Trip to Lotus Lake

When Alissa came to visit, we decided to make the trek out to Lotus Lake after she came to watch me teach. I’d only been out there once, when we went to visit Chiu Cheng, and had always intended on returning, so Alissa gave me a good reason to do so.

The area is filled with old temples, and we explored the dragon and tiger pagodas first before moving on to the two temples that sit immediately next to that side of the lake.

Fooling around inside the entrance to the dragon’s mouth:

The first temple was quite beautiful on the inside, and I was struck, as always, by the vibrant interplay of the colors: reds, golds, blues, greens, and purples:

The second temple, however, was truly an amazing experience. We stumbled upon a temple prayer ceremony, complete with a live musical ensemble and a group of devotees praying together. The music was a cacophony, it was dissonant, clanging, and yet really fascinating to listen to because it sounded so unlike anything I’d ever heard before:

 

 

We then headed to the upper levels of the temple, and when we reached the third floor, I literally gasped out loud. The entire space was decorated in gold, glittering and gleaming. It was silent save for the clatter of the fortune telling blocks on the floor, and it really felt like a separate universe from the music we’d heard down below.

As a bonus, there was a man doing the most graceful, rapid form of Tai Chi I’ve ever seen (Tai Chi is generally characterized by very slow, deliberate movements). Watching him was hypnotizing, almost as though he were dancing:

We headed back downstairs and the prayers had ended, but we were in for a treat. The celebrants were enjoying food and drink at the temple entrance, and before we knew it, we were seated and being offered buns, red bean cake, red bean soup and tea to drink. It was an awesome experience, and I’m really glad we decided to follow our instincts and see where the music was coming from. Exhausted, we headed home where I proceeded to come down with a nasty cold and a fever.

For your viewing pleasure

 

 

 

An impromptu dance   performance from one of my fourth grade classes this morning.

Inspiration

If you follow my Tweets on the side of my blog entries, you may have noticed that the other day I was reasonably frustrated over a wasted four hours spent filming a video for the Bureau of Education. I’m still not quite sure what this video is being used for, only that most of the ETAs had to write scripts/be in the video in some way, and that the film crew came back to San Min on Friday to film little kids running around the track.

Originally, we were told (well, my administration told me) that I had to make a video that was like English Village, only using the pharmacy and the MRT because that was what my principal wanted. So I sat down, wrote up two scripts, recorded the dialogues for the students who were filming it with me so they could memorize it, and we spent four hours one Tuesday afternoon filming these two scenes.

Well, apparently the principal wasn’t at all impressed (insert eyeroll here) because of stupid things, like the kids weren’t acting excited (listen, I’m celebrating the fact that they understand their lines and don’t speak in a monotone. Expressiveness is asking a bit much), and not making eye contact with me. The real kicker though, was that she wanted ‘a story’ for both scenarios.

Which of course meant that the old footage was completely unusable and I had to start from square one again.

Can you blame me for being more than a little ticked off? It would have been nice to know this the first time round to avoid wasting everyone’s time (mine, the kids, the film crew), but what can you do.

So I sat down to think.

How could I have a story in a five minute segment featuring six kids that took place on an MRT? Luckily, that story presented itself relatively quickly (i.e. once I had cooled down from hearing the news from Lucy). The pharmacy, however, was a bigger sticking point. How the hell was I going to come up with a story for the doctor’s office? The problem with public places like doctor’s offices and MRTs (and post offices, in Gered/Kate’s case), is that you do not generally have exciting story lines happening in these places in real life. A restaurant? Sure! A shopping excursion? Naturally. But not a doctor’s office.

And then, at 1:30 a.m., inspiration struck. I would write a script that had a group of friends who had stayed at a hotel and four of them had fallen sick. In short, I ripped off our lovely experience post-Kenting, when Rebekah, Shana, Kate, Dan, Dani and I (with Amanda) spent several hours in a hospital in varying states of nausea and digestive discomfort. Who would’ve thought that a really unpleasant (yet humorous in some ways) evening would turn out to have a practical purpose? Added bonus: the kids get to use material they’ve actually learned because I ask them what they had to eat and drink. I am very proud of myself right now.

Getting to know you

Throughout the year, I have felt sad at times that I do not speak Chinese. My students do not know how to express themselves and their personalities, their likes and dislikes in English, and so many stay silent. These same kids become animated, chattering, vibrant kids the moment they break into Chinese though, and I’ve continually wished I could get to know them better. Alas, language barriers being what they are, this isn’t really possible.

