2010: A Choice Year

Today's submission to the company newsletter:

The holidays are over, the school year has begun, and we have entered a new decade. Before we get too far into this new year, though, perhaps we ought to decide how it should be pronounced.

There are two options for the reading of 2010:

First, we could continue with the pattern we have been using for the previous years of the 2000s, and say, “two thousand ten” or “two thousand and ten.” (The latter of the two is the more formal, British style.) This feels quite natural following “two thousand [and] nine.” There is also an elegant sound to “two thousand [and] ten” which is decidedly lacking in the alternative.

This brings me to our second option: “twenty ten.” Reading the year in this manner requires one less syllable, which makes it faster and easier to pronounce. It also follows the style of years prior to 2000—for example, 1974 was “nineteen seventy-four;” not “one thousand nine hundred [and] seventy four.” Furthermore, when we reach 2100, the shortened form will become more condensed—consider the possible pronunciations of 2154.

So which usage is correct? There is much debate about this on the internet, and people on both sides make valid points. The National Association of Good Grammar (ironically abbreviated as NAGG) declares that “twenty ten” is correct. Others argue that “two thousand ten” is entirely acceptable. What it comes down to is what feels right for you; it's a matter of personal preference. Some people say “twenty ten” sounds like a cliché science fiction movie, while others think “two thousand ten” is unnecessarily cumbersome.

Because languages are formed by the people who use them, and there are large groups of people in both camps, I personally feel that either style is acceptable. Languages are always changing, and when a significant segment of English speakers choose to use one pronunciation, spelling, or grammatical construction rather than another, a language will often adapt to accommodate the new style.

Consider these two sentences:

1. May I borrow a pencil?
2. Can I borrow a pencil?

If you asked a grammarian, he or she would tell you that the first sentence is correct and the second is incorrect. This is because the word can talks about ability; it does not technically ask permission. Don’t be surprised if you ask a strict English teacher, “Can I eat in class,” and he or she replies, “I don’t know. Can you? You have teeth, don’t you?”

Joking aside, however, can feels more natural than may to a large group of native speakers, and as such is generally considered acceptable in all but the most formal situations. It is taught in a number of reputable conversation textbooks because it is used by a large segment of native speakers. Language is constantly changing in a number of ways. Sometimes it’s better to go with the current than fight against it.

An example of how spelling evolves through the years can be found in the name of one of my favorite foods, the doughnut. Wait a minute, did I spell that right? Isn’t there a shop called Mister Donut? Are they spelling it wrong?

Actually, both spellings are correct. According to Wikipedia, the first known reference to these tasty fried bits of deliciousness used the spelling doughnut and actually referred to the round pieces cut from the middle of modern day ring doughnuts (or donuts). We now call these doughnut (or donut) holes. Because they were pieces of dough shaped like a nut, the word was spelled dough-nut or doughnut. This term later came to describe not only the ring which these “holes” came from, but also a wide variety of shapes, including jam-filled, maple bar, and apple fritter. Concurrently, numerous American shops and newspapers began to use the shortened form donut and dictionaries started to list both spellings as acceptable. Today some writers prefer the older, more traditional form, and others enjoy the brevity and simplicity of the newer spelling.

Like the pronunciation of 2010, this is a situation where language allows you a choice rather than prescribing one expression as correct. Perhaps you should consider the choice brought to you by this new decade over a cup of coffee and a donut—or a doughnut, if you prefer.

However you decide to say it, I wish you a joyful and bright year ahead.

After writing this, I had a serious Voodoo Doughnut craving. Tangfastic, McMinnville Cream, and Diablos Rex, oh my!

Pining for Christmas

I've been writing for my company's newsletter recently. Here is my most recent submission:

As we approach Christmas and the weather turns cold, Westerners in Japan get homesick for family gatherings, halls decked with boughs of holly, the smell of pine needles, and—everyone’s favorite topic—holiday food. In my family, Christmas afternoon means chatting in the kitchen while snacking on fresh veggies, home-baked cookies or fudge, and celery stuffed with cream cheese and paprika. If we’re lucky my sister will prepare nacho dip with tortilla chips or spicy cream cheese with shrimp and crackers. You’ve got to be careful not to fill up on the appetizers, though: dinner is in the works.

