Travel in Taiwan

***Video***

I'm just back from a trip to Taiwan with many stories to tell! My favorite things about the country were the People, foods, and natural wonders. So over the next few posts, I hope to talk about these things. First, though, I'll give you an overview of the trip.

228 Peace Park

Taiwan has long been on my list of places to go. In college I had a work-study job where I worked with a Professor cataloging his slides of Taiwan and China. He would tell stories about them as we looked through little lupes at the beautiful images inside. So after almost 3 years, I finally got the chance to go there for myself. My travel buddy was a fellow ALT and friend, Jackie, who I became friends with through my English church. She's into cute things and singing in public. We got along pretty well.

The trip began in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan. We went to some museums, a really cool performance of the dragon dance and Peking opera, saw parks, and split up a few times to see different things. Taipei was probably my favorite city because it had all variety of things: nature, history, food, and good transportation. I could easily have spent a few more days there.

Dragon Performance at the Taipei EYE

After Taipei, we traveled southeast to Hualien. This is a little smaller city, but big for the relatively underpopulated area. Here we were right next to a giant national park, the Taroko Gorge. I was really glad that Jackie didn't shy from exercise, cause we did a lot of walking there! Hualien itself wasn't that amazing of a city, but it was in close proximity to a lot of good daytrip locations in the countryside. I wish I'd known more of them when planning, but it was good to have a little more downtime here in the middle of our trip.

The last main city we stayed at was Kaohsiung down south. I'm not sure if it was the hoppin' hostel we stayed at, the late hours the city kept, or hanging out with a young Taiwanese girl, but I got the impression of a modern, young city here. There was so much life! Here we saw a giant Buddhist monastery and some ornate temples around Lotus Pond. I loved looking at the architecture and design of these places, but going inside the shrines there was a lot of spiritual energy around all the statues and idols. Kind of uncomfortable. Also from Kaohsiung we took a daytrip to the old capital, Tainan. We learned about the history of Dutch trading on the island, saw thousands of flowers blooming in a park, and went into even older temples.

Every day was packed to the brim with things to do. I felt like I was eating constantly, but came back having lost a little weight from all the walking, hiking, and biking we did. Things are cheaper in Taiwan, but I had to keep reminding myself that that didn't mean they were cheap. I hope I can come back some day!

Dome of Light at a train station in Kaohsiung

Everyday Updates

Hi, friends!
(name of an English textbook. I don't talk this way... yet.)

The more I become accustomed to life here, the less I seem to post. Japan has gotten so familiar to me now that it's hard to see the novelty all around. So here's an update on, well, life.

We're in the third term of school. That means my 3rd grade (12th) classes are all cancelled so the students can study hard for their University Entrance Exams. They don't come to school regularly anymore, and are supposed to be using the extra time to study. From what I can see, they are! Every now and then I'll hear a squeal from around the staffroom and see a student come to tell their teacher they passed. It's really sweet to see how much these homeroom teachers care about each student and crow/cry/jump over their success.

A couple students are practicing for another test, the big Eiken exam. This is different from the TOEIC and TOEFL in that there's a big interview part to it, and is only offered in Japan. Each grade level differs in execution, but the Pre-1st we're working on now involves narrating a picture story for two minutes and answering different questions related to the topic.

After school I've been reading a lot, and taking walks every day around the river. Every Wednesday and Saturday I'll walk to the grocery store and say hello to the elderly group that meets to gossip about life. I'm also working on a quilt made of old clothes I brought back from America. I like the patterns and colors, but I tell you, knit fabric is hard to work with. Last night I gave up after the thread took 2-4 tries before catching. Still, it's fun to imagine spreading it whole across a bed in the bright summer air, and let the memories of high school clothes live on.

It's coming up on 3 years since moving to Japan. This is the longest time I've spent at one thing in quite a while. I had 2 years of high school, 2 of community college, and 2 of university. The longer I'm here, the less I think Japan will be part of my future career. Then again, it will probably show itself in subtle ways through the rest of my life. This is my first step into the working world. I won't find out how deep of an impression it's left until I go back and have a different reality to compare it to.

