Didn't hurt yah, just scared yah.

As if working on Christmas Eve and Christmas, IN TAIWAN, weren't bad enough... This morning I got in a minor scooter accident. I wasn't hurt at all, the scooter wasn't hurt, the other people weren't hurt and the other car wasn't hurt.

However, the sheer shock of the event and trying to resolve it all in broken Chinese (ok, only "I don't understaaaand!) and hand gestures made it necessary for me to spend the next 2 hours crying.

Didn't hurt me, just scared the BEJEZZUZES outa me.

Wo de Sheng Re (My birthday!)

This year, my birthday was on a Monday, which meant I was at work. But it was pretty great, really because some of the kids really got into it. I thought my coteacher must have paid the 5th graders because so many of them came up to me and said "JENNYWEI teacher! Happy Birsday!" and... I don't teach them:)



But class 601 definitely took the cake for decorating the blackboard and singing to me. And then fabulous Kate brought the little bitties she teaches in to sing to me too! It was great!



And then afterschool, I went out to coffee with Kate and Angela, and a very good time was had by all.

I was also pretty pleased with myself for displaying enough self-restraint to NOT open birthday presents until my actual birthday. (Christmas presents haven't faired as well, hehe)

Overall, I had a pretty great birthday this year. Last year, I refused to tell anyone at work about my birthday because then they would know I really was THAT young. So this year, it was great to have a public birthday:)

Weekly Mandarin: 21

21st edition: Bu hao ting

I'm a little disappointed to admit that this is the bit of Chinese from this week that will stick with me the most, but I have yet to learn how to let insults roll off me.

I've had a sore throat for the past two weeks, but Christmas carols will wait for no man or woman, so I still had to sing Christmas carols with my kids. Unfortunately, one of my sixth graders found it necessary to shout out "bu hao ting" as I tried to get the class excited about Jingle Bells. That means "that sounds bad."

And, honestly, I would have been a lot more ok about it if she had even bothered to use the English we JUST taught the class: how to say things smell/sound/taste bad or good. Insult + injury

I will never voluntarily teach classroom middle school.

Weekly Mandarin: 20

20th edition: Fangsong (Holy Macaroni, I've spent 20 weeks here.)

Anyone who has ever met me knows I'm tightly wound. I freak out when I don't learn something quickly; I prefer not to risk making a fool of myself; and I really really hate looking like everything isn't going according to plans. Well, here in Taiwan, I'm experiencing double my usual amount of stress and craziness because Taiwan just isn't an according-to-plans kind of place. (Sometimes because there are no plans to start with!)

(Deep breath) So this week, I learned a new word: fangsong, meaning relax.

Special thanks go out to Jeannie's yoga class for using the word in a sentence (Hue fangsong hue hao-- the more relaxed, the better), Jeannie for writing it on my computer desktop, and my wonderful yoga teacher for using it again and again and again when I'm actually relaxed enough to learn!

Picture Update

Hey, finally got some pics up for Super Awesome Halloween. Feel free to check out the unbelievable cuteness under October's posts.

Weekly Mandarin:19

19th edition: Shia Yu

I've actually been working on this word for a while, but it only seems to have stuck recently. It rains a lot here. A lot. A lot. A lot. Like today will be something like the 80th straight day it has rained in Yilan.

But the other day, I had an unforgettable rain experience. Kate and I decided to scooter about 50 minutes away to the National Traditional Arts Center on what started off as a very temperate and cloudy but not rainy day (that counts as "good weather" here). Unfortunately, within 25 minutes on the road, it started to shia yu. And then it started to shia da yu (downpour). We kept scootering, but the rain was coming down in drops the size of M&Ms and felt like hail. We were both soaked when we got to the Center, and I stopped to watch the rain falling for a second, and realized that each rain drop splashed about 8 inches on impact...

Needless to say, we had a great time anyway and it makes a decent story. But, I still will never miss scootering in the shia yu.

English Easy Go

Unfortunately, the name of the competition isn't correct. But its supposed to showcase English prowess in Yilan County. It was... a time- and effort- consuming challenge that actually wrapped up for the fall about a month ago, but I only just got around to bringing the pictures and footage home.

Me and a pretend prop. My one mission in life is to humiliate myself.

Work. It.


This is why I needed to be in the audience trying to make my students smile. DUDE--it's just a song.

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

Moment in the Life of a Halfy

("Halfy" being my preferred affectionate term for being multiracial)

I had a really striking moment the other night on my way back to my apartment: I got into an elevator with 2 Taiwanese people, whose conversation stopped immediately upon noticing that I was a foreigner. We all left the elevator; they turned left and I turned right. As I was walking away, one said to the other (in Chinese) "foreigner." I'm used to that, and it's ok.

Then I walked back to my apartment, and ended up a few steps behind a white couple speaking English who apparently live in our building. I said mumbled a quick thanks to the guy who held the door open for a second so I could pass through. And then he kept talking to his girlfriend like I couldn't understand what they were saying.

I had kind of expected being too white to fit in here. And I already knew I was too Asian to be completely standard at home. But in the span of 3 minutes, that all displayed itself in shocking clarity. It's not bad or racist or a problem, really, it's just noticeable.

Weekly Mandarin: 18

18th edition: Jai you

This is a word that I am quite certain will be a part of my spoken vocabulary from now on. It even slipped out accidentally during one of my third grade classes (the students are supposed to think I don't know any Chinese).

Jai you is something along the lines of "go go GO!" like a cheer. I hear it a lot: like from the soccer fields 13 floors down from my window, like during yoga class when we'd really all prefer to curl up into child's pose but instead get coaxed into bridges. It's also nearly impossible to say without doing a shoulder wiggle or full out air punches.

So when I'm home in America watching a frisbee game, now Brian will know when I'm cheering. Because it'll be in Mandarin.

