Free Day in Cat City

During my one month trip, we only had one free day for ourselves. ONE.

About ten of us decided to head to Fulong Beach. Getting there was an adventure to say the least. First we took the MRT to Taipei Main Station, where we transferred over to a train. It seemed as if half of Taipei had the same idea as us. It being Sunday and hot weather as always, the train was packed with people standing almost shoulder to shoulder. Kevin and I got separated from the rest of the group but luckily had enough room to stand comfortably and chat. When we decided to head down 3 cars to reunited with our friends, it was like going through a human maze. I'm very used to saying excuse me in Chinese now, so that was no problem (dui bu qi 對不起).

Finally we reached the beach and were already sweating! Fulong is right along the coast so luckily it wasn't much of a walk. While there I saw many small dogs. Funny thing is that everyone shaves their dogs here. Not totally bald, but they give them a clean buzz cut, leaving their heads and tails with fur. It's entertaining to see, but normal because bald doggies get hot too. They also like to swim.

Maybe the beach was also crowded because it was the last day for the sand sculpture show.
I would have really loved to see them being built.

Mwuah!

We can pretend they are ancient sculptures

I waited to long to swim here! Every time I see water I just want to just in. Swimming was a dream come true. Ahhhhhhhh. I forgot that the Ocean is salty though and definitely cleared out my sinuses when I went under. It kind of felt like this:

Skip to 0:50 to see a demonstration

So we floated around the water, which was warmer than I expected. Many people just wear their clothes to swim. Our group also tried throwing and flipping people out of the water. That worked about half of the time.

Next stop was a quick lunch box and off to Cat City. It has a real name, but is referred to that because of how many cats congregate there. Also...I can't remember the name. It's just an old mining town filled with skinny cats. At least they're skinnier than American cats. Just like Taiwanese people are skinnier than Americans. 

On the train ride back, we practiced our Hong Kong/Cantonese accent by copying Vico. He would say things like, "I am Vico. I come from Hong Kong to study biodiversity in Taiwan." If you read each word with a space in between each, you'll come close to how he sounds. Read this, "I...am...Wico. I come from...Ong Kong...to...study...biiiiiodivaristy in Daiwan." My HK accent is pretty poor, but it's entertaining to try anyways. I also took my friends on a tour of the different accents in the states - Southern, Minnesotan, New York, New Jersey, West Coast and of course Midwestern.

So our day off way relaxing in that we didn't have to learn, but it was still packed with sights to see and places to be.

The Cake is a Lie

The story behind the title is two fold.

First, I think it's a phrase from the video game Portal. 

Next, I picked it because I always thought the famous Meat Stone in the National Palace Museum was a piece of cake. Lies! It's actually carved and dyed to look like a piece of meat.

We couldn't take any pictures inside the museum, which was a shame.

Here's a shot of the Meat stone from online

Before the National Palace Museum we learned about Formosan Aborigines. Our guide spoke great English and told entertaining stories. One was that once a girl was newly married and wanted to get her husband a new set of tools. She put the old tools out in the trash and got him a nicer set. But when he didn't come back home the next day, she was worried. Turns out that leaving hunting gear outside the door was equivalent to her kicking him out. Whoops.

 There were many inventions in the museum from knifes to slate houses to gauged earrings that serve as little containers. It was also incredible to think about a society where everything is cultivated, grown, cleaned, sewn, built, etc. within a village.

Very different from the Midwestern suburb that I'm from.

Back to the National Palace Museum! Although today was a hard day on both my feet and bladder (my body seems to have a 2 hour limit for holding liquids), this was by far my favorite museum. The craftsmanship behind each piece was incredible. I really wish we could have taken some pictures inside. But that just goes to show you how much they're trying to preserve the pieces. Most of the 690,000 pieces come from mainland China, during the time when the communist party was destroying art Fahrenheit 451 style. 

One of my favorite pieces was a piece of carved ivory. It was a sphere on top with tiny spheres inside it. Sixteen to be exact. Some artists can get up to sixty layers. Other exhibits included stone wear, ceramics and scrolls. If you are ever in Taiwan, please please take the time to visit! I'd even go again, so I could spend more time. I'm a pretty slow museum goer...meeeeh.

Here's another famous piece - Jadite Cabbage

In the gift shop they made key chain, magnet, postcard, basically every kind of version of this. 