The kids disappear into their bedrooms to play with their new toys while the adults discuss gravy recipes and cooking times, fiddle with the oven, and clatter pots and pans about the kitchen. When everything is ready, we spread our feast out on the dining table: mashed potatoes and stuffing with homemade gravy, thick slices of warm turkey or ham, fresh-baked rolls with butter, and some salad and steamed vegetables to round out the meal. Everyone has a favorite; my sister’s plate is dominated by mashed potatoes, while I take second and third helpings of stuffing and slather them with gravy. Christmas dinner is American over-indulgence at its best. It is the time of year when you are given license to eat as much as you like and not feel guilty.

After dinner we clean up the evidence of our gluttony (saving the leftovers for future meals of turkey sandwiches and enchiladas) and then, too full and tired for anything else, gather together in the living room with cups of hot coffee. We sink into the big soft couches and our bellies struggle to digest the huge meals with which they have been burdened. Our chatting fades along with our energy. My nieces cuddle up with fuzzy blankets as we find a movie on TV.

When he has waited as long as he can stand, my dad (who is ever quick to metabolize his meals) breaks into a grin and asks, “Pie?” Whether it’s homemade or store bought, marionberry, apple, cherry, or pumpkin, there is always pie—and vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream to top it off. We load up our plates for one last feast and eventually, as the clock ticks later and later, we bundle up in our winter coats, gather together our presents and leftovers, and slowly say our goodbyes. Every Christmas must end eventually, but there is always another ahead.

As you may have read between the lines, it’s not so much miss the taste of stuffing and gravy that I’m really pining for, but the meaning those foods carry. It’s the moments that happen between bites; it’s my niece’s head on my shoulder and my mom’s bright laughter. It’s watching my family grow and change.

I am not going to be home for the holidays this year, so I won’t have marionberry pie at my holiday table—but I will feast on memories of Christmases past. Happy holidays, everyone!

Back to the Grind

This is my first full work week this school year. While I can’t deny that spring break was wonderful (especially the part where Mom came to visit for two weeks), it’s nice to have a routine again. There’s something about having to go somewhere and do something with a certain frequency that stimulates general productivity – I feel more mentally active when I’m working. (That said, working five days a week does seem excessive; I’d be happier with four.)

I’m still settling into my teaching skin, but then again, I never expected to be this comfortable, either. If you asked me five years ago if I could see myself teaching junior high school, I would have laughed at you: Me? Stand in front of a classroom and speak with authority? As a child, I was the little girl who hid behind her mom when new people were around. I was one of only two students with non-speaking roles in my kindergarten class play. (Hopefully I at least looked cute in the tutu?) So much of my high school drama career was spent set building and working backstage that at the thespian awards ceremony held my senior year I was presented a framed “Stage Manager of the Year” certificate – despite never having technically occupied a managerial role. It continued on until college; I still remember the failure I felt after giving a (much prepared for) speech on Margaret Sanger, and the teacher’s comments that confirmed my poor performance. Public speaking and Angie never got along well.

Nonetheless, here I am in the strange world of private girls’ schools in Japan, standing in front of classrooms full of students for four or five hours every day, and I’m enjoying it more than ever. This will be very likely become my last year here*, and I’m determined to make it the best one yet.

Though the term is only barely off the ground, already I can feel that my classes are smoother than last year. I started two and a half years ago as an assistant (which often meant being a repeat-after-me-bot) and progressed, one year ago, into a full-fledged test-writing discipline-giving teacher – without ever acquiring any kind of credentials. Both companies I’ve worked with have given brief training sessions, but as dispatch companies sending me out into the schools there was a severe limit to the amount of guidance they were able to provide. My schools have been so hands off as to frequently forget to give me class schedules; they basically gave me textbooks and said, “Go!”

The last year has been a battle, but a fruitful one – I’ve learned what makes an effective lesson, how to approach my students and what to expect from them, how to write a good test. Lesson planning takes much less time than it used to and my chalkboard handwriting has significantly improved. (Writing on chalkboards is much more difficult than I’d expected. Have you tried it recently?)

The more I learn, the more I like my job.

Today’s first period class is a good example.

(Background: I’m teaching seventh grade “returnees” – students who have lived abroad – four periods a week. I had the same students last year, which was their first year of junior high. It’s quite challenging to design a curriculum that accommodates their varying English levels, and even harder to keep these energetic thirteen-year-olds from chattering incessantly in Japanese. Since last year was my first year teaching, I relied heavily on the textbook and filled out the term with speeches, newspaper articles, and a few other projects. At the end of the term I asked for their opinions, and a few students mentioned that in their overseas classes they did more reading. I slapped myself on the forehead and went searching for books at the appropriate level.)

