around

Let's be clear: I've only had two lessons so far and I can barely count to ten reliably. If pressed to put together all but the most basic of sentences I'll need at least three minutes to remember the right words. I still am not quite sure about grammar, either. But yesterday I asked someone about buying tea, and today I ordered milk tea (twice) and an omelette using the few words and sentences I knew. I was even able to imagine what words and phrase I could  use to order some of the foods being sold on carts along the sidewalks. After nine months of stumbling blindly through Taiwan without being able to interact, I'm at last able to communicate, albeit barely. Learning Chinese is frustrating, although I'm pretty sure learning  any  language for the first time (at my age, no less) would be frustrating. There's all this studying and repeating and memorizing that has to be done. My method is to take small chunks of time (bus and MRT rides, mostly) and force myse...

The other day some friends and I went by train and bus to Jiufen, a north-east area in upper Taiwan that was, apparently, the inspiration for some scenery in Miyazaki's movie SPIRITED AWAY. It was an excellent day. First, Ariel (name not changed, I have officially given up b/c I can't keep track anymore :p) and I met up at Taipei Main Station to take the local train to Xike, which was where Katie would hop on and join us. The problem turned out to be that Ariel and I are great conversationalists and bad about paying attention, because instead of texting Katie to tell her we were almost  at Xike, we texted her with "We're stopping at Xike now, are you here?!" and the answer turned out to be that no, Katie was not on the platform, so we hopped off and waited for her. Then we all chatted until another local train came, which we took to Keelung. Keelung is not somewhere I've been before, but it's by the ocean and there was a harbor with an enormous cruise ...

I can't sleep, and I haven't been able to (well) for the last few nights, and my days have been spent somewhat strung out and tired and headache-y and completely losing my appetite (and shouldn't that  have been a tip-off, I haven't eaten much in three days). What I realized is that, with about four months left in my Taiwan contract, I am terrified--paralyzingly so--of not finding a job in Japan and having to a) go back to the States and find some other alternative, b) stay in Taiwan (at a new job, ain't staying at this school with this boss), or c) find a new country to move to. The fact is, after moving to Taiwan, after escaping what was, to me, a hellish nightmare and sure-deathbed-regret of a potential life in the States, I cannot go back to that. I can't not have my dream of living in Japan. I can't do anything else and not just... suffer a little bit. I cannot do anything else with my life  until I have not just been to Japan but lived there. I nee...

The full title ought to be "Longshan Temple and Other Adventures," but I didn't want to write all that. Today I had work. The first class had been cancelled, so I only had my CJ09 class (they talk, which is nice), and my 1hr private student Amber, who is the mother of two little boys who are also taking private classes at our school, with our two other teachers. After both classes were finished I went home and changed, since I had to meet a third potential Chinese tutor at 5. The distance between 1:10pm and 5pm sounds like a lot unless you are me, and you are tired, and then that time goes rather fast. I got to the meeting fine, though, and met the tutor. She was very nice, and wonderfully helpful, but I think she's looking for a more studious student than myself. My heart is set on Japanese, and although I'm very interested in Chinese, I know I won't be as vigorous learning Chinese as I would Japanese, so I'll probably go with the tutor whose slow, co...

The fact that Taiwan has a tropical climate means there is a lot of color here all year 'round. The trees stay green, flowers keep blooming, and there is always fruit abundantly for sale in the various markets around the city. (I took this photo today. It is February 28th, and about 70 degrees F outside. I love this place.) I'm having a time of it trying to identify the fruit, but my rule of thumb is that if I see someone else eating it raw or it's for sale in a fruit pack at 7-Eleven, I'm good to go. Quite often you'll see these recordable speakers playing the same thing over and over. Also today made me wish I liked food really super spicy because wow, this was a lot of peppers and they were such an amazing red. Sometimes I'll forget I'm in a foreign country, and then I look out a window or down the street and... mountains. Yep, I'm not in Ohio.

I can't say enough good things about Ximeding (Ximen Market) in Taipei. There's a reason so many movies and videos take place there, and why so many tourists visit, and why so many people spend their evenings there. It's full of fun and unique things that make exploring it a lengthy endeavor, so it's hard to get bored. Just today, my friends and I found a skate park that I'd never known was there. Here are some pictures from today's excursion!

I think part of me has always known that Asia would be where I'd find my home fashion-wise. Or maybe it's because I'm from Ohio, home of everything brand-name that can be found everywhere else in the USA. If it's a national company, a name everyone will know, we've got it. So the fashion is, while not boring, very VERY mainstream. To my knowledge we didn't see a lot of extreme fashion deviants, people wearing crazy shoes and spiky jewelry or dying their hair crazy colors. You want that fashion action, you find another city. Asia, though, is a bit more liberal with their fashion. There are embellishments everywhere--lace, beads, sequins, rips, patterns, bleach spots--if it can be done to clothes, it's on something. Sometimes in triplicate. The accessories, hair, and make-up can be more extreme, too, without seeming over-the-top here. I don't need to do full-on Tokyo Street Fashion, but I like the idea that a slightly embellished approach to ...