Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Buddhist Temple Street Party
On my way home from the bus stop every day, I pass a small temple. It is rather nice that Buddhist, Confucianist and Taoist traditions can all be found side by side in the same temple. I have got to know the old couple who live at the temple as I stop by for a chat, if they are in. The temple atrium is also their front room with sliding doors onto the street. They are often there as they look after their granddaughter, who is 2, while their son and his wife are at work.
At first Am'm did all the talking and I just did by best to understand. Her accent is pretty strong and she speaks to her husband in Taiwanese. After a few weeks I could speak more Chinese with them and they always welcome me back if I have free time. So kind, so patient, I really appreciate how they have helped me.
Easter Day was the birthday of the Bhodisatva (Saint) that this temple is devoted to. Am'm invited me to come to the street party they were having. A tarpaulin awning had been set up into the street. I think cooking preparations had been going on for weeks, round tables with red plastic sheets for a table cloth were set up with plastic stools, there were about 200 local people eating dish after dish of traditional Taiwanese food together. I met Am'm son and daughter-in-law and a few more neighbors. Am'm's daughter had to translate for me between the old gentleman I was sitting next to as he only spoke Taiwanese. Turns out we live on the same street in Xin Zhuang. A rather colourful day.
On my way home from the bus stop every day, I pass a small temple. It is rather nice that Buddhist, Confucianist and Taoist traditions can all be found side by side in the same temple. I have got to know the old couple who live at the temple as I stop by for a chat, if they are in. The temple atrium is also their front room with sliding doors onto the street. They are often there as they look after their granddaughter, who is 2, while their son and his wife are at work.
At first Am'm did all the talking and I just did by best to understand. Her accent is pretty strong and she speaks to her husband in Taiwanese. After a few weeks I could speak more Chinese with them and they always welcome me back if I have free time. So kind, so patient, I really appreciate how they have helped me.
Easter Day was the birthday of the Bhodisatva (Saint) that this temple is devoted to. Am'm invited me to come to the street party they were having. A tarpaulin awning had been set up into the street. I think cooking preparations had been going on for weeks, round tables with red plastic sheets for a table cloth were set up with plastic stools, there were about 200 local people eating dish after dish of traditional Taiwanese food together. I met Am'm son and daughter-in-law and a few more neighbors. Am'm's daughter had to translate for me between the old gentleman I was sitting next to as he only spoke Taiwanese. Turns out we live on the same street in Xin Zhuang. A rather colourful day.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Easter Sunday,
I rushes about preparing Hot Cross Buns, or at least the equivalent of, considering I couldn't get hold of quite the right ingredients. My very own creation contained, raisins, pecan nuts, prunes and tangerine peel. I was luck enough to find yeast and cinnamon. They had the right flavor, even if they weren't quite to right shape. People don't have ovens at home, so I had to hunt about to find one I could use. I was able to use the small one in the kitchen behind the church. It was nice to be able to share one of our traditions with the Taiwanese.
In the afternoon, after a brief practice, we donned our purple and white choir robes and walked to the park to sing hymns. Several of my friends had helped me with the pronunciation and translation of the Chinese and Taiwanese. The nice thing about singing is you don't have to think about tones, just follow the music. Just as well as Taiwanese has 9 tones!
I rushes about preparing Hot Cross Buns, or at least the equivalent of, considering I couldn't get hold of quite the right ingredients. My very own creation contained, raisins, pecan nuts, prunes and tangerine peel. I was luck enough to find yeast and cinnamon. They had the right flavor, even if they weren't quite to right shape. People don't have ovens at home, so I had to hunt about to find one I could use. I was able to use the small one in the kitchen behind the church. It was nice to be able to share one of our traditions with the Taiwanese.
In the afternoon, after a brief practice, we donned our purple and white choir robes and walked to the park to sing hymns. Several of my friends had helped me with the pronunciation and translation of the Chinese and Taiwanese. The nice thing about singing is you don't have to think about tones, just follow the music. Just as well as Taiwanese has 9 tones!
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Happy Easter!
Holy week has been an eventful one! On Saturday 25 March I went up to the sea side town of Danshui to help my language exchange partner Jeff with his literature presentation. He picked me up from the station and took me up the hill to his dorm on the back of his scooter. We couldn't have got up to 25mph in the narrow streets swerving round street vendors, parked mopeds, oncoming traffic and throngs of shoppers, but it felt much faster, I laughed like a loony in an attic, excitement and fear. Jeff assured me everything was normal, this was his 'turf', I would be OK.