Lotto, baby

Ok, so apparently, the Taiwanese government wasn't getting taxes from stores like they felt they should be getting, so they developed a system of standardized receipts to somehow facilitate their getting accurate records from the stores. To motivate people to go to the stores with the receipts, they made up a lottery where people check the standardized numbers on their receipts.

And that, my friends, is how I won a whopping 400 NT tonight. ($12 USD)

Typhoon Mitag

Another typhoon. This one's very very late in the season and not terribly strong, but they aren't cancelling anything because of it, so I still get the full experience. I just hope the predictions are all right about it veering away from Taiwan...

Weekly Mandarin: 17

17th edition: Pongyou

So, this week was full of Thanksgiving festivities. My personal favorite was having the second graders write things they were thankful for on turkey feathers, and then making paper turkeys out of them.

But, as you might imagine, I was a little extra homesick during the holiday. Luckily, I have more than one outstanding "pongyou" or "friend" here. My co-teacher wrote me a really sweet Thanksgiving note, and another co-teacher took us all out to tea. And my fellow Fellows here are all gathering for a makeshift Thanksgiving on Sunday. My family of "pongyoumen" (friends) here make life bearable... though they're of course, no replacement for the family and friends I have at home. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

At provisional Thanksgiving, I gave part of my thanks in Mandarin. I feel like a rockstar. I am thankful for my friends and, of course, for my reflective bumblebee raincoat.

Weekly Mandarin:16

16th edition: Re

(Sorry, sorry, I know it's late)

Re means "hot," which is no longer a good descriptor for the weather, but is a good adjective for the type of tea we consume every minute of every day here....

And it's also the name of the new dance class Kate and I found. Thanks to "hot dance" class, Kate and I are now dancing again... and we are, as Justin Timberlake would say, "bringing sexy back."

Medicine in Taiwan

So, I got quite sick this past week, and got to know a bit more about medicine here in Taiwan. To be fair, my host dad happens to be a doctor who owns his own practice, but I think the point remains: It's better to have a cold in Taiwan than in the US.

Host dad scheduled two appointments for me and a fellow sick fellow, and my wonderful host mom drove us to the office. Host dad listened to my story and took a quick look at my tonsils, then shot me up with some penecillin and wrote out a prescription... which he then handed to my host mom at the front of the office, who doled out the drugs. Then they don't only give you the drugs with the instructions, right there in the office, but they also wrap the drugs up in tiny little papers, so you eat all the pills in one bundle of paper, no thought required. And the whole thing should have cost me about 12 USD, I'm told (though, host parents wouldn't hear of me paying). Two appointments took twenty minutes, from sitting down in the waiting room to leaving with drugs.

Then there's also the soft medicine here: Moms! Like my host mommy who lept out of the car yielding an ear thermometer (which read in celcius, so I had no concept of what my temperature was!), insisted that we take 3 liters of sports drink each and some traditional Taiwanese pancakes, and then... this is a little overwhelmingly sweet... after sending me back to bed after the doctor's appointment, dropped by with a whole pot of freshly made chicken soup from scratch. Being sick has its perks.

Hot Springs!

This is the real reason I took the Fulbright: Not for the glory of being a Fulbrighter for the rest of my life, not to help people, but to be within a half hours drive of hot and cold natural springs.

Katie and I took our first trip to the hot springs this weekend! Like the cold springs, they weren't what I expected. For one thing, it was clearly an all-day event for most of the people there. They were complete with a concession stand, saunas, a gigantic slide, and about 25 different pools. Some of the pools had different herbs added to them that were supposed to help the body, but really all Katie and I could pick up without Chinese was that... they were all different colors! So, naturally, we needed to visit each of them, in reverse rainbow order. The weirdest one, however, was the one that was clear, with live fish in it. You sat, the fish swam, oh, and they nibbled dead skin off your body. Very. very. strange.

Weekly Mandarin: 15

15th edition: Liu bi shwei

Ok, the cursed "real Chinese" wins. After learning how to say running nose (liu bi shwei), the running nose turned into a chest cold, a fever, and a need to stay in bed for 72 hours. I've recovered; but man, that was a bad cold. I'll have to be even better at observing the first commandment of teaching: Thou shalt use antibacterial gel. Every six seconds.

Things I Forgot to Mention About School

So, I kind of forgot to write about school in general, and how it compares to the U.S. for better and for worse and some other reflections. Thanks for the reminder, Loraine!

I was very very confused by the introduction to Taiwanese schools that we got during orientation. They explained that we (meaning Fulbright English Teaching Assistants and our coteachers) teach with "learning through play" but that the rest of the school teaches in a drill-and-grill approach. Most classes (core subjects like math and Chinese) are taught by "homeroom teachers" and then we are some of the special subject teachers. Sometimes I feel bad playing some crazy game and getting the kids all wild, and then turning them back over to their homeroom teachers to do sit-down-and-listen class.

As far as class hours, the structure is actually really fascinating! Kids begin public school at first grade, and in first grade, they take classes 4 half days and one full day per week, with full days running from 7:40 to 4:10. The second graders have 3 half days and two full days, etc, etc. I think it's pretty developmentally sensitive-- although teaching those second graders on one of the few afternoons they're at school is tough! I should also mention that these are only the hours that the students are in public schools, about 70% of my students also attend afterschool "cram schools," sometimes for 5 hours again after public school. It's pretty intense stuff and causes some painful gaps in the classroom, unfortunately along socio-economic lines.

The actual structure of individual days include 10 minute breaks between each class when the kids are supposed to go outside and run around, and one twenty minute morning break for the school's exercise dance. There are also twenty minute periods for cleaning time, when the students are responsible for many aspects of the school's upkeep, like sweeping, window washing, picking up litter, etc. It could be interpreted as child labor, but I think it gives them a sense of belonging to and responsibility for the school grounds and community. My favorite bit of the schedule is that lunch time also includes a 40 minute nap time period for students and teachers alike!

