Four days in Taipei!

Taipei 101

Our first experience in Taipei was going to Taipei 101 tower!  This is what I was waiting for.  I had been to Top of the Rock in New York City and I loved it!  First we got lunch in the food court in the basement of Taipei 101.  Then we headed up to the observation deck!  The day was a little foggy, like most of the days we had in Taiwan.  We still had a pretty good view.  I took tons of pictures!  We were on the 89th floor of the building for the indoor observatory, and then went up to the 91st floor, which was outside!  It was so cool to see the city from this view.

The same night we went to a dance performance at the National Theater.  The architecture was amazing, the theaters looked like temples from the outside.  This was also the Chaing Kai Shek memorial that I wish we could have seen more of.  My camera had died so I got some pictures on my phone.  The performance was really good, different from anything I had seen before, and we got dinner afterwards.  This time in Taipei was a lot more relaxed than in Taichung.  We had more down time and freedom in what we wanted to do, but I didn't want to waste time.

Our hotel was really nice, but small.  Our room in the hostel was actually bigger, but what was nice about the hotel was that we got fresh towels and bed linens (if we wanted them) everyday.  Our water and snacks also got replenished, which was awesome because I didn't have to buy water that often.  Sunday morning around 7:30 while we were sleeping, the maid came into our room and surprised.  The first time she turned on all the lights and scared the crap out of us.  I guess she saw that we were sleeping so she left.  But, she kept coming into our room at least four more times within an hour and a half.  She turned the lights on almost every time, and then left shortly.  We didn't know what was going on and were angry.  When Dr. K told the front desk later that night, they were really shocked and said that shouldn't have happened.  They apologized and were going to check the security tapes to see what was happening.  Thankfully, it didn't happen again.

Lee- the woman who hand-makes coin purses and bags

It rained most of the days we were in Taipei and it dampened our moods a little, although we still had some fun.  We went to the Yingge ceramics museum, which was pretty neat.  We ate at the famous dumpling restaurant, Din Tao Fung in Taipei 101.  That was my second time eating there- half of our group ate there the second night in Taichung with some students.  We saw Taipei 101 at night, and went to a jade and flower market on Mother's Day at which I got a lot of cool little souvenirs.  At the jade market I got a beautiful hand-made coin purse for my grandmother, and I got a picture with the woman who made it!  I know my gram will love it.  We also went to Beitou hot springs and we rode the famous Ferris wheel in Miramar Entertainment Park while it was raining and lightning!  The Ferris wheel was another thing I really wanted to do while in Taiwan.  It was also Dr. K's first time seeing it.

We got a lot of experience on the subway, especially when we went out by ourselves the last day in Taipei.  We went out for lunch and shopping in the underground mall connected to the subway.  Most places were expensive, and on the way back to the hotel we found a little shopping district that was sort of like the night market and was really cool.  We didn't have much time there because we had to get back to the hotel and meet up with everyone else.

Flying over New York City!  You can see Central Park

Our last dinner in Taiwan was at an Italian restaurant.  We looked at a slideshow of pictures throughout our trip while eating.  It was cool to go back over everything we had done, which was a lot jam-packed into two weeks.  We got back to the hotel and packed up to leave the next morning.  We were at the airport at 6am to wait for out flight.  We left Dr. K at the airport and headed home.  It was a super long Tuesday, but I made it back to Pittsburgh.  Next up, my graduation from college!

A week in Taichung!

Flying over Japan

Ah, traveling to Taiwan.  This was my first time on a plane.  It was actually enjoyable, besides the turbulence.  We got into our hostel around 1 in the morning on Thursday the 2nd.  My first taste of Taiwan was when we were looking for the hostel with Dr. Wu in her car.  We were stopped because she wasn't sure which way to turn.  A scooter came around the car and cut right in front of us, turning the opposite way that we were going to.  It scared and surprised me!  The traffic is crazy in Taiwan, scooters everywhere!  I could not get used to it the whole time I was there.  I had a mini heart attack every time I would witness crazy drivers, especially while riding the buses.