A few deep breaths after the dismount and we ducked down an ally flanked with a jewelries and a pick and mix boil your own dinner kind of cafe. Then through a courtyard fang dong (landlady) was tidying the potted shrubs, Jeff pointed out the tree in the middle of the small garden was a cherry blossom (not yet in flower, hardly surprising as it would only get the midday sun, concrete towering on all sides). Jeff's room was more of a bedsit, bigger than my room in Xin Zhuang.
Single mattress in the corner, big desk, TV, water boiler for hot and cold drinking water, Two wooden chairs and a few plastic 2 ft high stools, bookshelf, chest of drawers. Like me he had plastic framed wardrobe with a fabric cover that zips down the front. The shower and loo were down the hall, shared with the other four lads on the floor.
After a slurp of hot water we adjourned to the student library across the street. What a monster, we took the lift to the ninth floor to use a meeting room to study in, so we could talk without disturbing others. This would have seated a board room of twenty comfortably, had a gorgeous view of the mountains the other side of Danshui, temples on the hillside, the dwellings of Danshui crammed in tightly next to each other. All was not tranquil as we kept being interrupted by loud clanging of construction work on the new English Department next door.
We are reading Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dallaway, well at least I am, Jeff looked up notes on the internet to save him the trouble. What he wants me to do is explain the notes to him. Engineers! What can you do with them? He is taking three English courses on top of his Mechanical Engineering, but he isn't interested in the beauty of the writing (the first ten pages brought tears to my eyes, possibly progesterone assisted), the life of the author, the characters struggle to communicate their needs or London's post war society, he just wants a good grade in his presentation on Wednesday.
I had to be on my way at 6 as I was meeting a young couple who wanted me to teach them English one evening a week. This was the elder sister of a girl at church and her boyfriend.
Just for fun, Jeff took me round the back street of Danshui on the blessed moped, then we wondered the busy main street, crammed with people, tasted local baking, I spent my hong bao (new year money from Rosa's parents) on a Chinese silk purse and silk embroidered table decorations, coasters, I suppose, for tea parties Made in China. A stroll along the promenade, it is dark now and the dian deng (little lights) depict the far side of the river. This side people are walking along with their dian xin (snacks) There is every kind of chi de dong xi (things to eat) that you can spear from a paper bag or eat off a stick. Music blasts out bright lights of the shops selling Taiwan's own brand of seaside tat (and plenty of it), then to the station and on to meet Kristy and Max.
Such a sweet couple, buying their first house in June, architect designed that Max chose himself. Kristy is an editor for a Beauty magazine and Max sells advertising. I am going to help them practice their English conversation and making sentences. They will choose a couple of topics the week before, I e-mail an example couple of paragraphs and then check their own creative writing. Introducing myself, travel, business meetings and so on. I am quite looking forward to it. In return they bought me dinner at Moss Burger and have invited me to come cycling with them next weekend. Marvelous!
Holy week has been an eventful one! On Saturday 25 March I went up to the sea side town of Danshui to help my language exchange partner Jeff with his literature presentation. He picked me up from the station and took me up the hill to his dorm on the back of his scooter. We couldn't have got up to 25mph in the narrow streets swerving round street vendors, parked mopeds, oncoming traffic and throngs of shoppers, but it felt much faster, I laughed like a loony in an attic, excitement and fear. Jeff assured me everything was normal, this was his 'turf', I would be OK.
A few deep breaths after the dismount and we ducked down an ally flanked with a jewelries and a pick and mix boil your own dinner kind of cafe. Then through a courtyard fang dong (landlady) was tidying the potted shrubs, Jeff pointed out the tree in the middle of the small garden was a cherry blossom (not yet in flower, hardly surprising as it would only get the midday sun, concrete towering on all sides). Jeff's room was more of a bedsit, bigger than my room in Xin Zhuang.
Single mattress in the corner, big desk, TV, water boiler for hot and cold drinking water, Two wooden chairs and a few plastic 2 ft high stools, bookshelf, chest of drawers. Like me he had plastic framed wardrobe with a fabric cover that zips down the front. The shower and loo were down the hall, shared with the other four lads on the floor.
After a slurp of hot water we adjourned to the student library across the street. What a monster, we took the lift to the ninth floor to use a meeting room to study in, so we could talk without disturbing others. This would have seated a board room of twenty comfortably, had a gorgeous view of the mountains the other side of Danshui, temples on the hillside, the dwellings of Danshui crammed in tightly next to each other. All was not tranquil as we kept being interrupted by loud clanging of construction work on the new English Department next door.
We are reading Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dallaway, well at least I am, Jeff looked up notes on the internet to save him the trouble. What he wants me to do is explain the notes to him. Engineers! What can you do with them? He is taking three English courses on top of his Mechanical Engineering, but he isn't interested in the beauty of the writing (the first ten pages brought tears to my eyes, possibly progesterone assisted), the life of the author, the characters struggle to communicate their needs or London's post war society, he just wants a good grade in his presentation on Wednesday.