Weekly Mandarin: 14

14th edition: Jiao

This is what Weekly Mandarin is supposed to be like... I have learned about twenty traditional characters by now, all in the greetings and introductions chapter. But I actually got to use one of them yesterday.

I stopped by my favorite tea shop (the one where the lady already knows that I want honey green tea, so instead of having me butcher "fung me liu cha," she just asks if I want one or two cups). And the shop was all lit up, but the lady was no where to be found. So I looked around and found a piece of paper with some writing on it (at which point I think... uh-oh, I can't read). But I looked down, and I recognized what it said! It had the character "jiao," which means "call." So I called out "hello!" and the lady appeared. I couldn't have been happier. Not only did I get two cups of positively ambrosial tea, I actually got to use some of the Chinese I'm learning.

The Commies Are Coming... or not.

As opposed to my last apartment, where all planes heading into Reagan or Dulles flew over head, there are never ever any airplanes or helicopters over my apartment in Yilan. So, you can imagine my surprise when there were helicopters directly above my apartment the other day. And I was convinced it was because China was deciding they wanted the Renegade Province back and I was going to have to escape. My co-teacher thought that was funny.

Super Awesome Halloween

Ok, so the pumpkins here are... smaller and more like squash. And there sure isn't any real trick-or-treating. But I did have a really excellent Halloween anyway, thanks to my fabulous boyfriend and my wonderful host family. I got two different sets of Halloween candies and so very much more.

The school trick-or-treating didn't go so well, considering the TONS of rain and tired kiddies, but I was in love with their costumes. In so many cases, their families had clearly made the costumes themselves, and the kids where honestly proud of their cape made of a garbage bag with sparkles glued onto it. If there were more kids in the US who would be pleased with a simple, creative, homemade costume, the world would be a better place.

One of my personal favorites is on the left, with the spiderman mask, a floral house dress, and an inflatable hammer. Yes. Halloween at its best.
Garbage bag guy, he's got "I want candy" written on his back. Very direct.

Ok, I know you still want my picture up:)

Weekly Mandarin: 13

13th Edition: Shuxie

So, I have really been learning more than one word per week. Especially now that I've got 4 hours of Mandarin per week in one-on-one and two-on-one classes.

And yesterday, I made a new milestone: I successfully produced some shuxie, or writing. Take a look:

This says "I am American" and "Is your family name Wei?" However, it probably looks to native Mandarin speakers like my 3rd graders' alphabet looks like to me.

Weekly Mandarin: 12

12th edition: Ke ai

My school has 1st through 6th graders, and I only teach the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th graders. This is a good thing, because honestly, I'd spend all my time with the 1st graders just wanting to pinch their cheeks. All I can think about during story time with the 1st graders is how darn cute, or "ke ai," they are.

Of course, the 2nd and 3rd graders are ke ai too... like the adorably round girl named "Apple" and the little guy who gives me his lunch snack everyday. But, I'll have to take a picture of Gladys, my co-teacher's 1st grade daughter, and you'll understand.

Fun in Taipei

We stumbled across the Taiwan Pride Parade while we were waiting for seats at the bagel cafe!

As we meandered, Meg and I found the Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. We took tourist photos...

...and were sure not to leave our turtles in the lake.

Museum of World Religions

The epic quest to visit museums in Taiwan continues...

This weekend, Meg and I paid a visit to the Museum of World Religions in Taipei. I'd heard that it was very new, very interactive, and that it would be great. It was very new, fairly interesting, and once again interpreted in both Chinese and English. The tours, however, were only in Chinese, so I wonder if they added more to the tour than what we weiguoren (foreigners) were able to absorb.

The aesthetic of the Museum was superb-- it really set a visitor up for reflection and a peaceful experience. The models of famous houses of worship were definitely the best, everything from Chartres to the Dome of the Rock and even a Frank Lloyd Wright meeting house.

And then there was the "step into the scene" Annunciation...

Weekly Mandarin: 11

11th edition: Qiuji

I had more than enough to say about the summer here, I'm sure it even bordered on whining. But then, this week, overnight, the weather changed drastically.

And it is now qiuji, or autumn! That's to say that instead of being really hot and humid, it's chilly and humid and doesn't stop raining. But this is just the predecessor to winter, when its cold, and humid, and doesn't stop raining. Needless to say, I expect I'll miss the summer a bit after a few months of this. At least there was sun.

The National Palace Museum

As part of a recent trip to Taipei, my colleagues and I visited the National Palace Museum, probably the best-known museum in Taiwan. Basically, all the good stuff from Mainland China was sent to Taiwan for protection, and when Taiwan became independent, they kept all the goodies, at the National Palace Museum.

The Museum was very impressive, and positively huge. The collections were entirely Asian, which was interesting for me, and the exhibits were mostly chronological, which didn't tap into the collection's potential in my opinion. However, I was thrilled to see that the wall text was bilingual, if not trilingual, Chinese, English and sometimes Japanese. It made me think for a moment about how cocky it is that the national museums in the US only use English. They are, after all, a huge tourist pilgrimage location.

The tour was tough-- millions of years in an hour, on a very crowded holiday. But overall, it was a typical museum tour. I think we made something like twenty stops, which made my head spin, and by the end I was one of the awful learners singing and dancing in the back of the tour group. (Ok, it the docent was explaining how scholars were judged partially by how good their inkwells were, and would attract followers by having good inkwells. That somehow needed to become "My inkwell brings all the boys to the yard..." with a dance.)

Extreme Cuteness Alphabet

G

H


I
J (which, of course, stands for "JENNY")

Storytime!