Late night meant a stop at the night market (Shilin) for dinner and shopping! Yea! 

Either Taiwanese teenagers like to dress up to go shopping or they all have really great style. I'll try to get some shots later. The clothing is similar to the states, but suspenders, hats, stockings and man bags are more popular. Food is amazing and it's better to go with friends. That way you can all try a little of everything. The most exotic thing I saw was pig's blood soup. I stuck with some seafood and veggie buns.

Exhibit A: Vico (from HK) working the man bag

Doesn't he look good though? Wearing some new clothes from the night market.

He says a bag is as convenient as a backpack, but is cooler because it doesn't touch your back.

Fair vs. Tanned Skin

After baking in the sun most of yesterday, some of us were sun burnt. Though we all applied sunblock (I hope!) being outside for so long turned us into pink people. AHHHHHH I hate sunburn. Luckily mine was only on my shoulders and with some aloe gel, it healed by morning. Others were not so lucky. Jimmy has a line on the back of his neck (looks like chocolate and vanilla) and Benjamin has a serious farmers tan going.

Most people in Taiwan, men and women, carry umbrellas with them to block the harsh sun. 

I think I've only seen this in Chicago's Chinatown. Old Chinese women carry umbrellas during most seasons while shuffling from place to place.

Most girls here prefer to be pale. Hulda from Taiwan asked me why I don't hold an umbrella.

At first I didn't have this habit, but now my obnoxious leopard print umbrella goes everywhere that I do. Hiking, museums, meals, parks. When I'm not wearing my hat I have my umbrella up for shade!

There are many pale and skinny minnies here. I guess because I'm getting pretty tan...I'd be an ugly Taiwanese girl.

This morning we had one lecture concerning Experimental Design. I think in almost every science or social science class I've taken I've heard this shpeal. I still paid half-attention. The other half of my attention was spent doodling some of the plants that we saw yesterday. 

Some sad news came our way before our second lecture of the morning. Our teacher had cancelled class because two NTU died in a scooter accident on the coast and she needed some time off.

My prayers go out for them and their families. 

Instead we toured an Agricultural building. Not really a good substitute for a lecture about Taiwan's society, but we got a lot of free snacks. MORE SNACKS! They really are trying to fatten us up.

People in Taiwan who work at the school or at museums are extremely friendly. They're patient when I can't follow their Chinese and really enjoy answering questions about their specialty. It's nice to know that they genuinely enjoy what they're doing.

We also visited Yingge Ceramics Museum. To my disappointment, we didn't get to throw on the wheel. I did watch amazing videos of some Taiwanese men throwing giant (up to 4 feet tall) pots. Crazy good! 

Hear Me

I know it's the same day, but I just wanted to write a bit about things other than my program's activities.

There's been an abundance of down time while we're traveling from place to place. It's a good time to chat with my classmates, get to know them. I'm really impressed with how nicely they can speak English. Even when there are discrepancies or misunderstandings, I can usually explain in detail what I mean and they'll catch on. It's amazing to think that they can hold conversations in two languages, when most people I know back in the states are only really fluent in one language and dabble in another.

Listening and comprehending Mandarin Chinese has been...I won't say a breeze, but I think it's my strongest aspect of this language. Then comes speaking, then reading, lastly writing. My goal when coming here was to practice speaking, but then I found out that the program is English oriented. So really the only time I practice is outside of class, while ordering things, or trying to bargain for a lower price in the night market. I'm happy that when people come up to ask a question I can usually answer them in Chinese. But other times the translation cogs in my brain get stuck and I usually just say, "我不說中文 (wo bu shou zhong wen)" Which means I don't speak Chinese, in Chinese. Even though it doesn't make sense to say that, it's just what comes out of my mouth.

So I can probably read about half of these characters

So it's nice to speak with my classmates in English and listen to them speak Chinese. They were practicing speaking English to each other when Randy and I found them in the game room tonight. Ji Ling had brought up the topic of Ken's love life...which turned into us having a fake television show called "Patient Family."

Patient because we'll listen to anything you say without question and Family because as Ken puts it, "We are Family! You can tell us everything." Basically everyone just shared about their previous or current loves. Like a girls night.