Today I broke my returnee class into two groups to read The Wizard of Oz. Both groups worked at the same fast pace, finishing two chapters and answering the corresponding reading comprehension questions in about thirty-five minutes. I was surprised at how quickly they digested the material, and it was really good to see them helping each other out with pronunciation and even intonation.

It seems that keeping their mouths busy reading is the solution I've been looking for to stop the chattiness and keep them focused on English. Not only that, but I think it's worthy of a good chunk of class time. After all, reading was the method by which I absorbed English; I’d never heard of “be verbs” before becoming a teacher. Of course we will continue to do grammar exercises, presentations, writing assignments, and speaking and listening activities – but at this point I’m looking at devoting about a third of my curriculum to reading comprehension, and I’m really excited about it.

These returnee girls are at this school because their parents were afraid that after returning to Japan their English skills would wither and decay. On the contrary, they’re improving. It’s especially visible with the lower level girls; their journal entries have improved, they’ve acquired more vocabulary, and – most importantly – they speak English with more confidence and fluency. I can’t express how good it feels to be a part of that.

If it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be this satisfying.



*That is to say, the plan is to leave Japan next year, but the U.S. economy is so bad right now – Oregon’s unemployment rate is up to 12% – that it seems unwise to leave behind a perfectly good job with nothing on the horizon. It’s time to do some serious thinking about what I want to do at home. Teaching junior high is rewarding, but it’s not my calling.

Teaching & The Upcoming School Year

Last time I wrote i was planning to move back to Portland this summer. For a number of reasons -- economic, personal, logistic, and career-related -- I've decided to stay another year.

This is how my job will change at the start of the new school year (in April):

• Consecutive Days Off: Since one of my schools requires me to work Saturdays, I get a weekday off instead (and Sundays). I was offered Mondays for the current school year, but since there were so many national holidays on Mondays this year I didn't take it -- I'd have ended up with less time off than everyone else, and it seemed like a good idea to break the work week up by taking Wednesdays instead. It's worked out pretty well, but the one day weekend thing can be frustrating sometimes -- I often don't feel like I've caught up on my rest before going back to work. This time around, I requested Mondays.
• Fridays in the Office: Currently on Fridays I teach English Conversation to poorly behaved (bordering on out-of-control) seventh graders in the middle of nowhere. This will be replaced with a day in my company's office, where I will be part of the creative team that is putting together a system of English Conversation class materials. I talked with the coordinator for over an hour, and his enthusiasm -- for both the project as its own entity and it's potential contribution to revolutionizing the way English language education is done in Japan -- was inspiring and motivating. I'm really excited about this addition to my work tasks. I like making things, I like editing, I'm excited about education -- and I get to work with other people who will have new ideas and perspectives. The more I type the more overly optimistic this sounds, but even so this is definitely a majorly positive change in my routine. The worst day of my week is being replaced by a new challenge that is much better suited to my personality and interests.
  
• Make New Friends, and Keep the Old: At my main school I'll be moving up a grade with my most of my students (from seventh to eighth grade). This means I can't wash away our first impressions; I can't re-invent myself as a strict disciplinarian or someone with neat chalkboard handwriting, but it also means not having to say goodbye. We can relax with each other and continue to build on the framework we've developed. At my other school, however, I won't move up a grade -- I'll continue to teach seventh grade English conversation. I'm pretty happy about this, because I can reuse and fine-tune my lesson plans from this school year, building on the experience I've gained so far.
• Compressed Teaching Hours: I'll be teaching nearly the same number of teaching hours I have now, but in four days instead of five; my main school is increasing me from 11 to 14 teaching hours. This will mean busier days, but having settled into a routine there and gradually developed more effective methods of planning and time management, I don't expect it to be much of a burden. Two of the classes being added to my schedule are the same as three I'm already teaching, meaning I won't have to do any extra planning for those.
• More Work Days: Right now when my schools don't have classes for whatever reason (school events, testing, etc.), I often (but not always) get an extra day off. In the future I'll be required in the office these days. However, this shouldn't encroach on my vacation periods unreasonably -- my boss seems accommodating on that front, and I'm still guaranteed a lengthy summer vacation. Ah, the life of a teacher.
• Pay Raise: Because my overall work load is increasing, I'm getting a raise -- 8%. Not too shabby, eh?