Besides my classroom teaching (17 periods per week, plus prep) I'm also reading stories to 2 or 3 classes per week. This can be a challenge with language learners-- since my sixth graders have the English of a native second grader, but think that they're too old for picture books. I would love to know some very short, simple language stories that aren't really picture books per say, so I welcome your suggestions. Right now, I think I've found an option with a book of minimally illustrated Aesop's fables. With the older kids, they already know the story so it's really a language exercise for them. So far so good.

I'm a narcissist. We did a book about a teacher for Teacher's Day.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar with fifth grade kids

A silhouette game after a Dr. Seuss book on shapes
(with Gladys, the adorable and brilliant daughter of my co-teacher, Hopkins)

Super Typhoon Krosa

I guess the international news circuit was slow and decided to mention our super typhoon this weekend. Never fear, I haven't been washed into the Pacific Ocean. In fact, I didn't even lose power or internet. I just sat around watching Grey's Anatomy episodes and eating:)

My host mom was worried for my well-being, so she insisted on coming by on Friday night with a care package of food for me: 3 kinds of fresh bread, butter, soup mix, coke, sprite, and potato chips. I am definitely well-loved.

Don't tell Kelly (the Taiwanese Fulbright staff person assigned to keeping us safe), but we did go out before the typhoon got bad, because Kate and I realized we had an emergency situation: We didn't have enough bananas to last the typhoon! It's all about risk-management.

Weekly Mandarin: 10

10th Edition: Ting Bu Dong

This could just be my most useful phrase yet, and I think it's both expressive in its accents and a little philosophical.

"Ting bu dong" is a phrase I have heard... probably about 100 times so far in my teaching career. It translates to "I hear, but I don't understand." It is not only helpful to know when my students are groaning this at me, but also when the lady at the fruit stand thinks "well, she looks Chinese, she must speak Chinese."

Teaching and Learning Tidbit

So far, I haven't made any kids cry in class yet. One of my kids did start putting a plastic bag over his head today in class, but I don't think it was a comment on my teaching.

I did, however, make myself cry in Chinese class today. (To clarify: I was crying while I was a student in a Chinese class at the University. To anyone who knows the phonetic alphabet, I was absolutely failing at distinguishing the zi, tzi, si. And my teacher wouldn't let me sit down and give up despite my protests of "but, I'm really stressed out.") I have so much more empathy for these kids now that I'm in their shoes (as a language-learner myself).

Kids are great but...

My friend Kate told me about an admissions question to her education grad program that posed that question.

After only a month of teaching in a classroom, and reflecting on my other teaching experiences, I would fill it in with the following options:
... they can be real jerks! Like the kid at the Constitution Center who kindly informed me that I was breaking out, kids can be quite insulting. Sometimes they don't realize they're saying things that are unkind, but several of the angels I've taught know perfectly well where the line is and how far past it they are. I'm glad I don't speak Mandarin, so so it's easier to let it roll right off.
... they're really stinky sometimes. At least I know I'm not the only person on this island who sweats constantly.
... sometimes, enough is enough. We had classes on Saturday, specifically, we did a my most demanding class schedule on Saturday. And then we did it again on Monday. I can say without a doubt that I'd sincerely prefer the company of my boyfriend, my family, my boyfriend's family, my friends, or my own peace of mind.

Weekly Mandarin: 9

9th edition: Jiaotache

This Weekly Mandarin is late because I had to make sure the drama actually had a happy ending before I could tell the happy ending online.

Jiaotache is the word for bicycle. And here is the recent history of me and my jiaotache:

• First, I didn't have a bike, so I bought one.
  
• Then I couldn't ride it, so I learned (courtesy of Michelle and my friendly neighbors at the time).
  
• Then I left my bike parked at the train station near my old apartment, as I couldn't understand how the train company wanted me to package my bike for shipping and couldn't just take the darn thing on the train with me. So last weekend, I sucked it up, woke up at 6:30 on a Sunday morning, and biked the thing 6 miles to my new apartment. It was a pretty uneventful ride, except for that I finished thinking I was superwoman.
  
• In any case, so I decided this weekend I would take my bike for a ride to get used to it again. After getting rained out at one point in the morning, I went back in the afternoon, figuring I could bike to my errands. And I put the key in the lock... and the key ripped off the handle, with part of the key still stuck in the lock.
  
• So, finally, today, I mentioned it to my co-teacher, who had one of the other teachers come to my apartment to unstick the key.
• ... And finally, I have my jiaotache back to usable. And I still prefer my scooter.
  

Moon Festival

One of the biggest traditional holidays here in Taiwan is the Moon Festival, celebrated in mid-autumn on the autumnal equinox. It feels a lot like Thanksgiving in the US, and is a time when families get together and celebrate harvest. However, rather than turkey and cranberry sauce, there are some different food traditions here, including:

The barbecue. Since the festival is all about the moon, it makes sense to eat outdoors under the moon and it's certainly still warm enough to do so. Unfortunately, it also rains here almost everyday, so barbecues end up moving into garages or covered spaces and you can't see the moon. However, I happen to think BBQs here are pretty fantastic. Everything, from vegetables to tofu squares and every kind of animal is put over charcoals and eaten off a stick. And neither of the parties I've been to have had real sit-around-360-days-out-of-the-year barbecues, instead there have been little cinderblock constructions sitting on cement floors, which make more sense to me. And in case you were wondering, blowtorches and an electric fan do wonders to get charcoal going.

The moon cakes: Little ball-shaped cakes flavored with sesame seed or taro. Total number of moon cakes given to me this year: 18 and counting.

Pomelos: Pomelos, like Hershey's kisses and crack cocaine, are highly addictive. Lucky for me, they're not as unhealthy as chocolate or illegal drugs. Not only is it traditional to eat Pomelos (it looks like most families get at least one crate of them) for Moon Festival, but also to wear the rinds on one's head. Entertainment, hair treatment, and bug repellent in one. My kind of celebration.

Happy Moon Festival, everyone!

