Belly Dancing

Had my first belly dancing class today. Good story, but too tired to type it. After I'm recovered...

Goin' Local

I had a crazy amount of energy yesterday and spent the bulk of the day driving around town. I started with some internet and then zipped to Da Li for my language exchange with some women I work with. After that, I stopped by the post office and mailed off some letters. Soon enough, I found my way to a park I'd seen a million times from the bus, but had never made it over there to check it out. Turns out it is this really big, beautifully landscaped park, where I happened to see two cranes flying from a tree to the creek that ran behind some houses. I considered this to be a pretty amazing thing, since there aren't many birds to be found in the city, let alone big, snow white birds settling in the trees.

After I rambled around the park a while, climbing some rocks and seeing some kids in the school gym yard (who, when wearing their blue uniforms, look at lot more like prisoners getting some air than a bunch of high schoolers in gym class, and were distinguished from prisoners only in the fact that they all seemed to have yellow and orange pom-poms...) I decided to high-tail it to a cafe to read a little. I never made it there though, because I came up to Fu-Hsing Rd and I remembered there was a big mall-type complex on the road. I decided I had some time before class and so I made my way to Taichung Central and checked it out. It was eleven floors of fun, fun, fun! There was a Toys R Us there (where I found Taiwan Monopoly (!)), a movie theater on the 6th floor, a bunch of restaurants, a pool hall/bowling alley (on the same floor as World Gym--smokey pool hall and fitness gym together, I love it!), and on the top floor, Mint 27, a live music venue and dicso pub. Fantastic!

Later at work, I started to wind down and thought that I would surely do nothing but go to bed immediately after work, but on my way home, I reconsidered. I ended up at a jazz cafe around the corner from my house, learning how to say ashtray in Chinese and drinking a cold beer while reading a chapter from the Edward Said book I picked up the other day. It was a beautiful end to a well-travelled day. There's so much to do here, it's unbelievable!

On a side note, I haven't gotten a DVD player yet, so I won't be able to check out the Chinese animation flick I picked up entitled "Mr. Pig Hires a Cat" right away, but it looks like a some pretty bizarro business, so I'll let you know as soon as I find somewhere to watch it. All I know is that when you see a movie that has a puppet pig tied to a stick, with a puppet cat holding a fistful of mice, and two puppet animals "wrestling" on the floor on the cover for 39 NT ($1.10 USD), you snatch it up as fast as you can!

Another interesting purchase that makes me feel at home on the roads of Taichung is my mask. Made of cotton and used to cover my face to protect me from exhaust fumes, it's got pink, purple and black polka dots on it, and I love it! It's a trip!

Taiwanese Turkey Day

Susan, Brian, and I decided to go out for a quick adventure before work this afternoon and made our way towards the train station. It's the oldest part of town, so most of the buildings are run down, but there's always something interesting going on. We found a little street that was lined with red lanterns and little shops tucked back into fishy-smelling and dark alleyways. E found an alley that was completely devoted to hardware...and poultry (among other meat vendors). We saw tons of little shops with power tools, lengths of chain, fencing, and then suddenly crates full of live poultry. Roosters, chickens, pigeons, smaller birds, and our find of the day: Turkeys! We asked how much the turkeys were and for 1000 NT, we can buy ourselves a live turkey that they will kill and pluck for us. I'm all for it, but Susan and Brian looked a little unsure. I'm going to try to talk them into it. When I mentioned the idea to Kristy later, she looked pained. I think the idea that the turkey will be killed especially for us is a little unnerving. When you are at the grocery store, you buy it frozen. You don't see the turkey walking around and the butcher doesn't have you specifically in mind when he prepares the bird. Guilt-free meat consumption I guess. Ideally, the bird would be free-range, but there's hardly enough space for the people here, let alone free-range poultry, so I'll take what I can get.