Here's a trailer for a movie recommended by my classmates. It's called Hear Me and is a romantic comedy, I'd say. About a boy who falls in love with a girl, of course. The twist is that he thinks she is deaf, but she really is just using sign language to communicate with her deaf sister. He learned sign language to be able to talk with her. So sweet, yet silly. 

Some Much Room for Activities

The most active day was also one of the hottest since I've been here!

I don't even bother checking the weather like I usually do at home, because I'm pretty sure the forecast each day will be the same: sweltering.
I think I'm finally used to going outside and sweating immediately. Good thing I brought two deodorant sticks.

Our hike up Balaka Trail took about two hours, but the temperature was comfortable in Yangminshan National Park. Probably because we were about 1,000 m above sea level.

 Taiwan is beautiful. 

Beautiful! 

I especially loved seeing plants that grew anywhere they could - vines on trees, moss on steps...

Time for some facts: Millions of years ago, subterranean movements caused a massive collision between two plates, the Philippines oceanic and Eurasian continental. They didn't like being pushed together...not enough room. So the pressure from the angry plates spawned violent volcanic activity, lifting up the Eurasian plate. Super hot fire burst up, covering the land. So the seven mountains in the park are sleeping volcanoes. The real term is dormant.

Even though the air was cool, everyone worked up a sweat. When the steps weren't steep, they were covered in slippery moss. So I regret that I spent most of the time looking down at my feet. But then again, I'm glad I didn't slip & tumble down the mountain. The frequent stops to look at different plants and animals were much appreciated. Two of our proffs came along with us. They're very knowledgeable about the local happenings in biodiversity.

Here's a shot of our sixty year old guide being a beast up the stairs. 

Finally at the top and our reward is a breathtaking view and extremely strong winds. 

Girls on the right are Ji Ling (from China) and Hulda (from Taiwan)

Then we were off to another sight. I think the program is pushing me to the limit of my sightseeing abilities. Not that I'm overwhelmed, but every night when my head hits the pillow I have solid, dreamless sleep until morning. 

Anyways, the next place to visit was Beitou Hot Springs. Beitou is nicknamed the Hollywood of Taiwan because so many movies are made here. We watched a couple of clips of old movies, which were funny and the over acted. The museum had a lot of Japanese influence. I felt like I walked into Spirited Away. I also felt like I just wanted to sit down in a freezer and sleep. 

1,000 degrees Celsius=1,832 degrees Fahrenheit in the Thermal Valley

Standing next to this pool filled with dead butterflies made the normal 90 degree weather feel cool.  

Even after all of this, I still wanted to go to the gym. I must have been crazy. But actually, swimming some laps and floating around with my classmate Randy felt great. Unlike swimming in the Thermal Valley. Death swim.

Finding Nemo

Today was our first longer bus trip out of Taipei. I really should be keeping track of my location on a map of some sorts. I just know we were on the Northeastern coast of Taipei. If I wanted to swim 1400 miles I could make it to Japan! Not that I would do that...or try.

Our bus dropped us off at National Museum of Marine Science and Technology. Sounds impressive, no? Well it's actually more of a research center. Basically a couple of large rooms filled with people who take care of various sized fish tank filled with various types of marine creatures. It's also not open to the public. We were lucky to have a tour for "academic purposes."

The first ones that we learned about were giant Grouper. I don't know why, but I was a bit freaked out looking at them. I guess I was imagining what swimming with them would be like. Random fact: all of the grouper fish poop at the same time when they know they're about to eat. They are storing the extra nutrients they need up until the last moment. Gross but impressive. Jean really wanted to see this phenomena, but our guide said they had already eaten in the morning. Poop.

I found Nemo.
He was hiding in an anemone, just as in the movie. The workers at the museum are training these fish to be released in the wild again, so they try to scare them into hiding. Sounds cruel, but it's a good thing to be afraid of humans in the sea. Nemo doesn't see human hands as things that feed him anymore.

The only creature I found was this tiny crabby.

Other classmates found sea stars, sea cucumbers, barnacles, different fish.

Next stop was the coast. We searched for some of the marine animals that we learned about in small tide pools. With the sun beating down, the low tide felt great. Everyone received a dorky-looking pair of water shoes and we tried not to slip on the algae as we navigated around the tide pools.

