. They would bow once or five, or even more, times, and then stick one of the incense in one of several caldrons and repeat. But there didn't seem to be a set time or bows or anything. It seemed like there were guidelines, but that was about it. Mostly, we were amazed by the numbers of people and the constant movement.


















This was also interesting. There are many small rooms behind the main temple, which no one enters. Same as the main temple. People would stand in front of the rooms, as the large central temple, and bow and pray. I do not know details, yet. But I'm going to ask around, just because it's so unfamiliar.


















The other thing I don't grasp are these offering tables. It seems very clear that people leave food on these tables, and there were a lot of tables set up, some full of food, others looked like they'd been picked over. Marie and I saw a few people taking things from tables, but we're not about to take anything. It was also unexpected that while there were lots of fruit there were also lots of conventional convenience things, like bags of chips. I couldn't tell if it was a metaphorical offering, or if the food was intended to be eaten by monks, people in need... no idea.


















In a couple of weeks they have the Lantern Festival. This marks the end of the New Year's celebration. If you look back at the ox-man photo, you notice the wall next to him is covered in these yellow globes. These lanterns are way bigger than my head. And they covered the entire wall the ox-man was facing. I get the impression that many of these lanterns (not these, 'cause I'm sure these are electric, but like them), which are made outta paper, are put in the river, still lighted, to float downstream. We'll have to see that.


















I did mention the fireworks, right? It's a weird combination, for me, of secular food and family and gifts, and prayer, with fireworks. It's not hard to put the secular and spiritual together, but the fireworks still throw me. I knew they all got thrown together, so it wasn't a shock, but it's a weird experience to live it in, 'cause it feels like Christmas, New Year's, and the Fourth all glued together. And it's kinda noisy in the evening right now, so I'm really glad we don't have to go to work in the morning. I think our neighborhood is more prone to fireworks than other places.


















And this's the secular bit. If you remember the first photos I took of the night market in our neighborhood, this's much busier. They've stuck carts (under the umbrellas) in the middle of the street, and there are even more people looking at all the stuff. The up side is there's no way for scooters to get in now. You just kinda ooze along with the crowd, gawking and laughing at things like pairs of little battery-operated pandas with glowing eyes wandering the streets.


















Specifically, I took this for my brother, who noted that in Russia, you could buy a glass AK-47 (big gun) full of vodka. I think this dragon should've been filled with sake, but that's more Japanese anyway. Whiskey is a favorite here. So if anyone needs a glass dragon decanter of liquor, let me know.


















Finally, this's how the locals decorate for the holiday. I don't know exactly what this says, but we've been learning to say Happy New Year over the last couple days. I think this's something like that, good wishes in general. Funny, you'll see these ribbons taped on closed store shutters and such. It's a tradition more than lights and older than Christmas trees.

So, what will we do tomorrow? We'll let you know.

Vacation

We've been off yesterday and we don't have to go back to work until next Monday. So, I finally found a photo of Taiwan for our title. I thought about one of the photos from our trip to the coast, a nice coastal view, but I decided to go smaller, and this's a butterfly from the zoo just outside Taipei. I don't know if it's indigenous or not, but I like the photo.

It's not really hard to work six days a week, I guess, but it does get kinda old to have something to do nearly every day. It feels more like every day than when I was working 8 to 5, five days a week. Given the option, which we weren't, I'd rather have four days off and a couple of Mondays down the line. It seems like two days off would be much better than an entire week.

Like I mentioned in the last blog, Marie and I haven't had any luck finding places to go in Taiwan. They're all ridiculously expensive, like $500 for a couple of train tickets and a room, 'cause we started looking so late. Bummer. But we went for a long walk yesterday. It was good to spend some time wandering around the city where we don't normally have time to go.



















This's at the south edge of Taipei proper. After this park is a river and then the metropolis becomes another city. I like that they carved a walkway through these rocks just for the sense of adventure.















Marie started to take this photo 'cause she wanted the cityscape, but I threw out my arms and she suddenly wanted to teach everyone back home Chinese. This shape is the symbol for "da" or big. It doesn't always mean big, but it usually sounds like "da."















This's "ren" or person. We have pictures like these, cartoons of people in these shapes to help us remember the shapes, though they're meant for little kids. But the symbols come from the idea of people. Someone walking meant person. A person with his arms opened wide means big.

On another subject, Marie's Aunt Lorre asked if we'd thought about when we might come home. We have talked a little. Mostly for my sake, I think. Thinking about home, and thinking about going home has helped me get through some of the culture shock.