That's all for today! *stand* *bow* *sit*

The Color of Winter

One of the daily park sitters and his dog, Ryoma.

I'm sitting by the river, letting my skin soak up some Vitamin D. Even an hour before sunset, the colors are so muted.The blue river looks overtaken by grey murkiness. A blue sky is dilluted by dull white clouds. Even green grass is taking on the yellowed tans of the dead stalks it's next to. This is a Tokushima winter.

A week ago when Subin and I took a walk along this same river, she told me how much she liked the colors. Instead of seeing the a lackluster landscape, she saw the soft beiges as a kind of comfort. She comes from Korea, where it's blue all day long, and Seattle with its steady greens and overcast greys that occasionally give way to vibrant blue skies. Never has she seen this dead grassland that makes up my childhood.

Looking again, I see tiny white flowers peeping out of the dead grass. A tangled bush of stickers frames its spiky balls against a steel blue backdrop. Across the river I see the sharp royal blue of a fishing boat waiting quietly on the shore. It's a pretty world.

Did you see it?

Mystery Udon Tour

Last weekend I went on my 4th Udon Tour with the teachers from my tech school. It was a great chance to catch up with them a bit now that I don't work there anymore. They haven't changed one bit!

What's an Udon Tour? you might be wondering. Well, udon is a most delicious flour noodle, thick and chewy in texture. It can be served in hot or cold broth with toppings like green onion, ginger, shaved radish, tempura, meat, and so on. As far as noodles go, nothing beats udon for me. That makes it extra nice that I live right next to a prefecture that is most famous for its excellent Sanuki Udon. On top of that, I have a friend who is from Kagawa (Sanuki) and just so happens to love introducing his home prefecture to people. What's more is that his friend has a big car and likes driving around the island. To top it all off, they like English and want to practice more. Perfect combination, right? And so started the Udon tour. We drive up to Kagawa, sample different restaurants (max so far has been 3 in an afternoon), and see other cool things in the area while getting hungry enough for the next restaurant. Obviously I'm not the only one who likes udon enough to come. One of the English teachers who works with them has come a few times. Zandra, who also works there, was one of the first people to go, along with a few other ALTs who've come. It's a lot of fun!

Now these are all mystery tours in that the only thing we know beforehand is that we'll eat udon and be surprised at what else we see on the way. But the reason this one gets the special title is because it had some mysterious sights along the way.

First was the cold spot on the side of Takahachi mountain. The weather that day was a balmy 97F. In the car we climbed up a little mountain, only 450m(?) or so high, and found these stone walls leading down to a sunken hole. Nothing too deep or abnormal looking, but inside the temp dropped down to 40 degrees F! The strange thing was that there was no explanation for why this place was so cold. Mr. M said that even when looking online he couldn't find an explanation for the phenomenon. As we were talking it over on the way down, the other Mr. M, our driver, pointed out the name of the little mountain road we were traveling on: Kubikiri Tougen, or Slit Throat Pass. Yikes!

The other strange thing was finding oyster fossils in a river surrounded by mountains. They were big smooth patches etched into the side of some giant boulders along the riverbed. I don't know much about oysters, but was told that they are a seawater creature. So what were they doing here in the middle of Shikoku? Earlier we'd seen a map of how Japan's topography had changed over the years. The place in which we were standing had once been entirely submerged in seawater. It was hard to picture that with all the lush trees, rice fields, and houses around anchoring us to the present.

You can see all the rest of the fun things we did in a video I made HERE.

It was yet another great weekend to slip into the portfolio of fun times this summer!

ALT in a Day's Work

It's summer again, which means no classes for me. Even though there aren't any obvious things I ought to be doing, somehow the days always get filled up! Let's take a look at one example of all the little things that make up a workday.

Much like our closing ceremony, but no chairs.