I got a small glimpse at who they are as individuals last semester when we talked about what they wanted to be when they got older (lawyers, judges, computer hackers, taxi drivers, doctors, scientists, pilots, teachers and more), and when they talked about what they could do (as in what they’re good at). That exercise had me a little nervous at first because I wondered if I would get a litany of academic successes. The Taiwanese school system/general academic climate is not known for being nuturing or condusive to extracurriculars in the way American society is (though we go overboard in America, I think). But I was suprised. I had artists, singers, dancers, erhu players, computer gamers, and a whole host of interesting things the kids felt they were good at. It was heartening, to say the very least. They do have the chance to develop non-academic skills despite the intense pressure to succeed and the prevalence of buxibans galore.

And now, editing their letters for the penpal project, I am learning more things about them. Some have lived in America, or at least visited. One girl loves to ride horses, but says that not many people do this in Taiwan, so she feels very lucky. Some have shared their funny nicknames (watermelon, because “my head is shaped like a watermelon”, little elder uncle, duck, niu niu (cow cow), and how in one family, the older sister is called ‘didi’, meaning older brother, and the younger sister is called jie jie, meaning older sister). Others have told me of their love of baseball, basketball, and dodgeball. One student has pet beetles. A pet rhinocerous beetle, to be exact. I’m not sure I want to google to find out what that is.

I am so grateful for this opportunity, and it makes me ever more conscious of just how attached I am to these kids, to being their teacher, and just how difficult it will be in two short months when this is all over.

租

First of all, I’m sure there are some newly minted Fulbrighters out there who have stumbled across my blog, so if you’re one of them, congratulations and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Now, onto the main point of this post. People keep asking me whether or not the recession is affecting me, and the short and truthful answer is ‘no.’ It’s a little strange to make that admission, especially because by Taiwanese standards, I’m not just making ends meet, I’m living a life of luxury. My apartment is really nice. I have plenty of money for leisure purposes/shopping/eating out, and have even forked over big sums of money for massage packages and a new computer. I am existing in a false bubble of security, at least for the next two months.

And yet, I know the recession is out there. I know it’s hitting Taiwan, too, because I am confronted with visual evidence of it every day. Each day, a new storefront puts up the sign “租” indicating it has gone out of business. At least three or four stores down Guangjhou 1st road outside my house have closed in recent months, one to be replaced by (yet another) tea shop, but the rest remain empty. On my route to school every morning, I cut through some of the more commercial parts of the city, and the story is the same. Countless buildings for rent, but nobody is renting them. The stores look largely empty, another silent testimony to the fact that people are scrimping and saving. It’s a sober reminder each time I see another “租” sign that I am extremely lucky to have financial security here. I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts.

A weekend full of 特色, Part 1

Two weekends ago, I ventured off into the mountains of Chiayi County with Rebekah, Katie, Gered, Vicky, Dan, and Katie’s friend Lauren for a trip to the famous 阿裡山 tourist destination. Since this is one of THE places you HAVE to go see in Taiwan, we should have realized that it was to be a weekend filled with 很多的特色. Needless to say, we were not disappointed.

Because of Rebekah’s excellent planning skills, despite there being limited seats to 阿裡山, we managed to make it there, albeit on a roundabout route. Our trip began bright and early Friday morning as we boarded a train from 高雄火車站 to Chiayi. Once in Chiayi, we attempted to find a bus to take us to 瑞里, but were told this would not be possible since there was road construction on the outskirts, so we did the next best thing: we hopped into a van being hawked by one of the numerous van drivers who lurk outside the train station.

About an hour or so later, and after a journey up some rather windy mountain roads, we found ourselves at our hotel. Our rooms were in the Japanese style, that is to say, with sliding doors and mattress pads to sleep on the floor, tatami style.

Our hotel owners even thoughtfully provided us with towels and toothbrushes, all in a handy little pack. You can imagine the reaction when we contemplated just how Dan and Gered were going to manage to shower with these (or anyone, really, but their size makes this scenario more comical):

Everyone else sat out on the balcony and chilled while I took a nap, feeling slightly out of breath from the sudden altitude shift. I awoke to a gorgeous view and lunchboxes.

Post-lunch, we decided to set off on a hike. The plan was to see either a waterfall or the bat cave (which sounded pretty cool even if I didn’t relish the thought of walking amidst bats, regardless of their sleeping status), and so we boarded another van and off we went. We had intended finally to see the waterfall, but our driver missed the memo and instead pointed us in the direction of the bat cave. The path to which was paved with hundreds (literally) of stairs. Going down. And you know what they say, what goes down must go up again (this was not going to bode well for me).

