Bike Trek Part 1

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall Day 1 

Day 1 at 7:00 AM

If you haven't heard by now I was able to see the fantastic country of Taiwan by bicycle. The entire journey started out on December the 4th and ended on December the 12th. The nine day adventure included biking everyday and countless sights, sounds, and smells. I owe great gratitude towards my Rotary club who sponsored the event and District 3520 for organizing it. I was accompanied by over thirty Rotarians few of which were my age. Speaking of age, I knew physical fitness for elders was highly valued here but I didn't know seventy five was an okay age to bike around the island. My definition of old age has been revolutionized. I dream of the day I might be able to prove my strength at that age and makes me think could my dad do that?  

The bike travelers gathered early Saturday morning at Chaing Kai Shek Memorial Hall. Registration was accompanied by speakers blaring music. Soon all the bikers were grouped together and led through a stretch routine. After we were loose we listened to several speakers and were reminded of the real reason we were biking for nine days. The bike trek was formed to donate to charities. After plenty of photos we were lined up and off with a gunshot start. 

Language

I've heard Chinese is the hardest language to learn and I might agree with that statement. "Chinese" is a broad category though, not all "Chinese" is the same. The two major spoken Chinese languages are Cantonese and Mandarin. Hong Kong uses Cantonese and Taiwan and Beijing use Mandarin. I found it interesting that my Hong Kong friend speaks English with a British accent. The two major written Chinese languages are simplified characters which are used in Mainland China and traditional which are used in Taiwan. 

Mainland China changed to simplified characters to improve literacy rates, while Taiwan preserved the traditional characters. The Taiwanese are very proud of these characters and great importance is placed on writing them correctly. Each character is represents a word and is supposed to be a picture. Characters can be written from left to right, right to left and top to bottom. Many times I've picked up a book and realized the binding seemed backward. Its an odd sensation. Chinese characters written correctly are supposed to be "beautiful". The strokes  order of the characters are extremely important. In English we have the freedom to write our letters however we please. It doesn't matter. However in Chinese its extremely important. The direction and the order of the strokes have to be perfect and in a certain way. What I haven't seemed to figure out yet is why it matters so much. Only when someone is watching me can they tell if my stoke orders are right. Also slouching or leaning to the side is not permitted. Good posture is a must. All of this drives me up the wall. If anyone's read my hand writing they could attest to my chicken scratch. When I write, I write for content not for it to look pretty and quite frankly all of the strict structure makes me feel like smashing things with a baseball bat. However I've complied and taken the time to make sure my writing looks nice. 

Spoken Chinese is also rather difficult. On the plus side the verbs never change. Verbs are not conjugated for people of tenses. That is a wonderful thing, what's difficult is the tones. To start with Chinese phonetics are almost non existent in the English language. Its as if they have an entirely different alphabet except they don't have an alphabet. The phonetics give my mouth quite the workout. The language is very heavy on vowels which makes it tough for English speakers because everything seems blended together. On top of the heavy use of vowels in the natural words the Taiwanese like to make everything sound pretty which includes adding more vowels to words. "Ah" as in say "ah" is a favorite and used all the time. The pretty factor is probably the largest difference between spoken Mandarin in China and in Taiwan. Apparently the Chinese speak very harshly and is very heavy on "r". I even find some words funny when spoken by Mainlanders. The hardest part about spoken Chinese though is the tones. There are four tones. A flat high pitched tone that is almost in a sing song voice. A falling tone which often sounds like you're angry. A rising tone and a falling then rising tone. People cannot understand what I'm trying to say if I don't use the right tone. It seems ridiculous not to be able to recognize a word just because the tone is different but its a integral part of the word. Using the right tone often proves difficult especially when I'm attempting to ask a question because it's natural to raise my pitch and the end of a question. 

Although there is no alphabet, Taiwan has developed a phonetics system to help children learn. It looks like more characters except its phonetic symbols. It is not an alphabet however, because the written phonetic system does not create words. It just helps children pronounce them. The system is named "Bo Po Mo Fo". I personally don't like to use Bo Po Mo Fo, however many people would argue that its the best system to use because pinyin can not capture the phonetics of Mandarin. Pinyin is a system that uses the alphabet to help Western speakers learn Chinese. Unfortunately pinyin comes in multiple forms and has to create different rules to make up for the apparently strange pronunciations. Suddenly "Q" sounds like "Ch" and "X" like "Sh" and then my world gets flipped upside down. The pinyin I use the most often is in fact my own. I write down spoken words into my own pinyin style to help me remember and re-use words. 

There is a Taiwanese language but it is usually spoken by the older generation and it is closely linked to Mandarin. There is an even older language that exists in Taiwan and that would be Hakka. Most teens my age or younger can not speak Taiwanese very well and few people know Hakka. English pr-schools are every where here and plenty of people speak good English. My friend pointed out the other day that he chose Taiwan because Rotary Exchange students speak English everywhere in the world and only in Taiwan could he learn Chinese and English at the same time. Another interesting concept is that my Brazilian and Mexican classmates can converse with each other in Spanish/Portuguese without any prior knowledge of the languages. 

