Aere's cleared out by now, but it left a real mess. Looks like every tree has been trimmed and all the branches and leaf clippings blasted about with a fire hose. Walking around, I saw dozens of trees that were blown down and many many trees with big branches torn off. The branches themselves were often the size of mid-sized trees. One tree in Da'an with a 30-cm trunk was snapped in half rather than uprooted. Most of the mess was from trees, but there were also some torn-down and smashed-up signs and corrugated plastic air conditioner awnings. Abandoned inside-out umbrellas topped it all off.
The winds for all this were pretty strong—140 km/h steady and 180 km/h gusts. The wind really makes the typhoon. The wind knocked down practically every bicycle I saw and even some rows of scooters.
The rain was consistant for three days, but not as heavy as other, normal storms. Everything looks sopped, but there was no flooding around here. The news carried video of lots of other places weren't so lucky. There were some deaths in a mudslide and in some lost fishing ships.
8.26.2004
8.24.2004
Typhoons really aren't too fun
Today was supposed to be the last day of classes. Only it wasn't. Another (the fourth?) typhoon, Aere, is passing over Taiwan. All schools and government offices were closed for the day, as well as most everything else. Tomorrow is already declared another typhoon holiday.
Pretty disappointed to have missed today. Didn't get the chance to say good-bye to everybody, didn't get the chance to improve on my calligraphy one last time and didn't get the chance to see a performance I was going to at The National Concert Hall.
What's more, my flight back on Friday may be delayed. Not from Aere, it'll have moved on by then. But there's another typhoon, a Super Typhoon Chaba, that will be heading over Japan, my first scheduled layover. You can look at the latest map of their progess and wish me luck getting back on time.
Pretty disappointed to have missed today. Didn't get the chance to say good-bye to everybody, didn't get the chance to improve on my calligraphy one last time and didn't get the chance to see a performance I was going to at The National Concert Hall
What's more, my flight back on Friday may be delayed. Not from Aere, it'll have moved on by then. But there's another typhoon, a Super Typhoon Chaba, that will be heading over Japan, my first scheduled layover. You can look at the latest map of their progess and wish me luck getting back on time.
8.17.2004
Calligraphy for keeps
Today I was in for five-and-a-half hours of calligraphy, not the usual two. Last week my teacher said that if I was diligent, before the end of the term I would be able to finish a piece good enough to get his stamp and get mounted to take home. Put me on the fast track, so meant extra characters last week and this.
Only one more class, so he was pushing me to finish today. Did some practice in class, then on the good paper during Chinese Painting time. It's very hard getting some of them right where the strokes cross and weave in-and-out of each other. You mess up even a little and you corner yourself into making the whole thing look off.
On my good paper messed up on a few characters, so had to stay on after class to try again. This time he paused over some characters, but in the end said it was OK and gave me his stamp. He wants to see me do better though, so I'll try for more next week.
Only one more class, so he was pushing me to finish today. Did some practice in class, then on the good paper during Chinese Painting time. It's very hard getting some of them right where the strokes cross and weave in-and-out of each other. You mess up even a little and you corner yourself into making the whole thing look off.
On my good paper messed up on a few characters, so had to stay on after class to try again. This time he paused over some characters, but in the end said it was OK and gave me his stamp. He wants to see me do better though, so I'll try for more next week.
8.16.2004
Yearbook Editors Extraordinaire
The last few days I've been helping Jean-Michel to make a yearbook for his class. He's the only white person and the only guy in his class, so his teacher just picked him (but he needed me). We made the templates for the biography pages and the contact list Friday. Today we made a cover and filled in most of the pictures and real names.
It's been interesting trying to figure out how to use Word and Excel in Chinese. It helps a lot that the shortcut letters are mostly the same, so I can recognize options without being able to read what they are. Installed Paint Shop Pro to help with the image editing, so at least that's in English.
Only 10 students, so a few more pictures and personal info and we'll be done the basic version. His teacher also wants to include essays from each student for the semester, so that could be a small headache integrating all of them into one document what with tabs and everything, not to mention making the yearbook long (adds twenty pages). Gonna make a PDF of the finished product to allow an online version too. Don't know if I'd have time to do the same for my class, but I'll try. Anyway, I think for Jean-Michel's, we'll be alright on time and turn out a really good-looking book.
It's been interesting trying to figure out how to use Word and Excel in Chinese. It helps a lot that the shortcut letters are mostly the same, so I can recognize options without being able to read what they are. Installed Paint Shop Pro to help with the image editing, so at least that's in English.