In any case, although tommorow is Thanksgiving, we wouldn't be celebrating until this weekend, or, most likely, next weekend. I think it'd be fun to give it a go!

The Kids

Monday I taught my little kids, 6-7 years old. Oh, they are precious! Andy 2 learned how to say "like" just so he could say " I like Teacher" before running away. John had a really hard time not speaking Chinese (who can blame him, he only knows about ten English phrases and that's never enough to tell your friend next to you about this cool new sticker you got!) and I kept taking away points and looking at him sadly. After about the tenth time, he laughed,
disappointed again, put his head on the desk, and peeked a few glances at me while smiling his front-toothless grin.

Ted, on the other hand, is doing his very best to speak as much English as he can. He's the littlest one and he told a little joke the other day. "Teacher, no pencil," he said, when I asked him to take out a pencil. "Really, you don't have a pencil?" "Ha Ha Teacher!" he said, as he pulled out his pencil case full of pencils!

Lisa, who loves to talk to me outside of class and waves to me as often as she can, ran up to me after class and said "What can you see?" This is, of course, the most complex question she knows to which I replied "I can see a student. What can you see?" "I can see a teacher!"

Sherry, the quietest girl, stayed after class to help erase the lower half of the white board. Ted, Oscar, John, and Lisa also took turns helping with this particular task. Sherry also helped me carry the flashcards and markers back to my desk downstairs.

Man, I love these kids! They are adorable and have such a fun time in class! You can't help but love singing ridiculously chessy songs with them and jumping up and down in excitement right alongside them!

Free Time and Me

The scooter problem was minimal. It would seem that a part came loose and required exactly 10 minutes to fix, including the time it took to attempt to explain in broken Chinese and gestures what the problem was. I had him throw in an oil change and the grand total of repair costs came to 330 NT. About $10 USD. Incredible.

The rest of the weekend was fantastic! Kristy and I drove to the mountains and on our way out of town found this five storey temple. We happened inside and as we looked around, a young woman brought us some tea and introduced herself. She invited us to sit down and explained that she was a "happy volunteer" for the temple. We asked her as many questions as we could think of about the temples and the gods, and she did her best to explain. Although we had some problems communicating, this woman was incredible. She never formally studied English, she taught herself from books with some help from the foreigners that visit the temple! She took us to the various floors and described the gods and what they do, why they are arranged the way they are, why they burn incense, and how much upkeep is required. Eventually, a man came and sternly talked to her, at which point she had to leave us, but she managed to answer a lot of our questions. For the first time, I didn't feel like an idiot staring at the pretty things. I actually felt welcome and began to understand a little more of what I was seeing. She invited us to come back and visit her, Sandy "happily volunteers" every day of the week.

The second leg of the journey took us into the mountains to another temple. As we drove through the windy roads and small towns, we found ourselves next to a small gorge. As we came to a clearing, we spied an enormous temple that seemed settled into the mountainside. We drove across the bridge and walked up the staircase, turning to notice the smell of flowers in the air, hear the birds chirping, and the reddening sky as the sun began to set. The red paper lanterns that hung around the perimeter were lit and as I turned around to face the stairs, I was struck by the beauty of the green mountains across the crevice, framed by the lanterns and drums hanging from the ceiling.

We returned refreshed and I noticed how the open space and fresh air did wonders for my frustration concerning the Saturday night traffic! Next we were off to dinner with Susan and Brian at a restaurant they call "U Shrimp It." For 100 NT, we got poles, some raw liver as bait, and all the prawn we could catch from the pool in the middle of the room. We grabbed some beers and settled in to talk about whatever it is people talk about while fishing. I caught the first shrimp about 5 minutes after casting my line, but it was pretty slow until they restocked. I had plenty of bites, but I never caught another one and total we caught about six. I impressed with how big they were! I don't have a lot of experience with prawn, and maybe it's the fishermen's tall tale getting the best of me, but they seemed big to me! We threw some salt on them, skewered them and then threw them into a barbeque while they still squirmed. Luckily, we had gotten some snacks from the night market up the road so we weren't ridiculously hungry as waited to catch our dinner. They were delicious!