Lush greenery:

The stairs of hell (which wouldn’t have been that bad except they were endless, for about three hours, and my legs got really bad tremors):
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If you ever wondered, the answer is yes, you CAN get service in the midst of a forest on a Taiwanese mountain:
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At some point, things started to get really bad for me – my skin reacted badly to the exercise, my heart rate kept spiking because it does that, and as mentioned before, my legs kept shaking. We pressed on though, towards the bat cave, only to find that it was actually a grotto. And that there were no bats.

We then seemed to encounter signs suggesting that we would eventually encounter the waterfall we had originally intended to see, and so we continued, valiantly. En route to the waterfall, we came across a thick forest of bamboo shoots. Dan and Rebekah were inspired to release their inner monkey, and so first Dan shimmied up the bamboo shoots, and then Rebekah did. Suddenly, a noise like a shot rang out and Rebekah leapt to the ground as all of us tried to figure out WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON:

Apparently, Katie pointed out to us that the place was plastered with “PRIVATE PROPERTY: DO NOT TRESPASS” signs, only since these signs were in Chinese, we paid them no heed. And apparently, the owners of said private bamboo feel the need to ward off those who would climb their bamboo shoots, and so had rigged them with some kind of booby-traps. Recovering from our shock, Vicky and Dan took a moment to practice their martial art skills:
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With the promise of the waterfall still carrying us forward, we continued, onwards and upwards until finally, finally, we made it:

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This sign at the exit suggests that the waterfall was in fact, a 特色:

“Yuntan Waterfall is known as the wonder of Rueili. Water cascades from stone crevice like white ribbons dancing in the air. Negative ions and phytoncide abound in the valley, offering visitors a treat of natural vitamins. A 350-meter long footpath has been constructed along the waterfall.”

After a short break, we headed back to the hotel, cleaned up, had dinner, and went to view the other 特色 of 瑞里, fireflies. It was pitch black outside, and we quickly ditched the massive tour from our hotel which featured lots of small children and the obligatory tour guide hollering into a microphone. Instead, we sat for awhile on the road and watched the fireflies twinkling in the night. It was really peaceful and lovely. We headed back to the hotel to chill out at the coffee shop, sharing a pot of floral tea and finally heading to bed at the ungodly hour of 9:30 pm.

The brave amongst us (i.e. not myself) decided to awake in the pre-dawn hours the next morning to watch the sunrise before our trip to 阿裡山 and part two of our weekend full of 特色.

Quick update

Rather excellent weekend for the second weekend in a row. Still buried under mountains of grading and trying to put together a Powerpoint presentation for class tomorrow about flood stories from around the world (note to self: scan ridiculous flood story in textbook for blog).

I can’t think of what else to have the fourth graders review for their exam (other than going through the phonics/Daily Talk pictures one more time) so I think I may just surprise them tomorrow and let them watch Winnie the Pooh. Iris has given me free reign (well, almost), but I can’t get in touch with her to let her know what I’m thinking, so hopefully she’s cool with this idea. I figure at this point, the majority of the kids know the stuff, and the handful that don’t are the ones who struggle regardless. 40 minutes of group practice isn’t going to benefit anyone. Why not chill out prior to midterms?

Penpals

Perhaps one of the things I am most proud of is that I have managed to wind up being able to organize penpals in America (through someone at BNaBBT) for my sixth grade students. We made signups voluntary, but almost a hundred kids (1/3 of the entire sixth grade) signed up for the project. We had a huge meeting on Tuesday afternoon to talk about what to put in the letters, and the kids are meant to email me their first drafts.

I’ll share pictures later, but for now I want to share the delightful first letter I got from one of my favorite students, a sweet girl named Demi, and her best friend, Bobby:

Dear studen,
My name is Demi,&my Chinese name is 陳俞華 (Chen Yu-Hua),My best friend is on my penpal team, her name is Bobby, & her Chinese is 朱冠樺(Ju Guan-Hua).
I’m 12 years old,Bobby is 13 year old, & We are in grade six.
I have two younger sister , one older sister & I live with my parents & my grandparents. Bobby live with her parents , but she doesn’t have any sisters or brothers , she has one dog, Bobby’s dog is very cute.
We live in Kaohsiung, it is very beautiful here. I like Kaohsiung’s Love River, it is very beautiful at night.
My school is San Min Elemen tary School in Kaohsiung.
My favorite hobby is playing music. I really like to play an erhufiddle, Bobby like music too, but…I don’t like math, Bobby really likes math, so if I don’t know math answers, She will teach me, Bobby&I like to drow pictures too.
If you go to Taiwan, First you can go to Kaohsiung’s Love River at night. Your school is very big & beautiful ,
your school’s mascot is a lion, It was very cool, I like your school so much.
Demi & Bobby

This is going to be awesome.