The first day we had a welcoming party from Dr. Wu's class.  It was so nice to finally meet everyone and the food was really good- my first taste of Taiwanese food!  We chatted with everyone and discussed the plans we had for the rest of the day.  Some of the students stayed with us the whole day, which was so nice of them, taking us to a mall and the night market.  We were all so tired and overwhelmed so we made it an early night.  The rest of the time in Taichung was a whirlwind- packed full of lectures, trips, and sightseeing.  The first weekend we went to see a monastery, beautiful Sun Moon Lake, and three temples, including a famous one from the movie Din Tao: Leader of the Parade.  It was an eventful day, including me almost passing out from heat and dehydration at the monastery.  Fun times.  Sunday we went to a festival honoring the goddess Mazu.  It was so much fun!  It was kind of like a fireman's festival at home, or a fair.  At the festival, I first tried some kind of sugar candy, which was good, and then I had candied strawberries (like a candied apple), which was amazing.  The Mazu temple was pretty impressive architecturally.  I liked being in the crowd with all the people enjoying the fun.  There were parades and people setting off fireworks.  It was a good first weekend in Taiwan!

Luce Chapel

The next week consisted of various lectures from the architecture, literature, and art departments of Tunghai, including a lecture on the architecture of the campus and the Luce Chapel, which was really interesting!  Some of the other lectures weren't so interesting, unfortunately.  We went to visit the chapel, which was an architectural feat when it was built.  We also visited the home of a close friend of Dr. K and also an adjunct professor from the university, Dr. Hung and his wife.  It was a great experience seeing their apartment, sipping tea, chatting, and seeing how they live in Taiwan, plus all their treasures from their travels around the world!  We ate at a lot of Italian restaurants while in Taiwan, which was okay with me.  I did try some of the local food, but didn't completely love it.  I'm just not an experiential eater.

Dr. Wu's class and Chatham students

For our last day in Taichung we met up with Dr. Wu's class to have dinner.  We each sat with our learning partners to continue our relationships.  It was an emotional evening.  I wrote letters to my leaning partners and they were so excited when I gave the letters to them.  Dr. Wu made a speech just to wrap up the experience and thank everyone for what had happened the past week.  The class loved Dr. Wu for setting this experience up for them; it has touched a lot of their lives, as well as mine.  It was hard to leave the students, but I was excited to get to Taipei, the capital city!

Life is waiting just around the bend

Island Etude was one of the many foreign films I have watched.  It is about a hearing-impaired college student, Ming-hsiang, who takes a break from his semester and travels on his bicycle around the island of Taiwan.  There are many key elements in this film, such as the winds of the Pacific and religion.  On his travels, Ming-hsiang runs into a film crew that is producing a movie centered around the wind on the east coast of Taiwan and freedom; how people and animals use the wind to be free.  The wind is a recurrent point in the movie, continuing to when Ming-hsiang stays the night at a school, and the teacher, Miss Liu, is out listening to the wind and the waves, saying it is a magical experience.

The movie crew shows Ming-hsiang much kindness, such as inviting him to lunch and saving him from a rainstorm.  In the end when Ming-hsiang makes it back home, the film director sends Ming-hsiang an email and tells him that he wants to hear his story of his travels and will make a movie about it.  Ming-hsiang begins writing down his story after he returns home.

Religion was also a key point in this story.  There are scenes that show the coastline when Ming-hsiang is riding along and passes people performing prayer rituals, most likely Buddhist.  Religion is also present when Ming-hsiang and his bike friend, Tsun, stop at an abandoned shelter to get out of a rainstorm.  There, Tsun finds the reading of Buddha “Don’t get Angry” poem.  Also, when Ming-hsiang visits with his grandfather towards the end of the movie, the words “all rights and wrongs end here, take Buddha’s kind heart with you” are found on his wall in the kitchen.  Ming-hsiang and his grandfather participate in a ritual of the Baishatun’s Matsu goddess visit.  It is a whole-town prayer ritual blessing the village for the upcoming year.