I had to be on my way at 6 as I was meeting a young couple who wanted me to teach them English one evening a week. This was the elder sister of a girl at church and her boyfriend.
Just for fun, Jeff took me round the back street of Danshui on the blessed moped, then we wondered the busy main street, crammed with people, tasted local baking, I spent my hong bao (new year money from Rosa's parents) on a Chinese silk purse and silk embroidered table decorations, coasters, I suppose, for tea parties Made in China. A stroll along the promenade, it is dark now and the dian deng (little lights) depict the far side of the river. This side people are walking along with their dian xin (snacks) There is every kind of chi de dong xi (things to eat) that you can spear from a paper bag or eat off a stick. Music blasts out bright lights of the shops selling Taiwan's own brand of seaside tat (and plenty of it), then to the station and on to meet Kristy and Max.
Such a sweet couple, buying their first house in June, architect designed that Max chose himself. Kristy is an editor for a Beauty magazine and Max sells advertising. I am going to help them practice their English conversation and making sentences. They will choose a couple of topics the week before, I e-mail an example couple of paragraphs and then check their own creative writing. Introducing myself, travel, business meetings and so on. I am quite looking forward to it. In return they bought me dinner at Moss Burger and have invited me to come cycling with them next weekend. Marvelous!
Friday, March 25, 2005
Birthday Bash
I was very happy that a dozen friends came out for a meal with me on my birthday. You never know what is going to happen when you try and arrange something. Madalo one of my former classmates even bought me some red roses. That was very sweet. Felicidad gave me a Chinese calligraphy set, although my talent with the maobi hair brush has yet to appear. There is a small group of students who meet on a Monday. I sit trying to copy Rebecca's brush stokes but my output is splody and wobbles all over. I have sat for three solid afternoons of concentration and my improvement has been marginal. Very marginal.
We went to a roadside cafe for a traditional Chinese meal. Some of my European friends faces fell noticeably when Felicidad ushered us into striplight lit, cracked walled cafe with no front. I didn't want to take my friends anywhere expensive as I know most of them are on a very tight budget. The Laoban (manageress) was able to accommodate us all straight away. She had a brusk manner, pinny on, sleeves rolled up,shouting orders across to the chefs, her hair sticking up stiffly, teeth akimbo. We sat on stools round a large circular table. Ordering food took a some discussion as some of my friends don't eat pork, which features heavily in Chinese cuisine. We let Felicidad and Anna order the dishes as this was Felicidad's local and Anna can read the menu slip, and penciled in a nice selection. In five minutes xiao lum bao (small steamed dumplings with meat and soup inside), spinach fried in oil with garlic, shui jiao (meat and vegetable boiled dumplings) started to arrive. There were fried parcels several other dishes complimented with a bowl of chill pickles and soy sauce. We helped ourselves to rice from the massive steamer and passed round the bamboo disposable chopsticks. A very tasty selection, all for under one pound fifty a head.
As the street restaurants make their money by being able to have a fast turn around of guests, it is not the place where you can linger and chat, so we migrated across the road to Dante cafe with comfy chairs. The waiter put coffee tables together in a line for us so we could sit together. I like the Ji Cha, hot orange tea with halved green kumquats steeping in the transparent teapot, tastes like tart marmalade. It is always really nice when you can introduce different groups of friends to each other. Indonesian, Malaysian, British, Brazilian, Dutch, Spanish and African.
Jacqueline from Brazil was also celebrating her birthday by having her party at Bario's a Latin dance club. We caught a bus up there, Edi kindly helped me carry some of my gifts. Barrios was free to get in, down to the basement, soft red glow, sofas round the edge, plenty of tables and a big dance floor, the night was young so we sat and chatted before we got boogying. More student friends turned up in twos and threes, all very cordial. The Latin girls have really got rhythm. It was great fun.
I was very happy that a dozen friends came out for a meal with me on my birthday. You never know what is going to happen when you try and arrange something. Madalo one of my former classmates even bought me some red roses. That was very sweet. Felicidad gave me a Chinese calligraphy set, although my talent with the maobi hair brush has yet to appear. There is a small group of students who meet on a Monday. I sit trying to copy Rebecca's brush stokes but my output is splody and wobbles all over. I have sat for three solid afternoons of concentration and my improvement has been marginal. Very marginal.
