Friday, August 6, 2010
Short Hair!
So, I decided to get my hair cut here in Taiwan because stylists here actually know what to do with thick Asian hair. Lydia took us to a salon in new Sansia. It was only 21 USD to get my hair washed, cut, and dried. I decided to go with a shorter style because it is just way too hot to have long hair here. So much hair is gone...Overall, I am satisfied with it.
Calligraphy and Ocarinas
A few weeks ago, we had another Chinese culture class. We learned how to write Chinese calligraphy. I have done this before, but I still am pretty bad at it. I just do not know how much ink to put on my brush.
Afterward, we learned about Chinese instruments such as the erhu and pipa. I tried to play the erhu, which is a two-stringed instrument with a bow. It is harder than it looks. Later, our whole group learned to play the ocarina. I was so excited. It is actually very easy to learn, and we all played several songs, including "You are my Sunshine," "Happy Birthday," and "Amazing Grace." We make a pretty good ocarina band.
Afterward, we learned about Chinese instruments such as the erhu and pipa. I tried to play the erhu, which is a two-stringed instrument with a bow. It is harder than it looks. Later, our whole group learned to play the ocarina. I was so excited. It is actually very easy to learn, and we all played several songs, including "You are my Sunshine," "Happy Birthday," and "Amazing Grace." We make a pretty good ocarina band.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
The pressure is on...
Right now, I'm taking a break from preparing for tomorrow, a big day for our whole group. Tomorrow, we are doing 10 minute individual presentations and various other group presentations for our teachers, coordinators, TAs, and the president of the university. The best part: it's all in Chinese. I have decided to do a powerpoint presentation for my individual portion. For the group part, Lily and I are doing a short dialogue and singing the chorus of a song called "Laoshu Ai Da Mi" (老鼠爱大米).
Needless to say, we're all a little stressed because there is so much to do and we don't want to let everyone down. Hopefully, I'll finish early enough to get a good night of sleep. Wish us all luck!
By the way, here's a link to that song, with pinyin and English translation.
Needless to say, we're all a little stressed because there is so much to do and we don't want to let everyone down. Hopefully, I'll finish early enough to get a good night of sleep. Wish us all luck!
By the way, here's a link to that song, with pinyin and English translation.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Quest for the Elusive Durian
Last week, Stephanie, Lily, and I went out to Taipei to see a movie when the boys went hiking for 7 hours at Wulai. We found a good theatre online, and proceeded to find it. We made it to the correct MRT station, but that's when we started getting lost. After getting turned around a little, we decided to hail a cab...but the taxi took us to the wrong theatre. This one was kind of sketch and it only had old movies. So, it was back to finding another cab and we finally reached our destination. MUCH nicer, but it was a little on the pricey side for Taiwan---about 10 USD for a ticket. The three of us decided to see "Inception." It's about a man who works through dreams; it's a little strange, but it's a thinking movie. I highly recommend it. If you liked "Shutter Island," then I think you will enjoy this. Afterward, we went to Banqiao night market. This was a letdown...there really wasn't much to see, buy, or eat there.
Another good thing about that night---I finally found durian! I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but I have been looking for this fruit since I have gotten here. As we were walking to the night market, I spied the spiky fruit across the street at a Carrefour (a popular grocery chain here). I bought a small one for us to try and carried it around the night market and on the MRT. It hit my leg a few times and scratched me. I went to great lengths to try this fruit...haha. A few nights later, Jeremy and I decided to crack it open. Really, it was a bit anti-climatic because durian is known as the "king of fruits." I had heard it is supposed to be really smelly, and that Andrew Zimmern (host of "Bizarre Foods") couldn't even eat it. It turned out to be not much of a challenge at all. I would call its smell pungent, but not unpleasant. This may be due to the fact that the one I picked is not fully ripe, so it does not have that fermented odor. Also, the texture was very creamy, and when you freeze it, it is almost like ice cream. I think it is delicious.