So I'll be working a little more, but my work is changing such that I expect to gain a stronger sense of accomplishment from it. The longer I teach, the more comfortable I am with it, the more ideas and techniques I gain, and the more satisfying it is. It's not all sunshine and roses, though. Teaching is an emotional roller coaster. Some days I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing -- to the point that I actually pity my students for having me as a teacher. Sometimes I can't maintain order. And sometimes I just don't have enough energy to put on a good class. Other days my classes flow perfectly and I feel so exhilarated that I get an endorphin rush. A lot of days fall somewhere in the middle. I don't know if it this will turn into a long-term career for me, but I'm at least no longer ruling it out as a possibility.

past the halfway point

The middle of the school year has just passed; I finished second trimester midterms at one school and have begun the second of two semesters at the other two schools. The year is progressing reasonably well as both I and the students settle into our routines and become more familiar with one another. The easier this job gets, the less logical it seems for me to move home next year. It’s also sad to realize that as I get closer to my students the time I have left with them gets shorter and shorter. Still, I can’t deny that part of me will be incredibly relieved when my immediate future no longer involves performing in front of a classroom full of kids. This job has been a huge challenge for me, and while I’m satisfied to know that I am capable of doing it, I still feel that ultimately I am better suited for more solitary work.

All three of my schools have good and bad points, and even within individual schools every class is different. What follows is a long break down of my work week for the curious.

On Tuesdays I teach conversation lessons to classes of about forty students, with a Japanese English teacher in the room with me to assist. The school is about an hour from my home station (making for an hour and a half commute one way when you include walking), but I don’t have to be at school until just before second period and I can leave once I’ve finished preparations for the following week (around 4:30; sometimes earlier and sometimes later). I teach four sixty-five minute lessons.


This last Tuesday was really great. The material I teach is designed to supplement the students’ regular English textbook. For awhile the regular English classes were behind the planned curriculum, which left me with a lot of blank stares and slowed the lessons down significantly. Apparently they’ve caught up, however; recently I’ve been able to elicit answers from my students with efficiency and enthusiasm. As the year progresses and we all get a feel for the general flow of lessons, the pace has quickened and I think we all feel a little more relaxed. Since the lessons at my Tuesday school are longer than other schools (65 minutes rather than 50), we often use the last fifteen minutes of class for a game. Last week’s game was the best yet: I put them in groups of six or seven students and had one student in each group stand up. I then asked a question, and the first group to raise a hand and answer the question with correct grammar got a point. If they made a mistake, another group would get to try. When the question was answered, the students sat down and another student from each group stood up. Not only was it great to see how excited they were – competition gets them going – but it was pretty incredible to hear the kind of sentences they could form on-the-spot after only a few months of English class. Of course there are some students who are bored or don’t care or just don’t get it, but the average student at my Tuesday school is positive about English and reasonably good at it. These girls first formally learned the English alphabet six months ago and now they are saying things like, “I have a pen and two erasers in my pencil case,” and memorizing speeches. That may not sound impressive, but coming from the public school system, and knowing how hesitant Japanese students are to make mistakes, let me tell you: it is – and I’m excited to be a part of it.

Fridays are similar to Tuesdays in that I teach the same material (designed by my company to supplement their regular English textbook) and the school is far from home. The commute is nearly two and a half hours one way, and I teach five fifty-minute lessons. Again, I don’t have to be at school until just before second period and I can leave once I’ve finished preparations for the following week (usually around 5:00). Still, with the commute, five classes, and giving private lessons at lunch and after school, it makes for a long day. I often leave feeling like a shell of myself; dehydrated, hair and clothes coated in chalk, and everything that went wrong throughout the day echoing in my head. One of my lessons is a full class of about forty students and the other four lessons are divided classes; around twenty students. I teach alone, and as the year progresses many of the students seem less interested and more willing to test my limits. Again, every class is different – some participate in the tasks diligently, and some talk over my lessons. I’m learning how to be a disciplinarian, but it feels like they are simultaneously becoming less attentive to authority – these two trends balance each other out for an ultimate result of no real change. I know that what I need to do is engage them more, but this is hard to do when the material overwhelms them. I am behind on my planned curriculum, but their regular teacher is even farther behind, so the material I present to them is all brand new, and as such often goes over their heads. They get bored and tune out, and I find myself using Japanese all too often to check that they know the meanings of words. This week we are going to take a break from the regular worksheets and play some Halloween games. Hopefully after that they’ll be caught up in their regular English classes and the lessons will flow more smoothly. There have been days when I left that school feeling exhilarated, when I felt like I’d done my job effectively and we had fun in the process. All the energy and effort compounds and feel like I’m flying. Recently, though, the exhaustion seems to outweigh the sense of accomplishment. There’s nothing to do but keep trying, right?