Right now, we're thinking about leaving in October and spending some time in Europe and then coming home in time for next Christmas, BUT, that's if the economy cooperates at least a little. We have jobs here with a living standard that's close to what we're used to (even if the hot water's kinda erratic and the summer humidity is staggering) and we're saving a fair amount of money. So this's a question we won't really be able to answer until sometime this summer. But we will certainly tell everyone when we've settled on a plan.

Finally, another fun goof.















Marie and I argued about taking this picture. She didn't want to, saying we had enough mistakes. I said we should, 'cause it's funny and we rarely have the camera when we see these. I won. I had the camera. We didn't eat there, even if we could be confident they wouldn't serve us feet.

We were taking this walk on Lunar New Year's Eve day, which we've been told is like Christmas Eve for all the family get-togethers and eating and such. They don't give presents in big boxes with ribbons, instead they give red envelopes, frequently with money or other certificates.

Many shops were closed yesterday, tho' many, like in the U.S. were open. We stopped at a food shop and like a pro Marie asked, "Nee yo dan bing ma?" Which means, approximately, you have dan bing, right? I swear the guy blinked in shock. I don't think he was surprised to see caucasians (or as I've come to call us, more "cauc" than "asian") but I think he was shocked to understand Marie. There are lots of non-Chinese speakers wandering around using bad Chinese. He repeated, "dan bing" and she nodded, and then he said "yo" meaning yes, he had dan bing.

Dan bing is a pancake and egg kinda thing with a little sauce. It's very good, and it was perfect snack after a long walk. It was warm too. Funny tho', Marie's latte was 90 NT, two dan bing were 30 NT, together. Hmmm.

So, hopefully, I'll write several times this week. Lots of time, and we'll have time to see some of Taipei we've only been meaning to see.

Really, I just don't get it

Okay, not whining, really this's just bizarre. So in the last two weekends we've had a Saturday off as well as our regular Sunday, and then a Saturday off but we had to work Sunday. I think I finally have the reasons, see if you can follow along.

Christmas fell on a Thursday this year, so did New Year's day. Christmas here is Constitution Day, but I dunno if anyone really cares about the distinction. It's a day off. The government of Taiwan decided (apparently about the Tuesday before Christmas) that to make for an actual holiday, everyone would also get Friday after Christmas-Constitution Day off.

To me, this's ironic 'cause that extra day off, Friday, would mean the most to ex-pats from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Wisconsin, where they celebrate Christmas. More to the point, it's a big, important, childhood-fixated holiday where it's weird to be away from family and weirder to be in another country. But, guess what, we didn't get that day off or the one after New Year's. Hmm.

BUT, the entire country had to make that day up, I guess. So every school kid, office worker, postal employee, and fire dog had to work the 10th and 17th of January (the last two Saturdays) to make up those days. I keep saying, those aren't holidays, those are loans. They don't even make up typhoon days here, I dunno why those two holiday days are so vital. Anyway, because the kids all had to go to school on the 10th and the 17th, we got the days off! Woo hoo! BUT!

The Lunar New Year, also called Chinese New Year ('cause that's the dominant population celebrating it) falls on the 26th or 27th. Whatever day it is, it means everyone's supposed to go back to work on the 30th... which is a Friday. SO (and I'm using a lot of capitals because I just can't emphasize these turns of fortune and logic with enough vigor) instead of going back to work for one day, we have to make the day up in advance! So we had to work this last Sunday.

Now, I'm all for not working one day in the middle of a week's vacation, but the result of this jimmying the schedule meant that kids went to school all week, then went to school on Saturday, apparently some of them had to be there at 7:00 a.m. (I don't know if that's normal) and many had finals that day, and THEN they had to come to English class on Sunday!

I'm really glad I didn't understand this until basically after the fact, otherwise I'd 've been afraid for my life. I mean, if somehow you could force U.S. students to school on a Saturday after a full week, and then handed them off to an ill-trained ESL teacher who they consider to be less important than say, gym class, you'd expect them to enact some scene out of an eighties hijinks movie where you see the teacher hung upside down, wrapped in duct tape, with an apple in his mouth, right?

The kids here seemed to take it in stride; it's just what happens to them occasionally, but I'd 've been halfway to panicked wondering how bad it was gonna be. But they were some of my smallest classes, so no biggie.

The educational bit for people back home: it seems like there's a complete lack of planning when it comes to, well, planning, here. Apparently, no one knew this get-Friday-after-Christmas-off-work-some-Saturday-to-be-named-later thing was gonna happen until December. I mean, no one could really explain it until after it happened, or so it seems to me. I don't think they really had it planned ahead, like most government and school schedules I've ever even heard of in the States. That's a heck of a thing to learn on the fly, let me tell you.