Another good thing about that night---I finally found durian! I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but I have been looking for this fruit since I have gotten here. As we were walking to the night market, I spied the spiky fruit across the street at a Carrefour (a popular grocery chain here). I bought a small one for us to try and carried it around the night market and on the MRT. It hit my leg a few times and scratched me. I went to great lengths to try this fruit...haha. A few nights later, Jeremy and I decided to crack it open. Really, it was a bit anti-climatic because durian is known as the "king of fruits." I had heard it is supposed to be really smelly, and that Andrew Zimmern (host of "Bizarre Foods") couldn't even eat it. It turned out to be not much of a challenge at all. I would call its smell pungent, but not unpleasant. This may be due to the fact that the one I picked is not fully ripe, so it does not have that fermented odor. Also, the texture was very creamy, and when you freeze it, it is almost like ice cream. I think it is delicious.
Fun on the MRT, Indigo dyeing, and Yingge Ceramics
Now that we've figured out how to navigate the MRT relatively well, some of the boys of our group have started to play some games. It all started when we were all going somewhere, and the train was packed. Everyone was in the train except me and Lily. I ran down to the next train and jumped in right before the doors closed, thinking that Lily was right behind me. As the doors closed, we all saw her standing on the platform all by herself. It was alright, though, because we met up with her at the next station. Still, it was pretty funny. Taking inspiration from this, Daniel jumped in a train with Stephanie one time. As the doors were about to close, he jumped out, leaving her in there by all by herself. It's pretty funny, but I think I am next in line since I'm the only girl who hasn't been left behind. Haha.
One Friday, we also had a field trip to Old Sansia (Sansia Lao Jie) to learn about indigo dyeing. It's a somewhat complicated process, in which the dye is made from the woad plant. Once fabric is dipped in the dye, it is exposed to oxygen, which turns the green color to a beautiful indigo. After learning about how the dye is made, we were allowed to make our own bandanas with whatever patterns we wanted. Really, there is no way to mess up the patterns. Everyone's bandanas ended up looking really pretty. After indigo-dyeing, we went to Yingge, which is famous for its ceramics. First, we visited the Ceramics museum. It was interesting, and at the end, we all went down to work with a little clay. When I sat down and looked around the room, the average age around us was 8 years old. We just had fun messing around and making random things. Daniel C made a McDonald's french fries and Rob made a man going through mid-life crisis. We were just being silly... After this, we all headed to the streets to Yingge to buy some souvenirs. I found a nice tea set for my parents. I'll be hand-carrying this box on the plane so it doesn't shatter.
One Friday, we also had a field trip to Old Sansia (Sansia Lao Jie) to learn about indigo dyeing. It's a somewhat complicated process, in which the dye is made from the woad plant. Once fabric is dipped in the dye, it is exposed to oxygen, which turns the green color to a beautiful indigo. After learning about how the dye is made, we were allowed to make our own bandanas with whatever patterns we wanted. Really, there is no way to mess up the patterns. Everyone's bandanas ended up looking really pretty. After indigo-dyeing, we went to Yingge, which is famous for its ceramics. First, we visited the Ceramics museum. It was interesting, and at the end, we all went down to work with a little clay. When I sat down and looked around the room, the average age around us was 8 years old. We just had fun messing around and making random things. Daniel C made a McDonald's french fries and Rob made a man going through mid-life crisis. We were just being silly... After this, we all headed to the streets to Yingge to buy some souvenirs. I found a nice tea set for my parents. I'll be hand-carrying this box on the plane so it doesn't shatter.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Wind-surfing, Karaoke, and Kung-fu Fighting
As I've mentioned before, we've also been taking business classes once a week in addition to our Chinese classes. For business class, we have different people come talk to us about various aspects of business in Asia. Our second speaker was a professor of Sport Management. Afterward, we all went wind-surfing. When they said "wind-surfing" on the schedule, we were all imagining going to the ocean; however, they took us to the little "lake" next to our dormitory. It was quite funny because there were signs that said "No wading or Swimming." I guess we broke the rules. Oh well. Aside from this, it was pretty fun. I guess it was for the better that we had our first wind-surfing experience at a place with minimal wind because it made it easier to learn. I was quite bad at turning directions, but I only fell into the gross water once!
Somehow, a girl named Danielle from the United States found out about us and expressed interest in meeting our group. She was really excited about meeting more Americans since she has been teaching English here for the past 4 months. We all decided to meet up with her at karaoke, a popular thing to do in Asia. Karaoke was fun, cheesy music videos and all.
One day, we had a cultural class and learned some kung-fu forms. It was more hilarious than anything...especially when we had to do pairs and perform. I'll spare you all the pictures.