My other three working days – Monday, Thursday, and Friday – are at a third school, twelve minutes from my home station by train (about a forty-five minute one way commute). I am required to be at school from 8:20 until 5:05, regardless of whether or not there are classes that day. I teach half of three regular conversation classes (about twenty students – another teacher takes the other half) on my own. The text we use is very straightforward – a series of dialogues with substitutions – and every lesson is basically the same. The classes flow well and the students are mostly well-behaved and attentive. The material, however, often leaves something to be desired; I don’t feel like I’m challenging them enough, though I do try.

In addition to these lessons, which meet once a week, I teach a class of eighteen “returnee” students four periods a week. The students in this class have hugely varying levels of experience in foreign schools overseas; it’s difficult to design lessons that can equally involve a girl who lived in Texas for eleven of her thirteen years and a girl who was in Thailand for two years. The variation in levels compounded with the general awkwardness of being twelve and thirteen years old can make group activities a little difficult. Another problem I’m dealing with is my own inexperience. This is my first (and only?) year teaching on my own, writing tests, designing a curriculum, and generally being in control of the class and responsible for discipline. However – perhaps precisely because it is such a challenge, and also partly because I get to see them so much more often than my other students – the returnee class is my favorite. I read their journals every week – I hear stories about their families, pets, vacations, club activities, and even boyfriends. And I see the results of my lessons in their test scores and homework assignments. Again, I’m seeing these girls grow and it feels really great to be a part of that.

All of the students I’ve mentioned thus far are in their first year of junior high school (seventh grade in the American system), and all girls. On Saturdays I also teach two elective classes, both two hours long. The first is for returnee elementary school students (aged 9 to 11) who are considering joining the returnee junior high school program in the future. Again, the variance in their English abilities poses some difficulty, but it’s a good group of girls and we have a lot of fun. I try to mix speaking and writing activities with a lot of games, and I think we’ve developed a nice pace and a good group dynamic. To be honest, I’m not much of a “kid person,” (teaching full days of elementary school classes once a week last year killed me) but these girls are a nice change of pace from the seventh graders – just remembering the difference between my own experiences in seventh and fifth grade is enough to illustrate why. They’re not as afraid to make mistakes as the older girls, and they tend to be more open and energetic. They’re also pretty damn cute.

My other Saturday elective class is a conversation class with third year junior high students (ninth graders) in the afternoon. Since it’s an elective course they’re not required to come, which means I have a different number of students every week – I’d say the average is around twelve. We do a lot of different speaking activities, play some games, and watch movies about once a term. Again, having a different age group is a nice change of pace, and I feel like I can relate to these girls more than my other students. Two girls in particular come to chat with me between classes sometimes, and I always look forward to seeing them.

Fall term is always the longest, and it’s half over. Then it will be winter break, and then spring term will fly by. Soon after, I’ll be traveling again – this time through Southeast and East Asia. I might come back to Japan for a short while after that, but I expect to be back in Portland by late next summer. I don’t know what comes next – I just know that I need to be home for awhile, closer to my family and the place I came from.

The world has never felt more like my oyster. Life is really good.

taiwan tales: part 2

(refer to previous post for part 1.)


day 5
august 2nd
saturday

i got up just in time to miss the first (8:40) bus to taroko gorge, and instead took the next one at 10:50. at the bus stop i made friends with lyla from arizona, and later in the two hour ride with the kids (andy from oregon city and adam from illinois) sitting behind us. upon arrival at the gorge we were shocked to see that the water was gray -- it was incredibly unnatural looking, like a river of wet concrete. (i later heard this was just sediment and mud dredged up by the recent typhoon, and that the water should clear after about a week.) lyla and i spent the afternoon hiking around the gorgeous gorge, though the trails were much easier than we expected. we talked a lot; it's funny how easy it is sometimes to be open with a stranger you'll never see again. while we were waiting for the last bus the boys reappeared: we chatted the entire two hour ride as the bus driver took turns at breakneck speeds, presumably trying to make up for getting behind schedule by arguing with the ladies at the gorge about produce deliveries. back in hualien, the four of us went to a night market where we ate the famous local xiao lung bao (a kind of pot sticker) and had a feast of shaved ice desserts with beans, taro, tapioca, mango. we browsed the street vendors' wares for awhile and noted that the local sidewalks, benches, and even signposts were made of marble supplied from the gorge. adam was coming down with a cold so the boys headed back to their hotel and lyla came back to my hostel with me for a quick "margarita" from the bar there (really more like a tequila martini, if such a thing exists) before saying goodbye. after she left i talked with the other kids at the hostel for a little while before bed. you meet a lot of interesting people in hostels.