Edit – in the time it took me to write this post, I received another letter:

Wednesday,April 1st, 2009

Dear Student,

Hello~My name is Katherine,and my Chinese name is黃翊婷.〈Hung Yi ting〉

Hi！My name is Jina and my Chinese name is陳泳綺（Chen Yung chi）

Katherine：I am twelve years old,my interest is a violin,and reading .I am short,and health .I have the nearsightedness,and I have one younger brother,I have never had any pets .What about you？Do you any brothers or sisters？Pets？

I am a student at San Min Elementary School in haohsiung，Taiwan .I had gone to American Orando Di Shinai paradise，

and Kansas city，my aunt lives in that，US is really very good，

you have come Taiwan？

Jina：I am twelve years old ，and I have two younger sisters.

I have never had any pets. What about you？Do you have any brothers or sisters？ Prts？

Right now， I am a student at San Min Elementary School in Kaohsiung，Taiwan. Reading too. I am tall and health. I also have the near sighte dness. and I hope we can write to each other again.

We are really excited to get your letter,and I hope we can write to each orther anain.

Katherine and Jina pen

And we’re back

From a weekend jaunt to small Taiwanese mountain villages and overly touristed yet lovely Alishan. Details to follow perhaps once I have gotten through some of the massive piles of grading I have to get through.

And despite my hatred of the concept of Twitter, the stupid thing is calling to me, beckoning, and now WP has gone and made that siren song a little bit louder by telling me there’s now a widget I can use to have my ‘tweets’ on my page. I HATE the idea of Twitter and yet…

Sharing myself

Identity is a funny thing. When I was abroad in France, I defaulted to telling people I was Indian. It made for more interesting conversation than saying I was American (though I would quickly explain that I was also American), and I also wasn’t sure how being American in France would be received (this was at a point where relations were still tetchy between the two countries).

When I signed on for the Fulbright Program, I was aware that my primary goal and responsibility was to teach about American culture. This was ok with me; after all, I am an American, it’s the culture that is undeniably a part of who I am and informs much of the way I view the world. I may not know which parts of my identity are American unless I think of it in opposition to other facets of my identity, but as my time here has proven, I am intrinsically American.

But I also resolved that I would openly acknowledge my Indian origins, which are, after all, as inextricable a part of me as my American cultural background. I made no secret of the fact in my presentation to the LETs, and despite a (painful) momentary wondering whether such an admission had hurt my image as an “American” after the infamous remarks by the Bureau of Education chief, I decided I had done the right thing.

And yet I feel torn, because part of our goal here is to challenge perceptions of what it means to be an American. We have four people of the twelve of us who look Taiwanese because their heritage is Chinese/Taiwanese (which has caused its own problems to differing degrees for different people), and we feel, I think, quite strongly that we have to challenge the assumption that all Americans are blonde and blue-eyed.

I myself do not look like people’s typical definition of a 美國人, and I’ve (to my surprise) had a lot of people ask me straight out ‘你是印度人嗎？’ which throws me for a loop. For one, nobody EVER guesses that I’m Indian, and yet, it happens all the time here. Secondly, I’m never sure how to answer. I want deeply to challenge the assumption that I’m not American, so I usually say “我是美國人“ but add that my parents are Indian. The concept of biculturality is not one that translates well with my limited Chinese skills.

So, despite my kids knowing that I am Indian and knowing that my parents are Indian, I was a little apprehensive about my culture presentation at the end of last semester for the sixth graders, because I didn’t know how it would be received. Would they think me less American somehow? Would it cause problems in some way? Still, Lucy and I thought it would be a good idea for me to share with them, and so I did. I came to class dressed in a salwaar kameez, I presented on a whole bunch of countries (the US, Mexico, France, Italy, Egypt, Thailand, Japan, Mainland China, and India), taught the kids how to say hello in all of the assorted languages, and served them some soan papdi that my parents had given me way back in October. To top it off, I played them the music video to “Maahi Ve”, from Kal Ho Naa Ho.

It turns out that the kids LOVED the presentation, and especially enjoyed the sweets I distributed. It was a really gratifying feeling to know that I had reached them, that I had shown them some cool things about the world. Most importantly, it made me incredibly happy that I had shared a part of myself with them, a part of the “Teacher Maya” persona that doesn’t get much airtime here in Taiwan, and that they had liked it. The memory of my students in gathering around my computer listening to “Maahi Ve” over and over again and trying to sing along is one I’m going to carry with me for a long, long time.

Showing off my salwaar kameez, which the kids thought at first was a 旗袍:

Showing them how to drape the dupatta over the head to cover it:

Distributing the soan papdi to the students:

Kids watching and singing along to ‘Maahi Ve’: