Weekly Mandarin: 40

40th edition: Nanpengyou!!

Boyfriend!! Brian came to visit last week, so last week's word is boyfriend!!

We had a lot of fun. We went to...
hot springs (where Brian loved the doctor fishies)
school (which was much like visiting the zoo)
Taroko Gorge (where we hiked SO many steps)
the ZOO! (which was a wonderful, if very hot, free choice learning environment)
a dancing club
and a REALLY nice hotel.

It was great:)

Ri ben! (Japan!)

There's a weird network going on between people who teach English in Asia. If you know everyone in the world through six degrees of separation, I know all of the English teachers in Asia through two or three degrees. Luckily, that makes it much easier to travel!

I spent four days of last weekend in middle-to-Western Japan, mostly in the area near Nara/Kyoto/Kobe. Jeannie and I stayed with one of her good friends who is teaching English in Japan as part of the JET program.

I was really amazed by Japan. It seemed like many of the everyday things like language, clothes, trains, and buildings reflected the deeply rooted traditions and cultural values of the country. I loved their ability to (albeit selectively) absorb Western and modern aspects of life and preserve their own histories. Here are some of my highlights in the trip:

We saw geisha. Real geisha going to engagements for the evening! We didn't take pictures, but we did pick our dinner restaurant specifically so that we could watch them walking down the street in full-dress.

Kobe beef. In Kobe, Japan. I thought it would be tasteless to take a picture of the guy cooking my steak or me eating my steak in the restaurant. It was not, however, tasteless to pose like a cow outside the restaurant;)

Hanamei (Cherry blossom viewing) This wasn't even the peak of the blossom season yet! But it was positively gorgeous. And we had a lovely picnic in the mountains.


I was in love with the roofs. Most of the homes and buildings in the Kyoto-area had these gorgeous clay roof tiles. This one is on a temple in Kyoto.

(Picture to come)
Nara has famous, sacred deer. There were too many tourists so our deer weren't especially interested in our deer-crackers. But it was fun to feed them!

(Picture to come)
I think this must have been developed by a monk with an MBA because I guarantee this hole contributes greatly to the revenue of the temple: One of the hot-spots in Nara is a temple with a huge buddah. But there are plenty of temples with Buddahs in Asia. This one was special partially because there was a column in the temple, with a hole carved in it exactly the size of the Buddah's nostril. And anyone who could squeeze through it would gain enlightenment. So we stood in line, behind lots of kids who were going to go through it, and we didn't actually get REALLY stuck. Just stuck for a second or so;)

Now that I've been to Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, I feel like I should figure out how to squeeze in a visit to Mainland China, but it looks pretty impossible at the moment...

Weekly Mandarin: 32

32nd edition: shiao shin!

In all honesty, there is no exclamation point included in the character itself, but it just seems appropriate. This weekend, we spent a day in Taroko Gorge, one of Taiwan's most famous natural attractions. We stayed in a swanky hotel and spent all of Saturday hiking.

I should say that "hiking" is a term that is used pretty loosely here. It includes everything from walking on a flat, paved road that doesn't allow cars, to creeping along the inside of an unlit cave with waterfalls shooting out the walls. And we enjoyed all varieties of hiking in Taroko.

Because Taroko is still very much of an active geological site (what with the tectonic plates bashing about), almost every sign in the Gorge began with shiao shin! Or... "Be careful." For those of us who are not yet blessed with Mandarin fluency, this was also expressed in "ROCKFALL!" signs, large red exclamation points painted on the ground, and great pictures of stick people dangling off the side of a cliff while rocks are falling on them. Obviously, we had a great time.


Shiao Shin! Extreme geekiness approaching!

On a sidenote, this is also a fabulous example of how darn complex Chinese is. "Shiao" on its own means "small" and "shin" on its own means "heart." And, I actually can read and write those characters too... So how the heck do we end up with "small heart" meaning "be careful"? This is one of the many reasons it will take me forever to really learn Mandarin.

And, here, I betray my profound geekiness yet again: So Frank Lloyd Wright, a famous American architect, felt strongly that the most powerful use of space was in contrasts. To make the maximum impact, place a tight space before an open space, or a light space before a dark space. Taroko's development into a tourist area includes many people-made tunnels to give hikers access to the best parts of the Gorge. For me, these tunnels made the expanses of the Gorge even more striking... going from this...

to this...

... in a matter of footsteps. Incredible!