After that we walked back home and over to Soundgarden, an outdoor bar in a garden to hear a band that seemed pretty good last time. Either the band was different this time, or we were really drunk last time, because this time around they were horrid. Let me say only this: keyboards and a ridiculously bad rendition of the girl from Ipenema. Bad.

Finally, around 1:30 am I joined some friends at a party out by Dong Hai University. There was a barbeque, a bunch of live bands, a freestyle rap competition, and a drumming circle. It had this amazing view of the city from the top of a hill. The air was fresh and crisp, but not too cold, and the company was great! All in all, it was a super cool Saturday, start to finish!

On the Fritz

Oh no! My beast of a scooter is on the fritz! Today's adventure will be wholely dedicated to finding a scooter repair shop that can speak English. Wish me luck!

Let the Holidays Begin

To celebrate Alice's birthday, Stella booked a room at the Holiday KTV in Da Li City where we all teach. I'd never been to an actual KTV prior to last night, and man was I missing out! The last place I sang at was this little bar nicknamed the Cave by some expats due to its near complete lack of light (the KTV room was lit entirely by the two monitors and their chessy videos from 1989) and its questionable use of grout as a decorating tool.

The Holiday KTV was a whole different experience. It had several floors and looked almost like the coolest hotel I'd ever been in, with each room holding its own U-shaped couch, low tables, the back wall was painted black with red squares and had a back-lit panel of white translucent discs that looked like huge records. The opposite wall was an enormous screen and the room had surround sound. You could add voice effects to the microphone, change the key of the song, and a button brought a bowing waiter to take your order! There was a private bathroom off to the side, and down the hall was a free buffet. They had songs in Chinese, Taiwanese, English, and Japanese! It was amazing! It was a frenzy of song ordering and singing as loud as we possibly could together, alone, and cheering when someone did a really great job. And every single person in the room sang at some point! I almost peed myself, it was so much fun!

What amazes me is the possible separation of karaoke from alcohol. In the States, the only karaoke you can find is in a bar, unless you've got that extra geeky friend who has his own home karaoke system that plays all the background music using the magic of what sounds like a late-80's era Casio keyboard. Here, chemical alteration is not needed to get silly and let loose. The room isn't silent until round three of drinks have been consumed, and you're not forced to endure the song stylings of the karaoke master (for whom karaoke is just a side gig, until he makes it in the music biz) who sings until the patrons are drunk enough to start singing for everyone. I'm not quite sure how in a culture where face and relative conformity is so important, completely letting go and signing like an ass has become such a phenomenom. But really, who cares? It's damn fun!

Taiwanese Hate Mail

For the second time in my life I received a piece of hate mail. As many of us know, the first piece I recieved was left on my car in Windsor, Ontario and was signed "Love, Canada." Apparently, in the few hours I was in Windsor, the Canadian government called an emergency summit to dicuss the nuisance that is Cassandra Jones. In that time, a letter was issued, handwritten, highlighted to place emphasis on the fact that the letter was intended for a "poorly educated American", and signed by a representative of the summit. They must have run out of the official letterhead or something because it was on a regular piece of notebook paper. Oh well.

The second piece of hate mail I received was today in class. I opened a student's homework notebook to grade the homework and saw a note she had written the CT and I. She had just gotten her quiz grade back and took the opportunity to vent. "Do you know why me got a 76 grads on quiz? I'm angry. I should have 100 or 90~99! bad Hess! I hate! Kill! Kill! Kill! Hate! Hate! Hate! Forever Hate!" This needless to say is not the norm in a culture that values balance and harmony. She's an odd bird, this one, but at least this letter isn't expressing the mutual hatred of an entire country! Normally, the students would make up a quiz under 80, but the regular CT is on vacation and the sub isn't havin' any of her business and so is refusing to give her a retake. This CT, who, by the way, is one of the nicest women I've ever met, is a complete badass in the classroom! Last week, she made one of the students write the homework eight times! Homework times two is a big punishment, and HW x8 is almost unheard of!! Ah, happy students!