So, we're about to go into a week off. And boy, is time crawling. I could really use the down time. I think our complaint is, we thought we'd be able to visit a place or two. See a little of the country and get outta Taipei for a while. But the economic problems have hit here, too, and many people aren't flying anywhere for the big holiday, they're flooding the rest of the country, so it's creating sticker shock for us. I've heard recommendations to visit Hualien or Cingjing 'cause it's got lots of hotels and things to do, or it's quiet. But by the time I check with a travel agent, the price is 15,000 NT or 30,000 for a night or two. That's $500 to a thousand. Ick.

So, it looks like we might be exploring more of Taipei than we'd originally planned. Personally, I'm fine with that. There's still a lot we haven't seen and places we haven't gone. Marie might be more disappointed we aren't seeing more of the country and staying somewhere different, but it's what we have right now. And we're already talking potential trips next fall, so maybe not so bad to just have a week away from kids to get set for another couple of months.

Oh, and happy Inauguration Day everyone! We have been able to follow along on CNN and BBC.

culture shock and whining

I think I mentioned, a while back, about culture shock. A friend of Neil's (who's spent time in Taiwan) described it as encoutering something frustrating and just ridiculous but instead of attributing it to the differences in cultures and habits, the simplistic part of your brain will want to just scream at all the Chinese people for being so stupid.

So, I had a very clear picture of that shock last night.

At my school every three months the kids move to a different level of learning English. At that time, we write up a grade report with their homework and quiz averages, final oral and written tests, whether or not they passed (they always do, but not for ability) and a few long-hand comments from their teachers (both their Chinese and foriegn teachers, thankfully, in English).

So, as I'm finishing a class my AD (academic director, I think) brings me the stack of reports to give to my kids. I had to write out my comments and such and give 'em to her for review. She handed 'em back to me saying I needed to white out the couple of places I'd scratched out a word I decided against.

Now, it helps to know there's a huge fascination with white out here. Every kid has a bottle or a little tape dispenser in their bag. The things aren't like the big brushes I remember from when I was little, they're like using a pen, but it's still a blobby mess that doesn't quite match the paper, and of course it leaves a big blank spot on the paper.

So when I get these hand-written grade reports from my boss, reports I had to write in my scribbly, left-hander smeared way, and she points at a couple places where I'd scratched out a word and tells me for the third time I need to white it out 'cause, "it looks really unprofessional," I was about 30 second away from saying, "and white out is professional?"

It took me a couple hours but I finally got it. White out is professional, here. That's what I'd been missing. Yes, I should've been listening to her anyway, but it's hard to convince myself that white out is a huge improvement over just crossing out a word. Maybe some people would agree it's better, but I'm so used to important reports going by e-mail or being printed for the right spacing and font and so forth, that doing anything "important" by hand is just anathema. White out is just whiting out anathema.

So, that just sharped the point on at least understanding some of the other things we're struggling with. Like the cold.

I wrote a while back that it was finally getting cold. Well, it's still not cold, I guess. I don't think it's been below 50 F, but it's one thing to enjoy when you're moving around at work then walking home and it's 50-ish, versus when you get home and your apartment is 50.

There's no central heat here, no forced air, nothing. We've bought a space heater for our bedroom, but it doesn't really heat the room, it just creates a bubble of slightly warmer air. I looked into buying one of those big oil heaters, the stand up kind that looks like an old steam radiator. But it seems like a lot of cost (4,000 NT or more, at least $130) and effort (cab ride to get the heavy, bulky thing home) for one, maybe two winters, especially since we didn't even start having a problem with the cold 'til January.

But the cold is still a gripe. They're very ready for the heat and humidity here. There are A/C units and central air everywhere. We have three A/C units in our apartment, one for each room, but no heat. Which's a surprise 'cause everyone's wearing thick coats by November, just as Marie and I were getting comfortable and taking out vests.

I'm reminding myself that if we'd been in Armenia, we'd be struggling more. I read a journal a guy there wrote about not being able to write long, 'cause he needed to get back to the warmth of the wood stove. So we're not that cold, but we're not quite comfortable, either.

The other thing I'll throw in here is about riding the subway.

The subway is usually just fine: clean, efficient, on time; but sometimes you get a couple of instances in quick succession and it makes you wanna yell at people. Specifically, little, old people. They seem most prone to pushing you so they can get on a train, or just so they can get past. Though I did notice, if you follow one, it's like having a lead blocker. They also tend to be the one to stop on the side of the escalator where you're supposed to walk, so you're left with the frustration of having to stop with them, or push past them. One is a feeling of having your inertia killed, the other is a sense of having to knock over an old person for a few extra seconds. I usually wait, mom.