Somehow, a girl named Danielle from the United States found out about us and expressed interest in meeting our group. She was really excited about meeting more Americans since she has been teaching English here for the past 4 months. We all decided to meet up with her at karaoke, a popular thing to do in Asia. Karaoke was fun, cheesy music videos and all.
One day, we had a cultural class and learned some kung-fu forms. It was more hilarious than anything...especially when we had to do pairs and perform. I'll spare you all the pictures.
Playing some more catch-up
I'm still a little behind, so I'll just briefly go over some of the highlights.
A couple weeks ago, we moved into our new dorms. Previously, we had been staying in the building next door with 4-person rooms. Now, we are in the graduate student dormitories, with 2-person rooms. The good thing about this move is that we now have no curfew, whereas before, we had a 12:30 AM curfew. Bad thing...there were ants everywhere when we moved in. I guess this is because we are now on the 2nd floor instead of the 10th floor. Fear not! They are all gone now thanks to my trusty anti-bacterial spray. Haha.
Another note-worthy event is our trip to Shilin night market, the most famous night market in Taipei. There is everything there...street food, clothes, shoes, jewelry, souvenirs...and everything is so very cheap. I finally got to try stinky tofu (chou dofu). It really was not as bad as I had expected. Truth be told, I was left wanting something...I was a little disappointed. The feared stinky tofu was really not as horrible as people make it out to be. In addition to this, I ate fried chicken filet (jipai) and a tofu dessert (douhua). It's a lot of fun, and there are so many people there that you have to walk sideways most of the time, especially on the weekends.
Another thing to know about Taiwan: there are night markets everywhere...I've been to three so far---Shilin, Shida, and Banqiao. My favorite is Shida because it is a little tamer than Shilin and the clothes seem to be of better quality. For food, though, I would definitely go to Shilin.
One weekend, the TA's took us to Danshui, which is right along the northern coast. There, we saw Fort St. Domingo, which used to be where the Spanish and British had the start of their colonies in Taiwan. I really enjoyed it because it is really interesting to see the history and evolution of the island. After the fort, we walked along the old streets and along the Fisherman's Wharf where there are various vendors selling food and random knick-knacks. My favorite part was at night when we went up to the famous Lover's Bridge. It was nice to take the ferry across the water and watch the sunset. Overall, I would say Danshui is kind of a tourist trap, but still a nice day-trip location...and so close to Sansia (only 1.5 hours on the MRT)!
A couple weeks ago, we moved into our new dorms. Previously, we had been staying in the building next door with 4-person rooms. Now, we are in the graduate student dormitories, with 2-person rooms. The good thing about this move is that we now have no curfew, whereas before, we had a 12:30 AM curfew. Bad thing...there were ants everywhere when we moved in. I guess this is because we are now on the 2nd floor instead of the 10th floor. Fear not! They are all gone now thanks to my trusty anti-bacterial spray. Haha.
Another note-worthy event is our trip to Shilin night market, the most famous night market in Taipei. There is everything there...street food, clothes, shoes, jewelry, souvenirs...and everything is so very cheap. I finally got to try stinky tofu (chou dofu). It really was not as bad as I had expected. Truth be told, I was left wanting something...I was a little disappointed. The feared stinky tofu was really not as horrible as people make it out to be. In addition to this, I ate fried chicken filet (jipai) and a tofu dessert (douhua). It's a lot of fun, and there are so many people there that you have to walk sideways most of the time, especially on the weekends.
Another thing to know about Taiwan: there are night markets everywhere...I've been to three so far---Shilin, Shida, and Banqiao. My favorite is Shida because it is a little tamer than Shilin and the clothes seem to be of better quality. For food, though, I would definitely go to Shilin.
One weekend, the TA's took us to Danshui, which is right along the northern coast. There, we saw Fort St. Domingo, which used to be where the Spanish and British had the start of their colonies in Taiwan. I really enjoyed it because it is really interesting to see the history and evolution of the island. After the fort, we walked along the old streets and along the Fisherman's Wharf where there are various vendors selling food and random knick-knacks. My favorite part was at night when we went up to the famous Lover's Bridge. It was nice to take the ferry across the water and watch the sunset. Overall, I would say Danshui is kind of a tourist trap, but still a nice day-trip location...and so close to Sansia (only 1.5 hours on the MRT)!
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