day 6
august 3rd
sunday

following the advice of the hostel owner, i took a train to fangliao---rather than going to kaohsiung, which is what the guidebooks say to do---to transfer to a bus bound for the southern coastal town of kending (also spelled kenting). there were some kids (american english teachers in seoul) i'd seen at the taipei hostel in the same train car with the same plan, and it worked out to be almost as cheap to take a taxi, so we did. none of us had hostel/hotel reservations; we clumsily asked the driver--whose teeth were stained brown from chewing betel nut-- to drop us off in a central place. i didn't have enough money to pay for a room with cash, so i walked down the street price shopping and asking hotels if they took credit cards. soon they were passing word down the street that the white girl needed a place that took cards and within a few minutes a man came out of a shop and offered me a room for NT$700 per night -- about twice the cost of a stay in a hostel, but still only about US$20. i was excited to find that the room was almost as big my apartment in japan (around 200 square feet), but with less furniture. after settling into my spacious new digs i headed over to one of the many seven elevens in town for some food. and here we enter the worst night of the trip: not having used it in seven months, i'd forgotten the PIN number for my american ATM/debit card, and convenience stores do not take credit cards in taiwan. when i asked the clerk about this, she suggested i talk to the girl selling shirts from a stand out front because she spoke a little english. that girl then called her sister, who spoke better english, and she suggested i buy an international phone card and call my bank. i didn't have enough money for the phone card, but the super awesome shirt-selling girl loaned me NT$100. i called the bank and they told me they couldn't release my PIN number to me unless it was the same as the PIN number for my previous card, which it was, but their system was down so they told me to call back in an hour. i was very hungry and a little hysterical at this point, and the girls outside could see this. i told them i had some japanese money, but kending is a small town -- i didn't know if there was a bank and even if i found one it wouldn't be open until morning. the girls made a couple phone calls, apparently to find out what the current exchange rate was, and exchanged 4000 yen (about $40) for me -- at a better rate than i got at the airport! (i later realized i probably could have tried exchanging my money at one of the big fancy hotels.) i thanked them repeatedly, got some more food, and went back to my room. when i called the bank back later they told me all they could confirm was that my PIN number was the same as the old one, but they couldn't actually see the number. i tried guessing my PIN at the ATM again, and it ate the card. there was a phone attached to the ATM and the clerk put me on the phone with the taiwanese bank affiliated with the ATM, who, after about fifteen minutes finally told me there was nothing they could do. i went back to my room feeling defeated, watched the discovery channel, and went to sleep early.


day 7
august 4th
monday

i set my alarm for sunrise but it was pouring out so i waited for the rain to lighten up up before going out. i wandered around town trailing a threesome of scavenging stray dogs and then went walking along the highway looking for a nice beach. an hour down the road i found myself in the middle of a torrential downpour, glad i'd brought my rain jacket. after a couple hours of being completely drenched i finally went back to my room for a nap. a little later i went for another walk in the drizzle and then watched some bad TV--a novel experience. eventually the rain finally stopped enough to consider swimming, so i went down to caesar cove beach, where i ran into the kids from the taxi (stacey and matt). the waves were great, and i was glad for a couple hours of free entertainment and conversation. after a shower i got dinner from one of the street vendors -- fried tofu, green beans, mushrooms, and chewy rice pig's blood pudding i also tried fresh coconut juice, which was surprisingly bland. stacey and matt invited me out but having realized i had to make $130 last for the rest of the trip--including lodging and trainfare back around the island--i declined. being suddenly really worried about money was a good experience, though. i don't regret it at all, though i do feel pretty dumb about having forgotten my PIN number.