Taichung

So, it's finally hitting me that I really have less than 4 months left in Taiwan, which means I'm suddenly in a big rush to actually see the island. First on my check list was Taichung, which many people know exclusively for it being the birthplace of bubble tea.

I was actually headed that way because of the museums. Someone told me that the Natural Science Museum is the place where progressive thinking in museum education happens in Taiwan, so I naturally (hehe... I'm so punny) had to go there. We took a road trip with one of the local English teachers and her adorable daughter and actually hit three museums in one day. Here are my thoughts on the museums:

Taichung Folklore Park... it was largely a relocated historical house museum with an underground exhibit area as well. I loved the site! It was smack dab in the middle of the city, but had really welcoming grounds that felt like insulation from the skyscrapers next door. Everything was minimally interpreted (in English or Chinese) so you probably had to come in knowing something about the culture. My favorite part was that besides holding traditional games in the exhibit cases (since they are valuable relics of the past) but they also had games laid out on tables to play with.


The Natural Science Museum was HUGE, as promised! They had a huge campus with lots of outdoor experiences that worked well in the beautiful weather that is apparently normal in Taichung. Since it was so huge, I decided to focus on the specifically Chinese parts of the museum, which focused on Chinese traditions and Chinese sciences. Interestingly, one of the key reasons for the Museum building this area was to supplement the Taiwanese public school curriculum! The museum was a little less interactive than the best science museums in the US, but seemed like it worked well for the visitors.

Chinglish in action: One of my favorite exhibit panels (for an exhibit on global warming).
It reads: "Love him, don't hot him!"

We also visited the National Museum of Art. It was pretty much entirely contemporary art, which isn't really my thing. But it had a killer gift shop. AND, they had a huge experience area for children. The map of it looked so cool. But they didn't let adults play without a little person. What the heck is that about--ageists.

Hanguo!!! (Korea)

I spent the 5 days surrounding New Years in Korea with my great friend Hwa Jeong. We met during grad school and she was a wonderful hostess in her home city of Seoul! I think this is a story best-told through pictures: enjoy!

I didn't have a thorough understanding of how cold it would be in Korea. Heh. It was REALLY cold. But to deal with that fact, the Koreans came up with this brilliant heating system a long time ago. All the heat, radiating from the floor, but none of the smoke. Genius! If only they could do it to the sidewalks too.
Awesome apotropaic stone figure. Didn't really scare me though.


Having fun with the giant plastic figure...

..and the giant stuffed figure.

Hwa Jeong took me to visit Korea's National Folklife Museum. It was really interesting (and they had a cool proximity triggered electronic self-guide). Their special exhibit was about the Chinese zodiac system, which obviously isn't just used in China, but also Chinese restaurants all over the world;) It focused on art including the rat-- this upcoming year and MY zodiac year! Outside the Museum, they had an arrangement of the zodiac figures! Here's me and the rat:)

Who says my sister should have all the fun trying on wedding dresses? Me in a Korean wedding dress:)
Hwa Jeong and I took an awesome Korean drumming lesson. We were really good at it. AND THEN, we clapped the same rhythm during the Nanta performance a few days later. How cool.

Me and the cute drummer guys. Right now they're not wearing their beanie hats with ribbon-dancer ribbons on them. But it was pretty awesome when they were dancing, drumming, and ribbon-dancing.

Korea has Outback. I couldn't have been happier.


For New Years Eve, Hwa Jeong and I went to Lotte World (any MEPs out there, you KNOW that's funny!). We ended up going on a rollercoaster at about 11 PM and then watching indoor fire works. (Side note: not us) What a great way to ring in the New Year-- at Asia's largest indoor theme park...



Ok... but not all of it was indoors. I almost turned into an icicle on the swing ride.
Cold + going fast = really cold.

It only snows on mountain tops in Taiwan. So I wanted to see some snow in Korea. It actually led me to get really excited when I saw about 5 snowflakes in a flurry one day. But the most snow I experienced was in an aquarium with a snow machine. I don't think there are polar bears in Korea.

Hwa Jeong got us tickets to the Must See performance in Korea-- Nanta! It's a percussion show based around the sounds and drum-able things in the kitchen. It was highly participatory; Hwa Jeong went on stage to make dumplings with the cast during the show. And my personal favorite part was when they quoted Street Fighter 3. And I understood it. (Brian, be proud)

Hwa Jeong was a reaaaaaally generous hostess.
She even gave me a departing gift--mousy goodies for the lunar new year!