Tidbit on Turtle Island

Please feel free to check out the modified Turtle Island post-- now with dolphin footage directly on the page!

Google Maps

For anyone wondering what life is like here in Yilan, here are a few of my favorite haunts embedded in a GoogleMap. Mostly, these are the things that are truly important to me... the dumpling shop, the pizza restaurant, and... school. Please don't add or move things around on me unless you live here with me and want to set me straight. If you plugged a Wendy's into my map, you could light a glimmer of hope that I might spend hours chasing down.


View Larger Map

Also, you can zoom all the way out on my map and see that I really am just about as far from home as I could possibly be, but still on Earth. (A warm fuzzy thought for us all.)

Weekly Mandarin: 8

8th Edition: Bu Yow...

Apologies to anyone who read the temporary 8th Weekly Mandarin. It was lame to say the least. Here is its improved replacement:

It's somewhat fascinating that I have survived in Taiwan thus far with my vocabulary of approximately a dozen words. But it's even more fascinating that I've been the opposite of undernourished, as...

Most everyone who knows me knows that I am a picky eater. So now I have the grammatical tools to deal with that. Besides the name for what I do want, I now know how to say what I "bu yow" or don't want as well. This means I can order my rice without eggs, or my tea without milk, or sandwiches without sauce and life is automatically a bit better for me.

This sentence was driven home for by stories of Jeannie's lovely student. The one who expresses all responses prefaced by "Bu yow." For example, he answers questions like "What letter does Apple start with?" with "Bu yow A." He just doesn't want English.

Turtle Island

This Wednesday, rather than working, we were taken on an awesome field trip to Turtle Island. The Island seriously looks like a turtle, with a head, shell, and tail. It is a preserved ecological resource and its visitation is strictly limited.

Of course, we took a boat to get to the Island. Which meant I needed some serious motion sickness drugs (for some reason Taiwan makes me motion sick more than anywhere else I've ever been). But it was totally worth it because we ended up seeing about 200 dolphins playing in the Pacific Ocean on our way. I took only mental pictures and tried to soak in the experience. But if you're itching for some footage, here's a bit courtesy of Katie:

Once we got to the shore, we made a b-line for the restrooms and met our guide, who told us that the hike to the summit would be "about seven hundred" steps up. Actually, this seems to have been a breakdown in translation. Because once we got to 700, we realized he'd meant "seventeen hundred." But it was totally worth it because check out the view from 401 meters above sea level.

(Turtle head)

(Turtle Tail)

(Finally... but it was totally worth it)

Jin

You might remember that I was kind of handed a Chinese name on my first day in Taiwan. I'd come in with my grandmother's name (Kim Ling Wei) and came out with a different character for Wei, and a Jin-Nee. Considering that all of the other non-Chinese speaking Fulbrighters were assigned names that sounded like their American names and surnames, I kind of let go of my grandma's name and surrendered.

But actually, I found out last weekend that there's a lot more to "jin" than sounding like "jen." "Jin," seen below, is the character for gold (quite auspicious), but it's also pronounced "Kim" in Cantonese. So I did get my grandmother's name after all, through some cosmic blessing that my English name sounds like her character in Mandarin. I kind of got teared up because it didn't hit me how much it meant to me until I was so relieved that it had happened after all.

Weekly Mandarin: 7

7th Edition: Yujia

Kate and I decided to have an adventure by signing up for some dance classes at the local community center. Since we couldn't get dancing shoes shipped in fast enough, we decided we'd ease into the whole classes-instructed-in-Chinese thing with some nice easy yoga, or yujia.

HA. The class is taught by a 46 year old mini-Amazon. And it's half aerobics and half intense stretching with some yoga poses. For example: while trying to get me and Kate (both former dancers) to clench our butt cheeks really tightly together during plank, she took out a toothbrush and held it between her buttocks. She is my hero. And we're planning on taking the class until we can do the same. Besides that, we'll come out of the whole year with a great vocabulary of anatomy and movement verbs.

Weekly Mandarin: 6

6^th Edition: Cha

cha-cha-cha. No. I haven't started ballroom dancing again yet. But I did get a very elaborate tea-tasting during a visit to the local tea farms. So this week's word is “cha” for tea.

Of course, here there are so many kinds of tea. And usually I just drink whatever I get handed. But during my tea tasting, I got to eat some wonderful (and addictive) tea-roasted peanuts and I tried 4 varieties of tea. Personally, I seem to be a weak-tea drinker who doesn't care too much about the scent of the tea but hates an aftertaste, so ended up with a lovely green tea (which, I was told, is so called because it is not roasted like many other teas). It was really quite an experience!

This is me with the sniffing cup. There was one short-squat cup for sipping from and one tall cup for sniffing out of. The sniffing was fun but really didn't make or break the tea, in my mind.

As a bonus, I can also recognize the character for cha, which I believe is supposed to look like a leaf. But to me, it looks more like a little tea house... whatever gets me through my menu.

Museum MADNESS

Ok, not really. But I did visit two historical houses this past weekend.

One Museum, which was about a 15 minute walk from my apartment, was the historical seat of the Yilan County government. It was a recently restored Japanese-style house and was positively beautiful inside. The teak wood (a local crop that's been exploited for years, especially during Japanese occupation) smelled wonderful! It had a mix of historically accurate living spaces and exhibition space with a timeline of the government and culture in Yilan County. And I taught the friend I was with the word “restoration.”

...which she then used during our outing the next day to the historical center of the lumber trade in Luodong (the city I had been living in until this month). The most remarkable thing about the site was the large, perfectly still artificial lake on which the lumber used to be floated. Since it's not used for lumber any more, it's become a protected bird habitat. And it was a perfect mirror of the evening sky when we stopped by.

I also visited a great scenic lookout (with a very romantic cafe on top of it).