Only 10 students, so a few more pictures and personal info and we'll be done the basic version. His teacher also wants to include essays from each student for the semester, so that could be a small headache integrating all of them into one document what with tabs and everything, not to mention making the yearbook long (adds twenty pages). Gonna make a PDF of the finished product to allow an online version too. Don't know if I'd have time to do the same for my class, but I'll try. Anyway, I think for Jean-Michel's, we'll be alright on time and turn out a really good-looking book.
8.15.2004
The National Palace Museum
Yesterday was National Palace Museum time. Everyone was surprised to hear I'd made it this long without going over to have a look (I knew I would go eventually, so no problem). Took a bus out to it with Jean-Michel. He'd been there twice before, but had no problem with going again.
The first thing about the museum is that it was surprisingly small. Smaller even than the Fine Art Museum. There's a severely diminished display area due to renovations, however the true collection is just massive. Even if in full operation, the museum would only be capable of being displaying a tiny fraction of its collection at any one time. As it was we were able to complete the whole tour that afternoon.
Still, lots of stuff left to see. No photos allowed of course, but some of the paintings were just mad detailed--and big--and old. There was this room set up chronologically, where you went around it seeing all the changes happening over thousands of years.
There were also calligraphy, woodworking and bronze exhibits, but, after painting, I found the jade section most interesting. Some didn't look very impressive--an axe, that didn't even look very sharp, but then you glanced over at the date--"4000 B.C."--some really ancient pieces. Later stuff was in magnifying glass-detail (magnifying glasses attached), in the most intricate and fragile-looking shapes. There were hollowed-out lattices and linked chains carved from the solid jade. Really impressive stuff.
The first thing about the museum is that it was surprisingly small. Smaller even than the Fine Art Museum. There's a severely diminished display area due to renovations, however the true collection is just massive. Even if in full operation, the museum would only be capable of being displaying a tiny fraction of its collection at any one time. As it was we were able to complete the whole tour that afternoon.
Still, lots of stuff left to see. No photos allowed of course, but some of the paintings were just mad detailed--and big--and old. There was this room set up chronologically, where you went around it seeing all the changes happening over thousands of years.
There were also calligraphy, woodworking and bronze exhibits, but, after painting, I found the jade section most interesting. Some didn't look very impressive--an axe, that didn't even look very sharp, but then you glanced over at the date--"4000 B.C."--some really ancient pieces. Later stuff was in magnifying glass-detail (magnifying glasses attached), in the most intricate and fragile-looking shapes. There were hollowed-out lattices and linked chains carved from the solid jade. Really impressive stuff.
8.13.2004
An Eighty-Day Afterthought
Alright, it finally occurred to me after all this time in Taiwan that perhaps I should catalogue my adventures and observations in blog form. Throughout the summer I've been trying to keep up with the requests for information in emails, letters, and IMs. I've been trying to keep everyone individually posted on the happenings here when what I should have been doing was posting to a blog and save myself some work.
What's more, I should have had this realization much, much earlier, as before I even left Adam ('nother Rutgers student here in Taiwan) informed me that he'd be forming one (linked below).
>>http://www.livejournal.com/users/formosathefun/
I got a further hint from my friend Chris P. posting about his trip Kenya. I thought, "Ah competition," but it never clicked...
>>http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~christpe/
Then I got still more help when today my friend here from my Calligraphy and Chinese Painting classes, Jean-Michel, gave me the link to his blog.
>>http://jeanmichel.typepad.com/taipei/
I even remember suggesting my highschool EnviSci teacher make a homework blog way back in 2000. OK. Now I get it. Sorry to all those I left out the first time around. So, a bit belated, but here goes. Post comments!, all the hitherto ungrateful. I'll alter the posting dates to better reflect the order of things (i.e. - even though this is my first post, events before 8/13 are below). Enjoy.
What's more, I should have had this realization much, much earlier, as before I even left Adam ('nother Rutgers student here in Taiwan) informed me that he'd be forming one (linked below).
>>http://www.livejournal.com/users/formosathefun/
I got a further hint from my friend Chris P. posting about his trip Kenya. I thought, "Ah competition," but it never clicked...
>>http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~christpe/
Then I got still more help when today my friend here from my Calligraphy and Chinese Painting classes, Jean-Michel, gave me the link to his blog.
>>http://jeanmichel.typepad.com/taipei/
I even remember suggesting my highschool EnviSci teacher make a homework blog way back in 2000. OK. Now I get it. Sorry to all those I left out the first time around. So, a bit belated, but here goes. Post comments!, all the hitherto ungrateful. I'll alter the posting dates to better reflect the order of things (i.e. - even though this is my first post, events before 8/13 are below). Enjoy.