I don't know what all of this means. For months now I've been telling myself being jostled on the subway is just a product of having so many people in one place, or being funneled through one place, and that's in a crowded city. But it still feels different than D.C. or Madrid. I also know there's a difference in their personal space versus mine; I'm just not sure how to reconcile my personal space with being halted and shoved by old, tiny Chinese people.

But I'll end with an up side. After a day of being poked by culture shock over grade reports and pushed around the subway and you know your apartment is gonna be cold when you get home and there isn't a thing you can do about it, it's really neat that you can stop almost anywhere and get hot noodles.


















This bowl of noodles is a standard favorite. You can get it with a little pork, and the green is cilantro, and it's hot! Even by the time you walk home and up four flights. It's fast, too. It takes longer to get food from McDonald's than these little stands. And the best part, it's a whole 50 NT, $1.75 at most.

So there's definite ups and downs. I think, as my dad mentioned getting through the cold dark winter, we're struggling with the cool, overcast, but culturally variable winter.

Missing photos and random thoughts

So, I'm finally getting around to posting photos from our big rafting trip to Hualien (Hwah-lee-en) months ago. These are the photos that our driver took with his serious equipment and a much better eye than you'd expect when it came for free with the trip.
















This's our group all geared up and ready to hit the water. Love those padded helmets. You can see Marie just to the left of the center of the group.
















But some people just shouldn't be told where the camera is.
















But we got off. This's the best shot in the collection of Marie's and my boat. That's me on the right rear (can I say "aft" when I'm talking about a rubber boat?) and Marie is sitting just ahead of me.
















We did have a fair flotilla on the water. Our group was only two of the boats.
















But even our group was dwarfed in the canyons we went through. This was just leading edge of the trip. Our driver lost us here and had to pick us up at the other end.
















If you want a really great view, drag and drop this picture onto your desktop and blow it up. This's where the river, I think the Hualien river, we were on empties into the Pacific. That's the Pacific between the two bits of greenery. It was a weird feeling. I've seen the Pacific many times in Washington, and I know we're living on an island. By definition there must be a lot of water out there somewhere, but it just doesn't sink in until you see it. Then you get this big whack of understanding.
















And finally, I want to say "the end of the trip" which it was, but saying that gives the impression this's a sunset, and I don't think it is. We had a fair-sized mountain range behind us, so I think this must be a sunrise, but it's kinda ridiculous how beautiful it is, and I'm disappointed I couldn't take photos like this. Again, this's much better if you blow it up on your computer. This might be one I blow up and frame.

But more recently, we've been busy. We finally went to the National Palace Museum. The simplified story goes something like, when the government of China was being ousted by the Communists in the 40s and 50s, the now government of Taiwan lifted much of the historical artifacts of the last 8,000 years of China's history. And here's where they ended up.


















I don't think I completely grasped the magnitude of the things we saw. No photos allowed, so I have nothing to show, sorry. But I don't think there's a thing I can do to do justice to what they had on display.

Marie and I spent a couple days in D.C. before coming here, and we were awed and impressed and humbled by the history of the creation of the United States and the great experiment which isn't doing too bad 200 hundred years later. But then you come here and they explain the importance of bronze working from something like 4,000 years ago. And they can draw an almost perfect line between some guy who did the pot you're looking at and the modern smelting methods. It's like looking at the ocean and really understanding what you're looking at, the size, the power, the time it encompasses. The best I could come up with is to have some idea of how I wasn't really understanding much of it.


















Sigh. I must be old. I hate this peace sign thing in photos, no matter how socially relevant it may be. I even took another one of Marie and this lion-dragon, but she blinked in that one. But I think this gives the best idea of the kinds of things inside.


















We came on our day off, on New Year's day. Apparently, this was a free admission day, so it was more crowded than usual. Good thing this's crowded, 'cause compared to inside, this's pretty sparse. But Marie and I only saw part of one floor. We agreed it'll take several trips to even begin to see something of the entire collection. We'll also need walkie-talkies and emergency supplies for when we have to find each other.

I can't decide if they keep things dark to prevent photography, or just for ambience, 'cause it certainly isn't to help with reading.























And this's a shot of the boulevard from the museum. And it's a long way up, too. The huge lion-dragon Marie was standing next to is under the left-most white pillar.

On another topic, I also wanted to mention that I'd seen our friend Michelle's blog on simplicity. She set it up to work out her and her family's attempt at simplifying their lives. With a like-new baby (Griff is a little over a year), I can't imagine why she'd just have to simplify her life now.