Spanish In the 15 minutes before the morning meeting today, I cracked open a Spanish study book to brush up on the 2nd language that shadowed my whole grade/high school life.

 Closing Ceremony Today's the last day of 1st semester, so of course we must have a 2 hour ceremony! They went through congratulating people name by name for sports and club accomplishments as a thousand students and teachers baked in the hot gym. One students passed out and had to be taken to the nurse's office. Instead of stopping the ceremony, they just talked a lot faster to end earlier.

Editing My supervisor is sending a letter to our Thai sister school. I used my special powers to correct spelling, grammar, and structure it to be more diplomatic.

Lunching I've only used half my "Social" budget for July so far, so I biked out to an Udon restaurant for lunch with Greg. Between bites of the chewy, cool, refreshing noodles, we talked over his summer trip to America... tomorrow!

Teaching The principal came by with some English questions. What's the difference between "How are you?" and "How are you doing?" (conclusion: not much!) and "You're welcome", "Not at all", and "No problem" (conclusion: formality of context, relations between speakers, and perceived inconvenience of the task).

Writing Writing this blog post, and catching up on entries in my daily diary. I'm so used to doing it now that it's not too hard to reconstruct a day based on To Do list scribbles.

Advising The photography teacher came by to ask for advice on an English subtitle for a basketball picture. We decided on "Planning the Victory".

Chatting Now that it's summer the other teachers are starting to relax again. Greg and I got to talk with one of our favorite English teachers about summer plans, Victoria's Secret, and the Japanese hatred of all things Chinese.

Recontracting I am officially recontracted until July 24th, 2014! I'm looking forward to another exciting year ahead. What surprises wait to be tread?*




*Sorry, this is a weird sentence. I just wanted it to rhyme.

Climbing Mt. Fuji

Last weekend I got to check a major thing off my Japan list - climbing Mt. Fuji!Everyone I talked to before going said it was not so interesting a mountain and definitely not worth a second trip, but I disagree. Since we didn't actually make it to the top, I may have to plan a revenge trip and conquer her once and for all.

Instead of recounting every detail, I'll give you some haikus.

Blue peak dipped in clouds

Tow'ring above the mountains

From a bus window

Wind screaming outside

Ten thousand feet in the air

Buried in blankets

Pebbles blowing wild

Lights bobbing in the darkness

A sky full of stars

Standing on a cloud

Friends cheering the morning on

Peekaboo sunrise

Battling car sickness

A connoiseur of rest stops

10 hours of transit

If you want more visuals, click this link to see my video!

Writing Obituaries

One of the fun parts of being an English teacher is making up tests and worksheets. At first it was stressful trying to figure out whether a question was good enough and how many points to ascribe to each, but now it's no probo, yo.

It's 1st term finals now, so I had to make an exam for my Active Communication class. In class we read random articles, answer questions for understanding, and discuss the ideas in them. One of the more recent ones was a series of obituaries and birth announcements. Students had to read them and guess what it was about. But what kind of test question can you make about obituaries? I wanted to get them to try writing one, but also didn't want to depress anyone by asking to write about the death of loved ones. So here's what I came up with:

"Kochi's [prefectural] character, Katsuo-ningen (fish human) is jealous of [Tokushima's prefectural character,] Sudachi-kun's (Mr. Small green lime fruit) popularity. Last weekend he kidnapped and drowned Sudachi-kun in the ocean. Write a short obiturary for Tokushima's favorite character, Sudachi-kun." (pictures included in question)

These are some of my favorite responses.

"We have a sad news. Our lovely character, Sudachi-kun, passed away. We'll have a funeral for him. Please come and share your sadness with us."

"Sudachi-kun is kindness itself, so he listened to Katsuo-ningen's complaints."

"Sudachi-kun had been worked in Tokushima for many years, but from today, he move to heaven. I wish he will be a good character in heaven."

"Sudachi-kun was flooded to Tokyo, and he happened to become popular around there. As a result he became much more popular than Katsuo-ningen because of his cutie looks."