8.10.2004
"我這兒 / Wo zher / My place" email
So, my house is only a few minutes walk from the school. Really convenient that I can leave at 8:00 instead of 7:30 like some other people in my class. Some have really cheap rent living with family friends, but not taking a bus is almost as good.
My short, short house
It's a one-story building, which is pretty unusual for the city. The most common building height seems to be closer to six. There's a red wooden gate on a concrete wall that surrounds the house, leaving a few feet as walkway all around. Lots of other walls have broken glass embedded in their tops, but ours doesn't (and it was a good thing too, when once I forgot my key).
To stop dirt in its tracks, as soon as you get in, there's a little area for changing your shoes. Outdoor shoes have a rack next to the umbrella stand, but it's always overfilled, so shoes are all around. Same thing at the computer lab at school, so everybody's in socks or barefoot. There there's a bigger rack, but nobody uses it, so there's a sea of shoes as you step in the door. At the house though, there's another rack with slippers to change into once you step up into the hall. A set is in every bathroom too, neccessitating a change. None quite big enough for me, but I'd brought my own.
Walking into the house the first thing I noticed was that I had to duck. The doorways are couple inches too short. David's (my landlord) as tall and has to duck also. Doesn't take long to get used to at all. Only one bump after the first day.
My room is at the back of the house. Sliding wooden door with swinging screen and a hanging cloth screen in between. It's maybe the size of a college single, off-white paneling and (besides the doorway) high ceilings. Furnished with bed, wardrobe, fan and desk with light and chair. Window is big and sideways-sliding, though only opens half because of air conditioner. AC has a remote control where you can set temperature, fan speed, and up to sixteen hours on the timer. Minor annoyance is there's only one outlet, so after my clock/radio, only the fan or the desk light gets the other slot.
Big annoyance are the bugs. Cockroaches aren't much of a presence, especially outside of the kitchen, but the ants can find everything. Have to make sure all bags are really sealed. Trash is harder because I don't want to take it out every time I eat an apple. Managed to hide some cores for a whole day hanging in a mesh bag from a hook in a corner of the ceiling. Ants still found it, but I keep it b/c as long as they're far from the desk and bed, we don't meet much.
I guess I'm lucky with pests though. Adam and Ryan (other two from Rutgers), in addition to ants and cockroaches, have fruit flies and mice. A mouse jumped on Ryan's face in his sleep. I should mention that the cockroaches can fly. Only saw it twice, but once I was walking down the street and saw one run three feet to, then three feet up a wall at cockroach-fast speed, then leapt off in flight, sort of like a lightning bug, but 100-times heavier (and scarier, if you're in an enclosed space). Anyway, cool.
Shower room is just that. No curtain separating it from the door or the sink. Told this is Taiwan normal and is OK by me, but my friend tells me that at her house the toilet is in her shower room too. Though our bathroom doesn't have a shower over it, it still doesn't have toilet paper. Same for the hostel the night I got in. Don't understand it, as it's not that expensive.
We do get a toilet paper bin though. Same everywhere. Some bathrooms have signs saying it's because there's a low-powered flush or because the system can't handle it, but I'm not sure about that--think it's just from habit. Though it does make sure all bathrooms aren't the sweetest-smelling.
Besides mine, there are five other rooms for rent, four filled. There used to be other people, mostly Canadian English teachers, but they've all moved out by now. Only one Italian guy has been here longer. Now there are two other Japanese students, Miku and Leo, who also go to my school, and Mike, another Canadian, who goes to another school. They're all very friendly, but we don't run into each other very much.
David also has a room and is home the most of anybody, though he has another place, so doesn't stay every night. Studied in the States, so no trouble communicating. Likes to remind people to turn off lights and to only use the shower room sink for brushing teeth, but easy to live with. He has a bird in a cage out on the front steps and a bunch of fish in the living room that I feed when he's not in.
OK, gotta go.
Love,
Laszlo
My short, short house
It's a one-story building, which is pretty unusual for the city. The most common building height seems to be closer to six. There's a red wooden gate on a concrete wall that surrounds the house, leaving a few feet as walkway all around. Lots of other walls have broken glass embedded in their tops, but ours doesn't (and it was a good thing too, when once I forgot my key).