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Another Life

Throughout my entire exchange year I will live with three different families. Rotary claims that this is so I can have three different perspectives of Taiwan. I think the real reason is so one family doesn't have to put up with me for an entire year. My first host family is incredible, I owe them so much. They took great care of me. Including caring for me while I was sick, and the greater challenge of feeding me everyday. Just when I thought I had it down. When I was completely comfortable. When their house truly became home. When I felt like I fit in, is when I changed host families. The host home is not merely a hotel, and exchange students aren't guests, they are family members. As a member of the family I took care of household chores, and even cooked.

After school on Thursday evening I was greeted by my host mother who told me I'm moving host families that night. All thoughts of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, squash, and pumpkin pie left my mind. Thanksgiving was not on the agenda or in my brain. With speed I started throwing all my belongings into suitcases and bags. Amazingly everything was packaged and placed in my host fathers car. After a heart felt goodbye with my host mother I jumped into the vehicle and was sped away by my host father. Upon our arrival I was greeted by my new host mother who helped drag my luggage up to the sixth floor, my new home. After I set my belongings down I had a tour of the house then a walk around outside to see the nearest MRT station and the local park. Much to my surprise and utter delight I discovered that there is a night market within walking distance of my new home. I hit the sack soon after, completely exhausted and fell asleep without the aid of tryptophan.


Friday afternoon was a trip to the theatre. My good friend Dan the Man helped us get tickets with the aid of his host parents. The selected film was Harry Potter and it turned out great. Before going into the theatre Dan's host parents handed me a hot-dog with ketchup and mustard. They said "American food" and before I could say I was full I had a hot-dog in hand. The movie itself was in English with Chinese subtitles.  On the MRT ride home we discussed the irony that I live closer to Dan now than I did when we both lived in New York.  No MRT ride would be complete without bumping into other exchange students and it happened twice.  I was fortunate it happened because I probably would have taken a wrong turn on the MRT to my new home.

Although I "missed" Thanksgiving it doesn't mean it didn't cross my mind. Although I didn't gorge on turkey, I have a full stomach every day and for that I'm thankful. I didn't sit at around a table and say thanks for the roof over our heads, but I consider myself lucky to have a bed and a roof no matter where I've gone.  I missed spending time with all of my family and friends, but I'm thankful for my first host family for being so great to me, my second host family who opened up their house, all of my friends here who make all the difference, and all of my family and friends back in the United States who support me and made this adventure possible. This year I'm thankful for this amazing opportunity to go on an exchange to the other-side of the world, even if it means skipping Thanksgiving. I think the very absence of the holiday made me appreciate it's value even more.



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Routine

My daily life in Taiwan doesn't seem extra ordinary to me but it differs from life in the States. One of my priorities while I'm here is representing the United States and painting an accurate picture of Taiwan for family and friends who aren't here.

At 6:00 my alarm clock goes off and I rise from my deep sleep. Within a few steps I'm in the kitchen and I go straight for the coffee percolator. After my breakfast of peanut butter toast and coffee I'm out the door. On my way out I grab a water bottle and slide off my indoor sandals. I put my shoes on outside of the apartment door and take the elevator down to the first floor. The gate keeper says good morning ( in Chinese) and I reply. On my way to the MRT station I pass the old woman's taichi class. Which involves paper fans, red uniforms, music, and a series of dynamic movements. Most shops and businesses are closed this early in the morning but the twenty-four hour convenient stores like 7Eleven remain open. After avoiding dog feces, motor scooters, and any collisions with bicycles I arrive at the MRT station. The new MRT line whizzes me to the National Taipei University of Education where I take Chinese lessons. I'm in class with Brazilians and Mexicans and I hear about the same amount of English and Spanish with a heavy dose of Chinese.

Class ends at 11:30 and everyone is hungry. Local food shops know our faces by now. Especially the dumpling shop. With dumplings at 5 NT a piece, it's one of our favorite venues. Menus are in Chinese, but it poses no problem now because we've mastered the art of ordering and almost anything that we happen to order by accident ends up tasting great.

When our belly's are full we head back to our high schools. For me this means another MRT ride and a bus ride. While waiting for my ride one day I watched an elderly man hobble off his bus and make a phone call in the middle of the road. He then proceeded to walk off the road unzip his pants and urinate on a fence.

I arrive at Dunxu Technical and Vocational High School around 2:00. At school I spend my time reading anything I can get my hands on. The last book I read was the Theory of Knowledge. In between classes if the weather is nice I play basketball with my classmates. School ends at 5:00. I climb onto bus 508 and head back to Sanchong. I'm home at 6:00 and eat dinner at 7:00. Dinner is always white rice with various vegetables, and meats and is always eaten with chopsticks. Tofu and oyster omelets frequently make the menu and no matter how hard I try my host mother won't let me help with cleaning the dishes. Dessert is always chopped up fruit. Taiwan cooking relies heavily on sodium based flavors. Many Taiwanese don't like sweets and much to my amazement my friend doesn't even like pancakes. Apples are even served with salt on them.