I liked it 'cause she mentions that if you seach "simplify your life" Google will give you 1.2 million suggestions. And after checking a few she noticed that some people are trying to reduce the amount of money they spend, or the amount of time they spend on things that aren't important, or the amount of stuff they own-are owned by, and so on. One person even had a 72 point checklist on how to simplify... ahh, that's too easy.

I mention this 'cause several of these aspects are very important to us lately. I mention Michelle's journal 'cause that's what made me follow this line, I also have to mention it 'cause any lack of simplicity on Michelle and Karl's part is why we didn't have to simplify our lives any further. Thanks to them and their suburban home and space, we didn't have to say, "well, we can't possibly take Marie's wedding dress with us, I guess we'll have to get rid of it." And the same for a desktop computer and pricy monitor, among a couple of car loads of mementoes we didn't have to "simplify" so I have to keep mentioning that. And she reads our blog.

But we were in the camp of simplifying by getting rid of a lot of stuff. That was a very popular comment as we were getting ready to travel: "What are you going to do with your stuff?" Everyone seemed to expect us to store it, but of course that's pretty expensive for a lot of IKEA or IKEAesque furniture. I would say that getting rid of that much stuff is really great, 'cause you just don't see how much junk there is unless you're moving and when you do, you realize you have strings of Christmas lights that you can't remember buying, an answering machine you never use, and a VCR you didn't know didn't work.

But you've probably heard most of this. The interesting part is here, now, as we're maintaining our simplicity. Much of our not buying more stuff is 'cause we don't need much. We have two spoons. I'm not kidding. There are no dishwashers here. None. Every house seems to have a dish dryer. I don't get that. We just use ours as a dish rack. I can't grasp using energy to dry the dishes. But it keeps us from wanting a lot of dishes that we'll just have to do by hand.

After that we buy what's gonna get used: the dehumidifier is used every couple of days to help with laundry, and it kinda warms the computer room. The reading lamp and the water filter are used most days. The heater is used most days now. The fan hasn't been used for weeks, but it'll run about 24-7 when summer arrives. So far, the thing we have that we haven't used much are speakers for the living room, but it's nice they were there for the Christmas party.

We're also influenced by knowing that at some point we're going to have to reduce all this again to come home. I like the Brita water filter I found, and I might buy another one, but I'm not lugging it the 16,000 miles home.

So, those are my suggestions for simplifying your life: make yourself move some place far away for months, then come home. I'm kinda hoping a little of the simplicity sticks with us and we aren't quite so prone to buying something just 'cause it's there and we can afford it. We still have enough stuff to mostly fill several hundred square feet of apartment, but we're lucky; the apartment came furnished, so we didn't have to buy a couch or dinning table or a bed, so that's some of our simplicity. And we are discovering what's important to us. In spite of weight limits and having to carry everything, we brought about five nail clippers. So there's an aspect of finding the small and simple things that are important.

I can also say there's some logic in buying the decent quality stuff once. I've been really happy I bought a backup drive for our computers. It carried several hundred discs of music I wouldn't want to store on a laptop, but I was really glad to have several discs of Christmas music. So, yeah, find what's important to you.

The funny thing is, Taiwanese are very good at not simplifying. My current working gripe is how they have a big recycling program to encourage households to recycle their garbage, and the government even demands that all sellers charge for plastic bags, to encourage people to bring their own. But then you see that EVERYTHING is wrapped in plastic. Noodles, well yeah that's kinda necessary... head of broccoli, but why d'you need... bunch of kiwi, hold on a second that's... six-pack of beer, but that's just stupid... paper-back book, just STOP right there! Or at least, that's what it feels like when I'm looking around a store and I feel like someone's about to wrap me in cellophane.

And I'm not kidding about the book. Most books in bookstores are plastic wrapped. Maybe for water protection, maybe to prevent people from reading before they've bought 'em. Your guess is's good as mine.


















This may be the best example of not simplifying. I'll give up being polite and just write, to my American perceptions half of the Taiwan economy, at least the local parts, are based on selling stuff that "fell off" the back of a truck. Marie showed me this shop of shops. No, really. Each of these individual little cubes is owned by a person or some kinda seller. So it's like a micro-mall or something. All kinda of weird knick-knacks and doo-dads and other things I don't have even random syllables to try and define them with.

So, that's been our last week or so. Next time we'll get into more of the details of culture shock, hopefully without being mean, but it's definitely necessary to talk about the culture that gives you a Saturday off of work, but makes you come in on Sunday to make it up.