day 8
august 5th
tuesday

i was pretty eager to get out of rainy kending and into historic tainan. having scouted out the bus stop on one of my many, many walks around kending i headed confidently over there in the morning. i was soon approached by several different people wanting to take me in taxis or privately owned buses, but i waited for the regular, cheaper one. the driver was really friendly and we had a clumsy chat involving lots of gestures and laughs. after arriving in kaohsiung a couple hours later i tried exchanging my last 10,000 yen at the post office bank and was redirected to a proper bank, where the staff spoke perfect english. as i was waiting for the two o'clock train to tainan a nice australian girl sat down next to me and struck up a conversation. at the age of twenty-four, sally has traveled to every continent but africa--she met her english boyfriend whilst backpacking through siberia. i asked her if she knew of any hostels in the area and she suggested i just stay with her and joël. after the train arrived in tainan sally put my backpack on her scooter and gave me directions to her apartment. (she only had one helmet so i couldn't ride with her.) as i was walking toward her place i realized a stranger had just taken off with most of my belongings and it hadn't occurred to me to be worried. of course it hadn't; sally is awesome! she lugged my pack up five flights of stairs in the august heat, dropped it off, and came back to find me, searching the street for me from a parking meridian. i bought us some mango ice and we went to her place, where sally supplied me with some important maps and information. then i headed out and called my host sister's husband to find out about meeting him for dinner. i killed some time walking through tainan park, which was full of chatting old men, and then ian picked me up at tainan station at 5:30. we went to their house to get yukie and their son elvin (baby ethan stayed home with grandma) and then to an outdoor food market for dinner. i watched a man skin a live snake and then ate it in soup with ginger. it was actually pretty flavorless, like overcooked chicken. the restaurant had apparently just recently stopped serving snake's blood, but i tried some snake liquor (the variety that was not distilled with a snake's penis in it), which tasted like chinese medicine. we hit up another place for some more food, including "coffin bread" -- a strange mix of savory and sweet flavors on toast. we then headed to the big night market where i ran into sally and joël, and i went home with them. we talked over taiwan beer and then joël tested out a demo english lesson on sally and me.


day 9
august 6th
wednesday

on her way to work sally gave me a ride on her scooter to the train station, where i checked my bag, and then dropped me off at the eternal golden castle. i walked from there along the canal, through lin mo-niang park to anping fort and the old tait & co. merchant house. tainan is an old port city with a lot of history, and the house had models of aboriginal, chinese, and dutch homes with detailed signs in english describing the lifestyles that took place in those homes. next door was the "tree house"--an old house that's been overrun by banyan trees. the light and shadows were gorgeous, and i lingered for a long time, taking way too many pictures. after that i went looking for the bus. in my wandering i found an old cemetery, witnessed some old men belting out mid afternoon karaoke, and got a sunburn. i finally caught the #14 just as it was about to pull away and watched the street signs from the window, following along with my map. i got off near the confucius temple and spent about an hour there. next: window shopping on jhongshan road, noodles from a street stall, and pearl milk tea while waiting for the 5:32 train to taipei. i checked into my hostel just after ten and then went out to my last night market, on huaxi street. i found a place with a written menu, and ordered one of the few things i could read on it--fried rice with sheep's meat. satisfied, i spent a couple of my few remaining dollars on some souvenirs and went back to the hostel. some people i'd met in my previous stay there came home and we stayed up late talking. dan gave me some good tips on free education; he's studying chinese in taipei and gets a stipend for living expenses. i'm considering doing the same in a couple of years if i haven't found anything better to do with myself. languages are fun.


day 10
august 7th
thursday

i got up at 9, packed, finished the book i'd borrowed from the hostel so i could leave it there, caught the bus from the nearby sheraton hotel to the airport, bought some pineapple cakes for a friend, and flew back to narita. despite my not speaking any chinese, despite the debit card fiasco, and despite the rainy beaches, the trip was a great success. i tried new and strange foods, traveled all the way around the island, saw a huge variety of scenery (big cities and small towns, mountains, ocean, temples, really old buildings, the tallest building in the world, a street lined with bird shops...) and met all kinds of interesting, helpful, and kind people. and the whole trip, including $500 airfare, was less than a thousand dollars.

taiwan tales: part 1

i just got back from ten (mostly) lovely days in taiwan. let me tell you about them.

day 1
july 29th
tuesday

i arrived at taiwan taoyuan international airport at 4:50 PM -- my flight was delayed by about 30 minutes due to storms. the bus to the hostel took much longer than expected, and i finally arrived a little after 7. my friend joe and his friend charlotte [taiwanese, lives in osaka] were waiting when i arrived. we headed out to meet up with another of joe's friends, rex, and his girfriend (tsaipeI? her name was wonderfully similar to the city we were in). i'm not sure where we were, but we wandered around a shopping district, had some food from the stalls and went for beers at a really relaxed bar. it had big wood tables, colorful walls decorated with local artists' paintings, and hip college kids in t-shirts and big glasses -- not the kind of place you'd find in japan. after our beers, joe and charlotte and i went to the shihlin night market for fresh fruit juice (watermelon, papaya, and kiwi respectively) and some more snacks. back at the hostel we hung out on the roof until the mosquitoes chased us off, chatted with a couple of the other residents in the living room, and then gradually headed to our beds -- i was the last. joe left for vietnam early in the morning.