I do my laundry by hand at night. It hang dries outside my bedroom window. When the sun goes down the fireworks light up. The city doesn't sleep which means I've learned to ignore or accept fireworks serenading me to sleep instead of crickets.

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台灣

Never in my life did I expect becoming a "man" would involve a hat with a pony tail attached, a silk shirt, and a lion dance. Well this past weekend my preconcived notions were erased. The Rotary District 3520 succesfully managed to gather every exchange student in the Confucian Temple and dress them in traditional clothes. Furthermore they succeded in creating a memory that will last a lifetime. 

My day started off in a bakery near the Confucian Temple assorting through the various sweets and baked delicacies, I felt like I was in Europe. The pink frosted marshmallows with sprinkles were worse than I remember any Easter candy could possibly be.

My tour of the Confucius Temple was sumplemented by a translated version of the Four Books of Confucism, that I read earlier in the year. At the core of Confucius's teachings is filial piety and following the rites. Confucius is best  known for his golden rule "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others". He does have others though including one about how a son should never leave his family to travel to faraway nations.

The temple itself is simple because "no artist dares to show off in the presence of the best teacher". On top of the temple there is a cylinder. The cylinder reminds people of what happened during the Qin dynasty. Emperor Qin had the great wall built but the cylinder is not praising this accomplishment but reminding people of all the books he burned and banned. The top of the temple also includes two dragons (there are nine different dragons). We were told that these dragons like to look around therefore they are able to warn people if the wooden roof catches on fire. The carved birds resting on the ledges are bad but since Confucius is such a good teacher they come to listen. The tour of the temple was put on hold when I stumbled upon a gentleman playing a wooden lute. He had a song for whatever country you were from and plenty of newspaper clippings with pictures and articles about himself. After the tour and a Subway lunch the ceremony began.

At the beginning of the ceremony each student washed their hands to represent the washing away of old habits. Then rows of exchange students stood up walked under a table and sat on stage while their host parents placed hairpieces and hats on their heads. Soon afterwards I performed a lion dance which is traditionally Cantonese.  Other groups performed a dragon dance, tai chi, and a modern techno dance. The pictures in the previous post will do much more justice than any of my words.

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Comming of Age

The Sunny Side of Life

For the past two weeks my Chinese has improved exponentially.  This is due to the language lessons at the Taipei University of Education courtesy of the Rotary Club. While Chinese homework has consumed most of my time during the week, the weekend allowed for quality down time. With all this free time my attention was turned towards my quest for a pumpkin. Although ultimately unsuccessful my pursuit for a pumpkin had its benefits. I bumped into exchange students early Saturday morning at the MRT main station. Soon afterwards I found myself in an Internet cafe playing a computer game. Turns out that computer games just aren't my cup of tea, so I left in search of the ever present Seven Elevens to withdraw some money. The Seven Eleven I entered didn't contain an ATM that would work for me or any pumpkins but it did offer some friends and adventure.

My new acquaintances were from Manila studying Med. and were traveling in Taiwan after their mid-terms. One was originally from NYC and the other from London. Soon the acquaintances turned into friends and I found myself joining them.  After a short MRT ride we ended up at Taipei 101 waiting for someone by the name of Noodles. Noodles arrives and by this time I had abandoned my search for a pumpkin because he had promised the best pearl milk tea in Taiwan. It was an hour commute to the residency of the best milk tea in Taiwan and was well worth every minute. The milk teas restaurant serves full meals and everything served has tea leaves in it. The milk tea is outstanding and we are treated to a free tea ceremony. During the ceremony I discover that the Taiwanese aren't the only ones who look down upon bagged tea. My new friend from London discusses tea with me and much to my surprise the coveted Barry's Tea stored at my house in the United States is poor quality. I am so shocked at this news since until this year Barry's Tea was the best tea I've ever had.

I decided to enter another Seven Eleven to try the ATM. Much to my surprise it was the last time I saw my card. When the machine did not spit my card back out after it denied me access I became worried. Then it became apparent the machine wasn't going to give it back. I didn't want to leave my card in there in case someone else was able to retrieve it. I assumed a fighting stance to guard the machine with my life and called the Seven Eleven employee over. My fears may have been exaggerated because the only person in the store beside the employee was a friendly man who was able to get me on a phone with someone at the ATM service who spoke English. I returned home without a pumpkin, without money, and without my card, but I did return with a light heart.

Later that night I discovered a church that offered an English mass. So the next morning I headed over to the church. After Mass the newcomers were encouraged to stand up and say where they were from. During the coffee social after mass I befriended two men of Nigerian descent. They had family in Vancouver and New Jersey and were teaching English here. After a walk in Daan Park we had lunch near my University. The food here is delicious and cheap. Filling meals are available for under three U.S. dollars.

The next morning I placed money on my Easy Card which allows me to use the convenient public transportation. I never used that card again. Unfortunately my Easy Card became lost in the path between my hand and my pocket. The worst part of this discovery is that it happened while I was already on the bus. A lovely lady gave me the necessary change I needed to get off the bus and find my way back to where I was supposed to be. I owe the people of Taiwan so much.

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