Island Etude was an inspiring story that expresses the lesson of something that you don’t take advantage of and do now you will never do.  It shows that someone can really persevere and achieve their goals, no matter what the obstacles.

The Spread of Buddhism

Buddhism is a big topic in Holcome’s book.  It was the world’s first great missionary religion.  The main ideal of Buddhism is to reach nirvana.  Buddha identified The Four Noble Truths in his first sermon in India:

• Life if suffering
• The cause of our sufferings is our attachment to certain things in this world
• The way to end our suffering is to break those attachments and desires
• Follow the Eightfold Path to proper living in order to break our attachments and end our suffering

If one follows these truths closely, they will reach nirvana.  Many Chinese were skeptical of following the Buddhist ways because they were not sure what would happen after they reach nirvana.  It was known, although not to all, that once one reaches nirvana and ultimately dies, they come back in another peaceful life.  Also, people already contained the Buddhist Nature within themselves.  All they have to do is to be awakened to it, and they will live a peaceful life and afterlife.  These Noble Truths were not closely followed in Chinese Buddhism.  From China, Buddhism spread to Japan and the rest of East Asia.

I feel that one has to be completely involved in the Buddhist ways in order to get anything out of it, but Buddhism is also said to have a negative view of the world and is more a philosophy than a religion.  Although I do not practice Buddhism or any religion that is like it, I enjoyed reading and learning about Buddhism from Holcome and my classmates, and I hope to learn deeper into the subject.

Nausicaa, Daughter of the Windriders

I read the first volume of a Japanese comic, Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind I, for my East Asian Studies class.  At first, it was hard to get in to, and it started out very slowly with Nausicaa exploring the forest and coming upon an ohmu skin.  It wasn’t until later that I found out what an ohmu was, and it wasn’t until the end of the first volume that I found out its purpose.

The land was polluted and destroyed by the industrial civilizations and the seven days of fire that occurred.  Nausicaa is the princess of The Valley of the Wind, and she is loved by everyone, a great leader to take over after her father.  The Valley is a small kingdom on the edge of the frontier, given frail protection against the poisons of the sea of corruption by the constant winds blowing from the ocean.  The ohmu and the great insects are there to purify the air and land and leave after they have completed their purpose.

At the end, Nausicaa realizes that maybe it is the people who are the real pollution to the planet.  This was very interesting to read and see that it connects the problems of today’s world and pollution to the planet, not just in places like East Asia, but the U.S. as well.  It is also interesting from a gender point of view, how Nausicaa is the main character and she is female.  Gender roles are portrayed very different in the U.S. than in East Asia.

East Asian Culture Experience

I took a trip to a local Japanese gift shop in Pittsburgh on Walnut Street, called Kawaii.  I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got to the store; I had never been in a specialty store like this before.  As soon as I walked in, I was greeted with tiny trinkets and colorful merchandise.  The walls were filled with stickers, key chains, stationary, trinkets, pens, folders; you name it.  Everything was so bright and colorful; it put me in a happy mood.  Most of the merchandise was really cute and adorable that would be great for American kids, although a lot of it was really tiny pieces that would not be good for a small child to get ahold of.  There was a Hello Kitty section, a lot of merchandise with pig-related images on it, and a lot of cat-image-related merchandise.

I purchased some stationery with a pig and heart box image that I thought was really cute.  It came with envelopes with a clear window on the front, that when you fold the stationary paper in such a way and add an extra paper for the address, it adds a fun image to the front window in the envelope.  I don’t think we have any thoughtful stationary items like this that the U.S. produces.  It was a cute little shop that I will most likely be visiting again.

http://www.shopkawaii.com/