Weekly Mandarin: 5

5th Edition: Pah boo

Food is a huge part of the culture here. I've had a few moments of "oh. my. gosh. get-this-out-of-my-mouth" but mostly, the food has been pretty great. However, this causes its own problems. Because I'd prefer not to return home the size of a hippo, I've taken up a new hobby: pah boo.

"Pah boo" is "running" in Chinese. It's the one thing every class, regardless of grade, understood when I was introducing myself and my hobbies. It has become a very important part of my day, mostly so I don't feel too rolly polly. And, luckily, across the street from my apartment is a huge high school with a nice track.

Jenny Lao Shur!

Those of you keeping up on your Weekly Mandarin already know that this entry is about teaching--specifically, my first day at my school! I'm going to be working with Sing-Sheng Elementary School in the lovely city of Yilan, co-teaching classes for 2nd, 3rd, and 6th graders with my partner teachers Hopkins and Angela. Everyone at the school is GREAT. All of the teachers and administrators, despite a sometimes wide language-gap, are unbelievably helpful. We're talking help switching apartments, walking me through my scooter purchasing and riding, help finding ballroom dancing classes in the neighborhood, and the suggestion that, really, the vegetarian lunch is much better than the meat.

And the kids run the gamut from precious to precocious in the not-so-good ways. Here are some of the best questions I heard during my self-introduction:

• Are you married?
• Are you rich?
• Is it fun to play in the snow?
• How big are the bugs in America?
• Are you pregnant? (Misinterpretation of the belly-rubbing gesture for "yummy")
  
• How old is your boyfriend? Is he rich? (By the way, sweetheart, they decided you were cool.)
  
• Do dogs in America listen to commands in English? (This is a sign of higher-level thinking, seriously)
  

One class started off by guessing I was 35 years old. No, I only feel that way after having 5 classes today.

Baby, I was born to ride

(Just for my wonderful Bruce fans at home in New Jersey)

But check this puppy out:What you can't tell from the other side of the Pacific Ocean is that the decal says "Fever" and my awesome helmet with the pink visor says "Sprot" instead of "sport." And the license plate is WUG.

I'll try to get some video of me driving my scooter. I must have spent a good hour on it today between school and running errands. And it is very fuel efficient! The bad thing is that the drivers here are pretty nuts. So left turns scare the living daylights out of me; so rather than turn left, I turn right at a stop light and turn around so I can go straight later. Maybe once I'm more comfortable with driving in general I'll do some real left turns by choice.

Of course, the day I get my scooter is the day the city starts tearing up streets to repave them. The new pavement is great, the gnawed up pavement-base is a nightmare. But don't worry, I drive fairly slow, always wear my "sprot" helmet and I have insurance.



I'm seriously considering trying to get a vespa back in the States:)

Vroooom Vrooooom

I have my first motor vehicle license! I can legally drive a 50 cc scooter in Taiwan! The scary thing is that all I needed to do was pass a test. I don't even know how to turn my blinkers on but I can drive legally. And to pass the exam, you needed to get an 85.... guess what score I got: 85! Fear not, I will wear a helmet.

Tomorrow I'll go to purchase my first motor vehicle--- and I am sincerely hoping for hot pink. It would make Brian feel extra special when he's forced to ride behind me on the seat during his visit. And it would make me feel extra special all the time.

Pictures to come!

What Used to Be the World's Tallest Building

This is Taipei 101. It used to be the tallest building in the world. The entire 5 bottom floors are filled with designer boutiques, mostly from Western fashion lines-- I now know where to find the Tiffany's in Taiwan if I'm in the market for some bling. But, more importantly, I found a shop on the map named Piaget. And I got to joke, with someone who understood, that it would sell developmentally appropriate toys... like water glasses that pour into each other, or things that temporarily hide. We thought it was funny and it proved that I am not alone.

In Taipei, we also...
... watched a super cool underground-esque Tap Dance show. It had tappers with an attitude from all across the world. My personal fav was "Summertime," that's right, from Porgy and Bess.
... stayed with a hostile hostel-er. He cursed. A lot. And made me stay up most of the night wondering if I would be slaughtered in my sleep. No, I was actually safe considering it would have been one against nine.
... ate superb American breakfast... complete with French toast.

Weekly Mandarin:4

4th Edition: Xie

Today was my first contact with real live Taiwanese students. To be honest, they were the winners of an English language speech contest, so they were about twice the proficiency of the average student, but they were awesome kids. Considering that today began sick, rainy, an-hour-and-a-half earlier than most days, and with a classroom lesson that was fairly rough around the edges, today was also awesome.

Why? Because we had a field trip to the Crab Museum! And I thought the day was going to get significantly worse when I was assigned two rambunctious boys from 4th grade as my charges for the field trip. They were bonkers during lunch, and definitely excitable during the guided tour of the Museum. But once we were self-guided with a few discussion questions (which I wrote, but got unfortunately formatted into something that looked like a classroom worksheet), the little guys were sponges of information. They had the most amazing observational skills and I almost burst into tears of joy when the one guy said "Teacher! Teacher! This one is missing a leg," and then continued to synthesize information from the guided tour about how crabs can regenerate limbs.

And that is why this week's word is "xie," meaning crab. Now, put on your critical thinking skills and figure out how to say "crab meat." You'll earn points for your team. I promise. Or a sticker.

Weekly Mandarin: 3

Edition 3: Ji-ro

This week my friend Kate and I had a big milestone: We ordered dinner for ourselves. This wouldn't be impressive except for the fact that neither of us had ever used any Chinese until we arrived here in Taiwan. And I'm picky and she's a vegetarian. But one night this week, instead of relying on someone else to translate for us, we decided to go out to dinner with our trusty Chinese dictionary.

Yes, there were pictures, but there were only generic pictures for the page, not for each dish. And, ok, we only pointed to the part of the menu where it said the name of the dish. But let me tell you, that meal tasted fantastic because it was hard-earned.