Taiwanese Salsa

On my way to the icafe, I stopped by a food vendor in search of Green Onion Cakes. I had a bite of Susan's on Sunday and wanted to find one for dinner. He was selling Dim Sum so I picked some up instead. Yum!! As I looked around the stadium to my right, I noticed it was lit up and plenty of people were jogging and generally just hanging out. Then I noticed a group of women dancing in formation. As I walked around to get a closer look, I noticed that music sounded like a Chinese version of the Rob Thomas/Santana song from a few years ago, and interestingly enough, the dance looked like a blend between traditional dance and salsa. There sure was a lot of hip wiggling. It was great!

Good Times

In an effort to shake off the blues, I lined up some fun events for the weekend. I had been invited to a murder mystery party and decided to go. Unfortunately, it fell through as plans will, but as I found myself all dressed up with nowhere to go, I joined my roommates and their visiting pals for some drinks and good times. We continued to hash out our post-election feelings and then took our act on the road. No particularly fantastic stories to relate, but I did manage to impress Brian and Susan with my ability to tell a taxi driver our address in Chinese. :) I seem to be picking a few things up, after all...

Sunday's scooter adventure was pretty tame. Shopping, shopping, and more shopping. Susan and Brian just got a fridge so I went with them on their first "cold things optional" grocery shopping trip! It was so much fun watching them pour over the refrigerated foods section deciding which food to try. I did try to pick up a DVD player, and even though the price was right, the plugs were wrong. It's pretty damn hard to track down a cheap DVD player that has coaxial cable hook-ups on the back! The hunt continues...I also finally made it to the Nova in town. It was four floors of electronics bliss! It's kind of like Best Buy, only all the floor space is inhabited by individual sellers so if you don't like the price, you keep looking until you find one whose price you do like. You can do some pretty sweet bargaining this way. I have to say, bargaining is a trip! Looking at something disinterestedly, asking for the best price, suggesting a price, or even just watching it go down as you hesitate is awesome! I've managed to get some great deals on scarves and things. I think soon I'll take my improved skills back to the Jade market and see what I can swing there!

Teaching Highs

The other day I taught my littlest kids. They are about 6-7 years old. Some of them just came from kindergarten. They are the cutest! Since most of them had never had an English class before, I got to name the majority of the students. One kid, Andy 2 (not my work), had a hard time learning "How old are you? I am 7 years old." So I asked each of the students so he could hear, but he still couldn't do it. So I kept asking at different moments throughout class. Still struggling. Then at the end of class we sang the "How old are you? song." Ok, they *love* to sing in that class so they got into it right away. They were jumping up and down and started to get louder as the song got faster and faster. Even little Andy 2, who had been frustrated, was having a grand ol' time! He was smiling and jumping, and singing the words! When it was over, he could answer the question. When I walked around saying goodbye and giving high-fives, he told me "Teacher, I happy!" I almost peed myself from the amount of cuteness that was happening! Then as I was erasing the board, he ran up one more time and said again, "Teacher, I happy!" wearing the biggest grin his face could hold.

When I saw him again yesterday in the school, he smiled, waved and I asked, "How are you?" He answered " I am seven years old," giggled, and ran up the stairs to class. I thought, "ok, more work to be done, but damn, that's some progress!