To stop dirt in its tracks, as soon as you get in, there's a little area for changing your shoes. Outdoor shoes have a rack next to the umbrella stand, but it's always overfilled, so shoes are all around. Same thing at the computer lab at school, so everybody's in socks or barefoot. There there's a bigger rack, but nobody uses it, so there's a sea of shoes as you step in the door. At the house though, there's another rack with slippers to change into once you step up into the hall. A set is in every bathroom too, neccessitating a change. None quite big enough for me, but I'd brought my own.
Walking into the house the first thing I noticed was that I had to duck. The doorways are couple inches too short. David's (my landlord) as tall and has to duck also. Doesn't take long to get used to at all. Only one bump after the first day.
My room is at the back of the house. Sliding wooden door with swinging screen and a hanging cloth screen in between. It's maybe the size of a college single, off-white paneling and (besides the doorway) high ceilings. Furnished with bed, wardrobe, fan and desk with light and chair. Window is big and sideways-sliding, though only opens half because of air conditioner. AC has a remote control where you can set temperature, fan speed, and up to sixteen hours on the timer. Minor annoyance is there's only one outlet, so after my clock/radio, only the fan or the desk light gets the other slot.
Big annoyance are the bugs. Cockroaches aren't much of a presence, especially outside of the kitchen, but the ants can find everything. Have to make sure all bags are really sealed. Trash is harder because I don't want to take it out every time I eat an apple. Managed to hide some cores for a whole day hanging in a mesh bag from a hook in a corner of the ceiling. Ants still found it, but I keep it b/c as long as they're far from the desk and bed, we don't meet much.
I guess I'm lucky with pests though. Adam and Ryan (other two from Rutgers), in addition to ants and cockroaches, have fruit flies and mice. A mouse jumped on Ryan's face in his sleep. I should mention that the cockroaches can fly. Only saw it twice, but once I was walking down the street and saw one run three feet to, then three feet up a wall at cockroach-fast speed, then leapt off in flight, sort of like a lightning bug, but 100-times heavier (and scarier, if you're in an enclosed space). Anyway, cool.
Shower room is just that. No curtain separating it from the door or the sink. Told this is Taiwan normal and is OK by me, but my friend tells me that at her house the toilet is in her shower room too. Though our bathroom doesn't have a shower over it, it still doesn't have toilet paper. Same for the hostel the night I got in. Don't understand it, as it's not that expensive.
We do get a toilet paper bin though. Same everywhere. Some bathrooms have signs saying it's because there's a low-powered flush or because the system can't handle it, but I'm not sure about that--think it's just from habit. Though it does make sure all bathrooms aren't the sweetest-smelling.
Besides mine, there are five other rooms for rent, four filled. There used to be other people, mostly Canadian English teachers, but they've all moved out by now. Only one Italian guy has been here longer. Now there are two other Japanese students, Miku and Leo, who also go to my school, and Mike, another Canadian, who goes to another school. They're all very friendly, but we don't run into each other very much.
David also has a room and is home the most of anybody, though he has another place, so doesn't stay every night. Studied in the States, so no trouble communicating. Likes to remind people to turn off lights and to only use the shower room sink for brushing teeth, but easy to live with. He has a bird in a cage out on the front steps and a bunch of fish in the living room that I feed when he's not in.
OK, gotta go.
Love,
Laszlo
8.08.2004
Popsicle Capital of the World
Friday met Melissa and Rachel from Painting, went for lunch at an Italian place. First time seeing a menu with English translation included. Also the first time seeing or using a fork in over two months.
After, went with Melissa to see the Taipei Fine Art Museum. Mostly Taiwanese artists, mostly modern, some weird, but mostly pretty good stuff. Walking around later she learned I hadn't yet tried Taiwan's popsicles. Dropped into a 7-11 straightaway.
I had a milk and red bean. Pretty good. Red bean besides, there're tons of other flavors, though can't be sure of what you'll turn up in any individual store. Some are standard; like chocolate-flavored and orange and mango (Mmm). The cheapest I saw was only ten dollars, not the usual fifteen. Most of it was like frozen vanilla pudding, while the tip tasted like syrup (!).
After, went with Melissa to see the Taipei Fine Art Museum. Mostly Taiwanese artists, mostly modern, some weird, but mostly pretty good stuff. Walking around later she learned I hadn't yet tried Taiwan's popsicles. Dropped into a 7-11 straightaway.
I had a milk and red bean. Pretty good. Red bean besides, there're tons of other flavors, though can't be sure of what you'll turn up in any individual store. Some are standard; like chocolate-flavored and orange and mango (Mmm). The cheapest I saw was only ten dollars, not the usual fifteen. Most of it was like frozen vanilla pudding, while the tip tasted like syrup (!).
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