We went to a roadside cafe for a traditional Chinese meal. Some of my European friends faces fell noticeably when Felicidad ushered us into striplight lit, cracked walled cafe with no front. I didn't want to take my friends anywhere expensive as I know most of them are on a very tight budget. The Laoban (manageress) was able to accommodate us all straight away. She had a brusk manner, pinny on, sleeves rolled up,shouting orders across to the chefs, her hair sticking up stiffly, teeth akimbo. We sat on stools round a large circular table. Ordering food took a some discussion as some of my friends don't eat pork, which features heavily in Chinese cuisine. We let Felicidad and Anna order the dishes as this was Felicidad's local and Anna can read the menu slip, and penciled in a nice selection. In five minutes xiao lum bao (small steamed dumplings with meat and soup inside), spinach fried in oil with garlic, shui jiao (meat and vegetable boiled dumplings) started to arrive. There were fried parcels several other dishes complimented with a bowl of chill pickles and soy sauce. We helped ourselves to rice from the massive steamer and passed round the bamboo disposable chopsticks. A very tasty selection, all for under one pound fifty a head.
As the street restaurants make their money by being able to have a fast turn around of guests, it is not the place where you can linger and chat, so we migrated across the road to Dante cafe with comfy chairs. The waiter put coffee tables together in a line for us so we could sit together. I like the Ji Cha, hot orange tea with halved green kumquats steeping in the transparent teapot, tastes like tart marmalade. It is always really nice when you can introduce different groups of friends to each other. Indonesian, Malaysian, British, Brazilian, Dutch, Spanish and African.
Jacqueline from Brazil was also celebrating her birthday by having her party at Bario's a Latin dance club. We caught a bus up there, Edi kindly helped me carry some of my gifts. Barrios was free to get in, down to the basement, soft red glow, sofas round the edge, plenty of tables and a big dance floor, the night was young so we sat and chatted before we got boogying. More student friends turned up in twos and threes, all very cordial. The Latin girls have really got rhythm. It was great fun.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Semi wild orang-utangs come for a meal of milk and banana in the Borneo jungle.
Turtle hatchlings just about to go back in the sea.
River house in Sabah, Malaysia
Kath and J at the Sultan's mosque, Brunei.
Chinese New Year Decorations.
Mum and I amungst the Orchids at the Flower Market
Philip at the Flower Market
Calligraphy, my first attempt at our school. Making decorations for Chinese New Year
Margherita and Janet in the old school room
Margherita, Anna and Janet hiking in the mountains at Yuan Minh Shan.
Street vendors selling shui jiao - pork and veggie dumplings
Gluing together the tissue paper forming a lantern.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Po-Yi's cousin lights the fire crackers as the brides car arrives
Thursday, February 24, 2005
New Year Lantern Festival
15 days after the Chinese New Year, the Taiwanese celebrate Lantern Festival. This welcomes the new year, but is More fun than religious. Our school arranged ten coaches to take us to the mountains at Shihfen. There were thousands of people there for the event, shuttle buses had been laid on to reduce traffic and parking problems. It was lovely wandering along the old street lines with vendors selling traditional snacks, bumping into friends who we hadn't seen since the new year break. There was a path along the river, a wobble rope bridge and a couple of waterfalls to take in before nightfall and Margherita, Joyce and I joined our queue to set off a lantern. The lanterns are about a meter high made from strong tissue paper with a paraffin pouch underneath to fuel it. There were about 300 people setting off lanterns at the same time. The three of us held up the lantern and wrote our wishes and messages on the side in Chinese, such as 'shi jie he ping' which means World Peace. The stewards came and lit our lanterns and we watched them inflate and glow orange from the flame inside. A couple of minutes later it was time for the release and the lanterns sailed up into the night sky. When the lanterns are overhead you can see the flames burning brightly. There is no frame to the structure of the lantern, but even though they appear quite flimsy, I didn't see any catch fire.
It was really beautiful.
15 days after the Chinese New Year, the Taiwanese celebrate Lantern Festival. This welcomes the new year, but is More fun than religious. Our school arranged ten coaches to take us to the mountains at Shihfen. There were thousands of people there for the event, shuttle buses had been laid on to reduce traffic and parking problems. It was lovely wandering along the old street lines with vendors selling traditional snacks, bumping into friends who we hadn't seen since the new year break. There was a path along the river, a wobble rope bridge and a couple of waterfalls to take in before nightfall and Margherita, Joyce and I joined our queue to set off a lantern. The lanterns are about a meter high made from strong tissue paper with a paraffin pouch underneath to fuel it. There were about 300 people setting off lanterns at the same time. The three of us held up the lantern and wrote our wishes and messages on the side in Chinese, such as 'shi jie he ping' which means World Peace. The stewards came and lit our lanterns and we watched them inflate and glow orange from the flame inside. A couple of minutes later it was time for the release and the lanterns sailed up into the night sky. When the lanterns are overhead you can see the flames burning brightly. There is no frame to the structure of the lantern, but even though they appear quite flimsy, I didn't see any catch fire.
It was really beautiful.