So my word of the week is "ji-ro." It directly translates to "chicken meat," since "ro" is the ending added to any animal to indicate that you're going to eat its meat, rather than requesting it as a pet. And I can even independently recognize its characters on menus without checking my dictionary.

The Next Step in Transportation

Grab your helmet and stay off the roads-- I'm learning how to drive a scooter. Unfortunately, I've finally moved somewhere that public transportation isn't amazing, so I have to upgrade my personal modes of transportation quickly. Apparently 42 of the past 42 English Teaching Assistants have purchased and rode scooters and it is very clear, looking at the streets of Yilan, Luodong, and even Taipei that scootering is the preferred mode of transportation. What isn't clear is how people manage not to kill themselves: all of the laws seem "flexible," at best, including which side of the street to drive on or red lights. I guess you just have to be very very aware of others around you.

With their pretty good gas mileage and relatively low maintenance, I may even work on getting a scooter in the States... assuming I can eventually stay on top, turn, and remember which hand is the brake. Don't worry, Vi, I always wear my helmet even when I'm only practicing.

The scooter driving test includes a test for driving slowly, but balanced, stopping at railroad crossings, and a written exam. We'll be taking it at the end of the month, so I'll just have to keep working on the scootering until then:)

Sepat

It's official. The part of the typhoon that freaks me out the most is when the super wind gets into a crevice and makes a sound like a woman screaming her head off.

Despite several false-alarms related to typhoons since we got here, Super Typhoon Sepat is going for it. The rice paddies are flooding outside my window and there is no. way. in. hell. I'll go out today. I can't get any pictures that really convey the spirit of the typhoon, since so much of it is being experienced by the sounds, like that our porch door just might fly open any minute.

"It's not a typhoon, it's a super typhoon"

That's right. We've got another typhoon coming. And it's higher than the highest possible danger rating. For a good chuckle, take a look at this map:)

Current estimates are for the storm to hit us on Sunday early morning, but I'll keep you posted.

First Museum in Taiwan

I realized that I hadn't posted about my first, and so far only, Taiwanese Museum. As a part of our "scavenger hunt" project, we were sent to visit the Taiwan Theater Museum, located right in the heart of Yilan. It is the only Museum that celebrates the art of Taiwanese Opera Theater. Unfortunately, there wasn't much English interpretation available, but the Museum was still a lot of fun and very interesting. It had several stamping stations with images from theater, lots of costumes, and even a place where visitors could try on costumes and act on a stage (the picture here is of Casey, who had her ID available for collateral). There was also a huge puppet that had been made during a school program, which was awesome, but my pictures aren't great. We didn't meet any English-speaking Museum staff, but I might do some digging to see if I can find out more! This Museum is one of 30 in Yilan county which are partnered... my goal for the 11 months I'm here is to visit all of these local museums, as well as some of the more famous national museums. I'll keep you posted:)

Bike Riding

It's the end of an era, folks: I bought a bike yesterday and practiced for 2 hours this morning.

I can now ride for several minutes at a time. I can do straight lines and turns (though I'm not partial to lefthand turns) and I can bike hills. Now I'll just have to learn how to ride in traffic... and how to scooter... and how to drive. But hey, it's progress!

I'll upload a picture as soon as I get my roommate to take a picture of me on my bike.

My bike is bright purple and I'm open to suggestions, but currently favoring "Purple People Eater..." though there have been no pedestrian fatalities so far.

Weekly Mandarin: 1 and 2

I've been delinquent on a section I promised Brian I would post: a weekly bit of Mandarin that I've picked up. Hopefully, I'll start to absorb some more language soon. But here are the first two editions of your Weekly Mandarin. Enjoy.

Edition 1: Ba Ba
As most of you probably know, correct Mandarin pronunciation includes tones as well as consonant and vowel sounds. Tones allow for an individual syllable to have multiple meanings, similar to the homophones of English. I'll save all of you from the tones in my Mandarin updates and will be writing in my own Jenny-Wei-pinyin, so you may want to look them up before using them on anyone:)

One example of this is the syllable "ba," which means "8", or "pa" can mean "dad," though "ba-ba" ("papa") is more common. Because of this similarity, August 8 (8/8) is considered Father's Day here! So, happy belated Taiwanese Father's Day!

Edition 2: Wo shur lao shuh.
You can imagine that I stick out pretty well here. I'm just not Asian enough to blend in. So sometimes, I'll walk into a store, and before I even open my mouth to show that I have no grasp on Mandarin, the shopkeeper will be looking at me and very clearly thinking "what the heck is this white girl doing in my country--let alone my store?!" The sentence "Wo shur lao shuh," meaning "I am a teacher," has explained it all to the folks I meet. People I've met here are familiar with the idea of foreigners coming to teach English, and are extra friendly once that's explained. I also bet my pronunciation is so bad that they know not to continue speaking Mandarin to me:)

Trash Talk and the Typhoon

I know, I know, you at home are thinking “how can she go on all these adventures if she spends so much time writing in her blog.” But I end up writing most of this at night when I've got some quiet time to think back. And, for my biggest fans-- fear not, we're supposed to have internet on Wednesday! One thing that is just amazing about Taiwan, if a bit hard to get accustomed to, is the recycling program. We got a gigantic chart today with twenty different types of materials that are recycled. I am really impressed with how complete the program is and how thoughtfully it seems to have been developed; for example, the food wastes are distributed to pig farmers to feed to pigs or composted, separate from other types of biodegradable materials. It's fascinating! I seriously wonder how a program this comprehensive came into existence and is followed. Apparently the workers who collect the materials are good at explaining the system and check bags to make sure the proper things are being recycled. On the other hand, las cucarachas are something I could do without. The house Michelle and I had been staying at didn't have roaches, but our brand new apartment does. I suppose that's why the trash people come by almost everyday. The tropics. PS-- Typhoon predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday, if you are interested in checking up on me, I'm 45 minutes inland, on the North Eastern bit of the Island (Ilan, I-Lan, or Yilan). I'll keep you posted or feel free to check out www.weatherunderground.com and plug in Yilan, Taiwan.