day 2
july 30th
wednesday

i woke up at 9ish and walked from the hostel to taipei station. along the way, i happened across the national taiwan museum, which among other things houses specimens of the extinct formosa tiger and a very cool old map. then to longshan temple, which was both gorgeous and indescribable. i felt much like i did at saint peter's basicila in rome - filled with a peace and reverance that i didn't know i was capable of feeling. i lingered for awhile, watching the worshipers come and go, thinking. after that i wandered around for a couple hours and passed a street lined with pet stores. taiwan is known for its birds, and these vendors had all kinds. baby fluffy turkey-looking things tufted moss green and concrete grey. parrots in bright primary colors. cages upon cages upon cages of birds i didn't know the names for. i continued wandering until i came a cross a street parade: high school kids in pink t-shirts pushing decorated carts and carrying dancing paper dragons. then i (eventually) found a metro station and headed to city hall station, from which i climbed the (dark, empty, slightly creepy) hills above the taipei 101 building at dusk. (thanks to joe for the tip.) i next made my way to the 101 building itself: the tallest building in the world, with the fastest elevators and full of symbolism. after that i headed to shihlin market again for starfruit juice, cheap noodles, and a new pair of sandals. i returned to the hostel exhausted, but was reinvigorated by the sudden appearance of numerous japanese guests, who were celebrating a birthday. stayed up way too late.

day 3
july 31st
thursday

at about 11, i took the metro one stop to taipei station and boarded city bus #260 for yangmingshan, an hour north of taipei. from the visitor's center i took another bus and got off at the first place that looked promising -- a sulfur spring midway up mount cising. on the picnic benches there i had some instant rice porridge and iced coffee, and chatted with fellow visitors -- matthew from beijing (originally france) and gary (taiwanese). then i wandered around the park, took in the views of the city and ocean below, and climbed the path along the sulfur springs to the peak of the mountain. the weather was fickle, and as a result the clouds and mist incredible. there were butterflies, cicadas, birds, tiny purple flowers, trees strong against the wind, and so much green. i wished i'd brought a tape recorder to supplement my camera. after pausing for ten minutes or so at the top, i descended a different, longer route. i then caught the bus in a loop around the mountain. the driver took the curves with speedy expertise and the elementary school kids standing in the aisles were holding on tight and yelling "whee" around corners. i headed back to taipei station and got a sticky bun, some fish balls on sticks, and a jelly filled juice drink from 7-11. (seven eleven, by the way, is everywhere in taiwan.) back at the hostel a newly arrived guest (luka, an italian who works in navigation and spends most of the year traveling the world on ships) chatted me up and we decided to go exploring together. we didn't find the pub we were looking for, but we did have some great fruit and did a lot of walking. over bibimbap and chu-hai he politely asked if he could join me on my trip southeastward the following day. i politely told him i was happy to go alone. we missed the last train back by less than a minute and the taxi driver had a hell of a time understanding my pronunciation, but eventually we got home. i slept very quickly, and very well.

day 4
august 1st
friday

i stowed my backpack in a locker at taipei station and then went to the national palace museum. it takes its name from the fact that most of the exhibits there came from beijing's forbidden city -- and it doesn't disappoint in either its thoroughness or historical range. it was my chinese art history book come to life: so much intricacy, history, and beauty. bronzes, scrolls, carved sandalwood, and oh, the porcelain! lovely. i followed up the museum visit with a late lunch at a vegetarian restaurant near shihlin station. taiwanese fake meat is yummy! then i caught a 5:10 train along the southeast coast at sunset, to hualien. three hours later i was wandering around a small town with no sidewalks looking for my hostel. a lot of people stared at the crazy white girl in the short skirt with a huge backpack strapped to her back and another smaller one on her front. after a couple wrong turns, i checked into my hostel, had a shower, and headed off to the night market (go down the street and turn left at the third seven eleven) for dinner. to give you an idea of how hot it was: i picked up a beer at the convenience store on the way back and it was lukewarm ten minutes later. back at the hostel i talked with some kids who teach english in taichung, and went to sleep.