Teaching Woes

Sometimes having two teachers in the classroom can be good. Other times, just useless. I taught my least favorite class yesterday and I was coming down with a cold in addition to the election blues I've been suffering. I just wasn't there. I functioned pretty well for the first hour, but when it came time to the second, I lost my train of thought and no amount of looking at my notes or the teacher's guide could retrieve it from the depths. In what must have been a pathetic display, I looked at the CT and told her I had no idea how to explain that they were supposed to write a paragraph about a sport. She then took over the classroom with mask firmly in place, as she has been sick too for about a week. She attempted to explain in Chinese what the students were supposed to do, but we still had to go to each individual student and explain again, in both English and Chinese. Finally the class got back on track, but we lost them completely over the last ten minutes. I found myself looking at my watch every minute, praying those last five minutes would be over! Two sick and tired teachers does not an effective learning environment make!

On the plus side, two girls who serious disrupt class, leaving at break and not coming back until ten minutes after break has ended, sleeping in class, refusing to do work, will not pass this level (which is almost over) and will be asked not to return to the school. Yippee! The rest of the class is pretty good so it won't be so painful to teach. Now, if I can manage to be awake too...

And in a redeeming moment, the little fat girl in my class who sits in the front row, and who I love, told me: "Teacher, your hair is noodle!" She smiled, laughed and said it again. It was adorable! I smiled and agreed. My hair *does* indeed look like ramen noodles.

Low Blows

Yesterday was the worst day I've had in a long time. After hearing for the first time about the challengers, I was furious. Absolutely seething. I showed up to work and once I was in the teacher's room I let loose the fury I felt. I started yelling about those fucking bastards and what not, before I realized that kids were in hearing range. Oops. I calmed down, but was a horrible teacher because I just wasn't present in class.

Later, I went to the bar to escape my text-message gloating roommate who let me know that Bush was ahead. While there, a woman with blue hair started screaming "Fuck Bush!" and then I knew. I still held out hope but I went home with my head hanging low. I met with Brian and Susan, my fellow non-Bushie friends and we commiserated. This left me feeling worse, and when Matt called with the news that Kerry had conceded before hearing from Ohio, I was reduced to tears. All that work and nothing has changed. Bush can now sit tight in his knowledge that the American Public will in fact take being lied to consistently. We don't mind that your policies are disatrous to the environment, public health and safety, and even our civil liberties. So now that you've got control of the house, the senate, and the majority of governorships go ahead and continue with more of the horrible policies you seem to enjoy so much. And remember, to admit you have made a mistake ever is to admit complete defeat so instead lie, change your story and just generally be evasive, because Americans want a leader who is always right, even when he's wrong.

This morning I felt so low that I actually wanted to return to the U.S. Even though it's probably better to stay here (as Rob pointed out, it's not on the axis of evil), I just really wanted the comfort that I'm not getting here. Not many of the expats seem concerned with the election, I've met far too many Americans that didn't vote (my girl--she a leftie at heart, but her conservo xtian upbringing has her confused--roommate included) and the others seem only to sort of think that Bush sucks, but can't quite pinpoint way or just don't seem to care.

I will say that the efforts of MoveOn.org were amazing and they won two states simply by getting people out to vote. That at least offers a glimmer of hope, something I wasn't sure I could see this morning. May the supreme court justices hang in there!

Election Jitters

I've been nervously thinking that this is it! Today is election day. I know that it's still morning in Ohio and I'm so worried about all this business. There's nothing left to be done, but I'm still nervous. Hearing about all the scandals hasn't calmed my nerves any, that's for sure. In any case, I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Midnight Escapade

Last night as I was lying in bed trying to unwind, I thought to myself, " Boy I'm not that tired at all." Then it occured to me that even though everyone was too tired to do anything I wasn't stuck at home! So I hopped on the scooter (which I still haven't named-- I'm open to suggestions) and headed to a 24hr tea house, Madding Tea House, I'd spotted the night before. It was really nice, recessed lighting, stressed wood tables and carved wood partitions, old photographs, and a clerk that spoke English! I ordered some fruit tea and caught up on my correspondance. I slowly sipped my tea, cracked open some maps, and thought about where my next adventure might take me...