Contact address

Three blog postings today, sorry all, but here's some new info:

Please send any mail to:
Jenny Wei
c/o Foundation for Scholarly Exchange
No. 36, Sec 1, Minchiuan Rd
I-Lan City, I-Lan County 260
TAIWAN

Bike Riding and the Night Market

As some of you out there may know, I never learned how to ride a bike, let alone drive a car. But here in Yilan, scooters or bikes are the way to go. So my roommate Michelle took me outside to learn how to ride.

While wobbling outside on a bike WAY too big for me, some of the neighbors came by. The little boy spoke English (told us that he was going swimming!), but his family spoke Chinese to Michelle. And they offered to lend us a bike that would fit me better. So we did, after they made a big fuss over pumping it with fresh air. Then another neighbor came out with tips, and spoke to us in passable English about his trip to Washington, DC. And a bottle of ice water which we could not refuse. AND THEN out comes a little grandma, who insisted on lending us her bike, which was even smaller and more my size. It was so sweet. And by the end, I could sometimes go up to 4 pedals in a row before falling off. I'll keep you posted on more progress.




We also went to fabulous Hot Pot dinner last night (all you can eat, self-selected, self-cooked dinner) which was fabulous, and visited the local night market. There was so much activity at the Night Market, which was interesting because besides stalls, it also had several arcades for little kids. And here's a little guy catching turtles at the Night Market. They were for pets, not for snacks;)

Delayed Blog

We don't have internet yet in our houses, so here's a blog I wrote over the weekend:

Things are going fairly well here! My roommate and I are staying a few days at the house of one of the local English teachers, so we haven't been able to settle into our real apartment yet. I still feel in limbo and it's making me a bit edgy. I'm also craving a map which “we'll get later in the week,” but I'm considering subversively finding one myself-- right now we're at the mercy of those willing to drive us places.

In other news, I'm getting adventurous with food (well, adventurous for me). The biggest trouble is not being able to order for ourselves-- we've been supplied basically all of our meals, and I think our hosts are ordering the best of what our seaside region has to offer. Unfortunately, I didn't step out of the plane with a sudden fondness for fish, but I'm trying many of the dishes anyway.

The weather hasn't changed much, but I'm getting used to it. I don't particularly notice that I'm dripping sweat all the time. To prevent dehydration, I drank over 4 Liters of water yesterday, which causes its own problems...

It seemed like everyone I spoke to about going to the Far East had something to say about the toilets:
“Bring your own toilet paper-- pull out the cardboard core to pack more”
“Use the handicapped stalls, they'll have Western style toilets”
“Strap your backpack across the front of you for stability”
“Only one rule: ALWAYS carry your own toilet paper”
I haven't had much time to explore the porcelain of the region yet, but it's all fairly livable. The creepiest thing is having to put used tissue in a trash can, rather than flushing it. Oh, and here's a picture of my first squatter. Thanks for the advice, my friends!

Arrival- Taipei for a Day

I'm in Taipei!

I survived the incredibly long airplane ride on a crummy air carrier-- China Airlines. Apparently, they have so many crashes that if they have another, they'll be discontinued. I'm glad I found that out after riding;) The flight was smooth, except for the bad food (yes, China airlines served seafood paella), unopenable carry-on luggage compartments, and the awful movies shown on the communal movie screen. You get what you pay for and this trip was free for me.

In any case, it got me here, to the slightly overwhelming Taiwan. We met with almost all of the other Fulbrighters here, and the staff from the office. The male-to-female ratio (3 to 9) reminds me of grad school with our token male, Ranald, among 16 women. I guess I should get used to that if I'm planning to stay in the field of education.

The weather here is hot. And humid. As one person describes it, "you will just never feel dry." And it seems true! Hopefully I'll get acclimated.

And I am entirely overwhelmed with the language barrier. About half our group has no Chinese language experience, but I feel entirely at the mercy of our Foundation staff members who do speak and those Fulbrighters who can speak. I can't tell the tones in the different words apart, let alone read the characters.

This has all led to the potential for me to not even be able to pronounce my own Chinese name. Apparently, the character my grandfather has used for our family name is not used in Taiwan, so people would think I'm nuts. But they won't let me not use "Wei" in some way (haha) since it would seem like I'm not proud to be part Chinese. And I had been going to use my grandmother's name, but it looks like that got thrown out the window for a Chinese version of my first name. So the end result sounds like "way tchi-nee." And has something to do with a historic area of China and gold.

On one final note, I'm having technical difficulties getting my browser to display things in English, so any adivce on those lines would be welcome. I've got lots of little boxes, rather than text in buttons or hyperlinks. So it's kind of a guessing game. My computer seems to be trying to speak Chinese with me. I'm glad at least that the characters come up only as boxes-- you can probably tell that I'm finding the characters intimidating and I just might not be able to tolerate such behavior from my lifeline to the States.

Call Me on Skype

Anyone who is interested on talking to me while in Taiwan, I have set up a Skype internet phone account. My contact name will be jennifer.k.wei. Of course, I haven't tried it, and I haven't even left yet, but it's supposed to work well enough-- and it's free! As Dad says, "If it's for free, it's for me." Just remember that I'll be 13 hours ahead of the US East Coast.

In other news, I finished my volunteership with the National Constitution Center on Friday, moved out of my Philly apartment today, and all my bags are (mostly) packed.

Time to departure: T minus 74 hours.

Joining the Information Superhighway

If I can get a Fulbright, I can keep a blog. Right?