Hot Hot Hot

Walking outside to class this morning was killer. First of all, I overslept so I basically ran down the street.  Getting to class can take from ten to fifteen minutes, depending on if you catch a stop light. If you do, then you're in for a good five minute traffic show. At least it's interesting to see the combination of scooters, compact cars, bikers, and people. But mostly scooters. They zip around traffic and people walking on the streets like pros. Another thing is that most people walk in the street like they own it. Probably because the sidewalks are so slim.

Anyways, going outside today was like stepping into a sauna. A minute of being outside and sweat was dripping down my back and beading up on my face. So much for the shower I just took.

I don't think I could make it a week on the job

The first activity of the day was farm practice experience.
NTU has its own farms on campus. Kind of like a rice version of UIUC's morrow plots, that are seven times the size. So we got to pretend we were farmers complete with traditional hats. Though our scythes were smaller than I thought, we got to work harvesting the rice under the scorching sun.

Then we were off to a hat trick of lectures: Geology, Flora and Marine Biodiversity. I'm really excited to see the things I'm learning about in person. I don't think just writing that down can properly express how excited I am. So excited! So very excited!!

Later at night we traveled to a park inside the city. It's a bit strange to get off an elevated train, walk a couple of blocks, and arrive at a tropical forest. I guess it's similar to Central Park in NY. Except that the weather in Taiwan lends the Flora/Fauna to be much more diverse.

Taiwanese Green Tree Frog

Other animals we saw on our frog hunt include a baby daddy long legged Spider, a Formosan Toad (Bufo bankorensis), Olive Frogs (Rana adenopleura), Latouchti's Frogs (Rana latouchii), Indian Rice Frogs (Fejervarya limnocharis) and ummmm a snake.

I would count snails also, but all of the ones that I saw were smashed on trail. Poor slow things.

All About NTU

Today was my first real "school day" at National Taiwan University.

Although I've only been here two days, it feels like a week. Maybe it's because the students are so friendly. Maybe it's because our days are jam-packed with activities.

We learned about NTU through both a tour of an on-campus museum and a scavenger hunt around campus. It's very admirable that the school is so proud of their history. They've worked hard to overcome political stress, while always staying true to the ideas of education and integrity. You can read more history here:  http://www.ntu.edu.tw/engv4/about/history.html

Although the first was much cooler temperature wise, I preferred running around like a group of crazy young people, while seeing the campus for myself. We looked especially good because we were all wearing the same blue shirt. This was our uniform for our (very informal) opening ceremony. It consisted of us introducing ourselves, the proffs talking a bit, and then the Dean saying, "Okay we have ten more minutes, so I think I'll leave now." He was pretty cute, in an old Taiwanese man sort of way.

The first president of the University Fu Si Nian (傅斯年) said there are really 21 hours in the day. 

The last three are for meditation. 

So this bell rings 21 times at the end & beginning of classes as a reminder.

Running around Palm Tree Avenue, which cuts through the middle of campus.

Looks like we're in Beverly Hills, no?

Then we actually headed to class. I don't just have FUN all day touring Taipei. Although learning about the fauna and insects of Taiwan was fun in the sense that I stayed awake during lecture, despite the tempting call from my body to sleep. 

Bikes on bikes on bikes

The First Day

Is it the jet lag I'm feeling or just the tiredness after a full day of activities?

Today was my first full day at NTU (National Taiwan University) to study biodiversity, agriculture, and culture with seventeen other students from around the world. I think that besides learning about these things, I'll also be learning a lot from the other students. Even though we've traveled from different places, we're all here to have this experience together!

I feel really welcome here. Jack, our coordinator, is very laid back. I also think he's trying to fatten us up with all of the snacks that are available. We're going to be very well fed during this trip. I'm hoping to try many different types of food here, even new kinds of dishes.
For lunch we took a trip on the MRT to a food court. I really can't believe how nice the public transportation is! Compared to Chicago (where it is gross and people pee on the cars).

Here are some of the snacks outside our classroom

Here the trays have been magically refilled

More on the topic of food...some NTU students took us out for a hot pot dinner. It was not only delicious, but a good time to relax with my classmates. 

I really enjoyed giving and listening to the University introductions. I feel a little out of place because everyone is studying things closely related to this program, but I think I am just as interested as the next person. That's what counts? Looking forward to talking to my classmates to get to know them better. Cheers!